Kye greets you all! Thanks to the person (who's a great deal smarter than me) who mentioned they'd all but Xel die going into the mazoku dimension. Well, we're all allowed the occasional plothole, ne? I blame it on the beef stick we got for Christmas.

Zel: That really makes no sense at all.

Me: Oh, it does if you were there.

Zel: Do I want to know?

Me: No.

Zel: Ah.

Me: BTW, I didn't make these people up. Someone else (who's a great deal more creative than me) did it. Sue me, and you *might* get a box of plants and a teddy bear. So if you really care that much, a) go ahead. b) you have no life.

Fleeting Glory

Part II

Into the Shadowlands (Almost)

Their journey was quieter than usual, and slower. Lina knew it wasn't his fault, not really; nonetheless, it irked her that so little could be accomplished in almost a full day. She muddled over what to do about it as they made their way up a steep path. Halfway to the top, she stopped dead.

"Xel?" he turned to her wearily. He looked exhausted, which, as far as Lina knew, was impossible. "Hand me your cloak, will you?" she asked. He unhooked it and let it drop into her grasp, looking at her curiously. She leaned over it with an expression of deepest concentration. A moment and a muttering later, she straightened.

"Ray Wing!" she cried. The cloak floated a genial three feet upwards. "I altered the spell to cover inanimate objects," she explained with a pleased grin. "You should be able to control it too," she added for Xelloss' benefit.

"Arigatou, Lina-chan." He let himself fall into the drifting cloak. It was rather comfortable, actually. It was no surprise that some worlds had such an obsession with flying carpets and their kith.

Gourry's eyes were wide.

"Lina, make me one," he said, enraptured. She grinned again, pleased to have her work admired.

"Some other time, okay, Gourry?" she answered. "Is it okay, Xel?"

"Wonderful, Lina-chan." And it was. The frightening part was that he appreciated the wonder of it. That was a terrifyingly un-mazoku thing to do. Lina, however, didn't see this, or if she did, she didn't understand.

"How long till we get to a weak spot?" she asked him. Xelloss had explained while they were still in the village that he would need to break through an already weak part of the boundary between dimensions if he were to send them all through.

"Not long. Maybe an hour," he answered. "And it should be right off the road. No trouble finding."

"That's good. And the sooner the better. Otherwise who knows who'll turn up."

It was very little surprise to her who did show up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The hour stretched to two, but just as everyone (even Zel) was growing impatient, Xelloss gave them the word they had been wating for.

"Here," he announced. Lina tried to see something about the path ahead of them that was different from any other part of it she'd been on that day.

"How can you tell?" He gave her his closest to scathing look.

"Because it's home." Zel was squinting, paying no mind to their conversation.

"There's someone there," he said flatly. The others looked ahead.

"Who? I don't see...ah..." Lina had spotted the figure, blond and pink-clad. She didn't appreciate it quite as much as Amelia.

"Is that Firia-san? I think it is! Firia-san! Firia-san!" The dragon looked up from her tea with sudden panic. Amelia waved joyously. Firia stood very quickly, turned away, and began to hum loudly.

"Does she really think...?" Lina rested her head hopelessly in one hand. Zel patted her shoulder.

"There are times when you must accept that some people are smart, and some people are not. The fact that most of our companions are the latter is a sad twist of fate, but there isn't really anything you can do about it." She looked at him oddly.

"Zel, please don't say things like that. Until about three seconds ago I had hope that they might someday develop brain cells."

"Sorry." While they had been talking, Amelia and Gourry had made their way over to where Filia was standing, and were now attempting to communicate with her. This was made difficult by the fact that she would spin away and hum as soon as they reached her front. Lina watched them with resignation.

"You know, though, you're probably right."

"I'm afraid so."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was decided that, all things considering, the company would be better off staying a night before making the jump. Despite his flying cloak, Xelloss was a worn-out Mazoku, and the others didn't particularly want to face a new dimension without the strength of a good night's sleep on their side.

There was soon a healthy campfire, with requisite dinner, around which they sat. Firia had regained some of her composure, enough anyway to sit with them. When a certain namagomi was asleep, she faced the others sternly.

"What are you doing with that creature?" she demanded.

"Firia, the guy isn't a rabid bear. And we're only taking a short trip to his dimension, to work out the kinks, so to speak. It's on the brink of destruction, you see." The gold was silent for a moment as she digested this information. Then...

"WHAT?! You're helping the BAD guys?! What are you thinking? They're evil! They're heartless! They're icky! And they should die!" Lina regarded her with growing irony.

"You want us to allow an entire world to die 'cause they're 'icky'?"

"YES!"

"Well, I would, naturally, but there's a little problem. The only thing keeping their 'plague' in check is our dear pal Beastmaster, and that's only because we can help."

"You mean," asked Firia slowly, "This world could be destroyed as well?"

"Exactly. Which is why we're going."

"Even if the Mazoku don't deserve it? Even though it isn't just to help them?" Amelia twitched.

"Can't the ends justify the means sometimes?" Lina returned, watching Amelia out of the corner of her eye.

"And it wouldn't be very just letting them die, would it? Not when we could help. Right? Or letting our world die. That wouldn't be just, would it?" This was one of those times that Zel got the impression that Gourry was not as stupid as he acted.

"I can't believe you!" Firia cried. "You're all fools! You can go ahead and do as you like, but don't expect any help from me!"

"We didn't," Lina replied drily. "We had no idea you'd be here." Firia responded by furiously sipping her tea. "Well, I'm getting some sleep," Lina continued. "You all can do what you want, but I plan to have rested when I switch dimensions." She sauntered away from the fire with a yawn and a stretch. She was just about to fall asleep when Amelia appeared by her side.

"I think I'll hold you back if I go," she said, surprising Lina with her forthrightness.

"I thought you'd say..well, not that, but I knew you wouldn't come. I think you would hate it there, that it would be too full of evil and every step you took would hurt. I think you're brave to come out and say so, too." Amelia nodded with a small smile.

"Thanks, Lina-san. I'll be waiting for you all to come back. And if you don't..." she grinned and walked away, leaving Lina to dream of the consequences.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The sorceress was amazed when she woke to find the fire dead and the sun high.

"It's nearly midmorning!" she cried. "How could I sleep so late?" It seemed she wasn't the only one. Amelia and Firia were on one side of the fire, snoring ungracefully. Gourry was leaned against a rock muttering something about pickles, and Zel was as still as...hm...as a stone. She took a quick peek at Xelloss. He lay just as he had the night before, not seeming to have moved at all. For some reason, this made Lina nervous. She stumbled to her feet, tripping her way over to the sleeping trickster priest. She knelt next to him, biting her lip.

"Xelloss," she whispered, softly at first, and then louder. "Xel!" She nudged his shoulder, and he shook her hand away, rolling into a half- moon. She frowned, and shook him again, not quite roughly. One dark eye slid open, looking confused. She'd never seen those eyes confused before. Maybe it was because only one was open; it wondered why the other didn't join it.

Xelloss sat up fuzzily.

"Lina-chan?" He looked at her, and then at the bright sky. His face darkened. "How long?"

"About...lessee. Eleven hours?"

"No."

"No?" She repeated quizzically. Xelloss' expression pleaded her to tell him that she was wrong. Pleading was something else he'd never do. It was too human.

"Mazoku don't need sleep often. When we do, it isn't for eleven hours straight! You must be wrong. You have to be wrong." Lina regarded the panicking mazoku, if he was that, gravely.

"Xel, we have to get you home. I don't know how it's doing this to you, but it's doing well." She took his hand and pulled him up. He was so much smaller than Gourry! Had she tried to pull her 'protector' upright, she herself would most likely have fallen over.

"Let me get the others," she said. "Then we're out of here."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ready?" she asked them. Gourry and Zel nodded. On que, Xelloss ripped a hole in the world.

"Go!" he shouted at the gaping humans, holding the tear open with all his might. Zelgadis pushed Gourry in, following quickly.

"You better show up!" called Lina over the wind of the tear. Then she, too, jumped in. Xelloss let the breach go, and it fell back into place. He preferred using his usual method to transport himself. He dissappeared.

____________________________________________________________

Author's Notes: Yatta! I finally finished! See, I had this whole chapter done, but I... *ahemcoughsnort*lostthedisk *hackwheezeeh*. SO. I am vey proud. *sniff* PLEASE R&R (!!!) and thank you for your impatience. ^^