It all began on the eve of the wedding of Zelgadis and Khirah. Xellos, Gourry, and Brannon had decided to give Zel on last night on the town. Zel, under threat of pain, decided to be good, soon Gourry and Xellos were really enjoyed themselves. While the two 'party animals' where having fun, Zel and Brannon had found a nice cozy both to sit at. The two men slowly nursed their drinks while Gourry and Xellos danced with every barmaid in the taproom.
"I can't believe those two." Zel muttered "Especially Xellos." Zel glowered at the now tipsy Mazuko. Brannon nodded his head.
"Yeah he is obviously gone on Lina-chan. Zellas-san is just about ready to ring his neck."
"That's what really bugs me, why those two don't just admit their feelings for each other. I...." Zel's face suddenly clouded over, and his eyes sparkled. "Is it just me, or is this conversation getting distinctly strange?" Brannon caught on at the same time, and both men glared across the room.
"Xellos!" They shouted at the same time. The violet haired Mazuko looked up the two angry men made their way across their room. Brannon had to restrain Zelgadis from strangling him.
"What did you put in our drinks?" Zel snarled.
"Of a little of this, a little of that." Xellos said in an offhand manner. Gourry finally noticed that the air in the taproom had got tense.
"Hey guys what are you doing standing around?" Gourry asked in his usual clueless manner.
"Shut up Gourry." Zel snapped without taking his eyes off of Xellos. On the other side of the room, a fight broke out.
"You didn't?" Brannon asked with panic in his voice. Xellos grinned.
"Well I wanted to make Zel-kun's last night of freedom memorable so I...." Xellos smirked and Brannon golden eyes bore into his.
"You did what?"
"So I placed s dose of Nightrose in the ale." Brannon visibly trembled with rage.
"What is Nightrose?" Gourry asked, he too was beginning to feel a little odd.
"Nightrose if a plant that loosens you inhibitions, it kind of lets the party animal out." Brannon explained to the clueless swordsman.
"People act the exact opposite of how they normally act." Zel murmured. The rage slowly drained from his face, and it was replaced by a silly grin. "Oh man.. look at that hot babe." Brannon grabbed Zel by the collar of his shirt and jerked him back to him.
Great Elements,
Give into my hand the power I need
To heal this man,
In thy name, I pledge myself to thee.
Brannon cast a strong healing spell on Zelgadis, and the ex-Chimera seemed to come to his senses with a start.
"What happened?" Zel asked.
"You don't want to know." Brannon muttered.
"Ahh!" Gourry screamed. "Get her away form me!" The tall, blond swordsman hid behind Brannon trembling. A mousy woman smiled seductively at Gourry
"Hey baby." She purred. Zelgadis snarled and grabbed Xellos by the front of his cloak.
"How do we heal these people Xellos? Where is the antidote?" The look in Zelgadis' sapphire blue eyes would have scared any other man, but Xellos just shrugged it off. He held out a vile.
"Here, put this in their drinks." The Trickster Priest muttered. He had gathered all the energy he need from this interesting group of people. I will have to keep this little trick in mind. Xellos silently mused to himself. Zelgadis turned around and looked at Brannon.
"Brannon, I need your help." The Mazuko looked at him.
"And I'm supposed to care?" he asked mildly. Zel's hands clenched into fists. Zelgadis raked his angry gaze across the room, and it fell upon the hapless Gourry who was still hiding behind Brannon, and the mousy woman was smiling even more seductively. Zel smiled viciously and grabbed Gourry and tossed him right into the arms of the woman.
"AHHHH!" Gourry screamed like a girl and tried to break the woman's hold on him.
"Don't go yet baby, I've had my eye on you all night." The woman traced little circles in Gourry's blue shirt. The poor swordsman looked as if he was about to faint in shock. He kept on screaming and soon the entire bar was watching. Now is my chance! Zel thought as he pushed his way to the bar. The bartender wasn't looking and Zel poured the contents of the vile into the keg. Zelgadis looked back at Xellos and smirked as an idea dawned on him. Chuckling softly he shouted at the top of his voice and jumped atop the bar.
"Excuse me ladies and gentleman.!!" He shouted and every head in the place turned towards him. Zel smiled and pointed at Xellos. "That nice man over there has been kind enough to buy everyone in the bar a round of ale!" Zel's grinned outright as Xellos blanched at the idea of paying for all those drinks. Although money meant nothing to the Mazuko, Zel knew that Xellos would have to sweat it when he explained to Zellas why he suddenly needed a couple hundred gold pieces all of a sudden. Zel climbed down from his perch and grabbed to three mugs of ale as he made his way toward where Xellos, Brannon, were standing. Gourry was still shrieking in the arms of the woman, and when Zel passed them, he gave them each a mug of ale. Gourry immediately gulped down his drink while the didn't even take a sip from her own. Zelgadis walked over to where Brannon was standing with his back against the wall and handed him the ale. Then he grabbed Xellos and dragged him outside.
"Really Zel-kun, must you be so rough?" Xellos complained.
"What in the name of L-sama where you thinking you idiot!" Zel shouted at the shorter man. "Gods, you could have started at riot!" Xellos just smiled more.
"I was just trying to make your last night of freedom enjoyable. Although I had no idea what a ladies man you had hidden behind that cool exterior of yours." Zel's eyes narrowed and he was about to smash his fist into the grinning Mazuko's face when he disappeared.
"Dammit Xellos you fruitcake!" Zel growled in frustration. Brannon walked outside with a now normal.... Or as normal as possible Gourry.
"Um Zel perhaps we should get going?" Brannon murmured.
"Is everyone okay in there?" Zel asked.
"Yeah everyone but Gourry's new best friend?" Brannon couldn't keep the smirk of his face as the woman came running outside.
"Of baby, where did you go?" the woman asked huskily.
"Hide me, please!" Gourry begged as he tried to avoid the woman. Zel felt laughter bubble up in his throat at the sheer absurdity the situation. Brannon grabbed one of Gourry's arms, and Zel grabbed the other.
"Levitation!" they shouted and they soared through the air, and Gourry for once, didn't complain as they soared over the rooftops of Seyruune. The woman luckily didn't notice they abrupt departure, but one ma did. He walked over to the woman and cast a healing spell on her, and she reverted back to her normal self. The man watched as the three men flew back towards the castle. Only his storm gray eyes could been seen from the shadows of his cloak as he slowly followed them on foot. There was no hurry; he knew where they were going.