Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Search for the Darkstar ❯ The One Way to Blackmail Lina Inverse ( Chapter 4 )

[ 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. This story is set after the manga arc "Knight of Aqualord" and is an alternate take on the TRY season of the anime.

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Chapter 4: The One Way to Blackmail Lina Inverse

Lina announced the decision to go search for the Sword of Light over lunch and followed it up by briefly explaining some of the sword's properties and how it had been passed down through Gourry's family from the original Swordsman of Light, who used it to defeat the beast Zanaffar many years ago.

This intrigued Lyos. "You had such a cool sword and you lost it?" he asked Gourry incrediously. "How stupid can you be?"

"I didn't lose it. I gave it up for someone more important." Gourry's eyes met Lina's and held for a moment before she blushed and looked away, then started shoveling food in at a faster pace. He smiled and kept eating.

"So, the eldest son in your family inherits the sword?" Shizuri leaned her elbow on the table.

He paused to chew his food before answering. "Usually. I'm the second son."

"Did your brother die?"

He shrugged. "He's alive as far as I know. I took the sword and ran away from home when I was 17." Gourry smiled at Shizuri. "It's not something I want to talk about though, if you don't mind."

Curious now more than ever, Shizuri let the subject drop. "So, how long does it take to get to this Sairaag?"

Amelia took over that part of the conversation while Lina glanced at Gourry. He kept eating as if nothing had happened, but she wondered what exactly the situation was with his family. Did his brother know the Sword of Light was out there? If so, could he possibly come for it? She thought back over everything Gourry had told her about his family. He mentioned he left home at 17, but didn't mention his brother. What happened in the Gabriev family regarding the Sword of Light?

She glanced down as her plate started to inch away from her. "Gourry," she growled.

The plate stilled and she snatched it back. "You are such an idiot," she informed him and kept eating, but faster. It was enough that she loved him. He shouldn't expect her to give up her precious food to boot!

"The thing that bugs me is that this guy's a Mazoku, right?" Lyos jabbed at his sausage and waved it at Lina. "He's one of them. Why would you trust him?"

"I don't trust him." Lina tore off a hunk of roll and waved it back at Lyos. "If Xelloss had told me, I wouldn't had believed a word of it. He instead to tell the two most gullible members of the party, our resident jellyfish and the justice-loving princess. Oh, and you, but he doesn't know you."

"Lina-san! I'm not gullible," Amelia protested.

"Anyhow, Xelloss told you about the Sword of Light for one of two reasons. Either he's using us to confirm a rumor about the weapon or he wants us to do the dirty work of retrieving it for him.

Lyos pushed away from the table. "I'm heading to the washroom. When are we leaving?"

"We can head out after lunch," Lina told him in between bites.

On his way back out of the washroom a few minutes later, Lyos glanced out the window that was over the washbasin. He blinked, rubbed his eyes, then stared out the window once more. Then he ran back to the table.

"I thought you killed that thing with your Dragon Slave!" he yelled at Lina, jabbing his finger at the window.

Lina took a bite of chicken and rolled her eyes. "I did. Why?"

"Because it's back!"

The chicken dropped to her plate. "No way!" She sprang from the table, raced to one of the windows. Lyos spoke the truth. The same golden dragon was outside, heading straight for the city. With a muttered oath, she ran back and threw several gold coins on the table. "The dragon's back," she called out as she raced outside. The rest of the group quickly abandoned their meal and followed.

She knew her Dragon Slave had hit the dragon. Lina raced through the streets of Atlas City, barely sensing the others behind her. Not many beings could take a hit from an amplified Dragon Slave and emerge unscathed. She wasn't sure she could get close enough with a Ragna Blade to try that again. Was she going to have to fall back on the Airlord's power after all?

She reached the outskirts of the city just as the dragon started to descend. It appeared to be heading for some sort of clearing. She veered off the road, discovered a small dirt path. The clang of Gourry's armor let her know that her group was still keeping up with her.

She emerged through the foliage just as the dragon touched the ground, then was bathed in an immense, golden glow. She shielded her eyes, but watched as the dragon took on the form of a person. When the light died away, the dragon was no longer there.

But Filia was.

Suddenly, everything made sense - including Gourry seeing a tail beneath Filia's skirts.

Lina wasn't sure whether she wanted to laugh or lose her temper. The second option sounded much more appealing.

"Is it just me, or did that dragon turn into a woman?" Shizuri asked.

"You're the illusionist, you tell us," Lyos replied.

"Still, I've never seen anything quite like it before!" she snapped at him.

"I'm so confused," Amelia moaned and pressed a hand to her forehead.

Filia produced a tablecloth from her robes and spread it over a nearby stump. She followed with a pot of hot tea. She set out saucers, cups and filled them. Then she gestured to the stunned group to sit around her makeshift table.

Once they'd done so, Filia took a sip of her tea and sighed with pleasure. "I wish that we had some delicious cookies to go along with this. Homemade would be best. With this type of tea, definitely a regular sugar cookie will suffice. Chocolate chip would be much too heavy." She studied them, noticed that their attention was on her rather than the tea. "I'm so sorry. Is this a type that you don't like? Is there one that you would prefer?"

Lina slammed her fist on the table. "What is going on here? Who the hell are you anyhow? What do you want us for? First, you act all coy and shy, and then you tried to attack Atlas City! For all we know, you could have been the cause behind the explosion at the Sorcerer's Guild!"

Filia frowned. "What's a Sorcerer's Guild? I'm sorry, I was in the city when the explosion happened, but I assure you that I had nothing to do with it." She took another sip of her tea and her smile melted into a serious look. "As for what I'm here for, it's something very important."

She placed the tea cup back on the table. "In the area that you call 'the outer worlds,' I am a priestess to the Flarelord."

"Flarelord?" Lina repeated.

"Do many of your people there worship the Flarelord?" Shizuri asked. "I am in service to the Aqualord in the country of Kunan. So is Lyos over there. He's the Knight of Aqualord."

"I'm not sure about the humans, nor have I heard of this Kunan, but my tribe of golden dragons do worship Flarelord," Filia replied. "As I understand, there's more golden dragons who worship Aqualord in these lands."

"That's right, in the Kataart Mountains." Lina decided to try a sip of the tea and frowned at the bitter taste. She'd never been one for tea.

"So there really was a tail under your skirt," Gourry pointed out.

Filia blushed and pressed her fists to her chin. "I'm sorry. I've not turned human very much and I'm not used to it yet. Sometimes, my tail still shows."

"Milgasia-san could also turn into a human. He's the dragon who helped us in the Kataart Mountains," Amelia commented.

"High-level dragons can usually turn human quite easily. Tails and other stuff aside, why would a dragon priestess attack us?" Lina asked.

"As I said earlier, I had to test your power."

Lina half rose from her seat. "You could have destroyed the entire city by doing that!"

"If I can remind you, Lina-san, I led you away from the city in order for you to cast the spells that you needed without harming anyone else. I only used my spells on the debris that already existed. Besides, if you couldn't handle that simple battle, you certainly can't handle what I'm about to set before you."

Filia clasped her hands and rested them on the table. "You must follow a prophecy that foretells destruction. Several weeks ago, during our morning meditations, we received a prophecy at the Flarelord temple. 'There shall come a controller of a Darkstar, who calls forth the light and the world shall be flooded with darkness. Dragon's blood shall spread and following the power between light and darkness, a single star shall be awakened. Around the star shall spin five lights and the power shall be darker than twlight and brilliant beyond the dawn. When the power is loosed, we shall fall to an arrow which will split the heavens apart," so the prophecy says."

Lina's mind automatically began to sort the words of the prophecy out. Some of the incantations were part of the Dragon Slave spell and other high-powered White magic. Other than that, she was lost about it as well.

"What the hell does that mean?" Lyos asked.

"The first part, about the world being flooded with darkness, means that we face a great danger," Filia explained. "We think the part referring to the power between light and darkness could be talking about humans."

It started to make sense. Lina stared down into her teacup. "Those who aren't Mazoku or Shinzoku, in other words, humans. Though, it could describe Ryuuzoku as well."

"We thought of that as well," Filia acknowledged. "But we determined that those lines were more than likely referring to humans than the Ryuuzoku race. The rest we haven't been able to figure out. We decided that it was wise to set out to find a human that was powerful enough to handle this. This was about six months ago."

Lina took a thoughtful sip of her tea and started to laugh. "Wait a minute! You're telling me that some strange prophecy has the world in danger and suddenly I'm it's representative for the human race? Thanks, I'm flattered!"

Filia winced. "Well...not exactly. See, you're the stand-in."

Lina slammed her fists on the table, fury racing through her. "What the hell do you mean, stand-in? Didn't you just say that you had to choose the most powerful human there is?"

"Impressively large ego aside, Lina does have an incredible magical capacity," Shizuri commented. "She received Airlord's power not that long ago, and she pulled out some very powerful stuff in the fight against you."

"We were searching for you as well, Lina-san, but you had gone away from this continent," Filia explained. "Our first choice knew where you were and informed us as to your whereabouts."

A small ball of dread began to form in Lina's stomach. Not that many people had known that she and Gourry had been in Kunan for the past year. Amelia's family, of course. And her own...

"Not to mention," Filia continued, "that our first choice said she was too busy with her part-time job to be bothered and to go seek you out, Lina-san. After testing your power, I am quite confident that the five of you will be able to do this job well."

Lina jumped to her feet. "You've got to be kidding! We nearly just got our asses kicked by Mazoku in Kunan and now you're asking us to go risk our lives again for some stupid prophecy? We've got bigger issues on our hands, Filia! You call me a stand-in and expect me to go running to your rescue?"

Filia gave her a patient smile. "You won't accept the mission?"

"Of course I won't!" Lina screamed, gripping the rock-surfaced table so hard that her knuckles turned white. "Why don't you go back to your first choice?"

"Well, she said that you might be against it." Filia reached into her cloak and pulled out a letter. "So she gave me this letter to give to you."

Lina accepted it and tore into it, Amelia and Gourry peering over her shoulder. She scanned the handwriting and all the color drained from her face. "Oh no..."

"Lina-san?" Amelia placed a hand on her arm.

"She looks like she's going to pass out," Shizuri noted.

Sweat began to roll down Lina's face. "Your...your first choice. She wouldn't happen to be a waitress, would she?"

Filia kept smiling. "That is correct."

Lina sucked in a quick gasp of air and began to shake. Gourry and Amelia both recoiled from her slightly as Shizuri and Lyos rose form their seats.

"Lina?" Gourry asked.

"Lina-san, are you all right?" Amelia started to ask, but was cut off by a sudden shriek from Lina.

"No!" she yelled, tearing off into the forest for the nearest cave. She dashed inside, using a spell to quickly seal up the entrance, then started to dig a very deep hole for herself. "No, no, no, no, no!" she screamed as she dove in the hole and sealed it behind her.

The others reached the cave just the last rumblings of Lina's spells subsides. Gourry pounded his fist against the walled-up entrance. "Lina! What's wrong?"

"No!" Lina's hollowed voice came from deep within the cave.

Shizuri stepped forward and felt something crunch under feet. She glanced down, noticed the letter that Lina had flung aside in her hasty exit from the negotiation table. She picked it up. "What a simple letter. I don't recognize the language though. Can you read it, princess?"

Amelia accepted the letter. "It is a simple letter. All it reads is, 'Shut up and do it. Sis.'"

"Sis?" Lyos asked. "Lina has a sister?"

"One a couple years older than her," Gourry replied.

Shizuri clutched her stomach. "The thought of two Inverses wandering this world makes me ill."

"She's going to kill me!" Lina shrieked from within the cave.

Amelia swallowed and paled. "Kill her?"

"Luna-san did say that if Lina-san didn't perform this task that she would be punished very badly," Filia acknowledged.

"It's hard to imagine Lina having a sister that she's scared of," Lyos commented. "I wonder what type of person she's like?"

Gourry gave Lyos a weak smile, remembering how not long after they first met, Lina had told him a story about her sister's "punishments." "Let's just hope we never find out, huh?"

"Sis, forgive me!" Lina wailed from inside her makeshift tomb. "Forgive me!"

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She sat alone, a small creek gurgling a few feet away. Her knees were drawn up, her face buried in them. Her body shook every so often with sobs as she relived old, painful memories. She jerked when she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders, then relaxed when she realized who they belong to as they moved up to ruffle her hair.

Gourry patted Lina and sat next to her, gave her a concerned look. "Are you okay?"

She lifted her face so he could see the reddened eyes and the tears that still rolled down her cheeks. "That stupid Filia. Stupid, stupid, stupid. She caused all of this."

"Is your sister really that scary?"

"Let's just say that I had a much easier time facing Hellmaster Phibrizzo than I did facing her armed with a bamboo stick." Lina swiped at her nose with the back of her hand.

Gourry produced a handkerchief and handed it over, waited while she used it. "Are we going to take the job?"

Lina balled the handkerchief in her hands. "I don't have a choice. If my sister tells me to do something, I have to do it." She slanted him a look. "Didn't that ever happen with your brother?"

He drew up his own legs, let his arms dangle over his knees. "I really don't like to think about him." He turned his face to the sky and closed his eyes. "He's five years older than me and mean as hell. Not mean in the way you are at times, but mean in the sense of that he truly isn't a nice person. When my father was dying, he was already planning to sell the Sword of Light to the highest bidder. I didn't want to see that happen, so I stole it and left."

There had to be more to it, Lina realized. But she didn't press him. She was surprised that she'd gotten as much out of him as she did.

He smiled at her. "I know I turned around and lost it myself, but I think it was for a higher purpose than just money."

She shifted uncomfortably, embarrassed. It seemed to be a running theme today, being reminded that Gourry sacrificed the Sword of Light to get her back from the Lord of Nightmares. She decided the next person to mention it was going to get a Burst Rondo.

"Still, you've got a lot more respect for your sister than I ever did for my brother," Gourry continued, seemingly unaware of Lina's embarrassment. "If he asked me to do something like this, I wouldn't do it. You will because she asked you to."

"Ordered me to," she corrected him, then turned her gaze back to the creek. "Still, someone as strong, smart and crazy as my sister thinks I'm the best person to do this job, then whatever's out there must really scare her."

"Don't worry." He gave her a warm smile. "We've gone through a lot together. Something like this should be simple after the things we've seen. I'm sure you'll do just fine."

Her eyes softened. He'd told her the same thing shortly before she headed to the Tower of Wind and gave her the same feeling of immense well-being and support, along with something else that she hadn't been able to identify at the time as love. She rewarded him with a smile, one that made him feel more content than he had since they witnessed the explosion. He started to move closer to her just as she angled her head, her hand reaching up to cup his face.

"Does this mean you'll take the job?"

They sprang apart. Placing a hand on the ground behind her, Lina turned to see Filia, Amelia, Shizuri and Lyos. She wondered how long they'd been standing there and decided that for everyone's sake, she was better off not knowing. "Yes, I'll take the job. But on one condition."

She got to her feet, crossed her arms over her chest. "We take a side trip immediately to Sairaag. It's about a two-day walk from here. There's a rumor that the Sword of Light is among the ruins there, a rumor that we got from a...reliable source." If one could call Xelloss reliable, she thought. "That sword belongs to Gourry, and we want to get it back."

"Sairaag? Lina-san, we need to go to my temple to speak with the Elder there, not head to some other village," Filia protested. "With the prophecy and the amount of time that's been wasted, we need to return to my lands as soon as possible."

Lina frowned at her. "Filia, I'm not going back on my word. But finding Gourry's sword is just as important, if not more so."

"That's true," Amelia agreed with a firm nod. "Gourry-san is Lina-san's most important person. She'll do anything for him!"

"Amelia!"

"Love will always triumph in the end!" Amelia pumped a fist in the air.

Lina buried her face in her hands. "Are you finished mortifying me yet?"

"No, we could probably think of more methods of embarrassing you," Shizuri's eyes sparked with mischief. "Like pointing out how the two of you were about to kiss when we arrived here."

Lina's face turned pink and magic started to well up in her fingers. "Shi-zu-ri!"

"Calm down, Lina!" Gourry sprang to his feet and caught Lina's arms.

"I'm not going to calm down! Let me go! I'm going to blast her!"

Lyos slid his gaze over to Filia, who looked like she couldn't decide whether or not to be amused at the situation. "Are you sure you want to hire Lina for this job? It's not to late to change your mind, you know."

They were indeed an odd bunch of people. Filia raised an eyebrow as Lina kicked out, then back, catching Gourry in the groin. He fell to the ground like a rock and Lina took off after both Shizuri and Amelia.

"I think, Lyos-san, it will be a most extraordinary experience."

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Additional notes: Now we start to get more into the actual story behind Try. A lot of the dialogue from Filia was lifted straight from the second episode of Try. Where the changes came in included the part between Lina and Gourry. I never understood why Lina opened herself that much to Filia after just meeting her and taking a big emotional hit from her. While it does seal Filia as a member of the fellowship, I thought the role of comforter should had been played by Gourry or Amelia.