A Slayers Songfic
By Sakura
This isn't where we intended to be
Her once lustrous firey red hair hung
dull and lifeless around her too pale shoulders. Her ruby red eyes no longer
shone of youth and were now suken into their sockets. What was once a vibrant,
young girl was now a pale and gaunt creature who could barely make it out of
bed.
It was obvious that the nightmare
magic she had used so often in the past was slowly eating her body away. It was
only a matter of days now before she ceased to exist. Weeks before she had
started falling into a semi comatose state where she would sit and stare for
hours sometimes days to suddenly snap back to consciousness not remembering she
had spaced out. This was one of those times.
"How are we today Lina-chan?"
said a young man with purple hair, smiling as he came into the room.
He looked around and frowned at the
decay he saw. The wallpaper and plaster were peeling off the walls and ceiling.
The curtains were faded and covered in dust and moth holes. The windowpanes and
full length mirror were encrusted in grime and cobwebs lurked in all the
corners. If she hadn't insisted in staying in this gods awful hovel, she might
have a chance at recovering.
Xellos had been very remiss in taking
care of her over the past couple years and he was shocked at how fast she and
the house had changed. He had vowed to make up for his negligence however and
had been coming to visit her almost every day. It was him who told her of what
she had called her 'black out' periods. His face saddened as he thought of the
times he watched as she would suddenly go blank.
The girl made no movement or sound as
he came up to her and gently placed a hand on her cheek, noticing she had
'blacked out'. "Yare, yare, Lina-chan, what's happened to my little dragon
spooker?" he said caressing the pale skin.
You believed in me I believed in you
Certainties disappear
She would take odd jobs with her
friends Gourry, Zel and Amelia, disposing bandits from villages, megalomanics,
and the occasional rogue mazoku bent on world destruction. All the while, he
would annoy her to no end unless it got serious enough for him to lend his
fiesty little lover a hand.
Those were the times they were forced
to keep their relationship a secret. He had to smile at that. He was very good a
keeping secrets. They had to keep it a secret, at least during the daytime when
Lina was with her friends, however, at night, Xellos could show the little
redhead just how much he cared and vice versa. That was if he could tear her
away from one of her favorite meals or a newly discovered spellbook. He had
missed having her snuggle up against him as they doze off. These days she was
too weak or too spaced out to do anything he'd like to with her.
How do we keep our passions alive
As we used to do?
She was lucky to live as long as she
has. No mortal he knew ever had lasted so long as she. "Kawaiso na, (Poor
thing)" he said brushing the strands of hair that covered her face. He
truly pitied her. She had the damned luck to watch her friends grow old and die
while she remained young as ever.
First to go was the swordsman Gourry,
who died of old age, followed by his wife Sylphiel, the innocent and sweet
shrine maiden of New Sairaag a year later. Lina had been heartbroken when she
learned of her longtime friend's death. So distraught was she that she would
have practically thrown herself into the grave if he and Zel hadn't stopped her.
Queen Amelia died decades later due to complications during childbirth. Though
greatly saddened by the news, Lina was too far away at the time to attend the
funeral. As for Zelgadis, no one had heard of the chimera since Amelia's death
and that had been the start of the redhead's decline.
Lina still had deep feelings for the
pessimistic man and, not to hear from him worried her something fierce. For a
while she helped Firia with her pottery shop while the ryuuzoku shrine maiden
took care of baby Val, but Lina soon grew tired of that and missed the
comeraderie of traveling with friends. So she took off to find adventure and
hopefully some news of Zelgadis.
On the way, she had come across
Xellos and was actually glad to have him around for once. They hadn't seen each
other since Amelia's death and she was extremely lonely for the company. That
was centuries ago.
Lina and Xel had met again some
decades ago and she had begun to desperately cling to Xel fearing he too would
vanish from her life. He would have relished the privacy they now had, but he
too found himself missing the others. Only he remained by her side now since
Firia was permanently out of the picture. She had her hands full with Val now
that he'd grown up some. Only he cared enough to look after the once violently
independent Lina Inverse.
Things that I'm longing to say
Scared to confess what I'm feeling
Frightened you'll slip away
You must love me
You must love me
He wanted to say more, but found he
couldn't, not able to bear the thought of losing her if he dared to speak the
words in his heart. "Forgive me," was all he could get out. He hadn't
done anything to make her angry since she learned she was dying and she had
forgiven him for not visiting so much before. He just wanted to apologize for
all those things he'd done to her so long ago before it was too late.
Pulling the hair to one side, he bent
his head and kissed her neck, lingering there before going back to brushing the
unruly hair. 'I love you,' he said to himself.
How can I be any use to you now?
Give me a chance and you'll see how nothing has changed
Frowning to herself, she wondered how
she could let it fall into such decay. She was about to get up and at least
attempt to clean the room a little when she felt something, no someone, gently
braiding her hair. 'Who?' Turning her head slightly, she saw purple hair and a
pair of slitted amethyst eyes.
'Xellos? Why?' Why was he here? Why
was he being so gentle to her now when she could hardly move? Why did he stay
here now that she could no longer be of any use to him or his master.
"Feeling better, are we?"
he said smiling, gladdened she had come out of her semi-comatose state while he
was here. "Hold still, pet. I'm almost finished." He took a satin
purple ribbon from his robes and tied off the braid with it. The stark contrast
of the ribbon made her red hair stand out more than it had in years.
She looked at the neatly tied bowed
at the end of the braid then, back at her lover. "You like it? I bought it
today in Seiryuun. I thought it might cheer you up a bit," he said smiling.
"Thank you," she said, her
voice barely a whisper in the dark room.
"You look lovely," he said
kissing her cheek.
She knew he only said it to cheer her
up. She knew what she looked like now and didn't like it one bit. That was part
of the reason she would black out. The others were the fact that no matter how
hard they looked in the past, neither she nor Xellos could find any sign of
Zelgadis and the fact that she was dying. The black outs had been her
subconscious' way of running away from it all.
Things that I'm longing to say
Scared to confess what I'm feeling
Frightened you'll slip away
You must love me
Xellos looked at her, his compassion
and love hidden behind closed eyes. "There is a way to stop it, Lina-chan,"
he said.
"Forget it, namagomi! I'm a
human and I'm going to stay a human!" She then stormed out of the shrine of
healers.
"So be it," he said softly,
he was obviously hurt by her rejection. He should have known she hadn't really
loved him. After all, who ever heard of anyone loving a mazoku? "Sayonara,
love."
His arms were now wrapped around her,
holding her tight, but not enough to hurt. She leaned back into the warmth,
forcing herself to stay lucid.
Xellos just held her, placing his
chin on her head when she leaned back against him. "Lina-chan..." he
begun again. Why couldn't he get those damned words out? They were just three,
tiny, insignificant words so why were they so hard to say?
"Do it Xel," came her
almost inaudible whisper.
He thought he was daydreaming about
what she could have said then, but when she repeated it, the sound adn tone of
her voice all too real to be any daydream.
"Are you sure?" he asked
not daring to hope.
"Xel... I... I love you,"
she said making sure he'd be able to hear her this time.
The three words he'd been dead sure
he'd never hear said to him, had been said. By her. What he longed to her had
finally been uttered from her lips.
And for the first time, he felt the
lump in this throat vanish. "Mo aishiteru, Lina-chan," he said kissing
her ear, making her squirm a little as his voice tickled her earlobe. He asked
her one last time and she nodded.
Laying her on her back, he gently
brushed the braid aside before kissing her neck. She purred as he began to lick
at the soft, tender flesh. She gasped as as sudden pain hit her neck to be
quickly followed by an sucking sensation, which she found rather pleasureable.
"Keep your eyes open, Lina-chan.
Don't let yourself fall asleep whatever you do. Just keep looking at me,"
he said then went back to drinking the sweet wine that was her blood.
Sensing his mate was now awake, Xellos rolled onto his side to face her.
"And how are we today, Lina-chan?" he asked smiling, but kept his eyes
open.
Deciding not to tell him, but show
him, Lina tackled the purple haired man beside her. "I love you," she
said before showing just how much.
I don't own the song, though I wish I did. The lyrics are by Tim Rice, and well
you know the schpiel so don't sue me.
I just couldn't go along with it and write a sad ending. The story was
depressing enough as it is with out it, ne? Any I don't think Xel would let go
of Lina so easily. ^_~