To Live Another Day 126

Slayers: Alive

Episode 126: Shock! Celebrity Couple

Sitting on the roof of Filia's shop as the sun rose over the horizon to a new day, Xellos contemplated the moment when he found out about the shock. He had just recovered at the time and was walking down the hall at Beast Master's palace in Wolf Pack Island, minding his own business. He heard Zelas talking to Galathia as they made their way through a different hallway and stood at the corner hidden from view, listening to a portion of their conversation, cut off and out of context.

"That's the full report from the monster rumor mill." Galathia finished with a tale that Xellos didn't quite catch. She was in fact talking about him and Filia. "Some are oddly amused, some are surprised and some simply don't believe it. However, other than those who have actually seen visual proof of the matter, many seem to think it's all some crazy rumor."

"I suppose it is hard to believe," Beast Master agreed. "A monster and a golden dragon together..."

Xellos was both surprised and curious. Who was Beast Master talking about? What golden dragon? What monster?

"If it was a low rank monster, maybe even a middle ranked monster, or a monster chimera, then it wouldn't be so shocking," Galathia mused aloud. "But in this case, given the rank..."

Xellos deduced that the monster in this odd involvement with a golden dragon was of a high rank. Maybe a general or a priest? Perhaps even a monster lord? That certainly narrowed down the possibilities.

Galathia's next statement made dread start to build up in the pit of Xellos metaphorical astral stomach. "Many have been thinking of your recent behavior as suspicious, but I of course, completely understand."

It didn't make this sound any better for Xellos when he remembered that Galathia was one of the more lustful monsters around, albeit her literally petrifying face didn't make things easy for her. Thus Xellos couldn't help it but to deduce, taking both the information and the informant into consideration, that a monster of a particularly high rank apparently had the hots for a golden dragon... ew.

"I'm sure you do," Zelas stated dismissively, moving on to an entirely different topic with little verbal indication. Away from Xellos' view however, she had pulled out of the astral side a black golden lined agenda written in red ink, making it clear to Galathia that she was moving on to a different subject as she turned the pages looking through her notes. "Milgazia should be here soon."

The dragon elder of the Water Clan had the audacity, not to mention the skill, to win the men's brass rackets elimination tournament and become the partner of the winner of the women's elimination tournament, Yuna Wolf. Such a name was the secret identity with which Zelas was entering the competition. Milgazia was going by something along the lines of Angel Dragon, the first part most likely to annoy Zelas and the second due to the fact that the most obvious disguises were the hardest to see through.

The tournament only allowed humans and elves to enter, reasoning that the elves were similar enough to humans. Monsters were obviously not allowed to compete. The league claimed that beastmen, dragons and other such beings would have an unfair advantage because of their physical strength, never mind that it was a weak excuse given the fact that brass rackets was more about the strength of the mind. The point was that they would not be allowed to enter. Of course, no one would think that a dragon entering incognito would actually call himself Mr. Dragon. As for monsters, they were labeled as evil, blamed for the almost apocalypse, even if they were also adversely affected during its worse stage, and banned from competing.

Zelas was very tempted to send Milgazia to an early grave, or better yet, to her oven, but she decided to let him be for the time being. It's not like he could stop her from causing chaotic mayhem by revealing her identity at the upcoming world wide tournament. He would probably be pushed into revealing his true nature as a dragon and that would cause more confusion and chaos. Perhaps having Milgazia as a brass rackets partner wasn't such a terrible thing after all.

After having reached that conclusion, Zelas decided to follow up with her plans, undergoing some brass rackets training to make sure she put up a believable act on all the public appearances and exhibition matches she would have to go through before the official tournament took place. She couldn't show her true power, she had to run around the court and make the matches look close, as they would be for an ordinary human. Milgazia was, naturally, expected to practice along with her.

Their coach and advisor, Wizer Freion, who was taking a break from his detective and police work for the time being, thought the odd pair had a long way to go. If he knew about the real identities of Yuna Wolf and Angel Dragon at the moment was anyone's guess. Maybe he had no idea, if he suspected something, he didn't show it. Although there was also the possibility that he was just playing along, feigning ignorance.

Wizer often remarked that though Yuna and Angel were impressively skilled on their own, their team work was so bad it made amateurs look like champions. He insisted that if they didn't work together, they would be each other's downfall in the official tournament, not to mention they'll embarrass themselves in exhibition matches and interviews to the point that they might not even make it to the tournament. He suggested practicing together until they began to feel comfortable with each other and learned to tune their movements to each other.

Miss Wolf and Mr. Dragon had in turn assured Wizer that they would practice together privately and tell him all about how it went later, this was to avoid having to put up an act more than absolutely necessary.

"Have fun playing with him!" Galathia replied to Zelas' comment about Milgazia's time of arrival being close by in a completely non-lustful way with only innocent mischief.

However, this was Galathia and she was known for being kind of a pervert, so Xellos took her comment the wrong way and questioned her sanity in speaking to Beast Master in such a way. His horror was still growing, pulsating like a ticking time bomb waiting to explode if the terrible theory actually turned out to be true.

Zelas on the other hand, took Galathia's comment exactly as it was intended and assured, "I will." Which meant that she intended to annoy Milgazia while they practiced brass rackets.

Zelas and Galathia's voices faded out of Xellos' hearing range as he fell back against the wall and slid down to the floor with his back resting on it. Zelas and Milgazia? No, absolutely not, that was completely and totally insane. Xellos refused to believe it, it was so crazy it wasn't even funny. He paced around in denial for some time, until he could no longer contain the need to rush after Beast Master and ask her to clarify the situation.

When Xellos teleported near by, the first thing that Zelas noticed was that he looked rather disturbed. "Lord Beast Master, may I ask you a question?"

Zelas had been making her way through the long hallways of her palace towards the surface of the island at a luxurious pace, having just parted ways with Galathia. Curious about what had Xellos in such an alarmed state of discomfort, she agreed. "You just did, but you may ask another."

"With all due respect," Xellos hoped that he had misinterpreted what he heard and he also hoped that he didn't get punished for asking something so preposterous. But he needed to know, he needed to put his terrible doubts to rest. "What is your relationship with Milgazia?"

A look of realization overtook Zelas' face. "Ah, so you've heard." She expected Xellos to be a little upset that Milgazia was the one playing brass rackets with her instead of him. "To put it simply, he is my partner for LIFE." To make it complicated, people cannot actually hear capital letters being spoken. Yet Zelas assumed that if Xellos was inquiring about her brass rackets partner, than he must know that LIFE meant League of International Fellowship on Earth, which was the name of the committee sponsoring the upcoming world wide brass rackets tournament.

Xellos twitched as Zelas mused that he was taking this harder than she expected. "Seriously?" He stuttered, silently begging for it to not be true, after all, 'partner for life,' without the capital letters, was just a politically correct way to say lover.

"Yes, for that reason, you must not kill him. Also you can expect to see him at Wolf Pack Island every now and then." Taking note of the look in Xellos eyes as if he had died ten times over, Zelas waved her hand dismissively and chuckled. "Don't be such a baby, Xellos. You're still my favorite minion," she teased. "Now go away, Milgazia and I need to be alone," so they could concentrate on their brass rackets strategizing and practice acting like humans on the court.

"Alone?" Xellos twitched some more as Zelas continued her path down the hallway, leaving him standing there to twitch away his sanity. Maybe the world had not survived the apocalypse after all, maybe this was it. At least that's what it felt like to him, it was simply too horribly wrong.

Shocked and appalled, Xellos went to spy on Beast Master outside of the palace, as soon as he composed himself enough to walk more than two steps without shuddering. In the surface of Wolf Pack Island, Xellos noticed the addition of a brass rackets court. Zelas was there, with her alternate sporty look in a brass rackets outfit. Milgazia was also wearing sports attire and they seemed to be talking, but Xellos was too far away to hear them. If he got too close, even if he managed not to be spotted, they would sense him and the suspicious proximity would make it impossible for him to pretend he just happened to be passing by.

Out of Xellos' hearing range, Zelas approached Milgazia and looked at his ears. She had seen them pointy and elf-like and she had seen them rounded and human-like. As far as the tournament went, Mr. Angel Dragon was supposed to be a human. Even if elves were allowed to compete, humans were generally favored by the LIFE committee. "Do you think you can keep your ears like this?" She curiously moved his hair away from them with the tip of her finger, tilting her head slightly to the side to have a better look at his ears. "Not to mention keeping your tail out of sight?"

"I can," Milgazia assured. "Pointy ears are a sign of a slightly incomplete human transformation, though sometimes dragons allow them as a show of solidarity for the elves."

Xellos' pet, as Zelas referred to Filia, was younger, thus less experienced in changing into a human, which was probably why she never got rid of the pointy ears. Plus her tail apparently popped out without her consent rather often. "I see, well then, let's get down to business." Zelas knew Milgazia was doing this to keep an eye on her and she was making fun of him by allowing it.

While the conversation between the golden dragon elder and the monster lord took place, Xellos watched part of the scene in mute, due to the distance. From his angle, they appeared to be standing closer to each other than they actually were, as it was difficult to calculate the distance of two bodies one behind the other from so far away. She reached over to... take his face in her hand? Xellos turned away at that point and refused to watch any further. If they were going to kiss, which couldn't be further from the realm of possibilities, he really didn't want to witness it.

The painstakingly frustrated and truthfully horrified purple haired monster teleported to his chambers before he could witness the fact that his crazy theory was very wrong. He buried his face in a purple pillow and screamed into it, trying to let out his tensions in a very non-astral way. His pet, whom he didn't remember adopting or naming but had been told was called Fili Algar Metallium, jumped on the bed next to him and tried to comfort her master.

Xellos petted Fili's soft fur. The little wolf-dog cub reminded him of Filia with her light blond fur and blue eyes. That's just what he needed right now, to clear his head by indulging in what a monster would call a good meal and Filia was just the one who could provide it. He needed her delicious wrath to feast on, he wanted some comfort food to get over the shock of the horror he just learned about and start thinking of a way to fix it.

xoxox xox xoxox

Thus that brings us back to the present with the sun rising over the horizon, announcing the start of another day in the kingdom of Seyruun. Upon hearing some sounds coming from the living area below, Xellos realized that Filia was already awake. He teleported inside and waited for her in front of the stairs as she made her way across the area, towards the kitchen, which was located downstairs.

The kitchen was spacious and comfortable, being equipped to handle the daily needs of a bakery and it was also the place where personal meals were prepared. Filia would cook something to add to Elena's delicious freshly baked bred that the golden dragon could already smell was being prepared. Then the whole family would sit down to have breakfast together. At least that was Filia's plan until she found Xellos blocking her path to the stairs. "Xellos!" She greeted him in the usual fashion of angrily spitting out his name like venom.

"Filia," Xellos grinned in response in the same annoyingly mocking fashion he always did with an infuriating overly cheerful mask.

"What do you want so early in the morning, raw garbage?" Filia had her hands on her hips, glaring daggers.

"I have a business proposition to make," Xellos began to explain. "I must ask that you suppress your violent barbaric instincts for a moment and hear me out. I assure you that you'll see my point and will willingly participate of this alliance as soon as I've stated my case."

"Alliance?" Filia huffed. "Why in the world would I willingly be your ally?"

"Dragons and monsters don't really belong together, do they?" Xellos sounded like he was continuing the argument with Filia, but he was in fact beginning to state his case. People were easier to convince when they didn't know they were being convinced. He had thought up some good arguments while he waited for morning so he could talk to Filia without ruining his chances of obtaining her willing cooperation by interrupting her slumber in the middle of the night. Dragons were especially cranky when they didn't get enough sleep, Xellos assumed. Although it also stood to reason that any creature lacking in rest would be cranky.

"No, they don't," Filia agreed suspiciously. She fully expected Xellos to say something about how dragons were too uncivilized and unrefined to understand monsters or some equally ridiculous argument. Yet the sarcastic remark she was expecting never came.

Instead Xellos continued his argument, moving forward quickly since Filia appeared to be so responsive this morning. She had not even shouted her latest statement towards him. "It is unnatural and wrong for a dragon and a monster to be together. Maybe they can be acquaintances, maybe even allies if they have a common goal or a common enemy. But they can never, ever, under no circumstances be a couple. Right?"

On the previous evening, Filia had a talk with Jillas and Gravos. They told her about the less pleasant side of the things she had missed and she managed to stay composed, albeit she still felt a dull ache in her heart. Xellos was still being omitted from the conversation though. Jillas and Gravos agreed that it was best to give him time to make Filia come around slowly so that the revelation didn't appear to be horrible to her. Besides, if despite their constant quarrels they got together once, they could go through the process all over again and end up happy a second time. Thus assuming Xellos was taking care of business in his own way in the romance department, they decided to give him some space.

Filia blinked in confusion, her defenses disarmed by the sheer oddity of Xellos' argument about how monsters and dragons couldn't be a couple. "Right... Monsters don't love. They don't feel any sort of attraction, not towards other monsters and certainly not towards dragons. Because monsters can't be attracted to anything..."

"That's not exactly right, but that's beyond the point," Xellos voiced in passing, before going back to his main argument. "The point is that-"

"What do you mean that's not exactly right?" Filia interrupted.

"Interrupting people is rude, stupid dragon," Xellos pointed out with a cheerful smile that didn't quite match the statement.

"Answer me, raw garbage." Still feeling emotional, Filia was not in the mood for trickery.

Letting out an annoyed breath, Xellos explained in a matter of fact, rushed tone, so as to not delay the more important matters too much. "Monsters can feed on lust," it was simple, precise and concise factual information.

"Oh," Filia blushed and she expected Xellos to tease her, but he didn't. In fact, he looked rather uncomfortable himself. "Xellos?" She curiously prompted.

"Anyway, as I was saying, it is completely nonsensical for monsters and dragons to be romantically involved," Xellos emphasized. He really didn't want to think about the possibility of Zelas feeding off a certain golden dragon elder's.. l... l... 'life is wonderful!' Xellos mentally shouted at himself, flinching as he did.

"Yes, we agree on that much..." Filia nodded unsure. She shifted uncomfortably, feeling rather awkward with the subject at hand. Strangely, Xellos looked like he was suffering from discomfort himself, though not for the same reasons as Filia. "Um... are you alright?"

"Perfectly fine," he grinned, while Filia stared at him, not with anger, but with concern. She noticed his change in behavior and it confused her. He let out a tired breath; there was no use in going in circles. Filia would know about Zelas and Milgazia soon anyway, so he might as well come out with it.

Yet before Xellos could speak any further, Filia interrupted with an unexpected question. "What's your favorite monster food?"

"Monster food?" Xellos curiously inquired. "As in my favorite negative emotion to consume?" Filia nodded. "It's wrath," Xellos truthfully replied without pausing to think about it.

"And your least favorite?" Filia tried to stop herself from looking away shyly. This was silly; it was none of her business. Besides, she should have guessed wrath was his favorite.

Xellos considered the question for a moment, "I find the flavor of sorrow to be the least pleasant, it's either overly bitter or kind of shallow, lacking in taste. Fear is pretty good, but wrath is still my favorite. Wrath is... kind of like high quality barbecued meat with a great secret sauce."

"Oh," Filia was more interested in the conversation than she thought she should be. Somehow, when she thought that Xellos was just trying to sustain himself by annoying her, it sounded less horrible, albeit it was still very much wrong. Although it was almost, but not quite, excusable if it was out of necessity. "Can't you monsters feed on something pleasant to the one giving it?"

Xellos paused and gave that question some thought too. He was allowing himself this little distraction only because Filia's curiosity amused him. He would have to tease her about it later. "Yes, actually," and now he was back down that road again.

"Really?" The light of undue hope shone in Filia's eyes. "If you must constantly feed on me, why can't you feed on that instead?"

"Such a direct offer," Xellos feigned shock, focusing on teasing Filia.

"What do you mean?" Filia didn't like the way Xellos' grin grew.

Xellos opened one eye, making it look like he was winking, sort of. "You're offering me your lust."

To be Continued

Misunderstanding, much?