Disclaimer: I (still) do not own the characters of Tales of Symphonia, however much I wish to do so.

Warning: Yes, this fic will contain some more questionable stuff. That's why it's rated 'R'. So if you don't like mentions of sex or slightly offensive language, you're not old enough, or your parents would get you in trouble and kick you off of fanfiction forever if they found this, DO NOT CONTINUE. Thanks... Heh... I'm such a hypocrite.

Pairings: Sheelos, etc.

IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE! FLANOIR! But first, my lovely reviewers...

jellybeanz225: Heh, all right, you can borrow Yuan. I really did enjoy the kicking scene... it's just that Sheena was asleep during it : ( My brother and I always make fun of that scene, too...

starr: It's here! It's here! What you've been waiting for! Don't fret over chapter 10, because when I was playing, I noticed Sheena was acting strangely courteous toward the little Traitor. And also, Kratos is nowhere to be seen... and even if he were, I would make a way for Zelos to live!

Kitten Kisses: Glad you liked it! 'Cause... I didn't, really. ::shrug:: That's why it was short and choppy. But things will flow more smoothly, because, my dear, I am apparently pioneering the way for R-rated Sheelos with a plot! Thank you very much for putting me in that category ; )

Neko-chan: Ah, my gratitude to you for your 'wonderful' praise can never be recounted! It's really touching to hear that from even the last chapter you think I've got amazing skills... I didn't even like that chapter... ::tearing up:: Thank you so much!!

Lady Kumiko: Congrats on finishing the game! I'm going for a fourth time soon... ::hides wavebird:: Ahem! Yes, Sheena and Zelos were made for each other, dontcha think? I simply couldn't stand ToS without their relationship, but it was tough to write this, because I always make Lloyd best friends with Colette so Sheena doesn't develop more of a crush on him, and then I never see the scenes... ::sigh:: Oh, and the fluff is lovey-dovey stuff, but snow could work too!

Warning: There is about to be some fluff, but since I don't classify 'fluff' as being anything obscene, you're all safe! Read on!

--Trickssi

Chapter Nine: Breaking the Ice

Ugh.

As if it wasn't bad enough they had to go here to release a Summon Spirit; now they had to stay overnight because of that accursed doctor. Sure, he was a respectable physician, but his rates were unreasonable, even for the Chosen and company. But they would pay the amount: Altessa was far too valuable. Sheena, however, paid through shivering uncontrollably in this second stay in Flanoir. Her only sanctuary was the hotel's fireplace located in the scenic glacial lobby. She held the flannel blanket close around her layers and layers of clothing and tried to think warm thoughts.

'Warm. Warm is hot chocolate. Chocolate tastes good. But Chocolat is a person, and she was in danger, and so is Altessa, and it's really really cold here. Damn, I'm hungry. Okay, not chocolate. Tea... That's making me thirsty. Let's find something practical, shall we? Fire. Fire, fire, red-hot coals, I'm in a desert and I'm stepping on coals, red-hot coals... Red... The color of his hair...'

Sheena gasped as she realized where her thoughts had led her.

'No, no, NO! You mustn't think of him. He's been acting weird lately and he can't cook... Maybe if he's not himself, he needs a mana cleansing. Maybe you can help him. It'll get you warm, at least. You could probably persuade him to—HOLY MOTHER OF MARTEL, NO' she battled with herself. There was just no way she could let him control her mind like that. Except... it did make her hot.

No.

No, it didn't. Yes it did. Hell yes it did, but no, it couldn't. But if Colette had gone to talk to Lloyd, they'd be alone; right?

"Whoa, hunny, you got a fever?"

Sheena snapped her attention from the blaze to the lusty lecher suddenly standing beside her. "What the—Where'd you come from?" she asked quickly. "And I do not have a fever!"

"Well, your face is flushed enough," he commented, seating himself a little too closely to her. She absentmindedly felt her forehead. It was a bit warm; she must have been blushing. But then, god, who wouldn't get hot at the thought of the true epitome of masculine sexiness sitting so closely, and being a sentence away from—

"I've... been by the fire awhile."

"Oh. Well, I'd ask if I could join you, but it seems I've already taken the liberty," Zelos said.

"I guess I'll let you since it's so cold in our rooms," Sheena responded, her eyes back on the fire.

"Yeah. I hate snow..."

She glanced over at him with curiosity. "Really? I hate the cold, too." He nodded halfheartedly. It intrigued her, irked her: an umbrage that had to be put to rest at last. "Say, Zelos, I was wondering then... Why do you hate snow so much?"

He sighed deeply. "I knew it would come up sooner or later," he muttered to himself, then more loudly: "It reminds me of my mother... how she died."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have—" Sheena blurted, embarrassed at having leapt into something so private so quickly.

"No, seriously. It's okay. It's probably best I tell you now, anyway, if you're going to know at all," Zelos interrupted. "Go ahead, ask. I need to get it off my chest."

Sheena nodded. "All right then, how did it happen?"

"It was when I was six. It was snowing, probably like here in Flanoir; the most Meltokio had ever seen," he began.

"You were just... six years old?" A wave of compassion passed through her at those words.

"Please don't start with the feminine sympathy. You're gonna make me feel bad being passive about this. Now is this my story or yours?" he asked lightly, a false smirk on his face. She lowered her eyes. "Okay.

"Now, my mother—Mylene was her name. Mylene Wilder; my mother, not Seles's like people think. She was... she was something. Never really wanted to marry my father, but it was arranged, him being the current Chosen and all. I don't remember ever seeing her smiling except for that same day, snowing outside.

"We were trying to build a snowman, ridiculous little kid excitement from the snow infecting us both. We'd gotten pretty far on him, the snowman, so I was going to put the head on now. I bent down to pick up the snowball we'd made... Next thing I knew, red snow was falling."

Sheena was spellbound, open-mouthed. "Red snow?" she repeated.

"Yeh, she, uh... She was struck awfully hard with a magic attack," he said slowly. "Worst part is: it was meant for me. And my mom, from the ground, she looks up at me and... I'll never forget what she said. 'You should never have been born...' right from the lips that had just been smiling so widely at me."

"Oh my... god, Zelos..." Sheena could hardly speak. She found her eyes watering for this wretched Chosen. Speechless.

"It was the woman my father really loved who got her. She wanted to kill me because she was pregnant with Seles, whom she thought better deserved the title of Chosen, but... as you can see, I'm still kicking," he continued.

"And thank Martel! Zelos, you're so lucky to have a mother who loves you that much—"

"She didn't ever love me, Sheena," he said firmly, staring at her stringently.

"What are you talking about?" she asked desperately. She repositioned herself so that she was facing him directly with only one side to the fire. "Your mother protected you that day. You're lucky she was around!"

"She didn't mean to, and that still doesn't mean she loved me!" Zelos shouted. "Who could love a child who's destined to die from birth? You don't understand what it's like to have your whole damn life planned out before you're even born. Sometimes I like to think she was right..."

"Zelos! How can you say such a thing?!" Sheena accused. "I mean, sure I don't know what it's like, but Martel! Of course you deserve to have been born..." She broke off unable to look at him. It was unbelievable that he truly felt this way after all that masking of his emotions. She had no idea of what the life of any Chosen was like, but she knew that it meant something more than sacrifice.

"Nobody thinks I should live right now, do they? Nobody in the whole damn world cares if I die! I'm not helping any worlds by just being me!" he protested.

"You know, when we met, I thought you were an idiot, but now I know so. I care. I care if you live. I want you to live if no one else, okay? I guess I never saw it before, but you're a person, too," Sheena blurted, baffled at her own words. Was he even listening? He had that glint in his eyes again. "God, please don't do anything stupid!" She rose to her knees; giving in, she put her arms around him. At least it shut him up.

"Do you... really mean that?" Zelos asked.

The summoner blushed. "Yes, I mean it. I want you to live. I want all of us to live." She stroked his hair—ah, that hair—with the reassurance of a mother, but the intention of... Of what? Did she mean to think 'lover'? She backed off immediately, jerkily, ignorant of the external view.

"Well, thanks... Nice to know somebody cares once in awhile," he said shakily. He had obviously attempted to feign apathy.

"Good." Zelos shifted in the uneasy silence, unsure of whether he should leave or not. Sheena, sensing this, settled herself closer to him. "Seles, huh? I really don't like that girl," she said, attempting to start up a conversation.

"Oh, you've met before?" he asked.

"I don't know if I would say 'met', but yes, I encountered her before... You see, someone was stalking me a little while ago, and it turned out to be her." He raised an eyebrow.

"Why would she do that?"

"I don't know!" said Sheena. "Anyway, one night I woke up, and she was there at the campsite, ready to fight! She said, 'You evil witch, I'll teach you to seduce my brother!' and started swinging around a sword... Mind you, I sent her packing."

"That's interesting," Zelos said with a smirk. "She probably thought you were one of my sweet hunnies."

Sheena's face reddened entirely. "What would give her that idea? I never met her before in my life!"

"That's because I told her so," Zelos said matter-of-factly.

"W-what?"

Zelos put his arm around her. "Oh, I'm just kidding! Calm down already," he soothed.

"You stupid Chosen... That doesn't help me one bit. It just means that there was enough information on the outside of the two of us that she could gather that I was—I can hardly bring myself to say it—seducing you," she replied. His eyes were fixated upon the fire.

"She always used to want to follow me around when I saw her; always wanted to be just like me for some reason. Probably because she wanted to be Chosen in my place, but things didn't work out that way. So she's constantly cross with me for being something I can't control."

"I know what you mean... But I think you're doing a decent job of handling your title," she complimented.

He shook his head in discord. "Whatever." He hadn't done that great of a job recently, and his job was just about to get tougher; Lloyd had suggested making a move on Cruxis, and being what he was, well... The time had come to try his trust with the group. He couldn't bear the thought of losing his first true friends. But then... When Sheena had dared to try his cooking, the others followed. So if he could win over her trust, the others...

The grip on Sheena's shoulder tightened, heightening the tacit tension she held in her mind. She was getting overheated again. "H-hey, I'm not that cold anymore, so if you want... I mean, what I'm trying to say is... the lobby is kind of open..."

"Your room. Lloyd will take Colette to the guys' room if at all, and if he doesn't, Colette won't make a fuss about my being in your room," he said casually. Sheena blushed again.

"But—I just wanted to talk, since Lloyd and Colette are talking, because... I want to know the real you," she admitted. "I believe I have the prerogative to know. And hey, if afterwards you somehow manage to get into my pants..."

"No, actually, I'm going to have to decline on the latter," he said. He couldn't very well take advantage of her and expect her to come back to him with the same caliber of affection. Then again, he couldn't revoke all sorts of contact, because then she would turn her back to him forever. He ought to just be a gentleman for once. "But... I may suddenly catch chill and forget a blanket, if you know what I mean."

The embarrassment glowing on Sheena's face intensified. Sex was one thing for her; it was easy to just ignore who someone truly was, but this... showing that he didn't want her for that took her aback. He was more complex than she thought. He really was a person. Was he indicating love? She wouldn't know. She was never close enough to anyone in Mizuho to find out what happens when a person loves you. She didn't quite know what to say except to accept his offer. "Uh... yeah. Okay. We just have to get there first," she replied awkwardly.

He followed her upstairs to the girls' room. He truly wasn't planning on staying too long; just enough that he could tell her the truth. Well, not the truth, but close enough. And long enough to perhaps get a closer smell of her hair. They entered, and Sheena settled herself on the bed with her blanket as Zelos sat on the edge.

"You know, I won't be able to hear your stories unless you come closer," she said quietly, laced with unintentional allure. She buried herself further in the sheets. She was wrong; it was freezing up here.

"You're shivering," Zelos observed, inching his way closer to her.

"Wh-what? I'm..." She tried to think warm thoughts again to no avail.

"Do you trust me?" he asked abruptly. "I mean, not to molest you."

"It depends on... Yes, I trust you. If you were really going to do it you wouldn't warn me first," she rationalized.

"All right, if you trust me..." Zelos began to remove his outer tunic as she watched with a gaping jaw.

"How—? How will that help?! I thought we weren't going to do anything!" Sheena shouted. He had thankfully stopped at that, tossing the article aside.

"Don't get all excited. Take off the robe," he instructed monotonously.

Sheena's eyes widened. "WHAT? I'll freeze to death!"

"No, you won't," Zelos replied calmly. "Body heat; little trick I picked up through my travels... well, actually... a textbook, since I'm supposed to be all honest. But seriously, the colder you are, the more layers you should take off. As many as you feel comfortable around me with; I won't make you do anything."

"Th-this is crazy," she remarked. But he had promised precious warmth and wasn't forcing her for once. It was either go with it toward the unknown or further freeze. On a night such as this on which she could see her breath, she chose the former and cautiously cast aside her outer layers. Her arms brought security as they were brought about her front. And to her surprise, Zelos looked upon her not with lust, but softly, with a quiescent comfort. "What now?" she asked sharply.

He was delighted that she had actually relied on him. "You really trust me," he said, awe-stricken.

"This had better work. This ain't a free show."

"Come here, my little ice queen," he said, fitting himself betwixt the blankets and extending his arms to her. Sheena scooted toward him, awaiting some embrace, but he turned her outward. "Lie down on your side." She accepted his command only because of its reassuring tone. It seemed something less rough than what the public heard, but not syrupy as though he was speaking to his 'hunnies.' She found his frame befitting hers, back to chest, as though a jigsaw template. Slowly, his hand fell around the delicate apex of her waist, across her stomach, and now it seemed a protective sort of shell. Being in such proximity she imagined she felt his heart beating. It proved a contrast to her uneven racing pulse.

"I'm still cold," she stated, riddled with goose bumps, though not necessarily from the chill air.

"You'll warm up. Just give it a few minutes or so."

"... God, I'm being held by the world's worst philanderer," Sheena said to herself, stricken by disbelief.

"It's called 'spooning', my voluptuous hunny. Though, I guess your phrase would work, too," he replied to the rhetorical comment.

"Hey, well, it is what it is, isn't it? Call it what you like. I don't care what crudeness you present when nobody else is around; you're more experienced anyway," she said.

"Hn, interesting you should say that." Uh oh. Zelos, throwing caution into the wind, had just presented himself with a disadvantage, letting his statement flow out of his mouth so hastily. Or could it be turned beneficial? If he told her the truth, she might just trust him more when the moment of judgment came. All the little facts he had been telling her had to add up to something more than the one little lie he had to tell. Had to.

"What do you mean? Are you suddenly going to deny your qualification?" Sheena asked magnetically. Zelos gave an almost haughty laugh.

"Well, I've still got a reason for my reputation, but... I'm not all I'm lived up to be, really."

"So you're not a dirty lecher?"

The Chosen now began to blush. Suddenly it felt a little warmer under that blanket. What was this, an inquiry? He had no choice but to answer, though sheepish he was. "Hell, I guess I never was. You were the one who said I was in the first place, remember? And then I said, 'Don't flatter me.' Don't you remember?"

Sheena searched in the archives of her memory. "I guess I did, didn't I. But I'd still like to know the story with you and women, even if you're not all you're cracked up to be," she requested, pressing herself against him a smidgen tighter.

"Heheheh... Bet you would, wouldn't you? Well let's just say you couldn't get an STD from me, babe."

"Ha! I knew it! You were a virgin, weren't you!" she accused, accepting prematurely that she had won.

"Sorry, no," he admitted shamelessly. "But it was only once when I was about 15."

Her jaw dropped. She turned her head to look back at him in doubt. "You're joking."

"Afraid not this time. Guess I'm a liar; add that to the list of things you can't stand about me."

"It's not a lie if you tell me the truth now," she told him giddily.

"All right, all right! I swear to Martel I was only 15, and it was one of the palace maids. Didn't even know her name. She pretty much used me."

"That's boring... and disappointing."

"Isn't it though? It was horrible... god, I... was premature and I hardly had a sense of control," he said with a sigh.

"If that's the case, then you've improved... greatly," Sheena said under her breath. Her face, already steaming with heat, burned again at the thought of their last encounter.

"Heheh, you think?" he asked in jocularity. "You wanna know something else?"

"What?" she asked, developing a large grin.

"I never took advantage of a woman before. Well, I mean, I never let 'em get a real piece of me. I'm just a trickster, y'know? Badass bastard kind of a guy..."

Despite his words, Sheena was nearly splitting her sides with silent laughter. It was too funny: this made-to-be macho Chosen reduced to a lowly peasant concerning true acts. And all this time she thought he'd banged every other girl in the world brazenly. When she caught her breath, she finally spoke: "So then why did you choose me?"

Zelos let out another sigh, and buried his face in her hair. A warm scent of some fruit, possibly plum, met his nose. This was real. This was no garish, slovenly reek of the town whores, or the pretentious stench of high society's housewives. This was the sleek fragrance of the only woman who was genuinely real to him, in mannerisms and insults. Mmm. "Well, first off, I knew you would be able to tell. And... I wanted you to trust me since the beginning," he replied. She felt his words in her heart as though through osmosis, veering her idea of him toward the better.

"You idiot Chosen," she laughed softly. "You stupid idiot Chosen... If you're telling me the truth about all this, then, I guess I was wrong about you."

"How so?"

"I thought you were hiding something, but... Oh, I don't know... I can tell you're not. It's times like these when you're not putting up some wall between yourself and everyone else, when you're really being you, that I think I understand you. And I don't have a problem with this you."

It had gone too far. Now she overly trusted him, and it stung to ponder what would have to happen next. There would be no ground for an understanding then. He couldn't bring himself to betray Cruxis right there, because that would backfire and betray the group worse. A triple nullification of fidelity. Right now, he had gained the trust of at least this woman, if not Lloyd and Colette as well. One more night of her trust was all he needed. Yes, those few moments he would come to treasure; it wasn't a front that he truly wanted her trust, and in this brief span he had come to gain it. He held her tighter.

Somehow Sheena overlooked his lack of response. Catching his breath on her shoulder, the expansion and contraction of his lungs rocking her gently, hearing him sigh in the silence of the winter; she imagined they were somehow connecting him to her. This feeling was unlike any sexual quenching, satisfying in another realm of its own. This was... no, not perfect. She couldn't find the word. Placid, maybe. Blissful, perhaps... She just felt comfortable being around Zelos for some reason. Apparently she didn't hate him after all.

Thoughts of Altessa and Colette and the future raid on Cruxis shrouded her thoughts before she could come up with a true answer. Slumber was aggressively permeating her mind, but one musing seemed to come through before she was swept up: Seles.

"Zelos, I don't think your sister hates you," she said.

"Why's that?" he asked sleepily. He willed himself to stay awake for the sake of returning to his own room after she had fallen asleep.

"Well, I don't hate you," Sheena yawned. Before the significance of this line could be discerned she was lost to the waking world.

And she wasn't cold anymore.

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--Trickssi

PS—R&R if you liked the fluff! R&R if you didn't! R&R or I'll discontinue!