Disclaimer: Namco and Kosuke Fujishima are gods. They own everything.
Summary: Sheena hadn't known what to expect after she and Zelos had finally confessed to one another, but she did know one thing- she hadn't expected this. Sheelos, Colloyd, hints at Kraine, onesided Hildos and slight onesided Gesea. Sequel to Sheena's Affinity
A/N: So, this is way more angsty than I'm used to writing, so I apologize in advance if this is totally crap. It wasn't originally meant to be, but it turned into the sequel to my one shot, Sheena's Affinity. It can be read alone, but I'd strong suggest reading it before this one, partially out of selfish reasons, but also because it'll make a lot more sense if you do. Anyway, I wrote this over a year ago and just got around to editing it and posting it. Please read and review! Oh, and if anyone actually knows how exspheres is spelled, I would be forever grateful (like is it exspheres or expheres or something else?)
No Longer Hers
It had been a whole year. That was 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days. How many hours was that? Sheena didn't know, nor did she care to count. All she needed to know was that it had been too long, far too long, longer than she'd have liked to admit, since that day she'd confused loyalty and betrayal, truth and lies, and also meaningless flirtations and love.
Why had she been so trusting? Why had she been so gullible? Why had she been so naïve to believe that he was genuine? Why had she let him kiss her? She should have known he wasn't serious; he'd never been serious before, so why would he suddenly start showing compassion?
It wasn't as though she'd never given or received a kiss that had little or no feeling behind it, but somehow she hadn't expected him to toy with her feelings in such a cruel way. She had known he was a player, that he enjoyed attention from women, tat he didn't even bother to find out anything about his so called hunnies, so why hadn't she seen this coming?
Because she was a fool; she was a fool to hope, she was a fool to wait, she was a fool to love. That was why she would stop; stop hoping, stop waiting, stop loving- well, that part would take time, but she would try.
She had received no letters from him, although any had been delivered from their other former companions, especially Colette. She and Lloyd had begun a journey to destroy all the exspheres and Lloyd had finally told Colette about his feelings. They had gotten married without telling anyone, mainly to avoid the teasing and reprimands of their friends. Sheena had received a few letters from the Sage siblings who were working for half elf rights and had started a campaign in Exire to convince the other half elves that it was worth their time to help too, and Regal and Presea were working at Lezarano, helping Lloyd and Colette destroy the remaining exspheres, but even they'd had time to write.
Her latest letter from Raine told her that Genis was struggling with the concept of Presea's age and was finally realizing the impossibility of his wishes. Colette had also written to write to tell Sheena that she was expecting a child. Although those were both incredibly interesting subject which Sheena would normally have spent quite a bit of time pondering, the only thing she cared about was the letter she held in her hand and it was the first of its kind.
It was addressed to her, Sheena Fujibayashi. His loopy cursive handwriting was unmistakable and she smiled at the way he'd linked the letters in her name together. Sheena's hands shook slightly as she turned it over to break the seal of the chosen. She unfolded the letter and began to read:
Chief Sheena Fujibayashi of Mizuho,
It is my unhappy duty to inform you of the death of the King of Tethe'alla. His illness persisted for almost a year and he fought hard for survival. Although he had been previously weakened by poison, he was very strong in his last hours. It was his wish that Tethe'alla remain in friendship with Mizuho, and her highness, Princess Hilda, intends to follow every piece of his will precisely.
Along with his wish for peaceful relations with Mizuho, the King had many other requests, the most important of which were to continue in peace with Sylverant and to abolish all anti-half-elf laws.
His majesty also wished for Princess Hilda to have a husband and he chose, before his death, that her broken engagement with yours truly be reinstated. Princess Hilda and myself shall be married on May 18th. We hope you can attend the celebrations.
Sincerely,
Zelos Wilder
About a hundred different emotions hit Sheena all at once. It was impossible for her to differentiate between them and no sooner had she felt them, they evaporated, leaving nothing behind. It was as if she'd eaten a million different foods, only to find her stomach had been ripped out. She felt as if all feeling had been torn from her, leaving only a dull numbness as she sank onto her bed.
How could this have happened? Why had he chosen Hilda over her? The Zelos Sheena had known was a Casanova; he loved women, but showed no sign of wanting to settle down. What had compelled him to do it? Surely not the money, he had enough of his own. It couldn't be the power; he hated being the chosen, why would he want to be king? Could it be that he actually loved Hilda? A small voice in the back of her head said "no, he loves you," but Sheena couldn't even believe her own sub-conscious anymore.
The emptiness Sheena had felt was soon replaced by a hot anger, at the dead king for asking Zelos to do this, at Hilda for agreeing to marry him, and at Zelos, her Zelos, for being so insensitive.
Her Zelos. It had a nice ring to it, but was he even hers anymore? Had he ever been hers? Yes, was the small voice's answer. He had been, once. For a glorious five minutes he had been hers and she had been his. She was still his, for that matter, but now he was Hilda's and there was nothing she could do about it. There would be no more kisses, no more perverted comments, no more "Demonic Banshee." It was almost as if it hadn't been the king who had died, but Zelos, her, no, Hilda's beloved Zelos.