Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Inner Beings ❯ Lina's Afterthoughts ( Chapter 6 )

A/N: For those of you who were wondering, Lina does indeed have a human spirit. It's proven in this chapter, too. I'll explain about Luna in the next chapter. Meanwhile, read and review!

Lina's Afterthoughts

A few hours after dawn, on the morning after the strange confessions, Gourry, Amelia, and Zelgadis woke up to a loud, echoing scream coming from Lina's bedchamber. Jumping out of bed and into their clothes, they rushed quickly to investigate. Back at the chamber, Luna and Pico winced. They had decided to stay in Lina's bedchamber and make sure that she would be alright. Well, while she slept she was, but when she woke up she seemed absolutely furious at someone, or something.

Steam coming from her ears, Lina hopped out of bed and walked into her large closet. A few minutes later, she came out holding a large, foldable, three-sided, full-body mirror, which she roughly set up at the front of her bed. She quickly mumbled a spell and there, in the mirror, stood the three spirits inside Lina that everyone had met the night before. They slightly smiled, trying to make Lina feel better, but they knew what was coming. Luna had no time to be surprised by this, as Lina quickly started yelling at the reflections. "HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO ME!!!! HAVE YOU EVEN REALIZED THE DAMAGE YOU HAVE NOW CAUSED TO MY LIFE?!?!?! I can't believe you'd even THINK of doing something like that! Especially NOW of all times! Now that you have ALL said it, I can't even DARE to face him! L- SAMA!! You guys are SO annoying!!! Well, what do you have to say for yourselves?" Lina was glaring menacingly at the mirror, so she hadn't noticed three figures come to her door and peek in. Even before they had reached the door, Lina's companions had heard everything that she said and were confused by her statements.

The three spirits had cringed at Lina's words and volume. They were looking down at the ground like little children who had just been caught by their angry parent. Finally, Kollina looked up at Lina and replied with an attempt at a smile, "We're sorry. It's what The Lord of Nightmares (L- sama) wanted, you know. I can't disobey her and these two were getting bored as well. Don't hurt us for saying this, but if you're stubborn and won't admit it, you'll lose your chance forever. We were only doing this for your own good. But we're sorry if we hurt your feelings in the process. We should have consulted you first, not afterwards." Angelina and Mazolina nodded in agreement. Lina got even madder. "I DON'T CARE if L-sama told you to do it. You should have consulted me first, at LEAST. And so what if I'm stubborn. With you guys with me, I'll have forever to tell him. Or if I don't, why should I when I know he'll be long gone before I even know it? I'll just get more hurt than I already am!" The three spirits looked down again in silence. They knew Lina was right, but they didn't know what to say. So Luna decided to butt in.

"Lina. Just what ARE you talking about? What's this about you telling someone something and him dying long before you?" Lina jumped in surprise at Luna's voice. She hadn't realized that anyone else was in her room, since she was so absorbed in yelling at her spirits. She quickly recovered and snorted. "Hmph. Haven't you realized it yet? I have an angel, a mazoku, AND the Knight of L-SAMA living inside of me. Each and every one of them is virtually immortal by themselves and together they can protect my body from almost any harm. Therefore, I am pretty much immortal and will outlive almost anyone I meet. So what's the point of ever falling in love, or more so, ever telling them my feelings? Before even a hundredth of my life is gone, they'll die and I'll have to live on in grief. So, why bother?"

Luna was awfully surprised at Lina's tone of voice with her, but let it past considering she was having an emotional crisis right now. "Well, why not? Even if you outlive them, you can still enjoy their company while it lasts. Or you could find a way to keep them with you forever, though that might seem a bit selfish." Encouraged by Luna's words, Angelina added their agreement. "Yes, Lina-san. Half the people that are couples in the world today always outlive their lover anyway. Someone has to die first. But why can't you just enjoy the sensation of loving while you still can? There's still time left you know."

Lina snorted again and turned her head to one side, but kept an eye on the spirits. "Feh. Whatever. But what about you guys? Since you live inside me, and you already confessed YOUR feelings, what am I supposed to do when I see them? Especially when one of you takes me over again? Ever thought of that?" The three spirits were quiet again. They knew how they would react. Each one would kiss their love in turn, but to the eyes of whoever didn't know about them, it would look as if Lina was triple-timing the three guys. Everybody who was listening to the conversation stood quietly contemplating the problem at hand. Lina started pacing and spoke her thoughts quietly. "Well, I certainly don't want any of you to act your feelings through me. I wish you could just leave my body and - wait a minute. No, that won't do. I won't be immortal anymore." Looking up at Lina, Kollina cocked her head and asked, "What's your idea? Maybe we can improvise on it." Lina stopped and looked at Kollina. "You want to know? Okay, here goes. I remember back when I was fifteen, we came across someone who made dozens of perfect copies. In Sairaag, remember? I was thinking that if it was rebuilt, we could go back to that Guild we went to and ask them to make three copies of me. One for each of you to inhabit. That way, you can all separately act on your emotions, without me and you won't have to fight over who's the prettiest or anything. The only problem is, even separately, you guys are all immortal. But without you, I'm just a normal human who can and will soon die." Mazolina stroked her chin in thought. "Hey, that's not a bad idea. But you're right, it would leave you really vulnerable. Say, who do you love right now? I think I may have the answer, depending on yours."

Lina blushed and took a quick glance in Luna's direction. "It's a secret and I'm not even completely sure right now. I won't tell you if we aren't alone. But what was your idea?" Mazolina looked on at Lina. "Well. You just need one of us to be immortal right? So.if you just made two copies and one of us stayed with you, then you could stay immortal. But it will only work if you love someone that one of us loves too. So do you?" Lina looked down, blushing still. Just then, Gourry leaned in to hear better, got caught in Zelgadis' newly soft hair, and sneezed. Startled, Luna, Lina, and Lina's three spirits looked at the door to see who was there. Realizing that her close friends had already heard everything she said, she blushed and looked down again. But suddenly a thought came into her mind, and she stomped toward them, enraged once more.

"What do you think you're doing?! Peeking into my room like that! What if I wasn't fully-clothed! Eavesdropping is impolite, too! Knock next time! Geez.And to think I said all that in front of them too." Lina hit each of them in turn upside the head and walked back in front of the mirror. She sat down, undid the spell on the mirror, and closed her eyes. Telepathically, she told the spirits her answer. 'All right. You have to promise not to tell a single soul this before I do. The one I'm in love with is.Gourry Gabriev. He's a bit, no a lot, on the dumb side, but he's still handsome and charming, not to mention a great swordsman, too. But I've spent too much time of my life, at least the first 18 years, trying my best to ignore and get shoved away by men of any age. I tried to make it look as if I despised all men, and tried to make them feel the same way towards me. I think I've been successful so far, too. I know I told Gourry that I was short and underdeveloped because of the magic I used, but it's also because when I first cast the Dragon Slave, I allowed the black magic to take over my body, at least the appearance anyway. If I tried, I could do away with the mask-body that I have formed and take back the body that is rightfully mine, one that is almost or more beautiful than my mother or Gracia combined.'

Angelina answered her back. 'Then why don't you? You just purchased that lovely red dress. If you take off your mask, you'll most definitely stun and grasp the attention of every man attending your ball, including Gourry dear. It could really be good for you, you know.' Kollina also added her thoughts on it. 'Yes, it's true. Also, if you band together with Angelina to show your emotions, you might have twice the fun than you would have had alone. After all, even Angelina has a cunning and mischievous side. If you're worried that you might go too far for your own good, don't worry - we'll stop you before anything happens. As you already know, we can be very forceful if we need to.' Mazolina decided to add her encouragement, too. 'Why don't you go for it? With us there with you, none of us will get hurt. And if you show your love to Gourry that night, well, we won't stop you. He even proposed to you last night, didn't he? So come on. Just do it! Give us separate bodies, order our stuff for us, take off your mask, and enjoy your ball! I know that sounds like a lot, but you're very much capable of doing all that and more. We believe in you, Lina!' Lina smiled outwardly. 'Alright but I'm not showing my feelings anytime soon.'

Getting up, she walked over to her friends. Finally getting a good look at Zelgadis, she realized just how good he looked. 'Good work Kollina. You really outdid yourself with him.' 'Thank you, Lina,' came the reply. As her eyes softened, she spoke to Zelgadis. "Kollina's spell made you look really handsome, Zel. But I still agree with everyone else, you looked cool as a chimera, strong and powerful. Now you look a bit less handsome, in my opinion, and very vulnerable. Soon, you'll see just what I mean." With that, Lina smirked evilly and made her way past them, towards the dining hall. "Well? Luna, Zel, Gourry, Amelia? Are you coming or not? Aren't you hungry?" Snapping out of their daze as they watched Lina, they all rushed after her. Ten minutes later, they were eating breakfast.

Surprising everybody, Lina only ate a little bit, and slowly at that. After finishing, she stood up and looked around at their faces. She announced, "Today, I'm leaving for Sairaag. I have some business to attend to. I'm going alone and Gourry don't worry about coming along to protect me. Now that they're all awake and ready, they can easily protect me themselves. I'll be back in less than five days. I'll definitely be back for the ball. I wish I could be here for the week of Zelgadis' trial cure, but this can't wait. Meanwhile, help the staff get ready for the ball. See if you can give it an additional theme too. Well, I'm off. Bye." With that, Lina smiled, her eyes turned pure red, like Mazolina, and she teleported from the room. They all sat stunned for a while until Luna took over. She started ordering them to go here and there getting this and that. This was Lina's 18th birthday ball after all. It had to be perfect.

Lina had teleported to the front of a small house in Sairaag. As Lina gained control again, she looked around, confused. 'Where am I?' 'In front of Sylphiel's house. You should invite her to your ball. It's only polite. Besides, you need a place to stay while the copies are getting made, right?' Lina smiled. Angelina was always kind and considerate of everybody. She was just glad that Angelina didn't often take complete control over her. Lina stepped forward and knocked on the door. She heard a muffled 'Coming!' from within the house, and after about one minute, the door opened and Sylphiel stood in front of her. Lina smiled. "Hey Sylphiel! How's everything? Is Sairaag completely restored now?" Sylphiel gasped. The last person she'd expect to visit her was Lina. Nevertheless, she was overjoyed and hugged Lina tightly in greeting. "Oh, Miss Lina! It's so nice of you to drop by! Please, please, come in." Before she could reply, Sylphiel led Lina through the open door and into her home.

As she led the way to the living room, Sylphiel answered Lina's questions. "Oh, I'm doing fine here. Yes, we just finished completely restoring Sairaag a month ago. But why are you here, now?" Sylphiel seated Lina on a comfy sofa and sat down herself. "Well, I was just wondering about something. You know that copying Guild we visited before Copy Rezo destroyed the city? Do you know if that was ever restored?" Sylphiel looked confused at Lina's question. "Yes.it was in the part of Sairaag that didn't get hit. It was barely far enough away so that the Lord of Nightmares didn't touch it either. Why?" Lina sighed with relief. "Good. It's a long story, but I need to make three, no just two copies of my body. I also wanted to ask you if you wanted to come to a ball I'm hosting in four days. You see, I was a runaway princess, but I came back to my hometown yesterday because I needed to celebrate my 18th birthday there. If you need me to, I'll pay for your dress too. But, I'm afraid, once I go back, Gourry will no longer be an option for your date. So can you come?" Sylphiel still perplexed, questioned Lina. "You're a princess? Hmm.that explains some things. I can't believe you'd actually offer to pay for my dress, but I'll come. Since we finished restoring the city, I have nothing to do here. Also, why do you say Gourry will be taken? Did you confess?"

Lina frowned, but Angelina briefly took her over and squealed in delight. "Yay! You're coming! Hmm? Oh Gourry? Lina didn't confess to him, I did. My name's Angelina!" Lina regained control as she mentally beat Angelina back. 'Stop butting in and telling everybody that! You're going to really embarrass me soon! "Sorry Sylphiel. I'll explain later when we get back to the castle. Can you lead me to the Guild? And can I stay here while I'm waiting for them to finish? I promise I won't eat you out of house and home. I'll even help you around the house!" Sylphiel looked at Lina, still surprised by her politeness and consideration for her, but nodded. "Sure, I guess. Just let me lock up and I'll lead you there. Just wait outside while I get ready. "Okay. See you outside!" With that, Lina walked out of the house and waited. Getting bored, she started humming a song to her spirits. It was a song she had made up long ago to thank any one of her spirits whenever they made her happy. The song made them happy too, because it meant that Lina was happy.

Soon, Sylphiel joined Lina and they Ray Winged to the Guild. When they arrived, Lina was the one to knock on the door and they eagerly awaited the answer. Soon, the familiar brown-haired man opened the door. Lina quickly stated her proposal before the man could react to her coming back. "I need two excellent-condition copies of me as soon as possible. I'll pay you 5,000 gold pieces now and if you do a good job in a small amount of time, I'll give you another 15,000 gold pieces afterwards. So, can you do it?" The old man appeared at the door, hearing Lina's proposal. The reply came quickly and eagerly. "A total of 20,000 gold pieces for just two copies? Done! Please, come in!" And so, Lina's copy period began.

A/N: Ah! Lina forgot about Gourry proposing and left him hanging! What'll poor Gourry do now? Anywayz.Next will be a glimpse of Zel's trial cure and the trouble he goes through to see how he likes it. Please Review! *Pout* I'm bored. I need reviews!