A/N: I do not own The Slayers or any of the properties associated with it so on with the story.
Filia Ul Copt stared up at the castle as she approached it, smiling at baby Val when he tugged at her golden blonde locks while gurgling happily. He was such a sweet little rascal it was hard to be annoyed at him over it. Still, that last tug had been a touch painful. She had received her wedding invitation a week prior and was glad for a happy reason to visit her friends. Unfortunately it wasn't the only reason. Though she had broken all ties with her old temple and her people, one of them had managed to track her down in order for her to deliver a sealed letter to Lina Inverse. Apparently they thought delivering it themselves was too much of a hassle. Cepheid, she couldn't believe she'd never noticed just how stuffy her people tended to be. She could still be a bit stuffy herself at times, of course, but she was becoming skilled at being more casual. It was a gradual thing.
Regardless, here she was, baby Val perched on her hip and letter in hand, now being escorted to Amelia's chambers by a messenger that had apparently been sent down by the princess to greet her. Odd, considering that she hadn't sent word ahead, but perhaps the Seyruun royal had spotted her from her study window. She didn't know how close to being right she was in that regard, but back to other matters. She had no idea what her people could want with Miss Lina now but it had to be important as she had been specifically instructed not to tamper with the letter in any way. Honestly, the nerve of some people to suspect her of being someone who tampers with other people's mail. She only hoped it wasn't anything that involved another prophecy.
0o0o0o0o0
Lina smiled as Filia entered Amelia's study, the golden dragon returning the expression with genuine warmth.
"Hey, Filia, long time no see," she greeted the ex-priestess, stopping short of giving her a hug. The little bundle of energy she was carrying would have made it difficult.
"Miss Lina, it really has been too long," Filia agreed, hoisting little Val a bit higher on her hip. "This is baby Val." The little ancient dragon blinked up at Lina in evident curiosity, looking absolutely precious as he did so.
"Oh, you're so cute I could eat you up!" Lina gushed despite herself, pinching his little cheeks gently as she did so. "Much better than when you were trying to kill me."
"Miss Lina, please," Filia hissed, glancing down at the boy pointedly. The sorceress could have smacked herself for being so dense. Of course she wouldn't want anything of that nature to be discussed around the boy. She was about to apologize when the little guy reached out and grabbed a handful of hair, yanking painfully.
"Ow!" Lina yelped, head tilting in order to alleviate the pain somewhat. "Hey, quit that!" Baby Val's response was to tug again, giggling merrily.
"Sorry, Miss Lina, he has a bad habit of hair pulling," Filia apologized for the boy, managing to get him to let go after a moment. Lina grunted, rubbing her scalp.
"Yeah, so I noticed." She motioned for the dragon to follow. "Come on, the others are in the sitting room." She led the way into a relatively small room off of the study, with two chairs and a couch decorating it. Amelia and Zel were sitting on the couch while Gourry stood looking out the window behind one of the chairs. Lina noticed Filia pull a double take when she spotted Claire sitting in the other chair. "Oh, right, this is Claire." Hearing her name, the girl in question stood, bowing politely.
"Claire, Filia." Lina gestured to the ex-priestess. "Filia, that's Claire." She then went to sit down. "Make nice."
"Nice to meet you, Miss Filia," she greeted the golden dragon rather formally, somewhat refreshing compared to the greetings she was used to getting from Lina's intrepid group.
"Nice to meet you as well, Claire," Filia replied, smiling pleasantly. "This is my son, Val." The baby dragon was staring at the young woman intently, not with curiosity as he had with Lina but with some emotion neither woman could identify.
"Hi there, Val," Claire said sweetly, leaning down to the boy's level and smiling pleasantly. "Aren't you the sweetest little thing?" The boy buried his face against his mother's side, Filia appearing puzzled.
"Well, that's odd, he's not usually so shy," she remarked, then shrugged. "I'm sure he'll…" She trailed off, her nose twitching slightly.
"Is something the matter, Miss Filia?" Claire asked nervously as the woman leaned in towards her, sniffing lightly.
"You smell like…" She trailed off again, eyes narrowing into dangerous slits before turning to face Lina. "Miss Lina, how could you become associated with another one?!"
"I did what now?" Lina asked, obviously confused, Zel and Amelia looking up worriedly at the dragon's tone. Gourry, however, remained oblivious.
"I can understand having to associate with that namagomi* Xellos out of necessity, but this is too much!" Filia exclaimed, moving away from Claire, hugging Val to her protectively.
"Filia, slow down, what are you talking about?" Zel inquired calmly as he stood to join them, hands held out and to his sides. The dragon was clearly agitated enough as it was without feeling threatened by his approach.
"I'm talking about THAT!" She cried, pointing at Claire accusingly, the girl flinching back reflexively. "Oh, how could you, Miss Lina?!"
"What's wrong with Claire, Miss Filia?" Amelia asked, glancing at the girl in question who looked ready to bolt from all the attention.
"What's wrong?" Filia asked, clearly surprised. "You're telling me that after associating with that namagomi for so long you can't tell?" Now Lina had a sinking suspicion regarding what the dragon was on about.
"Filia, you can't mean that you think Claire is…?" Lina trailed off, hoping that she didn't but somehow knowing she did.
"Why else would she stink like one if she's not?!" Filia inquired; outraged that Lina would question her regarding such a thing.
"Well, she was travelling with Xellos for several days," Zel told her, having figured out what was wrong as well. "And he did apparently provide her with those clothes so it's not all that surprising."
"He what?" Again she was surprised and rightly so. Mazoku didn't go around helping people in any way, shape or form out of the blue. Lina sighed, feeling a headache coming on.
"Well, let's start at the beginning…"
0o0o0o0o0
"So you're telling me that Xellos was trying to use her somehow?" Filia inquired once the story was finished, not really all that surprised. Still, that smell was…ugh. How Zelgadis couldn't smell it was beyond her it stank so much. Of course she hadn't been able to smell it at all until after she had gotten so close to the girl.
"Apparently he thought there was something he needed in her memories…or so we believe." Lina shrugged, since it was only a theory. "Then he ditched her like yesterday's news."
"Well, good riddance to bad rubbish," Filia sniffed, her signature tea set sitting on the table between them in the study, sipping at a cup daintily. "She's much better off without that rotten namagomi meddling in her life." Lina hissed at her to be quiet, glancing back towards the sitting room.
"She still rather…shook up about it," Lina said quietly, earning an interesting look from Filia in return for her trouble. "What?"
"Why, Miss Lina, I had no idea you had developed a sense of tactfulness," Filia remarked, smiling in a teasing manner.
"Oh, be quiet," the sorceress grumbled, shifting in her seat uncomfortably. "I just don't want to deal with her moping around again." Filia giggled, taking another sip of her tea to hide a grin. She'd always known Lina was a good person at heart and here was the proof. She glanced down to check on Val, finding him where she had left him, sitting on the floor playing with his favorite stuffed bear. "Anyway, I have something to discuss with you."
"It's not another prophecy, is it?" Lina asked warily, Filia rolling her eyes at the tone of her question.
"I don't think so, Miss Lina, but I haven't read the letter," she admitted, pulling it out to give to the sorceress. "It's from the Council of Elders, the ruling body of my people." Lina blinked, shocked.
"Why would they want to talk to me?" She asked, as last she had heard they blamed her for the destruction of the temple to the Fire Dragon King. The only reason she wasn't blamed for the deaths of the golden dragons that had lived there was because of the prophecy preordaining it.
"I don't really know," Filia replied with hands folded in her lap as the fiery young woman opened it. "They only said that you had to read it." Lina shrugged, unfolding the parchment to study it.
Dear Miss Inverse,
We have been informed that you will be attending the wedding of Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun and Zelgadis Greywords within the next few weeks and hope this letter finds you in good health.
That was odd, considering that they had been really angry during their last encounter after the defeat of Dark Star. Whatever.
Regarding the purpose of our contacting you, it has come to our attention that certain unsettling events have been unfolding in the world at large as of late. As you have been exploring the world beyond the old barrier with your companion, Mister Gabriev, you might not be aware of them.
No kidding, as she hadn't exactly been paying attention to world events. And where did they get their information?
These events, while by themselves seemingly inconsequential, together form a pattern that we find to be most disconcerting. We fear we will have need of your services again soon and will likely be contacting you again should the need arise.
Signed,
The Council of Elders.
There was the official council seal of office next to it and…a note?
P.S.
We will take the damages done to the Fire Dragon King's temple into account when we decide upon your pay.
Lina growled, crumpling the paper up viciously. No wonder they had been all polite in the beginning of the letter. They were planning on blackmailing her into doing whatever it was they wanted to repay them for the destruction of their stupid temple…which hadn't even been her damned fault in the first place! Well, alright, maybe the initial damage to the front gates but that had been an accident.
"Is something wrong, Miss Lina?" Filia asked, mildly concerned. She'd seen the pint sized sorceress angry before and it wasn't pretty.
"Oh, I'll say something's wrong," Lina snapped, tossing the crumpled letter the dragon's way. "The nerve of those old farts!" Filia read it over, frowning slightly.
"But that wasn't your fault at all, Miss Lina," she protested, having reached the post script. "That was Va-I mean Dark Star's doing, not yours."
"Yeah, well, tell that to them," Lina gripped, crossing her arms moodily. "I mean, you blow up a town or two by mistake and everyone's out to blame you for everything."
"Well, I have no idea why they'd think that way," Filia muttered, the sarcasm slightly thick as she did her best to flatten out the letter. Fortunately Lina hadn't seemed to have heard her. "Anyway, the letter is very vague otherwise. For now you shouldn't worry yourself over it too much." She gave up on smoothing out the wrinkles in the parchment. "It could turn out to be a series of coincidences and nothing more than that."
"Yeah, well, with my luck it'll turn into another half baked quest to save the world," Lina muttered sullenly, a little tired of baling the world out of its problems. She'd already saved it three times already. Or was it four? Had Copy Rezo counted as a threat against the entire world, or just herself personally? "Just when I'd gotten back into the swing of ridding the world of bandits…shouldn't this be more an actual hero's alley than mine?"
"But, Miss Lina, you are a hero," Filia reminded her, reaching out to lay a gentle hand over the sorceress's own gloved one as it rested on top of the table. "Time and again you've saved the world. If that fails to make one a hero, I don't know what would otherwise." Lina blushed at the ego stroking.
"Yeah, I am pretty amazing, huh?"
0o0o0o0o0
Claire sat in the sitting room, glad that the others weren't there at the moment. She felt on the edge of breaking down or something. Xellos, the one who had helped her so much, was actually a creature that fed on the suffering of others, at least if Lina and her friends were to be believed. But that Filia woman seemed to also know about it, so it couldn't be something they had staged. What could he have thought that she knew, then, that would have prompted him to go to so much trouble for her? She certainly couldn't think of a single thing.
Everything before waking up in the cabin was a total blank. Did she really have amnesia or had the cleric been right? Did she not have amnesia after all, as he had claimed? But why wouldn't she have any memories, then? It just didn't make any sense to her at all. She sighed heavily, staring down at her hands in her lap. What was she going to do now?
"Um, hey, are you okay?"
0o0o0o0o0
Claire looked up at his question, Gourry standing in the doorway of the study, concerned for the young woman. She'd been looking really sad since Lina had told her about how…how what's his face was a bad guy. Gosh, he was really terrible with names.
"Oh, yes, I'm fine," she replied softly, smiling up at him shakily. Gourry may not have been the sharpest tool in the shed but he could tell when someone was hiding something. Like Claire was right now.
"Are you sure?" He asked, stepping into the room as he did so. "Cause if you're hurting I'm sure Amelia could fix whatever's wrong in a jiffy."
"I don't think Miss Amelia can fix what's wrong with me, Mr. Gourry," she said softly, the smiling fading away like it had never been there in the first place.
"Why not?" He asked, sitting in the chair opposite her, careful of his sword. "She's a really good healer. Well, not as good as my friend Sylphiel, but she's still really got a knack for it."
"Thank you for your concern, Mr. Gourry, but I'll be fine," she told him, Gourry not buying it. Something was wrong and if it wasn't that she was hurt physically then it was something else. Something he wasn't sure there was anything he could do about.
"Well, then what about Lina?" He suggested, brightening instantly. Lina always knew what to do about things like this. "You'd be amazed at how good she is at fixing things, despite all the bad things people say about her." Claire arched an eyebrow at this remark.
"Like what?"
"Well, she always being called 'the enemy of all who live'," he snorted, arms crossing over his armor covered chest. "Pretty silly, considering how many times she's saved the world."
"She has?" Claire asked, sounding amazed. He nodded sagely.
"Yeah, there was that time she beat that dark lord, Shabadingo," he recounted, not realizing he'd butchered the dark lord's name quite badly. "Then there was that, uh, that Frisbee kid." Pint sized little monster. "Oh, then she brought down that Dark Star thing." Claire blinked several times. "What?"
"Who's Shabadingo? And what Frisbee kid?"
"Gourry's always been terrible with names." Zel had decided to join them, leaning against the mantle of the fireplace. "That Shabadingo is actually Shabranigdo, dark lord of the mazoku."
"Xellos..." She trailed off then seemed to shake herself. "He told me about him." The chimera arched an eyebrow at this.
"He did?" She nodded. "Well, what he told you may or may not have been accurate, as he was playing the role of a priest of Cepheid, chief enemy of the dark lord." He looked thoughtful. "That's one fight I won't ever forget." Gourry nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, he was one bad guy," the blond man murmured, staring into the cold fireplace as he spoke. "Lina nearly killed herself fighting him, too."
"What happened?" Claire asked, almost whispering in her sense of awe.
"She had to call on the power of an even greater lord than Shabranigdo," Zelgadis replied, expression carefully guarded. "Even then we were lucky, considering that the spell she used turned out to be quite different from what she had initially thought." Gourry's own expression darkened.
"Summoning the Lord of all dark lords," he said quietly, eyes intense as he remembered it clearly as if it had just happened. "The Lord of Nightmares."
"Such a thing actually exists?" Claire inquired, earning a nod from Zelgadis in return.
"Few know it, but the Golden Lord actually created this world from the sea of chaos," he explained, pushing away from the fireplace to pace to the window. "We learned that the Giga Slave, that's the name of the spell, actually called on the Lord of Nightmares Herself instead of just calling power from Her."
"Lina called Her into her body in order to save us from that Frisbee kid," Gourry continued, hands tightening into fists. "We nearly lost her that day."
"How is it that you can remember what happened that day in its entirety but can't keep Phibrizo's name straight?" Zelgadis asked, slightly amused by the quirk. Gourry, however, didn't respond. "Gourry?"
"Huh?" He seemed to come out of whatever mood he had fallen into. "Sorry, what were we talking about?" Zelgadis sighed, not at all surprised.
"Never mind, Gourry. Never mind."
0o0o0o0o0
"So, how excited are you to finally be getting married?" Filia asked, obviously excited herself. Amelia smiled warmly at the thought.
"Oh, it's all so unreal," she sighed dreamily, still amazed at how lucky she was to be marrying the man she loved and not some politically arranged fop. "Mr. Zelgadis is such a wonderful person."
"Seems like a lot of hassle just to make things official," Lina muttered, not really thinking much of weddings herself after that debacle of a fake one years back. The things she did for money.
"You're just jealous that she and Zelgadis are getting married before you and Gourry have so much as even kissed," Filia teased, grinning as she did so. She was rewarded by the now blush sporting sight of a flustered Lina.
"You don't know what you're talking about!" She snapped to cover her embarrassment. "Like I would want to kiss that overgrown jellyfish."
"Oh, come on Miss Lina," Amelia began, amazed at how stubborn her friend was being. "You know you care about Mr. Gourry very much." Lina looked away, snorting softly.
"It doesn't matter what I feel," she grumbled, the blush starting to fade now. "He only sees me as a kid he has to look out for."
"But Miss Lina, how can you be sure of that?" Filia prodded her, picking baby Val up as he reached for her from his place on the floor with his bear. "Have you talked to him about it?"
"You try talking about things like that with that brick headed oaf." Lina shifted uncomfortably, her words biting in an effort to hide the fact that she hadn't so much as tried to for the last two years.
"You shouldn't talk about Mr. Gourry like that when it's obvious you don't mean it, Miss Lina," Amelia scolded her, though she wasn't exactly surprised. Lina had never been comfortable talking about personal stuff. "What if he heard you just now?"
"I call him stuff like that all the time and he doesn't seem to mind," she said dismissively, obviously not concerned about it. "Speaking of the jellyfish, where is he?" He'd been at the window a few minutes ago.
"I think he and Zelgadis went into the sitting room to check on that girl, Claire," Filia said, frowning slightly now that she was thinking of said girl again. "Miss Lina, how can you be sure she's not trying to fool you all by acting like she's got amnesia?"
"Well, I've always prided myself as an excellent judge of character and she just strikes me as a lost little girl," Lina replied, though there was nothing little about the girl's perfect figure. Some women had all the luck. "What really bothers me is Xellos."
"What about him?" Filia asked tightly, letting Val play with the fingers of one hand in an effort to distract herself. No need to get angry when the mazoku wasn't even present.
"The fact he just up and left, that's what." Lina leaned back in her seat, thinking. "Why would he just leave like that after going to so much trouble to get her to Seyruun?"
"Maybe he got called away," Amelia suggested, thinking now as well. "Don't all mazoku have to answer to a lord of some kind?"
"Yeah, and if I remember correctly the one Xellos answers to is the Greater Beast," Lina murmured, rubbing her chin slightly. "Of course, even if we happen to run across the fruitcake again he'll just dodge our questions."
"He is rather infuriating," Filia growled, hating how arrogant the creature was. "I could just…oh, look at me, getting so upset over a mazoku." She took a deep, cleansing breath. She didn't need to get baby Val crying because she'd gotten angry in front of him again. That had happened once before at her shop, when a customer had tried to walk out with a small vase meant for holding flowers without paying for it. She didn't want to see the boy cry ever again as a result.
"Don't worry about it, Miss Filia," Amelia assured her, smiling slightly in encouragement. "Just think of all the fun we're going to have in a few days."
"More like the fun you're going to have," Lina jibbed, poking her friend in the ribs.
"You know you'll be having much more fun at the reception than I will," Amelia shot back, thinking of all the food that Lina and Gourry would be gorging themselves on. "Speaking of which, do you and Gourry have clothes you can wear to the wedding." Lina shook her head.
"No, we don't exactly carry around formal wear during our travels, Amelia," she said, tone a little dry. "We tend to use the space they'd take up for food and treasure we've nabbed."
"Well, we'll just have to rectify that," Amelia began, an impish gleam in her eyes at the thought of finally getting Lina into another dress. "Now won't we?"
"Uh, Amelia, you're kinda creeping me out…" Lina trailed off nervously, not liking the look in her eyes one bit.
"Oh, come now, Miss Lina, don't you want to make me happy?" Amelia asked, pouting slightly. Lina twitched.
"This is blackmail," she muttered, narrowing her eyes at the princess in annoyance. Said princess went from pouting to smirking in an instant.
"Well, I did learn from the best."
0o0o0o0o0
Borin stood in the room where all the gifts for the wedding were being kept, having easily gained access as he was captain of the royal guard. Where was it? Where was the gift the red haired she-devil had brought with her? It had to be among the pile somewhere…but where? It couldn't be too hard to find, being the only oversized hunk of rock in the bunch. There was only one problem, apparently.
"It's not here," he growled, clearly frustrated. That meant that the Inverse witch still had it with her. Moving against her openly would be a bad idea, even he knew that. So how to get it from her without starting a fight that he would likely lose? Subterfuge wasn't one of his strong points but…but what other real choice did he have? Time to visit an old friend in the palace dungeons.
A/N: Didn't think I'd forgotten about those guys, did you? Anyway, that's another chapter down and who knows how many more to go. Even I haven't really decided how long I'm going to have this be. As always, let me know what you think, even if you hate it. Though why you'd have read this far while hating it is beyond me. Later!