(thanks to Irene-chan for helping me with this part... domo arigatto, sweetie!)



If he'd been in a fully human body, he was sure he would've had a heart attack. As it was, he broke all ground-speed records in rushing behind a nearby screen and throwing on his bathrobe.

"You may hide from Justice, Mr. Xellos, but you can't hide from the fact that this is just sick."

Tentatively, Zel peeked around the edge of the screen. "Uh, hello, Amelia..."

Amelia, who was herself clad in an extremely fluffy pink robe, was standing on the threshold with her fists planted firmly on her hips and her face bright red.

"Hello? You attempt to invade a Woman's Privacy and all you can say is hello?!"

"Well, um." His face burned. The sign on the door had certainly indicated that it wasn't the girls' bath, the first time he'd looked. "I suppose. I'm sorry. It was kind of an accident--"

"Mr. Xellos, considering the way you've been acting, I can't believe that it was an accident!"

She has a point, he told himself. He must have cast an illusion-spell on the door, just to make sure I couldn't avoid meeting somebody.

"This time," Amelia went on, "you've gone much too far. This is cowardly and gross!"

"I plead no contest. Can I just get my clothes?"

Too late. She'd taken a step back, and light was gathering in her hands. Oh, crap! How was he supposed to dodge? She might not be agile, but she was fast... and right now she was mad... God, how he wished he knew how to do Xellos's teleport trick right about now. Just *zip* and he'd be out of there, clothes in hand.

The air around him began to blur. Funny, he hadn't heard her cast her spell--but the screen he'd been hiding behind seemed to be tipping over; he felt as if he were falling out into space...

Then things cleared up. Zel blinked: the room had shifted, as if the floor had suddenly revolved and taken him with it. The screen was in a different corner now--and Amelia had her back towards him.

A sudden wave of dizziness hit him. He slumped against the wall, clapping a hand over his mouth to keep the nausea down--teleporting might be a reflex for somebody with an astral body, but Xellos seemed to have acquired an inner ear when he'd become part human. Which was now reacting violently to his sudden defiance of the laws of physics.

Amelia turned, her blue eyes wide and confused. The spell-energy in her hands sputtered and went out; her confusion spiked out into his mind.

"What?" she gasped.

The dizziness surged for another moment before he regained his balance; this time he managed a nervous smile.

"I'll just see myself out," he said.

And he sprinted out the door, firmly resolved that Xellos was going to be in for the world's most thorough ass-kicking when they next met.



Once Zel was inside his room with the door locked, he remembered he'd left Xellos's clothes behind.

Smart, Zelgadis, he growled mentally. Really fantastically intelligent.

Oh well. He probably still had a spare suit of travelling-clothes somewhere around... stashed under his bed, no doubt. No harm in checking.

He combed his still-damp hair back from his forehead with his fingers, then knelt and rummaged in the narrow space beneath the bed-frame. After a few moments' search, his hand collided with something soft, and he pulled out a bundle of dark material. He shook it out: a full outfit, except for a shirt. Well, he could always ask Lina to go downstairs and get Xellos's clothes later.

Presuming she hadn't just gone to sic Gourry on him.

You're being ridiculous, he told himself, pulling on his slacks. She wouldn't do that. We're friends. She trusts me.

And yet...

He cast a glance at the mirror on the wall behind the head of the bed. He had to admit that even he didn't trust the face that stared back at him; still, when Lina was trying to be crafty, she got a certain edge in her voice. Why was he so damn apprehensive about this if she'd said she believed him?

Zel took a few more steps towards the mirror, then leaned close and searched his reflection. At least he'd been sure that the stone face hadn't disgusted her.

He would never have thought it before this moment, but as he stared at his stolen face, he wished he was a chimera again.

On a crazy impulse, he closed his eyes and waited for the revelation to turn him back to normal; when that didn't happen, he sighed and collapsed across his bed.

Oh well. So much for that.

He rolled over on his back and stared at the ceiling. This did have its advantages, though. It was nice not to have Amelia clinging to him. He couldn't supress a smile as he remembered the confused look on her face--he really had to admit that was a decidedly interesting moment, if not his finest hour. He'd have to tell Lina about that later.

Suddenly he realised it was exactly the same sort of prank Xellos himself would have played on them, and the thought made him feel sick.

He couldn't let it wear off on him. He wouldn't. He pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes, as if to shut out the idea.

"Oh, come on, it wasn't that embarrassing, Zel. I thought the look on her face was actually rather funny!"



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