Zelda hadn't really drank the coffee, she simply pretended to and set it aside when no one was watching her. Thankfully Zelgadis, Leo, and Lina distracted the others enough for them to never notice. She had the strange suspicion that there was something wrong. Rezo seemed forced, his entire mood and expression. She had the awful feeling that her breakdown in front of him had meant nothing to him.
"Zelda," Rezo said softly, "Why don't you go shopping today? I'm sure Eris wouldn't mind going with you."
The Chimera girl swallowed her usual comment about hating to do things like that and looked narrowly at Rezo, "Of course," she said pleasantly, a master at controlling her voice. Rezo bought her answer and got up, gesturing for Zelgadis and Lina to follow him.
Once they were outside, Zolf and Rodimus approached her side at her gesture. "Tie up Eris," she ordered coldly, "Make sure she can't do any magic either."
"Wait a second! You can't do that!" Andrew protested as the wizard and weapons master did as told, perhaps a bit more roughly then necessary.
"Just as I thought, you're not really on our side at all, are you?" Leo asked, arms folded across his chest, standing in a rather belligerent pose. "What are you up to Zelda?"
She looked at him coldly, "I have no obligation to tell you my plans." Her eyes flicked toward Eris, who had been knocked out and blindfolded as well as gagged. "But I will."
"How generous of you."
Zelda stalked forward, coming to look down her nose at Leo, "Then again, I won't. Zolf, Rodimus, take care of things here. I'll just be borrowing this," she said the last to Glory as she swiped the Sword of Light forcefully from the blonde's grasp.
"Hey! That's been in the family for generations-" Gourry exclaimed.
"It's needed elsewhere," Zelda said bluntly, turning and bounding out the door after Rezo. Her heart beat rapidly as she stalked the three. Lina was trying desperately to chat with Rezo but the Red Priest wasn't responding to her overtures. Zelgadis was silent, walking behind the two, he glanced back once, straight at Zelda who was peeking around a corner in the labyrinth under Rezo's house. She held up the empty hilt of the Sword of Light and he nodded slightly, then continued onward with Lina and Rezo.
Rezo walked silently with a slight smirk on his lips. Finally, they entered the lowest chamber of his laboratory. Moving to the middle of the room, he turned, facing Lina and Zelgadis and subsequently Zelda. "Come out Zelda, I know you followed me." Lina gasped and turned around as Zelda stalked out, holding the Sword of Light behind her back.
As Zelda stalked toward Rezo, she bumped roughly into Lina and firmly pressed the empty hilt into the girl's hands. "Now we can get to work," Rezo said, "Give me the Philosopher Stone, please?"
"Um, I don't think that was part of the plan-" Lina interjected.
"I SAID GIVE IT TO ME!" Rezo roared. "But if you won't give it willingly, I will use my Ace against you." He smirked, "You see, it was my plan to make Zelda follow us."
Lina looked at Zelgadis then back to Zelda in horror. Rezo now had TWO Chimeras under his control. She clutched the Sword of light tightly. "Then I'll have to use MY Ace! Light Come Forth!" The huge blade of the Sword of Light shot forth, forming in her grasp.
"What?! No matter! You won't defeat me simply because you wouldn't kill your friend." He began to laugh, "now hand over the Philosopher Stone!"
Zelda stood with her eyes closed for a long moment, tears gathering at the corners. Reaching slowly, she gripped the hilt of her sword, sliding her hand down its length then gripped the sheath, preparing to draw the blade. "I'm... sorry... I have no friends," she said softly to Lina and Zelgadis, stepping forward to stand beside Rezo, her head bowed somewhat as she pulled forth her sword.
"Zelda- you can't!" Zelgadis objected but couldn't get her to look at him.
Lina narrowed her eyes. "She's only trying to make it easier, Zel. One or more of us is going to die here."
"But this isn't the way to do it!"
Zelda felt the power building beside her and refused to look at the one who she knew would cause her death. She gripped her hilt tighter and slid one foot back in a stance. The spell hit her then, ensuring her cooperation, causing her eyes to glow blood red. She did not move seeming more then to take a breath.
"Kill them and give me what you promised. Give me the Philosopher Stone," Rezo commanded.
Without a sound, she swept forward to attack Lina but her blade was met firmly by Zelgadis's, though he too felt the pull of the spell. Suddenly, he sprang away, leaving Zelda to stagger forward a few paces before a fireball hit her, sending her back through the air. Her sword clattered to the floor after she'd slid some on the marble.
"Get up!" Rezo snapped in agitation when Zelda did not move. Slowly, she forced herself up, picking up her sword and running forward.
Lina gasped in fear as she saw her death coming at her at full speed. Zelgadis's eyes opened wide and he moved to pull Lina out of the way, but he wasn't fast enough for the result of Zelda's blind rush.
"BURSTRONDO!" Lina screamed, firing the volley at Zelda who never had the chance to dodge and was sent flying back once again, this time into Rezo who's shield crackled up and electrified his own Chimera in mid air.
With a crash, she hit the ground again and didn't move. The Red Priest focused his attention on Zelgadis then, enforcing the control spell as he walked forward. "Lina-" Zelgadis gasped as he collapsed to his knees, clutching his head.
"Now, you will kill her and give me the Sword of Light as well as the Philosopher Stone. Kill her Zelgadis!" Rezo hissed, slamming the butt of his sword into the floor, causing a clash of the rings on the head.
Zelgadis staggered to his feet once more, clutching his sword, Lina shook her head, "Don't make me do this! Zel!" she cried, seeing Zelda slowly moving behind Rezo.
"You could give me what I want and they will live, or you will be forced to kill them."
Lina saw his plan now. She hadn't realized it. No one else had realized until too late. She only hoped that a Ragna Blade would work. She shoved the hilt of the Sword of Light into her belt and began to chant the spell for Ragna Blade. The spell's shield immediately enveloped her, protecting her from the blast Rezo sent at her.
"RAGNA BLADE! Let's see how you stand up to Nightmare Magic, Rezo!" she yelled over the crackling black lightning of her magic born sword. Swinging it up and back she slashed at Rezo.
With dismay, she saw him dodge back with a speed she never knew a blind man could possess, his staff, however, didn't fair as well. It was sliced in half, leaving him with the lower end. He cast it aside and it hit Zelda across the back, causing her to collapse again.
"Zelgadis! Attack!" Rezo shouted to the male Chimera who darted forward, sword ready.
He swung at Lina, but had to dodge as she brought the Ragna Blade around, cutting his sword off at the hilt. Cursing, he sprang back, dropping the useless piece and went over to Zelda, shoving her aside to pull the sword out from under her body. "Flow Light," Zelda whispered softly.
Suddenly, everything went silent, then the scene broke. The walls cracked like an eggshell. All the magical items burst into millions of pieces to never be recovered. Lina's spell faltered then went out, as did Rezo's building spell and his control over Zelgadis. The roof began to cave in rather suddenly.
"LINA!" Zelgadis shouted, letting her know he wasn't being controlled any longer. He kneeled over Zelda's limp body as a piece of the ceiling crashed down between the redheaded sorceress and her friend.
"Rei Wing!" Lina shouted, the effect of the very powerful 'Flow Broke' spell having worn off within seconds. Lina was glad to note that her demons blood talisman hadn't shattered as well. She would have been very upset if they had. As it was, she was very upset. Lina was upset about being forced to save herself instead of going to see if Zelgadis and Zelda were still alive. She dodged falling pieces of the laboratory as it collapsed upon itself. Apparently having been built with magic or held together by it.
She burst into sunlight as a great cloud of dust gushed upward from below her. Looking down, she saw what remained of Rezo's laboratory and almost cried. "Zel..." she whispered softly.
Off in the distance, she saw another figure coming rapidly toward her. She feared it was Rezo, but as the figure drew closer, she saw it was Leo. "What happened?!" he shouted.
"Rezo had planned for Zelda to follow. He had control of both Zelgadis and Zelda then I guess Rezo's control of Zelda slipped and she was able to cast a very powerful version of Flow Broke. That's the result." Lina gestured down at the settling dust.
"What about her?" Leo asked nervously.
Lina refused to look at him, "I don't know, I lost sight of them when the ceiling caved in..."
"The rest of us are this way." Leo said and guided Lina back to where the group had gathered on the ground in the settling dust, though they were on the outermost edge and the particles weren't as thick.
Zolf was standing nervously, watching as Lina and Leo landed, Rodimus had firm hold of Eris. Amelia had her hands clasped together as were Andrew's. Lina couldn't meet their eyes and opted for staring at the ground.
Amelia burst into tears and threw herself on Andrew who comforted her as best he could.
"No need to get emotional, Amelia," a calm soft voice stated as he walked out of the settling dust cloud. He had pulled his mask over his face to keep out the dust, there was something slung over his shoulder, wrapped in a silvery cloak. Once he was within the group, he crouched, letting his burden to the ground carefully.
"Is...she?" Rodimus asked softly, looking upon the still figure who's face was hidden by part of her cloak.
Zelgadis sighed, "That spell... it fed off astral energy, she gave it all she had." Amelia could tell that Zelda's death had effected him, "I think she'd planned that the whole time."
A though suddenly occurred to Lina and she pulled out the Sword of Light and narrowed her eyes at it. "Shit. That spell was powerful enough to make this go out too!" She threw the empty hilt away in disgust. "This bites! Not only do we have to fight Shabranigdu still, cause I DOUBT he died in that, but we also don't have the Sword of Light. At least we have the Philosopher Stone though, as long as we have that, his power can't be released-" she suddenly caught the look Zelgadis was giving her. "Don't tell me... He swiped it from you. DAMN IT!" Lina stomped her foot hard on the ground.
Zelgadis turned toward Zolf and Rodimus then, "Things have certainly changed, and I ask you to take Zelda away from here and don't come back. You'll only end up getting yourselves killed if you stayed here." He stared at them until they reluctantly gave in then turned toward Andrew. "You will go with them. You're as yet too unskilled to survive. Lina, Gourry and myself have been though this before, we know what could happen. You would only upset your father- or mother, whichever the Crowned heir is in this place." Zelgadis leveled his stare at the prince then, forcing him into acceptance of the order as he'd done Rodimus and Zolf.
Lina nodded firmly. "Alright, guys, lets go." She turned then, taking hold of Glory and casting levitation, lifting them up above the cloud of dust that still hung in the air like haze. Zelgadis did the same to Gourry, leaving Leo to carry himself as was Amelia.
Zolf hung his head and sighed. "In the end, we weren't there like we'd promised to be..." He watched as Rodimus knelt to take the body into his arms and leave as they'd been ordered. He pulled his hand back after his grip had been met with almost no resistance.
Rodimus carefully peeled back the cloak, his eyes widening. "What? What's wrong, Rodimus?" Zolf asked, coming around to look over the weapons master's shoulder. He turned pale at what he saw. Rodimus quickly pulled the cloak back in place to keep Andrew from seeing and shook his head.
"You don't need to see, boy, I wish I hadn't seen." Rodimus was pale as he lifted the body in his arms once again, feeling it sag strangely in his grasp. Blood dribbled down from the edge of the cloak, pooling on the ground.
"Let's just leave that woman here," Zolf said and eyed Eris narrowly before practically dragging Andrew away with them.
* * *
Zelgadis stared straight ahead, remembering what Zelda had last said to him, recalling her last moments of life. How she'd looked at him, blood almost gushing from her face. Even stone couldn't resist the force of magic or lack of it. Her body was falling apart as he watched. He'd managed to Rei Wing them to safety, but she wasn't going to survive.
"H- have...a family... for me?" she asked softly, tears trailing through the blood as her stone skin disintegrated like dust.
"I promise," he'd whispered to her as she shuddered and the breath left her. He'd taken her cloak and rolled what was left of her body into it after that.
He was shaken back into reality as Shabranigdu rose up out of the dust to laugh at them. "Puny fools! You cannot destroy me! Your key to killing me was the Sword of Light and now it is gone!"
They changed course to land in a clear area away from the city of Siraag and Flagoon. Lina looked at her companions quickly, taking in their moods by their body language. She saw that Amelia was frightened but resolved, Leo showing false bravado, Gourry and Glory were simply too stupid to realize what was going on. It was Zelgadis who worried her. He seemed very shaken and almost unable to stand.
"Okay guys, distract Shabranigdu while I chant the spell."
"But you said nothing works against him!" Leo argued.
Zelgadis spoke slowly, as if emerging from somewhere deep. "She said distract." He gripped Zelda's sword, though it looked exactly like his, he could feel the difference.
"Emekial Lance!" Amelia shouted, shooting her volley at the piece of the Dark Lord. Her spell was easily deflected but it served as the distraction and a sign for the battle to start.
"Darkness beyond the blackest pitch," Lina murmured softly as her comrades worked to shield her as well as distract Shabranigdu as asked.
Zelgadis griped his spell firmly then threw it at Shabranigdu with a shout, "Flare Arrow!" The arrows shot forward and dissipated against the Dark Lord's side.
"Fireball!" Leo shouted, then dodged as Shabranigdu cast a spell, causing the ground to turn to mud. "Shit!" He looked over at Lina, who was still casting her spell even if she was sinking into the ground at an alarming rate.
"By the power you and I possess-" Lina shouted, her demons blood talisman glowing brightly as she used them to amplify her power. "GIGA SLAVE!!!"
Lina stared as the dark force she'd gathered around her glittered outward, surrounding the entire area in blackness that seemed to glow at the same time. She feared that she'd miscast the spell and tried to hold onto it as it spread. "Please! L-sama!" she begged, "Let me win!"
A shock ran through the ground, throwing her off her feet and into the mud that was still there, though she didn't sink into it like she had been. Another shock hit her and the thought that she may have lost flitted through her mind just before she blacked out.