I've always preferred writing comedy to emotional stories, as it is generally easier for me to sum up laughter then

tears, but I really felt that there should be a story with this ship out there, so here it is. Presea is one of my

favorite characters, but in most of the fan fiction I read, the authors can't quite capture, or sometimes simply

don't understand her character. Presea does feels emotion; she is human after all. There are some emotions that

she doesn't quite understand, and others she knows quite well, mainly loneliness. I, as an amateur writer, do not

hope to get her quite right, but at least, I hope to point out a few things to people about the lost, lonely, pink

haired girl. On a side note, this contains ending spoilers and Presea/Lloyd as the central ship, so you have been

warned. Oh, and I don't own Tales of Symphonia. That too.

Four Years Since (We Last Met)

The morning sun shone its first rays of light on the waking worlds as Lloyd walked into Iselia, laden with the buckets of stream water he was bringing to the Brunel's residence. His longtime friend and former Chosen, Colette was waiting for him as he rounded the bend towards her house, grinning and waving as he came into view.

"Thank you so much for bringing the water, Lloyd!" she exclaimed, relieving him of one of the buckets. It was true that now that the great tree that supplied mana to the land was on its way to nourish the re-development of magitechnology, and such that Lloyd really didn't need to carry water into down from the stream outside his home, old habits didn't die quickly, even after four years, though it could be argued that the tree was only a seedling, and Lloyd was justified in his actions.

The two friends walked inside to where Colette's father, Frank, was working on breakfast and Lloyd was able to collapse in a chair. Colette stored away the water and then sat down to talk.

"You know," mused Lloyd, "Lately I've been thinking." Colette nodded, smiling, "Go on." Lloyd sat back in his chair. "Now that we've worked on destroying the expheres as well as aiding the great tree in its re-growth, I'm beginning to think that it would be nice to go and see how our friends are doing. Colette brightened more so than she had been. "That's a great idea, Lloyd!" she responded enthusiastically. "We can fly on the rheairds," suggested the brown haired swordsman. "After breakfast, of course."

After consulting with Frank, and then Dirk, the pair prepared some necessary supplies and set off. Colette insisted visiting Palmacosta first, to see how the re-building of the city by the sea was faring. Lloyd raised no objections. Genis was there, anyway. The town was not what it once was; a beautiful thriving city, the biggest in Sylvaraunt, but it did look considerably better than after the Tower of Salvation had wreaked havoc upon the land. The school that Genis had so longed to stuffy at was rebuilt as well, and the pair found the young half-elf in high spirits.

Though Genis and Colette immediately engaged in conversation, Lloyd was momentarily taken aback. Genis, sixteen now, had grown a little. Well, if being taller than Lloyd was growing a "little", but Lloyd wanted the damage to his pride to be minimal.

"So, how's it going, Genis?" asked Lloyd amiably.

Genis shrugged, "We're making good progress on the restoration of this city, and I've been in contact with some of the others," he paused, his eyes growing slightly distant, "I write Presea often, you know, but I hardly ever get replies…" Then his eyes cleared, and he smiled.

"But I should be asking you and you've been, Lloyd! I mean, you just had your twenty first birthday, right?" Lloyd smiled proudly, "Yeah, and we had a party too! Me and Dirk and Colette and Raine and everyone in town!" Genis nodded, "How's Raine getting along these days?"

"Linar can down from Asgard and has been helping Raine to teach in town," Colette piped up, "They are thinking of adding another room to the schoolhouse!" Genis and Lloyd exchanged glances, but Genis replied politely, "How exciting, I'm sure."

The next destination was Mizuho, the ninja village that Sheena resided in. As Lloyd flew in with Colette, he noticed that the village seemed more alive and revived than it had four years ago, with a feeling of energy instead of a slow, faintly sad feeling that used to hang there. The friends were greeted almost immediately by a beaming Sheena in chieftains clothing.

"Lloyd! Colette! Wow, it's been a long time!" she exclaimed, bringing them into a bone-crushing hug. "SHEENA!" Colette cried happily, "How ARE you?" The two girls began getting into a long conversation about what each other had been doing in the past four years and Lloyd began to tune out. Leaving the girls to reminisce happily by themselves, the swordsman decided to continue on to Altimira without Colette and come back for her after talking to Regal and Presea.

Altimira was bustling with people, despite the cold weather that still wavered at the ending of winter. Lloyd fought his way through the crowds and boarded the Elemental Railway to go to the Lezareno office building where he expected to find his friends, who had also been out to help destroy the expheres after Mithos's defeat. Regal, as it turned out, was up on the Sky Terrace when Lloyd arrived. The young swordsman still couldn't get over how different his blue haired buddy was now that the journey was over. Regal had finally removed his shackles, the one thing he had promised Alicia he would do after the world was saved.

"Hey, Regal! Haven't seen you in a while!" Lloyd called out cheerful. Regal looked up and smiled and waved him over. "Why, hello Lloyd. I was just putting some flowers on Alicia's grave." Lloyd's smile faltered, "Did I come at a bad time?" Regal shook his head. "No, do not worry about it, my friend."

Lloyd looked around, unsure of how to continue the conversation, "So…um…where is Presea?" Regal frowned slightly at this. "She left for Flanoir yesterday afternoon, saying she needed some time alone. To be truthful, Presea hasn't been…doing to well lately."

Lloyd nodded, "I can go check up on her, fi you'd like." Regal studied his former companion for a moment, then replied, "Yes, I think that's best." Lloyd set out soon after, flying into the heavily snowing city with a more concerned look on his face than that morning, when he had been rather chipper. The day had been very long…

Upon entering Flanoir, Lloyd did not immediately see his ax-wielding friend, so he continued onward, wandering first into the Inn, where the manager said that a girl by that name had checked in, but she was out, then onto the market, and finally…towards the Church of Martel.

There, on the balcony overlooking the city in its entire splendor, was a young woman sitting cross-legged, her long pink hair out of its usual pigtails, and cascading down her back. Lloyd recognized Presea immediately, though she was half covered in snow and walked quietly over to her. She was shivering, and, Lloyd was surprised to see that Presea was looking rather pained, a lost and hopeless expression on her face that he had not seen in a long time.

"Presea?"

She jerked her head up, snowflakes unsettled from her hair in surprise. "Lloyd…?" Lloyd unrolled a blanket from his pack and wrapped it around her, then sat down. "You've got to be careful, or you'll get sick," he said, looking concerned. Presea watched him silently, not saying anything in reply, just watching him, almost as if she was going to cry, but couldn't.

"I don't suppose you're going to tell me what is bothering you?" the brown haired swordsman asked after a time, looking out across the city. Presea looked down at the blanket draped around her and drew it more tightly around her, "It's nothing." Lloyd sighed and looked back at his old friend, "Has it been so long that you can't confide in your friends?"

Presea studied the threads in the blanket with great interest, not looking at him, "I'm alone…I do not have…friends…" Lloyd snorted, startling her. "Of course you have friends! You have Me, Regal, Colette, Sheena, the Professor…and Genis too…" He stumbled on Genis's name, remembering what his friend had said earlier and wondering why it bothered him.

Presea finally looked up, studying Lloyd's face carefully. "If…what you say…is true…" Lloyd nodded, "Go on." Presea sighed, "It doesn't matter…"

Lloyd raised an eyebrow, "Yes it does! Something is bothering you, Presea, and I wish you would just tell me!" Presea clenched her hands into fists. "I want to be with you, Lloyd!" In was uncharacteristic of her, but then Lloyd realized that he hadn't seen this young girl who had lost her time in four years. Or maybe, he had just never really noticed how lonely she was.

Presea stood up quickly, her face suddenly vacant, "Ahh…well, that was not the best choice of words. I am sorry. You probably already have someone waiting for you…back at Iselia. Colette, perhaps, or was it Sheena?"

Lloyd frowned and stood up, catching her wrist before she could leave and turning her to face him. "Presea…" Presea tried to hide her face, but he had already seen a tear roll down her cheek. The first tear he'd ever seen her shed. Lloyd pulled her into a gentle hug.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" he said softly. Presea had buried her head in his chest, but he could still understand the muffled reply, "Because I've always been alone. I don't understand how I'm feeling, but it's hurting me and I can't face you because it hurts more then. It hurts when I think of you and someone else…and I don't want to be left behind anymore."

Lloyd moved Presea's face up so that he could look her in the eyes. Such sad, lonely eyes, it almost made his heart break. "Presea, I would never leave you behind. I won't ever leave you behind. I care about you too much." Presea blinked, "But…you didn't…Colette…Sheena?" Lloyd shook his head. "Presea, you may not have noticed this, but…I love you."

And he hugged her again, tightly this time, as if her would never let go, and Presea could feel her fears slowly drifting away, and the pain was lessening, and then, for the first time, she felt the hole in her heart getting a little bit smaller. And she hugged him back.

When the cold of Winter comes

Starless night will cover day

In the veiling of the sun

We will walk in bitter rain

But in dreams

I still hear your name

And in dreams

We will meet again

When the seas and mountains fall

And we come, to end of days

In the dark I hear a call

Calling me there

I will go there

And back again

-'In Dreams', featured in "The Breaking of the Fellowship" from the Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack

Ahhh! –sniffle- Ok, it was shorter than I had anticipated, and probably not dramatic, or interesting enough, but it

was begging me to write it. I am sick of Genis/Presea shippers who don't seem to realize that, while Genis has a

crush on Presea, Presea has only ever liked Lloyd, if anyone. But then, I've had Presea's ending, and many

people go for other people's endings. You may notice that Zelos is not mentioned at all in this story. This again,

has to do with ending spoilers, as this story itself, though I have seen Presea's ending, is modeled off Kratos's

ending, chosen for the death of Zelos. So Zelos wouldn't be mentioned. I'm not sure of the exact definition of

"one-shot", so I have no idea if that label fits this story. Though, according to the reliable online dictionary,

Meriam-Webster, "one-shot" means: that is complete or effective through being done or used or applied only

once. Well, if this is the general definition, than I dub this story a one-shot, as it is only in one chapter, without

follow-ups. Normally I'm no expert at short stories or romance, so Genis/Presea shippers, and critics, don't flame

me. I don't mind constructive criticism, though this isn't a continuing story, however. Oh, and if you actually like

this, please review! I'm already thinking of doing a Lloyd/Raine story…yeah, I do write off unusual ships, don't I?