"Y'know, it's a lot harder to untie knots when you can only use one hand. Thanks a lot, Kuchinawa."

Kuchinawa was so exhausted from the fight that he didn't even have enough energy to argue.

"Could you give me a hand, then?"

Unwillingly, he limped to where Zelos was, and helped untie with the only hand that he could use.

"There, we got this one." Zelos said, pulling off the rope that bound Sheena to the chair. As soon as she could, she stretched her arms. They had been in the same position for a very long time.

"Okay… Now the feet." Zelos said, moving around the chair to untie the rope binding Sheena's feet. Zelos reached over to untangle the rope, and Sheena reached down to help. With her help, the knot was undone very quickly. As soon as she was free, she stood up. Zelos stood up, also.

"Alright! Now all we gotta do is your mouth---"

Sheena rushed over to Zelos, and wrapped both arms around him. She buried her head into his shoulder, and sobbed. Zelos then hugged her with his right arm, and a tear slid down his face. After a while, he let go.

"W-Well, let's get that rope out of your face…" Zelos said as he went behind Sheena to undo the rope tied around her mouth. He struggled with it for a bit.

"Kuchinawa, can you help me, here?" Zelos said, looking over to him.

Kuchinawa's head was tilted forward, and the ground below him was wet with tears. He had been watching them. Another tear dripped down when he looked up at Zelos.

"S-Sure…" Kuchinawa said in a shaky voice. He limped over to them.

Kuchinawa lifted his hand up as if he were going to help, but instead he grabbed the piece of fabric covering his face, ripped it off, and threw it onto the floor. Then he began to untie the rope.

"Kuchinawa, I've never seen you without---"

Kuchinawa glared at him. Zelos stopped talking. They finished untying the knot, and Zelos pulled the rope off, and Sheena breathed in quickly.

"Thank you, Zelos! And Kuchinawa…" She said, turning around. When she saw Kuchinawa, she gasped and covered her mouth. His whole face was wet with tears, and his mouth curled into a frown.

"Oh---Kuchinawa, I'm sorry!" She said, crying. She ran over to him and hugged him.

Kuchinawa pushed her away. Sheena stepped back, both hurt and confused by this gesture.

"Y-You obviously like him better… Leave me alone." Kuchinawa said.

"B-But! Kuchinawa, we can still be friends---!"

"If you don't love me… I don't want to have anything to do with you."

Sheena clenched her fists and put them up to her face. She began to cry even harder.

"Have a heart!" Zelos yelled. "She still wants to be your friend after all of this!"

"That's just not enough…"

"You can't force her to love you!"

Kuchinawa stopped talking, and picked up the piece of cloth off the ground, and tied it back onto his face. Sheena desperately reached out a hand to Kuchinawa, but he swatted it away. He started to walk rather weakly towards the room entrance.

"Please…" Sheena sobbed.

Kuchinawa stopped.

"Don't hate me…" She said.

He turned around slowly.

"I don't—I don't hate you, Sheena. I just… I don't know what to think…"

"Why can't we be friends---?"

"It hurts too much…"

"Wh-What?"

"Trust me… It'll cause more pain than it will comfort."

"But…!"

"You don't know what it feels like to be rejected. Just seeing your face—it… It hurts."

Sheena paused.

"I-If you want it that way… If it really makes you feel better to never see me again…"

"I'm sorry if you don't understand, but—It really will."

Sheena stopped talking and looked down at the ground, now she was crying hysterically. She took quick, uneven breaths in between sobs. She buried her face in her hands, and collapsed to the ground. Zelos was watching, and seeing Sheena cry this hard made him start to cry.

Kuchinawa limped to the entrance without looking back at her. He then disappeared through the opening. Sheena watched him the whole time until she couldn't see him anymore. When he was gone, she quickly ran over to Zelos and hugged him again.

"I-I'm so sorry…" Zelos said in an uneven voice.

"Please… D-Don't be, none of this is your fault." Sheena said, shaking.

Zelos sighed.

"Do you think we should head back?"

Sheena stopped hugging him, looked at him, and nodded. They started walking, and Sheena looked over at his arm. The whole bottom half of it was drenched in blood.

"Oh--Oh my God! I didn't know it was that bad!"

"What is…?" Zelos said. He had forgotten all about it.

"Your arm---!"

"Oh, that…" Zelos said, and he looked down at it. "Woah…"

"Are you going to be okay?" Sheena said, looking at the wound, which was still bleeding.

"Yeah… Yeah…" Zelos said. He started to feel a bit sleepy all of a sudden.

"You're loosing a lot of blood… We should wrap it up…" Sheena said. Zelos couldn't understand anything else that she was saying, and his eyes became heavy. He felt himself fall backwards, and his vision blacked out.

"Zelos!" Sheena screamed, catching him before he fell. She softly placed him on the ground, and put her ear to his chest. She could still hear his heartbeat, and he was still breathing. He'd just fainted. But, if he lost any more blood, he could die.

"Okay, I just need to cover the wound up…" She said, pulling apart her left glove, creating a bandage. She slowly wrapped it around his wound, and tied it up. The bleeding stopped immediately. "Perfect."

She let him rest, and after an hour or so, Zelos opened his eyes.

"Hey! Can you hear me?"

"Wha-?" Zelos said, sitting up. He looked over at the bandage.

"The bleeding stopped after I put it on."

"Phew… I thought I was a goner there for a second…"

"It was a close one."

"Yup." Zelos said, and scratched the side of his head.

"Alright, we should head back. Don't you think everyone's a bit worried?" Sheena said, standing up.

"Yeah..." Zelos said, looking up at her.

Sheena held out a hand so she could help him up, and Zelos took it. With her help, Zelos stood up. They started to walk, and Zelos limped a little.

"Did he get your leg, too?"

"What? No, that battle just really took it outta me…"

"Oh… I-I'm really sorry that I caused you all this trouble…"

"Sheena. I would do it all again in a heartbeat." Zelos said, and smiled. Sheena smiled back.

They continued to walk for a long while along the staircase. Sheena had to help Zelos up the steepest steps, but they eventually made it out. They both popped their heads out of the trapdoor, and the sunlight almost blinded them.

"Wow… We were in there for a while, weren't we?" Zelos said.

"Yeah… I didn't think I would ever see sunlight again…" Sheena said, almost breaking down in tears again.

"You didn't think I would come and save you?"

"I didn't, no… But know I knew better." Sheena said, and looked at Zelos. Zelos smiled at her.

They stepped out of the trapdoor completely, and headed for the front door of Orochi's house. Zelos knocked on the door. They both heard heavy footsteps that got louder and louder. Regal opened the door very quickly.

Regal gasped very loudly. "WELCOME!" He screamed.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually kind of happy to see you---" Zelos said.

"WELCOOOOOOOOOOOOME!"

"Uhh…" Sheena said.

"Welcome to---!"

"Regal! Leave the poor person alone!" Presea said, pulling him away from the door. "Oh!" Presea said in surprise. "You're back!"

Everyone must've heard Presea say this, because they all rushed to the front door.

"I'm so glad you're both okay! We were all worried sick!" Collette said.

"I MADE TEA!" Raine screamed.

Genis pushed through all of them and said in a soft voice. "Hey, Zelos, didja kiss her?"

Sheena's eyes got wide and she blushed.

"H-Hey! You brat---!" Zelos said.

"GENIS! BAD BOY! YOU NEED A SPANKING!" Raine screamed, dragging him away.

"NOOOOOOOO!"

"I MADE CHEESE!" Regal said, holding out a boiling pan of it.

"N-No, thanks…" Zelos said.

"You want some?" Regal said, holding it out to Sheena.

"No…"

"MORE FOR ME!"

"Oh, come on, everyone, let them in…" Collette said, pushing everyone to the side. Sheena and Zelos walked inside, and Collette closed the door.

"PARTAAAAAY!" Regal screamed.

"NO!" Presea yelled.

"It could be a CHEESE party! EVERYBODY LOVES---!"

"NOO!"

"Awwwww…"

THE END!

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YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! I hope you all enjoyed this fic!

-joins everyone and waves a Sheelos flag-