Zelgadiss quietly sat next to Ezro. The fight between the two royalty was going well, and he sure it would heat up more with his recent outburst out of the castle. He calmly enjoyed watching the crowd go by the clinic. Now, that Ezro had all the memories of his past life, he had gotten a job at a white clinic to help heal. He seemed to have no interest in anything more than that.
"I'd gotten myself in trouble last time," he had said. Zel sighed thinking how Ezro nearly had a coronary, when he'd found Zel had become a mazuku.
"Why did you do that? You're pretty much doing what I did, betraying the world."
Zel had sighed, "I wasn't thinking of the world at the time."
"Yeah, I know what you were thinking with and it wasn't with your head!"
Zel had laughed, having to agree with his once grandfather. He then had gone on to explain how he'd been separated from Xelloss and had become a dark lord and lover to Shabrinigdo.
Another coronary later.
"Well, do you know what happened to Xelloss? If you love him you should know."
Zel spun to look at Ezro. "Don't tell me you know about this supposed link?"
"Yes, the link that mazukus make with the one creature they fall in love with. I mean, it's suppose to be really strong due to the fact that it doesn't happen very often." Ezro paused, "so, with that link you should know what's happening to him."
Zel turned, shaking his head, and sighed in exasperation and despair, "I don't know what's happening, and no" he started before Ezro could cut in, "I don't know why. Just please don't say it's because I don't love him. It hurts too much not to be love."
Zel sat quietly, tears running down his face. He didn't even try to pull away as Ezro pulled him into his arms to comfort him.
"Can't you go to Xellas' and find out what's happening or you could try to use Xelloss' link with you, to talk to him"
"What?!!" Zel nearly exploded, "I didn't know I could talk to him through his link." Zel smiled, suddenly delighted, "Shabrinigdo wouldn't be able to stop me from finding out what happened to him."
"Besides," Ezro added, "didn't you say he didn't want to be seen yet till he's got all the pieces. If, you try to contact Xelloss here in the middle of this city, he'll most likely not want to appear to stop you."
Zel wrapped his arms around Ezro, too exited to remember that he didn't do such things. Ezro smiled and hugged him back, then got an evil look.
"You know, no one will believe that I am your grandfather, I'm way too young now. So, I bet this picture looks pretty interesting." He smiled, as Zel's head shot up, looking stunned. "Maybe, we should give them something really interesting to see." He then leaned forward ready to kiss Zel, who panicked and pushed himself away landing on his rump. Ezro roared with laughter. "That was too funny! You should have seen your face!"
Zel rolled his eyes, glaring at Ezro as he dusted his rump off.
"When did you develop a sense of humor?!"
"I always had one, just been too busy to use it," he roared, still laughing, and nearly fell out of his chair, as Zel continued to glare at him.
Zel sighed, smiling slightly, "You are evil. Ever thought of being my priest or general. I still need them!"
"Yeeeaaah, I'll be your general. Can't see the battle field, but I'll still have the troops going down fighting." and that started another fit of laughter.
"Going down, is not the desired result," Zel smirked, just before he was barreled over by a very upset mazuku.
"ZELGADISS-SAMA, YOU SAID I COULD BE YOUR GENERAL!" pouted the green haired mazuku, sitting legs crossed, arms crossed, bottom lip sticking out, and glaring at Zelgadiss.
"Val, I was joking. I was actually offering him to be my priest."
"Not interested," came the remark from the healer, as he draped an affectionate arm over Zel's shoulder.
That didn't seem to pacify the once dragon, who glared at the offending arm draped over his Zelgadiss-sama. "But, I heard you offer it to this cripple. He can't be your general. I, Valgadiss, must be your general."
Zel felt himself flinch, "This cripple used to me my grandfather in another life, and please don't use that name. It sounds ridiculous."
"But," Val cried, "I'm your proud follower. I want everyone to know that you are my master, and that I proudly serve you," throwing himself at Zel, so he could drape his arms around his master and push the offending arm of the cripple off his master. He looked into his master's eyes, his own gold eyes pleading. Zel sighed, he could never say no.
"Fine, keep the name, but I'm calling you Val."
"O.K." chirped the now happy mazuku, who plopped next to Zel, wrapping his arms around Zel's chest, and placed his head on his shoulders. Zel moved his head around, so he wouldn't get stabbed by a misplaced horn. He lovingly ran his fingers through the green hair, watching the now young dragon/mazuku fall asleep. Zel watched him for awhile, feeling the love for his follower remind him again of another love.
"Ezro?"
"Yes."
"I'm going to try to contact Xelloss. Could you watch over me, while I'm on the astral plane."
"Ezro sat back down next to his grandson. "That shouldn't be a problem."
Zelgadiss walked along, using the fine silken link to guide him. It had taken him a while to find the link, but once found, he followed it. He looked around the dark, sparkling space that made the astral plane, wondering at it's beauty. However, as he felt himself enter Xelloss' mind, the light was suddenly stopped by a sudden ink-black darkness. He stopped, disturbed by the silence.
This was Xelloss' mind? Why wasn't there anything? He would think the trickster's mind would be a jumble of images, not this...this nothing. He stood there a moment, uncertain how to proceed.
"Zelgadiss?"
"Xelloss? Where are you? Why is it so dark? What's wrong with you?"
"Zelgadiss," Xelloss sobbed his name, "please don't leave me."
Zelgadiss couldn't take it anymore. He carefully cast a light spell, keeping it low at first, allowing it to slowly brighten. However, the darkness seemed to cling to the very edge of the light and Zel had to follow the sounds of breathing to find Xelloss. When he at last saw Xelloss, he felt a sob catch in his throat. This was not the proud, strong Mazuku he knew. Xelloss was curled into a fetal position on the floor, nude, and with the darkness swirling around him; no, emanating from him. He looked up at Zelgadiss with tear stained eyes. Zel had to control the urge to cry himself, as the pain melted from Xelloss' face to be replaced by relief and joy.
"Zelgadiss, I missed you." Xelloss whispered as he reached out to Zelgadiss, who immediately came to his knees, allowing the priest to pull him into his arms and bury his face into his soft, brown hair.
"Xelloss, what are you doing here?" Zel sobbed, pulling himself closer to Xelloss.
Zel felt Xelloss cup his chin to pull his face up to look into his eyes. "I missed you so much, my rare beauty."
"Xelloss, please, tell me why you're here?" Zel nearly screamed, "Why do you keep yourself here?"
Xelloss smiled, wiggling his finger in his familiar way, "You should know why, if you thought about it."
"No," Zel cried, fighting tears that wouldn't stop, "I don't know why."
"Yes you do," Xelloss cooed softly, wiping away the tears from Zel's face. He leaned forward, looking Zel in the face as he continued to stroke his cheeks. "I could feel everything, and I mean everything that happened to you.
"no"
"Oh yes, my rare beauty. My link with you let me feel the hands that touched you, the lips that kissed you, and the penis that entered you. I didn't want to feel that. But, even here, in the darkest recesses of my mind, I can't escape it." Xelloss pulled Zelgadiss closer. "My love, my link trapped me here. Unable to deal with what I felt, unable to escape it."
Zel shivered, pulling away, "no, no, I couldn't help it. He wouldn't let me leave. I tried to leave. He wouldn't let me. Please, I'm sorry. I didn't know. I didn't know." Zel tried to pull away. How could he have done this to Xelloss? How could he have betrayed Xelloss this way? Zel struggled to get back up, away from the reason for his guilt, away from the love he didn't deserve.
"No," Xelloss sobbed, "don't leave me. I'm not angry at you. Please, we don't have much time. Please stay with me."
Zel allowed himself to be pulled back into Xelloss' arms. He buried his head in Xelloss chest trying to stop the tears. Xelloss just closed his eyes, laid his head on top of Zel's and enjoyed having his love back.
"Why? Why didn't I know? Why didn't I feel this? Why doesn't my link work?" Zel sobbed, looking up at Xelloss, trying to find the answers in his eyes.
Xelloss just smiled, "Oh, my rare beauty. Don't worry about it. Just stay with me for the little time we have together."
"Please, if you know anything, please let me know. I NEED to know."
Xelloss pulled Zel close again, nuzzling Zel's hair, "Don't worry. Links are usually so rare in mazuku. You shouldn't be upset that you can't feel one."
"But, that would mean I don't love you. That I don't love you as much as you love me. Please, that's not true, is it. Please, tell....... "Zel paused, thinking, "Wait a minute. What do you mean that links are "usually rare" in mazuku. What does that mean?"
Xelloss looked down at his beloved, stroked his cheeks again, amd answered softly, "Mazuku are fated to fall in love once in their lives. They are incapable of falling in love again. Once, they lose there loved one, they cannot mend the wound by falling in love again. Most, immediately die, and the few that don't, go crazy, or choose to take their own lives. The link is part of that. However, you, my rare one," Xelloss smiled fondly at Zel as he tipped his head back to look into his blue eyes, "are exactly as I said...rare." Xelloss chuckled, a little of his old humor coming back to his eyes, "Who would have believe that you, who kept his emotions so shielded from the world, would be capable of forming more than one link with so many loved ones."
"What?!"
Xelloss chuckled again. "You are rare, a mutation, something. You've formed links to every person you have had any deep feelings for."
"But...but..,I don't feel anything."
"Well," wiggling his finger again, smiling his usual smile, his eyes closed, "that's a good thing. You're mind would not be able to keep track of all those links. You would be overwhelmed. So, I guess, you're mind set up a barrier, burying those links deep into your subconscious, where they wouldn't do any damage."
"But, how do..."
"Do you remember when Lina and Goury died?"
"Yes."
"Where were you?"
"I was busy seducing a mage to join us. Why?"
"How do you know it was then? and not some other time?"
Zel stopped thinking about it. "I don't know. I just did."
"You mean, you knew it right then, at the exact moment, before anyone told you."
"Yes, somehow, I knew. I remember feeling a sharp pain, as if something was missing."
"That, was two of your links breaking. You cared for them. They were friends, the closest to being family."
"Yes," Zel sighed, fighting back old tears.
Xelloss smiled, pulling Zel back into his arms, "Now, that that is over, stay with me a moment. We don't have much more time."
Zel snuggled close, "What do you mean we don't have much time?"
Suddenly, he felt Xelloss stiffen. "No, we have no time."
Zel felt himself jerked out of Xelloss' mind and back into his body, as his body was picked off the ground by an angry Mazukun King.
"What are you doing?" Shabrinigdo roared, pulling Zelgadiss nose to nose with him.
"I thought you didn't want to be seen?" Zelgadiss sputtered.
"I don't care. If humans don't know now that I'm free, after I've collect five of my last remaining six pieces, then they're fools. I'm just not ready for a head on confrontation. Now, you are coming with me."
Shabrinigdo phased out with Zelgadiss in tow. Zel could hear Val yelling for him.
Zel was suddenly back in Shabrinigdo's bedchamber. He was thrown on the bed and pinned under the Dark Lord's weight. "Don't you understand? You are mine. You are not to go off and have anything to do with that priest. Do you understand?"
Zel felt anger and tears build up and explode, "DID YOU KNOW? DID YOU KNOW WHAT KIND OF CONDITION XELLOSS WAS IN?"
Zel stared at the Dark Lord, who only stared coolly back.
"You knew, you knew that one of your most faithful followers was in that kind of condition and you left him there? How could you?" Zel turned his head away from the Dark Lord tears coming down his face, "Sorry, I'm not sleeping with you without a fight. Send me back to Xelloss. Let me release him from his pain."
Zel looked up at the Dark Lord's eyes. Was that pain he saw? However, whatever it was, was quickly replace by raw, hateful anger. "You want to release him from his pain?! I'll release him from his pain!!"
Shabringdo pulled himself off Zel and stormed to the other side of the room, picking up his long, black sword.
Zel eyes widened as he threw himself across the room. "NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"
"I'M GOING TO RELEASE HIM FROM HIS PAIN," the lord sneered, chucking Zelgadiss back on the bed and erecting the wards around the bed to keep Zelgadiss from phasing, then with a snarl, phased out.
"NO! PLEASE! LEAVE HIM ALONE! I'LL DO ANYTHING! JUST LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Zel threw himself against the ward, but he bounced off and landed back on the bed.
The link!! Zel closed his eyes and quickly traced his path back to Xelloss' mind. Once there, he lit the light spell.
"XELLOSS?! WHERE ARE YOU? WAKE UP! I THINK SHABRINIGDO COMING TO KILL YOU!"
"Zel, you've come back!" came a soft voice. Zel rushed to it.
"Xelloss, you've got to wake up. You've got to get out."
Xelloss smiled sadly and wrapped his arms around his love. "Then, we don't have a lot of time. Will you just hold me? Please"
"NO!" Zel screamed pushing away from Xelloss' arms, "YOU'VE GOT TO STOP WASTING TIME AND WAKE UP! YOU'VE GOT TO ESCAPE!"
"You're the one wasting time. I can't run from my master, even if I could, he'd find me. So, please," Xelloss reached out again, pulling Zel close, holding him as if pure force of will could keep him there, "hold me."
"No, please," Zel sobbed, "Wake up, run away, please try, please get away before he gets there!"
Zel felt Xelloss stiffen for the second time that day. "He's already here," Xelloss whispered, fear and grief creeping into his voice.
Zel was suddenly thrown from Xelloss' arms as Xelloss buckled over in pain. Zelgadiss looked up at Xelloss, seeing his love curled on the floor, writhing in agony, he reached out to help, and felt his breathe stop as he looked at his hand. Blood! Dark mazukun blood. The inky darkness of Xelloss' mind was now oozing down the walls of his mind, puddling on the ground and spreading.
"ZEL, GET OUT! YOU CAN'T STAY! YOU'LL DIE IF YOU''RE STILL HERE WHEN I DIE!"
"NO, YOU'RE NOT DIEING. I WON'T LET YOU."
Xelloss screamed and Zel watched the dark blood leap into flames. Xelloss continue to scream in the midst of the flame.
"ZEL, GET OUT. GET OUT. PLEASE."
"NO, PLEASE, I DON'T WANT TO GO."
"GET OUT YOU STUBBORN BASTARD!"
At that moment, Xelloss pushed Zel out. Zel found himself on the floor. The force had pushed him off the bed, since the wards were gone.
"Zel, I love you!"
Zel clambered up, feeling hands helping him up. He whirled around to look into a set of worried gold eyes.
"Zelgadiss-sama, what happened? What's wrong? Please tell me?"
"I'm sorry, not now, Val" and Zel phased out.
Val followed his master. The first thing he noticed upon arriving in the unfamiliar location, was the incredible noise. He could hear the high-pitch keening of wolves. They sounded in pain or in mourning. He turned seeing his master run down a hall, screaming, "XELLAS, XELLAS, WHERE'S XELLOSS?"
He quickly darted after his master, covering his ears from the keening of the wolves. He ran down the hallway where he found a tall, beautiful, blonde woman on her knees, with her head in her hands. Her screams sounding much like the wolves that echoed her.
He then heard his master scream. Val darted into the room the woman was facing, and quickly caught his master before he could throw himself into the flames that engulfed what had once been a bed. Val held his master tightly as his master also fell to his knees sobbing and screaming. Val wrapped his arms even tighter around his master, running his fingers through his hair, trying to console him. Val felt a rage build inside him. Who had caused this pain? Who had hurt his master? He pulled his master closer, pulling his master's head to his chest as he looked into the flames.
All he could see was the remains of a figure with a sword plunged through him, the bed, and to the floor. He looked at the cruel black blade that glinted in the firelight. The hilt, black with gold twisting around it in a spiral and the guards flaring out towards the blade like demonic wings.
Val continued to cradle his master, until both their eyes were drawn to a movement. A staff. It clattered to the ground. The heat and impact shattering the red gem to let the pieces blow and mix with the ashes.