He looked into her midnight blue eyes, knowing that it would be the last colour - or thing - he ever saw.
His own eyes were glazed over - probably from shock - making it hard for him to see.
She was crying.
He was going to die, and he knew it. But he didn't understand why she was crying. The concept wouldn't sink into his mind. It was most likely from shock, too. Why was she crying? Why? Why? Why? It couldn't be because of him.
It didn't matter. He didn't want to see her crying. It just wasn't right. He tried to talk, to tell her she didn't need to cry, but his voice wouldn't come out right. How could a person's voice be stuck in their throat? He tried a little harder. Coughing did it. It also brought blood along with the sound. He didn't notice. His voice was weak and thready and barely above a whisper:
"Don't..." It hurt to talk.
This only made her cry harder.
He was still looking into those deep pools of midnight blue. His vision was dimming; everything was darker, except those big blue orbs. They were shiny with tears.
He couldn't remember why she was crying now. He'd figured it out for a second, and then it had slipped away. Just like everything else was slipping away.
Oh, he knew he was dying. He couldn't remember why, however. There was an obvious reason. Something that he had always expected...He knew it had to do with one particular person...It just didn't matter anymore. It was almost over. His life was draining away like sand through an hourglass. But even that didn't seem to matter.
Finally she spoke, her voice loud and anguished."No! Mister Zelgadis! You can't leave me! You can't go."
She began casting a spell, a healing spell, her midnight blue eyes never leaving his.
A healing spell wouldn't work now; it was too late. And they both knew it.
He tried to shake his head 'no'. "Stop..."
She looked confused. "But - !" He gave her one of his rare smiles and shook his head again.
Then, as if on some sort of cue, there was a gust of wind. As the wind died, so did he.
"No!" Amelia cried. She tried another healing spell. Of course, it didn't work. She say curled into a little ball, hugging her knees, crying."...Don't leave me..."
It had been a terribly sad fact that the chimera had had to die. Xellos watched everything from the background. A slow, lazy smile formed on his lips. His eyes were opened and deadly.
"Terribly, terribly sad!" He sang quietly to himself. "Poor Mister Zelgadis!"
Oh, it was such a tragic scene! "Such a nice meal," Xellos sang a little more. " Tragic scene nice meal!" He grinned to himself and strolled over to Amelia He put on his most sober mask when she turned to look at him with a tear-streaked face.
"Mister Zelgadis is dead!" She wept.
He changed his mask from sober to comforting. "Oh, that's too bad," He opened his eyes to look at her. "Do you know what happened?" He asked it gently. She shook her head 'no', then buried her face in her hands.
He smiled to himself. Perfect. "Do you want to know how he died? I'll tell you how I killed him."
She looked up sharply, fear in her eyes. "WHAT?!"
"Oh, yes I'll tell you how I killed him..." He pulled a sharp, glowing knife out of nowhere. "With this!" He exclaimed happily. "You see, he was getting nosy - he was getting too close to my little secret!" His face turned serious once again. "Much too close, our little chimera was, to something too important for him to ruin." He gazed into her eyes. "So you see, little Princess, I killed him for a very good reason."
Her midnight blue eyes were dull with realization. There was no more justice; just pain and fear.
"And guess what?" His voice was cheerful again. "Now that you know, you get to die too!"
She never had a chance. The same knife that he'd used to murder Zelgadis was thrust into her heart. Her midnight blue eyes dimmed, and she collapsed; only inches away from Zel's rapidly cooling body.
"My secret is safe with you! I knew I could trust you!" He sang happily. "What a nice meal! The best I've had in a long time." He bent over to retrieve his knife, and to feast a little more on the leftover emotions. "I knew you two would keep my secret!"
Then he was gone, having teleported back to his room at the inn. His fun over for the night. When the morning came, and Zelly-chan and Amelia hadn't come back yet, he'd go out with Lina-chan and Gourry and 'discover' their corpses on the deserted outskirts of town. He would make a show of being horrified and aggrieved. He would be a comforting shoulder for Lina-chan to cry on.
He lay down on his bed, throwing his staff and cloak carelessly at the end of it.
He closed his eyes, smiling in satisfaction. "That was fun. I'm sure I won't be hungry for a couple of days, now!" Then he fell asleep, humming happily to himself.