Nightmare!
Kira to the Rescue
It’s Gonna be a Long Night…
Gourry was trying to figure out why Lina was screaming at Xellos. Granted,
the thought of being literally nose-to-nose with the Trickster Priest wasn’t
anything he’d particularly enjoy… his eyes narrowed as a thought occurred
to him. “Xellos! Did you kiss Lina?”
Amelia turned blue at the thought, and Zelgadis’ eyes narrowed.
Xellos, who had, by now managed to take a few steps back, looked at the
others nervously. “Of course not! I am married to Elena now… she doesn’t
let me kiss just anybody…”
Lina’s scream silenced as she came to the conclusion that there was no
need to scream, and she sat in the center of the bed, shivering. Something’s
wrong… something’s desperately wrong… She jumped as there was weight
on the bed, and Gourry’s arms encircled her.
“Lina, what’s wrong…?”
“I… It…” She couldn’t remember. Unaware of it, she leaned into Gourry,
trying to recall that which danced just at the edge of her mind.
A shadow fell in the doorway, and a strange echo of Lina’s voice came from
behind Amelia and Zelgadis. “What’s wrong? I felt it three streets over…
Lina?”
Everyone in the room, except Lina, turned to see a mirror image of Lina
Inverse standing in the doorway. She wore a long-sleeved black turtleneck
over black pants with a silver belt, her own red hair in a ponytail. The
tiny mage marks were clearly visible, and crimson eyes narrowed. “You,”
Her voice was dark, threatening, and her gaze was locked on Xellos.
Xellos sweatdropped. If this was who he thought it was, then he could be
in danger. Two options came to mind, and quickly, he came to a decision.
He lowered his staff, kneeling to her. “My lady, it is good to see you
are well…” he murmured, much to the shock of Gourry, Zelgadis, and Amelia.
“Hmph,” the mirror image sniffed as she stalked into the room and walked
past the stunned chimera and princess, coming to a halt by the bed. She
rested a hand on Lina’s head and looked at Gourry, eyes calm. “You don’t
look much like Rouddy, but I suppose that’s to be expected.” Looking down
at the mirror image of herself, Kira sighed. “Lina Inverse, pull yourself
together. It was nothing but a dream. For the fifth, and final, time, you
are not becoming a Mazoku. You can’t. That’s not L-Sama’s nature. Her nature
is Chaos. And so is yours.”
Xellos froze. How much would she tell? He had no questions about his orders
if someone were to reveal too much, but this woman had a strange immunity.
She was a contradiction, an immortal human who had worked in the service
of the Lord of Nightmares. She knew it all, and was allowed to retain that
knowledge upon resigning her position to… Lina.
Lina lifted her head with tears streaking down her cheeks.
“Who are you?” A stony voice asked, and Kira looked over at the now-closer
chimera who had addressed her.
Such impressively dedicated companions, Lina. I was never so lucky…
Kira thought for a moment. “I am Kira Inverse, and you are Zelgadis Graywords.”
She watched the chimera’s eyes widen slightly in surprise. The girl came
up uncertainly beside him. “Amelia wil Tesla Sailune.” Her eyes and voice
softened slightly. “Princess, you…” Kira shook her head. No… it wouldn’t
do to tell her that here. Later. When there aren’t others.
Gourry’s embrace, which had tightened around Lina when Kira had touched
her, now lessened, and he looked at Kira. “Gosh! You could be Lina’s sister!
You look just like her! Are you two related?”
Kira looked at Lina, who was slowly becoming herself again. “You’re right.
A whole stack of bricks.”
Kira had promptly chased everyone out of the room, including Gourry, but
stayed behind herself in the room with Lina. Those who Kira had chased
out of the room had all gathered in the dining area, various mugs of tea
and coffee passing around to whomever wanted some.
“Do you really think Miss Lina is safe with her?” Amelia asked uncertainly.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she noted that both Gourry and Zelgadis
were dressed... and she was the only one in the hotel pajamas. Blushing
slightly, she drew herself up smaller in the chair.
A hand touched her shoulder lightly, and Amelia looked up to see Elena’s
golden eyes glittering at her in unspoken mirth. A warmth tingled around
Amelia, and she blinked in surprise as Elena’s magic changed the pajamas
into her preferred clothing – minus the cape. Blushing again, the princess
of Sailune smiled to the princess of Kuroryu, who only smiled back, saying
nothing.
Xellos was the one who eventually answered Amelia. “That’s Kira Inverse.
She was once the Knight of Chaos… the most powerful human to walk the world.
The only human to cross the barrier until it fell. She’s also Lina’s great-great
grandmother… I would imagine that there is nothing to concern yourself
over.”
Zelgadis muttered something about highly treacherous relatives, and Amelia
reached out to touch him on the arm lightly.
“Lina is the Knight of Chaos now… as immortal as Xellos or I… but she is
not Mazoku, which appears to be her worst fear,” Elena said softly. “She
will have to overcome that, or be crippled by the fear.”
“You are correct, Elena of Kuroryu. In Lina’s dream, she recovered the
lost Philosopher’s Stone… only to discover that Shabranigdo had not been
defeated. Her dream echoed the warning in the Claire Bible – those who
are not of Chaos, cannot become Chaos.” Kira said as she walked into the
room and selected a cup of coffee for herself. Everyone turned to look
at the woman who was, to them, the mirror image of the sorceress in concern.
“Lina’s about as chaotic as anyone I know,” Zelgadis said. “But is she
going to be all right?”
“Yeah… I’ll be fine,” Lina answered for herself, wearily leaning against
the corner of the wall. She’d come in behind Kira, and watched how worried
her friends looked. It touched her how concerned they had looked to Kira
when she’d walked into the room. Kira was right… this is my family.
Even Xellos, for what that’s worth. She straightened and walked into
the room, affecting her cheerful appearance, wondering who would see through
it and call her on it. “It’s just a disconcerting thing to dream that you’re
turning into a Mazoku… and then wake up to find Xellos in your face.” She
managed a dark glower at the now-innocent looking Mazoku.
“Well…” Xellos gave a dismissing laugh. “I admit to curiosity about your
dream, Lina…”
Lina reached out and examined the hot drinks offered, wrinkling her nose
at the coffee. Kira and Zelgadis may like it, but yuck!! She selected
a cup of tea, adding enough sugar to make even Amelia wince. “You’re just
going to have to stay curious, Xellos.”
Amelia watched Lina and Kira. To the princess’ eyes, the two were almost
identical… with a very slight few mannerism differences. Kira moved with
a subtle grace that seemed to be as much a part of her as the fire that
burned in Lina’s eyes. Beyond that, to people who did not know Lina… Gourry
was right. They could easily pass as twins.
“I’ve decided that you aren’t staying here tonight, so everyone go get
your things. I’ll take care of things with the hotel in the morning. Luna
should have told you, Lina. Honestly, sometimes I wonder if that girl has
anything other than waiting on tables in her brain,” Kira said, causing
Lina to splutter into her tea. “Oh yes…I must remember that… sorry, Lina.”
Kira amended.
Lina watched her friends silently go to gather their belongings, and set
her tea down to look at Xellos. “What are you doing here anyway, Xellos?
Aren’t you supposed to have a honeymoon or something?”
Xellos actually leered at Lina, causing the sorceress to step back. “What
makes you think we didn’t?”
Elena calmly reached out and knocked Xellos over, giving Lina a grin as
she did so. “Stop leering, Xellos.”
“Ow…”
As Xellos stood up and dusted himself off, the others returned with what
little they had brought. Amelia handed Lina the sword that she had left
behind, and Lina took it, knowing how hard it must have been for Amelia
to pick it up. As much as the girl tried to keep a secret, Lina had, in
her own fashion, managed to put the pieces of the puzzle of Sailune’s missing
royal family member together. She had a pretty good idea where Gracia was…
but she wasn’t about to let on. A lot more things made sense to her, and
she was wondering where the thoughts had come from when Kira looked at
her.
“Time to learn a new spell, Lina. You’ve used it before and not known how…”
A gentle hand was laid on her arm, and Lina suddenly heard Kira in her
mind, understood how she had teleported like Xellos could… and looked at
Kira in shock. Telepathy!
Kira smiled faintly, lifted her hand and vanished, along with Amelia and
Zelgadis. Xellos and Elena winked out, and Lina shook her head, looked
at Gourry and shrugged. “Hang on, Gourry… this could be a rough ride.”
She wrapped her mind around the spell, feeling the world shift and suddenly,
she was standing in the living room in Kira’s house, Gourry beside her.
She’d done it before, she realized, when she’d gone after Zelgadis. And
now she knew how to do it better. It was tasking, though, requiring a lot
of concentration, but then… she wasn’t near to full energy.
“Gosh, Lina! That’s useful! No more long walking…” Gourry said as Lina
reached out and decked him.
“It’s not as easy as that, okay, Gourry? Just lay off for a little while,”
Lina said, dropping into a chair, and closing her eyes. She was just too
tired…
When Lina opened her eyes, she was lying in an extremely soft bed, and
the sun was streaming high into the window. She felt warm, protected, comfortable…
something that she hadn’t felt in a very long time. Normal aches and pains
from being on the road were gone, and she felt as if she’d caught up on
every moment of lost sleep in her life.
She sat up and stretched, noticing that all the old pains from various
injuries of past were gone. Getting out of the bed, she wandered over to
her clothing that was draped on a chair, and dressed, wondering why she
felt so good. Even my hair is happy today, she thought as she brushed
it out. But I wonder… She paused, and then the vague flicker of
a memory crept across her mind. Kira had come and helped her to bed.
Family… I have… family. They do that sort of thing, don’t they? Lina
found it strangely appealing. She shook her hair out, tied up the ribbon,
and opened the bedroom door.
The kitchen was filled with people, and Kira loved it. Zelgadis was calmly
sitting at the table drinking coffee, Amelia sitting cheerfully beside
him, engaged in chatter with Elena. Gourry was busy eating everything that
Kira’s maid put in front of him, and Xellos was doing his dead-level best
to irritate them all, but somehow falling short of his mark. Kira laughed
softly and added a spoonful of cream to her coffee, moving to the table.
Amelia looked over as the hostess walked up to the table, and still marveled
at how closely Lina resembled her. Kira had braided her hair into a ponytail
down her back, and was wearing a soft bluish-violet ensemble. By Amelia’s
reckoning, Kira Inverse was over a hundred years old, but she didn’t look
a day older than Lina did. And Amelia was pretty sure that Lina wasn’t
much into her early twenties. Age wasn’t exactly anything that Amelia had
asked about, content to guess on her own how old her companions were. She
knew that Gourry was the oldest of them, but she had no idea how old Zelgadis
was. It was rather hard to tell with him.
“So all of you let me sleep in so you could hog the food, right?” Lina
asked wryly as she walked into the kitchen.
Amelia looked at Lina, then blinked. There was something different about
Lina this morning. The sorceress moved easier, and there was a spring in
her step that Amelia hadn’t seen in a very long time. Zelgadis’ eyes narrowed,
and Amelia knew that he was seeing it too. Lina herself seemed unaware
of it, plopping down in a chair beside Gourry and swiping a sausage before
he could react. She was a lot faster, too.
Zelgadis set his mug down and looked at Lina. “You look rested.”
Lina grinned at him as she finished her filched sausage. “I feel rested.
It’s been a long time since I felt this good. I like it.”
Kira nodded as she herself placed the first plate of food in front of Lina.
“That is the effect of the Chaos magic on you. Being that you are of the
same nature, it compliments you instead of harming.”
Lina looked to Kira only for a moment, then dug into breakfast. “So you’re
saying that I’m what? Some sort of Chaos being now?”
Kira sighed and sat beside Lina. “You really are as stubborn as an Inverse.
You’re just as human as your friends… well… that is…” Six pairs of eyes
settled on Kira, and she laughed. “Okay, maybe calling Xellos and Elena
human is a stretch. But you, Zelgadis, don’t you go telling me that you
aren’t human. And Gourry, don’t you start either… not that I expect you
to know. And Amelia, don’t give me that look. You’re all, in your own ways,
human.” No one looked particularly convinced, and Kira sighed.
“I’d rather simply be human,” Zelgadis said, taking up his freshly filled
coffee mug.
“Would you?” Kira countered, crimson eyes flickering towards the chimera.
“Without that spell, you’d be powerless, unable to protect your friends.
If you were human, there is nothing to say that you would have met any
of them.” She paused, watching his reaction. “Think about it, Zelgadis.
If you hadn’t been a chimera, would you have been so useful to Rezo? Would
he have sent you to look for the Philosopher’s Stone? Would you have met
Lina and Gourry that day?”
Zelgadis gave it a few minutes worth of good thought before replying grudgingly.
“Probably not.”
“There is a reason for everything that each of you has been through. Even
you, Amelia,” Kira said, watching the young princess look up sharply, flush
red, and look down at her mug.
Lina looked to the girl in concern. She knew that there was something Amelia
did her best to hide, and Lina liked Amelia enough not to pry. She had
a few ideas, knew that it was something about her mother, but she didn’t
know anything beyond that. She suspected that it was related to her missing
older sister, but how… she didn’t know.
The
front door opened to the house, and everyone in the kitchen clearly heard
a voice raised in panic. “Lady Inverse! Lady Inverse! It’s Rihana! She’s
back!!”
The cold that suddenly coalesced around Kira Inverse was tangible to all
in the house. Rising to her feet, all sign of the jovial and laid-back
hostess vanished, replaced by a powerful and focused immortal that gave
even Xellos a good unnerving.