Part VIII: The End?! Or is it just the Beginning…

 

            A month later…

            “I can’t believe this is really happening,” Filia murmured to no one in particular. She moved a sleeping Val to a more comfortable position on her arm. “Isn’t this going to disrupt the order of things or something?”

            “Not if nobody except us know,” Xellos whispered.

            “I thought it was supposed to be our children that stopped the war between the gods and the monsters. This seems a little set up, don’t you think?”

            “Who says the truce is going last?”

            “That’s enough commentary out of you two.”

            Xellos and Filia turned to see an elegantly (but also sexily) garbed Beastmaster beside them. Her silver and gold dress glistened in the sunlight. She lifted the tip to her mouth and took a deep drawl before exhaling the smoke. She ruffled the sleeping Val’s hair and then gave them a wink.

            “This is really only the beginning. Actually it’s only a few of the Mazoku Lords, including myself, along with the Elder Golden Dragon and a few of his High Priests and you two, that know this is going on. No one else knows. And it’s probably going to stay that way. Like Filia said, we don’t want to disrupt the order of things. But should things like Dark Star pop up again, at least we know it is something both sides have to handle.”

            Filia gave an exasperated sigh, shifting Val in her arms. “Then what’s with all the mumbo jumbo about my children being pivots in peace? That they’ve been prophesized about for centuries. That they’ll be the ones to unite the Mazoku and Ryuzoku?”

            Beastmaster blinked at her. “Aren’t you exaggerating just a little?”

            Xellos put his hand on Filia’s shoulder. He smiled at her, waggling his finger in front of her nose. “But they are. They’ll be the first creatures born that will be both Ryuzoku and Mazoku. Veritable mini-Dark Stars themselves.”

            Filia narrowed her eyes at him. “You like that, don’t you?”

            Beastmaster sighed. “I just cannot believe you missed my presentation, Xellos.”

            Xellos looked up to his lord with a shrug. “If your speech was just as dull as Elder Celeboria’s then I didn’t miss much.”

            A vein pulsed on Beastmaster’s perfectly done hair. “Filia dear? Do you mind if I kill my underling?”

            Filia shrugged. “Go ahead. You’ll relieve me of plenty of headaches.”

            Xellos made a face of mock hurt. “Why, Filia! You wound me!”

            She lifted an eyebrow at him. “Good.”

            Beastmaster barely stifled her laugh.

            “And so I call up Lord Beastmaster of the Mazoku to receive our offering of peace!” Elder Celeboria called. There was a slight applause (after all there weren’t many Ryuzoku or Mazoku there).

            Beastmaster strode to the Elder. He gave her a brilliant smile and made a motion with his hands. A Golden Dragon High Priest and a Black Dragon High Priest came in pulling a large cart with a long box on it. They were in their dragon form. They stopped and then placed the large box a few feet away from Elder Celeboria and Beastmaster. Afterwards, they transformed into their humanoid appearance. The Golden Dragon High Priest whispered something in the Elder’s ear and then moved away.

            Xellos and Filia moved closer. The gift Beastmaster had given to the Ryuzoku as part of the truce had been a tool of the Mazoku that was used to awaken Shrabranigdo. In the Ryuzoku’s possession, Lord Ruby-Eyes’ resurrection was reduced to practically nil. Because of that, both Xellos and Filia had assumed the gift from the Ryuzoku to the Mazoku would be something similar. Access to the Claire Bible or something.

            Not a giant box that seemed like it just started to move.

            Nobody else seemed to noticed the large wooden box twitching. Beastmaster was giving a brief speech of thanks and that’s were the attention was. Filia and Xellos were watching the box in confusion. Filia swore she heard grumbling coming from it. Val murmured something in his sleep.

            Beastmaster’s speech came to an abrupt stop when whatever was inside the box, decided to get out.

            A large arm in a red brown sleeve, burst through the wood and reached over to the latch. It startled the entire assembly to silence. Even Beastmaster could only stare at in confusion as whatever was inside tried to get out. Muffled curses could be heard coming from it.

            Beastmaster turned to Celeboria with an eyebrow. “Is this supposed to happen?”

            Celeboria laughed nervously. “Actually, you were supposed to open it and get a nice surprise. But I suppose, despite the fact that you are not opening it, you should still get the surprise effect.”

            Her eyes narrowed at the Elder. “I wasn’t expecting this kind of thing from you, Elder Celeboria.”

            He shook his head. “It isn’t what you think. I swear!”

            A growl rumbled from inside the box and with a burst of strength, whatever was inside broke through the wood. Clearly, it couldn’t get at the latch.

            “FUCK! Damn Ryuzoku! How long were they planning to keep me in there?!”

            Silence.

            The ‘person’ that emerged from the box was an eight-foot man with long red hair and a brown trench coat. The Ryuzoku (that had no hand in this) and the Mazoku could only stare at him jaws agape. He let out a snarl at them and watched in satisfaction as they stepped back in unison.

            “Hmph,” he said dusting his hands off.

            Xellos could only shake his head.

            Beastmaster was the first to speak.

            “Gaav…?”

            The Demon Dragon King turned at the sound of his name and then stopped.

            Beastmaster was standing as still as stone as her eyes took in the sight. It… It was Gaav… Whole, alive… But…but… How? Beastmaster whirled on Celeboria.

            “How did you do this?”

            Elder Celeboria didn’t even notice her threatening tone of voice. “I thought you would like your gift!” Celeboria chuckled. “Well, he did die on the Kakatoe Mountains. A human body is easy for us to reconstruct. The hard part is getting back his astral presence, which makes him the Demon Dragon King. It took us a lot of time and effort to pull it off, but we managed to gather up all of his astral essence.” Celeboria scratched the back of his head and gave Beastmaster a sheepish smile. “Of course, I had to consult the Claire Bible to make sure how to do it right. Didn’t want to mess up, you know!”

            Beastmaster slowly turned back to Gaav. She felt a burning sensation coming from the back of her eyes. But she refused to give in to the temptation. Gaav was looking at the Elder Golden Dragon with his eyebrows arched.

            “I died, huh? I presume it was Phibrizzo. Just one question,” he said.

            Celeboria smiled. “Certainly!”

            Gaav’s eyes narrowed. “Did he get what he deserved?”

            Celeboria’s golden eyes twinkled. “I believe Miss Lina Inverse gave him a very painful death.”

            “Good.”

            Beastmaster only watched. She couldn’t stop her trembling anymore than she could stop the burning in her eyes. Was she afraid? Was she happy? What was wrong with her? But it was just then that Gaav turned his red-eyed gaze at her.

            “Zelas.”

            She gulped. No one had called her name like that in so long… She slowly looked up at him and bit her lip. “Y-yes?” She mentally cursed herself and turned her face away. Look at you! Breaking down like this! You should be composed, in control, or at least shaking with happiness, not fear and nervousness!

            She felt Gaav take hold of her chin and move her face up so she was looking up at him. He captured her eyes. There were so many things she had to tell him, so many things she wanted to say… She opened her mouth. But before words could come, Gaav placed his mouth over hers and kissed her breathless.

            Only Celeboria, Xellos and Filia clapped with their approval.

            Beastmaster wrapped her arms around Gaav and they both vanished. Her heartfelt words were the only things that resounded in the assembly room after their departure.

            “Thank you.”

 

*          *            *

 

            “I can’t move and it’s all your fault.”

            Xellos looked up and saw Filia munching on another piece of pie. Val was sleeping on the blanket beside her. A smirk twisted on his face. “If you keep eating at the rate you’re going, even after the babies are born, you’ll still be round.” He suddenly felt cold gooey stuff on his head. He looked up and saw the banana cream pie slowly sliding from his hair into his face. He looked at Filia. “I didn’t even notice.”

            “Hmph,” was Filia’s only reply. “Being pregnant has some advantages. Makes you distracted. Besides, it serves you right. It’s your fault I have to feed three. So if you comment on my size again, I’ll sit on you and whisper sweet nothings in your ear.” She gave him a hooded look.

            Xellos felt the blood drain from his face.

            “It’s almost impossible to believe, but I’m actually witnessing it. I thought you were only pulling my leg, Zelas. Xellos is actually sitting here, in the sunshine, in the middle of a picnic, with his family. It’s shocking.”

            Xellos looked up in time to see Beastmaster and Gaav appear.

            Beastmaster waved at Xellos. “Hello, my dear trickster. Gaav and I decided to pay you a visit. Hopefully, we’re not intruding on ‘family time’.”

            Filia waved her hand in nonchalance. “Don’t worry. You’re both welcome. After all, I’m sure Gaav is more interested in Val than he is in Xellos.” She opened a blue eye and looked at the two Mazoku Lords. “Am I right?”

            Beastmaster chuckled. “Quite right, my dear.”

            Xellos sneered as he turned to Filia. “You know, Filia dear, you’ve become quite used to having Mazoku around, I believe. One would never guess you were Ryuzoku.”

            A vein vividly pulsed on her head. She turned to Xellos with narrowed, drawn eyes. “Xellos…” A large sweatdrop slid down Xellos’ face. Her face suddenly brightened and sparkles shown around her. “I love you, dearest!”

            Xellos abruptly changed to a white color, blue lines hovering over his head and face, as he keeled over. Filia only laid back down and a satisfied smirk on her face.

            Beastmaster grinned. “Well, I see you two are getting along divinely. I wonder. Filia, has Xellos told you his feelings yet?”

            Gaav laughed. “You mean Xellos actually has those? I was wondering how a Golden Dragon managed to put up with him!”

            Filia sat up with an effort. She blinked up at them. “What are you talking about? I finally decided for better or for worse, my life would just be too dull without him. And if no matter what, he was going to stick around, I might as well make the best of the situation. And if he ever leaves me again, I’ll sick his children on him.”

            Beastmaster and Gaav blinked at her for a moment before bursting into laughter. “You mean you don’t know?” Beastmaster said. “I suppose that means Xellos hasn’t told you yet.” She smiled evilly down at Xellos. “Shall I tell her, my little wolf?”

            Xellos straightened and looked at Beastmaster. “Lord Beastmaster—”

            Gaav pulled out his sword and pointed it at Xellos. “Quiet, Xellos. I want to hear the story.”

            “So do I,” Filia said.

            Beastmaster just smiled. “It’s not a very long story. You see, Filia dear, the reason it took Xellos so long to find you, was because I put a ward around you. He never, ever would have found you even if he had looked for eons. There was only one way for Xellos to get through my ward. And that was for him to admit that he loved you. At least, to himself anyway.”

            Gaav’s sword drooped slightly as he looked at Beastmaster in disbelief. Her lips curled into a feline smile as Xellos groaned. Gaav burst out laughing.

            Filia blinked, stunned. Xellos sighed and eyed his lord. “You enjoy tormenting me, don’t you?”

            Beastmaster grinned. “Of course! Where do you think you got that perverse pleasure? Besides, what does it matter? I just told Filia and Gaav, what you, Val and I already knew.”

            Filia’s brow scrunched as she looked up at Beastmaster. “What do you mean by ‘Val’? He’s still a baby. How could he know what Xellos feels about me?” She looked at Xellos with narrowed eyes. He only gave her a crooked smile.

            Beastmaster chuckled. “Gaav, how about you explain Val to them?”

            Gaav shook his head. “What astounds me is the entire irony of this situation. Ryuzoku and Mazoku together is one thing already beyond belief. Another thing is that they are raising three little Dark Stars. Two yet to be born and one still a baby.”

            Filia rolled her eyes. “Demon Dragon King, when the hell did you get poetic?”

            Gaav sat down and ruffled the sleeping Val’s hair. “Even though he’s been born again, he’s being raised by the same two conflicting powers that were once inside of him. And in a way, still is. Dark Star has been defeated…but the potential is still inside him. He’s also an Ancient Dragon. So, unlike anyone else, he has the ability to detect the darkness in light and the light in darkness.” Gaav looked up and gave Filia a wink. “If Zelas hadn’t told you about Xellos’ feelings, Val would have eventually told you.”

            Filia looked down the sleeping. “So that’s why you were always taken with Mazoku. You sensed beyond the innate evil.” She stroked his cheek. “You are a marvel.”

            Xellos put his hand over Filia’s. She looked up and met his evil eyes. “That’s because he takes after you, Filia.”

            Filia’s cheeks turned pink, and Xellos turned a sickening shade of green. He turned around and went to the nearest tree to vomit. Filia, Gaav and Beastmaster’s laughter woke up Val.