Disclaimer: Not only do I not own the Tales of.. series, Tales of the Abyss or Namco, I purely wrote this for fun... and most likely just butchered my favourite characters. Namco and the Tales of.. team would punish me. But I would have put a Jadist animated scene in if I WAS on the Tales of... team. =D
A/N: Fun to write, if not slightly difficult for me. First fanfic. Bash away if you must.
Saphir liked snow. No.. no, that was actually a false statement. Saphir liked the kinds of things that happened in the snow. He was always skinny: when he was a kid, Jade, Nephry and Peony always made fun of the way he shivered while standing mid-calf deep in snow, while they were (mostly) fine.
Back when he was a child, he rather hated the snow. Until he reached the age of sixteen. Before the age of sixteen, he had always been forced to shiver and cling to himself in the cold snows of winter in Keterburg.
Jade and Saphir hadn't always been friends. They had been worst enemies for the majourity of their childhood. The death of Professor Nebilim had brought the two together. Perhaps not really her death, but, rather, the promise behind bringing Neblim back brought them together. It was when they were eleven that they had been forced together to run through the snow (though Saphir was yelled and screamed at afterward for tripping by Jade, who seemed to lose control for the first time since they were six) to Keterburg for the police.
Five years had passed, and neither boy had had much success on fomicry. However, Saphir had found that he rather liked what happened in the snow...
---
"I knew I'd find you out here. You're shivering as always." Jade said coldly, approaching the skinny, ivory haired boy. "Your lips are blue, and do you even notice your nose is running, Saphir?" He didn't have to see the front of Saphir to know what he looked like in the cold. He'd seen Saphir in the cold since they were little.
No comment from the knelt Saphir. No comment, that was, until Jade kicked his face into the snow harshly.
"H-HEY!" Saphir shouted, standing quickly, his fists clenched into balls. "What was that for, Jade?!" Jade's smile of amusement pushed him further. Saphir was always amusing when he was angry. The effect of anger just wasn't there, looking at his face. He was shivering, his lips were blue, his nose was red and runny, his lavender eyes matched the distant snow. It was an almost... pathetic sight. "There's that damn smile again! What makes you think you can just..... you can just kick me into the snow?!"
"Of course I can." Jade murmured, the smile never leaving. "After all, I doubt you'd leave just for being kicked..." He paused for a moment, adjusting the glasses so they reflected the sun. "Unless, of course, your old dream is gone?" Though Jade knew of more than one dream Saphir had.
"N-no it's not!" Saphir yelled, kicking the snow. They were the only two people outside of Keterburg. Jade idly wondered if the people on the edges of Keterburg could hear the scratchy, whiny voice of his best friend. He swatted the snow off where the ivory haired boy had kicked it on him.
"Saphir, how long have you been out here?" Jade asked, his facial expression turning serious. Without thought, he wiped snow off of Saphir's shoulder. It had accumulated over the time he had been knelt in the snow.
"Not too long.." Saphir lied, looking at the stone he'd been kneeling at. Of course, Professor Nebilim's.
Jade sighed, "are you okay, Saphir?" He wiped more of the snow off on Saphir, knowing the boy's low tolerance to being cold (despite living in Keterburg all his life). The fontech geek was a pain, getting sick all the time, and cold too easily ("you should know, Jade, I heat up around sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit!") and yet loving to get into the cold, which, as a result, made him sick. Often.
"I... uh... yes... not really. I don't know!" He said, gritting his teeth, looking down at the snow. He wouldn't allow Jade of all people to see him cry. As far as he knew, no one had seen him cry since they were children. On that note, as far as he knew, no one had noticed he had the biggest crush on Jade, either. Which they all had noticed the latter. Jade liked to tease him for it, though not outright. Even wiping snow off would do enough; he would watch Saphir stiffen or shiver once out of place, and the boy's breathing would fall off track. On top of that, he couldn't think. The effect was nice, in Jade's mind. No more rants from Saphir.
"You're going to get frostbite if you linger here." Jade said. "Aren't you cold?" It was meant to be a rhetorical question, but since when did Saphir have much sense when it came to anything that wasn't fontech?
"Very." He muttered, sniffling. He let out a short yell as he was pulled into the warmth that was Jade's arms. His breathing went ragged. It was the closest contact the two had ever had. "J-Jade?"
"Shut up, I'm only doing it to warm you for the travel back." Jade replied, though that was a hidden lie. He looked down, watching the kid in his arms sink some so his face was buried into his chest, listening to his heartbeat, no doubt. At least Saphir was silent for once. It was rare for him to be silent, and rarer that he was silent on command.
Jade grimaced some as he realised the white-haired boy's snot was going to be all over him. He'd have to change clothing.
"Let's go." He said, letting go of Saphir. It had felt like mere seconds to Saphir, and yet, at the same time, forever.
Saphir really liked what happened in the snow.