Introduction

In the aftermath of the Journey of Reunification, adventurers who had made the journey a success felt that parting ways was the best choice at the time. Although, in the end they all made a pact to, after one year, return to Iselia to have a reunion of sorts. So, after saying a very tear-filled goodbye, Lloyd, Sheena, Genis, Raine, Colette, Zelos, Presea, Regal, and Kratos all went their separate ways. Genis and Raine left to spread their teachings of equality between elves, humans, and half-elves. Presea and Regal (now un-shackled) went back to Altamira to aid in the rebuilding of the "new world." And then, there was the most surprising path of them all; Zelos, now with the title "Chosen" meaningless, gave up all of his fortune and estate to go and live in Iselia with none other than Colette. His last words to everyone were, "I'm tired of this game I play…I'm tired of playing with other's hearts and my own, I want the real thing…and I think I may just have found it here…" The works of Kratos have not been heard of since his deportation to Derris-Kharlan as it left earth's orbit. And then left, there was Lloyd and Sheena. After Lloyd's promise to Sheena in Heimdal to allow her to come with him in his own journey to destroy all of the exspheres left in the world, they returned to Mizuho to announce her leaving of the village for a while to fulfill this new quest. They then returned, together, to Dirk's house to rest for a few weeks before they left again. This is where we join them, as Lloyd and Sheena live the next adventure in their life.

Chapter 1- Dirk, Iselia, and Last Goodbyes

"Lloyd! Lloyd wake up!"

"Ah!" Lloyd sat bolt upright in shock of being woken up so suddenly. Sheena stood over him smiling widely at his reaction. "Man Sheena, you scared me! You shouldn't do that to a guy ya know." He chuckled.

"I know, but you'll never wake up otherwise. Now come on downstairs, I'm cooking breakfast." She smiled one more time at him before turning on her heel and striding out the door and down the stairs.

It had been three weeks since the completion of the Journey of Reunification and he and Sheena were resting at Dirk's house before they left on a new journey to rid the world of all leftover exspheres and finally free the lives trapped within them.

Lloyd stretched his arms above his head and yawned sleepily as he stood up from his messed up bed sheets and began to get dressed up in his regular traveling clothes. He and Sheena were to set out from Dirk's house in the evening after having a full two weeks to spend with everyone and say their goodbyes.

After finishing getting dressed and cleaning up a bit, Lloyd walked down the stairs to find Sheena standing by the stove flipping eggs in a frying pan, obviously showing off. She was doing turns as she flipped the sizzling eggs up over hear head and caught them back in the pan just in time, setting them back down on the stove's flame. She knew that Lloyd was standing there watching her cooking acrobatics; this is why she was doing them…

"Having fun over there, Sheena?" Lloyd laughed as he continued down the stairs, not knowing she already knew he was standing there throughout the whole show.

She blushed slightly, "Actually, yes I am!" she replied humorously, "how much are you hungry for this morning?"

"Ah…not much, I'm a little nervous to tell you the truth…don't have much of an appetite." Lloyd answered shiftily. He glanced at Sheena for a little bit of conformation.

Sheena gave him a slight nod, guessing at what he was talking about. "It's about leaving Iselia again isn't it?"

Lloyd averted his gaze again, "Well yes, that. But then there's just…"

Sheena looked slightly confused, he had never really mentioned anything else that might have been wrong to her. "Just…?"

He was silent for a few seconds, and then answered, "Well, I've just grown so used to being around Colette so much that it's gonna feel kinda weird to go with out her." He was silent again after that as he tilted his head to look at the ground again.

Sheena flinched slightly at these words and the blush drained from her face.

Lloyd looked up suddenly. "Sheena, we're really good friends right?"

She looked at him, "Yeah, we are, what's wrong?"

He paused, "well, for a while, while we were on the Regeneration Journey, I sort of began to…like Colette for a little bit. Is that wrong?"

The color drained from Sheena's face as she stumbled for the answer.

Lloyd continued, "I mean, I don't anymore. But I did. Colette is like a sister to me but I had those kinda 'feelings' for her for a little while. Is that wrong? To start to grow feelings for a friend like that?"

Sheena continued to stare at Lloyd, only very slightly relived to hear that he no longer had feelings for Colette. "No, I don't think it is." she finally said, "I don't think its wrong for friends to grow fond of each other in that way…especially for how much time you spent with each other…sometimes…don't you agree that sometimes 'just friends' can maybe become more?" She felt the pain of the acceptance of his feelings for Colette pull at her heartstrings as the words left her mouth.

Lloyd looked slightly taken aback at these words. And…he blushed. "Yeah, I think that that's true, thanks Sheena. I've admitted that to anyone before, not even Genis, I'm happy that I can trust you." He smiled.

"Oh, no problem, I'm glad that you can trust me too." She smiled weakly at his obvious obliviousness to what she was subtly trying to hint at. 'Ignorance is bliss I guess.' She thought to herself as she served up Lloyd's breakfast.

The conversation had ended just in time as Dirk entered through the front doorway and sat down at the table. "G'mornin yeh two." He smiled brightly, "Have a nice sleep?" He sat down at the table and Sheena passed him a plate of eggs and bacon and he immediately started digging in.

"Oh yeah, I slept fine." Lloyd answered.

Dirk looked up from his food long enough to give a quick smile and say "That's good, what about you Sheena? …Sheena?"

Sheena hadn't noticed that she was being spoken to; she was too busy staring blankly out the window at the horizon. 'How can I make him realize…?'

"Sheena? Are ye awake over there?" Dirk said, a little bit louder.

This startled Sheena out of her daydream and she looked at Dirk, "Oh, wow, I'm sorry, I guess I spaced of for a moment. What were you saying?"

Dirk swallowed his current mouthful of food and laughed, "I was just asking how you slept last night." He shoved another spoonful of his breakfast into his mouth.

"Oh, I slept fine. Thanks for letting me use your bed this whole time we've been staying with you." She flashed a fake smile at him.

"Oh t'was nothin', it actually felt kind of good to get back with nature and sleep under the stars like that."

Lloyd laughed at this last statement, "BACK to nature, dad? You live in a house, in the middle of the woods, in a house made out of wood, in a bed made out of wood and leaves, with a window right next to the bed that looks out directly to the sky. Not to mention that the window is also made out of wood. When did you ever LEAVE nature?" Everyone in the house erupted into laughter at this remark, even Dirk.

After a while of merriment and laughter, Dirk settled back into his seat, very much full of Sheena's delicious cooking, and said aloud to the two of them, "Ah ha ha ha, well, as much fun as that was, you two should go and spend your last day here with your friends instead of here with me! Go now to Iselia and talk with yer friends! Leave me to the dishes, eh?"

Sheena and Lloyd smiled at each other and stood up from the table.

"Thanks dad," Lloyd said happily, "we'll be back later today to gather up our stuff. Will you be around then?"

"I sure will, don't you worry, I wont be missin' your departure." Dirk answered with a smile.

At that, Sheena gave Dirk a quick smile and walked toward the door with Lloyd, wondering what their last visit with Colette and Zelos would be like…

"Sheena! Lloyd! Over here!" Colette and Zelos could be seen standing on the doorstep of Colette's house. Colette was smiling and waving to them as they began walking in the direction of her house. Zelos was standing beside her in normal clothing attire, a green-brown tunic with a vest covering it up and some leather and cotton slacks (this was a very big change from his former appearance as a wealthy, laid back man). He had his usual grin on his face, but with a new light to it. They were holding hands.

Lloyd waved back at them to acknowledge that they saw them there. Sheena said and did nothing, it had been a fairly awkward trip through the Isealia Forest and she was not looking forward to seeing Colette as much anymore.

Lloyd didn't have the same grin on his face as he had that morning, he could feel something was wrong with Sheena, she was acting kind of oddly ever since he had talked to her about his past feelings for Colette and he was hoping that she didn't think that there were still some feelings between him and Colette.

Colette ran toward the gloomy pair as they approached the house, Zelos in tow. She began speaking so excitedly and quickly that she could barely be understood.

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe that this is the last time we'll see each other! What do you guys want to…oops!" in her haste to finish words while running, she tripped and fell, taking Zelos with her. They toppled head-over-heel until they eventually came to a stop and the now in hysterics Lloyd and Sheena.

"Colette! Are you alright?" Lloyd laughed, "man, no matter how much battle-training you got you're still just as clumsy as ever!"

Colette and Zelos stood up, blushing furiously but laughing none-the-less. Zelos was the first to respond with a blunt, "Like you wouldn't believe! Broke another side-table this morning by tripping over it." Colette's entire face turned crimson as she punched Zelos in the shoulder, hard.

"Be nice now! It was just an accident!"

Zelos stumbled back and winced from the pain, "Look who's talking…owww…that really hurt hunnie!" he rubbed his shoulder and laughed.

All four were laughing now, even Sheena.

They spent several minutes after that joking around and retelling some of the events that had taken place in the past week (Colette and Zelos had left the week after Sheena and Lloyd got back to finish up a couple of things involving the churches of Martel). It was around 3 in the afternoon and getting closer and closer to when Lloyd and Sheena would have to leave when the four friends had gotten all caught up.

Everyone had noticed that Sheena was a bit more quiet than usual. But no one (including Sheena herself) brought it up, fearing it would put a bit of a rain cloud over the last moments they spent together, but Sheena felt that she needed to talk to Colette before they left…just to find something out.

In a brief break in the conversation, Sheena stood up and fixed her solemn gaze upon Colette, "umm…Colette?" she asked nervously.

Colette looked slightly taken aback and fumbled her answer for a few moments, "oh! Um…yeah? I mean…uh…what do you need Sheena?"

Sheena shifted uncomfortably, "umm…can I just…have a word with you really quick?"

A nervous expression now was drawn onto Colette's face as well. "Sure Sheena, want to take a walk then?"

"Um, sure, that would be great." She answered. And they walked off, Sheena's pink waist-sash flapping in the wind behind her as she strode off and Colette taking one last fleeting glance at Zelos, trying to convey her thought to him. He got the hint and turned quickly to face Lloyd.

Colette led Sheena to a small clearing in the Iselia Forest and sat down, beckoning Sheena to come sit down next to her. She took a deep breath and went to sit down. Colette looked worried for some reason. "Sheena…you needed to tell me about something?"

Sheena looked around for a second before she answered. "Yeah, I do…It's about Lloyd." There was a long silence.

Colette finally broke the silence, "That's what I thought this was about…" she replied, "what about him?"

Sheena was slightly surprised, but at the same time, wasn't. She had realized that what she was feeling might have shown on her face a little bit. "Colette…how…do you feel about him?"

Colette's eyes widened at the accusation that she was facing. "Sheena, you don't think…?" their eyes locked and the truth was revealed, there was…jealousy? "Oh my gosh…you do…Sheena…I-…"

"Please, Colette, just tell me if…" Her face turned bright red.

Colette shifted a bit in her seat, "Sheena…you know…about me and Zelos, right? You know what else happened on our brief trip to the Martel churches right? We confessed our love for each other…we… we love each other. I love Lloyd, but not in the sense that you are thinking of, I love him as if he were the brother that I was never lucky enough to have, nothing more." Colette gave a weak smile sighed. Sheena was at a loss for words at the moment. She was relived, even happy that there really was nothing between her and Lloyd, but she also felt guilty, because Colette and entrusted her with the gift of being the first to know of her and Zelos' vow of love when only a few minutes before hand Sheena was distrusting and jealous of her, maybe even slightly angry. But those feelings were gone in an instant as Colette spoke once more, "Sheena, now it is my turn to ask something of you. What do YOU feel for him?"

Sheena blushed even more and still could not speak, the only thing she could muster was a pitiful, "I'm…not sure…I-…" she stopped again.

Colette smiled brightly at her and shook her head, "It's okay Sheena, I think I understand now," she stood up, "shall we head back to the boys now? I'm sure they're getting bored just sitting there by themselves, they have such short attention spans, sometimes I wonder if they really are just tall children!"

Sheena laughed, "Ah, I'm sure they have found SOMETHING to occupy their minds with. But either way, let's head back." She smiled and stood up, everything had been cleared and the weight of competition was lifted off her shoulders. "Thank you, Colette." She whispered under her breath, and they both set of back toward the small village of Iselia.

Flashback, Iselia

Colette took one last fleeting glance at Zelos, trying to convey her thought to him. He got the hint and turned quickly to face Lloyd. "Lloyd," he said.

Lloyd looked blatantly confused, the past couple of seconds had happened so suddenly that he was still reeling from them. "Wha-…what do ya need, Zelos?" he stammered.

"Do you have any idea what's goin' on right here?" Zelos asked calmly.

Lloyd snapped back to reality at this point, "What do you mean?" he answered innocently.

Zelos just shook his head and smirked in semi-disbelief, 'maybe this was just to be expected of him, isn't exactly the quickest to catch on to things as subtle as this' he thought to himself. Lloyd just raised an eyebrow at him. Zelos saw this and smiled a bit wider, "Never mind man!" he laughed, "You'll figure it out eventually…I hope." Zelos muttered this last comment under his breath.

"What was that, Zelos?" Lloyd laughed back.

"Oh, nothing, I didn't say anything." He replied, "If I had said something then I forgot it already!"

Lloyd laughed again at this; "Betcha got 'something else' on your mind then, eh? Coooooooooolette maybe?" he teased.

Zelos couldn't help but blush; maybe Lloyd wasn't as slow as he had thought because he hit that dead-on.