Disclaimer: All appearing characters and places belong to Namco unless otherwise specified.
The O-dai themes belong to the Zeroshii-Wa, at http/deburu98249.jog. but written correctly. If you visit, don't steal!
Setting: After the game
Warnings: Fluff! Might feel OOC.
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Normal Version,
#5 – Together
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"Well, well! Isn't this a coincidence?"
She turned around; eyes open wide, and met with a sight she hadn't been expecting.
Red hair. Pink vest. Long gloves and white pants. Zelos Wilder was grinning broadly at her.
"...what the hell are you doing here, Zelos?"
He grimaced. "What kind of greeting is that, Sheena? Really, people might think you aren't happy to see me!"
"And they'll be right!"
"Oh, so cold, so cold!" he dramatically brushed his hair back, "You break my heart, hunny. Being so far from home, a man's bound to get homesick! Do you know how much good it'd do to my heart to hold a fellow citizen close to my chest?"
"Try it and you're dead! You perverted Chosen!"
Zelos, as always, had been joking, so he crossed his arms and once more smiled. "So! What 'cha doing here covered in dust, my demonic banshee?"
Sheena bit her lip for a second and sighed, as if resigning herself to some unbearable task. Thing was, she was covered in ashes, since she had just finished a surprise raid in the Palmacosta docks to capture a band of smugglers. So she explained
"Unlike some others, I'm here to work, not on vacation."
"Heeeey! I'm here on business, too," Zelos did his oh-you-hurt-me face, "And I can bet my job won't be half as fun as yours, because any task that means getting covered in ashes is better than what awaits me tomorrow."
"Tomorrow...?" she raised an eyebrow, "You mean you're attending the Mutual Growth Chamber?"
He nodded solemnly, "Yep. I'm to represent the royal family of Tethe'alla during the peace talks."
"Well, ain't that an honor."
"One I'd rather go without!" the redheaded exclaimed, "I'll be sitting inside a room with lots of old men arguing stuff I don't really get while I could be cruising the new Palmacosta Seaside Inn..." he sighed, "It's a complot to keep me away from my hunnies, I swear."
"Don't you worry; I'll get Mizuho to investigate it."
"Really? You'd do that for me?"
"No, I just want in. Really, Zelos! Here you have a chance to make a difference and help Sylvarant and Tethe'alla grow together, and you're thinking about women!"
"Yeah, yeah, but even more important than that is that you should just tell me you don't want me to see other women!" she glared at him but still the Chosen batted his eyelashes flirtatiously, "You know I'd leave them all for you, my sweet, special hun-"
"D-don't you call me that! And you're free to see as many girls as you want, you... freak!"
She turned around and marched to her hotel room. He, of course, tried to follow her, which lead to much yelling fro her and laughing from him, and people looking at them and wondering if they were really fighting or not.
At the end she managed to escape, but not without him yelling first that "I'll see you at the beach later, Sheena!"
"As if I would even get close, knowing you're there!"
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"A-hah! I knew it! The Goddess must really want us to be together, hunny, for us to meet so again!"
"Sh-shut up! My room was just too hot, it's not as if I came to see you!" and it was true, at least to some point. Her room had been too hot for her to endure – Sylvarantian summer was much hotter than anything she had ever experienced in Tethe'alla.
So, after taking a well-deserved shower and washing off all the ashes, she had opened the window in hopes it would cool the room. It was then she noticed that she had a sea-side view window, because she had just started drying her hair when in came the smell of salt sea, the cry of seagulls and the sound of laughter.
She had changed into a light shirt, brushed her hair and walked to the window to try and relax for a while.
And she had discovered that the laughter came from him, or to be more exact, was being caused by him. Even though there were plenty of swimsuit-clad girls in the beach, he was instead playing with four of five kids, chasing them and being overall silly. The kids, who looked no older than four or five years, laughed and squealed in delight whenever the 'ogre' (as they were calling him) took a hold of one of them and spun them around before letting them go, exclaiming something like 'Agh, you've escaped, you slippery brat!'.
It was such a childish, almost ridiculous scene that she had to laugh. Ridiculous, yet awkwardly inviting. And the room had been still too hot anyway, so she had decided to go and take a walk in the beach.
She had found him lying on the sand, hair caked with sand and his vest in hands of the kids. It was in that position that he greeted her –
"A-hah! I knew it! The Goddess must really want us to be together, hunny, for us to meet so again!"
"Sh-shut up! My room was just too hot, it's not as if I came to see you!" and it wasn't that true, but it'd had to do. He stared up at her and she continued, "I think the kids have your vest."
"I know," he sat up and tried to brush the sand off his hair, "Those little... bah, let them be. It was too hot for it anyway..." so saying he proceeded to take his long gloves off along with his boots.
"I never thought you'd like children," she sat next to him (but leaving enough space in between, of course).
"But I do! Always play tag and hide-n-seek with them in Meltokio... kids are more honest than their parents..." the last sentence was mumbled, but she still heard it. She decided not to say anything though – it just seemed the right to do.
Zelos stretched his arms luxuriously over his head and lay down again. "Man, it's too hot. I don't feel like doing anything."
"Not even chasing your vest?"
"What's with you and my vest? And no, they can keep it for all I care. Have like three of those," he turned his head to her, "Do you want my vest?"
"What would I want it for?"
"You could wear it! I bet you'd look sexy in it... ouch!" he rubbed his arm where she had punched him, "Ooow, Sheeeeena... y'know, when a girl hits a guy 'cause she likes him, she's supposed to hit him ligh- OW!"
"You just don't know when to shut up, don't you?"
"Heh, it's just funnier this way. Even if bruises my beautiful skin."
"...Zelos? I think the kids are washing you vest in the sea."
The Chosen lifted his head lazily, just enough to get a view of the sea line. Grunting like an old man he sat up again. "How can they have so much energy? I chased them for like half an hour and they're still at it."
"They're kids. They're supposed to be like that."
Zelos sighed. "Alright. They're uh, insulting my vest's honor, and therefore mine."
"...what?"
"Get up, my hunny!" in a jump he was up and so wa she, since he had taken her forearm along. "We must avenge the stain that has been pressed onto my honor. Or onto my clothes."
"What the hell are you even talking about? Didn't you just say that they could keep it for all you cared?"
"Yeah, well," he grinned and took hold of her other arm, "I'm actually looking for an excuse to drag you into the sea."
"...what? Ooooh no you don't! Let go! Zelos, let me go! You'll be sorry if I even touch the water!" she pulled back and he dragged her forward, and his grip slipped – intentionally, perhaps? – 'till he wasn't holding her arms but her hands, and there he tightened and didn't let go.
"Aw, c'mon! You're at the beach, you can't not get into the sea!" he whined, still pulling her towards the water.
"I – I'm not even wearing a swimsuit!"
"Neither am I! C'moooon!"
"N-no! You – you idiot! Let me go!" and so she kept complaining but was very disappointed to find herself laughing; struggling only as a joke and giggling like a teen when her feet were finally touched by the sea-waves.
"It's cold!" Sheena exclaimed, half laughing and still trying to sound as if she was complaining.
"Weren't you complaining about how hot it was?"
"That was you, idiot!"
He still had her hands in his. But something inside her didn't want to pay mind to it. Something inside her was fine with it.
"It's the ogre!" a very very young voice yelled from behind and he let go of her and turned.
"That's right, punk!" Zelos yelled over-dramatically, "I've come for revenge, and brought an ally with me!"
Three boys and one girl (the last one holding a dripping pink vest) stared at the Chosen in curiosity. Zelos shoved her forward.
"She's the Violent Demonic Banshee! Now you shall have no escape!"
The kids set off running in a flurry of high-pitched screams, and Zelos went after them. For a few moments she just stood there, not sure of what to do. Then the girl went running past her and she dived for it.
"I'll catch you, you little thief!"
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Zelos' vest was stiff with salt once it had dried. He laughed and tried shaking it just to see whether it'd make a good club or not.
"I'm so sorry!" the children mother had apologized like mad, "I had to check something at the hotel and I didn't think they'd cause trouble..."
"Don't worry, m'am, we had fun as well," she had had to assure the woman that they weren't angry and that they didn't need her to pay for the vest.
Sheena sighed and sat once more next to the Chosen, who had finally dropped the new pink weapon onto the sand.
"Aaah... I had just bathed and now I'm all covered in salt... even my hair feels salty," she complained, feeling her tresses. It felt just as stiff as Zelos' jacket.
"Don't worry, we can always take another bath."
"I can take another bath, you mean."
"But I can wash your baAUGH, you just had to hit the bruise, did you?"
"Yes, that was the idea. Pervert! I can't believe I wasted my afternoon off with you..."
"And the kids? Are those a waste too?"
"No, they were very sweet."
"You want me to be sweet?"
"Ew, no," so she said but she didn't complain when he cocked his head to look at the sky and some of his red curls fell onto her shoulder. The two stayed silent, looking at the sun setting over the sea, shining red over black and painting the clouds pink and orange.
"It was fun, today, wasn't it?" he asked, not turning her head but his eyes still searching hers.
"...yeah. It went by so fast," she sighed, "I'm so tired!" and let herself fall onto the sand.
"I didn't really visit this town much before it was destructed. But it's nice now."
"Yes. Neil has done a great work reconstructing everything..."
"And it makes for a good resort. Not as crowded as Altamira."
"That's a relief. I can't stand crowds."
He didn't answer. The sky was slowly turning black over their heads.
"Hey, let's come back here someday! Before it turns famous and we can't play around like today," he smiled playfully,"But no kids, just us, together."
"Don't make it sound as if we're married or something, stupid Chosen ..." she bonked his head softly.
"...you haven't answered though?"
"...I didn't hear myself say 'no'."
He raised an eyebrow, laughed softly and seemed about to say something before deciding not to ruin the moment with a bad joke. Instead he, too, lay down on the sand, next to her, and in silence they gazed at the stars that were slowly starting to appear on the night sky.
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Notes: This was brought to you by the Palmacosta new Seaside Inn Resort, built by the Palmacosta Reconstruction Fund: Because We Got No Heroes To Pay A Bazillion Gald, Unlike Luin, Those Idiots.
O.M.G. teh fluff! This one was so damnedly hard to write, 'cause I was so busy and I just... well, let us say there's another version of this O-dai, which I decided not to post because of it being drama-fluff-tastic. Anyway, I kinda like this one. Kinda. Or not. Well, all the kids in Meltokio are like 'Play with us, Chosen!', so he must play with them every now and then, and Sheena liked to play with the kids in Luin, so... there!
I want to change the title of the fic. 'Seeds' was chosen because... uh... each of these could be written into bigger things (which I invite everyone to do if they suddenly wished:-P), but I'm not happy with it. Anyone has an idea or should I dust off my thesaurus and search for a synonym for 'Anthology'?
It seems I get fewer reviews on weekend-updates, which is fine because then I can answer.
StrawberryEggs; thank you for nitpicking, heh. I do have a tendency to 'invent compound nouns', in the words of my English professor..., DarkNite109; Yeah, sexy ice action! XD Now, if this were labeled M...,
Urby; yes, it was #4, but I was prolly distracted by... a bird, or a bright piece of paper, heheheh... ah, hehe? And I don't know how sweating a fever off works, I always got the ice O.O, TUF STUF; Ice seems to work on me, heh. I've never sweated off a fever, I was even told it was dangerous OO but what do I know,
The Zelda Master; Yeah, I guess its unorthodox, I actually kept wondering whether to keep the ice or not because it just seemed too out of the blue...but my muse wouldn't hear any of it, Tamerlane; argh, you discovered my ploy to...eeer, lets say Raine healed him but is cautious and didn't want him to, I dunno, scratch at the scar or something, so she bandaged him. Yeah... that's it.,
lugiamania; we all want those cards! Shame it seems they're like, collectors edition Japanese merchandise... Sighness, for they get all the cool stuff in Japan.
That's all for this week! Because I'm damnedly busy with final essays! See you next time, with –
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#6 – Invitation
(whoa, number six already? I'm either dedicated or obsessive. Ideas are welcome.)
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