Somewhere in time, before two sisters were tragically separated by darkness and the demon called Hellmaster arose to spread chaos across the world, laughter rang out in a normally quiet forest glade, dominated by a majestic oak tree overlooking a glassy pool of water. That might not seem too unusual, as there were many beautiful places in the world, but this one was different. It was the favored playground of a certain pair of children.
Twilight had fallen over the forest and at the moment, these particular children were absorbed in the task of catching fireflies in jars filched from their mothers' kitchens. They would most likely be reprimanded for dirtying the jars with filthy insects but that was for tomorrow morning and as far as they were concerned, tomorrow might never come. They were having too much fun trying to collect enough fireflies to make decent nightlights.
"Marco, there's one!" the pretty blonde girl excitedly pointed out.
"I got it!" Marco yelled, thundering across the clearing towards the unsuspecting insect. At the very last moment, his foot tangled in one of the massive roots of the oak and he stumbled. There was no way that he was going to look stupid in front of Sarah though. As he fell, instead of trying to catch himself, he extended his arms and snagged the firefly in the jar, trying to make his fall look like determination more than clumsiness.
When the dark haired boy sat up a moment later, he sported a bloody nose and an immensely satisfied grin. "Got it, Sarah," he stated proudly, holding up the jar for her inspection. Just as he claimed, the newly imprisoned firefly flitted about irately. A moment later, all the others he'd captured began to fly out the open top to freedom. "Jeez!" he yelled, looking frantically around for the lid to the jar. By the time he'd found it, he was down by about a dozen bugs. "Aw…"
Sarah giggled and gestured to a spot next to her beneath the tree. "It's okay, Marco. We can always get more, right?"
Marco flopped down under the tree wearing a disappointed look upon his face. He'd intended to give his share of the fireflies to Sarah. After all, guys didn't need nightlights. Only girls were afraid of the dark, right? He absentmindedly reached up and wiped a bit of blood off his nose. Stupid fireflies, he thought as he watched them flit across the pool as if they didn't have a care in the world.
"Sooo, you don't want to catch fireflies anymore?" Sarah ventured, noting the irritated look upon Marco's face. He usually pouted when something didn't go his way, the stupid head. Normally, she'd be inclined to let him mope, but she was in too good a mood for that. "Let's do something else," she suggested, trying to draw him out of his mood.
"Like what?" Marco asked. He sighed and picked up a stone. A moment later, he'd skipped it three times across the surface of the pool. "Beat that," he said with a smug grin.
Sarah sighed irritably. Marco could be so competitive sometimes. Picking up her own stone, she said, "I don't know. Wanna play tag?" She took aim and tossed her stone. Three, four, five skips! She could barely contain her amusement at having beaten him.
Marco shook his head and decided that he didn't feel like skipping stones anymore. "Uh-uh, it's too dark for tag." The last thing he needed was to fall on his face in front of Sarah twice in one day. She'd never let him forget it if he did that.
"Okay, um…" Sarah struggled for a moment to think of something. Out of sheer desperation, she asked, "How about we play Prince Charming?" She'd been reading a fairy tale earlier in the day and it was all she could think of.
"What?" Marco muttered curiously. "What's that?" He eyed Sarah suspiciously. It sounded like some kind of girly game to him, but he was bored and desperate for something to do.
"Well…" Sarah said, stalling for time. "You get to be Prince Charming and I'm the princess."
"Okay," Marco replied with a shrug, indicating that he needed more information than that to play whatever lame game Sarah had come up with.
"…and you have to rescue me!" Sarah said excitedly. It was something, wasn't it? "I'm going to be up in the tower," she explained, pointing up in the tree to indicate her location, "and you have to come save me from the evil Baron."
"Evil Baron? Lame. I'd just be climbing the tree. And I'd need more than you to get me to do that." Lacing his hands behind his head, Marco leaned back against the tree and shut his eyes. "No thanks."
"You wouldn't help me if I was in trouble then?"
Marco glanced over at Sarah in surprise. "I didn't say that, now," he grumbled guiltily. "I just don't feel like climbing the tree tonight," he explained before closing his eyes again.
"So, as long as I wasn't in a tree, you'd come and rescue me if I was in danger, right?" Sarah asked, a shy smile upon her face. "Like, if I were being chased by wolves or something?"
"Wolves?" Marco asked with a chuckle. He glanced over at Sarah and was about to tell her that there were no wolves in the area and that she was stupid for saying so, when he noticed something. Maybe it was the way her dress complimented her eye color or the way she had braided a few flowers into her hair that day; maybe it was the moonlight, but for the first time in his life, he realized that Sarah was pretty.
This bombshell had the effect of striking Marco utterly stupid for a moment. He stared at Sarah helplessly, his eyes wide and his mouth agape. When had all this happened?
Sarah raised an eyebrow in irritation. "You're going to catch a fly in your mouth if you don't shut it, frog face." She sighed and stood up. "If you don't want to do anything, you could just tell me instead of making faces."
Marco quickly snapped his mouth shut and even more quickly said, "I'llsaveyou."
"What?"
Faking a cough to buy himself a few moments to compose himself, Marco finally said, "If you ever get in trouble, I'll come and save you."
"What?" Sarah repeated. Marco was acting stranger than usual all of a sudden.
"I'll rescue you. You know, if you get chased by wolves or anything. Or get caught in a tree."
"Y-You will?" Sarah stammered in surprise. Marco was far more prone to fling clumps of mud at her than make proclamations of valor, so this was a bit unusual. Well, better not to look a gift horse in the mouth. "And will you help me if anything else happens?" she asked, unable to suppress a giggle. "I'd hate to think that you'd only come running when wolves were around."
"Well, yeah… anything."
"Anything? Do you promise?"
Marco's next words seemed to hang in the air long after he'd uttered them.
"I promise."
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The bedroom was dark, illuminated by a single beam of light that fell through the crack between the shutters. Within the chamber, two women slept comfortably. The acrobat Amelia lay in the cozy bed, the blankets pulled up to her chin. Her newly acquired medallion of Ceiphied glinted in the morning light, illuminating her face and revealing that she'd regained a bit of her color as she slept. She was already on the mend. The other girl, the infamous Slayer, Lina Inverse, sat in a nearby chair recklessly taking her life into her hands even as she slumbered. Her feet were propped up on the bedpost at Amelia's feet and she leaned back precariously, balancing on the rear two legs of the chair. Every time she took a breath, she wobbled on the verge of collapse. Still, things were comfortable and there was a sense of safety in their surroundings.
A loud click disrupted the regular sound of the girls' breathing as the bedroom door came unlatched. The portal drifted open slowly, creaking loudly all the while. Standing in the doorway was a hunched over shadowy figure clutching a staff. It scanned the room for a moment before seemingly settling its gaze upon Lina. A bewildered look crossed its features as it entered the room, its shuffling footsteps punctuated by the quiet tapping of its staff upon the wooden floor. Reaching the redhead's side, a gnarled hand reached out to grab her shoulder and a voice whispered her name…
Lina's ruby eyes flew open in an instant and she yelped in surprise as she overbalanced in the chair. A moment later, she'd tumbled to the floor in a heap, her bare legs high in the air. "Oh my god!" she screamed time and again, clutching at her throat to make sure that her head was still attached while trying to feel her stomach as well. Everything seemed intact and she began to calm down a bit.
The redhead's yells had woken Amelia, who promptly began screaming as well. This did little to calm the situation down. "I'm burning!" she shrieked, batting at flames that only she could see. After a moment, she noted that she didn't seem to be on fire, but it'd all seemed so real. "Miss Lina!" she called out when she saw her friend sitting on the floor next to the bed. She opened her arms and Lina promptly leapt forward to hug her, immensely grateful to see a familiar face. "Are we dead?!" she squealed into the redhead's ear, her gaze darting around the room in search of the fire from her dreams.
Realizing that she had to be the voice of reason, Lina reassuringly whispered into Amelia's ear, "We're not dead," repeatedly. She grimaced as the acrobat squeezed her even more tightly than before, painfully digging her fingernails into her exposed back, almost as if Lina would disappear if she released her hold.
"I-It was dark. It was so dark. And hot. And I couldn't breathe, Miss Lina. I tried to, but I couldn't! And I couldn't get out! I couldn't get out!!" Thankfully, Amelia's screams were somewhat muffled by Lina's shoulder and she didn't wake the entire village.
Somehow, Lina managed to repress her own memory of dying long enough to get Amelia through the worst of hers. "Amelia, I promise you're all right." When the acrobat's terrified gasps finally gave way to loud sobs, she knew that the worst of the hysterics were over. "It's okay," she quietly cooed as she rubbed her back reassuringly. "We're okay." Now she just wished that she could be sure that she was telling the truth. Were they dead?
"What's wrong with the poor dear?" Aqua asked.
Lina eyed the older woman curiously. She didn't remember? "It's okay," she easily lied. "She just had a bad dream." She hoped that was all it was, but it had all seemed so vivid. "A really bad dream," she said with a sigh as Amelia went into a fresh bout of wailing. Truth be told, she felt like crying herself, she'd lost her head for Ceiphied's sake, but that wouldn't help the situation at all.
Something moved in the corner of the room and Zelgadis emerged from the shadows. He quickly threw the shutters open, ignoring the irritating feeling of the morning light on his skin. For once, he felt a little more safe and secure in the light of day. "You saw it too," he stated, barely controlling the fear in his own voice. He'd seen what he was becoming yesterday and that had shaken him even more than his death had. Dying was one thing; losing yourself to something you couldn't control was far worse.
"It was just a dream," Lina warned, fixing Zelgadis with a look that said that he had best agree with her for Amelia's sake.
Zelgadis was having none of it though. Amelia would just have to deal with it like everyone else. It was harsh, but for the best in the long run. "Lina, you know as well as I do that it wasn't a dream."
Lina shook her head left then right one time, her glare filling with such fury that even Zelgadis was momentarily taken aback. She silently mouthed, "You bastard," and seemed to hug Amelia more protectively as if she could keep his callous words from reaching her. "It was a dream," she practically snarled at the vampire.
Glaring right back at the furious redhead, Zelgadis hissed, "What happened yesterday was real and you damn well know it!" He felt bad for Amelia, but the sooner they all came to grips with what had happened, the sooner they could figure out what the hell was going on. He reached down and grabbed the ragged hem of his cloak and held it up for Lina's inspection. "See this? I did this yesterday." He nodded at Amelia's hand and guiltily mumbled, "I did that too." Almost inaudibly, he added, "Sorry, Amelia."
Amelia looked down at her bandaged hand as if it belonged to someone else. When Zelgadis held up his own maimed hand, it was finally driven home to her that it hadn't been a dream. Swallowing nervously, she asked, "Does that mean that we are…?"
"Dead? No," Zelgadis replied with a shake of his head. Gesturing to his injury, he chuckled dryly and said, "I don't know about you, but I'm in far too much pain to be dead." It was true. The hand throbbed ceaselessly. The damage had been done by the grace of Ceiphied and no amount of blood could hasten its healing. Not that he'd been getting as much as he needed to begin with.
"I'm okay, Miss Lina," Amelia said as she reluctantly released her hold on the Slayer. Her face flushed bright red with shame. She'd acted like a child. "Sorry about that," she apologized almost inaudibly.
Lina gave her friend a quick squeeze before releasing her. "Okay then, that just leaves the question of exactly what in the hell is going on around here." She turned to Aqua, who was looking quite confused by their talk, and asked, "Auntie, what day is today?" She thought for a moment about how drafty it was in the room. Why had Zel opened the window anyway, she wondered as she hugged herself tightly. She began to rub her bare shoulders with her hands in an attempt to warm up a bit.
Before Aqua could answer, the bedroom door was violently flung open and an incredibly relieved swordsman burst into the room. "Lina," he said, breathing a sigh of relief. Not even looking where he was going, he lunged across the room, meaning to take the redhead into his arms. He stumbled over Lina's overturned chair, but it did little to slow him. Instead, all it did was turn his hug into a tackle and he drove his love back onto the bed.
"Gourry, don't-" Lina managed to get out before being silenced with a kiss. She responded enthusiastically, wrapping her arms around her protector. It was great to be alive, but… When he pulled away, she hastily tried to explain, "This isn't a good ti-" before being cut off again. It was then that she glanced over and saw a furiously blushing Amelia covering her eyes. When that happened, she put two and two together. If Amelia was there, that meant that the others were still there and-ack! Her train of thought was rudely interrupted when she felt Gourry's hands slide down her bare back to squeeze her bottom. When had he gotten her out of her pants?! Oh, he was good.
Figuring that since she was on the verge of dying of embarrassment that Gourry should die too, Lina pulled back and slugged the swordsman in the face as hard as she could, sending him reeling across the room to trip over the overturned chair again.
"Ow!" Gourry yelped as his butt slammed painfully against the floor. "Lina, what'd you do that for?" he mumbled in a hurt tone as he massaged his almost certainly bruised jaw. He quickly ducked as the bedside lamp went sailing through the air his head had occupied an instant ago. It smashed against the wall, spilling oil and glass on the floor. Wow, Lina must be really mad, he thought nervously.
"Pervert!" Lina bellowed, shaking a fist in Gourry's direction, "Do you think I'm some kind of exhibitionist or something?! What's the big idea of undressing me in front of everyone?! I'm not that kind of girl!" She glanced around for more ammunition to fling at her protector, but found that she was woefully unarmed.
"But I didn't," Gourry protested. He nodded at Lina's lack of clothes and said, "You were like that when I came in."
Lina looked down at herself and flushed bright red. "Why am I naked?!" she demanded of anyone in the room. Fortunately for them, their survival instincts kicked in and they were as still as statures. It was just like the nightmares she'd had when she was a kid, she thought dumbly. The dreams of walking into the marketplace, or church, or-
Deciding that there were more important problems to deal with than Lina's state of undress, Zelgadis shot Aqua a sidelong glare and gruffly demanded, "What happened yesterday?"
Aqua glared right back at Zelgadis. He was a rude fellow indeed. No wonder she'd gotten a bad feeling from him when he'd first shown up. "Yesterday, we threw a party for Gourry to celebrate his return home after five years."
"Ten," Gourry corrected. "I've been gone for ten years, grandma."
Lina cocked her head thoughtfully as she wrapped Amelia's sheet around her body. It was rather confusing. Should she believe the guy with the somewhat questionable memory or the older woman who had given birth to the woman that had given birth to the guy with the questionable memory? It was quite a dilemma. After all, he had to have gotten his cluelessness from somewhere, right? "How old are you?" she asked the swordsman after a moment of thought.
"Twenty two," Gourry replied without hesitation.
At the exact same time, Aqua said, "Seventeen."
"Okay…" Lina muttered, even more lost than before. Apparently, Gourry didn't know how old he was or something was really, really wrong here.
Zelgadis sighed in irritation and asked, "Lina, who cares how old Gourry is? We've got more important things to worry about."
"I know that!" Lina snapped back at the vampire. "I just…" She let her sentence trail off. She just what? She had the distinct impression that she was missing something terribly important. Five years… What was the significance? Zel was right though. It could wait. "You say we arrived yesterday?" she asked Aqua.
"That's right," Aqua replied, not having the foggiest notion of what was wrong with these people this morning.
"It had to be a dream then," Lina said with a shake of her head. "There's no other explanation for it. But, how could we have all had the same dream?"
"Miss Lina, I don't know if it was a dream. Mister Zelgadis is right about some of the things that happened to us. I really got hurt." Amelia smiled at Zelgadis reassuringly as if to tell him that she didn't blame him at all.
"And I'm hungrier than I was yesterday," Gourry chimed in. He smiled sheepishly as everyone turned an irritated look on him. "Well, I am," he said with a shrug.
"Anyway," Amelia continued, "I don't think it was a dream, but if it was, I've heard of something like it before." She cleared her throat embarrassedly before quietly saying, "Maybe it was a prophetic dream?" Taking the group's silence as disbelief, she quickly added, "I'm only saying that because Martina told me about them a long time ago. She said that sometimes, we open up our thoughts a bit more when we sleep, letting the knowledge of the cosmos… Oh dear, I sound pretty stupid, don't I?"
"Auntie, can I borrow some clothes?" Lina asked suddenly. She wanted to find out if what they'd 'dreamed' had been correct and besides… well, she was naked! She still didn't know how that had happened. If she was nude, why weren't the others? Why was she the only one to be humiliated? It wasn't fair. Turning her attention back to the old woman, she said, "If you don't mind, I'd like the light blue one, okay? It's the one in the far right of your daughter's wardrobe." Judging by Aqua's shaken look, she'd been fairly accurate.
Once his grandmother had left the room, Gourry spoke up again. "Hey Lina, I've been thinking. Something really weird happened yesterday, whether it was a dream or not, right? Anyway, I was just wondering, um, if today is yesterday, does that mean that we're all going to die again?"
Thankfully, they didn't have to dwell on the subject for too long as they were interrupted by Aqua's knock on the door. "Miss Lina? I have that dress you wanted."
Opening the door, Lina hoped that her smile was a lot more cheerful than she felt. "Thanks, Auntie. I'll be out in a second." She gratefully accepted the clothes and closed the door. A moment later, she opened it again and helpfully added, "And you don't have to worry about the guy in your flowerbed. You know, the one with the eye patch? He'll be gone in a little while." Then she closed the door again, cutting off the incredibly befuddled and spooked woman from the answers she wanted.
Aqua stood there for a moment longer, listening to the hushed voices talking in the bedroom. She knew that she should go back in and get some sort of explanation. It was her daughter's home after all, but she instead found herself hurrying out of the house as quickly as possible. She'd decided that she didn't want to know what they were discussing.
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The door to the master bedroom slid shut with an ominous click. There was a sense that serious things were being discussed behind it, to the point that Zelgadis hadn't even commented on the fact that Gourry had followed Lina in while she was getting dressed. Instead, he walked outside into the morning light to wait with Jillas for their instructions.
Within the bedroom, Lina waited expectantly for a kiss or a hug or something. Gourry was usually a very affectionate man, but now he almost woodenly walked over to the bed and sat down facing away from her. She looked at his back for a moment before sighing resignedly and beginning to dress. Just because she'd comforted Amelia earlier didn't mean that she wouldn't like to be told that things were okay herself.
Gourry stared pointedly at the wall, trying to give Lina a bit of privacy as she donned the dress she'd worn yesterday, but hadn't. It was quite confusing. The rustling of cloth was the only sound in the room for a few moments as he collected his thoughts. Finally, taking a deep breath, he said, "Was what Zel said yesterday true?"
Lina was immensely grateful that Gourry's back was to her. He missed the incredibly guilty look on her face. She knew exactly what he was talking about and reluctantly decided not to insult him by playing dumb. Stupid jellyfish, she thought angrily, why did he only remember the annoying stuff? "Well…yeah," she finally admitted.
"When were you going to tell me?"
"Um, I wasn't…" Lina admitted, feeling even more like a heel than before. She hated feeling guilty and the first sparks of anger at her protector began to kindle. He was the one who had led the way into the village. It wasn't her fault that he'd wanted to stay a while, was it? If he had half a brain, he would have known what being a heretic entailed. The fact that she was hungrier than she'd ever been didn't do much to ease her ill mood.
"Why not?"
"Because, I thought we might be safe here," Lina said irritably. "I still do. I don't see any church soldiers around here, do you?" she asked sarcastically.
"I was just asking a question, Lina," Gourry replied, finally turning away from the corner to face the redhead. "Why are you acting like this?" His tone betrayed no anger with her, despite the fact that he had every reason to be. Instead, he sounded more hurt than anything. They'd put everyone he loved in danger by coming home. He just wanted to know why she hadn't shared that important bit of information.
Damn it, why couldn't Gourry be angry with her? It'd be so much easier to throw a fit and kick his ass if he weren't being so… so… so reasonable! Lina glowered at her protector and growled, "Because, you're being stupid, worrying about things that don't matter right now! I didn't tell you because I thought you were happy here, jellyfish!" It was a lot easier to be angry than to admit that she'd made a mistake. Unfortunately, it also took a lot more out of her. She suddenly felt weak; wobbled for a moment before dropping to one knee and clapping a hand over her mouth. She retched uselessly, her stomach utterly empty.
Gourry hastened to Lina's side and gently helped her to her feet before leading her over to the bed. He was alarmed by how weak her grip on his arm was. "Are you okay?" he asked, as he sat down beside her. When she didn't answer, he took her in his arms, not knowing what else to do to help her. They were all hungry, but it was surprising that it was this bad for her already. "Do you want me to get you anything? I think there's a bit of toast in the kitchen…"
With a phenomenal effort, Lina managed to shake her head. Her body didn't want to obey her. She willed the hands in her lap to do something, anything, but they just lay there as if they belonged to someone else. She was hungry, but that wasn't the problem. Besides, she was quickly coming to the conclusion that it didn't matter what any of them ate. There was something else. "I-I'm okay," she stammered breathlessly. It wasn't a lie. As quickly as the spell had hit, it had passed. Smiling up at Gourry reassuringly, she said again that she was all right, making it far more believable the second time. She felt okay again, aside from the damn hunger of course.
Trying to take both their minds off what had just happened, Lina asked, "You know what you're supposed to do, right?"
A disapproving frown on his face, Gourry reluctantly nodded. Lina was sending him away from her side. He wasn't comfortable with the idea to begin with, but she was going off with Zelgadis to 'discuss things' as she had so enigmatically put it. She didn't trust Zel, which in turn made him not trust their companion either, despite the fact that he personally liked the man. Zel was quiet and moody at times, but he was reliable in a pinch, as he'd shown during their fight with Jillas.
"I'll be okay," Lina said with a grin, reading the concern in Gourry's face. "I know how to take care of Zel if I have to. See?" A frightening glint in her eyes, she reached down the front of her blouse and produced a wooden stake. "Voila! I was worried that I wouldn't have anywhere to hide a weapon in this getup, but being the genius I am, I figured something out."
"That's great, Lina." Gourry breathed a mental sigh of relief. At least she was taking things seriously. Poking one of her meager breasts, he said, "That's a great hiding place. I'll bet you have room for ten or twenty of those things in there, don't you?"
Lina sighed irritably and massaged her temples. "You know I'd pound you for that if I wasn't so tired, right?" She grinned when he nodded. "Good, just making sure. Well, we've sat around long enough. Let's get to work. Unless you want to find out if you're right about what happens this afternoon?"
Gourry found that he didn't want to at all.
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"The most important thing is finding out why this is happening," Lina mused aloud as she and Zelgadis crested a hill outside of town. "If we knew that, we could figure out how to stop it." She struggled to hide the fact that climbing the small hill had almost exhausted her. Her shoulders slumped, almost as if in defeat, but she pushed on nonetheless. Even if he tried something, she got the distinct impression that she wouldn't be able to do much about it.
"I concur," Zelgadis said with a nod. "Easier said than done though, don't you think? You're asking us to figure out why an army of dead men arose from their grave, why they're interested in this village, and why we're not dead after being quite thoroughly murdered by said dead men." As he spoke, he eyed Lina almost predatorily. She was weak and now would be an excellent time to deal with her… should he want to of course. Shaking his head in irritation, he banished the suggestion from his mind.
Lina shuddered briefly at the memory of seeing her insides splayed out on the ground before her. "Don't remind me," she said with a sigh. She gazed down on the village from their vantage point, trying to discern something, anything, that might be out of the ordinary. From up there, it looked like a perfectly normal little hamlet.
"Why are we up here?" Zelgadis asked, scanning the horizon with his sharp eyes. "The answers are down there. We're wasting our time."
"Yeah, well my sister taught me that if you should look at the big picture before tackling a problem." Lina gratefully plopped down in the lush grass and gestured to the village below. "I'm looking at it right now."
"Wasting time is more like it," Zelgadis grumbled. Luckily for him, Lina didn't hear. Sighing resignedly, he took a seat beside her and suffered in silence as she lazily gazed up into the sky.
Lina smiled and laid back to look up into the sky. It was warm, but not uncomfortably so as a gentle breeze blew across the hilltop. She felt like she could sleep for days. Until she figured Zel out though, she didn't dare. Instead, she focused on the clouds overhead. "Ever just sit and look at the clouds, Zel?" she inquired. "It's kind of neat. See? Look at that one." She pointed up at a random cloud and said, "That one looks like a staked vampire." She giggled and added, "Oh, and look at that one! It looks like a severed demon head!"
Wincing in pain, Zelgadis stole a quick glance at the cloud Lina was pointing at. "It looks like a fluffy little bunny rabbit to me." Oh god, had he just said that? Scowling, he stared down at the ground. Not as much sun hit his face when he looked down.
"Yeah? Well, that's because you don't have any imagination." Lina frowned apologetically when she saw how uncomfortable her companion looked. "Oh, I'm sorry, Zel! Do you want to go sit over there?" she asked, pointing to the comfortable looking shade of a nearby group of trees.
"Only if you're done reliving your childhood," Zelgadis grumbled. Without waiting to see if Lina followed, he quickly climbed to his feet and made a beeline for the cool shadows. Sitting down beneath a particularly large tree, he spread his wings from under the protective layer of his cloak, groaning in relief as he did so. For some reason, they seemed to be even more photosensitive than his skin, resulting in the painful sensation of a sunburn after only a few minutes of exposure.
"Give me a break, Zel. I don't get to do stuff like this very often." Lina flopped down in the shade next to Zelgadis and eyed his wings appreciatively. "Hey, have you ever tried using those like a fan?" she asked, flapping her arms in demonstration. "Because, I'm a bit warm and-"
"Lina!" Zelgadis snapped angrily.
"Okay, jeez! I was just asking!" Lina rested her chin in her hands, pouting in that cute way that had made Gourry crash an 'invitation only on penalty of death' party with her. Seeing that her charms weren't going to get her a breeze, she sighed. It was time to get down to the reason she'd dragged him up here. "How'd you get them again?" she asked conversationally, as if wings were nothing more than the latest fashion craze in Sairaag.
"Again? I never told you to begin with," Zelgadis muttered. Lina assumed that this was the end of the conversation until he asked, "Do you remember Grou?"
"How could I forget?" Lina asked, tapping her shoulder for emphasis. "It still hurts when it rains." She didn't add that it hurt when it was sunny too. Not to mention foggy. Heck, it pretty much hurt constantly. In truth, she hardly noticed it anymore. The throbbing pain had become just another annoying nag from a body that had suffered too much abuse. "What about him?"
"What do you know about him?"
"Ah, a quiz, is that it?" Lina asked with a grin. "Okay, let's see. Grou was one half of a pair of twins born of the dark lord Dynast Grauscherra. Supposedly, they were created when Dynast became jealous of Shabranigdo. His sphere of influence being envy and avarice, it only makes sense, right? Anyway, Shabranigdo created his lieutenants from his own flesh. Dynast, wanting to do something equally impressive, tore a fang from his maw. That became Grau, the demon of bone. He then spat blood from the wound onto the ground creating Grou, demon of blood. They were nowhere near the power of Shabranigdo or his firstborn servants and Dynast took that as a failure, but you'll find few demons more zealous in their service to the dark lord."
"The demon of blood," Zelgadis whispered pensively, staring down at his maimed hand. He turned his cool gaze back on Lina and asked, "You remember… how Grou was defeated, don't you?"
"Yeah," Lina admitted, barely suppressing a shudder. "Thanks for the nightmares, by the way. What's that have to do anything?"
"I ingested his blood and I haven't been the same since. First, there was the pain." Zelgadis gestured to his wings and chuckled mirthlessly. "Growing pains, I guess you could call them."
"Well, it's not 'that' bad is it?" Lina asked, trying to be as tactful as possible about it. "You never know when a set of wings might come in handy after all. Do they work?"
"I'd never even considered trying them," Zelgadis replied with a shake of his head. "It's something to keep in mind, I suppose." His voice dropped to a nervous whisper as he continued, "It didn't stop with the wings though. I hear a voice. Grou's voice, I think. It's like a thousand needles in my brain. And sometimes I think I can feel something moving inside of me." He pointed at his chest. "Here, I think. And when I bled yesterday, it moved."
"What moved?" Lina whispered, frightened by the barely restrained panic in Zelgadis's voice. He might be sarcastic, callous, and mean spirited at times, but he was not a coward.
"The blood. It was alive, Lina. It moved around, as if it were reaching for my attackers. And then there's this." Zelgadis hastily unwrapped his hand and thrust it forward for Lina's inspection.
"God, Zel!" Lina yelped, actually recoiling from the mangled digits and squeezing her eyes shut. "Put that away!" She'd glimpsed it for only a moment, but she doubted that she'd ever forget the image of the dragon burned into his palm.
"It wouldn't have happened a year ago," Zelgadis said with a shake of his head. He hastily wrapped his hand up again, not liking its appearance any more than Lina. "I was never a huge fan of Ceiphied, but I could tolerate symbols well enough. I think that feeding on Grou has tainted me somehow."
"Why did you do it?" Lina asked, concern obvious on her face. "Why hurt yourself like that?"
"I did it for Amelia. She had to understand." Zelgadis took a deep breath and held it for a moment, mulling over his next words. "The same reason I just told you my suspicions. For Amelia. You can't understand how hard this is for me, Lina. The constant thirst. I used to be able to control it, but now I… I slip sometimes."
"Like with my horse," Lina said with a nod, making a mental note that Zelgadis still owed her sixty gold pieces.
Zelgadis took a deep breath and said, "Yeah, like the horse." He neglected to mention the fact that his desires had turned more towards humanity. "Lina, I have a favor to ask." He sighed when he saw the suspicious look on Lina's expression. "I don't need money," he grumbled. "Like I was saying, I can't always control myself anymore and I'm worried… you know, about Amelia." Taking a deep breath, he struggled to fight off the demon's protests to what he was about to suggest. "I… I want you to kill me if-ack!"
Before Zelgadis could finish, Lina had flung a hard elbow into his throat, abruptly silencing him. Not missing a beat, she shoved him down and straddled his chest. She kept her forearm pressed against his windpipe, lest he try to give her a 'suggestion' as he had during the Hellmaster incident. Before the vampire's horrified eyes, she slipped a hand down the front of her blouse and produced a wicked looking stake. Smiling sadly, she raised it overhead and said, "May the light of the Flare Dragon… ugh…" Her entire body seemed to droop and the stake fell from her limp fingers. The world had suddenly doubled and even if she'd kept her hold on the stake, she wouldn't know which Zel to plunge it into.
Seeing his chance, Zelgadis put a hand on Lina's face and shoved her off of him. She fell to the ground in utter exhaustion and he quickly scrabbled back, putting a few feet between himself and his would be killer. "God, Lina!" he croaked through his bruised windpipe. "Can I finish talking first?!"
Lina lay limply on her side, gasping for air. She nodded weakly, indicating that Zel could say his piece. After all, she wasn't really in the best shape to carry out his request for a mercy killing right now.
"Thanks," Zelgadis grumbled. "What I was trying to say is that if I lose control, I'd like you to do what needs to be done. I know it's hard, but…" Glancing into Lina's eyes, he sighed wearily. Who was he kidding? "Listen, is it too much to ask that you at least pretend that you're agonizing a bit over the idea of killing me?"
"Sorry, Zel," Lina weakly replied. She struggled to pick herself up from the ground but failed miserably. Maybe a few moments more, then she could give it another try. She looked up to see Zelgadis looming over her menacingly. Oh great, if he decided to do something now, she'd be powerless to stop him.
Zelgadis looked down at the fallen Slayer quizzically. Why wasn't he thirsty? It had been burning his insides for several days now, but now that he actually had a potential victim, he found that he did not want her. How strange. He had been ready to fight tooth and nail against Grou to keep from taking her, but the demon seemed content to sit back and watch for the moment.
"Hey, don't tear it!" Lina protested as Zelgadis grabbed the front of her blouse and pulled her bodily to her feet. She leaned heavily on him for support as he began to help her back down the hill. "Sorry, I couldn't kill you," she whispered tiredly, an involuntary shudder running through her form. Despite her rash actions, she hadn't tried to kill him out of cruelty. He was irritating, moody, and potentially dangerous, but she loved teasing the guy and he was pretty smart too. He wasn't so bad, really.
No, Lina had wanted to end Zel's life as a mercy. Possessions rarely ended well and the hosts were usually pushed to do horrible things. And she had no desire to see Amelia harmed. In the end, even if the victims were released, the guilt and shame of the ordeal usually left them broken shells of humanity.
Besides, Lina thought, there was no telling how far the changes in Zel would go. She'd never heard of a possessed vampire before and- "Pecans!" she shrieked excitedly, her train of thought abruptly derailing and careening into a nearby pecan tree.
"What?!" Zelgadis managed to get out just before he was violently shoved over the side of a nearby embankment. Apparently, Lina still had a bit of fight in her, he realized just before tumbling headlong into a patch of particularly thorny bushes. A few painful minutes later, he dragged himself back up to the path and stared daggers at Lina's back. His face was a mass of shallow cuts and thorny branches clung tenaciously to his hair, his cloak, and wherever else they could snag. "Lina…" he growled irritably.
Lina ignored Zelgadis for the time being, having something far more important to focus her attentions upon. Pecans. Lovely, lovely pecans. Not having anything better to work with, she cracked the shells between her teeth and greedily picked through the remains for bits of nut. She felt ever so much better now that she had a bit of food in her stomach. "Hey, Zel," she said cheerfully, noting that he'd gotten himself back on the path. "Want some?" she asked, extending a hand full of pecans. Not the cracked ones of course. Those were hers. Let him crack his own if he wanted to eat.
Zelgadis shook his head. He had a troubled look on his face. "It's strange. What do you make of it, Lina?" he asked, nodding in the direction of the village.
Sitting under the tree, her cheeks stuffed with nuts, at that moment Lina resembled nothing so much as a deranged chipmunk. "Whufat?" she asked, spraying Zelgadis with bits of pecan.
Sighing in consternation, Zelgadis brushed the half chewed food off his cloak. "The forest and the village," he replied gesturing to everything around them. "Tulips don't bloom at the same time that pecans fall, do they?" As if to drive home his point, another nut fell from the tree to land on Lina's head.
"Well, gee, I dunno," Lina said with a shrug. "I don't know the first thing about plants. I kill things, not grow them." Saying that, she set back into her makeshift meal. "Sure you don't want any, Zel?"
"What the hell…?" Zelgadis mumbled, totally perplexed by what he was looking at. "Lina, take a look at this." Before the redhead had a chance to protest, he'd put his hands around her waist, effortlessly yanked her off the ground, and set her on his shoulder so that she might have a better look. "See it?" he asked.
Lina scowled at the idea of being torn away from her food and was about to smack Zelgadis on the back of the head when she saw what he was looking at. "What the hell…?" she mumbled, echoing his earlier sentiment exactly. "How'd I miss that?"
It wasn't really Lina's fault that she hadn't noticed as the differences were very subtle at first glance. Green trees at the very height of their summer vibrancy surrounded the village. However, as one moved away from the village, slight changes could be seen. The leaves were a little darker, sometimes starting to turn their autumn colors of reds and oranges. From their perch on the hill, it became obvious that there was a vaguely circular boundary around the village. Everything within it lived. Everything outside was slowly succumbing to winter.
Exchanging perplexed looks, Lina and Zelgadis examined their own surroundings. Apparently, they were at the border between the two areas as both blooming trees and shedding ones surrounded them. It was as if Ceiphied had become confused and flung both seasons together. Great. As if they didn't have enough to figure out.
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Lina suggested, "Well… maybe Gourry's found something. We should go back and check." She shrugged hopelessly. There wasn't much else to do up here.
"Lina, this isn't really the best time for levity," Zelgadis grumbled as he started down the hill, the redhead still perched on his shoulder.
"I'm not trying to be funny!" Lina growled. "He might know something. Gourry did grow up here and he's not nearly as dumb as you think."
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"Okay, I'll go right and you go left."
"Right!"
"No, left!"
Gourry and Jillas were having a meeting of the minds, so to speak. On their trek through the forest, they'd seen a rabbit and being incredibly hungry had immediately given chase. One thing had led to another and the two hapless hunters now had their heads lodged in either end of a hollowed out log with the extremely irate hare stuck in the middle. Who knew that rabbits could bite so hard?
"Here he comes again!" Gourry yelped, his hands scrabbling at the exterior of the log in a vain attempt to dislodge his head. He clutched the unlit Sword of Light in his right hand, using it as a club against the unyielding wood. His first instinct after getting stuck had been to cut himself free. It had been a good plan. But then the rabbit had charged and concentration had gone out the window when it'd latched onto his face. He didn't bat an eye when facing down dead men, but throw a cute little bunny at him and he turned to mush.
"Don' show fea'! 'E's more' afraid o' ye then you'r 'im!" Jillas instructed, as if he hadn't received a handful of bites of his own. A moment later, he struggled to remember his own advice as the rabbit slowly turned to face him. It pawed the bottom of the log, scraping wood shavings back into Gourry's mistreated face.
Jillas tried to make eye contact with the hare. It would obviously be intimidated by the superior creature, right? He fixed his one good eye on the rabbit's and was cowed by the animalistic fury hidden there. "Devil bunny!" he shrieked in terror as the vicious ball of fur thundered down the length of the log and launched itself at his face.
Gourry was normally the most reasonable of men. True, he was never going to pen the definitive treatise on vampires, but he had his share of common sense. But that went right out the window when Jillas confirmed his suspicions about the rabbit with his "devil bunny" yell. He'd suspected it as soon as the monster had taken a bite out of his nose.
In any case, both men panicked simultaneously and somehow managed to throw themselves off balance, tumbling down an embankment. Their cries echoed through the woods for a moment and then silence reigned again.
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Amelia could scarcely believe what she was experiencing. There was a strange sensation of having done everything before, but it was different as well. It felt like déjà vu done all wrong. For instance, right now she knew that Mister Zelgadis should be sitting next to her even though she knew that he and Miss Lina had gone off somewhere earlier that morning to "discuss things" as the redhead had so enigmatically put it. Oh dear. She really hoped that they didn't kill each other.
Further fretting would have to wait it seemed as Aqua entered the room bearing a bouquet of tulips. She saw Amelia sitting up in bed and smiled at her. "Oh good! You're awake," she said cheerfully, arranging the flowers in a vase on the bedside table. "I expect you're probably tired of staring at the walls, so I thought I'd add a bit of color to your surroundings." She moved over to the window and opened the shutters to reveal several young children standing outside. "The children picked them for you when they heard that you weren't feeling well."
Realizing that she'd been in bed for a day and a half, Amelia blushed slightly, trying to compose her extremely wild hair while attempting to adopt an air that suggested that she hadn't been sleeping for the last twelve hours or so. Unfortunately, her efforts were most likely useless and she abandoned them in favor of smiling warmly at the children and waving to them in thanks. Her effort earned a lot of smiles and laughter in return. Her cheerful expression faded a bit as she recalled what had happened to the children, what was still going to happen. "Auntie, what happened yesterday?" she asked, still not quite understanding what had occurred. It felt like a dream.
Further talk about yesterday was obviously not what Aqua wanted to hear and she frowned. It had been terribly disconcerting when Lina had asked for that particular dress earlier in the day and talked about the man sleeping in the flowers. "I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean, young lady," she cautiously admitted.
"Yesterday, Auntie," Amelia reiterated, feeling terrible that she had to upset the poor woman. "What were we doing yesterday?"
"Well, that was when you came into town." Aqua busied herself straightening the curtains so she wouldn't have to fully commit her thoughts to the conversation. "Gourry arrived and we had a bit of a party. You and your friends ate more than I've ever seen anyone eat before." A hopeful expression on her face, she asked, "Do you suppose you and your friends had a bit too much to drink? A young girl like you should really show a bit more self restraint."
The implication wasn't lost on Amelia. If they'd all been drunk, it might explain their weird behavior this morning. She shook her head and said, "I don't drink, Auntie. I tried it once and well… wine and the high wire don't go together very well." She laughed embarrassedly, hoping that the old woman would join in as well. She didn't. "I'm really sorry." She looked down at the bed, lost in thought. Had she just apologized for not being drunk?
A cheerful yell from outside the window drew the acrobat's attention. The children were playing tag in the street, darting to and fro as if they didn't have a care in the world. Everyone was that way. Except for one boy. Feigning a yawn, she said, "I think I'm going to take a nap, auntie," and made a show of slipping under the blanket and closing her eyes.
"That's an excellent idea," Aqua said, nodding in agreement. "You don't want to overexert yourself after your injury, you know." After fidgeting with the flowers a bit more, she left the room.
Amelia pretended to sleep for a moment longer before one cerulean eye cautiously opened. She was alone. Good. She quickly threw the blanket off and sat up. A little too quickly it seemed as the room began to swim momentarily. She braced herself against the wall and closed her eyes until the dizziness passed. It was bad, but not nearly as bad as it had been yesterday. She was healing. Miss Lina had been right. Yesterday was no dream.
Moving as quickly as she could, Amelia stuffed her pillow under the blanket, trying to make it look as if she were still in bed. She grimaced as she looked her surrogate over. It wouldn't pass more than the most casual inspection, but it would have to do. Making it to her feet with some effort, she half walked, half staggered over to the window. She cautiously poked her head out and looked for any witnesses. The children were engrossed in their game of tag and Aqua was nowhere to be seen.
Getting one leg up on the ledge, Amelia was overcome by a wave of dizziness and fell headlong into the bush below with a quiet yelp. Luckily, she kept her senses enough to avoid breaking her neck on impact. That would be quite a sight, she thought glumly, her dead in the bush with her legs sticking out the top.
Rolling when she hit the ground, Amelia popped out of the bush amidst a minor explosion of leaves. She sat under the window for a moment pondering exactly how furious Lina would be that she'd gone out again. Sadly, it couldn't be helped. She wanted to see Marco and help him. Besides, he seemed like a smart boy. Maybe he knew something about what was happening here.
"Miss Lina was right," Amelia chided herself as she picked a leaf from her dark hair, "here I am wandering off alone again." It didn't dissuade her as she hastily slunk off into the nearby forest. If she was quick enough, she might be able to get back before anyone noticed her absence.
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Amelia's ruse lasted for all of five minutes before Lina and Zelgadis returned from their little excursion.
Lina barged into the bedroom, uncaring of the fact that Amelia was apparently asleep. "Amelia!" she yelled. "Amelia, it's time to get up! Did Gourry come back yet?" She reached out to shake the slumbering girl awake and came away with a pillow. "Damn it!" she sighed with a roll of her eyes. "I knew that girl wouldn't stay in bed."
"That's not the half of it," Zelgadis said with a frown. He leaned out the window and there was the rustling of leaves as he picked something out of the bush. "Look at this." Careful not to let it touch his bare skin, he lifted Amelia's medallion from a branch by its chain. Apparently, she'd lost it when she'd made her escape.
The two exchanged concerned looks. Amelia was out in the woods alone, weakened by her ordeal, with no protection. Even if they somehow managed to stop what was going to happen that afternoon, there was still the matter of the vampire lurking somewhere out in the wild. When the darkness came, she'd be an easy target.
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Gourry was the first to come around, groaning in pain at the headache that threatened to split his skull wide open. He sat up and curiously took in his surroundings. The shattered remains of the log he and Jillas had briefly cohabitated were scattered about him. The cause of his freedom was readily apparent; he and the dazed fox were sitting at the base of a huge tree. Apparently, they'd struck it as they fell. Thankfully, the rabbit from hell had apparently decided to withdraw after thoroughly incapacitating its attackers.
Jillas shook his head, clearing out the cobwebs. "What 'appened?" he grumbled, his equilibrium destroyed by the rolling followed by the sudden stop at the end. The forest looked as if it were spinning and he saw two of Gourry sitting beside him. Having double vision was rather odd, given the fact that he only had one eye, but he chalked it up to extreme disorientation.
"How long were we out?" Gourry wondered aloud, looking for the sun overhead. They had come to rest in something of a ravine in a particularly dense area of forest. A wall of loose clay rose from the floor about a dozen feet over his head. It was amazing that he or Jillas hadn't broken their necks falling down here. It'd be hard to climb, but he'd help his animalistic up and get up himself once the fox found a vine or something to help him. It might take a while, but it was nothing to panic about. What was upsetting was the fact that the sun was nowhere to be seen. He had to assume that it was afternoon then. A chill ran down his spine and he quickly climbed to his feet. There wasn't much time left before sunset then.
Already, the wind was picking up, stirring the dead leaves about the two men; a harbinger of the storm to come. The trees swayed in the breeze, groaning almost as if they were in pain.
Gourry and Jillas exchanged nervous looks and quickly decided that getting back to shelter was the top priority at the moment. Even though they hadn't found anything, it would be far better to be back where they could defend those that they were bound to; Jillas by loyalty and Gourry by love.
Gourry lifted his much smaller companion atop his shoulders and steadied him as he tried to reach the top of the embankment. Despite the fox's best efforts, the edge of the ravine remained just out of reach. Maybe this wouldn't be as easy as they'd originally thought.
Then, much to Jillas's chagrin, Gourry had a brainstorm. He dropped the fox from his shoulders and seized him by the front of his cloak. "Hold on tight." He then hefted the smaller man off his feet.
"What're ye doin'?!" Jillas yelped, his feet beating the air uselessly.
"Don't worry!" Gourry said with a knowing smile. "Lina does this to me all the time!" Before Jillas had a chance to protest further, he swung the fox around and flung him towards the top of the ledge, shouting "Jellyfish!" to complete the effect. He grinned as he watched his companion soar through the air. "You're going to make it!" he yelled.
Jillas apparently didn't share Gourry's optimism on the subject. He yowled in terror arms flailing uselessly as he flew into the wall a full five feet under the ledge with a sickening splat. The loose clay held him there for a moment before gravity took hold and pulled him back to the bottom of the ravine.
"I was sure that was going to work," Gourry mumbled thoughtfully as he trotted over to where Jillas was shakily climbing to his feet. "Are you okay?" he asked, helping the smaller man brush himself off.
"Oh mummy, that really 'urt," Jillas whimpered, rubbing his backside. "Somethin' sharp on the groun'." Wiping a big clump of mud from his face, he knelt back down, cautiously probing the pile of dead leaves in search of whatever it was that had stabbed him.
Thoughts of getting back to Lina temporarily forgotten, Gourry knelt next to Jillas and helped him search shuffle through the leaves. "No, pile them up downwind," he instructed. "We might as well have them blow away instead of onto us, right?"
Despite the wind's attempts to hamper their efforts, perseverance eventually won out and Gourry and Jillas found themselves standing over… something. A mass of muddy and pale shards of bone jutted from the ground enveloped by a few scraps of yellow cloth.
"What is it?" Jillas muttered curiously. He sniffed the pile and grimaced. "Been dead fo' a while, whateva' it is."
Gourry cocked his head thoughtfully and knelt back down next to the remains. He brushed a bit more dirt from the mangled cloth and pulled it free of the earth. He examined the yellow rag for a moment before sighing regretfully and letting it fly away in the breeze. "It's a little girl."
A dozen feet away, the tattered remains of the child's skirt snagged on a tree branch and fluttered in the wind.
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"Sarah!" Marco's voice cracked midway through his friend's name, making it sound like a croak. He winced and rubbed his throat. He'd been calling her name for an hour and was starting to lose his voice. It didn't stop him though. Somehow, he knew that something was wrong. She'd never been late before and he was going to find out what was wrong.
It would be nice to get a drink of water though. Marco coughed, an extremely painful sound. He was going hoarse and his throat felt like sandpaper. He desperately took in his surroundings, looking for a stream, puddle, or even a leaf filled with the last remnants of the morning dew. Anything would do at this point.
It was an extremely pleasant surprise when he heard the sound of water dripping nearby. He quickly located the source of the noise. It was a small hole in the ground, so overgrown that he hadn't even seen it. Luckily for him, he hadn't stepped in it. He probably would have broken his ankle. Curious, he lay down in the grass and cautiously peered into the opening.
What he'd first assumed was a small rut in the ground actually turned out to be a decent sized opening. Cool air blew in Marco's face, indicating that it stretched fairly far into the earth. It wasn't nearly large enough to be called a cave, but was just wide enough for an ambitious young man to wiggle into, which he proceeded to do. There was something creepy about the darkness, but there was water down there somewhere and it was rather exciting. He'd have to remember to tell Sarah about this when he found her.
Ever so slowly, Marco made his way into the darkness, drawn on by the tantalizing sound of water…
"Marco?"
Marco was startled to hear someone call his name. He backed out of the opening, the water momentarily forgotten. "Um, hello?" he said hesitantly as he saw who had hailed him. A beautiful young woman with short dark hair and a kind look weakly leaned against a tree a few feet away. She was deathly pale and he hastily climbed to his feet and rushed to her side. "Are you okay, Miss?" he asked, taking her arm in case she should fall.
Amelia nodded sluggishly, as if doing so quickly would exhaust her even more. "I'm fine," she explained. "Did you find Sarah, yet?"
Releasing Amelia's arm and taking a step back in spite of himself, Marco asked, "Do I… know you?" Try as he might, he couldn't recall ever seeing her before, but she seemed to know a lot about him. It was a little disconcerting that this total stranger not only knew his name, but his purpose as well.
Amelia blinked in surprise. Marco looked incredibly nervous. "I'm Amelia," the acrobat said with a warm smile. She knelt down so that she had to look up into his eyes. A lifetime of working in the circus had taught her that children were less intimidated by adults if you put yourself on their level. "I was helping you look for Sarah, remember?"
Marco eyed the raven-haired girl suspiciously, recalling old stories about spirits in the forest that snatched misbehaving children. His mother had told him the story when he was six and had hidden out in the woods all night long worrying her to no end. Even at such an age, he'd been smart enough to question the validity of that story. After all, he ran away into the woods for a night and his mother just happened to tell that story the next day? It was a little dubious. But now…
"You want to help me find Sarah?" Marco took a hesitant step towards the girl. Somehow, he knew that she wasn't some ghost come to take him away. She looked too friendly for that. Even in her weakened state, Amelia exuded an air of generosity and kindness that couldn't be denied.
Sensing that she was on the verge of befriending the boy again, Amelia smiled. "I do."
Taking Amelia by the arm, Marco gently helped her to her feet. "Why?"
Amelia's smile faltered somewhat and she looked down at the sapphire bracelet that Zelgadis had given her a lifetime ago. She wondered briefly if the kind man she had once known would ever really return. "Because, one of my friends is lost too. And I know it hurts a lot."
That was enough for Marco and hand in hand with Amelia; he began his search for Sarah anew.
Unnoticed by either of them, dark clouds swirled ominously in the distance and the first faint echoes of thunder could be heard on the breeze. The hour was growing late and soon the sun would set.
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Next Chapter: Night falls once again and Lina finds herself facing the past, both near and distant. All alone against the coming darkness, will Amelia live to see the dawn?
Notes: Ugh, ugh, ugh! You have no idea how much I've struggled with this chapter. It's been one of the hardest that I've ever written, ranking right up there with… well, I can't even think of anything comparable. *passes out* Hope you all enjoyed it.
Reviewer Response:
Ichiban, as you can see, everyone isn't undead… or are they? Lina did lose her head after all. Maybe she and the others don't know that they're dead is all.
Well, I wasn't really going for an abstract feeling, Kaitrin, but I guess that's how it came out. I didn't really expect anyone to buy the notion that everyone was dead. I wouldn't end the story without answering all the questions, after all. It'd just be wrong.
Otaku Girl, how's the next chapter of your story coming? I can't believe that you thought bad things about poor Marco. He's such a nice boy, after all…
*sheepish grin* Well, I wouldn't put it quite like THAT, Stara. I'm not bored, I promise. There is a method to my madness. I guess that answers my question as to whether or not you read the end of Chimera Tales though. And yeah, I do feel a lot better now that some blood has been spilled. We're all calm now…
…, Dragonet.
Pogo, thank you so very much for your help on this chapter. *hugs* It probably would have been another week or even two if you hadn't set me straight.
Well, as you can see Ari-chan, they aren't dead, but they aren't really happy either…
Masaki, no Sylphiel yet, but she may appear at the end of the story. As for Revival, I am probably going to rewrite it at some point. It was my first decent sized fic and I want to see if I can make it better. Maybe Sylphiel will sneak in there at some point, we'll just have to wait and see.