Temple

by majo-chan

Author's notes: This IS in the Inversed timeline. This is also absolutely, totally, unquestionably a rough draft for what might happen. This is absolutely NOT set in stone... Watch as my couple biases go rampant...

Warnings: It would help if you read Inversed. Watch out for the singing lady.

**

            “Are you ready yet?”

            The call sounded from downstairs, tinged with mild annoyance and amusement.
            Filia Ul Copt grumbled something under her breath and tugged at her collar. “Coming, sheesh! Have some patience!” Quickly, she ran out of her room and down the stairs, slipping her feet easily into the sandals by the door as Xelloss tapped his foot impatiently at her. The Dragon frowned and stuck her tongue out at the Mazoku, but he ignored her and opened the door instead. She breezed by him and he followed. Together the two made their way to the quiet little road flanked by trees that would lead them to the busier parts of Sailloon.

            “I thought you of all people wouldn’t take forever to get ready.” Xelloss griped as they walked along. Filia snorted but didn’t bother replying to that. The day was too nice, the sun was out and the sky was a beautiful light shade of summer blue. She didn’t feel like engaging in a full-fledged argument, even if it IS Xelloss that was annoying her.

            “ Why are you coming along anyway?” She asked instead, skipping forward a few steps and twirling around so she could face him as they continued on. He noted with interest that her long braid followed the rotation in a lazy arc before settling back down, slapping softly against her legs. “Don’t tell me it’s another one of Lina’s ideas?”

            “ Not quite.” He answered dryly. “ Remember the little agreement we made when we got here? Something about the fact that no one should go out alone?”

            “Oh.”
            “I see you do remember.”

            She rolled her eyes, shrugging nonchalantly. “I don’t see why we shouldn’t go out alone…it’s not like anyone in their right mind would attack any of us, even if we ARE alone.”

            He gave her a pained look that plainly said that the comment was not a very informed one. “Filia, some of our enemies are not in their right minds.”

            She sighed. “ I know, I know…” The slightly pouty look smoothed out then turned into a smile. “Out of curiosity though…why are YOU the one that’s coming with me? I thought going to Cepheed’s temple would have been the last thing on your ‘Places to Go’ list.”

            The purple haired mazoku shrugged, then smirked. “ Ah, but for you, My Lady, I would go to the ends of-ow!” Filia rubbed her fingers over her stinging knuckles and shot him her best glare of death. He felt the new lump on his head gingerly. Okay, so he had that coming, but boy does she have a nasty right hook...

            “ Quit teasing me.” She growled before spinning around and taking off at a fast run. After a moment of stunned silence, Xelloss followed.

            “ Hey, wait up!” He called after the blond dragon as she sprinted ahead of him, her golden braid whipping slowly behind her like a tail. “ Women.” He muttered under his breath. “ I will never understand them.”

            Filia turned and blew a raspberry at him.

            “Ano, Filia!” He groused. She merely laughed at him but kept going. But the chase didn’t go on for long because the dragon slowed down after a few more steps. She realized that there was an unusually large amount of people milling around, and they weren’t even all the way into Sailloon’s main square yet.

            “ What’s going on?” She asked quizzically as he also slowed, trailing about two steps behind her as she weaved through the crowd. It grew more difficult as the streets became more filled with people milling around. Besides the usual morning shoppers and sellers, there were a few performers and artisans around. The main square was decorated with festive flags and a large stage had been set up. A festival of some sort? Maybe Xelloss was right to want to leave earlier…Filia was just about to elbow her way through two haggling merchants when she felt a yank on her arm. She yelped at his sudden pull and stumbled back.

            Just in time to avoid being ran over by a giant cart of cabbages that barreled by. She blinked rapidly as she watched the driver of the cart screaming for people to get out of the way at the top of his lungs.

            “ Would you watch where you’re going?” He hissed in her ear, arms instinctively going around her as the press of people around them seemed to solidify. A young woman carrying large bags of assorted groceries shoved past them in hot pursuit of the cart and Xelloss found the two of them stumbling back clumsily, until his back touched a wall. He glanced up to see the faded bricks of the local carpentry guild wall behind him.

            “ Sorry.” She muttered, feeling oddly embarrassed. She had no idea why she hadn’t moved out of the way herself, it wasn’t as if she hadn’t seen it coming.  “ Looks like we stumbled into the morning rush hour and some sort of festival.”

            “ Looks like.” He agreed. “Any idea how to get out of here? Another route, by any chance?”

            Filia craned her neck and peered around. “ I guess…though, Xelloss?”

            “ What?” He blinked.

            “ Um…I can’t move.”

            He let go of her abruptly. Filia glared as she stumbled and almost lost her balance. “ Sorry.” He said with a sheepish grin. “ Shall we go then?”

            “Hai.”

            He blinked at her when she grabbed his hand determinedly. “So we don’t get separated.” She explained grimly, though he could see a glint of humor in her azure eyes. He gulped when she set her jaw and dove back in, with him in tow.

**

            She never did let go, he noted once they finally managed to fight, elbow and push their way through the throng to duck into a little alley. The Dragon deemed it the right alley that would lead them to the temple, and he didn’t argue.

            “ Did you hear me or are you deaf?” She asked him. When he gave her a questioning look, she gestured to her ear with her free hand.

            “ I’m not deaf.” He said annoyedly.

            She shrugged. “ I wanted to make sure. That fat lady had quite a pair of lungs, didn’t she?”

            He winced. “ She couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket. I think people were giving her money in hopes she’ll shut up.”

            “ That’s not nice.” She replied absently as she pulled them through the alley and glanced up and down the street they exited onto. “ I think it’s that way.”

            He allowed her to navigate them through a maze of streets, telling himself that if they did get lost, he could always just teleport himself back to the mansion. But as far as he could tell, they weren’t going in circles. In fact, even though Filia could never be sure if the street was right, at least she always headed in one direction unerringly. Soon, they caught a glimpse of tall white pillars and Filia grinned.

            “ Made it!” she said with satisfaction as they arrived at the foot of the pale marbled steps that led up to a very stately and elegant temple built from entirely white marble. The structure stood out glaringly against the duller and darker buildings around it, and the demon raised an eyebrow.

            “Nice.” Was Xelloss’s noncommittal comment. “ Very…white.”

            She rolled her eyes. “I suppose it would be too much to hope for…” She muttered under her breath, not finishing WHAT it was that would be too much to hope for. Xelloss raised an eyebrow at her but didn’t comment as he followed her up the very pale gray marble steps. “ You’re coming?”

            “ You sound surprised.” He noted as he stopped by her. Indeed, the dragon was giving him a look usually reserved for fishmen declaring that they are handsome. “What’s with the flummoxed expression?”

            “ But…it’s Cepheed’s temple.” She explained patiently, as if that in itself should’ve made all the sense in the world.
            “ So?” He replied just as patiently.

            “ But you’re a Greater Mazoku.” She said, exasperated. “ Greater Mazoku aren’t supposed to be able to enter God’s temples. Besides, you’re going to give the Priestesses heart attacks by just looking at them, they can’t possibly let you stay when they see who you are.”

            She’s using ‘who’, not ‘what’, he noted. An improvement. “ I won’t scare them by my so called mazoku-ness.” He promised with a smile. “ Today I’ll just be Xelloss, random anonymous worshipper of His Holiness, Cepheed. Don’t worry, I’ll be good.” He winked and as he finished talking, Filia felt a subtle shift in his aura. When she looked at him from the other plane, the aura shone a faded white. Human.

            “ How did you do that?” She asked, eyes widening. 

            He grinned and shook a finger at her. “ secret.”

**

            “ Welcome to our temple to the all mighty and all powerful Cepheed, our God.” Was the greeting they received upon entering. The shrine maiden clothed in white bowed and smiled kindly at them before inquiring, as was required of all visitors to His temples, “ What is it that you seek?”

            Filia smiled back. The inside of the temple was just as impressive as the outside, although it really didn’t hold a candle next to the Sanctuary. “ I would like to request a Rite of Purification. Is that all right?”

            The shrine maiden’s eyes widened a bit when she mentioned on of the major Rites of the Dragon race, then understanding dawned as she took in the site of Filia’s pointed ears and slightly exotic eyes. “ Ah, I see. Yes, we have rooms set aside for the Rites. Please follow me.”

**

            It was room filled with sun and shadow in equal measures. The familiar motions were calming as she went through the Rite of Purification. It was not as good as she would have liked…Sailloon’s temple was less prepared for the major rites than the ones she had been in before, but it was enough for the task. She needed to prepare herself, physically and spiritually, before joining in the fight again. The past few days had been almost a dream in the peace that settled over her like a comforting blanket. But she knew it would not last for much longer. She could only put off her responsibility to her own race for so long before it could no longer be ignored.

            The Rite of Purification was usually the Rite performed by the soldiers before they went off to war. It purified their bodies, so that they would fight with all their skill. It purified their minds, so that they would fight for the right reasons. It purified their souls, so they would not retreat from what was distasteful but necessary.

            Carefully, she lowered the blessed water and knelt, dipping her fingers in delicately. With a short recitation of the Holy words, she drew an invisible circle in the air and the marbled floor beneath her flared in a white hexagon. Normally there would be magical candles, witnesses from the Council and a whole wing set aside for the Rite, but she felt that this small room confined the ceremony enough that it was no longer imposing…

            White energy trickled slowly, around and through her as she bowed her head under the warm, gentle onslaught. It was no more than light that was permeating the air right now, she knew, but it seemed to brighten even the darkest part of her. For a little while, the complicated was made simple and she felt clean again. All the other times she performed the Rite…she had went through it because of tradition, because it was dictated. She felt bared and vulnerable when performing the Rite in the great Dragons’ Hall, with at least one of the members on the Dragon Council watching her, ready to pick out faults…But now it felt more intimate, more sensitive, and therefore it felt much more effective.

            The gentle whiteness slowly faded and she came back to herself with a start when cramped muscles started protesting. The sun had moved in the sky and she realized almost a whole hour had passed. With a soft groan, she pushed herself up from the kneeling position and bowed to the statue of Cepheed in this prayer room. Then, stiffly, she moved to depart.

            As she exited the room, she caught sight of a shrine maiden, one that had greeted them on the way in and directed them to the right rooms. “ Excuse me.” Filia called. The shrine maiden stopped and smiled at her curiously. “Have you seen the man that came in with me? The one with the purple hair?” She had lost track of Xelloss after she was shown the room for the Rite. The mazoku had promised to behave so she wasn’t too worried at first, but it had been awhile since they parted. She was a bit apprehensive about what he might have done in that hour, promises or no promises, because she didn’t think any of this was of any interest to him. A bored Mazoku is a dangerous Mazoku.

            “ Aa.” The maiden said. “ The gentleman requested a Rite of Confession, ma’am. He is in the room down the hall, but please do not disturb him until the Rite is complete.”

            She felt confused but didn’t let it show. “ All right. I’ll just wait outside then.”

            A Rite of Confession? She didn’t even know that he knew the Ryozoku’s Rites…much less enough to name one and go through with it. Curious, she went down the hall, stopping in front of the door that Xelloss was supposedly behind.

            It wasn’t completely closed.

            “ And this one is for Xellas. She may never forgive me, but I still pray that she would be able to find peace.”

            She took in a surprised breath. The Rite opened with lighting the magical candles and praying for loved ones. How did he…

            “ I suppose this is a good time to start.” A pause, then another candle was lit. “Honored Flare Dragon King, Cepheed. Revered protector and guardian, enemy of Darkness. This unworthy one calls and summons you, please heed our pleas.”

            He even knew the words!

            “ Hi, Cepheed. Not that you’re really here or anything like that, but I felt it was about time you and I had a little talk…I actually really doubt that you can hear this, since it’s been forever since I actually performed one of your convoluted Rites…but if you can hear me, fine. If you can’t, it’s your loss, though I wouldn’t say that you missed anything important.”

            Now that sounded more like the Xelloss she knew.

            “ And since this confession is free and all, Filia, you can come in if you want.”

            The Dragon jumped, then flushed with embarrassment at being caught. She was almost sure that he hadn’t noticed. Briefly, she toyed with the idea of running away, pretending that nothing had happened…then squished that thought.  “ Um….” She hedged as she peeked cautiously in.

            “ Come in, come in.” Xelloss called agreeably from the middle of the room, the lit candles on the ground in a six-pointed star pattern. Although it was bright outside, he had drawn the curtains so that it was almost completely dark inside. The yellow-gold candlelight flickered eerily around them, around him. “ Don’t you want to say hi to your God? I’ve got the ceremonies all completed, so it’s time to chatter away.”

**

Game over or Continue?