AN: It's done. Done. DONE! FINISHED! I thought it may never happen, but it has! COMPLETED! After 4 years, I can officially say that this story has come to it's end! Perhaps Hell has frozen over. But ya know what? I don't care. My story is DONE!

Disclaimer: Slayers is not mine. I own nothing more than my Mac, my imagination, and myself.

Chapter 20

"Xellos, would you mind getting that out of my cave, please," Faith asked, indicating the body of Koutero. The purple haired priest bowed his head, and with a smirk, both he and Koutero vanished. Faith sighed deeply. "It's over," she whispered, a happy smile spread across her face.

"Really?" Raven asked. Faith nodded. "What about Amber?" Faith's smile fell.

"I don't know," the half-breed said with a sigh. When Lina approached, Faith was glad for a chance to change the subject.

"What did you do to Gourry's sword?" Lina demanded. "And can you do it again?" she asked, pulling out her own dagger, an eager smile on her face. Faith smiled.

"Afraid not, that was the last one I had," Faith told the redhead, who's expression immediately fell.

"Last what?" Zelgadis chimed in.

"An enchantment," Faith replied. "Better than Astral Vine, since it won't wear off, but similar in effect. He can effectively fight Mazoku and other astral creatures. No flashy light show, unless you use it to amplify a spell." Lina's face lit up again.

"It can do that?" Faith nodded. "So, what OTHER goodies do you have lying around here?" Faith smiled.

"Oh lots of them. You just have to know how to ask," Faith added with a knowing smile and wink at Zelgadis. The others gave confused looks, while the shaman simply flushed a bit.

"You'd be here asking forever before you got anything worthwhile, Lina," Zelgadis muttered.

"But Gourry didn't ask!" Lina said, half frantic.

"Special circumstance," Faith said, her grin rapidly becoming more and more Xellos-like.

"Well what's the point of helping you out here if we're not gonna get anything good out of it?" Lina shouted, throwing her hands up in frustration.

"Lina-san, we did just stop a demon set on destroying the world by killing you and Faith and Val," Amelia said sternly. Lina sputtered. Faith grinned. Filia shrieked.

"Val!" the dragon cried. Before she had a chance to disappear, Xellos materialized behind her.

"The dragon-boy is fine," Xellos announced. Filia shrieked again, this time more from being startled and angry.

"And what were you doing near him?" Filia bellowed. "You didn't bring that Koutero anywhere near him, did you?" Xellos twitched.

"Why as a matter of fact, I redecorated the nursery!" Xellos said. "I mounted Koutero's head on the wall, then planted the rest of his remains in the garden!" Filia gave a wordless roar of anger, and they were off again, purple and yellow fireworks dotting the ceiling of the cave. Amelia turned to Zelgadis, concern in her eyes.

"Xellos didn't really mount Koutero's head in Val's nursery, did he?" the princess asked. Zel shook his head and shrugged.

"With those two, who can tell," he muttered. The six friends on the ground began to cheerfully discuss the finer points of the battle and plan out what they were going to do now that impending doom had once again been avoided.

A few hours, and many bruises, later, Lina, Gourry, Zel, Amelia, Xellos, and Filia were standing at the mouth of the cave saying good-bye to Faith and Raven.

"Feel free to stop by if you're ever in the area," Faith said, grinning as broadly as she could. Part of her wanted to go with her new friends, but she was home now, and at least for a while, she had no intentions of leaving. That meant she also was saying goodbye for now to Raven, who had mentioned something about "unfinished business."

Raven was the first to leave, hugging Faith quickly before turning and smiling at Lina and

friends... except Xellos, of course. With a quick nod, she turned and disappeared into the forest.

"I'm sure we'll see you around sometime," Lina said with a smile. "Especially," she said, her smile growing predatory, "If I can think up any good questions..." Faith laughed.

"Good luck at that," the half-breed replied, returning the grin. The six companions turned to walk back into the forest... well, Xellos was floating, not walking. At the back of the group, Amelia turned and rushed back to Faith for a moment.

"I have a question," the princess said quietly, eyeing the Mazoku floating cheerily over the head of the glowering Filia.

"What is it?" Faith asked.

"Why is Filia-san walking home when she could be there in a second?" the princess queried. Faith grinned broadly and stared at the retreating forms of Ryuuzoku and Mazoku, clearly engaged in one of their endless arguments. With a knowing wink at the Seyruun princess, Faith simply responded:

"Sore wa himitsu desu."

End Notes: I really didn't think this would end so abruptly, but this is where it wanted to end. I had more planned, but the story had other ideas. Please, if you have read through this monstrosity, let me know what you thought of it! Reviews take only a moment, and this story took me 4 years! Even if you think it's crap and I shoulda stopped three and a half years ago, tell me! takes deep breath

Ok then!

Thank you, and good night!