Mind Games
Scene Twenty, Under the Moonlight
By Relm
Dinner was an interesting affair. Xellos' cooking produced some 'interesting' results. Sure it was edible, but it looked like crap.
Even Xellos whom insisted the whole time he was preparing it seemed surprised at the taste. Of course that didn't inspire courage in Fila and Val.
Both Filia and Val stared at each other. They didn't need to say anything to know what the other was thinking. Their stares said volumes.
It was more or less a wordless conversation on whether the food was safe to eat and should they try it. Of course Filia was waiting till Val tried some before trying it herself. And Val was waiting for Filia to eat first.
Eventually they came to a wordless agreement. They would both try it at the same time.
Both Val and Filia were very timid as they went to try the food.
"Oh my god it actually tastes like food!" Val exclaimed.
Xellos glared at Val. "What did you think it was going to taste like?"
"With you, anything but!" Val shot back.
"You watched me make it, so you knew it was food!" It's not that Xellos was really upset or anything, though he was a little annoyed that he was being distrusted so. He had actually tried to do a good job.
"Be glad I was brave enough to try it!"
"I had some first, so why would you have to be brave at all?"
"Like you would have been honest in the first place. I bet you could eat poison and it wouldn't affect you anyway." Val shovelled another mouthful into his mouth. He was definitely annoyed. Not only did the meal taste like food, it was good to boot. So good that even though he was having a spiteful argument with Xellos he couldn't stop eating it.
Filia stifled a giggle. She didn't want to laugh but the way Xellos and Val were glaring at each other was just too comical. Val was arguing with Xellos about the food but his mouth was full of it. She herself was amazed by the meal as well. 'I'm surprised he made something that tastes good. Who knew that monsters could cook?'
...
From had become is his viewing tree De Tanga sat and watched the dinner scene unfolding. Though he didn't have a view of the dining room from his vantage spot he was more or less sensing the emotions as the three of them engaged in their meal.
What bothered De Tanga the most was that he sensed in Filia that she was amused. Something funny was going on. Xellos rarely invoked that sort of feeling out of her. Usually she was angry or flustered, but never amused. As if in a second things had radically reversed and now things were all upside down. He couldn't bear to watch anymore. So he left.
...
After dinner was over Xellos insisted that he and Filia go for a walk outside. Val had protested wildly to this but Filia agreed to it. She knew that if she said no Xellos would just pester her till she gave in. But just to show Xellos how much she thought of him, Filia had her mace out in her left hand all ready to club him if he did something she didn't like.
"Now Filia-dear, must you have that with you?" Xellos commented feigning being insulted.
"It's you, therefore it is a must." Filia stated with a grin. "Why do you want to go for a walk for anyway?"
"It's a nice night, and it's something couples do. Go on romantic walks that is." Xellos opened his eyes to look at her. Though the intent was to be endearing, as usual Xellos couldn't look anything but sinister with his eyes open.
"Since when have we been a couple?" Filia spat out.
"Since when do you dream about me?" Xellos grinned like a cat.
Filia blushed. "What the hell are you talking about?" She sputtered out in a fury.
"Last night, when I came to see you. You were talking in your sleep. You said my name." Xellos' voice was far off as he reflected on those events.
"I was having a nightmare!" Filia insisted. 'Damn how much did I say?
"Yes that is true." Xellos agreed. "You were having a nightmare. It seems that you were upset, in your dream I was in love with someone else."
Filia paled. Unlike most dreams, that one was very vivid. She remembered how upset she was seeing Xellos with that other woman. 'Oh god I said that out loud?' Filia was mortified, so much so that she couldn't say anything in her defence.
"Naturally I had to kiss you. To dispel those awful thoughts." Xellos explained. "I would never choose someone else over you my dear." He gave her hand a light squeeze as he held it.
Filia was shocked by this. How long had he been holding her hand? She tried to snatch her hand from Xellos but he instead pulled her forward toward him. Filia in surprise dropped her mace as Xellos pulled her into a tight embrace.
"You do look lovely under the moon light." He purred into her ear. His arms were snaked around her preventing her from escaping.
Filia was both angry and flustered by this. She didn't want to be blushing but she couldn't help it. She also wanted to get out of his arms, but her body only made a half effort to free herself. It seems on some level, Filia didn't want to leave the comfort of his arms. "Let me go." Filia tried to muster all of her anger in her demand, but somehow it came out pathetic and pleading.
"I could never let you go." Xellos whispered. Again he tried to look endearing but ended up looking sinister and mischievous. He sensed the conflict in Filia; it was most delicious to him. Her emotions weren't quite negative nor were they positive either. They muddled somewhere in between making a bittersweet mix. He nuzzled Filia; burring his face in her hair. It smelled of peaches and lemons. He also smelled something else. It was the perfume he had bought her. She was wearing some of it. That thought amused Xellos to no end.
Filia blushed harder then she had ever before in her life. Emotions waged a war inside her. She was so confused that she didn't know what to do. Being so close to Xellos like this made her dizzy. She tried feebly to get out of his embrace, but she was trapped. "Xellos let me go." Her voice was but a whisper dying on the night breeze.
Xellos finally did as he was told and he loosened his hold on Filia.
Right away Filia scampered away and picked up her mace that she had dropped. She clenched it tightly with both hands, her knuckles white from the pressure she put on it. She glared at Xellos. Filia looked like a cat ready to pounce.
"You're too tense Filia-dear. You need to relax." Xellos walked a few steps motioning for her to follow him.
Filia was reluctant to follow but she did anyway. 'Where is he taking me?'
It turns out Xellos led Filia to his brooding rock. "Please sit here with me." Xellos patted the rock as he sat.
Filia was suspicious of Xellos. Ever so cautiously Filia joined him at the rock. She tried to stay as far to the edge away from Xellos as she could. Not that it was all that far, the rock wasn't too big after all.
"You know I had been sitting on this rock many times over the past few days. My thoughts were all consumed with you my dear." Xellos admitted pulling out a neatly folded piece of paper. "I had many thoughts and many emotions that I was dealing with, some almost alien to me. But now things are much clearer. And I have something I wish to read to you."
Filia stared at him, regarding the paper with suspicion. "What thing do you want to read?"
"A poem. I tried to put my feelings and thoughts into word. I'm sure it's not a very good one, but I still have to read it to you." Xellos cleared his throat as he began to read:
"My dearest, how you bring the beast out of me,
I try to keep it a slumbering, but when you are near my heart it beats,
With the rhythm of a thousand drums,
That beast inside roars for my affections for you is so,
I am crazed when you are not near,
Addicted to everything you are,
I am mad, lost to all reason,
My mind,
My heart,
My soul,
All are lost to me,
For I am a shell,
I am nothing without you,
Because you, my dearest one have taken it all."
Xellos watched Filia's reaction very carefully.
Filia wanted to be disgusted, she wanted to be annoyed, angry or anything at that moment besides what she was feeling. The way Xellos spoke those words; she felt it go through her to the deepest part of her soul. She was moved by the beauty of it so much so that she couldn't will her eyes to stay dry. They watered and tears fell down her checks. She was just too moved.
At first Xellos was alarmed when he saw the tears. He didn't understand why Filia was crying. But then the monster reasoning in him pointed out that she wasn't sad. 'I actually moved her to tears?' This was an amazement to him. He knew the poem sucked, he was expecting embarrassment from Filia from the sappiness of it. This filled Xellos with a strange warm feeling. He had been experiencing many strange and new feelings in these past few days. But he wasn't afraid of them anymore. So he reached out to wipe one of those fleeting tears from Filia's face.
Filia almost recoiled from Xellos' touch. At first it was just the tender act of it, and then it was the fact that he wasn't wearing his glove. 'When did he take it off?' She wondered as she swatted his hand away. She wiped off her own tears and looked away from Xellos. His stare was too strong to meet especially considering how weak Filia felt at that moment. 'Damn him. When did he get so charming?' She mentally cursed. A small voice in the back of her head pointed out that Xellos had always been charming. Filia squashed this voice as she stared at the ground not sure what to say or do at that moment.
"Does that poem speak for itself Filia? Will you marry me?" Xellos grinned, daring Filia to answer him.
Filia regaining her composure looked up and glared at him. "No it doesn't. I told you before; I will not marry you unless you can say those three little words Xellos. If you can't say you love me, then I can't marry you." She was pleased that she had regained some of the control over the situation, though she hated that she was blushing. And she knew she was. She felt the warmness on her checks. The night was forgiving though, her blush wasn't so present so for that Filia was thankful.
Xellos frowned. This wasn't the intent he had wanted. Though that little voice inside his head questioned why he wanted to get Filia to agree to marry so much. Control he had decided after all. He wanted Filia to want him and need him. This was flimsy at best but Xellos didn't care, he was deluded at this point as it was. "Well... keep the poem anyway." Xellos refolded the poem and handed it to her. "A token of my affections."
Filia took the folded piece of paper and hastily shoved it into her pocket. "It's late, I should get back." Filia announced after a spell of silence.
"Yes we should get you home; otherwise Val might send out a search party for you and a lynch mob for me." Xellos joked getting up. He offered Filia his ungloved hand to help her get up.
Filia looked at the bare hand Xellos offered like it was an alien object. She debated on whether or not to take his hand. Sighing in defeat she put her hand in his as he helped her up.
Xellos smirked as he helped her up. He pulled forward as Filia got up causing her to fall forward into him. He grabbed her around her waist to keep her from falling to the ground.
Filia in surprise grabbed onto Xellos' shirt to keep from falling. She glared at Xellos, whom had a very amused look in his eyes. This time she clubbed him.
...
Deep Sea Dolphin watched Filia and Xellos very intently during their moonlit walk. With each embrace it fuelled her fury. It took every fibre in her being not to act on her anger. No she wasn't going to do anything just yet. It wasn't time yet. 'Soon my dear, soon I will make them pay for what they have done.' Deep Sea promised as she phased out.
