Written for LaSonicchiana on deviantART. She wished for this some time ago, and I finally am going to write this fan-fic out.
The winds howled around Flanoir, ever so icy as they came from the mountains and carried the flakes of snow with them, covering everything in a thin layer of pure, unblemished white. What looked breath-taking beautiful, no matter if at night- or daytime, was dangerous beyond words, sometimes. The illusion of this white wonderland punished those who came unprepared, and would cover their bodies in the never-ending cold.
But despite the dangers lurking outside of Flanoir, there hardly was any other place being more beautiful. The sight of the mountains rising, the majesty of snow and ice around the city had something unique about it, not to be reproduced by any means. There was only one place in the world where beauty and deathly illusion met like this, and it fascinated many.
Though, there was no time to wonder about such things, to savor them and let them sink into their memories. Since some time, the party of eight heroes had trouble with something they had willingly accepted, and now were carrying it with them. The Devil's Arms they had collected, all pieces of them united, were posing an impossible threat, not to be beaten by anything.
And yet, with patience and much struggling, they had accumulated every last of them, to help Abyssion in his quest. What to do with the weapons now, though, had been dismissed to be discussed the next morning, as it had gotten so late already. And as they all had booked rooms in the inn, they felt like they could finally have some rest and recover from the long, exhausting quest of collecting all of the Devil's Arms.
Lloyd sighed as he stretched on the bed, casting a look over at Zelos. Normally, he would have shared a room with Genis, but recently, there had been trouble between Zelos and Regal. Whatever had happened between them, it had led to Lloyd deciding, for the sake of Regal's sanity, to swap with the other and offer to put up with Zelos.
But he had his own worries, too. Since some time, Lloyd had a constant, light headache, as well as most unsettling dreams. It had started comparably harmless, with the slowly progressing drain of any color from his dreams, until everything had been dark and looking like deserted. But there, it hadn't stopped.
Strange creatures were haunting him in his dreams, whispering incoherent things to him. Words without sense, one side of a dialogue he would never come to understand in any way. What did they want from him? What did they want to tell him? He pondered about what they could have meant with their snarling and screeching, but it had as little sense as to wonder about what was going on in a girl's mind.
If Lloyd had been aware of it, he would have felt the light pressure at the back of his mind. Nothing physical, simply something tapping against his conscience. The Nebilim's Key was the cause of this very sensation, but Lloyd had worried more about the headaches he had been getting ever since he had been in possession of a Devil's Arm. He knew there was some sort of connection, but not in which way all of it was intertwining and making sense.
While he was lying there, half asleep, Lloyd was ready to drift asleep. It had been an exhausting day, and the knowledge they had completed yet another quest was making him feel heavy and ready to pass out. Though, it didn't come that far. Because the moment he already had wanted to sink in the blissful embrace of sleep, there was a loud crashing outside his room.
He sat up straight in mere moments, hearing an angered voice calling after someone running away. What the Hell was happening?
"Zelos, come on, there's something wrong outside! ...Zelos?"
The other male didn't respond, just stared straight out of the window, watching the snowflakes falling down and not reacting in any way. He could have been dead, had Lloyd not seen him breathing and blinking. Now what was up with the other again?
"Zelos, come on, move it! There's some problem outside, we have to go looking!"
But all he accomplished by pulling on the other male's arm was getting a complaining, whining sound out of the other. What in all of Heaven had happened? Lloyd was worried about Zelos' behavior, but at the same time couldn't just ignore the noise coming from the outside. There was something going wrong, definitely, and he wanted to find out what it was.
Huffing in slight annoyance about Zelos' apathetic attitude, Lloyd unlocked the room's door, just in time to see Colette running by. She was only dressed in her pajamas, and there, tightly clutched against her chest, was her Devil's Arm. Lloyd needed some time to realize what she was even doing there, but before he could have reacted, she already had run outside of the inn and into the night.
Raine still was shouting after Colette, even as the other had already vanished in the night. She was worried and at the same time annoyed, storming to the open door and yelling into the snowy night.
"Colette! Come back here, damn it, you are going to freeze to death! And let go of that Devil's Arm, what are you even thinking?"
But there was no response, just the distant howling of the wind and the cold creeping into the inn. Lloyd still was trying to figure out what had happened, while around him, the others were gathering. Some already had been about to sleep, and now were rather grumpy about having been awoken like that.
"Raine, what happened? What happened to Colette, and where did she go?"
He and Raine both had clutched heavy clothing, in order to chase after Colette, but now, something suddenly changed about Raine's behavior. Had Lloyd held it in his hand, he would have felt how the Nebilim's Key vibrated and warmed up, spreading its influence around the present people. Raine huffed, then suddenly turned around and pushed her finger against Lloyd's chest.
What followed was the worst scolding Lloyd had ever gotten from Raine. She was yelling at him like at a school boy having done something really stupid which only would keep the class from progressing, and the longer it went on, the smaller Lloyd seemed to become beneath Raine's ranting.
"I can't believe it, seriously! Colette is out there, she could be freezing to death, and you keep us up with asking stupid questions! Whose idea was it to come here in the first place, anyway? Oh, I forgot, Mister Irving insisted on coming to this damned ice cold place and even stay here!"
She didn't care if her ranting made perfect sense or not. Raine just felt this angry and unbelievably tensed up, she would have overflown if she hadn't yelled at Lloyd now. And at Lloyd only.
"I can't even believe you dragged us all over the world, just for some worthless metal! I mean, sure, we are the heroes, dammit, but that doesn't mean that we have to solve everyone's problems! Besides, you should sort out your own first, before acting like the oh so great hero able to sort everything out. I'm sick of it! We lost Colette because of that, maybe she will die, and it's entirely your fault, Lloyd Irving!"
The moment she stopped, he straightened up again, not showing anything like anger or fear. There was just determination in his expression, and the will to go find Colette.
Without a word, Lloyd turned around and followed Colette outside, into the darkness and cold, calling out her name while he moved further and further away from the inn. Raine was panting after her yelling at the boy, and suddenly, regret welled up inside of her. That hadn't been her, that had been someone entirely else having scolded Lloyd like that. But... what had made her do that?
"Lloyd? Lloyd, come back! I'm sorry, I'm really sorry about what I said!"
There was no answer, just the distant calling for Colette, and now, Raine was really upset. She slumped down on a chair, rubbing over her face. What had that even been? She suddenly had felt this angry and helpless, and all this anger had welled up inside of her like a tidal wave, having made her say things she never would have. Guilt was closing in on Raine, depressing her lightly.
The other members of the group were still standing there, looking slightly confused and somehow embarrassed. Though, then, Raine got up to look for Zelos. He was the only one still being in his room, for what reason ever. It just got more and more confusing, and she had a bad feeling about all of that.
In the dark room, still sitting on the bed and staring outside of the window, seemingly lost in his own little world, Zelos was humming to himself, some strange, senseless tune.
"Zelos? Zelos, hey, say something."
Raine shook his shoulder, but there was no answer. She sighed deeply, the worries on her face becoming more prominent still. Whatever had gotten into all of them, she had the bad feeling this was just the beginning...