Disclaimer: I don't own anything pertaining to Tales of Symphonia. The italics are the words to Don't Write Me Off by Hugh Grant from the movie Music and Lyrics.
Author's Note: Got the inspiration while trying to write another story. I hate it when that happens.
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Forgiving is love's toughest work, and love's biggest risk. If you twist it into something it was never meant to be, it can make you a doormat or an insufferable manipulator. Forgiving seems almost unnatural. Our sense of fairness tells us people should pay for the wrong they do. But forgiving is love's power to break nature's rule. ~Lewis B. Smedes
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It's never been easy for me
To find words to go along with a melody
But this time there's actually something, on my mind
So please forgive these few brief awkward lines
Sheena liked her sleep as much as the next person of course and it used to be that she needed silence to sleep. Not so much now that she was living with Zelos months after their journey for world reunification. She was, after all, the peace ambassador from the Tethe'allans to the Sylvaranti and the inns were full these days.
She's long since become accustomed to sounds while she slept, whether it was Regal's snores or quiet conversations by the dwindling fire. There were none of these sounds in Zelos' mansion, but there was the sounds of Zelos playing the piano quietly and his almost non-existent footsteps.
At first she thought that it was simply insomnia or restlessness. She'd been constantly traveling for almost a full year with Lloyd and the others and Zelos for a little more than half a year. IT was odd to not have to wake early or for their watch, to not have to look forward to the next town to get a decent shower.
Then she remembers that Zelos is an angel now and the anger and pain comes back and Sheena pretends she never had the impulse to go and join him for an early morning (or late evening) cup of coffee. Since I met you, my whole life has changed
It
Their living together isn't the comfortable friendship they'd had before they'd ever heard of Sylvarant and before Sheena had been chosen to assassinate Colette. Now they live in an awkward sort of peace because they both know that Sheena hasn't forgiven him for his betrayal, even if she does understand why he did it.
They don't slide the other their mug of coffee across the counter, just the way they like it. They don't share a newspaper or watch old films or walk through Meltokio with arms around each other's shoulders. Zelos thinks that he shouldn't be feeling this lonely without all of that. He had lived without it for the better part of sixteen years after all, but these days, he's been having a much harder time remembering life before he'd bumped (quite literally) into the girl named Sheena Fujibayashi.
Zelos finds himself playing more of the dusty piano than he has in a long time. At first, his fingers, now so much more accustomed to holding swords and daggers, hesitate and stutter through the half-remembered melodies. He slowly regains his confidence and speed, quick fingers dancing along the keys.
It is one summer night, one of those unbearably hot ones, that he's playing once again. He misses sleep, though he's not sure if he can anymore even if he hadn't gone through the angel transformation since his thoughts have been churning over and over in his mind. He doesn't realize that someone is there until he hears the scrape of wood against wood.
Zelos jumps and looks around, his angel sight strong enough that it isn't difficult to see Sheena pushing the couch closer towards the piano. "What're you doing?"
Sheena doesn't look at him, letting her bangs fall forward from where they'd been tucked behind her ears. "Keep playing, Wilder. I just figure that since you're not going to let me sleep, I might as well stay down here and keep you company."
Zelos blinks in surprise and he can't quite keep the smile that upturns his lips away. This wasn't forgiveness, not yet. But it was a step towards it.
I was living in the past, but somehow you've brought me back
And I haven't felt like this since before Frankie said "Relax."
The skies are gray now, the kind of gray that only comes before snow. Sebastian is drawing the blinds the morning of the first snow, as he has done since Mylene Wilder's death, when Zelos comes to stand beside him and shakes his head.
It's not that the snow doesn't bother him anymore—it does. It's simply that he's spent so much time with such strong people (people willing to triumph over their fears and hasn't he stared in the face of his sister that spat his sins at him?) that he wants to try to overcome the flinches that come immediately at the sight of snow.
Feeling the weight of someone's eyes on him, Zelos turns to find Sheena at the foot of the stairs. Her hair is mussed and there's a blanket around her shoulders. Her eyes are slightly narrowed in confusion, before understanding floods her face.
But Sheena, being who she is and the place that they're at right now, just says, "Come on. It's too damn cold to be out here without cocoa." And while I know, based on my track record,
I might not seem like the safest bet
All I
Zelos knows that she forgives him when she's got a hand on his doorframe, her other hand in her pocket. "...We need to go grocery shopping and I…I was wondering if you'd like to come."
He's reminded of the first time that he met her. She'd only just come to Meltokio as Mizuho's ambassador and she'd been living in the Imperial Research Academy in a modified storage room. She'd been carrying several bags of groceries that day and had been going up some stairs when they'd crashed into each other.
She'd hated him for a while after their first meeting and their second and even their third. Neither of them can quite pinpoint the exact moment when they'd become friends, but Zelos is fervently grateful that the moment had happened.
So he smiles and begins pulling on his boots. "Sure thing, darling."
For years I've been telling myself the same old story
That I'm happy to live off my so-called former glories
The women of Meltokio flock to Zelos once more, but he can't make himself enjoy their attention like he once did. Sheena is his company now, whether it be to a dinner party with itchy clothes and false smiles or to the small store that sold their favorite films.
But you've given me a reason to take another chance
Now I need you, despite the fact that you've killed all my plants
Lloyd and Dirk sent them constant gifts of potted plants. The mansion was very cold feeling, Lloyd had said, whatever that meant. Sheena had taken it upon herself to take care of the plants. But Sheena was a naturally forgetful person and when Zelos sees the wilting forget-me-nots on the windowsill, he just shakes his head and tries not to laugh. And though I know, I
Than anyone should ever get
All I'm asking you is don't write me off, just yet
It's a small action, one that wouldn't have even registered as anything special on normal people's radar, but they aren't normal. They haven't been normal ever since the journey for world reunification. Or had they gone on the journey because they weren't normal?
They're all in Altamira to visit Regal and are enjoying the beach. Lloyd and Zelos had been wrestling for most of the afternoon while the girls sunbathed or cheered them on. It's only when they're all relaxing, floating on the steady rhythm of the waves, when Zelos swims up behind Sheena, grabbing her around the waist and dunking her before bringing her back up slowly.
She's sputtering and laughing and cursing all at once and Zelos grins. She slaps his shoulder, but it isn't hard enough to do more than sting and she hasn't pushed away from his hands that are still around her waist in an almost hug now. Greatly daring, he kisses her cheek quickly before ducking the cuff over the head he knew was coming.
But Sheena never presses the issue and he can't help the smile because he's not going to waste her forgiveness this time.
Don't write me off just yet