Beginning Note: SQUEEEEEEEEE! I'm starting to collect Lost Universe. I can't wait to watch it. Oh, and I'm still going through that 'idiot-phase' of my life. Beware the annoying comments. Anyways, I wasn't too slow this time, was I? I hope not I tried to update fast! Without further ado...
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN SLAYERS... But... pleeeease let me tell you a really quick story before you read this delicious chapter of Stone Cold? Please? Okay... I art class I made this CREEPY Zelgadiss mask with LIPS! I'm scared to look at it and i think I'm going to get a bad grade on it! Seriously, it could scare little children! Alright, I'm done.
Chapter 14: ALL RIGHT! A New Journey has Begun!
After deciding that Firia and Xelloss would be coming along on the journey, the night had been far from over. All six of the old friends had met in one of the inn rooms and talked for a long time about the trip that was lying ahead of them, well into the night. Zelgadiss had mentally admitted to himself that the book's contents sounded too good to be true. Since when did deserted white magic buildings just appear into thin air? And how come he hadn't heard or read anything about this before? Surely this same information would have turned up SOMEWHERE. And why was it in a normal-looking but ancient book of white magic history? Zelgadiss couldn't understand it. But, oh well. It was worth a shot.
Anyways, the book hadn't given many details about the location. Just the general area- which was out in the middle of nowhere. But Lina, having explored many parts of the world, insisted that if they wouldn't have much of a problem finding the area. Zelgadiss was fairly confident with his knowledge of the world as well, but decided to leave all the finding up to Lina since she loved to be in charge.
The LEGNTH of the trip wouldn't be a problem, since it was actually pretty close to the area they were in. But the main thing that caused the twisted, nervous feeling in the pit of Zelgadiss's stomach was the fact that everyone who had tried to get in had died. Why was that?
Zelgadiss tried not to think too much about it. Morning light was just beginning to shine through the windows of his inn room (which he was sharing with Gourry). In just a couple hours, all six of them would be on the road. Zelgadiss really had no idea what to expect. After all, Xelloss had agreed to actually TRAVEL with all of them for most of the trip. He usually just hung around sometimes and ditched them other times. What could that Mazoku be up to? It didn't matter. They would most likely find out soon enough.
Zelgadiss felt shivers coursing through his body, and it wasn't because the blankets on his bed were paper-thin. He was nervous about whether the cure would be found or not. An annoying voice in his head told him that they definitely wouldn't- and he had to agree with it. There was just too thin of a chance. White magic was such a broad topic...
Ugh. Why was he always thinking so negatively? People like Ameria who always looked at the bright side used to make him feel sick. But now... now Zelgadiss just wished that he was more like Ameria. If he could just convince himself that he would find a cure soon.
Zelgadiss sighed, drawing the blankets closer to his body. He could hear Gourry snoring softly, and wished he could be sleeping as well. No sleep meant that he would be in a grouchy mood all day. And Ameria would get at him for pouting. Aaaaagh... Zelgadiss half-wished that he could travel alone. But no. The horrible lonely feeling that had spread throughout his body just a few days ago had been too much. Zelgadiss knew deep inside that he truly wanted to travel in a group. Maybe just not with XELLOSS though... With Lina's yelling, Gourry's brainless comments, Firia's outbursts, AND Xelloss's pranks, Zelgadiss wasn't sure how he would survive. And Ameria? She was okay. She hardly ever shot off onto one of those justice speeches- and when she did Zelgadiss got the satisfaction of watching Xelloss's reaction.
Yeah... this journey seemed as if it would be better for him, socially. Besides, Zelgadiss felt as if he had to make it up to Ameria. Sure, he had said sorry. It had been hard for him, too. But it hadn't been enough. He had to show Ameria that he wouldn't treat her like that again. So he was going to try and get along with everyone, not sulk so much. After all, she had continued searching for a cure for him even AFTER he had treated her so harshly. Since when did anyone care about him that much?
Zelgadiss squinted as the morning light brightened through the half-open green curtains. Lina would probably be awake soon. She would wake everyone up with yelling like always. And where were Xelloss and Firia anyways? The last Zelgadiss had seen of them had been was at the end of their nighttime conference. The two of them had left... to another inn or something. Oh wait. The other inn was just a pile of blackened ash. So that meant that XELLOSS was somewhere in this inn! The thought of that made him shiver in disgust. And worry about the girls a bit.
Fed up with lying in bed for so long, Zelgadiss quietly pulled the covers from his body and sat dangling his legs from the edge of the bed. He was met with an unpleasant rush of cold air. Sheesh. It was freezing! Zelgadiss blinked his showing eye sleepily, rubbing warmth onto his hands and arms briskly. He decided to get fully dressed in his usual clothes and cape to warm himself up. Right now he was only wearing a loose, pale gray outfit. No wonder he was cold! The shirt was short-sleeved.
Stumbling clumsily from his bed, Zelgadiss made his way over to the tiny closet that allowed them a bit of storage. He opened the sliding door and was greeted with his light tan clothes hanging neatly in the closet- and Gourry's normal blue outfit tossed sloppily all over the bottom of the closet. Urrrgh... Gourry... Zelgadiss kicked Gourry's clothes out of the way. Lina was rubbing off on Gourry. The swordsman had never left his clothes just thrown on the ground a few years ago when he and Zelgadiss had first begun sharing inn rooms. Zelgadiss reached above his head and pulled the folds of hanging clothes down into his arms. He was just beginning to remove his loose shirt when the door to the inn room was thrown violently open.
"OIIIIIII! LAZIES! GET UP!" Lina's fully-awake voice echoed through the entire room. Zelgadiss flinched and clapped a hand over his ear that was closest to the door. Lina had gotten up a bit earlier then he had thought. She must have been anxious. He could hear Lina stomping down the hallway- to yell at Xelloss, probably.
Gourry groaned in exhaustion, stretching one of his arms above his head. He was mumbling some sort of gibberish. Zelgadiss closed the door to the inn room and continued changing. In a minute or so, he was all ready to go. Gourry was just truly waking up, rubbing his sleep-filled eyes gingerly with his fists. As anxious to get going as Lina, Zelgadiss left the room at a brisk pace, hoping to also settle Lina down before she got them kicked out of the inn.
OOOOOOO
Unable to sleep, Firia and Ameria had been spending breakfast together in the café that was joined with the inn. They had been hoping to have a peaceful chat together, being the two most girlish members of the current team. But unfortunately, a trickster of a priest had shown up almost right away to crash their peace. He was floating above the table, sipping tea and infuriating Firia. Ameria was getting tempted to try to 'Life is wonderful' strategy, but was afraid that Xelloss would fall right and top of their table and attract a lot of unneeded attention. So, instead, she had silently warned Firia to put up with him. He was acting a bit better then normal, after all.
"So, Firia-san... Are you looking forward to this trip?" Ameria asked, glaring dangerously at Xelloss as she tried to make her voice sound normal. The flowery, pink teacup in Firia's hand was shaking so hard that Ameria was sure that Firia was going to spill tea everywhere.
"Well..." Firia fought to keep her voice steady and calm, "Everything except spending all day with a certain... namagomi..." Her voice broke off and she began to squeeze the handle of her teacup so hard that Ameria was sure it was going to break any second.
"Oh? And who would that namagomi be?" Xelloss sipped at his tea, using his annoyingly innocent tone of voice once again.
"Now, now Firia-san!" Ameria stammered nervously, fearing a rabid mace attack, "Calm down..."
"Yes, Firia-san, calm down," Xelloss teased, the negative emotions steaming from her like a boiling teakettle providing him with pleasure. Firia's face turned a furious shade of red and her golden tail shot from underneath her dress. She was one step away from 'macing' the area.
"Xelloss..." Ameria hissed, deciding to risk the whole 'Life is wonderful' thing. She was just sucking in a deep breath to begin a string of justice-y and wonderful things, when...
"XELLOSS! WHERE ARE YOU!" Lina's voice blasted through just about everywhere in the inn. The force of the sound made Xelloss, Firia's and Ameria's hair blow backward. It even looked as if the glass in the area would crack in a second (luckily, it didn't).
"Um... Xelloss-san. I think that Lina-san is calling you," Ameria flashed him a triumphant smile, glad that he had a reason to stop pestering them.
"And she sounds angry," added Firia, looking just as victorious. Xelloss shot them an icy glare, his eyes half open. This quieted the girls down instantly.
"Lina-san's just upset because I've been purposely hiding from her all morning. She's been trying to find me to pry out secrets from me most likely. Or something like that," Xelloss muttered, a bitter look on his face.
"I might as well listen to her before she explodes the place. Maybe tease her a bit to make the most of the situation." His discouraged face was replaced with his usual grin, and with that, the priest teleported away. Firia let out a sigh of relief and exhaustion, allowing her tail to fade away. Ameria also sighed with relief, but because of Firia, not Xelloss. Ameria had never felt exceptionally close to Firia- at least not like she was with the others. When someone had a temper like Firia's, Ameria tried to avoid them as politely as possible (except for Lina, of course, who made herself unavoidable).
"If Lina-san is awake, then that means that we will probably be leaving fairly soon," Ameria remarked, butterflies beginning to flutter in her stomach. She always got a tiny bit nervous before the group left on a new adventure. Simply because LINA was involved. And Lina's middle name was 'violence'. Or maybe 'trouble'? Or maybe just 'pitifully selfish'?
"Oh. We'd better make sure we have our little amount of supplies ready to go," She added. This time, Ameria had made sure to hide her Seyruun crest securely in her coin pouch, and had even gone as far as using an improvised version of the barrier spell on the crest so Lina couldn't get a hold of it easily. When Phil had seen the bill last time... ugh. It had been horrible. Ameria never wanted to repeat that nightmare. Lina spent money without hesitation when it wasn't her own.
"I hope that Valgaav doesn't hatch while we're on the trip. I don't want any Mazoku germs rubbing off on him," Firia muttered while Ameria dug through the contents of her coin pouch. Oh yes, that was right. Firia had brought Valgaav along on the trip. She had mentioned that sometime earlier this morning.
"AMERIA. FIRIA! WE'RE ALL WAITING ON YOU!" Lina's voice screeched through the area once again.
"Oh, shoot! We'd better get over to her room number before she explodes the place," Ameria exclaimed, scampering out of the café's door. Lina was probably even more upset since Xelloss had mentioned teasing her. But, just think- in just a few minutes, they would be traveling to a source that just might be Zelgadiss's cure.
End Note: Eh-heh... this chapter? Well, I dunno. I think it turned out okay. Kind of on the boring side, right? But I felt like I couldn't just plunge into the journey after chapter 12, so I added this one. My self esteem awful. I need to listen to the Standing Tall tape with the parrot. RAAAAWK! YOUR BEST FRIEND IS YOURSELF! RAAAAAAWK! Who's listened to the Standing Tall tapes? I listened to them when I was a kid. They messed up my life, darn it! Okay, okay, I'll stop and leave you in peace to read the...
Response to Reviewers:
vampire cuttlefish: 'Burger-flipping'? Yep. I'd have to say that lack of intelligence runs in this family. I'm kidding, I'm kidding! Anyways, thanks for the nice compliments- and I've already explained to you that Ameria 'gave' Zelgadiss the information in her white magic book.
Gerao-A: Well, technically, I don't have Slayers: GREAT yet. I'm getting it for Christmas. SQUEEE! Sorry, Naga will not be in this fic. I TRIED to squeeze her in somehow, seriously, but I couldn't. I'll try and make a fic with Naga in it later on... But I need to study her character more first- and right now I'm focusing all my attention on studying Rezo's character.
Mistress DragonFlame: Fair enough.
Maddy02: No complaining! YAY! I'm glad that you like all of my chapters. I seem to hate almost all of them. It's those self-esteem issues! ACK! Glad that you liked Ameria's advice- I thought it was corny so it's good to hear that others like it.
Motokonobaka: That meanie Xelloss. He manages to upset just about anyone. I wonder if Xelloss could make NAGA upset. Now, THAT would be interesting...
Yexis: Fragment sentences! I love those little guys. Except Mrs. Molina doesn't... sadness... This was a short little chapter, huh? And w/e... DARN THOSE w/e's! I'll burn them along with your inner demon- and on the fire I shall roast marshmallows! Oh, and update YOUR story soon, 'kay?
Ahria: Glad that I have kept your interest!
The reviewer section got long again! Yay! Let's KEEP it long, folks (Hint Hint). Up Next: The adventure FINALLY starts, though it's still just a mixture of conversations. We have a conversation between: Lina and Xelloss AND Zel and Ameria. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.