"Gunning Down Romance" (a Slayers songfic)

"Gunning Down Romance" (a Slayers songfic)

Author's notes: I don't own Slayers, or Xellos, or any of the songs from Savage Garden. Lyrics written by Daniel Jones and Darren Hayes. Hope you like!

Love and other moments are just chemical reactions in your brain

And feelings of aggression are the absence of the love drug in your veins

In your veins

Xellos walked nonchalantly behind the rest of the group, seemingly the happy-go-lucky trickster priest. But he was mentally busy – working out plans, inwardly commenting. Like how much of a pain that Amelia was. He was getting his thirteenth headache that morning just by looking in her direction.

Or how beautiful Lina looked, the sun glinting and refracting off her fiery-red hair.  Fiery-red hair to go with a fiery temper –

L-Sama, what am I thinking?

Right away, a small inner voice told him that he was attracted to Lina Inverse. That he wanted to be trusted by her, to hold her and say he loved her.

I set myself up for that one. He sighed. Thanks SO much, L-Sama.

Love come quickly

Because I feel my self-esteem is caving in

It's on the brink

Love come quickly

Because I don't think I can keep this monster in

It's in my skin

Could Mazoku feel fear? Yes, of course. Xellos felt it now. The fear of having his Mistress, Zelas Metallium, get rid of Lina – simply to teach him a lesson. That Mazoku should not become as weak as humans – ever. They were to feed off the negative emotions of others, to manipulate and cause disasters. They were to obey their masters, for the dark lords could take away even easier than they could create.

He had lived millennia. If his extensive powers were stripped away, he could deal with it. If his own existence was snuffed out, he would have no more concerns.

But if anything like that ever happened to Lina –

Love and other socially acceptable emotions are morphine

They're morphine

Cleverly concealing primal urges often felt but rarely seen

Rarely seen

Love I beg you

Lift me up into that privileged point of view

The world of two

Love don't leave me

Because I console myself that Hallmark cards are true

I really do

Could a Mazoku feel love?

Xellos did. Maybe it was what had survived out of his humanity, the fact which had made him such a powerful monster. Other Mazoku badly misjudged humans. He didn't.

He knew them all too well.

I'm gunning down romance

It never did a thing for me

But heartache and misery

Ain't nothing but a tragedy

During the last millennium, the string of humans and Mazoku he had come close to had died – either by Zelas herself, or him being forced to kill them. His love had crumbled through his fingers like sand pouring out of a hole in a broken hourglass. His amethyst eyes held darkness, the only promise the promise of despair, and his hands were stained with the blood of those he had killed.

Yet he loved Lina Inverse.

Love don't leave me

Take these broken wings

I'll take these broken wings

And learn to fly

And learn to fly away

And learn to fly away

On a whim, he teleported next to Lina and waited until she was finished yelling at another one of Gourry's all-too-obvious comments. 

She noticed him first.

"Leading us somewhere, Xellos?"

He resisted the urge to give her a cheeky smile and say "There's so many ways that could be twisted around". But he simply smiled, wagged a finger, and said, "That's a secret!"

"You little – "

Before she finished the insult, he let some of his secretive expression fade.

"Lina, I'll ask you a serious question."

Everyone – including Lina – got a good view of the ground as they crashed into it.

"A SERIOUS QUESTION??!!!" The redhaired sorceress pulled herself up from the ground and stared into his eyes. "Oookay, ask this 'serious' question."

"Have you ever wanted to say something important to someone, but that person probably would only laugh at you?"

What those ruby eyes held, Xellos could not tell. They seemed to look into his own as Lina pondered the question.

When at last, her features brightened, his little blackened heart seemed to rise a fraction out of hope. Had she figured it out? The sorceress wasn't dumb, she could've –

"That, Xellos – is a secret!"

Xellos sweatdropped. Evading the question was HIS trick – but that was the first time Lina had actually done that. There was still opportunity to know, to tell her –

Before his Mistress, whom he was bound to obey, went after her.

I'm gunning down romance