Bandai Namco holds the exclusive rights to all characters are story elements related to the video games "Tales of Symphonia" and "Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World." The following story is written for entertainment purposes only, and no profit is being made by the author.

Note: I have not played Dawn of the New World, nor have I any plans at present to do so. However, I have seen a few cut scenes on YouTube, and have based this scene on the Lloyd-Sheena scene in Flanoir. Think of it an alternative to that scene, with Lloyd a little more flirty and Sheena a tad more confident.

Tales of Symphonia: By My Side

Sheena held her back to the boy, the man. She would not allow him to see the hurt in her eyes. It was enough that he heard her voice quaver. "You shouldn't have run off without me, ya know? Don't you trust me?"

Lloyd sighed heavily. This conversation was one he had assiduously avoided since rejoining his former allies, to the point that he had barely spoken to Sheena in a month. "Of course I do. I couldn't guarantee your safety if you went with me."

She turned now, faced him, and said, "Do you want this relationship to last?"

"Relat—" His face colored. "Do you have to put it so bluntly?" When she didn't answer, just continued to meet his eyes, for once not turning away, not dancing around the issue of are-we-aren't-we? he conceded with some reluctance that she was right. The time for clinging to his false veneer of independence was over. True though it may be that he had enjoyed traveling alone, he had not enjoyed it nearly so much as traveling with her. To keep her, he had to acknowledge her as his—if not before her people with their complex rituals of courtship, if not before the rest of the world, if not even before their friends, then at least before her. "Yes," he said, "you're important to me, Sheena. I don't want to lose you."

"Then get this through your head," she said. "My life is mine to risk or not risk and no one else's. You cannot, you will not treat me like a damsel in distress. I am a warrior. I don't need you to protect me, little boy." She took a breath. "I need you to love me."

What else could he say, but, "I'm sorry."

"Damn straight you are."

"Ha." Lloyd closed the gap between them, started to take her hand, but seized with sudden, lingering awkwardness, instead settled for placing a hand on her shoulder. "You know, I didn't leave you behind because you're a girl—"

"A woman," she insisted.

"—a woman. I did it—"

"Because that's how you treat everyone you love. You push them behind you and go toe to toe with whatever's threatening them." Sheena took his hand and led him to a bench. He brushed off the snow so they could sit.

"You've got me pegged," he said.

"And sometimes you do the same for strangers."

"I get that from you, oh Saviour of Luin."

"Don't change the subject. You know, Lloyd, I'm special."

"Well, you're not a genius, but I wouldn't say—"

"Careful, funny man." She elbowed him in the side.

He raised a hand in acquiescence. "Keeping my trap shut."

"Good call. I'm special—not a word—our relationship is special. You share something with me that you share with no one else in the world (and it had better be no one else in the world, your habit of peeping aside.)"

"I told you I was framed," he growled.

"Shut it, Irving. A liar has to swallow a thousand needles in Mizuho. You don't want to know where a philanderer has to put them. What, no comeback? Another good call. My point is this: your default way of interacting with the world is to protect people. That's fine, but our relationship is spec—unique. So, shouldn't the way you treat me be unique—like a partner, a trusted partner, someone you don't have to protect?"

After a pause, he shrugged his shoulders. "I can try."

"Lloyd, promise me."

He squeezed her hand. "I won't make a promise I can't keep, Sheena. Protecting people is in my nature, and I can't say that, in the heat of battle, when I'm driven by instinct, that I'll take the time to worry about hurting your feelings. I'll worry about keeping you alive."

Pride demanded that she contest this, good sense that she concede it. Damn you, good sense.

"That's different. Yes, Lloyd, I'll appreciate your backup in battle. And you'll have mine whether you want it or not, but never sideline me. I'm no porcelain doll to be placed on a shelf."

A puckish grin split his face. "You're the kind of doll I should take off the shelf and...play with."

Propriety and a few thousand years of Mizuhoan tradition demanded she slap him. Hormones and many thousands of years of female instinct also demanded a physical response, albeit of a different, more pleasurable nature. Instead, a compromise.

"Careful," she said, drawing back a fist as if she meant to let it fly.

"You're an action figure," he amended.

"Better."

"With Kung Fu death grip?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Do you want me to flatten you?"

"Kinky."

She raised the other. "Stop hanging around perverted former religious leaders."

His grin expanded into a smile. "I won't make a promise I can't keep."

"What will you promise me?"

All right, no more jokes. He put an arm around her, pulled her close. "To never take you for granted or undervalue you."

"And to never run off again?"

He didn't answer right away. After a moment, he pulled her more tightly to himself and kissed the top of her head. "I want you by my side," he said, "always."

The End