Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia, or its characters.
Unfaithful.
He never thought he could describe himself as that word.
Unfaithful.
Yet, Regal Bryant, surely was unfaithful to the fullest definition of the word. He had pledged his life and unconditional love to one woman, Alicia Combatir, and he never would have thought that his love or loyalty would change by any degree. Yet, lately the word unfaithful slipped into his mind and became one of the words he felt easily could describe himself.
He couldn't stop thinking about her.
She made him smile, laugh, and constantly made him feel at least ten years younger than he was. She cared about him and everyone else around her, which made her act more mature on some occasions. She was spunky, yet insightful at the same time which made for thrilling conversation. She was powerful, fast and could take down enemies with an assassin's ease. She was gorgeous with her raven black hair, pale skin, and seductive curves. Her curves were almost too seductive, almost.
He knew he shouldn't be thinking thoughts like these. A man who was devoted to another woman could not think thoughts like these or else be deemed unfaithful. Yet where was the other woman? She was nowhere to be found except in his heart.
Regal was not expecting her to reciprocate his feelings.
Sheena Fujibayashi, was not an easy woman to get to in any sort of way. She was tough, self-sacrificing, a little shy when men were concerned, and the type of woman who would be fine watching from the usual shadow she always hid in.
She always had bad taste in men. She had developed a slight crush on Zelos Wilder, before realizing how fruitless the pursuit of a womanizer actually was. She had liked Lloyd Irving for some time, before seeing Lloyd confess his love to Collette Brunel, his childhood friend, which ultimately made him unattainable. She had tried to develop feelings for some of the men in Mizuho, but even after she became the chief of Mizuho, all the men in the village seemed to stay away from her since the tragedy with Volt.
Regal was too easy to fall for.
Neither one of them had particularly talked during the journey of world regeneration. Regal was the loner of the group, not talking to anyone really save Lloyd, Presea and occasionally Genis, who he would pass recipes and cooking instructions onto. He hardly ever talked to Colette, who could not satisfy his conversational needs, or Zelos, who was his polar opposite in practically everything, or Raine, who was too absorbed in reading or lecturing the party to conversate with Regal on a one-on-one basis. He never really even talked to her, Sheena, but that was mainly due to the fact Sheena was so intimidated by him.
Yet, it was only them now. Regal and Sheena were the only ones with Marta and Emil.
Marta and Emil were too focused on their own problems and situation to notice, really. They never noticed the attraction building between those two.
Sheena tried her hardest not to fall for Regal. She kept on trying to convince herself with the same, old reasons. They had a huge age difference, he was a rich noble who was constantly in the spotlight, he was in love, or rather he had been in love, with someone else. That key word kept on being brought up, though: he had been in love. Alicia was dead.
Regal, in every essence, was the perfect man. He was intelligent and thought things through, unlike Lloyd. He was faithful and mature, unlike Zelos. He was strong, kind, devoted, rich, handsome, athletic, good with children, protective, and a gentleman. He was the perfect man if you didn't count the fact he'd been thrown in prison so much.
Sheena never thought that Regal even looked at her in any way other than friendship.
But he did. Regal saw everything in Sheena. He saw the kinds of things he thought he'd only be able to see in Alicia, but in a new, unfamiliar light – Sheena's light.
When both Emil and Marta were already asleep, Sheena sat next to Regal around the dull light of the campfire. It was silent, but not one of the comfortable silences that the two usually experienced around each other. This silence was just awkward until Regal tried to break it, "Sheena, aren't you going to sleep soon?"
She really appreciated the fact that he tried to make the situation better, but it didn't work.
"I'm not really tired. How about you, Regal? Aren't you just the teensy bit exhausted?" Sheena smiled through her words, hoping that he would say no.
"No. I'm not tired at all. Those two must be worn out. They are children, after all. This journey must be rough on them." Regal looked over at Sheena, who had been staring at him for the past few moments, then away.
Sheena could barely contain the excitement she held. He had referred to Marta and Emil as children, not her, meaning she was a woman in his eyes. That was ground enough for her to speak to him about her developing feelings. "Regal, do you think we could go and speak somewhere more private? Somewhere where Emil and Marta wouldn't be able to wake up and eavesdrop on our conversation?"
She surprised him with that statement. A private matter? What on earth could it be, Regal thought. He was both anxious and excited by this. He reminded himself that he shouldn't be, though, and that it probably was only something about Emil's Ratatosk mode or some other matter of the sort.
But Sheena had decided she was not going to wait any longer, not like last time. The last time she liked someone, he was gone before she could even confess. She never got her chance to tell Lloyd how she felt and she sure as hell was not going to let a man as good as Regal slip into the hands of another woman who wouldn't know him as well.
Regal agreed to go some place private to talk.
The two walked toward a small clearing, surrounded by trees on three out of four sides. It was dark so both of them were on high alert for any signs of monsters in the near vicinity. The feint chirps of birds could be heard far away, almost making them sound like a whisper. As Sheena paused in her footsteps, she turned toward Regal and stared deep into his eyes as if she was trying to read him.
The two were silent for what felt like hours, but really was only a minute or two. Sheena gulped, while Regal took in a deep breath. Each had their own idea about how this conversation was going to go.
"I like you a lot, Regal, in a more than friends way," Sheena began. Only seconds later did she follow up with an: "I mean, I, um, well, you see...We've been spending a lot of time together and I..."
Regal could not believe a word. He thought it was a lie, or a cruel joke so he tried to play it off with subtle flattery, "Sheena, you must be mistaken I, well, I'm flattered, but surely you have me mistaken with someone else. Zelos, perhaps, is the one who all your affec-"
"No! It isn't Zelos. It's you, Regal. We've been spending so much time together lately. Helping each other, fighting monsters with each other, talking to each other, reminiscing about old times with each other...I – I like you, Regal Bryant, a lot." Sheena's declaration was not only surprising to Regal, but to Sheena herself as well. She didn't think she had the courage to tell him all her feelings, but she did. Part of what attracted her to Regal was the fact he was so easy to talk to. She figured that even after confessing to him, he'd be the type to be able to move on and still be friends with her if he didn't return her feelings mutually.
The words that just escaped Sheena's mouth had to be processed very slowly by Regal, though. Sheena was a woman fourteen years his junior, who was devoted to the Mizuho clan, a group of people who always remained in the shadows and not in the spotlight like him, a noble Duke and the president of Lezareno Company. Sheena was a woman, who wasn't Alicia, the woman he swore eternal love to. Loving anyone other than Alicia or even thinking about anyone other than Alicia would make him unfaithful.
But would Alicia really want him to be lonely for the rest of his life? Regal felt lonely everyday as he constantly wished his beloved still lived on. He constantly felt remorse and guilt over her death, only further adding to the pain and loneliness that resided in his heart. Alicia would want him to be happy, even if it meant loving someone else other than her, no doubt.
So Regal decided he didn't mind being unfaithful, if it meant finding a way out of his loneliness. He grabbed Sheena by her shoulder, pulling her toward him. Tilting his head down, he captured her lips with his own, which greatly surprised the other party. Sheena was confused by this sudden action, but didn't mind it in the least. The contact lasted for a good minute, before Regal pulled away for breath and an examination of the outcome of the kiss. "I'm sorry. That was a bit impulsive of me..."
"No, I actually enjoyed it a lot. You should really think about doing that more often." Sheena replied with a bit of playfulness in her tone. Regal smirked, continuing to hold Sheena in his arms. He breathed a sigh of relief before tilting her head up to look him in the eyes.
She stared back at him with an unwavering look of love.
"You're serious, Sheena? You really want to be with a man like me?" Regal asked as he continued to look at the smaller, paler woman in his arms.
Sheena smiled back at him, her heart feeling like it was going to burst, "Yes, more than anything. I really want to be with you. You make me feel different. You make me feel like the woman I think I am, not the woman everyone makes me out to be. I – I like that about you..."
That made him happy. Having this woman in his arms made him happy. Everything about being unfaithful was beginning to make him happy, and it was all thanks to Alicia.
"I like you a lot, too, Sheena. You are a beautiful woman with so many things going for you. I feel honored that you like me so much. If you don't mind, I'd like to pursue a relationship with you." Regal genuinely smiled, a trait that usually only Sheena brought out in him lately. Sheena nodded her head repeatedly as she squealed the word "yes" over and over and wrapped her arms around his neck. Regal initiated another kiss, a longer one this time. The kiss was filled with so many emotions, that Regal had a hard time pulling away from the passionate contact in due time.
He didn't mind being unfaithful if it was with Sheena.
When the two broke away, Regal let go of the woman in his arms. Grabbing her hand, he stared at her with his usual serious face. "It would be best if no one knew about this. Not until we find all the Centurion Cores and defeat the vanguard once and for all. You can keep a secret, right, Sheena?"
Sheena couldn't help, but laugh and smile at his words, "Of course I can, silly! I'm Mizuho's chief, remember? My whole profession is walking in the shadows and keeping secrets!"
"My apologies," Regal gave an amused chuckle and a small kiss on the forehead to Sheena. Squeezing her hand tighter he began to walk Sheena back to the camp Marta and Emil rested at.
Strangely enough, Sheena was the woman Regal always needed. Even when the spotlight shines brightly on him, she's always there in the shadows to back him up. She has his back. She gives him hope. She gives him even more of a reason to exist.
And nothing could make him happier.
A/N: AHEM. I would like to bring up just how cute Sheena x Regal is and how canon (in my opinion) it is as well. Well, it started off as me playing ToS: DotNW and when you get to a certain point Regal and Sheena stay in your party for a long time. together. alone. It seems to me that those two are together for a good two or three chapters with no one, but Marta and Emil. And when did those two become such good friends? They talk to each other quite a lot AND they have those after battle pose conversations. Yeahhh. When did this happen? Oh, and Sheena going off alone to save Regal? Yeah. Its so there. Whenever they leave, they leave together and whe they return, they return together. If you look and see these two next to each other, you'll see how good of a couple they make. The ninja who hides in the shadows and the nobleman who always is in the spotlight? How can you not love that? Emil also said that Regal acted like a dad and he couldn't help thinking about Sheena as being mom-like. Emil's Mom and Dad? Mhm. You see where I'm getting at? Personally, I think Regal is better than both Lloyd and Zelos. He gets no love, man. And even though I'm known to like Regal x Raine, I think I'm liking Regal x Sheena more. I love ToS: DotNW because it has so much Regal, despite no Kratos being present. Ahhh. Seriously, before Sheena x Regal, I HATED ToS fanfiction, but I can't help writing about these two. They're adorable. Reviews, please? I've been on Hiatus for such a long time. :(