Slayers: Alive

Slayers: Alive 41

In the mean time, Zelgadis remained at Amelia's bed side, watching her and giving her words of encouragement, hoping that she would wake up soon. Lina was restlessly assaulting the castle's food supplies with Gourry, continuously stating her frustration with the situation. The enemy had taken way longer to beat than any past one and she was at the end of her patience, especially with the whole famine situation to pressure her.

Filia and Xellos were in their new shared room at the castle. It was a mix of purple and pink, as some of the furniture from Filia's old room at Seyruun was moved to a larger room for them to share. The worried golden dragon paced around impatiently, while her husband watched her walk and rant, from his position on the purple couch among the pink heart shaped cushions. Xellos made a mental note to get rid of those ridiculous cushions later, when Filia wasn't looking. "Are you even listening to me, Xellos?" Filia stopped her pacing abruptly and Fili walked into her, as the cub had been following her, walking in circles.

Fili shook her head to clear it, then walked over to Xellos, standing on her hind legs, her front paws on his legs in an obvious indication of wanting to be picked up. "You worry too much, stupid dragon. It's obvious Beast Master has a plan." Xellos picked up Fili, letting her sit on his lap. Her reaction before the Void showed up was interesting; she somehow sensed that being was coming even if no one else did. Maybe it was a beast's instincts, Zelas must have that too and so would Xellos if he wasn't stuck as a human.

"You may be able to trust her without knowing what you're getting into, but I can't." Filia sat down next to Xellos, joining him in the activity of petting Fili's soft pale yellow fur.

"We don't have a choice," Xellos reminded with his characteristic mocking grin.

Filia huffed, "I know." She leaned back on the couch and looked at the wolf cub, that didn't look entirely like a wolf. "Fili's pretty dog-like for a wolf, isn't she?"

"That's because she's a mix breed mutt, she doesn't even look like her mother, though most of her siblings do. She was the ugly runt of the litter. I guess she reminded me of you because she's a pitiful, pathetic and hideous creature." Xellos smiled with the same cheer he always used to insult Filia. Little Fili whimpered, licked Xellos and wagged her tail. "See what I mean? She's hideous and pathetic."

"Don't listen to him Fili, come here." Filia picked up the little cub and cuddled her. "You're the cutest puppy I've ever seen."

"You have terrible taste." Xellos shook his head in mocking disapproval. "I'm not surprised though, you are a golden dragon and Fili looks a lot like Milgazia's ugly pet dog. All golden dragons have terrible taste."

"Really? In that case, I'm sure Milgazia's pet is adorable!" Filia adamantly assured. She paused going over the notion in her head again. "Wait, how do you even know Milgazia has a pet dog?"

"A yellow husky with blue eyes named Justice, nothing like Zelas black wolf with golden eyes, Chaos," Xellos revealed. "It shouldn't surprise you that I know this, Beast Master has monsters keeping an eye on all the happenings of the world, especially lately. It's only a matter of time before she sees it fit to share some information. Whenever the time comes for my true mission, she'll give me all the detailed specifics then." Going back to the topic of Fili, Xellos remembered just why he decided to keep her as a pet. Sure she looked harmless, but she had a highly volatile fighting spirit that violently came out when she was provoked, even if she was a total sweetie the rest of the time. "Her siblings don't really like Fili very much. It was kind of funny watching them gang up and pick on her, but then she fought back and gave them worse bites and scratches than they did to her. She can be such a temperamental sadistic little mutt."

"Fili's a sweetheart, I'm sure she only fought back in self defense, didn't you, honey?" Filia hugged the puppy that was named after her, then a thought finally clicked in her head. "Is Fili the daughter of Chaos and Justice?"