A/N:
This will be the last chapter of the novelization of the "Sheena
Ending" for Tales of Symphonia. The next chapter will be the
beginning of what happened after ToS. Remember, certain scenes have
been changed. Partly I WANT them to change. Partly cuz I can't
remember how they really went ( ). Thanks to everyone for
both the great compliments and the constructive criticism. I do agree
that I made Lloyd a bit thick-headed. I want him to be that way, but
I'll try to tone it down a
bit.
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Chapter 2: Tomorrow's Promise
Quick Jump: Flanoir
Lloyd sat in front of the window of his room in Flanoir's inn. It was perhaps around midnight but Lloyd was not the least bit tired. Finding out that your father is a traitorous 4,000 year old angel will do that to you. He sighed as he watched the snow fell. Tomorrow, they would fight Mithos… and possibly Kratos. He wondered if, knowing what he knows now, he would have the heart to raise his swords against his own father.
Lloyd's train of thought was interrupted by a knock on the door. Still sitting, Lloyd turned to the door. "Who is it? Come on in."
The door opened and a heavily dressed Sheena walked in. "Hey Lloyd. Can't sleep, huh?"
Lloyd nodded. "Yeah. Got a lot on my mind I guess."
Sheena said nothing for a moment. She couldn't begin to know how he was feeling now. Despite that, she intended to do what she came to do.
"Hey Lloyd… it's really pretty outside. I'm gonna go for a walk. I don't suppose… ah…" She froze for a moment and shook her head. "…don't suppose you'd want to go for a walk, would you?"
Lloyd stood up and began to put on some warmer clothes. "Yeah, I'd like to actually. I've got a lot on my mind, so I wanted to talk with someone... especially you, Sheena."
Sheena blushed a little. His response was better than she had hoped for. "Great! I'll meet you outside then!" With that, she left the room and headed downstairs.
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"It's so nice out here…" Sheena said dreamily. "So peaceful… so beautiful." She walked to the balcony in front of Flanoir's church and leaned on the railing.
Lloyd stood next to Sheena on the small balcony and reached his hand out to touch the falling snow. "It is pretty nice out here, isn't it?"
Sheena looked back at Lloyd and smiled. "You got that right." She stopped leaning on the railing and stood up. She then folded her arms and shivered a bit. "Heh… sure is cold though."
Lloyd closed his eyes and laughed. "You dork. It's supposed to be cold when it snows. Here…" He moved closer to Sheena and held her in both of his arms, much to her surprise.
She began to blush. "H-huh? What...?"
"I'll keep you warm," Lloyd said matter-of-factly. "I wanna stay out here for at least a little, so I wanna make sure you're comfortable."
Sheena smiled, still red in the face. "Thank you Lloyd. You're such a gentleman." She thought Lloyd was holding her a bit too tightly on account of his great strength and his sense of protectiveness in general, but she didn't mind. In fact, she loved every moment of it.
Sheena looked back out towards the snowbound city and Lloyd looked down at the beautiful summoner. "Sheena sure is a nice girl. And I thought Colette was a good person," Lloyd was thinking to himself. Something then went off in the back of his mind. He was feeling something entirely new to him. Something he had never felt before. He didn't know what it was, but he knew that holding Sheena made the feeling even stronger.
Lloyd stared blankly out towards the city. "That's weird… never felt that way about anyone before." He paused his thoughts for a moment and held Sheena a tiny bit tighter, strengthening the feeling even more. "There it goes again! I wonder…"
He looked back down at Sheena. "…I must really like Sheena. I wonder why I never felt this way toward anyone before. Oh well… doesn't matter. It feels good. That's all that counts."
Sheena abruptly put the brakes on his train of thought. "Umm… Lloyd? Can you loosen up just a tiny bit? Gettin' a little hard to breathe."
Lloyd immediately loosened up. "Uh, hehe… sorry. I guess the uh… scenery kinda took my breath away?"
Sheena looked up at him and smiled. "You too, huh? Sure, we've both seen snow before, but I bet it was never with a backdrop like this before." She turned back around.
Lloyd went back to his inner thoughts. Then his eyes shot wide open. He thought he had it figured out. He just had to tell Sheena!
"Sheena? Can I tell you something?" He asked with a bit of nervousness in his voice.
Sheena turned back to him with a hopeful look in her eyes. "Of course Lloyd. What is it?"
Lloyd took a deep breath. "Sheena… I…I think…"
Sheena gave him a warm smile. "You think what, Lloyd?"
Lloyd tried again. "Sheena… I think… that you're the greatest friend I ever had." He breathed a sigh of relief. It was a little easier than he thought. He wondered how Sheena would react to what he thought would be the greatest compliment in the world.
Sheena was obviously (to normal people) disappointed but Lloyd only saw the smile on her face. It wasn't quite what she wanted to hear. She turned back around, feeling both happy and sad at the same time and leaned against Lloyd's chest. "Idiot," she whispered to herself as she rolled his eyes in a friendly way.
Lloyd tilted his head. "Hmm? What was that Sheena?"
Sheena clasped his right hand with both of her own. "Nothing. Thank you Lloyd. You're a sweet-heart." It wasn't as bad as she thought at first. Considering it was Lloyd, this was a pretty decent start. "Patience Sheena… he'll get it someday," she thought to herself as she closed her eyes. The sense of comfort and security he gave Sheena was enough to actually cause her to fall asleep in his arms while she was still standing.
Lloyd smiled as he lifted her up and cradled her in his arms. "You dork. You must be tired. We can always talk another time." With that, he carried Sheena back to the inn.
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Quick Jump: Heimdall
Lloyd looked up at the starry heavens, his mind lost in a maze of thoughts. They had done it. They had defeated both Pronyma, the final Desian Grand Cardinal, and Mithos, the hero-turned-madman and leader of Cruxis. They paid a heavy price though. Zelos, upset with his own role as the Chosen of Tethe'alla and fed up with life in general, fought his own comrades in the Tower of Salvation, hoping that this finally end his miserable life. Zelos survived the encounter, but would never be the same again. His left arm was paralyzed for life and had suffered enough permanent damage in his legs that walking would be excruciating at best for as long as he lived.
Colette, saddened by the outcome of the battle with Zelos, decided that she would stay behind in Meltokio to both ease his nerves and help him cope with the physical trauma he had suffered. This left Lloyd with only a party of 6 to face what he thought would be the final obstacles in their journey to save the two worlds: defeating Kratos and forming a pact with Origin, king of the summon spirits.
Lloyd sat up when he heard someone walking through the grass, not far from where he was laying. "Who's there?"
Sheena stepped forward from the shadows. "Hey Lloyd. Mind if I join you?"
Lloyd nodded. "Please do. I was getting a little lonely."
Sheena smiled and lay down next to him. They both looked up at the stars above, their arms folded behind their heads as they did so.
Without looking at him Sheena asked him, "So whatcha thinking about? Your fight with Kratos tomorrow?"
Lloyd shrugged. "Kinda, but that's not the main thing on my mind."
Sheena looked over in his direction, a bit perplexed. What could be more important than that fight to him? "Oh? What's the main thing on your mind then."
"Well...," he began, "I was thinking about what I'm going to do after we take care of everything."
Sheena looked back upward but folded her arms on her chest this time. "Really? What are you planning?"
He didn't say anything for a moment. He put his right hand on the exsphere attached to his left hand. "I think I'm going to go on a journey to find all the exspheres in the world… and destroy them.
He took the exsphere out of its crest and held it up to the sky. As he did so, he felt a wave of weakness flow through him. "And mom's going to help me do it."
Sheena touched her exsphere. She had no idea "who" it used to be, but this person had helped her so much throughout the course of her journey. She agreed with Lloyd's idea, and was hoping that she could one day release the person within the exsphere.
She looked over at Lloyd as he put his exsphere back in the crest. "Are you going alone?"
He shrugged again. "I don't want to, but I probably will. I hear everyone else has plans to help rebuild the world after we finish everything, so I doubt anyone will be joining me."
Sheena sat up part-way. "I-I'll go with you!"
Lloyd looked over at her with a curious look on his face. "Huh? But Sheena, I thought you had plans to return to your village to take over your role as chief?"
Sheena looked at him with determination. "Don't worry about that. Grandpa or the vice-chief can take care of it while I'm gone. Besides… uh…" Her face grew red and she turned away for a moment.
Lloyd sat up. "Hmm? Besides what?"
Sheena swallowed a lump in a throat, nodded to herself, and turned back around. "Lloyd I… I want to be with you."
Just hearing that filled Lloyd with a great deal of happiness. He couldn't hope for more from a friend. She had to be the greatest friend ever in the history of the world(s). "I want to be with you too Sheena."
An excited smile crossed Sheena's lips as she leaned over and hugged Lloyd tightly. She pulled away for a moment and looked into his eyes. "It's a promise then? If you don't keep it, I'm going to invoke the Mizuho tradition of making a liar swallow a thousand needles!"
Lloyd swallowed. "Whoa… okay, okay. I promise."
They both shared a laugh and smiled warmly at each other. Afterward, they laid back down... but closer to each other. They watched the stars above from the safety of each other's arms… and eventually fell asleep.
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Quick Jump: Derris Kharlan
"Help… please… someone help me," Sheena cried out as she could do nothing but look on as Mithos possessed her body. She was doing her best to fight Mithos, but she was slowly losing. At this rate, her soul would be lost forever.
Mithos was almost at the portal leading to Welgaia, the city of angels. "Heh. Stupid girl. Once she's gone, I'll be ready to leave with Derris Kharlan! I'll finally be together with my sister again!" His evil laugh echoed across Derris Kharlan.
The possessed Sheena finally reached the portal. An evil grin crossed her lips. "Wait for me Martel. We'll be home soon…" (S)he was about to take the last step when Sheena's soul mad eon last attempt to stop Mithos. (S)he stopped dead in his/her tracks.
"Dah! Damnit woman! Give it up already! You've lost! Submit yourself and the end will come much easier for you!" (S)he tried to take the last step but just couldn't.
Sheena cried within her soul as she continued to struggle. She couldn't fight for long. She was only delaying the inevitable. "Lloyd… I'm sorry. I wish I could've told you how I really felt. I-"
She was cut off as something behind Mithos caught his attention. Sheena's body whirled around and couldn't believe his/her eyes. At the portal leading back to the lower levels of Derris Kharlan… was none other than Lloyd.
Mithos panicked. "No! Not now! I can't lose this body!" He struggled to run away but didn't move an inch.
Sheena knew Lloyd couldn't hear her but cried out anyway, "Lloyd! Please, help me! I'm so scared!" She began to sob.
Lloyd ran at the possessed Sheena, yelling, "Let her go Mithos!" as he did so. Once he reached Sheena, he didn't touch her but tried desperately to talk to her.
"Sheena! Can you hear me?! It's Lloyd! You have to fight Mithos! I can't do it for you unless I injure your body!" He voice quivered with worry as he talked to the possessed girl.
Mithos could be heard through Sheena. "Get out of here Lloyd! She's mine! You wouldn't dare hurt me! You'll kill her too!" He let out an evil albeit nervous laugh.
Lloyd tried once more. "Please Sheena! I don't want to lose you!" He grabbed Sheena's hand and held it as gently as possible in both of his. "I believe in you Sheena! We made a promise, remember?"
Sheena's tears stopped flowing. Even from within her soul, she felt the warmth of Lloyd's hands as they touched her own. She smiled when she heard Lloyd.
"Lloyd…" she said to herself. "A promise is a promise. Thank you Lloyd!" She spread her arms and shattered the walls of her soul prison. As she did so, she heard Mithos scream. It eventually became inaudible. She had won… thanks to Lloyd.
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When Sheena came to, she saw Lloyd kneeling down next to her fallen body. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw her open her eyes.
"Welcome back Sheena. I was so worried about you. Are you ok?" He smiled warmly at his best friend.
Sheena's eyes filled with tears as she threw her arms around Lloyd. "Oh Lloyd! I was so scared!" She began to sob uncontrollably. "I-I-I thought I'd never get to see you again."
Sheena looked into Lloyd's eyes and calmed down a bit. "Lloyd… just hearing your voice saved me. I heard every word you said. Thank you Lloyd."
Lloyd rubbed his head and blushed. "Aww, hehe, it was nothing. I wasn't about to let that creep take the greatest girl in the world away from me!"
Sheena wore a frozen expression on her face for a moment. Afterward, she looked at him lovingly and kissed him on the cheek.
Lloyd blushed fiercely. "Wh-what was that for? I, uh, hehe…thanks?"
Sheena smiled at him and punched him playfully in the arm. "Shouldn't I be the one thanking you?"
Lloyd grinned and stood up, helping Sheena up as he did so. "Heh. Yeah." He looked in the direction of the portal leading to Welgaia.
Lloyd held Sheena's hand. "Let's finish this Sheena. Let's go find our friends and settle with Mithos, once and for all! Together!"
Sheena nodded happily. "Yes…together."
Hands held tightly, they ran together through the portal.
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The rest after this is history. Mithos was defeated and balance was brought back to the worlds as they became one once more. The tree was named "Anna" after Lloyd's mother and he vowed to always care for the tree, no matter what. Tomorrow, he and all his friends would part ways as they left to take care of their own duties… except for Sheena… and one other. They would begin their quest of ridding the world of exspheres, as well as dealing with any other problems that arise along the way. For now though, they would celebrate their great victory at mansion of the much healthier, mentally and physically, Zelos. After all the 9 friends (Kratos included) had been through, they had certainly earned it.
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Whew! Finally done with the novelization! How was it? As I said before, the next chapter will be the beginning of an entirely new story for Lloyd, Sheena… and one other person. Who is it though? Heh… please R&R and I'll write the next chapter as I do so.
