Woo! My first fanfic in 3 years and it's a rewrite of one I started 10 years ago, haha.
I don't consider myself a story writer, but I had fun writing it and I hope you enjoy reading it!

Golden Children

Filia lovingly polished her merchandise near the back of her shop. Since she had established it a few years back, it had become modestly successful, popular with rich travelers and antique collectors. Gravos and Jillas were diligent workers, though lately Jillas had been spending more time inventing ever since Seyruun's gracious investment in his canon design. More and more kingdoms and rich noblemen wanted in on his inventions.

Val ran into the shop and picked up their cat under its forelegs. It meowed in protest, and Val giggled mischievously as the cat squirmed out of his grasp.

Filia waved graciously at her neighbor, who had Val over during the days to play with her son. Filia then looked down at Val, who was beaming at his mother. "Did you have a lovely day today, dear?"

Val nodded. "Me and Georgie played with his dog. I said I should bring over Clay, but he said that cats and dogs don't like eachoter." Val pouted. "But Clay hasn't even met his dog! How can they already not like eachother?"

Filia laughed. "It's an old maid's tale. Cats that aren't used to big things with lots of teeth don't tend to enjoy the new experience."

Val shuffled his feet. "Oh. Cuz Georgie said it was true. Like the gods and monsters, he said."

Filia's heart caught in her throat. Though his face and voice were much different, hearing Val talk about the conflict between gods and monsters brought back painful memories. She knelt down to her son's eye level. "That too. I'm sure it's… possible, that if a god and monster met, they might be able to set aside their differences."

"My, my. I know nothing about parenting, but I'm pretty sure that you're supposed to tell your children to not befriend monsters."

Filia looked up to see Xellos grinning down at her. Her eyebrow twitched. "I'm simply telling my son to not judge a book by its cover. It's not my fault that you are simply as obnoxious and disrespectful as the stereotype for monsters go."

The corner of Xellos's mouth twitched. "Now Filia, you know that's not true. I am incredibly respectful for a monster."

Filia squinted, standing back up. "Oh, yes, because constantly invading my home and place of work even though I constantly toss you out is incredibly respectful."

Xellos nodded. "It's called networking. How rude would it be if I had a favor to ask a hundred years from now and we hadn't spoken since the Darkstar incident?"

Filia clenched her teeth. "Just as rude as harassing me constantly for a hundred years and having the gall to ask a favor!"

Xellos was formulating a retort when he looked down to see Val clutching his pantleg and smiling. "Hi, Mister Xellos!"

Xellos laughed plainly. "Well, at least you've taught him to be polite."

Filia laughed nervously, trying to shepherd her son to her side. "Val, what have I told you about talking to strangers?"

Val blinked. "But Mister Xellos isn't a stranger; he comes over for tea all the time."

Filia scowled at Xellos. "I think you should leave." Noting his reluctance, she picked up Val. "Or, I could shower my son in praise and affection until you do."

Xellos scowled and vanished. Filia harrumphed in triumph and kissed her son on the cheek.

. . .

A few days later, Filia closed up her shop for the night and Val jumped on Gravos's back, climbing onto his shoulders. The four of them then walked to Filia's home.

Filia smiled at her employees. "Do you two want to stay for dinner?"

Gravos smiled. "Ah, no, I have some work I gotta do back home."

Jillas nodded. "Yeah, I got a big order to fill by tomorrow afternoon. See ya later, boss!"

Val pouted. "Bye Uncle Gravos! Bye Uncle Jillas!"

Filia hummed softly, preparing dinner over the stove. She glanced over to Val, who was drawing quietly at the table. She smiled. Val was growing up as well as she could have ever hoped. With Jillas and Gravos's eager help, raising Val hadn't been as much of an ordeal as she had initially feared it to be.

"Mama?"

Filia blinked out of her introspection. "Yes, dear?"

Val fiddled with his writing utensil. "Do I have a daddy?"

Filia decided suddenly that things were indeed about to go as she had feared. She smiled meekly. "Why do you ask?"

Val scrunched his face up in thought. "All my friends have daddies… I thought Uncle Gravos or Uncle Jillas was my daddy, but they said that uncles are different."

Filia began to sweat. Was he too young for the 'you're adopted' talk? And then there was the issue of avoiding the 'where do babies come from' question. She took a deep breath. "Well, Val... Mommy… hasn't gotten married yet."

Val visibly searched his limited 5-year-old internal glossary and made a grunt of understanding. "...Why not?"

Filia laughed softly. "I just haven't found the right man yet, I guess."

Val grinned. "I can help! I can find a lot of mans!"

Filia emitted more what sounded like a cough than a laugh. "No, no, dear. That's something mommy has to do for herself." Seeing her son's downcast expression, she amended her statement. "I would never pick a daddy you didn't approve of first, though."

Val wasn't completely familiar with the word 'approve' yet but he was satisfied anyways.

"Now dinner's nearly ready; help mommy set the table."

. . .

Filia cleared the table and began cleaning the dishes in the sink.

"Hello, Filia!"

The dish she had been holding fell with a crash, and she whirled around to scowl at her uninvited guest. "Xellos! What have I told you about using the door?!"

Xellos smiled. "I think I've shared my opinions on that as well! Your adhesion to the mundane persists nonetheless."

Filia huffed. "Obedience to societal and physical laws is not mundane it's a reasonable expectation! Though what can I expect from a demon?"

Xellos's smile faltered for a moment. "Well, small talk aside, I actually have come for a favor."

Filia squinted. "I suppose that is preferable to your usual goal of simply irritating me. What do you need me for?"

"Your magic, of course!"

Filia scowled. "And why in the world would I help you?"

Xellos pouted. "Aren't we friends?"

"You are very well aware that we are not."

Xellos sighed. "Well, how about bribery?" He pulled out an ornate vase. "This vase is a replica of an ancient civilization's technique for etching lost to history. I am trying to get into a temple that has been sealed from before said technique was lost."

Filia folded her arms. "That is… quite a nice vase…" She pouted. "And you're well aware that if you do anything devious even parallel to my helping you, you will have no chance of me ever helping you again?"

Xellos smiled and nodded. "Very aware!"

Filia grunted. "Fine. But if there's no pottery in there, you will need to compensate me appropriately."

Xellos sighed. "As stingy as ever." He then grabbed her around the waist, and before she could protest, they appeared in front of an ornate set of doors. Xellos approached the door and gestured to two inset handprints.

Filia squinted. "This doesn't look like it was built by my people…"

Xellos shook his head. "It's human built."

Filia gasped. "That's right! I did hear that humans used to have the power to use holy magic…" She touched the etching on the door. "This must be ancient… the seals on it has preserved it so well!"

Xellos placed his hand on the other door, and the seals shattered. The two of them descended into the temple, and Filia frowned as they observed a large, golden statue of a woman holding a staff topped with a large hemisphere. "That's peculiar… I don't recognize this figure."

Xellos laughed. "Of course you do! It's just not someone you'd usually expect to see humans worship."

Filia's eyes widened. "It's not-"

"The Lord of Nightmares."

Filia scowled. "So this is an ancient cult, hmm?"

Xellos nodded. "They called themselves the 'Golden Children'."

Filia looked around the room a bit more to see a mural of Shabranigdo, and then, to her surprise, Ceifeed. "If they worship the mother of all monsters, why do they have a respectful depiction of Ciefeed?"

Xellos wandered around the room, looking at the runes lining the walls. "The Golden Children believed that the Lord of Nightmares was the mother of all creation, not just the monsters." He stopped at a mural depicting the lord of nightmares above a human, with a god and a monster touching hands underneath. "They also believed that humans were favored by her, being that they were the perfect balance between light and dark."

Filia narrowed her eyes. "Oh? And what's your goal here? To destroy any evidence that you aren't your 'mother's favorite?"

Xellos grinned laboriously. "It's just information. I thought you'd find it interesting since your 'son' was so keen on questioning the laws of life before we destroyed him."

Filia scowled. "Fine. Keep reading."

Xellos cleared his throat. "The Golden Children did not believe that the war of Gods and Monsters was destined to continue forever. They believed that humans could find peace by either: destruction, or, union."

Filia stared at the new mural that Xellos was reading from. It depicted a figure, holding what strongly resembled the Ragna Blade, and two figures—one with white energy emanating from its hands, and the other, black energy. The two energies met in the center and formed a golden orb.

Filia huffed sadly. "I suppose that's the optimism of humanity for you…"

Xellos then made his way to the center of the room. A marbled glass orb sat on a pedestal. "Would you look at this?" He placed a hand on it, and the floor emitted a black light. He smiled. "It seems to react to my power. Come see what happens if you touch it as well."

Filia reluctantly trotted over and placed her hand on the orb. The floor then flickered between black and white, and a faded gold color.

Xellos smiled. "This is definitely it!" He placed both hands on the orb. "I sensed something with a great magical capacity down here, and I think this is it. If we put more energy into it, I'm sure something wonderful will happen!"

Filia's nose scrunched up in doubt, but she then glanced at the murals lining the walls. "Well, I suppose these people were optimistic, if not insane… it can't hurt, can it?"

The monster and dragon channeled their power into the orb, until the room glowed gold. Suddenly, for an instant, Xellos and Filia found themselves in a void. Then, they were back in the room.

Suddenly, a golden sphere materialized inside the glass orb, and the orb shattered. Both Xellos and Filia shivered at the energy emanating from the golden sphere.

Filia tentatively reached for it. "What… is this?" When she made contact with the sphere, she recoiled.

Xellos cringed. "What?"

"It's… alive"

Xellos observed the sphere closely. "…So it is." He then paused. "It's a dragon."

Filia scowled. "It is not! The energy emanating from it is clearly mazoku in origin."

Xellos frowned. "Try again."

Filia focused on the energy emanating from the orb. "It's… both!"

Xellos smiled. "Well, with that cleared up-" He reached for it, and Filia grabbed his wrist.

"You think I'm going to let you take it?"

Xellos' smile faded. "I don't really think you have a choice."

Filia grimaced. "If you remember correctly, you either get this orb, or future cooperation from me. Not both." She huffed. "As you said, it's a living creature. And by our track records, I have the best chance of taking care of it."

Xellos's cold expression melted into a pout. "It could be incredibly dangerous."

"Well thank goodness I have a high level mazoku constantly around that's eager to protect his assets!"

Xellos sighed. "Fine. You get to keep it, but as long as you remember it's mine too."

Filia huffed. "Fine."

. . .

Filia walked to Val's room holding his old basket, now containing the golden orb. She gently kissed him on the head. "Good morning, my little gem."

Val yawned and stretched. He then looked over at the basket. "What's that?"

Filia stared at the golden orb. She did know that she wanted to take care of it, but she hadn't thought about how she would describe it to Val.

Val gasped. "Is it an egg?"

Filia blinked. "I do suppose it is."

Val cheered. "So I get a new baby brother or sister?"

Filia paused. "Well, Xellos and I aren't completely sure what is going to hatch from it…" Seeing Val's confused expression, she sighed. "Sure, we can call it that. Until it hatches- then we'll re-decide."

Val cheered. "I'll love it even if it's not a baby." He stared at, grinning. "Maybe it'll be a dog? ...a dragon dog!"

. . .

Filia walked home with Val after a long day of antique work. "So, did you have fun today?"

Val nodded. "We played knights and dragons. He slayed me, then I slayed him, and then we became friends. In pretend I mean. We're already friends."

Filia laughed nervously at the slaying bit, but was glad to hear they passed on to friendship.

The two dragons reached their home, and Val shuffled his feet, staring at the basket. "So, when will it hatch?"

Filia smiled softly. "You'll have to be patient. It will most likely take at least half a year."

Val pouted, but then nodded determinedly. "I can be pachent."

Xellos took then as a good opportunity to chime in. "He really doesn't take after you, Filia! I have to say, great job on that one!"

Filia glared at Xellos, and was about to snap at him when Val ran up and hugged the monster's legs. "Mister Xellos!"

Xellos looked down at the child, confused. Filia's eye twitched. "You've visited enough to create an impression on my son, remember?" She clenched her teeth. "He thinks you're funny."

Xellos smirked. "Well, he does have a history of befriending monsters!"

Filia's irritated expression melted away and turned to fear and sorrow. She picked up her son and glared at Xellos. "You do not get to come inside today. Goodbye." She then stormed inside her home, and slammed the door shut.

Xellos pouted and muttered to himself. "I'm sure she'll come around eventually."

Xellos sat on Filia's porch and sighed, cradling his chin in his hands. He liked it better when she used to explode into her dragon form in fury, causing destruction all around her. It was much more entertaining, even if it was just as counterproductive.

Xellos turned around when he heard the front door open and prepared a smirk for the dragon he knew would step through, but it dissolved when he saw the wrong dragon smiling at him. "Hello, Val, what are you up to?"

Val held out a hand containing a biscuit. "I always want snacks when I'm in time-out."

Xellos's smile became strained. "Time-out?"

Val nodded. "Because you lied to mommy."

Xellos exhaled slowly. "Right. You 'haven't ever made friends with any monsters', have you, Val." Val nodded, still holding out the biscuit. Xellos shrugged and took the biscuit, appeasing the toddler.

Val pulled out his own biscuit and began nibbling on it. "...Do adults have mommies and daddies too?"

Xellos squinted at the question. "...Yes, most do."

"...do you have a daddy?"

Xellos choked on his biscuit. "No, no I don't think so."

Val nodded slowly. "So you only have a mommy, like me?"

Xellos looked off and frowned in thought. "...I guess you could say so, sure."

Val stared at his feet. "Did you ever feel sad that other kids had daddies and you didn't?"

Xellos sighed at the assault of irrelevant questions. "No, not really."

"Oh..."

Val was silent after that, and Xellos frowned. He wasn't sure what Val wanted to hear from him. It was his mistake, coming to a demon for emotional advice.

Val smiled, waved goodbye, and went back inside.