"I'm going to the peak of Suivusev this afternoon," Zelgadis announced at breakfast the next morning. Lina's knife a fork slipped from her numbed grasp, but the Shaman paid no attention. Instead, he calmly buttered a piece of toast. Xellos munched a pastry, looking somewhat harrowed.
"WHAT?!" The sorceress' voice returned quickly, and she promptly began to bellow at the chimera. "How can you just sit there and deliver news like that as if you were talking about the neighbor's dog having a liter of puppies?! This is important!"
"How so?" He replied.
"Damn it, Zel, you're going it o the top of the world's largest active, magic-nullifying volcano!" She screamed.
"What the hell do you mean, 'how so'?!?!?!"
"I'm not afraid of Suivusev, Lina." He shrugged. "It's just a volcano."
"Zelgadis...." She growled. "I'm going up with you." Her glare hardened to the same kind of impenetrable facets of rubies, reflecting light in her anger.
"No, you're not."
"Yes, I am."
"No, you're not."
"Yes, I am."
"Children, behave yourselves. " Xellos teased, earning himself identical glares.
"Mind your own business, fruitcake!" They socked him, still in synch.
"There's no reason for you to go up Suivusev!" The chimera exclaimed to the red head.
"There's no reason for you to go up, either!" She shot back.
Zelgadis nearly bit his tongue off in effort to keep from screaming obscenities at her. His resolve held fast only a minute longer, though, and when it snapped, his temper exploded like a Fireball in a haystack.
"Listen, you," he snarled, getting up in anger. "I've been putting up with your nagging and complaining all week. I don't know how Gourry can stand it 24/7, but I am not your sidekick, and you can not tell me what to do and expect me to obey. I have stated this many times, and yet you still follow me around and criticize everything I do! I am sick and tired of this rut we're in, and I'm ending it now!"
"Zelgadis!" She snapped back. "I am sick and tired of listening to you gripe about how much your life sucks and how I wouldn't understand what you're going through! For the past week I have been supportive and let you go on your self-destructive rants, but I think there isn't a person on this side of the world who won't agree with me when I say that there's no reason for you to keep doing this! Every time I think we make a little bit of progress, you set your heels into the ground and refuse to budge your stone ass!"
""Keep doing what? Trying to keep some bit of my life under my control?!" His narrowed glare countered hers, each knowing the others' limits quite well. "What the hell were you expecting from me?"
"You're always doing this!" Lina screamed. "You're the one who causes al your pain by holding onto your dark thoughts and memories! Open your eyes, moron. You'll get a lot more control without those damn blinders of depression and obsession blocking your view of life."
"Nice metaphor, Lina-chan," Xellos interrupted. She absently kicked him in irritation.
"Forget it." Zelgadis snorted in disgust. "I don't know why I bothered to tell you." He started to leave, but something connected with the back of his head.
"Damn it, Zelgadis, I'm trying to talk to you!" Lina cried. "Sit your ass back down and at least listen to me!" The blue-skinned Shaman turned slowly, staring at the floor. His foot brushed against something sharp, and his gaze focused on the shattered remains of one of Lina's earrings. His head jerked up as he realized what it was, and saw her standing defiantly with tears in her eyes and blood on her face from where she had torn the jewelry from its' place. Xellos stood behind her protectively, glaring at the Shaman angrily.
"Lina..." Zelgadis walked to her in defeat, gathering healing energies in his palm and gently applying them to her wound. "What are we going to do with you?"
"You are going to listen to me, for once." She sniffled, then yelped when he began to wash the blood from her face and throat with a bit of ice water on a napkin. Xellos continued to glare.
"Very well." The chimera sighed.
"You're actually going to listen?" The sorceress blinked in surprise. "Who are you, and what have you done with my friend?" Zelgadis chuckled.
"I'm an alien from the Seas of Chaos come to kidnap young women and take them back to be sex slaves of my people," he smirked. "Honestly, though, I'm tired of fighting with you. Apparently, you've had more than your fill of our arguments as well." He stole a glance at the broken earring, wincing and crumpling the cloth in his hand. "As... as your friend, I owe it to you to listen to what you have to say at least this once, ne?"
"No, I will not return to your home dimension, you perverted extraterrestrial, how many times do I have to tell you?" She grinned.
"You've been yelling at me all week, so scold me with your 'inside voice', okay?" He leaned closer to her, his hazy cerulean eyes containing a hypnotic element swirled with gold. "I owe it to you, don't I?" Before Lina realized what was happening, Zelgadis had captured her lips in a kiss and drawn the air from her lungs. It was one of those kisses, the kind that are next to impossible to find in reality, and, much to Xellos' dismay, Zelgadis didn't appear to be quitting anytime soon. He took out this annoyance on the innkeeper in an extremely violent manner.
Zelgadis, using his enhanced abilities, could go for a much longer period of time without air than a normal human being. In fact, he could go for almost an hour without breathing, if absolutely necessary. Lina, on the other hand, couldn't last more than five minutes, seven, if given proper time for preparation. Unfortunately for the sorceress, the chimera didn't let up until fifteen minutes later.
"Xellos." The sharp word caught the Mazoku's attention, and Xellos looked up to see Lina cradled unconscious in the Shaman's arms. "You... You'll take care of her, right?" Xellos only nodded as Zelgadis pushed the precious bundle into his arms. ".... Thanks."