Requiem

A Wrong First Impression

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia. And it is probably a good thing I don't too. I would have probably given Yggdrasill a bazooka…Lloyd would have had a sniper rifle…Colette would have… RAZOR BLADES! Okay… I'm done…

Warnings: None really. Just the same old things.

Zelos stopped smiling immediately as he saw an angered Lloyd glaring at him with his swords withdrawn. Lloyd ran up to Zelos and thrust his sword at him, close to Zelos' neck. Zelos quickly raised his arms above his head in submission. He gulped slowly, afraid that it would cause the sword to pierce his skin.

"Whoa! Lloyd! Come on, I'm not that bad of a person am I?" Zelos asked, still keeping his eyes on Lloyd's sword.

"What do you call this?" Lloyd asked pointing to his nose with his other hand.

Zelos lowered his hands and glared at Lloyd. "Okay, buddy! Now look here!" Zelos said pointing a finger at Lloyd. "In case you didn't notice, I've got stupid little guards that follow me everywhere I go. They practically monitor what type of contents come out of my rear. If I would have been nice to my competition for Colette, they would report it to my kingdom and I would never hear the end of it."

Lloyd moved to see behind Zelos as if he was expecting to see someone behind him. "If they follow you around everywhere, then where are they?" Lloyd asked, disbelieving.

"I told them that I was going to the bathroom." Zelos replied.

"But you just said…"

"I know what I said, and that was an example. They don't actually come into the bathroom with me. Man, you are weird." Zelos said. "Anyway, I climbed out the bathroom window. Those idiots are probably standing outside the door thinking I have a major case of diarrhea."

"So all of that stuff you did and said earlier. You didn't mean any of it?" Lloyd asked, lowering his swords.

"Of course I didn't mean it! My country is full of buttheads so I had to be a butthead. It's as simple as that." Zelos replied. Lloyd sheathed his swords, and stared at Zelos as if he was inspecting something on his face. "But I wasn't kidding about marrying Colette." Zelos blurted out suddenly. Lloyd was shocked to hear this. "I've know Colette for a long time. Even though I am being forced to marry her, I honestly love her. I'm sorry Lloyd. Colette and I were talking about this the other day actually. She's not into me as much as I'm into her. She would prefer to be with you."

"That is not going to happen. I'm a commoner." Lloyd said coldly. The very thought of the stupid law pissed him off.

"Yeah, I know." Zelos replied.

"How can you…"

"Hey! It's the truth isn't it? You don't have a chance with her! That's why you'd be lucky if I married her. I would let you see her as much as you wanted, because I know how you feel about her. I can't blame you either. I know you both have to make a sacrifice here, but it is not only you that you need to concentrate on here. There's a whole nation that rides on this." Zelos placed his hands on Lloyd's shoulders and looked him in the eye. "Just consider her and yourself lucky that it's only me and not some other jerk." Zelos said to him sternly.

Lloyd looked down at the ground, trying to avoid eye contact with Zelos. As much as he hated to admit it, the fool was right. This would not only help himself and Colette, it would also help both of the nations. Sylvarant would begin to get back up on its feet and Tethe'alla would have access to their trade routes. Both of the nations would have support from each other if a war broke out. Lloyd looked back up at Zelos as he figured something out.

"Do you have to join in the war we're having with Derris-Kharlan?" Lloyd asked.

"Oh, that. Yeah…" Zelos replied in a disappointed tone. "They're probably back up at the castle signing the treaty right now. Tethe'alla's army will have to join Sylvarant tomorrow. So, I'll be fighting alongside you Lloyd. At least I'll know someone out there."

"Tomorrow! I thought it was going to be near the end of the week!" Lloyd yelled. A few people stopped to see what was going on. Zelos motioned for him to quiet down. Some people started to gather around them, waiting to see what was going to happen. Zelos grabbed Lloyd by the arm and dragged him into an alleyway to get away from the people.

"Look, your King is a real bozo all right? He's not telling anyone until tomorrow morning. He doesn't want to start a panic and he doesn't want…" Zelos paused to make sure no one was walking up on them before he continued. "He doesn't want his people to start fleeing so they can avoid the war. The Derris-Kharlan army is three time the size of Sylvarant's. Finally, your King did the math and realized that if every man within the vicinity and every man in Tethe'alla fought against them, then we'd have a better chance at winning."

Lloyd slammed his fist on a nearby wall. "Figures! We are all just his little pawns after all. Does being the best really matter that much?" Lloyd asked himself.

"No. He's doing it for Colette." Zelos replied.

"Colette? What?" Lloyd looked anxiously at Zelos, waiting for an answer. Why wasn't anything making sense?

"Listen. When he insulted the King of Derris-Kharlan, he swore on Colette's life that he would never be overcome by them." Zelos replied. "If they win this battle, then they will surely kill Colette to prove a point. That's why he's doing all of this."

"That's just a cover up to make himself sound good, it's not a justification!" Lloyd yelled.

"I know how you feel but there's nothing either one of us can do now. The army of Derris-Kharlan is probably on its way right now. We should just accept what is going to happen. We win the battle tomorrow, with many lives lost. However, Colette will be safe and everything will return to normal." Zelos said, trying to assure Lloyd.

"Like hell it will! Derris-Kharlan won't stop until they've killed every breathing thing within the nation!" Lloyd said, continuing to shout. "I'm going to talk to the King. Maybe he can hurry and get Colette out of here before the army arrives. At least she would live." Lloyd made to leave but Zelos grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Look, I know you're pissed off right now. We cannot do anything about it Lloyd!" Lloyd yanked his arm away from Zelos, and pushed Zelos away from him.

"We'll see about that." Lloyd said coldly.

"No Lloyd! You don't understand!" Zelos shouted at him.

"I understand perfe…"

A loud horn interrupted Lloyd in the middle of his sentence and cut him off. Lloyd and Zelos quickly made their way back to the main part of the city. They looked in the distance the horn was coming from. On top of the city wall stood the guard blowing it. In the distance, black smoke covered the sky. It was not too far from the city.

The crowd of people gathered in front of the drawbridge parted as the King and Colette made their way through them. Lloyd watched Colette, hoping to catch her eye to find out what was going on. Without noticing him, Colette walked quickly past Lloyd, following her father.

"What is going on?" The King asked the guard who was blowing the horn.

The guard lowered his mouth from the horn and looked down at the King, fear spread across his face. "It's Derris-Kharlan! Their army is here!"

Author's Note: Ah! The power of cliffhangers! Should I stop doing that at the end of the chapters? I mean seriously. It keeps me guessing too! I wanna hurry up and post the next chapter, but I can't cause it's not written yet! I don't even start to write it until I am positive that it's only going to get a certain amount of reviews. When I think I have received them all, then I write. I just wait to see if anyone has any ideas, you know. Anyway, big surprises later on! And when I say big, I mean big. It's gonna be fun!

Please review!