Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Search for the Darkstar ❯ The Strange Things You See Under a Woman's Skirts ( Chapter 2 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

By: DQBunny

Disclaimer: "Slayers" isn't mine, but belongs to Kanzaka Hajime, Araizumi Rui and those who represent them. I'm just borrowing the characters for a little while and will return them intact. Except for Gourry. He might be squished just a little.

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Chapter 2: The Strange Things You See Under a Woman's Skirts

A few hours later, Lina led the group through the maze of streets back to the site of the explosion, making sure to stay at least three steps in front of the rest of them. She had gotten about as much sleep as she did the last night on board the ship and took it out by yelling at anyone who crossed her path in a way that she didn't like.

Amelia glanced off to her left as she walked and wound up tripping over Lyos. They landed on the ground in a tangle of limbs and curses from the young swordsman. "What do you think you're doing?" he demanded.

Amelia scrambled to her feet and held out a hand for Lyos. He ignored it and got up. Unfazed, she pointed toward the south. "Do you see that? I've never seen anything like it here before."

Lina startled when she noticed the bright pillar of light shining far to the south. "How weird," she muttered. "I've never seen anything like that before. Have you?" she directed the question at Shizuri.

She shook her head. "No. I've seen other sorts of phenomena, but nothing like this."

"You don't think it's a bad omen, do you?" Amelia gave Shizuri a worried look. "Maybe another Sorcerer Guild's been attacked."

"There's really not one to the south that could be targeted," Lina told her. "Just the ocean, some islands and the lands to the south. There's the Alliance of Costal States, but none of the guild posts there are that powerful. The only other guilds that have as much power as this one are the ones in Saillune City and Zefiel City."

Lina gave the light one last glance. "It could be that it's nothing. A trick of the sun and clouds. We've got more important things to handle at the moment."

The building's entrance was blocked off, so Lina used the power of Airlord to lift them all to the roof. She strode over to the edge and studied the wreckage once more. No looters had struck. There was nothing available for them to take.

She heard footsteps behind her. "Do you see it, Lina?"

She peered over her shoulder at Gourry, who was surveying the area as well. "See what?"

"That ring." He pointed down at the rubble. "It's kind of hard to tell because of the way the debris is, but there's a large circle of sorts in the middle."

Lina shielded her eyes and squinted. It was as he said. Some of the debris had fallen obstructing it a bit, but there was a definite circle right at the epicenter of the blast. It wouldn't be noticed at ground-level.

"It's like someone had a shield around them while the blast was going on." Lina narrowed her eyes. "Tarim? He doesn't have the magical skills to make a defense spell that strong. Someone extremely powerful caused that explosion, and that person was right at the center of it. Good job, Gourry. I wouldn't have noticed it on my own." She grabbed his arm. "Let's go down and..."

The ringing of the city's bells cut off Lina's sentence and Gourry suddenly whirled around. Taking his cue, Lina pivoted and spotted a tall young woman approaching the group. She wore white priestess robes over a pink gown and various jewels affixed to her forehead and the sides of her head. A large amulet was pinned to the neck of her gown, where the two sides of the robe gathered. Her hair was a shade lighter than Gourry's, her eyes a couple of tints darker than his.

The wind blew her bangs into her face. With a graceful motion, she pushed her hair aside and focused her gaze on Lina. "I take it you're Lina Inverse?"

Lina held out a hand to keep Gourry from covering her. "It depends on who's asking."

The woman smiled. "I am Filia, the woman who sent you that letter." Her eyes fell on Amelia. "You must be Amelia wil Tesla Saillune." Then they shifted to Gourry. "And you're Gourry Gabriev." They widened when she noticed the two other members of their party. "I'm sorry, I'm not quite sure who the two of you are."

"Shizuri," the illusionist said. She folded her arms across her chest. "This kid's Lyos, Knight of Aqualord."

"I'm not a kid," he protested.

Lina placed a hand on her hip. "It sounds like you've done some research on us."

"Yes, at least as far as you defeating Hellmaster Phibrizzo and exploring some of the countries beyond the Mazoku barrier." Filia clasped her hands in front of her. "I didn't realize you were bringing back new companions with you."

Realization started to dawn on her. "So I see. What do you want from us?"

Gourry's eyes narrowed as caught the glimpse of something on the ground behind Filia. He started to inch around behind the woman as she explained how she had done research on them. The wind tugged at her robe again and he sucked in a quick breath when he noticed a long, golden tail coming from her body, a pink ribbon tied in the bow on the end.

"I've come to confirm how powerful you are," Filia explained to Lina. "Especially since there are rumors that you acquired the power of Airlord recently. It'll give me the chance to see how powerful Shizuri-san and Lyos-san are as well."

"I don't need confirmation by some strange lady to tell me how powerful I am." Lyos marched up to Filia and nearly shoved his nose in her face. "I'm the Knight of Aqualord. I nearly lost my life obtaining that power."

"Down boy," Lina ordered Lyos. "What do you want to test our power for?" She asked Filia.

"Well, you see...," Filia's voice cut off, then she shrieked. The rest of the group gasped when they noticed Gourry holding up the back of Filia's skirt, staring intently at something underneath it.

Lina's jaw dropped, her face ashen. "Wha...what do you think you're doing, Gourry?" she shrieked.

He glanced up. The serious expression was replaced by sheer panic. "It's not what you think! I was just looking in here," he explained, then pointed up Filia's skirt.

With a scream, Filia jerked up her skirts, revealing a mace attached to a white garter. With a single powerful motion, the she slammed the mace into Gourry, sending him flying off the building with a yell. Lina raced to the edge of the roof and watched as he sailed in the direction of the inn they were staying in.

"What just happened? Lina-san!" Amelia ran to her side.

"Man, I'm not even that dumb," Lyos muttered. He shrugged. "I even know what's under a woman's skirts."

Filia burst into tears, tossed the mace aside and raced for the edge of the roof. With a single leap, she jumped off.

Lyos flailed, then chased after her. "Look, lady, you don't have to jump off the..." He peered over the side, saw no trace of her. "She's gone," he muttered.

Shizuri started to pick up the mace and grunted. "This thing weighs a ton!"

"Let me try." Lyos walked back over and grabbed the handle. He winced as he hefted it in the air. "This thing's heavier than those boulders the idiot swordsman and I lifted awhile back. No ordinary woman has this sort of strength."

Lina felt the beginnings of a headache start to pound at her temples. "Amelia, go find Gourry. Drag him back to the inn and keep him there. Shizuri, Lyos, see if you can find this Filia person. I'm going to inspect this damage before something else goes wrong. Damn it, Gourry," she muttered under her breath as the others scrambled off. "Why did you have to pick now to be a perverted jellyfish?" She kicked at a rock and flew down to the epicenter.

Nothing but dust was left at the center of the attack. Lina studied the lines along the ground and wished that Gourry was here to look at them alongside her. His eye was so good that he would pick up the smallest detail. She couldn't see the circle now. If it had been a normal chemical explosion, it wouldn't had been such a neat circle. More debris would had fallen closer to the center of the explosion.

She crouched, studied the ground. No blast lines extending from the center. Just solid dirt. She stood and cast a defense spell. The shield rippled out from her. It didn't go quite as far from the epicenter as the other circle extended, but it was definitely the same shape.

The glitter of gold caught Lina's eye and she walked over to the edge of the circle. A ring, she realized, bent over to pick it up, then realized it was still attached to the person's finger. Bile rose in her throat, and she sat back on her haunches. Someone had been unlucky enough to get just their finger inside of the shield, but the rest had been vaporized.

She rummaged through the debris until she found a stick she could use and used it to turn the finger over to see the ring better. She frowned when she recognized the large, amethyst stone set into the gold band. Tarim the Violet. Rest in peace, you fool, she thought.

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When Lina got back to the inn, she found the rest of the group gathered in the room that Gourry and Lyos shared. Lina didn't have to yell at him for the move he pulled regarding Filia. Shizuri was in the middle of taking care of it for her as she walked in.

"Why the hell would you look under another woman's skirt in front of your girlfriend?" She jabbed a finger in Gourry's face. "If she doesn't Dragon Slave you, I'll take care of you myself!"

"But I saw something strange under there," Gourry protested, trying to ward off the angry illusionist. He adjusted the ice bag he held over his face. "I swear, I did!"

"Of course you saw something under there!" Shizuri grabbed his shirt, shook him slightly. "You're not that dumb about women, are you?"

His face turned as red as Lina's eyes. "No!" he yelled back at her, mortified. "Not that! I wasn't...why would I...I saw a tail!"

"A tail?" As much as she enjoyed seeing Gourry on the receiving end of Shizuri's wrath, his words caught Lina's attention. She joined Shizuri. "Gourry, women don't have tails."

"I know they don't! That's why I noticed." He pulled away from Shizuri. "It had a pink bow on it. It matched her dress. She also had on a garter with that mace on it. That thing's really heavy." He rubbed the side of his face that was bruised from it.

Lina pressed her hand to his cheek and cast the Recovery spell. "Okay, so you're either an insane pervert or this Filia person isn't what she really seems."

"My vote is insane pervert." Shizuri folded her arms over her chest.

"I'm staying out of this," Lyos muttered.

Amelia frowned, bit her lip. "It doesn't sound like Gourry-san to go looking under someone's skirt with Lina-san around. It really doesn't sound like him period." Her eyes glinted dangerously. "After all, Gourry-san knows that doing such things in front of one's girlfriend for improper purposes is a very unjust thing to do, and if he did so, then he would have to be subjected to the justice speech to end all justice speeches. So I'm going with the tail."

He knew he'd rather be Dragon Slaved than endure a justice speech and started to sweat a little. "Amelia..."

"I believe him," Lina simply replied and his jaw nearly dropped. She frightened him with a sickening sweet smile. "Trust me, I know how to inflict pain much worse than a Dragon Slave if it was otherwise."

Because he knew she was very capable of it, Gourry decided it was time to change the subject. "What did you find?"

Lina finished the spell and dropped into the chair next to his. "From what I can tell, the explosion originated from within the Sorcerer's Guild. With the size of the guild building here, there would had been a lot of chemicals in storage. You break all the jars....BOOM!" She grinned as everyone jerked in response. "A big boom, which is what caused the explosion."

She pulled a handkerchief out of her cloak and displayed the ring inside of it. "This belonged to Tarim the Violet. It's all that's left of him." That and his finger, but Lina really didn't want to recall it or how she had to get rid of the finger before she allowed herself to touch the ring.

"Did Tarim-san cause the explosion?" Amelia wondered.

"I don't know. My hunch tells me that he didn't. Someone put up a defense shield when the explosion happened. If my guess is right, and I want to look at the site one more time before I pass final judgment, whoever caused the explosion was inside of the barrier when it happened."

"Was it this Tarim guy? Shizuri asked.

"No. Idiot doesn't have enough sense to put his robes on right side out. I tried casting a defense shield of my own. It didn't expand as much as the other did. Whoever cast the shield is a very, very powerful sorcerer or...," Lina's gaze met Amelia's.

"A Mazoku," she finished, sank wearily into the sofa cushions.

Shizuri groaned. "I thought we were finished with those!"

Lina shrugged and got to her feet. "I'm beat. I'm going to bed. You two coming?"

The girls bid the men goodnight and headed for their room. Shizuri pushed the door open. Lina was about to follow Amelia and Shizuri when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She glanced behind her and noticed Gourry, worry in his eyes. She waved at the others. "Go on in. I'll be a minute."

They stepped inside, closed the door after them. Lina turned, leaned against the it. He resembled a lost puppy and she found herself feeling sorry for him. "I'm not mad at you about the skirt deal," she told him. "Really. You know me. If I was mad, I'd thrown you a whole lot further than that Filia girl had. Actually, she was going against the wind, or else we'd have to fish you out of the sea." She gave him a bright smile. "I don't think you're a womanizer. A jellyfish, absolutely. Beyond that, I have my doubts."

He smiled and he visibly relaxed. He knew that he'd deserved to be thrown into a wall - and had that very thing happen for very minor offenses. "Thanks, Lina."

Her heart did a funny little flop inside of her chest and she quickly averted her gaze. "Though I really wonder if we've blown it with this Filia now." She bit her bottom lip.

Gourry raised an eyebrow. "You're seriously consider going after money? I thought you were concerned about the explosion."

"I am. But my gut tells me this is no coincidence." Lina glanced down the hall and frowned when she caught sight of a flash of light. She pushed herself off the door, headed to the window.

Gourry followed her. "What is it?"

She opened it, stuck her head outside. "Look." She pointed into the distance, toward the same pillar of light they had seen during the day. "That strange light again. I thought it was just a trick of the sun, but it's apparent at night as well. Shizuri said that she overhead it being mentioned that it was first spotted yesterday, which coincides with the explosion."

"Why would the light be in a different place?"

"I don't know." She closed the window and started back toward their rooms. "If you can manage to restrain yourself from looking up strange women's skirts, I want you to look at the epicenter of the explosion with me. I know I explained my theory, but I want to hear your thoughts on it as well."

Gourry watched her as she headed back to her room. "You know, you've never asked for my help like that before," he commented half to himself. "Not with things like this."

Lina placed her hand on the doorknob and flashed him a smile. "Let's just say we're calling it even regarding the whole skirt mess. Besides," she gave him a wink, "we're a couple now, right? Surely over the years, I've figured out you've got some brains rattling around in that jellyfish head of yours."

Pleased with the grin he rewarded her with, Lina ducked into the bedroom before the conversation could go any further.