Lina held tightly onto Zelgadis's hand and watched his back as they walked forward in the labyrinth. It hadn't taken her long to realize there was another hazard besides it being a maze she couldn't blast her way out of; she could also run into walls, because they were see-through and therefore darned tough to see. The only reason she didn't have a flatted nose was Zelgadis's expert sense of direction and steering. It seemed a few years away from the labyrinth hadn't dimmed his memory of it.
He stopped without warning, and Lina ran into him before she knew she should have stopped.
"Oww... Why'd you stop?!" she demanded crossly as she rubbed her now-sore nose.
"A trap," he said flatly.
"Oh? What kind?"
"See for yourself." He stepped to the side, allowing her a perfect view of an...empty corridor. Lina searched for any kind of trace of a trap, from a button on the walls or floor, to a bloody pit, but saw nothing.
"Eh? I don't see anything," she frowned.
He sighed, and shook his head. "Wait a moment."
Quickly, almost faster than Lina could see him, he stuck his hand near the wall in front of him and retracted it. A second later, the wall rippled and out shot a circular, liquid globe of crystal. It pulsed in the air, as if searching for something, then fused back into the wall.
Lina gaped, first at the wall, second at Zelgadis. "How did you know that was there?" she asked suspiciously.
"Trial and error as a kid," he admitted wryly. "I got caught by that more than once." He waved at the walls again. "They're a type of magical handcuff. It captures your hand or wrist and solidifies."
"So...how do we get past it?" Lina thought for a moment, and grinned. "We just stick to the center of the corridor, don't we?"
Nodding, he affirmed and added, "As long as you stay close to the center, they won't sense you and try to come out and grab you."
Both Lina and Zelgadis grabbed the edges of their capes and hugged them close before carefully making their way through the tricky corridor. No more magical cuffs came out to grab them, and after the next turn, Zelgadis gave a brief sigh of relief.
They'd only walked a dozen feet more when the next trap came upon them. Again, he stopped.
"This one's annoying more than anything, so I haven't ever tried to dodge it. It simply sprays water at you as you walk past."
Lina stomped her foot on the ground and pointed at the space in front of them. "What kind of trap is that?!" she huffed.
He shrugged. "I think it's just supposed to annoy you."
Without another word, he ran forward, going from normal speed to mazoku speed after the first step. The water sprayed up after his figure, never quite getting him. A minute later it died down, and Lina saw him standing another dozen feet away from her, not a drop on him.
"Show off!" she shouted at him, a little irked. There was no way she could avoid the water like he had.
"Just run through," he called encouragingly.
Lina sighed, and closed her eyes for a moment. "Here it goes..." she whispered below her breath as she ran blindly forward. Water spouts opened up on the walls, and sprayed ice-cold water all over her. She gritted her teeth, and kept on going, determined to get through.
Smack! "Oww..." she groaned, "that's the second time in ten minutes," and opened up her eyes to look at...Zelgadis's chest. He'd stumbled under the force of her weight, so he was now a few feet away from her. At the look in her ruby eyes, he stumbled back another foot or two. "I'm going to get you back for the water..." she warned, chuckling evilly and taking a menacing step towards him.
Uh oh, he thought as he retreated further still.
She stopped and tensed her muscles up. "Prepare yourself...Zelgadis!" she said threateningly...
...and launched herself at him. He gasped, but didn't move as she hurdled herself into his arms, completely soaking him. Taking advantage of his shock, Lina wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.
"Gah!" he cursed, pushing at her to try and get her to let go. "Get off! You're getting me all wet!"
Laughing, she said, "That's the point!"
"Lina...if you don't stand up...I will walk directly into the next trap..." he warned ominously, gritting his teeth.
For answer, Lina unwrapped her legs and stood up, but she didn't let go of his neck and took the opportunity to get his legs thoroughly wet as well.
"That's it! You've asked for it now." A rare, mischievous grin spread across his face, and he wrapped his arms around her waist, trapping her against him. Her feet dangled off of the ground.
"Wha..." began Lina, and felt Zelgadis walking backwards down the corridor. "What are you..." She started to get worried as the grin deepened. To cover up her uneasiness, she laughed and said in a falsely pleasant voice, "Okay, I'll release you!" Matching action to words, she dropped her hands from around his neck.
It didn't do any good.
A few more steps... Lina gulped nervously, sure they were going to step into a trap at any moment.
"Almost there..." he said low in his throat, chuckling ever so slightly. Three more steps. "Now it's your turn, Lina Inverse!"
Quickly, he took five steps backwards, and Lina winced, waiting for something to come and trap her.
It wasn't what she expected. From their feet, and low, soothing wind started up, swirling Lina's hair and cape dramatically. With each second, though, the wind increased, till Lina's hair was practically straight above her, and her cape as well. She gulped awkwardly as she unconsciously grabbed hold of Zelgadis's tunic.
His arms loosened from around her waist, and she felt her feet again touch the floor. He took a step back and raised his hands above him.
"As a kid, I always used this to dry off after the water trap," he explained.
Indeed, she was getting dry very quickly. A few more minutes of this, and she'd look as if she'd never gotten wet in the first place.
"As traps, they're really ineffective," Lina pointed out as they stepped out of the wind trap, dry and quite amused.
"I'm not sure the people who designed them intended them to actually be traps. They're more like an annoying...or amusing...diversion. Besides, it might put off a few people who don't want their clothes to get wet or mangled."
They rounded the next bend in the maze, and came upon five different paths to chose. As before, Zelgadis unerringly took the one on the far right. Lina followed after him with a shrug. If he didn't know where he was going, he was doing a good job of pretending like he knew.
A few twists later, and Zelgadis again stopped, while glancing around himself furtively.
"What now?" Lina groaned, rapidly getting sick of demented traps.
"I think...I'd swear...that someone's...following us..." he said, frowning and staring at his surroundings intently. His eyes lingered in one spot longer than any other, but he sighed and shook his head. "Maybe not."
She sighed, and shook her head. "I don't think it'd be possible for someone to follow us in here without our knowledge. The walls are made of see-through crystal, you know."
"True..." Still, he looked unsure as he lead her forward.
More traps followed. There was a net, which happened to be the same "color" as the crystal, so it was hard to spot; a cage with a carrot inside (Lina laughed over that one); a rope-trap for the feet (where you step into the loop of rope on the floor, and it pulls you into the air - Lina almost did step inside it, because it blended perfectly with the crystal); and a wall that raised behind you and in front of you (which would box you in if you didn't run through it fast enough).
"Gah! I can't take much more of this, Zel!" Lina complained, throwing her hands into the air.
"Don't worry. We're almost to the end. There's only one last trap to get through," he said as gently as he could.
"Good! Zel..." Lina paused and continued more warily. "How did you learn about all these traps?"
She wasn't sure he would answer her question, since he had a tendency to be closed mouth about anything that might potentially involve his family. So, she was surprised when he opened up his mouth and said, "...I came in here when I needed to escape my family, or my duties. There's a secret entrance out of the palace in this maze, and I'd use it to escape for a day or two. But, I also knew that people might see me if I tried to run away, so I learned all I could about the maze. By the time I was seven years old, I could get through this labyrinth with my eyes blindfolded, if need be."
"...If that's so, then why are we in here? We don't want to escape," she pointed out.
"There's a surprise at the center you might enjoy," he said mysterious.
"Oh no... I'm sick of surprises!"
"I promise you'll like this one," he insisted.
Lina glared at him, but didn't respond.
Several minutes later, Zelgadis whispered near her ear, "This is the last trap."
Before she could respond to that, he walked boldly forward into the empty corridor. The ceiling opened up, and out dropped a...spider...
...a large spider...
...a HUGE spider...
...and it's white body shimmered like crystal...
It lowered itself onto the floor in front of him, and chattered agitatedly. Zelgadis slowly reached out to the spider. Lina stayed a few steps behind him, and prayed he didn't get his arm bitten off. Spiders didn't bother her, but she wasn't sure what this spider would do, either. Zelgadis seemed to know what he was doing, so she'd let him. At the moment, it sounded like the wisest policy.
The spider studied his hand for only a few seconds before backing off and...nodding it's head? Hmm...didn't know spiders could do that... It shot webbing up onto the ceiling and raised itself up into the opening that suddenly appeared again.
"Okay, I have a feeling those things usually do more than just sniff people," Lina frowned as Zelgadis turned towards her.
He nodded. "If they don't recognize you, they bundle you up in webbing and take you back to the beginning." He grabbed her hand and walked forward again. "Come on."
"Wait! Zel..." she protested, trying to slow him down and failing miserably.
More protests died in her throat as she looked at the large room they'd just entered...and at the thing in the center...