Betrayal

by Cyberchao X

Disclaimer: All characters and places and the earlier part of the dialogue is property of Namco.

"…Leave this to me," Zelos said.

"Leave it to you? What are you going to do?" Sheena asked.

Zelos replied, "I figured something like this might happen, so I prepared a little something the last time we were here." He moved ahead. "Colette, come here for a second."

"Huh? Oh, okay." As she approached, Pronyma appeared at the scene accompanied by three angels. "Good work, Chosen," she said, "Now bring her to me."

"Sure thing," Zelos said, transporting Colette over to Pronyma.

"Zelos!!" Genis cried.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Sheena demanded.

"Oh, shut up," Zelos replied, "I'm just putting myself on the winning side. What you're trying to do is hopeless and meaningless. What's the big deal? Colette wanted to be a sacrifice, remember?"

Lloyd cried out, "Zelos! You traitor!"

"It's so funny that you would say that. It's not like you trusted me in the first place."

Pronyma added, "Betray you? How amusing. Zelos was our spy from the very beginning. Isn't that right, Zelos?"

"Is that true?" Lloyd asked.

Colette begged, "It's not true, is it? Please say she's lying…"

"I side with the strongest," Zelos said. "It was a simple matter of weighing the Renegades, Cruxis, and all of you."

"You were leaking information to the Renegades, too?! I can't believe you! You were always a pervert, but I never doubted that you were a good person when it came down to it."

"Sheena…" Zelos froze for a moment. "I'm sorry, but in the end, I choose this side, because Mithos promised to release me from my fate as a Chosen of Mana."

Regal asked, "You hate being the Chosen so much that you would betray your friends?"

"Oh, yeah, I do. It's because of that title that my life has been a total joke. I can't stand it. I can't wait for Seles to become the Chosen instead."

Lloyd cried, "…You're lying! I still trust you, you hear me?! You're the one that told me I could trust you!"

"What are you, stupid? Lady Pronyma! Hurry and take Colette."

"I leave the rest to you," Pronyma said, and she and the angels took Colette through a warp, the Sylvarant Chosen calling out for Lloyd as she was taken away. Zelos then approached the group. "So…this is how it ends," he said.

"…Why, Zelos? You were our friend!" Lloyd said.

"Friend…huh? …I never did get you to trust me, though."

"That was…"

"Don't feel bad about it. I mean, I did deceive you, after all."

"There's got to be some sort of explanation for all this. This is just another joke, right?"

"…Haha, I don't know what to tell ya. I'm just a weak, lazy bum. All I want is a fun, easy life. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less!" Zelos revealed his wings, and they prepared for battle.

"Don't do this, Zelos!" Sheena pleaded.

"Sorry, Sheena, but it's too late to stop this now!" After the battle, Zelos fell to the ground, dying. "Th…that was pretty good…"

"Zelos…"

"…It's okay. To tell you the truth, I was getting pretty tired of living, anyway…"

"…Don't talk like that!" Lloyd and Sheena both cried, the latter adding, "You can't die yet, Zelos, please…"

"Oh yeah, about Colette… She's below, in the hall of the Great Seed. Make sure you save her…"

"W…Why did you fight us?!" Lloyd asked.

"Because…my life was a mistake. But…once I'm gone…Seles might…be happier and…they'll finally let her out of that abbey…"

"But what about my happiness?!" Sheena demanded, "I…I love you…please don't leave me…"

"I'm so sorry…Sheena. I wish it didn't have…to end…this way. Make sure you destroy my Cruxis…Crys…tal…" Then he died. Sheena snatched up the crystal, crying, "…Damned…idiot…Zelos…no, I won't…Zelos…"

"Sh, it's alright. I'm here. No need to worry. You were having a nightmare, that's all."

A teary-eyed Sheena woke up and found herself in the loving arms of Zelos Wilder. "Oh, Zelos…it was horrible. I dreamt that when we got to the Tower of Salvation, you betrayed us all and turned out to have been working for Cruxis all along, and you had wings like an angel, and then Lloyd and the others battled with you and they beat you and you died. Please, tell me it was just a dream, tell me you're not going to hand Colette over to Cruxis tomorrow."

"Calm down; you don't want to wake everyone up. …Did I look good with angel wings?"

"You were beautiful, Zelos, now answer the question."

"…I promise I'll never leave you. I'm on your side. But…Cruxis doesn't know that."

"What?"

"That dream…may have been a vision of what might have been. When I first joined your group, it was indeed as a Cruxis spy. But things changed. I was selfish and callous, but Colette still befriended me. I was secretive and deceitful, but Lloyd still trusted me. I was lewd and promiscuous, but in spite of all of that, you still loved me. I didn't deserve Colette's friendship, or Lloyd's trust, or your love—certainly not your love—but all of you gave it to me anyway. Tomorrow, it's Cruxis that I'll be double-crossing, not all of you. Because I believe that Lloyd can beat Mithos, and if that happens, my goal of being released from my fate as a Chosen of Mana will be achieved. And if I were to return to Cruxis, at the very least, I'd take you with me. I could never turn against you, Sheena."

"Zelos…" Sheena again began to well up, this time for very different reasons.

"In a way, it's fortunate that you had this dream, because I've been really torn up about keeping this secret from you. Can you recall your reaction to my betrayal in your dream?"

"I'm trying to forget about it…but nightmares tend to stick around longer than good dreams, so yes, I can."

"That's good. In order for a human like Lloyd to be able to wield the Eternal Sword, he needs to have a pact ring forged from the legendary ore, Aionis. In order to get that, I'm going to need to perpetuate the ruse that I'm a Cruxis spy. It will likely play out similarly to your dream, so act accordingly. However, one important difference is that I'll be leaving with Colette and Pronyma, and a different foe will be waiting to try to stop you guys from following us. I won't be dying tomorrow, I promise you. But I need this to be believable, so don't tell any of the others what's happening, and when I appear to betray you all, make it convincing."

"You know I'm a good actress. I acted like I wasn't interested in you for all of those years, didn't I?" They laughed. "Wait, I didn't tell you about the part with Pronyma, did I?"

"No, but I'm a double agent, remember? I suppose I was lucky in that respect; for all I knew, Pronyma might not have been in your dream, but she was the one who I'm supposed to turn Colette over to. It's not going to be easy, pulling this off…but it has to be done. I can trust you not to let anyone else know that I'm doing this, right?"

"Of course." She kissed him. "Good night, Zelos."

"Good night, Sheena."

CCX: So, what'd you think? Special thanks to OKvoicetalent at gamefaqs . com, whose guide to the entire script of Tales of Symphonia allowed me to do the Zelos betrayal scene word-for-word, except where changes were necessary to reflect the fact that Sheena and Zelos are a couple in this storyline. OKvoicetalent, whoever you are...get a life! XD