Subject: [FFML] [FFML][Slayers][Silly]Slayers: Double! Episode 2: Of Clones and Goddesses
From: Murasaki Kaze
Date: 11/27/1999, 2:21 AM
To: ffml@fanfic.com, ltokiwa@york.org

Okay, second chapter, er...episode or Slayers: Double!  Remember that I
am
a poor writer so don't sue me 'cause it's not worth it and I don't own
select
characters anyway.  Plus, a friend of mine has allowed me to keep a
rather
big tiger and his favorite food is lawyers...and mailmen, but that's
another
story.

~~~~

			                Slayers: Double!
				By Murasakikaze
		             Episode 2: Of Clones and Goddesses

     "Must...stop...driving...me...insane..." Naria felt her eyebrow
twitch uncontrollably as 
the ten Naga clones went into their fiftieth bout of laughter in the last
three minutes.  
The mirror Lina was bolted to her arm and the meek Naga was attached to
her other 
arm.  The real Naga was ahead of her, "leading" the expedition.  

     "So, my chimeran guide, where to next?" Naga turned and waited for
the poor girl to 
catch up.

     "My name is N-A-R-I-A!" The chimera arrived at the other girl's side
and stared down 
the fork in the roads. "Damn...They're moving again."

     "How do you know that?" the original Naga scoffed.  "You don't seem
to have the 
aura of a physic."

     "Please, Miss Naria...don't swear. It isn't right," Lina piped up
for the hundredth time 
that day.  

     Naria looked at the girl and sighed.  "You really are Lina's
inverted self, aren't you?"

     She nodded and seemed to gain a hundred pounds under the restated
information.  
The real Naga seemed to be losing her patience and Naria looked ahead
again.

     "I think we take the left path, but I can't say for sure...they're
in the middle of where 
the paths let out and it's impossible to say whether they're traveling
north or south.  As 
for your question as to how I know this..." Naria interjected before Naga
could raise her 
question again.  "I have a...certain someone on the other end that I'm
'talking' with, if 
you would call it that.  However, this someone doesn't realize that we're
talking.  So I 
see what this person sees and I will know what this person knows.  Don't
ask how 
unless you want a long winded story of my background."

     "I think that was long winded enough," the elder sorceress muttered
under her breath 
as she started down the left path.  "Come on, girls!  We're going to see
Lina Inverse 
again and now she'll appreciate all the work you've put into your
laughing!!"

     The ten clones rushed after their leader, all laughing
simultaneously in the same 
high pitched rise and fall pattern.  The three people left behind
shuddered slightly.  

     "Let's go," Naria said and pried herself from the twins' steel grip.
 

     "Wait!  We're afraid of being all alone!" the twins cried and sped
of after the retreating 
figure.

~~~~~

     "Well, do you know where we are?" 

     "Yes, I do!  We're...uh...here..."

     *BAM*  

     "Look at the stupid map, you idiot!!"

     "I am!  It's just that...I..."

     "Uh, Ryouga-san..."

     "Yeah, Amelia?"

     "You're, uh..."

     "You're holding the map upside, Ryouga."

     "Uh....thanks, Zel...."

     "L-sama, why am I stuck with you and why are you holding the map?! 
You have as 
much directional sense as Amelia's pet!!"

     "Be nice, Lina-san...and by the way, has anyone seen Champion
lately?"

     "Knowing that stupid piglet, it probably wandered into a meat
factory somewhere..."

     "Zelgadis-san!  How can you be so mean?!"

     "It's just the truth, Amelia.  Zelgadis is right, Champion isn't the
brightest piglet in 
the world."

     "And you're not the brightest swordsman in the world either,
Gourry."

     "All of you shut up!!  SHISHIHOKODEN!!!"

     *BOOM*

     "Ite..."

     "Come on...I know where we are....damn you, Ranma, somehow this is
YOUR 
fault..."

~~~~~

     The darkened hallways were no matter for the young goddess.  She'd
lived half her 
mortal years in that stupid compound so why would she worry about the
darker halls of 
this building?  Her boss had called her to the top floor and she was
never one to 
disappoint the great Kami-sama.

     *Knock knock*

     "Yes?  Who is it?"
 
     "You know who it is, don't give me that."

     A sigh followed and the door opened.  "Welcome back, sourpuss."

     "Shut up, Imako," the young girl said as she pushed passed the
younger goddess.  
"Where is he?"

     "He's not here right now, I called you," the little girl said.  Her
small disposition gave 
the impression of a child, but her piercing green eyes and tone of voice
told otherwise.  
Imako was older than Mirai and she knew it.

    "Why did you call me?  You know I have other business to attend to!"
Mirai yelled.  

    "Oh, afraid of what I'm going to ask of you?"

    "No!" the younger goddess retorted a little too sharply.  "What is
it?"

    "Oh, you should know what's happened.  I'm sorry, Mirai, but you have
to enslave her 
again."  

     The Goddess of the Future's face fell slightly, matching the black
tones of the 
shadows.  "I..I can't.  Is there any other way?"

     Imako shook her head.  "Only that.  You know what'll happen if you
don't find her in 
time."

     Mirai turned to leave and grabbed her gilded staff.

     "And Mirai..." The silence cut through the room as Mirai paused. 
"...my sympathy 
is with you."

     Mirai nodded and passed through the gates out into the human world
again.  "I hate 
her."

~~~~~

     "I was so close...I could have tasted freedom...damn..."

     "Language, Miss Naria, language," came the exact same lecture Naria
had heard for 
the past hour from the Lina copy.  She had never known that clones could
be this bad...

     "Please, stop fighting...I hate fighting..."

     "We weren't fighting!" Naga yelled and turned to her meeker self.

     "Please don't yell...I can't stand yelling...please..." Naga cried,
literally.  It was like 
someone had turned on the water faucets as huge tears started to drop to
the ground.  

     "OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!" were the ten replies from the other side of
the 
clearing.  

     Naga turned and waved her hand at the others.  "Girls, take five. 
You're getting 
better though, but remember!  Overconfidence, self-absorption!  They're
the keys to 
having the best laugh in the world!  OHOOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!"

     Naria winced and covered her sensitive ears as Lina started to
lecture her about 
swearing again.  <Where are you when I need someone to shut me off,
Mirai?> she 
thought wistfully and then regretted it.  She should never have thought
about her 
enslavement as a computer programmed drone.  She had hated it and
yet...being a 
mindless drone wasn't looking so bad right then.
 
     "I thought I heard the sound of the world ending over here.  Hey
guys!  I found the 
source of our hearing problems..." 

     Naria looked up and saw the real Lina Inverse entering the clearing
followed by three 
familiar forms and one that wasn't.  She immediately stood and ran off
into the forest.  
<Can't let them see me or they'll ask questions...questions are really
bad right now.  I 
don't think my brain can withstand that beating after having them rattled
by that 
woman's screeching...>  The chimera swung up into the branches of a
nearby tree and 
waited for the procession to be over.

     "Well, it seems that we've found you, Lina Inverse!  Girls, come on
out and show my 
diminutive partner your handiwork!!" At the mentioning of their names,
Nagas 1-10 
popped out of the woods and lifted their hands to their mouths.  Lina,
knowing what was 
going to happen, covered her ears.  However, the others weren't quite as
ready.  

     It was definitely impressive to see all eleven Nagas laughing at the
same time...of 
course it was terrifying to hear.  The result left all but thirteen
people on the ground, 
bleeding at the ears.  Lina, Naga, the ten other Nagas, and Naria (who
had stuffed her 
ears with cotton and a few pillows) were alone in the clearing now as the
laughing 
subsided.

     *clap, clap, clap*  

     "I'm impressed, Naga.  Even for the short time I've known you, the
force of that was 
absolutely evil."  Naria smiled and slid out of the trees.  She grinned
at Lina's shocked 
expression and pulled someone out from behind a tree.  "Yes, Lina, it's
good to see you 
too and I brought along somebody I thought you'd be thrilled to see!"

     "Um...hi, Miss Lina..." 

     "KYAAAAAAAAA!!!!  NOT YOU ANYONE BUT YOU!!! I'D TAKE PHILBRIZZO OR 
SYLPHIEL OVER YOU!!!!"  

     "Wow, Lina, never knew you had a twin sister and
hi...um...um...what's your name 
again?"

     *BAM*

     "Shut up, Gourry."

~~~~~

     Naria grinned at the girl sitting across from her at the table. 
Next to this girl was her 
clone and after that came ten others belonging to another.  It was
absolutely amazing, 
she mused.  Lina Inverse had an inverse.  However, there was the problem
of naming 
her.  If you shouted, "Look out, Lina!" Both of them would turn and
inevitably one would 
get hurt or killed.  Naria's smile widened as she saw both girls squirm
uncomfortably 
under her gaze.

     "So, you need a name, don't you, little one?" the chimera asked as
she focused her 
attention on Lina's clone.  "Exactly what do we name an inverse of Lina?"

     "I don't want to intrude on Miss Lina's name...so I'll just stay out
of the way until you 
decide..."

     Lina growled in frustration.  "L-sama, you really are bad aren't
you?"

     "I'm not a bad person, Miss Lina," the inverse cried.

     "Never mind...and I thought you were dead."

     Naria jumped.  She had such high hopes to stay out of that area. 
"Technically...I 
am."

     "If you're dead, then how are you here, Naria-san?" Amelia still
wouldn't meet her 
eyes and Naria halfway knew why.

     The chimera shrugged.  "Luck."

     "Luck had nothing to do with it," Zelgadis grumbled.  Fortunately,
only the person 
sitting next to him heard it and she elbowed him in the side.

     "Shut up.  I'm still mad at you," Naria muttered.

     "What for?"

     "I dunno, I'll figure something out before we leave this tavern."

     "Hey, where did that kid, Ryogi-whatsit, go?" Gourry pointed to the
empty seat next 
to him.

     "He said he was going to the bathroom."  Lina sighed and perked up
when a loud 
crash was heard in the kitchen.  "They must be getting our food.  I'm
starved."

     "You're always starved, Lina Inverse.  Your appetite is bigger than
your bust size.  
For that matter, anything is bigger than your bust size.  OHOHOHOHO-OW!"
Naga 
stopped mid laugh as a huge mallet came down on her head.

     "Quit your screeching," Lina growled.

     "Mind your temper, Miss Lina," the inverse squeaked out from her
position under the 
table.

     "Please...don't fight...I already told you I don't like fighting..."
Naga sniffled as she 
sat holding onto Lina's inverse under the table.

     "I'm ditching them the first port we come to.  Maybe Sylphiel would
like them.  She's 
the hug-a-Mazoku person, not me," Lina grumbled.

     "Y-you hate us...don't you?" asked the table.

     "Uh...uh..." the real Lina was looking for a quick way out of this
situation.  She knew 
what was coming next.

     "Lina-san...be nice to them.  Please?" Amelia begged as she saw the
rivers start to 
flow.  From somewhere under the table came a small sniffling sound that
quickly 
escalated into a full-out bawl.

     "SHE HATES US!!!!  WAHHHHHHHH!!!!"

     Naria clapped her hands down over her ears and quickly retreated to
the kitchen, 
tripping over the little piglet sitting just inside the doors.  Zelgadis
and Gourry ran out the 
front and the Naga clones followed her in her sprint out the back way. 
Amelia saw the 
table riding on the geysers and sweatdropped as she edged out.  Lina was
desperately 
trying to calm both clones down.

     "I don't hate you!  Please, stop crying!"

     "WAHHHHH!  SHE HATES US!!!"

     "I don't hate you!  Stop crying!  Come on...STOP IT NOW!!!"

     The geyser increased ten fold.  "You do hate us!  Look at how you're
yelling.  
WAHHH!"

     Lina's face twitched once and in the next instant, there was no
longer a restaurant,
but a huge black hole.  The explosion array had made sure of that.  Naria
coughed 
and let go of the piglet in her arms.  Carefully wiping the ashes from
her face, the chimera 
walked over to the glowing Lina and the still crying clones and very
politely elbowed her 
on the top of the head.

     "That's not going to make them stop, Lina," Naria growled.

     "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Lina screamed from her
position on the 
charred floor.  

     Naria sighed, walked over to the twins, leaned down, and patted them
both on the 
head.  "Hey, now, don't cry.  Crying's only gonna upset her more, don't
you see that?  
Besides, wasting tears over something like how someone _might_ not like
you isn't 
worth it.  Look to the people who do like you, ne?"

     The inverse looked up at the chimeran girl and smiled through her
tears.  "D-do you 
really think so?"

     Naria grinned.  "I know so and I have a name for you.  A long time
ago, a friend of 
mine was also very alone and afraid, but she got over it.  I think you
can do it too.  From 
now on, I'm gonna call you Mirai or Mira-chan for short, okay?"

     Mira-chan nodded and a small sniffle was heard from a very big black
lump.  
"W-what about my name?"

     Naria hung her head and shrugged.  "Go bug Lina for that one."

     "I hate you."

     "Good to see that, Lina-san." Naria smirked and walked off.

     A shadow moved and a smile spread across its face. "So she is
alive...you will 
come in very handy, my little chimera, and you'll make things
interesting."

     The wind whipped by and it was gone, leaving only the scent of
something evil in the 
air.

~~~~~

     "She's been here recently..." the Goddess of the Future muttered to
herself and 
stood.  The blackened out remains of a building left witness to the
battle.  "I'm still too 
early though..."

    Mirai wandered through the remains and sidestepped the body.  The
battle had 
weakened the building so much that the timbers had collapsed, killing
almost everyone 
instantly.

    "Help...someone out there...help me.  I can't move...help..." a
feeble cry carried itself 
from the depths and Mirai reached down to clear away some of the
wreckage.  She pulled 
a young girl out and laid her down in her lap. 

    "Who did this?"  Mirai knew the answer, but it never hurt to ask. 
"And what is your 
name?"

    The girl drew in a deep breath, which was possibly her last.  "The
girl...but...it...
not...fault..."

    "What is your name?" Mirai repeated.  "Do you need a healer?"

    "...I...can...heal...self..." the girl said.  Her breath started to
come in ragged gasps 
and Mirai knew it was her time to go.  She lovingly brushed the long
strands of orange 
hair from her eyes and smiled.  "Name's...Lina...Lina...Inverse.."

    "I know, Lina Inverse.  Now sleep, child.  It's your time," Mirai
whispered and closed 
Lina's dull red eyes.  "So this is what she has to look forward to. 
Interesting..."

    The goddess stood and grabbed her staff.  The small bells on the tip
jingled slightly 
and she opened the portal for a second time.  "Two futures down, one to
go."

~~~~~

     "Hurry up, Lina!" Naga yelled.  "The girls and I want to get to that
city as fast as we 
can!"

     "Why am I traveling with you again?" 

     "Consider it an honor that I, Naga the White Serpent, allow you,
Lina Inverse, to be 
my sidekick!  You and all your little friends should be proud to serve
under me!  
Ohohohohohoho!" 

     "Little friends?  I like the clone better than that twit," Zelgadis
growled. 

     "You didn't have to deal with them for three days, Zel," Naria
muttered.  

     "I'm so happy you came back, Champion!  I missed you so much!"
Amelia cried as 
she went bouncing by.  The little piglet had a small sign reading "help
me" on it as he 
gasped for air.

     "Yeah, well you weren't stuck with her for three years," he pointed
out.

     "You're right...you win." Naria shook her head and turned to him. 
"Hey, you got my 
letter didn't you?"

     "Yeah, so what?"

     The chimeran girl shrugged.  "I dunno, couldn't remember if you did
or not for some 
reason..."

     "Okay..."

     "Hey, Zelgadis!  Naria!  Hurry up!" Gourry was standing at the top
of the ridge waving 
to them.  "We spotted the town and Lina and Naga are already in the
tavern!  If you two 
don't hurry, none of us are going to have anything left to eat!"

     "We're coming!" they yelled back in unison.  Naria turned to him and
sighed.

     "We really are too much like biological sister and brother for my
own comfort..." she 
muttered and started to run.  

     "Trust me, I'm not too happy about it either," Zelgadis replied as
he caught up with 
her.  "Hurry up.  You're getting slow."

     "Oh, slow am I?  Hah, I'll show you slow!!" Naria stuck her tongue
out at him and 
broke into a sprint.  She slowly accessed her running file and came out
in the lead.  
"I told you I'm-"

     A sudden knife of pain shot through her mind and she stumbled,
tripping over a root 
and flying headlong into the tree.  Naria grabbed her head and tried to
fight the duel 
cycle of pain.  It felt like her mind was exploding.  Someone grabbed her
shoulders, 
pulling her back from the tree, and she screamed in agony.

    "L-sama, what's wrong with her?!"

    "Get Lina!  She'll know what to do!" Gourry grabbed the young
chimeran girl and tried 
to get her to focus.  "Naria!  Oi, Naria!"

    Naria could barely hear his voice as another wave of pain hit her. 
She rocked 
backwards and felt his hands dig into her shoulders.  <No...it's not
possible...> Another 
knife sliced through her mind and suddenly it was gone.  Naria's muscles
relaxed and 
she slumped forward.

    "What was that?" Gourry waved his hand in front of her face and
finally got her to look 
at him.  He wished he hadn't.  Her eyes were hollow and although they
held life in them, 
they looked dull.  "Oi, Naria, can you talk?"

     "What happened?" Lina and Mira-chan ran up, followed closely by
Amelia and 
Zelgadis.  Lina kneeled down by the chimeran girl and pushed back her
bangs.  
"Hey...look at this..."

     Mira-chan leaned in and screamed.  "She's bleeding!!!"

     "How can a chimera bleed from hitting her head on a tree?" Amelia
peered over 
Lina's shoulder as Zelgadis tried to keep Mira-chan from screaming
anymore than she 
already had.  

     "It's not from hitting my head..." Naria's eyes lit up slightly and
she pulled herself up.  
"It's nothing that I can control...oh, Lord of Nightmares...why did you
do this to me?"

     "What is it?" Naga had appeared out of nowhere and was now hovering
over 
everyone else.

     "You humans wouldn't understand..." Naria stood and wiped the thin
trail of blood 
away from her face.  "It was nothing, really.  I just got winded.  Let's
go."

     She took off down the hill and didn't look back.  Everyone watched
her and 
Mira-chan finally calmed down.  The city lights shone down below and the
others only 
saw her silhouette.  They didn't see the tears rolling down her face.

     "She's hiding it from us for some reason.  Zel, see if you can get
it out of her," Lina 
ordered and started walking after her.

     "Why me?"

     "Because she said we 'humans' wouldn't understand.  You're the only
nonhuman 
here.  Sorry, but you're it."

     Zelgadis sighed and nodded slowly.  This was going to end up making
that 
Mira-chan person go insane again and that would make Lina go insane.  If
Lina went 
insane, she'd start blowing things up and that meant you had to keep
Naria in good 
health to keep Mira-chan happy.  "Where's a Dark Lord when I need one?"

    Everyone walked back towards the city and they left one person
behind.  The black 
cape was only slightly ruffled as he stood, watching them all from his
perch in the trees.

    "You'll all be wondering what's going on soon, won't you?" the figure
laughed and 
wagged its finger at Lina's retreating form.  "But that is a secret."

~~~~~

So tell me what you think!  Come on...I don't bite!

Murasakikaze
muteki@juno.com

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