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Kitsune Lina
Fourth Aspect News spread fast, Lina Inverse was dead. The dra matta was no more. Innkeepers and bandits across the continent rejoiced. Lots of people were surprised, a few were saddened, and one person was quite annoyed.
"How dare she die before I could gloat over her predicament face to face," Martina whined. "Its not fair, she'd do anything to take my revenge from me."
"Perhaps this is a good thing, miss Martina," the staid little man next to her suggested. "Now there is no chance of her interferring with you ever again. Magic or no magic, she was still a threat."
"You're right of course, Reginald," Martina agreed. "It still would have been very gratifying to see her squirming without her spells."
"Indeed mistress," the little man bowed low as Martina began to leave the room.
"Remind me to have a bounty placed on foxes after I marry the prince."
"Indeed, Mistress. We should take no chances, but before you make such plans..."
"In the name of the monster Zomalgustar," Martina shouted. "The world shall be mine! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
"..." Reginald glared at her for a moment. "As I was saying, perhaps we should wait to make such plans until after you have caught the prince's attention." Martina, paused in her laughing.
"You have a point." "This must be the place," Gourry yawned as he cast his eyes about. They were in front of a moderate sized cabin deep in the woods. It was a fairly comfortable affair, a large chicken coop, well-kept work shed.
"This doesn't look like the kind of place a master magician would reside," Amelia noted.
"Really, I've lived in one or two places like this," Zelgadis countered.
"I didn't mean..."
"Don't worry, we're here to find a path not a cure. Protoss?" Zelgadis called out. "I'm Zelgadis Greywyrds, I sent word I'd be coming."
"In the back," called an old voice from behind the cabin. The three remaining slayers looked at each other for a moment beforing following the sound of the voice around back. They found a man who looked about fifty and was dressed in a loose robe. The odd thing was that he had apparently locked himself into a large cage with a very frightened deer.
"I had planned to be here earlier," Zelgadis said. "But...something happened."
"I just got back home myself," the man laughed. "Somebody snared me half a month ago and I almost ended up this crazy green-haired girl's dinner."
"Crazy, green-haired girl?" Zelgadis and Amelia repeated, and then looked at each other.
"That sounds like that...Mary, Marie, Maria...uh..."
"Martina," Amelia and Zelgadis snapped.
"That's right."
"You know this person," Protoss asked curiously.
"Did she have a weird laugh," Amelia asked.
"Well, I was a fox at the moment so I was more concerned with running than listening to her, but I think so."
"That's what you were hiding," Zelgadis turned on Amelia.
"What are you talking about?" Amelia stammered. "What does he mean that he was a fox?"
"I don't believe that its coincidence that a lunatic with a grudge against Lina was having captive lycanthropes brought to her around the same time Lina lost her magic."
"He's a...a...a werefox?" Amelia stammered. Protoss laughed.
"Sixty years now," he saw Amelia and Gourry's surprised expressions. "Regeneration does wonders for the aging process."
"Yes, that's why I came here," Zelgadis told her. "Lina was infected wasn't she."
"Yes," Amelia nodded sheepishly.
"You mean somebody used me to infect somebody else with lycanthropy," he was no longer amused. He took in Zelgadis chimera form, "No offense, but I could probably help her more than I could you."
"She's dead," Zelgadis told him.
"Maybe not then," the man looked to the horizon. "We'll have to continue this tomorrow. The moon is rising, and I'm really not prepared to keep the fourth aspect down tonight." The deer began to grow very skittish now, backing away from the old man.
"Agreed," Zelgadis said. "We'll leave you to dinner then." Amelia smiled at the old man nervously before chasing after Gourry and Zelgadis.
"Zelgadis, he's a monster," Amelia whispered, as they settled in the cabin.
"Who's a monster?" Gourry asked.
"That's why you weren't so anxious to find Lina," Zelgadis said. "You don't think I'm a monster, but Lina becomes a were-fox and she's instantly a threat."
"But werecreatures on the full-moon..."
"Expect threats," Zelgadis told her. "If you show fear, or hostility toward them they decide you're a threat, but they are no more monsters than a person is."
"I thought Lina was dead," Gourry said.
"She is, but if we hadn't been such assholes," Zelgadis yelled. "She wouldn't have decided to go off on her own, and she'd be alive." The sound of Protoss transforming outside ended the arguement and most conversation. "Xellos?" Lina called quietly. She sat curled into a ball on the grass waiting for the sun to go down. She didn't really want to go through this alone the first time. The normal transformations were bad enough, she didn't want to imagine what tonight was going to feel. "Xellos can you hear me you fruitcake?"
"Why Lina, I didn't know you were into this kind of thing," she couldn't turn around to see the trickster, but she could smell him. She smiled quietly, the silver in her hair was easy to spot now. The mazoku sat behind the chained woman circling his arm around her shoulders while stroking her long hair in an attempt to comfort her. "Don't fight it."
"What?" Lina asked surprised.
"You know it doesn't hurt you when you're asleep," he told her. "Don't fight the change and it will be easier." The sun was starting to sink he didn't have much time before the transformation started.
"How do I not fight it," she asked, feeling the itching start.
"Want it," Xellos whispered. "Don't fear it."
"Want it?" Lina repeated. "Wan..." Xellos had to strengthen his grip as she began changing. Lina hadn't cried out yet, but he could feel the pain wafting off of her.
"Calm down!" he felt ridiculuous shouting that, especially as Lina's transformation progressed. Lina held out screaming another couple of seconds, and by then her voice was already more bestial than he had yet heard it.
This transformation was different from the onset. The fur was thicker, the tail was longer and the changes to her body were much more severe. Her face was already stretching into a thin triangular muzzle, and she was growing, significantly. As it progressed he smelled adrenalin and felt an increase in such emotions as anger and suscpicion rose.
The mazoku heard the manacles stretch and creak, and looked to her bound ankles and wrists. The mazoku's eyes widened as he saw a thin trail of smoke drifting from the too-small manacles. He reached forward and broke the bonds tossing the silver threaded chains away. This made his attempts to hold Lina very difficult. The transformation ceased as Lina's strength surpassed the mazoku's.
Lina stopped thrashing as the pain of silver and change passed. She sniffed the air, instinctually looking for the threat. Lina was confused, all she smelled was her mate. There was nothing else but prey and trees. She growled inquisitively.
"Lina?" The were-fox cocked her head, trying to turn towards the voice. There was no threat, why was she like this? Something about the moon?
"Grr?" Lina tried to shrug off the mazoku, and found she couldn't just break his grip. She cocked her head around again, and licked his face. Surprised the mazoku let go of her. Then the were-fox was off into the forest.
"Lina, wait!" Xellos followed. If someone saw Lina, the word would spread and soon there would be one less werefox in the world. As she was Lina would consider anybody she didn't know a potential threat to be destroyed, which meant she wouldn't try to avoid sight. "Damn it."
He heard a scuffle and the sound of a predator tearing into something, passing through the bushes he was relieved to see Lina feasting on a fallen deer. Of course, she was hungry, he sighed in relief. Sitting down to keep an eye on her.
She cocked her head at him inquisitively. Why did he feal so tense until a moment ago? She bent down to her meal again, still confused. Maybe he was in trouble, yes that was it. She'd stay around him until she was sure otherwise.
Xellos sighed in relief as the were-fox padded over to him and sat down. She was protecting him, he thought it was mildly amusing considering that's what he was trying to do. The mazoku looked over to the devoured deer and turned back to Lina.
"Going on a diet Lina?" she whuffed a question.
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