Title: Brings Me To Tears
Day/Theme: July 21 - I'd rather sleep my whole life away
Series: Tales of Symphonia (AU verse - To Die For)
Character/Pairing: Sheena, Zelos
Rating: PG-13
Note: Another from another AU verse. And yes, I'm tired and therefore it's weird. /sob


It was hard to see him like that. Dead and bloody, blood pouring from the open wound in his chest. But yet, Shae saw Zelos like that. For the past few weeks, that is all she saw of him. Blood and tears, horrible memories that she wished had been forgotten, dredged up to remind her of how little time she had left. It seemed fewer and fewer that she spoke with him, could console her fears in the weird memory talks they had. Not that his comments were helping much. They were growing more cryptic and more strained, and she was feeling more stressed and helpless.

She'd lost count of the times she'd seen his death now. Over and over and over. He'd bleed out, from the wound the Cruxis Crystal left in his chest all those years and years ago. That had been his death - someone pulling it out of him, Key Crest and all, watching him bleed out and shake all over from the extreme pain of the crystal leaving him. She hated it. To see, each time, different versions of him bleeding on the floor as he writhed in agony? It was horrible.

So, when their chats came, when the dreams settled into memories of before, and not their deaths, she wept. She would sob into his chest, wishing and praying that she could tell him - warn him - of the fate that would befall him again if they failed. But that was not allowed. Knowing your death was the death toll, after all. But she wanted him to know she was worried. That she wanted to still protect him from this fate. This man, this stranger, that she had never really yet met.

He would sigh, and hold her as well. He was just as scared as she was, and she knew it. He was growing worried, tired, and sad. Just like she was. Just like she had been since the first time she saw him bleed out before her. Since she started to see the others deaths, see all the blood pool around her in a horrific stage.

So, she listened close to him as he would whisper, as if that would allow them to share something they otherwise could not. "If you can keep a secret," he would say, his voice cracking in a way that broke her heart. "I'd rather not know." She smiled and silently agreed.

Shae wished the dreams would stay as that - just dreams. Just horrid nightmares that she had to escape from. If Lloyd was there - and she knew he was there, that he was nearby, fighting alongside them the whole time - things would be all right. And she knew that they would make it all right. She'd just rather these dreams would go away, and she could have some peace in her sleep for once in her life. That was the greatest dream of all.