Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Word of Subjugation ❯ Part six: Intentions ( Chapter 6 )

 

 

Word of Subjugation, chapter 6: Intentions

by Tsutsuji

Fandom: Slayers

Pairing: Xelloss x Zelgadis

Rating: Mature. yaoi, mind-control, non-con, some violence. not beta'd. (but nothing alarming in this chapter)

Date Written: 4/25/09

Disclaimer: In case I haven't mentioned it lately, tsutsuji does not own Slayers or any of these characters, and does not make any money from writing this.

Word count, chapter 5: around 2475

Summary: Zelgadis never expected to meet Zelas Metallium in person, and certainly not under these circumstances.

 

Chapter 6: Intentions

 

Zelgadis woke up to the sound of water lapping at the shore, the smell of wet sand in his face, his body aching and stiff - and the sudden realization that he'd fallen asleep with Xelloss still on top of him.

 

He sprang up from the ground in alarm, fully expecting to see amethyst eyes glaring into his with a deadly smile, right before he was struck dumb by some hideous mazoku attack spell. It took his sleep-muddled mind several seconds to realize that he was completely alone, and that the dark had given way to misty daylight over the lake. He must have slept for hours. His clothing was torn and his tunic was half buried in the sand, but aside from the familiar ache of having Xelloss pounding into him, his body and his spirit were unharmed.

 

There was sand under his fingernails, gouges in the ground beneath him where he'd clawed at the earth. Wet sand was caked on to his body; even his hair was full of it. He stood and gazed down at the marks left in the ground by their struggle together. He couldn't understand why Xelloss hadn't seized the opportunity to attack him. He could not remember how it had ended, or how long Xelloss had stayed with him afterward. His mind had been too hazy with exhaustion and lust to remember what he'd said to Xelloss, whether he'd told the mazoku to go away and leave him alone as he had the time before, or - if he'd said something else.

 

He was baffled by the fact that it was, apparently, safe to fall asleep after all. He had been horrified at himself for taking Xelloss the way he did the last time; now, he thought, he should be even more disgusted; he'd had Xelloss under his control again, and yet he'd only asked for more of what he'd always resisted before. All he could feel was the dull ache of shame for still wanting Xelloss as much as he ever.

 

None of it made sense anymore - if it ever did - so Zelgadis decided to simply stop thinking for a while. He bathed in the lake, put on fresh clothes, and headed down the mountain. At least he didn't have to worry about whether the spell continued to hold, or whether he'd suddenly forget how to activate it when the time came; it was ingrained on his mind now, just as deeply as any other spell or sword-skill he'd trained himself to use without conscious thought. After this last encounter, he was finally confident that he'd be able to control Xelloss even if the mazoku took him by surprise again - short of a direct attack from the astral side, perhaps, but there was really no way a human could defend against that, so there was no point worrying about it.

 

He had a nagging feeling that his confidence was as illogical as his exhausted paranoia had been, but he ignored that along with all his other questions. Somehow, over the next few days, he found himself returning to his former routine - wandering, taking work as a sorcerer-swordsman, and hiding his face from suspicious humans. As the days went by and Xelloss did not return, Zelgadis began to wonder if he'd finally convinced the annoying bastard to leave him alone.

 

He tried to convince himself that he was pleased with that result. After all, that was his original, desperate intention when he decided to use this spell, wasn't it? He never intended to bind Xelloss to him, or to simply get more of the maddening pleasure the mazoku had teased him with for so long. He never meant to make Xelloss his...

 

Two weeks, three, then a month went by in this strangely normal way. Zelgadis realized that he'd come to expect Xelloss to appear at any time he was alone, and especially at night, whether he was camping in the wild or settling into some room at an inn somewhere along the road. Even before he'd had cast the spell, waiting for Xelloss to appear had become a habit he was barely aware of.

 

Aside from that, though, as a sorcerer and warrior, his senses had long ago become attuned to detect any demonic presence; he only assumed such a presence would always be Xelloss now, at least in lonely places. Of all the humiliation Xelloss had put him through, seducing him in public was one horror he had so far been spared.

 

Therefore, Zelgadis was confused to sense the dark aura of a powerful mazoku in the crowded common room of a tavern one evening. Even so, his response was automatic. Foam flew from his mug of beer as he slammed it on the table, and his mouth opened to speak the Word of Subjugation at the same time that his hand flew to his sword hilt, ready to fend off an attack of the ordinary kinds of demons who often plagued these isolated villages.

 

Neither Xelloss nor the monster he was expecting appeared, however. Mouth hanging open on an unspoken spell, he looked up in surprise at the woman who had entered the room. She was dressed in common traveler's clothes, but she moved through the crowd like an elegant queen, with her head held high and her gaze steady and clear. Her manner seemed to be that of a woman who was accustomed to be attended by a lowly flock of servants, rather than the solitary mercenary or merchant she appeared to be. But then, she also appeared to be human. The people she passed barely glanced at her with mild curiosity, while Zelgadis' senses screamed with alarm at the demonic aura that surrounded her.

 

The hood of her cloak fell back as she came across the room, revealing bright blond hair and a fair face that stood out among the mangy brown locks and weathered faces of the local people. She ignored them all, and headed straight for Zelgadis' table.

 

"You are Zelgadis," she said, in a crisp, low voice, with the tone of one who was used to being obeyed without question. Zelgadis thought he would hardly dare be anyone else after being addressed like that.

 

He stared at her with his mouth open, baffled, ready to cast a spell but with no idea which one to cast. Not Xelloss, and not an attack by a random demon on the nearly helpless human village, then, but a mazoku who knew his name. His mind raced through various past encounters with the demon race, wondering whether this was something to do with Lina Inverse, or with Rezo?

 

The woman casually pulled out a chair and sat down at his table. She smiled at him, a shockingly familiar smile - Xelloss' smile. Suddenly Zelgadis knew exactly who she was. He thought his heart would stop. Sitting across the table from him was none other than The Greater Beast, Zelas Metallium, Xelloss' mistress and creator, and one of the highest ranking Mazoku Lords still alive.

 

Zelgadis closed his mouth, swallowed hard, and dropped his hand from his sword. Even the strongest spell he could cast would probably not be much use against her.

 

"I've looked forward to meeting you for some time," she said. She tipped her head and regarded him with bright eyes. Her smile widened. "You know who I am, don't you, Zelgadis-san?" she added pleasantly.

 

He nodded. The noise and bustle in the common room faded away, as if the two of them sat alone in their own pocket universe. There could only be one reason the Greater Beast had sought him out in person. Of all of the threats and battles Zelgadis had lived through, he knew he'd probably never been in as much danger as he was at this moment. She could snuff out his life with hardly more than a thought. But if she did....

 

Suddenly he found his voice again.

 

"If you kill me..." he began quickly.

 

"Yes, I know," Zelas interrupted with a quick, dismissive wave of her hand. "If you die, Xelloss' physical form will be damaged, his spirit broken, and he'll be of no more use to me. I'm quite aware of that."

 

She snapped the last words at him, and her eyes flashed as she spoke. Zelgadis shrank back in his chair, but still, she didn't seem ready to attack.

 

"Then - what do you want?" he asked. He tried to sound firm, even challenging. He hoped she couldn't see how shocked he was that she seemed to think that part of the spell would actually work. "If you're going to ask me to break the spell on Xelloss, I...I can't."

 

"Really?" she said, her tone slightly mocking.

 

"Yes... " he said, and stammered to an embarrassed halt. "I - The truth is, I don't know how. I don't even know if it's possible," he muttered, blushing as he finally admitted it to himself as well as to her.

 

It had been at the back of his mind all along, ever since he realized he'd actually bound himself to Xelloss more deeply than he ever consciously intended. He had somehow woven the spell into Xelloss' astral being in a way he hardly understood himself. Now, he had a feeling that merely removing the enchanted rosary would not be enough to break the spell, and might have unexpected consequences for both of them.

 

"It is possible," she said, matter of factly. "In fact, I imagine you will wish to end the spell of your own accord, eventually - when you finally come to understand what it is that you've done. However, Zelgadis-san, I only wish you to know this: if you should ever force Xelloss to go directly against my will, it will break his spirit just as completely as your death would. Do you understand?"

 

"I - think so," Zelgadis said. He wasn't sure he did, really; he would have to think about that more later, assuming he got out of this encounter with his own mind and body intact.

 

"Do you?" she asked, looking at him sharply. "Do you understand that you have the means to destroy Xelloss completely, if you choose to?"

 

"De- destroy...??" he stammered. He stared at her; she was no longer smiling. She had looked completely human until now, but for the first time he could see the demonic gleam in her eyes.

 

Even though he'd linked Xelloss' life to his, he had never thought of it in those terms. The idea of Xelloss being destroyed - of losing him - felt like a mono-bolt hitting him in the chest.

 

Zelas raised an eyebrow. Zelgadis quickly tried to hide his horror, but before he could embarrass himself by admitting that he did not want Xelloss harmed, she continued.

 

"If you did so, I will no longer have any reason to let you live," she said.

 

Meaning, he realized, that she intended to let him live on unharmed, at least for now, just as long as he didn't interfere directly with any of her plans.

 

"I ... see," Zelgadis said. He relaxed, slightly. His mind raced, trying to sort out all the meanings of her words, muddled by his own confusing reactions, but one thing seemed clear. "I guess that puts us at something of an impasse, then."

 

"For the time being, yes. On the other hand," she continued, an incongruously sunny smile lighting up her face, "if you cause me to lose the use of my Priest, I will have no reason to make your death either quick or pleasant, will I?"

 

Zelgadis stared back at her. The power she contained beat on his inhuman senses, reminding him that he faced one of the most powerful and dangerous beings in the world.

 

Zelas said nothing else; clearly, she felt that her point had been made. She stood up, and with a last smiling glance down at him, she turned and walked away.

 

Zelgadis sat unmoving, staring after her, while the noises, sights and smells of the tavern flowed over his ordinary senses again. After a while, he numbly reached for his mug and drained it in one long gulp. Then he nearly toppled out of his chair, suddenly flooded with a sense of relief that he was still alive.

 

Only later, when he was lying awake in the dark in his squalid room at the back of the tavern, did he realize that Zelas hadn't told him how the spell could be broken - if she actually knew a way. Beyond that, he also remembered there were curses a Mazoku could use on a human that were far worse than death, spells that would prolong his life in helpless, speechless agony forever. Casting one of those on him would effectively free Xelloss, and no doubt provide both of them with a wealth of pleasure in his suffering as well. What else did Zelas Metallium know that prevented her from using one of those curses on him now? He could not imagine. Maybe she only thought he wasn't worth the effort.

 

Slowly, as he relived the conversation over and over again in his mind, he realized that she had not even warned him away from using the Word of Subjugation on Xelloss again. She didn't give any indication that she intended to keep Xelloss away from him, either - assuming the mazoku priest ever chose to come near him again, anyway, but, if he didn't intend to, why would Zelas take the trouble to come to him with such a warning? It didn't seem to make sense at all, but Zelgadis supposed he shouldn't be surprised at that. Why should he expect Xelloss' creator to be any more straightforward than the trickster priest himself?

 

He tried to forget the way his heart had lurched when she'd said he could destroy Xelloss if he wanted to.

 

In fact, he tried to shove all thoughts of mazoku aside, and slowly fought his way toward sleep, but Zelas' smile, so much like her priest's, kept returning to his mind. Near dawn, he finally succeeded in drifting off. The last word he muttered before sleep overtook him was not his mantra, the Word of Subjugation, but only Xelloss' name.

 

 

(to be continued)