Xelloss snickered to himself. ISo/i, he thought, IZelgadiss seems to be normal, but I wonder where the others are? Oh well, might as well have all the fun I can!/i He smiled at the fat grandmother as he walked by, making a face in Zelgadiss' direction, "Some people, they just don't care about the children!"

The lady glared, "You shut up, priest-boy! I seen you harassing little Mikey before. I just didn't say nothin' cause I's is a strong believer in God, and I know you're gonna burn even hotter 'n him when you go to hell. Your supposed to be a man of god, and I see you harassing little boys. Jeeze, what's this world coming to...."

Sweatdrop. Xelloss was pondering whether or not to enlighten her on his actual standing among the gods and mazoku when he remembered Zelgadiss, "Well, um, alright then!"

Zel was almost out of the park. Oh, wouldn't it be fun to freak that lady out? Xel tried to teleport. Nothing happened. He tried again with the same result, "Oh my," he muttered to himself, "This is quite a twist. I'll have to adapt to the lack of magick here, wherever we are..." He ran to catch up with the ex-chimera. That was something else, Zel was human. It made sense when thought out. If Xel's magick didn't work, then it's only natural that Zel would be human. Zel's form was held together by magick, such complex magick that it could not hope to be undone by anything but the most powerful of spells. Xel chuckled. The easiest cure was simply take away the magick. If it doesn't exist, it can't affect you. Then again, that's easier said then done.

Xelloss then had a rather unnerving thought. Demon's were beings made from the human's mind and magick. If he had no magick, that meant in this world he was nothing more then a human. And not a very strong one at that! That meant, if Zelgadiss - or anyone else, for that matter - tried anything, he'd be virtually powerless to stop it.

Zelgadiss, hearing footsteps behind him, turned. He almost couldn't believe who he saw. He frowned, "Xelloss"

Xel caught up, taking a moment to catch his breath Idamn, I suppose demon's magick don't exist here either. What a crappy-ass world./i "Oh, Zelgadiss! You're human again, yet you still have a heart of stone!" He mocked tears.

Zel took a step towards him, his hands balling into fists, "Alright Xelloss, I know your behind this! Where the hell am I? What's going on, and where's Lina?"

"Truthfully? I don't know"

"Liar!"

"There's where your wrong. I never lie."

"You tell half truths, and twist things around to suit yourself. That's still lying."

"Let's not discuss my moral values here. First we must find the others."

"Do you know where they are?"

"No"

"Do you know where they might be?"

"No"

"Do you have any clue if they're even close by?!"

"Not even a notion."

"Well, useless, what do you know?"

"That is a secret."

Zelgadiss continued out of the park, dragging Xelloss by the collar. Xel was actually quite uncomfortable. He didn't like this idea of 'pain', it had been so long since it affected him he forgot how unpleasant it was.

~~

IAh, the end of the day. Finally, /iLina thought, IAnd no homework's a plus. I can get some heavy reading in tonight. Maybe Amelia and I could do something this weekend.../i Lina had been reading into mock-nonfictional fantasy. Books about magick and such. She enjoyed it quite a bit.

She met up with Amelia and together they waved by to friends and headed to Lina's house. Everyone knew who Lina was, but she wasn't popular. In fact, most people avoided Lina if they could. She wasn't 'bad' per sei. She didn't get into the things Naga and them did. Sure, she'd been in more then her fair share of fights, always the victor. And the property damage was enough to shake a stick at, but she wasn't in trouble with anything more important then some pugnacious teachers and her parents at times. Her older sister was the biggest problem. Lina and her just didn't get along very well. Luna always seemed to know what Lina was up to, no matter how sneaky Lina was.....

"Uhhh, hey Lina!"

Her thoughts were interrupted by Gourry, who caught up to her and Amelia quickly and walked beside them. Lina nodded, "Gourry. S'up?"

"Umm, I was wondering if maybe you and Amelia wanted to hang out with me tonight. If you don't want to, that's okay too, I suppose...."

"Well, actually, I...."

"We'd love to." Amelia grinned and winked at Lina.

"Cool," Gourry said, then his stomach let out a huge snarl, he blushed and grinned, "Heh, sorry 'bout that, I always get hungry after school."

"Me too," Lina giggled, "why don't you come over for a bit?"

"Umm, sure!"

The three walked together through the park, chatting aimlessly about which teachers they hated, how every teacher had a very difficult job giving people an education, and asking who the teacher in question was again. A normal, Friday afternoon conversation by anyone's standards.

Amelia looked up, "Uhhh, Lina? We've got some creepy guys at three o' clock." she said softly, not wanting the guys in question to overhear.

"Don't worry about it. They're probably just heading down to The Slave...."

"Actually, it's three forty-seven."

Smack. "Gourry! UGH! Your such an idiot!" .....Lina blushed, "Sorry 'bout that." Amelia giggled.

~~

Zelgadiss stopped and let go of Xelloss, "Did you hear that?"

Xel straightened his cloak and regained his composure, "Y'know, you really should learn to control you're.....Hear what?"

Zel turned to face him, a look of half-hope, half-suspicion in his eyes, "I thought I heard Lina......"

"...Ouch! Lina! What was that for??"

"Jeeze! I said I was sorry!"

"Hey, you guys, don't fight."

Zel and Xelloss looked to the other end of the park. There were Lina, Gourry, and Amelia. Talking and acting as if all were normal, "Where're their regular clothes?" Xel wondered. Zelgadiss was already running towards the trio.