All right, I have finally made a decision in the timeslot that this story takes place in: it is before the reunion of the worlds, and all of that stuff. Now, I know that some stuff doesn't mix in with the actual past (like Igaguri being awake), but bear with me. This is first and foremost humour, after all. Oh! And being that this is Meltokio and all, there will be two parts to their visit to the imperial city! This, naturally, is part one. Enjoy!!

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Sheena: Did you see my attack??

Zelos: Oh yeah, baby. I was watching, all right.

Sheena: For some reason, I don't think that's what you were focussing on.

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Disclaimer: Do I have to say it? (lawyers hold up threatening court forms) Okay, okay! I don't own Tales of Symphonia!

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The Quest for True Love

/Chapter VIII: The Noble Life – Meltokio, Part 1/

"Sheeenaaa... oh Sheena..."

In a familiar scenario, it was Sheena who opened her eyes and found that she was in the centre of darkness. "Who's there?" she asked, immediately alert despite the fact that she had just been awakened, "Don't try anything funny! Umm... whoever you are!"

"Whoa, whoa!" the one who had disturbed her sleep took a step backwards, "I wasn't going to hurt you or anything of the sort. I just want to talk to you, is all. Can you let me speak?"

Sheena lowered her guard and relaxed slightly; her visitor did not seem dangerous. But still... who was it? She did not recognize them. Their voice sounded somewhat childish, and they had a small figure with blonde hair that fell down to their shoulders. Sheena looked the person up and down, "You can speak, but... just who are you, Miss?"

"Miss!?" the clearly insulted visitor shouted, "I'm a male!! In fact, I'm Mithos! Mithos the hero!"

The summoner chuckled nervously, "Uh, yeah... I knew that. R-really." She was obviously humiliated as she tried to leave behind her error in judgement,
"So... what is it that you want to discuss with me... Mithos?" A sudden realization came to Sheena, "Wait! You're the hero Mithos?? But how can you possibly be in my dreams? You're not a god, or supernatural being, or anything of the sort!"

Mithos laughed maniacally, which made Sheena back away nervously. After a long, long time, Mithos' laughter finally subsided, and he answered her question, "Nothing of the sort... sure. But you want to know why I'm here? I've been sent by my sister to help you out with your love problems. Of course... she has more knowledge of this stuff than me."

"Love problems?" Sheena repeatedly questioningly, "I don't have any love problems. I'm not even looking for romance; Zelos is."

"Yes, but he already got his advice. The rules are that a single person may only get one piece of advice from the holy beings," Mithos shrugged, "It's like a law that no one has ever heard of, but you'd better believe that it exists."

Sheena shook her head, "Listen, Mithos. I believe your words, however I already know where my love lies; it's somewhere in the future, in my village. That's the only place that it belongs."

Mithos sighed, "Oh, please. That's like saying that people have to be married in the church of Martel, even though they don't believe in the goddess," his body twitched slightly as he spoke of the so-called 'goddess', "Take my word for it..."

-----))--/-(---)-/--((-----

Sheena's eyes slowly opened, returning her to the surroundings of Sybak's inn. "Strange," she muttered to herself while sitting up in her bed. "Mithos the hero... I still don't get why he would give me romantic advice. Maybe it's best not to ask." Sheena slid out from under the covers and got to her feet. She took the few steps necessary to be standing next to Zelos' bed. Even Sheena had to admit that while Zelos was asleep – neither hitting on her, nor touching her – there was something that could be found attractive in him. Of course, that 'something' would fade the second that he woke up. Unable to resist waking the Chosen up in a bothersome way, Sheena pinched Zelos' nose to cut off his breathing. After a moment of seemingly being fine without oxygen, Zelos abruptly shot up into a sitting position, bashing his head against Sheena. "Yowch!" the summoner exclaimed while holding her hand over her forehead, "You have a really hard head..."

Zelos' priority, however, was to breathe. He did not even take notice of the fact that his head was throbbing. "Wh... what was that about?!" he asked between gasps.

"Ugh..." Sheena groaned as she fell back onto her own bed, "I was just waking you up, but I've learnt my lesson... I'll never try a hazardous feat like that again. I'm safer off going through Gaorcchia Forest alone in the dead of night..."

"Huh?"

"Never mind," she murmured, standing up once again, "Where are we headed to today?"

A grin spread across Zelos' face, "Meltokio," he replied smugly, looking up at Sheena from his seat on the bed. Sheena simply glared back at Zelos with a clearly disapproving expression. She has said it before, and she would stand by that statement: they were not going to Meltokio. "Sheena, I'm afraid that you don't have a say in the manner," Zelos stated calmly, "For you see, you are simply a tag-along on this voyage to love."

"Tag-along!?" Sheena shouted, "I'm the one who's trying to help you, Zelos!"

"And I appreciate it," the Chosen insisted, "But we're still going to Meltokio!"

Sheena heaved a sigh of defeat, "Fine. I still don't have a good feeling about this, though..."

-----))--/-(---)-/--((-----

"Ooh, Master Zelooos!"

"Where have you been?"

"We've missed yooou!!"

They had only just entered Meltokio, and already Zelos was stolen away by a mob of groupies. Sheena glared at them from a distance as they ogled Zelos with love-struck eyes. "Hunnies, hunnies, please!" Zelos waved his arms, trying to calm down the sea of women around him, "I am afraid that I will not be able to spend much time with you all while I'm here." All of the girls chorused a disappointed 'Awww...', urging Zelos to give an explanation as to why. "But there will be some time for us to socialize at the party tonight!"

While all of Zelos' groupies squealed with joy, Sheena could not help but exclaim, "What!?"

The summoner had gone unnoticed until shouting like that. And her presence did not go well with the fangirls. "Sheena?! Yuck! What is she doing here??" the first of Zelos' groupies shrieked in horror, "And on top of it, what is she doing paying attention to Master Zelos?!" The group of girls began buzzing, making various assumptions involving Sheena's relationship with Zelos. Most of the rumours were saying that Sheena used her unnatural Mizuho skills to bewitch Zelos, tricking him into becoming concerned with her.

"H-Hunnies?" Zelos tried to get the attention of his admires, but for the first time ever, they were not interested in him. "Hunnies, please! Sheena hasn't put a spell on me!"

His most outspoken groupie turned to look at him, "Then what are you doing with this wench!?" she demanded.

"What is that supposed to mean—'wench'?!" Sheena broke in.

"Exactly what it sounds like!"

"You're going to regret that!"

Zelos swiftly ran in between the two girls before they had the chance to tear at each other's throats, just like in the old western movies where a hot prostitute/cowgirl/desert-princess would stop a duel with a mutual solution. "Don't fight!" he pleaded, "I'm only here because Sheena agreed to let me come, but that's not going to keep me from being with you!" Zelos' gaze shifted to Sheena as he continued, "I'll spend some time with each and every one of my hunnies tonight at the party that will be taking place at the hall in the noble quarters of Meltokio." Sheena sighed; now she would be forced to join Meltokio's elite at some stuffy celebration. How dull.

"Okay," the groupie queen agreed without question, "But you'd better keep to your word and spend time with all of us."

"Of course I will!" Zelos assured, "Now I must request that we part ways, for there are preparations to be made, y'know?" Disappointed, his fans all reluctantly said their goodbyes and continued on their ways.

Once they were alone again, Sheena spoke up, "Zelos... a party? I... I'm not a party person. I don't want to go."

"But you have to!"

"And why is that?!" Sheena snapped.

"Because..." Zelos stepped towards Sheena until he was uncomfortably close. He placed a hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes dramatically, causing beads of sweat to drip from Sheena's face, as she felt apprehensive of what exactly was going on. After a long moment of them simply standing there like that, Zelos grinned and said, "...You're one of my hunnies!" Sheena simply groaned and turned around, storming off towards the noble area. Zelos beamed and happily flounced after Sheena; something about making her angry brought satisfaction to him.

Upon reaching Zelos' mansion, Sheena reached for the doorknob and was about to casually let herself in when Zelos asked, "Isn't it customary to have permission before entering someone's house?"

"I don't feel the need to ask for your permission, Zelos," Sheena replied coldly, opening the door and entering the house. Zelos chortled and followed the summoner into his mansion.

No sooner had they entered the house that Zelos' reliable butler Sebastian appeared in front of them, as though by magical teleportation of butlary voodoo. "Welcome back, Master Zelos and... guest..." Sebastian eyed Sheena, trying to figure out whether or not he had ever met this particular woman before.

"Sheena," she introduced herself, "I am Sheena."

"Ah, yes... It is a pleasure to meet another of Master Zelos' lady friends."

"I can assure you that I am not one of his so-called 'lady friends'," Sheena corrected the butler, "I'm just a normal friend who has gotten herself into a senseless situation."

Zelos cut in, "It's not senseless! I'm still trying to find you a lover!"

"Unsuccessfully!" Sheena retorted, glaring at the Chosen. Zelos merely glared back, but in a more light-hearted fashion. Sheena quickly gave up arguing with him, "Fine! Whatever. Do what you want! Go ahead and hold your stupid party, but get this straight: I. Am. Not. Going." There was then silence. Sheena did not budge from where she stood, keeping the same determined expression on her face; Zelos was not going to convince her otherwise. Zelos was staring directly at Sheena, a smug smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. Sebastian looked at a wall across the room, never wavering his gaze at all, for that is the way of butlers. No words were spoken for a long period of time until it happened... Sheena caved. For no apparent reason at all, she simply gave in, "All right, I'll go! But you're going to regret this, Zelos!" With that, she stormed up the staircase.

Once she was out of earshot, Zelos broke into a confident laughter, "Oh, my! That was too easy!"

"Uhm... if you do not mind my intrusion..." Sebastian began uncertainly, daring to look in the direction of his master, "What exactly did you do to make Miss Sheena agree to accompany you to your festivity?"

"It's a gift," the Chosen replied, and then paused for a moment, "Well... that and I have the intimidating stare." Sebastian had a confused look on his face, but he dared not question Zelos any further. "You just have to look into someone's eyes for a long time without even flinching or blinking," Zelos explained, catching on to his butler's puzzlement, "Of course, the one that you are intimidating has to be a little vulnerable when it comes to dealing with people." Sebastian nodded in understanding; man, this went against everything he had learnt in butler school! "I'm off to help my voluptuous hunny prepare for the par-tay!" Zelos announced before making his way upstairs. He opened the door of the guest room a crack only to be rejected:

"Go away."

This, of course, meant 'go ahead and let yourself in' where Zelos was concerned. The Chosen pushed the door open completely and entered the room. "Ah, I see you're already making yourself comfortable in my house!" he observed upon seeing that Sheena lying down on the room's bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

"Go away."

"No," Zelos directly responded to her request this time, "You have to get ready for the party."

Sheena's eyes broke away from the ceiling and she turned her head towards Zelos, "But it's still daytime. Don't noble gatherings generally take place at night?"

"Yep," Zelos agreed, "But I'm just going to assume that you don't know how long it takes to get ready for a rich party." Even though he had stated that he would assume, Sheena shook her head to indicate that no, she had never been to a 'rich party'. "It takes a loooong time," he said, clearly exaggerating the 'long', "Oh, but don't worry! I'm here to help you!"

"I don't need your help!" Sheena snapped, "I can get myself dressed; thanks."

Zelos shrugged, "Hmm... if you say so." He wandered over the closet at the back wall of the room. Sheena watched him with intrigue as he opened up the closet and pulled out a... purple dress? But it did not look so much like a dress... Zelos tossed the garment onto the bed where Sheena was. "Good luck," was all that the Chosen said before leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.

Sheena picked up the supposed dress and examined it, "How does this thing work?" She got to her feet and held the dress out in front of her; it appeared to be a complex type of wrap dress... definitely something that Sheena had never worn in her life. She attempted to test various ways that the dress may fit around her body... but no matter what, it seemed that she would be revealing a lot of skin... much more than she would have liked to show. "He's trying to turn me into one of his whores," Sheena growled under her breath, "Except even more indecent!"

Meanwhile, Zelos was in his room, getting changed into his own noble outfit. The Chosen was cackling deviously to himself for two reasons: Sheena was surely having issues with figuring out her dress, which was funny. And also, she would look so sexy when she managed to get it on! After he got into his gorgeous outfit, Zelos moved over the mirror and scrutinized his appearance. Absolute perfection! He was beyond perfection! But wait... there was something wrong. "My hair! I can't wear it loose – it's too casual!" The swordsman pondered for a moment, visualizing every possible hairstyle that he could pull off. He decided on a simple yet classy braid. Zelos soon came to the conclusion that braiding your own hair to perfection is a very trying task. "Sebastiiiiiaaan!!" he cried, rushing downstairs. Zelos skidded to a stop as he passed his butler, but unfortunately he skidded to a stop on a carpet, which made him trip and fall onto the hardwood floor, "Ow!"

Sebastian showed no sign of fear for his master, questioning as to why he was screaming, or anything of the sort. In fact, Sebastian spoke completely monotonously, "What is it that you desire, Master Zelos?"

The Chosen moaned in pain, "Help me up..." His servant obeyed and easily pulled Zelos up onto his feet. "Thanks, Sebastian. Now... Braid my hair prettily."

"As you wish, Master Zelos." Sebastian motioned for Zelos to sit down on a nearby chair. He did so, and then Sebastian began twisted Zelos' hair into a lovely braid. It was at this moment that Sheena made her way down the stairs. Naturally, the sight of the esteemed Chosen having his hair braided by his butler was rather amusing to Sheena, and she promptly broke into a fit of laughter. "Ah, Miss Sheena," Sebastian observed calmly.

"Sheena?!" Zelos quickly turned his head around – hitting Sebastian with his braided hair – and looked at the laughing Sheena. At first, he was rather humiliated because he was relying on Sebastian to make him beautiful, but that embarrassment faded once he caught sight of... her. Sheena. Wearing the dress. Hearts shone in Zelos' eyes at he looked the summoner up and down, "You're looking so gorgeous!"

"Qu...quiet, Zelos!" Sheena shouted, folding her arms in front of her chest, "This is really awkward!" The Chosen slowly began walking towards Sheena, a mesmerized look in his eyes. "Z-Zelos... cut it out," Sheena backed away as Zelos moved even closer.

"I can't help it," he said emotionlessly, "I am no longer in control..."

The Mizuho native rushed to the top of the stairs, "Well then, get in control and finish having your hair braided!"

Zelos frowned, "Aww... you had to bring that up... We'll finish this later," he winked and then returned to Sebastian. Sheena sighed; now that she had escaped Zelos hitting on her, all that she had to do was... keep everyone else in Meltokio from judging her.

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I would have made this an extra-long chapter and included the party, but I figured that it would be better to just post this much now rather than making you guys all wait longer. Anyway... here are my replies to reviews:

To Tsuruoka – I'm glad that you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading!

To Adriatic – You must get your hands on the game! It is awesome! Ahem... Zelos losing his womanizing attitude... it could happen. As you could tell, he's starting to rethink his ways! Whoa.. revelation!! Heh...

To mizu – I'm writing more! I shall not stop! ...Well, until the story's finished, anyway.

To Potter29Vo – Now Zelos isn't the only one being visited by ancient heroes! Ha! Wow, I feel special for being in your favourite! Heehee. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing.

To Cerse Liminara – I've said it before, and I'll say it again: you're so cruel to Zelos! Heh. Glad you were amused by the library scene!

To jellybeanz225 – Well, Zelos didn't have a dream, but Sheena did! Yay! Hope you're enjoying the Meltokio chapter(s)!

To Phoenix5017 – I know! When I chose to get Kratos back in the party, I didn't think it would end like that! And that is how Zelos came to be my favourite character...

To Silver's Shadow Tamer – Thanks you very much for the compliments; welcome to the ToS section!