The air feels so heavy now. His question no doubt being a major contributor. After all, such questions should never be taken lightly and despite his bitterness and hatred towards a world that has long since abandoned him sitting in the pit of his stomach, he found himself practically hanging onto every single sound she makes. Even going so far as to listen to her breath above all other noise, a feat capable by not only her, but him as well. A secret that If things went his way and lined up perfectly, he’d take to his grave.
And when she finally does speak, he gave her his complete and undivided attention even if he appeared despondent. At first he merely stared at her, a single brow raising slowly to prompt her to continue. Yet despite his his blank expression, inside he was trembling. What will she say? It’s so strange, how much value he placed in her opinion. A fear gripped his chest, a fear that she would say something he couldn’t bear to hear and seal his fate. If Colette couldn’t give him a reason-
What hope is there for him?
What she said instead, almost makes the dam shatter completely.
Maybe her observation was not meant to be so pointed but it still feels like a blade slipping in between his ribs. A lump formed in his throat and he blinked away a tear or two forming in his eye, looking down to the ground. Frightening doesn’t begin to describe it. It’s utterly terrifying and lonely and oh so very dark. But that was then. This is now. The drowning misery has been replaced with acceptance and apathy.
If there’s a hand reaching down to pull him up, would he even see it?
“Sad…”
It takes a moment for him to steady his voice.
“Sometimes I wonder if the worlds failed us, or we failed them.”
With a breath, he looked back up with a terribly forced grin.
“Ha, sorry for the loaded questions! That wasn’t like me at all, huh? All this adventuring must really be tiring me out! It’s late anyway, fire’s almost out too. Guess we should hit the sack! Another long day of fixing things tomorrow, yeah?”
But he, himself, had yet to make any indication to leave.
The weightiness isn’t a sensation Colette shares. It feels more to her as if a pocket of air around them is stuck still, motionless in anticipation of even the slightest creak along the staircases inside their hearts. What will it glean, she wonders, from each fault in the aged mahogany? Would it want for an explanation as to why the steps themselves are fashioned from coffins?
Try as Zelos might to mask his pain, it couldn’t be more transparent to a body that walks in the same worried pair of shoes. Far be it from one chosen to call another out on their diversions—or cast judgment upon the nagging need to cast them, for that matter—but there is something Colette could do instead. As a matter of fact, she may very well be the only one alive who can.
Their paths were meant to be walked alone by design. A design that, with the use of the rheiards, has been altered irrevocably.
Regardless of what fate has in store for them in the end, why shouldn’t they make the most of that in the now?
“You’re right. The Professor will be upset if we doze off during one of her lectures.” A melancholy smile can be seen forming in the dying light. “Even so... would you stay up with me? Just a little longer?”
Without awaiting her companion’s response, Colette puts the sort of vulnerability typically only reserved for Lloyd on ready display, scooting close enough to delicately rest her head against his shoulder.
“I want to pray,” the girl divulges in a murmur, hands clasping with perfect practice. “Pray that you’ll have some good dreams tonight.”