Wrinkle
Summary:
Colette Brunel, and a life well-lived.
Fandom: Tales of Symphonia
Characters: Colette Brunel, Lloyd Irving
Relationships: Colette Brunel/Lloyd Irving
Rating: G
Word Count: 4684
Mirror Link: AO3
Original Post Date: 15/6/2026
Notes:
A fic I originally wrote in 2021 for Day 7 of Colloyd Week. I have rewritten this 3 times. Haha. Happy Colloyd Day.
~~~
"This is harder than it looks." The corner of Lloyd's mouth creased into the beginnings of a disgruntled frown, his fingers struggling to thread the thin, fragile stems of young daisies together. They'd been freshly plucked - morning dew still glittering on the petals - from the flower fields tucked some ways off the path before the bridge that led to his home. Twenty steps to the east to reach the rotten log that had broken in half in a thunderstorm five years ago, then head straight north following the gentle decline and the soft burble of the river offshoot that wound through the shrubbery. Colette always got a little turned around and had a tendency to stumble right back into Iselia if she had to make the journey alone, but he would often wait for her by the log before leading her through the trees he knew like the back of his hand, her gentle humming floating through the air like birdsong.
A playful hand shoved him back onto the grass with a thump. Colette hovered above him, golden hair forming a shimmering curtain as she prodded him in the cheek, eliciting a confused noise of protest from his end. "You shouldn't be frowning, Lloyd!"
“Why not?” He peered up at her, frown dissipating into wide-eyed curiosity as she deftly extricated the half-done flower crown from his slack hands and began to fix the disaster he had created.
"You should be smiling," she said with a beaming smile of her own, one that he easily matched. "That's what Dad says." Brows furrowing, she began to recite in her best rendition of her father's voice. "Children should greet the day with smiles on their faces, so once they grow old, they'll…" She trailed off then, biting her lip.
"I don't remember the rest of it," she murmured, pulling back as her hair fell to hide her face, fingers worrying at the flowers in her lap.
His smile slipped into a tiny frown at the sight, something in his chest beginning to ache. He'd lost count of how many times this had happened - Colette randomly lapsing into moments of silence. It had happened multiple times while she'd been having lunch with him and Genis in the schoolyard. In the middle of a conversation, there would come a point where she would pause and seemingly hunch into herself. Even though he could reach out and take her hand right now, she seemed a thousand miles away, in an entirely different world only she knew about.
This had all started after she'd slipped into the church at the start of the month for her session with the priests, but she'd been doing them her whole life. What had been different this time?
He didn't know. What he did know for a fact was that right now, a shadow covered her face. And that wouldn't do. He much preferred her with a smile - he always felt lighter when that was the case. With the world shining bright like a star around her, he thought he could do anything.
A surprised gasp erupted from her in the next second, a quick shove as he sprang up causing her to collapse backwards onto the grass. A gasp that quickly dissolved into giggles, her hand flung over her face as her shoulders shook with laughter. The daisies had exploded from her grasp, scattered across her lap and seeded across her hair, as if they had sprouted from the gold in a heedless explosion of joy.
Peeking at him from between her fingers, she asked a question in fits and bursts, the words painstakingly dragged from within her. "Lloyd… could you… promise me something…?"
"Anything," he replied without hesitation.
For a split second, her lips parted, ready to spill whatever vow he would tie himself to in one breath.
"Never mind. It's nothing," she whispered, turning to press her cheek against the grass, something flitting across her face, too fast for him to catch.
The urge to keep asking questions raged like an inferno within him. Carefully quashing it down, he took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. It would be no use to try and find out right now. Asking her what was wrong was like trying to push through a brick wall - an impossible task, and he suspected this would be no different.
There was one thing he could achieve right now.
"Gotcha!" he crowed as his fingers descended on her sides, where he knew she was most vulnerable. Her peals of laughter spilt forth from her until they flooded his lungs too, until he could take no more and dropped down next to her, heaving for breath and letting the sunlight warm his skin. Once more, the white petals were scattered by their frantic motions, carried away by the wind.
This would be his job from now on, then, he decided. To keep a smile on her face, no matter what. She already did a good enough job of that - she'd used to cry whenever she tripped on the corner of a stray rock by the schoolhouse, angry red scrapes littering her legs. But the tears had petered off some time ago. Just last month, she'd taken a nasty fall down the stairs at his home and opened a gash that spanned half her arm. She'd winced and bit her lip when Dad had cleaned the wound, but she hadn't let a single tear fall. There'd even been a small smile on her face when it was all over and he'd tearfully asked if she was alright. Would he have been able to do that? He didn't think so. But perhaps she'd been thinking of her father's words even then.
I'll make you happy. Always. A simple promise, sworn to himself in the quiet of his mind.
~~~
The muted echoes of peals of laughter pushed through the window, a gentle breeze brushing against the glass and tugging gently at the last few leaves clinging desperately to the branches of the tree rooted in the dirt outside, stark red against the soft browns of coming winter. Below the branches, feet pattered as the blurry forms of children raced in circles, unwilling to waste even a single second of the weak sunlight filtering through the mass of clouds hanging overhead. The snow would arrive one day soon with a howling fury, but until then, children and adults alike were going to grasp every remaining second of daylight.
Gazing at the sight, a smile playing at the corner of her mouth, Colette pressed a kiss to the limp hand clasped in both of hers, its owner fast asleep. In her mind's eye, she could see a trio of children dashing through Iselia, hand-in-hand and fleeing from the fury of their professor. A memory many years old, but still easy to recall, even if it could no longer be recreated. The children in that frozen moment in time had all grown up. They had continued to walk down a path that had at times seemed to wind endlessly, uncertain of where they would end up. On this path, they had seen both the abject cruelty of the world and the enduring beauty of all it contained. They could never turn their backs and return down the path to the innocence of childhood, for it had already disappeared behind them. There was only moving forward, ever forward, for as long as they could, until the path finally came to an end.
A minute tremble in the hand she had gently held for the past hour told her that the time she had been waiting for had arrived, and she turned her attention to the figure in the bed.
"Lloyd…?"
~~~
Colette pulled stray twigs out of her hair, sighing and tilting her head up to stare at the moon. It was full tonight, hanging in the sky and painting the city of Meltokio in melted silver. It had illuminated her quiet but hasty escape from the ballroom of the palace to this secluded area of the royal gardens, occupied by a fountain of a deer, water spouting gently in a circle around it.
Quiet it had been, but she'd certainly gone through a fair share of hedges in her flight. The white dress she had been wearing must certainly be ruined by now. At the very least, it was spattered with mud. At the very worst, she might have ripped it. She didn't dare look down, not wanting to confirm the damage to the gift Zelos had given her.
She ran her hand across the weathered rim of the fountain, cold beneath her fingers. It had been constructed a year or two after the Journey of Regeneration. Back then, she and Lloyd had relaxed in the shade of the deer and talked about anything and everything. He'd marvelled at the precise stonework, gaping at the soulful gaze of the doe into the far distance.
The stone had smoothed over years of rain and sunshine. Its face was no longer distinguishable, even though the general shape of a deer remained - snout, legs, tail. Everything else had been wiped away by the flow of time, never to return. Yet sometimes, all that time felt like just the blink of an eye.
Nothing lasted forever. Not memories, not stories, and certainly not people.
Her face stared back at her from the surface of the water, unmarred by ripples. The same youthful face that had stared into a mirror, fear and regrets chained around her heart, and promised herself that she would leave Lloyd behind when she began the slow march to her death. Once, she had stood beneath the vision of a Yggdrasill centuries in the future, awe stealing the breath from her lungs as the shadow of its branches had covered her. Yet the only face among her companions that would remain to greet it would indeed be the same one that had borne witness to the vision of a hopeful future, having not aged a day.
Nothing lasted forever, except for her.
In the distance, warm light spilt out of the ballroom doors onto the grass, the sounds of merriment floating into the air. They were unable to reach her, to thaw the frost that had been creeping through her veins for the past few years. Behind her, the soft footsteps that had been padding through the night for the past few minutes came to a stop.
Lloyd didn't say a word when he wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin atop her head. The tension bled from her shoulders as she breathed in the familiar scent of wood that always followed him.
Earlier in the night, she'd been hiding in a corner of the ballroom. It was an obligation to show up at the annual reunification celebration ball, given that they were the heroes it was meant to honour. She would never get used to the decadence of the ballroom - crystals adorning giant chandeliers that hung from the ceiling, the lords and ladies dressed in the finest silks while gems of a dozen colours glittered on their fingers. Thankfully, as the years went on, they were approached less and less as the novelty of their journey wore off. It was easy enough to find a pocket of quiet and pass the time with her friends.
Tonight had been different - none of their companions had been able to make it. Even Zelos had been waylaid tending to Seles' sudden bout of sickness. Melancholy had already been hanging over her head like a storm cloud, leading her to swirl champagne in her flute while parked awkwardly in a random corner. There was, of course, the small group of court ladies throwing biting insults at who they deemed a "simple country girl". A long time ago, their venom-tipped words would have sliced deep into the heart of an insecure girl. They didn't bother her at all now, sliding off her like water.
It was the innocent questions wondering who the young woman was that truly pierced her heart with barbs that lodged in its fragile flesh. They weren't meant to hurt, but they were the straw that broke the camel's back, the flute shattering in her hands before she had fled.
"You didn't have to come after me," she whispered, turning to bury her face in his chest, craving the sanctuary of his arms, knowing nothing could hurt her here.
He didn't answer, for there was no need to. She already knew he would always choose to come after her. Until the day came that it was no longer possible, he would always chase after her.
The only thing he did was gather her closer, beginning to sway them both to the beat of an invisible band only he could hear. A dance meant just for the two of them under the moonlit leaves of the garden, tucked away from the rest of the world.
The steady beat of his heart pulsed in her ears, reassuring her that he was still here, solid and real. If she closed her eyes right now, she would be able to pretend nothing had changed at all. That they were both still young and brimming with hope right after she had escaped her cruel fate.
But to do so would be to lose sight of the Lloyd in front of her at this very moment, the Lloyd she loved so very much.
So she reached up to run her hands through his brown locks, lingering on the small streaks of grey that were creeping in.
"Fetching," she'd laughed when she'd first noticed them, ignoring the way something in her heart had twisted.
He had changed so much, and would continue to change. Just as she would, time ever passing, no matter how much she wanted it to stand still. A truth she had always known, but was only now bitterly carving itself into her heart.
Nothing could stand against the river of time. All she could do, at this very moment, was grasp at every part of this night. The crisp air against her skin, the small smile playing on Lloyd's lips, the laughter that couldn't help but burst from her as Lloyd spun her around. To write it all onto the surface of her heart alongside the truth she had realised, so it would endure forevermore.
~~~
Lloyd's fingers twitched, his eyes struggling to open as he slowly returned from the realm of dreams. For a few seconds, he seemed to stare through her, slowly blinking until his watery gaze finally focused on her. A smile spread across papery lips, a low hum leaving his throat.
"Hello there," she muttered, giving his hand a small squeeze. When they were both young, his hand had been bigger than hers, warm and steady and covered with the evidence of the hours he sunk into woodworking. Over the years, he had gained more than just callouses - a few raised white lines from the sharp tips of weapons crossed his flesh, both his own and those wielded with ill intent. Now his hand was paper-thin, lacking the strength to return the gesture. It felt chilly against her own, despite the hearty fire dancing cheerfully within the fireplace in the living room. A sign that the flame of his life was nothing more than an ember now, almost ready to go out with a quiet sigh, letting his soul move on to be in the Goddess's embrace.
Quiet conversations drifted through the door to the bedroom, where the many companions Lloyd had amassed over the years were gathered, dear to both their hearts. They had arrived over the course of the last week, from all corners of the reunited world.
Genis and Raine had arrived together. Even now, decades later, the two of them still travelled around the world. No matter how slow their headway with the mission they had entrusted themselves to, they would press on, down the path they were forging for themselves. Genis stood taller than all of them now, having gained inch after inch like a slow-growing tree until he'd been able to lord it over Lloyd, much to his annoyance. It meant that he'd had to bend over to brush his lips against Lloyd's forehead - the affectionate mark of a beloved friend - while Raine had squeezed Lloyd's hand, her other hand a comforting presence on Genis' shoulder.
Zelos had been next to arrive, a quiet phantom that had drifted through the front door. He had not been made to carry the burden of eternal life, but his Cruxis crystal had seen fit to slow his ageing. What once were luscious locks that floated around his shoulders now only reached his chin, the red only now beginning to give way to grey. He carried with him still the cloud of grief that had arisen from Sheena's passing, softened with time to wrap around his shoulders like a cloak that would trail his steps until he took his last breath. Yet he had greeted Lloyd with the same lively energy of his youth, sparing Colette a small, understanding smile as he'd stepped out of the room.
Presea brought up the rear, the last of their original group to still stand on the shore of the living. Her ageing, too, had been slow at first, but it had begun to speed up after a few years until she aged just as fast as a normal human, even if she was still behind her true age. She'd prepared a few wooden charms, similar to those that sat by Regal's memorial, renewed every year before the elements did too much damage. She had placed them on the bedside table and conversed with Lloyd in quiet tones, a few chuckles emanating from the conversation.
All of them now sat in the living room, connected by the warmth of the crackling flames and the stories they reminisced over, weaving the tapestry of his life with each loving word.
A mutter answered her. Smoothing away the white locks that still stubbornly fell into tired russet eyes, she smiled down at her husband. Her fingers traced the many wrinkles on his face, representative of the many years he had lived, and the many happy memories they had made together in the short time allotted to them.
There wasn't long left now, she knew.
~~~
Colette's humming faded away as she reached the top of the final incline, the clicking of wheels coming to a stop as she reached down to lock the wheelchair in place on the hill. "We're here," she said softly by Lloyd's ear. It was the same set of words he'd often yelled in excitement as a child before running down into the sea of flowers as she'd followed close behind, catching petals in grasping hands.
Lloyd shifted, restless after the thirty-minute journey and shaking off the cobwebs of sleep that clung to him. Not wanting to keep him waiting too long, even though she knew he would never utter a single complaint, she made quick work of setting up the well-loved picnic blanket folded within the wicker basket she'd brought with her. It took no effort at all for her to gather him into her arms and arrange him comfortably with his head resting on her lap, soft white hair spreading across her thighs. His breath caressed her skin, interspersed with the occasional cough as she stared at the sky, the gentle breeze carrying strands of her hair as she pressed her fingers against a patch sewn into the blanket.
The grass was higher than it had been the last time they'd been here. Last autumn, in the company of Genis, before the harsh winter storms had forced them to take shelter within their home for the whole season, emerging only in spring as the coating of snow melted and revealed the life hiding beneath. Back then, the flowers had begun to droop as the cold winds blew, the strongest clinging desperately onto life and blooming ever more beautifully for their efforts. The grass had been browning and brittle, barely reaching their ankles. Lloyd had still been able to make the full trek on foot as long as they took regular breaks along the way, and had been the one to insist on making the journey one last time before winter's arrival. Its harsh colds had settled in his lungs and hadn't left. He was getting weaker with time's passage, the overturned hourglass almost out of sand to spill.
She tipped her head back with a sigh. It was easier to get lost in reminiscing, in the final years of their life together. Everywhere she went, there were echoes of her life, phantasms of memory slipping through her mind like mist. But there were always reminders of the here and now, like Lloyd's hand in hers, her thumb rubbing his knuckles in a continuous circle, as much soothing to him as it was to her.
"You don't have to stay." His voice might waver, but it still held the same steadfast determination.
She couldn't help the smile that stretched across her face, nor the laughter that bubbled in her chest, even as something bitter stirred in her heart. All these years, and he hadn't changed at all, wanting to spare her as much pain as was possible.
It was a thought that had occurred to her more than once, on particularly sleepless nights where she would sit by the window and watch the stars twinkling in the sky in their eternal solitude. She could keep her memories pristine under lock after lock, and leave before sorrow could touch them in any way. But that would only be clinging to a hollow fantasy, no more alive than the pure image Mithos had preserved of his beloved sister.
"I promised to stay."
A simple answer, for a truth too complex to express. She would remain, to watch, every single moment of this bond that had grown and flowered and would always live on in some way or another. This, too, deserved to be made memory.
His answering sigh did not escape her ears, tinged equally with fondness and relief. It was simply human nature to want to steal even one more moment to be with those they loved, even as time slipped through their fingers.
What a twist of fate, for this day to be a mirror's reflection of one in her youth. Once, she had swallowed down her selfish wish for him to keep her close to her heart even after she ceased to be human. But all the same, neither of them was able to ask that the other forget them, even knowing it would inevitably happen.
They watched the sun rise, hand in hand, an unspoken promise to live on, in memory and in life, passing between them.
~~~
The once steady rhythm of Lloyd's heart, which had been her anchor for many an anxious night, was beginning to falter beneath where her fingers rubbed circles into his wrist. It would soon come to a complete stop, bringing the final chapter of his life to a close, even if his story would live on long after.
He didn't have the strength to utter a word, nor to lift a single uncooperative limb. Even still, his smile did not waver.
And so she met it with her own - a brave, wide smile - wanting the last thing he saw in this life to be what he had proclaimed many times over to be his favourite sight. Something to reassure him that all would be well, and that he could let go without any regrets.
"There is no pain at the end," Presea had once said, standing by Regal's bedside, one hand placed on a cheek that had gone cold. "At least, that's what I believe."
Lloyd, too, seemed to be no longer plagued by the ache of his lungs struggling to draw breath or the frost chipping at his bones. Here, at the very end, the pain had all drained away, leaving nothing but a peaceful demeanour, as if he lay in the softest bed of feathers, ready to receive an angel's greetings.
Leaning down, she pressed a kiss to his forehead, a practised motion she had done so many times. "Thank you for all the years of happiness you have given me. Sweet dreams, Lloyd," she whispered. Beneath her, his eyelids fluttered before finally sliding shut, one last breath whistling from his nose. Lloyd, who had never been able to stand still, had finally ceased moving, his chest no longer rising.
Looking at the one she had loved, she could see all the years she had spent with him. The boy, mired in uncertainty, but choosing to be brave every time. The man, who had grown into himself and carried his shoulders with confidence. The person who had stayed with her through thick and thin, no matter what.
Bowing her head, she held a hand up to her cheek and found it wet. The weight that she had carried for the past few years had finally burst at the realisation that he was truly gone now, unleashing a wave of grief that still surprised her with its height. She had known what was coming, could look back with a smile on the long life he had lived, but she supposed, at the end of the day, that there was never any hope of stopping grief in its tracks.
Sniffling, her smile wobbled.
"I'm sorry, Lloyd. But I suppose it's all right to cry now, isn't it?"
~~~
Seated on a park bench with a cup of warm coffee warming her palms, Colette breathed slowly out, a smile stretching across her face as she watched her breath crystallise into a tiny cloud. The cold had reduced to a gentle embrace, only a thin layer of snow remaining as the sun started its day earlier and earlier, the seasons creeping toward spring.
The events she had predicted had long since come to pass - her remaining friends had returned to the embrace of Yggdrasill, one by one, until she was the last to walk the earth. Over the centuries, she had watched the people around her learn and grow, but there were some things that never changed. Just as some sought to tear others to shreds for their own benefit, others had achieved incredible feats fuelled by an unyielding hope to change the world for the better.
There were decades where the ever-present grief dragged itself from the murky depths where it lurked, decades that she spent trapped in a garden of memories that had suddenly grown thorns, having lost sight of where she was. Realising her memories of Lloyd had started to fade, like an old photograph that could not be restored to its original vibrant state, had led to one of her worst decades. The struggle of that decade was a blur she could barely recall now, shaded in grey.
She still held no power over time. Memories inevitably faded, and they still left her heart feeling bereft when she reached for a memory and could no longer grasp it, slipping like quicksilver through her fingers. But she would always carry a part of him with her - an unbreakable faith in people that had touched her heart so long ago.
All she could do now was live, one moment to another, letting the time pass. Every century, she made new friends, experienced new things, and said her farewells. She kept moving forward, knowing not what she would find. Her life was a series of heartbreaks and incredible joy, and that was all it would ever be. She could ask for nothing more. For to truly live was to be brave enough to open one's heart to both love and grief, the two forever intertwined.
It would have been what Lloyd wanted - for her to never lose her smile.
Jumping to her feet, she let them carry her down the path.
Maybe I’ll grow my hair out again this century, she thought.