A/N: TT__TT I…am terrible at updating this. Especially compared to all my other stories…uh. I kinda liked writing this chapter, but it's wayyy different from what I usually write. It's not very dialogue-heavy…I don't know whether I did a good job on it or not. And hopefully I kept everyone in character…yeah, I'll shut up now.

Disclaimer: I own…nothing. Wow.

Zelos stormed—stormed—into the house.

Seles stared at her brother, fingers fiddling with her straw hat in her lap. She opened her mouth to say something. Changed her mind, closed it. Changed her mind again, and asked quietly, "So, how did it go?"

"Oh, fine," he spat, ripping his gloves off and throwing them in the laundry bin without looking. "Absolutely…fine."

"Um…" That…sounded like sarcasm. She still felt like she didn't know him too well; he'd changed a lot in the past few years, but one thing had never changed—his constant use of bitter sarcasm. "So…" What was there to say to that? Nothing, she concluded, and closed her mouth before anything too stupid could slip out.

"I'm going upstairs." His words were abrupt, and his back remained to them as he walked up the stairs, body seeming very…controlled.

Sebastian, next to her, was frowning, which was nothing new, watching Zelos go up to his room and close the door, almost slamming it. His fingers were steepled, and he…looked worried, almost. About Zelos? It hadn't even occurred to her that there was a reason for worry. She looked at him, fingers still playing with the hat.

"Is he like this often?" she asked in a whisper.

"Like what?" His voice was curt. As if there was nothing to say.

"Um…he seemed…angry." Feeling stupid now, Seles shook her head. "I…never mind."

Sebastian pursed his lips for a moment, then went into the kitchen without a word.

Seles sighed, wishing she didn't always feel so lonely here, hoping Tokunaga would come back soon.

Sebastian couldn't keep his attention on cleaning the countertops. It usually wasn't an issue. He usually had enough thoughts to occupy him, and besides, he liked seeing the dirt come away with a few scrubs of his rag. He liked the subtle scent of the cleaning solution he used. He'd often gotten interesting conversations to listen to as well, as the living room was only a room over. Seles and Zelos didn't have quite the amusement value as Lloyd and Zelos, of course, but then again, no one had quite the amusement value as those two. He'd always had to try to silence his chuckles, without much success.

There was plenty to occupy his thoughts now, of course, which was probably just as well, considering there was only Seles in the living room. Probably feeling awkward. Sebastian felt sorry for the girl, but he could never think of much to say to her. He hadn't seen her grow up like he'd seen Zelos grow up. He'd only met her a handful of times before this. He knew she was important to Zelos, but nonetheless, she was a girl—or maybe a young woman—and he had always had terrible luck with the ladies. Terrible luck. Even Zelos's tips hadn't helped. Girls had always laughed at his clumsy attempts.

Laughed.

Perhaps it was just as well.

Sebastian frowned a bit more and scrubbed at a particularly stubborn spot on the counter without really seeing it. He remembered how that spot had gotten there. Lloyd had attempted to cook, wanting something to eat. It had been Sebastian's day off. Otherwise, Lloyd never would have gotten anywhere near the modern cooking equipment. It was obvious the boy wasn't used to cooking on anything more high tech than a campfire.

He still remembered the burning smell after he'd come home after a relaxing day. He'd panicked, to find a charred black spot on the counter and a foul smell coming from that room, a giant pile of dirty dishes in the sink. Lloyd had been sifting around in the fridge, and Zelos had flashed Sebastian a sudden grin, looking surprisingly…cheerful. And happy.

"It's okay," he'd reassured Sebastian, who could only stare at his trashed kitchen in horror and dismay. "I think we got it all under control."

With Lloyd, Zelos had always been more emotional. More happy, more irritated, more depressed sometimes, more…everything.

Sebastian had always thought of himself as a bit of a guardian to Zelos. He didn't feel like he'd done a great job guarding the Chosen, but at least he'd managed to keep the boy alive. An impressive feat, really, especially considering how determined the Pope—and even the ordinary bandit—had been.

He'd always thought of Zelos as the son he'd never had.

He'd always been there, listening, or trying to. The first real girlfriend Zelos had had, how heartbroken he'd been when he realized she was in love with the Chosen, not him.

His first hangover. The first time he'd come home with Lloyd and their friends, and when…

All those little moments.

It looked like it was time for another one of those moments.

Sighing, Sebastian abandoned the cloth rag on the counter and headed upstairs after Zelos.

That black spot on the counter was never going to come out anyway.

Yeah. Oh, yeah, totally. Lloyd would definitely steal some random amulet. Because that sooo sounds like Lloyd.

Those stupid brats…

"Look, I'm sorry. But people change."

He'd seen Lloyd recently. Recently! And besides, he was willing to bet anything that those idiots hadn't even met Lloyd.

Scowling at the wall, vest thrown to the ground, Zelos felt his fingers slowly gouging their way into the skin of his upper arms. He heard the door open, but didn't find any reason to turn and acknowledge the person.

I'm trying to be depressed, here.

"Zelos." The calming, surprisingly deep voice of Sebastian. Zelos frowned. The butler should know that he didn't like being bothered when…ah, whatever. He obviously wasn't going away. Zelos made a show of sighing and tossing his head, flipping some hair over his shoulder.

"Zelos," Sebastian repeated.

"Hey, man. You feeling okay? You just called me by name. You never do that." It was always Chosen or Master Zelos.

"I do it all the time," Sebastian said wryly. "It's just that you're either drunk, hung over, or worrying about more important things to notice."

Zelos paused. He remembered a thing or two like that, yeah. Vaguely. Mostly the times he'd been pissed off or flipping out over some situation or other on the journey. Pacing, throwing his hands in the air, snarling over what an asshole Kratos or Yuan was, wondering how in hell Lloyd could be so…Lloyd, so oblivious, so caring, so stubborn…wondering how in hell he'd fallen for him, and…

Sebastian sighed at the long silence. "I take it your meeting with Dorr's widow didn't go particularly well."

Zelos grunted and grudgingly faced the older man. Clean, pressed clothes without a bit of carpet fuzz on them, large hands, fingers steepled, graying dark hair and lines just appearing at the forehead and sides of the mouth, dark eyes still as sharp as always…nothing ever seemed to change about him. He'd looked the same as far back as Zelos could remember. The one thing in his life that had ever stayed the same, comfortably so.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. I…" Zelos paused, wondering just how much he should tell the butler, who closed his eyes for a moment, then pulled up a chair.

"I take it she had something to say about Sir Bu—ah, Lloyd."

Zelos couldn't help but smile at that. "Yeah. Turns out there are a couple of brats trying to kill—or at least find—him."

Sebastian was watching him carefully. "And do they have any chance?"

And that was when it all came spilling out, a million words a second, it felt like.

"…and it turns out Lloyd has this lookalike imposter who wears this terrible cologne that Regal's company produced, and everyone thinks that Lloyd did all that crap but it wasn't him, Lloyd would never do that stuff, and, and then there were his old friends, and they weren't sure whether or not Lloyd did any of that, and they were all doubting him, and it was so stupid and then there was Clara and she was all like 'you should go see those kids' and I went to see them and they're total brats and they thought that Lloyd stole some fancy amulet or something and one of them had red eyes and they both had really whiny voices, and sucked at fighting, and I said the cheesiest Dwarven Vow ever and I don't even know why, and…and…" Zelos gasped, feeling a sudden need for air, then groaned, head falling onto his arms. "Ohhh, man. This is such a mess."

Sebastian was rubbing his back in a very fatherly way until Zelos finally looked up a few minutes later.

"Zelos." Sebastian's voice was warm, and…as fatherly as the back rub had been. "Do you remember when you told me how you'd fallen for Lloyd and how Kratos drove you crazy?"

"I swear, I was drunk at the time, otherwise I would never have told you tha—"

"Do you remember how I said he probably feels the same way?"

"I remember not believing you."

"He trusts you," Sebastian reminded him. "More than most of his other friends. Don't forget that."

"Uhhhnn."

Sebastian stood and went to leave. "Get some rest, Zelos."

The door closed behind the butler and Zelos sighed.

…review? (puppy dog eyes) It'll...it'll help me update faster...