Chapter 15: Re-enter the Serpent
"Augh!" Gourry yelped, narrowly avoiding being squashed into a pancake by a large stone foot.
"Damnit!" Lina leaping clear of the golem's feet. "What the hell is she thinking?!"
"The same things you think when you're attacking a bandit camp?" Gourry offered, moving as far away from the rampaging golem and the sorceress who controlled it as he could.
"You're not helping!" she snapped back, teeth clenched.
Meanwhile, a nearby group of bandits seemed to be mounting some kind of counterattack against Naga. It was actually kind of pitiful, as they were disorganized and clearly scared to get too close. One of them lobbed a battle ax of some sort at the golem.
"Throwing away your weapon in the middle of a battle," commented Gourry, sounding somewhat awed. "How dumb can you get?"
"Look who's talking."
The battle ax soared through the air, spinning like a boomerang. The heavy weapon clonked the golem right in the chest and bounced, not appearing to leave any mark. The golem groaned and fell to bits.
"Another useless golem," Lina muttered. "Why am I not surprised?" Naga did not seem at all phased by this turn of events. Just as the golem fell apart, the buxom sorceress leapt off its shoulder, flipping gracefully through the air and landing on the ground.
"Well she certainly has Amelia's jumping style," Gourry remarked.
Lina was about to respond to this when the princess in question appeared through the settling dust at a run, Zelgadis a few paces behind her.
"Miss Lina! Mr. Gourry!" she cried happily. "There you are!"
"Amelia! Zel!" Lina breathed an inward sigh of relief. "You're ok." She wrinkled her nose. "Good grief you two stink! What is that stuff you're covered in?!"
"We don't know and we're probably happier that way," Zelgadis replied dryly.
"Well whatever it is, keep away from me, alright?!"
"Fine Miss Lina, but we have something more important to tell you. That woman over there-" Amelia gestured with a flick of her tail- "is my sister." She had expected Lina to be surprised, even shocked (considering the circumstances), but she didn't expect-
"Damnit!" Lina swore, flicking her tail angrily. At the same time, Gourry extremely pleased with himself.
"I told you it was her Lina!" he said triumphantly. Amelia and Zelgadis exchanged baffled looks. What were they talking about?
"So you mean to say," Lina said, looking somewhat dejected, "that that is, in fact, your older sister Gracia?"
"Y-yes," Amelia replied, still looking bewildered. "But how-?"
"There's no time to explain," Lina cut her off. "Naga could be our only way out of this situation."
Amelia glanced around the bandit camp. Most of it was in ruins. Bits of rubble that were the remains of Naga's golem were scattered everywhere. Amelia saw her sister nearby sorting through a pile of treasure. "Over here!" She and Lina bounded over to her, Gourry and Zelgadis following a little uncertainly.
As they got closer, Naga suddenly sneezed. She sneezed again, before breaking into a sneezing fit. "Oh dear," Amelia said, stopping suddenly.
"What is it?"
"I forgot that Gracia's allergic to dogs…" Amelia and Lina both stopped, looking intently at Gourry and Zelgadis.
"Huh? Why're you looking at me?" Gourry looked confused. Although at least they weren't giving him that "let's-put-him-drag" look again…
"Hey, I'm a wolf, not a dog!" Zelgadis added, looking.
Lina ignored him. "You stay here while me and Amelia go talk to her. Yes, you too Zel. Just to be on the safe side."
"Alright fine," Zel grumbled, still looking annoyed. "But how are you going to talk to her if she can't understand a word you say?"
"Hah! You forget, Mr. Zelgadis, that we are sisters, and we share a special bond!" Amelia explained, going into "Justice" mode again. "As long as there is a raging love of Justice in our hearts, no language barrier is insurmountable!"
If that's the case, then we're all in a lot of trouble, Lina thought cynically.
Naga examined her findings. "Pretty skimpy pickings for a camp this size," she murmured, disappointed. "Perhaps they have another treasure trove elsewhere?" There was a tug at her cape. Naga looked down. The culprit was a small cat. Black-tabby fur covered its back and the top of its head and face like a cloak. Its legs, under belly, and the front of its neck were all white. Behind it stood another cat, slightly larger. Unlike the other one, this cat's fur was all one uniform color- orange.
"Well, aren't you cute?" Naga smiled, before turning back to her treasure. Sure they were cute (she'd always been more of a cat person), but there was treasure to be sorted through!
One of the cats meowed loudly. Naga turned. Both felines were looking at her intently. It was actually a little creepy. The tabby meowed again.
"Sorry little kitties, I don't have any food for you." And speaking of food…
The cats exchanged a look and began meowing at each other quietly. If Naga didn't know better, she'd say they were talking to each other!
The tabby began scratching at the ground. Curious, Naga crouched down for a closer look. The scratchings almost looked like letters…
"A… M… E… L… I… A…" Naga read each letter aloud as it was scratched into the dirt. She gasped as realization hit. "Amelia? Sister?" The cat nodded vigorously. Naga gaped. "But how..?" She was interrupted by the orange feline's meowing. It was gesturing at the four letters it had scratched in the dirt.
"Lima?" Naga looked confused. "As in lima beans?" The cat sweat-dropped, and erased the third letter with its paw.
"Lina?" That name rang a bell, but she couldn't remember… It hit her like a ton of bricks. "Lina Inverse?!" The cat nodded, looking relieved.
Naga looked back and forth between the two cats, eyes agog. "What happened to you?"
It took the better part of an hour, but after a lot of miming and scratching words in the dirt, Lina and Amelia were able to convey the gist of their situation to the elder Seyruun princess.
"So let me guess," Naga said, looking amused, "You want me, the great Naga, to find a counterspell for you?" Lina nodded grudgingly. Naga laughed. They all winced. "Very well then! I'm guessing that I can probably find one some where in this camp, so I'll start here." She smirked. "But of course, in exchange for doing this, you'll have to treat me to dinner." She laughed loudly. Amelia looked shocked.
"Gracia! That's not very Just of you!
"Forget it Amelia," Lina replied, sighing. "I expected this sort of thing. At least she's helping us." In the dirt she scratched "FINE."
Naga smirked. "Alright then, I'll meet you back here in the morning. Levitation!" Rising up in to the air, she disappeared into the night.
"Well?" Zelgadis asked, rejoining the group. "Did it work?"
Lina nodded. "Yeah, she's going to search the camp for a counterspell and meet us here in the morning. But let's go somewhere else and talk about it. I don't wanna be caught in the open if any of those bandits return."
Outside of the camp, they found a nice, secluded cave, big enough for the four of them to fit into comfortably.
"Alright Miss Lina, I want you to explain something," Amelia said, settling down on the ground. "How do you know my sister? And why didn't you ever tell me?"
"Right then," Lina sighed. She had been expecting this… "Well, long story short, Naga was my traveling companion when I was younger, and she called herself my 'greatest and foremost rival.' To answer your other question Amelia, when I was traveling with her, I just knew her as 'Naga the White Serpent.' I had no idea she was your sister. But anyways, we traveled for while, but she wandered off on her own shortly before I met Gourry. And that basically it," Lina took a deep breath and finished.
"I have a question," Zelgadis cut in, somewhat impatiently. "What the was the deal with that outfit your sister was wearing?!" He had a hard time wrapping his head around the concept that someone who dressed like Naga could be related to the Seyruun family.
"Oh, um, well…" Amelia looked a little embarrassed. "I'm not really sure myself… She said something about mommy's closet," she mumbled. Seeing the odd looks she was getting, she added, "Daddy always said that Gracia really takes after mommy." That didn't help much.
Amelia, just what kind of wacko was your mother? Lina wondered, a little disturbed. There was an awkward silence. Finally, Lina broke it with a yawn.
"Whatever," she said tiredly. "I'm beat. 'Night." One by one, they all followed her example, and curled up to go to sleep.
A/N: Well, I had a snow day yesterday, and as a result, I was able to get most of this chapter written. I finished the rest today, and here you have it! I think this is my longest chapter so far. Yay!
Regarding Naga taking after her mother: I read an excelent fanfic once called "Prince Charming," by Phizzy-chan. It is one of the only stories (as far as I know) that focuses on Prince Phil's past and how he met his wife. One of the things that I really liked about that story was that his wife was almost exactly like Naga. She had Naga's laugh, fashion taste, and personality (though there were some minor differences). Heck, she's even called "Naga the Sorceress!" Anyhoo, that's where the idea for Gracia/Naga taking after her mother comes from. In other words, it belongs to Phizzy-chan, not me!
And I have finally figured out how this story will end! This means that I'm not gonna get into one of those annoying situations where you've started a fanfic and halfway through you suddenly realize you've no idea how to end it or what to write next. Yay! But the ending's still a bit of a ways off. It's not written down (not yet anyways), but I have the general idea laid out in my head.
I've heard many author's comment on the fact that stories have a tendency of going where they please. You know what? They're right. For example, when I was originally working this out in my head, I had no plans for Naga show up again after the prologue and have an important role in the story. And I'd had no intentions of bringing Xellos into this period. One of life's delightful oddities.
This author's note is getting long, so until next time mes amis!
Don't forget to R&R!