A/N: Insert the standard "I don't claim the rights to these characters" spiel here. Beware, this story contains adult themes (i.e., big chunks o' lemon) and gets VERY explicit at times. Read at your own risk. Also, this story only covers the exploits of Lina and Xellos. Gourry, Amelia, and Zelgadis' adventures during the time frame that "Penance" takes place are detailed in a fic called "Pursuit of Merit", which is about halfway written but probably won't be done until '05. "Penance" is followed up by "Reckoning" and then "Absolution" series, all of which are available here on fanfiction.net.
You can view this story in its un-chaptered form at my website, also. I went back and broke it up into chapters because I was getting complaints that it was too long. Sorry if the chapter divisions seem awkward in places, or if some chapters seem too short or too long. That's what happens when you write a story without chapter divisions, and then later chop it up.
Reviews are welcome!!
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She sat in a chair by the bed, watching as his face contorted in agony in his fever-dreams. Having done what little for him she could, she studied him carefully, searching for any sign of what the cause of his illness was. He wasn't thrashing about like he was earlier, and her sleep spell seemed to have helped a bit. At least he wasn't in danger of hurting himself with his wild movements. She leaned forward in her chair, resting her chin on her steepled fingers as she watched the rise and fall of his muscular chest, his skin shining with sweat. The linens would have to be burned after this, she was sure of it. Sighing, she reached out and smoothed the strands of his dark hair out of his face, gently fingering his heavy, silky locks. It was every bit as wonderful as she had suspected his hair would be, and she tentatively ran both hands through it, shutting her eyes as it flowed through her fingers like water. The planes of his beautiful face were marred with lines of agony, and her insides ached as she realized what sort of pain he was going through. He had been coughing for quite a while now, but that was the only indication of the oncoming illness. His temperature was through the roof and she kept wiping him down with the cool towel, but nothing seemed to help. She wished she had paid more attention to remedies throughout the years, but she really didn't know how to help him. She didn't even know what he had. All she knew was that it definitely wasn't normal.
She settled back into her chair and stared at him, eyes narrowed. It had come on so slowly. He had felt ill that morning, if she recalled his words correctly, but had thought it was part of a hangover. Well, he had probably never been hung over before, and so had no way of telling if that was actually the problem or not. Still, for something to come on so suddenly and with such force was almost unheard of. Only parasites and the like took so long in incubation and then hit en masse, all at once. . . Of course! He must have something like that!
She leapt up from her chair, pacing around the room as she stroked her chin. Yes, it almost certainly had to be something like that. But where could he have picked it up that she wouldn't have it as well? She hadn't been coughing, or sick in the least. As she thought about it, she realized that he wouldn't have been coughing unless something was up with his lungs, and the only way something could be wrong with his lungs was if he inhaled something. He must have inhaled something that she hadn't. Her mind raced, trying to figure out what exactly it was, and then it hit her like a ton of bricks. Lorander- he had come into contact with a cloud of something in Lorander! Yes, it was when he entered the library ahead of her. A cloud of spores or something had been disturbed and he had walked right into it. Something occurred to her and she went to the row of coat hooks on the wall, searching for his cloak. He had taken to wearing a heavier one since starting at the farm, and so his old cloak should still be in more or less the same condition it had been in when they first visited the library. Pulling it out, she carried the cloak into the light and spread it out on the table, looking up to check on Xellos every few moments to make sure he was still breathing. His pained noises made her insides blanch, but at least as long as he made them she knew he still had strength. She pulled over some candles and studied the fabric of the cloak intensely, finally locating some sort of strange pollen-looking stuff after a few minutes. Pulling a pair of tweezers out of her travel pack, she carefully removed some of the weird dust and put it on a sheet of paper. When she thought she had enough she put the cloak away and sat back down, careful not to disturb the paper.
She opened up the book of ancient plant lore that Xellos had taken from the first library they explored and began to wade through it, convinced she had seen that type of pollen before. Pulling out a magnifying glass she had picked up the previous day, she carefully studied the dust, noting its spiny yellow ridges. She paged through the book until she found the picture she was looking for. The author had made some sketches that looked very similar to what she had sitting on the piece of paper before her. Strange, the book listed all sorts of curative properties right off the bat. It wasn't something that should be making Xellos sick. Sighing, she sat back in her chair, thinking back to Lorander. She had been there nearly every day since they first discovered the place, going through the massive amounts of books. Never again had she encountered any strange dust or pollen. It was most likely set as a trap. So, why would anyone set a trap for intruders in a library in a place sealed in a pocket dimension?
She scowled down at the book and began to fix herself some tea, pondering. Well, in her explorations she had come to realize that the city had once been a very busy, bustling place. Xellos had said that he thought the bodies had had the flesh burned off of their bodies by the expulsion of power, and for the most part she thought he was correct. There were many adult bodies in key places of the city that had seemed to have undergone the same sort of death. However, she had seen things he hadn't. There were a great number of skeletons in beds, and several places in the town had been turned into what looked like makeshift infirmaries. Remains were all over the place, and the skeletons were just as clean as those who had obviously died from power burnout. So, hundreds of people had died in a city of skilled sorcerers, and the city had then been shut away. What was the real reason the city had been hidden? Was it to protect the secrets inside, or to keep the rest of the world safe from what the city held?
She reached over to one of the books she had brought back from Lorander, checking the date on the inside front cover. It was written a full three hundred years before the book of plants that Xellos had given her. She had also managed to get a few books published around three hundred years after Lorander from a couple of the other libraries they had ransacked, and so she began to cross-reference.
It turned out that the pollen she located in the first book belonged to a plant that was very popular in healing tonics of the time, and as she followed the usage of the plant, she found a very small, scribbled line in the margins of one of the books. The pollen is not to be confused with the cysts of andronicae morphismi. May have disastrous results, she read aloud. Scowling, she rifled through the pages of the more recent books, searching for the strange name. About an hour later she found it, only to be interrupted by some loud groaning from the bed. Sighing, she tended to Xellos for thirty minutes before he finally calmed down, and when she returned to the books she was badly shaken.
It was hard to concentrate again at first because his condition seemed to be deteriorating even more rapidly, and the images of the ghostly infirmaries from Lorander haunted her. Something was very wrong, and she had the feeling she didn't have much time to fix it. She placed her finger on the page and began to read, her innards turning ice-cold as the words settled in. The pollen of the healing plant could be mistaken for the cysts of a monstrous parasite, as had once happened in a city whose name had been erased to keep medical explorers away for all time. The tragedy was not to have been repeated. Her stomach seemed to sink into her feet and she sat back in her chair, floored. The citizens of Lorander had eventually realized what was happening to them and given up hope. They booby-trapped the library to keep their information safe, and then sealed themselves up to keep the rest of the world safe from them. Then Xellos had sprung the trap and was paying dearly for it. Reading further, she snarled as no details regarding the epidemic appeared. She took the book and flung it across the room, the heavy leather binding landing with a smack on the floor. She nearly jumped up to make sure the book was all right, since such an old volume was certainly irreplaceable, then sat back down heavily. Of course no information was given, and without information how was she supposed to help Xellos?
She sighed and put her forehead in her hands, blinking down at the table. There was only one thing to do: go back to Lorander and see if any sort of cure had been noted. The city had been sealed away before all the people had died. Certainly someone would have recorded something about the parasite. Hold on, she whispered to the man in the bed, and blew out the candles, curling herself up in the cot.
The next morning she left at dawn, slogging through the several inches of snow that had fallen during the night. She hated leaving him alone while he was so ill, but she really had no choice. If she wanted him to live then she had to search for a cure. She wrapped her cloak more tightly about her and bared her teeth to the wind, finally giving up and casting a Ray Wing to get her over the snow and to Lorander more quickly.
Within no time she was in the city, throwing her cloak aside the moment she entered the pocket dimension. There was no snow in the city, nor any other change. She passed the Library, heading straight for what seemed to be the main infirmary. It appeared to her to have served as offices at one point in time, and so if any records would have been kept on the illness, it would have been there.
It took her nearly all day to wade through the piles of manuscripts she found. No wonder the Library was so huge- the people of Lorander seemed to enjoy writing lengthy, boring pieces. Finally, however, she stumbled across what she was looking for. Slight progress made today, she murmured. The administration of the snow-flower seems to help the patient considerably, allowing spells to be cast to the monsters inside. The parasites appear to be some sort of carnivorous worm, but can be killed easily with a purgative. It is getting the purgative to stay inside the body long enough that is the trick- the worms to not allow for any fluids or substance to remain within the body for any length of time, she read aloud, eyes searching the scroll. She read further, but nothing else on the paper seemed to be of any use. What the hell was a snow-flower? And carnivorous worms? She shuddered at the thought. The reason Xellos was in such pain was that the cysts had finally released the young worms, which were then burrowing into the soft tissue of his organs. She winced, nearly losing her lunch at the thought. Yes, that would hurt plenty. To think that it was all because of her! Once again, she was the reason for his fall. First he had fallen from immortal to human because of her, then from mortal to dead. It seemed she was bad news for him. Well, she might not know what a snow-flower was, she decided, returning her thoughts to the present, but she sure knew how to find out. Stuffing the scroll into her belt, she dashed out of the building and down to the Library.
She was glad she had spent so much time in the immense building over the past weeks, otherwise she wouldn't have understood the filing system and been able to find the books she was looking for so quickly. She yanked a few volumes off the shelf and sat down on the floor, reading frantically. It seemed that the afflicted only had a day or two to live before the worms succeeded in liquefying all internal organs and eating the host. Then, if she understood correctly, the worms would then create new cysts, which would wait in the ground for a strong wind or storm to come up and disperse them to new hosts. Shivering, she paged through the books, finally finding a sketch of the flower. It was apparently a sort of daisy that grew in the mountains during the winter, the only flower to thrive in the cold. When its stems were crushed into a fine powder and inhaled, it had the effect of slowing internal processes, basically numbing everything. That must be how it worked- it would numb whatever sort of nervous system the worms had, making them sluggish enough to allow a purgative to be administered. Slamming the books shut, she left them on the floor. She would be back, after all. Now that she knew that the cysts entered the host through the mouth and nose she could take measures to prevent her own infection. She ripped off a piece of her shirt and held it up to her face, running to leave the city.
She tumbled out of the dimensional tear and cast a quick illusion spell to make it appear as if the mountain were whole again. She incinerated the fabric she had held against her face with a fire spell and dashed off up the mountain. It was probably cold enough for snow-flowers to grow, and they had to have thrived close by if the people of Lorander could harvest them. She climbed for what seemed like hours, until, sheltered in a pocket of rock, she found what she was looking for. There were only half a dozen flowers, and some hadn't even bloomed yet, but she took the lot and flung herself into the air, making a beeline for the cabin.
Once at home she quickly took Xellos' pulse, frowning with concern as she found it weak and thready. His breath was coming in short bursts, although is color was still good. She was just hoping she could expel the worms and break the fever before he died or sustained brain damage. Rushing to the table, she quickly pulverized the stems of the flowers, mixing them with a few other herbs she knew to aid in dulling the nervous system. Going over to Xellos, she realized she really didn't know how to make him inhale the powder. Well, she didn't have time to be gentle. She gathered an ice spell in her free hand, holding the other close to his mouth and nose, and touched her icy hand to his bare stomach. He gasped at the change in temperature, and in went the powder. She dusted the remainder off on her pant leg, hoping it would be enough. Rifling through her things, she found a bottle of purgative and poured it down his throat. She threw his winter cloak over him as he began to splutter and convulse, dragging him outside into the night with the last of her strength. He had been ill for two days. She hoped that it wasn't already too late.
She rolled him onto his side, stroking his back as he choked and coughed, and she could only pray that the treatment was working. Come on, she whispered into his ear, kneading his work-hardened muscles. Come back to me, Xellos.
He made a whimpering noise, then began to vomit violently onto the snowy ground. There was a fair amount of blood, she noticed with distaste, but it seemed to be working. His body expelled vomit for a good ten minutes until he heaved with no result. She held his hair back as he trembled, hoping the worms hadn't gotten any farther down than his stomach. She didn't think they would have in only two days, but she also didn't know if she was that lucky. After several minutes more she began to shiver, and so dragged him out behind the house. He was unconscious, but she was not going to put him back in bed all filthy, and so she cast a quick fireball into the pond and dragged him in, fully clothed. She propped him up against some stones, making sure he wouldn't slip into the water and drown while she was inside, then went to the back door, undressing by the cold hearth and tossing her clothes aside. She ripped the linens off of the bed and took them with her over to the fireplace, igniting the logs with a simple spell. Once the fire was roaring, she wrapped herself in her robe and slipped on some wool slippers, stepping out into the snow. A quick glance at Xellos told her he was okay, and she went to the side of the house, incinerating the bed sheets completely. Returning to the pond, she threw in another tiny spell to bring the temperature up even more and slipped out of her own clothes, sliding into the water naked.
She waded over to where Xellos was situated, keeping herself in the warm water as much as she could in the shallow pond. Leaving him propped up, she reached down and resolutely relieved him of his trousers, telling herself that a clean person was a healthy person, and there really was no other way to get him clean. She unhooked his arms from the rocks and eased him down into the water, his muscles hard beneath her hands. She blushed and was grateful for the darkness that prevented her from seeing into the water. She had only pure intentions, but she knew she couldn't have helped but look. It was just one of those things she had always wondered about Xellos. His weight was easier to handle in the water, and so she leaned his back against her bare breasts, running her hands over his smooth skin to rub away the days of sweat that had accumulated.
Cradling his head in the crook of her elbow, she lowered the back of his skull to the warm water and gently began to wash his hair, trying to keep his face a reasonable distance from her chest. His hand accidentally drifted between her legs and she jumped, nearly dunking him. His wet skin slipped between her fingers and he began to slide, her hands grabbing at whatever she could to keep him from going under. Reaching around him, she took a good fistful of his rear and hauled him back into her lap, blushing deeply. She was certain she was a dark shade of maroon, but she also felt satisfaction in knowing that she was right. He really did have the most amazing ass she had ever seen. In fact, now that she had him in her arms, she realized that she had always judged him unfairly when he was a Monster. Oh, sure he had been nice and tall, but she always thought he was just a skinny fruitcake. Now his hard muscles slid easily against her skin, and she knew she had sorely underestimated him. No matter, she told herself, ladling water onto his hair with a cupped hand. Soon he would be bathed and put back to bed, and she would never have to confront him like this again. As she smoothed his bangs back his eyelids fluttered open slightly. She froze and he blinked. She sank beneath the water immediately, but knew that he must have gotten a perfectly good view of her bare chest. he whispered, stirring weakly.
she said quietly, trying not to be sharp with him. Go back to sleep.
He opened his mouth to speak, but she saw his eyes roll back in his head and he suddenly went limp in her grip. She blushed, realizing he was unconscious again, and sincerely hoped that he didn't remember any of this when he woke up.
