A/N: Updating again. n.n; I feel so inspired to write, that I just couldn't help myself...

Disclaimer: ShimaGenki owns nothing but her ideas, twisted tales, and her oddity.


Ungraced Heart
Chapter 2

All I wanted was to be loved
All I wanted was to be held
There was only one
Who could make my heart melt

No one held me like that
No one held me so close
I couldn't help falling in love
With the one I'm hurting most

I'm sorry, I'm sorry
I never wished for this
I'd take back anything
But you can't take back a kiss


"Genis!" I cupped my hands around my mouth and screamed as loud as I could. But he was robotic... there was nothing.

"Give it up, Lloyd!" The blonde's eyes were smiling with evil. "Even if he could hear you, he can't feel anything! His soul is dead!" He cackled, which made me shudder. Genis was dead? No, why would Genis do that? He... couldn't... I called him name again, but I was stopped when a purple glove was shoved in my face.

"Mithos, why?"

"I already told you, Kratos, you took Martel, so I took Genis!"

"He was only thirteen! He had so much life left in him!" I wasn't sure if I'd ever seen Dad so angry. "You could have killed him, but now he's in a twisted hell!"

"But, he only wanted this."

"That's not true! Genis would never want this!" I cut in, and Dad's hand moved away. "He would never want to become..."

"You were too blind to see it, Lloyd!" My eyes widened. What was he getting at? "You were too busy with your girlfriend that you couldn't see the pain in his eyes. You couldn't see that he was being driven crazy... you couldn't see that he fell in love with you!"

"He told me he did!..."

"Before he said anything, he came to me and told me that he was sick of this life. He was done with hurting. He was done with feeling unloved. He wanted to feel nothing. So, I gave him that wish... I gave him exactly what he wanted."

"But... that's... what?" I was confused. That didn't sound like Genis at all. Love? He never really mentioned it, except for maybe Presea. But, that wasn't love, and it was unreturned. Wait, could it be...

I didn't return his love? Was that why?

"Genis, please, come back!" Everything was sinking in, and tears mixed with rain were streaming down my face. "Don't become lifeless! Please!"

"It's too late! He's gone!" Again, the angel laughed, and Dad seemed to inch forward. My head was so flustered... what to do? I attempted to run to Genis, but I slipped and fell into the mud, now having it plastered onto the front of my clothes. "Nothing you do will save him now!"

"Genis..." My whispers, my sobs, and my tears were all swallowed in the rain. "No, I'm sorry... It's all my fault... No..." I covered my face with a mud-strewn hand, but I peered up as I heard voices shouting. Mithos and Dad were in a battle, much more clumsy in this conditions. Genis was left there, standing alone. Still stumbling slightly, I finally stood up and cautiously walked to him. Amazingly, he was my own height, his silver hair cascading down his back. Indeed, his eyes were a deep blue, pupiless and emotionless. "Genis, can you hear me?" I gripped his shoulders lightly, and he only stumbled slightly. "Please, tell me you're in there somewhere..."


Lloyd! Lloyd, I can hear you... I could see everything. Lloyd was standing level height to me, and holding my shoulders. He shook me as if I was just going to magically come back. I'd already regretted this decision, but there was nothing I could do to change it now.

"Genis! Please, come back! I don't know what's happened, but please...come back to me!"

Lloyd, I'm here, I'm here! So badly I wanted to shout everything... I wanted to leap forward and embrace him... I wanted to shove my face in his shoulder and bawl endlessly. Here I was, empty. I wasn't dead, but my body was. I was behind empty eyes, in the Exphere. Oh, Lloyd, how do I break free?

"Genis, I'm sorry... Did you really hurt that much? You seemed to smile like nothing hurted you... Why didn't you tell me?"

I was afraid. I was afraid to love you. But it was inevitable, and I... I couldn't say a word. I was without sound, without a proper shell.

Lloyd was suddenly knocked into the muddy ground. Blankly, I turned to the one guilty, and it was without a doubt, Mithos. "Nothing will save him. You could shed a thousand tears, or even kiss him, but he is myangel now, and nothingwill save him." I thought I wasn't supposed to feel anymore. But then, why do I feel hurt even more so now? I was tricked, fooled by the only one who promised my a way out. "Because of you, his heart has hurt, and he could never have what he wanted..." But I never wanted to fall in love. Mithos was wrong! "Give it up." He walked slowly over and kicked Lloyd. Something awoke in my body, and I strutted over to kneel over him, in a protective manner. The angel was offended. "What is wrong with you! You'd rather protect him versus me?"I nodded slowly.

"Genis..."I gazed into his eyes momentarily. They were filled with sorrow and confusion. There was nothing more that I could do besides stare blankly, but I couldn't look away. It was sparking something inside of me...

"I demand you to not touch him!" My lips moved slightly. "No!"

"Th-that's right. I... said no," I finally whispered, barely audible. Even more so, he seemed surprised and offended.

"Why? How... your Exphere..."

"Whatever you have done to it, Mithos, you must have made a mistake." Behind him, Kratos limped closer. "Either that, or Lloyd did something to return Genis to his senses. All of them." And I could feel them too: I started to feel the rain pounding on my head and my grip on Lloyd's wet clothing. My body was weakening, but I felt like I properly functioned again.

"Genis, are you okay?" Lloyd asked.

"No, but I'm still here..." Even through the rain, I noticed the deep masculine voice that I'd never had before. Afraid of what I had become, I wrapped my arms around the one I needed most right then.

"Mithos, you will die this time!" Kratos made a blow to Mithos, but the body disappeared. Quickly after, the rain lightened into a soft rain as the sun peeked out from behind the clouds. He blinked rather surprised. "Where did he go?"

"Maybe he was dead this whole time," I whispered.

"That doesn't seem possible, but this whole thing doesn't seem possible..." He started to cock his head when I was pushed back to look into brown, narrowed eyes.

"What the hell were you thinking? Just confessing your love and then running off? And on top of that, trusting Mithos, a supposed dead man, to heal you, when all he did was lock you inside your body!" I whimpered slightly, which seemed to make Lloyd back off. "Why?" I gave him a "hm?" to push the question further. "Why did you even consider this?"

"I told you, it's because I love you." My face was reddening, from either embarrasement, or the new tears streaking down my face. "And I'm just in you and Colette's way. But, I mean... I felt so hurt, and I didn't want to feel this way anymore, and... and... I'm sorry..."

"Just, stop." I blinked. "Don't be sorry. If you fell in love, that's nothing you can help, right?" I nodded in response. "I mean, sure, maybe it's a little weird, but that's just the way it is."

"Even so, I..." I was stopped with a hand over my mouth.

"You did nothing but support me and Colette this whole time. So you haven't done anything wrong. If anyone has done anything wrong, I have. Maybe instead of getting caught up in my own emotions, I should have tried to see what was up with you. If you want to know the truth, I noticed something, but I thought you were just being a little out of it. I'm sorry." He embraced me, and I returned the gesture. Twistedly enough, the sensation was more than just comforting, but it was triggering stupid thoughts in the back of my mind.

"I'm amazed Lloyd. You've said something intelligent."

"Oh gee, that brings up my confidence, Dad."

"Always a pleasure." I don't think I've ever heard Kratos chuckled like that before, but indeed, he was. "Genis."

"Yes?" I let go of the embrace and turned to him.

"Would you like me to remove that Exphere?" I nodded. "Come here." Rising on my feet, I walked wearily towards him and held out my left hand. He seemed to fiddle for what seemed like five minutes, before he withdrew and sighed. "It looks like it may be attached..."

"That's not good... is it?" Of course, I already knew the response.

"Not at all. But, you can still change back into your actual appearance, at least. Can you figure that out?" Already, I felt knowledgeable somehow, and a quick flash of light came and gone. "Yes, I see you have. Perhaps with more time, I can remove that Exphere." Again, I nodded. I spun around and grinned at Lloyd.

"Shall we go home now?"

"Let's." He walked over and held my hand as we walked with Kratos, noticing the rainbow shimmering in the sky on the way back.


Now maybe I can rest in peace
Maybe this pain will finally leave
At first, I seemed ungraced
But now, I am saved

I could never love again
But still be content
With how our friendship lasted
How it never ended


A/N: I feel so DEAD. x.o But there is ONE more chapter, the wrap-up and shtuff. u.u; Okay, I really didn't like how this chapter went, this was supposed to be stretched and blahblahblah, but I was too tired to think straight. That's why it started getting choppy in the end: I ran out of ideas. (it is after 1AM... x.x;)

Just some side notes I'd like to share (there's no numbers, so try to remember...)

-The poem is a little weird and slightly related. Believe it or not, it is not referring to the story, but is instead referring to my personal feelings. I'll say it a thousand times: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But apologies can't take back a kiss... (kiss reference: This Piece of Fabric, Lloyd on Zelos)

-Remember how Kratos said Genis was only thirteen? That wasn't a mistake. If you check back on Roulette, the first chapter has one paragraph when Genis is thinking: and he mentions he recently turned thirteen.

-I noticed as I wrote this I forgot to mention Genis' wings. The only excuses I could come up with were that they never came out because of the rain, or that Genis never noticed because he became numb during the process. As for Lloyd's lack of notice, I blame his lack of brain.

-While the story was supposed to reflect personal experience, this is stretched to no end. This never actually happened, only thing I can tell you are a majority of Genis' "twisted thoughts" are basically mine. Also, I wasn't happy with the way this went because it was supposed to be biased off of when I started to change (that explains the angelic transformation,) but it flew out the window when Genis protected Lloyd. (Originally, Lloyd was supposed to do the protecting and snap Genis back to reality.) Ironically enough, that experience help set the whole chain of events for this whole thing in place. I don't know why I'm explaining all this... I think I'm too tired to stop...

Anyway, please ask away in your review. (Hopefully you'll be sending it, right? .o.o. ) I will not, however, spill too much of the beans of anything directly related to me, unless, however, you are a closer person online. (eg: my online buddehs, my personal friends, etc.) Please also consider keeping an open mind while reviewing, I'm actually easily offended, but I try to hide it. n.n; Flames will go up in my Hall of Flame (located in my bio) whether you're anonymous or a author. (and I address you personally, so HA.)

While this whole trilogy has been slightly hard to cover and decipher, there is an alternative tale to the story of This Piece of Fabric. (note: Roulette and Ungraced Heart were seperate pieces.) It actually covers the before stuff as well: including my nasty little mistakes that I really didn't notice until after. But I'm going to make you find it. I can't remember the genre it got listed under, but I know it's under the GS category. The penname will look awfully familiar as well. I dropped a title hint as well within this paragraph, but there's no way I'm hinting that anymore. I don't think anyone cares, but I'm on a big rant role... erm, please review!