Lina Inverse looked around the bare white room with its bare white walls and the single bare bulb throwing off slightly offensive white light from the bare white ceiling. She was baffled. One moment she had been strolling through a creepy, slightly sentient Forest with Xellos and some tempermental Summoner girl they had just met. The next minute, she was here. Lina was perfectly certain that she didn't get lost or seperated from them, yet here she was all the same. Maybe this was another of those mind games that the Enchanted Forest seemed so fond of.
Just the same, she was growing rapidly bored of the bare white room.
As if in answer to an unvoiced prayer, Filia materialized out of nowhere and was kneeling on the bare white floor. Lina noticed she had angry, frustrated tears in her eyes. "Stupid bush," the dragon woman muttered. Filia gave a start of surprise when she noticed her surroundings. Her crazy-colored eyes fell on Lina and her face lit up with an expression of imense relief. "Lina-san!" she cried, rising quickly to her feet and practically tackling Lina with a forceful hug. "Oh, I am so happy to see you! I thought I was never going to get out of that stupid clearing and that terrible bush came and..." The rest of Filia's words became inaudible as she began to sob.
"What?" Lina asked, quite puzzled. The other woman only continued her cryies of hysterical relief, paying no mind to what Lina had said. Lina rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. Filia's tears were begining to soak through her tunic.
"BOO!" an all too familiar voice said behind her, accompanied by poking fingers which were currently becoming all too familiar with Lina's sides. She jumped, letting out an embarrassing yelp, and turned to face the tickler.
Filia stepped as far backward as the confines of the bare white room would allow, her tears drying up in the blaze of fury now on her face. "Xellos!" she said dangerously. "This is your fault somehow! And the--the thing? Whatever it was. I'm pretty positive something attacked me before I got here......A tree?" Filia trailed off, a look of puzzlement on her face.
Xellos was indeed the one who had tickled Lina, and now the preist stood next to Anya, a smirk on his face. "Hello Filia-san," he said pleasently. "Nice to see you too. Did you miss me?"
"I most certainly did not." Filia replied icily.
The Summoner Queen touched Xellos lightly on the arm, sparing Lina from hearing anything he may have to say in retort to Filia. "Excuse me sir," Anya said mildly. "Aren't you supposed to be kinder, gentler, and more friendly toward servants of the gods?" She frowned slightly. "Wait a minute, who are you?" Anya fixed each of them in turn with an intense stare. "Who are you people?" she asked after a long moment of scutiny.
"Who am I?" Filia asked indignately. "Who are you?"
"That's an easy question, Filia!" Gourry's voice broke in. Lina turned from the others and saw that the blonde swordsman had joined the room, accompanied by Zelgadis. "It's the naked girl!" the big oaf finished proudly.
The Summoner woman flushed a deep red. "Pervert." she hissed through clenched teeth.
"Whoa, looks like a party," said yet another voice, which proved to be Val. He strode to the center of the bare white room, which Lina noticed was somehow getting considerably bigger as more of her friends showed up. "Where's Auntie Amelia?" the Ancient Dragon finished.
"Over here!" Amelia cried from the far corner of the room. "Is everyone trying to leave me behind?"
Lina rubbed at her temples. No matter how large the bare white room room was making itself, it was still growing quite warm from their combined body heat. "Can someone please explain what exactly is going on here?" she asked, not really expecting an answer.
Filia pointed at Xellos, her finger seeming to stab visciously through the air. "It's his fault!" she shrieked.
"It is not my fault, you just find me convienent to blame, Filia-san."
"Because you are always the one behind things like this!"
"Quiet!" Zelgadis shouted. Lina gave the chimera a grateful smile. Zel cradled his chin in one hand, assuming his thoughtful pose.
A sudden memory burst into Lina's mind. "Hey, aren't we supposed to be in a story somewhere?" she asked the group.
"Yeah," Zelgadis replied, looking more and more thoughtful by the moment. "Maybe this is another one of the Enchanted Forest's tricks."
"No way," Anya said with a touch of superiority in her voice. "I've been all over the Forest, and there's nothing like this anywhere in it."
"What do you know, you're not even a real character." Filia said sulkily.
Anya's temper exploded. "I am so!" she cried. "We are all figments of some person's imagination! Does it matter that the mind I came from is different than the mind you people came from?"
"Yes." they said in unison, all except for Val. Anya burst into tears and ran to one of the corners not already occupied.
"I think you're a real character." the Ancient Dragon called after her.
"Are we done with this pointless nonsense yet?" Lina asked tiredly. "I seem to recall that fake girl offering some food."
Gourry, who had been drifting off to oblivion, perked his ears up quickly. "Food?" he asked.
"I'm not fake!"
Lina nodded, ignoring Anya. "Yes, food. I'm getting out of here." With determination in her stride, Lina walked directly toward one of the bare white walls. Nothing could keep Lina Inverse away from food, especially free food. To her amazement, a bare white door appeared in the wall. With a feeling of triumph, she threw the door open to reveal a long stretch of green woods. "Alright everyone, let's get out of here!"
One by one they filed out of the bare white room. Anya, still sniffling, was last, and she closed the bare white door behind her.