Sari: It's good publicity, you know.
Moo: Cookie is spelled with 'ie', not 'y'.
Sari: In Sari-land, it's spelled with a 'y'. Oh yes, and by the way, I am the blonde college student in Day 7, and Moo is the brunette doodling on a piece of paper.
Moo: Tick-Tack-Toe.
Warnings: ... Zelos. This is rated "T" for a reason.
Disclaimer: -yawn- Dunownit.
Their departure from Sybak was rather delayed, seeing that little Raine kept on trying to smuggle books out of the library. Lloyd always had to return them, much to the librarian's discomfort. She, apparently, did not understand how someone as stupid as Lloyd could have read all of these challenging history books, and refused to believe that they were nicked by a two-year-old.
"Ready to go?" Colette asked everyone happily as she, Sheena and Zelos sat on the deck playing blocks with little Presea and little Genis. Lloyd climbed aboard and (after everyone was thoroughly checked for stray library books) took the helm. They quickly sailed off into the big blue ocean, leaving the city of Sybak behind.
"Where's mini-Zelos?" Older Zelos asked, stacking blocks absent-mindedly on little Presea's head. Everyone shrugged.
"I'll go look for him downstairs," Lloyd said, handing the wheel to his oldest son, whom had Simon perched precariously on his shoulder almost like a parrot perched on a pirate. Lloyd disappeared below the deck for a moment, calling little Zelos' name. Suddenly they heard him shout, and say something angrily like "Where did you get that!" A few minutes later Lloyd carried little Zelos up from below. In Lloyd's other hand was a magazine.
"Zelos claimed he found this on the floor in the bathroom," Lloyd said, raising his eyebrows. He tossed the magazine to the older Zelos, who idly flipped through the pages and looked at the cover. He grinned naughtily.
"Oh, c'mon, it's just Playboy," He said in a would-be casual voice. Older Genis and older Presea burst out laughing, while Sheena and Raine scowled at him. Kratos began having a serious coughing attack, but Colette looked curious.
"I don't understand, what's a Playboy?" She asked cocking her head, "What kind of magazine is it? A fashion magazine?" This time everyone laughed (excusing little and big Raine, who scowled even more.) Colette looked a little put out.
"It's…" Lloyd said, attempting to explain to his wife, but failing miserably. Little Zelos, however, walked over to his mother and sat in her lap, nestling up against her.
"I don't know what any of the words said," He explained to Colette, "But there were lots of ladies that look like you when you're in the shower." He smiled up at Colette, who now had an extremely shocked look on her face. The boat was dead silent; everyone was trying hard not to laugh. Slowly, Colette turned to the older Zelos. It was very rare that Colette got angry, but when she did…
"Let me see that magazine," She said, putting little Zelos in Sheena's lap as she flipped through the pages. Her eyes grew wider and wider with each page.
"What's the point of this magazine?" She asked, tossing it back to Zelos, "It has no cooking tips, clothing tips, parenting tips! All it has is people without clothes on. Zelos, I can lend you some real magazines, you must be so bored of that one." Everyone, even the Raines, burst out laughing, but Colette was already immersed in a block tower with little Presea that she didn't even notice.
"I thought I told you to get rid of all of those!" Sheena snarled, dragging her fiancée down below where she could reprimand him without everyone watching. Lloyd smiled happily at the wincing Zelos ad they disappeared below.
"That's all settled," He said, happily sitting down next to Colette to stack blocks with their children.
The rest of the day was pretty boring for everyone, though Kratos did have some fun making lunch with little Genis, who ended up making a mean macaroni salad. From 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM, though, everyone snoozed on the deck, waiting for the sun to set. Lloyd and Colette dully played chess as everyone else slept. They could vaguely hear Zelos flipping through channels on the TV down below the deck. Lloyd took one of Colette's pawns.
"Did you seriously not understand why Zelos had that magazine?" He asked her. She thought for a while, and then killed off one of Lloyd's castles. He winced.
"Well," She said, blushing slightly, "I've always known he was a bit perverted… but I thought that I wouldn't embarrass him by screaming at him. After all, Zelos will be Zelos." Lloyd's bishop overtook her unsuspecting knight with ease.
"Yeah, Zelos will be Zelos," He repeated, then he said, "You're wise. I can't believe some of the things you do, like seeing the good in even the worst people, forgiving mistakes. You've been through so much, yet… you still can love the world." There was a silence where Colette moved her queen without taking one of Lloyd's pieces.
"Well, a lot of me felt as though I had to act and be that way on the Chosen journey, but after having Martel share my body with me for those brief minutes, I realized that she looked at the world with nothing more than love and desperate need in her heart, and her feelings… they kind of changed my outlook as well. I didn't only have to love the world, but I wanted to," She said as Lloyd checked her king. She sacrificed her queen for the king.
"I'm just glad we could save everyone, and bring everyone together into one world; Symphonia," Lloyd said after a long silence, "I can't really imagine just living in Sylverant, or just living in Tethe'alla. Without the other, it doesn't seem whole." He absent-mindedly moved his piece, giving Colette a perfect chance to checkmate his king. She did notice, but did not make the move, however, and moved a pawn pointlessly to the side.
"Yes, I know what you mean. This whole world is a miracle that I'm just happy to say I helped create. I would sacrifice myself for this world, for this peace," She said, watching a school of fish jump out of the water, their scales reflecting the sun like dazzling rainbows of light. Lloyd finally moved his knight and checkmated Colette's king.
"But because of us, no one is a sacrifice," He replied as they folded up the game board and put away the pieces. As he dumped the black pieces into their bag, Lloyd noticed something gray in the midst of them. He picked it up, and recognized it instantly as the snow bunny charm Colette had given him years before. It had even saved his life once.
"Look what I found," He said, holding the little porcelain figure out in his palm for her to see. Colette laughed and fingered it. There was a small nick in the center of its chest from the place where an arrow struck it. However, the little figure was still smiling, no matter how beat it was.
Both Lloyd and Colette looked happily down at the figure, and then at each other. Dropping the snow bunny, they embraced, just happy to be together and alive and free. Just happy that there was peace.
"Ahem," the older Genis was making very audible noises within his throat. It took Lloyd and Colette a minute before they realized that everyone had woken up, and they were all sitting around the table, ready to eat dinner. The two of them hastily got walked over to the others, where many people rolled eyes but no one commented.
"So," Colette said congenially, wiping a large green booger from little Sheena's nose like nothing happened, "What's for dinner?" Genis gestured to the center of the table where some perfectly sliced meat was stacked.
"Roast snowshoe hare, I bought some really good hare in Sybak," He said proudly as everyone dug in. Lloyd blanched, and quickly exchanged glances with Colette, who was helping her self to copious amounts of salad.
That night Kratos went to bed early, snuggling down into his sheets (which smelled as though Colette was trying to mix the laundry detergents together to save money the last time she washed them, but it wasn't working.)
"Avocados and petunias don't really mix well," he told Simon the cat, who seemed to be allergic to one of the two, because he kept sneezing. So the two of them fell asleep side-by-side, dreaming of dancing avocados and petunias, sneezing all the way.
Sari: -looks around shiftily- You're still here, right? Read the webcomic!