Thanks so much to all who reviewed! (hands out Naga's map) Chapter 9 is HERE!
Disclaimer: Heh. Nope, I don't own Slayers.
Chapter 9: A Match Made in Hell, Literally
Zelgadis awoke to the sound of a church bell ringing. "What…?" he mumbled as he struggled upright. He barely registered that he was in a pew, wearing a black tuxedo. Looking to right and left, he noticed that Amelia and Xellos were on one side of him, and Naga on the other. The others awoke minutes after him. "Uh, where are we?" Xellos asked as he rubbed his eyes. "Dunno." Amelia and Naga chorused. Zelgadis shrugged. "I'm not sure either. Lets have a look ar—gah!" he cried as a church organ began playing the Wedding March. The foursome stared at each other in horror. They knew where they were now. Looking towards the front, they noticed Phibrizzo in a blue tuxedo, playing the organ. "Welcome." He said, stopping for a moment. "My wife, Lina PHIBRIZZO, will be entering in a minute." Zelgadis stood up, rage in his eyes. "Let her GO!" he yelled. The Hellmaster's eyebrows were raised in mock-surprise. "Why? She doesn't want me to. She said so herself." he said with a smile. Zelgadis sat back down, shock written all over his face. Suddenly, the doors were flung open wide, and Lina entered the room.
She looked, Xellos and Zelgadis thought later, like a wandering angel. Her hair was silky and soft-looking, a firey-red that shimmered with the flames of the torches nearby. Her bridal dress made her stand out profoundly in the dim light of the room. It was her eyes, though, that scared them: they were blank, as if all thoughts had been wiped from them. Their ruby-red irises had a lost look in them. However, she had a smile on her face that made the two young men want to make her smile like that every day. But, her smile was fixed on another. Phibrizzo. The Lord of Death was smiling broadly, beckoning her forth.
When she reached the pedestal where the Hellmaster was standing, Lina spoke two words: "I do." Phibrizzo smiled. "Yes. I do too. Now, you can go change, and I shall meet up with you soon." he cooed. Lina giggled, and exited the room through a small door cunningly carved into the stonework. Zelgadis, Xellos, Amelia, and Naga all stood up as one and shouted "THAT'S IT!" Phibrizzo shrugged. "Well, yes. I mean, Lina and I already said the vows before you woke up. I just wanted you four to witness my triumph." Naga and Amelia began casting Burst Randos. Zelgadis prepared a Gob Flare, and motioned for Xellos to go. Xellos nodded, and teleported away. The Chimera turned back to Phibrizzo.
"Now it begins."
Lina sat patiently in the white boat that Phibrizzo had created for the occasion. "Oh, I do hope my love's alright! I couldn't bear to see him hurt, especially on our wedding day!" she fretted, wringing her hands. She was wearing a outfit similar to Phibrizzo's normal one, only with a skirt. She suddenly remembered what had happened for the past few days…
:Flashback:
"Are you okay?" asked a child-like voice. "Ummm, yes, I suppose so…" Lina muttered, and opened her eyes. In front of her was a young boy with golden eyes. "Hi!" he chirped. "My name's Hellmaster Phibrizzo, but you can call me Phibrizzo-sama!" Lina nodded, and sat up. "My name…is Lina, I believe. Where am I?" she asked. The Hellmaster grinned. "You're in my temple! You'll be okay. Just follow my orders." "Okay!"
:End Flashback:
"Oh, my dear Phibrizzo-sama!" Lina sighed maidenly, and pressed her hands to her heart. Suddenly, there was a man sitting opposite her. "Hi there! My name's Xellos. Don't bother introducing me, I already know who you are." he said. Lina blinked. "Um, okay. So, Xel-san, what're you doing here?" she said, cupping her chin in her hands. "Well, I've come to talk to you. You looked lovely back there. And you do now." The Mazoku inched a bit closer to the once-great sorceress. He was using every ounce of Mazoku Persuasion he could muster, and was doing quite well for one so inexperienced. "Eep…eep…!" Lina squealed, finding herself in Xellos' arms. "Now I want you to tell me everything…" he whispered in her ear, knowing that, if he was successful, this experience would never reoccur again.
Meanwhile…
Naga crashed into a wall, unconscious from the force of the attack. Amelia was crawling towards Phibrizzo, trying to cast an Elmekia Lance through the pain of her broken leg. Zelgadis was the only person left standing, besides the Hellmaster. Hatred shot through his body. "I'll…never let you live…" he growled. Phibrizzo smirked. "You're so cute when you're mad, you know that?" he chuckled. "SHUT UP! You're just toying with me." the Chimera replied, unsheathing his sword. "And that'll help you how?" Phibrizzo said incrediously. "I know that you Mazoku are nearly invincible, and that swords don't do much against you. But how about"—Zelgadis lifted his sword to the ceiling—"a sword with a Mazoku attack to power it!"
ZZZZHING!
A black lightning bolt struck Zelgadis' sword, giving it an eerie glow. Xellos appeared beside the Chimera, holding Lina in his arms. "I did the best I could with one hand free." he told Zelgadis. Gently placing the unconscious girl on the floor, the Mazoku turned to face Phibrizzo. "You'll pay for what you did to this young girl, this LINA INVERSE." Zelgadis and Xellos yelled simultaneously.
The Hellmaster smiled. "Whatever. I've still won Lina. You're all witnesses. You saw us take the vows!" he said triumphantly. Xellos and Zelgadis had just begun to nod in assent, when their faces lit up. They glanced at each other, smiling broadly. "Have we, Xel?" the Chimera asked in mock-surprise. "Why, no, Zel, we haven't." the Mazoku replied with a broad wink. Phibrizzo fumed. "YOU LIE! YOU WERE HERE! RIGHT HERE IN THIS ROOM!" he screamed.
Xellos smiled like a teacher trying to explain 2+2 to an emotional 5-year-old. "No, we haven't. You see, you said the vows before we woke up, so we didn't hear them. All you and Lina said when we awoke as 'I do'. Therefore, we didn't hear the vows, only the ending ones. For all we know"—the Mazoku grinned cheekily up at Phibrizzo from his perch—"you could have been playing 'House'." Phibrizzo turned around and pouted. "Meanie." he muttered.
Zelgadis grinned up at the sulking Mazoku. "If you're so mad, why don't you go bother someone else? Better yet, we'll leave you alone if you let Lina go, AND release my family from your curse." Phibrizzo's face suddenly broke into a smirk to rival Lina's, or would have had she been in the right state of mind. "WHAT curse?" he asked with an evil chuckle.
"YOU KNOW VERY WELL WHAT CURSE I'M TALKING ABOUT!" the Chimera below him screamed. "I honestly have no idea what curse you mean. It was just pure co-inky-dink (coincidence) that you became a Chimera." Phibrizzo said with a laugh that meant full and well that he was lying. "SHUT UP!" Zelgadis yelled, and lunged at the Hellmaster with his sword. ZZZZ—! The sword lay point first in the ground, about a inch away from Phibrizzo, who had quickly slid down to the ground to avoid getting sliced. Phibrizzo smiled up at the Chimera. "Nice. Pity I can teleport." he said with a cheeky grin.
It was at this moment that Lina chose to awake from her unconscious state.
"Ooh, my head…" she groaned, and sat up. Zelgadis gently pushed her back down to the floor. "It's not safe yet, keep low." he whispered to her. Lifting up Lina's bangs to check her for wounds, he noticed the gold crown-like band in the center of her forehead. "Hey, Xellos, look at this!" the Chimera exclaimed. Xellos bent down and examined the find. "Huh, looks like a 'Marionette Crown'. I've heard about those from my master! They can make whoever wears it lose all memories of their past life. This is serious." the Mazoku said in awe. "Well, how do we get it off?" Zelgadis asked, placing his hands on either side of the "crown". "Now that…is a secret!" Xellos chirped with a smile, placing his index finger to his mouth. "Oh, shut up! You're not helping me. Now, I'll ask again: HOW DO WE GET IT OFF!" the Chimera shouted at his friend. "Geez, calm down. I only know sooo much about magic items. Now, what we could do is—THIS!" Xellos shouted with glee, and kissed Lina full on the lips.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Zelgadis, Phibrizzo, and Lina screamed in shock. Phibrizzo was frothing at the mouth from anger. "You cut that out!" he screamed at Xellos. The Mazoku in question winked roguishly at the watchers, and kissed the would-be-sorceress once again. Lina blushed furiously. "Wh-why you little—FIREBALL!" she yelled, and created a tiny spark in her palm. "NO!" shouted Phibrizzo in panic. "This can't be!" Xellos leaped up from his position on the floor with a grin. "Well, I knew that at some point, Lina's true personality would resurface. So, I guessed that the reason Phibrizzo even put the 'Marionette Crown' on her in the first place was because normally she would hate romantic relationships and physical attraction." he chuckled. Lina was working herself into a frenzy. "HOW DARE YOU KISS ME! YOU…YOU…!" she screamed. Then, suddenly, she went quiet.
:Flashback again:
"Lina, please. Just this once." Phibrizzo purred. Lina blushed, sighed, and turned her head towards the eagerly waiting Hellmaster…
:End Flashback:
"Wait…you aren't the only one who kissed me…Phibrizzo kissed me multiple times…I'M GONNA DESTROY YOU PHIBRIZZOOOO!" Lina screamed, and destroyed the anti-magic bracelets with two flicks of her wrists. Charging forward, she made up a spell on the spot:
As bright as the Sun which shines upon me,
As red as my blood,
As blue as the tears we Humans cry,
As we face our darkest fears
Let my unworthy hands hold your power,
And let this battle be won!
Let the heavens tremble!
The time has come!
AURORA FLARE!
In Lina's hands, there was a bright, shining ball of many colors, like that of the Northern Lights. Her eyes began to water with the strength her new spell emitted. With a grim smile, she threw it at Phibrizzo, who was staring in awe of the power before him. "MISS LINAAA!" he cried, a sad, pitiful sound. The sorceress shook her head slowly, and stepped back several paces, warning Xellos and Zelgadis to stay back.
BOOM.
The Hellmaster's Temple was reduced to rubble in an instant. Phibrizzo was banished to the Astral Plane, where he would lie in wait for many a day. Lina dropped onto her knees, the ground below her speckled with tears—of both joy, and sadness. The "Marionette Crown" around her head remained unbroken, save for a few tiny cracks. "Will it always be there?" Zelgadis asked Xellos. The Mazoku nodded solemnly.
"I…I can't believe it…" Lina sobbed. "For the first time since I was little…I'm free! But still…I'm going to have difficulty getting used to it…not being near Phibrizzo. After I lost my memory, he became nice, you know—all truth and smiles. He really did love me, but I didn't give him a chance." Xellos knelt beside the sorceress, his amethyst eyes fully open. "Listen to me, Lina." he commanded. Lina glanced up at him, tears falling from her ruby-red eyes.
"Phibrizzo loved you, it's true, but his methods—those aren't the true way to gain a person's love. Trickery, deceit—those aren't right, you need to show your emotions in your own way. Show your true personality—it helps. Of course, this IS a Mazoku talking." Zelgadis blinked. That speech—that speech that made PERFECT SENSE—came from his best friend, the guy who thought they should make halipino-pepper flavored ice cream! "Hey, Xel, I didn't know you were a romantic type." the Chimera said with a smirk.
Xellos shrugged. "Oh, you learn a lot from being a Mazoku, especially if your master's a woman." he replied, standing up abruptly. "Now let's find Amelia and Naga."
Later, on the other side of the ruined Temple…
"OHOHOHOHOHO! Nothing like plundering a Mazoku Lord's servants, eh Amelia?" Naga boomed as she chowed down on a sausage. Amelia grinned and wiped the blood off of her pants. "Thanks to your healing spells, I feel great! I wish I hadn't bled so much, though. Blood's wicked hard to wash off." she said, and relieved a dying minor Mazoku of a gold belt with a pink rabbit's ear dangling from it. "Uh-huh, this'll do nicely." the younger Princess of Seiruun muttered to herself as she clipped the belt onto her middle. Naga shielded her eyes with a fork and shouted "Hey, it's Zel and Xel! And a girl!" Amelia immediantly straightened up, and raced toward the weary warriors. "EVERYBODYYY!" she squealed, and hugged both Xellos and Zelgadis. "How are you, Amelia? Oh yeah—this is Lina Inverse. She'll be moving in with us. Lina, this is Princess Amelia wil Tesla Seiluun, the second crowned Princess of Seiluun." The Chimera introduced them. "Hi." Lina said, holding out her bloodied hand. Amelia held out her own red-stained hand, and shook it. "Sorry about the blood, but Naga and I got wounded pretty bad. That and there were a few groups of livestock that needed healing as well." she said sheepishly. Lina shrugged. "Ah, no big deal." Naga abruptly stopped eating, and tripped across the massacred Mazoku minions to Lina. "Flat-chest! HA!" she taunted, shoving her chest into Lina's face. "AAAH!" the sorceress gave a muffled scream, and shouted "FIREBALL!" Naga was, in a few seconds, turned extra crispy. "Who the heck IS this bimbo?" Lina asked scornfully to Amelia. "That's my sister…Naga." Amelia said, blushing hotly. "Oh. Oops." The sorceress shrugged. Zelgadis paled. "I'm beginning to think we might regret this…" he muttered to Xellos, who was grinning broadly. "Oh, she's staying, Zel. Look at all the chaos she's creating! Marvolous!" the Mazoku muttered back, chuckling under his breath. Lina turned towards the two young men and uttered the sentence that sealed the fate of the five companions, and started what would be known as the Himitsu War:
"Sooo, how many miles away is Sairaag, anyway?"
Okay, one more chapter left to go: the Epilogue! Remember, R&R! I'll give you Lina's headband if you do!