Once Upon a Time

by Hotaru

Disclaimer: Xellos aint mine. (tis such a pity) Zelas aint mine. (oh well... you can't have everything in life) and any other names copyrighted by the Slayers crew aint mine either.

Chapter 13

They had begun flying as fast as they could, heading due west. After a few minutes though, Merlina had glanced up, frowned and immediatly dropped to the forest below. Xellos hurriedly followed after her, dampening his aura like she was doing with hers. They landed on a small clearing.

"What happened?" asked Xellos. He was quite proud to note that he wasn't panting or anything like that. He was stronger now. Merlina looked around, closed her eyes and concentrated. Then her ruby eyes snapped open.

"We have to keep on going." she said as she started to walk into the forest.

"What's happening?" he asked as he followed her.

"Later." she said, her eyes roving all over their surroundings. It was a dense forest and for a while, they were quiet, concentrating on getting around trees, logs, stumps and other patches of forestry. As they walked, Xellos's mind began to wander. He had noticed that he was an extremely deep thinker and was always meditating on something. Well, now, he was meditating on what they were doing. There was no doubt in his being concerning the question of whether to follow Merlina or not. He would, period. But he wanted to know what was happening. Merlina had looked worried as they had flown and now, she looked alert and her muscles were tensed, ready to either flee or fight. He should too, but since he didn't even know what was the problem, he had no idea what to look out for. He took out his black staff. It was a handy thing. So far, there wasn't even a scratch on it. The material Merlina had chosen had been extremely sturdy and hard. It also made a good walking stick and something to prod things about with. As he walked, he began to relax some more. Merlina was about a meter and a half ahead, and she was keeping an eye on everything. Xellos looked at her from behind. After months of not seeing her, he was surprised at how she looked now. He had grown taller than she was, but she still radiated the aura of being in total control that made her seem bigger than she was. Her brilliant red hair was long again, and was put back in a loose braid, a few strands of hair flying about her. She was also, he realized, dampening her aura more and more, but in a gradual fashion.

"Hey, Merlina?" he asked.

"Yeah?" she asked back without stopping or looking back. He hurried up to catch up with her.

"Can you tell me..." he started.

"..what's going on?" she finished for him.

"Yeah, that." he said exasperatedly. It was fun... but after some time... one really wanted to finish the sentences that one started.

"Long or short version?" she asked him. She jumped over a small creek and he followed suit.

"Um... I guess short cause to my unexperienced eye, it seems as if we're on the run." said Xellos.

"Well, then your eye isn't as unexperienced as you think." said Merlina.

"So, tell me?" he asked. He hurried and was soon hiking right beside her.

"OK." she said. Then she turned to him and grinned. "After all, you've been patient enough."

"Thanks..." said Xellos. He thought a bit and then narrowed his eyes. "You were just testing me???"

"Yeah." said Merlina, unashamed. She laughed at him for a bit. "I know... I know.... I shouldn't do that. But it's so fun!" He hit her on the head.

"Gosh... and here I am, all worried about you." he said, grumbling in annoyance. Merlina laughed since she could tell that he was just acting wounded.

"Hey... OK, I'm telling ya now, so pay attention." she said. She grabbed his hand and looked at him. He grinned at her.

"You better." he said. "Perhaps you could totally joke around and leave the old Xellos clueless before... but not anymore."

"OK." said Merlina. "Sorry. Forgive me?"

"Sure, sure, sure." he said dismissively. She laughed softly and he laughed a bit also. She then got serious and started to speak in a serious voice.

"Right now, Zelas Beastmaster is probably sending her servants for my hide since I'm disobeying her orders. So be on guard. There will be some Mazoku after me, even though they know that I can beat most of the lesser demons they send after me. Which, of course, means that we are on the run." she stated. Xellos looked at her with astonishment in his eyes.

"Lady Beastmaster???" he asked. "You worked under her?"

"What did you expect?" asked Merlina as she looked at him. Then she realized that he had no idea what to expect since she hadn't told him anything. "OK... as far as I can make it out.... I was taken by Merlin, and the Mazoku probably tampered up here for a bit." She pointed to her head. "Anyway, for a few months, Zelas and I were actually best of budies!" Xellos froze.

"You... you..." he started.

"Yup!" she said wtih a humorless grin on her face. "Me, Merlina Quertwen, half human/half mazoku, best friends with Zelas."

"OK..." he said hesitantly, allowing her to continue.

"Anyway... I was soon bored of staying with her and chatting with her all the time and convinced her to let me do something, so I basically played secret spy for her." continued Merlina. "I was allowed to hang about, buy desserts and all that, as long as I told her about the movement of the dragons in that specific area. They even allowed me to play around with magic, and I learned a few neat tricks!"

"You're saying that... you voluntarily worked under Zelas?" asked Xellos, looking surprised.

"Don't be stupid!" exclaimed Merlina. She rolled her eyes and then spoke in a type of chanting voice. "I was brainwashed, remember? Of course I did! I had nothing else to do! I forgot everything about myself. All I thought I knew was that I had been searching for my father to join him."

"Ok, OK, I believe you." said Xellos. "It just seemed..."

"...incredible?" asked Merlina. He nodded. "Now that I think about it... yeah...."

"So, that is why you didn't remember me?" asked Xellos.

"Yeah." said Merlina. "Although I still don't see why do that."

"Had you remembered me, then you probably wouldn't have stayed under their power long since you would probably begin wondering where I was or something." said Xellos. "I don't know... it's just a guess." Merlina thought a bit, cocking her head to the side as she ruminated over what he said.

"You know.. I think you have a point there. I would have demanded in knowing where you were. And they'd have to make up an even bigger story. Not that it'd be too hard for them... but oh well..." she said. She stopped a bit and reached into her bag for an apple that she had gotten while in town. She flicked her wrist and a dagger shot out of her sleave. Xellos jumped with surprise.

"Nice trick, huh?" she asked with a smile. She parted the apple and gave half to Xellos. "Here. Have some. It's getting late so we should look for a place to camp." But Xellos only heard the first part.

"How did you do that?" he asked, his voiced amazed. Merlina had to laugh a bit. "What?" he asked indignantly.

"You're really funny, you know?" she said. Then she grinned at him. "OK, I'll teach you..." She didn't finish the sentence since she all of a sudden reached into her cape and drew out two of his talismans. She tossed him her half of her apple and clasped the two talismans. "Shield!" she cried and threw it at Xellos, along with her bag, her half apple, and her cape. He was about to ask her what was happening when he too sensed something different. He tried to get to where Merlina was, but the shield wouldn't let him leave.

Meanwhile, Merlina had flipped out of the way of an incoming blast of black magic.

"Merlina, watch out!" shouted Xellos as he saw another coming at her from another direction. She nimbly flipped over it and with out breaking sweat, threw two dark bolts of magic back at where ever the magic had come from. There was a shrill scream from one of the attackers as a lower Mazoku fell out of a tree and phased out. The other had jumped out of the way and shot another beam at Merlina. She easily blocked it by spinning her staff to form a shield. With another twirl, she pointed the orb at the enemy, concentrated and fired a beam of pulsating, blood red fire at it. The mazoku tried to get out of the way, but Merlina's aim was true and her reaction had been quick. The Mazoku was dead. She stopped and wiped her brow and then turned around to face another part of the forest, her hands holding her staff in a ready position. Meanwhile, Xellos was trying to get out to help her. He tried every type of magic break spell, but none worked on the stubborn shield that Merlina had put up. Sure, the talismans re inforced the magic that bound him and protected him, but surely it wasn't that hard to break! He closed his eyes and tried again and again...

Meanwhile, Merlina was testing the field she was in. It was a small clearing and they were surrounded by woods. She absentmindedly noted that Xellos was struggling against the shield she had thrown around him. After making sure that there was nothing else around them, she undid the spell and let him go.

"What was that?" asked Xellos as he got out. He passed her her things.

"Mazoku." said Merlina grimly as she looked around. "But lesser demons. She's toying around with me."

"She?... Oh.. you mean... Beastmaster?" asked Xellos as he too took up a defensive position.

After a while, Merlina relaxed her guard.

"We'll be fine for a while." said Merlina. She took her apple and although it was a bit dusty, she wiped off some dust and took a huge bite. "The only ones who can actually pose a threat to me are the Priest and General. We should be able to deal with the others just fine." She walked into the forest once more with Xellos following her, not noticing the small piece of paper that had fallen from her cloak.

*****

"Shouldn't we go after her?" asked Mesphisel.

"You know Zelas's orders." said Merlin. His blood red eyes were guarded and cold. Had anyone looked at them, they would have remarked on the striking similarity between them. They were physically different, although they were the same height. Mesphisel, the Priest, had a leaner build to him while Merlin was a bit stockier. Their hair was different, as were there eyes and their other facial characteristics. But the expression in there faces were exactly the same. Cold, heartless, cruel and calculating. Merlin picked up the paper that Merlina had dropped.

"Well, we have the note." he said.

"Let's go back, then." said Mesphisel. Merlin nodded and they both winked out of existance from their hiding place in the trees. Merlina hadn't been able to tell that they were there.

*****

"What do you want?" asked a voice. Mrs. Kyuzan took a deep breath.

"They fell for the trick." she said. The Dragon elder before her had to smile at that.

"Zelas depends on her little spies too much." he said. "That is good. She will get the note and everything will work out fine. Good job, Kyuzan."

"Thank you, elder." said the lady. She had changed clothes and was wearing the plain white tunic of those who affiliated themselves with the Dragons.

"Zelas will have wished to never have messed with us." continued the Dragon elder. "But I have heard something from your co worker. How is your son? He said that Xellos has finally returned to us. Is he ready to become one of us?"

"He left." said Mrs. Kyuzan. "Elder, if I may voice an opinion... I think that Zelas has suspiciouns concerning him. He has been travelling with Merlina, the half Mazoku girl."

"Hm... this does bear some concideration." said the elder. "Does he enjoy this... Merlina's company? We have her on file, and we have put a warning to beware the Merlina girl."

"It is my opinion that he has been mislead." said Kyuzan. "I believe that it is all that Merlina's fault. She should be taken care of quickly."

"To catch and kill her would constitute as an act of war against the Mazoku. We must at least keep up this pretense of peace." he said.

"But they have taken Xellos. It is like an act that would constitute war." protested Kyuzan. The elder thought a bit.

"I will take this up with the council of Dragons." he said. "Until then, good job. You have done well in informing us of these new incidents. You are dismissed." he said. She smiled and bowed before leaving the room.

*****

Amidst all these plannings that were going on, the two teens were in their camp. Xellos was taking first watch. Their little fire had died out and all that was left were a few glowing embers. Xellos carefully blew on it to get them to light up before adding in a few twigs. Merlina was sleeping close to the fire, curled up peacefully. The small dancing fire played with the dark shadows of her hair so that it looked like her hair was alive and dancing in tune with the fire. Xellos sat across the fire from her, sitting on a log 'bench'. He held his staff in his hands and had made a small pouch that now held the talismans he had made. Most were amplyfing talismans that would increase the magical power of a spell cast through it. Seeing Merlina increase her shield's power with his talismans made him realize just how powerful they were. He took them out and gently played with them, charging them up so that the next time they were used, they'd be even stronger.

Night watch was boring. There were hardly any sounds coming from nature except for a few night birds calling each other here and there. What he had for company was basically the crackling fire and Merlina's soft breathing. His mind wandered as he put the talismans away.

There probably was a way to keep the talismans charged so that they would be even stronger the whole time. He just had to think of someway of doing it. Something like Merlina's staff with the orb. He had seen how the staff amplified power. If he could study it... He'd ask her later. His mind wandered again.

They had eaten some meat that Merlina had bought at the town they had just escaped. Store bought meat was rare, so they decided to eat it before it got bad. They'd end up eating more game as they traveled. Well, at least until they got to a city or town. Merlina had told him brief sketches of what she had been doing and of her experiences with Zelas. He suspected that it was so that in case she ever forgot again, he could try to remind her. He smiled sadly at her. She had gone through a lot. She had said that she had started on this quest to ask her father about her mother and her mysterious death. Those were her mother's wishes when Merlina had woken up that fateful day and had realized that her mother was dead. But she had gotten nowhere. She had even totally forgotten about it when she was with Zelas.

The fire crackled softly as the moon went on it's way. The world was changing, thought Xellos, but everything continues on, as if nothing mattered. What would become of them? But he'd be by Merlina and help her through it, no matter what.

*****

The next day, Merlina woke up Xellos quite early.

"Wake up." she said as she shook his shoulder roughly. "Breakfast is ready. Eat up quick. We should get moving as soon as possible."

"OK..." grumbled Xellos. He slowly got up, yawned and rubbed his eyes. "So... where are we going?" he asked as he blinked sleepily about him. Merlina stopped. She had been starting to break up camp. Her pack and cloak were neatly to one side, ready for travelling. Xellos's were beside his sleeping bag and could be stuffed into his pack if need be.

"You know what?" she asked him with a small smile. "I have no idea... all day long, I've been wanting to get moving, but I have no idea where to."

Xellos sweatdropped. "No idea?" he asked. She shook her head. "How about what you planned on doing. Come on... you must have had a plan, right?"

"Um.... jeje...." Merlina said intelligently. She scratched her head a bit. "You know.... I never thought that far." Xellos raised an eyebrow at her.

"And you woke me up so early in the morning?" he asked. Merlina laughed at that. He frowned. Mornings were not his thing.

"I'm sorry..." said Merlina, trying to control her laughter. "It's just that I just realized that I have no earthly idea on what to do! It's the first time this has happened to me!" She sat down on a log and thought a bit. After a few moments, she sighed. "I don't know." She looked so forlorn and down that Xellos couldn't help but laugh a bit. "Hey, it's not funny!"

"I know..." said Xellos. He got up and fixed his clothes. "Here, we can think about it while we break up camp. Hopefully, by then we will be able to have thought of something."

By the time they did finish, Merlina had thought of something. She suddenly remembered the note that she had gotten. She checked all her pockets, but to her surprise, couldn't find it.

"What are you looking for?" asked Xellos. It looked very interesting, Merlina turning inside out all her pockets. He never knew her cape had so many hidden pockets!

"A note..." said Merlina. She bit her lip worriedly. "Oh well... it's OK, I still remember what it said."

"What note?" asked Xellos, feeling curious. Merlina hesitated for a bit. How should she tell him? She decided to tell him but to omit the part concerning his mother.

"Zelas told me to get a message for her from a spy. The spy came to my house a few hours before you came and handed me the note. I read it while you were saying good bye to your mother." she said. She was quite pleased with herself since it sounded very plausible and Xellos would probably buy it. He did.

"Oh... and what did it say?" he asked, getting very interested.

"Well.... this is the weird part." said Merlina. "To me... it looks like... well... you tell me. The note said that the meeting was ready. It will happen in two weeks in the outskirts of Zephyria. Close to where we are."

"The meeting between Zelas and...?" asked Xellos waiting for her to finish his sentance.

"It looks like.... between Zelas and... the Dragons." said Merlina.

"WHAT?" asked Xellos. "That can't be!"

"But it was... well, it looked like it." said Merlina. "It even had the official Dragon seal and everything."

"How do you know what the Dragon seal looks like?" asked Xellos, looking at her suspiciously through lidded eyes. Merlina blushed a bit and grinned awkwardly.

"Um... I know it..." she started out. Then she brightened up. Xellos recognized the look and groaned. "Well... that, is a secret!"

"OK." said Xellos. "I'll trust you, for now."

"Good." said Merlina. "You should. Anyway... what do you think?"

"What do I think?" asked Xellos. "All that I think is that this is crazy and stupid. I can't believe this is happening! Everyone has secrets to hide from everyone else, and everyone is scheming against everyone else. Who knows why Zelas is going to meet with the Dragons. Who knows why they'll meet with her! Who knows how it all started!?" Merlina began to regard him with a bit of worry in her eyes. He was starting to sound a bit... off.

"Hm... are you OK?" she asked him softly.

"NO! I'M NOT OK!" he shouted to the world at large. Then, noticing that he had just shouted, he quieted down and looked sheepishly at her. "Sorry..."

"It's OK," said Merlina. She sat beside him and patted his shoulder. "I know it's a lot of information. You can let it out. If you want, we can talk about it." Xellos nodded. Merlina hugged him softly, not knowing how to react to a stressed Xellos. He just hugged her back and rested against her. Merlina looked off into the middle of nowhere and gently rubbed his shoulders, not knowing what in the world was going to happen to them next.

*****

After a few minutes, Xellos awkwardly got up. Merlina stood up also, and tried to pretend that her face was not bright red and picked up her stuff.

"Come on." she said, facing away from him. Xellos was relieved. She wouldn't see his burning cheeks. "We have two weeks to train, get information and come up with a plan." With staff in hand, she walked off in the direction to the nearest town.

"Um... but... isn't the meeting ground supposed to be somewhere here?" asked Xellos as he put on his pack, cloak and then picked up his staff.

"Yes." said Merlina. "We will be back in about a week to scout the terrain and listen to the gossip in town."

"So, what do we do meanwhile?" asked Xellos. Merlina stopped. As soon as she could tell that her cheeks weren't burning anymore, she turned around and looked him straight in the face. "We train."

*****

A black shadow ran through the branches of the trees and then jumped off. Another shadow quickly ran after it and did the same. The first figure stopped in mid air and summoned up a ball of magic which was thrown at the second one. The second one dodged and retaliated with one of their own. But the first figure wasn't there anymore. The second shadow barely avoided the first ones attack from right beneath him. The second one took out a staff and flew after the first shadow. Said first shadow halted in mid air again and flew back down, their staff out. The second shadow hurriedly ducked and took out their own staff, trying to hit the other staff away. The two figures began to fight with their staffs, looking for holes and weaknesses in the other's defense. Suddenly, the two jumped out of the way and bowed to each other. The shadow with longer hair smiled at the other.

"Nice work out." she said.

"Thanks, you too!" he said. Merlina grinned.

"You've gotten better. Been training in my absence, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah... can't afford to get soft." said Xellos.

"That's good to know." said Merlina. "Take a break. We'll practice magic in a bit." She leaned against a tree and rested a bit. She closed her eyes and felt the tranquility of the place. Today was the first day of the 14 days they had till the meeting took place. There were a few holes in Xellos's defense, but nothing they couldn't fix. Magic, though, was worrying her. She knew Xellos could handle himself in a physical fight. She had trained him very well. But with magic... the last time she had seen him fight with magic... well... he wasn't very good at casting black magic offensive spells. But he knew many shield and cure type of spells, and that was extremely valuable to her. But it would be hard to take on both the dragons and the demons. Well, first, she'd check his level. Then, she would think of what to do.

*****

Thirty minutes later, Merlina looked wide-eyed at Xellos and at the area before them. They had begun their 'magic practice' 25 minutes ago, and right now, their field was pretty much trashed. She had started out easy on him, launching a volley of fireballs at him. Xellos had just smiled, set up a barrier before him made of wind that knocked her fireballs of course and launched them back at her. Merlina smiled and upped her attacks. To her amazement, he had managed to block them. She backflipped away to get some space when all of a sudden, the earth under her hands crumbled away, leaving behind a deep hole. She gasped, and cast a levitation just in time to keep from falling in. She looked at Xellos, amazement in her eyes. He waved at her with a grin on his face, and then moved his hands around, summoning a wind attack. Merlina braced herself against the wind. It was harder to fight against the wind while you were in air since there was nothing to push against. Finally, she let herself be pushed back a bit, landed beside the hole, and threw out a beam of fiery red light at him. He casually jumped out of the way, and got another spell ready, dropping the wind one. Merlina grinned, and this time shot an arrow of fire. She then altered her trajectory and fired off a volley of ice arrows. Xellos summoned up a wind barrier, and once more, the fight began.

After an hour, the two decided to take a break.

"That was a good work out." said Merlina as she wiped her red sweaty bangs away from her hair with the back of her hand. She slumped against a handy tree that happened to be there. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths. Xellos, too, was very tired and he collapsed on a fallen over tree trunk, courtesy of one of his own very sharp wind attacks. As he sat down and brushed his bangs away, he looked at Merlina and couldn't help but think how much he'd like a portrait of her resting like that. Her guard was mostly down, and she was tired, but she looked relaxed and content.

In Merlina's view, she had every right to be relaxed and content. For one, they had a good work out, and she was confident in Xellos's skills. There was some polishing to do, both in magic and hand to hand, but so little. She knew that his magical attack repertoire was bigger than what he just showed her, and that was good. What she had seen was very good.

"You're right." said Xellos. After a while, he asked her a question. "What grade do I get?"

"Eight point five out of ten." said Merlina promptly.

"Just that?" complained Xellos playfully. "Why don't I get a full blown nine?"

"Cause I'm the teacher and I say so." said Merlina. She smiled. Xellos raised an eyebrow and then tossed a bunch of leaves in her direction. "Hey!" she exclaimed, looking at him with the evil eye. Her efforts to look serious failed due to the small fact that one can't look very evil when they have dry leaves all over their hair and clothes in outrageous positions. Xellos fell over laughing.

"You look.... really silly!" he said in between laughs.

"Oh, so I'm silly, huh? And I can't look serious, huh? Well, take this!" said Merlina with a wicked gleam in her eyes. "Diem Wind!" A small blast of air flew from her hands, picking up many leaves from the surroudings and dumping them on Xellos.

"Hey!" cried Xellos indignantly as he poked his head from the stack of leaves he was in. "You used magic! No fair!"

"Says who?" asked Merlina, a superior smirk on her face.

"I do, and you're going to get it now!" he warned her as he summoned his own wind attack. And the leave fight was on.

*****

That night, they spent it in a small village that was fifteen minutes flying at high speed. Merlina used it as an excuse to train Xellos's magic resistance. The real reason was quite simple. She wanted to fly very fast and have a contest. To her chagrin, he was just as fast as she was, if not faster. But what she lacked in speed, she made up in stamina, so in the end they got there at the same time.

They entered a small restaurant and proceeded to eat everything in sight. Well, Xellos did so while Merlina ate about half of what Xellos ate.

"Aren't you hungry?" he asked her as he watched her quickly drink up her second bowl of soup. He was on his third.

"I am, but I don't have to eat that much now." said Merlina with a small smile. "You, on the other hand, just went through tons of training at one point in time. While you no doubt trained before, I'm going to train you even harder and have you teach me a few tricks. That requires more energy than you have. I have a steady supply of energy still." Xellos puzzled about it as he dipped his bread into his next bowl of soup.

"Is it because you're a Mazoku? I mean, half of one?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yeah." said Merlina. "It's one of the upsides that comes with not being pure. I can have a higher stamina than most because of it, but because I'm only half Mazoku, I will run out at one point in time. But until then, I'm powerful." She grinned cheekily, and to get Xellos to stop worrying, she stole from right under his fingers the next roll. Which, of course, caused various events to happen. Mainly, Xellos's eyes widened, then lowered as he glared at her and then politely called a waiter and ordered another roll. Merlina smiled and ate up the roll.

Later on, in their room, Xellos asked to see her staff.

"What for?" she asked. She was on her bed and reached her arm over and grabbed her staff that laid propped against her bed.

"I wanted to check it out." he said. She tossed it to him. Xellos, who was in the next bed reached his arm out to grab it. "I've never seen one like it before..."

"Of course not!" said Merlina. "It's unique. Mazoku staffs are special, you know."

"In what way?" asked Xellos as he studied the small wisp of red inside the otherwise crystal clear gem. He was pretty sure it used to be perfectly clear. Not that Merlina had let him look at it back then, but he did remember a few things...

"Well,... for example, the jewel is very important." said Merlina. With that, she launched into an explanation. "First of all, Mazoku gems are very precious and powerful. They are not like you're normal magical talismans. They are refined from various things. For example, tears, blood, eyes, hearts..." Xellos made a face at this and Merlina laughed. "I know, it sounds grizzly. But that's how it's done. The more powerful the one you get them from, the more efficient it is."

"What is this one made of?" asked Xellos. He stroked the gem, and to his amazement, the gem twinkled slightly under his touch. "What happened?"

"Huh?" asked Merlina as she rolled over to face him. She had been staring at the ceiling.

"Watch." said Xellos. He carefully touched the gem, and once more, a brief flash of light coming from the middle of the gem met with his fingers.

"I didn't know it would happen to you too!" said Merlina. She concentrated and levitated the staff over to where she was. She carefully caressed it, and the gem pulsed with light. "I thought it would only do that with its owners..." Xellos watched the light show that the staff emitted. "Looks cool, huh?"

"Yeah." said Xellos. "Anyway... what is this one made of?"

"This one is made of blood from a demon." said Merlina as she twirled the staff. "Merlin told me that he was a very powerful demon. As a matter of fact, it was the blood from the former Priest of Zelas. He was very strong, and had dreams of grandeur and glory. Zelas delt with him. To prevent a perfect waste, she refined his blood into a crystal clear jewel."

"So, why isn't it crystal clear now?" asked Xellos. Merlina's absent twirling grinded to a halt. Her face had an unreadable expression in her eyes.

"Because... I..." she trailed off, not completing the sentance. "I... used it wrong." She finished her sentance in a hushed voice. Xellos froze as his eyes widened. He hadn't known that it the conversation would turn back to.... her time as a Mazoku. He had to face it. It looked like she had, or at least was trying to. He had seen Merlina fight. Merlina as a Mazoku would have been even fiercer... and meaner.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..." started Xellos awkwardly.

"No, it's OK. I... yeah... It was my fault." said Merlina. She stroked it again, watching the light display. "I mean... I know I wasn't me when I was with Zelas, but sometimes, I wonder... maybe that is what I wanted... Afterall, I knew my dad was a Mazoku, yet I still searched for him. I don't know what came over me..."

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." said Xellos as he rolled over and looked at her.

"Thanks Xellos." she said. "You know something? You're cool. Thanks a lot." With that, she burrowed under her covers and fell asleep.

End of Chapter 13

Notes...

I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!!!!!! Anyway,... I'm so mega sorry for updating this story so slooooooowly. I know, I'm at fault, and I want to thank you for being patient. To give a brief synopsis of my excuse... life got hard and I found myself worrying of other things instead of writing. I know, that is very evil and sinful of me. *smile* Thankyou for all your patience and encouragement. Hope you enjoy this chapter! Next chapter, Merlina and Xellos have laid their plans and wait for the fateful meating to happen. What will occur then? BTW, the next chapters will come out much, MUCH faster. Promise!

Hotaru