Intimate Stranger
by Handsome Puppy
Disclaimer:
Slayers
belongs to Hajime Kanzaka/Rui Araizumi/Kadokawa Shoten/TV
TOKYO/SOFTX/Marubeni. The title "Intimate Stranger" is
taken from the song of the same name in the delirious? album "Glo".
This story and all the original characters are mine.
"Meiron told me that you've finally met our dear Filia last night." Zellas Metallium poured wine into a crystal goblet leisurely.
"Yes, I did." Xelloss replied, sipping at his tea calmly. "What did you send Xenid to do?"
"Oh, just being my messenger. You know I want the other Mazoku lords to be present for my 2000th birthday celebration in two weeks. Since your fiancee is here, I can't possibly keep you away from the island." Zellas smiled slyly.
"Convenient." Xelloss nodded, following her train of thought. "It would take him at least a few days to return even if aunt Dolphin doesn't insist that he stay at the undersea palace for a couple more days."
"That's right. I suggest you do some catching up with Filia in the meantime. I am disappointed by your behaviour for the past five months, Xelloss. You gave her a ring without even letting her meet you once, and you didn't bother to see her at all. Well, guess what? I don't find it very amusing. Why did you think I let Meiron stay on the island for?" Zellas snorted a little while sipping her wine.
Was she admitting that she was treating the whole thing as an entertainment for her? Xelloss finished his tea and put the cup down. "I thought you wanted me to get married."
"Married, yes. To an ordinary human girl? No. I didn't expect her to be completely normal." Zellas shrugged. "You never intended to marry her in the first place anyway, so I might as well use the opportunity to amuse myself. It's been some time since Meiron last bothered you."
"And he won't get a chance to again because the girl won't be left alone." Xelloss stood up and bowed. "If there are no further orders, I shall return to tend to my fiancee."
Zellas waved a hand in dismissal and watched her son vanished from view.
+ - + - + - + - + - +
Filia sat on the top of the brick wall surrounding the balcony located on the highest ground of the Metallium palace, dangling her feet in the air. She looked down at the forest canopy two hundreds metres below, idly wondering whether the trees could break her fall if she jumped.
"Unless you can fly, I wouldn't recommend you do that, Filia." Xelloss' cheerful voice said from behind her.
Filia glanced back with a small smile. "Good morning, Xelloss."
"I thought I told you to wait in your room."
"You found me all right, didn't you?" Filia shrugged and looked back toward the horizon longingly.
"I'm surprised Luna didn't at least teach you levitation. You seem to want to fly pretty badly." Xelloss observed.
"I wouldn't be able even if I wanted to. I'm magically challenged." Filia made a face. That wasn't entirely untrue, since her power was sealed by Luna before she was hatched. Beside the Ryuuzoku skills and spells she inherited while still in the egg, she could not learn anything else.
"Luna and Lina usually take me on a flight a few times every month."
"So you're the only one who can't use magic." Xelloss mused. If Lina, whose magic power was rumored to be quite extraordinary, were sent in place of Filia, his mother would no doubt be very interested in getting her into the family. He stood on the wall and held out a gloved hand. "Care for a flight?"
Filia stared at his hand for a moment, then her face brightened. "Yes!" She slipped her hand into his and stood up.
"How about an aerial tour of the island?" Xelloss grinned, circling her waist with his left arm and started to take off. Filia blushed a little at the intimacy as his arm tightened around her waist, but she quickly got over the embarrassment and focused on the excitement of flying.
Filia took in everything she saw while Xelloss expertly gave her brief facts regarding the island. By the end of the two-hour-long tour, Filia was having the time of her life. Even Xelloss was enjoying it so much that he wondered why he hadn't tried this sooner. It was a shame there was only one month left with the delightful girl. He felt rather satisfied around her.
The two had a picnic in the forest with a few of the wolves and spent a good deal of time with the pack. Filia got along with the wolves quite well, and the beasts found the girl likable. Xelloss couldn't help but laugh with mirth when the girl was ambushed and tackled by the wolves.
Despite still being down on the ground and underneath the heavy wolves, a smile broke out on Filia's face. "This is the first time I've heard you laugh! I like the sound." The wolves blinked a few times.
Xelloss blinked too. When was the last time he really laughed? A century ago? He smiled at her. "I need to look up something in the library. Do you want to go somewhere safe, or do you want to come with me?"
"I'll go with you."
Filia ushered the wolves off her and got up. She dusted herself briefly and took hold of Xelloss' hand naturally. A faint blush rose up on Xelloss' face at the little gesture of trust. He nodded goodbye to the wolves and teleported the both of them.
+ - + - + - + - + - +
Filia let go of Xelloss' hand when she saw the huge room filled with countless arrays of bookshelves. She turned all directions to inspect the wealth of knowledge. "Look at all those books!"
"Welcome to my little personal library!" Xelloss grinned at her surprised expression. "Feel free to browse around. You can take some back with you to read whenever you're bored."
"Really? Thank you!" Filia wondered off, browsing the volumes on the shelves.
When Xelloss finished his research and went looking for Filia, he found her sitting on the floor in the corner reading intently, several more books piled beside her. Xelloss kneeled down in front of her to see the cover of the book.
"'Children of the Sun: Gold Dragons'?" Xelloss read the title out loud, startling the girl from her silent reading.
"Xelloss!"
"Hi. What did you get?" Xelloss looked through the pile of books. "Are you interested in Ryuuzoku and Gold Dragons?"
"Er, yes." Filia smiled nervously. "Luna told us a lot about them, but I've always wanted to learn more."
"Hmm, I didn't even remember I had this book." Xelloss took a closer look of the page she was on. "Ah, a drawing of the last Ryuuzoku."
"The last Ryuuzoku?" Filia glanced at the picture of a young woman with long blond hair not unlike her own. The caption below the picture was what Xelloss had pointed out.
"She was the last Ryuuzoku to die almost two hundreds years ago. A real tragic figure." Xelloss said. "It's a good thing that she died before giving birth to an offspring."
"Why is that?" Filia flipped through the pages, trying to find more information about the young woman, but couldn't.
"You won't find much about her in any books. She's only known as the last Ryuuzoku by most of the world."
"Most of the world? Do you know something about her?"
"The higher-ups of the major Mazoku families know of this, since Meiron is responsible for it." Xelloss nodded. "Meiron had some problems with the elder of the Gold Dragon tribe. However, the elder was unable to defeat Meiron, so he placed a curse on him instead. Meiron was cursed to fall for the daughter of one of the Gold Dragon maidens and not able to have her return his feelings."
"He WHAT!" Filia almost choked.
"Apparently, the elder was having trouble getting a certain priestess to obey him, so he decided to punish her as well. The first born of a Ryuuzoku priestess is always female, so as long as the maiden got married and gave birth, the plan could roll into action. If Meiron fall for the maiden's daughter, he wouldn't bother the tribe, and he would become the laughing stock of the Mazoku society. On the other hand, the priestess' family would find their lives constantly disturbed by a Mazoku, and it would be very difficult for the girl to find a mate, thus ending the line of the family. If the daughter turned out to be strong enough, she could kill Meiron and do the Ryuuzoku a big favour. That's killing several birds with one stone on the elder's part."
Filia was speechless for a second. She looked down at the picture of the blond woman. "Meiron... Is he strong?"
"I wouldn't say he's very strong because he's well below my level, but definitely not someone to be ignored. He is the heir to the Hellmaster, after all." Xelloss said. "Nothing short of a direct hit of Dragu Slave or attack from the Sword of Light would be able to destroy or seriously injure him."
"But I don't know how to cast Dragu Slave..." Filia whispered under her breath. She caught Xelloss looking at her curiously and quickly threw another question before he suspected anything. "Then how would the maiden's daughter be able to defeat Meiron? Ryuuzoku can't really cast any black magic spells that humans use, let alone a Dragu Slave."
"Good question. You're a quick observer." Xelloss grinned in approval. "Well, Ryuuzoku usually defeat a Mazoku by combining their power to overcome the Mazoku's. However, there is one ancient spell that does the job just as well. Chaotic Disintegrate. It's long lost and only few Ryuuzoku knew how to do it, but being a shrine maiden herself, no doubt the woman would knew the spell and passed it down to her daughter." Filia's fists clenched tightly when she heard the name of the spell.
Xelloss continued his tale, unaware of Filia's reactions. "Naturally, Meiron did everything in his power to prevent this from happening. When he heard the news of the maiden getting married to a Gold knight by the name of Savon ul Copt, he stirred up an all-out war between Mazoku and Ryuuzoku. As it turned out, the entire Ryuuzoku clan was wiped out in that war some two hundreds years ago, and this woman was the last to die."
"Why did you say that it's a good thing that she died before giving birth to an offspring?" Filia asked quietly, carefully masking the storms of emotions raging inside of her.
"Well, as much as I dislike Meiron and wish him gone, I can't help but pity the woman's daughter, if there was one. There is no rule that forbids the match of a Mazoku and a Ryuuzoku in our society, but it's never happened because these two clans were mortal enemies. It's an entirely different matter for the Ryuuzoku. If a dragon is found to have a relationship with a Mazoku, that dragon is severely punished, excommunicated, and killed. If the woman did give birth to a daughter, the girl could only hope to be stronger than Meiron and kill him, or live in shame for all of her life."
"The Ryuuzoku clan is no more." Filia let out a faint but heavy sigh and closed the book. She stood up and put the books back on the shelves.
"You're not reading them anymore?" Xelloss watched her.
"I've learned all I needed to know." Filia smiled sadly, not looking at him. "Besides, it's too depressing to hear such tales."
"Ah, you don't like sad stories? Humans like stories with happy endings, right?"
"I think so." Filia put a smile back on her slightly paled face and turned to face him. "Did you find what you were looking for?"
"Yes." Xelloss showed her the cover of the book, which was titled 'Guideline of Murder', written by Phibrizo.
Filia stared at him strangely. "What are you doing with this book?"
Xelloss scratched the back of his head. "Well, I'm just checking whether it's all right for me to get rid of a certain cousin of mine if he annoys me too much. I wouldn't want the Hellmaster to be mad at me, but he is never predictable. He killed off his own people sometimes just for the fun of it, you know."
"I doubt that he'll bother you after I leave the island." Filia looked away. Because he will be bothering me instead, she added silently.
"Ah, you never know. I never liked him, anyway. This is just in case." Xelloss grinned. "Are you sure you don't want to take out any books?"
"That's all right. I'm not that bored." Filia smiled. "Can we visit the wolves again?"
"Not now. Nobody enters the forest after dark. It's their hunting time." Xelloss wagged a finger. "Besides, it's almost time for dinner!"
Filia touched her stomach and felt hungry. "Yeah, you're right."
"Of course I am!" Xelloss took her hand. "Let me put this book away first. Wouldn't want any one else to know of this." He teleported them to his room.
"Would you like to join me for dinner? I eat in my room sometimes, and I don't feel like seeing my evil cousin so soon after getting that book." Xelloss smirked when he was done hiding the book.
"Sure." Filia smiled. She didn't feel like being alone. Not after learning the events that had taken place before her birth and having the knowledge of her burden.
"Great! I'll tell them to bring our dinner in." Xelloss snapped his finger.
"You called?" A young girl with long wavy black hair appeared at the door and bowed.
"I would like to dine with Filia in my room. Please bring us dinner and tell mother, Xema."
The girl teleported out and returned in a few minutes with their food, as well as a bottle of wine. She bowed again and was about to teleport away when Xelloss stopped her.
"Xema, do you know when your brother is coming back?"
"Xenid told me that he was at Master Garv's, and that he was going to Mistress Dolphin's palace next. He wasn't sure how long it'd take him to return."
"When did he tell you this?"
"Last night."
"Hmm, then Valgarv will be here tomorrow." Xelloss mused. "You can go now, Xema." He dismissed her with a wave of his hand.
"Enjoy your dinner." Xema smiled at the blond and teleported away.
"That was Xenid's sister?" Filia asked.
"Yes. Being siblings, they can communicate via telepathy." Xelloss picked up the bottle of wine and read the label. "Hmm, this one should be fine. You might be able to get past two glasses."
Filia blushed. "I got drunk last night, didn't I? Maybe I shouldn't drink anymore. Luna is right in not letting me drink."
"Nonsense. What's a candlelit dinner without wine?" Xelloss poured the clear liquid into two glasses gracefully. "Just drink it slowly and you'll be fine."
Filia gave a small nod and sat down at the small round table.
"Now." Xelloss sat down and sipped at his wine. "Why don't you tell me about your family and I'll tell you about mine? I'm sure we're both curious about each other's background."
"Well, as you already know, Luna is pretty much the head of my family, despite her 'young' age..."
The night passed by with the two of them talking over dinner and laughing at the funny things that happened in their lives. It was an enjoyable night, and Xelloss felt like pouting when his fiancee once again fell asleep under the influence of alcohol. At least she stayed awake long enough, and it was fun while it lasted. Xelloss gently picked her up and brought her back to her room.
"Good night, my dear Filia."
to be continued
Author's Note:
I meant to post earlier but kept forgetting to. My memory is failing me at an alarming rate...
How did you like the turn of event? I mentioned Filia's secret in the story summary and in the prologue so it shouldn't be surprising enough to quality as a plot twist, and some of you probably saw it coming. For some weird reason, I can never seem to write a story without physical fights or at least a decisive battle, even if I started out wanting a pure sap... Let me just clarify that the Mazoku in this AU do not sense/feed on emotions, so no one would notice the change in Filia's mood.
I used quite a bit of the "if" sentence structures in this chapter, which is one of my biggest weaknesses, so please let me know if I did something wrong. I really appreciate it. Last but not least, please tell me what you think of the story so far! I'm always happy to read any comment and feedback. :)
