The world had changed.

And so had they.

Zelos couldn't remember the last time he had woken up without the sick feeling of a heavy heart. Or when he had seen Sheena's face light up without worry and without fear. It was like they had been shaken down, to their very core, and changed in more ways than he could count.

As he stood with her, watching as the very land they stood on changed with the arrival of the Great Tree, he realized it. How different he felt, how he relished in the feel of the sudden freedom he knew this new world was bringing him.

And he realized how utterly terrified he was of this fact.

He wasn't brand new, he knew. Just changed, and looking at the world with an altered mindset. Lloyd had rubbed off on all of them, and the fact that the world had exploded in change was just an aftereffect. Their little group of mangled people had changed everything, and he had half a mind to slap himself for having a hand in it.

But, with the terror came a realization of how the change had been necessary. Which didn't make that broken part of him, still trailing along at a half assed speed, as scared.

And he realized that Sheena was the same.

She was not scared, she was not struggling anymore. She was strong, and she was radiant. Like a polished diamond that finally saw some light. She had changed into something that blew him away, and he couldn't focus on much but her. His constant in his world, his beautiful reminder of something he never thought he could touch.

So, he gripped her hand back as she shyly slipped hers in, looking for some sort of reassurance as the world crashed and changed around them. She was just as lost and terrified and different as he was. And he relished in it.

Their isolated mindsets were changing, just like the two worlds that were colliding together. And he did no more than stand there with her, their hands intwined, as the ground shook and brought them that much closer to home and to each other.