That night, Lina dreamed about her father.

Not about the man who had raised her, the man who was married to her
mother, who was as related to her or, for that manner, to Luna as Gourry
was. She dreamt about her real father.

He had come to her twice now, and both times she had turned him away. She
knew that her power in Black Magic came from him, that her great strength
came from being his daughter, but she still could not go to him.

Luna's father had come for her, and she had gone with him. She now
stood at his right hand, above all the others who served him. Lina could
not bring herself to do the same.

But in her heart, she feared she would.

She awoke from her dreams of darkness and fire and dragged herself from
bed. In the night, she walked across her room lit only by the moon and
looked herself in the mirror.

She looked herself in her ruby-red eyes.

Eyes so much like her father's.


NOTE:
This sprang forth from a IC/OOC conversation on ChibiMUCK. The red eye
parallel had never struck me before, and it offered me a concept that
explained many things in Slayers: Lina's destructiveness, her problem with
Luna, why she's so pivotal, and why she's so powerful.

Special Thanks to Tenchi@ChibiMUCK & Lina@ChibiMUCK