Author's Notes: Okay, it wasn't a week after the last update, but this is twice as long as a normal chapter. Here's some backstory. No Fang, but I'm sure you'll all live.

Red hair, as deep of a crimson as the blood that flowed through the veins of every human, elf, and all those caught in-between, flows down over tanned shoulders. There was a time when his skin had been comparable to blanket of freshly fallen snow.

It was once frowned upon in noble society to have a tan, he remembered. Though, it seemed so long ago that he had been a real aristocratic part of society. Even before things had fallen from their great heights of prosperity and peace in the world, Zelos hadn't been a noble. Not when he had been with Sheena.

He had moved to Mizuho. He had adopted her style of clothing, so that the chief didn't look like she had taken a liking to a complete outsider. That wasn't to say that he had ever fit in wherever he lived before he began living with Sheena—just that he had blended in better with the Meltokians than with the Mizuho ninjas.

The outfit she had given him had stayed within certain comfort zones for him: a black shirt underneath a pink top layer, although this had a bigger since of bohemian style. Anything else seemed out of place on his body other than that dosage of pink though, Sheena had laughed.

There had been far less skin showing in the outfit Sheena had designed for him though. After their journey together with the rest of their companions, the idea had been spread (with good reason) that expheres and their usage were to be frowned upon. So, Sheena had covered his up with a black long-sleeved shirt that flowed over his body loosely while topping it with a short pink vest that drifted effortlessly over the darker fabric. He could have gained a few pounds in the baggy clothes she had cloaked him in. Nobody would have known but the two of them.

"You wear too much white," she had told him. "You'll be filthy within a day of living here in all that stupid white." So the white parts of his outfit had been downgraded to a soft yellow with the exception of his pants which were now a dark black. His headband had been replaced by a patterned cloth with red embroidery and a green border that made it painfully obvious if he ever wore it less than completely horizontal across his forehead. "That's okay." He could still see her smiling as she taunted him. "You'll always keep it straight. You spare so many glances at yourself in anything that can pass as a mirror that it didn't occur to me that you wouldn't be able to handle it."

He had pouted at her for that and she had delivered a little smack to the top of his head in return for all his whining. That stupid busy headband was always lifting on the left side to make Zelos feel more insecure in Mizuho than he had been before the journey of world regeneration, and that was when they had hated him. Sheena, after getting tired of all the whimpering from her fiancé, had attached three charms to the left side of the headband so it would keep it weighted.

Zelos stared into his own blue eyes that the mirror reflected back to him. His classic white headband was even just like he liked to keep it. His hand reached into their jewelry box(he needed to stop calling it theirs. It was only his now) and he pulled out one of the charms. It was custom-made for him, because Sheena knew how much he liked exterior beauty—especially his own—and accessories either made you or broke you. He pinned the charm onto his headband in experimentation.

His headband slumped down quickly over his eye like he was a poor slum boy pretending to be a pirate. Zelos scowled and took the white cloth completely off of his head so he could consider it in his hands. The old outfit of yellow, pink, and black was gone. The custom beads that helped close his dark rose colored duster were probably ash. He didn't know for sure because he hadn't really thought to check at the time for the remains of his clothes.

What was happening? He didn't know anymore. He thought this chaotic lifestyle was all over after Emil and his stupid journey of self-discovery, but then the anarchy had run rampant once more. It wasn't like the Sylvarant Dynasty or even like Cruxis. He didn't know what it was like per-se, other than that it wasn't native to this world.

An alien? Is that what he wanted to call Lloyd? It was definitely a stretch, and it wasn't as though he could prove that Lloyd had set fire to Mizuho with just his pure gut instinct to back it all up; but, when Zelos had run up to the gates of Mizuho—barely able to breathe since he had been running nonstop ever since the moment he had seen the black smoke billowing up into the sky—Lloyd had been there.

Zelos had originally gone to Meltokio on business. He was finishing up everything with the church so he could live almost permanently in Mizuho with Sheena once they were married. Upon heading back to his fiancé, though, he saw an undeniable evil onyx cloud rising from across the bridge.

He remembered little things from school, but most of what he used and applied to his life came from experience. Experience told him that smoke was only black when it was eating through something it shouldn't be eating through. It told him that black smoke came from the dying remains of a house caught on fire, not a small grass fire caused by a few fire-balls.

"What the hell?" he breathed. He took out his map and made sure to double check the area the smoke was coming from.

It was coming from Mizuho.

When he saw the smoke, he had been at the start of the Meltokio Bridge. He remembered the last time he had ran this bridge as his heart pounded in his chest. He had been less motivated by his heart back then and more motivated by his greed. She had been by his side, though. She was always there for him, although he never really had ever deserved it.

His legs were cramping when he took the last step off the bridge and continued tearing through his path to get to Mizuho. The knight who worked at the bridge called after him, but Zelos couldn't hear him. He was sure it was something like, "Are you okay?" or "Why the big rush?"

Zelos wasn't sure how to answer the two questions, even if he could hear them. So he kept running. He would get an answer when he reached that engulfing smoke.

"Don't run into smoke," Sebastion's voice rang in his head, "It will disorient you. There is literally no sane reason to run straight into smoke, Master Wilder."

Zelos had been about ten years old when Sebastion had wasted his breath on the lecture. Well, it wasn't a complete waste of breath. The lectures had all helped groom him into becoming the perfect self-conscious being. He never did anything stupid like run into smoke or jump off of bridges because that would lead to his own harm. It wasn't until he met Lloyd that he started becoming so reckless. It wasn't until he realized that a life without some people wasn't worth living at all.

His feet were moving on their own now like a self-propelled tank as he barged through the woods in disorientation. He always hated the Gaoracchia Forest and the way it could kill his confidence so easily. At one point, his feet had slowed to a complete halt while his head whipped around chaotically in the smoke, causing his hair to slap against his face.

"Sheena!" he yelled out. He was spinning in a circle now. "Sheenaaaa!" he held out her name like he did when he was whining to her about bland food or stuffy Meltokio parties. "Sheenaaaaa! Come on!" he let out a delirious laugh.

Stumbling now, he walked backwards into a tree and let his head lift up towards the sky and the smoke. That smoke.

His feet started up again at a faster pace as he pulled his headband down over his mouth. It was no longer white like it had been when he had departed to Meltokio with it. Now it was gray from the fumes that he walked towards.

The rest of his running was a blur. It felt like ages of half hazardous steps before he reached the tiny gate of Mizuho, once the secret city of the ninjas and now the city of ash and ruin.

He jerked his headband down so he could scream out, "Sheena! Sheena!"

His pants were black as he slumped down onto his knees and into the sea of soot. "Sheena...?" He felt his voice give out to a whimper while his eyes darted through the smoke. Then he saw red. There was so much red now.

"Zelos? Why weren't you inside?" Lloyd asked in a voice that was oddly calm.

Zelos's best friend knelt down in front of him, staring at him with serene brown eyes. Lloyd was surrounded by embers, or was that just the house behind him burning to a crisp? Zelos didn't know anymore.

"Sheena. Lloyd, Sheena-a-a," Zelos pleaded with him, pointing into the dying village as his chest tried to give way to heaving sobs.

"She's gone, Zelos."

"Lloyd. Lloyd, no. No-" he couldn't speak anymore. That smog had taken his lungs hostage and now Zelos couldn't even keep his teary eyes open.

"Zelos. Zelos, where were you? Why weren't you inside? Zelos?" Lloyd's eyes were glued on Zelos and his hands tightened on the red-head's pale arms. "Zelos? Hey! Zelos!"

He slumped into an unconscious heap in Lloyd's arms.

Waking up, Zelos had found himself back inside of his Meltokio home with a sickness so extreme he knew of nothing before that could rival the pain. With a groan, he let his eyes open slowly as he took in the familiar environment of rich fabric and even richer furniture.

Nobody was there with him though. No Sebastion to see if he needed anything and no Sheena to give him what he really needed. No Seles, although he hadn't ever really expected her to be at his side when he completely woke up into full attention.

Just as slowly as he had opened his eyes, he let his body ease up. It hurt to do anything. It was as though every little movement in his head was being fought against by some unknown force. He'd never felt like this before and it rightfully freaked him out a bit.

"Lloyd," he moaned as he reached to rub his aching head. There was a cadence of pulsing in his brain that made him think twice about getting out of bed. "Lloyd… Sheena."

All at once, he was hit with a brick of remembrance. Sheena and the smoke and Lloyd standing there screaming at him, "Where were you? Why weren't you with her? Why weren't you inside with Sheena?" then the blurs of Lloyd standing amongst the cinders before he realized that Zelos was there. All that red mixing with something like a darker red and—smoke— a sick smile on his lips while he watched the ninja city burn.

Burn. Sheena. Sheena was inside Mizuho.

His mind did backflips while his gut curdled into itself. Shaking, Zelos turned and threw up whatever was unlucky enough to have been in his stomach from the night before. "Sheena!" he cried out, figuring that it was better than nothing and having no other name worth repeating on the tip of his tongue.

The door opened. "Oh, Master Wilder." Sebastion quickly walked inside, shutting the door behind him before he hurried to his master and helped him ease his sobbing body back under the covers. "We're having one of those days again?" Sebastion soothingly cooed while he patted Zelos's shoulder and tried to keep him under the blankets he was trying to kick off in a wild fit.

"No, Sebastion, no!" Zelos pleaded, although what he was saying 'no' to he didn't really know.

"Shhh, it's alright," Sebastion held him down a little more forcefully.

"Sebastion- Sebastion-" Zelos wasn't squirming nearly as much now that his butler had placed so much pressure into his weak muscles. "Sebastion, w-what-t's happ-pening? W-what's goi-ing on? I d-d-don't- I don't u-understand- Sebastion… Sebastion, p-please…" His large blue eyes were glued on the older man while he cried. Sebastion sighed as he rubbed his master's arm gently to keep him calm.

His heart breaking every second, Sebastion began to speak. He started telling Zelos for the fifth time that week that Sheena had died in the Mizuho fire that had been caused by a spell gone hay-wire, and, for the fifth time, Zelos replied with sobbing hysterics. He kept saying something about Lloyd, but Sebastion didn't know just what it was. The doctor came in on the thirty minute mark, just like he had done the four times before, and he walked over to the mess of an aristocrat, sedating him back into a calm slumber.

Sebastion quietly walked out of the bedroom and to the living room where Lloyd was sitting on the couch. "He's getting a little better," he told Sir Bud. "I think he's remembering more and more of it. It makes hurts him, but…"

"It's progress all the same. Yeah, I know what you mean," Lloyd mused on the couch. "Is he saying anything that makes any sense yet?" he asked, his tone coated to the rim with sugar-lined concern.

"No. Nothing yet," Sebastion replied.

The swordsman eased up to his feet, "I feel so bad for him. It hurts for everybody, but, for him, it must be… absolutely devastating."

The large word took Sebastion by surprise when used by Lloyd but he smiled politely at the twenty year old hero. "It is, but we're all hoping that he bounces back at a healthy pace."

"I'll be back tomorrow," Lloyd said as he shrugged into his red jacket. "Same time as usual."

"Well, you're always welcomed here, Sir Bud," Sebastion bowed.

"God damnit, Sebastion," Lloyd suddenly hissed. "My name is Lloyd. Lloyd Irving. Get it right."

Sebastion gawked at the door well after Lloyd stormed through it and out into the Meltokio streets.

It wasn't until the memorial for Sheena and the entire village of Mizuho came that Zelos could say with confidence what he had seen on that day through the black fog had been very real. He watched the ground in silence as Lloyd sat beside him with the rest of their comrades and knew that Lloyd was no longer there.

Zelos would have gone to Regal or Raine or anybody about it, too, but then he realized that they weren't there either. These people beside him were shells. Lloyd kept sparing glances at him all during the priest's speech, as if to check if he was a shell yet. Zelos's head pulsed with the intensity of amplified timpani drums while he numbly directed his gaze at the dirt below his feet.

"Where's Genis?" He had asked Raine softly when the service was all over and they were all inside his home. Raine spared a glance at Lloyd who stayed solemn and silent before she turned her ice blue eyes to Zelos and said "He was in the middle of something that couldn't be dropped. He'll come by to visit soon and give his condolences."

"Anybody know where Emil and Marta could be?" Colette asked in a chipper tone that wasn't sincere. Colette had a happiness that could not be faked by anybody. She was a shell. Zelos watched her as Lloyd replied with "Nobody could find them."

"It's a shame. Marta was very close to her," Regal said with no emotion.

Her name was Sheena. Zelos cried out inside.

"Indeed," Presea crooned.

Zelos got up from his seat quickly and went up the stairs as quickly as his feet would take him while the five watched him stumble over himself to get somewhere safe.

A year later and here he was, staring into the mirror with dead blue eyes while he played with old charms while thinking of old clothes, the pounding still in his brain but he didn't notice most of the time because the pain had become casual. What were they waiting for? Why didn't they just kill him or possess him or whatever the hell it was that these parasites did?

He saw them, slinking around in the shadows as they awaited the perfect opportunity to come at him and tear into his broken soul. It wasn't as if he was a threat to whatever those things were though. Killing Sheena had been the best thing they could have done in order to make Zelos compliant.

He slowly rubbed into his temples. "Shit!" his hands slapped down onto the counter filled with remembrances and he shoved them onto the ground. The more vulnerable trinkets broke while the stronger ones clang loudly against hard tile.

With his chest heaving, Zelos let the tears fall to the ground. He had always grown up accustomed to being a puppet, but never like this. Never had helplessness ever been inside every nook and cranny like this. Prison would be better than a life so convoluted.

He froze. Prison would be so much better…