"XeLlLlLl!! My FeEt HuRt!" Lina whined, "Are we almost to the inn yet?" Her friends trudged behind her in similar straights though Zelgadis would never admit it.
He idly wondered if this was how they all felt when he pushed them so hard on a quest for his cure.
"Nearly there Lina-chan! The town is just over this hill! It really is a great inn, with baths, beds and very decent human food!" ...and the innkeeper is a spy of the being I'm to lead you to...Oh L-sama, I can't do this!
He paused on the road, "Lina-chan wa -- "
"There it is!" Ameilia squealed, pointing with her finger of Justice. "Xelloss-san has lead us to the town! Now all this Unjust walking shall cease, or I Ameila, defender of Right shall smash it with the fist of Justice!"
"Ameila...it's a verb. You can't smash a verb." Zelgadis noted dryly, though his eyes lingered longingly on the inn, which for once was on the EDGE of town, thank L-sama, and therefore surrounded by a minimum of people. He pulled his hood and face mask up and straightened them with the ease of long practice.
"Justice can smash anything!" Ameila replied.
"What were you saying Xel?" Lina moved up to take the mazoku's hand and smiled at him as she began tugging her lover towards the yummy smells of cooking wafting up towards them from the town.
Her hand was so warm in his. The mere contact with her skin sent tiny tingles up and down his arm, but again, the oppurtunity to tell her had passed. His eyes met her's with a desperate sort of nonchallengce. His being betraying nothing of his depression and internal struggle, but his eyes begging her for forgiveness and speaking volumes about his love for her.
"It was nothing Lina-chan, let's go get those baths," he winked at her with a suggestive grin and was delighted at her blush. The red in her cheeks set off her eyes nicely and she always looked so vulnerable when she looked down and away demurely, like that...
Before the warring sides of his mind could decide on wether to crush her or kiss her, he teleported the two of them directly to the inn. Her friends could catch up with them whenever they arrived.
"HEY! No fair teleporting! That's completely unjust!" Amelia and Zel both broke into a run towards the waiting shelter of the town.
Lina sighed in bliss and sank into the large pool in the women's bath beside her friend. This was exactly what she needed! A nice warm meal settled well in her stomach and now a hot bath to wash away the dust of the road. Pure bliss! The only thing that could top this off, would be settling into a nice feather bed snuggled with Xel to sleep the night away. She'd get that later. Her smile grew.
"Isn't this wonderful, Lina-san!" Ameila chirrped, ruining the peacful mood with her exuberance, as she surfaced, hair dripping wet, to sit once more beside the sorceress.
"Yeah it's great!" Lina flashed her a victory sign. "We've been on the road to long! This inn is just the thing!" She began undoing the towel holding her hair above the water and let the molten fire cascade down her back like a waterfall of the sun's rays as it set.
"Hey, Lina-san! I'll wash your hair if you wash mine, it will get done faster that way!"
"Okay Ame, good idea, but you do mine first!"
Xel watched from his pocket and smirked a bit at the mental image of Lina's red locks spilling like rivlets of blood over his chest after their lovemaking. Her hair had always entranced him, and he wished, not for the first time, that it was him down in those baths with her.
Ah well, at least he didn't have to worry about the Princess trying to steal his chaotic beauty away from him...Zelgadis was immensly amusing, and a truely delightful meal, but the General Preist didn't like the looks the chimera gave his Lina-chan.
She is mine, Zelgadis. Mine, heart, body, and soul.
Even though you are leading her to most likely her death? Showing her nothing but a lover's caress, even as you conspire with her enemies? You'll die with her, you know that don't you? ...You gave her your heart and when she dies, she'll take it with her.
Xelloss felt the sharp prickling of tears in his mazoku eyes and he quickly brought his hands to his face to scrub them away. For a moment though, the shadows of the astral plain cast themselves over his fingers and he swore they were covered in blood. A strangled cry made it's way up his throat, only to die unspoken, as he realized they were unstained.
A mad vision swept him away and he saw himself, craddling Lina's broken form as her life's very essence dripped from his hands. Once more the Golden form of L-sama hung over him and he shuddered.
Sounds of giggling from the still open window to the girl's bathing house broke through his horror fogged mind and snapped him awake.
Get it together Xelloss, you are the General Preist of the Greater Beast Zelas Metallium. There is no room for weakness or madness in your line of work. Tomorrow we will reach the place were it is possible to breach the astral gate into Tertus.
Lina and Ameila contiuned to giggle as they splashed each other in the pool.
Lina cuddled atop the chest of her lover and sighed in contentment. It was simply lovely to be able to share a room with him for once without the disembling of trying to hide their relationship.
His breathing was deep and even and his heartbeat soothing beneath her ear. This was perfect. Right at that moment, she thought she had reached perfect happiness. Nothing could possibly be better than this, right now. No treasure, no magic spell, no bandit hunting had ever given her the sense of security and rightness that laying there in his arms as he slept beneath her did. Nothing could be wrong in the world or her future when she felt so perfect as she did this night. Nothing at all.
Her eyes sought out the stars through the open window and she smiled angelically though there was no one to see it. "Thank you L-sama, for giving us this." she whispered aloud into the darkness. Still smiling she drifted off to sleep, thinking that after tonight, if she died, she would go knowing she had known real happiness in her life.
Silent tears tracked down Xel's cheeks as he sensed Lina's thoughts and feelings. Was L-sama trying to torture him with the perfect knowledge of just how much he was ruining, and yet letting him know that he had no choice? Was this his punishment for knowingly breaking her Law of the Races?
It seemed that way to one normally cheerful Trickster Preist.
"Are preperations in order My Lady Mazoku?"
A dericisive snort met his question, "Of course, I do not make mistakes."
"All must be ready. The Trickster may prove a problem rather than an allie. See how he holds her?"
A note of possesive jealously swam deeply below the surface of his voice, but his companion and compatriot picked up on it. She was mazoku after all, and she understood him rather well on this one. Her fist cletched in anger and supressed emotion as she peered through the veiwing glass at the two entwined lovers, now both sleeping beneath the silver rays of moonight. When the time finally came, Xelloss would be hers to do with as she would, and he would pay dearily for what he had done to her. She could care less for the Inverse girl her fellow comspirator was after so vemenantly. "I see."
"Zelas believes he will betray her, but I am not so sure. If he escapes us with the girl so be it on your head."
Lasha shuddered in anticiapted dread. He may not be mazoku, but one did not cross him, not even one such as her. "I understand." She turned quickly to leave. There were some things she suddenly wanted to double check.
"Good Lasha...I hope that you do." his voice echoed in the otherwise empty room. The mazoku didn't hear him of course, she had already left. His frown turned into a smirk and a low chuckle escaped his lips as he threw the looking glass to smash into millions of tinkling, shattering peices against the wall.
Nothing would get in the way of his plans. He could feel it, and when one such as he felt something, he was justified in counting on it. HIS kind were rarely wrong.