Grease ran down Lina's chin as she bit into the chicken leg, ripping off a chunk and chewing furiously. "I just don't get it," she grumbled, shaking the leg as she swallowed the bite in her mouth. "What was Xellos talking about? I've never heard of the Blood of the Ruby Eye."

Gourry didn't answer, and Lina smacked the hand reaching for her second chicken leg with the one in her hand. "Lina!"

"Don't steal my food. Anyway-" Lina took another bite. "The way Xellos talked about this Blood of the Ruby Eye was weird."

"Do you think this guy stole Xellos for good?"

Lina frowned. "That should be impossible. The way Xellos was made… The Greater Beast had to make him from her own power. So he shouldn't-" Lina stopped, her blood freezing in her veins at a thought. At what a certain Ruby Eye had said at his rebirth… "No. It can't be."

"Lina?"

"When Shabranigdo first was reborn… we were offered the choice of death or servitude to him." Lina lowered the half eaten chicken leg, looking out over the inn, at the sleepy travellers ready to head to their beds. "… another Shard had to be reborn. That has to be the answer."

When she looked back at Gourry, his eyes were almost comically large. "Doesn't that usually mean the world is going to end or something?!"

"Well, we're not going to let it!" Lina snapped back. "We'll find this 'Blood of the Ruby Eye' that Xellos is following and-" The chicken leg in her arm sliced through the air, and she grinned. "Third time's the charm, right?"

Gourry nodded, firm. "But… how are we going to find this guy?"

"I've been feeling this asshole for a while. We'll just follow that feeling." The next bite took off a good chuck of chicken off the leg and took Lina a while to chew and swallow. "I'll cast Raywing so we'll get there sooner," she informed Gourry, watching him sigh at that. "So eat up. Once we're done, we should get started."

"We can't even get some sleep?"

Lina shook her head. "I don't want what happened before to happen to this town." The amount of death… destruction… no. She didn't want that.

"My, my… Lina-san, even as you are, you're still so conscious of humanity."

She couldn't help herself. Lina stood suddenly, the chicken leg hitting the ground next to her upturned chair as she turned to Xellos. "What are you doing here?!"

Smiling, Xellos wagged his finger next to his face. "Wouldn't you like for me to say it's a secret?"

Confused, Lina grabbed her chair and set it back upright, sitting back down. "What do you mean?"

He spread his hands, almost benevolent. "My Master wishes to see you, Lina-san." Here, he paused, tilting his head as his eyes opened slightly. "Lina-san, you…"

"What?"

His eyes opened completely, and Gourry reached for a sword that currently laid against the wall as Lina felt Chaos magic come to her fingers. That wasn't the look of their sometimes ally. That was someone about to attack, about to kill them-

Then Xellos smiled, his eyes closing again. "I think you would be the perfect person to see my Master," he only said cryptically before disappearing.

"What a creep," Lina grumbled, looking mournfully at the fallen chicken leg, then at the cooling mound of food. Oh well, food was food. She went to dig into the rest of the food, then paused as Gourry didn't follow. "What's up, Gourry?"

"Your eyes…" Gourry leaned forward. "When you started casting your spell, they changed colour. They're yellow now."

He wasn't about to delude himself. If Zelgadis were to die, Xellos would go with him. Without realizing it, Zelgadis had entwined their lives together so tightly that it could not be undone. Xellos wouldn't magically become Zelas Metallium's again. That bond had been severed.

But if Zelgadis wanted to die… well, he could certainly do that. It wouldn't be difficult. Lina's eyes were turning golden from her extended use of Chaos magic. If she had mastered Chaos magic that well, then taking out a chimera with Ruby Eye's blood running through his veins… it should be no matter for her. And very simply, Zelgadis should injure her enough that she wouldn't live past the encounter.

When Xellos shimmered back into the physical plane, Zelgadis was still searching along the destruction he had created. For the bones of the two he had killed, Xellos assumed. He was fairly certain Zelgadis didn't care much about the woman or her father as beings, but more what they represented. People he could have helped, a tie to humanity in a way. Instead, he had let the power of Shabranigdo inside him loose, and the two had been slaughtered by Zelgadis himself. And now he looked for some sign of them, for something he could bury and put his mind to some sort of rest.

How pathetic. How human.

But at the same time… Xellos touched Zelgadis's shoulder, and he slumped, a choked sob coming to his throat. "I didn't-" he whispered, not yet turning to Xellos.

The pain radiating off Zelgadis should have fed Xellos beautifully. Instead, it tasted sour, curdling inside him. "It's only natural, Zelgadis-sama," he said, his words calm and frank. "They didn't suffer."

"I know," he whispered, his voice thick with unshed tears. "I just-"

Xellos didn't speak.

Finally, Zelgadis inhaled deeply, turning to him. His ruby eyes glittered beautifully in the light as he stared at Xellos. He reached up, cupping his Priest's chin. "You'll stop me next time, right?" he whispered. "I don't- I don't want to be a-"

"You won't," Xellos assured him, remembering Lina's conclusions and his own words to the girl.

One way or another, Zelgadis would not be bothered by these thoughts again.

One way or another, Xellos wouldn't have to worry about it either.