The Lord of Nightmares worked her will in strange ways. Magic was a gift she had given the races of the world; white considered to be a blessing from her celestial palms and black considered to be a curse. Of course shamanic magic came from nature itself, and belonged to both and none of the white/black categories. The magic of chaos was of an unknown type, but all accepted that as one of the great mysteries of the universe. L-sama was a mysterious being herself, after all. It wasn't for humans to understand her or her doings. It was out of their league, though Lina Inverse liked to think that she herself had mastered all of such riddles. After this day she would never again be so presumptuous.
Some things in the universe just weren't meant to be contemplated.
Lina blinked in utter surprise as a fantastic array of colored light sputtered and exploded before her eyes, dazzling her senses into a state of temporary shock. Fluorescent streaks zigzagged past her faster than she could acknowledge their presence, and the entire world around her sparkled. She felt numb. She wasn't even certain she was still awake, save for the solid feel of Felix's hand in hers. The flame-haired sorceress gripped him tightly, almost frantic to keep a grip on the reality of his touch, and shut her eyes against the blinding light.
"Lina?" Who was talking to her? For a second she almost thought it was the voice of L-sama herself. "BWAHAHAHAHAHA, I do believe the transition scared her!"
Nope. It definitely wasn't L-sama. Lina opened her eyes and glared at her newfound beloved. "Felix! I thought I told you to quit laughing like that!"
He covered his mouth, obviously still smiling underneath. "Sorry. You just looked so funny with your eyes squeezed shut like that!" He pinched her cheek. "And so cute, too."
Lina blushed, a little embarrassed that he'd said that in front of all her friends. She still wasn't exactly comfortable with them knowing about that. "Feliiiiiiiiix..."
The boatmaster grinned devilishly at her and tweaked her nose. "Well, you wanted to see my hometown. What do you think of your first look at Kor Astur?" he asked with a grand gesture.
The sorceress looked past him and nearly gasped at the view. What had been nothing but a forest moments ago was now a massive shinning city. It extended as far as she could see in every direction. But what really made it amazing was that the buildings were so high; they sprouted from the earth in an attempt to reach the sky.
"Felix, what is this?" Lina asked in a stunned tone.
"My home," he replied almost proudly. "Do you like it?"
"It's amazing," Filia gasped. Even Zelgadis was staring with his mouth hanging opening.
Lina felt an almost childish impulse overcome her. She tugged on Felix's hand. "Show me EVERYTHING, Felix!"
"BWAHAHAHAHA, that would be a long task to complete, little lady," the boatmaster replied. "The city is miles and miles long. To see it all would take months, not days."
"But Felix," she whined. "I've never seen anything like it!"
"How is this possible?" Zelgadis asked. "This city was not here a moment ago. Yet when we walked through that door...this is a sight that would be hard to miss."
"That is true, Zelgadis," Felix answered. "But the city was here the whole time."
"That can't be," the chimera exclaimed. "We would have seen it!"
The boatmaster smiled. "Let me take you towards the center of the city. It should all become more clear as you see and experience more..."
Dynast looked up from a paper as one of his soldiers burst into the room. "What the hell is the meaning of this?"
Sherra walked over to the soldiers and conferred with him for a few moments. She gulped silently and looked at her lord. "My lord, it appears that the party we were following...disappeared..."
Her master leaped up from his chair. "WHAT??!!"
The soldier flinched. "It's true, Milord...Lina Inverse and her companions have vanished into thin air."
Dynast Grausherra took a deep breath and struggled to calm himself. He sank back into his chair and gripped the arms with Mazoku strength. "Maybe you had better start from the beginning, minion."
The soldier swallowed nervously and stuttered, "M-milord Dynast, we were following Inverse, like you said to, from 50 yards behind so she wouldn't notice us. Well, there was this big gate standing in the middle of the forest, with nothing before or behind it. Just a big pair of doors."
"And...?"
"And the whole group walked right through them and just disappeared! We searched the area, but didn't find even a trace of their astral signatures."
Dynast buried his face in his hand. "You didn't think to go into the doors they disappeared through?"
The soldier stared blankly at him.
Dynast sighed and gestured to Sherra. "This one's useless to me...please see that he's disposed of."
"Yes, my lord."
"And send my 'special team' after the Inverse group. I want to know what's through those gates and why Felix is so interested in going there."
His servant nodded and clicked her boots together. "Yes, my lord."
Kor Astur was beautiful. That was the ruling thought in everyone's mind, especially Amelia's. Not even her home city of Seiryuun came close. Heck, no city she'd ever seen was nearly that gorgeous. Her father would be exceedingly jealous if he ever visited this mysterious place. And Amelia...well, Amelia really wasn't in the mood to sightsee. In fact, she hadn't been in the mood to do anything since...
The last week had given her time to think. LOTS of time to think, especially with her other companions being so wrapped up in their new relationships. Minus Gourry, who always seemed to have something else to do anyway. And so Amelia had been left alone with her mind.
And she wondered what was to become of her. So fast had she seen four lonely people find the loves of their lives, their entire future plans changed in one instant. She knew that one day Lina would leave with Felix, and Zelgadis with Filia...and she would go back to Seiryuun on that day. But what next? Could she really pick up her old life being the Crown Princess again, destined to marry for politics and live the way the Royal Council dictated? After what had happened with Xelloss?
Amelia frowned. Even with that, nothing had happened between the two of them. A few stolen kisses, but then Lina and crew had rescued her before anything major had occurred. Amelia shook her head. What was she thinking? Did she want something to take place between her and...Xelloss? The princess stole a look at the two pairs of couples. If she had to make a choice, she would rather be with someone than be alone...
A gentle tug on her cape caused her to look over her shoulder, and the sight she saw nearly caused her to gasp out loud. "Xelloss!" She hissed softly.
The priest was staring at her almost lovingly, before he pulled the princess into an alleyway. "Ame-chan, I need to tell you something." He spoke in a low tone, his face only inches away from hers.
Her heart sped up. Was he going to tell her that he... "What is it, Xelloss?"
"Ame-chan...there are people following you," Xelloss said urgently.
Amelia couldn't even bring herself to conceal her disappointment at what Xelloss had said. She thought he would tell her he...loved her...
"Ame-chan?" The priest peered at the young princess. "What's wrong?"
She shook her head. "Who is it, Xelloss? Who's following us? Besides you, that is!"
Her fierce tone caused Xelloss to take a step back. Something was bothering his beautiful princess. He grabbed her shoulders and pushed her against the wall. "Tell me what's wrong, Amelia!"
"Let go of me Xelloss, or I'll scream," Amelia threatened through gritted teeth while the images of her time at Wolf Pack Island danced before her eyes. "I thought you promised me you wouldn't hurt me like this anymore!"
Xelloss's eyes flew open in surprise and he let go of Amelia. "Forgive me, Ame-chan; I never meant to hurt you! I just want to know what's wrong. I care for you and I want you to be happy, my princess..."
The raven-haired girl blushed inside, but her own overblown sense of justice wouldn't let her respond the way she really wanted to. "Forget it," she said, turning away. "You said someone was following us? Who is it?"
The Mazoku stiffened, obviously miffed by the way she refused to acknowledge his words. Did she know how much strength it took to muster up the ability to say them? He closed his eyes and drew away coldly. "Sore wa...himitsu desu."
"Xelloss!" Amelia whirled around, but he was already gone. She felt a sharp pang in her heart at the loss of his presence, and shook her head. What had gotten into her lately? She left the alley quickly and had to run to rejoin her friends, who were excitedly exploring the city. They hadn't even noticed she was gone.
"Felix!" Lina was saying, tugging on the boatmaster's sleeve and pointing wildly at a huge building in the distance. The building was made entirely of some shiny gold-colored substance, and sparkled in the bright sunlight. The sorceress's eyes glittered greedily. "What's that?"
"That?" He glanced up, and a big smile passed over his features. "That's the Capitol, where the members of the Council live. My family used to live there when my father served as a Council member."
"So it's not a place I can ransack?" Lina pouted.
The others sweatdropped. "Felix," Zelgadis said, ignoring Lina's comment, "weren't we supposed to be visiting your parents, anyway?"
"Hey, that's right!" the red-haired sorceress exclaimed. "I'd almost forgotten in all the excitement!"
"Damn," the boatmaster muttered.
Lina punched him jocularly. "Aw, come on...they can't possibly be that bad."
"You have no idea..." He grinned and attacked her with tickling hands, causing her to giggle and smack his hands away.
Filia smiled and took Zelgadis's hand, curling her soft fingers around his own rocky ones. "It's so adorable how they fight like that," she whispered to him. "They're like little children."
The chimera's cheeks had taken on a crimson color, and Filia's smile widened. She hadn't known that stone skin could blush. It was really cute. She would have to investigate how many shades of red she could make him turn...later. The dragon maiden heard a scoffing sound behind her and turned slightly, catching a glimpse of Amelia's dark hair and equally dark expression. This dampened her good mood slightly; the little princess had been acting strangely ever since they left Wolf Pack Island. What was the matter with her?
Had something....happened to her there that they weren't aware of?
Filia's eyes widened. Amelia had said that nothing happened. But she could easily have been denying it so that the others wouldn't know...and so she wouldn't have to feel shame about it. Did Xelloss actually...
"Filia?"
The dragon maiden snapped out of her reverie and turned to the source of the voice, her own Zelgadis. "What?"
The chimera was looking at her oddly, concern dotting his features. "Is something wrong? You look kind of worried."
Filia looked down at the ground and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Ask me later, Zelgadis-san. I feel that there's something wrong with Amelia, and I'm worried about her."
She caught a momentary flash of concern in his eyes, which caused her to feel a sharp pang of jealously. Filia knew the princess had fallen hard for Zelgadis long ago, but she had never found out if he felt the same way about her. She was going to have to ask him about that as well ...
Meanwhile, the orange haired sorceress and the brown haired boatmaster were still fooling around. Felix grabbed Lina's arm and pulled her in for a kiss. "What do you say about ditching your friends and letting me show you some of the more romantic places ... ?"
"Felix!" Lina slapped his arm. "First of all, I'm not leaving my friends here and second of all, stop trying to get out of meeting your parents!"
Felix hung his head in mock shame. "Fine. You win, as usual..."
Lina grinned. "I wouldn't have it any other way, dear."
The walk to his parents' house took a little more than a half hour. Along the way Felix pointed out various landmarks that he were important to him and in his upbringing. The group saw where Felix grew up; where he and his brother had played before their relationship had taken a drastic change. Felix explained all with a sad voice, which proved that he still had not recovered from what had happened between the two of them.
Amelia listened with interest, trying to picture a young Xelloss in her mind. It was near impossible to see the purple haired trickster as a young child, looking up to his older brother. Xelloss didn't look up to anyone, save for -
"And there it is," Felix said proudly, pointing to a huge mansion. "There is my home."
The group gasped at the size of the house. "You live THERE?!" Lina squawked in a loud voice. "Geez Felix, you must be loaded!!!"
The boatmaster smiled sheepishly. "Well..."
"Why didn't you tell me that?!" Lina demanded, grabbing the front of his cloak. Felix could practically see the dollar signs in her ruby colored eyes.
"Felix?! Is that you?" A loud voice called out, causing Felix to freeze in his tracks. He gulped loudly. This was it. This was the moment he had been dreading ever since Lina had showed interest in meeting his parents... That voice belonged to...
The front door flew open with a bang, and the group barely had time to blink before the boatmaster was knocked swiftly to the ground by what looked like a blur of golden hair. Felix coughed explosively, the wind completely knocked out of him. "Do you have to do that every time I come home, Mom?"
"...Mom?" Lina echoed, her eyebrows shooting up.
The blond-haired woman squealed with delight, and crushed Felix to her. "Oh, my darling little boy! I've missed you so much!"
Felix sweatdropped and patted her on the shoulder, fervently hoping she hadn't broken any ribs in that embrace. "Thanks, Mom...I've missed you, too."
"She certainly is...aggressive," Zelgadis murmured, sweatdropping.
The woman's expression suddenly darkened, and she yanked the boatmaster to his feet by the ear. "I was so worried when you didn't come home!" she scolded. "You're such a bad influence on your brothers! I should have your father whip you raw for running away like that. There'll be no snacks in your lunchbox this week, young man!"
"Sorry, Mom," Felix muttered, an embarrassed blush spreading across his features.
Her expression changed almost instantly upon seeing the others, and she pinched Felix's cheek gleefully. "Oh, I see you brought some friends home from school! How wonderful! I'll go tell your father. Dear!" she called, releasing Felix and bounding in the direction of the house.
"Wow, Felix, your mom is really energetic," Gourry commented. "She must get a lot of exercise!"
"....."
Lina arched an eyebrow at Felix. "Is she the reason you didn't want us to come here? She doesn't seem that bad...a little lost memory never hurt anyone."
The boatmaster rubbed his ear ruefully and glanced at his mother, who was emphatically holding a conversation with a garden plant. "You haven't seen her in full action yet. And if she gets mad..." He threw up his hands.
"Well, she wouldn't be mad if you didn't run away," Gourry pointed out. "You shouldn't be a bad influence on your brothers like that."
The others just looked at him.
"What's all that racket out there?!" a voice from within the house demanded, and a large shadow appeared in the doorway.
Felix gulped again as his father stormed out of the house. The large man stomped down the walkway and yanked his wife away from the garden plant. "Dear, how the HELL could you confuse me with a plant?!?"
Felix's mom blinked. "Why are you interrupting me when I'm trying to tell you that Felix is here!" She pointed to the boatmaster who had all but buried himself in his brown cloak.
His dad's eyebrows rose as he looked at his son. "So, the runaway son decided to grace us with his appearance. What do you want this time? Money?" He walked over to his son and peered down at him.
Lina placed her hands on her hips and looked up....and up....and up. She was short to begin with, but standing next to Felix's father made her look tiny. He was about two feet taller than Gourry and had a very large presence.
Felix laughed sheepishly. "Come on dad! A son can't pay a visit to his parents? Normal sons do it all the time!"
"A son can visit, but don't wait five hundred years before doing so! You make your mother and I think you're avoiding us!" Felix's dad roared in his deep voice. "At least your brothers visit every once and awhile!!"
"Xelloss...visits you?" Felix asked doubtfully.
His mother shoved her face in between father and son. "Were you two fighting again?! Why can't you ever get along? Always stealing each other's toys or hitting each other! You make your dear mother so sad!" Her green eyes filled up with tears.
Felix looked at Lina as his parents started arguing. "I told you they were...weird."
The red-haired sorceress just stared. These...crazies...were the parents of her beloved boatmaster?? There was no way. What have I gotten myself into? she wondered, a large sweatdrop forming on her brow.
Meanwhile, Felix was trying to interrupt his parents' argument. "Mom...? Dad? I've brought home some friends..." he trailed off. "Mom! Dad!!! Are you listening to me?"
"No, dear," his mother told him offhandedly, and twirled around on her toes. "I should take dance lessons, don't you think? I'm so graceful."
Felix's father just sighed and shook his head. "No, I don't. You would probably fall on your a - "
"Dad!" the boatmaster exclaimed, pointing wildly in Lina&Company's direction. "I've brought some friends to meet you and Mom!"
His father peered down at them. "They're all women," he observed. "Starting a little harem for yourself, eh, son?"
Zelgadis and Gourry sweatdropped profusely, and Felix buried his face in his hand. "No, Dad...these two are guys."
"You have guys in your harem?"
"Dad..."
"I was kidding," the huge man informed him. "Learn to lighten up, son." He removed his glasses and leaned down to peer at the others. "Ah, that's better. You're right. They are guys."
Zelgadis muttered something rude under his breath, which Felix tried to cover up with an overexaggerated (more than usual, in any case) laugh. "BWAHAHAHA...why don't I introduce everyone? These are my parents, Tilden and Sanura..."
"We know who we are, dear," his mother interrupted sweetly.
"...." Felix let that one slide. "These are my friends Zelgadis, Filia, Gourry, Amelia." He took a deep breath, a big smile spreading across his face. "And this is Lina, my girlfriend."
Sanura nodded, not really paying attention. "That's nice. We should go inside and have iced tea. Do we have iced tea, Tilden dear?"
Felix's father ignored her and looked closely at Lina. "You're dating Felix? What's your mental disease? How much did he pay you?"
"What?" Lina demanded, somewhat offended by that question.
Tilden put his glasses back on. "Well, any girl dating him *has* to either have something wrong with her, or is being paid to pretend."
"Thanks a lot, Dad," Felix muttered.
His father grinned. "Come on inside, everyone...it won't be said that our household isn't hospitable. Stay and visit for a while, won't you?"
"Besides, you'll want to get out of the rain," Sanura added. Everyone looked up. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and there were no clouds in the sky. "Come on, you slowpokes," she chided, skipping up to the front door. "I want to get that roast in the oven early!"
Both Felix and his father looked stricken for a moment. "Don't worry about that, dear," Tilden called out hastily, chasing after her. "The servants will make dinner for us!"
"You have servants?" Lina asked as she walked in the door, her eyes taking on that evil look again. She rubbed her hands together greedily, and Felix gulped. He fervently hoped the household help could meet the sorceress's standards. Otherwise, Very Bad Things might happen...
The group was led into a plushy sitting room, decorated with some of the most gorgeous pieces of furniture any of them had ever seen. That family had to be filthy rich to have gotten their hands on some of the room adornments, Lina decided, discreetly looking over the ornamental vases with an appraiser's eye. Why would Felix have left all that behind to go live in some busted-up old shack? It didn't make any sense to her. Perhaps that was something she could ask him later.
"Yare, yare," an unfortunately familiar voice behind her commented, amused. "You didn't tell me you were having a party, brother! I would have come sooner!"
"Xelloss!" Lina hissed, spinning around and immediately leaping into a defense position.
The Trickster was smiling, undaunted. "Hello again, everyone!" He sniffed the air momentarily. "I see Mom's making dinner. I'll remember not to eat anything, then."
"What the hell are you doing here, Xellos?!?!" Felix demanded, casting a look around to make sure his parents weren't in earshot.
Xelloss tilted his head to one side. "I'm not allowed to partake in the events of my older brother and his darling friends?"
"After the stunt you pulled, you shouldn't be allowed near any of us," Zelgadis shot back, glaring at the priest.
"Yare yare, who died and made you boss, Zel-chan?" Xelloss asked, allowing a glare to slip onto his face. "This happens to be my parents' house and I am allowed to visit them from time to time. Could I help it if you happened to be here at the same time?"
Before someone could snap back a response, Sanura walked in with a tray of drinks. "Boys! Are you still fighting?! You're going to make your dear mom die of a heart attack if you keep yelling at one another!"
The glare on Xelloss' face disappeared. "We're not fighting Mom! Just reminiscing about old times, isn't that right, Felix?"
"Absolutely," the boatmaster muttered through a forced smile. He looked at the doorway as his father clambered in and gave his younger son a huge bear hug.
Amelia, at the back of the room, was quickly panicking while Tilden was yelling at Xelloss for not visiting sooner. What was he doing here? What did he want? How long was he going to torment her before he finally left her alone...?
Dynast was staring out one of his windows when Sherra walked in. "What do you want?" He asked in a bored tone.
"I have something that might interest you, my lord," Sherra said, smiling.
"Oh?" Dynast peered over his shoulder. "What is it?"
"The special unit we sent after Lina Inverse and her group just sent back their report..."
"And?" Dynast said in an annoyed tone, waving his hand in the air.
"It appears they are all located inside the magical and ancient city of Kor Astur. Right now the group is staying at Felix and Xelloss' parent's house. We found them, my lord."
Dynast smiled cruelly. "Excellent. Make preparations for my leave, then."
"My lord?"
"It's time for me to pay a visit to Felix, Sherra dear. It's time for me to get my revenge on your ex-lover..."