Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Detour ❯ Chapter Four ( Chapter 4 )

Detour

 

by Rose Thorne

 

Disclaimer: Slayers is owned by a bunch of folks who aren't me. I'm borrowing them for my perverse pleasure, much as Xellos borrows emotions for his.

 

 

Chapter Four

 

By late afternoon, Zelgadis was lagging terribly, and though he stubbornly pressed on it was clear to Xellos from the way he was leaning on the walking staff and the exhaustion that poured off him in waves that he wouldn't last much longer.

 

“I'll be right back, Zelgadis-san.” He didn't give the chimera a chance to respond, instead disappearing and reappearing far above, checking for the town. He frowned. It was at least another day of travels ahead.

 

The Mazoku glanced around for shelter, his eyes settling on a small canyon a few hundred yards off the path that was littered with small caverns. Perfect.

 

When he returned to the ground, however, he found that Zelgadis had collapsed in exhaustion. “There are some caverns near here.” Xellos pulled the young man to his feet and steadied him, then led him off the path. The chimera made it another hundred yards before losing grip on the walking staff and slipping in the snow. Xellos grabbed him by his cloak, and only that prevented him from sliding into a ravine.

 

However, this time when Xellos pulled him up, Zelgadis only slumped against him. The chimera had fallen unconscious, he realized with irritation. “Mortals are such fragile beings,” he murmured, sighing, then slung the sorcerer over his shoulder and picked up the walking staff. For the second time in only a week, Xellos found himself carrying Zelgadis to safety. At least this time the chimera was clothed.

 

Zelgadis was heavy, something that didn't bother the Mazoku. Had he been a lesser being, however, he would not have been able to carry the chimera without the use of magic. A human of such slight build normally would weigh little more than the petite Lina Inverse. Instead, Xellos estimated that Zelgadis weighed over two hundred kilograms.

 

He found a small cave with an opening that would block the wind and easily destroyed the carnivorous creature that leapt out to defend its territory. After setting the chimera down and removing his pack, Xellos set about lighting a fire and cooking a hearty stew. He knew well enough that Zelgadis needed to keep up his strength, and for a mortal food was the best source of energy.

 

To pass time as it cooked, he moved Zelgadis closer to the fire, removing his cloak, hood, mask, and sword. Bark was still imbedded in his hair, and Xellos amused himself for a while pulling it out. Even when a wire hair was yanked out with the bark, Zelgadis didn't even twitch. The Mazoku frowned, checking him briefly for injuries and finding nothing physical. It was possible that there was damage to the chimera's soul, but it was difficult to check with him unconscious.

 

Xellos had never imagined that he would be trying to keep a mortal alive. It was conceivable if he wanted a pawn to carry out his bidding, as Lina Inverse had after he had helped them with Gaav, and as she had aided in destroying Valgaav and Dark Star. But he had no plans that required Zelgadis living. Even Beastmaster hadn't specified that Zelgadis had to reach Seyruun safely or healthy—or even alive, for that matter—and he couldn't blame the compulsion to keep him healthy on concern about what Lina might do to him. Perhaps it was a desire to avoid the hassle of traveling with an injured or sick chimera, but even that didn't explain his compulsive decision to save Zelgadis in the first place.

 

The smell of simmering stew caught his attention, and he turned to stir it, unsettled by his actions over the past week. For a creature of his nature, they were more than simply inexplicable; they were inconceivable, and the fact that they could not be justified in anything less than human—or worse, Shinzoku—terms was disturbing. And yet here he was, with the proof beside him.

 

The Mazoku sat, stewing and watching the kettle, until Zelgadis finally stirred shortly after the sun set. He sat up, confused, and then Xellos could feel his embarrassment and shame as he realized what had happened. Xellos found that he wasn't enjoying those negative emotions, and that bothered him even more.

 

“You should eat and rest, Zelgadis-san. It will take another day of travel to reach the next town.” He opened his eyes and looked at the chimera, letting his gaze go beyond the young man's body, checking the damage done to his soul.

 

Zelgadis avoided looking at him. “Xellos, I…” He stopped, and the shame flared into self-contempt.

 

“You're still recovering,” Xellos said smoothly. “Even though that spell didn't hit you, the Astral magic still weakened you. You were incredibly lucky to dodge it.” Raza Klouva was tricky to evade. Without Zelgadis' demon speed and agility, he would not have avoided it, and it probably would have killed him.

 

The chimera was silent for a moment. “If I don't figure out how to fix this, I'm not going to survive very long. I definitely can't use any magic that deals with the Astral plane, and who knows what White and Devine magic would do to the demon in me.” He looked up, and Xellos could see and feel Zelgadis' despair. “I'm as good as dead.”

 

Xellos remained silent for a while. He should have been enjoying the hopeless anguish and resignation Zelgadis was feeling, but instead the miasma left a bitter aftertaste. Truly he had become far too fond of this human if he could not even enjoy such pure, negative emotions from him and was instead concerned for his emotional well-being, of all things. He pulled a bowl from the pack the swordsman had carried and ladled some stew into it, fishing out a spoon. He didn't know what to say, so instead he handed Zelgadis the bowl.

 

Zelgadis didn't take it. “What the hell is the point?”

 

The Mazoku regarded him. “I didn't think you were one to give up so easily, Zelgadis-san, after saving the world so many times with the odds stacked so high against you. Humans are generally so much more tenacious.”

 

The flare of irritation in the chimera was almost a relief. “In case you haven't noticed, I'm not human. You were right; look what my quest for a cure got me. And Lina saved the world all of those times, not me.”

 

Xellos could have pointed out that Lina would have succumbed to her wounds if Zelgadis hadn't bought Sylphiel time to cast Resurrection, without which the world would have been destroyed several times over, but he wasn't one for reassurances and it was probably better that he didn't hint at having watched them then.

 

“Lina-san never has been one to wallow in self-pity,” he finally replied, “even when she feels things are hopeless.”

 

Zelgadis flinched as though Xellos had struck him, and his emotions became muddled and conflicted for a moment before they settled into cold determination and anger. The chimera pulled off his gloves and grabbed the bowl that Xellos was still holding out, and spooning the stew into his mouth sullenly. The anger was something the Mazoku could enjoy, and he savored it.

 

They sat in silence for a while, and Xellos could feel him slowly calm down. “You can cook,” Zelgadis murmured as he ladled more stew into the bowl, mildly surprised.

 

“Yare, yare.” Xellos smiled. “I thought I made that obvious with that dragon-killing soup.”

 

The chimera smirked. “Okay, so you can cook something that isn't disgusting,” he amended. “It's not like you eat normal food.”

 

“Saa…”

 

“You sometimes pretend to when you're trying to act human, but it's not like Mazoku need physical food.” Zelgadis finished off his second bowl and set it aside. “You get your sustenance from negative emotions, chaos, and pain.”

 

Xellos watched him silently for a moment. The chimera's sapphire eyes glowed in the light of the fire, and he could see as well as feel the chimera's weariness. “Our physical bodies do have a sense of taste, Zelgadis-san,” he finally said, standing as he felt a satisfying burst of surprise from the young sorcerer. “You should sleep. We have a full day of travel tomorrow if we wish to reach an inn before nightfall.”

 

“You're leaving?” Though the chimera's tone was bland, behind those words was a swirl of emotions that Xellos couldn't untangle.

 

The Mazoku hesitated for a moment. “I'll be around.” He phased out to the Astral Plane, keeping a tendril of awareness in the mortal realm.

 

 

So this chapter wound up being Xellos-centric. Didn't really expect that, but Zelgadis was kind of having a pity-party and being uncooperative. Typical.

 

I never thought I would say this, but I'm actually finding that I enjoy Slayers even more than Yu Yu Hakusho. I didn't think that was even possible. It almost feels like blasphemy, but the extent to which I truly love all aspects of Slayers is truly surprising to me.

 

Again, thanks to Chrissy for helping me out with this chapter. She apparently really likes my interpretation of Xellos.

 

3/22/09: The weight issue was an awkward thing that has been bugging me for a while. I originally relied on Wikipedia, which claims that Zel weighs about 1 ton, which is far too much unless he's entirely made of stone. Given that he bleeds in the series, we know that's not true. An unofficial interview with Kanzaka (meaning that it is not considered canon information) placed his weight around 90kg, which would mean that Zel is really freaking tiny and even with stone weighs less than 180lbs.

 

I don't really buy that for several reasons. The first is that, as stone, his skin would weigh four times more, which basically means that he'd weigh probably around 140lbs as a normal human. I can buy into that part, but beyond his skin, the rest of his body would need to compensate. His tissue, for example, would be crushed under four times the normal weight of skin, and would therefore need to be strengthened. It may not be stone, but it has to be heavier. And because his tissues (muscles, veins, organs, etc) would need to be strengthened, his bones would also have to gain density to be able to handle the extra weight. If these alterations hadn't happened, his stone skin probably would have killed him.

 

Thus I'm tentatively pegging him at about 500lbs, which is over 200kg. This has been bugging me for a while, and I finally decided to change it. This basically makes me feel better because it's more realistic.