Chapter: I don't know that chapter number this is, but this is the last one.
Disclaimer: Still own nothing.
Fortunately for me, Zel hadn't wandered too far away. He was still close enough to catch me before I splattered across the pavement. Once we had landed, all safe and sound, I found myself crying form shock.
"Are you all right?" He asked softly, as I clutched to him with a deathgrip. I didn't answer, at least, not right away. I had several thoughts flow through my head at that time.
Am I dead yet?
How long can Zel hold me up? I'm awfully heavy.
I'm going to kill that guy.
And that was my response to Zel. I managed to pry my hands loose, climb out of Zel's arms and stalk angrily over to the creep who had punched the pole.
"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU," I exclaimed, then looked around in confusion. "Uh... What's your name?"
"Cornelius Valentine." Lynn whispered to me. "But if I were you, I wouldn't call him that."
"Why not?" I asked, not intrigued. "What ever is wrong with Cornelius Valentine?"
"Don't you ever all me that." He said with a guttural growl, then he made a rude gesture and walked away. I looked to Lynn for an explanation.
"Then what should we call him, 'Corney'?" I wondered in a very-quiet-but-still-out-loud voice.
"He's in my music class. I've heard people refer to him as Val, and he won a scholarship this morning, but that's all I know." She answered. "Oh, and he punched in a vending machine."
"Oh, did he do that? I was wondering... What happened?"
"You see, I was trying to get a candy bar from it, but I ate my quarters, so I was upset... He came along and broke the glass in. But I don't really think he was helping me. I think he was just being angry." Lynn explained calmly.
"Venting at the vending machine?" I mused in an interested tone. "Huh." Then I remembered. "Zel, where did you run off to?" I asked, turning to face him.
"That, uh..." He itched his face nervously again before he confessed. "I was looking around the campus for other reincarnations."
"Oh." I had lost all interest now that I had noticed I was going to be late for class. "Bye." I wandered away toward the building. Lynn glanced at her watch, and saw she had to get to class too.
"Bye Zel. Good luck." And Zel was left standing in the parking lot.
"But... I didn't get a chance to tell you that..." He sighed. "They're all here."
Once my classes were done for the day, I was starving. My lunch had "mysteriously" gone missing from my car. I blamed Xellos. So not only was I starving, I had had a rather long day, and was it was starting to show in my driving. I, who was normally reasonably cautious, and had never before had a car accident, hit a pedestrian. Again, I blamed Xellos, because my brakes seemed to not be working.
Anyways, after I had bumped {only bumped, as I hadn't been going very fast yet} the pedestrian, I put the car in park and ran out to see if they were hurt.
"Hey! Are you all right, dude? I don't want to have killed someone in the parking lot, for crying out loud!" I examined the guy. He was wearing shades of blue and gray, with long (for a guy) hair that was so blonde that I assumed it was dyed.
"Oooowwww..." He groaned, sitting up. I blinked.
"Hey, you're that guy who's in my kickboxing class." I stated, trying to remember his name. "Gourry?"
"Gerry." He corrected me. "But it would be cool if I were Gourry. I idolize him." He gestured toward his clothing, and I saw that he wearing colors quite similar to Gourry.
"Too weird. Will you get out of the road now?" I asked, feeling weirded out and irritable.
"Hmmm, I dunno...." He said thoughtfully, than noticed Lindsay walking on the sidewalk on the other side of campus. "Oh! She owes me dinner! Gotta run!"
With that he was gone. I drove very cautiously home.
When I got home, I went in to the dining room to see if anything interesting had come in the mail today. When I opened the door to the house, I was in for a surprise.
Xellos and Zelgadiss were sitting at the dining room table. Xellos was eating a bowl of chocolate chunk ice cream, and Zel had a cup of coffee.
"AUUUUUG! WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING UP HERE?!!!" I shrieked. I added in a whisper, "My parents are going to see you!"
"Oh, but they already have, Arafel dear." Xellos answered in his condescending tone.
"Zel, would you check the potatoes that are in the oven?" My mom's voice came from the other room. "Are they done yet?"
I stood in complete stun-ed-ness as Zel turned, opened the oven and carefully poked a potato and answered.
"Not yet."
Katherine, my little sister came in and came over to Xellos.
"Xellos, is it okay if you come swimming with me?" She asked, tugging on his sleeve.
"Katherine, don't do it! Don't swim with this freak!" I cried. She looked at me.
"Why not? Martin's playing his video game, Lynn isn't home yet, and I don't think you want to go swimming with me, so there's no one else!" She reasoned. Xellos smiled, and put the empty bowl in the sink.
"Of course I'll come with you." He answered with a smirk.
They left together, and as they did, Xellos turned and stuck out his tongue at me.
"MAZOKU EVIL!" I glared after him.
"Arafel, need to talk." Zel said, looking up from his coffee.
"About what?" I asked, digging through the cupboards. As I searched for something to fill my poor empty stomach, my mom came in.
"Don't eat anything now or you won't be hungry for the celebration dinner!" She scolded, checking on he potatoes in the oven again.
"What are we celebrating?" I asked in a strained voice.
"Your engagement to Zel, of course." She answered. "How could you forget something like that?"
"En-guh, en-guh, ENGAGEMENT?! WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?!!!" I cried in shock.
"OH-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO!" A laughter strangely resembling Nahga's filled the air as Lynn burst through the door wearing a swimsuit that was too small and a tablecloth tied around her shoulders like a cape.
"Welcome home, Lynn." My mother said with a smile.
"Do we have any sake?" She asked, looking in the cupboard.
"No, but if you want you can go buy some for the celebration dinner tonight." Mom answered, finally taking the potatoes out of the oven.
"Works for me." She said with a dull shrug as she turned around to face the door. She flung it open, shrieking with laughter. I think she had been intending to burst through the door, but she tripped on the edge of the tablecloth she was wearing and fell face first out the door. However, she got back up and continued on her way.
"As you can see, Xellos has put some sort of influence over your family." Zel said quietly.
"Oh, is that what happened?" I muttered, and turned to my mom. "Mom, do you think Zel's cute?"
"Why yes!" She giggled. "You have very good taste in men."
"PROOF!" I shouted, pointing at her. "You thought that Zel looked like a ZOMBIE before!"
She laughed at me, and left the room. Zel was a little tweaked that I had used that as an example, but seemed to cope with it rather well.
"I was also going to tell you that nearly all of the people that I knew are here in your city." He said.
"No lie?" I asked, sitting down across the table from him and eating a banana. Even if I had been told not to eat, I was starving!
"Do you remember Maria from your chemistry class? She's Martina. And Kyler in psychology? He's Kopi Rezo." He stated.
"What about Rezo himself?" I interrupted, overcome with curiosity. "His name is Reed, and you walked past him and Phil--also known as Hellmaster Phibrizzo--this afternoon." He answered. "That's not mentioning Ophelia who is Filia, Seline who is Sylphiel, Gerry who is Gourry--"
"And CORNELIUS VALENTINE who is Valgarv, I suppose?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as I threw the banana peel in to the garbage can.
"Yes, that's right." He answered in surprise. "How did you know?"
"Call it a lucky guess." I said sarcastically. "I just realized something."
"What is it?" He asked.
"This is a dream." I stated boldly.
"Why would you think that?" He asked.
"Because. I don't believe in reincarnation, but it's something my sleeping brain could cook up very easily." I said firmly. Zel was quiet for a moment, as though trying to decide how to react to this development.
"Do you have any proof?" He asked quietly.
"Aside from the whole dream thing, no. But let's find out if this is the kind of dream I can change or not." I thought for a moment, then shouted "MARRON, APPEAR!" at the top of my lungs, making a wide gesture with my arm.
At that, the beautiful man from Sorcerer Hunters appeared in the kitchen.
"See? See? See?" I said smugly to Zel. "You ain't seen nothing yet. MAGNETO! VASH! ATEM YAMI! KURAMA! DUO MAXWELL! SANOSUKE! And and and..." I paused thoughtfully as all those summoned appeared, cluttering the kitchen. "NURIKO! HATSUHARU SOUMA! And for good measure... SESSHOUMARU FOR MY SISTER!"
Just as they appeared, I felt myself snort and realized I was in my bed. I could see my dream fade away as I opened my eyes and for a very brief moment could see both the dream and the reality I was waking up to. But the dream faded, and I was left alone in my room.
"That STUUUUUUUUNK!" I whined as I rolled over in bed. I heard someone coming downstairs, and Lynn appeared in my doorway with a package.
"Arafel, this came in the mail." She stated, and left the box on my bed. I picked it up, curious as to what it could be.
"From An-kun?" I murmured, getting my screen tone knife from my desk to cut the box open.
"Didn't he go to an anime con recently?" Lynn asked from her room.
"Yeah. Is this a present from the con?" I wondered aloud as I opened the box. "AUUUUUUUUUUUUG!"
"What did he send you? A dead frog?" Lynn asked, poking her head through the doorway.
"No...." I whined as I sunk to the floor. I picked up the letter that was sitting on the top of the merchandise. "He said 'Dear Arafel, I found a stand that was packed with Slayers merchandise, and I knew you would like it!' and he drew a little smiley face."
"So you just got a whole box full of Slayers merchandise? Why do you sound so depressed about it?" She asked.
"BECAUSE I HAD A REALLY WEIRD DREAM!" I exclaimed, then had an afterthought. "Hmm, I wonder if it would make a good fanfic...."
The end.
There! Don't I write bizarre endings! ;