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Chapter One: Bitter Hatred

When Amelia and Gourry came down for breakfast, Lina was already sitting at a small table in the far corner of the inn, her gaze plastered straight ahead.

"I didn't expect you to be up this early, Lina. I know you always want to be the first, but…"

"The inn doesn't even serve breakfast until seven!" Gourry finished Amelia's sentence and she looked at him quizzically.

"Is anyone else awake?" Lina's voice was cold and serious, nowhere close to the tone she usually held in the early morning.

"Well, Zelgadis was still sleeping when I woke up. He kept muttering 'damn life' in his sleep, though…" Gourry said, deep in thought. Amelia sweatdropped.

"And Filia was asleep when I left, but I think she was close to waking up." Amelia said, taking a seat next to Lina.

"What about Xelloss?"

Lina didn't want to admit it, but she needed the information she was sure the mazoku priest held somewhere in his realm of secrets. She needed to know about the War, and what he knew of it. She needed to make sense of the scripture that had been reading itself aloud in her mind all night.

"I don't think anyone's seen Xelloss since last night…" Gourry began, looking into the small kitchen to see if anyone had started to prepare breakfast.

"He'll probably turn up soon, though. You know him!" Amelia said cheerfully.

For a moment, even though there was no place for it, Lina thought the princess might jump atop the table and begin with one of her speeches. It wouldn't matter to her either way. She had tuned out everything except the information she needed.

***

Xelloss Metallium sat lazily in one of the trees which surrounded the inn. They had offered him a room with Gourry and Zelgadis, but he preferred to stay hidden and occasionally peer in at the inn's residents through its windows. He was outside the room which he would have stayed in last night, listening to the chimera's dream influenced ramblings. He had been switching places throughout the night, and as the sun began to show itself over the horizon, a flood of golden light washing over the land, Xelloss changed spots again.

He watched her with the trickster grin he always wore. She was sitting on her bed, in the room she had shared with Amelia. A shiny silver comb was brought through her silky blonde hair, only once stopping to work with a tangle. Her eyes were closed, and she seemed to be humming some sort of tune, although Xelloss couldn't quite make it out. A tune she had learned as a shrine maiden, he guessed.

Often times he would watch her without notice. He couldn't explain why. Perhaps it gave him satisfaction knowing he could watch her wherever she was and there was virtually nothing she could do about. That was, of course, until she caught him.

The golden dragon priestess' eyes fluttered open, revealing the shimmering blue. She felt someone watching her – some presence – and she was positive it was not a good one. Turning instinctively to look out the window, she found Xelloss in a tree, smiling at her with the stupid grin which seemed to always grace his features.

"Hentai!" She screeched, causing a few of the birds in the tree to fly away. "How long have you been there?"

"Sore wa himitsu desu!" He said smugly, waving his finger. The silver brush came flying through the open window intent on beaming him, yet he caught it easily.

The angered dragon had a grasp on her mace now and was holding it above her shoulder, prepared to pummel him with the large device. He was too far away for her to reach, she realized, and began to take aim. Xelloss smiled even wider. It would have been fun to watch her make an attempt at throwing the giant spiked club, yet he phased out before she was able to let it go.

He reappeared behind her and offered her the silver brush, making a point to get as annoyingly close to her as he possibly could. She spun around and hit him with the mace, not once, but several times, snatching her brush from the figure that lay in a heaped mess on the floor.

"Namagomi! That'll teach you to spy on people!" She hit him again for extra measure and he yelped slightly, finding that with the timely, continuos blows, he could not extract any pleasure from a single one of them, yet he did smile slightly as she left in a miffed state, cursing the baka namagomi mazoku under her breath.

***

To say Lina heard Filia's shrill scream would have been an understatement. It made everyone's ears throb with pain, and she was sure the people in the mountains could hear it as well. She had undoubtedly discovered where Xelloss was hiding.

On her way up the stairs, she bumped into a flustered dragon maiden.

"If you're going up there, tell that dirty mazoku scum that if he shows his stupid face again, it's going to get beat in harder than it already is!" She fumed.

Lina turned to watch as she stomped down the stairs, wondering what Xelloss had done to get her so riled up. As she thought about it more, she didn't really want to know.

The door to Filia and Amelia's room was thrown back on its hinges as far as it could go, and she could see Xelloss picking himself up from the floor. "If you keep doing that she's going to make us all deaf!" She snapped.

"I simply returned her brush… which she threw at me, by the way!" He said defensively, his normal grin reappearing.

"You get a kick out of making her angry, don't you?"

Xelloss chuckled. "Sore wa himitsu desu… but I do love it when she pulls out her tea set and starts drinking compulsively." He winked at Lina and she shuddered, beginning to understand the mazoku's twisted sense of enjoyment. "So, you came to talk to me, ne?"

Lina nodded. "Have you ever heard of the Great War."

"Hmm.. I've heard of it. Only in an opinionated sense, though. Most people think it will be the end of the world."

"You don't think that?"

"I never said I didn't. To tell you the truth, Lina-chan, I didn't even know the countdown was to begin this soon," Xelloss replied, rummaging through the drawers of the dresser to find something he could annoy the golden dragon with later. His gloved hand closed around a golden sphere. He brought it out of the drawer from under its blankets of robes and opened his hand. The sphere pulsed with a golden glow. "but that would explain this, I suppose." He pulled out a sphere nearly identical to the golden one, the only difference being in color, as this one was a deep violet which gave off a crimson light.

"What are those?"

"Treasures which mazoku and ryuzoku each own. When they sense something, they begin to glow like this. It must be the War they're responding to."

"Are you sure it's not the negative energy between you and Filia?" Lina asked, her old spark returning.

"It could be, but I highly doubt that."

She snatched the purple sphere from him and began to examine it. In her palm, its color faded.

"In the hand of a human the magic fades." Xelloss stated, taking it back from her and placing it, along with Filia's, in his pocket.

"So then you knew about the War…"

"It started glowing last night. Just about the time I watched you return to the inn. Filia's was glowing, too. From within the drawer."

Lina clenched her fists. "Do you spy on everyone?!"

"Just about." He said cheerfully.

The thought of wrapping her hands around his throat and squeezing was becoming increasingly appealing, yet she restrained herself and continued with what she had come to him for in the first place.

"Someone told me there was a way to stop it…"

"Well, we do have twelve days… but there's no way you can stop this rivalry. You've already seen what happens between Filia and I. Imagine if you gathered all of the mazoku and ryuzoku up and put them in a tiny room. That is what the War will be like."

"But what if…"

"What if what?"

"Haven't you ever wanted to just have a normal conversation with Filia? Like normal people do?"

"Normal is boring." Xelloss snorted. "And besides… it's not my fault she's always trying to hit me. I try my best to be nice!"

"You killed off nearly all of her race!"

"That was a long time ago…"

"Long time ago or not, you're both blaming the other! That's what's happening, isn't it?" She asked, using Xelloss and Filia's feud as an example. "Everyone is just too proud to forgive and they won't come to a compromise."

"The mazoku have no need to forgive! We can go about our way without them. It's the ryuzoku who keep interfering! And furthermore…"

"Just stop it, Xelloss! Can't you see what an idiot you sound like?"

Xelloss stopped for a moment, shocked by Lina's deduction. He had always hated ryuzoku since he became a mazoku. He was unsure of the reason, but he knew there must be one. Lina made a good point. He did sound like an idiot, rambling on like a two year old child, yet he knew mazoku and ryuzoku would never come to terms, no matter what the circumstances.

Lina threw up her hands in frustration, deciding Xelloss, in his one-sided mazoku state, was not worth arguing with, even to get the information she so desperately needed.

"You can't stop bitter hatred, Lina! You just can't!" Xelloss yelled after her.

She refused to believe it. Perhaps she was being like Amelia now, believing in the utopian society where bitter hatred could be conquered. But by what? Xelloss had blown up on her even at the mention of forgiving the ryuzoku, and she had seen how nasty the petty arguments between him and Filia could get. What would happen when the Great War commenced?

Her stomach growled as she came upon the aroma of eggs. For now, she would eat breakfast with the others and mask her confusion. It was simpler that way. As she ate, however, she noticed Filia's quick glances at her. Did she sense something? Trying to cover up her problems more efficiently, Lina stared at her plate. For a brief second, she looked up, and caught Filia eyeing her again, this time with a nervous twitch. Something was going on.

After breakfast, Lina caught the dragon maiden in the hall.

"You know about the War, don't you?" She asked.

Filia nodded. "I can sense it." She turned away as if to hide something. "Just because of stupid arguments and disagreements… this shouldn't have to happen!"

Lina realized what she was trying to hide were tears. "I know what you mean. I don't want it to happen either…" She thought back to Xelloss. She had never really asked him if he minded the War, but she doubted he would give her an answer anyway.

"If it weren't for those stupid mazoku!" Filia cried. "We ryuzoku could have the perfect world! If only they didn't exist, there wouldn't be need for a War!"

Lina's eyes turned into little slits. For a moment, she had thought Filia was not going to be as stubborn about the matter as Xelloss. Now she had seen both sides of the spectrum. Mazoku and Ryuzoku. So much alike, yet fighting just because of small differences. Both so stubborn and ignorant. Both so consumed with their way of thinking. As Filia let out an unholy wail, Lina began to wonder if there would ever be a way to make them accept each other. Bitter hatred, indeed, was not an emotion to take lightly.

On to Chapter Two: Among the Crowds