Author Notes: This is my 'Ode to Zelos', as it were. Inspired by a quote from the song 'Defying Gravity' from the musical Wicked. Oh, and Tales of Symphonia does not belong to me, so don't get your panties in a knot. And I can't force this darn thing to double space...so I'm sorry if anyone finds this a little cluttered. Is there a trick for it or something? If so, let me know!

"talking," obviously.

'thinking,' possibly not-so-obviously…

Defying Gravity

"I may be flying solo, but at least I'm flying free."

The snow crunched underneath his shoes, each step taking him away from this snow-filled bliss and into most certain doom. 'Will this be the last time I'll see the snow? Feel cold? See so much white?' He didn't know… somehow he hoped that it would be his last, so this farce of a life would be done and over with. Holding himself in a tight hug, he tried to stop himself to stop from shaking – be it from the snow or what he was about to do, he knew not…

"Zelos, can I trust you?" Lloyd's voice surprised him, dragging him from his inner musings.

He gave Lloyd what he hoped was a perplexed stare, and not the shock that he felt right about then. "Of course you can, buddy!" Lloyd looked at him with a serious look on his face for a few moments, seemingly to consider his answer, before turning back around and continuing on his way.

'Hope he's not catching on… That's just what I need…' Zelos thought briskly, pushing all troubled thought to the back of his mind and trudging on through the snow, a renewed swagger in his gait and a cheesy grin plastered on his face.

'Let's get this farce over with…'

Zelos had left several subtle openings for the young swordsman to use, but Lloyd had taken advantage of none of them. 'I either gave him too much credit as a swordsman, or he's trying notto kill me…' That would be just great… here he was, trying his best to hurry the fight so they could continue on and save Colette from her fate, and Lloyd was trying to be noble…

Frustrated, and just wanting it all to finally end, Zelos flew at Lloyd, landing a few hits on him, before throwing himself into one of Lloyd's attacks, skewering himself on one of the boy's swords. He felt the cold steal breakthrough the skin, and continue rushing through until it was protruding from Zelos' back, a small spray of blood following. Zelos didn't think that it was going to hurt this much… but he should have expected it… nothing in his life had been easy, so why should dying be any easier?

Everything had stopped moving. From Zelos' vantage point, he saw Genis lower his Kedama and placed a small, white hand over his mouth in alarm. The brat was too young… he shouldn't have to see this… He shouldn't have to help with this… What were his teammates thinking?

The Chosen and the Swordsman were inches away from each other; so close, too close… Zelos took a few stumbling step backwards, wrenching the sword from his midsection, a small groan of pain escaping his lips as he did so.

Gazing down at the wound, Zelos was disheartened to see that it didn't hit anything vital… Raising his sword he clumsily lunged at Lloyd, continuing the dance of death. He had to carry on until they killed him… Until Lloyd killed him…

'Just a little longer… Just a little more… It'll be over soon…'

He was suddenly falling backwards, his will to fight spilling away as fast as the blood from his multiple gashes inflicted from his former team mates. A sickening sucking noise came from where the blade was implanted in his chest as the blade exited his body. Zelos hit the floor with a dull thud, causing everything on his body to hurt intensely for a moment, before dulling out slightly. The figures of his former team swam before his eyes and he tried to shake his head to clear his eyesight, but of course that did no good.

He was conscious for a time… he spoke, tried to explain why he did what he did between the bloodied, asphyxiating coughs. Breathing… became hard… then…

Zelos felt… disconnected from his surroundings. Severed – as if he was in a private balcony seat, watching everything happen from a stage. There was his character, death slowly clouding his eyes, blood pooling around his crumpled form and slowly stopping. Lloyd's character was kneeling beside the dying Chosen – were there tears in the boy's eyes? He couldn't tell, being as far away as he was. The play continued, the actors of his former friends saying kind words over him, and then they left centre stage to continue the fight for the worlds.

Zelos watched his motionless character on stage for a while, not knowing what he was suppose to do now. Without really realizing, and not particularly caring, his surroundings had become quite alike to those of the theatre in Meltokio he used to frequent – not exactly the same, but similar. This theatre had candles instead of electric lights and the carpets and chairs were blue instead of red. There was no ceiling, only an open, cloudless night sky, a full moon rising to what Zelos decided should be south.

A soft, cool breeze blew over him, and he sighed contently. This was rather nice… If this was death, well… it wasn't so bad.

Resting for a time in his comfortable chair, he thought about his life. It had been filled with so much… Women, gambling, drinking, politics, self-loathing… He had cried, laughed, danced… People had always surrounded him, and yet he had always felt so lonely…

It was quiet here, comfortably so. Gazing up at the stars, he had a sudden want to get away from all this. The theatre was beautiful, but he wanted to feel the cool nights breeze rush through his hair as he flew through the stars…

Staring at the stars, he peeled his gloves off, letting them fall to the floor, along with his long coat, headband and shoes. He didn't need them, it was a pleasant night…

Kicking off from the balcony, he left the empty theatre. He flew into the welcoming stars – Alone, yet free. Free from the life he hated and resented. Free from the crowds, the responsibilities… everything. He was alone, but he was free.

'I can finally be me… Not the Chosen, just me…'

"I can finally be just Zelos…"

With a whoop of relief, he flew in the quiet night on twilight hued wings.

Ending Notes: I loved Zelos' character so much while I was playing ToS. He always made me giggle with his antics and witty comments. I played through the game with both versions of the game. He lived and died, and I must say, I do believe that the game feels more… complete with his death… sigh… Too bad… We all love you, Zelos!

I hope you enjoyed this! If you did, please let me know. And if you didn't, let me know too! I crave criticism (constructive, please…)! Personally, I didn't like how it ended… but… yeah. I'm tired of agonizing over every little sentence, since I haven't written anything in a while.

Anyway, cheers and happy writing/reading you all!