Lina: Liona, Liona, where art thou Liona? (My Shakespeare is not very good, sorry)
*Eyes Gleam in the Darkness* --: She is beyond your reach human.
Lina: Who's there?!
--: Now /that/ is a secret.
A/N: *Sigh* I want to get this story over with. Yes, yes, I know. I'm the one who wanted to post it in the first place. It's just that I kind of daydreamed and I imagined the reshaping of Liona's character (after all this). Ah well. I find it amazing that the proportion between the chapters and reviews for this story is better than any of my other ones. Thank you for staying with me for this long -_- especially those of you who reviewed as well. Well, I hope you enjoy! (And review!)
Tired! Cross Country Trek
The Slayers walked on in silence that continued for days on end. When they were a little less than halfway to the coast, Sylphiel insisted that she must part ways with the Slayers to get back to Neo Sairaag. She told them that they were welcome to come and visit her at anytime. After saying their farewells, the Slayers walked on once more. By the time they were passing through the kingdom of Ralteague, they were all dead tired and lost in their own thoughts.
Amelia: Poor Lina-san and Gourry-san. They lost their only child to Xellos-san…
Filia: That despicable Namagomi! What was he /thinking/ doing such a horrid thing?! …
Zel: Where is my cure?! It must be /somewhere/. …
Val: I wonder how you work this thing? (New red toy) …
Gourry: Where's a restaurant? I'm hungry! …
Lina: Kollina. . . Where have I heard that name before? It could have been – no, it couldn't be. . . could it? …
That's as far as anyone's thoughts came because a loud shriek suddenly filled the air. More out of conscience than anything else, the Slayers rushed towards the sudden shriek. The scene that met their eyes was none too surprising. A mediocre-size group of bandits had surrounded what looked like a young female traveler. Everything about her seemed to say that she was rich or from a rich family. Everything from her expensive baby blue dress (why is she wearing a dress in the middle of the forest?) to her extensive supply of gold and jeweled (^o^) jewelry to her lazy damsel in distress attitude. Lina sighed and started walking toward them, but Amelia beat her to it and climbed the nearest (and most visible) tree.
Amelia posed like how she did in her previous traveling days. She said the same justice-is-the-best and evildoers-are-the worst speech(es). She jumped down and landed, surprisingly, on the bandit leader's face. Of course, this would have normally given the victim (to the kick) a good /view/, but Amelia happened to be wearing long pants (-_-). Amelia showed much more "maturity", at least, as much maturity as you can show after doing what she just did (pose and speech and jump). Over the last few years, Amelia had really grown. All she did was trip all the bandits with her long legs, and they fell, knocked out (must be really weak bandits. . .). Anyway, Lina quickly took the gold they had on them (and what kind of bandits go around with money in their pockets? They're really asking for it). She was just in time because just as she finished with the last bandit, they all woke up and ran away.
Lina watched them run and smirked to herself. It seemed that Amelia was over her clumsiness stage by now. Lina shrugged. She didn't really care for bandits at the moment, not after she looted them. The Slayers all turned to the girl. Amelia started the barrage of questions.
"Are you all right, miss?"
Filia added, "You are hurt are you?"
Lina immediately asked, "Who are you?"
Gourry hungrily inquired, "Do you live near here? Do you know where the nearest restaurant is?"
Val and Zel kept quiet, feeling that the strange girl was in enough pressure already.
The girl slowly looked around at them, amazed, perhaps by their traveling garb, or their questions, or the fact that strangers were hovering over her like annoying flies. She stepped back a step and smiled. The girl began answering their questions in order.
"I'm alright. You came right after they surrounded me, so I'm not hurt. My name is Sallis Retrogyde. You can call me Sally though. I live in the manor in a town not far from here. If you're hungry, I'll take you back to my home and you can have a gourmet meal. Don't worry, it's the least I can do after you saved me. Um… What are your names?"
They all introduced themselves. Lina patted Amelia on the back of her shoulder and admitted that Amelia had done most of the work, even if those bandits were amazingly weak from the start. Sally's smile twitched slightly, but she nodded and told them to follow her out of the forest to her town. From the first sight of the town from the top of a slope just outside the woods, Lina knew where the manor was. Any traveler with eyes could see it from a distance. Shops, houses, restaurants, and other random buildings were set up facing the road in the middle. At the end of the road was a large black fence with pointed railings and guarded gates. Behind the gate was a mansion with old, brick walls and a well-kept lawn and garden.
Since Filia once lived in the grand temple of the Flare Dragon, Amelia lives in the (most likely) largest kingdom/castle in the magical region, Lina is constantly attracted to castles and whatnot during her travels, and Gourry always comes with her, only Val was truly awed by the size of the manor (he didn't remember his old hideout). Sally led them inside and after quite a few twist, turns, and doors, they finally arrived at the dining hall.
Lina-tachi were alighted to find a very long banquet table in the middle of the spacious room. After Sally invited them to eat as much as they wanted, they needed no second bidding. On one side, Lina, Gourry, and Amelia were eating as much food as they possibly could. On the other side, Zel, Val, and Filia were basically having a little tea party (coffee for Zel and cocoa for Val, but still in "tea" cups) with a bite every so often. Sally sat in the middle and sweatdropped at the vast difference in eating habits. While the first side was quickly piling mounds of dishes, the other side had barely finished their first entrée. Finally, the Slayers finished and sat back in happiness (besides the ever moody Zel).
A bit tentative, Sally tried to make conversation. "So where are you all headed?"
The air was tense as they all remembered Liona. Gourry, oblivious to the possible consequences started to say, "We're headed for Wol-"
Before Lina fiercely kicked him in the shins to keep him quiet. She answered, "Wol-chester. We're headed for the seaport town of Wolchester."
Amelia sweatdropped. She thought to herself, "Is that a real place?"
Apparently it was because Sally knew what she was talking about. "Wolchester you say? Why, you're in luck. I'm headed there tomorrow morning. There's going to be a festival there tomorrow night. If you like, I could order for some more coaches to take you as well. I'm sure all that walking must have tired you out."
The Slayers couldn't believe their ears. A free trip to the coast, in a coach?! There had to be something wrong . . . (all these meetings with mazoku is starting to make them suspicious of everything)
Zel asked, "What's the catch?"
Sallis smiled and shook her head. "No catch. I just want to offer my saviors a coach ride. Do you not want it?"
The Slayers quickly replied, "Nononononononono. We'll take your offer. Thank you!"
Well, the group spent the night at Sally's manor. The next day, Lina and Gourry discovered just what the "catch" really was. They were separated into two coaches. One had Sallis, Sallis' father, Lina, and Gourry while the other held Filia, Val, Amelia, and Zel. The second coach had nothing to worry about except Amelia constant attempts at making up new justice speeches, which was annoying on its own. The first carriage, however, was met with double talk. Apparently, when she was with smaller groups, she talked /much/ more than usual about absolutely anything or nothing. Lina and Gourry were surprised at first, but after the first hour, Lina joined in. Every time Sallis stopped to take a breath, Lina would continue, and vice versa. Gourry and Sallis' father shared mutual thoughts about the incessant talking, and they soon fell asleep. Needless to say, it would be a /long/ trip to "Wolchester".
Most of the way was either open meadow or open fields, but near the end of the journey, they had to pass through a dense forest. This is where something of interest happened.
When they were in the densest part of the woods, and the sun was starting to set, a loud crack of a whip startled the horses into rearing up with fear. The drivers tried to calm them down, but to no avail. All the while, the carriages suddenly stopped moving forward and rocked up and down like a sickening roller coaster. Lina finally popped her head out the door to see what was causing such a ruckus. What she saw and the fact that Gourry, Sallis, and her father piled on top of her to see also, made Lina fall from the opening onto the dirt road. Holding up her head, Lina side glanced at the /thing/ that made the horses act up. By now, the other coach door had opened as well.
The figure before them was in plain sight, and yet very mysterious, for besides gleaming red eyes, it was just a short silhouette of something. In the shadow's hand, was what appeared to be a long, fresh whip. The figure skillfully lengthened its whip and snapped the reins of the first horse. It snapped the whip a second time and freed the horse completely. Already thoroughly frightened, the horse needed no second bidding to get out of there. The figure did the same thing with the other carriage, and before any of them realized it, they were in a forest with horseless carriages.
Angered, Lina shouted out, "Who are you?!"
But the moment that the creature replied, Lina immediately wished she hadn't asked.
The figure visibly smirked and took a step forward, out of the shadows. Throwing back her firey red locks, she answered, "I think you know full-well who I am. Liona Inverse, at your service."
It wasn't just Lina who was surprised, everybody was. Everyone assembled by Lina outside of the coaches. Val asked the questions that was on everybody's minds.
"Liona-chan? What /happened/ to you? You look different somehow."
Indeed she did. For one thing, her hair was grown down slightly past her shoulders already. Then she had that strange whip. Not to mention she could now form actual words and sentences. And most noticeable of all was the fact that she had mazoku slitted red eyes (she had blue before).
Not taking well to the silence that followed, the new Liona cracked her whip in front of her. It was so loud that it resembled a large firecracker being lit up close.
It was then that Xellos appeared in the air behind Liona. He seemed to be happier than ever, which was surprising because positives feelings were basically "frowned upon" in the mazoku world.
"Ah! Lina-chan! I was wondering when you would get here. I see you still have your companions with you. (He was smiling and nodding at all of this)" For a second, Lina wondered what he was doing there, when it finally hit her. Once she realized it, she was on the brink of casting a Dragon Slave.
"Xellos! What did you do to her?!"
Xellos acted as innocent as ever. "Whatever to you mean? /I/ didn't do anything besides escort her here. My, you should be /thanking/ me for reuniting you with your daughter."
This angered Lina even more. She growled under her breath, "Who would want to be /reunited/ like /this/?!"
Xellos cocked his head and sighed. "There's no making /you/ happy."
Filia repeated the question for Xellos. Each word was dripping with venom. "Namagomi – What – the – heck – happened – to – Liona-chan?! We - /know/ - you – had –something – to - do – with – it."
Xellos scratched his head in mock-puzzlement, but answered with his usual, "Sore – wa –himitsu –desu."
Everyone was really starting to get ticked off now. Even Amelia tried to break him down – by singing a new version of the "Life is Wonderful" song. As usual, Xellos groaned and sunk to his feet, especially as Amelia walked closer and magnified her voice. What really threw everybody off (again) though, was that Liona was acting in a very similar manner. In fact, it was worse; after the first 5 lines, she fainted. This made Amelia automatically stop. During her pause, Xellos snarled, put a hand on Liona's back, and teleported both of them away.
Now Lina wasn't just angry, she was grieved. This was because she had just put two-and-two together and the prospect was not at all likeable. Slowly she stood up and started walking up the path. Not knowing whether or not they should follow, the Slayers waited by the carriages.
When she reached the hill where Liona had been moments before, she bent down and picked something off the ground. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized what it was, but made an effort to hide it and put the item inside her cape pocket. After taking a deep breath, Lina turned towards her fellow comrades and shouted with an attempt to regain her old happiness, "Come on, what are you waiting for? The festival's only a mile from here! Where there's a festival, there's food! Come on!"
Everybody knew that Lina was hurting under her mask, but in actuality, they weren't even close to knowing the torment that was really quaking inside Lina. The cause of all this were two things that she had figured out. The first was that Liona had become a mazoku. That was what really hurt Lina's nerves.
A/N: Ah. I'm starting to feel sorry for Lina. What's that? You want to know the other thing that she realized? So sorry, I'll reveal that later. It isn't exactly appropriate right now. *Sigh* If some facts are off, it's either because my memory wavered somewhat or I just plain didn't know what else to put. Well, the next part is breaching security. I hope you come back for my next chapter. In the meantime, please review this one!