New Blood

by Sean Gaffney

	Lina Inverse woke up with the biggest headache she ever had, and 
that was saying quite a lot.  She also awoke fairly pissed, because she 
was laying face up in a pool of rancid water...at least she hoped it was 
water.
	Looking around, she spotted Gourry next to her, face down.  
Pulling him up, she noticed that he didn't appear to be breathing, so 
she decided to beat on him until he started again.  This seemed to work, 
as after a few moments he began coughing and hacking up some sort of 
yellowy-orangish stuff.
	Lina took a closer look at the water she was sitting in.
	"EEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!"
	Setting the record for the forward leap from sitting position, 
Lina jumped forward onto what she hoped was dry land.  Unfortunately, 
due to it being hard to see, she landed on something else.
	"Lina, get off me.  NOW."
	Lina looked down to see she was standing on the chest of a VERY 
grumpy Zelgadis.  She quickly got off him, apologising and waving her 
arms.  This did little to placate him.
	Gourry had wandered up to the two of them by now.  "If the three 
of us are here, where's Amelia?"
	"And what is this stuff we're sitting in?" asked Lina.
	Zelgadis stood up.  "And why do we appear to be in an enormous 
shadow?"
	All three of them looked at each other, and then looked up.
	"AAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIGH-mmmph!" said Lina.
	Zelgadis leaned down to her ear as she tried to bite off Gourry's 
fingers.  "Lina, general rule; when confronted with a large monster 
about 15 times your size, don't attract attention to yourself."
	Lina stopped biting and nodded.  Gourry removed his hand.
	They edged a little bit forward, and looked closer.  The monster 
appeared to have something in its hand, and was having some sort of 
conversation with it.  Unfortunately, the echoey conditions of the 
chamber they were in made it impossible to make out.
	Gourry decided to take a chance and get right up close to the 
monster.  Lina, deciding this was another of Gourry's inexplicable 
heroic things that he occasionally did, agreed.  Zelgadis just sighed.
	They watched as Gourry crawled slowly over toward the monster's 
left leg, trying to blend in with the yellowy goop he was walking 
through.  The conversation was getting louder, and the echoes made Lina 
put her fingers in her ears.  Zelgadis, predictably, just scowled.
	Then suddenly everything went quiet, and an object dropped from 
the monster towards the yellowish water.  Gourry dodged out of the way 
as it splashed near him.
	After a few moments, the monster tossed something else down as 
well, then slowly walked away.
	Lina and Zelgadis walked quickly over to Gourry, who appeared to 
be hyperventilating.
	"What's got *you* spooked?" Lina asked.
	Gourry pointed back towards where the monster had been.  "Head."
	Lina walked towards where his finger was pointing.  "Head?"
	She bumped into something, and looked down to see what it was.
	"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
	Zelgadis ran over to Lina, who was running in wider and wider 
circles.  He grabbed her as she passed.  "Calm down!  It may come back!"
	"Head!" Lina cried.
	Zelgadis looked down.  Indeed, there appeared to be a severed head 
floating in the brackish liquid.  A young boy with blondish white hair 
and a wry smile on his face.  Odd expression to die with, Zelgadis 
thought.  A few feet away, the body that it once belonged to lay.
	Then, as he watched amazed, the body and head floated towards each 
other and connected.  Then the body started to glow.
	"Lina, look."
	The tone of his voice made Lina look up.  "What the...?"
	As the three of them watched, the body changed, becoming taller 
and more mature.  The hair lengthened and darkened, and the clothing 
became more ornate.  Only the smile Zelgadis had noticed remained.
	Finally, the man stood up.
	"I must admit, I won't try *that* again.  That actually stung."
	It took about half a second for Lina to go berserk.
	"Xelloss, you bastard!  How dare you do that to us!  Where are we!  
What is this stuff!  What was that monster?  Why am I asking you 
questions knowing you won't answer me?"  Finally she just settled for 
blasting him with a fireball.  This had about as much effect as it 
usually did.
	"Lina, you wound me!  When have I ever kept things from you?"
	Zelgadis snarled.  "All right then, where are we, Mr. Personable?"
	Xelloss smiled.  "Another place."
	"Where's Amelia?" Gourry asked.
	"Oh, she's around," Xelloss waved his hand vaguely.  "I believe 
she's with her sister."
	Lina blinked.  "Sister?"
	"Is that a question?" Xelloss asked with a wide grin.
	"No!" Lina quickly answered.  "Why are we here?"
	Amazingly, Xelloss lost his grin briefly.  "To stop a tragedy."
	Gourry asked the final question.  "Why us?"
	The grin returned.  "Ah," Xelloss said.  "That...is a secret."

To be continued?  No clue...the only reason I wrote this is because I 
found out Kaoru and Xelloss have the same seiyuu.  Should I put this
in my 'to do' pile or let it stand as is?

--SG