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Chapter 21 Unique Union
With the morning gone, and the afternoon left under the stormy cage, Filia's dress had plenty of time to dry. After changing, she began feeling a little less vulnerable. Needing a distraction from the long, and tense silence that had fell between them, Xellos abruptly invited Filia on a tour of the house. It gave them something to talk about, and put an end to the silent spell they were under.
The first room they officially visited was the seating room that was on the level floor. It was past the entryway and the bath room, facing the western shore. Without the second floor landing, the window wall was twice the height of the one they viewed from upstairs. The view of the ocean was almost symmetrically the same as the eastern view. It was as if the house was built on a little peninsula, so the it could view both sunrise and sunset over the ocean waves.
However for the moment it was neither sunrise or sunset they were viewing, it was a nasty hurricane.
"How is this cabin not being ripped apart?" Filia asked as two branches whistled past the window.
"Were surrounded by a barrier." Xellos announced joyfully as he enjoyed the sight. "This cabin is protect behind a very powerful barrier. So powerful in fact, nobody can see us unless they know this house is here. So even if our enemy's were looking straight at us, all they would see is a collection of jagged rocks like the ones out there by the shore."
"Okay. Next question." She readjusted his black cloak that was wrapped around her. "Where exactly are we?"
"An excellent question!" Xellos trumpeted with his nasally voice. "We are currently located on a very small and remote island, over three hundred miles south of the tip of the Ralteague Kingdom." He steered her away from the large window, and led her to the southern window.
"And we are about 56 miles north of Wolf Pack Island." He revealed to her with a dramatic shake of his hands.
"Where you live?" Filia looked at him in shock. "We are only 56 miles away from there?"
"That is the beauty of it." He grinned at her as he slapped his hand on top of hers, and began pulling her away from the window as quick as he brought her to it.
"Of all the places for you to be safest, who would have believed it would be in good old Monster territory?" He gave out an honest laugh as he lead her to the north end.
"Alright," She scratched the top of her head for a bit as they stopped in front of a bookshelf at the end of the last room. "One last question-"
"Only one?" He looked at her with amazement. "But you have only used two of the five W's and H." He complained.
"...Huh?"
"Oh come on, you know- Who, what, when, where, why and how!"
Filia stepped back from him in horror as she gave him a disgusted look down.
"Are you playing games with me?"
"No, no." He shook his head at her, throwing his hair around. "That is cheating! 'Are' is not one of the five W's and H-"
"You are teasing me" She balled her fist at him as her tail began to spike. "Enough already!"
"Fine, fine." He gave one last giggle before he calmed down. "What was your question, Filia?" He prompted her as he wiped a false tear away from his eye in a dramatic fashion to show he was done.
Filia watched him hesitantly, feeling a little intimidated by his excited, and accelerated behavior. She rarely ever saw him this hyper. With a suspicion in her eyes, she questioned him aloud.
"Why are we really here on this island? And why now? Why couldn't you have brought us here at the beginning of this journey?"
"Ah." He sighed with a shrug. "To soon to discuss that unfortunately. But worry not! We still have a tour in progress." He began to dance his fingertips over the binding of the books that were located close to where he was standing, landing on a rather old, and forgotten volume, he grasped it securely, and clicked his gaze on to hers.
"Why don't I show you what this cabin was built here for?" He invited her with a mysterious smile.
Pulling the book did exactly what you would expected it to do- which was to pull apart a hidden, and very alluring passage into the unknown. The bookcase separated like jigsaw pieces, revealing a hidden passage. Xellos held his hand out to Filia, playing the alluring host a little too well for her taste. Still, she reached out and gave him her hand, which was replied with a triumphant grin, as he began leading her through the arch way.
The sound of their footsteps was intensified by the confined area, as they walked in the dimly lit tunnel that appeared to be carved out of stone.
"Why do I feel like 'Little Red Riding Hood' being lead down the belly of the wolf?" She complained as she followed him with a little less haste. A shiver ran down her spin as she continued to follow him down. "Where are we going?"
"I'm taking you on the tour of course!" He laughed as if it was the most obvious thing. " And I promise, you are going to love it. How about a little back story behind this house as we press on?" His voice bounced around the tight quarters that surrounded them. "I guess the truth is, this house is somewhat of a perk, if you will."
"A perk?"
"Yeah, a perk. You see I have so much stuff. Bit of a collector you see. But that can be a problem if you don't have the space for all your collections. Which I ran out of." He chuckled as they reached the end of the walkway. "That is how this house came to be. It is merely used for my own personal storage. This room was built out of the side of the mountain to help hide my things. So even if someone was able to find the house, they would have a hard time finding the treasure, so to speak."
"This all seems so you." She complained with a deadpan voice, seemingly not impressed.
"Well then,-" He laughed mischievously as he opened the large door that stood in their path, "..after you."
Stepping forward cautiously, she passed him with curiosity. Inside, rows and rows of bookcases came into sight, as did many displays that were set up around the room. It was like a small museum inside of a library. Entering, she began to look around at all the things the room had to offer.
"Lina Inverse would have killed every last bandit in the world to get to see this." She whistled as she ran her hand against a row of books.
"I've thought that before." He responded happily. "Of course it wasn't built until a few decades after she had passed on." He guided her as he picked up a book that was left out on one of the tables. Holding it out for her to look, he showed her an old picture of the magical diva.
"Wanted posters?" She responded to him as she looked over the page.
"Oh yes!" He laughed as he started to flipped through the book. "I find these very amusing to look through. Reminds me of all the trouble Miss Lina and her entourage created back in the golden days." He laughed as he flipped to the last page. "I was excited to finally have some new pages to add." He grinned as leaned down to look at the page he turned to, as her own wanted poster that had been circulating around many of the towns was bound in with the rest of them.
"Oh sure. Ha-ha. Filia is on a wanted poster." She mocked him as she crossed her arms. Clearly this wasn't the type of distraction she signed up for.
"Isn't it great?" Xellos grinned back at her, reveling in her moody reaction.
She rolled her eyes at him, and while doing so, something caught her eye. Turning to the object in question she stepped up to it, with her mouth agape as she realized what it was.
"No, it can't be." She whispered, even though she was sure of what she was seeing. Pulling the glass case off and sitting it on the floor she examined the artifacts closer. Inside sat six perfectly placed orbs, each a pair of colors including red, blue, and gold. Both the red set and the blue set suffered from various nicks and cracks, however the golden ones remained unharmed, and finely polished.
"Oh, you remember these?" Xellos rang as he joined her by the display. "They all got lost in the rubble after the temple came down, and I ended up collecting them later. I always found it humorous that the pairs that entered the temple didn't end up the way they were predicted, and the orbs of each pair got damaged. But the the pair that didn't enter the temple, remained undamaged."
"I can't believe you have these." She shook her head as she reached down for the golden one. It wasn't as heavy as she remembered it. Xellos picked up the second, and held it out for her to see.
"This is insane." She laughed as she looked down at the two golden balls. "How can you be sure you didn't find the ones that just busted out of the machine when the temple came down?"
"I just do." He grinned as he tapped hers, with his own. "Crazy how things change. How different things are since the last time we both held these. Oh, I know! If we share a bed together, we'll have to use these as our bed post." He said with a straight face as he passed the ball from one hand to the next.
"XELLOS!" Filia screamed in terror.
"What?" He turned to her with an innocent face that was not innocent.
"That was highly inappropriate." She whined in embarrassment.
"Can't two people talk about furniture?" He wondered out loud.
"You was not talking about furniture!" She snapped back.
"What do you think I was talking about?" His grin spread out farther as he waited for an answer.
"A-about, -ah" She began to stammer as she realized that she couldn't answer his question without looking like she was the one thinking it.
"As, I said- furniture." Xellos answered for her with a grin. Reaching over, he grabbed the ball from her hand and placed them both back down in the display. Turning to her bright red face, he gave out a good laugh. "So touchy. I forgotten how defensive you get when you are embarrassed. In the last couple hundred years there hasn't been a sign of this side of you, and I was beginning to miss it."
"You were being cruel." She glared at him, her eyes looking even more blue against her hot red complexion.
"I was just looking farther ahead than you." He sighed. After that, the silence one again returned to them as they stood, neither knowing what to say next. Fidgeting in the uncomfortable tension, Filia brushed her golden hair off her shoulder with an angry sigh.
"This is all just so-" She paused is she searched for the right word to describe what she was feeling.
"Overwhelming?" He asked her as his violet eyes began to shine brighter, as his face reflected the mood of the room.
"Yes. Exactly." Filia agreed with him as she bent over to pick up the case off the floor to place back on the display. "This is all overwhelming. Just two nights ago I was a prisoner, with a lost son, a lonely life, and not a friend to turn to. And now, I have been offered protection by the Dragons, Val is on a search and doesn't want me around, and you are cracking inappropriate jokes."
"Hmm. This won't do. Val wanted you to relax, and it seems I haven't done a proper job of fulfilling that request. There are so many things I could show you in this room, but then, you have never really been a fan of history, have you Filia?" He shook his head as he thought over what to do. "Perhaps on a better day then. So then what to do?" He tapped his cheek with his finger. After a brief ponder, he slammed his fist into his palm with an excited gleam.
"I know just what you need! I was going to save it for last, but oh well. You are really gonna love this one." He laughed as he grabbed her around the waist, just like he did earlier that morning, and phased her from the library and back to the second floor landing. The storm seemed to calm down during the time they had spent in the mountain. The heavy rain and winds seemed to died down some at least. The sun might even have a chance to poke out eventually, if it kept slowing down like it had.
Next to the stove where the tea kettle from their last tea break still stood, was a easily overlooked door. Letting her go from his grasp, he reached forward and pulled the door open, as he motioned his hand to call her inside. The fires were already lit as they dance around the room, being reflected by many different forms of porcelain, ceramic, and glass dishes.
Circling the whole perimeter of the back room were four sets of hanging shelves, showcasing many different forms of tea cups, tea kettles, some dinner plates and bowls. Underneath, was a large counter that had many different jars with all kinds of tea ingredients.
"Oh my-," Filia stared in utter shock, not being able to decide which was more lovely. "-Look at all of them!"
Xellos crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway feeling very pleased. He watched her as she ran around the room, praising each of the tiny pieces with a wide range of vocabulary. She spent a good hour in the room, before Xellos could convince her away. After she won an argument of taking another tea break, he allowed her to pick out once set- which took longer than it should have, and they began to prepare a kettle together. After showing her all the ingredients he had, she picked out what she wanted, and then all that was left to do was wait.
The sky was clearing up even more as they began to draw closer to the end of the day. The sky was just beginning to turn pink, as they took their tea down to the level floor to relax in the open space.
"How often do you come here?" Filia questioned from one of the couches that faced the western shore, taking a sip from her tea.
"Usually everyday. If not than every other day." He replied thoughtfully as he took a sip of his own tea.
"Though I would argue that I've spent more time at your house than here."
"Did you visit here while you were gone for those however many months?" She asked darkly as she swirled the tea in her cup, as she looked down.
"No, I didn't." His voice was straightforward and businesslike as he stared at his own cup. He could feel the darkness in her emotions growing as they began to expand from her mind and into the conversation.
"You was gone. For six whole months you was gone." She finally let it out as she properly accused him. "The worst part is I couldn't even understand why I was so angry all the time."
Xellos just continued to stare at his cup in silence. They both knew he couldn't explain where he was, but she couldn't hold it in any longer, no matter what distractions he threw her way.
"You come around all this time, teasing and taunting me. Bringing your fake smiles and cryptic words. For centuries now, butting in on any and everything. Spurring up any trouble to rustle my wings." He raised his eyebrow at her with a devilish grin. "But Never was there a time you took off from your visits that lasted longer than two weeks. You were there, then you were gone. Night and day. Then suddenly, there was only day." She already was starting to regret being so open with him, but there was nothing she could do to take the words back. Something about saying them out loud was releasing a heavy burden within her, so for the time, she would save the regret for later.
"I can't even remember how things were during those times. What I did, or how I acted. It is all a blur. I became a living doll, that went about her routine life of her son and pottery, and stopped living. I didn't know if you were gone, or somewhere in the world where I could never reach you."
Angry tears began to form in her eyes as she gripped her cup tighter. "I had no way of knowing if you were even still alive."
"There was nothing I could do." He admitted as he looked up from his cup and turned to her, meeting her gaze with his own. "When I did finally have a second to spare, you were already gone."
"I couldn't bare to face not knowing anymore." She faced him without turning away, even as a few slow tears continued down their path, she held his attention. "I've watched many humans be born, and grow old, and die in that town. I needed get away from there and I need a change, and Val was already considering moving to Astoria to be closer to school and Daé. I couldn't stand the thought of that, so I agreed to move. It was easier for me that way. It was a distraction to keep from thinking about you everyday, and not be able to do anything about it."
"It's over now."
"Is it really?" She questioned him earnestly, though her tone suggested that she didn't believe it.
"No, I guess not. There may come a time that I can get summoned away again, without a notice. It's always a possibility." Standing from where he was sitting, he moved over to where she sat, taking his place beside her as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulling her close to him. "But things are going to be different now. We are going to be different."
Panic began to cross her face as she looked around frantically for an escape route. Her suppressed heart song began to play out loudly as her body gave herself away without permission. "S-stop." She cried pathetically as leaned in closer to her face.
"Do you really want me to?" He asked her quietly, as he softly passed her lips and gave her cheek a kiss. "Are you sure?" He continued to question her as he moved to the other side.
"You can't just end every argument like this." She shouted in uneasiness as her skin began to radiate heat, as she began to flush even more. "Xellos!"
Stopping inches from her face, a wicked grin spread across his lips as he looked her dead in the eyes.
"Why not?"
Under his gaze, she looked for a reason to back up her statement. Weakly, she replied back, "Monsters wish for the destruction of the entire world."
"And the Dragons are responsible for taking out just as many beings as the Monsters." His grin didn't fade. "What does that have to do with how I would like to end our arguments?"
"This- we-" She tried but her pleas went silent as he broke the barrier between them. He knew just how confused she was, and it wasn't because he could read her emotions. Everything she was going through, he felt it too. But he was tired of ignoring it like they had been the entire day, and this was the only way he could make it stop. It seemed to be super effective.
Filia barely had time to breathe when they finally pulled apart. She turned to him defensively, not knowing if he would reach over again. Her face was irreplaceably-red, and her fangs stuck out, and her heart wouldn't slow down for anything. Xellos just kept on the same smug grin he had been wearing for most of the day.
"You have no idea how much I enjoy your feelings." He reached out and touched the tip of her ear, and gave it a small rub. She winced in shock at the intimate touch, as she did what she had been doing the whole day. Which was look for a distraction! Frantically, she looked back from his eyes to the sunset that was taking place outside. She knew something was wrong immediately as she noticed a figure out of the corner of her eye.
"Xellos!" She whispered in terror as she kept her eye on the figure. "There is a girl standing outside the window!"
Xellos rolled his eyes at her with a grin. "Come on Filia, you're gonna have to do better than that."
"No really, Look, right there!" She nodded her head in the direction of the window. Turning to what she was making a fuss about, Xellos stopped cold in his tracks. As she said there was what appeared to be a young girl standing only a few feet away from the window. She had her arms cross, and an unamused expression.
"Oh dear." He clicked his tongue in a disproving manner as he faced the monster on the other side of the window. "It seems we have a guest." He pulled himself up from where he was leaned over Filia, allowing her to give both a sigh of relief, and a audible gasp as the girl phased from outside the window, and into the room.
"You don't have to get up." The young girl waved her hand to Filia as she was attempting to sit up from the couch. "I won't be long."
"Filia, I would like you to meet Salvia. She is a co-worker of sorts." Xellos introduced them as he kept his eyes on the shorter demon. Neither said anything as Salvia tasted the hostility that was coming from both Filia and Xellos. Which probably would have been expected if any other monster would have witnessed what she had the unfortunate honor of seeing.
"I was sent to let you know that Daemon and his party want you to meet them at this address marked on the map tomorrow morning." She informed him with a dry tone as she flung her hand forward showing them a map that had been marked for their use.
Reaching out, Xellos took the map, and handed it back to Filia without moving his gaze from Salvia.
"That is all." She stated simply as she prepared to leave.
"Wait." Xellos stopped her with his words and emotions. Without letting her expression change she gave him a slight nod. "I won't say anything." She responded before she departed. Xellos gave a tiresome sigh, before turning back to Filia.
"Well that was unexpected."
"Xellos, she saw us!" Filia shouted when she was sure the girl wasn't going to come back. "She saw us kissing!"
"That's where we left off." He clapped his hands as he sat down beside her. "You naughty thing, couldn't even wait five minutes after she left."
"I'm serious Xellos! What would happen if Lord Beastmaster finds out?" Filia began to panic.
"It's gonna happen anyway." He shrugged as he looked out the window in indifference. "Though I don't think she is going to hear it from Salvia. She's not very talkative you see." He reassured her. "Besides, she came with good news."
Filia looked down at the map that was in her hand. Tomorrow seemed like forever away, even though the sun was already setting and night would soon be here.
"I guess you'll be wanting to go to bed soon." Xellos began collecting the dishes that was sitting out on the small table that sat in front of the couch. "Follow me and I'll show you to you're room."
"I have a room?" She questioned as she stood up from where she was sitting. "I don't know how I feel about that."
"Well it's the room that was built with the house. Why, don't you trust me?" Xellos grinned at her as he began to lead her back to the entry way.
"Do you want me to be honest?" She glared at him from behind as she followed him. Stopping at the entry way, she removed his cloak from her shoulders, are hung it back where she had found it previously.
"Oh, you're satchel is there by the way." Xellos motioned with tea set tray. "I forgot to tell you earlier."
"It is!" She shouted with excitement as she pulled the strap off the hook it was hanging from. "Did you find my mace?" She asked him excitedly as she held the bag close to her chest.
"I looked, but no I couldn't find it." He informed her as he turned to ascend the stairs. "This way."
Taking the dishes to the sink, he abandoned them on the counter for later. Leading her through the door that was next to the stairs archway, he opened it that revealed a large bed room. As was the theme in the house, there was a large window that overlooked the southern sea, with a set of pulling drapes that could block it out if required. Even with the barrier, that was a feature she felt she needed to have, so she wasn't disappointed in that.
"Well, will you be needing anything?" He asked her half hazardously as he watched her take a look around the room.
"No, this is fine." She admitted as she gave it a long look over.
"Well then, if you do need anything, I'll be around." He excused himself from the room, giving her time to settle in.
Taking to the bed first, she sat on the edge of the soft mattress, as she turned her attention from the room to the pack strapped around her shoulder. Her eyebrow raised when she noticed there was more of a pucker in the bag than she could recall. She unlatched the hook and flipped back the flap to examine it further. Reaching inside, her fingers found the culprit as she pulled out a bulky piece of fabric from within. It was deep violet, and tied up in some twine with a note secured underneath the bow.
Pulling the string, the fabric was released from it's hold as it rolled out of her hands and exposed what it was.
The fabric was sturdier than the silk dress she was wearing. In fact, Filia could tell it was made of the same type of fabric that her dress was made of when she journeyed with Lina Inverse. It was Dragon made. However this dress, was styled a bit differently than how girls wore dresses when she still bought Dragon made fashion. The royal purple fabric hung suspended from the focus point of the dress, the waist, where a similar shade of purple fabric criss-crossed around the front of the dress. The neck line seemed reasonable, and the sleeves bubbled as they hung off to the side.
Tears began to immediately fall from her eyes as she realized that it was the second dress that Evelyn left for her. Being filled with strong emotions of regret, she quickly shoving it back in her bag, she threw the satchel across the room. Suddenly the room was so big, and empty as she watched the waves roll back and forth on the dimly lit shore.
Her exhaustion was really beginning to show as she found a hard time to get up from the bed to pull the drapes and put out the fire. When she entered the bed, she found it too large and empty to get comfortable. She spent a good while tossing and turning in the bed before she gave a defeated sigh, knowing what she needed as she said his name quietly. He was beside her in an instant, though he remained silent in the dark room.
"Could you stay till I fall asleep?"