Disclaimer: I don't own Slayers or anything else that isn't mine to own.

Double Trouble Among Inverses

            When Lina cried out in Zephilia, Liona felt her mother's pain as well as her own.  She knew that be transforming, she had made their curses ten times stronger and more painful than before.  She wasn't sure how she knew this, or why this was, but Liona knew it to be the truth.  But when Lina's heart stopped for a few seconds, Liona lost all concentration and ran into a tree.  As if this feeling made her heart lighter, she stopped running away, and just repeatedly rammed her head into the biggest tree trunk in the vicinity, blaming herself for her mother's and her trouble.  It was this scene that her companions found her in when they caught up to her.

            Liona felt their presence, stopped abruptly, and turned towards them.  Her eyes were glowing a malevolent crimson shade, as if she were possessed by a demon.  By now, she had fully transformed into the vision of a full-fledged wolf demon.  From her black tipped ears to her equally blacked tipped tail, a broad band of dark purple fur stood up from her back.  Other than that, her black paws, her demon eyes, her lavender stomach and muzzle, she was varying shades of dark purple.  In this state, she was about the size of a full-grown timber wolf – a smaller version of the wolves on Wolf Pack Island.  Now Liona was snarling loudly, and snapped her jaws warningly.

            Not realizing that it was Liona, and still being half-asleep, Blake withdrew his sword, and held it in front of him.  Val interrupted his lunge as he urgently asked, "And just what are you planning to do with /that/?"

            "Isn't it obvious?  I'm going to slay this rabid beast before it kills us!"

            "Oh no you won't!"  Val made a flying tackle and knocked Blake to the ground.  While he was still conscious, Angelina informed him, "You shall not harm this one.  Can't you see that it's Liona?"  It was then that Blake was knocked out, and Val was used a form of a trampoline by Liona, to sink her jaws into Angelina's arm.  She cried out in pain, and Liona reacted.  She twitched and dropped down to the ground.  Liona whimpered slightly before running away again.  Angelina bit her lower lip as she healed herself.  Once done, she asked Val if Blake was alright.  He answered by saying that he'd be out for a while longer, but he'd be okay.  Angelina nodded at this, and wordlessly resolved to transform into her dragon form before resuming the chase for Liona.  Catching a hint, Val expanded his own wings.  Disgruntled, at Angelina's request, Val heaved Blake onto her back, before they started again, taking to the skies to avoid hitting trees.

The only problem was, they couldn't see where Liona was through the thick trees. However, they /could/ sense her aura – a mixed aura of red, purple, blue, and black.  When they eyed a large canyon/cliff coming up, easily fifty feet in width, they thought Liona would stop at the edge.  But no, Liona simple leaped over to the other side.  She barely made it, but nevertheless she did.  After clearing over the canyon as well, the dragon pair continued to follow her.

As a wolf demon, Liona had a whole lot more energy – not that she ever needed the boost.  She ran so fast and with such urgency, that by two hours to dawn, they were already back inside the borders of Seyruun.  In fact, they were only about 20 leagues from the capital city.  Finally though, Liona stopped in a clearing.  She looked to the sky and saw that the moon was quickly disappearing from view.  She howled as a last farewell to the moon that made her transform.  Angelina and Val had seen her stop, and landed nearby.  By this time, Blake had awoken.

Contracting his wings, Val slowly made his way to Liona.  She stepped back and growled at him to stay away.  Though she could not utter a single understandable human word, Val knew what she was articulating.  He paid no attention to it.  When he was within touching range of Liona, he crouched down and ever so carefully extended his hand.  Liona immediately chomped on it.  Due to his tough dragon hide, even in human form, Liona only left teeth marks, but the pain was still present.  Just as tenaciously, Val slowly used his free hand to stroke Liona's back.  A visible chill went up and down her spine, straight from her perked up ears to her extended tail.

Val continued to stroke her, and as her body gradually relaxed, he chanced scratching under her chin.  Having closed her eyes, Liona released her grasp on Val's hand, now drenched in saliva (_).  Val pretended to take no notice of this, and moved up to scratch behind her ears.  As he scratched, he had been repeating soothing words to her.  "Calm down, Liona-chan.  This isn't like you.  You'll be alright, I know it.  So will your mom.  And you'll be reunited soon.  Don't worry, Liona.  Just relax.  The only one hurting you right now is yourself.  So calm down and turn back. . ."

The whole process after they landed had taken a little more than an hour, but Liona had gradually turned back.  The more the darkness of night disappeared into the sun's light, the more Liona's wolf form disappeared to reveal Liona's small body, clothed in her cape and traveling outfit.  By the time she had fully turned back, Liona had fallen asleep out of exhaustion.  After affirming that Liona was asleep, Val wiped his slobbery hand on the grass, and picked Liona up.  He carried her over to Angelina, who had long since returned to her own human form.  Blake was staring in awe at the three of them.  Val telepathically asked that Angelina cast a set time sleeping spell on Liona so that she could rest up properly.  Angelina consented as Val leaned her against a tree trunk.  All three of them were startled when Liona started to sink into the ground and trunk as soon as Val let go of her.  He immediately tried to grab hold of her again, but he only succeeded in nearly disappearing along with Liona.  Just before that, Liona's sleeping body flickered, and Val lost his grip on Liona.

When Liona was fully absorbed and out of sight, Val pounded the ground with both of his fists, cursing at his own fault.  Angelina murmured that it wasn't his fault at all.  Angelina looked at the tree.  She put her hand on it, and felt that it was indeed solid.  However, she suspected a certain someone was responsible when she felt a very faint magical aura.  With a sigh, Angelina turned back to them and false cheerfully asked, "How would you like to visit Zephilia and Lina-san?"

Rather aggravated, Val blurted out, "We can't go there now!  Liona just disappeared, and that's how you respond?!  How can you abandon your friend like that?  How can you let Liona stay missing?!"

Calmly, much too calmly to be normal, Angelina answered while giving Val a fixed stare, "I am /not/ abandoning Liona-chan.  She's /more/ than just a friend to me as well; if it weren't for her, I wouldn't be alive, so I owe my life to protect her as much as I can."  Angelina paused to look in the direction of Zephilia, several hundred miles away.  "But I think I know where Liona went, at least, I know who took her.  I believe we'll be needing the help of Liona's family to get her back, though."

Blake broke the silence that followed by asking, "We want to find Liona as soon as possible, right?  But how can we get to Zephilia in time?  It has to be at least a two week's travel from here, right?"

Angelina smirked.  Yes, the holy bispecies dragon smirked.  "Let me rest for about an hour and I'll teleport us there.  Besides, you will need your energy soon enough anyway."

Having no other reasonable choice, the two males consented.  For lack of energy to head into town, they rested in that clearing.  Even while Angelina stored her energy, she healed Val's small hand wound, and in the process cleansed it.  Afterwards, Angelina, too, leaned back against a tree trunk with a heavy sigh.  It would be a long wait, but they needed the rest, especially Angelina and Val.

Back in Zephilia, Lina was really roughing it.  Every other time she breathed out, her heart stopped for a few seconds, and she was breathing very hard as is.  She was drenched in her sweat regardless of the fact that Luna worked to mop Lina of it.  Lina's hand was slowly becoming cold and clammy, not a good sign at all.  Lina had her eyes squeezed shut, a single pained tear mixing in with sweat.  She forced herself to bite her lower lip to keep from yelling out and draining her already limited supply of oxygen.  Gourry wished he could do more, as did Luna, but this was way beyond their hands, even for someone as experienced as Luna.  However, as Liona had started to transform back, Lina suddenly started coming back from the deep end.  As Liona finished regaining her human form, Lina, too, was sleeping peaceably.  Seeing this, Luna slumped into a nearby chair, hoping that the worst was over.

Liona and Lina were linked, through thick and thin, for better or for worse.  When Liona disappeared, Lina's face regained a painful expression.  She sweated, but not nearly as much as before.  Straining, she slowly worked her eyes open.  As her bed faced the door, she slowly forced a smile and asked weakly, "Hey, Zel.  What's up with you? *Cough* And where's Liona?"

Gourry and Luna turned their heads to see Zel clad in his usual getup, standing in the doorway.  Luna's blocked stare penetrated into the core of Zel's very soul, and she didn't like what she learned at all.  "You /left/ Liona?"

Everyone was surprised by this sudden inference.  Zel instantly became nervous under Luna's glare.  Now he knew why Lina had always feared and obeyed her; her demeanor was bone-chillingly frightening even without her history of grand deeds.  He scratched his cheek slightly and answered without looking at Luna.  "Yes, well. . . I never really found her in the first place.  I think someone jinxed the medallion so that it would lead me away from her.

Even in Lina's haggard state, she managed to get out, "You dolt.  If the medallion was giving you troubles, don't use it.  Rely on your demonic instincts and you probably would have found her before she even left the area."

Zel was slightly annoyed with Lina calling him a "dolt", but she /did/ have a point.  Still, being a bit behind, Gourry asked, "Eh?  Zel?  Did you find Liona already?"

Zelgadis sighed, took a step towards them, and started to tell his story.  "I found her in Seyruun, competing in a tournament that they held annually."  Lina and Luna smiled wanly at this.  Zel didn't comment on this as he continued, "Well, when Amelia offered to exchange her five free buffet coupons for a Dragon Cuisine course sent here, Liona immediately refused and ran off, missing the last round of the tournament.  After she left, Angelina basically told us to back off and she'd get Liona home herself, when the time was right.  And… that's basically it."

Luna surveyed Zel a few moments longer before surmising, "Liar.  You took a side trip on your way back to search for your cure, didn't you?"  Zel 'innocently' coughed, Luna scoffed at him.  "If I told you once, I shouldn't need to tell you again.  You will never find a cure with your arrogant attitude, so you might as well learn to live and love it."

That comment alone stung, but Zel was resilient.  Lina let out a strangled laugh.  "I know it's late, but mind joining us for a midnight snack?"

Luna shook her head.  "Not midnight.  Very early.  The sun will rise soon."

Luna stood up.  "Stay here.  I'll come back with something."

Lina started to ask something, but Luna read her mind and answered, "I finished my shift for the night when I came in early.  My next shift doesn't start until around noon.  If it wasn't, I'd be getting some shut eye now, and advising you to do the same."

With that, Luna walked out the door and down the hall.  Lina sighed and closed her eyes.  A contented smile tugged at her lips.  At times like this, it seemed that silence was golden, or at least, very much appreciated.  Shifting from one foot to the other, Zel was starting to get edgy again.  Uneasily, he verified, "So…I'm guessing you haven't heard anything about Liona since she left?"

Lina sighed.  "I wouldn't say that exactly."

When Lina had paused for a full minute, Zel asked, "Then what /would/ you say?"

At a gesture, Lina had Gourry help her to sit up.  He even propped up the pillows for her.

Once comfortable under her covers, but sitting up, Lina turned to look straight at Zel.  Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and tried to explain, "I think… I think Liona and my heart are connected; when she feels pain, I feel pain and when she's happy, I'm happy.  If that's true… then it makes me think…"

"Perhaps your illness is caused by something Liona's feeling inside?"

Zel jumped when he heard Luna's voice directly behind him.  Lina grimly nodded.  Luna walked over, put the tray she was holding on the night table, and sat down on the edge of the bed.  "Your worry is not without just reason.  Unfortunately, I do not know the answer to that, but I'm sure there are others that do."

Lina had to accept this as Luna's answer, though her heart had not stopped pounding with worry.  Seeing her sullen face, Luna took one of the pastries she had been setting to cool earlier, and stuffed it into Lina's mouth with the speed of greased lightning.  Lina was taken by surprise, but automatically swallowed it whole.  Luna smirked and said, "Lina…chew your food," before stuffing another one into her mouth.  Lina complied and happily chewed it before swallowing.

It was then that Lina saw the hungry look in Gourry's eyes, as well as his expression.  She took one off the tray and offered it to him.  He greedily took it and gulped it down, too.  Luna frowned at this, but simply shook her head at their hopeless table manners (even though they were at a bed).  She picked up the tray and asked courteously if Zel wanted one as well.  He, also hungry, consented and took one, but he ate with his usual calmness.

After a while, Luna asked Lina, "How do you feel?"

Lina stopped and examined herself, and answered with surprise, "I feel okay again!  I have a bit of a headache, but that's it.  I wonder what changed…"

It was then that Angelina transported herself, Blake, and Val to the living room of the Inverse home.  They all heard the collective thump, and rushed to see what it was; Lina had to lean on Gourry, but she got there too.  They were all surprised when they saw the three of them all face down on the carpet.  At a grimace, they all slowly stood up to face their elders.  Angelina collected herself first, and bowed in respective greeting.  Blake looked around quizzically, and Val just held up a hand in bored greeting.

Lina's first question as she looked them all over was, "Angelina?  Where's Liona-chan?"

Val bowed his head in shame, and with his eyes closed shut, he replied, "Liona, Liona is no longer with us."

The crew of adults all had a form of mortification on their faces.  Angelina quickly added, "She isn't dead, but at the rate things are going, she doesn't have much of a chance to return to you, Lina-san."

"What…What do you mean?"

Angelina let out a short sigh.  "Liona's…Liona's trapped in her own mind.  And as long as she is, she can't come back the way you think of her."

Gourry's natural response was, "I'm confused."

To which Angelina replied, "Liona has changed during her travels.  She is no longer the innocent little girl she once was, if she ever was.  Liona…has been corrupted."

A/N: K: !  See what happens when you don't review?  It just keeps getting worse, and worse, until it's devastatingly worse. L  So read carefully, because if you don't….