I do not own the slayer!
Everyone is out of character, everyone. I think I was high on chocolate when I wrote this, but please enjoy!
The room was darkThe room was dark, not pitch black but dark like before the sun had risen over the horizon. That perfect kind of darkness that is neither frightening nor too dark. If you waited a minute or two your eyes would adjust and you would be able to see what lies around you. It is here in the early morning darkness that a room is seen. The room is large with a dressing table, a few deep, soft chairs, a fireplace, and a bed with a sleeping figure in it. This sleeping form is none other then the Infamous and Famous Beautiful Sorcery Genius Lina Inverse.
Lina Inverse yawns as she opens her eyes to the perfect darkness of the early morning, and decides it's to early to wake up so she rolls over in an attempt to go back to sleep. She nearly succeeds but as she rolls over in her bed her hand struck something. Something not hard but not soft…something warm. Lina's eyes pop open and she stares into the darkness waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dimness of the room. Lina cautiously moves her hand in the darkness; she pokes at the something her hand touched. It was warm, supple, it was moving?
In the darkness before Lina's eyes had adjusted, the thing she was poking at moved to encircle her and pulled her closer to a warm embrace.
Lina was not entirely sure what had happened but she was sure now that the thing wrapped around her was in fact an arm, she touched the arm, it was warm, it was strong and it was male. Lina did the only thing she could think of in this situation, she closed her eyes, she screamed and started prying the arm off her and pounding on the chest it was attached to.
The arm reluctantly let go of her and a voice mumbled, "Well if you didn't want to play you shouldn't have poked me."
Lina couldn't hear the man over her own screaming so she kept hitting him. "Flare Arrow!" She screamed as she aimed a volley of flaming magical arrows at the man.
The arrows hit their target straight on, the man coughed while he absorbed the shock. "What's wrong Lina?" He asked quietly in between coughs.
This time Lina heard him, but because he spoke so quietly couldn't tell whom the voice belonged to. "What's wrong? What's wrong? You want to know what's wrong?" Lina screamed at him.
"Yes, I would like to know what the matter is." The man resounded quietly to her tirade.
"The matter is that everything was fine when I woke up," Lina began to chew the man who had stained her innocents out. "Then I go to roll over and go back to sleep and I find something in my bed. I poke it and it turns out to be an arm, a male arm that wraps around an unsuspecting me. And you dare ask me what's wrong? Who do you think you are?" Lina paused in her rant and thought for a second. "Who are you? Where are we? How did you get me here? And most importantly what if anything did we do last night?" She yelled, then in a softer voice asked a more rhetorical question. "One more thing where are Gourry, Amelia, Zelgadis, and even that fruitcake Xellos and aren't they worried about me at all?"
The man's eyes opened with shock. How could she not know where she was, or who he was? "Lina," He began. "Yes I dared to ask you what was wrong. I think I'm you husband. I know I'm Xellos Metamilium." Xellos pointed to a candle and it flared obediently allowing Lina to see his face, Lina stared at him, he continued. "We are currently in our bedroom," Xellos paused as Lina glared at him. "On Wolfpack Island, I brought you here. And as to what we did last night," He trailed off as Lina slapped him.
Lina dusted off her hands as she said, "don't you dare finish that sentence." Suddenly she realized that she was sitting up, she looked at herself. Lina saw that she was wearing a very revealing negligee; she grabbed the nearest sheet and wrapped it around herself. She also looked at Xellos whom she had taken the sheet from; he was wearing nothing but pyjama bottoms. Lina got off the bed holding the sheets close to her as she backed up away from the bed and from Xellos. Lina kept backing up until she had gone right across the room and encountered a corner; slowly she sank down onto the floor. Lina didn't know what to think, on the one hand Xellos never lied, on the other hand Xellos had never in all the time she had known him ever told the whole truth with out twisting it in some perverted way so that you would ultimately do what he wanted and believe him.
Xellos had never felt such sadness, such confusion, or such fear from Lina. He got up off their bed and moved closer to comfort her. As he got nearer to her, the door opened and two people walked into the room. Xellos turned to look at them. "Mistress Xelas, Allison. What are you two doing here?
Xelas Metamilium, a tall blonde woman with purple eyes and pointed ears, The Beast master and one of Shabonigdo's five faced her general and priest, Xellos The Greater Beast and said. "What in Shabonigdo's name is going on here?" Xelas demanded from her servant.
Allison, who was seven and ultimately a younger, smaller version of her mother, with her reddish brown hair and red eyes, walked straight over to her mother and kneeled down beside her. "What did you two have a fight or something?" She demanded of her father.
Lina sat in her corner, not really knowing what to do. Here she was in a large dark room on Wolfpack Island with a three people, Xellos, his mistress and someone she didn't know. Her head was spinning and she was afraid, she didn't know what to believe. Was Xellos telling the truth or was it a convent twist? Finally Lina Inverse the Famous and Infamous Beautiful Sorcery Genius, put her head in her hands and did something she had not done in a very long time, she began to cry.
Xelas Metamilium The Beast Master walked past her General/Priest and over to her adopted cub. Xelas contrary to popular opinion had a strong maternal instinct as well as predatory skill. She walked over to Lina and picked her up sheet and all. With her sobbing adopted cub in her arms she walked over to a chair that was right in front of the fireplace and sat down. The fire lit as Xelas stared at the wood. In the now blazing light, Xelas stroked Lina's hair like a mother would a small child who had scrapped their knee for the first time.
Allison walked over to her mother and Xelas, sitting down in front of the large chair. She was worried, they were all worried Lina had never cried in their company, as far as they knew she never cried at all.
Xellos walked over to the fireplace. He couldn't understand what was happening. This was Lina, his wife of seven years, the mother of their child, his mistresses' adopted cub, as far as he knew Lina had only cried once in all her teenage to adult life and that was when The Hell Master Phibrizo had taken her friend hostage. She had never cried since with only the exception of weddings, and that wasn't like this.
"What have you done?" Xelas demanded sharply of Xellos, as Lina kept crying into her long golden hair. She glared at him her violet eyes taking on an unearthly glow as she did so. "Xellos what have you done to this poor young woman?"
Xellos looked up from his beloved, to look into his mistresses' eyes, his own eyes betraying his shock. "I have done nothing," he told his Mistress and daughter truthfully.
"If you did nothing then what could have caused Lina to cry like this? My little sister never cries." A new voice filled the air as Xelas, Xellos and Allison turned towards the voice they saw Luna Inverse, The Knight of Cepheid and Lina's older sister. Luna looked nothing like her sister with her shoulder length wavy purple hair with bangs that grew past her eyes down to the tip of her nose. Luna walked right up to Xelas and sat in a chair that had appeared right beside that of her friend's. Without a word Xelas handed Lina over to her sister. Lina for her part accepted the transfer and curled up in her sister's lap to cry. "Lina," Luna spoke softly. "Are you ready to talk yet?" Lina stopped crying, sniffed and shook her head no. "Alright, we won't make you talk about it yet," Luna said comfortingly. "Xellos what happened this morning, tell us every thing," Her tone left no room for argument.
Xellos recalled the details of last night, and told his mistress, his wife, his wife's sister and his mistress' best friend, and his daughter. "Every thing was normal last night, we ate dinner we went out to hunt any bandit dumb enough to be on Wolfpack Island, then we came back and…"
Again Xellos was interrupted but not by Lina, this time by Luna who slapped him across the face before he could say anything. "Don't even think about finishing that sentence Xellos, not while Lina is like this and your daughter is in the room."
"Alright, alright I'll skip that part." He smiled sheepishly at the group, "This morning I was sleeping and Lina woke me up by tapping me on the shoulder, I figured she was just rolling in her sleep, but then she poked at my arm, so I of course put my arm around her. But as I do this she starts yelling at me and throwing Flare Arrows. When I asked her what was wrong she got hysterical. She started asking me who I was, where we were, how I got her here. I of course told her the truth, but she wouldn't believe me until I showed her my face. She also asked me what we did last night. Xellos smiled faintly, "she wouldn't let me answer that either, in fact she had the same reaction you did." His smile faded quickly as he told them the last of his tale. "After she removed her hand from my face, she looked down at herself, grabbed a sheet, looked at me and backed into the corner. I've never felt such a strange mix of emotions from Lina, she's hardly ever, frightened, sad and confused all at once." Xellos sighed as he finished his monolog, what did this prove? Were they any closer to knowing why Lina had woken up with that reaction?
Lina who had listened with patience to Xellos story nodded when the others looked at her. She then got up off of her sister's lap and walked across the room. Xellos pulled a chair up close to the fire for her and she sat, as he leaned against the fireplace. The others looked at her, she sighed. She didn't understand what happened, she couldn't have married Xellos; the strange little girl that looked oddly like her couldn't possibly be her daughter. This had to be some massive prank the gang was playing to get back at her for blowing up so random potion of the town and having to run form all those crazed towns people at one thirty in the morning, and for being a little to careless when blowing up that last bandit gang.
"Lina? Honey?" Xelas questioned her adopted cub, "Are you alright?" Xelas leaned forward in her chair, her blond locks falling in front of her face. She was worried about Lina, she glanced over at Luna, Luna looked back at her the two shared a worried glance. What was wrong with Lina? In all her years of calling Wolfpack Island home she had never given off these kinds of emotions before.
Lina glanced up at the tall blond woman sitting beside her sister, Xelas it had to be Xelas. "Yes Xelas?" Lina had started to relax and had unknowingly let the sheet drop from around her shoulders, but not so much as to reveal any of what she was wearing.
Luna looked at her sister for a second before saying, "What do you remember about yesterday Lina?" Her niece had come over to her, and climbed up into her lap just like Lina had done earlier and when she was a child. When Lina was a child she always used to come to her when she needed to feel safe. What had happened? One day something was just different, and Lina stopped coming to her when she wanted to feel safe.
"I, I remember," Lina thought for a second. What do I remember? "I remember, blowing up a couple of bandit gangs. I think they called themselves: The Black Hearted Demons, The Blood Streaked Bandits, and the real winner of dumb names were The Dirty Double Crossing Thieves." Lina began to relax near the heat of the fire and forgot what she was wearing and why she had a sheet wrapped around her and let the sheet fall around her waist in the chair.
Luna and Xelas looked at Xellos for confirmation of this information. Xellos nodded, "Yes those are the bandit gangs we fought yesterday." He said as he looked at his wife. Xellos noticed that Lina had let the sheet fall from around her delicate shoulders, the sheet now pooled around her waist on the seat of the chair. He looked at her; she was perfect. It had been clear to him from the first time he had met her, she was perfect and that was all there was to it. Xellos walked over to Lina, she was pensive again. He walked wordlessly in front of his Lina's chair and reached around her and pulled the sheet over her shoulders, his hands lingering on her soft, warm skin.
Lina felt Xellos reach behind her and pull the sheet back up on her shoulders. She also felt his cool hands remain a few seconds on her warm skin. Her hand came up out of now where and slapped him, "Get away from me!" She shrieked at him, he drew back immediately; the others just stared at her a gasp for her sudden outburst.
Xelas looked at Lina, she looked like Xellos had never done that before. Then she looked at Xellos, he looked like he'd been bitten. It served him right, he should have known better. "Xellos what where you thinking?" She snapped at him, "You know that she doesn't remember." She turned to Lina, "Please forgive him, he's impetuous, and acts before he thinks when it concerns you. Lina It's kind of strange that you remember attacking the bandit gangs yesterday but nothing after that. Do you remember anything the bandits did that was unusual in any way?"
Lina thought for a moment. There was something different but what? What was out of place about yesterday's bandit bashing? The names were all terrible, they all had lots of treasure to liberate, they all talked tough until they heard her name and…that was it that was what was different. "One of the bandit gangs; The Dirty Double Crossing Thieves weren't afraid of me." Lina told the small group, "In fact they propositioned me. The leader told me to come work with him. He told me that if I refused him I would be sorry, because he had a secret weapon." She squeezed her eyes shut for a second trying hard to remember what that secret weapon had been.
"Wait I remember that just before you threw a spell at him, he blew a strange powder in your face. When I teleported in to help you he was chanting some odd spell," Xellos told them.
"Do you remember exactly what words the bandit leader used when he cast that curse?" Luna asked Xellos, staring right into his only slightly open eyes. If Xellos remembered the words that the bandit leader had used when chanting that spell then they had a chance.
Allison's eyes widened, "If the bandit leader threw a powder at mommy, then there should still be some on the clothing she wore yesterday."
Xelas and Luna exchanged looks, if they had the powder and knew the words then they would know exactly what had happened to Lina. "Allison, why don't you show me were the clothing your mother wore yesterday is?" Allison nodded and she and Xelas went off into the room's deep closet.
Once Xelas and her niece were gone Luna looked straight at Xellos, "tell me the words to that spell. Don't say them with the proper punctuation either, just a few words at a time with pauses in between."
Luna turned to her little sister, "Lina dear, you should probably go and put on some normal clothing. What your wearing right now isn't really appropriate attire when you're with company. Xelas and I let you get away with wearing that for this long only because you had just woken up and had a bad experience."
"Yes of course Luna," Lina looked down at her clothing, or lack there of. No wonder Xellos had pulled the sheet back on her shoulders, Lina blushed and no wonder he had let his hands linger a bit to long on her skin. She had forgotten that she was only wearing a thin and revealing nightgown. "Umm this might be a silly question, but where is all my clothing?"
Luna gave a long-suffering sigh but smiled an evil little smile as she said. "Why on earth would I know where you keep your clothing Lina? For as long as I can remember you left you things all over the place, besides this isn't my house this is your and your husband's house. Maybe you should ask your husband where you throw your things, I'm sure he would know."
Now I remember why I was afraid of you, Lina thought to herself. Lina sighed, and looked at her hands in desperation and saw on her slender finger a small golden wedding band with an expensive looking diamond set in it. So she was married after all, it wasn't just some big joke that Amelia, Zelgadis and Xellos had cooked up to get back at her. "Umm Xellos?" Why did she suddenly feel so shy around him, She asked herself.
"Yes Lina what would you like?" Xellos looked at Lina, she was beautiful when she blushed. He looked at her, and she pulled the sheet tighter around herself, no he thought sadly she still doesn't remember. Lina looked at him, and blushed a deeper crimson; he looked down at himself and saw that he was still only in his pyjama bottoms. "Luna if you would excuse me, I think I should go change into something more appropriate as well. Come on Lina, I'll show you where the closet is, all our clothes are in there."
Xellos and Lina walked away into the closet that Xelas and Allison had gone into. Luna shook her head and smiled, those two. Well at least with Xelas and Allison there I know Xellos will behave himself, Luna laughed softly to herself.
A few minutes latter Lina and Xellos came back into the room, both dressed in more suitable clothing. Lina was dressed in a pair of loose dark burgundy slacks and a long sleeved wine coloured shirt. Xellos had on his usual general/priest's garb.
