Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ To haunt or not to haunt, that is the question ❯ Ghost from the light, ghost from the shadow ( One-Shot )

Rain threatened to pour as a blonde haired girl walked across the forest, humming a soft tune as she did so, whilst the sun tried it's best to spear through the darkened clouds in an attempt to illuminate the day once again, "This might not have been such a bad idea!" she said to no one in particular as she hurried her steps trying to reach her destination before rain would begin to fall, "This contest will be fun! Who's afraid of a little haunted house?" her singsong voice inundating the soundless forest, "Not this golden dragon!"

Filia continued to hum and sing till a big building came into view. The house looked tattered and torn, shutters worn out and pieces of wood falling apart, however, one could see from a distance that the construction had been a beautiful one many years ago.

How had she ended up ready to enter what could possibly be taken for a haunted house, you ask? Well, the dragon maiden had been bored as there was nothing to do with Valteria in a friend's house for a week and her shop closed. Therefore, she had entered a contest just for the fun of it… and this contest involved that she should pass a whole night in the house she had in front of her, with the sole company of the other contest participant.

The blonde reached the house, knocking at the door gently as she did so, and the rain took that precise moment to initiate the storm,"Wow, good thing I'll be inside in a second," muttered the girl as she knocked again, "Hallo? Anyone there? I'm here for that contest!!" before she could continue yelling, the door slipped open, and Filia found herself looking at a young girl, no more than 10 years old, with long blue hair and beautifully green-cat-like eyes.

"Welcome," said the girl in a soft voice, "You may come in, your partner is already waiting for you, he's in the dinning room." She closed her eyes, and Filia was sure that this girl almost seemed to shine with a light of her own.

As the golden dragon was about to step into the house, she stopped dead in her tracks, eyes becoming a little wide, "Did you just say `he'?" she asked the little girl in shock, "I thought I'd be spending the night with a `she'!!"

This was all that the blue haired girl needed to giggle musically, "Yes, well… you can always back out if you want to," she said, her voice still soft, "But I wouldn't worry if I were you. This house is haunted, remember? I doubt he'll have any time to do anything indecent, not that the ghosts would let him, mind you."

Filia blinked once and then smiled at the little girl as she stepped inside and allowed her to guide her to the dinning room. Which happened to be a huge room, with a long table full of the most wonderful looking dishes in the centre, and to one side, a lit chimney that seemed to cast shadows in the far away corner where a stair case lead to the second floor.

"This… this is huge!" breathed the dragon as she looked at the room, letting her eyes wonder momentarily to the food in a wistful look. She hadn't had anything to eat except a pathetic sandwich and her tummy demanded some attention. So immersed was she, that she didn't notice the figure that was standing in one of the shadowed corners, back against a wall and clearly chuckling softly.

"My, my, Fi-chan. From the looks of your face I'd say you're about to attack the food in a way that would make Lina herself proud!" said an annoyingly familiar voice, and Filia whirled to face the source of said voice, only to find Xellos looking at her through open eyes from his dark corner.

"YOU!!!!" roared the blonde as she twitched, "What do you think you're doing here?! Can't I even get rid of you in a haunted house? Don't tell me that you're the one haunting it!!!" her tirade was cut when the girl walked and placed herself in between the dragon and the mazoku.

"Actually, Mr. Metallium is your partner in this game," said the sky colored hair girl as she smiled sweetly, "He too entered the contest, and it seems you two will have to pass the whole night together… if you are able to do so, when I return at morning, I'll give you your prize," this said, the girl turned to leave, however, before she reached the door, she turned back and smiled in a mysterious way, green eyes gleaming from the light of the fire in the chimney, "Alone you'll find yourself, no where to run, no where to hide… no one to help you but yourselves, and the spark of magic within will disappear till you manage to search a way outside into the sunlight of a new born day."

The girl then proceeded to draw a pentagram in the air in front of her, which once finished, began burning in a blueish flame, "Hope for nothing until you find out what resides within." She said as she disappeared in a haze of light and into the pentagram, leaving both mazoku and dragon to stare at the empty spot where the strange girl had once been.

"Oooooook… what has just happened?" asked Filia as she turned towards the purple haired priest, "I didn't just dream that… did I? `Cause if I did, that was one VERY realistic dream!" She noticed Xellos had his eyes open still and was paying no attention to her, "Namagomi? Hallo?" insisted the dragon as she went up to him in order to wave a hand in front of his face, "Hey, Xellos!!! I'm talking to you!!!" she yelled as she poked him.

That seemed to snap the mazoku out of his dream, "No need to yell, Filia-chan… I hear you very well indeed. It's just that…" he trailed off as he closed his eyes, seemingly trying to concentrate, only to reopen them again to scowl at space, "Mmmmmm… now this is weird. I can't seem to be able to teleport or hover, not to mention that I seem to have lost my astral sight." Muttered the confused mazoku, he then groaned after that.

"You can't… WHAT?!" shouted the blonde as she waved her hands in the air, "You gotta be kidding!!" She looked him in the eyes and moaned in despair when she noticed he wasn't bluffing, "Wait, if you can't teleport and stuff, does that affect me?" her worries became true when she tried to morph to her dragon form, failing miserably, "ECK!!!!" desperate, she tried to do a simple light spell, however, that failed too. The poor girl drooped to her knees, wide eyed as she whimpered.

Xellos blinked at the Filia and shrugged, "Well, I think it has to do with what that girl did before she left," he said as he let out a sigh, "She said something like; `And the spark of magic within will disappear… hope for nothing until you find out what resides within'"

Filia looked up from her spot and frowned, "How come you remember what she said?" Xellos pulled out a piece of paper from behind and waved it at her as he smiled, "Heavens above… you wrote it down…" she shook her head and stood up, nearing the stairs to go up to the second floor, "Anyhow, I'm gonna go to sleep. The sooner I fall asleep, the sooner I'll be able to escape from this nightmare." And with that, she neared the table, picked up a tuna fish sandwich and strode up the stairs while her purple haired companion stared hungrily at the food on the big table, noting that it had somehow caught his attention.

"Oh well…" he shrugged again as he neared the table and began to eat politely away, "Better be safe than sorry!" chirped the mazoku happily.

~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~(Upstairs! Go Fi-chan! You can do it!! ^0^)

When the blonde reached the top of the stairs, she came face to face with a long hallway and several closed doors, "Ok… so… which is supposed to be mine?" she muttered softly, biting into her sandwich as she approached the first door and opened it, to find a bathroom, "Nope, not this one," the one next to it was a bedroom, and so she walked in to inspect it.

Filia looked around, a big king sided bed near a window, a table to the right of said bed, and beside the door, an antique chair that held a cloak, "Lets see what this is," the girl took another bite of her sandwich and left it on the table, then picked up the cloak to take a better look at it, blushing slightly when she recognised it, "Oooooops…I think that… err… this is Xellos' room…" she left the cloak on the chair and took her sandwich back, taking the last bite out of it and gulping it down, accidentally staining her dress as she looked around the dark room once more before stepping out and closing the door behind her, `At least I know where he's gonna sleep,' she thought as she giggled slightly, then abruptly stopped, `I did not just think that…'

Another door, another room, thought Filia as she opened yet another door, gasping at what she saw there, "Kawaii desu ne!!" she cooed as she entered what seemed a child's playroom, "Look at how many toys! And books! And dolls! Wow!!" she began picking up several of the mentioned toys when suddenly she was interrupted by a low growl that came from somewhere to her left.

The moment the blonde turned to said noise, she noticed two blood red eyes looking at her from a dark corner. The dragon backed up and hit the opposite wall with her back as she stared at the creature, which began to creep from the darkness, growling long in its throat as it neared her.

It's eyes gleamed as it snarled and stood in the light, allowing Filia to notice that the creature looked like the mixture between a tiger and a wolf, not to mention that it glowed ever so slightly in a pale green light and that the blonde could actually see through it, "Oh my god…" she mumbled as the creature continues to approach her.

However, she lost no more time, she swiped her mace out and swung at the animal, noticing with a horrified expression the mace went right through it.

"Oh. My. GOD!!! Someone help me!!! XELLOS!!!!" She screeched as she looked around herself in an attempt to find a way to escape, opting for running around the room in circles as she could find none, closely followed by the creature.

~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ (Downstairs with the eating mazoku! ^-~)

The mazoku licked his lips as he sunk his fangs into a piece of meat, "This is good, actually!" he smiled and grabbed the bowl of sauce to put some on his plate when suddenly, a high pitched scream coming from upstairs made him loose his balance and so, he ended up on the floor and with the sauce all over his hair, "Damn it!! My hair!! FILIA!! You have better have an incredibly good reason to be screaming! Otherwise, I'll GIVE you a good reason to scream about!!" he shouted as he ran upstairs.

When the purple haired priest came to a halt to stand at the doorway of the child-like room, he was greeted by a running Filia followed by what seemed like a growling and yapping… err… animal-like ghost. No one could blame him for blinking in disbelief before clapping and cheering, "Good going, Fi-chan! You found the ghost!! Come on! It's almost yours!! Get `im!!"

The dragon sweatdropped as she ran, "I wouldn't mind a bit of help here, Xellos!!" she shouted in between pants, "I think I'm gonna die!! Help me!!"

A smirk crossed his face at that moment as he continued to watch without moving one finger, "Did I hear correctly? The mighty golden dragon wants help from lil old me!" he snickered as he observed her twitch, "Though… I didn't hear the magic wooooooooord, Fi-chan."

"Get yourself here and help me NOW!!!!" she hollered at him as she continued to run. However, before Xellos could do anything, the blonde tripped, and the creature took its opportunity to pounce on Filia, sending her flying against the ground.

Her eyes went wide when the creature lifted its head a second to send a blood curling howl, and then lowered itself to became eye level with the dragon, eyes gleaming in the darkness before it suddenly began licking the startled girl's dress.

The mazoku blinked some more and cocked his head a little before realisation dawned him and he burst out laughing, "My, my, Fi-chan!! I believe all that the poor animal wanted was to eat up the remains of the sandwich you stained yourself with!!" Xellos continued laughing his head off till said animal yapped again and flung itself against him, to lick up the remains of the sauce all over his hair.

Filia's turn to giggle now as she pointed at her companion, "Teehee!! I'd say that the `poor animal' is also enjoying the taste of your hair, Namagomi!"

The creature continued to suck at Xellos' hair till it was clean, then it sat on the mazoku's chest whilst smiling, "Yap! Yap!!" it said, then as suddenly as it had appeared, it vanished into thin air, leaving behind a sulking mazoku and a giggling dragon girl.

"Oh my god! That was so funny!!" snickered Fi as she looked at Xel who had by now stood up and was brushing himself, "I'd say that the contest was worth it if only just to see the look on your face when that thing was suckling your hair!!"

The purple haired priest gave a playful pout, "That's not fair! I came to help you, and what do I get? I get laughed at! Humph!" he crossed his arms over his chest in a childish way as he closed his eyes and stuck his nose into the air stubbornly.

It was too much for Filia to take, she gave another giggle and grabbed his arm, "Oh, ok… but the prize for me not laughing at you is that you gotta accompany me during the rest of my tour `round the house. And I won't take a `no' as an answer!" and with that, she pulled the mazoku behind her as she ran around, opening door after door…

~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ (Later on… time for sleep by now? <.<)

Filia entered her room alone quite some time later, completely exhausted from the exploration Xellos and she had done. They had discovered that the doors and windows were locked, no way to go nor out nor in… unless you were able to go through walls the way ghosts do. Teleportation was still out of the question as their magic powers had been removed, therefore, the only choice left was sleep till morning came, "Can't think of anything else to do…" Said the blonde to no one in particular as she slipped into the bed and closed her eyes in an attempt to get a dose of sleep.

However, tried as she might, she couldn't seem to fall asleep. The little rain outside had turned into a ferocious storm, and thunder cracked and illuminated the room where the poor golden dragon tossed and turned, unable to shake off the feeling that someone was watching her…

Irritated, the blonde sat up in bed and scanned the room, forcing her eyes in order to see through the blackness of the room, "Who's there?" she whispered, and when she received no answer, Filia took the chance to step out of bed. There was no way she'd be able to sleep in this darkness, therefore, the dragon decided to go downstairs to grab a candle so she wouldn't be afraid all alone in her room.

The dinning room had acquired a gloomy look; it would have been completely dark if it hadn't been for the fire in the chimney or the few candles that sat on the table, flames flickering even though there was no wind or movement in the large room.

The blonde hesitated only a second before retrieving a candle and going back upstairs, closing her door behind herself and setting the candle on the table, "Ok," she muttered to the silence around her, "If there's any ghost here, than please listen… I'm tired, and I want to sleep, and I don't want anymore thrills tonight… so please be good an go bug the Namagomi in the other room." And with that, she slipped into the bed again, closing her eyes and sighing at the stillness and calmness of the bedroom…

`Actually, WAY too much stillness,' warned her brain, and so, she sat up once more on the bed, noticing that she could no longer hear the sound of the storm, not to mention that the candle light flickered too much for her to be comfortable. Her suspicions where found to be correct when suddenly out of nowhere appeared a little whirlwind of black, forming a figure that stood in the shadows of a far corner as she gasped in shock.

"Xellos? Is that you?" she whispered, but she already knew the answer… it wasn't him, for this figure was different. Thanks to the little light given by the candle she was able to make out that it had short and messy green hair that fell over its eyes, covering them from view as it had its head bowed. A long black cloak covered its shoulders, preventing her from seeing anything else till the figure raised its head, showing golden eyes that gleamed intensely at the light of the candle that continued to flicker.

Filia's eyes widened as it began to talk in a husky voice, showing slightly-too pointed sharp teeth in the process, "For centuries I've roamed darkness alone, yearning a companion to share this eternity with me, and I shall not roam alone anymore… one will be by my side," it said as its eyes gleamed more than before, sending a shiver down the blonde's back, however the figure seemed oblivious to this and continued to talk, "Here beneath this sky lit by its numberless stars, we shall stand together and gaze towards the black shadows of the mountains… and the moon shall rise, and we shall be free to run, horizons rolling endlessly beneath our feet."

The dragon gasped and shivered, the ghost's gaze burning into her with force, "What do you want? Please go away…" she breathed, however, her voice was so low, that even she had trouble hearing herself.

For all answer, the figure sat its head back, allowing its eyes to close as it began glowing and two large bat like wings sprouted form its back, shredding the cloak to pieces and putting out the light of the candle.

The golden dragon waited no longer, she jumped out if the bed and ran out of the room, panting and shivering as she burst open a certain someone's bedroom door.

"XELLOS!!!" she shrieked as she launched herself at the bed where the mazoku was sleeping, "There's a ghost!!" she then shook him awake and when the priest sat up straight on his bed, startled by all the noise, she merely hid herself behind him, using him as a shield and burrowing her face into his back, "GHOST!!!" she yelled as she used one hand to point outside.

Xel blinked and looked around still half asleep, not really believing who was behind him or what she was doing there, "Filia? What are you doing here? I thought…" he had no time to continue for just like had happened in Filia's room, out of no where came a similar whirlwind, only this one was white instead of black, and the figure that came out was not the same one that the blonde had seen…

A few meters from the mazoku and the dragon stood the figure of a young woman, long blue hair that reached its ankles and, its bangs covering her eyes as it too had its head bowed.

The purple haired priest nudged the blonde that was still hugging him from behind, "Look… is this what you saw?" he asked her, voice barely above a whisper as his companion lifted her head barely an inch from him to look up and shake her head, "No? Then there must be more than one…" he turned back to the figure and found that it had lifted her head, allowing him to see beautiful green cat-like eyes.

Unlike the other ghost, this one was dressed in what looked like a long white dress; partially cover with an equally white cape. The figure looked at Xellos and Filia intently, then held out both her hands out, where a ball of intense light formed, "I've seen the ages of the world, saw the life in those ages flowered and withered, brief as a breath, an insect thing. And there, apart from it all, standing, unable to do anything about it, one creature unchanging. Myself," it said in a soft voice eyes only partially open as it held the ball of light as if it were something precious to it, "And I stood amongst the ruin of creation, and the earth was waste about me, and my soul cried out, and there was nothing to hear…"

Filia waited no longer, she jumped off the bed, dragging Xel along with her, "GHOST!!!!" she yelled as she ran out of the room, down the stairs, and into the hallway, dropping the mazoku on the floor and kicking at the door, "Let me out! Let me out NOW!!"

The purple haired priest stood up and rubbed his back, "I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't drag me around… I think my back is sore now…" he moaned as he neared the blonde who had stopped kicking at the door to drop on her knees, blank look on her face as she tried to regain her composure.

They had no time to recover, for once more, the black whirlwind appeared above them, near the ceiling, and Filia's eyes went wide as the green haired ghost of golden eyes reappeared, mouth twisted in what looked like sad smile before curling and becoming a smirk, "That's the one I saw in my room…" breathed the dragon as she unconsciously neared Xellos and hid behind his back, "That's him alright… it talked about wanting a companion and then it sprouted those b-black wings…" Fi couldn't help it, she shuddered involuntarily, borrowing her face into her companion's back once more.

The ghost spread it's wings to a maximum, "From black chasms, from earth's deep, from earth' pit… from night's throat I come." It whispered, voice still husky and eyes still gleaming in the now almost complete darkness, "Listen, be still, hear my voice! It is the scratch of the cat in the dry tomb, the scratch of the spider's leg over the floor, the scratch of the bat's wing in the hollow cave…"

The mazoku's eyes widened a little as he continued to listen to the sombre voice of the ghost who leered them with its golden gaze as it kept on going, "I'm the death that can not die, the heart that can not beat, the soul that can not fly!" it growled, stretching its hands out and forming a ball of black light, "I am hunger, all that hunger under the cold moon. I am hunger, and you… are my prey!" it gave out a sharp cry of rage as it launched itself towards the both startled non-humans…

But it never got to perform its attack, for suddenly, out of nowhere came the blue haired, green eyed ghost of light and who extended its hands out and prevented the attack, solemn expression on its face as it closed its eyes and sprouted angelical white wings and flapped to position itself in front of what looked like its antagonist.

The golden dragon had watched all this from behind Xellos with fearful eyes, but when both ghosts faced each other, she could take it no longer and burst out crying into the mazoku's back for some reason, mumbling something over and over again.

The priest noticed this and half turned to her, "Filia…?" her breaths were mere gasps in between sobs as she continued to mumble that something. He pulled her to him and put his arms around her as he turned his attention from the sobbing dragon, back to the ghosts, who had remained quiet and were looking at each other. However, his attention was pulled back to the blond he held when he was able to make out what she was mumbling.

"Xellos… Xellos… please, Xellos…" was all she mumbled into his shirt, and he wasn't even sure if she was actually aware of what she was saying.

Both ghosts still hadn't moved, as if awaiting a signal or something. All they did was float there, looking into each other's eyes, trying to answer all those questions that burned through them with life of their own.

The mazoku had no idea what impulsed him to do what he did next… could have been Filia sobbing into his shirt whilst repeating his name… could have been the fake stillness that had invaded the hallway… could have been the ghost. All he knew was that he pulled the blond into a sitting position, facing him, and captured her lips with his in a never-ending kiss, in an attempt to suffocate her worries and her sobs. He obviously succeeded when the girl closed her eyes and returned the kiss, forgetting about her surroundings and losing herself to him in her turn.

The ghosts had turned their attention to the ones that kissed below them and at the same time both raised their hands up, freezing time at that instant and floating down to take a better look at the couple. The first to talk was the girl-like one, turning towards its antagonist with a soft smile on her features, "You know… it is our destiny to walk together," it whispered, "Come and we will dream… in this dream we'll stand beneath a great expansion of sky, lit by its numberless stars…"

"Ahead of us a wide grassland, stretching out into the distance where the black shadows of the mountains rise," followed the green haired ghost as it closed its eyes, something strangely mellow about its features now, "And all will be clear and sharp and bright, and there'll be such longing…" it held out its hands, another ball of black light forming on them.

The woman-like ghost smiled softly as it too raised its hands, ball of white light forming there in return, "And the moon will rise, and we shall be free to run with the horizons rolling endlessly beneath our feet…" it finished as it held its white ball of light forward, to which the other ghost responded by fusing his own black one with the first, creating a whirlwind of white and black, into which they both disappeared.

The instant they vanished, time went back to normal and both Xel and Fi fell asleep there and then for some reason…

~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ (Let them sleep for now… they've had a long night ne? ^-^)

Yawning, the golden dragon woke up to the sound of a soft giggle. Slowly she opened her eyes to take a look around herself, not really seeing anything for she was more asleep than awake… where was she? No matter where she was… she was warm and comfortable, she decided as she closed and snuggled into the warm pillow, hugging it to her. However, her brain insisted on her waking up when she felt the pillow hug back and yawn as the giggles continued, therefore, she forced her eyes open yet again to look at her pillow, only to discover that what was hugging her was indeed no pillow.

Her eyes went wide before the events of the previous night rushed back at her; the contest, that yapping ghost, those other two ghosts and… and… a kiss, after that, she remembered nothing at all. The soft musical giggle continued, and the blond sat up confused to no end, feeling Xellos stir awake at that precise moment.

"I see that you slept fine," said the soft voice in between musical giggles. When Filia and her still-half-asleep companion turned, they saw the girl who they had meet when they had first entered the haunted house, "I take it you didn't have any trouble with the ghost, then?"

Both mazoku and dragon jumped apart from each other blinking and staring in disbelief, "Huh?!" they asked at the same time, "Morning already?!"

The blue haired girl smiled at them, her green eyes reflecting the light of the sun that came from outside, "Yes, morning… and you two have passed the night, therefore, I shall give you your prize," she said as she held two pieces of paper out to them, opening the front door of the house so that they could leave, "Here, these two tickets, one for each, allow you to spend a proper vacation in the beach. Far away from each other and from ghosts… if that's what you truly wish."

Xellos jumped to his feet and soon noticed his astral sense back, "Thank you so much!" he chirped as he grabbed both tickets and flew out of the house at top speed, "Fi-chan? If you want yours back you'll gave to catch me! Otherwise I'll give it to some other person!" he called.

"Huh?! HEY!! No way!!" yelled the blond as she stepped out of the house and morphed into her dragon form whilst twitching, "I want my ticket back! I went through all that and I want my prize! Get back here!!" she roared and shot after him, both disappearing from view in seconds.

"Well…" said the young girl as she turned towards a shadowed corner of the house, "That was interesting, don't you think?" she smiled at a messy green haired boy who walked out of said corner to stand beside her. His golden eyes gleaming in the still darkened house.

"Indeed interesting! Should we follow them?" he asked the girl as he smiled, showing slightly pointed teeth, "Maybe they too will find out what this is all about like we did."

The girl smiled and stepped up to wrap her arm around his waist, "Let them be… sooner or later, it doesn't matter. Everything must happen according to its own pace." She reached up and kissed him, "We'll walk together for ever… as so will they if they find out what it is that really matters." This said both kids mysteriously vanished from sight, leaving no trace of their existence to the world around them…