Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Titled ❯ Chapter 1-3 ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Imported From: RAAC
From: "David A. Tatum" <desaix@sysnet.net>
Subject: [Slayers][FanFic] Slayers Titled, Chapter 1
X-Moderation-Queue-Date: Wed, 21 Mar 2001 13:39:06 -0500

Here's chapter 1 of a Slayers fic I've been working on. I've had this for
a while, now, but haven't posted it here.
Slayers Titled
A Slayers fanfic by David A. Tatum

Disclaimer: I don't own the world that this story takes place in, nor do I
own the characters- Software Sculptors, SOFTX, and many others do, instead.
Consider this my small attempt at a tribute to that great series.

A Note about the Name: The working title for this piece was 'Slayers
Untitled.' I thought about what I was planning to do with it after
finishing the first chapter, and realized that just removing the 'Un' would
probably be enough to make it work...

Authors Notes: This takes place after Slayers TRY. It probably will have
spoilers for practically every element of the Slayers anime (I know
practically zip from the manga or the novels) by the time I'm done with it,
but may conflict with elements of the Slayers universe outside of what is
presented in the anime... *shrug* If you don't want spoilers for the
anime, you've been warned. If you get annoyed if something conflicts with
the novels or manga, don't read it- and don't tell me about it... I don't
care, really. (Well, I do, but I'm not changing what I have plotted
because of it... and mentioning it to me if I can't change it will only
discourage, so please don't).

Brief note about capitalization of the races: (I wouldn't put this in
here, but an editor of mine bugged me about a similar issue in a Ranma
fanfic I've been writing) I will capitalize the races of Dragon, Human,
and Mazoku whenever I am using such to describe 'affiliation' with each
power. If I am just using it as a description, however, I won't bother.
(This is important, as you'll find out in Chapter 1)

Well, I guess that covers what I need to have to start writing, and I'm
anxious to get going on this one, so I'm not going to include the usual
ramble I have when I start a large fanfic (Wah! I'm starting another
one... I need someone to stop me from watching anime until I'm done writing
the fanfics that I've got- I keep getting too inspired to NOT write it).
Enjoy.

--------------------------

Chapter 1: Not Your Ordinary (m)azoku
...The Story of the Five Priests.

Eleven Hundred Years Ago...

Things were looking rather grim for the fate of the world. The dragon race
was dying off- and fast. The Water Dragon King, one of the four parts of
Ceiphied left behind after the great battle in which he was victorious but
fell anyway, was just barely a match for the resurrected part of
Shaburadnigo that came from Lei Magnus and his vassals, but that was not
enough to turn the tide of victory to the favor of the Dragons. The Mazoku
were just too strong. The Humans, who were peripherally the allies of the
dragons, were almost powerless to do anything after many years of civil
wars, although the development of their Shamanistic magic was starting to
prove effective against some of the lesser demons and monsters, and what
little white magic the Dragons could teach them helped prevent their utter
destruction. Still, it was a very grim time- Gaav, Shaburadnigo's
lieutenant, could not be stopped by any save the Water Dragon King himself-
and the Water Dragon King was too busy with Shabradnigo to notice Gaav.

The Water Dragon King, however, had one last plan he could use. It was
utterly desperate, and it was an all or nothing gamble, but it was the only
chance he could see for the worlds survival. If he failed, however, the
world would be utterly consumed by darkness and destruction.

Knowing all this in his heart, he enacted his plan fiercely. He called
upon the one power he knew of greater than both himself and Shaburadnigo.
He called upon his Mother- the Lord of Nightmares, with a spell that would
later be known as the Giga Slave. Unfortunately, as he was doing so, Gaav
has sneaked inside his defenses and was about to take all the power that
Shabradnigo could focus through him- a move which would temporarily kill
this incarnation of Gaav, but which would utterly destroy the Water Dragon
King for all time.

And, to the surprise of all three in the battle- Shabradnigo, the part of
Ceiphied, and Gaav, the Lord of Nightmares answered her call directly.

* * * * *

"So," the Lord of Nightmares said, as she and the Water Dragon King drifted
in what appeared to be an empty void. "God of the Dragons, what is of such
great burden to you that even your broad shoulders cannot handle it?"

"Mother," he answered in the Dragon tongue, more because it was not a
language which was able to show his nervousness than for any other reason.
"I was not expecting you to actually answer in this fashion."

"But I have answered you in this fashion. So speak, my child- what do you
wish of me? I will give you all that you TRULY desire... provided it does
not interfere with what my other children desire, as well."

"And if it does?" the part of Ceiphied asked.

"Then the power of my Chaos will twist it as it sees fit. But come, now,
enough stalling- answer my question, or I will give you the exact opposite
of what it is you desire. Regardless of whether it effects my other
children or not."

"Very well," the Water Dragon King said, taking in a deep breath. "I ask
that my Dragons win this war, and that you preserve the goals of our race."

"Indeed, that is a very noble wish," the Lord of Nightmare said. "But I'm
afraid I cannot grant that to you directly- at least, not in the way you
might think."

There was a pause, and he hung his head. "Then... we are doomed?"

The Lord of Nightmares laughed. "My dear child, you are one of those I
fashioned to be a god for my little world, and yet even you do not
comprehend the power of Chaos? The Humans do, though they rarely realize
it- some will join the Mazoku, some will fight alongside the Dragons, some
will fight against BOTH, and some will fight FOR both. That is a race of
Chaos- a race of those in my image. Hmm... yes, the Humans are a great
power. Oh, this will be so much fun!"

The part of Ceiphied blinked. Did she just say fun? "Mother?"

"Do not fear, One Once Known As Ceiphied. Soon, you shall defeat this part
of Shaburadnigo, and Gaav will be severely weakened. It is too late to
save yourself, however- you have already been destroyed. Furthermore, the
war will continue, despite the absence of the two of you. Not for long-
there will be one final great battle, where a Human will decide it. A
Human with a weapon not of this world." She paused. "Part of your wish
will be granted. Whoever wins the war, neither side will be strong enough
to continue... and Life, the ultimate goal of any Dragon, will be
preserved."

"Thank you, Mother."

"I shall tell you what is to come, for your final battle will come upon
returning to the mortal world, and so you cannot disturb the course of
Chaos," she said. "Gaav will be sent against the other Mazoku. A new
Mazoku priest, Xelloss, will be created... and he will destroy MANY of your
kind. I will tell you he will not always be Mazoku, however... though he
will always be mazoku," She paused.

As the Lord of Nightmares talked, visions of the future, granted to the
great dragon by the Lord of Nightmares, started filling his head. The idea
of being mazoku without being Mazoku made no sense to him.

"But not before half of the Dragons are utterly destroyed," she continued,
"He shall be one of the Five Great Priests I will create. One, whom I
shall name Rezo, will hold inside him the eyes of Shaburadnigo. He shall
be the most revered of the five, but he will betray the world. One, whom I
shall name Zoltar, shall be the Priest of Darkness, and shall establish the
center of power for those humans who follow the path of the Mazoku. He
shall be forgotten, but his power will be seen in the final days. One,
whom I shall name Sailoon, shall establish the center of power for the
humans who follow the path of the Dragons. These two shall be absorbed
into the cities they create, and none shall know of their continued
existence. One shall be a human- the only mortal of the bunch. As Chaos
predicts, the strongest of those who follow the path of Life Above All- the
Priesthood which shall be known as the Knights of Ceiphied- will be the
only ones who naturally die. Others will inherit the title as the time
passes, and these priests will hold both your power and mine. The final
Priest, the Trickster Priest, shall be the servant of the Mazoku, a foil to
the Knight of Ceiphied. He will not be your ordinary mazoku, however... as
Chaos demands, he will be fated to preserve the lives of those most
Chaotic. He will not stand for what the Mazoku desire, but he will be
fated to obey them. He will listen when they tell him to wipe out the
Dragons, and he will nearly do it on his own... but he shall spare more
dragons than any other Mazoku would in this war. He will be given orders
which go against his nature, but none of them will be required of him after
this war. And he will be the slave of the Mazoku, forced to do their
bidding. He will, that is, until -I- need him. And I shall name him...
Xelloss. Through these five Priests, balance will be preserved, and all
three Great Races, the Humans, the Dragons, and even the Mazoku will
survive."

Suddenly, a picture of a red-haired sorceress came to the mind of the Water
Dragon King. She was where he was... and a man was floating towards her.
A blond swordsman, who looked anxious to reach her- to merely touch her.
And he did... and then she disappeared, leaving him heartbroken. And then
she reappeared, and all the two would do was grab each other and deliver
the most heartfelt kiss that the dragon had ever seen among humans.

"Mother... what was that I just saw?" he asked.

"I do not know," she answered. "My visions are chaotic... sometimes, even
I do not understand what they show me. However, I feel that Xelloss will
be connected with that incident, somehow... perhaps that is what shall
cause me to claim back my little mazoku to perform my deeds. And perhaps
it is merely the daydream some man will have while talking with him... it's
really hard to tell." The Lord of Nightmares' assumed form faded away.
"But it doesn't matter. Your time with me is up... now you must return to
the world I made for you, and face your retirement. I shall preserve your
memories for the ages... though I will change some things. I do not want
others to attempt the Giga Slave, so I will change your memories to believe
that this spell will cause utter destruction. I will also alter the
memories of Shabradnigo and Gaav so that they do not know of what you've
done... and all will be as I plan it. And ALL my desires will be
fulfilled."

* * * * *

The Mazoku lords were in shock. Shabradnigo had been frozen into a block
of ice, and Gaav had turned rebel. Phibrizo's priests and generals had
been annhiliated for all time- as had all of his servants. Despite the
fall of Ceiphied, the Dragons so outnumbered the Mazoku that all chance of
victory seemed gone. They certainly couldn't resurrect any more parts of
Shabradnigo at this point- they couldn't find any, and they lacked the
strength to. What was worse, several humans had arisen to cause serious
disruption to their plans- one the Swordsman of Light, who bore a unique
weapon which could easily kill many of their kind, and the other the Knight
of Ceiphied, who seemed to possess powers which defied belief. Another was
Rezo the Red Priest, who, though blind, possessed a number of powerful
spells in white magic which could hurt them. Still another was Sailoon, a
great warrior who, out of nowhere, became a leader of the humans and
founded a sanctuary against their kind. He had been gathering many of the
more powerful human mages to create a refuge for those dedicated to the
study of white magic- a power which could harm only them. The dragons
themselves had rallied to a particular mountain range, where it appeared
that the remains of the Water Dragon King were stored- relics which
protected them from many of the dangers the lesser Mazoku could present.

The four loyal vassals of Shabradnigo met- in astral forms, only, as they
could not leave their physical locations without letting in much larger
hordes of Dragons and the three remaining parts of Ceiphied. If they
didn't come up with a plan, however, they would be attacked, possibly
destroyed, and forced to abandoned the barrier they had created. They
needed... a new force. Just something to restore the balance of power
before they were overwhelmed. To create a stalemate- or perhaps even a
little bit more of a stalemate- before things got out of hand.

It was into this meeting that the Lord of Nightmares appeared.

"Greetings, Children," she said. "I understand you have a problem."

"That would be an understatement, Mother," Phibrizo, the de-facto leader of
the Mazoku in Shabradnigo's absence. Only he and Zelas were capable of the
job, and Zelas was more interested in her weaker beasts- her 'toys'- than
in the job of leading the Mazoku armies. "If we do not grow in strength
considerably in the next few days, we are doomed."

The Lord of Nightmares smiled. "Then you are in luck. I've got some need
to create two servants on this planet. For one, however, I shall need your
aid... and in return, he shall be your slave until such time as I recall
him- which will not be until long after a cease-fire has been reached in
this war. Phibrizo, as the current master of the Mazoku in Shabradnigo's
absense, he shall be your servant, but I cannot form him from you, unless
you sacrifice a part of yourself. Do you wish this, or will you designate
another from which I can draw power?"

The answer was obvious. "Zelas Metallium, you have no priest nor general,"
Phibrizo noted.

"I have never desired one," Zelas replied.

"But you have the power to form one without sacrificing a part of yourself.
So, make for the Lord of Nightmares MY slave."

Zelas nodded. "I will. Though if I do, I may ask for this priest back,
one day."

Phibrizo laughed. "He will be a slave to all of us, but my orders will
always take precedence while I still exist. Understand?" Before Zelas
could reply, he turned to the Lord of Nightmares. "I designate Zelas
Metallium to draw the power from."

"Very well."

And thus, Xelloss Metallium, son of Zelas Metallium, was born.

* * * * *

Five years later...

Xelloss planted the smile on his face that was expected of him. As the
slave to the Hellmaster Phibrizo, he was forced to destroy those thousands
of dragons. As a person, however, he utterly despised it. If he did not
know what the Lord of Nightmares had planned for his future, he would not
be able to even pretend. As it was, though... he was able to avoid taking
life too seriously. For now, at any rate.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of another gold Dragon,
cowering behind some rocks. He turned quickly, planning to kill it before
it could get a shot off and hurt him...

But paused, the spell still in his hand, when he saw it was just a young
mother dragon, holding her egg. Xelloss' nature gave him a moment to
pause, and he tried to help her.

"Please," he said. "I don't want to kill you... don't fight me, and I
won't have to. My orders are only to destroy the Dragon Army, and if you
don't fight you aren't part of the army..."

The frightened mother gawked at him in disbelief. "But you just massacred
those thousands of dragons right in front of me! What game are you
playing, Mazoku?"

"Me? Playing games?" Xelloss laughed. "It's what I do- I'm the Trickster
Priest, after all. But I'm not heartless... and I have my own agenda,
separate from that of the rest of the Mazoku. So I bend the rules where I
can... and so I'm offering to spare your life, woman. I swear it... and I
want you to tell the other dragons out there that I spared your life, and
that I did so because I swore it. This war will not last much longer- when
it ends, I want your race to know that I can be trusted to keep my word.
You can hate me, but you must know you can deal with me."

"How do I know you'll keep your word?" the dragon mother shot back, still
frightened.

Xelloss raised a finger. "That... is a secret."

The dragon mother got angry at the evasive answer, though for some reason
felt like she'd gotten an answer from somewhere else- as if L-sama herself
was telling her heart to trust his word. "Okay, Xelloss of the Mazoku. I
will tell my kind of what you've done for me... but I shall also tell them
why, and I shall inform them that it was YOU who committed the massacre."

Xelloss nodded. If he was capable of doing so right then, he would have
wept for those he killed, but he couldn't do that- he was being watched.
"I'm sure it'll make a wonderful story for your kid," he said cheerily.
"If you'll excuse me, though, it looks like your people's forces have
started to regroup... I must get back to fighting."

He teleported away, leaving the mother behind aghast. "That's a strange
mazoku... come, Filia," she told her egg. "We must get out of here fast,
before the battle cuts off our escape route."

Xelloss, now standing atop a different peak, waited for the Dragons to
strike. Next to him, in the air, the Beastmaster Zelas Metallium suddenly
appeared- apparently out of no-where.

"Interesting," the Beastmaster said. "I could report that little incident
of your sparring that Dragon's life, if I wanted, and get you in a lot of
trouble with Hellmaster. Give me one reason why I shouldn't."

Xelloss merely smiled at her. He wasn't yet trusted by any of the Mazoku,
having been born from the Lord of Nightmare's desires, alone. Zelas WAS
his mother, however, and seemed to almost care for him... as much as any
Mazoku cared for another. Still, he was sharp enough to answer properly
when asked a question. "I suppose you think I'm going to say something
about how valuable my powers would be to you, but I'm not. That only makes
me a threat. No... I'm merely going to say that everything I told her was
the truth, and I felt it was in the Mazoku's best interest to let that
dragon and her child live."

Beastmaster laughed. "Indeed? How do you figure that?"

"The war will not end in a decisive victory, but with an indecisive one.
Whether that victory is ours or theirs, it does not matter... and we may
want to establish to the Dragons that we CAN be trusted to keep our word.
Gaav, as you know, has rebelled, and it may take their aid to hunt him down
one of these days. Other Mazoku are... grumbling... against the generals,
and we may have more soon. Plus, the Golden Dragons are known to be
ruthless- remember what they did to the Elder Dragons. It may turn out,
one day, that their ruthlessness will be enough to make them useful weapons
in our cause. And so, knowing that the war will end soon, I decided that
it might be appropriate to extend the first olive branch of peace."

"Indeed?" the Beastmaster chuckled. "And how do you know the war is ending
so soon?"

"That... is a secret."

Zelas laughed heartily. "Oh, my... I want you. If Hellmaster ever tires
of you and decides to release you to find another slave- or if he just
HAPPENS to be killed in this war, I do hope you'll entertain the notion of
becoming my servant. Your notions are quite entertaining, and as you
hinted at before, your power is quite impressive."

"Thank you, Zelas Metallium- Mother," Xelloss said. "I expect to have to
do that one day, anyway. I warn you, however, that I am not a normal
mazoku."

"It IS fate, as I don't care for NORMAL Mazoku, myself." Zelas said, not
quite understanding the reference but enjoying his answer all the same.
"Well, the Dragons are coming soon, so I'd better let you get to work now."

Zelas disappeared, and Xelloss turned his attention to the battle. The sky
was crowded with gold and black dragons. Trying to keep the pain out of
his eyes, he raised his fists, and let out a powerful blast of energy....

* * * * *

The Present...

Xelloss sat, patiently waiting for his master's orders. The Beastmaster
had been kind to him, quickly learning that he functioned most efficiently
when engaged in subterfuge against other (more rebellious) elements of the
Mazoku order, and allowing him to continue his association with Lina
Inverse and her companions. In fact, she even allowed him to 'flirt' with
a Dragon woman... a privilege no other Mazoku had been granted. True, the
Dragon woman in question failed to see that he WAS flirting with her-
instead believing he was just teasing her cruelly- but the mere fact that
he wasn't being punished for even associating with a Dragon attested to the
Beastmaster's patience with him.

It has only been a couple of days since the party split up... Amelia went
home (Zelgadis in tow- though he quickly departed on his continued quest to
find a cure. The fact that he was now delicately carrying a momento of
hers, though, showed that he now had a new home in Sailoon), Filia moved
somewhere that she could raise the newly-hatched Valgaav easier, and Lina
and Gourry... well, last he heard, the number of bandit gangs in the
wilderness was plummeting very rapidly. His remaining friends (for that
was what he thought of them)- Sylphiel, Zangulus, Martina, and the
others... well, they all had settled down in their own way.

Life was boring.

'Xelloss,' a voice- a very distinct voice in his ears, though he knew
no-one could hear it but him. 'Return to me. Your slavery to the Mazoku
is at an end. I have my OWN set of missions for you.'

Xelloss never could disobey a command by one stronger than him... and this
was no exception. He was not one to disobey the Lord of Nightmares.

"Xelloss, where are you going?" Zelas asked, a strain in her voice. It
seemed as though her little pet was trying to run away. And it was such an
inopportune time, too... the Mazoku were making many very significant
plans, now that much of the Dragon race had been wiped out, and her chief
lieutenant would be a very difficult asset to replace.

"My service to you is at an end," he said simply. "My Creator, my Mother,
the Golden Lord, has recalled me to her service."

Zelas growled. "Why does SHE have precedence over ME? I am ALSO your
Mother- your TRUE mother. Your powers were taken from me, and I helped
forge them with her."

Xelloss smiled. "I'm surprised you don't know, actually. Are you sure you
want me to tell you?"

"If you say that it's a secret, you won't live long enough to even TRY and
escape to her."

Xelloss continued to smile. "It IS a secret, but a rather open one. I
guess I can give you a hint, though... as payment for tolerating me."

"Spit it out, already!" Zelas snarled.

"She gives me all the freedom I want. Freedom to act without orders.
Freedom to choose my own path. Freedom to find a mate."

"Wouldn't that be that fiery-haired sorceress you've been doting on?"

Xelloss frowned. "Hardly 'doting on.' More like 'becoming friends with.'
I know what Gourry would- and could- do to me if I took Lina from him. I
have an eye on several women out there, however, of several races. Perhaps
the one I wish to choose as my lover is YOU!"

Zelas blinked. "You mean... you wish your freedom from me so you may
become my lover?"

"Maybe! Actually, though I've hated all this 'Mazoku must try to destroy
everything' business all this time, but every day, just when I got up in
the morning, L-sama told me to stick to it and it would all turn out okay.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I can't afford to keep her waiting. Oh, and
consider this my formal resignation. Sorry, I know it'll be difficult, but
you'll just have to make do without me!" Xelloss chirped happily, right
before phasing out.

Zelas blinked. "His impertanence is astounding." She smiled. "But if he
wishes to become my lover, he has another thing coming. He would have to
grow considerably in power to become even CLOSE to strong enough to face
me."

Xelloss phased back in a second later, to deliver one last parting line
before leaving again- this time, for good. "I told you, I'm not your
ordinary mazoku. I MAY grow that strength one day. Though if I do, it
won't be because I wish to be your lover."

------------------------------

From: "David A. Tatum" <desaix@sysnet.net>
Subject: [Slayers][FanFic] Slayers Titled, Chapter 2
X-Moderation-Queue-Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2001 20:59:09 -0500

Chapter 2: Pax Sailoon
...A Moment of Peace While the Company Assembles

Gourry poked the fire he had built with a stick, trying to provoke it into
cooking faster. He looked over at the young woman he had given himself the
job of protecting, and asked a question.

"Lina, where are we going? I forgot!"

"Baka! How many times do I have to tell you, we're going to-" Lina
started, preparing to throttle the somewhat forgetful swordsman. Cutting
herself off in mid-sentence, she paused to think about it. "Um, actually,
I guess I haven't told you this time, have I? We're heading over to the
city of Femille...."

Gourry stroked his chin. "Femille... Femille... that name sounds
familiar... wait, isn't that the city with all the women?" His eyes
widened, and he stared at Lina in a state of pure terror. "You aren't
going to make me dress up in a dress again, are you?"

Lina WANTED to say yes- it was so much fun the last few times she'd been
able to play 'dress-up' with him. However... "No, not this time.
There've been a lot of legal reforms since we last went there- men aren't
executed just for entering the city, now, they just can't hold high
political offices unless they're of the royal family or anything like
that." She smiled for his benefit... though regretted the knowledge that
she'd probably never be able to talk him into being her dress-up dolly ever
again, now that she no longer had that excuse. "Now, it's just a mecca for
white sorcerers and religious types."

"Ah... why are we headed there?"

"I'm researching something... I'll need your help with it, actually, but
I'm going to keep it a surprise until then."

Gourry smiled. "Well, I'll always help you out if you need me. You know
that."

Lina ALMOST blushed. "Yeah... I do." She paused. "Say... that 'Gourry
Bomb' trick we were using in that last fight... it gave me an idea. You're
always complaining because I have to carry you whenever we fly anywhere...
what if I taught you a couple magic spells to help you out in situations
like that?"

"Me? Learn magic? Why? You're plenty good at that stuff already. I'll
just rely on my sword, thank you. Besides, doesn't it take years to get
good at that sort of thing?"

"To get good at it, yeah. But I'm not talking about making you into a
wizard or anything- just giving you a couple spells that even your average
jellyfish could learn in a week," Lina said, smiling to show she was
teasing him. "Simple things like Lighting, Levitation, and maybe a minor
heal spell. You don't have the Sword of Light any more, and I've gotta do
SOMETHING to make my protector somewhat useful... or at least not as much
of a burden. You've gotta learn to fly by yourself, at least." Gourry
winced, so she patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry- this is only
temporary. We'll find you a new sword, and then you'll be just as useful
as you ever were. But in the meantime, we've gotta try something." She
paused. "And we'll have to be a bit more careful when travelling... um, we
might need to find somewhere safe to bunk down for a few days in a week or
so."

Gourry wasn't quite sure what to say. For one thing, he wasn't sure why
Lina was so worried about things a week from then- he certainly didn't know
of anyone powerful enough to be a challenge for her alone that would be
likely to attack them, and even if he was he wouldn't know why Lina would
know that they'd be attacking in a week or so. However, that wasn't what
was really bothering him. When he considered what she'd said, he was sort
of pleased- there were a number of times, while travelling, he wondered if
Lina let him follow her merely to stay close to the Sword of Light. He
knew he'd risked losing her companionship when he surrendered that weapon
to the other world, but he felt it was something he just needed to do. It
was almost as if something inside of him was telling him the sword was no
longer needed in his world. That, and it would be a way of KNOWING if Lina
just tolerated him for the Sword of Light, or if there was some other
reason. And here Lina was, not only letting him stay with her, but
actually worrying about him.

Actually, that was what was most on his mind. He was the one who was
supposed to protect HER- not the other way around. But what she said was
the truth- without the Sword of Light, he was useless to her. In fact, he
was, as she put it, a 'burden.' Perhaps Lina would be better off if he
wasn't there. But he really shouldn't decide that for himself, should he?

"Lina," he began. "Um... do you need me to come with you to Femille?"

Lina sighed. "Look, Gourry- I already said you'll be perfectly safe there.
Since it was revealed that half the nation was men ANYWAY, they dumped
those silly anti-men rules. You won't be lynched, and if anyone tries I'll
fry them for you."

"That's not what I meant!" he cried, upset. He was trying to ask her
something important, here, and he couldn't figure out how to ask it right.

Lina started to notice his agitation and frowned slightly. Something was
seriously wrong with him- he didn't usually get this worked up over a
little thing like going somewhere where he might be unpopular. Something
was definitely wrong with him. "Gourry... what are you trying to ask me?"

"Lina," Gourry said. "I'm no longer the Swordsman of Light. In fact, I'm
no longer the swordsman of ANYTHING, since all I have is this silly mallet
to fight with. You said it yourself- I'm useless as your protector and, in
fact, I'm probably a burden to you." He paused. "I can't protect you any
more, Lina... I want to, but I can't. We'll NEVER be able to replace the
Sword of Light, and without it I'll probably never be much better than your
average mercenary, even if I DO get another sword. Shouldn't you find
someone to protect you who would be better at it than I am?"

Lina looked at him in surprise. Maybe she'd been riding him a bit hard
about how useless he was without the Sword of Light, but she certainly
never expected anything like this. It almost worried her to think he might
leave- almost, but not quite.

"Gourry, I'm probably the most powerful sorceresses in the world right now,
I'm pretty good on my own with a sword, and I lived on the road for some
time without a protector, back before I met you. I never needed YOU as a
protector, so why should I go find someone else?" Seeing the worry still
plainly visible in his eyes, Lina instinctively continued, "I tried to
chase you off when I first met you- at least, I did until you offered to
pay for a meal for me. After that, well, I just let you tag along to use
you for your money. When I found you had the Sword of Light, I decided I'd
just stick around you until I could convince you to give it to me, and then
I'd run right off." She paused. "It stopped being about the Sword of
Light quite some time ago. I don't know when, exactly, but it was
before... before we had that horrible battle with Hellmaster. It wasn't
the Sword of Light I was worried about, then... it was you. So, unless
you've got someone back home waiting for you that you never told me about,
I'd rather you stay with me."

Gourry nodded. He missed some of the implications of that statement, and
Lina knew him well enough now to realize he would, but it was enough for
him to know that she didn't want him gone. And that was enough for him.

He frowned. "So... why is it that we're going to have to find somewhere
safe in a week or so? What's going on?"

Lina blushed. "Gourry... um, let's just not talk about that, okay? My
magic won't quite be working at its best, so I just think it would be best
to not be travelling then."

Gourry nodded. "Ah... so that time of the month is coming up again."

"GOURRRRRY!" Lina growled, turning bright red as she bashed him over the
head.

* * * * *

"...just love that restaurant!" one of a pack of teenaged boys was saying
to his friends. "The foods great, and that waitress is just a terrific
floor show!"

"You mean that Luna Inverse chick? The one with the big breasts who's
always teleporting everywhere?"

Another person who the teenaged boys might have described as a
'big-breasted chick' overheard this with great delight. "OOOOH HO HO HO HO
HO HO HO HO HO!" her shrill laughed echoed through the streets as she
approached the boys. They cringed in terror, furiously looking for a way
to escape. "Lina, Lina, Lina... did you think you could escape I, your
greatest rival and companion, Naga the White Serpent, just by changing your
name to Luna, stuffing your bra, and getting a job as a waitress thousands
of miles from where we last saw each other? OOOOH HO HO HO HO HO HO!"

The teenaged boys were torn- they wanted to escape the dreaded noise of
that horrid laugh, but then again... that laugh did MAGNIFICENT things to
that remarkable bosom that this strange scantily-clad woman was blessed
with.

One of the braver of the boys finally said something. "Um... what do you
want?" he asked nervously.

"The restaurant where this 'Luna' Inverse works- take me to it!" Naga
demanded.

"Um... okay, fine! Just please... don't laugh any more... or at least
don't laugh quite so loudly!"

* * * * *

"Halt!" the man in charge of the morning shift's Palace Guard for the Royal
House of Sailoon demanded, levelling a spear at the cloaked stranger.
"Advance to be recognized, then state your name and the purpose of your
visit."

A blue-skinned chimera stepped forward, removing his hood. Worn around his
wrist was a charm which any soldier of Sailoon would recognize as belonging
to their Royal Princess Amelia. "Zelgadis. Social call upon the Princess
Amelia," he said, waving the charm slightly.

The soldier remained stoically unmoved, lowering his guard slightly but not
completely. "I am afraid that is impossible. The Princess Amelia is under
house arrest, and so visitors are forbidden to see her."

"House arrest?" Zelgadis repeated, his eyes slanting dangerously. "For
what reason?" Had there been even more trouble to grace the Royal Family?
Had one of their less-than-loyal uncles attempted to usurp power from
Prince Philionel again?

Another soldier of the guard, who recognized the unique physique of the man
who was not-so-secretly the boyfriend of the princess, rushed up to prevent
his supervisor from saying something that might accidentally get them all
killed. "Hi, Zel. Prince Phil grounded her again- she snuck out of the
castle without permission."

Zelgadis sighed, relaxing his guard. "Again?" He took a few more steps
in, finally getting close enough for the first footsoldier (who was trying
desperately to hide the fact that he wasn't able to see clearly without
glasses) to see just who it was he had been treating so disrespectfully.
That particular officer had never had to deal with the chimera before, and
so could only recognize him by reputation. Once he saw the blue skin,
however, he immediately recognized the danger of the game he'd been
playing, and paled slightly.

"Maybe if you stuck closer to town, she would, too," the second soldier
suggested as the first slowly slinked away, hoping that the chimera would
leave him alone if he just returned to his duties.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Zelgadis growled dangerously.

"Um... nothing. Just that she's usually caught leaving when she's trying
to follow you. That's all."

Zelgadis sighed. He usually left 'in search of a cure' whenever he started
getting overwhelmed by her somewhat... overenthusiastic... outlook on life.
Something which happened much more often then the slightly spoiled
princess liked, it seemed. In fact, his cure was now little more than an
excuse to get away than anything- he didn't look very hard for it any more,
and really couldn't imagine where else he MIGHT look for it. Besides, it
appeared that his appearence wasn't quite as freakish as he initially lead
himself to believe- sure, Amelia thought he was suspicious looking, but she
also seemed to honestly find his curse 'neat.'

"How long was she grounded for, this time?"

"Actually, her punishment'll be up by tomorrow morning. Unfortunately,
she'll immediately be leaving on a diplomatic mission to Femille... I
believe she was hoping you'd be willing to join her as part of her royal
escort."

Zelgadis chuckled. When he COULD tolerate her extreme exhuberance, he
found being around her a rather pleasant thing. She was the first girl he
could even come close to calling a girlfriend (though they weren't nearly
as close as the tabloids said... though the tabloids inspired Amelia to ask
a few unpleasant questions, all of which happened to be true, the most
embarassing one being 'Are you always hard?' Thankfully, she was too
innocent to realize what, exactly, she was asking). "Of course I will," he
answered... then paused. "Wait, did you say FEMILLE? Is that the place
famous for all the Shrine Maidens?"

"Yeah," the guard said. "Heard they only recently allowed men into their
community, but you should be safe. The laws have been changed to give men
a lot of opportunities to live there, though, and that's why Prince Phil
felt he needed to send them a new diplomatic mission- to reassess their
political status after the sudden change." He paused. "He also felt that
it might be wise to send Amelia there to see if she wanted to continue her
training to be a Shrine Maiden, or if she just wanted to be a sorceress in
order to experience certain aspects of her life forbidden to their order."

"You mean Prince Phil wants to know if Amelia wants to get married some
day," Zelgadis summarized. "Amelia told me once, when we were at the Royal
Wedding of Xoana, that she hopes to get married someday. I wonder if she
ever realized getting married would mean she'd have to give up being a
Shrine Maiden."

"Knowing Her Highness like we all do, I doubt it," the guard chatted. "You
don't seem all that concerned with it, though. Considering how she treats
you... and how you don't complain when she DOES treat you that way... I'm a
bit surprised you're taking this so calmly."

Zelgadis shrugged. "There's two reasons why it doesn't bother me. The
first is that I'm a fatalist- I always expect that everythings going to go
wrong, anyway, so it won't bother me if it does." He paused. "The other
is that... well... this is Amelia we're talking about here. These are both
things which will call upon her sense of love and justice equally. They're
both things that she wants. Do you honestly think she'll be able to come
to a decision, regardless?"

The guard laughed. "True, true. So, should I show you to your apartment
in the castle, or would you rather head out to eat first."

"Apartment. I've been travelling almost non-stop for a month now- I need a
hot bath and a comfortable sleep more than I need food." He smirked. "I'm
not like the rest of Amelia's travelling companions- I don't obsess over
eating whenever food is offered."

* * * * *

The boy who'd recieved the job of guide to Naga was in heaven. When she
didn't laugh, the sorceress was actually pleasant to be around. Deranged
as all hell, yes, but for a body like that... well, insanity was a minor
thing, really. After all, wasn't everybody at least somewhat crazy, in
some way?

"Here we are, miss," he said. Wringing his fingers nervousely, he
continued, "Say, I was wondering if, after you're done with your business
here, you might want to go out some time. See the sites, have some fun,
and..."

He stopped right there when it became obvious the girl wasn't paying any
attention to him. Instead, she was marching towards the door with a
purposeful stride. "Yoo-hoo! Lina! It is I, your greatest rival and
travelling companion, Naga, here to see you! OOOOH HO HO HO HO HO!" she
laughed as she made her way inside.

Behind her, the boy shuddered and started to run away. Maybe it was worth
putting up with insanity for a body like that, but it wasn't worth putting
up with that laugh...

Inside the restaurant, many of the patrons cringed at the shrill sound.
One of the waitresses looked up, finished taking her order, and then
teleported to the door to meet the new arrival.

"*MUTE*" the waitress cast, putting a rather unusual spell over Naga's
lips, silencing her. "Hiya. No laughing in the restaurant." She waved
her hand, and suddenly the spell was removed. "Booth or table?"

"I'm not here to order food," Naga stated imperially as she took a seat at
an empty booth. "I'm looking for Lina Inverse."

"Sorry, not here. Do you want a menu?"

"No, I'll just have one of everything. Of course she's here! I've been
trying to track her down for more than three years, now! Finally, I
recieved word that there was a great sorceress named Luna Inverse who was
working here. It was so obvious that Lina was merely making another poor
attempt to escape from me! OOOH H-"

"*Mute*" the waitress cast again. "Sorry, wrong Inverse. Lina's a
thousand miles south of here."

When her voice was returned to her, Naga glared up at the waitress. "What
do you mean 'wrong Inverse?'"

"I'm Luna Inverse. Lina's sister. 'Scuse- customer." Luna teleported to
the front door to greet the incoming person.

"So!" Xelloss chuckled, his eyes closed as was normal for him. "I finally
get to meet the Knight of Ceiphied in person. It's an honor, I assure
you."

"Here to fight or eat?" Luna chirped, unphased by his appearance.

"Niether, though I believe I'll sample some of your soft-serve ice cream
while I'm able. I'm here to negotiate. Seems we've both got orders,"
Xelloss said. "We'll be working together for a while."

That struck through Luna's shield of flippancy. "Wow. We will? I hadn't
received those orders yet."

Xelloss shrugged, having yet to open his eyes. "These orders don't come
from my Mazoku masters or from your Dragons. They're orders from someone a
bit higher-up."

"Just lost yer credibility, Xel-chan," Luna chuckled. "No-one's higher up
than Ceiphied."

Xelloss opened one eyebrow. "Not even the Lord of Nightmares?"

Luna paused, then shrugged. "Okay, maybe her. But I'm busy- use Lina."

"I already am. I've got a list of people I need to gather, and you and
Lina are at the top of it. Her orders explicitly."

"Proof?" Luna asked with her customary brevity.

Xelloss nodded. "Just touch the seal of your knighthood. L-sama will talk
to you through that."

Suddenly, a horrendous laugh erupted from the other side of the restaurant.
"OOOH HO HO HO HO HO!" it rang.

Luna sighed. "Sorry- loony girl to stop. Be right back."

Xelloss caught her sleeve before she could leave. "Wait- before you kill
her, find out if her name is Naga of the White Serpent. She's somewhat
famous for that laugh, but her real name is Gracia Ul Naga Sailoon, and
Princess Gracia's one of the people on L-sama's list to gather."

"She's Naga. Not gonna kill her. Just gonna Mute her... maybe
permanently."

* * * * *

Lina and Gourry made it to Femille just before Lina's powers started fading
to uselessness- a very good time that surprised both of them. It was
amazing how fast one could travel when they didn't have to go raiding
bandit camps and fighting off hundreds of mercenary bounty-hunter groups.

"I'm amazed, Gourry," Lina said, slightly sarcastically, as they walked
through the city streets in search of a good inn with enough vacancies for
them to not have to share a room. "It only took you a week to master
Lighting. Most people master that in the first day of their magic studies,
but I was expecting it to take you much longer than it did."

"Gee, thanks, Lina," Gourry said, happy at the compliment and missing the
near-blatant insult. "That was pretty hard to learn, though. I'm not
really cut out for magic, you know."

Lina sighed. "Well, you're right. You AREN'T cut out for magic." She'd
been MORE than patient (for her) while trying to teach him, and had only
resorted to fireballing every time he made a mistake in the spell. Even
then, it had taken several days to get him to cast Lighting consistently
correctly. "But once you learn your first spell, it gets a little easier.
And the only other spells I want you to learn are a minor healing spell and
Levitation. You aren't even getting to the spells which require you to
draw power from other sources and learn the differences between calling
black, white, and shamanistic magic."

"Oh... okay. So when do we get started on the next spell?" Gourry asked.

"WE don't- at least not for a while. After we get settled in, I'm going to
take you to one of the PROFESSIONAL magic instructors in the area and then
we'll pay him to teach you while I check out the library for that piece of
research I'm doing."

"But, Lina... how am I going to learn anything without you there to
encourage me?" he asked.

Lina smiled faintly. "I'll be checking up on you each night. Right before
dinner, I'll see what you've learned... and if you haven't learned enough,
then you'll just have to go to bed without your supper, young man... and,
of course, I'll have to eat your share" she teased, wagging a finger at
him.

"But I'll STARVE!" Gourry whined. Lina just laughed evilly.

* * * * *

"S'what's goin' on?" Luna asked Xelloss as they left the restaurant where
she worked, carrying a bound and gagged Naga with them.

"Didn't L-sama tell you?" Xelloss asked curiously.

"Said t'ask you."

"Ah," he said, nodding. "Well, first we're heading to pick up this
delightful young Golden Dragon I know... lovely creature. Has the heart of
a mazoku."

Luna chuckled. "S'pose ya like her?"

"Ah, that is a secret," Xelloss said, raising a finger into the air. "But
it wouldn't work out even if I did- she's one of the last of the Golden
Dragons- if not THE last. I'm the mazoku who singlehandedly wiped out half
the dragon race a thousand years ago... But then again, she DID forgive
Valgaav, and he wiped out the other half. But I think that was largely
because of a guilt complex involving the slaughter of the Ancient Dragons."

"So what do we do after her?"

Xelloss smiled as they entered a large carriage he'd purchased for the
adventure. "Well... there are still another player or two we need to pick
up- a swordsman in Xoana, a Shrine Maiden in New Sairaag, and, well, we may
run into another person or two who we might want to bring along as well,
according to L-Sama. She wasn't sure about that, though- something about
how it would go against Chaos if she were to tell me for certain." He
moved to help Luna secure Naga tightly into one of the carraige seats,
making certain it would be impossible for the annoying girl to escape the
bonds. "After that, we just head over to Femille, where the last four
people will be waiting for us."

"Who?"

"Well, this girl's younger, less annoying sister," he said, motioning to
the bound and gagged sorceress. Naga's eyes widened in surprise. "The
Princess of Sailoon, Amelia Wil Tesla Sailoon. Amelia's boyfriend,
Zelgadis- a powerful shamanistic sorcerer, for a human, and a good
swordsman as well. Your sister, Lina, and her boyfriend, the former
Swordsman of Light. Gourry Gabriev."

Naga's eyes widened even more, and even Luna's opened a crack. "Sis has a
boyfriend?"

"Well, that's part of our mission. L-Sama wanted you and me to get them
together- they've BEEN together for some time, actually, they just don't
realize it yet."

"Why would L-sama care about Sis's love life?"

Xelloss raised a finger. "That... is a secret. I can tell you, but not
when Miss Laughter here can eavesdrop."

Luna finished tightening Naga's bonds. "Done."

Xelloss smiled. "Next stop, the home of one cute but insulting 'lil Golden
Dragon."

With that, the entire carraige and all its passengers teleported.

* * * * *

Lina was not in a good mood. Her research in the library had proven quite
productive, but if she wanted to do what she wanted to do she'd need to
find some new good, but small, magical amplifiers. She certainly wasn't
going to give up the four talismen she bought from Xelloss for a project
like this- no, she'd have to find something else. Furthermore, she'd need
wood from a Holy Tree, and someone who was VERY powerful in white magic to
get everything working just like she wanted. And what was worse, she'd
have to let Gourry in on her little secret before she was ready- not right
away, thankfully, but she'd have to get him to help in the item's creation,
and not wait to make certain adjustments after talking with him about it.

Well, they were in a Holy City. Finding wood from a Holy Tree wasn't
likely to be difficult... just expensive. Finding a powerful practitioner
of white magic wasn't likely to be very difficult, either- just
frustrating, because she needed someone as powerful in white magic as she
was in black magic. Maybe even more powerful.

As far as magical ampliphiers were concerned, however... those were almost
impossible to get ahold of. If she found one for sale, she'd be very
dubious as to its legitimacy, in fact. She'd have to do something like
talk to a powerful Mazoku or Dragon to make some for her... maybe she could
find Filia and ask her to make something for her, but that was a LONG trip.
One she really didn't want to have to make.

But none of that was why she wasn't in a good mood. She wasn't in a good
mood because of how mad Gourry's teacher was starting to make her, from
what he was telling her.

His arms were a mess of wounds caused by his attempts to teach Gourry 'the
traditional way.' Namely, make a fresh cut on the student, and force the
student to heal themselves. However, the teacher also was refusing to heal
Gourry after the 'test' was over, instead just bandaging the wound and
making a new cut when he tried testing him again. True, that was sort of
how her older sister had taught her, but at least Luna would keep the
number of open wounds down to five (and Luna was one of the most sadistic
magic instructors Lina knew of). Gourry had nearly thirty cuts up and down
his arm.

"We're finding you a new teacher, Gourry," Lina growled, using her own
healing spells to repair the wounds in such a way they wouldn't leave
scars. "This is just malpractice, plain and simple." She paused.
"Actually, maybe I'll work with you a bit after dinner- I'll leave one cut
for you to heal, but thirty is downright DANGEROUS."

Gourry waved her off with his uninjured arm. "It's not too bad, Lina. You
put me through worse learning Lighting."

Lina shook that comment off. "I know what I'm doing with those fireballs-
I can control them well enough to make them hurt without making them
injure. And what the guy did, itself, isn't that bad- I learned this way,
too. But he took it WAY too far- the difference would be me using a Dragon
Slave spell to let you know you were making a mistake, instead of a very
controlled Fireball spell." She paused. "What he did was dangerous- you
lost a lot of blood, and if I wasn't healing you right now you might have
lost a dangerous amount before tomorrow morning. No, we'll have to find
you someone else."

"But we've already paid, and he won't give refunds..." Gourry protested.

Lina growled. "Well... at least let me talk to him before your next
session. He shouldn't be doing this to you." She finished her heal spell,
leaving only the smallest injury for him to practice on later. "Come on-
let's get something to eat."

* * * * *

"Ah," Amelia sighed. "It's amazing how peaceful the countryside has
become."

Zelgadis, riding on a horse alongside her, frowned. "I don't like it. It
seems almost too peaceful."

Amelia looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean by that?"

"I don't like how peaceful it's become in the last few months. Usually,
you'll run into the odd troll, berserker, goblin, or some other lesser
monster when travelling. Or even just a bandit gang or something... but
nothing. It's been this way for some time, now- ever since we got back
from defeating Dark Star and Valgaav, it seems to have slowed to a stop.
And I don't understand why- we didn't do anything to stop their raids, did
we? If anything, there should be MORE of them, now that the Dragons have
been so seriously weakened."

Amelia laughed. "Oh, it's probably nothing to get worried about. I mean,
we've got a heavily armed guard protecting us- no bandits or monsters are
likely to mess with us. Besides, daddy's started policing the roads again,
now that all of our family squabbles are settled. It's bound to be more
peaceful than it was before."

"Perhaps," Zelgadis said doubtfully. "It still feels like the calm before
the storm, to me." He paused, and decided to change the subject. "So... I
was wondering. Do you intend to be a Shrine Maiden for the rest of your
life?"

Amelia shrugged. "I hadn't thought about it- I suppose so. Why?"

"You do realize Shrine Maidens can never marry, right? Otherwise, they
wouldn't be 'maidens' any more." He paused. "You DID say you want to get
married someday."

Amelia blushed brightly. "Um... well, I do." She looked at him nervously.
"Er... do you want to get married... someday?"

Zelgadis smirked. "Maybe," he said patronizingly. "If I ever find a
willing girl."

Amelia's blush grew. "Um... I might be willing... one day."

"Hmm. You know I sometimes like to do things on my own. I might go off
sometimes, and not want you to come along." He looked over at her. "I
know you've been running away from home to follow me sometimes, even though
I'm usually trying to find a bit of privacy. Do you think you could accept
me not always being there?"

Amelia looked away guiltily. "It might be a bit hard for me...." She
paused. "Then again, I could always spend the time you were away acting as
a Shrine Maiden!"

Zelgadis blushed. Apparently, Amelia wasn't quite aware of what the
problem with that would be. He considered trying to explain it to her, but
decided he'd find someone else to explain the birds and the bees to her....

* * * * *

Filia opened the door to her little cabin and blinked in surprise.
"Xelloss! And... LUNA? What are you two doing here?"

"Mission. Gathering people," Luna explained.

"Mission? From Ceiphied?"

"Nope. Xelloss' and my mutual boss."

Filia's eyebrow twitched. "You and this... this... FREAK share a boss?"

"Yep," Luna said.

Xelloss' smile twitched. "I wish you'd stop calling me that," he said.
"Especially since we're supposed to be working together again. Our orders
come from higher than either Ceiphied or Shabradnigo... they come from the
Lord of Nightmares herself."

"L-sama," Filia said, rolling her eyes skyward. "Why?"

"C'mon, lets go," Luna suggested.

Filia looked back into her house. "Um... I can't."

"Oh?" Xelloss asked, feigning distress. "Don't tell me you're refusing an
order from L-sama because you'd have to work with me again! I'm hurt!"

Filia clucked her tongue. "Hey! I've got real reasons, too!" Xelloss
opened an eye, smirking at her. She flushed. "I mean... look, Valgaav's
not exactly at that point in her life when he should be left alone..."

"Take 'im, too," Luna suggested. "S'ok- we'll look over him."

"Take him? I don't know... I mean, he's still an egg. I don't want to
risk letting him get hurt."

"No problem!" Xelloss said enthusiastically. "Luna, why don't you gather
the others together. I'll wait for you here, with her... alone... until
you get everyone else. I don't think L-sama would mind if we gathered
everyone here instead of in Femille..."

"On second thought, maybe I'll go with you after all, Luna. I'd rather NOT
be left alone with that fr... um, mazoku."

* * * * *

"Hey, LINA!" Gourry cried.

Lina, holding the piece of wood from the Holy Tree that she'd just
purchased, looked around, trying to find him. Finally, she looked up. Her
eyes widened. "Gourry? You got it to work?!"

After getting into a huge fight with the teacher they'd hired (and very
nearly frying him with a barrage of fireballs), they'd come to an
understanding. The teacher refused to change his methods for teaching
healing techniques, so Lina demanded that he move on to teaching the
Levitation spell. Gourry was still trying to learn the healing spell,
however- largely on his own, since Lina was too busy to do anything more
than heal the wounds he made to practice with. She wasn't too happy with
him choosing that method to learn the technique, but at least he was being
safe about it and not making more than three cuts to practice on.

Apparently, though, the instructor WAS able to teach him the Levitation
spell, as he was now floating over her head.

"Well... kind of. Um, I was able to get up, but I haven't figured out
quite how to get back down, yet," Gourry admitted.

Lina blinked. "You just disperse it, Gourry. You think the magic away,
and it goes away."

"You mean that if I pretend I'm not flying any more, I'll stop flying?"

Lina hesitated. "Well... I can't say you're wrong, but that's not
exactly... oh, never mind. Yes, just pretend you aren't flying any more."

"Thanks, Lina!" he said enthusiastically, seconds before he came falling
down in a crash.

"Gourry!" Lina cried, running over to him. "Are you okay? That was a hard
fall!"

"Looks like I'll have to work on my landings," he said dazedly.

Lina wasn't the only one who his crash-landing attracted. "Is everyone all
right? What happened?" A familiar female voice called.

"Amelia?" Lina said, amazed.

Amelia, followed by Zelgadis, blinked upon seeing who it was they had
rushed up to check on. "Lina? Gourry?" she asked.

"Um, Lina?" Gourry asked.

"Yeah, Gourry?"

"Can I pass out now? My head hurts..." he asked, seconds before he did.

"Gourry!" Lina shrieked. "*Restoration*" she cast.

Amelia cupped her hands and quickly joined in. It didn't take too long to
fix the damage, though Gourry was still passed out in the middle of the
street when they finished.

Zelgadis looked around at the crowd of rubberneckers they were drawing.
"Perhaps we should move him somewhere safer... have you got a hotel room we
can take him to?" he said, picking up the slumbering swordsman.

"Um, yeah," she said, taking one of Gourry's arms. "It's three blocks down
the street, then another block to the left... the Ciephied Arms."

Zelgadis nodded. "Let's go, then," he said, taking the other arm. "So
what happened to him, anyway? It looked like he fell off of a building or
something."

"It's sort of a long story," Lina said. "I've sort of been trying to get
him to learn a couple of very simple spells, to help make up for the loss
of his Sword of Light. Just a few- Lighting, Levitation, and a healing
spell. Lighting took him a week to learn when I was teaching him, but when
we got here I was too busy to teach him anything else. I didn't trust the
way the instructor we hired was trying to teach him the healing spell, so I
had him concentrate on Levitation, and..."

"And that was a result of one of Gourry's levitations, right?"

Lina hesitated and nodded. "Actually, it was my fault. He didn't know how
to land, and I don't think I made it clear that he was supposed to be
touching the ground before he dispelled the spell."

Zelgadis blinked. "You're teaching GOURRY magic? I mean, isn't that
dangerous? He's as likely to accidentally cast the Giga Slave as he is to
get a Lighting spell right!"

"Zelgadis!" Amelia admonished. "Gourry's not that bad! Besides, it's not
fair to tease him like that when he isn't awake to defend himself."

Zelgadis cringed slightly. "I'm sorry, Amelia. Still, even you have to
admit he'll probably mess whatever spell he's casting up!"

"I'm not teaching him anything dangerous, Zel," Lina said wearily. "I just
had to do something... he was starting to question his usefulness to me
because he didn't have his Sword of Light any more, and... well, that was
the best I could come up with until I found him another good sword."

"You could have just slept with him, you know," Zelgadis suggested
coarsely. "Then you wouldn't have to maintain this charade that you keep
him around to be your protector, and he wouldn't have to feel so inadequate
when you get into fights that he can't resolve with a sword."

"Hey!" Lina cried. "Stop it! Quit making rumors about us!"

Amelia blinked, looking from the unconscious Gourry to Lina and back.
"Say, Lina? What IS Gourry going to do in those fights you can't solve
with a regular sword?"

Lina blushed faintly. "Um... actually, I've got an idea, but please don't
tell Gourry. It's supposed to be a surprise." Zelgadis and Amelia's eyes
met, and then they both turned to Lina and nodded in agreement. "Well...
see, I came here to Femille to study up on the making of magical weapons.
I hope to build a NEW Sword of Light for him... hopefully, one as good as
his old one."

Zelgadis blinked. "Lina... the original Sword of Light was made by Dark
Star himself. I don't think you can duplicate it on your own... I mean,
even if you got Ceiphied himself to help you with it, I'm not certain you
could do it."

Lina smiled. "I don't know about that. From what I've been reading, it
seems plausible... I should at least be able to get it as good as the
original was before Hellmaster unlocked it." She paused. "But only if I
can find some very efficient and very powerful magical amplifiers that are
small enough. Something like my talismen, only focusing primarily white
magic instead of primarily black. Otherwise, I'm not sure I could make
anything even close to it."

"Good luck finding those," Zelgadis snorted. "Especially finding some you
could afford. Didn't you spend several million on those talismen of
yours?"

Lina nodded. "I was sort of thinking I'd get Filia to help out... it's a
long trip to find her, and I've still got a lot of research to do before I
set out, but...."

"But you're going anyway," Amelia finished. "Sounds like fun! Want us to
come with you?"

Lina looked over at the unconscious Gourry and then back at Amelia.
"Well... Gourry's usually enough company by himself, but having you two
along for a little while might help keep the journey from being a bit too
monotonous. And he might appreciate having someone else around to help
tutor him in magic- someone who DOESN'T use Fireballs as 'encouragement' to
learn faster." She smiled guiltily.

Zelgadis blinked at her. "Lina, when you learned magic, did your teachers
Fireball YOU when you didn't learn fast enough?"

Lina chuckled slightly. "Well, I only ever had one teacher, really, and
that was my sister. She was a bit of a disciplinarian, you see, and...
well... Gourry has it easy compared to what I went through."

"Easy?" Amelia said, a little stunned.

Lina nodded. "I can't use 'Resurrection' if I accidentally kill him, after
all, since I never learned the spell. So, I HAVE to go relatively easy on
him.... Relative to what big sis did, that is- she had to use Resurrection
on me at least once a day, I think."

Amelia looked at Lina in absolute shock. Zelgadis, on the other hand,
merely frowned thoughtfully.

"Hmm," he said. "No, I still think Rezo was the worst relative a person
could ever have. At least your sister fixed you up afterwards... Rezo just
laughed when I begged him to get rid of the curse he put me under."

Amelia's horrified face turned to look at Zelgadis- though hearing about
his tragedy again wasn't quite as surprising, since he'd told her that
story before. Still, on the heels of Lina's story about the training she
had to endure under her big sister....

"And I thought MY family didn't get along well," she whispered, awed.

* * * * *

"If you think you're going to take MY husband away for who knows HOW long a
time without me, you're sadly mistaken," Martina proclaimed, her
shell-shocked husband (he still wasn't quite used to having someone speak
for him) looking on. "I am going with you as well... and I believe we'll
take the Court Mage of the Royal House of Neo-Xoana, Vrumagum, as well."

"Why not? The more, the merrier," Xelloss said, smiling.

"Don't think you can use MY feelings and run off on me AGAIN, either, Mr.
Mazoku!" she growled at him.

Xelloss rubbed the back of his neck nervously as both Luna and Filia looked
at him curiously. "Um... you were the one who ran off on ME, as I recall."

"Only AFTER you turned out to be a mazoku!" Martina snapped. "You never
should have become one!"

Xelloss sweatdropped. "I didn't really have a choice in the matter...."

Martina didn't hear him, choosing to rant instead. "I've heard all the
stories! Mazoku seducing you to use your talents for their own purposes,
and then betraying and murdering you! Your kind are totally heartless- I
can't BELIEVE I was ever attracted to you!"

Xelloss actually opened his eyes at that one, giving her a dangerous look.
Martina suddenly realized that the mazoku in question wasn't exactly
pleased with her, and swallowed. Even Filia looked a little surprised at
the anger he was showing, though Luna was just smiling quietly to herself.

"Look," he said angrilly, "Let me clear up a few myths for you. While it
may be true that some of my kind DO use your kind in that way, it's NOT
universally true. We mazoku DO have emotions of our own, you know- the
same you do. We feel fear and courage, happiness and sadness, love, and
hate and pain and pleasure, and all those other emotions you do. As it
happens, my true form is even very similar to that of a normal humans! The
only important thing that's different between you and me is that in
addition to the normal essentials of life that humans need, I also feed off
of the darker emotions which others feel. You may think of us mazoku as
being evil, but that's not necessarily true. In my case, I was a slave to
my masters' will- I didn't even have enough control of my own body to stop
myself if they ordered me to do something I personally disagreed with. If
I was ordered to mercilessly destroy the Dragon Armies, I was not able to
stop myself from destroying them. It was a war at the time, and so I
didn't have many qualms about that. But when I had to destroy the injured,
I fought against myself to save them... and lost." He paused. "I found a
way to spare a couple of dragons, one time... a mother and her egg. They
were civilians, and I was able to interpret my orders in such a way that
let me save them, but that was the greatest bit of mercy I was able to
extend. Now, however... now, thanks to this mission, I am free. And I
don't particularly like being insulted for no reason beyond just being born
a mazoku."

"Xelloss?" Filia said, astounded. She hadn't heard that about him before-
it didn't let her forgive him for the massacres of her fellow Dragons a
millenia before, but if he'd actually fought to save some of her kin in
that same war then perhaps she had misjudged him... and probably for the
same reason Martina had been so upset- because he was a mazoku.

He nodded to her. "You have a right to insult me," he admitted. "It was
your aunts and uncles and cousins and other relatives that I was killing,
back them, but Martina doesn't." His eyes closed again as his face changed
to show a somewhat embarrassed expression. "I do apologize for the
outburst, though... I really shouldn't let things like that upset me that
much, should I?"

Luna nodded. "'Nuff chat. Let's go."

Martina, recovering from Xelloss' verbal assault, coughed. "Ahem... I'm
afraid we'll have to delay here for a while. It will take us some time to
pack for the trip, and I sent my husband's sword away to have its sheath
cleaned and its hilt adorned with the seal of Zoamalgustar. It will take a
few days before we'll be ready to depart..."

"Very well," Xelloss said. "We can wait until you get the sword back- I
wasn't told that we were in any desperate hurry."

"Um... don't I get some say in this?" Zangulus asked.

"Of course not, dear," Martina answered him before turning her attention
back to the others. "Now, should we set you up in the palace guest suites,
or will you be finding your own accomodations?"

Filia looked around at the hastily erected wooden shack which served as the
temporary palace for the kingdom of Neo-Xoana. "This place HAS guest
suites?" she asked, surprised.

"Not yet," Martina said.

"What does 'not yet' mean?"

"It means we can have some built for you, if necessary," Zangulus
deadpanned. "It'll take about two hours for us to complete the floor,
cieling, and walls, and another hour to put in futons and bedding, so you'd
better let us know now."

"My, that sounds delightful," Xellos chirped, amusement in his voice. "I
believe I'll take a guest suite."

Filia stared at him. "You're kidding, right?"

Even Luna seemed uncomfortable with the idea. "You do that. I'll sleep
elsewhere," she informed.

Xelloss sighed in amusement. "Well, it looks like we'll be splitting up.
Someone go untie Naga and ask her if she wants to stay here or move on to a
separate establishment. It better be you, Luna, since you're the only one
who can remove that Mute spell."

"OOOOH HO HO HO HO!" Naga's laughter rang through the room. "No need- I
freed myself a while ago. I must say, Miss Martina, I just LOVE your
fashion sense."

Luna was stunned. "How..."

"Really?" Martina said. "I had the HARDEST time finding a material which
would hold up to everyday use and still maintain this fabulous degree of
support. I am impressed with your outfit, as well- how DOES it hold
together?"

"I believe there's this magical enchantment which enhances the strength of
the leather..." Naga explained.

"Um, excuse me," Luna said, breaking her usually unflappable exterior with
the shock of Naga's appearance. "But... what about my Mute spell?"

"Oh, that?" Naga said. "I just kept laughing until it overloaded and the
spell shattered. It held fast for an impressive length of time, however-
you should be proud."

Luna sweatdropped.

------------------------------

From: "David A. Tatum" <desaix@sysnet.net>
Subject: [Slayers][FanFic] Slayers: Titled Chapter 3
X-Moderation-Queue-Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 13:08:43 -0400

Chapter 3: A Forced Retreat
...In Which the Enemy is Met

Zelas Metallium stood before the other leaders of the Mazoku, trying to
make the others see her point. The others consisted of way too few for her
liking- along with her were the two other surviving vassals of Shabradnigo,
and no more than a half-dozen priests and generals that lead the real
force. Xelloss' sudden resignation from her services- something which had
downright shocked her- had weakened their strength even more. If it had
not been for the destruction of almost the entire race of Golden Dragons a
few months beforehand, the Mazoku would be in serious trouble. For the
moment, however, they still had the upper hand in their war. And this
council was in session to figure out how to KEEP the upper hand.

"I realize that most of you are reluctant to take any form of direct action
against humanity, but this is not a case where we can sit out. Not
fighting now might be a fatal mistake. Besides, this would NOT be an
all-out war, just a minor conflict. Furthermore, the three surviving
Dragon Lords would not involve themselves in a conflict involving just a
few dozen humans and one single dragon. It must take something VERY large
to draw them out, now- even the entrance of Dark Star into the world, which
resulted in our temporary truce, didn't get them to move. But if we move
our entire force, however, they might panic and strike against us."

"We will have to pick our targets very carefully," Dynast noted. "'A few
dozen' may be too many. Who, specifically, should we strike against?"

Zelas smiled. "Well, of course the answer to that is simple. Lina Inverse
must be punished for destroying both a part of Shabradnigo and Hellmaster,
and revenge against her would be the perfect excuse while we pursue our
TRUE target. What she did to Dark Star should not be ignored, either-
while we were with her in that battle, we still should not forget that she,
a mere human, was the one who defeated Dark Star- her powers boosted by
others or not. A human of that strength should not be allowed to live.
And if several of her companions get in the way- like the former swordsman
of light- well, too bad for them."

Many smirks showed amoung the faces of those present. Dynast had one more
question. "And the dragon? Which dragon are we targeting?"

Zelas laughed. "Well, we'd really be killing two dragons with one blow.
Filia, the last of the Golden Dragons, must be destroyed." Her eyes
narrowed. "And she must be destroyed NOW, before she can bring Valgaav, a
member of the Ancient Dragon race, to maturity. Valgaav could EASILY shift
the balance of power in their favor, with no problem. For our own
survival, two Dragon races must be obliterated."

* * * * *

"*Flare Arrow!*"

A two-inch long needle-thin spark of magic, glowing pink, formed, and,
after a few seconds delay, slowly moved along the fifty meter stretch
between the wielder's hands and the target.

Lina twitched. "Pink? Gourry, I don't even WANT to know how you managed
to turn magic that color, but that's not even CLOSE to how that spell's
supposed to go. Now remember, when you're just learning a spell like this
you're going to HAVE to recite the words slowly, and fo-"

She was cut off when the pink needle of energy hit the bullseye. The
resulting explosion, which completely obliterated the target (and
everything another fifty yards behind said target) shook the ground so hard
she was knocked off her feet, tumbling into him as he bent over to cover
her from the debris. Usually, it wouldn't have been a bad way to fall, but
unfortunately her head collided with the hard steel of his shoulder armor.

"Ouch!" she hissed.

"Lina! Are you all right?" he asked hurriedly, hoping desperately that she
wasn't hurt seriously.

"Yeah... just bumped my head," she replied, wincing. She smiled up at him
through the pain. "If you want, you could try a healing spell again. I
think you almost got it right last time."

Gourry shook his head. "You'd better do it. Besides, I want to know what
I did wrong with that Flare Arrow before I move on to learning that healing
spell."

Lina looked at him through narrowed eyes. "Gourry... that spell you just
cast looked like the wimpiest attack spell I've ever seen, and it travelled
so slow that I would have been able to cast a Giga Slave after it left your
hands, and STILL have time to get out of the way... but that's a damn good
attack spell, if your opponent isn't moving much. Think you can do the
same thing again?"

Gourry blinked. "Uh... maybe."

Lina gestured loosely in the direction of the now incinerated target range.
"Try."

He closed his eyes, gathered the power into his hands, and started chanting
under his breath. He stopped, snapped his eyes open, and cried out two
final words. "*Flare Arrow!*" he cast.

Again, a pink needle appeared, and started moving towards the forest behind
the one-time target range. About a minute later, the explosion rocked the
ground beneath them, and another large tract of once-ancient forest was
obliterated.

Lina nodded. "It's not a Flare Arrow, really, but it's a damn good
original spell. Don't ever forget it, 'kay? If you do, expect a Dragon
Slave down your throat."

Gourry sweatdropped. "Uh... right."

While Lina hadn't initially planned to have him learn any attack spells,
Gourry had mastered the levitation spell much faster than she'd expected
(thanks in part to Zelgadis and Amelia helping him while she continued her
'research') and they still had several days prepaid for the instructor that
they'd hired. Still not comfortable with said instructors methods for
teaching healing techniques, Lina suggested Gourry learn something else.
The instructor, knowing of the lifestyle that they lead, figured a simple
attack spell might be rather useful for him. The final lesson was over,
and Gourry was showing what he'd learned in a hastilly erected target
facility about three hours outside of Femille- Amelia didn't want Gourry to
accidentally hit anyone.

Amelia and Zelgadis, who had been watching from a safely entrenched
magically-protected bunker, emerged and approached Gourry.

"That has to be one of the stupidest looking attack I've ever seen...
pretty powerful, though," Zelgadis commented.

"Congradulations, Gourry!" Amelia cheered. "That was impressive... even if
it didn't quite act like it was supposed to."

Lina nodded. "Now all we need is to find you a sword... and maybe get your
healing spell working."

"Gourry doesn't have a sword?" an unexpected voice arose, it's owner
obscured from view by the bunker. "I was hoping to have a sparring match
with him, but I guess that's not possible at the moment, is it?"

Lina's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as said owner rounded the
corner of the bunker to approach the foursome. "Zangulus?!" she squeaked
incredulously. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was just dragged along (against my will) by several of your
friends and associates in an attempt to find you, actually," he said.
"They're right behind me."

"Long time, no see, Lina!" Martina shouted, following her husband into the
clearing and grabbing hold of his arm.

Vrumagum approached behind Martina and bowed. "It will be nice to work
with you in person, this time, and not to work against you through copies
of myself."

Xelloss phased in on top of the bunker. "Hello, Lina. Did you miss me?"

"I don't know why I was dragged along to work with that piece of raw
garbage again, but it's nice to see you, Lina," Filia said as she, too,
teleported in, holding the egg of Valgaav.

"Gourry, it's been so long," Sylphiel said softly, announcing her presence.

"Martina... Vrumagum... Xelloss... Filia... SYLPHIEL?" Lina cried,
startled. "What are all of you doing here?"

"Oh, we aren't the only ones you'd be surprised to see," Xelloss said.
"Though why those other two haven't shown up yet, I don't know." He
blinked. "Oh, never mind- there they are."

Lina felt someone tapping her on the shoulder and spun around. "Hi!" Luna
greeted.

Lina fell backwards, her eyes now taking up most of her face, and started
pushing herself away from the new arrival. "B- B- B- B- BIG SIS!" she
cried in shock. As she slid back, she ran into the legs of someone else.

"Well, hello, my trusty sidekick. It's been a while since you've faced me,
your greatest rival. OOOOH HO HO HO HO HO!"

Shocked added onto shock for Lina. "Na- Na- Na- NAGA!"

Gourry scratched his head in confusion. "Um... I don't recognize half of
these people. Who is everyone?"

Zelgadis just rolled his eyes and walked over to Xelloss. "Excuse me,
but... what's going on?"

Xelloss smirked at him. "That... is a secret. For now, at any rate." His
smirk left his face. "Actually, even I'm not entirely sure- I haven't been
told WHY I was supposed to gather all of these people. I was just told to
do so."

Amelia, meanwhile, was experiencing a form of shock of her own. "Gracia?
Is it you?" she asked breathlessly.

It was then, for the first time, that Naga started to notice the presence
of people other than Lina. "Amelia?" she said, stunned. "You and Lina
know each other?"

Amelia nodded. "We've worked together a lot to further the cause of
justice!" she explained enthusiastically.

Naga twitched. "You sound just like dad, you know?"

Amelia smiled. "Thanks, sis!"

"SIS!?" Lina cried, still very nerve-wracked.

"That wasn't a compliment, Amelia," Naga sighed.

Luna walked over to her sister and gave her a hand up. "Surprised?"

Lina looked over at her sister and blinked. "Okay, let's see. Xelloss is
here, Naga's here, YOU'RE here, AMELIA AND NAGA ARE SISTERS! Which, of
course, means that NAGA'S A PRINCESS OF SAILOON! Why WOULD I be
surprised?"

Luna smirked, and patted Lina on the head. The younger sibling twitched.
"Poor sis," the elder sibling said.

Gourry approached them. "Lina, what's going on? Who are all these
people?" Lina said nothing, twitching from time to time. "Lina?" he
repeated, tapping her on the shoulder to get her attention. She still
didn't say anything.

"Look, slugs!" Luna said loudly.

Lina screeched. "SLUUUGS!" She nearly tackled Gourry, burying herself in
his chest. "Keepthemawaykeepthemawaykeepthemawaykeepthemaway..."

Once Gourry had recovered his equilibrium, he awkwardly pulled one of his
arms out of her grasp and used it to pat her on the back comfortingly.
"Calm down, Lina," he said soothingly. "There aren't any slugs. Someone
was playing a trick on you."

Lina lifted her tear-filled face to look up at him. "No slugs?"

Gourry shook his head and smiled. "No... no slugs."

Weakly, Lina stepped out of his grasp and took a deep breath to calm
herself down. After sorting things out, she turned to her sister with a
very aggrieved expression on her face. "Luna, did you HAVE to do that?"

"Payback," Luna explained. "Even, now."

"Um, Lina," Gourry said. "Who is this, and what's going on?"

Lina sighed. "Right... Gourry, meet Luna Inverse, the Knight of
Ceiphied... and my older sister."

Gourry blinked. He looked at Luna closely. He turned to look back at
Lina, then went back to Luna- concentrating on her bust. Luna's expression
didn't falter, though a small drop of sweat betrayed her uncertainty over
his examination. Finally, Gourry stepped back, shaking his head. "That's
odd... you two look nothing alike. And I would have thought your sister
would be just as flat chested as you are!" he explained.

Lina's eyes widened angrilly. How could he say something like that-
especially in front of her SISTER! "*Fireball!*" she cast, blowing Gourry
half-way across the field with her spell and knocking him out.

Luna chuckled, and wagged a finger at her sister. "Temper, temper!"

Lina opened her mouth to issue a loud protest, then snapped it shut when
she remembered who she was talking to. "He deserved it," she mumbled
instead.

Meanwhile, the other pair of reunited sisters were also getting
reaquainted.

"So why is Lina calling you Naga, Gracia?" Amelia asked.

"'Gracia' doesn't fit me, any more, Amelia. I'm no longer the proper,
gracious, peace-loving princess I was- I'm the White Serpent, Naga, the
greatest sorceress in history!" Naga explained. "And with the powers given
me by my self-confident laughter and my incredible figure, enhanced by this
outfit which I found in our late mother's closet, I will rule the world!"

Amelia might have said something about that 'take over the world bit,' but
something Naga said made her turn a little green. "That outfit was mom's?"

Naga nodded. "I took it when I left... it was the one thing of hers that I
was able to stand to look at after her death. I never saw her wear it, so
I wouldn't be reminded of her too much, but it was HERS and I knew it was
hers, so I could honor her memory by wearing it myself."

Amelia nodded. She found it hard to believe her mother ever wore anything
like that, but wouldn't try and convince her sister otherwise- obviously,
that outfit had been a great comfort to her. "What happened that night?"

Naga hesitated. "I'm not entirely sure. I walked in... saw all the
blood... I think I cast some spell, though I don't know what it was. All I
remember is afterwards, knowing mom was dead, and finding myself in her
walk-in wardrobe closet. I took this outfit and left... I didn't WANT to
be a princess any more. I quit using the white magic that was the symbol
of Sailoon, I abandoned father's drive for justice, and I dropped the name
of Gracia. I became Naga, the White Serpent, mercenary sorceress and
future ruler of the world."

Amelia sniffed. "Oh, Gracia... you've been through so much." Without any
more warning than that, she glomped her sister into an over-enthusiastic
comforting hug, and started bawling. "But don't worry! It's all over now-
we're together again, and no-one will be hurting us again! You can become
Princess Gracia once more! We'll reteach you white magic! Justice will
once more enter your heart! You'll no longer have to rely on the earnings
of being a mercenary sorceress!"

"Um, Amelia," Naga said, returning the hug awkwardly. "I actually LIKE
being Naga. I don't want to be Princess Gracia any more." She paused.
"But I would like to be able to see daddy again. Even if he DOES get
carried away with all that justice stuff."

Zelgadis approached the hugging pair. "Xelloss said you were Amelia's
sister," he said, ignoring the moment that they were sharing. "The hair's
the right color, but I really don't see the resemblance, otherwise."

Amelia smiled up at him, wiping the tears off of her face. "Zelgadis, I'd
like to introduce you to Gracia Ul Naga Sailoon, my sister."

Naga shook her head, reassuming her arrogant demeaner. "Call me Naga.
Naga the White Serpent. My, you have such interesting skin!"

Zelgadis winced. "It's a curse. I was turned into a chimera."

Naga raised an eyebrow. "A chimera? OOOH HO HO HO HO HO! Why, that
reminds me of the time that silly old man tried to turn Lina into a
chimera! It would have made her SO beautiful... and so much FUN, as well.
Lina, a demon, a dragon, and a serpent all put together! The ultimate
combination of the three major races!"

Zelgadis twitched. "You think being turned into a chimera would be FUN!?"
he cried angrilly.

Naga looked at him and blinked. "Of course- why wouldn't it?"

Amelia looked from her sister to Zelgadis and back. "Um, Gracia...
Zelgadis is a little sensitive about the chimera thing..."

"Is he, know? Well good, good! Now I know his greatest weakness! OOOH HO
HO HO HO HO HO!"

Zelgadis hand went to his sword, causing Amelia to jump between the two of
them. Grabbing the chimera's hands, she held on for dear life. "Please,
Zel- remember she's my sister! Don't kill her!"

Filia, standing next to Xelloss, looked over at him in annoyance. "You're
just loving all this chaos, aren't you?"

He smiled at her. "Of course I am! I'm a mazoku- I feast on emotions such
as those being generated right now. And, you might not like it, but this
is probably good for them- they'll need this release. I feed off of anger,
greed, lust, and such dark emotions. The thing is, though, dark emotions
aren't always wrong. Anger can be forged into a powerful tool, greed can
work with a human's survival instinct to keep them alive... and you'd
hardly fault a married couple for lusting after each other as well, can
you?" He pointed to Martina and Zangulus, who had taken advantage of the
confusion everyone was feeling to start making out.

Filia blushed, looking at the other people they had gathered. "Well, at
least there are a FEW people here who aren't feeling any dark emotions."

Xelloss opened one eye to look at her with amusement. "Oh? Who do you
believe those are?"

"That girl right there... and that Court Magician for Neo-Xoana."

Xelloss laughed. "Interesting. You're wrong of course." Filia turned on
him angrilly, gritting her teeth. "In fact, they're probably wielding dark
emotions in the most dangerous of ways."

"Oh? And just what dark emotions are they using, hmm? They certainly
don't SEEM to be feeling anything dark- the girl looks very happy, and that
sorcerer appears quite calm."

Xelloss paused, as if searching the emotions out himself. "The girl- her
name is Sylphiel, by the way- nice girl, you'll love her- Sylphiel has a
few issues to sort out. She's set her sights on a man who is totally out
of her reach, and is lusting after him quite fiercely. At the moment,
these emotions haven't lead to any actions which might appear evil, but her
lust is almost obsessive at this point. I don't know how she'd react if
she knew her man was taken by another."

Filia raised an eyebrow. "Who is it that she's lusting after?"

"It's no secret, I suppose," Xelloss considered. "It's pretty obvious,
when you see them together. Sylphiel has had a crush on Gourry since he
was first journeying on his own. The poor swordsman has yet to notice it,
of course- he barely notices his own attraction to Lina."

Filia blinked. "Perhaps... perhaps it would be best if we convince Gourry
to give up Lina for Sylphiel. Lina doesn't seem to care about whether
Gourry is with her or not- I noticed she wasn't too upset when he was
paired with Amelia during that whole fake 'Temple of Marraige' thing."

Xelloss raised an eyebrow. "And you think I'M evil- that's a more evil
plan than any Mazoku plan I can recall. No, I'm afraid that won't work- it
would be incredibly dangerous, as a matter of fact. Unless, of course, you
want Lina dead...."

"What do you mean by THAT?" Filia blurted.

"Well, see, THAT," he started, raising a finger. "Is a secr-"

He stopped mid-sentence, grabbed her quickly, and teleported the both of
them out of the way. Seconds later, a massive explosion rocked the entire
field in which they had all gathered. When he phased back in, he looked
around for the source of the attack.

"M... Mistress Zelas?!" he cried, startled.

Zelas floated down to Earth, smiling at him. "Well, well- this seems
interesting. I knew you had been recalled, but I had no idea it would be
to ally yourself to our enemies."

"It appears so," Xelloss said hesitantly. "Though honestly, I was not
given orders for this situation. I'm merely supposed to keep these people
alive until the Lord of Nightmares gives me further instructions. It's
entirely possible that I may be able to join you again at a later date, but
if you insist on attacking now I'm afraid I'll have to fight you." As he
talked, the others started circling around the newly arrived Mazoku,
getting ready for combat.

Zelas laughed. "You expect me, the Beastmaster, to get directly involved
in the combat this early in the game? Did you learn nothing about me in
your service, my son?"

Xelloss nodded. "Of course I did. I learned that you usually attack first
with your lesser demons, then send me in for the kill. But I'm not with
you any more, and you might decide to not do what you USUALLY do, so how am
I to know?"

"Well reasoned, son. But no, I'm not breaking with that particular
tradition... today, at least. My surprise attack obviously failed, so it
would do no harm to let you know the attack is coming soon," she admitted.
"I'll make a deal with you, though- if you happen to survive this incident
despite my eventual victory, I'll allow you back into the fold, with no
punishment at all. I swear it."

Xelloss smiled. "That's quite generous of you, mother. I'll make the same
deal with YOU- if we are pitted against each other, and you survive despite
OUR victory, I'll allow you to join ME... as MY servant."

Zelas raised an eyebrow. "That's a trifle arrogant of you, don't you
think?"

Xelloss shrugged. "If I pull off such a tremendous upset, don't I DESERVE
to be arrogant?"

Zelas laughed. "Indeed, you would. Then BOTH our destinies are about to
be decided, aren't they?" Her laughter continued as she faded from the
field.

Lina, who had positioned herself and Gourry at Xelloss' flank, looked
confused. "Xelloss, what's going on? Why are you literally fighting your
master? How are you ABLE to defy Zelas, anyway?"

Xelloss sighed. "It's a long story. Ask me again after we get through the
coming battle." He paused. "Lesser demons, coming in. Mostly
concentrating on you and Filia, it seems."

Lina nodded, getting ready to cast her spells. Thinking briefly, she drew
her sword and handed it to Gourry.

"Use this," she said. "It's no Sword of Light, but it should keep you from
getting killed. I placed a few enchantments on it to make it somewhat more
effective, but don't go up against any upper-level Mazoku with it."

He nodded. "Right," he said in a clipped tone. Lina almost smiled- that
was the first time she'd seen him in his 'fighting mood' since they
defeated Dark Star. He glanced to the other side of him, where Luna was
drawing a dangerous looking sword of her own. He frowned. "Aren't you a
magic user?" he asked her.

"Yep," she said.

"But you're going to fight with just a sword?"

"Yep."

"But-"

"Gourry," Lina interrupted. "Luna doesn't use her magic offensively. She
DOES use it to make magical weapons and shields, however." She paused.
"She's not as good with a sword as you are, but her magical abilities make
her better than the both of us put together."

Luna smirked at the compliment. "Not really."

Lina sighed. "At any rate, she's a swordsman, just like you, but she's
'magically enhanced' to be better than any normal swordsman could be."

"Is that why you kept asking for the Sword of Light all the time?" he
asked. "Lina, if you you wanted a present for your sister, you should have
told me- I'd have found something else for you to give her!"

Lina rolled her eyes. "No, Gourry, that's NOT why I wanted the Sword of
Light- I wanted it because- *Fireball!*" She was unable to finish her
explanation, as at that moment a dozen lesser demons emerged from the trees
in front of them.

The fireball took out the lead Mazoku, but several more charged in before
she had a chance to cast another spell. She leapt into the air and flipped
out of the way to give herself more time to deal with the next one, and
landed just in time to see two separate swords tearing the second demon
into three peices- all of them equally dead.

"See, sis," Luna said, allowing one of her enemies' attacks to hit her
magical defensive field before reversing the turn of her blade to tear off
its head. "This is why I said you should use weapons as your main offense-
it's faster to swing a sword than it is to cast a spell."

"*Elmekia Lance!*" Lina cast, fricasseeing another Mazoku. "I don't thing
we have time to debate the point, Luna."

The Mazoku who had attacked Lina were only a small portion of the attacking
forces. Trolls, ogres, goblins, berserkers, and other lesser demons had
surrounded the small party, and were attacking on all sides. By the time
Lina had cast her Elmekia Lance, there were hundreds of these creatures
attacking- concentrating largely on Lina's and Filia's locations.

"*Rah Tilt!*" Amelia and Zelgadis chorused. Their never-rehearsed but
always well-co-ordinated double attack didn't fail them, and the explosion
knocked several of their attackers off their feet, sending a few out of the
action.

"*Freeze Arrow!*" Naga cast, freezing one of the attacking berserkers in
his tracks. "OOOH HO HO HO HO HO! I see you followed in my footsteps and
became a powerful sorceress, too, little sister!"

"*Diem Wing!*" Amelia cast, clearing a path for Zelgadis to charge in with
his sword, which was glowing red from an Astral Vine he had cast on it
earlier. "I'm still learning... travelling with Lina's given me a lot of
experience, though."

"Whee! This is fun!" Xelloss said, casually batting away one of the
goblins with his staff.

"FUN?!" Filia cried, breathing hard as she brought her mace down on the
head of an ogre with a sickening crunch. "You've GOT to be kidding me!"

Xelloss shrugged. "Hey- I don't usually get to fight such wimps. My
orders rarely allowed it. It's fun having a light workout like this after
a thousand years of having to battle some of the more powerful fighters in
all of existance." He smiled up at her. "You look tired- why don't you
take a rest? Don't worry- I'll protect you!"

Filia bristled angrilly, her tail popping out from under her dress. "WHAT?
Me, just step aside and let YOU protect me? You've got to be kidding!"
With that, she redoubled her attack, determined to not give him any more
reason to even consider that.

"Don't lose control of your form!" he warned on a much more serious note.
"If you wear your dragon shape, they'll have a lot easier time fighting
you. You dragons are too big to fight a defensive battle- you make too big
a target. You're fine on offense, but we're not ON the offense, right
now."

Filia calmed down slightly. "Um... thanks."

In the center of the circle formed by the eight main combatants, Zangulus
and Vrumagum stood protecting Martina and Sylphiel from any of the
marauders who succeeded in making their way through. Martina looked at the
shrine maiden nervously. "Can't you do something?" she asked. "You WERE
helping us in the fight against Hellmaster!"

Sylphiel hesitated. "Well... I'd be better off waiting until the battle is
over, and using my healing abilities."

Martina's wild eyes looked into hers as a ogre was tossed over her head by
a blow from Xelloss' staff. "Please! You HAVE to be able to do
something!"

"Um... well, the Dragon Slave's out- I'd hurt more than help with that.
There's a couple things I could try, though, I guess," she said hesitantly.
Summoning her magic to her hands, she picked out a target. Getting a
determined look on her face, she cast her spell."*Flare arrow!*" she cast.

A tiny red carrot started floating over and smacked one of the lesser
demons on the back of the head. The blow didn't really hurt the Mazoku,
but it startled the creature a little, allowing Luna to cut it down.

Sylphiel blushed, and returned to the protected center with Martina, very
embarrassed. "There. I helped. Um, I think that's enough for me for now.
I'll save up my energy to heal everyone when the battle's over."

Gourry stumbled to his knees in front of Lina, coated in the black and
green colored blood of their enemies. Lina was a little anxious to note
that there were some red stains on his clothing, as well. "Lina," he
gasped. "It's too much- for every one I kill, more show up."

Lina raised an eyebrow. "You giving up on me, Gourry?"

He shook his head, lifting himself to his feet through sheer force of will.
"No, but maybe it's time for you to start using your bigger spells- like
the Dragon Slave or something like that."

Lina couldn't help but notice how hard it had been for him to stand.
They'd been fighting for nearly an hours straight, and they'd been fighting
against VERY tough opponents. If these people had been those idiotic
bounty hunters who tried to capture them thanks to Copy Rezo and Eris'
reward offer, they'd have been fine- but these were lesser Mazoku, and they
hadn't even had a brief pause in which they could rest. In fact, the
battle was more taxing than the ones they'd had against Valgaav and
Darkstar- and what was worse was that there was no end in sight. The
number of attackers had been growing the entire time they'd been fighting,
and it didn't look like they'd be stopping any time soon.

Also, she had to consider Gourry's shape in all of this. He was fighting
at his best, but without the Sword of Light- or at least without a nice
longsword that he was comfortable using- he wasn't nearly as good as the
rest of them. He'd push himself twice as hard to succeed, but just looking
at him showed that it was obvious he couldn't compete with just a lightly
enchanted short sword. He needed this battle to end more than anyone.

"Right. Okay, people- change of plan!" she shouted. "Everyone, get as
close together as possible. Xelloss, Luna, Filia- erect a shield spell
around us. Sylphiel... I'm going to cast a Dragon Slave on this side- you
cast one on that side. Zel, Amelia, Vrumagum, and anyone else who can do
so, cast a Raywing or Levitation spell and get us airborn! Anyone else...
well, be ready to fight again if this doesn't work."

"Check!" Luna called, fighting her way back towards the center- she'd been
moving further out as the battle progressed, and so it took her a bit to
return.

"But I was having fun!" Xelloss protested.

"Come ON, you piece of raw garbage!" Filia screamed, grabbing him by the
collar of his priest's robes and dragging him towards the center. "Let's
get this over with!"

"Gracia!" Amelia called. "Help me cover Zelgadis' retreat!"

Zelgadis had also been dragged off in the fighting, but he wasn't nearly as
capable as Luna was of retreating to the center. He was fighting a very
defensive battle, and was being pushed away by the onslaught.

Naga laughed. "OOOH, HO, HO, HO, HO! Of course, sister! These creatures
cannot stand up to the might of Naga the White Serpent! *Diem Wing!*"

"*Diem Wing!*" Amelia echoed, widening the path for Zelgadis to run
through. "Come on, Zel! HURRY!" she cried.

Zelgadis took one more swat at a Berserker before breaking into a dead run
to reach the rest of them. Blasting a couple of trolls out of his way with
a Rah Tilt and slashing through one last Mazoku, he reached the others.

The company assembled, they got into formation. The attackers surrounded
them, banging against the hastily erected shield spells that Filia,
Xelloss, and Luna were powering.

"Hurry up, Lina," Xelloss said. "We can't hold this up too long."

He didn't need to ask. "...Possess. *DRAGON SLAVE!*" she cast, using her
talismen to boost the power. A second later, Sylphiel echoed her with a
Dragon Slave of her own.

When the dust settled, the battlefield looked clear. Nothing was moving
outside of the circle that was protecting the twelve of them.

"Oh, darn," a sarcastic voice said. A few seconds later, Zelas appeared to
show herself as being the owner of said voice. "You've beaten my army.
No, wait- that wasn't my army. That was a small number of my toys." She
smirked. "Well, looks like I'll have to actually add my force to this
conflict. Not right away, though- I mean, I'm not really here, and haven't
been all day. I just contacted all of the Beasts under my control in your
area, and asked them to tire you out for a bit."

Xelloss smiled up at her. "I thought that was too easy," he said.

"I always knew you were a smart boy," she said. "Looks like I'll have to
take your charges seriously, after all. I'll see you when this war's
over!" With that, she faded away.

Gourry, being healed by both Sylphiel and Lina, looked up at Xelloss.
"Does this mean it isn't over?"

"Afraid not," he answered.

Gourry's reaction was a testament to how incredibly worn he was. He
sighed, looked over at Lina, and said, "I don't think I can handle this
one." Seconds later, he passed out.

"Gourry!" both girls treating him cried as he fell into Lina's arms.

Xelloss looked at his unconscious form dispassionately. "Lina, carry him
with you. We have to find somewhere safe to recover, then decide what
we're going to do."

Lina nodded, putting one of Gourry's arms over her shoulders. "Femille's
relatively close."

"Let's go, then," he said.

Amelia looked concerned as Lina carried Gourry away. "You know, I think
that's the first time I've seen Gourry that tired."

Zelgadis nodded. "This wasn't a normal battle, that's for sure. I guess
this is a victory for us, but it feels like we were forced to retreat." He
sighed. "Looks like we got dragged along on another of Lina's adventures,
doesn't it?"

Amelia smiled. "Yeah... but we've always made it before, right? And
always came away with a tremendous victory for justice, as well!"

Naga groaned. "Amelia?" she said, using the same tone of voice she used
when she was telling her story.

"Yes, Gracia?"

"Remember, sis, it's Naga now," she said haughtily. Returning to her
sisterly voice, she continued, "Wherever we go after we rest up in
Femille... let's not make it Sailoon, okay?"

"Why not?"

"Let's just say that you just reminded me of one of the bigger reasons I
never went back home."

--
desaix@sysnet.net
Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
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