They’re going in circles, Lloyd realizes. Everything about this sucks, from the way that they’re both just arguing for the sake of proving a single point that doesn’t matter, to the way that every movement from Zelos is furious and pointed. This - this isn’t what Lloyd wanted, not at all, and every part of him screams against this, whether it be the the knight whose loyalty lies with his lord or the lonely boy who hates fighting with the only person he could hope to consider a friend. He swallows hard, trying desperately to find a way to end this argument before it could go any further, but drawing nothing that could work well in the end. Lloyd just doesn’t know what to do, what he could say or ask to help.

Zelos snaps again, though, and instinctively, something in Lloyd’s demeanor changes. The ex-lord’s shouts sound like orders, the way they rush out of his mouth in a sharp and demanding way, forcing cooperation from Lloyd in a way that he’d been trained to allow in the academy. Tense and stressed as he is, Lloyd lets it happen, lets his face become blank and unreadable, straightens his posture and faces Zelos with not an ounce of negative, without an ounce of anything.

Not unlike the way he had faced his instructors, Lloyd lets the familiar distance of his training wrap around him as to not betray any turmoil. Maybe this is for the best, actually. Maybe like this, the argument will end, since everything he says keeps making things worse. Maybe they were right in saying that a knight should just keep their thoughts and opinions to themselves in order to keep the peace.

Maybe this is all his fault. Maybe this will fix it.