Slayers: To The End
Written, Produced, Directed, Imagined, Created, and Concocted by the Sneaky Chibi Otaku Geek! (That's me, Hotaru, if case you didn't know.... ^^ )
Disclaimer: I don't own Slayers. Don't sue me, I'm trying to save money for college and then take over the world! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Well, no, not really.... but it's something along those lines... ^^
Chapter 20 Pieces falling in place... The Domino Effect! (And no, it doesn't have anything to do with Communism...^^) In which one of our heroes wakes up to his power, and another reads a fairy tale.
Somewhere out there....
"Keep an eye on what is happening," said a male voice.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm not stupid." said a female voice.
"You know, you're supposed to talk to me with a little more respect." said the male voice, petulantly.
"So?" asked the female voice. "I get enough of that from the people I have to work with. Speaking of which..."
"Yes, yes, I know..." said the male voice with a sigh. "I'll fill in for you."
"Thanks. I knew you'd say that." said the female voice, triumph in her voice.
"What else am I supposed to do?" asked the voice. "If I don't fill in for you, you won't go out and check on the others."
"Hey, I'm not a god like you, you know." said the female voice. "I have a job to do, bills to pay and things to do. Now hurry up, table 4 wants to order. Besides, I know you like to play waiter." She smiled. He smiled. They had an understanding among the two. And with that, Luna Inverse, who was usually a waitress, but was now the Knight of Ceipheed, went out of the cafe.
*****
Supper came and passed. Lina ate, Xellos ate, they talked, and talked and talked....
"So, Ms. Lina... how was your mission?" asked Filia. They had finished, and were in a parlor, drinking tea or hot coffee/chocolate or plain water or nothing at all.
"Oh, it was a piece of cake." said Lina. "Nothing the great Lina Inverse can't handle!"
"Ne, Lina... I remember someone asking for my help..." said Xellos with a cute pout on his face.
"You're imagining things." said Lina. "I don't ask for help. I force it out of people." She smiled. Seeing Xellos's face, she giggled. "OK, so Xellos helped me a bit."
"Really? What did you have to do?" asked Sylphiel. "It sounds so fun and interesting!"
"Yeah, it was." said Lina. She enjoyed being the center of attention. "First of all, I was a Princess!"
"You, a Princess??!" asked Naga. "That's a laugh." She burst out laughing. Everyone winced and plugged their ears.
"What's wrong with me being a Princess?" fumed Lina.
"And I was a rebel leader, sent to kill the naughty Princess!" said Xellos.
"Oh..." said Gourry. "And did you?"
"No, jellyfish brains!" said Lina. She threw a pillow at his head. "I'm the Princess and he didn't kill me!"
"But you aren't a Princess, Lina." said Gourry, not understanding what was going on. Lina sighed and continued with the story. Sylphiel explained a few things to Lina and he nodded as he understood a little.
"Turns out that the Princess was a spoiled brat..." said Lina.
"Then that's good, right Lina? After all, it's an easy part for you to play..." said Gourry. Xellos held Lina back while she tried to make his eyes pop out by squeezing his neck. After everything was settled...
"And she was in love with a commoner who was a beginning sage, chosen by L-sama, named Albuntra." said Lina. "So, I went to him and we wrote out all the scrolls, although he wrote the one we were looking for."
"How come?" asked Amelia, quite interested. Such interesting things never happened to her. How she would have loved to have the opportunity to spread her messages of love, peace, joy and justice to another world or another time....
"Um..." said Lina.
"She was going to another kingdom to get married!" said Xellos. Silence.
"Lina, did you marry someone in the other place?" asked Gourry.
"No!" said Lina. "Lina Inverse does NOT just marry anyone who comes along with a ton of money...."
"But, didn't you say that you wanted to marry a prince?" asked Gourry. "There was your perfect chance! Or did he not like you?"
"Idiot! I didn't like him!" said Lina. She threw a slipper at him that had appeared in her hand. Seeing that Lina was going to be some time working her anger out, he decided to continue.
"Meanwhile, I was a leader of a bunch of wannabe rebels, half of whom were thrown out of their house because their mothers said they snored too much." said Xellos. "I went to the palace to try to kill the Princess and found Lina instead. So we planned and when I went back to get her and the scroll, she was gone. So, I looked for her. Now, my sidekick..."
"Yes, your sidekick!" said Lina, who had decided that Gourry looked dead enough. "What was happening between you and her!"
"Nothing, Lina chan!" said Xellos. "I promise! I didn't even encourage Misty-san!"
"Oh, so now it's Misty san, huh????" asked Lina, her fangs appearing. "Not just sidekick, like I was... right????" Xellos held his hands up, trying to appease her.
"Now, now, Lina, don't get so uptight." said Xellos, a sweat drop appearing on his head.
"Why is Lina so angry?" asked Gourry to Amelia, who was sitting beside him.
"She's always angry, Gourry." said Amelia softly, so that Lina didn't turn her infamous wrath on her.
"But she's more uptight than usual!" said Gourry. He thought for a while. Suddenly he brightened. "I know!" The room seemed to stop.
"What do you know, jellyfish brain?" asked Lina suspiciously, still holding Xellos by the collar.
"It's that time of the month again, right?" asked Gourry. Everyone but Lina and the one with yogurt for brains winced. "I'm sure! You always blasted me for everything when it was your time of the month! Yeah, just like you are hitting me and Xellos!" Everyone tried to get out of the way, very quickly. Even Xellos teleported to the other side of the room in case Lina thought he would make a nice piece of 'something to throw'.
"Gourry..." she said softly.
"Yeah, Lina?" asked Gourry, not realizing the danger he was in. He did notice that everyone had moved, leaving him alone. Xellos was probably showing them a new trick.
"YOU JELLYFISH FOR BRAINS!!!!!!!!!!" she shouted. She then promptly fireballed him in the face, followed by a freeze arrow, proving that she still had her magic powers. Gourry went flying and everyone else sighed. Some things just didn't change, did they?
**^o^**
Elsewhere...
Zel sighed. It was night, he wanted to go to bed, he really wanted to rest... but no,... he had a bunch of amateurs to look out after. OK, he really cared for them, but better not let them know that. Today had been quite exciting truth be told. Many things had happened today. He looked at his new and improved sword that he got today. Was this how Lina and Xellos felt?... They had spotted a Dragon and a Mazoku fighting over a city. Immediately, he had sent half of his troops inside to help any innocent bystanders. The other half, along with himself set guard outside the city. Any debris, fire, or missed attacks were promptly thrown back at them. His people inside the city had put all the civilians in shelters and those where sheltered with magic barriers. During a lull in the battle, Zel had flown up to them and stood in between them... Zel thought back to it....
FLASHBACK
"If you want to fight, I advise you to go elsewhere were there are no civilians or bystanders to get hurt." said Zelgadis, his eyes stern.
"Get out of the way, silly human." said the Mazoku.
"We have a fight to finish." said the Dragon. "I will try to not cause more damage than necessary, but you must understand humans are easily hurt."
"That's not the point." said Zel. "Take your fight elsewhere. Go to the Astral Plane for all I care! But, you will not fight here."
"You and what army?" asked the Mazoku with a sneer.
"I advise you and your friends to evacuate the people before they get hurt." said the dragon. "We will continue to fight. The Mazoku must be stopped."
"The Mazoku must be stopped. What a bully." said the Mazoku in a sneering voice. "You were the one who commenced the attack."
"It is the Dragon Elder's wish and he is all knowing." said the Dragon. "Now, get out, human, lest you wish to be injured also." With a flick of his tail he hit Zelgadis as one would swat a fly with his tail. Zel stopped himself from crashing. How in the world was he supposed to stop them?????? Gosh, if only Lina or Xellos were here, someone who actually had power to stop them... but the best he could do was to protect the city. But it would be so much better if he could get them to fight elsewhere or stop fighting...
'Granted.' said a voice in his mind. He spun around. Nobody was there.
"Who are you?" he asked. A 8 year old girl with blond hair appeared before him. She had a lemon sucker in her mouth and a yellow balloon tied to her wrist.
"I'm L-shama..." said the girl around her sucker.
"Oh." said Zel. Lina had mentioned that L-sama took on different forms.
"Are they fighting?" she asked. She had taken her sucker out.
"Yeah."
"And you want them to stop?" asked the girl. "Why?"
"Because if they don't, they will end up destroying the city. My people won't be able to block everything." said Zel.
"Oh." said the girl. She sucked her sucker. "You can stop them if you want. I can help you."
"Wait, you are the Lord of Nightmares, right?" asked Zelgadis, not quite sure what to say.
"Of course I am!" she said. "Now listen." There was a blast of light and a myriad of explosions occurred. Zel heard a voice inside him.
'I am the Lord of Nightmares, the Mother of All, the One who holds the balances... And I command you to awake! Join your rightful place as one of the Seven who were formed to aid the world during this time of Crisis. I command you to awake, Sleepy!" Zel felt something snap within him as he suddenly felt a previously severed link heal and work once more. He opened his eyes, which were shining with inner light. And with a smile, he cast a spherical shield around the Dragon and the Mazoku. He didn't notice his changed uniform. But he did notice their look of fear.
"Dragon and Mazoku." he said as he floated up to them. "I will repeat to you once more. Take your fight elsewhere."
"Whose side are you on?" asked the Dragon as he struggled to free himself. "If you are on the side of righteousness and truth, let me go."
"I am on neither." said Zelgadis. "I am on the side of Chaos. Now go away, I'm sleepy!" And with that, he closed the sphere and hurled it into the Astral Plane. Had he seen the Dragon's and the Mazoku's eyes, he would have laughed at their look of amazement and astonishment.
END FLASHBACK
Yeah, he had woken up and his students told him that he had just blasted the Dragon and Mazoku into the Astral Plane. He could feel a small link between him and L-sama, but it was small. But really, why in the world did he have to be called Sleepy??? Of all the embarrassing things to be named.... But what was he supposed to do now??? He was one of the Seven, who were the other Six??? He would have thought about it a bit more, but true to his namesake, he was getting sleepy. So, he yawned fixed his bed even though his students had fixed it for him. He shook out the sticks and bugs and dirt and then went to sleep. To not spoil the student's hard work, he yelled.
"Stupid sticks! Who put them in? Aaagh!" He could here a few stifle their laughs. He smiled too and was soon fast asleep.
*****
Later that night... in a different place...
Lina grumbled to herself. But then she smiled. Gourry would never change, would he? That was good. She was glad. It was like an anchor in a majorly turbulent storm. She looked out. She wondered, had Xellos decided to cancel? Or was it too late, or... Someone tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around.
"Hi Lina chan! What were you thinking about?" asked Xellos with a grin on his face.
"Oh, Xellos. I didn't notice you..." she said.
"I can tell. I tapped your shoulder three times before you noticed." said Xellos.
"Um... jeje...." said Lina. "So, are we going out?" She hoped she could change the topic of discussion.
"Of course Lina chan! I wouldn't ditch you!" said Xellos. "You weren't thinking that, were you?"
"Um... of course not!" she said. "Where are we going?"
"It's a surprise, Lina chan!" he said. "Close your eyes!" Lina sighed and smiled to herself, doing what he asked her to do. She felt him take her hand and the air shimmer around them.
"Can I open them now?" asked Lina.
"Yeah." said Xellos. Lina's eyes opened slowly, her red pupils taking in everything around her.
"Where are we?" she asked.
"We're in Seyruun, two hundred and fifty eight years, 24 days in the past. Today is they day they celebrated the founding of Seyruun, and it was celebrated by a huge feast, dancing and many shows and contests!" said Xellos.
"Wow..." she said.
"I thought you might enjoy it." said Xellos.
"Enjoy it? Of course!" she said.
"One more thing," said Xellos, dragging her to a dark alleyway. "There is a catch to all of this, Lina chan." He smiled at her. Lina's heart beat faster.
"What?" she asked, hoping her voice wasn't shaking. She mentally told herself to calm down. Xellos wasn't the type to, to... to... yeah... that... yeah, Xellos wasn't like that... was he?
"Ne, Lina chan." he said. "No need to be so shy. It'll be over in a minute."
"What?" asked Lina. What had he meant by 'over in a minute'? Surely he didn't mean that she was just...
Xellos leaned in close to her. She backed up against a wall. She could see his violet eyes. She gulped.
Xellos smiled, waved his staff (which had appeared out of nowhere), and there was a blinding light that only they could see. No use alerting others out on the street that something was happening here, was there?
Lina closed her eyes and then slowly opened them. She saw that she was wearing... different clothes.
"Xellos, what are these?" she asked, very relieved and berating herself for being so stupid.
"Why Lina, we can't go out like how we were dressed. We have to fit in too, you know!" Yes, they were wearing old fashioned clothes from about two hundred years ago. "What were you thinking?" He smiled. Lina blushed.
"Um, let's go! Food, here we come!" she said. She grabbed his hand and hauled him out of the alleyway.
**^.^**
They were eating at this "All-you-can-eat-for-half-a-silver-piece." place. Things cost less back then. It was very nice. It was an indoor and outdoor cafe. They were outdoors, watching plays and skits that the actors were putting on.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen," said the announcer. "We will now present to you a play that our young'uns have prepared especially for tonight! Let's give them a big hand as they act out... "Fire Red and the Seven Dwarfs, Written by Albuntra the Sage."
Lina and Xellos's ears perked up.
"Albuntra?" asked Lina, a puzzled look on her face.
"Did not the scroll mention..." started Xellos.
"Seven dwarves?" asked Lina. "But,... why?"
"I wonder, did he write this before or after the prophecy?" asked Xellos. "Did he even base this on the prophecy?"
"Shush... listen to the story." said Lina. And they did. Lina listened. What did this have to do with the prophecy? Had Albuntra written this after or before? It was an amusing story for little kids. Now, what did it have to do with Xellos and her?
**(~.^)**
Lina finally made it home that night. She kissed him good bye on the cheek and he smiled at her and left. She sighed, waltzed a little around the room and then changed into her PJs. After brushing her teeth and washing, she fell on her bed and waited for sleep to take her. Sleep didn't come. She tossed and turned and punched her pillow and rumpled her covers and put her hair so that it wouldn't bother her and many other things, but she just couldn't fall asleep. And she knew why. It was the stupid prophecy and the play they had seen that night. It hadn't come as a surprise that the seven dwarfs and Fire Red were trying to kill a pair of insects that interrupted their picnic. She stood up and pulled her hair back into a ponytail, put on a coat, grabbed a notebook, a pencil, and her reading glasses, heading towards the library, even though it was technically early in the morning the next day.
She found a secluded area in the library. Well, they were all semi secluded, since it was night, and who in their right minds would be in the library at night digging up information on some silly, old prophecy and a children's tale? She then teleported to the kitchen and made herself a snack, and took it to her table in the library. She took her glasses out, and put them on. With a practiced twist of her wrist, she sent books spiraling out of their shelves and floating around her. She selected one and began to thumb through it, jotting down notes every once in a while. Her snack was left untouched as she read the books and wrote some more. The hours passed. Behind her, the moon continued on its course, as did the stars and clouds. But all this was lost on Lina as she silently read to herself many little bits of information on what she was looking up.
*****
Morning. The time when your side of the planet is getting some sunlight. Morning, the time when birds chirp and cheep and tweet and sing and call out to each other. The time when laundry is done so that the clothes can dry in the morning sun and be put away in the afternoon. The time to make breakfast, milk the cows (though that's usually more at dawn,...)... the time to get up from bed and stretch and think on what a good night's rest you had.
Everyone was at the breakfast table. Well, almost everyone. Amelia was there as was Gourry. They would leave after breakfast. Sylphiel and Filia were there. They would begin classes right after breakfast. Naga was there. She would begin her Princess duties after breakfast as well. Xellos was there. He was waiting for Lina to appear. As was everyone else.
"I wonder where she is?" asked Gourry, echoing everyone's thoughts. "She's never late to breakfast." Trust Gourry to state the obvious for you after five minutes of thinking.
"She seemed fine last night." said Naga. She was also mixing up a drink with other bottles of wine. She then poured it into one bottle and her teacup. The bottle was then hid in her cape.
"Xellos, did you do anything to her?" asked Filia, eyeing Xellos suspiciously. She could feel her mace itching to pound his face...
"I did not." said Xellos.
"Well, she's not coming, it seems." said Amelia. "Perhaps she is tired. Well, I can't wait much longer. Xellos, if she doesn't come down for breakfast, you can check up on her and there will be extra food in the kitchen as always." She then started her breakfast.
Xellos couldn't really blame her or them... they all had a schedule to follow and they had to finish breakfast quickly. So he nodded and took a sip of his tea.
*****
Breakfast was over and done with. Naga had left, as had everyone else. Xellos concentrated behind his closed eyes and felt for Lina's presence. He wasn't too surprised that he felt it in the library...
He appeared there and saw an interesting sight... Lina was there, sleeping. Her hand held a quill with dried ink over her notebook while her other hand was under her head as she slept, glasses still perched on her nose. And all around her, were floating books that she had probably planned on reading... Oh, and there was an uneaten sandwich on the desk.
'Poor Lina chan.' he thought. 'She probably fell asleep writing something...' He tried to read what she wrote and shook his head. She really had the messiest handwriting in the world. He couldn't understand it by just looking at it. He'd have to spend some time deciphering it first.
With a little bit of magic, he lifted her up and put all the books on the desk. He arranged everything neatly and put up a 'Do not touch' sign on the desk. Then he carried her to her bedroom, where he promptly fixed the mess of covers on her bed and then tucked her in. He then went to her workstation in the library and tried to figure out her handwriting.
**(///^)**
Lina woke up some time after Xellos had tucked her in, not that she knew that. All she knew was that she was supposed to finish writing a sentence, but she was in bed, with no quill in her hand.
She sat up and stretched and yawned. Maybe she dreamed it all. Yeah... it was probably a dream. The play they watched was a dream, the notes she took were a dream. But, her hair was still in a ponytail, and she had her coat on, and her notebook wasn't on her desk as it usually was.
'OK, so maybe it wasn't a dream.... then why am I here?' She shrugged, freshened up, changed clothes and then appeared in the kitchen, and scared a poor maid there.
"Oh, I'm sorry." said Lina as she tried to calm the maid.
"Thank you, I'm fine." she said as she took in a deep breath. "I was just startled. Not many in the castle appear from nothing, miss."
"Oh... yeah, I guess." said Lina sheepishly. "Um, could I get something to eat?"
"Didn't you get any breakfast?" asked the maid.
"Um, no...." she said. Her stomach confirmed her. She blushed and the maid laughed.
"Here, have some!" said the maid. She quickly fixed up something for Lina to eat.
"Thanks!" said Lina. She bowed slightly and then vanished. The maid smiled and continued on her way. Lina was so naive when she couldn't feel her sister around. ^^
*****
Beastmaster frowned and cursed and through things at the wall. She was very mad. She was very angry. She was very annoyed and tired of it all! Stupid Dragons. Ceipheed always thought he was right! Stupid Ceipheed! Sending his Dragons after her Mazoku!
"Men are Stupid!!!!" she shouted. That included her brother, it included Xerxes, it included Xellos for having left her .....
"I am surrounded by idiots!" she shouted.
Why was she so mad? Well, let's say a Mazoku just came and told her about a super strong human that could send Dragons and Mazoku into the Astral and lock them up in there....
*****
Madabar winced as she felt the screams of rage and waves of anger flow from Zelas. She screamed loudly, but the anger was quite delicious.
'Silly Zelas,' she thought. 'You think you can just threaten me and get away with it? We shall see about that.' She then turned back to the matter at hand. One of the Seven Dwarves from the Prophecy had woken up. She was sure he was a Dwarf. That meant that the others would soon wake up. BUT! If the others didn't wake up, then the Prophecy couldn't be fulfilled.... so.... Madabar smiled. The first one had been Zelgadis Greyweirs... one of her traveling companions... maybe if she could finish him off? No, now that he was awake, he was a more formidable opponent,... but the others hadn't woken up yet. If she only knew the characteristics of the Seven Dwarves... Then she could find them and kill them before they awoke...
*****
"Hi Xellos!" said Lina as she walked into the library, eating some food for breakfast.
"Hi Lina chan! Good morning!" he said chirpily as he studied her notes.
"Are you reading my notes?" asked Lina as she walked over to where he was sitting.
"I'm trying to." said Xellos wryly. "You know, you have got to have the worst handwriting ever."
"What do you mean, worst?" asked Lina sharply.
"Exactly that." said Xellos.
"Some people are so picky..." said Lina as she sat by him. "OK, I'll tell you what I found."
"Yeah! I can rest my eyes!" said Xellos. Lina bopped him on the head.
"Not like your handwriting is much better." said Lina jokingly.
"It's better than yours!" said Xellos.
"Yeah right." said Lina. And she told him the story of Red Fire and the Seven Dwarves.
"Red Fire and the Seven Dwarves... by Albuntra the Sage
Once upon a time, there was a pretty girl with brilliant red hair. She was a dear little child, with eyes just as bright and red as her hair. Because of that, she was often called Red by her stepmother or Fire by her friends. Her stepmother was a very vain lady, who was only a little older than Fire, since she had married at a young age. The father/husband had died and left the two girls living in a house.
One day, the Evil Stepmother, called Jizbella, summoned up her mirror.
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall." she said. "Who is the prettiest of them all?"
The mirror, which was a magic mirror, told her in a very serious fashion. "You, my dear, are a pretty lady, but Red Fire, she is a beauty beyond compare despite her lack in physical maturity. Her eyes have caught the gleam of rubies while her hair has the shine of molten lava..."
"OK, shut up. I get the point." said Jizbella. When the mirror didn't pay attention to her, she threatened to break its surface. It quickly shut up. She then paced back and forth, and back and forth...
"For years I have lived in the shadow of that girl. Her father doted on her. He would bring home fruits, and he'd offer them to her first! It was my birthday, and what did he bring home? A small doll for the girl. How I hate that girl! And now, she thinks she can take my beauty away from me? We shall see about that!" And an evil plan began to form in her mind.
Meanwhile, Red Fire was in the house preparing lunch when she heard her stepmother laugh an evil laugh.
"Stepmother sure is happy today." thought Fire to herself. She was preparing a picnic for herself so that she could go out in nature and enjoy herself. Suddenly, her stepmother came in.
"Red, are you making your picnic lunch?" she asked.
"Yes honorable Stepmother." said Fire obediently.
"Here, I will make you something." said Jizbella. She quickly fixed up a fruit salad for her. When Red wasn't looking she sprinkled some powder on it, and some sugar also. "Here you go, Red! Have fun! Don't stay out too late!"
"Thank you honorable Stepmother." said Fire with a smile. "I'll be back!" With that, Fire took her picnic basket and skipped out of the house.
On her way to her favorite glade, she decided to take a short cut, so she skipped through the forest. Now, Fire Red wasn't just a normal little girl. She was strong and could easily defend herself, so she wasn't too worried about being in danger. Besides, she was a dear friend to all the animals.
While she was walking, she came across a little cottage. Curious, Fire Red knocked on the door, but no one answered. She opened the door and went in. Inside she found a bunch of dirty dishes and plates all over the place, and many covering a little table that had seven little chairs.
"Oh, how cute!" she said and sat on one. She didn't quite fit and decided to not sit lest she break the dear chair. "My, this place is very dirty!" she said. So, with a stubborn look, she set to washing up all the plates. When she finished she nodded to herself with satisfaction. All the plates where squeaky clean and she didn't waste water. Stepmother would have been so proud. Then she spied some stairs. Taking her picnic basket in one hand she went up and saw a room with seven little beds. Each bed had a name on it. She read them to herself."
"At this point, I'm just inventing names up, Xellos." said Lina.
"How come?" asked Xellos.
"No one knows for sure the actual names, since the original manuscript was lost. These are the names I made up for them." said Lina, and she continued to read.
"A, B, C, D, E, F, and G." read Fire Red.
"Wait a minute." said Xellos as he interrupted. "You call those names?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, it isn't the easiest thing to name imaginary dwarves, you know." said Lina crossly. "Now, let me read."
"What cute little beds!" said Fire Red. "But they are all messy and not tucked in!" And indeed they weren't. So, Red Fire promptly made all the beds and was so tired at the end that she collapsed on E's bed.
Now, although Red Fire didn't know this, this was the house of seven hard working dwarves who worked in a nearby restaurant called 'The Seven Dwarves'. They always left to work early in the morning and came back late at night. So, they finally made it home. Once they got there....
"This door has been left open!" said C. He turned to B. "You did shut the door, right?"
"I'm pretty sure I did. I think. I hope." said B.
"Let's go in and see if there is anything missing." said G. So they did.
"Oh look! Someone washed all the plates!" said B excitedly. "Now I don't have to wash them anymore!"
"Is anything missing?" asked D. He then sneezed.
"Bless you." said G. "I don't think so."
"Well, then, I don't care." said E. "As long as everything is clean and nothing is missing, I say we should leave it be."
"Yeah!" said A. "Maybe a good and kind fairy came and cleaned it for us!" He was a very optimistic Dwarf.
"Perhaps we should just leave it be?" asked F, repeating E. G nodded. D sniffed the air.
"I smell something different!" he said.
"It's just your imagination." said E. "You're too sleepy. Let's go to bed!"
"Yeah! Lets!" chimed in everyone. But G took one more look around the room and D sniffed it a bit. E was the first one up and he threw himself on his bed. That is when he realized that something was wrong.
Fire Red woke up with a start. She felt someone jump on her. She imagined the worst case scenario. Immediately, she panicked, screamed, grabbed whoever it was and threw him across the room. Then she leapt out of bed, grabbed a chair and brandished it in the direction of the dwarves.
"Who are you? What do you want?" she asked.
"Um... you were sleeping on my bed." said E from the corner of the room. "I think it's my right to ask what YOU are doing on my bed."
"And in our house!" said G.
"See! I told you I smelled something!" said D.
"Who is she?" asked B. "I don't recognize her." Some minutes later... after all the confusion was sorted out...
"So, you are dwarves that live here?" asked Fire.
"Yes. And you are the one that made our beds and cleaned the kitchen?" asked G.
"Yes." said Fire.
"No one told me we got a maid." said B.
"That's cause we don't, idiot." said E.
"Oh my, I just realized! My stepmother must be worried about me!" said Fire. "I must get home!"
"No, stay with us tonight, Fire." said A, who really liked Fire. "It is too dark outside and you might get lost. You can go in the morning. Stay till it's morning."
"I can?" asked Fire. "Oh thank you!"
"Yeah, I guess." said G.
"It'll be fun!" said F.
"Maybe she can cook something yummy!" said B.
"Yeah." said D.
"I have my picnic basket. Let's eat that!" said Fire. The dwarves agreed heartily and Fire brought out her food, but she left the fruit salad in because it would be for dessert. Everyone ate up.
"It is very good!" said B.
"She has better food than the restaurant." said F.
"Who made it?" asked A.
"I did." said Fire with a smile.
"Wow, you're good." said G. "If you have time, maybe you can give us some tips for our restaurant!"
Finally they finished eating, but everyone was so tired and stuffed that they didn't want dessert. While Fire wanted to eat, she wanted to eat it with her friends. So, she decided to eat it the next day. She put it into a cooling box.
The next day, she tried to wake up early, but she didn't. She was too tired and she slept in. The dwarfs tried to wake her up but couldn't since it was getting late, they decided to let her sleep in. B wanted to eat some salad, but G pulled him away and told him to not eat it because it was Fire's food.
Fire woke up feeling refreshed and quite good. She realized that the dwarves had left to work and left her a note telling her to take care and that they hoped they would see each other again. She smiled. They were so fun! She decided to leave them the salad and went out of the house, locked the door, (G always carried the key) and went home. But as she neared her home, she realized something was different. First, there was mad laughter coming from the house. She crept closer and saw her Stepmother dancing around.
"Ahahaha!" she laughed. "She is gone! No more Red. She has vanished. She is dead!"
Red felt many things at once, things like betrayal, sadness, grief, anger.... and hope. Now, she could finally escape from this house! She climbed up the wall and went into her room where she grabbed her clothes, and important things, like the doll her dad gave her, her piggy bank, her scrapbook... And then she left.
She ran through the forest, not caring that branches where slapping her. She had to get away fast before her Stepmother noticed her. She made it back and then realized that the door was locked. She tried to get in through a window, but they were barred and too small to go through anyway. So she sat outside the door and went to sleep while waiting for the Dwarves.
The Dwarves came back home that night, and were surprised to find a sleeping Fire Red on their doorstep. So, they unlocked the door and took her in. Inside, they woke her up...
"Hey, Fire." said G when Fire opened her eyes.
"Oh, hi!" she said. "You guys finally came back!"
"What happened, Fire?" asked A.
"Stepmother thinks I'm dead and she's happy." said Fire.
"Oh, I'm sorry." said F. "You must feel devastated."
"I guess, I suppose so," said Fire hesitantly. "Truth be told, I've been waiting for an excuse to get out of that house."
"So, where are you going to stay?" asked B.
"Um... could I stay with you?" asked Fire. "I can cook, and clean and make the beds. I can stay here while you work, or I can help you work in your restaurant."
The dwarves talked among themselves.
"She cooks yummy." said B.
"She said she'd do the chores." said G.
"I think we should let her." said F.
"Besides, she doesn't have a home!" said A.
"OK, then let's keep her." said E
"Sure. She cooks better than any of us." said C.
"Let's!" said D.
"We have come to an agreement." said G to Fire.
"And we said Yes!" said A.
"So, could you cook us supper?" asked B.
"Sure!" said Fire happily. "Thank you so much!"
And Fire stayed with them. They planned a picnic for the next day and then, they would eat the fruit salad that Fire had with her.
Meanwhile, at Jizbella's house....
Jizbella ran around the house, mad with glee. She then ran to her room, combed her hair and put on some makeup. She then went to her mirror.
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall." she said happily. "Who is the prettiest of them all?"
The mirror's surface changed and many clouds appeared and finally came the face.
"You are," said the mirror. Jizbella smiled knowingly. "Or actually, you would be, if it were not for the one you call Red. For her beauty is unsurpassed on earth."
"What????!" asked Jizbella. "Isn't she dead?"
"No," said the mirror. "At this very moment, she is at the house of the Seven Dwarves."
Jizbella dismissed the mirror and thought quickly. Red was still alive, she still had to kill her. So, she smiled evilly to herself and planned another surprise for our heroine.
The next day, the dwarves had decided to take a day off to enjoy the picnic that Fire had planned for them.
"Yummy, yummy, yummy, food!" shouted B as he skipped along side her.
"Oh shut up." said C. But C was also excited, and kept trying to peek into the basket, along with D. E looked half asleep as he walked with them, but that was normal. F and A talked about restaurant matters while G listened. They made a nice looking group.
They finally made it to Fire's favorite glade to eat. And eat they did! They dug into all the good and yummy food. And for a surprise, Fire took out a huge, creamy and very delicious looking chocolate cake.
"Wow." said the dwarves. B's mouth began to water...
"I decided to make cake, since the fruit salad is probably going bad by now." said Fire. The basket was off to one side of the blanket. She was across the glade, having found a stump to put the cake on to facilitate the cutting of said cake.
"Yummy!" said the dwarves.
While Fire was cutting the cake, Jizbella watched them from behind a tree. She had asked her mirror where Fire was. And now knew what to do. From within the folds of her cloak, she took out a box.
"Go, my loyal supporters..." she whispered. "Go and kill them." And from within the box, came two spiders, with green and yellow markings on them.
"..." said the spiders, since spiders usually don't say much. And they went to the eight who were eating. Destination... Red and her friends.
Jizbella smiled. These were her special arachnids. One bite and the victim would suffer about 2 hours of agony and pain, and then they'd die, and that was that. Then, she'd be the most beautiful of them all.
A dug into his cake. He savored every bite and was in chocolate land. He was eating while he was standing up, and was twirling around on his foot. The other dwarves ignored him. A was like that. He sometimes got a little carried away...
From the arachnid point of view, A was a menace that should be stayed away from. If one of A's feet fell on them, they'd be dead. So, they skirted around A. And chose another victim.
"Here you go, B!" said Fire as she handed him a slice of cake.
"Yummy! Yummy, yummy, yummy cake!" he said. "Thanks Fire! You're the best!" He sat down on a rock and started to eat it.
'A ha!" thought a spider as he spied him sitting down. He crawled up and was about to bite into the victim, when B stood up abruptly, causing the bug to fall off the rock.
"Done!" he said! The spider was surprised. Done already?
"You're finished already!?" asked Fire. "OK, wait until everyone gets their cake and then you can get a second slice."
"Yeah!" said B. He then ran over to A and tried to get him to share his cake.
The spiders were not deterred. They chose their next victim, C.
"Here you go, C." said Fire. "Enjoy!"
"Thank you, Fire!" said C. He spied a rock and was about to sit down when he decided not to. He saw a broken stump, and he went over there. No, he didn't want to sit there either. The spiders sighed in exasperation. When was the silly dwarf going to sit down? They followed him again. It may have been easy for the dwarf to go from the rock to the stump, but for the spiders it was a longer distance.
"What's wrong, C?" asked G.
"Won't you sit down?" asked Fire.
"I will. As soon as I find a place that isn't moldy or dirty!" said C. Fire and everyone else sweat dropped.
"Go sit on a tree or something." said D.
"That's a good idea!" said C. And he climbed up the tree with his cake and sat there. The spiders looked at the tree and then at each other. No way they were going to climb the tree. Next. One look at D, and they decided to bypass him. D was arguing with B because D didn't want to give B some of his cake. They were running around. Enough said. They choose their next victim.... E. Now, E looked very easy. He had finished eating his cake and was on the blanket taking a snooze. The spiders nudged each other and pointed, stifling spider giggles. Then quietly, they skittered to where E was sleeping. Seeing that he wasn't moving, one of the spiders approached and looked around. It seemed too good to be true, but it looked like it would work out! Most of the dwarfs were looking elsewhere, and Fire was occupied. So, the spider bit E's pinkie. And broke his fangs.
The other spider looked surprised. That had never happened before! The spiders ran to hide under a rock.
E woke up.
"I dreamed that something bit me." said E suddenly.
"Huh?" asked Fire.
"He gets dreams many times since he falls asleep so often." said F.
"Oh, and what was it about?" asked Fire.
"A bug bit me." said E. The spiders listened.
"That's awful!" said Fire. "Does that usually happen?"
"Bugs biting me?" asked E. "No, not often. I have a curse on me. My skin is as hard as rock. Any insect that would try would get their stinger broken."
"Oh... that's good!" said Fire.
"No, it's not!" said E. "I want to be a normal dwarf! Why me? Why do I have to be the cursed one? Why can't I get stung and poisoned by bugs like normal dwarves???"
Fire looked surprised. "Just ignore him." said G to Fire. "He gets like this every once in a while."
F got the next piece. This time, there was only one spider that could bite. The other one was nursing a hurt jaw. Now, F seemed like a very calm dwarf. He had his cake and was sitting on a rock and eating it slowly. Too good to be true? Yeah, the spider thought so also. So he watched the dwarf and made sure it would stay there and not do anything weird. As soon as he was sure, he skittered quickly to where the dwarf was. But by the time he got there, the dwarf had finished and was standing up and doing stretches. The spider snapped its imaginary fingers. If he had only walked a little faster. Now that the dwarf was stretching and moving around, he would have to be careful he wasn't stepped on.
The other spider watched him and sighed... that idiot. The first spider finally made it safely to the rock and they talked amongst themselves. This was not working. If they could cause a scandal, then the others would drop their guard and it'd be that much easier to bite them and kill them all. So, the spider set out to bite Fire.
"Here, G!" said Fire. "Here's your piece of cake!" G took the plate. "Wait a sec, let me get you a spoon..." Her hands roamed for the spoon. "Oh goodness! I forgot it in the basket!" She ran to the picnic basket. She looked back, not looking where she was going. "Hang on a sec!"
The spider with the broken fangs gasped. The spider that was running to Fire halted and turned back. Too late....
CRUNCH
Fire looked down...
"Eeww..." she said. "I stepped on a spider. That's gross!" She ran the bottom of the shoe to get the spider gunk off her sole. G looked at the spider critically. Then she saw the other one under the rock. The one under the rock saw G's look, gulped and ran away.
"Why looking so angry, G?" asked Fire as she gave G her spoon.
"I thought I saw something." said G.
And Jizbella, seeing her poor toothless spider decided it was no use fighting against people who could so easily handle her killer spiders. So, she settled down for second best....
"Mirror, mirror on the wall," she said. "Who's the second fairest of them all?"
"Not you." said the mirror impudently.
THE END"
"That's it?" asked Xellos after the story was finished.
"Yeah, that's it." said Lina. "Don't you remember the names of the dwarves from the play?"
"Um, no... actually, didn't the announcer say that no one was sure of the names so they decided to name the dwarfs, John, Elkinor, Luke, Matthew, Serge, Ramzas and..."
"And Tim." said Lina. "See what I mean? No one knows the exact names..."
"Anyway, this story seems a bit more complete than the play we watched." said Xellos.
"If you will remember," said Lina. "The play we watched was performed by children around seven. Obviously some parts have been skipped. This is as complete as I could find it."
"OK." said Xellos. "Step back and watch how the master solves these things...." Lina raised an eyebrow and motioned for him to go on.
"Perhaps we can't find their names, but we can find their characteristics." said Xellos. "Wait, this was written after the prophecy, right?"
"Of course it was!" said Lina. "If it weren't, then why would I spend so much time looking it up?"
"Just making sure Lina chan." said Xellos. He took out a sheet and wrote down the side, A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Lina looked at his handwriting jealously. "And yes, I know, my handwriting is so much better than yours."
"You blind fruitcake!" she shouted and hit him on the head. "Now, get to work on it!"
"Yes ma'am." said Xellos as he saluted her smartly.
"Show off!" said Lina with a smile.
Author's notes... As you may have noticed, this is the end of chapter 20. The reason the chapter was so long was that I included the fairy tale in the second part. I hope I didn't bore you with the story. I guess you could have skipped it if you felt like it, but there are various hints in the story about the identities of the Seven Dwarfs. All the Dwarf's (A, B, C, D, E, F, G) conversations are hints to their true identities also. Oh, and BTW, I don't own Disney. I just borrowed the story, and twisted it a bit... and voici la storiette! ^^ So, hope you enjoyed this and didn't bore yourselves to tears.... So, till next time! The next chapter will take a little longer, since school is starting for me today, Tuesday.... *sniff, sniff, wail, sniff* So, when you read this, please remember this poor little authoress, who has to go to school and toil through all her AP classes because someone took control over her when she was signing up for classes. (I'm taking three AP classes.....I'm gonna so die this next year.....*sniff, sniff* And there goes my perfect GPA....^^ OK, so it's not perfect, but I'm planning on it for next year with so many AP things............Of course, my friend says that universities don't really look to hard at your senior grades............ Oh,... life is hard.... and I don't make it easier on myself.... ^^ OK, enough of my complaints. Please read and review. And send me reviews to cheer me up! Please??????????? OK, you don't have to if you don't want to... but you are all very nice and considerate people, right????! *looks eagerly at the audience* ^^ OK, enought with this. Thank you everyone who has valiantly reviewed. Thank you so much! Consider yourself hugged till you turn purple. ^^ Take care! Hotaru
Quotes
Million-to-one chances crop up nice times out of ten. -Granny Weatherwax
Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's heaven for? -Rober Browning
The poor man is not he who is without a cent, but he who is without a dream. -Harry Kemp
Written, Produced, Directed, Imagined, Created, and Concocted by the Sneaky Chibi Otaku Geek! (That's me, Hotaru, if case you didn't know.... ^^ )
Disclaimer: I don't own Slayers. Don't sue me, I'm trying to save money for college and then take over the world! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Well, no, not really.... but it's something along those lines... ^^
Chapter 20 Pieces falling in place... The Domino Effect! (And no, it doesn't have anything to do with Communism...^^) In which one of our heroes wakes up to his power, and another reads a fairy tale.
Somewhere out there....
"Keep an eye on what is happening," said a male voice.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm not stupid." said a female voice.
"You know, you're supposed to talk to me with a little more respect." said the male voice, petulantly.
"So?" asked the female voice. "I get enough of that from the people I have to work with. Speaking of which..."
"Yes, yes, I know..." said the male voice with a sigh. "I'll fill in for you."
"Thanks. I knew you'd say that." said the female voice, triumph in her voice.
"What else am I supposed to do?" asked the voice. "If I don't fill in for you, you won't go out and check on the others."
"Hey, I'm not a god like you, you know." said the female voice. "I have a job to do, bills to pay and things to do. Now hurry up, table 4 wants to order. Besides, I know you like to play waiter." She smiled. He smiled. They had an understanding among the two. And with that, Luna Inverse, who was usually a waitress, but was now the Knight of Ceipheed, went out of the cafe.
*****
Supper came and passed. Lina ate, Xellos ate, they talked, and talked and talked....
"So, Ms. Lina... how was your mission?" asked Filia. They had finished, and were in a parlor, drinking tea or hot coffee/chocolate or plain water or nothing at all.
"Oh, it was a piece of cake." said Lina. "Nothing the great Lina Inverse can't handle!"
"Ne, Lina... I remember someone asking for my help..." said Xellos with a cute pout on his face.
"You're imagining things." said Lina. "I don't ask for help. I force it out of people." She smiled. Seeing Xellos's face, she giggled. "OK, so Xellos helped me a bit."
"Really? What did you have to do?" asked Sylphiel. "It sounds so fun and interesting!"
"Yeah, it was." said Lina. She enjoyed being the center of attention. "First of all, I was a Princess!"
"You, a Princess??!" asked Naga. "That's a laugh." She burst out laughing. Everyone winced and plugged their ears.
"What's wrong with me being a Princess?" fumed Lina.
"And I was a rebel leader, sent to kill the naughty Princess!" said Xellos.
"Oh..." said Gourry. "And did you?"
"No, jellyfish brains!" said Lina. She threw a pillow at his head. "I'm the Princess and he didn't kill me!"
"But you aren't a Princess, Lina." said Gourry, not understanding what was going on. Lina sighed and continued with the story. Sylphiel explained a few things to Lina and he nodded as he understood a little.
"Turns out that the Princess was a spoiled brat..." said Lina.
"Then that's good, right Lina? After all, it's an easy part for you to play..." said Gourry. Xellos held Lina back while she tried to make his eyes pop out by squeezing his neck. After everything was settled...
"And she was in love with a commoner who was a beginning sage, chosen by L-sama, named Albuntra." said Lina. "So, I went to him and we wrote out all the scrolls, although he wrote the one we were looking for."
"How come?" asked Amelia, quite interested. Such interesting things never happened to her. How she would have loved to have the opportunity to spread her messages of love, peace, joy and justice to another world or another time....
"Um..." said Lina.
"She was going to another kingdom to get married!" said Xellos. Silence.
"Lina, did you marry someone in the other place?" asked Gourry.
"No!" said Lina. "Lina Inverse does NOT just marry anyone who comes along with a ton of money...."
"But, didn't you say that you wanted to marry a prince?" asked Gourry. "There was your perfect chance! Or did he not like you?"
"Idiot! I didn't like him!" said Lina. She threw a slipper at him that had appeared in her hand. Seeing that Lina was going to be some time working her anger out, he decided to continue.
"Meanwhile, I was a leader of a bunch of wannabe rebels, half of whom were thrown out of their house because their mothers said they snored too much." said Xellos. "I went to the palace to try to kill the Princess and found Lina instead. So we planned and when I went back to get her and the scroll, she was gone. So, I looked for her. Now, my sidekick..."
"Yes, your sidekick!" said Lina, who had decided that Gourry looked dead enough. "What was happening between you and her!"
"Nothing, Lina chan!" said Xellos. "I promise! I didn't even encourage Misty-san!"
"Oh, so now it's Misty san, huh????" asked Lina, her fangs appearing. "Not just sidekick, like I was... right????" Xellos held his hands up, trying to appease her.
"Now, now, Lina, don't get so uptight." said Xellos, a sweat drop appearing on his head.
"Why is Lina so angry?" asked Gourry to Amelia, who was sitting beside him.
"She's always angry, Gourry." said Amelia softly, so that Lina didn't turn her infamous wrath on her.
"But she's more uptight than usual!" said Gourry. He thought for a while. Suddenly he brightened. "I know!" The room seemed to stop.
"What do you know, jellyfish brain?" asked Lina suspiciously, still holding Xellos by the collar.
"It's that time of the month again, right?" asked Gourry. Everyone but Lina and the one with yogurt for brains winced. "I'm sure! You always blasted me for everything when it was your time of the month! Yeah, just like you are hitting me and Xellos!" Everyone tried to get out of the way, very quickly. Even Xellos teleported to the other side of the room in case Lina thought he would make a nice piece of 'something to throw'.
"Gourry..." she said softly.
"Yeah, Lina?" asked Gourry, not realizing the danger he was in. He did notice that everyone had moved, leaving him alone. Xellos was probably showing them a new trick.
"YOU JELLYFISH FOR BRAINS!!!!!!!!!!" she shouted. She then promptly fireballed him in the face, followed by a freeze arrow, proving that she still had her magic powers. Gourry went flying and everyone else sighed. Some things just didn't change, did they?
**^o^**
Elsewhere...
Zel sighed. It was night, he wanted to go to bed, he really wanted to rest... but no,... he had a bunch of amateurs to look out after. OK, he really cared for them, but better not let them know that. Today had been quite exciting truth be told. Many things had happened today. He looked at his new and improved sword that he got today. Was this how Lina and Xellos felt?... They had spotted a Dragon and a Mazoku fighting over a city. Immediately, he had sent half of his troops inside to help any innocent bystanders. The other half, along with himself set guard outside the city. Any debris, fire, or missed attacks were promptly thrown back at them. His people inside the city had put all the civilians in shelters and those where sheltered with magic barriers. During a lull in the battle, Zel had flown up to them and stood in between them... Zel thought back to it....
FLASHBACK
"If you want to fight, I advise you to go elsewhere were there are no civilians or bystanders to get hurt." said Zelgadis, his eyes stern.
"Get out of the way, silly human." said the Mazoku.
"We have a fight to finish." said the Dragon. "I will try to not cause more damage than necessary, but you must understand humans are easily hurt."
"That's not the point." said Zel. "Take your fight elsewhere. Go to the Astral Plane for all I care! But, you will not fight here."
"You and what army?" asked the Mazoku with a sneer.
"I advise you and your friends to evacuate the people before they get hurt." said the dragon. "We will continue to fight. The Mazoku must be stopped."
"The Mazoku must be stopped. What a bully." said the Mazoku in a sneering voice. "You were the one who commenced the attack."
"It is the Dragon Elder's wish and he is all knowing." said the Dragon. "Now, get out, human, lest you wish to be injured also." With a flick of his tail he hit Zelgadis as one would swat a fly with his tail. Zel stopped himself from crashing. How in the world was he supposed to stop them?????? Gosh, if only Lina or Xellos were here, someone who actually had power to stop them... but the best he could do was to protect the city. But it would be so much better if he could get them to fight elsewhere or stop fighting...
'Granted.' said a voice in his mind. He spun around. Nobody was there.
"Who are you?" he asked. A 8 year old girl with blond hair appeared before him. She had a lemon sucker in her mouth and a yellow balloon tied to her wrist.
"I'm L-shama..." said the girl around her sucker.
"Oh." said Zel. Lina had mentioned that L-sama took on different forms.
"Are they fighting?" she asked. She had taken her sucker out.
"Yeah."
"And you want them to stop?" asked the girl. "Why?"
"Because if they don't, they will end up destroying the city. My people won't be able to block everything." said Zel.
"Oh." said the girl. She sucked her sucker. "You can stop them if you want. I can help you."
"Wait, you are the Lord of Nightmares, right?" asked Zelgadis, not quite sure what to say.
"Of course I am!" she said. "Now listen." There was a blast of light and a myriad of explosions occurred. Zel heard a voice inside him.
'I am the Lord of Nightmares, the Mother of All, the One who holds the balances... And I command you to awake! Join your rightful place as one of the Seven who were formed to aid the world during this time of Crisis. I command you to awake, Sleepy!" Zel felt something snap within him as he suddenly felt a previously severed link heal and work once more. He opened his eyes, which were shining with inner light. And with a smile, he cast a spherical shield around the Dragon and the Mazoku. He didn't notice his changed uniform. But he did notice their look of fear.
"Dragon and Mazoku." he said as he floated up to them. "I will repeat to you once more. Take your fight elsewhere."
"Whose side are you on?" asked the Dragon as he struggled to free himself. "If you are on the side of righteousness and truth, let me go."
"I am on neither." said Zelgadis. "I am on the side of Chaos. Now go away, I'm sleepy!" And with that, he closed the sphere and hurled it into the Astral Plane. Had he seen the Dragon's and the Mazoku's eyes, he would have laughed at their look of amazement and astonishment.
END FLASHBACK
Yeah, he had woken up and his students told him that he had just blasted the Dragon and Mazoku into the Astral Plane. He could feel a small link between him and L-sama, but it was small. But really, why in the world did he have to be called Sleepy??? Of all the embarrassing things to be named.... But what was he supposed to do now??? He was one of the Seven, who were the other Six??? He would have thought about it a bit more, but true to his namesake, he was getting sleepy. So, he yawned fixed his bed even though his students had fixed it for him. He shook out the sticks and bugs and dirt and then went to sleep. To not spoil the student's hard work, he yelled.
"Stupid sticks! Who put them in? Aaagh!" He could here a few stifle their laughs. He smiled too and was soon fast asleep.
*****
Later that night... in a different place...
Lina grumbled to herself. But then she smiled. Gourry would never change, would he? That was good. She was glad. It was like an anchor in a majorly turbulent storm. She looked out. She wondered, had Xellos decided to cancel? Or was it too late, or... Someone tapped her on the shoulder. She spun around.
"Hi Lina chan! What were you thinking about?" asked Xellos with a grin on his face.
"Oh, Xellos. I didn't notice you..." she said.
"I can tell. I tapped your shoulder three times before you noticed." said Xellos.
"Um... jeje...." said Lina. "So, are we going out?" She hoped she could change the topic of discussion.
"Of course Lina chan! I wouldn't ditch you!" said Xellos. "You weren't thinking that, were you?"
"Um... of course not!" she said. "Where are we going?"
"It's a surprise, Lina chan!" he said. "Close your eyes!" Lina sighed and smiled to herself, doing what he asked her to do. She felt him take her hand and the air shimmer around them.
"Can I open them now?" asked Lina.
"Yeah." said Xellos. Lina's eyes opened slowly, her red pupils taking in everything around her.
"Where are we?" she asked.
"We're in Seyruun, two hundred and fifty eight years, 24 days in the past. Today is they day they celebrated the founding of Seyruun, and it was celebrated by a huge feast, dancing and many shows and contests!" said Xellos.
"Wow..." she said.
"I thought you might enjoy it." said Xellos.
"Enjoy it? Of course!" she said.
"One more thing," said Xellos, dragging her to a dark alleyway. "There is a catch to all of this, Lina chan." He smiled at her. Lina's heart beat faster.
"What?" she asked, hoping her voice wasn't shaking. She mentally told herself to calm down. Xellos wasn't the type to, to... to... yeah... that... yeah, Xellos wasn't like that... was he?
"Ne, Lina chan." he said. "No need to be so shy. It'll be over in a minute."
"What?" asked Lina. What had he meant by 'over in a minute'? Surely he didn't mean that she was just...
Xellos leaned in close to her. She backed up against a wall. She could see his violet eyes. She gulped.
Xellos smiled, waved his staff (which had appeared out of nowhere), and there was a blinding light that only they could see. No use alerting others out on the street that something was happening here, was there?
Lina closed her eyes and then slowly opened them. She saw that she was wearing... different clothes.
"Xellos, what are these?" she asked, very relieved and berating herself for being so stupid.
"Why Lina, we can't go out like how we were dressed. We have to fit in too, you know!" Yes, they were wearing old fashioned clothes from about two hundred years ago. "What were you thinking?" He smiled. Lina blushed.
"Um, let's go! Food, here we come!" she said. She grabbed his hand and hauled him out of the alleyway.
**^.^**
They were eating at this "All-you-can-eat-for-half-a-silver-piece." place. Things cost less back then. It was very nice. It was an indoor and outdoor cafe. They were outdoors, watching plays and skits that the actors were putting on.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen," said the announcer. "We will now present to you a play that our young'uns have prepared especially for tonight! Let's give them a big hand as they act out... "Fire Red and the Seven Dwarfs, Written by Albuntra the Sage."
Lina and Xellos's ears perked up.
"Albuntra?" asked Lina, a puzzled look on her face.
"Did not the scroll mention..." started Xellos.
"Seven dwarves?" asked Lina. "But,... why?"
"I wonder, did he write this before or after the prophecy?" asked Xellos. "Did he even base this on the prophecy?"
"Shush... listen to the story." said Lina. And they did. Lina listened. What did this have to do with the prophecy? Had Albuntra written this after or before? It was an amusing story for little kids. Now, what did it have to do with Xellos and her?
**(~.^)**
Lina finally made it home that night. She kissed him good bye on the cheek and he smiled at her and left. She sighed, waltzed a little around the room and then changed into her PJs. After brushing her teeth and washing, she fell on her bed and waited for sleep to take her. Sleep didn't come. She tossed and turned and punched her pillow and rumpled her covers and put her hair so that it wouldn't bother her and many other things, but she just couldn't fall asleep. And she knew why. It was the stupid prophecy and the play they had seen that night. It hadn't come as a surprise that the seven dwarfs and Fire Red were trying to kill a pair of insects that interrupted their picnic. She stood up and pulled her hair back into a ponytail, put on a coat, grabbed a notebook, a pencil, and her reading glasses, heading towards the library, even though it was technically early in the morning the next day.
She found a secluded area in the library. Well, they were all semi secluded, since it was night, and who in their right minds would be in the library at night digging up information on some silly, old prophecy and a children's tale? She then teleported to the kitchen and made herself a snack, and took it to her table in the library. She took her glasses out, and put them on. With a practiced twist of her wrist, she sent books spiraling out of their shelves and floating around her. She selected one and began to thumb through it, jotting down notes every once in a while. Her snack was left untouched as she read the books and wrote some more. The hours passed. Behind her, the moon continued on its course, as did the stars and clouds. But all this was lost on Lina as she silently read to herself many little bits of information on what she was looking up.
*****
Morning. The time when your side of the planet is getting some sunlight. Morning, the time when birds chirp and cheep and tweet and sing and call out to each other. The time when laundry is done so that the clothes can dry in the morning sun and be put away in the afternoon. The time to make breakfast, milk the cows (though that's usually more at dawn,...)... the time to get up from bed and stretch and think on what a good night's rest you had.
Everyone was at the breakfast table. Well, almost everyone. Amelia was there as was Gourry. They would leave after breakfast. Sylphiel and Filia were there. They would begin classes right after breakfast. Naga was there. She would begin her Princess duties after breakfast as well. Xellos was there. He was waiting for Lina to appear. As was everyone else.
"I wonder where she is?" asked Gourry, echoing everyone's thoughts. "She's never late to breakfast." Trust Gourry to state the obvious for you after five minutes of thinking.
"She seemed fine last night." said Naga. She was also mixing up a drink with other bottles of wine. She then poured it into one bottle and her teacup. The bottle was then hid in her cape.
"Xellos, did you do anything to her?" asked Filia, eyeing Xellos suspiciously. She could feel her mace itching to pound his face...
"I did not." said Xellos.
"Well, she's not coming, it seems." said Amelia. "Perhaps she is tired. Well, I can't wait much longer. Xellos, if she doesn't come down for breakfast, you can check up on her and there will be extra food in the kitchen as always." She then started her breakfast.
Xellos couldn't really blame her or them... they all had a schedule to follow and they had to finish breakfast quickly. So he nodded and took a sip of his tea.
*****
Breakfast was over and done with. Naga had left, as had everyone else. Xellos concentrated behind his closed eyes and felt for Lina's presence. He wasn't too surprised that he felt it in the library...
He appeared there and saw an interesting sight... Lina was there, sleeping. Her hand held a quill with dried ink over her notebook while her other hand was under her head as she slept, glasses still perched on her nose. And all around her, were floating books that she had probably planned on reading... Oh, and there was an uneaten sandwich on the desk.
'Poor Lina chan.' he thought. 'She probably fell asleep writing something...' He tried to read what she wrote and shook his head. She really had the messiest handwriting in the world. He couldn't understand it by just looking at it. He'd have to spend some time deciphering it first.
With a little bit of magic, he lifted her up and put all the books on the desk. He arranged everything neatly and put up a 'Do not touch' sign on the desk. Then he carried her to her bedroom, where he promptly fixed the mess of covers on her bed and then tucked her in. He then went to her workstation in the library and tried to figure out her handwriting.
**(///^)**
Lina woke up some time after Xellos had tucked her in, not that she knew that. All she knew was that she was supposed to finish writing a sentence, but she was in bed, with no quill in her hand.
She sat up and stretched and yawned. Maybe she dreamed it all. Yeah... it was probably a dream. The play they watched was a dream, the notes she took were a dream. But, her hair was still in a ponytail, and she had her coat on, and her notebook wasn't on her desk as it usually was.
'OK, so maybe it wasn't a dream.... then why am I here?' She shrugged, freshened up, changed clothes and then appeared in the kitchen, and scared a poor maid there.
"Oh, I'm sorry." said Lina as she tried to calm the maid.
"Thank you, I'm fine." she said as she took in a deep breath. "I was just startled. Not many in the castle appear from nothing, miss."
"Oh... yeah, I guess." said Lina sheepishly. "Um, could I get something to eat?"
"Didn't you get any breakfast?" asked the maid.
"Um, no...." she said. Her stomach confirmed her. She blushed and the maid laughed.
"Here, have some!" said the maid. She quickly fixed up something for Lina to eat.
"Thanks!" said Lina. She bowed slightly and then vanished. The maid smiled and continued on her way. Lina was so naive when she couldn't feel her sister around. ^^
*****
Beastmaster frowned and cursed and through things at the wall. She was very mad. She was very angry. She was very annoyed and tired of it all! Stupid Dragons. Ceipheed always thought he was right! Stupid Ceipheed! Sending his Dragons after her Mazoku!
"Men are Stupid!!!!" she shouted. That included her brother, it included Xerxes, it included Xellos for having left her .....
"I am surrounded by idiots!" she shouted.
Why was she so mad? Well, let's say a Mazoku just came and told her about a super strong human that could send Dragons and Mazoku into the Astral and lock them up in there....
*****
Madabar winced as she felt the screams of rage and waves of anger flow from Zelas. She screamed loudly, but the anger was quite delicious.
'Silly Zelas,' she thought. 'You think you can just threaten me and get away with it? We shall see about that.' She then turned back to the matter at hand. One of the Seven Dwarves from the Prophecy had woken up. She was sure he was a Dwarf. That meant that the others would soon wake up. BUT! If the others didn't wake up, then the Prophecy couldn't be fulfilled.... so.... Madabar smiled. The first one had been Zelgadis Greyweirs... one of her traveling companions... maybe if she could finish him off? No, now that he was awake, he was a more formidable opponent,... but the others hadn't woken up yet. If she only knew the characteristics of the Seven Dwarves... Then she could find them and kill them before they awoke...
*****
"Hi Xellos!" said Lina as she walked into the library, eating some food for breakfast.
"Hi Lina chan! Good morning!" he said chirpily as he studied her notes.
"Are you reading my notes?" asked Lina as she walked over to where he was sitting.
"I'm trying to." said Xellos wryly. "You know, you have got to have the worst handwriting ever."
"What do you mean, worst?" asked Lina sharply.
"Exactly that." said Xellos.
"Some people are so picky..." said Lina as she sat by him. "OK, I'll tell you what I found."
"Yeah! I can rest my eyes!" said Xellos. Lina bopped him on the head.
"Not like your handwriting is much better." said Lina jokingly.
"It's better than yours!" said Xellos.
"Yeah right." said Lina. And she told him the story of Red Fire and the Seven Dwarves.
"Red Fire and the Seven Dwarves... by Albuntra the Sage
Once upon a time, there was a pretty girl with brilliant red hair. She was a dear little child, with eyes just as bright and red as her hair. Because of that, she was often called Red by her stepmother or Fire by her friends. Her stepmother was a very vain lady, who was only a little older than Fire, since she had married at a young age. The father/husband had died and left the two girls living in a house.
One day, the Evil Stepmother, called Jizbella, summoned up her mirror.
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall." she said. "Who is the prettiest of them all?"
The mirror, which was a magic mirror, told her in a very serious fashion. "You, my dear, are a pretty lady, but Red Fire, she is a beauty beyond compare despite her lack in physical maturity. Her eyes have caught the gleam of rubies while her hair has the shine of molten lava..."
"OK, shut up. I get the point." said Jizbella. When the mirror didn't pay attention to her, she threatened to break its surface. It quickly shut up. She then paced back and forth, and back and forth...
"For years I have lived in the shadow of that girl. Her father doted on her. He would bring home fruits, and he'd offer them to her first! It was my birthday, and what did he bring home? A small doll for the girl. How I hate that girl! And now, she thinks she can take my beauty away from me? We shall see about that!" And an evil plan began to form in her mind.
Meanwhile, Red Fire was in the house preparing lunch when she heard her stepmother laugh an evil laugh.
"Stepmother sure is happy today." thought Fire to herself. She was preparing a picnic for herself so that she could go out in nature and enjoy herself. Suddenly, her stepmother came in.
"Red, are you making your picnic lunch?" she asked.
"Yes honorable Stepmother." said Fire obediently.
"Here, I will make you something." said Jizbella. She quickly fixed up a fruit salad for her. When Red wasn't looking she sprinkled some powder on it, and some sugar also. "Here you go, Red! Have fun! Don't stay out too late!"
"Thank you honorable Stepmother." said Fire with a smile. "I'll be back!" With that, Fire took her picnic basket and skipped out of the house.
On her way to her favorite glade, she decided to take a short cut, so she skipped through the forest. Now, Fire Red wasn't just a normal little girl. She was strong and could easily defend herself, so she wasn't too worried about being in danger. Besides, she was a dear friend to all the animals.
While she was walking, she came across a little cottage. Curious, Fire Red knocked on the door, but no one answered. She opened the door and went in. Inside she found a bunch of dirty dishes and plates all over the place, and many covering a little table that had seven little chairs.
"Oh, how cute!" she said and sat on one. She didn't quite fit and decided to not sit lest she break the dear chair. "My, this place is very dirty!" she said. So, with a stubborn look, she set to washing up all the plates. When she finished she nodded to herself with satisfaction. All the plates where squeaky clean and she didn't waste water. Stepmother would have been so proud. Then she spied some stairs. Taking her picnic basket in one hand she went up and saw a room with seven little beds. Each bed had a name on it. She read them to herself."
"At this point, I'm just inventing names up, Xellos." said Lina.
"How come?" asked Xellos.
"No one knows for sure the actual names, since the original manuscript was lost. These are the names I made up for them." said Lina, and she continued to read.
"A, B, C, D, E, F, and G." read Fire Red.
"Wait a minute." said Xellos as he interrupted. "You call those names?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, it isn't the easiest thing to name imaginary dwarves, you know." said Lina crossly. "Now, let me read."
"What cute little beds!" said Fire Red. "But they are all messy and not tucked in!" And indeed they weren't. So, Red Fire promptly made all the beds and was so tired at the end that she collapsed on E's bed.
Now, although Red Fire didn't know this, this was the house of seven hard working dwarves who worked in a nearby restaurant called 'The Seven Dwarves'. They always left to work early in the morning and came back late at night. So, they finally made it home. Once they got there....
"This door has been left open!" said C. He turned to B. "You did shut the door, right?"
"I'm pretty sure I did. I think. I hope." said B.
"Let's go in and see if there is anything missing." said G. So they did.
"Oh look! Someone washed all the plates!" said B excitedly. "Now I don't have to wash them anymore!"
"Is anything missing?" asked D. He then sneezed.
"Bless you." said G. "I don't think so."
"Well, then, I don't care." said E. "As long as everything is clean and nothing is missing, I say we should leave it be."
"Yeah!" said A. "Maybe a good and kind fairy came and cleaned it for us!" He was a very optimistic Dwarf.
"Perhaps we should just leave it be?" asked F, repeating E. G nodded. D sniffed the air.
"I smell something different!" he said.
"It's just your imagination." said E. "You're too sleepy. Let's go to bed!"
"Yeah! Lets!" chimed in everyone. But G took one more look around the room and D sniffed it a bit. E was the first one up and he threw himself on his bed. That is when he realized that something was wrong.
Fire Red woke up with a start. She felt someone jump on her. She imagined the worst case scenario. Immediately, she panicked, screamed, grabbed whoever it was and threw him across the room. Then she leapt out of bed, grabbed a chair and brandished it in the direction of the dwarves.
"Who are you? What do you want?" she asked.
"Um... you were sleeping on my bed." said E from the corner of the room. "I think it's my right to ask what YOU are doing on my bed."
"And in our house!" said G.
"See! I told you I smelled something!" said D.
"Who is she?" asked B. "I don't recognize her." Some minutes later... after all the confusion was sorted out...
"So, you are dwarves that live here?" asked Fire.
"Yes. And you are the one that made our beds and cleaned the kitchen?" asked G.
"Yes." said Fire.
"No one told me we got a maid." said B.
"That's cause we don't, idiot." said E.
"Oh my, I just realized! My stepmother must be worried about me!" said Fire. "I must get home!"
"No, stay with us tonight, Fire." said A, who really liked Fire. "It is too dark outside and you might get lost. You can go in the morning. Stay till it's morning."
"I can?" asked Fire. "Oh thank you!"
"Yeah, I guess." said G.
"It'll be fun!" said F.
"Maybe she can cook something yummy!" said B.
"Yeah." said D.
"I have my picnic basket. Let's eat that!" said Fire. The dwarves agreed heartily and Fire brought out her food, but she left the fruit salad in because it would be for dessert. Everyone ate up.
"It is very good!" said B.
"She has better food than the restaurant." said F.
"Who made it?" asked A.
"I did." said Fire with a smile.
"Wow, you're good." said G. "If you have time, maybe you can give us some tips for our restaurant!"
Finally they finished eating, but everyone was so tired and stuffed that they didn't want dessert. While Fire wanted to eat, she wanted to eat it with her friends. So, she decided to eat it the next day. She put it into a cooling box.
The next day, she tried to wake up early, but she didn't. She was too tired and she slept in. The dwarfs tried to wake her up but couldn't since it was getting late, they decided to let her sleep in. B wanted to eat some salad, but G pulled him away and told him to not eat it because it was Fire's food.
Fire woke up feeling refreshed and quite good. She realized that the dwarves had left to work and left her a note telling her to take care and that they hoped they would see each other again. She smiled. They were so fun! She decided to leave them the salad and went out of the house, locked the door, (G always carried the key) and went home. But as she neared her home, she realized something was different. First, there was mad laughter coming from the house. She crept closer and saw her Stepmother dancing around.
"Ahahaha!" she laughed. "She is gone! No more Red. She has vanished. She is dead!"
Red felt many things at once, things like betrayal, sadness, grief, anger.... and hope. Now, she could finally escape from this house! She climbed up the wall and went into her room where she grabbed her clothes, and important things, like the doll her dad gave her, her piggy bank, her scrapbook... And then she left.
She ran through the forest, not caring that branches where slapping her. She had to get away fast before her Stepmother noticed her. She made it back and then realized that the door was locked. She tried to get in through a window, but they were barred and too small to go through anyway. So she sat outside the door and went to sleep while waiting for the Dwarves.
The Dwarves came back home that night, and were surprised to find a sleeping Fire Red on their doorstep. So, they unlocked the door and took her in. Inside, they woke her up...
"Hey, Fire." said G when Fire opened her eyes.
"Oh, hi!" she said. "You guys finally came back!"
"What happened, Fire?" asked A.
"Stepmother thinks I'm dead and she's happy." said Fire.
"Oh, I'm sorry." said F. "You must feel devastated."
"I guess, I suppose so," said Fire hesitantly. "Truth be told, I've been waiting for an excuse to get out of that house."
"So, where are you going to stay?" asked B.
"Um... could I stay with you?" asked Fire. "I can cook, and clean and make the beds. I can stay here while you work, or I can help you work in your restaurant."
The dwarves talked among themselves.
"She cooks yummy." said B.
"She said she'd do the chores." said G.
"I think we should let her." said F.
"Besides, she doesn't have a home!" said A.
"OK, then let's keep her." said E
"Sure. She cooks better than any of us." said C.
"Let's!" said D.
"We have come to an agreement." said G to Fire.
"And we said Yes!" said A.
"So, could you cook us supper?" asked B.
"Sure!" said Fire happily. "Thank you so much!"
And Fire stayed with them. They planned a picnic for the next day and then, they would eat the fruit salad that Fire had with her.
Meanwhile, at Jizbella's house....
Jizbella ran around the house, mad with glee. She then ran to her room, combed her hair and put on some makeup. She then went to her mirror.
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall." she said happily. "Who is the prettiest of them all?"
The mirror's surface changed and many clouds appeared and finally came the face.
"You are," said the mirror. Jizbella smiled knowingly. "Or actually, you would be, if it were not for the one you call Red. For her beauty is unsurpassed on earth."
"What????!" asked Jizbella. "Isn't she dead?"
"No," said the mirror. "At this very moment, she is at the house of the Seven Dwarves."
Jizbella dismissed the mirror and thought quickly. Red was still alive, she still had to kill her. So, she smiled evilly to herself and planned another surprise for our heroine.
The next day, the dwarves had decided to take a day off to enjoy the picnic that Fire had planned for them.
"Yummy, yummy, yummy, food!" shouted B as he skipped along side her.
"Oh shut up." said C. But C was also excited, and kept trying to peek into the basket, along with D. E looked half asleep as he walked with them, but that was normal. F and A talked about restaurant matters while G listened. They made a nice looking group.
They finally made it to Fire's favorite glade to eat. And eat they did! They dug into all the good and yummy food. And for a surprise, Fire took out a huge, creamy and very delicious looking chocolate cake.
"Wow." said the dwarves. B's mouth began to water...
"I decided to make cake, since the fruit salad is probably going bad by now." said Fire. The basket was off to one side of the blanket. She was across the glade, having found a stump to put the cake on to facilitate the cutting of said cake.
"Yummy!" said the dwarves.
While Fire was cutting the cake, Jizbella watched them from behind a tree. She had asked her mirror where Fire was. And now knew what to do. From within the folds of her cloak, she took out a box.
"Go, my loyal supporters..." she whispered. "Go and kill them." And from within the box, came two spiders, with green and yellow markings on them.
"..." said the spiders, since spiders usually don't say much. And they went to the eight who were eating. Destination... Red and her friends.
Jizbella smiled. These were her special arachnids. One bite and the victim would suffer about 2 hours of agony and pain, and then they'd die, and that was that. Then, she'd be the most beautiful of them all.
A dug into his cake. He savored every bite and was in chocolate land. He was eating while he was standing up, and was twirling around on his foot. The other dwarves ignored him. A was like that. He sometimes got a little carried away...
From the arachnid point of view, A was a menace that should be stayed away from. If one of A's feet fell on them, they'd be dead. So, they skirted around A. And chose another victim.
"Here you go, B!" said Fire as she handed him a slice of cake.
"Yummy! Yummy, yummy, yummy cake!" he said. "Thanks Fire! You're the best!" He sat down on a rock and started to eat it.
'A ha!" thought a spider as he spied him sitting down. He crawled up and was about to bite into the victim, when B stood up abruptly, causing the bug to fall off the rock.
"Done!" he said! The spider was surprised. Done already?
"You're finished already!?" asked Fire. "OK, wait until everyone gets their cake and then you can get a second slice."
"Yeah!" said B. He then ran over to A and tried to get him to share his cake.
The spiders were not deterred. They chose their next victim, C.
"Here you go, C." said Fire. "Enjoy!"
"Thank you, Fire!" said C. He spied a rock and was about to sit down when he decided not to. He saw a broken stump, and he went over there. No, he didn't want to sit there either. The spiders sighed in exasperation. When was the silly dwarf going to sit down? They followed him again. It may have been easy for the dwarf to go from the rock to the stump, but for the spiders it was a longer distance.
"What's wrong, C?" asked G.
"Won't you sit down?" asked Fire.
"I will. As soon as I find a place that isn't moldy or dirty!" said C. Fire and everyone else sweat dropped.
"Go sit on a tree or something." said D.
"That's a good idea!" said C. And he climbed up the tree with his cake and sat there. The spiders looked at the tree and then at each other. No way they were going to climb the tree. Next. One look at D, and they decided to bypass him. D was arguing with B because D didn't want to give B some of his cake. They were running around. Enough said. They choose their next victim.... E. Now, E looked very easy. He had finished eating his cake and was on the blanket taking a snooze. The spiders nudged each other and pointed, stifling spider giggles. Then quietly, they skittered to where E was sleeping. Seeing that he wasn't moving, one of the spiders approached and looked around. It seemed too good to be true, but it looked like it would work out! Most of the dwarfs were looking elsewhere, and Fire was occupied. So, the spider bit E's pinkie. And broke his fangs.
The other spider looked surprised. That had never happened before! The spiders ran to hide under a rock.
E woke up.
"I dreamed that something bit me." said E suddenly.
"Huh?" asked Fire.
"He gets dreams many times since he falls asleep so often." said F.
"Oh, and what was it about?" asked Fire.
"A bug bit me." said E. The spiders listened.
"That's awful!" said Fire. "Does that usually happen?"
"Bugs biting me?" asked E. "No, not often. I have a curse on me. My skin is as hard as rock. Any insect that would try would get their stinger broken."
"Oh... that's good!" said Fire.
"No, it's not!" said E. "I want to be a normal dwarf! Why me? Why do I have to be the cursed one? Why can't I get stung and poisoned by bugs like normal dwarves???"
Fire looked surprised. "Just ignore him." said G to Fire. "He gets like this every once in a while."
F got the next piece. This time, there was only one spider that could bite. The other one was nursing a hurt jaw. Now, F seemed like a very calm dwarf. He had his cake and was sitting on a rock and eating it slowly. Too good to be true? Yeah, the spider thought so also. So he watched the dwarf and made sure it would stay there and not do anything weird. As soon as he was sure, he skittered quickly to where the dwarf was. But by the time he got there, the dwarf had finished and was standing up and doing stretches. The spider snapped its imaginary fingers. If he had only walked a little faster. Now that the dwarf was stretching and moving around, he would have to be careful he wasn't stepped on.
The other spider watched him and sighed... that idiot. The first spider finally made it safely to the rock and they talked amongst themselves. This was not working. If they could cause a scandal, then the others would drop their guard and it'd be that much easier to bite them and kill them all. So, the spider set out to bite Fire.
"Here, G!" said Fire. "Here's your piece of cake!" G took the plate. "Wait a sec, let me get you a spoon..." Her hands roamed for the spoon. "Oh goodness! I forgot it in the basket!" She ran to the picnic basket. She looked back, not looking where she was going. "Hang on a sec!"
The spider with the broken fangs gasped. The spider that was running to Fire halted and turned back. Too late....
CRUNCH
Fire looked down...
"Eeww..." she said. "I stepped on a spider. That's gross!" She ran the bottom of the shoe to get the spider gunk off her sole. G looked at the spider critically. Then she saw the other one under the rock. The one under the rock saw G's look, gulped and ran away.
"Why looking so angry, G?" asked Fire as she gave G her spoon.
"I thought I saw something." said G.
And Jizbella, seeing her poor toothless spider decided it was no use fighting against people who could so easily handle her killer spiders. So, she settled down for second best....
"Mirror, mirror on the wall," she said. "Who's the second fairest of them all?"
"Not you." said the mirror impudently.
THE END"
"That's it?" asked Xellos after the story was finished.
"Yeah, that's it." said Lina. "Don't you remember the names of the dwarves from the play?"
"Um, no... actually, didn't the announcer say that no one was sure of the names so they decided to name the dwarfs, John, Elkinor, Luke, Matthew, Serge, Ramzas and..."
"And Tim." said Lina. "See what I mean? No one knows the exact names..."
"Anyway, this story seems a bit more complete than the play we watched." said Xellos.
"If you will remember," said Lina. "The play we watched was performed by children around seven. Obviously some parts have been skipped. This is as complete as I could find it."
"OK." said Xellos. "Step back and watch how the master solves these things...." Lina raised an eyebrow and motioned for him to go on.
"Perhaps we can't find their names, but we can find their characteristics." said Xellos. "Wait, this was written after the prophecy, right?"
"Of course it was!" said Lina. "If it weren't, then why would I spend so much time looking it up?"
"Just making sure Lina chan." said Xellos. He took out a sheet and wrote down the side, A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Lina looked at his handwriting jealously. "And yes, I know, my handwriting is so much better than yours."
"You blind fruitcake!" she shouted and hit him on the head. "Now, get to work on it!"
"Yes ma'am." said Xellos as he saluted her smartly.
"Show off!" said Lina with a smile.
Author's notes... As you may have noticed, this is the end of chapter 20. The reason the chapter was so long was that I included the fairy tale in the second part. I hope I didn't bore you with the story. I guess you could have skipped it if you felt like it, but there are various hints in the story about the identities of the Seven Dwarfs. All the Dwarf's (A, B, C, D, E, F, G) conversations are hints to their true identities also. Oh, and BTW, I don't own Disney. I just borrowed the story, and twisted it a bit... and voici la storiette! ^^ So, hope you enjoyed this and didn't bore yourselves to tears.... So, till next time! The next chapter will take a little longer, since school is starting for me today, Tuesday.... *sniff, sniff, wail, sniff* So, when you read this, please remember this poor little authoress, who has to go to school and toil through all her AP classes because someone took control over her when she was signing up for classes. (I'm taking three AP classes.....I'm gonna so die this next year.....*sniff, sniff* And there goes my perfect GPA....^^ OK, so it's not perfect, but I'm planning on it for next year with so many AP things............Of course, my friend says that universities don't really look to hard at your senior grades............ Oh,... life is hard.... and I don't make it easier on myself.... ^^ OK, enough of my complaints. Please read and review. And send me reviews to cheer me up! Please??????????? OK, you don't have to if you don't want to... but you are all very nice and considerate people, right????! *looks eagerly at the audience* ^^ OK, enought with this. Thank you everyone who has valiantly reviewed. Thank you so much! Consider yourself hugged till you turn purple. ^^ Take care! Hotaru
Quotes
Million-to-one chances crop up nice times out of ten. -Granny Weatherwax
Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's heaven for? -Rober Browning
The poor man is not he who is without a cent, but he who is without a dream. -Harry Kemp