When Zelgadis opened his sapphire hued eyes and was nearly blinded by the mid-morning sunlight, he did the only thing he could; he swore loudly and colorfully. Lina, who was sitting on the floor beside him, snapped awake.
"Oh, you're conscious again. Good." With that said she grabbed him by the front of the his shirt and shook him violently. "DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS ABOUT YOU?! Dumb-ass, I was terrified that you were going to bleed to death in the middle of nowhere before I could get your wound fixed up!"
"I didn't ask for your help." He shoved away from her. He glanced around at the sparse surroundings; a make-shift futon of straw and cotton bags, which he was laying on, and a small hearth with a fire in it. Other than the empty window and broken door, there were no other furnishings of any kind.
"L-sama, do you really think so little of me, Zelgadis?" Lina's ruby-red eyes narrowed on the chimera as she awaited his answer. "I'm human, Zel. I've got feelings, just like you."
"No." He snorted, shakily getting to his feet and inspecting the side of his abdomen that had been wounded. "You have feelings, just like Amelia, Gourry, or Syphiel. I have no human emotions."
"Don't you?" She mocked. "You forget how well I know you, Zelgadis Greywers. I've seen you laugh with us, feel guilty, embarrassed, or compassion. I have yet to see a golem display those traits. I doubt that's where they originated from."
He glared at her a minute, trying to shred her mask of confidence with his glacial eyes.
"Leave me alone." He moved to leave, but she latched onto his arm.
"No! Not until you stop pretending to be a monster!" She yelled, almost regretting that she had restored his mobility.
"What did you think I was, Lina?" He snapped, trying to shake her off. "Some kind of person with actual feelings? My emotions are anger and hate. Now leave me alone!"
"I suppose that means you hate... me?" her voice had gone quiet suddenly, sending chills up and down Zelgadis' spine. "You're my friend, Zel. One of my few, true friends. I trust you, care about you. Did you know that every time you go off on your own, you're hurting all of us? We all like you, Zel. The gang's not complete without you. It's you we all worry about. You're always alone, even when you don't have to be. Zelgadis, we'd be your friends, if you'd only let us..."
For a long minute, the shaman didn't know what to say. What the sorceress said had truth, but what had it cost her to pay it? Spilling one's inner emotions like she had just done always came with a high price.
"Let me go, Lina." He hadn't realized he spoke out loud till a faint 'no' escaped her lips. "I am not to be kept."
"What are you to be, then?" She only tightened her grip. "You're my friend..."
"I am exactly what I appear to be." His icy stare was more jagged than a blizzard's icicles. His soft, low voice was hard to catch as the last words were lifted into the air. "A monster."
Lina was very tempted to fireball some sense into that thick skull of his, but knew it wouldn't do any good.
"Will you stop calling yourself that?!" She shrieked.
"But it's the truth." Now his calm facade was back in place, covering all his emotions like a heavy curtain that no one could push aside.
"No, it's not!" She relinquished her hold on his arm, but shifted stances before he could react. Instead of clinging to his mar like a child, she embraced him like a friend.
A swell of confusion, happiness, and compassion welled up quickly, but he struck it down with his mental mallet, 'Basher-of-All-Things-Good'. And of course, his emotional barrier of guilt and frustration kept any fragments from getting through to him.
"Lina." He said coolly. "Let go. Please."
"I'm not going to let you walk off and forget about the people who care about you, Zelgadis." She protested. "Next time, you may not be so lucky. I was here , but if you keep abandoning us this way, who'll be there when you get hurt so bad that you pass out?"
"I can take care of myself," he snorted. "I don't need you patronizing me."
"Don't you know how much it will hurt us if you die?"
"Don't you know how little I care?"
The ruby eyed sorceress froze, barely even breathing. His words hung in the air like a death sentence, bringing with them the fear and realization that he might not give a damn about her or Amelia or Gourry. And that thought hurt.
"The irony of this situation is quite interesting..." He commented as he slipped away.
"How so?" Her whisper hid her anger well. He dared to hurt her?! He wasn't even sorry...
"Don't you remember this place, Lina?" He paused at the doorway to await her reply. "This is the town where you and I made peace those many years ago. Odd, how it has never changed over time. Too much like me, I guess."
"Empty?" She fixed her crimson stare on him as he moved.
"Very." He closed the half- unhinged door behind him as he left. He didn't look back once. Lina stared at the panel, her expression making up for her silence. Pissed off was an understatement for her temperament. A crimson aura of rage radiated from her like light from the sun.
"BURST FLARE!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, letting waves of flame engulf the fragile house. The tsunami spread quickly through the deserted town, consuming anything and everything it touched.
Zelgadis stood still, his advanced senses feeling the power of the Burst Flare before it touched him. He flexed his hand, reopening the wound from Dilgear's dagger. He grimaced in pain, and summoned Isa to halt the pyre. The Rune, however, didn't stop it. It devoured it.