To The Rescue...
Running through the forest Li wondered why she was running. Because it was
creepy!! That’s why!!! she reprimanded herself in thought. After a few
moments she started to slow, due to lack of air and her muscles screaming at
her. Eventually she came to a stop. Catching her breath she looked around.
"Where am I?" she asked aloud. "I don’t recognize any of this. Or any of those
people…." She was interrupted by noises coming in her direction, fast. A group
of something was coming her way and she didn’t want to be around to find out
what that group of something was.
She started running again, snagging her arms on sharp, thorny branches.
Soon enough she had to stop again. She wasn’t used to all this running. Crouching
over slightly to catch her breath, she felt a hand come upon her shoulder. She
screamed.
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Zel clasped a hand over the woman’s mouth when she started to scream.
Turning back to Lina and the others, he called, "I’ve got her." The woman
stopped screaming and turned to look at him. Her eyes were wide with fear, but
not at him. They seemed to be looking past him. He glanced behind his shoulder
and looked up. A dragon flew across the sky briefly. Just a normal dragon,
he thought, Nothing to go into hysterics over. He then turned back to the
woman. Taking his hand off of her mouth he relaxed a little and looked to see
Lina and the others come into the area. The woman looked to the others and Zel
could feel her shaking slightly. "You can relax," he muttered to her. "None of
us are going to hurt you."
She turned to him and nodded slightly. However she continued to tremble.
Lina took the drawing book out from under her arm and handed it to the woman.
She moved slightly out of Zel’s grasp and took the book, clutching it to her
chest. "Th…thank you." She stuttered.
"I have a question," Lina added rather bluntly, "How come our pictures are
in there? We’ve never seen you before…"
The woman got down on her knees and opened the book, placing the bag she
was carrying on her back onto the ground. Trembling, she turned page by page
and explained. "Each of these pictures I drew without thinking. I started
drawing, spaced out, then when I finally came to…the pictures were done." Zel
noticed an odd thing. All the pictures of the people in their group were done
in a blue colored charcoal, Rezo and Ellis was in a neutral purple, and all the
enemies of the group were done in red. He pointed this out and the woman
shrugged.
"I don’t know why…It just turned out that way." She turned the page and
came across a half-finished picture of a man standing on a cliff’s edge. Her
hand faltered and she backed away from the picture slightly. The picture was
done in a black charcoal. Quickly, she turned the page. Zel had recognized the
cape and sword of the Mazoku from before. He glanced at Lina and she nodded,
indicating that she had noticed the same thing.
"Well…that’s strange." Gourry added in the back, and everyone sweat-
dropped. Gourry was Mr. Obvious all right. The woman just kept trembling.
"My name’s Lina, Lina Inverse. That’s Zelgadis, that’s Amelia , Shylfiel,
and Gourry." She pointed to each person the name coincided with.
"M…my name’s Lycia….Lycia Walker. My friends call me Li." The woman
trembled slightly less then before and managed to get her stuttering under
control.
"Well, Li, it seems you have a Mazoku following you around." Lina
commented, picking up the drawing book and flipping through the pages.
"A what?"
All of the group gaped at Li’s comment, including Zel. "You mean…you don’t
know what a Mazoku is?" Li shook her head no. "Where are you from?"
"Bonny Doon."
"Bonny what?" Lina looked about as confused as Zel felt.
"Bonny Doon. Just north of Santa Cruz, California. It’s small, but not that
small." She looked around at everyone’s faces. "You’ve never heard of it?"
Lina and everyone just shared blank stares.
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Li looked at all the new people strangely. Finally, Lina spoke up.
"What’s California?"
Li thought she was going to fall over. "You don’t know what California is?
It’s the state on the west coast. You know…next to Washington and them." She
just got more blank looks. She finally realizes something and looks around. "Am
I in Asia? Or Europe? This doesn’t look like any place I recognize…" More blank
stares. "What?"
"What are these things you keep naming off? A-sha? Your-up?" Amelia asked,
fumbling on pronunciations.
Li was very confused now. "They’re places…on…Earth…." She looked around
worriedly. "I’m…not on Earth….am I." Nods from the others. At that, Li groaned
and put her face in her hands. "Why? Why me?" she turned to the sky, "WHY CAN’T
I WAKE UP FROM THIS NIGHTMARE!!!!" she screamed. This just got her more strange
looks.
"Um…are you okay?" Lina asked, looking a little worried. Li just dropped
her head, letting it hand in front of her. After a few tense minutes, she
replied.
"No…I’m not okay. I’m cold, I’m hungry, I’m lost, and I’m being chased by
a weird guy that has cat eyes and is calling me his angel!!" she looked up and
she could feel tears starting to fall down her cheeks. "I miss Ty and Shoza and
even Anna!! I want to see something familiar!!!" Li was frustrated now and
pounded the ground once with her fist. After a moment she stood up and brushed
the tears away from her eyes with her left arm. She then picked up her backpack
and sketch book. "I’m really thankful for your help," she said as she unzipped
the pack and placed the book inside. "but I’m going to find something familiar
and a way back home. So if you’ll excuse me." She then stood, shouldered her
pack, and walked off, pausing only a moment to brush off the front of her jeans
and straighten her shirt.
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The woman, Li, had made quite a spectacle. First shouting out that she
wanted to wake up from a nightmare and then spouting out what Amelia guessed
were names. She almost felt sorry for her. When she got up and walked away she
wasn’t sure what to do. She looked to Lina and she was tromping off in the
direction that Li had gone.
"Lina…where are you going?" Gourry asked, somewhat confused.
"To follow her, what does it look like." She stopped and turned back. "She
won’t tell us what’s going on…so we’ll just see for ourselves." She then
continued to follow Li. Zel nodded and started walking after Lina. He trailed
behind her and Shylfiel, and Gourry followed him. They had been walking for a
while when they heard a woman’s scream a little distance ahead. It was cut
short, but Amelia could tell that the scream had belonged to Li.
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Lina quickened her pace when she heard Li scream. Dangit!! I won’t be
able to watch her if she’s dead!! She fumed in her mind. She broke into a
full run when she heard the scream get cut short. Lina knew it was the Mazoku
from before. Why didn’t Li just stay with them. She wouldn’t be in this
situation if she had just stuck with them…
After a few moments, Lina came to a large lake in the forest surrounded by
tall grass. She heard a stifled scream above her and looked up. She gasped as
she saw Li, bag and all, being held by the same Mazoku from before. He had her
from behind, one hand on her mouth while the other arm was wrapped around her,
pinning her arms to her sides. Lina heard the others come into the area behind
her, but she was too lost in thought of what to do to acknowledge them. It
appeared that the Mazoku hadn’t noticed her or the others for he seemed to be
smiling at Li and not looking anywhere else. Lina was about to cast levitation
and head up to help when a light blue glow appeared in front of Li. The Mazoku
looked very surprised before a flash of bright blue light blinded Lina. She
shielded her eyes and soon enough the light disappeared. Lina quickly looked
and noticed that the Mazoku was gone and that Li was plummeting, unconscious,
towards the lake. He bag falling next to her.
Except…Li had one little addition to her that she didn’t before. Large,
white, feathered wings hung limply from her back as she fell. As Lina watched
she could see the wings disappearing by the minute, the feathers falling away
and dispersing with the wind. There was nothing Lina could do in time to
prevent Li from hitting the lake, but at the moment of impact Lina was ready
and dived in to go get her.
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