~~~~~
Filia hastily dashed around her mace and pottery shop, trying to avoid stepping on any of the merchandise in her frantic hustle. She swiftly dropped to the floor at the edge of the left wall, her pink dress ruffling up from the pressure of the air, revealing her golden tail from beneath it. The tip of it, shaped like a heart, twitched in irritation as she searched around the dusty boxes on the floor, coughing as a cloud of dust arose from them. She ducked her head down just below a wooden shelf holding a variety of powerful maces that she had made herself to sell. She hadn't cleaned in the corners beneath the display shelves since she bought the shop, and now she wished she had. A patch of dirt smudged across her face, dust spilling into her golden blonde hair.
She let out a fierce sneeze as she thrust out her arm, reaching for a small box hidden behind all of the other larger boxes and cases. With a last striving effort, her white-gloved hand grasped the edge of it and pulled it out onto the main floor. Filia gave an exhausted sigh as she set the small box on her lap, tracking dirt onto her white cloak. She wiped her forehead with the back of her glove, the dust rubbing off onto her cheek, making her face even dirtier than it already was.
"Oneesan, please hurry! I don't know what to do!" Her employee and friend, Jiras, could be heard frantically yelling from behind the yellow shop curtain towards the back of the store. Her home was built as part of the shop, not fancy or big, but very conveniently placed. She was able to work and relax freely with both being so close together. She moaned as she pulled herself up from the ground and dashed behind the curtain, clutching the box tightly to her chest. She scurried in, seeing Jiras and her other companion, Grabos, struggling with nervousness as the ancient baby dragon howled and screeched beneath Jiras's hold. She giggled cheerfully, approaching them with a grin.
"You're doing fine, Jiras-san. Just keep ahold of him for another quick minute, okay?" She strolled past them and into the kitchen, not waiting for either one to reply, mainly because she knew they would just moan and whine more than they already were. Filia carefully set down the box on the counter, fumbling to open it in her haste. She lifted out a long glass baby-bottle, smiling pleasantly. She hastily opened the cupboard, grabbed a can of milk mix, and set it beside the bottle. Taking out a silver spoon, she accurately measured the correct amount of powder into the bottle with gleaming satisfaction. Putting the can back in its appointed place, Filia lifted the tea pot of half-boiling water from the stove and poured it into the bottle until it was filled. Switching the stove off and putting the teapot back down, she screwed the cap tightly onto the bottle and hustled back out into the living room.
"Oneesan, please! He keeps growling at me! I think he's angry!" Jiras pouted, his hands shivering with fear from around the newborn dragon. Filia laughed again and sat down beside him on the comfortable couch. Jiras gently handed the baby to his "Big Sister" and jerked his hands away from it, horrified. The little thing only curiously stretched its neck out towards him, crooning with its golden eyes gleaming. Filia stroked her hands soothingly over his gleaming black scales with a feather touch that was as comforting as that of a mother's.
"He's not angry, silly Jiras-san! Baby dragons can't cry like human babies do, so they have to growl or hiss to show that they want something. Oh, isn't he just the sweetest little thing you ever laid your eyes on? Good, Valteria, good! Look at what Filia brought for you!" she chirped in a cute voice that made Grabos and Jiras shrug with misunderstanding. Filia revealed the bottle to the child from beneath her cloak and offered it to the newborn with a warm smile. Valteria crooned with enjoyment as he sank his small dagger-like fangs into the cap and sucked the milk down diligently. Filia kept a strong hold around it, making sure the baby didn't pull it away from her, struggling against its strength. Jiras and Grabos softened a tad from their nervousness as they watched the tiny dragon gulp down the milk, and finally each stroked his neck as he drank, feeling more relaxed and familiar with the baby now. After all, it was the child that they had waited for to hatch for so long.
"Valgaav-sama, I can't believe that's really you," Grabos said wearily, his eyes never leaving his "Master." Jiras nodded in agreement as he reached over and patted Valteria on the head platonically. It crooned, squinting up its eyes in joy, rubbing against Jiras's hand. The red fox laughed cheerfully, watching as Filia finally withdrew the empty bottle from Valteria's mouth and let him lie down on her dirty dress. The dragon yawned, curling its long tail around its small body, golden eyes shutting as it sank its sharp claws into Filia's cloak.
"Ah, tired already? Sleep soundly my Valteria... Good," she whispered in a gentle voice, wrapping her arms around the sleeping dragon lovingly. She swiftly rocked him back and forth with care, nearly drifting herself off to sleep with her own movement. Jiras and Grabos leaned back on the couch, watching their newly born master fall into his first sleep.
~~~~~
I wish I could have known that something like this would happen before I did it. I suppose it really doesn't matter anymore... Gaav-sama is dead... If I die now, he will already be waiting for me within the Sea of Chaos. And yet, no matter how long I struggle to clear it from my mind, I cannot purge myself of my past regrets... My regret for having allowed my master to go off to defeat Lina Inverse alone. I want to see her dead... to see her blood staining the very ground that I am standing on... She deserves to die. She who took the one thing in life that mattered to me and vanquished it in a single blow... And still I do not understand how it is that one normal girl was able to destroy my Gaav-sama.
"Normal girl?" Well, I suppose not... What was she? Her magical powers far exceeded those of a human. She was able to take in the spiritual force of the Lord of Nightmares and use it to her advantage. She was able to destroy Ruby Eye Shabranigdu, the Hellmaster Phibrizo, and my Gaav-sama single-handedly. Her only affections were extended to a man she pretended to care nothing for... Her eyes were as red as blood. Perhaps I have clouded judgment, perhaps my own flame of revenge has taken over me, but if my predictions are right, then Lina would be a part of the Dark Lord Shabranigdu. If he was sealed behind the eyes of a human after he was slain by Cephied, why not her as well?
She is the devil, that Lina... A human body concealing the soul of a Mazoku within, yearning for release from both sides. Lina must have Mazoku blood within her somewhere... Why else would only she receive this overwhelming power? Why else would the Lord of Nightmares grant her the ability to use the Giga Slave? Why else would Xellass Metallium have her priest and general, Xelloss, follow behind her like a magnet? I have already heard that her sister is working under Cephied, one of the most powerful Shinzokus. And if I'm correct, then Lina and Luna are just the products of Shabranigdu and Cephied's revenge on each other, still battling each other in human forms. It will only be a matter of time before Lina is drawn into the darkness of the Mazoku.
But none of that matters now...
Gaav-sama, I'm so sorry about this... I will probably be joining you soon... If only revenge hadn't possessed me after your death... I wouldn't have tried to awaken Dark Star like this. Soon... very soon his mind will gnaw away at my soul until he has taken complete control over me. I'll be like a puppet on unwilling strings. Forgive me for never being able to avenge you, Master...
~~~~~
Filia sat silently at the kitchen table, fumbling with the teacup in front of her, sighing. There was a steaming kettle sitting on the counter with a container holding many different flavors of tea next to it. She watched the flavor spreading out in the hot water, her expression emotionless. She continually stirred the hot liquid with a silver spoon, never once picking it up to drink. For some reason she just didn't feel thirsty anymore, as she had been when she had awoken from her vivid sleep. She gazed out the window at the drifting darkness of night, the light of the stars dim against it. The moon was hardly in sight, clouded in shadows. It must have been late into the night already, though she had just now noticed, being too wrapped up within her own painful memories. How long had it been since she defeated the one man she cared so much for? It hurt not being able to remember him... And it hurt even more when she /was/ able to remember him...
"Hey, can't sleep?" Filia sprang up, startled as Jiras quietly crept into the kitchen. "I had a pretty gruesome dream... Don't think I can sleep now," he whispered as he sat down beside her at the table. She broke a smile, rising from her chair to retrieve a glass for him, filling it with the boiling water and setting his favorite flavor of tea in it. Returning to the table, she offered it to him, smiling weakly. He took it with a grin.
"I don't know why, but I can't seem to sleep either... I've just been sitting out here thinking." She took a small sip from her tea, trying to hide her face from her friend, hoping he couldn't see her eyes. She was on the brink of tears now, and even she hardly knew why.
"Thinking about Valgaav-sama?"
"Yes..."
"It hurts now that he's gone... But now he can have a new life; he can start over fresh! I hate seeing you like this, Oneesan. It wasn't your fault or anyone else's but his own for doing what he did. But in the end he still did the right thing by letting you kill him to destroy Dark Star..." Jiras stopped wearily, unsure whether he should say what he was about to. Blurting it out anyway, he asked in a serious voice, "Did you love Valgaav-sama, Oneesan?"
"'Love?'" she repeated softly, sighing as she laid down her head on the table, hiding her face within her arms. "Jiras-san, it was my own tribe that was responsible for the terror that gripped him after the battles of the ancient war. He wouldn't have even known Maryuoh Gaav if the Gold Dragons hadn't started that silly war... And I regret that... I suppose that I saw him as something more than our enemy. I saw him as a child... Because he had lost his true self after becoming part Mazoku so long ago... I was attached to him with guilt, not love. I suppose that I'll love him now that he is reborn as my own, but that's different..." Tears began to roll over her cheeks, and she began to quietly sob, still hiding herself from Jiras, ashamed.
"Oneesan... None of that was your fault..."