I'm late. Lina kept thinking to herself in a mix of anxiety and excitement as they rode through the endless sand dunes. That Aunt Flo would be due to arrive on the day they'd arrived at the Elmekian border had been something she had been worried about when she'd charted her cycles before they had left Maninstit. It would take three days to get to Elmeki from the border, and she had been sure if everything worked perfectly her powers would have recovered by the time they met with the Emperor. Only she'd never lost them. She'd spent the next few days anxious that she would start late and that the window for recovering her powers would be pushed to after she met the Emperor. But she was now three days late, with her powers strong, and no sign of Aunt Flo.
Either Lina's body had realized how critical this mission was and had given her a break, or she was finally pregnant.
Lina couldn't get too excited. Amelia had been so tired since learning about her pregnancy, but Lina felt as though a vault of newfound energy had opened within her. She didn't even miss the sleep she'd lost dividing her night into shifts of keeping watch over the Elmekian soldiers. But then, the newfound energy wasn't the only strange symptoms she'd been experiencing. What if the loss of her cycle was more about the other changes happening to her? Or, what if a potential pregnancy had triggered her strange symptoms?
Lina kept thinking about how desperate Luna had been for her to marry Gourry as soon as possible. Luna, who had admitted to marrying Harold because she desired the powerful children that would result from such a union. What if Luna had realized that channeling of full powered Giga Slave would have altered her on some level? And if so, did it mean that it was Lina who was changing and growing more powerful, or that the child she was carrying was so powerful that it was affecting Lina by carrying him?
Lina couldn't figure out if she was being paranoid or not. She wasn't even sure how she should feel. While she was sure that whatever it was that was happening to her wouldn't hurt her, she also didn't like the idea that her sister was toying with her to further her goals.
Lina looked over at Gourry. She couldn't say anything to him. He had enough on his plate just surviving being back in the Elmekian Empire. The hazing from the soldiers had gotten worse and more personal with time. While the Captain attempted to keep them in line, he'd couldn't monitor them constantly. And day after day of enduring it was starting to wear even his patience thin. He didn't need to be worrying about her more than he already did. And besides, it wasn't as if Lina could know for sure right now. Especially with all of the weirdness that was going on in general with her body. She didn't want to get his hopes up if she was wrong.
It was possible that Naga or Maeve knew a way to find out whether or not she was. But asking Maeve was completely out of the question. And she didn't trust Naga to not spill the beans. Same for the other ambassadors. So while Lina craved certainty, she would have to live with the fact that it would still be some time before she got it.
Gradually they came upon a small town composed of mud huts. The Captain stopped and got off his camel. Lina frowned. "Shouldn't we just go on ahead until we get to the palace? Or do we just walk from here on out?"
Lina noticed Gourry get off his camel, and followed suit, as did the other ambassadors as the Captain indicated a mud hut that was larger than the others, "This is the palace."
"What!?" Lina exclaimed as she looked at it. Surely he was joking!
Lina then felt her hair stand on end as Naga laughed and all of the camels went bug eyed.
"No!" Lina screeched as she threw her hands over her and tried to duck as all of the other ambassadors and soldiers did the same as the camels spit in reaction to the obnoxious sound. Lina groaned as she realized that the spit had landed in her hair. She stood to her full height and yelled, "What did we tell you about doing that around the camels!"
Looking down the line of people who were wiping spit off of them in disgust, Lina quickly deduced that Gourry was the only one with the reflexes who was successfully avoided the spit. Naga, meanwhile, put her hand on her belly, shiny with camel spit, and made a face, "Yeah, I do have to remember that."
"So that's what it takes to teach you humility!" Lina said as she got out a cloth and started to dab at her hair.
"Is there somewhere we can freshen up?" Maeve asked as she held her hands in front of her distastefully.
"We're not here to win a beauty contest." Lina snapped.
"Not that you ever had any hope of winning one." Naga said.
"I'd put my odds over yours." Lina said as she stared at hut. Now that she thought about it, it was large…for a mud hut. It could easily fit into her living room. But given how barren the land was and how scarce water was it was amazing that there were any buildings at all. She walked up to Gourry and put a hand on his shoulder, "You weren't kidding when you said that even the Emperor lives in a mud hut."
"Nope." Gourry said as he scanned the place with a furrowed brow. "There are guards dressed to mimic the sand arms with spears surrounding us."
Perhaps that's why his eye sight is so good, Lina thought as she tried to see what he was talking about and couldn't, necessary adaptation for surviving this environment?
"Follow me." The Captain said as he walked to the door.
They followed him in and found themselves in the throne room. The walls were decorated with brightly colored tapestries, breaking the monochrome dull brown of the sand. And in the center of the room, sitting in a throne carved from the bones of a giant desert creature, sat a middle aged man with dark hair and hawkish features. There were many times in her life when Lina's expectations of how a famous person would look clashed dramatically with reality (Prince Phil, for instance). This was not one of those times.
"The Emperor." The Captain introduced.
Naga stepped forward and introduced the other members of her party, and the Emperor regarded her with a board air as she finished, "I'm sure the Elmekian Empire would not want to go toe to toe with all of us, and we demand that you hand the device over so we can destroy it here and now!"
"And if I don't?" he asked.
"Then you'll have to deal with the terrible, abominable dragon spooker herself, Lina Inverse!"
"Hey!" Lina shouted. "Who are you calling 'abominable!?'"
"Well, if you're going to send Lina Inverse after me, I suppose I have no choice." The Emperor said.
"Let's get this done." Lina snapped as the Emperor handed her a statue.
Lina took it and started to examine it as Naga asked, "We also demand to know where the members of the previous party we sent to recover the device are."
"I don't know." The Emperor said.
"You think we're going to believe that!?" Naga laughed, "Don't make me sic Lina on you!"
"One moment." Lina said as she held the device, "This is a fake."
"What do you mean?" Naga asked.
"All magical devices give off a particular signature. And the signature this one gives off? Feels completely different than an object designed by Hellmaster, or any other high ranking Mazoku, would." Lina explained. "It's too weak for one thing. You put magical gems or something on it. It might dupe a novice into thinking it was a genuine magical object, but not me."
A lot of things happened at once. Gourry grabbed the Blast Sword and brought it up as Onesa attacked, slicing the other man's sword clean through. Onesa threw the hilt at him and Gourry deflected it easily as he greeted the next attacker. Meanwhile, Naga side stepped to avoid a different soldier and yelled, "Icicle Lance!"
Several more soldiers got caught in the icy web. The other ambassadors cast their own freeze spells to trap them as Maeve cast, "Ray Freeze!"
Or rather, she tried to. She stuttered in fear as a solider came up to her, sword drawn, so that she miscast it as, "Ray Breeze!"
Nothing happened. Maeve ducked to avoid the blow as Naga cast, "Freeze arrow!" nailing the soldiers about to attack her to the ground as Lina called, "Ray Freeze!"
The golden lasso materialized around the Emperor, as well as every other soldier Lina could find, holding them in place. Gourry suddenly jumped forward and cut through a spear that someone had thrown at Lina and bisected it. "He's hidden there!" Gourry said, pointing to a corner of the room.
"Ray Freeze!" This time Maeve got it right as she managed to nab the man that Lina could barely see.
Gourry suddenly knelt down to one knee as a giant net sprang from the floor and bundled them together. Lina cried out as her concentration broke and her spell holding the Emperor died as she felt herself being pressed between the weight of many bodies and the net, some of them freezing cold from the spells. But before she had too much time to think about it, Gourry cut through the net with the Blast Sword, and they went spilling back to the floor.
Fortunately he broke the fall for Lina. But she was still winded as she struggled to get her bearings. She raised her head and found a fresh group of solider rushing to surround them, swords drawn. She didn't have time to chant another Ray Freeze spell! She barely had time to chant a Burst Rondo.
The men started screaming as it exploded around them and they backed away, giving Lina time to scramble up as she worked on a more complex spell. Gourry got to his feet and assumed a defensive stance as Naga cast, "Bomb Sprid!"
Before Lina could finish her spell, a soldier grabbed Maeve and held a sword to her throat. "Stand down or she dies!"
"You know you would be declaring war with Zeferia if you did that!" Lina yelled.
"Roller Road!" Maeve suddenly cried, and she and the solider behind her fell backward as though a rug had been pulled out from under their feet. Lina exhaled and thanked her lucky stars that Maeve had found a spell similar to the one Milgasea used to move the earth beneath their feet.
Maeve quickly rolled away and Naga called, "Freeze Icicle!" encompassing the soldier, and several others, in ice.
"Ray Freeze!" Lina said as she recaptured the Emperor and several other soldiers again.
The other ambassadors and Naga started subduing the remaining soldiers with ice spells as Gourry took a moment to survey his surroundings. "More people are coming." He said quietly to Lina as the Emperor started yelling empty threats about how they would regret this at them.
"Search him. Make this quick." Lina said.
Gourry nodded, and walked up to the Emperor and patted him down, and he quickly found a strange metallic object. He handed it to Lina and asked. "Is this the real one?"
She studied it and shuddered as a wave of bad memories hit her, "It definitely has his signature. We need to destroy it, now."
"Now what happened to our older party?" Maeve demanded to know as Lina set the object on the ground and Gourry came up and hoisted his sword.
"I was telling the truth when I said I don't know." The Emperor said. "I let them steal a fake to get you off my back! Do you really think I would attack them?"
Lina had to admit that he brought up a fair point as Gourry brought his sword down and cleaved Hellmaster's device into two. Suddenly someone shrieked, "What sorcery is this!?"
Lina frowned as Gourry continued to dice Hellmaster's device into smaller pieces, and then she looked down to find she was glowing again, and that all eyes were on her in bewilderment. She opened her mouth to say something flippant when Gourry suddenly grabbed her and pulled her off to the side as a spear flew through where she had been standing and impaled the Emperor through the head.
"What the…" Lina exclaimed as Naga started to scream as the blood splattered on her.
One of the other ambassadors grabbed Naga and tried to calm her down as Lina turned her attention to the man who was standing in the doorway, clapping.
"Wonderful shot, if I do say so myself."
Gourry's eyes narrowed and Lina folded her arms across her stomach. "Gregory."
"You know him?" Lina asked.
"It's good to see you again, Big Bro." Gregory said as he clasped Gourry on the shoulder and surveyed his surroundings. He wasn't alone. He had a small army behind him. "You're just in time to see me become Emperor."
"What!?" Lina exclaimed. "But you just killed your leader!"
"Whoever kills the current Emperor becomes the new Emperor." Gourry explained. "We've yet to have an Emperor who died of old age. You sure this is a job you want, Greg?"
"What kind of a crazy system is that!?" Lina yelled.
"It sorts the weak from the strong." Gregory explained as he sized her up. "I do have something for you. Here are the members of your previous party. We figured taking them would be the best way to draw you out here."
"Well, that solves that mystery." Lina mumbled, as several of the ambassadors exclaimed in delight at recognized their missing countrymen. Still, she couldn't escape the feeling that there was more bad news on the horizon.
"I see you destroyed Hellmaster's device." Gregory said.
Gourry nodded as Gregory looked at his sword, "I'd heard you'd given up the Blast Sword."
Lina exhaled. Surely there wasn't going to be a fight over this! Maeve jumped in, "Sir Gourry bestowed that sword to my Kingdom of Zeferia. Our knight is just borrowing it until his services are no longer needed."
"How convenient." Gregory said with a sardonic smile.
"Let me get this straight." Lina said. "The Emperor let our first group steal a fake to get us off his back. And then you, sensing your opportunity to become Emperor yourself, kidnapped our group, knowing that it would lure us here. And, while the Emperor's men were weakened fighting us, you went and swept in during the confusion and killed him?"
"Pretty smart, huh?" Gregory said smugly. "And Gourry, when you see our dear mother, you can let her know she is welcome back in our country. We could even find a place for you here."
"I don't ally myself with people who ally themselves with Mazoku." Gourry said, and Lina felt her skin prick.
Gregory frowned. "What are you talking about? All of my men are human!"
Gourry shook his head and then indicated two of the men standing beside Gregory, "It's one of them."
Lina thought for a moment. If she was wrong she was going to look very silly. But if she was right, she could very well get them out safely. She stepped forward and dropped her arms, letting the glow show, "Do you know who I am?"
A man in white robes hissed, "How is this possible? It's some trick!"
"Do you really want to make that bet?" Lina asked as she took a step forward. "Show your true form."
The Mazoku morphed into his monstrous state. He looked like a demented pig whose head had been attached to the body of a goat. He let them have a good look, and the Lina ordered, "Leave us and abandon your plans!"
And just like that, he teleported away. Lina exhaled as everyone stared at her in shock. "T-that was a Mazoku?" Gregory stuttered. "And he ran away in terror from a little…!?"
Lina smiled deviously at Gregory, "So nice to meet you. I'm your sister-in-law."
Gourry leaned in to whisper loudly to Gregory who continued to stare at Lina in open mouth shock, "Trust me, you don't want to mess with her!"
"B-but he'd told me you were starting a school to invade the Elmekian Empire." Gregory said. "He said the old emperor would do nothing to protect our country."
"Don't you write to your own mother?" Lina asked, "The school we run is to train kids to kill Mazoku! We could care less about the Elmekian Empire, so much as you keep within your borders and don't hold terrifying devices created by Mazoku Lords!"
"Oh," Gregory said sheepishly as he looked at Gourry. "So, how've you been?"
"You don't think the food is poisoned, do you?" Gourry whispered to Lina.
"What?" Lina asked.
"You've barely eaten!"
"Oh," Lina said as she took a bite of the feast, "No, it's fine."
But she wasn't fine. Gregory had insisted on throwing a victory banquet, and all of the ambassador types wanted to establish relations with the new Emperor that they hoped would be friendlier than the previous ones. So even though all Lina wanted to do was go home and talk to her mother, she had to stick around for the feast.
And she couldn't stop worrying about the fall she had taken once the net broke. While she was fairly sure she wasn't bleeding, the worry that she had potentially hurt a hypothetical child she was carrying kept popping into her head. "I'm just ready to get home." She said.
"That's not like you."
"Lady Lina." Maeve said as she squeezed into the bench beside her, "I did horribly, didn't I?"
Lina patted her on the back. "Everyone messes up on their first time. And sometimes on their fortieth. It takes time for this to feel natural. What matters is that after you messed up you learned from it and did better. You didn't curl up and give up after your Ray Breeze."
"You also did good with that one spell when that soldier got you." Gourry pointed out. "I don't think you did as poorly as you think you did."
"But I need to be better!" Maeve said fiercely. Lina let Gourry console her as she got up and decided to find a place to relieve herself and check for bleeding.
When she returned to the dinner, after casting a Recovery spell, just in case, she was comforted with the knowledge that if she was pregnant than for now it looked as though she hadn't hurt it. She walked up to Naga, determined to get her to agree to leave first thing in the morning. Not only did she want to get back to her school, but she was eagerly awaiting that jar of pickles she was more and more certain would be waiting there for her.
AN: The idea for the camels spitting when Naga laughs aroused from a conversation with Anna Nimmie Tee. Hope you enjoyed!