~*Beneath the Crystal Stars*~

He's trying to find his place with her…and it's harder than it sounds.

~*X*~

Sometimes she really loathed guard duty. Sometimes she didn't mind it at all, almost embraced it, especially when a lot was on her mind and all she could do was dwell upon her thoughts—since sleep was impossible anyway.

Tonight was one of those nights when she was in-between. She could have easily gone to sleep, but she wasn't too tired to keep an eye out for danger as her friends tried to rest.

A collection of Rheiards glittered nearby in the moon's light, gleaming silver against the pine needles and leaves. Emil's four monsters were asleep in a loose circle around them to keep the crafts safe from outside influences, though Sheena personally thought that it was a little unnecessary. There didn't seem to be any danger in the woods that surrounded the World Tree.

Yuan had bestowed the flying vehicles upon the party so they could travel faster and more efficiently, but since they had arrived so late in the evening, Lloyd had decided that the gang would depart in the morning instead.

Whatever. She was fine with that.

Sheena was sitting at the base of a tree, shuffling her spell cards absently, her back resting against the trunk. She was the first person on guard duty, so the night was still pretty young. Judging by the position of the moon, she estimated it was around eleven or so. In two hours, she'd switch out with Regal, who had offered to take over for her then.

Sighing deeply, the ninja peeked through her black bangs at Lloyd, who was snoring lightly beside Colette. Two years, and he was still chaste! More mature maybe, but so impossibly innocent.

Something cracked behind her, and before Sheena could draw a card, a strong hand reached out from behind the tree and clapped over her mouth. She would have jumped, but then another hand landed on her shoulder and held her down.

Warm breath carried a familiar voice—"Boo."

Infuriated that he had snuck up on her, she grabbed his hand and pulled it off, her brown eyes narrowed to blazing slits. "Zelos!" She hissed, turning around to glower crossly at him. She glanced guiltily at her friends then, but fortunately no one stirred except for Tenebrae, and it was only temporary. "Why aren't you asleep?"

He mimicked her hushed tone. "Not tired, and believe me, I've been trying for the last hour."

"Well in case you haven't noticed, I'm on guard duty," she told him testily, more irked that he had caught her unawares than anything else. Crossing her arms, she scanned the sleeping forms of her companions to make sure that no one else was missing.

Zelos came to sit beside her, wearing his signature smirk, copying her tense posture. He surprised her by remarking, "Something's on your mind, and it's sitting pretty heavily."

It wasn't a question. A little astonished at his perceptiveness—and then not, because he had a habit of doing this—Sheena blinked curiously at him. "What makes you say that?"

He picked up a blade of grass, studied it, and then gave her a sly sideways look. "You gave quite a sigh earlier, Sheena my sweet."

She made a face at the use of one of his many pet names, but let it pass by unchallenged. "Hey. Can you keep a secret?"

The Chosen shrugged, abandoning the blade of grass in favor of a white wildflower. "If it's really bothering you that badly, then sure."

Sheena wondered if he was being sincere or not, but since he seemed to actually be listening and wasn't in full lecherous mode…at least not yet…she decided to go ahead and risk it. She trusted him, after all, even if she was tentative about it. "Lloyd."

Zelos exhaled, long and slow, shaking his head so that his red locks swung from side to side in a pitying gesture. "Are you still pining after him? You need to get your courage together and tell him before he makes his move on Colette."

Her heart hit her ribcage hard, once, twice, three times. Kept going. She lost track. "W-W-What?" She had to refrain from biting her nails, a habit she was trying to break, though her fingers twitched and dug into the grass.

"Don't tell me you didn't know…"

She looked back over at Lloyd, whom had always opted to camp out next to Colette. She knew they were friends, but…She had thought that maybe…Oh, Martel, did she wait too long? What if—

Her thoughts were interrupted by Zelos as he twirled the flower stem once and then tucked it neatly behind her ear. His fingers lingered there for a second before he patted her shoulder and, mercifully, kept his hands to himself. She wouldn't be able to promise that he'd have use of his arm in the morning if he had tried anything now.

"Don't worry about it so much. Things like this have a habit of working out."

Sheena took a fleeting look at Marta, her heart going out to the girl. "Well, you can only hope, right?" This was a nice, unexpected change, she mused. Too often did she see the Zelos that everyone else knew, it wasn't a common thing, to actually talk with the friend that she remembered from times past.

"Well, can't really help you there, my darling." Zelos's eyes sparked, bright with unexpected mischief. "Unless you want me to go over and tell him for you right now?"

Mortified, she shook her head quickly, motioning with her hands for him to sit down. "What?" Raine murmured in her sleep, and the ninja remembered to keep her voice low. "No! Don't! Stay put!"

Standing slowly, Zelos continued to grin and then inched away from her. Sheena sprang to her feet, stopping him the only thing on her mind because she'd never survive the embarrassment, and grabbed his hand.

Fast as the lightning that was his Element, he twisted around, tightened his grip, and scooped her up into his arms, bridal style. Before she could make a sound, they were suddenly rising, so quickly that she clung to his shoulders out of sheer instinct, her face resembling that of a frightened cat's.

"Zelos!" She hissed, certain that Lloyd and the others wouldn't hear her from up here. "Let me down!"

"I'm just trying to make you relax, hunny," he replied in his most innocent way. He gave her that smile that he knew she couldn't resist, the one that was identical to his boyhood grin. "After all, the view is beautiful from up here, don't you think?"

Sheena glared and prepared to really tell him off, but then she turned her head and gazed out at the night. She clasped the front of his shirt, feeling the anger and indignation drain out of her in favor of awe.

Spreading out beneath them was the forest. Somehow Zelos had taken them above the trees without her even noticing. Their campfire was only an orangey speckle amongst a sea of dark green and brown, which was in turn crisscrossed with the blue gleam of water. The World Tree seemed even smaller from this high up, though it still appeared to glow like a natural lantern.

"What're you looking down for?" He said in her ear, and she had to blink herself back to reality into order to understand his words. "The best is up there."

Slowly, she raised her head. The stars seemed impossibly near, like silver ornaments made of the finest crystal. A billion lights against an unexplainable black nothingness. At first she wondered where the moon had gone, and that's when she directed her gaze elsewhere and saw that it was directly behind them.

And, burning far more impressively than any of the celestial objects, were Zelos's wings. They were long, feathery, and golden with just the faintest tinge of red along the edges. She didn't get to see them often—usually only during his Mystic Arte, Shining Bind—but she had always thought that they were gorgeous.

Strangely, they weren't flapping. Yet here they were, hanging perfectly still in the air.

"Well, Sheena?"

She cleared her throat and nestled closer to him, not liking her odds if she accidentally fell. Chances were, her bad luck would take this as an opportunity to switch from falling down holes into dropping out of the sky.

"I feel better," she said quietly.

"Still not panicking over Lloyd, right? I only meant it as a joke." The strength of Zelos's grip increased on her arms, and he held her closer, lifting her up a bit so they were almost eye to eye.

Sheena managed to sound annoyed, despite the circumstances. "I wasn't panicking."

"Oh really?" He put on a pretty decent imitation of her voice. "'No! Don—'"

She grabbed his shirt collar and pulled his face closer to hers. "You. Are. An. Idiot." Finished seething, she released him and crossed her arms.

Zelos merely chuckled, and then proceeded to spin around quickly in retaliation. This time she did see his wings flap, and each revolution made her more and more dizzy. The world blurred to flashes of red, black, white, green, and brown with just the tiniest glimmer of orange.

"Ah! You idiot! Stop!"

Freezing abruptly, he just laughed and then lowered them down gently so that they were only a stone's throw away from their campsite. Sheena jumped out of his arms quickly, torn between yelling at him and thanking him. Instead she did neither and simply studied her friend with arched eyebrows.

"Just messed my hair up," Zelos muttered, running a hand over his head. Seeing her scrutinizing look, he said, "Something the matter?"

"What're you so happy about?" His behavior tonight was puzzling, to say the least. Sheena put her hands on her hips and waited for his response.

The trees cast patchy patterns of light and darkness over his face, leaving some parts shrouded in shadow. "Whatever do you mean, hunny?"

Deciding not to pursue the issue, Sheena turned as if to get back to her sentry duty. Then something occurred to her. She whipped back around and commented wryly, "How many times have you done that?"

Zelos was busy repositioning his sword in its sheath. He said without looking up, "Hmm?"

She walked a little nearer to him, and for some reason she couldn't decide if she was sad or angry. "How many other girls did your little stunt work for?"

"Do I detect some bitterness, Sheena?" Zelos grinned widely, and then it faded as he saw her serious expression. "Oh, you're actually…"

A pause.

Sheena scoffed. "Thanks anyway." With that she turned around and walked into the trees. It really shouldn't have bothered her as much as it did, after all, it wasn't as if she liked Zelos or something…to that…extent…

She heard him coming after her, but didn't slow down. Zelos managed to catch her arm before she entered the clearing where the others slept so peacefully, and she stopped, glancing over her shoulder with a warning in her eyes.

"What did I do now?" He whined, though she could tell he honestly wanted to know. Sometimes his facades were tiring.

Even if he had done that sky view thing with other women before, what did it matter? Sheena felt a bit guilty. Hadn't he tried to cheer her up, since her tongue-tied status with Lloyd had been intent on making her depressed?

"Hey, it's nothing, never mind, Zelos." She tried to pry his fingers off of her arm, but he shook his head stubbornly.

"C'mon, I know it's something."

Oddly, she found it easier to talk with Zelos than with Lloyd…or maybe not oddly at all. So she told him something that had bothered her for a while, really.

"Am I just another one of your 'hunnies'?" She had meant to sound accusing, but it ended up sounding soft and uncertain.

"No. No, of course not. Sheena…"

She turned all the way around to face him, and he pulled her into a tight, sudden hug. She stiffened in shock, and he added, "You're a friend." Just like that, he released her with one final pat on the back.

And he was back to his usual self. "So, want me to take over?"

It took her a few seconds to realize what he was talking about. "Oh? What? No, I'm fine. Thanks though." Sheena gestured towards the fire. "You need to catch up on your beauty sleep anyway. There aren't enough hours in the day for it to actually be effective though."

Zelos mimed being hit. "Oh, such harsh treatment! Well, enjoy the rest of your night, Sheena my sweet." With one final wave he sauntered off.

She couldn't help a chuckle, though it was nearly inaudible, and she tiptoed back to her previous spot beneath the tree. Settling down there, one leg drawn up to her chest, she watched Zelos get comfortable before directing her gaze towards the sky.

It actually was a while before it dawned upon her exactly what she was looking at.

The white flower from earlier was drifting down from up high, and it settled without a sound on her lap. She picked it up, turned it over between her fingers, and with one final smile, she placed it safely back behind her ear.

And so the hours passed.

Author's Note: I wanted to make this an actual pairing fic instead of just a friendship-ish drabble, but I needed to practice writing these two first before I tackle that. These two are difficult for me, for some reason. I've only played Dawn of the New World and I offer that as an excuse for my lack of understanding for their deep characters. Review, if you want, and Faux Promises can consider this a small offering to her awesomeness. I'll write an actual shipping story soon!