AN: Okay, here's the first chapter of the Xellos/Filia fanfic I promised to make. It's sort of a continuation of the other fic, seeing how I like to build on what's already there. But it can be read alone with very little trouble (you won't miss out on much).

I don't own Slayers, any of the characters or the world. I do, however, own what little plot there might be in here, and the story itself.

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"Amelia, when you said you wanted to invent a magical containing-field, which might hold back even Mazoku for a short period of time, in order to make the world a better place, I wasn't expecting you to have THIS in mind for the usage!" The redheaded sorceress complained, as she crawled out of the power-core. "I was thinking more of an "I hold 'em, you punch" kinda deal."

"But it WILL make the world a more beautiful place!" Amelia insisted, starry-eyed. The trial had gone well, and it seemed that only a few more changes were needed before they'd be in business.

"You're hoping she'll kill him then?" Lina asked, genuinely puzzled. Amelia's little invention had been very nicely constructed and thought out; no doubt she'd been tapping onto her husband's intellect too.

"No, I'm hoping…" she started, looking shyly to the floor and blushing a little. "I'm hoping that love will blossom between them!" she declared, and Lina felt like deadpanning, but decided against it. There was one option left still.

"And you're hoping THAT will kill him, then?" she asked, grasping the last straw she could spot. Not that she was fond of killing off Xellos, seeing how he was the only Mazoku they had the least bit leverage on. But then again, one had to start somewhere.

Amelia's almost insulted look gave way the answer to that one. Okay, so what had she in mind then? Surely it couldn't just be to trap the Ruyzoku and the Mazoku together, now could it?

"Believe it Lina. This was what she had in mind all along." Zelgadis dryly remarked, confirming the redhead's thoughts. He wasn't openly fond of the idea, but it seemed only fitting and fair, considering the part the two supernatural beings had played in his and Amelia's little hook-up story.

Lina frowned, thinking. Well, that would certainly explain why so much care had been put into calibrating the damn thing so that it'd be able to trap Ruyzoku also, and why it hadn't been a problem that nobody could walk in or out of the field while it was activated, not even humans. Not that Lina had any idea how to make a barrier that would positively hold any Mazoku or Ruyzoku and let humans pass anyways. It was probably not very easily achieved, if at all, due to the fact that most humans DID have a bit of astral energy too, so you couldn't just use that as an exclusion marker.

"But I don't get it. How are you going to make "love blossom" between them?" Lina insisted.

Gourry spoke up. Now they weren't talking magical stuff he didn't get a word of, and were back to talking about love, one of his natural topics of expertise.

"Just put them together, I should think." He said, while cradling his daughter a little tighter.

"And they will kill each other!" Lina insisted. She really couldn't see it any other way. But nobody seemed to listen.

"The sparks fly so obviously between them." Amelia said.

"It's sparks of hate!" Lina almost sounded pleading. And if she had to reason with Amelia, pleading to her tiny amount of reason would be the only way to go, because when Amelia had her mind set on things, you couldn't just bend the concept Justice to serve your purpose: Amelia herself was a master of exactly that, and had been for years. You don't challenge a shark under water either.

"Love and hate are equally strong, and not entirely un-alike! If we just trap them together long enough-" Amelia started.

"It'll all explode in our faces.." Lina finished.

"Well, I for one am willing to give it a try." Said Zelgaids, his arms crossed, but his facial expression not entirely unlike a smirk.

"You're just hoping Filia kills Xellos, because you know she's about the only thing that can get to him." Amelia said, shooting her husband a dirty glance. "Imagine it, Lina-san! Two people, overcoming the barrier of being from opposite fractions of the universe, and joining together in true love and justice!

Lina used Amelias starry-eyed moment to turn her eyes to the heaven in a roll. Well, she had tried. She did her best. Her conscience was clear. And with that out of the way, perhaps she could even begin to enjoy this little scheme. After all, it almost seemed like something she might have cooked up herself.

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Filia had been surprised to be invited to the castle. She'd figured it might have something to do with Zelgadis' curse, or any kind of problems that might be in more… intimate interactions between Amelia and him. But, fortunately they weren't yet talking about having kids, and as far as anything else in the bedchamber went, Amelia assured her that it was going just fine, with some patience and a lot of creativity. Filia had the courtesy not to ask any further. Or maybe she had the embarrassment not to. At any rate, she didn't ask and Amelia didn't tell her.

But then why were she here? Amelia had asked her to bring Val, which she'd done happily. He was only a little older than Ruby, so with any luck they'd grow up to be great friends. And one could ALWAYS use an Inverse-Gabriev as a friend. Better that than enemy.

Amelia had all sorts of plans for what they were going to do, hotsprings, long walks, teashops, shopping, but all of them girly-things that Filia hadn't done much before and certainly not after she became a "mother" to Val. So it was a welcomed surprise, and Filia left Val in the capable hands of Gourry and Lina. And a couple of well trained maids that had used to look after Amelia when she was little.

On the first day they'd only managed to do a little shopping, mainly new clothes for Filia, but tomorrow they'd go up the mountain to a hotspring that Amelia adored. Filia was looking forward to that. Relaxing for a while. Not that she minded being the caretaker of Val, but there were just times when she needed a little time to unwind.

She sat down on her bed, and noticed that it was a pretty impressive room, a huge bed, a comfy couch, a table with four chairs, a writing desk, and even its own bathroom in a adjacent room. All in all a room far on par with any room she'd stayed in in the castle so far, even though it was in one of the buildings further away from the main part of the castle. She wondered, though, why she was put in this building. Not that it bothered her, but she did wonder...

As she stretched out on the bed she allowed her eyes to drift closed. This had been a good day. She didn't know how Amelia could have told that this was just what she needed. Perhaps she'd noticed it at the wedding. Who knew?

Her eyes flew open as she heard a voice behind the door. A voice she'd rather not have heard right now.

"Well of course I'd come. I'm only too happy to help out, Amelia, you should know that." The voice said. It was coming from right outside her door now. "I'll be more than happy to look those scrolls over and give you my opinion. I'm just a little surprised that you called for me."

"Zelgadis is still mad for you and Filia-san intervening, but I'm very grateful, so I realize that you might not be human, but you have the heart in the right place, Xellos-san!" Amelia's voice joined in, and Filia struggled with the urge to go out there and correct her. But then she figured that Amelia's never ending optimism and positive life-attitude was punishment enough.

To her surprise they didn't just walk past her room. The door opened, and Xellos stepped in. He stopped dead in his tracks for a second, locking eyes with the dragoness, who slowly got up from the bed. Amelia stood a few steps behind him, but didn't come near the door.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Your room is on the opposite side then, Xellos-san." She said, and Filia could swear she could see the princess' mouth quirk in a weird way, but couldn't point down as to why.

Filia looked at the trickster. She hated to admit it, but he looked well today. It was probably due to the fact that he'd been invited to the castle and took the opportunity to create as much havoc as possible. Somehow she found that she couldn't stop staring back at him as he stood there, almost frozen in his step. Then he scoffed, a grin and looked away.

"So, I'm going to live in the room opposite this health hazard?" he said, his voice a little more sarcastic than usual. He started to turn, to walk out the door, as he continued to speak. "I suppose it was wise to place us in a building far away from the castle. Of course, if we start fighting, there's no telling how much damage this violent creature will inflict."

"Ha! Like I would be the danger, Namagomi!" Filia snapped back, raking her brain for a sharp reply, but keeping on drawing blanks. "As long as you stay on your side of the hall, I don't have a problem with you! In fact, as long as you don't invade the same space I inhabit I'm perfectly fine!"

"So I just have to stop existing in this world, is that it?" he fished, his tone sugary sweet, as he turned away from the door and back into the room, taking a few steps towards her.

"That would be preferable." She courtly said. She couldn't help an evil smile.

"That's very generous of you, Filia-san. But then again, your kind have always been so very generous to people other than their own kind, haven't they? Especially the ancient dragons benefitted a lot from your vast generosity." The tone was malicious, and every word stung at Filia. Yes he had a point, but no, she wasn't going to admit to that. Nor would she allow him to win this argument, just because he pulled that card.

"Just you wait till I get Mace-sama unpaked from my belongings, Xellos!" she warned.

He shot her a sarcastic smile, and turned to face Amelia, who was still standing 3 feet away from the door, craning her neck to see what was going on. Filia wondered. Was that girl usually this polite? It didn't seem like it was merely a matter of manners, though; it really did seem like she didn't want to get near the door.

"See, Amelia? Perhaps you should find me a place further away if you insist on me staying here while this violent dragon is around." He said, his voice filled with fake resignation. "Then again I suppose its okay as long as we don't have to stay in the same room for too long!" he sniggered.

Filia still had her eyes on Amelia, and could swear the girl went wide-eyed for a second, before almost laughing, although she couldn't be sure. It wasn't very easy to get a good look at her anyways, not with Xellos almost standing in the door and all.

"Well, if you'd like, I can find you a room further down the hall.." Amelia started, although it sounded wrong. Like a joke. All of the sudden Zelgadis appeared behind her.

"Or if you'd like, you can just go away again, Xellos. I don't even know why I let Amelia talk me into inviting you. I'm pretty sure we can figure out these scrolls on our own." His voice was hostile, but then again, Filia reminded herself, that wasn't unusual between the two.

"I think I'll stay, though." Xellos said, after a while of fake and overdramatic pondering. As he tried to walk out the door, he was stopped by an invisible wall, and repelled a feet away from it. It seemed to Filia like Xellos could step into the door, but not through it. He looked a bit ruffled by this, and blinked in mild surprise.

"What's the matter? Are you coming or what?" Zelgadis asked. Filia wondered why he was being so talkative with Xellos. Wouldn't he usually have just ignored this?

Xellos tried again, with the same result. Filia walked closer to the door. This was strange. Suddenly Xellos walked over to her, grabbed her from behind by the shoulders, and pushed her towards the door. She barely managed to start to protest before she found herself pressed against the invisible wall in a very unflattering way, her cheek pressed against it and the palms of her hand too. It seemed like none of them could get through.

Amelia looked, then laughed behind her hand, and Zelgadis stepped in in front of her.

"Are you guys quite through with whatever you're doing? You look silly by the way." He said, again, a situation where Filia would have expected him just to ignore their "antics".

"We can't go through the door!" Filia whined, while Xellos tried to give her another nudge to go through, with no success at all. "Ow! That hurts, namagomi!!"

"What do you mean "can't go through"?" Zel asked, and reached a hand towards her, but was repelled as well. "Oh… That.." His face changed into a dark expression.

Both Xellos and Filia stopped struggling with the door and looked at him.

"I heard about this from Phil, but I never knew it was still a problem…." He said, turning to Amelia, who still looked like she was ready to laugh again. Filia guessed that they must have looked really stupid while trying to get out, and that Amelia simply hadn't figured that it was serious. She then looked at Zel, and as if lightning had struck her, she got somber.

"Oh! That's right. Once one of my great grandfathers were trapped in here for days! I don't really know if they ever figured out why… But there seems to be an enclosed space here!" she said.

Zel nodded.

"Yeah.. Maybe you guys could just teleport out…" he suggested.

They both tried. And failed. Xellos looked a bit panicked. Filia felt very much like panicking herself. She was just about to throw a great spell, when she figured that if the space really was enclosed, then it'd only blast her and Xellos. She tried to call on her dragon form (although not changing, because she was not about to let Xellos see her semi-naked as she transformed!), but found that she couldn't!

"What happened?!" Xellos looked at his hands with panic marring his face. He then snapped towards Zelgadis and Amelia. "What did you do!? What happened to some of my powers?! If this is some scheme to trap me or kill me, I assure-"

"You're about the last person I'd invite to stay, let alone force to. Why would I do anything to capture you? And as much as I regret it, I can't even get in there to beat you up while you have little power and can't run away!" Zel said. His voice was cold and frank, and what he said did make sense. Why would they? "Look, I'll go through the records and find a way to get you out. Amelia's great grandfather got out, so there must be a way. You two just sit tight and behave, okay?"

He looked at them. They looked at each other, first wideeyed, then narrowing their eyes in a simultaneous glare.

"Are we clear on this? No fighting!" he said, as if talking to toddlers. For what it was worth, he might as well have.

"We'll be sure to take good care of Val, Filia, I promise! And I'll try to see if I can find a way to send in some food…" Amelia said, while smiling apologetic. But Filia couldn't help thinking there was something wrong with the smile.

Amelia and Zelgadis walked away, and Filia and Xellos were left in the room, staring at each other. How long were they going to be here, together? Filia shivered. She really hoped that Zelgadis would return pretty damn fast, or else she was in a whole world of trouble.

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When they'd turned the corner of the building, Zelgadis and Amelia looked at each other and burst into laughing.

"Oh, it was all worth it, just to see his expression when he couldn't just disappear!" Zel laughed. "That'll teach him!"

Amelia couldn't form words at all. She was laughing too hard. Filia had looked so incredibly silly pressed up against the invisible wall like that.

"We might have wanted to rehearse that story, though…" Zelgadis said. "If they catch on, there'll be hell to pay once they get out."

"I'm sorry. I think I blew it a couple of times… Thanks for saving me, though." She smiled warmly at Zelgadis. "But I'm pretty sure they're willing to forgive our meddling if it turns out alright."

Zel eyed her warily.

"And if it doesn't?"

Amelia stood in silence for a while.

"Oh! Look at the time. I should be getting up to Lina in the power-core to swap place with her!" she said, and started to march towards the core. Zelgadis hand shot out, grabbed her elbow, and pulled her in close, her back pressed firmly against his chest. He lowered his head and whispered in her ear.

"You're still a terrible liar, and you're not very elegant about changing the topic either, Princess." His voice was somewhat of a deep purr in her ear, and his breath tickled her earlobe. Invariably she found herself blushing. Every now and again he'd go back to calling her by her title, which always augured some sort of punishment. She shivered in delight.

Oh yes, this plan was perfect and would bring about much love and justice!

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AN: I love the "two people in one room"-premis, even though it's old, used and worn. But let's see if I can't make at least a little spark or two fly. ;) Sorry there's a little Z/A towards the end. I promise it won't take focus. I just couldn't help it. They ARE after all my favourite couple in the series.

Reviews would be nice, but don't feel pressured. I like to know how I'm doing, but I often find myself reading something, thinking it was okay or good, and then forgetting to leave a review, so I won't say that you have to. ;)