Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia, Lloyd, Sheena, Kratos, or any other characters from said game. All characters not in said game are owned by me as they are of my own creation.
A/N: BEWARE! SPOILERS WITHIN! The first 2 chapters will be a novelization of the game via the "Sheena Ending". Everything after that will be original material.
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Chapter 1: Kind Eyes
"-oyd? Lloyd?" Colette was attempting to get Lloyd's attention as they were walking back towards Luin. They had just released the Seal of Wind and had encountered that mysterious assassin for the second time.
Lloyd shook his head. "Huh? Oh, sorry Colette. Guess I was just thinking…"
Genis piped up. "Really now? That's so unlike you Lloyd."
Lloyd gave him a cold stare. "Shut up, Genis." He turned back to Colette. "I was just thinking about that assassin we saw on the Ossa Trail and back at the Balacruf Mausoleum"
Colette looked a little puzzled, which was nothing new for her. "Hmm? What about her? Did you figure out a way to become friends with her?"
Lloyd looked to the sky. "Eh, not really. I'm just wondering why she was after you. She doesn't look like an assassin at all. Did you see her eyes?"
Colette nodded. "Yeah. Her eyes looked… kind. She didn't look like a bad person at all."
Kratos decided to toss in his thoughts after hearing their conversation thus far. "I concur. She had more than one opportunity to deal a mortal blow to Colette through-out the course of our last battle. And yet, she did not take a single one of those opportunities."
Lloyd looked at Kratos, a bit astonished. "Huh? You noticed that too?"
Kratos nodded. "Of course. I thought it was a fairly simple observation."
Lloyd looked a bit miffed at Kratos' last comment. "Hmph. Well excuse me for…"
Raine cut him off with a panicked yell. "Everyone! Look! There's smoke coming from Luin! We must hurry!" without waiting for anyone else, she took off running in the direction of the smoking city.
Kratos followed shortly behind. "You heard you teacher! Move it!"
The 3 younger adventurers ran after them before Kratos even finished his sentence.
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"This is awful…" Colette said in a low voice as she witnessed the destruction around her.
Kratos folded his arms, looking as if he wasn't very surprised. "It must have been the Desians. Only they would engage in such mindless destruction." He kicked a piece of splintered wood into a pile of rubble.
Lloyd's voice could be heard from afar! "Oh my gosh! YOU'RE here?!"
Puzzled, everyone ran to the sound of Lloyd's voice. The person he was referring to was none other than Sheena. She was kneeling, weak from the large amount of blood she had lost thus far via the bad wounds on her.
"Ugh… you people again. Well, here's your chance to finish me off. You better take it," she said defiantly.
"Stop talking like that. We don't want to hurt you," Lloyd responded to her. He looked into her eyes. So kind, yet so full of fear now. She obviously wasn't very good at hiding her emotions. He turned to Raine. "Professor Raine, please help her."
Raine looked a bit irritated. She didn't think this was a good idea, but she knew she'd be pestered by her younger party members until she did it. "…all right, but I must say that I don't approve of this at all." She knelt down to begin to heal Sheena.
Sheena wore a look of surprise. She was relieved that she would live, but she never thought that the party of the girl she was supposed to kill,
Colette, would actually help her. These weren't bad people at all. Certainly not the kind that would seek to do harm of any sort to her home-world. She got up slowly after being healed and dusted herself off.
Colette looked relieved as she said, "Whew. I'm glad that you're ok."
Sheena had to ask the inevitable question. "W-why did you save me? We're enemies!"
Everyone was ready to all answer at the same time but Kratos beat them to it. "You're not a killer. It's not in your eyes." Everyone else nodded in approval.
Sheena looked down, perhaps a bit embarrassed. "T-thanks. I'm grateful for your --"
She was cut off by the sound an approaching monster. Newly healed, Sheena moved to intercept the beast but was promptly knocked down by it. She was still too weak from her previous blood-loss to put up much of a fight.
The monster moved to her fallen body, ready to deliver a fatal blow when, seemingly out of nowhere, Lloyd stepped in front of Sheena and promptly cut down the beast. He sheathed his blades and knelt down next to Sheena.
"Hey hey, now, take it easy. You're still in no condition to be fighting. You need some rest." He caught himself gazing at her eyes again and he shook his head. "By the way, can you tell us what happened to Luin?"
Sheena moved her lips indicating that she was about to speak but fell asleep before she could utter a single word. Lloyd picked her up in a cradle-like fashion.
"She's out cold. Can we go ahead and set-up camp here? Maybe she can tell us what happened later," Lloyd suggested.
Kratos nodded in approval. "I concur. I'll find a suitable camping spot for us." With that, he walked off.
Genis pulled some things out of his travel pack. "I'll cook us some dinner. Hope she likes Curry…"
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Quick Jump: Tower of Salvation
Sheena hit the ground, too weak to fight on. Kratos moved to her, possible meaning to end her life. He raised his sword and didn't move for a moment.
Lloyd got back up from his most recent hit. "You bastard! Leave her alone!" He rushed at Kratos who gave him a disapproving look. As he ran, Lloyd looked at Kratos. Kratos was so powerful. He knew he didn't stand a chance against him. Still… he couldn't just let Kratos get away with hurting his friends. Raine and Genis were already down for the count, leaving only a battered Sheena and himself to fight their friend turned traitor, Kratos.
Kratos said very coldly, "Lloyd… you have no chance. Just give up."
A few tears fell down Lloyd's cheek as he raised his blades to strike Kratos. "Never!"
Kratos easily dodged the hate-driven attacks and dealt two quick slashes to Lloyd's legs, effectively taking him out of the fight. Sheena could only watch for afar.
"He… he tried to save me again," she thought to herself. "He's really brave… it's too bad we've lost. I would've liked to talked to him again…"
After Lloyd fell, a being identifying himself as Yggdrasil appeared before the party and was ready to deliver the final blow to everyone that Kratos himself didn't have the heart to deal. Before this could happen, however, Botta and his band of Renegades made their way into the Tower of Salvation. Although too late to save Colette's soul, they gathered her lifeless body and the rest of her party and made their escape, leaving a perplexed Yggdrasil and Kratos behind.
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Quick Jump: Meltokio
It was an exciting night in Meltokio. Lloyd and company had just rescued Princess Hilda from the traitorous Pope and spirits were high in the city. To show his gratitude, the king of Meltokio was going to through a very fine party in honor of their success. As an additional gift, very fine outfits were provided for the group to be worn during the party.
Sheena sat alone and watched from afar as she watched Lloyd, Genis, and Colette perform some silly looking but fun dance from afar (A/N: Think "bizarre square-dance"), possibly a product of the humble village of Iselia. She could only smile, wishing that she could muster the courage to dance with Lloyd.
She sighed once Lloyd crossed her mind. To her, there was no way he'd dance with her. She figured that he'd dance with Colette the entire night, seeing how protective he'd been of her lately. She was happy to see how devoted Lloyd was to being Colette's best friend, but she had to admit… she was jealous.
Once their silly dance was over, everyone clapped. Once the applause died, someone announced that a popular Meltokio love song was about to be played. The announcer strongly encouraged everyone to find a partner for the slow dance that was to take place as the song was played.
Sheena observed as her friends picked partners. Genis and Presea had decided to dance together. Regal and Raine paired up as well. Zelos, Colette, and Lloyd were nowhere to be found. She assumed the worst, that being that Lloyd had chosen Colette and that stupid Chosen was currently looking for herself.
She waited a few moments, but no one came for her. She felt pre-maturely heartbroken and had gotten up to leave. She was almost through the door leading to the entrance hall when a rugged grabbed her left hand from behind. She whirled around to see Lloyd looking at her with a puzzled look.
"Sheena! Here you are! Where ya goin'?" he asked inquisitively.
Sheena's cheeks turned a bit red and she half-looked away. "N-nowhere." She continued to fib. "I… I was just going outside to get some fresh air.
Lloyd frowned at her, looking fairly disappointed as he did so. "Oh… I wanted to ask if you wouldn't mind dancing with me. I'm not very good but…"
Sheena turned a brighter red after hearing that. "Oh! I-I-I'd love to…" She paused a moment. "…I guess I was afraid that no one would ask me to dance with them."
Lloyd laughed. "What? Haha, you dork. I was going to ask you earlier, but I couldn't find you."
This came as a relief to Sheena. According to what he just said, she must have been his first choice. Her face began to return to its natural color as she smiled at Lloyd.
"Heh… well then Lloyd, could you be a gentleman and escort me to the dance floor?" She offered him her arm.
He took her slender arm with a laugh and locked it with his own. They reached the middle of the floor just as the song began to play and the lights were dimmed.
Sheena and Lloyd made a cute albeit a bit clumsy dance couple. As they danced, Sheena looked around her and spotted Colette dancing with "that stupid Chosen", Zelos. Colette smiled at her and waved without Zelos knowing. Sheena smiled back and waved as well.
After a few moments of dancing, Sheena began to rest her head on Lloyd's shoulder, a bit to his surprise.
"I never want this night to end Lloyd. This is so…" She stopped there. She didn't have the words. However, anyone who looked at the dreamy expression on her face knew exactly how she felt.
Lloyd kept a casual look on his face as he responded, "Huh? Haha… you know, we're gonna get tired eventually." He gave a half-shrug and continued to dance.
A moment later, the lights dimmed almost completely as a spotlight highlighted Sheena and Lloyd. Everyone around them stopped dancing and watched as Lloyd and Sheena continued on. They hadn't even noticed the change in atmosphere. Everyone smiled, thinking just how good a couple they made.
Once the song ended, the lights grew back to their normal level as the crowd cheered and applauded the now red-faced Sheena and Lloyd. Lloyd was merely a bit embarrassed, but Sheena was completely flushed.
The host of the party then posed a question to the dinner party. "Isn't it grand to see something like this? Never before have I seen such an adorable couple!" He looked at Lloyd and Sheena. "How about giving us one more dance you two?"
The crowd applauded at the idea. Lloyd let out an embarrassed and chuckle.
"Uh… hehe… um, how about it Sheena? One more time?" he said to her in a bit of a shy voice.
Sheena slowly nodded and joined hands once again with Lloyd. The crowd applauded once more as the lights dimmed and the music began again. The same spotlight that had shined on them once before did so once more as they began to dance.
Sheena rested her head on Lloyd's chest and he eyes began to slowly close. Not long afterward, her eyes shot open as she realized something.
"W-what? I… I think I'm in love with Lloyd. Is he… the one?" she thought to herself.
She looked up lovingly at him. He noticed then and gave her a warm, closed-eyes smile. She smiled back and went back to resting her head as they danced. It was truly a wonderful night for her. Only one question remained: How did Lloyd feel about her in return?