Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Search for the Darkstar ❯ A Great and Terrible Burden ( Chapter 17 )

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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Search for the Darkstar

Chapter 16: A Great and Terrible Burden

Lina kicked at a rock for a good bit of the way back to town, her mood growing worse and worse by the moment. The moment she had shared with Gourry had faded once she had to tell him that Jillas had lost the Sword of Light. He had been nearly upset as she was to lose the sword again, but was also the quickest to recover from it.

 

“It's not like I'm completely worthless in a fight,” he cheerfully told her as they left the temple. “I've still got this other sword.”

 

“It's not that,” she replied. “That means that Valgaav now has two of the swords and we have two. We no longer have an advantage over them and it really pisses me off.”

 

Gourry's face fell. “I'm sorry, Lina.”

 

She sighed. “Not much you can do about it. Running into Jillas was a fluke.” She cast Luna a glance. Her sister hadn't said anything since they left the temple and it worried her. “By the way, Sis, you never said why you were out here to begin with.”

 

“Oh? Maybe I'm out here to investigate a bogus temple to protect Ceiphied's good name.”

 

“Like you've ever been concerned about stuff like that before!”

 

Luna lifted an eyebrow. “Maybe you should believe in coincidences.”

 

“Yeah, and maybe I should had kept believing that a tooth fairy comes to deliver coins when my baby teeth falls out when really turned out to be Papa sneaking into my room at night.”

 

“Well, it was amusing when you fireballed him…”

 

“You mean the Tooth Fairy isn't real?”

 

The Inverse sisters leveled disbelieving looks at a crestfallen Gourry. “Tell me, Gourry, did you ever age mentally past the age of seven?” Luna asked.

 

“I don't think he can answer that one,” Lina muttered.

 

After an hour, they reached the inn Lina and Gourry had stayed at the previous night. Lina headed in to reserve two rooms, knowing there was no way she could get away with just one thanks to her sister. Her stomach growled and it was early afternoon. They had missed lunch. She exchanged a look with Gourry and saw the hunger in his own eyes. They shared a smile. Definitely lunch time.

 

“Hold it,” Luna said, snagging Lina's arm as she headed for the dining room. “You and I need to talk.”

 

Lina hesitated. “Um…after lunch?”

 

“No, now.” Luna nodded to Gourry. “You go ahead and eat. We'll be awhile.” She propelled Lina around and marched her out of the inn before she could start to protest. “One word about missing a meal and I'll make sure that you'll live to regret it.”

 

Lina decided that the smartest thing to do was keep her mouth shut.

 

The Inverse sisters walked side by side out of the village and down the road heading toward Zefiel City. They were a half day's walk from their home and for a time, Lina wondered if she was being taken to see her parents. That didn't make sense though. If they were doing that, Luna would had insisted that Gourry had gone along and they had left him behind at the inn.

 

Luna veered off the road onto a dirt path and Lina glanced around at the somewhat familiar scenery. Before the search for the Darkstar weapons, she hadn't been back in her own kingdom in a good five or six years. It didn't take long for her to realize where they were heading and her stomach twisted itself into a knot as they headed deeper into the woods.

 

When they emerged from the trees, they stood at the edge of the road. Where it had once curved gently toward sea level and a beautiful white sand beach, it was now cut off in a jagged edge and a steep drop to the sea below.

 

Lina stared into the water and decided that the angry churning completely fit the way she was feeling at the moment.

 

“You recognize this place.”

 

“How the hell do I forget it?” Lina snapped and looked back at her sister. “This is where I first cast the Giga Slave.”

 

“The imperfect Giga Slave,” Luna corrected her.

 

“Yes. Imperfect.” Lina remembered the time that she had cast it perfectly and wanted to swear at both herself and Luna. Since they had rescued the Sword of Light, she hadn't been haunted by what had happened.

 

Now it all came back to her, and not just the fight with Phibrizzo. Lina thought of her initial fight with Shabranigdu, the one with Copy Rezo, Gaav, Rikufalso and Hureika. She remembered looking into a mirror generated by the leftover memories of Aqualord, showing her what could had happened if she hadn't succeeded in channeling the Giga Slave into the Sword of Light. Tears ran down her cheeks as the images of Amelia and Zelgadiss being sucked into the Sea of Chaos came back to her mind. She closed her eyes when she relived the images she'd seen of Gourry reaching for her, their hands barely touching and then he was sucked away.

 

She wished more than anything that he was by her side at that moment.

 

“Why did you bring me back here?” she asked in a hoarse voice, her hands clenched into fists. “Why are you making me do this?”

 

Luna looked up into the sky. “Lina, why did I tell you to leave home six years ago?”

 

The corners of her mouth tugged. “Something to do with my selling pictures of you in the bath?”

 

Luna glared at her and despite the tears, Lina gave her a cheeky grin. “No,” Luna replied shortly. “Though, believe me, little sister, you might want to avoid the Sorcerer's Guild for awhile. I think they still get a chuckle out of the images of you potty training that someone just happened to slip them.” She smirked when all the color drained from Lina's face.

 

“Despite those circumstances, that wasn't it.” Luna turned her focus back to the sea. “I made the decision when you tried to cast the Giga Slave. Not many people saw it for what it was. I did. So did Mama.”

 

Lina startled. “Mama?”

 

“Are you forgetting that not only are you a merchant's daughter, but you're also a sorceress'?”

 

“Of course not!”

 

“Then why are you so surprised that our mother knows of the Giga Slave? She was quite the accomplished sorceress for her time. One would suppose that she was the Lina Inverse of her day.”

 

Lina honestly never thought of it. Lana Inverse was only slightly taller than her and mother and daughter had regularly competed to see if Lina would finally gain the inches needed to be taller than her mother. That had never happened. Mother and youngest daughter had also shared a tendency toward a smaller bust size, which prompted many men to who commented on that to be kicked out of the store.

 

But, growing up, she had seen the shrewd, calculating side of her mother that she thought came from being a merchant. Her mother practiced some light spellwork, but never engaged in anything heavy. Lina was quite sure she'd never even see a fireball come from her. A lot of it had to do with her mother's feelings toward the Sorcerer's Guild. They had wanted her to teach and she turned them down. She hadn't stopped Lina from taking classes there.

 

“After you cast the Giga Slave, Mama and I realized that you needed to travel and to learn on your own. Not just for you to gain the power that the sham of a Sorcerer's Guild in Zefielia couldn't teach you, but to give you the wisdom and maturity to handle it.” Luna gave her a sidelong look. “It took you long enough to gain that. If I had been anywhere in the area when you used the Giga Slave on Shabrangidu, I would had kicked your ass. I should kick your ass for using it again against Phibrizzo.”

 

“There was nothing else to do!” Lina shot back at her. “He was killing Gourry!”

 

“You would choose the life of one man over the entire universe?” Luna yelled.

 

“Yes and I'd do it again if I had to do it all over!” Lina's voice dropped to a whisper. “You don't know how long that haunted me. I thought everyone would hate me, being so selfish. I am selfish because this world wouldn't be worth much for me at all if he wasn't in it.”

 

“You are selfish,” Luna agreed. “It was an immature, stupid decision. I don't appreciate having my life potentially be sacrificed in order for you to save one man.” The look in her eyes gentled. “I'm also very proud of you for what you did. The reasons were selfish, but this world wouldn't be worth much either way if Phibrizzo had gotten control of everything. The oblivion of the Sea of Chaos would had been welcomed if that had happened.”

 

When Lina didn't say anything, Luna continued. “It was selfish, but at the same time you learned something that's even eluded me. You learned to place another person's life before your own, Lina. I'm sure that if something happened to our family, you wouldn't hesitate in defending it. You wanted him to have a life, even if it meant sacrificing your own. It's something you didn't know before you left home. You've grown up. You've fallen in love and even though I do question the man's mental capacities, I suppose you could had done worse. I'm proud of you.”

 

Drained, Lina sank to the ground and dangled her feet off the edge of the cliff. “Is that what you brought me out here for?”

 

“Not quite.” Luna settled herself next to her. “Part of it. I'm not without my resources, Lina. I know in good detail what's happened to you since you came across the Philosopher's Stone and decided to keep it.”

 

“Xelloss.”

 

“A good guess and a correct one.” A cryptic smile tugged at the corner of her lips. “Zelas' general and I have quite the history, going back to the day where he happened to witness your first Giga Slave attempt. We have had many discussions regarding your activities, though he does not know the details of what happened in Airlord's lands. For that, you will need to fill me in.”

 

She did. For the next three hours, Lina recounted her trip overseas in great detail. At one point, she pulled off her glove and displayed the Airlord emblem on the back of her hand. Luna said little during the time. When Lina finished, Luna sighed. “I know you keep a stash of food in your cloak. Bring it out.”

 

It wasn't the feast she had served for Lyos, but it was enough to feed the two of them. They ate in companionable silence. When they had finished, Luna got to her feet. “You haven't asked me yet.”

 

“About what?” Lina looked up from the last of her sandwich.

 

“About why I insisted that you help Filia.”

 

“I figured you'd get to it eventually.”

 

Luna inclined her head slightly. “`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 twilight and brilliant beyond the dawn. When the power is loosed, we shall fall to an arrow which will split the heavens apart.' That's what the prophecy says. Have you thought about what it means?”

 

“Not really,” Lina admitted. “Filia's brought it up a couple of times, but we've been so busy trying to find the weapons before Almayce or Valgaav does that we haven't dwelt on it that much. Filia talked about it some when she originally told it to me, and some parts have become apparent. The five lights refer to the five weapons. She says that the power between the light and the darkness refers to humans.”

 

Luna didn't say anything for a minute. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “There's a funny little thing about prophecies,” she said in a slightly bitter voice, “and that is different people have different interpretations of the prophecy. Did Filia tell you that I delayed for a day before giving her my answer?”

 

Surprised, Lina shook her head. “No, she didn't.”

 

“I wanted to interpret the prophecy for myself. At the same time, one of your letters had managed to reach us, the one where you told us about Airlord's power and how you were staying behind to explore the lands across the sea for a few months. Everything has a coincidence, Lina.” Luna gestured to the inlet. “Your ability to cast the Giga Slave is no mistake. You were given that knowledge, the capacity to contain such a power for a reason.”

 

Something cold started to form in Lina's stomach and she did her best to ignore it for the moment. “I've already used my power to defeat a piece of Shabranigdu and help bring down Phibrizzo, plus Rikufalso and Hureika.”

 

“I know.” Luna closed her eyes and it looked to Lina that she was drawing upon some source of inner strength. “There shall come a controller of a Darkstar, who calls forth the light and the world shall be flooded in darkness. I think that this might refer to Valgaav, though it could also apply to Almayce. Hell, it could even apply to Xelloss if we can ever find out what his intentions are. That is the person that will ultimately need to be defeated.”

 

Lina shrugged. “I was kind of expecting that.”

 

“Dragon's blood shall spread and following the power between light and darkness, a single star shall be awakened. You fought at Filia's temple, right?”

 

“Yeah, but none of the dragons were injured that I know of.”

 

“It might mean that more blood shall be spread, possibly in an effort to get the weapons. You mentioned that Filia's elder was not happy about any of this.”

 

“A tad bit upset,” Lina said dryly.

 

“Around the star shall spin five lights and the power shall be darker than twilight and brilliant beyond the dawn. When the power is loosed, we shall fall to an arrow which will split the heavens apart.” Luna opened her eyes and pinned Lina with a steely look. “When I looked at that and the statement above, I realized that Filia had it almost right. The power between the light and the darkness does refer to humans, or rather a single human.”

 

Lina's jaw fell. “Wait…wait a minute. I thought Filia was joking when it said…”

 

“She doesn't know. It's my belief that the prophecy specifically refers to you.”

 

Lina was grateful that she was sitting, because she was sure that her legs wouldn't be able to support her at the moment. “Why?”

 

“Because you are an unusual human being, Lina. You are the only one that I am aware of who has the capacity to draw upon the power of both the gods and the chaotic magic from Mazoku. Humans have the capacity to learn those spells, but there isn't a single one alive that could pull off a Ragna Blade followed by the use of Airlord's powers. I'm not a sorceress, nor do I want to be one. But I do know that those two realms of magic are polar opposites.”

 

“Sylphiel! She can cast both Dragon Slave and Resurrection.”

 

“That's white magic and black magic in its basic form. You're going up against a fully intact dark lord, Lina. That'll most likely require Holy and Chaotic Magics of a higher level than that, even though the Dragon Slave is incredibly powerful.” Luna kept her gaze leveled with Lina's. “To fulfill the prophecy, you'll have to draw upon both the god's magic and the Mazoku magic you have inside you at the same time. You'll use that channeled with the energy from the Darkstar weapons. You'll only have one shot to stop everything. You'll most likely be killed in the process.”

 

——-

 

She wanted to be alone. She needed to be alone. There was no other way she could even begin to handle what her sister had told her without the solitude. Luna had respected her wishes, told her that she would be back in the morning and had walked away. For a moment, Lina wondered if her sister had gone back home to their parents. Did they even know about the prophecy?

 

Her mother had told her after being subjected to Luna's punishments that she had the strength to get through anything that life handed her. For the most part, Lina considered it to be true. She faced everything life threw with her with conviction because she wasn't going to sit there and allow someone else to dictate her fate for her. Yet this was exactly what this prophecy was doing. If Luna's interpretation was correct, it was Lina's destiny to face Darkstar - an intact dark lord that would be more powerful than the one piece of Shabranigdu she'd fought - and take him out and herself possibly with it.

 

She'd faced death before, nearly on a constant basis since she'd turned 15. She wasn't afraid of dying. She'd faced all of her mortal battles with the knowledge that she had done everything that she could. If she was going to die, then the act would be her decision.

 

But she wasn't being given a choice in this matter and for some reason, it didn't seem very fair. Lina thought back to the Giga Slave and realized why Luna had her talk about it. It had been a similar situation. She had taken the fate of the world in her hands then as well, but it had been strictly her own decision at that moment. She was at peace knowing that Gourry would live on, as well as her friends.

 

Lina started trudging back toward Rufala, knowing that it would take her at least an hour to get back, if not more. She could had flown, but she needed to walk and think. Every task she'd done, from making the decision to take on Rezo to going after Airlord's power had been something she wanted to do. She never wanted to be part of this prophecy to begin with. She wanted to explore what had finally been realized in Kunan, when she accepted her feelings for Gourry. She wanted to explore, to collect treasure and to do what she'd done for years.

 

This time, she wasn't at peace. She wasn't ready to die. She wasn't going to give up everything because of some stupid meddler from another plane of their universe. Darkstar is their dark lord. Someone from their world can deal with it, thank you very much.

 

Another blessing about the previous times she had faced death - there hadn't been this foreknowledge of it. Every decision had been made right at the critical moment and there wasn't time to think over the pros and cons of it. As she walked, Lina thought back to every decision she had ever made and the weight of what Auntie Aqua had once shown her came back to her. She had replayed Lina's decision to use the Giga Slave against Shabranigdu to show her the possible consequences of not thinking again. Lina gave a bitter laugh. She'd turned right around and done it again with Phibrizzo.

 

Lina stared up at the stars as she approached the inn, her hand curling into a fist. Hang it. I'm not going to let Darkstar screw up my life. I'm going to figure out a way to get rid of him without having to use both powers in myself. If not, I'll…

 

“There you are!” Lina startled, whirled around in time to see Gourry striding across the front lobby of the inn toward her. He was grinning and looked well rested. Probably had spent a good bit of the afternoon sleeping, she thought. She gripped doorway as he reached her side and fondly ruffled her hair.

 

“You two were gone a long time. Did you go visit your folks?”

 

“No,” she replied tightly. “We had a very long talk, that's all.”

 

“That's a good thing! You should spend more time with your sister. Families are pretty important,” he lectured and headed for the dining room. He plopped into the first empty seat he saw, reached for the menu and paused, giving her a concerned look. “Lina, are you okay? Wanna eat?”

 

“I'm not hungry,” she declared and turned away from him. “I'm going to go take a nap.”

 

She could feel herself losing it, could feel the enormous weight of what Luna had told her about to crash down on her. She moved quickly away from the table, bolted up the stairs. She reached their room and had nearly thrown the door shut when Gourry inserted his hand through the crack. It nearly slammed on him instead. She gave him a furious look as he shoved it open. “I want some privacy!”

 

“Not until you tell me what's wrong!”

 

“Nothing's wrong!”

 

“Bullshit!”

 

I can't tell him. Lina turned away from him, clenched her hands into fists. If I tell him, it'll tear him apart. He'll want to save me and…he can't. Not this time. She stared at her hands, Luna's words echoing in her mind.

 

“Lina?” Gourry's voice was much softer now and he placed a hand on her shoulder. “What's bothering you?”

 

She wasn't sure if the comforting gesture did it, or Luna's words finally hitting their mark. She whirled around, threw her arms around him and began to sob. He staggered back from the force of the embrace, but quickly returned it. On some level it terrified him. He'd seen Lina in all sorts of moods - from ecstatic to worried. He'd never seen her cry, not like this. Not like her world was ending.

 

Mortified at herself, she pulled away and saw the large damp patch on his shirt where the tears soaked through. She drew in several deep breaths, regained her composure. An old saying of her mother's came back to her. Those who dance must pay the fiddler. Lina had done a lot of dancing in her own way and this was the result of wanting to gather so much power. I don't want to die. I'll figure a way around this. There has to be another solution. I can't tell anyone. Not Amelia, not Zel. Especially not Gourry.

 

She reached for him, jerked on his shirt until they were nearly eye-level and crushed her lips to his.

 

If this is all the time I've got left, damn it, I'm going to make sure I don't regret any of it.

 

——-

 

He stared at the ceiling, watching the moonlight crawl along the wood paneling. On the other side of the room, he could hear the water clock ticking off the seconds until dawn. His hand absently moved through the hair splayed across his chest.

 

On many levels, he felt better than he had ever felt in his life. It hadn't been perfect and they were both realistic enough to realize that going into this. But the release of the tension that had been building between them for years had been nothing short of…well… He was sure that there was a word out there for it. Lina probably knew what it was, the feeling when everything has suddenly relaxed after being tensed for so long. It just felt good.

 

But Gourry also knew that something was very wrong.

 

He hadn't had much of a chance to think after everything had started. Lina had been mad about the Sword of Light, but that'd been normal for her. It didn't really thrill him that much either, but there was nothing they could really do about it at the moment. They were going to get it back. He puzzled briefly over how detached he felt about the sword now. Maybe it was because it was gone for so long. It also helped that he had a good sword to replace it at the moment. He was grateful he hadn't gotten rid of it.

 

Then she had gone off with her sister and had come back looking shattered. Whatever had troubled her, she had managed to hide it. Usually he could tell what she was thinking, but not with this. Whatever it was, she was determined not to say anything about it. His hold on her tightened. The best thing he could do was respect her wishes about it. Maybe she would feel like talking about it in the morning.

 

He never got a chance to bring up the subject. Somewhere between waking up to find Lina initiating a repeat of their previous nighttime activities and waging their daily war over who got the most muffins, the issue slipped from his mind. As they finished their breakfast, Luna strode back into the dining room with an elf girl dressed in armor by her side. Gourry spotted her first, the sight so unusual that he stopped eating. Lina took this chance to relieve him of his toast.

 

“What's going on?” she asked between bites, turned and stilled when Luna and the elf approached the table.

 

The elf gave them a nod. “I'm Memphis Linesword. I'm here to escort the two of you to Milgasia-sama. I'll be going for your friends Amelia wil Tesla Saillune, Zelgadiss Greywords and Lyos, the Knight of Aqualord shortly. The other members of your party, the two servants of the gods, are with Milgasia-sama now.”

 

They made it. Lina dropped the toast and stood. Her eyes fixed on Luna's. If her interpretation of the prophecy was correct, she would never see her sister again. For a moment, she was overcome with the need just to hug her sister, to hang on and be a little girl. But the two had never shown much physical affection toward each other.

 

“Well, don't want to keep him waiting,” she said lightly. She nudged Gourry's leg with her foot. “C'mon, big guy. Let's get going.”

 

Gourry shoveled in two more pieces of bacon and a forkful of eggs before abandoning his breakfast. The three followed Memphis outside. Lina hesitated, then turned back to Luna. “I'll make you proud,” she said.

 

Luna smiled. “You've already made me very proud, Lina.” Without acknowledging the look of shock that passed over her sister's face, she turned and started down the road to Zefiel City.

 

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Author's Note: Luna's role has ended in this story, but it can't be said that she didn't leave an impact.

I know it might seem confusing - why does Lina protest facing certain death when she's done it before? In all of her previous life-or-death encounters, those happened by sheer accident. Lina was faced with a situation and made a conscious effort to cast the Giga Slave, acquire Airlord's powers, what have you. With the prophecy being interpreted the way that Luna sees it, all of the choice is taken out of Lina's hands. No matter what she does, this is her fate. For those of you who have read Harry Potter, you'll recognize the theme as being similiar to Harry's trials. Harry made the conscious decision to go after the Philosopher's Stone, to save Ginny from Tom Riddle, to rescue Buckbeak and to save Sirius. However, everything changes once Harry is told the prophecy in Order of the Phoenix. No matter what Harry does, it is his fate to be the one to bring down Voldemort or die trying. And here, Lina is the one fated to bring down Darkstar or die trying. Lina Inverse is a very strong-willed woman. She does not like being pushed around or told what to do. This prophecy does exactly that. She's going to struggle with it for awhile.

And yes, she and Gourry finally did it. No, there's not going to be a lemon version of this chapter. For those wanting fruity goodness, there's going to be some later on in the story. The description of the place where Lina first cast the Giga Slave is based off what she tells us in the novels. Luna referring to Xelloss is a reference to an excellent fanfic I read sometime back that has Xelloss encountering Luna after Lina first cast the Giga Slave.