The lot of them scattered since the show was over. They were all stunned and surprised; they didn't know what exactly was going on. Lina took Cloud by the arm and led him over to the Dormitory and welcomed him to her room where she left the door partially open just so that Cloud wouldn't feel weirded out. No one was in the hallway anyway, as she'd just checked a second before.
"I need answers, Cloud," she said. Cloud didn't respond. She wasn't expecting him to, it was too out of character for him to do so. "You know, I'm sure you do. Or you wouldn't have come to warn me."
"Yeah," Cloud said bluntly, he had his nonchalant eyes focused on Lina who was currently stressing out over this. Neither of them noticed Zell a good six feet from the slightly open doorway, eavesdropping no doubt. "You know what'll follow?"
"No I don't," she said desperately. "I just know it's trouble. I know it's bad, and people will get hurt on my behalf. I have to find a way not to let it happen."
"No," he said. "There's no way you can do that, people will get hurt, that's the way it is." She looked up at him with tearful eyes. "This is a war, Lina. You can't expect yourself to be the only casualty against who knows how many opponents."
"Cloud, I will be the casualty no matter what. Why should I let others fight for someone who won't be there to celebrate in the end anyway?" she said. "I left Garden two years ago because I needed to know what came next. I left because I couldn't let the people around me to get hurt. It wouldn't be fair to them. I gave up everything I knew! I gave up everything I've ever loved!"
"Lina, don't say things like that. You know you can't love," he said bluntly. "You know you've never loved, in past lives. Your only love is for duty." Zell's eyes widened at this. Neither of them had noticed him yet. Lina shook her head, wiping the tears away with the back of her hand.
"No, Cloud, no!" she screamed. "I did! I do! I have love, and I know it so well it hurts. It's greater than duty, deeper and truer. I love my sisters, I want them to change, to love also. I love these people as dutifully as I can, though sometimes they can be sinister, I love them. And it's not fair that they should get hurt for the duty I have to perform."
"Then is that not duty?" Lina was quiet. Tears were running down her cheeks, and she looked up at Cloud with sad eyes. She shook her head.
"I gave up everything I knew, my home, lost it all to time and duty," she said. "To look for answers. To protect the ones I loved. I come back two years later empty handed; everything I'd once held dear is gone from me now. If not out of love, then out of duty, answer me this: What is the next step? What comes next? How can I save those I hold dear to myself? So that at the dusk of my two years I may say the search has not been in vain. For I dearly hope it has not been." Cloud didn't say anything for a long while. He just stood there, looking at Lina who stood looking back at him, tears in her eyes. She felt so weak next to him.
"Lina, I understand you've been through a lot. You have great things destined for you, great, but tragic, you must know," Cloud started after a while. "But I must apologize. No one knows what's going to come next. No one knows what is right and what is wrong. I know this calm is disturbing for you, as it is for me, but you must stay focused. You believe you love, you believe it is different from duty, but perhaps it has been duty all along that has bound you to your course now. There's no way to repeal it. If you love these people, if you love your sisters, do your duty to them and end the war."
Lina didn't move for a long time, looking down at the carpet beneath her feet. She continued to let the tears fill her eyes before saying very quietly, "I'm going to disagree with you, Cloud. I act out of love, be the will of Lina Heartilly or Lutrius. I will end this war."
"I'm sorry, I really am. All I can do for you is wish you luck, and fight with you when the time comes, if you'll still have me," he said. Lina looked up at him and smiled weakly. She shook her head slightly, gesturing that she didn't know yet what her decision would be. "Anyway, I led Reno right to her. I have to go fix my wrong."
"Tell Jalen I'm sorry," she said. "And if she asks what for, just say I'm sincerely sorry." Cloud nodded, and very awkwardly tried to hug Lina, wrapping his arms around her for a second's time then turning very quickly away. He opened the door, glanced up at a shocked Zell once and walked past him. Lina, who had been watching while he left, saw Zell standing in the view of the doorway and quickly wiped her tears away. They stood, just staring at each other for a while, before Zell finally felt compelled to speak to her.
"Lina... I... I don't really get what's goin' on right now, but..." he started. She didn't say anything, and breathed out a sigh. She didn't want him to see that, or hear that, any of it. "Talk to me, Lina. What's going on?"
"Don't get involved, Zell," she said very quietly. Then walked out of her room and closed the door lightly behind her. She now stood face to face with Zell, just three feet apart. "Please don't."
"But... how will you end the war?" he asked, he was desperate to speak to her about it, but he didn't know where to start. The conversation had been so confusing for him, he had no idea what had been going on. And why wouldn't Lina talk to him about it? If all that she had said about love was true, then shouldn't she speak to him?
"That's the kind of duty only I need to worry about," she said, looking very solemnly at him. Then she chuckled a bit at herself. "Or is it love? I don't really know anymore." She walked past him, trying hard to ignore his imploring gaze and walked on. Zell couldn't do anything but watch her leave.