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Notes
This fanfic is set twenty years after the first season of Slayers, and seventeen years after Slayers TRY. Since during that time the characters presumably became adults, (and since the plot really depends on at least one of their children running around) I have decided that they would, at some point, finally be mature and realize that the couples really are couples. So...I married off Lina and Gourry, as well as Zelgadiss and Ameria. Please send all hate mail to Rachel, the author of all but three paragraphs of this fanfic (see if you can find them and you'll win a prize) at ISLEFRANK@aol.com. Anyway, please attempt to enjoy this fanfic, as much as possible considering that it can only really be described as "grim". Oh yeah - and while Amanda Graywords Saillune is named for my collaborator, she isn't her. I thought it would be a nice name for a character who is really more like me).
Beastmaster Zelas Metallium adjusted her perfect hair and frowned at the Mazoku in front of her. These human converts were more trouble than they were worth, really.
"What did you say?"
The Mazoku repeated her statement. "I can't go."
"You....you are going. You do not have a say!"
"But."
"There can be no buts! The Plan cannot go on without the Clair Bibles! Do you understand me? Or would you like to be tortured again?"
"Yes."
"Yes, what?"
"Yes, my lady. I will get the Clair Bible. For the Plan."
"Good." The Beastmaster took a long drag on her cigarette and checked her makeup in a nearby mirror. "Go. Get out of my sight, and if you are not back with them in a month I will send someone more competent to take your place, after which you will be removed from active duty. Understood?"
"Yes, my lady." The Mazoku turned to go.
From behind a pillar, another figure watched her leave. It was not happy.
Zelgadiss Graywords had no way of knowing that F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote that in the dark night of the soul it is always three o'clock in the morning, but if he had known he would have agreed or at least conceded that at three o'clock in the morning it was always a dark night of the soul.
He was having one of those experiences when one wakes up at just that hour wondering who one is, what one is doing with one's life, and why one can't get back to sleep. In this particular case, one wanted a cup of coffee badly.
In more ways than that, Zelgadiss had changed very little since he had parted ways with Lina Inverse twelve years ago. He has long ago accepted that he was unlikely to return to humanity, and-
Well, that wasn't true. He understood, and realized that he really should get along with his life. Understanding and accepting are two very different things.
Besides, there was his second failing to think about - inflicting his curse on another. Zelgadiss, once he had gotten over the initial shell shock from learning that Ameria was going to have a child, had always gotten along very well with Amanda. They had too much in common not to. But every time Zelgadiss looked at her, something in the back of his mind told him that she was, unmistakably, a member of the chimera races. And that was his fault.
Zelgadiss realized that his mind had been wandering perilously close to Guiltland, and quickly recalled it. He told it sternly to work on the problem of why he was awake at this ungodly hour.
There was a reason, although in his tired state it took Zelgadiss several minutes to figure it out. It was that time of year again- the autumn. When Lina Inverse had been killed, once and for all, by the Mazoku who had finally decided that she was more useful dead than alive.
He wondered what she was doing now.
Meanwhile, near the Saillune border....
Lisa Inverse and her father were even less asleep than Zelgadiss. Both of them were certain that they were fooling the other into believing that they were in sound slumber, but neither was succeeding.
Gourry was thinking about the autumn again. It had been just this kind of weather, too - clear and windy, with the stars very large and close-looking. Gourry was somewhat limited in the imagination department, so his memories rarely happened as full-color flashbacks the way Zelgadiss' did, but this was one of the few he knew with absolute clarity.
Lisa was excited. Tomorrow, they would reach Saillune - a city she knew would be exciting and new. She loved their life on the road- everyday a new town, new people to see, magical libraries to take the secrets from. Gourry had tried to make her interested in Shamanism or White magic from the start, but she had insisted on Black. There was so much power in Black magic, and Lisa was fifteen- not quite old enough to know better than to understand why the Mazoku allowed humans to take their powers in the first place.
So, together, they thought of separate things.
A twig snapped in the forest, and both members of the family betrayed their facade of sleep at once.
From the shadows stepped a figure that more normally was seen to be fading into them. It was a face Gourry didn't like.
"Xelloss!"
"Who is that?"
"Lisa, this is Xelloss. He's the Mazoku that killed your mother." Gourry's terse introduction nevertheless served its purpose of scaring Lisa out of her wits.
"What an insulting way of putting it! Why do you have to turn your lovely daughter against me from the start?" Xelloss made a valiant attempt at smiling, but managed only a manic-looking twitch. Gourry saw it, noticed how tense the Mazoku looked, and realized something unthinkable- Xelloss was afraid. Terrified, in fact.
Xelloss realized that Gourry knew at the same time that Gourry himself realized it. He dropped his facade once and for all. "Gourry, I have to tell you a secret. Something awful is going to happen and you're the only ones who can stop it, all right? You have to get a Clair Bible before the Mazoku get them all, otherwise the damn world's going to end, do you understand that?"
"I understand." Gourry was too shocked to say anything more. Xelloss was speaking quickly, walking in circles, beginning to act more and more desperate. What could possibly be so frightening as to do this to him?
"Good. That's the last good news I'll hear in a long time. Listen, I have to tell you something. What I did, to Lina, I was only following orders! I didn't want to do it - I was only following-"
"Xelloss?"
A dim light began to envelope Xelloss, taking him away. he began to waver -
"No! No! I'm not finished! Gourry they've sent someone to get the Bibles! Someone you can't dream of fighting! You don't understand, if you stand in her way she has orders to kill you, and if we don't follow orders - NO!"
The light was gone. Gourry and Lisa looked at each other, and without a word set off for Saillune. Zelgadiss and Ameria needed to know.
Dawn was just beginning to break as Gourry and Lisa went through the ritual of getting into Saillune's castle. Fortunately, one of the guards had known Lina Inverse slightly, (i.e. he had once lived in Sairaag) and was willing to escort them up to the royal family's rooms.
Zelgadiss answered the door, wearing a middle-aged bathrobe and looking like he hadn't slept in days and was none too happy about it. It took him a moment to register that Gourry Gabriev was standing three feet away from him, and when he did he was too tired to be polite.
"What are you doing here?"
"What happened? You look scared half to death." Ameria had been up drinking coffee with Zelgadiss since four.
"We are," replied Gourry honestly. "Can we come in?"
"I just have a hard time believing that Xelloss would do that for anybody."
"Yeah, well, he seemed pretty sincere about it," said Lisa, whom Gourry had left the storytelling to for clarity's sake.
Amanda ran her hand over the smooth stones dotting her cheek, a nervous habit that had always bothered Zelgadiss. He preferred not to bring any more attention to his curse by pointing it out to people. "Who do you suppose they sent out to get the Bibles? It sounds like he was pretty excited about that."
"I don't know. All that he said is that - well it's a she. And we can't fight her." Gourry gulped at his coffee. "Why, though? I mean, we've taken on Mazoku before. Lisa can cast some really powerful spells. And you guys both know the Ra Tilt."
"All three of us know the Ra Tilt," replied Zelgadiss, glancing at Amanda, "but if Xelloss doubts our ability to fight this person she has to be beyond that caliber. Maybe one of the generals- or even a Dark Lord."
"You don't mean Zelas Metallium herself is doing this? Or even Deep Sea Dolphin?"
"I don't mean that, no. I just mentioned it as a possibility."
"And what are they trying to do with the Clair Bibles?
"Who knows? One thing's for sure, if it can destroy the world it's probably pretty nasty."
And so it came to pass that once again, Zelgadiss and Ameria and Gourry found themselves on the road, following someone who was almost-but-not-quite exactly like Lina Inverse.
Amanda had been wondering this for some time. "Ano ne, Lisa...but where are we going? Do you even know where a Clair Bible is?"
"Yes, and does your plan involve cross-dressing in any way?"
"Well, I had an idea. Remember the first time you met Mom?"
"Uh...yeah."
"Where were you both going again?"
"Atlas City."
"I thought so. Do you remember - when you actually got there - what you both did in Atlas City?"
"Hmm. We ate a lot. And...Lina looked for something."
"Was that it? I've heard stories that a Clair Bible was in Atlas City, but I figured Lina knew what she was doing when she led us on that hunt for them everywhere else." Zelgadiss realized that sounded pretty stupid, but he was excited.
"The only problem is...if Lina couldn't find it there, what chance do we have?"
"Don't worry, Amanda. Lina knows - Lisa knows what she's doing."
"Now, where to begin?"
Zelgadiss found himself adopting his old role as the logical one. "We should start by finding someone who knows his way around. Who do we know in Atlas City?"
"Isn't Filia's shop here?"
"Filia...yeah." Gourry was having trouble keeping track of the thought processes of the rest of the group. Funny, he'd gotten so used to taking care of Lisa that he'd forgotten what it was like to be part of all this again.
Filia was just sitting down to a nice cup of tea when the five of them walked into the pottery shop.
"Good morning mina-san! How may I - Lina!"
Before Lisa could react, Filia was giving her a hug. "Lina, it's so great to - oh. I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else."
"That's okay, people do that a lot." Lisa was amazed at the number of people who knew her mother and not her in the world.
"Filia, it's wonderful to see you again, but we have a rather important story to tell you." Ameria began.
"Xelloss did that?"
Ameria nodded. "He's probably being tortured right now. For doing what was right."
"Xelloss...." Filia looked down and shook her head. "Xelloss...I never would have thought. Maybe...maybe I was wrong about him after all."
"Maybe." And maybe, Zelgadiss mentally added, he's just putting us all on in the most colossal joke in history.
"But why are you enlisting my help?"
"We need to get a Clair Bible before the Mazoku do. Just one is enough- we've heard rumors that there's one in this city."
"In any case, Filia, we need your help. We've heard that a Clair Bible might be somewhere in Atlas City, and we were wondering if you knew where it is."
Filia gawked at them in a most un-dragon maiden-like manner. "What? How did you know that?"
"What do we know?"
"You knew about the Clair Bible! That's supposed to be a secret!"
"We've just heard rumors and stories. Are you telling me that - "
"So Lina was right the first time?" Gourry asked.
"When was the first time?"
"Maybe twenty years ago."
"No, it was just delivered last week."
"Delivered?"
"To the dragon temple. To keep it safe." Filia decided against adding "from people like us".
Lisa's eyes lit up. "Can you take us there?"
Zelgadiss flattened himself against the wall to let yet another group of people pass. "Is this place always this crowded?"
"There are services here every four hours, night and day. We must have come in on the six o' clock chant."
"We shouldn't come to get it while people are around - they might get hurt."
"A lot more people will get hurt, Gourry, if we don't take that risk. What's down there?"
Filia glanced towards the staircase. "That leads to the most holy areas of the temple, the inner sanctum and the catacombs. I don't know where the Bible would be kept, but I have a feeling that they would put it down there. It would be hard for anyone but a miko to gain entrance, though. Why is everybody looking at me?"
Filia ran down the passageway, certain with every step that someone was following her and sounding the alarm that she was a fraud. What right had she to pass herself off as a miko? It was only something she had been, a long time ago.
The rest of the group crouched in the bushes near the temple, waiting for Filia's spell to summon them to the catacombs. It had been a long wait so far.
"Isn't she there yet?"
"How long have we been in here?"
Zelgadiss shrugged. "Maybe ten minutes."
"We should have brought some cards or something."
"Are you - "
He was interrupted by the sudden feeling that all of his molecules were abruptly being ripped apart and slammed into a wall.
" - kidding, Lisa? Never mind."
Ameria dusted off her cape. "What is this place?"
"We're in the catacombs, about a hundred feet away from the entrance. Nobody ever comes here, except for funerals."
The catacombs were dark, convoluted, and frightening. Things scurried, invisibly, in the darkness. Zelgadiss also had no way of knowing that it resembled the setting for a horror film from the fifties, but it did.
"Where could something be hidden in here?" Ameria could see several possible hiding places, but reaching into all of them involved dead bodies and unpleasant things that scurried. She wasn't looking forward to exploring this place.
"I think I'm too old for this" Zelgadiss announced, leaning wearily against the wall - but not for long. "What was that!"
"What was what?"
"When I leaned against this wall there was a thud."
"That's usually what happens when stone men lean against the wall." Filia was in a sarcastic mood.
"From behind it, you idiots. Help me push."
"I'm not touching that! It's disgusting!"
"Filia, dirt and mold are a part of life. Think of them as a sign that all is right in the world, that the process of decomposition hasn't ground to a screeching halt. Now shut-up-and-help-me-push!"
Filia pouted, but gingerly laid her hands on the wall.
Slowly the section moved aside.
"Another tunnel!"
"And more stairs!" exclaimed Gourry.
This room looked different. For one thing, it was clean, and that was a welcome change for Filia. No damp lined the walls. Things failed to crawl along the floor. There was a notable absence of anything, in fact, except the staircase and a small door.
Renewing her light spell, Lisa led the way down the stairs. Nobody else seemed willing to do so, and so she was the first through the door, which fortunately was unlocked.
"These people must have no caution whatsoever." muttered Amanda, making sure to stay not quite loud enough for Filia to hear.
Lisa opened the door and walked in.
Zelgadiss, noticing that nothing had attacked Lisa as yet, cautiously stepped into the room, with the rest of the group trailing him.
The decor was simple enough. Of course, all this room really needed was there. The pedestal. The Clair Bible.
Zelgadiss picked it up as if it were a rare and very breakable treasure. "We spent months looking for one of these, and this time it seemed so easy."
"Now all we need to do is protect it from the Mazoku."
"That would be the hard part, wouldn't it?" Ameria looked over Zelgadiss' shoulder as he leafed through the pages. "I wonder what spells - "
"Oh, my God!"
Gourry was staring at the door. The group tried to avoid panicking as they turned to face what might be a threat.
What they saw in the doorway was the last person they had expected to see.
"Lina!"
Gourry grabbed her hand. Ameria forgot that she was an adult for a moment, and rushed forward to give Lina a hug. She grabbed Lina in a bear hug to beat all bear hugs, but Lina's arms hung limply at her sides. Zelgadiss and Lisa didn't do anything, just stared, in shock at the sight of someone they had long ago seen killed.
She stood there, unmoving, not responding to any of the cries or the questions. Slowly, they began to back away as they realized that something was wrong.
Finally the silence set in.
"Lina?" said Ameria. It was not the voice the people of Saillune had come to know, the voice of the queen. It was the voice of a frightened twelve-year-old a long, long way from home.
And then she opened her eyes for the first time. They were purple.
"I'm not Lina."
There was a brief pause.
And then two more words.
"I'm sorry."
And then the world exploded.
Amanda came to about fifty feet above the Dragon's temple. She got to her knees, and then somewhat unsteadily to her feet. "What happened?"
"There was a cave-in. It must have been caused by Lina's - by its spell." Zelgadiss realized that this was the second time he had ever woken up in a Raywing bubble with a headache. The knowledge didn't amuse him very much.
"Can someone say something?" Filia asked after an uncomfortable stretch of silence.
"Yeah. I want to go home," said Lisa without feeling.
"We can't go home now. We need to save the world."
"To hell with saving the world. A world where people's parents go around turning into Mazoku isn't worth saving!"
"Don't say that, Lisa, ever." For one of the only times in his life, Gourry looked very angry. "No matter what you think, the world is always worth saving. Your mother would never have given up hope, at least to our faces."
"I'm not my mother."
"No, you're not." remarked Zelgadiss flatly.
There was an even longer silence.
"Can we go down now?" asked Filia. "I need to close down the shop."
It was a grim group that sat at the table in the corner an hour later. Night had fallen, and it looked like a storm was coming.
Zelgadiss pushed the food on his plate around, making a brief pretense of pretending to eat before retreating into the safer territory of his mind. He knew that if Lina were here, she wouldn't have let him get depressed.
He had to stop thinking about that. Lina wasn't here. That thing that he had seen in the room was just another Mazoku -
But he couldn't think of her the way he thought of Xelloss. Xelloss he hated; Lina had been his best friend. He had finally thought that he was moving on, finally finished with mourning her death and thinking of what might have been, and then she had appeared. A new enemy.
He would rather have fought Shabranigido at that moment than the one who had once called herself Lina Inverse.
Gourry watched Zelgadiss being miserable and realized he could do nothing about it. Lina would have known what to do.
...They are alone, the four of them, a few miles outside of the city. Ameria was crowned queen of Saillune at noon that day, and they are escaping a party.
Lina is laughing.
"A reunion! Aren't we missing someone, though?"
"No, Xelloss, we aren't missing anyone. Leave us alone."
"Ah, but I can't do that ." Xelloss opens one eye. "I'm here on assignment."
"I thought you were through with me."
"The Mazoku are never through with anyone. I have a job to do." Xelloss opens the other eye. "Before I do it, I want you to know how much I will miss you all."
"What are you going to do?" Zelgadiss has his hand on his sword now, useless as it might seem.
Xelloss reaches for Lina's sword; she tries to stop him but he is fast, inhumanly fast, and before anyone can scream he drives it into her own heart. His face transforms; he has been a little grimmer than normal, but now he is smiling, a smile of pure joy. For the first time, Gourry really understands why people fear the Mazoku; Xelloss is drunk on Lina's pain, in ecstasies at watching her suffer.
At last Lina ceases to struggle. A thin trickle of blood runs from her mouth and then abruptly -
stops. Xelloss turns to Zelgadiss, answers him. "You know the answer already - sore wa himitsu desu."
And then Gourry
couldn't think about it anymore.
Ameria abruptly put down her glass and without a word went upstairs to her room. The others decided to give up even pretending to be interested in eating and followed her, more or less, up the stairs.
When Zelgadiss came in, Ameria was sitting cross-legged on the bed, looking at the book.
"Are you going to read that?"
"I don't know," Ameria admitted as she watched Zelgadiss pull off his cape for the day. "On the one hand, something in here might have the power to destroy some of the Mazoku after us. On the other hand, it is definitely black magic, and the only one of us who can do that is Lisa. After what she said today, I wouldn't trust the child with a Flare Arrow."
"I know. I was beginning to think of her as someone who could fill Lina's place, but I suppose nobody can. The trouble is, we could never work out who the leader was when she wasn't there."
"You're the leader, Zelgadiss."
"Oh, right. I'm not good for anything this way."
"What way?"
"Any way. I'm going to sleep now. Good night."
Ameria turned out the light, knowing that Zelgadiss wasn't really going to sleep but only hiding again. Don't you go to pieces like everyone else, Ameria. You have to be strong. One person always has to be strong.
Somewhere outside in the chilly air of the autumn, someone stood in a short-sleeved shirt and felt nothing at all.
No! I can't do it, I won't do it. They are were my friends. I can't hurt them just - to avoid being hurt again. Remember that, Zelia? Remember when they broke you for the first time? Remember Xelloss and all of the things he did to you?
My name is not Zelia! I am Lina Inverse! I won't do anything to these people! I loved them a long time ago!
But you don't love them anymore, whispered the voice of doubt, the snake in her mind. You are a Mazoku. You are not capable of love. Admit it - you want to hurt them all. It's your nature. Torture them like Xelloss tortured you!
He was only following orders! She was losing the argument with herself.
And if you were to kill those people, you would be following them too.
My name is Lina Inverse! Lina Inverse!
She repeated the name in her head until it didn't make sense any more.
chime chime
Oh, so it was going to be that kind of dream. Zelgadiss couldn't remember when he had last had one of these...but the last week had been full of little blasts from the past, most of which he needed more.
chime chime
Would the bastard just show himself and turn him into a chimera already?
chime chime
Wait-a-minute. Something is weird here. Zelgadiss took a confirming glance around him. Yes, something was weird. He wasn't in the woods, or even anywhere more unusual than his hotel room. And - he scrambled for the nearest mirror. Average height, late thirties, blue - yes. He was definitely himself. Not, and this was important, a fifteen-year-old human.
chime chime
"Zelgadiss?"
Damn, damn, damn! My sword's across the room! "Rezo...we haven't seen each other in awhile."
"An unfortunate choice of words." He's smiling at me again! God, what did I do to deserve this?
"Look, let's come right to the point. Why are you here? And how?"
For the first time in Zelgadiss' entire life, he seemed to have managed to completely throw Rezo. "What?" The priest quickly regained his cool. "But isn't it obvious?"
"I suppose you might have managed to manifest yourself outside of the Astral Plane," allowed Zelgadiss. He had heard of magically strong individuals doing that - like the Rowdy Gabriev case. "But that still leaves the why."
"For a long time - I don't know exactly how long - I have been wondering how to repay you and your friend for killing Shabranigido and freeing me. Now it appears you will have some fighting to do, and I believe that helping you to win that fight will be a suitable exchange. I can make you more powerful in order to - "
"What the hell are you saying? Of course not!"
Rezo stopped smiling. "I see. You don't trust me."
"No offense, but I for one have learned to be wary of red priests bearing offers like that one."
"I thought as much. Take this, then."
"Take what - oh." Rezo was holding out his metal staff. Zelgadiss took it cautiously, as if was going to burn him. He had never held the thing before.
"I store a great deal of my power in it. Take it and use it."
"I have one question about all of this."
"What is that?"
"How is it going to help Lina for me to win a fight against her?"
"How do you know that the fight will - be against her?" Rezo was wavering. "I'm sorry, I'm breaking up - the connection - "
Everything went dark.
The next morning the broken team silently congregated outside of the inn. Then, they silently headed out of the town, the leaves blowing at their feet.
"Do we have a plan?" Amanda asked.
Zelgadiss shifted the heavy book to a better position under his arm, the one that wasn't holding the staff. He had been wondering what the plan was himself, but as the one who tried to be the intelligence of the group, he had to feign at least some knowledge. "We are headed away from the city because we shouldn't put innocent people in danger." Ameria nodded her head at this thought. "And, Lina will probably come looking for us as there is no way we could possibly find her. I figured that we could just wait for her a safe distance from civilization." Zelgadiss brightened. He had really worked his way well out of that one.
"Your thoughts for the safety of the people are wonderful." Ameria said, gripping his arm. Lisa grabbed Amanda's shoulder to get her attention.
"Is she always so...so nice like that?" Lisa asked. She made the word sound like a mild insult.
"Mother? Yes, she is."
"Wow." Lisa said, looking on Amanda with a new respect. She had never been around so much nice, and she wasn't sure how long she could put up with it if she was in Amanda's place. Gourry nudged Lisa.
"Try not to be so blunt, Lisa."
"Sorry." Gourry looked at Lisa worriedly. She was acting okay now, but he knew Lina was prone to acting well even when she was bothered by something.
They walked on.
As they arrived at woods Gourry shuddered. This is where things always happened. And, he was right. A being flickered into existence in front of them. But, it wasn't Lina!
"Xelloss!" Zelgadiss exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" But Xelloss didn't respond. He looked almost like he wasn't quite there. He looked up at them, eyes full of desperation and panic.
"I...I got away. I got away.... For now...." Xelloss said to them, but not to them. He looked broken and half crazed. Ameria walked up to him.
"Xelloss? What happened?" Ameria could hold concern for anyone. Even a Mazoku. Xelloss looked toward Ameria. He started to speak slowly, shakily.
"What...happened.... It is not relevant. You need to find a way...to take Lina back."
"Take Lina back? What do you mean?"
"Reverse...take...make her human. She cannot stay. She should not have to..."
Xelloss suddenly gripped at his chest and bent his head down. His mind was a mess, but something inside still told him not to allow the group to see the look of pain that crossed his face at that moment.
Good God, what have they done to him? Filia thought. Then she mentally scolded herself - what business had she pitying a Mazoku? One of the enemy. But I'm pitying Lina Inverse. No, that's different.
Xelloss shook with pain, and if you looked closely you could see him almost wavering around the edges. All of a sudden he was having trouble standing - and fell to his knees. Nobody helped him up, not even Ameria.
"Don't let them. Do something." He clutched at Zelgadiss' cloak; the Chimera pulled back. "Do something, you always know what to do..."
Zelgadiss almost wanted to tell him, no, I don't know what to do, I'm at a loss...someone help me, help...
But he didn't. Because another figure materialized from the air. One who had once called herself Lina Inverse.
He prepared himself for action. It was show time.
Zelgadiss the strategist took a look at the situation. Xelloss was obviously useless...everyone else was a ready-to-fight, if dysfunctional, group. And Lina -
She was not looking eager at all.
Maybe there's still a chance that this is all a misunderstanding... "Lina?"
"I told you last night that my name is not Lina Inverse."
"Then what is your name?"
"My name is Zelia." She appeared to concentrate on some distant point - in order not to pay attention to the imperious words she was speaking. "I know you have a Clair Bible in your possession and I have been ordered to take it from you."
"Why?"
"It is necessary to the Plan."
"What is the Plan? I don't know and I don't think you know!" Xelloss cried out from his place in the dirt.
"We will resurrect Shabranigido."
"Why?"
Zelia faltered in her resolve for a moment. "It's the Plan! There is no why involved!"
"Lina - "
"Stop calling me that!" Zelia spun to face Gourry. "My name is Zelia!"
"Lina," Gourry repeated, "I love you. We all love you. Why did you abandon us like this?"
Zelia was a bit taken aback by this statement; then she realized that she was angry. "I couldn't help it!"
"What do you mean you couldn't help it?" Zelgadiss said quickly, realizing that she was being almost reasonable. Almost like Lina.
"Do you know what they do to keep you from rebelling?," Zelia demanded. She realized that the longer they talked, the longer she could put off having to kill them. "First they send in one of their operatives to kill you. Someone you know, so it's a betrayal. Once that works out, they assign someone to torture you."
Zelgadiss hadn't had many experiences with torture. He knew that Lina had had one previously - he'd been there - but that had just been his friend, Zolf, with a handful of insults and a big walking fish. (Now that he realized it, that sounded pretty stupid). But what Zelia was describing...this was a nightmare. This wasn't even in Zolf's fantasies, much less what he actually had done to her.
"...so are you surprised that I never came back? I'd be - "
"I know."
They had all forgotten Xelloss. Nothing had changed about him, except that he had raised his head from the ground and was looking at them.
"I know the feeling." Xelloss' head moved back and forth unintentionally; he didn't have any control of anything anymore. "Don't know what to do. So you do what your superiors say. So maybe they won't do to you." He couldn't hold himself up anymore, and fell back to earth. I used to be a priest. Remember? Oh L-Sama, oh Lord, why have you forsaken me?
"Do what?"
"Sore wa - oh, to hell with that. I'm through with games." Xelloss' voice sounded as if his throat had been rubbed with sandpaper- and who knew? maybe it had. "There's only one thing you can do now."
"What is that?" Amanda didn't know anything about Xelloss other than his name and race. From her point of view even being a Mazoku wasn't an excuse not to pity this man. "What can we do - to help the both of you?"
"Kill her," said Xelloss clearly.
"We can't do it!"
"We can!"
"No - not here, not now!"
"We've destroyed these people before. Remember?"
"We needed the Giga Slave!"
"Do you think - "
"We don't have the sword anymore!"
The babble of voices washed harmlessly over Amanda's head. Her father was right, of course. They could never destroy Xelas Metallium as they were now.
"Oh, shut up, all of you!"
They shut up. "Amanda?" asked Lisa. She had never seen the girl so angry before.
"Now listen! I can't believe you're calling yourselves adults. Look at yourselves! There's something to be done! We have to free you, Zelia or Lina or whatever your name is, and we have to remove the threat to the world, unless any of you really want to fight Shabranigido again? No? Then get your acts together!"
There was a silence. Finally, Lina - yes, I can be Lina again - shouldn't be named in my enemy's image - spoke up. "You're Zel's kid, right?"
"Yes."
"I thought so." Lina nodded shortly, as if to acknowledge Amanda's worthiness to know her. "Well, you're right." She sat down on a rock. "How, though?"
"Giga Slave. You've done it before."
"Not again."
"The Lord of Nightmares doesn't care who casts the spell."
"Unless you've already cast it too many times." Lina cast her eyes downwards. "Remember? Last time she almost took me for good. We need someone to cast that spell whose soul she hasn't taken almost all of already."
"Someone strong in magic. Lisa?"
Lisa slowly shook her head. "I can't do it. I don't have it. I can't do a Dragon Slave - "
"Of course you - " Gourry began, but Zelgadiss put his hand on his shoulder. "If she can't cast a Dragon Slave, she can't do it."
"Who can do it, then?"
Zelgadiss shrugged.
Something had snapped inside of Lina - in a good way. There was hope yet if Lina was being herself, and not the terrified demon she had been for twelve years. "Zelgadiss, don't you qualify?"
"I'm a Shaman, not a black sorcerer!"
"The three kinds of magic are more similar than you like to admit. You know that. It's all a matter of control."
"But do I - "
"You can Ra Tilt, can't you? If you can do that, maybe you can Giga Slave too. I didn't know until I tried it."
"I know. I won't do it, Lina."
Lina didn't change her expression. "Suit yourself. We'll have a try with regular spells, then."
Beastmaster Xelas Metallium wasn't omniscient, but one of the things she did know everything about was the activities of her underlings. One of them was being most interesting right now.
"And so you're going to fight, little Lina? Very well, then. It's time to play."
She was about to go down to the earth as she was, but then she remembered what had happened to poor Gaav, Fibrizo and Dynast. No, not a good idea to go without due precautions.
There was a rippling, a stir in the air. And then...
Nobody has seen Xelas Metallium's beast form and told anyone about it, so I can't describe it properly here. It can only be said that...there were fangs.
She looked in the mirror, and satisfied with her appearance, she went down.
"Zelia! Are you betraying your kind?"
Lina looked the Beast in the eye. "My name is Lina Inverse. Don't call me by any other."
"So your answer is yes?"
"I'm not betraying anything."
"Very nice." There was delight in Xelas-Metallium's voice. "And now...shall we have some fun?"
They tried the usual things - dual Ra Tilts, Dragon Slaves- just to see if they would have any effect. They didn't of course.
Amanda waited - for a tap on the shoulder, a voice in her head, some sort of signal from Lina that it was time to begin.
None was forthcoming.
Well, it looks like I'm going to have to start. They look like the initial face-off is coming close to an end - it's my job to make sure that doesn't happen.
"Vlaive Howl!"
A note for any mages reading this: Vlaive Howl is a very powerful Shamanist attack spell which involves summoning a read-hot lava flow to engulf your victim...ah...subject. It was a strategy used by Zelgadiss Graywords in the fight with Shabranigido twenty years ago, and he would have been quite proud of Amanda's using it had the shockwave not caught him and sent him flying quite far to the East. That would have been rather funny if it had not been for the event immediately following it.
Zelgadiss forced himself to cough. The impact had knocked the air out of his lungs so completely that he had trouble even doing that.
He must have been thrown far, for Xelloss to be here. They had carried him to a safe place, so far as any place was going to be safe....
The Mazoku's mind was spinning in and out of control and sanity, but he could recognize a face that distinctive without trouble. "Zelgadiss..." he whispered, holding onto that name as if it were a life preserver.
"What (cough) the hell do you (cough) want, Xelloss?"
"Help me. Help me." He stretched out his hand to Zelgadiss again. "The pain, stoppit."
"What am I supposed to do?"
"Do? I don't know. Heehee...I know. Yess...that would work wouldn't it?"
"What?" Zelgadiss wanted to leave. He knew he was needed by his friends, and above all he had no time for Xelloss' babbling.
"You can kill me," Xelloss said cheerfully. "I haven't died now in...let's see, more than a thousand years. Heh..."
"That's insane!"
"Nope. Not insane. Look, I'm a...you know..."
"Sadistic bastard?"
"That too, but you know. Lives forever. Immortal, that's what it is. And..." He waited for his eyes and mind to focus again. "I'll keep being hurt until she decides I'm not hurt. But she's never gonna...so I'm going to be messedupforever. If I don't die I'll be messedupforever." Xelloss shut his eyes, and adopted a different tactic. "C'mon. Zelgadiss, it's what you always wanted to do. You always wanted to. Face it, you hate me. kill me."
Zelgadiss opened his mouth, but ended up just nodding. He didn't know what words fitted the situation.
Besides, it was an act of mercy, to save Xelloss from an eternity of pain. Not the second reason, he told himself. He was absolutely not doing this out of anger.
Zelgadiss knelt by the Mazoku priest and took his hand, so the power of the spell would channel directly to him, making it less difficult for Zelgadiss. (Absolutely not to increase the pain.)
He decided on a spell - a low - grade Ra Tilt in order not to drain the power he needed for the rest of the battle. (Absolutely not for irony's sake.)
He chanted the words under his breath, careful not to alert the others by speaking loudly. To keep them undistracted, not because they might stop me. Of course not.
Xelloss sighed. "So now it's finally over..."
Zelgadiss avoided looking at the other's eyes. "Ra Tilt."
There was a short of shimmering...
A sort of fading...
And then he was gone.
There was no trace of Xelloss - Mazoku general, Trickster Priest, or whatever he would have wanted to be called - anywhere.
Zelgadiss stood up, and with a completely expressionless face he crossed his arms and strode back to the group.
He never spoke of the incident again after that day, except in his nightmares.
Xelloss' death was pointless, and stupid, and couldn't be considered more than putting the man out of his misery. Zelgadiss didn't need any more convincing - he only knew one real thing in the world, and that was that this must not happen to Lina. He had to cast the Giga Slave. Lina looked like she was about to talk to him again, but he only pulled Ameria up from where she was healing Lisa, whispered a few words to her that only they could hear, and together whey went to find the Beastmaster.
"Darkness beyond blackest pitch, deeper than the deepest night!" Ameria could already feel the spell trying to overpower her, even after the first line. She gripped both Zelgadiss' hand and the Red Priest's staff more tightly.
"King of Darkness, shining like gold upon the Sea of Chaos, I call upon thee! Swear myself to thee!" I wish Zolf could see me now...
"What are you - " Zelas, fully escaped from the lava, didn't bother to finish her sentence. She opened fire on the two with the Mazoku specialty.
Zelgadiss remembered the last time he had been hit by this spell. That time it had been Shabranigido. Oh, my God. Fear, hatred, pain, despair - all of those things that made Zelas' people strong - you felt it whenever they used it on you - it was horrible -
"Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed..." Somehow, Ameria was still talking. The spell didn't want to be controlled-
For the love of - whatever, Zelgadiss Graywords, pull yourself together!
"By the power you and I possess!"
The two spells, the one that tortured them and the one they tried control, combined to place Zelgadiss and Ameria in a special Hell all of their own.
They must have said the name of the spell, because when darkness came for them it did not last forever.
"Guys? There you are!"
"We didn't go anywhere," said Zelgadiss grumpily, pulling himself off of the ground.
"Cheer up!" Lina was almost panting from excitement. "You guys saved the world! You really did it!"
"Yeah, yeah." Ameria waved a hand extravagantly. "I do that all the time."
"No, seriously. The threat's over, for good. The Mazoku under Zelas are free."
"Well, great. The only thing I love more than sadistic bastards is free sadistic bastards." Zelgadiss was experiencing that phenomenon known as "post-battle desire to go home."
"So now what?"
"The sky's the limit. I'm going out on the road again. Maybe find some of the other freed Mazoku, see what happens. I'll stop by when I'm in Saillune."
"I?"
"Well, Gourry and Lisa and me. You too, if you want."
"Not me. I really am getting too old for this."
"You've been saying that since I met you."
"When do you go?"
"Tomorrow, early."
Tomorrow, early, the three of them left.