Ghost Slayers

Chapter Thirty-four

By Relm

It had taken Lina almost an hour of talking and waiting on hold to get her banking affairs in order. The bank promised to deposit the cheques but Lina was going to have to come in the next day to sign for them. Otherwise there would be a hold on the cheques until Lina came in. And even though she narrowly escaped death just a little while ago Lina assured them she would come in. Truthfully Lina didn't want to set foot in that bank for a while but she had no choice. With all the bills piling up the Ghost Slayers' bank account was in desperate need of funds.

Lina let out a deep sigh as she looked over at her ghostly savoir. Zelgadis was exactly as he was before she had gotten on the phone, asleep on the ground. Looking at Zelgadis at that moment made Lina realize just how tired she really was. She knew she was physically tired but hadn't realized she was sleepy too. And there was nothing worse than to watch someone sleep when you were sleepy yourself. God did Lina want to take a nap at that moment.

'I could call Filia or Sylphiel.' Lina thought to herself while looking down at her cell phone still in her hands. Her thumb hovered over the keys but she decided against it. If they had a working elevator then Lina would have definitely done it, but they didn't. And Lina didn't want to climb all those stairs.

Letting out another deep sigh Lina decided she was just going to close her eyes for a moment. It was a bad thing for a sleepy person to do. To a sleepy person it might sleep like a good idea but the moment those lids closed it was off to dreamland.

...

While Sylphiel worked on examining the bullet Xellos, Filia and Slimer watched her intently. Though Filia had worked well enough under prying eyes unaware of anyone in the room that wasn't the case for Sylphiel. She did try to concentrate on what she was doing but it was hard when she felt three pairs of eyes on her.

"Could you three please do something else?" Sylphiel pleaded with them. "It's hard to work when I feel like I'm being examined under a microscope."

"Hey I did it." Filia retorted back feeling rather pleased with herself.

"You didn't even know they were there." Sylphiel whined with a frown.

The two said 'pests' glared at Filia. It seems they were getting bored as Slimer decided to show Xellos just how many petri dishes he could stuff into his mouth.

"Well what have you found so far?"

"Nothing. Which is unusual." Sylphiel mumbled more to herself than to Filia.

"What do you mean?"

"Well this bullet came out of a gun and was shot into a person's body. No matter what there should be trace of something on it. But it's almost as though it's been cleaned in bleach or something. Or Slimer's goo. It's completely clean." Sylphiel exclaimed with a sigh.

Filia glared at Slimer. "Did you lick the bullet when I wasn't looking?"

Slimer smiled with all eleven of his petri dishes showing. He shook his head accidently dropping a few.

"Even though it does seem like something Slimer would do I doubt he did it. You were pretty focused on the bullet when I got in here so I doubt you let it get out of your sight enough for Slimer to do anything." Sylphiel rationalized.

"Well if Slimer didn't do anything to the bullet... basically what you're saying is that we have nothing to report to Lina." Filia clarified.

"Well the fact that we found nothing is something but yeah nothing that would give us a better understanding of what is happening to Mister Zelgadis." Sylphiel admitted. "I could redo the tests but I'm pretty sure I'll get the same results."

"Is there anything else you could try?"

Sylphiel shook her head. "Not anything I can think of. You?"

"No." Filia let out a sigh of her own. "Lina isn't going to be happy with this."

"I know. After everything she and Mister Zelgadis went through at the bank I'm sure she was hoping we could come up with something."

...

When Zelgadis woke up he felt like he had a weight on his chest. His whole body felt heavy even his eyes. He wanted to open them but he just couldn't muster up enough energy to lift those lids. This immobilization might have been concerning to the ghostly librarian but his mind was too muddled for him to care. Zelgadis' mind was completely fuzzy and he had no idea where he was or what had happened.

He tried to speak but the only sound that came out of Zelgadis' lips was a tortured moan. The sound of the moan echoed throughout the room making Zelgadis wonder exactly where he was. The ground underneath him felt cold and hard which further confused him.

'Where am I?' Zelgadis mentally wondered. 'What happened to me?' The more Zelgadis tried to remember the more he felt his head hurt. Whatever happened to him really took a toll on his body.

Though initially Zelgadis wasn't that upset about not being able to move the gravity of his situation was really starting to sink in. He was almost frantic as he tried to move. But alas Zelgadis remained as still as a statue. 'Calm down Zel.' Zelgadis told himself. 'Getting yourself all worked up isn't helping anything. Relax and focus. You can do this.'

It took a good couple minutes of intense focus for Zelgadis to finally muster enough energy to open his eyes. When he finally did he found he was surrounded by gray. Everything was blurry. He tried to move his head but instead just moved his eyes. As he did so his eyes fell upon something orangey red. Zelgadis blinked a few times till the blurry orangey red blob turned into the sleeping form of Lina Inverse. She was slumped against the Ghostslayersmobile almost like a discarded ragdoll.

"...Lina..." Zelgadis tried to alert the redhead. But his voice was quiet and raspy. It came out in a sad whisper.

The sleeping Ghost Slayer's boss failed to stir and still remained in her slumber.

"Lina..." Zelgadis tried again. This time it was little bit louder but not by much. This was frustrating for the librarian. "Lina!" He tried once more with as much volume as he could manage.

Maybe it was hearing her name or maybe it was feeling of having a set of eyes on her, but this time Lina stirred. "Oh crap I fell asleep?" Lina mumbled to herself while rubbing her eyes.

"You're awake now." Zelgadis commented in a near whisper.

Lina's eyes shot open right away. She looked down and was surprised to see Zelgadis awake. "Zel! You're awake! How are you feeling?"

"...tired... I can't move."

"Well that's understandable given how much blood you lost." Lina mused.

"...blood?" Zelgadis frowned in confusion.

"You don't remember what happened?" Lina prompted him.

"Not really... it's fuzzy."

"I was at the bank and you popped up because Xellos scared you. I made you hide in the wall but a group of bank robbers came rushing in."

"One of them was going to shoot you... I got in the way..." Zelgadis added starting to remember what happened.

"Yeah that's right. You saved my life but you were bleeding pretty badly. I brought you back here and Filia fished the bullet out. Your blood disappeared and the wound healed itself." Lina explained the rest.

"Oh." Zelgadis moved his right hand to feel for the wound on his stomach and it wasn't there. "My shirt is open." He realized feeling a little bashful.

Lina chuckled. "Well you went transparent after the bullet got removed so I couldn't exactly button it back up."

"And I'm on the parking lot floor..." Zelgadis mumbled as he slowly buttoned up his shirt again. His hands were still weak so this was a difficult process. But at least he wasn't completely immobile like when he first woke.

"Again I couldn't touch you afterwards. Can you sit up?"

Zelgadis pondered that question for a moment before obliging to Lina's request. With his hands at his sides to use as leverage Zelgadis tried to sit himself up. But quickly that action proved to be hard as he fell back after only rising a few inches. "I need a couple minutes." He admitted sheepishly.

Lina nodded in agreement. "Take as much time as you need Zel. I'm in no hurry myself."

"You do look very tired. Maybe you should take a vacation." Zelgadis darkly joked.

"Until I can get the business's finances in order I ain't going anywhere." Lina crossed her arms to emphasize her point.

"Did you manage to cash those cheques?"

Lina shook her head. "No I didn't thanks to those damn bank robbers. I have to go back to the bank tomorrow."

A bolt of fear flashed through Zelgadis' sapphire blue eyes as he looked at Lina. "Go back? You almost got killed today!"

Lina rolled her eyes. "Not this again. I can't hide every time someone tries to kill me. It's unfortunate but it happens. And I wasn't even the one almost killed. You were."

"Yeah and what would have happened if I hadn't been there?" Zelgadis shot back rather quickly.

"I probably would have been out of the bank already."

This revelation made Zelgadis frown in guilt. "So you're saying because of me you were in danger."

"No. Because of Xellos I was in danger. Honestly I wish he was co-operative like you instead of a loose cannon." Lina let out a sigh. "And who knows how many other victims there are out there that we don't know about."

"There could be a hundred ghosts like me floating around."

Lina glared at him. "You're not a ghost." She reminded him.

Zelgadis just sighed. "What do we do now?"

"Once you're up to it we'll go see what Filia and Sylphiel found out about that bullet."

"I thought you said the blood disappeared? So the bullet didn't?"

Lina shook her head. "Nope. Strange huh? Hopefully Sylphiel and Filia found something. You up to trying to move again?"

Zelgadis took a deep breath before trying to sit up. This time it wasn't so hard and not only did Zelgadis sit up but he managed to stand up as well. "I don't feel a hundred percent but I think I can manage to get up the stairs."

"Glad one of us is confident." Lina muttered to herself.

"Do you want to stay here a little longer?"

"No. Let's go." Lina went to get up but her legs were half asleep and she found herself losing her balance. She would have fallen flat on her face had it not been for Zelgadis who caught her.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." Lina looked at him suspiciously.

"What?" Zelgadis looked at her confused.

"You're holding me." Lina pointed out.

"I am?" Zelgadis looked down and noticed he had his arms around her. Had it not been for the oddity factor of a ghost creature holding up a living person Zelgadis might have blushed. But this strange gesture was short lived. As soon as Zelgadis realized he was holding onto the redhead he lost his physical grip and Lina still fell forward.

"Damn!" Lina cursed under her breathe as she rubbed her now bruised limbs.

"Sorry." Zelgadis had his head down in shame.

"Don't worry about it Zel." Lina got up and dusted herself off. "I should have realized you wouldn't be able to hold onto your physical hold for too long."

"Still that looked like it hurt."

"I've had worse done to me before. Believe me; I must have broken almost every single bone in body at least once." Lina assured him.

"Well be careful going up the stairs. I may not be able to stop you if you fall." Zelgadis warned her.

"Yes mommy."

Zelgadis rolled his eyes as he followed behind Lina. Walking towards the stairs Zelgadis looked down at his hands. It was disturbing to look at what should be your own flesh and see right through it. 'I wonder how many other people are stuck like this...'