A/N: Colette has nearly completed her journey of Regeneration, and Sheena is confused as to where her loyalties lie after spending so long with the group.

Nothing so Convenient…

Before I had even emerged fully from my meditation, I could feel the fresh, night-chilled breeze penetrating my clothes and lashing at my face from my exposed position on the hill beside our camp. It wasn't a surprise then, as I slowly opened my eyes, to find that the late evening had descended into night, but I was again disappointed that my hours spent trying to get my thoughts in order had failed completely. I was still confused, and, now that time was running out, the confusion was beginning to flood into a desperate fear.

Colette had broken all the seals across Sylvarant, and all that was left now was for her to finish the World Regeneration at the Tower of Salvation. Going over that statement in my mind filled me with a terrible, empty weakness and I shifted from my kneeling position – falling backwards to lie on the soft grass of the hill. Above me, the vast silver orb of the moon hung in the black sky like an enormous pearl, it's abnormally bright light cascading down and catching the tiny beads of rain that were just beginning to fall. Strange, I hadn't even felt them earlier, so my meditating must have been deep. Why, then, hadn't it worked?

Oh, what am I going to do? The question kept repeating itself over and over in my head – unrelenting – never letting anything else arise to the forefront of my mind. Colette…the Chosen…she had nearly finished her journey – the journey that would devastate my world, and I've been helping her!

I grabbed a handful of grass, ripping the roots free from the ground in frustration. What am I doing? I've been betraying my world…the trust people have placed in me; I'm betraying it all. Yet what I've seen…is it right to condemn Sylvarant to a similar fate?

Although I couldn't account for all of them, I knew that some of the Chosen's group had also placed a similar trust in me, and as time crept on I felt increasingly like I was going to have to choose a side; like I was being pulled in two directions.

"What am I going to do?" I mumbled aloud, holding up my hand so I could see the grass tumble free in the wind as I released it. There was no answer, not that I was expecting one, save for the twinkling of the stars high above. I paused anyway for a moment, then sighed in the silence.

"Sheena?"

The voice was carried tentatively on the breeze, but I recognised it as Lloyd's anyway. We had been speaking a lot since I began travelling with the Chosen's group and, along with Colette herself, hadn't reacted with horror when I admitted that I may have to still take her life if the Chosen couldn't find a way to save the two worlds. I hoped it was because they understood my position, but I didn't have the luxury of relying on that line of thought.

I leaned my head back to see an upside-down view of Lloyd stood at the crest of the hill watching me, the smoke from the campfire on the other side rising high behind him.

"Lloyd. What's up?" I tried to keep my voice as cheerful as possible as I replied, watching the young man as he came down the hill towards my position.

"I…uh," he paused for a moment, before taking a seat beside me. "I just came to see if you were all right. I mean, you've been real quite of late and spending a lot of time on your own."

There it was again – that unrelenting and unbiased kindness that Lloyd had always treated me with, regardless of my relatively untrustworthy position. I felt my cheeks warm slightly at his words, and turned my face back to look at the moon.

"Nah, I'm fine," I lied. "I just find that meditating helps me sort things out in my mind every now and then, y'know?"

"You mean about Colette, right?"

I turned sharply to look at him, knowing my sudden movement probably confirmed that fact that he had hit the nail on the head. Sometimes, he was so perceptible and, at times like this, there was no point trying to deny he was wrong.

"…Yeah, about Colette." I sat up, wanting to say more; to justify my actions, or the reasons behind them, but Lloyd didn't seem hostile at all – quite the opposite in fact. Understanding.

He smiled, sympathetic in the whole, but it also looked, to me, like it was tinged with sadness.

"You meant what you said then, the other day?"

I closed my eyes, feeling some of the blood drain from my face. We hadn't really discussed the conversation since that night, but I had always got the impression that it had been on everyone's mind anyway. I couldn't fault them that I suppose.

"What do you want me to do Lloyd?" I asked, feeling a little of the desperation I couldn't suppress creeping into my voice. "I can't let my world suffer like this one has, I just…can't! My world…the people there are relying on me to save them."

Lloyd nodded, looking down the rolling hill beneath our position. I joined him for a moment; sitting quietly and feeling the rain thicken as it descended.

"Colette…she might still find a way…" whispered the young man after a minute or two. "…Don't give up hope, Sheena."

"I'm not," I snapped, running a hand through my dampening hair. "But…what if Raine was right? What if there isn't a nice convenient way out that benefits both worlds? I…I accept that you guys have to do this…but…"

I looked away for a moment, feeling my throat tighten with emotion. This was ridiculous, I thought. My reasoning is equally as justified as theirs, and yet I can't ask them to understand. Why? Why am I so confused?

"…I know," Lloyd replied, and I felt his hand fall on my shoulder briefly. "I was thinking earlier on this evening – how important Sylvarant is to us…Tethe'alla is just the same for you, isn't it. I mean, of course it is, it's your home, right?"

I opened my mouth to say something, but Lloyd continued hastily. "I…don't want all of this to have anymore of an unhappy ending, but…if we do end up going against each other then I-I'll understand, all right?"

Feeling warm reassurance at his words, I looked back across to meet the young man's gaze and smiled sadly. Yeah. At least we understand each other.

"Right," I replied. "I…don't want to have to fight you guys…but if there's no other way then I…I'm glad you understand."

"Of course…" Lloyd returned the smile. "I wouldn't want to fight you again either – I mean, I've still got the bruises from last time!"

His comment found the mark and had its desired effect, causing genuine laughter to spill from my mouth. "Heh, that's right," I replied, shaking my head to dislodge the beads of water that were settling in my hair. "So you'd better watch out! Although, y'know, you weren't so bad yourself!"

"Haha, maybe." Lloyd looked across at me. "But the things you can do with those cards are pretty amazing. We could probably learn a lot from each other, huh?" Lloyd paused and grinned, and for some reason I felt the heat returning to my face again. "I know, let's have sparring sessions or something eh? What about it?"

"Uh, um…s-sure, if you want to…" I stopped myself from continuing, silently bemoaning the fact that yet again I sounded like an idiot. You dork, stop doing things like that.

Lloyd smiled again. "Cool, that'll be fun!" He looked up at the sky as the rain increased in its strength. "Hey, we should head back to the camp soon, grab a hot drink or something and get out of this rain."

"Yeah…okay, that sounds good." I rose to my feet, noting that my clothes were already soaked through, and waited for Lloyd to follow suit. We walked up to the crest of the hill; our heads bowed against the wind and rain, and approached the campsite – the fire still roaring merrily in complete ignorance of the rain.

I paused for a moment, watching the crackling fiery tongues lick upward in protest to the downpour, shimmering with a strange, hypnotic beauty – one that I found hard to tear my eyes away from. Here, in this world, I had found…friends. Real, genuine friends who, so far, were accepting me for what I am – even though we had first met through me trying to kill one of them. I realised, in that one moment, that I couldn't turn away from that companionship. There had to be another way.

"Lloyd," I whispered, still looking at the fire. "I…I'm willing to put my faith in Colette…and all of you, that another way can be found, okay? I'm willing to…wait." After what happened so many years ago, and now this…perhaps I really don't have what it takes after all.

"If that's what you want," he replied, coming to stand beside me. "I mean, you have to do what's best for you. I won't think any less of you for the decisions you make. I trust you."

"Sh-shut up. Where did that come from all of a sudden?" The young man's unrelenting compassion continued to make me feel nervous, and I quietly sighed upon finding myself blushing. Drop the defensive act every now and then, I told myself, and stop being a jerk.

"Sorry…didn't mean to explode like that. Um, th-thanks, Lloyd. What you said…well…it means a lot." I turned to face him, blinking away the heat spots from the fire and smiled. He was so kind, and the least I could do was to pay it back with my own loyalty and trust. Thinking that sparked a sudden confidence within me and I squeezed my hand into a fist. "You're right though. There's surely another way – and we'll find it, right?"

Lloyd seemed to study my face for a second before returning my smile and nodding, his face catching the light of the fire beside us. "Sure we will!"