Slayers: Chaos

Say I

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Disclaimer: Blah blah blah..I don't own the Slayers..you get the idea..and sorry for the LONG LONG delay in the story...I've been..away for quite awhile ^_^"

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Calth hurried along the long winding corridor. It took him merely seconds to arrive on Naggarond, and when he returned he felt not as homesick as he used to. He glanced at the many royal guards, all clad in the standard-issue Blackened-Iron mail that the Royal Guard issued. All somber and straightforward in their duties. He sighed and walked up to the large dark red metal doors that concealed the Great Hall. Quickly composing himself, he asked the guard standing next to the door to tell the Premier he had returned with grave and dire news.

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Lina, Gourry, Amelia and Zel all walked quietly into the next town. It was a small, rural town that had a simple tavern that offered a simple nights rest. They all plopped down in a small booth to the side to discuss what they were going to do.

"Ok guys...how in L-sama's name are we gonna figure this mess out?" Lina whispered.

Everyone stared at the table.

"...well?!" Lina hissed, getting annoyed.

Zel finally spoke up.

"We could try and take this to the King...wouldn't your father help, Amelia?" he asked.

"I'm sure he would try. After seeing what we saw today-he'll flip once we tell him the story." she said grimly.

Zel nodded.

"Ok then.We're off to see Amelia's father.......Gourry...whats wrong?" he asked, a tad bit concerned that Gourry wasn't his usual chipper self.

"...nothin..." he said.

Lina wrapped her arms around her long time friend.

"Something is wrong...tell me about it?" she pleaded.

Gourry didn't blush..or even seem to notice...that Lina had him in an embrace. He just closed his eyes and said,

"When I saw Karn...I froze...I panicked..I couldn't do anything. It was like..my arms were frozen to my sides, ya know?" he looked over at Lina. She nodded with a sympathetic look in her eyes.

"But Gourry..." Zel said, "we were all frozen with fear. I think even Xelloss was afraid, and he's a Mazoku!"

"Yea, your right..." Gourry slumped, "but I still feel worthless..what if he attacked us? What then?.."

Lina looked down and slowly removed her arms from around Gourry.

"Lets not think about that..ok?" she said, her voice shaking a little.

Gourry nodded slowly. The gang had a quick, silent lunch, and started off towards their destination.

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Xelloss appeared outside Zelas' den, not noticing that he had a tag-along hiding in the bushes. He walked inside with a small sigh.

So..this is where his blasted 'Dark-Lord' is, huh? Filia thought. She slowly crept after him, curiosity getting the best of her.

Xelloss traveled deep within a cave till he got to a large column of stone, and in the center was a tall, slender woman, sitting on a black throne of stone. He kneeled down when her lovely gaze looked on his form.

"Ah...hello, Xelloss. I missed you." she cooed softly.

"Yes...I have ill tidings, master." he said somberly.

"What? What ill tidings, my dear Priest?" she asked.

Xelloss quickly and precisely explained the goings-on. Meeting Calth. Finding the portal to The Realm of Chaos. And the horrible releasing of Karn. Zelas nearly slipped off her throne.

"A new 'God', eh?" she asked, with a questioning tone in her voice. She then threw back her head and laughed aloud.

"My dear Xelloss...I think you have been spending far too much time with mere humans."

Xelloss' brow twitched. He was visibly upset. Zelas' expression changed from humor, to that of one who has just hurt someone they love.

"Your...telling the truth..aren't you?" she said, taken aback.

Xelloss nodded slowly. The entire time, Filia had been watching from afar, hidden behind a small pillar of black rock. Her eyes twitched.

The Beastmaster?! she thought. He is the Priest of the Beastmaster?!

"Master..." Xelloss said slowly, "I take it you will tell all the Dark Lords?"

"Wha-oh yes...of course.." she said, softly. She then leaned back into her throne and seemed to think deeply for a few moments. Xelloss was kneeling the entire time.

"....Xell.." Zelas said

Xelloss jumped a little. Zelas had never called him by his ''nick-name'' before.

"Y-yes?" he asked, shakily.

"Do me a favor..." she asked.

"Of course. Anything." he quickly replied.

"I want you to...get with...that little Gold-Dragon Priestess for me...what did you say her name was?"

"Filia." he again, replied quickly.

"Ahh...yes...get with her."

"...get with her?" Xelloss asked.

"Yes...get with her...got it?" she accented the word ''get'' with a sort of undertone that Xelloss did not quite understand yet.

"Of course...get with her...I understand." Xelloss said.

Zelas chuckled. He didn't understand, or at least he didn't want to. She knew, though. She knew that the Gold-Dragon Priestess, whether she wanted to admit it or not, had some heavy heavy feelings for her little Mazoku. One thing was obvious though. He still had a lot of growing up to do.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Filia's mind was a torrent of questions. What in the world was Zelas talking about? Why did she want Xelloss to ''get'' with her? She didn't want to get with that filthy namagomi. The very idea of him kissing her...

She felt her face start to get hot. She realized she was blushing furiously.

Gah! Why am I acting so strange? Must be my 'time'...

She composed herself a moment and dismissed her rather..new...feelings as nothing more than ''that time of the month''. She looked over to her side and gasped. She saw a pair of blinked eyes looking straight at her with a large goofy smile attached to it.

"X-x-xell..xello.." was all she could stammer out.

"Why helloooo Fi-chan...what are you doing here? Hn?" he asked, poking her nose with one of his index fingers.

She tried to answer, but again, all that came out was a lot of stammering.

"Well, if you've been spying on me..." Xelloss started, "I'll just have to kill you." he stated with a simple sigh at the end.

Filia gasped, placing her hands over her mouth. Surely he wouldn't...

Xelloss laughed, and leaned forward and lightly kissed the tip of her nose.

"My precious dragon...I wouldn't even think of it." he started to slowly walk off, but turned again and added softly, in an almost gentle whisper...

"..ever..."

Filia shivered slightly. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The valley was an almost perfect site. There was a small town near the northwest side, whose inhabitants would make a small, first wave of Acolytes that he could use to his advantage. The place looked much like a Mi'ak world, a large, brownish green valley that was surrounded by small outcrops of jagged rock. He glided down a small hill, stopped and observed his surroundings for a moment. With a small 'humph' he lazily rose one hand, extended a finger, and started twisting the land into a misshapen, chaotic nightmare. Perfect for a base of operations.

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Lina, Gourry, Zel and Amelia were having quite some difficulty finding their way around. It was starting to get dark, and as none of them could see in the dark(none except for Zel, although he wouldn't readily admit another one of his inhuman abilities), they decided to settle down for the night.

"Amelia..?" Lina asked sleepily.

"Hm?" Amelia inquired.

"How much longer till we get to your fathers kingdom?"

"Well..at the rate we're traveling..I'd guess...a day? Maybe day and a half? Somewhere around there..." Amelia's usual chirpy, fun voice was filled with a sound of profound sorrow...and fear. She was very visibly shaken by Karn's arrival, and tried hard not to burst into tears of pure terror when she first glanced at him. The feeling she got from him..it was just so...empty..but full of something...something more than evil. Karn wanted something more than what Calth had told them, and whatever it was, Amelia was sure that it would truly be a horrific thing to behold. She shivered violently in the dark at that thought, and instinctively snuggled carefully into Zel, who didn't object or flinch at her presence.

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Xelloss slept far away from Filia that night. There was more tension and uneasiness between them than usual., since what happened at his master's cave.

I wonder why in the name of L-sama she came? Xell thought. He glanced over at her sleeping form and saw how the fire lighted her face.

Good Lord... he thought as loud as he could, ....she's gorgeous... He couldn't hide it any longer. As much as he had tried, he had felt himself going more and more towards that bitchy, blonde beautiful Gold-Dragon.

Heh..the three ''B's''... he thought with a smirk and a small chuckle. He once again glanced at her and the thought re-popped back into his head. Another one did as well. Should he go down and try to get...a little closer with her? Filia and him were barely friends..no...barely acquaintances. Why in the world would she let him get close to her? She had that one night, though, a few days back...why then? So many thoughts were racing through his head..he was actually starting to think. He was surprised his head didn't collapse...or explode..or both..implode? With that interesting thought, he dismissed everything else, and drifted into sleep.

Morning couldn't have come sooner, at least in Xelloss' opinion. He woke bright and early with the sun, all the intense thinking of last night behind him..untill he saw her. She was still asleep, laying on her side, and with Xelloss' superior hearing, he heard a soft, peaceful cooing sound coming from her. It drove him crazy inside..and outside. His normal calm expression was getting furrowed, and a small glob of sweat beaded on his forehead. He carefully wiped his brow, and teleported down to her. With shaking hands he gently nudged her awake.

"Filia..it is time...t-to get moving again." he said.

She made a soft moaning noise and started to rise.

"Ok, ok, Xell...I'm up...I'm up..." she sleepily said, "so...where are we heading to?"

"You..." he started, starting to get his trickster tone of voice back, "are going to your kingdom...alone." he stated firmly.

Filia was now fully awake.

"What? I can't go alone, Xell, they would think that I was a lunatic!" she said. Xelloss got annoyed at her calling him "Xell". But then again, he did always call her "Fi-Chan"...guess eye for an eye..

"Well, I certainly can't go." he replied, calmly.

"And why not?" Filia asked, without thinking.

Xelloss really got annoyed by that.

"Filia! I'm a Mazoku! Did you forget!?" he exclaimed, almost to the point of yelling, for him anyway.

Filia mentally smacked herself for that one.

"No, I didn't forget...I just didn't want to be ....ostracized..."

"Yes, well, that would be sort of bad, hn? Thrown out by your own kind...kinda rings a dim bell, eh?" Xelloss said sarcastically. He was, of course, talking about the run-in with Valgarv.

"Just shut up, Xelloss..it hurts bringing that up, and you know it... You said we had to go...so lets go."

Xelloss deftly turned around and started to walk the other way.

Filia squealed and firmly attached herself to his waist.

"I'm not leaving here without you!" she said, vehemently.

Xelloss almost tripped over his own feet. What was with this girl? A few moments ago, he could have sworn that she wouldn't have cared whether he left or not, and now she was attached to his waist?

"Filia..let go of me...now" he said firmly.

"No..." was the soft response.

"Filia...." he growled.

"No.." again was the response. Tears came shortly after. "I'm not leaving without you, Xelloss..."

Xelloss had had it.

"Filia Ui Copt!" he screamed, "Let go of me!"

Xelloss' face flushed. What had he just done? He had snapped, thats what he had just done. And he had snapped at Filia. He felt the arms around his torso slowly begin to give way, and heard soft gasping sobs come from behind him. He helped the hands return to they're owner. He slowly turned around and saw Filia's face...his little Gold-Dragon's face..full of pain and sadness. Tears freely flowed down her cheeks, and dropped on the ground. Xelloss gently held one of her hands.

"Filia...go." he said darkly.

Without hesitation, she ripped her hand from his own, slapped him, and ran off screaming,

"Xelloss, I hate you!!!!"

Xelloss didn't flinch at her slap. He didn't move from that spot until she ran out of sight. With a small sigh he turned around and started walking the opposite direction. It was quite clear what he had to do now. He had to find that Calth fellow. A few steps from his spot, he turned around and looked in the direction Filia had ran off to..and grimly realized that she would probably never want to see him again. He started walking back in the direction away from her, and quickly wiped a single crystal-white tear that was rolling down his cheek, and flung it to the ground. When it hit, a small cadeau of blue-white flame erupted for a few moments, then flickered out. All that was left of the Mazoku's tear was a small, pathetic scorch mark on the earth.

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Calth had just gotten finished telling his tale to the Premier, who looked deep in thought. His two guards, whom he had trained personally, were literally shaking in they're armor, and although they didn't move, the bright blue plate mail was rattling and jostling mightily.

The Premier sighed and finally said,

"So...Karn has been released?" he asked.

"Yes, sir." was Calth's grim reply.

The Premier sighed again.

"Very well..and these adventurers you speak of...what were their names again?"

Calth quickly remembered the names of those odd blokes he had traveled with,

"Uhn..Lina Inverse, Gourry Gabriev, Zelgadiss Greywords, Amelia wil Telsa Saillune, Filia Ui Copt and Xelloss..something-or-other...I can't remember his last name.." Calth replied.

The first three sounded very familiar. In fact, the Premier knew them all...personally. Yes, personally. That was an appropriate word.

"Very well.." he said again, "I want you to bring the first four to me...as quickly as you can...understand, Mr. Htlac?"

"Yes, sir!" Calth exclaimed, giving the mandatory salute.

"Anything else, Calth?" the Premier asked politely.

"No, sir." he replied.

"Then you are dismissed." the Premier said. When Calth began to head for the door, the Premier added,

"Oh Calth?..." he said.

"Yes sir?" came the response.

"Do not tell them my real name...just tell them..your 'king' wants to meet with them..ok?" he asked, again, politely.

Calth gave him an odd look for a moment, then simply said.

"Whatever you say, Premier Rezo."

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End of Chapter 5.