End of the third round,

As I put the phone down,

Chasing the same lines,

Over the old ground.

I’m pushing Zero,

Where is my hero?

He’s out there somewhere,

Left of the middle.

And your world falls down,

And you’re there calling out,

But it’s something I can’t say,

Though it seems the only way,

And it’s a game that I can’t play…

Not today.

I got my ticket,

And I got a straight road,

But I’m passing the same signs

over and over.

And your world falls down,

And you’re there calling out,

But it’s something I can’t say,

Though it seems the only way,

And it’s a game that I can’t play…

Not today.

I need to tell you,

Trying to get through,

It’s not always easy…

Left of the middle.

A man with amethyst eyes lightly stalked through his chambers, cloak swirling about him like a living shadow, violet hair dripping like water across his shoulders. He fingered the handwritten note from his chief of police reporting the death of a low earl, Evon, a rather fat, dumpy old fool. The lavender haired man smiled. He'd rather disliked Evon. It wasn't for his complete disregard for any life, or his carelessness at his people, the man with cold eyes didn't really mind that. After all, those were qualities he boasted as well. Evon was just unbelievably stupid, and had the tendency to stuff his face and sit there like an idiot all day.

So this report wasn't truly of much import to him.

However, the assailants of the man were. He had been killed after 'accidentally bumping a woman with his horse,

Hmph. Yeah right.

And was attacked and killed.

By a fiery redhead who claimed to be the queen. She had been accompanied by a figure of medium height with a cloak completely covering them, which had stayed silent the entire time.

So she's finally back. He'd wondered how long it would take her. After all, this was her country, and she wouldn't have stayed as long as she did if she didn't care about it. So it was only a matter of time before she heard of her poor, dying country and ran scampering back to save it.

He'd been waiting.

Xellos turned to his remaining crystal ball. He'd only had a small amount to begin with, and had a tendency to hurl them at a wall when what he saw in them displeased him. However, there was a limited amount because he'd killed the woman who made them for him a few years ago. A very talented sorceress, but he couldn't allow anyone else to get their hands on such a rare treasure.

He waved his hands over it, muttering a few words in a language even he didn't know. They were words of power, which was all that mattered. Powerful words he could use to force the lifebeing around him into something he wanted it to do.

The mists inside the orb swelled and dispersed, as a familiar image of a redheaded girl danced into being. She was smiling and laughing at something just out of his view. The problem with the crystal balls was he could only see the person he specified, and only then if he knew them very, very well. So he couldn't focus on some unknown person or zoom out to find where they were.

It did, however, help keep him informed on what was going on.

She chuckled silently on the cold glass setting and left, retiring to bed. As she closed the door the cheerfulness she radiated seemed to dissipate and her face dropped into a mask of sorrow and guilt. She walked leadenly over to her bed and fell onto it, staring heartbreakingly at the ceiling.

Ahhh, it made a sadist proud.

He sat watching her prone form for a moment, when her lips started to move while she got a very far away, slightly…happy?… look in her eyes.

You don't get to be an evil sorcerer if you don't learn how to read lips. Xellos leant closer.

"Zelgadis…"

Xellos slammed his fist down on the table, splintering the wood and nearly shattering the glass orb on the tiled floor. He caught it in mid-fall and slammed it down on a shelf, as he searched wildly for something not as valuable to rip to tiny shreds. He smashed through the room, destroying everything that he could replace easily to vent the unbearable fury that swept over him.

"Why? Why didn’t that fucking little bastard just die?? Dammit!" Xellos braced himself with his arms on the windowsill, panting heavily from rage and hatred, dripping with sweat. He stared out the rose shaped window, wanting with all his heart to rip out Zelgadis' throat right then and there. Wanting to rip out his lungs and feed them to him.

Wanting to snatch Lina back and hide her away from him forever.

Xellos punched right through the rose window, eliciting a crash from the ground below as it hit the battlements. How dare he. How dare he steal HIS Lina. He would kill him. He would messily, painfully, and prolongedly kill him.

No one came up to investigate the smashed window as servants of the castle always had when Lina had followed the same course of action. After the first few executions, they had discovered it was better to just leave him alone until he calmed down. No one would go anywhere near him if they heard crashes from his room.

And that wasn't even mentioning the last people who did that disappeared, before Xellos had returned to dinner grinning happily. And how the maids found bloodstains on the carpet.

So Xellos wasn't interrupted in his anger. Which was definitely a good thing, the poor fool would probably have been used to vent Xellos' anger.

After all, servants were easily replaceable.

Xellos took deep, gasping breaths and finally calmed himself down enough to think. His master had always told him never to become so angry that he was unable to think, it gave the enemy a chance to get you unguarded. He leant his head against the cool stone and got his breathing down to a normal, if a bit fast, periodic flow.

"Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, damn, DAMN," he muttered, pulling his bloody fist over his eyes. "What am I going to do about this? What to do, what to do…"

Xellos stalked over to his bookshelf and fingered a few volumes before pulling out a tall brown hardback. He flipped through it slowly before tossing t away.

"This isn't going to help," He growled, falling onto his bed. He glanced around his room and his eyes fell on the crystal ball. Oddly enough, it was still showing Lina. He rushed to it to see her sadly staring at the bedstead.

"Zelgadis…" She said. He wasn't sure how loud it was, the glass sphere didn't allow sound. "Zel, my protector…when are you going to break through that shell of yours?"

Ah, so he hadn't really stolen her yet…He was still in the phase where they'd admitted their feelings for each other, but hadn't gotten around to doing anything about it… This was good. This was very good. This would torture them both quite nicely. Xellos laughed and pulled a rope to call for a servant. He had to stop going off on little things before he went hysterical like this.

Young man, either stupid enough to be suckered into it or low enough on the food chain to be bullied into it opened the door meekly.

"Yes sir?"

Xellos clapped the boy on the back and dropped a pouch of gold into his hands. "Be a dear and clean this place up, will you?" The youth stared at the money and nodded so hard his head might have fallen off. An amusing thought…Xellos cheerfully wrapped his hurt hand in gauze and walked out, whistling.

* * *

Val grinned as Lina walked up the stairs. He'd already adopted her as his new loyalty, and therefore, that cheerfulness extended, however limited, to Zelgadis as well.

"So, how far have you two gone?"

Zelgadis choked on his coffee.

"What???"

"I asked, what've you two done so far?"

Zelgadis glared at him icily. "Nothing, not that it's any of your business."

Val was shocked. "Are you serious? What the hell is wrong with you? You two already admitted your love or whatever!"

The room dipped in temperature. "There's nothing 'wrong with me'." Zelgadis' voice oozed scorn. "I'm just not going to force Lina into anything she doesn't want me to do." He went back to his coffee.

"What if she wants you to do something?"

"She'll tell me. Look," Zelgadis said annoyedly, "I care about her. Which means I'm going to protect her. From myself, if need be. And I'm not going to let anything stupid like one night's passion destroy anything, hurt her in any way, or ruin anything she holds dear. Got it, you hormonally crazed teenager?"

"So you're doing the big dark protector thing, eh?" Val tipped his chair back.

Zelgadis sighed. "I suppose you could say that." he muttered, exasperated.

"Cool! You even have the cloak and hood thing going for you!" he announced cheerfully, ripping into his meal. "Well, don't let me stop you. Damn, this is going to make one hall of a story to tell my kids."

"If you even have kids," Zelgadis grumbled. "If I let you live that long, or leave that part of you intact."

Val just grinned and bit into his dinner.

* * *

Lina slept badly all night. She kept having terrible dreams of Xellos standing over her, staring. He never did anything, he just watched, and waited.

He was waiting for something…

But she had no idea what. And it was only a dream, after all.

Hello?? What about all the other dreams that--

Lina sat up in the pre-dawn light, looking at the window and wondering what the hell was going on, anyway. She hated premonitions, she really did. Because whenever she had a premonition, it was a bad one. So she tended to stay away from them as much as possible.

She stood, folded up the blankets and walked to the window. She stared across the rooftops of the tiny, cramped homes of her people and sighed. It wasn't really fair. They shouldn't be forced into this because she was irresponsible.

Something black flashed in the corner of her vision.

What the--oh.

"Hi, Zel."

"Hello."

That was all he ever said before his morning coffee. Well, that and 'Go to hell I don't want to talk right now.'

"Whatcha doin'?" She asked. Of course, she knew. How many reasons were there for hiding behind a doorway in her room?

Not those kind of reasons, you pervert!

"Watching."

Lina smiled and looked out the window. "It's really pretty in it's own way, isn't it, Zel?"

"I suppose."

Giving up on talking to him before he got his caffeine buzz for the day, she sighed and shooed him out so she could get dressed.

Lina pulled on her clothes and headed for downstairs. The sound of the connecting tavern was heavy in her ears, basically taking away all hearing. One person shouted, so all the others shouted to be heard over them and then that person shouted louder to be heard over them, and so on, and so on, and so on…

It was amazing that anyone knew what anyone else was saying.

Then again, thy probably didn’t.

She veered over to where she could see Zelgadis’ and Val’s forms and plunked herself down. She immediately ordered a gigantic meal and dug in, Zel and Val watching with amusement. She always did eat a bit more than a normal ‘Lady.’ But then, she wasn’t exactly a normal Lady.

Zel was his usual quiet, sulky self. Hovering nearby but not emerging from the cloak he had enveloping his entire body. He turned slowly towards Valteira, who was currently drinking and being as loud as the entire room combined. Damn, but he was a party animal. She yanked hard on his cloak.

"Yo, liquor-boy, clam down before I boot you down the hall. Got it?" Val grinned and nodded, before cheerfully pulling away and heading to where the room was rowdiest.

* * *

Lina smiled into the darkness of her room. "Good morning, Zelgadis."

"Good morning," Came the quiet reply from a shadowed corner. She grinned to herself. Zelgadis was never more then a few yards away from her at any one time. She wondered when he slept.

However, flattering as all this attention may be…

"Zelgadis, get out of my room!!" Lina shoved the chimera out of her door with a swift push and closed the door. Honestly, this happened every morning. He was always right there. Not that she minded too much, but it was starting to feel a bit strangling. She couldn’t do a single thing without him watching unless she booted him out. And this included when she was dressing or when she went to take a bath. I didn’t ever really occur to him that she might need to do that until she told him. Then he always blushed a beet red and hastily retreated. She sighed. He was dense sometimes, but she loved him.

She got dressed hurriedly and walked downstairs. The smells from the inn’s kitchen were already permeating her bedroom, and she was ravenous. She plunked herself down and waited for a service as she picked up a menu and flipped through it.

She sighed. This past week had certainly been a strange one. Zelgadis had become super-protector, always there, always ready to help her. And even though it annoyed her a little bit to have him there twenty-four seven, it wasn’t like he insisted on doing everything for her, thankfully. He was just a silent shadow everywhere she went, ready to help her only when she needed the help, not insisting on doing things that she could easily do.

Now that was an apt description. Zelgadis really was becoming her shadow. Not really one for talk after all that had happened to him, he didn’t really say much. He said maybe a hundred words to her in an entire day, and that was a lot more than he ever said to anyone else. To anyone he didn’t know, he either just looked at them from under the dark hood of his all-encasing cloak. Or he gave a quiet, one word answer that was most likely only "yes," or "no." Of course there was the occasional "Don’t touch that," and "You do and die," from him to the more annoying people, but other than that he was like death following her.

Oh, she didn’t like that description. Too foreboding. She switched her thoughts to a more happy train while the food finally arrived and she dug in.

Around noon, when Zelgadis and Val hadn’t appeared yet, she was wondering. Val was always a late sleeper, but Zelgadis should be there.

An hour later, she was really worried.

Tipping the waitress and snatching up her cloak, Lina ran to the doorway to go out looking for them.

* * *

Zelgadis sighed as he got shoved out of Lina’s room. He kept forgetting there were times she’d want to be alone, and that always got him into trouble. He leaned against the doorframe, listening for a bit, before turning crimson at the sound of rustling clothes and hurried off.

Zel wasn’t a stalker, anything but. It wasn’t like Lina minded him being there. Most of the time.

It was just he wanted to be with her. She was one of the few people he ever felt comfortable with, and he had so little comfort in his life that he tried to be around her as much as possible. Watching her made him feel safe too, as if he could insure that nothing would ever take her away from him again. She was the one and only thing he truly cared about, and if he lost her even once more… He was afraid he’d turn into a monster again, trying to pay the world back for what it had done to him.

Zelgadis sighed and jumped out of the window. Knowing Lina, he had time to kill before she came downstairs, and a lot of it. She was probably going to use the giant baths connected to the inn, and nothing was going to make her come out before noon. Probably. He decided to walk around a bit.

* * *

Val yawned and stretched, holding his head as the massive hangover hit him. Ugh, he needed a nice, long walk. He really needed a nice, LONG walk. Preferably off a cliff, if it cured this headache. He stratched, got out of bed, pulled on some clothes and jumped out the window, yawning and clutching his skull against the painful throbbing. By the sun’s position, it was almost non. Ugh. Lina was going to kill him. Oh well. At the moment, he’d rather be dead, anyway. Hell hath no fury like a hangover times ten.

He walked slowly, trying to keep from joggling his head too much, for around an hour.

His headache was finally starting to calm down when he heard a rather loud shout and the sounds of people screaming.

What have they done this time? Val ran in the direction the that screaming came from, cursing his headache all the way.

* * *

Zelgadis looked at the sun. Just about noon, He thought. Better get back. Lina will worry. He looked around.

His walk had taken him all the way to the opposite side of the city. And he hadn’t gone straight through; he hated being around lots of people. He’d gone around. It had taken him five hours. He would have to run straight through it to get there within an hour. Dammit. He gritted his teeth and headed back to the inn.

He only hoped nothing would crop up. Xellos, Zelgadis thought hatefully as he ran. Xellos had the entire country fearing witches now. It’s enough to make you sick.

Indeed, it was like Xellos knew were they were, knew they were here, and was trying to get his people to do his dirty work for him. He;d spread words and lies of witches and demons everywhere, making the people overly jittery and scared. They were turning on anyone and everyone, and were almost to burning people at the stake. Zelgadis sighed. Idiots. All of them.

* * *

Zelgadis was about a mile from the inn when a hand grabbed his cloak and pressed a knife to his back. He sighed, not in the mood. En entire hour running through countless hundreds of people was not his idea of a pleasant time, and he was already on edge.

"You look pretty rich, buddy. Gimme your moneybag or I’ll kill you."

"Let go," Zelgadis said quietly. He didn’t move, didn’t turn, and barely observed this idiot’s presence. "Before I hurt you."

Which annoyed him no end. "I don’t think so. Your money, NOW!" The man yanked him around, ripping his hood from his face and stabbing him in the back. Or tried to. Zelgadis merely glared.

Silver hair glinted and a blue face dotted with stones looked at the man with the knife. The would be mugger stepped back a pace and Zelgadis moved to yank his hood back up.

"DEMON!!!" The man screamed, pushing up against a wall. "HELP! DEMON!!"

Shit… Was Zelgadis’ first thought as the normal bustle around him turned to sounds of screaming and running frantically through the streets.

Dammit…was his second as men moved to grab whatever weapons they had at hand and moved to surround him.

Fuck it all… Was his third as they mobbed him.

Zelgadis jumped and dodged as best he could through the giant mob of people, but there were so many…! He didn’t think Lina would like it very much if he killed any of them. After all, she was trying to save them. But if he had to…

Zelgadis had enough time to reprimand himself for thinking during a fight when a lucky shot with a shovel hit him from behind. He flew to the ground, Cursing and trying to get his bearings. Blades may not hurt him, but beatings could.

Unfortunately, the crowd didn’t give him time to recover, they moved in to the kill as he rolled over to look death in the face and curse.

* * *

Val jogged over to see what was going on and saw Zel go down. Screams of "DEMON!!" and "EVIL!" gave him enough information to deduce what was going on. He cursed. This was not looking good.

Valteira ran into the middle of the fray, casting about for Zel. He caught sight of him just as a nasty looking pickaxe began it’s swing towards a stunned Zelgadis’ head, jolting Val forward to tackle the man.

Unfortunately, Val was only on street boy, and this was an entire mob. All he could do was try to keep this away from Zel. There were countless others after him.

Dammit, He thought desperately and a fist connected with his jaw, Where’s Lina when you need her?

* * *

Lina heard the mob about a mile away. She ran in that direction, worrying her head off, hoping Zel and val weren’t caught in it. She had just enough time to see Val leap into it.

Dammit, what’s wrong with—

Zelgadis was lifted to his feet by a kick that would have done Hercules proud, slamming into a wall and sliding down it.

ZELGADIS!! Lina ran forward, shoving people out of the way and trying to get to him. But the crowd was too big. Too many people too tightly packed. She could almost feel the blows raining down on Zel, who, bless his stupid, foolish heart, wasn’t killing any of his people. She was touched by the sentiment but enraged by the stupidity. Zel, you big blue idiot, if they’re trying to kill you you fight back!

Zelgadis was smashed in the back by a rather pointy, nasty looking piece of metal.

Cowards!!

"STOP THIS THIS INSTANT!!!"

Silence. Everyone looked to the small redhead whose voice had somehow pierced the crowd with every shred of strength and power she had. She glared at them, and many had the decency to look at their feet.

"What do you think you’re doing?" She screamed, outraged, as she strode forward. "Who do you all think you are?"

A particularly anoying, large man glared at her.

"And who do you think you are, girl?"

"Yeah, she could be a witch!"

"I bet she summoned this demon!"

"A witch!"

"Evil one!"

"Kill her!"

"Burn her!"

"I" She said loftily, rising up to her full, if small, height,

"I"

"I am the QUEEN!!"

She glared at the mob, most of which had stopped.

"I AM QUEEN LINA INVERSE, AND IF YOU DO NOT DESIST AT ONCE I WILL PERSONALLY OVERSEE YOUR EXECUTION!!!"

That had everyone stopped. She walked towards Zelgadis’ prone form, crowd parting for her, and most people tried to get as far away as possible. However, too many people were packed into too little space, and it was all they could do to get out of her way.

She knelt next to Zelgadis. His cloak had been ripped away, his shirt ripped and hanging in tatters at his wrists, neck and waist. Ha was broken and bloody, very much like he was when she found him in his prison cell so long ago. His left pointy ear had quite a bit of the tip missing, his face and body bleeding from places where he had been hit with something hard and heavy enough to break his skin, to break his ribs and to bruise his skull. She pulled him carefully into her lap. His eyes slowly fluttered open and he looked up into her worried face.

"Li…na…" He managed. She smiled at him.

"Shhh. Don’t talk." She spun and glared at the crowd. Her eyes narrowed and her voice was cold. "Get out of my sight."

The mob hurriedly disappeared. Val grinned and limped slightly over to her. "Wow. You’re queen alright. Need any help?"

"Just get back to the inn and don’t get hurt too." She said softly. He grinned and headed off.

"Sorry…Lina…"

Lina snorted. "Don’t be sorry, you big blue idiot. Next time hit back!"

"If I did, I would have killed them…and I didn’t want your people to die…"

"You idiot. If they’d killed you I would have probably blown them up." She smiled. "Hold still."

"Okay."

"Healing" She haled the broken bones and fractures enough that he could walk, then helped him back to the inn.

* * *

Zelgadis lay down on the bed as Lina cleaned and bandaged the wounds that her healing spell hadn’t judged important enough when compared with the broken bones and fractured skull. He winced and tried not to move. She smacked him in the head.

"OW!!" He yelped, annoyed. "What was that for?"

She grinned at him. "Cut the tough guy act, Zel, it’s getting annoying." She said cheerfully. Then she sobered. "Zel, if someone hits you, hit back, okay? Promise?"

"Only if you promise also."

She looked at him, startled. "Why wouldn’t I?"

"Just promise."

She smiled. "I promise."

"Then so do I." They sat in silence for a bit.

"Lina?"

"Yes?"

"Do you want me to leave?"

Lina spun from her place at the window and glared at him. "What? Why?" She demanded, hurt.

He looked away. "Because I’m such a freak. Because I cause you trouble you don’t need. Because I’m practically your shadow. I know I’m making you nervous, I know I’m annoying you…if you want me to leave, just tell me." He looked back at her, expecting agreement.

He got anger.

She walked over to him and slapped him. He lay there, stunned.

"What are you talking about, you big blue idiot? You think I could live without you??" She glared at him. "Haven’t I already proven that I love you? Haven’t I already shown that I’ll do anything for you? Well?" She grabbed his bruised jaw and turned him to face her. "Haven’t I?"

"Do you love me, Lina, or do you love the memory of me?" He shouldn’t be persisting like this. He really shouldn’t… but he couldn’t shut up his mouth. All his worry and previous disillusionment was breaking through, hurting his mind and forcing fears into him he hadn’t known he would ever have.

She glared at him. "Zelgadis, I. Love. You. Not what you used to be, not what I think you are. I love you." She turned. "And I’m hurt that you think so little of me as to believe otherwise." She said angrily.

"What am I supposed to think? Who could ever love someone like me?"

She spun and looked at him disbelievingly.

"Well? Why would anyone love a monster like I’ve become, a freak that is immediately attacked when anyone sees him?" He persisted. His doubt and worry over came him, and he slumped with grief. How could they? How could Line truly love him? She deserved ten times better than him, he, who was unable to be seen without causing a riot? He, who was the one that caused her to nearly die of grief, then nearly killed her outright?

Hello? How could she die of greif if she didn’t love you?? Zelgadis pushed aside the voice of reason and let himself sink into depression. Who was he to even deserve love?

A soft hand pushing away his bangs from his forehead brought him painfully back to reality. He looked up, amazed to find Lina sitting beside him and pushing the wire-like hair away from his face.

"And idiot like me, Zelgadis. A love stricken romanticist like me. I love you, Zelgadis Greywyrds, and stop telling yourself I don’t." She smiled. "Sometimes you can see better if you look through both eyes, Zel. Open them, and stop trying to imagine what you might see." She leant down close.

"Gloominess never helped anybody," She muttered, kissing him. All worry left his mind. In fact, all thoughts entirely left his mind…

Well, not all thoughts. He sat up slowly and kissed her back.

* * *

Xellos hurled his last crystal ball against the wall, shattering it into a million different tiny shards of glass. Immediately he cursed himself for being so stupid as to destroy the last of them. He slammed his forehead against the dented plaster, glaring at the floor and hands clenched into fists, bleeding where his nails dug into the skin of his palm. Xellos was mad. He was really, really, really mad. They shouldn’t be there. They shouldn’t be together like that. Dammit, every time he’d managed to move events so they were separated and uncomfortable, they’d bounce right back. What was he doing wrong? It was only strengthening, not breaking the chains that held them so firmly together. Every weak link he smashed was reformed anew, and stronger than before. Dammit, they were actually in love, not just happenstance lovers who could be torn apart. He was going to need help on this one. It wasn’t enough to just dominate Lina again, he wanted her to be his. Utterly and entirely controlled by him, and if any part of her still loved that scarred and deformed freak, he would not win.

And Xellos never lost.

Xellos stood back from the wall suddenly and ripped his cloak from the hook on the wall. He yelled for a servant to clean up the mess, and stormed out in a cloud so dark and angry that the very walls seemed to shrink away from him.

In one of the shards of glass, a picture of a certain redhead wavered and danced in the distorted shape.

* * *

Xellos stalked into the duskily lit room, shoving aside draperies and waving away the pervasive incense that threatened to have him cheerfully dropping all his secrets on the floor to this women.

Juu turned slowly in her chair to smile at him. She was a thin woman of undeterminable age. She could be twenty, she could be eighty. The view of her switched and wavered every so often, making anything hard to determine. She lounged on the couch in such a way that implied a large cat content but dangerous. She was the type you didn’t want to run into in broad daylight in the middle of the street during a festival with the worlds greatest fighter on your side and ten thousand soldiers around you. She was scary. And strangely intoxicating. Like good wine, too much was never enough. Like an impossibly sharp and lethal blade, you could kill yourself on her, but she was so dangerous and powerful that you couldn’t stay away.

Xellos knelt before her and dropped all his weapons. She smiled and motioned him up. He had been her favorite for the past five hundred years, the first pawn she moved in her games of control, power, and war. He did everything she asked, but with the added twist that served his own ends without taking away from hers that intrigued her. Most of her pieces only became more powerful if hey tried to cheat her out of what she sent them to do for her, or they did just as she asked and never went above the low pawn status.

Xellos was currently a bishop, if you wish to continue on the chess comparison. He wanted to be queen. The king lounging before him was interested enough to make him one. So he did as she wished and grabbed whatever he could on the way by.

"I see you’ve decided you need help." You could hear the italics in her voice. Her voice flowed like expansive cursive across your mind, convincing you, seducing you to her cause and her armies. Xellos had gotten used to it quite a while ago, not ignoring it, for that would be fatal, but he moved slowly with it, dancing in between the loopholes and curving slightly to accommodate it. He grinned.

"It appears this lowly pawn is unable to keep a hold of a young girl." He threw his pride to the floor, She’d only strike it down anyway. His immediate degrading and cheerful acceptance that she could kill him without more that a nod of her head was only a show, and they both knew it. He was willing to find loopholes she gave him that others were afraid to. But he never went to far. He knew better than to make her mad.

"Powerless fool," She said dotingly, as one might a child who knew he did something stupid. "Unable to even keep a little, scarred girl from loving a monster." She shifted and sat up, looking down at his kneeling form. "And now I suppose you want my help to get you possession back?" He smiled slightly, still staring at the ground.

"I seem to have slippery fingers, milady." He grinned. "My idiocy is of great magnitude;, all my attempts have been in vain."

"What do you wish me to do?"

"Kill Zelgadis. In such a way that will break my Lina."

She chuckled. "Ah, but Xellos, who wants a broken toy?"

"I want to fix it my way."

A low, throaty laugh. "Ah, Xellos, she’s not yours. Never has, and never will be."

His head snapped up. "What? Of course she was. Of course she will be. All I have to do is erase this freak from existence, and nothing will hold her from me."

"His memory will hold her from you, Xellos. The only thing you can even hope of gaining is her soulless shell, a living doll after you destroy her mind."

"Death--"

"Will not keep them apart. You’ve gotten very unlucky, Xellos. You let her find her one match, the only one that will never let her go, not for anything." She lounged on the couch, smoking a long cigarette. "I’m sorry, Xellos."

"I don’t want her fire. I don’t care if it’s only a shell. I want to be the one who breaks MY toy, I want to be the one who controls what happens to her. And then I want her to know it."

Juu threw her head back and laughed aloud, sending ethereal echoes throughout the small underground enclave. She grinned at him and tossed one of her many bracelets at his feet.

Queened.

He smiled and bowed. "My deepest gratitude and deep obligation to you, mistress." He murmured, backing out of the room slowly. Juu merely smiled knowingly and returned to her glass of wine.