A/N: Insert usual disclaimer stuff here. This is the sequel to Penance and Pursuit of Merit.

Again, I went back and chopped this fic up into chapters. If you want to read the thing straight through, with no chapter divisions, just head on over to my site, Because I chopped it up, some of the chapter transitions may be strange. Sorry about that.

Reviews are always welcome and encouraged!


Several hours later the children were in bed and Xellos sat in his shirtsleeves by the fire, his cloak and boots stowed by the door. Filia came in with tea and handed him a cup, taking the seat opposite him. "Detained, eh?" she said.

He felt his face harden and nodded. "Yes."

Filia sighed and stirred her tea. "I never thought you'd be sitting in my parlor, sipping tea and talking like old friends."

"Yes, you haven't called me raw garbage once since I've been here," he commented, taking a drink.

"Well, I've learned a lot since then, like sometimes there's no line between good and evil. Sometimes things just are how they are."

"Good philosophy to have," he murmured, taking another sip. He would never admit it, but Filia's tea was always quite tasty.

He watched her pause and stare into her cup, as if hoping to make some sort of divination. "I have a lot of questions, Xellos," she whispered. "You and Lina just flew into my life, asking favors but not explaining anything. I feel stupid asking you, of all people, for some straight answers, but I really don't have a choice."

Xellos sighed, wondering how much he wanted her to know. One could never tell when another person's ignorance would come in handy. Still, he probably wouldn't get the information he wanted from her unless he gave her what she wanted. Perhaps a fair trade would be best, in the situation. "I'll tell you the truth, if you answer my questions as well," he said slowly.

"You go first, then," she said, locking his eyes with hers.

"Do you know if Lina is alive?"

Filia blinked. "What? Why would she be dead? Has something happened?"

Xellos cleared his throat. "I thought I had killed her."

Filia dropped her cup, but he managed to dart forward and catch it before it hit the floor. "What?" she stammered, eyes wide and frightened. "You killed Lina?"

"I assume from your reaction that you heard no such thing."

"No. . . Oh Xellos, how could you?"

"I didn't do it on purpose!" he said sharply, feeling his internal balance tip once again. "In fact, I'm not sure it happened at all."

"I'm not following you."

"I'll get to that. Do me a favor first." He set down his cup and saucer and reached inside his pocket, drawing out the ring. "Touch it, and tell me if you can feel anything."

"Is this-"

"Touch it," Xellos commanded, watching Filia flinch at his tone of voice. She reached out gingerly and grazed the metal with her bare fingers, then recoiled as if she had been bitten. "Well? Did you feel anything?"

"It was like. . .Someone. . . I wasn't alone inside my head," she replied haltingly.

Xellos immediately tore off his glove and clutched the ring against his bare palm, closing his eyes and concentrating. Yes! She was there! He had been afraid that the ring would be silent, but Filia had felt it! He could feel it, too. It was faint to him, with his deadened emotional senses, but it was there nonetheless. A sigh of relief escaped him and he pressed the end of his fist to his forehead. "She's alive, Filia. I didn't kill her," he murmured.

"I don't understand," she said, leaning foward in her chair, the firelight playing off of her worried features.

Xellos reached into his pocket and pulled out an orihalcon chain, sliding it through the ring before fastening the whole thing around his neck and dropping it down the front of his shirt. "Obviously Lina told you something when she was here," he said softly, staring into the fire.

"Some. Not much. Just who the father was, and how that was possible. Xellos, what are those rings? They're not like anything I've ever seen. Lina has one, too, and I saw hers light up when you showed up."

"She called to me, whether she meant to or not, and through the rings I felt her pain. I thought she was in trouble. I never knew she was giving birth. I didn't even know she was with child. I abandoned a mission to go to her, and I have spent the time since that day living out my punishment."

"But she gave birth months ago!"

"And I was punished for months on end."

"They took the ring from you?"

"They took everything from me."

"That's why her ring went dark."

"I suppose so. It was off of my body, and in a pocket dimension as well. I doubt she could feel anything through the ring." He was mildly surprised when she suddenly reached out and put a hand on his knee.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm so very sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about," he said coldly. "What has happened has happened. I plan to move forward. At least now I know what she was going through, and I know she isn't dead."

"You mentioned that you thought you killed her? How is that possible?"

"It was part of my punishment, you see. The Greater Beast was trying to separate the human from my soul and failed. So she ordered her underlings to sever my ties to humanity. I believe that they created a dream for me, and in that dream Lina attacked me, blaming me for the deaths of her friends. I tried to defend myself, but I was exhausted from the previous months of torture, and lost control. She impaled herself on the end of my staff and died in my arms, cursing and hating me with her last breath. Of course, I didn't know it was a dream until now."

Filia didn't respond, and so he glanced over at her. She was staring at him, blue eyes wide as tears rolled down her face. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she repeated.

Something pulled inside of him and he nodded. "There's nothing to be sorry about. I've told you that already. I now know the truth, and that she's safe. That's all that matters."

Filia nodded and they sat in silence for quite some time, each lost in their own thoughts. Xellos was rembering Lina smiling at him, her face relaxed as she slept, her fingers dancing down his bare chest as they sat together in the pond behind their cabin. "Do you think she ever loved me?" he asked softly.

Filia stirred and put her chin in her hand, not taking her eyes off of the flames in the hearth. "I don't know, Xellos. I don't know if she knew. I know she missed you, though, and with Lina that sometimes has to be enough."

"Monsters can't love," he murmured, and continued to stare into the fire until long after Filia had gone to bed.