Divided Time
A Slayers Crossover Fanfic

Volume 2: Chained Life; Kittie Front and Center

Chained
Seductive Woman
Wielded Sword of Demons
To Fight On and On For Faith For Fury

The Secret Soul Hidden
The Haunted Past Beckons
She Fights to Free Herself
To Stop All Evil

The Black Feeling Within
The Cursed Blade Without
Deadly but Beautiful, Beautiful and Powerful

The Hunter is the Hunted
The Hunted is the Hunter
Kittie...

The party started off to the lair of Heaven's Punishers. Kittie lead the way, since she had been there before. "Lark was the easy one, all I had to do was bounce and he followed me to the cell. Well, I had a little help from this." Kittie held up her sword. "Reatehh is the tough one, she runs the show. She tells them all what to do." 
Amelia pointed to the horizon. "We'll show these bandits the true meaning of JUSTICE!"
Mako stared. She leaned over to Lina. "She's not going to be like that the whole time is she?"
Lina hung her head and gestured. "She's ALWAYS like that."
"This will be a long trip."
Lina grinned. "Very long."
Amelia walked next to Kittie. "So where's the evil fortress?"
Kittie replied, "Well, it's just in that valley over there." She pointed.
The valley was just outside the city walls, it was an expansive valley. The cliffs dropped straight down.
"How do we get down?" Mako asked.
Kittie looked at her. "How else?" She pulled out a long rope.
Mako was horrified. She was afraid of heights as it was. "No way!"
Kittie laughed. "I'm lying! There's a nice set of stone steps carved into the mountain on that side of the cliff." She pointed out to the left wall. 
Mako sighed. "I was afraid you were serious about the rope."
Kittie kept on grinning. Then her face turned serious. "Look Reatehh is a nasty woman. She's a cunning devil. We'll have to sneak in. She's seen me, but she doesn't know any of you. And no blasting your way in either! The outside has a barrier. We'll have to camp out in the cliff caves for the night. I have a source that says they'll be going on a raiding party tomorrow night. That will be the best time to go."
Everyone nodded. They reached the left wall by sunset, the distance looking closer than it had been. They descended the stairs and crawled into a back cave. They could see the whole valley from that lofty position, while still being hidden. 

	Mako sat watching the last sinking rays of the sun. She thought about home. It was too late to go back. Xellos didn't know how to send her home.
Tinako sat down next to Mako. "What are you thinking about?"
"Home."
"Home. Where is your home Mako?"
"A world far different from this one. It's something else. I was a singer you know, I had thousands of people adore me. Here, I'm nothing."
"I wouldn't say you were nothing. You've already become something to the people sitting here. You have something in you."
"Tinako, what did Xellos mean by 'chasing a dragon'? Is there something wrong with dragons?"
Tinako looked away. "The mazoku and dragons have hated each other for millennia. They are the race most closely associated with the gods. Do the demons and gods get along in your world?"
"No."
"A thousand years ago a war between the gods and demons raged. It was called the War of the Monster's Resurrection. Back then I, of course, sided with the mazoku. I served my master, Dynast Grauscherra. I did as he told me. I wouldn't go against him, or Xellos. He waged war on the Water Dragon Lord at the Kataart Mountains. The Dynast was victorious. The Water Dragon Lord  was unable to move from the Kataart Mountains. He gave me the key to the castle in the north. The castle key, it's in my hands now. I was lost without orders. I wandered the bloody battlefields. The thousands of dead and dying. I met a man. Not a man, a golden dragon. I asked him what he thought of me." She looked like she would cry. "His words haunted me then. He said he didn't hate me. I did what I was told, I was hurt, being dirty, unable to avoid it. I didn't know what to say to that." She looked down again. "Xellos is powerful, but I have the keys now, he can't do anything to me."
Mako stared at the dark night sky. "Show your broken courage when your heart is exposed to me."
Tinako looked at her. "What?"
"A line from one of my songs." Mako smiled fondly. "It's called Disgrace. Don't disgrace honesty. Be open to yourself. Show your broken courage when your heart is exposed to me. Even if it is only a broken courage, it's honest. Just add the number of tears left to be seen. I don't want to be alone."
She smiled. "Thanks Mako. Did you write your songs?"
"Yes." 

	The valley lit up gloriously at night. You could see the fortress. There were men all over. It was obvious that security was lax around it. No one seemed to care if anyone was watching. The whole group was leaning over the cliff wall now. They could see a big woman moving to and fro on the ramparts. She was kind of a burly woman, she had frizzy yellow hair. It had a greenish tint in the moonlight. It looked as though someone had dipped her head in fungus. She could be heard all through the valley screaming at her subordinates. "Do this, now do this. Who told you to do that?" Her voice was piercing. Lina winced every time her voice rang through the valley.
Lina winced. "I only knew one other person that could irritate me so much with just the sound of her voice."
"Who was that Lina?" Mako asked.
"Naga the White Serpent!"
Amelia screamed. The others clapped her mouth. Zelgadis shook his head. 
Gourry whispered "Even I know better than screaming."
Amelia blushed. 
Kittie slumped back down. "You can't give our position away!"
A rock loosened and clinked its way down. Everyone held their breath, Kittie drew her sword.
A light footstep was heard coming down the stairs. Then they saw a leg. Everyone reached out and grabbed the leg and Kittie put a sword to the persons neck.
"Oh maybe I should've been quieter?" The purple hair gleamed in the moonlight.
"Xellos!" Mako and Lina exclaimed.
They let go of him. Kittie still pointed the sword at his neck. "Do you know him?"
They nodded. "So he's a friend?" They shook their heads. 
"He's a pain in the ass." Lina put it bluntly.
Everyone nodded. 
"That hurts my feelings." Xellos pouted.

	The eight sat in a circle in the middle of the cave. They all stared at each other. No one said anything, no one moved, they just stared. Lina jumped up running her hands through her hair. "ARG! I can't take this. Just tell us why you're here Xellos! Don't think I don't remember what happened the last time when you gave us up to the bandits!" 
Gourry looked at him. "That's right!" He looked quizzically at Lina. "He did?"
Lina smacked him. "Don't you remember squid for brains?! Those," Lina shuttered.
"Macho Battlers!" Xellos concluded.
Lina screamed again. 
Zelgadis twitched. "I remember." He scowled at Xellos. 
Xellos just continued to smile. He ignored Tinako the whole time.
"Say, Kittie, was it? How did you get that sword?" Xellos cracked an eye open.
"It's been in my family." She didn't want to have anything to do with him.
Xellos continued to stare. "Demon blade. The Necromancer I believe." She still didn't speak. He continued. "If you wield that I can only assume you're a SinBound. Always resurrected are you?"
Kittie stood up. "Go away." She snarled.
Xellos only smiled and sat in the corner. Tinako watched every move Xellos made.
Mako walked over to Xellos. "What do you mean by that? SinBound?"
Xellos had one eye open watching Kittie and the other eye fixed on Mako. "That sword is a demon blade. It's cursed. If it is The Necromancer, it always resurrects her. She'll never die. Not even from old age."
Mako was shocked. She'd never heard of such a thing. 
She walked to the back of the cave. Mako never heard of such a curse. Zelgadis followed her.
Mako sat down in the very back. There was no light, save for a speck on the wall. A glittering stone. 
Zelgadis sat next to her. "Zelgadis, what is the most terrible curse in this place?"
He looked at her. "There are a lot. For me, this chimera skin is the worst. I'm sure for Kittie, it's the SinBound. Never dying. For you, never getting home."
"I have no home. Not really. My life is run by others, I don't even know what I'm doing here. Wrapped up in other peoples business, things that are too big for me. But I still would like to be back there."
Zel smiled softly. "I'll help you get home, if I can. It's one less burden in this world." 
"Thank you. If I can ever do anything for you, I'll try."
Lina called back. "Zel, look at this!"
He stood up. "No, thank you Mako. You have such a strange effect on everyone here. We'll miss you when you leave." He walked up towards Lina.

	Mako sat against the back wall. She found herself all of a sudden jerked into the wall. She didn't hit it, she fell through it. There was a bright room, glittering stones everywhere. She could hardly believe her eyes. It was a silvery room. The moonlight filtered in from a hole in the roof. Mako saw a stone with a man standing in it. She was drawn to it. As she reached the man, she realized he was cased in ice, not stone. The glittering crystals were ice crystals. The man opened his eyes. Glowing ruby red eyes. She still felt compelled to touch him. She reached out and her hands went straight through the ice and to the man. She felt a heat radiating from him. His life was pouring into her. Her head felt like it was splitting. Something caught her eye. A young man in a white robe staring at her. "It's not time." It echoed. "Time."
"It's not time!" Mako jerked her eyes open. Xellos was shaking her. "No Mako. Never."
Mako was certain that part of the ice man was now in her. She felt a strange strength. Mako gave an evil grin. "I'm fine Xellos." Her eyes rolled back. "Xellos, soon, Xellos..." Mako looked up again.
Xellos stared at her. He placed two fingers on her forehead. "Sleep within."
Mako kept staring. "What?"
He shook his head. "Come back to the front, back to the light."
Mako crawled to the front of the cave. She went back to sleep with everyone else.
The next morning Xellos was gone. Kittie and Tinako were glad to be rid of him. Mako was also not too sad about his disappearance. Xellos was a handful. 
Kittie was discussing plans with Lina, Gourry and Zelgadis about getting into the fort. She was going to send Gourry and Zel into the fort and draw Reatehh out. She wanted Lina and Amelia to destroy the back gate so they could only come out the front. Kittie herself, Tinako and Mako would wait out front for them to come out.
"Why can't I go in?" Lina asked.
Kittie raised her head. "Reatehh hates women. She only allows men to join."
Gourry chuckled. "Everyone mistakes Lina for a man. I'm sure she could get in!" Lina clocked him.  
Gourry and Zel descended the stairway to the valley floor. They went to the gate and asked for an audience. They wanted to join. The man showed them in. 
Everyone waited a few hours until they saw Zel and Gourry wearing the badges of Heaven's Punishers. Gourry was to unlock the back gate and Zel was to break the protective magic barrier. They had to do it before they left on the raiding party too. Everyone went to the valley floor and took up positions. Lina and Amelia went around back and waited. There was good cover for the five people down there. Gourry unlocked the back gate before noon and he told Lina that Zel almost had the barrier down. The plan was working perfectly. 

	Night fell and most of the bandits were leaving. Zel and Gourry snuck back to Lina and Amelia. "The barrier is down, the door is open, the guys are gone. Let them know we're on." Zel winked.
Lina stood up. "Burst Flare!" The back of the fortress exploded. Piles of debris covered the back entrance. Stones were piled up and closed the section off. They exploded the side wall as well as the back. There was no way out or in on this side. They would have to fly over to get to the front. 
"Ray-Wing!" Lina, Amelia and Zelgadis began to rise. They picked up a screaming Gourry. 
"Not this! I hate flying! Please!"
The four joined the girls in front. The bandits who were left came running out the front. Mako swung her polearm around and defeated the first wave. They saw Reatehh standing over the entrance screaming at her men. She looked at the people who were doing this. Her eyes were fiery. "I will not be taken by the likes of you!"
Kittie smiled. "You'll come one way or another. The bounty is DEAD or alive."
Reatehh screamed. Kittie turned to Tinako. "Can you freeze her out?" Tinako nodded.
Gourry and Zel were holding off the men coming out.
Tinako walked up to the fortress wall. "Dynast Spread."
The walls started to encase in ice. Everything was glittering crystal. Reatehh stood on the rampart screaming down. "A little ice won't kill me! I'll still be here!"
The ice was enveloping everything it touched. The air was frozen. Everything went silent except the cracking of ice.
Then Mako heard something. Many footsteps. Thump. Thump. The bandits were returning. Reatehh was laughing. "See, they've come back and you'll be sorry you tried."
The seven stood fast where they were. The fortress was frozen solid. The bandits were closing in. They let the bandits almost surround them. Zel, Gourry and Mako were working on the bandits blocking their escape up. Tinako stood next to Kittie, waiting for them to leave the fortress. The back was clear only bandits in front of them now. 
Lina figured only one way left to deal with bandits. "Darkness from twilight, crimson from blood that flows; buried in the flow of time; in Thy great name, I pledge myself to darkness! Those who oppose us shall be destroyed by the power you and I possess! DRAGON SLAVE!!"
The ball of energy shot out and took out all the bandits and the fortress. Reatehh tried to get out as Lina cast and ended up with a sword at her throat.
"Too bad. You have nothing left." Kittie smiled.

The group made their way up the stairs before the dragon slave hit them. They went back to Xoana with a bound and gagged Reatehh in tow. They presented her to Martina. 
"I'm so glad you did this!" Martina exclaimed. "I shall have a feast prepared for you." Martina clapped and her servants ran off to prepare. Zangulus stood up. "Have this woman put in the dungeon." Armed guards hauled her off to the dungeon. Zangulus turned to the group. "The reward money will be given to you tomorrow. Rest here tonight. We've had rooms made up." Everyone went to explore the castle. Lina and Gourry went to the kitchen, Kittie went to the arena, Amelia and Zelgadis went to the library, Tinako just disappeared, and Mako went wandering corridor to corridor. Mako looked down a long corridor to the left of the audience chamber. Nothing blocked her path so she proceeded down it. It seemed that corridor went on forever. At the end was a door. Mako opened it. She was somewhere else. That cold gleaming room from the night before. There was no man in ice this time. Another man was standing there. The one in the white robe. "I've waited for you to come. Come." He was quite young. Mako found herself strangely attached to this man. "I have a favor Mako." 
"Favor? What ever could I do for you? Who are you?"
He smiled. "You know me. I would like you to..." He faded a little. "Wake up."
"Wake up?" 
He shook his head. "Wake up!"
Mako's eyes fluttered. A girl stood over her. She was a pretty young girl. She had shiny blonde hair and blue-gray eyes. "Are you alright?"
Mako sat up. "Where am I?" 
"This is my room. You're in Xoana castle. I found you out in the hallway passed out." She smiled. "I'm Tsuzi."
Mako's head was a dull roar, but she smiled back at this nice girl. "I'm Mako. Thank you for helping me."
"I tried a healing spell. I thought maybe you were hurt."
"You know magic?"
"Only shamanistic magic really. I trained as a shrine maiden in Seiryuun."
"Why are you here?"
"I've been helping Queen Martina with many things. I came here passing through and I helped her when she fell once. She's kept me around since."