Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN SLAYERS OH EHM EFF JEE. –flail.- Anyways, Xel x Zel, and I tried to write one that's romantic that makes SOME sense…since Xellos is just too evil a character to love. Realistically speaking, yes, it's true: Xellos is heartless. Oo Damn cute, though. WOO! Eh. Yeah. READ, YOU FOOLS! Part one is short. X

Part one

Greetings

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and I was well rested in the shade of a tree upon one of its branches, waiting for the right time.

For what?

Well -- that's a secret, I'm afraid. The best you can do is sit around with me and hear what happened, hm?

Anyways, my thoughts had been wandering and I grew somewhat impatient with anticipation. It had been so long since I'd been in the company of easily riled, too precious for words, wild spirited, chaotic and petite sorceresses by the name of Lina Inverse. And now… now, I got to see her and her silly comrades. It was most promising! I wasn't ordered to go by them, specifically, no. But they had the same route as I did, and I knew I could use them if I wanted to. And I did.

Deciding now would be a good time of day (meaning the most inconvenient for her); my form flickered out of the primary plane and back to the astral plane. Once there, I pinpointed my desired location.

Lina was staggering with two males along a dusty road. Gourry Gabriev, a talented swordsman, though his wits weren't as sharp as his swords blade. Then there was the other, the chimera called Zelgadis Greywords-- surprising he was grouped with the sorceress, but in retrospect, perhaps not. Their paths often crossed. It was all except Amelia Wil Testla Seyruun it seemed. Who was an upbeat, naïve princess who had a sort of uncanny passion for what was just. She was most likely busy attending her queenly duties, as she had to retire from her life on the road with Lina. This was very fortunate on my part, considering that her optimism was enough to throw a mazoku into severe depression. Thankfully, a golden dragon called Filia was also absent from Lina's company. The said female dragon had settled down somewhere. She and I never got along, being two members of two races that are eternally at war with each other. I hadn't dropped by to visit her, but I decided to take it into consideration once this was over, since she was great for meal tickets. This mission was related to her in a sense, anyways. Which was…untoward.

As I watched them from the astral plane, I noticed that Lina was unusually downbeat; shambling like an ape, groaning like a dragon in heat, and looking rather sickly. Gourry seemed in similar conditions. It made sense after her words came into coherency.

"Oh man… I'm so hungry… I'm so hungry, I could eat a horse and chase the jockey," she said weakly. Gourry grunted imperceptibly in agreement. Zelgadis looked his usual healthy self (aside being made of stone and all of that), however, and he made a sort of scoff.

"Well, you ate us into impoverishment, Lina," Zelgadis said sagaciously as he followed suite of the starving duo. "Kind of ironic, really, seeing that you're starving at this very moment."

Lina grumbled something about Zelgadis being lucky she was too hungry to even care to blow him up and went about her moaning. Zelgadis sighed in response as she began to complain again, Gourry chiming her on with unusual grunts and groans in understanding. I found this to be the perfect time, oh yes.

Without a sound, I reappeared on the primary plane. Of course, sound didn't mean a thing to Lina right now. She was able to find me with a twitch of her nose, and same with Gourry. It made sense, I suppose, since my arms were full with sausage links, mutton, well aged wine, cheese, and fresh vegetables. The two wheeled around wildly, and Lina didn't even take the time to register me since she was so distracted by the food. They both ran at me. Gourry tripped on himself, resulting in one of the most beautiful face-plants I'd seen in awhile. Lina, however, was able to crash right into me and successfully knock me over. Something I could have easily avoided, but I knew it would stir more entertainment this way. As though on cue to my assumptions, Zelgadis jogged after Lina, who was busily trying to consume my left arm.

"Hello there, Zelgadis-san!" I said brightly. Silence and glowering from him in return to my greeting, and I looked back down to Lina, who was able to relocate her mouth onto the food as oppose to my appendages. Gourry yanked me up after he'd gotten back to his feet and grabbed the sausage links. No sooner than they'd been snatched from me, they were gone and on their way into the swordsman's belly. Lina scrambled to her feet as well, and I dropped the food before I was caught in the crossfire as the two began to fight over the food I'd brought.

Zelgadis tapped his foot, waiting for the two to finish. I stepped back from them and stood beside Zelgadis as we both watched with mild awe at how insanely the two humans were performing just on the means of getting some grub. After they were finished, they were both breathless from their combat over the food. Lina caught her breath and blinked, turning to me.

"Oh. Hey, Xellos," Gourry said obliviously. Lina coughed and rubbed the back of her head, and before she could speak, the characteristic smirk I wore grew.

"You're welcome," I said superficially. Zelgadis turned to me, creasing his brows. No doubt, he was going to question my entrance and my reasons. I smiled, waiting for him to ask as I returned the stare.

"You're up to something," Zelgadis stated flatly. I chuckled. "Aren't I always?" He sighed, irritated, and turned his back on me.

"I doubt you're going to be revealing anything. We're on our way to Arxentos," Zelgadis half growled, and began going down the path once more. "At least, I am." Lina, rejuvenated, nodded.

"Yeah…there's no use trying to get anything out of you," she agreed, and then half glanced to me. "Do you…have any money? We were thinking about renting out a room in an inn and supplying ourselves with some food and water before we head out again," she said very quickly. I laughed quietly, waving my hand jokily. "Of course. I wouldn't come unprepared," I responded. She grinned and grabbed my wrist, running after Zelgadis. Gourry followed suite of us.

A short time later, we were all walking in silence. It was painstakingly dull, but that didn't mean I'd just go away. Lina and Zelgadis knew I was up to something, but they were smart about it and decided to use me since I'd be around anyways. As it usually went. It'd only fair to be used by people you were using, isn't it? I'd say so!