Zelgadis trudged along, boots crunching over the scalded landscape. He walked blindly East, in the direction Seiyruun had been in his world. He could only hope it was still there in this plane of existence. As he walked, Zelgadis pondered. Why had he been chosen to remain unchanged? That he had been chosen he had no doubt, and he had a fairly good of whom had chosen him.
The Lord of Nightmares herself.
But why? She had allowed him to escape the altering of time and reality, but for what purpose? Zelgadis assumed it was so that he could ensure this terrible world would not come to pass, that he was supposed to somehow fix the damage done by that thrice-damned mirror. But he couldn't be sure. Maybe this was all some kind of cosmic joke.
Zelgadis lifted his eyes and scanned the horizon. He'd been walking for two days straight, stopping only to sleep a few hours. He was terribly thirsty, but dared not drink from any of the springs he found. They were all black and polluted, corrupted by some foul thing he didn't even want to begin to imagine.
There. In the distance he could see the outline of a city. Despite whatever else had happened in this world, Sailuune was still standing. Whether it was still inhabited by humans was yet to be seen, but the sight of its buildings were nonetheless encouraging.
Zelgadis set forward again.
His senses returned one by one. First there was sound: a steady dripping noise. Second was smell: the scent of damp stone. Thirdly there was touch: harsh, cold metal biting into his wrists. His head ached dully, and his neck throbbed steadily. Last there was sight, as his puffy eyes forced themselves open: black stones, shiny from moisture, a rotting skeleton in shackles on the wall across from him.
Xelloss grunted. He was in a dungeon then. Shackled to a wall, just like the hapless corpse across from him. Ooh. Scary.
He turned his head to get a better look at the place, and his neck screamed in protest. He bit down on his lip to keep from crying out in pain, his eyes screwed shut in a grimace. A low chuckle sounded from the entrance to the dank little cell, and Gourry Gabriev slid out of the shadows.
"Hurt much?" he inquired, his voice coldly mocking. Xelloss regarded him steadily, willing himself not to show either fear or hatred.
"Not nearly enough," he replied with a grin. It hurt his face to smile, but he did it anyway.
Gourry walked over, moving with the grace of a cat, and leaned against the wall so he could look Xelloss in the eye. He smiled at him, his blue eyes dark in the dim light. "Would you like me to hurt you some more?" he asked softly. Xelloss forced himself to smile again.
"Are you flirting with me?" he asked. The swordsman's eyes narrowed, but his own smile remained in place as he leaned in even closer.
"In your wildest dreams, you fucking faggot," he whispered. In reply, Xelloss craned forward as far as he could and as quickly as he could and kissed Gourry on the lips. The bigger man recoiled, then struck the former Mazoku priest across the face. His smile was gone and he stood glowering at the shackled figure. Xelloss smiled a little, feeling blood trill from the corner of his mouth.
"I should kill you right now," growled the swordsman of light.
"So why don't you?" Baiting him, teasing. Perhaps if the swordsman lost it...
"Because Lina isn't done playing with you yet," interrupted a clear female voice. Lina Inverse entered the cell, her black cape swirling behind her. She nodded at Gourry, who retreated a little, and walked over to her captive. "And I don't want your death to be quick or easy," she told the trickster. She grinned evilly, and Xelloss felt his stomach bottom out.
Sailuune had changed. The city was dirty and run-down, with inhabitants that scurried along the streets like frightened mice. Zelgadis hurried through the city, aware it was likely he would be mistaken for a Mazoku. He reached the palace with surprising ease, where he was halted by a guard.
"State your business," the guard said, obviously uneasy.
Zelgadis sighed. "I'm not Mazoku," he stated first, trying to relax the guard a little. It didn't seem to work, so he went on. "I need to speak to Prince Philionel."
The guard gave him a funny look. "Prince Phil has been dead for three years," he said. "His brother had him assassinated."
"Crap," Zel muttered. "What about Princess Amelia?"
"The princess is alive," the guard said cautiously. "What business have you with she?"
"Look, this is hard to explain, but I need to speak to the princess about Lina Inverse." The guards eyes widened in horror at the mention of the sorceress' name, and Zel spoke quickly in case he should try to run off. "I think I may have a way to get rid of her." The guard looked skeptical, and Zelgadis was half considering just knocking the man out and forcing his way in when someone called out.
"It's alright. Let him pass." A tall, buxom woman with long black hair was descending the stairs from the palace entrance, a crown around her head. The guard bowed.
"Of course, your highness."
The woman looked Zelgadis over. "I am Naga, Queen of Sailuune. Who are you, and what news do you have about Lina?"
Zel took a deep breath. "My name is Zelgadis Greywers, and I used to know Lina... sort of..."
Pain. That was all that existed. There was a great, aching void of it. Nothing else was relevant. It hurt so badly, he wondered if perhaps dying would be better than the prolonged torture of living.
No.
Pain could be controlled. It was in fact, rather interesting. Xelloss shifted slightly, sending fresh, raw bolts ripping through his body. Okay, maybe not. He winced slightly, and heard a low chuckle from the shadows. After Lina had finished inflicting her own special brand of torture upon him, she had departed again, but had left her bodyguard behind. Xelloss got the impression that she was pissed off because he had refused to answer her questions with anything but 'sore wa himitsu desu.' At the time he had been rather proud of himself, but now he realized he had probably just guaranteed that his death would be a hard one.
"You're really not doing so well, are you?" Gourry said, sidling closer. He sneered at his captive, his handsome features twisted in a grimace of hate. "I just hope Lina lets me finally kill your sorry ass."
"I can think of something much more entertaining you could do to my sorry ass," Xelloss replied, his voice weak. Damn how he hated displaying this frailty!
Gourry punched the trickster in the face, causing Xelloss' head to rock back and connect painfully with the stone wall. Black dots danced across his vision, which was dimming.
Oh goody, he thought to himself as his head fell forward again. I'm going to pass out. Whee.
The swordsman of light grasped Xelloss by the front of his cloak and pulled so the former Mazoku looked into his eyes. Gourry's eyes were hard and cold, the eyes of a seasoned killer. "Lina gave me permission to do whatever I deem necessary," he said, his voice a low threat. "Just so long as I don't kill you. That's fine. I know plenty of ways to hurt a man that will not cause his death. Although after the beating Lina gave you, I'm not so sure you really want to endure any more pain."
"I'm always up for more," Xelloss threw back at him, smiling slightly. Gods how he hurt...
Gourry smirked. "Oh really? Did you enjoy it when Lina slit your stomach open? Did you like the feeling of your intestines slithering out of your gut like rotten snakes? Did that get you off, you pathetic little priest?" He abruptly threw Xelloss back against the wall, cracking his head another good one. Despite himself, the trickster blanched.
He could remember it all too clearly. Lina had advanced, smiling cruelly. He had once again been struck by how wrong her eyes were, and had wondered yet again what the girl had been like before the Giga Slave had corrupted her. She had pressed up against him, her slim body warm and firm.
"You used to like pain," she had crooned, snuggling close to his neck with her mouth. Xelloss had tried very hard not to shudder at her touch, but hadn't succeeded completely. "Do you still like it now?"
"Sore wa himistu desu." He refused to let her have her way this time.
Lina had only smiled and shook her head, the fine threads of her hair tickling his face and neck. "I knew you were going to say that," she whispered huskily. "So I suppose I'll just have to find out for myself."
The dagger she had been holding in her left hand plunged deep into his abdomen, the cold steel burying itself in his tender flesh. His eyes had opened wide and his mouth sprung open. The blade was pushed all the way up to its hilt, and she stabbed it once more, fiercely, a small grunt of effort and satisfaction escaping her as she did do, just to make sure it was in as far as it could go. Droplets of blood sprayed from Xelloss' mouth, pattering onto the sorceress' black cloak. Then, with a sigh of delight, she drew the knife upwards, parting muscle and organs. A bolt of silvery pain had shattered Xelloss' world into a million pieces, and he felt his lifeblood exit his body in streamlets that poured around the sorceress' gloves. She kissed him gently on the cheek, ignoring his starting eyes, then sighed again, the sigh of a woman who has just had the best lay of her life, and withdrew her knife, stepping back to admire her handiwork.
His intestines were slipping out. He thought it perhaps one of the most unbearable moments of his life; the exit of his vitals was like a slow mutiny by his own body which he was hapless to prevent. They had dripped out, stinking and wet. He gagged, his eyes bulging in terror. Oh dear gods, oh L-sama, his guts were hanging out, oh gods, his GUTS -
He had heard the swordsman laugh, and then everything was mercifully beginning to get darker. Good, then. Let it be over.
"Come over here," he'd heard Lina snap irritably, and then a hooded figure was brought before him. He heard the figure whisper, then brilliant white light seeped into his body, stitching his wounds back together. Healing him. It hurt like hell, but it meant he would not die.
Too bad for him.
The figure finished casting the spell, and looked up for a second. Underneath the shadow of the hood, Xelloss had seen a pair of caring blue eyes, framed by bangs cut across the forehead.
"That's' enough, Shilfiel," he heard Lina say, and the girl nodded. Gourry leaned over and gave her a brief kiss, at which the girl had looked nearly delirious with joy.
"Thus are the bonds of love those that truly shackle us," Xelloss muttered. Lina looked at him and smiled.
"Exactly. I'll be back later, Trickster." With that, she had left.
Now the sorceress' bodyguard grinned at Xelloss' pallor. "I guess you're not as tough as you pretend to be, are you?" he hissed, then threw back his head and laughed. Xelloss' mouth hooked up in a hard grin.
"Sore wa himitsu desu," he whispered. The swordsman glowered at him, leaning in closer once again to look directly into the former Mazoku's eyes.
"You wanna stop saying that," he advised. His voice was a wicked razor blade, poised to slice.
Xelloss smiled as brightly and cheerfully as he could and stretched forward to kiss Gourry again. The swordsman started to recoil, but then halted and returned the kiss. Xelloss was instantly suspicious, but the bigger man's desire seemed sincere. Gourry opened his mouth, and their tongues brushed. Xelloss waited, patient, until the swordsman's breathing was coming in quick, hard gasps, signaling his arousal, and then he bit down on Gourry's tongue just as hard as he could.
Gourry made an inarticulate sound of rage and pain, and pulled back, beating at Xelloss with his fists as he did so. Xelloss hung on, burying his teeth in the tender muscle, feeling it rip and tasting hot, coppery blood. Gourry managed to break away, but he left behind a substantial chunk of his tongue. He wheeled about, blood staining his chin and pouring from his mouth. He snarled and with an animal scream he launched himself at the priest, raining blows left and right. Xelloss took each one silently, biting down on his lip to keep from crying out in pain. At last Gourry stopped, breathing hard.
"You're nothing now," he spat. "Can't you see that? What drives you to this lunacy?"
"Sore wa himitsu desu."
Gourry made a disgusted sound and turned, marching out of the dank cell without looking back. Xelloss slumped, feeling the cold metal of his shackles bite even further into his wrists. Tiredly, he wondered why in fact he did continue this hopeless struggle. Because of one fleeting moment he had thought to be a vision? He couldn't even be sure anymore if that was what it had indeed been. All Mazoku recognized their Mother, the Lord of Nightmares, and he had been sure that he had seen her. At least, he had been sure at the time. But with the passage of time, he found the memory seemed false. After Lina Inverse had captured his Mistress and subjected her to such torture, Xelloss had felt whatever surety he had possessed slip away like vapor.
"Mistress," he whispered through numb lips, a single tear tracing its way unnoticed down his cheek. He had called her his mother, and she was, in a way. Dimly - everything is dim now there's no point just shhhh forget it all - he could remember when the darkness had cleared, he had looked up at her through new eyes, eyes that glowed like gems in the dusk of twilight. He had seen her, so regal and majestic in her throne adorned with fur and bones, her head held high and cocked at a predatory angle. So beautiful, - but that's all changed now, now she is haggard and dying slowly but it's best not to think about it just let yourself fade away - and yet so frightening. He had loved her instantly.
Moisture slid down the stone walls, weeping in sympathy. The only thing he had to comfort him was the shadows, in a place where there was darkness and no light.