A/N: Greetings! They've finally kissed, but what will hinder them now? I have a couple of ideas...heh. Well, thanks for the reviews! Here's the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Nope, nadda thing.

Chapter 7: The Morning After

xxxx

The hot water helped soothe her muscles and wash away the dirt and and grime of daily life, but it did nothing to help soothe her thoughts. And her thoughts were running rampart. Usually morning showers helped calm her, but this one only made matters worse.

Reaching for the shampoo bottle, Presea squeezed a handful into her hand and began massaging it into her scalp, her mind on last night. The night Regal had kissed her. She sighed just thinking about it. It had been so soft, so tender, so...inviting. Yet it had left her feeling worse than she had in a long time. She felt as though she had betrayed someone she cared for very much.

She felt like she had betrayed her baby sister.

Alicia had been so in love with the president of the Lezereno Company. Her letters had been full of her love for him. Yet Presea had still purposely kissed him back last night, and that fact tore her up inside.

How? How could she have done that to her baby sister? The girl who had shared her childhood with her. The girl who had keep all her secrets. The girl that had told her that she was working to hard and needed to share the responsibilities. The girl that had given up part of her childhood to help her older sister. The girl that had been Presea's best friend.

But last night Regal had been so warm, so inviting, so caring. Presea couldn't have kept herself from giving into her feelings for him if she had wanted to...

She slammed the conditioner bottle down angrily. No! She couldn't act on her feelings anymore. She couldn't hurt her sister anymore than she already had. Alicia had sacrificed her childhood, her friends, her home for Presea. Surely she could let go of some crush for the sake of her sister.

Stepping out of the shower and into the steam filled bathroom, Presea tightned the towel around her petite, curvy frame and stepped up to the sink. She was in the process of brushing her teeth when a thought suddenly popped into her mind: Hadn't Regal done the exact same thing she had? Had he not betrayed Alicia as well?

Her feeling of remorse was slowly fading and anger was gradually taking it's place. Had he not tossed his relationship with her sister out the window, as well? Did he not even care remotely for Alicia anymore? Could he just forget her because she was...dead...and pretend like she had never entered his life?

By the time she had dressed in a pair of black slacks and pink tank top, she had worked herself into such a state of anger and confusion that she marched down stairs without even combing her hair. She was prepared to thoroughly chew Regal out for not caring about her sister's feelings. Just because she was..gone, didn't mean she no longer mattered.

Walking into the sunny kitchen, Presea found Regal just as she had yesterday, already dressed and drinking a cup of coffee. Upon seeing him, however, some of the anger left her, and she no longer had the courage to just fly right up to him and tell him off. So instead she brushed past him as if he wasn't even there and moved to the coffee pot.

"Good morning, Presea," Regal greeted warmly, not sensing her mood of hostility.

Presea gave a curt nod and poured herself a cup of the black liquid. "Morning."

Hearing the animosity in her voice, Regal looked up from the newspaper her had been studying. "Presea?"

"Hmm?" She turned to face him, and the baffled, almost injured look on his handsome nearly stopped her heart.

"Have I done something to upset you?" Regal made a move towards her, fearing that she was regretting his actions from last night. Martel knew he harbored no regret, but if she did... Honestly, he had no clue what he would do.

When he reached out a hand and gently brushed her arm, Presea jumped away from him. Any regret she was feeling about her previous attitude vanished, and the cold look of anger entered her pale blue eyes.

"Presea...?"

"Do you not feel any remorse about last night at all?" Presea demanded. Regal merely stood in shocked silence, which only added to Presea's anger. "Well? Do you?"

"Presea, I- No. I do not." Once again Regal took a step towards her, and once again Presea side-stepped him. "Why would I?"

"Why would you?" Presea held his gaze, her cold eye's locking with his baffled ones. "Do you honestly feel no regreat at all?"

"Why should I?" Regal retorted, his voice rising as well. He quickly checked himself. "Presea, I care deeply for you." His tone took on a sincerity. "I have for some time now. I do not regret my actions at all." He took another step towards her, and this time Presea allowed him to take hand.

"How can you say that?" Presea asked, the anger leaving her voice at his confession. "How?" she asked again, hating the desperate sound of her voice.

"How could I not?"

Presea wasn't sure if she should be happy about his confession, angry at him for forgetting her sister, or just burst into tears about the whole situation.

"Presea?" What was going on in her head? Regal watched as she closed her eyes, trying to compose her emotions. He pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her. He half expected her to slap him with the way she had been acting, but to his surprise she allowed him to hold her.

"I don't know what to do," she confessed. She took a deep breath, which only resulted in her inhaling his masculine scent, which only made matters worse.

"I cannot aid you if I do not know the problem."

How could she tell him the problem if she didn't even comprehend it fully herself? She didn't know what she was feeling; what she was thinking. The only thing that clearly stood out in her mind was Alicia. However, before she said anything, she buried her head in his broad chest and and allowed herself to relish in his touch. If only for a moment.

"Talk to me," Regal demanded gently.

Presea lifted her head, meeting his bewildered gaze. She only spoke one word: "Alicia."

"Alicia? What does she have to do about this?"

"Regal, she was my sister! What do mean what does she have to do with this? She has everything to do with this!"

The blue-haired president stood in the middle of the kitchen, staring at Presea, who had jerked herself free from his arms. Of course he knew Alicia was her sister. The young girl had worked for him for almost five years, he had known about Presea before she had known about him. But how did Alicia link with the current situation?

"I'm afraid I do not fully comprehend this situation..."

"My sister, Regal! Alicia was my baby sister. I betrayed her. Why can't you understand that?"

The more Presea said, the less and less Regal understood. "How do you come to the conclusion that you betrayed your sister? She was my maid-"

"Maid!" Presea cried, her voice rising and her tone turning back into anger. "How dare you reduce Alicia to a maid," she said, her voice low with anger.

"I mean no disrespect. Your sister meant very much to me-"

Presea scoffed. "Obviously." Regal once again took a step towards her, but Presea held out her arm. "No. She loved you, Regal. You meant the world to her, yet you stand there and feel no remorse for kissing me. I am not the only one who betrayed Alicia, you did, as well."

"No, I do no feel any remorse for kissing you. My actions were intended and I'll be damned if I take them back." Regal's voice finally raised a notch, though his tone was not filled with the anger's Presea's had.

"You kissed her!"

"You're right, Regal," Presea began, ignoring the small audience that had accumulated in the doorway. "You are damned."

xxxx

The dew had fallen and the grass was damp, but Presea paid little mind to it, trekking across the lawn in her bare feet. Where she was going she didn't know. All she knew was that she had to get away from the house. From Regal.

"The nerve of that man!" she cried aloud, spotting a large tree in the distance and deciding that was her goal. "How could he say that? How could he...How could he just..." She trailed off, slowing her pace down to a brisk walk. "How could he say that about Alicia?"

She tried to recal one of her sister's most recent letters, but couldn't. Her mind didn't seem to want to function properly. Regal had seemed truly confused in the kitchen, yet Alicia had wrote about her love for the man. Why would he deny it? She had never known him to lie...

Finally reaching her destination, Presea sunk down against the tree's trunk, the rough, knarled surface serving as her support. What was she doing, anyway? Caring for her sister's killer? He had ended Alicia's existence, what kind of woman had feelings for such a man?

"He had to," she reminded herself aloud. "Alicia had turned into one of those...things. She had asked him to end her existence. He had only complied. I..I would have done the same."

She paused, contemplating that fact. Regal hadn't really killed Alicia, he had set her free. She would have died eventually, the moster taking over and erasing all parts of her human life. There had been no hope for her. Alicia had only wanted to die with some of her human self still entact.

But despite all that, the thing that bothered Presea was that she still cared about Regal even though he seemed to have forgotten completly about her sister, someone who was supposed to be dear to him- dear to her.

The sound of approaching foot steps jolted Presea out of her thoughts and back into the present. The low hanging branches of the tree obscured most of her vision, but she didn't need to see to know who it was.

The branches of the tree parted and a tall, muscular figure entered, the branches rustling back to their previous positions as he took a seat at the base of the old tree.

"Presea."

"Regal." Presea used the same montone as the man beside her had, though she heard a quiver in her voice that hadn't been present in Regal's.

Regal heaved a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "What is happening between us? I-"

"Regal, did you love Alicia?" Presea blurted before he could finish his sentence. Oh Martel...

He sat in silence for a moment. Then he cautiously said, "In what sense do you mean?"

"Love. In love. Were you in love with my sister?" Presea repeated.

"Presea, I did love your sister-"

"That's all I needed to hear." Presea stood, prepared to walk away. But before she could even take one step, Regal took her arm, stopping her in her tracks.

"Listen to me. I never had any romantic interest in her, but I did love her. Just as you did. She was younger than myself, by a good many years. Alicia was the sister I never had."

Presea sank back down, her mind reeling, trying to recall her sister's letters. True, they did tell of her feeling's for the president, but they never really said anything suggesting that Regal returned her feelings...

"So- so her's was an unrequited love?" Presea concluded, voicing her thoughts aloud.

"It would seem as such."

"I..." Presea trailed off, not knowing what to say. She had said some things in the kitchen that she was now regretting. "I'm sorry, Regal. I didn't mean what I said-"

Regal help up a hand. Before she could finish her sentence, he pulled her to him, kissing her in a possessive, yet gentle manner. "But I meant what I said. I have no regrets."

Presea laid her head against his chest, trying to contain her emotions. What was she to do? Act on her feelings and betray her sister, or forget that her sister loved the man and give into the feelings she harbored? Just because it was an unrequited love did not change the fact that her sister had loved the man.

"Presea, listen to me." Regal lifted her chin, forcing her to look at him. "I do care deeply for you. I have for...for some time now. I am not fully aware of what Alicia told you, but I assure you that I did not return her feeling's."

Presea pulled away from his grasp only to lay her head against his broad shoulder. Why did he have to tell her this? Why did she even agree to stay at his house? She had ruined their friendship...It would never be the same. And yet, despite that fact, Presea still wanted to hear his words.

"I have not felt such an attraction-" He stopped himself. What he felt for the woman beside him was more than just some attraction. "I have not cared for someone in the way I care for you in some time now. I am sure that you care for me as well."

Presea merely nodded her head, the fabric of his shirt moving with the motion.

"Good. Then I suggest that we forget this morning and move foward. I-" He was silenced as Presea removed her head from his shoulder, bringing herself to look him in the face. Her pale blue eye's shone with unshed tears.

"No, Regal. I do care about you, I really do." She moved a hand to stroke his cheek, her heart constricting at the gesture. "But I can't give into my feelings."

"Presea, I-"

She shook her head gently. "Perhaps you didn't love Alicia, but she did love you. I know she did. I would still be betraying her. She sacrificed so much for me." A lone tear slid down her cheek. "Now I must repay that debt."

xxxx

"How's Regal doing?"

Zelos glanced behind him at the sound of Sheen's voice. The ex-Chosen lounged against the door frame leisurely, giving another glance out the patio door. "He's been sitting there with his leg's dangling in the water for a good hour."

The Mizuho native walked over and pulled out the chair closet to Zelos, lowering herself down in it gracefully. "That's understandable. With what Presea told me, I'm sure he's just as confused as she is."

"Where is Presea anyway?"

"She caught the Elemental Expressway and went back to her apartment. Said she'd be over tomorrow. She just, you know, needed some space I guess."

Zelos nodded, then opened the sliding door. "Come on," he said, pulling Sheena to her feet. "I think Regal could use some company."

Sitting outside, his leg's knee high in pool water and his thoughts drifting, Regal didn't notice Sheena and Zelos until they plopped down beside him, one on each side.

"Hey, buddy," Zelos greeted, drapping a friendly arm around his shoulder. "How ya doin'?"

"I have seen better days," Regal muttered, his gaze locked on the water.

Sheena shot Zelos an agiatated glare. "Um, Presea told me to tell you that she'd be back tomorrow."

"Back?" Regal lifted his gaze from the water to Sheena. "Where is she?"

"Home. She said she needed... space."

"I see." He turned his gaze back to the water.

"Hey, cheer up. I'm sure she'll be over it by tomorrow. Then things will go back to how they were before," Zelos said in a bright voice.

"That is what I fear. I do not want things to return to how they were before. I want them to progress." Regal heaved a sigh. How could things get any worse? He had opened himself up to Presea, something he did not do often, and she had refused. Did she not understand that Alicia would only want her to be happy?

He began to let out an exasperated sigh, but stopped himself. Where were his manners? He had guests staying at his home. He had been raised better than to just abandon them. He could sulk about and feel sorry for himself on his own time.

"Forgive me. Moping about while I have guests to attend to." He pulled his leg's out of the water and stood, placing a fake smile on his face. "If you'll excuse me, I shall prepare you all some dinner." With that being said, he strode off, leaving Zelos and Sheena by themselves.

"Man, what did she do to him? That's not the Regal I know."

"You nimrod," Sheena sighed. "She rejected him."

Zelos nodded his head in understandment, his red locks slipping over his shoulder with the gesture. "So his pride is hurt."

Sheen rolled her chocolate eyes. "It's more than that. He actually cares about her- something you know nothing about. Maybe even love. I dunno. What I do know is, their both idiots."

"Idiots?" Zelos gave her a perculiar look. "How do you get that?"

"Well, it's obvious that they care about each other. Why deny themselves?"

Zelos focused on the water. This conversation was hitting to close to home for his liking. "Why indeed?" he muttered.

"What?"

"Uh...Why tie theirselve's down? There's a lotta pretty hunnies in the world. Guys too. None as good-looking as myself, of course." He ran a hand through his long hair, giving it a slight flip to emphasize his point. "But perfection is hard to come by."

Sheena scoffed. "Of course."

Zelos grinned. "You finally admit that I, The Great Zelos, am in fact perfect." He quickly sobered and turned his gaze back to the clear water. "But, I guess you're right. They shouldn't deny themselves. They deserve to be happy." Even though I don't...he silently added to himself.

Sheena glanced at the young man beside her, studying him thoughtfully. Why did he seem so depressed when he let his guard down? What secrets was he harboring? Better yet, why did he act so pompous all the time? In private, she would almost go as far as to classify him human...

Zelos lifted his gaze from the blue waters and was met with the brown orbs of the summoner beside him. His heart nearly stopped at the beautiful sight, but he help himself together well, never letting her know his true feelings. She would probably laugh in his face anyway.

"Well, my Dear Hunny, I am going to go see what Lloyd's up to." He stood from the patio, brushing of his denium jeans and started towards the door. The further he was away from her, the better. It was stupid of him to think that she might actual care about him. Idiotic. "See ya at dinner time."

Sheena nodded her head, watching his retreating form. Why was he acting so strange? Presea wasn't the only one having guy problems. Well, at least Presea's guy actually knew she cared about him. Zelos probably thought she hated him...

Shaking her head, she turned her attention to ocean before her. "Maybe you should take your own advice," she chided herself aloud. "Why deny yourself?"

xxxx

Sitting in her small, cozy little living room, Presea stared at the phone in her hand- another new luxury since the combination of the worlds. Though it wasn't the phone that shocked her, it was the call she had just ended. Well, not really the call, but what she had agreed to.

She had moved her dinner date with Duke up to tomorrow. Tomorrow! She sould have canceled it! What was wrong with her?

She tossed the phone on the coffee table in front of her couch angrily. Why had she agreed to go out with Mr. Calabren? She didn't even like him! She felt no attraction to him what-so-ever. Yet she had just sat there and said, 'Sure, we can move the date up'.

"I should just call him back," she said aloud, the sound resonating through the empty apartment. "I should call him back and tell him that I don't want to go out with him, that I want to go with Regal. But I can't because my sister loved him, and that would be wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong."

She jumped of the couch and went into her equally small kitchen, wishing that she had something harder than coffee in her cabinets. As she reached for a coffee cup, her thoughts began to wonder to her sister. Why did Alicia have to fall in love with Regal? There had been plenty of other guys to fall in love with, why did she have to choose him?

Slamming a glass cup onto her counter, Presea filled it with scalding water. Alicia had had many chances for love, she hadn't been stuck with the body of a twelve-year-old for over half of her life. Other men would have returned her love as well, if Regal was indeed telling the truth. And she had no reason to doubt him, he had always been honest with her.

Walking back into her living room, feet dragging, Presea flopped down on her couch. It wasn't Alicia's fault, she reminded herself, feeling guilty for blaming her kin. Her little sister had always wanted her big sister to be happy, she would have never done anything to hurt her.

So wouldn't she want you to be happy now? a little voice questioned in the back of her mind, causing Presea to question her earlier motives for the umpteenth time.

The ringing of the telephone jerked her out of her musings. She reached for the telephone, secretly hoping that it was Regal, though she had no idea what she would say to him.

"Hello?"

"Presea?"

It wasn't Regal- it was Duke.

"Presea?" the deep voice repeated when there was no reply.

Without saying anything, Presea clicked off the phone.

"Oh, real smooth. He knows you'r here...unfortunately." She did not want to talk to Duke, she did not want to see Duke, but she had already agreed to it, and she couldn't back out now. Besides, what if he really did get angry and pull out of the company? She had caused Regal enough heartache already; she didn't want to add bankruptcy to the list.

As she suspected it would, the phone rang again a moment later. She clicked it on, talking before she gave the person on the other end a chance to say hello.

"I'm sorry about earlier- I don't know what possessed me-"

"Presea?"

She pulled the phone away from her ear, staring at the device with a look that suggested that it had just set her up dilberately for treating it roughly a little while ago.

"Presea, is everything all right?" the voice called, snapping the pink-haired woman from her trance.

"Regal," she said, in a surprisingly calm voice.

"Presea, what were you- did you mean what you just said?" She didn't miss the hopeful note in his voice.

Yes! She wanted to cry, but for some reason the words that came out were, "I thought you were Duke."

"Wha-" A sigh traveled through the line. " I see."

Presea felt like beating her head against the wall. That was not what she had meant to say! She wanted to ask him to forgive her for this morning. She wanted to ask him if his offer still stood, if he still wanted to take their relationship to the next level. She wanted to leave her lonely apartment and go back to his house... back to him.

Yet she couldn't formulate the words.

"I just wanted to phone and make sure that you were all right," Regal began as the silence stretched on. "My offer still stands," Presea felt her heart swell with hope at those words, " you are welcome to stay the remainder of your vacation at my home." She also felt her heart literally deflate.

"Thank you," she managed to choke out.

"Yes, well, I hope to...to see you tomorrow," Regal said, prepared to hang up the phone and go straight to bed. Or maybe have a nightcap. He hadn't decided yet.

"Regal, wait! I-I..." She felt her eye's grow moist. "I..."

"Yes, Presea?" This time there was no hopeful note, only weariness. She was to late.

"I'll see tomorrow?"

Regal nodded his head, even though she could not see him. "Good night, Presea." Regal returned the phone to it's cradle, turning from his den and heading towards the kitchen. Nightcap it was.

Presea clicked the phone off for the third time that evening, thought this time left her feeling terribly empty inside. She had ruined her chance at happiness. She had decided too late that her sister would only want her to be happy, and it had cost her her chance at...love.

Suddenly feeling as if all her energy had been drained, Presea tossed the phone on the couch and left her tepid cup of coffee on the table. She drug herself of the couch and into the bathroom, going through her nightly routine before throwing herself down on her full-sized bed. Once she had buried herself underneath the covers, she did something that she hadn't done in many, many years.

She cried.

xxxx

Reply to my grand reviewers...

Fallenharbinger: Yep! I finally made them kiss. Lol. There will be more kissing, and argueing...heh. Wonderful...YAY!

GirlyButTough: Oops, yep, I put gil. I messed up. I'm glad you like though! And, I suck at thinking up names. I mean, look at mine. Lol. I like yours! I'd just keep it. And, you can continue complimenting my story in your next review...hehe.

Chibi Lloyd, Presea, cp: Glad ya like! How many names do you have?

WhitterZ: Yep, finally! Lol. I'm gald ya like it! I don't really like Genis, I can't help it. He's okay, but definatly not my favorite. No one is as buff as Regal, Lol!

Kei-Kun: I think this one was longer. Maybe not, but I think so. Here's more for you!

Tas: Yeah, I know. I've been busy. This one was a little faster! Glad you like!

A/N: Well, there ya have it! Chapter seven! Whatcha think? Let me know in a review! Please leave me one! In the next chapter, Zelos and Sheena will get together (I think) and a buncha of other stuff. Hehe. Well, thanks for the reviews! I'm glad you guys enjoy it! Eight will be up soon!