Slayers: Alive

Slayers: Alive 13

Slayers: Alive - Episode 037: Emotions! Beating Hearts

Xellos was quite displeased with the revelation of him being an empath. "This annoyance isn't just because I'm stuck as a human. It's because I'm an empathic human, meaning I have it worse than most. I wonder what other diseases I'll discover as time goes by."

"It's not a disease!" Filia insisted. "What you call an annoyance is a wonderful ability. You'll be able to understand so much!"

"Right now the only thing I want to understand is how to get cured," Xellos let the words flow out without thinking of them. Tired humans were certainly stupid; they had a great knack for saying what they didn't want to say. He missed having the well rested clear head of a monster who didn't have to worry about the effects of exhaustion like a human did.

"Do you have any clues?" Filia questioned with interest. It probably wouldn't be long before Lina started asking about it. But that would probably come when the battles started to bother her and the easy cash stopped being easy.

"Yes," Xellos admitted cautiously. He would sound stupid if he lied and said no, but admitting that he did have a clue also meant that Filia would want to hear it.

"Well?" Filia prompted after Xellos remained silent following his single syllable response.

"Well what?" He gave her an innocent look and grinned, much like he used to do before.

Filia was too tired to snap, thus she stretched her patience to conserve energy. "What clues about your cure have you found so far?"

"Only rumors," Xellos made another long pause, while Filia stared at him expectantly. He considered waiting for another verbal prompt from her, but instead got a more amusing idea. "One of the rumors is that I should eat the heart of a golden dragon." If it was taken as a metaphor, a very odd metaphor, then it was in a strange sense true.

"You're lying," Filia accused unsure. "You are lying, aren't you?"

"I might be inclined to test that theory if worse comes to worse," Xellos gave Filia a teasing grin, feeling a little more comfortable now that he was in the familiar territory of trying to get on her nerves.

Remembering that Xellos was currently lacking in the power department, Filia gave him a stubborn and triumphant look. "How would you manage? You can't kill me."

"That's what servants are for," Xellos retorted.

It took Filia a moment to realize who he meant. "Your bodyguard?" She paused and mused over it. "This is Lina Inverse we're talking about, she's greedy but... I don't think she would go as far as turning against me."

"I suppose I could just send her off to slay some other golden dragon," Xellos conceded. "That's where her favorite spell got its name after all. It would be good if she got to use it properly."

Filia didn't like where the conversation was going. Slaying some stranger for money, yeah, Lina would do that. At least Filia knew that she, Tiffany and Phythan were safe from Lina's rage, or at least she liked to think they were. Either way, she still didn't like the idea of Xellos eating a dragon's heart. "What other clues do you have?"

"Love," he stated boldly.

Filia couldn't help it but to gasp. "Love," she repeated. "A cure like in a fairy tale? Falling in love breaks the curse? Or maybe..."

Xellos knew that Filia was close to theorizing about a loving kiss and he didn't want that theory to reach her so soon. It might seriously mess things up in the long run. Instead he grinned seductively and clarified, "making love with a golden dragon, in human form that is."