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Slayers: The Way By mrthou Disclaimer: I didn't create Slayers, nor do I own any of it's characters. Fanfiction is a marginally legal activity which I choose to participate in anyway. If the owners or creators of Slayers tell me to stop writing this, I will. Also, apologies to George Lucas, and the late Douglas Adams, whose works also greatly influenced this fanfiction. This fanfic contains spoilers for the first two TV seasons of The Slayers. Chapter 1 Lina Inverse gazed warily across at her opponent, weapon poised to strike. He was good, she had to admit. Almost as good as herself. Certainly, if she weren't careful, she could lose. What an unbearable thought that was! She needed a plan of attack. The setting sun was at her back, hiding her features in shadow, and giving her hair an intimidating fiery cast. The landscape was bleak: where only hours before it had been heavily populated, now it was nearly barren, with only a few bones and pieces of broken ceramic scattered around in silent testament to its former habitation. The rich aroma of cooked flesh permeated the atmosphere, raising her fighting spirits. Clash! Quickly, she lashed out, only to have her weapon parried expertly by her opponent. There gazes locked momentarily, and then he struck. She dipped her shoulder, allowing the sunlight to shine directly into his face. He slid to the left and blocked her counter-thrust. Back and forth they battled, matching wills, weapons flashing in the dying light. Neither one could gain an advantage. The air around them was alive with the sometimes musical, sometimes rasping sounds of metal on metal. Lina briefly considered tossing off a few spells, but thought better of it. There were rules to this particular contest, after all. And besides, how could she prove her dominance if she cheated? She started lobbing insults with her strikes, trying to distract him, but her opponent seemed unfazed. With an expression of serene calm, seeming to border almost on stupidity, he parried blow after blow, seeming to put little effort behind each precise movement. Lina felt truly alive. This was what life was about: living for the moment, the contest, the doing, not the watching. Life, after all, was not a spectator's sport. With a rush of adrenalin, she powered forward, pushing her opponent momentarily off balance. Before she could take advantage of the opening, he slipped under her guard and attacked. Frantically, Lina blocked, and quickly found herself on the defensive. They disengaged, and backed away, panting from their exertions. Damn it! Lina thought. I'm not getting anywhere. All right, that's it. Kiddy gloves are off, now. She raised her weapon and prepared to strike. Suddenly, he launched himself forward, lashing out with a left handed strike. NO! Lina Inverse dove forward, deflecting the attack at the last possible second. With all her strength she slashed at her opponent's weapon. Ching! She looked smugly at him, and knocked his weapon out of the air, away from them. Ah, the thrill of victory. She smiled. So did he. She looked down at the table, and saw his fork firmly embedded in the last sausage. "Noooooooo!" she cried, collapsing to her chair. "I lost!" "I win!" Gourry said happily. "Hey, Lina, what do you think of my new technique?" Lina looked sorrowfully up at her protector, and said mournfully, "What?" Gourry nodded once and smiled, "I call it, Way of the Fork!" With surprising speed and power, Lina punched him in the face. Then she took the last sausage. "Lina-san, that wasn't very nice," Sylphiel admonished. She was sitting two tables away. She had seen Lina and Gourry eat before, after all, and knew better than to come between them and food. It could prove to be hazardous to her health. "Gourry-sama defeated you fairly. Don't you think he deserves the... reward?" "He hasn't eaten it yet. It's fair game." "Yes, but punching him wasn't in the rules." "It wasn't not in the rules either." Lina gestured over at Gourry. "Besides, he should've expected it." Sylphiel just looked at her accusingly in response. "Ahhrrg!" Lina said irritably. She waved her arms around theatrically. "What was I supposed to do? He stole my sausage!" "Lina-san..." Sylphiel said. "I mean, I paid for it after all! And besides ..." "Lina-san..." Sylphiel said again, this time a little more forcefully. "... he can take it. Why don't you just ..." "LINA-SAN!!!" Sylphiel shouted. Lina blinked a few times. Did Sylphiel just shout at her? "But I..." Sylphiel just looked at her. "It's not..." Lina started. Sylphiel's glare silenced her again. "... but I want my food," she whined. There was something about Sylphiel that really annoyed Lina. It wasn't the fact that she was constantly mooning over Gourry (at least that's what she told herself). It wasn't that she was almost useless in a fight. She wasn't even bothered by Sylphiel's rather strong moral code. After all, Amelia was just as bad, if not worse. But Amelia was rather easy to manipulate. The annoying thing was that Sylphiel was not. For someone who was so wishy-washy, she picked the oddest places to stand her ground. And once she stood, she didn't back down. Lina sighed. For once, she didn't really feel like arguing. "Alright, fine." With that, she tossed the sausage at her unconscious guardian, into his open mouth. Reflexively, he chewed, swallowed, and smiled. Lina got up, and walked to the stairs. "I'm going to bed," she announced. "Don't bother me." And she stomped up the stairs, to her room. Lina was bored, that was the crux of the matter. She hadn't fried a bandit in over a week. She hadn't raided some ancient holy ruins in more than two. Sylphiel refused to engage in either activity on moral and ethical grounds, with surprising vehemence. And to make matters worse, Gourry had actually backed her up! How the hell was she supposed to get rich and famous if she couldn't smack around bad guys and go treasure hunting? Lina sighed, and entered her room, closing the door behind her. She couldn't even enjoy her battles with Gourry! It was just a game, couldn't Sylphiel see that? It kept their skills sharp, their minds and bodies active. Besides, it was fun! What was so wrong with that? It wasn't as if Gourry ever complained. Lina opened the window and gazed out at the cloudless sky. Below her a stream babbled joyously, carrying leaves and grass and water bugs out toward the nearby lake. A few children were down there, merrily splashing around and giggling while a few adults -- their parents, perhaps -- watched from the sidelines. Lina smiled to herself, and told herself that this was why she did what she did. So that ordinary people could live like they were now, so that children could enjoy their childhood. And so she could become rich and famous and eat lots of exotic and unusual food, of course. That was pretty important, too. The fragrant autumn breeze carried with it the smells of the fallen, floating leaves, combined with the crisp, clean scents of the nearby lake, reminding Lina a little bit of home. A sudden gust ripped apart the swirl of leaves she had been watching, and a solitary red leaf continued on its lonely way. She wondered when her own little group would be disbanded by the wind. For some reason, it caused her a great deal of pain to think about it. Martina and Zangulus were busy rebuilding Zoana. Cellos had disappeared right after returning the Sword of Light. Zelgadis had gone off following another lead on a possible cure. And Amelia had accompanied him, despite his protests. Now it was just her, and Gourry, and Sylphiel. She wondered who the wind would carry off next. Lina shook herself, and stepped away from the window. She hated it when she got introspective. She wasn't very good at it, and usually ended up depressed. Besides, brooding wouldn't solve her main problem, which was this: what could they do that would be exciting, profitable, and acceptable to Sylphiel? Then she got an idea. It was a rainy autumn morning, not exactly the best type of day to be traveling on. Still, Lina had badgered her companions into traveling. Gourry, of course, had no complaints, or if he did, he didn't vocalize them. Sylphiel was a bit of problem, but came around after a few minutes of skillful argumentation. Lina was beginning to think she had made a mistake. Oh, sure, it was just a little rain. At first. But then the wind started blowing, and the rain abruptly changed from the vertical kind to the horizontal kind. They had stayed at the inn for several more days after Lina's little epiphany, and during those days, she had gone out and found every bandit gang in the area. Instead of blowing them up, however, she simply dropped a few false rumors about a wealthy merchant passing through the area. And so she had prepared the perfect trap. The bandits would wait along her chosen path, and ambush her party as they passed by. After all, how could a gang of bandits resist robbing a few harmless-looking travelers while they waited for the merchant to come along? Sylphiel would have no objections to killing bandits in self defense, and Lina would get some much needed stress relief. Yes, the bandits would never know what hit them. A perfect trap, indeed. The ambush was set for today, which was why she had pushed so hard to get moving. The problem was, this was the type of weather that all people, even bandits and self-important merchants, would find every excuse to stay out of. As if to reinforce this thought, the clouds became bored with rain, and decided to hail for a bit. Several minutes and a weak barrier spell later, the three travelers reached a crossroads. "Which way, Lina?" Gourry shouted. He had to shout to be heard over the steady clattering of hail on magical barrier. It was a spell of her own invention, a derivative of Defense -- useless in a fight, but very good for keeping the weather off one's head -- and one she was particularly thankful for at the moment. "To the left!" she shouted back, pointing in the appropriate direction. "Lina-san, I really think we should return to the inn," Sylphiel said. Lina barely heard her. "Not a chance! I have places to go, ruins to explore, that kind of thing. A little bad weather won't stop Lina Inverse!" "Hey, Lina, where are we going again?" Gourry asked. "Idiot!" she yelled irritably, and punched him. "How many times do I have to tell you?" Gourry stumbled back. "Lina-san, that wasn't right," Sylphiel said. "You never told us where we were going." Gourry rubbed his jaw, then smacked his fist into his palm. "Ah ha!" he remarked. "That's why I don't remember!" Lina and Sylphiel shared a glance, then ignored him and started walking. "So, Lina-san, where exactly are we going?" "Oh, just a small town a few days away. I have a friend there who usually has a few odd jobs for traveling adventurers..." The girls continued to talk, and more importantly to walk, leaving Gourry in the falling hail. "Hey, wait up already!" Evening was swiftly approaching, and the weather hadn't improved significantly. True, it was no longer hailing, but it was still pouring rather heavily. Lina was wet, cold, and tired, and worse, she was still bored. That bandit gang hadn't bothered to show up, and that was making Lina more than a little bit peevish. Currently, Sylphiel was trying to engage Gourry in conversation, but not really getting anywhere. Gourry was seemingly oblivious to her attentions, and as Lina knew perfectly well, Gourry was a rather bland conversationalist. It was clearly distressing the dark-haired shrine-maiden. Lina really wanted to blow something up. When an explosion occurred in the woods just a short distance away, she happily realized that she might get a chance. She took off into the trees. "C'mon, let's check it out," she called back. Lina felt the blood pumping through her veins as she ran. The monotone hissing of the rain filtering through the leafy canopy and the sounds of her own heavy breath combined with the wet smell of mud and decomposing leaves to create a rich atmosphere of vibrant life, adding to her anticipation. She didn't know what was up ahead, and she didn't really care. All she really cared about was the chance for some action. Lina heard an unfamiliar soprano voice call out. "Source of all power, crimson fire burning bright, FLARE ARROW!!!" A woman, then. She didn't know of too many men with a voice pitched that high. She readied her own spell, mystical energies gathering around her hand. An ugly man dressed in dirty, mismatched rags jumped out in front of her, waving a rusty, pitted sword around menacingly. He didn't even have time to be surprised before Lina's fireball knocked him into oblivious unconsciousness. A few yelps of pain from behind indicated that Gourry had taken care of a few ruffians as well. She jumped over the ugly's steaming bulk, and rushed into the clearing, followed shortly by Gourry and then Sylphiel. The sight that greeted them surprised them all. On the other side of the clearing, a small boy, with soggy red hair spilling down to his knees was illuminated by the light of a small campfire. He was grinning confidently. On the other side of the clearing, and right in front of Lina, Gourry, and Sylphiel, was a cluster of seven bandits. The glade was pock marked with blast craters, each one containing one or more well-done bandits. "You little demon!" A rather tall man, dressed a little better than the others shouted. "We're gonna send you to HELL! Get him!" The other six men charged at the boy, weapons raised. "FLARE BIT!!!" "Owowowow!!" Six bandits ran away. The leader shook his fist at the boy and shouted dramatically, "You haven't seen the last of the Dragon Claw gang! We will have our revenge!" Lina's second fireball caught him square in the back. He blackened, toppled and coughed. "You've seen the last of us," he wheezed. "Damn it!" Lina screamed, rubbing her hands though her hair in frustration. "After all the trouble I went through to set this up and someone else gets my bandits and I haven't been able to blow up anything in almost a month!" "Lina-san, what do you mean by that?" Sylphiel asked. "I mean, I... er..." "Lina-san, were you trying to hunt these bandits?" Lina waved her hands in front of herself placatingly and smiled nervously. "Now wait a minute, Sylphiel. Whatever gave you that idea? We were just walking along and..." "Lina-san, you planned this, didn't you?" It wasn't a question. "Now, Sylphiel, just calm down," Lina said, backing away. Seeing that the girls were busy, Gourry decided to talk to the little boy instead. "Hey, kid, you okay?" "Heh, yeah. Those guys were losers," the boy said dismissive. "That was pretty impressive, kid. What's your name?" "Cyan. Who are you?" "Me? I'm Gourry. Gourry Gabriev." Cyan's eyes widened. "Gourry Gabriev?! The Gourry Gabriev?" Gourry scratched his head in puzzlement. "Yeah, I'm Gourry..." "As in Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev?" The boys eyes were shining with adoration. "Umm, yes. How did you know about that?" "Are you kidding? You guys are famous!" Cyan smiled excitedly. "Wait 'til I tell my friends. They'll be so jealous. I got ta meet a living legend!" "I'm famous?" The thought hadn't really occurred to him before. "Of course you're famous!" The child continued to babble in mindless hero worship. Gourry turned to see Lina and Sylphiel arguing rather heatedly about something. He didn't know what. If he were a wiser man, or at least one with a better memory, he might have realized that interrupting their fight would be a dangerous thing. Gourry Gabriev was many things. Wise was not one of them. Forgetful was. "Hey, Lina. Are we famous?" Lina and Sylphiel stopped for a moment, looked at him, blinked, and went back to arguing. Gourry tried again. "Lina. Hey, Lina!" "You stay out of it!" Sylphiel shouted. Lina didn't bother to yell, she just caused the ground to explode under his feet. "Wow! She cast a Dil Brand without even saying anything," the boy said admiringly. "That's so cool!" "Ow," Gourry agreed as he landed. The rain had finally stopped, and for the first time Lina noticed how eerily quiet the woods were. Lina had done a lot of traveling, and had always paid very close attention to her surroundings. There was no such thing as silence in a forest; there was always the low level hum of insects and the sounds of small rodents slipping through the underbrush. Not to mention bird calls, and the assorted grunts and groans of other forest creatures. The sound only increased with the setting of the sun. That had happened over half an hour ago, yet the woods were absolutely still, the only sound that of a light breeze blowing through the leaves above. No owls hooting. No rodents rustling through the fallen leaves. No crickets chirping, or frogs croaking. Nothing. It was making her nervous. She glanced side-long at her companions; the boy and Sylphiel were talking, completely oblivious to the oddness of the night. Gourry was looking around warily. Obviously, he could sense something was wrong, as well. "Gourry..." she said. "Lina?" He met her gaze for a moment, and returned to scanning the surrounding trees. "There's something wrong." "It's too quiet." After a moment, he looked at her again. "You want first watch? Or do you want second?" With night gradually becoming longer with the approach of winter, and an extra companion along for the trip, they could afford the luxury of three. Second watch was always the worst, since it met splitting sleep-time into two separate segments. Unspoken was the fact that if she took the second watch, Gourry wouldn't wake her when it was her turn. He could be so considerate sometimes. "I'll take first watch," she said, and lay back onto her cloak. "This silence is so unnatural..." "Hmm... maybe the animals were scared away by your personality." Of course, then he would say something like that. *POW* "Owie." "Go to sleep. I'll wake you when it's your watch." Lina Inverse dreamed about food. There was nothing particularly unusual about this; in fact, it would be more unusual if she had not. However, usually in her dreams, she was the eater and food was the eatee, and not the other way around. Lina wasn't quite sure why her subconscious chose to put six inch fangs on a twelve foot tall walking carrot, but she was fairly certain she didn't like it. It wasn't the carrot that got her, though. Nor the potatoes, headless chicken, pot roast or the spoon-wielding bowl-of-stew. No, it was the pygmy tribe of asparagus-throwing pork sausages that eventually did her in. So now, here she was, tied to a spit, and being carried in an altogether undignified manner to a fate similar to death, but not quite as permanent, since this was -- after all -- just a dream. Then, just to make things even more bizarre, the pygmy sausages were attacked by a twenty foot rampaging oyster. The sausages dropped her, and ran into the forest of broccoli and Brussels sprouts, making distinctly pig-like squeals of fright. And to top it off, the oyster picked her up, looked at her, and popped her into its mouth. And then she was falling down the rabbit hole... Lina wondered where the oyster had come from, and what she had ever done to it. The sausages were explainable, and the carrots, potatoes, etc. But sea food? Maybe the oyster was getting some obscure revenge. After all, she hadn't had an oyster in several months. If she were food, she supposed she would be insulted if no one ate her. To her left, a clock sprouted wings and started flying. A disembodied hand decided it was a good time to start clapping, and fourteen oysters marched into the open mouth of a rather portly walrus. A tree fell in the woods, but Lina was there, so the question remained unanswered. Lina wasn't quite sure what to make of all this. She realized she was no longer gagged and bound to an oversized chicken bone. She found that if she flapped her arms quickly, she could slow her descent. A white rabbit paused briefly to look at her, then ran off, screaming "forty-two" at the top of its lungs. This falling bit was getting old quickly, especially since the ground seemed to be getting closer, also quickly. Lina realized that hitting the ground at her current speed would probably hurt quite a bit, and decided to do something intelligent. Like cast levitation. Apparently, though, the spirits weren't listening, since she utterly failed to miss the ground. If this had been anything other than a dream, the following sequence of events probably would have occurred. There would have been a lot of screaming and flapping of arms, and then a spectacular impact with the ground, which would in turn cause a lot of dirt and rocks to be displaced from the ground, and a lot of pain to the faller. This would be followed almost immediately by a merciful loss of consciousness, and possibly then followed by death. As this was, in fact, a dream, the last two steps were skipped, leaving Lina Inverse with just the falling, flapping, and violent impacting with and rearranging of terra firma. And, of course, a lot of pain. After a few moments of experiencing that particular step, Lina picked herself up, dusted off, and looked around. What she saw didn't really surprise her very much. She was in a dark, dank, cavernous... somewhere, with organ music playing eerily in the background. There was an ominous glow coming from nowhere in particular, providing just enough light for Lina to see a tall, dark, cloaked figure with no discernible features, while mysteriously illuminating Lina as if in full sunlight. "Gee, you'd think I could be a bit more original," she said to no one in particular. "LINA INVERSE," came a deep, menacing and vaguely familiar voice. "Why can't the bad guy ever have a ridiculous squeaky voice?" she asked while looking around at the imposing darkness. "Wouldn't that be more interesting? Noooo. Instead they all have --" The figure called again, "LINA INVERSE." "-- to have a deep, voice that shakes the ground and makes the stalactites fall of the ceiling. This is my dream, damn it!" "SHUT UP." "If I want a high, squeaky irritating villain, I should be able to get one." "I SAID, SHUT UP." Lina sighed theatrically. "Oh, fine. Whatever. Can we skip ahead to the part where you pull out the big sword and chase me around, but no matter how fast I run I can never get away because this is a nightmare?" Lina Inverse took a moment to breath. The figure took full advantage of her temporary silence, and reached inside his cloak to pulled out... A fried chicken leg? And not just any fried chicken. Lina had a highly developed sense of smell, and could instantly determine by scent alone thousands of different foods. It was clearly the world famous Kalmaart Fried Chicken, extra crispy recipe. She hadn't had any of that in nearly a year! "DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION NOW, LINA INVERSE?" Lina had to admit that he did. "GOOD. I TALK, YOU LISTEN. AFTER YOU LISTEN, YOU EAT. ACCEPTABLE?" Lina was incensed. How dare this figment of her imagination put conditions on food? Especially of the world-famous variety. Was his offer acceptable? Of course it wasn't. So she did the first thing that came to her mind. She lunged for the chicken leg. The cloaked figure was evidently rather surprised by this tactic, because Lina managed to embed her teeth in the poultry before the man in black could move. She misjudged her leap however, and also managed to embed her teeth in the shadowy figure's hand. What happened next would have appeared very comical to any outside observers. It wasn't very comical to either of the participants. The dark figure screamed, and vigorously shook his arm, trying to dislodge the redheaded sorceress who had quite suddenly become attached. He dropped the chicken leg, and consequently, Lina as well. Then he pulled out a rather large sword made entirely of neon red light. "VERY WELL, WE WILL PROCEED TO THE CHASING." Lina bolted with the bird leg. The dream went downhill from there. "Hey, Lina. Time to get up!" Mornings, in the opinion of Lina, were for sleeping through. Mornings only existed for two reasons, as far as she could tell. The first was to prevent afternoon and night from bumping into each other in the wrong direction. The other was to provide an excuse for another meal. "Lina, come on. Breakfast time." She considered the second reason to be more important. "Mst... hv... fud..." she mumbled. Groggily, she crawled out of her tent and opened her eyes. Catching a ray of sunlight full in the face, she promptly closed them again, then opened them, and squinted. "Waz fr brekfst?" Gourry just looked at her strangely. "Huh?" Lina rubbed at her eyes, and looked over at Gourry. "I smell coffee." "Oh, yeah. Sylphiel made it. You want some?" He offered her a cup. Coffee was another thing Lina had relatively negative opinions about. Gourry was rather fond of the stuff, and Zel just loved it. Herself, she just couldn't understand why anyone would want to subject their taste-buds to that particular bitter torture. As far as she was concerned, coffee's only redeeming value was that if you drank enough of it, it would wake you up. She never managed to drink enough to notice it, though. "Um... no thanks. I'm fine." She crawled over to the fire and sat down. "More for me, then." Gourry took a sip. "Bad dreams last night?" "Hmm, I guess so. Something about being chased by food, and then some weird guy in a cloak." Lina shrugged. "Anyway, where are Sylphiel and the kid?" "Went down to the stream, over that way," said Gourry, gesturing vaguely at some spot to his left. "They should be back soon." Five minutes later, which Lina spent dozing and Gourry spent drinking his third cup of coffee, Gourry's prediction came true, and Sylphiel and Cyan entered the small clearing. Sylphiel immediately sat down next to Gourry and started chatting. Under normal circumstances, that would annoy Lina. However, she was currently dealing with a slightly different annoyance. "Hi!" Cyan said. "Guess what." "I don't wanna. Go 'way." This is, of course, exactly the wrong way to get rid of little boys. "C'mon. Guess what!" he insisted. Gourry whispered loudly across the cooking fire. "Watch out. Her bite is worse than her bark!" His advice was rewarded with a rock to the side of his skull. Sylphiel obliviously continued talking. "I heard that," Lina said, dusting her hands off. She turned to the kid. "You heard him. Beat it." "Not until you guess what!" Cyan said again. "Alright, fine. What?" Lina said irritably. The boy frowned. "No. You gotta guess." "Fine," Lina snorted. "Is it animal, vegetable or mineral?" "Huh?" "Never mind. Is it about last night?" Lina asked. The boy shook his head. "Is it something you just saw?" A nod, this time. "Is it dangerous?" Cyan thought for a moment. "Not to you. Maybe to a normal person." "You saw some local wildlife?" Lina guessed. "Nope." Lina sighed. She really wasn't in the mood for guessing games. "Alright. I give up. What is it?" "You know those bandits we blew up yesterday?" "You saw them!?" Lina exclaimed. Gourry woke up. Sylphiel finally looked at him and started fussing with the bump on his head. "I thought you said this didn't have anything to do with last night." "It doesn't," Cyan said innocently. "That was last night. This is today. They're just sitting there in the woods." Lina groaned. So did Gourry, but for a completely different reason. "I do not want to deal with this," Lina said. "Gourry, you deal with it." No response. Lina looked over at him. "Get up, jellyfish-brains!" she shouted. "I didn't hit you that hard!" Sylphiel glared at her. "Lina-san, did you do this?" "It wasn't even a very big rock! Damn. Now I have to deal with it." Lina stood up, and turned her back to the fire, facing the woods. "Alright, bandits, thugs, goons, and assorted other criminals. Come out with your weapons drawn, so I can burn you all to a crisp. Or run away like cowards. Either one is fine with me." A ragged group of men, covered with small cuts and burns, emerged for the bushes. A tall man with a very long and crooked nose stepped to the front. The others huddled behind him. "You should've ran!" Cyan shouted. "You!" bent-nose said. "You're the one who sold us that information about the wealthy merchant. You bitch. You lied!" Lina glared. "Would you care to say that again?" The man spat. "You bitch. You caught us by surprise last night. But tonight, you're gonna sleep six feet under." He drew his sword. "Do you have any idea who you are dealing with?" "Yeah, wench. Tell us your name. We'll send you to the underworld with curses." "Lina Inverse," Lina said with a superior smirk. "Lina... Inverse?" the leader asked. "Any of you ever heard of her?" "Yeah," another one said. "Some no-talent sorceress from up north. I hear they call her the 'Dragon-spooker.' Lina clenched her fists at her side. She ground her teeth in anger. Her eyes hardened. The bandits didn't notice. "Yeah, 'cause she's so freakin' ugly, the dragons are afraid to look at her!" The bandits laughed. "Darkness beyond twilight..." "You'd better run..." Cyan said. "Her lack of size is legendary!" bent-nose said, making suggestive gestures at his chest. "Crimson beyond blood that flows..." "Yeah, the Enemy of all who live!" said a short, ape-like man. Everyone laughed again, then stopped. "What!?" was the collective cry. They looked at Lina. "Buried in the flow of time..." Lina chanted. She raised her arms over her head. "Is she supposed to glow like that?" asked another. "I think this might be a Bad Thing..." said bent-nose. "I'd suggest running," Cyan said. "Now." "In thy great name, I pledge myself to darkness..." A large, ominous ball of red light formed between her hands. "Holy Shit!" The bandits bolted. "Let those who stand before us be destroyed by the power you and I possess... "Too late." Cyan shook his head. "DRAGON SLAAAAAVE!" Over the next hundred years, the stream that ran nearby gradually filled up the depression, forming a lake that was nearly perfectly round. The trout from that lake were said to be the finest fish in the world, and fetched huge prices all across the globe. Royalty came from around the world to sample this rarest of cuisines, and it supplanted Lake Dragon cuisine as the most famous dish. At the moment, however, there was merely a large crater in the middle of the woods, with the corpses trees and a few bandits contained therein. "I feel much better now," Lina said. "Gourry, wake up. We're leaving." "I warned 'em," sighed the redheaded boy. "How come no one ever listens to me?"
Lina Inverse was no stranger to strange happenings, but this was a bit frightening. The previous night had been quiet: only the soft crackling of the fire and the gentle snoring of her companions had filled the night air, and nothing else. No birds or beasts, not even insects had broken the silence of the evening. And it was hap penning again. Lina had a love-hate relationship with patterns. She loved patterns because they were the clues to unraveling mysteries, finding secret magical treasures, and burning the hell out of bandits. At the same time, she was careful never to fall into patterns of her own: she continually varied spell techniques and randomly chose her next destination. Patterns were usually a sign of outside manipulation. Lina didn't like being manipulated. Not one bit. So, what to do? Two times could still be a coincidence, but she wasn't willing to shrug off this feeling. This silence was unnatural. In her five years of traveling, Lina had never encountered silence like this while camping. Now it had happened two nights in a row. Another thing Lina didn't like was not sleeping, and this silence was keeping her up. All the more reason to discover its cause, as far as she was concerned. She sat up and pulled her cape around her. "Gourry?" she called softly. Gourry's flinch was visible, even in the dim light of their campfire. The silence was getting to him, too. "I don't like this," he mumbled across the fire. "Something's out there, and it's scaring off the animals." He turned his eyes back to the woods around them. "I've been casting locate spells all day," Lina said, "but if it's a magical presence, it's powerful enough to hide itself. But I haven't been trying very hard. I didn't want to alarm Sylphiel or the boy." "Can you do one now?" Lina nodded. "I'll need to borrow your sword. My talismans won't work for this spell." "Why not?" Lina sighed, frustrated by the question. "Wrong type of magic. I'd explain, but you wouldn't understand anyway." "Oh." Gourry said. "Okay." Then he frowned, a look of deep concentration -- or as close as he could come to it -- on his face. "There's different types of magic?" "Yes, Gourry." Lina answered, not so patiently. "Three major schools. Black, White and Shamanist. The Shamanist school has five major elements: Fire, earth, water, air, and spirit. The spell I'm trying to cast is white magic, and the Blood Stones have an affinity for Black magic, so they can't be used to cast the spell, okay?" "Oh, okay." Gourry sat there for a moment, thinking. "You got it?" "Yeah. Just one question." Lina rolled her eyes. Why was she doing this to herself? It always ended the same way. "What is it, Gourry?" "Doesn't affinity mean never ending, or something? So if the Bloody thingies are affinite, wouldn't that mean they can do anything?" "That's infinity, idiot. As in 'There are an infinity of stars' or 'space is infinite'." Gourry thought about that for a moment, too. "You mean the stars have a great attraction or feeling of kinship for each other? Is that why some people can predict the future by watching the stars?" "Gourry, just give me the damn sword, alright?" "So that must mean they're all like a really big family, right?" Gourry said, warming to his subject. "They have mama stars and papa stars and little baby stars, and shooting stars that get kicked out of the village like Uncle Melvin." Gourry laughed. "I wonder if they have any good parties up there?" Lina groaned. "Gourry." "Huh? What is it, Lina?" "Gimme. Sword. Now." "Oh, right." Gourry unsheathed his sword, and fiddled with the hilt for a moment. He put his sword away, then drew it again. This time the blade remained in the sheath. He handed it to Lina. "Finally," Lina said. "Well, here goes nothing." Lina grasped the sword hilt in both hands, and concentrated. The Sword of Light burst forth, giving off a soft glow that seemed somehow more illuminating than the nearby camp fire. "Perceiver of all things, answer my call..." Lina released the Sword of Light, and it hovered before her, unmoving. "You who sees all, show me... You who hears all, tell me... Share with me the truth of invisible things. MYSTIC REVELATION!" There was a sudden flash of light, and the Sword's blade shimmered and shifted into a circular shape. Lina peered into the magical construction. Her face peered right back. "Well, that didn't work quite like I expected," Lina said. "It's a mirror," Gourry said, looking at his sword intently. "I need to shave, don't I?" "Probably wouldn't hurt," Lina replied absently. "Geez, what went wrong?" "I dunno. Do something magic." "What?" Lina asked. "Why?" "Well, you said it was supposed to reveal magic stuff, right?" "Yeah." "So see what the magic looks like in the mirror." "That..." Lina began. She was tempted to say it was stupid. But, now that she thought about it, it did make a bit of sense. And the spell did tend to do things in odd ways. "Ah, what the heck?" Lina called up a simple lighting spell, and held it in front of the Sword/Mirror. What she saw surprised her so much, she nearly forgot to keep the spell going. Thousands of tiny little gnats were flying around where the ball of light should be. Spirits. Invisible things. "Oh. Little fireflies!" Gourry exclaimed. "Do another one." "But why would that make a mirror?" "Simple," Gourry said. "Mirrors can't lie." "What?" "Well, that's what my Granma always used to say," Gourry replied. "So you said to show the truth, and it made a mirror, since mirrors don't lie. I thought everyone knew that." Lina didn't feel like arguing about it. "Well, in any case, it's not going to be much use. You can have your sword back now, Gourry." Gourry took the sword from the air. The mirror vanished, leaving Gourry holding only a hilt. Gourry pushed it against the sheath, and with a click, the normal metal blade reattached. Lina had the nagging feeling that she was forgetting something. Oh well, whatever it was, it could wait until morning. They continued their watch in silence. Lina dreamed. It was the same dream, the one about the man-eating food; a dream Lina truly didn't appreciate. The carrot chased her again. The pygmy sausages caught her and held her captive. The oyster showed up and chased away the sausages. The ground caved downward, and Lina fell. This was going to hurt. It didn't surprise her much to see that she was in a familiarly blank darkness, with a stranger dressed in an all concealing cloak. "Oh, Cephied, not again," Lina muttered. "Lina Inverse." "Oh, good, you dropped the booming echoey ground shaking voice thing," Lina remarked dryly. "So what'll it be today? Food, fighting, or something else?" "Conversation, I think. You did not listen to what I had to say, and there is much to discuss." "And if I choose not to listen?" The mysterious figure laughed. "Then I will keep you here until you do. Time has no meaning in dreams." Lina concentrated on dispelling her dream. It was a trick she'd learned from her mentor, to escape from bad dreams. The darkness around her shimmered briefly, then turned a bright blue. Colors became muted. The sound of the organ music became tinny and hollow. Then everything went back to blackness, and the unreality of this dream reasserted itself. For the first time since her encounter with Phibrezo, Lina Inverse felt the beginnings of true fear. "Would you like to try that again, Lina Inverse?" the cloaked man said in an amused tone. "It was quite clever, really, but I am in control here, not you." Lina's throat was dry. "What do you want to discuss?" she whispered. "MAGIC!" the man bellowed. "The true and real meaning of magic, and the universe itself." "What do you mean?" Lina asked. Why did this lunatic want to discuss magic with her? "What is magic, Lina Inverse?" He held up a hand to prevent her from answering. "I'll tell you." The cloaked figure drew his sword, and held it vertically before himself. "Just as a sword is the extension of the swordsman's will, so to is magic the extension of a mage's." "A swordsman trains constantly, under all conditions, until all movement is unconscious, and yet conscious. Reaction is automatic; there is no need to think about what you are going to do, you just do it." "Magic is the same." Lina stared with incredulity. Her captor was obviously not playing with a full deck of cards. "I don't know what you're talking about," Lina said. "Magic requires concentration. You have to focus on what you want to do, then call on the powers that allow you to do it." "The use your magic, Lina Inverse, and see what it does." Lina chanted the words to a simple spell: "Source of all power, crimson fire burning bright. FLARE ARROW!" Nothing happened. The mysterious figure laughed. "It does not work here, Lina Inverse. Perhaps you are not the great sorceress you think you are." Lina clenched her fists. "Maybe you are just a little girl, with no potential," the man mocked. "Go home to your sister, little Lina, before you get hurt." Lina's teeth started grinding, and a low growl escaped her lips. "You're a weakling, Lina Inverse. You'll never amount to anything. You're a flat-chested little slip of a girl, nobody loves you. Your friends must pity you, Lina Inverse. Everyone can see that you are unable to take care of yourself." "You... you... BASTARD!" Lina screamed. "I'm gonna kill you!" Lina threw her arm forward, and found her Ragna Blade blocked by the cloaked man's sword. "You see?" said the figure. "No thought, just action." And the dream ended. Lina awoke, and sat up. The first light of dawn was creeping over the horizon, and the trees cast long shadows across their camp site. She stared at her hand, and clenched her fist. A ball of light appeared around her hands. Lina released the spell, and shivered. She hadn't summoned the spirits, she'd simply wanted light, and there was light. No thought, just action. What was happening? She pondered this as the sun rose, and came to a decision. She would visit her mentor. When the others were awake, she announced their new destination, saying, "We're going to pay a visit to an old friend of mine." The carrot was back again, and Lina was wondering why she couldn't have some more normal dreams. "Can't you find someone else to bother, tonight?" she yelled at the carrot as she ran. It was the same dream. Exactly the same as it had been the previous six times in a row. And once again, it wasn't the carrot that got her. Nor the potatoes, headless chicken, pot roast or the spoon-wielding bowl-of-stew. It was the pygmy tribe of asparagus-throwing pork sausages that did her in one more time. If they seemed a little more rabid this time around, Lina didn't consider it significant. The oyster showed up right on schedule, only twice as large this time, and with large, green, pebbled legs and a tale. The sausages dropped her, and ran into the forest of broccoli and Brussels sprouts, making distinctly pig-like squeals of fright once again, perhaps just a little more terrified than before. Lina, being rather bored with the whole adventure, just sat perfectly still, and stared at the oyster. The oyster stared right back. Lina didn't move. Apparently, this confused it. The oyster sniffed around carefully, shell bare inches away from her position. It nudged the ground in front of her, then roared. Lina still didn't move. The oyster roared again, then lifted a giant, clawed foot, and stomped at the ground in frustration. Lina still didn't move, again. Upset with the whole episode, the oyster turned, knocked over an outhouse that had materialized just then, and ate the upper half of the man sitting on the john. Then oyster, half-eaten corpse, and outhouse vanished quite suddenly. Lina was somewhat relieved, until the ground did the same. And then she was falling down the rabbit hole... again. After much assorted falling, flailing, and failure to fly, Lina hit rock bottom, or rather, metal bottom. This was definitely different. Before, she had always fallen into a dark room, with a dark figure waiting to talk with her in general terms about the Wars of the Mazoku or the true meaning of magic, or fate and destiny, and sometimes concluding with an invitation to join him. But not this time. She was on a small, narrow walkway made of some grayish metal she'd never seen before. Said walkway was sticking out horizontally from a large metal thing, which Lina might have thought looked like the vertical tail of an old-fashioned aeroplane, if she knew what an aeroplane was. Since she didn't, however, it merely looked vaguely wedge-shaped, and appeared to float in the air with no visible means of support. The entire structure seemed to be enclosed in a very large metal tube, and there was a rather stiff breeze blowing from any direction at all. All of this was certainly strange enough, and quite different from her previous dream, but her surroundings were not of particular interest at the moment. Rather, a mysterious black-cloaked figure, who did look familiar, and who was also on the walkway, captured a majority of her attention. Well, at least that hadn't changed. The mysterious character was standing between her and the large metal wedge-thing, which meant Lina had nowhere to run to except to the end of the walkway, and another long fall. Also of interest, the man was holding what appeared to be a sword of light, glowing an evil shade of red. In her own hands was another light-sword, projected from a cylindrical handle with no hand guards, glowing green. Well, at least she had a weapon this time. "Lina, it is time for you to join me." "Who are you?" Lina asked. The cloaked man extended a hand. "Come with me..." Lina could hear his labored, almost mechanical breathing. In -- out -- pause. A click. Then in -- out -- pause, and another click. "It is fate." "Look," Lina said, "I don't know who you are, or what you're doing in my dreams, but frankly, I don't care. Just get the Hell out!" The figure gave a low chuckle, a sound that chilled Lina to the bone. "I've known Hell, Lina. I have no desire to go back. No, Lina Inverse, if you will not join me by choice, then you will die." "This is a dream. You can't kill me." "Oh?" And the cloaked figure swung his sword at her. Lina jumped back. She could feel the intense heat radiating from his blade as it passed within inches of her body. "Ow! Watch where you're swinging that thing." The dark man didn't reply, he just swung again. Lina blocked. "Alright buster, you asked for it!" And she attacked. The battle raged across the expanse that Lina wouldn't have called a cat walk, but was, and Lina found herself gradually giving ground. She was a competent swordswoman, but nowhere near gifted. It was obvious her adversary was only toying with her. As he backed her to the end of the walkway, he knocked her to the ground, and held the burning tip of his weapon inches from her chest. "You are beaten. Don't make me destroy you." He tapped her with the tip of his light-sword. Lina felt pain. It started as a burning sensation between her breasts, where he had tapped her, and quickly spread throughout her whole body. Then, all at once, it felt like her whole being was flipped inside out, and then back again, in the space of a second. Lina did the only sensible thing. She screamed. Gourry watched with concern as Lina tossed and turned in her sleep. It was a nice night, and they had all opted not to use tents, so she was clearly visible by the light of the fire. Whatever she was dreaming about seemed to be upsetting her. Lina normally slept like a stone, with only a few happy mumblings about food or treasure or bandit hunting. The last four nights, she had mumbled about food alright, but she hadn't seemed at all happy. And then, she would wake up, and refuse to talk about it, saying she'd forgotten what her dream was about. Gourry was not a smart man, and he knew it. Still, he had been with Lina for almost two years, and he could usually tell when she was telling the truth. This was not one of those times. "Ah, well," he sighed. "Nothing for it, I guess." He had briefly considered asking Sylphiel to approach her on the subject, figuring it might be one of those girl things he didn't understand, but over the last few weeks, he'd come to a startling revelation. Lina didn't seem to like Sylphiel much at all, and Sylphiel didn't seem to like Lina. He hadn't quite put it together yet. There were a lot of things he hadn't put together yet, actually. But this one seemed the most important just now. Lina seemed to be upset when he talked to Sylphiel, and Sylphiel seemed to be upset when he talked with Lina. Neither one seemed to be particularly upset when he talked to the little boy. It was an interesting puzzle. Further musings were interrupted by Lina's sudden scream. "Join me, or die." Lina regained her wits, and quickly knocked his sword away, screaming, "Shut up! Don't you have anything else to say?" They exchanged a few more blows, and then Lina caught him with a nasty blow to the shoulder. "Aaaagh!" With a few expert strokes, he disarmed her, sending her light-sword spinning into the abyss below. The cloaked man held his sword once again at her chest. "There is no escape. Don't make me destroy you." Lina took a cautious step back, then another. "Lina, you do not yet realize your importance. You have only begun to discover your power." Lina took one more step back, and bumped into a small spire. There was nowhere else to run. "Join me, and I will train you. With our combined strengths, we can end the destructive conflicts between the Mazoku and the Ryuzoku, and bring order to the world." "I'll never join you," Lina declared defiantly. She didn't know why, but it seemed the right thing to say. "If you only knew the true power of the Golden-Dark Lord." Then, in an apparent change of subject, he said, "Luna never told you what happened to your father." "She told me enough," Lina said. "She told me he died before I was born." "No Lina, I am your father." And he threw back the hood of his cloak, and Lina saw a very familiar face. It was the face of Gaav, the Demon-Dragon King. "No," Lina cried. "That's not true. It's impossible!" "Lina, you have the power to destroy the Ryuzoku and the Mazoku. They have foreseen it. Even now, they send out agents to destroy you. Join me, and together we can rule the world. It is your destiny." Lina crawled back, and clung to the spire overlooking the abyss. "No. This can't be," she cried. "It can't be true." "Come with me. It is the only way." Gaav extended one black-gloved hand toward her. Sylphiel and Cyan had both woken up with Lina's first scream. Together, with Gourry, they had tried without success to waken her. Suddenly, she sat up, screaming, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Lina looked to her left, then to her right. Her eyes focussed on the innocent face of the red-haired child. "Stay away from me," she snarled. The boy backed away in fright. "Lina-san!" Sylphiel exclaimed. "Don't scare him like that." "Why are you all staring at me like that?" Lina demanded. "Uh, Lina, you woke us all up with your screaming," Gourry said. "Screaming? What screaming?" Lina babbled. "I don't scream in my sleep. Never have, never will. Besides, it was just a little nightmare, no big deal, we've all had them before." "Lina-san, would you like to talk about it?" "No, no, of course not. I'm perfectly alright. Just perfect." Lina stood up, and picked up her blanket. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going back to sleep." Gourry sighed. "That sounds good. Everyone back to sleep. False alarm." Despite Gourry's reassurances, nobody got much sleep the rest of the night, with one exception. The red-headed boy slept like a baby. The following notes will not be repeated, though they apply to the series as a whole. Warnings: This fanfic may contain profanity, sexual situations and innuendo (about the same level as the Anime), angst, assorted bits of darkness, excessive violence, WAFF, humor, and a plot to take over/destroy the world. It may also contain examples of pointless slapstick, bad puns, yogurt jokes, and overused fanfic cliches. You have been warned. Notes: This story starts a few weeks after Slayers NEXT, and assumes the events in TRY have not happened, and never will happen. Everything contained within is based on what I've seen from the Slayers Anime, which includes all three TV seasons, the first Slayers movie, and the first three OVAs (OAVs?), and my own imagination. Most spells and their effects are taken from http://www.inverse.org, with a few original (read: borrowed from other fanfics) spells thrown in for good measure. |
Slayers: The Way
By: mrthou
*ABANDONED* Lina Inverse. Sorcery genius, Dra-mata, enemy-of-all-who-live, etc. But who is she, really? Where did she learn what she knows? C&C welcome.
Rated: Fiction T - English - Adventure - Lina I. - Chapters: 3 - Words: 29,418 - Reviews: 15 - Favs: 8 - Follows: 3 - Updated: 10/22/2002 - Published: 8/21/2001 - id: 376867
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Full 3/4 1/2 Expand Tighten
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