Disclaimer: I do not own anything in the Slayers franchise, and am making no money from this fic. I am simply doing this for fun.

"I hope we don't have to put on any embarrassing outfits in these ruins," Amelia whined.

"We better not," Lina said with a small growl. "And no singing either!"

Nell blinked in surprise. "I'm sorry, what happened?"

"Don't ask," Lina, Amelia and Zelgadis answered together.

Gourry chuckled softly. "Ah, was it really that bad?" Not wanting to risk bodily harm, he had never said anything on the subject...but Gourry had in fact liked how Lina looked in the short, little dress and strappy shoes...

"You don't know the half of it," Zelgadis groaned as he blushed at the memory. "And I refuse to dress up like a bunny!"

Lina grinned and looked over her shoulder at the chimera. "Aw, but you looked so cute, Mister Zelga-bunny!"

Zelgadis hung his head. "Please don't call me that..."

"Zelga-bunny?" Rii asked. "Oh, Mister Zelgadis, I'm sure you were the cutest thing in a bunny suit!"

Zelgadis heaved a long-suffering sigh before groaning.

Nell blinked again. "I'm sorry...a bunny suit?"

Xellos simply chuckled.

"All right, guys now let's be careful," Lina said as she led the way into the ruins. "Let's not have a repeat of the last time," she said with a pointed look at Gourry and Amelia.

"Hey, it's not my fault you were reading the map so slowly," the handsome swordsman said in his defense.

"Yeah," Amelia agreed with a nod.

Lina cracked a small grin before continuing inside. "Yeah, well...there's no map this time, so everyone be extra careful and on the look out."

"What're we being careful of, Mister Zelgadis?" Rii asked.

"Traps," Zelgadis answered.

"Ooo! Let me help!" Rii asked excitedly as she hopped up and down. "I'm good at finding and disarming traps!" She raced ahead to the front of the group.

"Rii, no wait!" Lina tried to stop the small thief, but was not fast enough in grabbing her before she raced past.

"Aaaaiiiiiiieeeeeeee!!!" Rii came running back out at a dead sprint with a series of fireballs closing in on her.

"Valance Wall!" Amelia cried as she put up the protective barrier in front of her companions.

"That was scary!" Rii wailed as she clung to Zelgadis--her arms wrapped tightly around his waist.

Grumbling and grouching, Lina made her way over to the small thief and tugged on her ear. "Not all the traps are going to be normal, you idiot. These ruins are said to house magical objects, so a lot of the traps are going to be magical!"

"Owie, Miss Lina!" Rii whimpered before gingerly rubbing her ear once Lina had let go. "That hurt," she whined.

"You would've been hurting a lot worse if the fireball hit you," Lina stated simply before turning on her heel and heading back to the front of the group.

Zelgadis sighed and took pity on the small thief. At that moment, Rii looked so pitiful that the chimera simply could not help himself. "Just stay close, all right? Any physical traps we'll leave to you, but leave the magical ones to us, all right?

Rii smiled dreamily up at the handsome chimera. "Anything you say, Mister Zelgadis."

Zelgadis hurriedly looked away to hide the blush that was currently coloring his cheeks.

Nell giggled softly as she fell into step a few steps behind Lina. Xellos walked beside her, and she had her hand tucked into the crook of his arm. "If you want, I could conjure up some skeletons and send them on ahead as minesweepers." She blinked when she was met with stares. "Well...there's no sense in risking our necks when we have other options, is there?"

"Thanks for the offer, Nell," Zelgadis said. "But I think we can handle this." Truth be told, the chimera did not want the necromancer using her powers anymore than she had to...he did not wish to risk her succumbing to her demon self by drawing upon too much of her dark powers.

Nell gave a small, graceful shrug. "Suit yourselves, then."

"Lighting," Lina uttered--conjuring up a ball of light when it had become to dark to see without some form of aide. "Nell?" she asked the lovely blond as the group set off deeper into the ruins.

"Yes?" Nell replied with a small, friendly smile.

"How many astral forms do you have? When you went up against Greater Beast Zelas, I thought I saw two..."

Nell gave a small nod of understanding. You did see two, though technically, I only have one."

"And it is most impressive, if I do say so myself," Xellos said with his usual, easy smile as he recalled the glimpses of Hellmaster Nellistras' form he had seen from Nell's memories.

Lina stared blankly at the necromancer. "I don't get it..."

Nell sighed softly as she thought of a way to better explain the concept. "The sphere that you saw is my astral form at its most basic. The other form you saw is my astral form in its true incarnation. So long as I continue to walk in both worlds, I will use the black sphere as my astral form. However...If I were to give in to my demon self, I would have no further use for the sphere because I would be restored to my former self. Do you understand?" Nell asked as she glanced at the petite red head.

Lina nodded slowly. "Yeah, that makes sense." She was silent for a few moments. "So the fact alone that we saw your true form shows how close you were to losing your humanity?"

Nell averted her eyes and a slight blush colored her cheeks. "Yes. I was almost completely overcome by my rage because of Zelas' actions...had I chosen to destroy her, I would have succumbed to my demon self."

"So basically, you're a ticking bomb," Zelgadis stated.

"Not if I stay in control," Nell said reassuringly. While outwardly calm, Nell was actually quite worried. Because of the amount of power she had tapped into when she had gone up against the Greater Beast, she had barely managed to stay in control. If the situation ever arose where she would have to draw upon her greater and more potent powers once more, Nell was not all together certain that she could keep herself from losing her humanity and becoming Nellistras once again...

Zelgadis narrowed his eyes at the trickster priest. "And what assurance do we have that you won't do anything to try and restore her to her former glory?"

"There's no need to worry about that, Mister Zelgadis," Xellos answered politely. "Lady Nell is my Mistress and I am bound to do her bidding. So long as she wishes to remain living in this world, then I have no reason to make it so anything contrary to her wishes happens."

"Hey, Nell?" Gourry asked.

"Yes?"

"I was just thinking about everything you said."

"Oh?" Nell questioned with a blink. "Do you have a question about it?"

"Well, when did all this happen?"

Nell gazed absently ahead of her as her mind worked to remember. "Let me see, now...Ceifeed sealed me away approximately sixteen thousand years ago...give or take a century or so. But I was around long before that."

"No wonder you'd go mad when you got all your memories back...that's a lot of years of pain and suffering to atone for," Amelia said. "No wonder you couldn't handle it. If I was in your position, I'd have probably killed myself too..."

Gourry's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "Over sixteen thousand years? Wow! So you're a really old lady!"

Nell, Lina, Xellos, Zelgadis and Amelia all fell over in a heap.

"What?" Rii asked with a surprised blink. "It's true...she is an old lady...a really old lady."

"No kidding," Gourry said with a nod. "Wow, Nell...you're older than Xellos, and he's a really old guy, too."

"Thank you for the reminder, Gourry," Xellos said wryly as he stood and helped Nell to her feet.

"Mister Gourry, Miss Rii...I don't know if it's a good idea to be making fun of Death's age..." Amelia said as she raised herself up onto her knees.

"But still...wow, you're really robbing the cradle, Nell," Gourry said with a smile and a small chuckle.

"Gee, thanks Gourry...you sure know how to make a girl feel special," Nell said dryly as she dusted herself off.

"You idiot!" Lina jumped to her feet and smacked the handsome swordsman upside the head. "Don't go making her mad, jellyfish brains! Now, come on!" she barked as she grabbed a hold of Gourry's hair and dragged him along behind her.

"Guys, stop!" Rii cried.

Lina blinked and turned to face the small thief. "What? What's up?"

Rii carefully scouted up ahead--her eyes glued to the floor.

"Rii, what is it?" Zelgadis asked.

"Sssshh," Rii hissed as she dropped down into a crouch and continued examining the floor. "Okay, guys," she said as she stood and turned to face her companions. "Stay in a straight line and follow me. And whatever you do, don't even so much as lean either to your left or right."

"Why?" Lina asked.

Sighing as she carefully crouched once more, Rii grabbed two small rocks in each hand and stood--dropping the rocks which proceeded to plummet downwards through what the others had thought was the floor. The small thief counted to at least forty-five until she heard the rocks finally impact on the ground below. "That's why," Rii said simply.

"Rii, how did you...?" Amelia asked.

The small thief smiled. "Told you I was good at finding traps."

"A trap made out of an optical illusion," Zelgadis mused. "Ingenious."

"Wow, good job, Rii," Lina said with an appreciative smile. "All right, lead the way."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...Four hours later...

"I hope someone's leaving a trail of breadcrumbs," Zelgadis muttered under his breath.

"Don't mention food," Lina growled. "I'm starving! We've been wandering through these ruins for hours and haven't come across anything of any importance!"

"Be patient, Miss Lina," Rii said softly. "The fact that we haven't found anything yet doesn't mean that there's nothing to be found. Within ruins like these...all the mazes we've gone through and all trap doors and spike pits that we've come across...that usually means that there's great treasures hidden deep inside."

"You really think so?" Lina asked, perking up a little.

Rii nodded. "That's usually the way it's worked in my experience. No one would go through this much trouble to protect something if it wasn't really valuable. Besides...a lot of the traps we've come across recently have never been set off, which means that we may be the only people to have made it this far."

"Unless of course someone before us used magic to make it though unharmed."

The positive mood that had slowly been kindling inside Lina was quickly burned out by her renewed agitation. "You just had to go ahead and ruin the ride, didn't you, Zel?" she snarled.

Zelgadis cringed slightly in anticipation of a possible assault from the feisty sorceress.

"Wait," Nell said as she came to a halt.

"What is it, Miss Nell?" Amelia asked.

"Can't you feel it?" Nell asked. "Up ahead...I sense great energy, but not from anything human..."

"Demons?" Zelgadis asked.

"No..." Nell answered as she tried to get a feel on what it was she was sensing.

"Hey guys," Gourry said as he tilted his head to the side. "You hear that?"

"I don't hear anything," Amelia said.

Rii tilted her head to the side and listened. "It sounds like a lot of somethings moving this way..." She drew two daggers from her belt.

"Undead?" Lina asked with a glance at Nell.

Nell drew her eyebrows together. "No...nothing like that. They're definately alive, but not human...more like..." Her violet eyes doubled in size and her face drained completely of color when she saw the large, bristly leg emerge from the shadows...followed by another and another, and another. "GIANT SPIDERS!!!"

"Wow, she's totally panicking," Lina said in disbelief.

"Yeah, kinda like when you did when ya saw the giant slugs," Gourry said.

Lina shuddered. "Don't ever mention that again!"

When a swarm of giant spiders emerged from the shadows and charged, Nell hurriedly hid behind Xellos, her entire frame trembling in terror as she clutched his cape. "SOMEONE KILL THEM!! KILL THEM!! KILL THEM,!! KILL THEM!! KILL THEM!!!" she shrieked.

"EEK!! Protect me, Mister Zelgadis!" Rii cried as she dropped her daggers and clung tightly to the chimera.

"I can't do anything with you hanging onto me!" Zelgadis growled. "Let go!"

"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Rii wailed in terror.

"FIRE BALL!" Lina and Amelia cast together--burning the army of giant, charging arachnids to a crisp.

"It's all right, Lady Nell," Xellos said soothingly.

"Are the spiders all gone?" the lovely blond asked meekly.

"Yes, my dear," Xellos said with a smile. "They're all gone."

Nell timidly peered around Xellos and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the charred remains.

"What kind of demon lord is afraid of spiders?" Lina asked dryly.

"Yeah," Gourry said with a nod. "Why didn't you just snap your fingers and kill them?"

Nell blushed furiously and averted her eyes. "So long as I'm sealed in a human body, I suffer from a human's fears. While I've managed to overcome all the other fears I had. Unfortunately...fear of spiders is the one phobia I can never seem to conquer...the very sight of them incites a 'fight or flight' response...flight always wins out," she said with a visible shudder.

"Huh..." Rii mused softly. "You suddenly just became less scary," she said with a smile.

Nell smiled. "See?" she asked as she looked to each other her companions. "I'm really not that bad."

"So long as you're in your human form," Zelgadis muttered.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"MEGA BRANDO!" Lina cast, throwing the spell at the giant, stone golem that was charging her.

"Mono volt!" Zelgadis cast at another golem.

"Wooo! Get 'im, Mister Zelgadis!" Rii cheered.

"DIL BRAND!"

After the smoke and dust cleared, Lina and Zelgadis were left standing amongst piles of rubble.

Lina grinned. "Thanks to that, I'm not in such a bad mood, anymore," she said as she picked her way through the wreckage and continued down the corridor.

"Well, that's a relief," Gourry said with a smile and a small chuckle.

"How much further do you think we have to go before we find anything?" Amelia asked.

Rii drew her eyebrows together in thought. "Not much further I hope. I mean...the traps and monsters have been steadily getting worse, so we must be close," she said as she hurried along behind Lina--all the while dragging a martyred expression-wearing Zelgadis along behind her.

Amelia sighed softly. "Poor Mister Zelgadis."

Nell giggled softly. "Not sure what to make of Rii, is he?"

It was Amelia's turn to giggle. "No, I don't think so. You see, he's so ashamed of how he looks that he finds it impossible for anyone else to feel differently about his appearance...when it does happen, he's always completely baffled."

"You obviously care about him," Nell said softly after a few moments. "Aren't you bothered by Rii's actions towards him?"

Amelia smiled softly. "I once had feelings for him, Miss Nell...and I believe he cared for me as well, but Mister Zelgadis was always holding back...like he was hiding behind a wall of glass. I could see him, I could touch him, but there was always this invisible wall that kept me from getting too close." She sighed softly. "After a while, I just stopped trying to get him to let me in. I'll always love him, Miss Nell...even if he doesn't love me back, but I just couldn't keep offering my heart only to have it rejected. It just...it just hurt too much."

Nell placed a comforting hand on the small princess' shoulder. She could relate to her problem only too well. Suffering from human fears aside, the one thing that the demon lord hated the most about being trapped in a human body was the need to be loved by others...more specifically, the need to hear that she was loved. She glanced at Xellos who walked quietly by her side---the crook of his arm cradling her hand.

Xellos...

He was Nell's general and priest...her loyal subordinate...her devoted lover.

Nell loved Xellos with every fiber of her being...she would sacrifice her life for him in a heartbeat--she had in fact done so on several occasions. She had told him how she felt about him on more than one occasion, and while she knew of Xellos' devotion, loyalty and adoration of her...the fact that he too would sacrifice his life for her...it still pained her heart that she would never hear him utter the words 'I love you' to her...that he was incapable of uttering them. That alone was enough to make Nell want to give up her humanity and embrace her true form.

Amelia smiled softly up at the lovely blond--completely unaware of her inner turmoil. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to bother you with my personal problems."

Nell smiled sweetly. "It's okay, I don't mind, really."

"Really?"

"Really, really," Nell said with her sweet smile still in place. Despite the ever frequent companionship of Xellos, the life of a wandering necromancer was fairly lonely. Nell very rarely, if at all, got the chance to make any friends.

Amelia smiled. "Thanks, Miss Nell."

"Hey guys," Lina called. "I think we found something! Hey Zel, take a look at this door."

Zelgadis peered at the large door. "It's booby-trapped with a black magic spell. Hey, Amelia...we could use your white magic over here to neutralize the spell."

"Coming." Amelia flashed Nell a final smile before hurrying over to the door. She examined it before raising a hand and holding it just a few inches away from the hard surface. "Neutralize!" The door glowed briefly and then returned to normal. "Okay, Miss Lina. It should be safe now."

Lina was all smiles. "Great!" She pushed against the door, groaning under its weight. "Hey, Gourry, lend me a hand will ya?"

Smiling, happy to be feeling useful, Gourry pushed against the door with his shoulder, putting all his weight behind the push and slowly moving the door inward. The near ancient door creaked and groaned in protest, but nevertheless yielded under the handsome swordsman's brute strength.

"Lighting," Lina, Amelia and Zelgadis all cast as they entered the large, dark room.

"Wow..." Rii breathed when she took in the glittering of all the gold, jewels and other treasures that filled the room. "See?" she asked with a smile. "What'd I tell ya? Giant treasure!" She ran to a particularly giant pile of gold coins and dived inside.

"Come on, Mister Zelgadis," Amelia said with a warm smile. "Let's see if we can find any spells!"

"I'm right behind you, Amelia," Zelgadis said with an excited smile as he followed the princess and began searching--completely ignoring the gold and jewels, his mind focused on nothing more than finding a spell that could prove his 'salvation'.

"Hey, Lina...you crying?" Gourry asked curiously.

Lina slowly nodded...a giant smile on her face and her eyes watery as she took in the vast amount of treasure and clapped her hands together. "Oh, guys it's beautiful. It's the most beautiful sight I've ever seen!"

Gourry grinned and put a hand behind his head. "Yeah...too bad we can't take it all with us, right Lina?" he asked with a chuckle. He blinked upon not getting a response from the short-statured sorceress. "Lina?" he asked as he gazed down at her.

"Don't tempt me, Gourry," Lina said matter of factly...her eyes still fixated on all the twinkling treasure. "I just might find a way."

=========================================================================================================
A/N:Sorry to all you Zel/Amelia fans out there, but while this fic was still in its planning stages, I was requested by one of my readers to have her OC (Rii) hook up with Zelgadis. Again, sorry, but there will not be a Zel/Amelia pairing in this fic.

PREVIOUS          NEXT