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Follow the rouge

The path is decided

The morning sun shone through a light blanket of clouds. The light gently fell upon Sylphiels sleeping form. With a light snort, she turned over to avoid the sun teasing her eyes. Slowly she started to wake up. Blinking to adjust her eyes to the light, she sat up and yawned. She looked around. This wasn't her room. She instantly woke completely. Her heart pounded as she looked around, but relaxed as she recognized the place. This was Eruk's room, she had waited there all night. She had hoped that he would come back during the night, but it would seem that he didn't. "Eruk dear, what are you doing?" she whispered.

Even though she was fully dressed, she still pulled the blanket up in front of her when somebody knocked the door. "Who is it?" she asked.

Amelia and Filia came into the room. "Oh good morning" Sylphiel gave them a weak smile. "He didn't come back, did he?" Filia asked, as she sat down next to the shrinemaiden. Sylphiel looked down "No he didn't". Amelia sat down on the other side "don't worry, I'm sure he'll be back soon" she assured her friend. She didn't sound as convincing as she had hoped though. Sylphiel smiled at the two girls "Thank you for saying that, but I'm not so sure…".

Filia sighed "This is all my fault isn't it?" she asked "If I hadn't lost my temper, none of this would have happened". Sylphiel raised her head and looked the dragon straight in the eyes "don't you say that miss Filia. I have a feeling that this was going to happen, no matter what". Filia nodded and waited for her to go on. "I don't think any of you knows about this" Sylphiel continued " but during the last few weeks be became more and more frustrated".

"Really?" Amelia asked "I never noticed, he always seemed so cheerful". Sylphiel stood up and walked over to the window "that's what he wanted you to believe. He didn't want anyone to worry about him. What happened after you lost you temper, miss Filia, could have happened at any time. But why would he would leave on his own? And at a time like this?".

Amelia went pale as she suddenly remembered something "Miss Sylphiel? I…" Both girls waited for her to go on, but she didn't. "Miss Amelia, please. If you know anything, please tell me" Sylphiel said. Amelia nodded and went on "Last night while you were sleeping, I saw him holding a fairy, And I'm sure that it was the one that used to be with those two people that hunts him. He even said so himself". Filia looked around in the room "well in any case, that thing isn't here now. Does that means that they left together?".

All three of them was silent for a while. "We'd better go talk to miss Lina, I'm sure she knows what to do" Amelia suggested. The two others agreed.

The 3 girl agreed on going directly to the restaurant, it would be more likely to find Lina there, than in her room. The first thing they noticed as they entered the small restaurant, was Lina sitting at a table all to herself looking extremely ticked off. "Sylphiel there you are!" Lina cried and rushed over to the purple haired girl, and started shaking her violently. "That friend of yours, where is he?". Sylphiel fought to keep breathing "Miss…Lina…He…didn't come…back".

Lina let go of her, and stomped back to the table "Hey mister" she shouted "who told you that you could slack off? I want more food!". While Filia was helping Sylphiel recover, Amelia sat down next to Zel. "What's wrong with her?" she asked "Miss Lina seems unusually mad this morning". Lina swallowed a piece of meat "of course I'm mad!" she cried "That cheating good-for-nothing lowlife to Eruk stole most of my money!".

Zel smiled "Stealing from thieves, can't trust anyone these days…" he mumbled to himself. Faster than the eye, a knife hit the table in front of him. "watch it Zel" Lina warned "I'm not in the mood for any wisecracks". Filia and Sylphiel joined the others and watched Lina in silence.

Finally she pushed the empty plates away "I feel much better now" she exclaimed. That was the cue that the group had been waiting for. They left the table they had been sitting by and joined Lina. "Well?" Zel asked "We need to chose our next move". Lina agreed "As I see it, we have three choices people.

One: We follow the basta…" she shot Sylphiel a look and corrected herself "What I mean is, we follow the guy.

Two: We wait for him to come back.

Or number three: we just go home!"

The rest of the group groaned at her last suggestion. "I see" Lina went on "I want to find that guy. Nobody steals from Lina Inverse unpunished!" Her expression softened as she turned her attention to Sylphiel "I guess it's up to you to decide our next move". Sylphiel went pale "you… want me to decide?" she asked nervously.

"Look Lina's right" Zel agreed "You know him better than any of us. Is there any chance that he will be coming back here?". Sylphiel looked down at the table "I had hoped that he would be coming back, but…". Taki started giggling for herself "If he was stealing from miss Lina, I doubt he would be planing on coming back". Lina shot her a glare that made her shut up immediately. "I don't think miss Lina liked the way you said that" Amelia whispered to her friend. "but in the end, you have a good point" she added out loud.

Zel looked Sylphiel straight in the eyes "personally I agree with those two" he pointed at Amelia and Taki "but you are the one that knows him best. Do we stay, or do we track him down? The choice is yours". Sylphiel didn't feel all too comfortable with everyone staring at her. "I think we should follow him…" she finally said.

"Ok, let's get going!" Taki shouted, causing most people nearby to stare at her. With a sigh Zelgadis put his cup down "hold it right there" he said "First we need to find out in what direction he left, and secondly we need supplies". Lina nodded "right. Zel and Amelia, you go and buy whatever we need. The rest of you, try to figure out in what direction he left". Zel and Amelia was the first to leave. Just before Zel went out the door he turned around "and what are you going to do Lina?" he asked. "Why, I'm coordinating the search from here, of course" Lina answered innocently. Zel shrugged "that figures".

"So where do you think we should go, miss Filia?" Sylphiel asked. She had teamed up with the dragon to search the north part of the town, while Taki and Gourry took care of the southern end. Filia looked around "I'm not certain" she admitted. "Why don't we try over there?" Filia pointed at a small guardhouse by the gate.

Sylphiel carefully knocked on the door. A young soldier opened the door "yeah? what do you want?" he asked, sounding like he was extremely bored. "Um, we would really appreciate if you could help us" Sylphiel said. The soldier took another look outside. Normally he only checked the merchants entering the town. This was most likely the most boring job the commander could possibly could stick him with. And he only got there because he fell asleep during a drill. He smiled to himself, the job had just gotten a lot more interesting. Outside the door was 2 beautiful young women, seemingly desperate for HIS help.

"Why of course" he said "please come inside. By the way, my name is Killian". The two girls looked nervously at each other, while Killian was busy tiding up and making room by his small table. "Actually we just wanted…" Filia started, but was cut of. "Wait!" Killian posed dramatically "don't tell me, you have been robbed!" Sylphiel shook her head "No, we just…" Killian did another pose "I see now! You are being followed by assassins, and need my protection". Filia shook her head. The guy was really trying he patience. He gasped, and did another pose, one that would make even Amelia proud. "Could it be, that you family is planning on selling both of you to a monster as human sacrifices. A monster that only needs the blood of two innocent maidens to destroy the world….". He immediately went silent, as Filia slammed her mace down right in front of him "would you be quiet, and listen to what we have to say??" She cried.

Killian stopped talking and swallowed hard. His face went pale as his eyes were carefully following the tail that had popped out beneath her dress. Obviously those two weren't normal village girls. "We just wanted to know if you had seen a man that looks like this…." Sylphiel said, and started describing how Eruk looked. Killian was only able to nod, and say strange non-understandable words. "Well, have you seen him or not?" Filia asked. He looked at her in fear "Ye…yes, ma'am" he stuttered. Sylphiels face light up "Really?" she asked. "I saw him last night, leaving town" Killian said. Not once did his eyes leave Filias mace. "But I must say that it's been a while since I saw someone as gruff and unfriendly as him" Killian added "why don't you stay here instead of going after that guy?".

"I guess you could say this is pretty lucky" Filia said, smiling brightly, as they were heading back to the inn. Behind them the guardhouse was a smoking ruin. "It is" Sylphiel agreed "But I still don't think it was necessary to turn into a dragon and blow the poor guy up".

"Oh, there you are!" Amelia shouted, as Filia and Sylphiel entered the restaurant "I hope you found out anything". They sat down by the table. "It would seem that he is heading north" Filia said. Lina nodded "That means, starting tomorrow, we are heading north as well!". Sylphiels eyes widened "Can't we go now?" she asked. "Lina's right" Zel agreed "We all know how much you want to find him, but it's almost sunset and none of us knows this area. In the end we could loose more time wandering around in the darkness". Sylphiel hesitated, but finally agreed with the logic.

It was late in the evening, and even though all of them had agreed to get some rest, Sylphiel found herself unable to sleep. She lay in her bed and listened to the rain against the window. Once in a while thunder could be heard in the distance. A white flash of lightning illuminated the room, and seconds later the silence was broken by a loud rumble, as thunder followed the lightning. She pulled the blanket over her head. She simply hated that sound. It was just like being back in Sairaag, 3 years ago.

It was the same when Rezo destroyed the town. A flash of light followed by an explosion. She let out a small scream as the episode replayed itself in side her head. She stayed like that for a while. She suddenly heard a strange high pitched sound, almost like a door opening. She swallowed hard, it was the sound of a door opening, it was the door to her room. Carefully she pulled the blanket away. Something was slowly advancing on her. In the darkness it looked like a humanoid creature with tentacles hanging down from its head. She pressed herself into the corner, and pulled the blanket around her. She wanted to scream, but found herself unable to say anything.

"Are you ok there?" the creature suddenly asked. A lightning bolt flashed in the same moment, revealing his face.

"Oh Gourry dear" Sylphiel sighed "you scared me!". Gourry sat down next to her. He was soaked from the rain. "What happened to you" she asked. "Oh this? Well, I had to go pick up my sword from the blacksmith. That friend of yours was really hard on it, you know". Looking at him made her blush in embarrassment, the things that she had thought to be tentacles was actually just his hair. "Actually, I was worried about you" he said "I heard you screaming, so I wanted to see if there was something wrong". She smiled. This was the reason that she liked him that much. He always cared for everyone around him. "No, it was nothing Gourry dear" she said "I just don't like thunder". He took her hand, not noticing how fiercely she was blushing. "I see. I was the same was when I was a kid" he said "Hey, how about if I tell you a bedtime story, mom always did that for me, I think".

She smiled "no Gourry dear, it's ok…" she was cut of as he cleared his throat "Ahem. A long time ago there was a beautiful dragon, who was held hostage by the evil princess…" Sylphiel sighed, she had to admit that his storytelling left something to be desired. "And then the frog defeated the prince and married the horse, at least I think it was the horse…" Gourry kept trying to tell the story right. Sylphiel just drifted of to sleep, calmed by his voice.

Authors notes:

Aww weren't that cute? Gourry telling Sylphiel a bedtime story. As you might have noticed, there was noting about Eruk in this chapter. For the rest of the story (almost), I will follow two different storylines. Now, I bet you can't wait to find out what happens next. Here's a hint, Eruk will meet a new companion. Some of you might have already guessed her identity, but for those who haven't, there's no way I'm gonna ruin it.