(Come ON people! Review! Please? I only got two reviews on the last chapter, and if you don't review I can't fix any mistakes you notice. I feel so rejected. –sniffle- P)
For a split second, there was nothing. For a split second, the redheaded Chosen knew nothing but the warm hand that grasped his. The hand that, as long as he held onto it, would take him to safety. For a minute he wondered what would happen if he let go… 'Odds are, it'd be the last thing I do.' As it was, he could see only the near-black smoke that enveloped them… And suddenly, it cleared. The smoke all but vanished, revealing a vast ocean to one side of them and a vast continent to the other. By the mountains close by, he could only come to assume this was the continent of Altamira. He turned to look at the ninja, fully aware that their hands remained clasped, to find her gazing out across the continent as well. Zelos started to wonder if she had left her hand in his on purpose... But that thought was squashed the moment she turned to him once more. Sheena met his gaze, then looked down at their interlocked hands. She leaped back, almost as if the Chosen's touch had burned her, quickly retracting her hand. 'So much for that little bit of hope.' He thought to himself.
Though neither of them spoke a word, the pair set out to travel around the base of the mountains and farther into the heart of the continent. By Zelos's calculations, which were surprisingly correct most of the time, it takes two days as the bird flies to reach the city of Altamira. That means, traveling around the base of these mountains would add another day to two days. They're looking at a four-day walk. 'Greeeeat.' He didn't mention it, though… The ninja didn't seem too keen on breaking the silence. After walking quite a while, however, the easily bored side of Zelos kicked in, and he could keep his silence no longer.
"You know you liked it." He teased, attempting to lighten the mood. He only succeeded in raising a fierce glare from the raven-haired ninja, a murderous look fixed upon his face. He laughed nervously, averting his gaze. 'That was just brilliant, Zelos. You deserve an award for that one.' With a sigh, Zelos resigned himself to the silence. By then, Sheena had averted her gaze, resting it on the ground at her feet. Soon his own gaze had wandered, looking out across the grasses before them. He had thought up a way to amuse himself… While some people count sheep to pass the time, he counts hunnies. 'One hunny, two hunnies, three hunnies– that one's especially voluptuous—four hunnies, five hunnies-… Hell, why not skip to a hundred and be done with it?' Sure enough, even counting his many hunnies didn't occupy Zelos for long.
"Hey Sheena-" He started, but was cut off mid sentence. The ninja whirled on him, her eyes raging.
"Don't even talk to me. You obviously have nothing better to do than to mock my every move, so just shut up for once!" She snapped, practically yelling her words in his face. Zelos couldn't hide it; the hurt and shock was evident on his face. He opened his mouth to respond, to tell her he was sorry, to tell her he didn't mean to make her mad, but he closed his mouth before any of it could be voiced. No, if Sheena was mad enough to yell at him like that, she sure as hell wasn't going to listen to his apologies. And she wasn't the only one mad at the redhead right then… He was extremely mad at himself. 'How come I always do that? I always say the wrong things, always make things worse. Stupid, stupid Zelos! Why do I have to be so pretty, yet so completely and totally stupid? It's like a curse...' And so on.
This time, Zelos accepted the silence. At the moment, he was too deep in thought to speak anyways. He was busy contemplating his idiocy, his tendency to 'eff things up' as he put it, and which of his hunnies was the prettiest. That's why it came as such a surprise when he heard a piercing scream echo through the steadily thickening trees at the base of the mountain. With a start, he's brought back to reality, looking quickly about to locate Sheena with a hand on the hilt of his sword. The ninja was nowhere to be seen. 'I must have fallen behind!' Cursing himself even more, Zelos took off down the path. The Chosen ran faster than even he knew possible, a blur of pink, black, and crimson amongst the trees. 'Where is she?' Half of him thought to turn around, that he'd gone too far and Sheena had strayed from the path farther back, yet the other half kept him fixed to the trail. Thank Martel for that half, else he never would have found her. Faster yet, he raced blindly down the path. Growing frantic, the redhead reached inside himself, searching for the familiar chill and sickening emptiness that accompanied the revealing of his fiery orange wings. Yet before he was forced to reveal them, the Chosen came to a clearing... And in that clearing, a man.
This man was buff, to say the least. He reminded Zelos of Botta in appearance, yet much more muscular and definitely less friendly. The man had a smirk on his face, hinting at an ego even larger than the Chosen himself's. A name sprang unbidden to Zelos's lips.
"Kage!" the Chosen spat. As if to confirm his accusation, the man's smirk widened… If that's even possible.
"Your memory is good, surprisingly so." He spoke, the smug look on his face giving it a mocking tone.
"You should teach your fools to speak less freely of you. Even I could easily find out your most intricate plots, the way they brag about it. They didn't even bother to make sure they were alone." Zelos shot, and the man's smirk faltered, though only for a moment. It peeved the redhead, how this man seemed to have an 'I know your deepest secret.' attitude about him, even though he likely didn't know a thing. Zelos forced his gaze from the massive man's face to search for Sheena… He didn't have to look far, however, for the ninja was draped limply over Kage's shoulder, the side of her violet robe stained nearly black with blood.
"You-… You bastard!" He roared, the hand at his sword tensing around it's well-worn handle. Kage's eyebrows raised in surprise, and he chuckled.
"You intend to fight me? This'll be amusing." Dropping Sheena rather carelessly to the grass-- which drew a wince from Zelos-- Kage stepped farther into the clearing, drawing from his belt what seemed like a blade-edged boomerang. With a flourish of his wrist, however, it had extended into a long staff-like weapon, a blade at each end. 'I have to admit, that is a pretty cool stick thingy.' The redhead unsheathed his sword, Excalibur, and within an instant he flung himself sword first at the larger man, who barely managed to block it with the center of his staff. With amazing speed, Kage swung one end at Zelos, the blade narrowly missing his neck even WITH the redhead's 'angel-fast reflexes'. And so the battle went on. It seemed like forever to the Chosen, for the combatants appeared evenly matched. After that forever, however, Zelos began to tire. Though his wounds were few, the constant battle had sucked the strength from both he and his foe. Yet they battled on… And on, and on. If he'd looked to the sun, Zelos would have noticed that two hours had gone by since the fight had begun. Of course, that aversion of his attention, however short, would likely cost him his life.
At long last, Kage leaped back, falling to a knee for a moment, chest heaving in exhaustion. Zelos remained on his feet, though barely, forcing himself to keep standing in case his opponent would try something while the redhead was off-guard. Cerulean eyes met umber ones, and the two newfound enemies locked into a different sort of battle, one of the mind. Several minutes passed, and the staredown continued… Untill finally, Kage averted his gaze, rising and leaping off to disappear among the trees. 'I know that's not the last we've seen of him...' Zelos thought, his gaze upon the trees in which Kage had fled. A soft groan of discomfort and pain brought his gaze back to Sheena, who was still laying where the brute had dropped her. The grass beneath her was stained a light shade of red where the blood had soaked through her robe. Jogging over to her side, Zelos reached for the familiar tingling sensation of magic, but it did not come. 'Damn it... I must be too drained from the fight.' So the Chosen was faced with a problem. Here was Sheena, bleeding profusely from her side, and he was unable to use his healing arts. The little voice in the back of his mind was celebrating, for it had already figured out what Zelos had to do. But the less perverted side of him, which was in control at the moment, was frantically attempting to figure another way to help her. He didn't want to screw up, not again. Not when she was already ticked at him. 'No, I can't. I mean, what if she wakes up? I'll never be able to explain my way out of this... Even if I DO tell her it was just to bandage her wound.' But the redhead could find no way out of it… So slowly, his fingers made their way to the pink ribbon at her waist.
(Mwahahahaha... No, this isn't rape. XD I let a friend read this and she was like "OMG ZELOS IS A RAPIST!" lol. Don't get any ideas until you read the next chapter. Heh. Read. Review. If you have any idea what's going to happen next, message me with your guesses. And yes, I realize this chapter is excruciatingly short, but... eh. The next one will be better, I swear.)