Author's Notes: Gee... I almost forgot to post this! Where is my brain these days?

Half Innocent Half Evil

Part Ten, He's a strange one

By Relm

For a little while Xellos just stood there at the festival pondering what had happened. He had little idea of who or what that 'baby' Filia saved from scaling the building was. Given by the way she acted it was very clear that Filia was very attached to it. Logically it would seem that this black dragon was either a child of Filia's or a child Filia adopted as her own.

Physically speaking the baby looked like a black golden dragon. If Xellos were to guess on just looking at the child as a dragon he would have figured it was a lesser dragon. It didn't have the shape of an ancient dragon but it definitely didn't have the colouring of the golden dragon.

Valgaav was supposed to be the last of the ancient dragons and Filia was possibly the last of the golden dragons. So it seemed unlikely that Filia would have had a child with another ancient dragon. Unless there were more of them that monster race wasn't aware of.

Of course there were other higher dragons to consider but like the ancient dragons they too had issues with the golden ones. And it seemed unlikely that mixing let's say an ice dragon's blood with a golden one's would result in a black dragon.

"Excuse me." Xellos caught the attention one of the townspeople, an elderly woman who looked like she could be a gossip which is exactly what Xellos wanted.

"Yes dear what can I do for you?" The woman flashed Xellos a very warm smile.

Xellos inwardly cringed at the warmth of the smile. "I was just curious who was that child climbing that building just a little while ago?"

"Oh my yes that's Filia's little one Owen. Such a cutie but he's been causing Filia all kinds of trouble. I know the little ones can be handful but Filia always looks so ragged! I doubt she's been sleeping much." The woman exclaimed with a chuckle.

"Her son? I thought Val was her only son."

The woman looked around suspiciously before pulling Xellos off to a place a little less crowded. "Val bless his little heart is Filia's first. Though I know he's not hers by blood. We all know that, but Owen on the other hand... Some of us think that Owen is another adopted child. That one of Filia's assistants found the egg and Filia took it upon herself to raise the child."

Seemed logical and understanding. Filia would likely want to raise the baby if it was presented to her. So Xellos had no trouble in believing this story but the look on the woman's face made him think she thought otherwise. "But you don't believe that?" He prompted her.

"No. I think Owen is her own, flesh blood and all. I don't know how golden dragons have their children but I image they would get pregnant and lay their eggs perhaps like lizards. So Filia could have gotten pregnant a while back and laid the egg and no one would have even know she was pregnant!"

This also seemed logical too. But it arose another question. "Who do you think the father is?"

"No one has a clue. Filia won't say anything on the matter. She just insists that Owen is her child. She refuses to explain where he came from or who his father is. My guess is either she doesn't know herself or she's ashamed of him."

Xellos felt a chill settle in the pit of his stomach. "Has Filia been consorting with lots of men?"

The woman shook her head. "The only men ever seen around her are her assistants but that doesn't seem likely it's one of them. More likely Filia just kept her little romance the father a secret. She kept Owen a secret from all of us until he was hatched why wouldn't she have done the same with her relationship too?"

"I suppose. Thank you very much." Xellos turned to leave when the woman stopped him once more.

"Wait there is another man now that I think about it. Though I've never actually seen him myself."

This peaked Xellos' interest so he just had to bite. "Who?"

"A vile monster... He's hopelessly in love with her but the poor thing doesn't have a chance with her. Filia hates him so deeply that she would never touch him with a ten foot pole much less have sex with him. Now what was his name again...?"

Xellos closed eyes twitched at the old woman's suggestion. Him in love with Filia? Bah!

"Xellos! Yes that's his name, Xellos. But no one thinks he's the father. Poor thing, I feel sorry for him. He's going to be devastated to find out Filia's been sleeping with another man." The old woman shook her head as she walked off.

As Xellos watched the old woman walk away he mulled over what she had said. Obviously the woman was wrong about him being in love with Filia but the idea what Filia got pregnant by another guy did seem worth considering. He had only slept with Filia once and it didn't seem possible for a monster to impregnate a dragon. They were completely different species after all. And then Xellos had to consider the time frame...

Xellos wasn't an expert on how golden dragons reproduce but he was somewhat aware of how much time it took. And given the size of Owen Xellos estimated that Filia must have had already laid the egg before she slept with him. That had to be the case. Because if not that then that meant that he was...

No, Xellos wasn't even going to consider that. So left Xellos wondering who this mystery man of Filia's was and why the idea of her sleeping with someone else bothered him so much.

...

It wasn't until Filia got Owen and Val settled in for their nap that she realized what she had done. She meant to keep Owen's existence a secret from Xellos as well as hide the fact that Owen was her child. But blubbering away like an idiot Filia failed at both things. And she completely ignored Xellos to boot! Up until a moment ago she completely forgot about the annoying monster priest. Now that she remembered her heart filled with dread.

Why hadn't he shown up? Why didn't he follow them? Why wasn't he there harassing them at that very moment? Xellos hadn't tried at all to pester Filia for information at all. Nor had he shown his stupid face at her house after Filia got back. One could hope that Filia just lucked out but Filia knew better. Xellos may not have shown up yet but he would.

"He's a strange one." A voice startled Filia from behind.

Filia whirled around to see Xellos standing looking over her shoulder at Owen. "What do you want?" Filia hissed at him. She wanted to yell and/or hit him but she didn't want to wake up the boys. She didn't give him time to respond as she went to leave the room pushing Xellos out with her.

"Some answers." Xellos responded with a smile not even bothered one bit about being pushed around.

"Ha! You wanting answers? And when do you ever give those when people ask you for them?" Filia walked down the stairs and headed towards the kitchen.

"Who and what is that thing sleeping in Val's room?" Xellos ignoring Filia's comment.

"Owen." Filia responded plainly as she started prepping things for dinner.

Xellos couldn't help but smile. He knew how to be annoying and secretive with information and it was ironic to get his usual bag of tricks thrown back at him. "Yes but what is Owen?"

"A baby." Filia made no attempt to make eye contact with Xellos. Instead she had her back to him while she chopped vegetables.

"Hey Boss did you want me to-" Jilas started to say as he and Gravos entered the kitchen. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello Gravos, Jilas so nice to see you both." Xellos flashed one of his insincere smiles at Filia's lackeys.

"Boss do you want us to take care of 'em?" Gravos asked Filia while glaring at Xellos. It was really just an idle threat towards the monster general priest just to show his dislike of Xellos being there.

"Now now, Gravos that is no way to treat a guest." Xellos waved a scolding finger at Gravos.

"It's okay Gravos. Why don't you and Jilas keep an eye on the boys for me while I prepare dinner?" Filia suggested. "Even as tired as Owen might be I wouldn't be surprised if he wakes up and decides to climb out of his crib again."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, really it's fine. I'll just make Xellos help." Filia hit Xellos in the stomach with a very large diakon radish.

Nervously Gravos and Jilas left Xellos and Filia alone in the kitchen.

Xellos looked at Filia while holding the radish she had thrown at him. A part of him wondered how this happened but he just went with it and started chopping it. "Where did Owen come from?"

"An egg." Filia responded being just as impossible as before. "Chop that smaller."

"Okay where did the egg come from?"

Filia let out a huge over exasperated sigh. "Seriously do I need tell you were babies come from?"

"Why do you have him?"

"Because I'm raising him just like Val." Filia explained cryptically.

Inwardly Xellos let out a small sigh of relief. If Filia was looking after the child like she was with Val then that could mean that baby whatever it was might not be Filia's after all. Therefore meaning Filia hadn't slept with anyone besides him. "So then Owen isn't your son then."

The corners of Filia's eyes twitched in anger. "Owen and Val are my sons! And don't you dare tell me otherwise!" She screamed with a frying pan in hand ready to hit Xellos.

Xellos almost flinched from the sudden burst of anger. It wasn't an unpleasant thing but it wasn't expected. But when a cub was threatened then the momma bear was sure to get defensive and attack. "Ah there's that Filia crazy woman charm I love so much."

Filia shuddered and went back to prepping dinner.

"Who is Owen's father?"

"It doesn't matter." Filia huffed defensively. "I'm raising him so who cares who his father is?"

"Does that mean you don't know who his father is?"

This seemingly innocent question really struck a chord with Filia. That one question implied that Filia was sleeping around and as such had no idea who fathered her child. Of course given that Xellos was assuming that Owen wasn't hers he wasn't implying that Filia was a slut but Filia didn't take it that way. She assuming he was making a jab at her virtues and that didn't sit well at all. Filia snapped her head to glare daggers at Xellos. But instead of yelling an insult or bashing his head in with her mace Filia grabbed his shirt and teleported them outside.

Xellos blinked in surprise as he found himself not only outside but very far from Filia's town. He looked to Filia for an explanation but what he saw was one sight he lived to see.

Steam was coming out of Filia's ears and her eyes were red with rage. With a flash her clothing disappeared (a sight Xellos loooooooved to see) and Filia transformed into her glorious golden dragon form.

...

Back at the Ul Copt household the ground shook making the people of the house fear there was an earthquake going on. But given that it was preceded by some very familiar battle cries Gravos and Jilas knew better.

"You know it's been a while since the boss has done that." Jilas commented as he and Gravos sat outside the boy's room playing cards.

"I'll bet she's enjoying it." Gravos mused. "Gin."

"Gah! You always win!" Jilas scrunched his face into a frown. "You're not cheatin', are you?"

"Jilas how can you say such a thing? I'm wounded beyond words." Gravos cried out overdramatically while throwing his arms back and accidently spilling out all the cards he had hidden.

"Gravos-Boss!" Jilas exclaimed. "You were cheatin'!"

Gravos laughed nervously. "How 'bout we play go fish?"

...

Even though Xellos could have easily dodged every single attack by Filia he chose not to. It had been so long since he felt the delicious twinge of the pain inflicted by the lovely golden dragon. Xellos did love pain after all even if he was the one receiving it. And it didn't matter anyway since Xellos could heal himself relatively quickly. Especially since Filia's anger was in such abundance.

Filia turned back into her human form and stormed off with a huff and her head held high.

Xellos peeled himself off the floor more than ready to follow Filia and start up round two when he felt that familiar feeling in the back of his head. He was being summoned. 'Drat. Well if my master beacons I must go...'

...

Greater Beast Zellas sat on her thrown with a wine glass in hand and a dangerous smile tugging at her lips. She was aware that her little minion after his sentence was over ran back to exactly what got him in trouble in the first place.

Xellos appeared before his master kneeling with his head down. "Master you summoned me?"

"Yes, I did..." Zellas took a sip of her wine. "I would like an explanation."

"About what?"

"About why the moment I let you leave Sailune you just have to go chasing after that golden dragon?"

Xellos flinched slightly at the question. Of course he would be a fool to assume that his master wouldn't know where he had gone. "Well one of my assignments is to keep tabs on the golden dragon and her adoptive ancient dragon son." Xellos responded feebly.

"You can watch them from afar but I fail to see why getting her so angry she would change into her dragon form and pound you into piece would be important." Zellas knew the reason, she knew it well but she did love to make her underlings sweat.

"Since I was in Sailune for that amount of time I was starving. And Filia's anger can be quite abundant."

Zellas knew there was more it than that but for now she was going to let it slide. "Fine I will accept your explanation this time. Now what do you have to report?"

Xellos' eyes opened with confusion. "Report?"

"Yes you're assignment as you so reminded me is to keep tabs on the dragons. Therefore what do you have to report?"

It was a simple request that Xellos had obliged many times but in this instance it wasn't so easy. "The ancient dragon is growing to what seems like a normal child and with none of the intent of his previous incarnation Valgaav. Filia appears to be tired but that's more likely due to raising Val." Xellos carefully explained. He knew he should have mentioned Owen but his gut told him that was a bad idea. He didn't know why but he just knew he shouldn't say anything about the mysterious blackened dragon.

"So there is nothing new to report then?" Zellas prompted him.

"...no..." Xellos mumbled.

"Then off you go to your other assignments. I'll expect you to check in with me tomorrow."

Xellos nodded his head and phased out of his master's domain.

Greater Beast Zellas pressed her lips together in thought. She was aware her minion wasn't being completely forthcoming with his report. There was more going on with the golden dragon than Xellos was letting on. 'Xellos what are you hiding?'