Filia yawned, and tried to roll over. There was an indescribable sound, which she rather arbitrarily labeled a squeak, of protest. She opened her eyes and found herself squinting into a pair of wide-open and pleading purple ones.

She blinked, and then threw Xelloss out of the bed, screaming a lot of things that Xelloss did not feel he had done anything to deserve. He carefully made sure that he stayed between the angry dragoness and her mace, not feeling ready to be hit with it so soon after getting elbowed in a particularly sensitive place and then thrown out of a very nice warm bed, and assessed her condition. He soon decided that there was nothing really wrong with her, which was worrisome in and of itself.

No longer distracted by trying to find some reason for her behavior, he realized that she was lecturing him about 'taking advantage of an innocent maiden' and he grinned, feeling all too tempted and completely justified... "Filia-san, you pulled me into your bed when I came to check on you!"

"...what?"

Xelloss posed dramatically, and started overacting to cover his own feelings. "You pulled me, a innocent and virginal mazoku, into your bed and had your way with me!" He had added sniffles where he felt they would be most effective.

"I thought you were an innocent dragon maiden, and that I would be safe!"

Filia blinked, her mind starting to catch up. "I...raped you...?"

"I wanted my first time to be special," Xelloss wailed. There was something incredibly feminine about how Xelloss posed, and about how he wailed it, and Filia tried not to stare. This was a bit hard: Xelloss was still naked, so the pose was at least immodest.

She ended up watching him pose melodramatically as he continued, unable to think of anything to say and finding something fascinating about somebody who was quite clearly a man acting so...effeminate.

"I wanted it to be romantic... Just me, a pretty blonde, and a bottle of champagne on a bearskin rug in front of a roaring fire..." Xelloss sighed. "We'd drink a few glasses of champagne, and then, when the time's just right, look deeply into each other's eyes, and..."

He froze, looking at Filia but not seeming to see her, and listening to some sound that Filia couldn't hear. Then, suddenly, his eyes lost the faraway look and he said, "You just wanted me for my body, didn't you?" There was something that was a flash of light but not one, and he was dressed. "I'm leaving!" He walked to where his staff lay beside the bed, pausing just beside Filia. "If you had asked...I would have..." he said quietly. Then his staff was in his hands and he teleported out, leaving Filia behind and confused.

Xelloss knelt before Zelas, and let his irritation show since he knew that Zelas would want to know what happened -- and he felt too embarrassed about it to simply tell her. He was a powerful Mazoku, only under Shabraningdo's three (the dead two not really counting) generals in power! Golden dragons were supposed to fear him, not rape him!

When Zelas had summoned him, he had been starting to feel a bit better, teasing Filia and pretending that he was only pretending to be hurt, but... It still hurt, deep inside like an aching wound except it was worse because it felt like it was permanent. It felt like it would continue to ooze forever without ever turning into less sensitive scar tissue, never even healing a bit...

"Xelloss-chan?" Zelas asked, in the familiar tone that indicated that he was for the moment to consider their relationship to be that of a mother and child instead of master and servant. "What's wrong?"

"Mother, I went to annoy the Golden Dragon known as Filia, my usual hobby, and when I arrived in her bedroom she was sleeping, and having a nightmare. She normally wakes up when I appear in her room, no matter how sound asleep she is, and even in when it's very hot she doesn't sleep naked, but even though there was snow outside of her house she was not only sleeping naked but had thrown off all her sheets..." He paused, mentally working out the least embarrassing way to tell the next part. "I was only looking at her, not having realized how strangely she was behaving when she woke up and... She pulled me into her bed and..." Xelloss blushed, at first because he couldn't bring himself to just say it and then blushed even more at the realization that he was blushing. I think this must be the most embarrassing thing that could ever happen to me...

"Oh. Dear." Zelas's grin completely negated any sympathy that her words might even vaguely imply she might have had for what had happened to Xelloss. "So my little boy's all grown up now...? I didn't think you'd so easily let a nasty Golden Dragon take your virginity..."

Oh, Lord, I was wrong. What did I do to deserve this?

"I think her strange behavior needs to be investigated. Why don't you go and watch her? I'm sure you'll enjoy getting to spend time with your lover..." Zelas's grin couldn't have been accurately said to have grown fangs with that, simply because her fangs had been showing the entire time. However, it certainly seemed to Xelloss that was merely a technicality.

Lord, whatever you're punishing me for, I'm sorry!

Xelloss looked warily at the sleeping dragon. He had managed to delay his return until after sunset, which he hoped would turn out to have been a good idea. So far, the results had been mixed.

He had not been hit yet, which was good.

That was because everything was happening almost exactly like they had the night before, which wasn't as good.

Xelloss carefully placed a hand on Filia's forehead, to see if she was sweating because of a fever, when her hand shot out and gripped his collar.

Oh, no, Xelloss thought as she yanked him into her bed. Not again!