Author's Note: updated July 19th for mistakes

Disclaimer: I do not own Slayers or any of its characters. They belong to Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Arakawa and who ever else is lucky enough to own them.

A Secret.

A Slayers fanfic.

"Get BACK here namagomi!" there was a crash, followed by a laugh.

"Now Fi-chan, you're destroying your house." The purple haired Mazoku smirked.

It was true. Broken vases, smashed chairs, ripped pillows and an overturned sofa were strewn around the fuming golden haired woman holding a giant mace.

"It's your fault!" the woman took another swing at her 'guest' and smashed a picture that had been sitting above the fireplace before the Mazoku decided to move and so leave it in the line of fire.

"It's always my fault isn't it?" the floating man sighed. "I do believe you are the one smashing things…"

"Because you won't hold still, I keep hitting things!" Filia yelled.

Xelloss teleported above her head. "Maybe if you had a better aim…"

Filia scowled and threw her mace at him, which he dodged easily.

"Really, now you've lost your weapon--" he cut off as Filia reached under her skirt and pulled out…..A slightly smaller, and by the looks of it heavier, mace.

Xelloss sweatdropped and fell sideways to the ground.

"HIYA!" Filia used a downward swing that hit Xelloss in the back of his head.

Slowly, leaning on his staff for support, Xelloss got to his feet. "Fi-chan, that hurt…"

"It was SUPPOSED to!" she glared at him and retrieved her other mace.

"Really, you can be so violent…" As Filia swung her mace at him again, he smiled and disappeared.

"Get BACK here! XELLOSS!"

"Now why should I do that? Just so you can hit me again? I think not…" the laughing priest's disembodied voice replied laughingly.

Filia let out a scream of rage and frustration as she threw herself in the only remaining -intact- chair, Xelloss' laugh still echoing around the room.

The next day, Filia looked up tiredly as the purple haired pest teleported in at exactly 12:00, as he had done every day since the defeat of DarkStar two years ago.

"Good afternoon Filia! I see you've put your house back in working order." Xelloss stated cheerfully.

"Good afternoon to you too. Would you like some tea?" Filia asked with forced sweetness.

This is how the former Fire-Dragon King Priestess spent her days: she got up and had breakfast, opened her Vace'n'Mace shop, closed it at noon for tea, had tea with Xelloss when he showed up at noon, got angry after an insult from Xelloss, destroyed half of her house in an attempt to beat up Xelloss, reopened her shop after Xelloss either got hit and left or got bored and left, closed her shop at 5, repaired the damage to her house, ate dinner and went to bed. In the morning, she started the cycle all over again.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I would." He replied, floating into a vacant chair.

Once Filia had poured his tea and cut him a piece of cake, and only just began to drink her own tea, Xelloss struck:

"So Fi-chan, you keep your house clean, don't you?" he asked in the same overly cheerful voice he always used.

"Yes of course! I'd hate having mice and bugs in my house!"

Xelloss opened one eye" So you planned for that spider to be on your head right now?"

Filia screamed and jumped up, pulled out her mace, shook her head vigorously to get the spider out of her hair and proceeded to bash things, trying to kill the spider; which, of course, was a fake one Xelloss put on her head.

Xelloss fell out of his chair from laughing so hard and teleported up to the ceiling to get a better view.

Somehow the spider managed to land on Filia's tea cake, sinking deep into the frosting. "Wah! It's ruined!" Filia cried, dropping her mace and holding her twitching hands up in dismay.

Xelloss roared with laughter and held his side, still floating above Filia.

"Huh?" Filia looked from Xelloss to the spider and back again. Slowly she reached forward and plucked up the spider, her eyes narrowing when she saw it was a fake.

"Xelloss! Get your fat Mazoku butt down here so I can smash it!" she yelled, lifting her mace again.

Xelloss hiccupped and whipped tears of laughter from his eyes. "Why should I? It's so much more fun to watch you destroy things from the safety of the ceiling."

Filia's left eye twitched.

"You know, Filia, I think you'd make a good Mazoku, what with your love to destroy things…" he remarked thoughtfully.

"I do NOT love to destroy things, I love to destroy YOU!" she screamed, trying in vain to land a blow on Xelloss.

"Mmhm, and that's a Mazoku quality.." he opened his eyes. "Filia, there's a mouse by your foot." He said, floating down onto the ground behind her.

The golden haired dragon screamed and, not bothering to see if Xelloss was telling the truth (he wasn't), she left onto him and latched her arms around his neck, burying her face in his chest.

Xelloss blinked. He had not been planning for that to happen…He looked down at the trembling woman in his arms.

Filia opened her eyes. Purple. She looked up to see Xelloss staring down at her, a confused and curious look on his face. Filia screamed and whacked Xelloss with her mace (do not ask me how she pulled it out in her current position) so hard that he went flying backwards into a wall.

Xelloss went cross-eyed and little chibi Filia's holding a maces were circling around his head.

"Get out, get out, get out! How DARE you hug me! Get out and don't come back, I never want to see you again! Get OUT!" A blushing and enraged Filia yelled, tail waving behind her.

Xelloss sat up and rubbed his head. "I believe you were the one who hugged me," he reminded her.

"Get out you horrid Mazoku! GET OUT!" Filia swung her mace at Xelloss a murderess look on her face. "I HATE you! Leave! And never come back!"

Xelloss opened both his eyes and looked at her.

Filia froze: There was no humor or energy in those purple eyes, only hurt. Filia opened her mouth to say something, but before she got the chance, Xelloss disappeared.

Filia paused. She had never seen Xelloss look hurt before. Sure, she had seen him annoyed, happy and she had even him pretend to be hurt, but never had she seen him look so pained.

With a sigh, she started to clean up the mess eh had made, started with throwing away the 'ruined' cake. I will ask him about that tomorrow.

The next day at noon, Filia looked up expectantly. Nothing. She blinked, and then looked around.

Still nothing.

Hmm, that's odd…he always shows up right at 12:00…Maybe he has a job to do or something… Filia tried to ignore the feeling that Xelloss wasn't coming back.

Seven months….Tomorrow will be seven months… Filia thought as she brushed her hair, and then crawled into bed.

Everyday for the first month, Filia had looked around expectantly at noon, but had seen nothing. Finally, she had come to the realization that Xelloss was never coming back.

Once she realized this, she had lost most of her appetite and stopped drinking tea all together; she hated spiders and mice more then ever and refused to eat cake anymore. She couldn't even stand the sight of purple, and every time she did, she would burst into tears and smash the purple thing with anything within reach.

After five months of no sign of Xelloss, she had closed her shop and stopped leaving her house.

At night, she had nightmares of all the things that could have happened to Xelloss to make him stop coming, even though deep down, she knew it was her fault.

What with limited sleep, no fresh air and hardly any food, Filia did not look good. Her once golden hair was dull and lifeless, her face was pale, her eyes no longer sparkled and she didn't even have the strength to swing her mace around anymore.

I never thought I'd miss him…But then again, I never thought he wouldn't come back….

She sighed. I really do miss him…If I could go back and change it, I would.

With that, she drifted off into the usual fitful sleep, once again dreaming about Xelloss.

Filia sighed as she looked in the cellar. "I guess I'll have to go shopping."

"The one time I do have an appetite, I have no food. How ironic" Filia murmured as she walked to the dry goods store.

Filia yawned as she walked out of the store with three parcels of food. She got as far as the dinning room of her house before she collapsed from hunger and exhaustion. So...Tired…

The next thing she knew, she was laying in her bed; warm, comfortable and well rested. She also had the feeling someone had been watching over her, a gentle hand stroking her hair.

How did I get up here? I was downstairs…. Filia sat up and rubbed one eye.

After a second or two of puzzlement, she noticed a light purple glove laying on her nightstand. It took her a few moments to register what she was seeing, but once she did, her eyes widened in recognition.

The golden dragon reached out and snatched up the glove. This is…Xelloss'?! He was here?! Was he the one who brought me up to by room?

Filia jumped up and searched the house for more clues as to whether or not Xelloss had indeed been there, watching over her, helping her.

Finally she accepted the fact that Xelloss wouldn't have come back, and she only thought that the glove was Xelloss'

Blinking back tears of loneliness, Filia returned to her room and stared at the glove as if it could make Xelloss appear.

Filia opened her eyes at the sound of someone teleporting. Vaguely she remembered getting back under the blankets and drifting off to sleep after staring for hours at Xelloss' glove.

Slowly, while her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Filia glanced around the room

There was a shadowy figure in the corner of her room and before Filia could even grab her mace, the figure had teleported in from of her and hit her over the head.

She awoke sometime later to see a Mazoku with red eyes and bluish green hair staring at her from across the room where he say, her mace laying across his knees.

Filia tried to scream, but discovered she was sitting on the ground, a black strip of cloth tied across her mouth and her arms bound behind her back.

As soon as the Mazoku saw she was awake, he stood up and grinned. "Filia ul Copt, former priestess of the Fire Dragon King, it has come to the attention of the Mazoku race that you may be a threat in later years, and it is wise to rid us of said threat." He spoke in a laughing voice and moved forward, a ball of crackling red energy growing in his raised left hand.

Before the deadly blast could reach Filia, another figure teleported next to her, grabbed her around the waist and teleported across the room and behind the blue-haired Mazoku.

Filia's eyes widened. "Mehoff!" the purple haired Mazoku pulled the cloth from Filia's mouth, stood up and turned around to face the intruder.

"Xelloss." The other Mazoku spat, eyes glinting.

"Voderen." Xelloss acknowledged.

The Mazoku called Voderen sneered. "I should have known you'd show up. I've heard of your growing fondness of golden dragons."

"Yes, well, I think that if you ever got to know a dragon -as unlikely as that is- you would find them worth keeping around too" Xelloss answered quietly, pointing the tip of his staff at the other Mazoku.

"Hmph, as if I would; I make it my duty to kill all dragons I come across- which I must say is a surprisingly large number." Voderen replied, generating a dozen or so small black darts. "Now I mustn't break the tradition. Step aside so I can kill this one." He ordered.

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Xelloss told him quite calmly, a small orb of sapphire blue gathering at the point of his staff.

"Then you shall die alongside her!" he snapped, sending three of the darts flying at them.

Xelloss waved his hand to the side, making the darts fly into he wall, which turned black and seemed to disintegrate. "I'm afraid that's not on my list of things to do today. Maybe some other time."

There was a slow, agonizing scream as the ball of sapphire energy hit Voderen, causing him to evaporate.

"All talk and no show. How boring." Xelloss commented, turning around to face Filia, who saw his eyes were open.

Xelloss lifted his right index finger and the ropes that tied Filia fell away. With another swipe of his hand, the furniture and books that had scattered all righted themselves and returned to their proper place. The wall repaired itself in an instant.

All this time, Filia stared at him, as if not believing her eyes. It couldn't be true that Xelloss had showed up -after seven months of absence-, saved her like, defended the Golden Dragon race, killed one of his own kind, and on top of all that, fixed the damage to her house.

Xelloss turned away from Filia and started to teleport away.

"Wait!" Filia yelled, launching to her feet.

Xelloss paused, but didn't turn around. "Yes?" he said coldly.

Filia flinched back. "Wh-why didn't you ever come back?" she asked in a quiet and trembling voice.

"Really, I believe you said to 'Leave and never come back.' " he replied, voice still cold and hateful.

Again, Filia flinched back. "I-I didn't really mean…I thought you…I didn't think you would listen, if I'd have known…I'm sorry…." She whispered, turning away and whipping her eyes on the back of her hand.

Xelloss sighed and teleported in from on Filia. "Don't cry." He murmured, putting a finger under her chin and turning her face up to look at him. Once again, his eyes were fully open and his purple irises were clear and soothing.

Filia sobbed harder then ever and threw herself into Xelloss' arms.

She felt Xelloss stiffen. "Filia." He said warningly. "If you'll recall, the last time you hugged me it didn't turn out too well…"

Filia only hugged him tighter. "I never meant for you to stay gone…I didn't mean what I said about you never coming back…" her voice trailed off. "I'm so sorry about what I said; I never would have said it if I'd known you would leave…"

Slowly and cautiously, Xelloss wrapped his arms around Filia's waist and hugged her tightly.

Filia let herself relax in Xelloss' arms and took a deep, calming breath. "Don't you ever stay away for so long again."

"I'll think about it." he whispered, voice calm and relaxed.

Suddenly Xelloss stiffened and took a step away from Filia, the latter opening her eyes and looking at Xelloss in confusion.

Xelloss was on one knee with his head bowed and his back to Filia.

"Xelloss, what're you--"

"Quiet." He said before she could get any further.

A violet pillar of light was forming in one corner of Filia's room. After a few seconds, the light died down and in its place stood a woman who looked you and old at the same time, while still giving off an impression of calm superiority and unique beauty.

The woman had long silver hair and shocking violet eyes that were nearly the same color as Xelloss' . She wore long knee high black leather boots and hat a low cut silver top on and a short black mini-skirt.

Xelloss murmured something Filia didn't catch and the woman acknowledged him with a nod. "You may go now," she said calmly, taking a step towards Filia

Filia saw a fleeting look of worry cross Xelloss' face before he bowed lower and disappeared.

"Now, your name is Filia, correct?" here the woman paused and Filia nodded. "My name is Beastmaster Zelas, Xelloss' creator and Master."

Filia let out a small gasp. So that explains why Xelloss reacted the way he did. Still, what does she want with me?

"I assume you wish to know why I am here, correct?" Zelas asked, smiling amusedly.

"well…Yes…" Filia replied, confused slightly.

"There's no need to be so afraid. I'm just here to chat." The Mazoku lord seated herself in an armchair next to the widow. "Please, sit"

Filia almost refused out of anger, but realized it would be unwise to do such, so she complied. Telling me to sit down in my own home! How rude.

Zelas grinned wolfishly. She knew what Filia was thinking. "Now, tell me: What do you think of Xelloss?"

Filia blinked, taken aback. "Well….that is…Er, why do you wish to know?" she bit her lip, knowing she shouldn't have been rude, but she couldn't help it. It was a private question.

"I'm simply looking out for my little boy." Zelas sat back and waved one hand, causing a pipe to appear. The silver-haired woman put it in her mouth and took a long puff, still surveying Filia.

"Well….I used to hate him…He's a Mazoku and I'm a golden dragon, and he seems to live to annoy me…" Filia paused and then continued in a softer voice. "But when he left, it felt like a part of me left with him too…I missed him so much, I didn't think it possible to be happy again…."

Zelas' smile widened. "Then you don't hate him?"

"Well…no…I-I think I--" Filia looked quite confused as she talked. " I think I love him." Zelas raised an eyebrow "When I realized he wasn't coming back, I didn't think I could live without him anymore. I wished that he would always be there…When I slept, I'd dream that he came back. Then when I'd wake up and find out it was just a dream, I'd cry and be so miserable.. but then he showed up today and he saved me…and I felt as if my heart would burst from joy. And he told me it was my fault he stayed away, and I wanted more then anything to go back and change my saying those things." Filia hung her head. "so yes, I think I love him"

"Well, I think things are going to get better." Zelas said cheerfully. "It can't rightly get worse. Nothing can be worse then seeing Xelloss go from annoyingly cheerful and lively, to dark, quiet and, well, sad."

"He-he was…sad?" Filia asked, shocked.

Zelas nodded. "Oh yes, he would mope around and snap at everybody who crossed his path. I don't' think I've even seen him in such a bad mood. He'd go annoy Lina and the others much more than usual and I daresay he blew up a decent amount of deserted islands -I'm surprised he didn't destroy inhabited islands- he was so bad tempered. Then earlier this week, I was watching him kill some bandits (I believe that's something he picked up from Lina-chan) and he suddenly teleported here, to your house. That was when you had collapsed from exhaustion, and he brought you up to your room"

"How long was I out?" Filia traced a pattern on her quilt.

"Four days. Xelloss stayed by your side the whole time. Then, the day you woke up, he was still there with you, but you woke up so suddenly he had to leave before you saw him, he forgot his glove. Earlier today I was discussing his absence, and much to my surprise, he disappeared and came to your aid." Zelas informed her, still puffing away at her pipe.

Filia was still processing this information when Zelas stood up abruptly.

"If you'll excuse me, one of my wolves is being attacked by my man-eating rosebush. Xelloss must have forgotten to feed it…." And with that, she disappeared.

"Well that was…sudden…" Filia commented, standing up and looking around. Sudden fatigue washed over Filia and she collapsed into her bed. Xelloss

"I think today is going to be a good day!" Filia said cheerfully as she got out of bed and stretched. "I feel like having some tea."

With a slight smile on her face, Filia dressed and went down to her kitchen to prepare some tea.

Just as Filia was sitting down at her kitchen table and raising her cup to her lips, someone teleported into her kitchen behind her.

Filia jumped and dropped her teacup.

"Good morning Filly! How are you this fine summer day?" Xelloss chirped, floating into the empty seat across form Filia.

"What 'fine summer day'? It's storming out." Filia threw him a disapproving look before starting to clean up the mess she had made from dropping her cup of tea. "Wait, what did you call me?"

"Filly; since you didn't like me calling you Fi-chan, I decided on Filly." Xelloss poured himself a cup of Filia's famous tea. "Well, of course it's storming! And that is what makes it such a wonderful day!" he said, sipping elegantly sipping at his tea, a pinky finger sticking out.

"Right, I forgot Mazoku love storming weather" Filia retrieved a new cup from her china cabinet.

"You didn't answer the original question." Xelloss pouted. "How are you this fine summer day?"

Filia smiled and sipped her tea. "Better now that you're here."

Xelloss opened his eyes in surprise. "Don't you usually hate it when I come for tea?" she shrugged, "Then why are you happy that I'm here?"

Filia grinned. She had bee waiting for him to ask that. "Now Xelloss, that is a secret." She closed one eye and wiggled her right index finger at him.

Xelloss frowned. "Is it always so annoying when I say that?"

"Sore wa Himitsu Desu."

"I get the point…" he muttered darkly.I'm supposed to be annoying her, not the other way around…

Filia giggled at the sour look on Xelloss' face.

Somewhere, miles away, Zelas was watching and roaring with laughter as her General/Priest was made fun of by a Golden Dragon.

They sat for a while, both sipping their tea and watching each other.

Finally, Filia broke the silence. " Xelloss…"

"Yes Filly?"

"Do you remember that one time just before we defeated dark star, when you, Miss Lina and the others were trying to convince me to help?" she asked slowly.

"Yes….What are you getting at?" he asked cautiously.

Filia bit her lip. "And you said…you said--"

Xelloss put his teacup down on the table. "And I said 'there's the golden dragon I love' correct?" Xelloss finished for her.

Filia blushed. "Yes, that."

"What about it?" he asked quietly, opening his eyes to look at her.

"W-Why did you say it?" she asked, fiddling with her napkin.

"Filly, you know…..That, is a secret." Xelloss replied, going back to his normal voice and closing his eyes.

Filia glared at him and opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, Xelloss teleported right in from of Filia, eyes open again, still grinning, though this was a childish grin.

"A secret I might share with you." Xelloss put one of his hands on Filia's cheek.

Filia blinked and watched Xelloss' face change emotions; first amusement, then surprise, followed by something that looked like fear, then -it couldn't be true- love.

Before she had a chance to figure out what it meant, Xelloss kissed her. Tenderly, almost fearfully; as if he was afraid of her response.

Filia let her eyes drift close as she wrapped her arms around Xelloss' neck and kissed him back

Xelloss pulled Filia to a standing position and slid her arms around her waist, tugging her closer.

Finally Xelloss pulled away and looked at Filia curiously.

Filia sighed and laid her head on Xelloss' shoulder "I love you," she whispered softly.

Though Filia couldn't see it, Xelloss smiled contentedly.

"And if this emotion is what I think it is, I love you too." He replied, now stroking Filia's golden hair.

Filia looked up at Xelloss; "You're coming back for tea tomorrow?" she asked hopefully.

"Always" he replied, and then kissed her forehead.

Owari

Syerrah: Okay, so I've had this written since May or so, but only typed it up today, and my wrist hurts like you wouldn't believe. u.u'

Julia: Anyway, Please Review!

Angela: We're thinking of writting another chapter of the whole story over again, only this time Xelloss' point of view, so you can see what he was doing all those long seven months.

Julia: so REVIEW and tell us if we should.

Reina: Not that it matters, they've already decided and just want you to feel like you're important.

Olivia: How cruel! How unjust!

Syerrah: REINA! YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO TELL THEM!!

Angela: Heheh...

Julia: REVIEW!