Disclaimer: I don't own Slayers..etcetera, etcetera...Kadokawa Shoten...etcetera etcetera..Sylphiel in a thong...etcetera etcetera etcetera...

Faces: Finale!

Chapter 8

Lies and Half-Truths



Lina Inverse had one HELL of a headache.

As she grit her teeth in pain, she mumbled. "I hate dark lords..I fucking HATE them!"

"Lina?"

She opened an eye and waited for it to focus on the source of the voice. "Gourry? What happened?"

Gourry, until that moment sitting in a chair near Lina's bed, was leaning over her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I guess," she said, putting her hand to her head. Blinking, she looked closer at it. Her palm was scarred as if she had held it in a forge for a minute. "What happened? Did we get him?"

"Yeah," he replied quietly. "You got him."

"What about the others?" she asked tiredly, sitting up. "They okay?"

At that moment, Amelia came into the room. "Miss Lina! You're okay!" With that, the bouncy sorceress leapt across the room and tackle-hugged the redhead. Lina oomph'd and fell back on the bed. "We were so worried about you!"

"Yeah, yeah! I'm fine! Jeez!" Lina finally managed to push the girl off of her. "Where's Naga?"

"In the next room still sleeping," Amelia told her. "We weren't sure you two would pull through. Miss Sylphiel and Gracia oneechan worked on you two for hours!"

Lina blinked. "Sylphiel! Where is she? Is she okay?"

Amelia looked a little sheepish. "Actually, I was hoping you were awake for that reason."

"What is it?"

"Well, Daddy's called everyone with white magic abilities into service to help with the aftermath of..um...you and Naga oneechan's...er...solution to the Shabranigdo thing..."

"Well, that's good," Lina said. "Seyruun's full of healers. At least she can help out."

"But she's been at it for three straight days, Miss Lina!"

"What?!" Lina cried in shock. "I've been out for three days?!"

Amelia nodded hurriedly. "And Miss Sylphiel hasn't slept in all that time! She refuses to rest and only stops occasionally to for some water and a bit of bread! Can't you h.."

Lina was already out of bed and pulling on her cape. She gave another look at her disfigured palm and snorted as she walked out. She knew Sylphiel well enough to know what was going through the woman's head right now, and Lina wasn't going to have any of it.

"Take me to her," she ordered.

Amelia led the way out into the hall. They were in some kind of inn Lina hadn't been in before. "The palace is full of the wounded," Amelia explained. "People with lighter injuries are in whatever inns or houses we could find to keep them."

As they passed an open door, Lina saw Naga lying in bed with Shadow Lina and Jeffrey standing vigil. "NAGA!" she snapped at the unconscious woman. "STOP SCREWING AROUND AND GET UP!"

Naga sat bold upright in bed. "Wha?! Who?! OWW!" Her hands went to her head.

As the White Serpent moaned, Lina marched out of the inn.



"We got another one over here!"

Sylphiel finished her draught of water and turned to the voice, hurrying through the mangled wreckage and ash. Moving swiftly, but being careful of her step, she soon found herself next to two members of the Seyruun army who were working to rescue people from the carnage. Between them lay the ash-coated body of a woman, blood soaking her right arm and leg.

The priestess knelt next to her and placed her hands on the woman's arm. Closing her eyes, she chanted softly and concentrated as a blue-green light suffused her hands and the woman's battered limb. After a few moments, the woman's eyes opened, and she coughed loudly.

"Get her to the inn with the others," Sylphiel told the soldiers. "She should be able to recover on her own now."

"Yes, Ma'am!"

Sylphiel started to rise, but had to put a lot of effort into the task.

"Ma'am, maybe you should rest some," one of the soldiers suggested. "You've been at it for awhile."

"I'm fine," she assured them with a smile.

"Sylphiel!"

She turned and found Lina, Amelia and Gourry marching toward her. "Miss Lina!" Sylphiel exclaimed. "You should still be in bed!"

"So should you," Lina lectured.

"I'm needed here," Sylphiel told her seriously. "I'll rest la."

Lina's slap cut her off in mid-word. The violet-haired woman stood stock still in shock for a moment.

"Do I have your attention yet?" Lina asked her quietly. Sylphiel only nodded, her hand on her face. Not one to give up momentum, Lina reached out and grabbed the taller woman's ear, pulling her down to her height before getting her in a chokehold.

"Um..Miss Lina?" Amelia asked.

Lina pointed Sylphiel's face at the destruction around them and growled. "You see that?" she asked. Sylphiel gulped and nodded. "You didn't do that! Understand me?! This ISN'T your fault! Am I getting through to you?"

Sylphiel whimpered and nodded.

"Good!" With that, she pushed the woman away. Sylphiel went down with an "EEP!" "Now then, there's a nice soft bed right next to mine back at the inn. I say we go, get some rest, have something to eat, and talk for a bit. How does that sound?" She said this last bit while cracking her knuckles.

"Sounds good to me!" Sylphiel agreed, quickly nodding her head and holding her hands out in front of her as if to forestall the red menace.



So tired was she that she almost fell asleep the second her head touched the pillow. Instead, she yawned and curled up under the covers. To her left, Lina was lying in her own bed, hands behind her head, just staring up at the ceiling. Stretching out, she heard bones pop, and she sighed.

"Hmmph!" Lina snorted. "It's what you get for doing something like that." Sylphiel looked over at her. "I had hoped hanging around Zel would've broke you of that kind of thing."

"What kind of thing?" Sylphiel asked, puzzled.

"Constantly taking everything on yourself!" Lina admonished. "Here you are, barely hours out of the most horrific ordeal of your life, and you're out working yourself to death. You can't do that kind of crap anymore, Sylphiel!"

The shrine maiden looked down at her blanket. "I know," she said quietly. "But I had to do SOMETHING."

Lina snorted again and went back to staring at the ceiling. "So what happened?" she asked. "I can guess some of it, but not all of it."

Taking a breath, Sylphiel began to tell the sorceress about her waking nightmare, of being the living vessel and prisoner of the intellect of Ruby Eyed Shabranigdo. Some elements she couldn't find words for, others she mentioned but never went into detail about. She didn't want to think about it. She couldn't think about it.

Lina didn't push her. She learned enough for her taste. She didn't particularly want to hear the details of Ritsuko's death. She just wanted to know why.

And now she knew.

"Wolfpack Island," she breathed.

Sylphiel nodded quickly. "Miss Lina, what are we going to do? He doesn't know it's over! If he gets to Wolfpack Island and delivers that message, what we've experienced here will mean nothing! They'll come, thinking they can free Shabranigdo, and when they don't find him here.."

Lina nodded. "They'll sack the city."

"And kill Zelgadis dear!" Sylphiel was on the verge of tears now. "Miss Lina, what are we going to do?!"

"Oh, shut up."

The two blinked in shock and turned to the source of the voice. At the end of the room was a privacy curtain. Lina hadn't noticed it before now, but now she stood up and rolled up her sleeves, stalking towards it. "Ya wanna say that again, ya bitch?!" She asked, marching forward.

Throwing open the curtain, Lina stopped in dead shock. Behind her, Sylphiel gasped.

"YOU!" they both cried at the same time.

Just at that moment, Naga entered, yawning. She saw the commotion and walked up to them. Seeing the cause, she grimaced and gave the bed a good kick. "Are you causing trouble again?!" she asked.

Sylphiel pointed at the figure in bed. "You're the one who tried to kill Zelgadis dear!"

Lina cracked her knuckles. "And tortured Gourry. Sylphiel, Naga, take a walk around the building for a few minutes.."

Stevanya Greysword continued to stare up at the ceiling, even as Lina advanced toward her.

"Not so fast, Lina chan!" Naga declared, placing an arm between her and her target. "Vanya might be a little misguided but she is still one of MY Flamin..er..Unbeatable Heroes!"

"Excuse me?" Lina asked darkly.

Naga nodded and crossed her arms over her chest. "You might feel the need to viciously strike YOUR employees, but Naga the White Serpent is a more civilized supervisor! OOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOoomph!"

This came as Lina casually punched the taller woman in the stomach. Naga bent over and fell to the floor, coughing. "You know, I've always REALLY hated that laugh," she said quietly. She turned back to Vanya. "Okay, you," she began. "Time for.."

"Wait!" Sylphiel cried. "There are still things I'd like to know. Like why."

"Well?" Lina asked Vanya, giving the bedframe a good kick. "You heard her. Sing!"

The swordswoman said nothing.

Coughing as if hacking up a lung, Naga rose to her feet. "She's...Stony's...Sister..." she managed to choke out.

"WHAT?!" Lina cried.

Naga gave one last cough then laughed. "OOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!! To properly explain, I'll have to go to the beginning and start from there! Now gather 'round, all ye little ones and hear the tale of Naga the White Serpent and her Band of Fl..er.dammit..Unbeatable Heroes!"

And so, Naga the White Serpent became Naga the Bard, starting from the time she and Xellos split off from Zelgadis and Sylphiel after their adventure on Zarak Tor she went into detail about their further adventures.

Hours it lasted. Naga insisted on mimicking the voices of every person they had encountered in their travels as she passed along the things they had said. Occasionally, she stood and re-enacted entire scenes and often rushed into a nearby closet to change clothes to "stay in character." About halfway through her re-enactment of the Bango Tango Filia and Xellos had performed, Lina broke.

"STOP IT! STOP IT! PLEASE! I'M BEGGING YOU! FOR THE LOVE OF CEPHEID, FATHER OF ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, STOP IT!!" She fell to her knees, weeping uncontrollably.

Sylphiel hugged the wailing redhead and made soothing noises. Turning back to Naga, she made a suggestion. "Perhaps, Miss Naga, if you skipped to the part about Greysword being Zelgadis Dear's sister?"

"Oh," Naga said, taking off the blonde wig and tossing aside the stick she was using as Xellos' staff. "Anyway, we caught her talking with that Zero guy and she told us she was his sister. She seems to think that Stony is some kind of Mazoku who took over his body!"

"But that's ridiculous," Sylphiel said, still patting Lina on the back. "Zelgadis dear is no more a Mazoku than I am."

Naga shrugged. "I'm just the messenger. It's her delusion."

Sylphiel turned to Vanya and stood up. "Do you really believe that?" she asked quietly. "Do you really believe that Zelgadis dear...is some kind of monster?"

"Scarrin said..."

"Scarrin?" Sylphiel asked, a note of harshness creeping into her voice. "The one who attacked us and nearly killed Zelgadis dear? He's the real monster!"

Vanya looked at her in disdain. "I'm not going to bother arguing with you." Something in her tone wasn't as sure as it was before.

As Sylphiel looked down at her, she suddenly saw Vanya for what she was. Her mother was dead. Her brother was missing. And all she had left was a task she had sworn to perform.

Lina had been doing some thinking of her own and came to a decision. Pulling her dagger, she moved forward. "Okay, we waste her," she announced. "No offense..."

"Wait, Miss Lina," Sylphiel said softly. "Let her go."

Three heads turned to her. "What?" Lina asked.

"What?" Vanya echoed.

"Don't you see, Miss Lina?" the shrine maiden asked her. "No matter how long we tell her the truth, she'll never believe it unless she learns it for herself. And we can't keep her tied to a cot like this either." She stood straighter and adopted a stern expression. "And I'll have no talk of anyone harming Zelgadis dear's sister."

"Let me see if I understand you correctly," Lina began, fingering her knife casually. "You want to turn the woman who's been stalking us and trying to kill Zelgadis for months free?" Sylphiel nodded. "Despite knowing that if she ever came across Zelgadis again she'd probably murder him in cold blood?" Sylphiel swallowed, but nodded. "Why?"

Sylphiel took Lina's arm and pulled her aside. "Because," she whispered, "There might be hope for her. We can't kill her. We can't keep her locked up. But if we let her go, she might come around. Also, she's tracked Zelgadis dear this far, maybe she can track him FARTHER." She waited for Lina to get it.

"Ahhh!" Lina replied, brightening. "You're getting the hang of this sneaky stuff, aren't you? Maybe Zelagdis' influence HAS rubbed off on you."

Sylphiel frowned. "I'd rather think she'll come around, but right now we can't afford to be bogged down by her and Zero, not if we're going to find Zelgadis dear."

The redhead nodded. "Okay. Ready? Break!"

The two turned back to Naga and Vanya.

"In spite of my better judgement," Lina said. "We're going to do it Sylphiel's way." She put her hands on her hips. "But if you try anything stupid, I'll show you a REAL monster. Got it?"

"You're just going to let me go?" Vanya asked suspiciously. "I don't by it. You fuckers are up to something."

"There is a price," Sylphiel admitted.

"Here we go," Vanya sighed.

"If you do meet Zelgadis dear again," the shrine maiden said, "Talk to him before you do something you'll regret."

Vanya said nothing.

"I'll show you the way out," Lina told her, cutting through the ropes holding her to the bed.



Lina was willing to let a lot of things slide, but not everything, particularly where Gourry was concerned. So when she said she'd show Vanya the way out, she decided to show her the fastest way out.

Which resulted in Vanya falling two stories out their inn room's window and landing in a briar patch. Blinking in pain, she looked up at the window she had just been tossed from. Lina was looking down at her.

"TO THE MOON, ALICE!" Lina called down, then disappeared, slamming the window behind her.

The swordswoman stood up, grimacing as the brambles cut into her skin with each movement, and picked up her katana. All she had was more questions. She had met the minions of the Mazoku, and yet she was still alive. Scarrin and Zero had always told her they'd kill to protect their overlord. So why would they release her? And why give her back her sword? While she was deadly with just about any weapon, the Ishi Ryu katana made her even more formidable, so why give it back?

She looked up at the window again. This didn't make any sense at all.

Someone was tricking her. Lying to her.

And until she found out who, she couldn't trust anyone.

Turning, she started down the street.



Lina clapped her hands off and shut the window. "Well, she's safely on her way!"

"Um..Miss Lina?" Sylphiel began. "Maybe...tossing her out the window wasn't the greatest idea?"

The redhead rolled her eyes. "Window, door, what's the difference really? The point is, she's gone."

"Yes, but how are we going to track her?" the shrine maiden asked.

Lina blinked. "D'OH!"

"OOOOOOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!" Naga laughed. "Still the same old Lina! Always jumping in without looking!"

"Oh, get bent," Lina growled.

"What's going on?" Shadow Lina asked, running through the door. "There was a crash and..."

"You know, it really irks me that you hired HER!" Lina growled, pointing at the shadow.

"I'm sorry," the shadow sniffled.

"She's a fine addition!" Naga argued. "And much more pleasant than the original!"

"You are still such a bitch," Lina fumed.

Naga stuck a finger at her. "And you still think you know everything!"

"Witch!"

"Stump!"

Sylphiel wasn't listening. She was looking out the window. The inn was near the main gate of the city and overlooked the traffic moving in and out. Most of that traffic was refugees and healers now. All except one party on horseback.

"Oh no," she breathed.

"Twisted, foul-mouthed, ego-maniacal DWARF!" Naga cried.

Lina smiled cruelly, folded her arms over her chest and said one word in reply.

"Virgin."

Naga gasped in shocked disbelief. "I canNOT BELIEVE YOU JUST SAID THAT!!"

Shadow Lina raised a finger to interrupt. "Miss Naga..You're a virgin?"

Naga looked horrified, like a small animal caught in the path of an oncoming carriage. "It's...I...She's...But..."

"But..Weren't you giving Miss Filia advice about sex?" the shadow asked.

"And what about poor Sylphiel?" Lina snickered.

"But it's...I.." She turned to Sylphiel for help, but found the woman staring out the window.

"I can't believe it," Sylphiel whispered as she started for the door. "I can't believe there could be a way for things to be WORSE!"

The three other sorceresses followed her.



The blonde woman hopped off her horse and looked at the decimated city in shock. Having heard that Seyruun was an abode of just folk, she had been hoping that she might find help here, but it seemed that the kingdom had its own problems.

Removing her light helm drew a few stares, but she was used to it by now. Having lived on the continent for months, they were prepared for what others would say or how they would stare at them. That was the price they paid for being isolated so long. She didn't mind really.

After all, dearest Zelgadis had found her long ears quite fetching, or so Adara Elunsa Kraktowa Amdomiel had always liked to believe.

"Um...Captain?" one of the elves in her company began. "We really shouldn't linger."

"Hush hush hush!" Adara chastised him. "I'm leading this quest, and I say that it couldn't hurt to stop off at Seyruun and see if they know anything!"

The elf soldier sighed. They had been doing this for a month now. They'd travel, stop at a town and ask three questions, only two of which made sense. The third was kind of odd.

Have you seen any elf children?

If so, where are they?

Where might I find Zelgadis Greywords?

Quite frankly, the soldiers were tired and missed home. Pursuing lost children was good and noble, but their captain was driving them insane.

It wasn't Adara's fault, really. She was on a quest, two quests actually. And if she could fulfill one while pursuing the other, who could blame her? She had a dream. A dream of riding into a city like this one, climbing down from her horse, unveiling her elven ears and hearing him call her name.

"Adara?"

"YES, DEAREST ZELGADIS! I'VE COME FOR Y.." She turned and stopped in mid- speech. "Oh, it's you," she finished, her expression drooping.

Sylphiel sighed.

"So much worse.."



"They made you the captain of New Zarak's militia?!" Naga asked incredulously.

Adara nodded happily as the group sat around the dining room table. "After the island sank, we figured we should have some kind of military, so they looked me up."

"But what are you doing here?" Lina asked, still shocked to be talking with an elf in this world.

"That's obvious," Sylphiel muttered under her breath.

Lina looked at her in amazement. In all the years she had known Sylphiel, she had NEVER heard the priestess be snitty with anyone.

Adara gave her a look, but turned back to Naga. "Some of our children have turned up missing, one came back with tales of blue-green creatures that took them while they were playing near Inverse."

"So you're out looking for them?" Lina asked.

Adara nodded.

"And?" Sylphiel asked.

"And what?" Adara replied, sticking her nose in the air.

"You know 'and what,'" Sylphiel chastised her. "You said it loud and clear on the street for the entire world to hear!"

Adara looked at her crosseyed. "I think I liked you better with the scars."

Sylphiel shot to her feet and tried to speak, but words escaped her. "I don't have to take this," she finally said before storming out of the dining room.

"If you'll excuse me," Adara said, "I need some air." With a huff, she too left the table.

"What was that all about?" Lina asked.

"Need you ask?" Naga asked with a grin.

Lina thought for a hard moment. "Yeah, I guess I do."

"He might not look it now, Lina Inverse, but Stony's quite the looker when he's not a piece of statuary." Her grin intensified. "And Sylphiel wasn't the ONLY girl who noticed on Zarak Tor."

Lina buried her face in her hands. "Rivals," she muttered. "Only Zel would have two flakes for rivals." Standing up, she went after Sylphiel.

She found the priestess standing out on the inn's back porch, looking out at a swimming pool, lost in thought.

"Sylphiel? Are you okay?"

The shrine maiden continued staring. "What's wrong with having a normal, quiet life, Miss Lina?" she asked quietly.

"It's boring and you don't make as much money," Lina answered honestly. "I've thought about it too from time to time, but I don't think it's for me."

"I never intended to leave Sairaag," Sylphiel said. "I had a plan for life. Run Father's shrine, marry Gou.er...a nice man, raise a family, and die quietly. I never meant to set foot outside my home town."

Lina said nothing.

"Now I get possessed by dark lords, chased by giant birds and werewolves, destroy cities and to top it off, I have to deal with HER again."

"She does seem like a bit of a handful," Lina agreed. "But you're forgetting something important."

Sylphiel looked at her.

"Zel isn't the kind of guy to go for looks. You already beat her, remember?"

The shrine maiden looked down dejectedly. "We have to find him, Miss Lina. We have to..But how?"

"THAT'S IT!"

Sylphiel looked in shock at the woman. "Miss Lina?"

"Look!" the redhead began, pointing a finger at her. "I don't know exactly where Zel is or what he's doing, but I do know that standing around here crying about it isn't going to bring him back! So tomorrow I'm going out there after him! He's going to WolfPack Island, right? Which means he's going south, right? There's my starting point! I'll just do what I always do and make shit up as I go from there.."

"Miss Lina..."

"So you com'n or not?" Lina asked.

Sylphiel nodded enthusiastically.

"Good! Let's tell the others and get our shit together. We leave at sunrise!"



It seemed darker in the ruins. No city lights illuminated what was left of the alleyways and corridors of this part of Seyruun. It was desolate, medieval.

It was exactly the kind of place he'd show up.

"Glad to see you survived," Zero said, appearing behind her.

Vanya turned and regarded the wizard for a moment. "I manage," she said noncommittally. "The others don't suspect anything. I can move anytime."

"Good! Good!" Zero exclaimed.

"But I have a few questions."

Zero's smile drooped. "Oh?"

Vanya stepped toward him. "There are a few things that don't make sense to me. These people aren't the way you or Scarrin described them. Why is that?"

The red priest look-a-like smiled. "You have to understand, dear Stevanya, that a Mazoku's minions are more than capable of acting however they have to to conceal themselves."

Vanya nodded. "I see. But there's something else. The woman you said is now infected with the Mazoku. She hardly seems to be the victim of a Mazoku rape. Things you're telling me aren't making sense, Zero. Things THEY'RE telling me aren't making sense." She slowly drew her sword. "Which means SOMEONE is lying to me."

Zero looked at her seriously. "You have to understand, Vanya, that Mazoku mating habits are different than ours." He smiled. "They're not like REAL people. They don't care what happens to their mates as long as they get what they want." He smiled. "I'm sure the Mazoku who took your brother told this woman a fairy tale, then took off when he was done with her."

Vanya stared off for a moment, digesting this.

"Are you going to kill me, Stevanya?" he asked, gesturing to her sword. She looked at him, and he offered her his hand. "All these long years, we've been friends. Trust me as you once did?"

Vanya took a breath and bit her lip, transferring the sword to her left hand and taking Zero's with her right, shaking it. "Shit, Zero, I'm sorry," she told him in self-reproach.

"I understand," he said. "You must be very confused."

She continued shaking his hand as she spoke. "Sorry I didn't sniff you out sooner, you lying motherfucker!" She squeezed down in an iron grip with her right hand and brought her sword up with her left. Zero's eyes went wide as she brought the enchanted katana down, slicing through his arm just above the elbow.

The wizard howled in pain and dropped to his knees. He looked up just in time to see the swordswoman swing his severed arm at his head.



Lina rolled out a VERY long and detailed map. It covered the entire table, which itself was mammoth, at least sixteen feet by eight feet.

Gourry blinked. "Where did you get this?"

"Borrowed it from the Atlas City Library," Lina explained quickly.

Shadow Lina raised a finger. "But the Atlas City Library doesn't loan out their ma.."

"I said I borrowed it from the Atlas City Library!" Lina reasserted.

The shadow squeaked and jumped behind Jeffrey.

"Okay!" Lina announced, thereby beginning the war council. "Knowing the way Zelgadis thinks, we can assume certain things. One: he's going to be moving in secret, probably avoiding the roads and cutting through this forest here." She pointed at a forest south of Seyruun on the map. The words "Turtle's Forest" were scrawled through the middle of it. "We can also assume that he's taking his sweet time getting there, so if we stick to the main road, we'll probably get to the south end of the continent before he does."

"But where would he leave the continent for Wolfpack Island?" Sylphiel asked.

"Here," someone said, pointing at the tip of the continent. The group turned in shock to see the owner of the hand, Adara, standing at the end of the table.

"You're coming too, child?" Naga asked.

Adara threw her hair back and smiled. "Of course I am! I cannot abandon the savior of the Elf Race when he needs my help!"

Sylphiel put her fingers on her temples and rubbed.

Lina arched an eyebrow. "Okay, whatever. Anyway, he wouldn't leave from there."

"Why not?" Adara asked.

"Zel knows just as much about ancient lore and history as I do," Lina explained. "And there's no way in a billion years, Zelgadis would be stupid enough to go there." She pointed at that point on the map again. "No one...NO ONE enters Dralladan and leaves alive."



Zero woke up in pain. He had expected to be lying down, but not sure he expected to be tied by the throat to the headboard of a steel-frame bed. Well, he knew ways to get out of that.

"Auuughagh phaaaz."

Pain racked his face as he tried to say the words to his astral phase spell. His breath quickened as he panicked upon the realization..

"Looking for this?" Vanya asked from the other side of the room. She held a mason jar up to the light.

Inside the jar was Zero's tongue.

Zero screamed, a primal sound of fear and panic.

"You didn't think I was going to let you use that annoying astral phase thing, did you?" Vanya asked him with a cruel smile. "You lying motherfucker. The way I figure it, after years of using this thing to lie to me, you deserve to lose it." She tossed the jar in the trash and approached him slowly.

Zero, now totally defenseless against the woman, looked at her in fear. The swordswoman put a pad of paper under his left hand and a quill in his fingers.

"I'll make you a deal," she said. "You tell me where my brother is..right now...and I'll let you walk out of here with your life, barely."

The sorcerer didn't move.

Vanya arched an eyebrow. "Not convinced? You're trapped, Zero. I know you lied to me. After traveling with Xellos, Filia and Amara, I know everything you told me about Mazoku was bullshit. It's over. Tell me what I want to know, and I'll let you go. Tell me not.." She smiled. "And I'll start cutting off more appendages." She pulled her dagger and placed the blade between his legs. "And if you're really unlucky after that," she whispered. "I'll let you live."

Zero started writing furiously.



Vanya crouched on the inn's rooftop and contemplated what to do next. She had a location, but couldn't be one hundred percent sure that Zero was telling the truth. Even if he was, the idea of going up against Scarrin's army was a daunting one, even for her.

On the other hand, she couldn't really trust the other group either. She was sick of being lied to, sick of being used. Scarrin used her. Zero used her. Naga used her.

She sighed.

To go alone was certain death, and to trust them put her life in uncertain peril.

Who could she trust?

"Damn," she muttered. She looked down at her sword and fingered the hilt, pulling the sword so that a hint of cold steel could be seen reflecting the moonlight. "What would you do, Aeka?" she asked. The sword didn't reply, but the thought triggered a memory, something her teacher had said to her once. She could almost see her violet-haired mentor's face in the blade.

"Stevanya, no matter what happens in life, a woman can always turn to her sisters."

The swordswoman looked up at the moon and watched a cloud float lazily in front of it.

"Thank you, Aeka," she whispered. She resheathed the sword, then, moving quietly over the rooftop, she started toward another inn.



She sat with her back to a tree, afraid. She knew she was asleep, and she feared that. Feared being alone with the nightmares she was sure would follow. But she was so tired..

The sound of footsteps was approaching. Forcing her eyes open, she saw a man, dressed in white, but hard to see. It was as if he were a shining star. It hurt her eyes to look at him, and she squinted as he approached.

Finally, the light seemed to abate, and she could make out a face. Strong and angular, young and old all at once. His brown hair was short but wild, and his green eyes seemed to flash in the light. He looked down at her with pity and care.

"Don't fear the night," he said in a soft, melodious tone. He reached out and took her hand. "I will always be here to protect you." He squeezed her hand. "Mot.."



Sylphiel's eyes shot open. Taking a breath, she closed her eyes again. Why couldn't she have more peaceful dreams like that one?

Rolling over, she suddenly became aware of someone else in the room. She sat bold upright in bed. "Who's there?!" Holding a hand up, she began to chant a lighting spell.

That's when her assailant struck. Before she knew it, she was back down on the bed, a hand over her mouth. The shrine maiden began to struggle.

"Stop it!" a familiar voice hissed. "Listen to me! I'm going after Zelgadis, and you're coming with me, got it?!"

Sylphiel stopped struggling and looked up. A familiar face and striking blue eyes stared back at her.

"I need your help...Sister."



Author's Notes:

Not too much happening. I'm on a roll here, so I'm going to start the next chapter soon. Remember to patron your local GSACF at www.sylphiel.org.