Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Kenkanoshiri ❯ Chapter Six ( Chapter 6 )

Kenkanoshiri

Disclaimer: I do not own Slayers or any of the Slayers characters. They are owned by those who own them. I do, however, own the original characters (if any), and the fic all of this is in. That is all.

Chapter Six

Zelgadis sat on the edge of the bed in the room he now shared with Gourry, his eyes moving around the room aimlessly. The room itself was just like Lina's execpt it had two beds instead of one, and both were on either side of the room. Chika had reluctantly given the Chimaera the key to the room despite the fact that it only lead to the room, raising his suspicions more then what they had been earlier. It didn't seem right that both were hesitant to give Lina and himself a room key even if they had trouble with prior guests in the past. He'd understand if the two key's lead to other parts of the place they were in, but not giving up a simple room key? How strange it was.

Gourry was laying on his own bed, his hands behind his head with his eyes half closed. It seemed like he was about to fall asleep or was just relaxing for the moment, but Zel didn't bother him. For now, he would let the Swordsman rest. Whatever hell they were going to go through the next day, he'd need all the rest he could get at the moment. Maybe he should think about getting some rest too. After all, it had been a long week, and he needed all the rest he could get.

"Hey, Zelgadis," Gourry muttered just as the Chimaera swung his legs over onto the bed. He looked over towards the other, his eyes narrowing just a bit.

"What is it?" He asked bitterly, laying his head upon the fluffed pillow that laid at the top of his bed as he placed both of his hands upon this stomach.

"Why did you say that you'll talk to Lina in the morning? I mean, if it is so important they why not tonight instead of tomorrow"

"I'm still going to talk to her tonight. I just have to sneak over there in a couple of hours when Kiyoshi and Chika are asleep."

"What makes you think that they go to sleep? After all, they seem to be powerful wizards."

"They may seem that way, Gourry," Zel started, moving his head towards the Swordsman, "but that still doesn't mean that they aren't hiding something. We all have our secrets; even Lina has her own as well as you and me have our own secrets."

"Perhaps she does," Gourry said slowly, his eyes opening all the way. Zelgadis propped himself up upon one elbow as he stared at the other with his head tilted to the side.

"What do you think of the crap that Kiyoshi and Chika told us? Do you believe it?" He asked him bluntly. If he believes THAT story, then I don't know what he would and wouldn't believe in the future. After all, his mind seems to be focused on something different then what is going on in life, The Chimaera thought to himself, trying his best not to laugh at that passing thought.

"In a way, it DOES seem believable, but then again it doesn't. I may not know a lot things, but it doesn't seem right." The Swordsman turned upon his side so that he could stare right back at Zelgadis. "What do you think they are hiding?"

"I think there is more to this then what they are telling us, and I want to find out what it is. After all, a person doesn't just vanish without a trace, ,and a monster doesn't just resurrect itself like that. There has to be some force, whether it be Human or any other species that thrives on this planet or something else beyond our power, to make it be reborn in whatever form destiny chooses it to take."

"So, what you are saying is that monster is still alive after the battle?"

"There might not even be a monster to begin with. Perhaps th......." The Chimaera was cut short by a knock at the door. Both companions fell silent as they went upon their stomachs, and turned their gazes upon the doorway. Neither one spoke as they kept their mouths closed, waiting for a knock to come again. It did, and it was more forceful then before.

"Who do you think it is?" Gourry asked dumbly, moving his eyes towards Zelgadis.

"It has to be one of those that are in this place and isn't in this room," Zel replied, trying his best not to roll his eyes. The knocks became louder then before, and more frequent until they stopped altogether. Both held their breath, waiting for someone to enter or for the knocks to start again, but nothing happened. "Maybe the person went away. I don't know about you, but I don't want to talk to those two......"

"Zel! Gourry! Open the damn door now before you make Kiyoshi and Chika run up here to see what the hell is going on down here!" Lina's voice growled from the other side of the door. Gourry laughed nervously as the Chimaera got up from his bed, and walked to the door. He slowly opened it, peering out to make sure that the sorceress was indeed the one behind the door, and that she was alone. When he was sure enough on both of those factors, he opened the door all the way, and let Lina in. He mockingly bowed down to her as she entered to receive a cold glare from her. "It's about time you let me in."

"Hello Lina. What makes you come all the way from the other side of the corridor just to see us?" Zel asked half jokingly as he closed the door behind him, and leaned up against it as if he was afraid that someone else might enter as well.

"Well, I couldn't wait until morning to talk to you so I decided to come over before the two of you went to sleep," She replied, stopping in the middle of the room, and placed her hands upon her hips as she turned sideways to look at Gourry. "Anything interesting happen before Chika left you two alone?"

"Not really besides the fact that she wouldn't let us keep the key," The Swordsman told her.

"Yea. She finally gave it to me," Zel added, patting a hidden pocket in his pants, "but only after a few extra pleas from Gourry."

"Did she ever tell you why she and Kiyoshi don't trust anyone with a key?"

"Not a word to either of us."

"Well, from what Kiyoshi told me before he left, he though that Jin and Hikosu would come back so they left the doorway to this realm open, and I guess a few strangers entered. Both thought that these people were Jin and Hikosu so they treated them like they were royalty or something." Lina shrugged at that. "It turned out that they weren't who Chika and Kiyoshi though they were, and those people kinda ransacked the place. Also took some scrolls and a artifact that seemed to be precious to them. That's why I think that they don't trust us with a key."

"Did he tell you what this artifact was?" Gourry wondered.

"Nope. Wouldn't tell me." Lina waved at finger at this. "I think that they are hiding something from us then just a few unmentionable tings. Maybe they are hiding who they truly are. I don't buy this whole legend thing. At least, not after what happened with Rezo and Shabranigdo. Wouldn't we have at least heard a part of it from one of the older wizards or mutterings around the towns?"

"It probably depends on which town you're visiting," The Swordsman replied, rolling back upon his back, and placed his hands behind his head once again. Zelgadis and Lina stared at him, dumbfounded looks on their faces.

"Yea, Gourry, it may be the towns we were visiting," The sorceress muttered, rolling her eyes. "But wouldn't something have come up in the last few years? I mean, I don't see how a fused person could vanish like that much less a monster that has some power to it."

"That's what Gourry and I were talking about before you decided to join us," The Chimaera informed her as he let his back slide down the door as he sat where he once stood. "I don't even buy that whole fusion thing either. Magic can do strange things to a person it is the right spell, the person casts it the right way, and one knows what he or she is doing, but making two grown people fuse? It doesn't seem possible."

"It may not be possible in our sense, but maybe there is more to this fusion thing then what they are telling us. I don't believe it, Zel, but what else are we going to do?" She sighed as she turned her head up towards the ceiling. "We are going to have to go with whatever lies Chika and Kiyoshi are telling us in the hopes that it won't kill us."

"That's the problem. It might kill us, and then we may never know what is really going on here."

"Why don't we just go check the statue out? I mean, we could try to figure out what the inscription says," Gourry said suddenly, breaking into the conversation. Lina tilted her head to the side, a thoughtfully look coming upon her face. Yea, we could do that. Then we'd get caught by either Kiyoshi or Chika, and then we'd be eve less trustworthy to them, She thought bitterly, narrowing her eyes a bit.

"Good plan execpt that we might get caught," Lina said, echoing her thoughts as she moved her head back down, and stared straight at Gourry.

"Just because we might get caught doesn't mean that we wouldn't learn anything. Besides, we can handle ourselves. After all, we are the three that went up against Shabranigdo. What harm could we do to ourselves?"

****

"Great thinking, Gourry. We're lost," Zelgadis muttered as he, Lina, and Gourry walked down one of the many hallways of the palace-like ream that they were in. Gourry held up a torch that he had grabbed from one of the walls, staying in the middle of Lina and Zel as they walked on. Each had made sure that neither stranger was around, and there was nothing that was watching them from afar. They couldn't be too careful in a place that they knew very little about, and had never been in before. After all, there could be hidden dangers lurking around any corner that they went around or that they may be caught by one of the strangers that had brought them there.

They had only been out of the bedroom for five minutes, going around turns, and walking down corridors that lead them to other corridors, some much longer then the ones that they had been in before. None remembered the way that they had come from when Kiyoshi and Chika were leading them as they thought that they didn't need to remember a way to the room where the statue was at. If only they had some form of direction that they could easily slip into the statue room without anyone noticing that they were there.

"How was I supposed to know that we would get lost?" Gourry whined as they trudged on, their eyes moving side to side to make sure that a doorway didn't suddenly open on them, and a stranger walked out to find the three out and about so late in the night.

"Well, one of us needed to have paid better attention to where we were going. Then we wouldn't have had this problem," Lina growled out from behind Gourry, stabbing him in the back with her elbow.

"Ow," Gourry cried, rubbing the spot where Lina had jabbed him. "What did you do that for?"

"Hush, both of you. Either one of them might be around, and they could hear us from here," The Chimaera hissed out, turning his head around to glare at them. "Besides, we don't know if they are still awake at this hour."

"Whatever," Lina and Gourry muttered, looking towards either side as both scowled in silence as they walked on. They followed Zel around another corner until he stopped suddenly in mid-turn. Gourry nearly burned the Chimaera's arm with the torch, but of course there would be no pain since his arm was made of pure stone. Yet that thought didn't come to mind as Lina bumped into the Swordsman.

"Zel! Why in the hell did you have to stop?" She snapped at him, pushing herself away from her companion.

"Listen! Do you hear that?" Zelgadis demanded, raising a hand up to silence any more questions. The sorceress strained her ears to listen to what might be heard, but there were no sounds that reached her ears. There was only silence to her, and silence remained as they stayed put at that corner. Lina was about to say something when a dull light appeared in the direction that they were coming from. Gourry turned around, his eyes going wide as they stood there for a moment before rushing around the corner in a attempt to hide themselves.

"Quick! Put the torch out!" Lina hissed, nudging the Swordsman.

"How? There's no water around," He pouted at her before she hit him upside the head, and took the torch from him. She gently placed it upon the ground, stomping upon it with one of her boots. The flame went out just as Zel peered around the corner to see who it was that was coming.

"Kiyoshi! Chika! They know that we are out!" Zel whispered low enough so that neither stranger could hear him. He watched them for a moment before Lina spoke.

"No, look. They're stopping," She pointed out as she too peered around the corner with Gourry right next to her, and she was right. The two strangers that lead them into the palace stopped just a few feet away, probably close enough to smell the left over smoke from the torch, but far away so that they couldn't tell who was there. Kiyoshi waved a hand over a portion of the wall, and a doorway easily appeared in front of him. Chika stood there for a moment before she walked into the doorway in a almost daydream-like state. The wizard looked around for a moment to make sure that no one was there, and slipped into the portal that he made. It stayed open for a moment before it started to close, and Lina narrowed her eyes at that.

"Come on! Let's get into it before it closes!" With those words, she rushed around the corner, running as fast as she cold before the portal closed all the way.

"Lina! Don't!" Zel tried to grab her by the arm, but was too late. The sorceress slid into the portal door, and vanished before either Gourry or Zelgadis could do anything about it.

"It's closing! Hurry!" Gourry jumped around the corner in a attempt to get through the portal as well. Just as the doorway was closing all the way, the Swordsman pulled out his sword, which was bladeless, and furrowed his brow. "Light come forth!"

In a instant, a blast of light came from the empty space in the hilt, quickly weaving into a blade as he quickly jutted the sword into the portal to stop it from closing all the way. Just as the portal closed around the part of the blade that was stuck in the middle, Gourry pulled the Sword of Light upwards, creating a rip in what was nothing but a wall. Zelgadis stared at the sight, shocked that someone could do something like that without any magic.

"Hurry up! I don't think this will last either," Gourry said, sheathing his sword, and rushing into the rip that he had created. The Chimaera stared after him before he too came from his hiding place, and ran towards the new doorway. It began to close like it had before, but this time he didn't hesitate. Instead, he swiftly walked into the tear, making sure that every last bit of clothing and body part was out of the way of the portal as he vanished into the wall.

A few moments later, the hole closed all the way, and there was nothing else that showed that anything had happened.

****

As soon as Gourry and Zelgadis had slipped through the tear that Gourry had created with the Sword of Light, they found themselves in yet another corridor that lead them to who knows where. It was nearly dark inside the hallway with several nearly burnt-out candles flickering on the walls as each was far enough apart from each other for those that were inside the hallway to need another source of light to lead them on. There even was a chill in the air as the two stood where the portal once was, Gourry slightly shivering in the coldness. Zel didn't seem to be affected by it as he took a step forwards, his eyes attempting to get used to the dimness of the corridor.

"We need to move forwards to catch up with Kiyoshi and Chika, " He told the other dully, his legs beginning to move him forwards. The Swordsman lingered for a moment in the same spot, but then began to walk hurriedly to catch up with the Chimaera.

"What about Lina? Shouldn't we go look for her first before we go after those two?" He protested gently with only silence following his questions. Zelgadis didn't answer right away as he continued to move forwards, taking his stride even faster then before.

"Lina can take care of herself. After all, if it hadn't been for her, ,we wouldn't be in this corridor." Zel turned his head over his shoulder for a moment then turned it back forwards. "You know we didn't have to go after her. It was you that opened the portal up again. We don't even know where this leads, but I guess we are going to have to find out now without getting killed."

"Yea, I know, but Lina......" Gourry's voice trailed off as he fell back some, his eyes glazing over like he was deep in thought. Zel didn't pay any heed to him as if he wasn't there, welcoming the silence so that he could hear if there were any sounds coming from anywhere that they were going. There was nothing but the echo of their boots as they continued to move forwards, unsure as to where the hallway might lead them to.

****

Lina tiptoed her way down the same corridor that Zel and Gourry were in, but she was a lot farther along then her two companions where. Instead of waiting to see if she had been noticed by Kiyoshi or Chika, she immediately began to follow them at a safe distance behind them. In fact, she didn't care if she had been found out at all. All she wanted was some answers, and answers was what she was going to get even if it took the rest of her life to do so. She had to know what was really going on or she'd go crazy trying to figure it out. The sorceress had a hard enough time figuring out everything that was connected between Shabranigdo and Rezo, so why shouldn't this be any easier?

Lina barely made it any further when she heard mumblings coming from a short distance in front of her. She swore at the little light that the half-burned candles gave her as she moved slowly towards the soft voices that echoed through the corridor and into her ears. At that moment, she wished that she at least had Gourry with her so that he'd be able to use the Sword of Light to help defend her or at least her use it again. The girl half-wished Zelgadis was with her even though he was the only other person she knew that could cast as good as anyone if not as good as herself. Then again, the Chimaera was a quiet as a mouse at some points, and a secretive one at that. She barely knew anything about him, and then some.

She stopped a safe distance she thought she was safe from anything that might harm her as a bright light emitted from a few feet away from her. Lina had to partially shield her eyes from the glare as she squinted her eyes to see a bit better. From what she could see, the shadowy figures of Chika and Kiyoshi stood nearly in front of her with the younger girl facing the direction of the sorceress and the other kneeling down to her on both of his knees. Kiyoshi was muttering something under his breath as the girl held a pure crystal goblet in both of her hands, which were cupped in front of her and her arms just as straight as anything. Lina couldn't tell what was inside the goblet from the distance that she was at nor due to the shine of the sudden brightness that came from a hovering orb that floated above the two strangers.

Neither seemed to notice that there was a third person there nor did either seem to care. Kiyoshi continued to chant whatever he was chanting while Chika slowly moved the cup to her lips. Lina tried her best to see what was going on, but it was still hard to do. Just as the rim of the goblet touched the young girl's lips, the light dimmed to a dull brilliance, and Kiyoshi stood up. He still did not notice that there was another in the room as his apprentice drank the contents of the goblet in one gulp. The wizard move a hand over the top of Chika's head, grabbing the hood in the process. Lina didn't know whether or not he meant to do it, but she moved her head away the moment that Chika's full face was reveled, a small gasp coming from her lips. It was then that his head snapped over to where the sorceress was standing, and a frown creased his lips.

"Who's there?" He called out to her, seemingly unable to tell who was there in the new-found dimness of the corridor. Oh shit. Now what do I do? She thought to herself as she heard a pair of footsteps come towards her then a hand grabbed her wrist tightly. She jerked her head forwards to finally lock her eye's with Kiyoshi's.

"Hello, Kiyoshi," Lina said meekly, giving him her best smile that she could muster.

"I'm not going to ask why you are doing out of your room at this hour, but I do want to know is how in the hell you have managed to get into this corridor," The wizard snapped at her, his eyes narrowing at the small sorceress. Lina looked over his shoulder to see that Chika had covered the top part of her face up before she looked back at the other. "Answer me, damn it."

"Well, ah, Gourry had the wild idea to find the statue room again so that we could look at the inscription, and we, ah, kinda got lost." Lina smiled a bit bigger before biting her lower lip. "Then, ah, we heard you two coming down the hallway, and Gourry, Zel, and I hid around the corner, and we kinda saw you two go into a portal. I jumped into it before it closed and....."

"What about your companions? Where are they?"

"I don't know, damn it!" She growled, yanking her hand out of his grasp. "I don't know if they are in the corridor with us or..."

"LINA!" Gourry's voice called from behind her as Lina rubbed her wrist where Kiyoshi had held it. She smirked as the frantic footsteps of her companions came closer then before.

"And there they are," The sorceress smirked, chuckling with a bit of nervousness. "Now I'd like to know what in the hell is going on here."

"That I can not tell you for it is...."

"Bo, we must tell them," Chika demanded, her voice rising just a bit. Kiyoshi spun around to see the girl, who held the crystal goblet firmly in one of her hands. At that moment, Zelgadis and Gourry ran up behind Lina, their eyes moving upon the two strangers as they skidded to a halt right behind their lost friend.

"No, we can't." Kiyoshi shook his head. "It's too dangerous. We can't risk it again."

"If we don't tell them, then we'll risk everything." Chika gave her companion a glare from behind her hood as she walked forwards and stopped in front of Lina. She took one of the sorceress's hands with her free one, a light smile appearing on her lips.

"What's she talking about?" Gourry whispered into Lina's ear as he tried to smile nicely to them.

"I have no clue," Lina responded back, plastering the same dumb smile on her lips. Kiyoshi slowly turned around, a pained expression on his face.

"Are you sure you want to do this again? We tried once before. What makes you think that this time it will work?" He asked with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Because I know that we can trust them." Lina swore that, if she was able to see Chika's eyes, she probably would be able to see a slight twinkle in them. But there was also a hint of uncertainty in then stranger's voice just like the one in her master's, and Lina didn't trust that tone at all.

"What makes us believe that you will tell us the truth?" Zelgadis demanded from behind Lina. Chika squeezed Lina's hand before dropping it as she bowed her head down towards the ground.

"We have been telling you the truth all along, but with some, ah, minor adjustments to it," Kiyoshi spoke, nodding down towards the girl. Chika slowly moved the hood away from her face, allowing her hand to move the hood upon her neck before raising her head upwards. Lina, Zelgadis, and Gourry took a step back as they stared at the rest of Chika's face that they hadn't seen before. The girl's eyes were a ruby-red with scales mostly around them. A deep purple tint to everything else that hadn't been shown before moved to the hairline of her sky blue hair.

"What the hell.....?" Gourry muttered, his mouth dropping open in surprise. Chika looked away, ashamed at what the three saw. Zelgadis was the first one to break away from his surprise as he spoke.

"Earlier, you told me I was courageous to allow people to see my face. Is this why you said that?" The Chimaera asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Yes, it is. I...I...don't want people to see the monster that I have become...." Chika whispered, trying her best to hold back the tears that she had probably held for most of her life. "You....you....have more courage then I'd ever have."

"Chika, listen." Lina walked to her, and kneeled down in front of her. The girl looked down at the sorceress, crystal tears forming at the base of her ruby-red eyes. "We all have to face our fears. Going up against Shabranigdo was one of the most scariest things I have done, but we got through it. You know why? Because we went up against a one percent chance of actually winning the fight, but we won anyways. If you put your fears aside, then you can do anything."

"Yes, I know."

"Are you willing to tell us the truth now? The real truth?"

"Yes, but not here," Kiyoshi said, taking a step towards them. Lina looked at him as she stood up, Chika wiping away her tears as the wizard looked around at them. "We are still in danger her. The border between the two Astral Planes is close here, and I don't want to risk any more of our conversation to possibly float to the other side. We'll explain everything, now let's go."

With a nod, everyone moved quickly from their standing spots, moving towards the same entrance that would lead them back into the corridor that all had been in before. This time, however, they would learn more then anyone would imagine.

To Be Continued......