By Sir Exal
Chapter 3, Zelos's Promise
Lloyd gave a mighty yawn and sat up, smacking his lips. There wasn't much light coming into the room yet, but Lloyd could see even in the darkness that he was the first one awake. This significantly surprised him, as Zelos usually woke up before himself or Genis. Lloyd dismissed it, figuring that Zelos was just enjoying his first real bed in weeks. He always did complain about the ground...
Lloyd knew better than to interrupt anyone's sleep, so he silently snuck out of the room through the, he noticed, open door. "So that's why I was always so cold," thought Lloyd.
Lloyd thought about walking around town, but quickly grew bored. The morning was cool, and he looked at the dew that had formed on the grass. He looked at the mighty, healthy form of the Linkite tree, through the slight morning mist. He then remembered what Zelos said he did before Lloyd woke up, and had an idea.
--scene--
"Take this!" Lloyd channeled his mana into his right leg and pushed down, launching himself high into the air. He twirled and twisted in the air, then dove diagonally, pointing his swords towards his target. The instant the steel of his blades touched, he spread the swords apart, and bark flew everywhere. Looking at the scar that he had created on the tree, Lloyd sheathed his swords and thought. He usually would never go after a tree with that much fury. There was something different...
"A warrior's sense." Kratos's voice said in Lloyd's head, and Lloyd could almost see a transparent form of the angel near him.
"What?" asked Lloyd to his mental image.
"They say that a seasoned warrior can tell when a battle is coming. That is the feeling you have right now, that a grand battle shall happen soon."
"But what does that mean?" inquired Lloyd.
"There is no way of knowing, yet." said Kratos. "All you can do is prepare for an enemy more powerful than any you have faced before."
"Well, then, I'll just cut this enemy of mine down to size!" Lloyd said, cocky as ever. The imaginary Kratos vanished with a sigh, and Lloyd imagined a huge, menacing, dark figure behind him. He wheeled around and drew his swords, slicing further the tree he had already cut up. With a slight chuckle, Lloyd decided to go back into Mizuho.
--scene--
The city was just beginning to look alive when Lloyd got back. People were starting to walk all around the roads, and several of them gave a greeting to the swordsman as he walked by. He entered the house, and was again surprised to see no one was awake. Lloyd decided to make breakfast for the three...No, wait, there was Sheena, make that four of them. And...he grinned... he would make sure to put plenty of strawberry in Zelos's food. That'd teach him.
--scene--
Lloyd had just finished making breakfast..."The most important meal of the day," as the Professor said. Lloyd had fully expected one of his friends to come bursting in on him, and still, none did. He waited for a little while, and chewed on his omelet a bit, Lloyd lost his patience and said the heck with it.
Bursting into the bedroom, he loudly announced "C'mon guys, break..." Then stopped dead in his tracks. His face was frozen in a mask of horror, and first just a gasp could escape his lips. Then, he yelled, "Oh, my--"
Zelos sat up in bed. "What?" said Zelos groggily, almost stupidly, then he followed Lloyd's gaze. He choked for a moment, then sputtered out, "N-no..."
Sheena lay on her bed, in almost the same position that she had gone to sleep in. Her large, beautiful eyes were shut tight, and her small mouth showed a start of a pained expression. The ornamental hilt of a small dagger stuck out of her chest, where her skin was uncovered by her clothes. Dried dark red showed where blood had flown down around and between her breasts, staining her usually bright purple clothes a dark red. One of her arms hung lifeless over the side of the bed perpendicular to the door.
"Sheena..." murmured Zelos. Lloyd, who had more of his wits about him, rushed outside, to tell someone, anyone. "Sheena!" shouted Zelos, louder. Genis woke up silently at this. It took him a second to see Sheena, and then he clasped his hands to his mouth, terribly stunned. He had seen death before, but never seen it like this. None of them had. Zelos yelled out, with the voice of a pained soul, "SHEENA!"
--scene--
(Flashback)
Zelos licked his Quiche-sticky fingers. Satisfied with the dinner that Regal had prepared for the group, he looked around his twilighted surroundings and spotted Sheena, sitting alone on a rock.
Zelos walked over to Sheena, and she didn't respond to his presence, just kept a frown on her face. Zelos, looking to break the ice, yelled "Hey! Sheena!" She remained silent and thinking. Zelos, already growing impatient, asked, "What are you doing moping about over here?"
Sheena didn't look up. "Go away." she said coldly. "I can't think when you're around."
Zelos had known the ninja long enough to know to not let it rest. He moved in front of her, and put a finger on her forehead, pushing her head up and having her look into his face. "Are you thinking about what's going to happen after this journey is over?" Zelos asked in abject seriousness.
Sheena pulled away, asking "What!" But she couldn't help giving the Chosen a backward glance.
"I knew it." said Zelos.
"J...just shut up!" said Sheena, trying to end the conversation.
Zelos moved in front of Sheena. Trying (but not very hard) to sound casual, he asked, "So, what are you going to do?"
Sheena started, "I..." then gave up and told him. "We, the people of Mizuho, probably won't be able to stay in Tethe'alla."
Zelos looked amused. "'Cause you disobeyed the King's orders."
"The people of Mizuho aren't attached to the land." mumbled Sheena. "We'll just find some place that's easy to live and live there quietly."
"...You don't have to go."
"What?" asked Sheena, startled.
"I'll find a place for all of you to live. I can at least do that much."
Tears started to form in Sheena's eyes. "Zelos..."
"I think that hot-headed idiot is growing on me. Eww, yuck." said Zelos under his breath.
"Can I...really believe you?"
"Huh?" Zelos broke out of his aside. "Yeah. Just think of yourself as having boarded a mud boat and leave it all to me! In exchange, continue to pledge your loyalty to Zelos, the great Chosen!" Zelos laughed.
Sheena questioned Zelos's expertise with metaphors, and wasn't sure whether to thank or openly insult Zelos. Instead she just let a tiny smile creep over her face, and said near-silently, "...You idiot." She gave him a second's hug of thanks, then left to go back to the fire, leaving Zelos confused.
--scene--
Lloyd felt strangely out-of-place and left out during the following week. Word that Sheena had been killed spread like wildfire, not only in the village, but around the world. Sheena's funeral was to take place at the end of the week, and the preparations were massive. It occurred to Lloyd that they were putting as much effort towards planning the funeral as they spent planning the festival, if not more.
Genis had been crying a lot, Lloyd knew, and he offered consolation whenever Genis asked. Zelos's emotions had been muted by Sheena's death, and Lloyd almost never saw him, he often wandered out of town. Lloyd was never sure how he felt, almost as if it hadn't happened.
The morning of the funeral, Lloyd happened to venture out of Mizuho. He hadn't gone far when he saw Zelos sitting on a rock and staring out into space.
Lloyd approached. Zelos seemed to break out of a trance, and said, "Hey." Zelos held in his hand a lit 'smoke.' The smokes were one of the many creations that came out of the unity of the industrial Tethe'alla and the agricultural Sylvarant. Researchers found the leaves of a plant grown for garnish in Sylvarant could be charged with a small amount of mana, and when lit, the mana was released, causing mild euphoria if the leaves' smoke was inhaled.
Zelos put the smoke to his mouth, and a billow of smoke came out of his mouth as Zelos asked unemotionally, "Did you want something?"
Lloyd returned the ex-chosen's gaze. "Not really." He took a seat, with his back facing Zelos. The two of them sat silent for a moment, both of them not daring to say a thing.
They both started talking at the same time. "I--" "They--"
They stopped as fast as they started, then Lloyd said "You first."
"Well..." said Zelos, "it's about..."
"Sheena?" asked Lloyd.
"Yeah, but...Lloyd. Do you remember...in the ruins of the tree...when..." he stopped to take a deep breath. "The root had grabbed her. I couldn't rescue her in front of you, or else you might have said something to Mithos that would ruin my plan." He took a draw on his smoke, but it didn't seem to lighten his spirits. "You ran out just in time. Sheena's grip gave out, and I just managed to grab her wrist. She was so tired... All I remember is...is yelling to her 'I won't let you fall.' I promised her, I wouldn't let her fall." Zelos closed his eyes tight. 'And last week I promised the same thing. I told her...I wouldn't let her fall again. Don't you get what happened, Lloyd? I let her fall. I LET HER FALL!" Zelos threw his smoke to the ground and put both his fists on the rock. Several tears fell on the rock. "It's my fault...I let her fall..."
Lloyd looked at his friend with new eyes. "It's not your fault," he said.
"Don't you understand? I took her bed, the knife was meant for me! If I had just given her her bed...I would be the one dead...Not her..."
"You idiot," said Lloyd kindly, almost channeling Sheena. "Haven't you learned anything traveling with me? Your dying wouldn't make anything better. We'd just be mourning you instead. Nothing would change." He paused. "Zelos. Look at me." Zelos looked into Lloyd's dark eyes. "You want to know how I feel? I feel sad. Extremely sad. But you know what I feel more?" Zelos shook his head. "Anger. Anger at the person that took Sheena away from us. It's not your fault, and I don't want to hear that. It's the murderer's. Know that, and don't ever blame yourself."
Zelos looked at Lloyd with his eyes red, but dry. "Yeah," said Zelos, "I understand." His voice was again, near unreadable, but Lloyd hoped it was earnest.
"Ah, I thought I might find you here," came the eternally jolly voice of Vice-Chief Tiga, who had just come down the road to them. "Well said, Lloyd," he continued, "an admirable speech, to say the least."
Lloyd and Zelos turned to Tiga. He wore a robe more decorated than what he traditionally wore. "If I am not interrupting anything, may I ask Lloyd to come down to Mizuho? There is something I need to ask him. You," he said, gesturing to Zelos, "can come or not as you please."
Zelos nodded. "Nah, I'll come," he said, a hint of the old Zelos coming back. "I gotta find out what's so gosh-darned important anyway." He winked.
--scene--
"I naturally contacted all your prior companions upon Sheena's death," said Tiga. It scared Lloyd how casually he talked. Genis had joined up with them as soon as they reached Mizuho (looking much happier than usual) and was now walking next to Lloyd and Zelos. "Unfortunately, most of them were sadly unable to come. However..."
"Lloyd!" yelled out a familiar, high-pitched voice. Tiga moved out of the way to let Lloyd and Zelos see the familiar white-coated form of Colette running towards them. She held her arms out, preparing for an embrace, but before she reached them...Colette tripped.
Zelos, Lloyd, and Genis all broke into hearty, near-inappropriate laughs at Colette's interestingly-timed clumsiness. It felt good to laugh, and Lloyd felt Sheena would have laughed just as hard.
Colette jumped up and threw her arms around Lloyd's neck. "Oh, Lloyd!" she sobbed. "I heard about what happened to Sheena, and...and..." Lloyd seemed to be struck speechless, but Zelos jumped in and quietly said, "It's all right, Colette. Don't cry."
Lloyd felt validated that Zelos was able to say that. Once the blonde ex-Chosen calmed down, Lloyd asked why and how she was there. Colette seemed happy to get a question she could answer. "When I heard Sheena had died, I just couldn't keep myself away! I took the Rheiard to Iselia. (Only Presea and Colette had chosen to keep their Rheiards; everyone else decided to give theirs back to Yuan.) I convinced Mom and Dad to go and take care of the Great Unity Tree for me. Then I came here." The thought of Phiadra and Frank, once small-town mayors caring for the tree of ultimate salvation entertained Lloyd's mind for a moment, until Tiga called out to him.
"Lloyd," said Tiga, "may I ask that you give a speech as part of the eulogy for Sheena? After all, you were one of the ones who knew her best."
Lloyd pondered this for a moment, then said, "No. I'm sorry, but it just doesn't feel right. I don't have enough closure, not enough to truly say something like that. Sheena was a great friend, but it feels like...I don't know...I just can't."
Tiga, not looking at all disenchanted, simply smiled. "I understand. The death of one you care for can be quite confusing. I shall simply have Chief Igaguri deliver it."
--scene--
Hours, or perhaps it was days, or perhaps weeks...Lloyd couldn't tell, later, Sheena was finally buried. She had been buried in her robes of the Successor, an almost ironic twist to the ceremony. The funeral had been large. Everyone in Mizuho had been there. Even King Tethe'alla and the new King Sylvarant was there; after all, Sheena had been a ambassador. The eulogy had gone fine, Igaguri had been a eloquent speaker and told the story of Sheena's life, from the time she had been first found, even telling the tragedy of Volt along with it. The story had a hole or two in it; it seemed Sheena had not told them everything, but it didn't matter.
The sun was setting as the final part of the ceremony commenced. Everyone was to place candles in boats and sail them down the stream; this was meant to show Sheena to the afterlife. All four of the group knew it would be hard for them, so they decided to put theirs all in the water at the same time. They were lined up by the stream.
"Three..." said Genis.
"Two..." said Colette.
"One..." said Lloyd.
"Go." said Zelos.
Four boats hit the water at the same time. Four candles shined on the water. Four beacons seemed to lead the way toward the sunset. And Lloyd could just imagine a ghostly Sheena walking down the stream, leaving, being guided by the candles, but looking back...
"Goodbye..."
--scene--
End of Chapter 3. About time, too! Did I keep you in suspense for long enough? Heh. Good luck figuring out the assassin...you'll need it...