A/N Wooooo Chapter 20! That's a milestone, people! And I hate writing Collette, lol.

Looking through his long hair, Kratos took a quick glance towards the small, square window of the wooden shack. He watched as Lloyd recoiled when Dirk grabbed his jacket tightly, and smiled when the dwarf hit him affectionately on the arm and pulled him into a hug. Raising his eyebrows, he mimicked Lloyd's expression as Dirk handed the teenager a stunning blue sword. It was a similar size to Flamberge, ice blue and curved with precision. The Seraph was very impressed.

Leaving Lloyd to thank Dirk, Kratos turned his eyes back in front of him, crouched and rested his right hand on the side of the cold stone tablet.

'Thank you.'

Deciding not to fight the lump in his throat, he rested his head on the cool stone and closed his eyes, smiling sadly. Kratos allowed himself to drift away into a silent daydream, not noticing his son watching him from the window.

Lloyd jumped at the knock on the door and his eyes broke from watching his father. A quick glance at Dirk asked the dwarf to see who it was and Lloyd watched the door open to reveal a rather red-looking Colette Brunel. Dirk opened the door, then took his leave by heading up the stairs.

'Collette...' Lloyd started.

'Is Kratos OK?' Colette asked, wiping her sleves down, closing the door and striding in briskly.

'Um...' Lloyd glanced back out of the window, 'Yeah I think so. He hasn't really been given a chance to sit out there or anything so...'

'I understand.' Colette clasped her hands in front of her chest and smiled widely, making Lloyd feel slightly akward, 'Say, Lloyd...do you want to go for a walk?'

Lloyd's brow furrowed, trying to work out what was up with Colette's mood, 'Uh, yeah sure. Where do you want to go?'

'Just into the woods, would be good to spend some time with each other, you know?'

'Sure.' Clasping his swords tightly round his waist, Lloyd follwed the 16 year old out of his house.

'So, what happened?' Colette asked, fed up with the silence as they walked through the dimly lit woods, 'How come you woke up? We thought you were, well...gone.'

Lloyd looked at his feet as they walked, 'I'm not sure...I just did I guess.'

'You aren't going to tell me?'

Lloyd closed his eyes and bit his lip. He didn't want this conversation, 'There's nothing to tell, Colette.'

'Oh...' Colette joined him in looking at the floor, accepting Lloyd's lie but not believing it, 'Have you spoken to Genis?'

Lloyd lifted his head again and looked at his childhood friend out of the corner of his eye, 'He didn't want to speak to me.'

'I thought as much...' she hesitated, 'He took it hard, you know. I was the only one he actually acknowledged, he wouldn't even speak to Raine.'

Lloyd narrowed his eyes slightly, not saying anything.

'He thought you had deserted us. Left us. Said you didn't want anything to do with us anymore.'

Colette flinched slightly as she finished, as if to regret saying it at all. Lloyd stopped dead and stared at the floor.

'Genis said that?' Lloyd mumbled, his hands clenching into fists. Colette took a step backwards.

'He was distraught, Lloyd. We had all been so worried about you...and with the transformation and all Genis said-'

'I don't care what Genis said. It's obvious to see you are on his side, so I don't really need to hear it, do I?' Lloyd's voice was low, almost menacing, but Colette flinched at every word as if he was shouting.

'His side?' She raised her voice slightly, eyes pleading Lloyd's to meet hers, 'Lloyd, nobody is on anyone's side! Please understand...'

'I don't understand. I can't understand. I won't understand. Maybe that's just my problem; you and me are on different wavelengths.' Lloyd had begun to shake and his head was spinning. Colette noticed his ears had turned a deathly red.

'Lloyd...'

'I don't want to hear it Colette!' Lloyd finally snapped and shouted at the 16 year old Chosen. Colette flinched and squeezed her eyes shut as Lloyd bolted off into the trees off the beaten path.

Darkness fell over Iselia once more as Colette found herself back at Lloyd's house. She had walked alone for what seems like hours, tying to decipher what Lloyd meant earlier.

...'I don't understand. I can't understand. I won't understand. Maybe that's just my problem; you and me are on different wavelengths'...

What did he mean? Different wavelengths? Surely, despite all that had happened, he was still Lloyd and she was still Colette... Maybe that was just what he didn't realise.

'Chosen?'

Colette looked up and wiped a brisk hand over her cheek, failing to diguise the tears that had fallen. A concerned looking Kratos was stood as his son did; with a bent right knee and one hand resting on his sword.

'Are you alright?' He turned his head slightly, as if to examine the young girl.

'Yes, I'm alright.' Colette smiled a fake smile, noticing no reaction from Kratos and so assuming he didn't fall for it.

'I see,' Kratos allowed her to lie and made the connection between her tears and his nowhere-to-be-seen son, 'Where is Lloyd, Colette?'

'Um...' a tear escaped from Colette's right eye and dashed down her cheek, causing her to wipe it off briskly to try and disguise it. Kratos internally cursed, assuming that to mean that he wasn't anywhere near the house.

'I think we better go inside and get you something warmer to wear.' Kratos said, recieving a nod from Colette. He placed a hand behind her back and guided her towards the door to the house, taking one last hopeful glance for Lloyd over his shoulder.

A/N Sorry about the angst, by the way! Please review