Slayers belongs to Kadokawa Shoten and Central Park Media.
Slayers: Fatherland
Chapter 3
The Summoning
Will looked up at the clouds that were moving in their direction and bit his lip.
"Hey, Fish," he called out to the young woman pushing a raft into the lake. "It looks like a
storm is coming this way."
Fish Espe succeeded in pushing the raft into the water and jumped on. "Screw it,"
she told him casually. "The other four rafts are already in place. A storm might fuck things
up. We're going to have to do it anyway."
The paperboy looked hesitant. Out on a raft, at night, during a storm, on one of the
largest lakes in the province…
He sighed, knowing that the mage wouldn't take no for an answer, and stepped onto
the raft with her.
Thunder boomed overhead…Not a good sign…
"It'll be fine!" Fish reassured him with a smile.
Fish telling him something will be fine…Not a good sign AT ALL…
The young mage handed him two oars and bade him to paddle. He growled and
glared at her. "Why do I have to be the one to paddle?"
Fish smiled sweetly. "Because you're the muscle, Will, and I have to go over this
incantation one last time…so PADDLE!"
Will dipped the oars into the water and started moving the raft forward. "Yeah, I
got your stink'n paddles right here, princess," he muttered under his breath.
His grumbling didn't bother her. She was busy reviewing the spell. Night was
falling, and she was using a lighting spell to illuminate the Claire Bible manuscript she
held.
"So what are we going to do if this actually works?" Will asked her.
Fish looked up suddenly and blinked. "Well…to be honest," she began, scratching
the back of her head.
"You have no idea, do you?" he asked her with narrowed eyes.
She laughed nervously. "Well…I figured…you know…maybe SHE would have
some ideas…"
He stared at her for several seconds. Fish sweatdropped.
"Just paddle," she finally said.
"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled as the raft made its way to the center of the lake. "I'm
paddl'n, I'm paddl'n…"
Val was still incredibly groggy when he woke up, and still in quite a bit of pain as
he opened his eyes. He had the sensation of movement, but wasn't sure how that was
possible since he wasn't walking. He knew he was in his human form, he could tell by the
feeling of his limbs. He tried to focus his eyes, but everything was blurry. His feet were
dragging across the ground. Someone, no, two someones were pulling him.
He tried to piece together what had happened. There were those Seyruunian
fighters planes…They had shot at him…His wings were shredded…he fell…
Where the hell was he?
Before he could figure out this riddle, the two men dragging him suddenly let go,
and fell hard to the marble floor with a grunt. He growled in pain and lay still, gathering
his strength and trying to get his bearings.
"Dieses ist der drache," he heard one man announce.
"Wundervoll!" he heard a woman's voice exclaim. He looked up and could see a
pair of black high heels in front of him. Looking farther up, a woman with purple hair and
an RS uniform was smiling down at him.
Colonel Gabriev knelt next to the humanoid serpent and admired him. There was a
cut on his forehead, but he seemed none the worse for wear. "Welcome to Atlas City," she
told him with a smile. "Jewel of the Reich. I hope you don't mind us insisting you stay for
awhile and enjoy our hospitality. You see…we have a few questions for you."
Val felt a ball of ice form in his stomach.
The woman's smile broadened. "Yes," she said, running her fingers through his
green hair. "This will be an experience you'll not soon forget…Herr ValGaav."
The wind was starting to pick up now. Will sat at one corner of the large raft,
watching as Fish did her thing. He wondered if she would really be able to pull this one
off, and what it would cost HIM if she couldn't.
Fish, meanwhile, was drawing a magic circle on the boards of the raft, which was
more difficult than you'd think with the damn thing pitching from side to side like it was.
She looked up from her work for a moment and out at the water. The crystals on the other
four anchored rafts were glowing, each one exactly fifty feet away and in one of the four
cardinal directions of the compass. So far so good.
The raft bounced under her, almost causing her hand to jerk and nearly messing up
the magic circle she was drawing. Luckily, her hand was steadier than that.
"Hey, Fish!" she heard Will call from his own little corner of the raft. "It's getting
nasty out!"
She ignored him and finished the circle, adding in the modifications outlined in
Zelgadis Greywords' journal; an image of the night sky's constellations as they would have
appeared when Lina died. Sighing with relief, she gave herself a second to examine her
surroundings. It was almost pitch black outside now, and the wind was howling. Droplets
of rain were starting to fall. Will was right. If there had been anyway for them to back out
now and postpone this without a risk to the crystals, she would have done it, but there
wasn't.
It was now or never.
She tossed Will the ball of light she had been using for illumination and sat just
outside the circle. Taking a deep breath, she raised her hands above her head. She took
one last second to call out to Will.
"Things might get a little weird, Will. Don't worry when it does."
"Yeah, right," she could hear him mutter.
She put it out of her mind and began to chant. "Floating spirits, drifting through the
flow of time," she began. "I call upon your power to summon one whose feet fell upon this
place one thousand years ago!"
Will turned in surprise as the crystal floating behind him began to spark and send a
streamer of light up into the air. It bent and fell upon the magic circle.
"In the name of the Keepers of Time!" Fish called out as another streamer of light
struck the circle, "I call upon both the Darkness Beyond Twilight and the Brilliance
Beyond the Dawn!"
A third streamer, this one from the crystal floating north of them, struck the circle.
"In thy great name!" Fish cried out, feeling the overwhelming power flowing so
close to her as the spell strengthened. "I command that those who keep time's flow read
this holy circle! And bring forth the one I summon from her place in her one second before
death!"
The crystal from the east lashed out with its own streamer. The wind was howling
around them. The raft rocked up and down as the rain fell in torrents on top of them…
Fish opened her eyes and touched the circle with her hands. "I SUMMON THEE,
LINA INVERSE!!!"
The circle exploded with a pillar of light that shot high into the night sky!
Hellfire leapt from Lina's hands just as Ancalagon fired his own laser breath spell.
The two balls of energy struck one another dead on and began to coalesce into a sphere of
pure magical energy. The redhead stared, awestruck by the sight. A complete fusion of
power and purely on ACCIDENT!
She watched as the sphere began to break down. This was it. She braced herself
for what she knew was coming…
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, four crystals appeared around her, each joined to
the others by a beam of red light.
"What the…"
The sphere exploded!
The crystals flashed with light!
Then nothing.
There was a flash of light, and suddenly, a petite, red headed girl was lying
unconscious in the middle of the magic circle.
Fish blinked. "Holy shit! It worked!" she exclaimed. So overjoyed was the mage,
that she jumped to her feet, spun around, and made like she was spiking a football. "I'M
NUMBER ONE! I'M NUMBER ONE! I'M NU…"
She broke off as sudden wave struck their raft. The mage cried out and fell to the
deck. Will screamed out behind her as the entire craft started to flip over.
"OH SHIT!!" Fish cried out. "LINA!" She turned and saw the still unconscious
sorceress roll off the raft and into the pitch black lake below. Without missing a beat, Fish
grit her teeth and dived after her! She hit the cold water and opened her eyes, searching for
a hint of red hair. Seeing something glinting in the light of a flash of lightning, she swam
towards it. Her lungs were burning for air.
She lost sight of whatever it was and started looking around again. It was so dark!
So dark that she couldn't even tell which way was up anymore! She started to panic as her
lungs screamed for oxygen.
Suddenly, she felt something. Something had snagged the back of her dress and was
pulling her. Her head broke the surface of the water, and she coughed loudly. Looking up,
she saw Will's face barely illuminated by another flash of lightning. He was kneeling on
their overturned raft.
"I got you!" he said, almost in surprise. "Just hang on!" He started to pull her
aboard as she continued to cough and sputter. Finally, she was on the wooden planks,
hacking lake water. "L…Lina?!" she asked.
Will looked down at her and shook his head. "I didn't see her."
Fish looked out at the lake as rain continued to crash down on them. She couldn't
see more than two feet ahead of her. She had lost her. Their one best chance….
"Oh….FUCK!!!" she screamed at the sky.
Birds.
The first thing she heard was birds. Then the sound of water.
Then more sounds of water as she threw up about a quart of the stuff.
Breathing heavily, the redhead slowly opened her crimson eyes as she lay on the
beach. An osprey sitting in a nearby tree stared at her, squawked, and flew off after
examining her for a moment.
"G…Gourry?" she whispered. Lifting her head up out of the mud, she squinted
against the light of the dawn and looked around. How did she get near a lake? Where was
she? "Gourry?" she called out again, a little louder.
No answer.
She stood up and took a look at her reflection in the surface of the lake. "You're a
total mess, Lina," she told herself. She cupped some water in her hands and splashed off
her face before making an effort to straighten her hair out. It was more to give her some
time to think rather than an actual act of vanity.
"I was fighting that dragon," she mused. "Then a Dragon Slave…then….here…"
She looked out at the lake. "BUT WHERE THE HELL IS HERE?!" she screamed at the
water.
"HERE!" her echo replied.
"Here!"
"here…"
She growled and scratched her head. Her clothes were soaked, she was hungry,
sore, and her friends were nowhere in sight.
"Hey, Gourry!" she called, cupping her hands around her mouth. "GOURRY!!"
She faced the woods on the other side of her. "AMELIA!!! SYLPHIEL!! ZEL!!"
Nothing.
Her eye twitched. "Figures," she muttered. "A little explosion and they all get
scared as little rabbits and run away…" She balled her hand into a fist. "And when I get
my hands on that yogurt brain, I'll…" She took a breath and tried to calm down. "Take it
easy, Lina," she told herself. "You're disoriented. You have no idea what happened. Just
take a breath and relax." She chuckled. "You don't want to end up doing something crazy
like talking to yourself!"
She blinked.
"Shut up," she ordered herself.
Sighing, she sat down and looked out at the lake.
"He's very resistant to interrogation," the RS officer told Celeste from his chair
across the desk from her. "Of course, dragon physiology is different, and so many of the
key areas I would usually concentrate on may not be working. This is my first time
interrogating a dragon."
She nodded and looked over the notes. "He seemed to respond well to fire," she
noted, glancing over a photograph of the subject, the interrogator, and a blow-torch.
"Ja, but only initially. He seems to have resigned himself to the pain. If I did not
know better, I would swear that he has experienced worse in his life. A severe trauma of
some sort."
"He has, but that's beside the point," the Gestapo minder commented from where
he was standing near the window. "I would suggest concentrating on the psychological,"
he suggested without turning. "Ideas of betrayal will work well. And when you torture
him, pierce his skin…..and whatever you do it with, make sure it's gold in coloration."
The interrogator looked to Celeste for approval, who nodded once. Standing up, he
saluted sharply, clicking his boot heels together. He turned and walked out the door to
continue his work.
"Once again," Celeste commented as the door closed, "I can't help but feel you
know this dragon." She looked at the Gestapo officer, expecting an answer.
"You find it surprising that an officer in the Reich's Gestapo would be well briefed
on well-known dragons?"
"I find it surprising that despite your obvious familiarity with the prisoner, you still
refuse to interrogate him yourself." She stood up and faced him. "Why?"
The purple-haired Gestapo agent turned and smiled in that annoying way he had.
"Das ist…" he began slowly, trailing off.
"Das ist?" she prompted.
He grinned and held a finger up. "…ein geheimnis!"
She growled. "I'm growing rather tired of your games, Herr Oberst," she warned.
"And your 'secrets.'"
"Yes, you DO seem to have something of a short temper," he noted. She shook her
head and sighed. Looking up, she saw that he was right in front of her now. "Perhaps we
should talk," he suggested. "Over dinner."
She grimaced. "I have better things to do with my time than listen to a Gestapo man
bluster."
"Me? Bluster?" he asked innocently. "I merely wanted to discuss a proposition
with you. Nothing more nefarious than that."
"And I have better things to do than entertain one of your propositions," she hissed.
"You're dismissed," she announced.
He smiled unctuously. "Ja wohl, Fraulein Oberst." He saluted and walked
casually out of the office.
"Herr Xellos," she called out. He stopped and turned to her. "I hope you are
aware that if you make any similar…'propositions'…to anyone in my command…I
SHALL hear of it."
The violet-eyed man grinned. "Of course! But I have no interest in them…Only
you." With that, he turned and walked away.
Fish took the hot tea gratefully and drank the warm liquid in one swallow, shivering
beneath the blanket Will had brought for her as she recuperated in their cave hideout. "Any
sign of her?" she asked haltingly.
He shook his head. "I looked up and down the shore, but I couldn't find the
body."
She glared angrily at him. "We're not looking for her BODY, you dumb-shit!" she
hollered. "She's alive! She has to be…"
"Yeah, well alive or not, I didn't find her," Will replied with a scowl.
Fish turned away and continued to shiver. "You gotta keep looking, Will," she told
him in a whisper.
"Fish…"
"Please?" she begged, looking at him. For the first time since they met, she was
begging him for something rather than demanding or ordering.
He sighed. "Fine, fine. I'll go check the shore again…"
"Thank you, Will." She turned away from him again.
Will smiled gently. "You just get better, okay?" he told her. Standing up, he
walked out of the cave and back towards the lake.
Fish didn't watch him go. Instead, she looked up at the mural on the wall opposite
of her; the painting of Lina Zelgadis Greywords had left for them. "Guess I fucked up, huh,
Z?" she asked it.
The painting said nothing.
"Yeah? Well I'm going to find her," she told it. "Just wait. I'll find her. She's
gotta be somewhere…"
Lina blinked in absolute shock when she passed the main gates and started into the
city she had found. Last she had checked, they were near Atlas, but this place…This city
was at least ten times the size of Atlas City. With that and the lake, she had an idea of what
had happened…
She sat on a park bench near a fountain and mused on her situation.
"Somehow," she said out loud, "The power released from my Dragon Slave and
Ancalagon's Laser Breath launched me through the astral plane to end up in another part of
the world." Looking up, she saw one of those horse-less carriages drive by the park. "But
I've never seen some of the things they have here." Her one experience with anything like
cars was Jiras' orihalcon tank, but these things were completely different.
"Not only that," she whispered, "But these people dress differently than anyone
I've ever seen." She took a breath and looked up at the sky. "Where ever I am, I'm pretty
damn far from home."
She hopped to her feet and clenched her fists in front of her.
"And the first thing one should do when one finds themselves lost in a foreign land
is to CHECK OUT THE NATIVE SPECIALTY FOODS!!!"
There was a puff of smoke on her shoulder, and suddenly, a chibi version of Filia
was standing there. "Miss Lina! What about your friends?! They'll be worried about
you!"
Lina shrugged. "If I'm as far from home as I think I am, delaying long enough to get
something to eat isn't going to make them worry any less." She blinked. "Hey… Aren't
you in the wrong story?"
Chibi Filia looked nervously from side to side then said, "Gottago!" With a puff of
smoke, she was gone.
"Figures," Lina mumbled. "Well…Here I go!"
With that, Lina took off running for the first available restaurant.
Geoffrey von Reider ran the whetstone up his knife's edge slowly. He was in a
contemplative mood today, and so the other pilots in the rec room seemed willing to
remain quiet. They knew their squadron commander took his thoughts very seriously. They
also knew that Colonel Reider was his most dangerous when he was quiet. He always got
quiet right before he laid into a new pilot for some infraction. He always got quiet right
before he was about to tell his pilots they were going on a tough mission. And he was
always quiet right before he flamed a Zephilian fighter…
Of course, the bomber jocks just in from Seyruun didn't know this, and Reider's
contemplative state didn't seem to keep them from making a ruckus as they waltzed into the
rec room as if they owned it.
Reider paused for a moment and tried to block out the ruckus. They were nothing
but kids. He continued sharpening his combat knife.
"So then, these two P-20's dive in on our ship and start tearing the fuck out of us,"
one of the kids was explaining to a crewman from another bomber. "Our top gunner flamed
one but actually melted the barrels on his guns in the process." He helped himself to a beer
from behind the bar and opened it. "Of course, our escort was out on their break or
something. Practically had to fly the fucking mission ourselves. Fucking fighter prop-
jocks…"
A few of the fighter pilots in Reider's squadron tensed nearby.
"Just goes to show you," the bomber crewman said, "Fighter pilots make movies.
Bomber pilots make history. We do all the work, they get all the glory."
"Hey, FREUND," one of Reider's pilot's began, stressing the "friend," part of his
hail. "Just because our birds don't have the fuel to follow you guys all over the world,
doesn't m…"
The bomber man rolled his eyes. "Oh, save it. You guys escort us right to the
tough stuff, then bail. We were flying precision runs over Xoana, getting the shit kicked out
of us while our escorts were taking a powder upstairs, so don't give me that shit. You
fighter jocks just don't give a shit as long as you get your pretty leather jackets and your
girls…"
"You all sound the same to me," Reider suddenly commented. The other pilots,
fighter and bomber, looked up suddenly.
"Sorry, Herr Oberst," the fighter pilot said sheepishly. "I was just…"
Reider stuck his knife in the tabletop and stood up, facing the bomber pilot. "You
wanna know what you ALL sound like?" he asked in a hiss. "Huh? You know what a
bomber pilot and a fighter pilot BOTH sound like when they're bird is going down in
flames?" The bomber crewman swallowed nervously, not realizing a full Colonel was
going to get involved in his little spat.
"You wanna know what you sound like?" Reider asked. He leaned over until his
lips were near the bomber crewman's ear. "Kkkkssssssskkkkkkskkkkskksksksskkk." The
young crewman blinked. "That's the sound you hear, son," Reider continued quietly.
"When you're watching your buddy's bird go down on fire and you're shouting to him on
the radio, asking if he's okay, if he's there, if he's ALIVE! That's all you hear.
Ksssskskskskskskskskskssskkk." He paused for a moment before continuing. "And that's
all ANY pilot sounds like while you watch them go down and hit the ground."
The crewman cleared his throat nervously as Reider stepped back.
"Let me tell you something, son. I've flown more missions than a calendar has
dates. I've seen snot-nosed kids like you go down over territory I'd describe as Hell! I
don't care what mission you're on, or what the hell you fly or why, but as long as you wear
a uniform like that, believe me…I. Give. A SHIT!"
He felt someone rest a hand on his shoulder and turned to see his executive officer
standing there. "Come on, Geoff, stop scaring the new meat," he said with a smile. Reider
blinked and looked back to see that the bomberman was rather pale now.
"Yeah, sure…"
He stepped back and let the pilot guide him out the rec room door. The Colonel
couldn't notice how quiet the room had become.
"Cepheid's left nut, Geoff!" his exec and friend, Major Erick "Talon" Taloon
laughed. "You scared the piss out of that kid!"
"Yeah, maybe I was a little hard…"
"Bah! The boy deserved it! Fuck him! I just think you were a BIT too intense
about the whole thing…"
Reider grumbled a little.
"Hey…Hey!" Taloon snapped, giving his friend a light slap on the face. "You
know, if you keep running yourself like this, you're going to end up taking it into the air vith
you." He smiled. "I know…" The Exec looked from side to side as if in some
conspiracy. "Vhat do you say ve go out into this little hamlet ve've taken and find
ourselves some of those redheaded Atlan FRAULEINS ve've heard so much about?"
Reider looked at him in disbelief. "What?!"
"I'm serious, Geoff!" the blonde pilot continued. "I've heard these Atlan vomen
are so hot, they're descended from the Fire Dragon King! Spoils of var, my friend! Let's
go find a place, get a drink, meet some nice, young, frauleins…" He rubbed his hands in
excitement.
"I don't know, Talon," Reider told him.
"Of course you don't!" Taloon told him with a slap on the back. "That's vhy your
good freund, Talon, is here to make these decisions for you! Now get your shit! Ve've got
frauleins to conquer!" he sang as he dashed for the door.
Reider sweatdropped. "Why does this sound like a bad idea?"
"I'll have this…and this….and this…and this…and this and this and this and this
andthisandthisandthisandthisandthisANDTHISANDTHISANDTHISANDTHISAND…Oh,
why don't you just send me everything on these two sides of the menu in triple portions?!"
Lina ordered, putting her menu down and flashing a smile at the waiter.
The waiter smiled and placed a small tray with a tin foil cover in front of her.
"Bon apetite!"
Lina looked down at the tray for several seconds, then up at the waiter, then back
down at her tray before finally catching the restaurant employee in her icy stare.
"I don't think you heard me," she said quietly, her eyes narrowing. "I ordered
food…"
"I apologize, Miss, but with the rationing system in place, we're only allowed to
serve one tray of food to each customer." He bowed in apology.
Lina opened the foil cover of the tray and sniffed her plate experimentally. "This
stuff smells like sh…"
Before she could finish her comparison, the front door burst in, and a blonde man in
a strange, grey uniform appeared with a bottle in his hand. "GUTEN ADEN!" he cried.
Another man in a similar uniform was standing behind him, sighing. "In the name of the
Reich Chancellor and the Reich Marshall of the Luftwaffe, Reich Marshal Hermann
Ziegler, myself and my associate here have come to this establishment to recruit pilots for
the Reich!"
Lina blinked at them.
The blond man saw two pretty waitresses nearby and smiled at them. "You two
like young, beautiful, patriotic vomen," he told them. "Ever consider being my vingman?"
The sorceress rolled her eyes at the display. "Jeez, even on the other side of the
world the pick-up lines are lame…"
Apparently, the waitresses felt the same way, because the sound of two slaps were
still echoing in the restaurant as Lina stood up. She tossed a few gold coins on the table to
pay for her…meal…and started for the door. Pausing suddenly, she turned and saw
several people quickly look away. They had been staring at her. She knew it…
Blinking, she shrugged it off and turned back to the door. However, she now found
that same uniformed man standing before her.
"Vhat about you, cupcake?" he asked with a smile. "Care to go for a ride in the
sky vith me?"
She rolled her eyes and started to push past him, but he rested a hand on her
shoulder. Lina stopped, her eyebrow twitching.
"Awwww!" he cooed. "Come on, liebchen! I'll show you my cockpit…"
"Talon," Reider warned with a touch of uncertainty.
Taloon turned to him and smiled. Reider could see the redhead shaking in rage
behind him and watched her slowly turn towards the pilot's back. "What's she going to
do?" Taloon asked in their own language. "Hit me?"
He turned back to the sorceress just in time for his face to meet her fist in a rather
spectacular introduction. The Luftwaffe pilot went flying across the room.
Reider blinked as Taloon hit the wall and slid down to the floor.
"Another time, 'liebchen!'" Lina said with a fake smile. The other girls in the café
applauded loudly.
Lina bowed theatrically to them and walked out the door. Reider knelt next to his
friend and started to help him up. "Talon? Are you all right?"
The blond man sat up with a wince. He could see little Seyruunian fighters flying
around his head, manned by tiny Lina's who were flashing the victory sign from inside the
cockpits. "Vhat a voman…"
Lina stepped outside and walked down the street. She looked around at the
buildings around her and blinked. As different as it all was, there was something very
familiar about this city. Something about the layout…
Even the people were familiar, though she hadn't seen any of them before. She
passed a city square and blinked as a memory of another square flashed through her mind.
"Huh?" she asked herself. She ran forward to the center of the square and looked
up at the monument in the center. She didn't recognize the statue itself, but the platform it
stood on struck her as familiar. Looking around again, it started to actually bother her.
A brick building stuck in her gaze for several moments until she actually ran out of
the square and right up to its corner. She looked it over critically. Seeing a man standing
on its porch, she rushed over to him.
"Hey! Old man!" The man looked down at her and arched an eyebrow.
"Hmmm?"
"What's the address of this place?!" she asked.
"Two-fourteen Park Lane," he told her.
She took a step back. Recovering, she pointed at the park she had just left. "And
that?!"
"That's Liberty Park, dear," he told her with a smile. "Are you from out of town?
Are you lost?"
Lina blinked and stood back. "I…I don't know," she whispered. She looked up,
determination on her face. "But I know how to find out!" With that, she started running
down the street.
She passed several ancient buildings, buildings she recognized as being built only
a few months ago! Yet they looked almost a millenium old!
Panting, she passed a temple.
"The Rayder Memorial Temple," she gasped as she ran by. She turned a corner
and continued running. "I'm on Fifth Street!" she exclaimed. A street sign came into
view, confirming her declaration. "That means if I turn here…" She turned down a side
street and continued to run. "And a left here…"
She ran faster, the truth right on her heels.
"It should be right around this corner," she breathed as she ran. The corner was
coming up. Suspecting what was coming, she turned it…
And stood stock still in awe…
"My….God…" she whispered at the sight. The sorceress looked down at her feet
in shock. "I'm back," came the haunted whisper. "I'm home…All this time I was…" She
paused and fell to her knees as she said. "We finally…REALLY did it…"
Her fist struck the concrete in front of her. "YOU MANIACS!!!" she screamed.
"YOU CLOSED IT DOWN!!! GOD….DAMN YOU! GOD DAMN YOU ALL TO
HELL!!!"
Standing nearby, a young woman saw the oddly-dressed redhead having a fit and
looked up at the source of her distress.
Sitting before them was a building with two signs on it. One read "All You Can
Eat for a Silver Piece Steak Buffet!"
The other read, "Condemned."
To Be Continued…
Author's Notes:
Okay, I know I said last chapter that it would be the last, but I had already done so much of
this one that I decided the best thing to do would be to finish it up and post it before I left,
so I busted my hump and cleaned it up. ^_^
That's it. See you in a few months. ^_^
Slayers: Fatherland
Chapter 3
The Summoning
Will looked up at the clouds that were moving in their direction and bit his lip.
"Hey, Fish," he called out to the young woman pushing a raft into the lake. "It looks like a
storm is coming this way."
Fish Espe succeeded in pushing the raft into the water and jumped on. "Screw it,"
she told him casually. "The other four rafts are already in place. A storm might fuck things
up. We're going to have to do it anyway."
The paperboy looked hesitant. Out on a raft, at night, during a storm, on one of the
largest lakes in the province…
He sighed, knowing that the mage wouldn't take no for an answer, and stepped onto
the raft with her.
Thunder boomed overhead…Not a good sign…
"It'll be fine!" Fish reassured him with a smile.
Fish telling him something will be fine…Not a good sign AT ALL…
The young mage handed him two oars and bade him to paddle. He growled and
glared at her. "Why do I have to be the one to paddle?"
Fish smiled sweetly. "Because you're the muscle, Will, and I have to go over this
incantation one last time…so PADDLE!"
Will dipped the oars into the water and started moving the raft forward. "Yeah, I
got your stink'n paddles right here, princess," he muttered under his breath.
His grumbling didn't bother her. She was busy reviewing the spell. Night was
falling, and she was using a lighting spell to illuminate the Claire Bible manuscript she
held.
"So what are we going to do if this actually works?" Will asked her.
Fish looked up suddenly and blinked. "Well…to be honest," she began, scratching
the back of her head.
"You have no idea, do you?" he asked her with narrowed eyes.
She laughed nervously. "Well…I figured…you know…maybe SHE would have
some ideas…"
He stared at her for several seconds. Fish sweatdropped.
"Just paddle," she finally said.
"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled as the raft made its way to the center of the lake. "I'm
paddl'n, I'm paddl'n…"
Val was still incredibly groggy when he woke up, and still in quite a bit of pain as
he opened his eyes. He had the sensation of movement, but wasn't sure how that was
possible since he wasn't walking. He knew he was in his human form, he could tell by the
feeling of his limbs. He tried to focus his eyes, but everything was blurry. His feet were
dragging across the ground. Someone, no, two someones were pulling him.
He tried to piece together what had happened. There were those Seyruunian
fighters planes…They had shot at him…His wings were shredded…he fell…
Where the hell was he?
Before he could figure out this riddle, the two men dragging him suddenly let go,
and fell hard to the marble floor with a grunt. He growled in pain and lay still, gathering
his strength and trying to get his bearings.
"Dieses ist der drache," he heard one man announce.
"Wundervoll!" he heard a woman's voice exclaim. He looked up and could see a
pair of black high heels in front of him. Looking farther up, a woman with purple hair and
an RS uniform was smiling down at him.
Colonel Gabriev knelt next to the humanoid serpent and admired him. There was a
cut on his forehead, but he seemed none the worse for wear. "Welcome to Atlas City," she
told him with a smile. "Jewel of the Reich. I hope you don't mind us insisting you stay for
awhile and enjoy our hospitality. You see…we have a few questions for you."
Val felt a ball of ice form in his stomach.
The woman's smile broadened. "Yes," she said, running her fingers through his
green hair. "This will be an experience you'll not soon forget…Herr ValGaav."
The wind was starting to pick up now. Will sat at one corner of the large raft,
watching as Fish did her thing. He wondered if she would really be able to pull this one
off, and what it would cost HIM if she couldn't.
Fish, meanwhile, was drawing a magic circle on the boards of the raft, which was
more difficult than you'd think with the damn thing pitching from side to side like it was.
She looked up from her work for a moment and out at the water. The crystals on the other
four anchored rafts were glowing, each one exactly fifty feet away and in one of the four
cardinal directions of the compass. So far so good.
The raft bounced under her, almost causing her hand to jerk and nearly messing up
the magic circle she was drawing. Luckily, her hand was steadier than that.
"Hey, Fish!" she heard Will call from his own little corner of the raft. "It's getting
nasty out!"
She ignored him and finished the circle, adding in the modifications outlined in
Zelgadis Greywords' journal; an image of the night sky's constellations as they would have
appeared when Lina died. Sighing with relief, she gave herself a second to examine her
surroundings. It was almost pitch black outside now, and the wind was howling. Droplets
of rain were starting to fall. Will was right. If there had been anyway for them to back out
now and postpone this without a risk to the crystals, she would have done it, but there
wasn't.
It was now or never.
She tossed Will the ball of light she had been using for illumination and sat just
outside the circle. Taking a deep breath, she raised her hands above her head. She took
one last second to call out to Will.
"Things might get a little weird, Will. Don't worry when it does."
"Yeah, right," she could hear him mutter.
She put it out of her mind and began to chant. "Floating spirits, drifting through the
flow of time," she began. "I call upon your power to summon one whose feet fell upon this
place one thousand years ago!"
Will turned in surprise as the crystal floating behind him began to spark and send a
streamer of light up into the air. It bent and fell upon the magic circle.
"In the name of the Keepers of Time!" Fish called out as another streamer of light
struck the circle, "I call upon both the Darkness Beyond Twilight and the Brilliance
Beyond the Dawn!"
A third streamer, this one from the crystal floating north of them, struck the circle.
"In thy great name!" Fish cried out, feeling the overwhelming power flowing so
close to her as the spell strengthened. "I command that those who keep time's flow read
this holy circle! And bring forth the one I summon from her place in her one second before
death!"
The crystal from the east lashed out with its own streamer. The wind was howling
around them. The raft rocked up and down as the rain fell in torrents on top of them…
Fish opened her eyes and touched the circle with her hands. "I SUMMON THEE,
LINA INVERSE!!!"
The circle exploded with a pillar of light that shot high into the night sky!
Hellfire leapt from Lina's hands just as Ancalagon fired his own laser breath spell.
The two balls of energy struck one another dead on and began to coalesce into a sphere of
pure magical energy. The redhead stared, awestruck by the sight. A complete fusion of
power and purely on ACCIDENT!
She watched as the sphere began to break down. This was it. She braced herself
for what she knew was coming…
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, four crystals appeared around her, each joined to
the others by a beam of red light.
"What the…"
The sphere exploded!
The crystals flashed with light!
Then nothing.
There was a flash of light, and suddenly, a petite, red headed girl was lying
unconscious in the middle of the magic circle.
Fish blinked. "Holy shit! It worked!" she exclaimed. So overjoyed was the mage,
that she jumped to her feet, spun around, and made like she was spiking a football. "I'M
NUMBER ONE! I'M NUMBER ONE! I'M NU…"
She broke off as sudden wave struck their raft. The mage cried out and fell to the
deck. Will screamed out behind her as the entire craft started to flip over.
"OH SHIT!!" Fish cried out. "LINA!" She turned and saw the still unconscious
sorceress roll off the raft and into the pitch black lake below. Without missing a beat, Fish
grit her teeth and dived after her! She hit the cold water and opened her eyes, searching for
a hint of red hair. Seeing something glinting in the light of a flash of lightning, she swam
towards it. Her lungs were burning for air.
She lost sight of whatever it was and started looking around again. It was so dark!
So dark that she couldn't even tell which way was up anymore! She started to panic as her
lungs screamed for oxygen.
Suddenly, she felt something. Something had snagged the back of her dress and was
pulling her. Her head broke the surface of the water, and she coughed loudly. Looking up,
she saw Will's face barely illuminated by another flash of lightning. He was kneeling on
their overturned raft.
"I got you!" he said, almost in surprise. "Just hang on!" He started to pull her
aboard as she continued to cough and sputter. Finally, she was on the wooden planks,
hacking lake water. "L…Lina?!" she asked.
Will looked down at her and shook his head. "I didn't see her."
Fish looked out at the lake as rain continued to crash down on them. She couldn't
see more than two feet ahead of her. She had lost her. Their one best chance….
"Oh….FUCK!!!" she screamed at the sky.
Birds.
The first thing she heard was birds. Then the sound of water.
Then more sounds of water as she threw up about a quart of the stuff.
Breathing heavily, the redhead slowly opened her crimson eyes as she lay on the
beach. An osprey sitting in a nearby tree stared at her, squawked, and flew off after
examining her for a moment.
"G…Gourry?" she whispered. Lifting her head up out of the mud, she squinted
against the light of the dawn and looked around. How did she get near a lake? Where was
she? "Gourry?" she called out again, a little louder.
No answer.
She stood up and took a look at her reflection in the surface of the lake. "You're a
total mess, Lina," she told herself. She cupped some water in her hands and splashed off
her face before making an effort to straighten her hair out. It was more to give her some
time to think rather than an actual act of vanity.
"I was fighting that dragon," she mused. "Then a Dragon Slave…then….here…"
She looked out at the lake. "BUT WHERE THE HELL IS HERE?!" she screamed at the
water.
"HERE!" her echo replied.
"Here!"
"here…"
She growled and scratched her head. Her clothes were soaked, she was hungry,
sore, and her friends were nowhere in sight.
"Hey, Gourry!" she called, cupping her hands around her mouth. "GOURRY!!"
She faced the woods on the other side of her. "AMELIA!!! SYLPHIEL!! ZEL!!"
Nothing.
Her eye twitched. "Figures," she muttered. "A little explosion and they all get
scared as little rabbits and run away…" She balled her hand into a fist. "And when I get
my hands on that yogurt brain, I'll…" She took a breath and tried to calm down. "Take it
easy, Lina," she told herself. "You're disoriented. You have no idea what happened. Just
take a breath and relax." She chuckled. "You don't want to end up doing something crazy
like talking to yourself!"
She blinked.
"Shut up," she ordered herself.
Sighing, she sat down and looked out at the lake.
"He's very resistant to interrogation," the RS officer told Celeste from his chair
across the desk from her. "Of course, dragon physiology is different, and so many of the
key areas I would usually concentrate on may not be working. This is my first time
interrogating a dragon."
She nodded and looked over the notes. "He seemed to respond well to fire," she
noted, glancing over a photograph of the subject, the interrogator, and a blow-torch.
"Ja, but only initially. He seems to have resigned himself to the pain. If I did not
know better, I would swear that he has experienced worse in his life. A severe trauma of
some sort."
"He has, but that's beside the point," the Gestapo minder commented from where
he was standing near the window. "I would suggest concentrating on the psychological,"
he suggested without turning. "Ideas of betrayal will work well. And when you torture
him, pierce his skin…..and whatever you do it with, make sure it's gold in coloration."
The interrogator looked to Celeste for approval, who nodded once. Standing up, he
saluted sharply, clicking his boot heels together. He turned and walked out the door to
continue his work.
"Once again," Celeste commented as the door closed, "I can't help but feel you
know this dragon." She looked at the Gestapo officer, expecting an answer.
"You find it surprising that an officer in the Reich's Gestapo would be well briefed
on well-known dragons?"
"I find it surprising that despite your obvious familiarity with the prisoner, you still
refuse to interrogate him yourself." She stood up and faced him. "Why?"
The purple-haired Gestapo agent turned and smiled in that annoying way he had.
"Das ist…" he began slowly, trailing off.
"Das ist?" she prompted.
He grinned and held a finger up. "…ein geheimnis!"
She growled. "I'm growing rather tired of your games, Herr Oberst," she warned.
"And your 'secrets.'"
"Yes, you DO seem to have something of a short temper," he noted. She shook her
head and sighed. Looking up, she saw that he was right in front of her now. "Perhaps we
should talk," he suggested. "Over dinner."
She grimaced. "I have better things to do with my time than listen to a Gestapo man
bluster."
"Me? Bluster?" he asked innocently. "I merely wanted to discuss a proposition
with you. Nothing more nefarious than that."
"And I have better things to do than entertain one of your propositions," she hissed.
"You're dismissed," she announced.
He smiled unctuously. "Ja wohl, Fraulein Oberst." He saluted and walked
casually out of the office.
"Herr Xellos," she called out. He stopped and turned to her. "I hope you are
aware that if you make any similar…'propositions'…to anyone in my command…I
SHALL hear of it."
The violet-eyed man grinned. "Of course! But I have no interest in them…Only
you." With that, he turned and walked away.
Fish took the hot tea gratefully and drank the warm liquid in one swallow, shivering
beneath the blanket Will had brought for her as she recuperated in their cave hideout. "Any
sign of her?" she asked haltingly.
He shook his head. "I looked up and down the shore, but I couldn't find the
body."
She glared angrily at him. "We're not looking for her BODY, you dumb-shit!" she
hollered. "She's alive! She has to be…"
"Yeah, well alive or not, I didn't find her," Will replied with a scowl.
Fish turned away and continued to shiver. "You gotta keep looking, Will," she told
him in a whisper.
"Fish…"
"Please?" she begged, looking at him. For the first time since they met, she was
begging him for something rather than demanding or ordering.
He sighed. "Fine, fine. I'll go check the shore again…"
"Thank you, Will." She turned away from him again.
Will smiled gently. "You just get better, okay?" he told her. Standing up, he
walked out of the cave and back towards the lake.
Fish didn't watch him go. Instead, she looked up at the mural on the wall opposite
of her; the painting of Lina Zelgadis Greywords had left for them. "Guess I fucked up, huh,
Z?" she asked it.
The painting said nothing.
"Yeah? Well I'm going to find her," she told it. "Just wait. I'll find her. She's
gotta be somewhere…"
Lina blinked in absolute shock when she passed the main gates and started into the
city she had found. Last she had checked, they were near Atlas, but this place…This city
was at least ten times the size of Atlas City. With that and the lake, she had an idea of what
had happened…
She sat on a park bench near a fountain and mused on her situation.
"Somehow," she said out loud, "The power released from my Dragon Slave and
Ancalagon's Laser Breath launched me through the astral plane to end up in another part of
the world." Looking up, she saw one of those horse-less carriages drive by the park. "But
I've never seen some of the things they have here." Her one experience with anything like
cars was Jiras' orihalcon tank, but these things were completely different.
"Not only that," she whispered, "But these people dress differently than anyone
I've ever seen." She took a breath and looked up at the sky. "Where ever I am, I'm pretty
damn far from home."
She hopped to her feet and clenched her fists in front of her.
"And the first thing one should do when one finds themselves lost in a foreign land
is to CHECK OUT THE NATIVE SPECIALTY FOODS!!!"
There was a puff of smoke on her shoulder, and suddenly, a chibi version of Filia
was standing there. "Miss Lina! What about your friends?! They'll be worried about
you!"
Lina shrugged. "If I'm as far from home as I think I am, delaying long enough to get
something to eat isn't going to make them worry any less." She blinked. "Hey… Aren't
you in the wrong story?"
Chibi Filia looked nervously from side to side then said, "Gottago!" With a puff of
smoke, she was gone.
"Figures," Lina mumbled. "Well…Here I go!"
With that, Lina took off running for the first available restaurant.
Geoffrey von Reider ran the whetstone up his knife's edge slowly. He was in a
contemplative mood today, and so the other pilots in the rec room seemed willing to
remain quiet. They knew their squadron commander took his thoughts very seriously. They
also knew that Colonel Reider was his most dangerous when he was quiet. He always got
quiet right before he laid into a new pilot for some infraction. He always got quiet right
before he was about to tell his pilots they were going on a tough mission. And he was
always quiet right before he flamed a Zephilian fighter…
Of course, the bomber jocks just in from Seyruun didn't know this, and Reider's
contemplative state didn't seem to keep them from making a ruckus as they waltzed into the
rec room as if they owned it.
Reider paused for a moment and tried to block out the ruckus. They were nothing
but kids. He continued sharpening his combat knife.
"So then, these two P-20's dive in on our ship and start tearing the fuck out of us,"
one of the kids was explaining to a crewman from another bomber. "Our top gunner flamed
one but actually melted the barrels on his guns in the process." He helped himself to a beer
from behind the bar and opened it. "Of course, our escort was out on their break or
something. Practically had to fly the fucking mission ourselves. Fucking fighter prop-
jocks…"
A few of the fighter pilots in Reider's squadron tensed nearby.
"Just goes to show you," the bomber crewman said, "Fighter pilots make movies.
Bomber pilots make history. We do all the work, they get all the glory."
"Hey, FREUND," one of Reider's pilot's began, stressing the "friend," part of his
hail. "Just because our birds don't have the fuel to follow you guys all over the world,
doesn't m…"
The bomber man rolled his eyes. "Oh, save it. You guys escort us right to the
tough stuff, then bail. We were flying precision runs over Xoana, getting the shit kicked out
of us while our escorts were taking a powder upstairs, so don't give me that shit. You
fighter jocks just don't give a shit as long as you get your pretty leather jackets and your
girls…"
"You all sound the same to me," Reider suddenly commented. The other pilots,
fighter and bomber, looked up suddenly.
"Sorry, Herr Oberst," the fighter pilot said sheepishly. "I was just…"
Reider stuck his knife in the tabletop and stood up, facing the bomber pilot. "You
wanna know what you ALL sound like?" he asked in a hiss. "Huh? You know what a
bomber pilot and a fighter pilot BOTH sound like when they're bird is going down in
flames?" The bomber crewman swallowed nervously, not realizing a full Colonel was
going to get involved in his little spat.
"You wanna know what you sound like?" Reider asked. He leaned over until his
lips were near the bomber crewman's ear. "Kkkkssssssskkkkkkskkkkskksksksskkk." The
young crewman blinked. "That's the sound you hear, son," Reider continued quietly.
"When you're watching your buddy's bird go down on fire and you're shouting to him on
the radio, asking if he's okay, if he's there, if he's ALIVE! That's all you hear.
Ksssskskskskskskskskskssskkk." He paused for a moment before continuing. "And that's
all ANY pilot sounds like while you watch them go down and hit the ground."
The crewman cleared his throat nervously as Reider stepped back.
"Let me tell you something, son. I've flown more missions than a calendar has
dates. I've seen snot-nosed kids like you go down over territory I'd describe as Hell! I
don't care what mission you're on, or what the hell you fly or why, but as long as you wear
a uniform like that, believe me…I. Give. A SHIT!"
He felt someone rest a hand on his shoulder and turned to see his executive officer
standing there. "Come on, Geoff, stop scaring the new meat," he said with a smile. Reider
blinked and looked back to see that the bomberman was rather pale now.
"Yeah, sure…"
He stepped back and let the pilot guide him out the rec room door. The Colonel
couldn't notice how quiet the room had become.
"Cepheid's left nut, Geoff!" his exec and friend, Major Erick "Talon" Taloon
laughed. "You scared the piss out of that kid!"
"Yeah, maybe I was a little hard…"
"Bah! The boy deserved it! Fuck him! I just think you were a BIT too intense
about the whole thing…"
Reider grumbled a little.
"Hey…Hey!" Taloon snapped, giving his friend a light slap on the face. "You
know, if you keep running yourself like this, you're going to end up taking it into the air vith
you." He smiled. "I know…" The Exec looked from side to side as if in some
conspiracy. "Vhat do you say ve go out into this little hamlet ve've taken and find
ourselves some of those redheaded Atlan FRAULEINS ve've heard so much about?"
Reider looked at him in disbelief. "What?!"
"I'm serious, Geoff!" the blonde pilot continued. "I've heard these Atlan vomen
are so hot, they're descended from the Fire Dragon King! Spoils of var, my friend! Let's
go find a place, get a drink, meet some nice, young, frauleins…" He rubbed his hands in
excitement.
"I don't know, Talon," Reider told him.
"Of course you don't!" Taloon told him with a slap on the back. "That's vhy your
good freund, Talon, is here to make these decisions for you! Now get your shit! Ve've got
frauleins to conquer!" he sang as he dashed for the door.
Reider sweatdropped. "Why does this sound like a bad idea?"
"I'll have this…and this….and this…and this…and this and this and this and this
andthisandthisandthisandthisandthisANDTHISANDTHISANDTHISANDTHISAND…Oh,
why don't you just send me everything on these two sides of the menu in triple portions?!"
Lina ordered, putting her menu down and flashing a smile at the waiter.
The waiter smiled and placed a small tray with a tin foil cover in front of her.
"Bon apetite!"
Lina looked down at the tray for several seconds, then up at the waiter, then back
down at her tray before finally catching the restaurant employee in her icy stare.
"I don't think you heard me," she said quietly, her eyes narrowing. "I ordered
food…"
"I apologize, Miss, but with the rationing system in place, we're only allowed to
serve one tray of food to each customer." He bowed in apology.
Lina opened the foil cover of the tray and sniffed her plate experimentally. "This
stuff smells like sh…"
Before she could finish her comparison, the front door burst in, and a blonde man in
a strange, grey uniform appeared with a bottle in his hand. "GUTEN ADEN!" he cried.
Another man in a similar uniform was standing behind him, sighing. "In the name of the
Reich Chancellor and the Reich Marshall of the Luftwaffe, Reich Marshal Hermann
Ziegler, myself and my associate here have come to this establishment to recruit pilots for
the Reich!"
Lina blinked at them.
The blond man saw two pretty waitresses nearby and smiled at them. "You two
like young, beautiful, patriotic vomen," he told them. "Ever consider being my vingman?"
The sorceress rolled her eyes at the display. "Jeez, even on the other side of the
world the pick-up lines are lame…"
Apparently, the waitresses felt the same way, because the sound of two slaps were
still echoing in the restaurant as Lina stood up. She tossed a few gold coins on the table to
pay for her…meal…and started for the door. Pausing suddenly, she turned and saw
several people quickly look away. They had been staring at her. She knew it…
Blinking, she shrugged it off and turned back to the door. However, she now found
that same uniformed man standing before her.
"Vhat about you, cupcake?" he asked with a smile. "Care to go for a ride in the
sky vith me?"
She rolled her eyes and started to push past him, but he rested a hand on her
shoulder. Lina stopped, her eyebrow twitching.
"Awwww!" he cooed. "Come on, liebchen! I'll show you my cockpit…"
"Talon," Reider warned with a touch of uncertainty.
Taloon turned to him and smiled. Reider could see the redhead shaking in rage
behind him and watched her slowly turn towards the pilot's back. "What's she going to
do?" Taloon asked in their own language. "Hit me?"
He turned back to the sorceress just in time for his face to meet her fist in a rather
spectacular introduction. The Luftwaffe pilot went flying across the room.
Reider blinked as Taloon hit the wall and slid down to the floor.
"Another time, 'liebchen!'" Lina said with a fake smile. The other girls in the café
applauded loudly.
Lina bowed theatrically to them and walked out the door. Reider knelt next to his
friend and started to help him up. "Talon? Are you all right?"
The blond man sat up with a wince. He could see little Seyruunian fighters flying
around his head, manned by tiny Lina's who were flashing the victory sign from inside the
cockpits. "Vhat a voman…"
Lina stepped outside and walked down the street. She looked around at the
buildings around her and blinked. As different as it all was, there was something very
familiar about this city. Something about the layout…
Even the people were familiar, though she hadn't seen any of them before. She
passed a city square and blinked as a memory of another square flashed through her mind.
"Huh?" she asked herself. She ran forward to the center of the square and looked
up at the monument in the center. She didn't recognize the statue itself, but the platform it
stood on struck her as familiar. Looking around again, it started to actually bother her.
A brick building stuck in her gaze for several moments until she actually ran out of
the square and right up to its corner. She looked it over critically. Seeing a man standing
on its porch, she rushed over to him.
"Hey! Old man!" The man looked down at her and arched an eyebrow.
"Hmmm?"
"What's the address of this place?!" she asked.
"Two-fourteen Park Lane," he told her.
She took a step back. Recovering, she pointed at the park she had just left. "And
that?!"
"That's Liberty Park, dear," he told her with a smile. "Are you from out of town?
Are you lost?"
Lina blinked and stood back. "I…I don't know," she whispered. She looked up,
determination on her face. "But I know how to find out!" With that, she started running
down the street.
She passed several ancient buildings, buildings she recognized as being built only
a few months ago! Yet they looked almost a millenium old!
Panting, she passed a temple.
"The Rayder Memorial Temple," she gasped as she ran by. She turned a corner
and continued running. "I'm on Fifth Street!" she exclaimed. A street sign came into
view, confirming her declaration. "That means if I turn here…" She turned down a side
street and continued to run. "And a left here…"
She ran faster, the truth right on her heels.
"It should be right around this corner," she breathed as she ran. The corner was
coming up. Suspecting what was coming, she turned it…
And stood stock still in awe…
"My….God…" she whispered at the sight. The sorceress looked down at her feet
in shock. "I'm back," came the haunted whisper. "I'm home…All this time I was…" She
paused and fell to her knees as she said. "We finally…REALLY did it…"
Her fist struck the concrete in front of her. "YOU MANIACS!!!" she screamed.
"YOU CLOSED IT DOWN!!! GOD….DAMN YOU! GOD DAMN YOU ALL TO
HELL!!!"
Standing nearby, a young woman saw the oddly-dressed redhead having a fit and
looked up at the source of her distress.
Sitting before them was a building with two signs on it. One read "All You Can
Eat for a Silver Piece Steak Buffet!"
The other read, "Condemned."
To Be Continued…
Author's Notes:
Okay, I know I said last chapter that it would be the last, but I had already done so much of
this one that I decided the best thing to do would be to finish it up and post it before I left,
so I busted my hump and cleaned it up. ^_^
That's it. See you in a few months. ^_^