Ano... No clue why I wrote this... It's a ficcie inspired ficcie, I guess... And before you ask, because I know you will, there isn't going to be a sequel. At least, not one that I know of. So review all you want, but don't ask for a sequel. Kays?
By the way, I've noticed a lack of reviews lately, so I'll give you all a little reminder. Reviews make people happy. Happy people write more ficcies. Ficcies make people happy. Happy people review. Reviews make people happy. Happy people write more ficcies. Ficcies make people happy. Happy people review. Reviews make people happy...
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Pool of Destiny
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Lina, Gourry, Amelia, Zelgadis, Filia, and Xellos were all leaving the scene of the Darkstar battle. They all knew they had a long, long way to go before they were back at Seyruun, and unless they found a ship, they'd also have to go through the desert. They'd already left the cold mountains, and were quickly approaching the time when they'd need a ship.
Xellos knew he didn't have to walk, but he enjoyed teasing Filia, and it made the trip worthwhile. Of course, if they didn't get a ship, then his journey would end there until they got out of the desert again.
"There's a town ahead," Lina said, looking at her map. "A port, actually. We could see if we can get a ship there."
"Who'd want to take us?" Zelgadis asked. "We're just a ragtag band of travelers with pretty much no money. Unless Filia has a stash that we don't know of?"
Filia shook her head, and said, "Lina-san ate us into bankruptcy. I don't have a coin on me." She crossed her arms, and turned her head away from Lina.
Lina laughed nervously, and said, "Anyway, we should check just in case. Besides," she added with more fervor. "Who would deny a ship to the beautiful sorcery genius, Lina Inverse? I'm so famous that they'd know at a glance who I am, and would offer to take me anywhere I wanted!"
"You wish," Gourry said.
"More like they'd be so terrified of you once you threatened to blow them up," Xellos told her.
Lina gritted her teeth and clenched her fist. "If that's the way I have to do it, then that's the way I'll do it! It doesn't matter if we get a ship by charms or by threats! We'll get a ship!"
"But it'd be a lot safer if we could just pay for one," Amelia said quietly.
Filia turned her nose up, and said, "If you all didn't eat so much, I might still have money left."
"You might, Filia-san," Xellos chided. "But I doubt a selfish dragon like yourself would share it."
"What did you say, namagomi?" Filia demanded, her fists at her sides, her tail straight up, and her eyebrow twitching.
Xellos just smiled, and said, "Knowing how selfish you dragons are, I doubt you would have spared a coin to get us all a ship."
Filia started breathing heavily, and her shoulders hunched. Her eyes started to flame, as she shouted, "Who's selfish!?" Before Xellos could answer, she grabbed her mace from beneath her skirts, and swung wildly at Xellos.
Winking, Xellos phased out, and appeared again after Filia's swing had passed by. "You'll have to do better than that, Filia-san."
"ARG!!"
Lina quickly stepped between the two, her hands out to keep them apart. "Hey, come on you two," she said. "We can't go into the port like that. No one will get a ship if we show up with a girl that has a tail. No offense," she added to Filia.
"None taken, Lina-san," Filia said, trying to calm down. "I agree, we must try to act as normal as possible so we have a greater chance of getting a ship."
"Nothing's normal when Lina's around," Gourry said. He was rewarded with a punch to the head by Lina.
"Let's hurry up," Amelia said. "I heard somewhere that ships like to set out early, and it's nearly noon as it is."
Zelgadis nodded, and said, "I agree."
Lina nodded, and took up her position at the front alongside Gourry, followed by Amelia and Zelgadis, then Filia and Xellos. About ten minutes later, they entered the port. They headed for the docks, but Xellos said, "Lina-san, I have it on good authority that there is somewhere we should be right now."
"Good authority?" Amelia and Gourry asked simultaneously.
Xellos nodded, and said, "Yes. You really should follow me, minna-san."
"Why? Where are we going?" Lina asked.
"Why should we follow you?" Zelgadis demanded.
"I agree. Why on earth would we follow a mazoku?" Filia asked with an air of superiority.
Xellos held up a finger, and said, "To answer all of your questions, that is a secret."
Filia started to get angry, but Amelia jumped in and said, "Filia-san! We're at the port! Don't start flaming now!"
Slowly, Filia calmed down again, and said, "It's not worth my time to get angry over some mazoku scum."
Xellos chose to ignore that comment, and said, "Follow me, minna-san." Then he set off away from the docks.
Lina and Zelgadis looked at each other, and shrugged. Then they started to follow Xellos. Gourry tagged along beside Lina, and Amelia stuck around Zelgadis. Filia hung back for a moment, before sighing in frustration and taking off after them.
After going through a few dark alleys, crossing some busy streets, and heading into a sparse wood, Xellos took them to a small stone building just on the edge of the port. "Here it is, minna-san. We are to go in there."
"Why?" everyone asked.
Xellos just shook his head, and said, "That is a secret." Under his breath, he added, "I wish I knew."
Inside the stone building, it was completely empty except for a pool set into the ground at the far end. Xellos led them over there, and they all looked down at the water. The water in there didn't really seem like water. It was very silvery and thick, a lot like quicksilver.
The liquid inside the pool rippled once they all stood around it, and it cleared up. In the center of the pool, in a smoky lettering, were the words, "You who watch, take care. What you see before you will happen, no matter what you do to stop it. This is the Pool of Destiny. You are Destined to see this, as is what you see Destined to happen." Then the words faded away, and the liquid became a deep, intense black.
"Destined?" Amelia asked. "The Pool of Destiny?"
"It tells our futures?" Lina wondered.
"And they'll come true?" Gourry said, awed.
"No matter what," Zelgadis concluded.
"Exactly," Xellos said, nodding, as though he had a clue as to why he had to bring them all here. Ju-ou-sama had just told him to bring everyone there, she hadn't explained why. She also hadn't explained why he, Xellos, was to stay as well.
"The pool," Filia said. "It's changing."
Indeed, the black liquid inside started to swirl with color. Soon, a scene began to unfold, right before their eyes.
When it cleared up, the pool showed the faces of Lina and Gourry, each looking at the other. Then it zoomed out, and it showed that Lina was wearing a long white dress, and Gourry had on a tuxedo. They stood at the end of a long carpet in a chapel, and a priest was at a podium, reading from a thick book.
"It's a wedding," Filia said.
Amelia's eyes went starry, and she said dreamily, "Lina-san and Gourry-san get married! Finally!"
Lina blushed bright red, and Gourry pointed at the pool, asking, "That's really going to happen?"
"Like there was any doubt," Zelgadis said.
"Ssh," Filia said, waving a hand. "They're talking."
The Lina and Gourry in the pool were still looking at the other. "I do," Lina said. Shortly thereafter, Gourry repeated the words, "I do." There was a pause, and then Gourry leaned forward and kissed Lina lightly on the lips.
"I kiss you?" Gourry asked incredulously. Now he was blushing along with Lina.
"It's changing again," Amelia said, watching the pool intently.
Confetti was thrown all around, and then the scene dissolved into another one. Lina was sitting in a bed, with a bundle in her arms. Gourry was standing on the floor beside her, one hand on her shoulder, and he was looking proudly down at what Lina was holding. The angle changed, and it showed that the bundle was a newborn baby with bright red eyes.
"A baby?" Amelia asked gleefully. "Lina-san and Gourry-san will have a child, too?"
"How romantic," Amelia and Filia said together.
Lina was blushing more than ever before, her face slightly blue along with the red. Gourry was very clueless, and smiled at the baby in the pool. "Hey, that's cute!"
"You'd better think so," Zelgadis muttered. "It's yours."
"Don't call it an it!" Amelia chastised.
"You just did, Amelia-san," Xellos said.
"Wait, watch," Filia told them.
The scene zoomed in on the baby's bright red eyes, and was dark for a moment, before a new scene opened up. This time, neither Gourry nor Lina were in it. Instead, there was a small child-- a girl --of about five or six years old. She had long red hair identical to Lina's, except there were blonde streaks in her bangs.
The girl had a toy sword strapped to her waist, and she was grinning widely at a small bush that came to her knees. Her eyes sparkled, and she shouted, "Flare arrow!" The spell shriveled the bush in no time at all.
"That's certainly Lina's daughter," Zelgadis remarked.
Amelia blinked a few times. "She was blowing things up, and she's just a little kid!" she exclaimed.
Gourry nodded, and said, "Yup. Sounds like Lina."
"Hey!" Lina said indignantly.
Filia smiled, and said, "You should be proud, Lina-san."
"Minna-san, look," Xellos said, pointing to the pool.
The scene showed a close-up of the burnt remains of the bush, and followed a few wisps of smoke up into the sky. Then it went back down, showing the outside of a crumbled ruin. Inside the ruin, it showed Zelgadis. He kicked a chest, and said, "It isn't here."
It then showed another ruined temple, and showed Zelgadis punching a wall. "This isn't it either."
It changed to an ancient library, full from wall to wall with rows and rows of books. Zelgadis took a book off the shelf in the corner, and said, "This has to be--" He cut himself off, and threw the book on the floor. "It's not it!"
Then is showed Zelgadis walking dejectedly through a desert. "I'll never find it..."
Zelgadis stared. "I'm never going to find my cure?" he asked in shock.
"I guess not," Gourry said.
The word "never" echoed over and over in the pool. Zelgadis took out his canteen and took a long drink. The scene zoomed in on the canteen, showing a bracelet identical to Amelia's hanging around it.
"My bracelet..." Amelia said. She looked down at her wrists, and found both of her bracelets still there.
"This is the future, Amelia-san," Xellos said. "It hasn't happened yet."
The view seemed to disappear inside the bracelet, and this time when it focused back in, it showed the outside of the Seyruun palace. It focused on one window, and zoomed in, moving into the room.
Amelia was sitting on the edge of a large canopy bed with the curtains drawn back. Zelgadis was standing in front of her, switching feet nervously. Suddenly, he got down on one knee, and held out something. It was a ring box. He opened it, and held it up to Amelia.
Amelia's eyes sparkled with tears, and she jumps off the bed to hug Zelgadis.
"How far in the future is that?" Lina asked. "It'd better not take too long."
"I can't wait!" Filia cried. "Two weddings!"
Zelgadis blinked a few times. "I... I do that?"
Amelia's eyes sparkled just like they did in the pool. "I always wanted to be a bride," she said dreamily.
"It's moving again," Gourry said.
The pool zoomed in on the ring, which had a large white diamond framed by smaller yellow ones, and then focused back in on a new scene.
There was a huge crowd standing to either side of a long white carpet. Along the carpet came walking Amelia and Zelgadis, arm in arm. They stepped up onto a dais at the end of a carpet, and each stood in front of a silver-gilded throne.
Two people came forward, each holding a silver and white crown in their hands. They rested the crowns on Amelia's and Zelgadis's heads, and backed away. The entire crowd bowed down to Amelia and Zelgadis as they sat in the thrones.
"What was that?" Gourry asked.
Amelia smiled, and said, "A coronation."
"A what?"
Filia grinned, and said, "When you're crowned the ruler of a place officially."
"Oh."
Zelgadis stared. "I-- I mean, I..."
"Looks that way," Xellos said cheerfully, grinning and winking.
"Quiet," Lina hissed. "Watch."
The scene followed hats that were thrown towards the sky by the cheering crowd. When it followed them back down again, it was another new scene.
Amelia was lying on a bed that wasn't hers, and her face was red and sweaty. Zelgadis stood by her, holding her hand tightly. Someone wearing white held out a squirming bundle to Amelia.
Tears of joy in her eyes, Amelia accepted it, and smiled down at it. She looked up at Zelgadis, smiling widely.
Zelgadis stared at it in shock for a moment. Then he covered his eyes with one hand, and turned away, punching the wall in anguish with his other. Amelia reached out a hand and put it on his back to comfort him, but he shrugged it away.
"What was that all about?" Gourry asked.
Lina shrugged, and said, "I dunno."
"Zelgadis-san, Amelia-san, do you know?" Filia asked.
Amelia and Zelgadis shook their heads synchronously.
"It's shifting again," Xellos pointed out.
The scene faded out into blackness, and then faded in again to another scene. There was no Amelia, and no Zelgadis. There was a child of about six years old. This child had the same blue stone skin that Zelgadis had. His wire-like hair was black instead of lavender, and his wide eyes were bright blue, like Amelia's.
The boy was walking through a garden, smiling and singing in a surprisingly soprano voice. He grinned as a bird landed on his shoulder, and started singing to it.
"That's Zel's kid," Gourry said, nodding.
Zelgadis stared. "That's what the last scene was about," he said. "I get so upset because I passed on my-- my deformity to a child!" He clenched his fist, and felt like punching something.
"Zelgadis-san," Amelia said, a hand on his arm. "Don't feel bad. You look cool! Not scary or anything!"
"You didn't used to think that," he said. "Whatever happened to 'creepy and suspicious-looking'?"
"Zelgadis-san, I--"
"Stop," Lina said. "It'll happen no matter what, just like the thing said, so just stop."
"It's changing," Filia said.
The scene rippled as if a pebble were dropped in the pool, and when it straightened out, it showed Xellos, laughing nervously. In front of him was a very angry Filia, holding her mace like a baseball bat. Xellos said, "Ano... Filia-san?" But Filia didn't seem like listening. She swung her mace, and it impacted with Xellos.
Xellos was knocked through the wall by the unexpected blow of Filia's mace, leaving a Xellos-shaped hole in the wall.
"Ha!" Filia said triumphantly. "I'm going to get you someday, namagomi!"
Xellos's face was blue. "This is what Ju-ou-sama wanted to show me?"
"Guys, it's changing again," Zelgadis said. He'd almost gotten over the last scene.
The view went through the Xellos-shaped hole, and opened into a new scene. Again, Filia and Xellos were standing in a room. Xellos was very nonchalant and relaxed, and Filia was on her toes, her tail straight up, with flames in her eyes and her mace in her hands.
"Why do you always show up here, namagomi?" Filia demanded. "And tell the truth this time!"
"The truth?" Xellos asked. Then, in an extremely calm and level voice, he said, "Okay, the truth is I love you."
Filia stared for a moment, before she dropped her mace and fainted.
"WHAT WAS THAT ABOUT!?!" Filia and Xellos shouted together.
"Ju-ou-sama couldn't have wanted me to see that!" Xellos objected at the same time that Filia said, "Mazoku can't love, that's absurd!"
"Quiet!" Lina said. "This is your future, so accept it."
"You didn't accept yours quite as easily as you're accepting ours, Lina-san!" Filia snapped.
Amelia waved them quiet, and said, "Watch!"
The scene zoomed in on Xellos's open eyes, and then zoomed back out again. Xellos and Filia were sitting on the floor. In between them was a four-year-old Val. The three of them were smiling and laughing, and just having a good time.
It changed again rapidly, and much the same scene was portrayed, except Val was asleep on the floor, sucking his thumb. Filia was looking down at him adoringly, and Xellos came and sat beside her, putting his arm around her shoulders. She leaned against him, closing her eyes and smiling.
"THAT CAN'T BE RIGHT!" Filia and Xellos shouted.
"Mazoku don't laugh," Filia said.
"Ju-ou-sama knows about this?" Xellos asked nervously.
Amelia turned to face the two of them. "Why are you two so against whatever you see?" she asked.
"BECAUSE IT CAN'T HAPPEN!" Filia and Xellos shouted in synch.
"STOP!" Lina shouted. "WATCH!"
The scene came closer to Filia, and dropped to her left hand, where there was a golden ring with a pale yellow teardrop shaped jewel on it. The view zoomed in on that yellow jewel.
When it zoomed out again, Filia was sitting on a chair facing Xellos, who was standing up, looking down at her. Filia has silent tears streaming down her face.
"Ju-ou-sama just needs me for a while," Xellos told her. "I'll be back before you know it." Then he kissed Filia's forehead, and phased out.
Filia dropped her head in her hands, and started crying even more. "He's gone again," she said sadly.
From seemingly nowhere, Xellos's voice said, "Don't cry, my golden dragon. I'm never really gone."
Then the pool went completely dark.
"THIS THING IS WRONG!!" Filia and Xellos shouted.
"There is no possible way that I would be so upset by some stupid mazoku leaving," Filia explained. "I'd be glad that he left!"
"If Ju-ou-sama called me away, I wouldn't say I'd come back," Xellos said. "I'd stay away!"
"No you wouldn't!" Filia shouted at him. "You'd come back just to tease me again!"
Xellos thought a second, and said, "Yes, actually. I like your negative energies."
"You see?" Filia demanded of the others. "There is no possible way any of that will ever happen! I refuse! I deny it!"
"SHUT UP!" Lina shouted. "You read the thing! It said this will all happen no matter what! So DEAL WITH IT!!"
Filia and Xellos shut up, but they each crossed their arms and faced away from the other. They all stood in silence for a moment before Lina led everyone back out of the building, and back to the port. Using her charm-- *cough*fireball*cough* --Lina convinced a captain to bring them to the port nearest Seyruun.
That night in their bunks, all the Slayers had different ideas about what they saw in the Pool of Destiny. It's not that hard to figure out whose thoughts are whose.
So, it'll happen no matter what? I'm going to get married to jellyfish brains? I wouldn't actually mind that. I suppose by the time that happens, I'd be ecstatic. And we have a kid? That girl actually was a lot like me...
We just saw the future? That was my future? I'm gonna marry Lina? Wow... And that kid is ours? Will be ours? Wow... She'll be a handful... Two Linas around... Wow...
I've always dreamed of a romantic wedding with Zelgadis-san! We get married and live in Seyruun together and we have a child and we live happily ever after! Zelgadis-san doesn't need his cure, because I love him just the way he is! And that little boy-- OUR little boy --is so CUTE!! Just like Zelgadis-san...
I never find my cure? Never? But, I have to try! I can't inflict this... deformation onto someone else! I just can't! And... I propose to Amelia? I know she has that little-girl crush on me, but that can't develop into anything... Can it...?
That thing was wrong! There is no possible way that I would freely spend time with that namagomi mazoku! I'd be overjoyed once he left! At least I did get to hit him with trusty mace-sama. And Val will grow up to be a charming little boy. But, still! There is NO WAY that any of that about me and namagomi will EVER happen...
WHY did Ju-ou-sama want me to see that? Does she WANT me to hang around with that spoiled dragon? Or was she warning me to stay away from her? Does she even know what I saw? Ju-ou-sama is going to have to some explaining to do when I go back...