A/N: -_- Great chapter then isn't it? To "make your heart almost stop".  ^_^  Oh…If you look in the series, you'll find a few more of Lina's weakness, may they be factual or not.  Umm…I have an idea about Blake, but it won't come until the end.  What?  This is the end?  *_* Awwwww….Well, we'll see about that now won't we?  :P  Thanks for the reviews – Keep them coming!

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

Colorful Conversations

            Mazolina, Liona, and Val instinctively turned to face the speaker.  There, with a rather serious expression, clad in his usual garb, was Xellos.  Mazolina immediately changed in SD mode and with an extremely happy face, she leaped and clung to Xellos' neck.

            "^_^ Xelly-chan!  How nice of you to drop in and come see me!  I thought I felt your presence a little while ago, but you didn't answer me!  Well, I'm actually a bit busy now – can you come by later? ^_~"

            Xellos was resolute in his decision.  "Mazolina, stop this now.  Don't harm a single hair on either Liona-chan or Val-chan."

            Val whispered to Liona, "Did he just call me 'chan'?!  Who does he think he is?"

            To which Liona replied, equally hushed, "I don't think that's the point right now, Val/-chan/."

            Meanwhile, Mazolina ignored them and replied, "Harm them? ^_-  Whoever said anything about harming them?"

            Xellos twitched a little.  "Making them full mazoku, especially lords, will harm them no matter what method you try."

            "Really?"

            "Yes."

            "I dunno about that…"

            "I'm sure."

            "What?"

            "What?"

            "What are you sure about?"

            "I-"

            "Well I'm sure you're wrong, but we'll just have to see, now won't we?"

            "…"

            "Yay!  I made Xellos speechless!  Yay!  Let's see…including that…that would be 490,234,532 times I did that!  Yay! *Does a little dance*"

            "…Are you okay?"

            "PERfectly Fine!  You?"

            "…I'm questioning your sanity."

            "*_* WHY?!  Everybody's always picking on me…Just because I spent some 500 years with Dolphin for mazoku daycare…"

            At this point, Liona whispered behind her hand to Val, while keeping an eye on Mazolina, "I say we make a break for it – what do you say?"

            Val replied, "I'm all for it, but how?  Do you see any doors?  Or windows for that matter?"

            It was a completely closed off room, but the walls, ceiling, and floor seemed to give off a dark red luminescent light, although the actual surfaces were mostly black in color.

            Liona simply winked and mouthed, "Just watch."

            She took hold of Val's hand with one of hers, and put the other on the ground.  Val watched her, while eyeing Mazolina and Xellos every so often, as Liona recited the words in her head, but mouthed a few of the more important words.  When she evidently finished, they both began sinking into the floor, like transparent ghosts.  They continued to watch their captor until they vanished from sight.

            Meanwhile, Xellos continued the conversation, having felt Liona and Val leave the room.

            "That's just it…Lord Deep Sea can do some funny things to you if you let her."

            "What do you consider funny?  Sarcasm?  Jokes?  Antics?  What?"

            "Loony Funny."

            "Hmm…Loony Tunes?  Yeah we sang lots of them.  She has a whole book full of them.  Though she never bothered to write any down…"

            "Why not?"

            "Could never remember them! ^_^"

            "Then how were you able to sing them?"

            "Dolphin-sama sang, I listened, then we sang together.  ^_^"

            "You /just/ said she didn't remember them!"

            "She could never remember to buy the pen, ink, and paper to write them down!  Do you know how far away the closest shop is?"

            "Uh…. A long ways away?"

            "Try /doubling/ that."

            "A long /long/ ways away?"

            "Hmmm….not far enough.  Try multiplying that by 787 leagues."

            Xellos paused to raise an eyebrow at Mazolina.  "Why don't /you/ do that?"

            "Cause I already did it.  Now it's your turn."

            "I don't want to do this anymore."

            "I never told you to do 'this'-"

            "You /just/ told me to-"

            "I told you to multiply 'a long long ways away' by 787 leagues.  Does 'that' sound like 'this'?"

            "…."

            "Answer my question!"

            "Fine.  No…"

            "SEE!! I was RIGHT!!  ^_^ I'm right and Xelly's wrong!  YAY!  BONZAI!"

            "See this is what I was talking about."

            "How many times to I have to tell you?  /I/ was referring to 'that', but you keep going back to 'this'.  Doesn't 'that' sound so much /better/ than 'this'?  It rhymes with cat you know! ^_^"

            "…Are you referring to the word 'that' or the actual thing you were talking about?"

            "It depends.  What were /you/ talking about?"

            "You being insane."

            "NOOO!!! You think I'm…I'm…INSANE?!?!?!  ….Why?"

            Xellos cracked a grin.  "Sore wa himitsu desu."

            Mazolina looked like a child having a tantrum.  "NO!  Come on tell me!  Tellmetellmetellmetellmetellme!!!!"

            Xellos' grin grew wider.  "It's a secret."

            Mazolina huffed, "NO!!  I want to know!  Tellmetellmetellmetellmetellme!!"

            Xellos waggled his finger and opened one of his eyes.  "Secrets aren't meant to be told."

            Mazolina crossed her arms over her chest and plopped down onto the ground.  She huffed, "Meanie.  Xellos is a meanie butt.  He won't tell me why he thinks I'm insane…"

            Xellos sighed.  History was repeating itself.  In past times, Lord Beastmaster would send him to go bug/baby-sit Dolphin.  But now, because Mazolina's goals changed, she became that much more annoying, especially to Xellos.  Yes, Dolphin was usually isolated and only had her sea friends and her ability to see into the future.  That alone was what made her her deranged self.  Mazolina on the other hand started because she went around and stayed for a long period of time with all of the Mazoku lords, when all of them were still alive.  But then she went and died…and that was even /more/ isolated…and it became worse…  Xellos stopped his thoughts to pay attention to Mazolina.  'Oh well, at least Liona and Val are somewhat safer.  Hopefully they'll run into Lina or her friends.'

            At the exact moment he thought that (well, a millisecond afterwards), Mazolina's head bobbed up and she looked around.  "Hey, where'd Liona and Val-chan go?"

            Xellos immediately grimaced.  Mazolina saw this and stuck an accusing finger at him as she quickly jumped up.  "You knew didn't you!  You knew and you didn't tell me!"

            At the drop of a hat, Mazolina completely turned around her attitude.  "Oh well.  These things come and go.  Want to play a game of Cheat?"

            "The card game?"

            "Of course!  What else could it be?"

            "…We don't have a deck-"

            Mazolina held her palm face up and a deck of playing cards instantly appeared in her hand.

            Xellos fidgeted.  "We can't play this game with only two people."

            Mazolina snapped her fingers and she immediately multiplied into three duplicates.  "Now?"

            Xellos sighed.  "I guess there's no helping it.  Alright.  Let's play."

            They both sat down as Mazolina O(Original) shuffled and dealt the cards.

            First round…Xellos claimed to put down two aces.  In response, M 1 shouted, "XELLOS CHEATED!! XELLOS CHEATED!! XELLOS-" To which Xellos flipped over his cards, and showed that he wasn't cheating.

            M 1 muttered as she took the cards, "I could have sworn he was cheating…he probably cheated at cheating…"

            This went on for a while.  The Mazolina copies plus the original never accused their duplicates of cheating, but would accuse Xellos at any possible chance.  Unfortunately, Xellos always turned out to be not cheating, so he easily won that game.

            "ANOTHER GAME!!!"

            "I think I hear Juuou-sama calling me.  I had best go…"

            "NO!! I'll explain it to her later!  ANOTHER GAME!!!"

            *Sigh*  "Fine, but stop shouting.  The echo in here is deafening."

            "WHAT?!?!  YOU'RE TOO QUIET!! I CAN'T HEAR YOU ANYMORE!"

            "See?  Just deal the cards."  Xellos gestured the shuffling and dealing of the cards.

            When Mazolina understood that, the three of them simultaneously "OH!!" and nodded their heads in understanding.

            They played another round.  Xellos won again.  When they had to be a bit more forceful, Mazolina raised the stakes from nothing, and started gambling away the time.  Oh, sorry, I meant /rambling/ away the time.  Mazolina made that clear when she lost the next game they played.  This went on for quite a while, until Xellos finally offered an interesting bet.

            Meanwhile, the Slayers were searching the huge mansion for Liona and Val.  In the meager seclusion each of the pairs had, there was more than enough time to strike up conversations.  With Gourry and Lina…

            "Ne…Lina?"

            Lina looked up from her daze.  "What is it Gourry?"

            "What do you consider to be your weaknesses?  I thought about it, and I can't think of anything."

            Lina sighed.  She looked back up at him with a slightly surprised and unbelieving look.  "Really?  You haven't been able to tell?"

            Gourry shook his head.  "Well, if it's you, I guess there's no harm in telling you.  Let's see…I'm still scared of my sister, L-sama only knows why since I've been living with her for the past sixteen years straight now…I'm still scared and hate slugs and snails, there's something about them that just repulses me…Oh and well, some consider this a weakness, but I consider it an advantage – I sometimes act too confident and happy in serious battles.  I think that's just about it."

            Gourry thought about this for a long time as they walked.  "Wow…So let me get this straight: If you're away from home, and away from some shrimpy snails and slugs, you're invincible?"

            Lina shrugged.  "Just because someone doesn't seem to have /weaknesses/ doesn't mean they're unbeatable.  Take Shabrinigdo for example.  He certainly seemed to have the advantage in the beginning, but we beat him eventually, didn't we?"

            "That was mainly you."

            Lina rolled her eyes.  "I just helped, it was teamwork that beat him, and it'll work for us again."

            "Do you really think so?"

            "I know so!  We're going to get Liona back safe and sound - /before/ she becomes a full mazoku."

            "…So are you saying she's already part mazoku?"

            Lina looked up at Gourry with a morbid expression, but a dead serious look in her eyes.  "Yes."

            With Zel and Luna…

            "Um…I'd hate to be the one to ask this, but do you have any weaknesses?"

            "I don't think I have the same as Lina."

            "What do you mean?"

            "I know she's still scared of me, somewhat.  But I don't think I can say I'm scared of /her/.  See?"

            "Ah.  Yes, that's true."

            A long pause of silence passed before Luna spoke again.  "I once had an amazingly high fear of mice, but I deteriorated that fetish a long time ago."

            "Are you sure?  How?"

            "I befriended one and it helped me kill one of my enemies."

            "How?"

            "Food poisoning."

            Zel was silent again.  He suddenly hit upon an idea, and a change of subject.  "Why don't we search for Liona with the medallions?  I'm sure she hasn't taken it off – she never does."

            "Good idea."

            They both took out the medallions they had.  Luna's was a shining purple; Zel's borrowed one was a glowing blue.  Together they held them out and chanted the words, "Find the black mate of thee."

            With Angelina and Blake…

            They walked on in silence.  Finally, Angelina broke it.  "What is your purpose?"

            "Nhuh?"

            "Why did you follow Liona for so long?"

            "Urm…I shouldn't tell you."

            Angelina looked at Blake in the corner of her eye.  She smiled as she read his mind.  "I won't tell Liona."

            Blake rubbed the back of his head nervously.  "Well, truth be told, I first heard of Liona by my assigner.  In my 'association', the people are assigned to take out whoever their assigner assigns them to.  Usually, they find bandits who want someone else to do the dirty work for them.  So generally, we're called Bandit Assassins."

            Angelina silently waited for Blake to get to the point.  "Well, I'm one of the top assassins, and I wasn't even given a picture; just the name Liona Inverse.  From the name 'Inverse', I knew they were talking of the bandit killer, but when I looked at the first name again, I thought it was a mistake.  So I took it to investigate.  A few days later, I met her, and found out it /wasn't/ a typo."

            Angelina smiled quietly to herself, but she didn't say anything.  "Obviously, I couldn't hurt a child; it's against my morals.  Before I knew it, I was following her.  So, in other words, I have no idea why I'm following Liona; it just feels right."

            Quietly, Angelina murmured, "Maybe you're thinking along the same lines as Gourry-san – A little girl like her needs protection."

            Blake looked ahead.  "Maybe…"

            "Alright…why do you carry that sword?  It is remarkably similar to one that Gourry-san has, or had."

            "Did he lose his sword?"

            "His signature sword, yes, but he still has /a/ sword."

            "Hunh.  Well, I received mine from a cloaked figure that was paying me back for my services."

            "Oh?  Who was it?"

            "They didn't tell me their name, and the hood completely shadowed anything but the outline of the face and the mouth.  However, it sounded like it was a woman, maybe in her 20's."

            "May I see it?"

            "Huh?  Oh sure."

            Blake unclasped the sheath with the sword and handed it over.

            Angelina slowly unsheathed the sword before her.  She saw a glimpse of the black blade, and dropped it with a noticeable wince.  Hurriedly, Blake picked up the sword and asked if she was alright.  Still looking at the sword, now back in Blake's hands, she nodded and said, "I'm fine, but that sword…"  Angelina thought to herself, 'That's the dark counterpart of Gorun Nova, and the evil counterpart of Gourry-san's current sword.  If my instincts are right..'  "You would do well to hold on to the sword, Blake-san.  It may come in handy later."

            At the same time, Angelina and Lina pulled out their medallions.  Angelina's was pure white, while Lina's was ruby red.  In unison, they chanted, "Find the black mate of thee."

            While these four conversations were taking place, another was soon to follow, in the presence of Liona and Val.

            With a thud, they landed on cool marble.  It was the same as the one they had just left, except this one did not glow; it remained a swirl of black, gray, and varying shades of them.  Liona looked around.  It was the room they had just left, with the table, chairs, and copy fragments still in place.  Liona got up off the floor, and curiously wandered over to inspect the pile of almost glass-like pieces scatter in disarray in a small area of the spacious room.  Seeing Liona get up, Val looked up at her.  Having hit the floor head on, Val clutched his head at the reminiscent pain to his temple.  Liona squatted down and picked up a shard to examine it.

            "Sad isn't it?"

            Liona jumped, dropping the piece as she whirled around to face the speaker.  There, sitting on the edge of the table, was Mazolina.

A/N:  ^_^ Don't you just looovveee my chapter endings?  I'm rather partial to them, if you haven't noticed.  Am I confusing you with too much information yet?  Just so you know, that's the basic task for my trio of original peoples.  ^_^  Well, please review!