"Mama! I need your help." Filia called, leaving her shoes at her front door and walking into their family room.
"Is something wrong? Or is it about the arrival of Ceipheed. I'm sure you are delighted to be in such a thing." Mrs. Ul Copt came into the family room with a smile.
"How'd you guess? I wanted to ask some questions about it." Filia smiled back, sitting down.
"Go ahead Filia." Mrs. Ul Copt picked up her set of knitting needles and started to knit, looking up at Filia.
"Well why exactly are we reviving Ceipheed? Do we want to start another war?" Filia frowned.
"Well actually we want to eliminate the higher mazoku." Mrs. UL Copt answered.
"Does… Does the Lord of Nightmares approve?" Filia asked with a slight whisper. She heard that if the Lord of Nightmares didn't approve, then she would side with the mazoku.
"We don't know, Filia dear. But don't worry. We are doing the right thing." She smiled at her daughter, and stood up and went to go sit beside Filia.
"Don't be scared of the mazoku. Hold your head up high and never entertain them in a conversation." She said. Mrs. Ul Copt stood up and left the room.
Filia sat in thought, then picked up her bible and left the room.
That night, Filia's best friend Mica, was sleeping restlessly.
"Filia! Stay away from the mazoku! He'll hurt you!"
Filia smiled and stepped closer to Xellos. "Don't worry Mica… I know what I am doing."
"But Filia! Do you know who that is!" Mica stated a question, starting to cry.
"Of course I know who Xellos is." Filia snapped. "I don't know why you are butting in anyway." Filia turned towards Xellos, leaning her face close to his.
"She belongs to me now, Mica-san." Xellos taunted, running his tongue across Filia's lips.
Mica watched frightfully as Filia yielded to Xellos, letting him do whatever he pleased. She closed her eyes tightly, bringing her fists to her face.
"Nooooooo!" She screamed both in her dream and real life. She sat up in her bed, soaked with sweat.
"Filia… you…" She whispered to the dark room.
The next day was spent cleaning and cooking for Filia. It was tiring and she never looked forward to it, though she did have fun talking with her friends during it. Mica seemed especially quiet so Filia planned on speaking to her in private later.
Filia also put it on her list to finish up Xellos gift that she was making. Xellos liked weird stuff and Filia knew it. So of course she was making something weird for him. She smiled to herself, hoping Xellos liked it.
"Ne Filia? Did you want to go look at the new dresses down in the market tomorrow?" One of the girls asked.
"Hmm… Sure! That sounds like fun!" Filia nodded. "Mica-chan you're coming along with us."
Mica looked up at Filia. "I-I am?" She asked blankly.
"No buts about it! You're going with us and we are going to have fun!" Filia exclaimed, hoping to revive her friend's spirits.
Mica smiled softly. "Yeah… we will."
Filia laughed, guessing that she wouldn't have to talk to Mica about what was wrong after all.
The next day, a group of 9 dragons went along the trail to the town. Humans were in that town and the young dragons were warned to be on their best behavior, lest they frighten the humans.
They only had four males in their group, the rest being girls. Filia felt like she was the odd one out, but kept her spirits high. She laughed at the jokes, even though some of them weren't funny. She was doing it for Mica. Filia looked over at her friend and noticed her giggling and flirting with some of the guys, which made Filia happy.
"Hey Filia… you're big on jokes. Tell me if you heard the mazoku carrying a car door one?" One of the guys, Alders, asked her?
Filia sighed, but kept a grin on her face. "No I haven't…" She answered truthfully.
"Well see there was a ryuuzoku priest, A human priest, and a mazoku priest. The ryuuzoku was carrying an umbrella, the human a watermelon and the mazoku a car door. They were walking to the borderline to the next town. And a guy at the border asked the ryuuzoku why he was carrying the umbrella. He said for when it gets hot he could open it and give himself shade. Then he asked the human why he was carrying the watermelon.
He said for when it gets hot he could have water to drink, watermelon. Then the guy asked the mazoku why he had the car door. He said for when it gets hot, I could roll the window down." Alders cracked up laughing, along with the other ryuuzoku.
Filia frowned, stiffening up. She stomped over to Alders and raised her hand and smacked him in the face as hard as she could. His faced turned to the side as her hand landed on it and had a red mark from where her hand landed.
"Ow Filia, why did you…?" He cut off, seeing Filia's face.
"It's one thing if you make a joke about certain things. It's another thing when you make a joke that's being cruel to other people. You wouldn't like it if you over heard a mazoku saying that about a dragon would you?" Filia demanded to know.
Each one of them was silent. They didn't dare answer Filia, much less question her anger. Filia turned around so she wasn't facing any of them.
"Just meet me at Seyruun's ice cream parlor. I want to go off by myself for a while." She then walked off, not even waiting for an answer.
"Filia…" Mica whispered.
Filia ran the rest of the way to town, slowing down when she reached the border. She held her hands behind her back, wondering why she got so mad. She passed a few jewelry stands, not even stopping to look at it like she used to. Her feet seemingly took her some place she didn't know.
Filia walked into an alley, then stopped in the middle of it. She stood there for a second and spoke up. "Xellos… I know you are out there." She said.
"You know me well then Filia-san." A grinning Xellos popped up right in front of Filia.
"Xellos…" Filia murmured before putting her hands on his shoulders and stood on her tiptoes and kissed him.
Xellos blinked, wondering what was wrong. He then proceeded to break the kiss off and look her in the face and ask her what was wrong. He only got to the breaking the kiss off part. Filia immediately buried her face in his cloak.
"Xellos hold me…" Her muffled sentence came to his ears.
Xellos slowly put his arms around her, they loosely hanging around her waist. He never saw her like this, though he did appreciate the emotions.
"Xellos do you love me?" Filia looked up at him, her face red, though determined to get an answer.
Xellos looked down at her and looked down at her truthfully. "I don't know Filia."
"I understand. Meet me in the rose meadow tomorrow." She looked down up at him with an uncertain smile.
"I will be there, Filia-san." Xellos smiled and tapped her on the nose. "And Filia? Smile… you look better with a smile."
"Thank you Xellos. I needed that. Stay out of trouble." She called to him as her started to rise in the air.
"Oh I can't do that, Filia." Xellos replied with a chuckle.
That moment Mica looked down the alley, seeing Xellos departing. She stopped and watched Filia turn to meet her face.
"Mica!" She exclaimed. 'Oh Ceipheed! Did she see me? Did she see Xellos?' Filia thought wildly.
"Uh… Filia! Come join us?" Mica asked weakly.
"Sure!" Filia said, running towards them. 'I don't think she saw me.
Thank Ceipheed.'
