Finally, finally I am updating this fic! I am infinitely sorry that it took so long, but I had a sudden and lasting lack-of-inspiration. I got it back, however, thanks to two things: 1) leafing through the ToS manga that my best friend got me in Japan (thank you:D) And 2) reading Winged Dancer's lovely collection of Sheelos one-shots, Seeds.

So here it is... The return of Just Tell Me! I have a goal to finish this story, and I shall complete it!

Disclaimer: Nothing has changed since my last update; I still do not own Tales of Symphonia or anything/anyone in it.

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/Just Tell Me/

Chapter IV: The Pact

Neither Zelos nor I had any intentions of letting the public know that their suspicions had become true, so we made efforts to keep our relationship a secret to everyone except for Sebastian. Since Zelos was the Chosen, any confirmation of a romance would be spread around the world as it would for one of the famous actors at Altamira's theatre. I, for one, did not desire to have my name be known by everyone in Tethe'alla, especially for such reasons. I was still merely the girl taking part in some studies at the Elemental Lab... and I just so happened to be seeing the Chosen under more-than-friendly circumstances. If anything, I only wanted to be known as the study subject.

At that time, I still had not created a pact with Corrine. Certain details of his DNA were being worked out so that the pact would work out as planned. The day that the scientists told me that the pact would finally be made was exciting; but it was unnerving at the same time. What if this summon spirit—although man-made—turned out like Volt? What if it had a mind of its own and refused the pact, instead choosing to tear the city apart? Of course, I'd never even laid eyes on Corrine at that time. The second that I saw him, a good deal of my fear evaporated into the air.

I remember walking up to the glass cage that held him. The entire image before me was surreal: the cuddly, three-tailed creature was floating unconscious within a tank of jade liquid. Bubbles periodically streamed out of Corrine's mouth, telling me that this was indeed a living and breathing being.

"So you know what to do, Sheena?" one of the scientists asked me. I gave him a nod without letting my gaze waver—I was just watching Corrine. There was a mixture of beeps, cranks and mumbles as the scientists prepared to free Corrine from his prison. The liquid flowed out through a disguised pipe and the glass was lifted. Corrine was finally able to move, and yet he did not budge. Even though he did not speak, I could tell that he had no clue what to do with himself. I stole a quick glance towards the scientists, each of them practically quivering from suppressing joyful outbursts.

Now I knew that it was my time to take over. I braved the room's stillness and took a step forward, immediately directing all attention towards myself. "Corrine," I also broke the silence. The miniature summon spirit snapped his head upwards to face me. "Ah, uhm..." I reached into the small bag attached to my waist and pulled out a blank spell card, "I ask of thee to grant me thy power, by means of a pact."

Corrine's stare was completely blank, "A... pact?"

I could breathe another sigh of relief knowing that I could understand what he was saying—unlike Volt. I brought myself down to my knees so that I could look at Corrine eye-to-eye. "Yes. A pact. It's... a promise. I will promise you something in exchange for you promising to stick by me." It was the best explanation that I could come up with. Still, Corrine was left with questions.

"What will you promise me?"

"I..." there was nothing that I could think of at that time. I knew that despite the blank that I was drawing, I had to find something to say. Little did I know that the words I threw together would come to mean so much to both Corrine and I. "I vow that as long as you remain by my side, I too will be there by yours during difficult times."

Corrine took a couple of steps forward and then sat down. "So... I guess that I should say that I accept, right?" Unsure of the response myself, I could only nod. "Okay. Then I accept."

I gave the small spirit a smile and held out my spell card. It began to glow with an amber radiance, as did Corrine. He became transparent, evanescing before my eyes. Soon, he vanished completely into the card—I had made my first pact.

The scientists held us hostage for some time after that, taking notes on all of the spirit's capabilities when linked to a summoner. Corrine had already come to hate those experiments. Before leaving, I was warned not to summon Corrine in the public so that the discoveries remained on the quiet side. Many people would certainly object to the creation of a summon spirit, calling it "playing God". Despite Mizuho's conservative ways, we welcome scientific advancements in hopes of them ameliorating our world's state. The experiments that Meltokio's half-elves conduct are always accepted and encouraged by our culture.

When we were liberated from the lab, night had already set in. The second that the festival's evening lights blazed in my view, I realized that I had not yet spoken to Zelos that day. "It's just one day," I immediately reassured myself, "It won't hurt either of us. We haven't become that attached. He knows that I'm fine." Unconsciously, I walked straight past the hotel and only took notice of it when I was standing in front of the stairs leading to the northern regions of Meltokio. I glanced back to the hotel, and then up towards the top of the staircase. "Oh, why not?" I thought, "I wanted to show him Corrine anyway." My decision had been made: I would go and see Zelos, despite the time. He'd certainly still be awake.

I strolled over to Zelos' mansion as I did every day; knocked on the door, waited for Sebastian to open it, and then entered. "Master Zelos will be down in a moment, Miss Sheena. Can I help you with anything in the meantime?"

Shaking my head, I casually waved off the butler, "No thank you, Sebastian. I won't be staying long, anyway." He gave a polite bow of understanding, and then wandered off to do whatever he did when he had no orders (which was most likely sitting around and waiting for a command). I, on the other hand, went into the living room and sat down on one of the sofas. I rummaged through my bag for a summoning card, but instead found myself frozen in memories when I accidentally pulled out one of my guardian cards. "Grandpa..." I whispered faintly.

"Hey, sorry for making you wait! I wasn't expecting you to visit at all today." Zelos flopped down onto the seat next to me, making me jump as my mind returned to the room. "I kinda fell asleep."

"O-oh," I smiled weakly, shoving the card back into my deck, "Then I guess I should apologize for waking you up."

Zelos shook his head, "Nah. You're way more interesting than sleep." My phoney smile became a genuine one as I shifted closer to Zelos. He draped his arm over my shoulders, "So did you just come here to say 'hi', or what?"

"Oh!" I fumbled through my bag once again, searching for that summoning card. "I actually have a reason to be here," I said while still searching. "Found it!" I proclaimed triumphantly while holding up a golden-shaded card. Zelos' head was tilted slightly as he stared at me; utter confusion was present on his face. "Ahem..." I cleared my throat, "I made a pact today."

His confusion suddenly transformed into wonder; shimmering eyes and an unwavering smile. "Really? That's awesome!"

I didn't even try to hide my enthusiasm—grinning and nodding my head zealously. "It really is!" I waved the card in my hand around slightly, "Wanna see the summon spirit?"

Zelos began to nod his head, but then froze suddenly. "Uhm..." he began uncertainly, "It's not going to destroy my house or anything, right?"

"Don't even worry about that!" I responded, having to suppress my laughter, "Once you see Corrine, you'll realize what a weird image that is." Now that I'm considering it, that moment was a miracle... He had asked if it was going to destroy his house or anything. A summon spirit. The "Volt incident" never even crossed my mind for a second. I held the card above my head and focussed on transferring my energy into it. Soon, I could feel the card quivering in anticipation, and I knew that I had gotten through to Corrine. "Um..." I had to take a moment to stop and think; this was my first time summoning, and I wasn't particularly sure of how to bring the spirit out. I considered the possibility that since the spirit was listening, all I had to do was ask it to join us, "...Come on out, Corrine!"

It worked. The card glowed with the same amber light that it had in the lab, and in an instant, Corrine was standing on the ground at my feet. "What is it, Sheena?" the animal inquired.

"Whoa, that's a summon spirit?" Zelos exclaimed, "I always pictured them as some gargantuan beasts!"

Corrine glanced quickly in Zelos' direction, and just as swiftly returned his stare to me. "Who is that freak?" Zelos looked from Corrine to me, wearing his classic distraught expression.

I snickered. "Watch what you say, Corrine. He's more important than you realize."

"Why? Is he your boyfriend?"

My immediate response was, "What!", which only caused Zelos to take on Corrine's confusion. "No, no. I mean... he is, I guess, but... I wasn't referring to him in that manner, anyway!" Zelos sank deeper into the couch, at ease with the fact that I recognized our relationship. Corrine was still very perplexed. "See, in Tethe'alla, there is someone born with the title of the 'Chosen', who is said to be the saviour of this world. I don't know the details of how the Chosen saves this world—not many people do; all I know is that the Chosen is this guy right here." I lightly poked Zelos' shoulder to indicate the Chosen's identity. "Everyone knows and respects him, and that's why he's important... to society."

"Oh, okay!" Corrine exclaimed enthusiastically.

I noticed that Zelos had lowered his head sometime during my explanation. "Uh... Did I say something wrong?" I asked unsurely.

Zelos took a few seconds to realize that he was the one that my question was addressing. When he finally figured it out, he looked up. Our eyes locked for a moment, but Zelos turned away almost sheepishly. "Nah. But, it's not like I'm another race, y'know? I'm just another person when it comes down to it."

I leaned down to Corrine's level and whispered rather audibly, "That's his rarely shown modest side coming out." Zelos sighed with agitation, but I dismissed the action. Out of nowhere, the hour of the night came to my attention as I glanced out the window. I immediately got to my feet, which caused Zelos to look at me strangely. "It's late," I said. Those were the only words necessary to let him know that I was planning to leave.

"Why not just stay here tonight?" he inquired. The question itself made my stomach twist with anxiousness. Something about being invited to stay overnight at a man's house brings certain thoughts to mind. "That is to say, there are plenty of spare rooms in this mansion."

Spare rooms. Different rooms. In that case... "Y-yeah, I'll stay," I managed to speak through the wavering of my voice.

Zelos smiled sincerely and then yawned, holding his hand over his mouth. "I guess it's already late, hmm?" I nodded tiredly; after acknowledging the darkness of the sky outside, I suddenly felt overcome with drowsiness. "I'll show you to your room, then," he stated as he rose from the couch and then held his hand out to help me up. I gripped his hand and he pulled me up with ease; without putting any effort into getting up at all, I ended up standing inches from Zelos with our fingers entwined.

Before I was given a chance to react to our position, Corrine blurted out, "Where do I stay?"

I blinked and took a step back from Zelos, "Uhm... I guess you stay in the card," I responded. Corrine pouted audibly, but I merely smiled and picked up the empty summoning card on the sofa. I held it down near Corrine and naturally allowed his essence to flow into the card. "Goodnight, Corrine," I whispered as his figure disappeared once again. I faced Zelos again.

"Do we get to say 'goodnight' now?" Zelos questioned, moving closer to me. Even back then, I knew that to Zelos 'saying goodnight' was 'giving a kiss goodnight'... when it came to me, anyway. At that time, I eagerly agreed to his suggestion. We leaned closer to each other and pressed our lips together briefly. With that done, we walked up the mansion staircase and Zelos showed me to my room. "Goodnight," he said to me as we stood outside of the guest room door.

"Goodnight," I said back to him. And as a reaction to some internal longing, I kissed his cheek before retreating into the bedroom that I had been granted.

When the door closed and I was in the room alone, I walked up to the window and stared outside. Now that I had no fears of having to get back to the hotel, I could relax and enjoy the view. The highest floor of Zelos' mansion was the ideal place to look out over the city of Meltokio, especially at nighttime during the festival. I felt as though I was overlooking a swarm of fireflies; many small lights constantly shifting ever so slightly... the many coloured lanterns really made it a sight to see. But I was tired, and the bed in the room was even more inviting than the view. I pulled aside the covers and climbed into the bed and set myself in comfortably.

That was when it hit me. I was so comfortable there, in Meltokio. Many people in the city were surprisingly warm and welcoming to me, the scientists were also warm and welcoming, this bed was warm and welcoming, and above all Zelos was warm and welcoming. In that moment, I felt as though I could stay in Meltokio forever.

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(yawns) Goodnight, readers. I am actually pretty darn exhausted right now, and am not just going along with the ending of this chapter. XD Thanks to everyone who's sticking with me, even though this update took so long! I'll definitely put an effort into the next one being up sooner. Since it's been so long since I've updated, I won't bother to respond to individual reviews; but I thank you all for reading! Like I said, next chapter will hopefully be up fairly soon.