Disclaimer - I don't own Slayers. I own Brau in a sort of way, but if Kanzaka wants him he can have him.
Hello again minna-san^_^. Thanks for reviews they really did cheer me up^^. Especially to Graywords-girl and Samanda Hime-sama and Sarie. Love your stories^_~. This chapter is less funny then the previous ones but I hope it's as good as the other two. Have fun. And review of course:P.
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'February the 14th (the date looks much younger than the rest of the text so it must have been written later).
I've woken up in the middle of nowhere simply lying under the snow. I'm starting to grow tired of this hibernation mode I keep falling in when it gets too cold. Some day I'll fall asleep during some blizzard and thaw in the spring. It's confusing as Hell. Fortunately I have my god-forsaken companion who reminded me where I was going when I've frozen. Of course searching for a cure. So I...'
"What are you reading?"
"EEK!!!" Lina swirled around to see a slightly annoyed chimera glaring on her. She tried to avoid the subject. "Zel? How did you recover so fast? I've beaten you to a bloody pulp."
"Lina it took me a quarter of an hour to completely recover from Gaav's attack. You cannot actually damage me with bare hands. By the way how are your hands? Healed already?"
"Yeah I think so" she smiled. The left arm was stiffened with plank though. "This one's broken I think but I can move the hand."
"Good. Now let's go back to where we started. What. Are. You. Reading?"
Shit. Of course he she haven't managed to fool him. She showed him the book. His eyes widened.
"My diary?! Why in Hell where you reading my diary!?!"
"Well... I... I was looking for other stuff containing me or Amelia. You know what I mean."
"Yeah" he blushed. "Don't worry. You won't find anything like that in my house."
'Unless you know about the secret chambers that is.'
'Shut up devil kin!'
"Well I hope you're right. Oh by the way. It says here about some sort of a companion. A god-forsaken one. Who is..."
"Xellos" he answered without thinking. A bit too quickly actually and that made Lina curious but she didn't show it. At least she tried to hide it.
'Way to go hotshot. Now she's suspicious. What'll we do now?'
'Contact the fruitcake and tell him what to do. It's the only way.'
'Jawohl*.'
Could you give me back my diary Lina?"
"Hem... yeah sure." she agreed reluctantly. "Say, what are the others doing?
"Xellos is still trying to convince Amelia to drink some wine."
"So he and Gourry should be quite tipsy by now shouldn't they?" asked Lina. The two of them were drinking hard since she left the living room.
"Lina, Xellos is a Mazoku. He CAN'T get tipsy. He even hasn't got a real body so the alcohol has no influence on him."
"But a month ago we were drinking with him and he was drunken three bottles before me."
"Do you remember the whole party?"
"No of course not I was so drunk I..." Suddenly Lina realized his hint. And paled. And then reddened. "He's a dead man."
"Be careful not to burn the tower down." He said with a slight smile.
'You don't really think he's done something do you?"
'Of course not. We would definitely hear it from him if he did. You know the asshole.'
'Yeah I guess you're right. But what about Amelia?'
'That's another story. Ever heard of incubuses?'
'Khem. Who am I Greywolf?'
'Sorry. I assume you did. It would funny if Seirun would obtain a heir out of this event.' then it struck him. 'And what if...?'
'... It was the whole purpose.' finished the symbiote who also had caught it. 'It's getting more interesting every minute. Shall we tell Lina-chan?'
'She smart. She'll figure it out. Let's not take the fun of finding out from her.'
'Yeah like the last time.' chuckled the demon. 'She still thinks that she was the first one to discover Xellos' true identity. Man she's naive. And so kawaii doing it.'
"MONO VOLT!!!"
"Sorry Lina" sighed the chimera. "I'm coming. Just got lost in my thoughts.
"Do that again and I'll might forget about that 'not to torch the house' thing."
"Then you would also have to forget about the 'rain outside and thirty miles to the nearest village' thing."
"Damn. Right."
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"ELMEKIA LANCE!!! ELMEKIA LANCE!!! ELMEKIA LANCE!!! Stop dodging asshole!" yelled Lina throwing one flare of light after another. Xellos however wasn't very scared.
"Oh come on Lina. You know me. Would I try to drunk you to have some fun with you?" he dodged another missile. "If that was true I would drug Zelgadis-san's coffee ages ago."
"You know the Hell well I'm immune to drugs" said the ever stoical chimera. "By the way: you DID drug my coffee. Six times if I'm correct."
"And you just had to spoil my fun didn't you Zelgadis-san?" whined the demon priest. "Well in that case: an eye for an eye." He smiled and pulled out a book. The same book Zel took away from Lina minutes ago. "I'm sure you haven't read the BEST parts Lina."
Zel snapped his fingers and the book went ablaze. It was charred in seconds.
"Spoil-sport." muttered Xellos. And, since he was distracted, he got zapped by Lina's spell.
"Learned from the best" grinned Zelgadis.
'Can I finish him Zel?'
'What did I tell you about calling me that way?'
'Oh right. You only allow HER to call you that way.' chuckled Brau. 'Gomen hehe.'
"Zel why are you blushing?" asked Lina suspiciously before resuming kicking Xellos' limp body. "Oh whatever. Do you know a way to overwhelm him before he pulls himself together?"
"Sure. Wait a second."
He went to the closet and pulled out an oriental type of a lamp**. He rubbed it and said some words looking at Xellos. Suddenly it started glowing and sucking the air inside. And Xellos with it. He screamed like an animal but was completely swallowed. Then Zelgadis set the lamp on the table.
"He'll brake out in a week or so. But it will be a sufficient punishment." He then felt a hand on his butt.
"Man Lina ya've grown quite 'n ass 'ere" said Gourry in a state of utter tipsiness. Zel's head swirled around and his eyes lit with pure fire. "Ooops! Sorry Zlelg... Zeldagl... Rezgladis... oh what the Hell your name I..."
An invisible force slammed him to the wall. So hard that the whole tower shook. And Amelia sobered instantly. The swordsman slowly slumped to the floor.
"'Sorry' isn't good enough" said Zelgadis. It wasn't his voice though. It was radiating with dark energy and evil emotions. Amelia, being a priestess, felt hundred times harder than Lina and trembled. Lina wasn't feeling very firm herself.
"Y-your eyes a-are glowing red Zel" she managed to stutter. She definitely didn't like his glare.
He glared at her for another minute panting heavily. Then he grabbed his head and yelled. Actually it was a roar. A roar that shook the tower again and made the dust pour from the ceiling. After a while the roar became a wail and soon passed. The chimera collapsed to the floor.
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"oh you've woke up mister Zelgadis!" Lina heard Amelia's voice from the other room. She put the book she was reading aside after remembering the page. She always liked reading books, she was a sorceress after all and she had to a lot, and here she found tons of them. She thought of burrowing few of them and maybe even asking Zel about it.
"Zelgadis-san! It was very unjust to throw Gourry-san across the room. You should have more control over your emotions and..."
"Amelia?" said Lina looking at Zel's pained expression.
"Yes Lina-san?"
"Go check on Gourry. I think he'll to have his compress changed" then went closer to the chimera. "What happened back then?"
Zelgadis waited till Amelia left the room. And then... he still waited.
"Well?!" asked Lina in a menacing voice. "Are you going to tell what happened? You can maybe fool Amelia but not me!! It was your demon power right? Just like the last time***?"
"...yeah..." he muttered.
"What's wrong Zel?" she said with a worried look. "You've never let your demon power loose before. And now someone touches your ass and you start to beat the shit out off people. Will you tell me?"
He looked her in the eyes for a while then said slowly:
"I will talk if you swear to do a thing I'll ask you to.
"Okay.
'She's quick about it' he thought. 'But that's her problem.' Then he started to talk.
"That so called 'demon power'... it's not just a sheer force."
'Yeah! Introduce me! Introduce me! Introduce me!'
'Be quiet!'
"You know that I'm in a part a demon."
"Yeah a brau demon if I'm correct."
"Exactly. The point is that the demon wasn't dead after our fusion as was the golem. And after few years of being a parasite he gained... an ego."
"What!?" Lina was quite shocked. Brau demons were normally dumber than rocks. "You mean you can... talk with it?"
"Yes unfortunately" he said with a sour expression. "And it... he actually is quite loquacious. But that's beside the point. . I'm bounded with him - and that means that when I'm angry he's also furious and vice versa. And when we're pissed to the limit... the border between us... disappears."
"So you slowly... become a demon?" she asked. Then a thought dawned to her. "NO WAY!!! I won't do it!"
"I didn't tell what I'm asking for" he smiled. "But I think you've figured it out. And I'm afraid you're too late. You've swore."
"I don't fucking care!!! I'm not a knight I won't lose my honor if I break a word."
"I'll send a message to your sister then."
"Send a letter to the LON if you want! This is too important to me to tremble before somebody."
"You didn't understand" he said calmly though his expression was sad. "If you won't do it I'll ask your sister to do it. She's also bounded with your oath. And only the two of you could handle this job. Well besides Xellos but he's out the question."
The girl looked as if she was going to say something but changed her mind. She slumped down and sat on his bed glaring at nothingness. Then she took a deep breath and asked.
"What about the cure? Maybe you will find it and..."
"I'm still searching" he said stoically. "But mostly to fool myself because I'm starting to doubt about its existence. Besides even if I'm looking for a cure - my time limit shrinks rapidly. You don't know what it is to have that kind of a creature in your head."
'It would be nice if you could her experience that wouldn't it?'
"He drives me nuts and every day I'm more disposed to kill somebody. If it won't be stopped this tower will be known someday as the 'Demon Tower' and will be feared by all."
"There has to be another wa..." the redheaded girl said faintly.
"LINA-SAN!!! I've changed Gourry-san's compress!" exclaimed Amelia happily launching in.
Zel immediately closed his eyes. Lina caught the hint and scolded Amelia.
"Shh! be quiet! He just fell asleep so don't wake him."
"Oh. Sorry Miss Lina."
"We'd better go to bed ourselves" said Lina yawning. "Go ahead Amelia. I'll go to my room in a short."
"Okay" smiled the younger girl. "Oyasumi nasai!"
"Yeah and to you too."
The princess had left. The demon shaman opened his eyes.
"Nice acting" he said. "And now back to the earlier conversation. I don't know. Maybe there really IS another way. The problem is that I don't know if I'll make it in time. So I have to secure my future. Or rather... your and the others future."
"O... okay" she finally said.
"What did you say?"
"I'll fulfill your wish. If it has to be done it's better to be done by someone near your heart right?"
Zel blushed. Brau laughed his head off (figure of speech). Lina saw Zel's flushed face and it came to her what she had said.
"I... I meant th-that... you and my sisters are complete strangers and... and..." she stuttered blushing.
"I know I know" he reassured her. "Don't mind my reaction."
'Complete strangers? You mean she doesn't know that we know her sister?'
'It seems that way.'
'Hey you hypocrite! How can you talk with me so calm right after you've been plotting behind my back?'
'You don't have a back. Besides it's impossible for me to do so either.'
'Well maybe. But still...'
'The answer is simple: I can live with your prattling but I don't want to fusion with you. That's why I'm not taking the risk.'
"Zel?" asked Lina unexpectedly. Seeing his questioning look she continued. "Since Amelia took the couch and this is the only bed could I...?"
"Sure" he started to get up. She stopped him with a hand and pushed him back.
"No. You're still too weak and it's your house after all. Besides it's big enough for the both of us."
"But..."
"No buts" she said in a voice not giving any room for opposition. And then she added, when lying beside him "Think of something funny and you'll dye in a horrible way."
'I knew it was going to be a long night.'
'It sure was.'
'Don't even DARE to say something spawn of evil.'
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* - In case you don't know it's the German word for 'yes sir!'. Kind of overused in WWII
Movies:P.
** - you know what I mean. That one that looks as a kind of a tea pot^_^.
*** - See my earlier story 'Inner Mefisto'. Don't worry it is short^_^.
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Review please^_^.