Wow, it has really been a looong while since I have uploaded anything here. I really do still love this fandom, but as far as writing goes I have been giving more attention to essays and my original writing (even though I procrastinate terribly on both). That being said, I promised a certain someone ages ago that I would tackle a Symphonia fic based on the theme 'storytelling'. It took a while, but I got it done - and that's what really counts, right?

Dedication: to Lil Samuu, who gave the prompt for this fic and "nagged" me in her own subtle way to finish it. I hope it makes you smile!

Fairy Tale Ending

His eyes darted back and forth, back and forth, resting a fraction of a second on him, then her, then him again. He could not remember a night at any time when the two were not talking to each other—side by side while in a group conversation, or off giggling a distance away. Even during the most challenging times, they would confide in and seek comfort in each other, never avoid each other altogether. What was Zelos witnessing? Whatever it was, he could not accept it. Colette's body was becoming a crystal, yes; sure, she felt disgusting and was trying to distance herself... but was that not the perfect time for Lloyd to step in and share some of his spare confidence with her? Enough was enough.

"So back when I was a woman..."

If there was such a thing as a sound quieter than silence, Zelos had just achieved it. The people sitting around the campfire with him evidently had no idea how to react: Lloyd blinked in exaggeration as though expecting time to shift back to before Zelos' statement, Colette's eyes widened, perhaps upon imagining a female Zelos, and Sheena, who also happened to be there, crossed her arms over her chest and glared in defiance. "What the heck are you babbling about?" she asked accusingly. "You can't expect us to believe that."

He half-collapsed, lying down while keeping an elbow positioned to prop his torso up. "No, clearly not," he agreed. "I am far too masculine to have ever been a woman, even though I am damn pretty." Sheena rolled her eyes while Lloyd and Colette, losing interest, had retreated to their miserable thoughts. Before they sank further into isolation, Zelos piped up, "We should tell stories, though!"

Sheena's eyes narrowed, and Zelos knew that that was her way of questioning his motives. "What kind of stories?"

"Stories about sunshine, smiles, and rainbows!" was the answer that Zelos wanted to blurt out. Without even having to reflect on it, though, he knew that a response like that would only prompt more questions; not only that, but Lloyd and Colette would also think he was acting slightly stranger than usual. Only slightly. Suddenly Zelos wished that he had pulled Sheena aside and explained his plan for cheering their friends up before initiating it. He thought of the genre of stories that was closest to sunshine, smiles, and rainbows; "Fairy tales!" he exclaimed, forcing himself to keep an overzealous tone. Really, he was already getting exhausted by his own plan. "Our own super inventive fairy tales!"

Suspicion still did not wane, so Sheena's eyes continued to narrow. Zelos glanced to Lloyd and Colette and found both of their heads slumped and eyes vacant. He turned back to Sheena, pointed to them, and then traced a huge smile on his own face with his index finger. She uttered a light 'oh', which made Colette raise her head and look at her friend with a blank expression, yet somehow still prying. "O-Okay, whatever, since you won't let up unless I agree apparently," Sheena covered up the realization that she had let slip.

Zelos beamed, although at that point he would have preferred to have given a triumphant cheer. That would have just provoked more questioning, though. "I knew you'd agree, hunny!" he cried and scooted closer to Sheena. She silently gripped his shoulder and pushed him as far as he could, setting the mandatory distance between them as an arm's length away. Completely undeterred, Zelos continued on cheerfully, "So I'll start off the story, and Sheena hunny, you can join in whenever you want. Lloyd, Colette, will you two listen? It wouldn't be fun without an audience..."

Lloyd looked to Zelos and smiled, although the Chosen knew a forced smile when he saw one. Still, Lloyd used a cheery tone when he answered, "Sure we will." His gaze slipped to Colette, and when she caught it she seemed to jump up with realization and gave a nod.

"Great!" In spite of how blatantly forced their enthusiasm was, Zelos continued to play his cheery role. "I'll start. Once upon a time, in the land of... Sylvaruncle..." Sheena let out a huff of both indignation and laughter at Zelos' fairy tale creativity. "A princess was born with a foretold destiny that she herself would only learn of at the age of sixteen.

"For the first ten years of her life, the princess of Sylvaruncle was very lonely. Though no one knew of her future fate, they still stayed distanced from her because of her royal title. Until one day she met the great knight... Zelonius!"

"Yes," Sheena interrupted, the word escaping sharply through clenched teeth, "she met Zelonius who was assigned as her personal guard. Both were distanced from society because of their high status in the, uh, land. Zelonius instantly fell in love with her—not that it took much for him to fall in love with women—but the fair princess could not bring herself to return his feelings." The controlled smile that had stayed consistently on Sheena's face turned fleetingly into a grin when Zelos' expression grew appalled. "For in truth, the princess' eyes were already elsewhere."

Zelos nodded with sudden fervency. "Oh yeah," he agreed as he looked to the princess, her eyes focused where he had expected them to be. "They were elsewhere, on the homely shape of the country bumpkin who tended to the palace's stables." Lloyd's attention seemed to become more genuine, like a person who had just happened to overhear two people conversing about him. Zelos wasn't sure that Lloyd had really realized that he had a role in the story, however—dense boy that he could sometimes be. "When her parents and handsome guard were busy elsewhere, the princess would steal away into the questionable depths of the stables. She'd watch the stable boy from the entranceway at first, then from behind the steeds' stable walls, then out in the open."

"That was when they began to talk," Sheena continued. "They talked and talked at every chance they got, and they grew closer and closer with each conversation. Time passed so quickly after they found each other; without even feeling the length of the years and realizing the significance of her age, the princess turned sixteen.

"On her sixteenth birthday, the princess was called to the highest room in the highest tower of the palace. There her father met her and told her of her tragic destiny..."

"He told her:" Zelos interjected, and then put on an authoritative voice, "'You, my daughter, will save this world. You will travel from town to town, finding the three landmarks of our world and leaving a sacrifice at each of them. These sacrifices will be parts of yourself, until piece-by-piece you become part of the land and the land thrives on you.'

"The princess was alarmed as she received the edict of her destiny, but she was so kind and selfless that she accepted it in spite of her fears."

Colette's gaze was lifted then, not in curiosity as Lloyd's was, but with a terror in her eyes that would have mirrored that of the fairy tale princess'. There were a few moments of silence before Sheena picked up the story, her tone much more gleeful than Zelos' grave one. "But the princess wouldn't be alone in her travels. The... great Zelonius was given the duty of joining her. The princess was not reassured by this, though, and so she snuck away to the stables while Zelonius made travel preparations. The boy was there, tending to the animals with careful compassion that brought tears to the princess' eyes.

"'He is so kind,' she thought, 'considerate towards everyone no matter their class or their situation...'"

"And he was decent-looking, too!" Zelos made sure to add.

Sheena rolled her eyes. "Of course. How could I have forgotten that important plot point?" A little laugh slipped from Colette's throat, so subtle that only Sheena heard it and realized that her friend really was finding solace (or at least amusement) in her and Zelos' scheme. When she looked to Colette, though, she found a blush had coloured the tip of her nose. Her eyes were on Lloyd, who himself was smiling levelly now, enthralled by the tale. "The princess realized as she looked at the boy, knowing that she'd soon have to leave him, that she loved him," Sheena said, and almost immediately Colette's blush overtook her cheeks.

Zelos slipped out of his storyteller persona for a moment to criticize the bold twist Sheena had thrown into the mix. "This is starting to sound like a tragedy!" he whined.

"Oh, you know that they end up living happily ever after."

"Sheenaaa, now you've gone and given away the ending!"

Sheena jabbed Zelos in the rib with her elbow, invoking an 'ouch!'-laughter hybrid from the Tethe'allan noble. Whether reacting to the comedic interaction or to Sheena's sadistic smirk that followed it, Lloyd allowed himself to laugh. A single, boisterous 'ha!' that gave way to a quieter fit of snickers. Zelos could hardly contain his satisfaction as he beamed at Sheena: mission accomplished!

But Sheena just shook her head. They could do better; yes, their friends had started to smile, but once the story ended, what was to guarantee that that disheartening distance between Lloyd and Colette would not return? They had to keep going, to make the stable boy and princess see that they could overcome anything.

"Okay, okay!" Zelos' voice boomed, startling Colette and Lloyd to attention, "so even though the princess loved the country bumpkin, she left on her journey with the great Zelonius, the handsome and reliable protector, by her side."

"After just a day of the princess' absence, however, the stable boy became worried," Sheena added. "He searched the village, spoke with everyone, and was startled when he learned that the princess had left on a perilous quest."

Much to the surprise (and delight) of Sheena and Zelos, it was Lloyd's voice that picked up the story: "I bet he wondered, 'Why wouldn't she tell me?' and 'Does she have no faith in me?'. But most of all, he must have been worried that something bad would happen. That he would never see her again."

Taken aback by Lloyd's sudden intrusion, Sheena wasn't certain how to continue. Should she even bother? Lloyd, astonishingly enough, was getting it. The stable boy had ceased to be just a stable boy, instead becoming Lloyd; and the princess—well, there had better only be one princess in Lloyd's mind.

Zelos grinned. "Ah, it seems like our own little country bumpkin feels a connection to the one in our fairy tale."

Lloyd immediately opened his mouth to object, but all that came out was a garbled noise. He couldn't raise an objection since Zelos' observation was…well, perfectly accurate. While the fact visibly embarrassed him, he really did sympathize with the stable boy. He could remember how he had reacted to Colette slipping off after promising that he could go on her journey with her. It was an insult, a huge blow to his ego, but the feeling that overwhelmed even that was his concern for her well-being; he hated the thoughts of her being in danger, being lonely in the company of adults, and being so far away from him. Of course he chased her. And even after catching her, he still had to fight to keep her safe and happy. It didn't always work—it wasn't working now—but he hadn't given up. He would never give up.

"So the stable boy follows her, right?" Lloyd asked, knowing full well what the answer was.

"You got it!" Zelos exclaimed. "But by the time he caught up, the princess had already begun to sacrifice herself to the land, right Sheena?"

Sheena heaved a sigh: Lloyd had seen himself in the stable boy, and this recognition would surely carry over into their present dilemma. Even if Colette was not completely convinced, Lloyd would not let her give in to her illness. Now she felt that they no longer needed to keep going. "To be perfectly honestly, Zelos," she said, "I am running out of ideas for this plotline... Can we just skip to the 'happily ever after'?"

"Huh? You can't do that! I didn't even get to talk about the part where the princess' flowing hair turned liquid and joined the flowing water! Majestic imagery, right there, and you'd all be missing out!"

"But how else does she lose parts of her body without it being...grotesque? Like losing an arm and stuff... And do you even have any clue how the stable boy manages to return the princess to normal after all of that?"

"Well, that's a toughie... Okay, I got it! What if a—"

"It doesn't matter!" They all looked to Colette, whose voice sounded so joyful as she said those words. Her face reddened a bit as all eyes fell on her, although her smile remained steady. "I like it like this," she said. "It shouldn't matter what happens in between, as long as they live happily ever after in the end…"

The resolve in her voice and the words she said made smiles break out on the other three as though they were contagious.

Colette's body was becoming a crystal, but it could be—would be—overcome just like everything else. They didn't know how or when or by whom it would be managed, but it would happen. They were too far along in this fairy tale for it to end in any way other than,

And they lived happily ever after.