Episode Two: Secrets of Twilight. Memories of Past Mazoku.

Lina rubbed at the side of her face, staring down the hillside at the unending field that unfurled majestically below them. The meadow held a kind of peaceful serenity to it; the way the breeze blew over the tops of the blades of grass made a soothing song of melodic harmony with one's spirit. It held you in sway, while in the faint distance, if you looked ever so carefully, you could see the faint outline of the city of Seiruun... proclaiming its holiness to be within only a day or two's traveling through this luscious field of happiness.

"God damn, that's a long way to walk."

"Ano, I kind of think it'll be fun," Gourry commented. "Look at how pretty everything is."

"I'm looking," Lina replied rakishly. "And I'm not seeing anything that looks even remotely like a path, let alone a road. Why the hell are we being forced to trudge this entire way by foot?"

Gourry pointed to Raleic, blissfully ignorant of the terrible fate he may have just passed on to the not so humble postal worker.

"Oh yeah," Lina grumbled. "The idiot who left her carriage behind."

"You are the one that destroyed that village," Raleic reminded. "We didn't have time to go back and catch the driver or the mob would have been all over us."

"Mmf." Lina didn't feel the need to reply any further than that, and gestured outward across the plains. "All I know is, if I have to walk through that thigh high grass for two days, Amelia had better have a damn good reason for summoning us."

"It wouldn't be thigh high if you weren't so short," Gourry said, and was saved an inevitable death by strangling when Raleic haumphed loudly.

"You are not one to question the royal summons on Seiruun, you flat-chested little brat."

Time slowed. Lina's head swiveled around.

"Ex...cuse me?"

Raleic shrugged and cast a quick Ray Wing on herself. "I'll scout ahead and make sure there's nothing you three won't be able to handle."

"Like HELL you're leaving!" Lina was ready for blood.

Gourry managed to grab his partner by the wrist and hold her back as Raleic flew off in a smug flapping of her cloak. "Oi, Lina! Calm down!"

A fist found its way to Gourry's jaw, knocking him a few feet backwards in an awkward somersault.

"Well, it is her time of the month," Halgon supplied in a failed attempt to console the fallen swordsman (but a very successful attempt at getting his own jaw smashed). His body sunk to the ground beside the swordsman's.

"Idiot men," Lina sniffed, and started her way down the hillside.

Raleic zipped lackadaisically over the countryside, cloak blowing out behind her dramatically, which felt right at home to her. Drama was her forte. Raleic Deontri was all about drama.

An undisclosed distance up ahead there was a building poking out from behind a small hill. Assuming there was a small town or burg in that direction, she made straight for it - there was certainly no reason to go back and tell that pissy Lina about it until she'd checked it out. There could easily be marauding bugmen in that town, and where would those other three be if she didn't pop in and clean them out first?

It was with these self delusional thoughts that Raleic landed on top of the little hill and looked down to see that same building... and to see that it was completely alone save for a bunching of comically wide-eyed sheep along its plains. Raleic breathed a sigh of disappointment.

She was about to take back to the air when the idea that these might be young children changed into sheep by an evil witch hit her, and she strode purposefully down the hill.

The sheep looked up with grass filled mouths at that the woman with the general look all woolly creatures have when looking at a person; that is, one of mild disinterest tinged with a fear she might suddenly break stride and run at them with a giant pair of sheers. The worst she ended up doing, thankfully, is rapping her knuckles against the door at the base of the hill. The sheep went back to their grazing with eased hearts.

The door to the little house creaked open on hinges that had never known the great suppressant that is grease, and a small man with smooth white hair peered out at her. When he made no attempt to initiate conversation, Raleic began for him.

"What have you done with these children, witch?"

The old man blinked at her. "Come again?"

"Your innocence will not save you from the justice of Raleic Deontri! Now tell me the truth, you most vile of evil men!"

"Ano." The old man took his glasses off, and went over them with the hem of his shirt. "I'm sorry, I guess I've been losing my hearing in my old age; it sounded like you called me a witch." He popped his glasses back on his head, smiled a charming smile, and offered a wizened old hand for her to shake. "My name is Albreus."

Raleic blinked down at it, then resumed her suspiciousness. "So what are you doing out here all by yourself, Ojiisan?"

"I'm a shepherd, of course. Oh, but where are my manners? Come in, sit down! I can't believe I'm been letting you stand out there all by yourself."

Again, Raleic blinked. This guy was damn good at denying his evil deeds. "Now look here! You can't buy the Mistress Deontri with offers of sitting in a worn out little hovel..."

"Oh, yes, and I have some soup on its way. Do come try some, my wife makes the absolute best in the country."

She took a minute, watching his retreating form, and tried to process whether or not he was a child eating witch or a nice little old shepherd with a wife who was quite good with the cookware.

Well, she figured, there's no point in being heroic on an empty stomach. She went inside, not knowing that as she did so, a figure of dark malice and intent was watching her do so through slit eyes and a hooded grin.

Zelgadiss sipped his tea. He was currently in the company of Galef Kainzard and Selena Dyne, both busy telling him things he wasn't really interested in hearing.

"So Zachard-san began giving Father and I swordsmanship lessons," the pretty blue haired one was explaining. "He's very good, actually. I've picked up quite a few tricks."

Galef nodded, his arms folded. "Of course he's good. Xain only allows the best of the best to join."

Zelgadiss did not smirk. Galef had been making it a point lately to show how highly he evaluated his organization, kind of a stubborn way of saying how much Zel had hurt his feelings with his negative description of it the day before.

"Of course," Selena agreed quickly, placing a hand on her other mentor's arm. She then refocused her attention on Zel. "So anyway, after I started showing promise with the sword, Galef-san here also began teaching me in the ways of magic. He's very good, too."

"Hai. I am, after all, the great Galef Kainzard!"

"Hai. I'd say he's only a few steps down from Lina-san."

"Sorcery takes more than power," Zel finally said. "It takes intelligence."

Galef got to his feet, golden tooth sparkling in an evillish sorta way as he glared at the cool one sitting across from him. "What are you saying, eh?"

"Nothing." Zel sipped his tea.

Galef snorted and sat, looking reproachful and dignified.

Selena shook her head. "And you, Zelgadiss-san? You haven't told us anything about your..." A pause, one he was very used to. "...yourself."

"You mean, why I look this way?" He narrowed his eyes.

"Ah, no, I didn't mean that exactly," Selena interjected, raising her hands.

He responded sourly, "You must really respect Lina to so instantly trust a man with stone skin."

"We do," Selena said, thinking it was the right thing to say. Obviously it wasn't, and she tried to make up for it as quickly as possible. "No, I mean, not like that. You're very handsome as it is, Zelgadiss-san, but, ano... it's just that, you have to admit, it's not everyday we see - "

"I'm a chimera," he answered, looking away. He wouldn't admit it to her, and denied it to himself, but he felt that getting the conversation away from her appraisal was a very good idea.

"A, a chimera?" Galef repeated, and blinked. "Like the ones made in dark sorcery labs?"

"Sort of," Zel allowed. "I was changed into one by Akahoushi Rezo. You've probably heard of him."

"Rezo?!" Selena and Galef cried at once.

"The Great Sage?" Selena asked, clasping her hands together.

"The wandering white mage?" Galef inquired himself, his face brightly interested.

"The murderous, half-mad fool who resurrected Shabranigdo," Zel corrected, and sipped his tea.

The two took this in without much grace.

"N... nani...?"

"Nevermind," Zelgadiss shrugged. "Is your father going to back soon?"

"I don't know," Selena answered. "He's out trying to get those documents for you."

Zel slumped slightly into his chair, closing his eyes and yawning. He shook his head, and took yet another sip of tea.

"Zelgadiss-san, are you tired?" Selena asked, getting up quickly, as if she could grab ahold of Tired and rip it away from him.

"No," Zel said.

"Obviously you are," Selena said sternly, and walked over to him. "You should go to bed."

Galef, not knowing if he saw where this was going or not, but thinking he might as well be safe, got up and cleared his throat. "I'm gonna go work in the fields some more. Lessons are in early afternoon."

"Hai, sensei," Selena smiled, using the word in a humoring kind of way. It coaxed a smile from the robed one, and he strode out the door of the small mayor's abode.

"Now," she said, turning back to her burden. "It's time to get you to sleep."

"I'm not tired," Zel repeated, yawning.

"Yes, you are," Selena sighed. Seeing that he wasn't about to budge, she slid into the the seat closest to him and regarded him with her pretty eyes.

Pretty. Zel was getting sick of that word.

"Why don't you tell me what it is that's making you so - "

"Nightmares," Zelgadiss said, turning his face slightly away. As soon as the word was out of his mouth and lingering in the air, he felt like a foolish child complaining to his mother.

"Oh. Bad dreams." She nodded, as if she understood.

She didn't understand, though. He doubted anyone could. Whatever these nightmares were, they were very high frequency (as someone he used to know would have said). Like someone was tapping into his subconscious and re-working all the wirings so that his dramatic acceptance of images affected him to the fullest. And then that someone turned on a never-ending image of the most terrifying, horrific moment of his entire life. Every night for the last ten days he'd shot out of bed, nearly screaming, and not falling asleep at all for the rest of the night. Each time, it was as if he was reliving that terrible event, except it was worse.

On these repeat viewings, he was unable to refuse his grandfather - but the horror of it was that he knew what was going to happen to him.

He figured that wouldn't make much sense to an average person, unless it had happened to them personally. The fear that builds up in one while he rushes toward a horrible fate, not of one's own free will, simply unable to halt... and witnessing that horrible, hellish event again. And none of it was dulled, that was the worst part. The shock, the pain, none of it. There was no getting used to it. Not inside this nightmare.

"Yeah. Bad dreams." He sipped his tea.

"Linaaaa," Gourry whined, "I'm hungry!"

"So am I," Lina grumbled, tossing him The Look over her shoulder. "So is Halgon! But we can't freaking eat until we freaking find Raleic, can we?"

"Actually, I'm not all that..." Halgon trailed off when he was made another recipient of The Look and made a practice out of trotting along submissively.

"I can't believe we can't find her," Lina growled. "It's been two hours since she took off!"

"Maybe she ran into trouble." Gourry took the moment to look intense, and Lina clubbed him over the head with a branch of bamboo.

"She's probably left us here," she continued, folding her arms. "While she travels on to Seiruun, we're left wandering about an open plain with nothing in sight."

"Oh, look. There's a building over there." Halgon prodded the air before him with a finger. "And a lot of sheep."

Lina shook her head frantically, and glanced mildly over in that direction. "Yeah, okay. Maybe we can get something to eat from them, at the least."

"It doesn't look like they have much," Gourry observed, running an eye over the state of natural decrepidity of the little house.

"They'll probably have lamb chops, at least." The thought of food did a bit to distract Lina from her menstruational pains, and she marched off toward that building with a gait that commanded a sort of Dear-L-sama-she's-crazy respect.

Halgon sighed, rifling a hand through his head of thick, plain hair. "Is she always this bad?"

Gourry took a moment to get the answer to that one. "Only when she doesn't have anything to do," he answered finally, glancing at the stockier man with his usual bright demeanor. "If it's her time of the month and we're saving the world or something, she has other people to take her anger out on."

"Oi, oi! Are you two going to keep lagging back all day?" Lina called from up ahead.

"And when there's food. Food pacifies her." Gourry smiled.

Lina herself was not unaware of how upset she seemed, and she thought this behavior awfully unusual for her, even during this time. As any woman can tell you, menstrual pains don't hurt nearly as much when one is up and walking around, and Lina had been physically involved in that exercise for a strenuous twenty-something hours. She pondered this the way all people do when they're seeing red; in that fashion that some distant part of them would like to stop being so pissy, but in no true hurry to put in the effort required. There had been no weird dreams or visions to help explain what had put her in such an odd mood, either, so she basically chalked it all up to irritation over not having her magic for the next day or so.

Halgon was still trying to get a fix on the outlandish fact that Gourry had actually used the word "pacifies," and so missed the first of the sheep and went tumbling over it, landing face-first in a pile of mud. When he pulled himself back to his feet, he was subjected to a sight that really, no one's ever quite prepared for.

A man stood before them, holding in his hand the classic staff of the shepherd profession, and his robes were the pale gray color preferred by shepherds of all regions. What made it odd, though, was the fact that this particular shepherd's hood cast his face in dark shadow, and that the eyes that peered forth from those shadows were slitted, slanted, and ominous. That, and the fact he was flying.

"N...Nani?" Lina stammered, halting abruptly in her stride as she caught sight of this apparition. Gourry reflexively put his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready in case this shepherd decided to get medieval. (An odd choice of words, but that's Gourry for you.)

Halgon gained his feet too, but his battle reflexes were slower than Gourry's, so his self-defense plan currently consisted of little more than staring like a dullard. Then he felt a sheep prod against his backside, jumped clear into the air, and drew his ax. The man in the shepherd outfit continued to watch them with those same hooded, slitted, evil eyes.

Lina became aware of the light sound of a creaking door swinging open, and glanced in the direction of the house to see Raleic and two little old folks peering out into the daylight. Before she could throw the nearest sheep at her unwilling companion, however, Lina was interrupted by the sudden squawking of the two old folks. They scurried off the house's crickety porch and flailed their arms at the Evil Shepherd Man.

"Branhof!" shouted the old man, who is, as we know, named Albreus. "I thought we told you these sheep were not for sale!"

"You have no rights here!" supplied the old woman, who is named Rosa.

"Ano?" Raleic asked, holding a bowl of soup and following them outside. "Oh, Lina. You should try this, is wonderful."

"Shut up!" Lina screamed, forgetting the flying guy and the old couple. "What's the idea, leaving us out here like this?"

"Oh, gomen," Raleic cooed, "but this soup was so good I couldn't bring myself to leave."

"Lina," Gourry said lightly, nudging her concentration away from the postal worker and towards the old couple, who obviously had more plot significance. She gave in and watched, being the smart young girl she is.

"I have more than enough rights here," the flying shepherd responded, waving an arm out towards the grassy sheep-filled meadow. "I've spoken to the owner of this countryside, in fact."

"You haven't!" Albreus shouted up. "He's not been accepting visitors for years!"

"He has granted me this deed," the one dubbed Branhof announced, producing a sheet of parchment. "I, Branhof, am entitled to this land as befits my status as the Best Shepherd In The Country!"

Lina face-faulted. "All that dramatic build up for a feud between sheep-herders?"

"I sympathize with them," Halgon murmured, and Lina did another face-fault. "How would you like it if someone came along saying he was the real owner of your sheep?"

Lina took a second to consider any circumstances during which she would somehow come into the ownership of such a useless thing, then shook her head. "That's not the point. We don't have time for this. We need to eat and get to Seiruun as soon as possible."

"You liar!" Rosa was screaming. "The owner wouldn't have betrayed us that way!"

"He merely looked after the interests of his own," Branhof admonished, raising a finger. "But I'm not a merciless man. If you can pay me the rent by this time, two days from now, I'll allow you to keep your herd."

"Bastard!" Albreus shook a fist at him, but Branhof had disappeared.

"Whoah," Lina mumbled. "That shepherd really knows his magic."

"Yeah," Gourry agreed. "Pretty impressive stuff. You don't even know teleportation, do you, Lina?"

She bapped him over the head. "That's not even in the standard categories of magic! Only a really powerful mage could use something like that." She paused to collect her thoughts, and scratched her head. "But why would anyone that good want to herd sheep?"

"Sheep herding is an ancient and time-honored occupation, young lady!" Albreus had rounded up on her, now, as he had been suddenly robbed of his original anger outlet. "We shepherds have nobly kept warm wool clothing coming and coming for you ungrateful youngsters!"

"Oya, oya, Ojiisan." Raleic put a hand to his shoulder, sipping the rest of the soup out of her bowl. "Lina didn't mean any harm. She's just naturally pissy."

"Hmph," Albreus responded.

"Do excuse my husband." Rosa hurried to polish off the bad first impressions. "He's just upset. Sheep are his life, you know."

"Ano... yeah." Lina tried her damnedest to keep from cracking a smile.

"But where are we going to find a whole month's rent in the next two days?" Albreus groaned, and suddenly a piece of parchment fluttered into his hands.

Everyone blinked a minute.

Albreus took that minute to refocus his eyes (you know how hard that is for old people), and gave a shout of something like amazement. "This, this! It's the will of L-sama!"

"What is it?" Rosa cried, coming to read over his shoulder. Gourry and Halgon joined her, while Lina was busy extracting her cape from the mouth of a farsighted lamb.

"An expedition not far from here," the old man said, smiling brightly. "They're paying more than the price of two months' rent for any volunteers!"

"But we can't go to work trying to find treasure like that," Rosa sighed, turning away with defeat.

"No, but they can." Albreus's eyes glinted dangerously on Lina Inverse.

"Oh, no, we can't," Lina said, shaking her head and turning quickly away to give the impression she was about to walk off. "We're not about to waste our time on something like that."

"Ano, but Lina," Gourry said. "They need our help."

"I agree with the flat imp," Raleic was forced to admit. "We must return to Seiruun. Princess Amelia is expecting us."

"To hell with that," Lina growled. "I'm hungry!"

"You can, of course," Albreus said, "keep the sum of money we don't need."

"And we have a carriage you could use to take yourselves to Seiruun, if you need." Rosa smiled with the gentle good grace of all sweet old ladies.

"And we'd be happy to feed you before you go," Albreus added.

Gourry scratched his cheek. "Well, Lina? That seems pretty generous to me."

"Hai, hai. We'll do it." She couldn't quite repress a smile.

"Wonderful!" the elderly couple cheered. "Wonderful!"

"Oya, oya," Lina chuckled, waving a hand. "Don't make such a fuss about it."

"See, Lina-san?" Gourry beamed. "You really can be a kind person when you want."

"And what," she returned with a scathing look, "is that supposed to mean?"

There certainly would have been more to this exchange of dialogue had the charming old folks not taken them by the hand and led them into their little house for soup and ocha.

The interior of the place had the nice, homey feel that permeate all elderly couple's houses, with nice pretty trinkets from across the countryside propped up on tables and interesting tapestries hanging on the walls. Sunshine flowed uninhibited through the drapeless window to cast a cheerful glow on all those gathered. The soup was delicious and the ocha was hot, making it one of the more enjoyable little havens any of them could remember in recent memory.

It was not, Lina reflected, an appropriate place to be relating such a dark story.

"Branhof arrived two days ago," Albreus was saying, eyeing them all over the soft steam that issued from his bowl of soup. "He came to us with a mountain of Orihalcon and tried to buy our flock."

"A mountain of Orihalcon?" Lina repeated. "For some stupid sheep?!"

"We would never let someone try to bribe us away from our duty to our woolly brethren!" Albreus asserted, pounding a fist onto the table. "That would be like selling our souls!"

"Now, dear," Rosa calmed. "You have to remember these are outsiders. Where did you say you were from?"

"Zefielia," Lina said, slurping down a spoonful of soup.

"See?" Rosa said flatly, as if that explained it all.

"Ah, you're right. I'm sorry." Albreus mopped sweat from his forehead. "It's just that we here in Shepherd Country take our shepherding very seriously."

"I can imagine."

"Regardless!" Albreus called out, to get everyone's attention back on him. "Regardless, we sent him and his evil Orihalcon away, but it looks like he's returned." He shook his head and sighed. "I don't know how he got that deed, but the owner would never sell us out like that."

"Yeah, okay. What I'm wondering about, though, is this." Lina pointed to the sheet of parchment that had fallen into Albreus's hands with such perfect timing.

"What about it? Looks pretty straightforward to me." That was Gourry, who was leaning over to get a good look at it. "'Expedition led by Varince Daryl into the Caves of Chaos for an unknown magical artifact. Three hundred rubies to all who volunteer, plus any treasure you find.' Ne?"

Lina snatched it from him and began looking it over herself. "But what the hell is this guy trying to find that he's willing to give up all others treasures for? That must be one hell of a magical artifact."

"Well, we can't turn out a chance for quicker transportation back to Seiruun," Raleic chimed in.

"And you've never been able to pass up a chance at some extra money, either," Gourry told her, in case by some lapse in memory she'd forget and thereby refuse the whole deal.

"Hai, hai," she breathed. "Well, according to the map scribbled on here, we'll have to hurry to make it before the set out."

"Arigatou, Lina Inverse," Albreus praised, clasping her hands within his own. "Arigatou gozaimasu!"

"Jeez," Lina groaned, snatching her hands back. "Can you lend us that carriage of yours to take us here?"

"Of course," Rosa said. "Hold on, it's in the shed on the side of the house."

As she waddled out, Gourry mused, "That's funny, I didn't see any shed."

"Some people keep theirs underground," Lina explained. "But only when there's something really dangerous in there. I guess these old guys are just weird."

"You're so judgmental, little girl," Raleic admonished. "I found them to be extremely sweet and inviting. In fact, I felt their company was much more rewarding than yours!"

"Well, what can you expect from someone who thinks she can take over the world from her position as royal postal worker?" Lina issued with a flat tone as she, too, went out the door, and immediately screamed at the top of her lungs.

"It seems she finally realized how powerful I am," Raleic gloated, thrusting her chest forward. "She may be slow, but at least she respects power when she figures it out."

Gourry and Halgon were already outside by this point, however, and missed that last paragraph of dialogue due to their surprise at seeing an eight foot long dragon latched onto the front of a typical horse carriage.

"Na-nani?!" Gourry shouted, drawing his sword. "What the hell is that?!"

"This is Danna-chan, our baby dragon." Rosa beamed, stroking a hand along the thing's silver neck. Danna looked over at them, bared its fangs, and gave a rough little scream.

"Wow," Raleic said, popping her head out of the door. "That's a pretty impressive horse."

"That thing looks like it wants to eat us," Halgon complained, rubbing his hands together nervously. "I don't trust things that are always hungry."

"Except you, he means," Gourry hastened to amend, and was swatted across the face with a fist for his efforts.

"I've handled dragons before," Lina said, glancing back over her shoulder. "It won't be a problem."

"But you were the one that screamed!"

"Yeah, well, I didn't expect to see something like this around a bunch of sheep!" If there was one thing Lina hated, it was having her moments of weakness vocalized.

"Very understandable," Rosa said with a wrinkly smile. "Albreus keeps telling me how odd it is to keep her around, but I just couldn't stand to abandon her..."

"That's why I love you, sweetheart," Albreus announced as he followed them outside. "Your kindness towards all those less fortunate."

"Oh, how sweet," Raleic cooed with her fists bunched under her chin and her eyes wide and filled with unshed tears of romantic envy. "This just shows that there is no statute of limitations on true love!"

"How much less fortunate could anyone get from a sheep-herder?" Lina grumbled, her reaction substantially different from her comrade-by-necessity, as she climbed up onto the carriage. "You guys ready?"

As the other three scrambled up behind her and the team of them rode off at the brutally fast speed of baby dragons on a mission, the elder man turned to his wife and clasped her hands.

"If they can pull this off," he said with his usual smile, wrinkled but charming, "we might still have some land for our children to inherit."

"L-sama bless them," Rosa replied, without knowing that she could not have cast a more tragic curse on their would-be saviors.

Danna's skills in pulling carriages were surprisingly refined. Since their cart was without a roof, of the standard farm-equipment variety, the dragon's speed allowed for a refreshing breeze to ease itself about them, and very few bumps jostled them out of their seats. Lina and her crew were indeed very relaxed... the only setback to this being that their transporter was so fast, the ride itself lasted no more than five minutes.

Due to the extreme speeds, they didn't realize they were on Varince Daryl's camp of expeditioners until they found themselves thrown out of their seats and face-first onto the ground in front of them. While adept at travel, Danna apparently needed a bit work on her stops.

"It's reasons like that they created the Dragu Slave," Lina growled as she staggered to her feet.

"I'm sure Danna's sorry," Halgon put in, and patted the dragon's muzzle. "Aren't you, Danna-chan?"

"Roaa."

Lina shrugged that off and cocked her head, looking around the campsite. There were a dozen tents pitched about, and one exceptionally large one in the center. Gourry rubbed at his chin. "Looks like we'll have a lot of partners."

"I don't think so," Lina responded lightly.

"Nani?" Raleic glared at her in irritation. "Can't you see? Those tents must fit at least thirty people."

Ignoring her with an air of solid resolve, Lina stepped further into the campsite, heading directly for the central tent. Gourry and Raleic shared a puzzled look, followed up with a shrug.

"What a stupid girl," Raleic grumbled.

"Naw, Lina's really smart." Gourry smiled. "You'd be surprised. She just hides it really well."

"She'd almost have to." Raleic tossed her hair over her shoulder and leaned against Danna's neck. Gourry, not truly able to think up an appropriate reaction to this, smiled again and started after his partner.

"Lina?" he asked in a low voice as he walked up. "What do you mean, you don't think - ?"

"Do you sense any people, Gourry?" Lina shot him a mild look. "I mean, I know you're not a sorcerer, but even a warrior like you has some talent for that kind of thing."

"Well, not really." He scratched the side of his head.

"Exactly. The only person I think we'll be finding is the one in here." She raised her hand to gesture at the tent, which opened at that exact moment.

A young man with shaggy hair stood there, handsome in a rugged outdoorsy kind of way. On seeing the little band he gave a quick squawk of surprise and stumbled back a step.

"Oya oya," he breathed, raking a hand up through his hair. "You guys scared me. I didn't think anybody'd be coming!"

"See?" Lina asked cockily, hands on her hips.

"Wow," Gourry said, and applauded.

"Alright, alright." Raleic shoved her way between the partners and gave the man a good looking over. "You're saying we're the only ones here, huh?"

"Afraid so," he said with a sigh, and extended a friendly hand. "But welcome, anyway. I'm Varince Daryl, and if you're looking to help me find the Gem of Twilight, I'd be more than happy to..."

"By ourselves?" Raleic swatted his hand away. "Don't be ridiculous."

"D-domo..." Varince struggled to arise from that one with any amount of grace. "Weren't you here to sign up?"

"Not if we're the only ones! We're not going to put ourselves through you meant for thirty men!"

"Wait a minute." Lina raised her hands to silence them, and looked at Varince. "Did you say the Gem of Twilight?"

"Uh, hai."

"Lina!" Raleic shouted. "You can't possible be thinking of - "

"We'll do it!" Lina declared, pointing skyward.

"R...really?!" Varince's eyes shone with tears of happiness.

"Are you crazy?!" Raleic asked.

"But we promised the shepherd," Gourry reminded. "We're obligated. Ne?"

"Ano... right, right. It's all about obligation." Lina nodded, but Gourry could easily see a familiar glimmer of greed in the corner of her eye. "So when do we set out?"

"Well, I was about to close everything down before I saw you guys." Varince shrugged. "I guess whenever, really. Is that yours?" He pointed at Danna.

"Um, I guess so."

"Alright then, that'll really make things easier!" Varince ran and hopped into the carriage as if it was his own. "Then let's not waste any time!"

"Right!" Lina agreed, grabbing Gourry and Halgon by the backs of their necks and hauling them up into the cart as well. "Off we go!"

"Ano," Gourry managed, "I think there's something more to this Gem of Twilight business than saving a shepherd's flock of sheep."

"Knowing her," Raleic answered, settling herself neatly into the cart just as Lina snapped Danna's reins and the dragon responded by falling into a steady dash, "you're probably right."

The Mountains of Kouwara were a desolate place bordering a day's travel northeast of Seiruun. Really no bigger than a small grouping of foothills, they clustered together in a small range about a mile or two wide in each direction, jagged little peaks thrust up at the sky. To Lina, it gave the impression of a little kid trying to defy the Lord of Nightmares because of an ice cream cone that melted prematurely.

"Kind of small for a mountain range, isn't it?" Gourry asked, watching as he drew closer over the horizon.

"Yeah. You sure that map is right, Varince?" Lina poked her new acquaintance in the side.

"Of course I am!" he said defensively, folding his map up once more and slipping it into his pocket. "I'm absolutely certain."

"Where did you get that thing, anyway?" Lina leaned in closer. "Maps to one of the most coveted treasures of all the world don't just pop up, you know."

Varince paled a bit, but covered over it by getting suspicious. "What? What do you mean?"

Her answer was cut short as the party of five found themselves at a face-to-face rendezvous with the rocks and undergrowth of the surrounding hillside.

"Jeez, I'm sick of that," Lina grumbled, spitting a pebble out of her mouth.

"Okay," Lina said, waving that topic away. "So you ready to set off, Varince-kun? Where do we start?"

"Ano..."

They looked at him warily.

"I think I left my equipment back at the campsite." He had the grace to smile sheepishly. This did not save him from a clubbing over the head, but at least he showed good intentions.

"So how the hell are we supposed to get in there?" Lina grumbled, rubbing at her bruised fist.

"I guess we could scout around or something," Gourry suggested. "Shouldn't there be a cave or something?"

"No," Varince said, sighing. "There's no opening of any kind in these mountains."

"Then how are we supposed to get inside?" Raleic shouted, hands in the air. "What are we wasting our time out here for?"

"Befitz Bring, obviously. You do know that spell, don't you, O mighty one?" Lina's voice was dripping enough sarcasm to fill a bucket.

"Of course I do!" Raleic countered with a huff. "But we can't just use that anywhere on this entire hillside! A wrong position could bring the whole place down on top of us."

"True," Lina was loathe to admit, and cast Varince a slight frown. "Well, expeditionary man?"

"I guess we'll have to wing it without any help," was all he could offer. "You're a sorceress, aren't you?"

"The infamous Lina Inverse, at your service." She smiled, awaiting the usual declaration of either fear or awe.

"Oh!" Varince cried, fist hitting palm. "Lina the Pink! It's truly an honor to finally meet you!"

Gourry's eyes widened. "Lina... the Pink?"

Varince was lost under the surface of a giant hammer.

"How did you know that name?" she growled/shouted.

The expeditionary rose to his feet, battered and bruised, and managed to whimper, "I'm the new head of the Sorcerer's Guild."

Lina's jaw dropped. "You?"

"Sorcerer's Guild?" Gourry looked between them. "You mean like Halciform in Atlas City?"

"Yes, but without all the insanity and Pledges to Mazoku." Varince brushed the dirt from his vest and offered a friendly smile. "Which is why I've wanted to meet you for some time. You put an end to that shameful chapter of our Association. Who knows what horrible things might have come if Halciform had continued his experiments?"

Lina sighed, folding her arms. "But let me guess. No one'll ever know about the Halciform part of it because it would make the rest of you look bad, so you're keeping it quiet and putting the blame on those two idiot flunkies. Am I right?"

"Ah." Varince grinned, and shifted his feet a little. "That is..."

"Mm-hmm." Lina turned and slipped past a rock, wandering up the slope of the mountain.

"O-oi!" This from the newly proclaimed Head of the Sorcerer's Guild as he scrambled after her. "What would you have us do? And their petty squabbling almost ruined our reputation anyway. Surely, as the famous Lina the Pink, you must understand - "

His words were cut short as Lina gave him a violent kick to the head. "DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

"I think it suits you quite well," Raleic said, perching on top of a nearby rock.

"Hai, so do I." Halgon smiled with the best of intentions.

"You're not helping," she hissed at him.

"Where'd he get that name anyway?" Gourry asked, rubbing his chin. "Lina the Pink sounds kind of funny."

"That was the name they gave me when I became a sorceress," Lina grumbled. "They assign all the sorcerers colors. Mine was pink."

"I think it's cute," Halgon said, and was punted into a nearby boulder.

"I don't! Now can we get to finding a way into this mountain?" She made it clear she wasn't expecting a reply by trudging off before she was done asking.

"Hold on," Varince requested, having apparently recovered from his head injury. "You can sense magic, can't you?"

"Eh?" That gave Lina pause, and she looked back over her shoulder. "Of course."

"And you've heard of the Gem of Twilight, I'm sure."

Lina nodded, a little. "Of course."

"So why don't you try to locate the Gem through magic?" He raised a brow. "It can't be that hard to find. It's got to be radiating energy like crazy."

"Probably a good idea," Lina admitted, giving her head a brisk shake, inwardly hating herself for having to deal with these monthly cycles. She should have thought of that herself; and at the same time, something was telling her that there wasn't something quiet right about that at all. She sighed. "Give me some space. I'll try it out."

As they obeyed, she closed her eyes, pressed her palms together, and concentrated. She didn't allow her mind to drift, but kept it riveted on its singular purpose.

While everything emits a certain amount of magical power (that is, after all the force of chaos, and therefore the force of life itself), magical objects did this to a much sharper extent, radiating in waves while the usual item or ordinary artifact simply sat like a slightly irksome distraction off to the side. The more powerful a magical object, the more energy it transmits, and thusly, the easier it is to find. Something as legendary and sought after as the Gem of Twilight should stand out like a Mazoku Lord in a haystack.

Lina opened her eyes. Varince and the others watched her with expectant, eager faces.

"Couldn't find a thing!" she announced with a smile. Her companions toppled backwards.

"Nothing?" Varince groaned, a hand to his head.

"Well, that's to be expected." Lina shot him a look. "I mean, something that powerful would be hunted by millions if it were so easy to find."

"Well, I guess that makes sense."

"Of course it does. The same thing happened with the Philosopher's Stone. Chunks taken from the staff that holds up our world would radiate magic throughout an entire country, especially ones this powerful." Lina tapped her head and smiled. Even in the midst of menstruation, she still had it.

"So maybe that's why there's no magic in the other parts of the world?" Gourry asked.

Lina stared him.

"Ano?" He looked behind him. "Is my hair messed up?"

"I've just never heard you say anything that intelligent," she sighed. "I mean, it was wrong, but at least it showed a little bit of brain power."

"Arigatou!" Gourry beamed with pride.

"And he thinks I complimented him," Lina muttered. "It's a wonder I'm still alive after being around him so long."

"So now what do we do?" Raleic asked, solely to make it absolutely clear that she was not at all impressed by Lina's logical deductions.

"Nothing," announced a voice, and from behind a rock stepped Branhof, the mysteriously hooded evil shepherd mage. "I am afraid I can't allow you to go any farther."

Coming from Zefielia, the land with all those nice grapes, Lina had come across a shepherd or two in her time. Not many, but a few, and one of these shepherds had indeed been evil. He hadn't been a mage, however, which attributed to his very short life span. Branhof was apparently going to learn from his brethren's mistakes.

Lina extended an arm as a gesture for the others to stay back. They obeyed, evidently not in a hurry to engage in battles with such strange opponents.

"Branhof," she greeted in a low voice. "What brings you here?"

"I want those sheep for myself," he answered, pointing a gloved hand at her. "I can't have you returning from these mountains."

"Talk about ludicrous," Varince said, rolling his eyes.

"I'm going to have to agree with the corrupt politician on this one," Lina put in, much to Varince's annoyance. "Do you really think you can take us all on, Shepherd-san?"

"Easily," the cloaked figure replied, and pointed his staff at the cocky sorceress.

"Fireball!" came a cry from behind, and a flaming sphere soared close enough over Lina's head that she instinctively tried to smother any errant little flames out of hair just in case. Branhof calmly raised the staff a fraction, chanted softly enough not to be heard, and sent a Freeze Arrow to cancel out that Fireball. Both collided and disappeared in a cloud of steam.

"Damn," Varince cursed, already positioning himself for another spell attack. Lina was already concentrating on marshaling what few magic properties had returned to her... and finding them to be next to none. She figured she'd have to improvise.

"What you don't realize, Branhof," she admonished, drawing herself up, "is that we've got the world-famous Raleic Deontri on our side."

"...eh?" Varince nearly toppled over, and the Elmekia Lance he'd been preparing fizzled out. Raleic was simply too stunned to talk.

"She comes from the very courts of the Sea of Chaos." Lina gestured behind her, and seeing that she'd shocked the postal worker into paralysis, reached back and yanked her forward. "Her name resounds throughout the land. Go on, Raleic! Break this man with your mighty fist of power!"

Raleic continued to stare.

"Oi!" Lina smacked the back of her head. "Snap out of it!"

"So!" she thundered so suddenly that Lina was knocked to the ground. "You finally realize how great an asset I am to your team!"

"Hai, hai!" Lina smiled and ducked behind a rock, pulling Gourry and Halgon along with her. "Kick his ass, Raleic!"

Branhof tilted his head. "You think you can defeat me, do you?"

"You and all your... evil sheep monsters!" Raleic cried, snapping back her cloak.

Branhof sweatdropped. "I don't have evil sheep monsters."

"But if you did," Raleic stated evenly, "I could defeat them."

"You're very arrogant, girl," the shepherd said with a distasteful tinge to his voice.

"At least I'm not afraid to show my face in public," she countered. "What are you, really hideous under that hood or something?"

"B-baka!" He pointed his staff directly at her. "I'll have you know I've got a very large fangirl base."

"Ha! But do you think that's enough to take on the great Raleic Deontri?"

"You brought it up!" Branhof screamed, flailing his arms in a very unprofessional manner (if villainy counts as a profession).

When Raleic spoke again, her voice was so low and steady it took those listening to it a moment to reorient themselves. "You seem a little upset, Shepherd-san."

"N-nani?" The hand holding the staff wavered.

"You should never let yourself be distracted in a magical battle," she informed him. "Especially not against the great skill of Raleic Deontri."

Branhof lowered the staff, and drew a cloaked arm in front of his face as a shield. "What are you - "

"RA-TILT!" she commanded, blasting the spell directly at him. For all she could see, the point of impact was perfect, and he was gone without a single scream.

"Ha!" Raleic drew herself fully upright and wrapped her cloak around her. "Thus is the fate for all those foolish enough to..."

"BAKA!" Varince shouted, making Raleic jump. "Ra-Tilt doesn't work against human opponents!"

"Ano? But..."

As the spiritual mist resulting from her spell began to subside, Raleic found herself face-to-face with the slit, pissed-off eyes of an evil shepherd mage. "Blam Blazer," he said simply, sending Raleic shrieking down the mountainside.

Varince sighed and returned to his own spell.

When they were safely huddled behind their rock, Lina gave Gourry a tap on the shoulder. "You think you can distract him?"

"I dunno," Gourry said slowly. "Without my old sword..."

"You've got that one from the village of warriors you went to with Amelia, right?"

"Well, hai, but.."

"So do you think you can distract this guy at all, or what?" Her tone was growing steadily lower.

"I guess so, but probably not for long." He scratched his head. "Why?"

Lina grinned and said, "To give Halgon the time he needs to go in for the kill."

"Nani?!" the both of them chorused

"Halgon, you said before that you had watched your... Pochie's final memories. Ne?"

"Uh, hai."

"That's a really powerful spell." She closed one eye, and peered intently through the other. "Where did you learn it?"

The color went from Halgon's face.

"Ano... that is..."

When he didn't seem likely to make a coherent sentence, Lina continued. "And you knew my name. You couldn't have gotten that from Pochie's memories, and you said you'd never heard of me before."

A moment passed, and Gourry wasn't altogether sure what he should be doing. Thusly, he began to organize a bunch of pebbles into a passably accurate little picture of his grandmother.

When she'd drawn the moment out long enough, Lina leaned closer to the pale ax-wielder. "What are you hiding, Halgon?"

"I... ano..."

"AIIIEEEEE!" came the shriek of a rapidly tumbling Raleic, rushing by them.

"Guess our bought time is up," Lina said, hopping to her feet. "Gourry, take care of him as long as you can. And Halgon?"

"Ah... hai?"

She gave him a look. "You'd better be good out there."

"Icicle Lance!" Varince called, and flung the shaft of ice with the deft precision of your usual Sorcerer's Guild Leader.

Branhof countered with an undramatically showcased Elmekia Flame, powerful enough to burn through the spell and nearly singe its opponent like over-done goblin meat. Varince cast a hurried Defense spell to block, and flung back an Elmekia Lance. Branhof took to the air without so much as a call of "Levitation."

"Did we miss anything?" Lina asked, patting Varince lightly on the shoulder.

"How can you be so nonchalant?" he shouted.

"Oi, don't get all worked up."

He forced himself to calm down. "Lina," he said seriously, his voice low, "we're in trouble. I don't know why, but this guy's better than I am."

She shrugged. "All you political types are blowhards anyway. Gourry, show him how it's done."

"Yosh!" the swordsman cried, leaping forward, blonde hair flying out behind him in a very dashing display of heroics. He raised the sword over his head and gave an impressive war cry, preparing to slash downward through the man's body and end this entire ridiculous escapade for good. Branhof simply stared.

"Are you insane?" he asked, raising his staff as if to parry a blow. "You don't even have the Gorun Nova anymore."

Gourry fell flat on his face. "Nani? How do you know about my Hikari no Ken?"

"Now," Lina hissed at Halgon.

"But..." He looked down at his feet, cleared his throat. "But Lina-san..."

"Now!" Lina snapped, and shoved him forward. He lost his balance and stumbled over Gourry.

"This is pitiful," Branhof stated, and the top of his staff began to glow.

"Halgon, for the sake of L-sama, do something!" Lina cried, leaping forward and choking him.

"But I tried to tell you!" he shouted back, when he could get enough oxygen to breath. "That memory spell is the only one I learned!"

"Baka, you can't just learn a spell!" Lina's hands grew tighter around his throat. "You have to go through a whole process of learning to work with the magic and its power and - "

"Bomb Di Win," Branhof said with tired dissatisfaction. Varince had just enough time to leap in front of Lina with his Defense shield, bearing the brunt of the windy blast and getting rammed into a boulder for his valiant efforts. The boulder teetered a little, and Lina looked over at it, saw something behind it... and blinked.

"That was uncharacteristically civil of you," she said, dragging Halgon over.

"I try to be, from time to time." Varince gave her a weak smile. His Defense shield had disappeared.

She nodded, and looked at Halgon. He looked back, with dull hurt in his eyes.

"You're strong, aren't you?" she asked him. He only looked back in response.

A second passed, and Gourry wobbled to his feet. It's an odd thing about Gourry; he's an idiot, but at times he understood a lot more than even he knew. This was one of those times, and he dashed at the flying shepherd with sword upheld.

In the moments it took for Branhof to bat the swordsman aside, he completely missed seeing Halgon straining to lift the large boulder over his head, teeth grit and muscles strained. By the time he did, the stocky little man had flung it directly at him.

"Impressive," Branhof allowed, spinning and blowing the rock apart with a well placed Fireball. "But you don't seriously expect me to be stopped by something like that?"

"Not at all," Lina grinned, hands on hips, and from somewhere behind her came a sudden shout of "Arc Brass!"

No reaction was registered on what could be seen of Branhof's face as a blast of blue lightning crashed down on him from the sky, struck the ground beneath, and evaporated the evil shepherd into a bunch of little particles.

Raleic stood on wobbling legs, a slight grin on her face.

"I told him not to mess with the greatest sorceress of all time," she announced, collapsing onto her side.

Raleic came to sometime during the dead of night. She had apparently been laid out beside a fire like some sort of sleeping bag; the thought of her mighty self being manipulated by such unworthy peons as these snapped her into immediate awareness. The first thing she realized was the odd way the fire was blowing to the side without a breeze on which to actually blow... but her pride was more important than anomalies in the worlds of physics, and she shook that off and dragged herself upright, coming face to face with Gourry.

"Ack!" she cried, clutching her cloak around herself. "What are you doing?"

"I was keeping this fire hot," Gourry said, prodding said fire with a stick. "I thought you'd need to warm up. It's a little cold out now."

"Ah. Hai, I guess it is." Reassuring herself that she was properly clothed, she let go of her robe and pushed herself up. "Where's Lina?"

Gourry lifted the stick he'd been using to stoke the fire and pointed it over at the sorcerer genius extroardinaire we all know and love, watching something Varince was doing with his hands. "They told me what they were doing," Gourry explained, "but I couldn't understand it."

"Something about magic," Halgon sighed from beside her. He was hauling a few little twigs over to their small campfire, for what good they would do. "I'm starting to hate magic."

"Well, you did know that special spell with the memory thing," Gourry pointed out, prodding his shoulder with the stick. "Lina's not going to buy that that's the only spell you learned."

"But it's true!" Halgon said miserably, dropping the gathering of thin wood onto the fire and watching as it lit up. "I didn't even know that was really a magic spell before she started accusing me!"

"Hai, hai," Gourry conceded with usual jovilant good humor. "How did you know her name, though? That's the one thing that puzzles me."

Most likely because that's the only thing he can understand, Raleic thought, but due to the fact that she didn't understand any of this herself, she kept her mouth shut.

"Well." Halgon shifted his feet a little. "I guess I... sort of have heard of her before."

"Then why didn't you tell her?" Gourry asked, pure innocent curiosity in its physical incarnation.

Halgon gave a little shrug. "I was afraid of her," he said. "After recognizing her from those wanted posters I'd seen a few years ago, I was too afraid to try and get revenge for Pochie... so I convinced myself I didn't know her."

"Ahhh," Gourry said, and diverted his attention once more. "Are you feeling better, Raleic-dono?"

"Uh? Oh, yeah. Sure am." She put on a chipper smile.

"You did a good job earlier," he said. "Even Lina was impressed."

Raleic silently slid to her feet and looked over at Varince. She could make out a faint glow of light coming from that direction, then saw a flicker of flame, and made her way over.

Indeed, Varince held a small ball of fire in the palm of his hand, its flaming tendrils licking to the side as if it wanted to escape captivity, or wanted to search out an all-night club. Raleic put a hand to her head, and was about to ask what the hell was going on when she noticed a small doorway in the mountainside.

"So fire is adverse to this cave for some reason," Lina observed. "Interesting."

"Not really," Varince said, and the Fireball puffed out. "It's only natural to expect weird things around such a strong artifact."

"I guess so," Lina admitted with a shrug, and caught Raleic's eye. "Oh, you finally awake?"

"What's that?" Raleic asked, pointing at the doorway... which on further inspection, looked more like a small blasted portion of rock.

"One of Branhof's attacks must have done that," Lina said, turning to gaze into those mysterious depths. "Looks like it leads directly into one of the mountain's passageways."

"Awful convenient, ne?" Varince chuckled, and looked back at Halgon and Gourry, who were on their feet and kicking dirt over the little campfire. "Well, seeing as you're up, I guess we're ready to head in."

"Of course," Raleic said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "I'm always ready to face the dangers of the unknown. I, the great Raleic Deontri, will clear this petty excuse for a mountain range with my own two hands! I will vanquish all that is undesirable in those catacombs! This very earth shakes with my passing!" She tossed back her cloak, struck a dramatic pose, and waited for the applause.

And realizing she was alone, Raleic stumbled sullenly into the cave by herself.

There was nothing particularly surprising about the inside of the mountain's cavern, but because details are important when appearing in new and strange places, we'll take the time to describe them a bit anyhow.

It was mainly stifling. Not only the closeness of the walls but a feeling of being pressed upon by some otherworldly power (or a lot of humidity) gave Lina a slightly claustrophobic feel. This compounded with her already established bad mood and made the going very difficult for Gourry.

"Watch it!" she snapped, running into his armored back.

"Ano?" Gourry looked at her. "You're the one that walked into m - Itai!"

"Lina, put down that stalagmite! The noise you're making might cave this whole place in on us!"

And so on.

Also present, although not quite as painful for our shaggy blonde headed swordsman, was a creepy feeling of being watched. This affected Raleic more than anyone else, to the extent that she huddled herself tight into her cloak and refused to show anyone the radiant righteousness of her godly persona.

The little hallway they were following slanted upwards from time to time, as if it were trying to nudge them just a bit higher to correct some slight miscalculation concerning where it had allowed them to enter. That thought gave the place a personified feel, which quite thoroughly creeped Halgon out.

From a more observant perspective, Varince thought the walls were awfully smooth for such a long-abandoned place, but wasn't able to think much about it due to his continued role as mediator between Lina and her hapless sidekick.

"You two really need to stop fighting," he was heard to say about twelve times before Lina finally conceded, folded her arms and trudged along in moping silence. That was an odd mood to see her in, but Gourry was the only one who knew her well enough to notice.

Eventually their narrow cave became even narrower and tilted steeply upwards, and they were forced to travel single file and at such a steep angle everyone soon pretty much forgot all about everything that didn't directly concern trying to catch their breath and not fall behind the person in front of them enough to stumble into the person behind them.

Lina mopped sweat off her brow, shaking her head. "This is one steep passageway," she grunted.

"Yeah," Gourry said from behind her. "Whose fault is it that we're here, anyway?"

"It's not like I beat you with sticks," Varince answered, from behind him.

"But maybe if you could advertise better," rasped Halgon, next in line, "we wouldn't be doing all this work ourselves!"

"Yeah," Raleic agreed, bringing up the rear. "And I was the one who killed the shepherd, why do I have to follow you idiots around?"

"Oi, oi," Lina tossed over her shoulder, shaking her head. "Shut up, you're not making this any easier."

A short silence followed, and Lina gave a soft chuckle. "For once I'm the calm one, ne Gourry?"

The blonde grunted a little to indicate he was not in much of a "people" mood.

Jer rapped a fist rapped against the doorway. "Ah, hello?"

He waited a moment, and finally his daughter's pretty face was poking out between the crack of the door and frame. "Hello, Otou-sama."

"I've got those documents for Zelgadiss-kun," he said, holding up a thick folder. "Ah, am I allowed in?"

Selena shook her head and slid her thin body out onto the street. She took care to close the door behind her. "No. Zelgadiss-san is sleeping."

"San, eh?" Jer's careworn face lifted into a grin. "So what do you want to do with these?"

"We can look at them ourselves," she offered. "But not in there. Zel-kun has been having bad dreams lately. I think he's finally resting well."

A loud, gut-wrending scream sent Selena pitching slightly forward.

"You were saying?" Jer asked mildly, pushing the door open and moving inside.

Zelgadiss was sitting up in bed, his arms tight about himself. His mouth was open, his eyes were wide, sweat trickled down his face and matted up his spiky hair.

"Zel-san!" Selena cried, rushing toward him. She placed a hand against his cheek, and another on his shoulder. He didn't bat an eye.

"Zel!" she cried again, and this time Jer grabbed the chimera by the chin and jerked his face towards them and issues a healthy smack against the side of his face. Finally he seemed to come out of it, although the two of them had no idea what "it" was.

"Zel...?" Selena asked timidly. "Are you alright?"

"Ha..." he wheezed, then jerked his head away from the mayor's hand as his senses came back to him. "Hai."

"What happened?" Jer asked, pulling a chair over to the bedside and sitting in it.

Zel turned his face to the wall, shaking his head. "Nothing."

"Zel-san..." Selena said, softly.

"A nightmare," he informed stiffly, and pushed himself out of bed.

Selena retracted her fingers, which had remained on his cheek. She bobbed her head slightly and stood. "Are you going to be all right?"

"It was just a nightmare," he repeated, and strode to the table. Sulkily, he dropped himself into a chair.

Jer dragged his own perch over. "Well, it's just as good that you're awake. I've got the documents here."

"Let's have a look at them." Zel, the sultan of playing it cool, was already brushing his spiky mane back to its original position.

Selena forced herself to look as unworried as possible and slunk into a seat beside her father. The father in question produced a sharp looking manilla folder, almost as thick as one would expect a detailed account of Seiruun's history to be long and boring, and with a foreboding, circular sticker on the cover. The tab had "History of the Founding Family" sketched on it in red ink. The sticker was blue, and sported the visage of a skull with a forked tongue and snake-like eyes, the words "Do not open this folder, anyone!" written around it in dripping red letters. This sticker was repeated on a slightly more oval-ish surface which was stuck to the lips of the folder to prevent anyone from opening it, a surefire to keep the documents safe unless the would-be readers did not have access to such technological weapons known as butter knives and pencils.

Jer was, luckily, skilled in the art of sticker breaking. He placed one finger beneath it, gave a good tug, and the lips were held together no more.

He took a deep breath, as if he was about to delve into the Abyss, or some other freakyass place, and swung open the front cover of the folder.

Selena gasped, and grabbed onto her father's sleeve. He, too, was shocked, the telltale sign of this being that his eyes actually opened and the straw in his mouth fell to a lifeless standstill on the tabletop.

"No way," he breathed, and Selena edged closer to him, both pairs of eyes transfixed on what they saw.

"Nani?" Zel asked, calmly getting to his feet and leaning over the table to get a better look at whatever it was which so captured them. "What is it?"

"It's..." Jer shook his head, closing his eyes again.

"What?" Zel repeated.

"...construction bills." Jer cast his face away.

Zel almost toppled. "Can't you shift through that?"

"Wow, how did our forefathers pay for all this?"

"Where did it all go, that's what I want to know. I can't believe all this stuff was lost over the years."

"Perhaps the elven community helped pay for it," Selena said, reflecting. "As a sign of good faith for watching over their Golem King."

"That still doesn't tell me where all this stuff went," Jer said, fumbling through some papers full of numbers and figures and other mathematical things generally ignored in this era of magic.

"Hold a moment," Zel said, glancing over the elder's shoulder. His eyes scanned the parchment, past the equations and the whatnot, narrowing intensely as he read.

"What is it, Zel-san?" Selena asked, trying to follow his gaze, but finding it too rapidly changing.

"All this. It seems..."

"Hai?"

He looked up, at the two of them. "You say you have no idea what all this was used to build? All this stone, mortar..." He gestured to the long list of materials, not deeming it needed to be finished orally.

"I've got no idea," Jer said with a shrug. He resumed flipping through the pages as he talked. "Maybe this document got switched with another city's somehow."

Zelgadiss shook his head. "I don't think it did."

"Look at all this," Jer said, tossing a few pages of the bill aside to reveal something entirely different. Zel looked closely, an eyebrow cocked.

"Construction plans? Blueprints?"

"Yeah, looks that way." Jer glanced over at his daughter, as could be seen by the way his head shifted a small small fraction. "Selena-chan, could you get me some sake?"

"Hai," she agreed, and made her way out.

Jer watched her go. Zel didn't look up. He had grabbed the folder and was now busily looking through the blueprints himself. He had the expression someone might expect to see on a man who'd just realized that the most obvious solution to the most obvious puzzle had been right under his thumb for the past year.

"Well?" the cannon-haired mayor asked.

Zel looked up calmly, tossing the folder back to old man. Apparently he'd seen enough.

"Any ideas?" Jer pressed, catching the folder rather deftly for a guy who never opened his eyes. "Did you figure out who are founding fathers were, so early?"

He shook his head, and resumed a seat. He shrugged. "No. But now it really doesn't matter."

"Why is that?" Jer asked, sticking the straw back into his mouth again. He had no idea what was going on, but wanted to act like he did.

"It's unimportant who built this," Zel said. He calmly spun the papers around for all, namely Jer Dyne, to see. "The only thing that matters is that it's there now."

"What is it?" the older of them asked, looking over the pale white outlines against the dark blue background.

"An underground magic laboratory," Zel said, characteristically with no flourish.

"And is that good?" Jer perked a brow.

"For me..." Zel smiled. "Maybe."

"Three doors," Lina observed. "Too bad Shilfiel isn't here."

"Since when did you ever want her around?" Gourry asked, a bit reproachfully to Lina's thinking.

"She's handy in situations like this," she said.

"She's too clingy," Gourry grumbled, with a light sniff.

"Hey, now." Lina poked his side. "That's cuz she likes you."

"Are we going to split up or what?" Halgon grumped, folding his arms. "I'm tired of standing around like a useless widget."

"That's not far from the truth," Varince scoffed.

"Oh, and like you were a big help defeating the shepherd?"

When it looked like words were about to turn to blows, Lina interceded. "Okay, okay. Varince, Raleic, you two go down the right. Gourry and Halgon can take the center. I'll go left." She paused, glanced at them with a grimace. "And try not to fight."

"Like you're one to talk," one of them muttered as they split into their suggested teams and wandered off.

"I believe in you guys!" she called after them, and headed down the third hallway, oblivious to the sudden altering of all their personalities. The only thing Lina was currently aware of was how light-headed and perky she felt, and how those menstrual pains seemed a million light years away. She almost felt like skipping, but didn't on the basis that there wasn't very much light down here, and she'd probably fracture a leg joint or something if she did. Meanwhile, the other two teams were getting crankier by the second, every footfall taking them one step closer to thinking that maybe Armageddon wouldn't be too bad an idea after all.

Gourry and Halgon stopped making any progress when they began arguing whether axes or swords make better attacking weapons, and Raleic and Varince were no better, an innocent conversation about color-assignment somehow deteriorating into a giant argument concerning the political branches of the Sorcerer's Guild. Raleic was adamant that more sorcerers be allowed to aspire to the highest rank of "God of Magic," while Varince persisted to point out that there was no "God of Magic" rank... and outside of the color assignments, no ranks at all. Raleic from there demanded that ranks be installed to weed out the lesser mages wandering around, to which Varince quipped something concerning her cloak and a pack of goats. The debate didn't get any more sophisticated from there on.

So Lina trotted along as the sole progress-maker in her dissembled entourage. Luckily the tunnel was by this point evening out, allowing her to plod along it with much less difficulty and cover better ground. Interesting thoughts concerning frogs capering about a pond were flitting through her mind when she slammed into something in front of her and fell onto her back.

"Nani?" she grunted, sitting up. Peering ahead, she could make out a big wall of absolutely nothing blocking her way.

Extending a finger, she tapped it against where she'd hit and met with resistance. Not able to kept down, she bounced perkily onto her feet and knocked on the solid nothing. "Moshi moshi? Can I get through, perhaps?" She put on her most pleasant little smile.

There was a moment where nothing seemed to happen. This was because nothing was happening in that moment, and not because the moment happened to be a skilled impressionist.

"You've been able to withstand your inner demons thus far," intoned a soft voice, and there came the sound of rocks being slid to one side. "You may continue on your path to find the Legend of the Lord of Nightmares."

It took Lina a moment to orient herself as the scenery in front of her changed, as if they big wall of nothing were rolling away and revealing a hidden room behind it. This room, as it were, was actually a vast, round little cavern, complete with what looked like mechanical little contraptions that brought back images of the monorail she'd ridden (and destroyed) with her old gang on their way to the Golden Dragon sanctuary. As she stood there, she realized the wall of thin air was closing itself in front of her, and she gave a quick hop inside.

As soon as her feet touched the floor, that lightheadedness evaporated and left her with a sudden powerful feeling that she'd been acting like a huge idiot, and so she proceeded to smack herself in the forehead. With a lead pipe.

"I hate it when I let my guard down," she growled, shaking her head. "But I guess that explains the whole Let's-Be-Pissed-Off game the other four were playing. Must have affected me different somehow."

One of the closer devices jittered, lights flashed around it in a funny-type dance. Lina paused, staring at it. Something about it was pricking at the base of her memory, jabbing at her brain with little pins and shouting "See that thing over there? Remember it!"

She gave her head a groggy shake to clear it of memory-prickers and started over for the device. When she got closer, the recognition she saw in it wasn't anything profound, mainly because she had already made the connection to the monorail. Standing in front of her was a basic jumbling of the same kind of... what was it? Technology. The same kind of technology that she'd seen during her adventures away from the mainland in the voyage to stop Valgarv and his lackeys Jiras and Grabos. She shook her head again. The whole thing gave her a bad feeling, though, in a way that was completely unrelated to the entire season of TRY. Damned if she could figure out why that was, though.

"State your name," the machine requested, and jittered again.

"Ano. Lina Inverse." She was too surprised to say anything else.

More jittering.

"State your purpose."

She paused, looked around the room again. There didn't seem to be any other little devices functional, so she might as well stick to it. After all, you never quite knew what these hi-tech things were going to do.

"Trying to find the Gem of Twilight," she told it, making sure to enunciate as clearly as possible.

"Gem of Twilight," the machine repeated. "Please hold."

Frowning, Lina waited through three/fourths of "More Than Words" before the device came back online.

"Found items matching the Gem of Twilight. Please choose."

Wow, Lina thought. For an artifact powerful enough to manipulate worlds, the security here is pretty slack.

Suddenly another device to the left came to life, looking kind of like a birdbath without the crowds of flapping wings. Above it appeared a list as if someone were holding an invisible parchment before her. Had Lina been born into her counterpart Canal's universe, she would have recognized it as a hologram.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to see any of this stuff again," she grumbled to herself, eyes skimming down the options.

Location of Gem, was one.

Legend of Gem, was another.

Log of past seekers, was a third.

And the fourth, which halted her breath inside her throat, Message to Phibrizo.

"Phibrizo," she whispered before she could continue down the list, and instantly said list was gone. In its place was a face looking at her balefully, its texture obscured a bit as if it was peering up from a haze of rippling water. The image was still for a moment before kickstarting to life.

"Phibrizo-sama!" the person said, and she saw with a start that it was the face of a comely young man with blonde hair, and despite his apparent allegiance, there was nothing about him that would have indicated the slightest hints of anything evil. "Phibrizo-sama," the young man repeated, "the Gorun Nova has proved insufficient to obtain her power. I don't feel Febriza and I will be able to make it from here alive. I suppose we'll have to atone for this sacrilege." His eyes cast themselves downward for a moment, and came back up with a look of ferocity. "But we think it an honor to die for such a sake. Ralshart and Raltark have attempted to dislodge our faith in you while we were down here, playing on our minds through this place's magical instabilities, but to no avail, of course. We know you'll return to find us, and know that you'll learn from our mistakes and take hold of the Gorun Nova yourself."

A sudden rumbling shook the screen of the hologram, and the face of the young man was hidden behind another screen of those violent ripples, and this time a high-pitched whining, grating sound drowned out anything he might have been trying to say. When the picture and sound came back into focus, Lina could see something had happened to him. There was a large gash across his forehead, and where blood should have been flowing was the black chaotic substance that was lifeflow to the Mazoku. " - Febriza and I have faith - " he repeated, his eyes seeming to shine in the ripples that threatened to swallow his image - and he himself, Lina thought for some wild reason. "And continue where we left off."

The image flickered, fizzled, and cut out a second after Lina caught a glimpse of the chaotic blood on the youth's forehead extend and overflow over his body, and for the briefest moment she could have sworn it was closing over him like a fist. Then he was gone, and the only companion Lina had then was the silence of the cavern and her own shaky breath. Then the device's voice cut through the silence.

"Message delivered, after one thousand twenty-four years. Will be erased, unless otherwise instructed."

It was not otherwise instructed, and so there was a sound like silk rubbing against itself, and the machine confirmed, "Message erased."

Lina stood a moment, reflecting. Febriza and I, he had said. Mazoku General and Priest to the Hellmaster himself.

And the little bastard hadn't even bothered to visit their place of death. The place they'd traveled to do his own work in his own name, and died for it. She clenched her hands, and allowed the darkness of the room to settle upon her.

"Look," Gourry said, pointing a finger. "If you get in a fight with a Blue Demon, a sword is a much more efficient weapon. Those things are quick."

"Or so you hear," Halgon snapped. "I bet you've never even seen one!"

"Maybe not," Gourry admitted, "but what were you doing last year? I was out saving the world from Dark Star."

"Yeah, more like you let that partner of yours made you carry her luggage while she did all the work!" the other sneered.

"A lot of good an ax did your god daughter, anyway!" Gourry shot back, gritting his teeth in a manner that was very, very un-Gourry.

"Like you'd be able to make it into a high-ranking branch!" Varince shouted, walking around a corner.

"At least I was able to kill a manic shepherd!"

"Yeah, with help from that dwarf guy!"

Halgon forgot about Gourry, and turned on the mage. "Where did you guys come from? And who's a dwarf?"

"I guess these passages connect or something," Varince said. "And you're a dwarf, you little no-magic muscle-bound - "

There came a jittering from beside them. They all cut off in their brashness and turned to it.

"Password."

"Password?" Gourry asked, scratching his head. "For what?"

"For the Gem, obviously!" Varince said, patting his chest with a fist.

"So do you have the password?" Raleic hissed. "On your map or something?"

"No, but how hard could it be to guess?" Varince scoffed. "Okay, magic voice! Password: Sea of Chaos."

A series of boops and jitters squeaked along.

"See?" the political member of the party said with a proud little smile. "I didn't get to be Head of the Sorcerer's Guild for nothing."

To prove him wrong, the ground beneath them opened up and gave way.

"Nice," Raleic grumbled as they fell screaming into the darkness.

"Lina Inverse."

Softly. "Hai?"

"Do you wish another transaction?"

She was silent another moment, and turned to give the machine a deadly stare. "Give me the Gem of Twilight."

"You are not yet strong enough for an artifact of such power," the machine responded dispassionately.

"Screw that!" Lina shouted. "What the hell kind of power do I need? You already killed two Mazoku!"

"How ironic," the machine responded, and Lina started at hearing it speak to her directly. "To find pity in one's deadliest enemies."

"I never fought that guy," Lina said, but her protest was weak and uncertain.

"The Gem of Twilight," the machine continued as if it hadn't heard, "is one of the Legends of the Lord of Nightmares. Its power comes not from the staff that holds up the world, but from the Sea of Chaos itself. Is the chaos inside of you stilled enough to handle such an item, Lina Inverse?"

Struck silent, she simply stared at the the thing and its little circular lights.

"And are you any different than what killed those two?" it asked then, and she gasped. She couldn't help but gasp. There was just something about the way it posed this question that she wanted more than anything to back away from it, to not have to hear what she somehow knew was coming next.

"You, Lina Inverse," it went on, relentless, "who derives her power directly from the Mazoku Lord she fights to defeat. Who calls on the powers of evil and darkness in the name of betterment for the world. Do you truly think such hypocrisy can be used to wield the Gem of Twilight? Or any of the Legends of the Lord of Nightmares?"

"But," Lina protested, her hands clenched into tight fists. "But I do it for the good of the - "

"Of the world," the machine finished, and somehow she thought she heard a note of mocking amusement in its monotone voice. "But this is not a question of the ends. This is not a question of the means. This is a question of yourself, Lina Inverse."

And with that, all light and sound left the room, and she was hit with the sickening realization that she was falling.

"Errrm." Gourry sat up, rubbing the side of his head. "Where are we?"

"Back at the foot of the mountain, it looks like," Halgon murmured, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "What happened? I don't remember anything after we went in there."

"Me neither," Varince grimaced. "Oi, and where's Lina?"

"Right here," announced a voice, and they looked up to see the great Miss Inverse standing with her hands on her hips, smiling that soft, cocky smile of hers.

"Lina!" Gourry said, popping to his feet. "What happened in there?"

She chuckled, and patted him on the shoulder. "I don't remember, either, Gourry. It's probably best you guys don't worry about it."

"And I suppose we didn't get that gem thing, did we?" Raleic grumbled.

"That's alright," Varince said with a shrug. "I should have brought this before the Sorcerer's Guild anyway. Going at it by myself was an idiot idea."

"Bringing it up with those guys would be any even dumber idea," Lina advised. "I suggest you continue to keep the whole thing forgotten, politic-boy."

"Forget something that valuable?" He chuckled, turning. "Right. Maybe in some other lifetime."

Lina sighed, but didn't argue. She really didn't feel like she had much strength left to argue.

"Leaving already?" Gourry asked, blinking.

"Hai," he replied with a shrug. "I've got to get back to Atlas City. There's a lot of work to be done."

A pause.

"Oh, and Lina. It was nice to meet you in person."

"I'll bet it was," she responded dryly, turning to see he had already begun walking off.

"Well," Gourry announced, smiling, "that was sure an adventure, ne? We fought a shepherd and had our memories erased!"

"Wait," Halgon said suddenly, eyes wide. "What about Albreus-san and Rosa-san? We didn't get their money! They won't be able to pay their rent!"

"Oh, that won't be a problem," said a mysteriously hooded figure behind them.

Lina swiveled around. "Branhof!" he cried, gritting her teeth. "Why won't you leave us alone?!"

"Do I have to kill you again, Shepherd-san?" Raleic said with her flagrant grin.

"No, no, nothing like that," Branhof said, and removed his head.

Everyone stared.

"You see, I never really wanted to fight in the first place," he said, his voice suddenly much more attractive and Ishida Akira-ish sounding.

"Xelloss!" Lina screamed, jumping on him and twisting him into a headlock. "You IDIOT!"

"Itaii, Lina-san!" he managed between throat-crushings. "I had a very good reason for all this, if you'll hear me out!"

"So talk!" she snapped, not removing her arms.

"She's angry," Halgon said, with a soft whistle.

"Hai," Gourry agreed. "Xelloss tends to do that to her a lot."

"It's very important that you'd gone in there, Lina." He twisted a little in her grasp, but alas, found no escape. "I would have sent you sooner, but I had to wait until this time of the month."

"Nani?" Lina growled.

"The extreme magical properties in there affect people's dispositions," he explained. "You were already in such a bad mood that it reversed that, and made you - -ITAII!"

"So what the hell is with all this shepherd idiocy?" she screamed. "Couldn't you have just told us to go there like a normal person?"

"Oh, but that wouldn't have been any fun at all!" Xelloss pointed out.

Lina sighed, and removed her grip on him. "And why'd you want me to see those things, Xel?"

"That," he replied, "is a secret."

"Yeah," Lina said with a nod, "but what I'm about to do to you isn't."

He sweatdropped and hastily disappeared.

"Baka Mazoku," she grumbled.

"Lina?"

"Hai, Gourry?"

"What did you mean? Did you see anything in there?"

She looked over at him, and smiled. "Nothing worth dwelling over. Come on, let's go to Seiruun."

"About time!" Raleic approved, hopping into their dragon-equipped carriage. "My Princess awaits!"

Danna groaned a little, a little put out for having been neglected for the past night. Halgon patted her muzzle and climbed up as well.

"You know, Lina," Gourry said, offering a smile. "There are some things you shouldn't dwell over on your own. Ne?"

Lina blinked, stared at him.

"I mean," he continued, "if you need to say something, you should say it to me. I won't tune out like I usually do."

"You usually tune out?" Lina asked, opting for the easy way out of that awkwardly intimate moment.

"N-no! Not at all! I'm always listening to your stories!" He waved his hands around as if doing so would prove his claim.

"Just for that, you get to drive the carriage," she said, tossing him Danna's reins and popping into the back. "And make sure she doesn't hit any rocks, I'm going to try for some sleep back here."

"Lina, that's cold," Raleic admonished.

"No, it's not a problem," Gourry said, happy-go-lucky as you please. "That's how she shows her appreciation, ne, Lina?"

"Sure," Lina said, giving a shrug. "Now hurry it up, we need to reach Seiruun by nightfall."

"Hai!" he answered, and gave the reins a snap. Danna took to flight across the rolling prairie, and Gourry made good on his instructions not to allow anything to disrupt his partner's nap.

Had he known what dreams were plaguing that nap, however, he would not have been half so obedient.

(End)

(Lina Inverse voice-over)

Well, that was strange. We finally make it to Seiruun in our next episode, but it seems like there's something at work behind the scenes. Next episode is: "Hidden Conspiracies! The Dark Side of Seiruun." Be here for it, or I'll Dragu Slave your ass!

Episode 3   |   Fanfiction