These days, the gas lamps built into the walls of Sairaag's power core were dusty from disuse. Normally this would plunge the room into absolute darkness, as it was sealed off from the outside world. The platform that comprised the 'floor' of the core room wasn't very big, and a clumsy man could stumble over a railing and plunge four stories to a nasty death in the dark. However, the massive core itself provided more than enough illumination to avoid that.
It was a cylindrical pillar of glass extending four stories high and four stories into the ground. Metal panels lined the walls of the tube around the cylinder, useful tapping the arcs of black and purple energy that the core crackled near randomly... but all of that happened above the heads of those in the 'room' of the core. The room consisted of the platform, of course, and a huge brass machine wrapped around the middle of the core designed for one purpose only; draining Eradicator disks. After each draining, the purple glow inside the core would grew stronger, and brighter...
Zelgadis watched the ebb and flow, the near random throbbing of light inside the core. The eddies in the currents of energy, seeming to push at the walls, wanting to get out... only to generate the residual sparks that jumped from tube to wall, powering the fortress of Sairaag. The flawless perfection of the machine was clear to him; only a fool could call this event random and chaotic. After observing it for as many days as he had, the patterns were easy to spot... mathematics above the grasp of most, who had not studied as much science as Zelgadis had.
Aside from the dull hum the apparatus gave off, the room was mostly silent. There were snores from the usual guard on duty was asleep (as usual), and clacks of disks being taken out of a small cart. Elizabeth was seeing to the storage process.
"The B-teams have been doing rather well with the small fry," she commented, inspecting one disk. "Hmm. Lord Dynero of the Holy Battle for Profit. Actually, you had a hand in that one, didn't you?'
"I sponsored a communist movement in that country, I believe," Zelgadis said. "It wasn't very difficult."
"That is why I send you after the larger-scale Demiurges, Zelgadis," Elizabeth said, with no small amount of pride. She slotted the disk into the core, and when the spark-shower stopped, removed it and tossed it in a bin. "You see beyond the simple art of fighting and war. You can find creative ways to solving the problem of theology. I would not trust the B-Team or the C-Team to coordinate such a subtle ploy as an insurrection. It's commendable."
"I don't see anything commendable about my methods," Zelgadis said, crossing his arms nonchalantly. "I simply do what is required to capture the target. And I too can make mistakes... such as underestimating the situation in Sailoon."
"Yes, you are partially to blame," Elizabeth responded, slotting the last disk. "But Lina Inverse was the primary complication in that mission. We have let her run free too long, since discovering that such a god existed... but don't worry. I have observation units installed at all points of interest within a five hundred mile span of Sailoon. She will not evade us again."
Zelgadis wheeled the bin of used disks off to the side, as the task was complete. "She does represent the last major threat. The one, Zoamel, is minor and can be easily captured, but she will not go down easily. Once we have her, unless Ceipheed or Shaburanigdo suddenly come back to life, there will only be scraps and remainders in the world. Nothing worth note, nothing that would give the core a significant boost."
"Indeed! The project is going quite well. Soon, it will be complete -- "
"The project to cure my condition, you mean?" Zelgadis asked, a hint of questioning, a hint of suspicion in his voice. "My sister's research finally realized?"
Elizabeth smoothly changed topics. "Of course. Don't worry, Zelgadis. As you know, this core is the key to your cure. Although your sister's original process was not powerful enough to fully cure you, once this is filled, there will be nothing we can't accomplish using the purity of science. One more major catch to reach the threshhold, such as Lina Inverse, and your future is assured."
Being the sort who firmly believed in multitasking, Elizabeth spoke while writing the day's collection notes up on her clipboard. As a result, she completely missed Zelgadis's wide smile; a rare event indeed...
"Yes," Zelgadis agreed. "My future is assured. Believe in that steadfast. ...I also believe it will be comforting, to have a true human form again. Perhaps then, spending intimate time in my company will be more... comfortable for you."
"I suppose," Elizabeth said, finishing her notes, as ordinarily as she would order a new supply of steel ore for the foundry. "Please wheel the bin back to the armory. We will put all operations for the project on hold until we find word of Lina Inverse... no sense wasting resources on little fish, when we can catch the prize itself."
She ignored Zelgadis's kiss on the cheek, as she sifted through the clipboard. She also ignored his footsteps leaving the room. Everything was in order. The project was going very well indeed, and Zelgadis was better than she ever could ever have hoped for at collecting the gods...
It was a shame she had no intent of curing him, but if all went well, she wouldn't need him for anything anymore. She would be beyond this simple existence, beyond intimacy, beyond any need except for...
The sensation flooded her mind like heavy water into a perfect cube of glass. The absolute symmetry of the feeling was unbearably RIGHT, unbearably perfect... her knees weakened, as she slid against the metal housing of the core, sitting on the floor. Breaths came fast and quick, as the cube rotated in her mind, filling her with such incredible satisfaction...
She opened herself to it, and her mind unfolded, the presence probing at her memory. It was learning of current events, of the progress of various plans, of how Elizabeth's chemical reactions determined her actions... and a few sticking points held. Words injected themselves into her memory, so that she experienced them as they happened, even if they never were spoken.
your brother unit attempted to cause failure at location sailoon in capturing demiurge sailoon.
"Y-Yes," Elizabeth spoke... to no visible person. The sleeping guard slept through it, naturally. "A little backtalk to Zelgadis. He is still learning. He will need further training and --
chance of roy balderdash following orders is falling at an exponential rate. his decision process is starting to complete itself in directions contrary to the experiment. to avoid future difficulty, action taken to resolve the problem is termination.
Elizabeth shook her head... each motion sending her vision into a blur, as the power gripped her. Black and purple lines meshed around her, in a crackling power grid... a strange embrace. "He's nothing. Less than nothing, much less a threat to your omnipotence. I'll simply demote him to a less risky position, such as janitor. He's my brother, as thick headed as he is, and I would prefer to see his life con --
UNNEGOTIABLE. terminate roy balderdash. capture lina inverse demiurge. capture zoamel gustav demiurge. eliminate penny gabriev human. imperative high priority commands. obey your commands or you will be removed from the project.
"NO! ... no. I will carry out the commands," Elizabeth agreed. "The project must continue. ...Roy is not important enough to live. I know this. Your coming must be prepared above all other concerns."
correct.
She wetted her lips. "If it's not too much to ask... perhaps my lack of focus comes from the duration of time since my last blessing. I've been getting the bleakness sooner and sooner, as of late. If you could..."
very well.
It was just as wonderful as her first blessing, so many years ago... a lonely night in a lab, trying to justify her thirst for scientific knowledge in a city of mages who made her a laughing stock. When it came to her that first night, it was like a crystal bullet to the forehead, perfection itself unfolding in infinite planes, mathematics so complicated and intertwined as to feel like crystal lattices of pleasure in her mind... the touch of the only god she had ever desired. Her body shivered in delight...
For that, she would do anything, climb any mountain, kill any legend, and destroy any race. In the name of the untapped power of science, just waiting to take the entire world into its grasp, and remake civilization in the dawn of a technological age...
And soon, very soon, it would be His time. And her time as well.
Just a few days ago, Lina learned that a god hell-bent on the extermination of gods just like her was plotting to taking over the world and was nearly unstoppable.
That's not something you can wrap your mind around properly. You can try, but once you start considering all the implications and risks and dangers and possibilities of horrible, mangling death and failure involved you usually need a nice lie down somewhere and some warm milk.
No, Lina Inverse had a very special technique for approaching the unapproachably vast and nasty : she did something else instead. In this case, it was forcibly de-boarding the hijackers just before her boat got to port. Why wait around to dump them on dry land when there was a perfectly serviceable ocean nearby, after all?
"Let THAT be a lesson to you!" she shouted, knocking the whole gang into the sea with a well placed tornado. The crew applauded, the captain thanked her and she was immediately offered a refund for her ticket. Belief and food and money in exchange for feats of derring-do, and Lo, it was Good.
(Lina had tried a Diem Wind to deport the bandits, but it wasn't working... she'd come too far to resort to the silly spells she used to use. Now she just thought of what she wanted to happen, and boom, it happened! Well, usually boom, given the sort of things she tended to want to happen on the average day. She had also long since stopped seeing her lack of real magic as 'unnerving' and more as 'extraordinarily convenient'.)
"Maaa, that's the fifth attack since we left Sailoon," Xelloss pouted. "One road bandit gang, two boatloads of pirates, one crew of black mages on an airship and now this. Don't you humans have police or guards or executioners or anything? Gets to be that a Mazoku can't enjoy a pleasant vacation without being assaulted left and right..."
"Quit complaining, or I'll throw you in the sea too!" Lina responded, pointing dramatically at Xelloss. "I'd like to look at it as 'being on a roll'. This is JUST the kind of pick-me-up I needed to get me ready for the end of this quest. Now let's go get Penny and Zoey-kun, we're almost ready to hit beautiful, sunny Bimini Island!"
"I've been here before, terrible place," Xelloss said. "It's covered with cherry blossoms and flowers, and the sun always shines and the grass is just TOO green, and even the indentured plantation servants are happy because their masters give them paid vacations and free hay rides. It's disgustingly happy there."
"I can't think of a finer locale to end a quest," Lina replied, covering her eyes to cut the glare as they approached a veritable Garden of Bountiful Delights. "I mean, usually they end in the Crack of Despair beneath the Mountain of Eternal Agony fighting some Mazoku Lord. Hey, where's your bird?"
Beastmaster Zelas-Metallum flapped over from the second deck, a diseased, stinking rat still in her beak. She tossed it into the air, swallowed it whole in defiance of all conservation of mass laws, and settled on her familiar perch of Xelloss's staff.
"...right," Lina acknowledged, shaking off THAT nasty image. "Looks like we're here. Go get the others."
"I hope I won't have to pry Zoamel and Penny out of some icky liplock," Xelloss grimaced, just imagining the cooties.
Lina glared. "They're not like that, okay? Sure, they like each other, but... they're not all touchy-feely. I mean, not a lot. Just... go get them or I'll zap you!"
"Yes ma'am!" Xelloss saluted. "I would gladly walk into the jaws of death for you! Into the Fire Valleys of -- "
The young god waved him off. It was kind of unsettling, she thought, the way those two carried on. Laughing and talking and staying near each other all day during these boat journeys... initially, at the start of this whole quest, Zoamel would always wander off whenever he pleased, and the most Penny would do was bat innocent little girl crush-induced eyes, but now...
Now they were positively COMFORTABLE with each other. Partners in crime, so to speak, amongst other things...
Lina wasn't scared or disgusted, though. If Penny found a great guy to be with, well, more power to her, you go girl, &tc. Something else was tugging at Lina. Something missing. Something similar...
Human. Once she was human, everything would be perfect, and that was all it would take to make things RIGHT. It would be just like the way it was, before she drifted to sleep... she convinced herself of that, wiping any trace of worry off her face when the others arrived, and presented her best Lina "Confidence" Inverse Smile.
In all her days of questing, there were a few constants. The missing person would not roll over your doorstep the next day and say 'Oh, you were looking for me?'. That's why when Lina saw a tall, spooky looking man in dark glasses holding up a sign at the seaport reading INVERSE, she immediately blasted him with a fireball.
After putting out the blaze, he explained that he wasn't some sort of psycho stalker or bandit, but he was a chauffeur here to take them to the home of the person they sought. They were honored, invited guests.
Never before had Lina been.. CHAUFFEURED to her final destination. Here she was figuring (nay, counting on) a backbreaking search of every wretched hive of scum and villainy in Bimini, and instead she'd be whisked away to the end of the quest in five minutes. Something about that just did NOT sit well with her. It felt too easy.
Xelloss agreed, but didn't see that as a bad thing. So, while Penny and Zoamel chattered away on one side of the steam-powered coach car, she argued the point with the Mazoku.
"Isn't it SUCH a pleasant relief?" Xelloss asked, giddy as a schoolgirl. "You can find out your little thingy you want to find out, then we can all go and turn Sairaag into a large smoking/glowing crater in the middle of a hundred miles of scorched earth. A perfectly ducky way to cap off a day!"
"I told you before, the time isn't right to go do that yet," Lina replied, tired of having to say it over and over. "It doesn't FEEL right. I'll let you know when it does."
Xelloss pouted. Not his usual bemused pout, but a genuinely irritated one. "Yes, that's fine and good. You can give that little line lip service as much as you want, but how WILL you know? Hmm? You're not exactly an old hat at being a god, Lina Inverse, and there's too much at stake to rely on your funny little gut reactions to things -- "
"Stuff it, Xel. Have a little faith, okay?"
"I thought the whole POINT of your quest was to make it so nobody had faith in you anymore," Xelloss retorted. "That you'd be a simple mortal again, when all was said and done. Isn't that contradictory? You've used your godhead this entire time, freely taking of the abilities and powers it gives you. Who are you to cast it off when the world needs you, Lina? Who are you to know the will of the chaos of the Lord of Nightmares and your true role in this world?"
"I didn't say I knew anything like that!!" she barked back... before an awkward pause. It was hard to admit, especially to the self-assured Mazoku, but there was no way around it. "...I don't know what I'll do when I find out how to become mortal. You happy now? Yes, it's true, the amazing Lina Inverse has no clue what she wants or needs."
"This is an amazingly bad time to have a crisis of faith, Lina."
"Tell me something I don't know. Look, Xel.. at first... I just wanted to avoid having to serve my believers. I had just gotten out of a deep sleep, and didn't WANT to go back.. and I thought the only way to do that was to ditch the job. But maybe I've been looking at this all wrong; I've had plenty of time to think about it lately, and I realized something. You see, if people like me didn't exist, then Shaburanigdo would have been resurrected, Phibrizo and Gaav would still be breathing, and all sorts of other... don't look at me like that, you Mazoku gimp, those are BAD things!"
"Maybe to your species, but not mine," Xelloss spoke, with a wide smile. "For purposes of argument, however, I will concede that yes, you've done a swell job for your race. Rather a lot like the immune system of the world, with my kind as the infection you fight. I actually respect that power you have inside, you know. But what WILL you do? It's coming. I can smell it around the corner... the forking point of history. What card will you play, Lina Inverse? Choose wisely, lest -- "
"Cut the theatrics," Lina barked. "I know what's going on. As for what I'll do... all I'm saying is that I play cards I have in my hand, and that's all I play. That's what I AM. I'll burn that bridge when we come to it, and no sooner. That better be enough of an answer for you, Xel, because it's all you'll get."
"Meanie," Xelloss pouted. The amused pout, this time. He settled back into his seat next to Lina, facing towards the front of the cab; he got so easily motion sick, these days. "At least you're almost at the end of your quest. Then maybe you'll be free to do what I need you to do. It's quite a nice touch, a carriage ride to drive you on rather than a mob with pitchforks and torches."
"Unless it's an ambush," Lina said casually.
"...an ambush?"
"Well, if I had a beef with me, I'd probably goad myself into a false sense of security by pampering myself with expensive looking coaches and posh handling, and then when I was the least suspecting, launch an attack and crush myself utterly. Right now, we're riding along a road with trees and bushes on either side, perfect for someone to jump out and attack me from while I gloat off in the distance at my own misfortune..."
Xelloss felt that uneasy sinking feeling, and it wasn't from Lina's spontaneous bout of split personality syndrome. "If it's an ambush... WHY did you walk right into it, Lina?"
"Hmm? Oh, it's the Phibrizo paradox again, of course. I usually like to spring traps so I know what kinds of traps they are rather than run around paranoid all the time," Lina said, glancing out the window. "So I'm guessing we'll know what's what in about... now."
The coach developed a split personality syndrome as well.
The whole encounter took less than half of a minute, leaving everybody fairly confused, but the process was a bit like this :
First, In a flash of blue and white light, the four wheeled horsedrawn carriage turned into a two wheeled horsedrawn carriage and a powerless caboose rolling along on inertia. Penny, too engrossed in deep thoughtful conversation with her favorite god, didn't notice until it was too late, and the half containing Lina and Xelloss had screeched to a halt and tipped over.
Second, because Penny was human and prone to stupid impulses, she also did exactly the wrong thing. Instead of jumping out, she just looked around in alarm, and asked something along the lines of "What's going on?", which gave the 1/2 coach enough time to drive directly into a magical portal, which sealed up perfectly behind it, transporting her and Zoamel hundreds of miles away, never to be seen by Lina again. Except for what happened third.
Third, since Lina wasn't human and even when she was she wasn't as prone to stupid impulses, and she threw out her willpower and locked the portal just an inch from closing, negating most of what happened second. The magic that summoned the portal applied serious pressure to slam it shut, but Lina recognized the spell -- a simple enough one she used in her youth, staff based, and easy to catch if you were fast enough. Which, of course, she was.
"Gotcha!" Lina declared, throwing her arms open wide, and stretching the portal back open. She could see Zoamel on the other side accosting a figure in a cloak with a staff; likely the sorcerer who tried this stunt. Which meant that she could pay more attention to --
"Ow," Xelloss whined, when his arm fell off. "Lina, there's a guy with a shiny sword attacking me. Make him stop."
That guy. Lina readied a fireball, charging it up with heat powerful enough to bake bread from twenty feet away and cause extremely bad breath to ignite on contact, squared off against the one who bisected her pleasant road trip, ready to...
Ready to notice something VERY important before she blasted this guy to hell, and thus restraining herself from doing just that. The sword he was carrying was of the blue, shiny, light-giving variety, and his hair was of the yellow, blonde, fluffy and long variety.
"G-GOURRY?!" Lina exclaimed, her unshakable run of two fisted action heroine cool wobbling to a crashing, painful halt. The fireball blinked out of existence at the speed of confusion.
It didn't help matters that promptly Zoamel and Penny emerged from the portal, carrying the sorcerer by the scruff of his neck. Or her neck, as the case happened to be.
"Let go of me, you freak!" Lina Gabriev shouted, whacking Zoamel squarely in the testicles with her staff. Zoamel winced, a reflexive reaction from manifesting in a human shape, and let her go. She tried to grab the dazed Penny Gabriev's arm and make a dash back for the portal, but it had since completely collapsed.
And now, a moment of dazed silence, before the real chaos begins.
...
"Excuse me, could someone please pass me my arm?" Xelloss asked, but was immediately ignored as his words broke the silence, letting the angry words out like a bag of water when you take the bag away.
"What are YOU doing here?!"
"I could ask the same question! And why did you kidnap my daughter?!"
"Mom, I wasn't kidnapped, I came on my own! I wanted to go on a quest!"
"See, Lina? I told you she just wanted to go off and see the world. But Penny, you could have asked us first. I mean, it's dangerous to just run off and -- "
"BUTT OUT, Gourry! You're coming home this instant, young lady! Or at least a few hours from now when my teleportation staff charges, thanks to this freaky guy dragging me through my own portal! We're going to lose half a day's profits from me being away from the shop, I swear -- "
"ExCUSE me, but the gi.. young lady has a right to pick her own journeys, you pathetic excuse for a me! And you've got no right to up and kidnap her from her non-kidnappers like that!"
"Look, it's really no bother, but that WAS my favorite arm, and if you could just please -- "
"Mother, I'll never forgive you for this! You could have seriously hurt Zoamel in that ridiculous attack!"
"That's another thing! Who's this guy? I don't like the looks of... Zoamel? As in ZOAMEL GUSTAV?!"
"Ah, hello, madam -- "
"Don't you 'hello madam' me, I don't want my daughter hanging out with any weird pagan imaginary gods or people who THINK they're weird pagan imaginary gods!"
"Oi, oi, Lina, let's just calm down and sort this out, okay? I'm sure everybody will listen to reason if we just can -- "
"How did you guys FIND us, anyway?!" Lina Inverse shouted, trying to done out the argument. "Kind of an elaborate trap, setting up a ride just to lure us out here! What the heck is going on?"
"Oh, this nice guy on a plantation up the road loaned it to us if we could get you off his back before you asked about teeth or something," Gourry blabbed, since Gourry was still a bit Gourryesque, regardless of age and maturity. And his wife did bap him one with her staff for his loose lips, since she was still Lina, regardless of age and change.
Lina Inverse growled, kicking up her own version of a flight spell. "So, the Tooth Fairy set a trap? Bleah! I've bested gods before, a mortal shouldn't be any problem. You guys aren't going anywhere until this carbon copy's staff recharges; we'll sort this mess out later, but no funny stuff! Now, I've got a fairy to hunt, and he's getting away!!"
With a comically large amount of dust kicked up in her wake, the young Lina zipped along the road, heading in the direction Gourry indicated.
"Great, she's gone," Lina Gabriev nodded in satisfaction. She grabbed Penny by the ear, leading her off into the trees. "Young lady, you have some SERIOUS explaining to do!"
"Lina, go easy on her!" Gourry paternally requested, following them.
An eerie silence fell over the area that had been soaked up in so much screaming. Only the dull scraping sound of Zelas the Raven nibbling on Xelloss's stray arm could be heard.
"..." Zomael spoke, having discovered the one force in the world even a god must kowtow in silence before... in-laws.
"Seems we're left holding the bag," Xelloss said, shooing his former master away and gathering up his appendage. "At least, until they get back. So... do you like parcheesi?"
There's very little of interest on Bimini island. There's no tourist trade; it's strictly a port for ships to stop, trade, restock, and split. A few plantations producing a small variety of cash crops fuel the economy. Sure, the weather is nice and the coconuts are to die for, but that's all there really is. Nobody would take an interest in the island.
Except, of course, for the empire that makes it their business to take an interest in your business, and hopefully to gobble it up later.
The Sairaag trading ship had left port a few hours previous, but not before depositing a crate in a shipping warehouse, on Elizabeth Balderdash's specific orders. All ports of call and cities were to be tagged and monitored. The Bimini Chamber of Commerce would object, if they ever found out, but this sort of spy didn't need to worry about that...
The crate fell apart, in the dusty darkness, and nothing seemed to rise out of it. That particular nothing didn't adjust its lenses, didn't scan its memory banks to not load the Demiurge patterns of Lina Inverse and Zoamel Gustav it hadn't been instructed to find, and didn't zoom off under a completely impossible scientifically developed invisibility field, to begin a slow search of the city.
Which would have been a tremendous unrelief for Lina to know, if she wasn't busy hunting the Tooth Fairy.
It made perfect sense to her that the Tooth Fairy would run a sugar plantation. She soared over field after field of sugar cane, being gathered by teams of island locals, who looked up in alarm at the young girl flying over their heads. Lina didn't mind raising a few alarms; if this guy knew they were coming to the island, and didn't want to bump into her, he'd probably know the ambush failed already... and started running.
The question was, running where? She tried to use her Lina Senses(tm) to find him, but the only other Demiurge in the area she seemed to feel was Zoamel. Perhaps because he was mortal...?
There were so many unknowns. Who the man was, how he became who he was, what he was now... she came far to learn the answers. From a day in Zeifelia deciding what she wanted to do with herself, through coming to understand her nature, to this point... she meant it when she told Xelloss she didn't know where she'd go from here. But she had to KNOW. It was the crux of her quest, even if she wouldn't act on that information yet...
To know, she had to find him. She closed her eyes, and focused. Belief was her power. She felt her believers worldwide, like a tingle in the back of her mind she could never forget but could look away from occasionally. They knew what Lina Inverse was; bandit-stomping, food-eating, money-getting, world-saving, quest-finishing. The faith in her amazing adventuring skills would pull her through. She'd find this guy.
She darted in a quasi-random direction, trying not to THINK about it, just to FEEL it. To feel that irresistible pull of the quest, the absolute affirmation of her goals and her desire to achieve them... they would lead her to what she sought. She rode on a wave of confidence and faith, until...
Until she opened her eyes and found herself standing near a small, run- down pub in the dock area of the Port Bimini. The feeling ended there. She didn't pay much attention to how she got from the plantation to here, and simply pushed through the doors of the pub, and into destiny...
Destiny being a sad, pathetic sack of a man sitting at the bar, wearing clothing that was once tasteful and trendy but now was hopelessly out of fashion. He looked up from his beer, knowing exactly who had entered, and what she wanted.
"I knew you'd make it," the Tooth Fairy said, in a voice of unswerving knowledge and despairing futility. "No matter what roadblock I tried to put up, no matter how much I tried to hide from you. It was out of my influence on the world completely. You're going to drag the secret out of me even if I say no, aren't you?"
"That's how it works," Lina said, bravado dropping. It was like this guy had an aura about him of soul-crushing depression, cutting through her holy-rolling heroine attitude like a knife.
"Then have a beer, and I'll explain," the man said, tapping the bar. "You're paying, though. For you and me. Least I should get out of this mess is a free drink."
Originally, the Gabrievs hold family meetings around the dinner table. A few fork related injuries later, they decided to move the discussion point to the living room, where the worst that could happen was a few thrown couch pillows.
They'd never had to have one on the road before, because while Gourry was usually on the road defending his country as a civil servant, Lina was usually at home. So, this small clearing in the trees would have to do. Gourry checked for loose, heavy objects, and finding none, opened up matters for a sensible, rational debate.
"Ahem," he spoke, clearing his throat. "I just thought I should say -- "
"You've got NO right messing in my life like this!" Penny barked, ignoring her father. "Every time I try to go out and seek my fortune, you try to ground me. Don't you realize it just makes me want to go out even more?! I'm not going to be a scholar, mom, my mind is made up!"
"All you're going to do is get yourself killed, or worse!" Lina retorted. "Look at who you're going around with! Some nutcase who thinks she's me, and XELLOSS, of all people! He's a Mazoku, don't you realize that?! He'll stab you in the back sooner than you can think that he might stab you in the back! And that's to say nothing of whoever this guy is who thinks he's Zoamel Gustav -- "
"Don't you talk badly of Zoamel, mother! You don't know anything about him!"
"Oh, I can TELL you a think or two about Martina and her freaked out -- "
" -- if you'd just LISTEN to me you'd know he's a very sweet and -- "
" -- should have never pushed you out, I swear -- "
"AHEM", Gourry spoke at a much greater volume, without the pretense of clearing his throat. He got between the two bickering persons of the feminine persuasion, blocking them from even seeing each other. "Look, this isn't getting us anywhere. I've had a long time to think about this, and here's how we're going to do it -- "
"Gourry -- "
"Just listen, please, Lina," Gourry half-pleaded. "Let Penny tell us what's been going on. The whole story. I want to know what's so important that she'd run away from home without even telling us she was going. THEN we'll decide what to do about it. Clearly she doesn't want to go home and forcing her to go without hearing her out isn't going to make her any happier. But I want FULL detail, Penny, okay? Lina, this okay with you?"
"We should go home," Lina replied, almost not listening to him. "I swear, the shop's wide open, I've got to get back there -- "
"Lina... please," Gourry said again, not pleading at all, but taking his wife by the shoulders and addressing her directly. "I know you're worried. I'm JUST as worried as you, with Xelloss, and whoever this Gargamel Zestful guy is. But I'm sure there's more going on here than you think... I can't see any other reason why Penny would leave home and go this far with these people."
"Exactly!" Penny chirped. "Very important reasons!"
"And if I'm not satisfied with her reasons, she's grounded until she's twenty four," Gourry said, with a smile. "Deal, Lina?"
"I like that," Lina responded. "Okay... fine. I can't think of anything that justifies this mess, but I'm game. Let's hear it, Penny. What's the story?"
"..." Penny said, a little stunned. Sure, her father was the nice one, but he was still her FATHER... full detail. Right. She swallowed, and began.
"It all started when I was off hunting bandits, but I'll say now I realize that was a bit silly to do because it's not really something that's my calling, but if I hadn't I would have met Lina," Penny said quickly, storytelling as best she could, "And then I wouldn't have learned about her problem with being a god and her quest, and I thought the best way to learn what I wanted to be and how to be it would be to go on an actual adventure with my role model, and..."
Nasty-smelling, cheap swill flowed from tap to glass, as the bartender slid the mug down to the Tooth Fairy... although Lina could barely believe what his real name was.
"'Issac Yankem'?" she asked, incredulous.
"I was never very imaginative, okay?" Issac said, scowling. "You're the one imposing on me, you know. Ever since you started this damn quest I could feel you were coming here. I've led a good, quiet life, what have I ever done to you to merit this?"
"Hey, buddy, it's nothing personal, okay?" Lina protested. "You just have information I want -- "
"Do you REALLY want it?" Yankem asked, turning on his stool to give her a sharp glare. "You're just like the bastards from Sairaag, they want to know how everything works, but once you KNOW you can't un-know... yes, of course I'll tell you. Anything to get you off my back. But it's not for the ears of anyone else... Earl?"
The bartender looked up, quickly. "Yes, Mr. Yankem, sir?"
"Clear this place out," Yankem ordered. "Put it on my tab if you have to. I want to be alone. It's gonna be one of those days."
"But sir -- "
The bartender grabbed at his jaw, wincing... an action repeated all around the room, as various sailors and tradesmen suddenly came down with toothaches. Without a hand wave, a look, or any motion other than chugging back a measure of beer, Issac stopped the effect, and the bar quietly emptied. Folks here understood what the score was.
But Lina didn't even comprehend. "What.. how did you DO that? I thought you were human now!"
"Who ever told you I was human?" Issac asked, grinning a little 'I know something you don't' grin. "I'm mortal, girl. Not human. I never was human, and neither were you, no matter what delusion you have to that effect. And neither of us will ever BE human. But there are... exchanges, you can make. I'm free from needing believers, I'm free from fading away, I'm snipped from the ties of faith that hold me down to climbing in every brat's window and buying their damn teeth."
"So... you're still a god, but you're not anybody's god in particular?" Lina asked.
"I'm my own god now," the Tooth Fairly replied. "And right now, if I wanted to, I could render every person in a fifty mile radius completely toothless. That's not a feat I could do as a weak little Demiurge who had to carry a stepladder around to sneak in second story windows. Before, I was bush league; now I am my own league. If I knew this sort of thing would happen I would never have done it in the first place, in some pathetic attempt to escape my believers and be something other than a children's myth..."
"That's why you don't want me to know," Lina realized. "I hadn't even thought of that. I thought that without faith, I'd just become a normal human again... but any Demiurge who does this could get stronger, or something?"
Issac allowed himself a weak chuckle. "That's putting it lightly, girl. It's a secret I've kept for a long time, hiding out and laying low so the other Demiurges think I wussed out, that I'm nothing special anymore. But right now, I'm probably on par with Shaburanigdo... when it comes to teeth, at least. I haven't learned how to get out of that particular dental rut, nor do I want to even try. Fancy that though, me, demon lord of gum disease and gingivitis..."
It was a metaphor that rocked Lina's world. "Shaburanigdo...?"
"Think about it, Lina. When you have no more need for faith and believers," Issac explained, refilling his beer glass straight from the tap, "Why do you need to be limited to what they think you are? It's a two-way street, faith; it shapes us, it shapes them. Without it a Demiurge can REALLY be God.. to an extent, for technical reasons. But it's still a very bad extent. I don't want to be anything more than a simple man, I'm not that ambitious, I want people to leave me alone. Any other Demiurges who do what I did, however, could become very bad news. As far as I know, I'm the only person who knows how to do it and I figured THAT out on a sheer fluke. When I die, it goes with me... unless you learn it. You sure you don't want to drop this quest, Lina Inverse?"
"...I have to know," Lina decided. "I won't be able to put this to rest, even if it's dangerous to know. There's no way I can let it go. I've come too far, it's too much of what I am. Sorry about that..."
"Yeah, I figured as much," Issac said, sighing. "Enjoy your drink. You're going to want to be nicely sloshed, I'd suspect."
It was a short trip up the road to the plantation; certainly within walking distance for a god and a Mazoku. It stood to reason that after failing to assassinate them, the Tooth Fairy's home would be more than courteous, seeing as how they would likely flatten the place in a burst of rage now that they were still breathing. With Xelloss was very insistent on getting some refreshments, after a long hard day of travel and dismemberment, there really was no other place to go, either.
That didn't stop Zoamel from constantly looking over his shoulder, at the carriage wreck they were walking away from. Naturally, this seemed almost like an open invitation to a heckler like Xelloss.
"Worried about the deposit on that thing?" Xelloss asked, with that piping little voice of massive, annoying delight (#37). "I'm sure they won't make us pay for it. It was their hired gun that turned it into a compact cab."
Zoamel locked his eyes on the road ahead quickly, knowing he was caught. "I suppose it would be ethical for us to pay for it..."
"Really? How so, Zoamel-kun?"
"..."
The Mazoku leaned over, to peer at Zoamel's eyes as he walked. "You know, you're practically blushing. All the signs of it aside from the red smear across the skin, of course. I guess a lack of blood vessels helps, there. And you're really slipping if I can catch you on that little quip. It's her, isn't it?"
"Her?" Zoamel supplied, before realizing that would only goad the man on further. He truly WAS slipping, wasn't he...?
"And falling for straight lines, too. Amazing. A god brought low by a simple mortal woman -- "
"I would hardly call Penny Gabriev simple," Zoamel said. "Perhaps... at first it seemed that way, as she fawned after me much as Martina does. Like shiny diamond of an idea, all sparkle and no depth. But she has grown considerably during the course of this quest, and you do her a great disservice to still think of her in such pandering terms. I do not appreciate that disservice, either -- watch your tongue, Mazoku."
"Leaping to her aid, AND threats of violence!" Xelloss chimed, clapping his hands in delight. "All the earmarks. You, my fine holy friend, are in L-U-V, looooove!"
Zoamel said nothing, marching along. An intelligent, rational man would simply ignore the jibes, after all. Even if some part of his less prominent 'vengeful' side wanted to put his fist a foot into Xelloss's face.
"Oh, I sympathize, I sympathize," Xelloss said, tone dropping to a 'poor you' echo. "She's a mortal, you're immortal. She's human, you're a god. It would simply NEVER work out. Best to avoid the issue altogether, not make the moves, not try to get to the bases. But you're not doing that, are you? An intelligent, rational man would distance himself, keep cold, so that she doesn't get attached. Whereas you two have been joined at the hip for the latter part of this strange long trip."
"...I will admit, I have perhaps been... quite friendly with her," Zoamel admitted.
"You're not usually like that, are you?" Xelloss asked. "Holed up in hiding in your cult, not even showing yourself to your followers. A poor, hurt god, so afraid of losing his followers after a mistake in the past that he can never get close to anyone, ever again -- "
"Your tirade is becoming less amusing," Zoamel warned.
"It's too late, it's too late, too late," Xelloss warned as well, but in his jovial sort of way. "You have an attachment now. Call it fate, call it love, call it karma... I believe that everything happens for a reason. She's brought out the best in you. Take it from someone who knows the worst in you and can draw the polar opposite with ease. But now what will you do? The quest is ending. Unless... she goes on to Sairaag, with Lina. You know Lina is going, yes?"
"I know," Zoamel agreed, gritting his teeth. "It is her path. When the time is right, she will follow it... and Penny will seek to go with her. If you wish to play this game, fine. I will also admit I do not relish Penny being in that horrible city. Lina may be unkillable, but Penny..."
Xelloss pouted. "Penny might get killed. It's true. But she'll die eventually, won't she? Leaving you as a lonely old god -- "
"Are you going somewhere with this, or do we stop now?" Zoamel asked, glaring evil flaming horrible painful mangling death on the demon.
Xelloss spoke quickly. "What if I told you I knew a way for her to live on forever, exactly as you do?"
That stopped the god's tracks. He stared in open incomprehension, at the smiling salesman.
For a change, Xelloss's eyes were open. His smile was as wide as ever, but adding the dark look of delight on top of it would have frightened lesser ones than Zoamel.
"It's simple enough," Xelloss spoke, in a soft voice, telling a secret, one he wanted to tell. "I did extensive research on your kind, years ago. The Mazoku libraries have stiff penalties for overdue books, but the selection can't be beat, if you know what to look for. I can make her yours, forever. I, Xelloss, angel of love and mercy, will give you the easy life..."
"You have a price," Zoamel stated, digging at the obvious.
"The Mazoku are weak right now, aren't they?" Xelloss asked. "But you, you have a bloodlust in you that you've suppressed for years. Once all is said and done and Sairaag is burnt to cinders, work for me. We will return to power, I guarantee it. Then, you'll have happy employment in the caring arms of -- "
Zoamel resumed his walk, almost smiling. "You grow typical, demon. The answer is, and always will be, no. Surely you realize that?"
"Oh, I do, I do," Xelloss said, falling right into step beside him. "I had to try. It was obligatory, I'm sure you understand that. But ask yourself this... how do you believe you'll be able to maintain a relationship with this mortal woman? How will it be possible?"
Zoamel allowed a wider smile. "A wise man once said, 'Love will find a way. Love breaks all doors, smashes all barricades. True love exists beyond life and death. Put your faith in that, and whatever will be will be, but love will never truly die.'"
"How poetic. Some bard in green tights and a pointy hat and a harp spew that adorably fluffy and pointless nonsense?"
"No, I did," Zoamel said. "In a previous incarnation. What we are matters not, Mazoku. Your kind have never understood the heart, the core of humanity's beauty. I may not be human, but I am closer to them than you will ever be, and long life or not, it will come to be."
"You're more boring than I had previously imagined," Xelloss said, with a pained sigh. "Oh well. At least I'm not the one who has to live with Lina as a mother in law."
"...and after Lina told us about the Demiurge in Sairaag, well, we sort of put the spurs to the horse and got here as fast as we could because Lina wanted to finish the quest as quick as possible, but the boat was really slow and took a few days which I guess is how you guys got here so fast but when we got here, Lina was feeling good and I was really having fun talking with Zoamel all that time we were at sea so spirits were high but then you attacked the carriage and nearly hurt Zoamel, and you know how I feel about him so I'm a bit upset about that but a LOT more upset that you want to take me home when we're so close to the end, and look, you know I've always idolized the legend of Lina Inverse, and travelling with her I've learned so much and there's still so much more to learn, I'm really finally starting to get a direction in my life other than beating up bandits but if I stop here and go home, well, I won't have finished and I want to be there to help Lina out and see it through because dad, you always tell me personal integrity is the best and even though I didn't formally promise anything I feel honor bound and I hope you can understand that and I think Zoamel would be kind of sad if I left, so that's my story. Can I go with them now?"
Lina Gabriev stood, jaw hanging open as it had for the past ten minutes. Some small part of her brain begged the question of how Penny managed to tell her entire story without supplying a single period or stopping to take a breath of air.
"Hmmmmmmmm," Gourry Gabriev hmmmed, rubbing his chin.
"...that is the craziest, weirdest..." Lina started, still in a vague daze. "I mean.... damn. That tops even my most contrived adventures. That's just completely nuts. You SWEAR on your grandfather's grave that it was all the truth, right?"
"Cross my heart and hope to stick a needle in my eye," Penny swore.
Lina frowned. "In that case, what you're up to is SIX TIMES AS DANGEROUS as what I had envisioned in my worst nightmares! Of course you can't go with them now! You're coming back with us, young -- "
"Excuse me, Lina," Gourry interrupted. "But I promised her I'd give my opinion on it as well, once I finished hearing her out."
"Gourry? I've known you for how many years, exactly?"
"Uh..." Gourry said, his brain getting a bit befuddled. "Well, okay... Penny's almost eighteen now, and we stopped questing, like, three years before that, and... um... how long did it take us to go fight that Hecklord Freeza guy again? -- "
"My point is... I KNOW you, Gourry," Lina said, less fierce than before. "And I know that a story any more complicated than See Spot Run went in one ear and right out the other. Correct?"
"Yup!" Gourry admitted, with a smile. "Heck, I can barely remember what that Zackov Garglenator guy's name was!"
"SO," Lina concluded, "You're not exactly in any position to -- "
"But I heard her VOICE," Gourry said, his voice growing more serious. "Couldn't you hear, Lina? She's so determined and focused. This isn't the same Penny that we saw last, she's grown up. She believes in this quest and her new friends with all her heart. Maybe my memory is spotty, but I could tell in her voice how she feels. And that's more important than the pesky details."
Penny bounced up and down, feeling she'd just scored a point in the game of Parental No Holds Barred Decision Making. "Yes! Yes, exactly, dad!"
"...okay, you're right," Lina said, forced to concede the point. "I could tell, too. And it's not her usual perky 'I'm gonna go on a quest!' nonsense.... Penny, quit jumping up and down, you'll sprain an ankle!"
"Sorry," Penny apologized quickly, standing still.
"You know... she reminds me a lot of you, at that age," Gourry said, eyes distant. "Always looking up, always looking forward, determined to succeed, to go anywhere you wanted to... yeah. Just like you, before that night."
"What night?" Lina asked, confused.
"I'll make you guys a deal," Gourry said, bargaining. "Lina, I know you don't want to go on quests anymore. That's okay; once the staff recharges, you can head home. And I'll go with Penny wherever she has to go, and keep her safe until this quest is over. Is it a deal? I don't want her getting hurt, but I don't feel right ordering her around like a kid. She's not a kid anymore."
"Well... no, she's not a kid. And I don't like the idea of her questing at all, but... I trust you, Gourry. I know you'll keep her safe. Now, WHAT night, Gourry?"
"YAY! I can keep going!" Penny cheered, bouncing again until her ankle started to hurt so she stopped. She ran over to her parents, scooping them up into the first full-on sincere group hug in months. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you! I've gotta go tell the guys the good news! Thank you! BYEEE!!!!"
A very Inverse-esque dustcloud kicked up behind her, as she ran up the road, towards the plantation.
"Bye!" Gourry cheered, waving at the departing daughter. He kept waving until he heard the irritated tap tap tap of a soft soled boot on the dirt, and looked over at his annoyed wife, her arms crossed and a frown on her face. "...oh. Um..."
"You're talking about THAT night, aren't you?" Lina asked. "The night I woke up crying, and couldn't stop?"
"Lina.. you WERE in a near catatonic state for two days," Gourry said. "I know we never found out what happened, but -- "
"It was a momentary weakness, that's all," Lina said, blowing it off. "A fluke. Who knows? People do crazy things, but that doesn't make them crazy. It hasn't happened again since. I'm fine. And just because I didn't want to go out on crazy adventures again doesn't mean anything is WRONG with me. Got it?!"
Gourry sighed. It always ended like this... a thing she wanted to avoid talking about, at all costs. And he loved her too much to push her, to hurt her...
"Got it," he agreed.
It didn't make him love her any less. Nothing could do that, nothing in the world. But it also didn't satisfy his wish to know what happened. What had hurt his wife so much... what had happened. He swallowed it, for now, and took her hand, to walk to the plantation.
"I love you, Lina," Gourry said, wanting that assurance.
And it came. Lina smiled, and kissed his cheek. "I love you too. And I'm STARVING. Let's go see if our host is providing dinner! And if he's not, well, he will be when I get through with him!"
Gourry smiled, happy. Still the woman he loved, deep inside.
Issac wobbled a bit on his stool. He already had four beers in him, and was quite steadfast in getting the fifth to join its brethren.
"The trick," he tried to explain, through a tipsy haze. "The trick. It was so.. so simple. I figured it out on a fluke. Wasn't in any book, thank god, it's just this thing you gotta FIGURE OUT. I wish I'd never figured it out. Maybe then I'd have a purpose in life. I thought, yahoo, I'm free, I'll go run a sugar farm and make the little bastards pay for enslaving me, but noooo, it didn't satisfy me. Nothing satisifies you like faith, I so miss -- "
"The trick," Lina Inverse reiterated. She'd had to get the guy back on track several times already.
"Yeah, the trick," Issac continued. "Okay. You know how right now, gods are strong in faith if their followers are strong in faith? The more of 'em the better, and we're always in competition to see who's stronger, and all that rot?"
"Tell me about it," Lina muttered. "We ran into Ace Champion."
Issac laughed. "I almost WANT him to learn this trick. It'd be a trap. He lives for the competition, the gotta-catch-'em-all attitude towards religion... but anyway. The trick. You have to change your nature. Become your own god. To do that... first..... first........"
"First??" Lina added, getting annoyed at feeding him prompts.
"First, you find your greatest believer," Issac finished. "Or maybe next-greatest. I dunno. ONE of your greatest. The more faith you pour into the mix when it happens, the better, the more you get multiplied by. Internal fuel source. Someone who believes in you so much, so completely, that they're willing to do anything for you. Even die for you. Then... you take their mortal life."
"What?" Lina asked, sharply. "You have to kill -- "
"Did I say kill? Did I?" Issac said, frowning. Some of the beer slopped out of his glass. "No. You TAKE THEIR LIFE. You... merge. Become one with the believer. A mortal god, an immortal human. Then, you can believe in yourself, using the strength of faith in the person you merged with, and that's the whole trick. I wasn't always male, you know. I found.. this young boy, not really right in the head, liked to pull out his teeth because he loved the Tooth Fairy, and... and I got him to agree to -- "
Lina grabbed him by his grubby shirt. "You stole a kid's life just to escape being a god?!"
"I never said I was a role model!" the Tooth Fairy protested, pulling himself away. "Okay? I hate it! I regret it. I can make people's teeth fall out, I'm power incarnate over your mouth, I don't have to do anything anymore for anybody and I hate it! What good is this power when you're like me? You... you could use it. You're a solo person, always have been, right? Once free, you'd probably have leagues more fun than me. Maybe rule a kingdom with your power. Lina the Terrible, the God Made Flesh -- "
"Shut up," Lina barked. "I'm not LIKE that. I wouldn't... I would never do that, just for myself. I'm selfish, I like money, I like food, I look out for myself... but I'm not THAT bad."
"Well, then I guess you're really up the creek, aren't you?" Issac Yankem laughed, shoving his glass over the bar, letting it shatter on the floor. "Came all this way just to find out you didn't want to do what you came to learn. Serves you right for bothering me. I just want to die in peace... but I CAN'T! I don't know how to age! I can reshape my appearance, my 'age', but I'll never die old age. Even those Eradictaors Sairaag boasts won't work; I bought one on the black market and checked. Sure, I could stab myself in the face or something, and the body I'm riding will die... the body knows how to be injured. But I'm too much of a coward even to do that. I'm so hopeless..."
"I'll agree with that," Lina said, frowning visibly.
Issac turned to her, grabbing her shoulders. His foul breath stunned Lina for 1d6 rounds. "But YOU... you could do something with it. I know you, I know your shape, I've felt it from afar; you're so much more powerful than me. So focused on the SELF, unlike the other gods, who are as reshapable as putty! You're the kind who could maybe make up for my mistake. Do you know what I think? We've got Ceipheed and Shaburanigdo, and they're powerful, but... the Lord of Nightmares is powerful over all. Maybe the Lord did this. The Lord is a god made flesh, so infinitely powerful that she made this world. EVERYTHING is Demiurge! There are gods, and people, and they feed on each other, but only something that could step OUTSIDE that system could set it all in motion! You could be like that! You're unlike any other Demiurge I've EVER met. You could do anything you want. Destroy this world, destroy me, make something better, you could -- "
The young god shoved the older god to the floor, knocking him off his stool. "You're insane, you know that, right?" Lina asked. "You're right. This is a secret better off unknown. ...I've never claimed to be the Lord of Nightmares, even if I've shared a body with her once... and I'm not going to do this!"
"...I knew it," Issac said, with a weak laugh. "I knew you'd refuse. I'm sorry... I'm old, I'm tired, I don't know what my mouth is saying half the time. I'm sorry. Look... you can stay at the plantation overnight, if you want. Your quest's done, you could probably use the rest. Okay?"
Lina straightened her cloak, getting to her feet. "Fine, fine. And I want a six course dinner!"
"I'm rich. I can afford that," Issac stated. "Okay. Whatever you want. Sorry you had to come all this way to be so disappointed. And now you've got to go back to your worshippers, and do their errands -- "
The younger god cast him a dark look.
"I don't see it your way," Lina said, voice strong. "Maybe once I did... that I was nothing more than a slave to this. But I've learned better; I've done a lot of good for people, and they've rewarded me. I'm a mercenary at heart, aren't I? I can still be myself AND be a god. I can't be a true Lina Inverse if I'm not myself. So no, I don't think I need to be mortal... especially at that cost. By the way, you're paying for your own drinks. Now let's get going."
"Bah. Flat chested little -- "
A fireball whizzed by his head.
" -- well mannered young girl," Issac corrected.
"Close enough. Let's roll."
The ancient god, Zoamel Gustav, sat on the porch swing of the massive plantation mansion, and rocked. The space next to him on the bench felt strangely empty, as he watched the setting sun.
Xelloss had left, seeking the kitchen, for cheese and dead rats (he didn't specify which was for his bird-master and which was for himself). The Mazoku wasn't fine company, anyway. But now... he DID feel alone.
Him, Zoamel Gustav, the lone wolf god. The god that sits in the dark rafters of his cult's temples, watching everything from afar, smiling down on them and helping their causes but always staying AWAY. Only gods who foolishly got involved with their believers, like Drake, would actually enjoy that sort of thing. Not Zoamel. Before, he could spent months just floating in silence and obfuscation in a second story window, watching the sun rise and set, enjoying the movement of the clouds... never with human contact, never with a word spoken. And now he wanted to speak words, so clearly wanted it... but not with just anybody. With Penny.
The demon's words were true. It would be difficult, for them. A human and a god? He even had trouble admitting how he felt to her... as she did to him. He could feel the love and faith there, as a god (which felt oddly like cheating, now that he felt the same in return) but the words hadn't come out yet...
The melancholy on his soul, if he had a soul, was thick. And yet, it all lifted when he saw Penny running down the lane, waving to him. He smiled on reflex, despite his normal stoic face, and calmly rushed to greet her.
"I can stay! I can still quest!!" Penny shouted, as she ran up to him. "Father gave his permission, and even MOM did! Maybe they're finally seeing me as an adult!"
"That's wonderful news," Zoamel replied. "I'm quite glad to hear you'll be continuing along with me. With us."
The slip was enough to disjoint conversation for a moment. But Penny was too happy to get defocused. She smiled, and started to walk to the house. "I hope this quest lasts longer," she said. "It'd look really silly if I did all that work to convince my folks, and it was just over like that."
"I would not worry," Zoamel said, following. "Around Lina, if tales are true, things have a habit of just popping up when you least expect them to."
The observer unit from Sairaag, which had been silently scanning the island ever since it arrived, popped up from behind a woodpile right when they least expected something to pop up.
Zoamel quickly put an arm in front of Penny, to stop her. But it was too late; it had sensed the motion, and decloaked. The spheroid hovered, just a split second... before its programming kicked in. Target found. Send alert. Neutralize. Wait for reinforcements to complete capture...
Time slowed, as the god moved, to stop the machine. Romance could wait, he decided, knowing the threat it posed. He'd seen a machine similar to this one stalking other gods, like the Melody, Goddess of Bards and Musicians, back in his home town... while he sat in his window and did nothing, not wanting to get involved in the lives of the humans...
A bullet fired from the machine's primary weapon. Zoamel raised a hand to catch it... and Demiurges clashed. The will of Science fought his will, the two struggling briefly... before his will was crushed utterly. For a brief period, he saw the terrible power of Science, the Demiurge that had remained hidden so long before being unmasked by Lina, and the surprise of it shattered his power so easily...
The bullet slammed through the palm of his hand, and struck the figure behind him. The sharp scream from Penny was all he needed.
His will amplified by a factor of nine. A stream of bullets, fired from a chain gun, rained down on him -- and all of them stopped in mid-air. The God of Vengeance was in firm control of his power now, and knew what he wanted... Vengeance for the harm dealt to the one so special to him...
The bullets crumpled into tiny wads. The machine warped and bent, metal twisting and shrieking under the pressure, until the Observer Unit was little more than a fist-sized chunk of white hot molten steel. He let it drop to the ground, and quickly turned to Penny...
Who sat on the ground in stunned amazement, clutching the simple flesh wound in her shoulder. "...WHOA," she said, in all capital letters. "Zoamel, you.. you really wasted that thing! Hot damn!"
"...it angered me," Zoamel admitted, studying the wound. "I know what that machine was; we must hurry. I cannot close this with my power, being a vengeance god and not a healing god. But the bullet passed through, and it will heal with some pressure and time... here."
Zoamel quickly tore a strip off his white tunic, tore a strip off his Self, and tied it neatly around the wound. The cloth, being a part of him, didn't stain, and it fit snugly and perfectly to help ease Penny's pain.
The adventuress in training looked at the bandage, perplexed.. then back to the god, twice as perplexed. "I don't think I've seen you that angry before," she said, quietly. "Even when you were fighting with Drake. What happened now?"
"Someone special to me was hurt," Zoamel said, the words coming easily. "Someone I genuinely care for. I couldn't let that pass..."
Then the words failed. Penny blushed quite actively; Zoamel didn't, not having the right skin for it, but he did seem a bit nervous.
"Zoamel..." Penny spoke, a gentle whisper, as she leaned in closer.
Zoamel did the same.. he felt that draw to her, stronger than any simple belief or faithholder in his existence. "...yes, Penny?..."
The eyes made contact first. Soft looks, unusual on both faces, as they looked deep inside each other... then hands made contact, linking together. They leaned ever closer, the inevitable drawing better than gravity, better than any force in the universe... and...
Didn't kiss, because that's when Lina showed up, Tooth Fairy in tow.
Zoamel briefly flirted with the idea of smiting Lina, but thought the better of it.
"Hey, guys! Quest's over," Lina declared, waving to them as she faded into view (having cut out that middleman of 'walking places'). "I got what I needed to know."
Penny blinked a whole bunch of times, as the situation changed, like a romantic moonlit horsedrawn carriage ride for two crashing into a cargo plane full of clowns. "What? Huh? What? Lina?"
"I guess you won't have to worry about convincing your parents now," Lina said, rubbing the back of her head. "Quest's done. Sorry if I'm not being dramatic enough about announcing it, but -- "
"You are being dramatic enough," Zoamel spoke, gritting his teeth slightly. "Trust me."
"Over?" Penny repeated, still getting her bearings. "Over? But.. but we just started to..."
Inhaling, the elder god focused. He picked up the smoking hot lump of Sairaag steel, presenting it to Lina. "Turning attentions to the present... I'm afraid my quest is not over. I swore vengeance against my enemies, and I cannot return until they have been destroyed. Lina... this is the remains of an Observer Unit under the employ of Sairaag. I destroyed it, but I doubt I got it before it sent word back to its master... especially if this impossible technology is merely a manifestation of a Demiurge of science. They know where we are now."
"Damn," Lina groaned. "I swear, those guys are just getting all up in my area lately! Can't swing a dead Lesser Demon without hitting the evil omnipresent Sairaag forces... okay, fine. So we leave the island tonight, split up and go home. It's not like they can get here sooner than that, Sairaag's got to be hundreds of miles away or something."
Glowing blue portals that connected the sugar cane fields to a fortress hundreds of miles away in Sairaag quietly began to open, in the distance.
That alone would be worrying, but what started to march out of them was even moreso... a few soldiers, then dozens, then over a hundred, armed with magic absorption poles and Eradicator disks, as well as highly serviceable rifles. And, despite being a speck from this distance, Lina could clearly make out a familiar figure in white and gray, toting a gunblade, and leading the slow march of doom.
"..." was her intelligent, rational response to this sight.
The Tooth Fairy had more coherent words, despite being slightly drunk. "Great. Just great. Here I was hoping to stay out of the Sairaag mess, keep that bastard off my doorstep, and you led them right to me. You know, Lina, for being the immortal incarnation of luck and destiny, people AROUND you really get the shaft, don't they?"
"Penny, where are your parents?" Zoamel asked, maintaining calm.
"Uh... uh... they're in the plantation manor house, why?"
"I believe a retreat is in order," Zoamel suggested. "Immediately, before they see us here -- "
The army changed from a slow march to a flat out run, waving weapons and yelling and looking every bit the armed, fanatical death force they were famous for across the world.
" -- immediately, if not sooner," Zoamel added.
"Got it," Lina said, snapping her fingers -- and moving the entire group into the kitchen immediately, if not a minute or two sooner. The trick, she didn't think, was in not thinking too hard about if she COULD do do the trick. She WAS Lina Inverse, after all.
"You see," Xelloss continued to explain while dusting off his 'Kiss the Evil Cook' apron, "The chili powder acts as catalyst. While the peanut butter adds a sugar boost, combined with the liberal use of the jelly, both are counteracted by the chili powder and arsenic. After spraying all three slices of wheat bread with lemon juice and dried garlic powder, you bake it over an open flame for EXACTLY six seconds, the number of the beast, compress it into a flat wedge, and then you've got the PERFECT sandwich!"
Lina Gabriev remained unimpressed, studying the old Mazoku. "Except for the fact that, like all Mazoku cooking, it's completely inedible."
"Oh, it's not for me," Xelloss said, understanding the mixup. He tossed the sandwich into a corner -- where a nearby rat took a single nibble, had a massive stroke, and died. Bird Master Zelas-Metallum swooped in to feast.
"That's gross," Gourry stated as obvious.
"Good to see some people haven't changed at all these last years," Lina spoke, a bit perturbed... either by the fine haute ratte cuisine, or by something else entirely. "Gourry, keep an eye on this guy if you're serious about questing with Penny. Understand? I don't want his creepy Mazoku hands on her."
"I don't think that'll be a problem, as your husband is quite adept at dismembering me at the drop of a hat," Xelloss half-joked. "Nice replacement light-sword, by the way, Gourry."
"Lina bartered it off a passing crazy old man with one eye and a monkey's paw," Gourry said proudly, resting a hand on the sword hilt. "It's not as good as the real Sword of Light, but it's more than enough for a city guardsman -- "
Lina and company arrived a few seconds back in time, cutting off Gourry's lengthy, boring explanation, a fact Xelloss would have been thankful for if he knew it was going to happen in the first place, which it did not, in fact, do. Or something.
"Problem," Lina announced. "We've got a few hundred Sairaag soldiers coming towards the house at low speed. I think I cut them off from actually seeing us, so we've got a minute before they get here... other Me, now would be a GREAT time to use that staff and get us the hell out of here."
"Soldiers?!" Lina gagged. (Not the god Lina, the mortal Lina. The taller one. Lina repeating herself would have just been strange.) "I knew it! I knew you were a disaster waiting to happen. My staff isn't charged yet, it still needs a few more minutes! I KNEW I shouldn't have sold Big Bertha..."
Xelloss brightened. "Aha! They've got you pushed against a wall now, Lina! It's like you said, Lina, so you've got no choice but to get out there and kick some holy butt in the name of the Mazoku! And humanity too, of course -- "
The Tooth Fairy cleared his throat. Teeth rattled.
"You guys need a few more minutes?" he asked, quietly.
Everybody nodded simultaneously.
"Okay. Fine. Whatever," Issac said. "I've gotten this tangled in it, I might as well see it through. Maybe give my life a bit of meaning. Lina, you know the bar you found me in? I didn't mystically appear there; there's an underground passage that runs to all the bars in town from this house. It's catacombic maze, so odds are against you finding your way OUT, but should keep you hidden long enough to teleport away."
"There! Not against a wall now, are we?" Lina decided. "Okay, Yankem, lead the way -- "
"Someone's gotta stay and misdirect them," Issac said. "It might buy you a few extra minutes."
"Xelloss volunteers!" Lina said, picking up the Mazoku and moving him to the forefront. He blinkblinked cutely, pouting.
"I'm the only expendable one here," Issac stated. "And don't give me some heroic speech, Lina. They'll tear up my plantation anyway, and I've got nothing left in this life. Maybe I can weasel out of actually getting whacked, but either way, the least I can do is help out someone who can make something of what I know... you're going to save the world, you know that, right? I've got a little precognition, but it should be completely obvious by now. If you play the cards you got dealt as a god right, it'll happen, just like it always has for you before. But without you, the immortal spirit of Lina the Anti-Hero, well... we're all screwed. I don't hate humanity enough to want that on the lot. So get moving -- no arguments."
Issac snatched a shotglass from a nearby cupboard, depressing a switch in the process. Six nondescript kitchen tiles swung away, revealing a ladder into an underground passage.
Lina stared at the mortal god, not quite sure what to say. He didn't seem to want to talk, either... so, she just gave him a thankful look, and climbed on down. The others followed in suit.
Issac replaced the glass, locking the door shut. He straightened his tunic. Time to go welcome the guests.
Zelgadis slowly approached the house. He couldn't help shake the nagging feeling that he saw the quarry... but he wouldn't act on a nagging feeling. It was irrational.
Of course, so was the idea of 'sneaking' an army this large up on the target, but that didn't matter. Sairaag recon data of this island was QUITE thick, as the risk calculating machinery back at the fortress had labeled it of as high value... having no Roy Balderdash to worry about helped as well. His soldiers would obey his orders directly, with no confusion.
A slightly grubby man stood on the porch, taking a pull from a whiskey flask, before tossing it aside. Zelgadis raised the proverbial eyebrow, before holding an arm up, to call his men to halt.
Issac grinned to the group, sticking his hands in his pockets. Very unassuming. "Hey, you guys looking for a short, flatchested girl in a sorceress's cloak?"
"Yes," Zelgadis said. It was the truth.
"She saw some weird machine, and took off running," Issac lied, pointing. "To the docks. Probably hoping to jump a ship out of town. You're going to want to -- "
"Your name is Issac Yankem, and you are a mortal Demiurge," Zelgadis stated, cutting the man off. "And odds strong that you are aiding them. You are not unknown to Sairaag."
Issac froze. That was impossible. There was no WAY that squatting excuse for a tin god in Sairaag could know about his secret... but clearly, it did, and his cover was blown.
If you're going to go, go with a bang.
"You think I'm a wuss just because I'm mortal?" Issac asked. He didn't change posture, didn't move a muscle. "I may be a coward and a cripple, but one thing I am not is a pushover... and this is too important to buckle on. So, take THIS message back to your precious Sairaag..."
Screams rose from the army, as every single one of their teeth dropped away. Hands flew to mouths, to catch them, to catch the blood --
A firearm shot rang through the air. Issac blinked a few times, wondering what that was... until he was looking sideways at the sky. Up at Zelgadis, who lowered a smoking gunblade.
"Idiot," he said. "Chimeras and other monsters never believed in the Tooth Fairy in the first place. Your powers don't affect this body."
Oh, right.
Issac's mind drifted a bit. It was kind of ironic; he'd be the first god to really know what happens when you die. It made him feel oddly special, as a peaceful haze settled, the soldiers marching past him, into the house. But how could Sairaag have known about his secret, unless... unless... if that was true, he had to warn Lina, but...
It's funny, he thought, the previous train of thought slowing to a halt. Dying wasn't nearly as unpleasant as he was figuring it would be. Shame he couldn't tell anyone. And then he was gone, and actually quite happy for a change.
Catacombs are a funny thing, because they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. You have your basic angular maze, made of forbidding stonework and impossibly logical geometry -- those, you play the 'follow wall right' game and you get out eventually. ('eventually' defined as anytime from now to sixty years from now.) You also have your basic maze of twisty little passages, all alike, sometimes lined with a wide variety of imaginative deathtraps, and the ever popular non-Euclidean space consisting of nothing but stairwells and doorways.
Issac's catacombs were just dank, smelly, and dark. They didn't even twist very much and didn't look alike, and nothing was actively trying to kill Lina's little party gang. No monsters, either, to be slain for battle experience and gold. It was the most boring dungeon she'd ever had to crawl through.
Still, true to his prediction, they hadn't found a way out. Fortunately, they wouldn't have to.
"Is the staff charged yet?" Zoamel asked, leading the way, as Lina's light spell bobbled and weaved around in front of him.
"No, it's still at 95%," Lina Gabriev responded, reading the glowing crystals embedded in the base of the staff.
"But that's what it was a moment ago!" Lina Inverse shouted. "Why isn't it charging up any faster? We've gotta go go go!"
"Hey, keep your shirt on, it'll charge when it charges!"
"Since when did you rely on gimmick magic, anyway?" Lina Inverse asked, stopping her march. "Come on, just whip up a digging spell and let's get through! Sure, it's sheet bedrock around, but -- "
"But that would attract the attention of the army, you overzealous powermonger," Lina Gabriev scowled. "We need to play this CONSERVATIVELY if we're going to survive, and... and...... and my staff isn't charging. It's STILL at 95%..."
The entire group stopped. This was not good news.
Penny swallowed. "Um, mom, is that the teleport staff with the redwood shaft or the pinewood shaft?"
"Pinewood. Why?"
"Ah, I negotiated the sale on that one when you were away one day and put it in the box with the other one. But I think that one's solar powered. Um. Sorry. If it helps, I didn't pay him very much for it."
"....you're grounded until your twenty seventh birthday," Lina Gabriev decided. She turned to face her younger counterpart. "We just lost our exit strategy. You're a god, aren't you? Can't you just miracle us out of here?"
Lina Inverse shook her head. "No... I tried, when we first got in here. It won't work. When it's just a shortcut, or something for myself personally, I can do it because I'm very impatient and selfish in nature... but I can't cheat the drama of being stuck somewhere. That's not how a heroine escapes a situation."
"What kind of a god are you?" Lina Gabriev asked, incredulous. "And what do you mean, impatient and selfish?! I happen to take that very personally, you know -- "
"Hey, what can I say? This is what I am now! I've learned to adapt to it rather than whine and bawl all the time, unlike some old ladies I know!"
"Old lady?!" Gabriev asked, practically rolling up a sleeve. "I'm your elder in more ways than five! Here's what we'll do. We're going to wait right here, where they can't find us, and in the morning when they've all given up, we'll find our way out, charge the staff and leave!"
"That has got to be the most RIDICULOUS, cowardly -- "
Zoamel interrupted, holding up a hand; someone with his aura of quiet calm didn't need to actually raise his voice to stop a debate. "I am afraid Lina Inverse is right," he spoke. "There is an important fact that you are not aware of, Mrs. Gabriev. We have clashed with Sairaag before, and they have let us walk away because we seemed to pose no passing threat. This is the first time they have come after us seriously; the tide has shifted. They will hunt us relentlessly, with near limitless expendable human resources. We cannot survive by a straight confrontation, especially not in these catacombs. But we cannot stay hidden. Escape is the best option, and if the staff will not work, we must find alternate means. I myself have no particular powers that would help all of us... perhaps Penny... but that would be all."
"Ah... Zoamel has a point," Penny said, stumbling a bit over the latter admission, trying not to look right at Zoamel. "So, if he can't do it, and mom can't do it, and Lina can't do it, and Gourry -- "
"A-ha! I know! I can dig our path to freedom with my sword!" Gourry said. He jammed it in the ceiling, twisted, and promptly was buried under fifty pounds of dirt and rock.
"...and dad can't do it," Penny continued, "And I don't have any powers to speak of other than a keen intellect and medium grade buttkicking skills, that only leaves -- "
The Wandering Monster Table popped out of Penny's backpack, perching on her head and flexing its legs dramatically, in what could only be called a heroic, confident manner!
Both Linas promptly fell over.
"..." Penny said. She plucked Table-chan off her head, gave it a loving hug, and continued again. "...not you, Table-chan. I was actually thinking of Xelloss."
All eyes slowly turned on Xelloss, who was busy cleaning out his ear with his pinky finger. He blinked a few times, genuinely surprised.
"What, me?" he asked.
"You still have Mazoku powers, right?" Penny asked. "They're a bit toned down after your run-in with Sairaag, but between you and the bird, surely you've got something you can do. I mean, from what mom told me about her past exploits, you were always popping in and out without warning at the least helpful times!"
"I will admit a certain knack for making an entrance..." Xelloss spoke, with no small amount of pride. "But I'm afraid my little trick, well, it's sort of a secr -- "
Both Linas popped up right in front of him, four nasty angry evil glaring make-hole-in-rock eyes locked in a stare of absolute doom and annihilation on the crippled old Mazoku.
" -- it's actually quite easy," Xelloss said, downshifting from third gear to first. "I can make a portal to.. certain real estate holdings. There would be no way for Sairaag to follow us there. However, given my current health, it will take a few minutes to prepare. Although if one of you wants to volunteer to be terrorized a bit, I could recharge my dark energy reserves -- "
"I think we can get this done in a few minutes safely," Penny said, mind breaking down the situation. She looked left, looked right, hugged her Table, turned things over and over in her head, and was ready with an answer seven seconds later. "Okay... this small chamber would be a good place for Xelloss to get to work. Lina, you stay with him and keep an eye on him so he doesn't bolt without us. If the army comes down here, we can hold them off just long enough due to the small size of the tunnel, but we'll need people at both sides of this tunnel. Mom, dad, you two take the left. Zoamel and I will take the right. If you hear them coming, signal, then stall them, then fall back to here and go for the portal. Everybody hold your ground until Lina Inverse gives a signal that the way out is ready. It's risky, but it's better than all of us staying here."
Gourry crossed his arms and nodded in official military approval (while shaking dirt loose from his armor). "That's a good plan, Penny. Excellent strategy."
"Really? Gosh, thanks, Daddy!" Penny chirped, breaking the 'serious war council' tone momentarily.
Lina Gabriev peered a bit at her daughter, in quiet incomprehension. This was Penny? This was the girl whose big plan in life was to run out and challenge random bandit gangs to fights? Who frequently forgot her lunch on the way to school, who got bored reading textbooks, who... who had just come up with a plan even she had to admit wasn't too bad. NOW, now Lina could believe that her daughter had grown up a bit since leaving home...
And now Penny was a lot like Lina was, so long ago. Standing here, face to face with that striking difference/similarity, was more sobering than looking at her immortal counterpart. This was a human example, from her own family, within the grasp of the plausible... and it was positively eerie. Eerie, how much she really had changed, if you made and effort to THINK about it...
"Lina?"
She looked over quickly to her husband. "Yes?"
"I said we should get going now," Gourry said. "That tunnel's not going to guard itself. Uh... unless you want to stay here, I mean. I can guard it. I understand if you don't want to go -- "
"No! No, I mean... let's go," Lina said, clumsily covering her tracks. "Tunnel's not going to guard itself. Let's go, Gourry."
Coaxing a toothless army to obey orders took effort. Strong leadership. Long speeches, comforting of those who had to face their loss, and cautious steps to return to previous peak efficiency.
Instead, Zelgadis shot the first officer to complain, and the rest fell in line. He didn't have time for niceties.
The data on Issac Yankem's mansion was extensive. This whole island had been closely detailed in Sairaag's files, for reasons never made clear to him, but he wasn't one to question the usefulness of the information. Said files told him there was a secret tunnel under the house, originating from the kitchen, but the neglected to mention how to get in.
Normally, he would use explosives to open the floor, but that would either alert his foes, or bury them, or both. His orders were clear; capture the Demiurges.
As for what to do with Penny... it wasn't stated in his orders, but the assumption was that she was to be killed if she interfered in the capture process. It was a shame, but the project was so close to completion, so critical in this phase, that it would have to take precedence over his relations with the Gabrievs back in Zeifelia. Nothing would stop Sairaag's rise to the lead of the new world order.
Except a kitchen floor.
He had his men tearing the kitchen apart, looking for switches, levers, anything that could open the hidden door. It was only a matter of time.
Besides, half his forces were entering from the other end, at a local pub. There would be no escape for the gods. The time for playing games had ended.
Gourry stood his ground with practiced ease. He had a stance which spoke of military discipline, looming presence... a guard of a gateway, in this case, of a tunnel. Rock still, upright, but with no doubt in the eyes of the observer that he could have his sword drawn and ready to gut you in the blink of an eye. (It had taken him years in the city guard to properly develop that stance; previously, his training captain called him to task about his puppy-dog innocent facial expression, which just screamed out, 'Hi! I don't know what I'm doing out here! Please rob/assassinate my protectorate at will!'.)
Lina, however, had to fight the urge to run. It couldn't be a worse situation; ahead of her, darkness and the unknown, with the potential to be flooded with people who wanted her dead at a moment's notice. Behind her, safety, light, people she knew, a way OUT...
"It's okay," Gourry said, breaking his stony silence.
"What? What's okay?" Lina said quickly, jumping slightly at the sudden sound.
"It's okay to be scared," Gourry said. "I'll admit I'm a little scared, too. I haven't faced a real army in a long time. I hope my skills aren't rusty from busting simple crooks for years."
Briefly, Lina entertained the idea of insisting she wasn't scared... but her husband knew her too well to be fooled by that. She broke her tense stance, groaning a bit at the irony of it all. "Gourry... you think I'm a coward, don't you?"
"Eh? What?" Gourry asked, reverting to his world renown puppy-dog innocent facial expression. "What makes you say that?"
"Because it's true," Lina said, turning to face him. "I don't like to even think about it, or acknowledge it... and more than half the time I don't even notice it. Maybe because I've learned to ignore it, but... I'm getting off track here. I noticed it just now, back there with Pen-chan -- exactly how much I've grown weak since.. my adventuring days. Since I was out and about. So much so that here I am, jumping at my own shadow, and twitching even when my husband says a word... wanting to run home, to hide in my shop, and never have to come out to a situation like THIS again. Like a coward."
"Lina...?"
"It's true!" Lina said, raising her voice before remembering they were trying to stay quiet. "...I'm nothing like Penny is now. And especially nothing like that other me... she's more like me than I am. I wouldn't admit that to ANYBODY but you... but you know already, don't you?"
"You're.. very different, yes," Gourry said, not wanting to say more than that.
"...I wouldn't be surprised if you loved her more than me," Lina said, looking away a little. "She's more like the woman you fell in love with, isn't she?"
The resounding laugh that came from Gourry's belly was not the reaction Lina was expecting. She turned sharply, confused, as she saw him smiling and looking at her, with his soft, understanding eyes...
"You really think that?" Gourry asked. "Lina, Lina... you know me. And I know you. And you know I love YOU. Nobody else... just you. You're not weak, Lina, you've never been weak -- you're one of the strongest people I've ever met! Who else could wrangle a six gold price for a sixty spell loaded double barreled firestaff? Who else could have fought tooth and nail to be the most successful merchant in Zeifelia, raised a daughter, and kept everything balanced and running so smooth?"
"That's not what I'm talking about!" Lina protested. "I'm talking about my fear! My fear of the unknown, of going out and diving headfirst into adventures like I used to! You keep telling me I've changed, since that time that I... that I woke up, and I just couldn't..."
"Lina..." Gourry said, filling in for her. "I know this worries you. You don't like to admit it, but it does; and it worries me too, since it WAS a very strange, nearly overnight change... but we all change eventually, no matter how. I'VE changed too, you know. I don't go out and about on quests either, I'm too busy keeping our city and country safe. Perhaps you're not EXACTLY the same woman I fell in love with so long ago, it's true, but I'm not the exact same man, either, and I don't love you any less for who you are now. I will always love you, no matter who you are. Have faith in that, and you'll never have to be afraid of anything..."
"Cripes, Gourry, of all the cheesy, over romanticized -- "
Gourry swept her up into a full kiss, cutting off her protests in mid rant. No further proof was needed, after that.
It's a good thing he did pull her away for the kiss, because it kept her from being shot. The bullet whizzed by the space Lina occupied, ptang!ing off a nearby rock.
With practiced ease, Gourry turned the kiss into a full spin, to plant Lina behind him for safety, while his other hand drew his sword. He held it in a defensive stance, facing the darkness, less than seconds having passed from safety to danger... his training easily accommodating the change.
What he couldn't accommodate was the figure that stepped from the darkness, gunblade held high.
"...Zelgadis?" Gourry asked, confused. But his blade did not waver.
"Gabriev," Zelgadis acknowledged, likewise remaining cautious and ready for the attack. He held a hand back, to stop the fifteen troops that had entered behind him, as he engaged in a staredown with his former friend. "I see you have thrown your lot in with the gods. I apologize for shooting at your wife; in the poor lighting, she resembled my target. However, I will only ask you once to stand down, and let us pass. I have orders."
"Penny's told us all about your orders," Gourry said, keeping Lina behind him, keeping a hand on her; his wife had gone very quiet, and he needed to make sure she was still there. "And I don't take kindly to you shooting at Lina, light or no light. If our friendship means anything to you, you'll stand down instead."
"Then there is no longer any friendship to speak of," Zelgadis said, voice not like ice, but like... absolutely nothing. He blanked out his relations with the Gabrievs, easily detaching from them. The march of science would not be stopped. Not when he had come this far already... he put his faith in that, and advanced.
Slowly, the two approached each other... until they stopped being slow, and went full tilt, blade to blade.
"Did you hear something?" Penny asked, trying to strain an ear to hear anything in the murky echoes of the tunnels.
"We must not leave our position until Lina gives the all clear," Zoamel reminded. "That was your plan, don't forget."
"I know, I know," Penny said. "And for good reason. But... damn, if I didn't wish I had a weapon with me. I haven't had to really get into a fight since Zeifelia, and there, I had my naginata..."
"Penny, that weapon was unsuitable for spreading butter on toast, much less slicing out the stillbeating heart of your enemy."
The young girl burst out laughing. "Zoamel! You told a joke! See? I keep TELLING you, you do have a sense of humor under all that businesslike exterior... HA! And now you're blushing!"
"Am not," Zoamel lied. Although he was thankful for a lack of reflecting surfaces.
"Riiiight," Penny teased. "Anyway... it may have been a terrible weapon, but I can't exactly go ten rounds bareknuckle boxing, either. I didn't even THINK of what I'd do to guard this tunnel. What am I going to use, harsh language?"
"You don't need to be concerned," Zoamel said, unintentionally letting a little masculine pride slip into his tone of voice. "I'll protect you from harm at the hands of the army."
The tone shifted from light to dark in a heartbeat, as a sudden realization struck Penny between the eyes. "...is that what your believers want you to do, Zoamel?"
"What?" he asked, puzzled.
"I just thought... I mean, the only reason you're on this quest is because we tricked your believers into sending you on it," she explained. "I just remembered. But looking out for me isn't the same as getting vengeance on your enemies. You didn't say 'I'll defeat the army to punish them', you said 'I'll protect you from harm'. That's not what your followers wish you to do."
Zoamel stood still, locked in thought... but it didn't take him long to reach a conclusion. It was the same conclusion he'd come to earlier this day, and perhaps even earlier than that, on some level.
"Perhaps it's something I myself wish to do," Zoamel said, quite calmly. "I am a sentient being. I am an individual, and even the gods can have their right to exist in that manner. Besides, if you want to be technical over the legal contract of belief, I could have a loophole... you believe in me, and you desire my aid. That makes you a faithful one, seeking a miracle from one you believe in. Is that not the same?"
"What if I told you not to help me?" Penny asked, testing.
Zoamel smiled at her, quite amused, in an affectionate little way. "Would you really request that, Penny?"
It was her turn to blush now. "...no. I wouldn't ask you to leave me. I don't think I'd ever ask you to do that..."
The eyes made contact first. Soft looks, unusual on both faces, as they looked deep inside each other... then hands made contact, linking together. They leaned ever closer, the inevitable drawing better than gravity, better than any force in the universe... and...
Didn't kiss, because that's when the army showed up.
"Surrender in the name of Sairaag!" a captain shouted.
Penny, whose first real kiss with Zoamel had been interrupted once already today, cast a look at the captain that would have sliced hundred mile long mountain chains in half.
The soldier actually felt a bit weak in the knees for a moment, before he recovered, and ordered the charge -- right into a wall of monstrous, demonic flesh that Zoamel had thrown up to block their path.
"Go!" he ordered, his arms outstretched and extended, to provide a living barricade to their progress. "Alert Lina!"
"But.. but I'm supposed to stay -- "
"I will hold them!" Zoamel shouted. "There are too many, and you yourself said you were weaponless, yes? You can help by getting Lina! GO! I'll join you soon, I promise!"
Penny turned quickly, scrabbling in the pebbly dirt, and made a beeline down the tunnel.
Two experts in the blade arts locked horns, using the limited space of the tunnel, carefully deflecting each other's attacks. Counter attack, parry, dodge, twist, move after move, experts unwilling to give the slightest advantage to the each other...
"Is this what you've become, Zelgadis?!" Gourry grunted, locking up the blades, trying to immobilize him. "A puppet of Sairaag, sinking yourself to threatening my family?"
"They, and you, are in my way," Zelgadis spoke, voice dripping with icicles. "You have no concept of what is at stake here. You have no idea what I have been through, and what I am still willing to go through to get what I want."
"You'll have to go through me first!"
"As you see, my skill with the blade has raised considerably since we last met! Are you certain you want to continue this??"
"You will see the warrior's spirit still burns -- "
"Oh, would you two get ON with it without the macho chest beating and posturing?!" Lina barked, getting very annoyed. "It's making me violently ill, and I'll zot both of you if you keep this childishness up!"
"...you are quite right, Lina," Zelgadis said. He braces his feet, SHOVING hard against Gourry. Gourry stumbled back, always keeping the blade in front of him, ready to parry the coming attack --
But wasn't able to parry a bullet.
Gourry's armor split neatly, the specially coated Sairaag ammunition piercing his government issue chestplate. He didn't scream in pain, but he clutched at the wound, sinking to his knees, face going very faint...
"GOURRY!!"
Lina rushed at him, fear coursing through her body like blood, as she saw him collapse, as she saw him dying... she didn't think about the army, didn't think about her own fear, thought about nothing except getting to him and helping him --
Which is why she was grabbed so easily. Zelgadis wrenched her arm behind her back, locking a metal bangle around it, sealing her magic.
"I need a shield," he explained, as he muscled her away from her husband, and continued his march down the tunnel, rock-like muscles easily restraining the woman used to sitting behind a sales counter.
"LINA!" Penny shouted, running into the main chamber -- and hitting the brakes hard, to avoid skidding right into the pulsing orb of darkness in the center of the chamber. Xelloss frowned at her briefly for interrupting his concentration, then resumed post haste. His raven fluttered around the orb, adding its own miniscule power to the effort, laying trails and tracks of shadow to the wad of power...
Lina looked up from the task, noting Penny's high velocity entrance. "Army's coming, I take it? No; I can tell from your look. Xelloss? You see that? Any minute now, men with big guns and Eradicators are going to come here and make us all dead. GET A MOVE ON!"
"I'm not the spring chicken I once was, okay?" Xelloss complained. "Making a portal like this is not an easy task, either. But don't get your panties in a proverbial bunch; we're almost there... I just need one more minute, then I have it."
"Good. Maybe they'll be -- "
"Lina!!" Lina Gabriev shouted, struggling to get away from her captor. "Lina, look out!"
All present turned to face the army... more specifically, to face Zelgadis, who had Lina Gabriev at gunpoint.
"I'll execute her if I must," Zelgadis warned. "But I will let her and her family leave if you, the Mazoku, and Zoamel surrender yourselves to us. Do not be heroic. You can't afford it."
Lina Inverse twisted her hands in front of herself, forming a red flare of burning light... which flattened out, narrowed, and became the world's thinnest, smallest Dragon Slave. It hovered between her hands, twisted into her preferred weapon in less than a second. "You'd be surprised the kinds of gambles I'll take, Zelgadis," she said quickly. "That's what I do for a living. That's what I AM. Who do you think will drop first, her, or you when this embeds in your rocky thick head? I -- "
Then she got distracted.
Zoamel had run up behind her group, intending to run to their aid, with the army hot on his heels. The sound of it was enough to make Lina flinch and look...
Everything slowed.
Zelgadis used the arm he was holding Lina Gabriev back with, and shoved her forward with incredible force... enough to knock Penny sprawling to the ground. With his other arm, he flicked an Eradicator disk from sleeve to palm, and flung it out...
Xelloss's portal shrank to a pinprick, while the disk flew past where it was, before exploding outward into a fully fledged exit wrought from blackest shadow, ready for use.
But the disk continued on. It absorbed the modified Dragon Slave like a sponge into water. Lina Inverse was able to twist her body, to avoid contact, as it flew right by her...
Impacting soundly onto Zoamel Gustav's chest.
Both armies halted, the resulting light show stunning them, as the black lightning arced all around Zoamel's body. He sank to his knees, a silent scream forming, trying to fight it, while everybody got their bearings back...
"..Zoa.. NO!" Penny shouted, diving to help him. She reached out, to grasp his hand... and her hand went right through it, as he went from opaque to transparent to not there at all. The disk clattered to the ground, purple cross glowing, task complete.
"Kill them all," Zelgadis ordered, quietly.
"Time to go!" Xelloss decided, grabbing the stunned Lina Gabriev and shoving her into the portal.
Lina Inverse bit her lip... and knew they had to leave. If they stayed, they WOULD all die. She couldn't fight them all, not if they were armed and ready to deal with gods, and if she did she might accidentally hurt Penny and the others... it was a split second decision, but she let her gut dictate it. It had never failed her before. "PENNY! We have to leave, NOW!"
"NO!" Penny shouted, scrabbling on the ground for the fallen disk, trying to grab it -- only to have her hand stepped on by a soldier. She screamed out in pain, as Lina Inverse knocked the man backwards with a sharp blow to the mind... and grabbed Penny's wrist, pulling her along.
Zelgadis readied the disk up his other sleeve, and threw with pinpoint accuracy; but it was too late. The disk flew into the portal, without hitting anything, and then the hole in reality collapsed onto itself in a splitsecond. The chamber was officially empty; Penny, both Linas, and Xelloss had made their retreat.
He allowed himself a frown. They had failed... partially. He walked over, and collected the fallen Eradicator, pocketing it. At least they had the minor god of vengeance, even if it was not the biggest fish they could have caught. This, as well as...
"Captain, is the Gabriev man dead?" Zelgadis asked. Because if not, he would make an excellent hostage.
There are many advantages to having an address just beyond the reach of mortal reality. For starters, you receive considerably less junk mail, but the real bonus is that when you run home, you don't have to worry about being followed. A nice, quiet pocket dimension where you could put your feet up, relax, and read the morning paper...
If you didn't mind reading the paper in an underground cavern that seemed to be made up of brimstone, ash, and porous rocks glowing an unholy red. But at least it was quiet.
When the orb of darkness expanded to full size at the other end of its dimensional tunnel, a discarded Eradicator, some stray cave-dirt, and four travelers with adrenaline pumps running on overdrive, that quiet was instantly shattered.
Penny whipped around Lina, trying to break herself free of the hold on her wrist. "Let me go! I've got to go back!! He's going to be -- "
The portal shrank to nothingness, spell giving way under the strain. Penny broke free just in time to run through the air, and crash face first into the opposite wall.
Meanwhile, Lina Gabriev had snapped out of her funk, and was doing her best to torque Xelloss's head off. "Open the portal! OPEN IT! Gourry's hurt and he's still back there with them! We've got to return and -- "
"And what?" Lina Inverse asked, cutting in. "Guys, GUYS! Everybody shut up and think. I'm just as pissed as you are, people, but if we go back there we'll all get killed or captured. Everybody be COOL. If the direct assault isn't gonna work, we'll think of something else. We'll work this out. It's not over!"
"But GOURRY -- "
"Odds are they'll take Gourry with them... clearly they're not above using hostages if they'd grab you, Lina," Lina Inverse explained. "And Penny, calm down! Zoamel is still alive! He's just stored in that disk, don't you see? It's like the Mooki-Pokko cards, I explained it before. They've been kidnapping Demiurges, not killing them. We can still get them both back!"
Penny clenched a fist, still refusing to let go of that anger, despite Lina's pleading tone. "How exactly do we get them back...? Do we go to Sairaag? Didn't you say we'd go when the time was right?"
Lina Inverse paused, not sure how to answer that. "Ah... well, that'd be the best option. That's where they're heading next, and if they could portal over to the island, they could even be back by now, but it still feels a bit premature to run off -- "
"Again with the timing!" Xelloss complained, bitterly angry. "How many times do I have to ask you to go wipe Sairaag off the map, Lina? Isn't it time yet? Honestly, I'm beginning to wonder if this plan was worth all the delicate craftsmanship I put into it. I had set things up so well for both of you Lina-chans. I guess I underestimated the Demiurge of Science when I began all this, however... I had believed you'd be the most effective solution, Lina. Perhaps I my belief was ill-placed."
"Give me a break, Xel, I'm doing the best I......"
Something clicked into place in her mind. Lina Inverse went from protesting to open staring over the span of a few seconds... unsettling even the old Mazoku, and her companions, with the silence.
"Something amiss?" Xelloss asked, goading her on.
"...what do you mean, 'You underestimated the Demiurge of Science when you began all this'?" Lina asked. "Xelloss... we didn't KNOW there was any such thing as a Demiurge of Science until just a few days ago."
"A.. slip of the tongue, is all," Xelloss hastily covered. "You know what I meant, ladies... ah..."
Lina Gabriev frowned. "Xelloss, you don't slip the tongue. I should know, all those times you smooched me just to piss me off. I'd like to know what you meant as well... since you said BOTH Linas."
"Precisely. No, Xelloss, I do NOT know what you meant," Lina Inverse said, anger rising like a rock dropped in reverse gravity, as she stomped over to confront him. "Because if you meant what I think you meant, do you know what I think you meant you meant to say?"
"Liina.. you're confusing your old friend Xelloss," Xelloss laughed nervously, raising his hands in protest -- shortly before he was raised up against the wall by invisible forces, pressed hard enough to squish a watermelon.
Lina's eyes flared red with anger, her power getting a wee bit out of control. "It MEANTS that you were holding out on us all along, you little pile of cow turds!! You've gotten me AND Lina Gabriev over there caught up in something, you knew exactly what we were facing, and you didn't bother to tell us. What're you playing at? What's your crazy secret little plan this time, Xelloss?!"
"Hey, hey, you're wrinkling the cloak -- "
She snapped her fingers, cutting the hold, and letting Xelloss drop the floor. Counting from five to one backwards, she got her bearings, and then tried this from a different direction.
"Xel? You know me, right? You know that when I've got enemies all around me, there's no hope in sight, and I can't even turn to my friends for help... that I can be VERY, very dangerous to my enemies. That's what this 'timing' is I'm always telling you about, that feeling of getting shoved to the wall, and that being the moment I really shine. I said it was premature to go to Sairaag... I didn't say by how long. And unless I know you're NOT an enemy, I can't guarantee you'll be breathing in a few minute. I'd suggest you convince me, FAST, that you're actually on our side."
Xelloss sighed, dusting off his cloak. He really did loathe being shown up like that, but wasn't stupid enough to let it trigger some reaction of bravado. "You're always such a stubborn one, Lina Inverse... but that's what I like about you. Very well. I suppose it can't hurt, not this late in the game, to discover what path you've TRULY walked on. Mistress Gabriev, you'll want to join us... but this is not for the child. Come with me."
"What?" Penny asked. "But -- "
Her mother spoke. "Penny, stay put. We'll be back soon."
"But MOOOOM -- "
"Stay," she reiterated. "Listen... we'll come up with a plan to save both your father and Zoamel. But personally, I'm not doing a single thing until I find out exactly what I've gotten involved in. So, it can wait. For now, stay here. I'll join you soon, I promise."
The three walked off, down a passageway in the underground complex. All that Penny could think of, however, were how those were the exact same words Zoamel said to her. The last words he said to her.
She glanced over at the debris that had come with them... including the empty Eradicator disk that had come through with them. It was a good target for her pent up frustration. She swung her leg back, and with an angry scream, gave it a kick that would have pegged it perfectly through the goalposts of reality.
It shot at a wall, straight and true... before warping its flight path, curving away from it, and coming to a rest on the floor off to her left.
Penny Gabriev raised an eyebrow. Gears started to turn in her mind, her analytical heroine smarts tagging what she just saw as 'Very Interesting Indeed'...
The sense of deja vu was overwhelming. Whereas before they were in a shabby, damp-smelling brown catacomb, now they were in a shabby, scorched- smelling red catacomb. Xelloss led them past rows and rows of doors, the silence in the hallway deafening as they progressed -- he clearly knew where he was going.
"Xelloss? Where the hell are we, exactly?" Lina Inverse asked. "In all the craziness, I totally forgot to ask."
"Hell, exactly," Xelloss said, allowing a little smirk despite the precarious nature of his situation. "We're in Hell. Hellmaster Phibrizo's old stomping grounds. ...it's a bit empty, since he got killed by you so long ago. Empty cells, no mortal souls to torture... the Mazoku are here, of course, but hiding. Avoiding Sairaag. It's a bit like an evacuation shelter now."
Lina Gabriev muttered darkly, rubbing at her wrists; although her counterpart had easily snapped the magic sealer bangle that was locked there in half, the cold numbness wasn't going away fast enough for her tastes. "Terrific. I could be at home reading the newspaper right now if I hadn't got caught up in this..."
"Which is exactly where you SHOULD be," Xelloss noted. "I hadn't anticipated you would become involved in this fight at this stage in the game, my fair lady Gabriev. Many apologies."
"Now, my second big question," Lina Inverse forewarned. "Where exactly are you taking us, Xelloss? Why can't you just tell us what you've been doing?"
"I think it would be better to show you," Xelloss said, trying to pick a door from the near endless series of identical steel portals. He closed his eyes, trying to remember back that far.. and selected the right one. He grasped the door handle tightly. "It would take far too long to explain without visual aids. Now, Lina, give me a hand at getting this thing open; it's SO taxing on the muscles... the walls are quite special, you see, to help seal the doors and keep people IN. But I think you'll agree it's worth the effort. A picture is worth a thousand words... and mature-yet-still- quite-adorable Lina Gabriev here may catch on better this way. After all, this is a very personal subject for her..."
"Whatever," Lina Inverse agreed, gripping the handle. "Here goes nothing..."
"What?" Lina Gabriev asked, as the two swung the metal door open wide...
And her eyes widened hard, stretching the muscles of her face, as she stared inside the prison cell, mind locking in absolute horror from her worst nightmare...
Discerning between different shades of red was not an easy task in the poor lighting of Hell, but once she had some actual evidence, it became obvious to Penny. The walls of this place were a slightly lighter red than the floor. They were different kinds of stone -- and the stone in the walls was repelling the Eradicator disks. Every time she threw one at the wall, no matter how hard the throw, it'd skew off and land on the floor without touching the wall.
Doubly weird, whenever she got close to the wall to pick up the stray disk, her backpack would get pulled to the wall, and she'd have to tug quite hard to yank it free.
At first, she thought this might be some strange kind of magic. But she didn't know anything about magic, and that solution didn't satisfy her. She tried emptying her backpack, dumping her hair brushes, maps, knick-knacks bought at various souvenir shops and other odds and ends (including a very irate Table-chan, which disliked backpack travel), and testing each item in turn.
It was the metal objects that were sticking to the walls.
Magnetism!
She'd studied the phenomenon extensively in class; it was a very marketable science, after all, what with the compass and navigation industry. Her mother liked marketable skills. The walls here were magnetic, and they attracted metal, but repelled the disks. Something inside the disk (which was clearly a superhard ceramic, rather than a metal) was also magnetic, but by the same polar direction -- so they repelled each other.
Well, that was nice. Now what could she DO with this? She pondered the question, but didn't have to ponder for very long. Approaching a stalagmite near a cavern wall, she pulled, trying to break off a chunk of the rock... but even though she was stronger than the average grrl, it wasn't happening. She needed assistance. And assistant, perhaps.
"Table-chan?" Penny asked, kneeling down to address the sulky table. "I need your help..."
Her beloved Table-chan skittered back a few steps. Penny sighed, and scooped it up into a hug.
"I know, I know... I haven't had a chance to play with you lately," she said, apologetic. "It's.. it's been hard for me, lately. And now with Zoamel gone, I just... .. nevermind. Table-chan, I need your help. Only you can help me help Lina help me save Zoamel, or something. You're a very good little table, yes you are, yes you are! And I just KNOW you'll be an invaluable companion!"
The Table perked up a bit, waggling its 'front' legs a bit playfully. It tried to look strong and big, stretching out a bit, as Penny set him down.
She pointed dramatically to the stalagmite. "Okay! Table-chan, ikuze! Tackle attack now!"
With a skittering sound of rock on rock, the Wandering Monster Table ramped up to impossible speeds, before kicking itself into the air, hurling flat side first -- and smacking into the rock formation. The impact shattered the rock, knocking it into many pieces.
"Victory!" Penny cheered, posing.
Elsewhere, Lina Gabriev was feeling anything but victorious. She felt very small. Small, cold, and afraid...
It was just a table. A simple stone table, with straps suitable for locking down a human-sized subject's wrists, ankles, and neck. She hadn't seen it before in her life, but the sight of it paralyzed her with fear, eyes unable to tear away from it...
"As you see, this is one of the many interrogation rooms in Hell," Xelloss explained to Lina Inverse, ignoring the older Gabriev's plight. "Mortals whose souls the Mazoku claim, or living prisoners who have information we need were usually tortured here by the Mazoku Lords. Hell was Phibrizo's home, but all the lords had free run of the facilities."
"How nice," Lina Inverse said dryly.
"But this specific cell was the one I brought Lina Inverse to, one night, twenty years ago," Xelloss said.. with a slight twist of a smile. "That's why you remember it, isn't it, Missus Gabriev? You were here, once, even if you've completely blocked out the memory of it."
Lina Gabriev shakily got to her feet, trying to control her reaction. She looked away from the table -- that helped, as she glared at the Mazoku, hatred deep-set in her eyes. "What did.. what did you DO to me!?"
"Excuse me, but that's a very nasty tone to take with the man who's helped save the world," Xelloss said. "It's quite simple. Beastmaster Zelas-Metallum decided that you were too dangerous to leave alive. Until then, you had been a very interesting toy, and a good pawn in the Mazoku power play. But after the incident with Phibrizo, and Filia's quest in the new world, she started having second thoughts. So, one night, she told me to sneak into your inn room where you and Gourry were staying on yet another in a long string of adventures, and kill you. No challenges, no speeches, just a simple murder."
"And obviously, you didn't do that," Lina Inverse said, wanting to get on with this.
"Of course not!" Xelloss said, appalled. "Why, Lina, you're FAR too wonderful a person to allow to go in such an unexciting way. And besides... I had begun to feel the flow of things change, long before then. There was a reconstruction movement in Sairaag, which was progressing far faster than humanity had ever managed before. Being thousands of years old, I could see the pattern shift easier than most. I tried to bring it to my mistress's attention, but she could have cared less... so I did the research myself. A pet project. That's when I discovered the true power behind Sairaag, and learned of the Demiurges, and theorized their link to Shaburanigdo and the other gods..."
"So you DID know," Lina Inverse said. "You knew all along what was going on. You knew TWENTY YEARS AGO what was going on."
"You are correct, ma'am!" Xelloss said proudly. "And I knew that the Mazoku were FAR too linear in their thinking to ever stand up to a threat like this. The Demiurge of Science had just would eventually grow too powerful for us to handle. No, a threat like that... there was only one force on this world which I felt had the potential to solve our little problem. And that was you, Lina Inverse -- "
A fist smashed across his jaw, knocking the Mazoku down. Lina Gabriev stood over him, quivering with rage, barely restrained from doing worse than a single haymaker.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!" she screamed. "Twenty years ago, my mind broke! I went catatonic, and I lost everything... I..."
"...you were taken here," Xelloss quickly said, rubbing his jaw. "I convinced Zelas-Metallum that we didn't HAVE to kill you... we simply had to remove your will to fight. Your sense of adventure, of ambition to get involved in things risky to the Mazoku. So, I took you here, and in the span of two simple hours, carved a part of your self away from you."
Lina Gabriev paled. "You... you did what?!"
"That's where I come from," Lina Inverse said, in a flash of realization. "Xelloss took your legendary aspects away from you, so you wouldn't save the world anymore. And when that happened, the world reacted..."
"...and lo, a new Demiurge was born!" Xelloss said, with a flourish, as he levitated back to his feet. "One who would naturally slide right into a quest to save the world from the Demiurge of Science. A calculated risk, but I had done my research. Set a Demiurge to catch a Demiurge, yes? Lina Inverse, the human Lina Inverse, settled down with Gourry, no longer seeking a life on the road. Soon after, the LEGEND of Lina Inverse filtered through the collective conscious of humanity... with a little publicity campaign by yours truly, of course, to increase awareness of her. Twenty years later... here you are. The purified, distilled savior of the world. And here YOU are, the meat that was left behind in the process."
Lina Gabriev physically flinched.
"And that, friends, is my total secret plan," Xelloss finished. "I've been using you all along, I'm afraid, to destroy Sairaag for the Mazoku cause. Unfortunately, YOU are not proving to be a very cooperating god, Lina Inverse. Every time I asked you to go, you kept saying it wasn't time. Fooey on that. Do you want to save the world or not? It is your destiny. So what if it's a cause sponsored by the Mazoku? The humans want to live just as much as we do, and I guarantee you a future controlled by Science will NOT be a fun place to live for anyone."
Lina Inverse stood still as a calm lake. Her hair shadowed her eyes, as this realization filtered through her... and her own unconscious mind confirmed it. It was PURPOSE, a rush of feeling after her recently completed quest had left her. This was her destiny. The Mazoku was right...
"I am rather sorry to get you involved in this, Human-Lina," Xelloss said. "I had hoped I had bought you a little peace of mind and quiet life away from the Mazoku's problems. I had the best of intentions, you realize, simply the BEST of intent -- "
"You took me away from me," Lina Gabriev said, voice soft but strong enough to cut Xelloss off instantly. "I cried for days. I didn't understand what had happened, and after that... I lost my will to live. Only because Gourry was there did I ever come out of that haze... only because he called me back. His love saved me. We got married, I put my life back together, we had our daughter, and I've recovered from this violation. But YOU... you're the one who did this. You raped my mind. I'm never... ever... going to forgive you, Xelloss."
"I never said I was a good man," Xelloss said quietly, feeling slightly ashamed. "I simply do what needs to be done."
"But you're wrong about one thing," Lina Gabriev said, reaching out to raise Xelloss's chin, to make him face her. "You haven't stripped all my adventurous side out. It's had time to grow back... and now, I'm up against a wall, aren't I? My husband is gone. My daughter is in tears over her loss. I'm not going back to my shop, I'm not going to hole up. I'm proud of what I've become -- I'm a damn good businesswoman, and I've carved myself a NEW niche in this world after you changed me, but nothing's keeping me from staying in that niche. This is what makes me dangerous, when I'm forced to act, even if every instinct is telling me to go home and wait it out. But I wouldn't go back, not now. I won't let this slide. I'm going to Sairaag, and I'm going to get my family back together."
"...that's very admirable, Lina," Xelloss admitted. "And I'm glad to hear you haven't totally lost your fire. But you don't understand. No single mortal, not even the great Lina Inverse, is capable of pulling down the god of technology. It's grown too strong, too out of control. That's why I had to nurture the world's belief in Lina Inverse, the anti-hero, the legend, the myth. You alone, a simple human, can't accomplish that task -- "
"With me, she can."
Both turned to face Lina Inverse, whose head had started to rise from her pause of thought. There was something around her... not a glow, nothing that could be seen. But something FELT larger than life about her, more glorious than any king, more righteous than any holy crusader. She was a champion, a victor, ready to mount her final attack. A true god, standing before them, ready to declare her will be done.
"I can't agree with your methods, Xelloss, but you're right," Lina Inverse said, in a voice more real than the rocks around them. "Maybe as a human, I could have been in over my head. But I'm not human now. I'm a force of nature. I am the world's immune system. I carve away the sickness that plagues humanity... I never set out to do that, I'm never that selfless, but it always seems to happen anyway. I'm everything Lina Inverse used to be, carrying on past death, past humanity's possibility. Where monsters rampage, I'm there to take them down. Where treasure glitters, I'm there to claim it. Where an enemy rises to face me, victory will be mine! I am LINA INVERSE. It's high time I quit whining and accepted what I am; a god, a Demiurge, a savior. The time is now. My back's to the wall, and I'm going to go to Sairaag, and put an end to this once and for all."
Relief washed over Xelloss like a tidal wave. "Oh, thank Lina! You have no idea how long I've waited for this moment. Three cheers for Lina Inverse! Hip hip -- "
"And if you whip out the pom-poms and start cheering again," Lina warned, "I'm gonna stuff a Laguna Blade up your ass. For land's sakes, Xel, SHAVE YOUR LEGS if you ever want to wear a skirt again."
"Yes m'm," Xelloss said meekly.
"........what?" Lina Gabriev asked, having lost complete track of this conversation moments ago.
"Trust me, other me. You really, really don't want to know," Lina Inverse warned.
Both Lina walked into the chamber they had originally entered, discussing strategy about how best to make the assault, when an Eradicator disk flew just past their noses.
"GAAH!" Lina Inverse gagged, quickly stepping away. "PENNY! Watch it with that thing, it's not a toy!!"
"Aa! Gomen, Lina-san!" Penny Gabriev apologized, quickly running over to reclaim the disk. "But I've made the most astounding discovery! Lina, the rocks here can REPEL the Eradicators!"
"Eh?" Lina Gabriev asked, not getting it. "What, are they some funny kind of magic rocks?"
"No, the disk would gobble up any magic," Penny said, smiling as she held the disk up. "It's basic universal physics of magnetism. Scientific principles and sound thinking in action to defeat the enemy's one upper hand they have on you! Give me a good forge, and I bet I could fashion the PERFECT anti-Eradicator set of armor for you, Lina!"
"See?" Lina Inverse said, with a smirk. "The time is right. Everything's clicking into place. Penny, something tells me we can find enough heat in this place to melt rocks. Xelloss, get on it."
"Aye aye, sir!" Xelloss saluted.
"This is gonna be a cakewalk," Lina decided. "All we had to do was wait for the right moment, and the universe sort of works itself out. Never fails. I can't see us losing to Science now!"
"Except that nobody's completely guaranteed to survive the encounter except you," Lina Gabriev warned. "Not to mention that saviors sometimes make the best martyrs."
"....right. Well. We'll burn that bridge when we come to it."
He was wanted in three countries for petty theft. He was wanted in five for armed robbery and assault. He was even wanted for jaywalking in Justivalero. But never before had Roy Balderdash been wanted for death, much less caught, convicted, and sentenced in the span of a single hour.
This was an experience altogether new to him, and he wasn't enjoying it very much. He paced back and froth in the tiny metal cell, getting a bit tired of the same walls, the same caged bars. He'd been in jail before, of course, but this was different.
To think, not long ago he was sitting in a bar in the classier district of Sairaag, drowning his woes in several pitchers of beer. Being beaten by the same soldiers he was commanding not a few days ago and dragged to see a court magistrate sobered him up very fast. Nobody told him what he'd done wrong, but he was told one thing -- his execution was ordered by Elizabeth Balderdash.
There was a long waiting list to get a nice public execution, so he'd had some time to ponder where he went wrong. It felt clear as day, now. He was too weak. Too easy to lead, despite being a supposed leader of men. He let his bandit's instincts to antagonize Lina Inverse overtake him. He let his sister walk all over him. He couldn't stop Zelgadis from nearly destroying Sailoon. His entire life fit the same pattern.
What actual control, what actual successes had he had in life? He had a measly bandit tribe miles and miles away. Whee. He was a particularly good bandit, but it wasn't hard to be a good bandit -- you just had to know what part of the head was easiest to hit, how to count money, and how to run fast. This entire farce in Sairaag had clearly proven he had almost no other skills, no other redeeming qualities, and to top it ALL off, he'd be killed right when he realized he needed a change in life.
It all felt vaguely ironic, but not being a literary man he wasn't fully sure exactly what sort of irony was ruling his life.
A clinking of keys in a lock and guards voices signaled the arrival of a visitor. Probably someone to drag him away to be killed. Roy flexed his fingers, ready to attack on sight. He might not have many useful talents, but he could still cripple a man in less time than it takes to say 'I can still cripple a man in less time than it takes to cripple a man'...
Or a woman, as the case may be. He relaxed himself. No. He wasn't going to stoop to her level.
"Sis," he acknowledged, in the same voice one would say 'You evil little bitch'.
"This had to be done," she quickly said. She was more nervous than usual, her cold exterior having melted somewhat. "There was no other choice, Roy. There are forces at work here you can't possibly imagine, and even if I don't fully comprehend yet the reasons, your death is -- "
"Stow it, okay?" Roy politely requested. "Whatever crackpot logic got me in here, I don't want to hear it. I could really give a rat's ass what you think. I don't know what the hell's gotten into you, but I don't like it."
"Nothing has 'Gotten into me'," Elizabeth said, voice returning to her normal cold monotone. "You'll never understand. I was wrong to think you could ever have a part in the new world order -- "
"More rhetoric. I'll simplify it for you; your new world order is stupid. It's stock evil overlord dictatorship in a candy shell," Roy bit off, feeling a particular need to prove his wit, his emotion, his sense of being ALIVE to the unemotional woman. "More to order, YOU are stupid. Even for a Balderdash you're acting particularly stupid, and knowing our family, that's saying a lot. We're easily led, even when we think we're in total control -- it's the family curse. I'll even admit, I've been pretty stupid lately, but you take the stupid cake. If they had a stupid school for stupidity you'd be at the top of the stupid list and that's the stupidest insult I could come up with, that's how stupid I feel right now. So don't sit there whining to me about manifest destiny and all that crap. Go back to your chimera and your mechanical city and your legions and get out of my face. You're no sister of mine anymore."
Elizabeth left. What more could be said? Roy ignored her exit, pacing. His mind was too flooded with what ifs to pay attention to the woman he'd just disowned.
If he was on the other side of those bars, he'd break the guard's neck, he'd get the hell out of here. He wouldn't meekly be led around with a ring in his nose, not like he'd been doing lately.
He'd assemble the best damn bandit gang Sairaag had ever seen, and he'd rather specifically lead them to crush his sister's cute little empire. The things he'd seen, the atrocities he'd helped commit, that sort of thing wasn't going to go on. That's what he'd do, if he wasn't going to die. He was a bandit, a thug, a no-goodnik, and a mercenary, but he wasn't TOTALLY evil and if he had his druthers, he'd do something about this...
Which is exactly why he was being put to death, but he didn't know that.
The Sairaag medical staff had done a very good job patching up Gourry's gunshot wound, applying the finest healing agents and bandages they had developed. That way, he would be perfectly healthy in time to be tortured.
Zelgadis stood by and watched as the interrogators worked him over, mostly disinterested in the actual action. He was too busy feeling perturbed and angry. When Elizabeth returned from her 'little errand' she said she had to do, Zel gave her a piece of his mind.
"This is wrong," he declared. "What you are doing here is wrong, and I cannot let you continue."
"Zelgadis, please, I have had a very bad day," Elizabeth protested, rubbing her forehead. "I do not need further problems. Just summarize your concerns for me instead of making me prompt you. Is it your friend? You disagree with us hurting someone you care about?"
"No, not really," Zelgadis said. "What is wrong is that torturing him will only anger Lina Inverse and her companions further, and encourage them to retaliate. This is tactically dangerous."
"Zel, we've been over this. If we can break Gourry's will, or at least his body, the act will frighten those women into agreeing to turn away from this quest," Elizabeth said. "The core computer has run risk calculations and determined this to be the best course of action. At worst, we waste some time and effort prolonging his suffering. What's the harm?"
"You and your computer do not know Lina like I do," Zelgadis warned. "You are thinking too narrowly. This will backfire on you. You're growing increasingly erratic, Elizabeth. Between the situation with your brother, and this, you're losing control of your empire. Is there something wrong...?"
"NO. No, nothing is wrong," Elizabeth stated. "Oversee operations here. I'm heading to the Core room... I have.. calculations to do. I'll be fine later tonight, it's simply the stress. We shall have dinner at 1900 hours?"
"Agreed," Zelgadis said, as his 'lover' walked off before he could comfort her. He frowned. Of course she would return to the Core room. Every time she came back from there, she would be nearly dreamy -- as dreamy as her expressionless modus would allow for.
Perhaps she really did believe him to be stupid enough not to know why.
Roy Balderdash's black hood was removed, when he finally had arrived at the place where he was to die.
Much to his disappointment, it was just another room in the endless maze of rooms that was the Sairaag mechanical royal palace, which happened to have about five guys armed with rifles ready to shoot him in the head. Damn. He was hoping to at least get some fresh air in a nice public execution.
A court official flipped through a staple-bound series of duplicated documents. "Roy Balderdash, it is by the legal order of the High Court of Sairaag and the direct orders of Director of Research and Design Elizabeth Balderdash that you on this day be put to death by -- "
"Skip the formalities, okay?" Roy asked, leaning against the wall. "I know who it's ordered by, and I'm sure you boys want to be off and doing other things. I won't take up any more of your time."
"Ah... do you have any last words?" the official asked, setting the document aside.
"Only that I realize I've been a moron, and it's too late to do anything about it," Roy summarized. "Anytime you're ready, guys."
So, that was that. It would have been nice to die in battle, but --
But he'd get his chance, as instead of gunshots, he heard an explosion, and THEN gunshots. The impact was enough to knock him silly, disorienting him... the far wall had been blown open, and in the dusty haze, he could make out people fighting, swords clashing, guns going off...
This is new, his dazed mind thought. A hand grappled with his, pulling him to his feet, and he felt himself being patted down for injuries.
"Are you hurt?" the young man asked.
"I'm not dead, am I?" Roy asked.
"No, Mr. Balderdash. Praise Sylpheel that we got here in time," the boy said. He turned to face the battle, keeping his sword ready. "Stay behind me, we've got to get out of here before the security backup gets here."
Not one to reject a strange wave that was pulling him away from certain doom, Roy went with it. He allowed himself to be led by the nose again.
But just for now, he decided. He'd be stupid to not to recognize a second chance when it miraculously happened.
Elsewhere, a small but decidedly vicious little army was also planning to move against Sairaag.
Lina Inverse hiked up her belt. The rock welded to her buckle was heavy, but not so heavy as to have her pants drop in public, thankfully. She adjusted her bracelets, as well as the collar, and other spots where they're strapped/tied/locked small pieces of the rock to her.
She wasn't stupid enough to TEST the rig to see if it'd really repel an Eradicator, though, and decided just to go on faith.
"Okay, here's the plan," Lina Gabriev explained. "We'll pop back to Zeifelia first, and I'll grab as much deadly magical weaponry as I can force Xelloss to carry from my shop."
"Ohhh, my back," Xelloss groaned, feeling the pain well in advance.
"After that, it's on to Sairaag, using my OTHER teleportation staff. And then we kick a large amount of ass. Penny, you're staying at home."
Penny nodded. Then realized exactly what she was nodding about. "What?! Mother, you can't be serious! Zoamel -- "
"Don't argue, Penny," Lina Gabriev commanded, in motherly authoritarian tones. "You're not ready for a knock down drag out high powered battle like this. I'm not even sure if I'M ready, I'm so rusty from not using my magic... but you don't have magic, or even a weapon!"
... and Penny simply smiled.
"Actually, mother, I've been thinking about that," she said. "Zoamel told me I was one of his believers. If I have faith that I can save him, that I can achieve his dream of vengeance on Sairaag... then maybe this will work."
She stripped the white cloth binding from her shoulder wound, where the Sairaag sentry had shot her earlier in the day. Despite the bleeding, it had remained snowy white and pure, as it was not simple cloth... wadding the bandage up in her hands, she held it close to her heart, as she spoke.
"This is a part of the monstrous god Zoamel Gustav," she said, voice reverent, heartfelt. "A fragment of the god, even if the rest of him isn't here with us, now. I call in prayer upon his spirit of wrath, and his spirit of compassion, to be my weapon in his glorious crusade... I call upon my love of Zoamel Gustav!"
Her mother simply rolled her eyes. "Penny, that's cute and all, but -- "
The chamber rocked with a silent explosion, and a nonexistent flash of light. A memory of the light echoed in their minds, if not in their eyes, as Penny released the cloth... it floated before her, twisting and warping, like a living thing (which it was). In a snapping grab, she squeezed the ball of light, and willed it into being...
The light extended quickly, forming an immediately recognizable shape. Instead of a cloth, now it was a naginata, a striking staff with a blade on the end... a blade sharp enough to cut air. The whole weapon, blade, staff and all, was hewn from a pure white material. It was as if it was carved from a single piece of ivory, a soft-looking material that was defiantly hard, beyond what it should be...
And, carved into the side of the blade in fine lettering, an inscription read:
ANOTHER CUSTOMME BLADE OF FYNE P.G. MARKSEPERSONSHIPPE!! #2 IN A
SERIESE!!!
(IF FOUNDE RETURN TO:
PENNY GABRIEV
413 SORCERY BVD
ZENA, ZEFEILA 20878)
Penny twirled her weapon once or twice, before slipping it into a loop in her backpack for safekeeping. She allowed herself a little 'I told you so' look to her companions.
"....nice trick," Lina Inverse admitted.
"Gosh, thanks, Lina!"
"Now, do you have ANY idea how you're going to smuggle that huge thing into Sairaag when we invade?"
"Eh, I'll burn that bridge when I come to it," Penny said, with a dismissive wave.
"Spoken like a true Inverse," Lina said with pride, smiling at her apprentice.