Slayers Fanfic
Feb. 29th, 2008 01:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eastofthemoonTook me a while to finish this. Big thanks to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gullwhacker for Beta reading.
I got an idea one morning and I had to write it. XD
It is a well documented fact that of the most beloved sensations in existence, the greatest is the feeling of being able to take off your shoes at the end of a long day. Zelgadis was more than happy to slip off his shoes as he entered his bedroom. His day had been very productive, but also exhausting. Zelgadis had spent his early morning discussing with the Captain of the guard about improving the defenses of the castle. In the afternoon, he visited Sylphiel to help translate new scrolls on white magic that she had recently acquired. Finally, he had spent the rest of the day in the library with Lina. Half the time they were researching and the other half Zelgadis spent dodging as Lina threw books at his head when he had teased her one too many times.
The chimera was relieved that the day was over and the idea of crawling into bed was heavenly. Amelia was already in bed half asleep, so Zelgadis did his best to remain quiet as he put on his nightshirt and crawled under the covers. Swiftly, he got comfortable and slipped his arms around his wife. Amelia gave a sleepy smile as Zelgadis closed his eyes. Sleep was never going to feel this good. Nothing was going to stop him.
“MOMMY! DADDY!”
Zelgadis’s eyes flew open. “No,” he silently prayed.
“MOMMY! DADDY!”
He heard Amelia groan. “Not tonight. Please not tonight...”
Their dread increased tenfold as they heard the sound of small fast paced feet running down the hall.
Before Zelgadis could make one more silent plea, the bedroom door flew open. The chimera grunted as he felt a small body fling itself onto the bed, landing right on his stomach. Zelgadis did everything he could to ignore the small hand frantically shaking his shoulder. “DADDY! DADDY! WAKE UP!”
Unwillingly, Zelgadis opened his eyes and stared into the face of his quivering son. “Zack, can’t this wait until morning?”
Zack shook his head wildly. “There’s a monster under my bed!”
Zelgadis breathed deeply to cool his temper. He was in no mood for this, but nonetheless he did not want to take his frustration out on his young son. In a composed voice, Zelgadis said “There is no monster under your bed.”
“There is! There is!”
Amelia, now fully awake, sat up. “Zack, sweetie, we’ve been through this. As we told you last night, and the night before that, and every other night this past week, there is no monster under your bed.”
“But there is Mommy!” Zack argued. “He just poked his head out and stuck his tongue out at me!”
“I’m sure you were just dreaming,” Zelgadis said in a firm tone.
“No, I wasn’t!” Zack replied, in an equally firm tone as his father. “He’s under my bed right now!”
Zelgadis sighed and glanced to Amelia. “It’s your turn tonight, I believe”
Amelia lay her head down on her pillows. “No, it’s yours.”
Zelgadis raised an eyebrow. “But didn’t I do it last night?”
Amelia rolled on her side, holding up two fingers. “Yes, but I did it two nights in a row before that. You owe me, besides I have a meeting in the morning.”
Zelgadis mentally cursed Amelia’s logical excuses. He crawled out of his warm bed, put on his robe and let his son led him to his bedroom. Upon entering, Zelgadis repeated the exact same routine he had been doing the past week. He crawled on his knees, lifted the blanket hanging on the side and peeked under the bed. Minus a couple of socks and a stray shoe, there was nothing.
“I don’t see a monster.”
Shocked, Zack lay flat on his stomach as he too looked underneath. “But Daddy, he was here! I swear.”
“I’m sure you were just having a nightmare, son,” Zelgadis said, longing to end this conversation and return to his warm bed.
“No I wasn’t,” Zack replied thoughtfully, sitting up and folding his arms. “I’ll bet he disappeared because you were coming and he’ll come back as soon as you leave.”
“Zack...” Zelgadis rubbed his tired eyes, forcing himself to recall what the joy of fatherhood was.
The boy titled his head to one side, staring at him with his big round pleading eyes. “Daddy, can I sleep with you and Mommy again tonight?”
“No,” Zelgadis instantly replied, in a tone close to a growl. “Zack, this has gone on far enough. There is no monster, except the one you keep imagining in that little head of yours.” He gently tapped Zack’s forehead. “You are going to sleep in your own bed tonight and that is final.”
Zack stared at his bed, biting his lower lip. “Can you sleep here with me tonight?”
Zelgadis buried his head into his hands. “He must get this from his mother’s side of the family..” However, he was too tried to argue any more. “Fine, I’ll stay here until you fall asleep, but that’s it.”
Zack grinned with relief as his father scooped him up and tucked him in. Zelgadis then laid himself next to his son. It took him a moment to find a comfortable position since Zack’s bed was much smaller than the giant one he and Amelia shared. Once he found a good spot, Zelgadis looked directly at Zack. “Now, go to sleep.”
Not taking notice of his father’s annoyed stare, Zack nestled against him. It wasn’t long before the boy had fallen asleep and the only noise in the room were Zack’s soft snores. Zelgadis stroked his son’s head. “Finally, now I can get some sleep,” he muttered and prepared for his escape. However, it was then that he clued in to the fact that Zack was using his arm as a pillow. It would be nearly impossible for Zelgadis to lift his arm without waking up his son and thus repeating the entire process. Grumbling under his breath, Zelgadis threw the blanket over himself. Already feeling some of his bones and joints aching from the awkward position his body was in, Zelgadis knew it was going to be a long night.
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“So then, I told the council that raising the taxes would be unjust, but they kept insisting it was the only way to fix up the old temples.” Amelia sighed, shaking her head at the memory. “It kept going back and fourth, until Daddy stepped in and told them that we should just think about it for now.”
Sylphiel patted her hand in sympathy. “That must have been annoying.”
Amelia nodded. “I can understand their reasoning, but it felt like I was talking to a brick wall. What do you think Lina?”
Lina said nothing, with both her eyes shut, her head leaning on her hands. Amelia blinked in confusion. Lina had been acting odd all day. She barely said “Hi” to her and hardly reacted when Sylphiel suggested they go to lunch at her favorite restaurant. Amelia was getting a little worried. “Um...Miss Lina?” Sylphiel asked, also unsettled about their friend.
A small trail of drool began to roll down Lina’s mouth and they heard a half grumble. Amelia gap, then twitched in annoyance. Lina had fallen asleep! To fall asleep while a friend was talking, how unjust. In a quick, sharp yell, Amelia cried “Lina!”
At the sudden yell, Lina awoke, startled, and almost tumbled from her seat. “Who? What?” she asked in a daze.
Amelia tapped her foot, while Sylphiel blinked in surprised. “Miss Lina, were you asleep?”
Lina blushed, sheepishly. “What? No, I um....ah...maybe just a brief cat nap.”
Amelia huffed. “I’m sorry if I bored you to sleep.”
“What? No, that wasn’t it.” Lina sighed. “I’m sorry Amelia, but I haven’t getting a lot of sleep lately.”
Amelia forget about her annoyance and stared at her friend curiously. “Really? Why? Has Gourry been snoring again?”
Lina scoffed. “I wish that was the problem.” She leaned back in her chair, staring up at the ceiling. “It’s the kids. Rowen and Lori are convinced there’s a monster in their closet.”
Amelia’s eyes widened.
“A monster, really?” Sylphiel asked, surprised. “Where would they get that idea?”
Lina grumbled. “I don’t know, but every night they come into our bedroom screaming that there’s a monster. Gourry and I spend half the night trying to convince them there isn’t one only to have them end up sleeping in our bed.” She slammed her fist on the table. “If I ever find out who told them this...”
“You guys too?”
All eyes turned to Amelia. “Too?” Lina asked.
“Zack thinks there’s a monster under his bed. It’s been driving Zelgadis and I crazy.”
“Oh dear,” Sylphiel replied. “But, that’s odd that both your children are claiming that there are monsters in their rooms.”
Lina shook her head. “Not really. I’ll bet the three of them heard or read a scary story about a monster that hides in kids’ bedrooms.”
Amelia nodded. That sounded plausible. “So, what do we do about it? I don’t think I can take another week of this.”
Lina grinned. “Simple, we’ll just go and kill the monster.” Upon seeing the baffled expressions, Lina continued. “Look, just telling the kids there is no monster is not helping much. So, we’ll play along.” Lina folded her hands. “You and Zelgadis bring Zack to sleep over at our house tonight. Then when the kids begin screaming about the monster, we’ll go in and pretend to have a big battle with him.”
Amelia’s eyes brightened. “So then we’ll pretend to kill the monster. The kids will have to think that the monster is dead and no longer there.”
“Exactly!” Lina cheered as she stabbed her fork into her roasted potatoes.
“I can see it being a good plan,” Sylphiel replied. “But isn’t it a bit wrong to lie to your children?”
Amelia patted her shoulder. “Normally, I would agree it is unjust, however, it is also unjust to let the kids continue to be scared.”
“Not to mention for us not to be getting our rightly deserved full night of sleep,” Lina replied, while taking a sip of her drink. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish my lunch. Monster killing takes a lot of energy.”
As planned, later that day, Amelia and Zelgadis surprised Zack by telling him all three of them would be spending the night at Lina and Gourry’s. Zack thought it was a little odd and sudden, but was thrilled at the idea of sleeping over and spending the night with his friends. Lori was also excited at the idea of having Zack sleep over. Rowen, however, was rather suspicious of the whole ordeal. But, he went along with it anyway, since he couldn’t see anything wrong with the idea. Besides, maybe the monster would be scared if there were three children instead of two. When bedtime came, the adults tucked their children into bed, ventured into the living room and waited.
Zelgadis sipped at his much needed coffee. He still felt drained from the previous night. “Are you sure this is going to work, Lina?”
“Positive, as long as we make it believable.” Lina stretched out her arms to release the kinks. “We just have to take the children out of the room, shut the door and make loud noises. The kids will think the evil monster has been defeated and then we can finally sleep.”
Gourry frowned. “I’m not so sure Lina.”
Lina raised an eyebrow. “What? Are you afraid your acting skills are rusty?”
He shook his head. “It’s not that. I mean, what if the kids aren’t imagining? What if there is something in their closet?”
Zelgadis stared, puzzled. He knew Gourry wasn’t the brightest star in the sky, but the man had always had common sense. “Gourry, that’s ridiculous. Everyone knows there is no such thing as a ‘monster hiding in closets or under the bed’. It’s a story, a myth to scare children and drive their parents insane.”
“I know...” Gourry replied hesitantly.
“Then why are you thinking otherwise?” Amelia asked, perplexed.
Gourry stared at his reflection in his cup of coffee. “Look, if it was just Lori and Zack, I wouldn’t think much of it. They’re young, so it’s expected, but Rowen...” He drummed his fingers. “It doesn’t make sense. Rowen is mature for his age and I can’t picture him claiming there is a monster unless there really is one.”
Lina rolled her eyes. “You’re worrying too much Jelly-fish brain. Rowen may be mature, but he’s still a kid. Plus, we’ve both looked in their closet and found nothing. I’m sure it was the same for Amelia and Zel when they looked under Zack’s bed.”
The chimera nodded. “Correct. The only evidence I saw was that Zack needs to clean his room, and that’s all.”
Lina grinned. “See! You’re making too much out of it.”
Before Gourry could argue further, a loud cry came from the children’s bedroom. Lina cracked her knuckles. “That’s our cue guys. Let’s go.”
In one swift move, the adults raced to the room. Lina flung the door open. “All right kids! Get out! We’re teaching that monster a lesson!” The three children stared stunned, but were quickly ushered out by Amelia. The princess slammed the door shut, making everything pitch black. “Alright!” Lina cried, preparing herself for her mock battle and took a step forward. “Let me just cast a lighting spell, then we... WHOA!”
Lina accidently tripped over a stray toy that had been left on the floor. Falling to the floor, her hand flew out to grab onto anything to stop her. She grasped what felt to be someone’s shirt only to bring that person down with her. To end the collision the two of them bumped with another body and into a loud thud, crashed to the ground.
“Lina, are you alright?!” Amelia called out.
Lina grumbled as she rubbed her sore nose. “Ow! Yeah, I’m fine, but I landed on somebody.” From what she could feel, the person had a lean frame. “Sorry, Zel, but you shouldn’t have gotten in my way like that.”
“...Lina, I’m over here with Amelia.”
That took Lina by surprise. “Gourry?”
There was a grunt. “I’m on the floor, but you’re not on top of me.”
Lina froze. If she wasn’t on any of them, then who was she sitting on?
Right then, the door opened and Lori poked her head in. “Mommy? Are you okay...”
Lina didn’t answer. None of the adults did. From the light of the door, they had a clear view of who or what the sorceress was sitting on. It was a small green goblin- like creature. His clothes were ragged, torn and dirty. His arms were twitching as his eyes swirled around in a daze.
“What...” was all Amelia could say, as Lina climbed off the strange creature. “What...who?”
Gourry’s eyes narrowed. He roughly grabbed the creature by his neck. “Kids, is this the monster you’ve been seeing?”
“That’s him!” Rowen yelled, venomously, while protectively staying close to Lori.
Zelgadis gaped. “You mean...there really was a monster?”
“I told you Daddy!” Zack replied, grinning smugly.
Zelgadis sighed. “He’s going to be holding this over my head for a long time.”
“Let me see this monster!” Lina said, as she forced herself out of shock and stomped over to get a closer look. Her lips were set in a firm line as she stared at the monster, who was slowly coming out of his daze. He was too small to be a goblin, yet he was green and had pointed ears and sharp teeth. What could it be? Then it hit her. “It’s a bogle.”
“A what?” Gourry asked.
“A bogle,” Zelgadis replied. “They’re creatures that love to scare and torment humans, but it’s odd for one to be out here.”
Amelia nodded. “Don’t they usually live deep in the woods?”
“Most of the time,” Lina said, not taking her eyes off the creature. “They do like to sneak into people’s homes, but they usually pick homes near to their woods. It’s strange that it would come into a city like Seyrune.”
“Perhaps, I can explain.”
Everyone turned to the new figure standing behind the children. “What the? Xellos? When did you get here?”
Xellos leaned on his staff. “Oh, around the time you all came charging in here.”
Zelgadis growled. “I should have known you had something to do with this.”
“Oh, I can assure you, I had no idea this was going on. I only realized recently that Boogie had been hiding here.”
“Boogie?” Gourry said. Hearing his name, the bogle fully awoke. “What? Who?” His little beady eyes zoomed in on Xellos. “Master Xellos! On no!” He struggled, breaking to get free. “Let me go you giant ape or suffer my wraft!”
Gourry pulled the Boogie up to his eyes level and muttered darkly. “Try me.” The glare silenced him and Boogie stopped struggling.
Xellos coughed. “As I was saying, I’ve been searching for Boogie for a while. Beast Master is dying to have a word with him.”
“What on earth would a Mazoku lord want with this thing?” Lina asked, pointing in disgust at Boogie.
“Oh, she just wants to punish him for breaking her favorite china.” Xellos smilied. “You see, Boogie works for Lord Beast Master. He does various lowly tasks, such as cleaning, dusting, feeding her wolves, serving drinks, et cetera.”
“You mean, he’s a butler?” Rowen asked, slightly shocked at such a concept.
“I prefer the title ‘Professional Servant’ thank you very much,” Boogie sharply replied.
Lina glared at him, then returned her attention to Xellos. “Okay, I get why you’ve been looking for him, but why the hell has he been hiding in our kids’ rooms?’
“I imagine that he thought it was the last place I would look for him and he is a bogle. Scaring children is his hobby.”
“It’s not a hobby, it’s an art!” Boogie snapped as he started to wiggle again. It was then, Gourry decided to let go and let the bogle fall with a loud thud. He figured that since Xellos and everyone else had him circled, the bogle couldn’t escape far.
Rubbing his sore bottom, Boogie continued his rant. “People have no idea how complicated scaring children can be!” He counted off his fingers. “The timing has to be right, you have to wait forever for the parents to leave and don’t get me started on how messy some places are.” He glared at the three children. “Would it kill you three to tidy up your closets or clean under your bed once in awhile? Seriously, I’ve seen dog houses more organized...”
“Alright Boogie, I believe that is enough,” Xellos cut him off, not wishing for Boogie to go into one of his famous ‘cleaning’ rants.
The bogle sighed, folding his arms. “I presume you’re going to take me to Lord Beast Master to receive my punishment?”
Xellos grinned, like he was about to reveal the punch line of a well planned joke. “Yes, however, I don’t believe that Lord Beast Master will punish you.” Boogie stared confused, so Xellos continued. “You see Boogie, if you hadn’t run away I’m sure that the worst Lord Beast Master would have done was to make you clean her bottomless pits for a week. However, she won’t be needing to do that now, since you’re about to go through something far worse.”
Boogie scratched his head. “I’m afraid I don’t understand Master Xellos.”
Xellos leaned in close to his face. “What I mean my dear little servant is that you’re about to receive a harsh lesson in the term...oh what do the humans call it? Mother bear instinct.”
Boogie raised a stumped eyebrow, then what the Mazoku was implying dawned on him. There was a crucial reason why bogles try hard not to be found by children’s parents. It was because when most parents find something threatening or scaring their children, their parental instincts would take over and beat the living daylights out of the bogle.
Then, Boogie heard the sounds of cracking knuckles. Gulping, he turned, the dread growing in his stomach. All four adults glared at Boogie with fire burning in their eyes. Gourry kept punching his hand into his fist. “Hey Xellos, mind taking the kids out for a sec?”
“I agree,” Zelgadis replied in a murderous tone. “Things are about to get violent in here.”
“Yeah, and the last thing we need is to pay for the kids’ therapy,” said Lina, as she prepared a fireball.
“Now! Now! Wait a minute!” Boogie stammered, looking for a rational face in the group. He looked to Amelia. “Princess! You’re a champion of justice! Isn’t it unjust to gang up on a small creature like me?”
Amelia took a deep breath. “I am a champion of justice.” Boogie relaxed. “However...right now I’m a very annoyed, tired and angry mother. Besides, it’s more unjust to scare small children!” Amelia began to cast a flare arrow. “In other words, say your prayers.”
Boogie paled and whimpered.
“Come children,” Xellos said cheerfully, escorting the children from the room. “I believe your parents want to be alone for their fun.”
That night, Zack, Lori and Rowen barely got any sleep due to the loud sounds of battle cries, screams and explosions coming from the bedroom. The next morning, a sore, burnt and bandaged Boogie happily went with Xellos back to Lord Beast Master. Boogie decided that instead of scaring children, his new ‘hobby’ would be scaring dragons. It was far less dangerous
For those wondering, I am almost done the rough draft of the first chapter of my Slayers Try AU, so I'll probably be posting it soon in the next couple of weeks. ^_~
gullwhacker for Beta reading.I got an idea one morning and I had to write it. XD
It is a well documented fact that of the most beloved sensations in existence, the greatest is the feeling of being able to take off your shoes at the end of a long day. Zelgadis was more than happy to slip off his shoes as he entered his bedroom. His day had been very productive, but also exhausting. Zelgadis had spent his early morning discussing with the Captain of the guard about improving the defenses of the castle. In the afternoon, he visited Sylphiel to help translate new scrolls on white magic that she had recently acquired. Finally, he had spent the rest of the day in the library with Lina. Half the time they were researching and the other half Zelgadis spent dodging as Lina threw books at his head when he had teased her one too many times.
The chimera was relieved that the day was over and the idea of crawling into bed was heavenly. Amelia was already in bed half asleep, so Zelgadis did his best to remain quiet as he put on his nightshirt and crawled under the covers. Swiftly, he got comfortable and slipped his arms around his wife. Amelia gave a sleepy smile as Zelgadis closed his eyes. Sleep was never going to feel this good. Nothing was going to stop him.
“MOMMY! DADDY!”
Zelgadis’s eyes flew open. “No,” he silently prayed.
“MOMMY! DADDY!”
He heard Amelia groan. “Not tonight. Please not tonight...”
Their dread increased tenfold as they heard the sound of small fast paced feet running down the hall.
Before Zelgadis could make one more silent plea, the bedroom door flew open. The chimera grunted as he felt a small body fling itself onto the bed, landing right on his stomach. Zelgadis did everything he could to ignore the small hand frantically shaking his shoulder. “DADDY! DADDY! WAKE UP!”
Unwillingly, Zelgadis opened his eyes and stared into the face of his quivering son. “Zack, can’t this wait until morning?”
Zack shook his head wildly. “There’s a monster under my bed!”
Zelgadis breathed deeply to cool his temper. He was in no mood for this, but nonetheless he did not want to take his frustration out on his young son. In a composed voice, Zelgadis said “There is no monster under your bed.”
“There is! There is!”
Amelia, now fully awake, sat up. “Zack, sweetie, we’ve been through this. As we told you last night, and the night before that, and every other night this past week, there is no monster under your bed.”
“But there is Mommy!” Zack argued. “He just poked his head out and stuck his tongue out at me!”
“I’m sure you were just dreaming,” Zelgadis said in a firm tone.
“No, I wasn’t!” Zack replied, in an equally firm tone as his father. “He’s under my bed right now!”
Zelgadis sighed and glanced to Amelia. “It’s your turn tonight, I believe”
Amelia lay her head down on her pillows. “No, it’s yours.”
Zelgadis raised an eyebrow. “But didn’t I do it last night?”
Amelia rolled on her side, holding up two fingers. “Yes, but I did it two nights in a row before that. You owe me, besides I have a meeting in the morning.”
Zelgadis mentally cursed Amelia’s logical excuses. He crawled out of his warm bed, put on his robe and let his son led him to his bedroom. Upon entering, Zelgadis repeated the exact same routine he had been doing the past week. He crawled on his knees, lifted the blanket hanging on the side and peeked under the bed. Minus a couple of socks and a stray shoe, there was nothing.
“I don’t see a monster.”
Shocked, Zack lay flat on his stomach as he too looked underneath. “But Daddy, he was here! I swear.”
“I’m sure you were just having a nightmare, son,” Zelgadis said, longing to end this conversation and return to his warm bed.
“No I wasn’t,” Zack replied thoughtfully, sitting up and folding his arms. “I’ll bet he disappeared because you were coming and he’ll come back as soon as you leave.”
“Zack...” Zelgadis rubbed his tired eyes, forcing himself to recall what the joy of fatherhood was.
The boy titled his head to one side, staring at him with his big round pleading eyes. “Daddy, can I sleep with you and Mommy again tonight?”
“No,” Zelgadis instantly replied, in a tone close to a growl. “Zack, this has gone on far enough. There is no monster, except the one you keep imagining in that little head of yours.” He gently tapped Zack’s forehead. “You are going to sleep in your own bed tonight and that is final.”
Zack stared at his bed, biting his lower lip. “Can you sleep here with me tonight?”
Zelgadis buried his head into his hands. “He must get this from his mother’s side of the family..” However, he was too tried to argue any more. “Fine, I’ll stay here until you fall asleep, but that’s it.”
Zack grinned with relief as his father scooped him up and tucked him in. Zelgadis then laid himself next to his son. It took him a moment to find a comfortable position since Zack’s bed was much smaller than the giant one he and Amelia shared. Once he found a good spot, Zelgadis looked directly at Zack. “Now, go to sleep.”
Not taking notice of his father’s annoyed stare, Zack nestled against him. It wasn’t long before the boy had fallen asleep and the only noise in the room were Zack’s soft snores. Zelgadis stroked his son’s head. “Finally, now I can get some sleep,” he muttered and prepared for his escape. However, it was then that he clued in to the fact that Zack was using his arm as a pillow. It would be nearly impossible for Zelgadis to lift his arm without waking up his son and thus repeating the entire process. Grumbling under his breath, Zelgadis threw the blanket over himself. Already feeling some of his bones and joints aching from the awkward position his body was in, Zelgadis knew it was going to be a long night.
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“So then, I told the council that raising the taxes would be unjust, but they kept insisting it was the only way to fix up the old temples.” Amelia sighed, shaking her head at the memory. “It kept going back and fourth, until Daddy stepped in and told them that we should just think about it for now.”
Sylphiel patted her hand in sympathy. “That must have been annoying.”
Amelia nodded. “I can understand their reasoning, but it felt like I was talking to a brick wall. What do you think Lina?”
Lina said nothing, with both her eyes shut, her head leaning on her hands. Amelia blinked in confusion. Lina had been acting odd all day. She barely said “Hi” to her and hardly reacted when Sylphiel suggested they go to lunch at her favorite restaurant. Amelia was getting a little worried. “Um...Miss Lina?” Sylphiel asked, also unsettled about their friend.
A small trail of drool began to roll down Lina’s mouth and they heard a half grumble. Amelia gap, then twitched in annoyance. Lina had fallen asleep! To fall asleep while a friend was talking, how unjust. In a quick, sharp yell, Amelia cried “Lina!”
At the sudden yell, Lina awoke, startled, and almost tumbled from her seat. “Who? What?” she asked in a daze.
Amelia tapped her foot, while Sylphiel blinked in surprised. “Miss Lina, were you asleep?”
Lina blushed, sheepishly. “What? No, I um....ah...maybe just a brief cat nap.”
Amelia huffed. “I’m sorry if I bored you to sleep.”
“What? No, that wasn’t it.” Lina sighed. “I’m sorry Amelia, but I haven’t getting a lot of sleep lately.”
Amelia forget about her annoyance and stared at her friend curiously. “Really? Why? Has Gourry been snoring again?”
Lina scoffed. “I wish that was the problem.” She leaned back in her chair, staring up at the ceiling. “It’s the kids. Rowen and Lori are convinced there’s a monster in their closet.”
Amelia’s eyes widened.
“A monster, really?” Sylphiel asked, surprised. “Where would they get that idea?”
Lina grumbled. “I don’t know, but every night they come into our bedroom screaming that there’s a monster. Gourry and I spend half the night trying to convince them there isn’t one only to have them end up sleeping in our bed.” She slammed her fist on the table. “If I ever find out who told them this...”
“You guys too?”
All eyes turned to Amelia. “Too?” Lina asked.
“Zack thinks there’s a monster under his bed. It’s been driving Zelgadis and I crazy.”
“Oh dear,” Sylphiel replied. “But, that’s odd that both your children are claiming that there are monsters in their rooms.”
Lina shook her head. “Not really. I’ll bet the three of them heard or read a scary story about a monster that hides in kids’ bedrooms.”
Amelia nodded. That sounded plausible. “So, what do we do about it? I don’t think I can take another week of this.”
Lina grinned. “Simple, we’ll just go and kill the monster.” Upon seeing the baffled expressions, Lina continued. “Look, just telling the kids there is no monster is not helping much. So, we’ll play along.” Lina folded her hands. “You and Zelgadis bring Zack to sleep over at our house tonight. Then when the kids begin screaming about the monster, we’ll go in and pretend to have a big battle with him.”
Amelia’s eyes brightened. “So then we’ll pretend to kill the monster. The kids will have to think that the monster is dead and no longer there.”
“Exactly!” Lina cheered as she stabbed her fork into her roasted potatoes.
“I can see it being a good plan,” Sylphiel replied. “But isn’t it a bit wrong to lie to your children?”
Amelia patted her shoulder. “Normally, I would agree it is unjust, however, it is also unjust to let the kids continue to be scared.”
“Not to mention for us not to be getting our rightly deserved full night of sleep,” Lina replied, while taking a sip of her drink. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to finish my lunch. Monster killing takes a lot of energy.”
As planned, later that day, Amelia and Zelgadis surprised Zack by telling him all three of them would be spending the night at Lina and Gourry’s. Zack thought it was a little odd and sudden, but was thrilled at the idea of sleeping over and spending the night with his friends. Lori was also excited at the idea of having Zack sleep over. Rowen, however, was rather suspicious of the whole ordeal. But, he went along with it anyway, since he couldn’t see anything wrong with the idea. Besides, maybe the monster would be scared if there were three children instead of two. When bedtime came, the adults tucked their children into bed, ventured into the living room and waited.
Zelgadis sipped at his much needed coffee. He still felt drained from the previous night. “Are you sure this is going to work, Lina?”
“Positive, as long as we make it believable.” Lina stretched out her arms to release the kinks. “We just have to take the children out of the room, shut the door and make loud noises. The kids will think the evil monster has been defeated and then we can finally sleep.”
Gourry frowned. “I’m not so sure Lina.”
Lina raised an eyebrow. “What? Are you afraid your acting skills are rusty?”
He shook his head. “It’s not that. I mean, what if the kids aren’t imagining? What if there is something in their closet?”
Zelgadis stared, puzzled. He knew Gourry wasn’t the brightest star in the sky, but the man had always had common sense. “Gourry, that’s ridiculous. Everyone knows there is no such thing as a ‘monster hiding in closets or under the bed’. It’s a story, a myth to scare children and drive their parents insane.”
“I know...” Gourry replied hesitantly.
“Then why are you thinking otherwise?” Amelia asked, perplexed.
Gourry stared at his reflection in his cup of coffee. “Look, if it was just Lori and Zack, I wouldn’t think much of it. They’re young, so it’s expected, but Rowen...” He drummed his fingers. “It doesn’t make sense. Rowen is mature for his age and I can’t picture him claiming there is a monster unless there really is one.”
Lina rolled her eyes. “You’re worrying too much Jelly-fish brain. Rowen may be mature, but he’s still a kid. Plus, we’ve both looked in their closet and found nothing. I’m sure it was the same for Amelia and Zel when they looked under Zack’s bed.”
The chimera nodded. “Correct. The only evidence I saw was that Zack needs to clean his room, and that’s all.”
Lina grinned. “See! You’re making too much out of it.”
Before Gourry could argue further, a loud cry came from the children’s bedroom. Lina cracked her knuckles. “That’s our cue guys. Let’s go.”
In one swift move, the adults raced to the room. Lina flung the door open. “All right kids! Get out! We’re teaching that monster a lesson!” The three children stared stunned, but were quickly ushered out by Amelia. The princess slammed the door shut, making everything pitch black. “Alright!” Lina cried, preparing herself for her mock battle and took a step forward. “Let me just cast a lighting spell, then we... WHOA!”
Lina accidently tripped over a stray toy that had been left on the floor. Falling to the floor, her hand flew out to grab onto anything to stop her. She grasped what felt to be someone’s shirt only to bring that person down with her. To end the collision the two of them bumped with another body and into a loud thud, crashed to the ground.
“Lina, are you alright?!” Amelia called out.
Lina grumbled as she rubbed her sore nose. “Ow! Yeah, I’m fine, but I landed on somebody.” From what she could feel, the person had a lean frame. “Sorry, Zel, but you shouldn’t have gotten in my way like that.”
“...Lina, I’m over here with Amelia.”
That took Lina by surprise. “Gourry?”
There was a grunt. “I’m on the floor, but you’re not on top of me.”
Lina froze. If she wasn’t on any of them, then who was she sitting on?
Right then, the door opened and Lori poked her head in. “Mommy? Are you okay...”
Lina didn’t answer. None of the adults did. From the light of the door, they had a clear view of who or what the sorceress was sitting on. It was a small green goblin- like creature. His clothes were ragged, torn and dirty. His arms were twitching as his eyes swirled around in a daze.
“What...” was all Amelia could say, as Lina climbed off the strange creature. “What...who?”
Gourry’s eyes narrowed. He roughly grabbed the creature by his neck. “Kids, is this the monster you’ve been seeing?”
“That’s him!” Rowen yelled, venomously, while protectively staying close to Lori.
Zelgadis gaped. “You mean...there really was a monster?”
“I told you Daddy!” Zack replied, grinning smugly.
Zelgadis sighed. “He’s going to be holding this over my head for a long time.”
“Let me see this monster!” Lina said, as she forced herself out of shock and stomped over to get a closer look. Her lips were set in a firm line as she stared at the monster, who was slowly coming out of his daze. He was too small to be a goblin, yet he was green and had pointed ears and sharp teeth. What could it be? Then it hit her. “It’s a bogle.”
“A what?” Gourry asked.
“A bogle,” Zelgadis replied. “They’re creatures that love to scare and torment humans, but it’s odd for one to be out here.”
Amelia nodded. “Don’t they usually live deep in the woods?”
“Most of the time,” Lina said, not taking her eyes off the creature. “They do like to sneak into people’s homes, but they usually pick homes near to their woods. It’s strange that it would come into a city like Seyrune.”
“Perhaps, I can explain.”
Everyone turned to the new figure standing behind the children. “What the? Xellos? When did you get here?”
Xellos leaned on his staff. “Oh, around the time you all came charging in here.”
Zelgadis growled. “I should have known you had something to do with this.”
“Oh, I can assure you, I had no idea this was going on. I only realized recently that Boogie had been hiding here.”
“Boogie?” Gourry said. Hearing his name, the bogle fully awoke. “What? Who?” His little beady eyes zoomed in on Xellos. “Master Xellos! On no!” He struggled, breaking to get free. “Let me go you giant ape or suffer my wraft!”
Gourry pulled the Boogie up to his eyes level and muttered darkly. “Try me.” The glare silenced him and Boogie stopped struggling.
Xellos coughed. “As I was saying, I’ve been searching for Boogie for a while. Beast Master is dying to have a word with him.”
“What on earth would a Mazoku lord want with this thing?” Lina asked, pointing in disgust at Boogie.
“Oh, she just wants to punish him for breaking her favorite china.” Xellos smilied. “You see, Boogie works for Lord Beast Master. He does various lowly tasks, such as cleaning, dusting, feeding her wolves, serving drinks, et cetera.”
“You mean, he’s a butler?” Rowen asked, slightly shocked at such a concept.
“I prefer the title ‘Professional Servant’ thank you very much,” Boogie sharply replied.
Lina glared at him, then returned her attention to Xellos. “Okay, I get why you’ve been looking for him, but why the hell has he been hiding in our kids’ rooms?’
“I imagine that he thought it was the last place I would look for him and he is a bogle. Scaring children is his hobby.”
“It’s not a hobby, it’s an art!” Boogie snapped as he started to wiggle again. It was then, Gourry decided to let go and let the bogle fall with a loud thud. He figured that since Xellos and everyone else had him circled, the bogle couldn’t escape far.
Rubbing his sore bottom, Boogie continued his rant. “People have no idea how complicated scaring children can be!” He counted off his fingers. “The timing has to be right, you have to wait forever for the parents to leave and don’t get me started on how messy some places are.” He glared at the three children. “Would it kill you three to tidy up your closets or clean under your bed once in awhile? Seriously, I’ve seen dog houses more organized...”
“Alright Boogie, I believe that is enough,” Xellos cut him off, not wishing for Boogie to go into one of his famous ‘cleaning’ rants.
The bogle sighed, folding his arms. “I presume you’re going to take me to Lord Beast Master to receive my punishment?”
Xellos grinned, like he was about to reveal the punch line of a well planned joke. “Yes, however, I don’t believe that Lord Beast Master will punish you.” Boogie stared confused, so Xellos continued. “You see Boogie, if you hadn’t run away I’m sure that the worst Lord Beast Master would have done was to make you clean her bottomless pits for a week. However, she won’t be needing to do that now, since you’re about to go through something far worse.”
Boogie scratched his head. “I’m afraid I don’t understand Master Xellos.”
Xellos leaned in close to his face. “What I mean my dear little servant is that you’re about to receive a harsh lesson in the term...oh what do the humans call it? Mother bear instinct.”
Boogie raised a stumped eyebrow, then what the Mazoku was implying dawned on him. There was a crucial reason why bogles try hard not to be found by children’s parents. It was because when most parents find something threatening or scaring their children, their parental instincts would take over and beat the living daylights out of the bogle.
Then, Boogie heard the sounds of cracking knuckles. Gulping, he turned, the dread growing in his stomach. All four adults glared at Boogie with fire burning in their eyes. Gourry kept punching his hand into his fist. “Hey Xellos, mind taking the kids out for a sec?”
“I agree,” Zelgadis replied in a murderous tone. “Things are about to get violent in here.”
“Yeah, and the last thing we need is to pay for the kids’ therapy,” said Lina, as she prepared a fireball.
“Now! Now! Wait a minute!” Boogie stammered, looking for a rational face in the group. He looked to Amelia. “Princess! You’re a champion of justice! Isn’t it unjust to gang up on a small creature like me?”
Amelia took a deep breath. “I am a champion of justice.” Boogie relaxed. “However...right now I’m a very annoyed, tired and angry mother. Besides, it’s more unjust to scare small children!” Amelia began to cast a flare arrow. “In other words, say your prayers.”
Boogie paled and whimpered.
“Come children,” Xellos said cheerfully, escorting the children from the room. “I believe your parents want to be alone for their fun.”
That night, Zack, Lori and Rowen barely got any sleep due to the loud sounds of battle cries, screams and explosions coming from the bedroom. The next morning, a sore, burnt and bandaged Boogie happily went with Xellos back to Lord Beast Master. Boogie decided that instead of scaring children, his new ‘hobby’ would be scaring dragons. It was far less dangerous
For those wondering, I am almost done the rough draft of the first chapter of my Slayers Try AU, so I'll probably be posting it soon in the next couple of weeks. ^_~
