Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Inner Beings ❯ The Prince and the Curse ( Chapter 2 )

A/N: Thank you for all of the reviews, thus far. I enjoyed writing this story, so I hope at least one other person can enjoy reading it! Reviews would be nice.

II. The Prince and the Curse

The next day, the Slayers set off for Zelphilia, everyone having their own little thoughts.

'I can't believe Lina is a princess like me! And here I've been her close companion and friend for almost three years. I'm ashamed of myself a little. Although the signs were very small and vague, I should have caught on. (What signs? Use your imagination ^_^) *Sigh* Oh well. There's no helping it now. I wonder what Lina's prince looks like? If Lina ran away, he must have been pretty ugly. Then again, it's been six years since she last saw him, so he probably matured and is at least somewhat handsome. Hmm . . .' (Obviously thought by Amelia)

'Lina says she found the Dragon Slave spell in the library of the castle, huh? Maybe my cure will be there! YES!!! I can't wait to get there and search through the magic books!' (Need you ask who this is? Zelgadis, of course!)

'Oh, how I dread my next birthday! After all these years, I'm going to go back home and . . . and . . . visit my sister! U_U; I hope she won't punish me too badly for running away . . . Knowing her, she'd probably put another curse on me. As if I need another one . . . WAHH!' (Poor Lina. But I wonder what this curse she's talking about is . . . and to think - Luna was still 13 when she cast it!)

'I wonder why Lina is so scared of her sister. Looking at her now, she looks like she's about to face down something more dreadful than three pieces of Shabadingo or whatever that guy's name is…and she didn't show that she was scared at all when we faced just one! Is Lina's sister really all that bad? Well, if she's anything like Lina . . . *Shudders involuntarily at the thought* . . . Then yeah, definitely.' (Gourry sure wonders about a lot of things, doesn't he? Although, he is being pretty observant) It was then that Gourry decided to take a chance and ask Lina, "Oi, Lina. Why are you so scared of your sister? You look downright terrified." Amelia and Zelgadis looked at Lina, and realized Gourry was right. They waited for Lina's answer.

Lina chuckled nervously and bent down her head a little, so that her bangs covered her eyes. While continuing to walk, she replied in a ghastly voice, "Want to know why? 'Cause she tortured me, Gourry. She called it "tutoring" but I called it "torturing". From ages 8 to 12, she had me on a strict schedule: Three days a week I'd do the Water Survival Exercise. My sister would tie my hands and legs up in chains and throw me into a pool of water. (OoO!) The point was, of course, to break the chains and escape before you ran out of oxygen. She started me off with weak chains, but as my teeth and hands grew stronger, she'd lower the depth of the water and strengthen the chains. It hurt me a lot and nearly killed me, but it's why I'm so strong in hand-to-hand combat and why I can hold my breath pretty long underwater.

"Then two days of the week, I had etiquette lessons. You know, the usual table manners, way of talking, how to dress, and all that - basically how to be a proper princess. That was torture in its own way, and that's why I don't restrain myself or even attempt to be proper when I'm traveling. It proves as a great cover, no one would ever suspect who I really was, no?" The others nodded and she continued. "Next, once a week, Luna would make me go down to the grape vineyards and stomp grapes for wine to some festive music. That wasn't so bad, I had fun doing it, but it killed my feet and legs in the morning. Finally, she made me visit the prince I was talking about, the last day of the week." 'It was the absolute worst because of that stupid curse.'

Lina was quietly grumbling to herself now, so Amelia asked her, "I see. Just to pass the time, can you tell us more about your sister?" At this, Lina stopped walking, shuddered, but then started talking and walking again. "Well, I'll tell you what I know. First off, her name is Luna Inverse and she's the Knight of Cepheid. When needed, she can summon power from Cepheid to aid her in what she is doing; fighting off monsters, healing people, that kind of thing. She is five years older than me, and isn't royalty. We have the same mother, but different fathers. So technically, we're step-sisters, but we treat each other like regular, okay irregular, sisters. From what I heard, when her father found out that my mother was pregnant with Luna, he skipped town. Nobody has heard from him since. After my mother had me, there was a large argument about whether or not Luna should stay in the castle. She was the daughter of the new to-be-queen, but she was born before they had married. Finally, they discovered that only Luna could calm me down or shut me up when I had one of my temper tantrums. Thus, she was allowed to eat and sleep in the castle, but she had to make her living in the city. That's why she took the part-time job of being a waitress. Since she also has duties as the Knight of Cepheid, she didn't make it a full-time job. That's about it." Lina-tachi walked in relative silence for the rest of the trip.

*****Five days later, they found themselves in the prosperous grape vineyard land of Zelphilia. *****

Lina tried to walk as inconspicuously as possible through the streets, in hopes of nobody recognizing her, and succeeded until . . .

Lina stopped in her tracks when she thought she heard a familiar sound. Then she heard it again. It was a sort of puppy yelp that sounded like, "Pico! Pico! (I know, sounds really strange, but that's because it's a magical pup!)" Lina gasped as a large almost-completely-white wolf with a happy grin on its face, came running toward her. "No way, it can't be. Pico-chan?" Just then, the wolf leaped up and sent Lina crashing to the ground as he started licking her happily in the face. Lina laughed and rejoiced. "Pico! It is you! My, how you've grown! Ha Ha! I'm happy to see you, too!" Her voice turned stern. "Now, could you please get off me so I can say 'hi' to you properly?" At this, the wolf jumped off Lina and obediently sat down in front of her. Lina got up and brushed herself off. Then, she bent down a little and held out her hand. With his tail wagging, Pico put his right front paw in Lina's outstretched hand and proceeded to shake it. Lina laughed again. "Good Pico! I see you haven't forgotten what I taught you, all those years ago." Lina hugged Pico and then petted his back affectionately. All through this, Lina's friends watched the wolf/Lina transaction with gaping mouths and a lot of interest. Finally, Gourry spoke up. "Uh, Lina? Who's your friend?"

Lina looked around and saw everybody's puzzled expressions. "Oh, sorry. I forgot to introduce you. Ahem. Pico, meet my most trusted traveling companions - Gourry, Amelia, and Zelgadis. Everybody, meet Pico, my pet and protector as a kid! Say 'hi' Pico!" Pico barked and added to it, "Pico! Pico!" Lina's friends continued to stare at Pico and Lina, shocked. Amelia was the first to break off the stare. "Oh, hi Pico! So you're Lina's old pet, huh? Aww . . . you just look so ADORABLE!" *Amelia squeals in delight* Everybody sweatdropped, but Gourry and Zelgadis acknowledged Pico with a slight smile and nod. Lina was about to tell her friends how Pico and her had met, when Lina stopped in mid-sentence.

She felt her spine tingling and when she looked at her hands, they briefly glowed a bright gold. 'Oh no. Not now! The spell's taking into effect! Please! Not now, not in front of my friends!' Lina stopped her thoughts and looked up the road.

Walking gallantly towards them was a handsome gentleman, guarded by four men; two in the back and one on each side. When he had caught sight of Lina, he had immediately stopped walking, about 20 feet away from her. Lina immediately recognized the guarded man, tensed up, and stepped back as she tried to resist the curse, but her attempts were futile. Everybody gasped when Lina did something completely unexpected from her. She relaxed, her eyes turned into hearts, and a smile was plastered to her face. Then, she broke into a run and hugged the handsome man tightly around the neck. The man gasped in surprise. Even more surprising, with her eyes closed . . . she quickly lifted her head up, and kissed him full on the lips! Soon afterwards, she released her hold, stepped back, and her eyes returned to normal as Lina once more regained her senses.

She gasped and clutched her heart (chest). 'Oh, L-sama. It's worse than before! When I was still a kid, all I had to do was kiss him on the cheeks to break it off. I guess it's because I'm older now and supposedly more mature.' Lina sighed, shook her head hopelessly, and looked up at the man she had just kissed. She let out a small gasp as she surveyed him. He had short, blond hair and big, blue, beautiful eyes that simply dazzled any girl who looked into them. He wore a royal off-white outfit, and a long off-white cape, all gold-trimmed. His shoulder armor had jewels pressed into them, too. In all, he looked like a handsome traveler who had a regal look about him. 'L-sama! He's gorgeous!' Lina stood up straight and smiled. "Long time no see, Prince Xerxes."

Prince Xerxes was surprised when he had first seen Lina. He hadn't seen Lina in town for over five years, so seeing her again seemed almost like an illusion. When Lina kissed him though, it instantly confirmed his thought, and he welcomed her. "Ah, yes. It has been, hasn't it? Welcome back, Princess Inverse, or Lina." Lina's companions had followed her and had caught that kiss and greeting. Gourry's heart hurt a little when he saw the kiss, but tried to not show it. (Aww . . . Poor Gourry) Amelia walked up behind Lina. "So this is the prince you were talking about, eh Lina? My, my, isn't he a looker? I wonder why you'd want to run away from marrying him," Amelia quietly whispered into Lina's ear, making sure that no one else heard her. Lina blushed and hastily replied back, "I'll tell you later."

Prince Xerxes looked Lina and mentally noted that her figure hadn't seemed to change a bit. "Lina-chan, what brings you back here, after all these years? . . . To visit your sister perhaps?" Lina winced at the nickname (Lina-chan), but smiled. "Well, yes, that too. My 18th birthday is coming up soon, in case you forgot. And I want to celebrate it here. Now then, where were you headed before I came along?" The prince kept his smile on. "Well, I was just going around the city to make sure that everyone was content. Afterwards, I was planning to head back to the castle. Care to join me?" Prince Xerxes held out his arm. Lina, too, kept her smile on. "Alright, hold on while I go get cleaned up a little first though, okay?" "As you wish." Xerxes put down his arm.

Zelgadis, feeling that the conversation had ended, turned to Lina. "Ahem. Lina? Care to introduce us?" Lina looked at Zel and rubbing the back of her head again, replied, "Oh, silly me. I just keep forgetting to introduce people today! (She forgot that Pico wasn't a person!) Oh well. Ahem. Prince Xerxes, allow me to present my three current traveling companions - Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune, a princess of Seyruun, Gourry Gabriev, previous Swordsman of Light, and Zelgadis Graywords, grandson of Rezo the Red Priest. Everybody, this is Helios Xerxes, but everybody calls him Xerxes, the Prince of Salazar." Xerxes slightly bowed and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you all." Amelia was quick to respond. "Oh no, Prince Xerxes, the pleasure is all ours." Lina smiled, happy that they seemed to get along. "Okay, go ahead and talk a little while I freshen up. Come on, Pico!" At that, Lina and Pico made their way to a nearby inn known as the Royal Inn. Well, actually, Lina just went into the alley next to it.

Once there, Lina crouched down and looked at Pico. Pico, in response, imploringly cocked his head to one side. Then, Lina placed her right hand on Pico's forehead and silently cast a spell. Pico glowed black and slowly, the black aura was passed to Lina. When the glowing stopped, Lina looked down at herself. The spell had worked. Lina's dirty sorceress's outfit was replaced by a clean outfit; it was a crimson-red dress with a dark red cloak covering it. "Thanks for the outfit, Pico. It fits nicely. Come on; let's go back to the castle!" Pico barked happily. Lina soon rejoined her friends. When they saw her coming, they stared at her in amazement. Gourry voiced what wass on all of their minds. "Wow, Lina. You look great. But where did you get that, and so quickly too?" Lina waved off the question. "Oh, it's nothing. Pico here was just storing it for me for future use." Lina patted Pico's head. "Well, shall we go?" When everyone nodded, Lina took her place beside Xerxes and they proceeded to walk to the castle.

They didn't notice, however, that since Pico had tackled Lina, the townspeople had stopped what they were doing, and had watched Lina from the sidelines. They started whispering as soon as she was out of earshot. "Do you know who that is? That's the runaway Inverse girl! Lina Inverse has returned!" News of Lina's arrival quickly traveled to Luna Inverse's ears. "So the little runt has returned once more, eh? Well, let the fun begin!" Luna cackled evilly as she stopped working and teleported back to the castle, patiently getting ready for her little sister's arrival.

A/N: I hope you liked it. More to Come Soon! Please REVIEW!!!