Disclaimer: I don't own Slayers. Slayers is the property of Kadokawa Shoten and Software Sculptors.

Faces: Finale!

Chapter 13

Wars and Outcasts

Sethra Ul Lavode heard the bolt in the door lock behind her and nearly cried. Just to the right of her, Filia stood still, staring off into space rather than the dark, dank creepy room the Mazoku had deposited them in. The chamber was small, barely large enough for a bed of old hay and a small circular table with two wooden chairs. A dirty yellow light came from two grease candles burning dirtily from small shelves in the stone wall.

The dragon priestess whimpered. It was better than the last dungeon, but still much worse than where she'd like to be; back in her temple teaching young dragons the glory of the great Water Dragon King.

She nearly jumped when the door behind them shook with two booming knocks. The golden dragon turned to it, her hand on over her heart. Filia hadn't moved an inch.

The door knocked again.

"Um..Yes?" she called.

From the other side of the door, a deep, ugly voice called back. "What you want?"

"Want?" Sethra asked.

"Yes! Want? Things Her Ladyship needs. Things. Want. Tell."

Sethra gathered all the courage and poise to herself that she could. If she was going to be Filia's lady in waiting, she had might as well play the part. Standing a little taller, she called out. "Her Ladyship needs food." Stomach turning at the possibilities, she amended that. "Vegetables, recently prepared."

"And then?"

Sethra thought for a moment. They were both still in their priestly robes, which were covered with mud, blood and filth. "Clothes!" she replied. "The.uh..Lady Filia will require something clean to wear and for her lady in waiting as well."

"And then?"

She bit her lip. "Blankets. And better candles."

"And then?"

Out of ideas for the moment, Sethra shook her head. "No 'and then.'"

"And then?"

"No 'and then,'" she repeated a little louder.

"And then?"

"NO 'AND THEN!'" she screamed.

Whatever it was behind the door paused for a moment. Heavy foot falls told the priestess that whatever it was was stalking away. She took a deep breath and sighed. The tears were beginning to return as her courage bled away.

Filia continued to stare at nothing.

Sethra sniffled.

"Has anyone in the entire history of the world ever been in a WORSE situation?!" she cried at the sky.

***

Zelgadis hit the ground hard, the sorcerous daggers racking his body with pain at the impact. Somehow, through the pain, he managed to keep a hold of the key in his palm. Rough hands grabbed him and pulled him upright. A troll on either side kept his arms, chained as they were, pinned down. Another behind him kept a chain wrapped around his neck and used it to march him whereever they wanted him to go.

He gagged as they pushed him forward again. It had been like this since his convoy of wretchedness had arrived at the black tower deep in the Iron Mountains. Step by step up the massive staircases of the tower, every so often falling hard on the black marble. Then it was up again and up more stairs.

It seemed, however, that his journey was finally at an end. The trolls shoved him into a simple wooden chair and stood back. Zelgadis found himself looking across a black marble desk at Scarrin himself.

The feline chimera was studying a small piece of orihalcon ore, examining it in the dim light provided by the window that overlooked the Iron Mountains behind him.

"Magnificent, isn't it?" Scarrin asked. "It's just like any other 'precious' metal. You can work it, melt it, flatten it, draw it into wire. And yet it has the power to undo even the most powerful of gods or demons."

Zelgadis said nothing.

"And believe it or not," Scarrin added quickly. "It has very little to do with what I need YOU for." He smiled.

The chimera stared hatefully back at him.

"I bet you'd like an explanation," Scarrin said.

Nothing.

Scarrin stood up and began tossing the orihalcon stone up and down in the air. "Some of it I'm sure you can or have figured out."

Nothing.

"We're both children of the same father, Zelgadis," Scarrin continued. "You know, of course, that Lord Rezo turned you into a chimera. What you don't know is that you are only one of nine that he made." He waited for a reply from Zelgadis, but when he didn't get one, continued on. "After exploring white magic to its fullest and finding no way to cure his blindness, Lord Rezo came up with another idea. He hypothesized that, using recent advances in chimera research, he could GROW new eyes." He turned to the window and looked out. "He needed help, of course, and who better to help than the Mazoku?"

Nothing.

"So Lord Rezo summoned a few of us. Tiiba, I understand you met already."

Zelgadis said nothing, but silently acknowledged the point. They had encountered the bird demon in Rezo's lab while looking for a way to fight Copii Rezo.

"He had another use for me," Scarrin told him quietly. "He found that by using some of the astral essence of a Mazoku, a chimera can hold its shape over incredibly long periods. You see, normally, a chimera's cells begin to break down after a year or two as the individual parts begin to succeed in rejecting one another. Our essence negates that."

Zelgadis stared at him.

"So he experimented. The first chimera occupied this body." He gestured at himself. "But Lord Rezo used almost half of my astral essence as the glue. After a few years, I was able to..resurface." He turned to Zelgadis and smiled. "So I began to look for my fellow chimeras. You see, I cannot return to what I once was until I have found all the pieces of myself. Over the years, I managed to hunt down and capture seven of our siblings. You are the last." He gestured to the chimera and smiled. "Congratulations."

Zelgadis stared at him for several seconds, then, in a deadpan voice said, "I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention."

Scarrin's smile turned harsh. He nodded to one of the ogres standing behind Zelgadis and watched in satisfaction as it slammed its spear shaft against the back of the chimera's head.

Zelgadis growled in pain, but wouldn't cry out. "So what do you plan on doing?" he hissed between clenched teeth. "You're not just trying to get back home, not with this berserker army you're building!"

Scarrin leaned forward on the desk and smiled again. "Very astute, Zelgadis," he said quietly. "You're right. I'm not going home to reclaim my place as a middle-management Mazoku. I'm going home to conquer it."

A plump man with wide eyes and frizzled gray hair appeared from the shadows. Silently, he made his way to Zelgadis, a pair of pliers in his hand.

"Don't mind, Professor Diol," Scarrin said. "He asked for a sample of your hair. As his other products turned out so well, I couldn't refuse him."

Diol found a piece of Zelgadis' hair and clipped off an inch of one strand. "There we go!" Diol rasped. "Yes, this will be a lot of fun."

Zelgadis looked up at Scarrin and evaluated his plan with a "Che!"

The Mazoku-chimera arched an eyebrow.

"Your plan might honestly have had a chance of working if you hadn't done one thing," Zelgadis said. "And that was involving Lina Inverse in it. Do you honestly think she's going to sit on her rump and wait for something to happen? Or do you honestly think she's not observant enough to know what's going on?" He looked Scarrin in the eye. "I've seen Lina stand up to better Mazoku than you, Scarrin, overcome greater odds, and accomplish better miracles. She'll hunt you down. Find you. And kill you. As a matter of fact," he smiled ruefully. "It wouldn't surprise me if she were already in the building."

Scarrin's smile became an amused grin. "Once again, very well thought out, Zelgadis. Coincidentally, you're absolutely right."

The door opened and a red-clad berserker entered the room with a sack over his shoulder. On Scarrin's command the monster up-ended the sack, and a squealing red head fell out, striking the marble floor with a grunt.

Zelgadis leaned forward and banged his head against the desk. "Why do I bother?" he whispered to himself.

Shadow Lina looked up and found herself surrounded by scary people. She pulled her knees to her chest and looked at them nervously.

"Well, well, WELL!" Diol began with a wide grin, his hands behind his back. "I've waited for this day for a LONG time, Lina Inverse!" Shadow Lina's teeth began to clack together in her skull. "Yes, you will pay for crossing the great Diol!" He leaned forward. "I'm going to..." He stopped and blinked, staring at the girl.

Shadow Lina continued to quiver.

"Wait a second," Diol said quietly. "You're not Lina Inverse!"

"What are you talking about?" Scarrin demanded. "I've seen the girl myself. That's her!"

"It's not!" Diol declared. "Watch!" He turned quickly back to the girl and raised his hands in the air. "BOO!"

Shadow Lina screamed and covered her eyes with one arm while swiping blindly with the other.

Scarrin and Zelgadis just stared. "Okay, that's not her," Scarrin admitted. "So who the hell is she?! One of your damn copiis?"

"Hardly," Diol snorted. "This certainly isn't MY work."

Zelgadis chuckled quietly in amusement. "Maybe you just have her demoralized," he suggested.

Scarrin growled. "Take them to the dungeon until I'm ready," he told the ogres. He gave Zelgadis one last smile. "And when I am ready, I'm going to rip your very soul out of your body and take my part of it."

***

Sethra answered the door and found two female-looking Mazoku on the other side. Female-looking because despite their slender forms and long hair, it was impossible to know for sure if they truly were Mazoku women. One had maroon skin and deep red, slanted eyes that ran up and down rather than left to right. Her long, blue hair shared a shade of color with the claws on the end of her fingers. The other was reptilian green with spots on her skin. Her hair swayed back and forth seemingly of its own volition, a hypothesis confirmed a moment later when one of the thick strands hissed and snapped at the dragon maiden. Both Mazoku carried boxes in their hands.

"Um...Yes?" Sethra asked nervously.

They answered by pushing their way inside. Filia was standing near the table, oblivious.

"Can I help you?" Sethra asked them.

"Bash'natara," the red-skinned demon told her in a deep voice. Sethra blinked and turned to the other one.

"Seamstresses," the reptilian one translated.

"Oh!" the dragon replied with a clap. "Good! As you can see, our traveling clothes were..EEP!!" She finished her statement when one of the snakes on the reptilian Mazoku's hair hissed and wrapped around her throat. "Wha...What are you doing?" she stammered, afraid had somehow provoked the demon into killing her.

The snake withdrew a moment later and formed a circle in front of the demon's eye, between the two women. The Mazoku nodded and began looking through the box. "Size seven," she hissed.

Sethra blinked and grit her teeth in anger. "I HAVE BEEN A SIZE SIX ALL MY LIFE!!" She squeaked and jumped back as the snake thing that had measured her neck snapped at her. "Well..I have been eating a lot lately.." she conceded.

The other demon had been measuring Filia's neck, bust and waist. Sethra reached into the box they had brought, and her eyes lit up as she pulled a white-gold fabric from inside. It was a delicate and ornate material that felt only a little like silk, and yet very familiar at the same time.

"What is this?" she asked. "I've never felt fabric quite like it."

"Ryu'danka," the red Mazoku replied.

"'Ryu'danka?'" Sethra repeated. She turned to the other Mazoku. "Does that mean 'silk' in your language?"

The reptilian looked up at her. "'Ryu:' 'Dragon,'" she replied. "'Danka:' 'hair.'"

Sethra's blood ran cold as she looked down at the fabric again. She fought down nausea as she realized she HAD felt fabric like this before..every morning when she brushed her hair.

She dropped it back into the box and retreated into a far corner to let the monsters work.

***

Filia didn't notice the Mazoku fitting her for a new dress, or the shade of green Sethra was turning. She didn't notice much of anything.

She was inside.

Inside of what, she wasn't quite sure. It LOOKED like the crystal cave in Anschad Allium where she and Xellos had last made love, yet the part of her mind that still clung to reality, small as that was, acknowledged that it couldn't be.

Yet it was here she waited among the spires of white, mirror crystal for Xellos to return to her. She knew they both knew this place and how to find it. If he could find her anywhere, it was here.

She was staring at the tunnel entrance, waiting, eyes fixed on that one spot, searching for a shred of purple from his hair or a hint of shadowy darkness that signified the robes he wore.

Waiting.

It was taking forever. Filia didn't like that. She wanted her mate to be there NOW. Yet she knew he was very busy. Secret business had taken him away. That was it. He was off on some errand he couldn't tell her about. He'd be back soon. He had to be.

Waiting.

Here in this citadel of crystal thoughts, she was safe. She would be safe until he came back. Here they could be alone together, forever and a day.

She was all alone.

Yet..

It saw her, watched her from behind one of the crystal shards. Its blue astral body was hard pressed to understand everything it was seeing, and yet there was a deep-rooted instinctive recognition.

It slithered from behind the crystal. Filia never turned to face it, oblivious to everything but the door.

Had the dragon turned, she might have seen it; a pale blue fog that created flashes of energy as it moved, like a miniature thundercloud caught in a warm breeze. It floated slowly up to her.

Filia still didn't move, didn't acknowledge it. Its presence changed the temperature around her, making it warmer in the cave, but she didn't feel it.

It was right behind her now, staring at her as she stared at the door.

It flashed at her, thinking that perhaps changing its environment, she would notice it.

Filia didn't move.

It flashed again, brighter this time.

Nothing.

Frustration took the form of a low rumble of thunder. It waved tendrils of its cloudy form in the air as it flashed.

Nothing.

It thundered again and looked down. Filia's tail was lying limply on the cold floor, swishing lazily back and forth.

The cloud reached down and brought the tail up, examining it. Finally, two parts of the cloud parted, one up, one down. Spires of itself jutted from each half. It moved forward until the tail was between the two parts, and then...

*CRUNCH!*

"AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!" Filia screamed.

She turned and fell backward at the same time. "ITAI! ITAI! ITAI!!!" she cried, fanning her bitten tail.

The cloud floated lazily in front her. Jarred from her vigil, Filia looked up at it fearfully. "Who are you?!" she asked.

"Who are you?" Filia's voice asked in return from within the cloud.

The dragon stared up at it, uncomprehending. "My name is Filia," she said warily.

"My name is Filia," the cloud repeated.

"No, no," Filia said, waving her hands in front of her.

"No, no," the cloud repeated, waving two wispy strands of itself in front of Filia.

Filia pointed at herself. "Filia." She pointed at her vaporous companion.

The cloud said nothing.

"Do you have a name?" she asked.

"Name?" the cloud inquired.

"Yes," the dragon said, slowly rising to her feet. "My name is Filia. I am Filia. Who are you?"

"No name," the cloud told her.

Filia bit her lip. "Okay...WHAT are you, then?"

"'What?'"

"Yes."

"No name," the cloud told her.

"I..I know," Filia told it. "I mean..." She pointed at herself again. "I am Filia. That's my name. But I am a Golden Dragon. That's what I AM."

The cloud thought on this.

"I want to be a Golden Dragon too," it suddenly declared, and to Filia's surprise, the mist turned in on itself and compressed, reshaping itself into a roughly humanoid shape with a tail protruding from her back.

Filia blinked in wonder as she stared at the cloud-dragon. Only the shape was the same, though. She could still see blue vapor swirling through the cloud woman's form and little lightning flashes from inside her.

"Oh boy," Filia remarked. "Let's try something simpler. Are you a girl or a boy?"

"Difference?"

Filia reddened a bit. "Um..Quite a few actually.."

"Which are you?" the cloud asked.

"Well, I'm a girl."

The cloud dragon thought on this. Suddenly, its form began to shift again, her chest protruding outward more and hair as long as Filia's own reached down her back. "I want to be a girl too!" she announced.

"Oh my."

***

Shackled, the two were marched downstairs again, past the bottom floor and below ground. Counting steps as he went, Zelgadis soon realized the tower was actually deeper than it was high. The deeper they went, the more it stank. Screams echoed up the stairs, and soon the last bit of sunlight that managed to creep down through the stairwell was dimming a farewell to them, replaced with an ugly yellow light emanating from torches.

Shadow Lina trembled and latched onto Zelgadis' back, crying into his cape. Zelgadis sighed and let her piggy-back on him.

They finally reached the last stair, which opened up into a high-ceilinged cave. The ogres marched them forward, Shadow Lina's face still buried in the chimera's cloak, but Zelgadis was looking around with keen eyes. One side of the wall held glass tubes three meters high and two meters wide. He had seen them before, of course.

Chimera vats.

"So this is how you're creating your berserkers," he said.

"Very good, Mr. Zelgadis," Diol's voice replied from behind them. The old man appeared and gestured to the machinery along the wall. "Quite brilliant, don't you think?"

"Feh."

"Oh, come on, Mr. Zelgadis," Diol pleaded with a grin. "Even you must admit that crossing berserkers with the blood of Zarak Elves is quite original."

"How?" Zelgadis asked. "The Elves found a way to do the same thing just by changing their diet. For you it takes chimera vats. And you can only keep creating them as long as you have fresh captives." Diol's smile turned into a dark storm cloud of a frown. "You just copied them in a messy, inefficient way." Zelgadis emphasized each word, letting the truth hurt.

Diol smiled again. "You'll know firsthand when your time comes," he said with near glee. "We'll use the same technology." He pointed at a vat. "First, we lock you in one of those," he whispered. "Then we fill it with astral-rich solution that will draw out the Mazoku part of you. As it leaves, the rest of you will melt away like an ice-cream cone in the summer sun. Until you're nothing but a puddle of stone and fleshy goo."

"And I'm supposed to believe that a two-bit hack like yourself came up with this?" Zelgadis asked with a scornful smile. "If you ask me, I think you just found a copy of 'Amelia Bedelia Makes a Chimera,' struggled through the big words, and built an overgrown aquarium."

Diol sputtered in rage. "I should lock you in one of those vats right now and reduce you to blue gobbledeegook!"

"So why don't you?" Zelgadis smiled. "Scarrin's been after me for months. Now he has me. What are you waiting for?"

The scientist's smile returned. "Can't you guess?" When the chimera didn't answer, he went on. "We need you alive. After all, you catch bigger fish with live bait."

Zelgadis lunged at the man, but the ogres held him back. Diol laughed and waved them away. The chimera watched him walk away hatefully.

"What do you think he meant?" Shadow Lina, still latched to his back, whispered into his ear.

Zelgadis answered back in a low whisper. "He's waiting for Lina and the others to come rescue me." He snorted. "He's in for a long wait."

***

Filia smiled as her misty friend grew a little taller. "That's perfect! Right there!" The mist compressed again and changed color, mimicking Filia's creamy skin. The mist, no, the WOMAN before her was slightly taller than Filia, but not so tall as to seem a beanpole.

The mist, with Filia's help, was adjusting its appearance bit by bit. Originally, it had wanted to copy Filia's form, but the dragon had managed to convince it that it would be better to look more original. It looked at her now, partly flesh, partly astral mist. Its eyes sparkled with blue lightning. That gave Filia her next target.

"Now, where I come from, glowing eyes bring nothing but trouble," she noted. "What's your favorite color?"

"I like your eyes," the mist replied.

Filia thought on it, but shook her head. "I don't think blue would work for you. Lots of people have blue eyes. You can pick any color you want! Pick something exotic!"

"But I like your eyes," the mist complained.

The dragon relented. "Well, if that's what you WANT."

The mist's eyes reshaped, forming irises and pupils. The irises were blue alright, but still held that misty, storm cloud quality. Despite what Filia said earlier, she thought it looked good on her.

"Now what about hair?"

The mist blinked her new eyes. "Blue isn't good?"

Filia stepped forward with a smile. "No. Blue draws attention." She reached out to touch the mist woman's hair, and was surprised when it turned colors at the contact. She swallowed down a lump in her throat as the blue fog of hair turned into a mane of familiar purple.

The mist woman looked at it and smiled. "I like it! Can I have it this color?!"

Filia bit her lip and swallowed back tears. "S..Sure."

"Are you sick?" the mist asked.

"N.No," Filia replied. She turned back to the cave entrance. "I'm just waiting for someone."

"Who?"

"My mate," she declared in a voice that was daring the mist to make an issue out of it.

"Mate? What's a mate?"

"A mate is..." Filia broke off. She found herself trying to find a way to explain it as she would to a child. "A mate is someone who you love and loves you."

"What's love?"

"Love is when you care for someone so deeply," she whispered, "That you can't bear to be without them."

The mist seemed to digest this. "You cannot bear to be without your mate?"

"No," Filia sobbed out, still staring at the entrance.

"Then...why is your mate not here?"

"He's on an errand!" Filia snapped at her. She went back to staring at the door.

Any second now...Any second..

The mist couldn't understand why her new friend was so emotional about this. "What's an errand?" she asked innocently.

Filia felt tears run down her cheeks. "An errand is..." She stopped in mid-sentence, but didn't turn. She could feel the mist woman's eyes looking at her with all the innocence in the world. "An errand is..."

Short! An errand is short! Her mind screamed at her.

"An errand is..." She sobbed and turned to the mist, her heart unwilling to accept the lie anymore. "An errand is...when someone leaves....and they don't come back!"

With that, the dam broke, and the dragon fell to her knees, her chest heaving with sobs and tears running down her face.

"Oh," the mist woman said simply.

Filia's sobs were more like low howls of pain now, her face buried in her hands. "I...I wanted to say so much! I wanted to do so much! I ...I.."

The mist woman knelt in front of her. "If you're in pain because your mate is gone, why don't you go to him?" she asked.

Filia's hands clenched into fists as she gave the idea honest thought. Why DIDN'T she follow Xellos? Death had to be better than this..

"I could go to him," she whispered. "I could go to him, to the other side."

The mist woman looked at her ignorantly.

"Then we could be together!" Filia cried. "We could all be together! The three of.." She stopped in mid-sentence, her hand going to her stomach. "Three of us," she whispered.

It hit her.

Xellos hadn't saved just her in Anschad Allium. He had saved their child too. Filia had no illusions about ending her own life. But it wasn't just her life.

"My children," she wept, her eyes closing painfully. "My babies. My little Val! And my little girl! How could I think of doing something like that!?"

Through the pain and agony, she realized what she had said.

"My little girl."

She looked up at the mist woman, who was still looking at her uncomprehendingly.

"Xerra," she whispered to the mist woman. "Your name is 'Xerra.'"

Xerra smiled. "Now I have a name too!"

Filia smiled through her tears. "Yes, baby. Now you have a name too."

***

Zelgadis heard the door of his cell clang shut and sighed. Turning to his left, he could see Shadow Lina through the bars in the cell next to him. She was sitting on her knees, hugging herself in fright. The chimera gave his cell a long, hard look, taking in his surroundings like a caged rat.

Rusty iron bars enclosed him on three sides while a stone wall made up the fourth side directly across from the door to his cell. A wooden bench sat along the wall along with a simple metal bucket in one corner.

Things didn't look good.

Opening his hand, he took the key he had managed to keep hidden all this time and unlocked his chains. Tossing them to one side, he put his hands on his hips in frustration. The cell was so old and dilapidated, that if it weren't for the daggers in his stone flesh sapping his strength, he could escape easily.

Growling, he turned toward the redhead in the next cell. "So what's your story?" he asked gruffly.

Shadow Lina looked up in mild fear, then looked back down at the floor. "Nuth'n," she muttered.

"Che," Zelgadis replied. "They thought you were the real Lina Inverse," he noted. "You're not her, and you're not a copii...not mean or destructive enough..so what are you?"

She looked up at him. "Do you think they'll let us go?" she asked meekly.

"No," he told her simply.

Shadow Lina blinked back a tear.

Zelgadis went to the cell door and tested it. It didn't budge. "So?" he asked. "What are you?"

"I'm a shadow, okay?!" Shadow Lina cried back with a short sob. "Why do people keep asking me that?!"

It took Zelgadis a moment to place the term, then nodded. "From the Shadow Reflector," he commented.

"You've heard of it?" the redhead asked.

He nodded. "Rezo was looking for it for awhile. Then he heard some sorcerer group destroyed it."

Shadow Lina nodded. "That was Miss Lina and Miss Naga," she said. She sniffled and wiped her eyes.

Zelgadis growled at the display. He really didn't have time to mollycoddle this girl, but he could practically hear Sylphiel lecturing him in his mind. If she were here, she'd probably be hugging the sorceress and feeding her cookies.

"It...um...will be okay..or something," he said gruffly.

Shadow Lina nodded. "I hope the others are okay."

"Others?" he asked. "More shadows?"

She shook her head. "No. I mean Lord Jeffrey and Miss Vanya and Miss Naga..."

"Naga?!" he interrupted in surprise.

She nodded again. "Yeah, we were all trying to catch up to Miss Sylphiel and Miss Vanya because they had.."

"Just a second!" he cried, grabbing onto the bars separating him from the girl. "Sylphiel?!"

Yet another nod. "Yeah. We were really worried about her because she was still kind of out of it after that whole Shabranigdo possession thing, but..."

He fell to his knees in shock. "Then...she's...okay?"

More nodding. "Yeah. Miss Lina and Miss Naga freed her with Miss Naga's Elemekia Star. It was all very very scary."

Zelgadis made a noise that might have been a laugh. "She's free," he whispered. He looked up at the redhead. "Maybe you should start from the beginning."

***

It was like trying to swim to the surface of an icy black ocean, but the more she swam, the more light she could see. Xerra had waved and said goodbye when Filia left, but she knew that it wouldn't be too long before she'd get to see her again. Right now, the Golden Dragon had another responsibility: securing her daughter's future.

And she couldn't do that trapped in a dungeon of her own despair.

She swam.

There was light ahead. She could see it getting brighter with every passing second. Through the dense fluid of her thoughts and emotions, she could hear voices, some familiar, some not.

The light was close enough to touch now, surrounding her, encompassing her. In her thoughts, she could hear the warm voice she loved most in the world speak to her.

"Welcome back, Little Dragon."

***

Sethra stood nearby, arrayed in her new dress and wishing very much that she could change back into her filthy clothes. The dress itself was beautiful, but dark. Black and red silk hugged her body in a parody of the white stately dresses women in royal courts wore. Her hair was too short to be worn up, so they hadn't touched that, but she was wearing more make- up on her face at that moment than at any time in her entire life. Black gloves covered her arms up past her elbow, almost to her shoulder, and the collar of her dress was so high she couldn't look down. The dress opened a bit at her chest, showing more cleavage than the priestess found acceptable, but hadn't argued.

If Sethra thought her dress was overly complex, Filia's was even more so. Black and white silk intermingled throughout the long skirt and bodice as if a visual representation of the war between light and dark. She wore no gloves, but the sleeves of her dress came down to the very edge of her wrist where silk lace puffed out at the end, concealing her hands. Also unlike the other priestess' dress, Filia's showed none of her chest. When Sethra asked about that, the seamstresses told her it was because Filia was already mated and didn't need to attract attention, whereas Sethra needed a little more help.

The Water Dragon priestess had bristled at that.

Filia's hair had been put up and held in place in several elegant curls by silver pins and onyx circlet had been placed on her head.

The green seamstress looked at her work and nodded in satisfaction. She turned to apply make-up to Filia's face, but Sethra held a hand up.

"Excuse me," she chirped. "But while I simply ADORE the way you've made ME look like a clown, Miss Filia will certainly take it poorly if you do the same to her. Why don't you leave her face as it is?"

"Why don't I pull your spine out through your mouth, dragon?" the seamstress hissed. "I am in charge here." She turned back to Filia and raised her brush to the dragon's face.

Without warning, Filia's hand shot up and took the Mazoku's by the wrist. Sethra and the two seamstresses jumped in shock.

Filia turned her stern expression on the Mazoku's eyes. "Who's in charge here?" she asked.

"She is!" the Mazoku cried, pointing at Sethra.

Filia released the demon, and the two Mazoku fell to their knees in front of her. Callisto had ordered every diplomatic courtesy, and the look on the blonde's face showed them that she was hardly pleased.

"Miss Filia!" Sethra cried.

Filia gave her a smile, then sweatdropped. "Um..Miss Sethra..Why do you look like a clown?"

Sethra threw a seething look to the Mazoku who had done her make up.

"Now, I..." Filia took a step and stopped, looking down at herself. "What the hell am I wearing?" she asked. Coming out of her trance was like waking from a dream. Even as she asked the question, the memories her subconscious mind had of the dragons' experiences were coming back. "Sethra, where are the others?"

"Down the hall," the dragon told her.

"Come on," she ordered, stepping off the stool and starting to the door.

The reptilian seamstress stepped in her way. "Milady," she began, her head bowed, "Lord Callisto ordered.."

"I do not take orders from 'Lord Callisto!'" Filia snapped, shocking the seamstress and Sethra both. "Now get out of my way before I become irritated!"

The seamstress practically ran from Filia's path.

Like an unstoppable force of nature, Filia walked out the door, Sethra right on her heels.

"Miss Filia, that..."

"Quiet!" Filia hissed at her. "If we're lucky we'll be able to bluff our way out of here, but that's only if we play the parts they want us to play. I am a Mazoku noblewoman and you are my lady-in-waiting, so act like it!"

Sethra nodded and walked behind her "mistress," her head bowed to show her submission. As they walked down the stone corridor, Mazoku who saw them stared at Filia in awe, but moved out of her path. Despite their apparent success, there was an urgency in Filia's step. If they were lucky, extremely lucky, they might just walk out the door before someone alerted Callisto. As obedient and subservient as these Mazoku were, Filia had no illusions that her mate's "brother" would be so easily cowed.

There was a green, ogre-like Mazoku blocking the door to the room that held the other dragons. She stood in front of him and placed her hands on her hips.

//I am Filia Metallium, mate to the General Priest of Wolfpack Island and this man is my subject,// she told herself, bracing herself to play the role of her life.

"Well?" she asked.

"Well what?" the ogre asked in a confused tone.

"I'M ASKING THE QUESTIONS HERE, IDIOT!" Filia screamed at him.

"Yes, Milady!" the ogre replied, coming to attention.

"Stand aside!" she demanded.

The ogre's face was that of a man who knew he was about to step in something unpleasant. "Milady, I..."

"Do you know who I am?" she asked.

The ogre bit his lip. "Yes, Milady?"

Filia threw her nose in the air. "I am the Lady Filia Metallium, wife and mate to Lord Xellos Metallium! You will stand aside in his name and mine, or so help me I'll have you cleaning chamber pots with your tongue until you can't taste the difference BETWEEN MANURE AND CHICKEN WINGS! MOVE ASIDE!"

The ogre jumped to the side and stood at attention. Filia stared at the iron door for a second before sighing and hanging her head. "Well, open it!" she ordered the ogre in a tone that said she was exasperated by his idiocy.

The door opened, and they all stepped inside. The other dragons, still standing on their tiptoes, moved their eyes to look at her.

"Filia," Mira croaked. It was obvious they hadn't been given water or food in quite some time.

Filia shook with rage. "CUT THEM DOWN..THIS...INSTANT!!!" she screamed.

The ogre practically fell over himself to unlock them. One by one, they fell to the floor, their muscles unwilling to hold them up anymore. She and Sethra moved among them, casting healing spells. As she finished a spell on Taloon, she whispered to him, a hint of her true self coming through.

"Can you walk?" she whispered.

"I'll damned well walk out of HERE!" he exclaimed.

"Good, help the others, we're..." She stood and turned to see a new shadow in the doorway.

"Lady Metallium," Callisto said with a short bow of his feline head. He stepped forward into the cell and sat down at her feet, looking up at her. "I'm so glad to see you feeling better."

Filia felt ice fall into the pit of her stomach.

"Join me for tea?" the cat invited.

***

"The end!" Shadow Lina said, ending her four-hour account of everything that had happened from the time Naga had hired her as her "Goody Two-Shoes Sorceress" to being dumped out of her sack at Scarrin's feet.

Zelgadis nodded as he digested all of it. There was a lot for him to think about, but he put that aside. Right now, they needed a way out of here. Sylphiel was safe, and that was the important thing, but that didn't do much for his own problem.

"We need to get out of here," he told her simply. "If I remember what Rezo told me about the Shadow Reflector, that means you have all the knowledge, experience and powers of the original up to the moment you were created, is that right?" At Shadow Lina's nod, he went on. "Then that means you can cast the Dragon Slave, right?"

"That's a very mean spell, Mister Zelgadis," she said. "I don't like to use it. It makes me feel icky and wrong on the inside."

Remember the relish and joy he had seen on Lina's face every time she cast that spell, Zelgadis had to nod to himself. "Equal but opposite," he muttered. "What about a fireball?" he asked instead.

"Oh yeah! I can do those!"

The chimera swallowed back a bitter comment and motioned to the door of their cell. "Then why don't you use it to get us out of here?"

"Oh," she simply. "Okey dokey!" She stood up and faced the cell door. Raising her hands in the air, she concentrated and began to chant. "Black fire of the infinite, by the power of the Great Evil Bunny.."

A trapdoor in the ceiling opened above her..

"FIRE..."

Suddenly she was swamped by several brown, white and gray creatures that fell from the ceiling, covering her. They were animals of some kind, but there were so many, they covered Shadow Lina like an avalanche of snow.

"Lina!" Zelgadis cried.

Suddenly, Shadow Lina's head popped out of the strange debris. She was holding several of the things in her arms and smiling brightly.

"BUNNIES!" she screamed, giggling like a school girl.

Zelgadis looked down and sweatdropped as two of the cute, fuzzy creatures hopped into his cell through the bars and looked up at him.

"OH! OH! THEY'RE SO ADORABLE! CUTE, CUDDLY BUNNY WUNNIES!"

Zelgadis grit his teeth in annoyance and pointed at the cell door. "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! JUST BLAST THE DOOR!!"

Shadow Lina looked at him and blinked, the bunnies in her arms trying to make a getaway. "But..Mister Zelgadis...if I cast that spell in this enclosed space, some of the bunnies might get hurt..."

Zelgadis banged his head on the bars of his cell. He growled and leaned against the bars, mentally and physically weary. "I guess Diol isn't all talk after all," he said. In the other cell, Shadow Lina was still hugging bunnies, making sure not a single one went away without being snuggled. "As a matter of fact," the chimera went on, "He may very well be a genius."

***

Filia sat down at the small table opposite of Callisto and tried to maintain her haughty air as a Mazoku poured tea for them both. Callisto sat on the table, sniffing the tea's herbal aroma with relish.

"It's my greatest regret, I think," he said, sniffing the tea, "That there was never a formal end to the hostilities between our two peoples. If there had been a treaty or some other official peace, trade might have normalized. As a result, it's so very difficult to get Ryuuzoku tea from the south continents." He lapped up some tea and sat down again, looking at her.

Filia just stared right back.

"You've made a rather sizeable impression on my Mazoku here," he noted. "I half expected one of your seamstresses to cut your throat..but they cowered before you." He arched an eyebrow and took another sip of tea. "I guess that proves my theory."

"What theory?" Filia asked quietly.

Callisto sat back down, trying to think of the best way to word things. "There's more going on here than you know," he told her. "How much you learn will depend on how satisfied I am that I can control you."

"Why control me? Why not kill me?" she asked.

"Because," he said as if addressing a child, "You are a Ruby-Eye damned legend. And it's very difficult to kill legends."

"I don't understand," she told him.

"Do you think Her Ladyship makes grand announcements explaining all of her decisions?" he asked her. Filia said nothing and took a sip of tea. To her surprise, she found it to be excellent and drank more. "Do you think when Xellos betrayed her, she got up to the podium in the Grand Throne Room and announced it to the world?"

Filia found herself shaking her head.

"She said, precisely, exactly..nothing." Callisto stood up and paced the table, his tail moving back and forth in agitation. "I would have preferred she had, I counseled her to, as a matter of fact, but she considers it embarrassing. As a result, her silence and certain...other factors...have contributed to a series of rumors surrounding YOU."

"Me?"

"You have to understand," he said, stopping and facing her. "Xellos was EXTREMELY popular as General Priest. Not since the first Mazoku war has Wolfpack Island had a wartime leader to match him. His bluster could be backed up by results. He was feared by the Mazoku servants of other Dark Lords. Dragons feared the whisper of his name. Most importantly, he understood that charisma was needed to maintain the support of his Mazoku." He paced to the other end of the table. "He looked out for other Mazoku. There's even a saying about him. 'Every female's husband, every male's wife.'"

"I still don't understand..."

"For a thousand years, his loyalty to Her Ladyship was second to none. Then you came along. Suddenly, without explanation to the masses, Her Ladyship disowns him and placed a third generation imbecile in his place." He huffed. "Speculation ran rampant. Rumors grew. Whispers in the dark spoke of a Golden Dragon so powerful, she bent the General Priest to her will, and the only way Her Ladyship could survive was by destroying him."

Filia's breath caught in her throat.

"But he didn't die," Callisto went on. "The rumors became more urgent, more afraid. Whoever this woman was, she had managed to not only turn Xellos to her side, but also made Her orders irrelevant. She had unmade what Her Ladyship had decreed, something most Mazoku cannot even grasp."

He paced to the other side of the table.

"The imbecile, meanwhile, flaunted his new power with none of the stature, dignity or grace that Xellos had used. He blundered, stumbling along and alienating his Mazoku further. The rumors continued to spread. And then he did something stupid, and I, without realizing it, made it worse."

"What was that?" Filia asked.

"He bragged about Xellos' death," he told her darkly. "He made sure that every Mazoku on Wolfpack Island heard of it. But for the rumors, that did not answer their greatest fear. For Xellos was one of them, Xellos had always looked after them. They didn't fear Xellos. They feared the Golden Dragon who turned him..The Golden Dragon Jinnar made no mention of..The Golden Dragon..who escaped Anschad Allium..and made it onto our holy soil."

"Me," she whispered.

"And when they came to me and asked, 'Is it true?' I told them it was."

Filia stared down into her tea. "But it's not true," she told him. "None of it! I didn't turn Xellos away from Xelas!"

"You know that, and I know that. But THEY believe it. And there may be a way for me to use that."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I'm tearing Jinnar down from his throne," Callisto said with malice. "He is a threat to Her Ladyship and her government."

"That's why you're here," she said in realization. "YOU'RE IN REBELLION!"

He nodded.

"But I thought Mazoku couldn't rebel against their overlords," she said in confusion.

"We're not rebelling against Her Ladyship. From our perspective, she's in danger from traitorous elements within her government. As loyal subjects, it is our duty to eradicate those traitors. Unfortunately, from there it gets into pure opinion. Jinnar has many loyalists and we only have a few. Most are unsure of what to do and, given a choice, will stay on the sidelines..Unless they have a reason to rally."

Filia swallowed.

Callisto sat down and regarded her carefully. "With your help, I can overthrow Jinnar."

"Why should I help you?" Filia asked, doubting her own words.

Callisto was blunt. "Because if you don't, I'm going to kill you and all of your friends. Make no mistake, the Mazoku outside that door believe you're a prophet or a reincarnation of the Flare Dragon....I know that to be false."

"I see." Filia thought for several minutes. Finally, she spoke. "There are conditions."

"Name them."

"I want my sister back, alive and unharmed," she said.

"Done."

"Safe passage off Wolfpack Island for me, my sister and my companions."

"Done."

Filia bit her lip and hesitated a moment. "A personal guarantee that my children will not be harmed in the future."

"You ask too much," Callisto spat. "ValGaav is a threat to us."

"ValGaav is an EGG," Filia retorted.

"No deal."

"It's a small price to pay for your kingdom, isn't it?" she asked hotly.

Callisto thought for a moment. Finally he nodded. "You're right. It IS a small enough price." He eyed her. "Unless the order comes from Her Ladyship herself..I will block all other attempts to harm your children."

Filia knew that was the best she was going to get. "Deal."

"I have conditions as well."

"Yes?" she asked.

"Once you leave here," he said, eyeing her. "You must be mindful of your position. You are not to foment rebellion or discord among the Mazoku yourself. You must not criticize Her Ladyship or her decisions. Be perfectly clear on this, Lady Metallium. The only way either of us are going to live through this is if every Mazoku on this island BELIEVES that you are as loyal to Her Ladyship as Xellos once was. They have to believe it enough to fight, believe it enough to die. Or else you and I and everyone here are going to be killed in the most spectacular fashion possible."

Filia took a breath and nodded. "I understand."

Callisto held out a paw. Filia shook it.

"Very well," he said. "Then this war will be known as the War of Outcasts."

Authors Notes:

Special thanks go out to my prereaders, Kim and Will. If you're in the neighborhood and want to check out some review sites, why don't you check out www.cavdav.dragonsanime.com and see what we're doing.

This week I move into my new apartment. I'm going to be living pretty slim until I get settled. I won't even have a place to put my computer, let alone be able to write. It may be awhile before the next chapter comes out. But I have every intention of finishing this fic series. Not only finish, but write more in the same universe, sequels, and side fics. I've never had more fun writing than I have writing this fic.

And now for an omake!

Azure Cloud Productions presents.

The Making of Slayers: Faces

SYLPHIEL: (In costume, in a studio chair) I think it really all started when Mr. Mollidon came to a set for another fic I was working on. And he came up to me after my scene was done, and introduced himself. I had never heard of him before. I'm not a Tenchi Muyo or Love Hina fan really, and he told me he was writing his first Slayers fic, and that it was vitally important that I agree to be in it. (Smiles) So, thinking, "paid work is paid work," I said "why not?" and asked to see scripts of the scenes I'd be doing. He gave me this..novel..and said he'd see me Monday..

(Cut to..)

ZELGADIS: (In costume, no make-up, in a studio chair with his sword in his lap) I was just finishing up a performance of Hamlet in New York when I was approached by this scruffy looking man in a grey trench coat who said he had a fic he wanted me to be in. I asked him what it was about, and he told me with this..incredibly serious expression on his face.. "It's a Zelgadis, Sylphiel love story." So I laughed at him.

(Cut to.)

LINA: (In a diner booth with empty plates all around her) I had heard of Davner Mollidon, but I had never met him. I'm a big Ryoko fan, and I loved some of his earlier works. So when he approached me in Seyruun and said he wanted me to be in a fic, I was jazzed! Then he told me that I'd only have one or two pages of dialogue.. (Face droops) Well..you know..I'm a professional...I didn't faze me really...

(Cut to.)

GOURRY: She was PISSED. As a matter of fact, you can thank Lina for the other two books, because she all but threatened the man's family until he agreed to give her more screen time.

(Cut to Zarak Tor, next to the Wheel of Justice)

MILGAZIA: (Leaning on the Wheel) Since the author's been suspended from updating on fanfiction.net, and he was a few days early with this latest chapter of "Faces: Finale!" we present to you this omake, "The Making of Slayers: Faces." "Faces," the first Slayers fanfic produced by Azure Cloud Productions, is, when you break it down, a love story that 99 percent of Slayers fans, the author included, know has no chance of happening in the real anime. Fan fiction, however, being itself a outlet for hopeless romantics and the literary insane, would prove to be a perfect medium for this most unlikely of romances.

(Cut to footage.)

"It's not just new spells, it's *all* spells. *No* magic exists there. Not even...not even chimeras."

Zelgadis looked at her. "What you are saying," he began slowly, "Is that my curse wouldn't exist on this island? That it would what? Fade away?"

"It might," she told him.

He looked down at the map before him, staring at it for several minutes. Sylphiel watched him, observing his internal debate. Finally, he spoke. "Sylphiel, I need to use your map."

"Of course, Mr. Zelgadis."

"Sylphiel...thank you."

She smiled. "You mustn't thank me...Not until we find it."

Zelgadis blinked. "We?"

"Of course," she told him. "It is I who have set you upon this course. It's only right that I see it through as well."

(Cut to Davner on the set of Finale 13)

DAVNER: I first got the idea for Faces while, as usual, arguing with fellow fic writer Cavis Darktower. I had just left Tenchi fan fiction and was trying to come up with a new project to work on. I hadn't even seen all of Slayers Try yet. Cav and I were discussing our character impressions, and I told him how much I liked the Sylphiel character, and how I'd like to see her center stage somewhere, but he and I both agreed that Zelgadis had to be in this too. I think I made some joke about how the two should get together, and we laughed about it.. But the more I thought on it..

(Cut to Sylphiel)

SYLPHIEL: At first, I was a little hesitant about this project. The concept was a little...stupid. But the more I read of the script, the more I thought to myself, "What the heck?"

(Cut to Zelgadis)

ZELGADIS: What drew me the most, I think, was the lack of Lina, Gourry and Amelia, and this was because Lina simply dominates any fic she's in. It's not conscious, really, it's just the way her character is, and the idea of a totally new Slayers gang forming around the nucleus of Zelgadis and Sylphiel was intriguing.

(Cut to footage)

As Naga was trying to rough Xellos up, Sylphiel suddenly realized another part of what he had said. "Mr. Xellos, does this mean you'll be traveling with us?"

"Why I would love to!" Xellos told her as if accepting a grand invitation to a royal ball.

Zelgadis sighed. "Here we go again," he muttered.

"Well, are we going to stay here all day, or are we going to get this quest underway?!" Naga asked, walking towards the tunnel.

"Miss Naga?" Sylphiel asked.

"Well, you *did* pay me, so I suppose it would be rude to back out now. OOOOOHOHOHOHOHO!!!"

Sylphiel smiled and turned to Zelgadis. He was grinding his teeth. She continued to smile at him until his expression softened.

"Okay," he said. He showed a slight smile of his own. "Let's go."

(Cut to Naga, on the set of Finale 14)

NAGA: The idea of Naga being in a situation where she's not playing second fiddle to Lina Inverse, I thought, was neat. You get to see Naga as a real player and not Lina's sidekick. As a result, you really get to see more of her character besides her trying to one-up Lina.

(Cut to Davner)

DAVNER: What I really wanted to do here was take the more minor characters in Slayers and put them in the forefront. In the series, you have the big 4: Lina, Gourry, Amelia and Zelgadis. Sylphiel, while playing a major part in the plot, gets little screen time. You don't see Naga in the TV series at all. I wanted them to get the spotlight for awhile. And, at the same time, play around with some of my own characters..

(Cut to Achi Ze'tal on the shore of Zarak Tor)

ACHI: I was excited to get the call. I figured the only way I'd be in another fic is if someone did a sequel to Destiny's Balance, and that never really panned out. I knew from the start this would be a good fic. I had worked with Dav before, and I knew that despite him being a pervert, a freak and a moron, at the very least, this fic would be fun to do.

(Cut to footage.)

"I would've thought better of a servant of the Wind Dragon King," Xellos told her. Achi growled and began searching the ground. "Then again, Achi, subtlety was never your strong..."

*THA-WHACK!*

Xellos cried out and rubbed the back of his head. A fist sized rock fell and hit the ground near him. Achi stood not far away, her hands on her hips.

"How's that for subtle, Xellos?!" She cried.

Xellos growled.

"Is this why you brought me out here?" she asked. "You wanna have it out?! Fine!" She adopted a combat pose, her magical energy began flowing around her.

Xellos raised his staff, his own energy amassing to himself. "It's not nice to play with people's emotions, Achi chan," he said with more good humor than he actually felt. "Especially with this group. Trust me, they take it personally."

"Hmmph!" she sniffed. Her combat aura disappeared.

Xellos' eyes narrowed.

"Well?" she asked. "Go ahead. Blast me," she told him. "But just remember this, you, yourself, don't have the power over mental magic to get what you want out of them. You have to do it the old fashioned way and follow them, and if you show back up at that camp, and I'm not with you, how likely is it do you think they'll let you tag along?"

Xellos paused.

"It's obvious the chimera doesn't trust you, and 'Oneechan' seems to think I'm the cutest thing since Piko Piko Lina Chan. Face it, you're stuck."

(Cut to Xellos sitting in Filia's tea shop)

XELLOS: Achi and Xellos have a...history..you could say. She's a contradiction. A powerful, one of the more powerful, I should say, Shinzoku in service of the Wind Dragon King, but she lives in the body of a child to make people think she's harmless. Both of them fought in the War of the Monster's Fall, so there's a lot of bad blood there.

(Cut to Sylphiel)

SYLPHIEL: Achi is just too adorable and an absolute joy to work with. We really bonded during the production. I think it's because we have the same hair style. And if it wasn't for Achi's support, I never would have done..THAT..scene.

INTERVIEWER: What scene?

SYLPHIEL: (Turns red.) I don't want to talk about it.

(Cut to Achi)

ACHI: Oneechan's a prude, pure and simple. And Mr. Zelgadis is..well..you know how gruff and forbidding he can be. So when Dav mentioned the big kiss scene...Well, you can just imagine how THAT went.

(Cut to Naga)

NAGA: She fainted.

(Cut to Zelgadis)

ZELGADIS: Hit the ground like a falling tree.

(Cut to Davner)

DAVNER: TIMBER!

(Cut to Sylphiel)

SYLPHIEL: I was a TOTAL professional! I just wasn't feeling well that day..

(Cut to Achi)

ACHI: She says she wasn't feeling well that day, but everyone on the set knew what a big freaking lie it was. I mean, let's face it, how many fics does Sylphiel get any action? And how many of those fics is it someone other than Gourry?

(Cut to footage)

"Zelgadis dear?" she whispered.

"Would you have let me kiss you back in the garden?" he asked her.

She stared up at him, unsure for a moment. Finally, "Yes," she whispered.

He paused for a moment, then leaned forward slowly. He found himself afraid. The man who had faced down two Rezo's, Phibrizzo, Gaav, ValGaav, Lina Inverse...was afraid.

She had shut her eyes, her breath quickening. For half a second, he considered pulling back, but found himself inexorably pulled forward, his lips brushing gently against hers.

It was as if a dam had burst. What had once seemed so frightening now seemed so natural. Their arms slowly wrapped around one another and held each other close. The rest of the world seemed to vanish.

Their lips parted momentarily, and Sylphiel, her eyes still closed, whispered, "Is this love?"

(Cut to Achi)

ACHI: I think I might puke..

(Cut to Davner)

DAVNER: Now, I admit, we DID have some difficulty getting this scene off the ground. There was some debate about whether or not Zelgadis should just kiss her or if we should take a step further and turn it into a love scene, and the general consensus was, both on the set and in some polls we did on message boards, that both Zelgadis and Sylphiel are kind of old fashioned and prudish and wouldn't just jump into bed together. So in the end, we had them just kiss and saved the actual love scene to an off-camera thing later on.

(Cut to Sylphiel)

SYLPHIEL: (Bright red) Well...it was...you know...

(Cut to Zelgadis)

ZELGADIS: I thought she'd turn and run any second. I will say, though, that after doing all those romance fics with Lina and Amelia, it was nice to kiss a girl without having to hunch over..

INTERVIEWER: And?

ZELGADIS: And what?

INTERVIEWER: How was it?

ZELGADIS: (Turning red) None of your damn business!

(Cut to Davner)

DAVNER: The biggest problem with the romance part of this fic was giving the two of them common ground to work on. Sylphiel's scarring was the key to that. You have an absolutely beautiful woman hiding what she really looks like and a cursed man trying to do the same, and suddenly it's all reversed. Sylphiel sees things the way Zelgadis saw them, and Zelgadis can see how she looked at him. And that let them share something that no one else in Slayers could.

(Cut to footage.)

He laughed and screamed at the sky. "YES!" he screamed. "I'M *HUMAN*!! DO YOU HEAR THAT, REZO, YOU SON OF A BITCH!? HUMAN!!"

He laughed again, and for the first time, remembered that he didn't know where he was. He took another look around, enjoying the feel of the sun tanning his face. He saw his sword lying not far away. He apparently had had enough sense to keep his hold on it. He quickly sheathed it and continued to examine the beach.

He heard something and turned, his hand going to his sword. It was a sob. He blinked when his eyes locked on the source.

Sylphiel was kneeling next to the water, her back to him, her face in her hands as she wept. Her tears fell from between her fingers, striking the water and disturbing the reflection there.

It didn't strike him that she was crying. He was too preoccupied with his own situation. "Sylphiel!" he cried, starting towards her. "Sylphiel! Look! Look! It worked!"

She refused to turn to him.

"Sylphiel! Look at me! Please!" he begged. "This...This is the greatest day of my life! And it's because of you!"

She said nothing. She kept her face hidden and shook her head frantically.

"Sylphiel," he whispered, kneeling next to her. "Look at me..."

He reached out and took her shoulder.

"Sylphiel,"

Slowly, Sylphiel lowered her hands and turned to him, tears in her eyes.

Zelgadis gasped in shock and actually took a step back in surprise. "Sylphiel?" he breathed, a lump forming in his throat.

She looked up at him, her expression one of pure horror. The entire left side of her face was scarred, as if it had been burned beyond recognition, but healed years ago.

Zelgadis shook his head in disbelief. It *was* a nightmare. It had to be.

Sylphiel saw the revulsion in his eyes, and fresh tears welled up in her own. Without a word to him, she dashed off, covering the left side of her face with her hand.

(Cut to Zelgadis)

ZELGADIS: I think I actually liked the fact that Zelgadis didn't get to keep his cure in the end. I think if he had, the ending would have been too fantastical, less real, and less emotional.

(Cut to Sylphiel)

SYLPHIEL: In the end, you have Zelgadis showing his TRUE face, breaking down and letting his grief show, and the only person he can share that with who will understand is Sylphiel.

(Cut to footage)

"I'll be okay, Sylphiel."

He felt her place a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head and looked up at her emerald eyes. "Remember who you're talking to?" she asked. "Don't do this to yourself. Don't bottle it up. That won't make it hurt less, just torture you more."

He didn't say anything, just stared.

"Please," she whispered. "I'm here, Zelgadis dear. I'm here."

Unbidden, his breath caught in his throat, a lump forming there. He fought to drive it back down as he had done so many times before, but this time it was simply too much for him to bear. Moisture formed in his eyes, and he was forced to take another breath; a breath that came in the form of a sob.

Sylphiel reached out and took his head in her hands, pulling him to her as he started to cry in earnest. "Shhhh," she cooed, holding him to her breast and rocking him like she would a baby. "It's okay," she whispered.

His arms, shaking from distress, anger, frustration, and despair, wrapped around the shrine maiden, holding onto her like a lifeline as he wept. Sylphiel continued to hold him and rock him gently, eyes closed as she wept for him.

"Everything will be all right," she whispered to him. "I promise." She shut her eyes and held him closely. She had been raised from birth to be a white priestess, a healer, trained to ease the suffering of others, and now she seemed incapable of easing the suffering of the one closest to her. She would have done anything to end his suffering, to take that pain and make it her own. She could only hope that sharing that pain might help a little.

For now, it was all she could do.

(Cut to Davner)

DAVNER: I wanted it to be a happy ending because of what Sylphiel and Zelgadis find in each other, rather than a "mission accomplished" kind of satisfaction. I wanted them to be happy because they had found each other. One of the biggest complaints I get about this fic is that Zelgadis should have been able to keep his cure, but if I did that, what would be left to look forward to?

(Cut to Naga)

NAGA: I think this fic begged for a sequel. Just the way it left things open for it. But I think most of all it was the desire to make sure that everything with Stony and Sylphiel turned out okay. Of course, (Gestures to the set around her), it's not okay YET! OOOOOOHOHOHOHOHO!!!

(Cut to Zelgadis)

ZELGADIS: I think it showed a side to Zelgadis you don't usually see. You get to see him caring about more than his cure and more about the problem at hand.

(Cut to Sylphiel)

SYLPHIEL: You get to see Sylphiel take center stage. She gets the guy! She gets to blow stuff up! The only thing she doesn't get to do is slap the crap out of her rival! (Laughs)

(Cut to Davner)

INTERVIEWER: When does it end?

DAVNER: (Thinks) I don't think it will. The world Kadokawa Shoten brought to the screen is just too vast, too wonderful. There's always going to be some other quest or adventure, some problem facing the world for Zelgadis, Sylphiel, Naga, Lina and Gourry to take on. And if not them...their children can take on the mantle. I'd like to think that the little piece of the Slayers world that is Faces will keep going.

(Cut to Milgazia by the Wheel of Justice)

MILGAZIA: With two sequels that dwarf the original in both size and scope, "Slayers: Faces" continues on, but when broken down to its basic elements, it remains an unlikely love story...that I apparently wasn't good enough to be cast in.. (fumes)

(Cut to footage)

Lina ran after the princess. "Amelia! Wait up!"

"Hey, Lina! Wait for me!" Gourry cried, following after the sorceress.

Zelgadis and Sylphiel watched them go and turned to one another. "What do you think?" he asked her.

Sylphiel giggled. "I think it sounds like a wonderful adventure!"

The chimera smiled and took her hand. "Then come on!" Sylphiel squeaked as Zelgadis pulled her out the door and after the trio.

The shrine maiden laughed as she ran, holding Zelgadis' hand tighter. The moon, bright and full shined down on them as they started out on the next adventure, the next of many for them.

"Hey, everyone! Wait for us!"

Brought to you by Azure Cloud Productions