Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Detour ❯ Chapter Nine ( Chapter 9 )

Detour

 

by Rose Thorne

 

Disclaimer: Slayers is owned by a bunch of folks who aren't me. I'm borrowing them for my perverse pleasure, much as Xellos borrows emotions for his.

 

 

Chapter Nine

 

It had taken quite a while for Xellos to get out of his foul mood. Beastmaster had summoned him and quashed his idea of dumping Zelgadis with Lina, Amelia, and Gourry. When he asked if she didn't have another, more pressing task for him, she had informed him that this was entertaining her more than anything else he could be doing. Really, he had no choice but to obey Zelas-sama, but where he was usually happy to do so he was decidedly less than pleased with this assignment.

 

Part of his frustration had been taken out on the residents of one of the coastal towns of Dils, where he had done some “shopping.” The rest had been taken out on Zelgadis, who had slept through Xellos' antics and was now dressed in warm bunny footie pajamas (complete with a hood with floppy ears) and a garish purple sweater. The chimera probably wouldn't appreciate it, but Xellos figured it was at least a step up from being naked.

 

When Zelgadis did wake, he didn't notice at first. In fact, he seemed disoriented, struggling to his feet and starting for the cave entrance.

 

Xellos stopped him, concerned. “Zelgadis-san, it's storming.”

 

The chimera blinked at him, frowning. “There's no bathroom here.”

 

The Mazoku considered this for a moment. He knew the wind was too cutting to let Zelgadis leave the cave. His temperature was only just returning to normal, and it would probably be unwise to expose him to the cold again so quickly. “Go deeper in the cave. It's too cold, and you're still recovering.”

 

Zelgadis nodded tiredly and changed direction, already starting to shiver. Xellos sat down near the blankets and watched as he moved beyond the light of the campfire and further into the cave, then started warming some soup. When the chimera returned several minutes later, he was fully awake and quite irritated.

 

“What the hell is this? Where are my clothes?”

 

Xellos smiled, gesturing at the folded pile of clothing beside him. It had finished drying a few hours ago. “Don't you like being dressed as Zelga-bunny?”

 

“Stop toying with me.” The chimera glared, yanking the hood back. “I am not a doll!”

 

“No,” Xellos agreed. “However, you were freezing to death and your clothing was soaked. Beggars can't be choosers! Since I couldn't warm you with spells, I had to do it the old fashioned way!”

 

Zelgadis froze and stared at him. “What?”

 

“I wrapped you in my cloak while I went for blankets. It's a good thing it's part of me. Amelia-san mentioned that body heat was best.”

 

The chimera didn't move, and his emotions swirled chaotically as he stood there and shivered.

 

“Yare yare. You're going to catch cold.”

 

Zelgadis' emotions settled into embarrassment and confusion, and he sat down by the fire and yanked the blankets around him, still shivering. He didn't react when Xellos reached over and pulled his hood back up. “When did you talk to Amelia?” he asked after a few minutes of silence, not looking at the Mazoku.

 

“I ran into Lina-tachi in the first town we were in while I was getting supplies earlier.” He set a coffeepot near the fire to warm and passed Zelgadis a bowl of soup.

 

“I shouldn't have coffee. Caffeine's bad with hypothermia,” Zelgadis said softly, taking the bowl.

 

“Ah. Chamomile tea?” Zelgadis nodded, and Xellos removed the coffeepot and replaced it with a teapot. “They found the laboratory. Poor Amelia-san was quite beside herself.”

 

“They were looking for me?”

 

“Of course.” Xellos frowned at the chimera's surprise. “Lina-san thought I had killed you, actually.”

 

“Like you were supposed to.”

 

Xellos looked at him sharply, but Zelgadis only sipped at his soup and stared into the fire. “I didn't.”

 

“And I'm still trying to figure out if that's a good thing or not.”

 

The swordsman's attitude was becoming more than a little irritating. “Mou, don't you ever get tired of being so gloomy all the time?”

 

“I haven't exactly had anything to be happy about lately.”

 

He had a point. Xellos checked the tea and poured cups for them. “Perhaps something should be done to change that.”

 

“Good luck trying.” Zelgadis grabbed his cup and sipped. “I've been trying ever since Rezzo ruined my life.”

 

Xellos didn't know how to respond to that, and they sat in silence drinking their tea. The Mazoku considered his options, which were no longer as plentiful as he wanted. If they met up with Lina, he'd have to follow their little party around until they went to Seyruun, as per Zelas' orders. On the other hand, he could probably steer them toward Seyruun with little difficulty, and Zelgadis would be in less danger with more people to help him; or more, with Lina's tendency to attract trouble. The only other option was to avoid Lina, and he doubted the chimera would let that happen now that he knew they were looking for him. He would probably prefer traveling with them, anyway.

 

He didn't even realize that Zelgadis had fallen asleep until he felt wire poking at his shoulder and found the sorcerer leaning against him. Xellos frowned at the sleeping youth before deciding to just let him stay where he was. Chamomile often acted as a sleep aid and a healing agent of sorts in humans, and it was likely that the chimera needed his sleep.

 

Xellos settled in for a long night.

 

--

 

The power that Rezzo forced into him burned. And the pain wasn't just physical. His soul was being ripped apart. Rezzo was changing him in an unnatural way, and he now knew all too well that he wasn't being given power. He felt his skin cracking open and something drilling into his head, but even worse was the cold thing that tore at his soul, ripping at it and becoming part of it.

 

Zelgadis didn't want this, but Rezzo ignored his screams, his struggles, even his begging, and kept going.

 

The world shifted, and he found himself in a tank surrounded by a viscous fluid, with tubes forced into his skin and something heavy on his face, Rezzo observing him through the glass as one would look at an animal in a zoo. Zelgadis tried to free himself, only to find that it was too difficult to move.

 

“Zelgadis-san.”

 

The voice made him go still, and Xellos appeared where Rezzo had been, touching the glass of the tank. His eyes glowed a soul-piercing violet. The glass melted away and Zelgadis could feel his hand as it shook him gently.

 

“Zelgadis-san, you're dreaming. Wake up.”

 

He found himself in Xellos' arms, and was unsure whether this was also part of a nightmare. Zelgadis jerked away, only to move too close to the campfire and catch the sleeve of the awful purple sweater he was wearing on fire. He ripped the sweater off as the fire crept up toward his shoulder, flinging it from him.

 

The chimera sat there, breathing heavily, as his surroundings reoriented around him. They were in the cave, not with Rezzo or in the awful laboratory that he hadn't realized he remembered.

 

He suddenly felt intensely claustrophobic and stifled, and wanted nothing more than to run, even if it meant going out into the raging winter storm. Xellos' hand on his shoulder startled him, and the urge disappeared.

 

The Mazoku looked concerned. “You were talking in your sleep, Zelgadis-san.” Zelgadis avoided his gaze. “`Please stop,' over and over again.”

 

The chimera knew Xellos was fishing for an explanation, one that he wasn't willing to give. Instead of responding, he grabbed the blankets and curled up a bit away from the fire. That dream, of becoming a chimera, always left him exhausted. Just before he drifted back into a deep, dreamless sleep, he thought he felt a gentle, cool hand touch his forehead.

 

When Zelgadis next awoke, his head felt as though it had been stuffed with cotton, and his muscles ached. As he regained awareness he realized there was a cool cloth on his forehead, covering his eyes. When he removed it, he found that he was alone. With some difficulty, he managed to sit up and grabbed the waterskin from his bag, drinking his fill.

 

Something was wrong. He didn't normally sleep this much, even given the opportunity. He usually didn't require much sleep. Or much food, for that matter, but he could write his appetite off as part of recovering from months imprisoned in a specimen tank. But the sleep wasn't making much sense, and with the way he was feeling, he'd almost say he was ill.

 

Except Rezzo had boasted that his immune system, boosted as it was after being spliced with that of a rock golem and brow demon, was impenetrable. And as much as he hated Rezzo, the bastard had very rarely been wrong.

 

And given that Zelgadis hadn't ever been sick as a chimera before now, he doubted that this was one of those rare occasions.

 

Xellos reappeared. “Ah, you're awake.” The Mazoku reached forward, brushing his hand against the chimera's forehead, and Zelgadis flinched back instinctively. Xellos seemed not to notice. “Your fever is down.”

 

“Fever?” So he was sick, even though that shouldn't have been possible. Zelgadis considered the situation. “It must have been a fever dream,” he said softly.

 

Xellos frowned at him, but didn't reply. Instead he busied himself with a teapot, pulling an aromatic sachet from his bag. It didn't smell like the tea the priest generally made.

 

“What's that?” the chimera asked after watching him set the sachet to steep.

 

“Herbs. Basically a natural remedy. Humans really are quite inventive.”

 

“I shouldn't be able to get sick.” It was all he could think to say, because it was true. Even with everything that had happened, it shouldn't have been possible, unless… “That sorcerer…”

 

Xellos nodded, having guessed his thoughts. “He disturbed a careful balance he didn't understand. His experiments made you less stable.”

 

“It's just going to get worse, isn't it?”

 

The Mazoku didn't answer, but he didn't need to. Zelgadis already knew the answer. If the balance within him had been broken, it was only a matter of time before the human, golem, and demon parts started to destroy each other. For the first time in a long time, he wished Rezzo was alive, if only so he could fix this. Zelgadis pulled the blankets more snugly around himself, shivering from something other than cold.

 

 

Yeah, I totally shouldn't have written this. I should have been writing my syllabus for the classes I'm teaching starting Monday, but I'm irresponsible. Whoops. This fic totally owns my soul.

 

No Lina, Amelia, and Gourry in this chapter. Sorry, guys!

 

Fawx and Chrissy beta-read for me. They rock!