Slayers: Alive

Slayers: Alive 21

Slayers: Alive - Episode 061: Closer! Breaking Barriers

"Xellos!" He knew Filia would come, though he made good time getting a considerable distance away from the estate.

Xellos only stopped running because he realized that even if he used ray wing, Filia would still somehow catch him, she was a speedy flier in dragon form. He was still determined to ignore her though. Who was she to question what-who he was? He focused on his own thoughts in an effort to tune out her emotions.

"Xellos..." Filia stopped a few feet away from Xellos. He didn't look like he was going anywhere. He was just standing there glaring at the full moon as if he found it terribly offensive.

He was ignoring her and he wasn't planning to stop. So she thought she ignored him before? He would show her what it's like to ignore someone. Then if she got too annoyingly persistent he would sarcastically suggest that she should go talk to her mace instead. It was a weapon too, just as unfeeling as him and it wasn't broken, so it was even better. But that remark would be saved for when she dried the last drop of his will to ignore her, for the time being he would act as if she was invisible... Except he found it to be really hard to pretend Filia was invisible when she was tackling him to the ground in a hug and kissing him as if her life depended on it.

"I'm sorry," kiss, "I didn't mean it," kiss, "please forget what I said," another kiss, "just forget about it." Filia paused to examine Xellos' puzzled expression. "Xellos?"

He blinked, as if being woken up from the focus of trying to figure out something particularly complex and pretended to struggle to get away from under her. "Getting vengeance is one thing, but must I die such a cruel death, being crushed by a fat dragon?"

"Idiot!" Filia punched him on the shoulder, hard enough to hurt, but not with enough force to actually break anything. "You're such a stupid sarcastic annoyance!" Despite her words, she sounded relieved. If Xellos was throwing sarcastic critiques at her, then that meant he didn't want to let go of what they had any more than she did. She settled comfortably on him, feeling more reassured when his arms were wrapped around her body.

"Why did you follow me?" Xellos broke the moment of still silence with a question that lacked his usual sarcasm. His will to ignore Filia had swiftly left him completely.

She looked at his face, without the silly cheerful mask, but she couldn't find any hints that could help her interpret the depth of his question. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I am, what I've done and you have an idea of what I might end up doing. You know there are things that can't be changed and believe it or not, for the most part, I'm actually okay with that," though he had not stopped to give it too much thought. There's no sense in going in circles thinking about the inevitable. "Plus it seems that you end up angry or sad more often than happy," except for that big wave of relief she felt just now. "You're an empath's worse nightmare. You're so moody you give me a headache."

Filia bit her lip as she felt dread bubbling up inside her, but it was kept at bay by a stubborn sense of hope and optimism. "I followed you because I want to be with you," Filia tried to explain. "I was mean and wanted to apologize. I didn't want you to leave thinking that I hate you and never return."

"I suppose it would be difficult to be trapped on your own in the past, with the Lord of Nightmares pushing you around like a chess piece," Xellos acknowledged.

"That's not it!" Filia emphasized, "You know as well as I do that I have a better chance of surviving in this time than you, or in any time and place as things stand now. I'm not here because I'm scared of the Lord of Nightmares, as strange as it sounds, I'm not afraid of her. That golden light... it was intense, but not evil. I'm here for you, because... because I love you."