c-chan: Well, it's been some time since I updated…  It took forever for my friends to beta read this chapter… *glares at her friends*  But it's finally done! Hurray! Now, I must warn you, my beloved readers, I'm not good at describing people. ^^ So if Urien's description is dumb, it's because of my lack of talent and skills. *sigh*  Thanks for all you nice people who submitted reviews!

The only things I own from Slayers is four books and that's it.

Without further ado, I present you:

Slayers: Balance

Chapter 5: Urien

Sun rays poured into Filia's room, bringing in the cheer of the morning. Filia closed her eyes tighter in an attempt to shut out the offending intrusion. Futile. The brightness of the sun refused to budge an inch. With a heavy sigh, Filia opened her eyes and sat up. She was tired. Her sleep for the past few days had been restless. Images of her visions and of Xelloss hurt and unconscious on the streets invaded and plagued her dreams every night.

Oh well, time to get up. There's a time for worries and a time for business. And right now, it's time to sell my beautiful pottery, marvelous weapons, and delicious tea. The door to her room opened as a head popped in.

"Mommy? Are you awake?"

"Yes, Val, I am. Did you sleep well last night?"

Little green-haired Val walked up to Filia's bed, towing behind him an old, battered teddy bear. It had been Filia's childhood toy; she had given Val many others, but for some unfathomable reason, he particularly loved this one and refused to go anywhere without it.

Filia picked him up and set him on her lap when he reached the side of her bed.

"I dreamt that I was eating candy, cake, and cookies. Can we have breakfast? My tummy is empty."

"Sure thing, sweetheart. Come on. Let's go downstairs and I'll fix you your favorite breakfast."

With a gentle smile, she picked him up and went downstairs to the kitchen.

Once they were in the kitchen, Filia went about fixing breakfast while Val played with his toys. After breakfast was dutifully consumed, she left him playing with Jillas and Gravos, who babysat the ancient dragon while Filia tended to her shop duties.

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Maybe I should try and contact Lina. I haven't seen Xelloss since that day Val found him. I wonder if he's all right. No, wait! I don't care! I took care of him and he made fun of me! The world is most certainly better off without that piece of filth. Yet…why does my heart beat with anxiety? Why can I not forget the visions that torment me nightly? What if my fears have become reality? Filia brooded as she absently polished her vases and dusted off her weapons.

Her train of thought was rudely interrupted when the clear, cheerful tinkling of bells announced the arrival of her first customer. She straightened up and forced a smile onto her face.

"Good morning! How may I help you today?" She greeted the visitor as he stood at the doorway. Golden sunrays reflected off his pearly long hair casting a halo around him. Filia stared, entranced, all thoughts on a certain mazoku promptly thrown out the window. She had never seen such a handsome man, nor has she felt this calm before. Slanted eyes with aquamarine orbs framed by a pair of strong angular eyebrows adorned the upper half of his perfectly shaped face. [Pointing at her description of a handsome man, c-chan rolls over and dies from embarrassment and laughing too much]. His hair fanned out behind him despite the lack of breeze, giving him the appearance of possessing soft wings.

An angel? Filia thought. Her reverie was suddenly broken as her lungs felt like exploding. The dragon hadn't realized that she had been holding her breath, afraid to disturb this picture of serenity that the heavens were kind enough to send her way. That, and the fact that the man cleared his throat.

"Miss?" His soft, deep voice brought her back to the reality of her little shop.

"I'm sorry! I hadn't realized I was staring, how inappropriate of me. Please accept my apologies." Filia bowed.

"Oh, it's all right. It happens to everyone who sees me. I do no know why though. Perhaps I have something on my face?"

Filia's mind did a double take. Anyway… "My name is Filia. How may I help you today, sir?"

"Filia? As in Filia Ul Copt?"

"Yes. May I ask how you know of my name?" She asked as politely as possible without sounding suspicious. No one here knows my full name…

"I'm Urien. I have been looking for you."

"Ok, Urien. You still haven't told me how you know my name."

"Filia-san, I'm not from your world. When I arrived, I had fortunately landed in Dragon Valley, inhabited by your kind, followers of the Dragon Gods. I asked around and they told me about you, Filia Ul Copt, priestess of the Fire Dragon King."

"Ex-priestess…of the Fire Dragon King", Filia corrected him, her voice betraying her sadness at the sins committed by her race.

"Forgive me, Filia-san. Ex-priestess of not, I need your help."

Filia pulled out her tea set and motioned Urien to join her. "Help, you say?"

"Yes. As I mentioned earlier, I am from another world, but I'm not the only one in your world. My sister is here as well. I am not yet sure what her true intentions of coming here are but I know they must not be good. I must stop her! As a knight of Justice and Love, I cannot allow my beloved sister to bring harm to this world!" He exclaimed, raising his cup and spilling tea in the process.

Filia sweatdropped as Urien's sudden outburst oddly reminded her of a certain Seyruun princess. Noticing her expression, Urien caught himself and blushed.

"Ahem…As I was saying…My sister and I were born together. Yet fate has the cruel hand, since we were born to be the complete opposite of each other. Peace and harmony strengthen me while darkness and violence give her life. Because our world strongly supports justice and love, I was chosen as its ruler, but Reia was unhappy with that outcome. As we grew older, she withdrew herself from me and we gradually grew apart. I tried to talk to her and understand her, but she kept pushing me away. Then a few years ago, she declared war against me. She said that she was tired of living under my shadow and by taking over our world she can prove herself. I tried to reason with her but she wouldn't listen. Our battles are devastating our world. I must find her and stop her. I'm willing to give up my power and let her rule if it means the survival of our world."

"How do you know she's here?" Filia asked.

"Well, you see. Reia and I are linked. We always knew each other's thoughts and whereabouts."

"Wait! Doesn't that mean you can tell what she's thinking now? Why do you say you don't know what her intentions are?"

"Yes, we are linked. But she has shut off her mind from me several years ago. The only reason why I know she's here is because of the residual connection between us. It's very faint and is just enough to tell me her general position, if not her exact location." Urien took a sip of his tea.

"I see…" was all Filia could manage to say. "So why do you need my help?"

"As an ex-priestess, you are more sensitive to the pathway connecting your world to another. A slight wrinkle in the energy surrounding the connection may cause an avalanche of effects on you. These effects may surface as visions, dreams, or simply a very strong inadequate feeling. If I want to gain any insight in Reia's plan of actions, I can only hope that you have had at least a vision for the past few weeks." He hesitated, hope and apprehension mirrored on his face. "You have, haven't you?"

"Visions…" Filia's voice trailed off as her mind returned to the cause of her anxiety. I don't know if I want to tell him, I'd only relive those feelings. But if I don't get it out of my system, I might just go insane. She took a deep breath and said, "Yes, I've had them…" Slowly, she started her story. The floodgates opened as words clumsily stumbled from her lips with minds of their own to convey her hidden worries and fears.

By the time she ended her tale, it was mid-afternoon and Filia was shaking, overwhelmed by the tidal wave of emotions that threatened to wash her away. She gripped her teacup with such force that her knuckles turned dead white while she struggled to keep her teeth from chattering. Urien remained silent; this was a situation she had to sort out on her own, there was nothing he could say that would help her.

After what seemed like an eternity, the golden dragon finally succeeded in calming herself and stopped her trembling. Looking into the outworlder's eyes, she said in a steady voice, "That is all I have to say."

"This Xelloss in your vision, you said he's a mazoku?"

"Yes, the namagomi is the worst of them all, he never ceases to tease and taunt me."

Urien creased his eyebrows as several ideas crossed his mind. After choosing the most probable one, he said, "if my guesses are correct, Xelloss is in great danger, as well as your world. Reia is able to increase her power by absorbing the life force of a mazoku. In your vision, you said that Xelloss was captured. That means that he must know of something that Reia wants to get her hands on. Otherwise, he would not have survived. But what?" She calls him namagomi, yet her face gives away her worries for him…What is the relationship between them? "How do we find your friend?"

"I don't know. He always comes uninvited. Last time I saw him; he was unconscious and badly hurt. I brought him back and took care of him," Filia said as her blood started to boil with anger and indignation. "Yet, he still had the audacity to make fun of me!" She slammed her teacup down with such force that it cracked.

"Filia-chan, what has the poor teacup done to deserve your violent treatments?" A voice behind her spoke.

"Speaking of the devil," the irritated dragon said through clenched teeth as her mace mysteriously appeared in her hand. "Where have you been, namagomi?! Running off like that! Do you realize how worried I was?" She yelled as she swung her mace around to smash him, only to find empty space behind her.

"Come on now, Filia. You shouldn't swing mace-same around like that. What if you accidentally injure your friend over there? Or even worse, what if you injure you favorite mazoku? I suppose a violent dragon maiden like you cannot restrain herself," Xelloss taunted her.

"Why… you… ungrateful piece of filth!" Filia hollered. All hell broke loose as she chased the fruitcake around her shop, leveling everything in her way except her intended target.

Urien sat peacefully watching the angry dragon and the trickster priest, dodging (calmly, mind you…) the occasional mace that came too close to his head. How intriguing…

Finally, the battle slowed down as Filia stood panting exhaustedly from her futile efforts to hit a certain fruitcake.

"Filia-chan, won't you introduce me to your friend here?" Xelloss said cheerfully, not a hair out of place.

Oh no! I completely forgot! The maiden whirled around, half expecting an unconscious Urien. What greeted her, however, was far beyond her imagination: Urien sat in the middle of her now destroyed shop, miraculously unscathed.

Sighing with relief, she said "Urien-san, this is namagomi Xelloss. Namagomi, this is Urien-san."

Xelloss took one good look at Urien and immediately disliked him. What is he doing talking to Filia? My F- He caught himself just in time before the thought ever completed itself.

"Xelloss-san, nice to meet you." Urien said with a knowing smile as Xelloss walked up to him.

"Likewise," the priest forced himself to say. Violet met aquamarine. Xelloss said in his coldest and most serious voice, "I warn you. Stay away from her. Stay away from Filia or you'll end up hurt." Behind him, Filia gasped. Gone as quickly as it appeared, Xelloss' menacing expression changed into his legendary cheerful, closed-eye grin and he quipped, "Not only is she short-tempered, she also packs a good punch!" How right he was when Filia's fist broke the sound barrier as it connected squarely against the side of Xelloss' head, to sent him flying into an unconscious crumpled heap.

"Filia-san, I presume this is 'the' Xelloss in your visions?" Urien asked politely.

"Visions, Filia?" The supposedly unconscious fruitcake suddenly sat up with eyes wide open. "We need to talk."

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c-chan: No ending notes… Oh wait, this is an ending note… *sweatdrops*