A/N: Everyone was really well-behaved regarding what happened with Freddy. {grin} You guys gave me great feedback. Thing is, now I've come to expect it! No pressure to review, of course. Also, people want the ending in short spurts, but I think that if I actually get the ending finished, I'll just post the whole danged thing. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Xellos sat in a chair in the garden, watching Lina scowl to herself as she paced up and down the walk, book held in front of her. A pair of glasses dangled from the corner of her mouth. She didn't actually need them, but sometimes they helped the headaches she got from reading sixteen hours a day. He thought she looked adorable in them. His children, his beautiful children, were in the house behind him, banned from the outdoors until they had finished their studies. Seeing as how it would be dark in just a couple of hours, they probably wouldn't have much daylight to enjoy. Gorran had grown quite a bit in the last year, his frame just beginning to have the lankiness of a teenager, and his muscles were just barely starting to mature under Gourry's tutelage. Lecia had fully blossomed into womanhood, and Xellos refused to think about the way the boys in town sniffed around her. However, since the Alfred incident the year before, Lecia hadn't really shown much of an interest in boys, instead preferring the company of Filia, Val, and her family, along with a couple of local girls.

Lina halted in the middle of her pacing and growled, rifling through the pages. "Dammit! What did he ask?"

Xellos sighed and set his tea down. "Gorran's having trouble with his white magic, especially the flow break. Zel was just worried, that's all."

"Well, the answer's not in here. The answer's not in any of these."

"My dear, the answer is that our child is a teenage boy. Of course his white magic is going to wane- one must be pure of thought to wield it. Why do you think there are so few male white mages?"

Lina's face further scrunched up in her scowl. "And you're sure?"

"Absolutely. It'll clear up once he's found his true love."

She raised an eyebrow. "You still believe in that crap?"

Xellos smiled. "Of course I do. I've seen it happen thousands of times over the past several millenia. It exists. Lina, you may have been meant for Gourry, but you're my soulmate."

"Bah," she growled, but the corners of her lips turned up and her gaze was gentle. Walking over to him, she pitched her book and glasses into a chair and sat down in his lap, running her slender, strong fingers through his hair. "You know, I might be an old lady, but I sure do find you attractive."

"Mmm," he murmured, moving aside her thick mane and nuzzling her neck. "We should do something about that. Besides, if you want to argue age with me, I think I have you beaten."

She laughed and placed her hands on his face, tilting it up so that their lips met. They kissed for a long, delicious moment, and he marveled at how, even after so many years, he desired her more every day. He was just about to sweep her off her feet and retire to their room when he heard the pounding of feet in the house. Both Xellos and Lina turned their heads toward the door and a moment later Gorran barreled outside.

"Are your studies finished?" Xellos asked, slightly annoyed at being interrupted, when he noticed the mischevious glitter in his son's eyes.

"Why were you running in the house?" Lina demanded, her own gaze snapping. It seemed that she was even more annoyed at being interrupted than he was.

"Lecia's got a boy in her room! Their clothes are off!" the boy blurted, a gleeful smile on his face.

Lina narrowed her eyes. "Quit making things up. I know you're just angry at her for stealing part of your dessert."

"I'm not!" he protested.

Xellos felt his chest cavity fill with ice. His precious daughter, cavorting with some dirty boy? Unthinkable? "Excuse me," he said, gently sliding Lina from his lap.

"Oh, come on, Xellos. You can't seriously-"

"I'll be right back," he said, sweeping past them into the house. He heard Gorran hot on his heels as he thundered up the stairs. In no time he stood in front of Lecia's bedroom door. Rapping sharply, he said, "Lecia? Are you in there?"
The rustling of fabric met his ears and he tried the knob. The door was locked. Rage exploded inside his temples. Xellos was slow to anger, but as he had spent more and more years as a human, the easier anger held him in its grasp. "Lecia?" he asked. "You come out right now. You had better not have a boy in there."

"She does!" chirped Gorran.

"You!" Xellos snapped. "Go to your room."

"But-"

"Go," Xellos ordered, and Gorran retreated, sticking his head out into the hall while the rest of him was safely across the threshhold of his quarters. "Lecia, I'm coming in there!"

"Wait," he heard a muffled voice say, but he was already in the process of kicking down the door. The slab of wood flew inward and he strode in after, it, his eyes focused on a tall, fleeing form. He noticed Lecia in his peripheral vision, clad only in her panties and holding a shirt over her breasts to cover them. Anger flared within him even hotter, and he reached out and snagged the retreating boy by the wrist. Pulling violently and without even looking at his victim, he charged downstairs and past Lina, who stared at him and his captive, jaw dropped and eyes wide. Xellos pushed through the front door and slammed his prisoner up against a tree, his forearm pressed against the boy's throat. His eyes narrowed when he saw who he had caught.

"How dare you take advantage of my daughter," he snarled, his rage turning to ice. He had known and trusted the boy, and yet the teenager had been prepared to endanger sweet Lecia's future.

"Stop it!" he heard Lecia cry, but he wasn't about to listen to her.

"Oh, Val," Lina groaned, and Xellos pressed harder against the boy's trachea.

"I'm sorry," the tall boy croaked, his golden eyes wide with fear. "We weren't going to go all the way, I promise."

"Promises are cheap," Xellos hissed, slowly crushing the boy's windpipe. Suddenly his other arm was grabbed and tugged, but he merely shook the offender away.

"Don't, Daddy!" Lecia cried, voice breaking. He spared her a glance and saw that she had only put on the shirt; her legs were still completely bare.

"Get inside, Lecia," he snapped. "I'm going to teach this boy a lesson. He'll never touch you again."

"Xellos, calm down," Lina said, hovering at his side but obviously knowing better than to touch him. "Let's talk about this."
"He was going to defile our daughter, Lina."

Val gurgled and clutched at Xellos' arms. Xellos noticed the boy was only in his underwear. "Daddy, please," Lecia pleaded.

"Dad, come on," Gorran chimed in, and his quick look showed him the child's troubled amethyst eyes, his arms aroudn his sister, who was nearly in tears. "I didn't mean for this to happen, I'm sorry."

"Xellos, get a hold of yourself," Lina ordered, but he wasn't listening to her.

"She's my precious baby," Xellos grated, glaring at Val with all the hatred he could muster. Black power began rolling off of him in waves. Val's red face broke out in a sweat as his eyes opened even wider. His body reeked of fear. "Now you're going to pay."

"Daddy, no!" Lecia screamed. "I love him!"

Xellos' body went utterly numb and he staggered backward, releasing the boy. Val gasped and coughed, sliding to the ground as Lina dashed forward to support him. Xellos merely stared at the scene. Lina had her arms around Val's bare shoulders as the boy spat and struggled for air while Gorran cradled a kneeling Lecia in his arms. Lecia was on the verge of sobbing, her entire body trembling. "What?" he asked his daughter.

She looked up at him, eyes beginning to swell with unshed tears. "He wasn't forcing me into anything," she explained. "I'm in love with Val."

Xellos rubbed at his face with his hands, as if he was trying to wake up from a dream. His eyes immediately went to Lina, who was looking at him with a grim expression. Gorran was also looking at him, his eyes wary. "And what do you have to say for yourself?" he asked Val, his anger leaking away and replaced by a hollow, helpless feeling.

"I love Lecia, too," he rasped. "I always have."

"No," Xellos said, the situation not processing inside his brain. "You're my baby girl, you're not ready-"

"She is," Lina interrupted. "She's old enough to make her own decisions. She's eighteen, Xellos. Do you remember what I was doing at eighteen?"

Xellos looked around at each of them, mouth hanging open in shock. Was it true? Had his precious daughter grown away from him. "But. . ." he said, unable to form a coherent thought.

Lina left Val, whose face had finally returned to a normal color, and approached her husband. "Xellos, it's okay to be upset. So much has happened to us, and we love our children so much, but at a certain point you have to let them go to become their own people."

"But they need guidance," he protested weakly, feeling as if he had just been beaten over the head with a stick.

"Yes, they do, but that's all they need. They don't need us right there unless they specifially ask for it," she replied. "You can still love her, but you need to give her control of her own life."

"Mom," Lecia murmured, and the tears began to fall, but not for the purpose they had been summoned.

"It's okay, kiddo," Lina said gently, and Lecia nodded, running over to Val. Xellos watched as his daughter tenderly put her hands on the boy's muscular chest. Val smiled and wrapped his tanned arms around her, pulling her close and burying his nose in her hair, his golden eyes sliding closed. Xellos recognized the beatific look on the boy's face; he himself wore it when he held his wife. Val truly did love Lecia, and when Lecia's wide amethyst eyes looked back at the boy, he could see she loved him, too.

"I'm so sorry," he said, a lump rising in his throat. He had almost destroyed his daughter's happiness. It would take him some time to get used to the idea of her being a grown woman, but he would do it. If it meant her happiness, he would do anything.

"Geez, Dad, way to go all caveman on us," Gorran said. "I used to think you were the cultured one."

Lina chuckled and even Lecia smiled. Xellos merely hung his head. "I've behaved abominably," he said softly, crouching near the young lovers. He met Val's eyes and held them, although the boy looked as if he wanted to look away. "Val, I am truly sorry," he said, his voice low with conviction. "If there's anything I can do to make this up to you two, just let me know and I'll do it."

"Well," Lecia said, her tears already dry.

"It can wait," Lina interrupted, and Xellos recognized the tone of warning in her voice. "Let him get used to the idea first."

Xellos wondered briefly what she was talking about, then realized he was too tired to care. He couldn't believe it was already sunset. "Does your mother know you're here?" he asked the dragon.

"No," Val said, hanging his head. "She thinks I'm studying at the library."

Xellos helped the boy to stand. "Then I think you should collect your things and go home. She doesn't need to know about this."

"I'd marry her, if she let me," Val whispered to Xellos, too low for anyone else to hear. "I'd take care of her for the rest of her days."

Xellos couldn't help but chuckle. Although the idea of it was difficult for him, Val would soon have his own share of difficulties if he tried to make a life with Lecia. "An Inverse woman doesn't want to be married or taken care of," he said softly. "She only wants you to stand by her side, just in case."

Val looked at him strangely, then nodded and trotted inside, Lecia following after. Gorran glanced at his parents, shrugged to himself, and went inside as well. Lina came up to him and looked him in the eye. "Are you done being insane now?" she asked sharply.

Xellos managed a weak smile. "Yes, beloved," he said softly. He eyed the house, envisioning the children inside. "Have they. . . " he asked.

"No," Lina said, leading him inside. "They haven't. I told her it wasn't going to happen in my house. Why do you think I make sure he always comes over here?"

Xellos smiled, proud of his intelligent mate. "You're incredible," he murmured, pulling her close and kissing the crown of her head. He supposed she was right. As much as the thought turned his stomach, Lecia wouldn't get pregnant from contact with Val, and he was certain the dragon was a virgin. She knew herself and she knew her heart, and she had the proper tools to make decisions with. He merely had to trust her; why was that so difficult?

"It's because you love her so much," Lina said, somehow reading his thoughts, and they went inside without any more words.