Prescript: Fast update! Go me! I'm kinda disappointed with the small amount of reviews, but oh well! I love this story, still. So nyeah.

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia. But I do own Taro, Mina, Jennai, and Sera.

Transcendent; Chapter four: Wings and Rings

"Don't feel bad, sweetheart," I tried to console Mina, sitting down on her small bed. "There's nothing wrong with having wings." It was hard for me to say anything that'd make her feel better. Zelos was the one with wings, not me. And of course, Zelos wasn't home. He never was.

Mina swung her legs, avoiding my gaze. "But all the kids laughed at me! Even Lilly laughed at me!" I knew, more than anyone, that fitting in at school was a tough and scary thing. "... No one is like me, Mom."

I squeezed her shoulder and managed an encouraging smile. "Sure there is! Your friends, the Sylph, they have wings. And Aska, too!"

"They're just . . . Summon Spirits," she replied gloomily.

"But they're your friends," I said, wishing Zelos were there to back me up. "Daddy has wings too, you know."

Worming away from me, Mina stomped out the door and threw back, "Daddy never comes home! I... hate Daddy!" and stormed out into the village.

To be completely honest, I wasn't surprised. I wasn't expecting her to say she hated Zelos, but I sure could understand why she blew up like that. It made me mad, too. I mean, what could there possibly be out there that was more important to him than his family? "I sure have a lot to talk about with that man," I said aloud, bustling off to do some random housework.

XOXOXOXO

Not to my surprise, Mina came home before Zelos did, poorly concealing a handful of flowers behind her back. As soon as I gazed up from the kitchen table, she dove into my lap and stuck the bouquet in my face. "I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't mean to get mad at you."

"It's okay, sweetheart. You were just upset, I know." I took the flowers and put them in the vase on the table, replacing the dead, dried-out daisies Mina had brought me when she'd caught Zelos and I fighting.

"I don't hate Daddy, either," she confided in me. I knew she hadn't meant that, either. It wasn't possible for Mina to have hatred in her heart. "But I wish he would come home, you know?"

Sighing, I nodded. "Me too . . . me too."

We spent that evening talking about Mina's field trip, working on her homework, and trying out a new recipe for dinner. She told me a new poem she'd learned. It was about a bird that couldn't fly, until one day when it saw a rainbow, fluttered its wings, and took to the sky. I thought it was kind of metaphorical.

Just as I was putting Mina to bed, the front door slammed; Zelos' signal to the entire village that he was home. Sure enough, I heard, "Sheena! Oh, hunny! Mina! I'm home!"

"As if we didn't know," Mina giggled, pulling the blankets up to her nose. I laughed and closed her door behind me as I went to meet Zelos.

He smiled a mile wide, taking a seat on my bed. "Hi, hunny! How was your meeting with ol' Taro?"

Folding my arms, I sat beside him. "He took Jennai and me to see Sera. How come you never told me the guy had a reason to exist?"

"Huh?" Zelos gave me a weird look, then blinked. "Oh, that. I didn't think you'd care to know."

Gee, thanks for assuming that I'm simple minded and selfish, I thought. "Right . . . where were you today?"

"At home." His smile shrank a little at my interrogative stare. "Uh . . . doing . . . work?"

"Right. While you were out screwing around in Meltokio, Mina discovered she had angel wings because a bully at school pushed her off a cliff!" I snarled at him. I was just so tired of quietly going along with his schedule. Now that I knew Mina was hurt by it too, I felt it was my duty to step in and make changes.

Zelos seemed to look more amused than concerned. "Really? Where'd she get wings from?" he asked. I wondered if he was really that stupid.

"From you," I said, pointing at the Cruxis Crystal at his throat. "You never told me wings were hereditary, either."

He looked quite shocked, touching the Crystal lightly. "It's not hereditary! She couldn't have gotten it from me!"

Now I was thoroughly convinced that he was lying to me. Mina had no Cruxis Crystal or Exsphere, or any sensible reason that would give her wings. The only thing that made sense was that she had gained it from Zelos at birth. "Zelos, that doesn't make any damn sense!" I argued.

Waving his hands in front of his face defensively, Zelos said, "But it's the truth, hunny! At least, that's what I was told."

My hands planted themselves on my hips. "Told by whom?"

"Taro! He knows this stuff!"

"Oh, Taro!" I hissed, throwing my hands up. It really felt like I'd lost every last ounce of my patience. "That guy is batshit crazy, Zelos! Why would you believe anything he says?"

"Because!" Zelos yelled back. "Taro is my best friend! Always has been!"

"Is that so? Then, what am I? Who am I to you?"

"You're just . . . " Zelos' response was cut short by a loud bang in the doorway. Mina had overturned a chair to get our attention, and I realized suddenly that she'd probably been standing there the whole time.

The little nine-year-old looked between the two of us, her blue eyes so similar to her father's full of tears. "Why do you have to fight?" she cried at me, then at Zelos. "Every time Daddy comes home you always yell and say mean things!"

She turned on Zelos and pointed accusatively. "You make Mom cry when you leave her alone!" Then she turned and did the same to me. "And you always get Daddy angry and start fights!"

Throwing her arms out to the sides, she finished with something I'd never heard her say; "Why don't you both just shut up?"

The sad fact was, Mina was absolutely right. Whatever facades Zelos and I had been going on, she saw right through them. And it was the sheer, harsh truth of her words that made me crack and just cry, right in front of both of them.

Zelos had grown awfully quiet, and after a few moments, he pulled me into his arms, rubbing my shoulder gently. "I'm sorry, Sheena . . . and Mina. I... never meant to cause this much trouble." He sighed nervously, almost as if he were going to cry, too.

I rested my head against his chest and let my anger out with a heavy sigh, wiping my tears away quickly. "I'm sorry, too," I admitted, "Maybe I should try to understand you before I get all mad . . . "

Mina watched after us in silence for a minute or two, before I saw her nod once. After she did, she turned and picked up the chair she'd flipped, and went back to bed. Leaving us to resolve the issue with no further assistance (which I found funny — we needed help from our own daughter just to keep from yelling at each other).

"Nah. It's not that." Zelos stroked at my hair, staring off over my shoulder. "I just need to get over my fears . . . "

I tilted my head up to look at him. "What fears?" Maybe I should have asked What's there to be afraid of? But I didn't.

He shook his head. "It's nothing . . . er, well, I'll tell you in the morning. Let's just try talking to each other normally first, eh?"

Strangely enough, the idea of just talking to him sounded better than anything I'd heard in a long time. "Okay," was my simple response.

"So . . . " Zelos took a long look around, then returned his focus on me. "Anything you want to say?"

At first, I was going to shake my head and tell him to pick the topic, but before I could do that, I recalled the ring in his drawer. Curiosity struck. "Well, I saw a really pretty ring in your dresser drawer while I was putting the laundry away," I trailed, trying to sound casual about it.

When I said ring, his face turned a little pale and his gaze darted away. "Oh, really? It's nice, huh . . . ?" He was bluffing, I could so tell.

"Yeah, really nice." My whole body twitched. "What's it for?" Did I sound too pushy? Or have that tone like I already knew and was playing dumb with him? I sincerely hoped not.

He managed to glimpse at me again before looking elsewhere. "It's . . . an engagement ring, y'know?" Trying to sound casual too; we were both bluffing so badly.

"Oh?" I raised my eyebrows, interested. "Who for?'

Out of the blue, Zelos snatched up my hand and held it tightly in his. "Sheena, it's for you. I... I want to know if you'll marry me."

Although it wasn't a total surprise, I sort of gasped and covered my mouth, smiling through my fingers. "O-of course," I stammered. What else could I say? "Yes, I will."

Zelos fairly mauled me in a hug. From somewhere else in the room, I heard a soft giggle, but didn't bother looking for where it came from. "I love you," he purred in my ear.

"I love you too," I responded, clinging to him for dear life. It'd been so long since I'd heard something like that, and it felt better in my heart than I remembered. As I held onto his waist, I got the same feeling I had whenever I stood and watched Mina go to school — I wanted to hold no forever and never let go for fear of losing him.