Slayers Labyrinth
A Slayers/Labyrinth Crossover
By Sakura
Chapter Five
Lina screamed as she fell through a rather long, not to mention dark, shaft.
After a couple minutes of screaming, she realized that if anyone heard her at
all, they would have come to help her by now. So she shut up, until something
cold and slimy brushed against her. 'Please no slugs,' she begged. Another of
the cold slimy things brushed against her again.
The red headed girl began to scream
again as even more of the 'things' brushed against her, unfortunately, she
didn't realize they were what kept her from falling faster as gravity set in.
"Help! Someone help!" she cried as something grabbed a hold of her
arm, holding it above her head. Thoughts of some undead creature buried in there
flashed through her mind. 'I'm gonna wind up as some zombie's dinner, just
great!'
"What do you mean help?"
said a voice nearby. Looking frantically around Lina saw that the shaft was
lined with thousands upon thousands of green, glowing hands. She screamed again
as more grabbed onto her and tried their best to support the frightened girl.
"We're helping hands," said
another cheerful voice. A group of hands had formed themselves into a human like
face complete with eyebrows.
"Y-you're hurting me," the
girl stammered.
"Would you like us to let
go?" said a rather mazoku looking face.
"No!" she yelled as the
hands began to loosen their grip.
"Well, which way ojousan?"
said a kindly face with a 'beard' and 'mustache'.
"Which way?" she asked
confused.
"Up or down?" said yet
another face.
"Come on we haven't got all
day!" said the first voice, impatiently.
"It's a big decision for
her," said the bearded face.
Lina thunked herself on the head.
"Baka!" she yelled when she remembered her magic worked in this
freaked out world. "I appreciate the help, um, guys," she began,
"but I can handle it from here."
"You sure?" asked the
second voice.
"Yeah." The girl then began
chanting a spell. The hands recognized the spell and released their hold on her.
"Levitation!"
Lina was now suspended in midair
without the aid of the Helping Hands. "So which way are you going to
go?" asked the cheery face.
"Well since I was stupid enough
to let myself fall this far, I might as well go down," she replied and
began to float down towards she hoped wasn't a bottomless pit.
"She chose down!" said the
cheery face.
Soon the shot was echoed off dozens
of other voices as the redhead continued to descend. "Was that wrong?"
she called back.
"Too late now," said the
mazoku like face, smiling.
After a few more minutes of floating
down, Lina did reach the bottom of the hole. Landing gracefully on her feet, she
glanced back up and realized that she yet made another bad choice. "Damn!
Now I've got to go all the way back up there!" she complained. "Well
might as well take a break and see if there's another way outta here."
She looked around the dark pit but
soon gave up since the faint light above made it impossible to see beyond a few
inches. Feeling around, she came to realize that she was in some kind of pit or
cave with absolutely no openings or doors anywhere. Lina sat down and waited for
her to gain enough strength to cast another levitation spell.
Meanwhile, Xellos was sitting on his throne with baby Amelia still on his lap.
The infant was happily drooling over a crystal the mazoku king had conjured for
her while he was busy watching his latest amusement make her way down the shaft
of Helping Hands. "Yare, yare Ame-chan. It looks like your onee-chan won't
be visiting at us at all today," he said putting the crystal away. The baby
ignored him, too engrossed in the play of light bouncing off the walls the
crystal caused. "Still I didn't expect her to make it so far. Too bad
you'll have to start over, Lina-chan," he said smiling as he summoned one
of his favorite minions.
"You sent for me, your
majesty?" said a figure in beige clothing and hood.
"Yes, Zel-chan. I have a favor
to ask of you," the mazoku king said.
"It's that girl isn't it?"
"Bingo! I'd like you to go and
lead her back to the beginning for me."
"It'll be hard. She's
stubborn."
"I know, Zel-chan. Just do
it." The king opened his eyes and the chimera gulped. He really hated it
when Xellos did that. Those eyes of his gave him the creeps even if he had
similar eyes himself. He sighed.
"As you wish," he said
bowing and left.
Xellos laughed maniacally at the joke
he was about to play on the unsuspecting girl. "I just loooove a good
trick!"
After what seemed like an eternity, Lina stood up and dusted herself off.
"Well I've waited long enough. Time to get moving." She began chanting
the levitation spell that would take her out of where she was. In the middle of
her chanting, a faint scratching sound made her lose concentration and she
looked toward the sound. "Who's there!? Who's in here with me?"
"It's me," said a slightly
nasal voice. There was a popping sound and a ball of light flew to the ceiling,
illuminating the hooded figure.
"Zelgadis! Boy am I glad to see
you!" she said showing an enormous amount of restraint from hugging the
chimera.
The chimera blushed, thankful the
hood hid most of his face so no one could see. "It's nice to see you
too," he replied coolly.
"How'd you get here
anyway?" Lina asked.
"I knew you'd get in trouble so
I decided to lend a hand," he said shrugging.
'Did he have to say hand,' she
thought shivering as she remembered the Helping Hands. "You're going to
help me solve the labyrinth then?"
He humphed. "Do you even know
where you are?"
"No, and I really don't give a
damn since I was on the way out," she said tossing her head.
"Well for your information,
you're in an oubliette. The labyrinth's full of them." "Really?"
She was really put off by the chimera's cold attitude. "How about
that," she said mockingly.
"Don't act so smart," he
warned. "I bet you don't even know what an oubliette is."
"I do too!" she said
stamping her foot for emphasis. "It's where you put people to forget about
them. I'm not gonna let that jerk of a mazoku king think he can forget Lina
Inverse!" The red haired girl then laughed maniacally, causing the chimera
to shiver.
'I don't know who's worse, Xellos or
this girl,' he thought as Lina recovered her composure. He turned to the wall
and began to search along it. "This is no place for a little girl like
you," he began. Lina bristled at being called little, but kept her cool.
She made herself promise that she'd never lose her temper in this place again.
That was what led her to be in the oubliette in the first place. "You'd
only end up in another oubliette sooner or later. Like him."
The chimera gestured toward a
skeleton that was now visible. Lina eeped finally realizing how close she had
come to a gruesome death hadn't she remembered to cast a levitation spell.
"What you should do is get out of here."
"Sorry, Stone Boy. No can do.
I've gotta find my baby sister."
The chimera sighed. "It's best
you just forget her. Once the king gets hold of something he wants he doesn't
let go. Come on, I know a way out of here."
"Nuh-uh no way! I've come too
far to give up now!" she yelled.
"You did great. I have to admit
it, you sure surprised me by making it this far," he said turning back to
her. "But it gets a lot worse from here on in and you've still got a long
way to go."
Lina became suspicious at the
chimera's sudden kindness toward her and eyed him warily. "Why the sudden
concern? Before you wouldn't even give me the time of day had I asked."
"I just am," he said hurt.
"You seem a nice girl and well this is a rather dark oubliette. Why
shouldn't I be worried."
Lina blushed. He said she was nice,
none of the boys back home had ever said that before. "Um... look, I'm
sorry for calling you Stone Boy before." Her gaze went toward the pouch
that hung from his belt. "Listen, you like money don't you?"
"Who doesn't. Why?" he
asked warily.
"Well I thought that if you'd
help me through the labyrinth, I'd give, um, this." she said holding up a
rhinestone bracelet she'd been wearing earlier. "What do you say?" The
chimera scrutinized the bracelet carefully. ones. "You like?" she
asked grateful she'd been wearing gloves or he would have seen the moonstone
ring her mother had given her before dying.
"It's okay," he replied.
"How about you give me the bracelet and I'll take you out of the
labyrinth?"
"Forget it! You were going to do
that anyway."
"Yeah, well it would've been a
nice thing for you to do for someone who helped you," he said curtly.
"Nuh-uh, Stone Boy. You want it,
you gotta show me the way IN not out," she said taking the bracelet as the
chimera made a grab for it.
He humphed again. "And what pray
tell makes you think _I_ know the way through?"
"Well you're here aren't you and
the only way in here as far as I know is that hole up there."
"Touche," he said
nonplused. He hadn't figured she'd be actually able to use her brain. "But
it's still a long way off from here and it's dangerous. So why don't you give
up. You proved you're a smart girl and brave too. I'll give you that much,"
he said in one last attempt to get her to surrender.
Did he really think she'd give in so
easily? Well Lina was going to show Mr. Know-it-all just how stubborn an Inverse
could be. "I'll make another deal with you. If you won't show me all the
way through, then how about if you just take me as far as you can and I'll give
you the bracelet? That sound fair enough to you?" She gave him a good dose
of puppy dog eyes for good measure.
"Ch! Of all the harebrained baka
I had to wind up with a stubborn one as well," he said disgusted.
"It's a fair deal," she
said dangling the bracelet before him. "No tricks. Just one bracelet for
your help. Deal?"
"What is that anyway?" he
asked never taking his eyes off her bracelet.
"Rhinestone."
He took the bracelet from her and put
it on his wrist. "I'll help you as far as I can, then you'll go the rest by
yourself, right?"
"Right," she replied.
"Hmph, rhinestone," he said
as he fingered the bracelet.
"Well, come on! I haven't got
all day unlike some people here," she said impatient to get out of the
oubliette and back on the track of finding Amelia.
"Yeah, yeah, hold your
horses," he said as he felt along the wall again and triggered a hidden
passage. The girl's jaw hit the floor. "Didn't expect to see that there did
you?" Zelgadis said smugly. "Serves you right for taking this place
for granted." With that the chimera entered the passage with a rather quiet
Lina in tow.
The two walked for a few hundred feet in silence until the passage open up to
another one that was wide enough for five or more people, then Lina nearly
jumped out of her skin when a loud voice echoed off the walls of the passage.
"DON'T GO ON!"
"Eeeeeeeyaaaaa!!! What the heck
was that?!" She turned around, still shaking from the shock. At first she
only saw Zelgadis, then she realized that the wall they just passed had a face
carved into it. Along the other wall and further down the first face were other
faces, each one similar yet different. The chimera just sighed, shrugged and
went on not paying attention at all to the various things the faces were saying.
"You are going the wrong
way!"
"Run now before it's too
late!"
"Do not go any further!"
"Danger Will Robinson!
Danger!"
"One more step could be your
doom!"
Lina had to stick her fingers in her
ears for the echoing voices seemed to be echoing in her head as well as the
passage. Seeing that the girl was no longer with him, Zelgadis looked back to
see her standing a few feet behind, trying her best to drown out the voices.
"I wouldn't worry about them, they're just Phony Warnings. When you see
them it just means you're on the right track," he said calmly.
"OH NO YOU'RE NOT!" piped
up one of the Phony Warnings.
"Urusai! (shut up!)" both
yelled back.
"Geez, I'm only doin' me
job," it whined.
"You don't have to do it for
us," Zelgadis said as he dragged Lina away before it could say anything
else.
"What a bunch of grumps,"
it muttered when they were out of sight.
After a few more feet of twists and
turns, the couple came to the last of the Phony Warnings. Thinking they could
pass without any fuss, the two jumped when the face began to speak.
"Desist! For -"
"Don't bother. You know we'll
just ignore you," the chimera said.
"Please," it begged,
"I haven't said it for soooo long."
Zelgadis sighed, then nodded.
"Oh all right, just don't expect anything from us." "Of course
not! Thanks." The face then cleared its throat and resumed its duty.
"Desist! For to go on will be the end for you!"
While the face was droning on, a
small crystal ball came rolling up to them from behind. Zelgadis began to get
nervous and shifted in his shoes slightly. Sensing the chimera's discomfort,
Lina nudged her companion. "Let's get going."
He nodded and continued down the
passage. 'I've got a really bad feeling about this.' The crystal followed them
as they turned a corner and then went bouncing off the wall to land in the cup
of what appeared to be an old blind beggar who just happened to be sitting
against the wall in front of them.
Lina heard the chimera gulp and
turned to look at him. He stood perfectly still, but his eyes were filled with
fear and were glued to the cup where the crystal hand landed. The beggar looked
up, a cheery smile on his face. "'Allo," he said "What have we
here?"
"N-nothing," Zelgadis
stammered.
"Nothing," the beggar
repeated, "NOTHING?!" He through the rags off his body to
reveal Xellos standing before them, eyes flashing with anger at the chimera.
"Your majesty," Zelgadis
said only just now remembering one should bow before royalty, no matter how much
you couldn't stand them. "fancy... fancy meeting you here," he
managed.
"Konnichi wa Zedaglis," he
said amiably.
"Zegladis," Lina corrected.
"My name is ZELGADIS!"
he said angrily, then quickly added an apology to the mazoku king.
"Zel-chan," began Xellos in
a sweet tone dripping with venom. "you aren't helping Ms. Inverse are
you?"
"Helping? W-what makes you think
I'm helping a brat like her?" he said nervously.
"Hey!" Lina said, insulted.
"Weeelll, from my point of view
it looks like you're leading her IN instead of out of the labyrinth."
"Um... yeah I know that, your
majesty," Zelgadis said, "but I'm following your orders."
"Nani yo?!" Lina piped up.
"I, um, told her that I was
going to help a bit, but I was actually..." He nervously laughed.
"Good thinking, ne?"
"Indeed," said the mazoku
king lowering his eyes to the chimera's wrist. "I see you've finally
decided to take my advice to accessorize. Wherever did you get that little
trinket?" he asked.
Zelgadis stared at the bracelet as if
he didn't know what it was. "Hey, where this come from? I don't remember
seeing this before."
"Zel-chan," Xellos said in
an even tone, his usual cheerful face belying the danger underneath, "If I
ever thought you were disobeying me, I'd have to shove you bum first into a pack
of Rabid Fangirls."
The chimera went pale and began to
shake, his knees barely able to hold him up. "Gods no! Not that! Not the
Fangirls!"
"Oh YES, Zel-chan,"
he said licking his lips at the taste of the chimera's terror. He opened his
eyes and turned to the redhead. "And you, Lina-chan... are you enjoying
your stay here?"
She swallowed hard before mustering
her courage. "Yeah it's a cinch. A real piece of cake!" The mazoku
king rose an eyebrow and Zelgadis groaned.
"Really? Then how about making
it more of a challenge for someone like you, dear?" Xellos gestured and the
girl looked to her right to see a thirteen hour clock hanging on the wall. The
hands began to move quicker and her face crumbled.
"That's not fair!" she
whined.
"I never said it'd be fair,
Lina-chan," Xellos answered in his defense. He then reached into the cup
and pulled out the crystal ball. "You say it's a piece of cake? Then how
would you like to try another slice?" With that the mazoku king through the
ball into the corridor they'd just exited and vanished laughing maniacally.
A whirring and clanking sound echoed
off the stone walls and gradually got louder as it traveled down the passage.
Zelgadis had recovered from his previous terror but remained pale. Lina was
about to ask him what was going on, but then saw what was coming towards them.
A wall of spinning knives and
cleavers of all shapes and sizes filled the entire passage behind them and was
showing no sign of stopping. "Damn!" Zelgadis yelled. "It's the
cleaners!"
"The what?!" Lina said,
still staring at the deadly wall.
"Shut up and run!"
That's exactly what they did. They
ran the only way available to them, the passage they had turned into before
meeting up with the mazoku king. Both frantically looked for a way to escape the
tunnels, running at top speed through what seemed an eternity of endless twists
and turns. Finally they came to a dead end, the only other way out was a large
rusty door.