Disclaimer: Don't own nothing! :D

"What have you done? That was my creation! You have no right, you stupid bitch!" The king's voice thundered behind her, and she spun on her heel. "He was your prisoner, and you had no right to put him through such pain."

"He was my most trusted companion-my brother." The king sneered as if Xaldin was a toy instead of his own flesh and blood.

Lina paused, feeling a strong itch to slap the life out of him. "Your...brother? Do you even realize what you did to him? Not only did you kill him slowly, but you forced him to be eternally loyal to someone so coniving as yourself. Not to mention you took full advantage of the fact that he was your brother."

He cackled menacingly. "And you see yourself as different from me?"

"I only want your land, and your blood upon my blade."

"For now that will satisfy you, but you'll see, it won't be enough. It'll never be enough. Eventually your cravings will get worse, and no matter how hard you try...it will never go away. The urge to kill, to torture, to inhale the suffering around you. It will become inevitable to even the most holy of priests, and so you too will become like me-lost in your own bloodlust."

Lina glared, not sure what to say. A part of her was terrified of this future, but the other half was screaming in pleasure at just the thought of all the blood to be spilled all around her. No matter how much she tried to convince herself that this was only the spear talking she still couldn't help but doubt even herself. Maybe this wasn't just the power of the lance, maybe all of her noble acts of justice were all just a facade. All those bandits she had been killing, all that treasure she'd stolen, all those shops fried to a crisp.

'Am I a monster?'

'Do you really need to ask?' A second voice echoed in the back of her head, one that was smooth and all too familiar.

'...Xelloss?'

'Hello, Lina-san.' She could just picture his innocent grin.

'Why the hell are you talking in my head?'

His soft chuckle filled her mind, almost warming her heart. 'Why, Lina-san, can't you tell? Now that you're holding the spear, I can speak to you through it. Of course I can only do this because I'm a mazoku.'

'Oh, well what do you want?'

There was a short pause, and then Xelloss's voice floated once again through her conscience like a soft breeze. 'Lina-san, you can't lose yourself to this. You aren't a monster, and I think I would know.'

Lina didn't even realize that she had been gritting her teeth. 'What do you care what I am? I'm just your little toy.'

'This isn't the time to get emotional, Lina-san, remember that everyone is depending on you. Do you really want your friends to die?'

'No...I don't think I could ever want that.' Even in her mind she sounded unconvincing, and that in an of itself made her want to hide in the darkest corner of the world.

'Then just think about them, and whether or not they think you're a monster. You know they don't Lina-san; no one does.'

'Is there some sort of importance in this conversation? I'm busy.'

He sighed deeply before answering. 'Ah, yes, of course. I just wanted to inform you that there is someone else with you in there. Whoever it is appears to be very powerful, but only from the outside could I sense his presence, which means he wants to be hidden for the moment.'

'Whose side is he on?'

'I hate to say this, but I really don't know. Just be aware Lina-san, and keep your guard up. He is watching you from the shadows. Good luck!'

'Ah, wait!'

Silence.

'Xelloss?'

More silence.

'Damn.'

Opening her eyes, Lina recollected herself. The king was giving her a wary eye, watching her like a hawk. It was obvious that he was very suspicious of whatever she had just done, and he should be.

Taking a deep inhale, she felt her face relax along with the rest of her body. Lowering her spear she let her thoughts focus on reversing everything, and she concentrated her whole body on bringing light into this curse. Taking a few steps forward, she could smell the fear oozing off the king's pale body, and yet he stayed glued to that very spot with his eyes wide. A small reassuring smile tugged at her lips, and she imagined her old companions voices speaking to her heart.

Amelia, telling her that she had always known that Lina had it in her to be quite the justice seeker.

Zelgadiss, convincing her that she had never killed a bandit who didn't deserve to have their ass kicked.

Sylphiel, smiling warmly and softly assuring her that Lina always had everyone's best interest at heart no matter what happened.

Gourry, giving her a goofy grin and telling her proudly that he would never have protected her if he thought she was evil.

Even Xelloss, bragging about his status as a real monster and that Lina would never handle being told what to do all the time by anyone but herself.

If possible, the man's eyes grew even wider as a single shiny tear slid down Lina's cheek. Reaching up to touch it in disbelief, she wiped it away with embarrassed haste. Finally lifting her gaze to the king's, she realized that he was crying as well. "I can...finally cry. But how?" He gave her a hopeful look as if expecting her to have the answer. She looked down at her spear, and decided that this was as good a time as any to try it out. Giving the king an uneasy glance she willed herself to unclutch her fingers, and to her surprise, the lance slid from her hand to the ground with a loud clank.

"Oh hell yeah!" She smiled widely, shooting her fist into the air before lowering it to shove it to point a finger into the king's face. "Hah! Now what, you old geezer? Bloodlust my ass!" She reached down to yank his spear away from him to throw it on the ground, and started stomping on it. Feeling very much like herself, she laughed a haughty laugh. "Bahahahahaha!"

The king gave her an appalled look before shaking his head and giving her an amused grin. "You really are something, Priestess."

"Oh, god, not that stupid Priestess stuff again. I kill bandits, old man. The whole purify thing just doesn't go well with me." She waved her hand nonchalantly for emphasis.

He nodded his understanding before letting his gaze drop to the floor, and his brow creased into a frown. "What will you do now that you have two pieces of the spear?"

Lina let her gaze lower as well as if seeing them for the first time. "I don't really know. Maybe I'll find the other pieces? After all, dumbassess like you shouldn't have so much power to fling around." Her smile was rueful.

It took the king a second to realize that Lina was being funny, and he laughed. "I suppose so."

Lina snapped her fingers all of a sudden, suddenly remembering. "Oh, yeah! You're son. You do know he's been hospitalized, don't you?"

The king gave her a surprised look and answered slowly. "No, I didn't know. I don't remember hurting him."

"Did you hire anyone to do it?"

The king paused to think, but shook his head. "No...I don't think so. Where is he hospitalized?"

"Some city out west of here, that's where I came from just before I found out about you."

"I'll order a carriage to take me to him immediately." He started to turn away from her, but stopped to take her hand between both of his. "Thank you very much, young sorceress." He gave her a heartfelt smile and left the room in a hurry.

Lina shook her head, and suddenly realized that Zel was still hurt. Turning to rush to his side, she felt his neck for a heartbeat. Luckily, under his stony skin, there was a very strong thump. He was just unconscious, maybe even with a concussion. Nothing too serious. Dragging his body up her back, she wrapped his arms around her neck after picking up the lance that had somehow merged together. Tugging him along she made it to the exit, and was surprised to see that the people of Nara weren't...well...dead.

The people around her looked unharmed, baffled, but unharmed. The smiles that now graced their faces lit the atmosphere like a giant Christmas tree, and Lina felt her own spirits rising without any reason as to why. Mostly there were people fussing over children and guards rushing people into the nearest hospital to be checked on.

In the distance, she saw a skinny figure waving its arms franticly at her. As the person approached, Lina smiled to herself as she recognized that it was Hiyo. "Oh, Ms. Lina! Thank goodness you're alright! Is that...Mr. Zelgadiss?! Oh dear. Hand him here, I'll bring him to my daddy." She smiled and took the rocky burden off Lina's shoulders before dragging him away. Lina almost reached out her hand to question why Hiyo's father was here, but figured that it wasn't worth the trouble.

"Made it out quite nicely then, Lina-san?" A voice that held a somehow comforting sound to it. Turning swiftly, Lina turned to realize that it was Xelloss, and despite herself she smiled brighter then she ever recalled towards him.

"I guess so, but some weird things have happened." She took the now whole spear and handed it to him as proof. "You keep it for now, I don't want to go through that again." Xelloss raised his eyebrow at her before nodding and settling them into the back of his cloak.

She looked around at all the people, who were now fresh faced and no longer bloodied. "Xelloss who did all this? How are they all healed?"

"Why, it was Hiyo and her father, Sano-san, of course. They are users of white magic Lina-san."

"Still ripe with assholeness, aren't you?"

Xelloss only grinned and shrugged, not bothering to deny it.

"Anyways, how did Hiyo get out before me?"

"I imagine she awoke on her own, and escaped through a window."

She gave him an accusing look. "You helped her, didn't you?"

"Now, why would I do that? She reminds me far too much of Amelia-san for me to go anywhere near the happy little tart." He shivered, his face twisting into a temporary frown.

"Xelloss, Hiyo isn't smart enough to know that sort of thing. Someone had to have helped her out." Lina was impatient now, knowing for sure that Hiyo was a tad too dense to be able to make such a professional decision. If she really had awoken alone, she would have burst through the doors screaming her head off, and then had a triple panic attack at the sight of Lina holding the spear. What a revolting image.

Xelloss chuckled, and tapped Lina on the nose with the tip of his staff. "Appearances can be very deceiving Lina-san, I thought you would have known that by now."

"With you here, how the hell can I not?" She huffed and tilted her nose a bit higher.

"Ah, how sweet of you."

OoO

"Wow, look at all this food!" Lina exclaimed, rubbing her lower tummy in excitement. "Thanks, Xelloss!"

Xelloss smiled at her over the brim of his teacup. "No problem, Lina-san. It's been a rough day on you." She gave him a weary look before shrugging, and started on the main course.

They were sitting together in Lina's room, where Xelloss had requested entrance after declaring a feast in Lina's honor. Of course he knew that if he hadn't mentioned food she'd have never let him set foot in her room without teleportation. It was pretty easy to get on Lina's good side, but it was much more amusing to see her angry. This was one of those rare occasions where Xelloss decided to see just how far his kindness could get him. Lina wasn't stupid, though. No matter how much food he stuffed into her she still had a sharp mind, and would start to question him.

For now, she was completely involved in devouring her meal. Xelloss merely sipped his tea, watching as her fiery hair glistened in the fire's glow behind her. There were many things he admired about Lina, but there were also things he couldn't explain why he liked them about her. She was a human, for starters, but a smart one. Her spirit is strong, and her power is impressive even from his point of view. Not to mention he was one of the only humans he'd ever met that didn't blabber on about happy and positive things all the time. In fact, it was very rare for Lina to ever have any kind of positive emotion-other then when she was eating.

Maybe that was what he liked most about her. To humans, her moody attitude and quick-temper was annoying, but to him it was exciting and intriguing. He never seemed to be bored around Lina-san, and had to admit that he liked her company more than any human he'd ever come into contact with. There was another trait that he found very interesting; she wasn't the least bit afraid of him. Of course, she knew of his power and acknoweded it willingly, but she had never shrank in the wake of his power and seemed to have a sort of trustworthy deeming for him.

That was the interesting bit. She had said that once out loud that she trusted him, but maybe he had lost that trust long ago. With Lina-san, anything was possible. That was what was so fun about her!

Lina caught his stare, and reached for her wine glass to swallow down her last bite of food. "Do I have something on my face?" She asked after they exchanged stares for what seemed like hours. "Yes, actually, you do." Lina seemed puzzled for a moment, but shrugged in conclusion that Xelloss was just teasing her. Until she saw that smile, that smile.

He leaned across the table to give the corner of her mouth a swift lick, startling her into a momentary silence. But it was only momentary. "What the hell was that, you pervert!?" Her face had turned bright pink, and her anger was obviously meant to steer him away from the fact that she was thoroughly embarrassed.

Xelloss only shrugged. "It looked tasty."

Lina scrunched her brow into a frown. "But you don't really like food."

"When did I mention food?" The bright pink turned to a deep red as his words registered, and she stammered for a snappy retort. "Um...err-I mean-"

"Finished? Good." He cut her off with a bright smile, scooping up her empty plates with one hand in one swift motion. Her mouth hung open in baffled stupor, and she quickly snapped it shut. "I'll just be a moment." He reassured her before disappearing, and true to his word he was back in almost a flash with his hands ridden of the creamy white plates.

"Thanks..." She muttered lamely, now unable to bring herself to look him in the eye. Xelloss had always managed to bring her down to her lowest whenever they were alone, and she never really understood why. Most of it was his usual spontaneous suggestive comments, and that dangerous smile that would light up his face and darken it all at once. Lina didn't know exactly what he wanted from her, and sometimes it just frustrated her that he was the type to beat around the bush till the damn thing had no more branches to beat.

She could feel his eyes on her, even when his mask was in place she could feel them, burning their own special imprint onto her delicate skin. An invisible marking, a means of claiming her in a way that shook her to the core. Daring to look his way, she saw that his face was indeed focused onto her, and his eyes slit open with a boldness. His eyes dared her own to hold his gaze, to be trapped within the amethyst depths with no sign of return.

Feeling anxious suddenly, she rose out of her chair so fast it almost toppled over in her wake. Blanching, she hurried to the window, turning her back to him so that she could brace her hip against the window sill. Maybe if she ignored him, he would leave on his own. Ha! Fat chance.

As if on cue, Xelloss was magically behind her, his hands snaking around her body while his fingers traced a trail from her shoulders to her fingers where he entwined them firmly. His mouth was at her ear, and her head had fallen backwards into the crook of his neck with surprising ease. There it was again, that instant spark that lit up whenever he was near. But just being around him wasn't enough to ignite the fire, it was the way he touched her that caused the friction of that spark to explode into a ball of furious passion.

Blushing, she snapped her head up, shoving his hands away while shrugging out of his hold. "You should go..." She whispered meekly, afraid to look at him.

For a second, she couldn't even hear him breathing, and it was as if the whole world had stopped moving. But then his breath was at her neck, causing the tiny hairs to stand on end with a less then comfortable intimacy. "Why?" His voice was in her ear, draining all her self respect and in its place came a heated desire. "...Why? Why what?"

His low chuckle sent a shiver up her spine, and her mind became a gray fog. "Lina-san." He murmured into her neck, his right hand curving around her stomach to hook her into place against his abdomen, while his left hand reached up to take her chin gently between his fingers. Guiding her head back, his eyes met hers with a gleam as the pale moonlight shone into his violet pupils.

Lina became dazed as she felt her eyelids lazily droop, and her gaze dropped to his lips and then slid slowly back to his eyes. They seemed to sink into her mind, enter her very soul, trying to snake his way into her heart. Throwing all caution to the wind, she felt her own body shift backward as their lips met.

Xelloss's hand slid from her chin to her hair, closing his hands into it firmly, but gentle enough to let her know that she wasn't trapped. Her body warmed excitedly, despite the fact that Xelloss was as cold as ice, his body barren of a heart. She felt happy, content even, as she twisted in his grasp to face him fully.

The kiss deepened at the new access of angles, and she didn't think twice about the repercussions, or even what her real feelings for this monster were.

'"But Ms. Lina he has to be doing it because he cares about you."

"Hiyo, mazoku aren't the type to care about anyone but themselves and their master. Those kind of positive emotions hurt them, so they just don't bother feeling them."

"I think you're scared."

"Huh? Me? Scared? Of what?"

"Of getting hurt. You've been hurt before, haven't you?"'

Lina's eyes flew open, and an increasing feeling of fear crept into her belly. Pushing him away with more force then she had intended, she watched as stumbled back with a strange look on his face. "What's the matter, Lina-san?" His voice sounded strangled, maybe even a little wounded.

"I...I don't know." She looked to the floor with shame, feeling the pity tears well in her eyes and burn the back of her throat. "Why, damn it? Why can't I just keep pushing you away? I don't need you! So...why do I feel so torn at the thought of you not being here?" Her head rose to reveal the stream of shining tears down her pale face.

Xelloss's face was empty, all emotions wiped from him completely. Not even his mask held any sort of feeling, and he looked more like stone as the moonlight made his skin seem gray and stony. Lina held a hand to her mouth as a sob escaped her body, and she turned away from him once again.

"Lina-san, I don't think you've let go."

She sniffled. "Let go of what?"

"Gourry-san."

There was a long, dreaded silence that filled the room.

Xelloss watched the back of her head, feeling a strange hatred for the blonde swordsman that still haunted Lina. No matter how many times he tried, he still knew that he was just another version of Gourry in her mind. Although the details weren't known, he knew that the boy had hurt Lina-san more deeply then anyone knew, and for some reason a pang of regret rang through him as his plans ran through his mind.

But why should he feel bad?

He shouldn't, but he did.

"Lina-san...let me be there for you." His own words shocked him more then it did her, but he knew that everything he said from now to the end would just be pretty nothings. Her shoulders stopped shaking from the tears, and she let her head rise so that her eyes could meet his. She let her eyes scrutinize him for a long, long time as if trying to read his complicated mind.

He stepped forward to envelope her into a tight embrace, one that held no passion, nor hatred, just pure and untainted love.

This one got too long, the lemon will have to wait till next chapter:D