Search for the Darkstar - Hide and Go Seek Among the Ruins

Author: DQBunny Title: Search for the Darkstar - Hide and Go Seek Among the Ruins

Search for Darkstar
Chapter 5: A Living Nightmare ← Chapter 6: Hide and Go Seek Among the Ruins → Chapter 7: Journey into the Depths of Sairaag

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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Chapter 6: Hide and Go Seek Among the Ruins
The once-grand city of Sairaag was little more than a heap of stone surrounded by deep pools of water. Moonlight glinted off the stone and made the ruins appear much older than the two and a half years since the city's fall at the hands of what was said to be one of the magic world's greatest users.
As they stepped off the road, Gravos hesitated. His eyes darted over the ruins as he clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly. With determination born of not wanting to be the object of Jillas' ridicule, he forced himself to walk beside his partner as if nothing was amiss.
"Gravos, you look ready to piss yourself."
The deep voice caused Gravos to emit a somewhat feminine shriek. He took off running, his goal the closest pillar that could conceal his massive bulk. He raced around it, clinging to the stone and whimpering like a child. His fingers tightened on the stone as he heard footsteps approach Jillas.
Jillas simply rolled his eyes. "It's Valgaav-sama, you big chicken."
Gravos peeked from behind the pillar, not quite sure if he wanted to believe Jillas or not. Jillas never really lied persay, but he couldn't be quite sure that he was telling the truth either. Not in this place.
"Gravos, get out here. Now."
He revealed his face slowly. Standing beside Jillas was a tall, gangly being. Moonlight turned his spiky hair into a blue beacon of light. A horn protruded from the middle of his head. His eyes were a bit too far away to be seen, but Gravos recognized the annoyed expression on the man's face. He emerged, rubbing the back of his head with embarrassment.
"Since when did you become scared of your own shadow?" Valgaav asked as Gravos lumbered toward them.
His cheeks reddened slightly. "You've...you've heard what they've said about this place, don't you? It's bewitched. I heard them talking about it in that last town we were in. The city was destroyed two and a half years ago, but then a year ago suddenly came back to life. Then it turned back into rubble. It's magic, I tell you, Valgaav-sama!"
Valgaav rolled his eyes, halfway tempted to throttle him. "Gravos," he explained with more patience than he thought he possessed at the moment. "We are within the former Mazoku barrier. There are lots of powerful magic users here." He swept his hand behind him. "This is where Gaav came from. Humans here are capable of doing this type of stuff."
"There's even this one girl who's known to be so deadly that even dragons avoid her," Jillas supplied helpfully.
The corners of Valgaav's mouth rose slightly. "Ah, yes. Lina Inverse."
Gravos immediately forgot his fear. "Do you know her, Valgaav-sama?"
"Know her? Not yet. Know of her? Yes." Valgaav stepped away from them to survey the vast expanse of ruins. "You'll be enlightened to know that she is the direct cause of this ruin, both times it happened." He bit his lip hard. "She was also the one who murdered Gaav-sama."
Valgaav pivoted and walked in-between Gravos and Jillas. He pointed to a swatch of woods not far from the ruins. "Your job is to attack the group making camp in the clearing straight down this path. Jillas. I need one of your bombs."
He immediately passed one over. "What for, Valgaav-sama?"
Valgaav held the weapon up and admired it. It was one of the smaller bombs, just sticks of dynamite tied together with a cord. But it would suit his purposes nicely. "Let's just say I'm going to be giving a certain woman a wake-up call. Go now. And Gravos, if I find you cowering behind one more ruin..."
Jillas snickered. Gravos promptly kicked him. Stupid fox. The ruins weren't a threat now that Valgaav was with them.
"In any case, after you hear my explosion, count to 100 and then attack." Without waiting for a response, Valgaav headed toward the largest pool among the ruins.
Gravos scratched the top of his head and frowned slightly as he watched Valgaav walk away. "Say, Jillas?"
Jillas absently rubbed behind his ear, not quite able to look his comrade in the eye. "Yeah, Gravos?"
"Do you know how to count to 100?"
"No. Do you?"
"Nope."
They exchanged nervous glances, then began to shuffle off toward the woods.
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The night was quiet, peaceful. It was a time of year that Gourry enjoyed, when it wasn't that deep into fall. He folded his hands behind his head and gazed up at the stars. Soon, it would get cold. It didn't snow that much in this part of their lands, but it got colder than Lina liked. Once they were done in Sairaag, they would head south to a much warmer climate - Filia's lands.
At the moment, there was no one chasing them - a very rare occurence since he initially met Lina four years earlier. He grinned as he remembered the very first day he was with her. Within the course of 18 hours, Lina had managed to Dragon Slave a village, cause destruction in a second one by trying to sell an enchanted knife to a shopkeeper and managed to get Zelgadiss on their trail trying to get the odd statue she had found.
Gourry shifted, glanced over at the armor he had stacked up neatly not far from his bedroll. Normally, he slept in it. He'd grown used to it during his years as a mercenary and keeping watch over Lina required being on alert most of the time. When he and Lyos had gone down to the river to bathe, he'd chosen to keep it off, figuring that they would be okay for the night.
He now regretted that decision.
He closed his eyes, concentrated on the sounds in the forest. After a moment, he tossed aside the covers and reached for his sword. As quiet as he could, he crept toward the road.
He heard the crack of a branch behind him as he stepped onto the well-packed dirt. Unsheathing his sword, he slowly pivoted and noticed Lina approaching him, pulling her gloves on.
"What did you hear?" she asked quietly.
He ignored her at first, straining to sort out the sounds in the dark. "Someone going down the road toward the ruins. No one usually travels this way at night. There's nothing to travel to."
The branches crackled and when they pivoted, they spotted Shizuri coming through the bushes. She rolled her eyes at their battle stance. "At ease, you two. I saw you two walk off and figured it probably something a bit more than a lovers tryst."
Gourry blinked and frowned for a moment before grinning. "Hey, I'd love an ice too! Though I think the weather's too cool to be getting one and we're a bit too far away from a village and..."
"Don't even get started!" Lina growled at him and stalked past him, ready to cut off the absurd conversation. She would have to key Shizuri in on the proper times to introduce new words to Gourry's vocabulary, now not being one of them. "Let's head down toward..."
The almost female shriek of the explosion shook the road with the force of an earthquake, causing all three of them to nearly lose their balance. Lina barely managed to regain her balance after a wild flailing of arms, accidentally smacking Gourry in the process. She spun around, hands positioned to cast a fireball.
"Over there!" Shizuri yelled, pointing at the ruins down the road. "I see smoke!"
"Let's move!" Figuring that the others would follow on their own, Lina grabbed Shizuri and Gourry and took to the skies via Raywing.
Gourry flailed for a moment before firmly latching onto Lina's waist and whimpering. She scowled at him. "Don't be such a baby!"
"Well, warn me next time before you pull a stunt like that!" he shot back at her.
Shizuri slanted him a cool look out of the corner of her eye. "Are you sure you're not just doing that so you can get a close-up of her breasts?"
Gourry mulled it over for a moment before turning so his nose bumped against said chest. "Well, you know, about the only way to tell that Lina's got any is to get this close up."
Shizuri squinted. "You know, you're right! What size is that?"
Gourry cupped Lina's breast, forgetting that they were in the air and that she was now as red as her hair. "Is there any size smaller than an A-cup?"
"First time for everything..."
"Off!" Lina screeched, bucking her hips so both Gourry and Shizuri lost their grips and they crashed to the ground. As soon as her boots touched the ground, she jerked a dazed Gourry up by his shirt front. "How would you like for me to cop a feel of the family jewels and tell everyone how big they are?"
His head lolled to one side. "But, Lina, I don't have any of my family's jewels with me."
She shook him harshly. "Not those! I mean your...oh, never mind!" She let him go and turned her back on him once he slithered back to the ground.
As her companions got back to their feet, Lina surveyed the terrain. The last time she had been in Sairaag, it looked much like the first time she had been there - prior to Copy Rezo's destruction of the city. That had been an illusion of Hellmaster Phibrizzo's. After her and Gourry's return from the Sea of Chaos, they had departed quickly. None of them wanted to spend anymore time around there than necessary.
Shizuri whistled low under her breath. "This looks like something out of a history book."
Lina ignored her, choosing that moment to look behind her at the largest pool. Something began to twist in her gut as she approached the edge and peered down into its depths. She was willing to wager that she wouldn't see the bottom of its murky depths, even in broad daylight. Her hands slowly curled into fists.
"Welcome to your nightmare, Lina Inverse!"
The voice seemed to come out of nowhere and for a moment, she really thought she was having a nightmare. She slowly turned, prepared to meet her demons head on. She wasn't going to let anything conjured up by her own memories defeat her.
She spotted the man on top of a nearby pillar at the exact moment that Gourry drew his sword, the sound of metal scraping the scabbard breaking her from her brief trance. He wasn't close enough for her to make out any facial features, but his spiky hair had enough height to rival Lyos. Unlike the younger knight, this person had a horn protruding through his head. The look he shot her was so full of immense hatred that it caught her off guard for a moment. Usually, people waited until after Lina opened her mouth in order to revile her.
Power seemed to radiate from the man...or maybe he wasn't a man at all. "Are you a Mazoku?" she called out.
"In a way," he smirked. He propped one foot upon a bit of fallen stone beside him. He rested his weight on that leg and leered at her. "I've been waiting a long time to meet you, Lina Inverse."
Lina's lips curled into a sly smile. "It's nice to know that being away for a year hasn't diminished my reputation any."
"It seems you're just as much of a smart-ass as they said you would be." Valgaav studied her intensely once again. "How did a little girl like you defeat Gaav-sama," he mummered, more to himself than for Lina's benefit.
She was getting ready to tell him exactly where he could shove the words "little girl" when the rest of the sentence sank in. "Gaav... Who are you?"
Valgaav rose fluidly to his feet. "I prefer to let this be my calling card." He held out his left palm, a ball of energy forming rapidly in it. He shot it at them.
Lina threw herself aside just as the raging heat shot past. Quickly, she flopped onto her back and rose enough to see Gourry and Shizuri on the other side of the attack path. Her mind raced through memories of previous attacks. She'd felt this power before.
Then it clicked. Jumping to her feet, Lina glared at him. "Are you one of Gaav's subordinates?"
Valgaav lifted an eyebrow slightly. "Very good. I am Valgaav, one of the Mazoku privileged enough to serve Demon Dragon Gaav."
Demon Dragon Gaav. The name clicked for Gourry as well. It was the one being that Lina couldn't defeat with that long, black magical sword of her, the Ragna Blade. He and Zelgadiss had been equally useless against the powerful Mazoku.
"Ga...Gaav?" Shizuri grabbed Gourry's sleeve. "Wait a minute, one of the five subordinates of Shabranigdu? Lina fought him?"
"We all did," he replied, shifting the sword so he could hold it with both hands. They needed to make it over to Lina's side, but could they do so without Valgaav noticing and attacking?
"What the hell do you want from us?" Lina yelled at Valgaav.
He responding by holding up his hand, another, larger ball of power forming in it. "You know what I want. To suffer the anguish that Gaav-sama did!" His gaze shifted away from Lina and he raised his hand to attack.
Her heart leapt into her throat. "Gourry! Shizuri!" Lina raced the few feet to their side just as Gourry grabbed Shizuri and shielded her body with his. As Valgaav launched the attack, Lina managed to throw up a protection barrier. She braced, but the power of Valgaav's attack had her sliding back across the ground until she bumped into something solid. Gourry and Shizuri, she realized. She managed to crane her head at the two of them. "Don't move, or I won't be able to hold this!"
Concentrating as hard as she could, Lina faced Valgaav once more. More than anything at the moment, she wished that Amelia or Zelgadiss were there to aid in the barrier. Hell, she'd even take Xelloss at the moment. Oh, why can't that idiot Mazoku be here whenever you need him?
A few feet away, Xelloss flickered into view and watched with a slight smile. Everything was going according to plan.
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Amelia turned onto her side, opened her eyes and saw that Lina's bedroll was empty. She didn't think much of it. She rolled onto her other side and noticed that Shizuri's bedroll was empty as well. That was interesting.
She sat up and rubbed at her eyes. She saw a heap of blankets that she assumed was Lyos on the other side of the fire. Filia slept a few feet away in another bedroll. Sylphiel sat near the fire, poking it with a stick to stir up the dying embers every so often. She looked so lost in thought that Amelia really didn't want to intrude, but...
"Do you know where Lina-san and Shizuri-san are?" Amelia scanned the campsite. "Gourry-san's gone too."
Sylphiel shook her head. "No. I just woke up myself. I couldn't sleep, and I saw Lina-san and Gourry-san head away from camp. Shizuri-san followed, but I figure she'll be back at any moment."
Understanding dawned on Amelia. She crawled over to Sylphiel's side. It had to be rough for her at the moment, knowing that Lina and Gourry were finally together. She drew her knees up and stared vacantly into the fire. To care for someone and not have them care for you back in the way you'd like for them to... Amelia bit her lip.
During the trip to Kunan, Amelia resolved to place Zelgadiss in the category of her life labeled "childhood crush." She was his friend and she deeply cared about him and was quite positive that he returned those feelings in his own way. But his master at the moment was his cure, and she couldn't afford to spend her life waiting for him to either come to his senses or to actually find one. She was a princess. She had a responsibility to her people to carry out justice in the name of Saillune.
The crack of sticks breaking on the ground drew Amelia from her thoughts and she glanced around. "Shizuri-san?" she called out.
Something thumped on the ground beside her, a small bundle of burning sticks. Amelia leaned in to investigate.
"Amelia-san! Get away from there!"
Before Amelia was quite sure what had happened, Filia had sprung up from her bedroll and grabbed Amelia's cloak. She hauled her back until they were at the edge of the campsite. "Run!" she screamed to Sylphiel and Lyos, who had gotten to his feet. "That thing's going to explode!"
Sylphiel stared wide-eyed at the burning sticks. Lyos dove at her, covering her with his body just as an explosion ripped through the camp. Amelia immediately cast a defensive barrier over herself and Filia, shielding them from the worst of the attack. When debris stopped raining down, she let the spell drop and gave Filia a warm smile. "Thank you, Filia-san. I owe you for that."
"What was that?" Sylphiel stammered as Lyos shifted to let her up.
"It's a weapon from my lands, called dynamite." Filia knocked the dirt from her skirts. "It's made with a substance known as gunpowder and creates an explosion. That one's a rather small one. One with enough power behind them can easily rip you apart."
"It made quite a large noise for something you say is rather small," Sylphiel pointed out.
Amelia scanned the area, then noticed smoke rising through the trees. "Over there! I see smoke!"
"It's coming from Sairaag!" Sylphiel jumped to her feet and snatched up her cloak.
They hurried quickly to the main road and ran toward the ruins. Amelia was pretty sure that was where Lina, Gourry and Shizuri had wound up. Lina-san probably thought there was some sort of bandit group there. It would figure. Why else would she sneak away in the middle of the night?
Lyos skidded to a stop, then drew Banisher. "Something's coming at us."
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The barrier broke.
The remaining pressure from the attack was just enough to where it picked up Lina and slammed her to the ground a few feet away. She shook off the stun and rolled to her feet. She was expecting another attack right away, but when Valgaav's gaze shifted to Gourry, she decided she had an opening to attack herself. She started to chant the full incantation for a fireball, pumping all the power she could into the spell.
Before she could get the chant out, Valgaav changed focus and sent a stream of magic at her. In pure reflex, Lina shot the fireball toward him and tried to construct a shield, knowing it was too little, too late. She heard both Gourry and Shizuri yelling and braced herself to take the hit.
Then nothing.
Lina glanced up and nearly did a double take when she saw a very familiar Mazoku standing in front of her. "Xelloss!"
Valgaav smirked. "Xelloss!"
Xelloss smiled at him, an evil, twisted one that made Lina's blood run cold. "It looks like it's time for me to unveil myself, isn't it, Valgaav?"
He lifted his index finger and cocked his head to one side as black swirls of power started to form around him, extending out to where they were almost touching Lina. Valgaav's eyes went bright as he began to emit the same red glow of energy that she had always associated with Gaav.
Valgaav made the first move, leaping into the air and shooting an attack at Xelloss. Lina backed up as fast as she could, barely escaping the blast as it struck the ground right in front of Xelloss. Not that he cared at that moment. He disappeared and reappeared behind Valgaav, sending a stream of his own power at him.
Explosions went off in a circle surrounding them and Lina realized she had her opening. She leaped into the air, casting Elmekia Lance as she did so. The spell slammed into Valgaav and he whirled around in time to see Gourry coming at him with his sword.
Gourry swung and Valgaav eluded the attack, neatly dodging under the blade. He swung again and this time, Valgaav threw up his arm. "What makes you think you can do anything with an ordinary sword?" he taunted.
"Don't count me out!" Gourry roared, with more anger than Shizuri had ever seen from him. "If you think I'm at a disadvantage because I have an ordinary sword, then you're dead wrong!"
Ordinary sword...ordinary sword... Shizuri frowned as she watched Gourry and Valgaav engage in an almost elegant, yet violent dance. The sword that Gourry currently held did contain some sort of magic. After all, he had used it to help defend Oren's village from the Mazoku. But this Sword of Light was suppose to be one of the most powerful weapons in their world. She started to scan the area. If Lina and Gourry were tied up in this, then she could help find the sword and surely that would take this Valgaav down.
Before she could react, Gourry landed beside her and Lina raced up to him.
Valgaav landed some distance away from them, his gaze flickering between Xelloss and Lina's group. "Working together, aren't you? Wouldn't I be the one at a disadvantage now?"
Lina smirked. "So, you want to take us on one by one now? Gaav took on me and Gourry working together, along with Zel and Amelia. Shizuri equally has their power. Are you still willing to take us on?"
Valgaav stared at her in disbelief. He shook his head and smiled slightly. "What an absurd proposal," he muttered, his smile growing wider. His gaze locked with Lina's. "Sounds like fun!"
Xelloss lifted his staff, ready to strike. Lina, Gourry and Shizuri immediately shifted into defense stances.
Valgaav faced Xelloss, energy radiating from his body once more. "Let's try it!"
Before he could move, a series of explosions rocked the area, causing all of them to lose their balance. Lina crashed into Gourry, who wound up toppling into Shizuri. The three landed in a heap on the ground. They disentangled themselves to the point where they looked up and saw white and black streaks of light flashing in the air, then disappeared.
Shizuri made it back to her feet first. "They disappeared!"
Lina clutched onto her lifeline as hard as she could until the ground stopped shaking. "Is it over?" she asked, then noticed that she was grabbing Gourry's waist. Before she could shove him away, Xelloss reappeared in front of them.
He scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously. "Oh my, how sad! How very sad! It looks like he managed to slip away from me again. It seems he'll be a difficult opponent to deal with." He gave a little sound of surprise. "Why Lina-san, Gourry-san! I didn't realize the two of you had gotten so close!"
Lina shoved Gourry away from her and grinned at Xelloss. "Xelloss! Wow, you're not kidding! It must be fate!"
Before any of them could move, Lina shot over to Xelloss' side and caught him in a headlock. "Now, what the hell do you think you're talking about, you perverted priest!" she yelled. "How many times are you going to play us for fools until we get ourselves killed in one of your hair-brained schemes?"
Shizuri placed her hands on her hips and glanced at Gourry. "Does she do this to every guy she meets, or just the ones she likes?"
Gourry laughed and ran his hand through his hair. "Well..."
"So, you've figured it out?" Xelloss' sheepish voice drew them back to the conversation.
"Of course I have!" Actually, she hadn't figured it out until just a few minutes ago, but Lina figured that Xelloss really didn't need to know that. She released the headlock just slightly. "You were going after Gaav, who was a traitor to the Mazoku. So it makes sense for you to be hunting Valgaav as well, who was his underling."
"That's right," Xelloss acknowledged. "So he can avenge his master, Valgaav is after you, the one who killed Gaav." When he caught Lina's raised eyebrows, he chuckled. "Lina-san, it doesn't matter that Phibrizzo really killed Gaav. In Valgaav's eyes, you did it, and there'll be no changing that."
"So, you used Lina as bait and made her come to Sairaag on a false rumor of the Sword of Light to lure him out and attack, right?" Shizuri asked.
Xelloss switched his focus to her. "Well, actually, that rumor is true. The Sword of Light is here in Sairaag."
"It is?" Lina and Gourry cried out together.
Xelloss faded from Lina's hold and reappeared a few feet away from them. "A few months ago, while you were still traveling, Valgaav suddenly gained a lot of power and it's been nearly impossible to keep track of him."
Lina frowned. "So, you're implying that he's got someone more powerful than Gaav backing him now?"
"That remains to be seen," Xelloss said. "Not long after that, we obtained the news that the Sword of Light had been sensed in the remains of Sairaag and that Valgaav was looking for it. Since I figured that you and Gourry-san would be interested in knowing this little tidbit of news, I took the liberty of...arranging this exchange. Believe me, it's in both of our interests to have the sword in Gourry-san's hands at the moment, rather than Valgaav's."
"If it's here, where is it?" Gourry asked, looking around the ruins once more.
Xelloss smiled as he disappeared. "If I had to guess," his disembodied voice sounded over the three of them, "It'd probably be the place you lost it to begin with."
"Where did you lose it?" Shizuri asked Gourry.
He started to reply, then noticed Lina staring at the largest pool of water out of the entire ruins. Things shifted into place as he saw the slightly vacant look in her eyes. Without answering Shizuri, he moved to her side and stared at the same pool.
"It's in there, isn't it?" he commented softly.
Lina nodded. "I'm willing to stake everything I have on it. That's where Flagoon used to be. It's got to be there."
Shizuri approached them. "How are you going to get it if it's underwater?"
"There's a way to do it," Lina replied. She swallowed and stared into the murky depths of the pool, where she had fought the worst battle of her life. She could already feel the memories starting to pound at her already tired brain, overworked from lack of sleep and much stress. But she had no choice. She was doing this for Gourry. She would do anything to enable him to get his family's sword back.

Chapter 5: A Living Nightmare ← Chapter 6: Hide and Go Seek Among the Ruins → Chapter 7: Journey into the Depths of Sairaag

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