Darkness, but for a few short instances of blinding light: this is the Temple of Lightning.
Sheena starts shaking the moment she sets foot in that tower. Even Corrine's reassuring presence beside her, veiled from this world by a thin and intangible curtain of mana, isn't enough to soothe her suddenly restless soul. The memory of that strange and silent language buzzes like electricity in Sheena's head so that she can scarcely hear anything else, not even the thunder she fears so much.
Reflex carries Sheena through the battles they must fight along the way, her body moving without her conscious input. Though she tries to keep her head down, doing her best to center herself as they march through the temple, her thoughts still hover in the haze of eerie violet clouds, so close she could reach out and touch them. But then they step through a doorway and—they're gone.
Everything is gone. It's pitch black in here, and the space below them somehow blacker still. Even the fleeting glints of light aren't enough to pierce the gloom; Sheena can't see how far the drop is. It's enough to make her afraid of the dark, even now. (It wasn't like this last time.)
"Single file," orders Raine, her soft and serious voice almost drowned out by the next roll of thunder. "Hold hands, but let go if someone loses their balance. We can't afford for all of us to fall."
Lloyd leads the way, of course, forging ahead as soon as the next flash of lightning reveals the path. Sheena can't convince her feet to move quickly enough to get to his side, but anyway, who is she kidding? That's Colette's place, and she knows it—knows it, so well that she can't be glad even for a moment that she isn't among them. After all, Sheena has never resented her for capturing Lloyd's heart. She's held it for years longer than Sheena has known either one of them.
Letting the others pick her position for her, Sheena finds herself at the end of the chain with one free hand, the other held by Zelos. She isn't thrilled with this arrangement, but at least he can't try anything funny, since Regal is bringing up the rear.
Slowly, slowly, they make their winding way along the stone platforms as carefully as though they're tightropes. The dizzying height, the deafening thunder, the interminable cycle of walking and waiting… it's enough to make Sheena think she might black out. She's already broken out in a cold sweat by the time they round the first corner, and her chest feels so tight she can barely breathe.
Trying to calm down by absorbing herself in soothing thoughts works at first, but it's not long before Sheena's mind stops paying attention to her body, and she stumbles numbly over her own feet. In the small part of her mind not consumed with panic as she loses her balance, she registers something curling around her wrist and gripping her shoulder. Strong hands, stabilizing her. And then, a voice.
"I'd say to watch out, but that won't do any good in the dark," quips Zelos, but his grasp is iron in velvet. He's trembling, she realizes. "You okay, Sheena?"
"I—I'm fine," she hisses, brushing Zelos's hand off her shoulder, and feels herself flush. Just her luck that he had to be the one to catch her in a moment of weakness. "Really. Now can we please keep moving?" Before Sheena has time to die of embarrassment. At least it's too dark for anyone to see how red she is.
"Whatever you say," says Zelos, sliding his fingers back down to Sheena's hand and squeezing gently. "Okay, guys, move it." He speaks as if it's somehow their fault for stopping. "Nothing to see here. Literally."
Sheena doesn't dare try to hit him when there's a risk of falling, so she settles for digging her fingernails into a couple pressure points in his hand instead. As Zelos's chuckle is cut off by a satisfyingly sharp intake of breath, she allows herself an exhausted smile and softens her touch. Still, she cannot bring herself to loosen her hold too much until they exit into the light.
Gradually, Sheena grows accustomed to the suffocating darkness and the multicolored lightning, the complexities of the puzzles they must solve. Faith in her friends keeps her upright, almost buoyant, through the challenges. Lloyd has not led them astray yet.
That confidence feels like a good thing for a long time, keeping Sheena's mind off the pact to come, but it does not last forever. As they enter another dark room they've just come through once already, the universe reminds Sheena once again to be careful. Her heart stops atop a narrow beam as she trips, a chill flooding her entire body as she realizes what's about to happen. Of all the times to twist her ankle—!
Sheena screams, no thoughts left in her head as she pitches sideways, but the long fall she anticipates does not come. Instead, someone hauls her up by the arm with unexpected strength, but she can feel the misstep, the shudder, the struggle to regain balance. It's Zelos again: the lightning flashes just in time for her to see him tilt back, eyes wide in terror, arms flailing like ineffectual wings.
"ZELOS!" His name tears itself from Sheena's throat.
"If I die, I'm gonna—!" calls Zelos frantically, his voice fading into nothingness as he disappears into the dark.
"ZELOS, NO!"
But there is only silence in response, save for the few reverberations of Sheena's voice, and the last roll of thunder.
"Sheena," says Regal behind her. His voice is as level as ever, but the slightest bit tremulous. It's the first time his tone has been anything other than calm and collected since they entered the temple. "I'm sure we'll find him later. For now, we need to press on."
Sheena doesn't think her legs will work anymore, paralyzed by fear, but she forces them to keep moving, catching up with Presea to grasp her hand tightly. She can't fall. Not after Zelos saved her. But when the next flash of lightning comes, she can't help but pause and peer over the edge anyway, though the shadows below them are as thick and dark as ever.
Once they're back in the light again, Sheena breaks into a run. She doesn't know where she's going, but she feels like she has to move, to externalize the nervous energy pooling in her gut like an electric current. Colette's absence is distressing enough already that she doesn't feel that she can even attempt a pact with Volt if even one more of their companions is missing. Losing anyone else, especially if it's her fault, will break her.
"Hey, Sheena?" asks Genis's voice. "Where are we going?"
"The central room," says Sheena, still moving, and does not look back. Her tone is breathless, but she is surprised by her own steadiness when her heart is racing like this. "It's the lowest part of the main area. We can start looking for Zelos there." Genis says something else, perhaps to himself or another of their companions, but Sheena doesn't hear his words. Nor does she particularly care what he said, as long as he doesn't mean to stop her.
Even though Sheena enters the room with the intention of looking for Zelos, she isn't expecting to find him so quickly. She halts at the top of the stairs as she catches sight of him, lying motionless on the floor at the foot of that enormous pipe. How he got there from where they had been, Sheena doesn't know, but it doesn't matter in the moment.
"Zelos," she says, practically flying down the stairs to his side. She does not mean to whisper, but there is no longer enough strength in her voice to shout. By the time Sheena skids to a halt and falls to her knees beside Zelos, her fingers are shaking so badly that she cannot feel his pulse, her eyes shifting so that she cannot see whether he is breathing. All she can do is hold out the wild hope that he is only unconscious.
Sheena would be afraid no matter which of her friends had fallen, but she dreads even the thought of losing Zelos. No matter how obnoxious he is in day-to-day life, he has been a constant in her life for years. Long before she ever knew of Sylvarant—let alone met any of the others—Zelos knew the nature of her trauma, sympathized with her fear of abandonment, comforted her through thunderstorms. He has been there for her, so Sheena has to be here for him.
Zelos stirs faintly, and Sheena's heart leaps into her throat. "Sheena," he groans, eyes fluttering open, and she remembers to breathe again, though it sounds more like a sob. Zelos looks dazed for a moment before he focuses on her, and he sits bolt upright before wincing at his own sudden movement. "Sheena! You're safe."
"Thanks to you," mumbles Sheena, and for once, does not have the energy to worry about the others speculating on the nature of their relationship (again). "But I thought… we thought you'd…" Under any other circumstances, Sheena would be furious. She wants more than anything to yell at Zelos, to demand what made him do something so stupid and dangerous, but relief has made her far too weak to raise her voice.
"Yeah, I guess the angels took pity on me since I'm the Chosen One and all," says Zelos, yawning as if waking up from an ordinary nap, but then frowns as if just now noticing something. "Whoa, what's this?" he asks, moving his face slightly closer to Sheena's to peer intently at her expression. "Have you been crying?"
"N-no!" says Sheena, scrambling back, only realizing that her eyes are burning as he points it out. The humiliation of being caught kickstarts the response that should have been there all along, the indignation, the annoyance, the wondering how she could be so worried about losing someone like Zelos Wilder in the first place. The rush of emotion makes her feel alive again. "Why would I cry over an idiot like you? Something got in my eyes, that's all!"
Zelos grins. "They're called tears."
"I think it's safe to say he's fine," says Lloyd, or at least that's what Sheena thinks he said; she's too busy hitting Zelos to listen. He cries out even before she actually belts him in the shoulder, but even grimacing and rubbing his arm, he looks pretty cheerful for someone who thought he might wake up dead.
The others start back up the stairs with varying levels of exasperation and reassurance, each one of them preparing to activate the last lightning rod and face Volt, but Zelos only stirs in place and looks up at Sheena. The warmth in his gaze, as genuine as she has ever seen from him, disarms her in the moment, and she cannot look away. "Help me up?"
Though Sheena hesitates, she owes Zelos a lot, and she can't exactly refuse him after he took the fall for her like that, even if it wasn't a life-threatening situation after all. Feeling stronger now, Sheena extends her hand, Zelos takes it, and she helps pull him to his feet. His fingers linger on hers for a moment, but he soon rests them on her shoulder instead, glancing up the stairs at their other friends. "All righty then. Let's go make that pact."
Sheena takes a deep breath, recollecting herself. "Right." She knows the situation is no less dangerous than before, but it feels like the sheer relief of finding Zelos alive has lessened her fear of losing anyone else. Maybe she's just running out of adrenaline, but she can't help but feel more relaxed, even hopeful. Everything will be fine as long as she has her friends at her side.
Zelos must be thinking along the same lines, because when Sheena looks at him again, he nods for her to start moving first. "I'll be right behind you, hunny," he says, and she can tell from the sincerity in his tone that in the moment, that nickname is for her alone.