SLAYERS: WARPED
Nayru: I think I should make one thing clear... I am a sixteen-year-old girl. I started writing this when I was but thirteen. I'm already up to chapter 25 on actual paper, and even though I change each chapter when I type it, it gets the point across. Needless to say, I feel like I am terribly behind on typing and posting. However, I am also swamped in schoolwork, and shorter works (hinthint for Kingdom Hearts yaoi fans: Read "Awaken", damn you!), as well as a much larger project that I'd prefer not to disclose details about. Let's just say it involves falcons, and a group of evil Catholic bishops. Now, despite falling asleep on the floor of my room and not being able to wake up and type up another chapter, I am awake at... eight in the morning... typing you people chapter six. Oh, and Mwafwa; thanks for your support, and good luck on your ACTs!
Chapter 6: This Poor, Broken Baby
"Please, be kind to Alin this morning." Kinsei stuttered to the Slayers, as she peered through the adjoining door in the inn. "He's still completely wiped from last night. I don't think I've ever seen a boy cry for two hours before, and dry-sob the rest of the night..." She pondered to herself, as she wandered in slowly. The second she was fully in the door, it locked behind her, clicking audibly. Kinsei jumped at the tiny click, looking at the door, then back at the adults. "M-may I bring him his breakfast, or do you need me for something, Miss Lina..." Her eyes flashed to the woman she identified as 'Mother', but Filia gave no consoling gaze, preferring to stare into a corner of the wall. Lina and Zel had risen, and she felt Gourry- and she could tell by his clumsy grip- grab her forearms tight. She could feel his hands shaking. "Oh g-gods!" She gasped, as she realized that Zelgadis' face was less than an inch from her nose.
"Well, how do you like betrayal? Thought you could come in here and get our sympathies, only to find anger? Everything was fine before YOU showed up, you and your punkass friends! How do you like it, punk!" His voice was rising, angrily, his eyes wild. Lina pushed him away from her.
"Gourry, sit her down." She felt Gourry push her into a chair, and tie her wrists behind her back. "Zel, go to the corner. That's now how we interrogate our little guests." Kinsei's heart sunk like a stone at the word 'interrogate'.
"Wh-what do you want to know about us?" She gasped, realizing that it was the wrong thing to say. 'Us' would automatically translate to 'my friends and I', while they were only asking her.
"It seems you already know." Lina smirked coldly. "Now, since we will be travelling directly after this, we've decided on a few prizes. Amelia's got a lie detector in her head, and for every truth you tell, you'll get a prize. Let's give her a taste." Lina nodded to Amelia, who immediately centered her mind and focused. "Kinsei, how old are you?" Kinsei breathed heavily a few times, closing her eyes and concentrating, before finally mumbling;
"Sixteen, four months, six days, nine hours, and... seven minutes." The entire group blinked curiously. Amelia opened an eye.
"True." Amelia stated calmly.
"Well, give her a prize." Lina snorted, and took something out of her pocket, putting it on Kinsei's lap.
"M-my shoelaces!" Kinsei gasped, identifying the leather strands Lina had given her.
"Very much so." Lina cackled. "I'll bet you want your shoes too, but maybe we should take a little break and read the newspaper." She held up a newspaper, which read on the headlines; 'Mysterious Sorcerer Destroys Field Of Falling Stones In Mysterious Blast'. Underneath of it was a picture of a crater-like dent in the ground. Lina began to read; "'Patrolmen were astonished to find that a historic battlefield, where catapult rocks laid to rest, had been completely annihilated. By the mere vibe in the air, each guard could sense terrible black magic had been done. The spell used was identified as the Dragon Slave, by magic residue, and immediately traced to Lina Inverse, who was at an inn ten miles away. Lina was awake at the time the patrolmen reached her, at about four in the morning, and the owners of the inn, all of her companions, and travellers who'd said they'd been on the road right before the explosion had an alibi for her; She had been in the room, she had not left it since they'd arrived twelve hours before, she had not even been on that path, and she hadn't even used the spell. Officials are now worried that another sorceror has learned the spell, and will use it for the wrong reasons...'" Lina put down the paper, and sighed grumpily. "As you can imagine, it was a nightmare for all those guards to come bursting in here... Now, it's awfully suspicious that you kids each bear resemblance to one of us, particularly that little girl comparing to me... Next prize is your shoes. Quetion is; is there any reason you are dressed like us, or is it all coincidence?" Kinsei looked at her shoes, which Zel was holding up.
"We were given these clothes, so we'd fit in amongst travellers. We'd never even seen you all or heard of you all before that!" Kinsei protested.
"False." Amelia sighed.
"Well, we heard of you when we're being given the clothes!" Kinsei whined, correcting herself. Zel grudgingly tossed her the shoes.
"The next prize is your breakfast." Kinsei gasped, as Lina held up a pot. "The others have already eaten, this is yours. I don't know how far you'll make it without something to eat, you can barely make it anywhere on foot as it is. However, answer this untruthfully, and we make you a puppet until one of your friends answers." Kinsei whimpered, fully scared. "The question is; why are you children here, so far from home, so young and naive? What has brought you to us? Who is that Zelgadis, what interest does he take in your friend? Who are you?"
"Not a day goes by, I don't wonder the same thing." Kinsei finally groaned.
"True." Amelia giggled.
"Answer the question!" Lina growled, grabbing Kinsei's slender shoulders, squeezing them roughly. "ANSWER ME!" At that second, Xelloss burst in.
"Stop the interrogation! I've found Zelgadis!" Xelloss was dirty, sprayed in dust and dirt, wide-eyed and not smiling. "Come quickly!" The Slayers rushed out, and Amelia ran to wake up the teenagers. Gourry stayed, cutting Kinsei's ropes, and Xelloss began lacing her boots with unbelievable celerity.
"Poor thing." Gourry sympathized gently, and handed her the breakfast pot. Kinsei began to shovel it down. "Look, I won't be angry at you, no matter what you answer, nor will I know if you're true or false, I won't even tell the others, but I want to know... is that Zelgadis related in any way to our Zelgadis?" Kinsei paused, with her mouth full. She swallowed heavily.
"Yes... he is." She answered quietly. "Don't tell them, they can't know yet"
"I won't tell a soul. You can trust me." Gourry smiled. "Got any more juicy secrets"
"... Well, for one, you're just like your daughter." Kinsei chuckled. Xelloss looked up, looked at Gourry, at Kinsei, then nodded approvingly to Kinsei. She giggled softly, and kissed him on the nose. Gourry blushed.
"Well, you certainly aren't my daughter." He grinned. "I don't have one." Gourry put on his boots, and left. Kinsei blinked, confused.
"You must forgive Gourry." Xelloss informed Kinsei casually. "He's an idiot."
Far away, older Zelgadis held a limp Rei in his arms. Her body was bruised and drained, nearly dead. He hadn't bothered to notice that the chain pendant around her neck was gone, as he'd been to intent to run. "Tsk, tsk, such a tiny girl performing such a big spell. Next time you try it, it'll probably kill you..."
The Slayers studied the blood trails as they rode on Filia's back towards the crater. Xelloss flew along beside them, dipping low to the blood and showing it to them urgingly.
"She was bleeding heavily..." Elijah whispered nervously. Alin was staring at the ground wide-eyed.
"Rei..." He mouthed. Kinsei rubbed his shoulder consolingly. Filia landed about six yards from the pit, and the entire group dismounted her to study the rubble.
"Zelgadis was here..." Xelloss pointed at it. Lina scowled, surveying it.
"So, was he now?" She glared right at Kinsei. She continued to survey the destruction. Gourry wandered around the pit, before stopping by a rock near the center of the field, and lifting it up with ease.
"Hey, lookit this!" He called, holding up a pendant on a broken chain. The pendant was rectangular, silver, with a small diamond set in the center. Lina rushed towards him, grabbing it, and showing it to the rest of the group.
"Who can identify this?" She asked, her voice cold and biting. Alin looked up at it. His lower lip trembled, and he burst out sobbing.
"Oh, REI!" He wailed. Lina rose an eyebrow, then turned to Elijah.
"It's Rei's." Elijah sighed softly. "He'd had it since he was in the orphanage with us, and he gave it to her as a gift when they started going out."
"Funny." Zelgadis cut in, his voice louder than usual. "I have the exact same pendant, and it's one-of-a-kind." He pulled a chain out from under his shirt. Lina scowled. None of them noticed Xelloss vanished.
"Now, what are the chances..."
"Oh, very slim, Lina." The group whirled around, to see a tall, pale-skinned man, dressed entirely in black, with bright red hair that stuck out in all directions. "Forgive my intrusion... I'm Atsui. Artist..." He held his hands forward, palms to the sky, and flame burst forth from them, creating two high columns of fire. "Of flame." He approached them evenly as the columns vanished, and all three children felt the hair on the backs of their necks rise. Elijah dropped to the ground.
"The tingle..."
"If you look at these pendants, they are very similar... " He snatched Zelgadis' pendant off his neck, breaking the chain, and held both up next to each other. "Certainly, the one Alin identifies as Rei's is dirtier... but that is because it was in the dust... Well, once they are clean, you will need some method of telling them apart." He held up Zelgadis's pendant, and, shooting a thin line of fire from his finger, traced an "A" on the back of it. "Now, it's obvious which one is which. No A on Rei's pendant." Zelgadis snatched his pendant back, while Lina took Rei's.
"Hey, there is an A on this one!" Lina shouted. Lina and Zel held the pendants next to each other.
"Exact same penmanship... exact same style... same letter." Zelgadis' eyes flared.
"Oh, they are. Same letter, same pendant..." Atsui chuckled, as he wandered away. As soon as he was out of earshot, Zelgadis whirled on the children.
"I want answers NOW!" He screamed, pulling a sword, and rushing towards the children.
TO BE CONTINUED... (god, aren't I a bitch?)
