Author's notes: Information anyone? Well here it is! I thought I'd put it a few chapters in because, well, it wouldn't have been very interesting if I gave everything away right at the beginning right?

Apprehensions of Imbalance

The cold hollow halls of the Greater Beast Master's castle were familiar to Xellos, yet it felt strange for him to be walking them on his own power. How many times had he watched the walls drift by him…? He hated being here. It reminded him of too many things he didn't want to remember.

He knew he should have appeared before his Mistress in her chambers, and the Lord of Nightmares knows he did try… But for all of those years of pain and misery, the chamber of his Lord had been his dungeon, and no one in their right of mind would appear in the center of their own prison. Of course, only someone crazy or suicidal would ignore the call of the Greater Beast Master. He was stalling, and he was painfully aware that he couldn't stand out in the hall forever.

"Stalling are you?" a voice as soft as silk whispered from behind him. Xellos spun around and was immediately taken back by what he had feared since he had left Wolf Pack Island; The Greater Beast Master.

The Dark Lord stood in the hall holding a cigarette delicately between her fingertips. Her golden bracelets jingled as she brought her cigarette to her lips for a puff. There was no indication in her manner that she was planning on doing anything that involved too much strain, though Xellos couldn't be sure. He never could read the Greater Beast.

"L-Lord Beast master…" he stammered nervously as he fell respectively to his knees. The pain was gone he realized. The Greater Beast must have extended her powers to him to block it off. This frightened him more than the attacks he had been suffering. At least with the usual excruciating pain he knew what to expect…

"You really have been a disappointment lately," she told him softly. Her calmness was disturbing, especially since Xellos had been expecting her to be furious with him for not returning right away, and she had left her chamber to speak with him. Maybe his usefulness had been completely used up and she was getting ready to kill him. As the silence wore on, Xellos began to truly believe this was the case.

The Dark Lord's expression was unreadable. She took another drag, and the smoke wafted over to him.

"How was your visit with that golden dragon?" she asked. The question had been straight to the point. Her words bit into him, and Xellos flinched. He already knew he had been condemned. The Greater Beast's eyes hardened as she waited impatiently for his excuse. When he couldn't come up with one however, she continued, "You do realize that I will not tolerate you running off to do whatever you please, especially so soon after your punishment."

"Yes," he croaked as he hesitantly rose from the floor. "I-I guess I wasn't thinking! I reacted too hastily and now I'm probably going to regret it, but somehow I don't think I can…of course you'll make me, you always do…"

The Greater Beast smirked at her servant's fearful babbling. She thought that he had learned his lesson that acting on his own whims was utterly intolerable. Unfortunately for Xellos, the Dark Lord was beginning to think that her message hadn't been clear enough. Perhaps it was time for another lesson, though she doubted he could get anymore messed up seeing as he subconsciously tortured himself. Still, it was much more amusing to torture him herself..

She took a step towards him and took pleasure when he shrank away from her hand. With her fingers clenched tightly around his throat, she dragged him closer. He whimpered as her fingernails tore into him… how long would it be this time?

"Xellos," she whispered as her magic began to pierce through his being. He cried out, but he kept his eyes fearfully fixated on his master. Suddenly, she let go and shoved him aside. Xellos felt his body slam against the wall, but he was too stunned to react.

"You are a disgrace to my name…" she told him flatly.

"All of this over Dark Star…" he said quietly as he picked himself up off the ground. "Dark Star… I told you Beast Master… I told you. I never betrayed you." His voice became pleading as he desperately sought some understanding from the Greater Beast, but he found none.

"You deny what you did then?" She asked not sounding the least bit amused.

"No!" Xellos cried falling back to his knees to grovel. "I don't deny anything! I know what you told me, but it became impossible! I tried to get some of Dark Star's power! I tried, but I failed!"

"Yes… and that was forgivable, but then you had to save the world didn't you?"

"I…" Xellos hesitated. This conversation was becoming dangerously close to the last one they had… the one before the pain. How many times had he tried to explain…?

"You told me that you wanted our Lord to destroy the world… not Dark Star…" he argued weakly. He couldn't win.

"I would have been perfectly happy with the world being destroyed by Dark Star," she said in a dangerously cold voice. "But you had to save your precious comrades didn't you..?"

Xellos was about to object, but the Greater Beast sighed in irritation cutting him off.

"It'd be wise for you to stop arguing with me," she told him. She enforced what she said by sending a massive shock through his body that tore away a part of his astral being. He screamed and fought desperately to gather himself, but there was nothing he could do. He already knew this, but he had to get it to stop… It would stop, but not soon enough… it was never soon enough. The Greater Beast was no longer in the mood for a meaningless dispute, and she had made this fact painfully obvious.

When Xellos had calmed down enough to listen, his master continued, "I can no longer keep what happened from the other Dark Lords Xellos. That is why I can no longer have you as my priest... and you can thank your comrades for that."

For a moment, Xellos couldn't understand what the Greater Beast had told him… Then suddenly it clicked, and he felt something break inside of him. This pain was the worst he had ever felt in his life, and it wasn't even physical… emotional turmoil was always worse. Maybe she was kidding. He searched her expression for some hint of mocking or wittiness that his master would sometimes show after she had gotten the reaction she wanted out of him. He found no such expression…

"Leave Xellos, and don't come back," she said. There would be no pity from a Dark Lord…

"Why don't you just kill me then..?" he asked feebly.

"Because," The Greater Beast began as she turned away and began walking down the empty hall. "I'm not that kind."

Once the Beast Master's mind had been made up, there was no way of changing it. Xellos' eyes followed her until she turned the corner and disappeared from his sight. All of the lesser monsters were no where to be seen… This matter hadn't involved them.

At the rate his mind was deteriorating, it wouldn't be long before he destroyed himself anyway. The Greater Beast could not take away his powers, for they had become his the moment she had split him from her being, yet he couldn't use them in this state. If what his master had said was true, the other Dark Lords, Deep Sea Dolphin and Dynast, would find out very soon and probably send some of their minions to destroy him to do the Greater Beast a "favour."

As he vanished into the astral plane another thought struck him. Actually, he was bombarded with several all at once. It took a moment for him to separate them all from the jumble, but when he did, nothing seemed possible for him anymore.

The people that he had dared to call his friends had unknowingly betrayed him. He had also let Milgazia leave without giving him any threats to keep him silent. The whole dragon race probably knew of his situation by now. Would they come after him too..? And if he had Dark Lords and dragons coming after him, how was he supposed to return to Filia? He couldn't endanger her... A twisted smile curved his lips. She had been worried about him at least, which was strange. What would she think now?

He wasn't sure how many times he told himself he couldn't go back to Filia, but for some reason he couldn't get himself to listen. I'll only stop in for a moment, he told himself. You can't. I'll be quick. You can't. I just want to say good bye. Why? I'm going to die; it's the right thing to do. You're a fool.

Xellos laughed at himself as he appeared outside of Filia's home. He had lost again. He couldn't win anymore. His thoughts had kept him from harming himself, but they were fading and the hurt was beginning to take over. The sun hadn't even raised high enough to make it over the mountains, it was too early. He stumbled towards the door, and then sat down on her porch to wait. He drew himself closer as he waited. The part of his astral body that had been broken and torn by the Greater Beast began to pulse the pain through the rest of him. He whimpered as it began to get stronger…

Lina wouldn't have said anything about the Dark Star event. She was a girl that lived in the present, why would she suddenly look back? Gourry… he couldn't even remember what he did the day before; he'd never remember something that happened years ago, and Filia seemed to be trying to forget… so then who? Amelia or Zelgadis? Would they?

"Ah!" he cringed. The pain was relentless…

More notes: Aw… . Now I've got to write the next chapter. The titles are starting to get a little funny don't you think? I come up with them after I'm done writing the chapter. I read over it, then choose a few words off the top of my head and play around with them until they make sense. It's pretty fun, but is it effective?

Posting two chapters in one day has earned me a small break I think. This is just a small warning I guess. I might not update for a while after this.