To the readers of "From Here to Eternity",

You are all the writers of "From Here to Eternity" as well. This story will not progress without you! This project was originally intended to be a story that anyone who wanted to write, anyone, could help continue; we didn't want to have a sole group of people make up the whole thing. Want to see the next chapter posted? You write it. Take it where you want to go, but keep in mind, this is still a story. Character development, like what is seen is this chapter, matters. But for the most part, that is the only rule that does. I don't care where you take the story even if it's not the direction we originally intended at the beginning, I don't care what you do with it or the plot, but try to follow what's happened previously, of course. Bear in mind if I get several of one chapter, we're still doing the voting thing. If you want to be a voter, send a request to Snophoenix at gmail dot com. But without you and the original SnoPhoenix members, this story will not get updated. If your chapter gets posted, and if you are not on the list of authors on the profile, you will be added.

Good luck, be creative, and have fun!

--Baby Kat Snophlake

Now a note from this chapter's authoress: GASP! An update? It's been a year! Yeah, we know. ;P We don't own ToS, -usual banter- Enjoy the story! This chapter is really really short because I wrote it for the 500 and I figured it's a good kick-start to get us back on track. I focused more on Lloyd than the plot so, I hope ya'll like it.

From Here to Eternity

Chapter Seven by Baby Kat Snophlake

"A new recruit?" Captain Werner asked of Lloyd as they returned to the campsite. The next day they would return to Meltokio. Until then, the Chosen and Sheena were going to plan their course of action. Werner had spent the rest of the afternoon teaching Lloyd about being a knight so he could blend in a little better. Lloyd, though, didn't like the way Werner was staring at him over his shoulder with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah."

"You used to be a mercenary then." Finally, Werner turned away.

Lloyd paused and allowed his spear tip to touch ground. "Wha…? What makes you say that?"

"A new recruit that doesn't know a thing about spears but knows the intricate foot work of a fight. You must have been a mercenary. You've fought before… with a sword, I presume?"

"Er, yeah I suppose I have."

"What changed?"

Lloyd didn't answer right away. Of course he couldn't tell the captain everything but he knew himself better than that. He was bound to say something he really shouldn't and decided silence was the best course of action for now. He walked past the captain and took his seat with the others where someone was passing out bowls of stew. He paid careful attention to how he placed the spear on the ground next to him. He still couldn't get the image of two of them scant inches away from his face not too long ago. Seles smiled and moved to sit next to Lloyd. Werner sat down on Lloyd's other side but didn't press the subject of his past, choosing instead to dig into his own bowl of stew.

"I've noticed something else with Zelos," Seles told Lloyd. "I have a feeling you're the one to blame for it."

"Blame?" Lloyd's back stiffened and he almost dropped his bowl. "Wh-what did I do?"

Seles laughed. "Now don't sound so guilty. It wasn't a crime." She nodded towards Zelos who was talking animatedly with Sheena. A new feeling crept into Lloyd that he didn't understand. He waited for Zelos to say something that would make Sheena reach over and slap him, but what felt even more weird was that she was smiling back at him. Not to mention that Zelos was still a kid. The conversation was loud enough he could understand bits of what they were saying. It was an innocent conversation… This was definitely not home. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" Lloyd turned back to Seles who was looking at him with concern.

"You look kind of… confused."

"Oh, no, I'm fine, really. I was just—thinking." Seles raised an eyebrow and studied him for a moment. Lloyd decided to change the subject back to Zelos. "I have noticed, actually. He's improved a lot."

"He doesn't normally find it easy to talk to strangers." Seles said. Lloyd nodded. "So you've defended him and helped build up his confidence in himself? How'd you do that? I've been trying to build him up for years but… he never listened to me."

"Umm, well…" The conversation took an uncomfortable turn. Lloyd stuffed his mouth with food and mumbled, "I just talked to him." All the while he watched Zelos and Sheena share their first ever pleasant conversation in his living memory, he tried to ignore the feeling of Seles's eyes on him.

"Just who are you, Lloyd?" she asked. He shrugged, keeping his head down and close to the nearing empty bowl of food.

"I wondered that too," came Werner's voice from Lloyd's other side. "I don't think he's ordinary, that's for sure." Lloyd almost choked.