Strange Reflections: 4
"Damn them," Tes spat as she regarded her reflection in the still water.
She had considered trying to heal it despite the mazoku's claim, but stopped
when spell turned the first half-inch of the cut into a thick purplish scar.
She'd have to let it heal naturally or the thing would dominate her face.
She slammed her hand into water, scattering her ruined image.
The shadow turned from the pool and climbed to the top of a boulder and
sat facing the town. To outsiders she may have seemed serene and calm, and
beautiful despite the cut on her face. It was only when Lina's party
appeared at the edges of town that her face was distorted with anger.
Tes didn't much care about three of them, aside from the physical appeal
anyway. It was the other three that raised her ire, Lina walking next to the
blonde swordsman. There was someone she wanted to tear down to the ground
just before cutting her throat. Then there was the mazoku hovering over her
Amelia protectively, and Amelia herself of course. The mazoku and Lina were
problems, both were powerful, more powerful than she was. Maybe she could
catch one by surprise, but they'd be watching each other's backs.
She growled as she considered the problem of how to achieve her wrath.
Meanwhile the slayers came to a fork in the path just beyond town and turn
down it. Then an idea came to her and she smiled as she watched a second,
similar group stop outside the town at the same fork.
"I wonder what Lina and Xellos told them?" she wondered.
"Hey Amelia?" Gourry asked. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine Gourry-san," Amelia said cheerfully, before returning to her
silent appraisal of the passing wilderness. Zelgadis and Filia looked at her
doubtfully, but said nothing.
"Leave Amelia alone, Gourry," Lina said. "Now let's hurry it along
people! If we hurry we might only have to spend one night camping instead of
two."
"So where are we going this time?" Xellos asked. "Its not like we have
any renegade mazoku to put down or anything."
"Well, I we heard that rumor about some strange magic up in this little
town," Zelgadis said, well aware of the distraction. "And we were going to
see if they had a claire bible manuscript."
"I've been wondering," Filia asked, after looking away from Amelia. "Why
don't you just go back to the Kataart mountains and ask to see the original
Claire Bible again?"
"This isn't getting anywhere," Amelia said suddenly, and stopping. "They
should know."
"Ame-chan, you..." Xellos stopped as the nickname triggered a rush of
emotions.
"Please don't call me that," Amelia said to Xellos.
"I was going to let you have a little more time," Lina said.
"She could come back soon, and they wouldn't know," Amelia pointed out.
"What should we know?" Gourry asked. "What she?"
"Amelia's shadow, she tried something, didn't she," Zelgadis guessed.
"She's calling herself, Tes," Xellos sneered. Amelia nodded.
"She rap..." Lina was quickly interrupted by Amelia.
"No, she tried to rape me," Amelia corrected. Then she looked down and
blushed in shame. "The first time she just...seduced me."
"First...time," Filia repeated.
"I don't get it," Gourry said. "They're both girls, you know."
"THAT is Amelia's business," Xellos noted.
"She tried the same back rub trick with me," Lina said, flushing angrily
at the memory. "Before I knew there was another Amelia."
"She did?"
"Yeah," Lina said quietly. "In the baths."
"Where is she?" Gourry demanded.
"The important thing is that after....Lina-san stopped her," Amelia
interrupted. "She promised to make us sorry."
"Hmm, do you think she means to replace Amelia and get at us one at a
time?" Zelgadis asked.
"That won't be a possibility for her," Lina smiled darkly.
"Why not?" Filia asked. "She looks exactly..."
"No she doesn't," Xellos answered. "There'll be a scar down the right
side of her space, if she tries to heal it, it will look incredibly bad.
Even without it I'd know that one over Amelia, though." He cautiously placed
a hand on her shoulder, afraid of spooking her. Surprisingly she grabbed the
hand and backed into him. Lina stepped in front of her and waited for
someone to say something about her friend.
"I see," Zelgadis said. "If she shows her face again, we take the rest
of it."
"Definitely," Gourry said, smiling.
"Are you sure you want to go on a quest right now?" Filia asked looking
at both the other women. "That might not be the best idea, maybe just travel
around and relax for a while."
"That's pretty much what we're doing anyway," Lina laughed. "We're fine."
"I hardly call Zelgadis-san's quest for a cure a vacation," Filia
protested sarcastically.
"Compared to hunting dark lords," Zelgadis answered, moving closer to
Filia. Amelia seemed to be more interested in the mazoku at the moment, he
didn't have to worry about hurting her feelings it seemed. "I'd say she's
right."
"So we're still going to this town, Lina," Gourry asked.
"Of course we are Gourry!" She bounced into him, grabbing his arm and
skipping ahead. Amelia smiled as the slayers returned to something normal
for them, there was no condescending pity. There was just the same constant
attitude of watching each other's backs. Amelia was one of them, just like
always.
"She will follow?" Xellos asked her.
"Hai," she answered quietly. Then she walked forward, Xellos comfortably
close behind. She noticed that Zelgadis and Filia dropped to behind them,
but they always did that. She shrugged, not quite recovered yet, but most of
the way there. She was with her friends, her extended family, what could Tes
do to her now?
"Which way do we go?" the shadow Filia asked.
"I don't particularly care where we go," the shadow Zelgadis yawned. "Of
course it has to be a center of civilization."
"Yes, a big city, safe and secure," the shadow Xellos asserted.
"I know a place," they all turned to see Tes standing there, pleasant
expression stuck to her face.
"Amelia-san, what happened to you?" the shadow Xellos asked.
"Oh, somebody got a little frisky," she smiled. "I'd offer to show you
but I doubt that you'd be interested."
"What use could such a amoral girl like you be?" shadow Zelgadis, hmphed,
after looking at her cut face. Tes sauntered up to him, smiling and leaned
close to whisper so that only he could hear.
"Who's Ame-chan's father again?" she asked. He smiled slowly.
"The Crown Prince of Sailoon," he answered, Tes could almost see the gold
in his eyes. He bowed low before her then. "Amelia-sama, I would be honored
to escort you to your homeland." He didn't notice the shadow Filia watching
in sad confusion.
"Yes, Sailoon!" the shadow Xellos declared. "The perfect place, loaded
with enchantments for protection, we should be safe there."
"Are you sure about this?" the shadow Filia asked.
"Oh definitely Fili-chan," Tes said. "I'm certain of this." The shadow
Xellos felt the wave of vengence under her pleasant exterior and flinched.
"Amelia-san, you're scaring me," he said.
"None of you have anything to fear from me," she answered. "I'm just a
little human girl."
Back to Reflections