I have finally rewritten this fanfic! The original title is "Tower of Salvation", but I decided to take of the first 2 words. Plus I'm keeping the old one because I like to see how much I've improved. ) Anyway, this one is a lot more depressing in my opinion.
WARNING: Spoilers for PAST the doctor event
PAIRING: Sheena/Zelos
Also, a big big big thanks to Shadow Amaryllis! Without your review, this rewrite probably wouldn't have been made.
The Tower of Salvation?
Ha, that's a joke. That tower is a pathway to damnation. But I guess I was the only one who saw it like that at the time. For everyone else, it gave them hope, courage and all that other feel-good crap.
It stood so tall and loomed over me. Its smooth white exterior seemed to mock me. And why shouldn't it have? I was pathetic as a person and as a chosen. No one really trusted me or paid much attention to me. They had always brushed off my jokes and never gave a second thought to my actions. It was kinda funny. I was surrounded by 7 other people, yet I was completely alone.
Or at least, I though I was.
Lloyd was leading the group as usual that day. Colette was by his side. I could hear her talking about what a beautiful day it was. Genis agreed. "The sunshine is a good omen," he said.
"What does 'omen' mean?" Lloyd asked. I laughed quietly at his ignorance, earning me a whack at the side of the head from Sheena.
"Lloyd, you really should know this. An omen is a sign. For example, a bad omen is seeing black clouds," Raine explained.
"So basically, we're going to have good luck?"
"That is if you believe in luck," Regal stated. He always seemed so formal and… grown up. It always kinda irked me. I was nothing like that.
"Sure, why not? We need all the help we can get!" Lloyd announced.
"And I'd like to get all that I can get…" I said. I wrapped my arm around Sheena's waist and pulled her into me. She looked so delicate and beautiful.
"Augh! Ze-los!" Sheena cried. She slapped me with the back of her hand, forcing me to let go of her in shock.
"Ouch! That hurt, beautiful! What'd I do?" I complained. She glared at me. Oh, she looked delicate, but she could pack a helluva punch. Er, slap. She liked to remind me that she was one tough cookie.
"So… this is it I guess," Lloyd said as we got to the entrance.
"Yup. You ready for this, bud?" I asked. The button-clad swordsman nodded.
"Definitely," he answered. I sure as hell wasn't.
-- -- --
"Hey, over here!" We spun our heads to see Yuan and the renegades coming towards us.
"Yuan? What are you doing here?" Lloyd asked. I walked a little closer to the conversation, leaving Zelos alone in the back. The half elf pointed to a pathway that we didn't really notice before. "Here, you can get into the Tower of Salvation this way!"
"That's nice of you. Thanks, Yuan," I said.
"Sheena's right, thanks Yuan!" Colette said cheerily. Yuan rested his palm over the bridge of his nose.
"Just go, alright? We'll have plenty of time to chit chat later." Yuan always acted so rushed. Sensing the need to hurry, we quickly followed him down the path. It was a little bumpy and had a lot of rocks or twigs or stumps in the middle of it. It obviously hadn't been used very often. As we hurried, I tripped over a root sticking out of the ground. Stupid, stupid tree roots! I closed my eyes and expected to hit the ground. But I didn't. Instead, something caught me. Or more, caught my breasts!! I opened my eyes to see Zelos standing in front of me with a huge grin pasted on his face. I felt my face go deep red. "ZELOS!!" I shouted at him and slapped him across the face. And what did he do? He just kept on smiling. Goddess. He just had the most perfect teeth.
"Hey! No need to get physical. Unless, that's what you want," Zelos said. I let a look of disgust show on my face. I didn't want Zelos. He was just an ass. And a jerk and he flirted with every girl he saw and he was superficial… I kept on telling myself that. I kept on burying my feelings underneath the negative. He had hurt me in the past. But I never gave him that second chance until it was too late.
"You can use these refreshers if you'd like," Yuan said. We nodded. I clicked the refresher's button and suddenly felt a warm glow through out my body. All of the weariness seemed to fade away. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Zelos staring at me.
"What do you want?" I glared. The chosen laughed and walked over to me. He put his hand on my shoulder softly. Then he leaned in and whispered into my ear, "You know what I want." I could feel him smiling. I felt my face blush and pushed him away.
"Get over yourself."
"Aw, can't you let a guy have some fun?" Zelos teased. I rolled my eyes.
"Not the way you want it!"
"C'mon! This is your last chance," he warned. I thought he meant the last chance before we fight Yggdrasil. But at the same time, I couldn't shake off this nagging feeling that I should indulge just this once. That I'd feel better afterwards if I did. Of course, I pushed it away. I always did.
Damn it, why was I so stupid?
-- -- --
When we walked into the main room in the Tower of Salvation I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. I could feel the adrenaline pumping through me. Like when you're about to steal something from a store or tell a big lie to the authorities. I kept on telling myself over and over again, 'you can do it! You're the great Zelos!' I took a deep breath and tried to calm my nerves. It didn't really work. I ran up in front of the group. Show time.
"Hey Colette, come here for a second?"
"Uh, sure!" She's way too trusting. She walked towards me and I show her where to stand. Three angels suddenly surround her and Lady Pronyma appeared above us. Lloyd clenched his teeth and put his hand on the hilt of his sword.
"Good job, chosen. Now, bring her to me!" Pronyma hissed.
"Here ya go," I said. Light suddenly appeared around Colette and she's warped to Proynma. The angels followed. Genis started to scream at me. Confusion and hurt feelings rose in the group.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Sheena yelled. I gave her an evil smile.
"Putting myself on the winning side. It's what I do. Besides, what you're trying to do is meaningless. Besides, Colette wanted to be a sacrifice, right?" I turned to Lloyd and stared into his hurt face.
"Traitor…"
"Funny you say that. It's not like you really trusted me. None of you did. I was just that little voice that you all ignored. No one ever took me seriously. None of you gave a crap," I said as if I was saying 'oh look. It's sunny today.'
"Zelos was our spy from the very beginning!" Pronyma said venomously.
"Th-that's not true!!" Sheena cried. Crap. Her voice cracked my heart.
"Please, say it isn't true!" Colette adds.
"I side with the strongest. I just had to weigh in the Renegades, Cruxis and you guys. And face it. You guys don't stand a chance."
"You were leaking info to the Renegades too?! Crap Zelos, I knew you were a pervert. But… I always thought you were a good guy at heart!" Sheena screamed. At that moment I felt like shit. I didn't know that Sheena actually trusted me. I wanted to just turn around and go 'ha ha, wasn't that a funny joke?'
"Why thank you, my sweet voluptuous hunny! But anyway, in the end I chose Cruxis. Mithos promised to relieve me of being the Chosen."
"You hate being the Chosen that much?" Regal asked. I glared at him.
"Hell yeah. My life's been a total joke. Soon Seles will become the Chosen and I'll be free." I took a deep breath and reminded myself that it was almost over.
"I… I still trust you, damn it! You said that I could trust you!!" Lloyd yelled. I roll my eyes.
"Shit you're stupid. Pronyma, take Colette away already." She nodded, and seconds later Colette was gone.
"Augh, Zelos! I, I still can't believe it! Why?" Lloyd cried.
"What can I say? I'm a weak, lazy bum," I said with a smile. Time for the props. I reached deep into my body and swelled up my mana, and felt myself release it. Out from behind me I could feel my orange wings erupt. I looked at all of the surprised faces.
"Let's get this over and done with."
-- -- --
I took out two of my spell cards and began to cast Serpent seal. As I concentrated my mana, I looked at Lloyd. He had dashed up to Zelos and was already trading blows with him. Crap. Zelos was a powerful swordsman.
"Acuteness!" Raine called. I felt power surging through my body. I concentrated harder and saw Zelos blow Lloyd away with one of his techs. Then the Chosen started to cast a spell.
"Serpent seal!" I cried. I let my cards circle Zelos and lower his accuracy.
"Judgement!" Zelos cried in return. My eyes widened. Zelos knew how to cast angel spells?! Then again, he did have angel wings. And he was the Chosen. A blast of light suddenly plunged in front of me. I screamed as I was thrown backwards. I hit the ground hard and slid far. As I heard Genis and Regal shout in pain as well, I placed my hand on my stomach. My hand was on something sticky… I lifted it up and gasped. My hand was red.
"Ugh… lemon gel? Anyone?" I cried weakly. I squinted and looked over to see a mass of pink. Wait, pink?
"Here Sheena," Presea said monotonously. She put a glob of yellow gel in my hand.
"Th-thanks," I managed to cough. She nodded and ran back into the fray dragging her ax. I rubbed the gel into my stomach and slowly felt it heal. But something was wrong. Usually Zelos was always covering me when I was healing. Why wasn't he covering me? Was he hurt? I sat up and looked around for Zelos when I remembered: Zelos was the enemy. I frowned. I had to get up and fight him. I had to help Lloyd and the others. I didn't want to. But I couldn't just stand in the sidelines and watch the rest of my friends get hurt. I took a deep breath and charged in with my cards. I slapped Zelos' face with my cards and then followed it up with Pyre seal. The red head fell over onto the hard ground. "Ouch, that hurt hunny," Zelos said. I gasped when I realized what I had done. Zelos took that time to leap up. "Sonic thrust!" Zelos shouted. I expected to have a sword at my stomach. Instead, I saw Genis kneeling over in pain. "Genis, no!!" Raine cried. I was still in shock. Why didn't Zelos attack me? I was right there and perfectly open. I cleared my head quickly and again, ran towards Zelos. He was attacking Presea who was having difficulty blocking his sword. "Super lightning blade!"
"Earthly protection!!" The attack bounced off the shield and slammed into the tower's wall, breaking a hole in it. Sunlight from outside streamed in.
This was my chance to attack. But again, I hesitated. Lloyd took it instead. "Sonic sword rain!!" He cried. I winced as I watched Zelos get pierced by Lloyd's swords. At the first chance he got, the Chosen jumped into the air and let mana release from his sword.
"Hell pyre!" Lloyd fell over from the fiery attack and fell into Regal who was behind him. I gathered up my courage and rushed towards Zelos. I slashed him with my cards and pushed him over again with Pyre seal. He got up quickly.
"I'm sorry Sheena," he said. Before I could reply I felt his sword slice through my hand. I screamed in pain and kicked him in the groin. The swordsman hunched over in pain. From behind him, Presea swung her ax. "Beast!" Zelos fell towards me and landed by my feet.
"Revitalize!" Raine called out. I felt the pain in my hand go numb and my body felt refreshed. Zelos was unaffected by the spell though, and struggled to get up.
"Sheena, finished him!" Regal called out. I nodded and smacked Zelos on the side of the head with my right card. He collapsed and fell to the floor again. I took a few steps back in horror. What had I just done?
-- -- --
I rolled over and lay on my back and felt sunlight on my skin. It was over. No more acting. No more spying. No more fighting. It was curtains for me. Everyone was kneeled around me with grim expressions on their faces. I gave them a weak smile.
"Hah, look at the window I made."
"Mithos is gonna be pissed," Lloyd said.
"Yeah. Plus, you guys are good. Good enough… to beat his ass for me." Lloyd shook his head.
"Zelos… no…"
"Aw it's okay. I getting tired of life anyway, y'know? But anyway… Colette's in the hall of the Great Seed below us… Promise me… you'll save her?"
"Yeah, I will," Lloyd promised. I smiled and closed my eyes for the last time.
"Zelos, no!!" Sheena screamed. She pushed Lloyd out of the way and let her knees fall in the pool of blood that surrounded me. Her body leaned over mine and she wrapped her arms around me. Tears fell on my blood stained clothes. And in the sunlight's still silence, she kissed my dead body.
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