Author's notes: You'll find the disclaimer on the first page.

I won't promise that I'll finish because if I did that I probably wouldn't, if that makes sense. All I can tell you is that I'll try my best to keep things flowing!

Nothing is right

The clock was ticking; Xellos was intrigued. The monster watched as each second ticked away. It was like counting down the hours of living. It was kind of depressing in a way knowing that time would continue wearing everyone away. He slowly reached up and stopped one of the hands.

"Stop playing with that!" Filia snapped at him.

He glanced back at her before withdrawing his hand to let the hand tick by. Tick tick tick… What an annoying sound. Couldn't the flow of time adopt a more pleasant hum?

The elder had recovered completely much to Filia's relief. He was standing near the table, watching Xellos suspiciously. The monster didn't seem to notice this however. He seemed intent on messing up her clock. Now she was going to have to reset it.

"Xellos! I mean it!"

The monster sighed and let his hand fall again.

"Fine, but they'll all die you know."

This was ridiculous! She would have thrown him out by now if she thought she could. Maybe hitting him with her mace would work. It seemed to work before.

"What kind of mind games are you playing this time Beast Master?" Milgazia inquired.

The monster stepped away from the clock and smiled pleasantly.

"No more mind games… There's too much of that already," he replied. "Beast Master…?" He clutched his head tightly and backed up a few paces. The pain was returning. "No…"

Filia was about to burst. He kept saying things that didn't make any sense! Even though Filia hated to admit it, she was beginning to miss the old Xellos; the one who'd laugh, and smile a lot, the one who'd vanish when you needed him only to return when you didn't. The Xellos that would have fought with her over stupid mindless little things…

Wait a minute… She wasn't supposed to miss him! She sat down and banged her head against the table. How was she going to get him out of her house?

"You!" she exclaimed pointing an accusing finger at him. "Are insane!"

"Ah," he clasped his hands together and cradled his staff in the crook of his elbow. "You noticed."

"That was obvious enough…" Milgazia muttered. "But that still doesn't explain why you are here."

"That's right!" Filia said as she snatched his staff away from him. Milgazia seemed shocked at her accomplishment. He had never seen someone face down the Beast Master the way Filia did.

Xellos looked stunned as well, but this quickly turned into anger. It hurt to be angry he realized as a sharp pang hit his body. He smiled as he tried to hold the pain off. Filia really was testing his limits. Torture… It was eating away at him again.

"Filia…" He whined.

"If you want this back you're going to have to leave Xellos!" she announced as she headed towards the front door.

"Xellos…" Milgazia said calling the monster's attention. "Please don't harm her… She's still young…"

"I'm not crazy enough to kill Filia," he replied sounding less insane than he was. "Lina would kill me if I did that."

The elder Dragon nodded. He knew that the young human girl he had met a few years earlier definitely could kill Xellos. Would Filia really be worth it to the sorceress he wondered. Xellos seemed to think so.

The monster silently followed Filia to her front door. He wanted his staff back. It was his. A thought suddenly struck him and suddenly he realized that it didn't matter. Nothing in this world was truly his. It could all be taken away.

"Now will you be a good monster and leave me alone?" she asked.

"I don't want to leave," he said simply. "Keep my staff. I haven't had it for years anyway…"

"Why are you so determined to stay here?" she asked shoving the staff back into his possession.

Pain shot through his body and he cried out and dropped his staff as he stumbled back. It wasn't stopping! Xellos wanted to die. The ache that racked his existence had suddenly grown and crashed into him like an unbearable wave. He screamed and fell forward, clawing at his clothing. He closed his eyes against the pain, but it wouldn't stop.

Filia stood back stunned. "X-Xellos…?"

Oh gods… What was she supposed to do now? She knelt by him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He cried out again and writhed in agony.

"Oh gods… Oh gods…" she said under her breath.

Suddenly Milgazia was beside her. She hadn't even noticed him enter the room. He stood over Xellos and said in a calm but powerful voice, "Xellos, look at me."

The monster managed to open one eye. He looked up at the golden dragon that was doing something with his hands. Xellos watched intently. He held as much trust for a golden dragon as they had for him. He became perfectly still and the pain subsided, for the most part.

"What did you do Elder Milgazia?" Filia questioned feebly. She hated the sound of anything suffering… and Xellos had been suffering very much.

"Absolutely nothing…"Milgazia replied. "He just needed a distraction."

"You seem to know an awful lot about my condition Milgazia..." Xellos said meekly as he forced himself to slowly sit up from his place on the floor.

The golden dragon turned away and headed back into the kitchen, and a small smile tugged at his lips.

"Let's just say I know what you've been through."

Filia glanced at Xellos who sheepishly smiled up at her. He placed his hands in his lap and fiddled a little with his gloves.

"What does he mean?" she asked.

"I…" he hesitated as another flash of pain took him. "I was mean to Milgazia before."

"And he's still helping you?" she shook her head in amazement.

"He's strange," Xellos said impassively. He didn't care why the elder decided to help him. All he cared about was that at the moment he was free to think without being tormented… It hurt. He couldn't let himself think about the pain.

"The clock… can I play with it now?"

Filia picked up his staff off the floor and held it out to him. He shied away from it.

"Please don't…" he whimpered. He cringed and grasped his aching torso. "Stop it… stop…"

"Oh Xellos," Filia said quietly as she moved the staff away from him. "What happened to you..?"

More notes: This was another easy chapter to write, but unfortunately my inspiration usually doesn't last very long. Must keep writing…