Disclaimer: I still don't own any characters from Tales of Symphonia, and I probably never will. ;3
Just a few side notes: Thanks to all of those who reviewed and who are still reading. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside that there are people who like my work.
"So, where are we headed?" asked Zelos, scarlet strands blowing back in the wind as the rheiard ascended into the skies.
"Where to?" responded Raine, internally asking herself the same thing as he did orally.
"Well," he said, giving it a bit of thought, "...now that I think about it, Regal said something earlier about there being a fireworks show down at the beach in Altamira tonight. How about that?"
The beach...? thought Raine uneasily. But that means being near water... Though it's not exactly like he's asking me to go in the lake... Oh, but what if the tide comes in and-- "You don't want to?" cut in Zelos, blocking out her thought processes.
"What? Um, no, the beach is fine," she replied, keeping her eyes ahead.
"Then why were you so hesitant? You afraid of fireworks or somethin'?"
"No, of course not," replied Raine, relieved not to hear any hints about water, "I was just... thinking it over. It was nothing."
"Alrighty then," said Zelos, convinced-- or at least pretending to be. It didn't matter, either way. They didn't speak to each other for the rest of the flight. Finally, the bright lights of Altamira were in focus, and they descended into the city. Raine contained the rheiard into the wingpack and tucked it away. As they walked along the brick path, an employee dashed up to them, her bunny ears flopping up and down as she did so.
"Hey there, Chosen One," she said flirtatiously, "remember me?"
"Of course, hunny," replied Zelos, with a toss of his hair and a wink. "But if you're caught here talking to me, you might get in trouble. You'd better get back to work. I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"Alright, Chosen," she swooned, and returned to her post.
"Who was that?" asked Raine, an eyebrow raised and her arms crossed.
"I have no idea," replied Zelos, "but there had to be some way to get her to leave. Come on, let's go." The two of them walked down to the shoreline, and sat down near the edge of the cliff that overlooked the beach. Raine pulled out something wrapped in a spotted handkerchief.
"Here, it's a piece of that cake I was baking earlier today," said Raine, handing it to him, "nobody else wanted to try it, so I was wondering if you'd like to."
"Uhh... sure." Oh, no. Raine's cooking... Man, what should I do? Hah! Zelos, you coward! Just take it like a man! Determinedly, he took a bite out of the cake, and almost gagged. The texture resembled that of overcooked meat, and he could have sworn it had garlic in it. However, due to his experience with looking good in public, he managed to look as if it were absolutely delicious. "Wow, Raine. This is great!" he exclaimed, smiling.
"You're such a liar," she replied, laughing.
"What? No, really, it's great! What are you talking about?" said Zelos. Damn! I was too obvious!
"Oh, come now, I tried it myself, it's disgusting. Besides, there's garlic in there. Please, I know better than to put garlic in cake, I'm not that bad of a cook, you know?" She laughed again, and looked up at the sky. The twilight was now gone, replaced with the stars and cosmos, a great blur of specks in the night sky. It was beautiful. "So, the fireworks should be starting soon?" she inquired idly.
"Yeah. You've never seen a fireworks show 'til you've seen one in Altamira!" he exclaimed, nodding his head. "Then again, this is the entertainment capital, it's almost to be expected." At last, they began. Colorful explosions filled the sky, painting the night in swirls of green, yellow, red, and blue. Several lit up and disappeared without a trace, while others slowly trickled a stream of light into the lake. Raine was awestruck by this display; so awestruck, in fact, that she didn't notice for a while that Zelos was holding her hand. When this did come to her attention, however, instead of yelling at him, she quietly laid his hand on the ground.
After what was really only a few minutes, but what felt like a few hours, the show was over. Raine released the rheiard from her wingpack and prepared to climb on, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Hey," said Zelos, "why don't you let me escort you home for the night, miss?" He grinned.
"Sure, why not?" Raine replied, shrugging. They both climbed up onto the machine, Zelos on the front, and Raine on the back. She held her hands lightly at his sides as the rheiard thrusted into the sky.
"Hey, I thought you weren't the touchy-feely type?" said Zelos, smirking.
"Don't be ridiculous," replied Raine, putting her head on his shoulder, smiling, and closing her eyes. "I'm just holding on... so I don't fall off."
The End
And that's the end of this story. I suppose there's room to keep going if enough people ask me to, but I think this is a suitable place to finish for now. Thanks for reading Zelos Meets His Match, I hope you enjoyed it.
Yours Truly,
Infinite Blue