Author's Notes: Damn, this one was hard. I really hate explaining things through characters. It seems staged to me. Now watch as Fang pries information from Zelos's hostile pale fingers! :D Oh, and I'm pretty sure I'm turning Fang into Lloyd? Uhm, help?

Fang wasn't surprised when Zelos finally landed beside a running stream. He'd been that dirty before and he knew that getting clean of the funk was a gratifying experience. The redhead plopped to the ground with the grace of a swan (which was odd considering how much strength he seemed to hold- Fang would have assumed that'd cripple the Chosen's agility) and Zelos's orange wings disappeared now.

"You have wings?" Fang asked.

"Yeah," Zelos replied as he began stripping off his vest and gloves now along with his smudged-with-dirt headband. "I have wings."

"How… How do you have wings?"

Zelos looked over at Fang for the first time since they'd left Meltokio and smirked, "Is that so far-fetched to you, kid?" he motioned with a pale hand to Fang's wings.

The teenager became flustered, "Well, I know how I got mine! I want to know if it's anything like how you got yours," he huffed.

"Do my wings look like yours in any way/shape or form?" Zelos knelt down beside the stream and started to wash his face with the cool water.

Fang was silent for a long moment, "No. Not really, no."

"Then what makes you think I got mine in any way similar to how you got yours when we're from totally separate worlds, hmmm?" those bright insightful (yet always able to piss Fang off) blue eyes turned from the water to Fang.

Silence from the bird-kid.

"That's kinda what I thought."

"King Irving was sort of a dick," Fang blurted out gracefully.

Zelos suddenly laughed and he grinned, shaking his head at Fang's words. "Really? Most people love him."

"He came off sort of like a psychopath to me. Those aren't my type when it comes to people I care for."

"That man… That dick is the reason I've been in prison for six months."

"You said you wanted to be in prison though," Fang's eyebrows scrunched together as he took a seat beside the river and began washing off his hands and face as well as he could while still giving Zelos his full attention. He had a feeling he'd need it if Zelos was going to explain anything to him.

"I did. I wanted to be in prison because of the king," Zelos leaned down and dunked his head fully under the water and whipped it back up in a quick fashion that ended up splashing Fang quite a lot. (I mean, Zelos's hair was freaksihly long. Even for a woman that'd be long...)

"Hey! Watch it!" Fang scowled.

"Oh please, you needed the shower," Zelos rolled his eyes and continued cleaning his hair. Seemed like hygiene had been a much-loved thing the Tethe'allan had sacrificed to stay safe in that cell.

Fang thought for a moment and finally decided to pursue it, "You told me you'd explain everything."

"I did, didn't I?" Zelos's tone was sarcastic, which meant that he probably didn't want to carry through with that promise.

"Tell me what happened here, Zelos."

The once upon a time noble turned and looked at Fang for a long time as he debated in his head whether or not he should tell Fang the truth. The teenager gazed back patiently with a slight purse of his lips. "Zelos… Come on." Okay, maybe not so patient.

"I'm twenty seven years old, Fang."

"Huh?" Fang blinked.

"When I was twenty-two a group of people came into Meltokio. They were the group of regeneration and they had come from Sylvarant to bond their world together with Tethe'alla. All while helping their friend, Colette, who was the chosen of Sylvarant."

"Chosen… That dick-guy-"

"King Irving," came Zelos's correction.

"Yeah, he called you that. What's a chosen?"

"A chosen is…" Zelos sighed as his hand reached up to the gem embedded on his chest. "Is the name of the savior of both worlds; Sylvarant and Tethe'alla. It's a big deal in both worlds. Back then, when that group came to me, I was second in power to the king."

Fang blinked, "King Irving?"

"No, a previous ruler. He died due to 'old age'. His daughter was supposed to take over the throne. Obviously, though, that never happened," Zelos cleared up the confusion in a simple tone.

"The chosen is supposed to be a descendent of angels. They're used as a carrier for the Goddess Martel. A sacrifice."

"Were you a sacrifice?" Fang asked.

"No. Colette was. Sylvarant and Tethe'alla shared a mana link-"

"Mana?"

Zelos stared at Fang for a long time. "I don't know where you're from but it's sounding more bumpkin-y than Sylvarant to me."

"What's mana?" Fang growled to hide his embarrassment.

"Mana is the world's life source," Zelos duh'd to him. "You can imagine how two worlds sharing one life source might result in some off balance occurrences when it comes to resources."

"Sure, one could be flourishing and one could be sort of run down, right?" Fang said.

"Exactly. Sylvarant was run down. Colette was their sacrifice. If she succeeded on her journey to regenerate Sylvarant? The mana balance would shift and Sylvarant would flourish while Tethe'alla became rundown."

"So you were more of a symbol than a sacrifice?" Fang asked, "Cause Tethe'alla wouldn't really need you if you think about it."

"Yeah, don't remind me," Zelos mumbled. "The chosen dies on that journey though. Lloyd Irving, the leader of the group who came to see me, wanted to stop Colette from being sacrificed. In short, I helped him and we joined the two worlds together."

"Uhuh, that makes sense-" Fang cut himself off and his eyes widened, "Irving…"

"Yeah. King Irving and Lloyd Irving," Zelos's tone was dry.

"So Lloyd turned on you guys?"

"That's not Lloyd."

The adamant tone made Fang think twice before replying.

"Then who is he?"

"That man is a parasite parading around as my friend. He is not Lloyd. Lloyd died along with Sheena a long time ago."

Fang frowned and a silence entered between the two.

"Sheena was my fiancé," Zelos could say before the question even left Fang's mouth.

The teenager's face fell, "What about the others from that group? They helped save the world before…"

"Anybody who isn't officially dead is a fraud, Fang."

"Oh…" came his oh-so intelligent response. "That really sucks, Zelos."

Zelos smirked, "Yeah, it really does."

"So this guy took over Lloyd and took power after the king died?"

"Yeah, it wasn't hard, I can tell you that. The world already worshiped the ground Lloyd walked on. He saved everybody, y'know?" Zelos's voice was fond when he spoke of the original Lloyd Irving. "When somebody that looked like him came around and started barking orders? Princess Hilda didn't stand a chance. She was just a rich little royal blooded woman to these people. She disappeared not long after Irving became king."

"Why haven't they cloned or killed you?" Fang couldn't help but feel like he had found a misfit toy. Something was wrong with Zelos if he was in such a famous group and in such high power before being in that group yet he hadn't been disposed of.

"The King made his opinion of me made clear when he killed Sheena. I went to prison to stay out of the way. The people aren't influenced by my status anymore. Killing me would be a waste of time. I'm just an ex-chosen," then Zelos laughed.

"What's so funny?" Fang asked in confusion.

"I guess now I'm a convict too on top of being worthless to the evil regime."

"I'd rather be wanted than following orders from King Dickhead."

Zelos began laughing again and Fang couldn't help but feel proud of his newly developing people skills. He'd cheered his guide out of the funk! Cool!

Maybe he'd get home faster now!