It took much longer to update this fic than I had anticipated... Sorry! I hope that this chapter proves to be worth the wait.
Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia or its characters; I just screw around with them for my fanfic delight.
XIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIX
/Just Tell Me/
Chapter VII: Hold No Secrets
Colette stared sadly at Sheena who seemed to be mirroring the same forlorn expression. "But you obviously weren't forced to leave," the innocent angel said softly, her voice daring to hold a tinge of hope. Based on what Sheena had just said, it was surely a good thing that she remained in Mizuho; the village was one of her true loves in life.
"That's true," Sheena agreed, but her eyes were shifting from corner to corner unsurely. "I don't understand why, though," she added to explain the incredulousness in her eyes, "Now that I know how much Kuchinawa hates me, I can't grasp why he didn't turn me in to be punished. His ultimate desire was to have me executed, but surely to be exiled would have accounted for something...?" Colette remained silent to the summoner's musings. This was surely a time in which Sheena had to let her thoughts out to elaborate and come to conclusions for herself; and Colette was certain that her friend could figure it out. After all, the answer was rather simple in the understanding eyes of Sylvarant's Chosen. "I guess..." Sheena continued to think aloud, "that sometimes no matter how hard you try to force yourself to hate someone for what they did to you, you can't help but like them for who they truly are. When you spend time getting to discover someone's deep and hidden sides, you can't just forget about those sides if they do something wrong."
"Hmm," the corner of Colette's lips curved up slightly, but she tried to keep the smile reserved. She looked across the camp that they had set up, her eyes momentarily setting upon the redheaded Chosen still sitting and watching the fading fire at the camp's centre. He didn't seem at all interested in going to sleep; something much more important was absorbing his thoughts, and he would continue staying awake until those thoughts were settled. Quickly, Colette glanced back to Sheena while still holding that hidden smile, "That explanation definitely makes sense to me."
Sheena nodded, satisfied with the justification that she had come up with, "Whether that reasoning is actually true or not, Kuchinawa did give me a chance to remain in the village despite my wrongdoings..."
VIVIVIVIVIVIVIVIV
The trek to Mizuho felt even longer than normal because Kuchinawa and I were enveloped in silence the entire journey. I didn't dare speak to him, and he had no desire to speak to me. My mind was wandering so fast that I wasn't processing a single thought. My heart pounded, I felt dizzy, I wanted to disappear. "What's going to happen to me...?" I uttered absent-mindedly as we hiked through Gaorrachia Forest. Kuchinawa abruptly halted and turned to me, his eyes narrowed into a glare like none other. I literally gasped when my eyes caught with his, cold and full of hatred.
"You have shamed our village. You have betrayed our customs and our people. What do you think will happen to you?" His voice and words felt just as hateful and unforgiving as his eyes. I couldn't speak. "But I don't want to see you leave the village like this," he professed. This confession silenced me even more; hope and joy overwhelmed me, even though I had learnt through life to never let hopes senselessly grow. "We should have known better than to let you go into a town of sins alone. You're still young." Had I been speaking to someone from outside of Mizuho, I would certainly have retorted with a remark that our ages were the same; but Kuchinawa was from within Mizuho, and I would never even consider addressing my kin with a joking tone at a serious time.
"So what are you telling me, Kuchinawa?" I asked him with intrigue.
He glanced down at the forest floor for a moment, and then back up at me. He heaved a very reluctant sigh, "I won't say a word to the vice chief," Kuchinawa promised; a man of his word, as far as I was concerned. "But," he disrupted my instantaneous glee with that single word, "I want Orochi to know. These actions of yours will not go unpunished. My brother and I will find a suitable consequence, beginning with you yourself admitting to Orochi what you did."
I felt a fleeting pang of reluctance. Kuchinawa may have been willing to keep me in the village despite my mistakes, but Orochi was far more conservative. But as I said, the reluctance was fleeting. If I didn't tell Orochi, then there would be absolutely no chance of me escaping the punishment that I deserved. "All right," I agreed, nodding, "As soon as we return, I will address Orochi." Kuchinawa returned my nod before turning towards the pathway leading to Mizuho and walking in that direction with me following close behind. I wished in that moment that he didn't wear that mask over the lower half of his face all of the time. He had trained his eyes to be utterly vacant of emotion, so to have seen a frown or a smile on his lips would have eased me a little. Even if it were a frown, at least I would have known how he felt right then. I just couldn't read his level of disappointment in me.
Silence ensued once again until we set foot into Mizuho where the bustling of people was a welcome sound. I noticed several villagers turn to look at me, but none of them even granted a 'hello', or 'welcome back'. I must have forgotten how much some people loathed me in my own home, because the silent treatment that I was receiving came as quite a surprise.
Kuchinawa escorted me to the small house that he and Orochi shared just across the miniature moat that surrounded the chief's home. We both stepped inside the building and found Orochi eating a meal at the low table in the centre of the main room. He looked up as he heard the front door slide open. "Sheena, you're back!" he exclaimed excitedly. I let a smile appear on my face for an instant before Kuchinawa raised his hand while shaking his head to silence Orochi. The older of the brothers sat blankly for a while before asking gravely, "What has happened?"
I dithered. It took a rather rough push forward from Kuchinawa for me to approach Orochi, prepared to confess my wrongdoings. "I made a terrible error in judgment while I was in Meltokio, Orochi," I professed, giving very little detail at first. All that it took for me to continue were prying stares from both brothers. "On my first day in the city, I met a man. He was very kind to me, and..." my voice trailed momentarily as I caught Orochi eyeing me with incredulity, "I guess there's no denying that a relationship beyond friendship developed between us."
"What did you do!" Orochi shouted out suddenly, impatient with how vague I must have sounded.
"Nothing!" I blurted out, trying desperately to defend myself, "Nothing... bad..."
Orochi stood up from his seat on the floor. He stared at me at eye-level, his brows furrowed and mouth turned downwards into a frown. "You broke our customs, Sheena," he scolded, "You, of all people, should know better than that." I'm still not certain what he meant by the 'of all people' addition to his statement. Was it because of my grandfather being the village's chief? Because I couldn't afford any more contempt directed towards me? Because I tried so hard to fit in where I never fully belonged...?
"I—I know," I stuttered, my throat feeling thick, "I'm sorry."
The blue-clad ninja opened his mouth to retort to my apology, however his younger brother cut him off before he could say a word. "I've already given Sheena my word that I would not inform the vice chief of this situation," he told Orochi, "But nonetheless, the two of us will need to find some way to ensure that Sheena does not repeat this betrayal to our culture." Oddly enough, Kuchinawa spat out 'our culture' with even more revulsion than he did the word 'betrayal'.
"So what?" Orochi questioned, "Is she considered on probation?"
Kuchinawa brought his hand to his chin thoughtfully. I watched both men apprehensively as they ultimately discussed my fate. "We could call it that," Kuchinawa decided after a period of contemplation, "She must follow the Mizuho customs with a particular awareness. If another incident like this one occurs, then we will have no choice but to report it to Vice Chief Tiga."
Orochi gave a single nod of his head to express his consent with that decision. "I believe that it would also be fair for Sheena to pull a little extra weight around the village." It was then Kuchinawa's turn to nod. Orochi turned to me, "Are you in agreement with us?"
I followed suit and nodded. "Of course!" I couldn't help but exclaim. I had been expecting something far more horrible, but my two village friends had pulled through and made me so appreciative that Kuchinawa had learned of my misdeeds instead of someone else.
"...So who was this man, anyway?" Orochi inquired curiously. I froze. Orochi and Kuchinawa were two main information gatherers for Mizuho's Information Network, so even if I only said Zelos' first name, Orochi would recognize that I had been seeing the Chosen. I didn't want to imagine the fit that Orochi would throw if he learned that; but he also wasn't about to let me off the hook, and Kuchinawa already knew that 'this man' was Zelos. There was no path but the truthful one. "Well?" Orochi prompted.
I lowered my head and took a deep breath before looking up again. Orochi's gaze—ever locked on mine—sent a jolt to my heart when I caught it. "Z..." I fought the urge to look away from him, "Zelos."
Orochi's eyes widened immediately, and then narrowed into a bit of a glare. "Wilder?" he elaborated with a last name. I could only nod. "Zelos Wilder? Your outside relationship was with the Chosen of our world!" Kuchinawa brought his hand up over his brother's mouth, silencing him so that no one outside could overhear. Orochi visibly calmed before he lightly tapped Kuchinawa's arm, telling him to let him go. The younger ninja complied, releasing Orochi. "The fact that you were involved with the Chosen just makes the situation that much more complex, Sheena," he spoke again with a much lower tone of voice. I wondered how a simple title could completely complicate an already problematic condition; however I didn't ask anything, and just allowed Orochi to continue to speak. "Do you know of the previous Chosen at all?" my friend asked me. I didn't, so I shook my head to indicate so. "The last Chosen was actually Zelos Wilder's father. He, too, partook in a forbidden love."
Kuchinawa looked at his brother as he paused, looking rather frazzled. "It may be easier if we allow her to read the records," he suggested. I knew right away that he was referring to the records that the Mizuho Information Network had gathered on every event, person, city, etcetera in all of Tethe'alla. I guessed that the 'person' archives would the ones to contain the information that Orochi wanted to share with me.
"Yes," Orochi agreed, "That would be best." He glanced out of the room's sole window, "The sun is beginning to set, so we should gather the accounts of our past Chosen before it gets dark. Sheena, you could consider it 'bedtime reading'." Orochi smiled slightly as he made that remark. I was very glad to see him smile; I sincerely believed that Orochi did not see me any differently because of the decisions that I had made.
The three of us made our way over to the storehouse of all of Mizuho's archives. Kuchinawa shuffled through a variety of stacks of papers around the one-room structure. After a fair amount of time spent searching, he brought three folders to where Orochi and I were standing, waiting. "Judas Wilder, Mylene Larsen Wilder, Naila Quinn. The Chosen, his wife, his lover." He placed the documents into my hands. "Now go home and study."
I looked at the folders in my hands for a moment, then back up at the two men. "Goodnight, Kuchinawa. Orochi." They both bade me 'goodbye', and then I left the building and quickly made my way to my home.
It was only once I stepped inside that I realized it: I was home. I walked into my main room and looked around with admiration. As I stood there, surrounded by my own walls of my own house in my own village, I couldn't think of why it was that I had been so reluctant to come back. I wandered around the main room for a while, and eventually peeked into my bedroom. I saw my futon lying in the centre of the floor with my pillow and a blanket on top of it. It had been nice being able to sleep in a hotel bed, guest bed, and comfy couch while in Meltokio, but somehow there is never anything else like your own bed. Even if it is rather thin and uncomfortable when you're in the mood to just curl up with a thick layer of covers. When I looked into my room at that point, however, my bed looked so very welcoming. I moved to go and lie down right then, but I happened to remember the folders that I had left sprawled across my table in the other room. With an unenthusiastic sigh, I returned to the main room and gathered up the three collections of papers and hauled them into my bedroom.
I sat down atop my futon, blankets and all, and began to leaf through the documents. I had never actually had the liberty of reading through the facts that Mizuho's Information Network had gathered before, so I was absolutely stunned by how much information the folders contained. I felt like I was looking through biographies on Zelos' father and his love interests. I skipped through most details of all three people until two 'biographies' intertwined.
I learned that Judas, Zelos' father, had met Naila, Seles' mother, long before Judas even knew of Zelos' mother Mylene's existence. Apparently Naila was a half-elf. She and Judas were in a relationship when Mylene came into the picture as an arranged wife for Judas. The two were forced to marry, but Judas never let go of Naila. Even after Zelos was born, Judas and Naila continued to have their widely acknowledged relationship, only then it had become undisputed adultery. No one did anything of the situation, though, even years after when Naila gave birth to Judas' daughter—Zelos' half-sister—Seles. Apparently Mylene was the one who had to raise Seles, despite the fact that she was the product of her husband's infidelity. Even though I was only reading these details, I felt so horrible for Mylene. She was forced to look at her husband's unfaithfulness every day. But on the other hand, I couldn't blame Judas for continuing to love the woman that he always had loved. What a torn triangle it was.
The next shocking detail that I came across was one that really went beyond the word 'shocking', actually. It was just... unbelievable. Naila murdered Mylene, and she was then put to death as a punishment. When I read that, my heart began pounding in the back of my head with awareness: Naila. Mylene. It didn't matter... Were all relationships with a Chosen doomed to end badly? Even if it was not to end in death, could it end in a 'happily ever after'? I slipped all of the documents back into their proper folders and slid the folders across the room, away from me. It wasn't necessary to read any more that night; I had gathered the point that Orochi and Kuchinawa desired to get across.
As I brought my bed covers over my body and nestled into my pillow, I thought over the details that I had just learned. There were some facts missing, as I considered it all. Why were Mylene and Judas forced to marry? Judas clearly didn't want the marriage, but did Mylene? And what possessed Naila to suddenly slay Mylene, after so much time of not caring about the other woman's existence? Mizuho's Information Network may have been flawless in basic details, but it could not delve into people's emotions, which are very vital things in any situation; and above all, in love.
With all of those thoughts embedded in my mind, I fell asleep.
XIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIX
Wow, once I got past a certain point in this chapter, it just started writing itself. I mean, to have Sheena learn about Zelos' parents wasn't even my original intention! …At all! I like the way that it came together, though. I will try and begin the next chapter of this fic once I have updated my Senel x Chloe story in the Tales of Legendia section. Unfortunately I am starting school next week (Already! Gah!) so it's probably gonna take me some time to get used to my new school environment. But I'll try and update as soon as I can! Thanks, as always, for your lovely reviews!