Chapter 3
Nightmare!
Kira to the Rescue
It's Gonna be a Long Night…
Gourry was trying to figure out why Lina was screaming at Xellos. Granted, the thought of being literally nose-to-nose with the Trickster Priest wasn't anything he'd particularly enjoy… his eyes narrowed as a thought occurred to him. "Xellos! Did you kiss Lina?"
Amelia turned blue at the thought, and Zelgadis'
eyes narrowed.
Xellos, who had, by now managed to take a few steps
back, looked at the others nervously. "Of course not! I am married to Elena
now… she doesn't let me kiss just anybody…"
Lina's scream silenced as she came to the conclusion
that there was no need to scream, and she sat in the center of the bed,
shivering. Something's wrong… something's
desperately wrong… She jumped as there was weight on the bed, and Gourry's
arms encircled her.
"Lina, what's wrong…?"
"I… It…" She couldn't remember. Unaware of it, she
leaned into Gourry, trying to recall that which danced just at the edge of her
mind.
A shadow fell in the doorway, and a strange echo of
Lina's voice came from behind Amelia and Zelgadis. "What's wrong? I felt it
three streets over… Lina?"
Everyone in the room, except Lina, turned to see a
mirror image of Lina Inverse standing in the doorway. She wore a long-sleeved
black turtleneck over black pants with a silver belt, her own red hair in a
ponytail. The tiny mage marks were clearly visible, and crimson eyes narrowed.
"You," Her voice was dark, threatening, and her gaze was locked on Xellos.
Xellos sweatdropped. If this was who he thought it
was, then he could be in danger. Two options came to mind, and quickly, he came
to a decision. He lowered his staff, kneeling to her. "My lady, it is good to
see you are well…" he murmured, much to the shock of Gourry, Zelgadis, and Amelia.
"Hmph," the mirror image sniffed as she stalked into
the room and walked past the stunned chimera and princess, coming to a halt by
the bed. She rested a hand on Lina's head and looked at Gourry, eyes calm. "You
don't look much like Rouddy, but I suppose that's to be expected." Looking down
at the mirror image of herself, Kira sighed. "Lina Inverse, pull yourself
together. It was nothing but a dream. For the fifth, and final, time, you are
not becoming a Mazoku. You can't. That's not L-Sama's nature. Her nature is
Chaos. And so is yours."
Xellos froze. How much would she tell? He had no
questions about his orders if someone were to reveal too much, but this woman
had a strange immunity. She was a contradiction, an immortal human who had
worked in the service of the Lord of Nightmares. She knew it all, and was
allowed to retain that knowledge upon resigning her position to… Lina.
Lina lifted her head with tears streaking down her
cheeks.
"Who are you?" A stony voice asked, and Kira looked
over at the now-closer chimera who had addressed her.
Such impressively dedicated
companions, Lina. I was never so lucky… Kira thought for a moment. "I am Kira Inverse, and
you are Zelgadis Graywords." She watched the chimera's eyes widen slightly in
surprise. The girl came up uncertainly beside him. "Amelia wil Tesla Sailune."
Her eyes and voice softened slightly. "Princess, you…" Kira shook her head. No… it wouldn't do to tell her that here.
Later. When there aren't others.
Gourry's embrace, which had tightened around Lina
when Kira had touched her, now lessened, and he looked at Kira. "Gosh! You
could be Lina's sister! You look just like her! Are you two related?"
Kira looked at Lina, who was slowly becoming herself
again. "You're right. A whole stack of bricks."
Kira had promptly chased everyone out of the room,
including Gourry, but stayed behind herself in the room with Lina. Those who
Kira had chased out of the room had all gathered in the dining area, various
mugs of tea and coffee passing around to whomever wanted some.
"Do you really think Miss Lina is safe with her?"
Amelia asked uncertainly. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she noted that
both Gourry and Zelgadis were dressed... and she was the only one in the hotel
pajamas. Blushing slightly, she drew herself up smaller in the chair.
A hand touched her shoulder lightly, and Amelia
looked up to see Elena's golden eyes glittering at her in unspoken mirth. A
warmth tingled around Amelia, and she blinked in surprise as Elena's magic
changed the pajamas into her preferred clothing – minus the cape. Blushing
again, the princess of Sailune smiled to the princess of Kuroryu, who only
smiled back, saying nothing.
Xellos was the one who eventually answered Amelia.
"That's Kira Inverse. She was once the Knight of Chaos… the most powerful human
to walk the world. The only human to cross the barrier until it fell. She's
also Lina's great-great grandmother… I would imagine that there is nothing to
concern yourself over."
Zelgadis muttered something about highly treacherous
relatives, and Amelia reached out to touch him on the arm lightly.
"Lina is the Knight of Chaos now… as immortal as
Xellos or I… but she is not Mazoku, which appears to be her worst fear," Elena
said softly. "She will have to overcome that, or be crippled by the fear."
"You are correct, Elena of Kuroryu. In Lina's dream,
she recovered the lost Philosopher's Stone… only to discover that Shabranigdo
had not been defeated. Her dream echoed the warning in the Claire Bible – those
who are not of Chaos, cannot become Chaos." Kira said as she walked into the
room and selected a cup of coffee for herself. Everyone turned to look at the
woman who was, to them, the mirror image of the sorceress in concern.
"Lina's about as chaotic as anyone I know," Zelgadis
said. "But is she going to be all right?"
"Yeah… I'll be fine," Lina answered for herself,
wearily leaning against the corner of the wall. She'd come in behind Kira, and
watched how worried her friends looked. It touched her how concerned they had
looked to Kira when she'd walked into the room. Kira was right… this is my family. Even Xellos, for what that's worth.
She straightened and walked into the room, affecting her cheerful appearance,
wondering who would see through it and call her on it. "It's just a disconcerting
thing to dream that you're turning into a Mazoku… and then wake up to find
Xellos in your face." She managed a dark glower at the now-innocent looking
Mazoku.
"Well…" Xellos gave a dismissing laugh. "I admit to
curiosity about your dream, Lina…"
Lina reached out and examined the hot drinks
offered, wrinkling her nose at the coffee.
Kira and Zelgadis may like it, but yuck!! She selected a cup of tea, adding
enough sugar to make even Amelia wince. "You're just going to have to stay
curious, Xellos."
Amelia watched Lina and Kira. To the princess' eyes,
the two were almost identical… with a very slight few mannerism differences.
Kira moved with a subtle grace that seemed to be as much a part of her as the
fire that burned in Lina's eyes. Beyond that, to people who did not know Lina…
Gourry was right. They could easily pass as twins.
"I've decided that you aren't staying here tonight,
so everyone go get your things. I'll take care of things with the hotel in the
morning. Luna should have told you, Lina. Honestly, sometimes I wonder if that
girl has anything other than waiting on tables in her brain," Kira said,
causing Lina to splutter into her tea. "Oh yes…I must remember that… sorry,
Lina." Kira amended.
Lina watched her friends silently go to gather their
belongings, and set her tea down to look at Xellos. "What are you doing here
anyway, Xellos? Aren't you supposed to have a honeymoon or something?"
Xellos actually leered at Lina, causing the
sorceress to step back. "What makes you think we didn't?"
Elena calmly reached out and knocked Xellos over,
giving Lina a grin as she did so. "Stop leering, Xellos."
"Ow…"
As Xellos stood up and dusted himself off, the
others returned with what little they had brought. Amelia handed Lina the sword
that she had left behind, and Lina took it, knowing how hard it must have been
for Amelia to pick it up. As much as the girl tried to keep a secret, Lina had,
in her own fashion, managed to put the pieces of the puzzle of Sailune's
missing royal family member together. She had a pretty good idea where Gracia
was… but she wasn't about to let on. A lot more things made sense to her, and
she was wondering where the thoughts had come from when Kira looked at her.
"Time to learn a new spell, Lina. You've used it
before and not known how…" A gentle hand was laid on her arm, and Lina suddenly
heard Kira in her mind, understood how she had teleported like Xellos could…
and looked at Kira in shock. Telepathy!
Kira smiled faintly, lifted her hand and vanished,
along with Amelia and Zelgadis. Xellos and Elena winked out, and Lina shook her
head, looked at Gourry and shrugged. "Hang on, Gourry… this could be a rough
ride." She wrapped her mind around the spell, feeling the world shift and
suddenly, she was standing in the living room in Kira's house, Gourry beside
her. She'd done it before, she realized, when she'd gone after Zelgadis. And
now she knew how to do it better. It was tasking, though, requiring a lot of
concentration, but then… she wasn't near to full energy.
"Gosh, Lina! That's useful! No more long walking…"
Gourry said as Lina reached out and decked him.
"It's not as easy as that, okay, Gourry? Just lay
off for a little while," Lina said, dropping into a chair, and closing her
eyes. She was just too tired…
When Lina opened her eyes, she was lying in an
extremely soft bed, and the sun was streaming high into the window. She felt
warm, protected, comfortable… something that she hadn't felt in a very long
time. Normal aches and pains from being on the road were gone, and she felt as
if she'd caught up on every moment of lost sleep in her life.
She sat up and stretched, noticing that all the old
pains from various injuries of past were gone. Getting out of the bed, she
wandered over to her clothing that was draped on a chair, and dressed,
wondering why she felt so good. Even my
hair is happy today, she thought as she brushed it out. But I wonder… She paused, and then the
vague flicker of a memory crept across her mind. Kira had come and helped her
to bed. Family… I have… family. They do
that sort of thing, don't they? Lina found it strangely appealing. She
shook her hair out, tied up the ribbon, and opened the bedroom door.
The kitchen was filled with people, and Kira loved
it. Zelgadis was calmly sitting at the table drinking coffee, Amelia sitting
cheerfully beside him, engaged in chatter with Elena. Gourry was busy eating
everything that Kira's maid put in front of him, and Xellos was doing his
dead-level best to irritate them all, but somehow falling short of his mark.
Kira laughed softly and added a spoonful of cream to her coffee, moving to the
table.
Amelia looked over as the hostess walked up to the
table, and still marveled at how closely Lina resembled her. Kira had braided
her hair into a ponytail down her back, and was wearing a soft bluish-violet
ensemble. By Amelia's reckoning, Kira Inverse was over a hundred years old, but
she didn't look a day older than Lina did. And Amelia was pretty sure that Lina
wasn't much into her early twenties. Age wasn't exactly anything that Amelia
had asked about, content to guess on her own how old her companions were. She
knew that Gourry was the oldest of them, but she had no idea how old Zelgadis
was. It was rather hard to tell with him.
"So all of
you let me sleep in so you could hog the food, right?" Lina asked wryly as she
walked into the kitchen.
Amelia looked at Lina, then blinked. There was
something different about Lina this morning. The sorceress moved easier, and
there was a spring in her step that Amelia hadn't seen in a very long time.
Zelgadis' eyes narrowed, and Amelia knew that he was seeing it too. Lina
herself seemed unaware of it, plopping down in a chair beside Gourry and
swiping a sausage before he could react. She was a lot faster, too.
Zelgadis set his mug down and looked at Lina. "You
look rested."
Lina grinned at him as she finished her filched
sausage. "I feel rested. It's been a long time since I felt this good. I like
it."
Kira nodded as she herself placed the first plate of
food in front of Lina. "That is the effect of the Chaos magic on you. Being
that you are of the same nature, it compliments you instead of harming."
Lina looked to Kira only for a moment, then dug into
breakfast. "So you're saying that I'm what? Some sort of Chaos being now?"
Kira sighed and sat beside Lina. "You really are as
stubborn as an Inverse. You're just as human as your friends… well… that is…"
Six pairs of eyes settled on Kira, and she laughed. "Okay, maybe calling Xellos
and Elena human is a stretch. But you, Zelgadis, don't you go telling me that
you aren't human. And Gourry, don't you start either… not that I expect you to
know. And Amelia, don't give me that look. You're all, in your own ways,
human." No one looked particularly convinced, and Kira sighed.
"I'd rather simply be human," Zelgadis said, taking
up his freshly filled coffee mug.
"Would you?" Kira countered, crimson eyes flickering
towards the chimera. "Without that spell, you'd be powerless, unable to protect
your friends. If you were human, there is nothing to say that you would have
met any of them." She paused, watching his reaction. "Think about it, Zelgadis.
If you hadn't been a chimera, would you have been so useful to Rezo? Would he
have sent you to look for the Philosopher's Stone? Would you have met Lina and
Gourry that day?"
Zelgadis gave it a few minutes worth of good thought
before replying grudgingly. "Probably not."
"There is a reason for everything that each of you
has been through. Even you, Amelia," Kira said, watching the young princess
look up sharply, flush red, and look down at her mug.
Lina looked to the girl in concern. She knew that
there was something Amelia did her best to hide, and Lina liked Amelia enough
not to pry. She had a few ideas, knew that it was something about her mother,
but she didn't know anything beyond that. She suspected that it was related to
her missing older sister, but how… she didn't know.
The front door opened to the house, and everyone in
the kitchen clearly heard a voice raised in panic. "Lady Inverse! Lady Inverse!
It's Rihana! She's back!!"
The cold that suddenly coalesced around Kira Inverse
was tangible to all in the house. Rising to her feet, all sign of the jovial
and laid-back hostess vanished, replaced by a powerful and focused immortal
that gave even Xellos a good unnerving.