Author: Chauni

Email: ChauniMaxwell@mechpilot.com

Website: www.oocities.org/asukalangley2nd/

Warnings: Comedy, Crossover, AU

Disclaimer: I don’t own GW or Slayers. I made no money off this…blah.

The Thin Line

( a Gundam Wing and Slayers crossover)

Chapter 2

For one of those rare occasions, Heero’s flat cobalt eyes showed emotion.

It wasn’t fear; most thought he was incapable of such a weak and pointless feeling. No, this was utter shock, with a dash of confusion thrown in for flavor.

“W-what happened to my skin?”

Quatre stood up and got to him first. He reached out a tentative hand, lightly touching the new flesh. He quickly pulled it back as if stung, his face deadly pale, as he whispered, “It’s real, and cold.”

Duo looked at his friend for a long time, noticing the small stones embedded in the skin around his eyes, seeing the rocks that spotted his arms and chest. For once, he was speechless, all words and thoughts dying in a haze of confusion on his still tongue.

Lina’s face had even lost a shade of color as she stared at the strange boy who had apparently inherited Zelgadis’ curse.

Quatre suddenly turned to his companions, green eyes wide and filled with fear. His hand impulsively began clutching his chest, directly above his heart while his face drained of all color, leaving it white and pale as snow.

“I don’t feel you guys,” he whispered.

Wufei’s dark eyes looked at the desert prince in confusion. “What?”

“I can always feel you,” Quatre answered in a whisper. “I can always feel what you are experiencing, your life forces. Now, though, I just feel sort of empty and a little alone.”

Lina stared on, not at all understanding any of what these strange boys spoke of or why that one had unluckily inherited Zelgadis’ curse. She swore under her breath, wishing for just one moment of peace and a good breakfast.

“Well, well,” said a new voice that sounded through the nearby trees. “Lina Inverse! I did not expect to find you here!”

The red haired sorceress whirled around and faced the approaching violet haired figure. “Xellos! I bet you had something to do with this!”

The man smiled, but that was not unusual. His lavender eyes were hidden in a squint that seemed familiar, constant, and extremely jovial while his lips were constantly upturned in a grin that seemed forced and yet easy all at once. His black pants fit him loosely, his yellow shirt peeking out from underneath his long dark cloak. In his hand he bore a wooden staff, topped with a large red stone.

“Why is it, Lina, that every time I come around, you blame things on me?” A mock depression crept into his voice. “You hurt my feelings!”

“Just start talking, Xellos!” she growled. “Tell me where they are!”

“Why, whatever are you talking about?” he inquired.

She waved her white-gloved hand at all the surrounding people. “These people, that’s what I’m talking about! Who are they and where did they come from? Where are the others?”

His eyes scanned the group, silently noting the long blonde hair of one of them, the large sad eyes and clasped hands of another. His eyes fell onto the white “hero” outfit of one and finally rested on the one with the stony flesh.

“So, they just appeared during the night?” he asked to Lina as he teleported over to Heero.

Lina nodded, watching the deathlike gleam in the cold cobalt eyes of the pilot. “The one that has Gourry’s hair was holding the Sword of Light in his sleep.” She pulled out the scabbard that bore the legendary weapon, her knuckles white beneath the gloves as she clenched it.

The Mazoku ran a finger over the hard skin, dimly noting what Lina had said. He opened one eye and looked up at the Wing pilot, continuing to smile. He was greeted with a look that could have, and most likely should have, killed him. Removing his hand and taking a few steps back, the priest swirled around and faced everyone in the group.

“I know what happened!” he announced, grinning like a fool.

“Well, out with it!” the red-haired sorceress growled.

The Mazoku pouted, lower lip extending just slightly. “Come now, Lina,” he whined. “Do you have to be so mean about everything? Can’t you at least say please?”

For a brief moment, a sweatdrop appeared, and then promptly vanished. “Unless you want to be eating a Dragon Slave, I’d suggest you tell me what’s going on, right now!”

The violet haired man sighed, waving his hand nonchalantly. “All right,” he said. “But you could be a little nicer to someone who is here to help you.”

The Gundam pilots stared in confusion, all absolutely lost. Dragon Slave? What was that? And what was with this very strange purple haired man that teleported from one place to another?

“I have a headache,” muttered Duo, brushing the newly acquired blonde hair from his face.

“There are more worlds than this one,” Xellos began as he strolled over to a nearby log and took a seat upon the hard wood.

“We know that, fool!” Wufei growled.

Lina looked to him confused. Xellos shook his head. “Remember, you’re not in your world, or even your time period anymore. Things are different here. Hold your tongue until I am finished.” That cursed smile mocked him, daring him to attempt something.

Wufei took a step forward, but Heero grabbed his shoulder, shaking his head. “Let him speak.”

He sighed, defeated once more. He threw a glare over to the Mazoku, and then promptly sat down on Lina’s bedroll.

“As I was saying,” the priest continued. “There are even more dimensions than these.

“All the dimensions are held together at a central nexus point, a meeting spot if you will.” With a stick, he drew a rough circle in the dirt at his feet. “Each dimension rides along side one another like this:”

“There are so many dimensions, so many different universes and possibilities, so many what-if’s and when’s, that these lines sometimes touch, if for nothing but a brief moment.” His face turned towards the crowd, his right eye slowly opening. “Sometimes things are lost when they connect, things are exchanged. Sometimes it’s only small objects disappearing, meaningless things that are not missed, or if they are, for only a minute. Other times, people are exchanged.”

“Wait a minute!” Duo said, hands falling onto his hips. His own violet eyes matched those of the priest. “Are you saying that our two dimensions touched and we were swapped?”

He nodded, eyes back to closed, smile returning instantly. “Exactly! You may be here in replace of Gourry, but you are definitely smarter than he is!”

Lina flashed him a cold look before asking, “So, then, are each of these people replacing the others?”

The priest dove into thought for a moment, as if trying to figure out how to phrase his next explanation. “Well, in a way. Each dimension has its own group of people. Their traits are patterned from before time even begins; the way they live governed before thought of their existence is even spewed forth. When one is taken, it must be replaced. If not, then tragic events will follow.

“Who will fill the void of one who no longer exists?”

Quatre, whose hands resembled Sylphiel’s as he clasped them at his chest and asked quietly, “But wouldn’t it be as if the person had just died?”

Xellos shook his head, shoulder length hair flying. “Dying and simply ‘not existing’ are two totally different things. And then also, you must think of what happens in your dimension when suddenly a new person appears from nowhere.”

Wufei rose to his feet, deep black eyes suddenly ablaze. “So if what you are saying is true, then we are here to replace the woman’s friends, correct?”

Lina gritted her teeth, attempting to bite back a stream of yells and insults, when Xellos nodded. “Very correct.”

“Then, they are taking over our lives as we speak, correct?” he continued.

Xellos thought for a moment, then nodded once more, smile grafted to his lips. “Yes, in a sense. Your friends can tell the difference, just as Lina did with you. However, just as you inherited their traits-” His eyes drifted to Duo, then Heero. “- I suppose they will inherit yours.”

Quatre’s eyes looked to Lina, large and pleading. “Miss Lina, perhaps you could tell us a little about your missing companions and explain to us who they are most likely to replace.”

“Well,” she began, a finger tapping impatiently on her cheek as she crossed her arms. “From what I can tell, you are replacing Sylphiel Nels Rada. She’s a real nice, kind of shy, girl, soft-spoken, sort of delicate. She’s purely a White magic user; she can’t cast a Flare Arrow to save her life. But the strange thing is she can do a Dragon Slave almost as well as I can, which is near impossible considering my massive amount of power. She’s a little naïve though, I’m afraid.”

Quatre’s eyebrows raised in confusion, not understanding everything she had been explaining. What is a Dragon Slave? he thought. Is it some kind of Gundam?

Her oblivious crimson eyes turned to Heero. “You are obviously replacing Zelgadis Graywords. Every group needs a cold-hearted mystical swordsman, and he’s it.”

“Cold-hearted, huh?” Duo chimed in. “Yeah, that’s our Heero all right!”

“Shut up,” Heero growled.

Lina ignored the brief conversation and continued. “He was cursed awhile back. He wanted more power so his grandfather granted it to him, by turning him into a chimera, which explains the rocky skin you now have. Just for information’s sake, he was turned in one third golem, one third demon, and one third human.”

Her eyes swung over to Duo. “You’re here to take Gourry Gabriev’s place, or as I like to call him, ‘Jellyfish brains!’”

Duo formed a quick pout, muttering, “I go from being called ‘Shinigami’ to “Jellyfish Brains’!” He was silenced from a cold look from the Wing pilot before he could continue.

“He’s dense, I mean, really dense,” she rambled on, “And he can’t remember a name to save his life. However, he’s extremely brave and one of the best fighters I’ve ever seen.” Unconsciously, her hand tightened around the hilt of the sword in her hand.

I know I told you I was going to get your Sword of Light one day, she thought, but I didn’t mean like this.

Suddenly her eyes brightened as she swirled around and faced Wufei. “And you,” she said, lips cracking into an evil smile, “are the obvious substitute for our local moral-obsessed, overly righteous, sledgehammer of justice.”

Quatre smiled, honest and open. “Yes, Miss Lina, that would be him.”

“And who would this person’s name be?” Wufei inquired, beaming a tad proudly.

“Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun,” she answered, smirking evilly. “Princess of Seyruun.”

Duo’s face froze for a moment, eye’s wide. Suddenly, he burst into a fit of laughter that shook the tops of the trees. “A princess? You’re here to replace a princess, Wu-man? You have got to love that! That explains the clothes at least! I mean, what’s with that pink fuzzy thing, anyway?”

The other pilot’s face drained of color for a moment. “A- a princess? A woman?” His eyes flashed deadly to the Deathscythe pilot. “Shut up, Maxwell!” As an afterthought, he reached over and savagely pulled the pink object from his clothes, throwing it with venom to the ground and jumping up and down on it.

Suddenly he stopped, his face got even paler as his eyes dragged over to Xellos. “Does this mean that this woman-” He spat the word as if it were cursed. “- is going to be taking over Nataku?”

“They could be taking control of all of our Gundams,” whispered Quatre, face turning equally as white.

Xellos looked at him, perplexed for a moment. Even as high-ranking and all-knowing as he was, he had never once heard of a “Nataku” or “Gundams”. I wonder if it’s some new kind of spell, he thought. “Well, I suppose as you took over certain aspects of their lives, they will do the same for yours.”

“This is unjust! I will not allow it!” Wufei screamed, knuckles turning white as he clenched his fists.

“You do sound like Amelia,” Lina giggled, then suddenly turned serious at the look of death she received. “Anyway, it’s not like you can do much from here.” Her crimson eyes fell to the Trickster priest. “So, how do you exchange them?”

The Mazoku pointed back to the drawing in the dirt. “As I said before, this is the central nexus point,” he explained, tapping the circle in the middle. “Each dimension has a meeting point where the fabric between the lines are slightly worn down, making it easier to pass between them. Once you find this place, you should be able to cast a spell that could undo everything that has happened, reversing all that has transpired.”

“I’m sorry,” Quatre piped in politely. “I don’t mean to interrupt, but what is all this talk of magic anyway?”

“Are you saying you don’t have magic where you come from?” Lina gasped. She could not imagine living her life without the aid of magic, nor did she ever want to.

“We can talk about the differences of our worlds later,” Heero snarled, eyes narrowing. Lina silently noted that even aside from the newly acquired chimera curse, she still would have known he was replacing Zelgadis. “Right now we need to find the way to be back to our own dimension.”

Lina thought for a moment, eyes drifting over their shoulders and to the clear blue sky as if she were daydreaming. “Seyruun has the most knowledge and highest magical influence that I can think of. And it’s also really close. We might as well start looking there.”

Xellos lips remained in the customary upturned grin while his body slowly began to fade from existence. “I have a few things that need…attending to. Perhaps I will meet up with you again soon, Lina.” With that, he disappeared, leaving no trace whatsoever.

She smirked. “Wow, for once, he wasn’t too much of a pain,” she muttered.

As she turned around, she ran into Xellos, who stood grinning behind her. Her face grew bright red as he said, “That’s so nice of you to say, Lina. I suppose this means you do like me!”

“FIREBALL!” Her arm thrust forward, hurling a ball of pure flame to where the Mazoku had stood only seconds before. She turned and faced the group, smiling, as she brushed the long crimson hair from her shoulder. “Perhaps that explains a little on the magic deal. You can ask specifics while we’re walking. Seyruun is thirteen miles to the east, so we had better get going.”