The Slayers: Truth

by Lord Archive

A little game of Xellos's causes a lot of pain and oddly some happiness as well.

The Slayers: Truth! A Most Dangerous Game!

By: Lord Archive

The Slayers belong to Hajime Kanazaka, Rui Araizumi, TV Tokyo, SOFTX,
Software Sculptures Ltd., and many others. I do not own them. I'm only
borrowing them. I'll return them as quickly as I can since Lina and
Gourry are eating away bank account.

This occurs at some point during the end of Slayers: Try after Filia
left the group. This uses anime continuation only and is not part of any
of my Slayers fan ficts.

-------------------*

A table at a coastal inn, a spot where you can sometimes find
adventurers. At the moment, a group that made even the gods wary
surrounded one table. And one of them had a rather interesting
suggestion.

"You want to play a game?" Lina questioned in surprise.

Xellos smirked. "Of course. It is a bit boring, so I thought a little
game would improve things."

"What kind of game?" Amelia bounced joyfully. Games were always fun.

"A game of truth."

"Truth? From you?" Zelgadis scoffed. "Don't make me laugh."

"You have my word that I will adhere to the rules of the game. When it
is my turn to answer your questions, I will answer them truthfully."

Lina folded her arms. "You can't say 'that's a secret' or try to back
out of it."

"I won't."

Lina grinned. "Then I'll play."

"I'm in." Gourry then scratched his head. "Um, what is it that we're
playing?"

Everyone else at table sighed.

"I'll play." Zelgadis knew this was a mistake, but a chance to wrangle
some information out of Xellos was not something he wanted to pass up.

"Count me in!" Amelia chirped.

"Now for the rules of the game." Xellos grinned evilly.

Lina and Zelgadis sagged. Realizing too late that they should've heard
the rules first.

"We'll play by the rules set by this book." Xellos pulled out a book
from nowhere and seemed to be reading from it. "Each player shall ask a
question and everyone must take a turn to answer it to the best of their
ability, including the person who asked it. The player asking the
question can decide to answer the question first or last. The question
can be anything that every player can reasonably be able to answer."

"What if someone doesn't answer a question?" Zelgadis wanted to make
sure that Xellos couldn't get out of this.

"Failure to properly answer a question will cause that person to lose.
Losing means that the other players may each dare the loser to do
anything, and I do mean anything."

"So, if you don't answer a question, I could make you... um...." Lina
paused in thought. "Kiss a guy."

Xellos shrugged. "That would be too easy. If Zelgadis fails to answer a
question I'd make him have sex with a guy."

Lina and Gourry looked sick.

Amelia looked faint.

"What?!" Zelgadis snarled in anger.

Xellos smiled. "I really suggest you answer the questions."

Lina growled. "Why don't we start?"

"Of course." Xellos looked around the table. "Why don't we start with
Amelia and work around the table?" The mazoku motioned from Amelia who
sat next to him, to Zelgadis, Gourry, Lina, and then back to himself.

Zelgadis scowled. "Why do you want to go last?"

"It doesn't matter to me. I just thought that she should go first since
she is the youngest lady present."

That seemed to placate the group.

"Okay, what should I ask?" Amelia knew she had to make this good. She
knew a few things she wanted to ask, but she only got one question. She
brightened immensely as she figured it out. "If you were forced to marry
someone, who would you want it be? I'll answer last."

Zelgadis clucked. He would've spit out his coffee if he had been
drinking it. He looked at Xellos, and the mazoku smiled evilly back. Oh,
gods, how was he supposed to answer that?

"We're waiting." Xellos was pleasantly surprised at what the princess
was doing. It was bound to make things very interesting.

"Come on, Zel, spit it out." Lina wasn't happy with the question, but if
she had to answer it-- so did everyone else.

Zelgadis closed his eyes. This was too embarrassing. He didn't want to
answer this, but if he didn't-- Xellos would probably do something far
worse than the threat he already gave. He answered the question.

"What was that?" Amelia leaned towards him. He had whispered something,
and it sounded like her name.

Why me, Ceiphied? Why me? Zelgadis's hands were under the table and they
pretended to choke a certain mysterious 'priest.' "If I was forced to
marry someone... I guess... it'd be Amelia."

"Oh, Mr. Zelgadis...." Amelia didn't know what to say.

Lina was surprised Zel actually said it. She knew he had feelings for
the princess, but this was more than she expected.

"Why?" Xellos leaned toward the chimera.

"Why?" Zelgadis's eyes bulged out. "I don't have to answer that!"

"You must answer the question to the best of your ability. As for what
that means per the rules...." Xellos pulled the book out again and
showed it to Zelgadis. "Any player may ask another to clarify an answer
if it seems too simple or possibly an incorrect answer. So, I ask, per
the rules, that you explain why you would choose Amelia?"

Zelgadis suppressed the urge to burn the book since he doubted that
would do any good. "Fine! Amelia has access to mages and libraries that
may help me find a cure."

Amelia sagged. He would only use her to find his cure.

Zelgadis continued, "While she may be a bit too excitable, she is cute."
He slumped back into his seat. "And I kindoflikeher."

Amelia stared at him, and even though his head was turned away from her,
she could see his blush. She really wanted to say something, but was not
sure how to say it.

"Gourry, it's your turn."

"My turn?" Gourry took his eyes off Zelgadis and Amelia. "Oh, the
question thing. Um, I'd marry Lina."

Lina blushed and found the floor interesting. She was more surprised
that Gourry remembered the question than his answer.

It looked like everyone was going to take Gourry's answer at face value
until Zelgadis barked, "Why?" Misery loved company and he wasn't going
to wallow in it alone.

"Why?" Gourry shrugged. "Well, we're a great team, I promised I'd
protect her for the rest of her life, she's smart, and she's very
pretty-- in a little girl sort of way."

Gourry was suddenly taking an unexpected nap thanks to Lina's fist.

Xellos turned his eyes to the next contestant. "Lina?"

"Gourry." Lina glared at the rest of the table, her eyes promising death
if they made her explain why.

"Ahem, while mazoku don't really recognize marriage, if I had to marry
someone... I guess I'd marry Filia."

"Why?" Amelia thought there was something odd in his behavior with the
dragon, but didn't expect this.

"Well, for the sheer torture of it." Xellos looked cheerfully at the
princess. "She would be married to me for about two maybe three thousand
years. Can you imagine how much pain that would cause her?"

Lina shook her head. Zelgadis glared.

Amelia gasped. "That's evil."

"I am what I am." Xellos peered at the princess. "Now it's your turn to
answer."

Amelia blushed. "Mr. Zelgadis.... I'd marry Mr. Zelgadis."

Zelgadis looked amazed at the princess.

"Why?"

Amelia glared at the monster. "He's smart, brave, a good friend, and I
owe him my life."

Zelgadis was speechless. He didn't know what to think. He was interested
in Amelia, and she was actually interested in a freak like him.

Lina shook Gourry awake.

"Is it time for breakfast?"

And Lina was tempted to put him back to sleep. "No. It's time for the
second round of the game."

"Game? Second round?" Gourry looked around the table questioningly and
then at Lina. "Um, what did you answer?"

"Does it matter?" Lina wasn't going to answer that if she didn't have
to.

Xellos was more than willing to answer his question. "She answered that
she'd marry you, I answered Filia, and Amelia answered Zelgadis."

Gourry blinked and smiled.

Lina huffed and slumped into her chair.

"All right. Zelgadis, it's your turn to ask a question."

Zelgadis wrenched his gaze off Amelia and scowled at Xellos. He knew
what question he wanted to ask. "I ask each of you to give any
knowledge, thought or idea on how I might be cured of my curse."

Xellos crossed his arms. "That isn't a proper question. Not everyone at
the table can answer that."

"You've all been traveling with me for some time. There has to be some
ideas that each of you has had that might lead to a cure. I'll go
first." Zelgadis smirked at Xellos. "I've gone through every library,
ruin, and spell shop I could find and have come up with nothing. If no
better solution comes along, I will set up a lab and find a way to study
my curse to see if I can figure out how it can be undone."

Xellos looked evenly at the chimera. "Well, if Gourry can come up with a
meaningful answer, we will let your question stand."

Gourry scratched his head. "Well, I don't know what the fuss is about. I
mean it should wear off at some point since Rezo is dead and spells
aren't suppose to last long after the sorcerer who cast it died."

Four jaws smashed through the floor. Gourry actually had a reasonably
good answer.

Zelgadis started to mumble to himself. "Rezo has been dead for almost
two years. Most spells would wear off by now. If I can figure out what
is sustaining the curse, I could stop it and I'd be cured." He looked
over at Gourry with awe in his eyes. "I... thanks, Gourry."

"For what?"

Lina whapped Gourry lightly on the head. "Well, I can't suggest anything
besides what you've been doing or research it... except for one
possibility." She closed her eyes. "I can tell you how to find her, but
I won't go with you."

Zelgadis raised an eyebrow. "Her?"

"My sister, Luna, might be able to cure you or have some idea of how
you'd be able to find one."

"How would your sister be able to cure me?"

Lina looked down. "She's the Ceiphied Knight."

Zelgadis and Amelia stared at Lina in surprise. They knew she was afraid
of her sister, but now had some clue as to why. It was probable that
Luna was more powerful than Lina since, as the Ceiphied Knight, she'd
have part of Ceiphied's power in her.

Xellos glared at Zelgadis. This game had taken an unexpected and
unwelcomed twist. "I can already tell you that Gourry's suggestion won't
help. Rezo was using energy from Shabranigdo to make you a chimera, so
as long as any part of Shabranigdo exists-- you will be as you are now.
A cure may be found in the pages of the Claire Bible, but you already
knew that. Unfortunately it will be a few centuries before the original
manuscript will recover from Garv's attack. There are no other complete
manuscripts anymore, so you will have to make do with the copies and
hope someone wrote down that section. Somewhere in the desert to the
south of us is an elven wand that will nullify any magic it comes in
contact with. I don't know the extent of this Ceiphied Knight's power,
so Luna might be able to cure you. Otherwise, there is research, Rezo's
manuscripts, and ruin exploring."

"Can you be more precise about the wand?"

"Sorry. The last time I had heard of it being used was a thousand years
ago during the war. It had fallen into the sand shortly before the Great
Seal was formed. When I was sent to search for it, the Seal prevented me
from finding it."

"So, it's probably somewhere near where the Seal was, if it still
exists."

"Yes, and I doubt it has been destroyed by time. The area it fell in is
rather large and it was a very long time ago. It might not be in the
desert anymore." Xellos turned toward Amelia. "Your turn."

Amelia smiled sheepishly and stopped writing. "I can't really offer
anything that'd help, but I wrote down everything Mr. Xellos said." She
looked at the paper. "I'll make a better copy for you though, he was
talking rather quickly. I can also see about getting the Sailoon's
mages' guild to help you."

"Now for round three. Gourry, ask a question."

"Who was your first love?"

The four other people at the table crashed to the floor. Who replaced
Gourry? They were hoping for something like favorite food or anything
more... stupid.

"Why did you ask that?!" Lina yelled in Gourry's face.

"Well, don't know. Just curious." Gourry gulped at Lina's glare. "I'll
go last."

Lina looked like she was trying to cast death magic from her eyes.
"Fine. Food."

Xellos smirked at Lina. "While no one can deny that you love food, I
doubt that was what Gourry meant."

Gourry nodded.

Someone was going to die tonight, Lina wasn't sure if it was going to be
Gourry or Xellos. Second thought, she might have to kill both of them.
"My first love was Venton. He was in the same group of mage students
that I was in. We got along great particularly since he was the number
one student. We both knew I was the stronger mage. I didn't take the
academic stuff as seriously as I should have. It ended when I went
adventuring."

Amelia frowned. Lina was hiding something, but had no idea what.

Xellos raised an eyebrow. There was an interesting story there, but how
would he get it out? Lina had answered the question. "Well, I can never
be in love by the human definition of it. However, as many poems state
that love is to willing do anything, even die, for someone-- in my
people's way, I would love Zelas Metallium. Of course, there have been
those I've lusted after, the first was Cicel, an elven maiden that I
seduced and used to destroy her kingdom." He sat back and seemed to sigh
fondly.

"First love, huh?" Amelia fidgeted. "Well... I guess... it's Mr.
Zelgadis. I've never met anyone that I've felt anything like I do for
him."

Zelgadis was nervous. How much pain would this cause? Answering it would
be hell. Not answering it would be even worse. He clamped his eyes shut.
"Lina."

"Excuse me?" Lina gasped. There was no way he could mean her.

Xellos looked like the cat that ate the mouse.

Gourry and Amelia looked rather upset.

"You were the first girl I was ever truly interested in because you
never cared that I was chimera. But, trust me, I don't feel that way any
more. You're a friend, and I realized you would never see me as anything
more than a friend."

Gourry and Lina looked skeptically at Zelgadis.

Amelia seemed happy with his answer.

Xellos wished things had been a bit more complicated.

Lina turned to look at Gourry. "Your turn."

"Didn't I just ask a question?"

Lina growled. "Yes, now you have to answer it."

"Oh, right. First love? Um, that would be Felicia. I met her during one
of Dad's training trips. I was thirteen when we arrived at her village,
and she was cute. I tried to become her protector, but I was 'too young'
for her since I was a year younger. I'll never forget how she looked in
that bath, or how badly she hurt me for seeing her like that."

Lina massaged her temples. She didn't like some of Gourry's answer, and
wanted to make sure of something. "Guess it's my turn to ask a question.
How far have you willingly been with someone sexually? I'll answer
last."

Xellos shrugged. "All the way, and then some."

"Care to explain that?" Zelgadis growled.

"Well, recently, there was that time with Martina where she had a whip,
candles, oil...."

Lina clamped her hand over Xellos's mouth. "That's MORE than enough
information."

"Um, were you with Mrs. Martina before or after she married Mr.
Zangulus?"

Xellos cheerfully smiled at the princess. "That's... none of your
business. The question was only for how far, not when."

Lina waved off his comment. "I'd rather not know."

"My turn, huh?" Amelia giggled nervously. "Um, well, there was the time
I wanted to know a bit more about guys. So, I had one of the better
looking page boys strip for me and I, um, well..." She was blushing so
hard it looked like she was about burst some blood vessels.
"...Isuckedonhispenis."

"You did what?!" Zelgadis's eyes nearly exploded considering how big
they got.

Amelia sat in her chair shyly, nervously adjusting her clothes. "Please
don't make me repeat that. The guy meant absolutely nothing. I was
curious and it was a couple years ago."

"Zel?" Lina prompted.

"Nothing."

"How far have you gone?" Xellos pressed.

"I've never been in any romantic situations with any girl. The only girl
I've ever kissed was my Mom."

"How about guys?" Xellos questioned.

"Not a chance in hell."

"Hell has many chances." Xellos smirked. "But, maybe we should lock the
chimera with the princess and see what blows his way."

Lina punched the mazoku. "That's enough from you. Gourry, it's your
turn."

"There was that prostitute that Dad paid to teach me about sex. She did
things that were... WOW! Kind of wish Lina would do some of that."

*WHAM!!!*

Lina's fist shook in anger. Sending Gourry through the floor hadn't
soothed her.

"Um, Lina...." And Xellos was one with the wall.

Zelgadis would've applauded, but he wasn't sure his stony hide would
protect him from her.

Amelia had her face covered, and oddly seemed to be in pain.

Lina sat down and glared at everyone. "The furthest I've willing been
with someone was with Venton. He got to play with my chest and, unlike
some people, he liked the size of it."

Considering Lina was probably a kid at the time, guys didn't expect
much. Gourry would've commented on that, but he was busy spitting out
floorboard. The rest of them were all too keenly aware what mood Lina
was in, and didn't want to risk her wrath.

Xellos appeared in his seat and didn't look like he had ever been moved
from it. "Well, I guess it's my turn to ask a question." He paused in
thought. "I want to know everything about your first kill."

The table was deathly quiet save for Gourry trying to pull splinters out
of his teeth.

"I'll go first and last since there is two ways to view the question
from my perspective. My first human kill was about three thousand years
ago and, oddly enough, the man was called Martin Gabriev. He even had
the sword of light. We had a tremendous fight. After I defeated Martin
in battle, his son ran off with the sword. Since I couldn't find the
boy, I decided to torture Martin for two weeks before finally killing
him. He might have been stupid, but he wouldn't tell me where to find
his son. All in all, that had been quite fun." Xellos sighed happily.

Lina had Gourry's mouth covered. She really didn't want to hear any
stupid questions or comments about Xellos's story.

Amelia closed her eyes. "My first kill was an escaping prisoner from the
castle dungeon. I was out in the courtyard practicing magic and he was
going to use me as a shield. I got frightened and casted flame arrow at
his face. At that range, it blew his head off and burned my arm. The
healers had my arm fixed in a few minutes and Dad was proclaiming me as
a champion of justice."

Xellos raised an eyebrow. "How old were you?"

"Eleven."

Zelgadis sighed as he looked away from the princess. He was going to
find some way to kill that mazoku for causing all of this pain. "In the
small town of Zefer, there was a group of bullies who would pick on
everybody, one scrawny kid in particular. No matter how much he trained
to fight, he was never strong enough to defeat them. He would always
try, but would return home battered and beaten. He wanted to be
stronger, strong enough to stop them." His fist shook in front of him.
"And he finally got that strength and faced the bullies. What followed
was a massacre. Their cries of 'freak' and 'monster' only fueled his
rage. In the end, only the leader knew that the scrawny kid they had
picked on had brutally killed him and his friends. To this day, I can't
tell if it was the shock of becoming a chimera, Rezo's influence, or my
desire for revenge that led me to kill them."

"I'd say it was a combination of all three. By the way, how old were
you?" Xellos crossed his arms.

"Twelve." Zelgadis turned to his left. "Gourry, your turn."

"What was the question?"

Xellos sighed. "Tell me about your first kill."

"Oh, okay." Gourry shrugged. "I was traveling with my Dad on one of the
training missions. A group of bandits attacked and I defended myself. I
ended up killing two of them, but I don't know who they were."

"How old were you?"

"Eight."

Everyone turned toward Lina.

"He was a bandit. Need I say more?"

Xellos grinned. "Well, yes."

Lina crossed her arms and looked away from the table. "I was thirteen
and the bandit had the gall to steal from me, so I killed him."

Xellos peered closely at the crimson sorceress. "Now, Lina, there is a
lot more to this than you're saying. I'd like to know what."

"What more would there be?" Lina challenged.

"You're hiding something." Xellos turned toward the princess. "Back me
up, Amelia. You do still have that empathy spell active."

"WHAT?!" Chorused Lina and Zelgadis.

Amelia twiddled her fingers. "Well... I just wanted to be sure of the
answers."

Zelgadis was upset and embarrassed. "Did Xellos lie about any of his
answers?"

Amelia shrugged. "I can't read him at all. It's like there is no one
there."

"I wish," Zelgadis mumbled.

"Well, Lina, are you going to answer my question? I want to know what
this first bandit did to make you declare genocide on all bandits."

"But... but...." Lina flustered.

"You are hiding something, Ms. Lina."

Lina suppressed the urge to dragon slave the table. If they were dead,
she wouldn't have to answer it.

Gourry placed a hand on Lina's shoulder. "What was so bad about your
first kill?"

Lina knocked away his hand. "Fine, I'll tell you. It all started after
an argument with my sister. I stomped off into the woods to do some...
alterations to the landscape. A group of bandits known as the Wolf Pack
found me and decided to rob me. I was wearing robes that marked me as a
new member of the mage's guild, so they suspected I would have money.
They also knew that they couldn't face me head on. One of them snuck up
behind me and gagged me so I couldn't cast any spells. They were happy
enough with what little gold I had, but the leader, Mastron the Cruel,
wanted more."

Lina took a flask of ale from a passing barmaid and gulped some of it
down. "This upset the men, but they obeyed. I was taken back to their
hideout and put into Mastron's room. He was going to rape me, but when
he noticed I had pubic hair-- he was upset! The freaking pervert thought
I was younger than thirteen! Fortunately that was enough of a
distraction that I was able to free myself. I fireballed him into
oblivion. That had the effect of burning my clothes as well. When I
tried to escape the hideout, I had a few problems and ended up killing
many of the bandits. I was finally able to find some clothes that I
could use, but it was an over-sized shirt and boxers. I also helped
myself to their loot."

Lina drained her flask. "When I got home, Luna saw the way I was dressed
and the gold. She thought I had sold myself as a prostitute and decided
to punish me. I tried to explain what happened, but she was too upset. I
grabbed my stuff and left. I never returned home after that."

Gourry looked at Lina confused beyond words.

Zelgadis shook his head.

Xellos acted like he was sympathetic.

Amelia was quite upset. "Why would your sister think that?"

"Because my family had never been very wealthy. Especially after sending
both my sister and me through school. Luna and I had to help make ends
meet and I had done some rather inventive means to make money that
weren't always good."

"Such as?" Xellos inquired.

"I don't have to answer that!"

"Darn." Xellos sat back. "Well, as per the other view of first kill. The
first sentient being whose life I ended. Zelas Metallium saw that the
other mazoku lords were making priests and generals. She also saw that
Fibrizo had made many priests and generals under himself, but none of
them as strong as either the priest or general under Garv who made only
one of each. So Zelas decided she would only make one mazoku that was
both general and priest. But she was not sure if she wanted a mazoku who
was more war minded or one who was cunning. So, she made both and had
them fight. The winner would be granted the full power of the station.
The general was ruthless and strong, while the priest was cunning and
manipulative. However, the general was too strong for the priest to
defeat. No single plan of attack would defeat him. The priest would have
to try many sneak attacks since confronting the general head on was
suicidal. However, attempt too many sneak attacks, and one will fail.
That would be all the general would need."

Xellos's grinned grew larger. "The priest came up with a rather
audacious plan. He set a trap for the general. When he was in the right
spot, the priest attacked. However, the general got a shot off and
gravely wounded the priest. The general approached the still form of the
priest and started to absorb his essence. The priest was not dead,
though. To be hit was part of the plan, since when the general began to
absorb the essence of the priest, it opened the general's mind to be
attacked. On the planescape of the mind, it was the priest who was
superior. The priest completely destroyed the general's mind and kept
the stronger body. This had amused Zelas greatly since the solution made
the priest stronger than if either the priest or the general had
straight out won. She gave the winner all of the powers to be her priest
and general and named him Xellos Metallium."

Lina's eyes bulged out. "You're Metallium's priest AND general?!"

"I thought you knew that already." Xellos shrugged. "Oh, well."

Zelgadis glared. "That makes you the fourth most powerful mazoku that's
currently active."

"Power is subjective and can vary greatly in the right circumstance."

Lina crossed her arms and scowled. "I'd ask what you meant by that, but
I know you wouldn't answer it."

Xellos smiled cheerfully. "Of course I wouldn't. I do have to keep some
secrets, don't I?"

Lina growled. "I've had enough of this. I'm going to bed."

Amelia moved from the table. "Perhaps we should all turn in for
tonight."

"Well, actually I should be leaving now. My report to my mistress is a
bit overdue. We shall meet again." Blackness engulfed Xellos and he was
gone.

"Good riddance." Zelgadis picked his stuff up and left for his room.

Gourry trailed behind.

-------------------*

Amelia couldn't sleep. The game had brought a lot of things out, some
good and a lot bad. Even though because of the game she knew that
Zelgadis did like her, she wished they had never played it. It had been
especially painful to Lina, and the empathy spell she had used made her
feel the pain as well.

What was she going to do with Zelgadis now? He admitted that he liked
her, and she admitted that she liked him. However, she also knew that
finding a cure was more important to him. That hurt considering she
didn't feel there was anything wrong with him being a chimera. She'd
accept him as he was now.

Amelia turned over and saw a figure looking into the room from the
window. She would've been frightened or concerned, but she knew who he
was and where he was looking. "Mr. Gourry?"

Gourry looked away from the bed Lina was sleeping on. "Huh?"

Amelia glanced at Lina and noticed she wasn't moving. "Is Mr. Zelgadis
still awake?"

Gourry scratched his head. "I think so. Why?"

"I've got a couple questions for him." Amelia slipped out of bed, put on
her robe, and left.

Gourry sighed as he looked back at Lina. He nearly fell out of the
window when he noticed that she was looking at him. He flailed for a
second trying to regain his balance. Lina's giggling didn't help at all.
He kept himself from falling two stories. "You're awake?"

"What do you think?"

"That you're awake."

"Then you're right." Lina sat up. "Care to explain why you were watching
me?"

Gourry scratched his head. "I don't know. I just felt I had to after
hearing about that."

"About my first kill?"

"About what the guy was going to do to you. Why didn't you tell me about
that?"

Lina crossed her arms. "And when and how was I suppose to do that? That
was something I avoid thinking about."

"But, Lina...."

"What would you have me do? Go around saying, 'Hey, I'm Lina who was
abused by my sister and was sexually assaulted when I was thirteen!
Please pity me!' Get real."

Gourry sagged. "I suppose not. But I wish you had told me. I mean we are
partners and all."

Lina sighed. "There are a few skeletons in my closet that I don't want
to talk about."

Gourry moved from the window and went to the closet. "There's no
skeletons in there."

Lina hit Gourry with her pillow. "It's a figure of speech, nit-wit!
Besides, when were YOU going to tell me you had sex with a prostitute."

Gourry scratched his head nervously. "Didn't think that was important."

Lina scowled. "And how many times have you had sex?"

"Just that once."

"That had better be truth." Lina growled.

"It is!" Gourry sighed. "But what about us?"

Lina raised an eyebrow. "Us?"

"Yeah. I know you're not ready to settle down, that's why I've never
said anything. But what happened because of that bandit complicates
things, doesn't it?"

Lina appraised Gourry. He seemed a bit smarter than normal this evening;
however, a good part of what had gone on was something they had never
approached before. "The assault occurred over five years ago. I'm over
it."

"You are?"

"Sure I'm a little skittish when it comes to sex and all bandits have to
die, but I'm over it. I'm not ready to stop adventuring yet, so don't
expect me to do anything that prostitute did any time soon."

"But you will?"

Lina sighed. "Unless something big happens, yes. But that won't be for a
few years at least, so don't get your hopes too high."

Gourry smiled broadly. "I won't."

Lina shook her head and prayed she didn't encourage him too much.

"You know something?"

"What is it?"

"I wish that bandit was still alive."

Lina scowled angrily. "I did the world a favor by killing him! Why would
you want him alive? So you can kill him?"

"No. So Xellos could torture him for a few years."

Lina blinked. A little smarter and more devilish, she liked this Gourry
better.

-------------------*

While reading a book, Zelgadis heard a knock on the door. He hadn't
heard Gourry fall, but who else would be at the door? "Door's open."

The door opened slowly and Amelia peeked in. "I was hoping to talk to
you."

Zelgadis blushed and looked around quickly. "Um, Gourry should be back
any minute."

"He's talking to Lina at the moment."

Zelgadis sweat-dropped. "Okay. Um, what did you want to talk about?"

"Well... us." Amelia sat on Gourry's bed. "If we are to attempt a
relationship, it won't be easy."

"Of course it won't be easy with me being a chimera."

Amelia shook her head. "The fact I'm a princess will cause more trouble.
I'd accept you as you are, but my position can cause problems. I mean,
if things work out, you would be the ruler of Sailoon. There's also the
point that I could end up into an arranged marriage at any time. With
the outside world opened to us now, I might end up having to marry one
of their princes."

"But Amelia, I don't think I could rule Sailoon, especially as a
chimera. How would your people react to a one-third mazoku sitting on
the throne?"

"I know it would cause problems. But I doubt it would be as bad as you
think."

"But things would be easier if I was human."

"In some ways, yes."

"So, you do understand that I'll be leaving to search for my cure soon."

Amelia nodded. "I know. I also know I can't go with you. I have duties
to perform back home." She took off her right bracelet and handed it to
Zelgadis.

He looked confused at the object. "Why?"

"This is a promise, Mr. Zelgadis. I will try to wait for you, and when
you're ready to come back to me-- we will try to make a relationship
work. But this works both ways. You've got to come back to me
eventually, cured or not."

Zelgadis didn't know what to say. "Amelia... I...."

Amelia placed a finger on his lips. "Just accept it, okay?"

Zelgadis nodded.

Amelia then leaned forward and kissed him sweetly on the lips. She
pulled away and giggled at his stunned expression. "Now you can at least
say you've kissed a girl."

Zelgadis nodded and watched her skip out of the room. He slowly touched
his lips not believing what just happened. All he could think of was
that he needed to find his cure, for Amelia.

-------------------*

In the astral there was neither up nor down, left nor right. However,
there were many spirits that could be found. Spirits tended to form into
groups. Some groups were comprised of people from the same village while
others were brought together by occupation.

"Ah, Mastron the Cruel."

"Y-yes?" When a mazoku talks to you, you listen-- especially when you're
a spirit.

"From my records, as far as scum go, you were among the worst."

The spirit smiled weakly. "Thanks."

"Thievery, murder, rape, and pedophilia-- and that's just your last
life. You were being considered for reincarnation into being a mazoku."

What passed for eyes on the spirit widened. "A... mazoku? Me?"

"But that was before we found out about who killed you... and why."

The other spirits moved in to hear what was going on. It wasn't common
for a mazoku to talk to a spirit like this.

The spirit backed away from the mazoku. "W-what does that have to do
with anything?"

The mazoku smiled. "Well, you were Lina Inverse's first kill. That is a
considerable achievement."

The spirit looked around and nervously laughed.

"You sparked the fire of chaos in Lina and she has done very well.
Thanks to you, several hundred bandits have died. Not to mention a shard
of Shabranigdo, Garv, and Fibrizo have fallen because of her
adventuring. That might never have happened if you didn't try to rape
her. So, in payment, the mazoku race has seen to it that you won't be
reincarnated for at least a thousand years. Congratulations, most
spirits want to stay here as long as they can." The mazoku vanished.

"NO!" the spirit screamed.

Moments later hundreds upon hundreds of bandit spirits converged onto
the spirit of Mastron. The astral plane was filled with screams of pain
and Xellos smiled. It was such a shame that human spirits were nearly
immortal. Mastron would 'live' through this, but he wouldn't want to.

-------------------*

Author's notes:

This was an odd piece that came from reading a couple Truth or Dare
fanficts that never seemed quite right and the idea of Lina combined
with a first kill. The original thought was Lina helping someone with a
first kill, but my mind is quite twisted.