Author's Notes: Hi everyone thanks for reading. Um… I got the idea for this fan fiction from this dream I had and this Chinese television show I watched many years ago (Somehow, I started to think about it again). I think it's kind of funny that most of the characters are family.
I'm trying really hard to put all the characters in this and give them an important role. Um… I'm trying, but… it may not flow that well and get off topic if I do so… sorry if I don't.
There's no T-rated content yet. So… I guess in the first few chapters its rated K.
And thanks to bobtheinsaneGREENcrayon for her help.
Please review!! I write fan fiction for audience, it gives me good moral support.
You now, this is the first 'Author Notes' I've ever written.
Okay, sorry for my rambling. Enjoy!
Chapter 2-A New Friend
"Welcome home," a voice greeted Colette as she walked inside the home.
It was a very small house, so small it might even be considered a shack. Although the family worked extremely hard to make the house have a neat and tidy environment, dust still made a thick lining across the floors and walls. A few petite cracks placed themselves on the walls and the whole house seemed to be breaking down. Even the house itself was fairly small. It consisted of two small rooms (One for Colette's mother and uncle, and the other for her two sisters and herself), a bathroom, and a larger room that was used as both the dining room and living room, and one more room for the kitchen.
She looked around to see a young woman with strangely silver hair and eyes brimming with wisdom. She wore a plain blue dress and a white apron on top of that. The young woman had been reading a book, so she set it down carefully and took off her reading glasses to give a proper welcome to her daughter.
The blonde girl nodded and chimed, "Thank you mother!" She walked up to her mother and gave her a hug, but then paused. "Um… I'm going to go to my room now." A glum face spread across her face.
As she was turning to go, a gentle hand stopped her by pulling her back. Colette turned around to see a man with spiky maroon hair and a brown T-shirt. "Oh, hello Uncle Kratos."
"I know it may seem hard," he said in his deep, gruff voice. "But there comes a time when one has to move on."
"Y-yes… I know," she replied solemnly.
She ambled towards a nearby door.
Colette took a seat on her bed and looked out the window. The sky was a gorgeous blue and clouds danced to the sunshine.
How could I be this depressed on a day like this? The girl thought with disbelief. But then the memories of Zelos returned to her. His long hair, his wonderful smile, his… No… I can't linger on the past. I have to look towards the future, not for my sake… but for everyone's. They'll be so worried if they see me like this. She slowly arose her bed and walked towards the mirror. She smiled, trying to make it look as realistic as possible. But what she saw in her reflection wasn't a real smile, it was a hollow one, it meant nothing. Why can't I do it? I could always smile perfectly even when I was really sad.
She paused and looked at herself deeply for a moment. She knew what she needed.
I need something to make me smile for real. Something or someone to fill this emptiness inside my heart…
Lloyd fell on a heap on the floor and panted wildly. "W…w-we finally… m-made it…"
"We?" came the agitated reply. "I just waited for the next bus stop, which is what you should have done! Plus, you missed the bus stop and had to run all the way to Iselia Street on your own, do you know how far away that is? An extra seven miles from the bus stop!" Genis rolled his eyes. "At least you're in good shape."
"So, where does she live?" Ignoring his butler's complaints, the young man got up and dusted himself off.
Genis sighed, "You don't even know that much?" He turned around. "There's only one house here." He pointed at a small building a block away from them.
Lloyd paused. "Eh… huh? Where? I don't see a house."
"Jeez, are you that stupid? That undersized building over there!"
His eyes finally met with the structure. "No way, it's so tiny…"
"Well, not everyone's as rich as you sir."
He scratched his head for a moment; still a little confused, but then just shrugged. "Come Genis, let's go."
The pair finally reached the house and Lloyd nodded on the door. Surprisingly, an answer didn't come from inside the house, but from behind the two.
"Um… hey," a girl's voice uncertainly greeted them.
Lloyd and Genis jumped around in surprise, almost running into each other.
"Eh…" she paused, "So, you need something?"
The boys started to settle down for a moment and then looked at the one who greeted them. She was a young lady, probably around the age of nineteen. She wore a purple sweater and green shorts. She held a brown paper bag full of groceries. Her hair was black and pinned back messily.
"Well," Lloyd began, "Does a girl with long blonde hair live here? She dropped her necklace and I wanted to return it to her." He pulled out the gold jewelry from his pocket and showed it to her. It glimmered in the sunshine.
"Yeah, that's Colette's alright."
Colette…"I'll go get her, she's my sister." the black haired girl opened the creaky door and stepped inside.
Lloyd's eyes widened, his confusion had rose into an even higher level. They don't even lock their door? He stepped closer to the door and examined it carefully. They don't even have a lock.
"That was pretty nice of you to bring it back for her. Are you Colette's boyfriend? I'm probably the only one in the family who hasn't met him."
"Boyfriend…? Um… no, I just met her…" He didn't know why, but at that moment, his heart sank.
She shrugged. "Make yourself at home," she motioned with her hand for them to come in.
The two stepped inside and once again Lloyd's eyes widened. The size of the house was one thing, but the plain, if not old look… it was just shocking to Lloyd who was only used to large and fancy mansions.
"Yeah, I know. Our house is small, but we call it 'home'." The girl smiled at Lloyd merrily, then she set down her groceries on the table. She started to walk towards a nearby door but then stopped and turned around. "Oh, one more thing." The girl paused and although she tried her best to hide it, she blushed. "My name's Sheena."
Sheena opened the door, closed it, and walked inside. "Colette, there's a guy outside waiting for you."
Colette hurriedly looked away from the mirror and nodded, "Thanks Sheena and welcome home."
"Thanks."
She walked past her sister and took a deep, Okay… smile… Colette froze in her tracks as she entered the living room. It's him, the guy I met earlier today.
"Hi…I'm Colette," she giggled. "I see you've already met my family."
"Uh… yeah." Lloyd nodded and looked at the group assembled around him. These are the creepiest people I've ever seen! That old guy acts as if he knows everything and that pink-haired girl who just walked in is so silent it's as if she's mute. He looked down at the sandwich he was given. And worst of all, that lady's cooking is terrible…
Colette smiled and then realized with glee that she did it. She smiled and got the pure feeling of joy on the inside, the incredible feeling you get when you smile for real.
Lloyd got up from his chair as if he had just been freed a wild animal's grasp. "Here, you dropped this. Oh, yeah… and I'm Lloyd." He handed the necklace to the girl.
"Th…thank you. I can't believe I had forgotten about this…" She took the necklace and clipped it around her neck. "Um… do you want to come to my room and talk? Well… it's not really my own room."
By now, Lloyd was used to the strangeness of this family so he just grinned and nodded.
Don't leave me alone here… Genis thought miserably to himself.
The two walked together into the room as Sheena walked out holding a small suitcase, a serious look plastered on her face. "I know this is sudden, but I want to go on a trip."
Raine turned to Sheena, arms crossed, and asked, "And where would you get the money for the trip?"
"I've been saving up. I've realized today that the only time I go out is when I need to go grocery shopping. I feel confined. Colette goes out all the time with her boyfriend."
"Her boyfriend left today." Presea said.
Sheena growled, "How come I don't know anything? I seem to always miss everything. I missed the day we got this house, when we adopted Presea, and that one night when Colette's boyfriend came over for dinner!"
Raine sighed. "You can go if you want…"
Sheena paused. "Huh…?" She wasn't exactly expecting them to agree this easily.
"If you have the money, you can go, although this family would need that more."
"Um… okay, thanks…" she mumbled, still in a state of shock. "Well… um… bye guys…" she slowly walked out the door, trying to take in what happened.
Kratos turned to woman of the house, "Why did you let her go so easily? You didn't even ask her where she was going."
She closed her eyes for a moment, "I don't know… but for a split second… something inside me told me that it was meant to be…"
"Tell me about your family." Lloyd smiled as he and Colette sat side-by-side together on the bed.
The sun seemed to rise higher than ever before, lighting the room with its fluorescent light.
"Okay! Well, there's my mother, Raine; my uncle, Kratos; my little sister, Presea; and my older sister, Sheena. Which you've all met already."
"Wow, big family you got. So… what about your dad?"
"Oh… um… well, he passed away when I was little… I've never even met him." Her face became cheerless.
"I-I'm sorry, s-so…" Lloyd panicked, trying to change the subject.
"It's alright," Colette smiled. "I'm usually the one to apologize." She giggled innocently.
"Okay, so I'm wondering about your mom and Pre… Presea, right?"
She nodded.
"Why are their hair pink and silver?"
"It's a mystery. My mom said she was born like that. I remember I asked that same question when she was first adopted. We all were adopted because father died right after he married mother. She felt… very lonely, that's also why Uncle Kratos came to live with us."
"Um… I lost my father too." Lloyd whispered.
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"It's okay… but um… I heard you have a boyfriend." He froze. Why did I say that? It just slipped out…
"Oh… yeah, he left today. He said he had some business to take care of, but I'm not sure when he'll be back."
Once again, Lloyd felt that strange feeling. Except this time, his heart didn't sink, he felt… he couldn't quite grasp the odd feeling he was having… what was it?
Jealousy? No, why would I be jealous?Words slipped out of his mouth again, "If you really love him, you should go visit him."
"Yes… I would but I don't have the money."
"I do."
Colette looked up, astonishment brimming on her face. "What…?"
"I said I have the money for the trip."
"But… you'd buy me the tickets…? I mean… we just met."
"Yeah I know that."
The girl didn't know what to say, she just sat there, staring straight ahead. "Wow… thank you so much…" was all she had to say.
"Mother," Colette began, "May I go visit Zelos?"
Raine stopped cleaning the table and put down her rag. She sighed under her breath, "So many trips…"
"Colette… may I come?" came a soft voice.
The blonde girl looked down at her little sister.
"Um… if it's alright with Lloyd and Mother."
"It's fine with me," Lloyd agreed immediately.
"I guess it's alright with me too," Raine agreed slowly.
"Thank you Mother." Colette giggled and gripped her back tightly. "Come one everyone!" She skipped happily out the door, followed by her sister and her new friend.
