Shira: beams Wai! Domo arigatou, minna, for all your wonderful compliments! I feel so special! ^-^
Lina: mutters Don't worry, the feeling will pass.
Shira: glares at Lina That's enough out of you, child! You talk too much, anyway.
Lina: growls What did you call me?!
Xellos: laughs tentatively Ah.. heh.. onto the fanfic!
Zelgadis set huddled on a rock outcropping near the camp. He sighed, and glanced back at the campfire. Gourry and Lina were, as usual, fighting over the last shish kabob, and Amelia was trying to separate the two. He made a disgusted noise and rested his head on his knees. "Why do I even travel with these people?" He muttered to himself. "I wish they'd all just leave me alone."
The wind started to pick up, and Zelgadis absently flipped his hood over lavender hair. He sat like that for awhile, when something started to bother him. Something itching at the back of his skull that told him something wasn't right. Then he realized what it was. It was QUIET. He couldn't hear Gourry and Lina arguing anymore. It was too early for them to be asleep.
He turned around, and gasped. "Shimatta!" The chimera cursed as he ran down to the camp. Their supplies were strewn around the campsite, and the campfire had gone cold. There was no sight of Gourry, Lina or Amelia anywhere.
He searched the camp frantically. "Gourry! Amelia! LINAAA!" Then he was surrounded by a purple aura. His eyes widened as his body started to fade out. First his hands blurred, then legs, body, followed by his head.
He reappeared in a dank, dark cave. He heard a familiar whimper and whirled around. "Amelia!" He yelled. "Where is everyone else?"
The black-haired girl looked up at Zelgadis, frightened. "I don't know! The camp was raided by some bad guys, and they took me here. were ARE we?" She asked.
Zelgadis shook his head. "I don't know, Amelia. But right now, we have to find the others."
Amelia nodded. "All right, Zelgadis-san, I'm right behind you!"
Zelgadis froze. "What did you call me?"
Amelia hesitated. "Why, what I always call you! Zelgadis-san."
Zelgadis whirled on Amelia, and pinned her to the wall. "You are NOT Amelia! Where is she?" He snarled.
Amelia's eyes started to water. "You're scaring me, Zelgadis-san! I am me!"
Zelgadis narrowed his eyes. "No. The real Amelia ALWAYS calls me Zelgadis-sama. It annoys the hell out of me, but she ALWAYS calls me that! Who are you?"
The fake Amelia grinned, then vanished in a cloud of purple smoke. Zelgadis smashed the wall with his fist. "Damn it!"
"Helloooo!" A familiar voice echoed throughout the caves. "Is anyone heeeere? Hey! This is FUN! Hellooooo!" The voice repeated.
Zelgadis sweatdropped. Only one person sounded like that. "I'm right here, Gourry!" He called.
The blond swordsmen made his way over to Zelgadis. "Huh? Oh, hi, Zelgadis! What are you doing here?" He asked intelligently.
Zelgadis sighed. "I do not know, Gourry. One might ask you the same thing."
Gourry scratched his head. "All I know is that some guy grabbed us and shoved us in this dark cave." He shivered. "It's creepy in here!"
There was a rumbling from the far end of the cave. Gourry whirled around, sword in hand. "Hikari O!" He screamed, as his Hikari no Ken whirled to life.
Gourry stood in front of the monster, Hikari no Ken shifting from hand to hand. "Zelgadis," he whispered, "Go around and hit him from behind. If I attack him from the front, he'll be focused on me, not on you. If you hit him with a Ra Tilt, it should destroy him from the astral plane."
Zelgadis faltered. Then, his voice hardened. "Infinite earth, mother who nurtures all life, let thy power gather in my hand!" He turned to Gourry, who went wide-eyed and gasped.
"Zelgadis, what are you doing?!" Gourry yelled.
"VLAVE HOWL!" Pools of magma engulfed the swordsmen, dragging him underneath the rock.
Zelgadis wiped his hands on his pants. "What's going ON?!" He murmured.
"You'll find out soon enough, Zelgadis-SAN." Zelgadis whirled around, and saw the fake Gourry standing on top of the pool of magma, unharmed.
"What ARE you?! What do you want from me?" Zelgadis hissed.
The fake Gourry frowned. "First, you answer my question. How did you know I was not Gourry Gabriev that you know?"
Zelgadis smirked. "That was easy. Gourry can't even remember his own name, let alone what the Ra Tilt is. There's no way Gourry could've known all that."
The fake Gourry looked amused. "I'm impressed, Zelgadis-san. Well, ta-ta!" And the fake Gourry disappeared.
"Wait! You haven't answered my question yet! ANSWER ME!" He howled to the sky.
Zelgadis wandered down the meandering trail, wondering when this nightmare would end. The constant dripping of moisture and occasional rock slide was making him edgy, and slightly claustrophobic.
"FIREBALL!" A familiar voice screamed. "Get away from me, you icky, disgusting slugs!!" Lina Inverse ran into the cave, hiding behind Zelgadis. "Don't let them near me!! Get them AWAY!" She screamed.
Zelgadis whirled around, and grabbed Lina by the throat. "You're not going to fool me for the third time, demon."
Lina's eyes widened. "What the hell are you doing, Zelgadis?! LET GO!"
Zelgadis narrowed his eyes and squeezed tighter. "Now. Where's the REAL Lina?"
Lina was getting seriously pissed off. "Zelgadis, if you don't let go now, I swear to God, I'll kick your butt into next week."
Zelgadis wasn't the slightest bit intimidated. "Tell me, monster."
"Who's a monster?!" She screamed. "All right, Zel, that's it!"
Zelgadis' eyes widened. She had called him Zel. It WAS the real Lina! But before he could say anything.
"Burst Rond!!"
Zelgadis flew across the cave, smashing into a nearby wall. Lina fell to the floor, rubbing her bruised throat and coughing. "Oww. Zel, that HURT!"
Zelgadis shook himself off, and approached the sorceress. He knelt down beside her and bowed his head. "I am. very sorry, Lina. I had been fooled twice before, and wasn't sure that you were the real Lina Inverse. Please, forgive me."
Lina managed a little laugh and made a peace signal with her left hand. "Don't worry about it, Zel! Now, what do you say we get out of this place?"
Zelgadis smiled. "All right. Let's go." He offered a hand to help her up, which she accepted gingerly.
Before they could move, a familiar laugh rang throughout the cave. "How amusing! Do you two really think you can escape?" The Trickster Priest asked while floating above them. "You humans truly are intriguing!"
Zelgadis growled. "What are you doing here, Xellos?"
Xellos blinked in mock hurt. "Why, Zelgadis, only giving you what you wanted! So, I disposed of the idiot swordsmen and justice freak. I tried to dispose of the sorceress, too, but she proved to be very...difficult. She escaped her nice little bubble and somehow made it over to yours."
Zelgadis' eyes widened. "Then those fakes..."
Xellos' eyes gleamed. "Were'nt fakes at all. They were under my control, you see. They had orders to destroy you, but unfortunately, you killed them first."
Zelgadis fell to the ground. "It can't be..."
Lina's eyes watered. "WHAT?! Gourry... Amelia..." The sorceress looked over at Zelgadis, tears streaming down her face. "What is he talking about? What was it you wanted?"
Xellos clapped gleefully. "How wonderful! She doesn't know! Here, allow me to enlighten you!" A large, blue orb appeared in front of his gloved hands and floated down to Lina. She accepted the sphere that gently placed itself about an inch above her hands. It whirred to life, and Lina peered into the orb.
Zelgadis was sitting on a rock outcropping while Amelia, Gourry and herself were fighting around a campfire. She blinked as she recognized the campsite as the one they had been at before Xellos abducted them.
Zelgadis huddled against himself, and put his head between his knees. "I wish they'd all just leave me alone." The mini-Zelgadis whispered.
Lina dropped the orb, and it shattered on the stone floor. She looked over at Zelgadis, pain etched in her eyes. "Why didn't you tell us?" She managed.
Zelgadis swallowed hard. "Lina, I didn't mean."
"If you had just told us that you were bothering you this much." She interrupted, motioning to the mazuko smiling above them.
Zelgadis looked down at the floor. "I wasn't thinking. I didn't mean it. You, Gourry, Amelia, you're all my friends. My only friends."
Xellos smiled, a real, mazuko smile. "How touching. But I'm afraid I must annihilate you now. You are no longer of any use to me, you see." He opened violet eyes, and held out his hands. "Zelgadis, I believe, shall be first." Streams of purple energy poured from his hands, heading straight for Zelgadis. Zelgadis closed his eyes, preparing himself for the impact, but it never came.
He looked up in horror as Lina threw herself between him and the purple energy. "LINA!" He screamed, running over to her body. Blood was leaking out of a corner of her mouth.
She managed a weak smile. "At least. now I won't. bother you." and went limp in his arms.
"NO!!!!" Zelgadis screamed. "LINA! Wake up, PLEASE!!" He shook her body, tears flowing freely down his cheeks. "LINA!!"
Xellos was laughing above him. "Zelgadis. Zelgadis.!"
Zelgadis snapped awake. Lina was leaning over him, shaking him with a frown on her face. "Zelgadis! Zelgadis! Are you okay?"
Zelgadis looked up at Lina, eyes wide. "You're... you're alive!" He grinned, and hugged Lina tightly.
Lina's eyes widened in shock. "Zelgadis!! What do you think you're doing?!" She elbowed him on the head, and yelped as she felt the electric pain shoot up her elbow. "What're you talking about anyway? 'Course I'm alive!"
Zelgadis blushed a deep red, rubbing the sore spot on his head where Lina had hit him. "Sorry, Lina. Just a bad dream, I guess."
Lina grinned. "Good! Then let's go get some breakfast!" The two ran downstairs toward the kitchen, where Gourry and Amelia were waiting for them.
Back in Zelgadis' room, a purple cloud of smoke revealed Xellos sitting on a bench in a corner of the room. He chuckled, violet eyes opened wide. "A dream, ne, Zelgadis-san? Or was it?" Then dissapeared.