Disclaimer: I don't own Slayers, an' if I did, then I'm sure I wouldn't be
writing this right now…
Also, before we start, I'd like to send out BIG HUGS to you guys who reviewed my fic! Thank you!
//-Mean thoughts, or thought-speak
Delia stared wistfully at her reflection in the clear mountain stream winding its way through the forest. Long, dark violet hair hung in curly strands over her shoulder to kiss the surface of the water, framing a pale delicate face and large blue eyes that sparkled with mischief. On an impulse, she reached out her hand and trailed her fingers through the image, distorting it into thousands of splinters of light.
"It's so *boring* here," she sighed to herself, shifting into a cross- legged position on the riverbank.
"Delia!" her mother's voice echoed out of the large house behind her. "Dinner! Get your brother for me?"
"Hai, Mama."
Her brother was swimming a little ways downstream. His shoulder length blond hair clung wetly to his body as he performed the free-stroke against the current. He had no clothes on, Delia noticed disapprovingly.
"Hey, baka! Domani!" she yelled at him, aiming a stone to bounce perfectly off his head.
"Ow!" he cried, gripping his injured skull. "Whatcha do that for?"
"You think you would have enough decency to at least wear underwear. I don't want to see that!"
"You walk around in wet underwear, then. Is that all you have to say?"
Delia expertly dodged the flare arrow he sent her way. "It's dinner."
"Fine. I'll be there in a second."
Delia muttered to herself about insufferable brothers as she made her way through the huge antechamber into the dining room.
Her mother was sitting at the table, sipping at her tea. A young man with turquoise hair stood next to her.
"Val!" she shrieked happily, disappearing from the doorway and re-appearing in front of him to throw her arms about his neck. "You're here!"
She and her brother had spent most of their childhood playing with Val. He had been the same age as them, and they had gotten along rather well (when Delia and Domani weren't blasting poor Val or tying him to trees or that sort of thing). But as soon as they were of age, Val had left to travel, and Domani and Delia were left behind. He stopped by now only once and a while, to visit. They were some of Delia's favorite days. Val would sit with them for hours and regale them with tales of sorcerers and swordsmen, and thieves and secret lost treasures. It was the only connection they had to the outside world.
Domani rolled his amethyst eyes at her as he walked into the dining room, rubbing at his head with a towel. He always accused her of having a crush on Val, and whenever she showed any affection for him Domani would make sure to point it out for her. The idea was utterly ridiculous, though. Of course she didn't have a crush on Val.
"So what've you been up to recently?" Delia asked as they sat down to the dinner table. Tonight, they were having chicken, her favorite. It wasn't as if any of them really *needed* to eat, it was just sort of tradition that they did.
"A lot," answered Val. "The world's going through some major changes right now. They came out with a more advanced gun, and every bandit in the country has got hold of one of them. It's been a major job just trying to keep them down. Oh! But there's also this new form of energy out now- its called 'electricity'. It creates artificial light, powers stoves and heaters, and there's even this invention- a telegraph, I think it's called- that sends messages over long distances in a matter of minutes, that runs on electricity."
"And it's not magic?" Domani asked eagerly. He was into inventions and that sort of stuff.
"No, just anyone can use it. They're installing it in towns all over the world now."
"That's amazing," he sighed appreciatively, ripping off a chunk of chicken with his teeth from a drumstick.
"You know what would be more interesting? If we could actually go see it." Delia said.
"Delia, we've been over this before," Filia sighed.
"Mother, we're sixteen years old! I think we're old enough to take care of ourselves now!"
"It's not a question of that, darling, I told you. There are some very powerful people out there that would love to get their hands on you two!"
"What, the Mazoku? Dad's a Mazoku, and we're half-Mazoku. They're not that bad!"
"You don't know half of the things your father is all about. And the people who are after you are a lot more powerful- and probably more twisted- than he is."
"Dad's not twisted," Domani commented. Filia sent him a scathing look.
"All Mazoku are. Remember that. And you better hope that you never run into one of them."
"So what, are you just gonna keep us locked up here the rest of our lives!?" Delia shouted.
"If I have to, then yes," Filia answered, rising from her seat and raising her voice a bit. "I just don't want to see you get hurt!"
"Your mother's right," Val commented quietly.
"Now you're taking her side?!" Delia said, jumping from her seat and over to the doorway. "I don't believe this!" And with that, she disappeared from the room up to her bedroom.
Domani rose slowly from his own seat and said calmly "You know, mother, she has a point. You can't keep us here forever." Then he, too, disappeared.
"They have a lot of their Father in them," Val commented with a wry smile. "Especially Delia."
"No, I think Domani is more like him. Delia just likes to yell, like me. In any case," sighed Filia, dropping her head on top of her folded arms on the table, "that's what I'm afraid of."
*****************
After sulking for a bit, Delia had calmed down enough to get ready for bed and go to sleep. She had slept soundly, until she woke suddenly in the middle of the night. And saw two hulking outlines silhouetted in the moonlight streaming in from her window. But before she had even time to react, she felt the prick of a needle on her arm, and the blackness took her.
*****************
Delia's vision blurred as she slowly opened her eyes. A mossy stone ceiling zoomed first in, then out of focus, until she forced herself to concentrate and got her line of sight under control.
"Where am I?" her voice echoed off the cavern-like walls. The sound of running water reached her ears, like that of the stream, only much louder and more rhythmic. She struggled uncertainly to her feet, and wobbled over to a narrow window in the thick stone wall. The sight that met her nearly made her collapse again. She was so high up! Probably in a tower of some sort. But perhaps more amazing was all she could see, for miles, was water!
"The sea," she gasped. Val had told her about it once. She had never seen it. Which meant that, since she could see it now, she was probably very far away from home.
Home. Her mother was probably worried sick by now. All her life, she had wanted to adventure, but now that she was away, she found that all she wanted to do was go back. The tower was cold, and she was alone. Shivering, she sat down on the floor and tucked her knees under her chin. What was she to do?
/Delia?/ Her brother's voice was like a life line in the back of her mind.
/Domani! Oh, Domani, I'm trapped, and we're so far away from home, we're probably in trouble, the Mazoku have got us…/
/Calm down, Delia! Are you in a tower of some sort?/
/Yes./
/I am too. We're probably next to each other./
/What are we going to do? Nothing like this has ever happened to us!/
/Well, beat the hell out of those kidnappers, for one thing. But first, we should get out of here./
/Genius, brother. I know that already! How?/
/The traditional way. Blow down the walls. Let's both cast a fireball on the count of three. 1…2…/
"FIREBALL!" Delia shouted at the top of her lungs. The simple spell was amplified by the power that her mixed deity blood gave her, and with Domani casting the same spell beside her the tower didn't stand a chance. It went up in a mushroom cloud of smoke and rubble, and she was falling swiftly…until she unfurled her graceful golden wings, and sped away from the wreckage with a few swift strokes. Domani was right beside her, his purple wings carrying him out over the sea.
"Look how big it is!" he half-thought, half-shouted at her, referring to the sea. His long forked tail was flicking happily back and forth.
"Yes, it is amazing, isn't it?" she answered him, grateful for her wings that carried her away over the beautiful entity. She and Domani weren't full- blooded dragons as their mother was, so they didn't transform fully into a dragon. But they still had the wings, and the tail, while retaining a humanoid body. Hers were golden, like her mother's, but Domani's were purple. She guessed the abnormal coloring (because all the Ryuzoku were either golden, or a deep blue, her mother had told her) came from their father.
Domani stopped to hover, looking back in the direction they had come, and she had to pull up short in order not to hit him. "There's a town back there," he said.
She turned to look. Indeed, there was a town- a bustling seaport that sprawled out along the horizon.
"Let's go explore, shall we?" Domani said.
"No, we should try to get home. Mother's probably worried sick about us. And what if our kidnappers are still there?"
"Aw, come on, Delia. Weren't you the one raving about leaving yesterday? If we go back, Mom'll make us stay."
"Yes, but the conditions were different…."
"Oh, the conditions were different," Domani said in a mocking tone. "You're just chicken."
"What? No I'm not!"
"Chicken!" he laughed.
Enraged, Delia sped off toward the town in order to beat Domani to it. Chicken. As if.
Soon, they landed on the beach along the shoreline, and transformed back to their normal forms. The people sitting there were gawking at them, their mouths hanging wide open. "What're you looking at?" she said huffily, flicking her hair behind her shoulder.
They made their way up the beach toward the seaport, and soon the people lost interest in them.
/There's so many of them!/ She thought at Domani.
/Yes, and look at the little ones!/ he answered, pointing at a bunch of chibi-humans playing with a beach ball.
/I think they're children,/ she thought at him, proud of her knowledgeability.
It was their turn to gawk as they walked the seaport. Never had they seen so many people in one place, or seen shops or boats, since they had been isolated all their life. Now the places described in Val's stories and on maps became reality for them.
Two humans sitting at a table near a place that sold food caught their attention. One was slight, with pink hair cropped short and bright red eyes. She was dressed in tight fitting red clothes and had a headband sparkling with jewels on, along with a sweeping black cloak. The other was taller and rather exotic looking. She had long lavender hair pulled back in a plait and deep blue eyes. Light blue swirls made patterns around her eyes, lips, and chin, and over her hands. She was dressed in creamy white.
"I dunno, Rosie, I can't figure it out," the lavender-haired one was saying. She was studying a map written on ancient parchment.
"Here, let me see," the pink-haired one, Rosie, said imperiously. "You obviously didn't inherit your father's genes, since you can't figure *this* out," she said, while studying the map.
"Yeah, and you obviously *did* inherit yours 'cause you can't either," said the lavender-haired one flippantly, resting her chin on her palm. "Well?"
"You're right," Rosie said, annoyance plain in her voice. "And after we paid so much money for this!"
"May I see it?" Domani surprised Delia by addressing the girls, holding out a hand to receive the map.
"Sure. The more heads the better," said Rosie, handing the map to him. Domani took it and studied it for a moment, then laid it flat on the table so that the girls could see it.
"I understand," he said. "See? This here is the border of Zephilia," he traced his finger along the map. "It says if you start there, then travel through Mane by the specified route, you should find…whatever it is you're looking for."
"Yeah, he's right!" cried lavender, snatching up the map.
"Hey, you're pretty good, mister," said Rosie. "Ya wanna come with us? We could use your help."
Domani glanced at Delia. A silent agreement passed between the two of them…they would go.
"Hey, is she your girlfriend or something?" Rosie said quizzically, studying Delia.
"My sister, actually," said Domani.
"Oh. Well, she can come too…if she wants to."
"I'd love to," said Delia. "We both would. But…what exactly are we doing?"
"Oh! Yeah right. We're looking for a secret lost treasure. It was buried during the War of the Monster's Fall, and it's supposed to possess extraordinary powers. My name is Roseanna Gabriev, and this is Cambria Greywards."
"Nice to meet you," said Cambria, smiling up at them.
"You certainly are trusting, giving away personal information to complete strangers," said Domani, amusement coloring his voice.
"Well, it's really not that personal. And besides, if you were any threat to us, we could blast you into a million pieces anyway."
"Charming," Domani said on an aside to Delia. But she wasn't listening. Something about those names…
"Wait a second!" exclaimed Delia. "Gabriev, as in Gourry Gabriev?"
"Yeah, he was my father," said Rosie, giving her a strange look.
"And Zelgadiss Greywards was yours!"
"Yeah…" said Cambria, looking at her equally as strange, as if she had grown a second nose or something.
"My mother's told me about them!"
"My name is Domani Metallium," said Domani in a conciliatory tone, "and this is Delia Metallium. I think our parents know each other. Our mother Filia always used to tell us stories about them."
"Oh! Metallium…as in Xelloss Metallium, that crazy mazoku? Yeah, I know who he is, he visits us every now and then. Hey! We have more in common than we thought. We'll make a good team!"
Rosie held her hand out, palm downward, and Cambria placed hers on top of Rosie's. Delia, catching on, placed her hand on top of Cambria's, and then Domani finished the pile.
"Here's to secret lost treasures," said Cambria with a small smile.
"You said it Bree!" cried Rosie throwing her hands up in the air. "This'll be a piece of cake."
"Only," said Bree, looking at Delia and Domani, "you might want to buy yourselves a different outfit before we start."
Delia looked down at herself and immediately she could feel her cheeks growing hot. "Oh," she said softly. She still had her nightgown on from last night, and Domani still had his pajamas on. They had been walking around town dressed in their nightclothes! /How embarrassing./
"It's a long story," said Domani with a smile. "Where can we buy them? We're new around here."
"I know this great clothes store," Bree smiled, standing up and taking both of their elbows. "And we might be able to get a discount, since the owner likes me."
"*Everyone* likes you, Bree." Rosie said with a sigh, rolling up the map and shoving it down her shirt. "They say she's exotic looking."
"Yeah, what's with the blue stuff?" Delia asked curiously.
Bree shrugged. "I'm half chimera."
And so the four set off for the clothes store, chattering happily and anticipating the journey to come. Little did they know, they had started one of the greatest endeavors ever in history since their parents had taken up the road.
A/N: Whew! *Wipes sweat off brow* That was a long one, wasn't it? There wasn't much about the characters we all know and love in this one, but don't worry, we'll be seeing a lot of them later! (Including Lina going through her midlife crisis =P) Don't forget to review, I'd love to hear what you think about the new characters. Any suggestions? Comments? Just click the little button on the bottom of the screen! Luvya'll!
Also, before we start, I'd like to send out BIG HUGS to you guys who reviewed my fic! Thank you!
//-Mean thoughts, or thought-speak
Delia stared wistfully at her reflection in the clear mountain stream winding its way through the forest. Long, dark violet hair hung in curly strands over her shoulder to kiss the surface of the water, framing a pale delicate face and large blue eyes that sparkled with mischief. On an impulse, she reached out her hand and trailed her fingers through the image, distorting it into thousands of splinters of light.
"It's so *boring* here," she sighed to herself, shifting into a cross- legged position on the riverbank.
"Delia!" her mother's voice echoed out of the large house behind her. "Dinner! Get your brother for me?"
"Hai, Mama."
Her brother was swimming a little ways downstream. His shoulder length blond hair clung wetly to his body as he performed the free-stroke against the current. He had no clothes on, Delia noticed disapprovingly.
"Hey, baka! Domani!" she yelled at him, aiming a stone to bounce perfectly off his head.
"Ow!" he cried, gripping his injured skull. "Whatcha do that for?"
"You think you would have enough decency to at least wear underwear. I don't want to see that!"
"You walk around in wet underwear, then. Is that all you have to say?"
Delia expertly dodged the flare arrow he sent her way. "It's dinner."
"Fine. I'll be there in a second."
Delia muttered to herself about insufferable brothers as she made her way through the huge antechamber into the dining room.
Her mother was sitting at the table, sipping at her tea. A young man with turquoise hair stood next to her.
"Val!" she shrieked happily, disappearing from the doorway and re-appearing in front of him to throw her arms about his neck. "You're here!"
She and her brother had spent most of their childhood playing with Val. He had been the same age as them, and they had gotten along rather well (when Delia and Domani weren't blasting poor Val or tying him to trees or that sort of thing). But as soon as they were of age, Val had left to travel, and Domani and Delia were left behind. He stopped by now only once and a while, to visit. They were some of Delia's favorite days. Val would sit with them for hours and regale them with tales of sorcerers and swordsmen, and thieves and secret lost treasures. It was the only connection they had to the outside world.
Domani rolled his amethyst eyes at her as he walked into the dining room, rubbing at his head with a towel. He always accused her of having a crush on Val, and whenever she showed any affection for him Domani would make sure to point it out for her. The idea was utterly ridiculous, though. Of course she didn't have a crush on Val.
"So what've you been up to recently?" Delia asked as they sat down to the dinner table. Tonight, they were having chicken, her favorite. It wasn't as if any of them really *needed* to eat, it was just sort of tradition that they did.
"A lot," answered Val. "The world's going through some major changes right now. They came out with a more advanced gun, and every bandit in the country has got hold of one of them. It's been a major job just trying to keep them down. Oh! But there's also this new form of energy out now- its called 'electricity'. It creates artificial light, powers stoves and heaters, and there's even this invention- a telegraph, I think it's called- that sends messages over long distances in a matter of minutes, that runs on electricity."
"And it's not magic?" Domani asked eagerly. He was into inventions and that sort of stuff.
"No, just anyone can use it. They're installing it in towns all over the world now."
"That's amazing," he sighed appreciatively, ripping off a chunk of chicken with his teeth from a drumstick.
"You know what would be more interesting? If we could actually go see it." Delia said.
"Delia, we've been over this before," Filia sighed.
"Mother, we're sixteen years old! I think we're old enough to take care of ourselves now!"
"It's not a question of that, darling, I told you. There are some very powerful people out there that would love to get their hands on you two!"
"What, the Mazoku? Dad's a Mazoku, and we're half-Mazoku. They're not that bad!"
"You don't know half of the things your father is all about. And the people who are after you are a lot more powerful- and probably more twisted- than he is."
"Dad's not twisted," Domani commented. Filia sent him a scathing look.
"All Mazoku are. Remember that. And you better hope that you never run into one of them."
"So what, are you just gonna keep us locked up here the rest of our lives!?" Delia shouted.
"If I have to, then yes," Filia answered, rising from her seat and raising her voice a bit. "I just don't want to see you get hurt!"
"Your mother's right," Val commented quietly.
"Now you're taking her side?!" Delia said, jumping from her seat and over to the doorway. "I don't believe this!" And with that, she disappeared from the room up to her bedroom.
Domani rose slowly from his own seat and said calmly "You know, mother, she has a point. You can't keep us here forever." Then he, too, disappeared.
"They have a lot of their Father in them," Val commented with a wry smile. "Especially Delia."
"No, I think Domani is more like him. Delia just likes to yell, like me. In any case," sighed Filia, dropping her head on top of her folded arms on the table, "that's what I'm afraid of."
*****************
After sulking for a bit, Delia had calmed down enough to get ready for bed and go to sleep. She had slept soundly, until she woke suddenly in the middle of the night. And saw two hulking outlines silhouetted in the moonlight streaming in from her window. But before she had even time to react, she felt the prick of a needle on her arm, and the blackness took her.
*****************
Delia's vision blurred as she slowly opened her eyes. A mossy stone ceiling zoomed first in, then out of focus, until she forced herself to concentrate and got her line of sight under control.
"Where am I?" her voice echoed off the cavern-like walls. The sound of running water reached her ears, like that of the stream, only much louder and more rhythmic. She struggled uncertainly to her feet, and wobbled over to a narrow window in the thick stone wall. The sight that met her nearly made her collapse again. She was so high up! Probably in a tower of some sort. But perhaps more amazing was all she could see, for miles, was water!
"The sea," she gasped. Val had told her about it once. She had never seen it. Which meant that, since she could see it now, she was probably very far away from home.
Home. Her mother was probably worried sick by now. All her life, she had wanted to adventure, but now that she was away, she found that all she wanted to do was go back. The tower was cold, and she was alone. Shivering, she sat down on the floor and tucked her knees under her chin. What was she to do?
/Delia?/ Her brother's voice was like a life line in the back of her mind.
/Domani! Oh, Domani, I'm trapped, and we're so far away from home, we're probably in trouble, the Mazoku have got us…/
/Calm down, Delia! Are you in a tower of some sort?/
/Yes./
/I am too. We're probably next to each other./
/What are we going to do? Nothing like this has ever happened to us!/
/Well, beat the hell out of those kidnappers, for one thing. But first, we should get out of here./
/Genius, brother. I know that already! How?/
/The traditional way. Blow down the walls. Let's both cast a fireball on the count of three. 1…2…/
"FIREBALL!" Delia shouted at the top of her lungs. The simple spell was amplified by the power that her mixed deity blood gave her, and with Domani casting the same spell beside her the tower didn't stand a chance. It went up in a mushroom cloud of smoke and rubble, and she was falling swiftly…until she unfurled her graceful golden wings, and sped away from the wreckage with a few swift strokes. Domani was right beside her, his purple wings carrying him out over the sea.
"Look how big it is!" he half-thought, half-shouted at her, referring to the sea. His long forked tail was flicking happily back and forth.
"Yes, it is amazing, isn't it?" she answered him, grateful for her wings that carried her away over the beautiful entity. She and Domani weren't full- blooded dragons as their mother was, so they didn't transform fully into a dragon. But they still had the wings, and the tail, while retaining a humanoid body. Hers were golden, like her mother's, but Domani's were purple. She guessed the abnormal coloring (because all the Ryuzoku were either golden, or a deep blue, her mother had told her) came from their father.
Domani stopped to hover, looking back in the direction they had come, and she had to pull up short in order not to hit him. "There's a town back there," he said.
She turned to look. Indeed, there was a town- a bustling seaport that sprawled out along the horizon.
"Let's go explore, shall we?" Domani said.
"No, we should try to get home. Mother's probably worried sick about us. And what if our kidnappers are still there?"
"Aw, come on, Delia. Weren't you the one raving about leaving yesterday? If we go back, Mom'll make us stay."
"Yes, but the conditions were different…."
"Oh, the conditions were different," Domani said in a mocking tone. "You're just chicken."
"What? No I'm not!"
"Chicken!" he laughed.
Enraged, Delia sped off toward the town in order to beat Domani to it. Chicken. As if.
Soon, they landed on the beach along the shoreline, and transformed back to their normal forms. The people sitting there were gawking at them, their mouths hanging wide open. "What're you looking at?" she said huffily, flicking her hair behind her shoulder.
They made their way up the beach toward the seaport, and soon the people lost interest in them.
/There's so many of them!/ She thought at Domani.
/Yes, and look at the little ones!/ he answered, pointing at a bunch of chibi-humans playing with a beach ball.
/I think they're children,/ she thought at him, proud of her knowledgeability.
It was their turn to gawk as they walked the seaport. Never had they seen so many people in one place, or seen shops or boats, since they had been isolated all their life. Now the places described in Val's stories and on maps became reality for them.
Two humans sitting at a table near a place that sold food caught their attention. One was slight, with pink hair cropped short and bright red eyes. She was dressed in tight fitting red clothes and had a headband sparkling with jewels on, along with a sweeping black cloak. The other was taller and rather exotic looking. She had long lavender hair pulled back in a plait and deep blue eyes. Light blue swirls made patterns around her eyes, lips, and chin, and over her hands. She was dressed in creamy white.
"I dunno, Rosie, I can't figure it out," the lavender-haired one was saying. She was studying a map written on ancient parchment.
"Here, let me see," the pink-haired one, Rosie, said imperiously. "You obviously didn't inherit your father's genes, since you can't figure *this* out," she said, while studying the map.
"Yeah, and you obviously *did* inherit yours 'cause you can't either," said the lavender-haired one flippantly, resting her chin on her palm. "Well?"
"You're right," Rosie said, annoyance plain in her voice. "And after we paid so much money for this!"
"May I see it?" Domani surprised Delia by addressing the girls, holding out a hand to receive the map.
"Sure. The more heads the better," said Rosie, handing the map to him. Domani took it and studied it for a moment, then laid it flat on the table so that the girls could see it.
"I understand," he said. "See? This here is the border of Zephilia," he traced his finger along the map. "It says if you start there, then travel through Mane by the specified route, you should find…whatever it is you're looking for."
"Yeah, he's right!" cried lavender, snatching up the map.
"Hey, you're pretty good, mister," said Rosie. "Ya wanna come with us? We could use your help."
Domani glanced at Delia. A silent agreement passed between the two of them…they would go.
"Hey, is she your girlfriend or something?" Rosie said quizzically, studying Delia.
"My sister, actually," said Domani.
"Oh. Well, she can come too…if she wants to."
"I'd love to," said Delia. "We both would. But…what exactly are we doing?"
"Oh! Yeah right. We're looking for a secret lost treasure. It was buried during the War of the Monster's Fall, and it's supposed to possess extraordinary powers. My name is Roseanna Gabriev, and this is Cambria Greywards."
"Nice to meet you," said Cambria, smiling up at them.
"You certainly are trusting, giving away personal information to complete strangers," said Domani, amusement coloring his voice.
"Well, it's really not that personal. And besides, if you were any threat to us, we could blast you into a million pieces anyway."
"Charming," Domani said on an aside to Delia. But she wasn't listening. Something about those names…
"Wait a second!" exclaimed Delia. "Gabriev, as in Gourry Gabriev?"
"Yeah, he was my father," said Rosie, giving her a strange look.
"And Zelgadiss Greywards was yours!"
"Yeah…" said Cambria, looking at her equally as strange, as if she had grown a second nose or something.
"My mother's told me about them!"
"My name is Domani Metallium," said Domani in a conciliatory tone, "and this is Delia Metallium. I think our parents know each other. Our mother Filia always used to tell us stories about them."
"Oh! Metallium…as in Xelloss Metallium, that crazy mazoku? Yeah, I know who he is, he visits us every now and then. Hey! We have more in common than we thought. We'll make a good team!"
Rosie held her hand out, palm downward, and Cambria placed hers on top of Rosie's. Delia, catching on, placed her hand on top of Cambria's, and then Domani finished the pile.
"Here's to secret lost treasures," said Cambria with a small smile.
"You said it Bree!" cried Rosie throwing her hands up in the air. "This'll be a piece of cake."
"Only," said Bree, looking at Delia and Domani, "you might want to buy yourselves a different outfit before we start."
Delia looked down at herself and immediately she could feel her cheeks growing hot. "Oh," she said softly. She still had her nightgown on from last night, and Domani still had his pajamas on. They had been walking around town dressed in their nightclothes! /How embarrassing./
"It's a long story," said Domani with a smile. "Where can we buy them? We're new around here."
"I know this great clothes store," Bree smiled, standing up and taking both of their elbows. "And we might be able to get a discount, since the owner likes me."
"*Everyone* likes you, Bree." Rosie said with a sigh, rolling up the map and shoving it down her shirt. "They say she's exotic looking."
"Yeah, what's with the blue stuff?" Delia asked curiously.
Bree shrugged. "I'm half chimera."
And so the four set off for the clothes store, chattering happily and anticipating the journey to come. Little did they know, they had started one of the greatest endeavors ever in history since their parents had taken up the road.
A/N: Whew! *Wipes sweat off brow* That was a long one, wasn't it? There wasn't much about the characters we all know and love in this one, but don't worry, we'll be seeing a lot of them later! (Including Lina going through her midlife crisis =P) Don't forget to review, I'd love to hear what you think about the new characters. Any suggestions? Comments? Just click the little button on the bottom of the screen! Luvya'll!