vatheon | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: Zelda and Zelos/later Zelos and Lloyd
Where: Ordo 3/Lloyd's place
When: Backdated to the 25th, after speaking with Link over the SFC
Status: Closed

Zelda isn't even one hundred percent sure of where she's going once she puts down the SFC. Hylia. A goddess. She's always felt responsible for everything that happened to Hyrule, but if this is the case... she held more responsibility than even she had ever thought. She lays on the bed facedown and hugs a pillow tightly enough that it looks as if it might burst.

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"Well, I wouldn't say no one, but it's worth a shot, right?" Lloyd stands up, too. "Besides, we'll never know if I don't try. Lead the way, Zelos!"

The grin and Zelos acting more like himself helps reassure Lloyd. Even if things don't work out right away, at least this much is better than it was.

Lloyd you don't even know how persuasive you are. There's no way this can fail! Zelos is in high spirits again as he marches Lloyd on back to his shared apartment, hoping that Zelda hadn't left on some errand or another. He peers around the house, trying to see if she's left her room and if not, there's a knock on her door.

"Zelda? Zelda-hunny, I'm sorry, but there's someone I'd really like you to talk to."

Zelda opens the door, looking irritated. She hadn't succumbed to tears after separating with Zelos, she's merely been brooding all this time. The princess is perfectly composed as she looks up at Zelos disdainfully.

"What do you want, Zelos?"

Lloyd had been following behind Zelos as he searched through the apartment, and when Zelda opens her door to respond, he steps out from behind his friend.

"Actually, I'm the one who wanted to talk to you." He scratches the back of his neck. "I dunno, if you remember me, but I'm Lloyd. I'm one of Zelos's friends."

"I'll just let you you two talk and make some snacks!" Oh no, he sounds way too cheerful. Off he goes, traipsing downstairs to put together a snack tray for his inevitable glorious victory.

"Oh, I remember you. We - " Her recollection of the fairytale curse is interrupted as Zelos blurts out that he'll be making snacks. She blinks after his quickly retreating form, startled. What in the world was this about?

"...at any rate, please, come in." Zelda held the door to her room open. It was extremely tidy, and it did have a couch so that he wouldn't have to sit on the princess's bed.

They probably "knew" each other better from the fairy tale curse, but there had been that brief exchange after Zelos had made that drunken post. Not that Lloyd really wants to think about that right now.

Lloyd comes in when he's invited, smiling once he's inside. This is already off to a promising start. He can do this, no problem!

"Thanks. So, uh, I was talking to Zelos. He said... you're a goddess?" If he sounds a little bit hesitant about that, it's because he is. It's still hard to believe in a real goddess's existence. Maybe Zelos got something wrong.

Zelda moves to shut the door, then pauses, looking over her shoulder. The cold expression on her face is really quite frightening. "Zelos said what, now?" She would kill him. Absolutely. What is this, some sort of intervention? How dare he!

Not that Lloyd necessarily knows what an "intervention" is, but yes, yes it is.

That cold expression isn't what he was expecting, but not knowing what it means, he decides not to interpret it. Just take the question at face value and plunge on ahead.

Even if he does feel a little bit nervous.

"He said you used to be a goddess, but that you're human now. Or, well, maybe not human, but you know what I mean. You're a normal person. Right?"

"If you are asking if I am mortal, then yes, I believe I am. It hardly matters, though. If being the descendant of a goddess or a goddess reincarnated helps me care for my people, then I will take advantage of it. I am their princess first and foremost. I do not know why Zelos is throwing such a tantrum about it!" Zelda huffs, shutting the door a little more firmly than she needs to.

"You really don't know?" The question is genuine, along with the look Lloyd gives her. "He's your friend. He cares about you." He might not know Zelda very well, but he does know Zelos, and the way Zelos talked about her made it more than obvious. "He wants you to be happy. That's what friends do. I think he's really worried."

"My people are my happiness, Lloyd. I love them, and I love my land. It isn't a sacrifice to care for them. Besides... the reason I want to find a way home on my own is..."

She turns away. She hardly knows this boy, she's not going to say that!

"It doesn't matter. I am not being coerced to do anything, and my position is nothing like that of the Chosen One. Put Zelos's mind at ease, I won't be harmed from this."

"Caring for people is fine," Lloyd says. "Working to make the world a better place, finding ways to improve people's lives and happiness - I think that's great! But none of those things mean you have live for everyone else. Your life is yours, and your happiness should be yours, too. You can still help other people and make them happy without giving all of yourself to them, too."

Colette had thought that way too, and she was wrong. Maybe Zelda isn't giving up her life for the world, but it's still the same principle.

"I am not..." Zelda lets out an irritated grumble. "Would you please tell me what Zelos told you in regards to me? I think there has been a misunderstanding, here. I would rather not talk in circles or bicker about semantics with you."

Lloyd had best not ask her what semantics are, or she'll really get a headache.

Yeah, he's... not really sure what semantics are, but her question was clear enough. He'll just skip that word for now.

"He said you thought you had to give your own happiness up, that you spend all your time caring for everyone else and never about yourself. And he said you had to marry a jerk so you could have babies." Okay, he was paraphrasing a little, more or less, but that's what he got from what Zelos told him. "He said you thought because you were a goddess reborn that you had to sacrifice who you are for the sake of protecting your world."

Zelda shakes her head, softening her expression. It isn't Lloyd's fault that Zelos was being unreasonable, she shouldn't take it out on him.

"It is not like that. I am sacrificing a part of myself, yes... but it's in the way that a parent sacrifices their own wants for the needs of their children. I am the one who is responsible for my people. I don't think that means I'm giving myself up entirely. There is truly nothing I want more." When she's speaking about her people like this, it's almost possible to catch a glimpse of the goddess Hylia that she's descended from still somewhere within her.

"It does mean that I will have to leave Vatheon, but I will do it by my own power. I will discover the nature of this place, find out why it draws people here, why it sends them back, and why it takes their memories when it returns people to their own worlds. That way, I don't have to forget anyone I have met or all the things that I have learned here."

"Even parents have to take care of themselves, too, you know. Besides." Lloyd holds up a finger, emphasizing the point that he's about to make. "They aren't your children. They can be responsible for themselves."

This was probably where Lloyd's upbringing was showing through a bit. He'd never really dealt with monarchies outside of boring lectures on history until he'd traveled to Tethe'alla. His experience with the way things work when someone is in charge of other people centers mostly around the mayor in Iselia. He made rules and decisions he felt were best for the people in the town, yes, but for the most part people took care of themselves.

He pauses, though, when she says that last part. "Do you think you can find a way so other people won't forget either?"

Clearly Lloyd has never seen the people of Hyrule if he thinks that they aren't children. They need caring for! She simply ignores him chastising her and answers his question. "That is the goal, yes. Ideally we will be able to travel between this world and our own worlds freely. No one will have to be separated."

If they always depend on her, then of course they'll be like kids. They need a chance to stand on their own two feet. Don't make him quote dwarven vows at you, Zelda. He's armed and fully prepared!

Hearing the plan, he smiles. "Yeah, that'd be great. I need to go home, too, but I wouldn't want to give up my friends here, either. If you figure something out, will you tell me?"

"Of course." She smiles at him sweetly, then turns to go for the door. Zelos is going to get SUCH an earful for this. If she doesn't just leave the house altogether for a few days. That man!

He starts to follow her, but he pauses before leaving the room. Don't think you can sidetrack him that easily, Zelda. Not when it's something to do with ideals.

"Hey, think about what I said, okay? People are stronger than you think. They'll show you if you let them, and you won't have to sacrifice so much."

Her country has been ravaged. Zelda knows that they won't be able to rebuild without the financial support a good marriage will offer. She was the one who caused all of this, and she will be the one to fix it. She looks over her shoulder at Lloyd and smiles again, then heads downstairs.

The best and worst thing about smiles is that they can be interpreted however anyone who sees them wants to believe. That smile to Lloyd makes him think that Zelda is agreeing, at least to think about things. He smiles back and follows her out.

"I should probably head back home." He has a mild headache. Nothing big, nothing that's really bothering him, but he'd kind of like to lie down for a while.

He has no idea yet that that headache's only going to get worse.

"Of course. Get some rest, Lloyd." Zelda heads to the kitchen and looks at Zelos. Why had he told Lloyd? She felt betrayed, having him drag someone into it all like this. She would never repeat most of what he'd told her. If Zelos looks up from his preparations, her expression is perfectly blank.

Zelos hadn't actually been listening, for once. As nosy as he is at times, hearing Lloyd give his idealistic speeches made him feel entirely too much so he'd hidden out in the kitchen the entire time, not only making tea - specifically the kind that he knows Zelda likes best - but also madeleine cookies. Now things can just go back to how they were after that brief bout of insanity and while that Link guy may still be a bit of a problem, it's nothing that can't be handled.

He doesn't look up when he hears Zelda enter, happily continuing to pour batter into the cookie mold. "You get what I mean now, right? Lloyd's got this way with words I'll never understand but it works♥"