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Chapter Selection
The morning sun rose brightly from behind the mountains on the horizon, spreading light throughout the slumbering forest and awakening those that slept within.
Zelgadiss turned his head away from the light, pressing closer to the warm body next to him in an attempt to remain asleep. Of course, the reminder that he was not alone under his cloak proved to be counterproductive to that plan and his eyes flew open immediately. Memories of the night before flew back into his mind as he watched Xellos sleep and he found himself blushing. He had never been that forward in his life!
But he was not really upset.
He frowned, tried to be angry, annoyed, betrayed, but none of it worked. He was filled with contentment and happiness and no matter what he tried, it wouldn't go away.
He smiled softly, it looked like Xellos had been wrong after all.
Closing his eyes, Zelgadiss snuggled back into Xellos' embrace and tried to return to sleep. He had just succeeded in dozing off when he felt Xellos begin to stir and decided to wake up and greet his mazoku lover.
"Good morning Zel-kun." Xellos said cheerfully as Zelgadiss looked at him, "Are you going to try to kill me now?"
Zelgadiss made himself frown as he growled, "Xellos..."
"Yes." The mazoku prompted.
"I am," he paused, then finished with a grin, "NOT going to kill you."
Xellos looked so surprised that Zelgadiss felt like laughing, instead however, he caught the mazoku's chin and pulled him in for a kiss.
"Good morning." He said when they parted, and was rewarded with the sight of Xellos staring at him speechless. He lay back on the grass and waited for the mazoku to recover. Finally, Xellos opened his eyes and looked at him suspiciously.
"Are you still suffering from whatever spell you were under last night?"
Zelgadiss thought about that seriously for a moment and then shook his head. "I don't think so. The effects have never lasted past sunrise before, I don't see why they would today."
"The effects of what?" Xellos asked him. "Are you taking some kind of drug?"
For some reason Zelgadiss found that comment hysterically funny, and now he did laugh, he couldn't help it. When he realized that his behaviour would only serve to convince the mazoku that he was stoned, he began to laugh harder. There were tears in his eyes by the time he finally stopped, and he looked up to find Xellos watching him with a very unimpressed expression.
"Are you done?" the mazoku said dryly.
"Yes, I think so." Zelgadiss said with a smile, it had been years since he felt this happy. He wondered if it really was the fault of the moon after all.
"The effects of what Zel-kun?"
"The moon."
"Excuse me? Last time I checked, werewolf was not part of your make-up."
"Stop being so grumpy." Zelgadiss scolded him, but there wasn't much force behind it, he was still too cheerful for it to have any effect. "I react like that to the full moon when it comes on Beltane, I don't know why, I just always have." To his surprise, Xellos reacted to this statement like he'd been hit with a Dragon Slave.
"Full moon... Last night was Beltane!?"
"Well, yes, I realize it's not celebrated all over, but didn't you know that?"
"And you..? You always have?"
"Well, it was different when I was a child, but since I hit puberty, yes." Zelgadiss was loosing some of his cheerfulness now as it was slowly being replaced by worry. "Why, what's the problem?"
"And we just, and it was, oh shit!" Xellos finished and promptly vanished from the clearing. Zelgadiss looked at the space he had recently occupied with some surprise. That was definitely not what he had expected to happen this morning. In fact, he thought with quite a lot of disappointment, he had really expected to repeat last night's actions, only with the dance they had missed. What the hell had set Xellos off?
Said mazoku appeared very suddenly in the library of Xellas' home on Wolf Pack Island and began scanning the titles of the books quickly until he found the one he was looking for. Pulling it out he flipped through the pages and finally came to the chapter on Zelgadiss. He scanned through the summary information quickly, even though he knew it wouldn't tell him what he wanted to know. He told himself he read it because the chimera fascinated him, but really he knew it was because he was stalling. Finally he found the part where it mentioned his parents, and turned to the shelf to grab two different books.
He looked up Zelgadiss' mother first and found that she was his connection to Rezo, but he did not find what he was looking for. Still, Xellos found himself reading a little more about her, curious even though he realized this was just another stalling tactic. She had given birth to Zelgadiss when she was quite young, and unmarried. The boy's father had been around for five years, and then had never come back. Xellos felt hopelessness sink in as he read that, but it could just be a coincidence, right? With a resigned sigh, he put the book to the side and looked towards the one that held the entry for Zelgadiss' father. He opened it up and scanned through until he found the words he had been looking for "Faery warrior." He groaned and let his head sink down to the table. A chuckle from behind him brought his head up again and he regarded his master with despair.
"Poor Xellos," she said, not unsympathetically, but still with amusement, "You really should have done your research BEFORE sleeping with the chimera."
"How was I to know he was half faery?" He muttered, then seeing her about to comment again on the research, corrected himself, "How was I supposed to suspect it, it's not like he acts like one at all."
"Well, he was raised human. Still, you have made your choice, and now you will have to deal with the consequences."
"There's no way to undo this?" he asked her in desperation.
"I'm afraid not," she replied, her eyes shining with laughter, "It is unbreakable, there would be not reason for it otherwise. I will have to work this into our future plans, but I really don't think it will effect them all that much. If anything, it will make your presence with them even more understandable."
"I'm glad someone's enjoying this." He muttered, forgetting for a moment that this was his master and he really should be treating her with respect. However, Xellas was relishing this far too much to worry about his sulking.
"Don't pout so Xellos. I really think this might be good for you."
"Good for me!?" he sputtered, "How the hell is this supposed to be good for me!?"
Xellas smiled, "Sore wa himitsu desu." As Xellos looked at her in shock she left the library, her laughter filling the room in her absence.
"That was not funny." Xellos muttered to the room around him, then looked at the books on the table again andsighed. After a few moments he replaced them on the shelf and tried to figure out what to do.
He would have to tell Zelgadiss, this was something he would be unable to keep a secret from the chimera. Anyway, it really would be better for the chimera if he knew WHY he reacted that way to the full moon. Perhaps it would stop him from winding up in this sort of situation again. And perhaps not, he thought, remembering that Zelgadiss' father had left after five years. Obviously, no matter how many precautions were taken, the unexpected still happened. At least in their case there was no child to suffer from that mistake, Xellos was very unlikely to get pregnant from this.
Zelgadiss stared out the window of his room with a frown. Xellos hadn't returned all day, and he found that it disturbed him more than he expected. More than he thought it would, and it was had caused him to do some serious thinking on the subject of the mazoku. He was very rapidly coming to the conclusion that he really didn't hate the trickster priest that much after all. Actually, he had begun to suspect as much earlier that day when he was so happy to find himself waking up next to Xellos, even though he had never planned to be there.
No, that wasn't quite right, he had never thought it was possible to be there. Was that why he hated him? Choosing to despise what he wanted because he thought he could never have it? That was likely.
Dammit, it was more than likely, it was true and he knew it. Which was not a very pleasant realization when he thought about the fact that Xellos had taken off the morning after they had slept together. It really did not bode well for any kind of relationship between them, if there ever was a chance of a relationship between them.
Fuck, he was getting depressed now, and he had woken up in such a good mood too. With a grimace he watched as the moon rose over the skyline of the town, and then winced as a sharp pain started in his chest. It got worse as the moon rose higher and his limbs began to go numb, he had no idea what was happening, but it was not pleasant.
"Zel-kun?" A voice behind him said quietly, and Zelgadiss turned to find Xellos standing there, his hand pressed against his own chest. Without making a conscious decision to do so, Zelgadiss reached out and grabbed Xellos, holding the mazoku close to him, feeling the pain in his chest start to fade and the feeling beginning to return to his hands. Now that he was feeling better, he began to appreciate the fact that he was holding Xellos tightly against him, and that the mazoku was holding him back. With a smile, Zelgadiss began to kiss Xellos' neck softly along the jugular, feeling his lover's sharp intake of breath.
"Wait." Xellos said, "Zel-kun, we need to talk."
He sounded serious, Zelgadiss moved back to look at him and found that he was so, his smile was gone and his eyes were open. "What is it?"
"Well," he paused, then looked around the room, "Maybe we should sit down, I don't know how long this'll take."
Zelgadiss also looked around the room, but it was sparsely furnished, he didn't need much, and so he hadn't asked for anything other than a bed. He smiled, then pulled Xellos towards it, until they were lying together, holding each other loosely. "All right." Zelgadiss said, tracing a line over Xellos' chest, "Now, what is it?"
Xellos sighed, though whether it was to prepare himself or in reaction to Zelgadiss' light caress, the chimera couldn't tell. Finally, he began talking, "Zel-kun, what do you know about your father?"
That was definitely NOT any of the things Zelgadiss had expected Xellos to say. "Um, not much." He replied uncertainly. "I can remember him a bit, but he left when I was little and my mother never talked about him much after that."
"What do you know about faeries?"
"Not much about them either. My mother didn't like them for some reason, she wouldn't let me read about them, and I was never really that interested in them anyway."
"I was afraid of that." Xellos muttered and stopped talking for a moment.
"Xellos, what's going on?" Zelgadiss was worried again, Xellos was being far too somber, it was really unsettling.
"Zel-kun, your father was a faery."
"So, what does that mean?"
"Well, you said you were effected by the full moon every year on Beltane, correct?"
"Yes. Is that related to my father?"
"Yes, it is." Xellos' hands began moving slowly along Zelgadiss' shoulders, the chimera didn't say anything, he really didn't think Xellos realized he was doing it. "Have you ever heard the phrase 'The Time of Joining?'"
Zelgadiss thought about it. "I think I read it in a book once, what is it?"
"It's faery magic. It's the time when their mate is chosen, it occurs once every five years."
"Once every..." his voice trailed off, "It forces them to take a mate, doesn't it? That's what the moon's call is."
"Yes, if there is another person present, then that is their mate for the next five years, and neither of them has a choice in the matter. There is powerful magic involved in joining the two together, and it cannot be broken unless they fail to repeat the process at the next Time of Joining."
"So you're my mate for the next five years?" Zelgadiss asked, he found that he actually liked the idea.
"Yes, and we will be together for that five years whether we want to be or not, well, at least, at night we will."
"The pain I felt," Zelgadiss said, "It came from this bond?"
"Yes. If we are apart, it will be very painful for us."
Zelgadiss thought of his father coming home at night and stalking around the house as though he wanted to be anywhere else in the world. "That makes sense. Is there any other problems?"
"Well, I'm not sure. I have heard that the connection is very deep."
"Meaning?"
"If one of us is killed, the other dies too."
"Well, it stops us from killing the other to get rid of the bond I guess."
"Hmm."
There was silence between them for a few moments as they thought about this, and then Xellos sighed.
"I suppose that this is part of it too." He said, moving his hands from Zelgadiss' shoulders to his back. "I really should have been more careful."
Zelgadiss smiled to himself at the comment. Xellos was wrong again. He remembered the coldness between his parents when he was a child. There were no gentle caresses during serious discussions for them. Still, there was no real reason to tell Xellos that right now, he could do it later. He flattened his hand against Xellos' chest and leaned forward to kiss his neck again. "Mates for five years eh?" he asked, "We might as well find a way to enjoy it right?"
Xellos sighed pleasantly, his hands pulling Zelgadiss closer to him and finding the chimera's mouth again. "I suppose so, there's no reason to make this unpleasant, is there?"
"Nope." Zelgadiss replied with a chuckle, moving easily into the embrace. "No reason at all."
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