A/N: YAY!!! REVIEWS!!! ^_^ I don't mind if they're a little late, as long as they get in. I really do appreciate your comments! Don't worry, all will be revealed two chapters from now. Sorry if the last chapter was a bust (it was too short to count for anything!) but, I'm following strictly to the notes I wrote before. I got Xellos in though! ^_^ Oh, the song Liona sings is Annie Lennox's (so it isn't mine) "No more I Love You's – I chose it because of the lyrics; not the singer. K! Read and Review!
Disclaimer: I don't own Slayers or anything else that isn't mine to own.
The Moonlight Strikes Again, BUT!
The next morning, Liona cheerfully went down the stairs where everyone else was waiting, having already eaten. They did this as a precaution, because Liona could be just as selfish with food as her parents, depending on her mood. Happy times accounted for more food, and more money spent. Liona was happy this morning. Needless to say, she ordered enough food for a small militia during a war.
After she appeared to have finished, Angelina carefully asked, "If I may ask, Liona," Liona turned to her with an inquisitive look, sauce dribbling a little into her chin, and Angelina instinctively wiped it off with a napkin before continuing, "Why are you so happy this morning?"
Liona drained a jug of juice, and then turned to grin at her. "I'm going to see Mommy today!"
This startled all three of her companions. Val voiced his thoughts after a period of silence. "First of all, wasn't there a specific reason that you went traveling? And second, we must be at least a month and a fortnight away from Zephilia. How do you expect to see her today?"
Liona kept grinning. "I gathered what I need. I'm ready to go back. And as to how I'm going to see Mommy and Daddy today… Sore wa Himitsu Desu!"
Val groaned softly, propped his elbow on the table, and his forehead in the palm of his hand.
Blake, albeit slightly clueless, though maybe just as much as the others, asked, "Uh.. Liona? I was just curious…What exactly were you looking for?"
"Mommy's cure!"
"Umm….Can you be more specific?"
"A cure for Mommy!"
At this, Blake sighed, and Angelina tried hard not to laugh behind her hand.
Suddenly, Angelina's eyes popped wide open. She looked to Liona as realization dawned on her. "You /didn't/… You wouldn't dare, would you?"
"Dare to what?"
Angelina was silent. She turned away and murmured, "Forget it."
Liona cocked her head to one side in confusion, but shrugged it off. "Okay. When can we leave?"
Val answered, "As soon as we pay for your breakfast."
"Really? Okay. I'll pay it. Now…." Liona looked around, left and right "Where do you pay it?"
In a deadpan voice, Val answered back, "Catch the waitress' attention to hail her over, ask for the bill, put the amount on the bill on the table, leave tip if you want, and we'll go."
"Or…" Angelina pointed out, "You could just go to the front desk and pay it while we check out of our rooms."
After a /lot/ of thinking, Liona decided, "I like her way better. Let's go!"
While the guys went to pay for the rooms, Angelina followed Liona to pay for the breakfast. When the old man told her the price, she took out a small purse and counted the money tenaciously in bronzes. When she got to 100, she stopped, sighed, and looked up at the old man. "I hope that's enough."
The old man had heard her count, but as it was, he was almost completely color blind. He bobbed his head as he gathered the bronzes. "Yes, dearie, that'll be fine. 100 gold pieces for your meal, yes?"
Liona nodded. As he deposited in a form of an ancient cash register also known as a box, he said, "Well, then, that'll be all. Thank you for the business."
Liona turned, skipped a few steps, waved goodbye, and ran out of the restaurant. Before Val and Blake left, the store manager stopped them to hand them an ice-incubator with their fish inside. Lugging it between them, they managed to get out of the establishment, with Angelina in tow. After seeing them get easily tired from carrying the heavy crate, Angelina sent it into the air with a mere flick of her wrist, there it hovered, just a few inches above their heads. Val and Blake watched it as Angelina went ahead, and the box followed her in the air. Glancing at each other, they shrugged, and ran to catch up to her.
Since Liona was going at a very energetic pace, they reached the next town by late afternoon. As they were walking around, Liona was offhandedly looking around. Angelina noticed that her gaze lingered for a split second on a night club, but chose to not say anything about it. When they stopped to eat dinner, Liona said that they could sleep at the inn tonight. Tired from their fast-paced walk, the others consented without argument.
When she was sure that everyone else was asleep, Liona quietly snuck out of the room, down the stairs and out the front door. Angelina had been waiting in the shadows, and followed her as she went out. Outside, Liona glanced at the temporarily moonless sky, before hurrying to the night club with Angelina not far behind.
Once there, Liona sneaks past the guard, and goes to sit in the corner. This was a Kareoke-for-money night club, so Liona watched as people went up to the stage, sang their piece, bowed as they were applauded, and collected their profits as they came down. A simple enough process in Liona's mind. Liona stood up, and she jumped when she suddenly heard Angelina's calm voice as she sat two feet from her, at the same table. "Are you going to sing?"
Getting over the shock quickly, Liona smirked. "Sure, why not? I spent a lot more money on this trip than I thought. I'd like to come back in style."
Angelina sighed as she shook her head in hopelessness. "Want me to help? I can play back your music for you while you sing."
"You can do that?" Angelina nodded. "Okay! Let's go!"
While another solo singer went up, they found the manager and asked to sign up to be next. The manager scoffed at them and said this was a 15-years or older club. Liona pouted and said she was 16 and merely under a stunting spell. Angelina added that she was only there to provide the music. The manager was still dubious, but when Liona offered a pair of small gems as tip, he consented. The manager also happened to be the spokesperson that announced who would be going next.
"Now, for a new twist, Entering Liona Inverse!"
A collective gasp could be heard from the audience, but Liona ignored it as she put on her cutest act yet. She skipped up the steps, plopped down to sit on the edge with her feet dangling, and introduced herself with a cutesy voice. "Hi! My name's Liona! I'm going to sing a favorite of mine.
I used to be lunatic from the gracious days
I used to be woebegone and so restless nights
My aching heart would bleed for you to see
Oh but now...
(I don't find myself bouncing home whistling
Buttonhole tunes to make me cry)
No more I love you's
The language is leaving me
No more I love you's
Changes are shifting outside the word
(The lover speaks about the monsters)
I used to have demons in my room at night
Desire, despair, desire, so many monsters
Oh but now...
(I don't find myself bouncing home whistling
Buttonhole tunes to make me cry)
No more I love you's
The language is leaving me
No more I love you's
The language is leaving me in silence
No more I love you's
Changes are shifting outside the word
They were being really crazy
They were on the come.
And you know what Mammy?
Everybody was being really crazy. Uh huh.
The monsters are crazy.
There are monsters outside
Outside the word
After she finished, there was silence. Then, slowly, people started to clap, a few even cried and clapped (females only, though). Liona smiled a heartened smile, stood up, and curtseyed. She took a step to go off the stage, but then she stopped as if remembering something. She went and stood back in the middle of the stage, and said /ever/ so innocently.
"Oh, before I forget, this song was dedicated to my Mommy back at home, she's really sick with something, and I was hoping that if I could, I'd use this money to help my Mommy…." Liona shook herself out of her sad state and smiled cheerfully, "But don't let that burden your conscience! Thank you for listening. Bye bye!" With that, Liona skipped off the stage.
Well, reverse psychology worked its natural powers, leaving Liona with several large donations, for her singing and for her mother. When Liona received the money, she stared at it in mock amazement, before turning to everyone and thanking them. She then ran off with Angelina following her. Liona stopped under the roof overhang in front of the club. She sorted out the money and put it in her pockets. Luna had taught her to keep her money safe and organized at all times. Once finished, she yawned and stretched and lazily walked past the overhang towards the inn.
The second moonlight hit her small frame, she stopped dead in her tracks. Liona was as still as a statue, a fact in itself that worried Angelina. Tentatively, she inquired, "Liona-chan? Are you okay? What's wrong?"
Liona started to shake as she took a slow and very forced step forward. With the grace of a clown, Liona's foot slipped, and she crumpled to the ground. Now Angelina was really worried. She attempted to read Liona's mind to see what she was thinking, but a powerful magical signature blocked her path. Nevertheless, Angelina rushed to Liona's side and shook her shoulders lightly.
"Liona?! Can you hear me? Tell me what's wrong!"
Angelina turned Liona so that she could look into her eyes. The instant she did, however, she sincerely wished she hadn't. Liona had red mazoku eyes – and fangs, pearly white fangs. Liona suddenly flipped back away from Angelina's reach, and landed on her hands and knees. Her teeth were bared and she was growling like a lioness protecting her young from a hunter.
Angelina was now really bewildered and terrified for Liona's wellbeing. Injuries she could handle; deaths she could handle; but with things such as this that she had no idea whatsoever of, she could not help Liona at all. It hurt her inside to see Liona behave in this way, for she knew that she was fighting an emotional battle inside.
Angelina telepathically called Blake and Val to hurry over from the inn, before she took a careful, steady step towards Liona. She, in turn, back up one step, two steps, and then stopped. Angelina hinted a flickering of Liona's full blood-red eyes, as if she was trying return back, but then it returned full, and Angelina saw Liona's contracted fingers and hands form paws, grayish, wolf paws. Liona noticed this too, and as if she were afraid to let Angelina see her fully-transformed form, she turned tail and ran out of the city and into the forest.
Considering she didn't know what was going on with Liona, Angelina was torn between running after her alone, or waiting for Blake and Val to come. After a short battle of consciences, Angelina resolved to go towards the inn quickly and see if Blake and Val had received her calling.
As Val was a dragon, he was used to Filia calling him in the same way. For higher-level dragons, it wasn't the least bit taxing on the mind, but certainly saved the user's voice from hollering themselves hoarse. Val woke up with a start when he heard Angelina's voice. He telepathically called back to verify and to ask what was wrong. The reply sounded very distressed, and mentioned something about Liona running away again. Angelina asked if Blake was awake, and when Val replied that he was still sleeping like a log, she hurriedly asked that he wake him up, and then the two of them meet up with her. She gave a location, and Val kicked Blake off the bed to wake him up. Val informed him of the urgency of the situation, and they both rushed to meet Angelina.
Once joined up, Angelina revealed that she had a medallion much like Liona's, except the dragon was a pure white. She chanted the spell with urgency, and they follow it.
In Zephilia, for about an hour before Liona started to change, Lina was struggling to get out of bed with vigor. Gourry had fallen asleep by her bed, so he hadn't noticed. It seemed that Lina's body didn't adapt well to a quickly changing environment from the wide outdoors to a dinky little room, stuck in bed for almost two months now. Her legs were weak from misuse, and her coughs that occurred about every thirty seconds didn't help either. But she wouldn't give up. She couldn't give up. She had to warn Liona about the possible danger she was in, or at least tell someone who /could/ get the message to her daughter.
It had taken awhile, but Lina had finally reached the door of her room. She leaned on the wall right next to it, still clad in her modified Zephilian grape pajamas. Suddenly, much too sudden for Lina's likings, the door opened without inside help. In the doorway was Luna, with a grim expression on her face.
In a dead tone voice, much more serious and calm than usual, Luna instructed, "Go back to bed."
Lina opened her mouth to say something, but she couldn't get the words out. She settled for shaking her head 'no'.
"After all this time, in your state of being, you /still/ dare to defy my authority?"
Lina again shook her head 'no'.
"Then, what is it?"
Lina gulped, took a deep breath, and tried to explain. "I'm worried for Liona."
"I think we all are, Lina."
Lina shook her head again, and slumped down to the ground so that she was sitting while leaning against the wall.
Lina feebly requested, "Could you please close the door? The draft's too cold when I'm staying still."
Luna consented, and seated herself a few feet away. "What is it?"
Lina didn't look directly at Luna then, she looked towards the window above her wooden chest. "The thing is…" she began, but took several breaks throughout her explanation.
"The thing is, I don't know what happened to Liona all those years ago, you know, when she was two. I would have asked her about it, but considering who her father is, I didn't think she'd remember. I wouldn't have wanted to hear it anyway, even if she did. But now, as I think about it, we have no real proof that Liona was turned back to human completely then. And if I remember correctly, the spell that was used to summon Mazolina, the one I fought in the dome bubble, it revealed that she, too, was or is an Inverse. Luna? Does that mean we're all descendants of Mazoku?"
Luna sighed. "I didn't know you knew about that. Technically, according to our family history, the girl you are referring to was indeed a member of our family, but she turned bad. She turned really bad; so bad that she received the position of Hellmaster Phibbrizo's general."
"Wait, I thought all of Hellmaster's servants were killed in the War of the Monster's Fall. How could I have seen her then?"
Luna sighed again. "Lina, did you ever learn how that war, the Kouma war, ended?"
Slightly surprised by that question, Lina shook her head.
Luna explained, "You see, all books written on the subject only say that the Ryuzoku and Mazoku came to a lengthened truce when the vessel of Shabrinigdo was incased in ice by the Water Dragon King. However, as one of our family's history books' dictate, the actual fighting was stopped by two high-level beings. One, Mazolina, was fighting for the Mazoku. The other, Angelina, was fighting for the Ryuzoku. As it turns out, both were sick of fighting each other, so Mazolina decided to end it by casting an unperfected and devastating Giga Slave. Since they were childhood friends, before Mazolina went bad, they were thinking along the same lines; Angelina cast a dragon-improvised version of the Giga Slave. Her Giga Slave was so strong that it had canceled out Mazolina's Giga Slave, and only served to kill the two of them, and all of the fighters within a mile's range of them. Since it also half purified the piece of Shabrinigdo, L-sama only knows how, the Water Dragon King used this as a distraction and took the chance to entomb Shabrinigdo. Can you guess what happened from there?"
Lina's mind began to whirl. "The same thing happened to them as what almost happened to me? They 'registered' and started to work under L-sama's bidding, power, and protection?"
Luna nodded, "Bingo."
Lina contemplated this carefully before she realized something. "You didn't answer my question though. Are /we/ mazoku too?"
"Considering she took a pledge, gave birth to the next Inverse, was killed, and then resurrected as a mazoku, you could say that, yes."
Having heard all this from Luna, Lina was more worried than before. "You already read that section of the book you gave to Gourry to read to me, right? And knowing our history, don't you think Liona could be targeted?"
Luna nodded solemnly. "I do. But I also trust Angelina, and Valterria to make sure that it doesn't happen to her. Do you notice the link between the Angelina from 1000 years ago, and the Angelina hatched from the egg Liona 'found'? She is a distant descendant of that Angelina – Just as Liona is a descendant of Mazolina. You see? If worse comes to worse, history will repeat itself. But I have a feeling it won't, simply because Liona has been influenced very differently than how Mazolina was. So try not too worry about it too much."
It was then, that Lina felt a queer presence buried deep within her heart. It grew bigger by the second. At the same time Liona felt herself transform, slowly but surely, Lina also felt the pain from being transformed from a human to a wolf, except she didn't change her form. She did, however, crumple down into a tight ball and cry out in anguished pain. Luna quickly tried to help her, but she was met by the same signature that had blocked out Angelina. Gourry was awoken at the first cry out, but with Luna there, he could do anything but hold Lina's hand in support as he watched her. All Luna could do, was carry Lina back to bed, and once more wipe the extreme flow of sweat that exuded from Lina's body, while she writhed and twitched in pain.
A/N: Horrible picture to stop on, isn't it? Oh well! It'll give you incentive to review! If you want them both spared of their misery, Review (and by that, I don't mean I'll kill them, just stop the pain). Hmm…. Luna talked a lot in this chapter, ne? Well, Lina had to get her rambling abilities from somewhere right? Bye bye!