Author's note: I wrote this over five years ago, but never posted it for whatever reason. Found it again and figured why not go ahead and put it up.

This is for twin, the brat who went on strike against doing anything writing related with me until I gave her compensation in the form of a ColettexMithos fic for the Difference in Destiny fan art contest (that she didn't enter intentionally or win yet.) So for my sake, please, I beg you, I need at least three more people to enter so I don't have to write anything else for her.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Tales of Symphonia.

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The group rushed towards Ozette, Presea in the lead. "No..." Colette gasped, tears gathering in her blue eyes.

"This is... horrible..." Presea trailed, looking over her burning hometown. The flames cackled loudly as they greedily consumed the buildings of the small mountain town. The group could do nothing but look on.

"Look!" Colette cried suddenly, pointing towards a small blond boy collapsed among the flaming inferno before she took off towards him. "Look out!" She tried to warn as she heard one of the buildings creak. Seconds later, one of the buildings surrounding the boy collapsed, the flaming rubble sliding closer. Still, he did not move.

The Chosen dropped to her knees beside him, grasping his shoulder and shaking him lightly. "Hey, are you okay? Are you hurt?" She asked. However, she got no response. With a loud thud, the wall of another building gave in, and the rafters came tumbling down.

"Colette, we need to get out of here!" Lloyd stated as he, as well as the other members of their party, caught up with her.

"Yeah." The angel agreed, gathering the boy up in her arms and running after the others, having no difficulty keeping up even with her burden. They made their way towards the outskirts of the village, towards Presea's house that had somehow been spared by the lightning that had set the rest of the village aflame.

Right before they reached the clearing, the boy in Colette's arms groaned, stirring around. She tightened her grip as not to drop him. His eyes finally fluttered open as she came to a stop. The boy's blue irises quickly cleared as he focused on Colette. "Where am I?" He asked groggily. Colette looked down at him, a smile immediately playing onto her lips.

"Oh, thank goodness you're awake. We're still in Ozette, don't worry. You're not hurt, are you?" She inquired.

"No, I'm fine. I can stand." He told her. Colette hesitantly set his feet on the ground, slowly letting the boy support more and more of his weight. Colette left her arms out even after he was standing on his own, watching to make sure he didn't fall. "I guess you saved me. Thank you."

Colette's smile widened as she closed her eyes. "Don't mention it."

"Hey, what the hell happened here?" Lloyd demanded. The boy turned to face the brunette swordsman, noticing him for the first time.

"I-I don't know." He responded, his voice taking on a tone of fear. "Lightning struck, and angels suddenly attacked the village."

"Angels?" Raine asked, a tone of skepticism to her voice as she raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah…" The boy responded. "Those with wings are angels, right?" Raine's expression softened as Colette's fell before she quickly looked back up, a small smile on her face.

"So, what's your name?" The boy looked back at her, his blond hair falling over his blue-green eyes.

"M-my name is Mithos." Mithos didn't miss the small flash of surprise that flashed across Colette's eyes.

"Mithos? Like Mithos the hero?" Genis asked, curious.

"Mithos is a common's boy's name. I'm sure that's all it is." Colette defended with a slight giggle at the end. Lloyd 'gah'ed, shaking his head.

"This doesn't make any sense. If angels attacked the village, then Cruxis must be behind it. But what would Cruxis gain by destroying Ozette? And what did they do with the rest of the people of the village?" Lloyd growled in frustration.

"They were…killed. I saw the angels carry away a few people they spared though." Mithos answered shakily.

"Then why did they leave you?" Presea, although tearful, asked bluntly, somewhat cold, but straight to the point.

"Maybe because he's a half-elf." Genis offered.

"I'm not a—"

"It's okay." Colette reassured him. "Genis and the Professor are half-elves as well. There's nothing wrong with being a half-elf. It doesn't change who you are." Mithos looked down, away from the angel, unsure of what to say.

"I… thank you…"

"If Cruxis is responsible for this, then I would think it unwise to linger here." Regal pointed out, speaking up for the first time since the Temple of Ice.

"What happened here?" The group looked over to see an old dwarf approaching, flanked by a green haired doll. Colette didn't miss the look of pure disgust that flashed across Mithos' face as he took in Tabitha.

"Your name was Altessa, right?" Lloyd asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I saw the lightning of judgment strike the village. But why…"

Colette continued watching Mithos, watch as the disgust faded to despair as he tore his eyes away from Tabitha.

"It was the work of Cruxis angels…" Presea cried, her anger evident in her voice. Altessa looked at her with shock. Colette looked at Mithos with concern as he gritted his teeth.

"You've regained yourself, Presea? How… Is this my punishment for failing the experiment?" Colette started edging closer to Mithos, doing her best not to attract attention.

"Punishment?" Sheena asked, curiosity piqued. "What do you mean?..."

"Are you alright?" Colette whispered. Mithos jumped before looking over at her.

"Nothing!" Altessa snapped before turning and storming off.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He whispered back as Lloyd started to run after Altessa, only to be intercepted by Tabitha. Mithos flinched as the doll spoke up. Colette didn't miss it, nor did she understand it.

"THE MASTER BELIEVES HE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT HAPPENED IN OZETTE. PLEASE, FORGIVE HIM. EXCUSE ME; I'M WORRIED ABOUT THE MASTER." She made her leave then, following her dwarven master.

"Let's follow him." Presea decided.

"Yeah." Lloyd agreed. "Mithos, you come with us too." The boy balked, taking a step back.

"A-are you sure? But I'm a—"

"Mithos, it's okay." Colette ensured, reaching out and taking his hand. "We're all friends here, so everything's okay. The only thought that ran across Mithos' mind as he was led by the hand by the blond angel was 'This is the girl I have to sacrifice to save my sister? We could have been friends.'

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Obviously, this scene is not verbetim. I tried to redo it with a more ColettexMithos feel. I started this off not knowing what I was doing or where this was heading, but I actually kinda got into it at the end. As you can tell though, I write better when I'm inspired and writing a pairing I support. I encourage any and all Difference in Destiny readers to enter the fan art contest for the prizes I don't wanna give my demanding twin T_T. Review please.