Nightmares by: Megumi-chan Disclaimers: I don't own them! Summary: The beggining of the biggest nightmare of the Slayers group is about to fulfill when Gourry's past comes back to haunt him. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Looking outside the tall windows the small woman let her face fall as yet another morning came to her loneliness. Still on her sleeping clothes she lowered her eyes. The polished floor looked up at her and sighning she turned and walked slowly towards the door. The entire castle seemed to sleep. As she walked the final rays of the sun hitted the crystals of the windows. Her deep gray eyes looked sad as she touched the rails of the stairs, walking down to the center of the castle, going about her usual ritual. Right not she would stop for a few minutes in the door, looking at it waiting for Gourry to return. As the seconds passed by she noticed the unusual bright sun shinning outside. Time seemed to stop as she saw must of the castle burst into life. The maidens were singing outside, a beautifu song that filled her heart with some kind of soft, warm feeling. Holding her hands to her chest the small princess with white hair walked quickly towards the dinning area, where the middle of the castle, where the biggest fountain of all stood, could be seen completely. She saw the servants settling the dishes for her breakfast. But she ignored them. Walking pass then she ignored the looked General Paul gave her. Following her from a safe distance he watched as she opened the tall crystal doors and was hitted by the warm mid-morning wind. His heart ached, she was so in love with another she nearly forgotten about him. When Gourry had left he had broken her heart, she had being willing to die just to be one more second with him. Paul had sat next to her, watching her face as she came out of her illness and back into helth. Yet as everyday passed she became more and more obsessed with seeing him again. It had being irresponsable from his part to leave her, she was left completly alone, with a kingdom to rule by herself at the innocent age of 17. Although she had grown into a beautiful woman Paul still saw the innocence in her eyes. But as she walked pass him with that innocent gone eyes his heart sank. 'Your magesty?' 'It's a lovely morning, isn't Paul?' She turned and looked at him for a second before turning again to the fountain. 'It would be better if water flowed in all of our fountains.' 'Pardon me, your magesty; but what are you talking about?' 'It's the first day of summer. I can feel the heat burning in the wind. The castle is shinning with the light I had missed for years, Paul. Come join me.' He grinned mentaly like and idiot and came closer to the Queen. 'Can you see it? The sun is shinning brightly and all the maidens are singing. It's the must beautiful scene I've seen in years!' She hummed and smiled, feeling the wind hitting her face. 'Queen Marianna, you should get inside for breakfast.' Murmured Paul as one of the maidens passed by and waved at both of them. The Queen smiled and waved back. 'Just one more minute.' ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lina was already up. And after a quick breakfast was heading towards the door, dragging Gourry outside. Although he looked a little restless he smiled and followed Lina. Amelia followed them too and stopped, noticing Zelgadiss was still sitting on the breakfast table, having his morning coffee. 'Aren't you coming Zelgadiss-san?' 'Not now. I'll go to the public library to find out what happened with the water flow of the fountains. And who knows maybe I'll find something to take this spell off me.' Standing up Zelgadiss left. Amelia ran towards Lina and catched up with her and Gourry, telling them about Zelgadiss plans. Under her eyes Amelia saw Gourry tense for a second but quickly relaxed. As they walked to the fountain, Gourry fell awfully quiet. Lina was too happy to notice, Amelia was talking about justice after some body had tried to steal from some common man, and Xellos was quietly walking and humming to himself, noticing Gourry's state. The blond swordsman looked up at him. He seemed to be in pain or some kind of conflict, yet he was smiling. 'I'll go get Zelgadiss, ok?' Walking away, Lina watched him go. 'What's wrong with him?' 'Oh, just a little miscommunication with his past.' Walking towards the fountain, Lina ignored Amelia and Xellos and saw a drop of water fall into the pod. Lina smiled to herself and it became a grin "Soon, I'll take a little of that water and become the most powerful sorceres in the world!" Xellos was looking at the fountain, smiling. Although he seemed to have no worries deep inside him he knew that if Gourry snapped, no one, not even him, would be able to control it. So he would try and make this visit as short as posible. Turning to Lina his smiled seemed to become even bigger. 'So, Lina-san, where are you going to begging your search for the spell, huh?' Lina looked at him in surprice. 'And you are going to help me?' 'Well yeah, that's what friends are for, aren't they?' 'Yeah, sure.' 'Perhaps it's because you want the spell, huh? You can tell me, Xellos. Go on.' Xellos sweatdropped and began to laught. 'Lina-san if I wanted that spell, I already had it.' Lina looked at him even more surprised. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Entering on the city's library, Zelgadiss saw the tall walls covered with books. Some of the were very old and kept in crystal boxes, to see them they required a special permission from the Royal Ministry of Culture. But as he walked he found an interesting section of magic. Dissapearing into the aisle with the sighn "Magic/Spells" Zelgadiss took a deep breath. The library was silent as he took several books and placed them in the long table between the racks of books. Sitting in the comfortable chairs, Zelgadiss was aware that he was alone in the area. "This could be good." For once Xellos wasn't bothering him, Amelia was with Lina and Gourry and it was a perfect time to read this books and, only perhaps, find the cure for his curse. Cleaning the first book, Zelgadiss opened the yellow pages. The book was old, and in his opinion should be in one of those crystal boxes, now that he though about it he could use Seyruun's royal seal Amelia always carried with her. After all he could learn even more from those books than from the ones in the racks. But as he read passages of the book in his hands he found that history and magic were tightly related in this town. "According to this book; magic was sealed away by a great sorceres that lived five hundred years ago. Because of the control the royal family had on her she was forced by the princess in that time to give magic to, and only to, the females of the royal family. That is how this town was ruled by women. But when the sorceres died the seal in magic was broken and the royal family was left without magic." Frowning Zegadiss closed that book and reached for another. But the books gave the same information with different format. Zelgadiss' frown deepened and when he reached for the third book, found the same information in yet another format. "What's going on in here?" Taking several more books he found even more information after the sorceres had died, but there were only bits and pieces. "The last princess of the royal family born the same day the sorceres died and she when time came she gave birth to a powerless generation of princess. Yet the last princess (The actual ruler) had presented her power by sealing away the flow of water to the most important fountains of the town. Because of her despair of losing her loved one." This information left Zel with more questions. Why would this information be in the Magic area? It was true that magic and history were tightly related but this was a little weir. Walking to the history aisle, he found three books that were in the magic section. But they were the newest editions. Written 7 to 10 years ago. He read: "After the rebelion broke, the King was killed by the towns folks. His daughter was left with only the army and her maidens after she became Queen. According to my (The author's) investigations the queen was in love with the general of her army. Although there were rumors that he still lived with her, other said that he had left her, resulting in the seal of water flow. It's not certain what really happened but it's my beliefs that he left, leaving the town in complete freedom." But, why would he leave? Zel asked himself the question over and over again. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Be patient, everything would be explained soon. Comments, flames, jokes? sorceres@hotmail.com