Cycle Two (part two)

Look –

Sometimes, it was hard not to look.

Colette, despite being a girl, wasn't the most skilled at doing her hair. She could brush it, and maybe even tie it back in a messy ponytail, but that was about it. For that reason, on a day when she decided she wanted to wear her hair in two braids, Zelos was the one to tie them back for her. That day, they were sitting on their bed at the inn, Colette sitting in front of him while he tied back the first of her two braids, when Lloyd returned from the washroom, shirtless and still dripping. Zelos couldn't help himself; he paused in the braiding to stare at Lloyd, at the way the water dripped down over his toned chest and abs, highlighting his muscles and various scars, and it wasn't until he realized that he was imagining running his hands along that toned body that he cleared his throat and looked back at Colette's hair.

Colette, for her part, didn't even realize that she was staring, and thus kept right on doing it.

Instead of heading to his travel bag, though, Lloyd just walked over to where his swords were propped up against the wall, and plopped down on the floor to begin to sharpen them. Zelos' eyes kept flickering back over to Lloyd, and after the fifth time that his eyes (and mind) wandered, he cleared his throat a little louder and said, "Gonna put on a shirt some time today, bud?"

"Huh?" Lloyd looked up, as if he hadn't even noticed anything abnormal about his behavior, and then shrugged. "Yeah, probably later. It's kinda hot right now, though."

Colette giggled, while Zelos merely rolled his eyes and thought, Yeah, no kidding.

–

Sometimes, it was hard not to look.

It was no secret that Zelos Wilder was gorgeous. Four thousand years of selective breeding had left Zelos with flawless skin, silky hair, perfect body type and vivid eyes. There was a reason that girls all over the world fawned after him, for while the Meltokio noblewomen might be explained by way of his status, that excuse didn't hold true for the rest of the cities in Tethe'alla—and certainly not the ones in Sylvarant. No, Zelos Wilder was gorgeous, and even when he didn't make an attempt to flaunt it, it was still highly noticeable.

When he did make an effort to make himself look good, however, he was breathtaking.

The outfit he'd worn to the dinner party was one thing, all ritz and glam, but there was a lot that could be said for a basic, sharp black suit. The three of them were set to attend a business meeting at Lezareno in order to discuss the excavation of the silver Colette had found in the Toize Valley Mine, and while Lloyd felt awkward in the black suit he'd been loaned, and while Colette kept trying to adjust her blouse and smooth down her skirt, Zelos appeared right at home. His long red hair was combed and tied back in a silver clasp, and the black pants and jacket fit snugly without looking too tight, fitting over his shoulders and legs in just such a way that they accentuated his muscles. As he walked into the waiting room to sit with them, he gave his black tie another adjustment, fixing the collar of his white shirt thereafter.

Lloyd was staring. He couldn't help it.

"Like what you see, bud?" Zelos asked cheekily, noticing Lloyd's gaze. Lloyd grinned, and was teasing before he could help it.

"You actually look like a responsible adult for once, Zelos."

"Hah! You're one to talk." Zelos put his hands into his pant pockets, and Colette—who also seemed to have eyes only for Zelos in that moment—said brightly:

"I think you look really nice, Zelos. You should dress like that more often!"

"I agree." Once again, the words were out of Lloyd's mouth before he could help himself, and Zelos' grin only grew.

"If you two want it, then it's no problem for me."

–

Sometimes, it was hard not to look.

Honestly, it happened completely by accident. Lloyd and Zelos had just gone out to replenish their supplies, and while they knew that Colette had stayed behind to wash up, they had expected her to be fully clothed before entering their shared inn room again. Thus, when they entered the room to find her quite clothes-less, the three of them stared for a moment before Lloyd grabbed Zelos by the arm and quickly yanked him out of the room, shouting a quick, "Sorry!" before he shut the door behind them. A minute later the door opened, and though Colette had a towel in front of her now (something she'd grabbed to shield herself when the door opened), she was looking at them genuinely.

"Guys, it's okay! I'm getting dressed now. I just thought you guys were strangers. I didn't mean to scream. I'm sorry."

"It's—It's okay," Lloyd said, though he was still red in the face, his voice a little higher pitched. "Just—get dressed, okay?"

"Okay," Colette agreed, and she smiled as she opened the door up. "Do you guys want to come in?"

"You realize you're not dressed yet, right?" Zelos asked, raising an eyebrow at her. "Not that I mind looking, but—" Lloyd punched Zelos in the arm, and Zelos glared at him, rubbing the sore spot. Colette giggled.

"Yes, I know. But it won't take me long to get dressed, and if it's you guys, it's okay. I don't mind." Colette stepped back and opened the door wider, to allow them entrance. They didn't move. "Really! If you guys were strangers I'd mind, but if it's you, it's okay."

Lloyd and Zelos glanced at each other before they entered the room, but although Lloyd's face ended up turning the color of his coat and even though Zelos tried to hide it, neither of them could stop from stealing glances as Colette changed into a fresh pair of clothes.

–

Summer –

"Ahhh. With hot springs like these, you'd never guess that it's the dead of winter."

Zelos sank a little lower into the water, relishing in the feeling of the heat soaking into his skin. Due to their travels, he'd missed going to the hot springs the previous winter, and while he wouldn't trade his time with Lloyd and Colette for all the hot springs in the universe, he had to admit that it was nice to finally have a touch of summer in the midst of an otherwise dismal winter. Besides, Lloyd and Colette—both sitting in the same spring as he was, because Colette didn't want to sit in one by herself no matter what anyone else thought—didn't seem to mind.

"The hot springs always feel so nice. It makes it hard to want to get out again." Colette leaned her head back, soaking her long, golden hair in the water, before she lifted one hand up to inspect her fingers. "Although, your skin does get kinda wrinkly after awhile."

"Yeah, but it's cool when that happens! Me and Genis used to always play in the Iselia Forest's stream until our skin got super wrinkly. We used to see who could wrinkle up the most." Lloyd was grinning, even as he inspected his own fingers, poking at each individual wrinkle. "I always won."

"That's not something to be proud of, bud." Like the others, Zelos glanced at his hands, but he couldn't bring himself to feel too fussed. The water felt too nice to want to get out, especially with present company. "You don't want to turn into an old man before your time, do you?"

"Chyeah, like that could happen." Lloyd paused for a moment, putting his arms behind his head as he leaned back against the side of the spring, before he looked over at Zelos with a sly grin. "Besides, you've been coming here every winter since you were a kid, right? You'd wrinkle up faster than I ever could." Zelos gave Lloyd a sideways glance.

"That's not how it works, bud."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

"I wonder what would happen if someone stayed in the water forever?" Colette wondered aloud, breaking the two males out of their argument. Both looked over at her, but she was staring up at the sky. "What if you just stayed in the water for ages and ages? Maybe eventually you'd shrivel up and turn into a gigantic prune."

"A gigantic prune?" Lloyd asked, blinking. Zelos opened his mouth to say something, but Colette smiled and continued.

"Yup! A giant prune. But you'd still know who you were, and everything that went on around you. You just couldn't do anything about it." Colette looked back at Lloyd and Zelos with a determined expression, her hands balled into fists in front of her. "You'd end up stuck there in the water, forever, watching people go by. Maybe some people would notice you, but others wouldn't. And you'd want to say something, or—or maybe even get out of the water, but you couldn't. Or . . . maybe the water would feel so nice that you'd want to stay, but it really wouldn't matter if you did or not, since you'd be a prune and you couldn't move." Colette looked back down at the water. Her smile was gone, and both Zelos and Lloyd were positive that she was thinking of something else entirely. "Maybe it would be like that, if you stayed in the water and turned into a giant prune."

Zelos and Lloyd glanced to each other before they both moved around the hot spring to sit on either side of her. Lloyd put his hand on Colette's shoulder, and Zelos put one on the top of her head, causing her to look up at both of them in turn.

"I don't think you have to worry about turning into a giant prune, Colette," Lloyd said bracingly, and while that assurance alone would have been fine, he followed it up with, "Besides, even if you did, we'd just find a way to change you back. You'd still be you, so we wouldn't abandon you no matter what."

"Yeah. You'll always be beautiful, Colette. No matter what happens to you," Zelos added. Colette smiled at them both.

"Thanks. But I wasn't thinking about me."

"Oh?"

"No. I was thinking about Zelos, since he's spent so much time in here already." Lloyd burst out laughing, and Zelos' eyes widened as Colette looked at him with a playfully worried look. "Zelos, don't turn into a giant prune, okay? Lloyd and I will save you if you do, but we'd feel really guilty for having to leave you here!"

"Oh, like you could ever leave me. The Great Zelos Wilder does not do left behind." He smirked at them, a playful expression that caused them both to grin back. "Like it or not, you're stuck with me."

Lloyd splashed some of the water toward Zelos' face.

"Wouldn't have it any other way."

–

Cycle Three

Transformation –

For Colette's twentieth birthday, they returned to Iselia. Though she was technically no longer the Chosen, the entire village still got together to celebrate her milestone birthday, decorating the streets with colorful lanterns and flowers. Their friends from all around the world came to visit, too—even Regal, despite the fact that he was always swamped with work from being the president of the Lezareno corporation, and Sheena, even though she was constantly overseeing things in Mizuho.

But although she was the center of the attention at the start of the party, Lloyd noticed that Colette seemed to disappear after a little while. Zelos was busy talking to Sheena, so she wasn't with him, and everyone else seemed to be otherwise occupied, either by talking to another person, or by eating food or dancing to the music. Curious about where she could have gone, Lloyd excused himself from talking to Genis (by distracting Genis with the sight of Presea) and went to look for her. As he thought, she wasn't participating in any of the festivities, and when he checked her house, she wasn't there, either. It wasn't until he ventured out toward the northern exit of the village that he found her, sitting a little ways out from the village itself. Her back was against a tree, her knees drawn up, and she was staring intently into an ornate, circular mirror that she held between her hands. Despite the fact that he didn't try to be quiet as he approached her, she didn't seem to hear him, and so he cleared his throat a little.

"Colette?"

She jumped a little as she heard his voice, clearly startled, and Lloyd frowned, especially as she turned frightened blue eyes on him. He knew that he didn't scare her, so that meant that something else was bothering her, though he couldn't see what. She looked back down to the mirror for a moment before she looked up again, and gave him his least favorite smile.

Her liar smile.

"O-Oh, Lloyd. I was just, um—well, I just thought I'd take a little break, you know? Everyone seemed to be having a good time—and I am, too! Really, I am. I just wanted to look at this nice birthday present Grandmother gave me, and I didn't want anyone to think I was ignoring them when I did."

"I don't think that anyone would think that, Colette," Lloyd said, and he walked over to sit down next to her. Colette kept her smile mostly up, though it faltered a little as she looked back down at the reflective glass. "So, what's up? And don't lie—you know you can trust me with anything, right?"

"Of course!" Colette's response was quick and bright, but once again, she faltered as she looked back at the mirror she held in her hands. "Of course, Lloyd. I—I—" She chewed on the corner of her bottom lip, clearly warring with herself over whether or not she should spill her guts, but finally, she turned around to face him. "Lloyd, do you think I've changed?"

"What?" Lloyd was taken off-guard. Whatever he had been expecting—and he didn't even know what he'd been expecting—it wasn't that. "What do you mean?"

"I mean—I'm twenty now, right? Twenty-years-old?" Lloyd nodded, and Colette picked up the mirror again, staring at it. "But I haven't—I don't think I look any different than I did when I was sixteen." Lloyd was starting to see where this was headed, now, but he kept his mouth shut as she continued. "I look the same now as I did then, right? And I shouldn't, because that was four whole years ago—and people change a lot in four years, don't they? Just look at Presea and Genis—and even Sheena, too. They've all grown and changed, and I—I haven't."

"W-Well . . ." Lloyd frowned as he stared at her, even as she looked up at him with distress evident in her eyes. He didn't know what to say. She certainly didn't look any different, but then, she was Colette. Colette was Colette. Lloyd wasn't the most observant person in the world, but it didn't help that he never really paid attention to the small details that made up a person. Colette was Colette was Colette; she would always be Colette to him, and aside from changes in her mood, that was all he'd ever notice.

But now that he forced himself to pay attention to those small physical details, he tried to piece together the picture of the girl he saw before him with his memory of how she was four years ago. Obviously, she was wearing different clothes—a nice green spring dress instead of the formal church attire she'd been forced to wear during the Journey of Regeneration. She wore her hair a bit differently, too, tied back in twin braids instead of letting it hang loose. But beyond that, were there any changes? Were there any differences?

Not that he could see, but then, Lloyd didn't know if he was the best person to ask.

"Well, four years isn't that long," he said finally, just for something to say, though it didn't seem to help much. Colette stood up, pacing away as she stared into the mirror, and Lloyd stood up as well. "Lots of people don't change that much over four years. Zelos hasn't, and I don't think I have, either."

"But Lloyd, that's just it." Colette turned back to face him, and she shook the mirror a little, as she had a habit of doing to her fists whenever she was trying to convey something important. "We're not—none of us are—Lloyd, I don't think we're . . . I don't think we're . . ."

"What?" Lloyd could feel his heart beating a bit harder, nerves and adrenaline starting to make him feel antsy. "Colette, just tell me what's wrong. What's—"

"Aging." Colette's voice was a whisper, and though Lloyd had never believed the stories of time seeming to slow down in dramatic situations, it almost felt like someone had hit the pause button on that very moment. "Lloyd, I don't think we're aging."

Lloyd stared at her, and his mouth felt suddenly dry. For a moment, he couldn't think of anything to say, before he finally shook his head. "No, that's—that's—"

"We should be, shouldn't we? I thought that we would." Colette was clearly distressed, and she started to speak faster, her voice slowly edging up into hysteria. "Once I could talk again, and feel and eat and sleep, I thought that I'd start aging, too, even though I already had my wings. I thought I was cured. But I haven't changed much in four years, and when you think about Mithos and Yuan and Kratos—" Lloyd felt the same unpleasant jolt in his stomach that he did whenever he heard his biological father's name "-they could eat and sleep, too, couldn't they? And they could feel. Remember how Yuan was injured after Kratos attacked him in Hima? His wound hurt him for ages after that. Mithos, too—Mithos was hurt after he rescued Tabatha. They could feel pain, and we saw them eat. We saw Kratos sleep, too."

"Yeah," Lloyd agreed. "We did, but—"

"So, don't you see?" Colette had been pacing, but she stopped again to look back at him with despairing, imploring eyes. "They could eat, sleep, and feel, but they didn'tage, Lloyd! They stayed the same ages they were forever, for thousands and thousands of years! They didn't get a single day older!"

"But—"

"And we haven't changed, either! And what if we don't? What if we're immortal now? What if we never grow again?" Colette's lower lip was starting to tremble, though she was very clearly fighting to hold the tears back. "I thought—I never really thought about having a family growing up, because I thought I was going to sacrifice myself to regenerate the world. But when we reunited the two worlds without me having to sacrifice myself, I started to think about . . . about starting a family someday. About having a family of my very own. But, Lloyd, if I have babies, they're going to grow. They're going to grow, and grow, and keep on growing, and they'll grow old." Tears started spilling down Colette's cheeks, her voice wobbling right along with her lower lip. "Lloyd, h-how can I watch my babies grow old if I don't?"

Lloyd couldn't take it. He couldn't think of anything to say to comfort her, but he couldn't stand there and watch her cry, either. Without sparing it another thought, he walked forward and pulled her into his arms, hugging her tightly. She buried her face in his shoulder, still not sobbing, but her sniffles and shaky breaths told him that she couldn't quite stop the tears, either.

"Whoa, what's going on?"

Lloyd looked up to see Zelos striding toward them, having no doubt grown curious about their absences, just as Lloyd had about Colette's. Striding forward, Zelos' blue eyes were on Colette, and his expression shifted into an angry glare.

"What happened? Is there some joker who needs his ass kicked right about now?"

Lloyd couldn't help the small smile that twitched his lips at Zelos' righteous anger, but Colette's crying did a lot to temper it. "No," he said quietly. "Colette . . . Colette's upset because she doesn't think we're aging." Zelos blinked, clearly caught off-guard by the answer.

"What?"

"I can cry," Colette said, though her voice was muffled by Lloyd's shoulder. "And we have our angel senses and our wings. We eat, sleep, and feel, but . . . we're—we're just like Kratos, Yuan, and Mithos. We're the s-same as them."

"I like to think we're better," Zelos muttered, but his expression—resigned and troubled—told Lloyd that he didn't think Colette was far off the mark. As Lloyd studied Zelos' expression, something dawned on him.

"Zelos, did you know about this?"

"What? No!" As Lloyd continued to stare at him, Zelos sighed. "I suspected. But c'mon, I can't have been the only one to think about it. We sleep, sure, but we don't need as much sleep as we should. And like Colette said, our situation pretty much parallels those other guys. We're angels. Immortality's the next logical conclusion."

"I don't want it," Colette mumbled, and she hugged Lloyd tighter. "I don't want to be immortal. I want to be normal. I—I just want to be normal."

"Don't we all," Zelos said quietly, and without invitation, he hugged Colette from the other side, making it a sort of awkwardly positioned group hug. "But hey, look at it this way; if we're going to live forever, at least we're going to live forever together."

That seemed to bring Colette's crying up short, and after a moment, she whispered, "Yes . . . at least we'll be together forever."

–

Tremble –

With Lloyd and Colette, it was all a matter of betting on which one would make the first move.

Really, it was anyone's guess. One day it seemed like it might be Lloyd, and the next day, Colette. Colette had always been shy in the past, the type to subtly hint at what she wanted rather than outright stating it. Lloyd had been more bold, but he was also more obtuse, at least when it came to matters of the heart. So when people talked about the two of them, and whether either one of them would make a move, no one could ever decide on when or how it would happen.

Eventually, those who put their money on Colette were right.

They were in Iselia Forest when it happened. Zelos was back at Dirk's, washing up, and Lloyd and Colette were sitting on their picnic blanket, simply enjoying the mid-spring weather. Colette couldn't tell anyone what prompted her to do it—couldn't even begin to explain where the rush of subtle boldness came from. But one moment, Lloyd was staring up at the canopy of trees, and the next, she'd picked up a little red fruit between her fingers, and tapped him on the shoulder with her other hand.

"Lloyd . . ."

Lloyd turned to look at her, and opened his mouth to ask what she wanted, when she pressed the little red fruit inside. Before he could chew it, she moved forward, pressing her lips against his and teasing the fruit with her tongue.

A half second of stunned surprise was all it took Lloyd to react. Though it was his first kiss (and hers, too), he kissed her back eagerly, reaching a hand up to cup the back of her head, pressing his lips against hers and using his tongue to knock the fruit back into her mouth. Neither of them really knew what they were doing; they just pressed themselves as closely together as they could, only breaking apart when Colette nearly choked on the little fruit they were playing tongue hockey with. And it was only then that they realized they weren't the only ones at the picnic site anymore, Zelos having returned, Noishe standing right behind him. While Noishe's mouth was open in the semblance of a canine grin, Zelos' smile looked tight and somewhat forced.

"Well, it's about time," he said, but his voice was hearty and the cheer was false. "Congratulations."

"Zelos—" Colette tried, but he interrupted her.

"I'll give you two some privacy. Have fun!" With that, he turned on his heel and started back toward the forest, and Noishe—perhaps thinking that Zelos' suggestion of privacy was a good idea—turned and started after. Colette turned to look at Lloyd, who looked completely flustered and unsure of what to do next, and said in a serious voice:

"Lloyd, I think we need to talk about Zelos."

–

Zelos hadn't really known where he was going. Over the past four years of knowing Lloyd he'd become more familiar with the area, but he wasn't familiar enough with it that he knew a good place to go and sulk when he needed to. Dirk's house was out of the question, and Zelos didn't want to just sit in a random part of the forest, so he ultimately settled upon a little cluster of rocks further downstream. For this reason, he heard Lloyd and Colette approaching before they reached him, and likely would have even if he didn't have advanced hearing due to angel transformation.

"Finished already?" he asked, and his voice still sounded hollow, even to his own ears. "C'mon, bud, that's no way to please a lady. You're going to have to do better than that."

"What are you talking about?" Lloyd asked, and to his credit, he did sound genuinely confused, if only a little. "No, Zelos. We wanna talk to you."

"'Bout what?" Zelos picked up a rock and skipped it across the water. "If it's about traveling with just the two of you now, don't worry about it. I was a tag-along from the beginning, remember?"

"No, that's not it." It was Colette that spoke this time, and she walked around to sit on Zelos' right side, while Lloyd took the left. Zelos scoffed.

"What, then is this the 'don't worry, you're not in the way' talk? If so, no offense, but you can spare me. I don't want to hear it."

"It's not about any of that. Will you just shut up and let us talk?" Lloyd demanded. The sound of true irritation in his voice almost made Zelos laugh, but for some reason, he couldn't even summon the energy to do that. Really, what Zelos wanted to do more than anything was . . . well, even he didn't know. Part of him wanted a strong drink—maybe several strong drinks—but another part of him, the part that had changed during his time with the two on either side of him, knew that wouldn't solve anything and thus wanted to stay far away from it.

"Maybe talking's not such a good idea," Colette said, and for a moment, Zelos thought that she was suggesting that they leave him alone to stew in his bad mood. He didn't know whether that thought made him happy or not. But before he could decide, Colette nudged him to get him to look over at her, and – without asking permission, without giving him prior warning so that he could be prepared for it – she placed her hands on either side of his head and pulled him down into a kiss.

It was mind blowing.

Several reactions were processed at rapid-fire speeds through Zelos' brain. The first reaction was an urge to shove her off, to get away, because he didn't like it when people touched him without his consent. He was always the toucher, not the touchee. The second reaction, quickly eclipsing the first, was joy—unbridled, euphoric joy at the feel of her soft lips working against his own, the gentle touch of her tongue against his bottom lip, asking for entry in a way that was so like her. And the third reaction, the one that surged forward even after he was kissing her back, was that he should not be kissing her, because she had just kissed Lloyd, and Lloyd was right there watching them.

Zelos pulled away, placing his hands on Colette's shoulders to break the kiss. Colette licked her lips as she sat back from him, watching, her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright. Zelos' heart was beating hard and fast.

"Whoa there, angel hunny. Slow down. You—you can't—what are you kissing me for? You were just kissing him a little while ago." He jerked his thumb back at Lloyd. "You can't—that's called cheating, Colette."

"It's not cheating. It's okay. It's actually what we came to talk to you about," Lloyd said. Zelos turned to look over at him, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"Really. What, are you suggesting we share her, or something? Not sure I'm kosher with that idea, bud."

Lloyd rolled his eyes. "No one's talking about sharing anybody. That's just weird."

"Then what are you—"

Evidently, Lloyd also thought that talking wasn't a good idea, since instead of answering Zelos' question—or even allowing him to finish it, for that matter—he followed Colette's idea and shut Zelos up with a kiss.

Instead of being sudden but gentle, like Colette, Lloyd simply grabbed the lapels of Zelos' shirt and crushed his lips against Zelos' own. Like with Colette, however, Zelos' brain rapidly cycled through various shocked reactions; pure surprise, pure joy, and pure panic. Even as he started to kiss Lloyd back, sweeping his tongue inside of Lloyd's mouth and smiling as Lloyd's tongue batted his own back, his brain was screaming at him that he couldn't do this, that he couldn't have it, and that he had to knock it off.

It was that which caused him to break the kiss, pushing Lloyd back and stumbling up to his feet. Lloyd and Colette followed suit, both watching him—Lloyd expectantly, and Colette carefully. Zelos wiped his mouth across his arm and shook his head, fighting to regain control of the situation, and put his thoughts in order.

"No—no. We—no. We can't do this. No."

"Why not?" Lloyd demanded, and he folded his arms. "What's wrong with kissing?"

"Nothing's wrong with kissing," Zelos spat, and he couldn't help that his tone was sardonic. He always became edgier when the ball wasn't in his court. "Kissing's fine, I just—I can't kiss you."

"Why not? What's wrong with me?" Now Lloyd sounded offended, and Zelos rolled his eyes, tossing his hands into the air.

"Nothing's wrong with you! You're fine, you're great—you're perfect, but I just—I don't do guys, Lloyd. You know this."

"Why not?" Zelos was starting to get tired of the repeated question, to the point where he almost considered asking if Dirk had to put up with this incessantly when Lloyd was a child. "Who cares if I'm a guy or not? You're a guy, too. Doesn't mean we can't love each other."

"I—it's just—It's never been who I am, y'know?" Lloyd didn't seem to know, if the stare he was giving Zelos was anything to go by, and so Zelos turned to Colette. "And you—you're . . . Colette. I can't—I can't do those sorts of things with you. Especially since you've always meant to be with him." He gestured to Lloyd, and Colette nodded.

"It's true. Lloyd has been my Special Someone for a long time." Zelos thought that perhaps she finally saw sense, and was simultaneously relieved and disappointed, before she followed it up with, "But you're my Special Someone too, Zelos."

"How does that work? You can't have two 'Special Someones'."

"I think you can, because I do."

Zelos pinched the bridge of his nose, but rather than trying to ward off a headache, he rather wanted to bring one on, to distract him from the rave his heart was throwing inside of his chest. "Okay, look," he tried. "I don't know what you two are thinking. I know you're both new to this whole romance shindig, but this—this isn't how it works. You meet someone, you decide you like 'em, you decide you love 'em, and then you hook up or whatever. Relationships are a two person thing. You ever heard the saying that three's a crowd?"

"Nope," Lloyd said, and Colette shook her head. Zelos resisted the urge to groan. "And I know a lot of sayings. 108 of them, in fact. Dwarven Vows. I think most of them would actually be in favor of this."

"And what is this, exactly?" Zelos hated the fact that he sounded so hostile, especially when it came to them, but he couldn't help it. He was—for one of the few times in his life—legitimately scared. Terrified, even, though he was loathe to admit it, and when he was scared, the anger came out. "Some kind of suggestion for a threesome? 'Cause bud, I'm sorry, but I don't think either of you want your first time to be a threesome."

"Well, then you don't know us as well as we all thought you did." It was Colette that spoke, shocking Zelos, and his shock gave her more room to talk. "But we're not talking just about sex, Zelos. We're talking about a relationship. Our relationship. The three of us."

"Relationships are hard enough with just two people," Zelos said, and he sounded calmer now, though his heart was still having palpitations. He thought it was rather like how a drowning person stops flailing after a certain amount of time. "You really wanna throw a third into the mix? That's way too complicated."

"The only one making this complicated is you," Lloyd said flatly. "Look, Zelos. We love you. Me and Colette, we're completely in love with you, just like we're in love with each other." Colette nodded her head in affirmation of Lloyd's statements, her hands clasped behind her back. Zelos' throat felt choked. "So think hard before you answer this, okay? I'm trusting you to answer honestly."

Trustwas always the magic word when it came to Zelos, and so he nodded, though he could barely manage an, "Okay," in response. Lloyd and Colette were both staring at him.

"Do you love us, too?"

Did he? Zelos stared at them, taking in every aspect of them. The passion in Lloyd's eyes, the innocent wisdom in Colette's blue, the trust inherent in both of them. On a purely physical level, they were both attractive, even if Colette had the chest of an ironing board. But it was about more than that—they were about more than that.

They were the first people Zelos had ever been able to fully trust, and open up to. Colette had a warm hug when he needed one most, and knew just what to say because she knew just what he was feeling. Even now, years after being a Chosen was an issue, she still could always pinpoint what he was feeling, without him having to explain all the way. And she knew, without having to stumble around for the right answer, just what to say to make him feel all right again.

And Lloyd—Lloyd, Lloyd, Lloyd. Lloyd made him believe. Not only did Lloyd give Zelos someone to believe in simply by existing, but he made Zelos believe in himself, and that was no small feat. Lloyd inspired Zelos in ways no one else could. If Colette was a spot of sunshine on otherwise dismal days, Lloyd was a candle burning bright in an otherwise endless, dark abyss. Before them, there weren't any bright spots to his life at all. There was nothing to look forward to, no reason to keep living. With them around, Zelos could list off a thousand reasons, and the list would always begin and end with their names.

When he thought about what he wanted, somehow the answer always looped back to them, too. He wanted to hold them, kiss them, be with them. The thought of permanently abandoning his duties in Meltokio to gallivant around the world with them until the end of forever became more appealing by the day. He knew that he couldn't—there were societal standards to upkeep, there were things he needed to do, and at twenty-six, the pressure was on for him to settle down and find a wife. His desk back home was practically drowning in marriage proposals. But still, that didn't stop him from pushing those thoughts out of his mind in favor of enjoying the moment—every moment, each and every moment—with Lloyd and Colette. It didn't stop him from imagining a life with them, from thinking that as long as he had them, forever didn't seem too bad—seemed appealing, even. Because at the end of the day, at the end of every day, when it came to those two, Zelos—

"Yeah. I do. I'm crazy about you both. I thought that was obvious by now." Lloyd and Colette had started beaming the second the first word was out of Zelos' mouth, but by the time he got to describing his insanity over them, Colette's eyes were practically shining. "But that doesn't change—"

Once again, he was interrupted with a kiss. Colette had bounded forward, standing up on her tiptoes to press her lips gently against his, throwing her arms around his neck. This time, having finally admitted his own feelings to himself as well as the two of them, Zelos kissed her back, looping his arm around the small of the back draw her closer while doing his best to keep the kiss gentle. He was shaking—he could feel himself shaking, from pure adrenaline—but before he could even think about getting that under control, Colette pulled away and was promptly replaced by Lloyd, who kissed with far more passion, the kissing rough enough to leave them both with slightly sore lips.

When Lloyd pulled back, he took one of Zelos' hands in his own, Colette grasping the other. The two of them joined hands, too, and they turned to kiss each other briefly—and unlike before, when he walked upon them at the picnic site, Zelos didn't feel an ugly twist of jealousy in his stomach. He was still trembling, but the flips in his stomach had very little to do with jealousy, and a whole lot to do with joy. When Lloyd and Colette pulled apart, both of them looked over at him with smiles.

"Dwarven Vow Number Sixteen: you can do anything if you try," Lloyd said. "We can make this work, Zelos. It'll work out, with all three of us."

"Dwarven Vow Number Seven," Colette picked up, and even though Lloyd groaned, it was playful and happy sounding, an exaggeration rather than a genuine expression, "Goodness and love will always win. Love always wins, Zelos. And since we all love each other . . ."

"Yeah," Zelos agreed, and he laughed a little incredulously, because there was a part of him—a big part—that just couldn't believe this was happening. He just couldn't believe that something this fantastic was actually happening to him. "Yeah—we will. We'll figure it out. Together, right?"

"Together," they agreed, and Zelos pulled them both into a crushing embrace.

Notes, References, and Things "Borrowed":

-I don't imagine Aselia has our calendar system, and thus their years/days aren't charted in months. Thus, each year is a cycle of the seasons. Hence, cycle one is the first year they were together, cycle two is the second, and so on and so forth.

-Inspiration for "Accusation" was taken from a running gag in Doctor Who, in which every time Captain Jack Harkness introduces himself, the Doctor interprets it as flirting and tells him to knock it off.

-In-game, Colette likes to add fruit to every single recipe. It's true. The "bananas are good" thing is a reference to Doctor Who.

-If they can have magitek computer systems in the human ranches, they can have janky old record players.

-I can't hear the word "companion" without thinking of Doctor Who nowadays. And in Doctor Who, they always have an awful lot of running to do.

-"Manbearpig" is a reference to what my friend Andy and I call the eggbear in Tales of Vesperia (eggbears appear in other Tales games, too, so whether or not they appear in Symphonia, I felt legit about including them). That in turn is a reference to the manbearpig in South Park, though I assure you, I was referencing the in-joke between Andy and myself.

-Lloyd not understanding the "pot calling the kettle black" metaphor is a joke I've used before. I figured it's been long enough to use it again.

-"Well, exCUse me, Oh Great Chosen One-" is a play on "well, excuuuuse me, princess!" from the awful Legend of Zelda cartoon.

-The idea of Lloyd insisting that he's "borrowing" things when in actuality he's stealing them is an idea I've used for a long time. It's not my fault he commits Grand Theft Rheaird with no remorse.

-Zelos using a fake ID to get them into that random village I made up (Aselia has to be bigger than what we see in game) was actually inspired by Supernatural, rather than Doctor Who, though the psychic paper in Doctor Who works on a similar principle.

-Lloyd, Colette, and Zelos were described wearing outfits of Doctor Who characters in "Wind." Specifically, Lloyd was decked out to look like the Ninth Doctor, Colette was dressed to look like Rose Tyler in the episode "Boom Town," and Zelos was dressed to look like Captain Jack Harkness, in a combination of his military coat and the scarf he had in "Boom Town." This was because I want to see a picture with them in those clothes, but I can't draw it, so I had to do the next best thing.

-Zelos' "I can't be in love with my best friend I've never even had a crush on someone of my same sex before what is this how is this it's fine if others are but I don't know how to deal with this when it's me" crisis is based on personal experience. As in, it took me awhile to come to terms with my orientations/feelings, even though I was already perfectly OK with everyone else being who they were. It happens.

-The "yeah, but" exchange was "borrowed" from The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman.

-I imagine Colette to be both more aware of sexual things than people would expect (as she gets older, anyway), and also perfectly comfortable showing her body to those she trusts. Such things probably went against the teachings of the Church of Martel, but I see Colette as the type to think that since the Goddess is in everyone, the body is thus a very natural and beautiful thing, and so it's OK to show it off. She'd of course not be comfortable with showing her body to strangers (because bad things could happen), but to people she loves and trusts? Sure, why not?

-I firmly believe in the fact that Lloyd, Colette, and Zelos are immortal by the end of the game. I don't care what DotNF says. Both Yuan and Mithos openly show that they can feel pain, and Kratos plainly eats if his negative affection over eating tomatoes are anything to go by, so while they don't seem to need sleep (Kratos takes the night watch a lot), they plainly didn't sacrifice all of their humanity (half-elfanity for Mithos and Yuan?) to become immortal. I mean, they can talk, too. The only things signifying that they're immortal angels are their youthful appearances and wings - and those are things that Lloyd, Colette, and Zelos plainly have by the end of the game. That being said, watching your children and grandchildren grow old while you don't would be painful, and I think that that's probably the legitimate reason Kratos made an excuse to leave at the end of ToS, not realizing that his son was just as immortal as he by that point. Coward.

-The bit with the little red fruit was "borrowed" from the Big Damn Kiss scene in The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman.