"Shihna?"

"What is it, Corrine?" she asked, checking her bag for the third time to see if she had everything.

"Are you really sure that you want to do this?" "This" was travelling to the other world, Sylvarant, to kill their Chosen of Mana.

"Yeah, I'm sure," she answered, trying to sound confident. To be honest, the idea scared her out of her wits. She would be travelling to Sylvarant with only Corrine as her companion. And if she failed...Tethe'alla would perish. There's too much to lose...

"You're doing this for him, aren't you?" Corrine demanded, twitching his tail in annoyance.

Him? Oh...him. Right.

Tethe'alla's Chosen. Zelos Wilder. He was constantly annoying her with his perverted comments, and his selfish attitude. But he wasn't always like that, she remembered. It was only a little after...after they broke up. Before, he had actually cared about more than just himself. Before, he was nice to her. Before, before, before. That was all in the past. Now all he did was flirt, and waste gald frivolously, as if he didn't know that people were starving on the streets. The thought that this mission would save his life almost made her want to fail it on purpose.

"N-no," she stuttered.

Okay, she actually liked him more than that. She didn't want him to die. He was more important than that. They were...friends. Sure, they had both changed so much and the distance between them had grown so much, but...

Part of her still loved him.

Shihna hated that. Why did it end up this way? Hehad hurt her in so many ways, yet she still loved him. She hated loving him, but she still did. A little part of her wanted him to love her back, but she knew that he had been playing with her the whole time. Her emotions were his playthings. He had played with them until they broke, and then he left them there to find something better.

"You don't sound very sure about that," Corrine remarked.

"I am!" she protested. "I wouldn't do anything for that idiot!"

"Hmm..."

"Well, I'm ready," Shihna said, picking up her bag. "Let's go, Corrine."

"Okay!" He hopped onto Shihna's shoulder.

I'll do this to save Tethe'alla...she thought. And him too...

SakuMeiMei Says: Blegh, the ending just kind of...died on me. DX

And I should really catch up on my updating. XD;; I've been spending too much time playing ToS: KoR. (Or DotNW, if you prefer it that way...) I'm kind of disappointed with it, but I like Alice and Decus. XD;;