Disclaimer: I don't own the Slayers. My brain's fried right now. I can't think of any disclaimer jokes. Isn't it enough that I'm writing this story? What more do you people want from me? *Runs away sobbing*

Crickets chirped in the royal garden welcoming the coming darkness. The minstrels had stopped playing about an hour ago. Lina and the others sat at a stone table in the garden enjoying a light dinner.

Zelgadis sat calmly sipping his tea. He had decided an hour ago that if he was in hell before, the floor had just dropped out from under him and dumped him into some new level of torment. All he could do was ride it out though.

After Lina's outburst, the conversation had pretty much screeched to a halt. She looked around the table. Everyone was still there except for the twins. They had hastily excused themselves after being introduced. She couldn't imagine why.

Amelia decided to break the silence. "Oh, Mr. Zelgadis. Did you know that Phil has been studying shamanistic magic?" She smiled nervously. Anything was better than sitting here in total silence.

"Hmm. Is that right?" Zelgadis looked at the young man. He appeared to be fairly intelligent.

Phillionel was a very handsome young man with short dark hair and blue eyes.

"Yes sir, that's correct. However, I'm sure I don't know nearly as much about the subject as the famous Zelgadis Greywords."

Zelgadis snorted. "Famous? How did I get to be famous? I've been cooped up in a tower for the last couple of decades."

"Oh. Well, mother said you were a great sorcerer. She talks about you all the time."

Zelgadis glanced at Amelia who was blushing.

Amelia laughed. "I didn't talk about him that much, did I?"

Phil smiled. "Well, I thought you did."

Lina nibbled on a pastry. She was starving, but she didn't want to miss a moment of Zelgadis's discomfort. Strangely enough, Zel seemed to be getting more comfortable and talking a little more.

"Well, this is a nice surprise." Filia whispered to Lina while watching Zel and Phil discuss magical concepts. "They seem to be getting along splendidly!"

"I know." Lina sounded a little surprised. "This isn't quite what I expected."

Emily walked into the garden and saw everyone enjoying dinner. "That's weird. Zelgadis looks happy. I thought he didn't want to come here?" She shrugged. "Hello! I didn't miss dinner did I?"

Amelia looked up and smiled. "Miss Lina, is that Emily?"

Lina grinned. "Yeah, I guess she gotten a little bigger since you last saw her huh?"

Amelia stood. "Please sit down! There's room next to Phil. Oh Miss Lina! She looks just like you!"

"Yeah, I know." Lina winked at Emily. "Did you hear that? You lucky girl!"

Emily ignored Lina and looked at Phil for a moment. What a handsome guy. She blushed a bit when he looked at her.

Phil smiled. "Miss Emily? Would you like to sit down?" Phil stood and pulled Emily's chair out for her. This beautiful woman was the little terror that Lina used to bring with her when she visited? He vaguely remembered having to constantly chase the girl to keep her from drawing all over the palace walls.

Soon they were all enjoying the meal and talking about their old adventures.

"Really? You actually saw the Lord of Nightmares?" Phil looked stunned.

"That's right. Lina called the Lord of Nightmares into her body to save Gourry." Zelgadis took another sip of tea and chuckled. "It's not something you see every day to say the least."

Amelia smiled. "That's an understatement. Do you remember that Miss Lina?"

Lina shook her head. "I still don't remember anything about that. After I cast the Giga Slave everything was. . ."

Gold.

". . .dark." She shook her head.

Amelia frowned. Lina looked tired all of a sudden. "Oh." She turned back to Emily and Phil. "Anyway, after that the Lord of Nightmares was going to leave in Lina's body." Her eyes sparkled as she continued. "But your father wouldn't let her go Emily. He chased your mom into the chaos and brought her back." She sighed happily and looked at Lina. "It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Gourry really loved you."

Emily laughed. "Mom, why didn't you tell me about this? That's such a great story."

Lina was massaging her temples. She snapped at Emily. "I told you. I can't remember! Are you deaf?" She looked around at everyone. They were all staring at her in shock. Her head was throbbing in pain. "I'm going to lie down. I've got a terrible headache."

"Are you alright? I can cast a recovery spell. . ." Amelia started to stand.

"Just leave me alone. I just need sleep okay? Good night." Lina stumbled out of the garden clutching her head in agony. It felt like someone was squeezing her brain.

Phil scratched his head. "What's wrong with her? She seemed fine a couple of minutes ago."

Emily looked worried. "Something's wrong. I'd better go check on her." Emily stood up.

"Miss Emily?"

Emily looked down at Phil. "Huh?"

"If you're not busy later, I was wondering if you'd like a tour of the rest of the gardens?"

Emily blushed. "Okay! I'll be back in a bit." She ran into the palace hoping that no one had seen how red her face was.

Phil looked after her smiling. He turned back to the table to see Amelia and Filia giggling. "What?"

"Oh, that's so sweet." Filia smiled at Phil.

"Sweet?" Phil realized what they were thinking. "Oh no. No! It's not like that. . ."

"Then how is it?" Zel refilled his cup. "I was under the impression that when a young man asked a young lady to take a walk it was because he was interested in her."

"No, that's not true!" Phil was becoming flustered. "I just thought that she'd like to see the palace grounds. You know we renovated the gardens a couple of years ago and I thought she'd like to see them. That's all."

Zelgadis raised an eyebrow. "Oh, is that it? Well, you know I haven't been in the palace for decades. Do you mind if I tag along on your little tour? I'd love to see what you've done with the place."

Amelia giggled and followed Zel's lead. "That's right! Mr. Zelgadis hasn't seen the new layout for the gardens. I think it would be just wonderful if you gave him a tour."

Phil looked dejected. "Well. . .I guess that would be okay. I mean. . .sure. What's the big deal, right?" He looked up to see Amelia and Filia laughing at him. "What now?"

Filia was laughing so hard that she was crying. "You two are just horrible! How can you tease him like that?"

Zel struggled to keep a straight face. He failed bursting into a fit of laughter. "I'm just joking Phil. Enjoy your walk."

Phil finally realized that they had been teasing him all along. He laid his head on the table, too embarrassed to say anything.

Lina hadn't made it to her room. She was sprawled out on the stairs clutching her head. She moaned in pain. The voice that had haunted her dreams was screaming in her skull. What did it want?

"Mom?!" Emily kneeled next to Lina and helped her up. "Come on, let's go see a healer. . ."

"NO!" Lina shoved her away. "I'll be fine. I just tripped on the stairs. Damn Seyruun architecture."

Emily examined Lina's face. It was bathed in sweat. "Do you have a fever?" She tried to put her hand on Lina's forehead.

Lina slapped Emily's hand away. "Don't touch me okay? I don't want your help. I just want to go to bed."

Emily sounded hurt. "Okay mom, if you're sure you're alright. . ."

Lina gritted her teeth and tried to resist the urge to yell at Emily. She failed miserably. "Of course I'm alright! And if everyone would just leave me the hell alone, I might be able to get some sleep!" She turned and continued to climb the stairs to her chamber. "Damn it. How many stairs are in this place?"

Emily watched her mother practically crawl up the stairs in agony. She turned away and quickly ran back down the steps to the garden fighting back her tears.

"Did Miss Emily seem upset to you?" Amelia watched as Phil and Emily disappeared into the darkness.

Zelgadis shook his head. "She was probably just upset that her hair didn't look right or something trivial like that."

"And why would you assume that?"

"Typical woman." Zelgadis glanced up to see Amelia glaring at him.

"And how would you know anything about that? When was the last time you so much as talked to a woman?" Amelia crossed her arms.

Zel sighed. There was a hint of a smile on his face. "That hurt."

Amelia giggled. "So what brings you back to Seyruun after so many years?"

"Lina's headlock."

"Seriously."

Zelgadis looked around for a moment. Seeing that Lina wasn't around he pulled out the Soul Render fragment. "This."

Lina dragged herself into her bedroom and leaned on the door to close it. She didn't want anyone else to see her like this. She crawled slowly over to the bed. She didn't have the strength to pull herself up onto the mattress. Pulling the blanked off the bed, she curled up on the floor. She was so sleepy.

Lina opened her eyes. She was in a grassy field. Birds were flying through the blue sky above. There were no clouds to block the sun and it was a pretty warm day. . Looking around, she saw a tree a little ways off. It would be nice to sit in the shade for a while.

Overhead, the sun seemed to be growing.

Walking towards the tree, Lina was surprised to see that there were two people already sitting in the shade. Not a problem though. She thought that it was kind of lonely without anyone to talk to anyway.

"Hi!" Lina waved cheerfully as she stepped into the shade. "Do you mind if I. . ." She stopped, staring at the two men leaning against the tree trunk.

The man on the left looked like he was a veteran fighter. A large poleaxe was leaned against the tree beside him. The man on the right had gray hair and a moustache. He wore the outfit of a sorcerer.

"Zolf and Rodimus?" Lina looked at the two men for a moment. "What are you guys doing here?" The two men ignored her question. "Well, aren't you going to say anything?"

The light grew brighter.

Lina looked up to see the sun rushing down from the sky towards her. She closed her eyes and waited for death. Nothing. When she dared to open them again she saw that she was floating in the golden void again.

The voice washed over Lina like a tidal wave. For the first time ever, she understood what the voice in the void was saying.

"Soon, my dream will end."

Next Chapter: A walk in garden under the stars. Is there romance in the air? No wait, its just Vance.

Notes: I was having a rough time with the story last time. Still am. However, I have to get it done. I hope to clean everything up in the rewrite. A couple subplots trimmed. There are some things that I want to change near the beginning of the story. It's a mess. But it's my mess darn it!

Thanks for reading.