Butterflies, Dominoes, and Causality
Chapter 4 of 12
A Hentai Slayers Fanfic by RVincent
Rob.Vincent@gmail.com
PLEASE READ - I do not own ‘The Slayers’ and have no relation or ties to those people that do own the series, aside from the various DVDs and VHS tapes that I have purchased over the years. In conjunction with this statement I further decree that I am not claiming ownership, nor am I making any money off this fan work. No copyright infringement is meant, I am writing this as an expression of my fandom. Furthermore, this fanfic will contain some blood (not much) and some female x female sexual encounters and is therefore meant for adults only. If you are under 18 years of age please go back now and ignore ever reading this preface. For those other people that intend to stay I can only hope you enjoy reading this.
This is just one chapter of a multi-chapter fanfic, reading previous chapters is necessary to understand what is going on in the storyline (yes, despite the age restrictions there is a story line). Please visit the Slayers Hentai Fanfiction Archive (http://slayers.destructve.com) to read previous and subsequent chapters.
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Chapter 4
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Dinner had been terrible. Lina looked down at herself, disheveled, her legs damp from the pickle barrel she’d busted. She sighed heavily. She’d made such as ass of herself and worst of all she knew it. She tried to justify it, how could she help herself when she’d been so angry? But it didn’t help. Her heart sunk when she thought of Amelia, it had been a low blow, almost a reflex to sucker punch her friend. But after Amelia left Lina had come back to herself quickly. She wasn’t sure if that had been a good thing though. It had just been a prelude to dinner, bouts of silence punctuated by uncomfortable stares and general awkward feelings that she wasn’t used to. Especially around her friends.
She hadn’t hardly been able to glance at Amelia. Maybe it was that Amelia wouldn’t move her eyes to give her a chance, every time she tried to look that way she realized Amelia was already watching her, and Lina just couldn’t let their eyes meet. For the umpteenth time that day she had to pound her head in frustration, “When did everything get so messed up.” She groaned out, not caring if anyone heard her. She broke from her thoughts and stomped over to the bed and dropped her rump on it, pulling off her boots and letting them drop noisily to the floor, not in the mood to get them cleaned tonight. She kicked off her smelly pants, her wrinkly skin on her lower legs a testament to the curing effects of the brine. Pungent best described it.
Still, it was just a momentary distraction. She blew out the candle and rolled into the bed, pulling the covers over her slender frame. The outside sounds had dwindled. It was late and most sensible people were asleep. Sleep was apparently not an option for Lina though. She rolled one way, then the other, tried a pillow between her legs and under her head, bunched her covers around her, just to overheat and throw them off. Finally, she found some comfort holding a pillow close to her chest and snuggling into it. Soft, eventually her body warmed the pillow, and she started to drift off to sleep.
It was that moment though, between sleep and wakefulness that Lina muttered out, “G’night Amelia…” She backed away, she was indeed hugging a pillow, not Amelia. Reality took a moment to assert itself. And when it did, there came an overwhelming loneliness. Lina swallowed hard. She grabbed the pillow up again, holding it tightly. Her eyes burned but she couldn’t pinpoint why, instead she just gripped the pillow tighter against her chest as she finally drifted off to sleep.
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Turning fluidly at the end of the hall, Zelgadiss continued his pacing. It was nearly noon, and despite the fact that they had their rooms for the next few days, everyone should have been up to something by now. He stopped at Lina’s door and watched it for a moment, willing it to open, or at least to hear some activity on the other side. Hearing nothing he turned yet again and walked his way down to Amelia’s room, repeating the process. Gourry had meanwhile gone to find something to do at Zelgadiss’ insistence. He was just happy to get him out of the hotel though; Gourry was driving him crazy with his constant theories and insistence to wake the girls up.
In all seriousness, Zelgadiss was completely convinced there was something going on between Lina and Amelia, however to give Gourry authority would just inspire him to come up with even more far fetched scenarios and to spend even more of his time devoted towards proving some fantastical situation. Meanwhile, Lina laid motionless on her bed, there was no motivation. Eventually she did get up, using the simple vanity in her room she washed her face and toweled it dry. Prepping herself for whatever her encounter with Zel might bring. She could pick out Zelgadiss’ footsteps any day, and he’d been pacing outside of her room for an hour.
Boldly, Lina threw the door open just as Zel was making his rounds past her room, nearly catching him and causing him to loose his balance. He caught himself at the last moment with his hand against the wall and growled, looking right at Lina. “If you knew I was there, you didn’t have to try and hit me with the door!”
Lina gave a little grin despite herself, “And how would I know you were there Zel?”
Grumbling, Zelgadiss pushed himself upright, “I sent Gourry out a little while ago, I couldn’t tell if he was more worried about you, or worried about satisfying his curiosity, so I got rid of him.”
Lina didn’t miss the part about satisfying his curiosity, but continued on as planned, “Why didn’t you just wake me up?” Lina said slyly, putting some blame on Zelgadiss.
He shook his head, “You’ve been up for hours, you think I can’t hear with these ears?” He motioned to his ears and took her surprised look as a confirmation of his theory, “You at least turn in your sleep you know, but you’ve been laying there still for awhile now…” Lina huffed and looked down at her feet embarrassed. “Nevertheless Lina, don’t you think we should head out soon and get something done so today isn’t a total waste.” Giving an affirmative nod, Lina tried to hide the fact that she was starring down the hall towards Amelia’s room.
Off handedly she asked, “Is Amelia up yet?”
Zelgadiss shook his head, “No, she’s still in her bedroom.”
Grinning, Lina continued, deciding to give Zelgadiss’ hidden talent a little use, “And is she awake in there…?” But he wasn’t game.
“You’ll have to find out for yourself, I’ll be down stairs.” And deciding to give the two of them some space, Zelgadiss wandered off. Lina turned down the hallway to where Amelia’s room was. She hadn’t seen her go in there, but the innkeeper told her that it was just next to Gourry and Zel’s room.
Breathing in deeply and pushing out her chest she feigned confidence and traveled the short distance between the rooms. With bold purpose in mind she knocked soundly on Amelia’s door, waiting for a response. Then, knocked again. Waiting… with each passing moment though Lina got terribly more anxious. “Amelia!” Lina called out, raping on the door yet again, to be met with no response. Rapidly though it became evident to Lina that she was being ignored -shut out- “Amelia….” She whispered, resting her head against the doorframe. After a moments hesitation Lina stood up tall and walked downstairs to meet with Zelgadiss
Just inches from the door on the other side Amelia crumpled onto the floor. She had wanted so badly to open it, just to see Lina again. But Lina had given up on her, she hadn’t tried enough to make things right, just her usual token effort, then…. Gone. Gave up. Amelia was hoping for something different, she wanted Lina to pound on the door, to proclaim that she wouldn’t be happy until she got Amelia out of her room, the kind of passion Lina had for everything else. Amelia let her arm drop to her side listlessly, renewing her mental resolve to not come out of her room until Lina came in to get her.
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Another uneventful day, and Lina was beginning to appreciate just how backwoods this town was. Really they were some distance from any neighbors at this little outpost of civilization and things were beginning to show that they were not as civilized as she had initially thought. Still, the day was winding down. Lina ascended the stairs and put her hands to the knob of her door, stopping just short of touching it. Her hand hovering there for a minute she turned her head ever so slightly toward Amelia’s side of the hallway. She hadn’t seen her all day, but she knew that she was in there, overreacting as usual.
Lina sighed, turning the knob of her door and stepped in. In one motion she swung the door shut behind her as she stepped in, unclasping her shoulder guards and tossing off her cape with a thud. “Well, better see what the little brat is up to.” Despite the fact that she only had the slightest edge over Amelia in age, there was that sense that she had years over her in terms of mental maturity. Lina grinned. She knew that it must have been evident for Amelia when they first met, calling her ‘Miss. Lina’ for the longest time.
Their relationship though had developed beyond that, years on and off the road together had dropped down some of those walls they had for each other, but there was still a respect there. Lina knew she didn’t act it, but she had always tried to guide Amelia, as any leader tries to guide a follower, wanted or not. That comfortable barrier though was gone, Lina could tell Amelia had been maturing. That was made all the more evident by Amelia’s belated blossoming into womanhood some days ago. Thoughts of the past brought the slightest of smiles to Lina’s face, but it was hard for Lina to pinpoint a certain event to any specific time period of her life. Except the big ones, things had all blended together.
Walking over to the window Lina undid the hook and pushed it open. The musty room felt all the more livable with the faintest breeze making its way through the quarters. She breathed deeply, putting one foot on the ledge, “Levitation.” Pushing out the rest of the way through the window Lina hovered there, edging foreword slightly, then allowed herself to drop down, somewhere between the second and first floor windows. Lina trailed along the side of the building in the fading light for a moment, gracefully covering the space between her window and Amelia’s. Finally Lina raised herself up once more, hovering directly in front of Amelia’s windowsill.
She was awake. Lina eyed the lit candles, cutting through the darkness and scanned the room for Amelia’s presence. Suddenly the window in front of her flung open. The glass panes opening with such force that they struck the building strongly, jarring the glass and causing Lina to ‘Eep!’ and put some reflexive distance between the window and herself. Amelia stood up slowly from beneath the window frame, “Did I get you?”
Lina huffed in response, the obviously playful smirk on Amelia’s face cutting through the nervousness she was feeling, “Pthhh.” Lina lazily stuck out her tongue, “Like you could scare me that easy!”
Tilting her head, Amelia brought her hand up to her head thoughtfully, “Humm … you looked scared.”
Finally the smile Lina had been trying to hold in cracked, “Anyway, how about you let me come in for a minute.” Without much fanfare Amelia stepped to the side to allow Lina entry and sat down on the bed as Lina floated in. It was slightly difficult to get through the cramped window frame but eventually Lina was back on her own two feet.
“You know you cheated.” Surprised, Lina looked at Amelia’s pouting face, countering with her own confusion, “You were supposed to pound on the door until I let you in…”
Still playful Lina retorted, “Well, I didn’t want to make a scene.”
Playfulness aside Amelia continued, “But, you’re always making a scene, how would it be any different?” Lina felt the change in Amelia’s demeanor, quickly trying to analyze her mood and figure out the best way to diffuse whatever situation she had created for herself.
“Listen, I just didn’t want a big fuss…”
Amelia stood up, “You didn’t see me all day, didn’t you worry about me?”
Lina didn’t have to hear Amelia’s voice raise to know she was starting to get irritated, “I was worried, but I knew you were okay, I just thought you needed some time to cool off.” Amelia shook her head side to side.
“That’s not what I meant, if it were anyone else you would have dragged them out of this room kicking and screaming if they ignored you all day.”
Any point Amelia was trying to make was lost on Lina, going for clarification Lina scrunched up her forehead in thought, “But I did come over, I’m here right now.” Again Amelia sat down on the bed, more throwing herself down on it. She ran her hands over her face roughly, agitated and almost growling a little, and closing her eyes she again found her voice,
“Lina… remember when we first started traveling with Mr. Zelgadiss.” There was something different to the way Amelia was talking, and Lina found it poignant that Amelia had reverted to calling him ‘Mr.’ again.
“Yeah.” Lina responded, almost irritated at the change of conversation but deciding that maybe she had better listen to Amelia.
Nodding Amelia continued, “When we first started traveling together-- I had a crush on him.”
Lina smiled, “Like I didn’t know that.”
Amelia blushed at the reply but kept going, “He just… I felt like I could know him my whole life and never know everything, he seemed so deep and serious and-- he was strong.” Lina didn’t cut in as Amelia continued to gush over Zelgadiss, “I-- I thought I would end up marrying him; I used to go over it in my head, a huge wedding in Saillune, Daddy and everyone there, and you too. Every time we parted ways I knew he would come back to me.” The confidence that Amelia had been developing though as she spoke started to fall away all at once, and Lina was shocked as her demeanor started to fall apart, “But…” It was a big but, and Lina could sense Amelia was about to turn to a less promising matter, “Awhile ago Zelgadiss started pulling away from me. He was more distant and less… caring than before.” Amelia nearly choked out the last bit as her throat started to tighten up.
Gulping from the sudden outpouring of emotions, good and bad, Lina waited for Amelia to continue, “Then I realized that he never cared. He just put up with meeee…” Amelia sniffled hard as she squeaked out the last bit, but she kept her eyes closed, rubbing some tears away from her eyes. “I guess it gets that way, when you stay on the road for so long-- I mean… I know I don’t have a personality that everyone can tolerate.” Lina nodded slightly and gave a short amused snort despite how depressed Amelia’s spiel was making her, Amelia though took that as her cue to continue, “I -- a lot of people have put up with me over the years. I’m a princess, they have to, but for-- for Zelgadiss to do that… I just wanted to die when I realized how fake everything had been. How I’d been fooling myself.”
Turning carefully Lina sat down on the corner of the bed away from Amelia, putting her hand on the princess’ leg and silently hoping that Zelgadiss could hear everything from the next room. Amelia in turn wiped her eyes and propped herself up on her elbows so she could see Lina. “I haven’t been the same since then. It’s an act -- I just pretend like it never happened, like I was never a selfish delusional princess that fell in love with a man that didn’t love her back.” Amelia finished, the sentence wrenched fourth from her painfully, something she had never admitted to herself, let alone aloud. Although on some level irritated with Amelia’s, for the most part Lina found herself utterly shocked at how she’d been oblivious to Amelia’s depression.
“I always thought of you like a sister…” Amelia finally admitted after finding her strength, “In these last few days… when we were acting like we were a couple…”
Trying hard to find her voice, Lina managed out, “Yeah..” But her words were dry, hardly making it through her tight throat.
Amelia swallowed hard and propped herself upright more, “I was happy..” Amelia was shaking now and Lina wanted to do something, but resisted, not knowing how to comfort the princess. Amelia though sniffled some more and regained the bulk of her composure, “After we kissed though…” Amelia paused and Lina was forced to hold her breath as Amelia regained herself.
“That kiss made me realize … I …” Amelia paused for a moment, “… you mean a lot more to me than a sister…” Lina let out the breath she had been holding, moving in slightly.
“Amelia-- I..”
“I think…” Amelia interrupted, testing her voice, “I think we should try that kiss again, just so I can be sure what it means.” She almost sounded sure of herself.
Amelia’s eyes… that spark was back Lina noticed. With no ready reason to protest Lina muttered, “Yeah… I don’t think we’ve figured it out yet….” Moving in slowly, inching along the bed Lina closed in on Amelia, meanwhile Amelia had dropped foreword on her hands and knees to meet Lina in the middle of the bed. Again, hesitation at the last minute… they both stop, their lips so close they can feel the heat coming off one another. Then, in unison they both move foreword. The kiss, was ill aimed though, their lips hardly connecting, and it was shallow, both of them being too reserved to go through with it. Lina backed off, “We need to try again…”
Both of them embarrassed, but in a good way, Amelia managed out a, “Yes..” And again they meet lips, Lina swinging her legs up onto the bed, to reposition herself to embrace Amelia.
They held that position for a few moments, then moved back slightly, only to move foreword again and meet all the more intimately. Lina moaned out softly as Amelia moved her hands behind her back, pulling the two of them together. Again though they broke their contact, Lina backing up, just enough so that her hot breath serenaded Amelia’s cheeks, “This is wrong…” She managed out, going in again for another kiss, finally starting to get the hang of it. Lina lifted up slightly, putting Amelia in a more submissive position, now putting her arms around Amelia’s back as well.
This time Amelia pulled back, “Why..?” Again going in for a kiss Amelia tilted her body to the side, causing Lina to topple over on her side, their lips not parting on the short way down.
“I just…” Lina sounded more than a little unsure of herself as she continued, “We shouldn’t be doing this…” She finished in a whisper, pushing away Amelia feebly.
“What’s wrong?” Amelia barely got out, her throat tightening and her initial happiness fading faster than she would have ever thought possible. Amelia could see the change in Lina’s eyes though, and as they made contact Lina faked a smile and turned away sharply, her eyes focused on the window. Amelia propped herself up more fully on her arms ready to take some kind of action. In response, Lina swung her legs over the edge of the bed, all signs that things were going right quickly dropped away. Clearing her throat Amelia stepped onto the ground on the side of the bed and walked over to Lina, “What happened… what’d I do wrong..”
Lina shook her head, “You didn’t do anything wrong Amelia… I just… this…” Lina paused, letting the entirety of her comment sink in, “This shouldn’t have happened…” Amelia made her way over to Lina, trying not to spook the sorceress into fleeing.
“Lina… I…” Amelia put her hand on Lina’s shoulder but Lina cut her off.
“I’m gonna head back to my room, see you tomorrow Amelia.” She finished flashing an imitation of a smile and climbed off the bed to the window, giving Amelia one last look before pushing it open and taking flight back to her room.
Gliding gently out of the window, Lina steadied her flight and looped around to her window, gracefully swinging in legs first and planting herself firmly on the hardwood. Carefully she removed her silver bracelets, and now able, pulled off her gloves, dropping them to the ground. Holding in tears, she padded her way over to the bed, tossing back the covers and snuggling in. She took the pillow from under her head and put it under the covers with her. With it held tightly against her chest she bunching up some of the covers with it to make a more massive object to hold in her arms. “Why can’t anything be simple…” Was as much as she could get out before she buried her face in the pillow, wracked by a sudden overwhelming disastrous emotion.
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