I know that I had locked my window that night.
That was most definitely one of my worst habits: locking everything in sight before retiring to bed. This is the reason why I had immediately bolted up right in my cot the moment I heard the windowsill groan in protest as weight was put on it. An odd thing about that moment, though, was that I had never heard even the quietest of footsteps.
The intruder's feet never seemed to have touched the ground.
Only seconds after awakening, I cupped a hand over my mouth and stood completely still, though I had already known this was a futile attempt. Logically, if this person had forced their way through a locked window, they would know if someone was in the room. This was the Southeast Abbey, after all.
Finally summoning up some courage, I managed to weakly call out "Who's there?"
A lighthearted chuckle sounded from the direction of the window. I recognized tat chuckle. "Aw, that hurt, sis. You can't recognize me?"
A dull glow suddenly appeared from the same direction. Illuminated by an orange glow of beautiful feathered wings, I stared into bright green eyes. Eyes filled with both cheerful and uneasy sparks. The eyes of Zelos Wilder. He was seated on the windowsill, his right leg bent up to where his foot was resting on the sill as well. The other leg hovered just inches from the ground.
"Big bro-!" I bit down on my tongue. "Chosen! What are you doing here!? How did you get in here!? I know that I locked that window!"
He smiled mischievously, the cheerful spark in his eye temporarily taking over the uneasiness. But only temporarily. "Well, duh! Of course you locked it! But that can't stop the almighty sex god, Zelos Wilder!" He laughed. I did not find it so funny.
"Chosen, you should be with the Chosen of Sylvarant on your journey, not here." It sounded colder than I had meant it to. It was then that I had finally taken the wings attached to his back into account. Gasping rather loudly, I ran toward him to inspect the wings, not realizing what I had done until it was too late.
"B-Big brother, y-you've sprouted y-your wings!" I stuttered. He smiled ever so slightly at what I had called him. Smiling slightly; something was definitely up. I stared up at him, then back down at my hands that had touched the soft feathers. They reminded me very much of a feather bed.
Crimson blood stained my hands.
And it was not my own.
"When? How-?" I cut my question off, stepping back as I looked back down at the bloody palms.
"Sorry about that…" His voice no longer contained any humor. It contained… sadness? Sadness? In my brother? Martel, what was going on with him? "Can't exactly help it though. On rare occasions, the wings must break the skin in order to appear. I think it's pretty obvious how that turned out." He frowned in mock grief. "It screwed up my beautiful hair."
I continued to stare at my hands. "Doesn't that hurt?" I whispered so quietly that he couldn't hear.
"Actually, no, sis. Angels lose the ability to feel pain after a while." Zelos chuckled quietly whenever I looked up at him in confusion. "Our hearing gets way better too."
'Our'?
"… That's how you got up there… You flew…" I concluded. "… And with the angelic powers, you unlocked the window…"
Zelos grinned. "Actually, I just smashed it open with one of Regal's greaves. I'll make sure that Sebastian'll pay for it." I raised an eyebrow in suspicion.
"Why don't you just pay for it?"
His expression darkened ever so slightly. "So, sis, anything interesting happen today?"
Changing the subject. Okay, big brother, I'll play your little game.
"No."
"Hmm…" Silence took over as we stared at one another. Come on, big brother, bring something up!
As if on cue, Zelos sighed, running a gloved hand through his hair. "Okay, sis, I came here to do one thing, and one thing only, so I'll do it now." He dropped from the windowsill, his wings causing him to hover a few centimeters off of the ground until he was directly in front of me. Sighing again, he lifted his arms into the air.
And he hugged me.
It was one of those perfect kind of hugs. The kind that gave you chills on the outside and warmth on the inside. The kind that seemed to fit around you and only you. The kind that made you unsure of whether or not you return the hug or just stand there like an idiot.
So that's what I did. I stood there like an idiot.
After several extended seconds, the embrace was ended as he pulled away, concealing his wings and dropping to the ground. He stepped back with a smile. This was not his ordinary, joking smile. This particular smile held grief.
"You look exactly like me, princess." He ruffled my hair: something he knew that I hated. "That means that you have incredible good looks too." My mouth hung open in shock.
With another pained smile, he bounded away, disappearing as quickly and unexpectedly into the night as he had come.
"Miss Seles?" the priestess questioned, her face illuminated by the late afternoon sun that had streamed in through my window.
"Yes?"
"The Chosen's group would like to speak with you."
Lloyd was here? Why?
"Thank you. Please send them in."
With an obedient nod, she left, the empty space she had left behind becoming filled with Colette and Lloyd seconds later. Lifting my head to greet them, I stopped. Both of them had eyes rimmed with red. They had been crying.
And before both had broken down sobbing, which I had done immediately after they had left, Lloyd managed to choke out one word.
"Zelos…"
To put it simply: I love Zelos, and I always thought his relationship with Seles was sweet because they always acted like they didn't care about each other, but deep down, they really did.
Obviously, this is based on the alternate storyline if you chose to keep Kratos instead of Zelos (a very hard decision).
Please tell me what you think.