Disclaimer: I do not own Baten Kaitos.

This oneshot is set during the period after Kalas betrays the group. (You know, it still makes me kinda mad that afterwards he expects the Guardian Spirit to just forgive him right away.) I know Folon/Xelha is a very weird pairing, but what can I say, I love crack pairings. Slight Kalas/Xelha, but only slight. My first BK fic.

Enjoy!

They called him Folon.

According to the blurry snapshot she had taken of him, it said he was a 'half-crazed joker', but Xelha had been irritated with that trivial bit of information. She had nearly suggested to Kalas that they get a better camera, but she didn't want him to ask why. So she stowed the picture away and only brought it out at night.

His head was tipped slightly to the side, a mocking half-smirk decorating his aquamarine face. Xelha sometimes traced that smirk with her index finger, wondering of this strange, blue-haired enemy and how he had came to be.

"When we next get our hands on that half-winged mutt, I'll grind him to dust." promised Ayme, pounding one fist into the other, her pink plait flying as she angrily tossed her head. Giacomo grunted and ignored Ayme's declaration- He usually did, since more often then not, she was simply ranting.

Folon had been unusually quiet. He was thinking back to the fight, too, but it wasn't Kalas he was concentrating on. It was that girl that was bothering him- what was her name? Xelha?

He didn't particularly care about the others- they simply seemed to be tagging along, but it bothered him that such a righteous person was trailing around after Kalas. Perhaps he had managed to deceive her, too, and now she was helping him. But really, who was she to judge? Or perhaps Kalas had been better at keeping his dirty little secret better then Giacomo thought. Folon grinned, albeit to himself.

He'd show her.

Xelha dipped her hand into the river, marvelling at how white it looked underwater. Scooping up a handful of the water, she rubbed the back of her neck, shuddering slightly as the cold sensation travelled down her back. An owl hooted somewhere in the darkness, and the remaining embers of the fire crackled at the campsite nearby. The others were all asleep, Xelha making sure to quietly slip away so as not to disturb them. She hadn't been sleeping too well, just recently. So she had wondered over to the riverside, just to be by herself for a minute.

Suddenly, the next second, Xelha felt the back of her head connect with the ground, a heavy weight on top of her, her back pressed into the dry, grainy soil. It happened to fast that it knocked the wind out of her. Gasping for air, her eyes met Folon's.

"You!" she wheezed, her mind racing.

"Me," agreed Folon, smiling a fanged smile. "Looks like I found a stray."

"Get off of me!" snarled Xelha, trying to kick him, but his body was heavy on top of her and she couldn't move. Folon's smirk dissolved into mean-spirited laughter as he dug his knee into Xelha's abdomen, apparently enjoying watching her squirming.

"You know, I could quite easily finish you off right now," Folon informed her lightly, and Xelha knew by his tone that he was considering obeying that whim, "But I'd prefer to wait until the grand finale. Giacomo would be disappointed if he didn't have the whole set to play with, although I suppose now that half-winged mutt has gone-"

"Not anymore," Xelha said, bitterness soaking her words, "Melodia gave him full wings, like she promised."

"I heard the Guardian Spirit has chosen to reside in you now," remarked Folon, sounding mildly intrigued, as though Xelha was a new species of animal that had only recently been discovered, "I wander what would happen if I killed you here? Would the Spirit be forced to go into me or would it simply hang by your sad little corpse until somebody else came along?"

"You're mad." Xelha told him, her hand slowly feeling across the dirt for her wand, feeling sickened by his careless discussion of her murder.

"I'm glad you noticed." replied Folon smugly, making no move to get off Xelha, or to stop her fingers padding across the dry ground. "But they say genius and madness often go hand in hand."

"I suppose that's something Giacomo told you." spat Xelha, "Whatever makes you feel better, I suppose."

"You're certainly opinionated for someone who has no weapons left." remarked Folon, sounding darkly amused. "I suppose that's what's to be expected of blind optimism."

"I was blind." Xelha muttered. "But not anymore."

"Aww. Did you love him, little girl?"

"Shut up!" snarled Xelha, trying to bat at Folon's stupid grin, but he pinned her other arm down with ease. "I don't need to hear that from a lunatic like you! And better to love then to be unquestioningly obedient."

"Isn't it the same thing?" asked Folon, and Xelha was pleased to see his cruel smirk slide off his face.

"No, it isn't." answered Xelha, firmly.

"And they call me mad."

"Shut up." Xelha repeated, with less fire then before.

There was a slight silence, the only sound being the rushing of the river nearby. Xelha could feel something crawling on her arm, but she ignored it. She stared up at Folon. She was torn between asking him to get off her or asking him something that suddenly felt quite important. She opted to stay silent.

"...Perhaps madness isn't necessarily a bad thing," Folon offered, sounding like he was thinking hard about this, weighing the words.

"Perhaps," replied Xelha cautiously; "Perhaps everyone is a little insane. It depends on how you choose to act on it."

"Everyone?"

Now Folon looked unsure whether to sneer at Xelha's statement or question her further. He opted for the latter, although Xelha could detect a little scorn in his voice.

"Are you including yourself in that plea for insanity?" asked Folon, raising his eyebrows as though he highly doubted it.

"Of course I am," answered Xelha, calmly, but all she could think of when she said that was the ocean...the legend and the fatal role she was to play in it.

Indeed, her own private insanity was probably more dangerous then most people's. Folon looked a little surprised at Xelha's abruptly cold tone, because he loosened his grip on her a little.

"How unexpected," Folon mused, although this time the scorn in his voice had vanished, "Maybe it's true what they say about appearances being deceiving. I never believe in cliché's without proof, after all."

Xelha noticed with a sudden jolt that the sun was slowly beginning to rise. She had been by the stream with Folon for so long she had barely even noticed it. Strangely, she felt oddly disappointed. Wherever Folon had come from, it seemed clear that he had come of his own free will and that Giacomo knew nothing of it. Folon sat up, staring morosely toward the steadily approaching dawn, suddenly wearing a moody expression.

"Are you leaving?" Xelha blurted out before she could stop herself. Folon rolled his eyes as he looked at her.

"As much as I've enjoyed our little conversation, blondie, I highly doubt my absence would go unnoticed." he sneered, although this time Xelha did not bristle at his tone, "Don't think we're suddenly best friends just because we spent one night together."

"You make that sound a lot more exciting then it actually was," Xelha scoffed, feeling no fear of him now. She began to rise to her feet, not noticing the sudden predatorial gleam in Folon's eyes, "All you did was push me down, I hardly think that's-"

But whatever 'that' was, it was left unsaid, because Folon abruptly grabbed the front of Xelha's clothes and pulled her roughly to him. The next second, she felt nothing but Folon pressing hungrily against her mouth, and despite all better judgment, she responded in kind. Feeling a surge of passion, the kind of strong emotion she had not felt since Kalas left, Xelha made no effort to restrain herself. When the two broke apart, Xelha felt herself feeling oddly breathless. Folon was already on his feet, almost with a business-like movement.

"Was that exciting enough for you, blondie?" inquired Folon idly, as though this was of no real importance, although Xelha could tell he was feeling pleased with himself. Strangely, she did too.

"I suppose it was," she said, but then felt another stab of a sad disappointment as she added quietly, "Even though we'll be enemies next time we meet,"

"Maybe we will, maybe we won't." Folon answered with a shrug, although he was still wearing his typical smirk. "There's no way of telling how this may turn out, is there? I think Kalas proved that well enough."

"If anybody has done that, you have," Xelha told Folon, feeling strangely comforted by his words.

"I'm glad you have such a high opinion of me," smirked Folon, as he began to walk away, his hair looking especially blue in the light of the dawn.

Just before he disappeared from sight, however, he cocked his head over his shoulder and said something, his voice ringing out over the rushing of the water.

With that, he vanished, leaving no sign he had been there at all, besides the slight indention near the river where Xelha's head had been pressed, or the slight smile that hovered at the corners of Xelha's mouth as she headed back towards the campsite, where she could see Gibari was beginning to stir, although Lyude and Savyna were still fast asleep.

And when the Guardian Spirit whispered something to Xelha, she couldn't help a playful grin appearing on her face as she remembered what Folon had called to her before he left.

"But remember what we talked about, blondie," he called, "Madness isn't necessarily a bad thing."

And Xelha found she wholeheartedly agreed.

Slightly ambigious ending, yes. I hope you liked it anyway.

Reviews would be very nice. ^-^