It had been a long time since Lloyd had entered the Gaoracchia forest, but Sheena was adamant that they would walk to Mizuho and not waste any of Volts mana. Because of the rejoining of the worlds Gaoracchia Forest was split in 2, making the journey much longer than it used to be. The monsters, however were just as simple to defeat.
Once they reached Mizuho they had found several of their friends waiting for them. Genis, Raine and Regal were sat outside the chiefs hut when they noticed their old comrades entering the village.
"I see word travels fast" Lloyd said as he stopped infront of his friends.
"Hehe...We just wanted to know how things have been with you Lloyd. I mean we are best friends right?" Genis stated in his usual manner.
Lloyd laughed before turning to Regal. "Where is Zelos?"
"I told him we we're to come here, but he was...otherwise engaged."
"Those girls on the beach?" Regal answered with a simple nod. "Then were shall I begin?"
"Not quite yet Lloyd" Sheena said "I'll get our chefs to make you all some Miso Stew. It's a Mizuho specialty. Guaranteed to make you feel 100 times better"
"Fine. I suppose it can wait until after dinner...thank you Sheena."
"Hey don't mention it.." she said with a grin "Please everyone, come inside."
They followed her inside the chiefs hut and all sat down waiting for their dinner to arrive.
"So how has your quest been going Genis and Raine?" Lloyd asked
"Yes I had heard that in Sybak and Ozette especially, tolerance has become more apparent." Regal said as Raine nodded
"Unfortunately Meltokio is still set in it's old ways."
"That city has discrimination running between the rich and poor. It's not surprising that Half elves are still experience problems there." Lloyd said much to the surprise of Raine and Genis
"Yes...that's the conclusion we had come to."
"Yeah Lloyd. Did you get smarter or something?" Genis asked much to the amusement of everyone
Lloyd smirked "Shut up Genis"
Presea smiled "It has been a long time since I had heard Lloyd say that"
"Yeah...this is just like old times" Genis said with a grin
"But with one main difference..." Raine said as everyones minds drifted to Colette.
They sat in silence for a while until there was a knock at his door.
"That'll be the food. I'll go get it" Sheena said as she got up and opened the door
"Hello my valuptious hunny" said the man at the door
"Great...I thought we where rid off you for tonight" Sheena said as the Chosen walked passed her and into the other room where the others were.
"Hi guys it's...hey what's with the long faces?" he asked as he sat next to Raine who edged her way further from him
"We were just talking about Colette." Presea answered as Zelos suddenly smiled
"Speaking of my little angel, where is she?"
"You didn't tell him?" Sheena asked as she sat down once again
"Tell me what?"
"Colette...passed on" Lloyd said catching Zelos gaze.
"What!" he shouted making Genis jump "She's gone...Way to go protecting her Lloyd"
"Zelos!" Raine shouted smacking him across the back of the head
"It's ok." Lloyd said as he stared down at his boots "He's right I couldn't protect her. I'm gonna go get some fresh air" he said before exiting the house
"Zelos you idiot." Sheena said as she followed Lloyd out.
"That was...very insensitive Zelos" Presea said shaking her head.
"Indeed. The pain of losing her is bad enough, without adding your words Zelos." Regal agreed.
"Hey I'm just saying what I feel...He'll be ok. He always is...Now wheres the grub?" he asked grinning again
Outside
Lloyd sat down underneath a tree and stared up at the stars. The air around Mizuho was very clear, just like Iselia's, so he could see the stars much easier. He heard footsteps approaching and sighed.
"He's right. Her death was all my fault...I wasn't strong enough."
"Don't listen to Zelos he's just an ass. I know you Lloyd and I know you did everything you could." she said resting a hand on his shoulder
"But it wasn't enough..." he said looking down at his boots
She sighed and sat next to him "You do realize Colette wouldn't blame you for this?"
"Yes and that's what makes it worse." Sheena was about to ask how, but he answered for her "I deserve the blame. It was all my fault...I want to be punished for what I did."
"Now you're starting to sound like Regal."
"I finally understand why he was like that...Why he couldn't let himself be happy."
"Lloyd...don't talk like that. It really upsets me to see you like this. This isn't you"
Lloyd let out a light chuckle "My father, Kratos, once told me something. 'It's not the good things that happen to us that makes us the people we are today, it's the bad.'" he looked over to her and sighed "This is who I am now...I can't be that old Lloyd anymore."
"I don't believe that. Yes people change, but deep down I know you're the person that you used to be...The man I owe my, and the people of Mizuhos, lives to."
Lloyd sighed once more "Perhaps you are right, but right now the old Lloyd isn't inside me."
Sheena wiped a tear that had formed in her eye away and noticed the Mizuho chefs heading over to her hut.
"Come on Lloyd. Dinners here" she said as the 2 got up and began making their way back to the hut.
'Lloyd...please remember the old you. If not for yourself...then for me.'
They entered to find Zelos already chowing down on the Miso stew, unlike the others who were waiting for Sheena and Lloyd to return
"It's hard to believe that such a nobleman lacks basic manners" Regal said as Zelos let out a light burp.
"I know what you mean" Sheena said with a shake of her head "Please everyone dig in"
"This is great Sheena...you'll have to give me the recipe" Genis said as he happily ate more of the stew
"Yes I would like to know aswell." Regal said as he continued with his meal
"I'll get my chefs to give you the recipe before you leave." She said before looking over to Lloyd who wasn't eating his. "What's wrong Lloyd. Are you not hungry?" she asked trying to get away from the obvious answer
"I'm sorry." he said picking up his bowl and eating some of the vegetables. "This is excellent Sheena"
She smiled at Lloyd, he was obviously trying to make her feel better even though he was clearly in pain.
'He is somewhere in there' she thought before returning back to her meal.
It was not long until they had finished the dinner and several maids had come to clear the plates for them.
"So Lloyd...can we hear your tale now?" Raine asked
"Yes I am sure we are all interested to hear what you have to say." Presea said as the rest of the group nodded.
"Ok" he said before standing infront of them. "For the seven years after our battle with Mithos Colette and I had had a lot of success with the search for exspheres. We had just persuaded the King of Meltokio to switch the bridge from Exspehere powered to Steam powered when Colette had the idea of visiting the Summon Spirit Seals. Each contained large amounts of magitechnology and we assumed used exspheres as a source of power. Since we were closer to the Seal of Darkness we decided to start there..."
Flashback
"Come on Lloyd!" Colette said with a big grin. As she ran deeper into the tunnel that lead to the Temple of Darkness
"Careful Colette. You'll-" Before he could finish his sentence he heard a thud further up "...fall" Running up he saw her start to pick her self up and she smiled sheepishly "You should be more careful. Even with the Blue Candle it's pretty dark."
"I know, I know. I'm just excited! It's been nearly 8 years since we were last here"
"Yeah I know. We haven't been here since..."
"Abyssion...I hope he's happy where he is now." she said before walking toward the entrance
Lloyd looked at her totally confused. How could she possibly feel sorry for him after the way he tricked them.
"Come on Lloyd!" she shouted back to him snapping him out from his thoughts.
"Sorry I'm coming." he said as he jogged over to her. He smiled at her before the 2 entered through the giant door only to be attacked straight away.
The druid was no match for Lloyd's Sword Rain: Beta and it was over as quickly as it had started.
"You're so amazing Lloyd!" Colette chirped making Lloyd blush.
"It's...er...nothing really. We should keep moving."
"Oh ok! Lets go" she said as she walked over to the door that led to the long stair way to the bottom.
As they walked down Colette noticed something on the wall.
"Hey isn't this an exsphere?" She asked as Lloyd examined it closer.
"Yeah it is...It doesn't seem to be attached to any magi technology though." Lloyd said as he pulled it out from the key crest that was on the wall.
Lloyd heard a loud crack as he pulled it away, but didn't take any notice of it.
"There are 3 more down here." Colette said as she pulled them out, each followed by a large crack. "What was that noise?"
"I dunno. Wait here I'll go check it out." He said as he squeezed his way through the hole in the wall that lead to the sorcerers ring stand.
The room seemed just like it used to, but that's when Lloyd heard another crack. It was those weird Blue crystals. They had begun to crack and a strange color light began to emit from them. The light from all 4 Crystals moved together before falling to the dark depths that lead to Shadows seal. Lloyd quickly got back to Colette
"Something weird's happening downstairs at the seal" he said as Colette smiled
"Wow we should go see what it is." she said with a look of intrigue on her face
Lloyd thought for a moment. This was sure to be something dangerous, but they were 2 of the strongest people in the world. They'd be able to beat any monster down there!
"Yeah let's go!" he said as the 2 made their way down to the seal.
It was a relatively easy trip down. Any monsters that did attack were easily defeated, but that was when they saw the beast below. It looked a lot like the Sword Dancer. But this version wasn't bones. This was flesh and blood. One of it's eyes snapped up and saw Lloyd and Colette standing above it.
"MY...SwORds...GIvE...thEm...To...ME!" it said before he flew up to them
"Woah what is this..." Lloyd said Staring in disbelief at the monster.
"mY...SWOrdS!" It shouted once again.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Lloyd answered as the monster screamed loudly
"tHe...SwORds...OF...mY...MasTeR...NEbLim" it said swinging at Lloyd before he jumped back out of the way.
"Do you think he means the Neblim blades Lloyd?" Colette asked before the monster swung at her and knocked her back
"Colette!" he shouted as he saw his companion knocked down to the ground.
"L-L-Lloyd..."
Lloyd ran full tilt at the beast that attacked them and thrust his sword deep into the chest of it. It screamed a horrifying scream before swiping back at Lloyd knocking him down. He quickly regained his bearings and was about to attack when he realized the sword Dirk had crafted for him was stuck in the monsters chest. Lloyd only had one more set of blades he could use.
The Neblim Blades.
Reluctantly he drew the cursed swords before continuing his attack on the monster. The swords in his hands turned his stomach everytime he saw them, but with every blow Lloyd grew more and more attached to the blades. As if they had somehow become part of him. Regaining his composure he realized that the beast was long dead, but these weapons somehow enjoyed the pain they were inflicting and had made Lloyd feel the same joy that they did.
His mind quickly changed back to his fallen comrade. He threw the blades down and made his way over to Colette. She was still alive, but barely
"Colette...d-d-don't worry I'll get...Professor Raine" he said as he realized they were the only ones there.
"D-D-Don't wor...Don't worry about me Lloyd. I'll make it through" she laughed "I always do"
Tears rolled down the sides of the swordsman's face as he held her hand. "I'll get you out of here...I promise."
"Lloyd...p-promise me something." she said with that same smile on her face as she usually had
"Anything"
"Promise me you...you will love someone as much as I love you..." she said as she slipped away from him.
"Colette..." Lloyd said as his grip tightened on her hand.
He stood up and looked around him, he soon fell to his knees and let out an almighty scream.
"This monster came for the Neblim blades...more may come for the other devil arms. I must seal them away...I can't let this happen to anyone again..." he said before feeling a sharp pain on the left side of his face. Lifting his hand he felt a huge amount of blood pouring on to his hand.
End of Flashback
"That was when I blacked out. I was found by an archaeologist several days later, he took Colette and I to the grounds of the Yggdrasil tree, where I buried her. I have been to ashamed to even tell Frank and Phiadra to their face I merely left a note for them." he said hanging his head.
"So this monster was sealed using the power of Exspheres...truly fascinating" Raine said as she continued to write notes.
"I see why you wish no one else to come with you now. The monster who was after your weapons is dead. Where presumably the others could still be alive looking for us." Regal said as Lloyd nodded
"Yes exactly"
"Are you telling me theres a big freaky guy after me! That's not cool." Zelos said shaking his head.
"You have 2 different devil arms Zelos. Chances are you have 2 after you." Sheena said with a sly smile scaring the red headed Chosen
"TWO!" he screamed as he hid behind Lloyd hoping the swordsman would protect him.
"Both of your weapons are on Derris Kharlan Zelos you have nothing to worry about." Lloyd said
"Yes, but that also hinders your quest to seal away the devil arms Lloyd. How do you plan to retrieve them?" Raine asked
" I am not sure... My only hope is that Origin can still send me to Derris Kharlan."
"But Origin had trouble transferring the mana from Derris Kharlan to the great seed 10 years ago. It must be too far away now." Genis stated
"Couldn't you just ask Origin to bring the weapons back here?" Sheena asked
"It would just be the same as trying to transfer Lloyd to Derris Kharlan." Raine said "You did once say that Origins sword could transcend time. Perhaps you could return to ten years ago and not give the weapons to Kratos."
"Yeah then you could save Colette aswell." Zelos said only for Lloyd to shake his headed
"That is not an option. To return to the past could only damage the future."
"Perhaps Origins power has increased due to the substantial increase of mana in our world." Regal said
"Yes that could work. The mana of this world is much thicker than what it was 10 years ago." Genis stated
"Either way Lloyd will need to rest if he is going to try this tomorrow." Raine said to the agreement of the others.
"Yes I will have someone set up some spare beds for you all." Sheena said as she left to find some one.
Genis stood up and tapped Lloyd on the shoulder "I hope you can forgive yourself someday." he said before leaving with the others. Lloyd looked down at his feet once more until he slipped into sleep.
Several minutes later Sheena walked in to find him sleeping. She smiled and placed a blanket over him. Before stroking the side of his face. "Come back to me soon ok?" she whispered before she got into her own bed and fell asleep.
Lloyd woke with a start several hours later. He had been dreaming about the Temple of Darkness again. Wiping the sweat from his brow he stood up and left the hut quietly hoping not to wake Sheena. He stood next to the tree again and sighed.
'Will sealing the weapons stop the monsters? Or should I have gone looking for the monsters instead? Would Colette have wanted me to do this for her? And what did she mean love some one as much as she loved me?'
As he pondered on these thoughts a while longer he heard someone walking up behind him. He placed his hand on the hilt of his sword as the person came closer. He quickly spun round and held the sword at the throat of his "attacker"
"Woah!" the boy shouted before Lloyd replaced his weapon
"You're that boy from before aren't you?" Lloyd asked
"Err..Yeah I'm Nagi." he replied sheepishly
"You need to practice on your sneak attacks. Especially if you wish to be a Ninja"
"Just coz your older you think you know everything!" Nagi shouted at the swordsman.
Lloyd noticed that the boy was also carrying twin blades on his sides.
"Then would you like to show me your skills?" Lloyd asked
"Yeah anytime!" The boy said holding his fist out infront of him.
Lloyd chuckled before heading towards the gates of Mizuho. "Come with me then"
Nagi watched Lloyd walk away for a while before quickly running after him.
The 2 stood several foot apart each holding on to their sheathed weapons
'Why isn't he attacking yet?' Nagi thought as he nervously tightened his grip on his two wooden blades. 'Fine if he wont attack then I will!' he thought before springing into action and heading toward his advisory.
Nagi swung hard at Lloyd who simply side stepped knocking Nagi of balance.
"Fighting with 2 swords is unnatural. It harder to balance. That's why you fell without me even drawing my swords."
Nagi got up and wiped some mud from his face before attacking again, only for the same result.
"Don't just swing your swords madly! You have to think about who your opponent is." Lloyd said drawing his wooden swords. "Think about your opponents weaknesses and exploit them!" he shouted dashing over to the now upright Nagi.
A swift blow to Nagi's knees forced him down to the ground once more.
"Damn your too fast." Nagi said getting up again.
"No simply more experienced. Now try again." Lloyd said holding his swords in a defensive position.
'Right...consintrate on the weakness...' Nagi thought before darting toward Lloyd.
His first attack was good, but easily blocked by Lloyd. His second attack was again blocked, but Nagis blade slid down Lloyds catching his knuckles. Lloyd jumped back only to be attacked again and again. With each attack Nagi seemed to get better and better. Lloyd eventually had to end it by striking Nagi in the side
"Your attacks are good...you need to improve your defense though." Lloyd said as Nagi got back to his feet once again.
"That's what Sheena keeps telling me." he said
"Is she training you?"
"Yes. She said one of her best friends was a swordsman who she had learned a lot from. I guess that's you."
Lloyd smiled before he heard someone coming up behind them again
"Hey you 2, what are you doing?" she shouted as she came over to the 2 swordsmen
"I've been training!" Nagi said with a big grin
"Yes. I've been testing your apprentices skills."
Sheena blushed a little "He was adamant that he wanted to learn how to use swords after I told him about you."
"You were telling him stories about me?" he said as Sheena blushed even more
"W-W-Well you see..." she started before noticing Nagi still standing there. "Nagi you should go home." she said as the young swordsman ran toward the village again before turning again
"Thanks for the training Mr.Irving" he said before running back to the village
"Mr.Irving? I've never been called Mr. Before." Lloyd said making Sheena giggle.
"Well out of everyone I told him about you were his favorite."
"Really?"
Sheena nodded "Well your a lot like him. He's not exactly smart, but he has a pure heart."
"I guess I should take that as a compliment" Lloyd said making Sheena laugh.
Sheena smiled and sat down on a rock by the river that ran near the village. Lloyd sat next to her and looked up to the sky.
"I was worried you'd left for Derris Kharlan without saying goodbye." she said as Lloyd sighed.
"I may have done if Nagi hadn't tried to sneak up on me"
"I thought as much." she said before asking a question that had been bugging her for a while "Why didn't you come looking for the Devils Arms straight after Colette died? 3 years is a long time."
"Honestly?" he asked getting a nod from Sheena "I couldn't. I found it hard just to get up in the morning somedays... If I had just said 'let's forget about the monster' she would still be with me right now."
"Maybe. But maybe that monster would have escaped and attacked you later. In the 3 years it could have killed even more people."
"You're right. I know you're right, but I still can't forgive myself."
Sheena put her hand on his shoulder she turned to see the tears in Lloyds eye and suddenly embraced him.
He wrapped his arms around her waist and couldn't hold back his tears anymore
"Tonight has been hard for you hasn't it?" she asked as Lloyd simply nodded "It will get easier. After Corrine's death I didn't feel like talking to anyone for a long time, but there was one thing that pulled me through my pain and grief."
"What was that?" Lloyd asked making Sheena smile.
She gently stroked his face. "It was you Lloyd."
"Me?" he asked as she stroked his face again
"Whenever I felt down a simple look from you or a smile was all it took for me to pull myself together."
"Sheena..." Lloyd said as she took both of his hands
"I know this is hard for you, but please let me be there for you...the way you were there for me."
Lloyd looked down at Sheena, but let go of her hands and turned away from her.
"I...I need to get some rest." he said as Sheena stood up with him.
"Please Lloyd."
"I can't Sheena"
"Why not?" she pleaded
"Because I love you!" he shouted turning back to her
"W-What...what did you say?" she said in absolute shock
"I can't let you help me because I love you."
"If that's true why did you ask Colette to travel with you and not me?"
"You had too much to do. You needed to train to become the leader of Mizuho. You had more important things to do."
"Nothing is more important to me than you!" she shouted smacking his chest. Tears began to cascade down her face. "I love you." she said falling to her knees "I love you"
Lloyd quickly made his way down to her side and looked her straight into her eyes. Before they knew it their lips met. Sheena was first to break they're embrace. She looked into his eye and brushed some of his hair out of his face.
"I thought love was suppost to be kept secret in Mizuho" Lloyd said making Sheena giggle before she kissed him again
"You're going to need to rest for tomorrow." she said standing extending her hand down to him.
"I know." Lloyd said taking it and following her back to Mizuho.
This is as good a place to end this as any. For those of you who were looking for a bit of romance here is a small bit. It wont get really serious for a while yet as this is more about Lloyd's dealing with Colette's death and the person he has become. Not to say the Sheoyd isn't an important aspect to this story there will be something big because of it, but I wont tell you yet. Hehe.
As always hope your enjoying Please R/R