Xellos hadn't known he could feel a strong negative emotion himself, but as he mused on why he couldn't return to Wolf Pack Island, why all his attempts to return to the one binding him to them, why everything he did returned him to Zelgadis, he realized he was seething. The chimera should have never been able to do any of this. Even if there was a hint of non-human blood in him, filtered from the Shard in Rezo's eyes to his genetic descendants, it shouldn't have been enough for this.
And yet… he watched Zelgadis scramble for a reason for why he had not stolen Xellos from his former Mistress (and even that made him angry. He had been Zelas Metallium's. Created directly from her. Being torn from her-), feeling something resonate inside him, plucking the part of him that watched and reported back. Plucked at the Priest inside him, drawing him closer to his new Master.
Zelgadis should not have had this power. It should have only made it easier for him to cast magic calling upon Ruby Eyed Shabranigdo. But something went wrong and Xellos didn't know where.
No. He had an idea. The book. The one he had burned in Zelgadis's hands, the one wreathed in the memory and power of Lei Magnus. It had awoken something inside Zelgadis, given him a hunger like the Mazoku.
Xellos took a step forward as Zelgadis's words spluttered to a stop, unable to keep from bending into a respective kneel, the snow crunching under him. He wasn't a Mazoku Lord, after all, Xellos reflected. The Lords only knelt to Shabranigdo and the Golden Lord. They wouldn't kneel to a chimera with the barest hint of Mazoku blood, despite the Ruby Eye's power rolling off of him. But somehow… this chimera had bound Xellos to him.
Perhaps it had been Ruby Eye Shabranigdo's blood, demanding a servant of its own?
That was… distressing.
"You're wrong," Zelgadis finally whispered, despair filling the air.
Normally, that would have him needling the chimera more, trying to get more of that delicious emotional pain. But now… he couldn't. The servant inside him stayed his voice, telling him to make his Master as pleased as possible.
Slowly, he stood again, coming over to Zelgadis. One hand cupped the stone cheek, the overwhelming power of his blood shivering down Xellos's body, both material and immaterial. His ruby eyes stared at Xellos, wanting confirmation that he was wrong. That he had once been human.
Instead, Xellos leaned in, trying to force a pleased response out of Zelgadis by pressing his lips to the stone skin. Zelgadis made a choked noise as Xellos kissed him, but he didn't pull back. After a moment, his hands reached up, grabbing Xellos's clothes and pulling him away. "Stop that," he whispered, his body trembling as his voice did the same, his fingers still twisted in Xellos's clothing.
"Then tell me how I can please you, Zelgadis-sama." The words came too quickly. "Do you wish for me to act as your Priest? Spy on the other Mazoku, and report back to you?"
"I want everything to go back the way they were." Something in Zelgadis's voice told Xellos that perhaps… the chimera knew. That perhaps there wasn't a way back.
"My, my." Xellos tried for nonchalance. "By watching your every move and trying to make you angry by purposely letting you get close to something that would destroy us and eliminating it just as you thought it would be your cure?"
"I don't care if I become your favourite toy again, Xellos," Zelgadis said, his voice strained, pleading. "Just… make me human again."
"Your cure doesn't exist, Zelgadis-sama."
"I know that!" Zelgadis spat at him. "I mean… make me forget. Make me think I was born human…"
Xellos cupping his cheek again. "And let you wonder why you have a hunger you can't sate unless there is pain and death around you? That goes against everything I am, Zelgadis-sama. And-" A bitter smile crossed his face here. "I am not longer the Priest of the Greater Beast, Zelas Metallium. If I 'made you human,' as you put it, I would still be your Priest."
A noise choked past Zelgadis's lips, echoing of the despair in his body. "I was never human, was I." It wasn't a question, only a confirmation. "I had wanted something I never was. This was always going to happen, wasn't it. I was going to lose my appetite, even if I hadn't been turned into a chimera, and only be able to live on emotion."
Instead of answering, Xellos let Zelgadis work through what he had just figured out. He would get there.
It wasn't as if Xellos wanted this as well. Zelgadis wasn't his favourite toy, not by far. Lina could create far more chaos than he could, and make several humans give him what he wanted. Not just that, but Lina's reactions to his own was always amusing. He enjoyed Lina far more.
But now…
Would he be forced to tell Zelgadis about Lina's endeavours in creating chaos spells? Possibly force the two together, and watch them destroy each other?
… well now. That was a way out. Perhaps the faster he pit Lina and Zelgadis against each other, the faster he would be allowed back to Wolf Pack Island. But even that thought made his stomach curdle at the idea of his Zelgadis-sama being hurt. Being killed. The thought of the Blood of the Ruby Eye being injured or killed make him almost weak. He was Zelgadis's Priest. It wasn't like how it was for Hellmaster Fibrizo, on loan and able to work behind his back. No, he was truly Zelgadis's.
So when Zelgadis spun him around, slamming him against a nearby tree, he let him. He was the Blood of the Ruby Eye's Priest, after all. The Shabranigdo within Zelgadis forced him complacent, even as Zelgadis pressed his body up against his physical projection, whispering despair filled words against the faux fabric.
It spurred him forward, lips against Zelgadis's again.
This time, Zelgadis clung to him, as if it would be a comfort.