Slayers: FOAM

by

Nin Tendo

Chapter 3 ~ The Enigmatic Prophecy Strikes Back!

~ Disclaimer ~ You all know what happens when I own something--I neglect it. n_n Thank everything holy that I do not own Slayers!

Wow, I got so many great FOAM reviews! n_n Thank you, guys! Keep them coming! (You don't know just how close you're coming to describing what I have planned. O.o) Maybe when the story is finished, I'll rename the chapters with your acrostics! n_n

Thank you for the web pages, Lauren-sama! I think I'll be a little more confident now with Amelia's character. n_n

Oops, I forgot to mention it last chapter, but Filia Metallium disagreed with the way I portrayed Deep Sea Dolphin. If it makes you feel better, Filia, I didn't mean to imply that Dolphin was always insane--it's just that something happened to her a few days before her attack on Lina. I'm sorry that I killed her off so early, but it was either her or Dynast, and I have plans for Dynast! n_n

Geez, this was supposed to be posted LAST WEEK! Sorry for the misinformation, Riven. -_- But it's not MY fault that my computer went haywire... n_n

========================

Zelgadis chuckled as the door swung shut, leaving him alone in Jillas' room with Amelia. Lina and Gourry were much too predictable. Teasing them about their 'relationship' was so easy that it almost wasn't fun anymore (but, then again, everything was hilarious when you were as tired as he was now).

Laughter dissolving into a yawn, Zelgadis remembered just how exhausted he was and walked over to the bed, kneeling and resting his chin on his arms so his face was on the same level as Amelia's.

Staring at her like this envoked strange, half-forgotten emotions that he hadn't felt in abundance for such a long time, excluding, perhaps, the last few days.

Compassion? he wondered. Is that what this is? And affection? Why am I feeling these things? I just want to be a heartless sorcerer swordsman, so I won't have to feel pain or sorrow anymore. In the past, that was all there was for me--when did that change?

"It's all your fault," he mumbled to the sleeping Amelia in a tone that somehow refused to be accusing. "You rubbed off on me."

Wearily, he closed his eyes, and, instead of gaining the cocentration he sought, Zelgadis found himself slipping deeply into unconsciousness.

====================

"Lina..." an uneartly voice whispered in the darkness.

The breath caught in Lina's throat and she sat up quickly to examine the void for danger.

"Lina Inverse..." the voice whispered again.

Whirling around, Lina found herself face-to-face with a woman glowing with a golden light that refused to banish the surrounding black. Her face was hidden by long bangs. Lina felt the presence of awesome power.

"Who...who are..." Lina stuttered.

Ignoring the speech completely, the golden girl announced, "The time has come for a world of new foreseen by prophets of old. Power shall fade, leaving only the most powerful of all. Order shall fall, replaced by chaos seeking order forevermore. And the world will end."

"What?!" Lina blurted. "What are you talking about?"

But the lady was already fading away.

"What is going on?!" Lina screamed in frustration.

The woman tilted her head up and to the side, staring at Lina with cold, terrible eyes.

"The end of the world is coming," she answered, then disappeared.

=============================

"WAIT!" Lina exclaimed, sitting up in bed.

"Uh," she mumbled, recognizing the area to be Gravos' room, located in Filia's house, where Xellos was being cared for.

Gourry was sleeping peacefully on the floor, oblivious to her cries.

Filia slapped a sleep spell on me, she realized. Probably just to make sure I wouldn't distract her. ...She'll pay for that.

Yawning and sliding out of bed, Lina didn't have time to change out of her dirty clothes--the startled shout from Filia's room interrupted that.

"XELLOS! FILIA!" she screeched, flying from the room, readying a fireball in her hands, leaving Gourry behind, still sleeping, much more exhausted then he'd looked.

Seconds seemed like hours as Lina rushed down the hallway. Pure adrenaline pumped through her veins as she nearly tore the door from its hinges.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" she screamed.

Gravos and Jillas blinked and stared at the intruding girl, then pointed to the bed.

"There someone a sleepin' in Sis' bed," Jillas explained, then exclaimed, "LINA INVERSE?!"

"What are you doing here?!" Gravos asked in a slightly calmer tone.

Filia began to stir, sparing Lina from answering.

"Oh, my head..." she whimpered, massaging her right temple, and rising to her knees. Her back cramped in response, and she screeched, "AUGH! MY BACK!!!" as she threw herself back into her previous position.

Staring at the scene, Lina announced, "Uh, Filia? You're draped all over Xellos."

"WHAT?!" Filia exclaimed, launching to her feet, enduring the lower back pain by sheer force of will. Turning around, she stared bug-eyed at her audience, blushing in mortification. "It's most definitely not what it looks like!"

A large, unexpected grin blossomed on Lina's face. "It looks like you're holding his hand to me," she teased.

Filia's head shot to the side to see that, indeed, her hand was tightly intertwined with that of Xellos'.

And, of course, Xellos' grip tightened ever more as Filia's embarassment escalated.

Face turning a fierce red, Filia pulled, tugged, shook, and even attempted to pry her hand free before she finally lost her temper and screamed, "AUGH! LET ME GO, YOU CLINGY, SICKLY, LEECH-LIKE CREATURE!!!" Gravos, Jillas, and Lina cound only sweatdrop as Filia used a tad too much force, accidently dragging Xellos straight out of bed and onto the floor-- right where Filia had fallen a moment before after losing her balance.

Filia's scream of rage was muffled by Xellos' chest.

Xellos retains his personality even while he's comatose, Lina thought, then burst out laughing despite herself. Sure, Xellos was hurt badly and she was being plagued by stupid prophetic dreams, but she had this nearly overwelming feeling that everything would be alright in the end.

Still chuckling, Lina helped Jillas and Gravos remove Xellos from Filia's person. It was hard work, and on more then one occassion, she seriously considered severing his arms from his body, but they eventually managed to separate the two safely.

Ten minutes later, Xellos was back safe in bed and Filia had been successfully coaxed into ceasing her exhausted, frustrated, embarassed sobs.

"You didn't catch much sleep, did you, Filia," Gravos asked gently.

Filia blew her nose. "No, I didn't. In fact, I had only just started to doze off when Lina and the others arrived, and then I had to save that monster's life, and now I'm even more exhausted then before!"

Sensing another uprising of tears, Lina interupted their formation. "But you did a great job anyway, Filia! He looks a lot more solid then before, not to mention he seems to have gotten some of his strength back!" Her revenge for the sleep spell would have to be postponed, it seemed.

"I...I guess..." Filia whispered, mixed emotions rising up from within.

"If I'm not mistaken," Lina continued, "he should be able to recover on his own now!"

"Yes, his immune system had been disabled by that dagger. It should be working properly now," Filia informed her. "But he still hasn't regained consciousness--that must mean that he's putting all his mental energy into recovering. I don't think he's completely out of the woods yet."

======================

Back in Jillas' room, Amelia slowly stirred awake. She yawned, stretched, then rolled to her side, coming face-to-face with a dozing Zelgadis.

Surprised, she nearly fell off the other side of the bed. But then she noticed that he wasn't actually in the bed with her, just kneeling beside it and resting his head on the mattress.

"Oh, Mr. Zelgadis..." she sighed, and couldn't decide if she was relieved or disappointed. Then she blushed over the thought of being disappointed.

Shaking such thoughts from her head, Amelia crawled out of bed and stretched out her sore muscles. She was still tired, but at least she had gotten some sleep on the road. Zelgadis on the other hand hadn't received the luxury and must have been completely exhausted.

Without a second thought, Amelia concentrated her magic into her hands, and, with a grunt, managed to push Zelgadis up and onto the matress.

After a trying battle a harrowing journey, a comfortable bed to rest on is exactly what justice demands! Amelia though in satisfaction.

Silently tip-toeing across the floor and carefully exiting the room, sure to close the door behind her, Amelia wondered where she was--Lina hadn't told her anything about their destination.

Then her stomach rumbled and she caught a wiff of her soiled clothes. Amelia wondered if there was food and/or a bath nearby.

A small distance down the hallway, a door opened and a yawning Gourry exited.

"Good morning, Mr. Gourry," Amelia greeted.

"Oh, hi, Amelia," Gourry answered, smiling. "It's sometime after noon, though--we just got here this morning!"

"Well, good afternoon then!" Amelia corrected herself, then asked, "Where exactly are we, Mr. Gourry?"

"We're at, uh..." he rubbed his forehead and frowned in concentration. "Fr... fo... fil... filly... FILIA!" he exclaimed in victory. "We're at FILIA'S house!" he announced, proud of himself.

Why does everyone have such weird, hard-to-remember names? Gourry asked the world.

Amelia's stomach growled again. "You wouldn't know where the kitchen is, would you, Mr. Gourry?" she asked, sheepishly.

"Of course!" Gourry replied, leading her down the stairs. "That's the first thing I look for in a house! How else am I supposed to beat Lina to the food?"

Amelia giggled and followed his lead without question.

They located the kitchen without trouble and, when they stepped inside, a little piece of paradise was there to greet them.

Piled upon the countertop was a seemingly endless supply of delicious looking food, and bag upon bag of groceries awaited them patiently on the floor, begging to be ingested by the famished travelers.

"Is this...heaven?" Gourry asked, in awe.

Amelia wasn't able to answer, as she was currently shoveling handful after handful of food into her mouth, but she would have probably said something along the lines of, "I'm not sure, but if it is, then heaven is full of the burning righteousness of true justice!"

====================

Zelas Metallium labourously commanded her feet to continue on, feeling the weakened, yet distinct, presense of her son less then a mile away. Each step stole from her hasrily stored energy, and it became harder and harder still to concentrate on placing one foot in front of the other.

She wished she had the strength to teleport, begged for it, but the last time had nearly destroyed her--a second attempt would undoubtably end her life.

Zelas could sense fear, desperation, pain, and other such dark emotions flowing from Xellos. It disgusted her to the extreme, but feeding from his anguish was the only thing that allowed her to continue on.

I'm not going to leave this world without repaying everything he has done for me, she thought in determination, taking another step.

=====================

Lina, Gravos, and Jillas were surprised when Filia suddenly stood straight up, tail popping out from beneath her dress.

"Filia?" Lina asked as the dragon wrapped her arms about herself and shuddered.

"I...I..." Filia swallowed. "I can sense evil--I mean, I feel the presense of a monster headed this way!"

"WHAT?!" screeched Lina, but she rushed out of the room before Filia could elaborate.

Author's Notes:

1. Again, I would like to apologize for the lateness of this post--I told Riven that it would be up last week before or during the weekend. (It's ironic how my computer would decide to act up just when I'm in the middle of tying this up. _.

3. Initially, I pondered who should arrive at Filia's first, Zelas or the so-called 'mystery character' (heh, I think everyone except my sis has it figured out :P). But when I considered what they were going to do when they got there, I found that my descision had already been made for me! n_n Funny how that works out, eh? Unfortunatly, the 'mystery character' won't arrive for a few more chapters (2 at most), but I'll be sure to create a whole bunch of neat little plot twists to keep everyone's minds off it, okay? n_n