"Someone once told me that a strong person never cried … But, I believe that it takes a truly strong person to know when it's okay to cry."

Presea sighed at the thought, her seventeen year old body leaning against the frame of the window in the inn room of Meltokio. It had been five years since the group had restored the world and now Zelos had thrown a party for them all at his mansion. The only reason why Presea was at the inn was because she had arrived a few days early due to a job that she had needed to do, but she would be heading out for Zelos' mansion the next day.

Five years had done wonders for the pinket. Her curves—although modest—were fully developed, and she stood at nearly five foot seven. Her breasts were of a good size for her height, and now the sakura colored locks that she had formerly kept up in ponytails now fell loosely over her shoulders, framing a serene face and calm grey-blue eyes.

'I wonder how the others have changed …' Presea thought, blinking as a smile worked its way onto her face. She hadn't seen any of the others for a while, and the one she had seen most often was Regal; understandable, seeing as how she worked for him. Stifling a giggle, Presea heard her stomach rumble, and she turned towards the door. Her outfit had changed … minimally, simply growing as she had. Pulling on her boots, Presea grabbed the key to her inn room and stuck it in the belt pack she carried with her and headed out the door.

Walking through the streets, Presea found her gaze looking towards the setting sun; it was glorious, this time of year, and it seemed to be a beautiful shade of rose red. Her gaze was so intent upon the fiery orb in the sky that she didn't notice the man in mostly black walking perpendicular with her until they collided. Presea yelped, and attempted to move out of the man's way; this resulted in her tangling her legs together and falling over, only to have her arm grabbed by the man.

"Oh my!! I'm sorry, I didn't noti—Is that you, Presea!?" The man exclaimed, and if it weren't for the fact that the voice was deeper and softer, Presea would've sworn that it was Lloyd. Glancing up as she steadied herself, the pinket found herself looking at the very person she had figured it was; Lloyd Irving-Aurion, in the flesh, his wine red eyes every bit as wide as hers.

"Lloyd?" Presea asked dumbly, feeling oddly short of breath as she looked him over; at twenty-three, Lloyd had grown every bit as much as she had; he now stood somewhere around six feet tall—give or take half an inch—and his hair was beginning to fall into his face. A few auburn highlights had become more obvious, and the reddish strands made his hair even more unusual. That, coupled with the mature face and nearly-royal profile added up to someone who took after his father rather well in the looks department. Presea blushed at that, and stepped back to look Lloyd over. She dimly noticed that he was doing the same with her, those hypnotizing wine colored eyes slowly taking in her entire form.

While Lloyd's outfit had maintained its dichromatic color scheme, it had changed drastically in appearance. He now wore a black turtleneck sweater with a red falcon on the right side of the chest beneath a crimson duster jacket, which was edged in black with silver buckles shaped like feathers. One of his twin blades was strapped to his left shoulder, while the second hung off of a pale white belt at his waist. Black cargo pants went down to his ankles, covering the rim of a pair of wine red and blood colored boots. He had somehow managed to get his hands on a thin white scarf, and he wore it around his neck.

'Oh my Gawd …' Presea thought to herself, feeling her face steadily grow redder as she looked him over. "I—it's good to see you, Lloyd." She forced out after a moment, finding her eyes especially interested in Lloyd's boots; or rather, the ground in front of them. While she had possessed no attraction to him when they had been traveling together, she had still been trying to adjust to the sensation of actually having emotions. Now that she had had time to adjust and utilize them, Presea began to wonder if her emotions were all that good for her to have; Lloyd was—and it was so blaringly obvious now that even a couple of girls passing by them stopped and looked at him in wonder—VERY attractive.

"It's good to see you too, Presea." Lloyd's voice broke Presea from her reverie, and she forced herself to look into his face. Lloyd had a soft smile on his face, and his hands had returned to the pockets of his duster. "I was just passing through the area, and I decided to stop here for right now before heading towards Sybak tomorrow." Presea blinked at that, which didn't go unnoticed by Lloyd. "Hmm? Something wrong, Presea?" He asked, tilting his head to one side and arching a single eyebrow.

"Didn't you hear?" Presea asked, stunned.

"About what?" Lloyd was clearly confused by this point. Presea sighed.

"About the reunion party that Zelos is throwing the day after tomorrow for the eight of us." She said blandly, hoping that Lloyd had simply forgotten. To her shock, Lloyd still seemed puzzled by this, making Presea hiss in annoyance. "I am going to hit Zelos next time I see him; he said he sent you the invitation!! That idiot of a Chosen."

"… Did he say where he sent it?" Lloyd asked, his face switching to confused to an annoyed expression that was so similar to the one that Kratos used to use it was somewhere between eerie and amusing. Presea blinked, looked up at Lloyd, and shook her head; he sighed and held his head in one hand while he shook it. "That idiot; I told him several times that if he wanted to get a hold of me, he was to send word to Yuan, who knows where I am wherever I am." He grumbled darkly. Presea looked up at him at that, and found herself blushing at his actions; was everything he did now going to do this to her hormone ridden body?!

"Oh … I see …" She said simply, looking at the ground once again. "… I still have an urge to hit him though." Presea looked up at Lloyd as he laughed, delighted by the way the noise seemed to rumble a bit before hitting the air.

"I do to; you wanna hit him first, or does it not matter?" He asked gently, giving her the same sweet smile she had seen so often during the Journey. Save for when he had given them then, this actually took her breath away; that worried her, because she still didn't fully understand what was going on.

A loud rumbling broke the silence, and the two looked at one another. Presea blushed, but this time from embarrassment; it had been her stomach. Lloyd blinked for a moment, and then gave her a coy grin coupled with an arched eyebrow. "So I'm not the only one here who's hungry, it seems." He commented, crossing his arms over his chest and tapping one foot on the stone road. Presea nodded, fighting to keep her blush down.

"I … was headed for dinner when I ran into you." She admitted, looking at him sheepishly. At least now she wasn't blushing, but a feeling that was best described as butterflies was beginning to overtake her stomach. "Were you heading somewhere in particular?"

"No, but if you want, we can get food together; I haven't seen you at all in the last five years!" Lloyd smiled again, and before Presea could protest—he had wrapped an arm around her shoulders and began walking her over to a restaurant nearby. Presea's face skipped pink and went straight to crimson, her heart racing. Lloyd smiled as he continued, "I went to Altamira once, but Regal said that you off doing something for him; that was irritating, because I had wanted to see you."

"You … wanted to see me?" Presea asked softly, looking up at him in wonder. Lloyd actually turned to look at her with a smile, and the light from the setting sun and the street lights cast his face in striking shadows, and his eyes seemed to glow.

"Yeah; I was really starting to miss you." He admitted, and would've added more if they hadn't reached the restaurant. Once inside, they were politely shown to a table by a blushing waitress—apparently, good looking swordsmen in their early twenties weren't too common around there apart from Zelos. After giving her their orders—and Lloyd asking gently if she was alright, because she was awfully red in the face—the waitress left them to talk for a while.

Presea was amazed at the stories that Lloyd was telling her about his journey to rid the world of Expsheres; in six years of his life, he had done more than she had ever thought possible of any human being. And from the look of it, he would've gone on longer than this if he had need to.

"Compared to you, I feel so … insignificant." Presea murmured after a moment, her eyes oddly intent on the wood grain in front of her. Lloyd looked at her in shock.

"What? Why; you've done just as much as I have!! Regal told me how you stopped those Exsphere smugglers from getting into the Toize mines on your own." He gently reprimanded her, smiling while he did so. When Presea looked up at him in shocked wonder, he actually leaned partially over the table and poked the tip of her nose. "Don't go and give me the whole 'I'm unimportant' spheal, please. I missed you too much to let you be such a grump around me." He told her, and Presea found the butterflies slowly returning. She was about to say something when an all too familiar voice cut into the air.

"No way in hell!!! Bud!!!" Lloyd actually groaned at the redhead's voice, and buried his face in a hand again.

"Now him, I wouldn't have minded seeing until tomorrow." He hissed as Zelos trotted over to their table and pulled up a chair; for someone who was in his mid twenties, the Chosen seemed rather childish, Presea decided. He had gotten a hair cut though.

"Hello, Zelos." She stated blandly, which made him look at her.

"Ah, so my lovely rose bud has bloomed!! It's wonderful to see you too, Presea!!" He chirped, beaming at her. Presea schooled her face into neutrality, but a bit of her was glad to see Lloyd level a mostly concealed glare at Zelos. The effect was the same, however, and Zelos either guessed on knew from past experience—Kratos had nearly killed him with the same glare numerous times—and promptly shut up.

A few more moments passed in silence after that, and Lloyd was sipping from his drink when Zelos asked slyly, "So bud, gotten laid yet?" Presea felt her face go bright red, and Lloyd choked on the water. Sputtering, the brunet glared at Zelos with murderous intentions most likely playing through his mind.

"Why do you ask?" He asked dangerously, drumming some of his fingers on the table. Presea glanced at him, and seeing that he was serious, didn't comment. The question still bothered her though, and she ducked behind the book she had brought along, face redder than Lloyd's duster.

"Well, with your looks, I'd expect you've gotten yourself a posse of some kind." Zelos replied evenly, smiling at him. Lloyd wasn't amused, but he continued on, "and you know that there's nothing a woman likes more in bed than a sex—" Presea didn't need to look to know that Lloyd had smacked him, hard; the sound of leather covered hand contacting with a person's skull tended to do that. "OW!!"

"Tactless as ever." Lloyd muttered, looking at Presea in worry. She was staring far more intently at the book in her hands than usual. Peeking over the edge, he asked gently, "you okay there, Presea." Presea looked up, and seeing his face so close to hers, blushed and nodded an affirmative.

Their meals arrived then, and Zelos turned to flirting with the waitress rather than the tormenting of his friends. Lloyd thanked the young woman with a smile that made her blush far more than any of the Chosen's comments, and Presea simply nodded her head. needless to say, an awkward silence covered the table while they ate, and it was only broken when Zelos asked cautiously, "do either of you two have anything nice to wear for the dance Thursday night?"

"Dance?" Lloyd and Presea demanded at once, both of them staring at Zelos like he was an idiot. The chosen blinked, and then blinked again.

"Oh, I forgot; I never got an RSVP from you two, so I didn't send that to you either …" He commented dumbly, then smiled brightly. "Well, since you two are going to be showing up tomorrow, I guess we can have the tailor come in and look you two over!!" Lloyd groaned, and would've commented about how troublesome the tailor had been the last time if the waitress hadn't come with the bill. Shockingly, the swordsman didn't ask either of his friends to help him out, and simply fished the money out on his own.

"Damn, are you loaded or something?" Zelos asked, stunned. Lloyd shook his head at that.

"No, but I do have a reasonable amount from the thugs and Desians I took care of over the years as well." He said as he stood, offering his hand to Presea. "Let's get going Presea, it's late. See you tomorrow then, Zelos."

"Yes, good night, Zelos." Presea called over her shoulder a moment later, nearly forgetting everything when Lloyd's hand wrapped around hers. Zelos gave them a casual wave, but once they were gone, the redhead slumped back in his chair and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now I'm kina glad that the brat couldn't make it; he would've pitched a fit over this …" He commented to himself, wondering if it was wise to inform Genis that Lloyd and Presea possibly had something between them; the half-elf would've used any spell in his disposal to keep them apart.

Out on the street, Lloyd and Presea were walking hand in hand back to the inn, with Presea leaning slightly against Lloyd's arm. "Do you have a room here as well?" She asked when they were nearly there.

"Mm? Oh, no." He admitted, actually looking away with a faint blush. Presea giggled at his forgetfulness and shook her head, her hair brushing the side of his arm.

"You are as forgetful as ever, it seems." She teased, earning a faint cough in response. "You can share my room, in that case."

"You sure?" Lloyd asked her, eyes wide. "I mean, I'm in my twenties and well, you look underage …" Presea automatically understood what he was saying, and shook her head to cut him off.

"I don't mind; Zelos lives in this city, remember?" She commented as they entered, and she waved her key in the bellhop's general direction; she gave them a smile and went back to her work. As they climbed up the stairs, Presea added, "Besides, I trust you more than I trust Zelos; he would not sleep in the same room as me in a century." Lloyd actually chuckled at that, but when he saw the room's solitary bed, he went slightly pale.

'Well, it's large, so we can both lie on it with little trouble.' He reasoned with himself, taking off his boots when Presea did. When she took her pajamas and went into the bathroom to change, Lloyd simply sighed and plopped his bags down in the closet, taking his duster off soon after. Hanging it up, he pulled the shirt and gloves off of his head before tucking them into the bag and taking off his belt; he normally slept like this.

Lying down on the bed, Lloyd looked out the window at the stars as Presea re-entered the room. "Are you … going to sleep like this, Lloyd?" She asked, blushing horribly. Lloyd looked over at her and was about to reply, but stopped and blushed himself when he saw her.

Her pajamas were pale blue, and there were rabbits leaping over crescent moons on the pants. Presea also held a hair tie in one hand and a hairbrush. "W—woah …" He stammered out after a moment, blushing more. "Th—those look … nice." He told her, then remembered she had asked him something. "Oh! Yeah … I usually go to bed like this … do you want me to put a shirt back on?" He asked. To his shock, Presea shook her head.

"It's fine … but, could you please help me with my hair?" She asked softly, running her fingers through the sakura colored locks. Lloyd smiled and sat up, patting the mattress before him.

"Braid okay with you?" He asked as Presea settled herself, taking the hair tie and hairbrush from her. Presea nodded and leaned back into Lloyd's bare chest as he took care of her hair, relishing in the sensation of his fingers running through her hair. "Let me know if I hurt you." He whispered gently by her ear, making her jump slightly; his breath was so nice and warm, and she could feel his throat vibrate against her shoulder as he spoke. Her blush returned, and she only nodded slightly.

'What is wrong with me? Every touch now, every word of his, every action, it makes me feel so … safe.' Presea pondered, her eyes sliding partially closed. 'Is there a name to this feeling? I believe there is; is this … love?' Her musings were cut off by a painful tug. "Ow."

"Sorry; it's tangled right here." Lloyd muttered, gently pulling the knot apart before continuing to brush the pink hair out. Presea smiled as the gentle touch continued, and she had all but fallen asleep when he finished. "All done." He told her, once again whispering in her ear. Presea nodded with a faint 'mm', but didn't move away. To her shock, Lloyd didn't object, and finally sighed in defeat.

With skill, he pulled the blankets out from both of them and laid down, startled when Presea pressed back against him. Instead of objecting and pushing her away, he chuckled and wrapped an arm around her waist. "Good night then, Presea." He murmured, and the pinket woke up suddenly, her thoughts shockingly clear.

Yes, this was love.

Well, this is my first time at doing a Prelloyd story, so I'm sorry if they're too OOC. But yeah, this is five years post game, and for those of you who are worrying that this will have no plot after their confession, don't you worry; Genis is going to be a BIG factor in their relationship once he finds out about it. XD

And as for WHY Lloyd is getting eyed by girls, come on!! He's related to KRATOS!!!XD Anybody related to that guy has got to have good looks!!! XD

Review please!!!