I make my way back to camp, reviewing the conversation with Xelloss in my head. It's so weird. He never acts like that. He looked different too. As I came up upon him, he seemed sad. His eyes open and staring out into the forest surrounding us. I never thought I'd see anything like that on his face. I shake my head. Well, 'looks may be deceiving' is definitely a saying used to describe a certain purple-haired priest.
I hit the campsite. Gourry has already fallen asleep, the big jellyfish. Zel sits on a log drinking his evening coffee. I smirk. However he manages to ignore Amelia is beyond me, especially when she attaches herself to his arm all the time. Just as she does now. She gazes up at him lovingly while he just stares into his cup. Smart move. Filia lies on her bedroll, her knees pulled up and her arms under her head, appearing lost in thought as she stares up at the stars. Zel sees me and nods, acknowledging my return, then Ame waves. Filia continues to stargaze while the other blond snores. I go over and whap him with a slipper I keep in my cape. He wakes up for about five seconds, then goes back to sleepy land, but at least I stopped the snoring. I go and sit down next to Zel.
Looking at the fire, I ask, "Has Xelloss seemed any different to you guys lately?"
"Xelloss-san?"
"Not really," Zel replies.
"That namagomi mazoku hasn't changed in a thousand years, and he won't be changing any time soon!" Filia growled.
I sigh. "Well, I just saw him in the woods, and he didn't seem like his usual self to me."
"I know!" the justice paladin shrieks. It's a wonder she doesn't wake up Gourry... "Perhaps he is repenting his evil ways and turning towards the strong light of justice!" She lifts her fist into the air while standing on the log, striking a dramatic pose. I look around at the others. Yep, they're sweatdropping at her, too.
"...right," we echo.
Amelia pouts, her justice ego deflating at our reaction.
"Well, this is Xelloss we're talking about here; with the fruitcake, things don’t have to make sense, or fit a certain pattern. The guy seems like chaos incarnate." I nod at Zel; he's got a point. Of course, Mr. Logic always has a point.
"Don't bother yourself with that idiot, mazoku, Lina-san. If he gets out of line, he'll be on the receiving end of my mace in two seconds flat."
"Yeah, I guess," I reply. Why am I worrying about this, anyway? Nah, next time we see Xelloss, he'll be back to his usual self, no worries.
The day goes by without a hitch. We travel through a small village, eat our usual fill, and exit. Thankfully, the restaurant had enough food, or it'd might've been a burnt village by the time we left. I grin remembering the looks on the waiters' faces as they brought our order over in wheel barrows.
That damn mazoku hasn't left my mind yet, though. I've been thinking about Xelloss quite a bit lately; trying to figure out a little more about him. In the last city we visited, Cirri, I think, I did some research on the Mazoku hierarchy. I found two texts, one dating before and one after the Kouma War. Both books had pretty much the routine, regular info about Shabby's followers, but what caught my eye was the hierarchy table meticulously inscribed into each book. The chart went so far as to show the highest ranking servants of each of the Dark Lords, as well as including L-sama at the top, a fact plenty of people don't seem to realise. After all, you don’t see shrines to the Lord of Nightmares all over the place like you do to Ceipheed and Shabranigdo, now, do you?
Anyway, I looked at the later book first, so that I could better see all the changes between past and present when I looked through the second. The older text gave me quite a shocker. All the minions below the Dark Lords placed on the two charts were ranked by power level. On the older chart, Zelas Metallium had two servants of the same power level directly below her, not one. I went back to the other book to check if the symbol for one of the two in the elder book was Xelloss. Neither was his. I'd like to ask him about all this, but knowing him, he'd just say 'Sore wa himitsu desu.' I need to know, though. This has driven me nuts for the past week!!!
As the sun sets, I walk out to a clearing near our campsite. I know the little bastard likes to 'follow us in the shadows' as it were, so I try my luck. "Xelloss, you here?"
"Perhaps." Oh great, I do not need his games right now.
"I want to talk to you."
"About?" He moved! Tricky bastard.
"Come out and talk to me and I'll tell you."
He chuckles. "Alright." He phases in right next to me, wearing that idiotic grin of his. "So, what do you want to talk about, Lina-san?"
I lay down in the grass. It feels soft on my back, sore from all the objects I keep in my cape. I left that heavy thing back at camp. "Just casual conversation type stuff. You don't have a problem with that, do you?"
"Not at all!" He lays down to my left, setting his staff on the ground between us. He sighs. "Nice day it's been. Good weather."
"Yeah. I had a great day! Plenty of bandits to bash, and plenty of treasure to stea - uh liberate!"
"Ne, Lina-san, I never figured you were a sadist."
"NANI?!?!"
"Mou, it's just that you seem to get so much pleasure out of beating up bandits..."
"I am not a sadist! If anyone's the sadist here, it's you, buddy!"
Xelloss smiled and cheerfully replied, "How very true!"
"Fruitcake."
"Hai. Oh! There's someplace I wanted to tell you about."
"Huh? What?"
"There's a temple in the Kataart Mountains that grants your heart's innermost desire. Seeing as we have nothing happening right now, and Kataart isn't far from here, we could take a visit, ne?"
"Grants your innermost desire, eh?" I smile. "That sounds good. Hey, how come you didn't tell us about this place when we went there for the Claire Bible?"
"Sore wa himitsu desu!" I should've known.
Should I ask him? It's been bugging me for a while now, and I'd really like to know. Hey, what can asking hurt?
"Um...there's something I've been wondering about. I think if I can get you to answer this question, I'll have it figured out, but you can't give me any 'sore wa himitsu desu' crap, okay?"
"Well, you're certainly open to ask anything you want, Lina-san. Whether I choose to answer the question is a completely different matter."
"I know."
We lay in silence, listening to the crickets. Okay, Inverse, do or die time. Gotta ask him now. I turn my head. Oh, he opened his eyes. I wonder if he's looking at the stars or just staring blankly into space...NO!!! Stop stalling and ask him already!
"Xelloss?"
"Yeah?"
"Um...were you always like this?"
He turns his head, his eyes meeting mine. "You mean was I always Mazoku, ne?"
Yep, bingo, right on target. I nod my agreement and he turns back to the stars.
"You don't have to answer, of course, but I would like to know." Idiot. I shouldn't have asked that, I really shouldn't have done.
He sighs and...shakes his head? "No, I wasn't." Man, I've never him talk so sullenly in all the time I've known him! "Have you figured out whatever you wanted to now?"
"No, now I'm more confused."
He looks at me. "Why's that?"
"It really wasn't the response I was expecting. I figured you laugh your head off at the crazy notion. I mean, it's hard to imagine that someone who started out life like any other human being could end up being the way you are." Gods, I'm really screwing this up. I finally turn to face him again, but he's closed those damn eyes of his again. At least he's still facing me, lying on his side now.
"Mmm..."
"Do you miss it at all?"
"Sometimes," he replies, opening his eyes again. He takes a strand of my hair and plays with it, wrapping it around his fingers. Oh, those eyes of his...
He looks up at me, something in those amethyst depths that I'm not sure what it is. I catch us both by surprise by leaning forward and kissing him softly. He stiffens; why? I don't really have time to think about that as he relaxes and begins to kiss back, then just as quickly as he relaxed, pulls away, shock marring his features for the first time I can remember.
"What was that for?" he asks.
"I dunno, it just felt right at the time," I answer honestly.
He stands up, grabs his staff, and walks a little bit away. His back is turned. Oh, I shouldn't have done that. He grips his staff and whispers back, "Gomen, Lina-chan, I'm not allowed to feel that way anymore." Then he phases out.
Not allowed to feel that way anymore? What's that supposed to mean?
I walk back to camp and tell everyone about the new trip, then head off to my bedroll. I don't get too much sleep though...
The next morning, we head out. Zel, our resident orienteer, leads the group, Amelia cheerfully walking by his side. She sings another one of her little justice songs. They really annoy the crap out of me. Gourry walks next to me, his eyes focused on the road ahead of us. I look back, noticing Filia swinging her mace around, seemingly practising her moves. Oookay, that's weird. Guess she expects Xelloss to come popping out at any second. I shake my head and face forwards again. Well, I half expect the same thing.
I wonder what made him react that way last night? It was just a kiss. But what he said.... I really can't figure that out. I mean, an answer seems simple enough. Perhaps humans got the idea that 'Mazoku can't love' simply because Mazoku don't allow themselves to. And since Xelloss said he used to be human, I guess it would make sense for him to say something like that if what I'm thinking is true.
I stop in the road; my mind reels. Does that mean he likes me like that?!?!?
I don't get much time to ponder that as Filia bumps into me, mace first. I fly several feet in the air before crashing back down to earth in front Amelia and Zel. He crouches down in front of me as I lie on the ground, face planted into the dirt. "Daijoubu ka, Lina?" he worriedly asks as he picks me up. Wow, he has a really nice body...eep. What the hell am I thinking about?!?!?! My hormones must be outta whack or something if I'm thinking about stuff like this with both Zel AND Xelloss!
"I'll be okay," I reply, rubbing my nose. "Well, what are you all staring at? Go on! We gotta reach the next town by nightfall!"
"Hai!" comes the general response. Gods, they look like I pulled a Dra-Matta face out at them. Maybe I did.
I sit in my inn room, brushing my hair before the dresser mirror. This is a nice place. Nice soft bed, good food in large quantities, wonderfully-kept bathhouse, beautiful landscape. The Kataart Mountains tower over the sleepy village, our last stop before entering the range.
My thoughts have recently turned towards the end of our journey. What will happen at that place? The possibilities are endless, I suppose. Who knows what everyone's 'heart's innermost desire' will turn out to be? I don't even know for myself. I guess I'll like it, whatever it is. But what if this is another ruse, just one of Xelloss's plots? Filia won't stop thinking that until we've gone there, gotten our wishes, and safely returned home. She can be such a pessimist sometimes. But she's not the only one thinking this. I'll bet Gourry would be the only one not slightly wary of a plan Xelloss comes up with, if even him. He may have unidentifiable mush for brains in that head of his, but Gourry can read people as easily as Zel and I can read books of practically any tongue.
The Trickster Priest always has a motive, his own reason for doing something. He never acts on a whim. I don't know why he's taking us to this place yet, but I won't let him know that. That's probably the worst thing I could do.