Title: Slayers Gateway: Discovery

By: Slayersgrl (slayersgrl@yahoo.com)
Disclaimer: I don't own the Slayers… just borrowing them…

A/N: This is the first in a trilogy I'm working on. Only the first part, Discovery, is done so far… Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

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Lina sat at a table, peacefully sipping a cup of iced tea. She had finally gotten some time to relax by herself. After her little 'incident' from the other day, the others had wisely decided to leave her alone for a while. Adara, however, didn't seem to get the hint. Lina peered over her shoulder and frowned. The strange girl was still sitting a few tables back, staring at her.

On the far side of the restaurant sat the rest of the group.

"That girl sure knows the fastest way to get blown up." Zel said to no one in particular.

Amelia sighed in agreement. "If she's not careful, she could get this whole town destroyed!" Lina then stood up and started walking towards their table. "Uh oh! Here she comes…" Amelia whispered.

Gourry dove under the table while Zel just shook his head.

Once Lina reached them, Xellos smiled and cheerfully greeted her. "Hello Lina! I see you've finally decided to join us!"

"Not quite…" She grabbed the unsuspecting Mazoku and pulled him towards Adara. "I need you to be a distraction while I get away from her." They were almost at the table so Lina lowered her voice to a whisper. "Just make sure she stays here, got it?"

Then Adara interrupted. "Miss Inverse! I've been meaning to talk to you. I…"

"Well, I don't have time to talk right now. But I'm sure Xellos glare can answer your questions for now."

"Uh ok." Adara answered uncertainly. But Lina had already gone back towards the other table. She grabbed Gourry and rushed out the door.

Xellos sat down across from the young sorceress. "So Miss Adara, I hope this meeting can be more pleasant than the last."

Adara laughed nervously. "Oh, sorry about that! I was just startled. How did you do that anyway?"

"That… well, that's a long story… Besides, we aren't here to talk about me."

"Oh right! So, tell me everything about Lina!"

"Everything?" the Mazoku asked mysteriously.

On the other side of the restaurant, Amelia and Zel found themselves alone at the table. They sat there for a while in an awkward silence until one of them decided to start a conversation.

"So, Mr. Zelgadis, how's your hotpot?" Amelia asked nervously.

Zel looked up. "Huh? Oh, it's fine." He then paused and added, "You can finish it if you want. I'm not really hungry."

Amelia blushed. "Are you sure? Well, ok, if you really don't want it…" Zel pushed his plate over towards Amelia in response.

Silence settled over the table again. Then Zel decided he should probably say something. "I wonder where Lina ran off to… She's been acting rather strange lately."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I wonder why she dragged Gourry along with her… I would have thought she'd want some time alone. Especially after the way Adara's been following her around."

Zel glanced over to where the girl was still talking to Xellos. "Speaking of Adara, I can't help but wonder what Xellos is telling her about Lina…"

"Really!" Adara asked incredulously. "Lina did THAT!"

Xellos laughed at the young sorceress' reaction. "Well, more or less… But let's just keep this conversation between ourselves. It'll be our little secret, ok?"

She was slightly confused but agreed. "Ok. Sure."

Meanwhile, Lina had managed to drag Gourry all the way to the edge of the woods. But once there, she had to stop to catch her breath. All the while she continually glanced over her shoulder to make sure Adara hadn't managed to follow her. Luckily, she was nowhere in sight. Lina then turned her attention to Gourry. He was sitting on the ground where she had dumped him. One of his usual expressions of confusion was on his face.

"Lina, what are we doing all the way out here? You made us leave all that food back there!"

"Oh right! I totally forgot about the food!" Well, there was nothing she could do about that now. There was no way she was going back there! Not yet anyway… "Don't worry about it Gourry. We can get some more food later." Lina then started walking into the forest.

Gourry slowly stood up and walked after her. "Uh, where are we going?"

"Nowhere really. I just felt like taking a walk."

"Oh. Then why did you bring me along?"

Lina didn't answer right away. She actually wasn't really sure why she had brought him along. It just seemed like the thing to do at the time.

Luckily, Gourry seemed to have forgotten about the question. He was now preoccupied with trying to disentangle himself from a tree branch that was caught on his shirt. Lina sighed and went to help him. As she reached over to unhook the branch, their hands touched briefly. Lina suddenly found herself blushing. She cautiously looked up to see Gourry's reaction. Their eyes met for a mere second and then…

Whack! Lina quickly hit Gourry over the head and then turned around to start walking again. "I can't believe I just did that!" she scolded herself. She barely managed to restrain from looking behind her.

Suddenly, Lina found herself falling face first to the ground. She slowly picked herself up and looked to see what she had tripped over. In the middle of the forest path, almost completely covered with dirt, was a small metal box. After retrieving the ornately decorated box from the earth, Lina slowly pried it open. Gourry peered over her shoulder so he could see too.

The only object inside the box was a neatly folded piece of paper. Lina slowly opened the paper so she wouldn't rip it. But as soon as she saw what was written, she screamed. "It just had to be in some ancient language, didn't it!?!"

Gourry took the slip of paper from the raving sorceress. He then tried looking at it from all different angles. Finally, he reached his conclusion. "Yup, it's definitely in some other language."

After thinking about what he had just said, he realized it was too late… He quickly covered his head as he waited for Lina to do something. When nothing happened, Gourry slowly looked around. Lina wasn't anywhere to be found. "Uh, Lina? Where'd you go?"

Gourry decided he'd wait there for a while and see if she'd come back.

Some distance away, Lina finally stopped running and paused to catch her breath. She leaned back against an old tree and closed her eyes. "What's wrong with me?" she thought. "Why did that stupid note make me so mad?" However, deep down inside, she realized that it hadn't been the note. "No, it wasn't that…" she argued with herself, realizing the true reason for her anger. "I don't even like him like that. We're just friends… That's all!" Frustrated, Lina slowly sat down, deep in thought…

Dusk soon settled over the quiet town. One by one, the stores closed for the night. As the last golden ray of daylight disappeared from the sky, only one business remained open…

"Aren't they ever going to leave?" the restaurant owner mumbled to himself as he glanced at the only remaining customers: a certain young princess, a fire sorceress, a gloomy chimera, and a mysterious priest.

Amelia took another sip at her drink and then glanced at the door for what seemed like the thousandth time. "Where are Miss Lina and Mr. Gourry? I hope they didn't get lost."

Before Zel could respond, however, Gourry suddenly appeared in the doorway. "Mr. Gourry! There you are!" exclaimed Amelia as she ran over to him. Then she noticed that someone was missing. "But where's Miss Lina?"

Gourry then told the others how they had found the box and then about how Lina had suddenly run off.

"But that was three hours ago!" Zel said in amazement. "Why didn't you tell us this sooner?"

"Uh, well… I waited to see if she would come back. And then, when she didn't, I decided I should come back here and tell you guys. But I kind of took a few wrong turns…"

Zel just sighed. "Alright, I guess we should go look for her then. Even though she'll probably be mad at us, she could be in trouble." He turned to Gourry. "Ok, do you think you could show us where you last saw her?" "Or is that too much to ask…" He thought the last part to himself…

To the delight of the restaurant owner, the strange group finally left.

By the time Gourry managed to lead them back, it was already completely dark out. Zelgadis' lighting spell cast eerie shadows over the trees. Adara and Amelia were both on the verge of screaming.

Xellos, on the other hand, was on the verge of laughter… He then had a devious idea. Slowly, he crept around behind the two frightened girls. And then he screamed as loud as he could.

The reaction wasn't quite what he was expecting. Amelia and Adara both shrieked. However, they then turned and each threw a fireball at him. Xel fell to the ground, covered in ash. "Maybe that wasn't such a good idea," he groaned.

Zelgadis smirked at Xellos' predicament and then turned back to the task at hand. "Well, Lina obviously isn't here. I suggest…"

But Zel never did get to finish his sentence. The two girls screamed again and pointed in Zel's direction. "What did I do?!" But then he realized they were pointing to something behind him. The chimera slowly turned, preparing himself for some hideous monster.

The 'hideous monster' turned out to be one missing red haired sorceress. In a flat, angry tone, she said "Why do you have to scream so loud! Can't a girl get any sleep around here!"

Everyone sweat dropped in unison.

Lina then calmed down a little. "Look, let's just get back to town. I'm sure we'll all be better in the morning."

The group silently agreed. They then began walking back the way they had come. Lina glanced at Xellos curiously, but decided it was better not to ask…