Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Inner Beings ❯ The Long Awaited Birthday Ball ( Chapter 9 )

A/N: Thank you for reviews! This chapter will start the right before the ball starts. Lina invited Naga to the ball. She did her hideous laugh, but accepted. Lina told Naga to try to dress with a bit more covering this time and she said she'd do her best. Lina is a bit doubtful of her decision to invite her. Oh, and Kollina performed her five-hour chimera spell. But Zel thinks it makes him human permanently.

The Long-Awaited Birthday Ball

Amelia knocked on Lina's bedchamber door. "Lina-san, are you ready yet? Almost all of your guests are here already. Do you need help?"

Lina replied quickly, "I'm almost ready. Just make sure everybody's ready for my arrival. Naga, Gourry, and I will be eating tonight, so make sure the kitchen has a back-up food supply. When the clock strikes eight, open the doors and I'll be there, okay? Kollina and Mazolina are here with me, so I don't need any extra help. See you at the ball!"

Amelia sweatdropped when she heard about the food. But she nodded at the door and left. "All right Lina-san. See you at 8."

Inside the room, all three were all ready dressed up. The dresses were all of the same design, but with different colors. Lina gave Mazolina her new red dress because it fitted her image as a demon/mazoku. She also bought a black dress for Kollina because it was black liked darkness/chaos. For herself, Lina bought a silky white dress with gold trimmings for an angel lord. Lina also had a diamond-embedded tiara to show that she was Zelphilia's princess.

Lina exhaled. She was nervous. She hadn't been to a ball in about 6 or 7 years. Kollina put a hand on Lina's shoulder. "Lina-san, we're all ready. Now the only thing left is your spell. Are you ready to cast it?"

Lina nodded. She gestured that they should hold hands and form a circle. Once that was done, Lina closed her eyes and whispered a spell. When she finished, a golden circle formed around them. As it lifted off the ground and eventually over their heads, the trio's figures changed. Once the golden ring had disappeared, they looked at each other and smiled. All three had grown about three inches and their curves had grown along with their height. Their figures weren't as big as Naga's, but they were eye- catching all the same.

Mazolina looked at the clock. It was ten minutes to eight. "Lina, we should get going." Lina nodded and started for the door. As she was about to close it behind Kollina, Mazolina, and herself, she said, "Come on Pico. You can escort us to the ballroom door. You can be a guard dog for the night." Pico barked happily and went after Lina.

When they arrived, they only had to wait about 30 seconds before the clock chimed eight. Lina stepped forward and Mazolina and Kollina stood behind her in silence. The doors opened and the music coming from within immediately stopped. Everybody looked towards the door.

Lina smiled and made her way to her throne chair. She didn't sit, but stood in front of it. Addressing the whole room, she proclaimed, "Welcome to my 18th Birthday Ball. I know I haven't been home for quite some time now, but I have returned. And if all goes as planned, I will stay for good. Now enjoy the night, be merry, and have fun!" With that, everybody clapped and the music resumed. Lina walked into the crowd with Kollina and Mazolina following her. Her group of friends were the first to come up to them.

Gourry was wearing a baby blue tuxedo, with an off-white shirt underneath. Xellos was wearing a violet tuxedo, with a light lavender shirt underneath. Zelgadis was wearing the traditional black tuxedo, with a white shirt underneath. All three had a black bowtie and a red rose in their pockets.

Xellos held Mazolina's hands and said, "You look beautiful tonight." Zelgadis scratched his head and blushed. "You look nice, too." Gourry should have said something nice, but it came out as, "Lina! You grew! Your chest, too!"

At this everybody sweatdropped and Lina held up a fist. She wanted to hit Gourry, but she didn't have the heart to, tonight. So Kollina and Mazolina bonked Gourry on the head for her. Mazolina hissed at him, "How inconsiderate of you! You really should learn manners!"

With a sigh, Lina waved everybody after her as she walked over to the buffet table. After Lina gathered about fifteen plates of food, she set them down at a table, and started to eat. Her friends followed suit, but sat at a nearby table. Mazolina and Kollina ate with Lina and shared her food. Lina didn't mind this, as long as they got her second and third helpings. Eating with politeness and manners, Lina contently ate with her eyes mostly closed. When she was finally full, Lina sat back and patted her stomach.

Just then, the current song stopped, and a slow song began. Gourry got up to ask Lina to dance, but a crowd of other random men, blocked his path. It seems as if Lina had been fairly popular with the guys when she was little, because she wasn't mean to them as kids, and they all saw how she had grown up when she made her announcement.

The first guy said, "Happy Birthday, Lina. Want to dance with me?" Another guy asked, "Hey, who are those two? I've never seen them before." Lina eyed the two guys and frowned. "No, I don't want to dance at the moment, I just ate. These two are Kollina and Mazolina. They're my long- lost triplet sisters."

The guys looked at all three of them in turn. Finally, another guy asked Mazolina, "What about you? Do you want to dance?" Mazolina looked at him, and then stole a glance at Xellos. Seeing that Xellos seemed to be ignoring her, she first looked at Lina for approval. When Lina nodded her consent, she told the guy, "Sure, why not?" With that, Mazolina and the third guy stepped onto the dance floor and started dancing. A young, handsome man asked Kollina the same, but she shook her head. "I'll stay here with Lina." Lina smiled at this, but the group of guys grumbled. As they walked away, Kollina and Lina could hear one of them grumbling, "The three most beautiful women in this whole room, and two of them don't want to dance at all. What luck." The two left at the table snickered happily at this.

After the song ended, Mazolina came back and they all started to chat quietly. The next song was a ballroom waltz. Gourry summed up his courage again and went over to Lina's table. Xellos and Zelgadis followed them. The girls looked up as the three men approached.

Gourry was the first to ask. "Lina, sorry about before. Would you like to dance?" Lina looked at Gourry with surprise. "You're forgiven for the night, but you actually know how to dance a ballroom waltz? It is a bit complicated, you know." Gourry looked at the couples already dancing, and then back at Lina. He nodded. "Oh, this dance? Yeah, I learned it back when I was at home. My mom taught me." Amused, Lina nodded and said, "All right. Let's go."

As they left for the dance floor, Xellos stepped up. "Mazolina, would you also like to dance?" Mazolina eyed Xellos and looked at him up and down. With a shrug, she replied, "I suppose so. If Lina is going to dance, I might as well, again." Xellos and Mazolina made their way to the floor.

With Zelgadis the only one left, he blushed slightly again. "Umm. Kollina? Do you want to dance?" Kollina smiled and said, "Okay. I'll have a better view of Lina from the floor anyway. Come on." As the three couples were dancing, the group of guys from before and Amelia were grumbling. The guys were grumbling, "So that's why they were holding back. They had their own dates. Darn them! They're a lot more handsome than us, too!" Amelia was grumbling because she wanted to dance with Zelgadis. However, she immediately stopped when Gracia sat down at the same table, right next to her.

Gracia, or Naga the Serpent, was wearing a flowing white dress, common to those of Seyruun royalty. In other words, she was wearing clothes fit for a Seyruun princess. "So, little sis, it's been a while. How have you been?" Amelia hugged Gracia and said, "I'm doing fine. Even better now that you're here." And so, the two sisters began to reminisce and tell each other their stories.

Back on the dance floor, all six of them were having the time of their lives. Everyone danced grandly and flawlessly. They decided to continue on, and danced for about an hour or so. It was now a slow song, so the girls put their heads on their partner's shoulder and the guy's chin went lightly on their heads. Quietly, Gourry asked Lina, "Hey, Lina? *Lina puts her head up and looks at Gourry* You remember about five days ago, when I proposed to you? Well, uh, you fainted so you didn't exactly give me an answer. Could you give it to me now?" Lina stopped dancing and took a step back. She tensed up as she thought of an answer, but after a few moments, she relaxed again. Her reply was, "Let's go to the balcony for privacy, then let me see the ring."

Willingly, Gourry walked with Lina to the balcony, just outside the ballroom, and stopped as they looked over the edge. It was a clear night, with a full moon and millions of twinkling stars. Gourry fished around his pockets and finally took out a familiar black box. He opened it and gave it to Lina. When she saw it, her eyes sparkled with greed, but when she touched it, she felt a surge of pain. Lina took her finger off the ring and knelt down, a hand on the ground.

Feeling Lina's pain, Mazolina and Kollina looked at each other in alarm and surprise. They nodded to each other, excused themselves from their partners, and rushed to the balcony. Once there, Kollina knelt down beside Lina to see if she was okay. Mazolina looked at Gourry and asked, "What happened?" With a worried, but clueless face, he answered, "I'm not sure. I gave Lina the ring to look at, she touched it, and fell to the floor."

Mazolina looked at the ring, went over to pick it up, and examined it. She recognized the ring immediately upon speculation and gave it to Kollina to see. Kollina gasped as she, too, recognized the ring. Turning to Gourry, she asked, "Where did you get this ring?" Gourry looked up in thought. "Um. I got it at a magic shop in town. I've been thinking of proposing to Lina for a while now, and it seemed like the perfect ring for her. Why? What's wrong with it?" Mazolina looked at Lina as she explained, "This ring is called The Ring of Darkness. When touched or put on, it has the power to drain the wearer of any possible goodness or light inside of them, leaving them evil and cold-hearted. Lina, who at the moment, only has Angelina inside of her, is especially vulnerable to this power. For since Angelina is completely pure and good, if Lina wears this, Angelina could disappear forever, and Lina would become basically a monster without an ounce of goodness left inside of her. How you could have found this ring in a local magic shop is beyond me. But I know that it isn't safe on Lina's hand, your hands, or anyone for that matter. I think I'll keep this for future reference."

With that, Mazolina opened a pocket dimension, dropped the box into it, and closed the hole up again. Kollina helped Lina get up. "Lina will be all right, she only touched it for a few seconds. Come on, let's go back inside." Lina nodded, and they were just about to go inside again, when a loud explosion could be heard at the front gate. Turning back to the balcony, they looked to see what was happening. There, in front of them, was a group of bandits, with what appeared to be a sorcerer guiding them. Sighing, Lina went to go deal with them, but collapsed slightly before even reaching the door leading back to the ballroom. As Mazolina helped Lina up, Kollina said, "Don't worry yourself over this, Lina-sama. Leave this to me. If you wish, you may watch me from here." With her head hung in disappointment, Lina nodded her consent. "Make sure you punish them well for coming on my birthday. Kollina nodded, walked briskly through the ballroom door, and out the front door.

Once she arrived, she put her hands on her hips and declared, "You there! Do you have any idea just whose castle you're attacking? *Amused, the sorcerer shook his head* This is Lina Inverse's castle! And I'm here to make sure that you shall go no further, ever!" At the name, the bandits all shuddered involuntarily. One of the bandits said, "Oh no! Not Lina Inverse! Quick! Let's get out of here!"

Looking up from the guard, the rest of the bandits looked over at Kollina. All but the sorcerer, grew wolfish fangs and started drooling at the sight of her. One of the bandits in the front said, "Wait! Come on! Let's get her first!" The bandits were about to rush forward, when the sorcerer stopped them. "Don't. Looks can be deceiving. I sense great magical power from her." Growling at the sorcerer, the bandits were about to pummel him, when they once again looked at the girl. Since making her declaration, Kollina had been chanting a spell. When they looked up at her again, she was almost done. ".by the power you and I possess! DRAGON SLAYER!!!"

Up above, everybody on the balcony heard what Kollina said. Mazolina, Gourry, and Lina had been joined by their other friends. Zelgadis was the first to point out, "Hey, she said 'Slayer' instead of 'Slave'! Was that supposed to happen?" While continuing to watch Kollina, Lina answered quietly, "Of course. The original Dragon SLAYER was only meant to hit the chosen target and none of the surrounding environment. But others fouled up and accidentally said Dragon Slave, and it stuck. Even you should know that if you change even a little bit of a spell, the results will be different. So instead of just killing the chosen target, the spell was altered to make a big explosion. Mazolina knew this, but being the mischievous monster that she is, she decided to keep it as Dragon Slave, just for fun. Kollina knows that I definitely don't want my castle and city to blow up, so she's restraining the spell. See?"

While she was explaining, a black lightning beam shot from Kollina's outstretched hands. It outlined a black circle around the bandits, carefully dodging the guard. Then, the black beam suddenly stopped moving. The bandits relaxed and sneered at Kollina. "That's the best you've got?" Kollina smirked and closed her hands to form fists. Immediately, the black circle shrunk and closed, killing the bandits effortlessly until it disappeared in a small wisp of smoke in the center. Nothing was left of the bandits but the smoke. The castle and town was unharmed. Smiling, Kollina went to help up the guard, and after making sure that he was okay, walked back up to the ballroom. Everyone who watched, excluding Mazolina and Lina, were stunned. They had no idea that Lina knew how to do that (well, it really was Lina because for the first 18 years, Kollina was inside Lina).

When Kollina appeared behind them, she asked Lina, "Are you all right now? If you are, let's return to the ball. You don't want to catch a cold, right?" Lina smiled and nodded. She led everyone back to the ball. Tired, though, everybody sat back down at the now cleared tables. Amelia and Gracia were still chatting incessantly, now a lot quicker than before. Seeing that Zelgadis had returned, Amelia asked him, "Zelgadis-san, would you please dance with me?" Zelgadis looked at Amelia, who now was pleading with puppy eyes. Rolling his eyes, Zelgadis nodded and stood up. Amelia squealed in delight and clung to him. Kollina saw this, but sat back because she didn't want to bother with Amelia.

Lina had been sitting back with her eyes closed, but now she snapped them open again. Sitting up she looked around. She yelped when she found what she was looking for a sunk down in her seat. Concerned, Mazolina asked Lina, "What's wrong?" Lina pointed to a man near the door who was making his way towards them. Mazolina and Kollina looked, and immediately understood Lina's grief. Prince Xerxes was walking towards them with Luna walking behind him.

With a sigh, Lina sat up and ordered a dessert. She was eating when Xerxes stood before her. "Good evening, Princess Lina. I wish you a Happy 18th Birthday. How are you faring tonight?" Smiling wanly, Lina looked up and replied, "Good evening to you as well, Prince Xerxes. Thank you, I'm doing fine tonight. You?" Lina gestured for Xerxes to sit down, but he shook his head, "I'm doing fine, but I must speak to you alone." Xerxes glanced at Kollina and Mazolina. Both of them stood up, patted Lina on the shoulder, and walked off. They were immediately mobbed by men who wanted to dance with them. With an amused smile, they chose two of the most handsome men from the group, also the most polite.

Prince Xerxes sat down in front of Lina. "First off, I would like to ask you who those two are. I don't believe we've met." Waving it off, Lina sat back and replied, "Oh them? They're my two triplet sisters. They were banished when they were young, but they returned home the night I came back. You didn't know? *Lina sighs and shakes her head* Oh, well. Just goes to show how well you know me."

Unfazed by Lina's comment, Xerxes continued. "And what about that blond man, Gourry? What's your relationship with him?"

"Hmm. I really have no reason to tell you this, but I will, anyway. Well, he proposed to me twice already, but I didn't exactly say 'yes'. We've been traveling together for three years now. He swore for some reason to be my protector for life. Let's see, and I love him. Happy?" Xerxes looked downright upset about this, but said sarcastically, "Oh yes. Very happy. Are you going to marry him?"

Lina looked at Xerxes and raised an eyebrow. "Probably not. Unless he happens to be a runaway prince from some other kingdom, the chances are slim to none. I promised my father that when I decide to marry someone, I'll make sure that he'll be a good ruler for Zelphilia." Xerxes perked up at this, because he believed he still had a chance.

Xerxes was about to say something else, but Lina got up. "I'm sorry I couldn't have chatted with you more, but I really should be going. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow? *Xerxes gets up and nods* All right. Farewell for now. Good night." As Lina walked towards the door, she telepathically told Mazolina and Kollina that she was going. When they received it, they looked at Lina, excused themselves from their partners once more, and followed Lina out of the door. Once there, Lina yawned and had Pico transform into a bigger wolf again. Kollina and Mazolina helped Lina up, and started walking back to her room as Lina cuddled up in the soft fur and fell asleep. When they arrived, Mazolina carried Lina off Pico and Kollina helped her change into silk pajamas. Once Lina was curled up snugly underneath the blankets, Kollina and Mazolina sat in the armchairs, making sure that nothing would disturb Lina from her needed sleep.

Meanwhile, the dance went on until one o'clock. Zelgadis, Gourry, and Xellos danced the night away with various women. Gracia, Amelia, and Luna also danced with random men. They didn't seem to notice that Lina and her two "sisters" were gone until midnight, when they too, went to sleep.

A/N: I won't tell you why now, but there's a reason why Lina doesn't like Xerxes. A bit more than 'just because'. I think I'll show it in the next chapter. Another thing, I noticed that Lina seems to nod her consent a lot. It's because for 18 years, Lina was Kollina, Mazolina, and Angelina's "host body" and she's always been fairly nice to them, so they love and respect her. Also, because of this, they all feel that Lina is kind of like a mother to them. In the series, you notice that Lina is always nice to children, but definitely not so when it comes to men. That's all for now! Please review!