Disclaimer - Tals of Symphonia and its characters are property of Namco

Unprofessional Behaviour - Chapter One

Zelos Wilder breezed through the practically deserted base, his mind swarming and unsettled. He shook some of the snow from his pink jacket as he swept down the empty corridors. The blizzard he had flown through from Flanoir had almost sent his rheard into the sea, but here he was. He reached the door to the commanders office and paused briefly, considering knocking. Shaking his head he decided to skip the formalities completely and pushed the door open, strolling brazenly inside. The office was swathed in darkness, the only light coming from a solitary candle on the owner's desk, piercing through the gloom. The room's sole occupant did not look up from the stack of papers before him.

'If you've come to hand in your resignation, I'm not interested' Yuan muttered, his eyes not leaving his work, the quill in his hand moving steadily across the paper. Zelos smirked and closed the door behind him, moving towards the desk.

'Well, I don't remember ever officially signing up, so I guess I couldn't resign even if I wanted to' the red head replied, throwing himself into the chair across from the older man, swinging his feet up to rest on the edge of the desk, accidentally flicking a few excess flakes of snow onto the polished surface. Yuan cast him an irritated look, the first since his arrival, and shoved his boots unceremoniously off the otherwise immaculate workspace. Zelos sent him a half-heartedly apologetic look before scanning the headers of the now scattered papers. The swordsman's brow knitted in comprehension.

'How many?' he asked, all humour wiped from his demeanour. Yuan sighed deeply, rubbing his temple with his free hand.

'Forty-seven' the blue haired man answered, his writing hand clutching almost imperceptibly tighter 'almost a third of the base's personnel have deemed the current climate to be too dangerous and have left so that they may be with their families, and I do not blame them for a second' Zelos was silent as the older man signed off on the last of the discharge forms.

'I guess losing Botta showed us just how far things have gotten, huh' the red head murmured seriously, picking up the heap of completed documents and began to thumb through them, checking for any names he recognised.

'Wow, Harris is leaving?' he asked, holding up one of the papers 'I only spoke to the guy a couple of weeks ago, figured he was in for the long haul' Yuan nodded, placing his head in his gauntleted hands.

'His wife just had their first child. He decided that it was best for him to return home to them so he can protect them full time. I did not contest his decision, Ozette is not the safest place for a human – half elf marriage as it is' the Renegade leader replied, his voice slightly muffled by his hands. Zelos nodded, watching the man before him. He could tell that his 'Boss' was spreading himself thin trying to hold together an organisiation that was facing opposition from all sides. He had been present when Yuan had been informed of the Iselia Ranch Infiltration Team's execution at Forcystus' hands. He saw the cracks in the composure of the usually stoic man that none of the others would have even registered. The old angel truly felt for the men and women he often had to send into danger and Zelos knew that he made a point to personally write to the families of those that had given their lives to the Renegades cause. He of course couldn't reveal that they died fighting against the very Church they should have been worshiping. Instead he wrote praises of heroism, bravery and dedication. Zelos and Botta had decided once between them that the angel's only weakness was that he cared too much.

'You look like you could use a vacation or two' Zelos quipped, trying to bring the man out of his thoughts. Yuan snorted with laughter, and the red head was glad to see that it wasn't forced.

'Or two is right' the half-elf replied, leaning back in his seat, placing his own hoots on the desk, smirking at his own hypocrisy when Zelos shoved his legs straight off the table with a grunt. The two men forgot about their hardships for a moment and simply laughed like a pair of slackers that were avoiding work. The red head jumped to his feet suddenly as though he had forgotten something important, and Yuan eyed him questioningly. Pulling back his corral jacket, Zelos revealed a pair of liquor bottles attached haphazardly to his belt.

'Flanoir's finest, pal' he announced, yanking them off hastily, placing them on the wide desk 'chilled to perfection thanks to that bastard snowstorm I had to fly through' the smirk that had slid onto Yuan's face stretched into a full grin. He stacked the completed papers to one side and opened a small cabinet at the base of his desk and with a flourish, produced a third bottle and placed it with Zelos' contribution as the red head's eyes widened.

'No way' he gibbered, marvelling at the slightly dusty bottle, his mouth practically watering 'how did you get your hands on another?'

'The Mayor of Heimdal owed me a favour' the angel answered cryptically, pointedly moving the bottle out of reach from Zelos' not so subtly wandering fingertips. 'Not so fast. Don't you remember what you and Botta did with the last one?' he glared at the Chosen, who had the good grace to look away guiltily.

'Um, we didn't not drink it all' Zelos hedged, shifting uncomfortably under his lofty superior's scrutiny.

'And?' Yuan pressed, steepling his fingers, his eyes boring into Zelos' 'what else did you 'not' do?'

'Nothing!' the red head answered, far too quickly 'we just had a few dignified drinks and swapped a couple of manly stories, that's all I swear!'

'So the two of you didn't parade around my base in nought but your underwear and a pair of my cloaks singing the Tethe'allan national anthem?' Yuan asked nonchalantly.

'You were off base how could you possibly know that?' Zelos exclaimed, eyes widening when he realised his mistake. Yuan pointed over his shoulder and, following his direction, the swordsman spotted a small camera whirring in the top most corner of the room, just above the door. He groaned loudly burying his face in his hands.

'I had them put all over the compound' Yuan continued, much to Zelos' dismay, inspecting one of the Flanoir liquor bottles ' for security and such. If you two hadn't been so utterly, what do they call it in Sylverant, shit-faced? You might have remembered they were there'

'Enough man, enough!' Zelos pleaded, rocking side to side in his chair.

'Now where did I put that recording…?' Yuan pondered, rummaging once more through his desk side cabinet. Zelos sat bolt upright.

'You have the recording?' he asked, his demeanour shifting. He let out a peal of laughter 'Oh, man, we have to watch it! And then destroy it!'

'Shut up and get those bottles open, but save that wine' Yuan instructed, his head almost inside the desk now 'Aha! Here it is' the angel withdrew with a small, unassuming disk. He pushed himself across the floor on the wheels of his large chair and inserted the disk into a device below a large screen on the all while Zelos busied himself with the chilled bottles. As the magi-technology warmed up, Yuan kicked off from the wall with a precise push, rolling across the carpet coming to a halt perfectly behind his desk. Zelos stared at his chair with fascination and Yuan raised an eyebrow in query.

'What's with the…' Zelos began, gesturing vaguely at the apparently mobile seat '…are those wheels?' he ducked to take a peek under the desk.

'I got tired of having to get up every time I needed to use that thing' Yuan answered with an idle shrug, reaching for one of the now open bottles. Zelos laughed long and hard.

'You're my kind of guy, man' the swordsman said, grabbing the second bottle and turning his attention to the monitor. Yuan pointed a small remote at the device to start the show.

'Wait, wait, wait' Zelos stalled, and took a huge draught from his bottle as Yuan chuckled 'Ok, hit it' with the press of a button the image of the corridor just outside the Commanders office came into view. All was silent for a long moment as the two men watched the footage.

'Sure you got the right-' Zelos began, trailing off when the door on the screen opened and his own head peeked out, followed by Botta's, right above him. They both comically peered around the empty passage before retreating back inside. 'That is not going to end well' the red head muttered, while Yuans only response was a smirk as he took a long drink from his own bottle. The two men watched while Zelos' memories of that day came back with unfortunate clarity.

Chapter Two coming soon