Slayers Labyrinth
A Slayers/Labyrinth Crossover
By Sakura
Chapter One
"I Wish..."
A redheaded girl stood in the
center of a secluded clearing inside the town's park. Around her was the local
gang of thugs and bandits who just happened to call themselves the Dragon Fangs.
They all wore 1980's punk style outfits and black leather jackets with a dragon
on the backs. One or two of them had spiked mohawks plus a disgusting amount of
body piercing. All of them had a good share of scars and one even wore an
eyepatch.
The Dragon Fangs' leader leered at the girl then boldly stepped forward.
"All right kid, fork over yer lunch money."
"Yeah, or you'll regret it if ya
don't, little boy," piped up one member with a cotton candy pink hairdo.
Lina, for that was the girl's name,
was incensed. She hated it when she was mistaken for a kid. Actually she hadn't
minded it that much, she was rather short for her age of seventeen. What really
got her angry was that they thought SHE was a boy. Again! This was the third
time this week.
"That's it! I've had it with you
calling me a kid and a boy! I'm a girl you damn idiots!"
Several of the gang members laughed and began to make jokes about Lina's chest
or lack thereof. Her face became bright red, but not from embarrassment. She
began to chant a spell she'd been practicing on all week. Normally any
intelligent person would run, but the thugs just laughed even more. For you see,
this was a world that had almost abandoned and forgotten the use of magic over
the centuries as mankind developed more and more useful machines that didn't
have to rely on sorcerers to make them work. So Lina was no great sorceress.
However, she didn't know she'd have
help this time in the form of a rather large, purple wolf hiding in the
underbrush. It sat there on its haunches watching the whole scene with great
amusement.
"Fireball!!!" she shouted
as she hurled a glowing ball of flame at her tormentors, but it fizzled out
before reaching them. The Dragon Fangs then laughed hysterically as they
advanced menacingly.
In the shadows, the wolf scowled, if
it was possible for a wolf to scowl that is. He watched as the now frightened
girl threw another fireball. This time, the wolf sent some of its power to the
fireball, and it grew to the size of a basketball and struck several of the
Dragon Fangs, clearing an escape path for Lina.
Not being one to look a gift horse in
the mouth, Lina made a beeline for the opening and dashed out of the clearing at
lightspeed. Once she was out of danger and its sight, the wolf took care of the
rest of the gang.
When she realized she was no
longer in danger, the redhead plopped down on a park bench to catch her breath.
She really hated running and she constantly wished she'd been able to cast a
flying spell.
While resting, she began to ponder on
the sudden success of casting a fireball that actually hit its targets. Had she
mastered the spell or was it a fluke? She wasn't able to ponder more because a
gonging sound reached her ears. Realizing it was the park's ancient clock in
front of her, she checked her wristwatch with the clock's time.
"Chikuso! She's gonna kill me! I
don't believe I'm this late!" With that Lina ran off at lightspeed for the
second time that day.
Standing on the front porch of
their nicely kept lavender and green Victorian home, was the nightmare of all
Lina's nightmares, her stepmother Luna. She was wearing a light white party
dress and as usual, her long violet bangs hid her eyes.
"You're late," she said to
the trembling girl before her who was now covered head to toe in sweat.
"Again."
"I'm sorry, Luna-san." She
refused to acknowledge this woman as her mother. Her mother had passed away a
couple years ago and she was still feeling the loss. "I tried to get home
in time, really I did."
Luna just sighed and stepped inside.
"Come inside, Lina. And don't forget to take a shower before you do
anything else."
Lina's father Vrumugan was standing
in the foyer holding her new baby sister, Amelia. "Oh, welcome home
Lina-chan," he said warmly, which was hard since he had a habit of talking
in a monotone. "We were getting worried."
"You should phone if you're
going to be late," added her stepmother. "If you had a date planned,
you should have told us and we'd make other plans. A girl your age should be
going on dates." Lina felt the tears start and she lowered her head, not
wanted to give her the satisfaction of seeing her cry. "You know we hardly
go out."
"You go out every weekend!' the
redheaded girl shouted. Luna started to say something else, but decided against
it, sensing her stepdaughter's distress. "I can't do anything right!"
she yelled as she stormed up the stairs, causing little Amelia to wail
hysterically. Luna looked exasperatedly at her husband.
"She's your daughter.
Still, I can't see why she always treats me like I'm the wicked
stepmother."
"I'll go talk to her
honey," said Lina's father handing her the baby, which began to wail even
more. Luna was one scary person.
Inside her spacious, yet modest
bedroom, Lina sat at her desk pouring over her spellbook. She had done as her
stepmother had said and was now dressed in what she had dubbed her sorceress
outfit. She wore a pair of tight magenta leggings with a matching tunic and a
bright yellow halter top on top to make her chest appear bigger. A black
headband held her otherwise unruly red hair at bay and a pair of boots and black
belt finished it off. She rather liked this outfit than the itchy uniform she
was forced to wear at school for it allowed more freedom of movement.
She had been staring at the same page
since she got dressed, but had not realized it. She hated it when Luna did that
to her. The woman knew the boys never asked her out so she took advantage
of Lina's 'free time,' forcing her to baby-sit her infant sister almost every
day. She also never missed a chance to shove the girl's shortcomings into her
face.
Lina silently began to sob as the
tears that threatened to fall earlier, finally did. An almost inaudible knock
came from her door. "Lina, honey, can we talk?" came her father's
monotone.
"There's nothing to talk
about!" she snapped back, not even bothering to look from the book.
There was a moment of silence then
her father's voice spoke again. "Listen, we fed Amelia and put her to bed.
We won't be back till after midnight so you don't have to wait up for us."
Lina sat and listened as her father's
footsteps disappeared down the stairs and heard the front door close.
"You really wanted to talk,
didn't you?! Practically broke down the door!" she yelled to the room and
plopped down not he bed covered with stuffed animals. She violently knocked off
several of the dolls to make room for herself instead of carefully arranging
them on the floor as she usually did. Rolling onto her side, Lina instinctively
reached for her favorite animal and found it wasn't in the place she always put
him. After a quick glance at the assaulted animals on the floor, she shot up
from the bed and began to yell again.
"That witch was in my room
again! I hate her!"
Having said her piece, she yanked the
door open, nearly pulling it off the hinges and stomped into the nursery. The
sudden noise woke the sleeping baby and Amelia once again broke the sound
barrier. "I can't believe she'd do that to me! Again! She always tries to
steal Jiras-chan from me!"
Ignoring the baby's screams, she
reached into the crib and pulled out a ratty, old, stuffed fox with one eye
missing, no whiskers, a bent ear and several bald spots. Clutching the animal to
her, Lina began to cry again.
But Amelia refused to be ignored.
"All right. Waddya want?! A story?!" Not waiting for an answer, she
threw Jiras-chan onto the floor and picked up her baby sister, which seemed to
calm down a bit. Lina paced the room and began her tale.
"Once upon a time, there was a
beautiful, young, and very smart girl who was always made to do the chores and
baby-sit her spoiled brat of a sister. Her father was bewitched by a very, evil
and unjust (not to mention kowaii) sorceress who never gave her a truly kind
word or let her go out on dates like she wanted.
"But what this sorceress didn't
know was that a certain mazoku lord fell in love with the girl's charm and
beauty and had given her special powers."
Amelia, now enrapt at the sound of
her 'nee-chan's voice had completely forgotten to act like a spoiled brat and
laid her head on the girl's shoulder.
"One day, when the mega-bitch
had been particularly cruel to her and she couldn't stand the constant
nit-picking, she called upon the mazoku lord for help," she continued.
Outside the nursery window, a shadowy figure opened one cat-slitted eye in
interest. 'Ma, ma I wonder if she'll really do it this time,' he thought.
"'Say the right words,' he said,
'and I will free you from this misery.' But the girl knew he would take the baby
away and turn it into a mazoku forever. So she chickened out.
"However, the next day was even
worse than before so the girl finally made up her mind." A storm had
suddenly broken out and, of course, Amelia began to shriek and wail at each
thunderclap. Nothing Lina did could calm the frightened infant. Lina had just
about had it with everything that happened earlier and she made a decision to do
something about her life. Thrusting the still crying baby over her head, she
called out,
"Xellos Metallium, Lord of the
Mazoku! I call upon thee and command thee! Take this child far away from
here!" Feeling extremely uncomfortable at being so high in the air above
her sister's head, the baby began to cry even harder.
The figure outside sighed
disgustedly. 'Where in L-sama's name did she get that gibberish?! It doesn't
even start with "I wish."'
Annoyed, and mildly disappointed,
Lina put the baby back in her crib and picked up her discarded toy. As she was
about to leave the room, she flipped the light switch and said quietly, "I
wish Xellos would take you away... right now."