Disclaimer: For this chapter only I claim all rights to the Slayers. . .or not.

Emily opened the door to her room and turned to face Phil. She smiled shyly. "Thanks for the tour of the gardens. It was nice."

Phil smiled. "It was my pleasure. I'm just sorry it had to end in such a painful fashion."

Emily had a guilty expression on her face. "Sorry. . .you know, about the whole tossing you into a rosebush thing."

"No need to apologize. Tonight is actually the most fun I've had in a long time." Phil frowned. "I must say that I do have one regret about this evening though."

Emily's eyes widened. "What's that?"

Phil leaned down until they were nose to nose. "We never got to finish this."

"Oh, right." Emily closed her eyes.

"Ahem."

Phil and Emily looked over to see Lina standing beside them holding a pillow.

Lina smiled at Emily. "I'm rooming with you tonight."

Emily groaned. "But why?"

Lina began to list reasons on her fingers. "Because my bed is a pile of ash, we don't know if we're going to be attacked again, and because you apparently don't have much self control."

Emily blushed. "What?! I was about to kiss him, not bear his children!"

Lina grabbed Emily in a headlock and dragged her into the bedroom. "Come on, Emily. Say goodnight to Romeo. It's time for bed."

Emily tried to smile at Phil. "Goodnight Phil. Ack! Thanks for the tour. I really enjoyed it."

Phil smiled as the door closed in his face. He shook his head. "What a strange family." He shrugged and walked down the hall.

"Oh my! Doesn't this look interesting." Xellos knelt down and pushed some rubble off of a shape in the garden. He chuckled. "You look like you've had a pretty rough night."

Vance groaned and sat up. He was covered with soot from head to toe. He blinked a few times before he was able to focus on the man standing before him. "Are. . .you a priest?"

Xellos grinned. "Something like that."

"Am I dead?" Vance coughed.

"Not at all. Here, let me help you." Xellos offered his hand to Vance and pulled him to his feet.

Vance dusted himself off. He groaned. "To think that Vance, bounty hunter extraordinaire, would require the assistance of a lowly priest."

Xellos frowned. "You know, you don't have to sound so disappointed. I did help you out you know." He looked Vance over. "Did you say you were a bounty hunter? How interesting."

"Don't tell me that you've never heard of Vance, bounty hunter extraor. . ."

Xellos cut him off with a wave of his hand. "Yes, yes. You said that before. Tell me Mr. Bounty Hunter, how would you like to do a little job for me?"

Vance stared at him skeptically. "Priest, you do know what kind of work I do, don't you?"

"Only too well. I saw your little confrontation in the forest." Xellos grinned. "Most impressive. I also saw what happened earlier this evening." He cleared his throat. "Although that was somewhat less than impressive, I believe that I may be able to make use of you."

Lina lay on the bed staring at the ceiling. She could hear Emily breathing quietly beside her. "So, what's up with you? Were you about to kiss that guy? You've only known him a couple hours you know."

"Yeah, well. . .he's a good person. I know it. He's really cute too." Emily blushed.

Lina grinned. "I guess he's pretty good looking. And on top of that, he's royalty. You could be set for life!"

Emily rolled her eyes. "As usual, you're missing the point. I don't care that he's royalty."

"Whatever."

Emily rolled over and looked at Lina. "So, I guess you feel better, huh? I'm glad."

Lina nodded. "Thanks."

Emily remembered something. "Oh, did you find anything at the library?"

Lina shook her head. "Amelia said that the section that we were going to look in had burned down. We never even got around to looking."

Emily rolled out of bed. She rummaged through her bag. "When I dropped the kids off, I found this. I thought it might be useful." She handed Lina the book she had bought earlier.

"Artifacts of the Four Worlds'? That's strange."

"Why's that?"

"Because, few people even know about the four worlds, let alone have traveled to them."

"But, that doesn't make any sense, mom. Haven't people been traveling to the continents of the outer world for decades now?"

Lina sighed as she paged through the book. "That would make more sense. However, the four worlds mentioned in this book do not refer to the continents of this world."

"What does it mean then?"

"You ready for a little history lesson?"

Emily nodded.

"Okay then! Professor Lina's class is now in session! In the beginning, there was the Sea of Chaos. Floating in that, there is a staff."

"A staff?"

"Don't interrupt. The staff supports our world. But it's more than that. Come here." Lina stood up and walked over to the balcony with Emily in tow. She opened the doors to reveal the night sky. "You see the stars? That's part of our world. One of the four worlds."

"So there are actually three other worlds that are just like ours?"

Lina shook her head. "Not just like ours. Every world is unique. For example, I know that you have a decent knowledge of Cepheid and Shabranigdo, right?"

Emily nodded.

Lina sighed and smiled. "Whew. It's a relief to explain something to someone who pays attention. Your dad wouldn't have known that."

"Go on."

"Anyway, in the other worlds, Cepheid and Shabranigdo have no influence."

"So each world has it's own gods and demons?"

"Bingo! And aside from exceedingly rare incidents of the worlds crossing over, such as the time Darkstar invaded our world, travel between worlds is almost unheard of." Lina looked at the book Emily had given her. "That's why it's really weird that there's a book about the subject. Well class, any questions?"

Emily smiled and shook her head. "No professor. I think I get it."

Lina clapped her hands. "Good! Now back to bed! We've got a big day tomorrow!"

Emily frowned. "We do?"

Lina sighed. "Yeah. You're going with me to see the sorcery doctor tomorrow. These dreams are starting to really scare me."

"But. . ." Emily was thinking of Phil.

Lina put her hands on Emily's shoulders. "Emily, I need your help on this. Someone's out to get me and I have no idea of who it is. I need your swordsmanship in case I'm attacked and I freak out again."

Emily looked like she was about to cry. "But, I can't. . ." She remembered her loss to Vance.

Lina smiled and hugged Emily. "It's okay. You failed once. Don't you know it's okay to mess up? You can't be perfect."

Emily sniffled. "You are mom. I've never seen you fail at anything."

"I have faith in you. You're my little girl you know. I know that when it counts you won't fail again. Do you know what I saw when you were fighting Vance?"

Emily was weeping now. "No."

"It was like seeing Gourry at his best again. You were amazing. I'm sure your dad would have thought so too."

Emily shook her head. "Uh uh. I failed dad more than anyone."

Lina's eyes widened. "How can you say that? You did your best. That's all he would have wanted."

Emily sat on the bed. "That's not true. I went against what he taught me. He taught me to fight with skill not anger. When Vance was taunting me. . ." Emily looked up at her mother. ". . .I hated him. I wanted to kill him. I was beaten the second I lost my temper."

Lina smiled and sat down next to Emily. "That's good."

Emily looked at Lina shocked. "How is that good?"

"You know what you did wrong. Most people unknowingly repeat the same mistakes over and over. You're already one step ahead of all of them. You know you messed up. Now you just have to fix it."

Emily smiled and wiped away her tears. "Do you think I can?"

"Like I said, I have faith in you. You won't fail again." Lina sighed.

Vance listened with a skeptical look on his face. "I don't know about this priest. I'm already under contract."

Xellos smiled. "To the Crown Prince."

Vance stared at him. "How do you know about that?"

"Oh, I have my sources. You needn't worry though. The job I have for you is a simple one. Basically, you do what you've been trying to do these past few days."

Vance crossed his arms. "You said basically."

"My, my. Aren't you a perceptive young man? At a certain point, I will require you to take the object you have delivered to the Crown Prince."

"So you want me to steal from my employer?"

Xellos shook his head. "Steal? I think not. Is it really possible to steal something that doesn't belong to the man anyway? Besides that, after you kill Lina Inverse he won't be your employer any more will he?"

Vance grinned. "I suppose you're right. I like the way you think priest. So, I'm to collect the stone from the chimera, and later from the Crown Prince, correct?"

Xellos nodded.

"What's the pay?"

"Whatever you want."

"Oh really? My fees can be somewhat pricey."

"I didn't say money. I said whatever you want." Xellos grinned evilly.

Vance studied Xellos for a moment. "There's a lot more to you than meets the eye isn't there?"

Xellos opened his eyes and examined Vance. "It seems I was correct. You really are a perceptive man."

Vance nodded. "I have a fair understanding of magic and if you're as strong as I suspect, why don't you just take what you want yourself?"

"There are. . .complications with that. I have to keep a low profile. It wouldn't do to draw attention to myself battling Lina Inverse."

Vance nodded. "Fine. I'll take the job."

"Excellent! I'm sure you won't regret it. And what, pray tell, do you want in exchange?"

"I want Inverse's daughter."

Xellos smiled. "Just as I expected. Very well, I believe we have a deal." He turned to leave.

"Hey priest! What's your name anyway?"

Xellos thought for a moment. "Priest will do."

Emily sighed and rolled over to face Lina. "It must be bad if you're finally starting to worry about it. I've been worried about you for years."

Lina sighed. "I know Emily. I wish that you wouldn't. I can take care of myself you know."

Emily thought back to earlier in the evening. Lina had been lying on the stairs in agony and practically helpless. "I guess so mom."

"Still, there is a reason I wanted to sleep with you tonight."

"What's that?"

Lina whispered, "I'm scared."

Emily gasped. "You're can't be scared mom. You're never scared."

Lina nodded. "I am now. I'm afraid to go to sleep because I think that I've got a fair idea of what's wrong with me."

"What is it?"

Lina shook her head. "I don't want to say it. It's kind of silly you know? If I don't say it then it might not be true."

Emily smiled. "You don't need to worry. I promise nothing will happen to you. I'll stay up all night if I have to."

"Thanks. First thing tomorrow, we're going to visit the doctor. Promise you won't tell anyone else where we're going? I don't want them to worry."

"Okay mom. Just try to sleep okay? I'll be here for you."

Lina nodded and yawned. Moments later she was sleeping peacefully.

Next Chapter: Humanity according to Zelgadis. Not a cheery chapter people.

Notes: Remember what I said in the last chapter about the story getting darker? The next chapter is definitely taking a turn for the depressing but I love more than almost any other that I've written.

But, I'm not here to make notes about the next chapter am I? This chapter was exceedingly difficult to write for some reason. I think I'm over the hump though and the rest of the story should be downhill from here (Not in quality I hope). Even though this was a pain to squeeze out I really enjoyed this chapter. I managed to get Xellos back in which is something that I've needed to do for about 3 chapters now. So hurray for me huh?

As always, thanks for reading and if you liked it, tell me please.