I woke in my own bed, a warm fire burning in the fireplace. The candles were all lit and I could smell something cooking in the kitchen. My head pounded as I peered around, bewildered.
"Oh, you're up," Zelos mused as I pulled myself into a sitting position.
It took a moment for me to register who was speaking in my numbed-out mind. "...You!" My voice didn't sound like my own. It was raspy and croaky...like a dying frog.
"Yep. Me." Zelos offered me a smile; I returned it with a scowl.
"What are you doing here?!" I demanded.
Zelos spooned some sort of soup into a bowl and shoved it into my hands. "You'd best eat that. You need the strength," he told me, ignoring my question.
I glanced down at the contents of the bowl. It smelt really good, and the steam told me it would be nice and hot. Hesitantly, I ate at it. It was delicious, to say the least.
"Tiga tells me you've been depressed," Zelos said. He gave me a sorrowful sort of stare. I looked away. "It's not healthy to be heartsick, hunny."
I said nothing, only continuing to eat. Finding it rather unbelievable that the vice-chief would tell him something like that, I shook my head slowly.
"To tell the truth," Zelos admitted, "I'm surprised you missed me so much!"
Now, for some reason, I was exceedingly annoyed. "So am I."
"Fiesty, aren't you?" Zelos folded his arms.
I rolled my eyes. "Why don't you just piss off, jerk?!"
"Is that any way to talk to the man who saved your life?"
"You RUINED my life," I retorted with a glare, but immediately regretted it. He looked so hurt, so...sad, for a moment. He turned his back to me and began pacing. Probably deciding on whether or not he should leave, I figured.
"I didn't mean that." The words shot out of my mouth before I could even begin to think about them. "I-I'm sorry..."
"It's okay, baby." He turned and smiled at me, like nothing had ever gone wrong. Like there was never a conflict. "People have a nasty habit of saying what they don't mean."
I lowered my gaze, finishing off the rest of my soup.
"You know you could have just come after me," Zelos said.
Trying my best not to take on an offensive expression, I said, "I did. Your butler told me someone inside said for me to get lost; you weren't home."
"Someone insi--oh, it must have been Seles." Zelos tossed his hair over his shoulder.
I shrugged. Though I was curious, I didn't have the heart to ask. For all I knew, Seles could be one of his swanky geishas...and I didn't want to deal with the heartache if it was. Placing the bowl on the table, I got shakily to my feet, Zelos' cape swinging along the ground as I walked. I was headed for the kitchen, but I soon noticed that Zelos was following...closely.
Determined to shake him off, I turned sharply to the right and headed for a random corner of the room, figuring that he wasn't really following me, but wanted to get into the kitchen for something. Wrong. He cornered me against the wall and placed his hands on my shoulders with a wink.
I was trapped. All I could do was stare, my eyes wide as I fell headlong into his. A tantalizing smile remained on his face, and I soon found myself leaning toward him. Finally I snapped to attention, when I realized what I was doing--I was kissing him, for Martel's sake!
Startled, I began to jerk back, but Zelos held me in place, watching me for a moment. I closed my eyes, coming to a point of realization: I was in love with Zelos, the Chosen, and it wasn't a waste of time.
