A/N: Alright, for a quick title FYI- I never really understood what context "kill joy/killjoy" should be used in, so please forgive if it isn't right. -sigh- That's what I get for not caring about fanfics enough to do research...
Winged Knight: You know, now I'm curious- where in my story did you first start following it? CuzLiona starts out in Slayers Medallion, and goes on in Liona's Quest, too. Mmm... Well, I can't say if this will answer your questions but... I dunno, it may add a few, too. Enjoy!
Maurice A. Nigma-grins sheepishly- Aw shucks, you mean it- Thanks much. And it was supposed to be inspiring. Well, at least it did something.
Disclaimer: I do not own Slayers or anything else that isn't mine to own.
Ch. 10- Hark the Killjoy
'It's just over this bluff.' Zelgadis sighed wearily as he trudged up the incline, putting one foot before the other almost mechanically. He'd never realized how much of a difference there was between his chimera form and his human form. When he was a chimera, he'd been faster, he didn't need to eat as much, he didn't need much rest, he'd certainly been stronger than Sylphiel, and more analytical as well if his memory served him right. He would have easily struggled out of the ash dragons' grasp, and freed Sylphiel if need be. Sure, he could never really ride horses like in his childhood, but his demonic speed was most likely at least thrice as fast at full speed anyway. Maybe strangers looked at him with fear, mothers calling their children away from him, people called him a monster, but he still had friends, good friends. In fact, he wouldn't have met Lina at all if not for his chimeric body. He wouldn't have been looking for the insert rock in orihalcon statue if he hadn't wanted to use it to cure himself after all. 'Heh, and what happened to Rezo when he succeeded in curing himself? Shabrinigdo took him over. Maybe I was just meant to stay cursed, too.' Maybe staying a chimera wouldn't be so bad after all. (Can you tell what my position is on the whole cursed Zel thing :3)
"Wow, I think I'm starting to get drunk already. How do the villagers work soberly at all"
Zelgadis snapped out of his thoughts and turned to look at Eldora. With the coming of dawn, Eldwin had switched forms again, and he (Zel) found that, after one got used to it, the situation didn't seem all that bad. Now if he were joined with Amelia like that... he wasn't one-hundred percent positive that she could stand him. What happened if the female counterpart was pregnant? Would the male have the same pains, the same swell, the same emotional turmoil? Zel fought to keep down the wave of curiosity that threatened to overwhelm him.
"You know, now that I think about it" Sylphiel paused, looking towards the numerous rows of vineyards and the specks that revealed farmhands already at work. "Lina-san's personality may have been affected by this atmosphere... Besides not getting drunk easily, I seem to remember that Zephilia's most popular motto by the people is 'Go out a farmer, come back a hero.' A pamphlet I read once said that the majority of heroes revered in today's world, or even in the past, originated somewhere in Zephilia."
Despite himself, Zelgadis laughed. "The Inverses would be a key example. Luna is the Knight of Celphieed, while being a part-time waitress. And Lina is the renowned Bandit Killer, who had a hand in saving the world at least half a dozen times, in between stealing from bandits to buy food and luxuries."
Eldora nodded, only half paying attention to what they were saying. As Zelgadis watched, he noted a tint of red creep into her cheeks, until, when they had reached the welcome sign for the nearest village, Lina's village, she swayed like a leaf in a breeze. It seemed that the very air had gotten her dizzy and drunk. As he had been in the lead, barely, Zel caught Eldora as she tipped forward, following gravity's pull on her down the slope. Unfortunately, the now human Zel could not fully carry the burden of a dragon and thus fell himself. Both dragon and human went tumbling, head over heels like a rocky boulder. Sylphiel scurried to follow them, though she was careful not to fall, too.
As luck would have it, their descent was brought to an abrupt stop with the unceasing vigilance of the broad tree stump in their path. The rest of the way down the incline was in the company of twittering birds around the heads of the two tumblers. Sylphiel hovered slightly over them, trying to heal their headaches away while they stumbled haphazardly in opposite directions, or sometimes collided with each other. To some extent, it had to be expected, considering they had descended almost seventy meters in that fashion.
A stirring peddler caught sight of them and quickly scrambled over himself to reach the weary travelers. His voice was quick, bumbling, and rather irritating to the two harborers of headaches. "Hello, hello, how do you do? The name's Jim, Jimmy boy you hear? I'm a peddler, yes, that I am. I've got glorious treasures to sell with you, I do. Much variety too, yes, yes. Would one of you lovely ladies like a piece of jewelry? A brooch? A necklace? A ring perhaps? Or would you, kind sir, like something for your sword? A polishing kit? A new sheath? Mayhaps another strap to tie it on with? I've got variety I do. Lots and lots of different things- and I say I give them a fair good price for 'em too. So, what do you say? Do you want to buy something? I've got everything in a whole bunch of different styles, different materials too."
Sylphiel sucked in a breath- listening to him had taken her last lungful of air for a second. Recovering, she smiled at the hobbling elder, but shook her head softly. "No thank you, Jim-san. We were actually on our way to visit the Inverses- do you know where we can find them?"
Jim's eyes widened perceptively, and he took a surprised step back, and then another. Before long, he had turned tail and run, wailing about how the town would be run over by monsters now that the word was out that their key protectors were out of commission.
Zelgadis, Eldora, and Sylphiel snapped their heads around to share a surprised, on-the-verge of panicked, glance. Headaches forgotten, they streamed after the fleeing messenger.
Although he was inspired, and the travelers weary, they managed to catch him in the town square. After being assured that they were not monsters- during which Zelgadis and Eldora shared a nearly guilty look- Jim calmed down and explained that Luna was away on a business venture overseas still, and Gourry and Lina were currently in the whatever you call an herbal hospital type place- I'll call it a hospital for now due to a week long source of shock to the systems, rumored to be because a powerful adversary was keeping them out of their home.
While fighting down the urge to snicker at the exaggeration, Zelgadis prompted the peddler to show them where the hospital was. As he was "on the clock", he had to be given a gold payment in advance before he acted as a guide. Eldora gave him a handful of gold pieces as carelessly as if she had just won a lottery. Zel and Sylphiel chose to remain silent at this, though both thought of how Lina would simply find her own way around an unknown village, as long as she knew it was safe (as in, unlike the Kataart mountains, which was a special occasion).
It wasn't long before they came to a stop at a small building that looked like it had been squeezed into an alley to fill a gap. Over the bead stringed door hung a sign that announced it as "Madame Fulliere's Magical Rehab" (I dunno, think what you want about it). The air within was thick with smoke, no, a stifling wave of herbal scents, ones that Sylphiel recognized as good for the body in both mind and spirit. The walls were completely covered in several heavily packed shelves, all with an assortment of bottles, jars, and random trinkets- a human skull candle holder and a dragon shedding among them. Following the thin path between rickety chairs, cluttered tables, and haphazard clothing thrown in any previously available space.
At the end of the road, therein lay the bodies of their two old friends, Lina and Gourry. Both were bed stricken, eyes gazing unseeingly with a burning that could surely have seared holes in the whitewashed ceiling. Lina was mumbling something intelligibly, and a thin line of saliva was making its descent from the side of Gourry's mouth. There was an interpretable chill in the air.
Steeling herself, Sylphiel leaned closer to Lina- whom happened to be closer to them- in an attempt to decipher her words. She caught snippets of self-dialogue, and suppressed the instinct to shudder from a second chill that raised goose bumps on her arms. "Don't move... I'll find you now... no, stop... don't move... I'm coming for you... please... wait... I won't hurt you... You can't hurt me... not anymore than you already have... please... come back to me... don't go... don't leave me again... I need you... I need you so much... my... my dearest-"
Then, with a sharp hiss, Lina blinked, and awoke from her trance. Gingerly, she groaned as she rubbed around her eyes, undoubtedly feeling a major migraine coming on. At that moment, there came an accompanying gasp as Gourry bolted up to a sitting position, looking all around like a fish caught out of water. He licked his lips hungrily as a faint murmur escaped him. "Food..."
"Sylphiel? Is that you?"
The shrine maiden turned back to the fiery woman before her, who, through the gaps between her fingers, was staring with rocky comprehension in her ruby depths. At her smile, Lina added"It is. What are you doing here? And-"
She had to stop at that, as she stared unwaveringly at the human behind Syphiel. The hair was a bit different, the skin too, even the clothes, but that look, that face, it had to be him. "ZELGADIS!" Lina now jolted up so that she was sitting on the bed, still staring. Gourry, attention caught by the exclamation on his wife's part, turned to look at what had attracted her disbelief. Then, he too, stared openly. A flushed Zelgadis turned his head to look at the red-spotted lizard, suspended in a green glob within an global jar, that suddenly appeared very interesting.
His instantaneous fascination with the reptilious corpse was broken by the grimy finger poking his cheek, as if by a child to a sleeping horse during an auction. The shout that followed did nothing to ease his embarrassment. "Hey! Zel's not stony anymore!"
There was an uneasy silence as if everyone were waiting for an added reply from Lina. It came in a cold, steeled voice that linked Luna and Lina as of the same blood. "Get away from him Gourry. Now. As Gourry stepped aside so that Zel had a clear look at Lina, Zel caught the dead lull in her once vibrant eyes. Even from his current vantage point, he could see the beads of sweat draining from Lina, following the path set for them by gravity's pull. Her eyelids were lowered, her lips parted slightly, further magnifying the zombie personality Lina seemed to be taking on now. But behind all that, he could sense two very strong emotions, ones he had felt for so long, it almost seemed as if he were looking back at himself now. Hatred... and heartbreak.
Softly, Sylphiel murmured"Lina...-san? Are you all right? What's wrong"
Her gaze flickered ever so slightly in her direction. After another foreboding silence, Lina spoke, or rather, she demanded"Where did you get your cure? And what was the extent of it"
Zelgadis suddenly became aware of the fact that Lina somehow knew that her daughter was responsible for his cure...and she didn't look very pleased with knowing that. Knowing lying or evading would be useless here, he took a deep breath and told it straight. "Liona gave Sylphiel some pills. In case you didn't hear, Amelia had been, erm, affected by something that made her look akin to my chimera form. Sylphiel was one of many that went out in search of a cure- as I, an apparent stranger to Seyruun, was old news compared to the thought that their future queen looked monstrous. Liona's pills cured both her and me. She also gave Sylphiel a set of pills that apparently heightened her tapped potential- making her overall stronger than my human form. That's the gist of it."
Lina did not show the slightest bit of humor when Zel remarked that Sylphiel was stronger than him. She only continued her dull but equally piercing gaze as she prompted"You saw her, didn't you? Don't lie."
Zel sighed. He wouldn't try even if he wanted to. "Yes, I saw her- half a day's walk from here actually. But we only saw an apparition in the fire- we didn't actually see her living, breathing form."
A low growl emitted from deep within her throat; a grimace was the only physical change about Lina. Eventually, she lowered her gaze to her clenched fist on her lap. "She's so close- I can feel her presence. I know she's strong now- to some extent, possibly stronger than my sister, and no doubt me. But... why won't she come home? Why won't she visit"
Eldora finally decided to make her presence known. She intoned gravely"She's afraid she'll hurt you."
Lina's head snapped up, as if suddenly realizing that Eldora was even there. Her eyes narrowed as she declared"A dragon. With a strong presence of... of her. Who are you"
After making a short, mocking bow, Eldora answered"An agent employed by your daughter to... do what she cannot."
With that, Eldora took a tentative step forward, and then another, and she was standing directly in front of Lina. Taking a deep breath, she lifted her arms, and embraced her. Tears flowed unchecked from Lina's eyes as she felt her spirit being wrapped by the energy of her daughter. The daughter she had lost so long ago. Groggily, she bent her arms around Eldora's waist, and let the messenger transcribe her pent-up emotions for her daughter.
A few moments passed, broken occasionally by a sob or sniff, before a scraggly word escaped Eldora's lips.
"M-ma... Mama..."
A/N: Bwahahaha... More stuff to confuse you with! Umm, if it's any explanation at all, I recently finished reading Night by Elie Wiesel, and if you've read it before, you know it's horrifically depressing and well... that feeling kinda seeps into my writing brain. Well, remember to review!