Violence and a love of destruction.
The path of shadows, some might say.
A love affair.
...Cunning and deceit.
Violence and a love of destruction.
These words clanged in her head, like a bell rung in the night by idiot hands. Xelloss pointed his staff at her and it pulsed like a dying heart. She knew he meant to kill her. Why she had no idea, but it was obvious his intention was murder.
She would have to think fast.
Lina threw herself out of the way as energy, dark red, tore through the air where she had just been standing. She heard Zel curse as he too leapt out of the path of the blast. Xelloss wasted no time; he turned quickly and shot his staff out again, hitting Lina across the back of the head and sending her sprawling. Gourry rushed forward, drawing his sword. Xelloss stood above Lina's fallen form, the corners of his mouth hooked up in a rapist's leer. The lanky swordsman slashed at the Mazoku, parting flesh. Xelloss laughed shortly and grabbed Gourry by the collar of his shirt and flung him away. Gourry landed hard, grunting, and he remembered that his sword would do no good against a Mazoku. The Hikari no Ken, however...
Zelgadis ran forward, utilizing his demon speed, and snatched Lina off the ground. He stopped and she stood carefully, testing her balance. Zel glanced at Amelia, who nodded.
"Source of all Souls which dwells in the Eternal and the Infinite
Everlasting Flame of Blue
Let the Power hidden in my Soul be called forth here from the Infinite
RAH-TILT!"
Astral energy poured from the two Shamans, hurtling towards the Mazoku priest. He laughed. "Try harder!" he called as he teleported quickly out of its path. He then materialized behind Amelia and Zelgadis and kicked the latter in the back, vaulting him forward. Zelgadis hit the ground hard, but rolled quickly onto his back so he could face his enemy. Xelloss giggled and absently threw Amelia out of the way as well. He turned back to Zelgadis, grinning, his strange eyes slit open. Hatred burned there, as well as another emotion with which Zelgadis himself was all too familiar.
Pain.
Gods, Zelgadis thought. He can't really care about Lina, can he?
"Oblivion awaits, Zelgadis," Xelloss crooned softly. He leveled his staff at the chimera, and then Gourry came out of nowhere.
"HIKARI O!" he shouted, and a blade of energy shot from the hilt of the sword. In a fluid motion he swung the sword of light at the Mazoku.
"Shimatta," Xelloss cursed as he pulled his body backwards like a snake. The Sword of Light whistled past him, striking the ground. Xelloss glared at the blonde swordsman. "This really doesn't concern you," he said. Gourry's reflexes were honed by years of experience, but Xelloss was still faster. As Gourry moved upwards, attempting to slit the priest from groin to sternum, Xelloss darted backwards, phasing out as he did so. He appeared again beside Lina, who whirled about quickly.
"FIREBALL!" she cried.
The spell was deflected easily, and Xelloss snatched her about the waist and drew her close to him. She struggled, but his grip was the unyielding embrace of the dead. Panicked now, she looked at him, only to find he had his head bowed so his eyes were obscured in shadows.
"I thought it appropriate that the last time you see me I should appear as we first met," he said with a sunny grin. "Eyes closed, a charming smile on my cute little face... the intention to use you for my own ends." He paused and frowned slightly as Gourry bounced off his magic shield. 'Perhaps we should continue this discussion somewhere else, yes?" he asked as Zelgadis prepared to throw another Rah-Tilt at him. Before the spell could hit, Xelloss had teleported both Lina and himself away.
"Lina," Zelgadis murmured.
Cold. All around her, numbing her skin and causing the sensation of touch to become but a memory. She could see nothing, but sensed that the darkness stretched out in an empty, eternal void. Then, a speck of light, so small that at first she thought it was only her imagination. The speck began to swell, and Lina realized with some concern that the light was hurtling towards her.
"Ne, Lina-chan," echoed a familiar voice. In the void, the sound felt like sandpaper being rubbed across her raw nerve-endings. "Now you can se how it was for me. Centuries passed with nothing to comfort me but the darkness. That is, until you came along."
The light engulfed her, in a flash that excited every one of her senses. Lina gasped. She had never felt more alive, more delighted. A blind sort of ecstasy seemed to pulse through her veins. Then, without warning, the blissful light turned scalding hot as it changed into hungry flames. Lina screamed as the fire ate at her flesh, burning her tissues away. It hurt more than anything she had ever experienced.
"You see, Lina? This is what you did to me!" His voice was like shattering glass, but underneath the anger Lina could distinctly hear the hurt in it. He sounded as if maybe he were crying, and all the more angered bt that fact.
"So," he continued, calm now. He seemingly had regained control of his emotions, and now his voice was as cold and merciless as a glacier about to crush an unsuspecting ship. "Now you understand." Abruptly, the pain stopped, and Lina found she was not being consumed by flames or drifting in an endless void at all. She was on her knees, slumped forward a little, underneath an old elm tree. Xelloss stood not five feet away, holding his staff, head turned away.
"Xelloss," she croaked.
"I have to kill you now," he informed her causally.
"No you don't," she replied and attempted to stand. It didn’t work.
"Yes I do," he said patiently, as though explaining something to a child.
"Why, then?" she asked, her voice somewhat irritated. Gods she hated it when he dodged the issue like this...
"Because you made me hurt!" he snapped, looking at her directly for the first time since she had awoken from her trance. "You hurt me in a way I never thought I could be hurt again! And the hell of it is is that you know it! You know I can be hurt and that is something that I just cannot allow!"
He stopped, breathing hard. Lina didn't know what to say. He looked away again, and she spoke up a little tentatively.
"Xelloss, I never meant to... I thought, I thought that..."
"That Mazoku can't love?" he asked bitterly. Lina, surprised by his tone, simply nodded. "It doesn't matter now. You probably never would have even noticed, had I not tried to kill you. Huh. Kinda funny, that."
Lina walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry," was all she could think to say.
He continued to look away, his otherworldly eyes distant. Lina knew that no matter what, she would always remember his eyes. At last, he turned back to face her once more. "I don't even want to kill you anymore," he said dully. "All the other time this has happened I've always slaughtered them, but now..." he trailed off and sighed. "I suppose I'm just getting too old for this."
"You're not that old," Lina said in what she prayed was a cheerful tone of voice. "Not if you live forever!"
Xelloss sighed again before nodding slowly. "Yes. But forever is a long, long time, Lina-chan."
They were both silent then, each thinking private thoughts. At length, Xelloss turned to Lina, a semblance of his old self back. "Do you want to die?" he inquired, almost playfully.
Lina forced a smile. "Not yet."
He nodded, his own smile fading. He looked at her, and something in his manner was nearly... shy. "Ne, Lina-chan?" he asked softly.
"What?"
"Before I send you back, so Zel won’t have a hernia and all that, can I maybe....?"
Lina nodded, somehow knowing what he wanted. She embraced him, then stretched up to kiss him on the lips. He returned it fiercely, as if his own passions could somehow prevent the inevitable. She allowed him to explore her mouth fully, his tongue dancing over every inch he could manage, but when his hands began to stray to her breasts, she broke the kiss and pushed him away gently.
"Where will you go?" she asked him. He smiled, eyes closed against the pain.
"Sore wa himitsu desu," he told her. She nodded, having expected this reply. She stepped away then, and Xelloss pointed his staff at her. With a whispered word from his lips, she shimmered and disappeared.
And he was alone.