| A little note from Wing: “Well there is not much to this chapter. A little building of relationships. More understanding about Aeron, who she is, and her relationship with Xelloss. I don’t know where this is all going so don’t ask! I am a beginner fan fiction writer!” Telling 5 ~ The flow of blood Ah, the little village of Dahl. Peaceful, calm, and not the kind of place you’d expect for people to try to loot. Meet the Green Horn Gang. Stupidity and brawns are not a good combo for a bunch of thieves. Sure the people who they steal much only really look at the brawns part, too frightened out of their wits to notice the stupidity of it all, but when you are facing one who cares nothing for brawns, they tend to notice all the dumb asses. In the middle of Dahl… "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!" Lina ran around the street blowing up whatever bandit that was in sight. Occasionally destroying a house or two. Miss Inverse was in her prime. Zelgadiss sat with Amelia and Gourry, at a restaurant, watching Lina obliviate everything. Xelloss was standing on the roof of the restaurant with Aeron and Xelan sitting beside him. "EXPLOSION ARRAY!!" The bandits were blown into the air and disappeared in "team rocket" fashion. Six bags of gold fell from the sky. Lina caught each. "You done Lina?" Zel asked. Lina held up the gold, "Yep!" Owners of the stores Lina blew up all walked up to her. The baker, with flour covering him from head to toe shouted. "Look at what you've done to our stores?! What are you gonna do about it?" Lina smiled and gave them two bags of the gold she caught, "Here ya go! Don't spend it all at once!" "Yay! Way to go Miss Lina!" Amelia cheered. "Yeah, well..." Lina smiled and rubbed the back of her head. Sigh… Xelloss glanced beside him wear Aeron sat. The frown on her face showed her displeasure of being there. Xelan looked too, but he didn’t think about it. He just let it pass. It was his nature. “Ne, Aeron, I’m going to go down and get something to eat.” Aeron nodded, turning her frown slightly around. “All right.” When the boy had hopped off the low roof and landed on Gourry with a loud OOF and a lot of shouting, Xelloss sat down beside Aeron. “Something troubles you.” He stated. “So?” Aeron spoke solemnly. Xelloss gave her a big ol’ smile. “It’s not healthy to be troubled.” Sigh… “I’m bored.” “Liar.” Xelloss poked her with his staff end. “You didn’t sigh aloud like most people do when they are bored. You sighed in your mind.” “Pervert.” Aeron stated. “Am I?” The priest raised an eyebrow. “Absolutely.” Hmm, I wonder…. “Do you hate me then?” Aeron twitched and smiled. “Do I have reason to?” Well then… “Do you love me?” “Do I have a reason to?” She looked at him with a grin and he returned the grin by sticking his tongue out. “OI!” Lina waved furiously at them, “You two coming down or what?” “Coming.” Aeron got up and kicked Xelloss off. “That was cruel.” Xelloss whined and he landed on his feet. “I know.” * Ah, the memories… When you’re a very, very old Mazoku, you tend to have a lot of memories. And those memories are kept in tight security in a corner of the mind. You wouldn’t want others poking round, now would you? There are so many; mostly evil doings and daring adventures. Why the most recent ones are adventures and plotting evil doings. Lina Inverse tends to be the heroine of these memories. The oldest memories is sometime during my childhood, but these are the most secret of my secrets. But I have memories that are not locked up and I enjoy looking back at them… …especially the ones that involve Aeron. //Xelloss-sama!// She was a beautiful child. There was a time when I took her to Sailoon to have ice cream. She sure had many chocolate scoops. Surprising how she did not gain a single pound. I even remember her on her sixth birthday, a scrawny, dark haired girl with leathery wings protruding from the back of her dress. Her father, Winged Sorrow, was a Mazoku under Phibrizzo. He was an okay Mazoku I suppose, though not a very happy person. He only impregnated the female singer to make her feel sorrow. It was his job after all. After that woman gave birth, she killed herself. Then, much sorrow to the ill-fated Aeron, a Dragon killed Winged Sorrow on Aeron’s sixth birthday. I found her then and made her my student, much to her disapproval and that of my lady Zelas. Anyway, when she was six, I came to the entrance of Winged Sorrow’s lair and read the note he left on the front door. “Not here. Went out to bring about sorrow to the Dragon race.” A very nice day for such a thing as well. I had thought, though I knew he died. Aeron sat on her bed, opening the present her father gave to her. She told me her father gave it to her yesterday and told me not to open it until evening. I wondered why Sorrow put up with a human child anyway. It was very bothersome, though, I suppose he would feel some bond to her, being his child and all. And Sorrow was once human too, before he was “converted”. It was then that I told her of her father’s death. She said she knew, or rather, she felt it. She had cried a little but she accepted it as life. She asked me what would happen to her then and it was then when I had the idea to take her in as my apprentice. She didn’t like the idea of it, but I eventually persuaded her. It took longer to keep Lady Zelas from trying to kill her. …then it took longer to decide who would she be a servant to. Hellmaster and Beastmaster argued quite awhile. * “So Xelloss?” It was later that night, Team Lina found a cozy little inn to stay at for the night. Everyone was sitting down and eating when Xelloss snapped around and faced Aeron. “What is it?” “How did Master Phibrizzo die?” Lina choked on her chicken al la carte. Amelia froze. Zelgadiss coughed. Gourry continued to chew on his food, considering he forgot who Phibrizzo was. “Master Phibrizzo?” Lina asked. “You’re one of his minions?” Aeron nodded. “It took awhile but Lady Zelas gave up the fight for me and Hellmaster took me in, though I was under the tutorage of Xelloss.” I had the urge to tell her that Lina had destroyed him, only to bring up negative feelings. I smiled, “Well, Aeron, the one who killed Phibrizzo is-grrk.” Lina, Amelia, and Zelgadiss tackled me to the floor. “Ne, who’s this Phib-what’s it guy?” Gourry asked between bites. “My father’s master as well as my own.” Aeron told him. “I felt the day he was destroyed and I would like to know who did it.” “W-Why would you need to know?” Amelia pulled herself up. “You wouldn’t want revenge would you? Because that would make you an evil person because Phibrizzo was an evil person.” Aeron shrugged. “No reason really. Just wanted to know.” “Oh.” Amelia, Lina, and Zelgadiss let go of me and we all got back into our seats, continuing the rest of our dinner. * Well, another day, another conflict. I do not mind. Aeron is a righteous girl, though part Mazoku she is. * Xelloss led Aeron to her room and insisted on tucking her in. She was annoyed but was too tired to argue. It was very late. Team Lina had decided to stay up for a rowdy game of cards. “You are weird Xelloss.” She sighed as he sat on her bed, willing a child’s picture book to his hands. “That is master Xelloss, if you haven’t forgotten. You are still my student.” “Fine, master Xelloss.” Aeron closed her eyes and sighed. “Well then,” Xelloss willed a pair of glasses and put them on, “Once Upon A Time, there was a boy with a dog--” Aeron opened her eyes again and watched Xelloss. "Master Xelloss, how did Lord Phibrizzo die? Who killed him? And why?" Xelloss sighed and smiled at her. "He was killed by a Giga Slave and he was killed because he was trying to turn the world back to chaos." "The Giga Slave?" Aeron said. "I have never seen that spell before but I know of it. No ordinary human could use that spell right, so it must have been another Mazoku. Who did it? We could take revenge!" "Now, that is a secret." Xelloss said. "Aeron, it is best that you don't know who it is. I'm afraid it was someone you know. Someone who you call a friend." "Who master?" "My, my," Xelloss watched the clock strike. "Look at the time. Off to bed halfling." He shoved her down onto the bed "You're not gonna tell me are you?" Xelloss paid no attention to her. "The boy loved the dog a lot and they played together all the time, lovingly and happily…This book is insane. Look at these illustrations. The boy looks like a girl and the dog a rat. And why is it so happy and Lovey-dovey? You’d assume the boy was keeping a bitch. You wouldn’t mind if I changed the story would you Aeron?” “No, I wouldn’t.” “Okay then. Let’s see…Once upon a time, there was a charming Mazoku priest with dark purple hair. He was very powerful and a very dangerous enemy to all who would stand in his way…” Xelloss stopped for a minute, assuming Aeron would comment on his story. But she didn’t. He removed the book from his faced and saw a girl fast asleep. Xelloss sighed and watched his Mazoku charge sleep silently. "Baka. Well, if you don’t want to hear my story, I’ll will tell it to myself. And so this extremely powerful and handsome Mazoku lived a happy life, feared by all. That is, until he met a troublesome girl who would be fated to be his student…" * "Lina! That's mine! Give me back my chicken!" Gourry snored. Zelgadiss glanced at Gourry and turned back to the book he was reading, 1,000,000,000 Ways to Poof Away Curses. But he wasn't really reading. Instead, he was thinking of Aeron. "I wonder how she' doing..." "You mean Aeron-sama?" Xelan sat beside him on his bed. He looked over his arm at the book. "Why are reading that book? Do you have a curse?" Zelgadiss nodded. "Yeah. Have you notice my skin?" Xelan looked into his face. "Not really. You're golem aren't you?” Zelgadiss nodded again. "I am part golem. I am still a third human as well as demonic." "Well that makes you even more cooler." Xelan smiled. "But what were you saying about Aeron-sama?" "Well, until she heard that Hellmaster had died, Aeron was very cheerful. Now she seems lost, and I am afraid that she'll take revenge on the ones who killed him." "Do you know who did?" Xelan asked. "I do..." Zelgadiss closed his book and placed it on the bedside table. "Lina did, with our help." "Lina killed him?!" Xelan asked, surprisingly. "But I've never heard of a human killing a Mazoku as powerful as Hellmaster!" "Lina also killed Ruby-eye Shaburanigdo, more than once." Zelgadiss exclaimed. "No way!" "She did. Lina Inverse is a powerful sorceress. But don't tell Aeron what happened to Hellmaster. Promise." Xelan smiled. "I promise Zel-san!" "Go to sleep now. We'll be reaching Atlas in a few days." Xelan laid down and covered himself with blankets. Zelgadiss laid beside him. "I don't really want to go. I like being with you guys." "Well, we made a promise to Davyd." The boy shrugged. "I guess." He turned over. "Good night Zel-san." "Good night." Zelgadiss looked up into the ceiling. "Whatever happened to Rezo?" * “Achoo. Oh my, someone must be talking about me.” |