Pata Hikari: Now there is the reaction I was aiming for!

Anderson Reborn: Nope, I'm still alive, and I'm writing until the point where Alicia no longer is.

IamNoOne: Thanks. And, yeah, he rather is.

Dracobolt: I had thought about ending it at the kiss, but I thought it would be more effective to immediately rip the newly given fluff away.

ObviousMan: Oddly enough, the age difference was the main reason for my writing this. The first time I beat the game and saw Regal and Presea standing at her grave, I had a "Holy crud" moment at Presea being 28 when Regal was 34. I'd been expecting her older than that - so Alicia could be older as well - and it came as more than a bit of a shock.

Fanniest Fan fan of Rallalon (a.k.a., "ty-rant84". A.k.a. "the Melissa to my Alicia"): I want you to know that you really did scare me.

Kenny: Give in to the alliteration and join the Dark Side. (We have cookies.)

WhitterZ: Conflict leads to plot. You're getting a plot.

Meg: Fluff? What is this "fluff" you speak of?

End of Response Section

6/21/05 You know you're addicted to Regalicia when:

You take up yet another character in a RP just to see the resulting Regalicia fluff.

You entertain conversations between Regal, Alicia, and/or Melissa in the back of your head.

You entertain conversations of Melissa chewing Regal out for being a pedophile and a jerk in the back of your head when you're supposed to be doing something.

You can't work on the other fic you said you'd work on because of the need for more Regalicia.

You convert someone who's never played ToS into a Regalicia fan.

You then proceed to squee with said new Regalicia fan.

You think up this list.

And so on.

Much love to my editor. Ty-rant84 is teh win.

Disclaimer: Rallalon does not own Tales of Symphonia or any of its characters, places or items.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Even the longest moment, the most horrible moment, must end. It had no choice but to do so.

The only question was when.

Eventually, Alicia had drifted off to sleep. Waking up had been wonderful. The first thing she remembered was the kiss. For a short, glorious while, the world had been perfect, only a nagging feeling at the back of her mind telling her otherwise.

Then she woke Melissa up.

The older girl looked up at her, sleepy yet concerned.

And the world had come crashing back down.

How could she have forgotten? Tired didn't always mean silly, and that had just been stupid! And she'd... she'd wanted to see him again. She'd been looking forward to it, wondering when.

It wasn't fair! A guy like- like him was interested in her and he-! He shouldn't have been old! It wasn't how these things were supposed to work. It just... wasn't.

But he was old.

And that wasn't going to change.

And now it was all she had to think about because injury had been added to insult: she was sick. There was no way around it. Alicia was sick. She knew that she should have been sleeping more, and there was no doubt that things with Regal had been making her fairly stressed – as opposed to now, where they were making her very stressed. Still, it wasn't like things had been that bad.

Her body didn't accept her reasoning.

There was something about the sick room that forced a person to come to terms with illness. The room was sparsely furnished, just a bed and a nightstand, along with a lamp and a chair for visitors. As a member of the kitchen staff, being sick didn't just mean being sick. No, that would be too simple. Being sick meant being kept away from all other workers in order to keep contamination to a minimum. It meant staying in isolation until she was better. Alicia knew this was smart and right and protocol.

Well, healthy Alicia did. Achy, tired, dizzy Alicia just took this as adding insult to injury to insult.

...Did that even make sense?

It wasn't her fault that she wasn't making sense.

Really.

It wasn't.

Not really.

...Hmm...

She was bored.

And her head was throbbing, making it hard to think.

But that was better than thinking about it, wasn't it? If she didn't think about his age, then she didn't have to deal with it and so everything would be all right in its own aching way. She didn't have to think about how he was all old and-

No. She wouldn't start crying. She would not start-

Laughing? No, she was laughing and crying, but that didn't make sense.

Goddess Martel, she was getting hysterical. On one level, she wasn't very surprised. Just the smell of the sick room was enough to give a healthy person a headache after a few minutes. She'd been there over-night already. But this was-

Okay, okay. She'd calm down.

Right now.

Right - now.

Because otherwise she'd start coughing again-

Too late.

"Ali? You okay?" a slightly muffled voice asked, its owner quickly closing the door behind her.

The coughing girl nodded rapidly, a little too rapidly for her head. Melissa helped her into a sitting position, patting her back, holding up a glass of water for her.

"Can you talk?"

Alicia shook her head no.

"Well, if you think about it, Ali, it could be worse," the older girl remarked dryly, pulling at the strings holding a cloth mask over her mouth and nose. "You could be wearing a visitor's mask."

It quickly turned out that laughing caused her to cough as well. That really shouldn't have been that funny, but right now next to everything was either tragic or hilarious.

...Hilarious... Something hilarious...

Gregory. He'd been talking about something hilarious, what, two nights ago now?

Communicating would have been so much easier if Melissa had thought to bring paper, but eventually Alicia got the question across with minimal wheezing.

"Oh. That. ...Nothing much really."

Alicia put on her bored face. Was Melissa being a little awkward? How were things between her and Gregory?

"All right. Well... It's really nothing much. Some old noble just kept coughing on another guy for most of that event and insisting that he keep speaking with him or something."

Alicia cocked her head to the side. How was that funny?

Melissa shrugged, whatever discomfort having now passed. "Guys find strange things funny."

Alicia gave what she hoped passed for a wise nod and a thought struck her. Who'd gotten coughed on?

Melissa completely failed to get the question. "No, I don't really think so," she replied, laughing a little. "Anyway, Ali, my time's up. No offense or anything, but I'm not really supposed to be in here for... Well, any time at all. I brought you a book; it's not the best read, but it'll keep you busy."

And with that Alicia was left alone with The Rise and Fall of King Tethe'alla XI.

...Being busy was over-rated.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Say 'ahh', Combatir."

"Ahhh- Ugh-"

"'Ahh', Combatir, not 'ugh'," instructed the nurse again.

"AhhhHHHH..."

"There we go. Hmm... Everything seems to be clearing up nicely. One more day in here and you should be good to go."

"That's great news," Alicia said with feeling, by now thoroughly unable to stand the sick room any longer. "Thank you."

"What's better news is that we kept this contained. Less than a dozen sick, and if you remember what happened last time..."

The pair each gave a joking shudder, and the nurse continued, "I must say, you're bouncing back a little later than most, so I'll be checking in on you in a week. The only other person still sick is Master Bryant–"

Alicia felt like the bottom of her stomach had dropped out.

"–and that's because the man refuses to take a few days off from work. Stubborn as a noble, as they say."

"Stubborn as a noble," Alicia mumbled after her. Just because... There were two Master Bryants, after all. And even- even if it was her Bry- that Bryant... There was no reason to feel that way, like she should go to him or–

No reason to feel that way. No reason at all.

"I'll see you in a week, Combatir."

"Bye..."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Over the course of that night, Alicia was able to piece something together. The coughing noble had gotten Re- Master Bryant sick. Master Bryant had then passed it onto her by accident. Melissa hadn't wanted to bring him up, hence the awkwardness.

The problem was that once Alicia got thinking, she wasn't prone to stopping.

Why? That was the first thought. Then it exploded into about a thousand others.

Why hadn't he told her his age? Did he think she already knew?

Why would he think that? Maybe it was a noble thing. Well, a lot of people knew stuff about nobles, just because. He might have assumed that knowing his name translated to knowing his age as well. Which would be why he hadn't told her his name for a long while.

Why had he told her? Well, she'd kissed him and so implied that she wanted a relationship that was more than they had already. A romantic one. Even if there hadn't really been any thought involved when doing the implying, she still had implied it. Well, not show much "implied" as "blatantly shoved it in his face". So he must have decided that if they were going to have that sort of relationship, she'd have to know.

Why would he want a relationship with a girl eight years his junior? They didn't really do much together, really. They just cooked and talked and went to a grand total of three plays. The end. Just because they could tell each other whatever came to mind without having to worry about embarrassing themselves, just because he smiled when he saw her and she used to smile when she so much as thought about him, just because he seemed to like holding her hand just as much as she did his, just because it had felt like he was willing to protect her from anything and everything when he'd held her on the Terrace, just because he'd been willing to let her go when he thought she was uncomfortable over the age aspect as well as the nobility one...

It didn't mean that he was...

He was...

He was.

He was in love with her.

At least, she thought he was.

She hoped he was.

...So really, there was only one question left worth thinking about.

It required surprisingly little thought.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Melissa?"

"Mmm..."

"Are you up?"

"Uh-uhn."

"I really need you to be up."

"Mmff..."

"..."

"Pillow. Back. Now!"

"Melissa, I... um. There's, ah..."

"Wha... Ali? Why are you up? It's night, when people sleep. Wait, are you okay? I can get the nurse if you need me to. Martel, I knew they were letting you come back early-"

"Melissa! I'm- I'm okay. Really. I just... I wanted to ask you something."

"Shoot."

"..."

"Ali?"

"Melissa, when did you... know?"

"...Know what?"

"Know... with Gregory? That you..."

"...Oh Martel. Ali, you're too-"

"I know that."

"You're not even fourteen for Goddess' sake!"

"...I know that."

"You- You… can't. It doesn't work that way. Alicia Combatir, listen to me-"

"Melissa, I-"

"Goddess, you're serious. You're really serious. You... You... Do you?"

"...I do."

"..."

"Melissa...?"

"I need to lie down."

"You're already lying down."

"I need to lie down more. Or maybe get up. No, I'm staying down here."

"..."

"...Ali? Are you cry-"

"No, I'm not."

"Ali, I... Look, I know you want me to support you in this, but... It's not good, Ali, please see that."

"...I know it's not good. And... I'm going to deal with that."

"Alicia, listen to me. Some things just don't work out. Your first crush lasted over half a year; that's good for someone your age-"

"Melissa, you listen-"

"-but this is just not good. You're smart; you should be able to see that-"

"I do see that-"

"Do you?"

"I..."

"...Do you, Ali?"

"...Yes. I do."

"...You're not even fourteen."

"I know. But I still... We still..."

"...Ali... say it and I'll believe you. I'll even try to help you, if I can, but I'm not going to believe you until you actually say it."

"I love him. I love Regal Bryant."

"..."

"I really do. And it scares the heck out of me, but that's okay, because I really do love him. ...But I am really scared, Melissa. I need you to be with me on this."

"...Holy shhh-rimp."

"...Yeah."

"Whew... That's..."

"I know."

"...All right, Ali. I'll stand by you, but you are insane. Martel better protect the both of you lunatics."

And that was the best blessing Melissa could have given.