red italic = the demon's voice
A scream sounded in the wood, causing Lina to plow into a frozen Amelia, sending them both tumbling to the ground. "W-what was that?" came a muffled voice under Lina. Xellos paused and tilted his head slightly as if listening to a voice on the wind.
"A band of bandits!" he said cheerfully. Lina was up in a moment, eyes gleaming with the familiar spark of greed. Bandits equaled treasure and Lina loved treasure! Forget Zelgadis! They could find him any old time after they get the trea -- the evil, lawless bandits.
"Are you aware that you're laughing?" asked Xellos mildly, leaning on his staff. Lina shut her mouth and with an evil grin shouted, "Come on!" before bounding off towards the direction of the scream. Gourry and Amelia looked at each other for a second, then shouted for Lina to wait up and took off. Xellos paused, listening to the laughing wind.
"Is the broken man still there?" he asked.
Why do youuu care, deemon-man?
"Sore wa himitsu desu." He told the murmuring breeze. The wind laughed as it tugged on his cloak again.
Poor broken man. He is in paaaain. Can you feel it?
"Um.." Xellos paused, wondering how the wind could feel the emotions a Mazoku couldn't pry out of the lad.
Your kind enjoooys suffering, I know. Yet this one, heee is unhaappy. Cooonfusing, ne?
It took Xellos a moment before he realized that Wind just lumped Zelgadis with the Mazoku race. A rare true smile flitted across his face.
Lina didn't expect to run into Zelgadis on the road to the mone -- ..villains, but run into him she did, literally.
"Owwww." She moaned, rubbing her head. Zelgadis did not seem aware that he had just been plowed over by a money-hungry sorceress. His sapphire Mazoku eyes were slightly out of focus, as if looking at something far away. His face showed a slight strain, as if he were in pain, or something.
"Mr. Zelgadis?" Amelia waved a hand in front of his face. No reaction. A second scream split the air, coming from the group of bandits not twenty feet away. Lina, torn between her friend and her purse, looked helplessly between the two. Xellos appeared a few feet above their heads watching the happy antics of the bandits,
"Oh my!" he said cheerfully, "Looks like they've just returned from attacking a village, and they have a few...spoils." the third feminine scream cut short any questions on what kind of spoils. Amelia shot to her feet with a look that could almost be described as constipated anger plastered on her young face, "The wicked villains!" she cried sternly. Her friends shot dubious glances at each other, readying themselves for another of her justice rants.
"Could you get off of me?" came a soft voice from under Lina. Zelgadis glowered up at the sorceress from a very...interesting position. Lina blushed wildly and sprang to her feet, where she stood twiddling embarrassed fingers as Zelgadis rose.
"Look! He's blushing!" pointed out Xellos.
"I am not!"
My head is spinning. It...it...feels... no! I can't allow myself to feel this! But...it feels so good! The screams sent happy shivers down his spin. He was bolted to the spot when the first scream sent the pleasant tingles. Zelgadis was torn between pleasure and agony as his two sides battled it out.
Hush, my Self,[1] said a voice, it was soft and cool, yet Zelgadis could swear he could feel the heat of its breath on the back of his neck. Invisible arms wrapped around the chimera and whispered in his ear in a voice full of temptation, of dark seduction. Let me out, Self. You don't want to be in pain anymore. I can help. Let me out to play.
No! Zelgadis shoved at invisible arms and heard the silent laughter as it faded away. He opened his eyes and focused on... Lina. Well, a portion of Lina in any case. Zelgadis blushed violently before wrapping himself inside his icy wall.
"Could you get off of me?" he asked with his best glare. Lina jerked and looked down, then it was her turn to blush and leap to her feet. As he stood, he could feel the seagull bang out another portion of glass.
"Look! He's blushing!" chided Xellos.
"I am not!" Zelgadis wasn't even paying attention as he tried to patch the small hole. Play.... whispered the voice. Zelgadis frowned and was suddenly aware of Lina fireing up a fireball in the direction of the bandits. NO! Not again! He reached out and grabbed her wrist before she could finish casting. She turned in surprise.
"Don't." he said, surprised at the harshness in his voice.
"What?" she asked in confusion.
"Please, don't." he begged, aware of the others watching him.
"But -- " she began but the bandits were aware of them now and a loud battle cry resounded through the air. All thoughts of listening forgotten, Lina grinned and shouted, "FIREBALL!"
Zelgadis sighed and stood back, arms crossed tightly over his chest his face a complete blank as he tried to ignore the joy running through his veins. But, perhaps it wasn't that bad. The thought arrived in his head and Zelgadis frowned in confusion. The thought continued, Lina gets joy out of hurting bandits, so there can't be anything that wrong with it? Right? Yesss....
1: I got this idea from a story called Decisions. I found this concept very intriguing so I took it. I hope the author doesn't mind. ^_^;;
(Webmaster's Sidenote: Decisions is my fic and I don't mind too much that she uses it's idea in her fic.)
What does the Seagull represent: a bloody bird. It is the temptation, it used to be sparrow size, but as Zelgadis' Mazoku nature grew, so did the bird. It is now the size of a seagull.
Behind the glass is where Zelgadis trapped his demon side when first given his form. Now, that side is battling to get free.
K.R.P: ::falls to the floor sobbing:: Look how far I've gotten with this, and with such a beautiful metaphor with the glass wall too! And-and -- I find a story called Shattered Glass and its sequel already uses it! ::Sob!::
Zelgadis: Yesh, enough with the dramatics already.
K.R.P: But-but -- , it's not fair! I spend so much time and effort into coming up with a beautiful plot or character or metaphor and then... I find someone who used it already, and get this, did a better job!!
Xellos: Yare, yare, Kat-chan, you know what they say; great minds think alike.
K.R.P: .....YOU'RE RIGHT!!
::Sweatdrop::
K.R.P: I'LL CONTINUE AS PLANNED!
::Zelgadis beats Xellos over the head::
Xellos: ^_^;;
K.R.P: NOW!
::Collective wince::
K.R.P: I think I'm going to write some more, thank you Xel-chan, just for that, I'm going to let you do something evil and fun in the next part!
Zelgadis: great...
Xellos: Yay!
Part 3 | Fanfiction