A/N:  BONZAII!!!! YAY!!! ^_^ I've never gotten four reviews in one sitting before!  Thanks much Filing Sloth for catching up and reviewing!  Ahhh…I feel so much better now…

You thought the chapter was confusing?  YAY!  Contribution to chaos!  ~_~ I don't know why I'm liking the word and attributes of chaos these days…A new fad?

Don't worry, Xellos will have his part again, and I'll have the "little beasties" explained.  They aren't /that/ bad are they? :P  Liona's definitely coming back soon too, and she may or may not say where she went…Well, read to find out!

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

Are You Afraid of the Unknown?

            Luna, Gourry, Val, Blake slowly made their way towards the figure in front of Zel.  Angelina helped the nearly unconscious Lina walk over as well.  The figure continued to hover a few feet off the ground, with full, glowing, mazoku-slit, red eyes, and a malevolent smile playing on her face.

            Groaning slightly from the pain, Lina managed to ask, "Just /what/ are you anyway?"

            Akuma closed her eyes and her smile widened.  "'What' am I?  You make it sound like I'm some sort of /animal/.  How rude."

            Val, Angelina, Luna, and Liona replied simultaneously, "She's a virus."  The others looked behind Akuma to see Liona, ever so slightly limping, towards them.  Not taking notice of their surprise, Liona continued to walk and talk.

            "She's lived here for as long as I can remember.  And with her being modeled after a mazoku and all, she can get /deathly/ annoying."

            Val added, "I've heard about viruses in 'the Outer World'.  Doctors and other medical officials claim that most diseases are actually started by viruses.  Some can even kill their 'host' body."

            Luna nodded.  "I have also heard of viruses.  Apparently, they somehow travel into a living thing's body, latch on, and multiply until everything else around them is dead."

            Akuma nodded in verification.  "Well, if you know that much, can you guess what my goal is?"

            Zel crossly asked in answer, "To kill Liona?"

            Akuma acted surprised.  "/Kill/ her?  No, no, no.  I couldn't do something that drastic even if I wanted to.  At least, not yet…"

            Lina asked, "So what is /it/?"

            She seemed to pause for a second before answering, "That is… something I cannot reveal just yet."

            Everybody groaned at the slight remembrance of Xellos.

            With a playful grin, Akuma changed the subject, "So, how do you feel, Lina?  Any pain?  Any images flashing through your mind?  Any uncovered knowledge yet?"

            The moment she said that, Lina's eyes dilated and her pupils shrunk visibly.  Like a dam breaking, images suddenly started to quickly run past Lina's line of vision as if a long roll of film was being fast forwarded.  Lina was at a kneeling standstill as she watched visions of Liona, her own Liona, being whipped, tortured, taught, burnt, killed, revived, laughing, shouting, transforming…

            Lina forced herself to finally close her eyes in an attempt to run away from the sights she saw, but the images continued to burn into her very mind and memory.  She couldn't escape it, but she couldn't accept it.  If it was true, so much had happened to Liona without her knowing.

            When she came to, Lina found that the environment was slightly different than the one she was previously in.  She hadn't recalled blacking out, but nevertheless it happened.  Lina instinctively took in her surroundings.

            Light from outside shone onto the onyx granite floor.  The black Monticello windows were framed by an even darker shade of black curtains that, from afar, appeared to be made of silk.  The obsidian marble walls were big enough in both length and width to allow the room to be quite spacious.  Lina saw the bodies of her friends and companions littering the ice-cool floor.  Everyone was back to their original forms.  Upon coming to the realization that they were there at all, Lina ran to check up on them.  Going from one to the other, she noted a steady heartbeat and slow, dozing breathing for all of them.  Finally, she noticed Liona's still form, resting peacefully on a plain, mahogany wood table.

            Still in a sort of daze, Lina stumbled across the room, towards her one and only daughter.  As her mother constantly nearly tripped in her short journey towards her, Liona began to stir, and wearily awoke before Lina had really reached her.  At the sight of her mother, Liona's eyes popped wide open, and in panicked fright, scrambled off the table, away from her.

            Puzzled by this, Lina stopped.  Her eyebrows were furrowed with worry as she asked, "Liona-chan?  What's wrong?"

            For every step Lina took forward, Liona withdrew two steps back.  Lina was really surprised by this.  She finally stopped again just behind the table and asked, "Liona?  Why are you running away from me?  Didn't you miss me at all while you were away?  I /know/ we all missed you in Zephilia."

            Shaking, Liona bowed her head down while her hands and back were pressed against the wall.  In a slight whisper, she said, "Every second…"  When Lina cupped her ear with her hand, signaling that she couldn't hear her, Liona jolted her head up before almost shouting, "Every second!  I missed you and Daddy and Luna-san every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every week!"

            Tears were streaming down Liona's cheeks while she choked back sobs.  This only made Lina more puzzled than before.  "Then…then why?  Are you…are you afraid of me?"

            Abruptly, Liona shouted, "NO!" as she shook her head in disagreement.  Still shaking, Liona continued, in a softer voice, "No.  I'm not afraid of you.  It's /her/ that I'm afraid of."

            As gently as she could, Lina asked, "Who do you mean?"

            Carefully, ever so carefully, with a trembling hand, Liona brought her right arm forward, and slowly outstretched a finger to point at…Lina's chest.  Lina looked down at herself, and saw nothing out of place.  Trying once more to be calm, Lina sighed and replied, "I'm afraid you have me confused, Liona-chan.  Care to clarify?"

            Liona brought down her hand, and used both hands to clutch her arms in front of her chest.  She was now leaning back against the wall, crouching on her toes.  She looked up at the ceiling instead of Lina as she talked.  "Mommy, you're wearing your medallion right?  You know, the one that every Inverse that has been foreseen as 'special' gets when they're born?  You have it don't you?"

            Not exactly sure where her daughter was going with this, Lina slowly replied, "Yes….What about it?"

            "It's a deep red dragon with a black background right?"

            Startled, Lina fumbled under her shirt for the medallion.  Last time she looked at it, it had a white background.  Lina stared speechless as she held her medallion in her palm in front of her.  Liona was right; the background had turned a very deep black, and the dragon was a darker red and looked more evil than she last remembered it.  Lina looked up at Liona, expecting further explanation.

            "That's what carried the virus into you.  Whenever /she/ chose to activate it, the virus that lies within your medallion enters into your blood stream and goes to infect everything from your brain, to your heart, to your feet."

            After a short comprehending pause, Lina asked the obvious, "How do you…"

            Liona cut her off, knowing what she would ask.  "I read about it in a book."

            "If you knew what was causing it, why didn't you just tell us in the first place?"

            Liona sighed.  "The only way to actually cure this virus is to kill the source, which either means the controller or the medallion.  Since neither are actually alive, it isn't possible to kill them.  But everyone has their weakness, and this monster's weakness is-"

            "Okay, that's enough out of you.  Shut up and get up, you little squirt."

            Once again, the mazoku in red appeared before them, but now she had a rather annoyed expression on her face, and her attention was directed at Liona.  Almost automatically, Liona scrambled to her feet and stood at apprehensive attention.  Lina didn't look behind her, but she could tell that the others were starting to wake up.  She heard Gourry ask, "Where are we?"

            Looking over at them, Akuma floated over to them with her hands on her hips.

            "Must you always ask questions?  That's all you ever seem to do you know?"

            Gourry asked, "How can you learn anything if you don't ask questions?"

            "Read a book?"

            "Awww…but that's too tiring."

            "Then be quiet already."

            Lina interrupted the little banter.  She was tired of having Liona run away from her, past and present, and for some reason, unknown to her, her mind felt worn out.  In anguished pain, she demanded, "I've had it up to here with you! *Gestures hand to forehead* What do you want from us?!  Why are you here?!"

            Akuma seemed surprised by this.  Slowly, she turned around to face Lina.  Silently, Akuma gracefully descended to the ground, and made slow, painfully slow, steps towards the Inverse.  The closer she came, the darker her expression became.  Soon, a condescending smile started to tug at her lips.  She raised her right hand slowly, so that it was horizontally even with her waist, but her arms wasn't completely outstretched.  Suddenly, her hand started to glow red, and was accompanied by a crackling static and a low hum.

            Quietly, Akuma verified, "You want to know what I want?  You want to know what /I/ want?"

            Lina sweated.  "Yes…"

            Akuma turned her head slightly to scoff.  Eyeing Lina, she stopped a few meters away from her and continued, "You don't know what you're up against.  I'm here on a mission, and I won't stop until it's done.  I…want…Liona."

            Lina couldn't say that she was surprised, but she was taken off guard with her sudden straightforwardness.

            Akuma's smile widened again.  "You just thought, 'Why is a monster being so straightforward', didn't you?"

Again, Lina was taken off guard.  Could she read people's minds?

Akuma laughed.  She threw back her head and let out a long, patronizing laugh.

When she recovered, she nodded her head.  "Yes, you just recently figured that out?  I can read minds, simply because minds are my specialty."

Realization dawned on Lina.  "So then /you're/-"

"Yes.  /I'm/ the one that put that spell on you.  /I'm/ the one that allowed the virus to get in.  For you see, as long as you wear /my/ medallion, I can control your mind."

Zel suddenly spoke up, having awoken enough to get the gist of things.  "Didn't you /just/ say you were after Liona?"

Akuma turned, a bottomless pit of black, swirling inside a thin red cage of static, growing larger by the minute in her hand.  She slurred, "Yessss….Your point?"

Gourry realized it too.  "Then what do you want with Lina?!"

Akuma laughed again.  "You don't get your situation at /all/, do you?"  Akuma sighed.  "Oh alright, I'll tell you.  I need two people, really.  They have to meet certain /requirements/, so not any two will do.  No, I pre-selected two people in particular, that really aren't human at all.  And they just so happen to both be in your little ring of friends, an intertwining link of friends, really."

Luna commanded, "Get to the point."

"Oh hush, you have all the time in the world.  As I was saying, I've been watching you recently.  Luna, Gourry, Lina, and oh so dear, Liona-chan, I believe you've all read the book I'm thinking of, yes?  In the last, oh, month or so?"

            It took a moment, but they realized which book she was talking about.  Gourry and Lina realized that they had never read the title of that book, but only the chapter.  It turns out, Luna hadn't paid much attention to the title either, but Liona had.

            "You're talking about L.I.'s 'Mayhem with Mazoku', right?  What about it?"

            Akuma raised both her eyebrows in an amused fashion.  "You know it enough to know the title, and you still haven't figured it out?  Oh Lord, are /you/ dense.  The thickness of Gourry's brain must have been pervasive."

            Pausing slightly took eye the ever growing ball, which none had yet to comment on, Akuma suddenly took a step forward, and split into two people.  The copy leaped over so that she was crouching at eye level directly in front of Liona.  She whispered, "You meet every single requirement.  You /will/ become the next Hellmaster."

            Liona's eyes widened in horror.  If she could, she would have backed away, but as it was, she was already cornered by the wall and Akuma.  Instead, she opted to hang her head down, and shake her head 'no'.

            Akuma leaned closer to her left ear, and whispered, "It's not your choice to make.  It's in your blood.  But don't worry; we won't kill you – not yet at least.  You can have your friends with you too, and this will be your new home."

            Surprisingly, the echo was so loud, that Akuma's whole little speech was heard.  Akuma knew it, but didn't deny it.  Watching Liona's face carefully, she put two fingers to her own mouth, kissed them, and lightly transferred her fingers temporarily to Liona's forehead.  She was out like a light.  Akuma caught her, and carried her over to the table.  With a snap of her fingers, the table disappeared, along with Liona.  In an instant, everyone was on their feet and raring to go.  Surprise, anger, annoyance, and just a pinch of fear was seen in them, by Akuma.  She thrived in this like any other mazoku, but she had business to attend to.

The copy jumped over the normal one, who was still gathering something in her hand.  The copy had an evil smirk on her face.  She walked the rest of the way toward the group, that had reflexively moved closer together.

The copy shook her head in amused disbelief.  "You don't seriously expect that to help, do you?  No matter, I'm here with you for a business proposition.  You must feel /so/ tired, standing so much.  Here, have a seat."

With a wave of her hand, a large rectangular table appeared between them and just the right amount of chairs, all black and surprisingly inviting.  A chair also appeared directly behind the real Akuma.  Silently, she sat down with her legs crossed, and watched them idly.  The copy sat down in the largest chair, at one end of the table. Upon seeing that the others were none too exciting about sitting down with a monster, she waved her hand again, and they were each magnetically pulled to a chair.  Starting on the copy's right, was Lina, Gourry, and Zel.  On her right side were Angelina, Luna, and Blake.  Directly on the other end of the table sat Val.

The copy put her elbows on the table and her chin on her intertwining hands, and began.

"Let's get down to business.  You know I want Liona, but I also said I wanted two people.  Go ahead and take a guess as to who the other person is.  I'll repeat a hint; it's someone at this table.  Instinctively, they all looked around at each other.  Gourry tentatively asked, "It isn't Lina, is it?"

Akuma laughed.  "Nice try, but no.  Maybe you need to be read the list again."  Akuma made two fists, and carefully made the gap between her hands farther apart, as if she were opening an old piece of parchment.  As she did this, a piece of charred parchment actually appeared between her hands.  Akuma cleared her throat and read aloud:

-Candidate must be corrupted by their evil side

-Candidate must be at least part mazoku, if not, become a mazoku

-Candidate must have lived at least fifteen full human years

-Candidate must have killed at least one person – self may be included

-Candidate must have a motive for following the path to evil

-Candidate must show great strength and potential to be even more evil

-Candidate must have linkage to previous Mazoku Lord

-Candidate must have two close subordinates; if not already, know how to create them

-Candidate must have at least one creature (i.e. human, dragon, rival) that they inexplicably despise

-All other surviving Mazoku Lords must agree to take on this candidate

Upon finishing, Akuma looked up at them.  "Well, any more guesses?"

Lina was puzzled by the first requirement.  "I don't think /any/ of us are corrupted by evil…"

Akuma rolled her eyes.  She waved it off.  "Oh don't be such a spoilsport.  /Any/one can fulfill that requirement, with a little help, that is.  Next?"

Zel pieced the next one.  "As far as I know, I'm the only one that's part demon.  Wait, do past lives count?"

Akuma grinned.  Zel was starting to get it already.  "It helps."

Zel's eyes widened.  He looked towards Val.  With that glance, the others knew it too.

"It's all there; in his past life, Val filled /all/ of those requirements.  It's Val, isn't it?"

Akuma lost herself in her laugh again.  Eventually, she nodded 'yes'.  "Correct!  I knew you weren't /all/ that clueless.  Well, now you know what I want, so hand 'im over."

Val suddenly stood up.  "What the heck are you talking about?!  I'm not linked to any mazoku, I've never killed anyone, and I'm not 'corrupted by evil' or any of that other stuff! I'm an ancient dragon and that's it!"

There was a collective processing blink.  The Slayers looked at each other.  'Filia hadn't told him?'  Akuma couldn't help but let out another laugh.  "This mission is more interesting than I thought!  Oh, this is going to be /fun/."

She disappeared from her seat and materialized behind Val.  Grabbing his shoulders, Akuma announced, "Well, either way, I have my two candidates.  Now, they just have to revisit some of my old friends…Ciao!"…and disappeared with the last of the Ancient Dragons.

Lina stood up as a reflex.  She reprimanded herself for letting her take him.  Filia would be so mad…

Gourry put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.  "Don't worry, Lina.  We'll get them both back, I just know it."

Lina sighed as she looked away.  In a low voice, she breathed, "I sure hope so, Gourry."

A/N: Bah.  This chapter was too long.  I don't know why, I just seem to like separating Lina from Liona.  Well, absence makes the heart grow fonder, right? ^_~  Thanks again for reviewing, and please continue to do so.  For those of you who have been reading but not reviewing, please start.  ^_^ thanks much, ciao!