Okay, folks. Sorry for the week delay, but things have been pretty hectic and just getting worse. This installment is a reflection of that; still, I hope that it is enjoyable. Review notes to follow.

Interlude I
Elsewhere
June 9th, 2002

Dusk.
The child sat upon the lawn, stripping a fallen branch of its bark in the hot summer night. One long strand of gossamer blue hair fell into her eyes, and she brushed it aside, concentrating. "This is my sword," she spoke to the air, childlike voice flat and nasal as a child's voice is wont to be.
Around her in the falling light of June, crickets chirped and fireflies lit the world in a festive, intermittent glow.
"I know," the tiny girl frowned, then pulled herself up and began swinging the sword experimentally. "I want to help people . . ." Stabbing at an invisible foe, she glanced back towards the house, windows cheery with the warm blush of lamplight
"Juh-stice." She tried the world out, rolling it over her tongue. Nodding, she brushed more indigo hair from her cherubic face and glared out onto the looming night with large amber orbs. "Okay. I can try to help. I've never done that before, though."
She swung again, then cried out in surprise as a large bullfrog croaked by her foot in the grass and hopped away. Falling back on her bottom, the toddler watched it bound into the darkness.
"Evil is bad . . ." She looked certain for a moment, then a veil of confusion crossed her face. "Really? I didn't know that. When I see one, I'll give it a chance." Another pause, and she started pulling tufts of grass from the dirt around her. "Oh. Okay. But I don't have any magic. And how do you tell a good demon from a bad one?"
An owl hooted in the distance, and the wind shook the trees with a breath of warmth.
"You sure are talking a lot, today," griped the girl, throwing the handfuls of verdant foliage into the air and laughing as it fell. "Whee!!"
Letting herself roll onto her back, she looked up at the spots of brightness twinkling in the sky, then glanced over at the sound of twigs and grass crunching under tennis-shoes as someone approached.
Rolling onto her stomach, she watched her older sister walk towards her. "I don't want you to leave yet," she muttered.
"Come on, Jessica," called her sister as she grew nearer, running a hand through her long auburn hair. "We've got to go inside now, there's going to be a storm."
The Prussian-locked child gazed up, only to see the stars in the distance obscured by blackness. "Okay." She sat and drew up her feet, taking the stick into her hand again. Scowling, she snapped, "Well, Mommy says that life isn't fair. I think it should be, for everyone."
With a concerned glance down, the tall young woman beside her took her hand and they started walking back. "Who are you talking to?" she asked curiously.
Blinking, Jessica glanced back, and watched, one by one, as the glittering lights were absorbed by the storm-clouds that rolled and grumbled in the suffocating night.
"Lina," the toddler shrugged. "She's my invisible friend."


Omake I

And now it's time for the comedic extra . . . as if this fanfic doesn't already have enough comedy in it.

Filia and Xellos woke up, realizing that they'd just had sex out on the balcony.
"OH MY GODS!" Filia screamed, smacking Xellos, "You stole my virginity!"
Blinking, Xellos gaped, "But, Filia, you didn't seem to MIND at the time! I didn't steal anything!" He pulled away and began pulling on his clothes. "Wow, it got really cold all of a sudden . . . Please don't look at me and laugh."
The blonde began to cry, tears pouring down her face and collecting beneath her naked bottom. "You manipulated me into sleeping with you!"
"Filia, you are the one who always jumps ME!" the demon cried, violet eyes wide with shock as he quickly zipped up his pants.
"Well, that's just because I'm a dragon and hot-headed, you're supposed to have better control! – and I was having my period, too!" Standing, she glared at him, "You took my virginity!"
Affronted, Xellos stammered, "I did? How was I supposed to know that?!"
"You couldn't TELL?!" she cried. "You had SEX with me!"
"I couldn't tell?" he blinked, then stared at the readers. "I couldn't TELL! What is wrong with me?" Purple eyes narrowing, he crossed his arms and looked back at Filia. "That is so out of character!"
Getting into Justice Stance #47 (perfected by the Seyruunian government) Filia declared, "I know what's wrong with you – you're a DARK JEDI!"
"WHAT?!" Falling back on his butt, Xellos stared up at the blonde who suddenly pulled out a pink lightsaber and began waving it menacingly at him. "Where did THAT come from?!"
"I'm a Jedi!" she beamed, swinging her weapon nakedly. "And you are a dark Jedi, intent upon the ultimate destruction of the universe!"
"You're not a Jedi!" Xellos scooted out of the way as she began slashing at the ground where he sat. "I knew your obsession with the first trilogy would lead us to ruin! YIPES!" He quickly dodged another swing and slid around the balcony. "This is really breaking the FORTH WALL!"
"Take out your lightsaber and fight me, DARK JEDI! I am a good, light Jedi, dedicated to love, peace and happiness, and I will smite you!" the nude dragoness-in-human-form cried, stabbing at him with her magenta blade.
"Oh?!" Suddenly, Xellos held a long, blood-red staffsaber and began twirling it swiftly around himself. "Fine, be that way, I WILL be a dark Jedi!"
"Oooh, a staffsaber!" she declared, taunting, "Somebody's overcompensating!" then beamed and thrust her hand at him. "FORCE PUSH!"
Flung back, Xellos whipped his staffsaber at her and the woman shrieked as she used her glowing sword to block the blows. The Mazoku jumped to his feet and caught the staff at it's center as it sliced through the air, then announced, "Overcompensating, huh? You would know, you're the one who slept with me, and you seemed to enjoy it." While she sputtered he, laughed, "Oh, and nice pink lightsaber, very girly."
"SHUT UP!" eyes glowing red, she cried, "this is my pink lightsaber of Smiting! FORCE LIGHTENING!"
Lightening shot out from her hands and Xellos crumpled, shaking as the electricity flowed through his body. "Why," he gasped as it ended, "are you calling that out?! AND THAT'S A DARK-SIDE POWER!"
"Hmph!" she stuck up her nose and tossed back her long saffron hair, naked parts bouncing slightly. "It activates the console commands." Her red eyes found him again and she growled, "And I can use ANY POWER I want against and evil Dark Jedi like YOU! It's only dark-side if you let it influence you!"
"You ARE!" he snapped, rising and facing her with his staffsaber again. "And this is all still very OUT OF UNIVERSE, Filia!"
"Whatever!" the dragoness declared, spinning her sword. "You think you're so great just because your staffsaber does 2D 10 plus 5 damage. But mine crits on 19 OR 20! So there!"
Xellos dodged a swipe, then blocked another and glared at her. "Don't you start! Don't forget a dragon's stats were dropped when Third Edition came out!"
"At least my race EXISTS, Mazoku don't even show up in the Monster Manual!" Filia reacted haughtily, then shoved him off her sword and swung at him.
Blocking, Xellos announced, "I count as a GELGOTH, I'll have you know!"
"Hah, you're a gigantic spider," she laughed, then attacked him again, missing both times as he glared, then smirked.
"Tisk, tisk, you have a really low base attack bonus, don't you?" the violet-haired demon chuckled, spinning his staffsaber in one hand and yawning with the other hand. "Oh, this is so dull, isn't it? Too bad you're just a cleric, your hit die is a D8! All the con bonuses in the world won't help that!"
Instantly tearing up, the naked dragoness called out, "How can you be so cruel after taking my VIRGINITY!" and swung her pink saber at him.
"Not this again! Filia, I was written OUT OF CHARACTER! I would never do something so mean as to take your virginity!"
"You bastard!" she screamed, chasing him around the balcony. "Give it back!"
"I CAN'T," Xellos cried as he ran from her attacks. "But if you heal yourself, I'm sure your hymen will return! It's not truly giving your virginity back, but . . ."
Sobbing, she chased him, crying, "And you've probably gotten me pregnant and our children will be Trolls!"
"You're CRAZY!" the demon called back, ducking under a table and rolling out of the way of her attacks. "That was a STUPID fanfic! And for LINA'S sake, put some GOD DAMNNED CLOTHES ON!!"
"AHHHHHH!!!!!" Opening her mouth, Filia suddenly began spouting laser-breath, burning slices into the balcony and surrounding walls.
"Shit!" Xellos jumped up onto the balcony and looked below. "Good, Filia, just destroy the balcony. Why don't you open the GLASS DOORS so we can go inside?"
"Why don't you just TELEPORT in?!" she screamed, waving her sword again.
"Talk about falling to the dark-side." Tisking, the purple-haired man said, "Yeah, I guess that makes sense, considering you've totally trashed our mission AND the forth wall."
"Virginity STEALER!"
The glass doors flew open and Val stuck his head out. "WHAT is this about someone's virginity being stolen?"
Xellos raised an eyebrow. "You're just jealous, you pansy."
In sync the two dragons cried, "DIE!" and attacked!
And the chaos continued.


Onto the review notes!

Catwho: Luna is someone who is in the novels/manga; she is Lina's sister who is spoken of so often in Try but never named. Granted, I don't usually like to use those characters who aren't appearing in the series, but both she and Zelas are seen, they just don't really have roles that are expounded upon in the series. I'm sorry your day was bad; I know how you feel!

Elveria: I hope I'm different than other people. It's not really their fault; most of the writers of Slayers fiction are rather young and need time to develop their writing skills. Thanks for your review! Hope to see more of them!

Xeria: You are totally correct. Filia has to learn to truly understand Xellos. Though she may not realize it, the fact that he's always in a human form makes it very easy to think (subconsciously) that he's not a Mazoku even though she knows it consciously. As to Xellos and regret; he would definitely regret it, lol, and I'm afraid that next part will have to wait, as you've seen. But this isn't an angst fic or a death fic, or a "let's traumatize the characters" fic, fortunately, so you can rest assured that things won't digress too far. And, yes, I've realized that surprising the audience makes them review. I sure hope to use that to my advantage, lol.

Aisha: Poor Kendar. He's just too odd. Yep, Xellos' temper is getting out of hand. If only things would go better for our favorite demon.

Amber: You didn't see this part!

Shahrezad: You are very correct, Xellos IS angry about other things, but not just being unable to use his powers. Imagine everything that's been going wrong! LOL, poor thing. I also liked what you noticed with the sunsets: I never noticed the second one myself, but I did intend the first. I've seen quite a few "Xellos/Filia" sunsets here in New Mexico, lol.

Foxyandredpandy: zelas? Zelas is . . . genderless, technically, lol. So she can really be whatever she wants to be. There is no bisexuality for energy beings. Easy that way, isn't it? Thanks for the review!

Grace: Hello! As to Filia seeing Xellos mad before… scratches head. Not really, I don't think she has. I mean, if you look at the series, Try, she never sees him really upset and lose his temper. He wasn't angry at Val, he was happy when he was torturing him. As to their lives together, he would have never lost control that way (he's losing control now because he's under far more emotional stress and he also has more emotions to feel it with) so this is a first for Filia. Val being like Xellos' son is definitely part of his anger, but there is much more cause lurking under the surface. Filia, aggressive? She IS a dragon, after all. There has to be some animal instincts, and hormones of the mating "season" are strong drives. Believe me, I've felt them myself. Rykker's business is . . . a secret! You'll get it soon. No point in spilling all the beans right away. Also, thanks for the decision to not speculate on relationships. Granted, Iyzeka and Val MAY be good for each other, but I'm going to allow things to flow as they might. Even Filia and Xellos will have their ups and downs and who knows what may happen? As long as they're in character, that's what's important. And I think this fanfic is going to turn into a book pretty soon, lol. I'm thinking of waiting until Slayers becomes more popular and trying to get it published as a "novel based on the anime series 'Slayers'" lol. Who knows, Star Wars and Star Trek do it. PS: I LOVE LONG REVIEWS!! Thanks!

Beast Master Zelas: Well, Mazoku get lonely after a while. I'm sure you and Luna started out hating each other. Yes, Filia is rather fragile, isn't she? The cute little thing. But then, Xellos has his frailties . . . they're just mostly emotional.

Clover the Sea-Beast: Very true, it can't be all jokes. I hope you found this little tidbit to be entertaining though. It's okay, of course I forgive you, lol, I just love reviews so keep reviewing! And give me an email once in a while, let me know how things are going!

Inverse-chan: Thanks for the review! I'm glad you like Kendar. It's kind of odd when we see someone who has so many horrible aspects to them and yet they still have that humanizing, realness inside that we can pity them for. When we're capable of seeing past the black and white of a person's misdeeds to view the real, essence of an individual inside, that is when we are truly being the best that we can be. I'm not saying that people who commit crimes shouldn't be punished, but I do believe that we must see everyone, even those who we consider "evil", as the individuals that they are, lest we forget our own humanity in the ease of generalizing, categorizing and filing people into easily understandable "concepts". Whoops, there I go on my philosophy trip again!

Fiore Ami: I'm glad to see you! I sure hope you continue reading and bare with my tardiness and "once a month" updates. (They're a drag).

Nightfall rising: Might as well reiterate what I already told you in email! No, Lon is not owning a brothel, lol, I should hope not. Too bad much of old fashioned English has been bastardized into new meanings; the old ones are quite cool. Xellos' appetite? Well, I've discussed this before, but I might as well say again that Xellos needs food because he can't use his magic to give the human form he's created energy. Without magic, it needs a more "normal" means of getting fuel. Also, for everyone's benefit, he likes sweets, but junk is junk. After all, who wants ice cream with derivatives and guar and aspartame and all these other chemicals when you can have natural ice-cream, far more expensive but made with all-natural ingredients? He's a purist, even when it comes to candy. Though I never did find out what the "fritzy" thing between Xellos and Filia was that caught your interest. I'm curious . . . but when am I not? LOL!

Ishy-chan: thanks for the review! I'm glad I've interested you even though you're not normally a X/F fan; there seem to be a lot of people saying that lately, Nightfall being one of them! Many thanks for the words of praise, I do try my hardest to have a polished and well-written work. As to the feeling, I just seep myself into it; but it's hard getting into the mood for that lately. I sure hope that I'll be able to come back and write without having to deplete my emotional reserves every time I sit down and type!

Sal: I have to agree that they're not stupid, but I'm afraid I don't agree with your viewpoint on the characters. I think that it hasn't been until now that Xellos and Filia have even really had any positive feelings for each other. Jealously doesn't count, lol. Xellos actually started out with fleeting positive emotions, as you may recall from the prologue. I don't think it's strange at all; in fact I think that the way things were going, unless something like this had occurred, they would have continued dancing around each other like this for another 700 years. LOL. Since English isn't your first language, it's possible that there were some things you overlooked, so you might want to read it over – not that it wouldn't take forever, lol . . . stupid long fanfic.

Shuzo: Thanks so much for the review! I'm sorry that you missed out on your vacation, lol. Whoops!

Sakito: Thank you, sorry again for being a week late!

YueMichiru: A Mazoku's human form can get drunk, lol. But them having sex at this point (as you no doubt saw above) would probably be very bad. LOL Well, the steam is probably going to stay at this same spot or lessen, I've upped the rating but I doubt I'm going to go to the extreme that Hollywood does with their rated R movies. LOL

Random Fan Girls Anyms: near perfect? AH! I'm shocked and appalled! Just kidding, lol. Thanks so much for your award, lol. I try to stay away from annoying sentences.

Tiggs: You always give such cryptic reviews: It makes me feel all tingly inside, shiver. Well, I sure hope you like this one too, though it's half as long and four times as senseless.

Aoluas: Aw, c'mon, if they did the dirty now Filia would hate Xellos forever and Xellos would hate himself! Not to mention that unless they called each other "Zander" and "Veria" the whole time, they would risk the mission, and if they didn't call each other by their real names I'm certain that both of them would feel a bit cheapened by the experience. LOL, no, they still need some "growing up" before they will be able to handle a real relationship. But thanks for your review and I hope you keep reading and reviewing!

See ya all later!

Ukchana