Chapter 7

Xellos had been sent ahead, set in Lina's path like the patent troublemaker he was. Left to his own devices in the small town where Jedah had told him in no uncertain terms to 'stay put,' he decided to make the most of his time, causing mayhem in subtle ways to amuse himself as he saw fit.

He'd been here for almost a week, and was something of a wandering priest to these people, always offering advice and lending an ear to listen to people's problems. Occasionally, the advice that Xellos gave had to be good advice, or the people in the town might grow suspicious and mistrusting.

Often, he found the children to be his best assistants in havoc-wreaking. All he had to do was plant the seed of an idea in an impressionable youngster's head, and watch it take root like a weed, wild and uncontrollable.

The child or the idea? Yes.

The afternoon found the purple priest of pandemonium perched on a park bench, looking down at a small book in his left hand. His staff was laid carelessly across his lap, and he had just turned a page in his book when a small child ran headlong into the park, leaping up into him, pitching Xellos, the book and the child backwards.

"Xel! Xel!" Arms wrapped around the startled Mazoku, and purple eyes half opened to identify the whirlwind that usurped him in mid-sentence. He watched in horror as the little girl leaned in to plaster his face with not one kiss, but three of the juiciest, stickiest, sloppiest kisses that he'd had to endure thus far in his existence.

"Cheri! Cheri!" Xellos protested as he fended the exuberant little girl off. "Holy terror, off!" He forced himself to laugh, to act like he appreciated the… glee. It was quite the opposite, really. In his opinion, Cheri was a true Holy Terror, and she was getting better at catching him unaware. Usually he tried to vanish before she found him, utilizing a convenient shadow or something equally as quick. True, he had taught her how to read people, how to know precisely what to do to illicit the best reactions… but he was beginning to regret doing that.

Unfortunately, Cheri showed no desire to go anywhere, instead settling herself on his chest and reaching up to toy with Xellos' hair. "Let me play with your hair, please? Just for a few minutes, and then I'll get up. Okay?" Her large green eyes were so wide, so innocent, so pleading…

With an affected sigh, Xellos relented, reasoning that there wasn't much that a child could possibly do to his hair that could be remotely problematic. She was, after all, a single Mortal girl. What could she possibly do to him? It didn't strike him that he ought to be concerned.

Until she pulled the hair ribbons out of nowhere and moved in with a gleam in her eye.

Xellos' screams were pure terror.

The little group had begun to run the moment they had heard the screams of terror. Unable to resist the rush of adrenaline, Lina took to the air with a Levitation spell, and darted ahead of everyone else. "That sounds like trouble guys! I'm going on ahead, maybe it's Zelgadis!"

Before Gourry or anyone else could call out words of caution to Lina, the redhead had zipped between some trees and effectively vanished.

Naga sighed, shaking her head as she ran along next to Amelia. "What does she think she can do if it is Zelgadis, Amelia? He's a lot more powerful than she is now…" She didn't want to finish that statement. What they'd all seen in the cave not quite a month ago was that the man who had been Zelgadis was a frighteningly evil-feeling Mazoku.

Amelia looked to her sister for a moment, and then looked back towards the path that lead to the town. "I don't know, Naga. I'm worried, though… if he's really as bad as we think he is… he'll have to be stopped."

Lina had made that clear before, but it still didn't sit well with Naga. Sure, it was one thing to stand there and say that they could deal with a loved one who had become a Mazoku… but it was an entirely different thing indeed to actually lift hand and cast a potentially life-ending spell against them.

By the time the others made it into the village, Lina was collapsed on the ground, rolling in helpless laughter, rolling as she gasped for air, clutching her stomach.

Amelia and Sylphiel ran to the Sorceress, fearing that something had gone Horribly Amiss, while Gourry and Naga looked around, each searching for the source of the problem… whatever it might have been.

Naga spotted it first and started to snicker, reaching out to clutch at Gourry's arm convulsively, her eyes widening as she finally gave in to laughter. Gourry stared dumbly at her for a moment, and then he turned to the side, looking towards where Naga had been looking. What he saw mildly surprised him. Xellos was sitting there, on the ground next to an upturned bench, his staff off to the side.

Lina was laughing so hard there were tears in her eyes.

"Oh! Hi, Xellos!" Gourry greeted the Mazoku cheerfully, reaching down to help the Trickster Priest to his feet. "Wow. Did you change the color of your shirt or something? You look different." He scratched his head as Naga doubled over in laughter, causing Amelia and Sylphiel to turn and look.

Xellos' purple hair had been lovingly and painstakingly coerced into long sausage curls, each curl tied up with a beautiful pink bow. At quick glance there were at least thirty bows visible… and then Amelia lost count as she started to giggle, eventually collapsing onto the ground next to Lina.

"Oh! Gourry dear, don't be silly. Xellos got his hair done!" Sylphiel said brightly, applauding.

Xellos sighed heavily. He was going to have some words with Jedah.