I'm here once again with chapter three. Once more, thank you to those who have read, reviewed, and added this story to their favorite/alert list. Special thanks to those who gave their opinions on how I should have the pairings. I'm still not sure, plus, if anyone wants, I have another question for people who will, hopefully, review.

Enjoy this chapter, I believe it's shorter than the rest, but hopefully people like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia

Chapter 3- Non Existent

Zelos slightly opened his eyes, hating the light that shone into his bedroom from the window. At least, there was no snow falling from the sky. That fact, more than seeing the sun, helped him feel the tiniest bit better. As he fully opened his eyes, he became aware of the pain radiating from his left wrist.

Suddenly, the events of last night flew back into his mind, well, most of it. His mind felt somewhat… fuzzy?

Feels more like someone hit me in the back of the rock with a boulder or something.

He let out a sigh, pulling himself into a sitting position. He was confused by the fact that he was still here, still in his room, and, most amazingly, still alive. He thought that he made the cut fatal. So, why the hell was he still here?

Sensing that he wasn't alone, he was taken aback by seeing a familiar ninja sleeping in a chair, her head using the opposite end of his bed as a pillow.

"Sheena?" He asked, his voice full of disbelief. The girl slightly groaned, her eyes slowing opening. He tried to resist the smirk playing around his lips, but he failed. "You know," He began when her eyes finally focused on him, "The pretty girl in my room should be in the bed with me, not laying on the bed away from me."

She stared at him for a few moments, before his words had sunk in. She let out a short, angry breathe and stood up glaring.

"Why did you do it?! What reason made you want to do that?!" She wasn't sure if taking the harsh, direct approach was the right way to do this, but if he was going to act like nothing at all happened, when only a little while ago she found him near death, she couldn't react calmly.

"What are you talking about, my darling?" Zelos said, grinning.

She frowned and grabbed his left hand, twisting it so he could see the bandage wrapped around it. Zelos dropped his fake persona and averted his eyes away from Sheena's. He couldn't look at the anger, fear, and confusion those brown eyes held right now.

"This is what I'm talking about."

"And what about it?" Zelos asked in empty voice, sounding as if he didn't even care that could have died.

Of course he doesn't care, Sheena thought darkly, He did this to himself. If he cared that he would've died, he wouldn't have done this to himself.

"W-why did you want to…" Sheena was unnerved to hear him regard her questions so coldly. She couldn't bring herself to ask why he wanted to die.

"Why did I want to die?" Zelos asked, almost as if he could tell what she was thinking. Maybe what was going through her mind was just obvious to pick up. "Why do you care Sheena?"

"Why wouldn't I care Zelos? You're my friend."

Upon hearing that, a smiled crawled onto his face, one that could easily be described with a single word: fake. "My friend, huh? So, why did you find me? I'm going to guess that it was you that found me, right?" Zelos earned a nod from Sheena, then continued, "Why did you decide to stop by? Was it really to visit me?"

Damn, what do I say now? It wasn't my intention to visit him, it just sort of happened. I guess I could say yes.

"Of course. I haven't seen you for so long, I thought you might like to see, too."

An unbelieving laughed escaped from Zelos. "Look at me and say that Sheena. You looked at the ground when you talked."

She looked up at him, barely able to conceal the shock she felt when she stared into his eyes. They looked full of pain, sadness, and it tore her heart apart to look directly into them. What happened to him?

"Are you going to say it? How about you just admit you weren't interested in seeing me."

"Fine. If you want my honesty, you'll get it. I came here to wait around for Lloyd, who's going to be visiting my village in a few days. It was snowing, and I wanted a place to stay."

He merely nodded, but his eyes betrayed what he tried not to show. Sheena observed that though he tried to look like he was unaffected, the reason that she suddenly gave hurt him. She wished she could take back what she had said, or maybe change parts of it.

"I see." Was his reply, his voice sounded defeated.

"You wanted to know."

"I know."

"Now will you answer my question?" Her voice was calm. Maybe that would help talk to her more, if she didn't feel like she was angered by him, even though she was.

"You still haven't told me why you care." Zelos voice, too, was calm, but it was an eerie sort of calmness that made Sheena shudder.

"Because you're my friend." Sheena repeated. "I don't know what it'll take to prove it to you," she paused for a second, expecting some sort of perverted response. But since he gave no sort of remark, she continued, "I want to prove to you that I care. I'm still here, I stayed with you through the night, and I saved you from bleeding to death. Doesn't that prove something?" To herself, she sounded desperate. That just had to be enough, right? Those were her true intentions, even if Zelos seemed skeptical of them.

He looked out of the window and sighed. Sheena looked down at her feet, waiting as patiently as she could. What would his answer be? Hopefully, a good one. Sheena wanted to help him, she could tell that Zelos needed the help, but he had to allow her to help him.

"Sheena, if you truly cared about me…" She looked up and was greeted by a broken smile in place on his face, his eyes unreadable for the moment, "Then why did you save me?"

Sheena gasped, feeling as though the air had been forced from her lungs. She knew Zelos was in bad shape, but to actually hear him confess that he really just wanted to die, it was a lot to handle, even after everything that had happened in their lives. Why now? Why did he want to kill himself now?

She swallowed before she answered him, her voice weaker than it wanted to be. "Because nothing good would come from your death."

"Yeah, right." Zelos replied chuckling. Sheena clenched her jaw and, though she didn't mean to, the frustration was getting to her, slapped him across the face.

"What are you talking about?!" She yelled, watching Zelos nurse his sore cheek. "Do you truly think people would be rejoicing your death?!"

"What point would they have in being sad over it?" he challenged.

"Many people would be sad if you died, Zelos. Sebastian, Seles, and everyone we traveled with: Lloyd, Colette, Raine, Genis, Regal, Presea… and me, Zelos. That's why I'm here. That's why I'm trying to help you. I don't want you to die. No one does."

Well, I knew someone who didn't want me to be born. Can you truly say no one wants me dead, Sheena? Zelos thought bitterly. He couldn't think of anything to say. Was Sheena serious? Did all of those people truly care about him that much?

"Now, I want you to answer me. What's happened to you Zelos Wilder? Please, tell me. Where did the Zelos go that joked around, that flirted with every girl he laid eyes on, the one that believed he was the "Great Zelos"? Where's the one that wanted to be known for who he was and not what? Where's the Zelos that was happy?" She looked at him, her eyes wanting to know what she could do to help her helpless friend.

It was a few minutes before Zelos would answer. But, it was a short answer, but one that wouldn't leave Sheena's mind for a very long time.

"That person never existed, Sheena."

And that's the end of chapter 3. Please review or point out any errors that I should fix.

For the next question: I'm thinking about bringing Lloyd into the story soon (I think that I am going to bring him in) but I'd like to know if you want him around for the majority of the story or only for a couple of chapters (I don't intend on making this Zelos x Lloyd, so please, don't ask me to. I have nothing against yaoi, personally, that's the majority of what I read, but I didn't imagine this as a yaoi story). Just tell me what you think.

That's it for now.