Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Slayers Labyrinth ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: Lsama-no-miko 
Anime/Manga: Slayers Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Romance | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 05.14.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 4.5K | Visits: 223 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Slayers Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Romance | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 05.14.2005 | Pages: 2 | Words: 4.5K | Visits: 223 | Status: Completed
Slayers Labyrinth
A Slayers/Labyrinth Crossover
By Sakura
Chapter Five
Lina screamed as she fell through a rather long, not to mention dark, shaft. After a couple minutes of screaming, she realized that if anyone heard her at all, they would have come to help her by now. So she shut up, until something cold and slimy brushed against her. 'Please no slugs,' she begged. Another of the cold slimy things brushed against her again.
The red headed girl began to scream again as even more of the 'things' brushed against her, unfortunately, she didn't realize they were what kept her from falling faster as gravity set in. "Help! Someone help!" she cried as something grabbed a hold of her arm, holding it above her head. Thoughts of some undead creature buried in there flashed through her mind. 'I'm gonna wind up as some zombie's dinner, just great!'
"What do you mean help?" said a voice nearby. Looking frantically around Lina saw that the shaft was lined with thousands upon thousands of green, glowing hands. She screamed again as more grabbed onto her and tried their best to support the frightened girl.
"We're helping hands," said another cheerful voice. A group of hands had formed themselves into a human like face complete with eyebrows.
"Y-you're hurting me," the girl stammered.
"Would you like us to let go?" said a rather mazoku looking face.
"No!" she yelled as the hands began to loosen their grip.
"Well, which way ojousan?" said a kindly face with a 'beard' and 'mustache'.
"Which way?" she asked confused.
"Up or down?" said yet another face.
"Come on we haven't got all day!" said the first voice, impatiently.
"It's a big decision for her," said the bearded face.
Lina thunked herself on the head. "Baka!" she yelled when she remembered her magic worked in this freaked out world. "I appreciate the help, um, guys," she began, "but I can handle it from here."
"You sure?" asked the second voice.
"Yeah." The girl then began chanting a spell. The hands recognized the spell and released their hold on her. "Levitation!"
Lina was now suspended in midair without the aid of the Helping Hands. "So which way are you going to go?" asked the cheery face.
"Well since I was stupid enough to let myself fall this far, I might as well go down," she replied and began to float down towards she hoped wasn't a bottomless pit.
"She chose down!" said the cheery face.
Soon the shot was echoed off dozens of other voices as the redhead continued to descend. "Was that wrong?" she called back.
"Too late now," said the mazoku like face, smiling.
After a few more minutes of floating down, Lina did reach the bottom of the hole. Landing gracefully on her feet, she glanced back up and realized that she yet made another bad choice. "Damn! Now I've got to go all the way back up there!" she complained. "Well might as well take a break and see if there's another way outta here."
She looked around the dark pit but soon gave up since the faint light above made it impossible to see beyond a few inches. Feeling around, she came to realize that she was in some kind of pit or cave with absolutely no openings or doors anywhere. Lina sat down and waited for her to gain enough strength to cast another levitation spell.
Meanwhile, Xellos was sitting on his throne with baby Amelia still on his lap. The infant was happily drooling over a crystal the mazoku king had conjured for her while he was busy watching his latest amusement make her way down the shaft of Helping Hands. "Yare, yare Ame-chan. It looks like your onee-chan won't be visiting at us at all today," he said putting the crystal away. The baby ignored him, too engrossed in the play of light bouncing off the walls the crystal caused. "Still I didn't expect her to make it so far. Too bad you'll have to start over, Lina-chan," he said smiling as he summoned one of his favorite minions.
"You sent for me, your majesty?" said a figure in beige clothing and hood.
"Yes, Zel-chan. I have a favor to ask of you," the mazoku king said.
"It's that girl isn't it?"
"Bingo! I'd like you to go and lead her back to the beginning for me."
"It'll be hard. She's stubborn."
"I know, Zel-chan. Just do it." The king opened his eyes and the chimera gulped. He really hated it when Xellos did that. Those eyes of his gave him the creeps even if he had similar eyes himself. He sighed.
"As you wish," he said bowing and left.
Xellos laughed maniacally at the joke he was about to play on the unsuspecting girl. "I just loooove a good trick!"
After what seemed like an eternity, Lina stood up and dusted herself off. "Well I've waited long enough. Time to get moving." She began chanting the levitation spell that would take her out of where she was. In the middle of her chanting, a faint scratching sound made her lose concentration and she looked toward the sound. "Who's there!? Who's in here with me?"
"It's me," said a slightly nasal voice. There was a popping sound and a ball of light flew to the ceiling, illuminating the hooded figure.
"Zelgadis! Boy am I glad to see you!" she said showing an enormous amount of restraint from hugging the chimera.
The chimera blushed, thankful the hood hid most of his face so no one could see. "It's nice to see you too," he replied coolly.
"How'd you get here anyway?" Lina asked.
"I knew you'd get in trouble so I decided to lend a hand," he said shrugging.
'Did he have to say hand,' she thought shivering as she remembered the Helping Hands. "You're going to help me solve the labyrinth then?"
He humphed. "Do you even know where you are?"
"No, and I really don't give a damn since I was on the way out," she said tossing her head.
"Well for your information, you're in an oubliette. The labyrinth's full of them." "Really?" She was really put off by the chimera's cold attitude. "How about that," she said mockingly.
"Don't act so smart," he warned. "I bet you don't even know what an oubliette is."
"I do too!" she said stamping her foot for emphasis. "It's where you put people to forget about them. I'm not gonna let that jerk of a mazoku king think he can forget Lina Inverse!" The red haired girl then laughed maniacally, causing the chimera to shiver.
'I don't know who's worse, Xellos or this girl,' he thought as Lina recovered her composure. He turned to the wall and began to search along it. "This is no place for a little girl like you," he began. Lina bristled at being called little, but kept her cool. She made herself promise that she'd never lose her temper in this place again. That was what led her to be in the oubliette in the first place. "You'd only end up in another oubliette sooner or later. Like him."
The chimera gestured toward a skeleton that was now visible. Lina eeped finally realizing how close she had come to a gruesome death hadn't she remembered to cast a levitation spell. "What you should do is get out of here."
"Sorry, Stone Boy. No can do. I've gotta find my baby sister."
The chimera sighed. "It's best you just forget her. Once the king gets hold of something he wants he doesn't let go. Come on, I know a way out of here."
"Nuh-uh no way! I've come too far to give up now!" she yelled.
"You did great. I have to admit it, you sure surprised me by making it this far," he said turning back to her. "But it gets a lot worse from here on in and you've still got a long way to go."
Lina became suspicious at the chimera's sudden kindness toward her and eyed him warily. "Why the sudden concern? Before you wouldn't even give me the time of day had I asked."
"I just am," he said hurt. "You seem a nice girl and well this is a rather dark oubliette. Why shouldn't I be worried."
Lina blushed. He said she was nice, none of the boys back home had ever said that before. "Um... look, I'm sorry for calling you Stone Boy before." Her gaze went toward the pouch that hung from his belt. "Listen, you like money don't you?"
"Who doesn't. Why?" he asked warily.
"Well I thought that if you'd help me through the labyrinth, I'd give, um, this." she said holding up a rhinestone bracelet she'd been wearing earlier. "What do you say?" The chimera scrutinized the bracelet carefully. ones. "You like?" she asked grateful she'd been wearing gloves or he would have seen the moonstone ring her mother had given her before dying.
"It's okay," he replied. "How about you give me the bracelet and I'll take you out of the labyrinth?"
"Forget it! You were going to do that anyway."
"Yeah, well it would've been a nice thing for you to do for someone who helped you," he said curtly.
"Nuh-uh, Stone Boy. You want it, you gotta show me the way IN not out," she said taking the bracelet as the chimera made a grab for it.
He humphed again. "And what pray tell makes you think _I_ know the way through?"
"Well you're here aren't you and the only way in here as far as I know is that hole up there."
"Touche," he said nonplused. He hadn't figured she'd be actually able to use her brain. "But it's still a long way off from here and it's dangerous. So why don't you give up. You proved you're a smart girl and brave too. I'll give you that much," he said in one last attempt to get her to surrender.
Did he really think she'd give in so easily? Well Lina was going to show Mr. Know-it-all just how stubborn an Inverse could be. "I'll make another deal with you. If you won't show me all the way through, then how about if you just take me as far as you can and I'll give you the bracelet? That sound fair enough to you?" She gave him a good dose of puppy dog eyes for good measure.
"Ch! Of all the harebrained baka I had to wind up with a stubborn one as well," he said disgusted.
"It's a fair deal," she said dangling the bracelet before him. "No tricks. Just one bracelet for your help. Deal?"
"What is that anyway?" he asked never taking his eyes off her bracelet.
"Rhinestone."
He took the bracelet from her and put it on his wrist. "I'll help you as far as I can, then you'll go the rest by yourself, right?"
"Right," she replied.
"Hmph, rhinestone," he said as he fingered the bracelet.
"Well, come on! I haven't got all day unlike some people here," she said impatient to get out of the oubliette and back on the track of finding Amelia.
"Yeah, yeah, hold your horses," he said as he felt along the wall again and triggered a hidden passage. The girl's jaw hit the floor. "Didn't expect to see that there did you?" Zelgadis said smugly. "Serves you right for taking this place for granted." With that the chimera entered the passage with a rather quiet Lina in tow.
The two walked for a few hundred feet in silence until the passage open up to another one that was wide enough for five or more people, then Lina nearly jumped out of her skin when a loud voice echoed off the walls of the passage. "DON'T GO ON!"
"Eeeeeeeyaaaaa!!! What the heck was that?!" She turned around, still shaking from the shock. At first she only saw Zelgadis, then she realized that the wall they just passed had a face carved into it. Along the other wall and further down the first face were other faces, each one similar yet different. The chimera just sighed, shrugged and went on not paying attention at all to the various things the faces were saying.
"You are going the wrong way!"
"Run now before it's too late!"
"Do not go any further!"
"Danger Will Robinson! Danger!"
"One more step could be your doom!"
Lina had to stick her fingers in her ears for the echoing voices seemed to be echoing in her head as well as the passage. Seeing that the girl was no longer with him, Zelgadis looked back to see her standing a few feet behind, trying her best to drown out the voices. "I wouldn't worry about them, they're just Phony Warnings. When you see them it just means you're on the right track," he said calmly.
"OH NO YOU'RE NOT!" piped up one of the Phony Warnings.
"Urusai! (shut up!)" both yelled back.
"Geez, I'm only doin' me job," it whined.
"You don't have to do it for us," Zelgadis said as he dragged Lina away before it could say anything else.
"What a bunch of grumps," it muttered when they were out of sight.
After a few more feet of twists and turns, the couple came to the last of the Phony Warnings. Thinking they could pass without any fuss, the two jumped when the face began to speak. "Desist! For -"
"Don't bother. You know we'll just ignore you," the chimera said.
"Please," it begged, "I haven't said it for soooo long."
Zelgadis sighed, then nodded. "Oh all right, just don't expect anything from us." "Of course not! Thanks." The face then cleared its throat and resumed its duty. "Desist! For to go on will be the end for you!"
While the face was droning on, a small crystal ball came rolling up to them from behind. Zelgadis began to get nervous and shifted in his shoes slightly. Sensing the chimera's discomfort, Lina nudged her companion. "Let's get going."
He nodded and continued down the passage. 'I've got a really bad feeling about this.' The crystal followed them as they turned a corner and then went bouncing off the wall to land in the cup of what appeared to be an old blind beggar who just happened to be sitting against the wall in front of them.
Lina heard the chimera gulp and turned to look at him. He stood perfectly still, but his eyes were filled with fear and were glued to the cup where the crystal hand landed. The beggar looked up, a cheery smile on his face. "'Allo," he said "What have we here?"
"N-nothing," Zelgadis stammered.
"Nothing," the beggar repeated, "NOTHING?!" He through the rags off his body to reveal Xellos standing before them, eyes flashing with anger at the chimera.
"Your majesty," Zelgadis said only just now remembering one should bow before royalty, no matter how much you couldn't stand them. "fancy... fancy meeting you here," he managed.
"Konnichi wa Zedaglis," he said amiably.
"Zegladis," Lina corrected.
"My name is ZELGADIS!" he said angrily, then quickly added an apology to the mazoku king.
"Zel-chan," began Xellos in a sweet tone dripping with venom. "you aren't helping Ms. Inverse are you?"
"Helping? W-what makes you think I'm helping a brat like her?" he said nervously.
"Hey!" Lina said, insulted.
"Weeelll, from my point of view it looks like you're leading her IN instead of out of the labyrinth."
"Um... yeah I know that, your majesty," Zelgadis said, "but I'm following your orders."
"Nani yo?!" Lina piped up.
"I, um, told her that I was going to help a bit, but I was actually..." He nervously laughed. "Good thinking, ne?"
"Indeed," said the mazoku king lowering his eyes to the chimera's wrist. "I see you've finally decided to take my advice to accessorize. Wherever did you get that little trinket?" he asked.
Zelgadis stared at the bracelet as if he didn't know what it was. "Hey, where this come from? I don't remember seeing this before."
"Zel-chan," Xellos said in an even tone, his usual cheerful face belying the danger underneath, "If I ever thought you were disobeying me, I'd have to shove you bum first into a pack of Rabid Fangirls."
The chimera went pale and began to shake, his knees barely able to hold him up. "Gods no! Not that! Not the Fangirls!"
"Oh YES, Zel-chan," he said licking his lips at the taste of the chimera's terror. He opened his eyes and turned to the redhead. "And you, Lina-chan... are you enjoying your stay here?"
She swallowed hard before mustering her courage. "Yeah it's a cinch. A real piece of cake!" The mazoku king rose an eyebrow and Zelgadis groaned.
"Really? Then how about making it more of a challenge for someone like you, dear?" Xellos gestured and the girl looked to her right to see a thirteen hour clock hanging on the wall. The hands began to move quicker and her face crumbled.
"That's not fair!" she whined.
"I never said it'd be fair, Lina-chan," Xellos answered in his defense. He then reached into the cup and pulled out the crystal ball. "You say it's a piece of cake? Then how would you like to try another slice?" With that the mazoku king through the ball into the corridor they'd just exited and vanished laughing maniacally.
A whirring and clanking sound echoed off the stone walls and gradually got louder as it traveled down the passage. Zelgadis had recovered from his previous terror but remained pale. Lina was about to ask him what was going on, but then saw what was coming towards them.
A wall of spinning knives and cleavers of all shapes and sizes filled the entire passage behind them and was showing no sign of stopping. "Damn!" Zelgadis yelled. "It's the cleaners!"
"The what?!" Lina said, still staring at the deadly wall.
"Shut up and run!"
That's exactly what they did. They ran the only way available to them, the passage they had turned into before meeting up with the mazoku king. Both frantically looked for a way to escape the tunnels, running at top speed through what seemed an eternity of endless twists and turns. Finally they came to a dead end, the only other way out was a large rusty door.
Sakura: Well, I did it minna. I got chapter five ready.
Xel: Kudos for you miko-sama. You even managed to make this one longer than the last.
Sakura: Yeah, well I just loooove playing with Zel.
Xel: ^_^ Don't we all?
Zel: I don't.
Sakura: Who asked you. Say Zel is that a pack of fangirls I see?
Zel: Excuse me, I've gotta go! (runs like a bat outta hell)
Xel: Zel-chan!!!!! Come back! Don't you want to say hi to the girls?
Sakura: Xel-chan, dear...
Xel: Hai, miko-sama?
Sakura: Don't you have some Lina watching to do?
Xel: Do I?
Sakura: I believe so.
Xel: Oh. Thank you. (pops out)
Sakura: Well that takes care of that. Anyhoo. A new cast member finally makes an
appearance. ^_^ Oooh I soooo excited!! Stay tuned. I should have the next part up next month (L-sama willing). 'Til then kiddies, same bat time, same bat channel.
C&C always welcome at Firia@linainverse.net. Come on minna! You guys haven't been writing much. So pleeeeeeaaaaaaase tell me what you think! I'd looooooove to hear from you. ^_^
A Slayers/Labyrinth Crossover
By Sakura
Chapter Five
Lina screamed as she fell through a rather long, not to mention dark, shaft. After a couple minutes of screaming, she realized that if anyone heard her at all, they would have come to help her by now. So she shut up, until something cold and slimy brushed against her. 'Please no slugs,' she begged. Another of the cold slimy things brushed against her again.
The red headed girl began to scream again as even more of the 'things' brushed against her, unfortunately, she didn't realize they were what kept her from falling faster as gravity set in. "Help! Someone help!" she cried as something grabbed a hold of her arm, holding it above her head. Thoughts of some undead creature buried in there flashed through her mind. 'I'm gonna wind up as some zombie's dinner, just great!'
"What do you mean help?" said a voice nearby. Looking frantically around Lina saw that the shaft was lined with thousands upon thousands of green, glowing hands. She screamed again as more grabbed onto her and tried their best to support the frightened girl.
"We're helping hands," said another cheerful voice. A group of hands had formed themselves into a human like face complete with eyebrows.
"Y-you're hurting me," the girl stammered.
"Would you like us to let go?" said a rather mazoku looking face.
"No!" she yelled as the hands began to loosen their grip.
"Well, which way ojousan?" said a kindly face with a 'beard' and 'mustache'.
"Which way?" she asked confused.
"Up or down?" said yet another face.
"Come on we haven't got all day!" said the first voice, impatiently.
"It's a big decision for her," said the bearded face.
Lina thunked herself on the head. "Baka!" she yelled when she remembered her magic worked in this freaked out world. "I appreciate the help, um, guys," she began, "but I can handle it from here."
"You sure?" asked the second voice.
"Yeah." The girl then began chanting a spell. The hands recognized the spell and released their hold on her. "Levitation!"
Lina was now suspended in midair without the aid of the Helping Hands. "So which way are you going to go?" asked the cheery face.
"Well since I was stupid enough to let myself fall this far, I might as well go down," she replied and began to float down towards she hoped wasn't a bottomless pit.
"She chose down!" said the cheery face.
Soon the shot was echoed off dozens of other voices as the redhead continued to descend. "Was that wrong?" she called back.
"Too late now," said the mazoku like face, smiling.
After a few more minutes of floating down, Lina did reach the bottom of the hole. Landing gracefully on her feet, she glanced back up and realized that she yet made another bad choice. "Damn! Now I've got to go all the way back up there!" she complained. "Well might as well take a break and see if there's another way outta here."
She looked around the dark pit but soon gave up since the faint light above made it impossible to see beyond a few inches. Feeling around, she came to realize that she was in some kind of pit or cave with absolutely no openings or doors anywhere. Lina sat down and waited for her to gain enough strength to cast another levitation spell.
Meanwhile, Xellos was sitting on his throne with baby Amelia still on his lap. The infant was happily drooling over a crystal the mazoku king had conjured for her while he was busy watching his latest amusement make her way down the shaft of Helping Hands. "Yare, yare Ame-chan. It looks like your onee-chan won't be visiting at us at all today," he said putting the crystal away. The baby ignored him, too engrossed in the play of light bouncing off the walls the crystal caused. "Still I didn't expect her to make it so far. Too bad you'll have to start over, Lina-chan," he said smiling as he summoned one of his favorite minions.
"You sent for me, your majesty?" said a figure in beige clothing and hood.
"Yes, Zel-chan. I have a favor to ask of you," the mazoku king said.
"It's that girl isn't it?"
"Bingo! I'd like you to go and lead her back to the beginning for me."
"It'll be hard. She's stubborn."
"I know, Zel-chan. Just do it." The king opened his eyes and the chimera gulped. He really hated it when Xellos did that. Those eyes of his gave him the creeps even if he had similar eyes himself. He sighed.
"As you wish," he said bowing and left.
Xellos laughed maniacally at the joke he was about to play on the unsuspecting girl. "I just loooove a good trick!"
After what seemed like an eternity, Lina stood up and dusted herself off. "Well I've waited long enough. Time to get moving." She began chanting the levitation spell that would take her out of where she was. In the middle of her chanting, a faint scratching sound made her lose concentration and she looked toward the sound. "Who's there!? Who's in here with me?"
"It's me," said a slightly nasal voice. There was a popping sound and a ball of light flew to the ceiling, illuminating the hooded figure.
"Zelgadis! Boy am I glad to see you!" she said showing an enormous amount of restraint from hugging the chimera.
The chimera blushed, thankful the hood hid most of his face so no one could see. "It's nice to see you too," he replied coolly.
"How'd you get here anyway?" Lina asked.
"I knew you'd get in trouble so I decided to lend a hand," he said shrugging.
'Did he have to say hand,' she thought shivering as she remembered the Helping Hands. "You're going to help me solve the labyrinth then?"
He humphed. "Do you even know where you are?"
"No, and I really don't give a damn since I was on the way out," she said tossing her head.
"Well for your information, you're in an oubliette. The labyrinth's full of them." "Really?" She was really put off by the chimera's cold attitude. "How about that," she said mockingly.
"Don't act so smart," he warned. "I bet you don't even know what an oubliette is."
"I do too!" she said stamping her foot for emphasis. "It's where you put people to forget about them. I'm not gonna let that jerk of a mazoku king think he can forget Lina Inverse!" The red haired girl then laughed maniacally, causing the chimera to shiver.
'I don't know who's worse, Xellos or this girl,' he thought as Lina recovered her composure. He turned to the wall and began to search along it. "This is no place for a little girl like you," he began. Lina bristled at being called little, but kept her cool. She made herself promise that she'd never lose her temper in this place again. That was what led her to be in the oubliette in the first place. "You'd only end up in another oubliette sooner or later. Like him."
The chimera gestured toward a skeleton that was now visible. Lina eeped finally realizing how close she had come to a gruesome death hadn't she remembered to cast a levitation spell. "What you should do is get out of here."
"Sorry, Stone Boy. No can do. I've gotta find my baby sister."
The chimera sighed. "It's best you just forget her. Once the king gets hold of something he wants he doesn't let go. Come on, I know a way out of here."
"Nuh-uh no way! I've come too far to give up now!" she yelled.
"You did great. I have to admit it, you sure surprised me by making it this far," he said turning back to her. "But it gets a lot worse from here on in and you've still got a long way to go."
Lina became suspicious at the chimera's sudden kindness toward her and eyed him warily. "Why the sudden concern? Before you wouldn't even give me the time of day had I asked."
"I just am," he said hurt. "You seem a nice girl and well this is a rather dark oubliette. Why shouldn't I be worried."
Lina blushed. He said she was nice, none of the boys back home had ever said that before. "Um... look, I'm sorry for calling you Stone Boy before." Her gaze went toward the pouch that hung from his belt. "Listen, you like money don't you?"
"Who doesn't. Why?" he asked warily.
"Well I thought that if you'd help me through the labyrinth, I'd give, um, this." she said holding up a rhinestone bracelet she'd been wearing earlier. "What do you say?" The chimera scrutinized the bracelet carefully. ones. "You like?" she asked grateful she'd been wearing gloves or he would have seen the moonstone ring her mother had given her before dying.
"It's okay," he replied. "How about you give me the bracelet and I'll take you out of the labyrinth?"
"Forget it! You were going to do that anyway."
"Yeah, well it would've been a nice thing for you to do for someone who helped you," he said curtly.
"Nuh-uh, Stone Boy. You want it, you gotta show me the way IN not out," she said taking the bracelet as the chimera made a grab for it.
He humphed again. "And what pray tell makes you think _I_ know the way through?"
"Well you're here aren't you and the only way in here as far as I know is that hole up there."
"Touche," he said nonplused. He hadn't figured she'd be actually able to use her brain. "But it's still a long way off from here and it's dangerous. So why don't you give up. You proved you're a smart girl and brave too. I'll give you that much," he said in one last attempt to get her to surrender.
Did he really think she'd give in so easily? Well Lina was going to show Mr. Know-it-all just how stubborn an Inverse could be. "I'll make another deal with you. If you won't show me all the way through, then how about if you just take me as far as you can and I'll give you the bracelet? That sound fair enough to you?" She gave him a good dose of puppy dog eyes for good measure.
"Ch! Of all the harebrained baka I had to wind up with a stubborn one as well," he said disgusted.
"It's a fair deal," she said dangling the bracelet before him. "No tricks. Just one bracelet for your help. Deal?"
"What is that anyway?" he asked never taking his eyes off her bracelet.
"Rhinestone."
He took the bracelet from her and put it on his wrist. "I'll help you as far as I can, then you'll go the rest by yourself, right?"
"Right," she replied.
"Hmph, rhinestone," he said as he fingered the bracelet.
"Well, come on! I haven't got all day unlike some people here," she said impatient to get out of the oubliette and back on the track of finding Amelia.
"Yeah, yeah, hold your horses," he said as he felt along the wall again and triggered a hidden passage. The girl's jaw hit the floor. "Didn't expect to see that there did you?" Zelgadis said smugly. "Serves you right for taking this place for granted." With that the chimera entered the passage with a rather quiet Lina in tow.
The two walked for a few hundred feet in silence until the passage open up to another one that was wide enough for five or more people, then Lina nearly jumped out of her skin when a loud voice echoed off the walls of the passage. "DON'T GO ON!"
"Eeeeeeeyaaaaa!!! What the heck was that?!" She turned around, still shaking from the shock. At first she only saw Zelgadis, then she realized that the wall they just passed had a face carved into it. Along the other wall and further down the first face were other faces, each one similar yet different. The chimera just sighed, shrugged and went on not paying attention at all to the various things the faces were saying.
"You are going the wrong way!"
"Run now before it's too late!"
"Do not go any further!"
"Danger Will Robinson! Danger!"
"One more step could be your doom!"
Lina had to stick her fingers in her ears for the echoing voices seemed to be echoing in her head as well as the passage. Seeing that the girl was no longer with him, Zelgadis looked back to see her standing a few feet behind, trying her best to drown out the voices. "I wouldn't worry about them, they're just Phony Warnings. When you see them it just means you're on the right track," he said calmly.
"OH NO YOU'RE NOT!" piped up one of the Phony Warnings.
"Urusai! (shut up!)" both yelled back.
"Geez, I'm only doin' me job," it whined.
"You don't have to do it for us," Zelgadis said as he dragged Lina away before it could say anything else.
"What a bunch of grumps," it muttered when they were out of sight.
After a few more feet of twists and turns, the couple came to the last of the Phony Warnings. Thinking they could pass without any fuss, the two jumped when the face began to speak. "Desist! For -"
"Don't bother. You know we'll just ignore you," the chimera said.
"Please," it begged, "I haven't said it for soooo long."
Zelgadis sighed, then nodded. "Oh all right, just don't expect anything from us." "Of course not! Thanks." The face then cleared its throat and resumed its duty. "Desist! For to go on will be the end for you!"
While the face was droning on, a small crystal ball came rolling up to them from behind. Zelgadis began to get nervous and shifted in his shoes slightly. Sensing the chimera's discomfort, Lina nudged her companion. "Let's get going."
He nodded and continued down the passage. 'I've got a really bad feeling about this.' The crystal followed them as they turned a corner and then went bouncing off the wall to land in the cup of what appeared to be an old blind beggar who just happened to be sitting against the wall in front of them.
Lina heard the chimera gulp and turned to look at him. He stood perfectly still, but his eyes were filled with fear and were glued to the cup where the crystal hand landed. The beggar looked up, a cheery smile on his face. "'Allo," he said "What have we here?"
"N-nothing," Zelgadis stammered.
"Nothing," the beggar repeated, "NOTHING?!" He through the rags off his body to reveal Xellos standing before them, eyes flashing with anger at the chimera.
"Your majesty," Zelgadis said only just now remembering one should bow before royalty, no matter how much you couldn't stand them. "fancy... fancy meeting you here," he managed.
"Konnichi wa Zedaglis," he said amiably.
"Zegladis," Lina corrected.
"My name is ZELGADIS!" he said angrily, then quickly added an apology to the mazoku king.
"Zel-chan," began Xellos in a sweet tone dripping with venom. "you aren't helping Ms. Inverse are you?"
"Helping? W-what makes you think I'm helping a brat like her?" he said nervously.
"Hey!" Lina said, insulted.
"Weeelll, from my point of view it looks like you're leading her IN instead of out of the labyrinth."
"Um... yeah I know that, your majesty," Zelgadis said, "but I'm following your orders."
"Nani yo?!" Lina piped up.
"I, um, told her that I was going to help a bit, but I was actually..." He nervously laughed. "Good thinking, ne?"
"Indeed," said the mazoku king lowering his eyes to the chimera's wrist. "I see you've finally decided to take my advice to accessorize. Wherever did you get that little trinket?" he asked.
Zelgadis stared at the bracelet as if he didn't know what it was. "Hey, where this come from? I don't remember seeing this before."
"Zel-chan," Xellos said in an even tone, his usual cheerful face belying the danger underneath, "If I ever thought you were disobeying me, I'd have to shove you bum first into a pack of Rabid Fangirls."
The chimera went pale and began to shake, his knees barely able to hold him up. "Gods no! Not that! Not the Fangirls!"
"Oh YES, Zel-chan," he said licking his lips at the taste of the chimera's terror. He opened his eyes and turned to the redhead. "And you, Lina-chan... are you enjoying your stay here?"
She swallowed hard before mustering her courage. "Yeah it's a cinch. A real piece of cake!" The mazoku king rose an eyebrow and Zelgadis groaned.
"Really? Then how about making it more of a challenge for someone like you, dear?" Xellos gestured and the girl looked to her right to see a thirteen hour clock hanging on the wall. The hands began to move quicker and her face crumbled.
"That's not fair!" she whined.
"I never said it'd be fair, Lina-chan," Xellos answered in his defense. He then reached into the cup and pulled out the crystal ball. "You say it's a piece of cake? Then how would you like to try another slice?" With that the mazoku king through the ball into the corridor they'd just exited and vanished laughing maniacally.
A whirring and clanking sound echoed off the stone walls and gradually got louder as it traveled down the passage. Zelgadis had recovered from his previous terror but remained pale. Lina was about to ask him what was going on, but then saw what was coming towards them.
A wall of spinning knives and cleavers of all shapes and sizes filled the entire passage behind them and was showing no sign of stopping. "Damn!" Zelgadis yelled. "It's the cleaners!"
"The what?!" Lina said, still staring at the deadly wall.
"Shut up and run!"
That's exactly what they did. They ran the only way available to them, the passage they had turned into before meeting up with the mazoku king. Both frantically looked for a way to escape the tunnels, running at top speed through what seemed an eternity of endless twists and turns. Finally they came to a dead end, the only other way out was a large rusty door.
Sakura: Well, I did it minna. I got chapter five ready.
Xel: Kudos for you miko-sama. You even managed to make this one longer than the last.
Sakura: Yeah, well I just loooove playing with Zel.
Xel: ^_^ Don't we all?
Zel: I don't.
Sakura: Who asked you. Say Zel is that a pack of fangirls I see?
Zel: Excuse me, I've gotta go! (runs like a bat outta hell)
Xel: Zel-chan!!!!! Come back! Don't you want to say hi to the girls?
Sakura: Xel-chan, dear...
Xel: Hai, miko-sama?
Sakura: Don't you have some Lina watching to do?
Xel: Do I?
Sakura: I believe so.
Xel: Oh. Thank you. (pops out)
Sakura: Well that takes care of that. Anyhoo. A new cast member finally makes an
appearance. ^_^ Oooh I soooo excited!! Stay tuned. I should have the next part up next month (L-sama willing). 'Til then kiddies, same bat time, same bat channel.
C&C always welcome at Firia@linainverse.net. Come on minna! You guys haven't been writing much. So pleeeeeeaaaaaaase tell me what you think! I'd looooooove to hear from you. ^_^