Dis.: :[...why do I even bother? I haven't owned it (sob), don't own it (sob), and never will own it (sob, sob, sob)! So I write stories...:)

AU: You guys want description? You'll get description. :] mwahahahahahahahaaaaaa! :) By the way, thank you so much Ishy-chan, your support means more than you know (and it's not a/z, BTW). One more thing, I know I haven't been writing for my other stories and they're not discontinued. I swear they planned it, but five of my teachers decided that we had two weeks to get a research paper done, create a hands-on learning center out of our history classroom (we had 4 days for that one), do our P.E. assessment tests (and we only have P.E. 3 times a week), do a scribal project (don't ask. It was horrible). Math didn't have anything. YES! Bio class was scientific junk and ART was...naptime! For Sean and me anyway. :) On with it!

Chapter Three

Amelia sighed, immediately going into dreamy mode when Kevin walked in
the door. He stood there for a minute, the sun glinting off his hair,
the same color as Lina's. He spotted her and gave a half-smile. As he
walked toward her she stared worshipfully into his emerald eyes, and
he stared, amused, into her blue ones. She stood up and managed to
stutter out, "How are you this morning, Kevin?" she didn't have to
look up, and neither did she look down. They were the same height, and
same age. But his magic was far stranger than hers.

"I'm doing good, Amelia. How are you?" his voice a light tenor
constantly sounded amused with life at large.

"Wonderful!" Amelia blurted and took in his outfit. Black pants and a
red sleeveless shirt that did justice to his hair. Creamy skin, also
the same as Lina's, and a slightly angular face, were his features. He
sat in a chair with a cat's grace and the smug smile tugging on his
lips gave him a resemblance to the same.

Kevin batted away the fluffy, pink hearts floating from her to him and
rolled his eyes at the immediate crush. "Have you eaten dinner yet,
Miss Amelia?"

"Please call me Amelia, and yes, I have." She watched him adoringly.
Kevin shivered for no apparent reason.

"Good. I'll get dinner to go, and leave for my room as soon as
possible." Actually, he wasn't all that hungry, but he knew Lina would
be. She hadn't gotten to eat dinner, not wanting anyone to see her
hair and suspect, so she'd flown to her window using levitation. The
waitress came by and Kevin ordered the list Lina had asked for,
praying that the lady would be quick. The mushy vibes he was getting
from Amelia were starting to make him queasy.

She was, indeed, fast, and within 5 minutes the food was out. He
grabbed it up on a tray and headed towards the stairs, his graceful
gait not letting him drop a single piece. He quietly sneaked to Lina's
door and knocked on it as softly as possible. He could have saved
himself the trouble.

Lina poked her head out the door and her eyes went big and shiny when
she saw the food. "FOOD!" She shouted. Loudly. Very, very loudly.

Zelgadis ran out of his door, sword in one hand, and a flare arrow in
the other. "What's the matter Lina? What's going on?" he asked
frantically. Then stopped and looked around. He glared at her and
continued, letting the spell dissipate while putting his sword up,
"Don't shout so loud next time, okay? By the way, why weren't you at
dinner? I've never known you to be late for a meal. Even dead you'd
never miss the dinner bell." He gazed at her speculatively, but it was
too dark for him to see her hair. "Is that...It is," Zel winced at the
food, casting a light spell. "I didn't know you like bratwurst (how
are you supposed to spell that?)!" He shuddered and looked at Lina
again. This time, the light spell showed her hair. "Lina! What
happened? It looks like..." he glared at her.

Lina looked sheepishly at the floor, knowing it was no use trying to
hide anything from Zel.

"What happened? Who did you fight? Why didn't you call me?!?!" the
last was said with unnecessary force and Lina winced.

Breaking off a flow of questions that probably would have lasted
longer, very uncharacteristic of Zelgadis, Lina announced, "I didn't
fight anyone. I didn't fight at all." And giggled when he stared at
her in confusion. Also uncharacteristic of him. She invited him into
her room and explained about the amulets and barriers, giving him his
ahead of time. "I was supposed to be a surprise, but you saw me." She
made a disgusted face, which made him laugh. Ever since that visit to
the Moon Temple, Zelgadis had smiled and laughed a lot more. She
didn't know why, but he said the priests had given him some sort of
message, and all he said was, "The unexpected brings great
expectations." Which didn't make a whit of sense to her. In fact, it
didn't make any sense to Zelgadis, either, but while he had been
searching all of his life for a cure he didn't really believe existed,
this Temple had told him that it did. And that, basically, or so he
assumed, it would come to him in its own good time, and that he was
not to go for it. Simply the fact that it existed made his life ten
shades brighter.

He looked at the stone and frowned, moving towards the mirror in her
room. He raised his eyebrows, and asked. "Is there a reason it's the
same color as my eyes?"

"Actually, yes and no. no because it doesn't affect the spell and yes
because you have to be able to differentiate between each other's
stones. Xellos and Filia might be a problem. I might," she smirked,
"accidentally mix them up." Lina looked as if she planned to do just
that, but Zelgadis couldn't figure out why. Kevin did though.

"Ever the matchmaker, Lina-sama. Ever the matchmaker."

"Be careful little one, or just might find yourself paired up with
Amelia." Lina smirked again.

Kevin looked to consider this and then surprised her. "Just make her
less..." he appeared to be at a loss for words so Zelgadis provided a
few.

"Happy, cheery, mushy, justice-y," he gave a small shudder at them,
especially the last, "and oblivious?" he finished.

"Right!" Kevin agreed and looked to him in appreciation. "Other than
those...Amelia's cool. I don't even mind the justice bit all that much."

"You will soon," Lina and Zel said in unison, and grinned at each
other. Lina glanced at Zel speculatively, smiling at the change.
Instead of his usual cram outfit, she'd managed to get him to change
into new attire. Dark pants and a dark blue sleeveless shirt. He'd
even changed his cape from cream to black. Black boots, and nothing
else changed. It suited him, making him appear more human. He didn't
cover up his face anymore, and Lina prided herself that some of that
was her doing, not all the temples. She didn't really know just how
much she had affected Zelgadis. It was simply nice that he made jokes
and laughed with them, hanging out at the dinner table, as if he
finally considered them his friends. Lina smiled again. She herself
hadn't changed that much. Sure, her outfit was slightly different, but
only a new dark red shirt, still with the yellow band around it. Cloth
did wear out after a while anyway. No, it was only her clothes that
changed. She was still herself, impulsive, undefeatable, and nice-when-
she-wished-to-be Lina. She had grown some, but her personality was the
same. Amelia hadn't changed either; she still was a justice-freak (I
have nothing whatsoever against Amelia, she's cool, but she is a
justice-freak.), and over happy. Syl hadn't really changed, but she
was better at black magic. Gourry hadn't changed at all. Xellos...Xellos
was Xellos and you never knew. Filia had settled down in some town or
other and ran a tea and mace shop while she raised Valgaav.

All in all, the only person who really had changed was Zel. And that
was for the better.

Kevin shook his head at their pessimism and plopped onto Lina's bed.
"Zel?" Lina started, "I forgot to warn you. You can only use the
pendant once and only you can use it. Therefore you can't use Amelia's
or Syl's, only yours. The same goes for them."

"All right. Is that all?" she looked at him in surprise.

"What do you mean, is that all? I couldn't have made it anymore
difficult," Lina paused in her ranting; looked him in the eye and saw
the laughing glint in them. "You odious monster! How could you..." she
glared at him and smacked him on the noggin. Then she discreetly shook
her hand and said, "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow."

Zel just sat there and laughed. "Idiot." Kevin joined him in his
laughter and two tenors made fun of an enraged redhead gone white for
the next couple of hours.

Kevin yawned the next morning and stretched like a sated cat. Grinning
over the fun he'd had the previous night with Zelgadis, Kevin pulled
on his usual, black and red outfit. He frowned over the extra weight
in his cape and pulled out a package he'd forgotten was in there. He
smiled when he opened it. Tomorrow was Lina's birthday, even though
she hadn't told the group. Well, if she didn't tell them, then neither
would he. Apparently they celebrated everyone else's b-day's, even
Zel's, so he would ask her today why she never told them.

"Crap!" He said. "I didn't get breakfast. Lina and Gourry are gonna
eat it all." He raced down the steps and out the door separating the
tavern from the stairs.

Lina, with normal hair, sat in a chair wolfing down all of the food in
sight. He could happily disown her at times like these. Sitting down
at another table and ordering eggs and bacon, Kevin winced when some
of Gourry's hair was removed. Well, he should have known better than
to take Lina's food.

He finished off his breakfast and gave a smile of contentment. For
some reason, if you ate at the same time as Lina, the food was better.
I wonder if it has anything to do with being traveling with Lina...

Lina sighed happily and looked around for her little brother. Spotting
him, she got a militant gleam in her eye and pushed her chair back
with a purposeful air. Walking towards her when she crooked her finger
at him, Kevin couldn't help but feel a twinge of apprehension. And he
had every reason to feel apprehension, fear, probably even horror if
he knew what was coming to him. Guess it's a good thing he doesn't.

The siblings walked alone toward their private little spot in the
park. Lina immediately formed a fireball and told him to get ready for
some fun. He squeaked and made two freeze arrows, wincing. He should
have known that teasing Lina always came back at you.

"It's time for your private instruction from Lina Inverse!" She
grinned evilly.

"Great. I'm glad Sylphiel is a master healer." He threw the arrows at
Lina and the fight began. Lina threw her fireball and canceled them
out, jumping towards him and drawing her sword. He started and dodged,
saying, "I didn't know you could use a sword Li-chan!"

"What, you think I carry it around for fun?" He shrugged and she
continued, "Draw your sword, I want to know if you can use it or not."
He did as he was told and blocked the blow from Lina's sword well, if
not wonderfully. Her sword flashed and they started to move faster in
the heat of battle then they would normally. Confident that Kevin
could take care of himself, Lina only held back a little, to let him
get used to her sword. She smirked challenge to her brother and he
took it with a grin. Sword flashing and spell casting continued for
the better part of six hours and they only stopped when they caught
sight of the group.

"Well fought, young Kevin," Zelgadis smiled appreciatively.

"You stood up against Lina and you still alive?" Gourry goggled at
him.

"And the better for it," Kevin smiled at him. Sylphiel smiled serenely
and walked over to Lina, healing her wounds first as she was the
teacher, not the student. There were one or two scratches where Kevin
managed to score a hit, but nothing else.

Kevin, however, was a different story, and Amelia (staring at him the
entire time) was trying to heal his scratches with her own magic. Good
for some cuts, but not these. Scratches covered his arms and his pants
were cut up. Not because Lina had cut him with her sword, she was too
smart with a weapon to accidentally hurt someone, but because of the
many falls he had taken at her hand. Lina smirked and told him it was
time for meditation. The group smiled when Kevin groaned and headed
back to the INN. Lina and Kevin, instead of heading to the INN, went
to a small lake near the village.

"No, to let you know before you even try to start, we are not going to
meditate. One, I don't really know how, and two, I hate it! But you
told me we had to talk, so this is a good time where we won't be
disturbed." Lina explained Kevin's emerald eyes shone in gratitude and
he settles down on the grass. For a few minutes the two sat together,
enjoying the company and the beautiful, sparkling lake with the cool
breeze. An all-around perfect day.

"Lina, it must run in the family," He mumbled, starting to talk at
last. "Why is it people are always after the Inverse family?"

"I don't know Kev; and I've been trying to figure that out all of my
life. Other than our power, there shouldn't be anything against us."
She smiled reminiscently, thinking about why she in particular was
generally feared.

"Well, I've been thinking too, but I gave up. There just isn't any
reason for people to fear or hate or ignore us. We make some of the
best wine, too."

"One question. Did people do those things to you before or after you
sadi the name Inverse."

He considered a moment, his head cocked to the side, and answered,
"After, generally, but why should a name make such a difference?"

Lina looked at her brother in something akin to pity, but not quite.
She knew how he felt, and recognized it as partly her fault. "Kevin,
part of it is that I am well known," he snorted at the understatement,
"And I'm well known for my power and my recklessness. Because of the
name Inverse, as long as they remember me, they will act that way
towards you." Much as she wished she could do so for the trouble she'd
caused her little brother, Lina still couldn't apologize; she didn't
really need to, because it wasn't really her fault. Well, she
consented, not completely.

He rolled his eyes and took a deep breath, getting ready to tell her
something important. "Lina," he paused, unsure of how to go on,
"I...caused a bit of trouble in a small town, Pynis, and now a really,
really angry spell caster is after me." He let out his held breath and
watched Lina, looking for all the world as if he expected her to
throttle him for stupidity or something.

Lina laughed and Kevin jumped at the unexpected action. Luna, he knew,
would have beaten him for doing something so stupid. Lina just
laughed. "W-what? I'm sorry if it is at a bad time, but I need some
help getting rid of him. He's very good, and-" Kevin stopped babbling
and looked at her laughing face sheepishly.

"On the contrary, it's at the best time. I need to get away and going
to the outside of the barrier should be perfect." His eyes widened and
Lina grinned devil-may-care style. "Yes, I know you didn't say
anything about going to the outside, but this is the perfect excuse,
I've been wanting to go, but Syl and Amelia don't want to, so I've let
them have their way." He raised an eyebrow and looked like he didn't
believe this last statement. "Hey! I can be nice when I want to be!"
she grumbled loudly. "Don't tell them though, it might ruin the image
I've managed to build up around them." She added conspiratorially to
him.

Kevin rolled his eyes and spoke again after a few minutes silence.
"Lina?" she nodded to show she was listening. "Why haven't you told
them tomorrow is your birthday. You've known them for more than five
years and you haven't told anyone." Lina choked and Kevin looked at
her, startled.

"Tomorrow's my birthday?" she managed to get out before falling into
fits of laughter. "I-I forgot," she started laughing again as Kevin
stared at her.

"You forgot? How can you forget your own birthday?" he demanded, "No,
never mind, I don't want to know. You do know how old you're going to
be, right?"

"Yes, I'm going to be 21." She smiled.

"Good, at lest you remember that much," he grumbled.

"Hey, I've been traveling, and it's hard to keep track of things like
that. I didn't tell them the first year, because there wasn't really
time. I think we were fighting old shabby right then." She smiled
again, this time reminiscently. "Amazing how time flies when you're
having fun."

"Fun? You call fighting Shabranigdo fun?" he stared at her as if she'd
lost her brains.

"More fun that fighting Zel, or Rezo, or Eris, copy Rezo," Kevin's
eyes grew rounder and larger with every name she ticked off, as if
reading from a paper. "Xellos, sort of, Filia's mace, extra really mad
villagers tossed in, Hallas wanting to mar-," she couldn't finish the
thought, "Phibby, Christopher and his monsters, immortality, Gaav,
Valgaav, Dark Star (have I left any major people out?)." she nodded,
"I think that's all!" Lina stood up and started walking back to the
INN. She looked back and started laughing when Kevin jus tsat there
looking at her in disbelief.

"There is no-! You couldn't have! It's not poss-! You're not-!" Lina
laughed even harder at his exclamations.

"Yes, I did, and Zel, Amelia, and Gourry were there from the
beginning. The rest quickly appeared, I'll tell you the rest later."

Kevin followed Lina back into the INN with awe, disbelief, and
everything else you would feel I someone told you that your big sister
fought people like that. And he thought Luna was the scary one.

All right, everyone, thanks for reading! And, again, thanks to Ishy-
chan for reviewing. I appreciate it so much when people do! :) :]

Ta ta, now
Myth