It was probably too hot for tea; Filia however, was stubborn enough to keep drinking it in relish all the while insisting it made her feel cooler in this weather. Jillas unfortunately had become especially bothered by her habit nowadays and took to complaining that it made him hotter just seeing the steaming cup in her hands. She of course, had no concept for how hot the summer sun must be for a beastman covered ears to toes in such a plush fur coat and clothes, but he couldn't really be serious about asking her to stop, right?
Just in case, she took her dinner and her teapot onto the terrace in an out-of-sight, out-of-mind compromise. It was a rare occasion for Jillas to complain about anything to the people he considered his higher-ups after all.
She looked out in the distance to appreciate the view from her back yard. There wasn't anything spectacular to see, but the few trees that dotted the arid landscape gave her a simple sense of peace. They grew humble little flowers in the spring, and in the summer with their fully-formed leaves, made a rustling sound that mimicked the sound of a brook. It calmed her down so much, she forgot about the heat.
Saying a prayer, she placed a napkin on her lap and picked up her tea cup. No matter how much time she'd spent with Lina Inverse, meal time was still a sacred little repose for her. Filia took an indulgent sip and sighed tranquilly.
"Why, if it isn't Filia-san! What a pleasure it is to see you!" There was no way; it couldn't be…she'd only thought of him for split-second. Did she really have to be punished for letting him slip into her thoughts?
Her posture stiffened reflexively at that cloying tenor voice. Fingers closed tightly around delicate porcelain china, her eyes fixating on the sloshing unsteady tea in the cup in refusal to search for the source of her displeasure. She didn't have to see his face to know he meant trouble showing up all the way out here.
The inauspiciously hopeful thought ran through her mind that perhaps she was hearing things. After all, she'd read that even the sanest of people who have undergone traumatic events are sometimes left to deal with lingering phantoms. Filia continued staring at her tea, slowly loosening her grip on the cup after a minute of silence. Perhaps she was still a little stressed out to imagine such a silly thing. Why would he come all the way out here anyway?
He chose that moment to cough, tactlessly expectant for her reply. Xellos would have entertained the possibility of her having gone deaf in their brief time apart had she not reacted so astringently to his greeting.
Ghosts typically did not resign themselves to such concerns as clearing their throats to her knowledge. It was, unfortunately, not some unbidden specter from her haunted psyche as she would have preferred. Maybe if she pretended she didn't hear him, she'd be left to eat her dinner, and, more importantly, drink her tea in peace. Admittedly unlikely, but Filia felt compelled to take that gamble.
She sat still as a rabbit that had just made eye contact with a potential predator. Amazingly, after a tense pause, it seemed to be working. Cicada song lilted through the air unchallenged by anything less pleasant. Without picking up her head, she stole a peek in the direction his voice had come from.
A tumbleweed drifted by otherwise empty space. "Gone…"
First a breath she'd unintentionally been holding let itself go. Then, realizing her potential mistake, she gulped. Would he really be dissuaded that easily? With his sick sense of humor, he'd likely make a game out of teaching her to look while she had the privilege of knowing his location. Her tail thrashed out from under her skirt and the hair on the back of her neck rose in alarm. Filia twisted herself in every direction to keep him from coming up behind her.
He watched in amusement from above her. Had he been getting predictable? The thought of sneaking up on her and pulling her tail had come to mind, but for once, he was glad she beat him to the punch. It was much more fun to watch her make an idiot of herself. Xellos' neatly gloved hand firmly pressed itself to his lips to keep his laughter from slipping out and giving away his position too soon.
After letting the panicked display go on only slightly longer than appropriate, he tossed the orb from his staff at her feet. Filia scrambled desperately to avoid it, and just as he'd hoped, it was not the gem that made her trip, but her over-zealous efforts to avoid the oncoming object. His laughter helplessly erupted completely unrestricted at seeing her on her ass, her face aflame with rage, and her eyes feeding him with their look of wonderfully childish betrayal.
He looked at her with the affection of a painter slowly falling in love with his own masterpiece. From the claret red scorching her cheeks, the agitated lines lifting her nose into a disgusted snarl, the dust stealing the sheen from her hair tips, she was a truly a work of art.
"XELLOS!" She shouted at him before even picking herself off the ground.
"Hello there, it has been entirely too long!" He waved insincerely and opened one of his eyes to look down on her and offered her an extended hand. "What are you doing getting that pretty dress all dirty? Would you like me to help you up?" His jocose tone made her want to scream already. She slapped away his hand and sprung to her feet in embarrassment. Xellos tsked at her behavior in a condescending "oh you" manner, but didn't drop his smirk for a second.
"What are you doing here?!" she stammered.
"Now, now, didn't they teach you etiquette at that temple of yours? When a guest arrives you should at least greet them properly. I came a long way you know, a, 'How are you? Have some tea,' doesn't seem like that much to ask for, does it?" he asked. Filia wondered if there was any possible way he could've been imitating her grade school teacher. The grating similarity of their all-knowing tone was uncanny.
"You didn't come for tea," she answered cautiously.
"Oh? You know why I'm here?" he asked congenially. His closed smiling eyes shook her for reasons she couldn't peg down.
"Don't beat around the bush. What are your orders?" As inconspicuously as she could manage, Filia moved slowly in front of the door to block his entrance.
Xellos laughed mirthlessly. "Please believe me; Juuou-sama has better tasks for me than to visit paranoid dragons. No, I came here on my own time," he explained.
She bared her teeth at him. "Somehow that's not comforting at all." Her eyes held all the fury of a mother bear protecting her cubs.
He was genuinely surprised at her reaction. Filia's spine (which, in perfect honesty, he had to admit already put every other member of her race to shame) had built itself up in their time apart. Switching itself from smug to softly inquisitive, his voice shifted with his posture. "You didn't miss me, even a little bit? After depending on me as much as you did, I thought it would please you to get a visit."
Her sweat-slicked palms clenched at the suggestion. "How could I depend on you? Every time you could've been useful, you decided to be lazy instead."
"I'd get in trouble if my superiors caught me needlessly assisting mortals. You should really consider yourself more fortunate for all the help you did get. Any other golden dragon would be thankful just to walk away from me with their lives after all," he parried.
Filia crossed her arms and huffed. "So what are you saying; that I should be as afraid of you as you are of your superiors?" It probably wasn't the most prudent thing she ever said, but then again, very few of their conversations ended up being especially full of wisdom or maturity.
Audacious thing as she was, Xellos felt her sincerity. How nauseating. "Afraid? No, I'm talking about making smarter decisions. You have your place and I have mine." He stepped closer to her, not exactly inside her personal space bubble, but just threatening to cross that threshold. The vexing mix of his innocent appearance and his dangerous potential drawing nearer electrified her skin. "It can't be helped." It was said so simply, but his seriousness implied that if she pushed him, she would also be beyond help.
Filia swallowed hard, but stood her ground. "You can think for yourself; you don't have to follow orders if you disagree with them."
Lips smacked in indignant amusement at her suggestion. There was a brief hesitation, his simper melted into a dangerous smirk and he licked the lips she'd been eyeing so suspiciously. "Do you know what I think?" he asked her in a tone of whimsical mischievousness.
She shook her head furiously; Filia wanted nothing to do with whatever was on his mind—not if his expression was any indication.
Taking in her anxiety and silence, Xellos nostrils flared and his smile broadened. He leaned on his staff, lazily letting his upper body drift a little closer to her. "I think you're afraid," he continued pleasantly. "Because part of you is happy to see me, but at the same time you're wondering, what might I do if left to my own devices instead of being my usual on-the-job professional self?"
Pride kicked her into fighting mode. "WHY ON EARTH WOULD I BE HAPPY TO SEE YOU? I don't think you even have your own devices; you're just a lackey!"
His eye twitched. "Oya, oya, do you really think you have any right to be telling me such a thing? You spent your life up till this point occupying a lower station of a hierarchy than I ever have," he reminded her in a strained attempt at a casual tone.
"At least when I didn't want to listen anymore I put my foot down. You just kept saying 'What can I do? I was just doing what I was told.' to every objectionable thing you did. You're so full of excuses I'm surprised they aren't bulging out of you!" She jabbed him in the stomach with her finger to drive home her point.
Doubling over in pain, Xellos hissed as his body flickered in and out of the astral plane like a hologram. Shakily grabbing her hand and trying to regain his bearings, Xellos squeezed her fingers. Noticing the sudden distress he was in, she gave him a mildly horrified look. "Now, now Filia-san—it isn't polite to point," he choked out.
"What happened to you?" There was genuine concern in her voice, but they both ignored it. While he had looked just the same as he always did just a moment ago, it became apparent to her that he was injured. Someone had done a number on him; she prayed that he had gotten the last blow in whatever scuffle he'd meandered away from. The last thing Filia ever wanted to worry about was a force that could bring Xellos down.
His grip softened at her defiantly affected stare. This kind of exchange wasn't what he came for. "Nothing that I couldn't handle," he assured her.
Her eyes darted to the hand he was still holding and she tried to pull away. It wasn't a threat anymore, but he was still stubbornly keeping her in his grasp. "I can't heal you," she reminded him somewhat sadly. Any white magic directed at him would surely kill him at this point.
Xellos picked his head up to meet her gaze. His open stare froze her in place. It was the only time she'd ever seen both his eyes open without malice. "I can heal myself," he replied.
"…Then why did you come here?" she asked. The atmosphere between them became charged by the question. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know his reason. With Xellos, an honest answer was rarely a good one, but she couldn't find the logic in his coming to her—especially in his current state.
With only another flicker of his form as warning, he collapsed. Filia caught him on reflex and he hung limply in her arms. There was a pause as she felt his weight. Slowly, she started to feel the gravity of the situation. One of the most powerful beings on the planet showed up near death on her door-step for no known reason and was now barely hanging on for survival in her arms.
"Xellos?" He didn't respond, so she repeated his name several times, trying to shake him out of his stupor. Looking around for anything or anyone to help, she found nothing. Gulping, she adjusted his body so she could carry him. Last time she'd had to help him stand, he at least walked with her. She felt mortified to be the only thing supporting him now.
Cautiously, she snuck back in her house, doing her best to be quiet so as not to attract attention from Gravos or Jillas. It could be troublesome if they saw him; or at the least, that was what Filia told herself as she slipped as stealthily as possible into her bedroom with Xellos.
She placed him on the bed with a groan. His face was twisted in pain, but his lack of breathing made it difficult to discern his health. As far as she was aware, mazoku faded into nothingness when they died, but she had been told a number of things about them that Xellos had disproved to her and she no could longer be certain.
Looking down to his still frame, Filia wondered how he ever could've hidden an injury this severe from her for so long. The more time that went past, the more wounded he appeared. A quarter of his body had already vanished and was steadily oozing out of his torso in a black fog.
Why was he trying to hide it from her? What possible purpose could he have had to come here in the first place? Pushing past her unrelenting questions, she rushed to the bookshelf. After taking Valgaav's egg, Filia had decided to pursue all the information she could find on ancient dragons and mazoku—just in case.
As she busied herself trying to find a text that could possible offer any help, Xellos regained consciousness. Sensing her presence, he zeroed in on the bookshelf. Her desperation was almost mouthwatering. Closing his eyes for a moment to savor it, he let a silent sigh escape. It happened as he predicted—she rushed to his assistance as soon as she knew he needed it; just like last time.
In all his life, Filia was the only creature to willingly help him knowing full well what he was. She was some kind of exquisite oddity that transcended the laws of her own people, what should have been her instinctual fear and hatred of him, and somehow stood tall when the question that shook him had been asked. Why are the gods and monsters always fighting?
When Filia turned around, she noticed his open eyes staring right at her. "You're okay?" A particularly tattered green cloth volume was in her hand. Neither of them had much faith in its power to help him, but she figured it could at least offer ideas.
He eyed the tome skeptically. "What were you planning to do with that?" he asked, slightly worried.
She pursed her lips and glared at him. "Don't act like I was going to hit you with it!"
"Hmm…perhaps you weren't," he mused as he took in his surroundings. "You brought me to your bedroom?" Suddenly looking pleasantly surprised he continued, "Oh dear, Filia-san is that one of those marital aid books?"
An irate flush spread across her face. "Namagomi!" She threw the book down on the bed dangerously close to his head. "Why do I even bother trying to help you?"
Xellos looked up at her seriously. "You know I wonder that too."
Still blushing, she looked away. "Well unlike you, I can't just abandon someone who obviously needs help-even if that someone is a no-good, filthy monster. I'm just generous like that."
Xellos rolled onto his side and made a show of putting a hand on what was left of his hip. He looked far more confident than anyone missing part of their body had any right to. "For whose benefit are you saying that for; mine or yours?"
Snapping back to face him she retorted, "Do you honestly think if I were doing something for my own benefit that I would let you on my bed?"
Xellos considered it as he moved his hand off his hip to play with the sheets. "You've proven yourself full of surprises before."
Filia puffed up her cheeks in annoyance and held it until her stomach growled. He was daring her to argue her way into extremely embarrassing territory when she was still starving. "If you're feeling good enough to make jokes at my expense, I guess I can at least go finish my dinner without worrying too much."
He tried to sit up and make himself look slightly more presentable. "You're worried for me?" There was a brief pause, but before she could reply he pushed on. "Well, it wouldn't do to let you gasp and sigh over your food somewhere for my sake. Bring it in here," he suggested.
Her eyebrows knitted tightly together. "Don't flatter yourself! Besides, shouldn't you like it if I'm worried?"
He smiled jovially. "Oh, I've quite had my fill of that. I think I'd rather have some tea now—if you're still feeling generous that is."
"You don't even need it," she argued.
"Hmm and here I was thinking perhaps you weren't just a selfish dragon after all."
"Humph!" She should've known she would regret claiming to be so charitable around him. After making a quick pros and cons list in her head, Filia decided to play along. At the very least, he wouldn't be able to get into trouble if she sat there with him. "Don't touch anything or snoop around. I'll be right back."
"Oh? Is there something in here you don't want me to see?" he asked with all the cherubic curiosity in the world.
"Just stay put!" she warned, deciding it best to dodge the question. Without giving him any time to reply, Filia stomped out of the room.
He couldn't help but grin. With all her aggressive, embarrassed, anxious energy she supplied him with, Xellos was starting to feel better already. Never mind the damage sustained; with her emotional havoc, he'd probably never go weak or hungry. Besides, her company was certainly fun if nothing else.
But of course it wasn't "nothing else".
It could never be just a fun hobby to rile her up. There was always something else when it came to Filia—something impossibly troublesome. Xellos' smile maliciously dropped.
Over the course of their journey, he'd come to the conclusion that he didn't feel any real animosity towards her. And no matter what she said, she'd proven that she didn't either. So without the constant antipathy that should've existed between them as a dragon and a monster, where did that leave them?
That was the irksome question that drew him to her when his survival was put into question. Xellos had to investigate. He had to search and prod until he found a reason to hate her. It would drive him mad to die without knowing why she affected him or how to stop it.
It had nothing to do with the fact that he wanted to see her. Her angry azure eyes, flame red cheeks, and obnoxiously golden hair were of little consequence. Once his health improved and he could resolve the issue of her invading his mind, he'd never waste his time around here again.
Unless perhaps the tea was good enough to persuade him to keep coming back.
And judging from her gratified expression while drinking it earlier…it was a possibility.
Thank you for reading to the end! I hope you've enjoyed it! This was my first attempt at Beloved Enemy's 100 Nights of Summer prompts. As you can probably guess if you're familiar with it, this was under the theme of excuses. I've got a few more of these in the works right now and any thoughts on this work, things you'd like to see in future ones, or constructive criticism would be a treat.