Chapter 7: Guard! Poison is as poison does, ne?

"AHHHH!! DRAGON! IT'S A DRAGON!!!" Yelled the panicking townspeople as the giant green dragon stomped their houses flat. Lina grinned.

"I have come to save you townspeople!" She said with relish. The people momentarily stopped panicking, and stared at her.

"And who are you?" Townsperson One asked. Lina smiled, and jabbed a thumb into her chest.

"I am Lina Inverse, beautiful genius sorceress!!" she shouted. The townspeople all exchanged glances. Then they began panicking again.

"AHHHH!! LINA INVERSE! IT'S LINA INVERSE!!!" they yelled. Zel regarded it with a wry eye.

"Hm," he said, "News sure does travel fast, doesn't it?" Lina growled.

"Not fast enough, obviously. These people should already know that I killed the Hellmaster Phibrizzo!" She said angrily. Silphiel tapped her lightly on the shoulder.

"Miss Lina, who is alive to tell them?" she asked. Lina blinked.

"There was. no.. wait.. what about? Uh, never mind.. Um.but you could've, no wait." She trailed off, "Well, SOMEONE should have told them!" While Lina griped about the good news traveling slower than the bad, Gracia carefully leaned Xelloss down by a tree. He smiled in gratitude, and watched the dragon trash the town with glee. Gourry saw that glee out of the corner of his eye and blinked, scratching his head.

"Oi, Lina, while you're thinking about PR, the dragon is destroying this village." He remarked. Lina glanced at him.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that." She said, smiling. The dragon was still destroying the village, as it was a dragon's wont. Lina smiled.

"And try not to destroy the entire town this time.." Gourry added.

"Right, or scare up something worse!" Amelia nodded. Lina growled.

"Will you let me concentrate?!" she shouted. She grinned, "DILL BRAND!" she shouted, and the ground beneath the dragon exploded. It blinked. Seeing Lina's feral grin, it ran off with a dog-like whine. Zel scratched his head.

"Wow, they're right, dragons do step aside in clear revulsion.." Lina attempted to elbow him in the stomach, but failed. Well, less failed, than, injured herself more than him. Nahga 'oh-hohoed'

"Little girl, little breast, scares the dragon from it's nest!" she mocked. Lina growled.

"DIGGER VOLT!!" she shouted. Nahga twitched, and fell to the ground. The villagers blinked at Lina, confused. She was so much more.. and. so much less than all the stories they had heard.

"Um. Yay!" they shouted, a tad confused. Lina smiled,

"Finally some recognition!" she said, happy. The townspeople took up the cry.

"Hooray!! Hooray for Lina Inverse!" Lina smiled.

"Yeah! Hooray for me!" she joined them in taking up the cry. Just then, Zel smiled.

"Hooray for Lina Inverse, dra-mata!!!" he shouted. The townspeople nodded.

"HOORAY FOR LINA INVERSE, DRA-MATA!!!" they chorused. Lina frowned.

"Hey!" she shouted. Zel shrugged. The townspeople were now chorusing,

"DRA-MA-TA, DRA-MA-TA, DRA-MA-TA" Under the helpful eye of Amelia, who had a megaphone. Gourry had pompoms.

"RRRRR!!!" Lina said. She punched Gourry in the stomach as she walked by, and Amelia cowered. She left Amelia alone. Suddenly, she remembered something.

"Xelloss!" she said, looking over to him. He was leaning against the tree, still, the shadow twins doing as much as they could for him, without touching him.

"Ohayo, Lina-chan." He said, smiling weakly, "I would have joined the party, but I still feel a little low." He said. Then he smiled, "Dra-ma- ta!" he chorused faintly. Lina frowned, but then she smiled,

"Well, it's time for us to be off!" she shouted. Xelloss nodded, and got up, Gracia doing the best she could to support him. Beneath Xelloss' always-smiling exterior, however, something horrible lurked. It wasn't the usual horrible either. His normally plotting mind was silent, dumbfounded by his newfound discovery. He had made it when Lina had cast her dill brand. He had watched in disinterest, as he had seen this same scene hundreds of times, until she did that spell. Where normally he would have followed it to its target, reading the waves that came to him, he felt nearly nothing. At that point, he had been so surprised that he nearly reverted to his natural form, except.. Except, he couldn't feel his natural form anymore, or the ability to change into it. Nearly everything was gone. He glanced at his staff. The crystal was nearly out, and when it died, so did his power.

Lina glanced back at Xelloss. Something about him seemed a little forced. She leaned over to Zel.

"Did you notice something, a little, oh, I don't know, strange about Xelloss?" she asked. Zel gave her a pointed glance,

"Lina." he said.

"More strange than usual?" she offered. He thought.

"I don't know, perhaps the fact that he isn't floating upside-down and annoying us?"

"Exactly!" Lina shouted, "He hasn't used his powers since the white magic episode! It's been too long for just white magic! Besides, he's a fairly high level mazoku, that shouldn't have bothered him too much!" she said, squinting. Zel shrugged. Amelia joined the conversation,

"I don't know, he did seem genuinely injured when he touched your twin, Miss Lina, maybe it's the truth that he's this injured." Lina shook her head softly.

"I didn't say he was lying.. I don't know, something just bothered me about that dragon." she paused, "Silphiel!" she shouted. Silphiel walked over, detaching herself from her 'Gourry-dear'

"Yes, Miss Lina?" she said.

"Silphiel, do you know what kind of dragon that was? It's been bothering me.." Silphiel nodded.

"Well, yes, just your common green dragon. No big deal, really." She said. Lina nodded thoughtfully.

"Does the common green dragon have poison?" she asked. Silphiel jumped.

"Miss Lina, no they don't!" she shouted, glancing worriedly at Lana, "Do you think it was perhaps, a lie?" Lina shook her head.

"No, she's the exact opposite of me, remember? I think." she stopped, "I think we have a big problem on our hands." She said. She stopped. The rest, at least, those who weren't in on the conversation, stopped. Lina blinked at Xelloss.

"Xelloss. I know you know what's going on here." She said. Xelloss smiled faintly,

"You always figure me out, Lina.." he paused, "Well, except for that first time.." he smiled wanly, "However, for this point in time, I do not know what's wrong." Lina turned her gaze to Lana.

"I bet you do." She said. Lana cringed under the gaze. She reached out and took Gracia's hand, squeezing.

"I. I do." She said faintly, "It's a magical symbiote." Lina blinked.

"You don't mean-" she said. Lana nodded.

"I do." She said, "This symbiosis was between the dragon and the entity which is now within Master Xelloss." Her voice gained strength as she spoke, "It is an energy-sucking entity, and it was sucking the man's energy. When I drove it out with that spell, it was meant to go into me. It was even in the spell. I forfeit my life.. But, instead, it sensed more absorbable power in Xelloss-sama. It is absorbing his mazoku powers at an alarming rate. If we do not act quickly, I believe he may die." She wept, "I do not know whether my magic will help him." Lina blinked.

"I-I don't understand." She said.

"Neither do I!" Gourry announced. Lina growled,

"Not that! The fact that you're so intelligent and composed! When I first met you, you were a blathering, frightened, easy to sway coward!" Lina shouted. Lana smiled.

"I decided that if I was to do what I wanted to do, I would have to learn not to obey my natural tendencies. Life is not easy for a magical copy." She said, glancing at Gracia, and then Xelloss, "But I wanted to help people, and I decided that if I wanted that, I could work for it." Lina blinked. Amelia smiled.

"She really is the exact opposite of Miss Lina!" she said. Lina screamed.

"WE KNOW THAT, DO WE HAVE TO KEEP ANNOUNCING IT AT THE MOST UNFLATTERING TIMES???" She growled. Zel sweatdropped.

"But, eventually, what this all leads to.. minus the Lina freaking out stuff, is that if we don't do something soon, Xelloss will die?" He looked troubled, "I hate him, but I don't want him to die. Much." He added. Gourry blinked.

"I still don't understand, what's a symbiote.. is it a sandwich? Does it have rye, or wheat?" Lina smacked him in the head, while she explained.

"A symbiote is two beings who live together, helping each other, and both gaining from the relationship. It's called a symbiotic relationship!" she said, though she punctuated every syllable with a smack, so it didn't really matter whether he got it or not. Lina stopped for a moment.

"Though it does kind of sound like a sandwich.." She said, at the exact same moment that Gourry said,

"So everyone here shares a symbiotic relationship?" They both stepped away from each other, and everyone else stared. Well, everyone in the original Slayers plus Xelloss, anyway.

"Mr. Gourry actually got something out of one of Miss Lina's lectures?" she asked. Xelloss blinked.

"Lina-chan agreed with one of Gourry's observations?" he asked. Silphiel blinked,

"Very nice, Gourry dear!" she said, smiling. Zel kept his mouth shut, but he wondered. Lina whistled.

"ANYWAY." she shouted, "We have to do something!" she said, hands on hips. Xelloss nodded.

"And fast. Zelgadis is correct, if she's right, in a matter of time, I will die, but, if I don't get cured quite soon, something worse will happen." He said.

"What?" Amelia asked. Xelloss shuddered.

"I'll become human.." he said. The rest didn't know how to take that one, so they made busy trying to figure out what to do. Lina dug a book entitled 'THE BIG OL' BOOK OF MAZOKU OBSERVATIONS, BY.' Well, all the authors had died terrible terrible deaths so it didn't really matter who it was by, and paged through it, pulling Lana in to talk to her. Not too close, though. Amelia spoke with her sister(s) on what they could do, Gourry found a pretty butterfly, and scampered off to catch it, moment of clarity forgotten, and Silphiel following not far behind. That left Zel to unwillingly keep the infirmed company. He stood there, uncomfortably, shifting his weight from leg to leg.

"Hello Zelgadis." Xelloss said, in his normal tone of voice, "I heard what you said about not wanting me to die." He said, a smile on his face. Zel growled.

"I then added, much." He said. Xelloss nodded,

"I think it was very sweet." He said. Zel growled again,

"Whatever." He said. Xelloss smiled a secretive little smile. A smile that hid his utter panic from outsiders. The anger that Zelgadis felt now was like it was at the end of a long tunnel to Xelloss. Cut off from that, he would surely die. It wouldn't be a pretty death. His lips set in his tight grin, he turned again to Zelgadis,

"Thank you for caring so much Zelgadis. I knew Amelia had to be right. Our friendship is eternal." He said, marking the spout of anger. This would be a long day for them both. Of course, not that Xelloss didn't enjoy this, at least a little.