Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Slayers For the Future: The Prophecy of Inverse ❯ The Price of Redemption….Got Gold to Spare? ( Chapter 13 )

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of "The Slayers."

Chapter 13

The Price of Redemption….Got Gold to Spare?

'Faster, I have to run faster! This teleportation spell only gets you so far. Town to town and run the rest of the way you fall short….' Onyx thought, using the speed he inherited from his father as he ran over the open plains. The curse of the chimera Zelgadis Greywords, which Onyx did not consider a curse, had not bestowed upon him his father's golem nature, but rather his senses and speed.

He supposed if the curse would ever arrive at any stage of his life, he could cure it. He'd know where to find most things very soon. He had no intentions of curing his father. If he took his father's chimeric state away, he would age like a normal human and thus, Zelgadis would eventually die from old age and leave Onyx and mother behind. Onyx didn't want that.

An eternal family, people who'd always be there for him and understand him, that's what this wish of his would bring. He doubted it would be long that a few thousand years before they learned how boring immortality got, as he had, but he'd tell them about that later when he could fully recall his old life.

Still running, he could hear the faint sounds of people chatting and things banging together. A few horses neighing and animals making their calls, it all came to him rather faintly, then increased in volume the further he went. 'The town….I'm almost there. Soon, I can challenge my great rivals, Luna Inverse and the Demon King. Then I can finally rest for a while. Tell my parents and friends why I'm still alive and what I really am.' He thought, the sounds getting louder in his sensitive ears.

~ Lahana Village ~

Onyx made it to the town well before sunset, a small cardinal on his shoulder to replace the raven that had served him since he left his mother's home continent. It had died with him when his Ra-Tilt struck them, but it had been for a good cause, saving Val's life. He hated Xellos even more now and showed it by kicking the first annoying thing that got in his way, a chicken that decided his foot looked like something to peck. The little squawking creature went flying off into the horizon, the most priceless look of surprise in its beady eyes.

"Lousy beady eyed, pecking imbeciles. The only good chicken is a cooked one." Onyx muttered, walking through the streets without a bit of trouble. Initially, he'd been met with distaste, but then he blew up a barn with a couple Flare Arrows and everyone started screaming that he was an evil sorcerer and ran away from him. He was happy, not about the comment, but the fact it was enough to get them out of his way. No further interruptions to his quest had come up, allowing him an easier trip to locate the sixth piece of Shabranigdo.

When he reached the cottage he had been seeking since he arrived, it looked rather well off, but dreary. The door looked like it had an animal's head and jaw for the knocker. He found that he was correct, a small armadillo's head and lower jaw nailed to the fancy door like some morbid joke.

Onyx just shrugged and used the crude knocker on the door, getting a response before he could manage the second knock. The door just whipped inward and an elderly couple appeared, smiling rather brightly at him. He stood still a moment, realizing the armadillo's jaw was still in his hand, torn from the doorknocker. With a grunt of disgust he tossed it to the ground and wiped his hand off on the wall.

"Are you a healer too? We heard a powerful sorcerer was in town, are you he? Could you fix our daughter up?" the old man said, his voice as rough as broken sandstone. Onyx nodded, and was dragged into the house a second later.

~

"Hello, Haunted House….sick." Onyx said as the elderly couple led him through the house. The walls were lined with stuffed animal heads and bodies. Little woodland critters, old livestock, domestic animals like cats and dogs, and even insects. Onyx wanted to be sick, seeing such an obsession for taxidermy was frightening. He had to bet somewhere around this house these lunatics had stuffed dead relatives somewhere in the dark and statue stuffed domicile. He thought better of asking when they took him to a room where a woman was laying on a bed.

At first, he thought the woman was another statue, but then he saw that she was breathing, looking about the same age as Sister Faye, only not as pretty. He hair was ratty and dark. There were food stain and drool on her mouth and cheeks, her dress being the only part of her that looked fancy and well kept. She looked like she couldn't really see them, as if she couldn't process anything but breathing and drooling. He grinned nonetheless. 'The next piece….' He thought, then yelped as a cold clammy hand touched his bird-less shoulder. "Can you cure her?" the old man asked.

"Certainly, just give me a few minutes and she'll be up in no time." Onyx said, and started to approach the drooling, brain dead looking woman, but the clammy hand pulled him back. "No, we want you to prove yourself to us first. Getting us a treasure to present our daughter with once she wakes up." The old man said, greedily.

"It's in the enchanted underground lake of Lorelei. A water nymph guards it. Get it for us and you can touch our daughter all you want." The old woman added with an equally greedy smile. 'Is this a subtle hint you want to marry her off, you old geezers….? Yuck….' Onyx thought with a shiver.

"Fine, which direction is it? I have some time to spare." He replied hastily. "To the east of here in the fields outside of town. There's a large cave at the end of the fields, which should take you down to the nymph's sanctuary. She's very powerful, but so are you. Bring back the treasure she contains and you can help our daughter." The old man told him. Onyx just nodded and teleport out to the fields.

~ The Cave of Rajah, The Water Nymph ~

"Should fireballed the old geezers for doing this. Grrrr, I hate doing things for undeserving people, especially old people. If I wasn't so hungry and pissed off, I might of thought of that." He told himself as he walked through the sapphire lined cavern. He was shocked that most of these jewels had gone untouched, but then again, the old couple had said the nymph was powerful. She probably killed anything and everything that came into her cavern. He grabbed up a many sapphires as he went down, not really caring what the nymph said about it. He needed money to buy his next meal, which was two days overdue. The last meal he'd had was supper two days ago, after the rude intrusion on his lunch.

Black magic took a lot of energy out of you, and he had diligently and openly swallowed as much as he could, which never seemed to be enough. He'd always loved good food, but his appetite was downright addictive. The food tasted better now than it ever had back in his home world, much better. Then again, he'd inherited his mother's chaotic nature from being born of her as he inherited his father's strengths.

He stopped his thoughts when he came to a mirror-like lake. It was even more reflective than the sapphires he'd yanked out of the wall. The nymph in question that ruled it, however was nowhere on sight, not even a ripple touched the water to let him know where she was.

"Hmm, maybe she died….and no one bothered to check on her." He mumbled, then an ear piercing laugh made him crumple to his knees and cover his ears in pain.

"Oh hohohohohoho! Who dares enter the sanctuary of Rajah, the Water Nymph? Ohhhh!! A man…..a YOUNG man!" the high pitched voice uttered. Onyx had about five seconds before his hood was flipped off to realize that the water nymph had appeared in front of him, and was all over him in an embarrassing embrace. The cardinal on his shoulder could see perfectly fine for him, but what it allowed him to see made him blush a few thousand shades of red.

A light-blue skinned woman with fish fins for ears decked with sapphire earrings was holding him in a rather loving manner. He was actually glad he wore a pirate bandana over his hair, if this nymph was in link with Deep Sea Dolphin or any of the Mazuko, his secret would be out. He always kept his eyes closed during the day, so she didn't get to see that either.

The nymph Rajah looked like she was scantily clad in a white brazier decked with laced and similar underwear lined with sapphires. She wore nothing on her small feet, but that wasn't his concern. His concern was that she was trying to undress him like some horny teenager. He shoved back at her and flipped his hood back on before backing off, only getting tackled again and smothered with unwanted kisses. "Oh, a shy man! I love it. It's been ages since any men have come to see my beauty. OH! Take me, human! I long for union!" she cried out, her shrill laugh making him wince as she tried yet again to take his clothes off.

"Lady, please! Ah, L-sama, you nutcase. Why'd you put this horny little animal down here!? Argh, don't touch that! EEK!" he yelped, swatting her hands away from his pants, then kicked her into the lake. All she did was squeal with pleasure, batting her love struck eyes at him. For all the deadly nature he'd been warned about, he didn't really understand why the couple had said this. All she was a hormonally imbalanced crazy woman who had no decency. The only deadly thing about her was her horrible laugh and her voice that was like pins and needles to his sensitive ears.

Rajah lifted her body out of the water, then began to float above it, dripping a little as she smiled. "Oh, very shy, and so very handsome and delicious. I will add you to my collection once I have you. I'll place you with all the other handsome young men that came to visit me. Those shy ones." She cooed, gesturing above herself. Onyx gulped a bit as he angled his bird's head up. There, trapped in large prisms of ice, were dozen of shocked and naked young men of every race and all slender and fit.

'So this is why she's deadly. She mates, then she freezes you so she can enjoy you forever, like leftovers. No wonder no one comes around this place, she a nymphomaniac and a damn necrophiliac!' his mind screamed, trying to plan something as he felt the nymph touch him again. Then he got it, smiling subtly as she stroke his thigh.

"Sure, but how about we wait until sundown? I perform much better at night, Lady Rajah. I might be the last young man that comes here for a couple centuries. You'd want to enjoy every moment of me, before I join your collection." He said seductively, grabbing her by the face and forcing deep kiss down her chilly throat. She kissed him back hungrily, groping every inch of him. When he let her come up for air, he just flashed his most charming grin. "You got it, stud….moonlight shines and your butt is mine!" she laughed, practically drooling over the thought.

'All that and more….you sorry slut. This doesn't count one bit as romantic for me.' He thought grimly, still giving her his best grin as he stroked down her sides with his gloved hand.

~

"He went to fight a water nymph? Why in the world did he do that?" Lina piped, the old couple sitting on the stuffed ogre chairs. They were a pretty freaky couple, but it was just as bad as the stuffed cow and horse couches their group, save for Xellos who was sitting on a moose head on the wall grinning ear to ear, were sitting on.

"We asked him too. It'd be a lovely waking up present for our daughter. He just vanished like that to do it. For an evil sorcerer, he was rather polite and frank. He was eager to cure our daughter." The old woman told her, smiling as overly happy as Xellos could, but with wrinkles lining her lips.

"He could have blown you up if he was all evil, but he didn't do that. He must want you intact for what he's going to do to your daughter." Zelgadis pointed out rather stiffly, looking horrifically at the small songbird that acted as an ashtray for the couple. He looked like he was ready to bolt at any second, the great amount of stuff and innocent creatures about him had made him go a slight shade of blue-green.

'It is a bit of overkill, literally. They even turned the family dog into a candleholder. This place is a varitable house of horrors.' Lina thought, observing the other members of her group. Filia looked highly disturbed, looking at the lizard coat rack handles and other small creatures turned into things that could be easily made with glass and metal at a blacksmith's shop.

Val just looked a bit frantic, as the couple kept eyeing him. She had to bet he thought he might get stuffed if he wasn't careful. His horn had popped out when the door had whipped inward on them and the couple had been eyeing it rather greedily.

Xellos just looked terribly amused and had given the couple and endless string comments about their wonderful décor. He'd even liked the wolf that had been stuffed, looking like it was attacking the small shredded rabbit that was in its mouth. Lina hadn't been surprised that he praised such a scene, it was so Xellos. Justin was leaning against the wall, looking rather tearfully at the entire room.

"Why do you ask?" the old women added suddenly, still looking at Val. "We're in pursuit of him. He's the wanted criminal Onyx the Dark Priest. We want you to help us capture him, since he's coming back here with your treasure. He's a very dangerous young man." Zelgadis said simply, finally pulling his sickened gaze away from the ashtray.

"Yes," Filia said with a groan," He has some very evil rubies in his possession as well. Your daughter probably has one inside her, which is why he wants to get close to her so badly. To steal the jewel."

The couple huddled together after that and began whispering to each other. Lina kept her eyes on Zelgadis, who would surely hear everything with his heightened hearing. She jerked her head back towards the couple when Zel's eyes widened.

"All right, we'll help you out, but you have to do something for us first." The old man told them cheerfully, rubbing his wrinkled hands together. "What do you want? We'll pay any price for justice. "Justin said before anyone could respond tot he demand.

"Good, young man. We want all of your money and one of the men of your group to be our daughter's boyfriend. It's that or nothing." The old man said happily.

"Fine, you can have big-mouth back there and all of his money. We spent the last of our money on supper yesterday. He's a prince too, keep him." Lina said triumphantly, grabbing a sputtering Justin by the arm and tossing him to the elderly couple.

"This is unjust! Unjust, I say!" Justin was blubbering, his little blue eyes pouring out tears when everyone shook their heads at him. "That's life, keep you mouth shut next time, Justice boy. But you only get him once we get Onyx. We have to hide down here, as morbid as this sounds, in your furniture. Make sure Onyx is led down here after he takes the jewel out of your daughter. Promise to reward him with lots of food….it'll work." Lina explain, getting half-conscious nods from the greedy couple as they started tearing through Justin's money pouch.

"Justin, when you have a moment, hide in one of the….uh, ogre easy chairs. Use your sword, they can afford to stitch them." Val teased. Slicing open the cow couch, yanking out the stuffing. Zelgadis just shook his head and went after the horse couch. Lina went for the grizzly grandfather clock and Xellos looked to be hidden already in his green cat beast form within the moose head's mouth.

'The dumbest beast form alive and to date so far, but at least its small. He has an endless sense of humor, no matter how silly it seems. Never mind that, Lina, you get the other ogre easy chair. Yuck, what a way to go.' She thought, gagging as she shoved the old couple and Justin off the chairs and yanked out the cushion that looked to have once been part of the ogre's legs. "This is the grossest thing….next to Noonsa, this is by far the grossest thing I've seen." She muttered. Justin had finally thrown his money pouch on the stairs and bolted back beside Lina to help, the greedy couple fighting each other for the royal graced gold.

~

Onyx came back to town that night, soaked to the skin and dragging the dead nymph by her hair all the back into town. Anyone that tried to get near him got a prompt fireball in their face. He was in no mood to say what he'd been through let alone be bothered with stupid questions like," Are you all right?"

'Of course I'm not all right. An amorous, sex-starved nymph tried to strip me every 10 seconds she claimed the sun had gone down. She nearly got my pants down when I got my night sight back. One second of looking like I was not paying attention and she races for my loins and tries to suffocate me with her breasts. There's only so much affection I can take. Pretty or not, jeez, what an animal. I think she gave my leg load of hickeys, damn ice cold hickeys.' He thought, spitting out some more water his mouth was still lined with.

The battle had been brief once he could see again, several Flare Arrows had startled her and told her he wasn't interested in her, so she decided that she'd have to make him give in with her own brand of water magic. From being dunked, skidded, drowned, and saturated with water spells galore, his clothes felt most of the attacks.

The point where she drowned him, she'd gotten his pants off then, and he woke up when she was trying to get his boxers off and planting her freezing mouth on his legs. He was certain this was quite enough and hit her with Arc Brass to stun her long enough to regain his dignity, then slammed her with Astral Break repeatedly in her chest for her incessant laughing and her wandering hands.

He could have cared less about the men she'd trapped over the centuries. They were already dead, some already rotting from the years of being frozen. He recalled the moment of her death actually pleasantly. It had been her quietest moment, making it the best moment for him.

The other problems arose after rigor mortis and she got heavier. He had to bet he'd made a trench behind him by dragging her heavy ass from the cavern, through the fields and now through town, both of them soaking wet. When he finally saw the morbid house of taxidermy he'd left before, he grumbled out a few curses. He moved on, tugging on the nymph's stiffening leg to get her moving more.

He was coming from a different direction than last time, so now he could see there was a vast cemetery behind the town. "Leave it to a couple of sickos like this to have a cemetery in their backyard. I'm scarred for life. Ack, the nightmares I'll have about those freaks." He muttered, kicking at the door. There was no way he was going to touch the door with his hands.

The door opened again as it did the first time, the wrinkled elderly couple standing their with their wide and greedy grins, the smell of food hitting him full force. "Oi….food." he drooled, forgetting why he was there for a second. "Ah, you met Rajah. Good job." The old man said, relieving Onyx of the very blue corpse.

"Huh? All she had there was herself and her dead ex-boyfriends, you assholes! The cave was treasure, right? I can't bring back an entire sapphire cave." He spat, being dragged in by the old woman. She chuckled at him. "No, we just always wanted to stuff this rare beauty and display her. My brother will be so jealous when we show this off at our taxidermy retreat."

Onyx didn't say anything in response. He was too stunned at her blunt answer to think of anything clever. He just shrugged and let her drag him upstairs. "As your reward for such great services to us, we'll treat you a grand feast. Just help our daughter and you can have it all." The old man said, tossing the body on the cow couch. It made a "Oof!" sound. Onyx tried to question it, but he was yanked at harder all the way up the stairs. He was in the room of their still drooling daughter, the door shut securely behind him.

"Ok, I'll stay a while. How rude….," he said sarcastically, walking to stand beside the woman," Hey Drool….mind if I undress thee? Oh, don't mind if I do."

In second's he had the fancy dress off of her and was painting the blood pentagram on her stomach. "Now this….will give me nightmares. People must wrinkle early in this family…..Brrrr….," he shuddered, raising his fist over her stomach," I pledge myself to thee, oh lord of the frozen north. I cleanse myself for thee, oh maiden of the deadly seas. I bleed of my free will for thee, oh mistress of the beasts. The dark power unchallenged of thy ruby-eyed king, with a heart of ice and eternal soul, I praise thee, to launch the becoming of the soul! Divine Hand!"

He shoved his hand into her, but she was still too dumb to react to pain. He cleans off his hand and the ruby on her dress once he pulled them out. The woman was now staring at him as if she was having an epiphany. "Boy….pwitty boy…." She dribbled, like she was toddler.

"Whatever….ruin your parents' lives, would you? They're sick. Bye." He chuckled, putting the ruby on his talisman before leaving the room. 'Stupid bastards, they have no idea that they'll be raising a middle aged toddler for the rest of their lives. Suckers.' He thought with a grim smile.

~

Onyx didn't like how the couple was hanging on them, both of them looking at pieces of furniture as if they'd come to life at any moment. "You just sit on the couch and we'll bring your reward right in. You just sit and relax, young man." The old woman said sweetly, practically shoving him onto the horse couch. 'Double sick.' He thought.

"Fine….make it quick." He said, about to put his feet on the coffee table until he noticed it used to be a bunch of cats. "Ewww….sickos. This is a nuthouse. The food better not be stuffed." He said curtly, holding back a fresh wave of nausea. He sat there few minutes, listening and sniffing the air.

The food was still in the same spot and the footsteps were not sounding anymore. 'Why aren't they moving?' he thought, starting to get up when a sword shot up a mere inch from his groin.

"ACK! Hello!" he squeaked, skittering over the back of the horse couch when the sword pulled back in.

In hailstorm of stuffing, Onyx watched Lina, Zelgadis, Filia and Val erupt from various pieces of furniture, covered in leftover stuffing. He heard someone struggling and whining rather effeminately above him. He didn't bother to look up. "Hello, Xellos….stuck?"

Xellos was flailing and cursing, trying to look pleasant about it, but his left foot was stuck in the moose's mouth. "Fine….how are you? Still on your power kick?" Xellos asked cheerfully. "Its not a power kick, namagomi, it's a quest. Don't you all have something more important to do, like revenge?" Onyx spouted, then silently cursed himself for the slip. If they'd caught it, it didn't show. They just looked incensed.

"What do you know about our quest?" Lina scowled, looking to be the angriest of the entire group. "I know a lot….that you're after Luna for the murder of your son. I'm after her too, so it pays to know who's after MY target." Onyx said proudly, inching back a bit towards a window. Zelgadis and Val held their swords tightly, moving a little closer until Onyx pulled his dark blade out.

"Your target? What did she do to you? And how do you know that, only we know she killed our son." Lina spat. "It's my business to know, I have my ways, but that's a secret. What she did to me was taking the only that meant anything to me in this life. She stole my family from me," he said stiffly, smashing the window behind him," Now if you'll excuse me, the seventh piece of my destiny awaits. Go back after Luna, while you still can. This is none of your business." In a second, he had leapt through the window and was running through backyard cemetery.

"Oh no you don't! Flare Arrow!" Zelgadis shouted, blasted out wall to gain them access to the cemetery. "Not very subtle Zel-kun, oi!" Xellos said numbly, scorched and shredded in mid-air before he hit to the floor. No one paid him any mind, running over his singed body to race after Onyx, Val taking the time to kick Xellos in the head for good measure.

~

"This is not going to help me. Me and my big mouth. Huff….I can't run well on an empty stomach, its unhealthy." Onyx was panting, Zelgadis' sensitive ears pricked when he heard the voice. The young priest was a big pain in the rear end, not to mention a fast one, but to hear him complain about being hungry more than being chased was peculiar.

It wasn't as if it mattered, but the guy seemed to think about nothing but food since they arrived. He seemed to grow in complaints that nothing was going his way when everything was. He had the pieces of the Ruby-Eyed Demon King and he had beaten them to each one. He even escaped from them most of the time and escaped Death itself, but he went on griping far ahead of the group. Save for himself, Zelgadis was much faster than all of them put together.

He was several feet behind Onyx, who was picking up speed with every step, or had been until his complaints about being hungry took effect. He was slowing down from the hunger and fatigue. "Never should have run all the way into town….never should have wasted my magic on the nympho nymph. Should've stolen the food and gone out the front door. Damn, I didn't want this." He was griping, only a few feet in front of Zelgadis. 'Now…' he thought, taking a hard leap at Onyx and tackled him from behind.

The two rolled past and through graves galore in the tumble that resulted, Onyx holding onto his hood for dear life rather than trying to protect himself. When they finally stopped moving, Onyx was sprawled out upside-down against a tombstone, blood all over his body. He was still breathing though, but they sounded pretty ragged. Zelgadis clothing was a little worse for wear, but his body was fine, and he silently thanked his curse for still being present.

Onyx pushed himself over to be on all fours, then grabbed on the tombstone to help himself up. "That hurt….I hate pain. So you want to play rough, huh, chimera? Let's see if your skills are as solid as your hide and heart." Onyx rasped out, pulling out his dark blade. "I'd stand down if I were you. You're bleeding and heavily injured. You can't possible beat me. And what has my heart to do with my skills?" Zelgadis hissed out, drawing his own sword when Onyx stood his ground.

"The way you treat your wife….like she's not there. I watch, I listen, I learn. For husband and wife, you treat her pretty poorly. I know because you're both wearing wedding bands, and Filia and Val don't have any on. It doesn't take a genius to see that." Onyx spouted, taking a slash at Zelgadis. He blocked, but Onyx came back stronger with another slash, moving his blade with utmost skill and prowess. Zelgadis didn't know whether to be wary or impressed. The young upstart was pretty good, maybe even as good as Gourry.

'Hope this isn't a relative….last thing we need is a Gabriev running around trying to destroy the world.' He thought, barely dodging a trio of thrusts and parries that Onyx put forth. The scent Onyx still gave off was doused by the coppery smell of split blood, but he could smell a hint of dust and pure water, purity.

"I love my wife, I'll have you know! I do not treat her any less that she would treat me. You have no right to judge me!" Zelgadis growled, putting anger into his next attack. He cursed himself for it when Onyx anticipated the move and baited him for another attack, catching Zelgadis' blade in mid-strike and thrusting it away. The blade landed several feet from them and Zelgadis was about to turn when he heard," Light come forth!" He stopped cold, barely feeling the blessed blade that Gourry once wielding touching the back of his neck.

"I was taught by the best, chimera, the very best. I don't lose so easily. My father taught me all I know. And you do treat your wife very poorly. When is the last time you kissed her, told her you loved her, even held her? Hmm? Not in decades I'm betting. Over what? Do you blame her for your son's death, because her sister killed him? Or do you blame yourself and this is the best way to punish yourself. Answer me or you've breathed your last." Onyx said coldly, as if the words pained him.

Zelgadis was enraged this stranger had the audacity to ask him such a thing, but it made him think. He thought back to the pained looked on his son's face, yet how anxious he seemed, staring at the both of them. Then the heart wrenching moment of his death flashed before his eyes, making crystal tears spill out to crash upon the ground.

"Answer me! Last chance….do you take blame or place it?" Onyx urged, the white-hot light of the sword burning at Zel's stone skin.

"Yes….I blame myself for not being able to protect my son….it wasn't her fault. Luna just came out of nowhere and robbed us of him. I wasn't fast or strong enough to stop her before she wiped him out. Are you satisfied?!" he croaked, rage and sorrow overtaking him.

"That's a poor excuse and waste of emotion. Do you think an outburst like that will gain you pity? You don't need it. It wasn't your fault, stupid." Onyx said, almost too quiet for Zelgadis to hear.

"What?" the chimera breathed.

"It was Luna's fault. She's the murderer, not you. You would have moved heaven and earth for your son, you would have died for him, and he knew that. All children know that about their parents. My parents died for me the day Luna came, they died over and over again just for me." Onyx said, the blade no longer at Zel's neck.

"What are you doing? Getting ready to stick me?" Zel asked quietly, getting annoyed grunt from behind.

"Word to the wise, Greywords, go after Luna. Trust me for once. She's in the northern portion of this place, the frozen north is where she hides. The Prism Mountains to be exact. You do your thing, let me do mine. You can attack me all you want once you find Luna, trust me on this one, everyone gets seconds chances. Try and give your marriage one before you go after Luna. Try and hurry, I don't leave leftovers." Onyx said gently, then he was gone.

~

Zelgadis didn't move for a long time, his crystal tears flowing freely and shattering about his feet. He barely heard Onyx teleport away from him, not even a hint of his scent vanished caught his attention. Even when Lina came into view, worry written all over her face, he did not move.

"Zel? Zel, are you all right? Zelgadis??" she asked, grabbing him by the arms and shaking him a bit. He seemed to notice her suddenly, a small crystalline tear falling out of his right eye when he did. He looked so vulnerable to her, so alone, like his heart had been torn from his body. "Lina…." He was saying softly.

"Yes Zel?" she asked, and got a soft kiss in reply. 'Oh….' She thought, closing her eyes gently as he kissed her. It had been ages since he'd been anything close to affectionate. He was holding her too, like he used to when they were alone, Hiero playing with Val by the house and Filia fast asleep in her room. She could almost hear the chirping of birds around her, the gently tapping of leaves on the roof.

No, someone was tapping her shoulder, something cold. Zelgadis moved a bit, then the tapping stopped and the kiss deepened, washing waves of passion and tranquility over Lina's body. She felt calm, loved, she felt like she did when they were happy.

When the kiss broke, Zelgadis was still holding her and looking into her eyes intently. "Lina, you know I love you. I'm sorry I've been so cold. I took Hiero's death a lot harder than I would have liked to admit. I'm sorry. I was being a jerk all over again." He said quietly, looking almost ashamed he was saying it.

Lina just shook her head with a warm smile. "I'm sorry too, Zel….for….all the crying and complaining I did. If I hadn't made you feel so guilty when I felt so guilty, we'd….well, I'm just sorry too that it me so long to admit you were hurting deep down. What brought this all on, Zel?" Lina asked, ready to start crying herself, but willed the tears away. Zelgadis didn't need her bawling again and making him miserable. He was hurting too, just as she was.

"Let's just say someone made me open my eyes to what we should do first. Onyx is after Luna as well….he won't, I hope he won't, summon Shabranigdo until after he finds her. He told me where she was….I don't know if its accurate, but the Prism Mountains would probably be a lot easier to find than the last piece, with Xellos lack of help. I got a map in the town Val and I were in before we met up with you and Filia." Zelgadis uttered, wiping the last of the tears off his stone face.

Lina nodded, looking back towards the others, giggling slightly as she saw Xellos was lying behind her in a crumpled heap with a black eye. Val and Filia were a few feet away from him, smiling a little. Zelgadis moves off from them, reclaiming his sword before sheathing it back in his scabbard.

"We're headed for the Prism Mountains, guys. Luna's rumored to be there." Lina announced, getting a warm smile from Zel. Val just shrugged, eagerness overtaking his gentle features. "What about Onyx?" Justin asked, looking rather pensive about the change in plans.

"He'll be after her too. Where Luna goes, he'll go. Let's get moving while he does other things. If this holds true, we can avenge Hiero….and save the world at the same time. That's justice for you." Zelgadis said solemnly.

"Right!" Val, Filia, and Lina chorused cheerfully. Xellos just gave off a slight groan and raised his staff with his frazzled arm to agree.

To Be Continued….