Chapter 16

Xellos stood over the sleeping Filia, her face twisted in fear and sadness as he watched her squirm under the covers, muttering in her sleep. Xellos breathed in deeply, feeding off the emotions that she was emanating. Fear, confusion, sadness, despair, anger. Xellos opened his piercing eyes as he knelt beside her head and smoothed her hair out of her face. At the touch she stopped squirming, but her face remained strained and her muttering did not cease. "No…..run Val…stop….Xel…" Filia's tone was pleading as sweat began to cover her forehead. "What's got you so upset little one?" Xellos thought aloud as he rose from his spot near the bed. He then held his staff horizontally over Filia, the red orb positioned over her face. "Now let's see what all this fuss is about," Xellos said as the orb began to shine a bright blue, bathing Filia's face in its glow.

/

Blood, there was blood everywhere. Blood and the smell of rotting corpses. Xellos looked at his surroundings, he knew this place, he knew this time. "It's The War of the Monster's Fall" Xellos observed, remembering the carnage and destruction with crystal clarity. He looked towards the sky, the evidence of his assumption proven as the clouds glowed a deep red with hundreds of dragons scattered throughout the heavens. "Ah the good old times," Xellos smirked to himself as he witnessed a battalion of black and gold dragons get shot down and plummet towards the unforgiving earth. Xellos could almost taste the anger and fear that he used to gorge himself on, but not anymore. It was just a memory now, 'a memory Filia should not have. Why is she dreaming of the Great War? This was far before her time,' Xellos pondered as he began to search for Filia.

After what had seemed like hours he finally spotted her. She was surrounded by the ghosts of her elder dragons from her times in the Fire Temple, hunched over a dragon hatchling with green hair, which Xellos recognised as the young Val before he was converted by Gaav. "You filth, traitor to your own kind. How dare you call yourself a dragon. Repent now and your soul might be saved. Hand them over, now!" the ghost dragons cried in unison as the circled her, slowly closing in. "No, I wont, you can't have them!" Filia shouted as she embraced the young Val tighter to her chest, trying to shield him from the ghost dragon's sight as he sobbed into her clothes, clinging to her neck.

"Do not meddle in things you know nothing about. The Ancient dragons were a threat to the world, what needed to be done was done. Xellos is of the monster race, their sole purpose is to destroy the world and nothing more. Do not let yourself be fooled by his trickery. Admit to your sins and repent now!" the dragons continued to speak as one, steadily circling Filia and Val faster as they got closer.

"You're wrong!" Filia kept her voice strong. "The Ancient dragons were a peaceful race. They didn't deserve this!" Filia cried out, making eye contact with every one of the dragons as they circled her.

"What about the monster? Look around you girl, see for yourself what that vile creation has done, leaving nothing but fear and destruction and death in his wake. If you do not change your ways, this will happen to you as well. He is a monster. He can never feel any attachment to anything. He will merely use and manipulate you to his evil desires, then cast you out and leave you for dead". Filia shook her head as small tears began to trickle down her face. "No, no you're wrong. I don't believe you…" Filia cried out, the tears now flowing freely down her face.

'If you need me, then call for me,' Filia herd a voice speak in her mind that was not her own. "What?" Filia asked out loud as she looked around herself, trying to spot whoever had spoken to her, her heart racing at the hope that it was him. 'I will not help you unless you ask for it. If you need my help, then tell me,' the voice spoke again. Filia gasped in shock as she recognised Xellos's voice over the roars of the circling dragons.

"Xellos," Filia raised her head, staring straight ahead with tears still flowing down her features. "Xellos, please…Xellos I need you!" Filia shouted as the dragons stopped circling and charged directly for her and Val. Suddenly inches before the dragons made contact a black bubble appeared around Filia and Val, launching all the dragons away from the pair with a immense blast, creating a huge crater where the pair still clung to each other. Standing before Filia was Xellos, his back towards her and his staff held out in front of him as he surveyed the area. "Xellos, you…you came," Filia could not keep the astonishment from her voice as she stared at the back of his head, patting Val's own mane to calm him down.

Xellos looked at Filia over his shoulder. "What? Thought I wasn't going to make it? You have such little faith in me Fi-chan," Xellos smirked as he walked over to where she and Val crouched, kneeling down to them and placing a hand on Val's small shoulder. The hatchling pulled his head out of Filia's chest and looked at the purple haired monster, curiosity in his golden eyes that still shined from the tears. "Hey little guy, you're alright now. Come on, I'll look after you," Xellos soothed the young Val as he took him from Filia and stood up. Val from his spot in the monsters arms looked sternly into his face, his eyes searching. Then a small smile started to work its way onto his face as her wrapped his arms around Xellos's neck and rested his head onto his shoulder. Filia noticed that Xellos's face showed that of surprise when Val had embraced him, but then it faded into a small smile of his own as he patted the boys back in reassurance, nuzzling his head slightly against his smaller one.

Xellos then looked down at Filia, who had not risen from her position on the ground, too stunned by Xellos's uncharacteristic behaviour. He smiled a bit more widely at her as he extended his hand. "Need a hand?" he asked as he held his free hand out to her, the other arm still holding Val to himself. Filia looked at the offered hand, then back up to Xellos's smiling face and Val's head still cuddled into his shoulder. She looked back to his hand and one last glance up to his face, a smile of her own spreading across her face as she grasped his hand.

/

Filia shot awake to the sound of knocking at the door. Rubbing her eyes of sleep she sat up and yawned widely, stretching her arms up above her head. "Who is it?" she called out as she drowsily pushed the covers off her frame and put her legs over the side of the bed, getting up to find her robe.

"The candle stick maker, who do you think it is?" Xellos called out in humour as he waited outside the door for Filia to answer. This mornings dream viewing had left Xellos slightly drained of energy, so he was leaning rather heavily against his staff as he worked to regain his strength. 'Whatever charm that has been cast upon her was not the work of an amateur. I haven't felt this drained in a long time,' Xellos thought to himself as he tried to puzzle out this new development. 'Who would want to put a spell on Filia to give her nightmares? And why?' As far as Xellos knew Filia didn't really have that many enemies, the only possible culprits would either be another monster, or the dragon race. 'Hmm, I wonder if anyone besides the late Elder Lortus knew of Filia and the egg,' Xellos acknowledged this as a high possibility, seeing as the dragon race would want to make sure the job was done, and as they say many hands make light work. If this was so then he was going to have to figure out who is causing Filia's nightmares and terminate their operations.

Xellos was shaken out of his thoughts as Filia opened the bedroom door, clad in a fluffy blue robe 'It matches her eyes well,' Xellos thought to himself as he gave Filia his signature smile. "Good morning Fi-chan, sleep well?" Xellos asked as he surveyed the slight bags under her eyes.

"Not particularly, but I've survived on worse. Why are you here so early Xellos, it's barely dawn," Filia questioned as she eyed Xellos from the doorway.

"Ah you see we're going out today. So I need you to quickly get changed into something nice, we're kind of on a schedule," said Xellos.

"Oh? Where are we going?" Filia asked with curiosity.

"It's a surprise. Come on now, we're wasting daylight," he ushered.

"Alright, alright I'm going," Filia replied irritably as she closed the door and went about picking out her out fit.

Filia filtered through the small wardrobe that she had with her. 'It would help if he told me where we were going,' Filia thought in irritation when she couldn't make up her mind on what to wear. After a bit more rifling she found her turquoise dress near the back of her closet. It was a modest dress showing a small section of cleavage with frilly lace lining the short sleeves and bottom of the dress, which puffed out into a sort of skinny bell shape and ended at her knees. "I guess this will do fine," Filia said as she changed into the gown and found her matching high heels. Observing herself in the mirror Filia gave a definite nod in approval at her appearance. Quickly putting on a small amount of make up on, she grabbed Val's basket and opened her door to Xellos. When she opened the door she found him leaning against the door frame snoring overly loudly. "Ahem," Filia cleared her throat to get his attention. Xellos made a startled grunt as he raised himself off the door frame and shook his head.

"Oh you're ready. Sorry you just took so long that I decided to take a nap while I waited," Xellos remarked as he ducked below the mace that was aimed at his head, missing it by a hairs breadth.

"You idiot, have some patience. You didn't exactly tell me where we were going so it took me longer to figure out what to wear," Filia replied irritably as she put her mace away.

Xellos stood up properly again after he was sure Filia wasn't going to strike out at him again and noticed that she was carrying Val again. "Ah Fi-chan, we can't take him," Xellos said, indicating the egg that she carried. Filia looked between Xellos and Val with pure shock when Xellos told her she couldn't take him.

"What do you mean 'we can't take him'? We can't NOT take him. He could hatch at any time and I need to be there when he does," Filia explained, clutching the basket closer to her.

"Yes but Filia , the town we are going to doesn't take too kindly to anything out of the ordinary, and a stranger carrying around a green egg in a hand basket is definitely out of the ordinary," Xellos explained, his tone suggesting there was no room for argument.

"Well then I'm not going. I'm not leaving Val here by himself, no way in heaven, hell or earth," Filia stated, tuning her nose up and away in defiance.

'Well then it's a good thing we're not in any of them,' Xellos thought to himself as he searched for a solution to this newest problem. "What if we got a babysitter, or in this case an egg sitter?" Xellos said with a small shrug of his shoulders.

"I don't know. Xellos I really don't feel comfortable leaving Val at all, let alone with a complete stranger".

"Then we won't leave him with a stranger. Is there anybody who you would trust with Val?" Xellos asked. He was starting to get slightly irritated that this was taking so long, but he kept his emotions in check and his face blank.

"No one in this place, that's for sure," Filia stated. Not that the monsters that she's met so far seemed that bad, she just didn't feel quite comfortable with leaving Val alone with them yet.

"Alright then. What about one of your servant beast-men? Do you trust them enough?" Xellos suggested. They really needed to get going soon or else they were going to miss the 'appointment'.

"They're not my servants! But I suppose maybe Jilas could watch Val, that is if he's not busy," Filia said more to herself than Xellos. Not that Gravos wasn't competent in looking after the egg, it's just that he's always had trouble handling fragile things. She had lost many a vase in the past to his lack of careful handling.

"So Jilas it is then. I'll just go pick him up and we'll get him to just keep an eye on the egg until we get back. You could probably even offer him a raise in his pay for the extra services," Xellos commented offhandedly as he turned around to leave.

"Wait a sec Xellos. Why are you so determined for me to get a babysitter anyway? What's so special about where we are going?" Filia asked, somewhat wary about Xellos's determination to get her to go with him that he would even fetch Jilas to babysit Val.

"I'll explain when we get there. Like I said it's a surprise. Besides it'll be fun, trust me," Xellos said as he looked over his shoulder, a dimpled smile spreading across his face.

"Trust you?" Filia said raising her eyebrow at him, Xellos couldn't help but chuckle in his head at the look, she looked so funny when she did that it was almost cute.

"Yes, trust me. Isn't that the whole reason we're here having this conversation in the first place? So you can learn to trust me?" Xellos replied, his smile never wavering.

'Well he has a point there,' Filia thought to herself as she contemplated the situation. "Well…alright then. But if ANYTHING happens to Val while we are away I am holding you personally responsible. Is that clear?" Filia said, her tone promising extreme consequences if such a thing were to happen.

Xellos shrugged his shoulders while cocking his head to the side, "seems fair enough. Is there anything else?" Xellos asked.

"Just one more thing," Filia said, smiling the cutest smile she could manage. "Can I pleeaaasse take my mace? I promise not to hit you," 'in public' Filia added to herself, her smile never wavering.

Xellos narrowed his eyes at Filia's 'innocent' smile, not buying the cute act. Hmm, maybe he can use this to his advantage. Xellos could feel the sadistic grin twitching at the corners of his mouth as he turned back around to face her. "Well now, that depends," Xellos said as he moved closer to Filia until he was only a few short inches from her face. "On what's in it for me," He all but purred as he opened his amethyst eyes only slightly, an extreme contrast to his head splitting grin.

Filia could feel her face heat and her heart race as Xellos once again invaded her personal space 'he seems to have a habit of doing that,' she thought at the back of her mind. He then brought one hand up to her face and gently traced the line of her jaw. "Well Fi-chan?" Xellos spoke again, his finger hooking under her chin, gently bringing her face closer still to his own.

Filia's mind was running a mile a minute in an attempt to gather all her scattered thoughts to form a coherent sentence. "Uh…what…what would you want?" Filia asked hesitantly, her facing deepening into a darker shade of red.

"Hmm, how about access to my own room again?" Xellos teased, winking one eye at her.

Filia frowned slightly as she raised her eyebrow again. "Uh, how about no," Filia remarked. It was hard enough getting the room in the first place, she wasn't about to give up all that hard work just so he could sneak in whenever he wanted to.

"Aww, you're no fun Fi-chan," Xellos pouted as he withdrew from her, Filia breathing a sigh of relief as she regained her personal boundaries again. "Hmph, alright then. How about you do exactly what I tell you to do while we're out. Does that sound fair enough?" Xellos questioned as he folded his arms.

Filia ran the offer through her head, "not really, no," she replied, not thinking the idea of Xellos controlling what she can and can't do to be remotely fair in exchange for her bringing her only means of protecting herself.

"Well then I guess Macey is staying behind, because that is my final offer," Xellos stated, metaphorically putting his foot down.

"Ugh, fine! I'll do what you ask for this one day within reason!" Filia growled slightly, accepting that she wasn't going win this one.

"Of course within reason Filia. It's not like I'm going to ask you to do a strip tease or anything," 'Although that's not such a bad idea,' Xellos thought to himself as images of Filia giving him a personal show flashed through his mind, 'focus Xellos, focus!'

"Xellos you perv!" Filia yelled as she swung her mace at his face again. To even suggest that she'd ever do something so indecent!

Xellos teleported seconds before the mace made contact and reappeared behind a slightly disoriented Filia, grabbing the wrist that held the mace and brought it up to the side of her head, "Rule number one. No swinging this thing at my head for the entire day, understand?" Xellos said firmly, his hold on her never loosening.

"Understood," Filia confirmed, a small smirk marring her face 'I just won't swing it at your head then'.

"Good," Xellos then let go of her arm, not seeing her smirk from behind her. As soon as she had her arm back she put her mace away and managed to hide her smirk as Xellos made his way in front of her again. "Now that that's settled, shall we get this organised and go?" Xellos said as he started to fade out.

"Oh Xellos, when you ask Jilas tell him that I would consider it a personal favour will you," Filia called out as Xellos fully faded from before her.

"Whatever you say Fi-chan".

/

Xellos had teleported into Filia's Mace 'n' Vase shop, directly in front of the counter. Gravos, who had been sitting behind the counter dozing off, was startled by Xellos's sudden appearance and leaned too far back in his chair, tipping it over. While Jilas, who had just unlocked the front of the store, let out a small yelp and backed up right against the door in an effort to put as much distance as he could between himself and the monster now standing before them.

"Good morning to you all. I've come on behalf of Filia," Xellos stated in an overly formal voice, looking back and forth between the two beast-men as they composed themselves.

"Oi! You have got to stop doing that!" Gravos growled irritably at Xellos as he picked up his chair and set it back in its rightful place.

"Yea'. I's awf'ly rude!" Jilas added as he straitened himself out.

"Perhaps, but right now that doesn't matter that much. I've actually come here for you good Jilas," Xellos said as he turned to face the fox man.

"What? Why me?" Jilas asked, taking a cautious step back from Xellos.

"On behalf of Filia, I need you to come with me for a special job," Xellos replied

"Miss Filia? Is th' boss ok?" Jilas asked in concern.

"She's perfectly fine. Simply a small situation has come up and we are in need of your services for the day," Xellos explained.

"Hey wait. If Miss Filia is in need of help, then shouldn't I go as well? I'm fully prepared to help in any way I can," Gravos said as he made his way out from behind the counter, mindful that his tail not bump into anything.

"This is a job that only requires one of you. Besides Miss Filia needs someone trustworthy to look after the store still, and who better to get the job than the strong and reliable Gravos?" Xellos replied, looking at Gravos over his shoulder as the lizard man lifted his head in an act of superiority.

"Well you get no argument there, that's for sure," Gravos said rather smugly.

"Yes. Well now that that's settled, shall we depart Mr Jilas? Miss Filia is waiting," said Xellos as he faced the fox man again.

"Hmm, I s'pose, if th' boss needs me," Jilas said hesitantly as he approached the monster, still wary of him but willing to trust him if it meant that he could help the boss.

"Very well then, we'll be off now, have a nice day Mr Gravos," Xellos said as he made to teleport away with Jilas in tow.

"Wait, when you go give my regards to the boss and I hope she's well," Gravos called out just as Xellos was leaving with Jilas.

"Will do," Xellos's disembodied voice called back before fading completely, leaving Gravos on his own in the shop.

"-sigh- I hope Jilas gets back soon, I know next to nothing about maths," Were Gravos's resigned thoughts as he went to try and figure out how he was going to tally up the days profits without Jilas.

/

Xellos reappeared seconds later inside the doorway of the bedroom with Jilas standing in front of him. When they appeared they found Filia sitting on the edge of the bed, humming a small tune to herself.

"Oh Xellos, you're back. And Jilas, good to see you again," Filia said as she stood up from the bed.

"Boss!" Jilas cried as he ran towards her and hugged her around her middle. "Oh boss, me an' boss Gravos were so worried abou' you when you di'nt com' bac' from th' marke's, we di'nt kno' wha' 'ad 'appen' to ya'. We're so 'appy tha' you're alrigh'!" Jilas sobbed as he tightened his hold on Filia as if she would disappear again if he let go.

"Oh Jilas. It's alright I'm fine. I'm sorry I made you worry so much," Filia soothed as she patted the back of his head trying to calm him down.

Throughout the exchange Xellos's eyes had began to glow and a deep growl resounded at the back of his throat. He knew that Jilas meant no harm in hugging Filia, but he still didn't like the way he was clinging to her. 'Mine, hands off before I blast them off,' Xellos thought darkly to himself as he watched Filia pat the back of the fox mans head in a soothing gesture.

Filia's head shot up towards Xellos when she heard his growling pick up a few tempos. Noticing the murderous looks the fox man was getting she hastened to find a way to get Jilas off of her before he was reduced to a black smudge on the ground from their intensity.

"Uh, um, anyway Jilas, about the reason you're here," Filia stuttered as she gently pushed him off her, bending down to his height and looking him in the eyes.

"Oh, righ'. I was tol' tha' ye neede' me for som' special job," Jilas stated, smiling a toothy grin.

"That's right. I needed you to just watch over Val for the day if that's ok with you," Filia asked sweetly.

"Ov course boss! I'd look af'er th' youn' master any day! It woul' be my pleasure!" Jilas replied enthusiastically, giving Filia a small salute.

"I'm thankful Jilas. And when I get back you can expect a handsome pay rise for the extra help," Filia smiled, taking Xellos up on his suggestion. After all Jilas was proving that he deserved it with all he's doing for her.

"No need boss, I'm doing it as a favour to ye. Bu', if ye really wan'ed to pay me bac', th' recipe for ye rabbi' casserole wouldn' go unloved," Jilas said with a small wink in her direction.

"Hehe, oh no you don't Jilas, that casserole is mine. But I'll be happy to make you a batch when I come home, how does that sound?" Filia compensated, giving Jilas a wink of her own

"Oh, I s'pose," Jilas said, slightly downhearted about not getting the recipe, but willing to compensate as long as he got to eat it.

"Ok then, now that that's settled, we'll be going now," Xellos spoke over the two as he moved towards them, gently taking Filia's arm and leading her out the door. "Oh, and it would be greatly advised that you don't leave the room while we're away Jilas. Food will be brought to you and anything else that you may require. Just don't step outside this door or the barrier that is currently protecting you will disappear and you will be at the mercy of the castle inhabitants," Xellos warned in a cheerful manner. If his eyes weren't open and staring intensely at the fidgeting Jilas, one might have assumed that he was joking.

"Ah, I'm sure you'll be alright Jilas. Although it would probably be a better idea to do as he says rather than take the risk," Filia said, giving Jilas an apologetic look.

"-Gulp- No...no need to worry boss, I'll be fine," Jilas stuttered as the pair left the room, Filia shooting Jilas one last sympathetic look before Xellos closed the door to the room.

As soon as the door was closed Filia shot Xellos a heated glare. "Now was there any need for that? You didn't need to scare him like that you know," Filia scolded, pulling her arm from his own and placing both her hands on her hips.

"I simply made sure that he got the message not to leave the room. Or would you prefer to come back to find nothing more than a few bloody skid marks of what used to be him?" Xellos questioned as he rolled his eyes at Filia's attitude, not really phased by it.

Filia pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a small sigh. "All I'm saying is that you could have used a method that didn't include scaring the wits out of him," Filia suggested, hoping in the back of her mind that Jilas wasn't left too affected by what Xellos had said.

"Perhaps," was all Xellos had to say. "Well I do believe that we have been delayed for long enough, shall we?" Xellos said with his usual grin, holding his hand out to her.

Filia gasped as she stared at Xellos's offered hand, flashbacks of her most recent dream hitting her full force. Shaking herself out of her trance, she hesitantly lifted her own hand, and placed it in his outstretched one.