Ok, here's chapter six! ^_^
Disclaimer: I don't own
the slayers!
Slayers: A Past Reborn
Chapter
6: Homecoming
Lina walked along the beach. The waves crashed against her bare
feet. She was wearing a long
flowing white dress, very unlike her. Looking down the beach she saw Gourry walking towards her,
smiling.
Lina smiled back and waved. Suddenly a look of sheer pain crossed Gourry's face. Lina gasped as she saw blood begin to
pour out of his chest. As he fell,
Lina saw Jeran standing behind him, holding a bloody knife. She ran to Gourry, tears running down
her face.
"See this Lina Inverse?" Jeran pointed to Gourry's lifeless body, "This
is what happens if you don't keep your word. Come to Saillune
alone."
Lina sat straight up in bed. The morning light shone in through the window shades. Amelia still slept in the other
bed. "Come to Saillune alone…" Lina
muttered to herself. She couldn't
let Gourry get hurt, no matter what.
*****
"Good morning!" Lina called cheerfully as she walked into the inns dining
area. She sat down next to Amelia
and picked up a menu.
"Good Morning Ms- ah, Lina," Amelia corrected herself and smiled at
her.
Lina smiled back, "Are we all ready?" Gourry sat across from her, staring
intently at his menu and Zelgadiss, sitting next to him, nodded and sipped his
coffee.
"Yup, so right after breakfast we can head back to Saillune!"
"Ok then," Lina said as the waitress walked up, "I'll have everything on
this side of the menu," she said, pointing.
"And I'll have everything on this side," Gourry said, pointing to
the other side of the menu.
"I'll have three orders of this," Amelia said,
pointing.
"I'll have another cup of coffee," Zelgadiss said with a
sigh.
After picking herself up off the floor, the waitress hurried off into the
kitchen to get their enormous order.
*****
After a large and satisfying meal the four were off to Saillune. Amelia led the way, humming softly. Zelgadiss and Gourry came next, chatting
idly. Lina followed the rest, deep
in thought.
"Come to Saillune alone…" Lina thought to herself as the words from the
dream came back to her. She
couldn't get the picture of Gourry out of her head. But all of this because of her? She didn't understand it. Deep in thought, she fiddled with her
new necklace. If Amelia and
Zelgadiss hadn't shown up, who knew what would have happened. Things had changed so dramatically in a
couple of days. But there they were
again, the four of them, on a journey.
"Maybe…maybe I should just forget about yesterday," Lina thought to
herself, "I'm sure Gourry already has," she looked at him ahead, walking with
Zelgadiss. "Yes, I'll just pretend
that nothing happened." She stopped
playing with the necklace. "But
still…." She sighed. Memories could
be so hard to repress.
*****
Soon they reached a town on the outskirts of Saillune. They decided to stop for
lunch.
As they waited for their enormous lunch, they chatted about what they had
been doing since they last saw each other. Lina, immersed in her own thoughts, hadn't realized Zelgadiss was talking
to her.
"What Zel?" Lina looked up, not paying close attention.
Zelgadiss frowned, "I asked if you know how powerful this guy
is."
"Well….not really."
"How do you know Jeran, Lina?" Amelia asked her.
"Oh, um….well, he used to live in Zephilia."
"Were you friends?"
"Yeah…until we were about six. Then he and his family disappeared."
"They just…disappeared?" Zelgadiss asked her. Lina nodded.
Gourry looked at her for a few moments, then said, "He attacked Lina a
couple of nights before you guys showed up."
"What? I didn't know that!" Amelia exclaimed.
"Why didn't you tell us this before?" Zelgadiss asked
suspiciously.
"I-um…" Lina trailed off, not sure what to say. She didn't know if she should say
anything about the dreams or if…no, of course not. If she mentioned them, they'd just get
upset.
"Maybe he attacked Saillune because he knew you knew Lina, Amelia,"
Zelgadiss said, then went on, "But if he was friends with Lina, why would he
attack her? And if he did want to
get to Lina, why go through Saillune?"
Everyone at the table was silent.
"Well, it doesn't matter, does it?" Gourry asked, "If he attacked
Saillune and Lina, then we have to stop him, right?" Zelgadiss and Amelia
nodded. Lina just sat quietly. She was deep in thought. Again.
The food arrived and all "deep thoughts" were pushed aside. After this stop they only had a half
hours walk to go.
"Ok guys," Lina said, getting up, "I'm gonna go to the local magic
shop."
Gourry made a move to get up as well, but Lina's voice stopped him. "By
myself. I'll be right back, I just
want to check on something."
Gourry sat back down and got a confused/concerned look on his face while
the others nodded.
Lina walked to the magic store. She wasn't exactly sure about what she was looking for, but it was worth
a look. And this city DID have an
excellent magic shop.
As she entered the store, she easily sensed the magical guard around the
store. A strong one, but not strong
enough for her not to be able to break it. Smiling, she looked around and saw a slightly older man sitting at the
front desk.
"Can I help you miss?"
"I hope so…I'm looking for a spell."
The man smiled, "Well, we have many of those. What did you have in
mind?"
"A dream spell."
The man gasped, "Why do you need that?"
"I have to stop someone from entering mine."
"Well…I DO have one of those…"
Lina cheered.
"…But it's NOT for sale."
Lina's face fell, then she got angry.
"LOOK Mister! I don't CARE if it is for sale or not! I NEED
it!!"
He smiled smugly, "Too bad. What can you do? No magic can be used in here!"
"FIREBALL!"
The man blinked in surprise, singed and blackened.
"How-but how!?!"
Lina grinned her infamous evil grin, "It's a strong spell, but not strong
enough for Lina Inverse, Sorceress Genius!"
"L-Lina Inverse? Enemy of
all that lives! Dragon
Spooker! Bandit killer! Flat
chested-"
"FIREBALL!"
Again the man was burnt to a crisp.
"No wonder my ward didn't work," he coughed, then regained his composure,
"Well…alright. I'll give you the
manuscript you want…for a price."
They bartered for a bit, but it was easily affordable from all the
bandits she and Gourry had "Brought to Justice!" lately.
"One thing Miss," the shopkeeper called after Lina, "You can only stay in
the dreamland for the maximum of an hour. After that, your body slowly dies. Someone must be with you to watch over and wake you up, because you can't
wake yourself up, unless you are successful."
`Watch over you` brought thoughts of Gourry into her mind, but Lina
pushed them away, "Alright."
"And remember, be on guard. ANYTHING is possible in the dreamland."
As she walked back to the inn, she thought about this. Anything? Did that mean if Jeran was using this
spell, that HE could do anything too? The idea was not appealing.
Surprising, not much time had passed since she had left.
"Lina? Your back so soon," Amelia commented.
"Um…yeah. They didn't have
anything interesting."
Zelgadiss looked at her suspiciously. After traveling off and on with Lina, he
knew when she was hiding something. Gourry thought the same thing and shared a glance with Zelgadiss. Neither said anything,
yet.
*****
Later on, as they were walking towards Saillune, Zelgadiss walked besides
Lina.
"You found something, didn't you?"
Lina looked at him, then the others, who were out of earshot, "What do
you mean?"
"I mean, that you've been acting a little distant today, and more so
since you came back from that shop. What did you find?"
"Nothing Zel. Really, I just
found some…" Lina thought hard, "…Legends. That's all. I was thinking
of stopping on the way back to get them."
Zelgadiss gave her a "youaresoobviouslylyingtome" look.
"Legends?"
Lina looked back with a "leavemealonebeforeIfireballyourass" look. "Yes,
legends."
Zelgadiss decided to leave it alone. "Ok, so what do you remember about
Jeran?"
"Well, not much. Like I said
before, he disappeared when I was about six. But, I know he's probably a powerful
sorcerer. He IS from Zephilia, you
know."
Zelgadiss nodded. Zephilia
was known for raising powerful sorcerers. Amelia at this moment cheered and everyone looked at
her.
"Look! We're almost there!"
the towns walls were visible through the trees. The four continued forward. Amelia sprinted ahead and Zelgadiss
followed quickly. Gourry waited for
Lina to catch up with him, then walked beside her. Lina tried not to look at him, and after
a few moments of silence, Gourry turned to Lina, "Lina…I think we need to
talk."
Lina stopped in her tracks, "About what?
Gourry stopped too and stuttered, "Well…ah, just
stuff."
Lina was a little confused by that, but said, "Well, we can talk
later."
"When?"
"Tonight, ok?"
"Ok," Gourry smiled and began to walk again, as did
Lina.
"Oh L~sama!" Lina thought, "WHAT am I getting myself
into?"
They quickly reached Saillune and, with Amelia still in the lead, made
their way to the castle. There they
were led to the throne room, where Prince Phil greeted
them.
"Daddy!" Amelia and Phil hugged and then Phil walked toward
Lina.
"Uh oh!" Lina thought but before she could react, Phil had her swept into
a hug, squeezing the living daylights out of her.
"Welcome Lina!" Phil said enthusiastically.
"Mmmpfhhh!" Lina's muffled voice called.
Next, Phil moved to Gourry, shaking his hand crushingly, then to Zel, who
albeit a chimera, still felt pain.
Once Phil had retreated, Lina said, "So…I hear your having sorcerer
problems again."
Phil nodded, "Yes. He just
began to show up, summoning monsters and terrorizing the townspeople. No one knows what he wants exactly…"
Phil trailed off. "But we'll talk
about this later! We have prepared
a feast to welcome you!"
**20 minutes later**
After Lina and Gourry had inhaled most of the meal, Phil began to tell
them about Jeran.
"He had a sorcery store here that was mildly popular. But then, he began to sell black magic
spells, which are strictly prohibited. When we told him he had to stop or close, he disappeared! That was about a year ago. Now he has suddenly
reappeared."
Zelgadiss pondered this, "He disappeared? What is with this guy and
disappearing?"
"I don't know…" Lina said thoughtfully.
"Well, you have had a long journey, and you are probably tire. I'll have Amelia show you to your
rooms." Phil said with a sigh,
making Lina look closer at him. He
looked more tired than they did.
After Phil had left, Gourry turned to Amelia and Lina, "Phil is acting a
little weird, isn't he?"
"Oh, I'm sure he just has a lot on his mind," Amelia said with a little
nervous laugh.
Lina remembered their conversation from last night. "Yeah, he's probably just tired," she
faked a yawn, "So am I…I could use a nice bath and a good
sleep."
Amelia shot her a thank you look quickly.
"Well, I'm not tired. I
think I'll head to the local sorcery guild and see what I can find." Zelgadiss
said, getting up.
"Zel! It can wait until morning!" Lina exclaimed, but Zelgadiss was
already walking away, "He still always goes on his own…"
Amelia showed Gourry where his room was and then led Lina to hers,
showing her also where the bath was. "Aren't you going to join me?" Lina asked, surprised.
"No, I'm really tired…I'm just going to go to bed
early."
Lina nodded. Amelia probably
wanted to be alone a little today. After all, it was the anniversary of her mothers
death.
After a nice, comforting bath, Lina got on her pajamas that she didn't
often wear, and headed back to her room. She stopped in surprise when she saw Gourry walking towards her, in
his pajamas. "Why is he…"
she thought to herself, then remembered, "Oh yeah…we were going to `talk`.
Shit!" she had hoped he would forget. Well, apparently it wouldn't slip even his
mind.
She reached her door and looked at him. He caught up to her and smiled
nervously.
Sighing she finally spoke, "I suppose you want to talk
now."
"Yeah, I kind of did…" Gourry replied, nervousness edging his
words.
"Well, alright," Lina opened her door, threw her stuff onto the dresser,
sat down on the bed and looked at him. "Ok, talk."
Gourry, who had followed her in and shut the door, turned around
surprised, "Me?"
"Well, you're the one who wants to talk, not me," Lina laughed, "So, go
ahead."
"Ok…well…" Gourry stuttered.
"Yeeessssss?" Lina was kind of enjoying making him so
nervous.
"You know, your not making this easy Lina," Gourry said exasperated.
"Well I'm sorry!" Lina laughed again, "I don't even know what this is
about!"
"About us."
Lina blinked and stopped laughing, "Us?"
"Yeah…"
"What about `us`?"
"Well, that's kind of what this is about," Gourry searched for the right
words, "About last night, before Amelia and Zel arrived."
"Ok…"
Gourry sighed and sat down next to Lina, "Do you know why I gave you that
necklace?"
Lina shook her head, "No…"
"Because…because I care for you Lina…deeply," Gourry kept his eyes on the
floor.
Lina blushed and one hand rose to play with the necklace.
"I don't know where this is going but…I just know I can't live without
you Lina."
"Gourry…" Lina whispered. He
looked up at her with all his feelings shining in his eyes, "I care for you
too…" hesitantly she took his hand.
Gourry squeezed it and opened his mouth to say something when the door to
Lina's room burst open and Zel cam flying in, waving a piece of
paper.
"Lina!! Amelia's gone!!"
He then stopped and blinked. Lina and Gourry…holding hands…in their pajamas. He quickly decided that he'd tease them
later.
"What? What about Amelia?" Lina quickly jumped up, letting go of Gourry's
hand.
"She's gone! She's been kidnapped!"
"Wait, how do you know?" Gourry said, scratching his head, "Maybe she
just went off on her own?"
Zelgadiss held out the note to Lina, ignoring Gourry's comment, "There's
a ransom Lina," he said quietly.
Lina snatched the note away from him and read it
aloud.
"To the kingdom of Saillune,
We have the Princess. If you wish to have her back, deliver
Lina Inverse to us. We will be
waiting at the Saillune Gardens, tomorrow at sunset."
"So, what are we going to do?" Zelgadiss asked
worriedly.
Lina looked at him, then the note. She avoided looking at Gourry. Finally she said in a quiet voice, "Exactly what they
want."
Gourry frowned and said nothing.
****
Ok! Yeah! I can type when I try! It's a little longer than usual, but that's ok, right? Let me know what you think!!!