#4 Moonlight
Look for me by moonlight
Watch for me by moonlight
I'll come to thee by moonlight
Though Hell should bar the way.
~Alfred Noyes (The Highwayman)
Filia sat at her desk, staring at the moonlight flowing in from the windows to the sealed envelope. Her hands shook as she clenched the quill pen, writing the address of Seyruun. Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun.
When had been the last time she wrote to her? She couldn't remember. Usually she just wrote to Lina and trusted the letter would be read to all of them. But this was a personal letter, one she could not possibly send to Lina.
"I'm terribly sorry I cannot come to your wedding..."
If she could mail this at all, that is.
"...because of various circumstances that I cannot control..."
She was going to die tonight, wasn't she?
She couldn't possibly mail this.
Tap. Tap.
Automatic-reflex-to-a-certain-Mazoku-tapping-you-on-the-shoulder activating...
"Namagomi!" Filia-swinging-her-mace-and-missing-cliché activating...
"Awfully violent at night, aren't we, Filia-san?" Xelloss-commenting-smugly-to-get-Filia- annoyed-cliché activating...
...All activated.
Before Filia could swing again, she met his dangerous and threatening eyes.
Of course. OF COURSE it's going to be HIM! Out of ALL the people and creature in the WORLD, it just HAD to be HIM!
"Coming to assassinate me, huh, namagomi?"
The Lord of Nightmares was surely getting a good laugh out of this...
"What could you possibly be talking about?" Innocent smile. Of course, of course...
Before THAT happens, though, she needed to get at least ONE hit in on that oh-so-innocent face!
"Excuse me, Filia-san." Xelloss poked her wrist, stopping her in mid-swing with only one finger. "But shouldn't you entertain your guests instead of trying to kill them? And that mace-thing is really getting old..."
"Why should I even bother if you're just going to kill me anyway?" Filia shook her wrist free.
"What makes you so ready to believe that?" Xelloss twitched slightly. "That stupid divination/ prophecy thing you did the other day?"
"It's the word of the gods, idiot! Nothing you'd understand, but it's sacred!" Filia added, "Not to mention you had your eyes on Val ever since the war started..."
"There was a war? Why, do tell me about it...I would have joined the party!" Xelloss smiled.
"Don't. Even. Try. You KNOW there's a war! Okay, so no one had started firing yet, but if the constant street brawls among humans and the cold Ryuuzoku-Mazoku face-offs are ANY indication, yes, I would say this is a WAR!
"Which was why Amelia-san and Zelgadis-san decided to hurry up with their wedding in case they..." Filia trailed off. She prayed with all her heart that they wouldn't...
"Oh, what is this?" Filia's head snapped up to see Xelloss tapping her envelop.
"Give that back!" Of course, this made Xelloss even more curious as he pulled it out of her reach and made an oh-so-mature face at her.
Xelloss unsealed the envelop with a burst of energy. "Hm..." he read, "'I'm terribly sorry..." He turned to face Filia. "Circumstance you cannot control? Surely you don't mean your possible 'death'?"
"Of course that's what I meant! Or have you some other reasons for coming?" Filia challenged. She knew Xelloss. Xelloss always had a secret mission hiding up his sleeves. Except this time she was pretty sure she knew what his mission was, and she was prepared to fight it.
"Ah, yes. I was getting to that." Xelloss took a sip of Filia's tea, kept under the moonlight by the window, much to Filia's annoyance. "I have good news! Lord Beastmaster has granted me permission to let you live if you'll join us! Isn't that nice of her!" Xelloss grinned mischievously, setting down his (HER!) cup temporarily.
Filia slumped...ahem...sat down on the ground.
Well, that's surprising.
Not the part about her granting permission to let her live IF she joined the Mazoku. And yes, she heard the "if."
It's just that...
"You...asked her?"
"Well..." He put his left hand under his chin in a classic thinking pose...
"I suppose I did!" ...And lit up like a light bulb.
"But...why?"
"Why do you think?" Xelloss opened one eye challengingly.
"That's a secret?" Totally random guess.
"Correct!" Xelloss closed his eye again cheerily.
"Heh," Filia huffed, standing up again. "Of course."
Her theory was correct. Xelloss ALWAYS had a secret mission. This time it's no different. It's always secret.
He must had some hidden motive on the nights he came by the moonlight to annoy her. And he must have some motive to get her to the Mazoku's side, even though he knew perfectly how impossible that is. Why would she want to have him always by her side?
...
IMPOSSIBLE! Filia screamed to the obviously dead part of her brain. Ugh, NO ONE would want that namagomi around!
Right, back to the point. Filia had, in conclusion, decided not to dwell on the reason. But she knew she had to fight to the death against whatever reason he had behind him. The gods have willed it.
"And you said we were not at war..." She narrowed her eyes at him.
"We're not, Filia."
"So it's Val, then..."
"True, true. I can tell you that much. She did indeed want you dead to get that little rogue. But if you come willingly, it won't be an issue, would it? I wouldn't imagine you not bringing him along."
All he said made sense, but she couldn't help wondering but why he had let her live, even though she just chose not to. Didn't they hate each other?
Well, Filia mused, that could be the exact reason. He can feed off her negative energies. Well, she wasn't going to give it to him.
Perhaps, though...She had hoped it was...something else...
A flash of midnight black, and he was right in before her eyes. Way too close for comfort.
Xelloss smiled cheerfully as Filia tried not to look at him unless the blood vessels in her cheeks decided to
rebel against her. Xelloss leaned forward.
"Don't mind me! Just keep on considering it, okay? I wouldn't want to distract you..."
"Who said I was even..."
But a sudden coldness on her lips stopped her, freezing her thoughts and the hand reaching for the back of her skirt.
She stared into midnight. Midnight without moon or stars. The darkness beyond twilight.
Xelloss broke away smugly. "So," he grinned out of the corner of his eyes, "Did that help you in considering it?"
And that jogged Filia out of her trance. She took her hands off of his shoulder (What were they doing there in the first place?) and finished her mission of taking out her mace.
"Namagomi! Get out of my house!"
"So what do you say, Filia?" Xelloss dodged skillfully, looking almost piteously at the pottery getting destroyed, which had nothing to do with him, of course.
"I'll NEVER join your horrible race!"
"What about Val, then?" Xelloss smirked triumphantly, like he had just pulled out his trump card and no one can beat him now.
"Ha! You underestimated us!" Filia smirked triumphantly back, still wielding her mace. "Miss Lina taught him magic! He can fend for himself! Working under Miss Lina may never be a great lifestyle, but I KNOW even you Mazoku cannot touch him with Miss Lina in the way!"
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, so I'll never join you! Now get out of my house!" She swung her mace again.
...And bashed him on the head.
Her dream came true.
Her nightmare.
Xelloss always dodged. ALWAYS.
Xelloss grinned like the Cheshire Cat. He grinned like his life depended on it. He waved his hand in front of Filia's startled face.
"You know, you are truly amusing when angry."
"I hate you!" Reflexes never fail.
He gripped his staff tightly.
"You're wrong, Filia," Xelloss laughed strangely. "First of all, you don't hate me."
"Oh yeah?" She challenged, bashing him on the face a second time. Then a third time.
Always fighting to the end. That was what the gods were trying to tell her. Val was safe. She could let out all of her emotions now. And she could not do that without her beloved mace-sama.
Nor could she do it without her beloved enemy.
"Second of all," Xelloss continues, unaffected by the smashes. "It's not 'circumstance you cannot control.' You had a choice."
Xelloss was also wrong, as proved at that moment. Filia's prophecy was fulfilled.
The clouds moved in as the moonlight disappeared into the midnight black.
Too bad she wasn't around long enough to laugh at him for it.
I'll come to thee by moonlight
Though Hell should bar the way.