Here we are at chapter 12... and I think my titles just keep getting worse... T.T Anyway, as always, I don't own Slayers, I just like to mess with the characters a little bit. Feel pity for them, you guys. Nevertheless, enjoy the story. ^.^


12- Reunions and Revelations

"I can't believe that we managed to get away from them..." Amelia sighed.

"That was... really scary..." Zara agreed, clinging to Amelia closely.

"But we're here in a town now, so we might as well find someplace to sleep..." Amelia sighed, looking around. It was already so late at night, she and Zara were exhausted. They found a small inn in the village and went to see if anyone was there.

"Hello?" Amelia called. There was silence, but then a voice answered them.

"Excuse me! I'll be right there!" After a few moments, a middle-aged woman came running out into the lobby to meet the guests who had arrived so late at night. "Hi, can I help you?"

"Hi..." Amelia began. "I'm sorry. I know it's late... could we possibly get a room to stay for the night...?"

"Of course." The woman replied, smiling. "Is it just the two of you?"

"Yes." Amelia nodded.

"That's fine. Is a room with just one bed alright? We don't have any others open at the moment."

"Oh yes, that's perfect." Amelia replied. "After the night we've had, I don't think either of us would want to sleep by ourselves."

Zara nodded in agreement, still clinging closely to Amelia.

"Fine then. Follow me." The woman said, motioning Amelia and Zara down a hallway. Amelia could see the politely restrained curiosity in the lady's eyes as she looked at them. It was obviously not common to see a young woman and a little boy coming into the inn alone, and so late at night. And after Amelia had mentioned that they'd had a rough night... well, now the innkeeper was more than curious.

"Here it is." The woman said, motioning to a door and handing them a key. "Should I come back in a few minutes to make sure that everything is alright?"

Amelia could tell that the woman's politeness was an attempt to learn more about the mysterious travellers, and she decided that it might be nice to have someone to talk to. "That would be awfully kind of you. Thank you very much."

"No problem." The woman replied, smiling. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Amelia and Zara sat down on the bed, letting their exhaustion sink in. They were tired, but at least they were safe.

"I want Lina..." Zara murmured sadly.

"I know you do." Amelia sighed. "I know how you feel." She couldn't say how much she wanted Zelgadis to be there by her side, telling them that everything would be okay. "But... all we have right now is each other. So..."

Amelia took Zara in her lap and held him closely, the way Lina sometimes did. "Thanks Amelia..." Zara murmured contentedly. She could tell that he was already beginning to fall asleep. There was a slight knock on the door, though Zara was nearly asleep by this point, and Amelia didn't want to wake him up.

"Come in. The door is open." She called. The woman from earlier entered the room, with the same curious expression on her face. Her expression softened when she saw Amelia sitting on the bed, cradling Zara in her lap.

"I was just coming to make sure everything was alright." She said.

"Thank you. You can sit down if you'd like." Amelia said, smiling to show the woman that she was welcome.

The lady sat down on the opposite side of the bed, observing the two visitors. She motioned toward Zara. "He's an adorable little boy." she commented. "Is he your son?"

"No." Amelia shook her head. "I'm just looking after him for a friend right now."

"I see." The woman nodded. "So you're babysitting?"

"Sort of..." Amelia replied. "You see, we were travelling with his parents, my husband, and some friends, and the two of us got... separated..."

"Oh dear. That's terrible." The woman gasped.

"Don't worry. We'll find them." Amelia assured her. "He's just a little upset right now because he misses his mother. They're very close." she explained.

"That makes sense. The poor boy." The woman sighed, reaching over to stroke Zara's hair the way Amelia was. She turned back to Amelia. "Do you have any children?"

The woman's question had been simple and offhand, but she instantly regretted it when she saw Amelia's expression change.

"No..." Amelia murmured sadly. "...I... wish I did..."

"Oh, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..." The woman began, not sure how to handle the situation.

"It's quite alright." Amelia said, trying to smile again. "No need for you to get upset as well."

They both sat in silence for a moment, not sure what to say next. The woman was afraid to say anything else, not wanting to pry too much into Amelia's life. The princess was the first to speak.

"What about you?"

"Me?"

"Do you have any kids?"

"Who? Me?" The woman began, flushing slightly. She didn't want to sound as if she were bragging, but she couldn't exactly lie to the traveller. "Actually, I have four..."

"Oh wow." Amelia replied, her eyes sparkling warmly. Her smile made it apparent that there were no hard feelings between them. "That's fantastic. I'm sure they're all wonderful. How old are they?"

"The oldest is ten, and the youngest is two." The woman replied. "And yes, they are all wonderful. But I suppose I'm biased because I am their mother..."

"You're supposed to be." Amelia replied. "I know that Zara-chan's mother thinks that he's the most wonderful child ever."

"Is he an only child?" The woman asked.

"Yes." Amelia nodded. "He's adopted, actually. His mother didn't like him at first, but he clung to her side anyway, and she eventually grew to love him..."

"How sweet." The woman commented. "I do feel bad for the circumstances that some children are forced to live in. There are many children whose parents don't want them, or abuse them... and then there are so many people that want children and would treat them well, but don't have any for... whatever reason..." She just left it at that, not wanting to say anything that would make Amelia upset again.

"That's true. The injustice in this world is sometimes overwhelming." Amelia replied thoughtfully. "Even young children are not protected from it."

"It is terrible..." The woman agreed. The two of them sat contemplatively for a moment. The woman suddenly stood up. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to keep you awake! You must be tired!"

"Don't worry about it. It's been nice having someone to talk to." Amelia replied, smiling. "I'm Amelia, by the way."

"Christine." The woman replied, motioning toward herself. "I suppose I should be going now. Will you be up early tomorrow?"

"Probably." Amelia replied. "I want to find our friends as soon as possible."

"Well, we have breakfast downstairs whenever you wake up." Christine replied as she began to leave. "Sleep well, Miss Amelia."

"Same to you, Miss Christine." Amelia replied.


"Lina, you can't keep this up..." Gourry sighed, grabbing Lina by the arm. "You need to get some rest."

"I will not... I won't rest... until we find... Zara and Amelia..." Lina replied weakly.

"You said it! I'm not giving up for anything either!" Zelgadis agreed. Lina looked at him in disgust and slight envy. He didn't have as much stamina as he'd had when he was part golem, but the demon in him still allowed him to stay alert for much longer than normal humans.

"I just... want to teach that... stupid Valgaav... a lesson..." Lina continued. "Once we get Zara back... if that monster so much as touches my son ever again in his miserable life... he'll wish that he'd never been resurrected..."

"Right. But we've got to think about getting them back first." Zelgadis nodded. "I'm thinking about searching the nearest town... I suppose that we may find some clues there... hopefully."

"But... how far... is the town...?" Filia yawned. "I don't see any lights nearby..."

"Probably a couple hours' journey." Zelgadis replied. "If we can get there soon, then..."

"Then WHAT? All the humans will be asleep, so it won't be of any use to us if we get there right now." Lorelei exclaimed. "And I'm sick of seeing you guys pushing yourselves like this. When you're this tired you don't have the energy to feel any emotions, negative or otherwise. You guys need some rest, NOW. Look! Even Xe-Enrico here is half-asleep already!"

"...am not... tired..." Xellos murmured, leaning against Lorelei's shoulder. He was, indeed, half-asleep.

"For once, I agree with Lorelei." Gourry said. "We're never going to get anything done if we're tired like this."

"Maybe... you're right... but... but..." Lina began.

"Let's stop here and rest, even if it's just for a couple of hours. Everyone needs to get their strength back up." Gourry continued, putting his arms around Lina. "We'll find them; don't worry."

"I'm not...that worried... jellyfish..." Lina murmured. She was beginning to fall asleep as well.

"I guess we should start out again at sunrise." Zelgadis said. "That ought to give us about four hours. Does that sound good?"

"Sounds great." Filia sighed, sitting down against a tree. It wasn't long before she fell asleep. Despite his protests, Xellos was asleep almost immediately as well, leaning against Lorelei's shoulder. The young monster usually didn't sleep, but sometimes if she was especially tired or stressed out, she could come pretty close- and having your best friend kidnapped definitely could make a person tired and stressed. Lina fell asleep in Gourry's arms, and the swordsman was almost asleep himself. In fact, Zelgadis thought that he was asleep, until he stood up and was surprised to hear Gourry's voice calling him.

"Zelgadis? Get some rest too." Gourry murmured.

"G-Gourry? Uh... but I..."

"I know you don't think you need any, but it's probably a good idea. It would be torture to sit here doing nothing while the rest of us slept. And I know that you wouldn't ditch us and go off looking for Amelia by yourself. She would certainly consider that unjust of you, don't you think?" Gourry continued.

Zelgadis cursed under his breath. He had hoped that no one would see him leave. But Gourry had years of experience with Zel, and was used to the times when the chimera would sneak off in search of his cure, leaving the rest of his friends behind. "I guess... I can try to get a little sleep..." He muttered.

"Good. Morning will be here sooner than you think..." Gourry replied, slipping back to sleep himself.


"Excuse me, but I was wondering if you could help us. We're looking for some people." Zelgadis said to the baffled-looking woman at the inn that they had visited. After getting some sleep, they set out to the nearby village to get any information on their friends. The woman at the inn had gotten an incredibly surprised look on her face to see six very different-looking people enter her inn at one time, obviously in a group.

"Wh-what do you need to know about?" She asked.

"We're looking for a young woman and a small child." Zelgadis explained.

"A young woman and a small child...?" The woman began, looking contemplatively at the group of travellers. "You're not talking about... Miss Amelia and Zara, are you?"

As soon as Lina heard the boy's name, she practically grabbed Christine. "What? You know them? Where are they? What happened to them? They were here?"

"Th-they..." Christine stammered, a shocked look on her face.

Gourry put his hand on Lina's shoulder. "Calm down." He murmured.

"They stayed the night here- part of it, anyway. They were rather late getting in, but they checked out early this morning. I think they were looking for you." Christine replied.

"So they were here? Just now?" Zelgadis asked hopefully.

"Yes, I actually had a long discussion with Miss Amelia. You wouldn't happen to be her husband, would you?" Christine asked.

"That's me." Zelgadis nodded.

"And you two are... Zara's parents...?" She continued, turning to Lina and Gourry.

"He doesn't have any others." Lina replied.

Christine nodded. "Okay, and you must be her friend." She said to Filia.

"That's right." Filia responded.

Christine motioned toward Lorelei and Xellos. "Are these two yours?" She asked the dragon.

"M-mine? As in my children?" Filia gasped.

"WHAT?" Lorelei and Xellos practically fell over in shock.

"E-excuse me, miss, but I'm afraid you're horribly, horribly mistaken." Xellos replied, trying to recover from his shock.

"Yeah! The only parent I have is my father!" Lorelei agreed, flashing a pointed look at Xellos that no one noticed but its intended recipient.

"They're not mine, just some friends." Filia agreed.
"Oh, I see." Christine replied, blushing slightly. "I'm sorry, I just assumed..."

"Forget that! Can you tell us where Amelia and Zara went?" Lina continued.

"I'm sorry." Christine sighed in reply. "I just know that they left searching for you. I wish I could be of more help."

"Fine, fine. We'll find them, don't worry." Gourry said, trying to reassure the woman and the rest of his friends as well. "Come on, you guys." Gourry began to leave, quickly followed by Lina, Zelgadis, Lorelei, and Xellos. Filia stayed for a moment to offer a polite 'thank you' to Christine before following her friends.

The friends made their way through the town, searching for any clues as to where Amelia and Zara could have gone. Obviously Lina and Zelgadis were at the front, with Gourry sticking close to Lina's side. Filia let them do the leading, and just muttered to herself. "I don't see how in the world that woman could have assumed that Lorelei and Mister Enrico were my kids... we don't even look alike... well, except for his hair..."

"Hey, don't worry about it, Miss Filia." Xellos replied, hearing her complaints. "Hey, here's an idea! If you married Lorelei's father, then you'd be just like her mom! Right?"

"Say WHAT?" Filia asked in disgust. "How could you possibly suggest such a repulsive thing? Marry HIM? NEVER! I wouldn't stand for it! I hate him!"

"Whoa, whoa! I was just kidding! Don't get so worked up, Miss Filia!" Xellos couldn't help smiling at Filia's outburst- it was exactly the reaction he had hoped for-, but he felt an odd pang of some other emotion as well. The closest thing he could compare it to was... disappointment? But why would he be disappointed? Geez, humans made no sense sometimes...

"We're getting nowhere." Lina announced. "Maybe it would be better if we split up and searched separately."

"That sounds like a good idea." Xellos agreed. "Okay, Lina and Gourry can search one place, then Miss Filia and Lorelei can go another, so that just leaves...

"Don't even think about it." Zelgadis growled. "I'm not going with you. You can count on that."

"Mister Zelgadis! Why are you all so mean to him?" Filia gasped.

"Oh, if you only knew..." Zelgadis muttered, but he decided against revealing Xellos right then. He and Lina had refrained from saying anything to Filia yet, because they figured that they could eventually use his identity as blackmail- and having anything to hold over Xellos' head was always nice. "Anyway, Enrico, you can go with Filia and Lorelei."

"Fair enough." Xellos sighed.


"Amelia, what do we do? We've been searching all morning and haven't found anything helpful." Zara asked.

"We just have to keep going, Zara-chan. I'm sure that we'll find them, if not here, then somewhere." Amelia replied. The two of them had been looking around the town for quite a while. Amelia wondered what the chances would be that their friends were actually there, but she didn't want to leave, in case their friends made it to the town and were looking for them as well. Hadn't she always been told as a little girl that, if she ever got separated from the group, to stay where she was in order for the group to find her again? Of course, she wasn't a little girl anymore- that had been almost 16 years ago. And the circumstances here were kind of... different...

Suddenly, Amelia felt her hand being tugged in another direction. Zara was pulling her toward something. "Zara-chan, what is it...?"

Zara answered her question, but he wasn't talking to Amelia. "Filia! Filia! Hey, Filia!" He called out, waving frantically.

The golden dragon heard the familiar voice calling her, and turned around quickly to see Zara running towards her, dragging Amelia with him. "Z-Zara-chan! Miss Amelia!" She gasped.

"Filiaaaaaa~!" Zara wailed, throwing himself at the dragoness in a large hug. Filia was too shocked at first to do anything.

"Miss Filia! Oh, thank goodness we found you! We've been looking all over for you!" Amelia exclaimed.

"What happened? How did you get here? Did you escape?" Filia asked, not sure how to react.

"Yes! We managed to escape- where are Zelgadis and the others? Are they with you?" Amelia asked.

"We split up to search for you." Filia explained. "They should be around here somewhere... Lorelei and Enrico were just with me a second ago, but I don't know where they went..."

"ZARA!" Xellos and Lorelei had finally caught up to Filia, and Lorelei was shocked to see that her best friend had caught up to them already.

"Lorelei!" Zara yelled, running up and throwing his arms around her. "We were so lost and I was really scared and I missed you and I wasn't sure if we were going to find you and, and..."

"Well, I'm just glad you're safe. Didn't Valgaav try to kill you?" Lorelei replied.

"He did, but we somehow managed to escape." Amelia replied. "But..." Her voice trailed off slightly. "We... we found out... what they're trying to do..."

"You found out their goal?" Xellos gasped. "What are they after?"

"Well-" Amelia began, but Filia cut her off.

"We should find Miss Lina and the others first. I know they'll want to see Miss Amelia and Zara-chan." She said.

"Of course." Amelia nodded.

"Yeah! Where's Lina and Gourry?" Zara asked.

"This way." Filia said, and Amelia and Zara followed closely behind.


"Zelgadis~!" Amelia yelled, half-hugging, half-tackling the chimera. She hoped that he wouldn't be too surprised, as he hadn't exactly seen her sneak up behind him.

"A-A-Amelia?" He gasped, sure for a moment that his mind was deceiving him. "Y-you're... how did you... when did...?" Zelgadis was unable to finish a sentence.

"Huh? Amelia?" Lina gasped, catching up to the two of them, with Gourry following closely behind. "Where's-"

"Lina~!" Zara yelled, running up and hugging her tightly.

"Oh! Zara!" Lina exclaimed, picking up the boy, practically crushing him in her grip.

"Hey! You made it back!" Gourry said, smiling at Zara.

"Gourry~!" Zara reached up from Lina's arms, and Gourry bent down, allowing the small boy to throw his arms around his neck. Zara was so glad to see both of them.

"How in the world did you two manage to escape?" Zelgadis asked, finally getting over his initial astonishment.

"We had to run away... er, Ray Wing away..." Amelia explained. "They came after us, but I managed to distract Valgaav with a white magic spell just long enough to escape."

"So they were trying to kill you?" Filia gasped.

"Yeah. That's what they kidnapped us for." Amelia replied.

"So this was almost... really bad..." Zelgadis murmured, tightening his grip around Amelia.

"Enough about all this mushy nonsense. You're safe and that's good." Xellos spoke up. "But tell us more of what you were saying earlier. You said that you figured out what they were up to?"

"Right..." Amelia replied. "You see... they have... well, it's... it's like a... uh..." She was too nervous to put her thoughts into words.

"A what?" Lorelei asked.

"It's a weird crystal-thing with a scary voice!" Zara said.

"A scary voice? A crystal?" Lina asked. "What are you talking about?"

"It's a crystal that they have... and inside of it..." Amelia began.

"What's inside?" Filia asked.

"Quit winding us up like this and spit it out!" Lorelei growled.

"I-inside... they apparently... have the spirit of the Demon Dragon King Gaav!" Amelia finally choked out.

The group fell deathly quiet.

Xellos was the first to speak up again. "I should have known that if Valgaav and El-chan were up to something, it would involve Gaav!"

"But what are they trying to do with it?" Gourry asked.

"Duh? What do you think? They obviously want to revive him!" Lina said.

"Miss Lina is right. They want to help him get back to normal." Amelia replied.

"That's... terrible!" Filia said. "Can't we do something?"

"So that's what they need the blue moon for. To perform the ritual." Xellos observed.

"You know about this, Mister Enrico?" Filia asked.

"I know a little bit about it..." Xellos replied. "Although what I have heard is only rumours... it's supposedly a spell that can revive a fallen Dark Lord with all of their original power. Not only can it only be performed on the night of a blue moon, but it also requires the help of nine ancient relics that power the spell. These relics were created by the monster race a long time ago, but now they have been left around and used by humans... and eventually forgotten by the humans. I wasn't sure if the spell was real or not, but it seems that it might be..."

"Xe- er, Enrico," Lina began. "Is one of the relics in the shape of a deer head?"

"I think it might be. I'm not sure what they all are. Why?" He replied.

"Well, when we were attacked by Elmyria on the isle of the Temple of the Stag, the relic she was trying to get was shaped like the skull of a deer."

"I see..." Xellos said, looking thoughtfully at the sky. "Well... I guess we have a start, now that we know what they're after..."

"Hey Lina, I have a question." Gourry spoke up.

"What is it?" Lina asked.

"Well... What is a blue moon? I've never seen a moon that was actually blue before."

Lina put her face in her palm. "Oh, how did I know you were going to ask that? Listen, let me explain it to you. The moon doesn't actually turn blue. You know how every season has three full moons? Like winter. The last full moon was the early winter moon. The next one will be the midwinter moon. Then the next one should be the late winter moon, but this year winter has four full moons instead of three. So... to keep the late winter moon the last moon of the season, the third full moon is called a blue moon. Got it?" Lina asked, already knowing the answer.

"I haven't the slightest idea what you just said." Gourry replied.

"Right... of course not..." Lina sighed. "Well, we're not getting anything accomplished by just standing around here, so let's get moving."

"Moving? Moving where?" Filia asked.

"Where we were going earlier. Home, remember?" Lina said. "Once we get there, we'll be able to get some rest and figure out what to do."

"Sounds good." Xellos replied. "I think everyone in our group could use some rest."

Filia sighed. "Then I guess we're heading toward Miss Lina and Mister Gourry's house..."


Yay! Everyone is back together! ^.^ But now they know what El-chan and Valgaav are up to... things are going to get interesting from here, I suppose...