Disclaimer: The characters used in this story are not my own, I make no claims of ownership!

Thank you for the reviews! Here is chapter 4--Zel's reaction to everything is coming next chapter, promise! And Xellos should soon start pulling himself back into something of his old lovable self. .

Renascentia

4: Reunions

I slept straight through to the next morning. It was much easier to see in the daylight, I found upon opening my eyes. The light made me feel less apprehensive, I realized, and guessed it was most likely due to the fact that I was no longer handicapped by near blindness.

I sat up slowly--my body still ached, though not quite as badly as the previous day--and carefully extricated myself from the warm covers and slid down from the bed, immediately regretting it as I was greeted with the cold of the early morning. I shivered, and fastened my cloak around me before tending to my personal grooming. I was in the process of combing my now black hair when Zelgadis entered. He wore the traveling outfit I remembered seeing him in most often, and he acknowledged me with a slight inclination of his head. I turned to him and offered a smile reminiscent of my once infamous grin, to which he raised one eyebrow.

"There's breakfast downstairs, if you're hungry." He informed me.

"Unfortunately, I have no money for food." I told him and he shrugged.

"You can have mine, if you want. I don't really eat breakfast."

"Are you sure?" I asked. I was absolutely starving, and if he was going to offer I was going to accept, but not without at least making the attempt to act polite about it. He nodded again.

"You might have to fight for it, though." He said, giving a long-suffering sigh. I would like to blame the fact that my entire existence had just been re-defined--but I really should have been paying attention. I was too focused on the thought of food, I suppose, and could only wave it off and nod as I followed him downstairs.

A chicken wing flew past my head and hit the wall behind me. I barely had time to blink in surprise before I was assaulted with a few all-too familiar voices.

"Zel! C'mon, at least have some coffee!" None other than Lina Inverse called to the former chimera, who rolled his eyes.

"I'm coming. Can't you three eat like normal people just once?" He complained, but the sorceress had already returned to battling with Gourry over the last something-or-other. I half-froze on the stairs. It had not crossed my mind that the others might be here as well...

"Hey, who's your friend, Zel?" Gourry asked, happily holding what appeared to be some tempura just out of Lina's reach. She looked up and over towards me at his question, and I saw her eyes narrow in suspicion. I had to force myself not to step backwards, lest I fall over myself and make the entire situation even worse.

"Wait a second." She said, causing Zelgadis to close his mouth on what he had been about to reply with as she approached the two of us. I had always admired Lina's cleverness, but at that moment I could only wish that she would just return to her breakfast battle and forget whatever it was she was thinking. Of course, she did not, and I found myself under her intense scrutiny. I shifted uncomfortably, much to my chagrin, and her eyebrows shot up.

"No way. No way in hell." She muttered, thrusting her face into mine. Zelgadis frowned in confusion.

"Lina?" She didn't respond to him. Instead, she reached out and grasped me by the chin.

"What happened to your eyes?" She asked. "They're different. ...and open." I swallowed involuntarily, and forced a smile to my lips.

"Pardon me, miss, but I don't believe we've met before." I tried, only to have her roll her eyes at me. I should've known better than to try and fool Lina, and I probably did, but she was one person I definitely did not want knowing about my situation.

"Cut the crap. What's going on, Xellos?" She demanded, "I don't care what color your hair is--you think you can show your face after last time?"

"What?!" I heard Zelgadis cry in disbelief.

"I..." I began uncertainly, feeling trapped. I decided it would be best to try to play it off as just another game, but before I could speak Zelgadis shoved roughly past me, hurrying back up the stairs. I turned around, automatically reaching out to stop him, but Lina grabbed me by the arm.

"Xellos." She said, drawing my attention back to her. She was looking at me intently; her ruby eyes filled with curiosity. "What happened to you?" I really did not know where I could even begin to explain, had I wanted to, and it was too difficult to slip into my trickster mask with all those constant, confusing emotions clouding my mind. Unable to give her any straight answer I took her hand and lifted it to me, pressing it against my chest. I felt her warmth over that terrible beating of my heart, and I closed my eyes as she let out a gasp.

"Xellos?!" She pressed her fingers suddenly to the side of my throat, which caused me to reopen my eyes in surprise, "Are you human?" I could only nod. Hearing those words made me feel heavy, and I felt my shoulders slump. The reality as to my fate was setting in more each time I had to admit what I had become.

"Xellos-san is human?!" Amelia nearly choked on whatever she had been eating, and even Gourry stopped stuffing his face to look at me in shock. It was thoroughly humiliating, as I had expected it would be.

Lina then grabbed me and pulled me back up the stairs, away from the prying eyes and ears below. I let her lead me into another room, most likely her own. She closed the door and then turned to me, approaching me again.

"How did this happen?" She asked.

"I would really rather not discuss that." I managed through clenched teeth. Just the vague memory of it made me ill--I didn't think I could handle providing her the details. She nodded, understanding.

"Well, how long?"

"How long has it been since our last...encounter?" I asked, figuring I might as well know.

"Almost a year, I guess." She replied.

"Since then." I said with a shrug.

"You've been wandering around as a human for a year?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

"No. I just woke up the other day." I said, my memory a little fuzzy, "I don't remember when exactly, everything is blurred together."

"I see..." She said, rubbing her chin like she did whenever she was thinking hard about something. "It makes sense now. A few months after you tried to kill Filia some Mazoku started popping up places causing chaos, wreaking havoc--your kind of thing, y'know? Anyway, it seems he was calling himself the 'General of Juuou-sama'. I was a little confused, at first."

I was surprised that it hurt to know that I had been replaced so quickly, even though I knew it had to have happened.

"You're very knowledgeable, as always, Lina-san." I felt some of my old amusement slip into the statement. The way she spoke with me, so casually as though nothing had happened, made me feel just a little like myself again.

"Well, keep your friends close but your enemies closer, right?" She smirked, "Besides, traveling with a Ryuzoku means I get to hear all about any trouble the 'rotten filthy Mazoku' have been stirring up. Speaking of Ryuzoku," She lost the smirk and stepped closer to me, her eyes turning dangerous, "I should kill you right now for what you did to Filia that day. You wouldn't even be able to defend yourself, now that you're human..."

I felt the blood rush from my face and my heart begin to pound. I felt ashamed of my fear, but Lina's temper was nothing to take lightly. But then, I was Xellos, right? Keeping things light had gotten me out of imminent death before...

"But just knowing that you are finally superior to me is enough, right?" I laughed nervously.

"Finally?" Her eyebrows shot up, and then she grinned, "Finally is wrong, but don't worry, I'm not gonna kill you. You have helped me in the past--and not just when you started the trouble yourself--so I guess that makes you something like a friend." She threw her arm around my shoulders and I nearly stumbled--from my relief and surprise as well as the force behind her gesture. Something like a friend?

"So are you gonna tell me why Zel's so pissed?" She asked, giving me an expectant look.

"He didn't realize who I was." I replied.

"Zel's usually more observant." She commented, still looking at me in that way.

"He might have known, I suppose, had I not introduced myself under a false name." I admitted with a shrug and she smirked.

"I think I like you Human, Xellos. I don't feel like punching you in the jaw anymore because your answer to everything is a secret."

"I don't have anymore secrets." I muttered. She rolled her eyes.

"Between you and Zel, jeez! Quit moping! I thought at least he would've gotten better after finding his cure, but he doesn't seem much happier. I don't need the both of you being depressed! " She then physically turned me towards the door and gave me a little shove in its direction. "As for Zel, you'd better go apologize to him--it'll be good practice."

"Practice?"

"You're coming with us to see Filia." She told me matter-of-factly.

"I really don't think I would live very long were I to visit Filia-san..." I pointed out.

"Well, you did try to kill her." She pointed back, "Now go and find Zel before you gain another enemy."

I bit back a comment on how I had assumed I was already his enemy, remembering our last meeting. Why had he let me live? More importantly, why had I let him live? I was condemned to this new fate because of that, and so it was definitely a question I needed to find the answer to.