Disclaimers and Useless/Useful Stuff To Know:

Don't own Slayers. Never will. Wish I did. And congrats to Lauren-sama, who figured out the Sylphiel-Zangulus thing by chapter six. Didn't wanna say anything until now. Hope ye understand.

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Slayers SILENCE
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Episode Eleven:
"The Heat Is On! We'll Fight 'Til We Drop!"

"But what about the frog?" Gourry was way too curious.

Lina fumed a little. "You remember that, and yet you forget who tried to kill you in the past few years! You can't even recall who we're after, either!"

"Sorry... and who are we after? Ouch! My arm!" Gourry said.

"Never mind! You won't remember an hour later anyway," Lina grumped.

The group woke up early that morning to get a head start toward Atlas City. While it was a relatively calm journey, Gourry's interest in what Zangulus had done to Lina when they were children didn't wear down in the slightest. Xellos wasn't helping Lina any by wanting to know as well.

"And... what about the frog?" Gourry asked again.

Lina growled. "Enough about the frog!!"

"Did he make you eat it?" Gourry wondered, then looked shocked. "Oh my gosh, that's it! That's why you're afraid of frog puppets!"

"No, Gourry. That's you," Lina flatly reminded the swordsman.

"Riiiiight; what did I mean...?" Gourry blinked in confusion.

"I don't have a clue what you mean; you confuse me sometimes, too," Lina pointed out.

Xellos bounced up behind the two for a moment, "I do believe Gourry was saying that--"

On instinct, Lina punted Xellos. The mazoku cried out in pleasure as he went flying for about three hundred or so miles. However, he just appeared again, this time to continue following Vrumugun, keeping onto his task.

Thinking about the entire situation, Lina frowned a little. Of all the stupid... she and Zangulus were so tied up on seeing to their family members that they never got an amplifier for Sylphiel at Zefilia! Still, with a spell like the Phoenix Flare, Lina doubted an amplifier for that would come cheap and they needed that spell to help Vrumugun in the first place and probably Zelgadis.

We'll think of something, Lina assured herself.

"The final battle," Amelia murmured, a little awed.

"Shouldn't be too difficult. Compared to Dark Star and all the others, Halcyform should be nothing," Lina said simply, waving her hand as if to shoo away any kind of fears.

Vrumugun eyed her warily, his eyebrow twitching irritably at the statement. He said nothing, continuing to walk.

Lina frowned. "What? Do you know something that you're keeping from us... AGAIN?"

"No, but I would advise not to underestimate him," the mage replied quietly. "Throwing a Dragon Slave will not solve the problem. He is within a building, and that itself is old and will quite possibly collapse at something that powerful. Besides, it will be close to Atlas City and you would probably destroy a part of it if you did cast the spell anyway."

The Bandit Killer glowered a little at that information. "Great. Still, with all of us here and no Seigram or anything to help him, Halcyform won't be as powerful as last time. We have no idea what brought him back, but it doesn't matter. We'll still kick some butt!"

"Yeah!" Amelia pumped her fist in the air. "Justice will triumph!"

Lina nodded a few times. "The good guys always win!"

"Who's a good guy?" Zangulus muttered a remark.

Lina eyed him. "Don't you start, he-who-scares-girls!"

"Like I'm any worse than a Dragon Spooker," Zangulus grumbled.

"Dragon Spooker?! How about Men-With-Funny-Hats Spooker, eh??" Lina snapped, glaring at him with a very threatening gleam in her eyes.

"You leave the hat out of this!"

"I'll torch it!"

Sylphiel smiled nervously. "Ms. Lina... Zangulus..."

"I suppose Martina rubbed off of him a bit," Zelgadis mused quietly to himself, noting how the former princess had such a horrible relationship with Lina.

"It's not my fault if she has a stick shoved up her--" Zangulus began.

"Shoved up where?! HUH?? HUH?!?" Lina snarled, getting on her toes to yell at the much taller man.

"Ms. Lina! Mr. Zangulus!" Amelia interrupted, crossing her arms. "We need to get along and stay focused on what's coming!"

"Yeah; calm down a little," Gourry waved his hands nervously.

Both Lina and Zangulus were far more prepared to argue the point, but Vrumugun glared at them both. It was frightening, actually. He almost looked angry instead of his typical emotionless state.

"I am aware that you two have had issues between each other in your childhoods, but I simply do not care. Continue arguing if you wish. I am going to hopefully end all this, and I will not hesitate to leave any of you behind," Vrumugun told them simply.

"She started it," Zangulus accused.

"No, you!" Lina shot back.

"I don't care!" Vrumugun snapped.

There was a period of silence around the group from the outburst, which was also quite possibly formed from Vrumugun's total concentration on Halcyform than just the small delay of the argument formed.

Xellos was amused not only because Vrumugun actually got angry enough to shout, but also: "You used a contraction!" the mazoku pointed out, slapping his cheeks in shock.

Vrumugun, flushing a little at his own frustration, nodded. "So I did. And I honestly do not care." He turned around and continued on his way.

Quietly, the others followed.


Snow could be miserable if there was a storm, especially when one has to shovel it.

What's worse is rain in winter.

"Argh!" Lina yelled in the downpour. "Are we there yet?! Atlas City is right over there!"

"Can't we eat?" Gourry wondered, the rain not concerning him much for some reason.

"I'd rather not stop," Zelgadis told the two. "I'm certainly not the only one who wants to put a stop to this, and I'll do whatever it takes to do it as fast as I can. I owe Zolf and Rodimus that much."

Lina frowned a little. "Look, I know all that..."

"We are there," Vrumugun announced.

When Lina turned to look, she blinked a little. Definitely not a place she'd call homey.

It was apparently a former temple of sorts, the bricks all blackened and old. Windows were broken and looked ready to completely fall apart from just a touch of a finger. Within the old structure itself was the sound of water running, giving the implication that there would be puddles to slosh along in, which almost made Lina groan in annoyance. What caught her off was the echoing wails of several people within the aged building.

"Creepy," Gourry noted softly.

Lina nodded in agreement. "Definitely. How old is this place, anyway?"

Vrumugun thought for a moment before responding. "Younger than I am."

"That doesn't help, but I guess it's not really important. You know this place?" Lina asked.

"Not exactly, but I definitely know where Halcyform will be," Vrumugun answered, stepping inside.

Xellos smiled at the others. "And be careful where you step," he told them before following.

The rest of the party went after the two, not sure what to make of that.

Nothing seemed all that interesting for awhile as they went down the old hallways, a few mutters from Lina when she stepped into an ankle-deep puddle, and everyone attempting to ignore the echoing screams.

Or try to enjoy the "music" in Xellos's case. "Hey, catchy! C'mon, everyone, sing along! AIIIIEEEEEEE! AGGGGGGGGHHHHH! OOOIIIIIEEEEEE!!"

Upon going down some dark stair cases, Lina drew up a lighting spell and took in a moment to observe the area.

The cracked walls and floors revealed some kind of vines... maybe not even that. They were colored blue for the most part, giving a sickening wiggle as the beating of a heart was heard now going along with the choir of shrieks. "Vines" wasn't the right word to describe them...

"Veins," Lina croaked out, trying to evade stepping on any of them protruding from the floor.

Amelia let out a shiver. "It's so... scary..."

"Something is living here?" Zelgadis wondered with narrowed eyes at the walls.

"Someone," Vrumugun corrected.

The chimera wasn't satisfied with that answer. "That being who?"

"I think I have a good idea," Zangulus said, drawing up a dark look on his face, his protection for Sylphiel growing more apparent as he walked closer to his sister.

Zelgadis raised a rocky brow. "Oh?"

Before an elaboration could be given, the hallway shook and started to come apart. The group immediately began to run down, trying to keep themselves from getting caught within the rubble. Idly, getting caught up in her thousands of thoughts, Lina wondered how Vrumugun could run in sandals.

The next room wasn't anymore pleasant than the hallway as they arrived.

The screams and moans were louder because this was the room where they originated, as did the loud beating of what was then confirmed to be several hearts at once, some skipping beats. It was a large room, and for a good reason.

Like a tower, a twisted mound of flesh reached almost to the top of the ceiling. Several stretched and deformed faces seemed to try to tear away from where they were stuck, all mouths wailing at different times, a few gasping from crying out for who-knew-how-long. Veins pumped and pulsed visibly on the mountain. The mound almost seemed to be melting at the same time as flesh dribbled down the sides of the creation.

The bottom of the monstrosity was almost like a pool of beings melded together, hands and arms reaching out as if pleading to be pulled away from where they were trapped. Twisting around that were rocks formed as a boundary for it all, as if to be sure that it would remain there for eternity.

On the top of it all was Halcyform just as Lina and the others remembered, only his legs were bounded by the tower. He didn't seem to be at all concerned of that, though.

He twitched an unnerving smile at them all. "I bid you all welcome," he greeted, as if everything below him were nothing.

A few of the party members had sickly expressions at the sight of it all.

Vrumugun didn't falter at the disgusting image, however. Instead, he eyed up hatefully at Halcyform. "One hundred and twenty-seven years, four months, and nine days," he announced, his tone sounding like needles ready to pierce skin.

"Keeping count, I see," Halcyform mused. "Still so tied up on it..."

Zangulus slowly took out the Howling Sword, frowning. "What the hell is all this?" he demanded.

"What I've become, and some those who have been included unsuccessfully in my experiments, and yet they'll help me whether they want to or not," Halcyform was more than willing to reply.

Xellos smiled slowly. If only he had pictures to show his Mistress later. "This would be an ideal mazoku vacation spot," he murmured to himself. Too bad it'd be all gone after Halcyform would no doubt be destroyed.

Sylphiel shook a little, filled with fear, anger, sympathy... too many emotions at once. She stared at Halcyform. "I'll never forgive you," she whispered, trying to block out the painful moans from the mound.

"This is horrible," Lina said with a growl. She felt sorry for Halcyform because he was trying so hard to resurrect Rubia, but now it was just unforgivable to do this.

Amelia was the first to make a move. "Elmekia Flame!"

"Disfang!" Zelgadis went after, sending the dragon-shaped shadow at the construction of flesh.

The mound twitched, and the screams only became louder by the attacks. Some blood streamed down the sides of the creation, but otherwise Halcyform wasn't even affected.

"I'm sorry, but you're going to have to take me much more seriously than that," Halcyform said rather politely with a wry grin.

"Blam Blazer!" Lina commanded, sending the blue blast of astral energy next. "Sylphiel, go for a white magic spell!"

Sylphiel nodded, her rod appearing into her hand. She closed her eyes, chanting a Resurrection spell quietly. Zangulus ran to stand in front of her, throwing a Howling Blast to try to cut the tower of flesh in half. He managed to injure it, but came no further than that.

Gourry started to go for running in and giving his sword a try, but Zelgadis caught him off guard. "Hold on a second," the chimera told him, holding out his hands. "Astral Vine!"

The blond swordsman blinked rapidly at his now glowing red sword. "The enchantment won't last forever!" Zelgadis told him.

Gourry nodded and ran in, jumping off of the rock boundary and going for a slash, but an arm from the pool below caught him. With a yelp of surprise, Gourry was pulled down into the depths.

"Gourry!!" Lina called to him. Without much thought, she ran up to the rock boundary and blind fury led her trying to cast a Mega Brand. However, her leg was caught by a few hands. Her eyes widened, cutting her concentration and getting a pure look of horror before she was pulled in after her partner.

"Ms. Lina!! Mr. Gourry!" Amelia cried after her friends.

Zelgadis cursed as well, and the event caused Sylphiel to break her concentration on casting the white magic spell. Zangulus didn't appear to flinch, but his gut did twist on him. What the hell? Were they... dead?

It didn't register. Lina Inverse did not die, and Gourry was just as hard to kill...

The room suddenly became very, very cold.

The entire tower was beginning to frost over, mist forming around it. Halcyform had his eyes settled on Vrumugun angrily. A thin layer of ice was beginning to form...

And it shattered off.

"What happened?" Amelia asked quietly, glancing nervously to Vrumugun.

The mage narrowed his eyes a little. "Being dead like I am, Halcyform has an ability. He contains... that." He pointed at the ugly disaster that was created. "And he has my abilities as well, so he is able to cut off my control of his temperature."

"He's making his move!" Zelgadis noted, getting ready for a defensive move.

Halcyform held up his hands, and just grinned. The moment he smiled, the floor had burst suddenly, covering the entire party in the mess of the flesh pool.

That was easy.

Xellos reappeared, floating in the air and rubbing the back of his head. "My oh my... I never thought I'd actually have to do something." He shrugged and flew down, shoving his hands into the pool and searching for a moment before he grabbed a couple of arms, then pulled. Coming out was Vrumugun, who didn't look grateful as he coughed for air.

The Mysterious Priest didn't appear to be done. He searched the pool again, then pulled out an unconscious Sylphiel. He raised a brow. "Odd that; Ms. Sylphiel isn't usually quite this fragile," he commented.

"It is him," Vrumugun explained, eyeing at Halcyform as he wiped away pieces of flesh from his face. "He has brought out something that will be fairly difficult for them to face. Either their deepest fears or he has created a new one for them to handle."

Xellos smiled. "And you're not affected? Very admirable."

"I have far more control over my fears than most," Vrumugun reminded. "I cannot vouch for the others."


Not again. Not this again, Lina thought, feeling panic go through her body. I don't need this again!

It was the battlefield, grayed and darkened with ash everywhere. Amelia was down, Zelgadis was out, and Gourry couldn't fight. It was up to her against Ruby-Eyed Shabranigdo. Up to her.

Alone.

Don't do it! Lina's thoughts screamed at herself, but she held up the Sword of Light to cast the spell anyway.

"Darkness beyond the blackest pitch, deeper than the deepest night..."

STOP! Don't do it! They'll die! I'll die! Gourry will die!

"Lord of Darkness, who shines like gold upon the Sea of Chaos, I call upon thee! Swear myself to thee!"

No!! GOURRY! WILL! DIE!

"Let the fools who stand to face us be destroyed by the power you and I possess!"

The darkness swarmed around her, but she was ready to throw it. So she did.

"GIGA..."

NO!!!

"...SLAVE!!"

And so, they died.

And the vision repeated...

...And repeated...

...repeated...

...


What was he doing? What was going on?

Zangulus blinked a little, trying to figure it out. This was the bedroom back at Xoana. What was he doing here? He was supposed to be--

Moving his fingers, he found them a little warmer than usual and... sticky...

Looking down, his eyes widened and he pulled a knife away. His fingers, the knife, the front of his shirt and his face... were covered with blood. He saw the victim.

The victim was Martina.

No. No, no, no... I didn't... I...

Zangulus dropped the knife, looking from his hands to Martina's body. Her eyes were stuck wide open, mouth hanging open in shock from betrayal, because once a killer always a killer.

You thing. You're nothing but a thing...

Zangulus started to laugh hysterically. "I didn't... I did... I killed her..."

Things don't regret anything. Things don't feel anything. It was so easy to do, wasn't it?

Wasn't it?


Amelia sat in her throne, a smile frozen on her face. No one could say she was sad. She was smiling, being the perfect little queen Seyruun needed.

Her father died a few weeks ago, and with Uncle Christopher having removed himself next in place for the throne, Amelia was immediately put to the task of ruling. So she learned to swallow her sorrow and deal with the kingdom.

Amelia was very depressed for her father's death, yes, and then all she had left was Uncle Christopher. Still, even then, it wasn't enough. Just one left. One left. One family member left...

And she found it justified to kill the villain in the slowest and most painful way possible.

Justice. Truth. Love.

Where on Earth did that get her? Losing all but one member of her entire family.

With a toothy smile, a tear went down Queen Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun's face.


Lina doesn't die. Lina never dies.

Lina died.

It didn't click.

Gourry sat in front of Lina Inverse's grave, staring. She died. No; that wasn't right. Lina never died. Lina just wasn't Lina if she died, right? Then where did she go?

If she was gone, what would Gourry do?

I was supposed to protect her for the rest of my life...

She was dead.

But... it wasn't logical. The one bit of logic in the world was that Lina did not die. And yet she did.

Now what...?


Zelgadis thought he was over blaming all his problems on Rezo a few years ago. But now he had a damn good reason to hate that Red Priest.

It's amazing how fast time will fly, especially when you didn't have a calendar. Zelgadis didn't even realize how long time had past when he was seeking his cure.

One day, he finally found it. He finally got his cure.

He'd celebrate it with his friends.

What Zelgadis didn't realize is that seventy years had passed, and he hadn't aged a bit. The curse that was given to him also included immortality.

So all his friends had already passed away due to their old age.

What good was a cure if no one he loved was there to also appreciate it?

I got my cure... but what the hell will that do me now? I never even got to tell any of them that I loved them all...

Zelgadis screamed in outrage.


Sylphiel was not amused in the least.

Gourry and Lina. Lina and Gourry. They were together.

So what?

The priestess was fine with that. After all, Gourry needed to have a happy life. She cared for him deeply, thus she was happy for his happiness. She also cared for Lina, who was practically her closest girl friend, so of course she needed to be happy as well!

"And I'm happy as well," Sylphiel told herself, frowning.

Another version of herself appeared, wearing far older clothes. Normal villager clothes. The doppleganger frowned. "Are you?"

"Of course I am," Sylphiel replied simply. "I love Gourry, but if he wants to be with Ms. Lina, then I'm fine with that. I fear being alone, but I'm not alone."

"Is that so?" the shadow asked.

Sylphiel nodded. "Because I also love my brother. I have Zangulus, and that's all I want right now. This is fake. This..." She gestured. "This is nothing. If it happens, I'll be happy for them both and support them all the way for it."

The reality broke.

Sylphiel found herself held up slightly by cold hands. Looking up, she blinked rapidly. "Mr. Vrumugun...?"

Xellos had formed a shield around them, Halcyform's attacks being blocked off. He beamed a little. "Oh! Good! You're awake, Ms. Sylphiel."

"Incredible." Vrumugun was slightly impressed. "You came over yourself."

Sylphiel got up with the mage's help. "What happened?" she asked, looking around. Seeing her brother's lying form, she ran immediately to his side. "What--"

"Halcyform has them trapped in an illusion spell of sorts. It will be difficult for any of them to break out of," Vrumugun explained briefly. "I am not sure if they are capable of overcoming it."

Sylphiel looked up at him, holding her brother's hand. "I'm sure if we can, they should be able to."


"GIGA SLAVE!"

This is kind of... getting...

Boring.

A Lina in a waitress's outfit appeared before the original, arms crossed. "Oh? You're bored of seeing everyone die because of your stupid mistake?"

Lina rolled her eyes. "You," she said, pointing at her reflection, "are such an idiot. Moron. Bait for brains!" She gestured to the fake reality. "As if you didn't know, the Giga Slave is no longer exactly able to be cast. Yes... this is a freaky thing." She shivered. "But it's no more real than you are. So get out of here! Get goin'! Shoo!" She waved her fingers at her shadow.

"You don't know if it was sealed," the waitress argued. "Besides, you're afraid of this. It might happen."

"Yeah, so what? I definitely don't put confidence into the Giga Slave, unless I'm REALLY out of options. For starters, this is just a copy from the vision I got when I first met Auntie Aqua. HELLO?! We don't have the Sword of Light anymore! This is unoriginal. It took me about five times of this thing repeating to finally understand what it really is. So get outta my face!"

The entire vision went with the reflection of Lina.


Thing, thing, thing...

Don't have a name...

Zangulus was sitting in a chair, eyeing at his kill. Hasn't this happened before?

I got over it that time because...

Because...

"Sylphiel," he reminded himself. "...Sylphiel. Where is she?" He stood up. "Of course... After this whole thing was going to blow over, I was going to bring Sylphiel with me back to Xoana. This wouldn't have happened otherwise."

"Is that so?" a version of himself in priestly garb, much like Eruk, Zangulus recalled. "You'd probably just kill her, too."

"After all that? And you think Vrumugun would let me get away with it?" Zangulus laughed at that. "You probably only realize one thing: that Martina and I are married. I swore off being a bounty hunter and like hell I'd go back to it. I have Sylphiel with me now."

"What makes you think you'll be at ease?"

"I'm not at ease. I don't trust myself half the time, but Sylphiel wants me right now, so I'll do that. She's my sister, and I'm not just going to leave her in the dark!" Zangulus snapped.


"Good to see you awake, Ms. Lina!" Xellos greeted cheerfully as he blocked off attacks of doom.

"I'm glad to be awake," she groaned. "And alive. Gods, was that terrible..."

"Big brother!" Sylphiel wailed out, hugging Zangulus as he woke up.

Zangulus, dazed, hugged her back. "I won't even ask what that was about..." He eyed the remaining three party members. "Why aren't they awake yet?"

"Spell," Lina said immediately. "You were under it pretty long, too, right?"

"You mean that weird dream was a spell?" Zangulus rubbed his head. "Damn creepy one..."

Lina nodded, agreeing whole heartedly. She turned to Xellos. "Bring down the shield. We'll have to fight with the numbers we have right now."

The mazoku saluted. "Yes'm!"

"Blam Gush!" Lina commanded, sending the wind attack at Halcyform.

"Vice Freeze!" Vrumugun called after.

Both attacks were hit and blocked off by a wall of flesh forming in front of the tower. The hollow screams slowly started to get louder, the heartbeats quickening...

"You claim that you have control over your fears," Halcyform spoke to Vrumugun. "I'd like to see if you're right."

A blob dripped from the ceiling cracks, starting to form in front of the party members.

"You see, I've been down here a fairly long time," Halcyform began. "Before I even met the lovely Lina Inverse, I had formulated a spell that would automatically bring me back to life if I had died from Garnia, with which I had infected myself. My confidence in Seigram's immortality pledge was limited, and I didn't want to risk not being able to bring back Rubia." His lips twitched at her name. "I died with the disease. While I felt my pledge with Seigram could possibly be fallible, it did manage to keep me from becoming ill with Garnia, despite the fact that it was still within my body.

"During my time down here, I grew rather bored. I do so love puzzles, so I gathered my favorite puzzle pieces and put them together. I've kept them for a full one hundred and twenty-seven years..."

The blob formed into someone rather familiar for Vrumugun.

Halcyform drew up a grin. "They thawed rather nicely."

The wails from the flesh mound was nothing compared to Vrumugun's sudden scream of outrage. It completely shocked the rest of the group, even causing Xellos to crack open an eye to look at the usually emotionless mage.

Having formed before them was exactly the way Vrumugun remembered Samantha Flagoon to be. The difference was that the places where she was shattered had been sewn together like a poorly fixed doll by the hands of a five-year-old. Frozen on her face was an empty smile, her eyes looking into nothingness.

The floor around Vrumugun became ice, causing Lina, Sylphiel, and Zangulus to back off from him. He yelled out again. They had never seen him so furious.

Tearing out of the floor was ice, coming from three different ways at Halcyform, twisting around the mass of melded faces.

"I will KILL you!!" Vrumugun hissed.

Halcyform just laughed at that, breaking his arm free from the ice twisting around it. He held up a hand, and a blast from a piece of the flesh pool was thrown at the mage.

Zangulus cursed and ran after his friend, grabbing and tearing away the flesh. It took him a few seconds to realize that the glob was acidic, eating away at his gloves. "Shit!" he growled, grabbing and throwing away pieces. "Vrumugun!" The Xoana king reached his left hand, the acidic flesh reaching up to his elbow and immediately eating away as his shirt, already starting at his arm. He flinched, but grabbed his best friend's hand and pulled him out of the mess.

Xellos frowned a little. He slipped up. He should have been able to block that one. He isn't dead; haven't failed yet. Thank goodness for Zangy, no?

The Trickster Priest appeared in front of Zangulus and Vrumugun, forming up another shield to block off one of Halcyform's attacks.

Sylphiel ran over to her brother and friend. She held up her hands to cast a healing spell, but Zangulus shook his head. "Vrumugun first; he's worse off," he told her. She eyed his injured arm, but quickly agreed.

Lina growled. Damn it all; this was getting pretty bad.

I can give that a shot; it shouldn't bring the whole house down, so we'll be all right, Lina thought.

"Okay..." Lina breathed in. She ran forward a little, then held up her hands.

"Lord of the Darkness and the Four Worlds, I call upon you, grant me all the power that you possess!" the sorceress commanded, her talismans glowing as they were activated before she continued. "Grant the heavens' wrath to my hand; unleash the sword of dark, freezing nothingness; by our power, our combined might, let us walk as one along the path of--"

Lina was immediately covered in the same substance Vrumugun was just a moment ago, cutting off her spell.

"Ms. Lina!" Sylphiel cried out.

Zangulus growled in outrage. This was a losing battle! He glared at Xellos. "Are you at least willing to teleport everyone out of here if you're not going to attack him?"

Xellos hmmed. "That would be doable," he agreed.

"All right. Then do it already!" Zangulus snapped at him before he ran after Lina. "Gods..." He tore away at the creation, grunting in pain as the acid ate at his hands and arms. He managed to pull Lina out, slinging her over his shoulder.

"One teleportation spell, coming up!" Xellos announced.

And so it was done.


Outside of the old temple, it was still raining. However, Xellos had brought them to an old and luckily abandoned shack. Being far enough away from Halcyform, the remaining party members woke from the spell that was cast. While they had the realization it was merely a spell, they still seemed highly disturbed.

"Lina!" was one of the first things Gourry noticed. "What happened?!"

"Halcyform," Zangulus grunted as Sylphiel tied bandages around his arms. He didn't have any gloves left over, and most of his sleeves were eaten away as well. He refused a healing spell, finding that Lina needed it hell of a lot more than he did. "When you, Amelia, and Zel were stuck under the spell."

Gourry wasn't sure what to say. He knelt by Lina, and honest to goodness seemed ready to just cry. His fear was coming true. He wasn't there to protect Lina!

"Damn it. This is getting messed up," Zangulus sighed.

Sylphiel finished bandaging, looking at her brother in concern. "Are you going to be all right?"

"Yeah; I've dealt with pain a thousand times before, and I'm better off than most of us here," he replied. "You'd better get to Lina and Gourry."

She nodded, heading toward her closest friends. The priestess put her hand on Gourry's forearm sympathetically before she began her healing spell.

Zangulus winced at his arms irritably. They were raw and felt like they were burning. Definitely not on his list of goodies.

He got up, about to head off, but Xellos slung his arm around the black haired man's neck. The mazoku hiccuped, "Whash up?! HEEEEEEEE!"

"What the hell are you doing?!" Zangulus demanded.

"He's probably drunk off of all the emotions going on here," Zelgadis told him flatly.

Xellos giggled. "How dry I am, how well I'll be..." A pause. "...am," he corrected, looking down at himself.

"Ugh!" Zangulus shoved away Xellos, disgusted. "Leave me alone!" The swordsman stormed outside, looking for Vrumugun.

"I wasn't aware you had the right anatomy for that," Zelgadis commented, still very much deadpan for the most part.

Xellos grinned. "I don't!"

"...I don't want to know how you did that," Zelgadis told him, looking away. Xellos sung to himself, skipping to another part of the shack.

"Mr... Mr. Zelgadis," Amelia spoke up shakily.

The chimera looked up to the princess. "I know. I'm pretty shook up, too."

"B-but... it was just..." Tears formed in Amelia's eyes. "It was horrible! A-and... I..."

"I know," Zelgadis replied softly. "My vision was pretty horrible, too."

Amelia sniffed a little. That didn't make her any less sad.

Zelgadis sighed. Why did he have to do this? Why him?

No. He needed to make her and himself feel better.

Zelgadis scooted himself next to Amelia, putting his arm around her shoulders, softly swaying the two of them. It was about as comfortable as a rock could get, but Amelia seemed to appreciate it. For the first time not on accident or surprise, Amelia purposely hugged Zelgadis around the waist, crying softly.


"Vrumugun. Hey," Zangulus greeted as casually as he could in the rain.

The mage was seated on a log quietly, the rain not bothering him. He wasn't capable of catching a cold at any rate, so he wasn't concerned at all sitting outside.

Zangulus was chilled and doubted that this could be good for his bandages and injuries, but couldn't really care any less. He sat himself down next to his best friend, looking to him. "Sorry about all this..."

Vrumugun shook his head. "You have no more control over it than I do," he replied softly.

"That was... I mean, that girl Halcyform brought up was...?"

Vrumugun shut his eyes and nodded.

Zangulus sulked a little. "Jeez... sorry..."

"I was over her death..." Vrumugun murmured. "I wonder why... I feel so pained..."

"Because seeing her alive like that is scary as hell," Zangulus told him. "I nearly flipped when I got my letter from my mother. I was over her dying, too, but it hurts even more when they come back. A lot more than that acid. Sylphiel can definitely tell you how it feels. It's like you're stuck in a void and your heart just drops like a rock."

"When did you become so sensitive?" Vrumugun wondered quietly.

Zangulus put his arm around his friend in sympathy. "Always was. I just try not to let it get to me. I promised Sylphiel that I'd help her end this, and I sure as hell am ready to go back and give this thing another shot. After everything that's happened, I'm not letting Halcyform live."

"We are down by numbers significantly. I am not sure if we are capable," Vrumugun noted.

Zangulus paused briefly. "We'll think of something. I have no idea what, but something will come up."


Sylphiel sighed heavily. After all the healing, she barely managed to close most of Lina's major injuries. Still, the sorceress was in no condition to jump back and go for a second round.

"Ugh..." the previously mentioned sorceress groaned. "Paiiiin..."

"Lina!" Gourry perked up. "You're awake!!"

"And aching," Lina moaned. "Gods... I can't believe that... he got the best of us..."

"Ms. Lina! You're all right!" Amelia beamed, smiling as she wiped her eyes. She and Zelgadis had come over, the chimera's arm still around the princess's shoulders in comfort. Lina would have teased, but she really didn't have the energy to.

Zangulus sneezed. "Next time, be depressed on a sunny day," he complained to Vrumugun as the two came back inside.

"Zangulus--" Sylphiel began to scold a little.

"I'll change my bandages in a minute," Zangulus assured her. He glanced to Lina. "Welcome back to the land of the living."

"Uuuuuggghhhhrrrr..." Lina thanked him.

"Lina, I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you. I... I don't know what to say, I--" Gourry started to say.

"Jellyfish..." Lina muttered. "Don't worry about it... we're alive and that's all... that matters, eh?"

Zangulus sat down next to his sister. "The major question is what to use on Halcyform. We've gone over that the Dragon Slave and Ra Tilt aren't gonna be able to help without killing us in the process, and you're out of commission at this point anyway, Lina."

Lina smiled weakly. "Heh... well, there's one thing left... Phoenix Flare... white magic hurts him. Should work..."

"But I don't have an amplifier," Sylphiel reminded sadly.

Lina grew a tiredly annoyed expression on her face. "...If I can't move... then you can use mine... you'd better give 'em back... or else..." She winced, but grinned anyway. "You know how to use 'em, right?"

"Y-yes, but... I..." Sylphiel stammered. "It's all right?"

"Our last bet... it's this or nothin'..." Lina replied. "Take 'em..."

Sylphiel hesitantly took the talismans from Lina, slowly putting them on herself. "I-I don't know. Ms. Lina, shouldn't I finish healing you first?"

"I can do it," Amelia offered. "At least try..."

"Someone needs to stay with you, anyway," Zangulus said with a shrug.

Gourry immediately spoke up, "I'm staying with Lina."

"Jellyfish..." Lina grumbled again with appreciation.

"All right. So Amelia and Gourry are staying with Lina," Zangulus confirmed. "You guys will be all right?"

Amelia nodded. "Maybe if I can heal Ms. Lina enough, we'll try to come to help out."

"It will take a moment to do. It's my first time," Sylphiel said nervously, slightly doubting herself. "We might need the help."

"Lina would try to get up on her own two feet to come after us anyway," Zelgadis commented. "Better if she's more healed before she goes and does that."

"All right. We'll try to keep Halcyform at bay while Sylphiel casts that spell," Zangulus confirmed.

Xellos perked up, "I'm coming, too!"

Almost everyone fell over. "Wish I got over hangovers that fast," Zangulus grumbled.

Xellos grinned at him. "Mazoku don't get hangovers, Zangy."

"Screw you," Zangulus snorted. He turned to the rest of the group. "Let's end this. This has definitely gone on longer than it should have."

"You sound like a leader," Amelia pointed out, smiling a little. "I thought you didn't want to be one."

"You remember that?!" Zangulus looked at her in disbelief. "Oh, never mind. And, well, I don't enjoy it... but I kind of don't have a choice."

Amelia nodded. "It's okay. Just be careful, all right? Everyone?"

Zelgadis smiled a little at her. "I promise to come back in one piece."

As everyone started to leave for hopefully the final battle, Amelia held Zelgadis back for a moment. She squirmed a little, blushing a bit but smiled anyway. He looked at her, confused before she got on her toes and gave the chimera a kiss on the cheek.

"For good luck," Amelia murmured, a little embarrassed.

Zelgadis nodded numbly, walking out the door, his hand on his cheek.

But he wasn't frowning at all.

In fact, he almost wondered if he could get another one after the battle...


Zangulus tugged on his new bandages as he led the group inside of the broken down temple. He swore he would definitely end this.

He hated being a leader, but in this case and probably for the rest of his life as a king, he'd need to be. Just as long as he didn't make the decisions on his own. It was too much to handle, actually.

The swordsman felt his hand in a little more stinging pain as Sylphiel held it in hers, but he wasn't complaining. He gave his sister's hand a gentle squeeze in assurance. He trusted in her abilities in white magic to be able to do this.

Zangulus almost found himself wishing Lina was there to crack a few jokes, good or bad, just as long as it lightened the mood a little. Hell, he'd argue with her just to get his mind off of this whole thing. A dumb statement from Gourry would be nice, too.

It didn't fit. Gourry was too wrapped up with Lina and whatever his vision from the spell was, and neither of them were there to begin with.

Jeez, even a Justice speech sounded good right about then...

The wails of the flesh tower grew louder, showing that they had just arrived to the battlefield, where it would hopefully all end.

-=-=-

As any good hearted series, this is to be concluded in...

"Game Over?! All Things Must Come to an End!"
...where the finale takes place.

Man, what a depressing chapter. The ending better be good, eh? Oh, and if any of you, ANY of you, have questions about the entire series, you'd better e-mail 'em so I can answer them... one way or another in the DVD Extras. *grin* Whether they be questions of the SILENCE continuity or anything related, better let me know one way or another! And the Zelgadis-Amelia thing? Um... kind of built up mostly for Lauren-sama and Tasuki-niichan. So much for no romance in the series.

---
Alba Aulbath
berry@adelphia.net