Lina craned her head, trying to peer through the mists. She rubbed a kink out of her neck, sighed, then jumped forward a little to peer at Xelloss. "Where are we heading?"
Xelloss smiled, his larger hand covering her smaller one almost completely. Leading her by the wrist had been his idea; Lina was not entirely thrilled with the idea of being led like a sheep to the pen with something that was tantamont to holding hands. But Xelloss had merely smiled, opened one of his gleaming eyes, and said with an affable shrug, "You don't want to get lost, now do you?"
To which Lina had no good reply.
She panted, the effort of trotting to keep up with his longer strides beginning to wear on her. The mist was thick and forever in all directions, and Lina was not happy walking into something you couldn't see through, the chilly white pressing down on her shoulder like a firm and threatening hand. And Xelloss was still smiling.
"We, my lovely, are heading towards the Shrine. Note the capital. Hopefully we will find it before the soles of your feet wear away, but we are heading in the general direction."
"And then what?"
"Then we will persuade the Miko there to send us back to the Lesser Plains. In other words, home. She will beseech Our Lady to intercede on our behalf, and you will have your magic back, and be ready to demolish cities by the next day. Sounds good, ne?"
Lina frowned. "Who exactly is this "Miko"?"
Xelloss tugged her along. "A girl."
Lina kicked him in the ankle. "No kidding! What kind of powers does she have, is she nice, will she send us back..?"
Xelloss slowed and then drew her down with him to sit on the cloudy ground. "She can communicate directly with the Lord, I have no idea, and hopefully yes, if not, we, or rather I, persuade." His smile grew tighter and became a thin dark line.
"This lack of things to kill is really getting to you isn't it?" Lina groaned, then realised Xelloss was still holding her hand, and pulled it away quickly, a flush of rose rising on her face.
Xelloss leaned back, touching the clasp of his cloak in a absent way, then undid the cloak and draped it around Lina's narrow shoulders.
"Bedtime, I think," he remarked. "I'm sure you must be tired."
Lina stretched out besides him, weaving his cloak around her body like a cocoon. "Alright," she agreed, her eyes closing. "Nothing better to do..mmmm."
A few deep breaths later she slept, her chest rising and falling evenly as a boat on calm water. Xelloss smiled, a bit more softly this time, then leaned over and murmured a spell into Lina's ear. Satisfied she was truly asleep, he touched his lips to the tiny moles on her forehead, then lay down himself.
Phibrizo was sulking, his small hands squashed and pale looking against the thick crystal that kept him away. Lina sat there and watched him, a drowsy look on her face eyes half-closed in boredom or impatience.
Phibrizo seemed to finally notice her, and threw his body violently against the crystal. When it failed to shatter, he put his mouth up against the wall and yelled, making his face look like a squished lizard. Lina couldn't help herself and laughed.
"I'm gonna KILL you!!!!!" he shrieked, his voice echoing against the crystal. "You AND your damned boyfriend!!"
Lina scowled. "Are you talking about Xelloss?"
He slapped both hands against his prison, making a sound like ice breaking up in water, though no cracks appeared in the wall. "FUCK you!!!! Fuck him too!!!!! Damned shifty bastard thinks he can beat me at MY job?"
Lina sat back, bored. She twisted a lock of red-gold hair in her fingers, then admired the rosy tint to her skin. "Don't you have anything useful and non-profane to say?"
Phibrizo's mouth opened and closed in gulps like a beached fish. "I....I'll get you for this," he finally whispered, his voice hoarse from screaming. "When the world dies, I'll laugh."
Lina opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.
The next thing she was aware of after that enlightening little episode was Xelloss' smiling face beaming down at her like the round cheerful face of the sun.
"Ne, Lina-chan? Have a nice rest?"
She sat up then and patted herself. "It was a dream? Okay."
Xelloss helped her up, then reclaimed his cloak, smooothing the myriad wrinkles of Lina-chan's restless dreaming out of it. "What was a dream, Lina-chan?" he asked, fumbling with the smooth silver and bloodstone clasp.
But Lina was already running ahead and didn't hear him.
Lina had gone quite a league ahead by the time Xelloss caught up with her. He caught up her wrist like plucking a fish from a stream and she cried out in surprise.
"Don't go too far ahead of me, Lina-chan," he scolded. He pulled her behind him and forced her to walk with him. "If you got lost, what would I tell your Neechan?"
Lina's ruby eyes narrowed behind her grumbling at having to walk at the same pace as him. "What do you know about my Neechan?" she demanded, running in front so she could see his closed eyes, smooth and seamless as a mirror.
To her surprise his eyes slid open, looking at her face. He leaned down and she could feel his breath on her cheek, warm as a shaft of sunlight touching her.
"More then you will ever know," he smiled, then pulled her along with him.
Lina punched him with her free arm, yelling at him, slow down, damnit!
"What the hell does that mean?" she cried, pulling at his arm. He wouldn't slow down, but continued to pull her along like a river carrying away a stick away in it's current.
"My answer."
Lina tripped him and they went down, sprawling across the white ground. "Cozy!" Xelloss cooed. Lina didn't answer, as she was busily trying to see if his mouth would stretch wide enough to accomdate the stick she was attempting to shove down his throat. With a put-upon sigh he masterfully dodged her attacks, disguising the pleasure he was receiving from having Lina sitting on top of him while attempting to murder him. What a girl!
"Oh, Lina-chan, look at that!" he exclaimed. Pleasure was all well and good, but business had to be attended to as well. He caught both of her tiny hands in his, stopping her for the moment, and the stick fell to the ground with a dry thud.
Lina tugged, trying to pull her hands away, but Xelloss smiled gently, encouraging. With a angry snort, she looked, looked down at Xelloss, looked back up, then got up and walked forward a few steps, unbelieving.
Looming out of the mists before her was the unmistakably bumpy outline of a town.
"I need more soap!!" Lina called through the wooden wall of the bathhouse.
"Coming!!" Xelloss sang, as his hand thrust another slick white bar through the crack in the doorway. Lina silently took it, wrapping her tunic around her as a makeshift towel.
They were in the not quite solid courtyard of a not quite solid inn, with wraiths passing around, behind, and through them as they walked. "Astral shadows," Xelloss explained. "The Astral selves of the people in the town. This itself is the Astral counterpart of the town Below." He had cheerfully knocked at the massive wooden door of the inn. A muffled thud answered him. "This isn't real wood." He gestered to the stone walkway. "Not real stone." A pastal girl, her colors faded like she'd been left out in the rain walked through he as he talked. He winked at her. "She's only "real" down Below."
"Astral selves I can understand," Lina said, her eyes taking in the pale watery outlines of buildings and trees. "But why houses? Why furniture?"
"It's what you expected to see," Xelloss replied. And left it at that.
Lina stared at the soap in her hand, then slowly closed her fist around it, feeling it ooze through her fingers. "This is real soap though."
She closed her tunic more tightly around her and went outside. Inside the hot spring, a pool of brilliantly blue water lay in the middle of the non-water, steam drifting into the air above.
Xelloss teleported in and winked at her. "For you," he said, pointing at the water. "Real water so my Lina-chan can be clean."
Lina punched him in the gut for the "my" comment, then walked to the water and stuck a toe in. It was just warm enough and reeked of sulpher.
"How?" she asked.
Xelloss smiled brilliantly. "From Below!!" he caroled. "It's a simple matter of ripping a little hole in the fabric of space and reaching down..."
"Is that where this is from?"
"Your fish..remember? All your food. The water. The soap. All from the world you call home."
"Why is the water blue?"
Xelloss shrugged. "So you could tell it apart from the water here."
He peered at her closely. "Aren't you going to say thank you?"
He was answered by Lina grabbing him and shaking him violently. "You JERK!! Why didn't you say anything about this before? Can't we get back that way? ARGGGGGHHHHH!!"
"Li-li-li-li-na-cha-cha-n!!"
She glared, but put him down so he could talk.
Xelloss shook himself, and patted the wayward strands of his hair back into place. "To answer your questions: 1. I didn't think it was that important. 2. No, we can't. I tried already, silly gosling. There's a sort of hand that grabs you and keeps you from going any further....."
Lina sighed. "Damnit."
"Thank you?" Xelloss prodded.
"Thanks," she muttered. Thank L-sama her hair was long enough to cover her blushing face. Why was she blushing? Don't think about it.
"OUT!!!" she finally howled. "Out out out!!"
Xelloss perched in a non-tree and watched his Lina-chan bathe. Of course he was hidden well in the shadows, but his Lina seemed preoccupied and non-observent anyway. She was sulking in the water, her beautifully smooth shoulders rising out of the steam and frosted with soapsuds.
Xelloss was not really interested in seeing his Lina fully nude just yet. Why ruin all the mystery? Instead, he was happiest glimpsing bits and pieces here and there-a slender thigh shining through the dark water, the plump edge of a breast, the slim outward curves of her hips. Her lips were full and sweet even while saying the ugliest things, and her eyes glittered like new blood.
He sighed and leaned back, trying to stop before he felt compelled to join her down there in the water. Playing with restless fingers, he glanced down, then swiftly back up, as Lina had stood up in the water to scrub her thighs. His lips pursed for a moment and he blew at an imaginary strand of hair. Lina was apparently having trouble getting her back completely washed, twisting in all sorts of interesting positions and exposing things that really shouldn't be exposed to peeping Mazoku who covered their eyes modestly, but then peeked through their fingers.
Lina, wearing a brand new pair of pajamas furnished by Xelloss, stretched out on the hazy bed underneath her, which gave slightly as she moved, like a spiderweb bouncing under the weight of the prey caught within. She lay her head on the non-pillow, pulled the transparent blue blanket up to her waist, and waited for Xelloss.
Popping into the room a few moments later, he immediately arranged himself head to feet on the bed, then smiled cozily at her.
"Don't get any ideas," she mumbled. "G'night."
After counting her deep even breaths, Xelloss leaned over her, whispered his spell, kissed her forehead, then slipped out to take a tour of their surroundings. He wouldn't be far. Lina-chan would be fine.
He completely missed the hawk perched on the rafter overhead, eyeing him and Lina with small, glittering eyes.
Lina shifted, muzzily moving the images of her dreams. In one, Ameria looked horrified, like she was desparately trying to tell her something. In another, her Neechan looked at her, steady and grave. Phibrizo was smiling at her as a pair of hands yanked roughly at her shoulders, pulling up to lean against warm cloth.
"Xelloss....stop it..." she murmured. "Not yet..it's too soon...."
Then the prick of the knife at her throat woke her and she looked into the unsmiling grey eyes of the girl holding her captive.
"Not a word," the girl warned.
Xelloss burst through the door, his face a curious shade of pale. Lina struggled to sit up, fear jumping in her throat like a frog, but the girl shoved her back down.
"Took you long enough," the girl said in a low, smooth voice, like water running through rock. "Not very careful are you?"
"Let her go," he growled, his voice changing in several unpleasent ways. "We're only travelers."
"Traveling where?" the girl countered.
Xelloss' throat twitched like a chicken jerking its head up. "To the Shrine of the Lord to beg Her favor."
"In that case," the girl countered, pressing the knife against Lina's throat so a thin line of crimsom beaded at the cut. Lina gasped, the sound of the flesh parting under the knife.
"I'll have to kill you both."