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Author’s note: Yeah, I know part 3 ended kinda weird…but have hope! The beginning is almost done! Yay! As usual, all disclaimers apply.
She groaned. Her head felt like someone had played Brass Rackets with it, and her stomach was doing flip-flops and making her sick. "Ow…"
"Lina? Are you awake?" A concerned voice drifted into her consciousness.
She opened her eyes. "Gourry?" Instinctively, she tried to get up, but fell back into Gourry’s arms when her head spun in protest. "Ugh…I feel awful…where are we?"
"I don’t know. There was that gold light, and then I passed out. Amelia just woke up a few minutes ago." Gourry replied. Lina nodded gingerly. It was dark, wherever they were, but she could tell they were no longer in the Sanctuary. Or anyplace near it, either. She was relieved by that.
"This is ALL your fault!"
Lina winced at the loud accusation. Someone had made a fire, and The Dragon General was beside it, glaring at Xelloss who looked mildly bored. Amelia was watching them with fearful eyes and Lina remembered that her family had been killed in a conflict of Dragon against Demon.
"My fault?" he asked curiously.
Filia tightened her grip on her axe. "If you hadn’t meddled in my teleport, this would have never happened. You could have KILLED them!"
Xelloss was looking slightly more irritated now. "If I hadn’t meddled, all of you would have been taken prisoner by now. Couldn’t you tell that the dragons were putting up a perimeter shield?"
"That is not the issue. The issue is that YOU meddled in MY business. You have no right to do that!"
"When did you get the power to order me around? I don’t have to listen to you at all." He retorted. "You just don’t want to admit that your stupidity could have gotten them killed. All you want is to blame it on me because you’re angry that I saved all your butts."
"That’s IT." Filia gritted, eyes glittering with the madness of anger. "You DAMN Mazoku!" She swung her axe at him.
Xelloss faded out and the thick blade passed through him harmlessly, as if he was as insubstantial as a ghost. Reappearing, his mazoku eyes were open now, and angry. Nothing had tried his patience like this. He wasn’t used to getting riled up, but he was.
"WOULD YOU TWO QUIT IT?!" Lina shouted and they stopped and looked at her. Satisfied that she had their attention, she continued. "Much better. I don’t care what happened, but NEVER pull that again. NEVER. And we’re all in this quest together, we all need each other. So stop your fighting, it’s pointless."
"You’re right, Lina." Xelloss agreed, backing off reluctantly. "Believe it or not, L-sama wants us to do this together."
Filia was trying to calm her rage, trying to hold back the hostility she felt. He had no right, that arrogant bastard. How dare he act as if everything’s all fine and dandy between them when he knew exactly what he did to her people. "I have to work with him, and you, Lina. But I never promised that I’d have to like it."
Lina sighed as Amelia hid behind her in fear. Strangely, she felt almost in charge of the situation, as if she was the in-between, the arbitrator. The fact that Gourry and Amelia were with her was a gigantic help, though. The tension in the air was thick enough to be cut with Filia’s axe. "It doesn’t help anyone that you are constantly trying to tear his throat out. It doesn’t help me, it doesn’t help him, it doesn’t help her, and it doesn’t help you. So stop it. We can kill each other after we save the world."
"You don’t know how I feel, Lina. So just shut up."
Now we’re getting nasty, Lina thought. "Wait a minute-"
"You don’t know how he slaughtered my race! You don’t know how he made my home run red with blood! You didn’t see him as he destroyed everything I knew!" Filia shrieked, pointing her finger at him accusingly.
"Let’s get some things cleared up." Xelloss cut in, voice cold. "I didn’t kill the Golden Dragons for the fun of it. I didn’t do it to insult you personally. You can hate me all you want, it’s no skin off my back. But don’t talk to me about how I took everything you had. Don’t tell me that I destroyed everything you knew."
"That’s what you did!" Filia responded, voice rising to a higher pitch.
"That’s what I did?!" He was yelling now, as angry as she was. If she refused to compromise, then why should he bother? " That would be what I did if every one of those dead dragons was your best friend, your creator, your mother, your lover, your kindred spirit! They were none of those things! The Golden Dragons took my master from me, and she was the only one I’ve ever cared about. Don’t scream at me about what I took from you. I took nothing from you. You took everything from me."
She was stunned into silence. Her mind awhirl with denial and anger and confusion. "You’re a demon-"
"So it doesn’t matter? Is that it? I’m a demon so you can ruin my life if you want?" His tone turned bitingly sarcastic. "My, my, Filia. You’re a lot more Mazoku than you pretend to be."
"Don’t change the subject! I am NOTHING like you!"
"Where are we headed?" Lina asked calmly.
"What?" They gave her the look usually reserved for the insane. Gourry gave her the ‘are you nuts?’ look.
"I said, where are we headed?" Lina repeated without a hint of anger or sarcasm in her voice. She kept her face absolutely straight. "After all, you two can’t scream at each other all night. And we have things to do, places to go, food to eat, and Demons to wake. So I’m asking where are we headed so Gourry, Amelia and I can get started. You two can join us after you’re done with wading in immaturity."
Filia flushed angrily as Xelloss blinked. Lina crossed her arms and gave them an I-don’t-have-all-day look.
"Well?"
Xelloss actually laughed. "Point taken, Lina. I can’t believe I lost my temper like that…" He added under his breath.
"Come on, where are we headed?"
Filia wanted to hide. She had acted so immature she can’t even bear to think about it…"Yeah, where?" She asked, trying to sound normal.
Xelloss smiled and Gourry and Amelia relaxed a bit. They had both realized how close Filia was to real violence, and they had been trying to prepare for the moment that it would come. But the storm was over, for now at least. Lina knew that Filia and Xelloss aren’t going to become best friends, or even friends, anytime soon. But she hoped that they would at least be civil.
"North, fellow adventurers." He joked. "We’re going to Zephilia."
"Wait a minute." Lina interrupted. " ZEPHILIA? That’s my-I mean, the Dragons’ Stronghold is there. Are you crazy?"
"Zephilia is where we can find the first Demon Lord to unseal, Lina. It’s the best place to start." Xelloss told her reasonably.
"…"
"Hey, Lina?"
"What is it, Gourry?"
"I’m hungry."
"So what else is new?"
Amelia came out of hiding from behind Lina and Gourry. "Lina-san, what is going on?"
"That is a long story…"