[xellos x filia; pg] Falconer's Call Title: Falconer's Call (Part 1 of 30 2) Author:emilie_burns Pairing: Xellos/Filia Ul Copt Fandom: The Slayers Theme: #4 - our distance and that person Rating: T (PG) Word count: 1259 Disclaimer:The Slayers and all characters herein are owned by Hajime Kanzaka; Rui Araizumi; Kadokawa Shoten; TV TOKYO; SOFTX; Marubeni. This is a work of fanfiction for personal entertainment only. Set post-TRY. Notes: These are written in chronological order, although not in themed order. Chronological listings are in parenthesis by the title. Summary:She studied him, torn between agreement and disagreement. He was causing her own center to break apart, her world spinning out of her grip. She could not keep her balance with him, or find the safe path. Original LJ Post Date: September 6, 2005 @ 30_Kisses
Falconer's Call
Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned. - William Butler Yeats; The Second Coming
"I don't think we'll make it to the town before nightfall, big sister," Jillas said as he looked around, cocking his head to the side as he inspected the setting sun and shadows.
Filia closed her eyes. It was on the tip of her tongue to yell at the foxman for calling her that yet again, but she lacked the energy, both physically and emotionally. "It would seem we took too long with our farewells when we parted ways with Miss Lina and Mister Gourry. Let's look for a place to make camp for the night."
"I hear a creek over that way," Jillas said. "Follow me. You and Lord Valgaav can rest--"
"Don't call him that!" Filia snapped, flashing her fangs as her tail lashed under her skirt, and he flattened his ears meekly. "That life is over for him. He's been given a second chance, and we are not going to ruin it for him by bringing that hateful, hurtful past to his new life! His name is Val!"
"Yes, big sister," Jillas replied in an itty bitty voice, his ears flat and tail between his legs. With a timid gesture, he pointed through the trees. "Creek's this way."
"And I'm not your big sister," she grumbled sotto voce, looking down at the carefully bundled precious burden in her arms. The blankets which wrapped the egg blurred in her vision, clarifying the view in her mind's eyes to a razor-sharp intensity. The way he stood against the light, wings unfurled, the numbed pain of the past and the dull peace of a violent resolution in his eyes. She had tried as hard as she could, reached as far as her heart could go, but in the end, it was not enough to save him.
But perhaps in the end, he saved himself. What was it Miss Lina had said, in the muted, empty victory of a bittersweet aftermath? Maybe the prophesy for a cursed fate was not theirs, maybe it had not been them who needed saving, but it was Valgaav all along. She sniffled and buried her face against the blankets briefly to wipe her eyes, and stopped by a small thicket near a stream.
"Why don't you rest, big sister, and I'll go trap some dinner and collect some firewood?" Jillas suggested, his voice still meek and gentle. "You have had a long few days."
"That sounds like a good idea," she agreed, and sank down on a pile of fallen leaves in a patch of evening sunlight filtering through the trees, cradling Val's new beginning in her arms. She leaned back against the sun-warmed bark, closing her eyes as the foxman slipped off deeper into the forest. Overhead, a few birds twittered and argued, but it was only after she realized they had fallen silent, the only sound being the cheerful burble of the water over the rocks that she opened her eyes in alarm.
When she spotted the form perched on a branch of a tree across the way, his posture casual as one leg dangled, his staff balanced across his lap, she curled her lip back, baring her fangs in a wary warning. Her grip around the bundle in her arms tightened, and an amused smirk twisted his lips.
"Really now, Miss Filia. After all we have been through together, you still do not trust me?"
"I'm not stupid. I haven't forgotten you would have sacrificed Miss Lina to Valgaav if he would have taken you up on that."
Xellos grimaced slightly. "Quite against my own wishes, might I add. While it is nevertheless true I would have done so, those were my orders. I vastly prefer the way things went rather than giving up a favorite toy."
Filia scowled. "Yet another reason not to trust you. We are not toys! Playthings you can break and discard at will!"
"Dragons are such violent creatures," Xellos said, giving her an amused grin. "Perhaps it is small wonder that you don't know how to take care of your favorite playthings."
She canted her head to the side, narrowing her eyes. "What are you talking about, you Mazoku?"
"Did you never have a favorite doll, or a teacup, or any other prized item? And here I thought dragons were known for gathering a hoard!" He looked off to the west, a dying sunbeam reflecting off his open eyes. "Then again, the elders at your temple did not encourage normal dragon behavior."
"That has nothing to do with anything," Filia snapped, perhaps a bit too defensively, even to her own ears. "But I do have favorite things."
"Do you treasure them and take care that they do not get damaged?"
"Yes..."
Xellos beamed. "Excellent! Then you do understand what I am talking about!"
She watched him, wary and uncomfortable with the conversation. Mazoku were tricky, and she could not figure out what he was up to now. "What are you doing here?" she demanded, trying to take control of the topic. "I warn you, if you're here to hurt Val--"
"Miss Filia, you wound me!" That annoying smile was still on his face. "He is no longer a threat or a consideration. My job involving him is complete. My orders were to bring him back to the fold, or failing that, to destroy him. Which I did, and with your help, might I add."
Filia flinched and shut her eyes tight. "Why did you hate him so much?" she asked. "He never deserved any of this!"
"Is it not obvious? He went against the natural order of things."
"What does a Mazoku care about order? You're beings of chaos!"
"And yet without order, there is no control in chaos. The center will not hold." His tone had lost its annoying, grating edge and was calmer now, conversational in its quality.
She studied him, torn between agreement and disagreement. He was causing her own center to break apart, her world spinning out of her grip. She could not keep her balance with him, or find the safe path. "Why are you here then, if not to take him from me?"
"I cannot indulge in my off time spending it with those whose company I find preferable over many of this world?" he asked, and she blinked, staring at him.
"Preferable? Xellos! You threatened to kill me!"
"So I did." He looked at her, his expression calm and unreadable as ever. "But did I truly? You knew the answer then, why do you deny it now?"
"Quit being cryptic!"
"It's not being cryptic when you already have the answers." His counterpoint was smooth, a contrast to her own agitated state.
Hot tears stung her eyes, and she growled at him. "Would you for just once in your thrice-damned life give a straight answer?! What do you want?!"
Before she could react, he was in front of her, in her personal space, his open eyes dangerously near her own as his finger touched her lips, silencing her. "You are overtired and acting like a typical silly, violent dragon. Perhaps someday you can walk forward far enough to see the answer. But until then..." He grinned, and closed one eye in a wink. "That is a secret."
She wracked her brain for a retort, but as quickly as he appeared, he vanished, nowhere to be seen. Disconcerted and unsettled, Filia hugged the egg carefully and looked around as she tried to calm down and pretend she did not still feel the ghost impression of his finger resting against her lips.
The darkness drops again; but now I know That twenty centuries of stony sleep Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?