Forgotten King: Chapter 6
Sorry if there are some spelling/grammatical errors in this. I AM NOT AN ENGLISH MAJOR!!!!
* Italics mean a person's thoughts
Xellos had just finished surveying his master's land, and now found himself heading to her mansion. Hmm....I wonder how Lina-chan is doing. Hope Zel-kun enjoyed my little gift to him. Oh, what am I saying, he probably has no clue what to do with her. Oh I love when I think of things like this. Xellos walked into the manor with a larger than usual smile plastered on his face. As he made his way through the manor his smile started slipping as he watched many a servant running back and forth. Ever since the king died his master, Zelas Metallium, had been swamped with matters of business. Whether it was taxes, the state of her holdings, or one of the other lords trying to undermine her, she was always busy nowadays.
He walked into a living room, well now it functioned as a planning room, but it was still a place his master rested. Xellos opened the door of the room to be meet with Zelas' tired gaze. As soon as his mind began working he dropped to one knee and said. "Master, I have returned from surveying your holdings. Everything is the same as of last survey, the peasants are happy, and the opposing lords have been held at bay."
Zelas looked at her loyal servant and slightly smiled, "Well Xellos, so far this reprieve from attack has been welcomed, but it won't last forever. Have you had any luck with Dynast?"
Xellos frowned at her words and replied, "No, that stoic lug won't even move a finger out of his holdings. It's as if he doesn't realize that he will be conquered sooner or later if he doesn't fight. Oh well, I will try again tomorrow master, please forgive my failure."
Zelas frowned, indeed she needed Dynast's help to get through this, but there wasn't much she could do about his behavior. She looked at Xellos and asked, "Have you taken care of Lina for me?"
Xellos looked up at her and smiled, "Yes master, she is safe. I have sent her to the old castle. I thought I would kill two bird with one stone: keeping Lina safe, and giving Zelgadis a little company."
Zelas' gleamed with hope at the mention of the forgotten prince's name. "Do you think Lina might get him to come out of hiding?" Zelas asked her servant, smiling very evilly at him.
Xellos knew what her look meant. He was very happy that their plan, which they had worked on for a year now, was finally coming into play. Just to think, all we needed was some bait, and dear old Fibby supplied us with the means of that. We will have to thank him sometime. Xellos mused as he stood up, after seeing Zelas motion him to do so. "We have set the bait, now all we can do is wait. If we are lucky our little prince will take it hook, line, and sinker."
Zelas got up from her coach and grabbed a bottle of fine Zelphilian wine. She took up two glasses and filled them. She then handed one to Xellos and toasted, "To the plan."
"To the future."
"To Lina," said an unknown voice from out of the shadows.
Both Zelas and Xellos turned to stare right at a man dressed in all black. The most interesting part of his outfit was his half white, half black mask.
Xellos put down his glass, and quickly grabbed his staff, going into a defensive position in front of his master. "Who are you? What do you want? Are you a spy of some sort? If you are then I will kill you on the spot." Xellos warned the intruder as he thought, How could he have gotten in without either of us sensing him? Oh he's good.
The stranger put up his hands, showing he had no malcontent planned and said, "I want nothing more than to see your plan through, that is all."
Both Zelas and Xellos blinked a few times at this statement. What did he mean by seeing the plan through? Zelas moved in front of her servant and asked, "Why do you want to see our plan through? You get nothing from it."
"Oh, but I do. I get rewarded quite well if this plan goes well," the stranger retorted.
Zelas pondered this man, he was obviously mazuko, that she could tell. What would a full-breed mazuko want with her? She was only a half-breed, only able to do so much with her powers, but she had Xellos serving her now. Xellos was a full-breed as well, and he was a force to be reckoned with. If she played her cards right she could make another powerful ally here and now. "Well, if you want it to go through, how can you help us?"
"If you can keep Lina's location a secret then I can guarantee that I will have Zelgadis sticking to her like glue in three months at the most."
Zelas looked at him in utter disbelief. "How could you get that kind of efficiency out of this? Last time I checked Zelgadis Greywords was as stoic, if not more, than that block of ice known as Dynast."
"Well, if you must know Zelgadis is already quite taken with your little present. All I have to do is push him in that direction and those two will be inseparable."
"How can you, Zel-kun won't even listen to me. How could you convince him otherwise?" Xellos asked.
"Because, I have been his bodyguard ever since he was five. He trusts me." The stranger said with an all knowing arrogance that could compete with Xellos.
"So your the mysterious bodyguard the old king hired when Zel-kun was young. Helping us with our plan will help complete your duties, ne? That's why your helping." Xellos analyzed the situation.
"What is part of my duty, to serve Zelgadis to the best of my ability, but I am doing this for more reasons than that."
Both the other occupants of the room blinked at the stranger. "What else could be beneficial to you from this plan?" Asked Xellos a bit dumbfounded.
The stranger bent down slightly and imitated Xellos' patented finger wag while saying, "Sore wa himitsu desu."
"Hey, that's my line," Xellos whined, as a look of mock hurt spread across his face.
"Well, it served the correct purpose in this situation."
"We will keep Lina's location a secret. Now if you will complete your part of this we may be able to drive Fibrizo back." Zelas held out her hand to shake on the deal.
The stranger shook on the deal and then phased out. Both Xellos and Zelas looked at the spot he was standing in a moment ago. They had a new ally in this little scheme of theirs, the only problem was that they didn't know his full attentions. "Xellos, I want you to keep an eye on our new friend for a while," Zelas commanded.
Xellos nodded and phased out, trying to follow the stranger through the astral plane. Zelas stood there for a moment contemplating what role this new chess piece could play in her game with the Hellmaster. Who was that man? He could be one of Hellmaster's spies. But, what if this is real, I could finally have the power I need to beat that little punk! With that Zelas went back into a war room to plan for the next attack her spies in Fibrizo's house had uncovered.
Luna Inverse was at home taking care of her parents as usual, but now it seemed so lonely without her little sister around. Luna's day had become ten times as strenuous without Lina to help out, and liven up her mood. I must admit Lina always kept it interesting around here, Luna mused as she washed the dishes. Luna was drying a dish when all of a sudden she felt something, a power like one she hadn't felt in a long time. As the power drew closer Luna started to remember, back when she was Lina's age, she had felt a power like this before.
~Flashback~
"What are you doing," a younger Luna screamed at a young man, who was standing in front of a black alter.
"Completing my destiny," answered the man as he turned to face Luna.
"But that is an alter to Shabarnigdo, dark lord of this world. You can't be serious."
"I am, I couldn't be any more serious about this, Luna dear."
"But why? You could stay with us, you could fight on the side of Cepheed like me."
"You know that isn't true. You were chosen to be his knight, and I was chosen to serve another." With that the man raised a ruby dagger in the air above him.
"NO!!" Luna yelled while running toward him but it was too late.
The man thrust the dagger straight into his chest and pulled it out as he weakened. Luna caught the man as he began to fall, she held him close, sobbing as he died in her arms. "Why? Why did you do this?"
"Because I was destined to Luna dear. Goodbye," with that the man became limp in her arms.
Luna began to cry, so violently in fact that she was losing her balance, she propped his body on the alter to help support herself. As the blood from his body touched the black obsidian stone it began to glow. Luna, catching her wits, started pulling the man's body away from the alter but it was too late. As she pulled dark strands of obsidian caught hold of his arm and held fast. A dark energy filled the room as the ritual the man had performed began to take effect. The energy forming around them began to lash out and attack anything near the alter, Luna being the specified target. She struggled to hold her grip as the obsidian monstrosity pulled the body towards it. Soon Luna was forced to let go as some of the power connected with her face, burning her cheek. When she released him, the alter took hold of his body totally. Luna watched in horror as all the dark energy soon found a host, and began to enter the body. The wound in his chest healed and he began to move with new life. As the process was almost complete there was a flash of light so bright Luna couldn't handle the shock. "Vladimir," screamed Luna as all faded to black.
~End Flashback~
Luna leaned against a wall as the horrifying vision raced through her head. She had never felt anything else give off this type of power. Only that ritual let loose this type of darkness, the power was overwhelming her, she could barely keep on her feet as it grew. Suddenly Luna felt something cold touch her cheek. *crash* She dropped the plate in her hand and look to her side, nothing was there. Luna looked about the room, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, then she felt it again. Luna started walking towards the hall, trying to get away from this overwhelming power, when she felt two spots of cold on her shoulders. She tried to struggle, tried to break free, but to no avail she was held in her place. She felt the cold sensation move in circular motions on her shoulders, whatever was here was giving her a massage? As her body began to loosen up she could swear she heard something being whispered in her ear. "You have nothing to fear from me. I just wanted to she how you and the folks were doing."
Luna's jaw dropped when she realized she knew the voice, she knew its owner, but it couldn't be him. It couldn't be him, he died over six years ago, he couldn't have survived that ritual. Luna began to sob as the painful memories washed over her again. Her eyes began to water as she tried to hold back the tears, but they came anyway. As the tears began to streak down her face the cold sensations shifted. The whole area of her shoulders became cold, then spots on her face as an unseen hand wiped away her tears. "Luna, please don't cry. I am working to make things better, soon you will see. Maybe someday we can be a family again." With that the cold and the overwhelming power disappeared into nothingness.
Luna collapsed to her knees, losing all power to do anything but sob. "Vladimir....," she mumbled in between sobs.
Xellos had taken off after the mysterious visitor through the astral plane, and he had to admit, it was a challenge to keep up with him. He finally caught up with him in a familiar spot to Xellos, he had come here plenty of times to check on a very important family, the Inverse family. Xellos watched from afar as the stranger watched Luna washing the dishes. What could he be up to now? Xellos watched as Luna caught onto the power he emitted, Even with Hellmaster's limitations Luna is still impersive, mused Xellos.
Suddenly the stranger let loose a lot of energy, Xellos knew he was found out, and decided to watch from a further distance. As he watched Xellos saw Luna all but turn to mush as the power swelled around her. Is he trying to overpower Luna? What purpose would that serve him? She isn't a threat to him, not now anyway. He watched as Luna backed into a wall. Then the stranger moved toward her, he was soon right next to her, and then he brushed his hand across her cheek. Xellos watched in shock as Luna turned into a sobbing mess, only to have the stranger massage her shoulders. Is her trying to seduce her now or what?!?
Xellos continued to watch out of sheer curiosity, wondering what this guy wanted with Luna. As Luna began to calm down tears began to flow from her eyes, and down her face. The stranger put one arm across her shoulders in somewhat of an embrace, while his other hand wiped away tears. He whispered one last something into her ear and then disappeared through the astral plane, he was too quick for Xellos to follow.
What is he up to? Why is he doing this? Luna doesn't have anything to do with our plan. But, maybe he is taking this a step further with things, I must report this. With that Xellos shifted back towards his master's mansion as Luna recovered and went back to her work.
Disclaimer: Any characters or ideas from The Slayers do not belong to me. I am not selling this material, just writing for the heck of it as I go.
Note: Yes I know Luna was very OOC in this, but anyone else would act pretty much the same in that situation. That and I am always trying to humanize characters. Thanks for your support and send feedback to [email protected]