Lloyd looked out his bedroom window miserably, his face shrouded by sorrow, his pillow tearstained. It'd been five days since he'd caught Yuan cheating on him. They'd been going steady for so long and then he'd cheated on him with a woman. Lloyd hadn't wanted to face the truth about Yuan's bad habits so he ignored every hint of it. Every time he'd see Yuan flirting with other girls or guys he'd not listen or when he'd catch him looking down a girl's shirt he'd look the other way.
Lloyd heard a knock at his door and sighed,
"Who is it?"
"Lloyd, it's me, I've got your homework." Lloyd recognized immediately it wasn't Genis or Colette but Professor Sage.
"Come in." Lloyd said dismally while wiping away his tears.
"There's not much for you to do today, but we all miss you even if you aren't the best student in class." She said smiling while sitting in a chair across from his bed.
"Maybe next week I'll be back…" Lloyd sniffled.
"Lloyd, what Yuan did to you wasn't very respectable, more like something I'd expect out of Zelos… but not him. I'm afraid you'll fall behind on your work too much if you're out much longer, once we start a new unit you're going to need to be there." The professor told him, her voice full of pity.
"Professor, I don't know how long it'll be before I can even look at everyone again. I need some time." He hung his head in regret and sadness.
"Call me Raine, you're not a child anymore." She told him smiling.
"Ok." Lloyd said slightly unsure of why she'd said that to him.
"We'll be waiting for you back at school, Genis and Colette miss seeing you too." She said before leaving.
Lloyd just nodded and was kind of glad to have had some company. He curled back up on his bed and fell asleep.
"Hi Raine, how was Lloyd doing today?" Genis asked his older sister.
"He's looking a tiny bit better but not much. He's still pretty crushed." Raine told him sadly.
"I can't believe Yuan did that to him. Lloyd practically worshipped him!" Genis exclaimed out of rage and lack of better understanding.
"Genis, you're too young to understand this properly. Love is one of the hardest things you'll ever try to grasp. No text book can teach you what it is and what it means to be in love." Raine told him seriously.
"I know, but Lloyd was so oblivious to it and now that it's happened he seems so lost." Genis argued.
"I wouldn't go as far as to say that." Raine said looking up from the papers she was grading.
"You mean he knew?!" Genis asked shocked.
"I don't know, you tell me genius boy." Raine teased.
"C'mon Raine! Tell me!" Genis begged.
"I told you, you're too young to understand what went on." Raine sighed.
Genis grumbled in annoyance but went back to the dishes he was cleaning.
Raine looked up out the window, the peaceful town of Iselia was green with serenity. The rolling hills that held Lloyd's childhood those that now cradled his broken heart and drowning mind. Raine knew what it felt like to be lost in your life and holding on by the threads left in your heart. She knew it well.
Raine smiled at herself for recollecting such a thing and went back to grading papers.
Sheena sat in the kitchen, she sipped a cup of tea and looked out the window. The skies above Mizuho were grey and getting darker. She started reading through a book and an hour later it started to pour. She sighed at the gloomy weather but kept reading, a while later she was interrupted by a knock at her door.
Sheena got up and left her book on the table, she opened the door and gasped,
"Yuan? Is that you?" Sheena asked shocked.
His normally well-kept hair was knotted, his clothes were covered in mud and he looked like he hadn't had much to eat or drink in a while.
"Sheena, I'll explain later…" His voice was rushed and quiet.
Sheena nodded and led him inside, she led him to the washroom so he could wash off. She was walking away when he called her name softly.
"What is it?" She asked.
He grabbed her arm and took her in to the room with him, he started to slip the shoulder of her shirt off of her. Sheena's eye's widened as she put her hand over his and stopped it. He looked at her confusedly.
"Yuan?! What are you doing?!" Sheena asked him confused.
"You don't mind, do you? You should be lucky anyone still wants you after what happened with Kuchinawa." He grinned.
"Y...y…you know about that?!" Sheena asked nervously.
Yuan only nodded.
Sheena looked up at him, her eyes glistening, she took him against her and stepped into the bath that was built into the floor. She let him take her clothes off and returned the favor, he looked a little beat up.
"What happened to you?" She asked.
"I got in fight five days ago."
Sheena nodded and let him put his lips to hers, she didn't know what she was doing but after what happened with Kuchinawa she knew she was lucky. She had been on her way into the village a while back when someone pulled her aside and knocked her out. She remembered waking up inside a temple of some sort, she tried to fight her assailant but she found her summoning powers were gone and she was chained to the floor. She shortly realized it was Kuchinawa, he forced himself into her and incidentally got her pregnant. Sheena had no choice but to abort the baby, she couldn't shame her family like that. Kuchinawa had managed to find out and he threatened to leak the word that she'd gotten pregnant by some shady wanderer. She told him she'd test DNA if he told people about any of it, he told her to get an abortion and he'd give her, her powers back and that he wouldn't tell a soul.
Sheena wondered how Yuan had found out about Kuchinawa but she figured she'd ask all about it later. She felt his body against hers and ran her hands over his body possessively. She hadn't gotten anyone to herself like this in such a long time, she'd craved this and now that she had it she wasn't about to let it go. She kept her lips to his until she felt him pushing up to get out, she took him to her room where they finished the act.
Zelos sat in his house watching the rain coming down, it'd been a long time since he'd seen many of his friends or had sex for that matter. He longed to have company in his bed once more but he wasn't looking for a one-night stand anymore, he wanted something more. He wanted the same girl there more that once and no one else in between.
Zelos pictured them in his mind, he missed their company but didn't want to go out in the weather. He wondered who they were all hooking up with now, it'd been a while since he'd even spoken to any of them. During the journey he'd wanted it to end eventually, he wanted to have more of his normal life back and he had imagined they'd be together still. But the more he thought about it the more he knew that only people who were probably still in contact were Lloyd, Colette, Raine, Genis, and Kratos. But even so, they wouldn't have seen Sheena, Presea, Martel, or himself. He knew Martel was keeping quiet, she didn't want to make a lot of commotion.
They'd managed to save her and allow her to keep living. She had ended up being 18 when they brought her back but she looked a lot more like a woman than that. Zelos wondered on occasion what she was like in bed but knew she was more than a little scared of his desire for sex.
He leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up, watching the rain coming down on a pink head of hair. Zelos was fixated by the sight, he immediately assumed it was Presea but when she turned around he saw it wasn't and sighed.
Presea sat in her rebuilt home in Ozette. She hadn't been out much since Regal had died, it'd been quite some time now but she didn't want anyone's pity. She'd wanted to visit someone for a while now but hadn't been able to decide on who. She'd heard a small bit of news here and there but nothing in particular.
Presea heard a knock at her door, she opened it to find the mailman with a few letters for her. She saw one that was from "The Ozette Town Council". Ozette had made a town council in order to ensure nothing like what happened to her would happen again. She opened it and read it over, it requested that she go to Melotokio and go the lab there to give and get results on a sample taken from an unusual monster found outside the town.
Presea sighed and packed her bag, she packed lightly and was ready to go before dark. She left on a reheraid she'd bought since she was traveling so much. She flew until it grew dark and cold when she reached Melotokio, she was about to walk into a hotel when she realized she was running low on money. She remembered Zelos lived in the city and figured he wouldn't mind if she stayed the night. She walked to his mansion and knocked on the door, Zelos answered it,
"Presea? My little rosebud? Is that really you?" His eyes were wide with excitement.
"Yeah…it's me…" Presea blushed.
Zelos just smiled and let her inside, he took her bag and took it to his spare room, he seemed to know what to do without her saying anything.
"So I can stay?' She asked.
"Of course, I've been wanting to visit you guys but I haven't gotten around to it." He said when he came back downstairs.
Presea smiled gratefully.
"Thank you Zelos." She said as she shivered a little bit.
"You cold?" He asked.
"A little bit…"
He got her a blanket and sat her down in front of his fireplace, he sat down with her. Presea blushed and looked down.
"How have you been Zelos?" She asked monotonously.
"I've been ok, you?"
"I'm only here because I have a sample that I need to bring to the lab here but I'm in no hurry. I've just been doing errands for Ozette a lot but nothing out of the ordinary."
"Yeah, I've just been doing a little bit here and there but I haven't been that busy…"
"It's been a long time since I've seen any of the others…"
"Same here, I've wanted to see them too…it's good to see you Presea." Zelos smiled.
Presea nodded in return, "It's good to see you too."
Zelos struggled not to ogle her as she had developed much more since they had last talked. He was already a little off to begin with since it'd been so long since he'd last gotten laid. He draped his arm over her shoulders and smiled when she blushed a deep shade of red. Presea didn't know how to respond, she just submitted to the comfort of his company and sank into the plush carpet.
Kratos sat downstairs at Lloyd's house, he'd been living with Lloyd and Dirk for quite some time now. The occasional rumor that Dirk and himself were a couple went around once in a while but he always straightened it out. He'd wanted to spend time with Lloyd and he'd gotten to become better friends with Dirk.
Kratos looked up when Dirk came downstairs,
"Is he doing any better?" Kratos asked.
"A little but not much, he's still upset as anything." Dirk answered sighing heavily.
Kratos nodded.
The house had been relatively quiet since Lloyd and Yuan had broken up, Raine, Colette, and Genis came by daily to check up on him and see how he was doing. Kratos was relieved when they broke up though, he didn't trust Yuan for a second and now Lloyd realized why. Kratos heard a knock at the door, he answered it to find Colette.
"Hello Colette, Lloyd's up in his room." Kratos said after closing the door behind her.
"Thanks Kratos." She said smiling as she went upstairs to his room.
"Lloyd?" She called into his room.
No answer came to her call, she walked in and looked around. She found him asleep on his bed, curled up and hurting.
"Lloyd…it's me, Colette." She whispered quietly.
He opened his eyes slowly and smiled at her,
"Hey Colette." He smiled weakly back at her.
"You feeling any better now?" She asked hopefully.
"Not really…" He sighed.
"Lloyd, we all miss you so much. You'll feel better if you keep your mind off it. Please Lloyd, everyone misses you." She begged.
"I guess you're right…maybe it'll be good for me to go back to my normal schedule." He sighed, not willing to argue.
"Oh thank goodness!" She said hugging him tightly then suddenly pulling away.
"I didn't mean that like that…" She apologized.
"It's ok, I'm bisexual anyways, and stop apologizing so much!" He smiled at her and hugged her back.
Colette nodded, happy he was coming back.
Lloyd let her go and got up, he stretched and looked back at her.
"Lloyd, I've got some homework to do for the professor so I'm going to get going. She told me to tell you she's going to need to start tutoring you because you've missed too much to make up on your own." Colette smiled and looked at him once more before going.
"Goodbye
Lloyd, see you tomorrow." She smiled before going.
Lloyd nodded
and headed downstairs to tell Kratos and Dirk.
They both looked at him, surprised he was leaving his room.
"I'm going back to school tomorrow." He announced.
"Aye, good boy." Dirk said smiling.
"Good." Kratos said smiling a little bit.
Lloyd nodded and went back upstairs to shower.
Sheena curled up closer to Yuan, the night had grown dark now and she felt so at home with him. She knew it was sudden but she didn't want to let him go. She kissed his neck softly and looked into his eyes. He smiled back at her and stroked her hair affectionately.
"Yuan?"
"Yes?"
"Why did you come here?"
"I needed a place to stay and to be honest I knew you wouldn't mind the company."
Sheena didn't take it offensively, she knew he was right.
"Who are you really with though? You can't be single right now."
"I am single. I just dumped Lloyd." He said freely.
"Lloyd?! You were dating Lloyd Irving?"
"Yes, for a short while, poor thing, seems I crushed him considerably."
"What happened? If you don't mind telling me…"
"I cheated on him."
"With who?"
"Just another woman, don't even remember her name now…"
Sheena pitied Lloyd but at the same time loved having Yuan as company.
"Oh. So what're you going to do now?"
"I don't know, whatever happens will happen I guess."
"Are you going to leave me tomorrow?"
"Do you want me to?"
"Not really, but I don't want to be a burden to you."
"Then I'll stay." He said smiling.
Sheena smiled back and curled up, she nuzzled his head against his chest and slowly fell asleep.
Presea was heading up to bed, Zelos escorted her to her room. He opened the door for her and let her in and bade her goodnight. She changed for bed and lie there staring at the ceiling wondering what she was going to do with her life. She knew she was helping Ozette but after Regal's death she didn't know what to do with herself. It wasn't like they were really together but she'd hoped they'd end up that way but he died in a freak accident before it could happen.
The following morning at school everyone was happy to see Lloyd back again but also to see a new student, Martel. She was learning to be teacher from Raine and would be staying at Raine and Genis' house. Everyone greeted Martel cheerfully, all of them instantly noticing her shyness.
The day passed and Lloyd felt better with his mind distracted from Yuan. When class was out Genis, Colette, Raine, Lloyd, and Martel went home. All of them but Colette went to Raine and Genis' house. She'd told them earlier she had something to do. Martel and Genis went off to do homework in the kitchen, Lloyd and Raine went up into Raine's room where she kept all her schoolbooks.
"Ok, you missed a good chunk of history and algebra. Why don't you start with this algorithm, see what you can do with it." She said as she handed him a paper.
Lloyd nodded and began doing his work.
Meanwhile downstairs, Genis and Martel were silent, both of them too shy to talk. Finally he broke the ice,
"Why did you decide to be a teacher?"
Martel blushed,
"I want to help people." She said softly.
Genis nodded and was finishing his work when Martel looked at him a little astonished.
"What is it Martel?" He asked.
"You did that so fast…"
"Sometimes people say I'm a prodigy."
"Oh, so you're really smart. That's what prodigy means right?" She asked blushing.
"Yeah…Hey…how can you teach if you don't know vocabulary?" Genis asked raising an eyebrow.
"I'm learning it now." She said blushing still.
Genis looked at it and smiled,
"Oh, this is easy stuff, I can help you learn it if you want."
"Ok, I'd like that." She said smiling.
"Lloyd have you finished that problem yet?"
"I don't get it…"
"Get what part?"
"What do I do with this now that I moved it over here?"
"You add this to both sides and divide by two because you want this one alone. That make any sense?"
"Not really…"
"Think about it like this, the x's are rabbits and the numbers are wolves, you want the rabbits all alone so that they don't get killed right?"
"Yeah…"
"So then what would you do?"
"You'd put these over here and then take these ones away, right?"
"Correct, good job Lloyd."
"Thanks Professor, you're really good at explaining things."
"I told you, call me Raine when we're not at school." She said smiling as he continued his work and nodded.
"Ok, so what does Copious mean?"
"Um…does it mean to have a lot of something, like…how much sand there is in the desert?"
"Good job Martel, see? They're really easy if you think about them." Genis said smiling.
"Thank you." She said blushing and smiling.
"It's not a problem." He said smiling back at his new friend.
Yeah! Finally finished the chapter! Sweet deal. So R&R guys! Pwease? That'd be awesome. I mean, if you R&R me I'll R&R your stuff too cause otherwise you're kind of left there like…wow….I still want some reviews here. So really, do review. Obviously if you're reading this you've already read it… . Hehehe, sorry about that little tangent.