So, Lloyd's always known he's been on the dimmer side of the lightbulb spectrum, but nothing makes it more obvious than the stupid trial puzzle Sheena, Zelos, and him work through. Anna is upfront about how she has no idea how they work, so she's out of the picture, and Lloyd just straight up doesn't get it either, but he forces himself to be useful somehow, even if it's just providing moral support and holding shit so Sheena doesn't have to.
By the time they make it through, Lloyd's bored as fuck and antsy about the fact that he hasn't yet talked to Anna, so he's grateful when she pulls him aside, Zelos keeping watch as they talk quietly. The truth is, guilt has slowly been trickling down Lloyd's throat with the passing tick-tocking of a clock, the knowledge that his mother had been telling the truth for the past eight years and he had been denying it an iron-clasped bear trap on his conscious. Lloyd wants to apologize to her, first and foremost, and finally actually listen to her and what it is she's experienced. It's the very least he can do for her.
So maybe that's why he frowns when Anna apologizes first, brows furrowing with his confusion. Why is she apologizing? It's not like she's done anything, really, and the idea that he would have preferred to stay behind is laughable. Call him a mama's boy, but he's had to deal with being left behind once, and he wasn't going to have that happen again if he could stop it. "I'm glad to be here too, mom," he says, shaking his head slightly at her apology. "I want to be here, so don't be sorry."
It's nice to know, also, that he wasn't actually going crazy back in the infirmary, even though it feels too little too late. Lloyd wishes, in a rather deadpan inner voice, that he could have known that Mithos was a ghost, for all intents and purposes, and that somehow, in between being swallowed by Sin and sent flying face-first into the ocean surrounding Besaid, he had become a medium. He wants to ask more questions, too, like what a Fayth does, why they both can see them but Sheena can't, but he holds his tongue, instead waiting for her to finish.
The hand Anna puts on his shoulder feels a little insulting, honestly. Lloyd knows she doesn't mean anything by it, but he thought she was fucking dead, he kinda wants more than a shoulder touch from his mother. So instead he pulls her into a hug, closing his eyes for a brief few seconds before finally apologizing for himself. "Thank you. And... I'm sorry, mom. For not believing you about Spira and everything. You were telling the truth this whole time and I wasn't giving you the support you needed. I believe you now. I'm so sorry I didn't before."
SHAMELESS
By the time they make it through, Lloyd's bored as fuck and antsy about the fact that he hasn't yet talked to Anna, so he's grateful when she pulls him aside, Zelos keeping watch as they talk quietly. The truth is, guilt has slowly been trickling down Lloyd's throat with the passing tick-tocking of a clock, the knowledge that his mother had been telling the truth for the past eight years and he had been denying it an iron-clasped bear trap on his conscious. Lloyd wants to apologize to her, first and foremost, and finally actually listen to her and what it is she's experienced. It's the very least he can do for her.
So maybe that's why he frowns when Anna apologizes first, brows furrowing with his confusion. Why is she apologizing? It's not like she's done anything, really, and the idea that he would have preferred to stay behind is laughable. Call him a mama's boy, but he's had to deal with being left behind once, and he wasn't going to have that happen again if he could stop it. "I'm glad to be here too, mom," he says, shaking his head slightly at her apology. "I want to be here, so don't be sorry."
It's nice to know, also, that he wasn't actually going crazy back in the infirmary, even though it feels too little too late. Lloyd wishes, in a rather deadpan inner voice, that he could have known that Mithos was a ghost, for all intents and purposes, and that somehow, in between being swallowed by Sin and sent flying face-first into the ocean surrounding Besaid, he had become a medium. He wants to ask more questions, too, like what a Fayth does, why they both can see them but Sheena can't, but he holds his tongue, instead waiting for her to finish.
The hand Anna puts on his shoulder feels a little insulting, honestly. Lloyd knows she doesn't mean anything by it, but he thought she was fucking dead, he kinda wants more than a shoulder touch from his mother. So instead he pulls her into a hug, closing his eyes for a brief few seconds before finally apologizing for himself. "Thank you. And... I'm sorry, mom. For not believing you about Spira and everything. You were telling the truth this whole time and I wasn't giving you the support you needed. I believe you now. I'm so sorry I didn't before."