Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Roses ❯ Flowers ( Chapter 4 )

Flowers

Xellos opened the door.

Three things were wrong.

No Gourry.

No Zelgadis.

Someone, and he had a pretty sure idea who, had gotten sick all over the bed.

"He WHAT?" Lina screamed from the restaurant.

Not a good sign.

He knocked on the bathroom door.

No answer.

He opened the door.

No one.

"Zel, here Zel." Xellos said, looking under the bed.

Nothing but dust bunnies.

"Zel, where are you hiding?"

Xellos checked the chest of drawers. Halfway through he realized what he was doing. "Oh, right, I'm not looking for socks, am I?"

"Now, if I were a chimera, where would I hide?"

Silence for a while as Xellos couldn't think of anything, then the closet sneezed.

"Zel, are you in the closet?"

"I'm not here."

"If you're not here, then you won't mind me opening the closet door, then will you?"

No answer.

Xellos grabbed the doorknob and turned it slowly. He quietly opened the door, he didn't want to startle Zel.

Zel had balled himself up again, was sitting in a corner in the closet, and didn't have the top half of his pajamas on.

"Go away," Zelgadis whispered. "Don't touch me."

Xellos knelt down and gathered the chimera into his arms.

"No, shh, its alright," Xellos said.

"Let me go."

"And where would you go?"

"Outside."

"I can't let you go anywhere, not when its snowing and you're sick."

"You made me sick."

"No, I didn't. I'll prove it, I'll get you anything you want, just tell me what that is."

"Nngh."

"Zel, are you asleep?"

Xellos looked down at Zelgadis. His fever was raging, if it was at all possible, it was worse.

"Pretty . . . pretty things . . . I want pretty things," Zel said, dreamily.

"Pretty things, I'll get you some pretty things, okay."

"Rocks not pretty," Zel mumbled.

"Gotcha, no rocks."

* * * * *

"How in the hell are we going to find that Mazoku? If that spell stays on it for much longer, then it'll die. We don't get paid if it dies."

"I know, I know. I'm not clairvoyant. I don't know what to do."

"Where are you going?"

"Seyruun is north of here, right?"

"Right"

"And this is the north road, right?"

"Right."

"We need some money, right?"

"Right."

"I heard Princess Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun will be coming here, she's got a pretty big reward on her head, especially if it's not connected to her neck."

"Rosencrantz, I can't believe you came up with a smart idea."

* * * * *

"Flowers are pretty, I think," Xellos said to himself, staring at the vast shelves of flowers, each bunch arranged by color and species.

"Looking for a pretty bunch of flowers for someone you love, are you?" a voice said behind him.

"Huh?" he said, turning his head. Behind him was an old woman, the owner of the store.

"Uh, sort of, I'm not very good at this. I need something pretty for someone who's very sick and-"

"Isn't that nice, you want to give some flowers to someone who's sick. Who is it? Mom? Sister? Girlfriend?"

"Why?"

"You can't just give someone flowers. Each occasion is different. You need a specific kind of flowers. Same with people. If your mother is sick, you give her pale yellow flowers, roses are nice, and lilies if its your sister. Now, if it's your best friend getting married, you give them a small thing of pansies, violets, and lavender. Now, who is it, you can tell me young man, I've been selling flowers to couples the parents didn't approve of for twenty years."

"Uhhh . . .well, I like him, but I don't want him to quite know it yet, and he's really, really, sick."

"Oh, I think I have some flowers for that over this way. How sick is she?"

"He . . . well, let's just say we're paying the hotel back for all the blankets, and from the looks of it I'll be paying for more. His fever's so bad it hurts to touch him, nothing will keep him warm." `I may have to kill him and resurrect him,' Xellos thought.

"Dying?"

"Most likely."

"I have some special flowers, perfect for this. I got these from my old boyfriend, Joran Mephi-something something. Anyway, he did a bunch of crazy things, but I managed to get some clippings of a special rose that lived around there. It's the best thing for occasions like these."

"Is it pretty?"

* * * * *

"How's Zel?" Gourry yelled to Lina as she came in, from the bathroom. He had been washing his shirt for twenty minutes in the sink. The stain was mostly gone. He gave it a sniff, crinkled his nose, and went back to washing it.

He heard nothing from Lina and turned around to go into the room.

He stopped.

Lina was there in the doorway.

"He's delirious. He's not doing very well, I can't find Xellos, and I hope Amelia can heal this."

She left the doorway.

Gourry didn't know what to do and went back to washing his shirt.