"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart." - Helen Keller
Xellos wandered the labyrinthine corridors that he'd created in his little pocket dimension thinking that the gloominess matched his mood very well. He could feel Lina up ahead quite clearly, but didn't seek her out. She seemed to be sleeping at the moment. Why he didn't just go get her, he didn't know.
He pushed down the disappointment he felt when she'd declared she didn't belong with him. How did she know that? Her memories were all gone - she couldn't remember the blonde moron she'd married.
Or was it more than that? Had she remembered the other man or had she simply remembered she didn't much care for being manipulated? Had she even remembered him?
Putting his hands behind his back, he wondered why he was doing this. Why was this human girl so important to him? And he knew she was; she'd been so since that first time he'd seen her. He was risking quite a lot by kidnapping her away like this. Zelas would never condone such a thing and if things went badly she would not come to his aid. He was on his own, up against a human that had killed Dark Lords - indeed she'd defeated a piece of the Dark Lord of Dark Lords, Ruby-Eyed Shabranigdu himself. She was not a person to toy with - as he'd found out himself on several occasions.
So why was he doing this? He paced the dark corridor as he pondered that question. Why didn't he just force Lina to bend to his will? He could do that, he knew. It would be so easy to take away her will and make her his completely...
But then she wouldn't be Lina. She would be a hollow shell if he did that, drained of her vitality and spirit. And that's what he desired: Her fire, her strength. It drew him like a moth to a candle flame even to the extent that he was willing to immolate himself in her fire to win her. He wanted her to give that fire to him, freely; the way she'd given it to that undeserving, unappreciative lump of a swordsman.
The Mazoku's mouth twisted. How could she lower herself to even consider that idiot a match for her - or even her equal! Gabriev was fit to be nothing more than dirt under Lina's feet! He didn't deserve to be holding her, loving her when she deserved someone who could make her realize her full potential. Someone who had power equal to hers.
He paused and composed himself when he realized he was shaking with rage. Xellos took a deep breath to calm himself and smoothed his hair back. He looked down at himself and realized he was still wearing the black suit he'd worn to the party. It was no longer stained and stiffened with blood, but it was torn from the wounding the swordsman had given him. Quickly, he changed back into his normal priest's garments. That alone did wonders for restoring his calm. He turned his mind back to the question of why he was doing this.
The General Priest of Beast Master Zelas Metallium paced the corridor outside the room in which the human girl was hiding. Why was he doing this indeed? Besides the fact that forcing her would take away what it was that drew him to her, he realized that in the same way he wanted her to give him what he wanted freely, he wanted her to freely accept what he was offering her. Not even he, a Mazoku, could derive much satisfaction from forcing a gift upon another person.
He would make her understand, somehow, that what he was doing was for her own good. That he was doing this to prevent her from making a terrible mistake. A mistake that would haunt her for the rest of her life and longer. Stopping in mid-pace, he smiled to himself. And the best time to start that - was now. Wrapping reality around himself, he stepped through the fold and out the other side into the room in which Lina had taken refuge.
She was still asleep, huddled in front of the door with her crimson skirts falling like a pool of blood around her. Her hair, mussed from their aborted lovemaking session, hung in soft ringlets around her face. He rarely got to see her like this with her face unguarded and soft. He longed to reach out and touch her face and he gave into that longing, wiping a thin line of drool that had run down her chin.
His touch woke her. Lina blinked and stared up at him dumbly as her mind remained firmly in the clutches of sleep. Then with a start, she screeched and tried to claw her way backwards away from him. Since there was a door there, she only succeeded in pushing herself into a standing position.
"Get away from me," she growled, a threatening glow in her ruby eyes. Her hand fumbled for the doorknob behind her.
Leaning forward, Xellos put one hand on the door and leaned his weight on it. "I'm not going to hurt you, my sweet," he purred close to her ear.
She shrank away from him. "I'd like to see you try," she said with more confidence than she felt. He grinned, sensing her fear and agitation; they tasted so good. He glanced downward and she followed his glance then blushed. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.
The Mazoku raised his other hand and made as if to stroke her cheek. She flinched away from him and he froze, hand poised in front of her. He sighed and stepped back. "Won't you at least listen to what I have to say?" he asked in a soft, low voice.
"What?" she asked, suddenly suspicious. "What is it you want to say?"
His enigmatic grin returned. "It's a secret. Ah!" he held up a finger before she could do more than glare. "One I'm willing to share with you. All you have to do is take my hand - and I'll show you." He held out his hand.
She looked from his face to the hand he held extended towards her. Against the gloom of the black wall and floor, Xellos' gloved hand looked oddly out of place, encased in light lavender silk. As she stared at it, it seemed to glow white against the darkness, a pure incandescent light that promised so many things. All she had to do was put her hand in his, a voice in her head told her. Hypnotized by the silken glow, she reached out to take his hand, to put her black-gloved hand into his glowing hand, to block out the light with shadow when something glinted on the black satin glove she wore.
The world tilted. The white glow faded as the golden glint replaced it. The light of his glove had been bright but artificial. The golden glow was like a ray of sunshine streaming through the storm clouds. She stared at the ring on her finger that was the source of the new light.
A breeze chilled her. Whether real, imagined or psychic, she couldn't tell. But she knew she'd nearly fallen into his trap.
Reaching behind her, she found the doorknob and laid her hand on it. "It almost worked," she said. "But I won't be tricked again." With that, she twisted the knob, stepped aside as she pulled open the door and slipped through. A faint click and he was alone in the room.
Nothing showed on Xellos' face but he remained frozen in that spot for several minutes after she'd left. Confusion gripped him. How was she resisting him? She shouldn't have the willpower to resist a Mazoku, especially not when he turned the full impact of his own not-inconsiderable power upon her, even if she was Lina Inverse. And right now, she was Lina Inverse without her memories and without the meddling influence of her companions.
An eyebrow twitched and he clenched his hand and let it fall to his side. He was just going to try harder. Because she would be his. He wrapped space around him and disappeared.
More dark corridors. Lina struck out and hit one wall with her fist in frustration. How could this place just go on and on without end? She'd been running now for...She couldn't tell how long any more. She was hungry and tired though. Her little lighting spell was growing weaker, and she was afraid it would leave her in total darkness any moment now. She didn't want that to happen. She did not want to be stuck here in this awful place in the dark!
She stopped and leaned against the wall. Dejected, she slumped to the floor and leaned her head back and shouted, "I'M HUNGRY!" Her stomach growled loudly in response.
Before the echoes had died away, the wall in front of her shimmered and wavered. She levered herself upwards and stared at it in fascination as the wall melted and shifted. The black stone crawled into the shape of a set of double doors twice her height. They solidified and swung open.
Looking suspicious, Lina peered into the darkness beyond. The man Xellos was nowhere to be seen, so she wandered inside. The doors closed behind her and she whirled and pushed at them, but they gave easily under her touch. Relieved that she wasn't going to be trapped inside, she made her way further into the new room. The shadows were thick here; her light couldn't penetrate further than her arm's reach or so.
Her tiny lighting spell illuminated the first piece of furniture she'd seen outside the sitting room in which she'd first woken up: A long, black table with a blood red runner down the center. There were no chairs set around it, however. She put her hand on it and used that to guide her as she tried to penetrate the gloom.
About halfway down, she guessed, lights suddenly flared. She grimaced and shaded her eyes; after having been in near total darkness for so long, even candlelight was painful. After blinking several times, her eyes adjusted and she could see what was spread on the table in front of her. And her mouth immediately started watering: A full course meal was laid out and waiting for her to eat it.
Lina backed away from the table. This had to be some sort of trap. But now that she could see the food and smell it, she found herself unable to resist. Warily, waiting for Xellos to appear out of nowhere, she pulled out the single chair set at the head and sat down. Finally, her aching stomach forced her to abandon her caution and devour the food in front of her.
What seemed like mere minutes later, she leaned back and sighed with satisfaction. The food was gone and her stomach was no longer growling. Her caution returned and she got up and looked around the room. Her lighting spell was stronger now, and it illuminated more of the gloom than previously. She wandered around the room, and found that the wall opposite the doors through which she entered wasn't a plain wooden wall as all the others were. Thick drapes, so dark a red as to appear black hung against the wall. Curious as to why they would be there, she pulled them aside and found a set of doors set with glass panels. They were the first windows she'd seen in this place, and she looked through them. Nothing. The darkness outside reflected her light spell and turned the glass into mirrors. For the first time she saw herself: Large ruby colored eyes, flame-red hair, fair skin. She put a black-gloved hand to her face as if to confirm the fact that she really was the image she saw in the window. As she did, she saw the light glint off the ring on her finger.
She transferred her attention from her reflection to the ring she wore. What was so special about it? There was definitely something important about it; Xellos had gotten a nasty shock from it and the sight of it had saved her from his trap. She could feel something radiating from it, something that filled her with a sense of purpose.
Closing her fingers into a fist, she reached for the handle of the doors, and turned it. Surprisingly, the door opened and swung outward. Looking through, Lina set the little light sphere out in front of her. It seemed to be a balcony of sorts, made of the same black stone as the rest of the place. The walls were very thick and prevented her from seeing the sky.
Picking up her skirts, she stepped out onto the balcony and through the thick wall. As she approached the other end of the tunnel formed, she gasped in amazement. The sky was black and filled with multi-colored swirling lights that collided, split and danced off in all directions in a spectacular light show. She watched in amazement for some time before she turned her attention downwards.
She stepped up to the balustrade and looked over only to pull back immediately again, her heart racing. Taking a deep breath, she leaned over again and took a better look: There seemed to be no ground below, only a sheer black wall falling away into nothingness. She looked up at the technicolored sky then back down. She shivered and wished she had something to put around her shoulders.
Turning around, she took in the structure in which she'd been trapped. Again, she gasped and this time sat down hard. The castle was enormous, rising as sheer and featureless upwards as it had dropped away behind her. Stone wall undulated along either side of the balcony, stretching away into vanishing points on either side. The smooth, black marble rose into the swirling sky and Lina thought she could see reflections of the swirling lights at the very top, but it could have been a trick of the light or her eyes seeing things.
Lina slid onto the floor of the balcony and leaned against the stone balustrade. Whatever this place was, it wasn't natural. She didn't know how she knew that; she only knew it was true. She felt a cold dread form in the pit of her stomach. If she were in some...other...where, then how was the blonde man going to find her? How was he going to know where to find her? Lina put her head in her hands and concentrated on the brief image of his face that she'd glimpsed. How had he contacted her? It had felt so natural and yet she didn't know how to do it.
As she thought of the tall man with sapphire eyes, the ring on her finger warmed. Looking up, Lina turned her hand over and saw the gold glint in the technicolor lightshow of the sky. The warmth disappeared. Had she imagined it? She shook her head. No, she hadn't imagined it; the ring had grown warm when she thought of him.
Taking a deep breath, she leaned her head back against the balustrade and pulled up the image of his face: Blonde hair, sweet open smile, large trusting eyes. She felt herself go warm as she thought of him and knew he meant a good deal to her. The ring on her finger grew warm; yes, it was definitely wasn't her imagination. It was flooding her with some sort of power.
Something inside her answered the power from the ring, rising up and matching it. As they met and merged, it leapt away from her. Her eyes flew open, but instead of seeing the smooth black walls of this impossible castle, she could feel the presence of the man she was seeking. Her heart leapt for joy. It's me! she cried out.
He reached out towards her sluggishly, a moment's hesitation, then she was suffused with feelings of love, relief and happiness. Lina?! she felt him think. Where are you?
She shook her head and tried to send him the image, the feeling of where she was. Terror greeted the image and she reached out towards him. His confusion filled her, so she added, Other place. It was all she could do. The link was growing weaker.
More confusion, but he tried to reassure her. I'll find you. Somehow. A pause. I love you, Lina.
Lina closed her eyes and took a deep shuddering breath and knew that was true. And knew she loved him. She sent that thought down the link as it slipped away and broke altogether. "I love you," she whispered to the darkness.