NOTHING APART
3 - Searching
Xellos' sat watching Lina sleep. She'd acted strange after the incident at the Inn and he didn't know how to react to it. It was all so very confusing to him. He had been around for over 1000 years and never before had he been concerned with a human life. The only thing he could do was to just sit there and watch her. When she opened her eyes he sighed with relief.
"Xellos'," she said and looked at the Priest.
"Yes Lina-san?" Lina took a deep breath.
"Something has happened to Gourry." Xellos' could hear the concern in her voice and thought to himself that Lina cared a lot more about her blonde companion than she showed and now she was seperated from him. The thought made him feel strange and he didn't understand why.
"How do you know that?" he asked. Lina sat up and sighed.
"I don't know I just have this very strong feeling that he needs me and that I have to hurry," she answered with a sad look on her face. The Roguish Priest nodded.
"Lina-san I have to ask you something."
"What's wrong?" she asked and saw the troubled look on his face.
"When you fell down the stairs I was worried about you," he answered slowly. Lina thought in silence for a moment and then looked at Xellos'.
"A Mazoku gets its powers from fear, anger and emotions like that right? And you don't feel like we do, humans I mean?"
"That's right," he nodded.
"Well if Beastmaster-sama took your powers away without sealing them or anything like that," Lina said with a frown.
"She didn't seal them, no."
"Think about it Xellos'," she said while looking him in the eyes. "What would be the easiest way for her to take your powers away without sealing them?" He thought about this a moment and then got a tormented look on his face.
"To make me human," he whispered. Lina nodded.
"Exactly! Didn't know she could do that though." Xellos' had become very pale.
"She probably could," he moaned, "but how cruel is that?" Lina laughed.
"My dear Xellos', this is Beastmaster-sama we're talking about."
"Oh my, I see your point." This whole idea made him very uncomfortable and it also told him a few other things about the way he was feeling.
"Why don't we just make a simple test to see if your human or Mazoku?" she declared and got of the bed.
"A test?" Xellos' gave her a suspicious glare.
"Just repeat after me," she said and grinned at him. "Life is wonderful!" He sighed deeply.
"Okay, life is wonderful."
"Living is marvellous!"
"Living is, hmm, marvellous."
"So do you feel anything?" she asked and looked at him.
"Yes I don't like those frases very much," he whimpered. "But you're right I don't feel weaker or anything like that."
"Well there you have it! Welcome to the human-race Xellos'," she smiled at him and stretched.
"This isn't funny Lina-san," he complained. "This is way too complicated for me." Lina raised an eyebrow at him and tilted her head.
"Maybe it's time you got to know how we are. Just keep a few things in mind."
"Like what?" He was afraid to even ask.
"Don't get hurt, cause you can't restore yourself and don't go saying or feeling anything stupid. You're enough trouble as it is!" she growled at him and left the room. Xellos' sighed and put his chin in his hands.
"Might be too late for that last one, Lina-san," he said knowing that she couldn't hear him.
Lina walked not aware of much but her own thoughts. She could her Xellos' walking behind her but they hadn't talked for hours now. In her mind was only Gourry and the concern she felt for him. Something kept telling her where to go. It felt like a tiny string came from her heart and that string kept pulling her forward. Each time they came up to a crossroad the gentle pull gave her directions. Lina sighed and wished she knew where this hunch was leading her. She'd been following it for a week now and so far she had no idea how far it wanted her to go. All she knew was that she wouldn't give up until she had found Gourry.
The Trickster Priest looked at Lina's back as he followed her. What was happening to him? It was true that in the past he had actually protected her. Not that he wouldn't have killed her if he'd been ordered to do so, but he wouldn't have enjoyed it. Not like other Mazoku would have. And he had spent alot of time with her and her friends. Sometimes more time than his duties had called for. Then it was the fact that every time she meantioned Gourry he got this strange feeling inside. Like anger but not quite. Could it be? Xellos' frowned at his thoughts. Could it be he had feelings for this redhaired sorceress?
He sat on the filthy street with his hand stretched out infront of him. Every now and than someone that passed him dropped him something, mostly food. He shoved it in his mouth without caring what it was. How long had he been here? Almost two weeks, he thought to himself. His memory had returned almost completely by now. But some things kept avoiding him. Carefully he shifted his weight and moaned when his body ached. His wounds hadn't healed at all. Instead he kept on getting worse and the rain that had fallen the last three days left him soaked. Gourry sighed. The hunger constantly ripped at his stomach and he was cold all the time. He knew that his wounds were infected and that that had caused him to run a high fever. But there was nothing he could do about that. A few days ago he had lost complete use in his left arm. It just hung there and any movemeant what so ever caused him severe pain. Due to the cough he had developt it wasn't easy to keep it from being moved. God he wanted Lina to be there. But at the same time he felt like he'd rather die than let her see him like this. And die, he thought to himself, is exactly what I going to do here. Shivering he pulled the old cloak, he'd found, tighter around him. Its hood kept the sun and rain away from his face but the cloak itself was too torn to provide any real warmth. The other beggers left the street during the night and found shelter, but he couldn't. He would never find his way back if he wandered off. Every sunset was a struggle. Along with the wounds from the fight he had several new ones. He was blind and therefor an easy target. Time and time again he had to find himself in being beaten and robbed of everything he managed to beg together during the day. So when the night came Gourry cuddled up the best he could and felt the rain soaking his cloak and shirt. All he could do was to wait for dawn and the sun to reappear again.
He woke up when someone kicked him in the back. With a moan he sat up.
"Get away from here you piece of filth," he heard a female voice scream at him and again he felt a kick. Shuddering from cold and fever he staggered a little further down the street and sank down against the wall. The sun was up again and he could hear the other beggers around him. Gourry realized he had felt no pain in his shoulder from the kicks so he gently pressed his right hand over his wounded shoulder. Nothing. He had lost all feeling in his left arm and shoulder. Perhaps he would soon be relieved from all this pain and suffer. His skin was pounding with fever and he couldn't stop shaking.
"I can see how this is going to end," he whispered to himself.
Unsure of where to go next Lina stood at the gates to a medium sized town. The gentle pull she had felt for over two weeks was gone. Maybe Gourry's here, she thought to herself.
"What's wrong Lina-san?" Xellos' asked and put a hand on her shoulder.
"I don't know where to go from here," she answered and frowned. "Lets just get a room and I'll check out the town." Xellos' nodded at her and walked ahead towards an Inn. It's strange, Lina thought, how silence Xellos' had become. He didn't tease her, infact he didn't say much at all anymore. She shook her head. No time to worry about that now. Still frowning she followed him towards the Inn.
She had been searching the town for hours now and still no sign of Gourry. If people had seen him they should remember, she thought to herself. Lina decided to try one more time before giving up. She stopped the first person she meet. It was a Priest dressed in a long white robe carrying a rod very much like the one Rezo had had.
"Excuse me Priest? I'm looking for a friend of mine, can you help me, please?" she asked.
"If I can," the Priest answered slowly and bobbed his head. "What does she look like?"
"He," she corrected him. "Tall, long blonde hair, blue eyes, blue shirt and trousers." The Priest thought for a minute before answering.
"I believe I have seen a man like that." Linas heart pounded harder.
"When and where?" she asked holding herself back from shaking the slow-talking Priest.
"Yesterday if I'm not mistaken," he answered. "It was down there," he continued and pointed further down the street. "Just take this street as far as you can and then turn left."
"Thank you so much," she almost yelled and started running down the street. When she got to the end of it she found herself staring down a long, filthy street leading up to a temple of some sort. Both sides of the street was packed with beggers. Lina frowned and started walking pass them. It hurt her to see their skimpy bodies dressed in even skimpier clothes. Soon she realized why they were sitting there. From the temple a steady stream of people walked by. Most of them stopped and handed out food and coins. What had Gourry been doing here? She stopped and looked around. With her headed tilted she watched one of the beggers only a few feet away from her. He was taller than the others but she couldn't see his face for it was covered underneth a hood. Slowly Lina walked up beside him to get a better look. The begger kept his head low and didn't even look up when he was given food. Lina felt a lump in her stomach when a blonde lock of hair fell out from underneth the hood. Her fists cramped up as she slowly kneeled infront of him. Shivering with fear she pushed back the hood. Infront of her sat Gourry. She couldn't believe her own eyes so she gently put a shaking hand under his chin and lifted up his face.
"Gourry," she whispered to him. His eyes were coverd with a piece of cloth and his face was pale and sweaty.
Chapter4