A/N: AHH! It's been, what, 4 or 5 weeks since I last wrote a chapter? I'm really, really sorry! Bad me! I've been very busy lately. I know, I know, I shouldn't give you people excuses. What I should give you is 4-5 weeks worth of apologies and chapters! So, once again, I'm really sorry!!! PLZ continue reading! I'm hoping I can make this fic better and better! Oh, and while I'm at it, just to make sure everyone knows this (although I'm sure you all do), I DO NOT OWN THE SLAYERS! If I did, I'd be rich and wouldn't be writing fanfics ^^ Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 19: Nothing But The Rain"What are we going to do?"
Filia glanced sideways to look at the sleeping Princess, a look of sympathy and worry etched into the ex-priestesses features. Amelia lay on the cold stone ground of the cave where she had cried herself to sleep, hugging her lithe frame. Her face looked drawn, mixed with a troubled look, as one hand clutched desperately onto the worn out brown blanket that offered little warmth in the chilly cave. She looked so helpless and alone, lying on the floor in her long blue dress, the brown blanket too short to cover her completely. It seemed as if even in her sleep, she couldn't find any peace.
"I have no idea. But…I don't trust this Reirs person," Lina said quietly, her face showing dislike at the name.
"I agree," came Zelgadis' curt reply. "She tries to kidnap Amelia, and then warns her about trouble?" Lina sighed. She looked around the solemn cave with her ruby red eyes, taking in the damp, rough walls and the cold, dirty floor. She also took note of the sounds that came from the storm raging on outside. "It smells fishy to me," she said slowly, looking around at the others to see if they agreed.
"Fish?" Gourry asked, sitting up strait. "Where?"
Lina glared at the blond swordsman, her hands balling up into fists. "YOU STUPID IDIOT!" Lina yelled, throwing a huge rock at him. Gourry yelped and ducked, and decided it would be best not to say a thing for the rest of the night, so as not to upset Lina. Zelgadis looked at Lina sternly, and Lina slowly cooled off, but not before glaring at Zel for a moment too. Stupid Gourry…he is the densest person I've ever met! She looked to her right, and, upon seeing Amelia sleeping uncomfortably, her thoughts returned to the dilemma they were all in. Nothing seems right anymore. How can Amelia trust Reirs? She can't be that stupid – to so easily trust someone she doesn't even know. Does she really believe everything that woman told her? We have to find Phil…maybe he knows what's going on.
"Well, what are we going to do? We can't just sit in a cave and hide," Filia said as she leaned back against the rough stonewall. I think we should find that traitorous namagomi and force some answers out of him for once, she thought maliciously as she fingered the mace beneath her dress. Zelgadis leaned back against the stonewall too, pondering Filia's question. For the moment, he decided to stay quiet and listen to what the others had to say. That, and he had a lot of thinking to do.
"Well, we should find some answers," Lina replied. Her face took on a thoughtful look before she continued. "And maybe we should head back to Saillune. Amelia's going to want to go there anyways, I'm sure of it. Besides, maybe Christopher knows something we don't." And maybe Phil returned to Saillune and knows something too…
"But Lina," Filia began, sounding a bit unsure, "I don't think that's the best idea. Those things are after Amelia and one of us. And we can't fight them. They're too fast. If we're lucky enough to kill them, more just come in their place."
"I wonder what those things were…" Gourry asked out loud, his face one of heavy concentration. Vividly, he could remember the black skeletal creatures, their leathery wings expanding to twice the length of the creature's body. Their eyes, horrible hollow and cold, smouldered with every colour imaginable, burning and immeasurable. Their claws, so much like human hands, were rotting, and twice the size of a normal human's. And there were, of course, their sharp fangs, and hot, putrid breath, as they shrieked ear-shattering cries to one another. The swordsman shuddered as he remembered.
"Well, they're not of this world. They can't be," Filia said assuredly. "I've never seen anything quite like them…or so horrible. And whenever they make those terrible cries, there's always this nagging feeling. Did any of you guys feel that?"
Lina thought about it for a moment. "It almost felt like I was remembering something I didn't want to remember…"
"You guys too?" Gourry looked slightly relieved, knowing that they weren't going to call him stupid for having felt it. "Geez, because I thought the feeling got worse as soon as we saw Amelia."
Zelgadis just sat back, watching all of this silently. He took in their words, trying to figure it out, but to no avail. What the hell could those creatures have been?
Lina stretched out her legs, thinking for a moment. They she looked up and smiled sadly at Gourry. "You're right, Gourry, it did become stronger when we got close to Amelia. But," she added, hesitantly, before plunging on, "It didn't exactly seem real though. I mean, those damn things just didn't seem real, and those sounds it made, and the smell of them…."
"It was almost as if we were in a dream of some sort," Filia finished, looking as if she'd almost figured it out. But then the light went out of her eyes, and she slumped back against the cave's wall.
Lina stopped counting the coins and small jewels she had hidden, and began putting them away. As she did, she spoke, very sure of herself. "Well, we have to try something. It's all or nothing, because sooner or later those things will find us. And I don't want to sit around and wait."
Gourry nodded his approval, adding, "And besides, Amelia has us to protect her."
"No," came a shaky voice. The group turned around to see Amelia sitting up, her brown blanket wrapped around her tighter than ever. "You can't risk your lives for me anymore. You've all done it one too many times already…" she said, trailing off as she remembered the time against Gaav and when Zelgadis had saved her. But it had left him greatly wounded, and he had been surrounded by blood…
Amelia shook her head, wiping the images from her mind. Be strong, Amelia, strong. Don't think about it…or him…
"But-" Lina began, but Amelia interrupted the red haired sorceress. "No, Lina. I just want all of this to stop. I…I have to talk to Reirs. And…and my father…"
Lina sighed labouredly. "Amelia…I really don't trust her. And I mean really. There's something about her that I don't like. And we have no idea where Phil is," she added thoughtfully. Although I want to find him too, Lina thought to herself. Maybe he knows who this Reirs woman is…
"But she's the one with all the answers!" Amelia argued back, her voice weak.
"We aren't going to look for her! For all we know she could be behind all this!" How can she be so dense? I can't believe it…she must've grown up. She can't still think that she can trust anyone who seems decent. Hasn't she realized that the world isn't all sunshine and daises?
"And if she were, I would've already been dead!" Amelia said, her voice rising. "She's had enough chances to kill me already."
Lina just sat there, her mouth slightly open. Ok, maybe she has grown up a bit, because now she has a point. She couldn't think up anything to argue back with, and so she sighed and slumped over in what looked like a defeated way. An uncomfortable silence ensued. She hated to admit it, but Amelia had got her there. But maybe Reirs wants something from her…and as Lina opened her mouth to triumphantly show that she COULD, indeed, argue back, and that she DID have a reason, Filia decided to pip up.
"Amelia, honestly," Filia sighed, shaking her head. "There could be many reasons on why she wouldn't want you dead yet. Maybe she has something in mind. How would you know if she has something up her sleeve? Trust is a very powerful ally, but can also turn on you and become the weapon of the enemy. You have to be careful…"
"You don't even know Reirs! None of you do!" Amelia argued back, and Zelgadis took this as his time to re-enter the conversation. He had been sitting silently with his back leaned up against the stone wall, watching the conversation the rest of the group had been having. "You don't even know her either, Amelia."
Amelia turned to glare at him, but she couldn't seem to find anything to say back. Instead, she looked at him with a confused expression. She didn't know what to think of Zelgadis anymore, or what he had said. She tried to act as if nothing had happened between them, but the images of that night kept coming back to her unwillingly. As the silence between the group grew, Amelia decided that she didn't have time to think about it. We both decided that it was a mistake, so then I should just forget about it. It was nothing, and besides, he's probably forgotten about it too. There's too much that I have to figure out, I can't keep on dwelling on it…
I have to be strong. I have to find Reirs and my father…and I have to find myself…-----------------------------------------------
Not another word was spoken between the five friends. Every now and then Lina opened her mouth to say what she had been about to say, but then she'd change her mind and close it again. Besides, Lina thought, Filia pretty much voiced what I was going to say. They were all engulfed with their own thoughts, their hearts, bombarded with emotions. Every now and then, someone would look worriedly at Amelia, before returning to his or her thoughts. The empty silence was only filled by the light patter of the rain hitting the earth, and the soft sounds of water dripping through cracks in the cave. Lina, feeling restless, stood up silently and, without a word, began to walk to the entrance of the cave, leaving behind her cape. As she neared the entrance, the scent of rain reached her nose, and she could see the dim light come from outside. She stood, leaning against the stone wall, as her ruby eyes scanned the scenery before her. The rain was much louder now, and created a veil of water at the end of the opening.
I wonder what Amelia's been through these past few days. She's not acting like herself. And Zelgadis seems much more quiet than usual. She closed her eyes, and images of a crumbling Saillune flashed before her eyes. The ceilings were missing on almost all the houses; some buildings weren't even standing anymore. The streets were littered with rubble and were cracked, while people fled the streets to reach the castle, where it seemed the whole town was taking shelter. The screams of women, children and men filled her head, as they cowered before the strange creatures the red head had been forced to run away from. Lina was so caught up, she didn't hear someone come up behind her. She jumped as she felt a hand touch her shoulder and, whirling around, her eyes flared up with annoyance and anger.
"GOURRY!!!!" She yelled, glaring at him. She felt like pounding his head in.
"Are you alright, Lina?" He asked, worry etched along his handsome features. Lina's face softened unwillingly; she wanted to be mad at him, but she just couldn't find herself to be angry with the tall swordsman. Lina sighed, and turned to look back outside, the sheer curtain of water making the scenery outside look submerged in water.
"I'm fine, Gourry. I just came here to think."
A comfortable moment of silence passed between the two, until Gourry spoke.
"Lina," Gourry began, walking up beside her. "I'm worried about Amelia. And Phil."
"I'm worried about Amelia too, but I'm sure Phil's fine. He left Saillune before the attack, so he's probably fine. I mean, we are talking about Phil here." Now if only we could be able to find him, she thought to herself, mentally sighing.
Gourry glanced sideways at the petit sorceress, completely awed by her. She's so small, and yet she looks the most calm out of all of us. She always seems to have her cool; never panics. Worry, yes. Panic, no. I wonder how she's able to do that…
Lina glanced up at him, and inwardly smiled. He's always there for people. Always. I don't know how he does it.
The two stood like that for a moment; neither of them moving their eyes away from the other. It seemed as if their gaze would never leave each other, until thunder sounded from the storm raging on outside and lightning struck, illuminating each other's faces. Lina was the first to look away, and together they walked back in silence to the rest of the group.
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After Lina and Gourry had returned, the group had sat in an uncomfortable silence for the rest of the day, and when morning came, the sounds of the storm from outside greeted them. The rain still thundered down hard against the cave they took shelter in, leaving them hungry and cold. Amelia had woken up in a cold sweat; she had had that nightmare again. The whole night, the young raven-haired Princess had tossed and turned in her sleep, never able to find any peace of mind, asleep or not. Vaguely, she remembered feeling a hand pull her blanket around when it had fallen off of her during her restless night. As morning approached, Amelia had been the first to wake up, her breathing short and heavy. She had slowly put her head in her hands and fought back the tears that threatened to spill over and drown her in her own sorrow.
Stop feeling sorry for yourself, Amelia, she told herself, her hands now running through her hair. She sighed, racking her brains for an answer to one of her many questions in her mind. I hope Daddy's all right…no, I'm sure he's all right. Nothing could've happened to him, I know it. I just know it…and he'd probably want me to go and help protect Saillune and our people. She turned to look at the red sorceress sleeping to her left. Lina's right…it's all or nothing. We have to go back to Saillune…we have to go and get some answers.
Zelgadis wasn't sure what to do. He had woken up just after Amelia had, but decided not to let her know that he was awake. He watched her closely, reassuring himself that he was only doing so because he was worried that something might happen, and not because he was still trying to figure out what had happened between them. He had forced himself to keep her out of his mind, but when everything that was happening somehow always involved her, it was a bit hard to do. He concentrated on thinking about the problem at hand, and nothing else.
I wonder what those things that were chasing us were, Zelgadis thought. I should ask Lina when she wakes up. Maybe they've figured something out by now.
It took Filia only a few minutes before she woke up, and she was followed shortly afterward by Lina, who ended up having to shake Gourry awake. "I swear, the things I have to do these days…" she mumbled under her breath with an annoyed tone as the blond swordsman groggily began to sit up.
Amelia had hardly paid any attention to her surroundings; the only things she heard were the thoughts flying around in her head and the steady sound of the rain sounding against the cave as the storm continued its relentless attack on the earth below. Seems like there's nothing but the rain, she thought to herself as she kept her attention fixed on the only sound that she could hear from outside.
They all slowly became aware of how hungry and cold they all were, and both Lina and Gourry's stomachs growled with want. "Awww, Lina…I'm really hungry…" he complained, putting back on his blue armour and placing his scabbard and sword at his side. He rubbed his stomach and sighed, thinking of all the food he wanted to eat at that moment.
Lina sighed and rubbed her empty stomach also. "I know…I'm hungry too." Lina's stomach rumbled like an earthquake, and Lina made an unsatisfied moan. "Forget hungry, I'm starving!"
Filia sighed, unable to believe that they hadn't changed a bit. But Zelgadis paid no attention to their complaints; he wanted to ask Lina something. "Lina," he began, but she quickly interrupted him. "If you don't have food," she began, looking him seriously in the eye, "then I'm not going to say anything. I'm really hungry and I can't talk with an empty stomach."
Zelgadis sighed and shook his head. "It's important Lina..."
"And my appetite is important too! Food is important!!" she said loudly, stressing the last three words.
I can't believe this, Zelgadis thought to himself as he shook his head before he continued. "Lina, it's about those things that were chasing us…what were they? Have you figured it out yet?" Amelia turned around, wanting to know more about the strange creatures too. She didn't know that the group had been talking about the strange creatures earlier, for she had woken up when she heard Filia mention something about being in a dream.
Lina immediately became serious. "I really have no idea. I still can't figure it out. I'm still as stumped as I was earlier. They look like some sort of demon, but I don't think that's what they are. They seem…different. And they're not monsters, at least I don't believe they are. Those things aren't trolls, or golems or even chimeras. They…aren't right. Something isn't right about them."
"I got a good look at them too, and I've never seen them in any of the books I've read," Zelgadis said thoughtfully. "I don't think they're from this world…"
"Whatever they are, they're fast and powerful, and there's a lot of them," Filia added, thinking hard once again about the creatures they had run away from. "It's as if they came out of no where."
"Maybe they did come out of nowhere," Gourry said thoughtfully, resting his chin in his hand. Lina decided to ignore his comment.
"Why doesn't anything make sense? There aren't any links, there's no leads…we're in the dark!" Lina cried out, frustrated. She turned to Amelia, and sighing, she asked her, "Do you have any idea what those things are?"
Amelia thought hard for a moment. She hadn't gotten a good look, but something about them stirred up something from her memory. They seemed…familiar…but no, I've never seen these things before. Where would I have possibly seen them? But she felt an uncomfortable feeling move down her back, and shrugged it off. Maybe it just seems familiar because those things were in my nightmare last night…but I really have no idea where those things come from. "No…I have no idea what they are. I didn't even get a good look at them. I don't think Reirs told me about them either."
Lina looked at Amelia wearingly as she heard Amelia say Reirs' name again. Why does she always have to mention her…she asked herself, mentally sighing. Who is she really?…
They all sat dejectedly, blankly staring as they racked their minds to figure out something. It would have been completely silent if it weren't for the rain that pounded the cave relentlessly. After a few moments of near-silence, Amelia spoke up.
"Lina…I think we should go to Saillune to find some answers. And it isn't Just, leaving the city helpless. Innocent people might get killed if we don't do something! We have to get to Saillune as soon as possible. It's the only Just thing to do."
Lina smiled inwardly; Amelia was starting to act like her old self with all the justice talk. "Welcome back, Amelia," came Lina's reply, her lips curling up into a grin.
Amelia moved back a bit, completely shocked and surprised at what Lina had said. But before Amelia could question Lina on what she had meant, Lina got up, grabbing all of her belongings, and began walking towards the opening, calling back to them, "Come on, guys, let's get a move on. It's unjust to leave my stomach empty also, so lets start doing the Just things that have to be done!"
Gourry immediately started to follow the red head out of the cave, whooping with delight at the prospect of getting food. Without another word, the rest of the group left the dank and cold cave and stepped into the wet world, with the rain pouring down as relentlessly as ever. The cold silver beads flew down from the dark morning sky, the clouds low over their heads as they began to trudge through the muddy ground beneath their feet. They were immediately soaked to their bones, but Lina led them on, their gazes always carefully searching their surroundings in case the creatures decided to show up. Filia lagged behind the group, staring down at the clothes that were now hugging and clinging to her skin, and brushed away the stray hair that got plastered to her face. Maybe I can fly above the clouds, she thought to herself. But she wasn't willing to get naked even for a brief second to change into a dragon to do that. Sighing, she tried to catch up to the rest of the group, only to stumble and almost fall.
"Lina!" Filia called out, her voice trying to overpower the sound of the heavy bullets of rain that shot from the sky. "We can't get to Saillune like this! We'll never make it there!!"
"Of course we will!" Lina called back to the golden dragon as she walked ahead of the rest of the group. "It's nothing but the rain!"
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*A/N: Well, its been a while, but the chapter came! YAY! Aren't you people glad that I'm not dead so that I can finish this fic? So, what'd you think? I figured that its been a bit dark recently, so I decided to lighten it up just a bit. Although, I have to admit, in the beginning I wasn't planning that at all. Did any of you find this chapter a bit lighter, or slightly amusing? I hope so. Now, I know sometimes our favourite group of…umm…well, our favourite group goes a bit OOC, but that's just how its got to be. Now, on to my thankies! *applause*
Thanks to Faith (thanx for the constructive criticism! I wasn't too sure about the last chapter either, but I'm glad you still liked it ^^), Minimerc (Don't worry, don't worry, Zel and Ame will get together. I just need to torture them both a little more), destructive sorceress (I'm really glad that you really like my fic! I'll be sure to check out your fics later, when I have the time ^^), Digi-Riven (Heheheh…well, this chapter took a while to come…*scratches head* I hope you don't mind too much!), Winged Dancer (thnx for that little bit of constructive criticism. And don't kick yourself too hard ^^ I think I didn't really make that too clear anyways. Oh well ^^), MoroTheWolfGod (Well, your b-day passed a while ago…June 3rd, right? Well, happy belated b-day, Moro!), Lauren-sama (I'm glad you really liked the last chapter ^^ Sorry it took so long for this chap to come!), Kawai Fox (Was that little L/G part in this chap cute? Sorry this took so long! Remember…Kinky thoughts!!), Graelyn (It might take a wee bit longer to find out what's really happening! *cackles* And I'm really glad you liked my last chapter! ^^), and kaerra (NHL playoffs are over! *pouts* But I guess your fiancé was happy. I was rooting for the Maple Leafs, but alas, we lost against the Hurricanes. But there's always next time, I suppose ^^ Well, I'm glad you liked the last chapter!)
Once again, I'm really sorry this chapter took so long. I hope you don't mind too much! Thanks so much for all your reviews! You're all the best! And I even got over 100 reviews!!! Thanx so much to everyone who reviewed! It really means a lot to me! 100!! I don't think I'll get over this anytime soon ^^ And if I can count right, I believe that MoroTheWolfGod was my 100th reviewer. Well, thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! Remember how I said I'd give you your own universes? I meant galaxies! Anyways, Ja ne!! –Vivi Laney