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: In-Game, immediately after the Otherwordly Gate. Arr, mates, Spoilers ahoy! Spoilers!

Warnings: Zelos thinking a lot and using his hormones for said goal. Feel-good ending.


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Normal Version,

#7 – Wish

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"Explain yourself."

Zelos swallowed. The pale blonde-haired 'boy' was sitting atop a bed, legs hanging down the mattress. An image that should've been the epitome of innocence, really, but instead it was making him so very anxious.

This was no normal boy sitting on a bed. This was Lord Yggdrasil making the bed a throne, once more asserting his superiority over him, who had a knee bended and didn't really dare to look up.

The 'boy' was glaring at him, he could feel it. And that was never a good thing, but now that he had absolutely no idea what he was talking about it was even worse.

But he absolutely hated allowing the brat (even if he was thousands of years old) feeling superior, so he answered, "Wha, did I do anything wrong? If you're talking about that pass I made at the professor then -"

"Your behavior at the Otherwordly Gate, Chosen!" the boy snapped and Zelos regretted his words a little.

But – the Otherwordly Gate? "...what with that?"

His 'boss' (one of them, at least) looked at him in annoyance. "You do realize that by saving the summoner you have complicated things for me, don't you?" he shook his head as if Zelos was a dumb pet, "Had she died, this... group would've lost the ability to call onto the power of the Summon Spirits, thus ending their so-called quest."

He didn't answer: he knew Yggdrasil had more to say. But even if he had been ordered to answer he wouldn't have been able to. Was he being scolded for saving someone? Well, he hadn't been ordered to save anyone but he hadn't been ordered not to save anyone in obvious danger...

...but he'd better concentrate. Yggdrasil was still speaking and he had already lost part of the conversation.

"...an annoyance I would've been better off without. So explain yourself."

"Er..." damn, had he said anything important? "Don't see what's to explain, Lord Yggdrasil. I just acted. Er..." quickly, an excuse! "Besides, don't you think saving her got me some brownie points with them? Bet they trust me much more now."

The boy smirked in a way that was altogether too creepy. "Already they trust me much more than they'll ever trust you."

...ouch. Zelos grimaced inwardly.

"Well, no use in wasting any more time talking about this," Yddgrasil continued, "I would've thought you'd be glad to have one less to kill..." Zelos felt himself going pale at the Lord's voice, and it seemed he too could notice the Chosen's shock. "Why so pale, Chosen? You know I'll ask that of you one day. Are you perhaps having doubts about our deal?"

"...o-of course not! Anything to get that title off my head."

"...and yet it can't be helped: I feel anxious. Can you think of a reason?"

The redheaded tried not to sigh. He needed Yggdrasil's trust if he was ever going to be freed from his title. "Not really, Lord Yggdrasil."

"I know all of your habits, Chosen – thanks to your title you've been kept you under vigilance for all of your life."

"...I know."

"Your liking of the fair sex is famous. But if you want this deal to work out, perhaps your should try not to mix your feelings with your -"

"Wait wait wait there, time out," he interrupted, "You're saying I saved her because -?"

"I don't believe I gave you permission to cut me off so abruptly, Chosen," the boy said icily, a pair of purple wing-like shadows appearing at his back for an instant. Zelos shut up immediately, feeling a chill running down his back, but he didn't apologize – he didn't want to give the boy that pleasure.

"...I don't care what views you may hold," Yggdrasil continued after a few seconds of cold silence, "Consider yourself warned, Chosen. Don't screw up again."

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Zelos walked down the streets of Palmacosta in silence, glaring at most things and grinning at the passing girls out of custom.

Back when he was younger, at the Meltokio Academy, he had a friend. Once (Zelos could even almost hear his voice, he remembered so well) that boy had said something that had sounded funny, even stupid at the time:

"Say there's this girl – she's a good friend, but you've never even thought of her as a prospective special-someone. I mean, perhaps you've noticed she's got nice boobs, but even then she's just a friend and nothing else. And then someone comes along and tells you 'You like her, don't you?' or perhaps they say 'She likes you, you know', and then you're screwed because you suddenly discover you're in love."

Right now Zelos Wilder was in the act of discovering how much truth his friend's words had held.

"Damn damn damn damn that stupid overpowered brat!"

From the Chosen's point of view, it was all Yggdrasil's fault. Because of him he was the Chosen, because of him he had been forced to join Lloyd's group, because of him he had ended in the declining Sylvarant and because of him he couldn't get that girl off his mind.

"Thinks he's so much better just 'cause he's four thousand years old..."

He tried to keep insulting the boy because that kept his mind busy. As his rage grew thin he tried to think of what a boring city Palmacosta was, and then about how he really needed to wash his hair and then about what a bad idea it had been to bring a silk shirt to this trip.

But it was all forced, because there she was, at the corner of his mind eye, stalking his thoughts, with her cat-like eyes and her unruly black hair.

It was getting dark but he didn't want to go back to the small inn they had chosen for their stay. If he went back he would end up running into her and that was the last thing he needed right now.

"Fine then," he sat on a wooden box near the docks past the small cathedral, "I'll just have to concentrate on not thinking about..."

...Sheena...

"Oh..." Zelos slapped his forehead.

...Sheena...

"Good work, now she wont leave my mind..."

...Sheena...

"...I feel like an idiot," he grumbled before adding, "Stupid overpowered brat, everything's his fault."

Fine, so he had saved her. That didn't mean anything, he said in his mind as if to convince himself: it had been the human thing to do. And besides, she was a friend – friends don't let friends die, right? Lloyd would've done the same and he didn't love Sheena.

"...and if he did?"

The Chosen suddenly found himself feeling inexplicably territorial over the black-haired ninja. It seemed to him as if she sometimes smiled way too kindly at the red-clad swordsman, but up until now he hadn't really realized how much that bothered him.

"...damn," she could be talking with Lloyd right now while he was wasting his time sitting like an idiot. But if he interrupted them she wouldn't forgive him...

What was she doing right now, he wondered?

"As long as she ain't talking with Lloyd I'm fine with it."

Lloyd was talking with Colette and that Neil guy, he remembered, so Sheena was probably with Raine at the inn. That cheered him up a little. Perhaps she was thinking of him – perhaps she had finally realized that his dragging her down t he Otherwordly gate hadn't been a bad thing, and that one thought felt like warm bubbles around his chest.

A few seconds afterwards he realized that it had been a long time since he had last felt warm bubbles and decided that perhaps it was time to re-evaluate his relationship with the summoner.

Which was something rather hard for him to do:

In Zelos Wilder's opinion there were only two kinds of love:

The first one was to be in love, which meant to be a complete idiot who smiled way too much and sighed all day long. He hadn't felt like that since he was fifteen thought and he certainly wasn't feeling like that now.

The second was the way he loved Seles and his late mother – so much it hurt, so much he wouldn't mind dying for their happiness, so much it was sad because they hated him anyway. And he didn't want to feel like that about Sheena.

And then there was sex, but that wasn't love, right? Well, he wouldn't mind giving it a go with her...

But even if she allowed him (he snorted at the thought) that idea didn't feel right either.

So what he was feeling wasn't friendship but it wasn't love either and it wasn't only lust: it was confusing, that alone he was sure of. Was there any term for 'more than friends but not lovers'?

All he could think of was 'hunny' but she'd kick him if she heard that. And she wasn't like his usual girls anyway.

With a small sigh he got up from the crate and stretched his arms behind his back. The sun had finished its everyday travel a few minutes ago and was now completely hidden under the ocean-line. As much as it wouldn't do him much good to see Sheena right now he had to go back to the inn sooner or later, so he'd better do it in time for dinner, he guessed.

So he made his way back to the hotel, walking slowly and wishing he could stop feeling that way. He had many things to worry about, and what Yggdrasil had said was true: one day he would have to betray them all...

...and this wasn't making things easier.

There she was, at the small living room the inn had near its reception desk, talking with Raine and Regal just as he had imagined she would be. No escape now, and he knew only one method to hide any and all discomforts: loudness.

"Yoooooo, hunnies!"

"There you are. Where have you been all day?"

"Where else? Flirting with every single woman, I bet."

"Weeeeeeell, it can't be helped! Sylvarant girls have a different flavor, y'know?"

"What do you mean with 'flavor'? Pervert!"

"Wh- hey, you are the one who thought that up!"

Raine smirked at the ninja's reddening face and Regal sighed a little shaking his head. Inwardly, Zelos whimpered a little – that girl wasn't making things any easier.

So after dinner he chose to call it a day and retire earlier than the rest.

'Mithos' glared at him before softening his expression and asking in his oh-I'm-so-inoccent voice, "Are you not feeling well, Zelos? You were zoning out during the dinner."

Damn the kid and his hidden threats, Zelos cursed. "I'm moved by your concern, kid, but nothing can faze the Great Zelos. I just need my beauty sleep."

Genis raised an eyebrow. "Even if you slept an entire week it wouldn't help you enough though," the two boys laughed.

"Ah, shut it brat..."

Next to the blonde chosen Sheena laughed as well. "Yes, leave him alone or he will actually stay, Genis."

...that kind of remarks didn't hurt half as much as they did now, he thought and flopped down onto the bed. To feel miserable was not an alien feeling to Zelos, but right now it was worst than it had been for a while.

He wished Yggdrasil would leave already. He wished he hadn't been born the Chosen, and that he could just let go and act a little more naturally. But then again his 'natural side' was used to acting like a jerk anyway.

He wished his mother was alive; perhaps he wouldn't be a jerk if she hadn't died. Perhaps it had been his father's fault though – he wished he hadn't been such a jerk, and that he hadn't inherited that.

And at some moment, in between wishes and thoughts, he fell asleep, or so he thought because he was almost literally shaken back to reality by someone tugging at his arm in a rather unkind way.

"Zelos! Zelos! Wake up already, idiot!"

He opened his eyes and blinked, still sleepy. "Wha...? Wh-?"

"Get up, hurry!" Sheena was still tugging at his arm, smiling and looking almost mischievous. "Hurry, I'm telling you!"

"I would if you'd tell me what's- "

"No time, just hurry!" she took his arm and dragged him out of the room and down the stairs with no regard for his sleep-zombie state of consciousness. "Lloyd found something awesome, and everybody's out except for you!"

"And you decided to get me? I'm moved, babe..." really, he was.

The girl closed the door to the inn and quickly turned around, hiding a small blush that he, however, managed to see. "Don't – don't go thinking any of this!"

He followed her to the outskirts of the city, where he could see a fairly big group of people sitting on the grass, his travel companions amongst them.

"Come, sit, sit..." the girl dragged him close to the others and down onto the grass. "Now, look!" she pointed at the sky.

His breath caught in his throat for a moment. All over his head the stars that should've been adorning the sky were falling, slowly and elegantly, forming beautiful lines over the night-blue sky.

Lloyd turned to him and grinned, but he scarcely saw that before returning his eyes to the sky.

"Colette and I were taking a walk and I saw it! Isn't it great?"

"It's so pretty!" the girl added, nodding her head excitedly.

The three 'kids' in the group, Genis, Presea and Mithos, were staring fixedly at the falling stars and said nothing at all. Smiling at that Raine sighed happily. "We're lucky we get to see something like this."

"Indeed. This isn't a common view, much less in places like Meltokio or Altamira."

Zelos still didn't say anything but moved his eyes down to Sheena, who was sitting next to him. She, too, averted her eyes and smiled at him.

"See now why I told you to hurry?"

"...yeah," his chest felt funny again, so he lifted his gaze once more.

"Make a wish, Colette!" he could hear Lloyd say not far.

"We should all make a wish," was the young angel's reply, "There are enough stars for all of us."

"Yeah! Let's make a wish, Mithos! And uh, you too, P-presea..."

He had to smile.

"Alright then! I wish all the girls in the worlds will give their undying love to me, the great Chosen of Tethe'alla!"

"You idiot Chosen, you're not supposed to tell anyone!"

"Uh? Why not, Sheena?" Colette cocked her head.

"Your wish will come true only if kept a secret," Raine explained.

"I see... then I'll have to do it quietly..."

"Do I get a second try?"

"As if I would know..."

He snickered and moved closed to what could possibly maybe be the new object of his feelings that kind of seemed to be akin to affections and brushed his hand against hers before taking it into his. Just an hour or two ago he had had too many wishes, so many that not even all these starts would be enough.

But right now, he only wished that she wouldn't take her hand away.

And she didn't.

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Notes: On one hand I feel this O-dai was flawed from the very beginning, since Zelos being scolded by Mithos seems to fit better for an angst fic. On the other hand I like it because it is what my Muse wanted to write, and she wouldn't hear of anything else. Damn her.

Well then, there it is. First time I do an in-game fic, but I'm not completely disappointed. I hope you liked it, and thank you for your reviews last chapter!

WDR


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On we go...

#7 – Pair-look

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