I just read the reviews… I AM SOOOOO SORRY! I HAD NO IDEA PEOPLE REALLY LIKED IT!! I REALLY DIDN'T MEAN TO LEAVE THIS THAT LONG ANYWAY! UPLOADS WILL BE SLOW BUT I PROMISE I'LL BE GOOD FROM NOW ON REALLY!  I AM SO SORRY! I DESERVE TO BE FLAYED ALIIIIVE! For those of yo that don't know, I posted the first chapter about.. oh, last December and I haven't done anything on it since. I started final year and you would not BELIEVE how much crap they make us do so it's come really slowly and I get bored of this from time to time but THAT'S NO EXCUSE! God, I feel so awful…

For disclaimer please see chapter one if you care. I  think it's there.

Chapter 2

You Know The World's Gone Crazy When-

Val's sharp, pointed ears picked up the murmurs of a whispered conversation at the end of the extensive garden just outside the floor-level balcony of the Seyruun palace ballroom. He narrowed his eyes, recognising one voice, but not the other. The one he recognised was L'risia's, and she sounded rather fed-up with the world in general…. although taking into consideration the girl's normal attitude, that didn't really tell him much. The other voice was male, probably belonging to a boy no older than sixteen judging from the slightly cracked quality of his voice, though it was mostly the silky, slightly musical tone Val associated with Xelloss's voice. Val automatically found his footsteps becoming silent, his breathing long and soft. He blended naturally with the shadows until he came within ten metres of where the pair was standing.

L'risia was indeed discussing something with a young man. He was a little shorter than she was, with slightly wavy blue hair. He was, like she was normally, dressed mostly in black and clearly not here for the party atmosphere. He was cleaning blood off his face with L'risia's handkerchief as he spoke of something; Val couldn't understand a word of the language. He'd never heard it before in his life, and he wondered suspiciously whether this was on purpose. The boy finished cleaning his face, and the handkerchief burst into blue flames in his hand. He casually let the ashes flutter to the ground, finishing his long explanation. L'risia looked even more annoyed. The boy maintained a calm, if slightly worried smile. Finally L'risia sighed and nodded, and then looked directly in Val's direction. The boy glanced over his shoulder.

'Which one is that, L'ri?' he asked, in Common.

'That's Val, Filia's son.' L'risia said. 'Val c'mere, stop skulking.'

Val came towards them, running a hand through his aquamarine hair. L'risia indicated the boy with a graceful wave of her hand.

'Val, this is my friend Rei. Rei, this is my friend Val.'

'I hear about you all the time.' Rei said, shaking Val's hand enthusiastically. Val noted the boy was quite a bit stronger than he looked.

'You do?'

'Yeah, L'ri doesn't have a life.' Rei sniggered. L'risia's eyebrow twitched, and she whacked the back of his head, and then threw a stunning smile at Val.

'Shall we go back? Rei needs a change of clothes and Zel or you are the ones closest to his size…but since we're here.'

'L'risia, I don't need a ch-' Rei began, with a roll of his eyes that greatly reminded Val of the way he'd talked to Filia when he was about fifteen. L'risia bent down slightly and glared at Rei until his sentence trailed off into a sullen silence. L'risia smirked and nodded at Val, towing Rei along by his shirt sleeve behind her.

'So how exactly do you two know each other?' Val asked, noting the scowl on the boy's face that indicated All Grown-Ups Were Dickheads.

'Er, you might say it's mostly a working relationship. Just don't ask any more.' L'risia muttered. Val nodded. One time he'd pressed the issue and had ended up with ten demons on his trail from a world, L'risia had said, that was five dimensions away.

'So anyway what did you come out for?' L'risia asked, as they neared the light of the ballroom.

'Oh, nothing much.' Val shrugged. L'risia raised an eyebrow at him, but said nothing. They shielded their eyes slightly, stepping into the light, Val moving in front of Rei to stop the boy's bloodied state from being noticed. The way he was acting indicated at the very least, most of that blood was not his own. Val didn't think it was human; it didn't smell the same, and it was too dark. Red yes, but almost black…

'Excuse me, Zelgadis?' Val said, yelling in the most genteel manner he could manage which was, L'risia was surprised to notice, quite passable. 'A word?'

'So how did that kid get like that, L'risia?' Amelia asked, shutting the door of the royal bathroom and blocking out Rei's loud-and-clear report on just how big the bath was and his general suggestions on the purpose of having a bath that big. It was amazing the things teenage male minds to conjure up, L'risia had to admit. She didn't think half of the things he'd suggested were actually physically possible, anyway.

'He's pretty strong and he likes fighting.' She said, skipping the actual question. If Amelia noticed, which she no doubt did, she said nothing and instead opened one of the cupboards and began rummaging through Zelgadis's clothes.

'I see.' She smiled. 'He's a mischievous little charmer, isn't he?'

'…I never thought of it like that…' L'risia mused. 'I suppose that's the polite way to put it.'

'How did you think of him?' Amelia asked, without really thinking.

'Well, mostly as a sex-crazed fourteen year old male, which should tell you enough.' L'risia said.

'How can he be sex-crazed if he'd never-'

'For some reason that doesn't stop teenage guys. Girl's aren't really that much better though they don't tend to think about it every ten seconds and also are generally less…crude about the whole thing.'

'Oh. Cleo says she knows someone who says that if teenage guys don't think about sex every ten seconds they're gay.' Val continued.

'…I think that might be an extremist way of putting it.' Amelia and L'risia said, sweatdropping. Val shrugged, and listened to Rei's next suggestion.

'Look, is that even achievable? I don't see how you could possibly-'

'Let's just not go there.' L'risia said hurriedly, flapping her hands. 'Okay?'

'I HAVE ANOTER THEORY!' Rei announced, at the top of his voice.

'Oh God…' L'risia muttered, and aimed a finger at the door. Rei was halfway through the first word when Val fel the ripple of power, and by the end of the second word his voice had risen two octaves and turned into a scream. Amelia turned pale as the walls shook.

'What did you DO?'

'Oh…nothing.'

'That was one hellava nothing!' Val shouted. Rei flung open the door to the bathroom, his towel hurriedly wrapped around his waist and droplets of steaming water dripping off his skin. There were soap bubbles in his hair.

'L-ri-si-aaaa-' he ground out. L'risia giggled and then sprinted for the door, swearing.

'GET BACK HERE!' Rei yelled. Val 's hand flashed as he sprinted past, and casually folded Rei's towel as he began to count. He got to four before there was a feminine scream from out of the hallway and Amelia's jaw dropped.

Rei reappeared, slamming the door behind him, panting and glaring at Val. Amelia covered her mouth delicately.

'You-' Rei snarled to Val, who smiled innocently.

'How about you just get changed and we'll say no more about any of this.'

When Rei came back down with L'risia, Val and the princess, he was introduced to the others. Rei turned out to be a lot more mature than his previous behaviour had let on, which led Val to puzzle about whether the boy was putting on an act and if he was, which one was the act. Phil bustled over, looking a bit harassed.

'Excuse me lad,' he said, looking at Rei, 'But who are you?'

'My name is Rei.' Rei said, sweeping into a bow with a grace that most nobles could not achieve after thirty years of official functions. 'I'm honoured, your majesty.

'Well, thankyou young man! So polite!'

'I'm sorry, Phil.' L'risia apologised. 'He wasn't invited, but he's a friend and he needed a little help-'

'Oh, no, no, that's quite all right!' Phil beamed. 'It's just that I'm getting loads of questions about who he is, you see! It seems many of the fathers here think he looks like a good future husband for their daughters!'

Rei's face drained of colour.

'Er, someone get me out of this, please…' he muttered.

'He's not available, Daddy.' Amelia said, putting a hand on the boy's shoulder.

'Oh? You're already engaged?'

If possible, Rei's face went even paler. L'risia shrugged and waved a hand airily.

'Yes, he is. To whom we don't know.'

'Oh, I see.' Phil grinned, his big white teeth glittering. And he did see. He'd actually had to pull the same stunt on a couple of nobleman regarding his daughter. When Phil had gone, Rei remembered to breathe.

'I'm too young to even think about getting MARRIED!' he wailed, pretending to cry on L'risia's shoulder. She patted his head, managing to look sympathetic in a very sarcastic manner.

'Yes Rei.' She soothed, her voice dripping with insincerity. Val rolled his eyes. The Gabriev children came up and dragged Rei away after a while, leaving Val and L'risia pretty much alone on the sidelines, since Amelia had had to go an smooth over some rough edges with two rival families and Zelgadis had gone to get the cook down off the city tower again, and Lina and Gourry were dancing. Kind of. Lina was subtly steering Gourry towards the nobles she had Issues with and was taking the opportunity to crush some of the most expensive footwear in the land. Xelloss and Filia were dancing properly, although Filia's expression indicated they were having another minor argument.

'So, are you going to tell me what's going wrong now?' Val asked, watching sequins skitter across the floor.

'No.' L'risia said, her gaze not moving from watching Filia stomp out of Xelloss's gentle grasp and glare at him, waving a finger as she shouted something.

'You sure?'

 Lina smiled a smile that her friends ran away from and fools took for sincerity at the limping noblewoman.

'Yes.'

Xelloss pouted, faking irritation, and put his hands on his hips before saying something else.

'I see.'

Lina and Gourry spun through the crowd again; sending up a line of pained squeaks or grunts.

'Sorry.'

Filia opened her mouth to say something, but Xelloss teleported behind her, taking her raised hand in one of his and kissing her cheek from behind.

Val and L'risia kept on watching the dancing in silence. After a long while Roudy stopped eating and looked at Rei.

'What's wrong with those two, niichan?'

Rei followed the little boy's gaze and looked back at his prototype water gun. He slid another capsule into the chamber and slammed it shut. He looked back at Val and L'risia, absently extending his arm in the direction of the dance floor.

'I imagine they're having a little trouble with secrets again, much like our friend Xelloss and his toy dragon there.'

His trigger finger blurred. There were six splat sounds and six female screeches of surprise. Roudy and Rini's eye widened.

'Wow…' they sighed, looking up at their new idol, who was rummaging around in his bag for a few more rounds.

He'd have to hide the bag in subspace later. Val knew he hadn't had a bag when he'd arrived.

'I certainly didn't expect to see you here.'

'Very few expect to see me anywhere at all.'

'Yes, I imagine so.' Xelloss sipped his cocktail, and delicately ran his tongue around the edge of his lips. 'You are… alone, is that correct?'

Rei laughed.

'Are you offering, Beastmaster? Is the human thing getting to you?'

Xelloss's violet eyes darkened.

'It is… tiresome.'

Rei laughed again, though it was tainted with sadism as he stopped leaning on the other side of the banisters.

'I am fine, Xelloss. I have L'ri.'

'Forgive me, but I was under the impression… it was the other way around.'

Rei strolled away without replying. Xelloss chuckled, and then choked as a pain shot through his chest and stopped his breath. His cocktail glass hit the ground and shattered into tiny stars that shimmered brightly under the chandeliers. Filia turned, her blue eyes widening at the sound of splintering glass and the sight of Xelloss, crumpled up on the ground.