DISCLAIMER: I do not own Tales of Symphonia.

Don't we all just love the cliché of the butler who practically raises the noble and the noble considers the butler their parent? XD

The mansion was empty. No sound was heard from any rooms there. For most people, this was not strange. They all knew that the mansion of the Chosen One usually was a quiet place, despise the Chosen's rather energic character. People might have thought that when the Chosen was at home, it would be loud, but it would always give out the same amount of peace as always. When the Chosen was not at home, everybody knew that the only living being would then be Sebastian, the man known as the Chosen of Tethe'alla's servant. Nothing much was known about this old man's history, except that he and his family had been working faithfully for the Wilders for a couple of generations. But not many cared about his history. For them, he was just the Chosen's butler.

But for a certain someone, he was much more than that.

"Sebastian!" A door was opened in the grand room, and a man in his good fifties' came inside, clothed in the usual servant outfit he had been used to for so many years. He bowed to his mistress, who was sitting next to the window, her head leaning against her palm. Her other hand was pointing at a little red-haired boy before her, an irritating expression on her face.

"Take the boy away. I want to be left in peace for the moment." the woman requested. The little boy, who had turned his head to see who had entered the room, gave his attention back to his mother, and frowned in confusion.

Sebastian let out a sign of displeasure in a second, but quickly hid it with a new bow. "As you wish, my lady." He walked over to the woman and her son, and stretched out his hand down to the shorter male. "Come, Master Zelos, I will make you some tea."

The red-head seemed like he wanted to protest, but one new glance at his mother shut him up, and he accepted the butler's hand and let the man guide him out of the room, looking sadly at the floor.

The women in the richer part of Meltokio gasped in joy when they recognized the man who was walking across the street with his usual grin on his face. Looking at his clothes, he had probably been on another reunion with the companions that helped him save Tethe'alla years ago.

Ignoring the attention he was getting from the females, he turned over to the familiar building, known as the famous mansion that belonged to the last Tethe'allan Chosen of Mana. Before opening the door, he turned his head up to the skies. The gray clouds were gathering while noise from thunder could be heard from the distance. It would begin raining soon. The former Chosen had been lucky to come home just before it began.

"Does Mother hate me?"

Sebastian turned around and looked at the sad little boy sitting before the table, looking down at his cup of tea as its warmth created vapor to float up from the porcelain.

The butler, slightly surprised that the boy might have known the depth in that word, replied. "My, Master, do you even know the meaning of hatred?"

Zelos did not move. "She doesn't talk to me, she doesn't want to play with me, and she doesn't come to scare away the ghosts under my bed," the boy mumbled, before taking some of the tea, hurrying to put it down again when he felt his lips burn. "Doesn't that mean that she hates me?"

Sebastian frowned worryingly down at the boy. He went over and made ready a glass with cold water for Zelos, and answered when he came back.

"I do doubt that she hates you, Master Zelos. But Lady Mylene has had a lot to think about lately, with the Lord's death and her sickness. You would do a heroic action by letting her make her mind clearer on her own."

"But… Father has been gone for so long, why does Mother need so much time?" Zelos whimpered, and after drinking a little of the water, a sob came forth. "The ghosts are getting scarier."

"It pains me to say this, Master Zelos, but you have to wait; in the end, patient will always be rewarded." Then the servant came with a smile as he gently patted his master's shoulder. "In the mean time, do you wish me to help you scare away the ghosts below your bed?"

"Really?" Zelos rose his head to hopefully look up at Sebastian, and the latter nodded. "Thank you, Sebastian!"

"Yo, Sebastian! The Great Zelos Wilder is home!" Zelos roared as he closed the door and walked inside. Once he came to the first living room, he raised an eyebrow and stopped.

Strange. No footsteps. Where was Sebastian? Usually, he would always come to the room to greet him and eventual guests. But now, no footsteps were made inside the grand mansion, merely outside across the streets. But Zelos did not care about those footsteps outside. He wanted to know where the footsteps he was used to were.

"Hey, Sebastian? Sorry, but I'm a little too old to play hide and seek, so come forth, will ya?" he said, now with a lower voice, but still high enough to be heard in the big house.

Still nothing.

'Man, where has he gone? We got food and all yesterday, he said, so he can't be outside.' Suddenly, his angelic sense caught a sound. It was in the other room next to the one he was in. The male angel let out a grin and went over to the door that led to the next room, opened it and walked in. "Hey, Seba-"

Zelos widened his eyes. The grin was long lost.

"Lade Mylene, I believe the King wanted a meeting with you and Master Zelos today, am I right?" Sebastian carefully asked as he served his lady the afternoon tea in her room. She took a quick sip of the tea, before answering without looking at the servant.

"Do take him there. I think I need to stay in bed today," she said with such a tired and weak voice that made Sebastian visible frown in front of her.

"Are you sure, Milady? You do not sound good. Should I ask the King to send someone to pick up Master Zelos while I stay here?"

"No, I will be fine."

"Maybe you want me to get someone to watch over you while we are absent?"

"I am not a child, Sebastian; I will be fine, as I have already said."

"Do you want me to get a doctor to check on you, then? I do know of one in Sybak, famous for his-"

"I will be fine, Sebastian!" the woman finally snapped, turning her head at him with an irritating gesture. "Just go and take the Chosen to the King if it is of such important matters. I do not need to be babied around all the time. If there ever were anyone who needed that, it would be my unfaithful husband – may Goddess Martel bless him – and his impudent bastard of a son."

This was not the first time Sebastian wanted to disagree to his lady, nor the first time he wanted to argue to the way she was referring to her son. But it was neither the first time he had managed to hold his own personal feelings for himself, and bow instead of doing anything that might put his position as the Wilders' butler and servant at the destiny of Celsius.

"I understand, Milady," he said, bowing as he slowly retreated the room. "I will go and prepare Master Zelos, then."

"Good," the woman said, waving him away as she leant back to her large pillows again, her outburst having tired her completely out. "And do not interrupt me until dinner time."

"Yes, Lady Mylene."

The man walked out of the room, and went straight over to Zelos' room. When he opened the door, he saw his little master sitting before his table, looking like he was reading a book in Angelic. When he heard the door open, though, he lost his concentration and grinned at the sight of the man.

"Sebastian! Is something going on?" he asked as he made the chair turn around so the he could see the butler better. Sebastian smiled.

"Do you remember when I told you that the King wanted to see you and your mother?" Zelos nodded. "Lady Mylene seems like she will not be capable to participate, so she requested me to escort you in her place."

"She's never capable of anything!" the boy said irritated with an angry frown. "She's been in bed for fifteen days now. She should be better!"

"Master Zelos, your mother is under conditions where I'm sure she would appreciate you did not act like that," Sebastian said with his hardened voice. He knew that he probably should not act strict toward the ones he had given his life to, but he had often used that voice of choice when his master had said something unrealistic, and now would not hurt, either. "Her sickness has worsened these last days, so it's for her own best that she stays at home. Moreover, you did mention you wanted to go out, did you not?"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry," Zelos mumbled as he rose from his chair. "It's not that I don't want to go, it's just that Mother has been in bed for so long." But then he let out a giggle. "Besides, it's much, much funnier to go with you, Sebastian."

The butler chuckled, before he reached out his hand. "Well, then, shall we prepare ourselves to go?"

"Mhm," Zelos took Sebastian's hand and followed him out of his room.

Sebastian was leaning at one of the couches, the other hand having a strong hold on his left side of the chest, at his heart. He let out a struggling gasp as sweat formed at his down-looking, frowned face.

Then he lost his hold on the couch and fell.

Zelos cried out Sebastian's name and ran over to his butler, saving him from landing at the hard floor.

"Sebastian! If this is a joke, it isn't funny!" But the former Chosen knew better than to even consider that his butler was joking. He knew this was dead serious. "H-help! Somebody help!" he cried, but in vain. What was he thinking? Nobody would come here. The only ones living in the mansion was Sebastian and himself. And they both were in the same room.

Nobody was there to help his butler.

People outside the street mumbled to each other when the famous little Chosen of Mana and his butler walked across the street of Meltokio's richer people. Some of the nobles mumbled about rumors of Lady Wilder that had been spread around the city, others were looking at the boy and the man's hands holding together with hints of disgust. Little Wilder did not understand it at his age, but later he would realize what the rumors said about his lady mother and butler.

Zelos, just barely catching a comment between one of the aristocrats and his wife about the hands holding together, frowned in anger and tightened his hold on Sebastian's hand. The butler noticed it.

"What is wrong, Master Zelos?"

"Those people," the boy said, almost spitting the words out. "Why are they talking so stupid?"

Sebastian, understanding that his little master had heard the other people, frowned slightly and tried to calm Zelos. "There are no reason to get worked up, Master Zelos. They just don't know much about the Wilders anymore, after Lord Wilder died and Lady Wilder got the sickness. They feel the need to find the truth, and the truth they talk about is twisted."

"I know, but still… I'm the Chosen, right?" The boy looked up at his servant, an expression resembling curiosity on his face. "The book I read now says that the Chosen of Mana has powers much, much better and cooler than most other people, and that the only one the Chosen has to obey, is the King." The older male let out an amused low chuckle. He forgot many times how well Zelos was able to read Angelic, even in such a young age. "So, why can't I just go and tell them to shut up and mind their own business?" Though, the butler did not know where the boy had learned those words from.

"No, Master Zelos," Sebastian said hard, and looked down at his master. "You won't do that."

"But-"

"The Chosen's powers are to help people, not to order them around." The man stopped before the boy and kneeled down so that he was at same heights as Zelos. "Yes, you do have authority to do much, and people will most likely obey, but do not use them before thinking it through, and not for your own gain. You do not want to put shame into the Chosen's name, nor your family's, will you?"

"…All right," the boy mumbled after a while, looking away. Sebastrian rose up again, and they continued to the castle. The butler hoped Zelos would remember some of his words. He would do as much as possibly to help Zelos from wasting his abilities, like his father had done.

A gasp was heard, and Zelos rapidly turned around. It was that woman with the little brat from Sybak. That was right; he had hired them to be the mansion's maids. He had forgotten.

"What the hell are you doing?" he roared angrily at the maid, his face probably white. "Go and get help! Are you blind? He's dying! Go get help! GO!"

The woman ran.

"Sebastian! Look!"

Sebastian walked over to the window Zelos was standing next to, and looked out. Snow. It was snowing. Like beautiful small crystals falling from the angels' wings in the heavens.

"It's snow, right? I saw a picture of them last week! It's snowing, right?"

"Indeed. It must have started last night." Sebastian said. This was a surprise; Meltokio didn't usually have snow. This was the first time it had snowed in almost four years, and then it was just for a short month, while his little Master ironically was in bed with a bad cough, thus never being able to experience the white blanket that covered the capital of Tethe'alla.

"Look, Sebastian!" The boy cheered and breathed at the window, making fog appear at the glass. "That's so cool!" The man could not help but laugh at the boy's excitement. He had not seen Zelos so happy before. Then the young boy turned excited to the butler. "Hey, I read a book where someone made a man-like statue out of snow! Can we go out and make one, Sebastian? Please?"

"I'm sorry, Master Zelos, but I have my duties to carry out right now." The man made a quick bow in apology. "How about asking your lady mother to go out with you? She seemed in much better conditions today than she has ever been this year. I'm sure she will agree to go with you if you ask nicely."

He was actually half-expecting the red-head to pout and complain about his mother, so he was surprised when he saw the little boy actually grin. "Okay, I'll go ask her!" he said and ran out from the room. Sebastian smiled. Maybe the little family finally could reconcile.

It was silent outside the Wilders' mansion. The heavens were dark gray at the evening. Most of the nobles were in their houses, or at parties. But it was one who was not.

Zelos Wilder, the former Chosen of Mana of Tethe'alla, was at the big backyard of his mansion. He looked at the amount of graves here. He was used to those graves; it was accordingly to Meltokioan tradition that a noble would be buried in the family's backyard, or its own "private graveyard", as some people called it.

The weather was gray, but it would probably not rain. Zelos hoped it would not. In the end, rain was nothing more than melted snow. It looked like it would always be raining something when someone close to Zelos disappeared.

He hated it.

Zelos took a quick glance at the larger amount of graves, where every last name had "Wilder" engraved on them, before he walked over to some other ones, on the other side of the yard, alone from the Wilders' graves.

He would have wanted it, Zelos thought. In the beginning, he wanted to have the man buried together with those with the name of Wilder, but changed his mind. Not only because he would then break traditions, but also because he had probably wanted to be reunited with his own family for a long time.

When the former Chosen had fully approached the outside graves, he could see the names of them clearly. They all had the same last name, but it was not Wilder. Zelos had never cared about the last names' differences; at least that was what he remembered.

He now looked down at the one special grave, which looked far more elegant, grander and newer than the other ones. He did not need to see the name engraved at the stone to know who was underneath it; he was already painfully aware of it.

"Master Zelos, you have not eaten your food," Sebastian said as he entered the room to pick up the food he had given the little Chosen in his room. He had half-expecting the food to be eaten, but he had been wrong. Rather, it looked like it had not even been touched. "You need food, Master Zelos."

Zelos did not listen. He just sat on his bed, his arms around his knees as he leant his head on them, looking straight forward.

"Master Zelos, are you listening?" Sebastian's face was frowned in worry. His master had acted like that ever since the death of his mother. Of course, he understood. For a seven year old boy to see his mother get murdered, and get her body over himself like that, it was expected that the results would be negative. But for the trauma to be so bad was eating the butler's mind. Was it possible that even more had happened that day, while he was unable to go out with Zelos?

"If you need anything, I will come with it," the butler said and began walking out. However, he stopped instantly when his name was mentioned with a weak, hoarse voice. "Yes, Master Zelos?"

"I'm… I'm going to die." the little boy said, still not moving from his position. Sebastian widened his eyes. "I'm… going to die… and then… everybody will get happy, right? If I had never been born, everything will change to how it was supposed to be, right?"

"Master Zelos, how can you think like that?" Sebastian asked. "Nothing will change! You cannot die! If you do, how-"

"Leave me alone," the boy murmured, cutting his butler off.

"Master Ze-"

"I said leave me alone!" The voice was much loader and angrier, but Sebastian could hear the tears in the voice; the tears that were absent on his parents' funerals.

Sebastian's hand tightened, but like he always had done in the past with his Lady Mylene, he bowed to his master as he exited the room, "As you wish, Master Zelos."

Damn it, he was not going to cry, was he? He was not going to seriously grief over the old man's death? He had not cried when his father died. He had not cried when his mother died. Then why should he cry when one simple person died? A person everybody thought was nothing more than the butler and servant of the Chosen of Tethe'alla?

Except that for him, he had been much more than just a butler and servant.

"Master Zelos, welcome home," Sebastian said and bowed when the seventeen year old red-haired Chosen came inside. "How was the teaching of the church today?"

"Oh, as boring as always," Zelos said with an annoyed tone. "The same old crap. Shouldn't they soon come up with something new? Oh, have I gotten presents while I was out?" He was referring to the table with present-boxes on the other side of the living room. Sebastian knew what he was referring, to, though; he would ask the same question every time he came home from some event and saw something on that special table.

"Yes, Lady LeCecile and Mistress Amalie came earlier and wanted me to give them to you."

"Great!" Zelos grinned before walking to the second floor. "I'll look at them later. Oh, and don't make dinner for me; I'm going out for a party tonight."

"As you wish, Master Zelos," Sebastian said and bowed, and managed to hide his sigh. It had been ten years now. He had yet to see the smile of his master; the smile he had missed so much. The real smile, smiled by a little boy who loved to study and play, and was grateful for the help he got when the ghosts under his bed stopped scaring him at night.

Would he ever be able to see Zelos Wilder's real smile again before his time would come?

Someone touched his shoulder. Zelos turned around to see who it was, and relaxed when he saw the familiar face.

It was noisy in the living room, Sebastian thought. What was happening there? It was late; should not Zelos and his visitors have been in bed?

The butler walked over to the door that led to the living room, and slightly widened his eyes in surprise.

His master's visitors were sitting at the floor, with a bottle in the middle of their little circle. The girl with golden hair lent forward to take the bottle, while the brown-haired boy Zelos had called Bud seemed like he wanted to start a fight against a little silver-haired boy. A woman, who looked slightly like the silver-head though older, was standing and looked at the different decorations in the room even though she looked very irritated at the two boys fighting, while a little pink-haired just walked around the room without taking notice of the noise around her. The girl Sebastian instantly recognized as Sheena was yelling at the two males to stop their fighting.

However, they were not what he was he was most surprised at. It was the red-haired Chosen of Tethe'alla, who was sitting on the red cough with a glass of liquid in his hand, laughing at the whole sight before him. Sebastian knew that laugher and that smile - although it had been almost fourteen years since last time he had heard it.

And thus, Sebastian smiled too, before he closed the door to let them be alone.

Zelos smiled weakly, before wrapping his arms around the person.

"Thank you," he said hoarsely, before finally letting his tears fall.