The ever so slightly longer chapter, (hey it's six pages...) Dedicated to Xelena, ShadowDancer, and my other reviewers.

Chapter 4

The First Scream

Lina clambered down from the wagon that she had been riding in and slung her pack on her shoulder.

"Miss Lina! Miss Lina! Did you find anything?!" Amelia came rushing over to glomp her in a tight hug.

"Ack!" she stumbled and fell beneath the princess. "The PAIN!"

"Amelia you should be more careful when hugging people, the least you could do is kill them in the process instead of leaving them alive to suffer." A soft tenor voice spoke up with amusement.

"Zel?" Lina wheezed out his name as she sat up. Amelia was pushed up and was propped up on her knees. "Where'd you come from?"

He shrugged with a smile. "I came from the next town over. I had heard news about the construction site at Sairaag and knew that Seyrune was looking for Rezo's laboratory. Figured our little princess might know something about it."

"Oh..." she stood up. "Well I was only at the place for four days or so. So I didn't get much studying done. It was all quite a hassle. So we'll be doing a lot of reading I imagine. I did find something else of interest though."

"You can tell us inside! I'm starving!" Amelia dragged Lina and started running, "Unload all these books in my sitting room!" she ordered to the men.

Inside Amelia's sitting room, Gourry was munching on cookies.

"Hiya Wina!" his voice was garbled by the cookie he had forgotten to swallow.

"Hi Gourry. Now where's the food?!"

After an hour of eating they're trays and leftovers were taken away and the room had the smell of dust in it. The books piled around them in stacks.

"So Lina, what was it you found, now that your mouth is free of your food." Zelgadis grabbed the glass of water on the table and took a drink.

"Well... It was this." She pulled out the book and he raised an eyebrow at it. "It's a journal of some guy named Montag (1) or whatever... Anyway it seems he was a time traveler. He accidentally found out how to travel through time, and in the end he forked this book over to Rezo and Rezo put it into hiding. It even has the spell inside of it."

Zelgadis and Amelia's face read interest, Gourry's read... Take a guess.

If you guessed, 'Confusion' you win the door prize.

"So?" he asked.

"That means we have the means of traveling through time, even the ability to change it." Zelgadis explained.

"Think of all the good things you could do!" Amelia said. "You could change so many things, the death of a loved one, the destruction of a city, those could be stopped or changed!"

"Exactly!" Lina said. "Think of all the treasure we could find!"

Zelgadis frowned, "Lina, I'm not sure if you're experienced with time traveling..."

Lina snorted. "You don't know the half of it. If you ever meet a Rowdy Gabriev-"she cut off, as for the first time with the group, she remembered a certain adventure. "Rowdy... Gabri... ev... "She turned to Gourry, eyes wide and unblinking. As her mind calculated: Same hair. Same eyes. Same facial face.

Same damn sword of light that she had tried to weasel from Rowdy in the past...

"Mother of Ceipheed on a stage coach! Gourry, is there ANYONE in your family whose... oh, yea short," she put her hand to waist level, "Really old, and has the name 'Rowdy'?"

"Hmm... I know we have a grandpa!" he said wisely. "Then there's grandma Melaroon-"

Lina's eye twitched, "Later on you and I are going on a little trip in which I meet your family."

"Huh? Why?"

"Cause when I find your grandfather, I'm gonna kick his ass! He was the guy who threw me into the past to help him, and didn't even give me a reward!"

Zelgadis, Amelia, and Gourry stared at her as if she had gone quite mad.

"Lina-san, do you need a nap or something?" Amelia asked.

"NO! I'm not crazy, Rowdy Gabriev threw me into the past to help save the elves who had been killed by some demon-"

"And what happened when you came back Lina?" Zelgadis interrupted.

"Well I went to this queen and king who had offered me a reward to kill the demon and they said that we had never met before... Oh." She than realized his point.

"If we go into the past, you can change things in the future excessively so. That kind of thing can only lead to trouble. What if Lina got attacked and decided to throw a dragon slave? The area would be decimated, and we run the risk of maybe two days from then was when a noble decided to build a castle on that ground, and it would have grown into some kingdom like Seyrune. You could screw over a lot of things. If in that blast someone is accidentally killed, you may have wiped out someone's life who could have been, had that person survived."

Amelia's happy attitude towards the possibility of time travel slowly decreased. "Maybe it isn't so wonderful after all..." she muttered.

Lina sighed, "I see your point. But there's no harm in reading it is there?"

Zelgadis shook his head. "Do what you wish, I just think we'd all be a lot better off not knowing the spell at all. There has to be a reason as to why it was hidden."

"Miss Lina, may I read this book while you and Zelgadis-san search for ..."

"Sure, be my guest." She gave Amelia the book and then sat back and began to read in earnest.

"Lets get started with your cure Zel." She went over to a pile of books and threw him two, than grabbed two for herself.

As they began to get to reading, even Gourry tried helping, a figure masked in the dark, and hidden by magic, was watching them. Well it seemed that all they knew so far was the journal... But if that princess kept reading ... It looked like she'd have to go. Xellos couldn't just grab the book from the princess' hands. He'd have to wait till she set it down and they left, or tonight when they were asleep. He didn't want them knowing he had taken it, so he'd have to be just a little sneaky about getting it.

'Stop reading the damn thing.' He thought at Amelia. He really had no desire to kill them, in fact, he was very sure he didn't want to. They were just ALL so amusing. Not to mention they were the closest things to, 'friends' or companions he had. Not that he talked to them all that much. But they were all an interesting bunch. There wouldn't be anyone like them ever again. Such a shame.

For an hour he just sat there in the air watching, when Amelia piped up, "Miss Lina, this spell, you don't need anything for it, just words really. Looking at the basics of this spell, even I could cast it! It's really very simple! Well to someone like us anyway..."

Lina went over and took the book and began reading, "Really? I hadn't even gotten that far, well I did... it's just that I was busy reading his darned journal I didn't even reach how the spell was done."

Xellos wanted to hit his head against the wall, 'Don't read it then! It'll make my job so much easier! If you haven't read it keep it that... why is it she never listens?' he shook his head.

"Zel it is pretty simple. Here, take a look!"

'Yes, take a look Zelgadis, if we're going to die, we might as well take you with us.' Xellos rolled his eyes behind closed lids. Should he do something? 'Just say 'no' Zelgadis.' (2)

"Oh I see... Well the first steps are easy." He gave the book back.

"Did you even read it? You only read for a second." Lina said.

"I only read the first two steps Lina, I'm really not interested."

"Well look here..." she tried to explain but he raised his hand to stop her.

"I want no part in this Lina."

"Fine."

Amelia had taken the book from Lina and skipped through, "It's the getting back that's the hard part. You need things for the spell, Amerinthian flowers, honey made by some weird bee, I can't even pronounce the name-"

As Xellos was listening still debating whether or not to interfere, he heard Zellas mentally.

'Xellos, how is your mission coming?'

'They... Miss Lina, and Amelia... They... read the book.' For one brief moment he almost didn't want to say anything.

'The Chimera and swordsman?'

'They want no part of it-'

'I see... You know what you must do now Xellos.'

He turned very serious, 'Yes Mistress...'

'Kill them.'

'When my mistress? Now? Tonight?'

'They must not be able to spread their knowledge, but if you attack them now, it will make things difficult since they are all together... Kill them tonight, one at a time.'

Xellos lowered his head, 'Of course.'

His mind felt empty as she shut off the connection. 'I must kill them.' With that, he disappeared out of the castle for some ice cream. Ice cream always helped get his mind off of things.

Six hours later around seven o' clock, they ad gotten through only a third of the books.

"Don't worry Zelgadis, I'm sure we'll find you're cure, and if not, this isn't the last place on earth!" Amelia smiled at him and he sighed.

"Sure Amelia."

"Well I'm heading to bed guys. We'll continue this tomorrow round eleven a.m." Lina then grabbed the book and went to her room.

"Mr. Zelgadis, why don't you grab some of those books and we can read some more in my room for a while."

Zelgadis thought for a moment then nodded, "Sure Amelia. Go ahead and I'll be there with the books."

"Alright, do you think we should wake up Mr. Gourry? He must have gotten really bored to have fallen asleep while we read."

"These are books, to him he'd have more fun throwing stones at fish in water."

"True." She then left the room and he went over to Gourry.

"Hey Gourry wake up." Gourry snored away. "Never mind." Zelgadis grabbed four books and then left the room, shutting the door behind him.

As he walked down the halls he looked to the candles lighting his way. Simple but nice... Other parts of the castle were decorated a lot... It was then he heard a muffled scream, and then silence. Amelia's room and his were the only ones in this wing besides her extra rooms... Meaning...

"Amelia!" he began running down the hall, his Mazoku speed starting. As he reached her door he twisted the golden knob but it stayed still. Throwing all of his two hundred and fifty pounds (3) of weight into it, the door frame splintered and he burst in, in enough time to see Xellos hit Amelia with a blast of black energy, he then whirled his staff and in one fluent motion, struck her in the head, killing her instantly. Her bloody body fell to the floor and Xellos looked up to Zelgadis.

'Kuso.' Xellos thought, 'I thought I had thrown up the sound barrier fast enough...'

Xellos put himself into a defensive stance; somehow he knew this was not going to be an easy fight as he looked into Zelgadis' eyes enraged eyes...

Notes:

1) Montag? Isn't that a washing machine brand?

2) Snickers.

3) COME ON.... the guys made of ROCK. He may be gorgeous, trim and fit, but stone doesn't make him any lighter. Need I remind you people of the episode where he was used as an ANCHOR?