Slayers: Vision
By Mirror and Image
Part One
It Begins. . .
Authors' note: Sorry if Fillia is a little OOC (Out-Of-Character) but we have never seen Slayers Try. We're just doing the best we can.
He grunted once more in pain. Without master, and without all that he was, he cursed the enemy that made him what he now was. Examining his staff, he thanked whoever was watching over him. His staff still had the enchantments he had placed on it centuries ago. Slamming his staff into the ground, he disappeared.
She examined herself in the mirror. I still look like the Hammer of Justice! she thought proudly. Her servants stood behind her admiring her evolving beauty. Though originally it was growing tight in certain places, her tailor had fixed it beautifully. She always made sure that her traveling clothes fit in case she had to go adventuring again.
She sighed. She missed adventuring very much. All of her friends/allies of justice going around and trouncing the evil Mazoku of the world. It was so much more fun than listening to politics go by within her family. She started to take her outfit off, when a grunt came behind her. Quickly zipping back up her blouse, she whirled around.
"Come, Amelia. I need your help," he said. He reached out and grabbed her hand.
"But who are.." Amelia never finished her question as he slammed his staff on the ground, making them disappear. The servants gaped.
"Someone tell Prince Phil!"
"Are you nuts? Do you know his temper??"
She walked along the market, with child in one arm and bag of groceries in other. Looking at some chicken, she talked to the merchant.
"That's an unusual looking child there, with that horn on his head," the merchant said, making small talk. "Who's his daddy?"
"Oh, he's not my child," she said, flipping back her golden hair. "He's an orphan of sorts. I'm looking after him, teaching the ways of my clan."
"I understand, ma'am," he said politely.
There was a sudden gasp in the crowd. The gasp quickly spread to screams. She turned around. "You?!" she shouted.
"I have no time for pleasantries, my dear," he said calmly, leaning on his staff. "I need your help. Come."
"But what about Val??" she demanded. He grabbed her arm, forcing her to drop her child. "Val!" she called out, but the man slammed his staff to the ground, making them disappear. The chibi child got up and walked over to where she had just been, sucking his thumb.
"Fillia?" he said. The merchant who had just been talking to Fillia finally regained his composure. He went over to the child, who turned to him with large chibi eyes. "Fillia gone."
"Well, I'll tell ya what," the merchant said, stooping down to Val's level. "Let's see, Val is your name?" He nodded. "I'll let ya stay with my family until Fillia comes back, does that sound good to you?" Val nodded. The merchant picked him up. "Come on. Let's go meet my family."
Tossing back her red hair, she stared down the bandit leader. "You don't really expect to get the better of the beautiful sorceress, Lina Inverse, do you?"
"L-l-l-l-lina Inverse??" Bandit Leader said. "The Dra-Matter? The Enemy Of All Who Live? The Tiny One?"
"FIREBALL!!!!" Now that Bandit Leader was nice and crispy, Lina pulled him up to her face. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'TINY ONE'???"
"Ahhhhhhhhhh," he replied. A blond swordsman sliced another bandit's club.
"I think he's talking about your bust, Lina," he said.
"FIREBALL!!" She looked back to Bandit Leader. "You'd better have a lot of treasure to make my day go better! 'Cause if you don't, I'll Dragu Slave you to Sailoon! Do you know how they feel about bandits there?" Bandit Leader promptly fainted. Lina sighed.
"Come on, Gourry," she said to her extra crispy partner. "Let's go find the treasure!"
"But what about that guy with a staff?" he replied.
"They have a sorcerer?" she said turning. Oh this is going to be good, she thought. Coming fully around, she found that no one was there except downed bandits. "Gourry?" Suddenly, the man appeared next to her.
"I need your help," he said, grabbing her arm.
"But the treasure!" He slammed his staff ground, making them disappear.
He pulled up his sleeve, placing a hand on his forearm. "Recovery." It had been a long day. He had found yet another supposed "cure" only to get blasted through a few stone walls. It was yet another false lead. He was starting to put a whole knew meaning to the words "despair" and "disappointment" as the sun set over the horizon. His sensitive ears picked up motion behind him.
"I need your help, Zelgadiss," the man said, weakly. Zelgadiss recognized that voice. It was slightly different, but it was still the same intonations and pronunciations.
"No chance in hell," he said, diving for his sword. Just as he grabbed it, the man grabbed Zelgadiss, slamming his staff to the ground. When the man let go, Zelgadiss was totally disorientated. Losing his balance, he fell face first into the ground. Within a moment, he was back on his feet, unsheathing his sword.
"I said no, Xellos," he said. He turned to Xellos. To put it nicely, Xellos did not look well. He was breathing heavily, and leaning on his staff. His eyes were still shut, though this time due to the large swelling around his eyes. Blood was dripping down his forehead, and out of his mouth and nose. His clothes were torn, but thanks to the jewel on his cape, they were on the mend, but still very dirty. The jewel in his staff was cracked, and the wood was chipped away. Finally, his staff broke and Xellos fell to the ground.
Zelgadiss blinked as a golden entity rushed by him. Blinking again, he saw Fillia by Xellos' side. Xellos looked up to Fillia and whispered something to her ear. With Zelgadiss' hearing, it wasn't hard to pick up. Xellos whispered, "It was Drrael." Fillia turned white, with her eyes going wide in shock. She turned to Zel.
"Amelia, Lina, Zelgadiss, help me heal him!" Amelia came over, starting a Recovery spell, but Lina stepped up beside Zel.
"But he's a Mazoku. He doesn't need healing," she said. Fillia glared at her.
"Normally, yes, but he's not a Mazoku any more. He's been, rather roughly, changed into a human," she retorted. "Now come here and help us." Zelgadiss looked at Lina and Lina looked at Zelgadiss. Both shrugging, they went over.
"What about me?" Gourry asked.
Fillia looked up to him, the healing energy from her hands never stopping. "Why don't you be a good boy and fix Xellos' staff?"
"Okay."
"Okay, Fillia," Lina said, getting winded from all the energy needed to heal Xellos. "Just what's going on here? Xellos is a Mazoku. He shouldn't need a healing spell."
"I believe a better question would be, who is Drrael?" Zelgadiss added. Suddenly, Fillia's mace found Zel's face. Slamming into a tree he shook the stars from his vision.
"Fillia-san, what was that for?" Amelia demanded. "We need Zelgadiss-san's help to heal Xellos-san!"
"Enough talk, all of you," Fillia shouted. "Just do as your told. Xellos can answer you questions better than I can. And in order for him to do that, we need to heal him, now!!" Zelgadiss walked back over.
"The only way we can heal Xellos right now, considering we don't have a healer, is to take turns through the night casting one Recovery at a time. All of this at once is going to be painful for him, once he can feel pain again. That is, of course, only if he really has become human." Fillia's mace was once more in his face.
"Fine," Lina said. "Fillia, you might as well take care of it first. Just don't pour so much into it!" Lina and Amelia leaned back, both taking deep breaths. "Take it slow, or you might kill him. You're a gold dragon, so you can take care of it while we rest and get camp ready."
"Hey guys," Gourry said. "Will this do?" He held up Xellos' staff, which looked like absolutely nothing had happened to it. Everyone (except Fillia, who wasn't paying attention, and Xellos, who couldn't pay attention) facefaulted. "Hey, when's dinner going to be ready?"
Fillia was still casting Recovery as everyone sat down around the fire and started eating. Unlike the usual battle, this meal was very subdued. Lina took another bite of her fish glancing over to Xellos and Fillia. "Hey Zel," she asked. Zelgadiss looked up from sipping his tea. "What did you mean by 'who is Drrael'?"
"Just before Xellos went into his coma, he whispered something to Fillia," he replied.
"Yeah, I saw that. What did he say?"
"I quote 'It was Drrael.' Fillia went white and Xellos fell unconscious. Have you ever heard of this Drrael character?"
"Gourry, give that back!" Lina grabbed back her last fish, pounding Gourry aside. "Actually, no. I've read just about every book out there on folklore and legend. But I've never heard of Drrael."
"But, what type of enemy of Justice would scare these two allies of Justice?" Amelia asked, as she took over for Fillia who had collapsed in exhaustion.
"Obviously a powerful one," Lina retorted. "So have you been, princess?" Lina tried to change topic. Everyone was getting too serious for her.
"I've become the Champion of Justice when handling politics in my family!" Amelia replied proudly. She would have struck a pose if she wasn't busy with Xellos.
"Huh," Lina said. "I can see you've grown as well," she muttered under her breath looking at a bust size rivaling Naga's.
"What about you Zelgadiss-san?" Amelia asked. Zelgadiss sipped his tea.
"I'd rather not talk about it."
"Still no luck?" Lina asked. He looked over to her.
"Does it look like it?" Lina threw a rock at him. It nailed his head, but didn't do any good.
"Don't be so pessimistic!"
"Uh, Lina?" Gourry asked. "What's pessimistic?"
The next morning, Zelgadiss finished the Recovery he was performing. Leaning back, he took several deep breaths. He did not understand why Xellos had come to him for help, or gathered the old group together. Nor did he understand how or why Xellos was turned into a human, though it did explain the slight difference in his voice. The sun started to filter down through the trees and Amelia was starting breakfast.
Sighing, Zelgadiss sat back up and pushed some hair from Xellos' face. Suddenly, his eyes fluttered open. "Why, Zelgadiss," he said weakly. "I never knew you cared."
"FRUITCAKE!!" Zel yelled. He was about to pound him, when Fillia's hand stopped him.
"Don't even think about it," she said. "He's still weak, and he is human."
"FOOD!!!" That was Gourry and Lina. Twitching, Zelgadiss sat down by Amelia as she passed out breakfast. Gourry and Lina fought over breakfast again, so Zelgadiss just quietly took his share and kept an eye on Xellos. Something wasn't right. He just couldn't put his finger on it. Xellos was quietly talking with Fillia, which Zel couldn't hear over Lina and Gourry. Suddenly, Zelgadiss read the warning signals, and in two quick strides was behind Fillia as she shouted.
"NAMAGOMI!!!!!"
She pulled out her mace and Zel grabbed her arm. " 'Don't even think about it'," he repeated. " 'He's still weak, and he is human'." She whirled at him, ripping her arm loose.
"Don't you dare use my words against me!"
"Guys! Look out!" Lina suddenly shouted. Turning, Zel and Fillia found themselves staring at a horde of Lesser Demons.
"Damn," Zel muttered, pulling out his sword. Fillia dove back to Xellos, raising a shield.
"Take the fight to the air!" Lina ordered. "Keep them away from Fillia and Xellos!" Zelgadiss casted Levitation, following Amelia. Once in the sky, they started slicing and dicing the demons. The only problem was the sheer number of them. Zelgadiss glanced down to Lina. She was doing quite well, but she didn't see a demon getting ready to blast her.
"Blast Ash!" Lina shouted. She wanted to just Dragu Slave them away, but Amelia, Gourry, and Xellos would never escape the blast area in time. Instead, she had to settle for other spells, which were starting to wear her down considering the massive numbers of demons around.
Her thoughts were rudely interrupted as a rock came down hard onto her head. Loosing her balance, she fell a few feet before recasting Levitation. Looking up to where she was she saw Zel (which explained the rock) getting ready to cast a shield. He didn't get a chance as a Lesser Demon that was on the ground sent a bolt of energy so fast that Zel didn't have enough time. Zelgadiss took the hit right in his stomach and went crashing into a nearby tree.
"Zel!" Lina gasped.
"Zelgadiss-san!!" Amelia shouted, racing to her fallen comrade. Lina quickly pulverized the offensive demon and joined up with Amelia.
"Hey, Zel!" she shouted. "Are you okay?" Amelia landed and ran to him. Leaning on his sword, he pushed Amelia away, grunting. He got up slowly, one hand using his sword as a staff, the other over his stomach, casting Recovery. Lina grabbed Amelia. "He'll be fine, come on, Gourry and Fillia have their hands full." Flying off, she glanced back at Zel. Though he stayed on the ground, he went back to turning Lesser Demons into shish kabob.
Going back to the area where Fillia had her shield, Lina and Amelia could see she was getting tired. Damn, Lina said to herself. I told her not to use so much energy on Xellos! Now she doesn't have enough to maintain that shield, and Xellos is still too weak to fight! Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Zel race up and help Gourry, who was knee deep in demons. Aside from a few cuts on his cheek, Gourry looked okay.
"Okay, Amelia," Lina said. "Let's plow through some of those demons who are attacking Fillia's shield. That should distract them enough to follow us and leave Fillia alone."
"Yes," Amelia replied. "The Hammer of Justice will shine and destroy these servants of evil!"
"Yeah, yeah, let's go!" Together they plowed through, forcing about half of the demons that had been on Fillia's shield to follow them into the air.
Gourry continued to slash through as many demons as he could. Though he wouldn't admit it, he was getting very tired. It was just too much. Even though Zel was by his side, slashing as many as possible, there were just too many. His sword suddenly wavered, and a demon hit him, knocking him back.
"Gourry!" Suddenly in his arms, was Lina, who was unconscious, and bleeding. Above her was Zelgadiss, who was slicing through a demon. Seething his sword, Zel looked over.
"Thanks for the help, Zel," Gourry said. "Hey, if you're not to busy, could you heal Lina, so we can finish off these guys?" Zel nodded in agreement. Picking up Lina, he flew away. Gourry looked back at the demons with a new sense of purpose. (Or at least the closest that could happen to someone so dim witted.) His charge had been harmed. He was her bodyguard and he let her down. These demons weren't going to see another day.
Zelgadiss flew through some bushes and landed in a tree a small ways from the battle. Several demons destroyed the land below him, looking for them. Gourry was right. If they were going to have any chance of defeating such a large number of demons, they were going to need Lina to cast some big spell. He stood on the branch and tried to cast a Recovery, but he couldn't do it without Lina almost falling. Shifting his weight carefully, he sat on the branch, one leg on either side, and held Lina against his chest. He tried again, but she almost fell from his grip again. Shifting once more, he laid her down on the branch, with her legs on either side of his waist. Now that she was finally supported, he casted Recovery. He ignored the sweat streaming down his face. He knew he was exhausted from pouring so much energy into Xellos, but Lina needed to be healed quickly.
"Gourry!" Lina suddenly sat up, going, literally, nose to nose with Zelgadiss. His eyes went wide. She looked down to see the position they were in.
"Fireball!!" Zel coughed out some smoke as Lina took off, calling out to Gourry. Sighing, Zel jumped down and ran back to the battlefield, ignoring the fact that his muscles were ordering him to stop and rest. When he finally came back to the clearing, he saw only a few demons were still hanging around. Amelia and Lina were in the air with about a dozen left, and Gourry was taking care of the ones on the ground. Drawing his sword, Zelgadiss went in to help. In a very short time, all the Lesser Demons were gone.
Fillia dropped her shield. Turning slowly, not showing his fatigue, Zel looked to Xellos. "I think it's about time you told us what is going on. Who is Drrael?" Before Xellos could answer, there was a chilling, deep laugh.
"So Xellos, you've stooped so low that you're getting humans to help you. Oh, and a dragon as well? You must have her wrapped around your little finger in order for her to be following you."
"Kotowa," Xellos spat. Quickly regaining his cheerful disposition, he smiled and said, "So, what brings you all the way out here?"
"Oh, this and that," the voice replied. "Nothing you need to concern yourself with."
"And what, pray tell, is wrong with asking humans for help, hmm?" Xellos replied. "As I recall, Lina here killed your master, did she not?"
"So she did. Along with a piece of Shabranigdo. But thanks to my new master, I'm far more powerful than her."
"I don't think so, Kotowa. Gaav wasn't much of a master, and you were never much a Mazoku."
"Oh, really?"
"Really."
"I am afraid I must correct you in your judgment of me. I was a far better spy than you were."
"Somehow I doubt that."
"Did you know that Gaav-sama sent out several people to spy on Hellmaster and the other Mazoku lords?"
"Yes, but they were all destroyed, or follow a new lord now. At least they did before you and Drrael destroyed the remaining lords." Zel and everyone else gasped. Exactly who was powerful enough to take on the Mazoku lords and beat them? As far as Zel knew, only Lina could do that and win, but she usually needed time to recover afterwards. To do so all at once?
"Ah, Xellos, you never knew that Gaav assigned me to spy on someone. Someone very important."
"And who might that be?"
"Why I spied, and learned, from the great Rezo, the Red Priest." Suddenly before them, Kotowa showed himself in a human form. He looked very similar to Gaav, with red hair and an orange jacket. He had dark skin with a scar on his right cheek. His mass of hair was held back by some sort of crown, and his eyes were completely black. "I must say, Rezo was a very learned man. I learned a lot from him. For example." He opened his hand and a staff identical to Rezo's appeared. He slammed it to the ground, letting the ringing echo through the clearing. He started to talk in Rezo's voice.
Life born of heart of stone, born of weakest flesh,
Let the spell release you and return you to your home.
Become one with my will, and become mine.
Now dance my loyal puppet, I command you!
Zelgadiss, who thought he was tired and sore before suddenly screamed out in agony. A force came over him, one that was crawling into his mind the minute the staff started to ring. The force that tickled his mind during the spell now hit him in full force, knocking him down. His screaming continued. All he could hear was the quieting echo of the staff. Suddenly, Kotowa must have slammed the staff down again, because the chang became louder, and his pain intensified ten fold.
Amelia watched in horror as Zelgadiss-san screamed in agony, convulsing on the ground. She tried to run to him, but she found she was frozen. Looking around, she found that the others were stuck as well.
"I...cannot.....I will..not," Zelgadiss-san managed to say.
"You can. And you will," Kotowa said. He slammed Rezo's staff to the ground a third time, and Zelgadiss-san's screams hit a new pitch. Amelia felt tears well up in her eyes.
"Stop it!" she cried, turning to Kotowa. "Ra Tilt!" she shouted. He took the blow head on. "Another servant of evil falls before the light of Justice!" she cried triumphantly.
"NOOOOOOO!!!!" She turned back to Zelgadiss-san. Once more, she tried to run to him, but nothing happened.
"Was that it?" Appearing above the withering Zelgadiss-san was Kotowa, not even scratched. "Now then, back to why I'm here." He snapped his fingers. Zelgadiss-san, still grunting in pain, stood up and exploded in flames.
"Zel!!" Lina-san cried out. Suddenly, silence thundered down on them.
"You probably want to see him don't you?" Kotowa asked. Making a quick gesture, he waved the smoke away. As the smoke cleared, a figure could be seen on the ground.
"Zelgadiss?" Fillia-san asked. The smoke finally cleared. With his back to them, was Zelgadiss-san kneeling before Kotowa. Dressed in a black samurai armor, his head bowed low, Zelgadiss-san did not move. A quick gesture from Kotowa's hand, and Zelgadiss-san stood up, turning to them. His face was hard, but his eyes remained closed. In his hand was a helmet. Slowly, with one hand, he pushed back the hair that was in front of his eye. Putting on his helmet, he raised his head. Slowly, his eyes opened, to reveal nothing but red.
"I'll let you ponder on this for a while. It will be so much fun watching you fight a friend next them. Oh well. Ciao for now!" Both Kotowa, and Zelgadiss-san disappeared.
"ZELGADISS-SAN!!!" Amelia fell in tears.
Go to Part Two-Another Rezo?