"What are you going to do now?" Zelgadis asked Sierra.

"I. . .don't know," Sierra responded without turned to look at him.

"Shouldn't you return to your work as a Blade Dancer?" Kleo asked.

"No. Now that the Mazoku are extinct there isn't much for me to do that the regular Temple Guard couldn't,"

Zelgadis and Kleo sat at a table in the commons area of the Shrine of Rekos. Sierra stood a few feet away; her back turned to the other two. Zelgadis's appearance was now different than before. He no longer held the third of him that was demon, now he was half human, half golem. His skin had lost its bluish color, and along with it his ability to move with normal speed in a stone body had been lost.

Zelgadis slowly stood; it was very difficult to move in a stone body without the strength of demon in his body.

"I'm going to return to my first quest. Maybe some day I actually will find a way to become completely human again. How about you Kleo?"

"Me?" Kleo asked, "I don't know. Maybe I'll see if they'll let me back in the university at Ebonheim. I'd like to try to wash away the memories of the past few days."

"Whatever happened to that gun you had, Kleo?" Sierra asked, still without turning around.

"I got rid of it. I don't want that thing in my life anymore. I threw it into the oasis,"

"What about you, Sierra? What will you do now?" Zelgadis asked.

"Who knows? Maybe I'll wander the desert. Well, now that it rains so much it isn't much of a desert anymore,"

"Why?"

"I don't know. I have nothing else to do with my life. Besides, I feel as though something out there is calling me,"

"It's been a month since it happened," Kleo commented, "I feel as though we've been wearing out our welcome at this shrine. Zelgadis-san and I will leave tomorrow and go our separate ways. We're going to go pack now, so we'll say goodbye tomorrow morning."

Zelgadis and Kleo stood up to walk to the dorms.

"No," Sierra said, they stopped, "I won't see you tomorrow. I'm leaving today. So this is our goodbye."

None of them said anything for a few moments. Finally Kleo spoke.

"Goodbye, Sierra,"

"Goodbye, Sierra Gabriev," Zelgadis also said.

The two walked off. Sierra still didn't turn around. It was too painful to watch them go away. Tears rolled down Sierra's cheeks. She was completely alone now. Some philosophers say, "It is better to have loved and lost."

"What a load of bullshit," Sierra whispered, referring to the philosophy.

Sierra wandered aimlessly. It had been three days now since she had left the shrine and began wandering aimlessly around the gigantic desert that was now more like a marshland due to the seemingly constant rainfall.

She had done it. She had killed the Ruby-Eye Shabranigdo and saved the entire world from cataclysmic destruction. So why now, even more than a month after it had happened, did that victory taste so bittersweet? Yes, that was why. Everyone was gone. Terra, Toshi, Stein, and Rekos. They were all dead. And Kleo and Zelgadis had left. There was no one left but her.

Sierra kept walking. She trudged through the waist deep pools of cumulated rainwater. Hours melted together, but it didn't matter. She didn't care anymore. She recalled the time when she and Toshi and first talked like friends rather than opponents. It was at the inn in the Seyruun region. She had been singing and Toshi had complimented that song, Midnight Blue. Sierra imagined she could hear that song right now.

Sierra laughed, "It almost sound like Toshi's trying to sing it. Man, he sucks at singing."

Sierra paused. She suddenly realized that the haunting melody she heard was not her imagination. Someone, a man, was actually singing it, albeit, poorly.

"Toshi?!" Sierra whispered, then shouted, "TOSHI?!"

There was no reply. The only sounds were the faint melody and the sound of rain falling.

"He's here! I can feel it!"

She followed the sound of the song and after climbing to the top of a small hill, she saw someone standing on top of a second hill off in the distance. She ran towards that person. As she came closer she found the man to be wearing a black cloak that covered all but his face. And his face looked exactly like Toshi's.

"Toshi!" Sierra called as she leapt at him.

She hugged him and accidentally knocked him over. The two of them went rolling down the side of the hill. They finally stopped at the bottom, Sierra lying upon Toshi's chest.

"You're alive," she whispered, "I knew you were. I don't know how that's possible, though. Rekos told me everything."

She moved her face closer to Toshi's. He said nothing, just watched her. Their lips were only an inch apart. Then Toshi spoke three words.

"Who are you?"

Sierra stopped. They stared at each other for a moment. After a few more seconds had passed Sierra sat up and moved a foot away from Toshi.

"What did you say?" she asked while trembling.

"Who are you?" Toshi repeated, "And who that Rekos you were talking about?"

Sierra sat silently.

"Hey, it's not like I'm mad or anything," Toshi said, misinterpreting her silence, "It's not everyday a beautiful woman throws herself upon you, right?"

"That's not it. . ." Sierra replied, a tear ran down her face.

"Huh? Then what's the problem?"

Sierra smiled. She stood up and offered a hand to Toshi. He took it and stood up too.

"My name is Sierra Gabriev, Toshi," Sierra explained, "I'm a friend. We're going to be together from now on."

"Oh? I see," Toshi commented.

"I feels cold, daddy. The air is different. There's something missing from it,"

"Yes, I know dear," the elf explained to his daughter, "Magic is fading from this world."

"Why, daddy?" the little elf girl questioned.

"Because. . .because. . ." the elf was silent for a moment, "Because this world is entering a new era where magic is not needed."

"It feels cold now," the elf girl cried, "I don't want magic to leave! The air feels lonely!"

"I don't want it to leave either, but there is nothing to be done. This is fate, isn't that right?" the elf asked the human visitor to their village.

The human visitor, a woman wearing white and green robes, blinked her one open eye; the other was sealed permanently shut with scars.

"That's right," she told them.

The woman said nothing for a while longer, she only pondered.

Why hadn't she killed me when she had the chance? she thought to herself, She didn't know that I wouldn't kill her. She should've killed me, but I'm glad she didn't. Now perhaps I can actually make something of my life.

The sun slowly set in the west.

Krelian: Greetings, readers. I am Krelian, the author of this Slayers fanfic. I here have the lovely Sierra, a character in my fanfic, who will act as my assistant in this section of my work.

Sierra: Why am I the one who has to do this? You tried to kill me off twice! Don't think for an instant that I'm happy with you!

Krelian (sweating): Umm, okay, uhhh. Let's have Kleo do the assisting instead.

Kleo: I'm not happy with you either! You made me kill people!

Krelian: Umm, how about Toshi?

Toshi: Don't even get me started with how much I want to kick your ass.

Krelian (very nervous at all the people who want to hurt him): Rekos?

Rekos (evil grin): Heh, heh. This should be entertaining. . .

Krelian (shaking in fear): Umm, Zelgadis? Stein? Terra? L-Sama?

Zelgadis: Forget it.

Stein: Dammit! Why did I have to be killed off?

Terra: Hey, don't complain. At least when you were killed you weren't possessed by a Mazoku.

L-Sama: It's always my duty to hurt the author of any Slayers related work.

Krelian: Huh? But-but. . .

(Everyone stares evilly at Krelian.)

Krelian: THIS ISN'T FAIR, DAMMIT! I'M NOT HAJIME KANZAKA!

Everyone: We don't care!

(After a brief. . .incident. . .only Krelian and Sierra stand before the audience.)

Krelian (wearing a body cast): Anyway, now that that's all settled, the lovely Sierra Gabriev will be assisting me.

Sierra: What do you want me to say?

Krelian: Just do what most assistants do. Say things that aren't too important and just be there to make the presentation look good.

Sierra (angrily): You want some bandages over your mouth too?

Krelian: Uhh, right. Moving right along, I'd like to thank all the people who helped me to make this fanfic possible.

Sierra: Whom would that entail? I thought you were the only person working on this thing.

Krelian: Well, yes, that's true. But basically I'd like to thank Lynda Miller who agreed to put my fanfic on her fanfic page.

Sierra: Oh, I see.

Krelian: I'd also like to thank the German Frog (Frosch). Especially when it's rotisserie.

Sierra: What the hell?! What have you been smoking?

Krelian: I'm not smoking anything! It's an inside joke from my German class. You wouldn't get it unless you were there.

Sierra: So why'd you decide to say that here?

Krelian: I dunno, I just felt like it. I actually don't have that much to say, you see.

Sierra: Oh.

Krelian: Actually, I do have something else to say. For any readers who have noticed the connection between Sierra, Terra, and Stein's names and the person whom Rekos serves, please e-mail me.

Sierra: Why, because you haven't noticed it yet?

Krelian: Of course I have! I'm the one who decided to put the connection in there, idiot!

Sierra: You're calling me an idiot? KRELIAN NO BAKA!

Krelian: Please, no Ranma 1/2 stuff right now. Anyway, if you do happen to notice the connection, tell me.

Sierra: Will they get a reward?

Krelian: I'm a poor man! I can't afford to give out rewards! No, if you notice the connection your reward will be that nice fuzzy feeling for realizing that you know a few various words from multiple different languages. (That's a hint)

Sierra: Will it make them feel all floaty inside?

Krelian: Don't make any Card Captor Sakura references either! I'm not in the mood to deal with thoughts of that weird little flying pseudo-koala. Sigh. . .this is my punishment for having one of the characters in my fanfic be an otaku.

Sierra: You're an otaku too.

Krelian: Well. . .yeah. . .that's true.

Sierra: Tell the readers about your little encounter with Cool Devices.

Krelain (sweating nervously): What?! I didn't see it because I wanted to! It was a complete mistake! Besides, I put it back on the shelf as soon as I saw the cover of the box!

Sierra: Hmm, right. . .

Krelian: I'm telling you the truth, dammit!

Sierra: Right, right. Anything you say.

Krelian: Ummm, anyway. I'd like to thank Lynda Miller again for letting me use her website, and I'd like to thank the readers who read my fanfic. That's really all I have to say.

Sierra: Say, why'd you call this section the "Author's Notes?" That really isn't what this is.

Krelian: Shut up.