A quick diagnostic spell revealed that the staff was not, in fact, rigged; Zel used it as a support to help him walk back to the inn once he'd managed to staunch the small wound.

Lina was, of course, full of questions.

"What kind of spell do you think it was? I mean, it obviously drew on energy from the astral plane in order to mess with your spirits, but it sounds like he modified some kind of chimeric spell to make your body partially human."

He tried to remember whether Xellos had been chanting anything before they'd collided. Lina, a little distracted, brushed against his shoulder; the bruise there throbbed angrily. Dammit, he thought--and then recalled Xellos’s reaction to it. The blow he'd dealt would probably have shattered bone in any human--but he didn't feel any broken bones (come to think of it, no bones at all in this body). Just this very large bruise.

A bruise which shouldn't have formed on a mazoku.

"...Unless," he mused, "he was already partially human when he cast the spell."

Lina stared. "You really think...?"

"I hit him before he cast it. There shouldn't be a bruise on his shoulder, but there is."

"Jeez, what were you guys fighting over?"

Zel felt a blush start to burn his face. "Uh, it's not really important right now."

Thankfully, she just shrugged it off. "At any rate, how would a mazoku end up with human qualities? You've--I mean, he's been sticking pretty close to us this past couple of weeks. I think we'd know if the Lord of Nightmares got cheesed off at him or anything."

He nodded, then struggled to keep back an intense shiver as a cold breath of wind lanced past them.

Lina noticed. "Are you okay?" she asked, laying a hand on his arm.

"I don't know..." He gripped the staff and turned away from her, waiting for the chill to pass. "I think it's just an after-effect of the spell; it ought to go away soon..."

Suddenly he felt Lina's hand move from his arm to his forehead. A very different kind of shiver began to work its way through his frame.

"You're burning up," she said, softly. "What did he do to you?"

"I--I think it's just excess magic energy," he faltered.

"Here, let me cast a healing spell."

"Lina--"

"Please."

Their eyes met. Ripples of worry glided through his mind.

There's more to this quest for humanity than feeling the wind on your face.

Zel felt something tighten inside his chest briefly, then melt.

"If you like," he managed.



When they got back to the inn, Zel was quick to make a break for his room; he practically dived into bed, wrapping the blankets around his body as tightly as he could.

He'd thought that once he had a human form again, it would be easier to deal with Lina--after all, then they'd be equals.

Not a chance: after she'd managed to heal the wound on his hand and dispel the fever, she'd kept hold of his arm all the way back to the inn, and he'd felt as if his heart was trying to hammer its way out of his chest. The filtered-down sensations had been much easier to handle than feeling her touch outright.

You want to touch her with real hands.

"I was right, wasn't I?"

He sat bolt upright. A shadow in the corner had taken a distinctly familiar shape.

"You," Zel hissed, "you dare to show your face, after--"

"Actually, it's your face, my dear Zel. And I can I see things are going rather badly for you and Lina." The shadow shook its head. "'Cut me'. Where's your sense of style? Honestly. How macabre."

"But it worked. Why did I bleed?"

"That is a secret," Xellos said, tightly.

"You screwed something up before this, didn't you."

"Nothing you need know about."

"Why the hell are you bleeding, Xellos?" Zel found himself yelling.

"If you carry on like that, you'll wake your friends, and then you'll really be in a pickle." There was a distant, brittle laugh. "Which would make you more of a fool than I thought possible."

"What kind of a fool would I be if I got the Sword of Light from Gourry's room and slit your throat?"

"Ahhh, but which throat would you slit?"

A sudden flash of green light illuminated the corner of the room where Xellos was standing. A smirk played over his stolen features.

"It is rather an interesting problem, now that I think about it. Maybe you should sleep on it."

"Now wait--" Zel began, but it was too late.

"Dark Veil," Xellos said icily, and unconsciousness rammed into the back of Zel's skull.



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