Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. They are the property of Hajime Kanzaka and Shoko Yoshinaka.

Chapter Five- Alien

A Song by Erasure

Italics - Lyrics

Black – Any Narrative

It was raining. It had begun raining about an hour ago. Filia had not left her cabin. She felt really lazy in her hammock. It was starting to get pretty stuffy. There was probably a storm on the way, but it wasn't bad yet. She kept thinking that she had to get up and get something to eat and something fresh to breathe before it got really bad.

She rolled herself out of the hammock. Outside it was hot even though it was raining. The drops of water felt soft and warm; maybe she was being silly staying in her cabin. The sea stretched out before her and rolled in great gray waves, and the ship rocked. She put her hands on the railing to steady herself and laughed out loud.

Lex suddenly grabbed onto the railing beside her. Besides the ponytail, he had an indigo bandana across his forehead. There were droplets of clear water on his cheeks.

"Get ready," he said in a low voice.

The ship heaved twice as hard as before, and seemed to be thrown up in the air as a child would launch a kite. She held on tight, but it felt like her hands were about to break when they came to the tip of the arch. The force of it would have thrown her into the air with it, but Lex grabbed her arm and helped her pull herself back down.

Cuts to the quick
Pure emotion, a trip
No word of a lie

"What are you doing out of your cabin?" he asked her after the ship had regained some of its balance. "It's not safe."

"I see that now."

The wind was raging heavily, and the rain was coming harder. The sky was a dark clear colour as though the rain clouds had taken on all the qualities of smoky glass. The ship bowed low, a tall wave towering above them now, as though they stood at the foot of a fluid mountain, and it was going to come down.

The water was cold and hard as it buried the Blue Rose. It pulled at Filia's hair and pulled her limbs with such strength that she thought she might have to let go of the rail. She closed her eyes to the stinging, but she wouldn't let go. She would never let go.

As the ship came out from beneath the water, Filia realized that Lex had not let go of her arm. The wave hit him hard. His bandana was around his neck and his pony tail had fallen out. His hair hung exactly as the Priest's, but for the first time she didn't think of Xellos.

"Why were you here, just when I came out of my cabin?" she asked abruptly. "Didn't you have somewhere else to be? You're first mate."

Letting go of her, he put a finger to his lips and mouthed, "It's a secret."

Pressed to your lips
We collide, slowly twist
Ardent and lithe

Previous decision was powerful when it was used by Filia Ut Copt. Regardless of the purely Xellos gesture he had just preformed, she was going to believe him.

Seeps into the ground
Kisses the earth and I am found

The ship lurched again, but this time it bounced like a rubber ball. The unexpected motion pulled at her fingers and she was torn from the railing. She was in the air now and would soon fall into the water, but her heart didn't even beat faster. She was in no danger at all. Golden Dragon that she was, all she needed to do was open her consciousness and take her true form, or even just allow her wings to unfurl.

"Filia!"

She heard someone calling her name. Her sight and her memory seemed to fade from her. In these mere seconds, before she hit the water, she was afraid for a moment that she would fall asleep. That her heart would just stop beating and her mind would just stop functioning. She needed to hit the water. She needed to wake up. She needed to have that moment of physical pain, even if it separated her from the ship, even if she got lost, even if she didn't see the violet haired mazoku for a long time.

They would meet again.

Love's young dream could be alien
Strange ways how we fly
Tuning low like a radio
Whispering goodbye

Lex caught her. He didn't say anything, but his bear arms closed around her, not letting her hit the water. Then suddenly he was setting her down in her cabin.

He teleported to save me, she told herself. She sat down on the floor, and then laid on her back to look at him. He had his back to her and had his hand in his hair.

"Gomen," he said. "I didn't mean for you to see that."

"You mean your little trick?" she said. "Don't worry, you haven't betrayed yourself. I knew you were a mazoku."

"How could you know that?" he asked turning to her, and he seemed to come to a realization before her eyes. "Xellos is a mazoku," he concluded dryly. "How is it that you can keep such friends? You seem so pure, even though you're jaded. Just so it seems - softly potent, serene - vacant and shy . . . You are everywhere . . . under my skin and in my hair."

Love's young dream could be alien
Strange ways, how we fly
Tuning low like a radio
Whispering goodbye

"Don't go," Filia said as he turned to leave. "Don't think that I hold it against you that you are a monster."

"Who wouldn't hold it against me that I am a monster?" he asked with a violent twist of his lips.

"The gods and monsters don't fight as they used to."

"There is no use for me to ask you to love me," he said back to her, missing the purpose of her comment. "I would be forever young whereas you will die so soon."

"Then you have no idea who you are talking to," she said. "Who would be acquainted well enough with a monster to call him by his name? To recognize him in the market place and not be afraid to approach him? Who?"

"The war of the Monster's Fall," he said. "Did you fight for the Gods?"

"I'm not such an old ryzoku," she said.

Seeps into the ground
Kisses the earth and I am found

His eyes opened wide, with an expression totally foreign to Xellos' features.

"You're a dragon!" he said, obviously astonished. He turned his back to her. "You were in no danger just now then? And you were never in love with that fellow you think I look like – Xellos? You couldn't be. A dragon in love with a monster? Ha! Someone who serves the gods could never love one who served the demons. So, there was never any hope, either for him or for me."

Love's young dream could be alien
Strange ways, how we fly
Tuning low like a radio
Whispering goodbye

"I did love Xellos," she said steadily.

He whipped his head around to look at her. "You didn't mean that just now?" he asked staring at her with sharp eyes.

"I meant it," she said, "but I would never want him to know that I used to feel that way. You have to understand that he and I have a very long history – of quarrelling. He saved my life. He's threatened to kill me. He never stopped using me. You cannot admit love to someone who will use you. At least I couldn't set myself up for that."

"Do you think I am like him?" Lex asked.

"I hope that you won't disappoint me."

Love's young dream could be alien
Strange ways, how we fly
Tuning low like a radio
Whispering goodbye

"I have to go," he said. "The captain will be wondering where I am, and he needs me as this storm will not let up until we work our way out of it. I hope we are not too far off course," he said. "Sayonara," he whispered.

Love's young dream could be alien
Strange ways, how we fly
Tuning low like a radio
Whispering goodbye

Lex opened the door to Filia's cabin. The captain had insisted he get some rest. He shouldn't be here. He knocked, but there was no answer, so he let himself in. A lamp was burning low in the corner. She was in the hammock. Her hair was in a ponytail and fanning out behind her. He was holding his hammock in his arms. He hooked it up as quietly as he could.

He was miserable tonight.

A servant of the gods must be able to lend peace to any creature – even a mazoku.

He laid down in his separate hammock. He looked across and saw warm colours in her cheeks.

Love's young dream
Could be serene
So alien