"Will you hurry it up already?" Lina yelled, dancing around impatiently.

"...Said the tortoise to the snail," Zelgadis grumbled. "Look, I'm going as fast as I can, if you think YOU can do it any better..."

"Why don't you just Fireball the door?" Gourry asked.

"Because picking the lock is much less risky. Besides, we don't want to end up destroying the whole temple." The chimera fidgeted a little, being careful not to let the knife blade he was holding get stuck inside the rusty old lock. "I'm halfway there, anyways."

"Well, get the other half done!"

Zel gritted his teeth. Damn irritating sorceress. Why did she have to be so cute when she was mad?

He heard something click inside the lock. Wow, I guess a watched pot never boils...

"Try the doorknob," he said, pulling back.

Lina did. The door came open, slowly.

"All RIGHT!" She threw her arms around him, gratefully. "Awesome. Thanks, Zel. Gourry, will you go and get Amelia? She's still standing watch..."

"Sure thing."

Zel blushed and disentangled himself from the redhead's embrace. Jeeze. She didn't have to... it wasn't as if he'd... oh, the hell with it.

When Amelia had rejoined the little group, they ventured inside the old temple. It was a beautiful place--pink marble walls, smooth pink marble floor--but instead of the usual idol, one wall was covered with a gigantic stone relief of a rose. At its heart was a single huge ruby, which glowed softly in the late-evening light.

Lina seemed mesmerized by it. Before anyone could stop her, she had crossed the room to stand before the rose; she looked at it for a moment, taking in the elaborately carved petals, and then tentatively reached out and touched the gem with one fingertip.

All of a sudden, red light surrounded her, engulfing her; the room became filled with the heavy sweet scent of roses. Zel rushed forward, but some invisible force pushed him back. He heard her shouting, struggled against the pressure...

And then it was over. The burst of light subsided, and the room became visible again.

Lina was lying on the floor, elegantly arranged--hands over her heart, eyes closed, lips slightly parted--and completely colourless. Skin, hair, clothing--she was the smooth white of a marble statue, from head to foot... in fact, when the force field dissolved and Zel could get close enough to shake her shoulders, he realised she was a marble statue.

"Lina!" he shouted, already feeling ridiculous. "Lina, no..."

Cries of "Miss Lina?!" and "What the heck was that?" came from the other side of the room. Zel turned to see Amelia and Gourry rushing over, concerned.

"The rose must have put a curse on her... but why?"

//Don't ask me, I'm stone, remember?//

He recoiled, startled. That was Lina's voice, but... her lips hadn't moved...

//Wow, that was kind of a rush.// Her voice--it was directly inside his head! She must be using some kind of telepathic spell. //Whatever you do, don't touch the big red thing, okay?//

"Miss Lina?" Amelia asked tentatively. "Are you okay?"

//I'm fine. Just a little cramped. Zel, I totally apologise for anything insensitive I've ever said about your stone skin.//

He managed a weak smile. Gourry still seemed confused by the mind-speaking, and prodded Lina's still form with one foot.

"Wow, I didn't know you were a ventriloquist, Lina," the swordsman said.

//Oooo, you big dumb--//

"Miss Lina," Amelia cut in, "fighting won't do us any good. The sooner we can figure out how to get you out of that statue, the better."

//Yeah... okay, you have a point. Gourry, Zel, can you go back to the inn and ask around about this temple?//

Zel nodded. "Will do, Lina."

"Yeah, um... me too."

"And I'll stay here and look after you," Amelia volunteered.

//Thanks. We can meet back here and brainstorm ideas after you've scouted around a little, okay?//

There were general noises of assent from the rest of the group. Then, after a moment's awkward silence, Gourry flashed a grin and left the room, with Zel following closely behind.

"Man, this stinks. We were out all day and we didn't find anything about the temple."

"Too bad," Xellos said, leaning back in his chair.

Zel ignored Gourry's complaints and stared into the bottom of his coffee cup. He couldn't help being worried about Lina--the sound of her panicked cry had been echoing through his head all day. And, try as he might, he couldn't seem to shake the image of her calm marble face, the oddly appealing way the light had fallen across her parted lips...

He shook his head slightly.

"I'm going to go to my room," he said. "Xellos, Gourry--I'll see you guys back at the temple."

"Okeydokey."

"More for us, I guess," Xellos remarked as the chimera stood and trudged off.

"Guess so."

"So, I hear you and Sylfiel are going out now," the mazoku smirked, turning back to him.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. We've been out a couple of times."

"And how did it go?"

"We had fun."

"Oh did you really!"

"Yeah--we went out for ice cream!"

"Oh." Xellos looked disappointed, but as soon as their waiter came by--arms laden with noodles and steamed pork balls--he cheered up. Of course, Gourry just had to go and ruin his mood by grabbing his plate.

"HEY!" Xellos yelled. "Nobody touches my pork balls! GIVE ME BACK MY BALLS, YOU DAMN VIRGIN!"

Inside his room, Zelgadis's ears perked up. He couldn't help it--he had to know what was going on out there.

In a flash he was on his feet and straining to find a knothole in the wall, to give him a view of the dining-room. Of course, a wooden headboard will only support so much weight for so long--something which Zelgadis only remembered when the headboard shuddered, groaned, and gave out.

In the dining-room, the commotion over the pork balls came to a grinding halt as an ear-splitting crunnnnnnch rang out.

"That sounded like it came from Zel's room!" Gourry was on his feet, sword drawn, in an instant. "I hope he's okay..."

He wasn't. When they got there the chimera was lying on the floor in the middle of a splintered pile of debris, blinking dazedly at the ceiling.

"Oh my heavens." Xellos leaned on his staff a little. "This is a rather interesting situation."

"...nngh," Zel said, blinking. "...ddrrn."

The mazoku chuckled a bit; Zel quickly regained his breath and dignity and began to stand up. "Uhm... guess that was a mistake."

"Zel, you broke the bed?" Gourry asked, incredulous.

"It's not my fault I weigh half a ton!"

"What were you DOING??"

"Um..."

//Hello, people, I'm still a ROCK.// Lina's voice echoed irritably through their heads.

"Sorry..." Zel brushed some stray splinters from his cloak. "C'mon, guys, let's head back to the temple."

"All right, but you're paying for the bed."

"..."



"You guys didn't find ANYTHING?" Amelia shrieked.

"That's not true," Gourry said. "We found out that it was a temple to the love goddess."

"Yeah, like that helps any!"

"I'm really sorry, Amelia, but it's been deserted for a long time. Nobody can remember the last time there was even a shrine maiden near this place." Zel sighed. "So I guess we've just got to do trial and error."

"Maybe we should try some magic words," Gourry ventured. "You know, like Abracadabra, or Hocus Pocus, or Pika Pika..."

"No, I don't think that's it." Zel frowned. "It's probably something very simple. After all, there aren't any other statues here."

"Well, it is a temple to the love goddess," Xellos said mysteriously.

"Will you shut--"

Then it hit him. He remembered an old fairy-tale his mother had told him as a child, one about a woman who had been trapped in a spell like this for a hundred years. It might just be an old story, but it could be worth a shot...

"Can you guys leave me alone for a minute?" he asked.

Xellos smirked, but Gourry and Amelia looked puzzled. "What do you mean, Mr. Zelgadis?" the princess asked.

"I think I know what will break the spell, but... I have to do it alone."

"Well... if you insist," Amelia shrugged. "We'll wait outside. Just... be sure to yell if you need any help?"

"Okay."

They left the temple, Xellos grinning like a fool all the way; Zel waited until he heard the door slide shut before kneeling beside Lina's still form.

//Zel...?// Her voice sounded sleepy in his mind. //'zat you?//

"Yes. Just... hold still."

//'kay...//

He leaned over a little, his heart pounding. He'd wanted to do this for a long time... so why was he so damn nervous?

The spell won't get broken if you keep waffling like this, he told himself firmly. Just give it a shot.

He swallowed hard, then bent down and kissed her.

At first her skin was cold; then, gradually, her lips became warm and soft to the touch. She began to breathe, and then she arched a little and began to kiss back.

It worked, he thought giddily, before he became lost in the kiss.

When they finally came up for air, Lina opened her eyes slowly and smiled at him.

"Hello, bright eyes," he heard himself saying.

"Hiya, handsome."

Zel blushed. "Hardly that, Lina."

"Well, it's a bit of a strain to say 'mighty mystical swordsman possessed of powerful shamanist magics'."

Talk about awkward moments. His head was still spinning from that kiss, so much so that he could barely think of what to say next.

"So, um... the spell's broken now," he managed lamely.

"Yeah."

"Uh..."

"Um."

There was a moment of silence before Lina said, "The hell with it," and drew him down for another kiss.



Outside the temple, Gourry, Amelia, and Xellos were still waiting patiently.

"Guess that counter-spell's gonna take a while, huh," Gourry said.

"That is Zel's secret," Xellos remarked.

A few more minutes ticked by.

"We should find something to do," the swordsman ventured.

"Since they probably won't let us back in the inn, we could start tonight's campfire," Amelia suggested. "And, hey, we could have beans for dinner!"

"Beans?"

Xellos chuckled. "Well, they did it in Blazing Saddles..."


The End... or is it? ;0D

Back to the Slayers Fanfic Index