Guest: Glad to know you enjoyed the story!
And no, I probably won't write a longer story starting from any of these prompts unless I really want to or I come up with more ideas related to them. They're mostly one-shots that are already finished in my eyes.
I'm Sexy: I'm sorry, I noted down your request but not the rest of the review ^^; The blue-haired half-elf in "Locket" wasn't supposed to be Yuan, but you gave me the perfect motivation to include him in the future. So yeah, now it's Yuan.
Darkfirelight:
Emil took a lot of psychological beatings in the beginning of Dawn of the New World as Luin's persona non grata. His non-existent self-esteem didn't help. It was shaping up as the perfect receipt for disaster until Richter came around, but here things will go differently.
Humor RainexLloyd? Fine for me, it's no problem!
Warning, character death.
Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia and the characters which appeared in the game, and I do not earn any money from this story.
Personally, Genis had never taken Lloyd for a person who would set down on his own in a single place given his love for travelling. In fact, it had taken Colette's first unplanned but not unwanted pregnancy for them to look up a permanent residence.
That was Dirk's last gift for them: he tore down the house he had built years before to raise Lloyd and rebuilt it for the future family. Lloyd had known how much Dirk had missed the underground and didn't protest against his decision to go back in his first home. The two of them had kept in contact for years afterwards.
However, time passed and the house got old too. Genis stared at the weed growing over the fence, the wooden steps in front of the main door and suffocating other plants. It had even managed to reach windows on the ground level. He could only wonder the last time the lawn was weeded. The fence gate too cracked when he opened it.
"Ah, Genis!" the soft voice came from the inner part of the courtyard, which was hidden to the viewers outside the property. That's where Genis found his old friend, standing next to the graves of Anna and Colette. Even then he smiled at Genis.
The half-elf huffed at his old friend's stained clothing; the shirt had been tucked backward. Lloyd was also swaying on his legs as he had no more strength to sustain his own weight for long times without a support. As it was evening, Lloyd could have been on his own for the whole day! He couldn't afford to stay alone, he wasn't young anymore and was unable to fully take care of himself. "What happened here, Lloyd? The grass is growing wildly, and look at yourself! Why are you completely alone?"
Lloyd snickered at his friend's outrage. "I like it better this way," he said. "I still have the right to call people off my lawn. Seriously, they've been smothering me like I could kill myself with a fork or choke on my own shirt." He spread his arms and continued: "Look! I can put it on wrong and survive! And besides, I've Noishe with me. I'm not really that alone." He added as an afterthought as he pointed at the large protozoan. Indeed, Noishe was curled on himself under the porch, soundly asleep.
There was nothing Genis could say once Lloyd was so giddy in his old age. Instead, he grabbed his old friend's arm and dragged him inside, all the while muttering about how he was going to nail him to the couch and feed him with sleeping pills. His friend offered no resistance and sat down quietly at the table to enjoy the show of Genis freaking out at how messy and neglected the kitchen was. By the time Genis had calmed down and actually fixed dinner for the both of them, the sun had completely gone down.
"It's messy only for you, Genis," Lloyd replied when the half-elf placed silverware and a plate of pasta in front of him. "I know perfectly where everything is. Always had since..." Since Colette's death were the unspoken words. "So there. You don't need to worry over me."
Genis just shrugged and took a bite from his sandwich. He had gotten used to the silent meals they now shared: Lloyd would smile and say something stupid that he found funny, but the noise of cutlery hitting the plate or cutting the food would fill the air for the most part. Their animated discussions and food fights had died with Colette. And, Genis would have died instead of confessing it, Lloyd's old age was taking its toll out of each other. Genis was younger than his friend, yet he still looked like in his twenties.
The half-elf coughed, breaking the pact they had made that day. "Lloyd... Is there anything you regret?" he asked.
The change was immediate: Lloyd's smile disappeared and he grasped the knife to the point his knuckles turned white. Enough for Genis to fear he had stepped on an invisible boundary meant to be left alone.
"Regret?" The half-elf let out his breath again when Lloyd turned back to his meal after a few seconds. Yet his voice was so sore and soft, actually showing his age for once. "Many things. All the people I couldn't help. But mostly..." He took another bite before resuming talking, at which point his voice had lowered until it was hardly inaudible. "That I outlived all our friends. Outlived Colette."
There wasn't anything else to say, so Genis didn't push him to keep talking. That was the matter. He had outlived Colette, but a part of him -what made him Lloyd Irving- had died with Colette. Everyone had expected him to die shortly afterwards of a broken heart. For Genis, that would have been better than watching his old, best friend wasting away.
The shadows plaguing the room had become unsustainably ominous when Lloyd finally set the silverware down for good. He had made move to stand up, but grumbled when Genis was already by his side to help him walk. "I already told you, I'm not a helpless baby!" was Lloyd's weak protest. "I can still walk. I'm not chair bound. Don't do this to me..."
"I can't." Genis replied as he guided his old friend up the stairs. "I promised you I'd always stay by your side, didn't I?" Lloyd scoffed at the sentiment, probably thinking the sentiment as corny as Dwarven Vow #7. Specially after his physical form was eaten away by age.
His old friend attempted to chase after freedom when routine had wanted him already in his bed. Genis was used to that too, Lloyd tried it every night with everyone, be it his best friend, his old teacher or one of his children or grandchildren. Contrary to the half-elf's expectation, Lloyd didn't vocally protested being basically lifted off the floor and carried to the bed. Instead he relaxed completely once on the mattress and under the bed sheets, his eyes never leaving Genis.
"Eh, Genis?" he called out as the half-elf was half-way out of the bedroom. Genis stopped immediately at the unfamiliar event. "Do... Do you regret anything?"
"Mithos," Genis answered without thinking twice. How could he not, it had been decades and the memory still hurt him. "Not being able to lessen the discrimination against half-elves... Because all the people of Sylvarant were being discriminated. Presea. Regal and Sheena's deaths, they didn't deserve it..."
Lloyd smiled softly. "So, you don't regret wasting time on my homework and explaining things to me when you already knew I'd fall asleep?"
"Like I could!" Genis shouted, then sighed as he saw Lloyd smiling widely as he found his outburst funny. "And I thought you were going to be serious!"
"But I am!" Lloyd replied pouting. "By the way, tell Raine I said hi!"
The half-elf closed the door behind him, mildly massaging his forehead and frowning at Lloyd's antics. Just when he entered the kitchen again he identified the feeling that had been pestering him the whole time, the fact Lloyd had been alone. While it wasn't uncommon, Genis had always met with a relative ready to leave his old friend in his cares whenever he visited. The house wasn't nearly so silent as that day too, even though the noise had mostly disappeared after Colette's passing.
He prepared the couch in the living room so he could spend the night there. There was no way for him to know if anyone was going to take care of Lloyd in the morning and Genis would never him completely unattended.
The day after, Genis brought his friend's breakfast directly in his room so he didn't have to stand up and wouldn't hear him complaining about his old back pain. As he didn't move when Genis called his name, the half-elf went to wake him up personally. He was greeted by a cold, unmoving hand.
Lloyd Irving, aged 96, had died in his sleep still smiling.
Despite his fame, Lloyd's funeral was a private affair reserved for his family and closest friends. Genis had met them all and knew more than a few of them were more than simple acquaintances, but for this occasion, his last farewell to the best friend of his life, he stuck to Raine. After all, they were the last of the Heroes of the Regeneration.
Both he and Raine had opened the ceremony and had the honour to greet Lloyd first -after Noishe, of course. The protozoan, which Lloyd had insisted until his death to call a "dog", wasn't moving from his old friend's side. The Sages would have just gotten in the way of the others, so they watched the event unfold from afar. "You knew Sis, didn't you?" Genis muttered. Raine didn't turn around. "You knew he was dying."
She sniffed and nodded. "...His body was giving out. He should have died some years ago... I believe he stayed alive purely on willpower." She eyed the young couple currently paying their last respects; the newborn in their hands squirmed a little, probably due to hunger. "To make sure everything was right in his family."
Brother and sister stayed behind on their own, silent, waiting for the rest of the family to end the small ceremony. Genis took from his pocket a small piece of paper he had found on Lloyd's will that was directed specifically to him.
See you later! I'm sure we'll meet again, so I'll be waiting for you.
I had this idea in mind for some time and I have now fulfilled it. It's one plot-bunny less around to torment me.
