Author's Notes/Desclaimer/Notes/More Notes: I'm back and showing my love for the Slayers the only way I seem to know how. That's right, by putting them through Hell. I know I sometimes forget to put the disclaimer, but I'm sure you all know by now that I'm not stealing the characters from this anime, I'm borrowing them, and giving them back… slightly worn and perhaps a little broken. Ahem... Anyway, the only reason I remembered this disclaimer was because it's a SONG inspiration! I wanted everyone to know that the song that inspired this fic was "Angel's Son" by Sevendust. Songs usually inspire me for some reason. Did you know that my other fic; "On the Pain of Death," was inspired by the song "All Messed up" by Sum 41? Well you do now!
Everyone should be in character for this fic. That's right; Xellos has his brain for a change. Ok, well these notes have gone on long enough. Onto the story!
Trouble is Brewing Beneath the Surface
Patience had never been a problem for the trickster priest, yet somehow something seemed unsettling to him. His master hadn't been her usual self since he returned with his report from the Darkstar mess. It was unnerving, and he was beginning to get curious which was even more unnerving. He shouldn't meddle with his lord's affairs, he knew, unless she told him otherwise.
It was a game for his Lord Beast Master; it had always been. She knew he hated being left in the dark, and so she would sometimes purposefully withhold information from him, and for him to obtain it, he would have to beg and keep it up for some time, or wait to be sent someplace in order to find out for himself.
He had been keeping his distance however, afraid that by asking or saying something displeasing that his lord would lose her tolerance and would punish him. It had happened before, and Xellos wasn't about to let it happen again. Oh no. He would avoid that at all costs.
"Xellos, there you are," a soft nearly placid voice spoke from behind him, and the trickster whirled around to find his master Zelas standing very very close to him.
"Lord Beast Master," Xellos said leaning back a little as he tried to reclaim some means of personal space. "I wasn't expecting that you'd want to see me today."
"You've been avoiding me," she accused him, though her lack of anger really was beginning to make the trickster priest nervous.
"Why yes actually, you figured me out again," he remarked smiling to mask his nervousness.
"That's too bad, because I've needed you to do something."
"Anything for you Lord Beast Master."
"It's not for me Xellos… this time, it's for you."
"I'm afraid I don't understand," Xellos admitted, his back pressed against the wall. "Please humour me a little Lord Beast Master, you know I have no idea what's going on."
Zelas took a step back to allow her servant some breathing space, and with her back turned to him, she spoke, "You have a debt to repay Xellos, and I would suggest you repay it now because you won't get another chance to do so in the future."
"Debt?" he asked scratching his head.
"Yes, that debt you owe to the Water Dragon King."
"Oh."
"Dynast has decided to slaughter all the dragons in the Kakaato Mountains, that's why you should go. Now."
"And I was putting it off so well too."
The serious expression that his lord wore begged him to question after her. It took him a few moments to gather the courage, but when he did, he was rewarded with an answer.
"I've been thinking a lot since Darkstar," his lord began. "It seems that since the beginning, things have changed more than we can even remember. Isn't it strange how we've had more trouble with our own kind than the dragons these past few decades?"
"Yes, it is a little unnerving," Xellos replied, but with a cheery grin and a raised index finger he added, "But it sure has kept our lives interesting hasn't it?"
Zelas adopted an identical smirk as she slowly strode down the hall, leaving her priest to ponder over what he had just been told. The trickster priest had been left in a very awkward predicament. Lending aid to the dragons would be like announcing to the world that his loyalty had shifted; that his master's loyalty had…
Realization startled him as he vanished into the astral plane. He finally knew why his master had begun to act differently; she had decided to change sides in a sense. Of course, it was always a gamble when trying to guess at what Lord Beast Master was thinking, but he had been told to settle his debt, and that was something he would definitely do.
The valley was in a state of pure chaos when Xellos appeared on the scene. Dragons were fighting desperately to stay alive against the monsters' vicious onslaught, and his race wasn't doing such a bad job in making sure that everything in their path would either be dead or destroyed. Golden bodies were strewn about, and the smell of fresh blood was thick and hung heavily in the air.
A lesser creature; one of his kind, was stalking a dragon right in front of him. Of course since Xellos was also a monster, the creature didn't pay any attention to him. Smirking, the trickster appeared between the monster and his dragon quarry. Annoyed, the creature was about to curse him, but then he realized just who Xellos was, and his rage was quickly quelled.
"Hey, it's the beast master come to join us," the monster hollered to a few of his comrades.
Xellos was hit by a delicious, and not entirely unwanted, wall of fear and dread from the nearby dragons. He revelled in it for a moment before remembering what his true goal was.
Adopting his cheerful nonchalant persona, the trickster moved towards the stupid creature who cackled in his pleasure, that is, until Xellos' hand shot out and grabbed him around the neck. The monster sputtered and clawed at the priest's hand without success. "W-What are you doing…?" the creature gasped.
"Oh my, did I forget to mention that, this time, I am not on your side? How forgetful of me," Xellos said as he summoned his dark aura to disintegrate the monster in his clutches. He brushed of his gloved hands, summoned to him his staff, and looked around at the few of dynast's weaker subordinates who had watched and were now staring at him speechless.
The trickster raised his staff, and the ruby at its tip began to glow red. "This is going to get awfully boring," he remarked. His eyes snapped open, and the monsters scrambled to get out of the way as flames burst from beneath them. Their screams were drowned out by the continuing struggle throughout the valley, but the golden dragons that had witness Xellos' actions remained frozen in shock, say for one.
"Xellos!" A horribly familiar voice rang in his ear, and before the trickster priest could react, he found himself hanging in the air having been lifted up by the front of his shirt by a scary blond woman. "What the heck is going on, what are you monsters planning!?"
"Oh, it's Miss Filia," Xellos chirped as he vanished from her grasp only to reappear behind her, facing away and dusting himself off yet again. "I've only just got here actually, what about you? How have you been? Destroyed any towns recently perhaps?"
"Don't try to change the subject on me," she snapped scowling at him. "The valley is in shambles because of you monsters!"
He raised his finger. "But Filia," he whined. "Didn't you see me take out those bad guys?" Of course she did, but he wanted to hear it from her, but she bit her tongue stubbornly. With a smile Xellos leaned forward so that his nose was almost touching hers, "This really isn't the time for us to be arguing, don't you think?"
She didn't budge. Instead she met his stare head on. "You better not be toying with us Xellos…" she growled at him.
"I'm so insulted," the trickster sarcastically remarked. "Me? Toy with you? If you feel that way maybe I shouldn't help you after all."
"We never asked for your help!" she shot back. She turned just in time to catch a lesser monster in the face with her mace.
"Of course you didn't," Xellos said as he drifted by her. "If Filia wants to beat all the monsters by herself, then I won't get in the way."
The golden dragons that had been watching them squabble now took to the air to continue their fight. There was no time for questions. Another dragon that had flown from the mountains seemed to be searching for someone. When he spotted Filia, he circled over head, crashed through a few monsters that had appeared, and landed in front of her out of breath.
"Filia…" he breathed.
"Calm down," she told him softly. "Take a few deep breaths before you try to speak."
The dragon did as he was told and took a few moments to regain himself before blurting out, "Milgazia… All the healers… dead. Needs… help."
"Oh my," Xellos commented from behind. The golden dragon that had come to Filia spun around and nearly died of a heart attack when he saw the Beast Master standing right there.
"It sounds like Milgazia has hit some trouble. So Miss Filia, do you still want to defeat all the monsters here by yourself? Or are you going to let me help?"
The proud ex-priestess turned her back to him. "Just don't get in the way," she said changing into her dragon form. She learned from the dragons of the Kakaato mountains how to do it properly.
Holding his staff in the crook of his elbow, Xellos clapped his hands together and smiled. "Then leave it to me to clear a path!"
"Through the monsters," she reminded him irritably. She spread her wings and tore into the sky, and Xellos turned to regard the fearful messenger dragon with an open eye.
"Is Dynast around?" he questioned and the dragon quickly shook his head.
"N-No… not that we've seen."
"I see," Xellos said, returning his pleasant smile. He raised his staff and the dragon backed off immediately. The red orb shone, and flames cut across the valley. The black and golden dragons of the valley stopped what they were doing in pure shock and fear. When they realized that they hadn't been burnt by these flames, they continued their struggle with the remaining monsters, clashing, the sound of fangs and claws rang across the valley, and Xellos vanished to follow after Filia by means of the astral plane.
Surely he had done enough for the Water Dragon King's people that his debt had been repaid. Surely he had. He kept telling himself this but he knew that if the dragon lord was still around, he'd argue with the monster on that point.
The trickster watched as Filia landed a few feet in front of him. She paused and turned her head to search for him, but of course he remained unseen. His presence was there however; she could feel it.
After taking a look around and finding only the remaining corpses of a few black dragons, Filia shrank down to her human form. She stumbled forward a bit and clutched her nose against the smell of burning scales and blood.
"Feeling a bit unwell?" Xellos questioned from the astral plane.
The ex-priestess ground her teeth together when she heard his cheerful voice, which at a time like this could be, and was, very irritating. "You're probably enjoying this!" she accused, and laughter rang around her from its unforeseen source.
"My dear Filia, of course I have to enjoy myself a little; I am a monster after all."
He materialized beside her and pointed to a path which led part way up the mountain before it turned abruptly. "Milgazia is up that way."
"Are you sure?" she asked, her eyes narrowing at him. He was still very untrustworthy, and he hadn't said why he was helping…
"Absolutely."
Filia led the way up the path while Xellos hung back. He had his arms folded behind his head lazily, and he looked down at the war raging below out of boredom. When he glanced back up, he found that he had indeed been right, and he beamed smugly at Filia. Even though the ex-priestess had her back to him, she growled, sensing his I-told-you-so, disposition.
A few monsters, deemed weak by Xellos, were hanging around the path, taunting a weakened Milgazia who was in his human form and had his back to the wall of the mountain. The elder golden dragon had been brought to one knee as he struggled to keep the fiends from killing him. Each attack they threw drew closer to hitting as Milgazia swiftly began losing his defences. Bleeding heavily, the elder couldn't even risk looking away to see who had come to his aid.
"Lord Milgazia!" Filia called to him out of concern, and a few of the monsters that had been attacking the elder turned to her.
"I think you can handle this one," Xellos told Filia as he sat down on a rock to watch.
"Suddenly not feeling so confident?" she questioned with a wry smile. She was trying to poke fun at the lazy priest for backing out so soon. "Don't tell me that little fire display back there was all you had."
The trickster laughed. "Oh no Filia. These guys are much too weak to give me any sport, however, if you think you'll need my help, maybe I was giving you a little too much credit."
"Humph, you wish monster," she said as she readied her mace. The creatures had launched themselves at her, and in return, she hit them off the mountain with her trusty hard-hitting weapon.
"You know that isn't going to" Xellos began raising his index finger, but she cut him off.
"Shut up Xellos! I know what I'm doing!"
The trickster let his finger drop as Filia began chanting the words to her strongest spell. "Chaotic Disintegrate!" she shouted, and the spell tore across the mountain, dissolving the monsters who had been attacking Milgazia, and the ones who had recovered from her mace and had come back for a second round.
"Bravo Miss Filia," Xellos cheered from his place. He hopped down, went to the edge of the cliff, and scanned the valley to see if the other monsters had taken an interest in Filia's spell, and he appeared delighted when he saw that a whole bunch of them had, though he was just trying to bother Filia. Really he knew they had to go. Sherra and Norst could be anywhere in the valley, and though Xellos decided he could most likely take out one of them with little problem, he knew two would be tricky.
"Looks like we need to make a hasty retreat," A smiling Xellos exclaimed gesturing to the swarm of Dynast's minions who were charging towards them.
Milgazia had finally collapsed from his injuries, and Filia was trying to summon a quick, but strong, healing spell. She wasn't listening to the trickster priest at all, and Xellos was beginning to lose his patience.
"Oh Filia, there's a storm coming and we're going to be caught in the middle of it," he told her.
"I have to heal him now or he might not make it," she replied.
Xellos vanished, but quickly reappeared by the two dragons. He grabbed Milgazia with one hand and snagged Filia with the other before dragging them both through the astral plane. They emerged from the darkness in a crevice and Filia recoiled from him.
"What do you think you're doing Xellos!?" she demanded angrily.
The trickster slumped to the ground, and the motionless Milgazia fell across him. Xellos sighed. It had taken a lot of energy to drag two bodies through the astral plane. Valgarv had made it look easy. Too easy…
"Oh, you know, just saving your lives," he replied, aware of the irony of it. "By the way Filia, you haven't happened to see a girl with a sword or a man with a magic outfit running around the valley anywhere have you? They're about so high," Xellos measured from the ground. "Probably killing dragons in large amounts…"
Filia gently took Milgazia and laid him on the ground so that she could summon a healing spell for him.
"All I've seen is a cocky smart mouthed monster who won't shut up and let me concentrate," Filia retorted.
"Ouch, that hurt," Xellos said feeling a little ticked off at her. Apparently Sherra and Norst hadn't made themselves known yet. Wouldn't they be a nice surprise for the stuffy ex-priestess? He shook his head and forced a smile. His goodwill shouldn't extend to her; he was here to repay the Water Dragon King after all.
"Very well, this really isn't my fight," Xellos replied shrugging. "Why should I trouble myself dealing with a useless conceited dragon? I think I'll just sit back and watch you all die. It seems to be what you want anyway."
Tears came to Filia's eyes as her hands began to glow with healing magic. "You think it's easy for me..?" she questioned lowering her head to hide her sorrow stricken state. "You think it's easy watching everyone around me die? I don't like war. I hate war. I hate seeing my people die."
Struck by her sudden confession, Xellos sighed and held his head. He could pick up on emotions; he should have known. "Oy Filia, you really do know how to get under my skin," he chided her. "Don't worry; I'll still help you save the valley." He winked at her smiling pleasantly. "It's why I'm here after all."
"Why…?" another voice questioned. Milgazia's eyes cracked open, and his golden orbs landed on the trickster priest.
"Now that is a secret," Xellos replied waggling his finger.
As Milgazia slowly got to his feet with a little help from Filia, Xellos stretched and poked his nose around the corner of the chasm. No one was coming. "All clear," he chirped. "We should probably get out of here before they trap us in."
The elder dragon gazed at his long hated enemy sceptically. Then, without a hint of emotion, he strode over to the trickster who turned to him grinning.
"I know we've had our differences in the past Milgazia, but I really am being honest," Xellos said. No anger, no fear; no anything came from the elder dragon, only the faint hint of mistrust, not that Xellos could really blame him. During the last war, they had been on opposite sides after all.
"It will be strange having you as an ally," Milgazia commented dryly, walking past him towards the light that poked through at the end of the chasm.
"I could say the same thing," the trickster remarked as he and Filia followed after the elder.
When they emerged from the crevice, they were greeted by a bombardment of monsters. Xellos took care of a couple with his staff while Filia and Milgazia both used their Flame breath to blast their way through.
"So what's your battle plan exactly?" Xellos questioned the elder as they headed into the fray. Milgazia glanced back at him with his usual blank expression. The valley's mountains were supposed to have given them time to come up with a plan, but this hadn't been the case.
"There is no plan," Milgazia replied.
"That's what I thought," Xellos mused. The state of the valley, chaos, death, everything showed little to no planning. At this rate, all the dragons would be dead within a few days, less if either Dynast's general or priest got involved. "Alright, then how about I buy you all some time to come up with one."
"I'm listening."
"Take the remaining dragons into the mountains, or gather the remaining troops as they say," Xellos said, and the monsters around him were easily dealt with by Filia and Milgazia while the trickster priest talked. "I will stay here and keep our monster friends entertained for a bit, so you can come up with whatever plan you like alright?"
Milgazia gave a slight nod while Filia hefted her mace over her shoulder.
"I'm not going to let you take full credit for saving us Xellos," she blatantly told him. "I'm going with you."
Xellos sighed. Why on earth? What kind of silly argument was that? He turned to Milgazia, hoping that he'd disagree, but he didn't. That dragon was too passive…
"Very well Filia," Xellos remarked. "Try to keep up."
The two went on ahead while Milgazia transformed and took to the sky. His roar signalled the other dragons in the valley, and they left their battles to join with him. Many of the monsters went after them, but Xellos was quick to react. The orb at the end of his staff shone, energy shot forward, and before the other monsters could do anything to protect themselves, they were gone, dissolved into nothingness.
"No matter how many we destroy, more appear in their place," Xellos thought out loud. "Well Filia, you didn't tell me how you ended up in the Kakaato Mountains."
"Hyah!" Filia swung her mace, and a monster went flying. "You haven't told me why you're here either."
"Oh that? Why I'm just following orders," the trickster replied.
"You expect me to believe that your Lord would actually order you to save us?"
"It's your turn now Filia," Xellos chided, and he sliced through a few more monsters with his staff. They were everywhere, like flies, no, worse than flies.
"I came here looking for a place to live after Valgarv hatches," she smiled remembering the small blue egg she had left behind with Jillas and Gravos. "The village I live in is nice, but the people there aren't used to dragons very much, and even a little dragon might frighten them." She sighed, and this had been the only place she felt she could have raised Valgarv properly too… "Besides, he needs a male role model, and Milgazia is perfect."
"Just as long as Valgarv doesn't inherit his sense of humour," Xellos commented teasingly.
More Notes: I really don't have much to say. Gee. This is what I get for making my notes up top so friggin huge.
