vatheon | Remeeting

Entry tags:

Remeeting

Who: Colette, Lloyd, and Zelos
Where: Plaza, in front of the coral
When: After this and this. Same day.
Style: Prose please!
Status: Closed to these three

Zelos paced back and forth in front of the coral. He didn't often display nervous habits. Occasionally he would twirl his hair around his finger if he was deep in thought, but generally his posture and movement was relaxed and fluid. Lloyd's arrival, however, had tied him up in knots and he was quite sure it was going to take a very good massage to de-stress after this one. He wondered if that girl from the market, the one with the long fingers, would maybe...

Not the time.

Really it wasn't Lloyd's arrival so much as where he'd arrived from. Rather, when he'd arrived from. And in a panic Zelos had lied through his teeth to him. Again. His best bud. Zelos told himself it was because they didn't know what could happen if Lloyd knew the future, if it'd change the way he acted and put Aselia in danger of remaining split instead of reuniting, and it was a legitimate reason. It totally was. Responsible even!

Yeah, that didn't help.

Zelos heaved a great sigh and reaffixed his ever-present smile, knowing both Lloyd and Colette were due to arrive any moment now.

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Lloyd came to a stop in front of his friends, still grinning from the relief and joy at seeing them. Even though it meant they weren't back home, continuing the journey to save the two worlds, the fact that they were here meant he knew that they were okay. No matter how much he told himself the others were probably fine, he didn't know that for sure. After all, something had gone wrong. The Otherworldly Gate shouldn't have taken them here at all. He didn't know what else might have happened, and that not knowing was hard for even his optimism to ignore.

Not that he wouldn't try. They're fine, he told himself. We're fine, and so are they. It only went wrong for us. They're probably in Sylvarant, wondering where we are right now.

But then he listened to his two friends speak, and his smile fell away. His eyes went from Zelos to Colette with blank uncertainty. "Another... time?" If it had just been Zelos claiming this, he would have thought it was just an extension of his joke from before. But Colette was saying it, too. "I don't understand. That's not possible! You were both just with me."

He couldn't wrap his mind around it, but they wouldn't be lying. Would they? Not both of them. Not about something this big.

Not unless there was something bigger at stake, or something they thought was big.

"Guys, what's going on?"

Why couldn't Raine be here too? Then all this explaining could be gotten out of the way without Zelos trying to muddle through it. She was much more practiced at putting things in ways that Lloyd would understand, being his teacher and all.

But Raine wasn't there, Zelos and Colette were, so the responsibility fell to them.

Zelos took another deep breath and tried to think of how to explain. "It's like this. Basically, this world is a completely separate place from ours. We're brought here by this magical coral, or so I'm told. The theory is it draws energy from the people it pulls in order to sustain the bubble but no one knows for sure. No one really knows much for sure other than we need to touch the coral every so often or we'll fall into a coma." He ran a hand through his hair, trying to think. "There's no way we can think of to get back, not yet, but sometimes the coral just sends people so really all we can do right now is wait. Not a big deal though, since time doesn't pass so we'll just get plopped right back where we came from."

He just couldn't bring up the investigating he was doing to try and find a way out, not because he was afraid of putting Lloyd or Colette in danger, but because he wasn't sure if it would lead to anything. He didn't want to get anyone's hopes up if there wasn't hope to begin with.

He adopted his regular over the top grin.

"It's like an all expenses paid vacation to an underwater paradise! There's some things to watch out for, like the curses or whatever it is the city's all tense for, but in general it's just like any other place with people living their lives."

Let's leave the good stuff for Colette to tell Lloyd; he doesn't want her to be a bearer of bad news.

She stayed quiet for a moment after Zelos finished speaking, thinking of how to say what she wanted to. "Before the last curse, no one here knew anything about the Chosen Ones. And apart from the few people that the curse made me tell, I'd...like to keep it like that." It's still good news, right? No Chosen Ones or anything really similar on other worlds is a good thing! I hope Yosuke, Kohaku, Guy, Shing, and the other people who saw that message won't treat me differently now that they know what I was born to do...

She grinned, pointing over toward the shopping district. "Almost everything's free here, but there's a shop where you have to pay. Things from people's homes show up there! I think the money's automatically put on your card." ...Not that she has her card on her right now. Dresses mean "what pockets" after all, and she had been fairly sure that they wouldn't go to the Nostalgia Nook. "The coral also brings people back if they die, and if you touch it, it heals you completely! You might feel a little tired afterward though..."

She tangled a hand in her hair, thinking. "Oh! I'm not sure, but I think there's at least one person in Vatheon who's trying to find a way to send us all home." What else... "The communicator looks like a starfish, but it's not alive." She laughed a little, holding up her SFC in her other hand. Yep, she thought it was a monster too.

They really weren't joking. Lloyd took in a deep breath, then let it out, feeling shaky, wishing there was someplace he could sit down. "I still don't understand..." He rubbed his left hand over the back of his right, knowing the mark was there just underneath his glove. "I mean, I get what you're saying, but I don't get it. I-" How could he explain?

He needed to focus. Hah, if only Professor Raine could hear him saying that to himself right now. But it was true. He was trying to absorb too much.

Focus on the important stuff first.

"If you guys say you remember things I don't, I'll believe you. I don't know if that means you're from the future, or if it means I've forgotten things-" And that possibility still made something squeeze in his heart. He met Colette's eyes. She'd know how he felt even suggesting that. "-but I trust you guys. You wouldn't tell me something like that if you didn't mean it."

Now he drew himself back up, a flicker of his normal determination coming back into his eyes. He looked at them both, as serious as he ever got. "But I'm not going to wait around for someone else to send us back. Even if it takes us time, we can't give up. Our worlds need us. Or-" A slight pause, a note of hope in his voice. "Our world? We really did it? We reunited them both?"

His mouth twitched a little when she took out her SFC. In response, he took out his own, grinning. Yup, starfish for them both.

There it was. He'd been worried about that. It was just in Lloyd's character to be dissatisfied with the wait and see approach, but the secrecy of the force that had brought them here and the continued mysteries surrounding the city and the coral itself gave Zelos the impression that snooping around too much could be hazardous to one's health. He'd be damned if he let anything happen to Lloyd, best to just keep looking into things himself. Zelos opened his mouth to protest when what Colette had said about their success in reuniting the worlds sunk in.

"Yeah, you did it, actually. Some special flashy sword and BAM!" He clapped his hands together suddenly to demonstrate. "One world again. Now Martel's a tree and everything's great! So really, there's no need to rush."

Not a total lie. Things were definitely improving around the world with Regal's company funneling economic growth to Sylvarant and all the peace talks. Lloyd didn't need to know all the complex diplomatic mumbo-jumbo; he'd hardly been interested in it in their own time, instead having been true to his word about recovering all the exsphere data and destroying it. Or at least he had the last time Zelos had seen him, and that was quite awhile before he'd been pulled into Vatheon.

"Besides, I'm pretty comfortable here, y'know? I've got all kinds of hunnys!" He drapes an arm around Lloyd and Colette's shoulders. "And my angel-hunny and best bud are here too! It's paradise~!♥"

Forgetting things...that sent a shard of pain into her heart. She looked back into Lloyd's eyes. He has to be from the past. He couldn't have forgotten what happened. He can't have.

She smiled. "Yep! You used the Eternal Sword to do it too. The tree's still really small, but Martel said that as long as people love and adore the tree she'll protect it." Though Martel was one of many parts of Mana at that point. It'd be hard to explain that the Tree's guardian spirit was Martel and a lot of other souls, so she doesn't say anything more about that.

She nodded. "Being here really isn't that bad. All the people I've met have been really nice! Time doesn't pass back home while we're here so no one will wonder where we've been when we get back, but we won't remember ever being here either. It'd be like we'd never even left." That makes her a little sad. They wouldn't remember anyone they've met here, anything they've done, when they get back to Aselia.

Lloyd tolerated Zelos's arm for a moment, then smirked in playful, mock offense before shoving the older man off. "Hey, are you calling me one of your hunnies?" He knew Zelos wasn't, of course.

But it was still fun to get a rise out of his friend.

He tried, though, really tried to absorb what they were saying. It was hard, though. "Time doesn't pass? But that's... I don't even know how that works. It's passing for us here, right now. It has to be passing there, too. How do you even know for sure if you've been stuck here? Can we really afford to take the chance that it isn't, that everyone might be waiting for us back home?"

Except Zelos and Colette didn't feel like even that might make it urgent. They were from the future. They'd won. As much as that buoyed his heart, though... he wasn't. Still, he let that thought warm his soul. We really win. Everything we've done, everything that everyone has suffered, it's all worth it. In the end, it means something, and our worlds- our world has become a better place.

Feeling an enthusiastic bounce that hadn't been in his step before, he grinned and turned to face them both, holding his hands out. "Even if you're right, though, I still need to go back. I haven't saved the worlds yet, and I need to catch up to you guys!"

A pause, then he really grinned. "And I can't wait to find that sword you're talking about! Man, it sounds awesome!"

"Of course I'm not!" Zelos laughed, grabbing at Lloyd again to give him a playful noogie before finally releasing him. Get a rise out of him, huh? Not without a price, Bud!

"I'm not really sure how it works, honestly. It's like magic or super advanced technology or something. My roommate could probably tell us more if we asked but she's pretty busy lately."

He smiled to see Lloyd's mood so much improved, though his words weren't exactly what he would have liked to hear. You can totally wait on the sword, Bud. Seriously, what it takes to get it... ugh.

"Hey, no rush! We already know it's gonna happen, right? Take some time to relax why doncha?"

She watched Lloyd and Zelos goof off, smiling. She didn't mind Zelos' arm at all. It was a reminder that he was there, and that she could feel so she welcomed it, although it had been quite a while since she couldn't feel that she didn't really need the reminder. "I'm not sure how it works either...but I've talked to someone who was here for months before her friend showed up, and he'd seen her the day before he arrived. They were from the same time too. I don't think Zelos knew that I'd been gone for a month either."

She blinked at LLoyd's last words. He's already seen the Eternal Sword...we just didn't know that's what it was called at the time. I wonder if Zelos will think I'm going to break my promise if I tell Lloyd he won't be able to use the Eternal Sword yet. If that's what Zelos thought I was promising not to tell Lloyd.

She grinned. "Yeah! You don't need to rush to find the sword or reunite the world. Rushing wouldn't do anything anyway. You wouldn't be able to use the sword yet, and you need it to reunite the worlds." I hope Zelos doesn't think I broke my promise.

Ack! Dammit, Zelos, that was his head! Lloyd hastily put some distance between himself and his friend before there could be a followup attack, shooting a look that promised revenge.

Colette's words put a pause on Lloyd's enthusiasm, though. "I'm not... able to use it?" What would make someone not able to use a sword just yet? There was no way he could know the circumstances around the sword or the restrictions Yggdrasill had placed on it. Without that information, though, his mind supplied its own ideas, his enthusiasm coming back full force. "Then I'll just have to train harder, so I can get stronger! That's what I do in the future, right?"

But training took time. Yeah, if he got the sword at some point, that meant he must have had time to train along the way, but what if he could train so he was strong enough before then? That would make things even easier!

I'll need time... Time they said he had, right here, right now, in this place. It was weird to think about how it might even be possible for time to stop like that in one place, but not another, but this was Zelos and Colette. They had just as much interest in making sure the worlds got reunited as he did. They wouldn't lie to jeopardize that. They wouldn't lie to him. Not about something this big.

A rare, truly thoughtful look crossed his face as he really considered what they were saying and what it meant for him. He crossed his arms, one hand rubbing his chin. "So, let me get this straight." He looked up to watch their faces, making sure he got this right. The enthusiasm was gone for the moment. He was serious. "We're here, and no one will realize that we're gone. No one knows a way to go back except to wait for whatever took us here to change its mind and send us back. Even if the Otherworldly Gate shows up again, that's at least a month away."

Sorry, guys, but he won't stop keeping an eye out for it, no matter what you say.

"But... we forget?" He didn't miss that part, Colette. He didn't always pay the best attention, but sometimes he paid more than other people might think. He swallowed at the thought. "Everything we learn here? Everyone we meet? All those memories disappear?"

Everything he learned, including training.

But if there was one thing he had learned, from training with Kratos until his body could perform moves without thought, from Colette and the fact that she'd gotten her memories back, it was that you didn't have to remember to remember. He shook his head, straightening with determination.

"No, I won't believe that. Even if we don't remember, everything that happens here will still be part of us. It's like muscle remembering." Muscle memory, whatever. "Whatever we do, it will have happened. Nothing can change that fact."

And if he could train himself until his body remembered, even if he couldn't, maybe he could do the same with his mind. Yes, he was starting to form a plan. A plan to train, a plan to remember, even if it was only in his heart. And with a plan, he could focus on other things now. Spirits lifting a little, he smiled at them both.

"So, if you guys have both been here for a while, does that mean you've already got homes?" Zelos said something about a roommate. What about Colette?

Edited 2012-01-31 13:42 (UTC)

The changes that went over Lloyd's face and his final conclusion put Zelos at ease. Let him believe he'd remember, it wouldn't matter in the end. Atta girl, Colette! Good job. He cheered for her knowledge of how to work into Lloyd's mind the right way, totally fine with what she'd told him. As long as it wasn't revealed that he'd grabbed Colette when they'd made it up to Cruxis, then she wasn't telling Lloyd anything that made him uncomfortable. He'd know eventually, anyway. Can't change the past, even if it's someone else's future... can you? No, no, that's not a road that needs exploring just now.

"Yeah! Colette here's set up with a nice little place in the lower district and I'm living with a brainy Elven hunny in the middle district. You'd like her, she kind of reminds me of a young Professor." He stretched and put his hands behind his head, weaving his fingers together. "You're both welcome to come over any time~"

Zelos took a special private joy in giving them an open invitation. At home, it would have been necessary to call ahead or wait in the sitting room as directed by Sebastian, just in case Zelos had "company," to put it delicately, but rooming with Zelda meant no booty calls coming over there, so it was pretty much always safe to visit, something Zelos hadn't had since... um

Since...

...ever. Wow. That's a depressing thought.

"We should probably get you set up with a place, but as I understand it the apartment Colette's in has an extra room, right?" He grinned a bit wickedly, knowing there'd be resulting adorable blushing and fumbling about. It's one thing to travel and share communal bedrooms at an inn but it's completely different to actually live with someone.

Colette grinned at Lloyd's reaction, not saying anything. He does get stronger in the future, just not to wield the Eternal Sword. I'll let him think that; telling him about the Aionis, whether or not I tell him Zelos got it for him, wouldn't do anything. At what he said next...she nodded, very slightly. Even if he won't believe it, she won't lie to him. Not again, not when she doesn't have to.

She blinked and looked at Zelos, grin still plastered across her face. "Are you sure Zelda wouldn't mind if we came over?" A young Professor... "Yeah, she does seem like the Professor. Especially when she's serious." That's not a bad thing at all, the Professor's nice! And her lessons are always interesting.

She blinked again. "Huh? My apartment has two bedrooms, yeah." Zelos, what are you-Wait. Really. Why. Ajafj;sfjs. She started to flail, turning bright red. "Zelos! I wouldn't really mind, but-" Her face continued to heat up and she turned to face Zelos completely. "You and Zelda are some of the only people I know who aren't together who are living in the same house! The other people are Sola and Ion! The apartment might feel like it's big enough to be one of the inns we stayed at during the journey but still!" Asdjf;saf;asjdfdafj. She's still blushing quite a bit.

"Really? Anytime we want?" That was definitely a change. Not that Lloyd had necessarily understood why Sebastian had made them wait, but the fact that Zelos was giving them special permission was significant enough to bring a genuine smile to the teen's face. "You both can come over anytime you want, too. Once I have my own place, that is."

"But... er..." He gave Zelos a nervous look. "When you say your friend's like the Professor... Does she, uh, feel the same way about ruins and homework and stuff?" Please don't say he risked running into Lecture Mode or Ruin Mode whenever he visited Zelos's house.

The last part of their discussion, though, earned a confused blink from him. He looked at Zelos, then at Colette, taking in her bright red cheeks. "Huh? What's wrong about being in the same apart...ment?" A little too late, his mind caught up with exactly what Zelos had meant. Now it's his turn to turn a flustered pink himself. He waves his hands in front of himself, almost defensively. "Just in the same building! Come on, Zelos! I wouldn't take one of Colette's rooms from her!"

Oh man, they're just too easy♥! "Oooh~? Are you sure? I mean, aren't you best friends? I'm sure Colette doesn't need all that space just by her onesome! Besides, she asked me to stay originally, how is Lloyd staying aaaany different?"

Haha, alright, enough enough. "Zelda can go on for days about stuff but she doesn't hit you or feel up ancient ruins or anything like that. Actually, she's around your guys' age. And yes, really, any time. I mean, I can't promise I'll always be home, but what kind of a friend would I be if I turned away my best bud or my angel-hunny?"

Zelos, why do you like teasing them so much... "Of course Lloyd's my best friend." What does that have to do with this? "It's true, I don't need all the room, and there wouldn't be a difference between Zelos staying with me and Lloyd staying with me...It's just how you said it. Having both floors of the apartment being used would be nice!"

Yay, no more being teased! Her face lost most of its redness, although it took a little while. "Zelda's around our age? Really? She seems like she's older than that..." Colette smiled at Zelos again. "Hopefully we won't disturb Zelda if we come over when you're not home." She turned until she was able to see Lloyd and Zelos at the same time and grinned. "Both of you can go over to my place any time, too!"

She blinked, tilting her head very slightly. What kind of friend would he be...? That's a silly question. "You'd still be one of my closest friends, Zelos; you'd just be busy."

"It's different because we're not staying for just one night. We're living here for now, right? So we need our own space. I'm sure Colette wouldn't want to trip over all my stuff." Not that he had anything to trip over yet, but that was beside the point. "I'll just see if there's a room open on one of the other floors." Because he'd still like to be close to his friend. He smiled at Colette, fairly sure she felt the same way.

The rest of the blush disappeared, replaced by a look of relief. If she wasn't as bad as the Professor, he could probably dodge her lectures. If she was living with Zelos right now, though... "I'll have to meet her sometime." He grinned, eyes glinting. Time for some teasing of his own. "She must be a really good friend if she can stand being around you that much."

Colette, you're so adorable! He resisted the urge to smother her with a hug at her reassurance that he'd just be a 'busy' friend, clear to him that Colette wasn't aware of the type of 'busy' he would be and looked at Lloyd as he delivered his jibe.

"You wound me, Bud!" Zelos' hand flew to his heart exaggeratedly. "You've got it all wrong! Don't you remember? Everyone loves me everywhere I go! Vatheon is no exception for The Great Zelos~"

Really he and Zelda got on so well mainly because of the previous curse. Neither of them had denounced the other for what they'd said and it had created some kind of bond between them, something neither of them were willing to discuss of course, but Zelda had yet to force him to stage that fight so he'd have to move either. He was glad really; he'd miss that downstairs spa bath if he had to leave. Well, and the calm, unpressured atmosphere at home, if he were honest.

His faux distressed face broke into a smile. "If your mind's made up, then you should head to the housing office. A bunch of people arrived at the same time as you did and they'll be needing places to live too."

She smiled back at Lloyd. Truthfully, she wouldn't have minded if Lloyd had decided to move in with her. She was only really using the first floor of her apartment so having the second floor being used would have been nice. "I don't think you'd like to trip over my things either, Lloyd." Hearing that he was going to see if there was another room open made her smile widen a little. Zelos wasn't living close to her apartment so knowing that Lloyd might end up living just a couple rooms or a few floors away made her happy.

"I think Zelda is one of the people who's just really easy to get along with! Zelos moved in with her the day he arrived after all." She grinned. "Signing up for a house is really easy too! I live in room two on the first floor of the Yutopil Apartments if either of you need to find me and don't want to send me a message first."

Lloyd lifted a hand to his mouth, but didn't even try to muffle a snort at the comment Zelos had made. "Yeah, you wish." He grinned, though, showing Zelos that no hard feelings were truly meant.

"So, I guess I should go talk to someone about getting a room. Can you guys give me directions?" Better deal with this sooner rather than later, or he'd either have to sleep outside, or spend the night on one of their couches. "Man, I wish I had a map of this place. That'd make it a lot easier to get around."

Edited 2012-02-05 04:46 (UTC)

"You're lucky we're here to show you the ropes, otherwise you'd be totally hopeless!" He chides in a joking way and snags Lloyd's SFC to pull up a map of the city.

"Here we are." He points to a little red dot denoting Lloyd's current location. "And the housing office is right... here." Another point, this time at a building across the plaza from where they are. "Colette lives in this building, and I live here." Point and point, marking each spot on the map with little dots so Lloyd can easily reference them again, blue for Colette and pink for himself.

Colette just smiled, watching them. I didn't know the Starfish Communicator had a map on it...Then again I only ever really look at the lists of people who are here and what they've posted to the network. Even if it might be better for everyone if they weren't here, I still want to know if anyone else from Aselia arrives.

"Yep! And all you need to do in the housing office is tell the man where you want to live. You don't need to do anything else at all." She grinned again.

"That sounds simple enough." Maybe even a little too simple, but if that was the way that this place worked, who was he to argue?

He studied the map with interest, trying to memorize the way that Zelos had brought it up. He hadn't been kidding when he'd said that having a map would really help out. Lifting his head, he looked around the area they were in, trying to orient himself with what was shown on the map. If they were here, and that dot was there...

"So, that's the building I need to go to!" He pointed across the way. "Great! I'll let you guys know how it works out!" He was already moving before he finished speaking.

But then he stopped and turned around, only a foot away from Colette. He looked at her, then at Zelos, and smiled, reaching out to take Colette's hand, as though he just wanted to physically confirm she was there. "I'm really glad you're both okay."

"Of course we're okay! No need to be sappy!" He clapped Lloyd on the back soundly, the slight exaggeration in his movements the only clue that he was both touched and uncomfortable with Lloyd's genuine relief.

There were issues to work out. The curses, for instance, and he's certain Lloyd will have more questions once he's gotten settled in, but for now...

Vatheon was looking a lot brighter.

She smiled at Lloyd and took his hand, squeezing it a little and letting go. She had wanted to make sure he was really here too. "We're glad you're okay too! Not everyone shows up here unharmed; if someone was hurt before they arrived, they'd still be hurt here." Like Zelos.

The curses and more explanations could wait. For now, all that really mattered was that Lloyd and Zelos were both really here. Even though one or more of the three of them might disappear at anytime, they're both still here.

Vatheon was looking quite a bit brighter indeed.

"That makes sense, though, right? Just because you travel to another world doesn't mean you get healed. We definitely know about that." But he was fine, and they were fine, and the others were probably fine, too. There wasn't any need to dwell on that thought.

"Well, I better get going if I want to get that apartment. See you guys soon!" He lifted a hand to wave, then turned to head off, a happy hum just under his breath.

Yes, things were definitely looking bright.

Edited 2012-02-07 13:42 (UTC)

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Remeeting

/o/

\o/

/o/ ...because Shing and Colette decided there probably was someone looking for a way back

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this feels like its so short

It's fine~ It's as long as it needs to be. :3

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Fin