Lina Inverse was walking with her friends Gourry Gabriev, Xelgadis Greyswords, and Amelia Sayroon along an unexplored path. Just another day in an adventurous life. Then the bandits showed up.
Lina smirked. "Well, what do you know. Bandits. This should be fun...and profitable!" She readied her magic, as did Amelia and Xelgadis. Gourry drew his sword.
The bandits didn't bother to issue challenges, or even speak. They simply charged in. Lina and her compatriots knocked and blasted them back as best they could, but they kept getting back up and charging again.
Lina was breathing heavily. Using this much magic was tiring her. "They just won't give up!"
"Miss Lina!" Amelia called out. "I believe the bandit's are under some sort of spell! Someone else is manipulating them to-KYAH!" She fell to the side, a large gash down her arm and torso from a lucky sword strike.
"AMELIA!" Xelgadis called out, charging in and knocking the bandit away with sheer brute force. He crouched over Amelia, attempting to heal the injury, letting his stone skin blunt the blows directed his way. The swords weren't that sharp, and the bandits weren't that strong.
Lina leapt above the melee, shouting, "Ray Wing!" FLoating over the melee, she sought out the puppet master. She saw the man...but he wasn't a man. She floated over. "Heh, why do WE merit the attention of a member of the Monster Race, hmm?"
The Monster glared at her. "For your crimes against us, Lina Inverse, you will die this day...along with your friends." The monster started throwing blasts of magic at her.
She tried her best to dodge, but she could feel herself getting sluggish. Her magic was starting to weaken, and she was starting to feel the beginning of cramps. *No! Not now!* she thought desperately. Was it that time of the month already? If they didn't get away soon, she was dead! And-
"GYAHH!" Her thoughts were cut short as a blast of magic punched through her abdomen. She clutched at the wound, falling to the ground. Gourry caught her before she landed.
"Lina! Are you alright?" He watched her with concern, not seeing the Monster raising his hands to deliver a final blow.
"NO!" she shouted, throwing a hand forward to stop him, calling forth any magic she could command to stop the monster.
A blast of raw mystic energy leapt forth from her hand, consuming the monster totally, punching right through all his barriers. He didn't even have time to scream.
Lina stared at her hand in shock, not knowing where that magic had come from. Then the pain of her wound recaptured her attention. She looked down as she clutched her injury.
Where she should have seen blood and damaged internal organs...she saw only a black void.
She stared in shock, not knowing what was going on. Then, as she heard Gourry trying to get her attention, and Amelia stirring under Xelgadis' care, a niggling memory worked its way to the surface of her mind. She had seen wounds like this before.
Leaping out of Gourry's arms, she turned and fled, not knowing she vanished into thin air a few steps away. She ran from her friends, ran from the knowledge of what this meant...ran from a future that no longer had hope.
She ran, and ran, and ran. Finally she stumbled and fell.
She was in the middle of a forest she didn't recognize. Glanicng around, she saw nothing. She couldn't even feel the beginning of the cramps anymore. Lost, scared, and for the first time in a long time totally alone, Lina Inverse - Bandit Killer, Dragon Spooker, slayer of Demon Lords - broke down and cried.
"Hmm? What's this then? However did you come to be here, Miss Lina? And what makes you so sad?"
She turned, and saw Xellos. She glared at him for a time. "Just leave me alone!" she shouted at the top of her voice, turning her back on him.
"Now what kind of friend would I be if I did that, hmm?" he asked, floating down to her. "I'm somewhat curious as to how you reached here, anyway, as it can only be reached through the Astral Plain-" He fell silent, staring at his staff. The crystal at the top had begun to glow. He kneeled down next to her, and gazed at the wound in her side.
She glared at him. "What? You think I don't know what this means? I don't know how, but somehow I'm a member of the Monster Race! Only Monsters generate their own magic and look like voids of darkness inside when injured. But I was human!" She broke down again. "I never made a deal, I never made a contract...how the hell did I become a Monster?"
Xellos sighed, and extended a hand. Healing energy came from his hand, flowing into Lina and sealing the wound. She stared at him. He stood up. "Walk with me, Lina. We need to talk."
She got up, glaring at him suspiciously. "Is this gonna be one of those conversations where I ask you the big important questions and you answer with 'IT's...a secret!' again? Cause I'm seriously not in the mood." She'd managed to shove aside her sorrow for the moment, using anger as a crutch to hold herself together.
"I give you my word that at no point in this conversation will I utter those words. If I know the answer to your questions, I will tell you, completely and honestly."
She followed after him, stunned. Not sure what else to say, she started with her most pressing question. "What am I?"
"My daughter," Xellos replied bluntly.
Lina walked into a tree. "Say what?"
"Just under a decade ago, I found myself...seduced by a single mother. Her daughter was a young girl named Luna. The - now late, I believe - Miss Inverse knew what I was...and did not care. I had stopped in at her establishment for a light snack, and some men were giving her trouble regarding a debt. I assisted her, and she was ever so grateful." Xellos sighed, almost regretfully. "A beautiful woman, she was...although I never learned her name. When I met you, and learned of your sister, I thought it was just coincidence. I know now I was mistaken."
Lina stared at Xellos - her FATHER - as she walked. "I'm...a hybrid?"
"Yes. Half-human, half-monster. The best of both worlds, in a way. YOu have th ability to use human magic, and your form is fully human. At the same time, you have a Monster's ability to generate your own reserves of mana, your own spell set, and are able to maintain your physiology like a monster." He gestured to where her wound was no longer present.
She thought about this for a time. "How...how long will I live?"
"As long as you choose to, I'd imagine. Much the same as any Monster. You will also age - or not - as you choose, now that your heritage has awoken."
"Awoken? YOu mean this might not have happened?"
Xellos smiled sadly. "You have been touched directly by the power of the Lord of Nightmare's. I'm afriad with your heritage, after that this was inevitable."
"But..." She stared out at the strange/familiar woods. "What do I do now?"
"Whatever you wish, I imagine. I hope you can forgive my lack of awareness as to our connection, but I did not know until your monster abilities awoke."
Lina chuckled. "Well, you're not going to win any Father of the Year awards, that's for certain."
Xellos laughed with her. "Would you like to go back to your friends? I am sure they are worried about you."
"But...I'm a Monster. Won't they-"
"Hate you? Because you are born to a race of beings that were made to destroy? Lina, think about all you have done when you thought you were human, the kind of life you have led. Does knowing what you are now change any of that?"
Lina thought for a time. "You mean...if they still don't hate me after all this time, what change could this possibly bring?"
"Something like that, yes."
Lina shook her head sadly. "I've been pretty terrible, haven't I?"
"Yes. You've been a very naughty girl. I may have to put you over my knee."
"Just try it!"
Laughing together they vanished into the Astral Plain.
"LINA! LINA!" GOurry was searching the area for Lina, with Amelia and Xelgadis' help. Suddenly a distortion appeared in the air, and Lina and Xellos appeared.
"Lina!" GOurry cried happily, running up and hugging her. AMelia did so as well.
Xelgadis came up close. "Don't go disappearing like that, you had us worried."
Xellos smiled. "I'll leave you with your friends, then. I'll pop in every now and then to teach you what you need to know...assuming you don't figure it out on your own."
Lina smiled. It seemed that her friends hadn't figured it out. But she decided they deserved to know...everything. She waved to Xellos. "Thanks...Dad."
Smiling, Xellos vanished.
"DAD?" the others demanded, shocked.
Lina smiled. "It's a LOOOONG story..."