Filia's expression soured as she took a spoonful of soup. Having been sitting uncovered for so long, it cooled considerably.

Xellos watched from the bed with mild interest as she forced herself to take another taste. "Is your cooking really that bad?"

She rewarded him with a completely unimpressed look. "My cooking is fine! It just got cold."

"Somehow I doubt that's the only reason you're so disappointed with it. It's sweltering outside, shouldn't cold food be refreshing?" he asked.

Maybe it should have been, but it wasn't what she wanted. "I don't expect you to understand…You're probably too busy running around doing reports on morning glories for a decrepit old dark lord stuck in the ice somewhere to pick up on the subtleties of life."

The edges of his lips twisted into a scowl. No regard at all. No esteem either. "And what makes you think your subtleties are so interesting?" Granted it was the nuances of her character giving him a bed to rest in and riddled his mind more often than he'd like to admit, but this was a matter of pride. "It's not as if you understand anything about me anyway."

"You make yourself hard to understand on purpose!" she argued.

"If you had any sort of survival instinct at all, you'd try to work around that," he retorted with satisfaction.

Filia narrowed her eyes. "Forgive me if I'm not as intimidated of you as you think I should be." She lifted her index finger and continued, "Seeing as this is all it took for me to leave you bedridden."

Had his eyes been open, he would've rolled them. "That's a low blow Filia-san."

A mischievous smile played on her lips. "Don't worry; I'll be more careful next time. I swear I forget my own strength sometimes."

He paused. "Speaking of which, couldn't you just use your flame breath to heat up your food?"

A hush filled the room. There was a part of Filia's brain that considered the idea with extreme seriousness, but it soon caught on that the suggestion was probably a bad joke. She laughed dryly. "Why doesn't it surprise me that your first piece of advice is to set it on fire?"

It didn't go over his head that she took a bit too long to react. He regretted not trying harder to sound sincere. "I'm just trying to remind you of your special talents."

"Don't pretend you're doing me any favors."

"Well you spend so much time living like a human, I worry sometimes you think you are one," he countered.

Unconsciously, her lips pouted. "What do you care if I live like a human?"

"It raises certain questions is all."

Her eyebrow rose. "Like?"

"Hmm…well…how to put this delicately…" Xellos paused to look down at her torso, stared slightly longer than necessary, and then re-established eye contact. "Do you have nipples?" he asked innocently.

"Wh-What?!" Filia stammered and hurriedly covered her chest with her hands.

"Well, you're a reptile, so I wouldn't think you'd need them…but you still have hair and eyebrows too," he explained simply as if it was for the sake of science.

"Don't call me a reptile! And we're not having this discussion!"

One of his eyes opened and honed in on her. "Is that piece of information really worth guarding?"

"Yes!" she answered. "I don't want you thinking about my breasts!"

"You know I might be tempted to think about them more often not knowing." Xellos tapped his chin thoughtfully with an inquisitive smile.

Filia huffed. She looked at him with fiery eyes, initially into his own steady gaze, but after a moment her eyes started to wander down. Suddenly the question wriggled itself into her head.

…Did Xellos have nipples?

It was an insane thought; one that she severely regretted having. His body was nothing but an illusion made to fool people. However, he still ate and drank, and overall kept up the appearance as well as such an inorganic thing could. Maybe he went that extra step there too? She blushed furiously and looked away.

"Come on, come on, don't be so stingy! If you tell me, you'll never have to hear me ask again," he promised.

Her nostrils flared and snapping her head back to face him she shouted, "You first!"

"Eh?"

'Oh no…I didn't…' she wished desperately that she hadn't said it, but it was already too late; the subject had to be changed immediately. "I-I'm not telling you anything until I get a straight answer out of you. In all the time I've known you, you've dodged every question no matter how inane it was!"

Xellos considered her proposal. "Is there something you want to know?" he asked, honestly curious at her sudden outburst.

'Do you have nipples?' repeated a few times in her head, but Filia resisted it. Even if she knew the answer, that question led down a dangerous road filled with thoughts that no girl who ever considered herself a priestess should have. Besides there was a more pressing issue bothering her. "Why did you come here?"

Xellos knew she'd ask eventually, but he hadn't prepared an answer yet—not one for her anyway. In his head he'd made up all manner of (perfectly satisfactory) excuses, but Filia was probably too prim to accept any of the things he'd gotten away with telling himself. Scratching his temple lightly, he debated several possible replies before finally saying, "Well…I have something I've been wondering about. Besides the question concerning your body—

"We're not talking about that!" she cut him off.

Ignoring her he continued, "I came here to find out why, out of all those in your temple, were you sent to prevent world destruction? I'd thought at first, it was because you were foolishly loyal, but you've proven yourself an enigma," he admitted.

"Humph! I'll have you know Karyuuou-sama selected me himself when he gave the prophecy," she answered proudly.

Xellos smugly tilted his head towards her. So that was it. "Is that right? Well, I guess that goes to show the faith your people had in him to go along with choosing you."

Filia crossed her arms and growled. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You really have to ask? There's an ancient dragon egg in the next room and a mazoku on your bed. If I were them, I wouldn't exactly be thrilled to put my future in your hands."

A sigh escaped her lips. "They weren't very enthusiastic about it…" She contemplated the outcome. Even if she hadn't left the temple, her people likely would've abandoned her as she was now; the adoptive mother of an ancient dragon and the only living servant of the gods to ally themselves with a mazoku. More than simply renouncing her, had they survived they might've decided to exterminate her all together, she thought bitterly. "But…I think Karyuuou-sama knew what he was doing."

He could sense the tension permeating her conscience. "Are you sure you're really comfortable saying that? He made you suffer quite a lot for his plan."

"Like you're one to talk! If you weren't there I probably wouldn't've suffered at all!" she quipped.

Xellos was beaming. "But I had to be there; the prophecy said so!"

It was true, she conceded miserably. Karyuuou-sama called her to carry out his mission, part of which forced her to fuse magic with a mazoku. In his wisdom, he'd been able to put aside the war even he was made to fight against all creatures of darkness, in order to save the world.

"Any mazoku would've done, it didn't have to be you. You just happened to be there."

For Filia, it was a struggle to follow that order, but Xellos…well he seemed by all appearances to enjoy it. She'd never seen him as exhilarated as he was when he mixed with her. It was disgusting. He could've at least had the decency to look like he hated it as much as she did…as much as she intended to.

"Since when do you believe in coincidences Filia-san?" he asked, gentle voice at odds with his wicked smirk.

"I don't," she reluctantly admitted.

'Of course she doesn't; she's a dragon at the end of the day—no different from the rest.' he thought victoriously.

"I just assumed Karyuuou-sama was too pressed for time to find a decent mazoku for the job—if there even are any."

Perhaps she wasn't just like the rest; Filia had gall. But that could be remedied easily enough. "Tsk! Those aren't the words of a good follower; accusing your god of not trying hard enough."

Fire stirred in her eyes. Xellos had nerve—too much. "It's not his fault that even the best sort of mazoku is still lower than garbage."

The muscles in his face started to twitch uncontrollably. "What a coincidence! Juuou-sama said the exact same thing to me about ryuuzoku when I told her I might have to fuse magic with one in order to carry out my mission!"

"If that's how you feel, then why did you look so happy every time it happened?!" she asked in a rage.

Of course; she would notice that. "I always look happy," he reminded her. "You on the other hand, certainly appeared more pleased when it happened than you're letting on." Sniggering to himself he thought out loud, "Perhaps you enjoy garbage more than you'd like to admit?"

Xellos watched her face turn progressively deeper shades of red. 'That's some face to give someone you hate Filia-san,' he thought.

"You've got a lot to learn if that's what you think!" With her appetite completely gone and her food forgotten, she got up, fully prepared to storm out.

"Ah, Filia-san! Wait, don't go yet," Xellos called out, surprisingly sincere. He reached his hand out towards her.

"What is it?" She turned around hesitantly.

"You still never answered my question from earlier."

Pausing briefly, she backtracked in her mind until she remembered. Her hands curled into fists that rose into the air above him. Opening one eye, he prepared to defend himself, but she begrudgingly relented before striking. Filia exhaled like an angry bull and turned away saying, "Hurry up and heal yourself so you can get out of my house Namagomi!" Stomping out of the room, she slammed the door behind her.

Xellos smiled despite himself. 'I must've hit the nail on the head.' Leaning his head back against the pillows and covering his mouth, he sighed. She showed him defiance and mercy in equal measure, and he still didn't know what to make of it. There might be something he could learn from her yet.

Sourly, he wondered if hating her was going to be harder than he expected.


Here's my attempt at the Continuing Education prompt. This one gave me a lot of trouble, but it starts playing with themes that'll be important later on. Anyway thanks very much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! As always, any constructive criticism, thoughts, comments, favorites, and follows are greatly appreciated. The Next one coming up is going to be a lot more action-packed, please look forward to it :)