It's been a while since I wrote the last chapter. So my writing style has matured a lot and gotten more angsty, plus I've actually finished Baten Kaitos. Logged over 100 hours on it- I'm quite pleased with myself. So it's a bit weird going back to that crappy time when Kalas wasn't in the party. Anyway, I'll do my best.

Disclaimer- I don't own anything and there might be some profanity, plus spoilers.

Here we're finding out what's going on with Kalas.

---

Melodia draped herself across the throne, painting a toenail. There wasn't much to worry about- she had a giant-ass ressurected god to protect her and the Raven as her flunkey.

"Kalas, would you be a dear and fetch the nail-polish remover? I've got a smudge." She pouted a bit to further illustrate her plight.

Kalas, who wassitting on the windowsill amidst a pool of glittering white feathers, nodded. "Of course." He strode off to Melodia's rooms to fetch it, shoes clacking on the metallic floors.

Melodia grinned. "That's my little lackey." She stretched out, yawning a little. It was just so...boring around here lately. Kalas didn't seem to be as energetic- feisty- as he was when she'd first met him.

---

Kalas looked around in Melodia's room. Which bottle was the nail-polish remover? There were just so many of them. He rifled through some sparkly crystal flasks, bored. The world-domination plan had seemed okay at first, but now he was reduce to simply fetching and carrying for a spoiled heiress.

He paused to look out the window. How long had it been since he last saw Xelha and the others? He remembered her mounting a bluish white dragon as she'd escaped from the Imperial Fortress, but that was it. And the warm, tickly voice of Relée in the back of his mind, gently advising him about what to do- and Savyna.

Oh, did he miss her. She was just so COOL. And pretty. And aloof. And- gods, she was freaking Lady Death! He'd forgotten about that. She could never like him- the way he liked her. Morosely, he grabbed a bottle of Mountain Apple Wine from one of the shelves and sat down on Melodia's bed, the soft blankets folding around him. He screwed the top off (Melodia may have been Duke Calbren's niece, but she was too stingy even to buy proper corked bottles) and took a swig, thinking of Savyna's beautiful tail feathers.

---

Melodia sat up after some time. The smudge had long since dried, but she had other things to worry about. Where was Kalas? She had sent him off to fetch the nail-polish remover, but he hadn't returned. Poor bastard had probably got lost or fallen in a toilet or something. Even magically enhancing him with the End Magnus didn't make him any smarter, she feared.

Pouting (she had to get her quota for the day in) she slid on a fluffy white slipper, then the other, then padded off to fetch the magnus-born youth. Sniffing at her own lack of forethought, she thought of all the other times she had sent him to get stuff. She always ended up having to do it herself.

When she got there, she was too late- Kalas was asleep on her bed, empty bottle of Mountain Apple Wine in hand. She sat down beside him, smoothing his blue hair from his face. He really was pretty.

Then she screamed, "WAKE UP!"

He sat up and looked around. "Wha...? Why have I got this headache? What am I doing here?" Then he saw Melodia (frowning) beside him on the bed. "Oh... uh... I couldn't find the nail polish remover... so I got sidetracked... and..."

"That's alright, I understand."

He sighed with relief. "Oh, that's good."

"NOW FIND ME THE DAMN NAIL POLISH REMOVER!"

---

After that was cleared up, Melodia sat while Kalas fixed her smudge. Fitting penance, she thought. After having the nerve to...

He looked up from her toes. "I feel like a pickle."

She handed him a Deluxe Pickles magnus.

"No, I feel like a pickle. You know when you order a Pow burger and you get those hot, ketchupy pickles in them that you don't really want all that much but you eat anyway because they're a part of the burger? Well, since I was a part of Xelha's party, I still had to go everywhere with them. And people put up with me, because I was Gibari's friend, or Mizuti's comrade, but nobody really seemed to like me for me. Like a pickle."

Melodia hugged Kalas's blue head. "Aww, po' baby. Muffin."

Filler until I can think of something better. Sorry for the disappointment. At least I updated.