Disclaimer: I do NOT own Tales of Symphonia or any of the characters.

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Chapter 1

I shielded my eyes from the sun. Yawning softly as I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. My legs swung over the bed as my eyes surveyed my room. It had been a year since we defeated Mithos. Things had quieted down a great deal when Mithos died but there were still few stubborn groups of Desians here and there.

The Renegades usually silenced any growing Desian activity. But now and again Lloyd and his friends, including myself, would help. After all the Renegades were the ones building a government for the new world. They had enough on their hands.

Standing, I walked out of my room and into the kitchen ready to raid my fridge. Although the knocking at the door preventing me from doing so. As the door creaked open I wrinkled my nose in annoyance to find a Renegade soldier.

"What do you want?"

"Kratos Aurion. Desians have been abusing people again. Lo---"

"And Yuan wants me to stop them," I interrupted.

"Yes but first, Lord Yuan wishes you to stop by his office", the Renegade exclaimed.

A groan slipped its way past my lips, "Why?"

"He didn't say..."

"Fine."

The soldier nodded as he left to go back to the base.

Closing the door I went to my room, slipping my sweatpants off as I rummaged through my dresser for my clothes.

Finding my dark blue and white shirt and putting it on along with my blue and white pants. In another drawer a bunch of belts were neatly folded. Taking them out I began to buckling them on one at a time. Finally finishing with my belts I slipped my cloak on. I found myself liking this outfit much better them my purple one.

I moved to my closet after getting dressed so my armor could be put on. When that was finished I took my sword out from the corner of the closet, and headed for the door. Getting into my garage, which is where my rheaird awaited me. It was a sky blue. Not sure why but I was very fond of the color.

I shrugged the thought away and started the machine. With a click of a button my garage door opened and I started off. An easier way would be to simply fly there. But there was no need to rush there so it didn't matter. Besides I didn't like using my wings that often, people stared at me to much.

I looked down at the towns and landscape that were passing under me. Things certainly improved, especially for half-elves. Raine and Genis did a good job stopping some of the discrimination against them. But others started changing on their own over time. Maybe it was because the leader of the Renegades, the government was a half-elf. But there were still some stubborn people refusing to accept the change but things were slowly improving.

I was already almost there. Yuan's new base was called the Symphonia Base. Yuan was certainly very uncreative when it came to naming something. It made me chuckle at the thought of what he might name his pet or child.

Reaching my destination I landed and dismounted, looking around at my surroundings. This base was in the middle of a valley. Finally a Renegade base built in a decent environment. Not a damn desert or freezing island like the others.

My gaze followed up to the top of the high building, it was much like the others. As I made my way to the entrance, the guards saluted me. The door automatically slid open as I approached. The same Renegade soldier that had come to my house was waiting for me inside.

"Please follow me," the soldier said turning around. I followed without saying a word, noticing the Renegade glance back now and again to make sure I was following. The Renegades no longer wore the helmets. And their uniforms were different too. Not by much, but some. They no longer needed to look like Desians.

My gaze glanced about the hall. Even the inside looked similar to the other two. The only drastic change was that the technology was a bit more advanced.

Suddenly the Renegade stopped. Not paying that close attention caused me to almost run into him. The soldier turned around and held out his hand to the side, indicating the door there.

"Lord Yuan awaits you."

Giving a single nod, I headed in. My eyes searched the simple room. A table with different items scattered on it next to the door. A large bookcase was opposite of the entrance. And of course, Yuan's cluttered desk full of paperwork to the left side of the room.

My gaze settled on the blue haired half-elf as he did paperwork. Yuan glanced up just slightly.

"Sit down Kratos."

I paused a moment before sitting down in the chair that was in front of Yuan's desk; waiting and staring intently at the man. I waited for him to speak but he never did. He just sat there, writing and shuffling through papers. It felt like he was ignoring me. Being ignored was something I could never stand. I didn't come all the way here to have him ignore me.

"Tell me what you want or I'm leaving."

For the first time Yuan stopped what he was doing and looked up at me. He stared into my eyes for a long moment before continuing his work. The look in his eyes told me he was struggling on how to say what he wanted. But I didn't have all day to wait around for Yuan to sort it all out in his head. There are better things to do. Yuan shouldn't have called for me if he wasn't ready.

I stood, "I'm leaving."

Yuan sighed and put his pen down, turning his full attention to me.

"I want you to join the Renegades."

My only reaction was a somewhat shocked and confused look.

"What?"

"You heard me; I want you to join the Renegades." Yuan snapped.

"No."

"But you have all the right abilities. You'd be great at it."

"No," As my blunt refusal was repeated I saw what Yuan was getting at. He wasn't debating on how to say something. He was looking for a way to convince me to say yes.

"You get paid well. And it's not like you do much but stay at home. Besides you fight the Desians anyway---"

"No," I repeated again, but with a little more demand.

Yuan stared at me with those emerald eyes. The expression on his face was unreadable, but it made me very uncomfortable; making me need to shift my weight.

"Things haven't been the same since Botta died. I could really use someone with your ability... I could really use an old friend's help." Yuan said slowly, his eyes still watching me.

Damn it. He was going to give me a guilt trip. But I'm not the type of person to be so easily won over.

"I'm sorry. But my answer is still no." my tone was as gentle as possible, but with clear authority in my voice.

The reaction from Yuan was totally unexpected. He looked away; he looked like he was crush. The normal Yuan response was to have him scowl at me or comment how stubborn I was. Did it really mean that much to him if I joined?

"Why not?" He quietly mumbled, breaking the long awkward silence.

I looked at him for a moment before answering, trying to figure out why he seemed so hurt by my refusal. "Because... I'm tired of joining little organizations. Cruxis has already torn my family apart and made me do things I'm not proud of." I swallowed hard and forced the painful memories away.

"If it weren't for Cruxis you wouldn't have a family," Yuan hissed.

My calm expression turned into a heated glare. Yuan wiped a hand across his forehead.

"... Sorry."

The long silence dragged on again. The longer it got the more awkward it became. I decided to break it by changing the subject.

"So where are the Desians attacking this time?"

"Hm? Oh. Never mind. I can get my men to take care of it. You're excused." He went back to his paperwork and acted as if I wasn't there again.

A simple look of astonishment at him was my only reaction. He needed my help five minutes ago and now he suddenly changes his mind? The brief thought of the Desians just being an excuse to get me over here crossed my mind. But Yuan knew me. He didn't need a reason. I'd have come anyway.

The only thing I could think of was me not joining the Renegades. But certainly Yuan wouldn't let innocent lives be in danger simply because he was mad at me. Then again, Yuan had a tendency to let his anger get the better of him.

"Yuan..."

"You're excused," He coldly repeated.

I stared at him for a moment longer. My cool expression was turning into a glare again. He wouldn't even look up and meet my eyes. It was obvious he was avoiding it. I couldn't believe how childish he was being.

Turning away, I walked out of the room. It was easy to remember which ways the Renegade had led me when I first came in, so it was easy finding the entrance. Approaching my rheaired I looked back at the tall building. After a minute I turned back and mounted my rheaired and started heading home.

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Author's note

I apologize if I have some spelling mistakes and if my grammar is horrible. I try. And after I wrote this I realized the outfit I made Kratos wear was his Cruxis outfit. But I decided to keep it because I like that outfit a lot better then his purple one. And obviously Kratos didn't go on Derris Kharlan after the game.