CHAPTER TEN!!!! Well, I've got my chapter up! I'm so proud!

Dis.: Dunna own it. I do own the brownie over there, though...um...well, not anymore. :)

Lindsey, Kevin, and Lacey were all asleep, but Lina and Zelgadis were talking. The wind blew through the small clearing, the leaves rustling. Lina shivered, but not just from the wind.

"What's the matter with you, Lina? You haven't exactly been acting like yourself." Zel pondered aloud. She blinked and turned to him.

"I'm just...worried." She scrunched up her face.

"You? Worried? I don't believe it."

"Well, believe it, cuz I am!" she retorted, annoyed.

"All right, all right, I'll bite. What are you upset about?"

"I'm not the only one who's being un-normal. You've never been so cheerful before. It's like you're a totally different guy!" He rolled his eyes; she continued. "Zel, there's something about me that I swore I would never tell anyone. The only person who knows is Luna, and that's because she was there." Zelgadis stopped teasing her and devoted all of his attention to what she was saying. "I don't exactly know what it is, but there's something inside of me, something that keeps trying to get out. Twice it's escaped, and once." She shuddered, and whispered, "I killed so many..." Lina stared at the stars and concentrated on it until she felt able to go on. "The second time, very recently, no one was killed, but it came close." She shuddered again and her eyes went distant, reliving a nightmare.

Lina's childhood memory

A pitiful looking redhead cried, her head on her knees. She sat in a deep pit that the Villagers and dug. They gathered sticks, stones, and some knives. One particularly mean villager climbed down a rope, dropping beside her.

"You're a cursed child, spawn of the devil himself. You bring destruction to our town. It's time you were taught a lesson, and maybe then you will go away." She reached down and lifted the five-year-old child into the air, then threw her against the wall. She spat into the girls face and sneered at her. "Your family was once a great and powerful group, but then they had you." The woman picked up the defenseless girl again and threw her against the wall a second time. "Then everything they had failed. Their business's failed; their relations failed, and for unknown reasons the elders in your family started to die off. But they never blamed you. It was a disease or a new item or something else, but they would always come up with an excuse. No one ever said it was your fault. But I knew, I knew that it was your doing. You weren't aware of it, probably." The woman took sick pleasure in picking the little girl and running a knife down her arm, until blood covered it. "Yet even so, even after all of these things happened they never blamed YOU." The woman sliced the child's leg and other arm, smirking.

Lina could do nothing. She was powerless in the face of something that would soon kill her. But she had to do something, something. "I did nothing!" she screamed at the woman.

"You did everything." The woman snarled. Lina screamed in pain as her other leg was sliced, from her thigh to her ankle. Numerous lacerations covered any visible skin; the amount of blood seemed to be too much. Lina looked at the woman, resigned to the death that was soon to be hers. "And now, now, in the face of death you neither say nor do anything. You are a curse upon us and this land!" the other villagers threw stones at the five-year-old, most missing, but the ones that hit breaking skin or bones.

Lina looked once more into the cruel eyes of the woman, and gave up. She gave up on life, on the people, and on her family. She was only five, it was not her fault, but there was nothing, nothing that she could do.

The woman smirked and rammed the child once more against the wall, preparing to kill her. But instead of the little girl dying, the woman died. It happened so fast that on one saw, nor wanted to. A clean cut opened up the woman's body, form torso to head. It didn't go all of the way through, and her body practically exploded. Blood flew everywhere, covering the pit and the little girl, no longer herself. Her eyes glowed a sickly shade of red, and not a shadow of remorse.

The demon, for it was no longer Lina, jumped from the clearing and...disposed of all the villagers standing there. Blood, guts, anatomy flew around and no one survived. The Inverse family ran out, all except for Luna, who stayed inside and watched from a window. They came towards Lina's body as one.

And died as one.

Lina's horrible, creepy, don't know where it came from, but had to get it out of the system because it's been haunting me, memory finished.

Lina shook, tears silently falling down her face as she remembered the mutilated bodies of her family and friends. True, she had never had any REAL friends, but they were as close as she had gotten then. Zelgadis sat there; he didn't have a clue what to do. His fearless leader, Lina, was crying, something he had never seen her do, nor thought to see again. Gulping and hoping he was doing the right thing, Zelgadis reached a hand over and rubbed the small of her back, hoping to soothe her some.

It worked, in a way. Lina sniffled and looked at him, then gave a watery smile. She started to chuckle, then laugh as she looked at him.

"Is my face that funny that you laugh at it, even though you have seen it before?" he sobered.

"No, it's just that you looked so uncomfortable, and you didn't know what- oh L-sama," she howled in laughter for a short time then calmed down. He looked at her and wondered. She looked better than she had in a long time, happier with herself, but she had just told him one of the worst stories he had ever heard. Lina noticed his look and smiled. "I've...never told anyone, and I probably should have. Luna and I never discussed it, we simply, I don't know, ignored it. But it feels good to tell someone. Makes me feel lighter, I guess." Zelgadis shook his head, still confused.

"Whatever makes you happy." She smiled. "I forgot to ask, how do those Reeflers fit?"

"I must admit that they are some of the most unusual creations I have every seen, Zelgadis Graywords, and I haven't had a chance to use them yet, but they look pretty cool."

"I wouldn't know because I've never used one of those myself. It just seemed like something you would like. I also can't see it because you're still wearing your cape."

"Heh, oh yeah." He smirked; she stuck her tongue out at him. Lina removed her cape and folded it, wondering why she wore it in the first place. It was kind of useless. She blinked and her head cocked to the side. 'I forgot to ask Lindsey why she wanted to know if I was a master. Oh, well, later.' She turned around and spread her arms out, letting him get the full effect. Besides her new clothing, with the dragon shirt and pants, a golden net spread over her arm. It twined about it, like a snake that didn't move. Starting from her wrist and going up her shoulder and a little beneath her shirt, pure gold decorated her right arm. A single, small ruby sat in the middle of her wrist, and her arm glittered with the light.

"Do they work like they're supposed to?" he questioned, slightly worried.

"Of course, they wouldn't dare malfunction while being worn by the great Lina Inverse!"

"Cut the boasting, I'm the only one who can hear you." Lina stuck her tongue out at him. He smirked. "Is that the only one you used or did you put on the anklet too?" she nodded and he shook his head. "Couldn't wait, could you?" She blushed and grinned sheepishly.

"What else did you expect me to do? Leave it there to get stolen?" not waiting for an answer, Lina went on. "I did use the anklet, and it does the same thing. It goes from, duh, my ankle to my thigh. I'll show it to you when I'm wearing a bathing suit or something."

Zel smiled. "Alright."

"Oi, Zel?" she narrowed her eyes and watched him, as if she was trying to figure something out.

"Yeah?"

"How did you know that I had been a master since I was eight?" She eyed him suspiciously.

"Simple." He smiled secretively. "I first met you when I was eight."

"WHAAAAAAT?!" she shouted in his ear and fell face first, twitching.

"Ouch." He glared at her, and rubbed his ear. "Yeah, your point?"

"I don't remember meeting you! I know I would have. It's kind of hard to forget you..."

"Don't be so sure..."

"All right, Zelgadis Graywords, spill the beans or I'll have to fireball it out of you." She glared at him.

He chuckled, he actually had the nerve to chuckle while she had a fireball in her hand, ready to throw it at him and burn him to crisp. "Rezo, before he went insane, and I were traveling together to a small town called Zephilia," He began, watching her face closely. Her eyes narrowed, in surprise or speculation, he did not know. "To make enough money to eat properly we performed as magicians; it was usually me doing all of the work, though. Rezo and I stayed in that town for a few days, plenty of time to have heard about a violent eight-year-old girl. I heard that you were incredibly good with magic, so I watched you for a little while. That's how I knew you were a master." He nodded, as if to give the tale a more solid 'foundation.'

Lina face-faulted again and groaned, picking herself up off the ground. "You mean to tell me that's it? I thought you mean that we had met, you know, as in exchanged a few words. I never even saw you!" she rolled her eyes. "And how come you never told me before?" her eyes glittered dangerously.

"I didn't think it was important?" Zel grimaced and tried to think up a quick excuse.

"Oh, your 'I didn't think it was important' isn't going to work with me, buddy, I think it's time we had some crispy chimera for dinner. Fireball!" and so the torture ensued.

A few hours later and a now-healed-yet-still-exhausted-chimera glared at the redhead. "You didn't have to throw THAT many fireballs," He glared at her.

"Yes I did. You needed to be taught a lesson, and I was the one to do it. And a lesson taught by an Inverse, especially me, will never be forgotten." She smiled proudly, completely ignoring the angry glare she was receiving.

"You were just looking for an excuse to fireball me, weren't you?" he drawled; Lina grinned at him and didn't answer. She didn't need to.

Lacey and Kevin were still asleep, but how Kevin slept that much Lina couldn't understand, and Zel was joining them, grumbling all the while. Lindsey had awoken to the various and sundry pained shouts emitted from a certain chimera.

"Miss Lina?" the priestess asked tentatively. "Can we talk?"

Vanilla: Thank you for reviewing, I really appreciate it. It definitely helps. And I actually did explain the cliffie in this one, but maybe it isn't obvious yet. I'll work on that. Thank you, again. I'm trying to figure out the plot, too. The story is in my mind, but I don't know what it is. It's really confuzzling.

Natashi-Li: hmmm, 12 out of 10. I like those numbers. :D thank you! I really appreciate it. Big smiles, and I shall try to work on this more. :)

Reiko5: thanks for the encouraging words. I was having a bad day when I read your review. :)

Ishy-chan- Glad to see(read?) ya back, Ishy-chan! I know how you feel about the computer. :P really really annoying if you ask me. :D but anyway, thanks for the review, and I'm working on the OC's they probably won't stay for the whole story, but I need the for something. :D Later!

Minna-sama...please review? (Psst, lemme tell you a well-kept secret. The little purple button over there? It's what you press when you review my story.... if you press it your dearest wish will come true. Eventually.)...yeah, and just keep in mind that I don't have any money right now. ;) Later, Minna-sama, and I hope you've enjoyed my story thus far!