Disclaimer: I wonder how I can take over the slayers and keep it to myself…? Oh well, I guess that means I still don't own it.

Twin sisters

double trouble

"Miss Naga, couldn't you have found an easier way?" Eruk growled as he managed to free his left leg from a puddle of swamp water. "Stop complaining and keep walking" Naga ordered from behind him "This is the easiest way to the next town".

Eruk sighed, it was bad enough that he had to cross some godforsaken swamp without him having to carry his "employer" piggyback. It was times like this he wished that it was still in the middle of the winter. At least he could have hoped that everything had frozen over, but it had been getting warmer lately. No doubt that spring was on the way.

He stopped under a large tree where the ground was pretty firm "I'm not taking another step before I get a chance to rest" he announced "Maybe I'm strong, but even I have my limits on how much I can handle".

Before he knew what had happened, he found himself laying on the ground with a throbbing pain in the back of his head.

"How dare you sidekick!" Naga growled "How dare you call me fat!?". Eruk swallowed hard, that wasn't what he had meant at all. Maybe Naga was no Lina Inverse, but she was powerful alright and sometimes she had an even shorter temper than Lina. He crawled away from her "I didn't mean it like that" he begged "all I said was that I was getting tired".

Naga eyed him suspiciously "is that so?" she asked. He made one of his innocent faces and nodded eagerly.

"OHOHOHOHO" Naga threw back her head and laughed out loud, something that caused all animals within the radius of a mile to flee in terror. "Well, I've never believed people when they said beauty could be a burden, but I guess they weren't all wrong" she snickered.

"By the way" Eruk asked "where are we going?". He had managed to find a somewhat dry path that they could use. He still had to carry Naga once in awhile, but at least it made it easier when she could walk some of the time. "We are heading towards a town called Clairne" Naga informed him "it's a town known very well among… certain people". Eruk shrugged "Some sorceress stuff, I assume?". Naga said nothing. "In that case let's hurry" Eruk went on "I don't want to camp out here for the night".

A little time passed. It gradually became easier to move as they made it to the outskirts of the swamp.

A few birds took flight from the trees up ahead.

"Be careful miss Naga" Eruk warned "I think there's something up ahead". He had barely finished his sentence before he found himself dodging a flying object.

"What the…?" he asked as he stood back up.

"Master, look out!" Nimph shouted. Her warning came just a little to late. He felt something hit him in the back of the head.

Again he found himself on the ground, fighting not to pass out. Naga who had been watching all this time knelt down next to him "What's the matter sidekick?" she complained "this is no time to be sleeping on the job! Can't you see that we are being attacked?".

"Not only do I see it" he groaned as he got back up "I happen to feel it too". He carefully rubbed the back of his head with his left hand. That's going to hurt for some time he thought. He knelt down in order to avoid anymore flying objects and reached for his newly acquired sword.

"Do you see anyone out there, miss Naga?" he whispered. The sorceress shook her head. Eruk closed his eyes and tried to focus on the sounds around him. Much to his surprise he found nothing out of the ordinary. He opened his eyes again just in time to see a dark shadow jumping from a tree right above them.

"Sidekick, look out!" Naga shouted and pushed him out of the way split seconds before the mysterious opponent made an attack. Before any of them could recover, the person was gone. In fact, the only proof that there ever was another person was a deep cut in the ground.

"What the…?" Eruk looked around in confusion. Fighting was one thing, but fighting an opponent he couldn't see was not easy.

"Why don't you stop hiding and come out where I can see you?" Naga shouted "Or are you afraid to face the great and powerful Naga the serpent face to face?".

A sudden movement caught Eruk's eye "I see him over there, miss Naga" he shouted and charged forward. While running, he drew the sword from the scabbard on his back.

"I got you now!" he shouted and prepared to strike at a bush.

"Master, behind you!" Nimph shouted. Reacting fast he spun around just in time to see a person jump from a tree behind him. He cast a levitation spell and jumped away just in time to avoid the blow.

"What are you doing sidekick?" Naga shouted. Eruk landed next to her

"it's not my fault miss Naga" he defended himself "I can't fight someone I can't see!". Naga shook her head "looks like I'll have to take care of this little problem myself then".

She raised her hands "Freeze Arrow!" she shouted as a blue bolt of energy left her hands. The magic flew high in the air where it divided into many. Eruk threw himself to the ground. The main reason why he had taken it upon himself to fight most of Naga's battles was not that she was a bad sorceress, far from it. The reason was, that it didn't matter the least to her if he got hit by her magic as well. It was just another aspect of being the sidekick.

"Hey, no fair" a girl shouted as she jumped out from a bush just before it froze over "He never said that you could use magic!". Eruk shook his head in disbelief, this was the unknown attacker?

"OHOHOHOHOHO" Naga advanced on the girl with a smug look on her face "So you are the one brave enough to face me, the great Naga?". The girl stood up and readied her staff.

Don't girls ever get cold? Eruk wondered to himself as he studied the girl. The red Chinese dress she wore didn't seem like it was the perfect winters clothing. Her long purple hair flowed gently in the wind. Somehow it reminded him of Sylphiel, even though this girl seemed a few years younger and her hair had a lighter shade of purple than the shrinemaidens. "Nene, you moron! What do you think you are doing?" Another girl joined the first one.

"Umm Master? Am I seeing double here?" Nimph asked carefully "I know miss Naga said that could happen if you drank too much, but I have only been drinking water, honestly!". Eruk shook his head "It's either that, or the fact that they might be twins".

The first girl looked up at the newcomer with wide eyes "I'm sorry Mimi" she sniffed "but that woman is just so scary" she pointed a shaky finger at Naga. "What was that?" the sorceress frowned. Mimi helped her sister back up "I know what you mean" she shuddered "that laugh would scare everyone. But still, we have to capture those two, right?". Nene nodded slowly. The only reason they had gotten out of the last village was that they had to promise the mayor that they would bring the ones responsible for the massive destruction back to face justice.

"I thought you said we shouldn't have to worry about the crazy old man?" Nimph whispered. Eruk shrugged "how would I know that he would go to extremes and hire mercenaries to track us down?" he whispered back.

"Ok, you two" Mimi shouted "you'd better just give up right now, or you'll have to face us in battle!". Eruk flinched as she pulled her weapon out. It was clearly that one that had hit him in the head. "That's right!" Nene piped in "You'd better surrender now, or face the wrath of Mimi and Nene, martial artists and singing sensations extraordinaire!"

"OHOHOHOH!" Naga threw her head back and laughed "foolish girls, do you really think that you stand a chance against me, the great Naga! The greatest rival of Lina Inverse, feared among dragons…".

Eruk rolled his eyes as his companion went on with her ravings.

"… the most beautiful sorceress in the known and unknown world…".

He sat down on a fallen tree and waited for her to finish, even though it didn't seem like it was going to happen anytime soon.

He shook his head slowly and went over next to her "miss Naga, isn't it about time that we actually do something instead of talking?" he asked politely.

"…and the…huh?" Naga stopped her ramblings and looked at him. He had his armed crossed and was tapping his foot, a certain sign that he was starting to loose his patience.

"Oh well" Naga shrugged "without further ado…". She raised her hands and pointed at her attackers, but nothing happened. "What's wrong miss Naga?" Eruk asked, fearful that she had changed her mind and go on with her ramblings. "This… this is an outrage!!!" Naga growled "how dare they!!!". Eruk, who had been keeping his eyes on Naga, shifted his attention to the twins. "What the…?" he whispered.

Both of the twins had fallen asleep from boredom, and were now snoring soundly. "I guess we won, didn't we?" Eruk laughed nervously and advanced on their sleeping opponents.

"Now if I can get those two tied up before they wake up…" He thought to himself, pleased that a battle could be avoided.

Suddenly he felt the ground shaking below him. He took one look at his companion and swallowed hard "She couldn't be thinking of…". A split second later he got his answer as the words "mega brand" followed by a huge blast echoed through the otherwise peaceful swamp.

"Master?" Nimph poked his left leg "why are you hanging around up here?" she asked curiously.

Slowly Eruk opened his eyes and found himself staring at the ground several feet below him. "I didn't know that you had become that good at flying! Nimph giggled as she flew up in front of his face.

"Where am I?" he asked, still a bit disoriented "what happened?". Nimph titled her head to the left and brought a hand up to her chin "well, when miss Naga blew up those strange girls, you somehow started flying after them and landed here". Eruk shook his head to clear his mind. He couldn't' have flown here on his own, he simply wasn't good enough at levitating for that to happen. And judging from the way that he felt right now, it was more likely that he was blown away along with the two girls.

"By the way master" Nimph asked "why is it that you landed upside down in this tree?". Eruk blinked a few times before he realized that she was right. He was in fact hanging face down in a tree with only a few wines around his feet to keep him from falling down.

"Well, don't you worry about anything master" Nimph informed him and flew up to his feet "I'll get you down in a jiffy". He paled when he felt the dagger he always kept hidden in his right boot be removed. "What are you doing?" he asked nervously. "Why, I'm getting you down master" Nimph giggled as she cut another wine "only one more to go…". Eruk paled "Only one more?" he whispered "oh no, she's not gonna…".

"Well, that was certainly easy". Naga gave a satisfied nod. There was no trace of Mimi and Nene to be found anywhere, but it wasn't any of hers concern anyway. "Now where did that sidekick of mine go?" she wondered out loud when she heard a loud THUMP a short distance away.

She curiously followed the sound. As she passed through a shrubbery, she found Eruk lying unconscious at the base of a large tree. "Come on master! Get up" Nimph ordered and stomped her foot angrily on his chest.

"What's going on here? Naga asked curiously. "oh, it's you miss Naga" Nimph turned her head in the sorceress direction "The master fell down from up there and landed on his head. She pointed up in the tree and showed Naga the wines she had cut to help him down.

"Where am I?" Eruk looked all around him. The world was, for some reason, all blurry. "Almost like a hot summers day" he thought to himself. He took a deep breath and realized that even though it seemed to be very hot, the air that he was breathing was cold and refreshing.

"So how do you like it?" A voice came from behind him. He spun around, his right hand moving towards Naga's sword that usually was strapped to his back, only to find it missing.

"Oh, no need to worry about your weapon, handsome" the owner of the mysterious voice laughed "I assure you, there is nothing to fear here". A beautiful woman stepped out of the blur. Her long green hair reached almost all the way down to the ground. She was wearing a long blue dress that flowed gently in the wind. For some reason he felt like he was drowning in her deep blue eyes. An eerie silence fell over the entire area.

"Where are we?" It was Eruk that broke the silence first.

"Oh, why worry?" the woman giggled and sat down in the grass. "Why don't you join me?" she suggested. Hesitantly he sat down next to her.

"I have been waiting to meet you for some time now" the woman looked him over with a sly smile on her face. Eruk was silent. He wanted to speak up, but for some reason, he simply couldn't say a word. "The strong silent type, huh?" she carefully brushed the hair away from his eyes "or is it because you like me?". He instinctively flinched from her touch. "I see…" she lowered her head "you are mistrusting". She withdrew her hand "there, feeling more comfortable now?" she asked. Still unable to speak, Eruk simply nodded in response.

"You sure are a strange one" she giggled "avoiding contact with others, but yearning for it at the same time, not exactly the way I imagined the great Gaav to act". The surprised look on Eruk's face told the woman everything she needed to know.

"Surprised?" she asked playfully "I know everything about you. Your past, your future, everything". Her words were starting to affect him. He closed his eyes and focused all of his strength. Little by little he started regaining the use of his body. "What do you want with me?" he managed to ask. The woman stood up "I have only one desire", her voice was soft but still determined "I wish to atone a sin committed long ago".

As she spoke, the earth suddenly started shaking. "It would seem that our time has come to an end" she said "but I will see you again". Eruk watched as the world started spinning and fade in front of his eyes. "Oh yeah" the woman's voice seemed to come from all around him "My name is Millennia…"

"Hey look, he's coming around now!" Nimph shouted. He slowly opened his eyes. "Millennia?" he shouted out the name as he sat up in the bed with a jerk, causing Nimph to fall from her place on his chest.

"Millennia?" Naga asked, a confused look on her face "who's that?". Eruk look around and noticed that he was no longer in the swamp. In fact, he was no longer outside. The room he was in looked like a regular village inn. He let himself slump backwards in the bed. His mind drifted back to the dream. "That woman, who was she? I wonder what she meant with I know everything about you? Will I ever find out if any of it was even real?".

He was torn out of his thought when Naga's fist collided with his head. "Ouch!!" He rubbed his sore head "what did you do that for miss Naga?". The tall sorceress gave him a scowl "You were ignoring me sidekick!" she frowned " and after I, the great Naga, carried you all the way here".

He closed his eyes "it's not that I was ignoring you" he explained "I'm just a bit out of it right now". Naga narrowed her eyes "and?". Eruk opened his eyes and looked at her "never mind miss Naga, just forget I brought it up". Naga gave him a weird look but decided to do as he said. Whatever dreams he might have had, wasn't any concern of hers anyway.

"Well, you just rest up for now", Naga gave him a sincere smile and started to head for the door "you coming fairy?".

Nimph jumped up and nodded eagerly "ok!". She opened the door and vanished from sight. "I'll be going too master!"

Nimph informed him and started following Naga.

"Not so fast" Eruk stopped her before she made it out of the room "where are the two of you going?". The fairy spun around in midair "Why, we are going to the hot-springs of course" she giggled "that's the whole reason we are here". With that she flew out of the door to follow Naga.

"Great" Eruk groaned "all this way, and all that trouble for some hot-springs…"

Authors notes:

Seems like I have an endless supply of minor characters to throw into this story, doesn't it? I don't think I have ever seen Mimi and Nene in a fanfiction before, so I thought it would only be fitting to give them a chance to star as well. I know that I've taken some artistic liberties with their personalities, but I hope that you don't mind that.

And Now Eruk has had one of those strange dreams as well? I sense trouble brewing in the future…

Just who is this Millennia? And what does she want with Sylphiel and Eruk?

I'll try to get the next update ready as soon as possible. Keep reading, and keep those reviews coming.