Disclaimer: I do NOT own Slayers. I am not making any profit from this. I just love writing. I can't stop. It's a disease.
- CAUGHT UP IN TIME - by spare
CHAPTER 2 : PLEASE CALL ME ALEX
The morning sun rose gloriously the next day, the sky a clear azure hue. The storm had long since passed, replaced by the promise of a reasonably fairer-weathered day.
Inside the establishment known as Filia's Pottery and Tea Shop, the blond owner was humming softly to herself as she expertly flipped her second batch of pancakes over the skillet. Almost through preparing breakfast, she hoped her charge would be well enough to eat.
Filia was tired; she barely had enough sleep last night, healing and attending to the wounds of her unexpected house guest up until the wee hours of the morning. Then she had woken up extra early to feed and change Val. She was thinking of putting off business for tomorrow... But no, she'd lost too many days. She'd take care of that for later, but for now, she concentrated her energies to the task of cooking breakfast a nice and healthful breakfast for the young woman.
Indeed, the girl was lucky to be alive. Checking on her last night, Filia found that her physical body wasn't the only part of her that was severely injured. The girl's magical and spiritual energy was extensively drained, reaching dangerous lows.
She thanked the gods her powers had been enough to to heal her. Now the young woman was out of harm's way, and seemed to be recovering by herself quite rapidly.
Depositing the warm pancakes on a plate by the sink, Filia's thoughts drifted to when she found the girl. She had carried the badly wounded woman into the house, heart beating fast and hoping to Ceipheid she wasn't too late. She had been slightly surprised detecting the rather peculiar aura the girl emitted, if weakly. Dark, like Mazoku... but somehow... different.
"Ah, what a beautiful morning, ne, Filia-san?" a smooth and all-too-familiar annoyingly obnoxious voice greeted from behind her.
"It was turning out to be one, until *you* showed up, namagomi," Filia retorted icily.
Xellos Metallium, Beastmaster and general-priest of the Mazoku Lord Zelas, dropped his eternal grin to pout at her from where he stood. "Is that any way to greet an old friend?"
Filia sniffed and crossed her arms. "Since when have we been friends?"
Xellos smiled, glad to annoy her so early in the morning. Noticing the pancakes cooling on the counter, he nonchalantly stepped forward, fork magically appearing in hand, intending to help himself. Filia turned and abruptly swatted his gloved hands away from the plate.
"Hands off of those!"
"What?" he asked innocently, having successfully impaled one pancake on his fork. He took a bite, fruitcake grin plastered on his face. "My, my, this is delicious, Filia. You make a great cook... for a Ryuzoku."
The blond ex-dragon priestess fumed. "Those aren't for you, baka! They're for--" she stopped herself, looking at Xellos suspiciously. He simply smiled. "Wait," she started. "Don't tell me the reason you're here has something to do with... last night..."
"Yare yare, I was waiting for you to tell me about your purple-haired house guest," he said cheerily, finishing the pancake.
Glare. "Why bother, when I know you'd already know," she huffed.
"Of course, Fi-chan!" He said, grinning as Filia not-too-subtly winced at the familiarity.
Filia settled back with a defeated sigh. "She's upstairs, recovering. I found her last night. Well, she found me. She managed to drag herself to my doorstep in spite of the state she was in..." she drifted off. Realization hit her like a ton of bricks. She shot the Trickster Priest an accusing glare. "You didn't..."
Xellos waved his hands in a placating gesture. "No, I wasn't the one who did that to her!" The blond settled back once more. "Why do you always suspect me of everything?" he whined.
"Because that's something I wouldn't put beneath you to do," she replied. "What do you or your master want with her, anyway? If either of you are planning to harm that girl in any way, I swear I'll--" she waved Mace-sama in front of his face.
"Now why would I do that?" Xellos grinned innocently through closed eyes.
"Just tell me," the dragon pressed on. "What do you want with her?"
Xellos smiled, wagging a finger. "Sorewa himitsu desu."
Filia shook her head, then turned to the breakfast tray she was through preparing. "Anyway, I'll be bringing these up to her room soon," her eyes narrowed. "And I suppose you'll be joining me, no matter what I say, right?"
"Why certainly, Fi-chan!" he replied.
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Brightness. Sunlight streaming through the open window. Yellow curtains flapping in the breeze, flowery patterns casting lacy shadows on the adjacent wall. The faint smell of pancakes wafting through the air. And, of course, tea...
She sat up, noticing the strip of cloth wrapped around her purple head. She unraveled it, surveying her surroundings.
'Home?' she thought, confused. 'But it can't be... It's been four years...'
In the other room, the playful cooing of a baby could be heard.
'That's right,' she remembered suddenly. 'I went back--'
She broke away from her thoughts as the door to the room swung open, and a tall blond lady walked in, a tray full of food and a pitcher of iced lemon tea in her arms. A taller purple-haired man carrying a gnarled staff followed close behind her. Concerned blue eyes gazed at her. Smiling closed eyes observed her.
"Good morning," Filia cheerfully greeted the young woman, setting the tray of food before her on the bed.
The girl smiled back helplessly. "Filia-sama," she acknowledged. "I feel so much better now."
"I brought some breakfast for you. Are you well enough to help yourself?" the dragon said, gesturing to the tray of pancakes, fried eggs and some bacon.
She nodded. "Arigato." She was hungry. Quickly she began wolfing down the food in a speed that would've mad Lina proud.
"Ah, so this is the young lady you've been telling me about over breakfast, Fi-chan," Xellos remarked jovially.
"Whatever, namagomi."
The said girl looked up from devouring a piece of bacon. "The name's Alexia," she told through smiling eyes. "But I do prefer to be called Alex." Without missing a beat she poured herself a cup of lemon tea. "Um, Filia-sama, who's he?" she continued, glancing at Xellos.
"Sorewa hi--YOUCH!!!"
"This is nama-- Xellos," Filia filled in, glaring at the Mazoku she had shoved to the adjacent wall.
"Nice to meet you," Xellos said, prying himself off the indentation he left on the wall. He walked over to the young woman and shook her small hand. "Alexia, what a nice name."
"Alex," the girl corrected, matching the priest's fruitcake grin, but leaving both eyes open.
Filia looked from Alex to Xellos, slightly unnerved at the near-identical expression on both faces. She shrugged it off, noticing the girl's much improved condition. Her wounds seemed to have healed overnight. Now there was no trace left of any cuts or bruises on her slender form. Instead of her torn clothes she now wore a clean white tunic. The dragon shook her head mentally.
"So, Alex," Filia addressed conversationally, "What were you exactly doing out last night? I mean, you were hurt pretty badly..." she trailed off awkwardly. Personally the dragon maiden didn't feel comfortable having to interrogate her so early, but her mind ached for answers. It wasn't every day somebody stumbles into your home half-dead. "You don't have to tell if you don't want to. I'll understand." She added hastily, seeing the girl gulp down a slice of bacon.
Alex smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. "Oh, it's OK," she assured her. She put down her fork. "I was attacked, at a bad time, actually," she began. "I'm a traveling sorceress. I was heading for an abandoned shrine to the northeast when this tempest came, got lost, and ran into this rowdy group of bandits... Well, I managed to escape with my life, and by luck I saw the city lights from a distance... And, well, you know the rest." She grinned when she finished, proceeding to wolf down the rest of her meal.
"I see," Filia remarked. 'Funny, this girl reminds of Miss Lina somewhat... But at least she's got better table manners,' she thought, assured, observing the girl delicately but voraciously pick at her food. 'Her parents must have taught her well the intricacies of being a fine lady.' "Well, you're free to stay in my house for as long as it takes for you to recover, dear." She was rewarded by a good-natured smile. She turned around to face Xellos, surprised he had stayed silent for so long. Even with both his eyes closed she knew he was watching them... 'What is he up to?'
Xellos watched Filia fuss over the young woman, studying the latter carefully. Call it intuition, but the girl seemed to know much more than she was letting on.
The purple-haired teenager intrigued him. Something about her was... familiar. Her blue eyes, delicate features, the parted bangs... In fact, if not for the purple hair, he'd almost say--
"OWW!!! Filia, why'd you do that?!?!!" Xellos pouted, rubbing the part of his head where Filia had bonked him.
"I just thought it was time I brought you back to earth," she replied, shrugging. "You were staring at us so hard I'd think you were seeing ghosts or something."
"Was I?" He asked innocently as Filia's left eyebrow raised a notch higher. 'Must be slipping in my old age, making Filia notice like that. I got to sort things out...' Ignoring the dragon maiden's suspicious stare, he smiled winningly at both females. "Well, gotta go now, Fi-chan, 'Alex'. Thanks for the pancakes. Ja ne!" With that, he teleported out of the house.
Filia glared at the spot where Xellos had stood not too long ago. Something was up, she just knew it. The namagomi had left a little too hastily, like he was distracted with something. 'As if I'd care,' she retorted to herself. Shrugging mentally, she turned back to where Alex sat up on the narrow bed, quietly sipping her lemon tea.
"Mr. Xellos left in quite a rush, didn't he?" the purple-haired girl observed in an amused voice.
"Oh, he comes and goes whenever he wants," Filia replied, smiling at the young woman. "I take it you are through with your dishes?"
Alex nodded. "I thank you from the bottom of my heart, Filia-sama. For the food... For taking care of me..."
Filia felt herself blush. "Oh, think nothing of it." She bent over and took away the tray from the bed. "Now lay back down and rest. You seem to be fine, but you still need to rejuvenate your spiritual energy..."
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Meanwhile, atop the roof of the house just across Filia's teahouse, Xellos stood, observing them from the open window. Filia had stood up and left for downstairs, to wash the dishes, he presumed. Alex leaned back on the bed, closing her eyes.
The Trickster Priest's thoughts drifted back to last night. It had been quite a night, for him at least. First, the three-day storm, the strongest he had witnessed in decades. Then the power surge. He, and many others with his astral sense, for that matter, had felt it; the sudden and unexpected release of enormous power.
Juu-ou-sama had of course sent him to investigate. He had been mildly surprised that his search for the source of such a blast led him into an area just outside the city where Filia stayed in.
There he found, still glowing faintly, the remnants of a runic symbol fading away into the air. Smoke and black dust permeated around it, oblivious to the rain. He deduced that the rune was a gate of some kind, noticing the unfamiliar magical field still surrounding it. The area tingled with unnatural power, something he couldn't quite place.
He had halted from further exploration of the area, hearing the sudden crackle of energy from the rune. The rift was reopening, what was left of the spell being haltingly pieced together. There was a hiss, and the ruffle of thick clothing.
The Beastmaster had teleported out of the way, feeling the presence of something from behind the portal. If he had a heart, it would have temporarily stopped beating from shock. Whatever it was emitted a sickening, pungent aura, much like rotting flesh. Even for someone like himself, he found he could not feel anything but cold, numbing dread, sensing it. What was more intriguing was the great amount of raw power that he felt belonged to the creature.
Making sure he was a safe and undetectable distance away, Xellos watched as the gate fully reopened, and a dark, cloaked creature stepped, or rather, floated out of it. The figure suggested a humanoid body, but whatever it was was quite dark, almost like inky black shadows wearing clothes. It was soon followed by five or six more similar creatures, all thick shadows with soulless eyes, slashes for mouths. The last one managed to come out just in time as the makeshift portal finally broke apart, disappearing completely.
The cloaked newcomers had turned, surveying the area angrily. The first one to come out, the leader, apparently, had hissed and sputtered out something he couldn't quite understand to the rest of the group. The voice was like breaking glass, or claws on a chalkboard. Its suggestion was agreed upon by answering hisses from the other cloaked shadows. Abruptly the group vanished away, cloaks swirling into nothingness.
Vanished. Poof. Not teleported. Xellos had been alarmed, realizing that he had not been able to track down the creatures as they disappeared. They were no where to be found on the astral plane. Interesting. Very interesting indeed.
And then he noticed the presence of another one, this time within the city. It was foreign as well, but far from revolting. Very different, but familiar at the same time... There was a hint of Mazoku aura surrounding it... but the golden waves suggested Ryuzoku blood... Valgarv? It had power, but barely so, almost drained away.
Thinking back, he had followed the source of the aura until he saw the badly wounded young woman staggering weakly right into the front door of Filia's teashop. It piqued the general-priest's already growing curiosity to say the least. The girl moved like she knew the way...
Xellos sighed. One big puzzle to solve. Again. Watching Filia admit the younger woman into her house, he had then teleported back to report the... occurrence to his master, voicing his fears on the strange new creatures appearing from the portal. He received no further orders but to keep watch over and observe the newcomers, particularly the young woman who had arrived at Filia's. And while it gladdened him a bit to be able to spend more time around his favorite dragon, something about this Alexia perturbed him to no end. He was certain there was a connection between the purple-haired girl and the shadow creatures, and he intended to find that out.
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Author's Ramblings: That's right, clues so obvious it lands smack on your face. And so the plot thickens... Well, minna-san, if you've gotten this far it would be either you're interested or you just love to waste your time reading horrible fics from a biased author. ^_^ Thanks for hanging in there, because there's more to come, I tell you!
NO IDEA YET WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT...