Slayers: To the End...
By Hotaru Kimiko Lai
Disclaimer...
Um.... uh... I have a witty disclaimer somewhere here. Um... but right now, I can't find it, so you'll get stuck with the boring one for now, 'K? Here goes: I don't own Slayers. There, that's it.... Oh look!! The first star out!!! Time to make a wish!! Starlight, Star bright, First star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, get the wish I wish tonight... (Dreams are very, very nice. Don't you think so?)
Warning...
To any reader from before... I have revised the plot a bit, you might want to check out chapter 1 before you go one. Remember,... there, chapter 1 has gone through a make over!!!!
Chapter 4 (version 4.1)
Trials and Tribulations of the One chosen by Fate...
Lina looked at the house suspiciously. She had researched dark lords, and no book had ever said that they had houses like this one. It basically screamed, "I'm the most average house in this average city in this average world." It was... cutesy. It was... clean. It had a manicured front lawn with little animal lawn ornaments!!! They were all, unsurprisingly, wolfs.
"This is where Beastmaster is hiding??!" she exclaimed. Xellos quickly clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Shhhhh," he whispered to her. "Nobody but us know that, OK, Lina?"
"Fine, fine, and I'm Tirla, 'K?" said Lina as she studied the house once more. She had taken off her costume by now. "At least, until inside. Still, I never thought she'd live in a place so...so...neat and cute." Zelgadis muttered something under his breath and Lina only caught part of it. Some thing about pots and kettles calling each other names.
The house had a cute little roof with a cute little chimney that spouted cute looking puffs of smoke. She still hadn't figured out how smoke could look cute. The walls were spotless and white, not black or purple or any other color of doom. The curtains were sky blue with gold trim. And the lawn!! The grass was green and cut. And everywhere, there were clusters of grape vines. And not just any grape vines, but.... Sephyrian grapes!!! The grapes were huge and a crimson purple color. The stems were a pale olive green. All of them, characteristics of the famous Sephyrian pearls/grapes.
"May I ask why in the world, the lawn is choked with grapes from Sephyria?" she asked.
"Why Tirla, I thought you knew that Zelas loves Zephyrian wine. It's the best, after all. So she grows her own grapes and every wine making season, hires wine makers from Zephyria to come here and make her wine. The whole basement and area underneath the house is full of casks of Sephyrian wine!"
"O.K." said Lina slowly. "This is too weird!"
"No kidding," said Zelgadis as he too, marveled at the spotlessness of the house. He had seen few cottages so clean. First, there was Lina's. Now there was Lord Beastmaster's. Next would be Xellos or Phibrizzio's... He shuddered. He was sure the end of the world was coming. Next thing you knew, Xellos and Lina would be a couple or something like that. He peeked at Xellos and saw that he was staring at Lina with an unreadable expression in his eyes. Great, the end of the world was coming, he knew it. He knew it. And he was getting the beginnings of a headache.
"So, let's go in." said Xellos with a smile. Zelgadis gritted his teeth. Something about that smile always made his blood boil. He still hadn't figured out why. Stupid Mazoku... Lina gulped and then nodded. It was then that Xellos realized that Lina was... scared, terrified, nervous, and many other things like that. He put his hand on her shoulder.
"Ne, Lina," he whispered into her ear. "It's alright. I'm sure Zelas won't bite." Lina was too scared to Fireball him for touching her like that. She just gulped again and nodded. Xellos debated with himself for a few seconds. Perhaps Lina was too preoccupied to notice. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly as he led the way to the door while Zelgadis followed them. Xellos was surprised when Lina squeezed his hand back. His heart soared and his smile became wider, not that anyone was watching. He finally reached the door. Lina had slowed her steps down. She was getting nervous again. Xellos smiled reassuringly at her and opened the door.
*****
Zelas smiled to herself as she felt the three enter the house. Hopefully, her dear brother was handling Madabar's group. Madabar still didn't know about him. It would be interesting to watch her expression when she found out that she had a spy in her group. After so many years of planning and finding all the original scrolls she could, she finally had her trap set up. Xerxes had been liberated from Xellos after Lina disbanded her group. Xellos was told to go on a hunt for the fake scrolls, not knowing that they were fake. Xerxes had awoken angry, and rightly so. One side effect of linking him with Xellos was that Xellos possessed about a third of Xerxes's power, since they were linked for so long. Which meant that Xellos was now stronger than before. That was both good and bad. Xellos had always been a favorite, but Xerxes had a grudge against him. Another problem she hadn't foreseen was the change in Xellos while he looked for the scrolls. He had mellowed out somewhat. She remembered that Xellos hadn't been a complete Mazoku when she had drafted him into her army of Mazokus, but now, taking Xerxes away from him, it seemed to also have taken part of his Mazoku-ness. Well, she'd fix that some day. Now, she had more pressing troubles to see to. Like how she was going to deal with Lina and Zelgadis.
The inside of the house was quite different from the outside. For one thing, the backs of the curtains weren't blue with gold. They were black with ruby trim. The furniture was made of dark and heavy oak, giving it an air of sophistication and a sense of timelessness that prevailed in the room. The floor had a midnight black carpet, while the walls were forest green in color. There were no hangings on the wall, but there were shelves and shelves filled with many bottles. And all of these bottles were filled to the brim with the finest Sephyrian wine that Zelas could get her hands on. Another shelve proudly showed of her collection of wine glasses. The tables had bowls brimming with crimson purple grapes.
"Nice place," muttered Zelgadis.
"No kidding," said Lina as she walked softly. Their footsteps were muffled as they stepped on the black carpet. It was afternoon outside, but the lighting inside was dim, due to the fact that the curtains did not allow much light in. There were quite a few lamp stands filled with candles, which Xellos lighted.
"I'll see how Zelas-sama is doing, and then I'll call you two up, OK?" Lina and Zel nodded. "And please be careful with everything. Zelas can be very... unpleasant if her things are played around with." The two nodded again and Xellos went up a set of stairs. While Xellos was up, Lina and Zelgadis started to talk quietly to each other.
"I don't quite like this Lina, if you'll pardon my saying so." said Zelgadis seriously as he eyed the room around him warily.
"I don't blame you," said Lina. "I noticed a barrier around the house, and there is a feeling of... I don't know... something like.... treachery, slyness..."
"You're right, Lina," said Zelgadis. "I didn't notice the barrier, though. Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure," said Lina with a faint grin. "I've been researching dark lords for two years now. I know more about them, now."
"So, what are you planning to do?" asked Zel. Lina smiled to him.
"I think the Mazoku think I'm weak or stupid, or perhaps that I was born yesterday."
"Oh, you mean the escape thread you wound up outside?" asked Zel.
"Shhh." said Lina with a smile. "I think Xellos was too happy to notice, or maybe he didn't quite recognize it."
"I think you had too much spare time if you worked on kids magic like escape threads and string figure barriers." said Zel with a small smile.
"Hey, I made them for the kids. They have to start out small, and escape threads are very useful, no matter how childish. Anyway, here's my plan. We'll listen to what Zelas says, and then if things get out of hand, I'll pull the escape thread."
"And if we're separated?" asked Zel.
"I made one for you also." said Lina with a twinkle in her eye.
"Thanks," said Zel. He concentrated for a while and smiled as he 'saw' it. It had been very beneficial spending time with Lina. Lina's magic was very helpful at times. "Where will we meet?"
"If worse comes to worse, meet at Amelias." said Lina quietly. Their conversation was cut short as Xellos appeared before them and led them to Zelas's room.
Before then...
"Zelas-sama," said Xellos as he entered the room. Zelas jumped a little. She hadn't felt him at all. How strange. "Lina and her friend Zelgadis are here."
"Thank you," said Zelas, trying to look tired, checking her energy level. It would be wisest to lower it slowly while she talked, so it would seem as if she were getting tired as she spoke. "Good job, Xellos. How did you find Lina?"
"Sore wa himitsu desu," said Xellos with a smile. He was feeling quite happy. Zelas silently got mad at him. He could exasperate her so badly at times...
"So, how is Lina?" she asked. "Has she read the prophecies yet?"
"Actually, I'm not sure. I know she read a bit each night, before going to sleep." said Xellos. "We rode here as fast as we could. I'm not quite sure if she's read all of them yet; the whole day was usually spent riding, Zelas-sama." Zelas nodded. She would convince Lina to stay here for the night so that she could read the prophecies and talk to her about the Chosen One. It was a fool proof plan. "Should I call them up, Zelas?"
"Sure, but first, I want to ask you a question," said Zelas. Xellos nodded and waited for her. "Lately, how have you been feeling? I detect something different from you." Xellos seemed to think the question over slowly before answering. "And remember, Xellos, don't lie to me."
"You know I don't lie," said Xellos. "I just twist the truth or withhold some facts. Anyway... I feel fine. I don't think there's anything wrong with me. What do you mean by detecting something different?" But Zelas didn't answer him. She was in her own world. *He's used to the change and won't see it as different. I was right, much more than Xerxes was taken from him. But how much?* After a while, she spoke up again.
"Xellos, bring Lina in."
"What about her friend, Zelgadis?" he asked.
"Leave him down there. What I have to say, is for the Chosen One only."
"So, you are sure Lina's the Chosen One?" asked Xellos. He wondered. Zelas nodded, and Xellos phased out.
"Hey Lina!" he said cheerfully, another grin on his innocent face.
"AAAAHHHH!" shouted Lina. Followed by, "FIREBALL!!!" to the Mazoku. The blast pushed him into a wall. Fortunately, nothing fell down or broke.
"Xellos!" said Lina after realizing who she had just fireballed.
"Yes, Lina, I missed you also," said a dazed Xellos as he got up and dusted himself off.
"You stupid, fruitcakey, smiley, crazy, and idiotic Mazoku!!!!" she shouted to him as she started to pound him silly. "Don't do that to me!!!!" She finally finished her number on him and let him go. Zelgadis smirked. He always enjoyed the thrashings Lina gave out, as long as it wasn't to him. Xellos rubbed a bump on his head.
"Ouch, Lina," he said, while pouting, trying to look cute. "That hurt. You didn't have to hit me so hard, did you?"
"Yes, I did," she said angrily. Xellos grinned, and snapped his fingers. Immediately, he seemed all right.
"Although that was fun, Lina-chan," he said. "Juuo-sama is waiting for you."
"Now?" asked Lina, her face turning pale. "What about Zel?"
"Well, to answer your first question, yes, Zelas would like to see you now. And she only wants to
talk with you. Zel can stay down here with me! Won't we have fun, Zelly!!!?"
"Shut up, Mazoku," muttered Zel.
"I do have a name, you know," said Xellos, pretending to be hurt.
"Yeah," said Zel. "But I don't care, Mazoku."
"Sheesh," said Xellos with a small frown. "You're no fun!" Zelgadis shook his head. He could feel a headache coming. A really big, major one. Darn it. He needed aspirin, and he needed it right that moment
"OK," said Lina carefully. "I'll go up, and see Zelas, and hopefully, she won't try to cream me, and then, we'll see." She slowly walked up the stairs with Xellos waving his handkerchief as if it were a flag at her.
"Good bye, Lina!" he said. "Be careful, and don't trip over the stairs. A few of them aren't really there! Watch out for the alligator guarding her door, it's real, not a statue... We'll miss you so much... Include me in your will, please?!!!" A ball of fire flew at him from the stairs.
"SHUT UP!!!" she shouted before going up. She was nervous enough as it was with out the idiot shouting things like that to her.
"Ouch," whispered Xellos from his place on Zelas's floor.
"Serves you right, Mazoku," said Zelgadis as he sat down on one of the chairs to wait for Lina.
*****
Lina slowly walked up the stairs. They were dark, and creepy and were presently, scaring her silly. 'Great, just great!' she thought. 'The great and almighty Lina Inverse is scared of a bunch of stairs. I just can't wait to see how I'll feel when I see Zelas.' Sarcasm dripped from her thoughts like golden globs of the most gooey and thickest honey around. Her foot landed on a stair that all of a sudden wasn't their. She quickly grabbed the rail and stopped herself from falling. A voice could be heard.
"Oops!" said the voice. It sounded like... "It seems like you have stepped on the fake stair. Too bad! Thanks for playing!" Lina was all of a sudden transported to the bottom of the stairs, where she fell on top of Xellos. Zel raised an eyebrow when Lina appeared out of nowhere.
"Ouch," said Lina.
"Ouch," said Xellos, under Lina. Lina looked down and blushed as she hastily tried to get off of him.
"Sorry," she said hastily. Xellos just smiled.
"So," he asked as he grabbed hold of her hands, really quite liking how she felt on top of him. "What happened?" he whispered in her ear. Lina got extremely red. Zel watched with thinly veiled amusement, that is, with a smirk on his lips. He couldn't wait for the thrashing that he was sure was coming.
"I... I..." stammered Lina as she awkwardly tried to get her rampaging feelings under control. Then, her hearing fine tuned. "Xellos..." she said in a low growl.
"Yes, Lina?" he asked, not quite sure how to take her tone of voice.
"That was your voice, wasn't it???!!!" she accused him. He tried to look innocent. "Why,... you.... Aaaaaaargh!!!" And with that, she got free of him and started to throttle him like crazy. Zel nodded inwardly and took his smile off his face. Lina could be so predictable at times.
Second time around...
Lina looked at the ... thing in front of the door. He had got to be kidding. There was no way in the world that... that... thing was an alligator. The word alligator pointed to a halfway innocent looking reptile with a toothy grin, green skin... This was... three times longer and two times fatter and three million times meaner. It had silver colored teeth that were about half the size of her fist.
"Hello," she said nervously as she sloooowly approached the door's guardian. Great, just great... how in the world was she going to get through him to see Zelas? Not that she really wanted to... but that was beside the point.
"Hi, Mr. Alligator," she said softly and hopefully, also calmly.
"I'm not an Alligator," said the creature. "I'm a Crocodile."
"Oh, I'm sorry." she said.
"And you don't have to treat me like an idiot, Lina Inverse." She was taken aback. "Because I really hate people who do." With that, it opened its gaping mouth. Darkness was the last thing Lina saw. The last thing she heard, though was, "Oops! It seems like you have just been eaten by the Alligator. Too bad! Thanks for playing!"
Her vision was blurry. The first thing she saw were purple eyes, which she immediately punched.
"Ouch," said Xellos as he massaged his face. "Nice to see that you're better."
"Hey, Lina." said Zelgadis as he leaned over her. "Are you OK?" Lina nodded and scowled darkly at the Mazoku.
"Stupid Mazoku," she muttered as she got up and dusted her clothes off. (just realized I haven't described her attire... oops...) She was wearing a white lab type coat with huge pockets in the sides and no sleeves. She wore a dark maroon red shirt underneath that was long sleeved, and it had a band of yellow across the chest area. Her pants, were also red and were loose. Her feet were adorned in soft hide shoes with thick soles. She was basically wearing the attire of a licensed researcher in Seerin. With a determined look on her face, she grabbed Xellos by his yellow shirt collar and dragged him up the stairs.
"Don't worry," said Lina as Xellos bumped up and down on the hard, cold and wooden stairs. "We'll be back." Zelgadis nodded and settled himself comfortably in his chair. It might be a long wait.
Third time...
"OK," said Lina as she unceremoniously dumped him onto the floor. "Explain THAT." she said crossly. Her finger pointed to the huge Alligator (sorry, Crocodile) guarding a dark and huge door made with oak.
"Oh," said Xellos. "That's Gorky, the Alligator that guards Zelas's door!" He smiled at the crocodile. "Hello, Gorky! She needs to go in and see Zelas."
"Gorky?? His name is Gorky??" asked Lina as she tried to somehow connect the name Gorky to the huge monstrosity that called itself a crocodile. For some weird reason, she couldn't.
"No," said the crocodile. "My name is not Gorky."
"Of course not," said Xellos. "Where would you get such a ridiculous idea???" He got elbowed on the head for that one.
"You're the one who called it Gorky!!! What in the world am I supposed to think???" screamed Lina into his ear.
"Ouch, " said Xellos as he tried to shake the ringing sound from his ears. "Fine, fine. You're no fun! His name's not Gorky, it's just his nickname." The crocodile snorted, but kept silent. "His real name is.... Melfynusti, and he's a Mazoku also." Lina now tried to connect the name Melfynusti with the 'crocodile'. It still didn't work. It fit worse than Gorky did.
"Seriously?" asked a skeptical Lina.
"He's right," said the crocodile, Melfynusti. "For once, the bozo over there is not twisting the truth. I'm a Mazoku and my name is Melfynusti. And don't think that just because you're Lina Inverse, I'll let you cross the door."
"But Gorky," said Xellos cutely. " Lina really needs to see Zelas..."
"Shut up, Xellos," said Melfynusti coldly. Xellos frowned at him.
"Well, at least, you use my name," said Xellos. "Lina here usually just calls me fruity Mazoku or the such."
"Of course, you idiot," said Melfynusti (Melfy for short). "I refuse to call you what you are not. Which is why I call you bozo, idiot and other such names."
"What do you mean, Melfynusti sir?" asked Lina, intrigued. Xellos looked confused, for once.
"Finally, some respect from the younger generation!!" said Melfy.
"Way younger generation," smirked Xellos. "Old Gorky here, was in Zelas's group before the war between Ryozokus and Mazokus." A thick ebony colored tail appeared from nowhere and gripped Xellos by the throat.
"Shut up, Xellos," said Melfy. His tail tightened, a warning of what he could do, but was choosing not to do. "And Lina Inverse..."
"Yes?" she asked timidly.
"Beware," said Melfy simply. He let go of Xellos and flicked his tail back to the darkness where it had come from. "The simplest things are often the most tricky, simply because you think they are so amazingly simple. Think about it. This time, I'll allow you through. Next time, though, it won't be so easy." With that, he turned around and left them. Needless to say, both Xellos and Lina were speechless.
"Nice friend you got there," said Lina. "He's sane, right?"
"Gorky always tells the truth," said Xellos. "He just says it in riddles and puzzles. That's one of the wonderful traits we Mazoku usually have. We'll tell the truth, but it's buried deep in a jungle of games." With that, he phased back down. Lina nodded and steeled herself. She knocked timidly on the door. There was no answer. She knocked a bit harder. There was still no answer.
"Forgive me please," she whispered to herself as she just turned the knob and opened the door. Instead of finding a mad Beastmaster for having her privacy interrupted... she saw... a corridor with lamps at the sides. At the end of the corridor, there was another door. She stared at it, and walked to the next door. With another gulp, she knocked semi loudly on it. There was once again no answer. Slowly, she turned the knob of the door handle and entered... another corridor. Stress marks began to appear on her forehead as she stormed straight ahead and barged into the next room, and next, and next, and next.... finally, she just got mad and fireballed the next door in her path and ran into the room. To her utmost surprise, instead of coming against another annoying corridor, she ran into a slightly annoyed Beastmaster.
"Gaaaah!" shouted Lina as she stopped before knocking the Beastmaster over. "Oh, oops... sorry. I didn't mean to burn your door up."
"Sit," said Beastmaster.
Author's Notes... (I got tired of DANs...)
Dum, dum, dum.... and I leave you on a cliffhanger...
Well, this is all for now. I know, I know, it's a tad bit boring... but there is no need for a fight to appear yet. I hope my feeble attempts at humor have found pleasure in some reader's eyes. If not... oh well, I tried...
Oh, to the really observant ones who realized that, hehe... the title is different... Well, let's say that I had to change some things around to make the story fit, and the title was one of them.
Thank you again to the wonderful reviewers, you guys are really estupendo!!!! (wonderful) Keep up the good work!!^o^ Son maravillosos!!! Magnifico!!! Genial!!!! (and a bunch of other stuff....^-^)
OK, this will be the last update for some time, because I'm swimming in an ocean of homework. Hey, it's not easy writing, when you're taking Chemistry, Physics, AP Language, and Pre-calculus the same year.... definitely not easy. Some of you might have that problem, sympathize with me!!!!! ^o^;;
So, you probably won't hear from me for some time. Don't worry, I haven't fallen off the planet... yet... and I'll get the next chapter out as soon as I can....
Thank you again... and remember... Reading and Reviewing is really good, as is giving Comments and Criticisms...^_^;;
Hotaru Kimiko Lai
Quote for the Chapter..."Vision without action is merely a dream, action without vision just passes the time, but vision with action can change the world." -- Joel Baker
By Hotaru Kimiko Lai
Disclaimer...
Um.... uh... I have a witty disclaimer somewhere here. Um... but right now, I can't find it, so you'll get stuck with the boring one for now, 'K? Here goes: I don't own Slayers. There, that's it.... Oh look!! The first star out!!! Time to make a wish!! Starlight, Star bright, First star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, get the wish I wish tonight... (Dreams are very, very nice. Don't you think so?)
Warning...
To any reader from before... I have revised the plot a bit, you might want to check out chapter 1 before you go one. Remember,... there, chapter 1 has gone through a make over!!!!
Chapter 4 (version 4.1)
Trials and Tribulations of the One chosen by Fate...
Lina looked at the house suspiciously. She had researched dark lords, and no book had ever said that they had houses like this one. It basically screamed, "I'm the most average house in this average city in this average world." It was... cutesy. It was... clean. It had a manicured front lawn with little animal lawn ornaments!!! They were all, unsurprisingly, wolfs.
"This is where Beastmaster is hiding??!" she exclaimed. Xellos quickly clamped a hand over her mouth.
"Shhhhh," he whispered to her. "Nobody but us know that, OK, Lina?"
"Fine, fine, and I'm Tirla, 'K?" said Lina as she studied the house once more. She had taken off her costume by now. "At least, until inside. Still, I never thought she'd live in a place so...so...neat and cute." Zelgadis muttered something under his breath and Lina only caught part of it. Some thing about pots and kettles calling each other names.
The house had a cute little roof with a cute little chimney that spouted cute looking puffs of smoke. She still hadn't figured out how smoke could look cute. The walls were spotless and white, not black or purple or any other color of doom. The curtains were sky blue with gold trim. And the lawn!! The grass was green and cut. And everywhere, there were clusters of grape vines. And not just any grape vines, but.... Sephyrian grapes!!! The grapes were huge and a crimson purple color. The stems were a pale olive green. All of them, characteristics of the famous Sephyrian pearls/grapes.
"May I ask why in the world, the lawn is choked with grapes from Sephyria?" she asked.
"Why Tirla, I thought you knew that Zelas loves Zephyrian wine. It's the best, after all. So she grows her own grapes and every wine making season, hires wine makers from Zephyria to come here and make her wine. The whole basement and area underneath the house is full of casks of Sephyrian wine!"
"O.K." said Lina slowly. "This is too weird!"
"No kidding," said Zelgadis as he too, marveled at the spotlessness of the house. He had seen few cottages so clean. First, there was Lina's. Now there was Lord Beastmaster's. Next would be Xellos or Phibrizzio's... He shuddered. He was sure the end of the world was coming. Next thing you knew, Xellos and Lina would be a couple or something like that. He peeked at Xellos and saw that he was staring at Lina with an unreadable expression in his eyes. Great, the end of the world was coming, he knew it. He knew it. And he was getting the beginnings of a headache.
"So, let's go in." said Xellos with a smile. Zelgadis gritted his teeth. Something about that smile always made his blood boil. He still hadn't figured out why. Stupid Mazoku... Lina gulped and then nodded. It was then that Xellos realized that Lina was... scared, terrified, nervous, and many other things like that. He put his hand on her shoulder.
"Ne, Lina," he whispered into her ear. "It's alright. I'm sure Zelas won't bite." Lina was too scared to Fireball him for touching her like that. She just gulped again and nodded. Xellos debated with himself for a few seconds. Perhaps Lina was too preoccupied to notice. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly as he led the way to the door while Zelgadis followed them. Xellos was surprised when Lina squeezed his hand back. His heart soared and his smile became wider, not that anyone was watching. He finally reached the door. Lina had slowed her steps down. She was getting nervous again. Xellos smiled reassuringly at her and opened the door.
*****
Zelas smiled to herself as she felt the three enter the house. Hopefully, her dear brother was handling Madabar's group. Madabar still didn't know about him. It would be interesting to watch her expression when she found out that she had a spy in her group. After so many years of planning and finding all the original scrolls she could, she finally had her trap set up. Xerxes had been liberated from Xellos after Lina disbanded her group. Xellos was told to go on a hunt for the fake scrolls, not knowing that they were fake. Xerxes had awoken angry, and rightly so. One side effect of linking him with Xellos was that Xellos possessed about a third of Xerxes's power, since they were linked for so long. Which meant that Xellos was now stronger than before. That was both good and bad. Xellos had always been a favorite, but Xerxes had a grudge against him. Another problem she hadn't foreseen was the change in Xellos while he looked for the scrolls. He had mellowed out somewhat. She remembered that Xellos hadn't been a complete Mazoku when she had drafted him into her army of Mazokus, but now, taking Xerxes away from him, it seemed to also have taken part of his Mazoku-ness. Well, she'd fix that some day. Now, she had more pressing troubles to see to. Like how she was going to deal with Lina and Zelgadis.
The inside of the house was quite different from the outside. For one thing, the backs of the curtains weren't blue with gold. They were black with ruby trim. The furniture was made of dark and heavy oak, giving it an air of sophistication and a sense of timelessness that prevailed in the room. The floor had a midnight black carpet, while the walls were forest green in color. There were no hangings on the wall, but there were shelves and shelves filled with many bottles. And all of these bottles were filled to the brim with the finest Sephyrian wine that Zelas could get her hands on. Another shelve proudly showed of her collection of wine glasses. The tables had bowls brimming with crimson purple grapes.
"Nice place," muttered Zelgadis.
"No kidding," said Lina as she walked softly. Their footsteps were muffled as they stepped on the black carpet. It was afternoon outside, but the lighting inside was dim, due to the fact that the curtains did not allow much light in. There were quite a few lamp stands filled with candles, which Xellos lighted.
"I'll see how Zelas-sama is doing, and then I'll call you two up, OK?" Lina and Zel nodded. "And please be careful with everything. Zelas can be very... unpleasant if her things are played around with." The two nodded again and Xellos went up a set of stairs. While Xellos was up, Lina and Zelgadis started to talk quietly to each other.
"I don't quite like this Lina, if you'll pardon my saying so." said Zelgadis seriously as he eyed the room around him warily.
"I don't blame you," said Lina. "I noticed a barrier around the house, and there is a feeling of... I don't know... something like.... treachery, slyness..."
"You're right, Lina," said Zelgadis. "I didn't notice the barrier, though. Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure," said Lina with a faint grin. "I've been researching dark lords for two years now. I know more about them, now."
"So, what are you planning to do?" asked Zel. Lina smiled to him.
"I think the Mazoku think I'm weak or stupid, or perhaps that I was born yesterday."
"Oh, you mean the escape thread you wound up outside?" asked Zel.
"Shhh." said Lina with a smile. "I think Xellos was too happy to notice, or maybe he didn't quite recognize it."
"I think you had too much spare time if you worked on kids magic like escape threads and string figure barriers." said Zel with a small smile.
"Hey, I made them for the kids. They have to start out small, and escape threads are very useful, no matter how childish. Anyway, here's my plan. We'll listen to what Zelas says, and then if things get out of hand, I'll pull the escape thread."
"And if we're separated?" asked Zel.
"I made one for you also." said Lina with a twinkle in her eye.
"Thanks," said Zel. He concentrated for a while and smiled as he 'saw' it. It had been very beneficial spending time with Lina. Lina's magic was very helpful at times. "Where will we meet?"
"If worse comes to worse, meet at Amelias." said Lina quietly. Their conversation was cut short as Xellos appeared before them and led them to Zelas's room.
Before then...
"Zelas-sama," said Xellos as he entered the room. Zelas jumped a little. She hadn't felt him at all. How strange. "Lina and her friend Zelgadis are here."
"Thank you," said Zelas, trying to look tired, checking her energy level. It would be wisest to lower it slowly while she talked, so it would seem as if she were getting tired as she spoke. "Good job, Xellos. How did you find Lina?"
"Sore wa himitsu desu," said Xellos with a smile. He was feeling quite happy. Zelas silently got mad at him. He could exasperate her so badly at times...
"So, how is Lina?" she asked. "Has she read the prophecies yet?"
"Actually, I'm not sure. I know she read a bit each night, before going to sleep." said Xellos. "We rode here as fast as we could. I'm not quite sure if she's read all of them yet; the whole day was usually spent riding, Zelas-sama." Zelas nodded. She would convince Lina to stay here for the night so that she could read the prophecies and talk to her about the Chosen One. It was a fool proof plan. "Should I call them up, Zelas?"
"Sure, but first, I want to ask you a question," said Zelas. Xellos nodded and waited for her. "Lately, how have you been feeling? I detect something different from you." Xellos seemed to think the question over slowly before answering. "And remember, Xellos, don't lie to me."
"You know I don't lie," said Xellos. "I just twist the truth or withhold some facts. Anyway... I feel fine. I don't think there's anything wrong with me. What do you mean by detecting something different?" But Zelas didn't answer him. She was in her own world. *He's used to the change and won't see it as different. I was right, much more than Xerxes was taken from him. But how much?* After a while, she spoke up again.
"Xellos, bring Lina in."
"What about her friend, Zelgadis?" he asked.
"Leave him down there. What I have to say, is for the Chosen One only."
"So, you are sure Lina's the Chosen One?" asked Xellos. He wondered. Zelas nodded, and Xellos phased out.
"Hey Lina!" he said cheerfully, another grin on his innocent face.
"AAAAHHHH!" shouted Lina. Followed by, "FIREBALL!!!" to the Mazoku. The blast pushed him into a wall. Fortunately, nothing fell down or broke.
"Xellos!" said Lina after realizing who she had just fireballed.
"Yes, Lina, I missed you also," said a dazed Xellos as he got up and dusted himself off.
"You stupid, fruitcakey, smiley, crazy, and idiotic Mazoku!!!!" she shouted to him as she started to pound him silly. "Don't do that to me!!!!" She finally finished her number on him and let him go. Zelgadis smirked. He always enjoyed the thrashings Lina gave out, as long as it wasn't to him. Xellos rubbed a bump on his head.
"Ouch, Lina," he said, while pouting, trying to look cute. "That hurt. You didn't have to hit me so hard, did you?"
"Yes, I did," she said angrily. Xellos grinned, and snapped his fingers. Immediately, he seemed all right.
"Although that was fun, Lina-chan," he said. "Juuo-sama is waiting for you."
"Now?" asked Lina, her face turning pale. "What about Zel?"
"Well, to answer your first question, yes, Zelas would like to see you now. And she only wants to
talk with you. Zel can stay down here with me! Won't we have fun, Zelly!!!?"
"Shut up, Mazoku," muttered Zel.
"I do have a name, you know," said Xellos, pretending to be hurt.
"Yeah," said Zel. "But I don't care, Mazoku."
"Sheesh," said Xellos with a small frown. "You're no fun!" Zelgadis shook his head. He could feel a headache coming. A really big, major one. Darn it. He needed aspirin, and he needed it right that moment
"OK," said Lina carefully. "I'll go up, and see Zelas, and hopefully, she won't try to cream me, and then, we'll see." She slowly walked up the stairs with Xellos waving his handkerchief as if it were a flag at her.
"Good bye, Lina!" he said. "Be careful, and don't trip over the stairs. A few of them aren't really there! Watch out for the alligator guarding her door, it's real, not a statue... We'll miss you so much... Include me in your will, please?!!!" A ball of fire flew at him from the stairs.
"SHUT UP!!!" she shouted before going up. She was nervous enough as it was with out the idiot shouting things like that to her.
"Ouch," whispered Xellos from his place on Zelas's floor.
"Serves you right, Mazoku," said Zelgadis as he sat down on one of the chairs to wait for Lina.
*****
Lina slowly walked up the stairs. They were dark, and creepy and were presently, scaring her silly. 'Great, just great!' she thought. 'The great and almighty Lina Inverse is scared of a bunch of stairs. I just can't wait to see how I'll feel when I see Zelas.' Sarcasm dripped from her thoughts like golden globs of the most gooey and thickest honey around. Her foot landed on a stair that all of a sudden wasn't their. She quickly grabbed the rail and stopped herself from falling. A voice could be heard.
"Oops!" said the voice. It sounded like... "It seems like you have stepped on the fake stair. Too bad! Thanks for playing!" Lina was all of a sudden transported to the bottom of the stairs, where she fell on top of Xellos. Zel raised an eyebrow when Lina appeared out of nowhere.
"Ouch," said Lina.
"Ouch," said Xellos, under Lina. Lina looked down and blushed as she hastily tried to get off of him.
"Sorry," she said hastily. Xellos just smiled.
"So," he asked as he grabbed hold of her hands, really quite liking how she felt on top of him. "What happened?" he whispered in her ear. Lina got extremely red. Zel watched with thinly veiled amusement, that is, with a smirk on his lips. He couldn't wait for the thrashing that he was sure was coming.
"I... I..." stammered Lina as she awkwardly tried to get her rampaging feelings under control. Then, her hearing fine tuned. "Xellos..." she said in a low growl.
"Yes, Lina?" he asked, not quite sure how to take her tone of voice.
"That was your voice, wasn't it???!!!" she accused him. He tried to look innocent. "Why,... you.... Aaaaaaargh!!!" And with that, she got free of him and started to throttle him like crazy. Zel nodded inwardly and took his smile off his face. Lina could be so predictable at times.
Second time around...
Lina looked at the ... thing in front of the door. He had got to be kidding. There was no way in the world that... that... thing was an alligator. The word alligator pointed to a halfway innocent looking reptile with a toothy grin, green skin... This was... three times longer and two times fatter and three million times meaner. It had silver colored teeth that were about half the size of her fist.
"Hello," she said nervously as she sloooowly approached the door's guardian. Great, just great... how in the world was she going to get through him to see Zelas? Not that she really wanted to... but that was beside the point.
"Hi, Mr. Alligator," she said softly and hopefully, also calmly.
"I'm not an Alligator," said the creature. "I'm a Crocodile."
"Oh, I'm sorry." she said.
"And you don't have to treat me like an idiot, Lina Inverse." She was taken aback. "Because I really hate people who do." With that, it opened its gaping mouth. Darkness was the last thing Lina saw. The last thing she heard, though was, "Oops! It seems like you have just been eaten by the Alligator. Too bad! Thanks for playing!"
Her vision was blurry. The first thing she saw were purple eyes, which she immediately punched.
"Ouch," said Xellos as he massaged his face. "Nice to see that you're better."
"Hey, Lina." said Zelgadis as he leaned over her. "Are you OK?" Lina nodded and scowled darkly at the Mazoku.
"Stupid Mazoku," she muttered as she got up and dusted her clothes off. (just realized I haven't described her attire... oops...) She was wearing a white lab type coat with huge pockets in the sides and no sleeves. She wore a dark maroon red shirt underneath that was long sleeved, and it had a band of yellow across the chest area. Her pants, were also red and were loose. Her feet were adorned in soft hide shoes with thick soles. She was basically wearing the attire of a licensed researcher in Seerin. With a determined look on her face, she grabbed Xellos by his yellow shirt collar and dragged him up the stairs.
"Don't worry," said Lina as Xellos bumped up and down on the hard, cold and wooden stairs. "We'll be back." Zelgadis nodded and settled himself comfortably in his chair. It might be a long wait.
Third time...
"OK," said Lina as she unceremoniously dumped him onto the floor. "Explain THAT." she said crossly. Her finger pointed to the huge Alligator (sorry, Crocodile) guarding a dark and huge door made with oak.
"Oh," said Xellos. "That's Gorky, the Alligator that guards Zelas's door!" He smiled at the crocodile. "Hello, Gorky! She needs to go in and see Zelas."
"Gorky?? His name is Gorky??" asked Lina as she tried to somehow connect the name Gorky to the huge monstrosity that called itself a crocodile. For some weird reason, she couldn't.
"No," said the crocodile. "My name is not Gorky."
"Of course not," said Xellos. "Where would you get such a ridiculous idea???" He got elbowed on the head for that one.
"You're the one who called it Gorky!!! What in the world am I supposed to think???" screamed Lina into his ear.
"Ouch, " said Xellos as he tried to shake the ringing sound from his ears. "Fine, fine. You're no fun! His name's not Gorky, it's just his nickname." The crocodile snorted, but kept silent. "His real name is.... Melfynusti, and he's a Mazoku also." Lina now tried to connect the name Melfynusti with the 'crocodile'. It still didn't work. It fit worse than Gorky did.
"Seriously?" asked a skeptical Lina.
"He's right," said the crocodile, Melfynusti. "For once, the bozo over there is not twisting the truth. I'm a Mazoku and my name is Melfynusti. And don't think that just because you're Lina Inverse, I'll let you cross the door."
"But Gorky," said Xellos cutely. " Lina really needs to see Zelas..."
"Shut up, Xellos," said Melfynusti coldly. Xellos frowned at him.
"Well, at least, you use my name," said Xellos. "Lina here usually just calls me fruity Mazoku or the such."
"Of course, you idiot," said Melfynusti (Melfy for short). "I refuse to call you what you are not. Which is why I call you bozo, idiot and other such names."
"What do you mean, Melfynusti sir?" asked Lina, intrigued. Xellos looked confused, for once.
"Finally, some respect from the younger generation!!" said Melfy.
"Way younger generation," smirked Xellos. "Old Gorky here, was in Zelas's group before the war between Ryozokus and Mazokus." A thick ebony colored tail appeared from nowhere and gripped Xellos by the throat.
"Shut up, Xellos," said Melfy. His tail tightened, a warning of what he could do, but was choosing not to do. "And Lina Inverse..."
"Yes?" she asked timidly.
"Beware," said Melfy simply. He let go of Xellos and flicked his tail back to the darkness where it had come from. "The simplest things are often the most tricky, simply because you think they are so amazingly simple. Think about it. This time, I'll allow you through. Next time, though, it won't be so easy." With that, he turned around and left them. Needless to say, both Xellos and Lina were speechless.
"Nice friend you got there," said Lina. "He's sane, right?"
"Gorky always tells the truth," said Xellos. "He just says it in riddles and puzzles. That's one of the wonderful traits we Mazoku usually have. We'll tell the truth, but it's buried deep in a jungle of games." With that, he phased back down. Lina nodded and steeled herself. She knocked timidly on the door. There was no answer. She knocked a bit harder. There was still no answer.
"Forgive me please," she whispered to herself as she just turned the knob and opened the door. Instead of finding a mad Beastmaster for having her privacy interrupted... she saw... a corridor with lamps at the sides. At the end of the corridor, there was another door. She stared at it, and walked to the next door. With another gulp, she knocked semi loudly on it. There was once again no answer. Slowly, she turned the knob of the door handle and entered... another corridor. Stress marks began to appear on her forehead as she stormed straight ahead and barged into the next room, and next, and next, and next.... finally, she just got mad and fireballed the next door in her path and ran into the room. To her utmost surprise, instead of coming against another annoying corridor, she ran into a slightly annoyed Beastmaster.
"Gaaaah!" shouted Lina as she stopped before knocking the Beastmaster over. "Oh, oops... sorry. I didn't mean to burn your door up."
"Sit," said Beastmaster.
Author's Notes... (I got tired of DANs...)
Dum, dum, dum.... and I leave you on a cliffhanger...
Well, this is all for now. I know, I know, it's a tad bit boring... but there is no need for a fight to appear yet. I hope my feeble attempts at humor have found pleasure in some reader's eyes. If not... oh well, I tried...
Oh, to the really observant ones who realized that, hehe... the title is different... Well, let's say that I had to change some things around to make the story fit, and the title was one of them.
Thank you again to the wonderful reviewers, you guys are really estupendo!!!! (wonderful) Keep up the good work!!^o^ Son maravillosos!!! Magnifico!!! Genial!!!! (and a bunch of other stuff....^-^)
OK, this will be the last update for some time, because I'm swimming in an ocean of homework. Hey, it's not easy writing, when you're taking Chemistry, Physics, AP Language, and Pre-calculus the same year.... definitely not easy. Some of you might have that problem, sympathize with me!!!!! ^o^;;
So, you probably won't hear from me for some time. Don't worry, I haven't fallen off the planet... yet... and I'll get the next chapter out as soon as I can....
Thank you again... and remember... Reading and Reviewing is really good, as is giving Comments and Criticisms...^_^;;
Hotaru Kimiko Lai
Quote for the Chapter..."Vision without action is merely a dream, action without vision just passes the time, but vision with action can change the world." -- Joel Baker