Again, it took me quite a while to get inspired again, but I did it! I'm writing and am kinda seeing where I am going in this story! I may not get there soon... but I'll get there! And, uh... something will happen! I really appreciate that there are some people who are still following this fic and anxiously await an update. Well, here's the update, and it's dedicated to all of you!

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia or anything related to it. Except for this story. But I'm not earning money for writing this, anyway.

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/Just Tell Me/

Chapter V: Fireworks

"Zelos didn't try anything 'funny' during the night to change your mind, did he, Sheena?" Colette asked, having recently learned from Raine that Zelos had a tendency trying 'funny' things when a girl was not expecting it. She thought that perhaps that was what had caused the ongoing awkwardness between Sheena and Zelos.

Sheena let out a single, loud laugh. "Ha! If only it were that simple!" she remarked loudly, but almost instantly regretted it as she lowered her voice, "I, uh, mean... If that had been the case, then I could have just walloped him and it would have been done and over with. What happened... went deeper than that. It hurt me right down to the last blood cell in my heart."

"Oh," Colette murmured, slowly letting her eyes look towards the ground, "Then... Was he that bad a person? He seems so nice now, and even with how you are describing the way that he had used to act..."

"You just said it, Colette," Sheena practically hissed her next word, "Act..."

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Despite what was bound to happen, I carried on in utter bliss. When I awoke the next morning, there was absolutely no uneasiness about it. I had become comfortable with the place that I was; the house that I was in and the people that I was with. Zelos and Sebastian were a likeable family to have. Sebastian really felt like more of a friend or brother than a butler—when I could look past the fact that he called me 'Miss Sheena', that is.

That day, I went to the Elemental Laboratory as usual, but there was a certain liveliness in the streets that was exactly as it had been the day that I had originally arrived in Meltokio. That had been the first day of the city's annual festival, so what was the excuse for all of the excitement now? I decided to ask someone at the lab what was going on, as opposed to asking a stranger. I still didn't hold the confidence to speak to someone that I was not familiar with.

"Flora, why is there such a buzz in the city?" were the first words out of my mouth when I stepped into the research building that morning.

The receptionist looked up at me curiously, giving a light 'hmm?' before she searched the corridors of her mind for an explanation, or perhaps a mental calendar. "Oh!" she suddenly exclaimed, "Gee, is it already the end of the festival? It must be if there's a lot of hustle and bustle." Flora searched through the whirlwind of papers on her desk until she unearthed a day-calendar. She ripped off the papers that represented the past few days that she had neglected and checked to see what day it currently was. "My, it is the end of the festival. People from around here—and visitors, as well—treat it just as importantly as the first day of the festival." Flora gave me a bright smile, "I'm glad that you brought that up," she said, "I would have hated to miss out on the celebrations."

"Uh... No problem," I really wasn't certain what more to say to her, so I avoided any more words and announced that I should go to the basement to carry on with the experimentation process. Flora accepted this alibi, and I was able to start the long day of researching and testing and hearing complaints from Corrine. These early tests were the worst for him because the scientists were rather oblivious when it came to the summon spirit's capabilities and limits.

By the time that we were finally released from the academy that day, Corrine was in a terrible mood. Before his soul returned to its place in my summoning card, he ordered me not to bring him out unless it was absolutely necessary. I wanted to be able to cheer him up, but unless I had an absolute way to do so, I didn't want to summon him because it could very well upset him more. So I just carried on as I would any other day; returned to the hotel, bathed, changed my clothes, and then headed over to Zelos' mansion.

As I was approaching his home, Blondie was walking in the direction that I just came from; there were rivers of black water streaming down her cheeks. She came to a halt when she was just a few feet in front of me and brought a kerchief up to her eyes, attempting to swipe away her running mascara. In reality, she just smeared the makeup, which made it very difficult for me to resist laughing to her face. "Oh, don't bother going to see Zelos'!" she sobbed as she ran her fingers through her hair with her free hand, "He refuses to spend the final night of festivities with anyone; even his butler! He said he wanted to be alone."

My action was probably just as conceited as her heart in that moment, but I strode past her and straight up to Zelos' front door. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her glaring at me with her smeared-mascara stare. It was then and there that I realized that I had become the centre of attention of Zelos' groupies. They were all watching me; and although normally I would give anything to not be in people's sights, the concept of those girls being envious of me made me feel all-important. I had no intention of gloating or acting smug, however I was also not about to hide from them. I wasn't about to sneak up to Zelos' mansion; I wasn't about to hide behind some bushes if the groupies just so happened to walk by when I was with Zelos. No. I was just going to live for myself for once.

"Hey Zelos," I greeted him as I walked into the kitchen. He was sitting backwards on a chair while dully observing Sebastian as he prepared the third meal of the day.

Zelos' head perked up when he heard my voice. "Sheena!" he beamed and bounded up from his seat, "You've come to entertain me!"

"Jee, was your day that boring?" I inquired, approaching the Chosen of Tethe'alla. He merely heaved a sigh in response; I still can't tell whether that sigh was to reinforce how bored he was, or that it was out of exhaustion from whatever had occurred that day. After all, Blondie had just come from his house... I didn't consider the possibilities in that moment. I instead chose to talk about the festival. "The receptionist at the lab mentioned to me that the final day of the festival is really exciting. I, uh... Well, the first night was pretty amazing to me, so I was thinking that maybe tonight..."

My words faded into silence as I watched Zelos' eyes glance about the room. It was blatantly obvious that he was not interested in attending the festivities that night, but he was avoiding saying 'no' at all costs. Finally, he spared me one of his glances, "It's not as big a deal as people make it out to be," he persisted, "We would probably have a more enjoyable time just hanging around here like we do every night." Judging by what Zelos said next, I guess I didn't do a very good job at masking my disappointment. "What? Don't you have fun with me?" he practically whimpered.

It was my turn to sigh. "You know I do," I gave in, nudging him in the arm, "But sometimes it's nice to experience something out of a routine."

Zelos softly murmured a 'hmm' in response, which ultimately ended the conversation. I was basically forced to settle with the fact that we would not be exiting the house that night. When exhaustion began to sweep over us both, Zelos offered me use of his guest room again that night. I had no reason not to accept, and so we both went up the stairs and into our separate rooms.

As I lay in bed, I could not keep my thoughts silent. I wasn't even remotely as peaceful as I had been the night before. I began to wonder: what was I doing there, in Meltokio, in the Chosen's home? I was from Mizuho and was simply a research subject in Meltokio's lab for a limited amount of time. I should have been focussing my time on hastening the process of experimentation so I could get back to my home, to Mizuho. I shouldn't have been getting involved in relationships and growing attached to people. And Zelos... he certainly seemed like a genuine person, but at the same time there was something unsettling about him. Sometimes, he grew cold. Now he greets everything in life with a big, phoney grin—back then, he had moments when he was just as vulnerable as everyone else. Vulnerability tends to make people avoid you, out of uncertainty; however people always crowded around Zelos. Why was that? Did anyone else see the occasional weaknesses that I did?

All of the thoughts in my head were beginning to unconsciously make me grow overwhelmingly weary. Soon the thoughts vanished as sleep overcame me, but I was unpleasantly startled to reality when a boom sounded from outside. Not quite awake enough to be alarmed, I simply slid out from under the bed's covers and wandered over to the window. Pulling the curtains aside, I could see what the source of the sound was: fireworks. They were lighting up the sky above Meltokio's plaza. White balls of light shot straight up and then suddenly exploded into gorgeous spheres of coloured sparks. I had never seen anything like it before.

Drawn in by my curiosity, I lifted up the latches that locked the glass door and silently pushed it open. As I walked out onto the balcony the cracking fireworks masked the sound of my footsteps. My eyes were locked on the dazzling display; even in the moments where the sky was empty I kept on watching and waiting for more. During one of those silences I heard a voice ask, "Have you ever seen fireworks before?"

The sudden question almost made me fall over the balcony's ledge in surprise, but I regained my composure and turned towards the voice. Zelos, too, was outside and watching the light show from the terrace attached to his own room. There was another crash as the fireworks continued and so I returned my gaze to the sky. "No, I haven't," I replied at last, raising my voice so that it could be heard by Zelos. I did not notice as it happened, but Zelos must have climbed up onto balcony's ledge, and then onto the roof while I was mesmerized. When the sky went still, I turned to face Zelos again, however he was gone. "Um... Zelo—"

"Up here!"

"Uh..." I wasn't sure how to react. My actions seemed in slow motion as I tilted my head upward and gave Zelos the most perplexed stare that I could muster. "What are you doing up there?"

He grinned enthusiastically and held his arms out to me, "Come on up. The view's better." As sceptical as I was, I allowed him to wrap his arms around me and awkwardly lift me up onto roof with him. It was painful, and I wound up with several scrapes on my skin; but in the end, I wasn't willing to let go of Zelos... because I was terrified that I was going to fall off of his slanted roof. "We can get the to the roof of the party hall from here," he explained, cautiously leading me towards the building next to his. The buildings weren't too far from each other, and with my abilities in stealth the jump shouldn't have been too difficult. Still, I gulped in fear. "You scaaared?" he taunted me; provoked me.

"No!" I retorted on reflex, and then peered over the edge of the roof as a second thought. I held onto Zelos even tighter. "But you go first, 'kay?" I added, my words rushed and barely audible.

Zelos chuckled. "'Kay!" he responded with a joking mockery directed at me, "You'll have to let go and stand on your own, though."

I continued to peer towards the ground, "Eh... right." With the speed and grace of a snail, I released my hold around Zelos and held my arms out at my sides. "Okay," I breathed out loudly, dropping my arms and balancing more casually, "Go on." Again, he sniggered at me; that was as much of a tease as words could have been. Without very much effort—seemingly, anyway—Zelos leapt from his roof to the level roof of the party hall. Almost instantly after his feet touched the roof, he calmly steadied himself. He didn't turn to look at me, or encourage me. He just waited. It sounds strange but I believe that this was another method of his to aggravate me into taking action for myself. With no desire to let him down, I took a couple of quickened paces forward and then hopped onto the next roof over. My feet landed hard, causing my knees to buckle beneath my weight. I stumbled forward and into Zelos, basically pushing him over as I tripped; the result was a domino effect—I fell, Zelos fell.

"Owww..." Zelos emitted a groan as he forced himself into a sitting position, lifting me up to his level in the process. "Try to balance yourself out better next time," he advised me while continuing to hold his whining tone.

I, too, let out a moan of pain. "You're talking as though there will be a next time," I murmured, rubbing my hand against my head in hopes that the throbbing from my collision would fade. There came no response from Zelos, and so I turned my head to see if there was a remark in his expression; there was. It was a smile—an innocent smile that said that he definitely held hopes for a future visit to the party hall roof. "I am absolutely not making that jump again," I stated with the sternness of a school professor.

The Chosen snickered behind the hand that he held in front of his mouth. I stared at him curiously. "I guess I'll just have to throw you, then. You're light enough," he kidded, which I answered to with an equally joking poke to the sternum.

Zelos secured his arms around my torso and rested his head on my shoulder, nestling into my neck. There were many moments like that when he would suddenly feel the urge to be cuddly. I yawned and felt my body slowly tiring along with my mind; it must have been fairly late. Just as I allowed my eyelids to droop, the fireworks show resumed with an overwhelming crack. It would have been expected for me to have jumped, startled at the sudden deafening noise. But no—the one who reacted in fear was Zelos. His hold around me tightened to the point that I could have sworn to Jizou that my ribs cracked. "Ow, ow, ow! Zelos, Zelos, Zelos!" I yelped out the words, swatting at Zelos' arms with my hands to urge him to let go of me. His reaction wasn't immediate, but soon enough he got the message and released his hold completely, giving me a much-needed chance to breathe without disruption. "Jeez," I murmured, fanning myself with outstretched fingers, "I appreciate the fact that you're well-built and all, however those arms can be needlessly painful when misused."

I turned my stare towards the Chosen, eyes narrowed in a threatening, yet not-quite-serious, manner. He gave me a big smile to try and compensate for the pain that I suffered at his... arms, technically. "My bad," was his means of apology.

I rolled my eyes at him and left them facing the sky so that I could watch the lightshow again. The dazzling event suddenly brought a thought to mind: "I bet Corrine would love to see this," I spoke under my breath, really commenting to myself.

"Then bring her out," Zelos said in response.

I spun around to look at Zelos once again. At first I was considering his suggestion, but soon I processed each of his words and analyzed the error. "Him," I corrected, "Corrine's a boy."

After I spoke those words, Zelos put on a look of surprise like none I'd ever seen before. In fact, it was like none that I have seen to this day. And it was over such a trivial thing, too. His eyes were wide, head tilted, mouth gaping but still holding a smile of disbelief. "...A boy?" he questioned at last, "With those tails!" His reaction sent me into laughter, which I tried to hold back by covering my mouth. I didn't accomplish suppressing my snickers very well, for Zelos easily picked up how I was laughing—and more importantly than that, how I was laughing at him. "What? Seriously, he's all fluffy! No man has feminine aspects like that."

"And what's your favourite colour?" I chimed in, giggles escaping with my inquiry.

"Pink—Hey, wait! That's not fair!" He had played right into my hand by answering 'pink', and that fact caused my mood to brighten even more. Even Zelos couldn't resist sneering at how he had walked into the conspicuous wall that I had placed in front of him. "Oh, fine fine!" he gave in, "But are you going to summon the little he-spirit or what?"

Too light-headed from laughter to consider the consequences of Corrine's mood, I removed a card that I had tucked underneath the ribbon tied around my waist. Having gotten used to the feelings of bringing Corrine out, I summoned without absorbing the sensations that came along with it. In an instant, the figure of Corrine appeared before us, shining in an aquamarine luminance. The glowing soon stopped and Corrine stood there in all of his fluffy, unmasculine glory. All discrepancies involving Corrine's gender quickly evaporated, however, when a smile brightened the small spirit's face. Whoever believes that animals or animal-like creatures do not or cannot smile is seriously mistaken. He stared up at the sky, the flashing colours of the fireworks reflecting in his eyes and lighting up his face just as much as his grin. He was glad that I had brought him out.

I felt Zelos' arm drape over my shoulders, and so I leaned closer, allowing him to draw me towards him. Right then, my mind was clear of almost all thoughts—both the good and the bad. I did not consider that Corrine would be unhappy again the next day when more experiments were done. I did not consider that one day I would have to return to my true home. I did not consider that the fireworks would stop; I did not consider that the festival was over. I did not even consider how peaceful I was at that second. All that I recognized was that Zelos was next to me, Corrine was smiling, and the sky was radiant. All that I recognized was that right then, that was where I belonged.

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You just know that when something has a happy ending, something's going to screw it up, don't you? XD I really want to keep this story, and to finish it. I'd really appreciate any encouragement or advice that you readers can offer. Thank you so much for reading.