A/N: I've decided to pick up the pace on finishing this little side-story by posting this chapter a little sooner than I had expected. After this, there will be one more chapter and perhaps a songfic for a fifth chapter of sorts. Then I can focus my complete attention on "Unconditional Love". I've got so many ideas for new stories that it's driving me nuts!

Oh, and I apologize for not answering the question to me posted by Lloyd (Irving) Aurion concerning the possible healing of Zelos. I'll answer that by saying there will be a healing of sorts. The damage is more or less permanent, yes, but, in this chapter and the next, Zelos will reveal a way to help ease the pain. Might not be the best idea ever, but I hope it'll suffice. As any of you have probably already figured out by now, I'm not big on scientifically technical details. After all, I'm only a little more than a month into my whole writing hobby, so I hope everyone will cut me some slack.

That being said, I hope you enjoy the new chapter!

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Chapter 3: Broken Hero

Zelos awoke from his mid-morning nap to the sound of children playing outside. After his exhausting hike up that snowy hill with Colette in the early hours of that morning, he was ready to go back to sleep and hopefully regain some of his energy. He was used to being cooped up inside during most days, but today felt different with him. Starting with the uphill hike, he felt like being active and had plans to take another walk around the village; nothing too tough.

Of course, with this activity would come pain… lots of it. All he was managing to do was keep his muscles from completely deteriorating. It didn't help him much with coping with the pain he always felt in his legs. Day by day, he was slowly accepting the fact that his legs may never get better. Sure, the pain may lessen a bit over the years, but he wondered by just how much.

All of that being said, he knew he had to find someway to cope with the pain while remaining active. Zelos had tried several concoctions of herbs that Colette and her father, Frank had gathered that were known for their curative properties. However, these proved to be of little helped. Magic was no good either. He had tried on a few occasions to develop his own slow-release First-Aid spell that was meant to, not so much cure the legs, but perhaps just numb the pain for a time. This was only mildly successful, however, as using a healing spell in that fashion required a fair amount of concentration and it quickly tired him out. He had to figure out something else.

He sat up in bed and slowly swung his body around, allowing his legs to legs to dangle shortly above the cold floor. He was still tired, but thought that he should get up anyway. If nothing else, he wanted to see what Colette was up to and perhaps chat with her. He gazed out of his window and saw that Colette was rather close by. She was watching the children play some sort of ball game and seemed to be having a good time. He smiled when he saw her like this.

"Such a simple life. I wonder…" He slowly stood up and got of bed, wincing in pain as he did so. He sat in a nearby chair and proceeded to dress himself, making sure to bundle up as he did so. Once satisfied that he was dressed warmly enough, he stood once more and grabbed for his crutches. "Easy does it," he said to himself as he made his way out of the room, slowly but surely.

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Colette laughed as she watched the children play a game similar to Four-square. The thin sheet of snow on the ground made the far more interesting to play, as the packed snow made it hard to properly bounce the ball. On the other hand, the snow acted as a wonderful cushion should they decide to dive for the ball at any point of the game. After the current set was finished, all of the children turned to her.

"Miss Colette! Will you play a game with us! Please?!" they asked, pleadingly.

Colette giggled when she was asked this. "Hehe. I'd love to! What rules are we-… oh! Hello Zelos!" She waved to the fallen Chosen as he slowly made his way around the corner of the house.

The children quickly turned in Zelos' direction as he inched closer and closer to them. He tried to flash a weak smile at them, but it seemed to have no effect. They immediately grew angry with his mere presence and actively showed it. The child with the ball, a small boy who could have been no older than seven, threw said ball at Zelos, nailing him in the right kneecap. The impact dealt an insane amount of pain to that leg and Zelos immediately fell to the ground, unable to stop himself from succumbing to the blow. Colette gasped as she brought her hands to her mouth, covering it.

"Stay away from Colette, you jerk!" the boy yelled. "You tried to hurt her! You're a bad man!"

The other three children began yelling similar things at him and began moving towards him, looking as if they were going to start hitting him while he was down. Colette had to interject and stop them.

"Children! Please, stop! He's not a bad person!" she cried.

They all turned to Colette with confused looks on their faces. "But Miss Colette," a little girl startled, "he tried to hurt you and our other friends! He's mean!"

Colette put her hands together as if in prayer. "Please, don't say that. Zelos is a good person. You just don't know it." At this point, she had begun to cry.

The children saw this and immediately rushed to her side. "Miss Colette! Are you ok?" another little boy asked. "Did we make you sad? We're sorry."

Colette smiled weakly at them and kneeled down. She motioned for them to come to her and they did so. She held them close to her and whispered something to them that Zelos couldn't make out. He didn't move an inch as he watched the whole event transpire, pain shooting through his system as he did so. He noticed one of the children glaring back at him as Colette continued to speak to them. After another moment, all of the children stared at him for a moment and ran off.

Colette walked over to Zelos and kneeled down once more. "Zelos, I am so sorry about that. Please forgive them. They were-"

He cut her off. "No… no, it's ok. I know they were just trying to protect you from me. I can't say that I blame them." He looked back at the fleeing children. "You're so well loved here. It's amazing."

"Zelos…" Colette said as she began to help Zelos up. Once up, they stared at each other for a moment until Colette broke the silence. "Um, I thought you were still in bed. Aren't you tired?"

He shook his head. He was lying, of course, but she didn't need to know that. "Nah, I'm ok. Legs hurt, but that's nothing new. I just… wanted to come out and see you."

She smiled sweetly at him. Every time he saw her like this, Zelos could feel his heart melt. "You wanted to see me? Hehe. Did you want to talk or…?"

He shrugged his good shoulder. "Sorta. I was thinking about going for a short walk. You know, just around the village. I wanted to ask if you to come with me. Interested?
She nodded twice. She always liked talking walks by herself, but she liked them even better when she had someone to talk with. "Sure! Sounds like fun! You'd better eat some lunch though. You'll need some energy. If you want to go ahead and head inside, I'll join you in just a minute. Is that ok?"

He nodded back to her. He was happy that she agreed to go on a walk with him. He had grown quite attached to her lately and welcomed any opportunity to talk to her. "Sounds good. I was gettin' kinda hungry anyway. I'll be waiting inside." He flashed a smile at her, turned around, and made his way back inside.

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Back in his room, Zelos flopped onto his bed, grabbing the knee that was hit with his good hand as he did so. The pain was almost unbearable. It took everything he had inside of him to keep from yelling while he was talking to Colette. He was breathing deeply in an attempt to calm down not only his pain but himself as well. Colette would be back inside in a few minutes and he didn't want her to see him like this.

He sat back up. Taking the crutch that had fallen on the bed with him, he swapped it out for the walking stick that was under his bed. Now that Colette knew where it was, it was pointless to hide it, but it was the spot he was used to keeping it at. He stood back up with great difficulty and closed his eyes. He had to ready himself for any pain that was going to come his way.

"Ah! A monster! Run away!" screamed a voice from outside.

Zelos' eyes shot wide open and he looked outside to see several people running away from what looked like a rather large ogre. As it walked along, it kept swinging its massive club at nothing in particular, smashing several things along the way and seemingly having a good time of doing so. He saw the same children that had been playing ball outside of his window earlier run around a corner which the ogre was near and tried to run away from it. The ogre noticed them and immediately took off after them.

"Oh crap," Zelos said to himself as he witnessed the whole ordeal. Once the children passed the house just across from his window, Colette popped in between the children and the ogre. She stood defiantly in its path.

"Colette?! No, you don't have a weapon! Get out of there!" he cried out in vain. The window was closed and she was unable to hear him, however. Even if she could, it was doubtful that she would comply. To the people of Iselia, she was a hero, and she felt that it was her duty to defend the village no matter what.

The ogre took notice of her and smiled a toothy grin. It moved in closer to her, ready to strike her at a moment's notice. Zelos spotted Frank at the other end of the street with one of Colette's chakram in his hand.

"Colette! Catch!" he yelled as he let the chakram fly. Colette moved to catch it, but it was in vain for the ogre managed to figure out what was going on. He wheeled around and swung his club at the chakram, sending it flying away. A look of fear washed over Colette's face. She slowly began backed away when the ogre turned back to her.

Zelos couldn't believe what he was seeing. Even in the face of such an opponent with no weapon to defend herself with, she refused to flat-out run away. He turned around to face the opposite wall of his room. He had to do something. He wasn't sure what could be done, but he had to try anyway. He quickly hobbled over to where his old Ether Blade and pieces of armor were hanging. He reached for the sword and realized he was still holding the walking stick. He was immediately reminded of what he had become.

"Haha! You stupid Chosen! What do you hope to do, hmm?"

A defiant look crossed Zelos' features as he tossed aside the stick. He's have to walk without it… somehow. In his state, there's now ay he could wear any sort of armor minus his shield, but in order to use even that, he'd have to wear it on the same arm that he uses his sword with. This is what he went with. He had no choice, after all. If he was going to fight this thing, he would need some form of protection.

His right arm now decked out with both a shield strapped to his forearm and his Ether Blade in hand, he proceeded to walk out of the room. Unfortunately, without the stick or his crutch, he didn't get very far before he fell flat on his face. He pounded his fist in frustration and in pain.

"Damnit! I have to help Colette!" he cried out. "But I can't even walk! How am I supposed to… to…" An idea hit him like a ton of bricks.

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Colette brought out her angelic wings, realizing that her only chance to win would be to use magic. She glided backwards, hoping to put some distance between her and the ogre. She closed her eyes and began to chant. The ogre rushed her and picked up a knocked over barrel as it did so. After a big wind-up, it threw the barrel at Colette.

"Colette! Look out!" cried one of the children.

Colette opened her eyes and dodged in time to keep herself from harm. However, this interrupted her chant and she would have to start from the beginning. She proceeded to glide away again but this time, she tripped over a large crate that had been knocked over by the impact of the barrel that had missed her. Given her natural clumsiness, it wasn't too hard to understand how a gliding angel could trip over an object on the ground.

The ogre edged closer to her, ready to deliver the killing blow. She turned back over to face the ogre and immense fear washed over her. All the townspeople who were watching the fight from afar could do is stare in horror. It raised its club, ready to kill Colette.

The ogre roared in pain as it stumbled past Colette. Looking back, she saw three fairly large burn marks on its back. The townspeople gasped in surprise when they saw who the attack had come from. Colette turned to the source of their attention.

Zelos stood with an extended and steaming hand. "Stay away from her, fiend!" he said with resolve. Zelos had found a way to walk. His golden wings shone brightly in the winter sun as he walked with little difficulty over to where the ogre and Colette were. Yes, he was walking, not gliding as Colette was before. Figuring that gliding would take a large amount of stamina, stamina which he did not have, he went with the next best thing: he was simply using the wings to help keep him light on his feet, thus taking a large amount of strain off of his legs.

"Zelos!" yelled Colette. "How are you-"

Zelos waved his arm at her. "No time for that! Get all of the townspeople to safety! Quickly!"

Colette wanted to protest but didn't. She nodded to Zelos, rose to her feet, and ran to the closest spectators. "Zelos! Please be careful!" she yelled as she began hurrying the townsfolk along.

The ogre turned to face the defiant Zelos, a look of pure rage crossing his features as it did so. "Grah!" it yelled as it rushed Zelos.

The broken hero grinned and motioned towards himself with his blade. "Come on! I can still fight!"

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"Is everyone ok?" Colette asked the gathered townsfolk.

Not quite in unison, everyone something to the effect of "yes", "yep", or "uh huh".

One of the men in the small crowd waved his arms in air, managing to get everyone's attention. "Everyone! This is our chance! While that heathen Zelos distracts the beast, we'll take up arms ourselves! We'll wait until Zelos is disposed of, we'll take down the monster ourselves! Two birds with one stone!" Much to Colette's horror, many of the townsfolk agreed with this idea.

"Stop it! How could you say something like that?" Colette asked pleadingly. "That man is out there risking his life for us! If it wasn't for him, I would be dead by now and the monster might've killed more of us!"

A woman spoke up. "But Miss Colette, he's traitor! We know what he did to you in the Tower of Salvation! We didn't want to say anything before, but we have been totally against his staying here from the very beginning!"

Colette clasped her hands over her heart as tears came to her eyes. "Y-you should all be ashamed! You don't understand him! He was just scared! That's… that's…"

Colette fell to her knees and began to sob. She had never known how the townsfolk felt about her bringing Zelos into her home. She knew that they were just looking out for her well being, but it still didn't make what they were saying right.

The children from earlier saw her begin to cry and, as before, ran to her side. The hugged her and looked back at the crowd. "You jerks! You made Miss Colette cry!"

Another man spoke up. "We didn't mean to do that to her, but that Zelos is bad news. We-"

The little girl of the group interrupted the man. "That doesn't matter! Miss Colette said he was a good person! So… he is!"

The first boy spoke again. We didn't like him either, but we were wrong. We tried to hurt him earlier, and that was wrong too."

The crowd was silent. Not only was Colette speaking in defense of this man, but the children were as well. What could they say now? Were they wrong?

Colette stood back up, her tears still fresh on her soft face. "I'm going to go help him. I don't care what anyone says. He's a good person… we've all seen that today." With that, she brought her wings back out and glided away. The children followed shortly after her.

Everyone in the crowd looked at each other. Frank stepped forward and said, "Whether or not we're wrong doesn't matter right now. We have to help Colette and… Zelos. He IS fighting for us." He then took off after Colette as well, with the rest of the crowd trailing behind him.

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Colette flew as quickly as possible to the previous battle site. She was so worried about Zelos that she couldn't stand it. "Zelos, please be ok… please."

She reached the area where the two had been fighting and saw no signs of movement. After frantically scanning the area for a moment, she saw both the ogre and Zelos on the ground. Neither of the two stirred.

"Zelos!" she cried as she rushed over to him. She kneeled down next to him and began to shake him. "Zelos! Please wake up! Please!"

A couple of Iselian peasants had grabbed pitchforks along the way and approached the fallen ogre with caution. It was covered with multiple slash and stab wounds, along with a few burn marks here and there. They poked it a few times and it didn't stir. Finally, one of them plunged their pitchfork deep into the ogre's chest. Again, it didn't stir. It was safe to say that it was dead. Zelos had defeated the ogre… but at what cost?

Frank kneeled down next to his daughter, not knowing what to do. He put his hand on her shoulder as she held the battered and bloodied Zelos close to her.

"Zelos… please… wake up…"

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Wow! My longest chapter for any story ever! Whew. Hope it was good! The next chapter will be the last along with the songfic I have prepared as a fifth chapter. It'll kinda be like the ending credits to an anime. You know, where they show clips of the show while some cool song plays in the background. The only question now is… what will the 4th chapter contain? A funeral for Zelos, or perhaps a "Happily Ever After" type scene for him? All will be answered soon enough. Please leave some reviews! I worked REALLY hard on this chapter, and I'm quite proud of it. Last chapter and ending songfic coming soon!