"Are you sure you want to go this way?" Iria asked, "There's a much better route around the mountain and forest which will only take about a week longer..."
She fell silent seeing the astonished looks of the rest of the group. Even "Random" was floating lower to the ground than normal and looking at her.
"Oi, aren't you really lazy?" Gourry asked as confused as the rest of them.
"Yes, I am."
"Then why would you want to travel several extra days on a harder path to get where we're going?!" Lina yelled. "I am not waiting for an extra week to get rid of this!" She held up her left hand, pointing to the large diamond surrounded by rubies, which glinted, on her ring finger. "If you think I'd tolerate the fruitcake any longer than necessary, you're nuts!" She stormed off angrily towards the cave opening in the distance, as the rest followed.
Xellos, looking a little hurt, before quickly recovering his perpetually cheerful expression, hid a sigh of hopelessness by trying to start a conversation with the oddly fidgeting Iria. "My Lina-chan had a point, why would you want to travel so far out of our way, oh shiftless-one?"
"Can't tell, I'm afraid. The boss hates spoilers," she replied, stifling a yawn.
"You keep talking about this as if it's a story," his eyes opened briefly, then narrowed. "What are you, Iria?"
"I'm not supposed to..." She found herself cut off by a grinning, purple-haired elven girl with the slit, pupiled gaze of a demon.
"She's a Scribe of Fate!" Random piped.
"She's what?!" Zelgadis asked, having overheard the exchange. "I didn't think they existed!"
Amelia looked puzzled, "I've never heard of a Scribe of Fate. Do you work to further the high destinies of the Just?" She asked with huge, shiny stars in her eyes.
"Uh...no.." She looked at Random. "You explain it. I'm saving my energy for the cave."
Random cast an-almost-tiniest-bit-apprehensive-but-not-really™ look at the cave, wondering what had Iria's poofy pants in a bunch, then began in her peppy voice, "It's the job of a Scribe of Fate to record everything that happens, ever, in order to keep an accurate account of stuff. She's got the past, present, and future all planned out in her notes. Kewlies, huh?" She giggled at the expressions on the others faces, but by that time they had reached the cave, so she didn't have much time to enjoy the looks of bemusement and confusion before their visages became shadowed. A small, familiar tingle passed up her spine as she entered, hovering above the others. It passed before she could identify it, so she let it slip to the back of her mind, in favor of pinning a "Kick Me" sign to the back of Gourry's armor while it was to dark for the others to see.
They were about half way to the light on the other side of the tunnel beneath the mountain, when the rumble started and the light from the entrance was suddenly cut off. Xellos and Random, who had both been floating, suddenly crashed down. This wouldn't have been so bad, if it hadn't been so unusual, and if Random hadn't landed on a suddenly human Zelgadis, whose true body was much more apt to bruise than stone.
Slayers-0
Gravity-3
Outside the cave, a green haired elven man hovered, arms crossed, with a smug look on his face. "Finally, all Mother's favorites in one place, and all without their powers." His deep sadistical laughter rang in the empty wilderness and echoed long after he disappeared.
Lina used what little power "that time of the month" left her with to create a small light spell, and look around. Evidently, the cave mouth had collapsed, Xellos didn't have slitted pupils anymore, Zelgadis was human, and Random was on the ground, or more accurately on Zel, for the first time since she had shown up... Hmm...GACK!?! WAIT A MINUTE!
Iria sighed. "I knew this was going to happen." She handed Amelia a handkerchief for the bloody nose she was about to get from staring at the pale-skinned, purple haired, human, Zelgadis.
Said former chimera stopped staring down at his hands and let out a very un-Zel-like whoop of joy. Only then did he realize he had a baffled Random on top of him, and blushed seven shades of red.
"Iria...Why aren't I in the air?" she asked whilst climbing off of Zelgadis, and absently offering him a hand up.
"This area is sacred to a powerful Shamanistic Spirit. It has the effect returning everything to its original state, which took effect abruptly when the opening was collasped. Thus, the mazoku is a human priest with white magic, Zel is human, and you...you only have a few days until you cease to exist."
Random paled and staggered back into Zelgadis who reached out to steady her. "What do you mean by that? And will I stay human once we leave here?" he asked.
Xellos had jumped up and grabbed Iria by the collar of her cloak with a frantic look in his now bluish-purple human eyes. "This will go away?!?" he shook her a little, "I can't be human again!" The fear in his voice was almost tangible. Lina was surprised to find herself laying a comforting hand on his shoulder. He glanced back at her and almost sheepishly let go of the scribe.
Iria frowned at him and straightened her clothes. "The effect is temporary. Once you leave this area, things will return to the way they were. As for Random..." She caught a warning glance from the noticeably less cheerful girl and seemed to change her mind, "Random wasn't "born" per say, so she'll grow weaker and weaker and eventually cease to exist or "die", if she stays too long. Besides that, this place is particularly dangerous, so we may want to hurry since we effectively have only Amelia and Gourry at full power at the moment." She checked her notes to make sure she was correct, then saved herself the effort of explaining it again, "Yes, Gourry, this a bad thing and that's all you need to know."
"Gah!" Lina shouted in frustration, "Why does something like this always happen to me?" Almost absently she grabbed the subdued Xellos's cloak and stalked off pulling him behind her. "Come on! The sooner we get out of here, the sooner Random is safe and I'm single again."
Zelgadis ran to catch up with Lina, briefly missing his demonic speed, "Lina...I..."
"Stay or go, Zel. It's your choice and we'll understand. We're still going so I can get unmarried to Xellos, you can do what you want," she replied before he could finish.
Zelgadis nodded and dropped back a little, seemingly in thought. He caught snatches of conversation between Gourry, Amelia, Random, and Iria detailing how long it would take to clear the area of the effect, and how close the nearest town was. Iria wasn't too optimistic about getting Random out in time, and Amelia couldn't Ray Wing her that far, but maybe they could find something in that town to help them. "Hmm...a town, maybe I can settle down there," he mumbled. Sure, he'd miss traveling, but staying in one place was preferable to being a monster all one's life...wasn't it?
Xellos looked miserable.
Lina panted and sheathed her sword with her good hand. Damn the cut on her shoulder hurt! Trolls and overwhelming numbers of bandits were a lot harder to deal with when only one member of your party had a countable level of offensive magic. This was the fourth band of trolls/bandits they had run across since entering the effect and it had taken its toll on all of them. Luckily, Zelgadis was still reasonably strong as a human, and still a killer swordsman, even though his magic left a lot to be desired. She had learned quite a bit about a lot of her traveling companion's lesser used talents though.
The Dramatta yawned exhaustedly and scanned her friends. Iria was dozing against a tree, where she had firmly planted herself as soon as the fighting had commenced. Xellos had had to become reacquainted with his old white magic skills fast. Though pretty wicked with that staff, and not a bad fighter in general, he had spent the majority of the time making barriers and healing the others. It must be hard for him, going directly from feeding on pain to healing people without warning, but he seemed to be dealing pretty well with it, after the shock wore off that is.
Currently, the former Mazoku was healing a wound on Random's leg. The elven-demon-thing was another who had surprised her. The twin jitte she wore, strapped to her hips, evidently weren't just for show. The girl had taken down more than her fair share of baddies with the elongated sais, as well as a few well-aimed sherriken. Oddly enough, she seemed less mentally affected by the change than the two males of the group and was just as bubbily as ever, despite that, if what Iria said was true, she only had about two and a half more days to live.
Lina motioned for Gourry to set up camp right here, under the theory that lightning rarely struck the same place twice and they would be safer here than somewhere else, that, and it really was a good campsite. The small clearing had a rock face to one side and a river nearby. Might as well take advantage of it.
Aside from Gourry, Amelia was the only one who escaped without at least a few bruises and scratches. Lina vowed to try and teach her some more useful black magic spells after this, though. There was only so much shamanism and white magic could do. The peppy princess was just finishing up healing Zelgadis whose eyes seemed to wander toward Random quite a bit since his returned humanity boosted his self-image a few much-needed notches. Poor Amelia, Zel just couldn't see her as anything more than a little sister.
Lina was jerked out of her reverie by a soft masculine voice, and a gentle touch to her uninjured shoulder.
"Lina-san, I'm done with Random, let me see your shoulder." Xellos said.
Lina was startled to feel a wave of concern for her float from the priest. What the hell? When did I become an empath? She wondered. Aloud she said, "I'm okay Xellos. It's nothing, really, just a scratch."
"If it's nothing, you wouldn't have any qualms with me seeing it, ne? Besides, I can sense you're in pain, so it's no use. Now come sit down by the fire and let me look."
She reluctantly allowed him to lead her to the fire, which Gourry had just finished lighting. "How can you sense I'm in pain?" she asked suspiciously, "I thought you were human now?"
His eyes widened slightly. It obviously hadn't occurred to him that sensing another's pain wasn't normal. "I don't know...I can't feel the other's pain. How odd." He shrugged and sat leaning against the cliff behind them, then pulled Lina down with him. It was getting too dark to see without light, so he bent close to her shoulder. Slowly, and wincing, she moved her hand from atop the relatively serious slash. Xellos made tsk-ing sounds, and immediately laid comforting hands on her wound, chanting a healing spell as well as one to dull the pain.
He marveled in the alien feel of the white magic flowing through his hands, at the same time noticing the softness of Lina's skin. Lina smiled her thanks at him and tested her shoulder.
"Good as new!" she proclaimed, "You're pretty good at that, you have the touch for it." She blushed rather prettily in the firelight and Xellos chuckled.
"That's not the only thing I have the touch for Lina-chan!" He winked, teasing her, and was rewarded by another blush.
"Ecchi!" she retorted, and playfully hit him, she was feeling relatively mellow, despite the current conditions.
"Well," he said with a grin, "We are married. Might as well enjoy it!" He leaned back, reclining with arms behind his head, expecting to be kicked or at least decked relatively hard. Thus, he was surprised when a calmly thoughtful Lina spoke.
"We're only married until I get to the Really, Really, Old Wish Granting Thing-y..." She leaned back as well, feeling oddly comfortable with him. "Xel? How did you become a mazoku, from being a Priest of Cefieed?"
He thought for a moment about retorting with his favored, "it's a secret", but decided against it. Lina was in a friendly mood, and seemed to be enjoying his company as much as he enjoyed hers for once. "I don't really remember, Lina-chan. Probably the lure of Power," he answered truthfully.
She giggled, "You must not have been a very faithful priest then.." He chuckled, and she continued, "How are you dealing with being human again?"
He opened one eye and looked at her for a moment, the light from the fire cast beautiful accents into her hair and the dancing reds and oranges made it appear as though her fiery spirit were manifesting instead of mundane flame. Could it be that I love her? he asked himself. "It's different. Mazoku feel so much stronger feelings than humans, the same ones, but intensified, especially the dark ones. We're creatures of passions, so to speak. It's young demons' inability to control their emotions which makes them so violent. You've probably noticed, the older a mazoku is, the easier it is to pretend to be human? That's because we learn to control the dark urges which are so much stronger in us over time."
"You don't seem to like being human much," she said with a yawn.
"I much prefer my mazoku sate, thank you! More power, less worries. Everything's more fun."
"But you have to take orders all the time. I wouldn't be able to do that!"
"It's not bad at all Lina-chan! Zelas-sama is a great master. I almost always enjoy fulfilling my orders, and its not like I don't get free time; for instance, I'm following you this time, on my own."
She blinked sleepily at him with the cutest baffled expression he'd ever seen. "Why?"
He wondered for a moment how she would react to a direct confession from him, then decided to wait on that until he was back to being immortal. "You're cute when you're confused," he chuckled. "Sore wa himitsu desu!" Then he kissed her on the cheek.
She blushed bright red, then blinked at him some more. "I'm too tired to beat you now, remind me in the morning." She yawned again, looking ready to fall asleep sitting up, then to his delight she lay down using his knee as a pillow. "You may be human for now, but you're still a fruitcake."
He giggled, crossed his arms, then leaned back to sleep himself, strongly resisting the urge to run his fingers through the liquid fire of her hair. His last conscious thought was that perhaps humanity wasn't so bad after all...well besides the sleeping, cold, hunger, white magic, vulnerability and countless other weaknesses...
Iria had been nominated for the first watch by default and threatened with bodily harm if she didn't do a good job. She situated herself against a tree with her big bag on one side of her, and her staff on the other, then pulled out her notes.
"Let's see..." Her pen flicked out and she looked around. Lina was asleep on Xellos's leg. "Check." She made a small mark on the paper. Zelgadis was staring at where a grounded Random was snoring cutely, with her arm thrown over her eyes. "Check again." Gourry was gazing quasi-thoughtfully at Lina from his bedroll with an sad, but resigned expression, and Amelia was looking, slightly peevishly, in the direction of Zelgadis. "Double-check." She ruffled through her notes, and by the time she found the paper she wanted, the rest were asleep. "Hmm..." She scanned the outline. "I was right, nothing happens on my shift." She grinned, spread her cloak over her, and promptly dozed off. Sometimes it was nice to know the future.
"AHH! I'm blind!" Xellos screamed, "Struck blind by L-sama!"
"Oi, Xellos, you're eyes are closed," Gourry stated.
"Eh?" Xellos asked cautiously opening an eye. "Heh, heh..." he laughed nervously, blushing. The rest sweatdropped and Lina drove her fist into the top of his head.
"Don't scare us like that!" she shrieked.
"Ouch. Lina-chan, that was mean," he whined. So much for a kinder, gentler, enemy-of-all-who-live.
Iria was still snoring, totally oblivious to the rest of them. It would take something just short of a Dragon Slave to wake her up before noon, and with as slow as Random was rising, it would be a good idea to get someone on that immediately. "Amelia, start trying to get Iria up will you?" Lina said.
"But...but...Lina-san, can't Gourry do it?" she asked with a spark of fear in her eyes; she had had to rouse the scribe yesterday morning. She repressed a shudder.
"Whatever," Lina yawned and started breakfast.
Zelgadis stretched, feeling stiff. It was much less comfortable sleeping on the ground with normal skin, he noted almost idly. His eyes caught the sight of Random heading towards the river with a canteen. She stumbled and nearly fell on her way to the trees, but managed to catch herself. He frowned in worry, and headed after her, forgoing his usual cups of morning coffee. Amelia was too busy arguing with Gourry about the Justice of her having to wake Iria up two days in a row, to notice him leaving and follow, so he was relatively safe. He shook his head and headed into the trees.
The forest closed off the sounds of the camp from his less sensitive human ears, and replaced it with the sound of soft singing from the river. Briefly he wondered why she was serenading in such angelic tones as she filled a canteen, but the soothing, heavenly melody caressed his ears and drew him forward towards the sparkle of sunlight on the water of the rushing river.
His eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat. Now he realized how Actaeon must have felt upon seeing Diana's grotto. Random was bathing. His eyes traveled over her body of their own will, and some still thinking portion of his mind noted that she was much shaplier than Lina. His fuzzy consciousness finally registered the fact that watching a woman bathe, no matter how beautiful she was, was wrong and he firmly decided to leave. Unfortunately, his feet had other ideas.
A twig snapped beneath his foot as he took an involuntary step forward. The vision before him stopped singing abruptly and looked around curiously. "Oh, hi Zel-kun. Just a sec, I'm almost done, then the river's all yours!" she said cheerfully, making no attempt to cover herself.
"Gah!...C-C-Clothes!...g-go-going now!" he stuttered eloquently, then took off back towards camp, feeling a nose bleed comming on.
The elvish girl giggled and shrugged. "Wonder what his problem was?"
Zelgadis was still blushing slightly when she returned to camp humming her tune and swinging the full canteen. She seemed slightly more sluggish to him than she had been the day before and her eyes weren't as bright. She glanced his way and he flushed crimson in remembered embarrassment. He studiously ignored her, turning his full attention to his coffee. What am I doing? He berated himself. I'm acting like a lovesick, hormonal teenager. I don't love her!... Even if I did, she can't stay here, and if I leave, I'm a monster again, besides, she's got to be some sort of mazoku, normal things don't have power like she does...but I haven't seen her try to feed off any of us... Aargh, it doesn't matter, I don't care about her. And that's final. He mentally chastised. "If that's true," a voice in his head muttered, "then why are you staring at her again?"
"Let's get going!" he shouted, surprising everyone with his sudden movement to pack up.
"But Zelgadis-san," Amelia started, "I thought you..."
Xellos caught the princess's eye as he stood to pack his own things, and shook his head. I know how you feel, Zelgadis-san, he thought.
Lina kicked Iria, "C'mon! We don't have time for your laziness this morning." The scribe yawned, unaffected, and stumbled to her feet, still half asleep.
"She still has a day and a half," she mumbled, but shouldered her huge ass bag anyway, and started off after the briskly walking Zelgadis, leaning heavily on her staff and yawning.
"Are we there yet?" the lavender-haired Xellos asked.
"My feet hurt!" Random complained in a small, yet cheerful voice, "Can't we rest for just a few minutes?"
"No," Zelgadis snapped irritably. He was sick of the complaining and was mentally wrestling with himself over whether or not to stay here. He had come to the conclusion that he would have to stay in the village, if anywhere. The wilderness was too dangerous for him as a human to survive on his own. "If you go...Random won't be there..." his mind whispered. He was just about to tell his mind in no uncertain terms, to shut the fuck up, when Amelia ventured to speak to him.
The princess had been watching Random struggle to keep up with Zelgadis-san for the last three hours. She was looking pale and Amelia was sure she had seen her sway uncertainly just now. She reached a hand out to steady her and got a small smile of reassurance in return. Tentatively she decided to speak up. Zelgadis had snapped at everyone who ventured to speak to him today, even Lina-san, but it would be unjust and inhuman to make Random keep this pace any longer. Until Amelia knew for sure she was a mazoku, she still deserved Justice.
"Zelgadis-san?" she began meekly, "Random-san can't keep this up much lon..."
She was cut off when the slightly dizzy swaying became more drastic and the elf/demon thing-y slumped into her, no longer able to stand. Lina smacked Zelgadis as they all rushed to her side. Amelia lowered the larger girl to the ground as gently as she could, as Lina yelled, "Now look what you did!"
Zelgadis looked stricken and Xellos put a restraining hand on Lina's shoulder, knowing what Zelgadis-san must be putting himself through was more than enough punishment. She looked at him questioningly, and knocked his hand away, but laid off Zel, who was kneeling on the dusty path.
"L-sama," he whispered. "Are you okay? I'm sorry!" he blurted, mildly wondering in some detached corner of his mind where his language skills went when he spoke to her. She struggled to sit up and he helped her with a gentle hand on her back.
Iria looked at her, then down to the paper in her hand. "She's got maybe two thirds of a day now probably a little less, if she doesn't move much."
"Iie, I'm fine!" she protested, pulling herself upright and pirouetting. "See...oh...I thought I had stopped spinning?" She fainted and Zelgadis caught her before she came anywhere near the ground.
"What have I done?" he whispered. That annoying mental voice spoke up. "You're more of monster as human than as a golem...kinda makes you sympathize with Xellos, ne?" His eyes widened at the thought. Oddly enough it was Xellos's hand which fell on his shoulder comfortingly, that snapped him out of it.
He shook his head, "It would have happened eventually, Zelgadis-san. It just means we must get her out of here that much sooner."
Zelgadis nodded and lifted the unconscious Random a little shakily. He wasn't as strong as used to be. There would be time to drown in self-hatred later, right now, she needed him.
Gourry moved to take the elf from the smaller man, but he refused. He had done this to her, and he would carry her through it. "How far to town and out?"