Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Enigma to Paramour ❯ Duel ( Chapter 6 )

Duel

AN: I know I haven't updated this in a long time, but I recently got my inspiration back because I finally got the end of the Next series and the first of the Try. This got me to watching them again which gave me new inspiration. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Slayers, but I do own any characters you don't recognize from the series.

And this chapter is dedicated to Tenma Koneko who gave me the idea for this chapter. Thank you so much.

Please read and review.

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Lina and Xellos stood in the middle of the field, silent, for a moment before Lina got frustrated and started the attack.

"Elmekia Lance!" she shouted, quickly forming the attack and shooting it at Xellos, who dodged out of the way.

"Ah, ah, ah Lina-chan, you'll have to do better than that," Xellos said, enjoying the flush that spread over Lina's cheeks.

"Shut up FRUITCAKE! Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!" Lina shouted, shooting three attacks quickly. Xellos managed to dodge them all. Suddenly Xellos closed in on Lina, deciding to do a little hand-to-hand fighting before using magic attacks.

Lina took a step back as Xellos closed in and quickly she blocked a punch to her stomach. She returned it with a punch to Xellos's head. Xellos ducked and moved to sweep Lina's feet out from under her. Lina jumped backwards over Xellos's leg and did a quick back flip to put some distance between them. Fighting hand-to-hand really wasn't her strong point.

`She's pretty good,' Xellos thought. Then his grin yet again grew slightly. `Let's see what she does when she's riled up and fighting. Maybe I can get her to flush the same color as her hair again.'

"Lina-chan, is that all you can do? After the Dragon Slave over at Katia's house I expected much more. Are you sure that wasn't just a fluke?" Xellos said, well aware that it wasn't and exactly how much his words were irritating the red-haired sorceress.

"Fluke?! FLUKE?! I'LL SHOW YOU A FLUKE YOU FRUITCAKE!!" Lina shouted, flushing bright red in anger not only at the nickname but also at the jab to her magical abilities. A voice inside her was telling her that this was exactly the reaction Xellos wanted, but she ignored that voice in favor of being mad at the purple-haired sorcerer.

"FIREBALL!! FIREBALL!! FIREBALL!! FIREBALL!! FIREBALL!! FIREBALL!!" Lina shouted, her anger further fueling her attack. Xellos managed to get away, though his clothes did get a little singed at the end from all the fire from the six fireballs Lina just shot out.

"Ah, Lina-chan, that wasn't any better at all. And really, I did expect more from you," Xellos said. Personally, he was really enjoying the flush that was now covering Lina's entire face. He knew he really shouldn't considering he was supposed to be engaged, but he really enjoyed ticking this girl off than he had anyone else he'd ever met.

"I'll show you," Lina said before gathering energy and starting the incantation for one of her favorite attacks.

"Darkness beyond twilight,

Crimson beyond blood that flows.

Buried in the stream of time

Is where your power grows.

I pledge myself to conquer

All the foes who stand,

Against the mighty gift bestowed in my unworthy hand.

Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I possess.

DRAGON SLAVE!!!!"

Xellos, having expected this attack, dodged it slightly, but made it look like he had gotten hit. He was about to put on the performance of a lifetime. He quickly fell back onto the ground as if he'd been hit full on and injured.

Darren, seeing Xellos fall, turned to Katia to see if she would stop the fight. To his surprise she had a small, amused smile on her face.

"Kat, Xellos is hurt. Shouldn't you stop the fight so you can heal him?" Darren asked, wondering what his fiancée was thinking. Despite how well he knew her, he could never always guess her thoughts.

"I'm not because Xellos isn't actually hurt, though the stunt I'm guessing he's about to play is likely to get him hurt. Just watch," Katia said and Darren did just that. They watched as Lina ran over to Xellos, worried.

Lina, after firing the Dragon Slave, waited for Xellos's next comment. When it didn't come she was a little concerned. `I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. He must've dodged it. He's fine.'

However when the dust cleared and she saw Xellos on the ground she rushed over and knelt beside him, taking his head in her lap. At this moment she wasn't really thinking about the position she was in.

"Xellos," she said, "Xellos are you okay? Come on, wake-up Xellos."

"Lina-chan," Xellos said, pretending to be half unconscious.

"Yes, Xellos?" Lina said, leaning forward slightly so she could hear him better.

"I need...I need..." Xellos trailed off, pretending he couldn't finish the sentence. He knew he was likely to get severely hurt if not killed for his next words, but he couldn't help but want to see the reaction.

"What is it?" Lina said, now more worried than ever. Where was Katia? Why wasn't she coming down to heal Xellos?

Xellos mumbled his next words, wanting to get the red head's curiosity up. It evidently worked because she leaned closer and asked him what he said. He repeated, "A kiss."

It took a moment for the words to catch up with her mind, but when they did she turned beat red before she looked down at Xellos and saw the grin on his face (^__^). She stood up, her left eye twitching in irritation.

"YOU JACKASS!" she shouted, "I WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU DID SOMEHTHING LIKE THAT! I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU!" Then she picked Xellos up bodily and threw him away from her. Before he could properly regain his balance she started the spell again.

"Darkness beyond twilight,

Crimson beyond blood that flows.

Buried in the stream of time

Is where your power grows.

I pledge myself to conquer

All the foes who stand,

Against the mighty gift bestowed in my unworthy hand.

Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I possess.

DRAGON SLAVE!!!!"

The attack hit Xellos right as he managed to get his balance back. This gave him enough time to erect a quick shield. It didn't last for long, though, and soon the blast got through and hit him, leaving him unconscious for real this time.

Lina fought to catch her breath after her attack. She was also currently glaring at the dust, fighting back the stab of guilt she felt when she realized what she'd just done. `But I'm sure he could've dodged it. He dodged every other one of my attacks. He must have. He's probably playing dead again.'

"Come on Xellos, once was bad enough. Don't pull the same stunt twice," Lina said, then frowned when there was no reply. "Come on Xellos, as much as it wasn't funny the first time, it's even less funny now. Xellos?"

Suddenly Lina felt Katia protective barrier dissolve and looked in her direction and saw her and Darren running down the hill toward the place that Xellos was at last. Looking in that direct, Lina saw what the smoke had previously hid. Xellos was lying on the ground, and if Katia was rushing out this time when she hadn't last time that meant that he probably was hurt this time. She quickly ran over to him, worried yet again.

She arrived about the same time Katia did. She looked at the other sorceress, wondering about what had happened to him. Katia kneeled down beside Xellos and placed her hands over his chest. Darren and Lina saw her hands glow for a moment before Katia smiled.

"How is he?" Lina asked, not bothering to hide how worried she was.

"He's fine, just knocked out from the blast is all. He probably had a shield up so he only got hit by the tail end of the blast," Katia said, smiling up at the shorter girl. "Let's get him to my house. Darren?"

Darren bent down and picked Xellos up, and the three of them headed out. Katia made sure to use a lot of the back routes to her house. It helped that her house was relatively secluded anyway, but she really didn't want anyone to see her and Lina with someone who was carrying an unconscious young man. That would've been hard to explain.

When they got to her house she opened the door and instructed Darren to place Xellos on the spare cot she kept in the living room. Katia smiled gently when she saw how worried Lina was, especially when the red-eyed sorceress sat down beside Xellos's cot. Suddenly she heard the town bell strike the hour.

`It's six o'clock. Lina had better get home before she's missed,' Katia thought, not really wanting her friend to get into trouble for being missed.

"Darren, hon, I think it's about time for you to go home. You know, before you're missed by your roommates," Katia said. She threw a pointed look at Lina's back when she saw Darren open his mouth to object. Looking at Lina he understood that Katia wanted to have a private talk with the sorceress and then try and convince the petite girl to go back to her house before she's missed and the guards are sent out to look for her. Nodding, Darren kissed her quickly before heading out the door. Once he was gone Katia turned to her friend.

"You're worried about him, aren't you?" she asked, sitting down beside the younger girl.

"Of course I am, I mean, I am the one who hit him with a Dragon Slave," Lina said, putting on her normal, careless smile.

"No, I mean, more than you would be about most people," Katia said, pushing a loose strand of dark blond hair out of her face.

Lina looked down and said, "I don't know what you mean." Lina did, in fact, know what Katia meant. Despite, or maybe because of, the way he irritated her, Lina had gotten to like Xellos, and from what she could tell this was stronger than what she felt for Katia or Darren. The problem was that she was already supposed to be engaged, though not willingly.

"I think you do, but why are you so hesitant about it?" Katia said. The engagement between Lina and the prince from Terrian was still a secret to everyone but the two families involved. It was to be announced at the ball on Lina's sixteenth birthday.

"I can't act on it. No one but our families knows yet, but I'm supposed to be engaged to the visiting prince from Terrian, who, by the way, I still haven't met. My parents arranged the marriage and I'm supposed to meet him in another five days, on my sixteenth birthday. We're supposed to discuss wedding plans then," Lina said, looking down at the purple-haired sorcerer. There was silence for a moment as Katia absorbed what she'd just been told.

"I'm sorry about that," she said and wrapped the other girl in a short hug before pulling back and looking into her eyes. "As much as I know you want to stay, and as much as I'd rather have you stay, you'd better get home before your parents notice you're missing and send out the guards to look for you," she said and Lina nodded in agreement.

"Why don't you come by my house tomorrow around lunch time. I'll treat and update you on Xellos. I'll ask him to join us when he wakes up, okay," Katia said.

"Okay, see you tomorrow," Lina said, a little relieved that she'd have a reason to check that he was okay tomorrow. She slowly headed home, thinking about her situation the whole way.

Katia, meanwhile, was still sitting beside Xellos. When she noticed him starting to stir about half an hour later she quickly went into her kitchen to grab a glass of water and came back. Deciding to check to make sure he didn't have a concussion or something, she asked him a few simple questions. She started with the most obvious, "What's you're name and where are you from?"

Xellos, still half unconscious, answered without thinking, "Xellos Metallium of the kingdom of Terrian," before his situation caught up with him and he mentally cursed himself out.

Katia, for her part, was at first shocked and then severely amused. "As in Xellos Metallium, the visiting prince from Terrain," she said, confirming her information. "Well, isn't that interesting."

"Don't tell anyone," Xellos said, sitting up quickly. He really didn't want to have to stop visiting because word got around about what the prince was doing during the day.

"Don't worry, I won't. I was just surprised. I mean, how often do you see a person of royalty running around pretending to be something they're not," Katia said, her amusement at the irony of that statement well hidden. She saw that very situation quite often.

"Well, I suggest you get home before your mother send out guards to look for you," Katia said, having a very strong sense of déjà vu.

Xellos nodded and headed out the door.

Once Xellos was gone Katia collapsed back onto the couch. `Oh gods, things just got a lot more complicated. The good thing is that I at least have all the keys. This should be fun.'

AN: Please review. I appreciate any comments and criticisms. And I am still accepting any and all ideas you may come up with. Thank you all!