Xaina sighed as she looked at all the words in the book. She really
needed to start learning to read better. She only knew her alphabet.
Actually, she was pretty good at singing the alphabet. She had been
learning to read, but her skills were still greatly lacking. Reading was
hard. It took a lot of practice.
"Yes, but how much," a low voice hissed. "Worthless book! Don't you have anything useful in you!?!"
Curious, Xaina floated around the library and checked down each isle as she searched for the speaker. At last, she came to one corner in the back. Seated at a small table was a shadow type of monster draped in a shadow cloak that blended with his body. The glowing golden eyes glared at the object before him. Xaina recognized him right off: Wraithand. Truthfully, he kind of gave her the creeps. Murkivra had assured her that he was harmless, and Xellos insisted he was a wimp, but he still gave her the chills; and it wasn't just because his body was as cold as ice. Something about him reminded her of nightmares she use to have when she was a child.
The monster flipped through his book and cursed at it several times. He seemed completely unaware of her presence. "Damn piece of worthless crap!" he snapped. "You either tell me what, how much, or where to find it but never all!" He snatched the book up and was about to throw it when he noticed the young monster peeking around the corner. His eyes suddenly softened and he hastily set the book down with a rather nervous giggle. "Ah, Xaina, eh he he, yes, what can I do for you child?"
"Nothing," the girl squeaked. She was about to make a run for it but he suddenly teleported in front of her.
"Is something the matter?" he inquired.
"Oh... uh, no, I...I was just... looking... at books...not you!"
Wraithand melded his form slightly so he looked more human, though he still remained more of a shadow then anything else. He held out his hands to her and his shadow lips formed in to a sort of smile. The girl hesitated at first, but then consented to let him hold her. A cold chill ran up her spine as his hands grabbed her. Her whole body suddenly felt like ice. "Want to see something wonderful?"
"Uh, okay."
Wraithand carried her gently over to the desk and sat her down on his lap so she could see the book. He kept one arm snaked around her back for support and used the other to prop up the book for her to see. On one of the pages was a fading picture of a staff. It looked sort of familiar, though she wasn't sure where she had seen it before. There were words scribbled all over the page but they were written all curvy and funny and she couldn't even guess what they said. "This is an amazing object. It gives a man the power of his enemies so he can conquer them." He flipped the page to show her a picture of a human standing on a hill holding the staff above his head. Lines had been drawn to show light bursting off of him. At the bottom were more humans falling and turning in to skeletons. "No one can control the one who wields it." He flipped past a few pages until he found another picture. This one had the same man being attacked by a dragon. On the next page the dragon was on the ground and looked dead. "Not even the mightiest of creatures can stop him."
"An' you want that staff, right?" the girl questioned.
For a moment, the monster seemed embarrassed and he was definitely flustered. A few moments passed in tense quiet before he relaxed and his soft smile returned. "Yes, I do. With it, we monsters could be on top again."
"What's wrong with where we are?"
"We're venerable right now," Wraithand explained. "Only three of the five lords have any experience and knowledge on how to run our people. One of them is quite insane as well. She has a habit of killing and eating her servants, you see..."
"Dolphin."
"Yes, Deep Seamaster. She does other things as well, but those aren't for a little one's ears. Perhaps when you're older. Now, some of the other creatures on this planet do not have this problem. They are now stronger then us. This puts us at risk. If we had this staff, no one would dare to harm us again."
"Oh."
Xaina slide off his lap and back on to the ground. "This is our little secret, all right?"
"Ok."
"Make sure you don't tell anyone."
"Why?"
"Well...I...I...don't want to get anyone's hopes up just yet. Run along now. I'm sure your teacher is looking for you."
"Kay. Bye."
"Bye now, child."
Xaina zipped around the corner and gave a small shudder. Wraithand was always so cold... not in personality, though she had been told he could be emotionally cold, but rather physically. Touching him always felt like touching ice. The girl rubbed her hands over her arms and squirmed a little in the air as she attempted to get warmer.
She dropped on to the ground and decided to walk the rest of the way out of the library. It had been a while since the half cat child had used her legs for more then standing and they really needed exercising. Xaina cautiously slipped out the main door and closed it quietly behind her.
"Did you break something?" Xaina nearly leaped out of her skin as she yelped and whirled around to the source of the voice. Xellos, wearing his usual smug grin, peered down at her. The girl began to pant as her nervous caught up with her. "Well?"
"Didn't I tell you not to sneak up on me?!" the young monster snapped.
"Sneak up on you? I didn't sneak up on you. I was waiting here the whole time. It's not my fault if you didn't see me. Now answer the question: did you break something in there?"
"No! Why would ya think I did?!"
"Because you looked like you were trying to avoid being seen or heard."
The girl sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "So? I don't like being heard. Some of the meaner monsters follow me when they know where I am."
"Who's mean to you?" Xellos suddenly demanded. The smug look was gone and he looked slightly peeved by the notion of others picking on his student.
"Uh...well, no one exactly, but they're all so creepy an' scary an'..." the child whimpered.
"And you assumed they were mean," he finished. The trickster scooped her up in his arms and smiled again. Xaina snuggled in to his warm body. It was just what she needed after being held by Wraithand. "Trust me, Xaina, you have a lot more to fear from me then you ever would from them."
"But your not scary."
Xellos gently lifted her face up so he could look in to her eyes. "That's because you haven't seen me be scary yet. Now then, we have some people to catch up with. And this time I'm bringing a few toys with us."
"Toys?"
~*~*~
Three, four, five. Good, all here, Amelia thought as she grabbed all the canteens to be filled up. She held them in her arms in a rather clumsy manner as she started to make her way towards the stream. One of them started to slip out of her grasp. The princess squeezed her arms around the bundle of canteens in an attempt to keep a hold of them. It slid out even more. She struggled to hold on tighter. It was no use. The flask was determined to escape. It dropped out of her grasp and hit the ground with a soft thud.
Slowly and carefully, the black haired girl reached down to grab it. A second hand wearing a beige glove with the blue finger tips sticking out reached down at the same time, and their hands brushed against each other. Amelia jerked her hand back and blushed a deep crimson. She stood up very straight and tried to look away.
Zelgadiss picked up the canteen. He held it out to her as he blushed a very similar color. The chimera gave a light cough in embarrassment. "You, uh, dropped this."
"Thank you," she replied rather sheepishly. She reached out to take it and dropped another canteen.
The chimera grabbed that one as well. "Would you like some help?" he offered as his blush grew. If it got any brighter, he was sure he would start glowing.
"Y-yes, thank you... again."
He gave a slight nod and they both walked down to the stream. They remained quiet, both too embarrassed to say anything. Amelia dipped the first canteen in the water and watched the bubbles rise to the surface as the air inside was replaced with water. She jammed the top back on and handed Zel the full bottle. As he grabbed it, their hands brushed again. For a moment, Amelia's mind raced back to the moment he had kissed her the second time just around the corner from her room. The way the moonlight had played across his face had made him look so... so... beautiful. She knew you weren't suppose to calls boys beautiful, but she couldn't think of and other word for it. His hands had felt so protective and safe. For just one brief second, she had been sure time had stopped just for them.
As her mind suddenly caught back up with the present, the princess realized that their hands were still touching. Her face flushed a second time as she jerked her hand back and turned away. "I-I'm sorry," she stuttered out.
"Well, I, uh... ... uh, don't be sorry," Zel whimpered. Like her, he was blushing again and had turned away. The chimera glanced back over his shoulder. She was still crouched down. By Ceiphried, what are we so embarrassed about. We're friends, he tried to assure himself. That's right, you have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to be embarrassed about, his sarcastic conscious teased. All you did was kiss her...twice. "Amelia, I...I've been meaning to talk..."
A high pitched squeal interrupted the chimera. Zel and Amelia abandoned the canteens and ran straight back to the camp where someone was still screaming. "That sounds like Ms. Filia," Amelia said as they ran. Just as they came charging back in to the camp, they saw the blonde woman leap behind Lina and try to hide. Gourry had his sword already out and Lina had powered up a spell.
"What's going on?" Zel demanded as he pulled his sword out.
Filia pointed a shaking finger at the bushes she had just come running from. Lina and Amelia prepared spells while Gourry and Zel were ready with their swords. The bushes rustled slightly. Everyone tensed up. A small wooden doll suddenly hopped out from the underbrush. Everyone except Filia face faulted.
"THAT is what you were so scared of?!" Lina snapped as she picked herself up. "It's..." The bushes rustled again. Another doll hopped out. A third one quickly followed it. Then a fourth. A fifth popped out but this one was missing a head. Several more popped out, each missing a limb or two. These dolls looked slightly familiar for some reason. "What the...?" Four dozen more dolls suddenly popped out. These ones were all carrying pebbles. Six small catapults were pushed out form the bushes, each one loaded with small rocks. "This is some sort of joke, right?"
Before the sorceress could get an answer, the bushes behind them rustled. A strange collection of patched up stuffed toys leaped out. Most of them had been repaired several times but none of them looked old. Each little animal carried a stick.
"Where did they all come from?" Amelia inquired.
"I have a better question: why are the moving on their own?" Lina grunted.
Without warning, the toys suddenly charged. The slayers yelped and jumped out of the way. The toys bounded in to each other and started attempting to beat the each other senseless. It was the dolls against the stuffed animals in one of the more bizarre fights the slayers had ever seen. For lack of anything better to do, they stared at the small, and slightly disturbing, battle.
"Co'mon, you can do it! You can do it!" Xaina cheered. The group glanced up and saw the neko girl and Xellos floating above them.
"Your guys never win," the trickster sighed. "You should just give up before they all break again."
"They will win this time!" the girl argued.
"Yes, yes, keep telling yourself that Xaina; maybe someday it will be true."
Zelgadiss let out a disgruntled sigh. "Figures. Only Xellos would be weird enough to come up with something like this with such demented toys."
"Actually they're mine," the little monster chirped. "We play lots of war games so they get broken all the time. Murkivra patches 'um up for me and we glue all the dolls back together when we're done."
"We loved Val's dolls so much, we just had to get our own," Xellos added with a smile.
"No wonder they look familiar," Lina stated. "Um, are they almost done?"
They glanced at the toys. The fight was slowly dwindling down to nothing and broken toys lay everywhere. After a few moments, the last stuffed toy fell. Bits of cotton stuck out of its chest. Cotton and pieces of wood were scattered all over the little battlefield. Though it wasn't exactly gross, it was a bit creepy.
Xaina suddenly slumped. "Awwwwwe, they lost!"
"Of course they did," Xellos said with a triumphant smile. "I always win. Ah ha ha ha ha!"
The slayers glared at him. "Congratulations, Xellos, you beat a four year old," the red head snorted sarcastically.
"It's not fair! I wanna win! Just once!" the girl cried. "You're mean, Xellos!"
He flicked his wrist and suddenly all the toys were gone. "Of course I'm mean. I thought you knew that already. If I do recall correctly, you have reminded me of that several times before." The girl turned her back to him and folded her arms over her chest. Her eyes closed and her nose turned up in the air. "Of course, I'd rather be mean then a spoiled brat with a tail."
The fur on the girl's wings and tail suddenly puffed. "I am not...!" she started to yell. Before she could finish her sentence, Xellos grabbed her and teleported. They appeared right in front of Filia. The girl was dumped in to the dragon's arms and Xellos teleported again. This time he appeared right behind Filia. Xaina picked up the blonde woman's scent and almost instantly started to feel dizzy. She tried to force herself away only to find Xellos had grabbed her tail and was forcing her to stay.
It took several seconds for the dragon woman to register in her mind that Xellos had his arms around her shoulders. A few more seconds passed before her mind suddenly remembered that he was a monster. Monster's were bad. She was in heat. That made him worse then usual. She let out a high pitched squeal and yanked free from his grasp. Filia jumped behind Amelia in an attempt to get as far away from him as possible.
"Keep him away! Keep him away!" the terrified dragon cried.
Xellos followed with a rather giddy smile. In one hand he still grasped his charge's tail. The girl was biting him furiously, but he wouldn't loosen his hold. "Amelia, would you please move," the trickster asked politely.
The princess glanced at the shivering woman behind her and then back at the trickster and hesitated. "I... I... I can't, Mr. Xellos. I don't know what you'll do to Miss Filia, so in the name of justice, I have to protect her."
"I'll give you this really cute child if you step aside." He held up the still squirming Xaina. "She doesn't eat much and can live in just rags if you want. She's not much trouble at all. All you have to do to get her is let me have Filia." The neko child sunk her teeth as deep in to the monster's fake flesh as possible and then tried to rip it apart. Xellos didn't even flinch. "See, absolutely perfectly behaved."
Amelia blinked several times in confusion. "Uh..."
"Please don't let him near me, Miss Amelia," Filia pleaded. "I'll do anything you ask. Just name it. Just please, please, please, keep him away."
"It'll only be for a few minutes."
"I'll give you a discount at my store."
"Very cute little girl."
"Free, free! You can have anything for free!"
"You could train her to fight for justice with you."
"I'll give you the store! Just keep him away!"
"I promise not to hurt her."
"If you dare move, Miss Amelia, I'll personally introduce you to my mace!"
"Let go of my tail!!!!!" Xaina screeched as tears were forming in her eyes. Xellos glanced down, and sure enough, he did still have a firm hold on the child's tail. He had kind of forgotten about her. The girl promptly broke in to loud wails.
He reached out his power, trying to sense what she was feeling so he could calm her down. It took a moment since sensing her emotions had started to become harder and harder as her powers grew stronger. He could feel something from her, but it wasn't pain. In fact, it didn't seem negative at all. Before he could actually pinpoint what Xaina was feeling, a finger gruffly tapped his shoulder. A sword blade came to rest on his other shoulder. He didn't have to look to know who it was. The priest teleported out of the way, leaving Xaina behind. When he reappeared on a tree branch as far away from the girl as he could go, he saw the girl was being cradled in Lina's arms and her wails had turned to small sniffles.
"It's not...broken...is it?" the girl hiccuped.
"Can you still move it?" Lina asked in a soft, soothing voice.
"Yeah...I think so." The girl wagged her tail tentatively.
Gourry smiled and gave the girl a gentle pat on the head. "See, not broken. You're all right, Xaina," the blond man assured her.
'Interesting,' Xellos thought to himself, 'She certainly is not in any pain. She is not upset at all. In fact, she even seems kind of happy... no, proud, she's definitely proud. Did she just...? Why that little sneaking feline! She just tricked everyone and manipulated them in to doing what she wanted! She manipulated them! She manipulated me! She copied my ability to control people! She does listen to me! I'm so proud!'
~*~*~
She wasn't sure what pulled her out of her sleep. It was still dark and she was awake, though not overly so. The fire still crackled near by. She could hear it, but she couldn't see the flames. It should have been in front of her, but for some reason it wasn't. She rubbed her eyes and tried to clear her fuzzy mind. Something was in front of her...something blue.
Amelia sat up and tried to clear her eyes even more. 'Is that Mr. Zelgadiss?' she wondered as she made out the distinct face of a chimera man. She looked him over carefully and quickly noticed he wasn't wearing any clothes. A bright blush crept across her face and she looked away. 'What is Mr. Zelgadiss doing? He's suppose to be on watch.' She glanced back down at his face, trying to find some sort of answer there. As she examined his features a little more she noticed his hair seemed to be darker. At first, she thought it must have just been the light, but then she noticed the pebbles on his face were in different places. Now that she thought about it, he did seem younger and maybe a little thinner.
'... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...That's not Mr. Zelgadiss!!!!!' the princess' mind suddenly screamed at her. As the thought passed through the rest of her body, Amelia leaped back and let out a high pitched scream.
__________________________________________________________
Finals are over! Jump and cheer! I don't like finals. They're evil and take up all my time. But, they're done for another semester. Yes, I know it's a little mean to end the chapter here, but it was starting to get really long so I'm breaking it in to two chapters. (You all will just have to wait for the next one.) Oh, and if anyone was curious, if you have read all my fics up until now, it comes to a total of 228 pages. That's more then my novel currently is. Of course, I'm still editing and it's only the first of several books...
Anyway, I'm getting off the slayers topic. Well, I'm going to be starting up a small slayers site soon with all my fan fics on it. I'm looking for a picture with all the slayers characters on it. If anyone knows where I can find one, feel free to point me in the right direction. Also, I drew this really cool picture of all the new good (or sorta good) guys in my fic. I'm going to color it with photoshop, soon as I figure out how everything works. (hint hint, anyone who can point me in the right direction) However, I'm feeling rather proud of my art, even if it's not all that good, but it is the best I have ever done, so I'm going to show it off a little. This is just the scanned line drawing and it still needs a lot of cleaning up, but you can take a look at http://www.geocities.com/dagteal/slayers/slayers.gif. I warn you, though, it's a little big. I need to shrink it as well as trim the lines before I color it.
Now, if you're curious who they all are, well, I'll name them for you. At the very bottom of the picture, kind of in the middle, is Xaina (all grown up). She's making a little stuffed animal dance or float or something. To the left of her is Dusty, who passed Lina impersination 101 with flying colors. Behind Dusty is Kendra and Duorue, also known as Outcast and Dragon while in bird form. Kendra's standing on a box, if you couldn't tell. Kind of in the very back on the left is Lairue. I don't know how much she'll be in it yet, but I know she's important. To the right of Dusty is Posmose. I'm not sure what he's staring at, but I had to have at least one more character looking to the left (well, his right, but our left). And last, but not least, the girl kneeling with the staff is Trinity. Again, not sure how much she'll be in it, but she'll be there and she's important.
Well, I've babbled on enough. Happy New Year to everyone. Hope 2003 is a lot better then 2002 was.
"Yes, but how much," a low voice hissed. "Worthless book! Don't you have anything useful in you!?!"
Curious, Xaina floated around the library and checked down each isle as she searched for the speaker. At last, she came to one corner in the back. Seated at a small table was a shadow type of monster draped in a shadow cloak that blended with his body. The glowing golden eyes glared at the object before him. Xaina recognized him right off: Wraithand. Truthfully, he kind of gave her the creeps. Murkivra had assured her that he was harmless, and Xellos insisted he was a wimp, but he still gave her the chills; and it wasn't just because his body was as cold as ice. Something about him reminded her of nightmares she use to have when she was a child.
The monster flipped through his book and cursed at it several times. He seemed completely unaware of her presence. "Damn piece of worthless crap!" he snapped. "You either tell me what, how much, or where to find it but never all!" He snatched the book up and was about to throw it when he noticed the young monster peeking around the corner. His eyes suddenly softened and he hastily set the book down with a rather nervous giggle. "Ah, Xaina, eh he he, yes, what can I do for you child?"
"Nothing," the girl squeaked. She was about to make a run for it but he suddenly teleported in front of her.
"Is something the matter?" he inquired.
"Oh... uh, no, I...I was just... looking... at books...not you!"
Wraithand melded his form slightly so he looked more human, though he still remained more of a shadow then anything else. He held out his hands to her and his shadow lips formed in to a sort of smile. The girl hesitated at first, but then consented to let him hold her. A cold chill ran up her spine as his hands grabbed her. Her whole body suddenly felt like ice. "Want to see something wonderful?"
"Uh, okay."
Wraithand carried her gently over to the desk and sat her down on his lap so she could see the book. He kept one arm snaked around her back for support and used the other to prop up the book for her to see. On one of the pages was a fading picture of a staff. It looked sort of familiar, though she wasn't sure where she had seen it before. There were words scribbled all over the page but they were written all curvy and funny and she couldn't even guess what they said. "This is an amazing object. It gives a man the power of his enemies so he can conquer them." He flipped the page to show her a picture of a human standing on a hill holding the staff above his head. Lines had been drawn to show light bursting off of him. At the bottom were more humans falling and turning in to skeletons. "No one can control the one who wields it." He flipped past a few pages until he found another picture. This one had the same man being attacked by a dragon. On the next page the dragon was on the ground and looked dead. "Not even the mightiest of creatures can stop him."
"An' you want that staff, right?" the girl questioned.
For a moment, the monster seemed embarrassed and he was definitely flustered. A few moments passed in tense quiet before he relaxed and his soft smile returned. "Yes, I do. With it, we monsters could be on top again."
"What's wrong with where we are?"
"We're venerable right now," Wraithand explained. "Only three of the five lords have any experience and knowledge on how to run our people. One of them is quite insane as well. She has a habit of killing and eating her servants, you see..."
"Dolphin."
"Yes, Deep Seamaster. She does other things as well, but those aren't for a little one's ears. Perhaps when you're older. Now, some of the other creatures on this planet do not have this problem. They are now stronger then us. This puts us at risk. If we had this staff, no one would dare to harm us again."
"Oh."
Xaina slide off his lap and back on to the ground. "This is our little secret, all right?"
"Ok."
"Make sure you don't tell anyone."
"Why?"
"Well...I...I...don't want to get anyone's hopes up just yet. Run along now. I'm sure your teacher is looking for you."
"Kay. Bye."
"Bye now, child."
Xaina zipped around the corner and gave a small shudder. Wraithand was always so cold... not in personality, though she had been told he could be emotionally cold, but rather physically. Touching him always felt like touching ice. The girl rubbed her hands over her arms and squirmed a little in the air as she attempted to get warmer.
She dropped on to the ground and decided to walk the rest of the way out of the library. It had been a while since the half cat child had used her legs for more then standing and they really needed exercising. Xaina cautiously slipped out the main door and closed it quietly behind her.
"Did you break something?" Xaina nearly leaped out of her skin as she yelped and whirled around to the source of the voice. Xellos, wearing his usual smug grin, peered down at her. The girl began to pant as her nervous caught up with her. "Well?"
"Didn't I tell you not to sneak up on me?!" the young monster snapped.
"Sneak up on you? I didn't sneak up on you. I was waiting here the whole time. It's not my fault if you didn't see me. Now answer the question: did you break something in there?"
"No! Why would ya think I did?!"
"Because you looked like you were trying to avoid being seen or heard."
The girl sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "So? I don't like being heard. Some of the meaner monsters follow me when they know where I am."
"Who's mean to you?" Xellos suddenly demanded. The smug look was gone and he looked slightly peeved by the notion of others picking on his student.
"Uh...well, no one exactly, but they're all so creepy an' scary an'..." the child whimpered.
"And you assumed they were mean," he finished. The trickster scooped her up in his arms and smiled again. Xaina snuggled in to his warm body. It was just what she needed after being held by Wraithand. "Trust me, Xaina, you have a lot more to fear from me then you ever would from them."
"But your not scary."
Xellos gently lifted her face up so he could look in to her eyes. "That's because you haven't seen me be scary yet. Now then, we have some people to catch up with. And this time I'm bringing a few toys with us."
"Toys?"
~*~*~
Three, four, five. Good, all here, Amelia thought as she grabbed all the canteens to be filled up. She held them in her arms in a rather clumsy manner as she started to make her way towards the stream. One of them started to slip out of her grasp. The princess squeezed her arms around the bundle of canteens in an attempt to keep a hold of them. It slid out even more. She struggled to hold on tighter. It was no use. The flask was determined to escape. It dropped out of her grasp and hit the ground with a soft thud.
Slowly and carefully, the black haired girl reached down to grab it. A second hand wearing a beige glove with the blue finger tips sticking out reached down at the same time, and their hands brushed against each other. Amelia jerked her hand back and blushed a deep crimson. She stood up very straight and tried to look away.
Zelgadiss picked up the canteen. He held it out to her as he blushed a very similar color. The chimera gave a light cough in embarrassment. "You, uh, dropped this."
"Thank you," she replied rather sheepishly. She reached out to take it and dropped another canteen.
The chimera grabbed that one as well. "Would you like some help?" he offered as his blush grew. If it got any brighter, he was sure he would start glowing.
"Y-yes, thank you... again."
He gave a slight nod and they both walked down to the stream. They remained quiet, both too embarrassed to say anything. Amelia dipped the first canteen in the water and watched the bubbles rise to the surface as the air inside was replaced with water. She jammed the top back on and handed Zel the full bottle. As he grabbed it, their hands brushed again. For a moment, Amelia's mind raced back to the moment he had kissed her the second time just around the corner from her room. The way the moonlight had played across his face had made him look so... so... beautiful. She knew you weren't suppose to calls boys beautiful, but she couldn't think of and other word for it. His hands had felt so protective and safe. For just one brief second, she had been sure time had stopped just for them.
As her mind suddenly caught back up with the present, the princess realized that their hands were still touching. Her face flushed a second time as she jerked her hand back and turned away. "I-I'm sorry," she stuttered out.
"Well, I, uh... ... uh, don't be sorry," Zel whimpered. Like her, he was blushing again and had turned away. The chimera glanced back over his shoulder. She was still crouched down. By Ceiphried, what are we so embarrassed about. We're friends, he tried to assure himself. That's right, you have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to be embarrassed about, his sarcastic conscious teased. All you did was kiss her...twice. "Amelia, I...I've been meaning to talk..."
A high pitched squeal interrupted the chimera. Zel and Amelia abandoned the canteens and ran straight back to the camp where someone was still screaming. "That sounds like Ms. Filia," Amelia said as they ran. Just as they came charging back in to the camp, they saw the blonde woman leap behind Lina and try to hide. Gourry had his sword already out and Lina had powered up a spell.
"What's going on?" Zel demanded as he pulled his sword out.
Filia pointed a shaking finger at the bushes she had just come running from. Lina and Amelia prepared spells while Gourry and Zel were ready with their swords. The bushes rustled slightly. Everyone tensed up. A small wooden doll suddenly hopped out from the underbrush. Everyone except Filia face faulted.
"THAT is what you were so scared of?!" Lina snapped as she picked herself up. "It's..." The bushes rustled again. Another doll hopped out. A third one quickly followed it. Then a fourth. A fifth popped out but this one was missing a head. Several more popped out, each missing a limb or two. These dolls looked slightly familiar for some reason. "What the...?" Four dozen more dolls suddenly popped out. These ones were all carrying pebbles. Six small catapults were pushed out form the bushes, each one loaded with small rocks. "This is some sort of joke, right?"
Before the sorceress could get an answer, the bushes behind them rustled. A strange collection of patched up stuffed toys leaped out. Most of them had been repaired several times but none of them looked old. Each little animal carried a stick.
"Where did they all come from?" Amelia inquired.
"I have a better question: why are the moving on their own?" Lina grunted.
Without warning, the toys suddenly charged. The slayers yelped and jumped out of the way. The toys bounded in to each other and started attempting to beat the each other senseless. It was the dolls against the stuffed animals in one of the more bizarre fights the slayers had ever seen. For lack of anything better to do, they stared at the small, and slightly disturbing, battle.
"Co'mon, you can do it! You can do it!" Xaina cheered. The group glanced up and saw the neko girl and Xellos floating above them.
"Your guys never win," the trickster sighed. "You should just give up before they all break again."
"They will win this time!" the girl argued.
"Yes, yes, keep telling yourself that Xaina; maybe someday it will be true."
Zelgadiss let out a disgruntled sigh. "Figures. Only Xellos would be weird enough to come up with something like this with such demented toys."
"Actually they're mine," the little monster chirped. "We play lots of war games so they get broken all the time. Murkivra patches 'um up for me and we glue all the dolls back together when we're done."
"We loved Val's dolls so much, we just had to get our own," Xellos added with a smile.
"No wonder they look familiar," Lina stated. "Um, are they almost done?"
They glanced at the toys. The fight was slowly dwindling down to nothing and broken toys lay everywhere. After a few moments, the last stuffed toy fell. Bits of cotton stuck out of its chest. Cotton and pieces of wood were scattered all over the little battlefield. Though it wasn't exactly gross, it was a bit creepy.
Xaina suddenly slumped. "Awwwwwe, they lost!"
"Of course they did," Xellos said with a triumphant smile. "I always win. Ah ha ha ha ha!"
The slayers glared at him. "Congratulations, Xellos, you beat a four year old," the red head snorted sarcastically.
"It's not fair! I wanna win! Just once!" the girl cried. "You're mean, Xellos!"
He flicked his wrist and suddenly all the toys were gone. "Of course I'm mean. I thought you knew that already. If I do recall correctly, you have reminded me of that several times before." The girl turned her back to him and folded her arms over her chest. Her eyes closed and her nose turned up in the air. "Of course, I'd rather be mean then a spoiled brat with a tail."
The fur on the girl's wings and tail suddenly puffed. "I am not...!" she started to yell. Before she could finish her sentence, Xellos grabbed her and teleported. They appeared right in front of Filia. The girl was dumped in to the dragon's arms and Xellos teleported again. This time he appeared right behind Filia. Xaina picked up the blonde woman's scent and almost instantly started to feel dizzy. She tried to force herself away only to find Xellos had grabbed her tail and was forcing her to stay.
It took several seconds for the dragon woman to register in her mind that Xellos had his arms around her shoulders. A few more seconds passed before her mind suddenly remembered that he was a monster. Monster's were bad. She was in heat. That made him worse then usual. She let out a high pitched squeal and yanked free from his grasp. Filia jumped behind Amelia in an attempt to get as far away from him as possible.
"Keep him away! Keep him away!" the terrified dragon cried.
Xellos followed with a rather giddy smile. In one hand he still grasped his charge's tail. The girl was biting him furiously, but he wouldn't loosen his hold. "Amelia, would you please move," the trickster asked politely.
The princess glanced at the shivering woman behind her and then back at the trickster and hesitated. "I... I... I can't, Mr. Xellos. I don't know what you'll do to Miss Filia, so in the name of justice, I have to protect her."
"I'll give you this really cute child if you step aside." He held up the still squirming Xaina. "She doesn't eat much and can live in just rags if you want. She's not much trouble at all. All you have to do to get her is let me have Filia." The neko child sunk her teeth as deep in to the monster's fake flesh as possible and then tried to rip it apart. Xellos didn't even flinch. "See, absolutely perfectly behaved."
Amelia blinked several times in confusion. "Uh..."
"Please don't let him near me, Miss Amelia," Filia pleaded. "I'll do anything you ask. Just name it. Just please, please, please, keep him away."
"It'll only be for a few minutes."
"I'll give you a discount at my store."
"Very cute little girl."
"Free, free! You can have anything for free!"
"You could train her to fight for justice with you."
"I'll give you the store! Just keep him away!"
"I promise not to hurt her."
"If you dare move, Miss Amelia, I'll personally introduce you to my mace!"
"Let go of my tail!!!!!" Xaina screeched as tears were forming in her eyes. Xellos glanced down, and sure enough, he did still have a firm hold on the child's tail. He had kind of forgotten about her. The girl promptly broke in to loud wails.
He reached out his power, trying to sense what she was feeling so he could calm her down. It took a moment since sensing her emotions had started to become harder and harder as her powers grew stronger. He could feel something from her, but it wasn't pain. In fact, it didn't seem negative at all. Before he could actually pinpoint what Xaina was feeling, a finger gruffly tapped his shoulder. A sword blade came to rest on his other shoulder. He didn't have to look to know who it was. The priest teleported out of the way, leaving Xaina behind. When he reappeared on a tree branch as far away from the girl as he could go, he saw the girl was being cradled in Lina's arms and her wails had turned to small sniffles.
"It's not...broken...is it?" the girl hiccuped.
"Can you still move it?" Lina asked in a soft, soothing voice.
"Yeah...I think so." The girl wagged her tail tentatively.
Gourry smiled and gave the girl a gentle pat on the head. "See, not broken. You're all right, Xaina," the blond man assured her.
'Interesting,' Xellos thought to himself, 'She certainly is not in any pain. She is not upset at all. In fact, she even seems kind of happy... no, proud, she's definitely proud. Did she just...? Why that little sneaking feline! She just tricked everyone and manipulated them in to doing what she wanted! She manipulated them! She manipulated me! She copied my ability to control people! She does listen to me! I'm so proud!'
~*~*~
She wasn't sure what pulled her out of her sleep. It was still dark and she was awake, though not overly so. The fire still crackled near by. She could hear it, but she couldn't see the flames. It should have been in front of her, but for some reason it wasn't. She rubbed her eyes and tried to clear her fuzzy mind. Something was in front of her...something blue.
Amelia sat up and tried to clear her eyes even more. 'Is that Mr. Zelgadiss?' she wondered as she made out the distinct face of a chimera man. She looked him over carefully and quickly noticed he wasn't wearing any clothes. A bright blush crept across her face and she looked away. 'What is Mr. Zelgadiss doing? He's suppose to be on watch.' She glanced back down at his face, trying to find some sort of answer there. As she examined his features a little more she noticed his hair seemed to be darker. At first, she thought it must have just been the light, but then she noticed the pebbles on his face were in different places. Now that she thought about it, he did seem younger and maybe a little thinner.
'... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...That's not Mr. Zelgadiss!!!!!' the princess' mind suddenly screamed at her. As the thought passed through the rest of her body, Amelia leaped back and let out a high pitched scream.
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Finals are over! Jump and cheer! I don't like finals. They're evil and take up all my time. But, they're done for another semester. Yes, I know it's a little mean to end the chapter here, but it was starting to get really long so I'm breaking it in to two chapters. (You all will just have to wait for the next one.) Oh, and if anyone was curious, if you have read all my fics up until now, it comes to a total of 228 pages. That's more then my novel currently is. Of course, I'm still editing and it's only the first of several books...
Anyway, I'm getting off the slayers topic. Well, I'm going to be starting up a small slayers site soon with all my fan fics on it. I'm looking for a picture with all the slayers characters on it. If anyone knows where I can find one, feel free to point me in the right direction. Also, I drew this really cool picture of all the new good (or sorta good) guys in my fic. I'm going to color it with photoshop, soon as I figure out how everything works. (hint hint, anyone who can point me in the right direction) However, I'm feeling rather proud of my art, even if it's not all that good, but it is the best I have ever done, so I'm going to show it off a little. This is just the scanned line drawing and it still needs a lot of cleaning up, but you can take a look at http://www.geocities.com/dagteal/slayers/slayers.gif. I warn you, though, it's a little big. I need to shrink it as well as trim the lines before I color it.
Now, if you're curious who they all are, well, I'll name them for you. At the very bottom of the picture, kind of in the middle, is Xaina (all grown up). She's making a little stuffed animal dance or float or something. To the left of her is Dusty, who passed Lina impersination 101 with flying colors. Behind Dusty is Kendra and Duorue, also known as Outcast and Dragon while in bird form. Kendra's standing on a box, if you couldn't tell. Kind of in the very back on the left is Lairue. I don't know how much she'll be in it yet, but I know she's important. To the right of Dusty is Posmose. I'm not sure what he's staring at, but I had to have at least one more character looking to the left (well, his right, but our left). And last, but not least, the girl kneeling with the staff is Trinity. Again, not sure how much she'll be in it, but she'll be there and she's important.
Well, I've babbled on enough. Happy New Year to everyone. Hope 2003 is a lot better then 2002 was.