The next morning dawned bright and early, the light from the rising sun sending harsh beams of light into Presea's eyes, making the pinket groan and attempt to roll over and shut out the light; the key word there being "attempt", due to the fact that someone who was larger than her and very warm was spooning her, their chest rising and falling gently. After panicking for a heartbeat, Presea blushed and opened her eyes slowly, glancing down her body to see one of Lloyd's arm draped across her waist and clutching her to him, one of his legs tangled with hers. She could feel his warmth through the thin fabric of her pajamas, and unless she was mistaken, his mouth was only scant inches away from her ear, blowing warm air across the shell.

'This … I don't know if I should be embarrassed or comforted by this closeness …' Presea's mind was slowly turning to mush from the close proximity that their bodies were in, but she didn't want to wake him up just yet. During the journey, she had found that Lloyd look so … defenseless in his sleep that she almost regretted having to wake him up. He usually took the midnight-dawn watch period, however, so it was rare to see him asleep.

Almost as if he had heard, Lloyd let out a soft moan and rolled onto his back, still asleep, the arm that had been holding Presea against him falling partially across his face. It took the pinket a second to realize that she had been released, and when she did, Presea only managed to sit up, looking at Lloyd with her face slowly going pinker and brighter than before. Like he had been during the journey, Lloyd maintained that defenseless appearance, but now that there was no sleeping bag to obscure his upper body, she could easily tell that he was more than ready to defend himself.

Another thing struck Presea as incredible as she found herself looking him over; Lloyd's tan skin was crisscrossed with multiple thin scars, testament to all of the battles he had been in. But instead of diminishing his appearance, it seemed almost like they were accenting the powerful build of his torso, highlighting the places where Presea could trace his chest muscles if she was brave enough to reach out and touch him. The light accented his features wondrously, granting Lloyd a nearly unreal beauty, a sleeping angel.

Presea flushed even brighter at the cliché (which in reality was the truth), but she managed to summon up enough courage to lean over Lloyd's body, entranced by the way the light made his skin glow. It was almost fair, she decided, that such a perfect build could given to someone who could most likely live for centuries, instead of one being who would pass away before even one century passed. Her eyes saw no imperfection, no flaw to mar him at first glance.

Then her eyes caught something subtle and nearly inconspicuous; curious, Presea leaned in closer and found herself looking at what appeared to be an indent in the middle of Lloyd's collarbone; perhaps it had been broken or something. Cautiously, one hand reached out and traced along the raised skin where bone and muscle met; yes, it had been broken at some point, but it had healed over remarkably well, as she never remembered Lloyd complaining about a wound like this. And now, with this one flaw, Presea found that Lloyd was even more incredible, but he was not perfect. He had his flaws, imperfections that made him blaringly human, despite his angelic appearance.

It was only at this point that Presea realized that she had been staring at Lloyd for what felt like a good couple of hours, but was in reality only a few moments. Her face went bright red, and she fell onto her rear as she backed away from the young man. 'I … I've never done something like that before …' Presea realized, her heart pounding in her chest, her breathing shortened out. She'd never been in love before, or felt anything remotely close to it, and yet this feeling of breathlessness … was this part of it? 'I should go take a shower before he wakes up … get my thoughts under control ...' she told herself, and quickly scrambled off of the bed and gathered clean clothes before heading into the bathroom.

Lloyd awoke to the noise of water running in the next room over. Briefly disoriented, he blinked a couple of times to regain his bearings, and then chuckled to himself as he remembered what had happened the night before. Presea had offered to let him stay with her in the room she had rented that night before they headed over for Zelos' that day.

Smiling, Lloyd sat up fully and stretched; that was perhaps the best sleep he had had since the journey with the others. His skin was tingling slightly where his collarbone had been broken once, and his mind began to wonder what had caused it. 'Odd …' he thought, running his fingers over the indent. He had received the blow in the last battle with his father, and hadn't even noticed it until after the fight with Origin.

He also vaguely remembered having someone lean over him earlier, but he couldn't fully tell if it was his dream or if it was real life. Whichever it was, it had felt so nice, but it had ended almost as soon as it had begun. While he didn't exactly know what it was, Lloyd had a good guess in mind; Presea.

That made him sigh again. While he wasn't as dense as he let on, what he was feeling now was confusing him to no end. He didn't know what was wrong with him, but all he knew was that Presea felt special to him. She was the one who … who always made him smile again, who made him try his hardest to excel, no matter how often she made his heart hurt. During the few times where she had smiled back at him, he felt like flying up into the skies and never coming back down.

Five years without seeing her had been ... torturous, if Lloyd was to be honest with himself; he had reconciled his relationship with Colette shortly before his journey began, and Sheena was already engaged to a warrior from another hidden village. He had never even considered the professor, who had started up a relationship with the half-elf Linar from Asgard; he wished the two bookworms luck and happiness. (He had also said that he hoped their kids shared their love of history; Raine had blushed and smacked him for it however) And ... he knew he had NO interest in the male side of the spectrum; it was irritating when people asked him if he was.

No, Lloyd knew that he wasn't interested in men, not that he held it against the men who did find love in the same sex. If there was anyone Lloyd would ever say he felt like he was in love with, it would have to be the pinket showering in the next room over. He couldn't stop thinking about her, and he always wanted to see her smile, wanted to hug her and never let go, to kiss her and say that he loved her. There was just one problem with that blissful fantasy, however; one silver-haired, magical master, highly intelligent problem.

Genis.

Even after they had found out how old Presea really was, the half-elf had continued to pine for her, but Presea truly didn't care for him in that sense. But that no more stopped Genis than all the roadblocks had stopped Lloyd from saving the worlds; he still felt absolutely devoted to her. If Lloyd showed any signs of his affection for Presea show in any way, he wouldn't put it past Genis in the least to use a spell along the lines of Explosion on him. And perhaps that was what he hated about this affection the most. Love was a blessing, but he had also decided long ago that it could also be used to kill as well; nothing killed a person more effectively than being without a loved one, Lloyd figured, remembering what Kratos had told him about his actions after Anna's death, and the insanity that had claimed Mithos after losing Martel.

"Oh, good morning, Lloyd." Presea's voice in the hallway caught Lloyd off guard, and he looked at Presea as she walked into the room. She was as beautiful as she had been the day before, but today her hair was done up in a low ponytail, leaving only her bangs free to frame her face. Lloyd blinked and felt a blush slowly work its way onto his face as he got off the bed. Chuckling nervously, he scratched the back of his neck with one hand; he must've been lost in his thoughts for longer than he had thought.

"Heh ... good morning, Presea." he replied after a moment, fighting to make his face regain its natural color. "I ... take it the shower's free now?" He asked, grabbing clothes from his bag as he walked towards the open bathroom door. Presea--who had been watching him walk towards her--blushed as his arm bumped lightly against hers, making her skin tingle.

"Y--yes, you can use it now; it might be a bit steamy though ..." She commented, to which Lloyd shrugged and entered the room. After the door had been shut however, Presea fell to her knees, face as red as humanly possible as a very Zelos-like part of her mind started suggesting rather interesting scenes as soon as the words 'Lloyd' and 'steamy' reached it. 'No, no ... bad Presea, don't be thinking that way ... you left puberty behind two years ago ... don't try to imagine Lloyd in the ... NO!!! Do not try to picture it!! Get such thoughts out of your head, and get a hold of yourself!!' She yelled mentally at herself, trying to regain the natural color of her face.

Once the majority of her perverse thoughts had passed, Presea stood and packed her clothes away again, and then pulled on her boots. Since they would be heading over for Zelos' that day, there was no need in renting a room when it wasn't needed. Sitting in a chair, Presea let her thoughts slowly drift, but they ultimately came back to Lloyd. She still didn't know why she loved him, but her emotions simply clamored around him.

But then again ... Lloyd had done so much for her when they first met. He had given her the Key Crest that had brought back her humanity, he'd forgiven her for doing something she couldn't control, helped her bury her father ... he even helped her to control the first of her emotions to emerged; hatred. He also tried daily to make her smile, as did Genis.

Genis ... now he was a complication. Presea sighed and looked out the window, her eyes slowly growing tired. No matter how often she thought about it, she just couldn't bring herself to share the affection that he gave to her. He was just … too immature, in her eyes. He also held a stigma about how his race was treated by humans, and he just couldn't seem to quite get over it yet.

And then, there was simply how helpful Lloyd had been throughout the entire journey, always managing to give her a smile when she most needed it. Compared to him, Genis seemed just … not her type. Presea flushed at the thought, and began to ponder on something that she knew would be bugging her throughout the day.

'When did I start to fall?'

It was something that Presea honestly couldn't answer right away, because she didn't know herself.. 'All I know is that I love him … I love him a lot.' Presea reassured herself, smiling as she traced a heart on the small amount of dust that had accumulated on the windowsill. Filled with a slightly fangirlish attitude, Presea subconsciously wrote Lloyd's name inside the heart, giggling when she noticed what she had written.

"Hmm? Is something funny going on outside, Presea?" Lloyd's voice near her ear made Presea nearly leap a foot in the air. Fortunately, the pinket's motions managed to smudge out enough of her mindless doodling so Lloyd couldn't tell that she was hopelessly crushing on. When he saw how bright red in the face Presea was, Lloyd's forehead wrinkled in concern as he placed a hand on her forehead. "Do you not feel well?" He asked gently, voice filled with worry.

Once again, Presea forced herself to look up at the young man with wide eyes as his gentle nature took over and he took it upon himself to make sure one of his friends was feeling well. Ignoring the sharp jolt to her heart that came when she did so, Presea shook her head and slowly reached up and grasped Lloyd's wrist in her hands. "No … I'm fine, Lloyd …" She assured him, forcing a smile onto her face as she stood. Grabbing her bag, she walked to the door. "Let's get going then … I don't want to deal with the tailor for as long as we had to last time …"

Lloyd's face gained a brief expression of mock annoyance as he walked towards her, groaning at the thought of having to deal with the tailor again. "I hope I actually get my outfit on time this go around." He muttered, grabbing his bag and walking out the door, his arm once again looping around Presea's in a friendly hug after she had returned the key and they left the inn.

Presea blushed and allowed her eyes to focus on the dirt in front of her, saving her the embarrassment of having to look around at the people staring at them in surprise, and in the case of several young women, admiration of Lloyd and disgust at Presea. She ignored it as best as she could, but a part of her began to wonder if it was because she was with Lloyd, or if it was because she appeared seventeen and was with perhaps one of the most handsome men around. Blushing again at the thought of actually being Lloyd's romantic companion, Presea decided that the best thing to do was to go along with it, and she smiled and wrapped her arm around his waist.

Reaching Zelos' house in good time, Lloyd and Presea walked right up to the door and knocked lightly. "Hey, Zelos, you up yet?" Lloyd called, and was mildly surprised when the door opened up. Half expecting Sebastian to be the one opening the door, the brunet began to enter the mansion, Presea's hand still in his.

"LLOYD!!!" The squeal and the tackle-glomp that followed the door opening was highly unexpected, and it was only the fact that Lloyd had opened his hand in shock that Presea was spared from being knocked down like the brunet was. Blinking, the two stared in shock when they saw who was clinging to Lloyd and squealing like there was no tomorrow; Colette.

The blond hadn't changed much physically; her curves were still modest, and she was still quite the ironing board. Her outfit had also changed little, save for her skirt was now slightly shorter. Continuing whit her squealing, Colette did not notice that Presea was still standing there, slightly miffed.

Presea found herself annoyed, and highly peeved. Colette hadn't been the one who had openly shared her room – and her bed, but thinking about that made her blush – with Lloyd, and yet here Colette was, hugging him like he was her stuffed animal. 'She … that little brat!!' Presea hissed mentally, although she kept her face worried for Lloyd's health as she pried Colette off of him. 'How dare she hug him!! Lloyd is mine now, MINE!!'

Presea quickly grabbed the fangirl part of herself and stuffed it quickly into a box that read 'do not open until marriage'. "Hello, Colette; how're you doing today?" Presea asked instead, smiling weakly. Colette looked up at her and removed herself from Lloyd and tackled Presea instead.

"Hey Presea!! Look at you, wow you've grown!!" She squealed, oblivious to the venomous thoughts running through Presea's mind. The blond was so wrapped up in talking and leading the two into Zelos' house that she didn't notice the way Lloyd reached out for Presea as soon as he could. "Hold on right here, I'll go let Zelos know you're here!!" She chirruped after a moment, running off.

Once he was certain that Colette was out of hearing range, Lloyd turned to Presea. "Wow … I didn't think Colette would be here, of all people." He commented, chuckling weakly. Presea nodded and looked after the blond, a trace of dislike still within her.

She knew now that she loved Lloyd, but it hurt still to see Colette act like she always had around him. True, he had been caught off guard by her welcome as well, so she had little to complain about. 'But still … this pain I feel when she hugs him, it really hurts.' Presea thought, placing a hand to her chest over her heart when Lloyd had turned about; she didn't want to worry him. 'Please … any god out there who happens to hear me … let me be able to tell him how I feel soon …' She prayed, watching as Colette came back into the room, leading Zelos and the tailor from five years ago into the room as well.

'Please … let Lloyd know that I love him.'

A/N: Ah eh heh heh … nothing too special this time around. The next chapter will have a bit more romance, as it will be at the dance. Until then … review, please!!