Disclaimer: Slayers ain't mine. It belongs to Kadokawa Shoten.

Faces: Finale!

Chapter 11

Kickbacks and Comebacks



Consciousness drifted through the life-filled miasma around it, pulling itself inward, protecting itself from the world around it. It had lost control of its environment, and so it drifted, unable to prevent or implement its own destiny. All it could do now was survive. Survive and wait. It was alive for a reason, otherwise it would not be here.

Water had surrounded it. Water and the astral essences of the life forms surrounding it, forming a web of consciousness that stretched across the astral plane. It was across this web, just as he was about to give in, that he heard voices.

The voices were screaming, crying, panting, gasping, and calling out in horror. Something had upset the balance of the astral plane nearby, and it could feel it, hear it, almost touch it..

"I am Xellos Ul Copt!" it heard and blinked to itself in puzzlement. Both names were familiar, but not together..

"Servant of the Lord of Nightmares and mate to the last Fire Dragon!"

The mention of its mother creator made it take more notice as the web brought more information to it. The sounds of battle, the echoes of something large and ancient moving through space, the weeping of a female nearby.

"Weak," it heard as a hiss.

"Xellos! XELLOS!"

Its eyes opened.

Memory came back to it, to him, and he concentrated, disappearing in a flash of darkness. He reappeared an instant later and fell to the sandy beach beneath him, the sounds of the waves of the ocean he had just escaped battering his ears.

Something terrible had happened. Something that had changed all things.

But right then and there, he didn't give a damn. There was one thing on his mind at this moment.

No..Not one. Two.

Duty.

And revenge.

Callisto Metallium raised his feline head and looked into the distance, at the tall towers of Castle WolfPack. He growled.

"You wanted a palace revolt, Jinnar?" he asked in a hiss as he rose to his paws.

"You got one!"



Amara stared out the window of her tower and searched for something she couldn't name. All she knew was that something awful had happened, but she couldn't say what. Her tail popped out and swayed from side to side in agitation.

She had to find some way of finding out what was going on.

But how?

She could ask Darling Jinnar, but he had already told her...many times..quite emphatically...that she shouldn't ask about his work. As a dutiful Mazoku wife, she had no choice but to obey his decision.

But perhaps...

Just maybe..

"Hmmmmm," she thought to herself. "Maybe Iffy could tell me." She walked to the center of the room and took a deep breath. Reaching up with her hands, she pulled the sides of her eyelids so that they resembled Jinnar's more slanted shape. Taking another deep breath, she cried out in her best impression of Jinnar.

"IFFY! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!? CAN'T YOU TELL WHEN YOUR OWN MASTER NEEDS YOU!?"



"And so this was the first duel between Lord Xellos and the dragon Bazaard Ul Copt of the war," the professor was finishing. "They would fight again in three other separate engagements, none of which would result in a clear victor.."

Iffy yawned and removed her glasses, wiping them with her handkerchief before replacing them back on her head. Who knew getting a degree in her off duty time would be so boring? The other Mazoku in the classroom looked just as bored. It was a support group of sorts. They were all bored and they all fed off that boredom.

She crossed her legs and waited patiently for the teacher to finish.

That's when she heard it.

"IFFY! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!? CAN'T YOU TELL WHEN YOUR OWN MASTER NEEDS YOU!?"

She jumped bolt upright in her desk, knocking the chair back several feet and striking the Mazoku behind her with it.

"OH, CRIPES! LORD GOD GENERAL PRIEST JINNAR SIR NEEDS ME!" As the other students and the professor watched, stunned, Iffy grabbed her books and ran to the center of the classroom, turning to leave through one of the three doors surrounding the room. Flustered by the sudden summons, she realized she had forgotten which door was the exit.

"Miss Iffy!" the professor was demanding.

Iffy paid him no mind. "Excuse me, Mister Professor Sir?" she began politely. "Which door do I leave from?"

The professor gasped in barely contained outrage. "Miss Iffy!" he said again. "This is the University of Evil! And at the University of Evil, we simply... Do. Not. End. Our. Sentences. With. A. PREPOSITION!"

Iffy stared at him, contemplating this. She snapped her fingers and grinned. "Ah!" she announced, and cleared her throat. "Excuse me, Mister Professor Sir?" she tried again. "Which door do I leave from, asshole?"

Shaking in rage, the professor pointed at the door to Iffy's right. In a flash, the Mazoku girl was flying through it.



Filia stared in shocked grief as the waters flowing from the tunnel eased to a trickle and eventually stopped. The other dragons were piled on top of her, keeping her from rushing inside.

(Any second now,) she thought. (Any second now he'll reappear, smiling, and everything will be all right. Any second now...)

She waited.

And waited.

And waited.

The water soaked into the ground now, leaving only mud and puddles as a sign that anything had happened. Mira, who had a hold around Filia's left shoulder, saw that the dragon priestess was no longer struggling and eased up a little on her hold.

Any second now..

"Filia?" Mira asked quietly. She waved her hand in front of the blonde's face, but Filia's blue eyes didn't stir. They were fixed straight ahead on the cavern. The dragon soldier stood up slowly, and the other dragons, seeing this, stood up as well. Filia remained lying in the mud, staring at the cavern.

"Cepheid," Sethra whispered.

"What the hell happened?" Taloon asked. He had been near the front of the group, and had missed most of the last minutes of the fight.

"She's a Mazoku," Will said quietly.

"That's nonsense, Willzaren!" Sethra argued.

"You heard her!" Will snapped back. "That wasn't any 'purple dragon!' It was Xellos! XELLOS!"

"Shut up!" Mira snapped at them all. "We don't have time for this! This place could be crawling with monsters any second!" She turned pointed at Filia. "Taloon and Birdy, get her on her feet and tie her hands!"

Taloon and Birdy blinked in surprise. "Tie her up?" Birdy asked.

"That's hardly necessary, Mira," Sethra told her.

"The only think I know about what's going on is that I don't know what's going on!" Mira told them all. "And until I do, I'm not taking any chances. Taloon, Birdy, get on it!"

Sethra stepped between the oblivious Filia and the other dragons. "Now wait just one minute!" Sethra began wrathfully. "She's not a criminal! She's one of us!"

"We don't know that!" Will argued.

Taloon and Birdy looked back and forth between the two arguing parties, unsure of what to do.

"She lied to us, Miss Sethra," Mira told her calmly. "We don't know what else she may have lied about. Now get out of the way, we haven't much time. Taloon, Birdy..."

Sethra knelt down next to Filia and pulled her skirt up. With one quick movement, she pulled Mace chan from Filia's garter and rose again, pointing the weapon at Mira.

"Don't you DARE touch her," Sethra hissed.

Will's hand went to his short sword, but Mira did nothing more than step forward, her arms at her sides. She looked at Sethra and spoke quietly.

"Are you going to kill me with that, Miss Sethra?"

The dragon priestess swallowed as she took in her situation. She was a priestess of the Water Dragon King. She could no sooner strike down a living thing than take her own life. They were trapped on WolfPack Island, and by looking in the eyes of the other dragons, she could tell they were all looking to Mira to get them off it.

She slowly lowered the mace.

Taloon and Birdy stepped forward with a length of rope and knelt next to Filia, who was still staring at the cavern with wide eyes.

Any second now...



Iffy appeared in the center of the room and immediately began cringing. "I'M SORRY I'M LATE, MASTER! PLEASE DON'T SCOLD ME! I PROMISE I'LL BE ON TIME NE..." She opened an eye and found that Jinnar wasn't in the room, only Amara. "Oh," she finished and straightened up. "Evil Princess Amara, what's going on?"

Amara bowed low before her. "Please forgive me, Miss Iffy, but I needed to speak with you urgently, and could think of no other way to get you here."

Iffy smiled. "Aww shucks! That's no problem! What's wrong?"

Amara turned to the window of her tower and began. "My heart is deeply troubled, Miss Iffy. In the past few hours I've felt a great shadow eclipse my spirit and I've heard fell voices on the wind, a portent of severe misfortune. And although I realize WolfPack Island is probably full of such things, I cannot help but feel that something dreadful has happened. My duties as a proper Mazoku wife bar me from approaching my husband with such thoughts, but I had hoped that you might approach him on my behalf and inquire into the events surrounding these evil portents."

Iffy stared at her dumbly. ".....................'kay," she said. "So....basically you want me to get you the 411, right?"

Amara clasped her hands in front of her and smiled excitedly. "Yes, that's it exactly!"

Iffy shrugged. "Yeah, sure! No problem!"

"Thank you, Miss Iffy!"



Thunder roared above them as they marched, and red lightning jumped from cloud to cloud, illuminating the island for seconds at a time in a harsh red glow before submerging it in darkness again. The further into the island's interior they marched, the less light there was as black storm clouds gathered to block out all sign of the sun. Rotting husks of trees stood like the skeletons of dead sentinels, casting harsh shadows with every lightning strike.

It was the scariest place Mira could ever remember being. She marched at the head of the group with only a tiny lighting spell to guide her. They were trying to move along undetected, and so they marched in darkness. She heard something crunch beneath her foot and looked down, illuminating it with her spell.

The remains of a human skull stared accusingly back at her.

She took a deep breath and pressed forward. Behind her marched Birdy, Taloon and Sethra. Just behind them, Will was marching Filia ahead, her arms tied behind her back.

The Golden Dragon marched ahead, unaware of what was going on. She didn't care that her hands were tied. It didn't matter. Any second Xellos would appear and take her away from this place. All she had to do was wait.

Her foot struck a rock, and she fell forward. Without her hands to stop her fall, she landed on her face on the remains of a dead plant. She lay there uncaring.

"Get up," she heard Will order. She felt him kick her left side, and the air left her lungs, but she didn't move. "I said get up!"

As Will looked down at the priestess, he didn't see Mira come up to him and grab his arm, staring at him angrily. "Don't do that again," she hissed at him before pushing him away.

Sethra rushed back and pulled Filia to her feet. "I'll watch her," she said, glaring at Will.

Mira thought on this for a moment, then nodded her assent.

As this was going on, Birdy was staring ahead of them along their path. Red lightning illuminated the landscape before her. "Hey!" she cried back at them. "I think I see a cave or something up ahead! We can take shelter there!"

Mira walked back up front and looked out at where Birdy was pointing. They were coming up on a cliff face. Lightning crackled again, and threw shadows on a small cave at the base.

"Okay," Mira said. "Let's go."



Iffy found Jinnar dancing and halfway through a bottle of Mazoku blood wine. "I DID IT! I DID IT! XELLOS NO NAME IS NO MORE! BWAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! BWAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! HAHA!! HAHA!!! HAHA!!!"

Iffy blinked and smiled. "Really, Lord God General Priest Jinnar Sir?!" she asked. "That's wonderful!"

Jinnar took another swig of the wine and laughed again. "IT'S TRUE!" he cried. "MY EVIL PLAN WAS HIS DOWNFALL!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

"A truly great day for you, Master!" Iffy congratulated him.

Jinnar looked at her as if just noticing she was there. "Ah, Iffy! Excellent! There's something I need to talk to you about."

"Really?" Iffy asked, her purpose for coming suddenly forgotten.

"Yes," Jinnar told her, seating himself on his throne. "You see, Iffy, the times are changing. In the beginning, you were the ideal henchman because...well...you're a retard."

"Ah," Iffy said in mock understanding.

"But now things are different!" Jinnar announced. "Xellos is dead and my position as General-Priest is secure!" He growled a second later. "Now there are NEW threats. There are dragons on the island, and they must have killed some of our sentries, because there are Mazoku who aren't answering my summons."

"So...I'm gonna go blast 'em?" Iffy asked with a smile.

Jinnar smiled unctuously. "No, I don't think so."

Iffy blinked in confusion. "But....Isn't that my job?"

The General-Priest's smile expanded. "Actually, Iffy, I'm making a few personnel changes."

"Changes?"

"Yes. You see, I know longer need a retard. I need someone who can scheme. And that isn't you."

Iffy clutched her staff protectively. "But I can scheme!" she cried. "I can! I can scheme, Lord God General Priest Jinnar Sir! Honest I can!"

Jinnar took a comb out of his pocket and ran it through his oily hair. "I don't think so. Iffy, meet the young Mazoku I'm grooming to replace you." He pointed his comb at the window. "BEHOLD!"

Iffy looked at the window just as lightning cracked outside, illuminating the figure standing there. She was staring out the window, so Iffy couldn't see her face. She was short and looked no older than an eight year old human child. She had long blonde hair that ran down to her waist. A purple leather skirt and jack boots made her look older than she was trying to appear, and a long white feather curved from the left side of her head to the right. A colorful bird with a long tail squawked and landed on her left shoulder.

"Now then," Jinnar began in a statesmanly voice. "I order you to find these dragons and eliminate them."

The girl said nothing, but gave him a thumbs up before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Iffy only blinked.

"BWAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"



The cave sheltered them from the wind and lightning well enough, but still left the group feeling horribly exposed and uneasy. It seemed that everything on the island existed to give off a vibe of agitation and fright. As they huddled just inside the cave entrance, Taloon managed to build a small fire, and the others took the opportunity to eat some crumbs left over in their packs.

Sethra knelt next to Filia and produced a small, pink handkerchief. Wetting it with some water from her water bag, the Water Dragon priestess began to wipe the Fire Dragon priestess' face, removing the mud and grime that had caked onto her face and dried when she had fought to reenter the Trickster's Tunnel.

"My, my," Sethra joked uneasily. "You're a mess."

Filia said nothing.

"I'm sure Mira will change her mind," Sethra told her. "Just give it some time." She continued wiping the blonde's face. Filia's eyes were haunted, staring dead ahead but not focused on any one thing. It was if she were looking elsewhere in the universe. "In the meantime, you're a fright," Sethra told her, wiping away some mud from near Filia's eyes. "Your hair's a mess, and I'm afraid I don't know what happened to your hat."

Filia remained silent.

Sethra lowered the handkerchief, now brown and dirty, and looked at Filia sadly. "Miss Filia, you have to snap out of it," she urged. "Please?"

Nothing.

Sethra sighed. "At least eat something, okay?" She reached into her pack and found a package of travel bread. She broke off a piece and held it to Filia's mouth. "Go on. Take a bite."

"We.."

Sethra blinked and smiled. "Yes?!" she asked Filia excited. "We should what?! Go on, Filia!"

Filia continued staring straight ahead as she spoke, whispered quietly.

"We should wait for Xellos to return before we eat," she said monotone "It's polite."

Sethra sighed.



Birdy pointed her lighting spell down the cave and turned to the others. "Hey! There's a passageway down here!"

Mira joined her a second later, adding her own light to Birdy's.

"What do you think, Miss Mira?" Birdy asked.

Mira thought it over for a few moments before nodding. "Let's check it out."

The dragons gathered their things, and Sethra pulled Filia to her feet. A minute later they were moving down the cave, Mira leading the way.

The cave widened suddenly, revealing a large, smooth-walled cavern the size of a coliseum. The dragons were halfway across it when Mira stopped suddenly.

Birdy, following just behind, walked into her. "What is it?"

Mira pointed her lighting spell around them and at a large rock off to the side. Getting a better look at it, she found it wasn't a rock at all, but an inverted tub or stand with a blue star painted on it. Looking to the other side, the left, Mira saw another tub, with a red star, sitting there.

"I got a bad feeling all of a sudden," Will said.

Mira pointed the light upward and saw two trapezes swinging lazily from the ceiling.

She looked down again in puzzled horror. "We're in a circus tent," she concluded.

"EX-ACTLY!"

It was if someone had thrown a light switch. Suddenly, the cavern was flooded with light, illuminating trapezes, stands, three circles in the floor and colorful circus walls. Ahead of them was a pile of multi-colored boxes arranged in a pyramid. The box atop this pyramid exploded open, and someone rose silently from within. The dragons looked on, too shocked to move, as a blond girl in purple leather emerged.

Filia didn't react at all.

"RUN!" Mira shouted at them. The dragons turned to run out the way they had come, but suddenly, the wall above the cave entrance exploded, bringing twenty tonnes of rock down onto the entrance, completely blocking it!

The girl hid a large detonator box behind her legs and pushed it out of view with her foot. "Oh my!" she cried. "Looks like you're all trapped here! So terribly sorry!" The blue-green bird on her shoulder squawked its approval.

Taloon turned back to her. "Who are you?!" he demanded.

The girl fanned herself with a scepter of some kind. Metallic and shaped like a fan, it looked both wicked and delicate at the same time. "Me?!" she asked coquettishly. "Why, I'm the Mazoku Girl Pixxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxy MISA!!!!" She finished her intro with a spin and two fingers held out in a "V."

"Pixy...Misa?" Birdy asked with a blink.

Misa nodded sagely and pointed her fan scepter at them. "Lord Jinnar told me to get rid of you, and rid of is where you'll get!"

Mira stepped forward and raised her arms. "DEIMOS ARROW!" A bolt of light flew out and bounced harmlessly off a force field Misa had erected.

"No, no, NO!" Misa chastised, waving her fan. "Bad dragon girl! Bad!" With a flick of her wrist, Misa's fan flew across the cavern and whapped Mira in the nose like a rolled up newspaper striking an errant puppy, only newspaper didn't break the puppy's nose and throw her across the room like Misa's fan did. Mira struck the wall and slid to the ground unconscious.

"MISS MIRA!" Will cried.

The fan returned obediently to Misa's hand, and the Mazoku Girl wiped a tear away. "And here I was, only wanting to entertain you." She fake sniffled. "Don't nasty little dragons LIKE the circus!?"

"You filth!" Sethra shouted at her. "Let us go!"

Misa grinned evilly. "So, another naughty little dragon wants to give me orders? And here in my own little circus too!" The fan began to glow. "I guess you'll all have to be taught manners!" She waved the fan around in several circles. "CALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLING MYSTICS!!!"

A beam of light struck the box next to her. Spotlights came on from somewhere in the ceiling, and music began to play. The box opened, and a spotlight shown on it.

"BITCHES AND GENTLEMEN!" a voice announced. "IT'S SHOWTIME! HURRY! HURRY! STEP RIGHT UP! YOU WOULDN'T WANNA BE ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW!"

From inside the box, a clown emerged. It's painted-on smile was dark and sinister, and it's eyes were blood red. It's fingers extended two feet and ended in sharp claws, painted red. Its hair was short and blond. It smiled behind its make up.

Pixy Misa laughed.



*CRACK!*

Amara looked down at her plate and blinked at the broken fork in her hand.

"Oh my!" she gasped. "Another evil portent!" She looked out the window. "I hope it's just some horrible coincidence..."



Birdy jumped, startled, as suddenly the Mazoku clown was right in front of her.

"You're 'bout to witness evil in its more purest, most rawest, form flow the most flawless!" the clown sang.

"WAWAWAWAWA!" Misa laughed.

Taloon swung his broadsword at the clown, only to have it caught in the Mazoku's extra long digits. He ripped it from the dragon's hand and swung it by the blade, striking the Red Dragon with the pommel and knocking him back.

As the others prepared a counterattack, the clown noticed Filia and looked at her quizzically as she stared off into space. "Let's get down to business! I don't got no time to play around, what is this?!" He fingered Filia's purple lock of hair. "Must be a circus in town, we'll shut this shit down from these clowns! Can I get a witness!?"

Misa raised her scepter. "Hell, yeah!"

The clown's fingertips glowed and dripped blood as it moved down toward Filia's throat.

Sethra gasped and rushed forward. "NO!" The clown, caught off guard, grunted as the dragon priestess' weight slammed into him at full force, knocking him to the ground.

The clown recovered quickly, and Sethra suddenly found herself lying below him, his left hand wrapped around her throat, and the right poised over her face, his claws bare centimeters from her eyes.

He smiled evilly. "Can I get a witness?" he hissed.

Sethra screamed shrilly as the clown raised his hand to strike.

That's when the cave wall exploded.

Rock, debris and dust rained down on Dragon and Mazoku alike. Pixy Misa blinked and looked to the disturbance in surprise.

"Wha..?! WHAT IS THIS?!"

From the new hole in the wall, shadows leapt. There was a flash of dark light from one of them that struck the clown in the back of the head.

Sethra screamed again as the clown's face exploded outward, covering her in black blood and gore. The clown's body collapsed on her own as she continued shrieking.

The shadows turned toward Misa now and fired. The Mazoku Girl blocked two blasts and raised her scepter to strike back. Another shot, from a smaller shadow knocked her down. She rose quickly and evaluated her odds.

More flashes of light struck the wall near Misa, who hmmph'd in defiance. "Time to strike the tent!" she announced. With a wave of her scepter, she and her bird sidekick disappeared in a cloud of white smoke.

The Dragons just looked on in shock.

Mira began to come around.

Sethra continued to scream.

Filia stared straight ahead as if nothing had happened.

In the darkness, the shadows began to take on more humanoid shape. There were four of them now. One appeared to be no more than a pair of red eyes behind a cloak of black smoke that towered over them. Another was mammoth and looked like it had taken the shape of a large, green troll. A third wore a black helm and armor that bristled with flame. The sword it held was made of white-hot plasma. The fourth, smaller shape, stayed in the shadows.

The troll marched up to them and growled as the other two surrounded them. It looked down at Filia and muttered a question to the others in its own harsh language. "Grish anchak Mazoku?"

They listened over Sethra's screaming as the armored Mazoku hissed in response. "Gesta? Achtwa donchi?"

The troll leaned down and sniffed at Filia, then reached up to finger the purple lock of hair on her head. Filia didn't react at all. Then, the troll looked further down and saw Filia's hands tied behind her and the bedraggled state of her clothes. His head snapped up at the other dragons, and his eyes flashed red.

"RYUUZOKU DANA TWACHADA!"

A second later, the dragons were being knocked to the ground and held there, weapons drawn on them. Birdy gagged as the smoke creature's skeletal hand pinned her to the floor by the throat. She looked up and saw that his other hand had drawn a glowing purple dagger that was now coming down at her.

"Ata," a calm voice called from the shadows. The smoke creature stopped, his dagger an inch from Birdy's throat. The other monsters paused in their murder as well, their dragon captives still held fast.

Birdy watched as the fourth shape walked from the shadows as if it had all the time in the world at its disposal. Her eyes blinked to assure herself that what she was looking at was real and not some kind of illusion.

The fourth shape was a black and white housecat.

The dragons listened again as the troll bowed to the cat. "Callisto Daka, dora dato ach'shdad."

Callisto looked at Filia, then hopped up into the troll's hands to get a better look. The troll held him barely an inch from Filia's nose. The dragon girl made no move at all as Callisto examined her. He sniffed her for a moment, then looked into her eyes. Finally, he nodded to himself, satisfied.

He bowed once to Filia and greeted her in the dragons' language.

"Greetings," he said. "Lady Metallium."



Sethra huffed as she marched in the darkness. She knew if she tripped, she'd be struck again or worse. Her hands were chained behind her back, and the metal collar around her neck was connected to the collars around her companions, connecting them in a single long chain. The Mazoku had marched them for three hours now without a rest, and the other dragons were feeling it. Especially Will. When the Mazoku realized that he didn't have a second hand to chain to secure him, they had improvised in the Mazoku way.

They had broken his arm.

All the dragons shared this treatment except for Filia, who marched in front, the troll and Callisto on one side of her and the knight Mazoku on the other.

Her contemplation of this must have caused her to slow down, because a second later, she felt the smoke Mazoku's whip on her back. She screamed in pain and marched a little faster. They were in real trouble, and she knew it. Mazoku didn't take prisoners they didn't intend to torture.

Red lightning lit up the sky, illuminating a hole in the side of a large hill nearby. The Mazoku seemed to be marching them toward it. Sethra swallowed back tears. If she thought the trip here was harsh, she knew there'd be no rest at their destination.

Once inside, the Mazoku led them deeper and deeper into the hill through narrow tunnels, finally coming to a room at least a hundred feet down. The monsters secured their collars to bolts in the wall, just high enough so that the dragons had to stand on their toes or risk hanging themselves.

All except for Filia, who stood impassively in the center of the room.

Once the guards were done securing their prisoners, the Mazoku stepped back and left the room. The cat stayed and walked around until he was facing Filia's feet, looking up at her.

"Lady Metallium?" he asked. Filia didn't reply. "Lady Metallium, do you understand me?"

"Leave her alone," Birdy coughed out. "Filia's not home right now. Can't you tell?"

Callisto didn't bother to look at her. "I suggest you don't speak again until it is time to beg for your death, Dragon," he said offhand. He returned to speaking to Filia. "Lady Metallium?" He sighed. "Lady Metallium, I am Callisto, Her Majesty's aide and political advisor. Do you know where you are?"

Filia said nothing.

"What do you want with us?!" Birdy spat at him.

Callisto looked over at her. "Gashta," he called. The door opened, and the troll entered. Callisto nodded his head in Birdy's direction. "Afta yacktavosh ishta."

The troll walked over to Birdy and pulled a slender dagger. Grabbing her chin in one hand, he forced the dragon's mouth open and brought the dagger up. Birdy began to squeal.

"Stop it, please!" Sethra cried. "Whatever it is you want, Filia can't help you! She's been like that since Xellos was killed!"

"ATA!" Callisto cried. The troll suddenly stopped. Callisto rushed up to Sethra and hopped up onto her, climbing up her body like a tree. Sethra whimpered as his claws dug into her in his ascent. Finally, the cat was standing on her shoulder. "Speak," he ordered. "What happened to Xellos?"

Sethra swallowed. "He...He fell..In the Trickster's Tunnel."

Callisto stared at her. "I see," he said softly. "You're certain of this?"

Sethra nodded in Filia's direction as proof.

The cat Mazoku sighed. "Yes, of course." He hopped down and approached Filia again. "Lady Metallium," he began again. "You ARE the mate of Xellos Metallium, are you not?"

At the sound of his name, Filia smiled. "Do you know Xellos?" she asked quietly. "He had to leave for a bit, but I'm certain he'll be along shortly."

"I did indeed," Callisto whispered. He turned to the troll and spoke again in the Mazoku language. "Take Lady Metallium to quarters more befitting her rank, and treat her with full diplomatic courtesy," he ordered. "See to it that she's fed and cleaned up."

The troll shrugged his shoulders and replied tentatively. "Lord Callisto, if it is your will, then we will, of course, comply, but....I have never been near a Dragon close up before. Do I treat her as I would a Mazoku female or.."

Callisto sighed. "Yes, of course," he muttered to himself. He, himself, had never spent time with a Dragon either. What did they eat? Also, in her condition, would she accept a Mazoku attendant?

He turned back to Filia again. "Lady Metallium, which of these Dragons is your attendant?" Filia didn't reply. "Which would you prefer remain with you?"

Filia looked down at him as if looking across a dreamscape. "Miss Sethra is very kind to me," she replied at last.

Callisto turned to the other dragons. "Which of you lizards is Sethra?"

"Me," Sethra coughed out.

He climbed up her again, and again Sethra felt the pain of his claws digging into her until he was sitting on her shoulder. "Congratulations," he told her. "You've just been appointed Lady Metallium's lady-in-waiting. You will keep her happy and comfortable. Otherwise, I'll simply have to have you skinned. Do you understand me?"

Sethra whimpered and nodded.

"Good." He nodded to the troll, who walked over and unlocked her collar. Sethra fell to the floor, coughing uncontrollably. Callisto hopped off her and strolled toward the door. "Show the Lady Metallium and her attendant to their quarters," he ordered. "Don't touch the others for now. I haven't decided how to kill them yet."

Author's Notes:

Don't hit me.

Pixy Misa is, of course, another cameo from AIC. For those who didn't recognize the Eminem clown, that's him and the song (which I probably butchered) is "Business." Don't hit me. There was just something wickedly appealing about Pixy Misa summoning Eminem.