[FFML] [Slayers]Slayers Bred 29-33

Rebirth

The battlefield was covered in an unnatural snowstorm
and thousands of minor
mazoku, enough that even Luna was kept busy.

"I hate having to run," Sherra grumbled. She dodged
aside as another
minor demon attempted to cut her in half. She glanced
up at the sky, well into
afternoon, but nowhere near nightfall yet.

At least the general battle hadn't moved toward them
yet. Two years ago
she wouldn't have considered that a good thing. Of
course she had still been
mazoku then, and hadn't been a magicless, defenseless
mortal if the sky was light.
And there was only so much protection Duofolger could
give her.

"We can leave," Duofolger reminded her.
"And let something get back to Dynast that I'm alive!"
Sherra shouted. "No
thanks!"

"That's what I thought," Duofolger smirked as he
casually swatted away a
pair of the minor demons. Sherra growled angrily as
she continued to maneuver so that Duofolger was
between her and Dynast's minions.

******

Lina leapt backwards away from the onrushing demons.
She bared her
fangs and snarled threateningly. The day was wearing
on, and the effort of keeping the fourth aspect
outside of the full moon all that time was beginning
to work on her. At least the elves were scattered
about and not putting up much of a fight.

The mazoku hordes, however, were causing a problem. As
it was, only
Luna was breezing through the battle. She might turn
out to be the only thing that did survive if things
kept up. Of course Lina's fourth aspect mind currently
simplified this to: "getting tired, sister doing
well." The werefox was still mostly interested in
killing as many enemies as she could.

Two charging ice demons were engulfed in a magical
fire as Lina prepared
to rip them to shreds. The woman in beast form nearly
attacked as she recognized the smell of her rescuer.
Instead she merely growled.

"I suppose you'll likely never trust me," Zelgadis
sighed saddly. "But we do
have mutual enemies to consider before we do
anything." The werefox growled
again, but seemed to be agreeing as she turned away
from him back to the battle.

The almost neverending hordes of demons continued to
attack.

*******

"Hey!" Jol shouted, indicating a high-elf wizard. "Get
over here." The elf mage
found himself moving toward the young swordsman almost
before he was aware of
the order.

"What do you want?! Hu..." the wizard quit talking as
he saw the form of
his lord looking defeated and lowly.
"Your Lord has surrendered, I need you to pass the
message on," Jol explained.
"Or would you rather we hack each other to pieces and
save the demons some
time?"

"My lord?" the wizard asked, in shock.

"Do as he commands," the fallen Elf Lord agreed. "The
battle is over...for
now." He glared at Jol. Reluctantly, the wizard cast
the spell, and the sound of the Elf Lord's voice rang
over the battlefield.

"I, Lord Fimore of House Feanor, declare surrender to
the forces of Sailoon
and the trai.." Fimore winced and glared at Jolrael
again. "The wood elves, all
high-elves are to concentrate on defeating the forces
of Dynast." Fimore closed his mouth and refused to
continue.

He would not have been able to get anything across the
spell in the next
moment anyway. As, across all four of L-Sama's worlds,
the power of the Lord of
Nightmares failed for a brief instant. A further
result of her distraction in the battle with Osano-Wo.

The most powerful beings felt it coming. Deep Sea
Dolphin, on one of her
rare landfalls, made a rushing desperate run back to
her ocean. Luna Inverse made for the ground, cutting
off her levitate spell before it could cut off on its
own. Dynast, bound in his frozen prison, could do
nothing but wait for it to happen and brood on the
fact that his prison was only the result of magic and
not magic itself.

Then all the demons collapsed and starting gasping for
breath. Filia
dropped from the sky, roaring as pain shot through her
skull. Across the world
other demons were doing likewise, Val, on Wolf Pack
Island, snapped awake to the blinding pain.

Sorcerers, Shaman and Priests across the world found
their powers failing
for a brief instant. Luna, prepared for the event,
still found herself relatively defenseless as a
thrashing demon knocked her back against a tree.
Without the layers of magical toughening and
protection she normally possessed, Luna dropped to the
ground gasping in pain.

"Pull her back, if the magic returns we'll need her!"
someone shouted and
Luna felt herself carried off by a swarm of hands.
Behind the demons continued
thrashing.

*******

As the effects of L-Sama's battle and distraction rose
and faded, another power, long unstable, began to
settle into control. The settling was not permanent,
but it was widespread, and the brief attempt at repair
Xina, before denying immortality, had made would
extend for centuries more.

Of the beings in the battle, only five remained who
could feel that shift. It
only made much of difference for two of those
individuals.

As the disruption of L-sama's magic faded away and
returned to normal,
Lina felt a sensation of power enter her. The werefox
dropped to her second aspect in surprise and glanced
at where Zelgadis was rising to his feet. For the
space of the disturbance he had found himself much too
heavy to move.

At first Lina was not certain that she was indeed
feeling it. She glanced at
the demons trying to shake their heads clear of the
pain. She needed to try
something to make sure.

*******

Sherra was carrying Duofolger away from the thrashing
demon, moving at a run,
when the feeling hit her. It was like something rabid
throughout her body was
tamed, and made merely wild. Along with the calming
she felt the return of a
familiar and comforting presence.

"L-Sama," Sherra breathed out. "I thought I was lost."
She could feel that
other wild power as well, and reached for it.
Instantly she felt stronger and faster, as her bare
feet shifted into fox paws and she was again a
blue-furred fox-girl. She didn't know quite how she
had done it, she only knew that it should not have
been so easy.

"I can walk now," Duofolger said dryly.

"Hmph," Sherra stopped and dropped him behind her.
"Say something
earlier next time!" She demanded, Duofolger simply
shook his head in amused
disbelief. Sherra's childish attitude seemed to resist
any attempt at change.

They didn't have much more time as the ice demons
found them again.
The demons weren't prepared for two fighters, and
found Sherra's claws a rude
surprise. They were in for another as Sherra cast her
first experimental spell.

*******

"You cast a spell!" Zelgadis shouted. "How is that
possible!?"

"The moon's power suddenly came under control!" Lina
said in a low
growling tone of voice as the demon she had pegged
with a flare arrow shrugged.
Zelgadis glanced at her and recognized the vicious
smile, made even more
frightening by her second aspect's fangs and bestial
furred features.

"Pathetic little shapechanger," the demon growled as
its fellows lined up
behind it. "You think a mere flare arrow will stop
us!?"

"No, I have something else in mind," Lina smirked. "I
can take a lot more
punishment now, I wonder if that translates into how
much power I can draw."

"Even Luna Inverse has fallen in the disturbance," the
demon growled, Lina
yelped in surprise and then narrowed her eyes in anger
and rage. "Her power has
not yet returned. Without her, you shall die. Who are
you that would prevent
this?"

"I am LINA Inverse," Lina answered calmly as she
started casting.

Zelgadis backed away as he recognized the spell that
Lina was casting and
then watched as the Dra Matta was reborn with a
crackling black sword in hand.

**************************************************************************

Return

Xina watched as the golden liquid formed into a blonde
woman and the ravens
and wolves formed into a dark, cloaked man. The man
was somewhat familiar, but
she couldn't quite place him, something about the
trumpet hanging off of his belt.

Neither of the two powers looked in perfect condition,
L-sama herself immediately took a chance to lounge
back into a couch that had appeared out of nowhere.

"You survived," the cloaked man said. He glanced at
the Lord of
Nightmares. "How unlikely."

"You didn't think we were just going to throw our
lives away, did you!"
Xina demanded.

"There are some things that you just do not do!"
Amelia lectured angrily.
"What makes you any different that beast? You don't
seem to care any more about
us than he did." Xellos merely arched an eyebrow.

"Finally, someone changed the Vagabond's plans,"
L-Sama laughed.
"Looks like nobody's perfect after all."

"As you wish," the Vagabond shrugged. "Enjoy your
victory, all of them,
you've certainly earned it." He turned to Xina and
Xalan, "I hope you enjoy your lives." Then the man
exploded into a cloud of ravens and flew away
vanishing into the grayness.

~Changed his plans,~ Xellos thought shaking his head
inquisitively. ~I do
believe that he wasn't the slightest bit surprised by
the way things happened.~

"He always was a sore loser," L-Sama smirked. "Even
when he wins."

"And what do we do now?" Xina asked.

"What do you mean?" L-Sama asked.

"How do we get home?" Xalan clarified.

"I could just leave you here," L-Sama noted.
"Little-ones, and let you figure
it out on your own."

"Please Lord of Nightmares," Amelia pleaded. "Their
place is not here."

"Not yet, perhaps," L-Sama smirked, and Xina swallowed
nervously as she
thought that through. "But neither is yours. The
Vagabond didn't hang around to
do his job, I might as well fill in for the moment."

"In other words," Xellos said. "Her and I pass on, and
you'll show them
how to go home."

"If that's the deal you want," L-Sama said smuggly.

"NO!" Xina snapped angrily.

"What do you care, little-one," L-Sama asked. "They're
both already dead,
hanging around her isn't doing them any good."

"It isn't doing us any harm, either," Amelia insisted.
Then she sighed and
shrugged. "But you're right we should leave."

"But you can't leave," Xina pleaded. "I just found my
father! I'm not losing
him already!"

"We need to go back home," Xalan said quietly.
"Martina and Zangulus
still remain, and the elves."

"Yes, your friends need the help," L-Sama smirked, it
wasn't quite true, of
the threats Xalan had listed, only Zangulus remained.
"And would you deny your
father his proper rest simply because you are a
spoiled little girl who isn't satisfied with her
mother."

"My mother is a great person," Xina growled, Xalan
behind her nodded.

"Be happy with that," L-Sama insisted. "Everything
must end, eventually.
And Xellos does not belong here, neither does Amelia!"

"We shall go," Xellos agreed finally. "I shall at
least, once I know my
family is safe." Amelia glanced at him and nodded
reluctantly.

"I agree to that as well," Amelia said.

"Why can't we all just go home?" Xina asked quietly.
"We just saved the
universe here."

"We all are," L-Sama smirked. "But not all of us have
the same home."
Xalan stared at the creator of his world and gripped
his sister's shoulder. The
female Metallium sighed and rushed forward to hug her
father, bursting into tears as she passed through him.

"Don't worry, Xina-chan," Xellos said quietly to his
kneeling daughter.
"I'm sure we'll see each other again. Everything comes
back, eventually." L-Sama snorted while Xina wearily
nodded.

"Tell my daughter that I love her, and am proud of
her," Amelia said. "And
tell her father that it wasn't his fault I died. I
knew it was likely and I still let it happen."

"Yes, stone-boy has a habit of taking too much on
himself," Xellos agreed.
"Tell Lina, that I've never left her, and never will."

"I don't see how that's possible," L-Sama added, a
little sarcastically. Xina
glared at L-Sama's comment but nodded at her father.

"Take care of your sister," Xellos said to Xalan. "You
certainly have
experience at that."

"It seems as such...father," Xalan answered back,
suspicion of this spirit
long gone. Xellos smiled and turned toward L-Sama.

"Are we ready then?" the goddess asked.

"Yes," Xina said quietly, wiping the tears from her
eyes and joining her
brother.

"Take that staff," L-Sama gestured. Xina glanced at
her father's staff and
nodded. "Good, now both of you hold it."

"How long is this going to take?" Xina demanded, when
suddenly they
were back on Wolf Pack Island. "Oh."

"Amethyst!" Xalan shouted and pointed to where the
chimera princess had
collapsed in exhaustion. Xina glanced around and saw
Val shaking his head clear
across the way, but no sign of either mazoku. Suddenly
she smelled one of the
demons.

"XALAN!!" Xina shouted out whipping around. Xina
watched Zangulus
materialize next to, and then toss Xalan across the
field to land hard into the
ground. Then the mazoku was charging her.

"You BRATS!!!" Zangulus yelled. "You bestial little
bitch!! You all killed
her!!" The blade of darkness appeared in his hand as
he closed the distance
between them. Xina backed away, exhausted from the
experience of the Source
flowing through her, still somewhat bereaved and in
shock from losing her father.

She rose a field of force in front of her, but was not
confident as to its
effectiveness. Xina had never had good luck with
Zangulus. This time everybody
else seemed to be out of action all ready.

Xina was about to resign herself to joining her father
early, when a great,
black-scaled shape whipped by and tore the mazoku out
of its path. Zangulus
teleported before he could be torn to pieces and faced
Val.

"Fine," Zangulus growled. "She can watch you die
first."

*******

"Well," L-Sama tapped her foot.

"We said we'd go when our families were safe," Xellos
reminded the
goddess with a smirk. "They aren't safe yet."

"That mazoku could still kill them, or they could get
a nasty rash or
something," Amelia added. L-Sama glanced between them
and narrowed her eyes.

"That's not funny," she said. "She's been listening to
you to much."

"Don't worry about us," Xellos said. "We shall go as
agreed."

"It wouldn't be just to do other wise," Amelia added.

*******

"I'm not the one dying here," Val roared out. The
dragon reared back and
unleashed a blast of power at the levitating mazoku.
The former bounty hunter
dodged out of the path and found himself being swiped
by a great black tail.

"You'll have to do better than that!" Zangulus roared.
A wave of darkness
rolled out from the mazoku to attack the dragon, it
cascaded outward into the sky harmlessly. Zangulus
slashed his sword out to send another attack, however,
and another. Val dodged each one and continously
closed distance with his opponent.

Zangulus laughed madly as he continued to try and
destroy those that
finally killed his love and mistress. All would die,
all had to die. He didn't bother to look behind him at
his shadow.

Briefly Zangulus felt Xina behind him, and swung out
with his sword, but
found nothing. Angriliy believing it to be a
distraction of some kind he turned his attention back
to the dragon that had used the brief moment of
inattention to prepare another blast of laser breath.

Zangulus smirked and prepared to teleport, when
suddenly a large chunk of
his body justed ripped away from him. Followed by
another and another.
Zangulus looked around frantically for any sign of an
attacker as he was torn to pieces. Finally his eyes
caught sight of his shadow, and the shadow arms that
were tearing it into pieces.

"Get out of my...!!" Whatever Zangulus had been about
to say was
obliterated as Val's laser breath washed over him. As
the dragon's blast completely destroyed the mazoku,
Xina found herself forcefully ejected from a shadow
that no longer existed. The kage-kitsune quickly and
desperately rolled away from the blast of power Val
had launched and was satisfied to only be singed as
she came to a rest.

Val landed lightly beside her and shifted into human
form, unconcerned
with his state of dress.

"Xina! Are you okay!" he asked concerned. "I didn't
see you...*" Val
stopped as Xina whirled around, hugged him, and
started crying freely. He
hesitantly hugged her back and patted her head
supportively. He glanced to where Xalan was coming
around from being knocked unconscious by Zangulus.

"Val?" Xina said quietly. The dragon looked down and
was surprised as
the purple-haired girl suddenly reached up and kissed
him. After his initial surprise he began to return the
embrace, unmindful of what Xalan probably thought as
the other kage-kitsune saw them. After an
indeterminate amount of time she pulled back and
buried her head in his shoulders.

"Please don't ever leave me," Xina said quietly.

"I won't," he answered in response, as Xina, crying
softly again, fell asleep
in his lap.

******************************************************************************

Aftermath

Xalan shook his head a clear and glanced to where
Val was holding a weeping Xina, neither Zangulus nor
Martina were anywere to be seen. For once his gaze
passed right by them to find Amethyst again. He moved
to the chimera's side and was relieved to hear her
heart beating, he hadn't relished trying to find a
pulse through stone skin, however flexible it seemed.
"Amethyst," he asked desperately. Xalan took a
sniff of her scent. He mostly smelled sweat, a rather
muddy smell when it came from Amethyst. There was a
little blood, but not much. That wasn't really
telling, most of Amethyst's injuries would be
internal, if they came at all. There was a lingering
scent of rage and grief about her, faded probably
since she passed out. Overall it mostly smelled like
she was exhausted and had fainted from over-exertion.
Amethyst blinked her eyes open and squinted up
at Xalan.
"Xalan-san?" she asked wearily.
"It's me," Xalan said.
"Am I dead?" Amethyst asked, then she winced and
felt at her side where Martina had punched her. "Oww,
never mind." Xalan smirked. "I guess we won?" Xalan
glanced at his sister, working to ignore Val's
unclothed state at the moment, considered the father
he had met for a brief period of time, and had a sense
of loss. Xina had actually been talking to him over
the last year or so and she obviously felt much worse.
"Mostly we won," he told her.
"We had Justice on our side," Amethyst said
wryly. "How could we lose?"
"How badly are you hurt?" he asked, ever
practical. He did reach to brush at her bangs, and
was surprised when she stopped him.
"Don't do that," she said, smiling. "You have
no idea how hard it is to brush hair made out of
steel. I'm just tired...a sleep will do...wonders..."
She drifted off back into unconsciousness, a
legitimate sleep rather than a faint this time. Xalan
smiled and glanced back to where Xina's crying had
subsided.
"Xina, are you okay?" his sister took a deep
breath and nodded quietly, it was odd to see her
respond without talking. "Good, then maybe you can
let Val get dressed." Xina scowled at her red-haired
brother.
"Xalan," she growled, ignoring Val's amused and
embarrassed chuckle.

********

An ocean and two continents away an army of
mazoku were learning that the chief difference between
dealing with Luna and Lina Inverse was not that Luna
was much more powerful than her sister. The main
problem was that Lina Inverse when she had her magic,
was so much more willing to use the power she did
have. Granted she had calmed down over the last
twenty years, so given a normal circumstance it
probably wouldn't be much more different than dealing
with Luna. However, she had just suddenly regained
magic after twenty years and was worried that her
children were in trouble (not to mention her sister,
though it would be doubtful that she'd admit that).
Considering that situation Lina was...well...Lina.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!" Lina laughing in second
aspect is a truly terrifying sight.
A trio of mazoku dissipated into nothing as the
Laguna Blade passed through them.
"You think you can come to my home and get away
with it?" Lina demanded, letting her blade of darkness
dissipate as she readied another barrage of fire
spells. She was wearing out, it was obvious as she
paused to catch her breath. This was the third Laguna
Blade she had cast in the hour, and she just didn't
heal that fast. Fortunately she was running out of
targets as well.
An explosion from the side attracted Lina's
attention as some of the targets were taken.
"DIE!DIE!DIE!" A blue and silver furred werefox
ran by slashing at whatever mazoku she could reach,
smiling viciously. "FIRE BALL!!!"
The mazoku Sherra was chasing exploded in a
shower of black energy. She paused, and glanced
around, fur matted close to her face by sweat. Lina
watched an ice demon materialize behind Sherra.
"Hey!" Lina shouted to warn the girl and then
shrugged as Duofolger calmly appeared behind Sherra,
shifting out of the astral plane, to rip the mazoku
apart. Lina shrugged and wiped her forehead dry.
"Nevermind. Does she even know that someone is
watching her back, hmm blue-boy?"
"Aren't you pushing yourself a little hard?"
Zelgadis asked standing behind Lina, he had been
watching Lina's back in a manner similar to Duofolger
watching Sherra. Lina leaned over and coughed into
her hand, the blood faded into the red of her fur, but
she could smell it. Granted it wasn't as noticeable a
drain as when she'd still been human, but it was
immense none the less.
"I may have over done it," Lina admitted,
reluctantly. "I think that's the last of them anyway,
but I have someting else to do." She glanced over at
Sherra and noticed the other werefox seemed a little
wobbily, almost falling before Duofolger caught her.
"Or maybe a couple of things."
"I'm fine," Sherra insisted, wearily.
"You're almost fainting," Lina noted idly as she
looked over the other werefox. "If I'm getting tired,
then I suppose you're almost completely exhausted."
"Don't be stupid," Sherra snapped regaining her
balance but leaning against Duofolger anyway. Lina
blinked, not much concern for personal space between
those two. Then again, for six hundred years they
were inseperable. "I'm over six hundred years..."
"And yet you are currently physically about
sixteen," Duofolger put in. Sherra growled up at him
and then snapped at his arm. "Ouch." Duofolger
deadpanned, ignoring at the small swirling black
energy of his "blood." The wound quickly healed right
back up, however.
"There isn't anything else to fight," Zelgadis
pointed out dryly. Sherra turned toward him a moment
and blinked.
"Oh," she said sheepishly. "In that case."
Sherra's eyes closed as she leaned back against
Duofolger, and started snoring.
"Is there a chance she'll grow out of this
personality now that she's human?" Lina asked.
"I hope not," Duofolger said smirking as he
lifted the smaller fox-girl up.
"You wouldn't know where my sister is, would
you?" Lina asked.
"I wasn't paying much attention when my mind
felt like it was being ripped to pieces," the cold
demon answered. "But she's not dead."
"It shouldn't take long to find her," Zelgadis
said. "Assuming we can get back to the regular ranks
and organize a search. Order pretty much
disintegrated when Luna and the mazoku dropped on us.
Perhaps the soldier coming up behind us has some
information."
"You just noticed him?" Lina asked seriously,
Zelgadis leveled a glance at her, clearly stating "of
course not." As Lina returned the glare with one of
her own, the soldier in question appeared pushing his
way past the quickly melting snow.
"Milord!!" The soldier shouted desperately. He
stopped and starred at the werefoxes and mazoku for a
moment. Zelgadis he was used to, but these other
creatures and their allies were a whole other deal.
"Spit it out," Zelgadis said irritably.
"That dragon that crashed when all the magic
left," he said breathlessly. "It's waking up! They
sent me to inform you at once. What should we do?"
Zelgadis rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration.
"Get a mage to her and see if she needs
healing," Zelgadis said shortly. "What else?"
"Milord, it's a dra..."
"She's a friend of mine," Zelgadis informed the
soldier. "She used to travel with the Slayers,
understand?"
"Yes, milord," the soldier snapped obediantly.
"Do any of you pay attention to who's your
ally?" Lina asked. She had known Filia had lived, the
dragon wasn't as hard to find as her sister.
"Is there anything else?" Zelgadis asked. ~Why
are people so stupid?~
"Some elves are holding out from surrendering,"
the soldier said, as if it wasn't important. "They
have a hostage of some kind, saying something about a
knight, but the only human we saw was a purple-haired
woman. They expect us to trade their Lord for her."
He said that as if it was funny.
"What?" Lina narrowed her eyes and growled at
the soldier. The man swallowed nervously and tried to
look past the robe Lina was still in to see what was
talking to him. "She's letting them hold her?"
"Well, from what we could tell she was
unconscious," the man said nervously. Suddenly Lina
seemed to vanish from the robe she had been wearing,
and a small red fox with a streak of silver was
speeding across the ground, almost too fast to see.
"Cut them off!" Zelgadis commanded. "Don't let
them leave the battle field."
"Milord?"
"That's Luna Inverse, the Knight of Ceiphed!"

************************************************************************

Rescue

Luna felt herself coming to, slowly, still a little
dazed from the hit she had taken. It wouldn't take
long for her to get her bearings, however, and then
she would be back in the fight.

She creaked open an eye in time to see a fist smash
into her face and
unconsciousness welled up in her again. Luna hadn't
yet cleared her mind for
much coherent thought, but she was damn sure that
somebody was going to pay for
that.

"Keep her unconscious," one of the elves snapped as
Luna shifted. "She's
as powerful as any Darklord, if she wakes up we're all
dead."

"That's easier said than done!" one of them snapped.
"We're basically
trying to keep a god incapacitated here."

"She has a human body," the first one said. "Without
her conscious
thought she is as vulnerable as anything else."

An arrow thwacked off of their shield.

"I wouldn't try anything else, or the woman dies," one
of the guards
shouted. "Release our Lord, and then you can have her
back," another added.

*******

"Damn it, I said hold your fire until we get some
magical support over here," the Sailoon army officer
smacked the errant archer in the back of the head.

"Why are we so concerned over some purple-haired
trollop that was too
stupid to get away from the battle?" one of the
soldiers asked.

"That's the difference between us and them I guess,"
the officer shrugged
and added the thought. "Besides, the elves seem to
think she's somebody important, so maybe she is."

"That's total bunk," a soldier said. "Of what possible
importance could she
be?"

"Didn't any of you notice a purple-haired sorceress
wreaking havoc through
the main body of demons?" someone behind them asked.
They turned around to
see a young man with a sword standing behind them, as
if he had always been
there.

"We saw the explosions but we thought that perhaps the
dragon had," the
officer stopped himself as he realized that he was
suddenly deferring to the young man. "Where did you
come from anyway?"

"The wood elf field hospital," Jolrael said,
shrugging. "I was looking for
some acquaintances of mine when I heard about this."

"And just..." the officer started.

"I'm Jolrael Gabriev," Jol answered deadpanning as he
walked to where he
could see the elves behind their magical field.

"As in..."

"Gourry Gabriev's son."

"What are..."

"Forcing an arrogant elf to call a surrender."

"How..."

"Do what?" Jolrael turned toward him and blinked
innocently. The officer
just stared.

"If you know what's going on then..."

"She's Luna Inverse," Jolrael said. The soldiers
stared at him blankly.
"The Knight of Ceipheed." More stares. Jolrael rubbed
at the bridge of his nose
and tried another tactic. "The older sister of Lina
Inverse." Suddenly all eyes were riveted on the elves.

"What is the educational standard of you people
anyway?" Jolrael asked
before turning toward the elves in their makeshift
barricade.

He was considering how to break through the spell
shield when he caught
sight of a ripple in the grass. Then there was a flash
of red fur, streaked once by silver, and then there
was just the ripple again.

Jolrael smiled, maybe a distraction was all that was
necessary.

"I'll be right back," Jol said as started walking.

*******

"They still haven't answered us," one of the elves
noted. "Don't they know who
we have here?"

"A human is moving out into the open," one of the
guards noted. "He's
dressed in elven garb." The last was said with a hint
of distaste. The
self-appointed leader came to their hastily erected
barricade of wood to note the young man approaching
them.

"It's just a boy," the elf sneered. "Probably one of
those upstart humans
that live with the wood elves. Get out of the way boy,
we're dealing with..."

"You're trying to rescue that arrogant little fool of
an elf, Fimore," Jol
snapped off.

"Who are you to say..."

"Considering I'm the one that defeated him, I pretty
certain I can say
whatever I want about him," Jol said.

"If you want to get this woman back in one piece," the
elf insisted. "You
will treat our Lord with the respect he deserves."

"I thought that was what I was doing," Jol noted
innocently.

"I'll not listen to the prattle of a fool boy that
claims to have defeated a true Elf Lord," the elf
snapped. "Find someone with real authority to talk to
us boy."

"As you wish," Jol shrugged and started walking away.
"That barrier only
stops projectiles, doesn't it." The elf narrowed his
eyes.

"Why do you ask that?" he demanded evenly, shouting
across the field.

"No reason," Jolrael said, smirking. He turned around
and walked back to
the forest. As he came with in the concealment of the
trees one of the soldiers
turned to him, confused.

"That's it?" Jol smiled at the man. Within a moment a
cry of surprise and
terror rang out from the elves' little position. It
was cut off almost immediately.

"Did I mention that I wasn't the only one out there?"
Jol asked the man as
the sounds of battle progressed.

*******

Lina paused a moment to stare at the sword currently
rammed through her
stomach and out her back. Then she looked up at the
elf holding the sword and
smiled.

"What are you trying to do?" she asked. The elf
stammered for a moment
before the werefox changed form again. The blade
shattered as she took the fourth aspect and stood,
towering over the attacking elves.

The elves backed off immediately, noting that the
werefox wouldn't leave
the unconscious form of their prisoner. If she was
unwilling to leave the knight unguarded then she
wouldn't follow them, and the werefox had no way to
hit them from a range. At least so they thought.

Lina shrank again to the fox-girl form of the second
aspect and glared at
the small group of elves encircling her and her
sister. Her tail swished angrily and the fur of her
body stood out on end. Some of the elves would have
found the unclothed werefox quite beautiful, if she
weren't so obviously intent on destroying them all.

"I can handle this pest," the elven sorcerer declared.
He gathered his hands
together to draw power and then thrust outward. "FLARE
ARROW!!"

"Windy Shield," Lina sounded bored as she raised the
spell and watched
the fire arrow flitter into nothing in the wall of
air.

"How did you do that?" the elven sorcerer demanded.
"You're a
werecreature! You shouldn't be able to do that!"

"Personally," Lina smirked. "I'd worry more about what
I'm ABOUT to do
than HOW I'm going to do it." Lina raised her hand,
fangs bared in a vicious smile.
"DUG HAUT!!" She whipped her arm around in a
semi-circle and was pleased to
see the elves around her decimated as a circle of
spikes grew from the ground.

*******

"What the hell was that?" one of the soldiers asked as
the spikes encircled the
elves position.

"They're fortifying their position!" the officer
insisted. "Wait are those?"

"The spikes came up through the elves!" Someone
shouted. As he shouted
the silent form of Zelgadis Greywords passed to the
front of the ranks.

"That's odd," he said. "Lina usually prefers fire." As
he said that the spikes
began exploding into fireballs. "Ahh, never mind."

"Milord?" a soldier addressed Zelgadis nervously. "Did
you say...Lina?"

"Yes," Zelgadis agreed.

"As in Inverse?" someone else asked.

"Yes."

"As in the dead Lina Inverse."

"She's not quite dead yet," Zelgadis corrected them.

"She's getting better," Jol added.

*******

And now for something not completely different.

*******

Luna felt the backlash of heat and slowly opened her
eyes to look at the
devastation around her. She quickly caught sight of
her sister, naked again, tossing the last of a salvo
of fireballs.

"Get some clothes on, Lina," Luna grumbled as she sat
up. "Where is the
fool that hit me?"

"He's somewhere in the barbeque," Lina answered back.
"And have you
tried keeping a wardrobe when you change size all the
time?" She meant to sound
defiant, but she wasn't that over her fear of the
older Inverse yet. It came out sounding petulant.

"That is no reason to be prancing around like a common
tart," Luna
insisted. "I see you regained your magic."

"Great timing too," Lina said, then hesitated. "You
were, well, captured
and we needed some heavy magic."

"Yes, I suppose thanks are in order," she said. "But
first do something
about your state of dress, I'm in good enough
condition to handle any stragglers."

"Okay, okay," Lina said grumbling. In a moment there
was a small red fox
with a streak of silver running down from her head.
She stared up at Luna with a "is this better" look on
her face.

"Good," she looked about to spot the few survivors of
Lina's attacks. "I
suppose the battle is over then."

~Yeah,~ Lina thought, answering vocally with a small
whuff. ~All that's
left is waiting for my kids.~

*************************************************************************

Epilogue

Xina leaned against Val's dragon head as the water
passed beneath them. She
glanced up and noted the coast appearing on the edge
of the horizon. The
purple-haired girl sat up and gripped the staff in her
hand.

"We're almost home," she said with a melancholy smile.
She fondly
reached down and scratched in between Val's thick
scales. The dragon underneath
her hummed appreciatively.

"Now comes the hard part," Val added wryly. Xina
hmphed frustratedly at
the rumbling underneath her.

"We just fought two mazoku and something else that was
as powerful as
L-Sama," Xina reminded him. "What's left to worry
about?"

"Our mothers," Val explained.

"Uh...heh..." Xina sweatdropped. "Oh yeah."

*******

"What are you doing out here?" Sylphiel asked
politely. Jol turned to face her in mild surprise.

"How do you and dad manage to sneak up on me?" Jolrael
asked in
frustrated curiousity

"Well the elves think they have the monopoly on
psychic awareness,"
Sylphiel said. "But its not like there aren't magical
counters for all that." She smiled serenely.

"And what about dad?"

"Don't ask me to explain your father to you," Sylphiel
said waving her
hand. "I can't even begin to count the number of times
he's proven most of my
assumptions wrong without trying to."

"So I'm not the only one then?" Jol said. "That's a
relief."

"Personally I think he just likes playing dumb,"
Sylphiel said. "But you
never answered my question. Will you be coming home
after this?"

"That wasn't what you asked before," he started.

"Don't try to change the subject," Sylphiel insisted
sternly. "Have you had
your taste of adventure yet?"

"I don't know," Jol shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not."

"Hmmm?" Sylphiel arched an eyebrow and stared at him.

"It'll probably take a while to fix everything back
home won't it," Jol said.

"Yes, we'll probably have some left over hostilities,"
Sylphiel said sadly.
"We'll probably be feeling the aftermath of all this
well into the next human
generation." She shook her head at the thought of it.

"That sounds like it could be interesting," Jolrael
said with a smirk.
Sylphiel turned to him and blinked before smiling
brightly.

"It will be good to have you home," Sylphiel said.
"And you won't even
have to babysit Kyrie, unless you want to."

"Mom, you are aware that Tinuviel has no idea of how
to handle Kyrie,"
Jol said wearily.

"Well, I'm sure you wouldn't mind helping her then,"
Syphiel smiled
serenely.

"I guess I could," Jol said in response, smirking a
little.

*******

"I'd like to know how she managed to get me to
volunteer for this," Sherra
grumbled. She leaned back against the mazoku. She was
in human form, after her
centuries she had kind of gotten used to it. Sherra
wasn't at all certain about the streaks of silver
running through her hair now either.

"Actually, I believe you had to convince her to trust
you," Duofolger
reminded her.

"No I didn't," Sherra insisted. "She tricked me, she
had to. Why would I want to do anything so boring as
watch her forest?"

"I believe you wanted some time to think about things
away from
everybody," Duofolger said. "A little peace and
quiet."

"You're doing this just to get a rise out of me,"
Sherra said. "Aren't you?"
Duofolger smirked and ran his hand through the girl's
blue hair.

"Why would I want to do that," Duofolger asked. "We do
need to talk
about Dynast though, he'll discover you're alive
eventually, if he hasn't already."

"Not right now," Sherra sighed. "I just want to
relax."

"Yes, that's a very relaxed emotion you're feeling
right now," Duofolger
responded dryly.

"Just as long as there's no commentary," she responded
tartly, minorly
annoyed that he'd pretty much killed her play at
seduction. "Maybe then you'd stop treating me like a
kid."

"You really think so?"

"I can always hope."

*******

"Any luck?" Val asked as he sat down next to Xina. The
fox girl released her grip on the staff in her hands a
little.

"No," she admitted. "I can't even get there." She
looked at the staff. "I
think its burned out."

"At least you got a chance to know him," Val said
comfortingly as she
leaned against him.

"Yeah, I feel real lucky," Xina commented snidely.
"Val, whatever you do,
don't die immediately after we get married okay?"

"I really don't think that's something I'd CHOOSE to
do," Val added.

"Which?" Xina asked levely.

"The dying part," he answered quickly. Xina sat up
quickly and turned to
face the dragon, hopeful look on her face.

"Then you would...umm...you know," she paused. "Marry
me? Umm why
are you staring at me like that?"

"Because I'd expect you to try to seduce me before we
got married," Val
answered seriously, a moment before a staff whacked
him on the head.

"You know while Xalan was chasing around Mom's forest
I was usually
hanging around you right?" Xina snapped.

"Yeah, so?" Val asked.

"That means I've heard your mother's lecture on
marriage I don't know how
many times," Xina explained. "Somewhere I started
thinking she had a good
point."

"I think it was the cake she used to serve while
giving the lecture," Val said.
"Conditioning you know."

"That could work," Xina said. "You know, there was
something we were
supposed to do out here."

"'But I can't think of what it is'" Val mouthed along
with the kage-kitsune.
"Oh joy."

*******

"Lina-san, you are wearing a grove into the floor,"
Filia pointed out. "Quite
literally." She indicated the line of claw marks in
the stone floor.

"It's Zelgadis's castle," Lina remarked irritably,
shrugging her shoulders.
Zelgadis arched an eyebrow. "What do I care?"

"This is not going to get them home any sooner,
Imoto-chan," Luna added
cooly.

Luna was having a generally annoying time. It seemed
that when the snow
thawed that her house had been flooded, and similar
occurences throughout her
town had caused similar results. The tavern had even
taken more damage than it
already had. To top it all off she was being referred
to over and over again as "Lina Inverse's sister." She
was beginning to understand why her younger sister had
left to acquire a reputation outside of Zephilia.

"They're fine," Filia insisted, more in the nature of
convincing herself.

"Otherwise we'd probably be gone right now," Zelgadis
agreed.

"Oh stop that," Lina snapped. "It was just Martina,
mazoku or not my
children can handle her." She waved her hand
dismissively.

"So what, pray tell, are you worried about?" Zelgadis
asked.

"What do you think?" Lina snapped. "My little girl is
out there with
that...dragon." Filia sat up and crossed her arms.

"Meaning Val?" she asked. "As if he's the one the
worry about."

"I'm certain the guy that tried to destroy the world
would respect a girl's
virtue," Lina sniped. Filia stood up and leaned down
into the werefox's face.

"This coming from the woman that shacked up with a
mazoku," Filia
snapped back.

"Don't you dare talk about Xellos!"

"Don't you talk about my son!" Zelgadis began to stand
up when he
noticed Luna shaking her head.

"Do you really want to get involved in that?" the
Knight of Ceipheed asked.

"Do you have any other idea that ends up with the
castle intact?" Zelgadis
asked seriously.

"Yes," Luna cleared her throat and the two fighting
women silenced before
turning to face her. "Please sit down and be quiet."
Filia and Lina both glared at each other once and then
sat down, shooting nervous glances at Luna.

"It isn't like they don't have a chaperone," Zelgadis
added.

"Yes, Greywyrds daughter did strike me as the
responsible sort," Luna
added.

"Okay, yeah," Lina admitted slowly. "And Xalan is
certainly not going to
let anything get out of hand." Filia just remained
quiet, not bothering to comment on how no one bothered
to support Val.

*******

"If you had told me what we were supposed to be doing,
we could have just
found some firewood and then stared at the stars,
cuddling for a couple of
hours," Val reminded her briskly.

The dragon was leaned over, almost horizontal,
apparently carrying some
heavy burden on his back. He was also trying ignore
the fact that he was back in that pastel outfit. Xina
walked next to him, happily carrying a decently large
pile of firewood and sporting her mother's scale mail
again.

"Oh this was more fun, I like waiting to the last
minute," Xina snapped.
"So stow it flower boy." She would have jabbed him in
the chest if her hands
weren't full. Val looked down at the hideous outift
and grimaced.

"I was sure that I had burned this thing," Val said.

"Well, you thought you did," Xina admitted. "But I do
have to agree with
Tinuviel on something."

"What is that?" Val asked, afraid of the answer.

"You are cute dressed up like that," she smirked. Val
growled a little
irritably, but there was a fond note to it.

"One other question," Val said.

"Shoot."

"Why is it that you're carrying that pile of logs," he
gestured his head in her
direction. "And I'm carrying this?" Xina looked up at
the burden on Val's back, a thick tree that at one
time may have been over a hundred feet tall. "What are
we even going to use it for?"

"Uhhh....Sore wa himitsu desu," Xina said.

"Does that mean that you don't know?" Val asked
irritably.

"Err...oh look here's the camp," Xina said cheerfully.

As the the couple walked into camp Amethyst and Xalan
turned to face
them, Amethyst somehow blushing a bright red through
her skin. Xina's brother
had schooled his face to an expressionless mask that
generally meant he was
embarrassed about something. Xina didn't really notice
the signs, she was busy
sniffing the air and scratching her head in confusion.

"Xina-san, Val-san," Amethyst said brightly. "Did you
enjoy your walk?"
As she spoke Val tossed the tree down at the edge of
clearing and stretched to pop the kinks out of his
human body.

"Why are you carrying a tree?" Xalan asked. Val looked
at Xina, looked
back at Xalan.

"Sore wa himitsu desu," Val said. Xalan nodded in
understanding and then
shook his head.

"Okay," Xina finally spoke. "I know I don't know near
what I should know
after growing up in a forest, but I had thought that I
at least knew when all the mating seasons were. Its
not like its an easy scent...to...miss..."

Val and Xina stared at Xalan and Amethyst, who were
now obviously very
embarrassed.

"Ummmm..." Amethyst smiled weakly, next to her Xalan
scratched the
back of his head in embarrassment. "Well...ummm..."
Xina blinked and then came
out of shock.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

*******

Sailoon castle was, about a week later, filled with a
sound not often heard. It was the sound of a dragon
priestess rendered helpless with laughter.

"I thought you said Xalan wouldn't let things get out
of hand," Zelgadis said
narrowly.

"YOU said Amethyst would be a good chaperone," Lina
reminded him.

"Your sister agreed with me," Zelgadis snapped back.

"Greywyrds," Luna said. "You don't want to involve me
in this." Zelgadis
cleared his throat and looked away from the purple
haired sorceress. "Out of
curiosity why is it Xina and Val weren't the
culprits?"

"They said that they wanted Filia to marry them
first," Lina said tightly.
"Apparently she has a really good lecture on
marriage." Everybody turned to the
still hysterical dragon.

"This isn't funny!" Lina and Zelgadis snapped.

*******

"How'd they take it?" Val asked as Amethyst and Xalan
sat down across from
them.

"About as well as Xina did," Xalan said wearily.

"They probably won't calm down as fast, however,"
Amethyst said sadly.

"She spent a day ranting about how she was supposed to
be the reckless
one," Val reminded the chimera. "What's your
definition of fast?"

"Well, this IS something they'd expect of me!" Xina
retorted. "Not that I
would, but I never thought either of THEM would do
that. I mean...they're both
so...so...the only word I can think of for some reason
is 'square.'"

"Thank you for your ringing endorsement, Xina," Xalan
said dryly.

"Whatever," Xina shrugged. "You took all the heat off
me anyway."

"You're welcome," Amethyst said cooly.

"Don't do that!" Xina snapped. "You sound like you're
father when you do
that."

"Is there something wrong with my father?" Amethyst
asked.

"Please go back to talking like a naive justice
freak," Xina pleaded. "Or I'll
start yodelling and carrying around a circular
throwing blade."

"Uh...what does that mean Xina-san?" Amethyst asked.

"I don't really know," Xina said, scratching the back
of her head. "Anyway,
Val and I are going to be returning the favor."

"Uh, we are?" Val said nervously.

"Yeah," Xina said. "We have to go visit Jol and..."
she smirked viciously.
"Tinuviel, and invite them to the wedding."

The noise in the halls gained in strength briefly and
they all turned to catch
the sound of echoing laughter.

"At least your mother is in a good mood," Xina said
facing Val again.

*******

"Look, they're safe," L-sama said irritably. "You can
go now."

"I guess so," Amelia said sadly. She sighed and turned
to see Xellos
nodding grimmly.

"It is time to fufill our end of the bargain," Xellos
admitted reluctantly.
The source opened up behind them, silently.

"I would have liked to see the weddings," Amelia said
with a sigh as she
turned to the gate and stepped towards it.

"We can ask them about it later," Xellos said,
smirking as he and Amelia
vanished into the gate.

"That's going to be a long wait," L-sama said to
herself as the gate closed.
She looked through her portal and stared at Xina and
Xalan. "A long wait."

*******
*******
*******
*******
*******

Yes people, that's the end. I left a lot of things
open on purpose...if someone wants to write more
stories using the characters go ahead. Just tell me
about it ok?

=====
"Caffeinated Kender? What's that, a berserk spell?" -
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
"God has to have a sense of humor, it's the only explanation for sex." - my father
"I have to write a how-to paper for class, so I'm writing a paper on how to be psuedo-evil." - my brother

http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html

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