CT: Just for the hell of it, I'm going to make a little plot-twister.

Celsius: don't tell me your going to have me kill people!

CT: nah, it's minor, just to fit you into the story a bit better.

Celsius: don't I already?

CT: let put it this way, it involved you and Chocolat.

Celsius: …

First Child

I walked outside the hut in Mizuho, trying to keep my mind off the current situation at hand. But for some reason, my thoughts always drifted back to her. My wife, Sheena. It's been one whole year since our marriage and I'm still not used to the whole marriage thing.

Sheena and I lived in the large but simple hut that used to belong to her grandfather, who passed away the following week after our wedding. Sheena couldn't help but cry because her only father figure was gone, but she said that I helped ease her pain just by being there. The funeral was quiet and somber. It was raining that day, not a hard downpour, but just enough of a drizzle to say that it was raining. The final rites were reserved only for close family, meaning only Me, my wife and Tiga, who has been by Sheena's grandfather's side for a long time. Sheena always looked up to Tiga as an uncle, he was the one who helped teach her the basics of the Mizuho lifestyle. In a way, Tiga was another important figure to Sheena.

I know it seems inappropriate to mention, but it's overall the base of where my stress comes from today. About two months after our wedding, Sheena and I, well… for lack of a better word did it. I don't mean just kissed, we went…yeah. That was a spectacular night to say the least. But we also knew what we were getting ourselves into. We've already figured out a name for our new child, but the only thing left to do is figure out our child's other name. It's also been an uphill battle in Mizuho for me. I had to learn in a few months what takes years about Mizuho lifestyle. With the help of Sheena though, I managed to get through the most rigorous part of it.

I can hear Sheena moaning from outside the door, damn the midwife. She's nice and all, but damn her. Walking over to a nearby tree, I try to filter out my stress, only to have it come back to me a second later.

"Damn! Isn't there anything I can do?" I yell out in frustration.

A man dressed in blue appeared suddenly in front of me, I never liked ninjas in that respect, always appearing in front of me and freaking me out. "Not really. Until the midwife says that you can come in, your like a dog outside it's house waiting for a meal." It was Orochi. Believe it or not, we've actually became good friends, Orochi and I.

I sighed out of contempt and stress and sit down with by back to the tree. "It's also hard getting used to this… haka" I can't remember the name of what my pants for the life of me.

Orochi sighed, "…Hakama. You still have a lot to learn. But I suppose I can overlook it since you are willing to learn."

"Heh, I'll take that as a compliment."

Kuchinawa returned to the village about one month ago after hearing of the pregnancy. Seems that word of Sheena's pregnancy reached far and wide into the world. Raine, Colette, Genis, Presea and everyone else had come to visit and offer their words of advice. Apparently, I'm the first one of our old group to be a father. No one ever knew about the betrayal of Kuchinawa, but he was exonerated of his crimes and welcomed back into the clan with open arms nonetheless. He returned a changed man, his attitude towards me has turned from contempt to almost like a brother.

Anyways, everyone is scattered around the world now and it feels almost lonely at times knowing that when I wake up in the morning, it's only Sheena and I. But in that respects, it's worth it to wake up to the smile of Sheena. Raine and Genis are probably helping the half-elves from Exire get re-acquainted with the world. Three months ago, the power of Maxwell diminished for some reason and Exire crashed just to the east of the SE Abby, the information network also tells us that there are Exire elves living in the SE Abby free of persecution.

My life with Sheena has been perfect in all ways. People ask Sheena and I why our relationship is so balanced. I still wonder why myself. People are always saying that married couples argue and fight a lot, but the closest thing I've had to that with Sheena was when we were playfully fighting on who gets to use the bath first. Which ended up with both of us going at the same time, but that's a different story that I don't want to talk about. Our house is simple by all means, which means very little upkeep. Sheena and I alternate on cooking, and when the work maintaining the clan begins to pile up, I simply do all the housework.

Overall, Sheena is an excellent leader, she still has a lot to learn about diplomacy but she is doing great at maintaining orders and affairs from within the clan. Regal along with Presea have probably visited us the most, Regal's shackles long since removed from his hands. He always seems to make it personal that he visit us instead of a representative of Lazerano company. He always gives Sheena helpful advice on how to rule effectively.

I visited Iselia a few times in the past ten months, and it hasn't changed much at all, the same houses are still there, all the ones that were burned down were repaired and there are even some new ones being built. Colette has also seemed to have gotten over her initial sadness about the marriage quickly, because when I visited her, her first question was how was life with my wife. I'm happy that Colette is happy with her life now. Word is she has a boyfriend now, so that means that I'm glad for her.

Now that just leaves Zelos and Celsius. I've actually heard a lot about Zelos, he's now a regular upper-class citizen of Meltokio. Although he's more or less gotten over the loss of his fan-club, he still flirts often with other women. Chocolat has actually been very patient with Zelos, keeping him in order, but not the 'leading the bull around by the nose' kind of thing. I also heard that they were engaged, but that's a rumor as well.

Now there's also Celsius…I feel sorry for her. Five months ago, Efreet died in an accident at sea. She waited for him for a long time before hearing the bad news. She was crushed, she rarely speaks anymore when I see her, and when she does, her voice always cracks. Her arrogance and overconfidence was taken away when she confronted death, I've tried to cheer her up, but to no avail. I heard that Celsius wonders the world now aimlessly, she was no longer needed since the summon spirits are just simply spirits once again. She's literally alone in the world now. She has no friends since she was in the ice cavern for many years, she has no expertise since she dropped out of school, and someone whom she truly loved died.

"Who ya thinking about bud?" Zelos walked in front of me, breaking my concentration.

"Whoa, when did you get here?"

"Well, the missus and I decided to get out of Meltokio for a bit, too stuffy."

Chocolat quickly ran up behind Zelos and jumped on his back, "I can't keep this obnoxious guy away from girls at times!" a ring sparkled in the sunlight, nearly blinding me.

I squint at the ring, it's an engagement ring alright, "So I guess the rumors are true, you are engaged."

"Yep! This little lily my one true love!"

Zelos certainly has changed, but in a way, I miss the old Zelos Wilder.

I noticed an old lady walking towards me slowly, she stopped in front of me and I stood up, it was the midwife with good news. "Your lucky. It's a healthy girl."

"Can I see it now?" I ask with a sleight impatience strung in my voice.

She looked around at the small crowd gathered around me, "Only the father, Lloyd Fujibayashi may enter at this time." She then led me to inside the hut and into the scene of tranquility inside.

"Lloyd Fujibayashi, I still can't get used to it." I heard Zelos say before I entered the hut.

Inside the hut was Sheena laying down on her back on the mattress, she held the…our baby in her arms, brown hair, black eyes. I kneeled down next to my wife and kissed on the cheek. "It's as beautiful as you."

My wife smiled softly before sitting up slightly. "Lloyd, it's a girl. What shall be her true name?" she asked quietly, careful not to wake the sleeping heaven up.

I whispered what I thought her name should be silently in my love's ear, she agreed silently.

"And for her other name?"

"How about…Lena?" I say soflty with confidence.

Sheena nodded before kissing me on the cheek. The baby began to stir, apparently thirsty. I won't describe what Sheena did next, because that is for my eyes only.

oOo Character Change

I heard from Fenrir about the birth of Lena, even though I'm not supposed to know this bit of information, I know the baby's true name. I knew exactly when the birth was to take place, so now here I am, waiting outside the gates of Mizuho, contemplating on wether or not I should enter. "What's the use? I'll only get my heart broken again seeing them two again." I begin to walk away, but someone is tugging at my shirt, it's Chocolat.

"C'mon! We're friends! Come on!" apparently she didn't know. I pull my arm away from her. And give her a stern look.

"No."

"Why not? There are your friends! I've heard what you've done to help them from Zelos! So why are you being a bitch about this!"

"…" I begin to turn around, ignoring her.

"So your just going to wallow in self-pity? You should be ashamed of yourself! He isn't going to come back by you moping around and you being a bitch to everyone else! Your friends need you right now, and you should goto them."

"…" I won't admit it, but she is right. For the past five months, I've just been wallowing in self-pity, ignoring all the advice everyone has given to me. I stop dead in my tracks. I feel a tear, followed by another, then another…my knees begin to buckle as I fall to them. "Dammit!"

Chocolat slowly walked towards me, and kneeled down in front. Grabbing me by the shoulders she stares into my eyes, Chocolat has this hypnotizing affect on people. I even noticed it back when she yelled at the mayor of Iselia. "It's alright. Just goto your friends and congratulate them. There was something about her that I feel I know.

"Mother once told me that I had a sister." Chocolat stated out of the blue, "But something strange happened and she disappeared as soon as she was born. I'm convinced now, you are my sister."

"…" was it really true? Am I really from Sylvarant? I only have one memory concerning there… "What are you saying?"

"She was born on a cold day right after a snow storm, mother and father named her 'Celsius.' that's what I heard at least."

"So you are my sister?" I ask, too dumbfounded to say anything further.

Chocolat nodded, "Now go, if you cannot live because you aren't with Efreet, then life because your sister cares for you." I stood up slowly and hugged Chocolat. For some reason, I felt for the first time in a long while, happy.

oOo Character Change

Sheena looked up at me with her eyes half-open, she always looked beautiful. The sweat beads trickled down her cheeks and neck and her hair was all ruffled up. "Lloyd, as soon as we can, lets get away from Mizuho for a few months."

"Where to?" I reply, keeping my voice low.

"Iselia. It's the perfect small village where I want I to raise our child for the first few months." Iselia wasn't too far off. The land bridge that connected the Hima area to the Izoold area was still there and Mizuho was located just above it.

"Are you sure we can make it? It's a long walk, from Izoold to Ossa, to the desert then to Iselia." I say, obviously worried.

Sheena giggled silently. "I've already gone through that in my head silly. I'm going to have Regal let us use one of his spare EC's.

I forgot that Regal's company is capable to creating EC's. Using an EC, it's only a few hours away from Mizuho. It's funny how far ahead my wife can think. "I love you, Sheena Fujibayashi, my wife."

"And I love you too Lloyd Fujibayashi, my husband." Just then, our two friends walked in with another. Zelos, Chocolat and Celsius, whom I was surprised to see, they all just smiled, even Zelos had a sense of decency around newborns.

A new life has been born today Sheena.

Yes, I know. What shall be her true name?

Martel, a symbol for the world that she envisioned that we now live in.

Yes, we shall. That is a fine name for our child.