Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. They are the property of Hajime Kanzaka and Shoko Yoshinaka.

Chapter Ten

Xellos sat on the peak of Filia's roof under the bright sun. He was taking a break from the monotonous job Filia had given him and Val of replacing all the shingles on the roof. When she asked him to help her clean the house he honestly thought she was talking about all the dirt and grime that caked everything, but her ideas were honestly more along the line of rebuilding the house. Not that he cared. She might force as much manual labour on him as she chose and he would be none the worse for it. He didn't get tired. In his mind, the advantages for staying outweighed the extreme boredom that inevitably came with whatever job she laid out for him.

Val suddenly put down his hammer as well and came over to sit next to Xellos. "Are you really the Lesser Beast?" he asked.

"Not at the moment. Apparently, I'm playing house with a couple of dragons," Xellos answered, unable to keep the sourness he felt at his situation out of his voice.

"You don't want to stay here either then? Why do you stay?" Val asked, folding his lanky frame together so that his knees touched his chin.

"Why do you stay?" Xellos asked, unwilling to discuss his problem with one of his problems – Val.

"I figure you'll hunt me down and rip me a new one if I run away again," Val said, with both rebellion and awe in his voice.

"Are you afraid?" Xellos asked, raising one of his eyebrows.

"A little," Val said, gulping.

"Good," Xellos said returning to his usual persona.

"It's just that last night I heard you talking to Filia in the living room. She called you 'Lex' like it was your name, so I thought maybe you weren't who you said you were."

"Lex, eh?" Xellos said slowly, wondering what excuse he could use on Val that wouldn't be as transparent as the windows they had cleaned yesterday. He remembered going to bed the night before, but he didn't have the usual blank spot in which he knew afterwards that Lex had been using his body. Lex must have gotten up after he went to bed, which was something he had never considered happening before. It was the first time since he made his deal with Filia that Lex had come out. "What were we talking about?" he asked at last.

"Why you are staying here," Val said hesitantly.

"Did you hear why I'm here then?"

Val shook his head. "Not really . . . Are you sick?"

"Did Filia say I was sick?"

"You know she did, and you kept on saying that you weren't," Val said. "Is that why you're staying with us?"

"I might be sick," Xellos said slowly and evasively. Then he got up and went back to work. He didn't want to talk about this with Val anymore. He would have to rely on his luck that the boy wouldn't find out more.

Xellos found himself spinning in circles about what was to be done with Val. He didn't want anyone but Filia to know about his 'problem', and thus wanted her to send Val away until they found a way to cure him, but then, Val had the potential of being very dangerous to . . . well, everyone. That made Xellos want to keep him as close as possible so that he didn't turn into an enemy. Xellos found himself constantly perplexed on what to do.

In the end he decided to rely on Lady Luck, and hope that Lady Luck went about dressed as Filia these days.

Xellos sat alone in the half light of the bedroom that Filia had given him. Over the past week that he had been staying with her, he had been able to gather a small collection of books on the subject of mental illness. It had not been easy to find information on his specific ailment – either in their world or out of it. Most of the books talked about the possibility that most people who were thought to be possessed by demons were not actually, but were, in fact, another form of insane. The information was shaky at best, and a lot of it contradicted each other. Most of Xellos' reading was nothing more than a brutal waste of time, but he had to find something.

It wasn't that he didn't like staying with Filia – that felt like one of the least of his worries. It was strange how much care she took over his comfort, even though she had once fought against him so viciously. She defended his secret when talking to Val as well, which meant a lot more to Xellos than he wanted to admit. He hated needing her.

Now when he thought about Filia, he could only seem to remember the way she looked lying in the hammock in the ship the night he had gone to bed as Lex and woken up as himself. She had gone to sleep with him close – trusted him enough to sleep with him there. Here he, Xellos, was put in a separate room and treated as a guest. It wasn't that she wasn't kind, she was very kind, but not . . . intimate. She had also said that Lex had a crush on her. How had his body been able to inspire those words – with any behaviour? It seemed impossible. Was that what she wanted? How had Lex brought her that close to him?

Among other things that he looked for when he read, he wanted to find out if there was a way for him to talk to Lex. He realized he wouldn't be able to beat the hell out of him, as he wished, but even to just hear his voice and find out even the smallest thing about him would be worth while to Xellos.

As he read though, he found no information about how to do such a thing. However, he soon found himself reading a documented case of a multiple personality disorder. The scientist watching the person described the different personalities involved – and there were more than two – and described how different they were. It was possible for the personalities to be extremely different. Maybe that was the case with him and Lex.

Soon Xellos had finished reading. That case had been very interesting. Apparently, that case had been solved by the most dominant of the personalities basically kicking the others out of the mind – so that only one remained. There was only one problem, as Xellos saw it. The personality that won out in the end had not been the original personality, but one of the sub-personalities that had emerged.

Author's Noties: Hiya! Plot exposition - it has to go somewhere. So, if you think I didn't go heavy enough on the X/F in this chapter - wait for the next one. I can't do the next chapter without this one. Cheers!