Received: from desaix (a53beth22.sysnet.net [206.142.16.180])
by unix6.sysnet.net (8.9.3/8.9.0) with ESMTP id VAA09307
for desaix@sysnet.net; Mon, 8 Jan 2001 21:13:30 -0500 (EST)
Message-Id: 200101090213.VAA09307@unix6.sysnet.net
From: "David A. Tatum" desaix@sysnet.net
To: desaix@sysnet.net
Subject: Slay2.txt
Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 20:18:27 -0500
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Priority: 3
X-Mailer: Microsoft Internet Mail 4.70.1155
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-UIDL: 6a852c40bbadd68c2011fe93e1e654a1
Chapter 2: Pax Sailoon
...A Moment of Peace While the Company Assembles
Gourry poked the fire he had built with a stick, trying to provoke it into
cooking faster. He looked over at the young woman he had given himself the
job of protecting, and asked a question.
"Lina, where are we going? I forgot!"
"Baka! How many times do I have to tell you, we're going to-" Lina
started, preparing to throttle the somewhat forgetful swordsman. Cutting
herself off in mid-sentence, she paused to think about it. "Um, actually,
I guess I haven't told you this time, have I? We're heading over to the
city of Femille...."
Gourry stroked his chin. "Femille... Femille... that name sounds
familiar... wait, isn't that the city with all the women?" His eyes
widened, and he stared at Lina in a state of pure terror. "You aren't
going to make me dress up in a dress again, are you?"
Lina WANTED to say yes- it was so much fun the last few times she'd been
able to play 'dress-up' with him. However... "No, not this time.
There've been a lot of legal reforms since we last went there- men aren't
executed just for entering the city, now, they just can't hold high
political offices unless they're of the royal family or anything like
that." She smiled for his benefit... though regretted the knowledge that
she'd probably never be able to talk him into being her dress-up dolly ever
again, now that she no longer had that excuse. "Now, it's just a mecca for
white sorcerers and religious types."
"Ah... why are we headed there?"
"I'm researching something... I'll need your help with it, actually, but
I'm going to keep it a surprise until then."
Gourry smiled. "Well, I'll always help you out if you need me. You know
that."
Lina ALMOST blushed. "Yeah... I do." She paused. "Say... that 'Gourry
Bomb' trick we were using in that last fight... it gave me an idea. You're
always complaining because I have to carry you whenever we fly anywhere...
what if I taught you a couple magic spells to help you out in situations
like that?"
"Me? Learn magic? Why? You're plenty good at that stuff already. I'll
just rely on my sword, thank you. Besides, doesn't it take years to get
good at that sort of thing?"
"To get good at it, yeah. But I'm not talking about making you into a
wizard or anything- just giving you a couple spells that even your average
jellyfish could learn in a week," Lina said, smiling to show she was
teasing him. "Simple things like Lighting, Levitation, and maybe a minor
heal spell. You don't have the Sword of Light any more, and I've gotta do
SOMETHING to make my protector somewhat useful... or at least not as much
of a burden. You've gotta learn to fly by yourself, at least." Gourry
winced, so she patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry- this is only
temporary. We'll find you a new sword, and then you'll be just as useful
as you ever were. But in the meantime, we've gotta try something." She
paused. "And we'll have to be a bit more careful when travelling... um, we
might need to find somewhere safe to bunk down for a few days in a week or
so."
Gourry wasn't quite sure what to say. For one thing, he wasn't sure why
Lina was so worried about things a week from then- he certainly didn't know
of anyone powerful enough to be a challenge for her alone that would be
likely to attack them, and even if he was he wouldn't know why Lina would
know that they'd be attacking in a week or so. However, that wasn't what
was really bothering him. When he considered what she'd said, he was sort
of pleased- there were a number of times, while travelling, he wondered if
Lina let him follow her merely to stay close to the Sword of Light. He
knew he'd risked losing her companionship when he surrendered that weapon
to the other world, but he felt it was something he just needed to do. It
was almost as if something inside of him was telling him the sword was no
longer needed in his world. That, and it would be a way of KNOWING if Lina
just tolerated him for the Sword of Light, or if there was some other
reason. And here Lina was, not only letting him stay with her, but
actually worrying about him.
Actually, that was what was most on his mind. He was the one who was
supposed to protect HER- not the other way around. But what she said was
the truth- without the Sword of Light, he was useless to her. In fact, he
was, as she put it, a 'burden.' Perhaps Lina would be better off if he
wasn't there. But he really shouldn't decide that for himself, should he?
"Lina," he began. "Um... do you need me to come with you to Femille?"
Lina sighed. "Look, Gourry- I already said you'll be perfectly safe there.
Since it was revealed that half the nation was men ANYWAY, they dumped
those silly anti-men rules. You won't be lynched, and if anyone tries I'll
fry them for you."
"That's not what I meant!" he cried, upset. He was trying to ask her
something important, here, and he couldn't figure out how to ask it right.
Lina started to notice his agitation and frowned slightly. Something was
seriously wrong with him- he didn't usually get this worked up over a
little thing like going somewhere where he might be unpopular. Something
was definitely wrong with him. "Gourry... what are you trying to ask me?"
"Lina," Gourry said. "I'm no longer the Swordsman of Light. In fact, I'm
no longer the swordsman of ANYTHING, since all I have is this silly mallet
to fight with. You said it yourself- I'm useless as your protector and, in
fact, I'm probably a burden to you." He paused. "I can't protect you any
more, Lina... I want to, but I can't. We'll NEVER be able to replace the
Sword of Light, and without it I'll probably never be much better than your
average mercenary, even if I DO get another sword. Shouldn't you find
someone to protect you who would be better at it than I am?"
Lina looked at him in surprise. Maybe she'd been riding him a bit hard
about how useless he was without the Sword of Light, but she certainly
never expected anything like this. It almost worried her to think he might
leave- almost, but not quite.
"Gourry, I'm probably the most powerful sorceresses in the world right now,
I'm pretty good on my own with a sword, and I lived on the road for some
time without a protector, back before I met you. I never needed YOU as a
protector, so why should I go find someone else?" Seeing the worry still
plainly visible in his eyes, Lina instinctively continued, "I tried to
chase you off when I first met you- at least, I did until you offered to
pay for a meal for me. After that, well, I just let you tag along to use
you for your money. When I found you had the Sword of Light, I decided I'd
just stick around you until I could convince you to give it to me, and then
I'd run right off." She paused. "It stopped being about the Sword of
Light quite some time ago. I don't know when, exactly, but it was
before... before we had that horrible battle with Hellmaster. It wasn't
the Sword of Light I was worried about, then... it was you. So, unless
you've got someone back home waiting for you that you never told me about,
I'd rather you stay with me."
Gourry nodded. He missed some of the implications of that statement, and
Lina knew him well enough now to realize he would, but it was enough for
him to know that she didn't want him gone. And that was enough for him.
He frowned. "So... why is it that we're going to have to find somewhere
safe in a week or so? What's going on?"
Lina blushed. "Gourry... um, let's just not talk about that, okay? My
magic won't quite be working at its best, so I just think it would be best
to not be travelling then."
Gourry nodded. "Ah... so that time of the month is coming up again."
"GOURRRRRY!" Lina growled, turning bright red as she bashed him over the
head.
* * * * *
"...just love that restaurant!" one of a pack of teenaged boys was saying
to his friends. "The foods great, and that waitress is just a terrific
floor show!"
"You mean that Luna Inverse chick? The one with the big breasts who's
always teleporting everywhere?"
Another person who the teenaged boys might have described as a
'big-breasted chick' overheard this with great delight. "OOOOH HO HO HO HO
HO HO HO HO HO!" her shrill laughed echoed through the streets as she
approached the boys. They cringed in terror, furiously looking for a way
to escape. "Lina, Lina, Lina... did you think you could escape I, your
greatest rival and companion, Naga the White Serpent, just by changing your
name to Luna, stuffing your bra, and getting a job as a waitress thousands
of miles from where we last saw each other? OOOOH HO HO HO HO HO HO!"
The teenaged boys were torn- they wanted to escape the dreaded noise of
that horrid laugh, but then again... that laugh did MAGNIFICENT things to
that remarkable bosom that this strange scantily-clad woman was blessed
with.
One of the braver of the boys finally said something. "Um... what do you
want?" he asked nervously.
"The restaurant where this 'Luna' Inverse works- take me to it!" Naga
demanded.
"Um... okay, fine! Just please... don't laugh any more... or at least
don't laugh quite so loudly!"
* * * * *
"Halt!" the man in charge of the morning shift's Palace Guard for the Royal
House of Sailoon demanded, levelling a spear at the cloaked stranger.
"Advance to be recognized, then state your name and the purpose of your
visit."
A blue-skinned chimera stepped forward, removing his hood. Worn around his
wrist was a charm which any soldier of Sailoon would recognize as belonging
to their Royal Princess Amelia. "Zelgadis. Social call upon the Princess
Amelia," he said, waving the charm slightly.
The soldier remained stoically unmoved, lowering his guard slightly but not
completely. "I am afraid that is impossible. The Princess Amelia is under
house arrest, and so visitors are forbidden to see her."
"House arrest?" Zelgadis repeated, his eyes slanting dangerously. "For
what reason?" Had there been even more trouble to grace the Royal Family?
Had one of their less-than-loyal uncles attempted to usurp power from
Prince Philionel again?
Another soldier of the guard, who recognized the unique physique of the man
who was not-so-secretly the boyfriend of the princess, rushed up to prevent
his supervisor from saying something that might accidentally get him all
killed. "Hi, Zel. Prince Phil grounded her again- she snuck out of the
castle without permission."
Zelgadis sighed, relaxing his guard. "Again?" He took a few more steps
in, finally getting close enough for the first footsoldier (who was trying
desperately to hide the fact that he wasn't able to see clearly without
glasses) to see just who it was he had been treating so disrespectfully.
That particular officer had never had to deal with the chimera before, and
so could only recognize him by reputation. Once he saw the blue skin,
however, he immediately recognized the danger of the game he'd been
playing, and paled slightly.
"Maybe if you stuck closer to town, she would, too," the second soldier
suggested as the first slowly slinked away, hoping that the chimera would
leave him alone if he just returned to his duties.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Zelgadis growled dangerously.
"Um... nothing. Just that she's usually caught leaving when she's trying
to follow you. That's all."
Zelgadis sighed. He usually left 'in search of a cure' whenever he started
getting overwhelmed by her somewhat... overenthusiastic... outlook on life.
Something which happened much more often then the slightly spoiled
princess liked, it seemed. In fact, his cure was now little more than an
excuse to get away than anything- he didn't look very hard for it any more,
and really couldn't imagine where else he MIGHT look for it. Besides, it
appeared that his appearence wasn't quite as freakish as he initially lead
himself to believe- sure, Amelia thought he was suspicious looking, but she
also seemed to honestly find his curse 'neat.'
"How long was she grounded for, this time?"
"Actually, her punishment'll be up by tomorrow morning. Unfortunately,
she'll immediately be leaving on a diplomatic mission to Femille... I
believe she was hoping you'd be willing to join her as part of her royal
escort."
Zelgadis chucked. When he COULD tolerate her extreme exhuberance, he found
being around her a rather pleasant thing. She was the first girl he could
even come close to calling a girlfriend (though they weren't nearly as
close as the tabloids said... though the tabloids inspired Amelia to ask a
few unpleasant questions, all of which happened to be true, the most
embarassing one being 'Are you always hard?' Thankfully, she was too
innocent to realize what, exactly, she was asking). "Of course I will," he
answered... then paused. "Wait, did you say FEMILLE? Is that the place
famous for all the Shrine Maidens?"
"Yeah," the guard said. "Heard they only recently allowed men into their
community, but you should be safe. The laws have been changed to give men
a lot of opportunities to live there, though, and that's why Prince Phil
felt he needed to send them a new diplomatic mission- to reassess their
political status after the sudden change." He paused. "He also felt that
it might be wise to send Amelia there to see if she wanted to continue her
training to be a Shrine Maiden, or if she just wanted to be a sorceress and
live out certain aspects of her life forbidden to their order."
"You mean Prince Phil wants to know if Amelia wants to get married some
day," Zelgadis summarized. "Amelia told me once, when we were at the Royal
Wedding of Xoana, that she hopes to get married someday. I wonder if she
ever realized getting married would mean she'd have to give up being a
Shrine Maiden."
"Knowing Her Highness like we all do, I doubt it," the guard chatted. "You
don't seem all that concerned with it, though. Considering how she treats
you... and how you don't complain when she DOES treat you that way... I'm a
bit surprised you're taking this so calmly."
Zelgadis shrugged. "There's two reasons why it doesn't bother me. The
first is that I'm a fatalist- I always expect that everythings going to go
wrong, anyway, so it won't bother me if it does." He paused. "The other
is that... well... this is Amelia we're talking about here. These are both
things which will call upon her sense of love and justice equally. They're
both things that she wants. Do you honestly think she'll be able to come
to a decision, regardless?"
The guard laughed. "True, true. So, should I show you to your apartment
in the castle, or would you rather head out to eat first."
"Apartment. I've been travelling almost non-stop for a month now- I need a
hot bath and a comfortable sleep more than I need food." He smirked. "I'm
not like the rest of Amelia's travelling companions- I don't obsess over
eating whenever food is offered."
* * * * *
The boy who'd recieved the job of guide to Naga was in heaven. When she
didn't laugh, the sorceress was actually pleasant to be around. Deranged
as all hell, yes, but for a body like that... well, insanity was a minor
thing, really. After all, wasn't everybody at least somewhat crazy, in
some way?
"Here we are, miss," he said. Wringing his fingers nervousely, he
continued, "Say, I was wondering if, after you're done with your business
here, you might want to go out some time. See the sites, have some fun,
and..."
He stopped right there when it became obvious the girl wasn't paying any
attention to him. Instead, she was marching towards the door with a
purposeful stride. "Yoo-hoo! Lina! It is I, your greatest rival and
travelling companion, Naga, here to see you! OOOOH HO HO HO HO HO!" she
laughed as she made her way inside.
Behind her, the boy shuddered and started to run away. Maybe it was worth
putting up with insanity for a body like that, but it wasn't worth putting
up with that laugh...
Inside the restaurant, many of the patrons cringed at the shrill sound.
One of the waitresses looked up, finished taking her order, and then
teleported to the door to meet the new arrival.
"*MUTE*" the waitress cast, putting a rather unusual spell over Naga's
lips, silencing her. "Hiya. No laughing in the restaurant." She waved
her hand, and suddenly the spell was removed. "Booth or table?"
"I'm not here to order food," Naga stated imperially as she took a seat at
an empty booth. "I'm looking for Lina Inverse."
"Sorry, not here. Do you want a menu?"
"No, I'll just have one of everything. Of course she's here! I've been
trying to track her down for more than three years, now! Finally, I
recieved word that there was a great sorceress named Luna Inverse who was
working here. It was so obvious that Lina was merely making another poor
attempt to escape from me! OOOH H-"
"*Mute*" the waitress cast again. "Sorry, wrong Inverse. Lina's a
thousand miles south of here."
When her voice was returned to her, Naga glared up at the waitress. "What
do you mean 'wrong Inverse?'"
"I'm Luna Inverse. Lina's sister. 'Scuse- customer." Luna teleported to
the front door to greet the incoming person.
"So!" Xelloss chuckled, his eyes closed as was normal for him. "I finally
get to meet the Knight of Ceiphied in person. It's an honor, I assure
you."
"Here to fight or eat?" Luna chirped, unphased by his appearance.
"Niether, though I believe I'll sample some of your soft-serve ice cream
while I'm able. I'm here to negotiate. Seems we've both got orders,"
Xelloss said. "We'll be working together for a while."
That struck through Luna's shield of flippancy. "Wow. We will? I hadn't
received those orders yet."
Xelloss shrugged, having yet to open his eyes. "These orders don't come
from my Mazoku masters or from your Dragons. They're orders from someone a
bit higher-up."
"Just lost yer credibility, Xel-chan," Luna chuckled. "No-one's higher up
than Ceiphied."
Xelloss opened one eyebrow. "Not even the Lord of Nightmares?"
Luna paused, then shrugged. "Okay, maybe her. But I'm busy- use Lina."
"I already am. I've got a list of people I need to gather, and you and
Lina are at the top of it. Her orders explicitly."
"Proof?" Luna asked with her customary brevity.
Xelloss nodded. "Just touch the seal of your knighthood. L-sama will talk
to you through that."
Suddenly, a horrendous laugh erupted from the other side of the restaurant.
"OOOH HO HO HO HO HO!" it rang.
Luna sighed. "Sorry- loony girl to stop. Be right back."
Xelloss caught her sleeve before she could leave. "Wait- before you kill
her, find out if her name is Naga of the White Serpent. She's somewhat
famous for that laugh, but her real name is Gracia Ul Naga Sailoon, and
Princess Gracia's one of the people on L-sama's list to gather."
"She's Naga. Not gonna kill her. Just gonna Mute her... maybe
permanently."
* * * * *
Lina and Gourry made it to Femille just before Lina's powers started fading
to uselessness- a very good time that surprised both of them. It was
amazing how fast one could travel when they didn't have to go raiding
bandit camps and fighting off hundreds of mercenary bounty-hunter groups.
"I'm amazed, Gourry," Lina said, slightly sarcastically, as they walked
through the city streets in search of a good inn with enough vacancies for
them to not have to share a room. "It only took you a week to master
Lighting. Most people master that in the first day of their magic studies,
but I was expecting it to take you much longer than it did."
"Gee, thanks, Lina," Gourry said, happy at the compliment and missing the
near-blatant insult. "That was pretty hard to learn, though. I'm not
really cut out for magic, you know."
Lina sighed. "Well, you're right. You AREN'T cut out for magic." She'd
been MORE than patient (for her) while trying to teach him, and had
resorted to fireballing every time he made a mistake in the spell. Even
then, it had taken several days to get him to cast Lighting consistently
correctly. "But once you learn your first spell, it gets a little easier.
And the only other spells I want you to learn are a minor healing spell and
Levitation. You aren't even getting to the spells which require you to
draw power from other sources and learn the differences between calling
black, white, and shamanistic magic."
"Oh... okay. So when do we get started on the next spell?" Gourry asked.
"WE don't- at least not for a while. After we get settled in, I'm going to
take you to one of the PROFESSIONAL magic instructors in the area and then
we'll pay him to teach you while I check out the library for that piece of
research I'm doing."
"But, Lina... how am I going to learn anything without you there to
encourage me?" he asked.
Lina smiled faintly. "I'll be checking up on you each night. Right before
dinner, I'll see what you've learned... and if you haven't learned enough,
then you'll just have to go to bed without your supper, young man... and,
of course, I'll have to eat your share" she teased, wagging a finger at
him.
"But I'll STARVE!" Gourry whined. Lina just laughed evilly.
* * * * *
"S'what's goin' on?" Luna asked Xelloss as they left the restaurant where
she worked, carrying a bound and gagged Naga with them.
"Didn't L-sama tell you?" Xelloss asked curiously.
"Said t'ask you."
"Ah," he said, nodding. "Well, first we're heading to pick up this
delightful young Golden Dragon I know... lovely creature. Has the heart of
a mazoku."
Luna chuckled. "S'pose ya like her?"
"Ah, that is a secret," Xelloss said, raising a finger into the air. "But
it wouldn't work out even if I did- she's one of the last of the Golden
Dragons- if not THE last. I'm the mazoku who singlehandedly wiped out half
the dragon race a thousand years ago... But then again, she DID forgive
Valgaav, and he wiped out the other half. But I think that was largely
because of a guilt complex involving the slaughter of the Ancient Dragons."
"So what do we do after her?"
Xelloss smiled as they entered a large carriage he'd purchased for the
adventure. "Well... there are still another player or two we need to pick
up- a swordsman in Xoana, a Shrine Maiden in New Sairaag, and, well, we may
run into another person or two who we might want to bring along as well,
according to L-Sama. She wasn't sure about that, though- something about
how it would go against Chaos if she were to tell me for certain." He
moved to help Luna secure Naga tightly into one of the carraige seats,
making certain it would be impossible for the annoying girl to escape the
bonds. "After that, we just head over to Femille, where the last four
people will be waiting for us."
"Who?"
"Well, this girl's younger, less annoying sister," he said, motioning to
the bound and gagged sorceress. Naga's eyes widened in surprise. "The
Princess of Sailoon, Amelia Wil Tesla Sailoon. Amelia's boyfriend,
Zelgadis- a powerful shamanistic sorcerer, for a human, and a good
swordsman as well. Your sister, Lina, and her boyfriend, the former
Swordsman of Light. Gourry Gabriev."
Naga's eyes widened even more, and even Luna's opened a crack. "Sis has a
boyfriend?"
"Well, that's part of our mission. L-Sama wanted you and me to get them
together- they've BEEN together for some time, actually, they just don't
realize it yet."
"Why would L-sama care about Sis's love life?"
Xelloss raised a finger. "That... is a secret. I can tell you, but not
when Miss Laughter here can eavesdrop."
Luna finished tightening Naga's bonds. "Done."
Xelloss smiled. "Next stop, the home of one cute but insulting 'lil Golden
Dragon."
With that, the entire carraige and all its passengers teleported.
* * * * *
Lina was not in a good mood. Her research in the library had proven quite
productive, but if she wanted to do what she wanted to do she'd need to
find some new good, but small, magical amplifiers. She certainly wasn't
going to give up the four talismen she bought from Xelloss for a project
like this- no, she'd have to find something else. Furthermore, she'd need
wood from a Holy Tree, and someone who was VERY powerful in white magic to
get everything working just like she wanted. And what was worse, she'd
have to let Gourry in on her little secret before she was ready- not right
away, thankfully, but she'd have to get him to help in the item's creation,
and not wait to make certain adjustments after talking with him about it.
Well, they were in a Holy City. Finding wood from a Holy Tree wasn't
likely to be difficult... just expensive. Finding a powerful practitioner
of white magic wasn't likely to be very difficult, either- just
frustrating, because she needed someone as powerful in white magic as she
was in black magic. Maybe even more powerful.
As far as magical ampliphiers were concerned, however... those were almost
impossible to get ahold of. If she found one for sale, she'd be very
dubious as to its legitimacy, in fact. She'd have to do something like
talk to a powerful Mazoku or Dragon to make some for her... maybe she could
find Filia and ask her to make something for her, but that was a LONG trip.
One she really didn't want to have to make.
But none of that was why she wasn't in a good mood. She wasn't in a good
mood because of how mad Gourry's teacher was starting to make her, from
what he was telling her.
His arms were a mess of wounds caused by his attempts to teach Gourry 'the
traditional way.' Namely, make a fresh cut on the student, and force the
student to heal themselves. However, the teacher also was refusing to heal
Gourry after the 'test' was over, instead just bandaging the wound and
making a new cut when he tried testing him again. True, that was sort of
how her older sister had taught her, but at least Luna would keep the
number of open wounds down to five (and Luna was one of the most sadistic
magic instructors Lina knew of). Gourry had nearly thirty cuts up and down
his arm.
"We're finding you a new teacher, Gourry," Lina growled, using her own
healing spells to repair the wounds in such a way they wouldn't leave
scars. "This is just malpractice, plain and simple." She paused.
"Actually, maybe I'll work with you a bit after dinner- I'll leave one cut
for you to heal, but thirty is downright DANGEROUS."
Gourry waved her off with his uninjured arm. "It's not too bad, Lina. You
put me through worse learning Lighting."
Lina shook that comment off. "I know what I'm doing with those fireballs-
I can control them well enough to make them hurt without making them
injure. And what the guy did, itself, isn't that bad- I learned this way,
too. But he took it WAY too far- the difference would be me using a Dragon
Slave spell to let you know you were making a mistake, instead of a very
controlled Fireball spell." She paused. "What he did was dangerous- you
lost a lot of blood, and if I wasn't healing you right now you might have
lost a dangerous amount before tomorrow morning. No, we'll have to find
you someone else."
"But we've already paid, and he won't give refunds..." Gourry protested.
Lina growled. "Well... at least let me talk to him before your next
session. He shouldn't be doing this to you." She finished her heal spell,
leaving only the smallest injury for him to practice on later. "Come on-
let's get something to eat."
* * * * *
"Ah," Amelia sighed. "It's amazing how peaceful the countryside has
become."
Zelgadis, riding on a horse alongside her, frowned. "I don't like it. It
seems almost too peaceful."
Amelia looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean by that?"
"I don't like how peaceful it's become in the last few months. Usually,
you'll run into the odd troll, berserker, goblin, or some other lesser
monster when travelling. Or even just a bandit gang or something... but
nothing. It's been this way for some time, now- ever since we got back
from defeating Dark Star and Valgaav, it seems to have slowed to a stop.
And I don't understand why- we didn't do anything to stop their raids, did
we? If anything, there should be MORE of them, now that the Dragons have
been so seriously weakened."
Amelia laughed. "Oh, it's probably nothing to get worried about. I mean,
we've got a heavily armed guard protecting us- no bandits or monsters are
likely to mess with us. Besides, daddy's started policing the roads again,
now that all of our family squabbles are settled. It's bound to be more
peaceful than it was before."
"Perhaps," Zelgadis said doubtfully. "It still feels like the calm before
the storm, to me." He paused, and decided to change the subject. "So... I
was wondering. Do you intend to be a Shrine Maiden for the rest of your
life?"
Amelia shrugged. "I hadn't thought about it- I suppose so. Why?"
"You do realize Shrine Maidens can never marry, right? Otherwise, they
wouldn't be 'maidens' any more." He paused. "You DID say you want to get
married someday."
Amelia blushed brightly. "Um... well, I do." She looked at him nervously.
"Er... do you want to get married... someday?"
Zelgadis smirked. "Maybe," he said patronizingly. "If I ever find a
willing girl."
Amelia's blush grew. "Um... I might be willing... one day."
"Hmm. You know I sometimes like to do things on my own. I might go off
sometimes, and not want you to come along." He looked over at her. "I
know you've been running away from home to follow me sometimes, even though
I'm usually trying to find a bit of privacy. Do you think you could accept
me not always being there?"
Amelia looked away guiltily. "It might be a bit hard for me...." She
paused. "Then again, I could always spend the time you were away acting as
a Shrine Maiden!"
Zelgadis blushed. Apparently, Amelia wasn't quite aware of what the
problem with that would be. He considered trying to explain it to her, but
decided he'd find someone else to explain the birds and the bees to her....
* * * * *
Filia opened the door to her little cabin and blinked in surprise.
"Xelloss! And... LUNA? What are you two doing here?"
"Mission. Gathering people," Luna explained.
"Mission? From Ceiphied?"
"Nope. Xelloss' and my mutual boss."
Filia's eyebrow twitched. "You and this... this... FREAK share a boss?"
"Yep," Luna said.
Xelloss' smile twitched. "I wish you'd stop calling me that," he said.
"Especially since we're supposed to be working together again. Our orders
come from higher than either Ceiphied or Shabradnigo... they come from the
Lord of Nightmares herself."
"L-sama," Filia said, rolling her eyes skyward. "Why?"
"C'mon, lets go," Luna suggested.
Filia looked back into her house. "Um... I can't."
"Oh?" Xelloss asked, feigning distress. "Don't tell me you're refusing an
order from L-sama because you'd have to work with me again! I'm hurt!"
Filia clucked her tongue. "Hey! I've got real reasons, too!" Xelloss
opened an eye, smirking at her. She flushed. "I mean... look, Valgaav's
not exactly at that point in her life when he should be left alone..."
"Take 'im, too," Luna suggested. "S'ok- we'll look over him."
"Take him? I don't know... I mean, he's still an egg. I don't want to
risk letting him get hurt."
"No problem!" Xelloss said enthusiastically. "Luna, why don't you gather
the others together. I'll wait for you here, with her... alone... until
you get everyone else. I don't think L-sama would mind if we gathered
everyone here instead of in Femille..."
"On second thought, maybe I'll go with you after all, Luna. I'd rather NOT
be left alone with that fr... um, mazoku."
* * * * *
"Hey, LINA!" Gourry cried.
Lina, holding the piece of wood from the Holy Tree that she'd just
purchased, looked around, trying to find him. Finally, she looked up. Her
eyes widened. "Gourry? You got it to work?!"
After getting into a huge fight with the teacher they'd hired (and very
nearly frying him with a barrage of fireballs), they'd come to an
understanding. The teacher refused to change his methods for teaching
healing techniques, so Lina demanded that he move on to teaching the
Levitation spell. Gourry was still trying to learn the healing spell,
however- largely on his own, since Lina was too busy to do anything more
than heal the wounds he made to practice with. She wasn't too happy with
him choosing that method to learn the technique, but at least he was being
safe about it and not making more than three cuts to practice on.
Apparently, though, the instructor WAS able to teach him the Levitation
spell, as he was now floating over her head.
"Well... kind of. Um, I was able to get up, but I haven't figured out
quite how to get back down, yet," Gourry admitted.
Lina blinked. "You just disperse it, Gourry. You think the magic away,
and it goes away."
"You mean that if I pretend I'm not flying any more, I'll stop flying?"
Lina hesitated. "Well... I can't say you're wrong, but that's not
exactly... oh, never mind. Yes, just pretend you aren't flying any more."
"Thanks, Lina!" he said enthusiastically, seconds before he came falling
down in a crash.
"Gourry!" Lina cried, running over to him. "Are you okay? That was a hard
fall!"
"Looks like I'll have to work on my landings," he said dazedly.
Lina wasn't the only one who his crash-landing attracted. "Is everyone all
right? What happened?" A familiar female voice called.
"Amelia?" Lina said, amazed.
Amelia, followed by Zelgadis, blinked upon seeing who it was they had
rushed up to check on. "Lina? Gourry?" she asked.
"Um, Lina?" Gourry asked.
"Yeah, Gourry?"
"Can I pass out now? My head hurts..." he asked, seconds before he did.
"Gourry!" Lina shrieked. "*Restoration*" she cast.
Amelia cupped her hands and quickly joined in. It didn't take too long to
fix the damage, though Gourry was still passed out in the middle of the
street when they finished.
Zelgadis looked around at the crowd of rubberneckers they were drawing.
"Perhaps we should move him somewhere safer... have you got a hotel room we
can take him to?" he said, picking up the slumbering swordsman.
"Um, yeah," she said, taking one of Gourry's arms. "It's three blocks down
the street, then another block to the left... the Ciephied Arms."
Zelgadis nodded. "Let's go, then," he said, taking the other arm. "So
what happened to him, anyway? It looked like he fell off of a building or
something."
"It's sort of a long story," Lina said. "I've sort of been trying to get
him to learn a couple of very simple spells, to help make up for the loss
of his Sword of Light. Just a few- Lighting, Levitation, and a healing
spell. Lighting took him a week to learn when I was teaching him, but when
we got here I was too busy to teach him anything else. I didn't trust the
way the instructor we hired was trying to teach him the healing spell, so I
had him concentrate on Levitation, and..."
"And that was a result of one of Gourry's levitations, right?"
Lina hesitated and nodded. "Actually, it was my fault. He didn't know how
to land, and I don't think I made it clear that he was supposed to be
touching the ground before he dispelled the spell."
Zelgadis blinked. "You're teaching GOURRY magic? I mean, isn't that
dangerous? He's as likely to accidentally cast the Giga Slave as he is to
get a Lighting spell right!"
"Zelgadis!" Amelia admonished. "Gourry's not that bad! Besides, it's not
fair to tease him like that when he isn't awake to defend himself."
Zelgadis cringed slightly. "I'm sorry, Amelia. Still, even you have to
admit he'll probably mess whatever spell he's casting up!"
"I'm not teaching him anything dangerous, Zel," Lina said wearily. "I just
had to do something... he was starting to question his usefulness to me
because he didn't have his Sword of Light any more, and... well, that was
the best I could come up with until I found him another good sword."
"You could have just slept with him, you know," Zelgadis suggested
coarsely. "Then you wouldn't have to maintain this charade that you keep
him around to be your protector, and he wouldn't have to feel so inadequate
when you get into fights that he can't resolve with a sword."
"Hey!" Lina cried. "Stop it! Quit making rumors about us!"
Amelia blinked, looking from the unconscious Gourry to Lina and back.
"Say, Lina? What IS Gourry going to do in those fights you can't solve
with a regular sword?"
Lina blushed faintly. "Um... actually, I've got an idea, but please don't
tell Gourry. It's supposed to be a surprise." Zelgadis and Amelia's eyes
met, and then they both turned to Lina and nodded in agreement. "Well...
see, I came here to Femille to study up on the making of magical weapons.
I hope to build a NEW Sword of Light for him... hopefully, one as good as
his old one."
Zelgadis blinked. "Lina... the original Sword of Light was made by Dark
Star himself. I don't think you can duplicate it on your own... I mean,
even if you got Ceiphied himself to help you with it, I'm not certain you
could do it."
Lina smiled. "I don't know about that. From what I've been reading, it
seems plausible... I should at least be able to get it as good as the
original was before Hellmaster unlocked it." She paused. "But only if I
can find some very efficient and very powerful magical amplifiers that are
small enough. Something like my talismen, only focusing primarily white
magic instead of primarily black. Otherwise, I'm not sure I could make
anything even close to it."
"Good luck finding those," Zelgadis snorted. "Especially finding some you
could afford. Didn't you spend several million on those talismen of
yours?"
Lina nodded. "I was sort of thinking I'd get Filia to help out... it's a
long trip to find her, and I've still got a lot of research to do before I
set out, but...."
"But you're going anyway," Amelia finished. "Sounds like fun! Want us to
come with you?"
Lina looked over at the unconscious Gourry and then back at Amelia.
"Well... Gourry's usually enough company by himself, but having you two
along for a little while might help keep the journey from being a bit too
monotonous. And he might appreciate having someone else around to help
tutor him in magic- someone who DOESN'T use Fireballs as 'encouragement' to
learn faster." She smiled guiltily.
Zelgadis blinked at her. "Lina, when you learned magic, did your teachers
Fireball YOU when you didn't learn fast enough?"
Lina chuckled slightly. "Well, I only ever had one teacher, really, and
that was my sister. She was a bit of a disciplinarian, you see, and...
well... Gourry has it easy compared to what I went through."
"Easy?" Amelia said, a little stunned.
Lina nodded. "I can't use 'Resurrection' if I accidentally kill him, after
all, since I never learned the spell. So, I HAVE to go relatively easy on
him.... Relative to what big sis did, that is- she had to use Resurrection
on me at least once a day, I think."
Amelia looked at Lina in absolute shock. Zelgadis, on the other hand,
merely frowned thoughtfully.
"Hmm," he said. "No, I still think Rezo was the worst relative a person
could ever have. At least your sister fixed you up afterwards... Rezo just
laughed when I begged him to get rid of the curse he put me under."
Amelia's horrified face turned to look at Zelgadis- though hearing about
his tragedy again wasn't quite as surprising, since he'd told her that
story before. Still, on the heels of Lina's story about the training she
had to endure under her big sister....
"And I thought MY family didn't get along well," she whispered, awed.
* * * * *
"If you think you're going to take MY husband away for who knows HOW long a
time without me, you're sadly mistaken," Martina proclaimed, her
shell-shocked husband (he still wasn't quite used to having someone speak
for him) looking on. "I am going with you as well... and I believe we'll
take the Court Mage of the Royal House of Neo-Xoana, Vrumagum, as well."
"Why not? The more, the merrier," Xelloss said, smiling.
"Don't think you can use MY feelings and run off on me AGAIN, either, Mr.
Mazoku!" she growled at him.
Xelloss rubbed the back of his neck nervously as both Luna and Filia looked
at him curiously. "Um... you were the one who ran off on ME, as I recall."
"Only AFTER you turned out to be a mazoku!" Martina snapped. "You never
should have become one!"
Xelloss sweatdropped. "I didn't really have a choice in the matter...."
Martina didn't hear him, choosing to rant instead. "I've heard all the
stories! Mazoku seducing you to use your talents for their own purposes,
and then betraying and murdering you! Your kind are totally heartless- I
can't BELIEVE I was ever attracted to you!"
Xelloss actually opened his eyes at that one, giving her a dangerous look.
Martina suddenly realized that the mazoku in question wasn't exactly
pleased with her, and swallowed. Even Filia looked a little surprised at
the anger he was showing, though Luna was just smiling quietly to herself.
"Look," he said angrilly, "Let me clear up a few myths for you. While it
may be true that some of my kind DO use your kind in that way, it's NOT
universally true. We mazoku DO have emotions of our own, you know- the
same you do. We feel fear and courage, happiness and sadness, love, and
hate and pain and pleasure, and all those other emotions you do. As it
happens, my true form is even very similar to that of a normal humans! The
only important thing that's different between you and me is that in
addition to the normal essentials of life that humans need, I also feed off
of the darker emotions which others feel. You may think of us mazoku as
being evil, but that's not necessarily true. In my case, I was a slave to
my masters' will- I didn't even have enough control of my own body to stop
myself if they ordered me to do something I personally disagreed with. If
I was ordered to mercilessly destroy the Dragon Armies, I was not able to
stop myself from destroying them. It was a war at the time, and so I
didn't have many qualms about that. But when I had to destroy the injured,
I fought against myself to save them... and lost." He paused. "I found a
way to spare a couple of dragons, one time... a mother and her egg. They
were civilians, and I was able to interpret my orders in such a way that
let me save them, but that was the greatest bit of mercy I was able to
extend. Now, however... now, thanks to this mission, I am free. And I
don't particularly like being insulted for no reason beyond just being born
a mazoku."
"Xelloss?" Filia said, astounded. She hadn't heard that about him before-
it didn't let her forgive him for the massacres of her fellow Dragons a
millenia before, but if he'd actually fought to save some of her kin in
that same war then perhaps she had misjudged him... and probably for the
same reason Martina had been so upset- because he was a mazoku.
He nodded to her. "You have a right to insult me," he admitted. "It was
your aunts and uncles and cousins and other relatives that I was killing,
back them, but Martina doesn't." His eyes closed again as his face changed
to show a somewhat embarrassed expression. "I do apologize for the
outburst, though... I really shouldn't let things like that upset me that
much, should I?"
Luna nodded. "'Nuff chat. Let's go."
Martina, recovering from Xelloss' verbal assault, coughed. "Ahem... I'm
afraid we'll have to delay here for a while. It will take us some time to
pack for the trip, and I sent my husband's sword away to have its sheath
cleaned and its hilt adorned with the seal of Zoamalgustar. It will take a
few days before we'll be ready to depart..."
"Very well," Xelloss said. "We can wait until you get the sword back- I
wasn't told that we were in any desperate hurry."
"Um... don't I get some say in this?" Zangulus asked.
"Of course not, dear," Martina answered him before turning her attention
back to the others. "Now, should we set you up in the palace guest suites,
or will you be finding your own accomodations?"
Filia looked around at the hastily erected wooden shack which served as the
temporary palace for the kingdom of Neo-Xoana. "This place HAS guest
suites?" she asked, surprised.
"Not yet," Martina said.
"What does 'not yet' mean?"
"It means we can have some built for you, if necessary," Zangulus
deadpanned. "It'll take about two hours for us to complete the floor,
cieling, and walls, and another hour to put in futons and bedding, so you'd
better let us know now."
"My, that sounds delightful," Xellos chirped, amusement in his voice. "I
believe I'll take a guest suite."
Filia stared at him. "You're kidding, right?"
Even Luna seemed uncomfortable with the idea. "You do that. I'll sleep
elsewhere," she informed.
Xelloss sighed in amusement. "Well, it looks like we'll be splitting up.
Someone go untie Naga and ask her if she wants to stay here or move on to a
separate establishment. It better be you, Luna, since you're the only one
who can remove that Mute spell."
"OOOOH HO HO HO HO!" Naga's laughter rang through the room. "No need- I
freed myself a while ago. I must say, Miss Martina, I just LOVE your
fashion sense."
Luna was stunned. "How..."
"Really?" Martina said. "I had the HARDEST time finding a material which
would hold up to everyday use and still maintain this fabulous degree of
support. I am impressed with your outfit, as well- how DOES it hold
together?"
"I believe there's this magical enchantment which enhances the strength of
the leather..." Naga explained.
"Um, excuse me," Luna said, breaking her usually unflappable exterior with
the shock of Naga's appearance. "But... what about my Mute spell?"
"Oh, that?" Naga said. "I just kept laughing until it overloaded and the
spell shattered. It held fast for an impressive length of time, however-
you should be proud."
Luna sweatdropped.
-------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
desaix@sysnet.net
Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
fanfics available at
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7872/fanfics.htm
David A. Tatum's Used Anime Trading Post
http://www2.sysnet.net/~desaix/shop.htm
by unix6.sysnet.net (8.9.3/8.9.0) with ESMTP id VAA09307
for desaix@sysnet.net; Mon, 8 Jan 2001 21:13:30 -0500 (EST)
Message-Id: 200101090213.VAA09307@unix6.sysnet.net
From: "David A. Tatum" desaix@sysnet.net
To: desaix@sysnet.net
Subject: Slay2.txt
Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 20:18:27 -0500
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Priority: 3
X-Mailer: Microsoft Internet Mail 4.70.1155
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
X-UIDL: 6a852c40bbadd68c2011fe93e1e654a1
Chapter 2: Pax Sailoon
...A Moment of Peace While the Company Assembles
Gourry poked the fire he had built with a stick, trying to provoke it into
cooking faster. He looked over at the young woman he had given himself the
job of protecting, and asked a question.
"Lina, where are we going? I forgot!"
"Baka! How many times do I have to tell you, we're going to-" Lina
started, preparing to throttle the somewhat forgetful swordsman. Cutting
herself off in mid-sentence, she paused to think about it. "Um, actually,
I guess I haven't told you this time, have I? We're heading over to the
city of Femille...."
Gourry stroked his chin. "Femille... Femille... that name sounds
familiar... wait, isn't that the city with all the women?" His eyes
widened, and he stared at Lina in a state of pure terror. "You aren't
going to make me dress up in a dress again, are you?"
Lina WANTED to say yes- it was so much fun the last few times she'd been
able to play 'dress-up' with him. However... "No, not this time.
There've been a lot of legal reforms since we last went there- men aren't
executed just for entering the city, now, they just can't hold high
political offices unless they're of the royal family or anything like
that." She smiled for his benefit... though regretted the knowledge that
she'd probably never be able to talk him into being her dress-up dolly ever
again, now that she no longer had that excuse. "Now, it's just a mecca for
white sorcerers and religious types."
"Ah... why are we headed there?"
"I'm researching something... I'll need your help with it, actually, but
I'm going to keep it a surprise until then."
Gourry smiled. "Well, I'll always help you out if you need me. You know
that."
Lina ALMOST blushed. "Yeah... I do." She paused. "Say... that 'Gourry
Bomb' trick we were using in that last fight... it gave me an idea. You're
always complaining because I have to carry you whenever we fly anywhere...
what if I taught you a couple magic spells to help you out in situations
like that?"
"Me? Learn magic? Why? You're plenty good at that stuff already. I'll
just rely on my sword, thank you. Besides, doesn't it take years to get
good at that sort of thing?"
"To get good at it, yeah. But I'm not talking about making you into a
wizard or anything- just giving you a couple spells that even your average
jellyfish could learn in a week," Lina said, smiling to show she was
teasing him. "Simple things like Lighting, Levitation, and maybe a minor
heal spell. You don't have the Sword of Light any more, and I've gotta do
SOMETHING to make my protector somewhat useful... or at least not as much
of a burden. You've gotta learn to fly by yourself, at least." Gourry
winced, so she patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry- this is only
temporary. We'll find you a new sword, and then you'll be just as useful
as you ever were. But in the meantime, we've gotta try something." She
paused. "And we'll have to be a bit more careful when travelling... um, we
might need to find somewhere safe to bunk down for a few days in a week or
so."
Gourry wasn't quite sure what to say. For one thing, he wasn't sure why
Lina was so worried about things a week from then- he certainly didn't know
of anyone powerful enough to be a challenge for her alone that would be
likely to attack them, and even if he was he wouldn't know why Lina would
know that they'd be attacking in a week or so. However, that wasn't what
was really bothering him. When he considered what she'd said, he was sort
of pleased- there were a number of times, while travelling, he wondered if
Lina let him follow her merely to stay close to the Sword of Light. He
knew he'd risked losing her companionship when he surrendered that weapon
to the other world, but he felt it was something he just needed to do. It
was almost as if something inside of him was telling him the sword was no
longer needed in his world. That, and it would be a way of KNOWING if Lina
just tolerated him for the Sword of Light, or if there was some other
reason. And here Lina was, not only letting him stay with her, but
actually worrying about him.
Actually, that was what was most on his mind. He was the one who was
supposed to protect HER- not the other way around. But what she said was
the truth- without the Sword of Light, he was useless to her. In fact, he
was, as she put it, a 'burden.' Perhaps Lina would be better off if he
wasn't there. But he really shouldn't decide that for himself, should he?
"Lina," he began. "Um... do you need me to come with you to Femille?"
Lina sighed. "Look, Gourry- I already said you'll be perfectly safe there.
Since it was revealed that half the nation was men ANYWAY, they dumped
those silly anti-men rules. You won't be lynched, and if anyone tries I'll
fry them for you."
"That's not what I meant!" he cried, upset. He was trying to ask her
something important, here, and he couldn't figure out how to ask it right.
Lina started to notice his agitation and frowned slightly. Something was
seriously wrong with him- he didn't usually get this worked up over a
little thing like going somewhere where he might be unpopular. Something
was definitely wrong with him. "Gourry... what are you trying to ask me?"
"Lina," Gourry said. "I'm no longer the Swordsman of Light. In fact, I'm
no longer the swordsman of ANYTHING, since all I have is this silly mallet
to fight with. You said it yourself- I'm useless as your protector and, in
fact, I'm probably a burden to you." He paused. "I can't protect you any
more, Lina... I want to, but I can't. We'll NEVER be able to replace the
Sword of Light, and without it I'll probably never be much better than your
average mercenary, even if I DO get another sword. Shouldn't you find
someone to protect you who would be better at it than I am?"
Lina looked at him in surprise. Maybe she'd been riding him a bit hard
about how useless he was without the Sword of Light, but she certainly
never expected anything like this. It almost worried her to think he might
leave- almost, but not quite.
"Gourry, I'm probably the most powerful sorceresses in the world right now,
I'm pretty good on my own with a sword, and I lived on the road for some
time without a protector, back before I met you. I never needed YOU as a
protector, so why should I go find someone else?" Seeing the worry still
plainly visible in his eyes, Lina instinctively continued, "I tried to
chase you off when I first met you- at least, I did until you offered to
pay for a meal for me. After that, well, I just let you tag along to use
you for your money. When I found you had the Sword of Light, I decided I'd
just stick around you until I could convince you to give it to me, and then
I'd run right off." She paused. "It stopped being about the Sword of
Light quite some time ago. I don't know when, exactly, but it was
before... before we had that horrible battle with Hellmaster. It wasn't
the Sword of Light I was worried about, then... it was you. So, unless
you've got someone back home waiting for you that you never told me about,
I'd rather you stay with me."
Gourry nodded. He missed some of the implications of that statement, and
Lina knew him well enough now to realize he would, but it was enough for
him to know that she didn't want him gone. And that was enough for him.
He frowned. "So... why is it that we're going to have to find somewhere
safe in a week or so? What's going on?"
Lina blushed. "Gourry... um, let's just not talk about that, okay? My
magic won't quite be working at its best, so I just think it would be best
to not be travelling then."
Gourry nodded. "Ah... so that time of the month is coming up again."
"GOURRRRRY!" Lina growled, turning bright red as she bashed him over the
head.
* * * * *
"...just love that restaurant!" one of a pack of teenaged boys was saying
to his friends. "The foods great, and that waitress is just a terrific
floor show!"
"You mean that Luna Inverse chick? The one with the big breasts who's
always teleporting everywhere?"
Another person who the teenaged boys might have described as a
'big-breasted chick' overheard this with great delight. "OOOOH HO HO HO HO
HO HO HO HO HO!" her shrill laughed echoed through the streets as she
approached the boys. They cringed in terror, furiously looking for a way
to escape. "Lina, Lina, Lina... did you think you could escape I, your
greatest rival and companion, Naga the White Serpent, just by changing your
name to Luna, stuffing your bra, and getting a job as a waitress thousands
of miles from where we last saw each other? OOOOH HO HO HO HO HO HO!"
The teenaged boys were torn- they wanted to escape the dreaded noise of
that horrid laugh, but then again... that laugh did MAGNIFICENT things to
that remarkable bosom that this strange scantily-clad woman was blessed
with.
One of the braver of the boys finally said something. "Um... what do you
want?" he asked nervously.
"The restaurant where this 'Luna' Inverse works- take me to it!" Naga
demanded.
"Um... okay, fine! Just please... don't laugh any more... or at least
don't laugh quite so loudly!"
* * * * *
"Halt!" the man in charge of the morning shift's Palace Guard for the Royal
House of Sailoon demanded, levelling a spear at the cloaked stranger.
"Advance to be recognized, then state your name and the purpose of your
visit."
A blue-skinned chimera stepped forward, removing his hood. Worn around his
wrist was a charm which any soldier of Sailoon would recognize as belonging
to their Royal Princess Amelia. "Zelgadis. Social call upon the Princess
Amelia," he said, waving the charm slightly.
The soldier remained stoically unmoved, lowering his guard slightly but not
completely. "I am afraid that is impossible. The Princess Amelia is under
house arrest, and so visitors are forbidden to see her."
"House arrest?" Zelgadis repeated, his eyes slanting dangerously. "For
what reason?" Had there been even more trouble to grace the Royal Family?
Had one of their less-than-loyal uncles attempted to usurp power from
Prince Philionel again?
Another soldier of the guard, who recognized the unique physique of the man
who was not-so-secretly the boyfriend of the princess, rushed up to prevent
his supervisor from saying something that might accidentally get him all
killed. "Hi, Zel. Prince Phil grounded her again- she snuck out of the
castle without permission."
Zelgadis sighed, relaxing his guard. "Again?" He took a few more steps
in, finally getting close enough for the first footsoldier (who was trying
desperately to hide the fact that he wasn't able to see clearly without
glasses) to see just who it was he had been treating so disrespectfully.
That particular officer had never had to deal with the chimera before, and
so could only recognize him by reputation. Once he saw the blue skin,
however, he immediately recognized the danger of the game he'd been
playing, and paled slightly.
"Maybe if you stuck closer to town, she would, too," the second soldier
suggested as the first slowly slinked away, hoping that the chimera would
leave him alone if he just returned to his duties.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Zelgadis growled dangerously.
"Um... nothing. Just that she's usually caught leaving when she's trying
to follow you. That's all."
Zelgadis sighed. He usually left 'in search of a cure' whenever he started
getting overwhelmed by her somewhat... overenthusiastic... outlook on life.
Something which happened much more often then the slightly spoiled
princess liked, it seemed. In fact, his cure was now little more than an
excuse to get away than anything- he didn't look very hard for it any more,
and really couldn't imagine where else he MIGHT look for it. Besides, it
appeared that his appearence wasn't quite as freakish as he initially lead
himself to believe- sure, Amelia thought he was suspicious looking, but she
also seemed to honestly find his curse 'neat.'
"How long was she grounded for, this time?"
"Actually, her punishment'll be up by tomorrow morning. Unfortunately,
she'll immediately be leaving on a diplomatic mission to Femille... I
believe she was hoping you'd be willing to join her as part of her royal
escort."
Zelgadis chucked. When he COULD tolerate her extreme exhuberance, he found
being around her a rather pleasant thing. She was the first girl he could
even come close to calling a girlfriend (though they weren't nearly as
close as the tabloids said... though the tabloids inspired Amelia to ask a
few unpleasant questions, all of which happened to be true, the most
embarassing one being 'Are you always hard?' Thankfully, she was too
innocent to realize what, exactly, she was asking). "Of course I will," he
answered... then paused. "Wait, did you say FEMILLE? Is that the place
famous for all the Shrine Maidens?"
"Yeah," the guard said. "Heard they only recently allowed men into their
community, but you should be safe. The laws have been changed to give men
a lot of opportunities to live there, though, and that's why Prince Phil
felt he needed to send them a new diplomatic mission- to reassess their
political status after the sudden change." He paused. "He also felt that
it might be wise to send Amelia there to see if she wanted to continue her
training to be a Shrine Maiden, or if she just wanted to be a sorceress and
live out certain aspects of her life forbidden to their order."
"You mean Prince Phil wants to know if Amelia wants to get married some
day," Zelgadis summarized. "Amelia told me once, when we were at the Royal
Wedding of Xoana, that she hopes to get married someday. I wonder if she
ever realized getting married would mean she'd have to give up being a
Shrine Maiden."
"Knowing Her Highness like we all do, I doubt it," the guard chatted. "You
don't seem all that concerned with it, though. Considering how she treats
you... and how you don't complain when she DOES treat you that way... I'm a
bit surprised you're taking this so calmly."
Zelgadis shrugged. "There's two reasons why it doesn't bother me. The
first is that I'm a fatalist- I always expect that everythings going to go
wrong, anyway, so it won't bother me if it does." He paused. "The other
is that... well... this is Amelia we're talking about here. These are both
things which will call upon her sense of love and justice equally. They're
both things that she wants. Do you honestly think she'll be able to come
to a decision, regardless?"
The guard laughed. "True, true. So, should I show you to your apartment
in the castle, or would you rather head out to eat first."
"Apartment. I've been travelling almost non-stop for a month now- I need a
hot bath and a comfortable sleep more than I need food." He smirked. "I'm
not like the rest of Amelia's travelling companions- I don't obsess over
eating whenever food is offered."
* * * * *
The boy who'd recieved the job of guide to Naga was in heaven. When she
didn't laugh, the sorceress was actually pleasant to be around. Deranged
as all hell, yes, but for a body like that... well, insanity was a minor
thing, really. After all, wasn't everybody at least somewhat crazy, in
some way?
"Here we are, miss," he said. Wringing his fingers nervousely, he
continued, "Say, I was wondering if, after you're done with your business
here, you might want to go out some time. See the sites, have some fun,
and..."
He stopped right there when it became obvious the girl wasn't paying any
attention to him. Instead, she was marching towards the door with a
purposeful stride. "Yoo-hoo! Lina! It is I, your greatest rival and
travelling companion, Naga, here to see you! OOOOH HO HO HO HO HO!" she
laughed as she made her way inside.
Behind her, the boy shuddered and started to run away. Maybe it was worth
putting up with insanity for a body like that, but it wasn't worth putting
up with that laugh...
Inside the restaurant, many of the patrons cringed at the shrill sound.
One of the waitresses looked up, finished taking her order, and then
teleported to the door to meet the new arrival.
"*MUTE*" the waitress cast, putting a rather unusual spell over Naga's
lips, silencing her. "Hiya. No laughing in the restaurant." She waved
her hand, and suddenly the spell was removed. "Booth or table?"
"I'm not here to order food," Naga stated imperially as she took a seat at
an empty booth. "I'm looking for Lina Inverse."
"Sorry, not here. Do you want a menu?"
"No, I'll just have one of everything. Of course she's here! I've been
trying to track her down for more than three years, now! Finally, I
recieved word that there was a great sorceress named Luna Inverse who was
working here. It was so obvious that Lina was merely making another poor
attempt to escape from me! OOOH H-"
"*Mute*" the waitress cast again. "Sorry, wrong Inverse. Lina's a
thousand miles south of here."
When her voice was returned to her, Naga glared up at the waitress. "What
do you mean 'wrong Inverse?'"
"I'm Luna Inverse. Lina's sister. 'Scuse- customer." Luna teleported to
the front door to greet the incoming person.
"So!" Xelloss chuckled, his eyes closed as was normal for him. "I finally
get to meet the Knight of Ceiphied in person. It's an honor, I assure
you."
"Here to fight or eat?" Luna chirped, unphased by his appearance.
"Niether, though I believe I'll sample some of your soft-serve ice cream
while I'm able. I'm here to negotiate. Seems we've both got orders,"
Xelloss said. "We'll be working together for a while."
That struck through Luna's shield of flippancy. "Wow. We will? I hadn't
received those orders yet."
Xelloss shrugged, having yet to open his eyes. "These orders don't come
from my Mazoku masters or from your Dragons. They're orders from someone a
bit higher-up."
"Just lost yer credibility, Xel-chan," Luna chuckled. "No-one's higher up
than Ceiphied."
Xelloss opened one eyebrow. "Not even the Lord of Nightmares?"
Luna paused, then shrugged. "Okay, maybe her. But I'm busy- use Lina."
"I already am. I've got a list of people I need to gather, and you and
Lina are at the top of it. Her orders explicitly."
"Proof?" Luna asked with her customary brevity.
Xelloss nodded. "Just touch the seal of your knighthood. L-sama will talk
to you through that."
Suddenly, a horrendous laugh erupted from the other side of the restaurant.
"OOOH HO HO HO HO HO!" it rang.
Luna sighed. "Sorry- loony girl to stop. Be right back."
Xelloss caught her sleeve before she could leave. "Wait- before you kill
her, find out if her name is Naga of the White Serpent. She's somewhat
famous for that laugh, but her real name is Gracia Ul Naga Sailoon, and
Princess Gracia's one of the people on L-sama's list to gather."
"She's Naga. Not gonna kill her. Just gonna Mute her... maybe
permanently."
* * * * *
Lina and Gourry made it to Femille just before Lina's powers started fading
to uselessness- a very good time that surprised both of them. It was
amazing how fast one could travel when they didn't have to go raiding
bandit camps and fighting off hundreds of mercenary bounty-hunter groups.
"I'm amazed, Gourry," Lina said, slightly sarcastically, as they walked
through the city streets in search of a good inn with enough vacancies for
them to not have to share a room. "It only took you a week to master
Lighting. Most people master that in the first day of their magic studies,
but I was expecting it to take you much longer than it did."
"Gee, thanks, Lina," Gourry said, happy at the compliment and missing the
near-blatant insult. "That was pretty hard to learn, though. I'm not
really cut out for magic, you know."
Lina sighed. "Well, you're right. You AREN'T cut out for magic." She'd
been MORE than patient (for her) while trying to teach him, and had
resorted to fireballing every time he made a mistake in the spell. Even
then, it had taken several days to get him to cast Lighting consistently
correctly. "But once you learn your first spell, it gets a little easier.
And the only other spells I want you to learn are a minor healing spell and
Levitation. You aren't even getting to the spells which require you to
draw power from other sources and learn the differences between calling
black, white, and shamanistic magic."
"Oh... okay. So when do we get started on the next spell?" Gourry asked.
"WE don't- at least not for a while. After we get settled in, I'm going to
take you to one of the PROFESSIONAL magic instructors in the area and then
we'll pay him to teach you while I check out the library for that piece of
research I'm doing."
"But, Lina... how am I going to learn anything without you there to
encourage me?" he asked.
Lina smiled faintly. "I'll be checking up on you each night. Right before
dinner, I'll see what you've learned... and if you haven't learned enough,
then you'll just have to go to bed without your supper, young man... and,
of course, I'll have to eat your share" she teased, wagging a finger at
him.
"But I'll STARVE!" Gourry whined. Lina just laughed evilly.
* * * * *
"S'what's goin' on?" Luna asked Xelloss as they left the restaurant where
she worked, carrying a bound and gagged Naga with them.
"Didn't L-sama tell you?" Xelloss asked curiously.
"Said t'ask you."
"Ah," he said, nodding. "Well, first we're heading to pick up this
delightful young Golden Dragon I know... lovely creature. Has the heart of
a mazoku."
Luna chuckled. "S'pose ya like her?"
"Ah, that is a secret," Xelloss said, raising a finger into the air. "But
it wouldn't work out even if I did- she's one of the last of the Golden
Dragons- if not THE last. I'm the mazoku who singlehandedly wiped out half
the dragon race a thousand years ago... But then again, she DID forgive
Valgaav, and he wiped out the other half. But I think that was largely
because of a guilt complex involving the slaughter of the Ancient Dragons."
"So what do we do after her?"
Xelloss smiled as they entered a large carriage he'd purchased for the
adventure. "Well... there are still another player or two we need to pick
up- a swordsman in Xoana, a Shrine Maiden in New Sairaag, and, well, we may
run into another person or two who we might want to bring along as well,
according to L-Sama. She wasn't sure about that, though- something about
how it would go against Chaos if she were to tell me for certain." He
moved to help Luna secure Naga tightly into one of the carraige seats,
making certain it would be impossible for the annoying girl to escape the
bonds. "After that, we just head over to Femille, where the last four
people will be waiting for us."
"Who?"
"Well, this girl's younger, less annoying sister," he said, motioning to
the bound and gagged sorceress. Naga's eyes widened in surprise. "The
Princess of Sailoon, Amelia Wil Tesla Sailoon. Amelia's boyfriend,
Zelgadis- a powerful shamanistic sorcerer, for a human, and a good
swordsman as well. Your sister, Lina, and her boyfriend, the former
Swordsman of Light. Gourry Gabriev."
Naga's eyes widened even more, and even Luna's opened a crack. "Sis has a
boyfriend?"
"Well, that's part of our mission. L-Sama wanted you and me to get them
together- they've BEEN together for some time, actually, they just don't
realize it yet."
"Why would L-sama care about Sis's love life?"
Xelloss raised a finger. "That... is a secret. I can tell you, but not
when Miss Laughter here can eavesdrop."
Luna finished tightening Naga's bonds. "Done."
Xelloss smiled. "Next stop, the home of one cute but insulting 'lil Golden
Dragon."
With that, the entire carraige and all its passengers teleported.
* * * * *
Lina was not in a good mood. Her research in the library had proven quite
productive, but if she wanted to do what she wanted to do she'd need to
find some new good, but small, magical amplifiers. She certainly wasn't
going to give up the four talismen she bought from Xelloss for a project
like this- no, she'd have to find something else. Furthermore, she'd need
wood from a Holy Tree, and someone who was VERY powerful in white magic to
get everything working just like she wanted. And what was worse, she'd
have to let Gourry in on her little secret before she was ready- not right
away, thankfully, but she'd have to get him to help in the item's creation,
and not wait to make certain adjustments after talking with him about it.
Well, they were in a Holy City. Finding wood from a Holy Tree wasn't
likely to be difficult... just expensive. Finding a powerful practitioner
of white magic wasn't likely to be very difficult, either- just
frustrating, because she needed someone as powerful in white magic as she
was in black magic. Maybe even more powerful.
As far as magical ampliphiers were concerned, however... those were almost
impossible to get ahold of. If she found one for sale, she'd be very
dubious as to its legitimacy, in fact. She'd have to do something like
talk to a powerful Mazoku or Dragon to make some for her... maybe she could
find Filia and ask her to make something for her, but that was a LONG trip.
One she really didn't want to have to make.
But none of that was why she wasn't in a good mood. She wasn't in a good
mood because of how mad Gourry's teacher was starting to make her, from
what he was telling her.
His arms were a mess of wounds caused by his attempts to teach Gourry 'the
traditional way.' Namely, make a fresh cut on the student, and force the
student to heal themselves. However, the teacher also was refusing to heal
Gourry after the 'test' was over, instead just bandaging the wound and
making a new cut when he tried testing him again. True, that was sort of
how her older sister had taught her, but at least Luna would keep the
number of open wounds down to five (and Luna was one of the most sadistic
magic instructors Lina knew of). Gourry had nearly thirty cuts up and down
his arm.
"We're finding you a new teacher, Gourry," Lina growled, using her own
healing spells to repair the wounds in such a way they wouldn't leave
scars. "This is just malpractice, plain and simple." She paused.
"Actually, maybe I'll work with you a bit after dinner- I'll leave one cut
for you to heal, but thirty is downright DANGEROUS."
Gourry waved her off with his uninjured arm. "It's not too bad, Lina. You
put me through worse learning Lighting."
Lina shook that comment off. "I know what I'm doing with those fireballs-
I can control them well enough to make them hurt without making them
injure. And what the guy did, itself, isn't that bad- I learned this way,
too. But he took it WAY too far- the difference would be me using a Dragon
Slave spell to let you know you were making a mistake, instead of a very
controlled Fireball spell." She paused. "What he did was dangerous- you
lost a lot of blood, and if I wasn't healing you right now you might have
lost a dangerous amount before tomorrow morning. No, we'll have to find
you someone else."
"But we've already paid, and he won't give refunds..." Gourry protested.
Lina growled. "Well... at least let me talk to him before your next
session. He shouldn't be doing this to you." She finished her heal spell,
leaving only the smallest injury for him to practice on later. "Come on-
let's get something to eat."
* * * * *
"Ah," Amelia sighed. "It's amazing how peaceful the countryside has
become."
Zelgadis, riding on a horse alongside her, frowned. "I don't like it. It
seems almost too peaceful."
Amelia looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean by that?"
"I don't like how peaceful it's become in the last few months. Usually,
you'll run into the odd troll, berserker, goblin, or some other lesser
monster when travelling. Or even just a bandit gang or something... but
nothing. It's been this way for some time, now- ever since we got back
from defeating Dark Star and Valgaav, it seems to have slowed to a stop.
And I don't understand why- we didn't do anything to stop their raids, did
we? If anything, there should be MORE of them, now that the Dragons have
been so seriously weakened."
Amelia laughed. "Oh, it's probably nothing to get worried about. I mean,
we've got a heavily armed guard protecting us- no bandits or monsters are
likely to mess with us. Besides, daddy's started policing the roads again,
now that all of our family squabbles are settled. It's bound to be more
peaceful than it was before."
"Perhaps," Zelgadis said doubtfully. "It still feels like the calm before
the storm, to me." He paused, and decided to change the subject. "So... I
was wondering. Do you intend to be a Shrine Maiden for the rest of your
life?"
Amelia shrugged. "I hadn't thought about it- I suppose so. Why?"
"You do realize Shrine Maidens can never marry, right? Otherwise, they
wouldn't be 'maidens' any more." He paused. "You DID say you want to get
married someday."
Amelia blushed brightly. "Um... well, I do." She looked at him nervously.
"Er... do you want to get married... someday?"
Zelgadis smirked. "Maybe," he said patronizingly. "If I ever find a
willing girl."
Amelia's blush grew. "Um... I might be willing... one day."
"Hmm. You know I sometimes like to do things on my own. I might go off
sometimes, and not want you to come along." He looked over at her. "I
know you've been running away from home to follow me sometimes, even though
I'm usually trying to find a bit of privacy. Do you think you could accept
me not always being there?"
Amelia looked away guiltily. "It might be a bit hard for me...." She
paused. "Then again, I could always spend the time you were away acting as
a Shrine Maiden!"
Zelgadis blushed. Apparently, Amelia wasn't quite aware of what the
problem with that would be. He considered trying to explain it to her, but
decided he'd find someone else to explain the birds and the bees to her....
* * * * *
Filia opened the door to her little cabin and blinked in surprise.
"Xelloss! And... LUNA? What are you two doing here?"
"Mission. Gathering people," Luna explained.
"Mission? From Ceiphied?"
"Nope. Xelloss' and my mutual boss."
Filia's eyebrow twitched. "You and this... this... FREAK share a boss?"
"Yep," Luna said.
Xelloss' smile twitched. "I wish you'd stop calling me that," he said.
"Especially since we're supposed to be working together again. Our orders
come from higher than either Ceiphied or Shabradnigo... they come from the
Lord of Nightmares herself."
"L-sama," Filia said, rolling her eyes skyward. "Why?"
"C'mon, lets go," Luna suggested.
Filia looked back into her house. "Um... I can't."
"Oh?" Xelloss asked, feigning distress. "Don't tell me you're refusing an
order from L-sama because you'd have to work with me again! I'm hurt!"
Filia clucked her tongue. "Hey! I've got real reasons, too!" Xelloss
opened an eye, smirking at her. She flushed. "I mean... look, Valgaav's
not exactly at that point in her life when he should be left alone..."
"Take 'im, too," Luna suggested. "S'ok- we'll look over him."
"Take him? I don't know... I mean, he's still an egg. I don't want to
risk letting him get hurt."
"No problem!" Xelloss said enthusiastically. "Luna, why don't you gather
the others together. I'll wait for you here, with her... alone... until
you get everyone else. I don't think L-sama would mind if we gathered
everyone here instead of in Femille..."
"On second thought, maybe I'll go with you after all, Luna. I'd rather NOT
be left alone with that fr... um, mazoku."
* * * * *
"Hey, LINA!" Gourry cried.
Lina, holding the piece of wood from the Holy Tree that she'd just
purchased, looked around, trying to find him. Finally, she looked up. Her
eyes widened. "Gourry? You got it to work?!"
After getting into a huge fight with the teacher they'd hired (and very
nearly frying him with a barrage of fireballs), they'd come to an
understanding. The teacher refused to change his methods for teaching
healing techniques, so Lina demanded that he move on to teaching the
Levitation spell. Gourry was still trying to learn the healing spell,
however- largely on his own, since Lina was too busy to do anything more
than heal the wounds he made to practice with. She wasn't too happy with
him choosing that method to learn the technique, but at least he was being
safe about it and not making more than three cuts to practice on.
Apparently, though, the instructor WAS able to teach him the Levitation
spell, as he was now floating over her head.
"Well... kind of. Um, I was able to get up, but I haven't figured out
quite how to get back down, yet," Gourry admitted.
Lina blinked. "You just disperse it, Gourry. You think the magic away,
and it goes away."
"You mean that if I pretend I'm not flying any more, I'll stop flying?"
Lina hesitated. "Well... I can't say you're wrong, but that's not
exactly... oh, never mind. Yes, just pretend you aren't flying any more."
"Thanks, Lina!" he said enthusiastically, seconds before he came falling
down in a crash.
"Gourry!" Lina cried, running over to him. "Are you okay? That was a hard
fall!"
"Looks like I'll have to work on my landings," he said dazedly.
Lina wasn't the only one who his crash-landing attracted. "Is everyone all
right? What happened?" A familiar female voice called.
"Amelia?" Lina said, amazed.
Amelia, followed by Zelgadis, blinked upon seeing who it was they had
rushed up to check on. "Lina? Gourry?" she asked.
"Um, Lina?" Gourry asked.
"Yeah, Gourry?"
"Can I pass out now? My head hurts..." he asked, seconds before he did.
"Gourry!" Lina shrieked. "*Restoration*" she cast.
Amelia cupped her hands and quickly joined in. It didn't take too long to
fix the damage, though Gourry was still passed out in the middle of the
street when they finished.
Zelgadis looked around at the crowd of rubberneckers they were drawing.
"Perhaps we should move him somewhere safer... have you got a hotel room we
can take him to?" he said, picking up the slumbering swordsman.
"Um, yeah," she said, taking one of Gourry's arms. "It's three blocks down
the street, then another block to the left... the Ciephied Arms."
Zelgadis nodded. "Let's go, then," he said, taking the other arm. "So
what happened to him, anyway? It looked like he fell off of a building or
something."
"It's sort of a long story," Lina said. "I've sort of been trying to get
him to learn a couple of very simple spells, to help make up for the loss
of his Sword of Light. Just a few- Lighting, Levitation, and a healing
spell. Lighting took him a week to learn when I was teaching him, but when
we got here I was too busy to teach him anything else. I didn't trust the
way the instructor we hired was trying to teach him the healing spell, so I
had him concentrate on Levitation, and..."
"And that was a result of one of Gourry's levitations, right?"
Lina hesitated and nodded. "Actually, it was my fault. He didn't know how
to land, and I don't think I made it clear that he was supposed to be
touching the ground before he dispelled the spell."
Zelgadis blinked. "You're teaching GOURRY magic? I mean, isn't that
dangerous? He's as likely to accidentally cast the Giga Slave as he is to
get a Lighting spell right!"
"Zelgadis!" Amelia admonished. "Gourry's not that bad! Besides, it's not
fair to tease him like that when he isn't awake to defend himself."
Zelgadis cringed slightly. "I'm sorry, Amelia. Still, even you have to
admit he'll probably mess whatever spell he's casting up!"
"I'm not teaching him anything dangerous, Zel," Lina said wearily. "I just
had to do something... he was starting to question his usefulness to me
because he didn't have his Sword of Light any more, and... well, that was
the best I could come up with until I found him another good sword."
"You could have just slept with him, you know," Zelgadis suggested
coarsely. "Then you wouldn't have to maintain this charade that you keep
him around to be your protector, and he wouldn't have to feel so inadequate
when you get into fights that he can't resolve with a sword."
"Hey!" Lina cried. "Stop it! Quit making rumors about us!"
Amelia blinked, looking from the unconscious Gourry to Lina and back.
"Say, Lina? What IS Gourry going to do in those fights you can't solve
with a regular sword?"
Lina blushed faintly. "Um... actually, I've got an idea, but please don't
tell Gourry. It's supposed to be a surprise." Zelgadis and Amelia's eyes
met, and then they both turned to Lina and nodded in agreement. "Well...
see, I came here to Femille to study up on the making of magical weapons.
I hope to build a NEW Sword of Light for him... hopefully, one as good as
his old one."
Zelgadis blinked. "Lina... the original Sword of Light was made by Dark
Star himself. I don't think you can duplicate it on your own... I mean,
even if you got Ceiphied himself to help you with it, I'm not certain you
could do it."
Lina smiled. "I don't know about that. From what I've been reading, it
seems plausible... I should at least be able to get it as good as the
original was before Hellmaster unlocked it." She paused. "But only if I
can find some very efficient and very powerful magical amplifiers that are
small enough. Something like my talismen, only focusing primarily white
magic instead of primarily black. Otherwise, I'm not sure I could make
anything even close to it."
"Good luck finding those," Zelgadis snorted. "Especially finding some you
could afford. Didn't you spend several million on those talismen of
yours?"
Lina nodded. "I was sort of thinking I'd get Filia to help out... it's a
long trip to find her, and I've still got a lot of research to do before I
set out, but...."
"But you're going anyway," Amelia finished. "Sounds like fun! Want us to
come with you?"
Lina looked over at the unconscious Gourry and then back at Amelia.
"Well... Gourry's usually enough company by himself, but having you two
along for a little while might help keep the journey from being a bit too
monotonous. And he might appreciate having someone else around to help
tutor him in magic- someone who DOESN'T use Fireballs as 'encouragement' to
learn faster." She smiled guiltily.
Zelgadis blinked at her. "Lina, when you learned magic, did your teachers
Fireball YOU when you didn't learn fast enough?"
Lina chuckled slightly. "Well, I only ever had one teacher, really, and
that was my sister. She was a bit of a disciplinarian, you see, and...
well... Gourry has it easy compared to what I went through."
"Easy?" Amelia said, a little stunned.
Lina nodded. "I can't use 'Resurrection' if I accidentally kill him, after
all, since I never learned the spell. So, I HAVE to go relatively easy on
him.... Relative to what big sis did, that is- she had to use Resurrection
on me at least once a day, I think."
Amelia looked at Lina in absolute shock. Zelgadis, on the other hand,
merely frowned thoughtfully.
"Hmm," he said. "No, I still think Rezo was the worst relative a person
could ever have. At least your sister fixed you up afterwards... Rezo just
laughed when I begged him to get rid of the curse he put me under."
Amelia's horrified face turned to look at Zelgadis- though hearing about
his tragedy again wasn't quite as surprising, since he'd told her that
story before. Still, on the heels of Lina's story about the training she
had to endure under her big sister....
"And I thought MY family didn't get along well," she whispered, awed.
* * * * *
"If you think you're going to take MY husband away for who knows HOW long a
time without me, you're sadly mistaken," Martina proclaimed, her
shell-shocked husband (he still wasn't quite used to having someone speak
for him) looking on. "I am going with you as well... and I believe we'll
take the Court Mage of the Royal House of Neo-Xoana, Vrumagum, as well."
"Why not? The more, the merrier," Xelloss said, smiling.
"Don't think you can use MY feelings and run off on me AGAIN, either, Mr.
Mazoku!" she growled at him.
Xelloss rubbed the back of his neck nervously as both Luna and Filia looked
at him curiously. "Um... you were the one who ran off on ME, as I recall."
"Only AFTER you turned out to be a mazoku!" Martina snapped. "You never
should have become one!"
Xelloss sweatdropped. "I didn't really have a choice in the matter...."
Martina didn't hear him, choosing to rant instead. "I've heard all the
stories! Mazoku seducing you to use your talents for their own purposes,
and then betraying and murdering you! Your kind are totally heartless- I
can't BELIEVE I was ever attracted to you!"
Xelloss actually opened his eyes at that one, giving her a dangerous look.
Martina suddenly realized that the mazoku in question wasn't exactly
pleased with her, and swallowed. Even Filia looked a little surprised at
the anger he was showing, though Luna was just smiling quietly to herself.
"Look," he said angrilly, "Let me clear up a few myths for you. While it
may be true that some of my kind DO use your kind in that way, it's NOT
universally true. We mazoku DO have emotions of our own, you know- the
same you do. We feel fear and courage, happiness and sadness, love, and
hate and pain and pleasure, and all those other emotions you do. As it
happens, my true form is even very similar to that of a normal humans! The
only important thing that's different between you and me is that in
addition to the normal essentials of life that humans need, I also feed off
of the darker emotions which others feel. You may think of us mazoku as
being evil, but that's not necessarily true. In my case, I was a slave to
my masters' will- I didn't even have enough control of my own body to stop
myself if they ordered me to do something I personally disagreed with. If
I was ordered to mercilessly destroy the Dragon Armies, I was not able to
stop myself from destroying them. It was a war at the time, and so I
didn't have many qualms about that. But when I had to destroy the injured,
I fought against myself to save them... and lost." He paused. "I found a
way to spare a couple of dragons, one time... a mother and her egg. They
were civilians, and I was able to interpret my orders in such a way that
let me save them, but that was the greatest bit of mercy I was able to
extend. Now, however... now, thanks to this mission, I am free. And I
don't particularly like being insulted for no reason beyond just being born
a mazoku."
"Xelloss?" Filia said, astounded. She hadn't heard that about him before-
it didn't let her forgive him for the massacres of her fellow Dragons a
millenia before, but if he'd actually fought to save some of her kin in
that same war then perhaps she had misjudged him... and probably for the
same reason Martina had been so upset- because he was a mazoku.
He nodded to her. "You have a right to insult me," he admitted. "It was
your aunts and uncles and cousins and other relatives that I was killing,
back them, but Martina doesn't." His eyes closed again as his face changed
to show a somewhat embarrassed expression. "I do apologize for the
outburst, though... I really shouldn't let things like that upset me that
much, should I?"
Luna nodded. "'Nuff chat. Let's go."
Martina, recovering from Xelloss' verbal assault, coughed. "Ahem... I'm
afraid we'll have to delay here for a while. It will take us some time to
pack for the trip, and I sent my husband's sword away to have its sheath
cleaned and its hilt adorned with the seal of Zoamalgustar. It will take a
few days before we'll be ready to depart..."
"Very well," Xelloss said. "We can wait until you get the sword back- I
wasn't told that we were in any desperate hurry."
"Um... don't I get some say in this?" Zangulus asked.
"Of course not, dear," Martina answered him before turning her attention
back to the others. "Now, should we set you up in the palace guest suites,
or will you be finding your own accomodations?"
Filia looked around at the hastily erected wooden shack which served as the
temporary palace for the kingdom of Neo-Xoana. "This place HAS guest
suites?" she asked, surprised.
"Not yet," Martina said.
"What does 'not yet' mean?"
"It means we can have some built for you, if necessary," Zangulus
deadpanned. "It'll take about two hours for us to complete the floor,
cieling, and walls, and another hour to put in futons and bedding, so you'd
better let us know now."
"My, that sounds delightful," Xellos chirped, amusement in his voice. "I
believe I'll take a guest suite."
Filia stared at him. "You're kidding, right?"
Even Luna seemed uncomfortable with the idea. "You do that. I'll sleep
elsewhere," she informed.
Xelloss sighed in amusement. "Well, it looks like we'll be splitting up.
Someone go untie Naga and ask her if she wants to stay here or move on to a
separate establishment. It better be you, Luna, since you're the only one
who can remove that Mute spell."
"OOOOH HO HO HO HO!" Naga's laughter rang through the room. "No need- I
freed myself a while ago. I must say, Miss Martina, I just LOVE your
fashion sense."
Luna was stunned. "How..."
"Really?" Martina said. "I had the HARDEST time finding a material which
would hold up to everyday use and still maintain this fabulous degree of
support. I am impressed with your outfit, as well- how DOES it hold
together?"
"I believe there's this magical enchantment which enhances the strength of
the leather..." Naga explained.
"Um, excuse me," Luna said, breaking her usually unflappable exterior with
the shock of Naga's appearance. "But... what about my Mute spell?"
"Oh, that?" Naga said. "I just kept laughing until it overloaded and the
spell shattered. It held fast for an impressive length of time, however-
you should be proud."
Luna sweatdropped.
-------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
desaix@sysnet.net
Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
fanfics available at
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7872/fanfics.htm
David A. Tatum's Used Anime Trading Post
http://www2.sysnet.net/~desaix/shop.htm