Disclaimer: Still haven't earned enough money to buy the right for the slayers, so I still don't own them.

Wedding rings and kidnappers

Last minute shopping?

"So you're telling me that he just ditched you!!?" Lina slammed her mug down on the table. "Miss Lina, please calm down and let miss Sylphiel finish her story" Amelia urged her redhaired friend. The three girls had gathered for a quiet evening before the wedding preparations started for real. "Calm down?" CALM DOWN?!" Lina cried "that guy just pisses me of!! No one treats a girl like that, and least at all a friend of mine!".

Amelia and Sylphiel shot each other a nervous glance. Lina was a good friend, but when she was in that mood, no one could feel safe. "Miss Lina?" Sylphiel tried to get the sorceress attention without making her more upset than she already was. "I just said I haven't heard from him. He probably has his reasons" Sylphiels reasoning seemed to calm her down somewhat, but she was still upset.

"Do you really think that he has reasons for not contacting you?" Amelia whispered. Sylphiel nodded "He is a reincarnation of the demon dragon king after all" a shiver ran through her body when she though of that aspect of the man she knew as Eruk. "I guess you are right miss Sylphiel" Amelia sighed "but I still wonder how he's doing..."

A eerie silence fell over the room. "What's the matter with you two all of a sudden?" Lina asked casually "we're here to celebrate aren't we?". Sylphiel took a deep breath "You are right miss Lina" she agreed "so tell me, how did Gourry dear ask you to marry him?". Deep inside she was feeling just a little bit jealous of the sorceress and swordsman, but she was determined not to let it show on her face.

Lina leaned back in her chair "it was actually nothing special. That jellyfishbrain never had any sense of timing". For some reason she had trouble sounding as mad as she had hoped for.

"Miss Lina has gotten soft on Mr. Gourry lately" Amelia whispered as she leaned closer to Sylphiel. "I heard that Amelia!" Lina growled, causing the Seyruun princess to shiver in fear.

"Anyway..." Lina continued "We had just beaten the crap out of a bandit gang, and he just blurts out Hey Lina, ever wanted to get married?. Just like that!". Lina threw her hands in the air "and then things just happened", she finished her story by taking a big swing of her drink.

"That was it?" Sylphiel asked. She had expected something a bit more romantic, like a candlelight dinner or something. Suddenly the image of Gourry and Lina having said dinner started playing in her mind. "Hey Lina, could you please pass me the bread?" chibi Gourry asked politely. "No way!" chibi Lina growled back "these are all mine". She gave Gourry's plate a hungry look "in fact so is this". She threw herself at Gourry's plate and scooped up a piece of meat. "Hi honey" she giggled, and gave the meat a loving look before stuffing it into her mouth. "oh yeah?" chibi Gourry shouted as he copied the stunt. From there the fight escalated. Sylphiel closed her eyes and shook her head as the two chibis started duking it out.

"Is something wrong miss Sylphiel?" Amelia asked. Sylphiel had been staring out of the window for a while, and it was starting to bother the Seyruun princess.. "Oh no, it is nothing" Sylphiel assured her "I was just lost in my thoughts for a moment".

She covered her mouth to hide a yawn. It was getting late, and she was starting to feel a bit tired. In the same moment Lina yawned loudly "I think we should call it a night". The two others agreed and started heading for their rooms.

"Not so fast" Lina held Sylphiel back. "What's wrong, miss Lina?" the shrinemaiden asked. "I just wanted to tell you to get a lot of rest tonight, 'cause tomorrow you'll start working". Sylphiel swallowed hard "what do you mean, miss Lina?" she asked nervously. "Why such a scared face?" Lina laughed heartily "I thought I told you already. I need you to keep an eye on Gourry for me, otherwise I just know that he'll end up forgetting something". Sylphiel nodded "of course miss Lina, you can count on me". Lina let go of the shrinemaiden "I know I can Sylphiel" she said sincerely.

"So Sylphiel" Gourry pulled the cloak tighter around him "Can you tell me why we are out here?". Sylphiel had, with Lina's permission, insisted that the swordsman had followed her on into town to do some shopping. "I just wanted to pick some things up for the wedding Gourry dear" Sylphiel giggled "Don't you have any last minute shopping to do?". Sylphiel had spent all night trying to figure out how to pry information from the swordsman.

"I don't really know" Gourry smiled "should I have some shopping to do?". Sylphiel sighed, this was going to be a lot harder than she had expected.

"So let me get this straight" Sylphiel stared the clueless swordsman straight in the eyes "you haven't done ANYTHING to prepare for the wedding?". Gourry shrugged "what is there to do? Isn't a wedding just walking up to some priest and have him say something?".

The two of them had stopped by a local restaurant to get some breakfast Or to be more precise, Gourry was eating while Sylphiel had a cup of tea. Sylphiel was, to put it mildly, surprised. How he had avoided Linas fury so far was beyond her.

"Gourry dear? Haven't you bought some clothes or something?" Sylphiel asked. Gourry shook his head. "Please tell me that you have at least bought miss Lina a ring" She was really starting to worry about his health now. "But she's got plenty of rings" Gourry stuffed another piece of toast into his mouth "Just the other day she got her hands on a few more when she fried some bandits".

"Gourry dear!" Sylphiel stood up and placed her hands on her hips "this is not just about a ring!". Gourry blinked a few times "but you just said...". Sylphiel took a deep breath "this isn't just about a ring! It's about a wedding ring!" she shouted. Everybody in the small restaurant looked at her in stunned silence. Her face turned beet red as she sat back down and lowered her voice "we have to go out and find you and miss Lina a ring right now".

"I can't believe this" Sylphiel sighed "there isn't a single merchant in town who has a wedding ring". The two of them had been browsing around town for several hours now, but were still unable to find a suitable ring. "Why don't we try over there then?" Gourry asked and pointed at a small booth all alone in the market square. "that's funny" Sylphiel thought "I would have thought it was too cold to operate a booth in this weather".

"Ahh welcome youngsters "The owner greeted them warmly. He was a strange little man, all covered in strange robes. His strange appearance actually had Sylphiel a little worried for some reason, but she couldn't point out what it was. Finally she settled on the fact that his clothes even covered his face.

"Umm we are looking for a wedding ring?" she started. "Ahh how romantic" the man smirked "You two make a excellent couple, I must say". Sylphiel face instantly turned red "Oh n...no" she stuttered "It's not the two of us getting married".

The man took a long look at Gourry "Now I see!" he exclaimed "you are Gourry Gabriev, aren't you?". He nodded to himself "yes, you are indeed the legendary swordsman. These eyes of mine must be getting old...". He vanished behind a curtain for a few minutes.

"I knew they were here somewhere" he laughed to himself and held out his hand. "they... they are beautiful..." Sylphiel whispered. In the mans hand was two golden rings. One of them had a deep blue stone embedded, and the other a fiery red stone.

"They are perfect for the two of you" Sylphiel was beaming with happiness, finally they had found what they were looking for. "How much is it?" she asked carefully. "Well..." the man looked Gourry over "Seeing that his future wife have saved or fair town on more than one occasion, I believe it would only be fair if I gave them to you for free".

"Wow, it was pretty lucky we ran into Xellos like that, huh?" Gourry laughed. Sylphiel shook her head in resignation, no matter how much she cared for the blonde swordsman, he sometimes amazed her with his ability to forget or mix up things. "Gourry dear?" Sylphiel used her sweetest voice in order to get him to understand "that wasn't Xellos, just a kind old man who wanted to help out".

She turned around "see for yourself...huh?". The booth they had left weren't there any longer. "That's strange" She wondered "I could have sworn...". She opened her hand and looked at the two rings. If it weren't for them, she would have doubted that they had ever dealt with the man. "Who are you looking for?" Gourry asked. Sylphiel shrugged "I was just wondering were that old man went", she took another look just to make sure. The market square was as empty as one could expect in the middle of the winter.

"Sis! You're back!" Anna greeted the shrinemaiden warmly as she and Gourry returned to the palace. "Hello Anna" Sylphiel pick the girl up and hugged her "did you have fun with miss Taki today?". The girl nodded eagerly "I did!! We spent all day out in the stables playing with the horsies!! I want a horsie too someday!". Sylphiel put her back down on the ground "I'm glad to see that the two of you get along so well" she said. She kind of expected that Taki would be the perfect babysitter, and she had just been proved right.

"It sounds like the two of you have had a wonderful time together" Sylphiel giggled. She had gone with Anna up to the room the two of them shared. Anna jumped up in the bed "This really is wonderful" she sighed. Sylphiel smiled at her happiness. For someone who had spent a lot of time sleeping in the streets, a bed in a royal palace must seem like heaven. Sylphiel went over and sat down next to her "I'm glad you like it Anna" she stroked the young girls hair "everyone should have a bed like this" she added.

"Say sis?" Anna asked "did you and that guy find what you were looking for?". Sylphiel smiled an reached into a pocket "We did. Take a look at these". She held out the rings for Anna to see. "So beautiful..." Anna sighed and took the ring with the red gem. She held it up towards a candle. A soft red light fell over her face as the flame reflected itself in the gem.

"I didn't even know that it could do that" Sylphiel moved closer to Anna. The red light that danced over their faces almost seemed alive. Anna stared deeply into the gem. To her it almost seemed like there was something alive inside it. She yawned deeply and let her imagination flow freely. If she concentrated hard enough she could almost make out some of the images inside the gem.

Suddenly her eyes snapped open as a demonic face stared back at her from within the gem. She let out a scream and tossed the ring away. "M...Miss Sylphiel, I... I saw something..." she stuttered. "Anna, it was just your imagination" Sylphiel scolded her. "But... but..." Anna started crying.

"It's ok" Sylphiels expression softened "just try to be more careful". She looked around in the room to locate the ring. "Now where did it go?" she asked herself. "I'm sorry sis" Anna sniffed "but I was just scared, I didn't mean to throw it away...". The shrinemaiden stood up "don't worry about it, I'm sure it's around here somewhere" she held out the other ring "why don't you look after this one for me?". Anna nodded slowly and accepted the ring while Sylphiel got down on her hands and knees.

"I'm sure it went that way" she thought to herself as she searched the floor. Anna simply sat on the bed and looked at her. Suddenly she tensed. Was it just her imagination, or was something moving in the dark corner in the back of the room?. "Ahh, there it is!" Sylphiel crawled over to the dresser. She got down on her stomach and tried to reach the ring. Somehow it had gotten underneath the massive dresser, but she was sure that she could reach it if only she stretched herself enough.

Suddenly she heard Anna screaming. Sensing that something was wrong, she started to stand up. Before she could do anything, she felt a sharp pain in the back of the head. Everything became black as she slumped to the floor and slipped into unconsciousness.

Authors notes:

Sorry it's been so long since my last update, I've just been busy with other projects lately.

I wonder why I'm not getting anymore reviews on this one, I know it's starting out a bit slow but it'll get better, I promise. But on the same note, Otaku-girl, thanks a lot for your reviews.

Looks like I have another big plot twist coming up. Who has knocked Sylphiel out? And what has happened to Anna? I'll reveal this much: It will lead to another journey for Lina and the others.