"I know we failed last time, but we had a lot less information, and were after the wrong target." explained Lina. "This time we have a better idea of what we need to do, so we can at least plan more realistically."
"And this time the Slayers will be at full force, perhaps for the first time ever! Gracia and I are joining you, whether daddy likes it or not." announced Amelia.
"Hey???" said Gracia and Phil, together.
She glared at Gracia and said "Yes you are. This is serious."
"Hmph!" retorted Gracia. "I am well aware of that..."
"Then do it." commanded Amelia in a voice unusually firm, even for her.
Gracia gave a "Eep!!!" and backed down.
Lina picked up her jaw...
Amelia looked at her father and said, much more gently, "If we fail there will be no stopping them, daddy, you know that, and you do too Gracia. We have to send the best force we possibly can, so there can be no saying "No" this time." She was unusually firm when she said this, and even her father had to give way.
"I would willingly join you in this adventure, but I know already I have to stay behind and prepare our last defence. But it will be grevious if neither of you return." said Phil.
Amelia gulped and nodded. "I understand, daddy, I really do, but, life goes on, and maybe there will be another chance. For some reason she glanced at Lemmy, who, after needing a minute to register gave a startled "Hey?" of her own.
Lina blinked several times and looked over to Zel, who was doing the same. Oh well, bizzare or not, it was not their affair...
Wait, was that the right word to use here???
"Er, yes, well, we will be thankful to have you all." said Lina, getting them back on track. "Now, we need to plan, I suppose, so I suggest the Slayers, how the hell did we get that name anyway? Oh well, later, now we need to go to a private place and do that and Phil you start on the worst case scenrio defence. And see if you can get ahold of those damned dragons somehow and tell them what's happening. It might help if they could try to negotiate a truce at least until the Sharadnigdo menace is dealt with, though I doubt they will listen..."
A short time later they were alone in a secluded sunny spot. Lina shook her head as she looked them over, then, suddenly...
Out of nowhere a "Lina Inverse Bunny Slipper Super Special Attack!" slapped Gracia upside the head, causing her to reel and fall down. This was followed by the sharp command "Speak! And don't leave anything out, got it?" The worst part was the evil grin of pure pleasure that came over Lina's face...
"Miss Lina!" shouted Amelia as she rushed over to her sister. "I mean... Lina..."
"What was that for?" pouted Gracia as she rubbed her cheek. "I haven't done anything, yet."
"All that time we traveled together, and you never once let on who you were. You call that nothing?"
"No, I call that none of your business." said Gracia standing back up. She got her old Naga the Superior look on her face and pointed at Lina and said "Nothing is what I call your flat chest." she boomed, bouncing her own impressive rack...
Lina couldn't help it. Old habits die hard. She went green and red and got all flustered. "They aren't flat!" she shouted.
On the sidelines Sylphiel gave Zel a sharp poke to get him out of his stunned trance. "Really, Zel, honey, I can do that too, anytime you want, just, in private, okay? Sheesh."
"Oh, okay..." said Zel, in a slightly slurred way as he shook his head to clear his mind...
Lemmy was worse. "Oooh, do guys really like that?" she asked Amelia, dreamily.
"Some do." the Princess replied. "You'll have to try it around the guy you have in mind, sometime, and find out." she added in a conspiratorial tone.
Lemmy nodded. Then shook her head. "N-no, have to do the mission first..." she sighed.
Lina restrained herself from attacking Gracia. If she was still in "Naga" mode the next thing she would do is start laughing, and Lina so desperately wanted to avoid that...
She looked over and caught part of the exchange between Amelia and Lemmy, and had both a concern and an idea. "Lemmy. Listen. We need all the help we can get, but if we are going to take Phil's daughters on this mission there won't be anyone special to protect him. I mean his guards are great and all that, but in all truth they don't hold a candle to you, Amelia or Gracia, as much as I hate to admit to the latter part of that sentence. I feel bad even asking you this, and you can say no, but would you consider being his special body guard for us? I mean, if all goes well, you'll be forced to serve by just standing and waiting, but if all goes wrong we will be dead and you'll be his best chance."
Lemmy looked suspicious, then thoughtful. "I don't want to abandon my friends, but your words have merit, Lina. Only, are you sure you have to take both his daughters?" she asked.
Lina nodded. "I'm sorry, but we do. See, magic will be more help here than anything else. Gourry with his magic Blast Blade and Zel with his Astral Vine ability will be better for our sword needs than a straight blade I'm afraid."
Lemmy looked hurt. "I - I suppose..." she said quietly.
Lina sighed. "Lemmy, I'm only asking, if you want to come that's okay too, I'm just trying to make sure we've covered all the bases as best we can. I don't mean this personally, please don't take it that way.
Lemmy gave a sad smile. "I know Lina, and I'm torn. I really do want to help you, your mission is Just and your cause is saving the world, they don't get more noble, but, Phillionel also needs to be protected. But without a magic blade will I really be any better defending him than his own troops?" she asked.
Lina blinked, despite herself. Phillionel??? Hoo boy...
Luna finally spoke up. "Stay or go, it's up to you, but I can help with the blade. Like you, I carry a collection of blades around, though I can hide them magically so people don't usually know. I have one that will be perfect for you, Miss Lemmy." With that she struggled to use her still clumbsy left hand to pull a ring filled with what looked like little sword charms from her belt.
"Please, let me help, Lady Luna." said Milgasa, as he stepped up beside her.
There was a general gasp, no one had seen him return, or felt him join them.
He smiled. "I mourn our mutual loss, but the mission remains undone and I don't abandon my commrades." he said quietly.
He took the ring from Luna and flipped through the sword charms. "Clever how this magic ring lets you reduce them to a small size. Now let me guess, Miss Lemmy has no magical ability that she's developed to the point that she could use what could be called an "ordinary" magical sword, so she needs a sword that is magical in it's own right but only needs a skilled user. This one." he said, taking a charm off the ring.
Luna smiled a warm, grateful smile. "Thank you for returning, My Lord..." she said. Then she took the charm and said "Yes, the very one." She muttered something that released the sword from the ring's charm and and suddenly the sword grew into a full fledged broadsword. She turned to Lemmy.
"A bit heavy for some women, but you should have no problem with a bit of practice to get used to the balance. This is yours, Miss Lemmy. She is a gift from the Knight of Ceiphied to a worthy companion. Keep her, make her a heirloom of your family, pass her on to someone deserving, just don't sell her, or give her away to an unworthy person. The charm is in her blade, you need only use her as a regular sword." she said as she handed the sword over to Lemmy.
Lemmy took it reverentially, almost as if a god were handing her a gift. "She, yes, this blade a she. She is beautiful. She is well made and strong, I can see that." She fell to her knees and bowed before Luna. "I promise on my honour and my life to be worthy of this gift." Then she looked up and asked "I cannot read the runes, what is her name?"
Luna smiled. "In our tongue, her name means "Without Measure", meaning that she is without equal or limit. She has been part of the collection of the Knights of Ceiphied for so long that she has faded into a legend, but, she is no legend. And a dangerous time such as this is the perfect time for her to reappear from the mists and live in the memories of men again. She is the "Blade Unbreakable", her runes name her... Excaliber..."
"Wow.." said Gourry, quietly.
"Amen to that..." added Zel.
Lemmy was so overwhelmed she wept in gratitude. Finally she blurted out a sincere "Th-thank you, Lady Luna, thank you..." When she could, she stood up. Then she reached down and gently patted her Katana. "Sorry Jack, you're now my number two sword. Please don't take it personally." Then she smiled and said "Thank You." to the sword, as if Jack had approved...
Lina just shook her head. Fetishists...
"But now, do I do better to join you with her, or do I do better to stay behind?" mused Lemmy.
"Look deep into your heart, Miss Lemmy, and you will find the answer." said Milgasa.
Lemmy closed her eyes and pondered deeply whle the others waited in silence. Lemmy had the right to make up her mind undisturbed, and her decision would determine their plans. They waited.
Finally she opened her eyes and spoke. "Though it is filled with concern for all of you, my heart bids me stay with His Majesty."
"Then that is the right choice, Miss Lemmy, trust me." said Sylphiel with a smile. Lemmy smiled back and nodded.
"Well then, let us decide what to do." said Lina as she got them back on track. "You!" she said, pointing her finger in Gracia's face "Tell us your story."
"Oh I don't know, plain commoners should say please, don't you think?" she smirked.
Lina got an evil grin, one fang even showed as she held up her hand and a fireball formed. "If you insist, how about I say "Pretty Please, with a Fireball on top?""
"Well, it all started as I was walking in the forest down by the sea in one or the other of those costal sates, name eludes me..." Gracia began, acting as if she didn't even see Lina, but nevertheless getting on with it in a very timely fashion. "I was approached by an elf who asked me if I could help them. He was related to that, oh what was his name, that elf child we helped so many years ago now, Sparrow?"
"Lark." corrected Lina, extinguishing the fireball.
"Oh yes. Lark. Well, after we helped him I got to go to their village and become an elf friend. That's good, because it means you can get help from the elves when you need it. Of course the downside is that they seem to think it works both ways.." Gracia went on.
"Oh, big sister..." sighed Amelia.
Gracia continued "So anyway I went with him and met some elders who had an important mission that only I was qualified to handle. Me. Not some insignificant rival."
"Do you know what this insignificant rival says to that?" snarrled Lina.
"Little sister." commanded Luna. Lina jumped and crouched back. "Sh - she says it's a good thing you were there..." she cringed...
Gracia cocked her eye at Luna. "Ah, the secret power of the big sister!" she smiled warmly.
Luna smiled back, the first time in a long time. "Yes, isn't it wonderful?" she nodded.
"No! No! Don't go becoming friends!!!" cried Lina.
Amelia cringed and said "Okay, but can we please hear the rest of the story first, before you two start abusing Lina and me? Please?"
Gracia sighed. "Well, okay, but only because it's you, dear sister. So, naturally I asked what the mission was, and all the important details, such as payment, reimbursement of expenses, danger bonuses, and all that. I must warn you all, elves drive a hard bargain. I'm sure I "got took" by them, for one thing, they haven't paid me since I got back..."
"Have you reported to them yet?" asked Amelia, with a sad shake of her head. Gracia wasn't that much changed from when she went away, alas...
"Er, well, no, I haven't had the time, yet, but they could have paid in advance you know."
"The mission was???" shouted Lina, getting more irritated as the useless conversation went on.
"Lina! Don't be rude." pouted Gracia. She did go on though. "The fact is there are three elven spies on the island, sacrifical volunteers who let themselves become slaves to Beastmaster. Somehow she has never seen through them, and though they do not report very often they have given the elves timely warning of big plots the dark Lady has tried to pull off from time to time. The poor girls, they have been brutalised and broken, only their elven minds let them hide their mission still, no human could have taken what they've been through. Well, the thing is they sent the message that the Mazoku had brought a block of ice back from the Kaatart Mountains, and didn't know what to make of it. So the elves needed a spy to confirm and determine what was happening and offered me the job. After much negotiation, they came up with an offer I could tollerate, and I went."
She sighed. "Sneaking on to the island was alright, but while I was there, poking around, something horrible happened. Someone came and kidnapped the blonde dragon girl Filia and then the whole place was in an uproar. I tell you now, there is no more horrible a sound than a mazoku being tortured to death for not keeping a proper guard over his mistress' island. After that, even the screams of my dying mother have become less terrible. I wish I could erase the memory, of both sets of screams, but they are seared into my being. But naturally, I was now trapped and couldn't get free."
"Wait, Jilas and Gavos said nothing about a block of ice?" said Lina.
"It's only visible from the far side, you'd have to go all the way around to see it." replied Gracia.
"And it wasn't there when we were." stated Zel, looking as Sylphiel, who nodded in confirmation. She shivered as she nodded yes.
"You sure you two weren't just distracted?" smiled Lina.
"Oh no, Lina, we would have seen it when we watched the sky for the green flash." replied Sylphiel with a soft smile.
"Right. That's why you wear those emerald rings." said Lina, remembering the tale they told. She looked to Gracia. "So, go on."
"Well, may I?" asked Gracia, sarcastically. She went on. "I was trapped, and there was a total search of the whole island going on. I couldn't get away, so I had to think of a plan to hide my real reason for being there, and hope I could survive long enough to get away. It was touch and go, but in the end I found my way to her treasury and started filling my cape with gold. Of course, it wasn't long before they caught me. I know it's not very Princess like, but I confess that I was ready to foul myself with fear when they roughly hauled me before... before... her..."
Here Gracia's courage seemed to fail her and it took some time before she went on with the story. "I, she, she looked so angry and evil. I was sure I'd be lucky if she just skinned me alive. She demanded to know what I was doing and I replied that I was stealing her treasure. She looked confused at that, as if she was expecting me to be doing something else. Then she gave me an indescribable look and asked, quietly, if I knew where someone called Filia was. I didn't know at the time what had happened, so, I could sincerely say that I did not. She frowned again and had me put in a dungeon until she decided what to do with me. I was trapped there for several days with no light, no air, no food, and no water, except for a damp little trickling spring that fell along the wall of the cell. I confess, I drank from it, three days without water and you don't care for much but your thirst any more. As for the bathroom, that was just a corner of the cell. No bed, just a damp dirty, greasy stone floor. It was silent most of the time, but for the one time they brought that mazoku guard in to kill, then you couldn't help but hear too much, and scream until you were hoarse, though no one heard you, or cared, if they did..."
Gracia gulped and was silent again. "Finally, they brought me out again to face her. She grilled me about everything, and I tried to be strong. I was able to hide the mission from her, I think she was in too big a hurry or still worried about Miss Filia to give me her full attention. Naturally, I had been searched and all the gold I had stuffed into my cape paid off as it really did look like I was an arrogantly stupid thief who had come to rob her. As if. I'm greedy and weak when it comes to gold, and I've had some close calls, but deliberately rob the Beastmaster? No, even I am not that stupid. But I was lucky, for she finally laughed at me. She said she had finally remembered my name and my reputation for being a crackpot and she decided I probably was stupid enough to be guided by my greed and try to steal her gold. Then she told me my real name which frightened me no end. I feard she'd use me against daddy somehow, and I was right about that, alas. But I should have guessed she would know who I was, and I shouldn't have been so surprised..."
Here Gracia just stopped, fear on her face. "I - I can't go on..." she said, shaking...
"Why not?" asked Lina, both concerned and suspicious.
"B-because that's when she - she broke my will..." sobbed the tall woman, holding her hands out as if to ward off a blow.
"Gracia! Did she, did she, torture you?" cried a wide eyed and frightened Amelia, as she placed both her fists to her mouth in wide eyed horror.
"Oh... worse than you can imagine..." said Gracia with a frightened cry of her own.
"Would the Bunny Slipper help?" offered Lina...
"Lina!" snapped Amelia ans she protectively clutched Gracia to her.
"S-sorry, just trying to help... replied Lina.
"Gracie, tell us. Getting it out is the first step of healing." coaxed Amelia, gently.
Gracia stayed on her knees and wept for a time. Whatever it was it must have been terrible. Amelia did her best to comfort her sister and sooth her.
Lina sighed.
Finally Gracia gave a soft moan. "I - it was my, my, my... my laugh..." she whispered.
Amelia looked peplexed. Lina rolled her eyes and groaned. "What about it?" she asked with poor tollerance.
Gracia sniveled as she told the rest of the story. "Sh- she asked me if I was afraid. Of course I was, but I couldn't let her know that, so I said something or other about how, how Naga the Serpent knew no fear. Then, to prove it, I - I did my laugh, my bold, beautiful, perfect laugh, the most perfect laugh I have ever laughed in my life, full of all my pride, all my natural superiority..."
"All your boasting, all your vanity..." interupted Lina.
"Lina..." said Luna. The redhead shut up.
"D-did she hit you?" asked Amelia of her sister.
"I-if only..."moaned Gracia. "N - no, she just smirked at me until, for the first time in my life, my laugh faltered and went out. And then, and then..."
Gracia froze back into silence.
"And then?" Amelia prodded, gently.
"And then... she laughed." cried Gracia. "She laughed! IT! My laugh, she laughed it right back at me, only, only, oh by the powers and all the gods! NO! No! she, she was..."
It took Gracia all she had to get it out. She shook in terror, in mortification, in crushing defeat. "She was easily a hundred times better than I was..."
There was stunned silence, except for the weeping of Gracia.
"O...kay..." said Lina finally.
Amelia looked stunned, then turned to Lina and...
In a swift move she grabbed the slipper that Lina was still holding and, without even announcing the attack, slapped Gracia into another spin so that she crashed, Naga like, on the top of her head, her legs spread out and waving in the air...
"Amelia?" asked a shocked Zel, as the others just stared.
"Your laugh? That thing I used to lie in mortal terror of because it was the worst thing I ever heard?" she shouted at her sister. "You've been a sniveling wreck, with no more backbone because she outdid you? Gods above and below! Gracia? What have you unleashed upon us? If she comes here and laughes like that there will be no fight! Oh, I can't believe this." There were tears in her eyes, but whether of fear, or rage, was unknown...
She went to slap Gracia again but Lina grabbed her hand."Nah, not too many of those or you'll slap some sense into her, and she might, you know, start to practice, or something..." she warned.
Amelia handed the slipper back, stamped her foot, and pointed her finger,complete with trademark frowny face on it, straight at Gracia. "Now listen, you!" she shouted...
She then proceeded to give Gracia a dressing down that was at least ten minutes long, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing, except that it seemed full of the love she and her father had for bombastic speeches. The speech did serve the purpose of reminding the listeners that Naga's laugh maybe wasn't the worst terror to come out of the House of Seirune...
"Z-Zel? Does she ever, you know, stop to breath when she does this?" saigh a frightened Sylphiel at one point.
"Not that I've ever been able to observe." sighed Zel.
Finally, the Justice Princess' spleen seemed to be vented and with an imperious "So There!" Amelia triumphantly crossed her arms over her chest and ended her tirade. Most of the observers had the distinct impression that this had been building up inside since the day her big sister had run away from home, and were rather relieved it hadn't actually turned into an now Gracia was a limp rag on the floor, crushed under the weight of all the ranting.
"Please..." she moaned, very softly. "I'll be good, so very, very good, just don't let her go on anymore..."
Amelia pouted. "Big Sister?"
"Just love her, she'll be fine now." smiled Luna.
Lina gave Luna a strange look. "W-will that work for you too?" she asked.
Luna just stood there.
Then Lina realised she was softly crying, and summoned her courage, and hugged her sister.
"Yes it will..." said Luna, softly, through her tears, as she gratefully hugged Lina back.
After awhile the meeting got back to order. There was much discussion, but in the end it was realised they had no real choice but to go back to the Island. Once there Lina was to use the Ragna Blade, if she could, or, most frighteningly, the Giga Slave, if she had to. The others would have the task of neutralising the other mazoku long enough to let her. Then came the hard part. What would Luna's roll be?
There was much hesitation until Luna herself lead the way and announced she was basically useless and should stay behind and try to learn to use her sword left handed, hoping to at least make a good show at the battle of Seirune if it ever came to that. Lemmy promised to train her every day so that she would be good enough to lead them to victory.
Then Sylphiel spoke. "No wait. Miss Luna, come with us. We won't make the trip in one day and we can see if Anesha can help. It's worth a try, she brought me back from the edge of death, maybe she can break the sealing spell of Beastmaster and heal your hand."
"You mean the healer with a daughter who thinks she's me?" asked Lina cocking an eye...
" 'Fraid so..." smiled Zel.
Lina gave an evil chuckle. "Well, I suppose, but that poor kid's about to find out a terrible truth. When it comes to being Lina Inverse, there can be only one!"
"Thank the Gods!" drifted in from somewhere....
"Right! Who said that!" shouted Lina, glowing red...