Disclaimer

nikka-chi: I don't own, but I really really want to own Xelloss:(

Xelloss: Whatever are you talking about, nikka-san? You do own me:D

nikka-chi: Omg really?! :D

Xelloss: Why, of course! I am forever under your command...just as long as you give Lina-san and I more lemony chapters.

Lina: Do it and I'll kill you. T-T

Zelas: Ahem, Xelloss? Just who are you forever under commandment of again?

Xelloss: Err, why you of course Juo-sama. 'sweat drop'

Zelas: That's what I thought.

nikka-chi: D;

NOTE: I am not like, an official beta reader or whatever, but I am panda-chan's (MoonPrincess623) beta person! She is an amazing writer and has the most freaking great potential EVER!

:D IF U LIKE MY STORY THEN READ HERS! Chaos Girl DO IT OR NO FRENCH TOAST! T-T

And of course, a biiiiiiig thank you to all of my loyal readers who have been keeping up with this story and giving me the confidence I needed to go on! ;))))))

FRENCH TOAST IF YOU READ AND REVIEW!:0

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Lina awoke with a yawn, and propped herself onto her elbows lazily. Looking around the campground with one dreary eye open, she found herself not to be the only one awake. Hiyo was sitting cross-legged leaning against a tree, her striking blue eyes focused intently on Lina. Her mouth was set into a hard line, her face frozen in a mask of a mixture between anger and concentration.

Lina frowned, lifting an eyebrow expectantly. She had never seen Hiyo with such a serious expression, and directed at her no less. Maybe she was just a really hard thinker...

Hiyo blinked, as if just realizing Lina was there, and her face softened into a gentle smile. "Morning Ms. Lina, I was waiting for you to wake up. I wanted to bathe in that little spring we spotted on the way here, but I'm too afraid to go alone. You wouldn't mind coming to clean off with me, would you?"

Lina was still a little weary of Hiyo's change in mood, but brushed it off. What was she thinking, suspecting Hiyo? That was a laugh. "Sure, but let's make it fast. I don't want Xelloss spying on us." She replied as she rose to her feet, brushing herself off.

Hiyo nodded, glancing up in the tree Xelloss had inhabited last night, and frowned. "Ms. Lina?"

"Yeah?"

"Mr. Xelloss isn't here."

Lina rolled her eyes, turning to stare up into the tree as well. "Damn priest. He'll be back, don't worry. He always comes back...unfortunately." Hiyo couldn't supress a smile at the annoyed tone in Lina's voice, but hid it quickly at Lina's dagger glance.

"Anyway, he's not important. Let's go wash up." Hiyo nodded and trailed after Lina through the woods.

They reached the spring within the next ten minutes, and both stopped to admire the beautiful scenery. "Oh gosh Ms. Lina, it looks so beautiful." Hiyo breathed, stepping forward to run her fingers through the water.

"Yeah, you're right." Lina agreed, slipping her head band off her head. Walking behind a tree, she rid herself of the rest of her attire hurriedly, shivering as the old morning air chilled her delicate skin. The russle of clothing and the small splash of water told her that Hiyo had slipped into the spring, and she stepped slowly from around the tree to follow suit.

They smiled at each other slightly, wading around in the water a bit. "Ms. Lina this feels so good, but this water feels like its been heated." Lina nodded sheepishly, pointed at herself. "Yeah that was me, I warmed it up a little while we were changing."

Hiyo laughed. "It's ok Ms. Lina, it's not a bad thing."

Lina felt a bit uncomfortable at the sudden awkward silence that fell, and shared a nervous smile with the little sorceress. Averting her gaze away, she bit her lip and tried to think of a way to start up a more comfortable conversation. What kind of things were you supposed to say to a naked younger girl with boobs three times the size of yours?

She opened her mouth to speak, but Hiyo beat her to it, her face tilted upwards towards the rising sun. "Ms. Lina what will happen after you've touched the spear? Do you really wish for that kind of destruction?"

Lina shook her head, and lifted her eyes to gaze up at the pink-orange rays in the sky as well. "No, I think you misunderstand me Hiyo. I want to end this war, because I am unofficially the one who started it, but I am not strong enough. I don't want the spear for world domination, or destruction. You didn't think I wanted to end this world, did you?"

Hiyo turned her head, and Lina did as well, crystal blue meeting smoky amber boldly. "Of course not Ms. Lina. I was just curious." Her voice lacked the usual happy-go-lucky luster that the normal Hiyo spoke with, and instead it was replaced with a steady and firm fully female's voice.

Lina squinted, assessing Hiyo cautiously. This was quite a change, not exactly a bad one, but a surprise none the less. Suddenly Hiyo had the air of an elder about her, a touch-me-not aura that warded off anyone within their right mind. Where was the Hiyo of innocence, the young naive Hiyo?

"Ah, were you now Hiyo-san?" A smooth voice interrupted her thoughts, and broke of her and Hiyo's starring contest, bringing both pairs of eyes up to the dark figure looming in the trees above. With a screech, Lina sank into the waters neck-deep and yelled up at the intruder, "Don't you know anything about privacy?!"

Xelloss chuckled, leaning back against the trunk of the tree while still standing on the branch. "Of course I do Lina-san, but that doensn't mean I have to respect yours."

With a growl, Lina stood up while covering her bosom, and screamed, "FIREBALL!" The echo of his laugh remained even after he teleported out of sight, leaving only the charred tree behind. "Stupid ass..."

She turned to Hiyo, who had her slender arms crossed over her chest, she seemed to have reverted back to normal. "I don't think he'll be coming back, but there's no telling with him."

"Ms. Lina...Mr. Xelloss sort of creeps me out."

Lina laughed, almost hysterically, and sank back into the waters. "Welcome to the club."

OoO

"Where the hell are they?" Zelgadiss asked himself, scratching his head and taking a thousandth look around the campground.

"You wouldn't happen to be looking for Lina-san and Hiyo-san, would you now?" Xelloss's voice sounded just behind him. Zel turned to face the smiling priest grimly. "You know where they are, don't you?"

"Yes, indeed I do."

"Are they hurt?"

"...Maybe. Who knows?"

"You know, damn it!"

Xelloss chuckled, patting Zelgadiss on the shoulder compassionately. "Don't get so worked up, Zelly-san. You might faint."

Zelgadiss shrugged him off and took a swing for him, but Xelloss dodged, standing just next to his fist. "Where are they?" Zel growled, eyeing him closely.

Tapping him on the nose, Xelloss teleported into the tree. "Sore wa himitsu desu, Zelgadiss-san!"

"Get down here, damn you!"

"Ah, but why? It looks to me like you have more pleasurable company."

Zelgadiss frowned up at him n confusion before turning to find Lina and Hiyo climbing out from the bushes, their hair still damp from the bath. "Hey Zel, morning." Lina greeted with a grin, but Zelgadiss was too busy chasing Xelloss through the trees to notice. "I'll kill you Xelloss!"

Xelloss chuckled while teleporting from tree branch to tree branch, Zelgadiss only one step behind him as they raced through the forest. "This is so nice of you, Zelgadiss-san, offering me my morning meal." He called, dodging an Elmekia Lance with another laugh.

Lina rolled her eyes and started packing up, motioning for Hiyo to help her. "Shouldn't we stop them?" Hiyo asked, padding over to wrap up the mats. "Nah, they'll settle it themselves. Xelloss only wants his breakfast."

Hiyo gave Lina a confused look, "Mr. Zelgadiss stole his breakfast?"

Lina laughed, thumping Hiyo on the shoulder. "That's a good one. Heh, but no. Xelloss is a mazoku, and mazoku feed off of negative emotions. It's one of the reasons he travels with us actually, we're more like a buffet to him than anything else."

"Ah...I see. So Mr. Xelloss was only teasing us for harmless fun?"

"You could put it that way, although nothing with Xelloss is harmless."

As if if on cue, a thunderous cracking sound exploded through the forest, and they turned to find Zelgadiss and Xelloss to be the cause. Zel was breathing heavily, his face reddened in anger as he glared at the priest, who stood atop a cracked tree obviously cut down in the hot pursuit.

Lina shook her head, turning back to concentrate on her work. "See? I told you." She mumbled, buckling the strap to her carry bag. Hiyo nodded, more in amazement than understandment, and picked up her own bag.

"Alright you two, that's enough playing around! I want to see this city of chaos with my own eyes."

OoO

"Who are you? No one passes through these gates without authorization, or official buisness with his royal highness." Lina put her hands on her hips, rolling her eyes at the guards high and mighty tone. He loomed over them at what she guessed to be 6 feet tall, or maybe taller, his shoulders broad and his chin squared. That didn't mean that he could boss around the all powerful sorceress, Lina Inverse.

"Listen here, tiny, we do have buisness with 'his highness'. So if you'd just..." She stepped around him, reached out a hand to push the gates open, but he swatted her away. "I don't think so, little girl."

Lina's eye twitched, her eyes blazing as she raised them to meet his. "What did you just say?"

The guard gave her a slow, sly smile, realizing her weak spot. "I said 'Little Girl'." He taunted, sharing a laugh with the other guard on duty.

Hiyo raised her hands to cover her eyes, sighing. "Oh kami..."

Zelgadiss snorted, turning his head the other direction. "Here we go again."

Xelloss lifted two fingers to his lips, a worried expression on his face. "Oh dear."

"That's it!" Lina said, rolling up her sleeves. "I'm going to give you one last chance, before I kill you both." They laughed again, almost doubling over. "And what's a little stick like you gonna do to hurt us?" Their taunts brought another growl from the little sorceress, and a bearing of her canine-like teeth.

Lina smirked, raising her hands slowly, a spell forming on her lips. Both guards exchanged baffled glances and backed up, cowering in the obvious power that surrounded her.

Her cape flapping behind her while her hair whipped on the wind, she poised her palms in a sphere just in front of her, bracing her feet firmly. "DRAGON SLAVE!"

Needless to say, there wasn't much left of the guards...or the gates...or half of the city for that matter.

Lina climbed onto a piece of stone, peering above the chaos she had created. Half of the city of Nara had been reduced to crumbs, and yet no one gave her a glare or even a strange look. They all stared at her with tortured eyes, most of them beaten and bloodly-and not from her dragon slave.

It looked as if the gates had served as a no-way-to-escape sort of thing, and most of the people around her only gazed past her to the green grass and wilderness beyond. "Jesus..." She whispered, feeling the hurt from these poor people sink into her own heart.

Even the children looked as if they had been whipped mercilessly, and one she spotted didn't even have a hand. She cringed, the sudden smell of dead bodies wafting into her senses. Turning away, she turned to throw up, choking violently.

Standing to wipe her mouth with tears in her eyes, she climbed over the last of the rubble to officially enter the city. There were dead bodies scattered everywhere, and among them were people barely alive themselves, either mourning the dead or staring at the newly arrived visitors.

Hiyo put a hand on Lina's shoulder, her other hand clamped over her mouth. "Ms. Lina...what...dear kami..." She fell to her knees, her whole body trembling with shock. Lina glanced down at her, wanting to give some sort of support, but she knew that this was no time to fall apart.

Zelgadiss took her stead, lifting Hiyo up and into his arms bridal-style. "Lina what are we going to do?" He gave her a worried look, glancing between her and Hiyo.

She turned back to him, her face grim. "This doesn't change anything, we continue as planned."

"But what about these people? Shouldn't you help them?" Xelloss asked, stepping over a bleeding corpe, fresh from death.

Shaking her head, Lina turned away to let her gaze roam the sea of faces around them. "It won't do any good. The only thing we can do for these people is to kill him, this king. Then we focus on anything else we can do, if they are still alive by the time we're done."

Slowly stepping forward, she pointed ahead. "And that's where we'll find the culprit."

Zelgadiss squinted, shifting Hiyo in his arms. "Is that a castle?"

"As far as I can tell it is, so let's get moving." Lina replied, motioning for them to follow as she ventured further into the layers of dead bodies and bloodied people.

The people didn't make any move to stop them, only stepped out of their way, as if they just knew that they were there to save them. All eyes were on them as they made their way to the black castle beyond.

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Didn't have time to put this on 'Word' so if there are mistakes I apologise:)