Yes, the next chapter has returned! Big sorry to everyone kept waiting, I had all these gay exams nd a geography field trip.. still, pathetic excuses so I decided to make this one a long one! Just to recap, Sheena and her boys have a clever and cunning plan, Martel and Colette have a clever and cunning plan, lloyds just being pathetic and crying someplace, Mithos and Genis are engaged and now that Kratos's broken it off with Zelos I think theres some serious grovelling to do to Yuan! The wedding will be soon, I promise, till then enjoy the unpredictability!

Nancing through the forest hand in hand with Sheena Fujibayashi wasn't something one normally did unless in a very brave or very stupid mood. The last person she had ever nanced with had been an ex-boyfriend, and their relationship had tragically been cut short when she realised just how terrible he was at mincing and had decided to do away with him. But ex partners aside, she was beginning to get frustrated, which was always dangerous. No, she hadn't broken a nail. Yes, both of her boys had agreed to her spectacular plan. Yes it was going to go fine. No, she hadn't been bitten by one of the squirrels that were chasing Kratos in the excitement of the joys of spring. Zelos was better at nancing than her. Yes, that's right, better than her. Mournfully she reflected that this was only naturally to be expected, but looking at him made her cheeks flush pink. The way his whole body arched as his hips swayed from one side to the other… the way he had a delicate flick of the heels every third step… the way he held his hands in perfect teapot precision, oh it was too much to bear!

"RIGHT, THAT IS IT!" she roared, bringing their journey to a halt just as Zelos was halfway through a quickstep, making him land gracelessly on the floor.

"Whaaaat?" he wined, massaging his ivory thigh.

"When we're through with this you will give me nancing lessons and I will be better at nancing than you, is that understood??"

Zelos swallowed. "Um. Sure."

"Good"

The nancing continued until they reached the edge of the lake where Genis and Mithos were resting on a log, hands still clasped. Mithos knew he shouldn't have used superglue to re-stick his false nails on. Gah.

"Now boys, you know what to do, right?" she hissed.

Zelos bit his lip and nodded.

"Sheena.. Can I just talk to you for a sec? I just need you to go over it once more" He said, hastily seizing her hands and dragging her away from Kratos. Not that he would notice, he was too busy trying to de- frisky squirrel-ize himself. Zelos sighed and massaged his temples. Being a sex god was damned hard work. Throwing a longing glance at Sheena, his hazel eyes widened and his bottom lip trembled.

"Sheena darling are you sure this is the only waaay?"

Sheena reciprocated. Only her hazel eyes were filled with sorrow, her bottom lip was delicate and she looked altogether adorable. Adorable assassin. Aaah. Scary thought.

"But baby you said you would.." she sighed

"I no…" he sounded reluctant..

Leaning closer so she was whispering in his ear a smile flitted across her lips "I think Kratos would thank you for it.." A short jerk of the shoulders indicated that he was probably over his former lover . Then he smiled. "Yeah." Probably.

"So we're clear, right?"

"I guess"

"look, if anything goes wrong I'll probably save you, k?"

Zelos clenched his fists and nodded.

"Hey look, Genis is going into the tent- you can do it now if you're quick- good luck" she whispered and kissed him lightly on the forehead before he made his way purposefully towards the duo's site.

" rather you than me mate" she added as he drew closer to Mithos "Good luck… you're gonna need it"

Dragging a twitching, screaming Presea over to the lakeside to splash water on her face to revive her was actually harder than it looked. But once the last traces of the green powder had either been inhaled or washed away, she stopped screaming and sat down heavily and gulped.

"percentage of success down to ten perce- NO ZELOS I WILL NOT WEAR THAT MAIDS OUTFIT AND I DON'T CARE HOW CUTE MY ASS LOOKS IN IT- Genis, I have something to tell you- ouch my hand hurts- oh stop complaining Lloyd I took the wrap of that attack for you it barely touched you-damn Sheena looks hot today- Genis, I still have something to tell you- I wonder if Mithos realises that he's actually hurting his own kind too- when can I go home?- oh look Zelos's looking at Kratos again- how long have those two been at it? Does Yuan know- I feel sorry for Martel in all of this, Genis will you just listen to me for once? Regal- where's Alicia? Why is there.. you're hands… you're hands are red, Regal, Regal where's Alicia? What have you done to her? She's alright, isn't she? Why are you looking at me like that? Don't apologise I don't want to hear that you're sorry I want you to tell me why you're sorry, Regal, WHY? Why are you apologising, you haven't hurt her, you can't have hurt her , you loved her, I love her, Regal, why? What have you done to her? Where is she? Regal?? REGAL WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??"

"STOP IT!" Colette cried, grabbing Presea by the neck and wrapping her arms around her, trying to smother her screams. "just stop it, Presea! She's dead, she's been dead for years, he couldn't stop it, he tried to save her, Presea please, just" and then Colette dissolved into tears too.

"She's showing and experiencing all the emotions she couldn't at the time." Martel whispered. "I didn't know, didn't know it would happen, didn't know she would go through it all again.."

"We should have just left her alone! We should have just let her go one never knowing what happened, this is just wrong!" Colette cried, rocking the screaming Presea in her arms "look at her! Look at what she's going through!" Presea was now buried in Colette's shoulders, pathetically keening like a broken, wounded animal.

"please.. please no… Alicia… why couldn't I help you… why couldn't I… why.."

Colette loosened her grip on her and let her sink to the ground

"Alicia… I'm sorry.."

"So this was you're great plan was it?" she challenged, gently smoothing out Presea's tangled hair "give her back her emotions so she spends the rest of her life thinking it was her fault?" Martel sighed and this time a handful of blue powder appeared in Colette's pocket. "Give it to her. She'll never know about Alicia. She'll forget she ever existed"

"That's your answer?"

"Can you think of a better one"

Grinding her teeth, Colette sprinkled the powder onto a piece of cloth and gently tipped Presea's tear streaked face backwards.

"Presea, I'm sorry-" she muttered and pressed the cloth over her face. She didn't even try to struggle as the blue powder took hold and she closed her eyes and collapsed into Colette's lap, twitching gently.

"Will it-"

"No, it doesn't hurt. Don't worry, I did it before on Zelos to make him forget too."

"Make him forget what?"

Martel closed her disembodied eyes and sighed "on Christmas.. he built a snowman with his mother…….. You know what, it doesn't matter. I'm the only one who knows what happened so it doesn't matter"

"Aaw" Colette sympathised " The same thing happened to me too. I was building this snowman.. and.. and.. the carrot broke in half " she sobbed loudly. Martel smiled and made her hands move Presea to a more comfortable position.

"She'll wake up happier soon" she said.