There was a distant rumble of thunder that woke her up. She lifted her head to see flickers of lighting streaking through the clouds outside of the window. She pulled the blanket closer, shivering in the chilly room, and stood up slowly stretching her sore limbs. She walked over to the window to stare outside, seeing the trees bent under the howl of the wind, rain pelting the window, and the dark dismal clouds rolling across the sky. She sighed lightly, then heard a rustling sound behind her, and turned around. She immediately sensed the eyes on her, and her gaze fell to the bed to her left. The man's eyes were open and watching her. She felt uneasy, nervous, yet a sense of connection, belonging, and harmony in his gaze, and slowly walked over to his bedside and pulled up a chair to sit beside him. His piercing amethyst gaze seemed to cut into her very soul, but she didn't let it bother her, she kept a calm face. "Hi..."
He glanced at her, up and down silently, seeming to take in the information laid before him before meeting her eyes again. She felt squeamish under that intense gaze and glanced aside. "How are you feeling?"
His words came soft, and were forced as it seemed to be a great effort for him to speak. "About how I look."
She glanced down, and though most of his burns were gone, stress lines creased his face, and she could see he was in pain. She wanted to help, but knew better than to do so. "That bad huh?" Her tone was light and joking, but as she met his eyes, she flinched at the unasked question that lay there. She shivered slightly, then steeled herself, but he proved too fast for her.
"It's been a while, hasn't it."
She slowly looked into his eyes, and saw nothing special there, no warmth, no care, no love.... Just blankness. She bit her lip. "Yes...."
Silence echoed in the room, as the wind continued to howl and the rain pelted against the window. She stared at her hands folded in her lap dully, wondering and thinking of what to say. He broke the silence speaking in his low mellow voice, strained as it may be. "I didn't abandon you."
She glanced over at him sadness in her eyes. "Oh really? Doesn't seem that way to me...Father."
"It is the truth however."
More silence. It was tense and strained, mostly on her half. He had his eyes closed now, and was breathing deeply, almost as if dozing off back into slumber. She watched him for some time in silence, listing to the storm that echoed her inner emotions. They sat there for several minutes without saying another word, then she turned and asked the one question of him that had been burning on her mind since she was a small child. "Why.... Why will no one speak about my mother? Is she dead? Why didn't you leave me with her instead of the Mazoku?"
He didn't answer immediately, no emotion or reaction passing his face to show that he'd heard her question. She was about to repeat it, when he finally opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. "Sore wa.....himitsu desu."
Her golden eyes flickered just for the briefest instant an amethyst color, then changed back. "Himitsu? Himitsu?" Her voice was bitter, angry, and mocking. "So... you abandon me at the age of 5, and never show your face again. You refuse to tell me anything about my mother, and then you play games with me." She stood up and crossed her arms glaring over him. "Perhaps it would have been better if I hadn't met you after all." She turned away from him and stood at the window again, taking deep breaths to calm herself.
He didn't answer, but closed his eyes and sighed quietly. Ten minutes passed by without either speaking, or even attempting to reconcile the differences. Tension practically crackled in the air between them, and the four pairs of ears that lay listening quietly in the darkness began to twitch nervously at the inactivity.
Finally, she turned back to him. "So now what?" He didn't answer her. "Do you and I part never to meet again? Is that what you want? I don't even know who you are!" Her voice had a pitch of hysteria in it. "They wouldn't tell me anything about you!" She gestured at the others around the room. "And you don't seem inclined to tell me anything else!" She sighed, lowering her hysterical voice a bit. "Will you at least tell me your name Father?" Her voice seemed defeated, sad, and forlorn. When he didn't answer, she walked back to the window, biting her lip and hugging her arms to herself. "Figures.... Should have guessed it...." She mumbled to herself, feeling tears well up inside of herself. "Mazoku care about no one but themselves." She leaned against the wall staring out through the glass dully.
"......Xelloss.....Metallium..." His voice broke the silence of the room suddenly, making her head turn around to look at him. His amethyst eyes returned her gaze evenly, and she was shocked to see a very small hint of feeling there....
"......." She watched him with appraising eyes, trying to figure out what he was doing... he seemed sincere... almost like he cared.... She didn't move, but lowered her eyes. "I see..... thank you...Father." She said quietly, then turned around and walked out of the room silently closing the door after her.
Xelloss watched her go with slitted eyes, and a thoughtful glance on his face, then he leaned back and closed his eyes, letting himself relax and drift off again in rest, when suddenly hands were shaking him harshly, and a very enraged voice was screaming in his ear. "YOU LITTLE $#@$!#@!!! HOW CAN YOU BE SO COLD TO YOUR OWN DAUGHTER?" He opened his eyes wide to see Lina glaring down at him, with Amelia and Zelgadis standing with somber expressions beside the bed as well.
"You made her unhappy!" Amelia exclaimed. "How can you do that?"
He simply raised an eyebrow and smirked. This seemed to enrage Lina further, and she slapped him hard across the face. "I don't care if you're injured, but you've no excuse, Mazoku or not, to treat her like that. She's spent most of her life in trying to find you, and you shove her away with thorns!" Lina's voice was a low dangerous hiss. "I was about to think that you had a shred of humanity in you Xelloss!"
Amelia glared down at him. "Who is her mother? Why won't you tell her?"
"Because.." He said in a calm quiet voice. "Her mother doesn't even know about her."
They all blinked blankly for a minute, then frowned. "Huh?" Lina said bluntly. "What do you mean? Isn't that a bit... impossible?"
Xelloss closed his eyes with a sigh. "No.... Mazoku can be formed differently than others can. I took her from the moment of her creation, and matured her myself."
They didn't have much to say to that.... Gourry stated bluntly what was on their minds. "Huh?"
He sighed. "What I mean is, upon her conception, I removed her from the mother and raised her elsewhere."
Lina blinked. "You can do that?" He nodded wordlessly. "But.... Why?" She asked confused.
"Because.... Not only would her birth cause devastating reactions if made known to the mother, it contradicted the plans my mistress had laid out."
Lina frowned, then blinked with some amazement as she realized for once Xelloss was stating things plain, simple, and outright instead of using riddles or 'sore wa himitsu'-ing everything. She frowned in thought, wondering why this was the case.
Meanwhile, Xelloss had closed his eyes, and before they could ask him further questions, he'd drifted back to sleep. Zelgadis had in the meantime quietly exited, and was looking around the inn for Zallia. He finally went outside into the storm, rain pounding down on him, and glanced about. Sure enough, he saw a small shape huddled underneath an overhang up by the roof. He sighed quietly, and cast a levitation spell, then flew up to stand on the rafter beside her huddled form.
She was sitting, her arms wrapped around her legs, her head buried in her knees. He knelt down in a crouch beside her, not saying anything, thinking over what he might say to her. She didn't make a move or speak, nor did she acknowledge his presence. He frowned slightly, then put a rocky hand on her shoulder gently. To his immediate surprise, she leaned into him, and rested against his shoulder, her slender body shivering with the cold and with her tears. He didn't move, but then gently he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, holding her to him, letting her cry her sorrows out.
Time seemed to pass slowly for him, but as he stared out across at the pouring rain, it began to let up slightly. The water finally stopped, though the sky was still dismal and clouds rumbled by, the occasional lighting flashing and thunder rumbling. He glanced down to see that she'd finally stopped her sobbing with the end of the rain. "Are you OK?" He asked quietly, concern in his voice.
She didn't answer, but she did nod, her tear streaked face lifting, her golden eyes puffed and red. He gave her a gentle squeeze, and she sighed. "Thank you Zelgadis...." She whispered.
He nodded. "Anytime."
She sighed and wiped the tears from her face, but still didn't look up at him. "Don't you hate me because I'm related to him?"
Zel shook his head. "I hate him. You aren't to blame for his deeds."
That seemed to relax her a bit, and she loosened up slightly. "I wonder... what is my purpose in life.... I was his toy... is that all?"
Zel scowled. "Well, he's a Mazoku. They don't have feelings. I wouldn't get too attached to him, after all, he doesn't seem to care about you very much." He glanced down at her. "But who needs him anyway? You've got friends."
She raised her golden eyes to his then, confusion and bewilderment in them. "Friends...." A small smile graced her lips. "Yes..... I suppose so..."