Chapter two.

This one turned out a lot longer than the last, I'm quite please with it though. Zelos is so cute at this age, I know the first part is a little underage for a thirteen year old, but it just seems like something he would do as a kid…

Disclaimer: Mystic Yoshie does not own Tales of Symphonia.

……………….

Mother hasn't left her room for days…

"Mother, look, it's a beautiful day! The weather is just perfect! The flowers are blooming really prettily! Let's go out and play in the garden, can we? Please?"

"Please be quiet. My head hurts."

Zelos' enthusiasm died with his mother's words. He looked at her sadly. Mylene Wilder was the image of beauty; her long, blond hair pulled back into loose curls that hung around her thin frame, her strong cheekbones giving her an air of aristocracy and beauty. The only thing that hinted at her lack of health was that her blue eyes, periwinkle, so much like her son's, were glazed and cold. Normally void of all emotion, the only time Zelos ever gained their gaze was to be scolded.

Then they hardened to icy glass and Zelos wished she would look away.

She's so sad; ever since Father died… but that was three whole years ago now. It feels like she'll never, ever be fun again…

"Zelos, please leave. Your voice echoes and it makes my heard hurt more. Out."

"B-but…" Zelos trailed, his eyes downcast so they would not have to meet the glass eyes of his mother.

"Sebastian, take Master Zelos downstairs and keep him out of my hair," snapped Mylene.

Sebastian's guiding hand rested on Zelos' shoulder and as he was shepherded from the room, Zelos called over his shoulder, "I'm… sorry Mother!"

The door, however, did not think highly of his apology and it slammed behind them, cutting off his words.

"Come, Master Zelos, let's us have some tea, shall we?" Sebastian offered kindly.

Zelos knew that by "us" the man meant "you". The butler never ate in front of Zelos. When he was a child, Zelos had often times wondered if the man was not, in fact, a robot. When he had asked Mother, she had laughed as said that Sebastian was human, he just ate on his own time. It was not professional for him to eat in front of the people he served.

Zelos nodded and found himself herded to the formal dining hall where he and Mother, and sometimes Father, had always taken their meals. For the past few years, though, it had usually been Zelos, alone. Mother had preferred to take her meals in her room.

Zelos stared down into the brown liquid, and stared back at himself. The young teenager studied himself intently, from his periwinkle eyes, to his red hair, to his round, childish cheekbones. He made several faces into the cup and examined certain parts of himself closely before Sebastian asked what he was doing.

"I'm trying to find out what's wrong with me," Zelos stated calmly.

Sebastian seemed surprised. "What in the world do you mean, Master Zelos, there is nothing wrong with you!"

"But Mother hates me, so there must be something that she hates! I want to know what that is so that I can fix it!"

Zelos tore his eyes away from his reflection to look sincerely up at the man who, he was surprised to see, seemed torn between laughing and crying.

"What is it, Sebastian?"

"Oh Master Zelos, your mother does not hate you. She loves you very much."

"Well, she doesn't act like it! Don't Martel's scriptures say that it's not what we think but what we do that say who we really are?"

Again, the butler looked torn between emotions. "Well… yes, however, your mother finds it very had to overcome the loss of your father. It is not you, believe me."

"Maybe, if I make myself perfect, she'll be so happy she forgets about Father!"

And with those words, the boy began primping himself; running his fingers though his hair and straightening his outer jacket, all the while using his tea as a mirror. He stopped only when he felt a hand on his own. He looked up into the warm, brown eyes of his only friend.

"Master Zelos, not everything is about your appearance. There is much more on the inside then the outside."

………………

His plans at perfection destroyed, Zelos was left to wander the large mansion, alone. His footsteps were silenced by the plush carpets that lined the halls, so than no one heard his approach and the maids continued gossiping so that he could overhear them.

"…what of Lady Seles?"

"It seems that she ran away from home, despite her physical weaknesses…"

"And we are to watch out for her?!" The maid was apparently appalled by the very thought. "Why should we help that wretch?! She cannot even keep track of her own child!"

"What's wrong?" Zelos spoke us suddenly, curiosity gnawing at him. "Did something happen?"

"Oh, Master Zelos!"

"My Lord!"

Both women turned and beamed at him, their eyes betraying their discomfort at being overheard. Zelos had become very good at reading emotions.

"It is nothing m'Lord. Please, think nothing of it."

"Master Zelos, are you going out to play in the garden? Have fun!"

Their actions were not rare. Nowadays, everyone was whispering, their words like illusive shadows, ending in thin air just before he could catch them. All sounding the same, words like that woman, little brat, and someone called "Seles".

I wonder who "Seles" is… I've never heard that name before… Zelos thought to himself as he wandered the empty halls of his great home. What's the big deal about her anyway?

The halls were bright with streaming sunlight, just as Zelos had claimed to his mother, the day was perfect; the sky was a clear, cloudless blue and the temperature was at the perfect midway point between warmth and coolness. The angels were smiling upon this day.

Deciding that he did, indeed, wish to go play outside, with, or without his mother—he need not waste the day just because she was in a bad mood—Zelos stopped in his large bedroom to pick up his favorite ball; a red, bouncy, round object that could fly hundreds of feet into the air if he bounced it against the ground hard enough. With the prized toy under his arm, Zelos set off for the back doors.

He was still on the upper floors when he spotted it, whatever it was, out the window. At first it seemed to be only that a slight breeze was disturbing some of the bushes in the backyard, and the Chosen's thoughts were only on how much the wind would throw off his bouncing, until, this time, he saw the bushes move again and a strange, red object popped up for a second before disappearing behind the foliage again.

What was that?! Zelos watched as the process was repeated again and the little red object appeared a second time. Could it be a cat or something?

His ball forgotten, Zelos raced down the last flight of stairs into the entrance hall and though a series of large halls to the back doors which lead to the garden. Zelos burst though the doors and slowed, not wanting to frighten whatever it was that was out there. He crept slowly though the bushes, searching for the red object.

I'm sure it was here… somewhere…

Suddenly, he found it and, with a jolt, realized that "it" was much more interesting that a cat.

In the dirt between bushes and trees, a little girl was crouched on the ground; her red hair was what he had seen from the window. Her hair was pulled back with a little white ribbon and she wore a rumpled white and pink dress. She was kneeling on the dirt, dirtying the lacy socks she wore. Her moss-green eyes were wide and scared and filled with tears.

Red hair… it's the same as mine!

"W-who are you? What are you doing here?"

The tears looked ready to overflow and as Zelos surveyed her, he realized she was only about three or four; much too young to be out alone.

"Where are your parents…?"

"I-I…I um…" and suddenly she let out an ear-splitting wail and buried her face against the ground, crying.

"S-Sebastian!"

………………

R&R

~Yoshi