Between Two Fires

Original Plot from a comic by Rinoaebastel/Rinoax

Fanfiction version by: MoonStarDutchess

Chapter 8: Feelings

Disclaimer: I wrote this fanfiction adaptation with permission from Rinoaebastel/Rinoax. I am not in any way plagiarizing. We claim no ownership of Slayers and are just fans but we do own the ideas in this.


She slept for three days before she showed any indication that she was going to wake. Xellos reasoned that the transformation back to her human form must've taken much of her energy and she was healing what remained of her injuries. She still had a fever and wasn't strong enough to cure it, so the task of getting her temperature reduced had fallen on him.

He soaked a cloth in a basin of cool water before wringing it out and placing it over her forehead and eyes. Healing this way was slow, and to him impractical, but Zelas forbade his use of healing spells. He expected her to go back to sleep from her half-conscious state but she spoke.

"Shouldn't you be out doing evil stuff?"

Xellos grinned and was thankful the cloth was covering her eyes so she couldn't see it. "I'm healing my enemy. I think that qualifies as evil."

He wiped the grin from his features when she reached up with her shaking hand and removed the cloth. She turned her head to look at him.

"You don't have to do this. I can take care of myself," she said.

"You're doing a piss poor job of healing so far." When he saw her cheeks puff, he spoke before she could say anything. "You know I enjoy annoying you too much to leave you be. My life would be incomplete without you to nag me to death."

He was surprised to hear a chuckle. She moved her head so she was looking back up at the ceiling. "Funny."

"Transforming back into your human form wasn't a good idea. You could've killed yourself."

"I didn't do it consciously, stupid we heal in that form, the body takes over. It transformed when it felt ready." She held up the cloth. "The fever is normal, no need to worry about it."

He took the cloth and tossed it in the basin before standing and walking over to her. He leaned over so that his face was close enough that she pressed back hard against the mattress and her eyes widened.

He usually had perfect control of his actions and wants, but the desire to press his lips against hers was becoming too much. It was foreign; he never desired to kiss anyone were for affection unless one was being lustful. He supposed she'd find it odd that he wanted to ravish her roughly where she lay. Since he wasn't human or dragon, she probably figured he was above all was powerful; it was more evil than love regardless of the act that resulted from it more often than not.

"Um… Xellos?"

He shot into a straight positioned. "I wanted to see if you were truly serious about that." He moved over to a table and began to needlessly rearrange the items on it. He felt her gaze on him. "If you were then you'd probably be dead as soon as I threw you on the ground outside of this realm."

He heard a bitter laugh. "You're right."

He refused to turn to comfort her. "Do you know why they tried to kill you?"

"No, they wouldn't say a thing. The elder had his head stuck too far up his own ass to find the time to answer my questions."

Xellos let himself chortle. "The demon realm is influencing your language my dear Filia." He'd noticed that she'd developed quite a potty mouth since he'd been coming around and found the vile hostility rather tasty.

She ignored him. "I think it was some sort of misunderstanding," she said with frustration in her tone. "From what I pieced together, they think I betrayed my clan and that they are dead because you ordered me to betray them."

Xellos huffed indignantly. "Ignoramuses. We demons don't leave such a mess. When we kill, it's straight to the issue. Clean and efficient unless we wish to torture our adversary."

"Like I said, head up his ass."

"I guess it's too much to ask for them to see how stubborn you are. If I ordered you to do something, you'd either tell me to go screw myself, ignore me, or try to kiss me with your mace."

"No reasonable dragon would do what a demon said. Even at the risk of death. I wouldn't kill my kinsme…" He turned when she trailed off. She was looking at the window and he could smell her tears. "I killed my own kind."

Xellos resisted the urge to congratulate her on her common sense. It would only hurt her more.

"He wasn't even an adult yet. I was cornered and I just snapped. I am a traitor now. Not only that, I'm a murderer."

"You were cornered. Trapped?"

"Yes."

"They chased you?"

She nodded and sniffed.

"You are one stupid dragon," he said. Her gaze shot to him and he saw the tears that he'd smelled before. "I know a thing about murder my dear Filia, and what you did was not murder. You defended yourself in the heat of the moment. Any being would do that. They are the traitors for trying to kill you."

She looked amazed for a few seconds before her face turned back into a somber expression. "That doesn't resolve my feelings. I can't look at it from the point of view of a demon, Xellos. I don't harbor feelings of vengeance towards them, so I would kill only if I had no other options."

"And you didn't. Tell me, why you were fighting so hard. Was it to survive or another reason? Val perhaps."

Her eyes widened and she nodded. "You killed protecting someone else as well as for your own survival."

"I see."

He knew that wouldn't ease the guilt, and he was even more confused as to why he was trying so to hard ease her guilt. He didn't know what it felt like to hold any sort of guilt, but he'd seen what it did to people. He didn't like the taste of the various emotions rushing off them: suicide being a dominate one. Suicide tasted like a mix of burnt coffee and turpentine.

Before he could say anything further, he felt the Zelas tugging at his consciousness. It was odd, usually she was yelling at him to get to her room. "I must be going now for a while. My mistress is calling."

"Is there something wrong? Are you in trouble for bringing me in here?"

"It's demon issues you need not concern yourself with," he said. "When you feel a bit stronger, which shouldn't be long from now, you can bath, eat—" he pointed to some food on a table "—and walk. Be sure not to open a door if you go out into the corridors unless you relish being eaten by one of Beastmaster's minions."

"Eat me? Are you serious?"

He didn't answer her and disappeared.

-/-/-

She didn't like the look on his face when he left. It was bewildered and Xellos was never bewildered by anything. He told her not to be concerned, and she would try not to be, but ever since Xellos started spending time with her, her worry for him grew.

Her stomach rumbled and she looked over at the table where the tray of food sat. It'd been a while since she'd eaten, a few weeks possibly (she didn't know for sure how long she'd been there).

She sat up and stumbled over to the table, grabbing onto pieces of furniture for balance when she wobbled. She'd been still for such a long period that it was strange to stand. She sat down on the chair and her eyes fell to a small, wrapped parcel. She picked it up and cautiously tugged on the string just in case Xellos was playing a joke on her. He knew how curious she could be and often took advantage of her trait.

When the parcel opened, she removed a small piece of folded paper, opened it, and read it aloud. "A blue ribbon for your ugly dragon tail. Better than that horrid pink."

She wrinkled her nose. There was nothing wrong with pink. But even if that were so, she'd be sure to tie the blue silk ribbon around her tail when she felt better.

"What an idiot," she muttered before digging into the food.

-/-/-

After Xellos got back from another mission, nothing seemed out of the ordinary with Zelas. He gave his report and she still kept the same posture as always, still commented with the same tone, and still smoked the same amount of cigarettes depending on the length of his report. So, it came as a shock when after he was done speaking, his mistress bellowed at him.

"Throw that yellow trash out of my house."

He was stunned but didn't show it. He was confused—an emotion that became a close companion in the past few weeks—at Zelas' sudden demand. One moment she was insisting that he take care of Filia, the next demanding he throw her out. "What?"

"You heard me. Make her pack up and take everything she's sullied. Throw her out of my realm. I want nothing to do with her."

"Did…Did she do something?"

"I said get her out!"

"But my mistress, she's still recovering and you told me to take care of her until she—"

"I changed my mind Xellos. Are you going to defy me?"

"No! No! I'm only saying that—"

Zelas stood. "Fine, I regret I'm going to have to destroy you. You were so hard to create, but I'll start over with a better blueprint in a few thousand years."
"Please don't. I'll leave willingly." Xellos turned and saw Filia standing in the 'd told her not to venture out, but should've expected she wouldn't listen.

"You haven't recovered yet."

"Shut up demon. I said I'd go and I will."

"Butt out you stupid dragon. Go back to the room."

"Shut up Xellos. At least she shows some sense." Zelas looked her over and without taking her gaze off Filia, said, "I wish to speak with her so wait outside the castle while she gets her things. She will leave and you will show her out of the domains. Then you will return immediately. Do you understand me?"

Xellos stared at Filia and then turned to Beastmaster, and bowed as low as he could just short of kneeling. "Yes, Beastmaster," he said. Instead of teleporting, he stalked past Filia, not casting her a second look.

Filia inclined her head to Zelas.

"If he wasn't a demon he would've shit his pants, don't you think so?" Zelas asked her.

"I'll admit you're intimidating."

"Yet you came here and asked something of me. That is either brave or stupid. I'd go with—"

"Stupid," Filia finished for her. "I get that a lot from Xellos."

"You are fond of my Beastpriest."

Filia didn't answer. She was either unsure or wasn't willing to admit the extent of her feelings for Xellos. She knew their relationship was more than friendship and they weren't enemies even though he would kill her without hesitation if Zelas willed it. "Please don't hurt him."

"You aren't in a position to make demands. Know your place."

Filia steeled her nerves. "I didn't demand, I was asking. Making a request."

Zelas tapped her long fingernails on the table next to her. "What do I get in return if I spare him pain?"

"What do you want?"

"What if I decide I want to punish you instead?"

"Then do it. Better me than him," she found herself saying. If she gave her life for Xellos, perhaps as small part of her could gain redemption for what she'd done. But then Xellos would just live to kill. She was under no disillusion that Xellos was a good being. He wasn't. He was vindictive and evil and she accepted that side of him just as much as the kind side he let peek though the many layers of his personality.

Zelas fell back onto the pile of pillows behind her and sighed. "You are such a boring dragon. And you're in that disgusting state. Um… what's it called? Ah. Love." She lit a cigarette and lifted it to her lips. After taking a long drag and blowing out the smoke, she grinned. "Are you in love with my Beastpriest?"

Filia met Zelas' gaze with her own. "I honestly don't know."