September
x x x
At the age of approximately fifteen years, the slightly-introverted ninja had not exactly travelled a whole lot. Her earliest experiences all took place in her well-concealed village home, with her most recent residency being in Meltokio's research laboratory. She wasn't much a fan of the latter, and with this in mind, she had quickly drawn that conclusion that she liked this town of Sybak far more than the overindulgent capital city.
That particular afternoon, Sheena, in all her teenage insecurity, had somehow mustered up the courage to pay the scholarly town a visit. It wasn't a typical thing for her to do; she hated crowds of strangers, even more so because it meant she couldn't really have Corrine scampering around at her feet. She already was relatively shunned, and having a supernatural creature to boot didn't lend well to disappearing into the background.
Of course, she had just needed to force herself into making the short trip across the bridge separating the two cities regardless of her inhibitions. After all, she hadn't seen her best friend in almost three weeks, and that just wasn't acceptable. She wanted to know how school was for him, if he was getting along well. Sheena knew better than anyone that he had a harder time being his natural self after long periods of finessing his admirers. The disingenuous nature of the whole experience seemed to leave him a bit cynical and guarded.
Milling about in Sybak's quiet main plaza, she couldn't help but hope he would be happy to see her. Her initial crush on him had only seemed to have grown over time, and with that, so had the fear of sudden rejection.
The young woman stole a glance at the clock that hung over the library, the center of much of the activity in the small town. She had asked a servant girl around her age when classes ended at the Imperial Research Academy. The answer had been that the students usually began to fill the street around a quarter past three. That was less than ten minutes from now.
Sheena ignored the curious looks some of the scholars were giving her as she made her way over to the steps of the huge university. Small groups of students, a few years older than her, were already beginning to pass her on their way to their dormitories. Their uniforms were neat and expensive-looking, their status apparent in the proud way they carried themselves.
The girls, especially, made her feel out of place. Most of them had long blonde or chocolate-colored hair, complexions perfectly manicured with fine cosmetics. She didn't like how phony-looking they were, their appearance likely a perfect reflection of their shallow personalities. Sheena wondered if any of them were nice people; it was so hard to tell with the face that they all put on.
And yet, out of all of these beautiful people who composed Tethe'alla's future aristocracy, Zelos Wilder was not among them. He was usually pretty easy to spot, considering he drew a small crowd everywhere he went these days. The summoner followed the outer wall of the huge building over to the main entrance, her eyes scanning the steady stream of uniformed students. Oblivious to what was in front of her, she turned the corner and—
Immediately collided with someone. Quite hard as luck would have it, and being of a modest stature, that meant she ended up falling right onto the stone-paved road beneath her. When she looked up to see who that person was, her gaze met with the only one she had actually been hoping to see. He was dusting himself off, giving her a teasing glance that often followed one of her acts of clumsiness. Before she could say a word, the sudden shrill wail that fell on her ears made her instinctively wince.
"Ugh, you little brat. Pay attention to where you're lumbering!" An older girl with curly blonde hair glared at the ninja from her friend's side. "You could've gotten your filth on the Chosen One!"
Sheena had to admit, 'lumbering' seemed like a big word for someone who looked so very dull. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Zelos wince as well, like an embarrassed parent whose child was throwing a public tantrum. He quickly cut in.
"Er, didn't you say you were meeting up with Holly after class? She was waiting back for you in the hallway."
Her eyes narrowed in irritation. "You mean Laila?"
"Sure, that's what I said, wasn't it?" He blinked back at the girl innocently. Sheena swore she saw a touch of sarcastic venom flash across his blue gaze.
"Hmph, well…I'll see you tomorrow then, Master Zelos!" She waved obnoxiously as she walked off, leaving them alone for the time being. In that moment there was a silent, shared understanding between the two friends that neither of them was sorry to see her go.
"…Don't suppose you need a hand up, sweetie?" Sheena glanced up at him again, barely aware that she hadn't picked herself up off the ground yet. She accepted his strong grip rather gratefully as he helped her to her feet.
He was smiling a bit sheepishly at her when they stood face to face, clearly embarrassed over the previous situation. She didn't have much of a problem calling him on it, though.
"Are all of your friends here so…how should I put this…unsavory?" She let a small smile show, although the question was a serious one.
"Acquaintances. I don't exactly revel in their company, in case you couldn't pick up on that." He rolled his eyes. "But there are some necessary evils in life."
Sheena raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Necessary?"
He shifted his weight to the other side, giving her a cagey smile. "She shares her notes with me in class if I shoot her a cute little smile. Works on all of them."
At this she had to snicker. "You've never mentioned that you were such a bad student…"
"I'm not. I just can't stand English class. And history." Zelos paused, folding his arms stubbornly. "Well, everything but math, really…"
For a moment, he was silent. She noticed his face had flushed a soft shade of red, his entire demeanor relaxing and opening up. It was a surprisingly intimate experience, and there was no denying that it made her feel special.
"Well, anyway. Want me to walk you home, madamoiselle?" The Chosen put an arm around her cheerfully, pulling her into a half-hug.
She wriggled slightly in his tight hold. "But I was the one who came to visit you. Doesn't walking me home kind of defeat the purpose…?"
"Hm, maybe. But who cares? The point is you're here now, and you need to get back to Meltokio, and so do I." Zelos grinned impishly, still hugging her tightly. "I mean, I haven't seen you in three weeks. Lovers shouldn't be apart that long!"
Growling, she pried him off of her. "Zelos, I am not your lover."
He grinned mischievously, only causing her to glare even more irritably at him. "Maybe not yet. Someday, I'm still hoping…"
"And on that note, can we get going already? I didn't show up here to be seduced—even if it is a pretty sorry attempt."
Faux-dramatically, he laid his hand across his forehead. "Oh, how love doth pain me. Your rejection breaks my heart, sweetness."
And with that, he was off.
It seemed that his exuberance was almost tangible as she tailed along next to him, weaving through the nearly empty streets. Most of the students, he explained to her, lived in the dorms around the academy. Sybak happened to be where the sons and daughters of all of Tethe'alla's most wealthy and affluent people attended school. Unfortunately, this meant that the majority of the student body had the personality of a wet carrot.
As they were walking through the tall grass en route to the Grand Tethe'alla Bridge, Sheena made note of the fact that he was walking much closer to her. She considered commenting on it, but he beat her to breaking the silence.
"So, how's Corrine doing?"
She glanced over into his soft blue eyes, the most intense shade she had ever seen on someone. "I guess he's doing fine. He's always mad at me lately though…over all the experiments they do on him."
"That sucks," he replied, yawning rather unintentionally. "But that's not your fault, is it?"
The ninja shook her head, a sigh escaping her. "No, but it still makes him upset. I just don't know what to do about it. How do you make someone feel better when you know you can't do anything to help them?"
He smiled when she said this, chuckling knowingly at her sincerity. "I dunno. I always thought you were pretty damn good at that, for what it's worth."
A blush broke out on her face at this, her soft laugh filling the air between them. She stopped outright when she noticed his eyes going wide, looking at something behind her. In one fluid motion he knocked her out of the way, only a split second before a snarling wildcat pounced onto the spot she had been standing on.
The girl reached for her spell cards, but Zelos was already on it. Unarmed, he resorted to another tactic, and before she could even blink the beast erupted in a huge plume of flames. Though the attack didn't kill it, the monster ran off yowling in rage, clearly deciding there was easier prey to be found.
Pulling herself to her feet, Sheena smiled wryly over at her friend. "Seems like I get pushed over a lot when I'm around you, huh?"
"Sorry," he mumbled, brushing his long red bangs out of his eyes. "I had a bad feeling something like that would happen. I get ambushed sometimes around here when I'm walking back and forth to Sybak. That particular little bastard jumped out of the grass before we even knew he was there."
"It's a good thing you have fast reflexes then, I think." A tinge of shyness crossed her face, her eyes quickly turning away from him. That must have been why he was keeping so close to her. "But we made it here in one piece. See, we're already at the bridge."
The summoner started off ahead of him, but he quickly called out to her. "Hey! Sheena!"
She turned back to look at him, stopping dead in her tracks. "Hm?"
"Uh…I just wanted to say…" He rubbed the back of his head anxiously, his blue gaze cast far off in another direction. "Thanks. Y'know…for coming to see me. People don't usually go very far out of their way for me, not unless they have to. But you already know that, I think."
Sheena felt her face grow a bit warm again as she walked back over to him, toying with a loose strand of her hair out of nervousness. Before she lost her nerve, she wrapped her arms around him in a quick hug. "Well, thanks for looking out for me. It really does mean a lot."
She stole a glance up into his eyes, enamored as ever by the tenacity of those sharp blue depths. He smiled back at her before taking the opportunity to nose her cheek gently. Her own brown eyes closed contentedly, body leaning more fully against him as he gave her cheek a soft peck.
Still pressed warmly to his chest, she gave a deep sigh before letting go. She fixed him with a flippant look as she leaned forward, whispering, "I bet…I could beat you across the bridge!"
Zelos put a hand on his hip, playfully imitating the stance she always took when she was indignant. "Ooh, now that's a challenge if I've ever heard one."
"See you on the other side then, pretty boy!" she taunted, and in a flash she was running as fast as she could toward Meltokio.
The Chosen shook his head, a smile plastered on his face as he took off after his friend. Chasing that girl, it seemed, was going to become a recurring theme in his life.
A/N: Hehe, yes, that scene toward the beginning was in fact a parallelism to when the party first meets Zelos ingame. I can't help myself when it comes to irony and parallels. Anyway, hope you all enjoyed, and please review either way! I'm a little behind on reviews and I'd love to see some since it brightens my day. *teary eyes*
Much love,
-FP
