Cat: Let's see ..
-The Spotlight stops and there's a small shriek-
Cat: .. Get up from the floor.
Collet: -scrambles up into the chair- I'm sorry.
Cat: No big deal ..
Collet: Oh .. I'm sorry.
Cat: Why did it have to be you!
Collet: Um .. Because I'm the Heroine? I'm sorry.
Cat: Grah! -cracking knuckles- I'll remain calm .. remember what the chapter is about ..
Collet: Me?
Cat: Argh! Now I forgot what it's about .. I wanted to use Omoi no Yukue for it .. Colloyd warning!
"Hey .." Lloyd said in a quiet voice, looking at the rocky ground beneath them. "Can I ask you something?
Unable to tell him with words, Collet just inclined her head to the side, her eyes wide open
with a questioning look in them.
"Are you really okay with this?" he asked, finally meeting her azure eyes with his brown ones. "Losing your senses for the sake of becoming an Angel?"
Collet took his hand, palm up.
Since she had lost her voice and started to 'say' things by writing them with her finger on his hand, he didn't wear his gloves anymore.
'I am becoming an Angel to resurrect Sylvarant - to create a peaceful world you can live in.'
Lloyd continued to stare at his palm, although she had stopped writing a while ago.
"You're strong, Collet .. I would've been scared." he admits. "Let's go back down, it's getting late."
Collet nodded and stayed a few steps behind Lloyd, who decended the mountain first,
she, though, stopped in her tracks, standing in the middle of the Moutain's top.
With a gulp she turned around and stared at the thin greyish silhouette of the Tower in the far distance.
Scared ..
Of course I'm scared.
I'm scared that, no matter what I'll do, Sylvarant won't be regenerated.
And you won't live in a peaceful world.
That's all I want.
To know that you are safe and happy.
"Chosen."
Collet looked over her shoulder from the window she had been standing at.
She was used to being adressed like that by now, although it had only been for a month.
Kratos, the mercenary who had been engaged to protect her on the Journey, stood in the doorway of the Inn,
holding a small candle that only shed a bit of light around his perimeter.
Since Collet couldn't sleep anymore, she's been spending her nights gazing up at the moon,
watching it wax and wane, counting the stars - anything to keep her mind off of her condition.
"Let's go." Kratos said and went out of the Inn with Collet, when she stepped close to him.
The dragon, which was to be their way of transport to the Tower, was waiting outside, chained to a post.
Kratos helped her up, undid the chain and got behind her.
The dragon almost immediately went up into the air and flew south.
When they arrived at the Tower, the dragon was sent back to Hima.
Collet stared at the black, thick portal still blocking the entrance.
That door will open when I touch it with my hand.
And then .. there's not turning back.
Collet held her hand against the door, a crest light up on it and it opened up with a rumble.
Kratos, whose back was still towards her glanced her way over his shoulder.
"I take it that you don't want to wait for the others?" he asked, although he knew the answer.
Collet had made it clear to him that she wanted to leave for the Last Seal in the night,
when everyone was asleep.
So that no one could see what she was going to do.
Kratos smirked at her face that had no real expression looking at him.
"I thought so." was all he said and the two of them entered the Tower.
The inside appeared to be like space, nothing was there aside from a countless number of coffins
floating around in the air and the glasslike path right in front of them to the Altar.
Their steps made clinking noises on the path, Collet hesisating to step onto the Altar.
She took a deep breath before putting her foot onto the glassern platform and sunk down,
folding her hands.
".. Collet!"
The girl flinched at the sound of the familiar voice, but kept praying.
What's he doing here?
It's not morning!
He shouldn't have come!
Kratos and I left early so he wouldn't find out.
Please, Lloyd, forget what you see, forget about me and go away.
Just .. leave ..
"Very good, Chosen." Remiel, the angel, smiled down to her. "Now, surrender your heart and your memories.
Then, you will become a true Angel and have finished your Journey."
Worried mutters were from the crowd behind while Collet got up and nodded solemnly.
"Collet, please, reconsider!" Lloyd called from the little distance to the altar. "Do you really want to die?
Give up your heart and memories, all the happy memories? They cancel out the sad ones, but you mustn't give yourself up!"
The girl flinched at the last word and looked over her shoulder.
Give myself up?
I can't do anything else - I have to destroy myself to regenerate this world.
Give up on sleep, on feeling.
On remembering the times you smiled at me.
The time when we were young and we played with Genius in the pond by his house.
But also forget the horrible sights in the Human Ranches.
I can't bear the sight of Death and Destruction.
And if I have to die to make this world peaceful .. so be it.
"Please, Collet, don't!"
Lloyd went towards her, extending his hand to put it on her shoulder,
but Collet turned a step away, so he missed her.
I'm sorry, Lloyd .. It can't be helped.
Lloyd flinched when he heard her voice in his head.
Collet's gaze turned to Shihna.
I'm sorry, Shihna. Remiel can't regenerate Tethe'alla, too.
She smiled, closing her eyes halfways to hide the tears about to spill.
Goodbye.
"Collet ..?"
Who?
Someone's calling my name.
"It's .. not working .."
What isn't working?
What are you talking about?
It's so cold here .. I can't see anything.
"Maybe .. skill .. high enough .."
The voices .. seem familiar.
I should try to open my eyes - but my eyelids feel so heavy.
Like they're made out of steel.
But I have to try ..!
It's dark here.
Even with my eyes open, I'm blind.
There's nothing here, except me.
No floor.
No walls, not a ceiling either.
I'm floating in midair, supported by nothing.
Carefully I lift my hands in front of me.
Nothing, I don't feel them touching anything.
A metall sound makes me jump .. there's something around my throat.
It's cold and thin, a necklace apparently.
The .. present that Lloyd gave me ..
Lloyd ..!
Cold!
Collet grabbed the slender hand that touched her throat.
"Don't!" she gasped, trying to pry the fingers off. "Hands off of the present!"
Genius, trapped with their friends in a cage out of mana, gasped. "She spoke!"
The woman with sleek green hair huffed. "Doesn't matter if she can or not, that Keycrest will come off!"
She made a grab for Collet again, who, in return, grabbed the Chakrams from her back and attacked her,
cutting the woman's arm.
"Let go!" she snapped at the woman, but her foot slipped and she landed painfully on a device that cracked
and, fortunately, made the cage disappear.
"Collet." Lloyd smiled widely at his childhood friend.
"Lloyd," Collet bounced up and down out of joy. "thank you so much for the present!"
"Hmmm!" A young man with long, red curls nodded in appreciation. "Collet-chan is really cuter when she smiles."
Collet looked over at him and frowned.
"Um .. Zelos, right?"
Zelos nodded and took her hands in his. "You remember my name, I am so honored, Collet-chan. You know,
we Chosens have to stick together, right?"
Collet nodded, getting smiles and pats on the back for 'coming back' from everyone.
"Collet." Lloyd said and she turned to him. "Welcome back."
"Hehe," Collet nodded, giving a little curtsey. "I'm home."
"Sensei?"
Raine turned to her student, who had approached her when the two of them were a bit offside the others.
"We're back in Sylvarant, but .." Collet hesitated with speaking. "Is it really good for me to be back?"
"What do you mean?" Raine asked the girl, crossing her arms.
"I abandoned Sylvarant to rescue Tethe'alla." Collet confessed, getting a confused look from her teacher. "When we were
at the Tower of Salvation, I prayed to Remiel and asked for him to regenerate Sylvarant."
".. but?" Raine's eyebrow shot up.
".. But I mostly wished for Tethe'alla's Regeneration in my heart."
Raine sighed, knowing how much the girl was tormenting herself in her mind for it.
"Collet, you didn't abandon Sylvarant. Neither Tethe'alla. We're forming pacts with the Summonspirits at the moment,
to seperate the two Worlds from each other, so they will not vie for each other's mana anymore." she explained. "So, we are actually
regenerating both worlds. Okay?"
Collet thought about it for a second and nodded then.
"You're right."
When Raine went to catch up with the others, who had stopped a bit further on.
Why am I suffering like this, then?
Every morning my shoulder hurts and when I check, .. it's there.
The punishment I get for straying from my duty keeps growing every day.
And soon, it will suffocate me.
Carefully, Collet's hand traced the necklace around her neck, the pendant, mixed with Inhibitor Ore, formed around her Cruxis Crystal.
Lloyd's present for her sixteenth birthday .. the birthday that changed everything. He couldn't give her the present on the same day,
it wasn't done. And then, so the farewell wouldn't be too painful, she had lied to him.
For the first time ever. But she had done it to keep him from hurt.
It hadn't worked. Collet smiled to herself, remembering. She should've known that he would chase after her.
And when he tried to give her the present after he met her again .. it was broken.
Again and again the present never reached her, until he gave it to her to regain her soul.
It's not working .. Lloyd.
The crystal is rejecting the crest you made.My body is hardening. Crystalizing.
I wonder .. will I survive the crystalization until the world is regenerated?
With a start, Collet sat up in bed.
Confused, she looked around, taking in her surroundings.
The white bedspread, the table with the ruffled sheet were familiar. She realized that she was back home, in her room.
She couldn't quite remember what had happened .. they had been at Iselia's Human Ranch last ..
Collet gasped when she remembered how Forycstus' attack, originally intended for someone else, had hit her and torn her
clothes, revealing the green shell-like skin.
Lloyd .. had seen it ..!
Steps were getting closer, ascending the stairs to her room and Collet knew instinctively that it was Lloyd.
Scooting back to the corner of her bed, clawing her hands into the blanket, she stared at the door, afraid of it opening soon.
She didn't want to see Lloyd .. more, she didn't want Lloyd to see her. She was so ashamed of her body.
How she couldn't stop the process. How she didn't want to stop it!
A calm, deep voice was heard.
"Lloyd, leave the Chosen alone for now. She's still too distressed. Give her some time."
".. you're right." Lloyd's voice sighed and his footsteps got quieter the farther he got from her room.
Carefully, Collet turned the knob and slowly opened the door a bit.
She peeked down the stairs, it had been rather quiet for a while and she wanted to know if everyone had left.
Someone was leaning against the wall next to her stairs, dressed in darkblue.
Kratos turned his head towards her, having heard the door and Collet flinched a tiny bit.
Daring to leave her room and walk down some steps, Collet leaned out of the wooden frame at the start of the stairs and
looked around. Except for her grandmother and Kratos, no one was there.
"Lloyd and the others have left to see their village again." the mercenary told her and Collet sighed quietly,
sitting down on the last step, pulling the pyjama legs up a bit.
"I .." Collet started, not quite sure how to put it in words. "I'm .. rather scared."
"Your feelings are quite understandable, Chosen." Kratos said. "You were prepared to die for the sake of regenerating Sylvarant,
right now you are in danger of dying from your illness. You're scared of death, you're scared that you'll die before you can
fulfill your duty as the Chosen. Scared of letting everyone down."
Collet nodded, realizing that Kratos saw right through her.
Her hand grabbed her shoulder. She could feel the hard shell underneath, smooth like glass and yet rough like stone.
"I'm .. ashamed. I didn't want Lloyd to see it." she confessed, surprised by the quiver in her voice, about to break.
Kratos put his own hand over hers, leaning down a bit. "I implore you, Chosen. Do not give up too soon. Believe in Lloyd.
You know him well." his voice was calming and his lips stretched to a smile. "That boy won't leave anything undone, until you are saved."
Collet looked up to him and finally nodded.
"Collet. I'm sorry."
The Chosen tore her gaze from the night sky and looked to the side. Spending the night at Dirk's, everyone had gone to bed.
Collet wasn't very tired and decided to go onto the terrace to watch the stars. And memories had flooded through her again.
On this very terrace she and Lloyd had talked on the evening of her birthday. Here she had lied to him. Here she had said her farewell,
without Lloyd knowing that it was one.
Now, though, Lloyd had stepped onto the terrace a bit ago, standing close to Collet.
"What?" she asked, wondering why he apologized.
"About .. well, I was talking with Sensei and .." he stuttered, averting his eyes from her. "She says that my keycrest for you caused ..
your condition. I'm sorry, Collet. It's my fault."
Collet shook her head.
"It's not, Lloyd. Don't blame yourself." she told him. "I think that the Crystal was made to not succumb to any keycrest. It wouldn't have
mattered who had made one. This would've happened anyway. It's my punishment."
Lloyd looked at her in surprise.
"What makes you say that? Because you didn't regenerate Sylvarant? Collet, who would've agreed to that, if they had known the truth?"
"Lloyd .. I knew. Shortly after the second seal. Losing hunger .. sleep .. it quickly made me understand that I had to let go of everything
that made me human. To die for the sake of regeneration. I was glad, knowing that my death would mean peace. Knowing that my death
would've helped make a world for you to live in."
The boy was quiet, listening to her words, realizing that she was so much more mature than him in her mind.
Yet her words felt like knives, piercing his body, his heart and mind. He felt angry at how she talked so calmly and serene about sacrificing herself.
"Collet ..!" he snapped, searching for the right words. "You don't seem to realize what .."
He sighed deeply, walking to the corner of the terrace, leaning heavily on the banister.
"You .. don't seem to realize what you would've done if you really had sacrificed yourself."
Collet watched him quietly, her head inclined to the side. "What do you mean?"
"Imagine what we would've had to live with .." he muttered, his hands gripping the banister tightly. "If you had sacrificed yourself, regenerated
Sylvarant successfully, you would've died .. for our sake. Sensei, Genius, Shihna .. me .. we would've lived with the knowledge of having
killed you. To live because of your death. It would've been torture .."
The girl looked at him in schock, never having really thought of it.
She stepped over to him and locked her arms around his left one, leaning her head against his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Lloyd. I never thought of it that way." she said. "I'm actually glad that you wanted to stop me. Glad that, even after I lost my soul,
you looked for a way to regain it. Glad that I can still fight alongside you."
"Collet .."
Hearing from him how wrong my sacrifice would've been, made me realize that .. somewhere deep in my heart,
I hadn't felt calm about dying for the sake of the regeneration.
That a part in me, however small it was, had yearned to continue living in this world.
But .. however happy I was hearing his words that night ..
I felt scared and hollow the next day.
Seperated from the others, like a veil was between me and everyone else.
That, no matter what we'd try to do, it wouldn't work.
And I'd still die from this disease ..
Genius yawned and focused his eyes on the long rows of books in front of him again.
Thick books, thin books, old and new, standing in rows and filling up the shelves. The circular room was crammed with
so many books, that a lot of them were laying loosely on the tables or stacked in piles around the floor.
Each of them were looking at a different shelf, trying to find the specific book that held the answer on how to cure this disease.
The king had finally given them permission to search the royal library, but they hadn't found anything yet and with every hour
that they lost, hope was slowly starting to disappear from everyone.
Nobody said a word, but it was noticable.
A few shelves down, Collet coughed a few times, trying to surpress it, to not cause any attention.
"You alright, Collet?" Lloyd asked, who was standing at the next shelf.
"Mh, I'm okay. Just a bit dusty." she answered, scratching her neck and flinched.
It was there. She felt it.
It had spread, finally reaching her neck and already messing with her airways.
Not much longer and it would cover her entire neck, suffocate her ..
Raine looked through a pile stacked high on the floor, sighing when she found nothing.
It seemed to be a signal, since everyone stopped and gathered around the table.
The silence was depressing, heavy in the air and nobody dared to say a word.
"Well, this isn't good." Zelos finally said in a disapproving matter. "Pretty girls are supposed to have a long lasting life."
A glare from Shihna silenced him immediately, before Collet nodded slightly.
"It's no use, then." she said calmly. "I'm really grateful to all of you for having looked for a cure, you guys. But it seems like
there is none. It wasn't meant to be, after all."
"You can't choose death to be the easy way out." Lloyd told her, grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her around so
she faced him. "You have to live, Collet!"
The girl flinched, his words having such an impact on her that she felt tears in her eyes.
"Ah!" Genius gasped and traced a book's back, wiping a fine layer of dust off. "Guys, I think this is it!"
The book was quickly taken out and leaved through, searching for the illness which had the same symptoms.
"It really is!" Raine exclaimed happily when she found the cure and the entire group joined in for a big cheer.
It was all over ..
I finally didn't have to burden myself with the title anymore.
I can go back to where I really belong.
The girl's steps hastened the closer she got to Iselia's gate.
Already she could see several familiar faces and when she entered she saw her grandmother close by.
"Grandmother!" she called and hugged her, happy to be back.
"Oh, Chosen One." the old lady said.
Collet backed off a little to look her grandmother into the eyes.
"No, grandmother. I'm no longer the Chosen."
"Yes .." her grandmother laid a frail hand onto Collet's back and rubbed it slightly. "Collet, you have made us all proud."
From the crowd that had started to form around them, Frank emerged and smiled at his daughter.
"Welcome home, Collet." he greeted her, his arms spread widely apart.
Tears spilled from her eyes at the sight her most familar.
".. I'm home, Father!" she called out, rushing into her father's arms and feeling the all too comfortable warmth from his chest.
She finally found her way back to her home.
Cat: For some reason, I really like the Collet in this chapter.
Collet: Oh, I'm happy to hear that!
Cat: Don't ruin it. -cough- How long have I not updated this story? Almost two years! Amazing to think what happened
between then and now. Things sure have changed.
Collet: By the way, why do you make me sound like a depressed suicide-endangered girl?
Cat: That's basically how you appear in the story. To me, you know. And for some reason this really has a huge Colloyd Plot
in it. Anyway, you're done.
Collet: Horray! -gets up to leave, trips horribly-
Cat: .. Clean Up on Aisle 4!
Mikey: -sweeps Collet away with a huge broom-
Cat: Who's next? -spotlight swirls fast-