"Fireball!" Lina shouted for what felt like the hundredth time. And, once again, Jason managed to dodge, this time levitating out of the way. She swore and cast the spell again, and again he dodged. "This isn't working!" she shouted to the others, who were just as tired as she was. The only person in the room who wasn't exhausted was Jason.
"Are you done yet?" he asked casually, hovering in the air.
"No way!" Lina shouted back. "Flare Arrow!"
Jason quickly dropped back to the ground, letting the Arrow crash through the roof. "No, no, your aim was way off. Like this! Flare Arrow!"
Lina's eyes widened - the spell was coming to fast to dodge! She closed her eyes and waited for the spell to hit her. And waited. And waited. Finally, she opened one eye to find the Flare Arrow hovering in front of her face. She opened her other eye to find everyone else gaping at something. She turned her head a little to see a strange woman who had apparently appeared out of nowhere. Her skin was a bright purple, and her ears were pointed, elf-like. Her long black hair that hung down to her waist that was streaked with purple, and she was wearing a black jumpsuit. With her left hand, she was holding the Flare Arrow. She glared at Lina, then at the others.
"You idiots!" she shouted. "Do you have any idea how much you've screwed up the timeline? You're not allowed to just go hopping from dimension to dimension unless you're a World-Jumper! And you certainly aren't that. What did you think you were doing?" She went on like that for a while, until Lina interrupted her.
"Uh ... Sorry?"
"You're sorry. You're sorry? Oh, that's just great, after all you've done, you're sorry!"
Gourry interrupted her, confused about something. "Timeline? I thought we were in another world, not another time."
"You are, stupid. What I meant was you screwed up the timeline for this world. Otherworlders are not supposed to create major events, such as destroying evil mages. Just coming into this world screwed this guy up, making him start to regain his sanity. Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"Not really," Lina said. "Who are you, anyway?"
The woman glared at her. "Ravenwing. I'm called Ravenwing. I'm a professional World-Jumper. And now you've completely screwed up my mission - which is none of your business," she added, noticing Gourry's puzzled look and not realizing that he always looked like that. "So now I've got to try to fix all the damage you've done."
"What damage?" Lina asked, putting on an innocent face.
"What damage?" Ravenwing repeated in disbelief. "What damage? One: falling in love. People from two different worlds are not permitted to fall in love. You're lucky you're allowed to even be friends. Two: killing people. Coming into this world woke Shaby-what's-his-name, who helped Jason start to regain his sanity - " she paused, remembering Jason, who now had a Freeze Arrow in his hands. "Hold it, buddy," she snapped, holding out a hand. Jason found himself unable to move. "Like I was saying, if it wasn't for you, the Black Cloaks wouldn't have been destroyed."
"They haven't been destroyed," Lina protested. Well, not completely.
Ravenwing raised an eyebrow. "A werewolf and a little girl. Wow, what a great team. Sign me up, please!" she said sarcastically.
"What about Catsai?" Lina countered.
"Catsai's dead," Ravenwing said emotionlessly, nodding toward Catsai's body. "Anyway, as I was saying. Three: Money and/or personal possessions can not cross from - "
"She's dead?" Atreana gasped, running over to her, quickly followed by the others.
Ravenwing threw up her hands in exasperation. "Oh, just forget the rules, you've broken them all anyway. Now, let's see ... Jason should still be insane, and Shaby-whatsis asleep - " She gestured at him, presumably casting a spell. "Falling in love I can't fix. Money and personal items go back to their original worlds - " She gestured at the group surrounding Catsai, and their pouches and weapons disappeared. "Dead. Let's see, I need bodies to fix that, so most of the Black Cloaks are permanently dead, but Catsai ... Move aside, let me through!" she shouted, trying to get to Catsai's body. She easily picked up Zelgadis, who was holding Catsai's body, and tossed him aside - directly into a wall. "Sorry about that," Ravenwing called distractedly, examining Catsai's body. "Hmm .... all right. I've got a way to save her." She looked up at the others. "Here's what I can do. I can take half of somebody's soul, and put it in her body. That will bring her back to life. Neither one would be any different, but they would always have to be together. More than twenty feet away from each other, and they both die. Permanent, too; I'm not going to save any of you again, you got that? And a warning: this is going to hurt. I mean, really hurt. Like you think you'd be better off dead. Well, any volunteers?"
The group glanced at each other nervously, and a little ashamedly. Anna opened her mouth to say something, then closed it, and hung her head.
"I'll do it."
They turned around to stare at Zelgadis.
Ravenwing frowned. "That means you would have to stay in her world, or she would have to stay in yours," she told him. "Are you sure - "
"I'm sure. If it will save her - "
Ravenwing shrugged. "Your choice. Well then - brace yourself, this is gonna hurt - "
She gestured toward the Chimera, and burst of - of something, maybe some kind of energy? - raced toward him. Zelgadis let out a cry of agony as it raced through him, and a small white cloud of mist appeared in front of him. Ravenwing made a few more gestures, and the cloud of mist floated toward Catsai, then settled on top of her chest. As the white cloud sank into her body, Catsai shuddered, then lay still.
Zelgadis stood up - the soul-splitting had knocked him from his feet - and stumbled over to her unmoving body. "It didn't work," he muttered, glaring at Ravenwing.
Ravenwing glared back at him. "Yes it did. She's just asleep, that's all. Now, you four - and her too - back through the portal." She waved her arm, and a portal opened up in front of her. "Move it! I don't have all day!"
Zelgadis, still watching Ravenwing warily, picked up Catsai and started toward the portal. Just before he went through it, Atreana called to him and raced forward.
"Zel," she said slowly, "when she wakes up, tell her that I'm sorry. I'm sorry about everything. And - well, I realize that you two are sort of meant to be, so I'm not going to chase after you anymore."
"You can't. You'll be in different worlds," Ravenwing pointed out. Atreana ignored her.
"But I still think you're majorly cute," she said, winking at him when he blushed. "So tell her to get ready for some competition; there's got to be a dozen girls after you back in your world, right?" She grinned at him, and ran back to where Griff and the others were waiting.
After Zelgadis and Catsai disappeared through the portal, Lina and Amelia followed. Gourry started forward, but Anna raced after him.
"I'm going, too!" she cried. She paused, glancing at Ravenwing. "Is that all right?"
Ravenwing sighed, throwing up her hands. "Sure! Whatever! Let's screw up another timeline!" She sighed again at Anna's frightened look. "Just get through that portal before anyone else decides to go through."
"Too late." Marcia stood up slowly, and Atreana raced to help her. "If Anna's going, I'm going. There's nothing left here for me."
Ravenwing glared at her. "Whatever. Just get going. And you two," she snapped, glaring at Atreana and Griff as Marcia disappeared through the portal, "are staying here!"
Atreana grinned. "No problem!" she called.
Griff nodded, smiling. "Hey, I can't even find my way around towns in this world. What would it be like there?" he joked.
Ravenwing sighed. "Good. Now, to get you out of this tower and erase your memory of the entire thing."
"What?"
She shrugged. "Sorry. Rules are rules." She waved her hand and the three of them disappeared.
Several weeks later, Catsai and Anna celebrated the grand opening of their tavern. Technically, it was Catsai's tavern, but when Zelgadis and the other Slayers traveled, she left it in Anna's hands.
"Hello, my name's Catsai," she greeted her first customer. The woman looked a little unusual; she had purple skin and purple streaks down her black hair. But maybe that wasn't unusual for this world. "I own this tavern. What can I get you?"
Ravenwing grinned. "Nothing for me, thanks, just wanted to see what you were doing."
Anna darted out of the kitchen, tears streaming down her face. "Catsai!" she called. "The stove, it - oh!" Her eyes widened when she saw Ravenwing.
Catsai glanced at Anna. "You know her?"
Anna nodded slowly. "Yes ... Catsai, that's Ravenwing."
"Oh!" Catsai's eyes widened, and she turned back to the World-Jumper. "Uh ... thanks for saving my life, and, uh - "
Ravenwing smiled. "Don't worry, I'm going to leave you alone. But first, I've got to make sure you don't break another rule. You can't tell anybody what happened, unless they're other World-Jumpers. You got that?"
Catsai and Anna nodded.
"Good. Well then, I'll be going!" She winked at a startled Zelgadis as he came down the stairs, then opened a portal and disappeared, closing the portal behind her.