Title: amicus
Author: kc-chan ([email protected])
Rating: PG, at best PG-13
Warning: a little bit of gore, some minimal swearing. Shonen-ai
PAIRINGS: Xellos + Zelgadiss & a tiny bit of Zelgadiss + Xellos
++SPOILERS++: Um, none really. Slayers Next, Try?
ARCHIVE: wired-dna.net, mediaminer.org, and whoever has
previous okays take it. Anyone else please email me (not like I am
going to say no or anything. . .)
DISCLAIMER: not mine. . . please don't sue. Only borrowing them.
COMMENTS: that would be nice.
Dedications: to Mizuki-san for being 125,000 person to Silk & Stone!!
Amicus
By: Kc-chan
He whimpered. His breath was a hoarse gasping noise, as if the blood gradually creeping up his throat was starting to pay its toll, leisurely choking him to his demise. Blue eyes managed to slit open a mere crack, the dark air of the cavern seemingly bright. There was blurriness, a shroud that completely stopped his eyes from focusing. A tedious, throbbing ache tormented his prone form.
He should have been dead. Nevertheless, he was teetering so close to the edge that it hardly seemed worth the effort to fight the heaviness of his eyelids begging to close for the last time.
The thing that had opened its attack had obviously left them extremely vulnerable. Surprising that a human could so easily defeat him. Then again, the madman seemed to know quite a bit about chimeras, enough in fact to damage his near impenetrable body. Still, it irked his pride slightly to be brushed aside so easily in battle. He had come to expect near invulnerability during his battle.
Briefly, if even for the smallest of moments, a pleased smile overcame his features. To be able to feel that, to caress the actual experience of physical pain.
Gritting his teeth, the pain washed over him lessening the slight pleasure. Curling into himself, hisses of agony escaped from his lips as organs sizzled as the acid of his ruptured stomach drained onto the floor. Eyes shut tightly, scrunching up even as tears cradled themselves in the corners. Through all that he somehow managed to hear the movement of the faint rustling of cloth picked up by his hypersensitive hearing.
Leaning close, Xellos bent down on one knee to inspect the damage wrought upon the young chimera. Opening his eyes, the mazoku set his staff aside upon glimpsing at the bloody mess drooling from the young man curled in agony before him.
Gently sliding the gloves from his hands, the purple haired daemon inspected the wounds with an uncharacteristic tenderness. Reaching forward, he trailed his finger along the raged edges of scraped out stony flesh, the exposed ruptured organs making a continuous, flowing design on the makeshift floor of the hollowed cavern they found themselves in. In a moment of pure sadism, the trickster trailed his finger down, applying minimal pressure on the burst stomach. The young man gasped in wrenching agony.
Those slit, violet eyes glanced over at the damp, sweat-covered pain-filled features of the boy. His voice remaining a faint whisper, Xellos commented that the chimera was to remain calm.
Zelgadiss stiffened at once upon picking up the priest's velvet, mocking tone.
Edging his finger towards the sliced skin, Xellos noted that the skin was strange, not quite matching the hue of the undamaged skin around it. Upon closer study, he noted that it was fleshy. Blue flesh that was trying to repair itself, despite the fact that it was blatantly unable to.
Whimpering, the chimera managed to open his eyes slightly.
Tenderly, the mazoku wiped back some of the boy's wiry bangs. "There is a slight problem, Zelgadiss-san" Xellos purred. "It seems as though the Golem will not repair."
Looking over, the daemon noticed the boy staring into nothingness, those slit baby blue eyes glossed over with a doomed blankness.
�Stay with me, Zelgadiss-san. I'm going to have heal you it seems.�
That brought the chimera's eyes back into focus. Death by the mazoku he would handle. However, being indebted to the Thing, that was something so terribly intolerable.
Sternly glaring down, Xellos let his unwavering stare hit the boy. �Do you hate life so much, Zelgadiss-san?�
The blue skinned boy was quiet for some long minutes.
Posing the question once more, Xellos asked a little louder this time, �Are you ready to face your creator, Zelgadiss-san?�
The boy merely closed his eyes.
�Zelgadiss-san?�
A self-defeated tone hollowed the young man's voice. �It's not like you can mess me up even more.�
A dark chuckle escaped the millennium old creature. �No, no. I can easily think of a few things, my dear little chimera.�
Zelgadiss froze. A million thoughts dashed through his mind all at once, tripping over one another in a desperate attempt to find away out of that situation.
�But now is not the time� Xellos continued, rolling up his sleeves. �Besides,� he added casually, �it doesn't fit into my plans.�
�Don't you mean your master's?� Zelgadiss snipped back.
Engaging his magic, the trickster placed his hands into the onslaught of damage the chimera had attained in their above land scrap. �Slightly� the mazoku replied as he began slowly seeping his power into the boy's wounds. �Meaning you need to stay alive. Technically. But the rest is really at my discretion.�
Wincing as the daemon's warm fingers crept along his broken organs, Zelgadiss would have snorted in disbelief had he been able. �Figures.�
�That and you're rather entertaining� Xellos added, glancing down to catch the boy's reaction to That.
Just as he expected. The boy made a short, strangled sound of anger at the back of his throat. Perhaps he should have said adorable or even, Cepheid forbid, cute. He vaguely wondered if the chimera would have been able to handle that. Instead, he tried a more mundanely human tactic. �Are you feeling your left arm more?�
�H�hai� Zelgadiss murmured.
The damage the boy had sustained was numbingly large. The priest concluded that aside from the obvious condition of the damaged flesh and ventilated abdomen boy the boy's arms and legs had taken a lot of damage as well. The right arm was more banged up and bruised as opposed to the left, which was undoubtedly broken and shattered.
Xellos therefore sent his magic there to make certain that it was going to work.
�Good. I do not want to shock your human side. That could be potentially Bad� Xellos commented, happily.
A soft snort arose from the chimera, �as if you cared.�
�Enough� Xellos allowed with a shrug. �I do have concerns. You are very young Zelgadiss-san. Too young in my humble opinion, for your experiences thus far in your short life. Nevertheless, I will allow that you have handled them decently. For a base human exposed to so much.�
Zelgadiss for his part merely blinked. `He sounded like Rezo�' He immediately dropped that line of thoughts since he definitely Did Not Want To Go There.
�When you get to be my age, Zelgadiss-san, mazoku that are freethinkers are hard to come by. I'm probably what those low-breed fodder call a independent-intellectual mazoku.�
That sent the younger man's mind reeling. �You see me as� a potential companion?� The word sounded hysterical when the young man considered whom he was talking to.
Ignoring the chimera's disbelief, the trickster priest replied, �In a way.�
Zelgadiss waited for the mazoku to continue.
�You'll be around for a while. Lina as well, mind you. But your cure- if it exists- will probably take decades to find.�
The blue-fleshed boy remained silent at that little revelation.
�It's hard to accept that now. You have been a chimera for what a mere five years? Perhaps seven at the most?�
�Seven years, nearing eight� Zelgadiss corrected. Pausing in thought, the young man had a flitting thought cross his mind. Was he to ask if the priest had actually kept tabs on him? Why would the damned Thing want to? He was not as powerful as Lina. Sure, he knew there was potential, but black arts, higher ones at least he tried to steer clear from.
In the end, curiosity won out over his stubbornness. �How would you know? I've just started traveling with Lina?�
A knowing smirk drew itself out on the trickster's regal features. Zelgadiss silently murmured a curse. The damned creature had been waiting for that question.
�I keep tabs� Xellos replied plainly.
�On me?� The chimera snorted, wincing as that gesture aggravated his wounds.
�Don't move, Zelgadiss-san� Xellos instructed in a no nonsense tone. �I had quite the tab on Rezo. All mazoku with interests did. His experiments on you were one.� He then shifted his hands in the wounds very carefully. With a sigh, the priest looked up to the chimera's eyes. �I am going to have to remove your cloak and shirt, Zelgadiss-san. I must have a clean go at the wound that is a rather large gaping hole in your abdomen.�
Zelgadiss froze. �If you must� he murmured, �If is not like could stop you.�
Xellos gave a frustrated sigh,
The chimera wondered if that was merely for show, or if the Thing could actually feel a form of aggravation.
�I don't want you to feel like I am violating you, Zelgadiss-san� Xellos stated, catching the I am a freak look in the boy's eyes. �You know, don't let this get around little Zelgadiss-san, but as far as mazoku go, you are extremely handsome.�
The boy gave him a look of startled disbelief.
�Oh, maybe not by human standards, but we mazoku are not hindered by such short-sighted and mundane thoughts on beauty. We tend to have more�varying tastes. Understand?�
With a faint nod, Zelgadiss managed a small, self-depreciating smile. �Glad the freaks think I'm cute.�
�Then may I?�
Zelgadiss nodded, giving his assent.
Carefully, the mazoku removed the articles of clothing. �We'll see about getting you new ones, Zelgadiss-san� Xellos commented as he laid the battered remains of a shirt onto of the ragged cape. �Now, I am going to start slow. Tell me when it is too much and I will back off. Understand?� He instructed.
�Yeah� Zelgadiss mumbled.
�I mean it, Zelgadiss. I want to slowly increase my power. It might sting a little. I'm not sure how well your human-side will take to it.�
�I understand� the boy whispered, quietly finishing his probably last prayer he would ever give to Cepheid.
Prudently, Xellos pushed his hands in the open wound for the second time that day. He could see the chunks of rock were heavily damaged and the organs were severely fissured. The human caster had certainly known his spells. Ones that Xellos thought had not passed into more hands than Rezo and a handful of others. He certainly had not known that this particular human had control of such knowledge. Well, it would be another loose end to tie up later.
What actually had worried Xellos was that the human had the ability to cast the spell with out the use of typical chimera equipment handy. The unraveling enchantment, hence why the boy's wounds would simply Not Close.
He felt the blood up and about his uncovered fingers. Concentrating, he slowly began to heal the chimera. Coaxing the mazoku to begin to accept the healing energies he was providing.
Zelgadiss for his part squeezed his eyes shut as his breathing became haggard. It was as though parts of his body were wrenching together. The seeping-like sensation of flesh regrowing. A dull humming lulled his brain. A twitching. Then a sharp yank. Shuddering, Zelgadiss whimpered desperately.
�Zelgadiss-san? Are you alright?�
Rasping, the young chimera could no longer keep the strangeness forming deep in his psyche at bay. �I feel odd�� He admitted aloud.
�That is to be expected. I'm sure you find it odd as a human base creature to connect so primally with black magic of the purest kind.� He could see the organs healing, weaving themselves back together. Turning his concentration to the skin, Xellos called the boy by his name, �Zelgadiss?�
A uncontrollable shutter ran through the boy's body. �He was able to yank at the parts�� Tremors picked up, uncontainable jerking began to shatter the numbing body. �He was able to see the difference between them!� Zelgadiss was so frightened at his own revelation and what it very well meant.
�Interesting� Xellos commented, �You probably haven't felt that kind of rawness or exposure to that much of yourself before have you?�
�No. Not since��
�Of course.�
A long silence held as the daemon priest tried to push a small amount more of his energy into the chimera. The stone would just refuse to heal. A rare frown fell across the priest's lips. Very little of the lost stone had recovered itself.
Once again, he increased his power flow into the healing. Zelgadiss' breathing immediately grew serrated. Amethyst eyes took note of the sweaty sheen coating the boy's shaking body. Those blue eyes slit harder than before, forming a definitive lupine angle. Xellos watches as the boy's teeth sharpened, those canines forming small fangs.
He recalled his power immediately.
Leaning over, he brushed a slightly bloody finger along the length of Zelgadiss' chin. �Zelgadiss-san?�
A hacking shudder met his inquiry.
�Shhh. Zelgadiss-san, it's alright.�
//Pain�//
Xellos blinked, as the sound of a two-layered voice overlapped where one should have been. One terrified and one hungry. He could easily sense that horror-shock that seemed to radiate from the chimera.
Zelgadiss' eyes widened to pinpointed slits and the small tremors increased to irrepressible shuddering.
//Xellos?// the boy called out, in a searching, groping voice.
�He's terrified� Xellos murmured under his breath, below even what the chimera could possibly hear, even with those heightened senses. `So young. So confused. Still a child really.' He was not feeling pity, not even compassion. Xellos was merely stating a fact. `Luckily for you my chimera, it will not do to lose you at this stage. Lina-san would be rather upset.' Xellos narrowed his eyes.
With unfocused eyes, he whispered hoarsely, �Xellos?�
�I'm still here, Zelgadiss-san.�
The boy's breath swiftly increased.
�Shhh. Remain calm. I cannot undo the damage to your golem, Zelgadiss-san. Not without a laboratory and a chimera specialist.�
Zelgadiss could not help but cringe at the mention of the word laboratory.
�Huh� Xellos commented, �I would not have thought you would have remembered that.�
//I always remember the smell of chemicals and the chaotic magic. It never truly leaves�// the chimera hissed.
Xellos held silent.
Squeezing his eyes tightly closed, blood tears crawled down Zelgadiss' cheeks as the hacking caused blood to spatter from his mouth.
The mazoku watched that scene play out before him. `I do not usually heal people. If it was not a white magic golem, it would obey my commands. I need his human side balanced so I can't just send primal dark magic into him too strongly.' Sitting back on his heels, Xellos continued to ponder. `Rezo might have put a failsafe in his initial design. So if someone tried to dissect the boy, he would literally unravel.'
He touched the wiry hair of the boy. `Bravo, Red Priest Rezo.'
�Xellos?� Zelgadiss whispered.
The dark purple eyes cast downwards towards the chimera.
His eyes slit open, unfocused and jittery. �Xellos?�
Setting a hand down by the boy, Xellos shed an impassive glance downward.
Those blue fingers reached out and held fast to the daemon's. �Xellos?�
That voice was growing increasingly panicked.
Softly, Xellos finally replied. �I'm here, Zelgadiss-san� Zel-kun. I'm here.� Those dark eyes softened slightly.
Long they held that silence.
�I'm going to die��
�Someday perhaps� Xellos agreed, �carelessly as well.� He added with a shrug.
�I don't want to� the chimera confessed.
�Would you live your life twenty, fifty, a thousand years as a chimera?� Xellos pressed, his tone weighing heavily though it remained emotionless.
�I�� the boy paused, eyes fluttering closed.
�Why do you live, Zel-kun?� Chuckling darkly, Xellos mockingly replied, �To find a cure.�
�Sometimes� Zelgadiss honestly replied, opening his eyes slightly.
�Mostly� Xellos scoffed.
Shuddering, the boy replied unsteadily, �I hate being a chimera but I don't hate living. I hate looking� looking like this.�
�You hate looking like that� He replied, bluntly.
With a sigh, Zelgadiss bit his lip as he tried to prevent coughing up more blood.
�You hate your physical appearance.�
The chimera swore that the priest sounded both surprised and pleased at the same time. Rather nastily, he sneered back, �I said that.�
Xellos had to smile as the brief attempt of gruffness Zelgadiss tried to achieve. �So you don't hate that you are driven mentally by a mazoku?�
Blinking, the boy replied softly, �I never really thought��
Amused, Xellos chuckled darkly, �Humans are so vain!�
Slowly, Zelgadiss smiled. �I supposed we are.�
Just as softly, as the chimera had spoke, Xellos posed a question. �I could heal you. I could make you heal through your mazoku side.�
That alarmed the chimera. �But-!�
With a feral smirk, Xellos tsk-ed. �My apologies, but I really can't let you die. It wasn't in *my* plans.�
�Xellos-!�
Zelgadiss hissed as the sinister magic strummed through his body.
�Matte!� he cried out as his body began to spasm. The magic crawled through his blood and nervous system, inching its way through every inch of his physical body.
Xellos watched as the body's blue flesh began to seep over the revealed organs. Strangely, he noticed how it remained subtle and not firm like the rest of the boy's body. Then there was that intoxicating sense of pain/horror/pleasure that racked his body as he tasted that chimera's thoughts and emotions.
As the healing slowed to a grueling halt, the boy laid there prone, his heaving breaths ragged and short, gasping in absolute shock.
Looking over at his staff, a small marble sized pebble detached itself from the gem. Calling it over, the pebble gem seeped into the boy's flesh, stretching to form a small red birthmark on the blue skin.
With a grin, Xellos reached out and stroked the red circle, marking the boy as his own.
Emerging from the daze, Zelgadiss coughed and blinked. �What� happened?�
Scooping the boy into his arms, he resituated them with his back to the cavern's wall. Sinking into a seated position, Xellos kept his hold on the chimera. �You are healed.�
�But�� Zelgadiss started.
Reaching out with one free hand, Xellos caressed the newly formed gem in Zelgadiss' side. �You do seem to get into trouble. You can be my prot�g�, ne, Zel-kun?�
Chuckling, Xellos ignored the worried look upon the chimera's face. �I've never had a prot�g�.�
Shuddering, the chimera leaned forward, �still hurt��
Hugging the boy closer to himself, he watched as the chimera cuddled close. Stroking the youth's wiry mane he whispered, �still little one, you are healed and safe in the arms of a friend.�
�Are you?� Zelgadiss asked, not wanting to but still coming across as so lost.
�As close as one of our kind can be. Now sleep. The others are still recovering. We'll join them at the inn later.� The daemon priest explained.
�They� left without�� The familiar loneliness settled in.
�Trust no one but your own kind, Zel-kun.�
Snorting weakly, those blue eyes drifted closed.
Brushing some strands from the teenager's face, Xellos whispered softly, �no matter what you think Zelgadiss-kun, I will be there to protect you. I never lie. So what do you think about that?�
He knew the priest thought him adrift in the world of slumber, but Zelgadiss gave the priest a weak smile. �Sore wa himistu desu.�
With a soft chuckle, Xellos brushed a finger down that length of jawbone.
�Like a guardian daemon?� offered the sleepy chimera.
�Exactly� Xellos replied.
Seeing that the youth was now in the drifts of sleep, he leaned back and gazed up into the darkness. �Just watching over your little lost soul.�
Fin.