Search for the Darkstar - Lina Inverse and the Priests of the Wedding Temple

Author: DQBunny Title: Search for the Darkstar - Lina Inverse and the Priests of the Wedding Temple

Search for Darkstar
Chapter 14: People Change, but Xoana Stays the Same ← Chapter 15: Lina Inverse and the Priests of the Wedding Temple → Chapter 16: A Great and Terrible Burden

Chapter Index

Disclaimer: "Slayers" isn't mine, but belongs to Kanzaka Hajime, Araizumi Rui and those who represent them. I'm just borrowing the characters for a little while and will return them intact. Except for Gourry. He might be squished just a little. This story is set after the manga arc "Knight of Aqualord" and is an alternate take on the TRY season of the anime.
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Search for the Darkstar
Chapter 15: Lina Inverse and the Priests of the Wedding Temple
Town of Rufala
Kingdom of Zefielia
“Where are we going again?” Gourry sat on the bed of the latest of small inn rooms they'd been forced to share since leaving the rest of the group. Lina had spread a map out on the floor, marking different places with a pencil with one hand while flipping through her spellbook with the other.
“Narrowing down our options.” Lina glanced back at the scribbled list in her spellbook and squinted at her own handwriting. It was one that she made when she was 11 and her writing at the time hadn't been much better than Gourry's was now - somewhere along the level of barely legible chicken scratch. “I made a list of all the temples I've wanted to see here since I was a kid and while I've been to a good many of them, there's about six I haven't checked out.”
“Out of how many?”
“A couple hundred.”
“A couple hundred? That's boring. Why'd you go to all those temples?”
She shot him an impatient look. “How do you think I learned my magic? The Sorcerer's Guild teaches you the basics, but most of the big time stuff is learned by seeking out other users of magic. The Guild likes to control who knows what and they weren't very keen on teaching an 11-year-old the Dragon Slave. Didn't you learn swordsmanship from different people?”
“A few,” Gourry conceded and yawned. He stretched out on the bed and closed his eyes. Swordsmanship, in his opinion, was a more entertaining activity than closing one's self up in a temple. “Maybe they knew of the potential destruction they were unleashing on the world if they taught you the Dragon Slave.”
Lina wasn't quite sure how her discarded boot had collided with Gourry's forehead, but she wasn't in the mood to deal with the resulting bruise that he deserved for that little crack. She tapped her pencil on a part of the map, then drew a line from a starred area of the map to one of the dots. She stared at it, then blew her breath out so that her bangs fluttered. “Well. Crud. We're a half day's walk from this place and I don't want to skip it. I think it's bogus, but it's still worth checking out.”
“What's that?”
Lina didn't say anything for a long moment and Gourry cracked open one eye to see Lina staring at the map, her face nearly as red as her hair. “Lina?”
“A temple. It's got some famous ties from what I hear. It's also one of the few places I've never explored in this kingdom, so it's probably a good place to start looking for a weapon." Lina felt her cheeks grow redder by the second. "Supposedly, this is considered a holy place to get married and you're destined to have a long, happy marriage, lots of kids, so on and so forth if you do so in this temple. You get married beneath this sword that's said to have strange powers and enhances the bond between the partners. Of course, it's nothing but bullshit, but the weapon's worth checking into."
Neither of them said anything and simply stared at each other for a long while.
“Oh, okay.” Gourry shrugged and closed his eyes again.
Lina nearly threw her spellbook at him.
He was snoring by the time she folded up the map and changed into her pajamas behind the privacy screen. She tossed a light blanket on top of Gourry, then slipped beneath the covers beside him, turned to face the window and tried her best to sleep.
It hadn't hit Lina until she and Gourry had reached an inn the first night after leaving the rest of the group that they hadn't traveled alone in a long time. The last time they had done so was the trip to go kill the demon that led to their being washed up on the shores of Kunan beyond the Mazoku barrier. They had been separated by the attack at sea and by the time they had reunited, Lyos had been in the process of escorting Lina to Titou.
Sharing a room, or a bed, wasn't that new of a concept to either of them. They had been shoved into cramped inn rooms more times in their partnership than they could count and had worked out a good system so that both could share the bed and get a decent amount of sleep. Gourry would sleep on top of the blankets and she would sleep beneath them. They normally faced back to back and Lina vowed to fireball him if he even remotely tried to do anything non-appropriate in his sleep.
Of course, that had been before everything had changed.
This is stupid. It's not like the two of us haven't… She blushed as she remembered the hours following the battle at the Flarelord temple and then several stolen moments in their trip back north, including the one that Jillas - the little brat that was destined to be on the receiving end of several fireballs - had witnessed. Hell, if anything, she would had thought that they would be a bit more eager to be alone.
Neither of them had done or said anything to progress their relationship any further. In the days it took to cross through the southern part of Saillune into Zefielia, they had quickly fallen back into the old partnership that they enjoyed. They devoured food on a regular basis and Lina insisted on letting a few bandit groups know that she was back on the continent. They had even stopped long enough to perform a couple small mercenary jobs to replenish their money supply.
It had been easy to explore their relationship before because both of them knew that nothing could really change, not when surrounded by a big group of people and very little privacy. If they slept together, really slept together… She yawned and felt herself drift off to sleep. If we sleep together, everything will change. Again. It wasn't so bad when this whole thing started, after that matchmaker incident. And it didn't feel strange after what happened a couple months ago either. We'll get to it when we get to it, I suppose.
When she woke up the next morning, Lina discovered that sometime during night Gourry had wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him.
She didn't fireball him.
——-
They didn't say much as they headed down the road toward the temple. Lina was trying to sort out what they had to do once they found the fifth weapon. First of all, destroy one of the weapons. But how? Lina cupped her chin in her hand. If the other weapons were anything like the Sword of Light, if they lobbed spells at the activated weapon, it would absorb them. If they tried to break the sword in its inert form, they would risk causing the core of the weapon to explode - and that would create quite a backlash that would take them all out.
There was the sticky matter of Valgaav. Lina hoped that Filia and Shizuri were finding the information needed to deal with him. Milgasia's appearance had disturbed all of them, but Lina felt she could trust him. He saved their lives and literally snatched Amelia back from death's door, along with trusting her with the Claire Bible. Lina glanced at Gourry out of the corner of her eye. I wonder what Auntie Aqua would say? If there's even any remnants of her left after the fight against Gaav.
Then there was Almayce. Lina hoped that once the weapons were dealt with, both he and the Elder at Filia's temple would drop their relative pursuits against them. Neither of them had made a move in the weeks since they left the southern lands and Lina figured that they were waiting for her to bring the battle to them. She wasn't quite sure how long it would take for Almayce to recover from the wound she'd given him. She wasn't weeping over that one.
Lina tilted her head to the sunlight and closed her eyes. “It's a pretty day,” she commented.
Gourry stretched his arms and folded them behind his head as they walked. “Yeah, it is.”
“Sure'd hate to spoil it by getting in a fight with someone.”
“That'd be a shame,” he replied lazily. He grabbed the hilt of his spare sword and they spun around together, Lina's hands ready to launch a fireball.
The figure tailing them wore a heavy purple cloak that covered it from head to toe. The oversized hood was pulled far enough over its face that Lina couldn't even see a mouth. They sized each other up. The cloak parted and the figure raised a bare arm that gripped a sword. Without saying a word, it pointed the sword squarely at Gourry.
“A duel,” Lina muttered. “Some Zangulus wannabe?”
Gourry didn't say anything for a moment. Then he grinned and sheathed the magical sword. He pulled out the Sword of Light. “No, I don't think so,” he said as he removed the metal blade from the hilt. “Here, hold this,” he said, handing the blade to Lina and approaching the figure.
“What the hell do you think I am? Your squire?” Lina quickly jammed the blade into the ground. She braced herself to attack, but decided to see what they would do first.
Gourry approached the figure and they bowed to each other in an insanely old-fashioned move that nearly made her laugh. Then they leaped at each other.
The swords flashed, blue against silver like streaks of light being hurled against each other. Lina didn't expect that it would take long, but puzzled that he would choose to use the Sword of Light against a random duelist. It's not like him to show off, to suddenly use something like that against an ordinary swordsman. He sensed something about that guy…
Lina concentrated on the fight, on trying to see who was under the hood. Whoever the guy was, his swordsmanship was spectacular. It didn't take long for her to realize that Gourry was on the defensive and probably had been since the first swing. Every attack he attempted was immediately parried by the ordinary sword the cloaked figure carried.
Sweat trickled down Gourry's face as he leaped to the side, barely bringing up the sword in time to block a sweep at his abdomen. Lina frowned, squinted hard at the figure, then at the way that Gourry was fighting. He's not trying to attack the guy physically. He knows when to use a swift kick to the gut. Why the hell are you holding back, you Jellyfish?
Gourry evaded the next attack, spinning around to the figure's side. It followed, the cloak spinning out and giving Lina a good glimpse of what was beneath. Her jaw fell. Skirts? He's fighting a girl! But who the…oh. Oh shit. Her blood ran cold when she thought of all the female swordsmen that she knew. That came out to the grand total of one.
And she happened to live in Zefielia.
“Gourry! Retreat!” Her voice rose several octaves as a growing panic welled inside her. “It's no use! You're not going to beat her!”
He had both hands on his sword hilt now and had backed away a few feet from the girl. He ignored Lina, jumped onto a boulder and leaped into the air for an overhead attack.
The hood fell back, revealing the girl's face when she tilted it skyward. Calmly, she held up the blade crosswise over her face to block the attack. At the last possible second, Gourry swung his own blade out and twisted his body to the side. The girl spun with him, swinging the sword around as she did so. Their respective blades came to rest at the pulse points of the other's neck.
Lina stumbled back a few feet until she bumped against the trunk of a nearby tree. Then she allowed her knees to turn to water. “Si…Si…Sis!”
“Hello, Lina,” Luna Inverse calmly replied, her attention still focused on her opponent. She gave him a considering look, then removed the blade. “Shall we call this a draw, Gourry-san?”
“All right.” Gourry removed his own blade and picked up the metal one that Lina had left behind. “I think Lina's having issues,” he commented cheerfully as he reattached it to the hilt.
“Lina always has issues.” Luna spun to her and Lina instinctively flinched. “You're not glad to see me, baby sister?”
Maybe. If I can remember how to work my vocal cords. Her mouth opened and closed, then she finally said the first thing that came to mind. “How the hell did you know who he was?”
“Considering you only travel with one blond swordsman, it's easy for me to put a name to a face.” Luna sheathed the sword and raised an eyebrow. “It's not every day that one can say they've dueled to a draw with the Knight of Ceiphied.” She nodded to Gourry. “You're as good as they say you are. You'd done even better if you'd tried to get in a punch or a kick.”
He sheepishly ran his hand through his hair. “Well…you're a girl.”
“And if I'd been a female Mazoku?”
“That's different. Aren't Mazoku suppose to be asex…no, bisex…they're not suppose to have sex!”
“You mean they're not suppose to have a gender,” Luna corrected. “So, namely you didn't kick me because I'm Lina's sister.”
“I do value my own life.”
“Wait a minute!” Now Lina spun toward Gourry. “How the hell did you know she's my sister?”
He tilted his head to one side, studied the sisters, tapped a finger to his chin, then shrugged. “Dunno. Wild guess.”
“A wild guess? How much of a jellyfish brain can you possibly be?”
He scratched the side of his neck. “Well, you did say that your sister was scary. And this woman's kind of scary. You also said she was a swordsman. So, I figured she had to be your sister. You look alike somewhat in the face.”
“That,” Luna proclaimed, “is the most inane logic I have ever heard of.”
“Welcome to my world for the past four years,” Lina muttered and decided to chalk the entire incident up to Gourry simply being Gourry.
——-
Two very long hours later
By the time they reached the temple gates, Lina's nerves were truly shot. The last thing that she ever expected to see was her sister and her protector having a normal conversation. She was quite sure that she would see many other things - including Prince Phil in a tutu and Xelloss belting out tunes of love and justice - before she saw this.
She eyed Gourry and Luna and decided that Prince Phil was probably twirling across the Saillune palace at that moment in a blazingly bright blue tutu.
They had started by talking about swordsmanship, which seemed to be a perfectly safe topic. Then they had moved on to discuss Lina's activities and Gourry had been more than willing to share what he remembered from the past few years. It was only then that Lina realized that when it came to stories regarding herself that Gourry had a surprisingly clear memory. Part of her was pleased by that fact. The other part desperately wanted to find some way to sever his vocal chords without inciting Luna's wrath in the process.
“So, Lina got really mad,” Gourry was telling Luna as they approached the gates, “and she and Martina started chasing those two guys around with those brass racket things. That was after she blew up the stadium.”
The corner of Luna's lips quirked. “That sounds eerily like the time when Lina…”
“Ah, here we are!” Lina dashed up to the gates and grabbed the bars. She yanked with all of her might. Open, open, open! Get me away from these two nut jobs! “Okay, let's get in here and check out that sword! Then you can run along home, Sis, and…”
“And nothing,” Luna announced cheerfully. “We have all the time in the world, and I've cleared my schedule just to be with you, sister dear.”
Please, someone fireball me now. Lina resisted the urge to bang her head repeatedly against the bars, then forced herself to focus on the mission. She stepped back from the bars and frowned. She reached out, gave them a quick yank. “Magically sealed,” she muttered and uttered the lock spell beneath her breath. When the gate wouldn't budge, Lina grunted.
“Hey, Lina, there's a button.” Gourry pointed to a small button on one of the posts, then pressed it.
A small panel above the button opened and a blue ball shot out. It smacked Gourry in the middle of the forehead and he dropped to the ground like a stone. The ball shot into the air, then dropped back down until it hovered in front of Lina. It twirled around, giving off a blue light, then a little box formed in the air. After a moment, the face of a freckled young man with hair a bright red appeared.
“Welcome to the Wheez Wedding Wonders, where you and your beloved shall be linked for a lifetime!” the man announced with a huge grin. “I'm Father Forge. Are you our 11 o'clock appointment?”
“It's not even nine,” Luna spoke up.
“You never know with brides and grooms,” Father Forge chirped. “They're eager to get on with it so they can…get on with it, if you know what I mean.” He winked at Luna.
Luna rolled her eyes. Lina folded her arms over her chest and gave the priest her firmest look. “We want to take a tour of your temple. There's a magical sword in there, so I'm told.”
“That's right. It's a most blessed blade. It has some very unique magical properties to it. Whoever weds under that sword will have a most fruitful union.”
Lina couldn't keep the grin off her face. With a sword like that, surely it could possibly be one of the Darkstar weapons!
“Of course, only couples planning to get married are allowed to enter the temple,” Father Forge continued. “We can't have ordinary gawkers in here.”
“What?” Lina balled her hands into fists. “Are you insane?”
“The gates are charmed to keep out anyone who isn't wanting to marry or isn't a part of their party. If you try to fly over, you'll receive quite the nasty shock. A handy invention of my brother's.”
“Look, you, I…,” Lina jabbed a finger at Father Forge's image and prepared to give him a piece of her mind, followed by a fireball to the so-called charmed gates.
“As it just so happens, my sister and her fiancé are looking for a place to marry,” Luna announced. Lina's jaw fell and she froze as her sister brushed by her. “As you can see, they're wonderfully suited. As her most benevolent older sister, you understand I must accompany them as chaperone.”
“What's going on?” Gourry sat up and pressed a hand to his forehead.
“Oh, in that case, you're welcome onto the temple grounds,” Father Forge beamed. “Come in, come in! Always nice to see family looking out for their own. What's your names?”
“Luna Inverse. The gawking one is my sister, Lina, and the confused one is her fiancé, Gourry.”
“I'll be right out to meet you personally!” The image faded and the ball shot back into the panel.
When it snapped shut, the sound was just enough to knock Lina out of her daze. “Engaged?” she shrieked. “Gourry and I aren't getting married!”
“And just how else do you propose to get into this temple?” Luna gestured at the gates.
“You and Gourry pretend to be engaged then!”
Luna lifted an eyebrow. “Well, if you insist…”
An unexpected wave of jealously rolled through Lina and she gritted her teeth. “Oh, forget it. I'll go along with the charade. Gourry! Did you get any of that?”
“Get any of what?” Gourry was inspecting the post, rapping at it with his knuckles. He frowned. How did the ball come out? He'd seen the panel open, but there was no little door. Just the button he pressed. That was silly, every door opening had to have some sort of crack in it.
“See? Your prince charming has no clue,” Luna said cheerfully. “There's nothing saying you have to go through with the ceremony…of course, you have been traveling with him for four years…and sharing a room, I presume.”
“It's none of your damn business,” Lina growled. When the gates opened, she grabbed Gourry by his hair and hauled him in after her, leaving Luna behind.
——-
Jillas tugged the oversized robes around him and nudged the fallen body of the assistant priest with his foot. If the sleeping powder Gravos had given him held up as planned, he'd be out for several hours. It would be enough time to find the magical sword, grab it and get out. He sighed and tugged the wide-brimmed hat lower so it covered his eyes. After the mess he had to deal with in Shrigan, Gravos should had been the one to get this mission, he thought morosely. But no, Gravos had been shocked trying to get over the fence and was still unconscious. The big idiot.
Jillas decided that the best method of getting into the temple was through a tunnel that he discovered not far from the rear temple gates. It had taken a few blasts with some dynamite he carried with him to clear enough of a path to get him past the gates and onto the grounds. Maybe, just maybe Gravos would notice it when he woke up. Jillas had left him a note in any case, telling him to follow.
Jillas frowned. Then again, had Gravos ever learned how to read?
There was no time to worry about it. He had to get the sword and get one step ahead of Lina Inverse and her gang. They had three weapons now and in one of his moments of lucidity, Valgaav had expressed his displeasure over this fact. Jillas and Gravos had quickly decided that despite their devotion to their beloved Valgaav-sama that it was a very wise thing not to return to base without one of the weapons. They weren't that stupid.
He snuck down the hall, peering in different doors trying to look for the chapel. He shoved himself into a corner as a red-haired priest scurried past him. He glanced after him and saw that he was pretty close to the double doors that led outside. Jillas pressed himself into the corner and waited for the priest to leave.
The priest opened the door and gave an elaborate bow. “Welcome to our humble temple! I'm Father Forge Wheezy. You must be the lovely bride!”
“No,” a curt voice responded, “she is the bride.”
Jillas peeked out, then his jaw dropped as Lina Inverse, Gourry Gabriev and a second woman he hadn't seen before stepped into the temple. Lina Inverse! You'll curse the fates that brought you to this temple! He rubbed his hands together eagerly, a plan rapidly forming in his mind as the threesome started down the hall behind the priest. This was perfect! He spotted the Sword of Light's hilt at Gourry's waist and wanted to cackle with joy. He could get Sword of Light as well as the magical sword for Valgaav! It would do much to elevate his status in Valgaav's eyes.
It would also help that Gourry was as dense as a brick.
Jillas scurried out of his hiding spot. “Young man!” he called out in his normal voice, then coughed. “Young man, wait,” he said in a raspy voice.
Gourry had been lagging behind Lina and Luna, not quite sure what was going on. They had gotten to the temple that Lina wanted, but then there was this business about needing to get married so they could go in. It didn't matter to him one way or another. They had almost married Lina off once so they could get to Sairaag. Lina had made it quite clear then that she wouldn't really get married before she was ready. So he figured that it was another one of Lina's elaborate hoaxes.
He frowned. Maybe Lina really did want to get married. It'd be something he could talk to her about when this was over. It wouldn't be a bad thing, getting married to her. It's not like they were going to be leaving each other. He had told her he was going to protect her for the rest of his life and he meant that. Maybe getting married would make her happy.
“Young man!”
Gourry startled, then turned to see a very short priest beckoning to him. He glanced over his shoulder at Lina and Luna, who hadn't noticed and were still following the other priest. Then he looked back at the priest who had stopped him. “Yes?”
“You're the ah… groom, right?”
Gourry scratched his head. Play along with the hoax or else Lina'll get mad. “Yeah, I think so.”
“Come with me then. You need to get ready for the ceremony.” Jillas beckoned down a long hallway and shuffled off. Gourry glanced at the girls one more time, shrugged then followed. Lina better know what she's doing.
——-
“My office is this way,” Forge told Lina and Luna and escorted them down a short hallway. “We'll just go over the contract, outline the terms of the agreement and then we'll proceed with the necessary tasks. If all is as it should be, then we'll go ahead with the marriage ceremony.”
“What contract?” Luna asked with narrowed eyes. “What tasks?”
“We must be certain that the bride and groom are well-suited for each other, you see,” Forge explained. “They must undergo a series of three tasks. If they complete the tasks, they are deemed compatible. Of course, each task carries a slight fee, but we must cover the costs of executing the tasks. Oh, and the ceremony itself carries a nominal fee, along with the rental of the bridal gown, the groom's tux, the…”
Lina and Luna exchanged a look and they understood each other perfectly. “And these tasks are?” Lina asked lightly.
“In the first one, the bride is trapped inside of a magical ward shaped like an egg. The egg is placed in a blue dragon's nest and the groom must rescue the egg from the dragon.”
“What?” Both Inverse sisters shrieked. “Are you insane?”
Forge grinned at them. “We have to test their devotion for each other. Provided that you pass the first task and pay the nominal fee, you proceed to the second task. In this one, the bride is tied to a stake and sunk to the bottom of the lake out back. The groom has an hour to get the bride back or else the spell providing her oxygen lapses and she dies.”
Luna narrowed her eyes at him. “This sounds like the makings of an elaborate hoax to me.”
Forge stumbled a bit, then flashed a not-so-bright smile at her. “We want to ensure that our brides and grooms have marriages that last a lifetime. They must get their devotion tested.”
Luna folded her arms over her chest. “And I assume that should the groom grow desperate that for a nominal fee that you provide the exact means for him to pass the task.”
Forge lifted his hands. “If they are willing to pay, then who are we to say no?”
Quick as a flash, Luna had Father Forge against the wall and a knife to his throat. “Oh really? Well, let me request a little bit of information from you, Father. The sword in your chapel. Is it really magical?”
Forge swallowed nervously, his eyes darting between Luna's face and the knife. “It is a most blessed blade…”
“I serve less oily crap at work. The truth.”
“Well…there is some spells on it that cause it to glow flashing lights and things like that. And for a nominal fee, we can even ah…make it cast some special effects when we perform the ceremony.”
“In other words, it's as much of a hoax as the rest of this temple. Just what I thought.” Luna relaxed her hold slightly. “Of course, you won't be performing any more bogus weddings. If I hear of any more `ceremonies' from this temple, I'll just have to accidentally leak some information about the dubious activities going on here to the right people. And trust me when I say that the people I know won't be amused. Do you agree, Lina?”
She hadn't been listening. Lina had yanked out her abacus and was going over figures. If they charge this much for each of the tasks and this amount for the materials needed to get through them… She moved some of the beads from one side to the other and her eyes lit up. “I think we should let the ceremonies continue…provided that we get a cut of the profits, of course. The profits are divided 60/40 - with 60 percent to me and…”
“No,” Luna growled at her.
“But, sis!”
“You are not going to become partners with them.”
“Fine!” Lina whipped out a bag of gold. “5,000 gold to assume full license and creative control over your secrets. We can start a line of wedding temples, one in each kingdom.”
Luna scowled at her. “If you don't put that money away now, you and I are going to have a date with a bokken and a certain slug pit that I seem to recall you becoming very familiar with when you were a little girl.”
Lina paled and gulped. Okay, so maybe that wasn't such a good idea. Trembling, she shoved the money back in her cloak and made a mental note to come back here and deal with Forge after getting rid of Luna.
Then she realized they were missing a member of her party. “Sis, have you seen Gourry?”
“Not since Prince Charming came in with us.”
“Forge…”
They turned and saw a battered man wearing nothing but a pair of boxers limp down the hall. He had vivid red hair and a freckled face, just like Forge. Lina assumed that they were twins.
“Gred!” Forge struggled to get away from Luna. “What happened?”
Gred stumbled and hit the wall. His gaze darted among the woman and his trapped brother. “What happened here?”
Forge offered him a small grin. “It looks like we're going to have to find a new line of work, brother.
——-
Gourry followed the priest into a large chapel and immediately spotted the sword that Lina wanted. It was suspended from the ceiling, dangled over a spot right in front of a small podium. He frowned when he noticed a thin wire holding the sword up. Someone could get hurt under that thing. It looked to be a sharp sword, but only Lina would be able to tell if it had magic. He knew his spare sword had magic because Oren had told him so.
“Ah, here we are,” the priest said and shuffled in front of Gourry. “All I need is a little payment and we'll get things under way…such as your Sword of Light.”
Gourry immediately leaped backwards as Jillas revealed his face. He drew his sword at the same time as Jillas grabbed two bombs and lit them using metal rings on his fingers. He tossed them at Gourry's feet and they instantly exploded, sending a black smoke through the room. He backed up, coughing as the thick smoke filled his lungs, then lunged forward toward where he had last seen Jillas. He didn't remember the little guy's name, but he did remember that he was one of Valgaav's men.
Jillas dipped his hands into the robes and pulled out a small packet of powder. He backed clear of the smoke and squinted at the foreign writing. He grunted, then whirled around as Gourry jumped free of the trap. Jillas tore the packet open and tossed it at the swordsman's face, hoping to blind him long enough to launch more bombs.
Gourry threw up his arm, but the powder still managed to coat his face. He coughed again, breathing in the powder. It tasted sweet, almost like melted sugar, he thought as his vision suddenly went fuzzy. Uh oh, this isn't good. He planted his feet firmly and squinted at Jillas. The little fox was turning into a blurry haze and Gourry quickly swiped at his eyes to clear them.
“Ha!” Jillas yelled, rushing toward Gourry. He rammed himself into the larger man and Gourry stumbled backwards. He tripped over a small ledge, then fell backwards into a huge bower of flowers. His grip tightened on the Sword of Light and the last thing he saw before passing out was Jillas' face looming over him.
Jillas blinked, stunned when Gourry went limp. He reached out and tentatively shook his shoulder. “Hey. Hey! What gives?” He glanced at the crumpled packet in his hand and grinned. It had to be some sort of sleeping powder. What a stroke of luck! Mentally crowing to himself, he grabbed the Sword of Light from Gourry's slackened grip and raced from the chapel.
——-
“Gourry! Where are you, you jellyfish?” Half annoyed, half worried, Lina raced from room to room with Luna, Gred and Forge behind her. It would be just like him to get distracted by something and wander off in another direction. When she found him, she was going to kick some sense into him - with actual kicks.
She spotted the open chapel door, started in and skidded to a stop.
The pews were coated with a fine black powder. Several of them were toppled over and one was broken. She spotted Gourry lying in one of the flower beds that flanked the podium, arms and legs splayed. She yelled his name, ran to his side and grabbed his shoulders. “Hey! Jellyfish! What the hell happened?” Lina scanned his body for injuries and realized that something was missing. “What the,” she muttered, grabbing the empty belt sheath. “Where the hell's the Sword of Light?”
“Th…th…the little one took it.”
Lina straightened in time to see a third man emerge from one of the corners of the room. He trembled and wrung his hands frantically. “The guy came in here, and suddenly this little fox guy in Father Gred's clothes started attacking him. He threw some stuff at him and caused all this black smoke. They didn't see me, I'd just walked in. Then the guy right there tried to defend himself, but the fox guy used some of our patented sleeping powder and knocked him out. He grabbed the sword the guy was holding and ran off.”
Lina stomped over to the man and shoved him against the post. “Why the hell didn't you stop him?”
The man gulped. “I was… I didn't want to… I couldn't… Gred! Forge!”
The twin priests were kneeling by Gourry. One of the swiped a finger down his cheek and closely inspected it. “Ah, I see he used it.”
“Our patented powder?”
“Just perfected…”
“…it worked perfectly!”
“Now it just needs to be tested.”
“Tested how?” Luna asked in a terse voice as Lina hauled the third priest over to them.
Gred grinned proudly. “Why, we've been perfecting the third task.”
“You see, there must be a test the bride has to go through,” Forge started.
“And so we decided that the bride must kiss the groom.”
“It comes from an old story.”
“Very old story, very old.”
“If the groom is truly the bride's true love…”
“…her kiss will awake him and they will be wed.”
“So in other words, you knock the groom out with a sleeping powder and he'll be awaken when he's kissed. I take it that if he's kissed by anyone that he'll wake up.”
Gred and Forge exchanged sheepish looks. “Technically yes,” Gred said.
“But, of course, only the bride is persuaded to kiss the groom,” Forge added.
“But any kiss will do,” Gred finished.
Luna sighed. "I suppose there's nothing else to do but this." Luna turned to Lina and gestured to Gourry. "He's yours. Kiss him."
Lina instantly went scarlet. "What?"
"You're a couple. It's your duty to kiss him. Unless there's some aspect of the birds and the bees that our parents failed to impart to you and in that case, the job would then fall to me." Luna gave her sister a wicked grin. "I imagine you know what to do with him."
"I do kiss him!" Lina yelled, then remembered that they had an audience. She shot a death glare at the snickering con men, who immediately fell silent. She whirled around and jabbed a finger in her sister's face. "I absolutely refuse to kiss him! Not in front of all of you! Look, I'll use Dicleary."
"And when did you ever learn it?"
Luna had a point, Lina realized. She never bothered to learn much white magic beyond the basic healing spells. Ignoring Luna, Lina knelt by Gourry's side and cast Recovery on him. When he didn't revive, she scowled at him. "Cooperate with me, you jellyfish!"
"It...it doesn't work with Recovery," the third priest stammered, "we made sure of that just in case some white magic users passed through."
"We did quite a good job on the powder," Forge said.
"Nothing else on the market like it," his brother added.
Lina glared at them. "Why the hell didn't the two of you start up a joke shop or something like that? Oh, never mind. Out. All of you! If I'm going to do this, I demand privacy!" She stomped her foot and pointed at the door. "Out, out, out!"
"But, Lina-san..."
"Out! And that includes you." Lina cast a sidelong glance at Luna.
"I'm going, I'm going. I want to talk to our little potion makers anyhow." Luna headed to the twins and grabbed each one by the arm. "So, gentlemen. Why don't you show me where you brew your little concoctions?"
Gred brightened. "We have a new one that we've just about to perfect."
"Care to try it?" Forge added. "We can use it on Jordan over there. It turns an ugly man into a handsome prince."
"I'm not that ugly!" The third priest protested as he followed Luna and the other two priests down the hall.
"No thanks," Luna's faded as they headed further away from the chapel. "Though, I heard that the Crown Prince of Saillune could benefit from a potion like that..."
When their voices died away, Lina surveyed the wreckage of the chapel. They had done quite a number on it. Most of the pews were broken and the once-pristine white ribbon streamers were reduced to tattered strips. She had to hand it to Gred and Forge. They knew how to pull off a con. She muttered to herself about Luna refusing to let her get involved in it. Then she looked down at Gourry. It reminded her of a fairytale that she heard when she was younger, something about a princess and seven dwarves. Like she'd been listening. He made quite a picture, lying on the flowers in an enchanted sleep.
"My life is not a fairy tale," Lina muttered as she dropped to her knees. She placed her hands on her hips and glared at her unconscious jellyfish. "Well, look at the mess you managed to get yourself into now. You know how these stupid stories go. Prince finds sleeping princess, is enchanted by her beauty, all that bullshit, then they go off and live happily ever after."
"Well, look at us. I'm going to kiss you awake and after I get done beating your brains out for losing the Sword of Light, we're going to go save the world. Again." Lina reached for Gourry's hand and wrapped her fingers around it. "Guess that's our twisted version of a fairy tale."
She leaned over him, brushing her lips against his. She lifted her face and grinned when his eyes fluttered open. She had planned to pull away, to begin yelling at him for the mess he'd gotten himself into, but couldn't quite find it in her to do so. Instead, she found her hold on his hand tightening as she captured his lips in a second kiss.
It was a gentle kiss, one that soothed and explored. When they broke apart, he lifted his free hand and gently tangled it through her hair before cupping the back of her head and bring her back down for a third, much deeper kiss. His hands moved beneath her cloak, skimmed up her back and beneath her bandeau. She pressed herself closer to him, fitting herself in the narrow space between his thigh guards. This time they ended it when the need for air grew too great and when they broke apart, they shared a look of complete understanding.
They weren't done. Far from it.
"Ahem." They looked over and saw Luna standing in the chapel entrance holding a beaker of pink liquid. She shook the beaker at Lina. "Come, sister. Drink this. After the little show I just witnessed, I think it's a good time for it."
They quickly separated. Lina got to her feet, walked over and accepted the beaker. "What is it?"
"Just drink it," Luna ordered and Lina started to do so. When it was about halfway gone, Luna gave her a devilish smile. "It's a standard contraceptive potion."
Lina choked and nearly spit it back out. Instead, Luna grabbed the end of the beaker and upended it so every last drop went down Lina's throat.
"A contra...," Gourry sounded out the new vocabulary word.
"Birth control!" Lina wheezed, then pounded on her chest until she got the rest of the liquid down. "You...You gave me a birth control potion!"
"And, you need it." Luna folded her arms over her chest. "If you suddenly wind up back at home due to an unplanned pregnancy, I will not be happy. Not to mention that the world doesn't want another one of you around for a very long time."
"But Gourry and I haven't done anything!"
"Yet." Luna gave Lina a knowing look. "I may be single, but I'm not stupid. I know the look you're giving each other. It's my job to look out for you. Here." She handed a piece of parchment to Lina. "These are the ingredients for the potion. It's simple enough to brew, but if you need help, ask your princess or the dragon shrine maiden. You have to take it once a month and it'll protect you the entire time. Best time to take it is on the first day of your monthly. That way you won't forget it."
"Right," Lina muttered and nearly crumpled the piece of parchment up. She shot a glance at Gourry and was relieved for the first time in her life when he seemed to be more fixated on the cracks that ran along the wall rather than the conversation. "C'mon, Gourry. Let's get out of this place before it crashes down around our heads."
"Huh? Oh, right." Gourry filed the vision he'd just gotten of Lina holding a small baby in the back of his mind. As he followed Lina and Luna outside, he quickly forgot about it.
-----
Author's Notes: The hardest thing about this chapter was deciding where to stop it. Luna's not just hanging around for comic relief. Lina's right to be worried about her sister's "timely" appearance.
Things I don't own in this chapter - the Harry Potter franchise. What was originally suppose to be a very veiled reference to the series turned into a huge parody of the franchise. There are references to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire throughout the chapter.

Chapter 14: People Change, but Xoana Stays the Same ← Chapter 15: Lina Inverse and the Priests of the Wedding Temple → Chapter 16: A Great and Terrible Burden

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