The First Step
"Just one little poke."
"Ouch!" she frowned at the lady still holding her finger.
"It's ok Sheena. We just need one little drop of blood and you won't have to come back again for another month," said the doctor squeezing her finger.
A well sized drop oozed out of the small wound and was collected in a tiny glass tube. The small child scowled at the doctor again. It hadn't been the puncture that hurt. It was the force that she put into the poke. The squeezing didn't help either.
"I do not like all these tests you're starting on her," commented her grandpa from scowling just like the girl.
"Mr. Igaguri please understand that it's possible that your granddaughter could be a Summoner," explained the doctor patching up Sheena's finger. "Imagine the research possibilities with her abilities."
"There's a bit of a gap between a lab rat and a human like my girl."
"Indeed there is sir. But be certain that we would never do anything to harm Sheena."
The old man gave an unconvinced chuckle, "Really? Don't you think we know what you do to that boy that comes here every week?"
"Sheena is not that little boy Mr. Igaguri. He simply happened to be born with as much virtues and rights as responsibilities," argued an entering doctor.
Sheena was not the least bit interested in the conversation but she could feel her grandpa was beginning to get mad. He scoffed at the newly arrived doctor then looked judgingly to the other doctor who was putting a small ban aid on the girl's finger.
"The child has just lost his mother for crying out loud! He has no one now and still you insist on those ridiculous studies of yours. Knowledge should be to benefit this world, not burden a child who has no one to explain it to him."
Sheena looked up to her grandfather and the other two doctors in the room. This conversation was getting loud.
"You're all set dear. Can you go out and play while we have a chat with your granddad?" asked the lady.
Sheena looked up to her grandfather. He smiled down at her. "You know the rules sweetie, stay away from the glass containers and go strait to the garden. I'll only be a few minutes."
The five year old nodded and hopped off the bed. It was a good thing too; she was starting to get bored. Without really thinking she stuck her injured finger in her mouth and was received by the nasty texture of a band aid.
Yuck, she forgot that doctor Kate always gave her a purple band aid when they took blood. Walking through the familiar halls she hummed to herself knowing the garden was just up ahead. They had a very cool fountain towards the back and she liked to go sit on the bench and make fish faces at the goldfish. Sometimes she would stick her finger in there and they would give her kisses. Or bite her, whatever. It tickled just the same.
When she arrived however she was shocked to see that her favorite bench was already taken by some carrot head.
His hair had grown long. It was about the same length as hers actually. And he was dressed in funny clothes. Hospital clothes.
"Oi! You're sitting in my place. Who are you?" she questioned taking a stand in front of him.
The boy jumped at the sound of her voice but relaxed upon seeing the small ninja, giving her a scowl for an answer. She barely noticed however, because the bandages on his wrists and ankles redirected her attention.
"Oh my gosh! What happened to ya?" she asked looking the tired boy over. "You don't look so good."
The boy frowned at her and turned away. "Nothing. Leave me alone."
"Waddaya mean nothing, look at ya! You're all hurt!"
"I'm fine! Just, leave me alone." He pulled his hand away as Sheena reached over to touch his bandages.
"Don't you think you should go to a hospital or somethin'?" she asked taking a seat beside him still checking him over.
"What do you want little girl? Leave me alone! I got here first!" he growled at her.
"This is my bench! I've been here a lot of times before you have, sides I was only asking if you were ok."
He laughed sourly, "I bet I've been here a lot more than you have anyway."
She looked at the boy curiously. His eyes were pretty.
"What?" he asked the staring child. His expression changed rapidly to one of fear as he looked over his back and froze.
She was about to argue with him for being so mean when something caught her eye in the back round. Form the entrance to the garden specifically.
"Oh Sheena. It's you." It was a middle aged doctor Sheena has seen a few times before. He was waving at her from the entrance. "I thought you were someone else. Um... Have you by any chance seen a boy around here? Red hair? Blue eyes?" he asked.
'Purple eyes,' she corrected in her mind. He was apparently looking for the red head that was sitting right next to her.
She turned to where she had left him and was shocked to see he was no longer sitting beside her. Instead she saw a bush move a few feet away and his scared eyes amongst the scratchy leaves.
"Sheena?" the doctor questioned taking a step inside the garden.
"Uh... um," She looked form the doctor to the scared boy in the bushes shaking his head at her.
"No," she tired.
"No?" he asked taking another step in.
She got up and shook her head vigorously this time so he would get the point,
"Oh, ok. Well thank you anyway sweetie. If you see him tell him we're looking for him ok?"
"Uh-huh." She nodded as the doctor walked away.
A few seconds later she turned back to face the blue eyed bush. "He's gone now."
Being cautious at first the boy looked back to the door before emerging from the green.
"Why were ya hiding from the doctor? Are you playing hide and go seek?" she asked once he was sitting next to her again.
"Don't be stupid," He sneered "I just don't want to go with him that's all."
"You said a cuss word," she informed him.
"Stupid is not a cuss word," he argued.
"You said it again."
He looked down at her and raised his brow.
"Anyway, thanks for not telling on me," he said looking down at the fish.
"It's ok. I don't really like that doctor."
"Your name is Sheena right?"
"How do you know my name?" she asked surprised.
"That's what the doctor called you."
"Oh, yeah."
"I'm Zelos Wilder."
"Zelos... hehe, that's a funny name."
"I like it," he frowned.
"Me too, but it's still funny. Like my last name. Betcha you can't pronounce it!"
"I can so!"
"Fujibayashi."
"..." he was proud, but not stupid. "So how old are you?"
"I'm five!" She said proudly lifting up her hand showing him her recently added fifth finger to her age. "My birthday was last month."
"I'm seven and a half."
"Wow, no wonder you're so big."
He kind of smiled. "I'm not big, you're small."
"I'm not small!" she protested.
"Yes you are," He smiled.
"I'm taller that Kuchinawa!" she informed him.
"Who?"
"Oh he's my best friend from the village."
"Village, you don't live in Meltokio?"
"No, but I'm not supposed to talk about it so—"
"No wonder your clothes are all strange."
"My clothes are not strange! Yours are stranger!"
"These aren't my clothes! This is a hospital robe!"
"From the hospital? Hey what happened to your hands and foots?" she asked looking at his bandages again.
"Feet," He corrected. "And nothing I told you... I... I fell."
"From a building?" she asked shocked.
"No! I would have died... it was from, uh..." he obviously wasn't very good at lying, "the stairs of my house."
"I bet that must have hurt. Did your parents take you to the hospital?"
His eyes turned away from her suddenly. "No," was all he said "I don't have parents anymore."
"Why?" she questioned.
It took a while for him to answer. So she asked again. "Why?" just in case he hadn't heard her the first time.
This time all he did was shrug his shoulders and glare down at the fish.
"Hmm, I don't have any parent either," She informed him.
He finally looked up at her. "You don't?"
She shook her head. "Grandpa Igaguri is all I have. Everyone in the village has a mommy and daddy except me."
She swung her legs back and forth looking closely at her boots before continuing, "I thought I was the only one that was different." She smiled at the Chosen.
It took a while, but he smiled back as well.
"Chosen!"
Both jumped at the voice behind them and a sense of panic invaded the small redhead.
"What are you doing out here in the open, you know you haven't finished your duties yet," cried the altered doctor behind them.
"No! I don't want to go anymore," he cried. "My hands still hurt! Please," he said backing away.
"No!" he cried when the doctor grabbed his wrist.
"Where are you going?" asked Sheena a little bit scared of what was going on.
"It's all right Sheena, he'll be fine. Chosen please take this." The doctor offered him a pill and he shook his head.
"I don't want to go... please," he begged.
"We can inject it if you like."
"No! No!" he took the small pill from the doctor and swallowed it whole.
"There you go. Now let's go Chosen, we've wasted plenty of time for today."
Sheena looked unsurely from the doctor to the miserable boy in his grasp as they began walking away.
"Zelos?" She asked frightened.
"Sheena, this boy had a title, a citizen like you or me must recognize it. You must call him by it. He is the Chosen of Mana," informed the doctor.
"The Chosen to do what?" she asked "By who? I thought his name was Zelos."
"He is the Chosen Sheena."
"I don't like that name. I want her to call me Zelos. My name is Zelos," he squeaked from beside the doctor.
-"Misanagi did you find him yet? Come on the matter is becoming unstable, we have to do this now!"- a funny box on the doctor's pants spoke and he picked it up and spoke to it closely.
"We're on our way don't worry," He put the box back in its place. "We must hurry Chosen."
With a miserable face he sighed and let himself more or less be dragged by the doctor out of the garden.
"Bye Zelos..." waved Sheena before they were gone. He looked up to her, but didn't wave back.
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Obviously there's gonna be more to this story. But, I still don't know what. Maybe I'll make it long or maybe I'll keep it short. You never know! and if you haven't figured it out yet, this is supposed to be the scene where our favorite couple first met. Because in the game it's obvious they have a history but they were oh so kind as to skip the details, all the better for us ff. authors...!