Author's Notes: I wrote most of this when I was very sleep deprived. So if I missed errors or it doesn't flow very well then you can blame that on lack of sleep. (1 hour of sleep in 34 hours)

Just Waiting

Part Twenty-Two E, Day Eighty-Eight – 2 Days to Go

By Relm

While Luna helped Val whip the waiting staff into shape Lina and company went to the inn to check in.

"Wow's it's busy in here!" Gourry exclaimed as the four of them entered the inn.

"And look whose manning the check in desk." Zelgadis commented dryly motioning to the large man at the desk.

"It's Mister Gravos! Hello!" Amelia waved excited trying to get the gray skinned man's attention.

Gravos looked up and saw the group of four. He somewhat shuddered and went to tending to the guests.

"Well that wasn't very friendly." Amelia pouted putting her hands on her hips.

"Well given that the last time he saw us he was almost blasted off into space it's not too surprising that he's not thrilled to see us." Lina mused.

Zelgadis nodded in agreement. "He's actually lucky to be alive."

"May as well get in line. We're going to be in for a wait with all these people ahead of us." Lina yawned while stretching some of the kinks out of her muscles.

Xellos at that moment decided to phase into the room sporting a very welcoming smile. This probably would have been a nice smile to greet someone with had it been on a different face. But since it belonged to Xellos it was hard for it to be anything but suspicious. "Ah so good of you all to make it, my dear friends!"

"We're not your friends you fruitcake." Zelgadis right away snapped.

"Neh, Zelgadis you're so mean!" Xellos mock whined.

"Yes Mister Zelgadis that's not very nice!" Amelia agreed scolding Zelgadis. "He invited us to come to his wedding. We should be kind and grateful."

"Why thank you Amelia." Xellos smiled at Amelia and stuck out his tongue out at Zelgadis.

Zelgadis rolled his eyes. "That's assuming this wedding is even real."

"Of course it's real!" Xellos feigned offence. "Why else would I have sent out so many invitations?"

"As a big sick joke." Zelgadis retorted rather dryly.

"Come now is it so hard to believe that Filia would marry me?"

Almost everyone in the room collectively yelled out the word 'yes' at the same time.

"Hmmp! Well I'll have you know I am marrying Filia tomorrow. And you can even ask her yourself." Xellos dared them.

"Oh we intend to." Lina assured him. "But first we're going to check in. You better not have arranged something screwy with the rooms."

"Oh my Miss Lina do you really think I would do such a thing?" Despite the sugariness of his voice Xellos' devious smile plastered to his face didn't inspire confidence.

All four travelers collectively groaned. Now they were sure something was wrong with the rooms.

"If you aren't here for the wedding then you're going to have to go someplace else! NEXT!" Gravos boomed sending away another disgruntled customer.

"I'll bet he didn't even arrange a room for us." Zelgadis groaned.

"We're going to be stuck sleeping in the streets!" Amelia exclaimed.

"I want to sleep on a bed!" Gourry also whined. The trip to town hadn't been a nice one. They had to camp out several times and there was a lot of rain to contend with. Creature comforts like warm dry beds were something all four of them wanted Gourry especially. He'd gotten next to no sleep and was almost walking around like a zombie.

Lina was going to say something when she got that odd feeling again. 'Something isn't right here. There's something very very wrong.'

"Lina what's wrong? You look a little pale." Zelgadis observed.

Lina frowned. "It's probably nothing." She waved it off with a forced smile.

"You look afraid." Zelgadis mused. "But this whole monster/golden dragon wedding does sound like a disaster in the making. It's just as well that I sharpened my blade."

"You don't think there's going to be any attacks do you?" Amelia wondered out loud.

"Oh probably someone will either try to kill Xellos or Filia." Lina commented nonchalantly.

"Miss Lina! How can you be so calm about that?" Amelia protested.

"We were you really expecting everything to go on without a little assassin attempt?" Lina dared her.

"That's okay since we're here right? We'll keep things under control." Gourry smiled confidently.

"Yes I'm sure you'll all do a fine job." Xellos agreed.

"Oh no we're not going to do a thing unless you pay us." Lina said right away. "Otherwise we're just going to sit and watch."

"Miss Lina! You can't honestly mean to stand by while some dastardly fiend tries to kill Mister Xellos and Miss Filia do you?" Amelia of course had to protest.

"Oh we'll protect Filia of course." Lina assured the princess. "But not Xellos. They can kill him all they want."

Xellos sprouted a sweatdrop. "Your generosity is rather heart warming."

"NEXT!" Gravos yelled trying to get the foursome's attention. It was their turn.

"Hi Gravos!" Lina greeted him with a smile. "How are you?"

Gravos narrowed his one eye at her. "As well as I can be given that da boss is marrying that thing." He sneered glaring at Xellos.

"So Miss Filia really is marrying Mister Xellos?" Amelia exclaimed in pure shock.

"Yeah." Gravos mumbled not really sure of it himself.

"See? I told you she was marrying me." Xellos stated in an 'I told you so' sort of a voice.

"Why is Filia marrying Xellos anyway?" Zelgadis wondered.

"Darned if I know. It's not like her that's for sure." Gravos admitted.

"Is she being threatened into marrying him?"

Xellos frowned at Amelia comment. "I would never threaten my dear Filia into doing anything like that!"

Though Xellos stated this quite forcefully four sets of eyes looked to Gravos' one eye for the truth.

"If da boss is being threatened she ain't telling." Gravos somewhat confirmed Xellos' statement. "But I wouldn't be surprised if she's under some sort of a love spell. Her marrying Xellos is just so wrong on so many levels."

"Mister Xellos you should never put a person under a love spell!" Amelia scolded the monster priest. "One should only walk the path of marriage under the rapture of true unconditional love! To do so with falsified affections is unjust! You cannot force someone to love you no matter how evil or unlovable you are! Have faith that someone will overlook your flaws enough to love you. You maybe be vile, deceiving, annoying, and an evil monster but that doesn't mean you have to force someone to love and marry you!"

The smile that had been on Xellos' face became strained through Amelia's little triad. "Do you really think I would need to put Filia under a love spell to get her to marry me?"

Just as before when Xellos posed such a question most of the people in the room responded in a collective 'yes'. This caused the monster priest to frown.

"Anyway," Lina went to change the subject, "Gravos we'd like to check in before we grill Filia about the wedding."

"Let's see." Gravos went through the list of rooms Xellos had assigned for guests. "You're not on this list." He frowned going over the papers a few time.

"Oh my did I forget to book your rooms for you? How silly of me!" Xellos smiled sheepishly.

The four weary travelers all sighed.

"I'll check da bosses list. Yup here you are!" Gravos found Lina and company's names.

Xellos frowned. "Filia has her own list?"

Gravos glared at him. "Da boss made to fix some of the 'mistakes' you made." He sneered before producing two keys for Lina and company. "Da boss has got you four down for two rooms. I hope that's good since we don't have anything else free."

"Thanks Gravos, we'll see you later." Lina grabbed the two keys from him.

"Make sure if it's a love spell that's making the da boss be stupid enough to marry Xellos that you break it. Or talk some sense into her!" Gravos called out as Lina and company went up the stairs.

"We will!" Lina called back.

Xellos just frowned. "You do realize I'm still standing here." He glared at Gravos.

Gravos just ignored the monster and went to helping the next guest.

...

It didn't take long for Luna to have all the schedules worked out for the waiting staff and to make sure everyone knew what they were doing. Two ran away in tears but Luna was confident that remaining waiter/waitresses could handle things.

Val was both shocked and frightened by how Luna handled things. She was rude, forceful, and bossy but she knew what she was doing. It was very clear to the young ancient dragon that Luna knew her way around a restaurant. And it was also clear to him that you didn't want Luna Inverse as an enemy.

"So how do you know De Tanga?" Val asked once the staff was dismissed.

"He works for me at my restaurant." Luna explained.

"So you're his boss... and his date?" Val looked a little puzzled as he thought over these facts.

"Yes."

"Are you two... a couple?"

Luna frowned not quite sure how to properly answer this question. "He works for me." Luna clarified though her explanation was as clear as mud.

"So I guess that means you're not...?" Val prompted still wanting Luna to define her relationship with De Tanga.

"Why does that matter?" Luna huffed defensively.

"Since Mom picked... Xellos I was wondering if he was seeing anyone."

"You were hoping that he could get her to change her mind." Luna pointed out.

"Well I want Mom to be happy... just with someone else. And of course I want De Tanga to be happy. I would just prefer the two of them were happy with each other."

Luna frowned some more. "She's marrying Xellos." She stated rather sternly.

"Would it be so bad if she married De Tanga instead?"

"Yes!" Luna snapped right away. The moment she said it she could have kicked herself. It sounded so adamant and forced with no self control at all.

Now it was Val's turn to frown. "You're not a couple... but you're something..." Val observed seeing the error in his previous question.

"He works for me." Again Luna clarified.

"Who are you again?"

"Luna Inverse."

"You're related to Lina Inverse right?"

Luna nodded. "She's my little sister."

Val mulled over this piece of information as stories Filia told him about the battle against Dark Star came to mind. He knew that Luna Inverse was the 'Knight of Cepheid' and was Filia's first choice to save the world from that dark prophecy. That Luna Inverse was a very powerful person able to kill strong enemies with common items such as kitchen knives. Filia had also told Val about Luna's reputation of being the 'monster slayer'. That reputation was part of the reason why Filia had sought out Luna in the first place. "My mother told me about you... You don't like monsters."

"Neither does your mother and she's marrying one tomorrow." Luna snapped rather quickly.

"Well if the two of you are 'something' then I guess that's a good thing. He doesn't seem as bad as I was expecting him to be."

"He was a mess when I met him." Luna admitted. "Any other monster I probably would have killed him right on the spot. I took pity on him because he was so depressed."

"You obviously turned him around." Val observed. "But I gotta say you're very different from my mother."

"So? What does that mean?" Luna snapped.

"Well it's just that De Tanga thought he loved my mom... and you don't seem like her at all..."

"Are you saying that he couldn't be in love with me?" Luna's voice boomed with anger and growing rage.

Luna's aura frightened Val and made him want to hide. "No I don't mean that at all! I'm sure he's madly in love with you!" He stammered.

Luna smiled a satisfied smile. "I wouldn't say madly in love but he certainly is 'attached'." There was swelling of pride evident in her voice.

Val frowned. "Are you... 'attached' to him as well?"

"He works for me." Luna again clarified.

Val shook his head. One thing was for sure, it was doubtful that Val was ever going to get a straight answer out of the monster slayer in regards to her feelings towards the monster priest of Deep Sea Dolphin.