Hello again! New chapter and time for author rant. I've gotten at least three replies to this fanfic wishing that Filia and Xellos would just have sex already and get it over with. :-) My suggestion for those of you who would rather have sex than a plot line: read a lemon. This fanfic was not written to be a fast way to get both characters in the sack. I don't have to do that, anyway . . . there are plenty of fanfics out there that speedily get them together carnally. Personally, I think love is much more refreshing. :-)

As for those of you who do like plot and have expressed your approval of the way I've written things so far . . . there's more coming, don't worry about that! All because of your nice comments, as well. Without your supportive feedback, it would be difficult to continue. I really, truly appreciate your words of encouragement. Remember, though, criticism is welcome too! If you see something that doesn't fit or flow right to you, please let me know. I'm very interested in improving my fic in any way:-)

Remember to feed the author!

Yours,

Ukchana

Chapter 9

Giza, Ejypt
June 4th, 2002

A half an hour later, Valgaav felt a small drop of pressure in the room and put down his book. A stream of light revealed dust motes tossing in the air as if gusts of wind were coursing through the corridors. As he stood from the table, Xellos appeared, a frown of tension on his face.

"Val," the monster spoke sharply, "something's wrong." The hair on Valgaav's arms started to tingle as he realized it was magic he felt rushing through the building. "Shield your power and don't teleport," Xellos continued, purple eyes open and gazing into his own. "Get out as soon as possible. I'll get Filia."

Suddenly, a massive explosion shook the room, thick and deep as a cannon blast, and Val grabbed Xellos' shoulders. "Mom!" he cried, saffron eyes begging.

"I'll save her," Xellos yelled over the screaming humans and falling stones, "Just go!" Their eyes locked and Xellos took his arms and shook him. "Trust me. Now," he demanded, "take this," and shoved the old book into the boy's hands. "If we don't make it, find Zelas and give this to her!" He pulled Valgaav towards the stairs.

"How?!" the boy cried, golden eyes pained.

Xellos shoved him, "You'll find a way!" and disappeared into nothingness.

Hesitating, Valgaav stood still a moment, surrounded by screaming and a cacophony of cracking rocks and shrieking metal. Then, with a quick spin, he raced down the stairs, dodging falling stones. "If we don't make it, find Zelas."

Mom.

Val evaded a collapsing pillar and ran faster.

(-(-o-)-)

Filia grabbed a wall as the room shook suddenly and the skylights were shattered, spraying glass everywhere. Bookshelves began to tumble over all around her, one suddenly shoving her to the ground with its weight and tearing the sleeve of her blouse.

A dark brown was all she could see, with flickers of yellow light. She could hear screaming and explosions . . . Valgaav, Xellos . . . All the humans!

The golden-haired dragoness stood and easily flung the bookshelf from her shoulders, then followed the nearest cries. "I'm here!" she said, "I'll help you . . ."

She cried out when a silhouette suddenly appeared above the skylights, a figure of darkness surrounded by sunlight. "Perhaps you COULD help me . . . " a harshly booming voice reverberated throughout the library, " . . . Filia Ul Copt of the race of Dragons."

No! Filia whipped her arms before her as a shockwave of energy shot towards her, rippling through the air. Her fragment-enhanced shield formed a split second before it struck, and the explosion of the two magix decimated the rest of the roof in a tremendous roar of light.

The figure floated down to hang a few feet above her and yards away, and she could see it was an emaciated man in fine ebony clothes. "You can't fight me, Filia," he taunted. "Just give me the last piece and we won't have to do this."

Filia stood up straight and glared at him. "I'll never give it to you, Telgaln. You'll have to kill me first."

"So be it!" he seethed, teeth bared as he pulled back a hand, blackness forming instantly between his fingers. "Die, dragon bitch!"

The darkness in his grasp crackled with electricity, and clouds began to form, shooting lightening back and forth and darkening the blue Ejyptian sky.

Crouching, Filia drew more magic from the stone. Delirious from the power, she threw it into a shield, spreading it across the building—

—the lightening struck—

And Filia found herself outside, held by one arm in a compromising position.

"So," a cheerful voice said in her ear, "THAT'S where you hid it!"

"Xellos!" She tried to pull away from his lecherous embrace, but he suddenly tightened his arm around her waist and she felt him flare evil as the other demon floated out of the distant building. "Let go!"

"Not now," Xellos snapped, raising his glowing staff. The ebony tendrils of his power undulated around them.

"Move your hand!" she screamed, struggling vainly to remove his fingers from her breast.

"If I'm going to use the stone," Xellos grabbed her more firmly, "I HAVE to put my hand here." He gave the rapidly approaching Telgaln a sour smile. "Maybe you shouldn't have hidden it in your bra."

Humans on the ground were screaming and sirens wailed in the distance as black clouds boiled out of the sky. "Xellos! What about Valgaav?!" Filia demanded.

"He's around here somewhere," Xellos quipped, then changed gears suddenly. "time for plan B."

They phased out again, just to see Valgaav run past them.

"Val!" Filia cried, and Xellos released her.

Valgaav skidded to a stop and rushed back towards his mother, and they embraced just as Xellos seized them both. "No time!" the demon snarled, "Teleport, NOW!"

"WHERE?" Filia cried.

Here.— He placed it into her mind, and suddenly, she knew.

They disappeared.

(-(-o-)-)

When the three reformed, they were floating far above an island shrouded in mist. A blue, translucent half-sphere covered it, mile after mile, and crackled with energy.

"Where are we?!" Filia demanded as the three broke apart from each other. "Why did you grab me, I could have handled it"

"Quiet!" Xellos demanded, and she fell silent in shock. He turned to the glowing barrier and held out his hands, now empty of staff. Black energy began to flow into the shield and he softly chanted a few words. "Get back," he told them curtly, amethyst eyes narrowed as the magic grew in his hands.

Filia shivered at the coldness in his gaze, thankful it wasn't directed to her. Val pulled her back from behind and she embraced him as they watched the white and ebony-garbed man work.

The intensity of the energy flared finally, as a hole began to appear, forced with Xellos' hands. Sparks of blue shot out, and Filia backed up into her son, gasping.

"Careful, Mom," Valgaav cautioned quietly.

Xellos moved his hands slowly, and the hole widened. He seemed to only be putting the barest of magic into it, but his movements were cautious.

Filia watched Xellos more than the spell, eyes studying the way the snowy silk dress shirt pulled across his back, and his narrow waist and hips accentuated by the black slacks. What's going on now? What will we do?

Without warning, Xellos' serious nasal voice shook Filia from her absorption. "Fly through when I tell you, one at a time. Be very, VERY careful to not touch the edges of the force field and do NOT try to phase. Understand?"

Valgaav's golden eyes widened. "Yessir."

Xellos turned his head to give Filia a hard look. She nodded, and for the barest of moments, Xellos' eyes seemed to soften. Then he returned to concentrating the hole as it continued to widen.

A few seconds was all it took for the opening to enlarge to a few yards. Xellos' voice was sharp as he ordered, "Alright. Valgaav in first. Remember what I said," he reiterated, arms spread wide to magically hold the break. "No phasing. No touching. As little magic used as possible, actually. Go." His eyes never left the widening chasm. "Slowly."

Valgaav nodded, and with a worried look, pulled himself into a ball and floated through at a horribly slow pace. The edges of the hole crackled and spat electricity, but he was small enough to avoid it. He stopped far beyond the shield and unfurled himself, then turned to look back at them.

"Okay, Filia," Xellos continued. "Now you." He didn't perspire, but Filia could tell he was beginning to strain slightly at holding that much energy at bay. The lines around his eyes were tightened in a very human way.

"Alright." She began pulling her legs up when Xellos spoke suddenly.

"Wait."

Filia looked up to see him gazing back at her. "Yes?"

He swallowed, purple eyes uncertain as they met her own. "Be careful."

Nodding, she blushed and covered it by pulling her knees to her face. She wrapped her arms around herself and ponderously floated through the opening. The hair began to stand up on her neck and arms as her body conducted the slight electricity that managed to reach her through the air, ions dancing across her skin.

Finally, she reached her son and uncoiled, then watched with concern as Xellos floated through horizontally, feet first, so as to observe the weaves of magic and continue to control them.

When he made it through, Xellos faced the gap, power still held in his arms. With constrained movements, he painstakingly lowered the magic level as he closed the hole, centimeter by centimeter, sweat drops appearing on his brow.

Valgaav and Filia held each other again as they watched him, neither daring to speak lest they interrupt his concentration.

After a very long five minutes, Xellos had minimized the tear in the shield to a few inches wide. Gently, he brought his hands slightly closer together, sweating heavily now, and the crack shimmered as a brighter spot of blue, then melted into the barrier wall.

Xellos floated in air long enough to whisper, "Please catch me."

Then he fell.

(-(-o-)-)

Too close to the shield to phase or fly! The thoughts rushed through Filia's head in a split-second and formed an idea. I can't believe I'm doing this for XELLOS!

Filia ceased her levitation spell and dropped like a stone.

"Oh shit!" Valgaav cried out as she plummeted down.

As she fell, she yelled, "Waaaaatch yoooour laaaanguaaaage!"

The blonde narrowed her eyes to the pressure of falling and put her arms tight to her sides, trying to fall as fast as possible in the hopes that she would outdistance Xellos' limp body. Normally, Filia didn't have a fear of heights, but she found uncontrolled descent to be less than enjoyable, especially without goggles.

She began to catch up to him, her blouse and slacks nearly torn from wind shear, when they were halfway to the island. The forests were visible as individual tiny trees, but the wakes of the waves barely spanned the tip of her finger.

More aerodynamic than an unconscious person, the dragoness maneuvered herself to coast down beside Xellos, then grabbed his body roughly and pulled him close.

The ground was gaining quickly, she could see birds flying away as tiny specks below them, the waves as large as her thumb tip. Praying that she was far enough from the energy barrier, she slowly began to use her magic to slow their decent.

"F . . . Filia . . ." Xellos' weak voice caused her head to jerk down.

"Xellos? You're conscious." She held him tightly, suddenly emotional. "Don't scare me like that ever again!"

The wind gentled as her magic increased. The billowing of their clothing made a comforting sound like a breeze filling the sail of a ship.

Xellos, limp in her arms, muttered, "You . . . fell . . ."

"I had to save you." The blonde rubbed his back comfortingly. "How did you exhaust yourself using so little magic?"

There was no answer, and she looked down to see him unconscious again, eyes closed and mouth open slightly. Poor Xellos . . .

The landscape loomed closer as she flew them down towards the ocean. Waves reached up as if trying to touch them, but they flew miles above the water, closing fast upon the island.

Filia slowed their decline and they floated down to the beach, waves showering water droplets upon them and roaring up against the rocks that were randomly strewn along the shore.

Her feet sank into the silt as she walked through the wet sand until she reached a dryer area. Gently laying Xellos down onto the warm beach, she sighed and knelt beside him. "You're always getting into so much trouble . . ."

0

Gee, they're cute together, Valgaav smiled as he appeared on the beach. Filia's long yellow hair fell down over her shoulders, her hand resting on Xellos' chest. His white silk shirt practically glowed in the noon-day sun. Valgaav walked slowly towards them, grinning when his mother raised her blonde head.

"Oh, Valgaav! Did you make it alright?"

Sighing, the teenager scratched his aquamarine head with exasperation. "Of course, Mom. The shield isn't made to attack things INSIDE of it, just outside. You could have just teleported."

She blushed darkly and glared at him. "Well excuse me if I didn't want to risk it! If I had and something had happened, who can say if Xellos would have survived a fall like that!"

Val shrugged. "I guess you're right. You sure did scare ME half to death with that stunt."

Still angry, Filia turned up her nose, "Hmph!" and ignored him, instead straightening Xellos' shirt.

"Gee, Mommy," Valgaav squeaked childishly, "don't you think Daddy should rest before going back to work after something so traumatizing?"

She shot him a chilling glare. "Valgaav! I am still your mother! Don't think you don't have to treat me with respect anymore just because you're a teenager!"

Conceding with raised hands, Valgaav shrugged. "Okay, sorry, sorry." I know this is Zelas' island. But how can I get Mom to go inland without telling her? "Um, Mom . . ."

"Yes?" Filia was watching Xellos with concern as his chest rhythmically rose and fell. His eyelashes fluttered occasionally.

Val took a deep breath. Maybe this will work. "Maybe we should go inland and look for shelter. Also, I thought I saw a structure as I was coming down. Maybe someone there can help us. They might know Xellos."

Filia looked up, then away as she considered his words. Valgaav gulped as her eyes narrowed. "Wait a second . . . this is an island with a magical shield around it." Her azure gaze burrowed into him. "ValGAAV!!"

"Mom?" He backed away, smiling painfully. "What . . . what's wrong?"

She rose, fists and her sides, and screeched, "You KNEW where this place was! How could you let him take us to WOLF PACK ISLAND?!"

Valgaav moved to huddle on the beach. "Hey, it was a last resort!"

A moaning sound turned his head, and Filia followed his gaze to look back at Xellos.

The monster's amethyst eyes had opened slightly, a weak smile gracing his face. "Hey . . ." he coughed, and grinned as Filia dropped to his side.

"Xellos, save your strength!" Her worried sapphire orbs glistened as she grabbed his hand.

He gagged and rolled his eyes as he stretched. "I'm not dying, Filia. I just couldn't concentrate on holding the magic to fly anymore. That really wiped me out mentally."

Flinching, Filia dropped his hand and crossed her arms. "So, why ARE we here on ZELAS' island?" her voice dripped with scorn.

Xellos shrugged with a wide grin. "Best place to be when someone more powerful is attacking! Sorry I didn't give you more warning-"

"You should be!" she raved, fangs bared and fists clenched. "How dare you do this without even warning me first! You unfeeling, thoughtless-" She stood to stomp around in the surf, yelling at trees and water and any passing wildlife. Xellos looked past her and winked at Valgaav, then slumped, dead weight, back onto the sand.

Blinking at both his mother's tirade and Xellos' weird behavior, Valgaav let out a long breath and shook his head. Playing dead, Xellos? Or looking for a nursemaid? "Hey, Mom," Valgaav smiled suddenly, then tucked the grin away, "I think Xellos is unconscious again."

—Thanks,— he heard Xellos voice in his head. —I think she needs to feel a little more compassion towards poor me, don't you? I DID save everyone's fanny, after all.—

Filia turned around and exclaimed over the "unconscious" Xellos, then checked his pulse. "Thirteen beats a minute . . . even your pulse is evil."

—Sure thing, whatever you say,— came Valgaav's sarcastic reply.

—Why do I get the feeling that you're insinuating something again? Xellos projected as Filia tisked over him and pulled him into her arms.

—Just waiting for you to 'stop breathing' and try to get a free kiss in, that's all.—

Val leaned back as Filia stood with the monster in her arms, eyes worried.

Xellos' cheery voice returned, —She IS a doctor, after all! If anyone would know CPR, it would be her!—

Groaning, Valgaav shook his turquoise head and began walking along the beach, dusting the sand from his t-shirt. "C'mon, Mom, let's go. If we walk along the coast we should come to the castle I saw. It was to the left a little, set beside a bay."

"Alright," she sighed, glaring at the demon cradled in her arms. "Damn you, Xellos, for bringing me here . . ."

They started their trek, the hot tropical sun beating down upon their backs as they walked through the sand. "We should phase to the farthest thing we can see along the water, then continue until we see the castle," Valgaav suggested.

She nodded and glanced down at Xellos. "I wonder why he's so weak all of a sudden?" she mused.

I hope you never find out when I'm close enough to hit. "I donno'," he verbally answered, then said, "Okay, let's start."

They blinked out and began their journey.

0

The weight of Xellos' body against hers was almost comforting as they moved along the coast. Filia looked into the trees, eyes open for a castle, but also for any threat.

"Mom," came Valgaav's soft voice, "Maybe you shouldn't be broadcasting so strongly? You're drawing from the stone!"

"I am?" She blinked at him, cerulean eyes shocked. "Uh-oh. Maybe you should hold the stone instead?"

"No, Mother." Valgaav stopped phasing and just walked with her. "You're the most pure of heart. Anyone else could be tainted by power."

Filia pressed Xellos' chest to her own as she carried him and clutched at his unconscious form with her hands. "So could I," she breathed faintly. They stopped in place.

The calling of sea birds filled the silence, then Valgaav shook his head and began trudging along the beach again. "No. It's not going to happen, so just forget it. I won't believe you. You're wrong . . . now let's get going."

0

Xellos suppressed any movement or reaction as Filia hugged him, though he terribly wanted to inhale deeply and sigh in her arms . . . for some ridiculous reason that probably had to do with his brain being spent.

Though he had behaved normally for Valgaav's benefit, he still felt exhausted from all of the concentration he had used on the barrier. Filia doesn't appreciate me enough, he complained to himself, then rescinded it guiltily. Well, maybe she does. He had to admit that she could have just let him fall originally, or dragged him by an ankle across the sand or something. Though from her worry and fear, it was obvious to him that she still didn't realize that the physical form was just a shell and its death wouldn't really effect him, besides requiring him to build a new one – an undertaking that could take at the most, a day or so.

It was starting to get uncomfortable for him, so he made a few adjustments of his physical form, cutting off the pain censors and putting the muscles into continuous cycle of contraction and release so they wouldn't ache.

But the cost of focusing his reserves on that task appeared slightly too much, so he decided to fall back on one basic programming of the body he had: sleep.

0

"Why is Xellos snoring?" Valgaav murmured to himself curiously as he bent down to one of the streams running across the beach to the ocean.

Filia looked down at the man she held in her arms, the sea breeze fluttering his shirt. "I don't know . . ." Val looked up guiltily in response – not having wanted her to hear him and worry - but let her continue as he lifted cupped hands to his mouth and drank. "Maybe sleeping is a mechanism he set up so he could replenish energy if he was too weak. Poor thing . . ."

"But he didn't tan or sunburn," the teenager wiped his mouth and glanced up at her, "and I've never seen him sleep before, without a sleep spell."

"Well . . ." Filia looked away and gently set Xellos' body down on the sand. Put on the spot, she said quickly, "I don't know, but there has to be a reason. Maybe we can ask him when he wakes up." She knelt to drink at the delta they'd found, hoping that Valgaav wouldn't ask anything directly about Xellos.

"Hmm . . . unless he was human . . ." Valgaav mused.

Damn . . . Suddenly very nervous at him guessing her assumption, Filia picked up the sleeping demon and began to step between the little streams in the delta. "Um, we should start again . . ." The last thing I want is for Val to find out Xellos' secret . . .

" . . . or he could have used up the body's energy reserves and is too mentally drained to replenish it . . ." Val shook his head and nodded. "Okay . . . hey, not that way, Mom."

"What?" She turned around and looked at him. "Why?"

Valgaav pointed to the edges of the islands. "We're inside the cape by now, see how it curves in? But we still haven't seen anything. This stream is probably our best shot to finding them, no one would build a castle or a settlement away from water."

"But monsters don't need water, do they?" Filia asked, confused. Does Xellos need to drink water? Maybe he does . . .

"Anything with a corporeal state has to have water, and needs to recycle it. Even in the human's theoretical science they can't see any creature that would survive in an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere and wouldn't need water." He shrugged. "Granted, it's just scientific theory."

Filia took a deep breath and walked back to him. "True . . . but energy and matter are exchangeable. Why wouldn't Xellos, for example, just use the black magic energy to keep up the physical body, even when it comes to water?"

Valgaav smiled at her and led her towards the forest, along the delta's waters. "He could, Mom, but he'd have to use an enormous amount of concentration to transfigure either the old, used liquids into new ones, or the air around him into fresh liquid and then bring it into his body using magic. There's really no need to go through such time-consuming exercises when drinking water is so much simpler."

The ancient dragon pulled back some branches of trees to let his mother by, and continued. "The only real need for not drinking would be if he was trying to show someone who didn't understand physics that he was 'ultra powerful'."

"Hmm." Filia found a deer path beside the slowly moving brook and began walking along it. "I guess I always romanticized it a bit, thinking of Monsters as being so mysterious . . ."

"They're really not all that mysterious, besides keeping secrets," Valgaav motioned towards Xellos. Mother and son shared a chuckle.

Birds and insects filled the air with sounds and movement as they trekked on through the forest, Xellos' snoring soft in the background.

0

The creek had widened to become a sizable river after a few minutes of phasing; they had covered miles and the sun still flickered hot through the edge of the canopy though it was after noon.

Valgaav and his mother appeared on the trail again to take a break from teleportation. "Maybe I should go up above the trees and take a look around," he began, looking to her expectantly.

The blonde dragon nodded and looked down at the man lying in her arms. "Yeah, you probably should." Xellos shifted and stopped snoring, but his eyes remained closed.

Suddenly, the hairs stood up on Valgaav's neck. The rest of what his mother was saying was drowned out by the sudden sound of his pulse beating in his ears. What the Hell is going on . . . "Mom . . ."

"-I mean . . ." she stopped and narrowed her eyes with concern. "What? What's wrong?"

Pursing his lips, Valgaav shook his head and listened. "The forest . . . listen to it, Mom. The birds've stopped chirping." Ba-bum. Ba-bum.

Filia blinked and looked around them. A slight breeze floated through the leaves and the river's still waters caressed the banks, but the animals were silent. "Um . . . what's happening?" she whispered to her son.

The green-haired youth held up his hand. They listened carefully to the trees and the river . . . and somewhere from within the jungle came a low growl.

0

Filia closed her mouth tightly to suppress a scream. What was that? Oh, Gods, what are we going to do now? She tried to feel for an animal presence in the forest, but her senses were clouded. This isn't possible, even the most basic of magic isn't working . . .

"Mom . . . don't move. Be calm." Val's yellow eyes met her own; she swallowed and stood still . . . waiting.

0

A warm, invigorating feeling woke Xellos from his sleep, but he remained motionless. Hmm, Filia and Valgaav, afraid. What are they afraid of? He turned his attention to the forest around them and suppressed a sigh, closed eyes narrowing slightly.

Oh, it's just the wolves. I guess I should wake up and help them. This much stress, one thing after another, could really damage their abilities to fight later.

He pretended to wake, turning his head from side to side slowly and enjoying the feeling of rubbing his nose against Filia's chest. Fluttering his eyelashes, he "suppressed" a yawn and opened his eyes.

"Shh!" Filia's terrified eyes peered down at him, so desperate that she hadn't even noticed his indecent action.

Feeling a ghost of regret, Xellos let his alertness show in his features and raised his arm to cup her cheek with his hand. Valgaav watched nervously, nearby.

"Don't worry," Xellos told them, and used a wave of magic to flush the haze from their senses.

Filia dropped him to the ground and gasped, eyes wide. "Wolves . . . They're everywhere . . ."

Valgaav turned his back to his mother and raised his hands, ready to fight any that emerged from the forest.

Scowling, Xellos rose from the brush he'd landed in with as much dignity as someone in his position could manage. Brushing himself off and smoothing the wrinkles from his clothes, he replied, "Yes, to a certain extent. They are wolves."

Slowly, pairs of glowing eyes began to appear in the darkened foliage surrounding them. One after another, the canines revealed their presence.

Backing up into the monster, the blonde dragoness grabbed at his arm and squawked with surprise. "There's so many . . ."

Xellos smiled at her and put his arm around her. "In distress already, my fair maiden?" he teased.

She glared at him but didn't pull away. "Do something about them, Xellos!"

Valgaav snorted behind them and tossed his aqua head. "Don't bother. I don't think they're hostile anymore."

"Correct," Xellos beamed down at Filia, who stared back with defiant blue eyes. "They know me, so they'll let you live." He squeezed her waist in his hand and winked at her.

Squeaking in shock, Filia pulled away from him quickly and crossed her arms over her pink blouse. "Can we get on with it, please?" she demanded.

Xellos ignored the gagging sounds coming from Valgaav and shrugged. "Okay, okay. It's better that you have someone here who knows how to get to the castle, anyway."

Nodding a farewell to the wolves, he snapped his fingers and swept himself and his companions from the woods.

(-(-o-)-)

The first things Filia sensed were the sound of flowing water and the feeling of sunlight on her face. She opened her eyes, and while a part of her registered Valgaav's amazed gasp, she took little notice of it.

They stood at the foot of a sizable island that sat in the center of an expansive gorge. A huge rushing river surrounded the rocky isle, the stone parting the flow like a knife. Trees, brush and flowers grew wild over what she could see of the island, festooned with woodland creatures that darted among the foliage.

Filia turned to look behind them, and the river-gorge stretched out as far as she could see. Plateau after plateau rose hundreds of miles above them, carved over time from wind and water. Hawks soared in the afternoon sky, their calls echoing eerily off the rock face.

"Beautiful," a voice made her jump as it whispered into her ear. "Isn't it?"

Filia spun to find herself nose to nose with her annoyance. "Xellos! Do you have to sneak up on me like that?"

He blinked at her with his purple cat eyes and smiled. "Like what? I understand how enraptured you must be at the sight, but that doesn't mean it's my fault you aren't paying attention."

Valgaav glared back at the bickering couple, then turned his back to them and returned to gazing out across the vista. "Hey, cut it out, you guys. I'm still looking." His worshipful eyes seemed to be soaking up the scenery.

Xellos began to laugh, while Filia tried to suppress a chuckle. A grin still broke through her anger and she looked up at Xellos. "It IS beautiful. But where's the castle?"

"Up the steps," he motioned, and Filia turned to peer at the island. Now that she knew what to look for, she could make out a sloping path running between the two main rock formations jutting up from the ground. The "mountain" on the left was large and it was difficult to tell how far it went back, while to their right, a jagged outcropping rose just as high, but a third of the width at most.

They began to walk towards the trail, which seemed to consist of an ancient stone stairway. It was broken and worn away just as the cliffs above, and moss and ferns grew in clusters around the steps.

Filia turned to look back at Xellos, and found him gazing out upon the scenery as well. "Xellos?"

He smiled at her and shrugged. "It's been a long time."