Rated: R
Language:English
Categories: Action/Adventure/Romance
Title: My Obsession
Summary: "I'll see to it personally he has a better life this time." "'But- Gaav?! That's impossible! He's dead!'" ""Who the Hell am I?!"" 'You're mine, Valgaav.'

My Obsession

Rck...I really should be ashamed that we gaven't been able to get another chapter up in almost four and a half months, now...The problem behind this is we dreaded posting this chapter, and on the day we finally got ready to do so, we lost all we'd saved of the future chapters when my laptop crashed. So we got to work on it all from scratch again...Yay...I'm just super glad we had chapter layouts still hand-written in a notebook I'd stashed away for safe keeping just in case something like that happened. We know this chapter sucks; we couldn't remember everything we'd originally had happen in it, so we just winged it. Geeze, it's hard to write for Jillas' accent...
Chapter Twenty-Five: A Dead Rose, Maybe...
"Alright, Jillas--how's this sound?" asked Prince Xoanulus a few days later, clearing his throat and holding up the parchment in front of his face. "Roses are red, violets are blue; both hold great charm, but no candle to you."

The red fox remained silent for a few moments, giving a nervous smile. A dead rose, maybe. Aloud, however, he stated, "'S a beauty, prince; but 'oo's it for?"

"Why, your friend, of course; Val!"

Ehh, Lord Gaav'll kill th' poor kid, 'e will...Maybe Oi should warn 'im before 'e goes through with it. Oi wager Lord Valgaav would jus' shoot him down anyway..

"..Jillas?" inquired the hazel-eyed boy, catching the troubled look over the other's face.

"Yea'?"

Xoanulus sat back down, taking a seat by the one-eyed critter this time. As he rolled the paper up and tucked it into his cloak, he inquired after a slight pause, "Have the two of you known one another for long?"

"Eh?"

Sighing to himself, the swordsman shook his head slightly. I'd pegged you for being a good deal brighter than your friend; don't prove me to be wrong. Seeing that the fox didn't understand his question, he lifted his eyebrows and, after glancing around to ensure that no one else was near them, leaned in towards him. "You and Val, of course." he clarified, head cocking to the side just slightly.

Understanding finally dawned upon the critter's face and he smiled. "Oh! Yeah', we have! Oi been helping the boss raise him a long time. 'E's a handful; dependable, though. Wou'n' rather do anything else!"

A slight worried smile blossomed upon the prince's face at these words. "I see.." Oh, please, don't tell me I have even more competition than the big brute! That's not fair! "I wonder if perhaps you were aware of whether he has a lover or not?"

This question seemed to somewhat fluster Jillas, as he seemed a bit nervous and jumped slightly once the question had registered in his mind. Well, that was never a good sign.

"Ah, Oi- Oi denno!" stammered the inventor. "'E doesn't say much these days, ye know?"

And neither is that..

This time it was Jillas who noticed the bothered expression on the other's face and in bringing it into question, he asked, "Ye olroight?"

"Hmm? Ah-! Yes, I'm just fine. I was only a bit concerned over something..I wonder, though, Jillas--have you ever been in love?"

At these words, the smaller of the two looked up in thought. He had once had a crush on Filia, although it had only lasted for a few days before he discovered it was just an infatuation formed out of deep gratitude for her having taken him in after Valgaav's merging with Dark Star when he was believed by the others to be dead. Then, there had been that one female yellow-white fox before he'd joined Lina and her friends--Paulu's mother. Or at least, he'd thought he could have grown to love her after a bit more time, had he stayed.

Come to think of it, Xoanulus brought up a good point! For all the people he'd met, Jillas hadn't actually gotten time to think much about romance; after the attack on his people when he was little, he'd grown up a lot faster than he probably would have otherwise. But then, he was sure the same had been true for Valgaav and Gravos.

After a few more moments of silence, Jillas finally shook his head. "Oi never much got the toime te, t'be honest. Oi been in kind of a bad situation."

"I'm very sorry to hear that. But, now that your charge has almost fully matured, don't you think it was time you did get to start considering finding a partner? I mean, you may look kind of young, perhaps, if you consider some things, but I mean, how old are you now?"

Brows lowering, Jillas stared flatly at the young prince. Oi di'n' appreciate that crack, kid. Besides--when was thirty-eight old?!

"Well, what? Forty-seven? Forty-eight? Somewhere along those lines?"

"Oi'm not that old!" spluttered the fox indignantly, glaring daggers.

"Relax, Jillas; I was only kidding."

More than a bit annoyed at the supposed joke, Jillas stood to his feet and prepared to leave. No one said taking insults was part of the job requirements as an antique shop assistant. Life was hectic enough without that as well!

When he was in front of the door, Xoanulus called out, "I mean tno harm; it was just a simple joke. But, do remember what I said--maybe it's time to think about searching for a partner after so long of being alone, no? It could be benificial to you, and perhaps they may even be closer than you think."

With a last look back, Jillas left the shop to return to the house for a bit, leaving the prince to his own devises for a while. This seemed too good an opportunity to miss, Xoanulus decided, to go and visit Val at the hotel.

However, the consant visits to the hotel to see her 'son' had not gone unnoticed by Filia, who felt that Val's suitor had potential, despite his gender. He seemed to care about Val, in any case, and that was an important factor in a mate in her opinion. Though, she did wonder what had happened to the red hair Val had mentioned when he spoke first of his boyfriend to her. Maybe he'd dyed it?

Either way, it ultimately boiled down to one thing: her little boy had grown up!

Okay, so technically he wasn't literally her son; him being an Ancient Dragon and she a Golden Dragon, he'd obviously been the son of a very proud Ancient mother and father. She was only making up for the fault of her kind behind their unwilling absence.

Alright, tha thought pattern hurt a bit. Val had only once ever asked about his father, but had whole-heartedly accepted her as his mother. It wouldn't have taken any other dragon but a moment to tell that, based upon species' appearances in their kind, Val could in no way have been the offspring of a Golden Dragon. While he might have eyes that could look the part, his physique, height, and hair colour gave away his identity just as it had when he'd been Valgaav. Though he'd said nothing about it, Milgasia had caught onto this immediately when Filia had introduced him as her son.

The blonde woman gave a sad smile at the memory and the questions it provoked. She had no true right to be called the amber-eyed teen's mother; he had had a real mother and father--parents who had probably loved him very much. Were they looking down over he and the ex-priestess and crying at having been forgotten by their own son? Were they angry at her for not telling him about them, even if she wouldn't tell him anything else about his past? Were they angry with her for trying to raise him as her son after the terrible crime her kind had committed towards theirs? Did they see this as adding salt to their fatal wounds?

Someday, you'll have to tell Val the truth, Filia. a small part of her mind was saying. Sooner rather than later; he's almost grown, now, and you proised you'd tell him when he was ready to know. You can't keep putting that kind of information off forever; if I kept that from him, I'd be no better than my ancestors..And he deserves so much better than that..

"What's the matter, dear?" came a gentle female voice from the doorway of the house, bringing Filia to turn around in surprise.

"Oh-! MIsses Ginavive! I'm sorry--you startled me; I wasn't expecting you.." Filia said as sweetly as she could muster the will to, brows still furrowed sadly though she wore a smile.

Ginavive gave a small, sad smile in response. As she pushed her cherry red bangs out of her face, she said with knitted brows, "I'm sorry, dear; I was just passing by the house on my way to the market and you looked a bit sad. Chin up, sweetie; you'll get wrinkles if you frown too much, you know."

"I- I know; I was just thinking about-" Filia glanced around and, after insuring that Val was nowhere to be seen, continued, "Val's real mother and father. But enough about me, Misses Genny; how are you holding up after your..."

The green-eyed woman sighed sadly as she finished for the blonde, "After my son's death? I'm..- I suppose I'm alright. As okay as I can be, at least..I miss my baby so much.."

"I know, MIsses Genny; I know it must hurt to have him gone..Maybe someday, though, you could meet again. In another life, some other world..And I'm sure he would never have wanted you or your husband to be so hurt on his account."

"Miss Filia, I'm no dragon like you; I don't know if we humans ever get more than this life, and I.."

With these words, the slightly smaller woman broke down into tears, her face buried behind shaking hands.

Biting into her lower lip, Filia gently hugged the woman in hopes that it would calm her nerves a little. At last, she pushed the girl back by the shoulders gently and looked her in the eyes, saying, "You must believe it, Misses Genavive; one day, you might see your son again. I know it hurts now, but don't give up yet."

Forcing a smile, the grieving woman asked, "Are you sure, Miss Filia?"

"Would I lie to the only person who knows all of the secrets of my unusual little family?"

"No, I suppose not..You know, my son liked yours very much; he used to say that there was nothing he wouldn't do to be with him..I think you've raised Val wonderfully. His mother and father would be so proud of both of you."

It was Filia's turn to burst into tears, now, though she gave a genuine smile. "Oh, Misses Ginavive, it means so much to hear that; I was so afraid I might have offended them by taking him in..Or that I had failed him, somehow.."

"Miss Filia, no one could ever blame you for raising him in the absence of his real parents. If anything, I'm sure you'd be praised if they were here to. After all--all a parent really wants for their child is happiness; if they truly loved him like I'm sure they did, they would have wanted this chance for him."

"But after what my-"

"Your people, Miss Filia, not you. You had no part in it, and I"m sure you would have tried to stop it if you had been there. But you would have been killed, yourself, and then he would never have even gotten the chance that he has now; you shouldn't ever blame yourself for the deeds of others."

"He did, though--for every bit of it. And I just, I couldn't bring myself to hate him, or to be angry for it; he lost everything he had because of my kind..He was so hurt.."

"Miss Filia, he was disturbed back then; losing everything- twice -threw off his balance of right and wrong. He just couldn't see past the blindness his pain brought onto him to realize that you weren't one of his enemies."

"It's just that every time he looks at me, I feel so hurt for him--even this far down the road. There was so much hatred and pain in his eyes back then that still rests there even now, that no matter how many life cycles he goes through, I don't think that look will ever go away. It's always there, whether he sees it or not, even when he's happy.."

"Miss Filia, you're doing an excellent job. Please, don't be upset over this; you're doing so much for him that no one else would ever do. You don't owe him anything else but the continuing love of the mother you've been to him these past seventeen years."

"Thank you, Misses Genavive.."
To Be Continued..