Zelos would pay money to see Pepper talking to Kratos about his giant set of problems. Not much money, since that means having to meet Kratos in person, but some.

And if there's one thing that would stop his budding anger in its tracks, it's hearing that Pepper has a similar story. That is, in fact, exactly what happens. There's a confused sort of blankness on Zelos's face when she finishes, like all the reactions he had planned suddenly don't apply anymore.

You're supposed to answer that kind of confession with one of your own, right? That's how this is supposed to work. Pepper already knows the gist of it, so Zelos doesn't have any of his usual excuses to avoid the topic. But avoidance habits are hard to break, so it takes him a while to say anything.

"Yeah," he admits. "I betrayed Lloyd. I had a knife on his hunny's throat and turned her over to someone who wanted to use her to bring a goddess back. And even after all of that, Lloyd wouldn't --" Zelos stops, and sighs, and adopts a faint smile more self-deprecating than his usual. "You'd probably like him. The kid can forgive anything."