Of Curses and Rebirth

Part 3

Ranma stood in the castle's courtyard and stretched. She had slept well, despite the noise coming from the long wed couple's room. She still remembered the shout of a young man's voice and the scream of a woman in her prime as they reached fulfillment. At breakfast, Zales had snarled at the two of them because of the noise.

"Hello Ranma," came the sheepish voice behind her. "How are you this morning?"

"Good, 'Happosai'. I see you've taken your other form. Where are the others?"

"They'll be along. We'll have to explain this to the Kuno kids, though."

"True."

When the others joined them, Ranma began explaining. "Kuno-sempai, I must beg forgiven. I was untruthful in my words to you."

"What do you mean, Pigtail?"

"I know who I am. I always have. My family IS dead, but so was I. You see I am the reincarnation of one who was known as the Chaos Bringger, long ago. 3,000 years ago, I died stopping a god of destruction. The effort killed me. It also took out an entire peninsula, leaving nothing behind. To this day, no one but those on this Island know it ever existed. Mainly because they were alive at the time."

She turned away then. The memories still hurt. If her Neechan had helped, Shabrinigdo wouldn't have killed Zelgadis. And she wouldn't have used the Giga Slave.

"Happosai and Kho Lon don't exist. Neither does Msu Tsu. They're just disguises worn by three survivors of the destruction."

Kuno just blinked. She could see that it wasn't sinking in. "As bad as Gourry," she mumbled.

"Happosai is actually the Trickster Priest Xellos. With His help I was able to save the world many times in my past life. Kho Lon is actually the Golden Dragon Priestess Faria, Xellos' wife for a little over 3,000 years."

As she spoke, the shriveled up old amazon changed. She became taller and younger in appearance. Her hair became blond and her clothing changed to an elegant dress. A blue jeweled headdress finished the effect.

"Faria-chan, your tail is showing," Zales said as she joined them.

The blond blushed and tucked the appendage under her skirt.

"And as for Msu Tsu, He is Faria's adopted Son, Valgrav. He's the last Ancient Dragon in existence."

The hidden weapons master smiled and changed. His hair changed to a shorter cut and lightened. His clothing became a more open cut, and feathered wings extended from his back. Striped markings adorned his jaw line, and a horn appeared on his forehead. (Note: I don't know if this is accurate. I've never seen Slayers Try! Could someone send me a pic of Valgrav?)

"You see, We are more than we seem, Kuno-sempai. And you and Kodachi have a place in this as well. You see, the two of you are the last living descendents of Gourry Gabrive, the greatest swordsman to ever live, and his wife Sefiel Gabrive, the greatest white Healer I've ever known of human blood."

Kuno blinked in stunned amazement. "Pigtail…"

"Call me Lina. Lina Inverse."

"What does any of this have to do with us," Kodachi asked.

"Kodachi, you have Selfeil's talent for White magic. I would like you to train with Faria and learn more about it. Kuno, you are Very good with a sword. I want you to train with Xellos and Zalas. You also have Gourry's sword. Your family's Honor Sword is the Hakori no Ken. It's one of the legendary Weapons of Light. And it's capable of killing a Mazuko. With the darkness that I can feel coming, we'll need it."

And so their training began. They would be the defenders of the world. And as time passed more would join them. In the Sea of Chaos, L-Sama smiled. It had been tricky to have Lina reborn. The curse helped.

Now it was time to see to the reborn Zelgadis Greywors. His cursed form was totally unacceptable. But that was easy to fix. All she had to do was create a new Cursed Spring in the Valley, and make sure he fell into it. Not that hard with all the traveling he did all the time.

She found him in a forest, and used Her power to move him to just inside the tree line near the Valley. She watched as he woke and wandered to the same cliff he had fallen from years before. Then at just the right moment, she sent a strong wind to push him over the edge.

He made a very satisfying splash when he fell into Yobishoryochwan, the Spring of Drown Chimera. She knew the memories of his past life would start to surface soon, and after that, his magic. As she watched him pull himself out of the spring, it was awful hard to swim with stone skin, she reflected that things would once again become entertaining. It had been very dull the last 3,000 years.

The guide gave the boy turned chimera a kettle of hot water, and he turned back into his true form. He was given a new pack, as his old one was lost, and he went on his way.

In the Sea of Chaos, L-Sama tossed the missing pack in a closet, she couldn't wait until he looked in his new pack and found the ivory clothing. Now how to get him the enchanted sword? The answer to that was to have him trip over it. Same as when she had him find his umbrella, simple.