"Ohaaaaaaaaaayo!" Lina piped as the half asleep swordsman and the chimera joined her at the sinks. "How'd you two sleep?"
"Mm... really good!" Gourry said stretching,. "That bed's comfortable."
Zelgadis snorted. "Wish I could say the same.... The floor's really hard you know."
Gourry grinned goofily. "Sorry bout that, you can have it next time."
Lina glanced around suddenly noticing they were one short. "Where's Xelloss?"
There was silence as they looked about, then Gourry scratched his head. "I think he was still asleep in the room..."
"Oh..." Lina said finishing her grooming. "Well, guess I'd better wake him up then." She walked off down the corridor then, and entered the room while the rest of the group washed their faces and did their morning business. However, the peace of the hall was broken by a shrill screech. "AMELIA! GET IN HERE QUICK!"
They three glanced worriedly at each other, then raced down the hall in their pajamas to burst into the room only to see Lina bent over Xelloss looking worried. She glanced up. "Amelia!"
Amelia knelt down and immediately saw what was wrong. His face was flushed and pale, his forehead burning to the touch and his hands were cold and clammy. She put her hands out and began muttering a healing spell as Lina glanced up. "Didn't you guys notice he was sick?"
The two looked bashful and embarrassed. "Um...sorry... I guess I fell asleep before everyone else.." Gourry said looking ashamed.
Lina glanced over at Xelloss again, then suddenly glanced at Zelgadis. "He didn't have any blankets last night did he? He just slept like this...." Zel avoided her eyes. "YOU JERK! YOU DIDN'T EVEN GIVE HIM A BLANKET?" She screamed at him in anger. "It was cold in here last night, and he slept on the floor without a blanket!" She was glaring at the chimera, who still avoided her eyes. "I don't believe you two!"
Amelia's hands fell down. "Lina-san, it isn't working..." Her voice was worried. "I've never had problems healing someone before..."
"What?" Lina bent over him again to see that nothing had changed. His face was still pinched in pain, and hot to the touch. "It doesn't work? Are you sure? Try again..." She tried again, but there was no change. Lina cast a Recovery, but the same result appeared. She glared at Zel, and he grudgingly cast a healing spell, but again no change.
They stared silently, not sure of what to do, then Amelia snapped out of it. "Come on, put him in bed!"
Gourry and Zelgadis bent down and lifted him into the bed, and Amelia set about getting some cloths and blankets, then began to tend for him. Lina watched the whole thing with a worried look on her face, and some confusion. If he'd been a mazoku, then there was a possibility that healing wouldn't work.... However, he'd said he was human now, which meant that it should... unless he wasn't completely human now, maybe a small fragment of mazoku was still in him.... She shook her head. Even so, healing should still work....
"So... what now Lina?" Gourry asked standing next to her watching Xelloss who was sleeping rather fitfully.
"I don't know.... Guess all we can do is wait and hope he recovers on his own..." She said slowly. "If healing doesn't work, there's not much we can do for him."
So saying, they all evacuated the room to go and grab some breakfast. They ordered their usual portions, and were soon emersed in enough food to feed an army for a day. The surrounding customers would occasionally glance at them strangely by the vast amounts of food they seemed to put away..... they didn't know where it all went.
When they'd finished, they relaxed and let their minds run over the recent events. "So.... What are we gonna do about the invalid?" Zelgadis asked while picking his teeth with a toothpick.
Lina just shot him an angry glare and narrowed her eyes. "You're the one to talk...."
However Gourry put a restraining hand on her shoulder. "Come on Lina, it wasn't his fault, ease up on him."
Lina leaned back, some fire dying. "Sorry... I guess my nerves are a bit frayed." She glanced over at Zel. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that, I know you don't like him and all, but this whole deal..." She shook her head. "There's something wrong with it."
The others nodded in agreement. "Yeah, this entire month has just been weirder than usual." Amelia said fiddling with her teacup. "I mean..."
"Yeah.... I know." Lina said with a sigh. "I can't help wondering if somehow all of the events are related or interwoven somehow."
"How so?" Zelgadis asked quietly.
"Well, think about it.... The whole weirdness started when we found that book.... And when Xelloss showed up, he got really quiet when we mentioned it to him." Lina crossed her hands on the table and put her chin on top of them. "Then we end up by some mysterious circumstances on Wolf Pack Island, Zelas wants us dead because of that knowledge, and is torturing her most loyal of servants, who then we find out he was actually her slave....." She shook her head. "And he won't talk about it either."
"Maybe he's just shy." Gourry said.
Lina hit him across the head. "Look, he's acting weird too. Have you EVER known him to act the way he's been acting?" Her eyes bore into the surrounding group. "And now he's sick... and we can't heal him." She sighed. "Try to convince me that this is a coincidence..."
"So what's your theory then Lina?" Zel asked quietly. "What do you think the connection is?"
She looked thoughtful. "I think..... I think Xelloss knows something important that the other mazoku don't want him spilling. Then there's this deal with wards and what not....." She frowned. "Something that the mazoku lords don't want broken obviously."
"So that means that it's got to be a good and just cause!" Amelia stood up and smiled with shimmering eyes. "I knew Xelloss-san would come around in time! No one can stand against truth and justice in the end, because it's the right thing to do!"
The group sweatdropped. "Yeah, well something like that. But you can bet that if the mazoku lords are after him, that it's got to be something they're worried about, and a threat to them... which means that it might or might not be in our interest to help him achieve it."
They all pondered that information among themselves for a bit. "So.... What do you think he's trying to do?" Amelia asked finally.
Lina closed her eyes in thought and was silent for a long duration of time before answering. "I think that he's trying to unlock something related to the Fey.... Perhaps their lost power, perhaps one who might have survived the war..... something related to that."
They ran that through their heads for some time, then they heard a polite clearing of the throat from behind them, and they glanced over to see a young woman and a young man standing next to their table. The woman had long blonde hair and stunning blue eyes, and was about medium height with a soft gray dress and gray blue cloak trimmed with fur, and the man was taller, but had cyan hair that was spiked up, with a shirt that fell open to expose his chest. "Ano..." the woman said in a soft voice. "We over heard you speaking about the Fey..."
Lina eyed the couple with some wariness.... The man had stripes on either cheek, and slitted golden eyes, which made her wary of him, but the woman seemed honest and open, practically the opposite of him. "Yeah.... Why do you ask?" She replied carefully.
"Well, it's just we've not heard the name of the Fey mentioned in public, or by humans, for a.... very long time." She replied with a smile. "It drew our attention, if you know what we mean."
Lina nodded. "Yeah...." She gestured to vacant seats, and the couple sat down at the table with them. "I'm Lina Inverse." And she introduced the others at the table.
The woman smiled friendly-like. "It's a pleasure. You may call me Filia, and this is Val." The young man nodded tersely and they all nodded in response. "So... may I ask why and how you came to know of the Fey?"
Lina pondered that for a moment. Should they just tell these strangers straight out? She decided there was no point hiding the truth, as long as they were careful with how they spoke it. "Well.... Here's the thing, we found this book...." And she explained what had happened up to that date, making sure to leave out some important things that spies or agents might find useful. "And... well that's pretty much it."
Filia looked worried and stared at her hands folded in front of her with a vacant expression. It was Val who surprised them all. "So you say that this Xelloss is the one who much of this revolves around?"
Lina nodded. "He's involved somehow... the mazoku are after him, and he says that they want him dead..." The two looked thoughtful, and Lina took this opportunity to ask them a question she'd been thinking of for a bit. "How do you know about the Fey?"
The two exchanged glances, and a small smile lit Filia's face. "Well... we used to know one of them quite well, and we were part of the resistance."
The others blinked. "Resistance?"
Val smirked. "We stood up for them when others didn't."
"That's right." Filia continued. "We helped them fight, but our efforts..." She trailed off, and Val put a hand on her head in comfort. ".... Well, they're gone now..."
There was silence around the table, and then Ameila spoke up. "You must be old to have been alive back then...."
They nodded slightly. "Well, yeah I guess you could say that." Filia said quietly. "But then we're both Ryuzoku."
Their gazes fell back to the two, and it made sense to them then. "Ah, that's understandable." Lina said nodding. "Makes more sense that way."
"Wow..." Amelia said with wide eyes. "You don't even look like Ryuzoku though..." She blushed. "I mean, we've only met one before..."
Val chuckled lowly and Filia smiled brightly. "Well, we can take human forms after all..."
"So... maybe you can tell us the truth about how the war ended...." Lina said slowly. "We can't find out much from anyone."
Filia glanced at Val, who shrugged wordlessly in response. "Very well, we can help you a bit..." She closed her eyes and leaned back, and Val leaned forward with his eyes closed as well. "Basically, they were overwhelmed, and all their people were murdered in one strike of chance by a traitor it's heard..... the traitor was killed along with the rest of them, but the damage was done since the mazoku and the others penetrated the Fey home base and captured the crown prince.... Then they killed everyone it's said...." She shook her head, a look of sadness there. "We were good friends with a few of them, and had been inside on rare occasions..... the land they lived in was beautiful and pristine..... and they weren't a bad people, they were only liked to cause trouble...."
They were silent, digesting this information, when Val spoke up in his mellow voice. "It was believed however, that something important was sealed away relating to the Fey...." He glanced at them. "Perhaps that's what this Xelloss is after?"
They glanced at each other. "Sure, it's possible..." Gourry said scratching his head. "But I didn't think he was after treasure."
"It wouldn't have to be treasure, it could be power you know." Amelia added.
"Yeah, that would sound more like a mazoku..." Lina said slowly. "And if it's a lot of power, it's no wonder that the Mazoku Lords are after him."
"Then should we help him? I mean, this could be bad..."
Val shook his head. "We'd have to talk to him first. In order to unseal anything that the Fey might have sealed up, he'd need a lot of things..."
"You mean like people representing each of the Fey's power and genetic roots?" Lina interrupted. The two dragons stared at her. "He mentioned something like that."
Val nodded. "Yes.... That's what would be needed."
They exchanged glances. "We should have a chat with him." Lina said standing up. "If he's well enough to talk that is...."
They all followed her lead and headed upstairs, and then entered the room. His progress hadn't improved, he was still flushed and hot, though not tossing fretfully anymore. Sweat was still beaded on his forehead, and his breathing labored. Lina walked over to him and shook him lightly. "Xelloss... oi, wake up." His eyes opened slightly, but weren't focused on her. "Hey, can you understand me?" She waved a hand in front of his face. He blinked and nodded slightly. She nodded in reply. "You know what's wrong with you? We can't heal you."
He looked slightly delirious, and Val stepped forward to examine him. He put a hand on his forehead and concentrated, then frowned and stared down at him. "This is odd....." He said quietly.
Filia joined him with a worried look. "What is it dear?"
He shook his head. "I've never seen anything like this, I believe it's a biological breakdown of his body...."
Everyone's eyes widened in surprise. "What does that mean?" Lina said slowly.
"It means..." Filia said quietly. "He'll die in a few days.... His body is returning to it's natural state.... While he was Mazoku, age didn't matter. However, now that he's human, all those years are catching up to him quickly." She shook her head. "Nothing we can do, it's natural, so can't be 'healed'."
They fell silent and didn't speak for a long time. Now, it wasn't that they really particularly cared for Xelloss, but just the fact that they were faced with a situation that they couldn't do anything for, was bothering them. Finally, there was a soft groan from Xelloss' bedside, and they glanced to see his hand reach up and grab whoever's hand was closest, which happened to be Lina. He had something in his hand which he pressed into her palm, before his hand fell limply back to the bed.
Lina opened her palm, to see that the object he'd pushed into her hand was a small pendant on a silver chain. It was shaped into a sword, with a stone in the center that glowed with some odd light to it..... then around the hilt was twisted a dragon and a demon..... She glanced down at him. "What is this?'
His eyes slid shut and he spoke in a halting voice. "Hold it... up to the moon..."
They glanced at each other. "But it's daylight...." Gourry stated obviously.
"Doesn't.... matter..."
Lina shrugged, and walked over to the window, and held it up to the moon, which was hanging in the sky. Almost immediately, Amelia gasped. "Look!" Everyone glanced to see that she was pointing at the floor where an image was being projected...... Filia and Val knelt down next to Zelgadis, and began examining it closely...
Then Val gave a low whistle. "I'll be...."
"What?" Lina asked from the window, squinting at the ground. "It looks like a map of some sort..."
"Yes... It is." He answered, his finger running over the lines on the floorboard. "But not just any map.."
"This is the five points of power in the world..." Filia murmured pointing at certain places. "Here are the five power points, where power is channeled of each polar direction.... They were remnants of the creation by the Lord of Nightmares apparently...." She shook her head. "This map connects all five into an intricate pattern, and here..." She pointed to the center of the map. "Is where it all converges...." She glanced up. "But what is this for?"
Val squinted down at it, then nodded. "I think this is the sealed power..... this is the position that the spell must be cast...." He pointed at the center where the lines converged. "Probably to restore balance to whatever it is...."
"So I guess the mode of action is.... Do we pursue this course of action, or do we forget about it?"
"We don't do anything." Zel said firmly standing up. "This is probably an act of his to gain power or something, if we let him free it, no telling what he'll do."
"But.." Lina said as she lowered her arm and rubbed it from being sore. "If we don't, then we'll probably never know what's sealed there..... He's probably the only one who knows the spell, which is why the others want him dead." She walked over to Xelloss and leaned over him. "Is that right?" He nodded faintly in reply. "So..." She turned around. "We do have a choice to make...."
They all nodded. "If we help you Xelloss..." Val said slowly walking over to him. "Will the results endanger us or anyone else? What exactly will happen?"
He looked strained, but he answered slowly through his fever. "Won't endanger anyone.... Only me..." He took a breath. "If I die before I can unseal it..... it will be lost forever..."
"What 'it'?"
"....the power of the Fey."
"And you'll be the one getting this power, right?" His voice sounded tart.
"Hai..."
"So what if one of us decided to get it?"
"Not possible..."
"Why?"
Xelloss didn't answer, which resulted in Val grabbing him by the shirt and lifting him clear out of the bed. "You ain't getting our help unless you answer every @#$@# question, got it?" His golden eyes burned into the man in his grip. Amelia and Filia were immediately by the bedside, trying to get Val to let the ex-mazoku go, but his strength surpassed them both, added to his height, made him unable to waver. He kept Xelloss up all the way, his body dangling in mid air in his grip, face still pale and contorted in feverish pain. "Val stop this!" Filia said angrily. "He's sick!"
Val scowled and shook him hard, like a limp rag doll, then threw him against the nearest wall. Xelloss hit with a hard thump, and fell in a crumbled heap on the floor, weakly trying to get back up again, but failing. Filia stepped in front of him, between the advancing Val and held her arms out, her expression angry. "Stop it now." She said firmly. "You have no excuse to injure the weak." She said firmly. "It doesn't matter who they are, I won't allow it."
Val kept his gaze level with her, then turned away with a snort. Filia lowered her arms and sighed then glanced back at Xelloss who was lying still not moving. Lina and Amelia were bent down next to him, and Amelia shook her head. "He's out cold...." She glanced up. "He's getting worse.... What should we do?"
Lina glanced up at Gourry and Zelgadis, and then to Filia. "Well, what's your recommendation? Should we help him, or should we not?"
Filia looked deep in thought for a while, then sighed. "As much as I don't want to do so, I think helping him would be the best option..... I think there's more to this whole thing than we think, and if the mazoku lords want him out of the way, then the power must be something that will threaten their well being...."
Lina nodded. "Right then..." She was interrupted however, by Val running to the window, and Zelgadis drawing his sword suddenly. "What...?" She looked up puzzled at them.
"Mazoku...." Hissed Val from the window.
Zel was frowning. "Powerful ones.... They've found us."
"Oh, just great..." Lina groaned. "Ok, fine let's beat it out of here then."
"But how?" Amelia asked worriedly.
Filia went up to Val and eyed the few mazoku that were down on the ground, looking up at them, obviously waiting for something. "We need a distraction for those creeps...."
"I'll keep their attention." Val said in a low voice. "You get them out of here."
Filia nodded and gestured to the group. "Come on..." And she walked out of the room, up the hall towards the stairs that led to the roof. Once the group was on the roof, she nodded. "Ok, just grab on." And quicker than they could blink, her form was shifting in a bright golden light that emerged into a huge golden dragon. They stared up at her, but she turned her head with warning eyes, and they quickly scrambled up onto her back. Gourry had Xelloss on his back, and once they'd all gotten on and grabbed handholds, Filia leapt into the air quicker than they could catch their breath.