Copyright: I own nothing.

"LLOYD!" The boy could barely hear her calls while the fire raged upon his skin and within his very soul, "SOMEBODY HELP HIM!"

"Cast a water spell already!"

"No!" He heard his teacher yell out and his youngest friend grunt and struggle, "Genis no! Using water will only make it stronger!"

"What do we do then?"

"NOTHING! There's nothing that we can do!"

"Just as I feared." He heard a man say while his knees buckled under his own weight, "You pushed yourself too far Lloyd."

"What do you mean!" He heard Colette demand the newcomer, "You knew that this would happen to Lloyd? Then why weren't you with him?"

"Mana overcharge?" He heard an unfamiliar voice ask outloud, "And they wonder if there's any reason to be wary of magic...it's not the magic that's the problem, it's fools who go too far while using it-"

"Are you going to stand there and snark or are you gonna help him?"

"As you wish." The unfamiliar voice stated and Lloyd heard a hand slap the ground. Immediately, he felt cold, suppressive mana flow into the wounds from which the flames erupted, "What happened to him?"

"We'll explain later..." His teacher stated as Colette caught him in her arms just as the fire went out, "Colette Wait!"

"I'm not waiting!" He saw steam rise from the burns in her arms while she held him, "Lloyd...wake up...Lloyd...Lloyd!...LLOYD!"

"Lloyd!" Lloyd's eyes began to open and felt someone's hand holding his own, "You're awake, thank goodness!"

"Colette..." Lloyd said and saw his beloved at the side of the bed that he slept in. Behind her were several other friends as well, "Genis...Sheena...Raine...what happened?"

"I'd like you for you to tell me that." Raine asked with a worried tone, "You scared us Lloyd...I thought that I wouldn't be able to heal you."

"Huh? Why?"

"You don't remember?" Sheena asked, "Your exsphere started producing a lot of mana and it set you on fire. Pain must've knocked you out...when we finally put the fire out..."

"We thought that you were gone..." Colette mumbled and her eyebrows rose as she became angry, "Don't do that again Lloyd!"

"I don't even know what I did..."

"JUST DON'T DO IT!" Lloyd jumped from Colette's scream and Colette inhaled, "I don't know what I'd do...if I lost you..."

"Colette..." Lloyd wanted to get up, but the professor poked Lloyd's chest with her staff to push him back into the bed, "Professor..."

"We're not taking any chances, you're staying in bed until your mana stabilizes," Raine stated, "My guess is that this is a reaction to that stunt you pulled while fighting Remiel."

"You mean when me and Genis infused my swords with water mana and fire mana?"

"Exactly! Especially while Efreet's mana is swirling around you!" Raine yelled, "It was the heat of the moment so I didn't think of it...but the water-based mana from Genis' Aqua Edge could only last so long. After it was used up during the battle, the water within the mana broke down into the base components of Water."

"You mean air and hydrogen?"

"Hydrogen and Oxygen to be specific, both of which are very inflammatory by themselves." Genis clarified regretfully, "I'm sorry Lloyd, I should've said something before I agreed to it-"

"Don't be, we made a choice and that choice paid off." Lloyd assured his friend, "But...let's try not to experiment like that again, alright?"

"I'd agree." Raine added as well, "Colette, make sure he doesn't leave that bed."

"Yes ma'am."

"Get well Lloyd!"

"You shouldn't take that long to heal, nice move by the way." Sheena complemented Lloyd who smiled and nodded to her, "Anyway, I'll get out of your hair."

"How do you feel?"

"Actually, I feel great." Lloyd answered Colette and reached out towards a glass cup on the dresser next to his bed, "I really don't see what the professor is so worried about-" Upon touching the glass, the cup fractured and broke sending pieces across the top of the dresser.

"Lloyd!" Colette said with concern, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it-"

"It's fine...just..." Lloyd seemed more amazed at the smoke that rose from his hand rather than the broken cup, "I see what she meant about my mana...being unstable."

"Your arms are still super-heated from when you used Efreet's mana." Colette explained while she hesitantly sat on the side of the bed and grabbed Lloyd's arm, "Don't worry about me, I've been close to you since this started so I'm used to your heat."

"Aren't...you hot?"

"Not really, the professor said that my..."blessing" would increase my body's endurance," Colette said while Lloyd let her hold his arm and guide his hand to her face, "You're very warm..."

"I'm supposed to be..." Lloyd said and saw Colette gulp before she laid his hand upon the top of her chest, "Colette! What are you doing?"

"It's really hot..." Realizing that something wasn't right with Colette, Lloyd took hold over his own urges and pulled his arm out of Colette's hands. Sparking her out of her trance and bringing her attention to the hand print on her chest, "Not...really sure about what came over me...I'm sorry that-"

"Sorry about what?" Lloyd asked, wanting to know what had possessed his Colette to act so boldly, "Did...did I pressure you?"

"No!" Colette yelled out in panic and immediately pulled her legs up to her chest, "Isn't this what people do when they...love each other?"

"Colette..." Lloyd said with confusion and then recalled what he had absently confessed after defeating Remiel, "You still remembered that."

"Did you...you didn't mean it-"

"No! I do love you!" Lloyd said while grabbing Colette's shoulders, "I...just wanted to tell you at a better time or in a better way...instead of just blurting it out like an idiot..."

"You dork." Colette replied, "You meant what you said and that's what matters to me...because..."

"You did say 'love each other.'" Lloyd pointed out, "I'm just sorry that it took all of this for us to realize it and admit it to each other."

"So am I...but I just didn't want to hurt you." Colette explained while a tear fell down her cheek, "Could imagine how painful it would've been for both of us...if I was still the Chosen and you had to watch me go through Cruxis' Regeneration? It would have destroyed us both...I didn't want to put you through that."

"That's so stupid..." Lloyd mumbled, "But I'm not going to talk...I'm just as guilty...thinking that it had to be grand or fancy or else it would be nothing."

"Glad that you grew out of it." Colette bluntly said and placed her face closer to Lloyd's, "But even if you didn't, I love you Lloyd."

"Colette...I love you too." Lloyd said and found his lips crashed with her's. At first a simple kiss, but it grew into a deeper embrace as Lloyd heard Colette pull something down her dress, "Colette..."

"I...just want to make things even." Colette said after unzipping her dress, "Now we'll both be naked."

"Now we're..." In his confusion, Lloyd had failed to notice or remember that his clothes had been burnt by the earlier incident. While realizing this, he was unable to keep Colette from removing her dress, "You're a bad girl Colette..."

"I'm not the Chosen anymore...I don't have to be good..." Colette playfully replied while Lloyd smirked and tackled Colette into the bed, "Lloyd!"

"Tickle Rain!" His fingers danced and darted into her stomach, sending impulses that caused her to uproariously laugh, "Tickle Thrust!"

"You sure that you wanna leave them by themselves?"

"You saw how worried Colette was for Lloyd, it'll put her at ease." Raine suggested to her brother and heard Colette laugh from inside of the mostly buried stone mansion, "Hear that?"

"We'll probably have another sound with the way Colette's been-" Genis grabbed his head after Raine's staff swiftly whacked it, "What was that for?"

"Children should mind their business on that angle." Raine lightly rebuked his little brother, "This was convenient to find, thank you."

"Don't worry about, technically it's part of whatever Triet used to be." Sheena replied while looking at the various pieces of architecture that remained buried in the sand, "I prefer greener areas myself, but I work with this. Plus I won't argue with it being an oasis."

"Neither would I." Raine said and looked over to where Kratos was talking to anothing sitting figure, "What are they talking about?"

"I think Kratos is filling in that Kyros guy about what's going on." Sheena replied, "For a guy whose been imprisoned and tortured in magma for four thousand years...he's taking all of the knowledge pretty well."

"Four thousand years!" Raine's eyes widened in amazement and despite lack of physical evidence, her own eye testimony to the advanced seal that the man had used earlier indicated runes from a language that hadn't been sighted four thousand years, "That means...he was...alive when...the Kharlan War..."

"Oh no...look what you did..." Genis muttered while Raine stood in place with her mind racing from the opening doors of possibility, "Great...she's gonna drown in questions about magi-technology, the culture of the past, if he knows about sites that are ruins today and so on."

"He'll be alright."

"If you say so." Genis exhaled when his sister calmed slightly, "So what are we gonna do about Efreet and Cruxis?"

"It looks like Lloyd's the one with the plan, so we're waiting till he recovers." Sheena stretched her arms over her head and sat next to a tree, "Haven't relaxed like this in a long time..."

"By the way...you said that you were from Tethe'alla right?"

"Yeah..." Sheena reluctantly answered, "I guess my story is the same as Lloyd's, only I didn't do so well."

"What do you mean?" Genis asked when Sheena stood up, "Sheena? I'm sorry if I said something wrong."

"Sorry, I'm just not ready to talk about it." Sheena stated while eyeing the oasis pool nearby, "I stink...I'm going to put some water on my skin. Come fetch me when the men are done talking."

"Fetch you?" Genis asked and immediately his face reddened. But returned to normal when he remembered the expression that Genis saw on Sheena's face, "What do you think she meant about her story being like Lloyd's, sis?"

"She probably was involved in a similar situation to our's back in Tethe'alla." Raine concluded while Genis watched her walk further away from them, "And from the sound of things, she didn't make it as far as we did..."

"You really are warm..."

"You're not helping." Lloyd muttered and laughed alongside Colette. They were both covered in sweat as they laid under the covers of the bed. A scene that would easily be misinterpreted by anyone who spied on the two of them, "Colette...have you ever thought about what life would be like if you were never made the chosen?"

"This...is the start of fantasy of mine..." Colette admitted happily and sat up in bed, "I always hoped that the goddess would send me back as an ordinary girl. Then I'd find you again and we could start a family...watch them grow and die as an old happy couple warm in their bed."

"How is this the start of that?"

"This was when we started the family." Colette happily answered genuinely. Lloyd, on the other hand, felt heat build up in his face while he stared at the ceiling, "Is something wrong?"

"Eh...well..." Their mutual state of nakedness wasn't doing anything to help Lloyd or the thoughts that Colette's last few words had sent through his mind, "I...want to...have...a family with you...it's just that...I've...never...thought about "making the family"..."

"I see..." Colette now blushed while looking down at her lap, "Maybe I should stand up and..."

"Hold on..." Lloyd reached and felt his hand grab the side Colette's breast. His hand recoiled on reflex while his heart started beating faster, "I'm...I'm so sorry-"

"Keep it there." Colette lightly suggested while Lloyd felt blood build in his nose when Colette turned towards him, "There's nothing to be sorry for...we love each other right?"

"Yeah..." Lloyd's eyes wavered and moved from Colette's face to her bare chest to his growing embaressment and confusion, "I just don't want to pressure you into doing something that...you're not ready for or don't want to do."

"Oh no...is that what I'm doing?" Colette asked as she sank beneath the sheets and covered her own head, "I'm so sorry Lloyd...it's just that I've felt so free to do and think of things that I've never thought worth it."

"You mean...your fantasy?" Lloyd asked while sinking into the sheets as well and placed his face next to Colette's, "Talk to me you dork."

"When I stood up to Remiel and then defeated him with you and everyone with me...I felt strong...stronger than I've ever felt in years." Colette answered, "It was the first time that I'd truly felt like the future was mine to determine. Before, I was unsure about what to do...after you told me everything about Cruxis...I didn't know how to feel or how to think. I'd be told how to think for so long that when I was told that it was alright...that I didn't have to do as I was told anymore...I was afraid."

"After we defeated Remiel, I felt a wall in my soul shatter." Colette kissed Lloyd's forehead and then his lips while they both emerged from under the sheets, "Now I've been thinking about so much! Including...who I want to share the rest of my life with...and everything that I am and that I have. Now that I know that my life is mine to live...I want to live it to the fullest and without any regret or second thoughts. I want my life to be a happy one."

"And I want you to be the one that I share that happiness with." Colette finished, "You don't even have to answer, I know that you feel the same Lloyd."

"Colette..." Lloyd, still flustered, now found the words that he'd wanted to say, "I do want to share my life with you and everything that comes with it...but we have to pace ourselves Colette or else we'll burn ourselves out to quickly."

"You burnt yourself out and you're fine."

"Colette..." Lloyd deadpanned while Colette giggled, "There are "things" that you want to share with me and I'm honored that you trust me. But..."

"Lloyd?" Lloyd placed his mouth to her ear and whispered a brief sentence that reddened her face, "I...didn't think about that..."

"That's the main thing right now..." Lloyd stated, "See what I meant?"

"I guess." Colette agreed and placed her hand into Lloyd's, "What ever happens will happen and we'll face everything together."

"That's my girl." Lloyd replied with an encouraging smile, "How long am I stuck in this room?"

"Just until you cool down."

"When will that be?"

"Not until nightfall at the latest."

"Great...and I mean it."

"I know..." Colette said while prodding Lloyd to embrace her while they both lied down, "Can we...stay like this?"

"Like this..." Lloyd looked into Colette's eyes and chose to trust both himself and the two of them together, "Alright, but if you get hot then tell me."

"I will."

Author's Notes:

In all honesty, I felt weird about writing the psuedo-ecchi aspects of this chapter.

Mainly because this the first time that I've ever let loose and just wrote it. But I'm surprised that I managed to write it without it having an undertone of having an excuse for the ecchi aspects.

Reason that I'm saying this is because the initiator of this situation is very emotionally raw at the moment. As she herself explains, Colette now truly feels freed from the burden of being "The Chosen." Now that she has that freedom, she's still working out the little details about self-control and self-regulation. Especially now with Lloyd returning affectionate feelings for her and the opening doors for a future with him.

Lloyd is once more handling a delicate glass while his own hands are still wet and slippery. Canonically, Lloyd had emotions and was expressive, but "deep emotions" like romantic love seemed like something that he didn't think about too much. Not because he didn't care, but because he was always preoccupied with someone else's well-being or trying to figure out how to save the world. Even with the Flanoir Scene, there was never a situation where this type of emotion was chaotically thrown into Lloyd's face for him to awkwardly react to and handle.

Now fresh from battle, still recovering and stuck in a tight space with a girl who is emotionally raw and has just learned that he loves her; Lloyd has to help Colette maintain control over her emotions and urges without fracturing her emotional fragility. All while dealing with his own awkwardness and still thinking about securing the future that Colette wants to share with him.

The next two chapters will likely be planning chapters filled with mostly dialogue and where everyone lays their stakes on the table to determine their plan. With Remiel dead and the Journey of Regeneration debunked for all intents and purposes, the heroes and the story are both in unknown territory.

Sounds fun doesn't it?

Merry Christmas everyone!