This fanfiction is brought to you by...Fluff: It serves for no practical purpose, but it's COMFY!
Luithia: This is one of those stories where I came up with the idea literally years ago, but didn't finish it 'til now. I thought it was a cute idea at the time. Actually, I still think it's a cute idea. ANYWAY. Some spoilers if you haven't gotten past the Lightning Temple, I guess. But really, who hasn't?
Noishe: Baubaubaubau bau bau bau bau bau bau baubaubaubau-
Luithia: O-KAY, that's enough of that! Guess I'll have to do it myself this time. Luithia Clen does not own Tales of Symphonia or any related characters. All belong to Namco. Don't ever get a dog to do your disclaimer....
Garrochia Forest. Definitely not the most scenic of vacation spots. The whole place was an endless maze, with loops and dead ends around every corner. And then there was the giant bug problem. Or so thought Zelos Wilder. Then again, he and his group had just been ambushed by a rather large group of these giant bugs, so perhaps he was justified in his opinion.
He, Lloyd, Colette, and Sheena were currently attempting to hold off a horde of Golden Beetles and Giant Mantis', and doing a pretty good job of it. After all, it wasn't like they hadn't faced tougher monsters than this before. As it were, Zelos effortlessly finished off a mantis before casting a quick First Aid spell on Lloyd who was, as usual, getting in over his head. That guy really needed to quit being so reckless all the time.
The crimson-haired Chosen was about to jump back into the fray when he noticed something, or rather, a lack of something. There were still plenty of monsters, so it couldn't have been that. He could still see Lloyd, hacking away like nobody's business, and Colette on the other side of the path, softly chanting a prayer to support him. Wasn't there supposed to be a certain voluptuous ninja with them?
Zelos swore out loud. He couldn't see Sheena anywhere; not on the path, nor in the surrounding foliage. If there was one place in Tethe'alla you should never, under any circumstance, get lost on your own, it was Garrochia Forest. Figures.
He parried and dispatched another monster before scouring the area for any sign of where the summoner may have run off. Thankfully, Sheena's fighting wasn't quite as inconspicuous as her occupation. Zelos could see a root sticking out of the forest, torn up by paper-thin cuts, marking where she had last fought. After a quick glance back at the two remaining members of their party, the Chosen of Tethe'alla slipped through the thick greenery, vanishing into the depths of the forest.
Zelos slashed open a pathway through the underbrush, fully aware of the pieces of twigs and leaves getting enmeshed in his scarlet hair. As if this weren't irritating enough, the clump of plants he just hacked into sent a long branch out, slapping him across the face.
"Dammit," he muttered, rubbing the back of his hand across his cheek. He had lost Sheena's trail a while back and was purely following instinct now. A great deal that was doing for him. He climbed over a thick root and slumped to the ground for a rest. Glancing at his surroundings, Zelos counted himself lucky that larger monsters didn't enter condensed sections of the forest like this.
And Sheena; what was with her? Sure, the summoner had a tendency to act rashly when she lost her temper (particularly when it involved him), but running off on her own in the middle of a battle? She couldn't have been kidnapped could she? No, he hadn't noticed anything that suspicious, and Sheena was too smart for that. So why…?
Zelos was snapped out of his pondering by the unmistakable sound of a monster's battle cry. It was close. He leapt to his feet and dashed towards where he hoped the sound had come from. As he ran, Zelos found himself torn between feeling glad or not. If Sheena was the cause of that roar, then he would have found her. However, it would also mean that she was in trouble. Again.
Zelso stopped short all of a sudden, staring at the unbelievable sight before him. Three large, rotting fallen trees lay in front of him, stacked right on top of each other. Right in front of him. With no visible way around them.
"You've got to be shitting me."
He then heard another cry, this one definitely not from a monster. He swore again and dashed up to the fallen trees to peer through the cracks between them. Sure enough, he quickly spotted Sheena's lavender outfit as she jumped away from an abnormally large Giant Mantis. She back flipped away from another swipe of its knives with amazing agility, made even more appealing by her equally amazing figure. As much as Zelos would have loved to continue watching her graceful fighting style, her movements were slowing and she looked exhausted. How long had it been since they'd rested, anyway? Instead, the red-haired Chosen turned his gaze toward the monster and began chanting a spell. The sky above them grew dark, but Sheena apparently didn't notice, since she charged at the monster just as a bright, electric blue blade shot down on top of them.
Zelos was over the trees in an instant, running towards the burnt spot on the ground where the mantis used to be. Sheena was sitting on her knees a few feet away, bent over something.
"You okay?" he gasped, slowing to a stop next to her. The ninja stood up slowly, not saying anything.
"Sheena?"
"What are you doing here?"
"Huh? Looking for you, obviously. You ran off without saying anything. What'd you expect?"
"I didn't need your help."
Okay, now that was unreasonable. She was the one who had gone off into the potentially haunted woods by herself. A few more minutes alone against that thing and she really could've gotten hurt!
"Oh, yeah. You were doing so well on your own. You certainly did a good enough job dodging that spell."
Sheena whipped her head around, her face colored with rage. "That's NOT what I'm talking about!"
While searching for the right words to respond with, Zelos noticed that she was clutching a small object to her chest. It was spherical and golden in color, with red thread dangling from it. Oh…no, he groaned inwardly. Corrine's bell. No wonder she had run off so quickly. And no doubt he had nearly blown it up in that last attack. As if she didn't hate him enough already.
He looked back up at her, intending to start some sort of apology, only to find her looking at him, not with anger, not even with cold indifference, but with…amusement? Sheena had her fingers over her lips, trying in vain to stop the smile growing on them. Zelos' astonishment at her mood change must have shown on his face because she couldn't hold it in any longer and burst into giggles. The giggles soon grew into all-out laughter while Zelos simply stared at her, flabbergast.
"…What?" he finally managed to ask.
Sheena, in-between fits, gasped, "Y-y-your…hah…your face!"
Zelos' expression changed to one of indignity. What was wrong with his beautiful face? More so, what was so wrong that it would cause his voluptuous banshee to collapse into hysterics? Overcome by curiosity, he tugged his sword out of its sheathe. The polished silver blade worked pretty well as a make-shift mirror. Glancing at his reflection, the Chosen grimaced. Bits of twigs and leaves were scatted over his crimson locks, and there were a number of small scratches on his cheeks and forehead. However, the most evident thing and no doubt the source of Sheena's outburst was a long, dark smear of mud that traveled over his upper lip and halfway up his left cheek.
Did she really have to laugh so hard? he thought uncomfortably, as he watched the ninja clutch at her stomach in mirth. Then Zelos got an idea. An awful idea. Zelos had a wonderful, awful idea.
"I see now," he said, holding his chin thoughtfully.
"Huh?" Sheena looked up at his, wiping the tears from her milky-brown eyes.
"Of course. You're jealous of my dashing facial hair, aren't you?"
"Wh-what?"
"Lucky for you, Hunny, I'm a generous guy!" he finished before stepping closed and hooking his arms around her waist.
"What're you- AH!" she shrieked and burst into another fit of laughs as he kissed and nuzzled her cheek, rubbing the smear on her in the process.
"Eeew! Hahaha! St-stop it!" She made a half-hearted attempt at pushing him away, but Zelos held her strong. Finally, from exhaustion, eustress, and lack of oxygen, Sheena's legs buckled and gave way beneath her. Zelos let out a yell of surprise as the extra weight toppled both of them over onto the soft but admittedly muddy grass. He barely managed to catch himself from crushing her and rolled over onto his side.
"Martel.." he sighed, not caring for once that his clean white pants were getting soaked through with mud. Sheena lay next to him, taking in deep, much needed breaths of air and still giggling softly now and again. She soon rolled her head over to face him, smiling widely. Goddess, what a beautiful smile.
"It looks good on you," she finally said.
Zelos pulled his mouth into a childish pout, then grinned and retorted, "It looks even better on you."
"You really think we should leave them like that?"
Colette checked her balance on the log she had stopped on before turning towards the swordsman.
"Yep. They'll be fine. I'm sure Sheena knows the way back."
Lloyd rubbed the back of his neck and glanced behind him, muttering, "I'm more worried about whether or not they'll start fighting on the way back."
"They'll be fine," repeated Colette, "I think they just need some alone time."
"I guess so," he shrugged and started forward again. Colette giggled softly.
"And besides, I don't think Sheena hates Zelos as much as she preten- AHH!" (As if we didn't see this coming.)
Colette slipped on the mossy bark and fell backwards…to be caught by a pair of ready arms. That definitely weren't going to drop her five seconds later like they did last time.
"Are you okay?"
She nodded silently as Lloyd set her back on her feet.
"Here, hold my hand," he said, squeezing her fingers in his, "It gets slippery past here."
Besides, thought Colette as he led her through the trees, it gives me more time to be with the one I care most about.
Luithia: Sorry,I had to add some Colloyd at the end. I love it too much. And I don't know about you, but I think Colette would be a little more insightful with romance than Lloyd would.
Zelos: But you loved my preformance even more, right? ;)
Luithia: Umm...Sorry, but you're no Jade Curtiss.
Zelos: What?! He's not even in this game!
Luithia: Oh, just go back to Sheena, would you?
Sheena: Hey! Don't shove him on me!
Zelos: I feel so unloved...