When he got there, the hurt and abandonment she was feeling put him into automatic protective mode. Nobody was supposed to know how he felt about Ame-chan, at least, that's what he'd tried to promise himself, but her emotional distress rendered that null and void as he rushed to embrace her.
"Shh...shh...it's alright now, Ame-chan, I'm here." He said as he stroked her comfortingly on the back. He looked menacingly at Gracia. "You will NOT hurt my Ame-chan." he growled.
"Xellos-san, it's alright, she's my sister, Gracia, I was just upset because she reminded me of my mother; but why are you defending me? And what are you even doing here anyway?"
Xellos could tell he was making her uncomfortable, so he reluctantly let go of her and backed off a bit.
"Well," he explained, "you were upset, so I..."
Gracia started to laugh. "Ohohohoho! Ameli-li, I think he LIKES you!" Amelia gave her jocular older sister a pained look. "Of course not, and would you PLEASE stop laughing? Laughing at the plight of others is unjust!"
Gracia calmed her chortles . "Sorry 'bout that, little Ameli-li, that was a part of the person I became to hide."
"Why 'of course not'?" Xellos asked quietly. Something was churning in her emotions, and he tried not to let himself hope it was what he thought it might be.
"You've told me numerous times that Mazoku are beings of evil, and no true villain can ever love."
"I never said that second part." Xell corrected.
The part of Gracia which had been "Naga" wanted to comment at this point, but she hastily suppressed it. She'd already upset little Ameli-li enough for today, and this looked to be very important.
"You...you mean that..."
"Yes, Ame-chan." Xell hugged her and whispered in her ear, "I love you."
"Oh Gods." Amelia muttered and passed out in Xellos' arms.
"Too much for one day, I think." he observed.
"Bring her back to my room, she'll be more comfortable on a bed, I should think." Gracia offered.
Almost before the words were out of her mouth, Xellos had teleported the three of them there and was laying Amelia on the bed.
"We should probably leave her be for a bit." Gracia suggested, "Who are you anyway?"
"Oh, I'm Xellos, the Trickster Priest." he introduced himself.
"Come on, there's got to be more that goes with that, you're more than just a priest." Gracia objected.
"Sore wa, himitsu desu!" Xellos said with his trademark smile and finger-wag.
"I'm warning you, I am a powerful sorceress, I used to travel with Lina Inverse, you know."
"Really?" Xellos asked, "I had no IDEA you knew Lina-chan. That must have been before she met up with Gourry and Ame-chan and the others."
"You know Lina? She disappeared on me about four years ago. I admit it was probably my own fault though, I wasn't exactly myself."
"Oh!" Xellos grinned, "You must be Naga!" He got a calculating look on his face. "Why don't you come back with Ame-chan and I? I'm sure she'd be happy to see you."
"Sure." Gracia agreed, "I'd love to see her. I really should apologize to her for tormenting her so much on occasion."
Amelia began waking up.
"I'll leave you two alone." Gracia backed out of the room.
For some reason, Xellos was suddenly very nervous. "Ame-chan, I'm sorry I shocked you like that." he said with head bowed.
"Xellos-san..." she said quietly, "You never lie, do you?"
"No, I don't." he looked her in the eye.
"Why didn't you ever say anything to me? I was so sure you didn't care in the least about me..."
"Oh Ame-chan, don't you see, I couldn't tell you." Xellos trailed one finger gently down the side of her face, "I'm not supposed to love you, you see, I'm not supposed to love anyone, I'm supposed to keep my distance. Love is dangerous, I could get hurt, you could get hurt...if any of the other Mazoku found out, they might try to take you hostage...."
Amelia stopped him. " I know," she said, "and I'm willing to take that risk, because...I love you too."
"But..." Xellos just stared at her wide-eyed.
"You thought I was in love with Zelgadis-san?"
"I could only assume it must be so."
Amelia smiled. "I was at one time, but he's so obviously in love with Lina-san I realized I really had no chance. After awhile I was only flirting with him to make him admit how he felt about Lina-san." Her smile wavered a bit. "It's not like I'm really one to speak, after all, I never told you how I felt."
Xellos leaned over and hugged her, tenderly kissing away the tears which threatened to spill over. "I'm going to go back to the others soon, would you like to come with me?" he asked Amelia.
"Of course!" she said, "Now that I've seen Gracia...hey, why don't we bring her along?"
"Already asked and agreed to." Xell grinned mischievously.