Slayers Mystic
Episode 14
A ball! Playing Cupid
Charity looks out of the window.
"Are you ready Charity? You're not thinking about that darn accident are you?" Lina peers into
Charity's bedchamber.
"Pip!" squeaks Bobo as it leaps into Lina's arms.
Lina laughs as she pets it. "Well, come down as soon as you can. Maybe you can still convince her
not to marry Gourry. And I will get that sword..." Lina puts Bobo on the floor and walks away.
Her face hidden in darkness, Charity did not realise she is even crying until a tear dropped on
her hand.
"Pip?" Bobo looks at her questioningly.
"I feel like I've lost everything Bobo," Charity whispers.
"What did you lose?" comes a voice.
"Bobo?" Charity half turns. "You can talk?"
"No," the voice says.
Charity squints at the figure standing in the doorway, against the light outside of her chambers.
"Who...Who is there?" Charity asks.
"It's me."
"Victory...Vee?" Charity asks.
Silence.
Light flares in the room suddenly. "Of course it's me." Vee stands in the middle, staring at the
older girl, with her arms folded across her chest. "Staying in the dark does no good to your
eyes," Vee says. "So I did a little light spell."
"Light spell? We aren't allowed to do spells outside of the Blue Sorceror's supervision."
"Yes Miss Prissy? How on earth did you survive out here in the past without doing any spells?
I've been chanting spells ever since I first step onto this time."
"I heard what you did," Vee says. "You cast that sword spell."
"So what? Are you going to tell on me--again?" Vee's eyes flashes with anger.
"What do you mean?" Charity suddenly looks innocent.
"No matter. I'm not here to pick a fight on you. I figured if my mother went back to the past and
found one of the nasty generals of the Monthzie gang in the castle, there ought to be more. I'm
here to kill any one of them."
"Kill? Killing is not the way to protect the kingdom."
"Well, I've killed more than a dozen of the Monthzie gang's monstrosity. It wont't hurt them if I
kill more." Vee turns away and walks out of the room. "I'm going to that party downstairs. Come
with me if you want to root out the evil."
"Vee," Charity calls out after her godsister.
"What?"
"My mother..."
"She is very well." Vee pauses. "You did a good job."
"Hmm."
*0*
"Umm...food. Delicious food," Lina says as she gobbles down all except the dishes. "What's the
matter Gourry? No appetite?" Lina asks when she sees Gourry looking at Amelia and not touching
his plate at all. "Then I'll take yours. Thanks." And gobbles his food down too. "Hey Vee! It's
Vee, Gourry!"
Gourry continues looking at Amelia who is standing against the starlit night sky (looking very
beautiful and more matured for her age).
"Come over here Vee! Ah, I see you've met Charity."
"I know her from young," Vee replies.
"Yes, I know her too well," Charity glares at Vee. Vee glares back.
"Well, meet a friend of mine Vee," Lina says and looks around for Patriot who _was_ sitting
beside her..."Hey! Where are you?"
Patriot hides under the table.
"Ah there you are!" Lina pulls Patriot from under the table. "What the heck were you doing down
there?" Patriot covers his face with his napkin.
"Erm...dropped my napkin," Patriot mumbles.
"You just took it off the table! What is the matter with you?" Lina tugs the napkin. Patriot
pulls back.
"I need to go to the toilet," he backs away with the napkin to his face still.
"What was that about?" Vee raises an eyebrow at Lina. Lina shrugs.
"He's weird," Charity adds in. "Hey! Where's Gourry?"
Vee turns pale as she sees Gourry on the balcony with Amelia. They look into each others' eyes
and then...
Charity pulls the table cloth, unsettling everything on the table and settling them on the floor.
Vee backs off and 'accidently' bump into the two young lovers, shattering the romantic
atmosphere.
"Oh! There you are!" Vee pretends to be surprised. "It seems that there was some trouble with..,
er...the tablecloth and the food."
Charity frowns. "Haven't I met you before?"
"I...I'm Gourry's cousin...err...remember?"
"Well, how was your meeting with that Duke? Did you manage to stop any espionages?" Charity asks.
"Well," Vee looks utterly confounded. "I did manage to stop one of the 'spies'," she replies
thinking of the incident the day before in the future in which she had killed Chivalry.
"When did you arrive here? I didn't notice. The guards didn't sound any horns too."
"The food, Princess. The food is on the floor," Vee tries to elude the question.
"Oh yeah," Amelia looks at the dirty floor abesent-mindedly. "We can't have a ball without food,
can we Gourry?"
"Of course we can't," Gourry looks into Amelia's eyes.
"Gourry and I will clean up the floor," Vee says and herds Gourry away before any of the two
could protest.
"About time," says Lina. "I'm getting tired of standing on food. The guests have all started
dancing, and I'm trying to find a partner to dance."
"You dance?" Charity asks Lina, surprised.
"You dance?" echoes Gourry absent-mindedly. (He is still looking after Amelia, who is discussing
with the band of musicians.)
"Thanks for the invitation Gourry," Vee pushes Lina and Gourry to the dance floor and stands
aside. "Dance!" she whispers to Lina. "This is your only chance to get ma...err...the sword! Make
him fall in love with your...soulful eyes! Yes that's it."
Lina grabs Gourry and begins to dance with him, looking rather awkward.
"Now you make sure your mother is occupied," Vee hisses to Charity. "I'll make sure my parents
are alone together and you make sure your mother is dancing with your father."
"Yes, of course I know what to do."
"And we have to keep a look out for the Evil Ones as well," Vee adds.
"I know that too."
"Let's go!"
Charity walks up to Amelia and taps her shoulder. "I need you," Charity says to her future
mother.
"What is it?" Amelia looks suspiciously at Charity. She turns to the band once more, giving last
minute instructions on the songs to play, then brought Charity out of the ballroom. "What is your
problem? First you wanted to steal Gourry, then the thing about that prince, then the food. I
know you did that on purpose."
"Er...it's about the Prince. I think he collapsed from starvation."
"That's silly! I just asked one of the servants to give dinner."
"Oh?" Charity scratches her head. "I thought it was starvation. He collapsed and that's the whole
point actually. I don't know why he collapsed but your father will _not_ be happy that you
treat a guest this way. You better take a look at him and let him out or something."
Amelia sighs. "Oh alright."
She walks to the guestroom with Charity trailing after her. Amelia turns the key in the lock and
open the door. Peace was lying on the king-sized bed.
"He had not collapsed. He was just sleeping. There is no cause for worry--hey!"
Charity had left the room and locked Amelia in with Peace.
"Let me out!" Amelia thumps on the door. But Charity has already gone back to the ballroom. "Let
me out!"
*0*
Vee watches her parents from far with a contented smile on her face. They _would_ get married to
each other after all.
Lina and Gourry danced with each other in rhythm with the slow dance Amelia had arranged to be
played for Gourry and her. However, Amelia was nowhere, so Lina took Amelia's place.
"It's strange, but I haven't met Prince Phil for several days now," Lina wonders aloud.
"Him? He's out on a journey to stamp out some attacks off the edge of the kingdom," Gourry
replies quite intelligently.
"Oh."
"Why do you ask?"
"Just wondering." Lina holds his hands tighter. "Do you love her?"
"Who? Amelia?"
Lina nods.
"I think I do. I don't know...I'm so confused!" Gourry releases his hands and clutches his head.
"I'm sorry Lina, I can't answer your question. Nor can I hang around here any longer." Gourry
walks away.
Patriot watches Gourry walk away with a smile. Now, _he_ would dance with Lina. He would have her
all by herself. "What happened?" he approaches Lina, trying to look sympathic.
Lina looks at him, and then replies with a sigh, "I have no idea."
"Would you care for a dance?"
"Sure, if you don't mind getting your toes stepped on."
Patriot grins and whisks her to the middle of the ballroom.
As the two danced, Vee suddenly notices that the blonde haired Gourry had been replaced by
another person.
"What the..." Vee recognises his face. She rushes into the center. "YOU!"
Patriot sprangs apart from Lina, bewildered at the yelling. His hand flew to his new sword. Vee
had whipped out _his_ old sword (which is now hers) and pointed in his direction.
"I'm going to..." Vee started, when Lina interrupted her by standing in the middle.
"What is this all about? Vee, this is my new friend, Patriot."
"He is no friend. He is one of the Evil Ones." Vee pushes Lina away and stares hard at Patriot.
Patriot looks at Lina once before drawing his sword.
Around them, guests start gasping and screaming.
"I'm going to kill you like I killed your brother. I'm going to destroy you." Vee continued her
speech. "You don't deserve to live after what you did."
"I don't really want to fight _now_," Patriot groaned.
"Fight or you shall be killed. Ready yourself," Vee ordered, then sprang forward thrusting the
sword. Patriot deflected the attack with his sword. It was his turn to attack, but Vee jumps so
high above him and then slashes with the sword as she comes down to earth.
"How did you...?" Lina wonders. Vee's skill was extraordinary. Her future daughter's swordmanship
was even better than Gourry's. Vee was also quick on her feet and was combining a number of
simple basic spells along with her fighting. Spells like levitate, light and fireball were used.
Patriot, however, had the advantage of weight and experience as Lina could see. How easily he
defended himself against Vee's vicious stabs!
"I repeat myself: I don't want to fight," Patriot says. "Really I don't."
"Why not?" Vee demands.
"Because I am trying to...I'm not telling you what I want to do. So there!" Patriot sheaths his
sword. "Kill me if you want to."
Vee sheaths her sword as well.
"Why don't you kill me?" Patriot asks Vee.
"There is no honour in murder," Vee replies and turns away.
"Oh Vee!" says a voice. Charity stands in the doorway with her eyes all starry and teary. "You've
changed! For the better! You've seen life in another perspective! I'm so happy for you."
"Shut up," Vee mutters. "I've not changed."
"Pip!" bounces a furry purple ball into the ballroom. "Pip!"
Screams start anew and guests stampedes out of the castle.
"What do you want to do now?" Vee turns to Patriot.
"A truce."
"Until?"
"A marriage."
"Then?"
"We fight."
"Deal."
-------------------------------------------2 B Continued
Episode 14
A ball! Playing Cupid
Charity looks out of the window.
"Are you ready Charity? You're not thinking about that darn accident are you?" Lina peers into
Charity's bedchamber.
"Pip!" squeaks Bobo as it leaps into Lina's arms.
Lina laughs as she pets it. "Well, come down as soon as you can. Maybe you can still convince her
not to marry Gourry. And I will get that sword..." Lina puts Bobo on the floor and walks away.
Her face hidden in darkness, Charity did not realise she is even crying until a tear dropped on
her hand.
"Pip?" Bobo looks at her questioningly.
"I feel like I've lost everything Bobo," Charity whispers.
"What did you lose?" comes a voice.
"Bobo?" Charity half turns. "You can talk?"
"No," the voice says.
Charity squints at the figure standing in the doorway, against the light outside of her chambers.
"Who...Who is there?" Charity asks.
"It's me."
"Victory...Vee?" Charity asks.
Silence.
Light flares in the room suddenly. "Of course it's me." Vee stands in the middle, staring at the
older girl, with her arms folded across her chest. "Staying in the dark does no good to your
eyes," Vee says. "So I did a little light spell."
"Light spell? We aren't allowed to do spells outside of the Blue Sorceror's supervision."
"Yes Miss Prissy? How on earth did you survive out here in the past without doing any spells?
I've been chanting spells ever since I first step onto this time."
"I heard what you did," Vee says. "You cast that sword spell."
"So what? Are you going to tell on me--again?" Vee's eyes flashes with anger.
"What do you mean?" Charity suddenly looks innocent.
"No matter. I'm not here to pick a fight on you. I figured if my mother went back to the past and
found one of the nasty generals of the Monthzie gang in the castle, there ought to be more. I'm
here to kill any one of them."
"Kill? Killing is not the way to protect the kingdom."
"Well, I've killed more than a dozen of the Monthzie gang's monstrosity. It wont't hurt them if I
kill more." Vee turns away and walks out of the room. "I'm going to that party downstairs. Come
with me if you want to root out the evil."
"Vee," Charity calls out after her godsister.
"What?"
"My mother..."
"She is very well." Vee pauses. "You did a good job."
"Hmm."
*0*
"Umm...food. Delicious food," Lina says as she gobbles down all except the dishes. "What's the
matter Gourry? No appetite?" Lina asks when she sees Gourry looking at Amelia and not touching
his plate at all. "Then I'll take yours. Thanks." And gobbles his food down too. "Hey Vee! It's
Vee, Gourry!"
Gourry continues looking at Amelia who is standing against the starlit night sky (looking very
beautiful and more matured for her age).
"Come over here Vee! Ah, I see you've met Charity."
"I know her from young," Vee replies.
"Yes, I know her too well," Charity glares at Vee. Vee glares back.
"Well, meet a friend of mine Vee," Lina says and looks around for Patriot who _was_ sitting
beside her..."Hey! Where are you?"
Patriot hides under the table.
"Ah there you are!" Lina pulls Patriot from under the table. "What the heck were you doing down
there?" Patriot covers his face with his napkin.
"Erm...dropped my napkin," Patriot mumbles.
"You just took it off the table! What is the matter with you?" Lina tugs the napkin. Patriot
pulls back.
"I need to go to the toilet," he backs away with the napkin to his face still.
"What was that about?" Vee raises an eyebrow at Lina. Lina shrugs.
"He's weird," Charity adds in. "Hey! Where's Gourry?"
Vee turns pale as she sees Gourry on the balcony with Amelia. They look into each others' eyes
and then...
Charity pulls the table cloth, unsettling everything on the table and settling them on the floor.
Vee backs off and 'accidently' bump into the two young lovers, shattering the romantic
atmosphere.
"Oh! There you are!" Vee pretends to be surprised. "It seems that there was some trouble with..,
er...the tablecloth and the food."
Charity frowns. "Haven't I met you before?"
"I...I'm Gourry's cousin...err...remember?"
"Well, how was your meeting with that Duke? Did you manage to stop any espionages?" Charity asks.
"Well," Vee looks utterly confounded. "I did manage to stop one of the 'spies'," she replies
thinking of the incident the day before in the future in which she had killed Chivalry.
"When did you arrive here? I didn't notice. The guards didn't sound any horns too."
"The food, Princess. The food is on the floor," Vee tries to elude the question.
"Oh yeah," Amelia looks at the dirty floor abesent-mindedly. "We can't have a ball without food,
can we Gourry?"
"Of course we can't," Gourry looks into Amelia's eyes.
"Gourry and I will clean up the floor," Vee says and herds Gourry away before any of the two
could protest.
"About time," says Lina. "I'm getting tired of standing on food. The guests have all started
dancing, and I'm trying to find a partner to dance."
"You dance?" Charity asks Lina, surprised.
"You dance?" echoes Gourry absent-mindedly. (He is still looking after Amelia, who is discussing
with the band of musicians.)
"Thanks for the invitation Gourry," Vee pushes Lina and Gourry to the dance floor and stands
aside. "Dance!" she whispers to Lina. "This is your only chance to get ma...err...the sword! Make
him fall in love with your...soulful eyes! Yes that's it."
Lina grabs Gourry and begins to dance with him, looking rather awkward.
"Now you make sure your mother is occupied," Vee hisses to Charity. "I'll make sure my parents
are alone together and you make sure your mother is dancing with your father."
"Yes, of course I know what to do."
"And we have to keep a look out for the Evil Ones as well," Vee adds.
"I know that too."
"Let's go!"
Charity walks up to Amelia and taps her shoulder. "I need you," Charity says to her future
mother.
"What is it?" Amelia looks suspiciously at Charity. She turns to the band once more, giving last
minute instructions on the songs to play, then brought Charity out of the ballroom. "What is your
problem? First you wanted to steal Gourry, then the thing about that prince, then the food. I
know you did that on purpose."
"Er...it's about the Prince. I think he collapsed from starvation."
"That's silly! I just asked one of the servants to give dinner."
"Oh?" Charity scratches her head. "I thought it was starvation. He collapsed and that's the whole
point actually. I don't know why he collapsed but your father will _not_ be happy that you
treat a guest this way. You better take a look at him and let him out or something."
Amelia sighs. "Oh alright."
She walks to the guestroom with Charity trailing after her. Amelia turns the key in the lock and
open the door. Peace was lying on the king-sized bed.
"He had not collapsed. He was just sleeping. There is no cause for worry--hey!"
Charity had left the room and locked Amelia in with Peace.
"Let me out!" Amelia thumps on the door. But Charity has already gone back to the ballroom. "Let
me out!"
*0*
Vee watches her parents from far with a contented smile on her face. They _would_ get married to
each other after all.
Lina and Gourry danced with each other in rhythm with the slow dance Amelia had arranged to be
played for Gourry and her. However, Amelia was nowhere, so Lina took Amelia's place.
"It's strange, but I haven't met Prince Phil for several days now," Lina wonders aloud.
"Him? He's out on a journey to stamp out some attacks off the edge of the kingdom," Gourry
replies quite intelligently.
"Oh."
"Why do you ask?"
"Just wondering." Lina holds his hands tighter. "Do you love her?"
"Who? Amelia?"
Lina nods.
"I think I do. I don't know...I'm so confused!" Gourry releases his hands and clutches his head.
"I'm sorry Lina, I can't answer your question. Nor can I hang around here any longer." Gourry
walks away.
Patriot watches Gourry walk away with a smile. Now, _he_ would dance with Lina. He would have her
all by herself. "What happened?" he approaches Lina, trying to look sympathic.
Lina looks at him, and then replies with a sigh, "I have no idea."
"Would you care for a dance?"
"Sure, if you don't mind getting your toes stepped on."
Patriot grins and whisks her to the middle of the ballroom.
As the two danced, Vee suddenly notices that the blonde haired Gourry had been replaced by
another person.
"What the..." Vee recognises his face. She rushes into the center. "YOU!"
Patriot sprangs apart from Lina, bewildered at the yelling. His hand flew to his new sword. Vee
had whipped out _his_ old sword (which is now hers) and pointed in his direction.
"I'm going to..." Vee started, when Lina interrupted her by standing in the middle.
"What is this all about? Vee, this is my new friend, Patriot."
"He is no friend. He is one of the Evil Ones." Vee pushes Lina away and stares hard at Patriot.
Patriot looks at Lina once before drawing his sword.
Around them, guests start gasping and screaming.
"I'm going to kill you like I killed your brother. I'm going to destroy you." Vee continued her
speech. "You don't deserve to live after what you did."
"I don't really want to fight _now_," Patriot groaned.
"Fight or you shall be killed. Ready yourself," Vee ordered, then sprang forward thrusting the
sword. Patriot deflected the attack with his sword. It was his turn to attack, but Vee jumps so
high above him and then slashes with the sword as she comes down to earth.
"How did you...?" Lina wonders. Vee's skill was extraordinary. Her future daughter's swordmanship
was even better than Gourry's. Vee was also quick on her feet and was combining a number of
simple basic spells along with her fighting. Spells like levitate, light and fireball were used.
Patriot, however, had the advantage of weight and experience as Lina could see. How easily he
defended himself against Vee's vicious stabs!
"I repeat myself: I don't want to fight," Patriot says. "Really I don't."
"Why not?" Vee demands.
"Because I am trying to...I'm not telling you what I want to do. So there!" Patriot sheaths his
sword. "Kill me if you want to."
Vee sheaths her sword as well.
"Why don't you kill me?" Patriot asks Vee.
"There is no honour in murder," Vee replies and turns away.
"Oh Vee!" says a voice. Charity stands in the doorway with her eyes all starry and teary. "You've
changed! For the better! You've seen life in another perspective! I'm so happy for you."
"Shut up," Vee mutters. "I've not changed."
"Pip!" bounces a furry purple ball into the ballroom. "Pip!"
Screams start anew and guests stampedes out of the castle.
"What do you want to do now?" Vee turns to Patriot.
"A truce."
"Until?"
"A marriage."
"Then?"
"We fight."
"Deal."
-------------------------------------------2 B Continued