Don't Make Me Say Goodbye..

By ThresherII

"Lina-san, don't!" But it was too late, the spell had already been thrown. Filia closed her crystal-blue eyes as it rushed toward her-the Laguna Blade spell followed even astral movement, so she knew that phasing away wouldn't work. I'm not going to live through this, she thought, feeling more lonely then ever before, I'm going to die alone, and by the hands of one who used to be my friend, at that..

But she heard something, a sound that was all-too-familiar.. Xellos phasing in. Her eyes opened as she heard the sound close-by, and stared in wide-eyed shock and astonishment as he took the hit meant for her without hesitation. The force of the attack sent the purple-haired Mazoku flying to slam hard against the wall behind Filia before sliding to the floor, moaning in pain. Why did he..?!

"Lina-san, how could you..?!" she cried, but instead of counter-attacking the flame-haired sorceress, she turned and went quickly to Xellos' side. Kneeling beside him as he painfully dragged himself into a sitting position, she reached out as if to touch his shoulder, or help him stay sitting up, but her hand stayed suspended about a foot from him.

"Are you..going to be okay?" she asked, finally working up the courage to touch his shoulder, and he slowly shook his head. Filia nearly gasped when she realized that he was missing a large portion of his chest, and was trying to hold himself together.

"Don't...know..if I.....can...re-...gener..ate...this..much," he wheezed, slumping over, apparently not strong enough even to hold himself upright anymore. He did this for me, she realized, He got in the way of a spell that he knew would kill him..for me. Just to save me.. Gently pulling him back into a sitting position, she let him lean on her for support. He was too weak and in too much pain to argue, and laid his head on her shoulder without protest.

"Just hang in there," she told him softly, "You need to concentrate on healing yourself," but he shook his head.

"No,..I...won't..make.....it,...any..way.."

"Don't talk like that!" she frowned, "You'll be fine! You just need time to heal yourself, that's all.." Again, he shook his head.

"Can't,..I'm...too....far..gone..al...ready.."

"Then I'll try a healing spell on you myself!" she said, getting ready to cast one, but he gasped, "No.. Won't....work..any...way.. Please,..I.......need to...tell....you..some..thing.." She shook her head, unshed tears sparkling in her crystal-blue eyes.

"Please, Xellos, don't make me say goodbye," she whispered. He smiled weakly, his fingertips lightly brushing her cheek.

"No,..I won't...eve..r...make you..do...anything..agai..n.."

"Why? Why did you do this if you knew that you would..?" The last word was choked off by a sob, forcing her to trail off, tears slipping down her cheeks.

"Be..cause.." he whispered, "I..I love...you,..Fili..a.." His hand fell lifelessly away from her face, and he became very silent, amethyst eyes slowly drifting closed. She knew deep down inside that he wasn't with her anymore, that he had left her behind, but she just couldn't bear to think of him as dead.

"No..!" she choked, cradling his body close to hers, tears streaming unchecked down her cheeks. "Please.. Don't make me say goodbye.." she sobbed, rocking back and forth with him in her arms, and tangling her delicate fingers into his soft, violet hair. "Please.. I don't want..to do it.. Don't make me say...goodbye.."

Nearby, the body that used to belong to Lina Inverse observed the sobbing Ryuuzoku calmly. "How interesting, a Ryuuzoku having feelings for a Mazoku," it murmured in her voice, tilting it's head slightly to the side as if curious, "I wonder whatever Juu-ou-sama would think of it? Or Elder Sachairo?" It smiled cruelly. "But, then, you'll never get the chance to find out!"

And, with those last words, it cast a single, deadly fire arrow into the crying dragon girl's back and disappeared, laughing darkly at the ease in which it had destroyed the Beastmaster's general/priest as well as the last Golden Ryuuzoku-just as it's orders commanded of it.

~Owari

AN: I just killed off Xel-kun! And Filia-san! O.o;; This's definitely an AU/What If..? fic! ^_^;; Btw, Slayers isn't mine, and neither is their characters, places or concepts, so please don't sue me for writing about your awesome characters! ^_~ K? R&r, if you dare. Oh, and please don't flame me for killing off poor Xel-kun and Filia-san-they've had a bad day, already, as you can see. ^_~;;

Xellos is my favorite character, so please don't think I have anything against him. And Filia, too. Xel-Fil romance is a favorite writing genre for me. Same goes for Lina, she's one of my favs as well. Lol, maybe it was my subconscious, Xel-Lina mind speaking through in my writing that made Lina the baddy here, trying to kill Filia (who I coincidentally usually pair up with Xellos in these fics, lol! ^_^;;).

Also, she's actually been destroyed in this fic, and a Mazoku of sorts is inhabiting her body. Filia doesn't know this, however, and that's why she still calls it 'Lina-san'.

Lol, anyway, Filia's now paired with Gaav, so Xel can have his Lina-chan without having to worry about Xel-Fil inhabiting my mind. ^_~;; Yikes, I'd better go before the AN is longer then the actual fic! ^_^;; C'yas..