Just Waiting

Part Twenty-Two H, Day 88 – 2 Days to Go

By Relm

"Miss Filia who is your maid of honour? We know Mister De Tanga is Mister Xellos' best man." Amelia wondered excitedly. Yes she would love to be the maid of honour but even if she wasn't she was fine that. She was going to be a bridesmaid after all.

"Well that is a bit of a problem... I haven't decided..." Filia sweatdropped. "Partly because with De Tanga, Mister Zelgadis and Mister Gourry as Xellos' groomsmen it's uneven to my bridesmaids as I have only you and Miss Lina." She explained.

"Don't you have someone in town that could be your third?" Lina suggested. Filia had been in her town for quite a while that should have been more than enough time to make a few girlfriends.

"Filia doesn't need to." Zelgadis interjected. "Because I'm not going to be one of Xellos' groomsmen."

"Mister Zelgadis you have to!" Amelia exclaimed. "Mister Xellos is expecting you to!"

"I don't care."

Filia laughed nervously before continuing on with Lina's question. "Well Miss Lina to answer your question there are people in town I could ask... but they have all been pestering me to pick one of them since the date was announced. If I pick one of them they all will get angry with me."

"Well you don't have to be so traditional, you could have a guy be one of your bridesmaids." Gourry suggested.

"I'll gladly be a best man for you." Zelgadis offered taking Filia's hand in his.

Both Lina and Amelia hit Zelgadis down with their boots.

"Mister Zelgadis you can't be serious!" Amelia protested.

"And even if you did things would still be uneven!" Lina added.

"Who's walking you down the aisle?" Gourry wondered.

"I would gladly-" Zelgadis started to say but got clobbered again before he could finish his sentence.

"Val is walking me down the aisle. Maybe I could ask Gravos or Jilas to walk me and Val could be my best man." Filia mused. "Do you think he would?"

"If not I-" Again Zelgadis tried to offer.

"Can it Zel!" Lina growled. "If Val does it then he'd have to walk down the aisle with that De Tanga guy. Do you think that would bother him?"

Filia shook her head. "No he likes De Tanga. So I don't see that being a problem. And it's not like I'm going to make him wear a dress."

"What's the story with this De Tanga guy? How do you know him?" Lina asked with an eyebrow raised. Filia wasn't one to be friendly with monsters on a good day. So even if you were able to believe that somehow she managed to get over her dislike enough to get involved with Xellos it didn't seem like she would befriend another monster as well.

Filia nervously laughed. "Well that's... a long story."

"Which you're going to explain." Lina prompted her. "He's a monster Filia. And you don't like monsters. You gotta see how this seems to us. First of all we get invited to your wedding to Xellos and now you're friends with another monster? You do realize how strange this all seems to us."

"Well... um... you know who De Tanga is right?"

"Yeah he's the priest of Deep Sea Dolphin." Amelia added.

"I know none of you were born yet when the war of the monster's fall occurred so there might be some details you may not know about it. Most of the monsters were active in this war, except Deep Sea Dolphin. Her involvement was sporadic and much of her minors played little or no roles in the war. De Tanga was one of those such monsters. Deep Sea Dolphin never made her priest take part in the war. And for good reason, he isn't like most monsters." Filia explained. "De Tanga doesn't feed on negative emotions. He's probably the only living monster that feeds on positive ones."

Lina frowned at this little tidbit of information. "Positive emotions? I didn't think that was possible..."

"De Tanga is 'special' that's for sure. He doesn't have the evil essence that other monsters have."

"Well that's like a person smelling like what they ate when they sweat." Zelgadis observed.

"Exactly." Filia agreed nodding her head. "De Tanga's actually a good man who doesn't do evil things like his kin. Despite the fact that Xellos is his best friend."

"That' explains why you would befriend him... but how did you meet him?" Lina grilled Filia some more.

"It was a chance meeting, or I thought it was. He came to me purposing an idea. A way to really make Xellos squirm. But I had no idea what De Tanga's real plans were. De Tanga saw something different in Xellos, and that was actually because of me. What De Tanga really intended to do was to get Xellos and I together so that we could both be happy."

"Maybe this De Tanga guy casted a spell to make you both think you were in love with each other." Zelgadis mused thinking that that was a far better explanation then Filia and Xellos actually secretly being in love.

"Mister Zelgadis!" Amelia protested. "How can you suggest such cynical scenarios? Can't you see this is just the result of true love shining through despite all adversity? In the darkest hopeless spots love can sprout eternal!" Amelia was once again standing tall on the desk pointing to the ceiling in a triumphant pose.

"It's probably a spell." Lina agreed with Zelgadis while completely ignoring Amelia.

Amelia faltered and fell off the desk. "Oww..."

"It's not a spell I can assure you." Filia waved her hands in the air. "Believe me I would love it more than anything to know that these horrible feelings are something conjured up by magic. But I know it's not. You can't choose the people you... love... the heart chooses who it wants."

"How can you be so sure that De Tanga didn't do anything?" Gourry wondered while frowning. Sometimes Gourry did get lost in conversations for lack of paying attention. But this time he was trying really hard to follow along and he was still feeling a bit lost. Xellos and Filia... it just seemed so... unnatural.

"Well..." Filia couldn't fight the blush creeping up her face. "De Tanga and I... got close during that time. We started to develop feelings for each other."

"If Mister De Tanga is a good monster why would settle for Mister Xellos instead?" Amelia had to ask.

"Hey weren't you going on about that eternal love crap just a moment ago?" Lina snapped.

"Well it's just... Mister De Tanga does seem like he's a lot nicer and would be a better fit for Miss Filia..." Amelia mumbled.

"I agree, why don't you marry De Tanga and Gourry and I will be his groomsmen." Zelgadis suggested.

Lina rolled her eyes and ignored both of them. "Okay so you and De Tanga had a 'thing' going so obviously De Tanga would have wanted to have you all to himself. Therefore he would have just broken the love spell if he had casted one in the first place."

"Right." Filia nodded. "There was no love spell."

"Okay why Xellos instead of De Tanga?"

"Well..." Filia trailed off. She didn't want to tell them the whole story. Most of the details were embarrassing enough. No self respecting golden dragon should be so easily swept off their feet by a monster like she did. "I didn't want to 'pick' Xellos. If given a choice I would have gladly chosen De Tanga. But..."

"You weren't in love with De Tanga. You were in love with Xellos." Lina finished off Filia's sentence.

"I know it's horrible!" Filia cried out tears falling freely down her face. "I don't want to be in love with Xellos! He's such a vile horrible creature! To think a once righteous golden dragon sullying myself being attached to such a thing! Oh how my ancestors must be turning in their graves. It's so shameful!"

"Then don't marry him!" Lina exclaimed.

"Oh I can't do that." Filia insisted with her face suddenly clear of all tears. "I'm getting married tomorrow."

Lina, Amelia and Zelgadis facefaulted while Gourry just stood there confused. To make matters worse Filia was getting stars in her eyes thinking about her wedding.

"My dress is so pretty! It's all white with lace, crystal and pearl embellishments." Filia gushed happily.

"Filia you were just upset a moment ago..." Lina commented clearly disturbed by this sudden change. "Now you're happy about the wedding...?"

"Well it's a very pretty dress." Filia insisted.

More collective facefaulting.

...

De Tanga had seen the ferocity of an Inverse's appetite before so it was unlikely for him to be surprised by this meal. So when the waitress brought everything that he and Luna had ordered to their table De Tanga wasn't shocked about the amount. Even not seeing how the Inverse family eats De Tanga knew by Lina Inverse eating reputation that they can eat a lot. Though he had seen Luna eat breakfast with him before he hadn't really eaten with her too often. Nor had he seen Luna eat at the speeds and table manners that Lina was known for. He expected that Luna would eat much cleaner and with better table manners than her little sister. But he didn't expect her to be a speed eater.

From the moment the food was placed in front of her Luna was at it at alarming speeds. It was so quick that you almost couldn't see her hands. They were a blur across the plates with the food rapidly disappearing. He didn't even see Luna putting the food into her mouth to chew and swallow. It was just gone.

As De Tanga sat there gawking at Luna's table habits Luna of course just had to take advantage of this. So while De Tanga was distracted Luna started to steal from De Tanga's plates.

De Tanga didn't notice this right away till he noticed his roll was gone. "Hey! Stay away from food you thief!"

Luna giggled in between bites.

All in all the lunch was going well until they were interrupted by a blood curdling scream.

"What was that?" De Tanga mumbled looking for the source of the shrieking.

Luna didn't need to look to see where the screams were coming from. Instead she cursed liked a sailor.

Just outside the inn was Lina, Gourry, Amelia and Zelgadis. The foursome had failed in trying to persuade Filia to call off her wedding and were now in search of places to eat.

It happened when Zelgadis pointed to that very cafe Luna and De Tanga were eating. Amelia made the comment that De Tanga was sitting at one of the patio tables. Of course Gourry had to pose the question of who that woman De Tanga was eating with. And that's when Lina looked to see what where her friends were looking at.

And that's when Lina let out the blood curdling scream.

At first Zelgadis, Amelia and Gourry didn't understand why their 'leader' was screaming. It didn't make much sense, Lina was a fearless person. She was barely afraid of anything. So why was she so petrified and screaming? What could scare the bandit killer, dragon spooker, monster lord slayer?

Who but of course her older sister.

Back at the table De Tanga couldn't help but laugh. "Oh no, it's your sister." De Tanga realized with a smile. "I guess you don't get to terrorize her in her sleep."

Luna continued her cursing ignoring what De Tanga was saying to her. She was really disappointed; she was looking forward to scaring her in her own special way.

"My Miss Lina sure is afraid of you isn't she Miss Luna?" Xellos commented while taking a sip of his tea.

De Tanga snapped his head in Xellos' direction. "When did you- why did you-?" He mumbled clearly confused by his friend's sudden appearance. But given that it was Xellos it shouldn't have been so surprising.

Over by the inn Lina's traveling companions were still not understanding why Lina was screaming. She was now running around like a headless chicken while shrieking

"Lina get a hold of yourself!" Zelgadis shook Lina trying to snap her out of it. Unfortunately grabbing a hysterical can be a dangerous thing. Once Zelgadis grabbed her Lina's hands clenched onto Zelgadis' arms so tightly that Zelgadis thought his arms were going to be snapped off.

"Why is Lina acting like that?" Gourry wondered not seeing what's so scary about that cafe.

"I think it's that person that Mister De Tanga is eating with." Amelia explained to Gourry. "But who is that woman?"

"I'm thinking... grrr... it's... Lina's... older sister..." Zelgadis grimaced as Lina was still squeezing the life out of him.

Once Zelgadis said the word sister Lina shrieked even louder. "L-l-l-l-una!" And with that the dragon spooker fainted. But given what she had been doing to Zelgadis' arms Zelgadis didn't have the strength to hold onto her so he dropped her onto the ground.

Alarmed De Tanga phased over to the foursome. "Is Miss Lina alright?" De Tanga wondered looking at the redhead. "She's still breathing."

Luna on the other hand sauntered over with a not so pleased look on her face. "She fainted?" Luna commented dryly.

"Looks like." De Tanga confirmed it.

Zelgadis, Gourry and Amelia didn't know too much of Lina's older sister Luna, just that she was a very scary woman. And just the aura of her presence was enough to confirm that. Something about the look of that purple haired woman was enough to make you feel like your stomach had turned to ice.

Luna did the only thing she could think of doing at that moment. She kicked Lina. "Get up you whimp!"

"Luna!" De Tanga protested. "She's not even conscious! You should wait till she's awake before you try and kill her!" He growled at her.

"If I was trying to kill her I would have kicked harder." Luna retorted defensively.

Though Lina was their friend Zelgadis, Amelia and Gourry found themselves backing up slowly and ready to run.

"Come on now let's get back to our lunch. You can terrorize your sister later." De Tanga grabbed Luna and started to drag her off. Right away as he did this he felt the burning angry rage building in the monster slayer. How dare he manhandle her?

Luna glared at him completely surprised he'd be so bold. "You're telling me what to do?" She snapped at him with her voice full of anger.

"Yes I am!" He growled back. "And I know you'll do what I want because secretly you like it when I boss you around!"

Luna narrowed her eyes at him. "You're playing a very dangerous game De Tanga."

"I love danger." He looked her right in the eye as if dare her to accept this indirect admission. He had a devilish grin plastered to his face as he wondered how Luna would react. If was that fine line between affection and death that attracted him to her in the first place.

Luna of course had to grin back at him. "One of these days I might kill you." She warned him.

"I'll die with a smile." He assured her. "Now seriously let's get back to the cafe. We wouldn't want the waitress to think we dined and dashed. And if you don't go back with me I'll just eat the rest of your food."

"If you did that I would surely kill you." Luna said with a laugh.

Over where Lina had fallen her comrades just looked on with fear in their hearts.

"Mister De Tanga and Miss Luna seem to have a strange relationship." Amelia mused while still shaking in fear.

Gourry and Zelgadis deftly nodded in agreement. Both men had gained respect for the monster priest; De Tanga was definitely a brave man.