A/N: I do not own the slayers.
The Rescue
Chapter 1
Near the center of town and tucked away in a quaint nook is a little shop called 'Vases & Maces.' Despite its somewhat eccentric stock and extremely eclectic employees, the store has quickly become a town favorite. The merchandise is always exquisite and the hijinks of those selling it are enough to brighten anyone's day.
Of all the strange and colorful people who pass though, the favorite by far is a former dragon priestess know as Filia Ui Copt, who is currently so preoccupied with cleaning shelves she's failed to notice a man enter her shop. If she had been paying attention she may have realized this man was not in fact a man.
Well he was a man, but not in the human sense.
Instead she continued to clear away the fine layer of dust that no amount of cleaning could ever really keep at bay. It wasn't until few minutes had passed that she finally took note of the tingling feeling in the back of her mind. And that's only because it managed to reach forward and shake her to attention.
For the first time in two years she was in the presence of a golden dragon. A realization that froze her in place and stirred up a whirlwind of panic in her mind.
'What does he want?'
'Is he after Val?'
"How surprising." His voice startles her, derailing the runaway train that has become her thought process.
"Wha'?" Because really, what else could she say when her mind is reduced to the wreckage of a brain train.
He recognizes the confusion and clarifies. "To find a dragon here."
Somehow, (some would call it a miracle), the mess in her brain straightens and she catches back up with the conversation. "I could say the same." She wants to ask who he is and why he's here, but she feels it's rude to interrogate him for no reason. Besides she's too busy being torn between fear for Val's egg, elation at at seeing another dragon and a jaded knowledge of what her people are capable of.
So in typical Filia fashion she just stands there like a deer in headlights as the newcommer approaches her. "Indeed." He stops hovering just at the edge of her personal space. It caused her tail to manifest and twitch erratically. "Perhaps we could keep each other company?" Now instead of hovering outside her personal space, he is firmly in it.
She swallows, still frozen, adding awkward and confused to the mix. "Well I..." Her sentence hangs in the air. Somehow between one blink and the next the dragon leaning into her personal bubble is gone.
She swallows staring at empty air and demanding her brain catch up. If feels like days later when the sound of a crash followed by the noise of shattering clay draws her attention to her right. Where she finds her second surprise of the day.
"Xelloss?"
Not only is Xelloss in her shop, but he has the other gold pinned against the wall by his throat in a crushing grip.
"Xelloss! How many times do I have to tell you to stay out of my shop!" Filia demanded. It seemed she couldn't go a week without him dropping by to annoy her.
Xelloss ignored her, focused instead on the foolish beast currently gasping for breath inches from his face. Fear was rolling off the dragon in waves feeding him. Entertaining him.
Filia's hand clamps down on his forearm. "Xelloss let him go!" If he had been human, her grip would have shattered bone, but as a Mazoku even her fiercest grasp could do little more then gain some of his attention. She knows this, she's aware he could flatten her like an insect if he so chose. Yet she never let that deter her, never feared him. For that reason she was perhaps the only dragon he could respect.
Of course that doesn't mean he'll release his catch before he's ready.
'Perhaps I will kill this fool and cover the walls in blood. That would be amusing.' His eyes sharpen, his grin widens and all the while his fingers grow tighter and tighter. The gasping breaths have turned to desperate wheezing as the dragon begins to weakly claw at Xelloss' hand.
"You're killing him!" She didn't know this dragon, but she sure didn't want to watch Xelloss strangle him to death in her shop.
"So what if I am?" Somehow his voice was simultaneously polite and hostile, sending shivers to work on her spine.
"Xelloss, please." The pleading pitch of her voice brought his eyes to hers. Tears shimmer at the edge of her lashes. Normally he thrived on the kinds of emotions rolling off her, but instead he felt almost ill. His grin dropped away and with a snarl he tossed the dragon towards the front door. "Leave."
The venom in his voice caused Filia to jump back unconsciously. Xelloss noticed and with a dangerous smirk shifted towards her.
Meanwhile the other gold dragon dragged himself to shaky feet. He looked towards Filia to see the Mazoku closing in on her. She appeared frightened, but the gold was just too terrified to help. All he could do was flee. The guilt over her death would haunt him no doubt, but at least he'd be alive.
Xelloss sneered as he felt the cowardly gold run away. 'Pathetic.' With the other dragon gone he now turned his full attention to Filia. Her heart was racing and she tasted like shaky nerves and determination, and there, just at the edges, anger was bleeding in. He licked his lips and let the fire of her roll over him.
"H.. how... HOW DARE YOU!" And there it was, the rage he so loved. "YOU DARE TO COME INTO MY SHOP AND ATTACK MY CUSTOMERS!"
"Oh?" He asked inspecting a ruined vase. "And do you make it a habit to flirt with your customers?" Xelloss wasn't entirely sure what had occurred. One moment he teleported in to partake in a merry game of 'taunt the dragon' and the next he was seeing red and tearing that coward of a beast away from her.
Her tail lashed knocking around the rubble on the floor. "I wasn't flirting!"
Xelloss dropped the remains of the vase with an unconcerned wave of his hand. "And what would you call it?"
She was all kinds of flustered now. "Besides even if I was flirting that doesn't give you the right to attacked him or trash my shop!" He was surprised when that strange and somewhat new part of him ripped open, taking over again.
Filia blinked a found herself held to the wall, albeit in a much gentler hold then he had the other dragon. Instead of her throat he held her by her arms. She was thoroughly pinned but too startled and annoyed to be scared. "What is with you today?"
'I wish I knew.' Instead of answering her he dropped his face into her throat and wrapped his astral body around hers. An intimate touch barely used, even among his own kind. Being a creature of the physical world she was only aware of his nose against her skin.
He tried to force himself to pull away but something about seeing the other dragon so close to her had set off a deep reaction that left him a passenger in his own body. He was far from amused. He prided himself on his control, and to lose it twice in one day... well it was embarrassing to say the least.
"Let me go!" She insisted trying to shake herself loose, not realizing that the struggle awaken an almost predatory reaction. Instead of releasing her he wrapped himself tighter around her both physically and astrally.
"What is it about you that makes me crazy?" The question was more directed towards himself then her.
She reached for his shoulders in an attempt to push him back but the swirling of his aura ripped through hers, leaving her a trembling mess. It felt like he was sinking into her bones, as much as she wanted to push him away she could only draw him closer. Her head dropped to his shoulder and he ran his teeth over the pulse point in her throat.
On the astral plane she was such a little thing, like a bird that he could crush in his very existence. He couldn't seem to stop pulling her deeper into himself, while she unknowingly mimicked him in the physical world.
"Xelloss." Her voice had gone breathy and she wasn't sure if she was saying 'stop' or 'keep going.' Nothing had ever been like this and she was scared.
'We should stop, but mother of all things, I can't bring myself to.' To a Mazoku the physical world always felt like a shadow, just as to physical beings the astral plane feels far away. To both it is something they could acknowledge and touch, but not really feel. It's why his people long for a return to the sea of chaos. Since the great sea had given way to this new world his kind had been forced to take refuge on the astral plane. But even there everything felt hollow and gray. For many it was willpower alone that kept them from fading from existence all together.
Touching Filia this way, touching her soul with his own... It was the first time in millennia he felt anything so incredible and he wanted more. Slowly pieces of his astral form began to flow in and out of her carrying him into the physical world for brief moments. He could feel her skin as if it was his own, the sensation was unlike anything he had ever known. He willed his physical body to touch, to feel, to create a loop of tactile beauty. He didn't notice when his own manufactured skin began to replicate the sensations. He was too busy feeling greedy and hungry and oh so desperate to for more.
Logic had long since abandoned him.
Filia, although a bit more rational, wasn't far behind him. Just as he was greedy to touch her soul she found herself greedy for his skin. Desperately trying to pull his clothes away, not understanding that everything from his skin to his hair to his cape was all crafted by his will. She pulled, pushed, and tore but the lack of progress caused a whine to spill from her throat.
Under the layers, the magic and the proper upbringing. Dragons are still ultimately creatures of instinct, and hers are kicked into high gear.
The whine caught Xelloss' attention. "Something you want, Filia."
"Clothes." She was incapable at this point of forming coherent complete sentences. All she could do was tug as his cape and pout.
He smirked and she felt the world tilt. Even amongst the haze she knew he had teleported them to her bed and he was now sans clothes. However, instead of panicking, or hitting him with a mace, a different set of instincts took the reins and she found herself dragging her teeth across his shoulder.
For the first time ever in his existence, a physical sensation shook it's way through him. It set off all kinds of warning bells. He shouldn't be able to feel things in that way, the most he should be aware of is the touch. But something was twisting and shifting within him and not for the first time since his arrival there was a worry that perhaps this wasn't the best idea.
Then she rolled her hips against him and the new found sensation shattered all rational thought. Some instinct he shouldn't possess rolled though him then and he found himself shredding what was left of her clothing and arching into her.
They both cried out as they join. On the astral plane their auras mimicking their bodies by twisting inside each other. It was like having sex on two worlds at once and all they could do was ride it out. The shared duo sensations rolled within them tearing through them with a fervent joy never before know in their universe.
It was incredible.
It was over-powering.
And ultimately it brought them screaming into ecstasy.
Much later Xelloss regained consciousness. The sensation of waking was so new to him that for a moment he was disorientated. Panic seized his mind momentarily before he pulled it inward and pushed it down.
Instead he analyzed.
Firstly, he felt different. His skin was now sensitive to touch and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Definitely things to be concerned about.
Secondly, Filia felt different. Her astral body, although bigger then most people, was still small compared to his. Or at least it used to be. Now it rolled around as a golden swirl of dragon shaped energy. She seemed to be thriving on two plans of existence, and somehow he was managing the same trick. Something that should be impossible.
Thirdly, he had a naked Filia asleep beneath him. And where as before he would have been amused, and not at all distracted, he now found his attention completely draw to the fact. The though of her waking left him with the bitter taste of ambivalence in his mouth.
It was during the 'stare at Filia fest' that she chose to open her eyes. For a moment she panicked as memories settled into her, causing her entire body to flood with disgust and shame. "Oh what have I done?" She closed her eyes and covered her face only to be overwhelmed with flashes of golden eddies and swilling contrasts. Her eyes flew open to face Xelloss, and although the other world was still behind her eyes, it was muted now.
Between Xelloss and a dizzying world she found herself trapped between two annoying realities. "What have you done to me?" She wanted to sound angry and fierce, but instead she sounded lost and terrified.
His expression twisted in annoyance but he remained silent and it brought on her rage. She shoved him off her wrapping herself in the blankets. "GET OUT!" She was genuinely surprised when he did. Breath heavy with emotions she couldn't quite name she stumbled over to the closet and pulled out the first thing her hands touched.
A typical dress for a not so typical day.
Once she was properly attired she collapsed to the ground and fought the hysterical anger rolling over her like tsunamis. And to make matters worse every time she closed her eyes visions rushed through her of a place like sandstorms caught in twilight haze.
It was the beginning of the migraine to end all migraines.
She wasn't sure how much time had passed when Jillas found her. He was understandably concerned. Especially since he and Gravos had returned to find a wrecked shop, Valgaav's egg unattended and Filia missing.
"You alright Miss Filia?"
A sardonic half laugh escaped her. "I've been better. My head is killing me."
"Then let me help you into bed and I..."
"No." The thought of that very bed twisted unpleasantly through her. She looked up to notice the concerned look on Jillas' face. "I could really use some tea." She climbed to her feet, determined not to let this incident depress her. Instead she smiled at Jillas and the two of them headed downstairs.
There wasn't a soul left alive in the village. As for the buildings they were either burning, or rubble, but mostly burning rubble. After all the destruction Xelloss still felt angrier then he had ever been in all his years. Even snuffing out the lives of an entire village hadn't quelled the rage. He wasn't even sure why he was angry, but someone was going to pay for it.
"Satisfied yet?"
Of all the beings in all the cosmos she was the last he wanted to see right now. Still he dropped to a knee in submission. "Lord Beastmaster." She never came to anyone except Lord Ruby-Eye, you are always expected to come to her. Xelloss worried a moment that he had missed her summons. If that was the case, he was in for a world of hurt.
She smiled in that way of hers that managed to unnerve Xelloss. "You really have gotten yourself into quite a mess, haven't you?"
"Yes, Lord Beastmaster." Although he felt she was putting it lightly. The word FUBAR would be a much closer description. "May I inquire what my punishment will be?"
"Punishment?" She begins to laugh merrily.
'That's a bad sign.' Xelloss tried to put his normal amused expression on, but his face wasn't quiet responding to commands. In fact his whole body had been out of whack since he had woken up.
"Did you think I didn't see this coming?" That stumped him, because he sure didn't. She continued on. "Ever since you met that gold you've been enamored."
He couldn't help how sharp and menacing his eyes became, so he made it a point to stare at the ground. He managed to croak out. "I'm sorry, Lord Beastmaster."
She only laughed again. "I contemplated being angry. Instead I decided to let you keep your... pet" She pulled out her quellazaire and lit the cigarette at' the end. "But your indiscretion has caused something, interesting, to happen." She exhales a ring of smoke. "And interesting things tend to be problematic."
Xelloss knew then, he would be lucky if she ended his existence quickly.
"It's a shame too. You've always been a loyal and reliable servant." She drops the quellazaire and approaches him. With a perfectly manicured hand she reaches down and fists the material at his throat. "Truly a shame..."
"Filia!" Gravos shouts as he rushes over to her.
She wasn't quite sure what had happened. One moment she was sweeping up the mess from earlier and the next a scream ripped though her tilting the world and bringing her to the ground. Gravos reached her first and was helping her up as Jillas rushed over.
"Please, Miss Filia you must rest." She didn't want to rest, she needed something to keep her mind occupied. Every passing moment she questioned her sanity more and more. First that business with Xelloss, the hallucinations, bodiless screams and weird dizzying sensations. She couldn't even identify the forces reeking havoc on her. Perhaps the Fire Dragon King was punishing her.
She suddenly climbs to her feet a determined look on her face. 'No! I refuse to believe it. Xelloss is to blame and I will not sit around like a weak weepy maiden crying about it. I'll hunt that Mazoku down and beat an apology out of him. Then once he's properly chastised I will make him undo, whatever this is. I will not fail!'
"I can't rest. Gravos, Jillas, I'm going to go out of town for a bit. I need you to watch after Val." Val would be safe at the shop, she had been laying wards and barriers for months. As long as they kept him in the back, not even Xelloss could reach him.
"You can't. You should be resting." Jillas insisted.
"I'm sorry, but there is something I must take care of. I'll be back as soon as I can." She didn't bother to pack or grab some money. Such things just didn't seem important.
Filia was sure how long she had been flying when the scent of charred flesh hit hit. Without knowing why she followed it back to a burning village. The rancid smell of death left her disorientated and on the verge of vomiting. It was there standing off at the edge of the slaughtered town she spotted a familiar silhouette.
"Xelloss." She landed quickly taking human form as soon as her feet touched the ground. She hoped the dulled human sense of smell would allow her keep her lunch.
Xelloss seemed to stand there like a void. Anger, indifference, annoyance. These emotions she could have dealt with. But this cold emptiness scared her, but Filia pushed it back. "I don't know what you did to me Xelloss but I demand you undo it, now!"
"Oh?" His voice was dead on, amused in an the right ways, but something was wrong. "Shall I apologize then, Filia?" He teleports and Filia suddenly finds herself face down in the blood soaked dirt, Xelloss crushing her shoulder. "It will not undo this. No, the only thing that will fix this is your death."
For the first time she was genuinely afraid of Xelloss. "No." Her voice is weak and laced with a sorrow she can't name. "We can undo this."
"No, little gold. We can't" He adds more pressure forcing her face into the bloody mud cutting off her air supply and forcing her to hold her breath or inhale in the spent lives of the people around her. She struggles wildly, but he is completely unaffected as he grins and watches the fight slowly leave her.
As Filia's eyes are closed by the mud she opens them to find her self again in that place of twilight sandstorms. Her lungs scream for air, and deep within her mind cries out 'Vrabazard help me!' But only silence meets her as the warm hues of the endless sand fade away into darkness.