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Xellos sat behind the huge oaken desk in the middle of his cabin, watching the ranting girl from behind steepled fingers. She had been talking for a full five minutes straight without taking a breath, and her face showed no signs of stopping. Xellos had tuned her out almost as soon as she started speaking. Instead, he studied her rather perfect figure and long blonde hair, taking assessment of what it would take to seduce her into his bed and payroll. A strange little smile played across his mouth, betraying his rather impure thoughts about the pretty girl.
A shiver ran up Filia's back, caused her to turn and look at that little smile. She felt bile rising in her throat, and swallowed quickly to force it back down. Glaring hard at the captain, she leaned forward and slammed her palms flat on the desk.
"Captain Xellos," she exclaimed, "what is your plan for returning my mistress to her father and her fiancée?"
Xellos blinked, coming out of his licentious daydreams at the suddenness of her soft palms on his hard desk. Fixing his eyes on her prettily angry face, he stood in one smooth motion and rested a hand on his hip. This caused the shirt he was wearing to ride up a little and flash glimpses of hard stomach muscles.
Filia met those hellish red and yellow eyes with her own shining blue fearlessly. Her hard gaze didn't even flicker down to the splash of skin he was so politely displaying, and returned none of the heat in his gaze. Perplexed, Xellos retreated to the windows of his cabin, meeting the gaze of the sea instead of hers. He spoke as if to the sea, instead of the shining golden girl behind him.
"The guards at the Inverse Manor mentioned several strange characters roaming around the market the day that Miss Inverse was kidnapped," he explained, managing to convey the tone that it was incredibly tedious to have to explain it. "There was a giant half troll and a hooded man who never showed his face. The giant's name is Dilgear, unless I miss my guess, and the hooded man was none other than Captain Zelgadis. Without a doubt, your little mistress is now in the hands of the Chimera Captain."
He paused for a moment, awaiting her gasp of revulsion and loathing at the mention of the Chimera Captain. This was his particular favorite act of slander against Zelgadis; causing fear and horror at the very mention of his name so that no one forgot that he was the true monster. However, Filia would be a hard case.
When she made no sound of any kind, Xellos turned to look back at her. She was standing exactly where he had left her, watching him calmly. He stared at her a moment, shocked, and then could not hold his wagging tongue any longer.
"Why are you not worried for your lady?" he demanded.
Filia smiled a little at him, her blue eyes betraying a hint of mischief. "Because, Captain, unlike you, Captain Zelgadis used to be a courtier. He is an honorable man, or at least he used to be before his misfortunes, who will treat my lady with at least some respect until he gets what he wants. He is still a good man at heart, while you are a true monster."
Her eyes glowed fiercely as she continued. "You are a ruthless, filthy, disgusting idiot who doesn't know his arm from a flagship. You couldn't hold onto my lady Lina because you were too stupid to anticipate that she would sink your ship the first time and find a means of escape the second! You are a lowly pirate, begotten by a mangy dog and a dockside floozy!"
With that parting jab, Filia pivoted on her heel and stalked towards the door. Her hand had barely grasped the knob when she felt Xellos's hot breath on the back of her neck. She froze, her back rigid, as he growled softly in her ear.
"My father was the most charitable of men, young lady, and none of your concern. As for my comparison to the Chimera Captain, at least I am not a true monster who kidnaps young girls from their beds at night."
Filia opened her mouth to utter a sharp reply, but his breath in her ear cut her off. "Am I not also a good man, Miss Filia? I am taking on this quest to help your master, with no gain for myself. Is that not a good thing to do? And am I not, at the very least, less monstrous to look upon than the Chimera Captain?"
Filia whirled on him in anger, her face red. "As if someone with the eyes of a monster could be considered pleasant to look upon, you filthy curr!" she spat.
Xellos stared at her for a moment, and then touched his cheek with one hand. An odd smile popped onto his lips as he leaned towards her. "I had almost forgotten about that old spell. Are my eyes truly that hideous?"
Filia met those eyes easily and nodded hard, wishing she could poke out his eyes with her fingernails. Xellos's eyes opened wide, and he burst out laughing. She stared at him, shocked, as he leaned back and held his sides to keep himself from bursting with his laughter. He threw back his head and let his voice bounce off the rafters as Filia moved back against the door, pressing her body against it as she watched him laugh. His laughter scared her more than anything else.
"All the legends and tales about me, and she's scared of my eyes!" he guffawed. "These eyes! These foolish, spelled eyes!"
His laughter stilled as he reached towards her face. Filia flinched away, afraid of the blow that was coming. Instead, he grasped her chin in his hands and lifted her eyes to his again. She stared, amazed, as the red and yellow irises bled away from his eyes as fresh paint in the rain, leaving behind violet eyes so vibrant that Filia was unable to look away. Xellos smiled at her, and his face was much more inhuman now, softer, warmer, kinder.
What am I doing? Filia cried inside her mind. This is the Monster Captain! He's the scourge of the seas! He tried to hurt Miss Lina!
"The eyes are the only lie I tell people, pretty Filia," he crooned softly to her entranced face. "My true eyes betray my true heart."
Filia's hand scrambled for the doorknob as Xellos face inched closer and closer to hers. He pursed his lips and closed his eyes a little, reaching for her lips. Her hand closed on the knob as her other hand flew under her skirt, throwing it upwards to reveal a huge mace strapped to her garter. Xellos, with his eyes closed and his lips puckered, never knew what hit him when she slammed the mace into his kissable face and catapulted him out the window and into the waiting sea. She panted, the proverbial spell broken, and leaned against the wall, resting her huge mace on the floor.
She smiled softly to herself, having relieved the tension of the last few days. "Ahh, that's much better. That'll teach that nasty monster that I am not to be played with."
"But I enjoy playing with you, my dear Filia," Xellos said, popping his head back inside the broken glass and grinning at her.
Filia ran screaming from the room, leaving her mace to lie forlornly on the floor. She was chased down the hallway by Xellos's maddeningly seductive laughter as he climbed back inside his cabin and pulling out his charts again.
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~If this seems OOC, it's because I'm trying my best to understand Filia's relationship to Xellos in the anime. Be kind in your OOC comments, please. I've tried my best to stay as close to in character as I can.
~~Some of you may be wondering why every character except Amelia is in this story. That's because I can't stand Amelia. I hated her character in all three series, and I just can't write her correctly in this fic and still stay IC. Sorry, all you Amelia lovers.