Lina, Gourry, Amelia, and Zel spent over two hours eating (mostly Lina and Gourry). During that time, Filia and Xellos argued over what to do next in their "contest".

"I'm really hungry," Xellos moaned, facing upward, trying to make himself more convensing.. He started to release the side effects of being a dragon. Filia looked at him in confusion.

"I'm not," she said. She had to admit, feeding of negative emotions was pretty handy, and Xellos seemed to be a reservoir for them. Xellos glared at her.

"I say you're taking advantage of this!" he growled. Filia had her hands behind her head as if she was on the beach, looking into the sky. She was deep in thought, and not interested in Xellos whining. Well, verbilly, it was a pain. She looked toward him and asked, "Huh?" Xellos gave up because Filia was obviously not interested. He heard the restaurant door open again, and he looked around the corner for the umpteenth time.

"It's them," he whispered. Filia jumped on his back, her hands on his head, and looked herself. Xellos wasn't very happy in becoming a stepstool for the overactive girl and was about to say something when Filia whispered, "There're coming this way!" and jumped off his back, put her hands around his mouth, and pulled him back into the alley. Xellos was trying to back free of Filia's grip when she let go of him. Xellos fell with a soft "ooww". Filia ushered him to be quiet as she watched the group pass.

"That was close," Filia said, almost loud enough for the other four to hear. Xellos stood up.

"You idiot!" Xellos fumed. "They could've heard you!"

~

"I think I heard something," Zel said, his acute hearing picking up the conversation between Filia and Xellos.

"What do you hear?" Amelia asked him. Zelgadiss blinked.

"'That was close'. It sounded like Filia." Zel answered. Amelia gave him a confused look.

"Miss Filia? What would she be doing here?"

"I don't know. I think I heard it from the alley back there. I'll go check it out." Zel backed up and turned around to search.

~

"Oh, crud," Xellos whispered. He backed up, running into Filia.

"Will you watch where you're going?" she asked impatiently, turning around.

"Zelgadiss is coming."

"Oh, crud," Filia pouted. "As if this can't get any worse." Xellos rolled his eyes. "Well I'm not sticking around any longer."

"You can't teleport farther than fifteen feet from me," Xellos said with a smile.

"What? Where'd you get a silly idea like that?" Filia started to panic a little.

"That one sorceress person told me."

"When was that?" Filia laughed silently.

"When you weren't looking." Filia gave him a smudge look before closing her eyes. A shiver ran down her spine when she found out he was right.

"If you teleported to the roof, he could still get you," Xellos said with a bigger smile. Even without feeding off her, it still was pleasant to see her panic. Filia went over the details in her head.

"Well, I'm still hiding!" Filia pushed Xellos aside, causing him to fall down. Filia ran past him and dove behind a stack of boxes when Zel rounded the corner.

"Eh heh, hi?" ~

"I wonder what Mr. Zelgadiss found," Amelia wondered aloud, but not loud enough for Lina and Gourry to hear, who were currently chatting away.

"What's that?" Lina asked, looking over her shoulder. Amelia shook her head.

"Nothing." Amelia grinned to herself. Miss Lina and Mr. Gourry were getting along better then before. It made her wonder.

~

Zelgadiss' eyes scanned the figure that was Xellos.

"Eh, heh, hi?" Xellos asked, trying to make himself as inconspicuios as possible. Zel started laughing silently. Xellos sweatdropped.

"What happened to you?" Zel asked, recovering slowly.

"Er, long story," Xellos said, standing up, then bending down to retrieve his staff.

"What are you doing here," Zel demanded, suddenly serious.

"Truthfully, I haven't got a clue," Xellos answered, backing up a little. Xellos looked beyond Zel and saw Filia, tiptoeing away.

"Where're you going?!" he shouted at Filia, jumping up. She stopped and looked over her shoulder. She was scared, alright. Zel turned around and saw Filia. His eyes widened in shock.

"What's going on?" Zel asked.

"Nothing, nothing," Xellos said, pushing Zel out of the alley. With a final push, Xellos retreated back into the alley with a final yell, "Remember, none of this happened!!!" Xellos ran to Filia. "Get us out of here!" he whispered. Filia shrugged, and put a hand on Xellos' shoulder, and teleported out.