Lina Inverse, Demonic Genius, stalked up and down the damned hall. Literally. It had damned souls hanging from -
Okay, okay, I won't describe it.
She tried very hard not to seem nervous. She hid her chewed claws behind her back and stared up at the gold and black door leading into the boss' office. Damn bastard.
Lina wasn't exactly the perfect vision of a devil. She wore tall black boots, yes. But they were comfortable and practical, not shiny spike heed lace ups. She wore a black shirt, as was uniform, yes. But it was an overlarge knitted sweater. She had black shiny bottoms as was custom, yes. But it wasn't a tiny litte skirt or a drippy one with a high slit - it was red shiny pants with a black dragon emblazoned down one leg. She had and two earrings of gold and ruby hooking in and out of the many holes in her pointed ears, yes. But she wasn't wearing the upside-down cross on either one. She was amazingly clever and sneaky, yes. But she was flat chested and cute.
Line wasn't the evil, I'll cut you into pieces type of bitch demon, or the sultry, I'm gonna screw you good if you give me your soul seductress. Lina was the, "Gosh I'm so cute tuck me into bed and read me a story" looking type, from the top of her iridescent red-on black wings draped with black and ruby beads to the tips of her red painted claws.
She was amazingly smart, and graduated top of the entire school in her classes on soul-stealing, but she tended to overreact and had feelings, even though she wasn't supposed to.
And she was powerful. Ohhhh, she was powerful. Which was why hell had sent their best incubus to get her. But, instead of doing exactly as he said, she beat the crap out of Xellos when she found out he'd brought her now damned soul to hell and she had to work for him.
She wasn't taking anything from anyone but the high boss, in other words, Shabudandigo. She had a mind of her own and was gonna use it.
Which meant she wasn't very liked.
Mainly, now that their mistake was revealed, most of the people in charge were trying to get rid of her in a way that wouldn't lt heaven at her power. Because if had her power, they may have a chance to put a deep gash in Hell's influence on humans.
Lina knew this all very well. And she knew they were probably going to give her a really hard assignment for her first damned soul. But she was ready to try. Hell, it's not like being destroyed was any worse than having Xellos tell her the real reason he wanted her to....never mind. Eyes on the prize, Lina, or you're gonna burn. Don't feel, don't hurt. And Don't Have Pity.
The wide doors opened and Lina could see a blonde young human, of about 23, flashing in the darkness. Gourry Gabriev, your assignment.
Lina watched the summary of her life. She couldn't believe it.
At ten he'd saved his mother from drowning. At eleven he'd rescued his neighbor from a fire. At twelve he saved his class in an earthquake. He was the sweetest guy you could ever meet. He was unbelievably loyal to his beautiful girlfriend, and he was loved by everyone. His family was rich and well taken after, and despite that he didn't want for anything, he wasn't spoiled in the least.
His single bad quality was that he was dense as a rock. But mere ignorance would not damn anyone. They had to KNOW what they were doing. This guy was unsullied and unbreakable.
"Piece of cake," Lina stated with more confidence than she felt.
Zelgadis Greywyrds sat on the gold and white bench, comfortably fluffed and comfortable, with nervousness eating way at his innards. He looked at the pearly gates and tried not to bite his naturally manicured nails. After all, it wasn't as if they'd try to give him a human that would be hard to guard, would it? If they gave beginners human in danger, heaven would get a horrible name and folks would stop believing.
Besides, He's finished top of his class, hadn't he?
Yes, but that's all just bookwork. It was reading and studying. Can I do the real thing?
Of course he could. They'd give him an assignment perfectly suited to him. Of course.
After all, this was heaven.
The gates opened and he peered down through the clouds at a young man of about twenty three. He was in college and had a wonderful life. At ten he'd saved his mother from drowning. At eleven he'd rescued his neighbor from a fire. At twelve he saved his class in an earthquake. He was the sweetest guy you could ever meet. He was unbelievably loyal to his beautiful girlfriend, and he was loved by everyone. His family was rich and well taken after, and despite that he didn't want for anything, he wasn't spoiled in the least.
Zelgadis breathed a sigh of relief. This was going to be heaven.
He has also been assigned a demon, sent to damn him to hell. Lina Inverse, top of her class, and extremely powerful devil, second class.
Then again, maybe it would be all hell...
Lina grabbed her staff from her room and started flipping through her textbooks. Which, of course, were no help.
"Dammit!" Lina tossed it to her bed and began flipping through another.
"Those aren't going to help you, you know." Came a voice from the doorway. Lina started, the relaxed. Oh. Naga. The succubus wasn't exactly intelligent, and while being greedy, had been what passed as a friend in Hell to Lina.
"Why do you say that?"
"Because I, your great rival, know something you don't!!" Lina sighed. Naga may be gorgeous, but that was it. She had very little power and wasn't much of a threat at all.
However, Naga might know something Lina wanted to.
"What is that? I'm afraid I'm not intelligent as you; I have no idea what you're talking about." Lina managed to grind out. She needed all the help she could get on this assignment.
"Your charge has a guardian Angel."
Lina nearly swallowed her tongue. He had a what???
Dammit, now my soul is really gonna be torn slowly to shreds... Lina put her head up. "Who?" She asked hopefully. Maybe a newbie, an incompetent, Gourry was of course the model pious...
"Zelgadis Greywyrds, top of his graduating class. And they know about you."
Dammit, why was everything down here so goddamned HELLISH???
"Great. Any good news?"
Naga shrugged. "From what We can dreg up, the only inperfection with Zelgadis is he was non-social and as close to gloomy as you can get in heaven."
Ahhhh....a technical genius, unused to real problems...probably spent all his time looking through his text books... Things are starting to look up!
Of course, Down here, that's the first sign you're in big trouble...
Zelgadis stared at his stave and flopped down on his bed. "Heavens, why am I stuck with a damned soul? Why? I'm not that good. I'm bound to get into trouble somehow."
Zelgadis, or Zel, as is few friends called him, had never been particularly optimistic. Most of the angels tried to help him, and he was in heaven, but there was a certain protocol he had to follow, as an angel. It was heaven for the blessed souls receiving the holy ghost, it was work for the holy.
So Zelgadis wasn't exactly the epedemy of Angelic messengers. Sure, he was an angel, but he was an experiment. They were trying out a different kind of angel, and he was the first. Rezo had thought of it. Zelgadis wished he hadn't volunteered for it.
But he'd been stupid. In return for a boost in powers and intelligence, his skin was made of rock. His hair was metallic blue, and he had small blue stones dotting every inch of his body.
Certainly, he had the halo. Of course, he had the beautiful, white feathered wings. Definitely, he was strong.
But even though the angels were all pure, kind and thoughtful, he could feel them wonder about him. Angels couldn't read other angel's minds. They couldn't really be sure if the change in him made him less pure.
Because he was supposed to be more fit for destroying the evil minions of darkness. He was strong and battle ready, more for destroying Satan then saving souls from him. And no one was sure if he was going to be a problem, which was why there was only one of them so far.
He sighed and tried to concentrate on his book.
"Good afternoon, Zelgadis-san!" Amelia, Angel of hope, cheer and other such stuff, bounded into the room. Zel sighed and smiled. She was a bit annoying, true, but she was adorable and pure in a way he wasn't anymore. And he loved his psuedo-sister for that.
"Hello Amelia."
"Guess what I heard!!!"
"What did you hear, Amelia?"
"I heard that the demon assigned to your charge is Lina Inverse!!"
Zelgadis froze. "You mean the girl Xellos seduced before we could realize what was happening?" They never really found out what she did to damn herself. Presumably sold her soul to the devil or some such. Sex itself was not enough to damn her.
"Yes! They say she's been assigned Gourry to prove her power!"
Meaning she was powerful enough to actually get him onto their side. Heavens, this was all going to hell...