The Slayers: Lina Zelgadiss Xelloss Gourry Amelia Val Filia Sylphiel

.

~*~ Seyruun Summer High Jinx Special! ~*~

Part Seven

"I am Soooo glad to be outta that hell-hole. Oh, you just can't imagine how utterly boring…Ah, hah! Lina, would ya take a look at the hot bod over yonder. He's goin' into the miniature golf place. Come on, Lina, we have TO GO THERE! And, um, you too, Sissy-bug." The dark-haired, statuesque young woman grabbed Lina's arm and yanked her off her feet.

"But Miss Gracia! You know we only agreed to take you to lunch. What will the administrators at the Heavenly Helpers Ranch do if we return with you too late?" Amelia, 'sissy-bug', dug in her heals and clung to Lina's other arm tenaciously.

"Lina? Do you hear the buzzing of a little bug? A kind of whining, annoying repetitive sound?" Nahga, 'Gracia', asked in a raspy whisper.

"Both of you… now. Let go of me! Or I will blow…" Lina growled in a low voice.

"That's right, Lina. You always were an independent little squirt. Well, I'm gonna have me one good time this summer and it's starting with meeting up with that guy over there right now!" Nahga released Lina's arm and made a run for it.

"Amelia, after her!" Lina shouted.

"On it, Miss Lina!" Amelia cried.

The object of Nahga's affections had already entered the park, and since she had no money for admittance, Miss Nahga was left in the lurch, holding the bag, seriously dumped.

Lina and Amelia found her clinging to the cyclone fence, calling, or something like that.

"OH, ho,ho,ho,hooooooo! Wait up for us!"

It looked so pathetic that Lina bought them all tickets (using Amelia's money). "Miniature golf, go figure," she chuckled.

As it turned out, the three unlikely companions enjoyed the game.

Lina was determined to win, and did, but at fourteen over par, it was a weak victory. Amelia came in second with a 'really good' twenty-one over par. Nahga, well, her head just wasn't in the game, to be sure. They stopped counting after she reached forty-something over par. She considered it a victory, however, when her four inch putt resulted in a forty-two yard flight down the fairway into Adam's game.

Adam was this day's heart-throb. It could have been any 16 to 25 year old of the male persuasion, but Adam had caught Nahga's eye. Now that she had run the course in pursuit of her wayward golf ball, jumping the obstacles and other players like hurdles on a track, she planted herself in front of her quarry and held out a hand.

Now, Nahga had caught his eye as well. Both eyes nearly popped out at the vision filling Adam's field of view. Nearly as tall as him, she wore her long, straight black hair loosely flowing around hers shoulders and ample breasts, which appeared about to lurch out of her skimpy black tank top as she gasped for air. The top barely grazed her lower ribcage, revealing a skull-pierced belly-button above a low-slung black leather belt that didn't seem to be holding up anything. Her long tanned legs sprouted from black cut-offs, which were a mite too cut-off, he noted, as she bent over to pick up her golf ball.

"Got it! Say, huff, puff my name's Nahga. Thanks for saving this from going into the water for me!" she smiled and lowered her eyelids halfway.

He adjusted his glasses and his smile, then ran a hand through his light brown hair. He extended his other hand to shake hers and said, "Adam, and I, ah, really didn't do much. I, ah, don't even think I saw the water…"

He looked over his shoulder to see if, indeed, there WAS any water to see; that is, he MEANT to do that, but he couldn't take his eyes off Nahga. She had that effect on men.

"Awww, you are just too sweet…Adam. You know, I'm kinda thirsty and I'm way far ahead of my teammates. How 'bout you and I get some refreshment? Over there…" she took his arm and directed him to the snack bar.

He nodded vacantly, stunned by his incredible good fortune to have stumbled onto this vision of young womanhood beyond his wildest college-freshman, physics-major imagination (much less experience).

Meanwhile, Lina and Amelia continued to plug away, knocking those little white balls through the windmill, around the sandtrap, and over the bridge from one hole to the next, until, sometime later, they reached the end of the game and looked around for their missing teammate.

"Miss Lina? I think that's her, over by the snack bar," Amelia cried out.

"Oh yeah? Is there some guy with drool dripping out of the corner of his mouth with her? Do they serve alcohol here? Better hurry then," Lina suggested.

"OH, ho, ho, hooooooooooooooooooo! Here come my little sis and my little friend. Yoooooooooo-hooooooooo! Over here! Did you have a nice game? Oh, yeah, who won? Lina, naturally, what was I thinking? Oh, this is Adam. Adam, this is Amelia, my widdle sister. And the under-developed little one is Lina Inverse. Perhaps you've heard of her? They're singers in this little band back home, called the Slayers, right girls?"

Adam was nodding, some. He had most likely lost part of his hearing due to her ear-piercing laughter.

Lina looked squint-eyed at Nahga.

Amelia gave her big sister a hard look.

"What's in the glass, Nahga?" Lina asked.

"Ginger-ale. Want some?" Nahga offered her her glass.

Lina snatched it out of her hand and sniffed it, then exhaled, "It's okay, Amelia. It's what she says."

Nahga appeared a bit miffed, but didn't want to seem foolish in front of her current 'beau', so she said instead, "I myself am quite famous! Perhaps you have heard of me, the Great White Serpent? Exotic dancer in Sairaag? Oh, yes, I'm soooo famous that they have to taste my food before I eat… In case it's poisoned… The competition is THAT tough… Helloo- hoooooo?"

Nahga waved her hand in front of Adam's face.

"Oh, brother…" Lina sighed.

Amelia whipped out a handkerchief and held it to the poor young man's bloody nose. "Gracia, back off a bit. Can't you see he's under a great deal of stress here? He needs air!"

"Ah, you're getting him confused with Zelgadiss, that other nerd from home," Lina said in a low voice.

"Miss Lina! How unjust of you to talk about him when he's not even here to defend himself!" Amelia cried.

"Geesh… I only said," Lina muttered under her breath. She was no longer amused.

"And weren't you the one to outlaw the name calling? That was the right thing to do and I was so proud of how you stopped the nastiness going on at the table!" Amelia grinned.

"Well, actually…that didn't cover me. It was mostly to protect Xelloss and…"

"Yes, I know. You weren't worried about yourself. You are the strongest person I know, Miss Lina! You wanted to protect those who were weaker from the unrighteous jibs and barbs of the cruel barbarians…" Amelia shouted. She was standing with one foot on the table and the other on her chair, balancing herself with an outstretched hand on Adam's head.

"What is she all charged up about?" Nahga asked Lina from behind her hand and leaning over toward her friend.

"Beats me. So, what do you want to do about Adam here? You can't take him back to the ranch, ya know," Lina reminded her friend.

"No? Too, bad, huh? So, Adam? Eyes up here! You work or are you a student someplace?" Nahga asked.

"Me? I'm at the university, Seyruun University. I don't suppose you know the place?" he blushed.

"Seyruun? Why, my father's the Mayor! Well, what do ya know? What a small world! Tell ya what. Here's my card…no, can't give ya that one, wrong address… ah… Sissy-bug?"

Amelia frowned at the use of her baby-fied pet name.

"Amelia, you wouldn't have a card with our home number on it, would you…dear?" Nahga smiled engagingly.

Amelia considered for a moment. He was a student, nice looking, clean, probably way too good for her sister, but… "Yes I do!" she said at last, having decided that her daddy would have approved.

She plowed through her tiny pink purse until she found a simple pink card with black engraving. She handed it over to Adam with a blue pen. "You'll want to mark out my name and write my sister's; that's 'N' 'A' 'H' 'G' 'A'.

"Thank you… Amelia. Wow, you really are the Mayor's daughters! I can't believe my luck today! And to think, I had to come all the way out here to meet… the girl of my dreams… when you've been right under my nose all the time…" he said dreamily.

"Oh, pul-leeese!" Lina griped. "Although there is a lot of her under his nose right now…" she added under her breath.

"Hey, Nahga. I hate to break this all up and all, but we gotta be back before dinner to all get in showers. So why don't you two find a good way to say…'see ya in fall' and let's get goin'!" Lina suggested.

Lina had had enough romance and strained familial relationships for one day. Time to eat and go swimming. That was her plan, and it was time to do some Lina stuff, right?

~*~

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:~ Val's Dream ~:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:

He was waking up from a bad dream about dragons killing one another and thinking that he'd ask his mother to read a book about robots for his next bedtime story, when the eerie feeling he'd had in the dream returned, big time.

He coughed and sat up crying, "Momma…MOMMA!"

"Shhhh, Val. I'm here…" she called out in a strained voice. "We have to go. Quickly now, put on your sweatshirt while I finish packing a few things."

"But, Momma? I'm sick! It's dark! Where are we going?"

Val's mother flew out of the room, too busy to answer. He pulled on his top and waited. Something was wrong about the light outside. It was night and nowhere near full moon, but the sky was glowing. He crept to the window for a peek and saw brilliant flashes below in the valley. A storm. It must be a storm, but he'd never seen one like that before. He thought he saw clouds of dust marring the familiar outlines of the tall civic center. Must be fog or clouds…very low clouds.

"Oh, Val…come away from that window. We've got to hurry…" his mother insisted.

Somehow in the confusion of dreams, the little boy found himself being half carried, half dragged down through endless dark tunnels, the ringing of his mother's frantic heels on the hard stone the only clue to his whereabouts. A rabbit hole, just like falling down a rabbit hole. They were going into the mountain caverns beneath the temple, his home.

"Momma, I want to go back to the temple and back to my bed, not down here!"

"It isn't safe there, dearest. We must wait in the catacombs for your father, brothers, and sisters to return. Let's hurry and find your special room."

Val dreamed of crying and waking and sleeping, holding his toy and wishing the morning would come. When it came, his world had changed forever.

He had stayed with his mother below the temple for four days and nights before they decided to leave. His father had not returned, no one had come to tell them all was safe for them to resurface, but the food supply was running low. His mother led him up to the temple and out to the lookout beneath a natural stone overhang. There they viewed the desolation of what had once been their entire world.

In silence, they picked their way down the mountain path, hidden from the road to the temple. The bridge across the ravine cutting their path was out, damaged by a fallen tree. And there his mother stopped. She could go no further. Together they sat in mourning, the little boy on her lap, and cried for the dead.

Val's dream wove non-sequential memories into a fluid psycho-drama.

Out of the rising mists and half-light came a tall man of gigantic proportions. His mane of hair glowed with the reflection of thousands of raging fires. He spoke and carried him and his mother to a car. The pleading voice of his mother was interwoven with the sounds of a heavy crate being loaded into a trunk and of suitcases flung onto the floor near where he lay curled up on the back seat. Then they drove off.

The car bumped and crashed over a debris strewn road. The little boy wondered why this man couldn't just drive on the nice smooth road like his daddy did. His head was hurting. He must have slept.

The nightmare continued when he woke up. The stranger's voice was low and harsh as he told them of an accident, a plane crash, the death of his father, brothers and sisters. He would have a new home. He would have a new name, Val Gaav.

"Owww…" Val moaned as his mind broke free of one nightmare and shifted to a waking one equally terrifying. "Xelloss? Milgasia? Hey! Where are you?! Can you heeeeeeeeeeeeeeaar meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

Clasping a limp arm to his chest, he tried to sit up. "Gahhhh…"

A drizzle of blood dripped from his forehead onto his torn and dirty jeans. He released the arm and put a hand to his head, "Shit…A lump the size of ma brain…"

He wiped off the blood with his sleeve and tried sitting up again. "Ugh… What's with my arm? My shoulder… ugh… I hope I didn't break anything…"

He tried calling more, but the only answer was his own desperate voice echoing back from the semi-darkness.

"Where in the seven hells AM I?" he wondered aloud. Then his hand touched a loose object. It was a child's toy, red with two balls that clinked together; his toy. Yes, now he knew where he was. He was in a cavern below the temple. "Well, now… I guess it wasn't all a bad dream, just bad…"

~*~

Milgasia had painstakingly removed hundreds of pounds of loose shale rock from around his lower body to free himself at last. It was clear that he had compound fractures in at least one of his legs and was lucky to be alive. Xelloss' dark form was resting nearby. The slow rise and fall of the kid's chest assured him that he was still alive, hopefully with only minor injuries. Val. He had no idea where that kid was. He had been right behind him when the mountain side gave way, but now…it was a new landscape and Val was not a part of it.

"Hope the car's safe," Milgasia sighed. No matter what, without a car they would be trapped here a very long time and looking at his shattered leg the man knew that without medical treatment fast, he'd be in serious trouble.

Inch by inch, he clawed his way over to Xelloss' still figure. Dragging both worthless legs behind him was exhausting. "Xelloss? Hey, kiddo…wake up!"

"Eh? Oh…whaaa…" Xelloss groaned and shook off the brain-muddying confusion. "Milgasia! Y-your legs…"

"Are broken. Yes, I can tell and before I pass out, you have to get me to the car. Can you do that? I ripped up the rest of my shirt to cover your arm…DON'T look! I stopped the bleeding but once you start moving it will probably start to ooze. Can you stand up again?"

"Ah, I guess so, if I did once… Val, where's Val?" Xelloss gasped as he finally took in the new topography.

"I-I don't know. I've been calling for the past hour or so, but he hasn't answered."

"I gotta look!" Xelloss screamed. Before Milgasia could stop him, he scrambled to his feet and started running, or trying to, and calling for Val.

Ten minutes later, returned to Milgasia, his hysterics barely under control. "He- He's gotta be here…someplace!"

Milgasia didn't answer.

"Hey! Don't YOU leave me!" Xelloss cried frantically.

Milgasia opened his eyes, now dull and passed a glazed look toward the car. "See if the car's okay, then come back for me."

"Car? Oh, yeah…what about the keys? Val had the keys! We have to find him!"

"No, I drove last, remember? I have the keys in my pocket, here, see if you can find them while I … Yes, there. Now go. Hurry, but be watchful for loose rocks!" Milgasia warned, then leaned back onto the sharp stones hoping he wouldn't pass out before Xelloss got back.

"I never realized what an excitable young man he was…" Milgasia thought to himself. "I guess it was that other one, Zelgadiss, with the cool composure…"

"Wake up! WAKE UP! Can you put any weight on that one leg? Let's try… The car's fine…"

Sometime later, hobbling and dragging, the two men reached the car. Xelloss opened the side doors and hauled Milgasia across the back seat. "Are you…oh, I can see you're not okay. I'll just start the car and…oh… I can't d-do this."

Xelloss pulled out his cellphone with a shaking hand, but it was unmistakably dead. Either it was damaged or the transmitting towers were too far away to pick up his signal.

One look at Milgasia and he knew that he was going to have to find a way safely down the 'road' by himself and find help—fast! And Val? Gods, what had happened to him? Please don't be… buried under all that rock… please…

"Xelloss?" Milgasia groaned from the back. "You must get started. Pull yourself together and drive. I know you can do this! I know you've been trained to cope with worse situations than this under stress. I can't drive or even sit up to help you find a path, but if we delay much longer it will start getting too dark to see at all! Understand?"

Xelloss nodded and brushed away tears brimming his eyes, "Okay…"

~*~

"All right, we've checked his ID. He's who you say he is and is in the ER. He'll be taken care of. You, on the other hand, had better get your face out of town before the sheriff comes and arrests you for assault!" the young woman warned Xelloss. "I'm sorry. I can see that you're hurt as well, but if I treat you, I could lose my job and…I mean it, there will be a sheriff here any moment and you had better be out of his jurisdiction."

Xelloss hesitated. He was one of the good guys now and didn't deserve to be treated this way. Seeing his doubt, the ER technician clarified his position, in the eyes of the town, "Every clan under Cephied knows you were responsible for the destruction of several White Shrines and then placing the blame on us only months ago. I don't understand why you're travelling with that clan leader, but you are in danger and he is unable to protect you."

"Thank you for your kindness," Xelloss muttered through gritted teeth. "But whatever lies you have heard about me are just that. Lies. Just make sure that that man gets the best of care."

Xelloss turned his dirt-streaked face away from her and considered his options. Milgasia would be safe here in clan territory. It wasn't his clan, but they were not openly hostile towards him. Val, what could he do for him? The sheriff MIGHT launch a search party, but not at HIS request, that was certain. He'd have to back track and find the first town out of clan control. Then what? Call…Mayor Phil of Seyruun, for one. Filia, McGywn… Whoa…Who's that?"

Xelloss slowed to a stop and watched two guys leave the bus depot carrying a large, long package and little else. They were not clan and he recognized them as two of Val's old friends. He lowered the window and called, "Jillas! Gravos!"

The two oddball characters trotted over. After trading very little information back and forth with one another, Xelloss barked, "Cut it out! I don't care what you're doing here, actually. I need your help. Val needs your help!"

Instantly the 'cool' charade was dropped and the two punks were jumping into the car and slamming doors. Xelloss explained what he could, but the part that stuck in their heads was that Val was lost around or under a rockslide.

"If I can get to a phone, I can get helicopter support here eventually, but first it's closer to drop you off near the fall so you can start searching before it gets too dark. The problem is, there's no place for you to stay out there…" Xelloss sighed in frustration.

As it turned out, the guys had a 'camp' in the mountains and a map. They were prepared for an overnight, they insisted, even though they had no packs or provisions. Xelloss' suspicions were roused, but he was quickly running out of options.

"Oh, yeah? Well, I won't ask questions. I'll drop you off here. I can't get much further up the road and the bridge is out. I'm not comfortable with just leaving you guys out here by yourselves like this, but…anyway. Do you can see the temple up there? Somewhere between it and that dark notch in the cliff is the slide area where I last saw Val. Ah, good luck and I'll send back-up as soon as possible!"

It would be sometime before he'd meet up with them again.

~*~

"Lina, I can't help thinking how similar our families once were," Amelia said in a reflective mood as they waited for their turns to shower.

"Yeah?"

"You and I, we had older sisters who were very out-going, taking paths that lead them to separate from the rest of the family. Our mothers were mild-mannered and weak, while our fathers were strong, brave, justice-seeking men!" Amelia cried, her little fist held high.

"Ah, yeah…"

"My mother died… of cancer… after a lengthy illness. It was awful. Miss Gracia and I were each holding a hand when she… Just. Stopped. Breathing. To feel death just take hold of a person and then simply… leave her body so void of…content and purpose and meaning. I can barely remember her, Lina, but I remember her death with all the clarity of what I ate for breakfast that morning."

"Maybe it was just as well that I didn't witness my father's death in Sairaag," Lina said in a lowered voice. "I gotta pretty good memory of our last meal too. Um, speaking of meals… Hey, Nahga! We want some of that hot water too! And I want dinner soon!"

"That's right!" Lina grinned, pushing past the dripping girl a head taller than herself. "MY turn!"

"Well, don't think that any of MY great beauty's gonna wash off onto you, short-stuff!" Nahga shouted after her. In a lower voice she added, "Though I have to admit, she'd got great hair…"

~*~

Xelloss drove by the gas station twice before deciding he had to fill the tank, regardless of the risk he might be taking. His cellphone still was silent, so after handing over a $50 bill with instructions, 'fill it', he trotted over to the pay phone.

"Come on Mayor… Ah…shit… the answering machine…Okay. Ah, this is Xelloss and I'm in trouble. Milgasia's in the hospital in the town nearest the Ancient clan's land but they think I'm evil incarnate and won't let me stay in town and Val's…g-gone, missing in, in a rock slide and send a helicopter please if you get this message in the next couple of hours…or start writing my obit if you don't…"

"Okay, another coin…Zel? Why aren't you answering? Okay, Nels Lahda, surely you…another damned answering machine, all right… McGywn? Hi, Mr. Officer-of-the-Day, it's Xelloss, can you hear me? I need to speak to officer… um, no…Detective McGywn, immediately. Yes, it's urgent! Can I hold? Well, not really… Huh? It's gone dead? What the…? Oh…"

A meaty hand clamped a pair of manacles around his wrists while two other gnarly pairs gripped his arms.

"I've been per-son-ally waiting to get my hands on this one, eh?" meat-hands chuckled humorlessly.

"Oh, yeah, question is, do we take him in now or force a confession outta him right now?" hissed gnarled-grips.

"Captain said ta bring him in to him first," answered meat-hands.

"Fine," sneered gnarled-grips, clearly disappointed.

Xelloss was pushed into the back of the police car, driven the five blocks to the station, then yanked out by his sore arm. The wound reopened and blood seeped through the makeshift bandage. Xelloss could feel the dampness and he had a choice. Look and escape the torture, for a short time, or not. He looked and fainted on the floor of his jail cell.

~*~

Zelgadiss pushed some wiry hair out of his face and looked up at Gourry, noting, "You know, without Lina around you have a lot to say and some interesting ides."

"Heh, heh…Yeah? Well, with Lina around the blood just leaves my brain, I guess," he smiled.

"I WONDER where it all goes?" Zel said with a wry smile, then catching himself, blushed and stuttered, "I-I can't believe I said that!"

"Ho! It's okay, Zel, without Lina around you're a pretty funny guy!" Gourry's sunny smile faded as his considered their current situation.

"How about Filia? Doncha think Val woulda called her fer sure," Gourry wondered.

"Right…I'll try…Filia? Hey, Zel here. Yes, fine. Say, have you heard from Val? No? I can't reach them. What? Listen, McGywn's here, would you tell him all that? Hold on…" Zel passed the phone to the detective, saying, "They haven't checked in for days…"

Gourry's eyes met Zel's. "We better call the mayor and get that address in Utah. Lina and Amelia…they're gonna need ta know if there's trouble."

"Yes, we should," Zel agreed.

A junior officer got out of the patrol car, "Detective? When you're done here, there's a call for you. Rather urgent from some zealot guy."

McGywn nodded and finished his conversation with Filia. "Zelgadiss? Here, take this. It blinked a few times but I didn't know how to pick up an incoming call without disconnecting my call," he said by way of apology.

The detective then grunted over to the patrol car to take up the waiting call. "Zealot guy? You couldn't possibly mean a young man named Xelloss, could you, officer?"

The young officer, blushed and muttered, "I didn't hear. The call was very broken up, Sir. Sorry, Sir…"

Zel was having his problems too, "Oh…missed a call…hmmm, don't recognize the call number, though probably some advertiser. No message either. So, I'll call Lina at…where? Oh, yeah…Mayor Phil's…"

McGywn cursed softly under his breath then hung up the telephone in the patrol car. "Well, it might have been Xelloss trying to call, but the signal… well, it was lost. It seems that our friend, Milgasia, and his two fellow travelers may have gotten themselves into a wee bit of a bind out there. I'll see whom we have to spare to send out that way…"

Zel was nodding while trying to get a call through to Mayor Phil. "Listen, this IS an emergency…No, Miss Amelia is NOT in danger, but… just tell him Zelgadiss has to talk to him… 'Z' 'E' 'L' … that will do, he'll know who you mean…please…thank you," Zel sighed.

He looked exasperated, turned his head toward Gourry whispering, "Amelia leaves town and the whole city shuts down…YES! I'm here (where else WOULD I be?)! I'll wait. I'll wait! I'm on a cellphone so…"

"Hello? Mayor Phil? Zel, here. Thanks for doing this. Well, it seems there might be a problem, we needed to talk to Lina, and since she's with Amelia, we were hoping you'd have a number…

"Yes, I know it's not a REAL emergency, it MIGHT be, though. I'm here with Gourry and McGywn and the Red priest's staff has been stolen and Filia says Milgasia, Val, and Xelloss haven't checked in like they were supposed to…

"What? No, I promise not to get your daughter into some kind of trouble. Neither one of them! Oh, come on… I really need to… Gourry HAS to talk to Lina and the detective was needing to ask her about this, um… big axe we found. Okay, I promise. Thank you Sir. Yes, I will. Good bye.

"Shit, I hate having to lie to that man," Zel complained.

"But ya didn't, did ya?" Gourry asked.

"I told him I wouldn't let Amelia get into any trouble, but you know Amelia. If she wants to get into the mess, she'll do it! What I want is of NO consequence to that little girl. And HE knows it! He just wants ME to be responsible for her when he knows that he CAN'T handle her EITHER!"

Gourry put his hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter, "Sorry, man, but… ah… you sure look funny when yer all pissed off and mad and all…"

"Mad? I'm not mad, I'm 'put out'! All right, now let's see how the girls are doing. Let's hope I don't get… Ah, hello, this is Zelgadiss, I'm calling to speak to…"

"Oh, ho ho ho hooooooo! Hey LIIIII-NA, it's your little boyfriend! Hell, how would I know which one? Oh, yeah, he did say… Zel-bob! Oh, well, while she's on the way, tell me, are you gonna come visit me too? This is an all-girl ranch, but we could fix you up and, oops!"

"GIMME THAT!" Lina screamed too close to the telephone. "Zel? You there? Sorry 'bout that, I was just getting out of the shower… Zel? You okay? Is that you moanin'?"

"My ears, Lina! Between her laugh that can skin the sheathing off a nerve fiber, and your shout which you know can wake the dead, I might be getting that ringing back any second," he moaned.

"Oh, cut the crap, Zel. What's up? If it isn't romance, I'm listening."

"Lina. This is me."

"Oh, right…"

"Are you dressed?"

"What kind of a question was that?" Lina snapped.

"Ah… We have a problem or two, but first, you must not blab about it to Amelia or her father will have my…ah…lower anatomy in a vise, all right?" Zel sighed. "I am not a prude, Lina… Gods, I should just let you talk to Gourry. Hey, you tell her!"

Gourry did his best and passed the phone back to Zel minutes later, "Ah, she wants to talk to you again. And she's, um, dressed."

Zel met Gourry's grin with one of his own as he listened to Lina give orders. "Meet you at the train station out by where? Where's that? Lina! I have things to do here! I can't be out…I don't even have a car anymore! Oh, all right. Bye." He looked up at the tall blonde smiling wistfully down at him.

"I am so dead."

Gourry smiled, "Well, ya said ya weren't interested in ever having kids, heh, heh, heh…"

~*~

"So, you were driving a vee-hi-cle registered to a Mr. Val GAAV. Now, we are very familiar out here with the name GAAV, aren't we boys? And, he bein' an old syndicate gangster from way back, well, you get the picture, doncha syndicate boy? You were drivin' one of his vee-hi-cles. You ARE Mister Xelloss Metallium son of the Zelas Metallium, late of the syndicate?" the chief of police asked. His face wore a smug expression; his cigar filled the air with herbal edginess.

"I already told you. I am a priest at the White Shrine Headquarters in Seyruun working for the High Priest Nels Lahda. I am not currently affiliated with the syndicate and had nothing to do with any shrine desecration. In fact, I was incapacitated by a head injury at the time of one of those occurrences you are accusing me of instigating. And, as a priest of the shrine, I know my rights with the Cephied Clan. I AM allowed a single phone call to my lawyer before you try and extract a confession from me!" Xelloss demanded.

"Ah, Jimmy-boy? We gotta workin' line for this-here poor boy to call his lawyer? Why, you are in luck. One call. That's all. Make it a short one," the chief of police growled through a cloud of smoke.

Xelloss, about 18 inches shorter and 150 pounds lighter than the man, slid past him to the offered telephone.

"Thank you," he murmured to the young officer, Jimmy. He patted his pants pockets, panicking a second when he thought they'd taken that envelope when they stripped him of his keys, cellphone, and identification. His fingers found the tightly folded wad pushed deep in his pocket, and he relaxed a little. Pulling out the paper and unfolding it quickly, he glanced at the scribbled number in code. Yes, just as he'd memorized it, but he was so shook up that he had been afraid to trust his current memory with his one-and-only chance to escape unharmed from the place.

He dialed the number and counted the rings. The pick-up came on the tenth one.

"Ah, hello, it's me… Xelloss. I-I need your help, please. Yes, I know… yes, I agree. I'm being held in jail in the Ancient Clan settlement. I'm injured and…yes, they are standing about five feet away from me. I understand. Thank you. Bye."

He hung up the telephone, counted to ten, then in a blur of motion, ducked and rolled past the men and under a desk. The police officers snapped to action at the moment a bomb blasted through the front of the station, shattering the windows and scattering paper, chairs, and men. Xelloss crawled out from under the desk and hopped athletically over piles of debris to the door. A helicopter, presumably the one that had fired the explosive, dropped to the street. His purple hair whipping wildly in the air, Xelloss skipped the short distance to the awaiting aircraft, and climbed aboard.

Settling into his seat, a slender tanned arm helped strapped him in. "Oh, my dear, you are such a mess! What have you been doing?"

"I, um… hello, mother…" he smiled and closed his eyes. "We had a bit of trouble…"

~*~

.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:~ Val's Dream ~:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:

It was madness, and he was the cause. The center of the maelstrom, dark and ominous, Val Gaav was threatening to destroy the world. Below him stood his friends, fearful, one in particular attempting to appeal to his supposed goodness, somewhere hidden deep within his core being. Filia. Filia was begging him to take her, to take out all his anger and violence on her and her alone. It was her fault, wasn't it that his family was killed?

But was it Filia dressed in a flowing pink cape and gown? Lina, Gourry, Amelia, and Zelgadiss, even Xelloss was there, but dressed in strange costumes, all with capes. He blamed Filia and her people, but he also hated Lina and cursed her for killing Gaav! Like that ever mattered to him!

Gods, look at him! He was a monster for sure, arms transformed into massive, black-scaled limbs ending in dangerous clawed fingers. Enormous black-feathered wings sprouting from his back. He looked to be in great pain. His breath coming in gasps from an open mouth filled with sharp fanged teeth. And what was with that ugly horn growing out of his head?

Why was I screaming and yelling at my friends? Why was I so damned mad? Insane. I was insane! I'm dreaming that I've gone insane and am about to kill the love of my life and all my dearest friends. Well, why the hell not the entire world, while I'm at it, eh? Sure, yeah! End it all!

.

Val reflected on his dream, shaken and not a little disturbed. Why would such terrible things be lurking in his poor befuddled brain? It tore him up to remember… It was as if he had been through a dark looking glass, at a dark reflection of the person he could have been, if not…if not for what?

Where were his friends? Why hadn't they rescued him?! His shoulder was swollen, stiff, and either dislocated or broken. He held his useless arm close to his chest, shivered, and cried. He cried out in pain, and anguish. He was afraid. He didn't want to die this way, not yet when his life was just getting to be interesting.

Filia. He wondered if she was thinking about him. Was she really the 'love of his life'? Had he thought of her that way before? Surely not about anyone else! Well, was she that important to him? Why not? He could admit that he in fact was capable of falling in love, now that he was about to die… She was worth it all, wasn't she? Gods, to hold her now and tell her just once how much she meant to him, that would be…as Zel would put it… nice.

Yet, he was depressed about Filia and her cousin. He shouldn't have left her with him. He's civilized and clan-bred through and through. No dark past, no shady background, no evil secrets. Julian was perfect for her, and now there would be no Val in the way to hinder him anymore. Gods, he hated the guy! Hell, even Xelloss, yes, he would rather think of him dating his Filia than that…Julian.

It's hopeless. No one will find me down here. I'm the last of my kind and here I shall die. With nothing.

I never deserved anything. I never really fit in… even Lina dismissed me. I was never good enough for her, either. What did it all bring me? They killed my stepfather…I mean, HE wanted me, back then.

She's responsible for being part of the mess to begin with, Lina… her and that other guy… Xelloss…

I'm so cold… and hungry…

~*~ End, Seyruun Summer High Jinx Special, Part Seven. ~*~