Disclaimer Lolo and related characters are copyright to Namco.

Author's Note: Well... Solitary Shadow goes mad, people. Not like I wasn't mad before. I'm actually writing a Klonoa x Lolo story. Yes, it's Klonoa and Lolo, people. It's my first and probably last attempt at this.

This story fits all the games together as best as one can. And I mean all of them. Narrated by Lolo, this is a doubleshot which is clearly Klonoa x Lolo with the former not present. It's rather angsty... and dark... and the ramblings of a young priestess... so I won't blame you if you get bored. I was inspired by Mobian Hero. (Bows low) Thank you, m'lady.

My name is Lolo. I have no professions as of now, and I was a priestess-in-training until two months ago. Today is May Day, the fifth of May, and my birthday. I am fifteen today. I have an odd complexion, yes, pale face with blue eyes and a permanently melancholy expression. I have worn that expression since two years ago, and there is no way I can turn that back.

This is my story so far. I am ill; quite ill today, despite it being my birthday. I am rather feeling nauseous and dizzy, and I am taking my medication right now. Everything is still in here, without a face, friend to say hello to and receive a birthday greeting from. I have been ill for some time, and I'm not sure if I can heal. I hope I do. But then...

There is little hope for me now, it seems.

It all started with the priestesses. I remember being five years old, watching a small group of those dainty, sweet priestesses pass by every so often in the small village I was born in. They were different. They were pure and unique. Naturally I wanted to be with them. My little town village, Breezegale, seemed so boring and tantalizing at the time. I was young then, and honestly knew no better. Every day a different group would come and pass by. Every day I would watch them, wearing their clean uniforms, their voices angelic and musical whenever they sang hymns or spoke to the villagers. I envied their life - I envied them, and that was perhaps the largest mistake in my life.

The villagers tried many times to talk me out of it. There had been a girl there, an older girl I didn't know the name of, and she had gone into service. She came back, I heard it said, when I was visiting the Temple myself for about three days, and she had gone again, saying that she was too ashamed to live there anymore. She had left Breezegale, like me, and for the same reasons. They did not want me to end up like her. Balue was particularly persistent and tried to convince me to stay every day.

"It's a struggle and a war out there, my girl, and there is nothing anyone ever gives. It's a tough world."

"But look at the others who make it in the end!" I cried. "Do they mean nothing? The girls there are beautiful, a success-" Balue sighed.

"Lolo, you're very young. You might find it hard to understand. Priestesses require commitment, and if you don't have it it's pure hell." I pouted and sulked.

"I'll make it in the end! I'll be able to commit!" He laughed, ruffling my hair and slinging the mining sack and pickaxe over his shoulders.

"Our darling angelic Lolo." He said, tickling me, and I giggled. I hopped off the rock I was sitting on, and ran, waving back at him. Yet the next day, I had become a sulky, disobdient child again, whining to become a priestess.

Well, Balue was right. But not for the same reasons he'd stated to me that day.

Breezegale fifteen years ago was pretty much the same as now. It was calm, peaceful, petite and just an ordinary village. Some others lived there, but they were not good enough in my eyes. The ordinary straw huts, the small brick houses, the ordinary grounds - it was all the same to me, and no wonder. I'd never learnt to be grateful for what I had. All too ordinary, never unusual and unique. The Moos were all the same, either the small red ones scuttling around, or the yellow ones hopping amongst the grass. I grew tired of that after putting up with it for ten years. I hated Breezegale more and more with each passing day. I wanted to go into service, lead what I believed was a unique, but wonderful life. How was I to know that my life would just be another lie, just be another statistic?

I'd never known until I entered into the Temple when I was ten. That was in January, I believe. Those priestesses were dead inside, only beautiful and pure on the exterior. I'd never seen through that mask. When I first went in I found that they were hostile to me. I thought that was because I was a newcomer; but as time passed, it became evident that that was not the case. They hated me because... I was myself, I guess. I wasn't popular, I wasn't from a rich family, and I wasn't pretty. Naturally I didn't fit in. I could never fit in. I didn't like Breezegale, I never identified with the villagers, so I had run out of that to the hell I foolishly believed was salvation. In fact, it was none of that. Five years of endless misery, endless despair, and there was no hope for me from the day I entered the Temple to train.

There was Leorina, though. She was there. She did not fit in either with the priestesses, but (Goddess help me) she was tough. Leorina was a troublemaker, but she was a hard worker at the same time and could be very protective. She could sort out anyone who got in her way. She looked after me for a full year, always watching out for me. But one day she'd fought with the High Priestess and came inside the dormitory to me.

"Lolo, I'm sick of this place." She cried. "I can't stay here anymore. I just can't. I don't belong here."

"I don't belong here either, Leo." I replied. "What happened?"

"High Priestess." She answered, looking agitated. "She chastised me. Punishing me for not being able to ring the stupid bell!" She pointed outside, where the La-Lakoosha Spirit Bell - silent, but still ominous and ever-present - stood motionless. "I've had enough of this life. I'm leaving."

"You're leaving the Temple?" I stood up. "Where are you going to go?"

"Somewhere that is not here." She turned to me, hope in her eyes. "Come with me, Lolo. You hate this place as much as I do. Please come along. You're the only friend I ever had here, and a real friend instead of ones that just take advantage of you. I don't want to leave you here, with those nasty snobbish idiots." She held up my arm, inspecting it, looking at the countless bruises that marked my skin. "Lolo, please. Any more and they'll kill you if you stay here. Come with me."

I said nothing. Leorina sighed, and nodded sadly at me, implying she understood what I wanted. She left that night, and I looked out for her, knowing that I would suffer endlessly now, regardless of how minor my faults were, now that Leorina was gone. I did not want to burden her, who had been so good to me all this time, with myself. She was like my sister, and I was going to repay her kindness by letting her go into the world she wanted without fuss. I kept a lookout in case anyone should catch her. Leorina embraced me briefly, nodded, and then she was gone. I did not see her for a couple of years, and I also said nothing when everyone was questioned about her whereabouts. The abuse began again, but I felt it was my punishment for so ruthlessly abandoning my home village. I deserved that treatment. I should have stayed in Breezegale. I realized that too late.

But once you were in the service of the Goddess Claire there was no going back.

My most painful memories are all in the Temple. There was the time I was pushed into the waterway and rescued by the High Priestess just before I drowned. The others who pushed me were expelled, but that is a very small matter compared to the situation I was in. There were countless times when I was beaten for not buying something right, or breaking something. My fault for being so stupidly clumsy and rough, I guess. Every day was hell, but I had come in seeking for heaven. It was my mistake... out of the many I had made, it was the single biggest mistake.

But what could a girl do at the time? All I could do was to withstand it all. After all, Breezegale was not my home, as I had abandoned it all. The Temple was all I had. The High Priestess and everyone else - they were long since dead to me, and it was no use to talk.

There was Lolo. But there was no Lolo at the same time, not one I could call myself.

There still is none.

There never will be any.

Every sunrise and sunset was same. Every day was pointless, and as I quietly carried on with my duties, I began growing impatient. I could not become a true Priestess on my own. I couldn't ring the bell. Leorina was right; it was truly pointless to carry on without being able to ring the large bell that dominated my life. But I tried. Although I tried, I was more impatient than Leo had been. She had tried five years just before she left. I was just into my second year at the time when I started to think of ways to cheat. Not anything rash. Some way to increase my powers. But there is no such way, and I didn't know what I would do if I couldn't ring that bell. My companion expressed worries about it, but it was my obsession, one obsession that nearly ruined the arrival of a new friend.

I shall talk about that later, perhaps...

In the winter of my first year - I was eleven - I found a companion. The priestesses didn't like him, but I might say that he was not glad of them either. That was good. His name is Popka - he's one friend who stuck by me all this time for three years, and I'm glad of his company. Although he happens to be chatty and permanently grumbling about something or another, I know that he's sweet inside. I found him abandoned in a box that winter, and took him to the Temple to warm him up. He was freezing. Popka is still with me, and in winter days he has said often that he was grateful that he is still alive; I know that he sincerely means that, contrary to his usual outbursts, and that is enough for me. He's dozing beside me now, having just had his dinner with me. He's wiser now, and a little less complaining. I believe he has matured, much like me.

Popka is lucky. He doesn't have to live in loneliness and sadness every day. I do.

It would be terribly cruel, and so untrue to say he does not feel; because Popka is a very emotional creature, much like me, and feels every emotion intensely. But he is still not me, therefore he knows so little of my loneliness. Sure, Popka is lovely and a faithful companion, but companions are different from love.

I realize I have not spoken full truth in the previous statements. My happiest memory was during when I was in the Temple still. It was June, I believe, and I was twelve. The happiest memory would be when Klonoa came into my life. The High Priestess had expressed that a new traveller from a distant land would come and change Lunatea for the better, and a priestess from the Temple would be along with him when he began his journey. I couldn't believe I was the one that had pulled him out. I recognized him instantly; he was unlike any Lunatean I had ever seen before, and he had appeared literally out of nowhere. That was enough for me - enough for anyone - to assume that he was the Dream Traveller indeed.

And the first thing I did?

I introduced myself and Popka, and instantly a plan formed in my head. "Help us." I stated directly to Klonoa, and I vanished inside his ring, knowing that the powers of a priestess would help his ring to work and him to complete what he was here to do. But first, I left it to Popka to know what was going on. If he hadn't taken the hint, and led us before the High Priestess, the plan would have to wait - and I honestly could not wait any longer. But Popka knew what I wanted, and although frowning slightly and disapproving, he led him to the Spirit Bell. Combined with his powers, I could ring the Bell. After he had done so, I led the two back to the Temple, skipping in joy. Once I got the feather on my hat, I was overjoyed. Two years of toil and withstanding abuse, and I had become a true priestess! I had become a honest priestess who would work for the people, not for herself. Foolish I was then.

I began feeling guilty when we met an old face.

It was Leorina, of course; who else could it be? We were journeying to the Bell of Tranquilty when they appeared before us. I was surprised at the person she had become; her face had hardened, her features set. Oh, she was still beautiful - but it was not in the way one would appreciate. She had fallen from grace, fallen from the world, had become a loner. She was thinner now, looked crueler, and had a small spirit beside her. The spirit was called Tat, and I recognized her as an alter-ego spirit; she could split herself into two. They had become Sky Pirates.

"A priestess, Lolo?" She whispered when Klonoa was fighting Folgaran. I was inside the ring, but being an ex-priestess in training, Leorina could still sense me. "What did you do? Two years is hardly enough to become a priestess! Did you persuade the Dream Traveller to ring the Bell for you?" I kept quiet, ashamed. But she knew. Goddess Claire, she knew.

"Fool!" She hissed. "It is better to fail than cheat yourself! Have you learnt nothing while I was away?" She broke off abruptly, as Folgaran crashed to the floor. "I shall let you all go today," She finally muttered. "But do not expect to be lucky next time!"

Oh, the guilt I felt when she looked at me! I was being condemned! I had used the Dream Traveller, someone who had been sent to protect this world, for my own selfish wishes! Leorina had never tried to cheat, preferring to run away rather than do such a thing, and that was what made us different. She was honest yet, even though she had become selfish, cruel - despisable - in everyone else's eyes; I was the innocent one, accompanying the Dream Traveller, but in reality I was no better than the priestesses back at the Temple.

But I was happy. Even when Leorina was cursed by the immense power of sorrow she had brought upon herself, I did not fully feel the horror of it. Something like guilt and sorrow posessing a person, twisting them, making them go insane - that was abstract to me. How wrong, how foolish I was!

I do not know what had happened exactly when we finally came face to face with the King of Sorrow. I was still inside the ring and there was only the semi-transparent green surface in front of me. I could not see out, as everything just looked hazy and distorted in my eyes. But it was enough to shield me, enough to block out all outside noise. I was the power source, and as I was inside the ring the King's voice rang out to me, speaking to me, awakening my deepest fears.

"Why resist?" He voice said softly. "I am pure sorrow. He cannot stop me."

"He can." I thought back. "Klonoa can do anything. I believe in him!"

"How sentimental... but utterly pathetic." The King said again, in that soft monotone, but his voice gave me the chills. "You trust too much, young priestess. That will be the end of you. Nothing more I could expect of those priestesses who care none for their world. But what's this?" He trailed off for a moment, and then his voice came back. "Ahh. So you're a fake. A failure. An apprentice in a priestess's shell. Nothing more. I guess you used the Dream Traveller to ring the Bell, so you would indirectly strike it?"

"Enough! Leave me alone!" I cried. But no King would ever give up as easily.

"Fake." He softly whispered, over and over again. "That's all you are. A fake. Failure." I shut my eyes, wanting to stop the voice, blocking it all out - but once inside the ring I had to keep on fighting, and I had limited movement. Hiding within myself would have diminished the power of the ring.

"I trust Klonoa," I whispered to myself. "I trust him with my heart - my life. He'll put an end to this madness!"

"Trust is a dangerous, fickle thing, young priestess." The King of Sorrow responded. "It'll kill you all in the end. But-" He stopped speaking once again, sighing. "Never mind. I shall not disturb you any further. He'll leave you anyway." And then his voice ended.

I don't know how I managed to stay in the ring, shivering. I feared that his voice would come after me again, awaken my fears, and terrorize me. But most of my fear laid in what he'd said - 'He'll leave you anyway' - as I realized too late that Klonoa had never been sent here to stay. I'd spent the last few days in happiness, thinking that he would stay forever - and now I knew that my hopes were in vain. Once his work was done he would leave, and he would never return again. And I'd used him, had only been a burden to him all this time...

I know little of how Klonoa defeated the King. I was curled up within myself, shaking. But I think my desire to end the torment added to the ring's power. It was all down to Klonoa in the end - I only could provide the power. What he did with it was up to him, and he had done a good job. As the King lay in Klonoa's arms, begging for help, I suddenly felt sorry for him; I could imagine his sadness, having been ignored for most of his life and jeered at. He was alike myself, being a loner. I could imagine his fear - it would be like what I'd experienced in Mira-Mira, with the laughing priestesses in the mirrors, distorted and hideous. Ah yes, he was like me, and as much as I had feared him, I felt sympathy for him. I knelt next to Klonoa.

"Don't be sad anymore." I awkwardly murmured. "It's alright. You don't have to run... you don't have to hide ever again."

"Why are you helping me?" He whispered, his eyes shut and leaking tears. Klonoa gave me a questioning look, and I returned his gaze with a decisive nod. I leaned down, touching the King's face gently, comforting him and letting him relax. Popka made a movement as if to advance on him, but Leorina stopped him, watching us.

"We are more alike than you think." I smiled. "You're safe now. We won't forget again."

"The world will remember sorrow." Klonoa joined in. "We've gone too far to turn back, and we'll make sure sorrow isn't forgotten again."

"Yes..." The King whispered softly, and then he drew his last breath, sinking into Klonoa's lap. Almost instantly, he vanished in a glow of lights; the Element of Sorrow fell into Klonoa's hands, and he looked at it, holding it close to his heart. I smiled at him, he smiled back, and there was nobody else in the world except for us. He bore no grudge, and I had no fears.

I knew what I had to do.

"You're giving up your title?" He exclaimed in surprise as I took the feather from my hat. "But why?"

"It wasn't me who rang that bell." I said calmly. "It was you in the end. I'll become a priestess on my own this time! I won't give up!" With that, I let the feather go. It fluttered high up into the air, spinning in the light breeze, landing and floating lightly on the Sea of Tears. It was beautiful to see, the sun setting in the distance, the amber lights glittering on the water's surface and reflecting off the feather, now being carried away by the current.

"Atta girl." Leorina was beside me, laughing. "That's the way to live. Not to cheat yourself, not to do whatever the world expects of you, and achieving on your own. You're growing up, Lolo." She smiled at me, briefly hugged me, and departed.

Ah, how I wish I could say that Leorina and Tat were the only ones who departed that day. They were going to rebuild the Kingdom of Sorrow, and now - they've done a spectacular job. The King would have been proud. Hyuponia, the Kingdom of Sorrow, is now considered the most beautiful kingdom in Lunatea. But they could return whenever they wanted. Klonoa, however, did not have that choice. Once they were gone, he turned to me with a sad smile.

"Lolo..."

"I know," I replied, fighting back tears. "Lunatea isn't your world... you have to go back..." Tears were welling in my eyes now, and I was wiping them away, sobbing softly. "But I'm alright... you taught me so much, Klonoa - you taught me it was okay to cry, as long as I don't give up..." I was sobbing hard. "So... so... it's okay... if I cry... right?"

I ran and hugged Klonoa, crying shamelessly. He gasped, but held me tightly nonetheless. "Lolo-!"

"No... no... no! Don't go, Klonoa! Please don't go!" I wailed. Klonoa didn't answer, but hugged me back, letting me rest my head on his shoulder.

"It's okay... we'll always be together, Lolo. Remember the sadness of this moment... and we'll always be together." He looked at me, wiping my tears away. "I might leave... I might never see you again... but I'll always remember you." His body was glowing, ready to go back into his world. "Lolo... Thank you..." He whispered faintly to me, a tear rolling down his cheek.

He was gone.

In the short few days that I had spent with him, he had awakened new hope in me, and he made my life worth living. The priestesses (save for the really nasty ones) left me pretty much alone after it was found out I had been the one to accompany the Dream Traveller and change the world of Lunatea. I knew where Leorina was, I knew she was happy and rebuilding Lunatea. I knew that she was trying her best to remember sorrow, as she had been ignorant of it and had been consumed by such power during our adventure, and that she was free again. I knew that everyone was rejoicing. My life was alright after that, I suppose... but there was always an empty space there, a space which Klonoa should have filled.

I loved him so much.

I implied that quite clearly when we parted. I felt that he knew it.

But if he knew how much he meant to me... why hasn't he come back? Why didn't he return? I have waited three years, and still he hasn't turned up. Klonoa is a Dream Traveller, I know, but surely he could return when he himself dreams of this place? He goes to places by dreams. I don't think, even though I hope, that he will return unless there is another dire need for a hero in this world. I've tried to summon him into this world - but one person's wishes would be insignificant compared to the will of millions. That might be why he's not coming back, because for now Lunatea is peaceful, and it has been for years.

There are no hopes for me now, and unless there is some change in my life... I won't be leading a good life at all.

I had dreamed that my life would be so different from the hell I am in. But there are some things that cannot be, and from the moment I abandoned Breezegale hopes were lost for me. My dream cannot come true now, and I know that too well. I have been disappointed so many times, almost to the point where I began anticipating it. But I hate this feeling of abandon, this feeling of helplessness even so, watching myself fall apart yet not being able to do anything about it.

Ah, Popka's asleep. It's late.

Another day is dying. My birthday is nearly over, and I am tired. I shall take my medicine, which is waiting for me next to the glass of water, and my musing is done tonight. I shall not dwell on it, not for at least another year. I am tired, and as it is late night - eleven thiry-five, please excuse me.

It is time to turn out the lights.

Well... that's the first bit. It was rubbish. There's another bit coming and that one has some imagination sprinkled on it. This is the first fic I've written backwards (literally). Mobian Hero inspired me on that as well - I wrote the ending first should it fade from my mind, and ended up writing the entire thing from end to start, and messed up a few formats and added in other details during the time.

Mad as this sounds, I just don't like Lolo. That's why this was a real challenge for me. But the work I am proudest of so far is 'Nightmare'... which is very, very Lolo-centric. I didn't even put Klonoa there. Writing in her POV here was hard. I took about five minutes to write one sentence, considering her formal yet clumsy way of speaking. I haven't quite got it yet. With me it's either formal and firm, or informal.

I am never going to achieve anything like this again... so... meh.