Two Chosen sat together on the bank. Male and female, Tethe'allan and Sylvaranti, polar opposites in personality...these two people could not be more different from one another. Yet there was a sense of kinship that both felt due to the burden they had been born with.

Zelos let the silence stretch for some time before he turned slightly to face her. Colette was gazing out ahead, but her blue eyes were blank and unseeing. The seemingly air-headed girl was obviously lost in thought. Her cruxis crystal was still visible on her throat, shining crimson in the sunlight. Like blood, Zelos thought to himself.

Finally he spoke. "How did you deal with it?" he said vaguely. He knew, though, when she blinked at him calmly, that she knew what he meant.

"I don't know," she murmured softly. He didn't think he'd ever seen her so subdued. "It's just...I've always known it was my duty, you know? I had to save everyone."

"I can't understand that," he admitted. "I've always felt nothing but disgust for my position as the Chosen. Even if Tethe'alla had been the declining world...I think I would've just run away." He laughed, hearing the bitter edge. "I could never be like you."

"It's never been easy for me, either," she insisted, her eyes snapping back up to meet his, and for the first time he felt like Colette might be a little angry. "Everyone always thinks of me as this happy little angel, who's just always optimistic and never sad but..." she gulped and inhaled sharply, "nobody could understand what I've been through. Nobody could understand why I've...How many times I've acted in a way totally opposite from what I've felt, how many times I've hidden my unease, how many times I've outright lied about it..." She paused again, her azure gaze burning straight through him. "Except maybe you."

He was taken aback for a moment, and then he laughed again. "Wow. That was deep. But...yeah, maybe you're right." He sighed and turned back towards the water, twirling a lock of his red hair between his thumb and forefinger absentmindedly. "I think I can count the moments I've been completely and absolutely genuine with someone on one hand." He gave her a sideways glance. "It's just...weird to hear that from you, too. I guess I just never expected it to have been just as bad for you...Damn, that sounds narcissistic as hell." He laughed again, but there was no humor in it. "Sorry about that. I guess I, of all people, should have known."

She laughed too, and he thought he heard bitterness in that laugh, something he'd never expected from her either. "And it turned out to be all for nothing," she said, eyes briefly shuttered. "I convinced myself that I'd die to save the world. But I wouldn't really have been saving it...only furthering Mithos's insane plans."

"Well..." he said, after a pause. "What's done is done. I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but ... I think the best thing for us now is to put all that in the past." A wry smile played on his lips. "I guess now that the final battle is ahead of us, none of the 'Chosen' stuff really matters anymore. And...I'm glad I ended up choosing you guys back there. A lot of that was because of Lloyd, but..." he hesitated. "It was partly because of you, too."

She looked at him, surprise in her gaze. "Really?"

He ran his fingers through his hair. "...Yeah. Just looking at all that you'd done, all that you'd given up...and how much you wanted to believe in me...And how much Lloyd did..." He sighed. "I guess I...saw a reason to live. You know, I planned to let you guys kill me back then."

Her eyes were sad but knowing. "Yes. I...know."

He let all the breath out of his lungs helplessly, finally laying back on the ground with his arms pillowed under him. After a moment of hesitation, Colette followed suit, her long blonde hair splayed out on the ground by her. It took a long time for him to find his next words. "I can't believe you understood me that well. That I was that obvious."

Pain glinted in her eyes. "Not to everyone. I recognized it...because you were so much like I am sometimes, what I might have been like if I hadn't had Lloyd and everyone." Zelos felt something warm on his arm and realized it was her hand. "I'm...sorry. Sorry you had to go through all that. Sorry we did."

Zelos stared up at the starry sky. "I'm sorry too."

The two Chosen lay there in companionable silence.

Though they were relieved of their burden, both knew it would never truly be erased.