See this? This is what an entire day of sailing does to me. Pity me. Pity me a lot.

Eep. Must... work... on... other... stories...

Disclaimer: Tales belongs to Namco, hoorah. Or.. not hoorah... as the case may be...

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Bittersweet

or, All Things Must Change

Something was bothering Zelos Wilder.

While this in itself was not exceptional news, the what of the equation was different than usual. The redheaded Chosen looked around the fireside, contemplating his companions. Someone was missing. Who, now, was the question.

Idealistic swordsman? Check, muttering something about tomatoes. Brat? Check, snoring louder than should be possible for someone that small. Cute angel? Check, sleeping as peacefully as anyone could. Professor? Check, as close to the fire as one could be without burning. Tiny rosebud? Check, curled up in a small ball facing the brat. El Presidente? Check, looking rather uncomfortable but somehow asleep. Love of his life? Aw, shit.

Sighing, Zelos fisted one hand around a dangling crimson lock and tugged gently. She had been avoiding him ever since the Tower, and he couldn't quite comprehend why. Sure, he had betrayed them, but it had been in order to get the Aionis, to make the Ring of the Pact, for Lloyd, for the ultimate purpose of reuniting the worlds. Everyone else had pretty much forgiven him by this point. So why hadn't Sheena?

A shadowy figure was pacing, several feet outside the confines of the firelight. There she was, and troubled, if he knew her at all. Sheena liked to pace; it was a habit she seemed unable to break. Right now, the rhythm of her footfalls was slow, scuffing every--

He paused, tipping his head to listen. Yes, scuffing every fourth step. She was definitely troubled, and that bothered him. Quite a bit.

Zelos stood, slowly, and walked over to her. She continued to pace, seemingly oblivious to his approach. He realized his footfalls were nearly as silent as the old man's; that bugged him a little, but he could live with it.

As Sheena passed by him again, he reached out, placing one hand on her shoulder. She whirled to face him with a sharp intake of breath, already reaching for her weapons before she saw who had accosted her. She only met his eyes for a second before looking down and away.

His mouth twisted slightly to the side in a grimace, but he smoothed it away, replacing it with a fairly neutral, if somewhat worried, expression. "Sheena--"

"Go away, Zelos," she ordered, her voice a tiny bit choked.

As always, he chose to be perverse, staying right where he was instead of going anywhere. Carefully, he reached out, placing one callused finger under her chin and gently tipping her face up towards him. She offered no resistance, but her chestnut-brown gaze still avoided his. "Come on, Sheena," he said softly, refusing to give up. "Talk to me here. Why are you avoiding me?"

That got a response, albeit perhaps not the one he might have wanted. Finally she met his eyes, and he was surprised to see that hers were brimming with tears, and when she spoke, her voice was thick with them. "You-- you--" Words failed her at that point, and in an effort to regain her calm, she tightened her fingers around one trailing pink ribbon, forming a white-knuckled fist.

"You betrayed us, you went over to Mithos, and then you came waltzing back with Aionis as though nothing had happened, expecting us all to forgive you, just like that? Like you had never left? Expecting things to be the same? And then, to top that, you ask why I'm avoiding you?" Sheena swallowed a lump in her throat and jerked her chin out of his grasp, turning away. Obviously she intended her words to be inaudible to him, but she hadn't counted on the freak gust of wind that blew the short phrase toward him. "And here I thought I loved you..."

"Sheena." No response. He tried again. "Sheena, listen to me, please, hear me out."

Still silence, but she turned slightly towards him. Zelos took that as aquiescence, and started talking. "I never wanted to hurt you. Ever. I would die before intentionally causing you any kind of harm. I thought... I thought you would have understood. The note I left you..." He shrugged. "I thought it would make things clear."

"What note?" Sheena asked. "I didn't find anything... oh. That piece of paper on the bedside table, that was it, wasn't it?"

"Yes," he said simply, taking a few steps closer. She twitched slightly as his breath tickled the back of her neck, but she didn't move, even as he rested his hands on her shoulders. "For what it's worth, Sheena, I'm sorry."

He felt her tense muscles loosen, practically melting under his fingers as she relaxed. Her next action surprised not only him, but herself: she turned in his grasp, and buried her face in his shoulder, the tears she had refused to shed earlier soaking into the pink fabric of his vest.

It took Zelos a few seconds to get a grasp on the situation, and when he did, he felt immediately awkward. It was rare for one of his hunnies to initiate physical contact with him--

Backing up his train of thought, he re-classified the woman leaning on him. She wasn't just another of his hunnies, another, in her words, cheap floozy. She was Sheena, and he truly did love her.

So he did what would be natural in a situation such as that: he wrapped his arms around her and held her.

An indeterminate amount of time passed, and Sheena backed off a little, easily breaking the embrace as she wiped the last remnants of tear-tracks from her cheeks.

It was Zelos who moved first. "You should probably be getting to sleep," he admonished. "We've got a long day's Rheiard-ride tomorrow."

"And you...?" she asked softly.

"Night watch." Those two words said enough.

"I'll stay up with you. I don't think I can sleep tonight." She smiled wanly up at him as they walked back into the firelight. "Thanks for the thought, though."

Zelos took up a seat on the ground, stretching his legs out in front of him. After a moment of hesitation, Sheena flopped down next to him.

The night wore on in silence, and gradually Zelos became aware of a warm weight against his side and on his shoulder. Glancing over, he saw that the Summoner had fallen asleep on him. Her chest rose and fell in the easy rhythm of someone deeply asleep.

Grinning to himself, he set about putting her to bed. She looked peaceful, for once; not upset, nor angered, which, he had to admit, were the two most common states of being for her.

Maybe it was part of why he loved her. His life would never be boring with her around.

Still smiling, Zelos settled down to wait out the rest of the night.

-----

In the morning...

"Grr! Get back here, you-- you-- ARRGH!"

"Augh! Sheena, no kill!"

"Somebody's articulate today..." (what an observant comment from the Professor.)

In other words, business as usual.

Later that day, as they flew towards Heimdall, Zelos glanced over towards Sheena. Nothing's changed at all, has it? he wondered sadly.

A moment later, though, as she shot him a nearly-identical thoughtful glance, he observed, Though perhaps, with time and patience, things will change.

For that is the nature of all things: to change.