A/N: Greetings everyone! I'm sorry it's taking me so long to write this story. I'm not used to writing so many chapters! ^^ Anyway, this chapter will focus mainly on Lina and her crew. I'm sorry I had to bring Naga in-it was either her or Silphiel and…eheh, Silphiel and her flare carrots aren't exactly firepower. Anyway, incase you're wondering what the couplings are (aside from X/F), the only other main one will be Lina/Zel. There'll be a nice little surprise at the end. Disclaimer here! Read on and review ^_^
"Stupid! Disgraceful Bastard!" Lina screamed, flinging a humongous fire ball at an innocent tree as they came to the town closest to the mazoku fortress.
Naga immediately counteracted the fire spell by freezing the flames on the tree. "Ohohoho, Lina-"
"So help me L-Sama, Naga, you goldfish feces. If you say one more word I will torch you to the Sea of Chaos and back!"
Naga coughed and chose to step back due to the combination of terror on Gourry's face and irate hatred on Lina's.
"Eheh," Naga chuckled weakly.
Amelia sighed. "Lina-san! You must calm down. We have to liberate Filia in the name of justice!"
Lina didn't bother give Amelia a warning. She just torched the princess.
"That wasn't very nice," Amelia whimpered, lying crispy on the ground.
Gourry didn't bother saying anything. He jumped up into another tree and hid.
"This is unbelievable," Lina ranted. "I can't believe Filia would turn tail like that! Why would she let Xellos, her mortal enemy, turn her into a mazoku? Why? I can't make sense of it."
Zelgadis took another step away from Lina incase she decided to start shooting spells again. "Lina, we'll figure this out. After we eat dinner, we can research a way to turn Filia back or at least get her out of the mazoku citadel."
Lina was visibly calmed by the idea of dinner. She nodded precisely. "Great. Naga's paying. Don't argue, I brought you along, it's the least you can do." With that, Lina stormed into a nearby restaurant. Crispy princess, silenced bimbo, perpetually silent rock boy, and terrified swordsman in tow.
There was a generally groan of unhappiness from the piled table, and a sigh of full contentment from the group. "Alright," Lina said, tossing her final chicken bone atop a towering stack of plates.
Zelgadis looked amused behind face mask. Thank goodness I'm not paying for this meal. With Lina…and Gourry and Naga…the three of them eat more than the entire population of this town would in a month!
"I think I have an idea of how to get Filia. Obviously, the five of us couldn't possibly hope to fend off the entire fortress. So I propose we break up into two groups. If any of you argue, you can take it up with my dragon slave, alright? Naga and Amelia, you go through the back way and try to distract as many people as you can. Naga knows some…special water spells…that will be able to hold enough of them off. Then us three will fly into the castle and get Filia. If we have to fight her…so be it."
"Lina, that sounds very reckless," Zelgadis said thoughtfully from beneath his hood.
Lina turned her eyes to him and flashed him a devil may care grin. "But haven't we discovered recklessness is an asset in all the years we've known each other, Zel?"
Zelgadis smirked. "Yes. But we weren't trying to storm a mazoku fortress and kidnap someone who is evidently very important to one of the highest ranking demons."
"We defeated Shabringdau."
"Yes, but-"
"As well as Gaav."
"Yes-"
"Not to mention Dark Star. Zel, come on."
Zelgadis shook his head. "I think we should go to the library and see if we can find any information. It can't help to be prepared!"
"Oho-" Naga seemed to reconsider laughing after someone threw a fork at the back of her head. After rubbing the wound, she continued. "I will not go to the library! The Great Naga needs beauty sleep before a great fight!"
"Fine. We'll go…to the library," Lina disdained, looking unhappy at the prospect. "Anyone else going to come?"
"I'll come in the name of Sailoon!"
"Why are we going to the library again, Lina?"
Lina twitched. Visibly. "Gourry…you stay here and make sure no one tries to kill Naga. All right?"
"Sure!"
With that, the group parted ways.
Xellos smirked, phazing into Filia's room. She looked up at him demurely from her seat at the desk, eyes shut. "What do you need, Xellos?"
"I want to show you what it is we're going to do…Fi-chan…"
Filia looked excited. She bounded to her feet. "Really? I'm finally going to be let in on the big plan?"
"Yes…but first…," Xellos purred.
This is possibly the last time I'll be near you without you hating every fiber of my being.
He slid closer to her with the fluidity of a snake, slipping his hands to the sides of her face and tilting her head back. He leaned down and kissed her tenderly, holding her warm body close.
To his surprise, Filia surrendered to the kiss with abandon.
…forgive me, Fi-chan…
Zelgadis frowned, tuning out the sounds of Amelia and Lina squabbling in the background. His stone finger slid across the line of text again. It was complicated to read-whoever wrote it had taken great pains to make sure it was well disguised. It was written in alternating inverted elf-runes and then the language of the muses, only mirrored so you read from the center outward.
"Lina. Amelia. Come here quickly, please," he called out.
Lina dropped the large book on Amelia's head and walked over. After dramatically whimpering and floundering about for a moment, Amelia followed as well. "What did you find, Zel?" Lina inquired, leaning close to him to peer at the text.
Zel took a deep breath, trying to ignore the sudden increase in his heart rate. "I believe I found a prophecy relating to Filia. Except it's written in very strange tongues…"
"Can you read it?" Amelia piped up, helpfully holding a scroll and pen to write down the translation.
"Yes…let me just get it right," he said. He scanned it once more and then cleared his throat. He slowly read it aloud:
"The blood of mage and demon will spread across the ground and turn it red.
Lying on the demon battlefield, a dragon dead.
Dearly loved by a demon high, her life shall be won.
Twisted into a demon, she will turn tail and run.
Coming back when the sun wanes broken,
Her return is the demon's token.
A being of black with a soul shining gold
The end of the war is now foretold.
Her soul shall be ripped out and torn in two
One for the mazoku, one for mages too
Slowly the world will fall apart
Unless the six stars reunite her heart."
The three stood in relative silence for a moment as Amelia scribbled down the prophecy. Lina looked physically sick. "Does that…does that mean…"
Zelgadis tried to swallow the increasingly large lump in his throat but failed. "I think that Xellos fulfilled the prophecy. He is going to kill Filia and extract her soul, and somehow…it will be turned into a weapon."
"….shit…" Lina whispered. "We have to go save her. Now!" Without another word, Lina bolted from the library, Zelgadis and Amelia running right behind her.
As soon as they got outside, Lina literally ran into a tall man with green hair. "Val…Valga-?" she inquired in a confused tone.
"Valterria," he corrected in a deep voice. "I'm here to help save my mother."
"How did you know? Oh, never mind. She's in trouble right now! Let's go get the others!"
And so, with the newfound sixth star, they ran back to retrieve the other two members of their group.
Filia leaned back from Xellos, and realized they had phazed into a room deep below the ground. "Where are we?" she inquired, her heart beating rapidly from the tender embrace she had just shared with Xellos.
"We are in the weapon room, my darling Fi-chan."
Filia looked around confused. "Ridiculous. You phazed us wrong. All I see is a throne with straps, and a swinging knife."
"Yes. Will you please sit down? I'm sorry, Fi-chan…"
Filia gazed at him with confusion. Her eyes flew open suddenly, realization slamming into her. "You-you-you lying bastard!" she screamed.
Xellos shook his head. "Nothing said was a lie. I never said that I wouldn't kill my beloved to end this war…"
Filia tried desperately to phaze, but two shadowy mazoku grabbed her arms and began to drag her backward toward the throne.
"Xellos!" she screamed.