Disclaimers: I don't own Slayers but some characters, and other stuff I do.

Warning: language

Summary: Centuries after the defeat of Darkstar only Lina and Zel are left alive and have been alive all these centuries, the others are dead. Lina because some of the Lord of Nightmares' power fused with her when she used it, and Zel because he is a Chimera, of course they met up. Xellos needs Lina's help, the Gods are about to wage war and completely destroy the already weakened Mazoku race, so will she help him? What will be her price?

Prove To Me

Chapter 1

Price to Pay

Zelgadis for the millionth time thought about giving up looking for a cure. He couldn't even remember how old he was anymore. God, he thought, how many centuries have past passed since I parted ways with the old gang?

He knew in his mind that humans couldn't survive this long, the only reason he was alive was because Eris and Rezo, his great grandfather or grandfather (who may have been both) turned his human body into the form of a Chimera. Eris didn't do any turning him into it, of course the only thing she did was help make this body, and Rezo did the turning.

He was one one-third human, one one-third golem, (which explained the appearance of his body, and last but not least he was one one-third Mazoku.

He remembered that Amelia, the self self-proclaimed warrior of justice, was afraid of him at first because of the way he looked, but somehow she started to care for him all the same (after they explained who everyone was). He tried to ignore it but she eventually fell in love with him. Then he tried even harder to ignore her being in love with him, but truthfully the sad thing was he didn't love her, she was just a close fried that he cared for (one of three people that didn't care about his appearance and even said so, but only cared for what was inside).

The second other friend was Gourry, he like Amelia was human, ; Zel knew they were dead, but it still kind of hurt. He tried not to think about it-- if he did he would only get sad and emo (of course he couldn't cut or hurt himself, the only thing that could hurt him was the Sword of Light and last thing he knew of it Gourry had it.)

Gourry was an idiot, a big stupid idiot. Why Lina liked him in the first place no one ever found out. He was powerless too. He knew at first that that was the only reason Lina stayed with him was because of the Sword of Light he held in his possession. Though half the time he was kind of glad that Gourry was there to be Lina's punching bag and stress reliever. She rarely hit him (Zel) but he kind of like her hitting him and no he wasn't a masochist, he just liked her touching him. He loved it when they were paired together for that fake love temple thing.

He sighed, h. He missed Lina the most, a. All of these centuries since they defeated Darkstar he was alone and had time to think, he realized something. He loved her, the first person that saw passed past his golem features and saw the person, --no the man inside of him.

So yeah he missed her most of all, a. At first he thought she was dead too. She was a human after all-- they all were (except him for he was only part human). That was until how many years was it after they left each other? It had to have been between the first century and the second after they all split up. He heard something about a flame haired girl who was flat chested in a fight with some man, no one said what it was about, they only said whatever it was it had to have been pretty bad because she blew the city up.

When Zel heard that he laughed and his heart lifted the black smoke that had been choking his heart since he realized they all were dead lifted. With Lina alive he had forgotten about Amelia and Gourry's deaths, he was happy even thought two out of three were dead. Even though he cared for both of them, Lina mattered more to him then they did that was when he realized he loved her.

He had heard about her on and off through the decades, centuries. It seemed people still remembered Lina Inverse, s. She was still 'the enemy of all who lived', still a legend, but it seemed that the only smart people had been born in that last few centuries, because they put two and two together and said she was the original Lina Inverse not her daughter as they did before.

Zel entered the city of Kefie wondering if about the legend of the magic lamp made out of pure amethyst. The legend said it would grant your wishes would come true. Zel didn't believe in them, he knew Lina would, Gourry so stupid would believe anything, and Amelia would somehow make it out to be about heroes of justice.

The part of the legend he was so keen to found find out was true, --well, hoped was true was the biggest library on TABOO topics. He knew with his luck that Lina would have already found out if it as true or not. Well he had to at least try and see if it was still there.

P

Lina Inverse was tried and hungry as hell. She couldn't really stay in Villages anymore because most people recognized her now. "That sucked ass," she said over and over. She wondered how she got this way, when the old gang was together they went to any city they wanted (except when they were wanted by Eris and had bounty hunters after them). How she missed her friends. God she never thought in all of her life she would miss people, her a loner, it amazed her but still it was true.

But they were dead and had been dead for centuries so did it really matter that she needed them? Her sanity had started to fly out the window since the first century went by without her friends to hold her down.

Ever since that first time she used the Giga Slave channeled through the Sword of Light to stop Ruby Eye from destroying the world, which now she thought about the Sword of Light she wondered where it was, and on that note she wondered if she would ever use it again. She sighed and cleared her head she had to forget about them or she would remember what she didn't have anymore, the hole was empty and if she realized that, she would forget everything and kill many people again trying to find it. She took a breath and remembered why she was still alive centuries after she turned seventeen and her she and her friends killed Darkstar.

Every time she used the Lord of Nightmare's powers she absorbed more of the Lord's power. That was how she was still alive, she forgot how many time she used those spells. She knew that Zel was still alive probably looking for a cure if he hadn't given up. She laughed at good old Zel, ; she could always rely on him, and he was always the one she talked to about magic, legends or anything really. Amelia was too young and Gourry too damn stupid, it would have been better to talk to a stick; you would get better answers then than from Gourry.

Lina tried to clear her head and think about the next mission, what she was fixing to do, what she was trying to do. She, the most powerful sorceress in the world, was going after treasure…again, well for the first time in a long time really. It was just like the good old days, she was getting back to normal.

She was going after a magic lamp made of pure amethyst…amethyst. Lina remembered Xellos' eyes were like amethysts and maybe his hair was the color of it too…anyway moving on. The legend has it that the lamp grants the founder a wish. She not only wanted the map and that wish, but she also wanted to search the great TABBO TABOO library, it was full of all of it, she knew would learn a couple of new spells. She rubbed her hands together; she was defiantly definitely back to her old self, so greedy when it comes to treasure. She laughed as she entered the Village called Kefie; she thought for a second, if she had ever been to this Village before and knew that she hadn't.

She pulled her cloak over her head hoping no one would recognize her and knew that no one would all the way out here but wasn't taking a chance and walked through the rain and into Kefie.

P

"You called, Master?"

"Yes I called; we have a situation pet, a very big one. There are only three out of the original five Mazoku Lords left, Dolphin, Dynast, and myself. The Gods are about to attack us and completely wipe us out, we don't have enough power to destroy them, --even with the four of us it would still be hard. Unless we can get Lei Magnus out of the ice in the north then we are doomed. We are working on that as well as planning the plan of defense against the Gods, now stay out of the way for a while alright pet? It isn't that you will be in the way no never that, it is just Dynast hates you and we have to work together if we had a shot in hell of winning."

"Yes Master I understand." He started to leave the room and heard her turn around and mutter, "I wonder how she is going to handle this when she finds out, and there will be hell to pay." He left the room and entered his.

P

Zel walked into the tavern that was on the outskirts of town, his cloak over his head and he sat down in the darkest booth in the corner. He ordered some food and a stiff drink and sat alone while he ate and drink. T, thinking only of what he was going to do next.

He noticed after an hour he had come in that the waitress that brought him his food and drink was bringing out an insanely large amount of food and he looked around and didn't see a large crowd. He heard a female yell of joy and he laughed out loud. Apparently the girl heard him but ignored him, well tried to he could she her twitching.

That's when he couldn't hide his laughter or his words as he said, "Well, well I guess such a little girl needs to build up her strength to get bigger am I right?" he laughed and the girl turned around and had a fireball in her hand as he pulled back his hood.

She froze for a second and the fireball disappeared, "Zel?" she asked still stunned, he could see she was really stunned she was speechless and the Lina he knew always talked, he remembered when right before they were about to fight Rezo the first time and then later Ruby Eye she talked so much, but he knew nothing was wrong with her, well besides being surprised at seeing him. Of course she was it had been what, how many years that they hadn't seen each other? He was shocked and surprised himself but of course he could hide it she couldn't, that was why she was staring at him not saying anything with her mouth hanging open. He now remembered how much emotion she put into her words and movements, how he had missed her, no the only thing Zel was worried about was remembering what the hell got her mad, he laughed as he looked at her. Zel nodded, and she jumped over the booth and hugged him, they both knew when she hugged him, that they both missed each other so much. Zel was wondering if this hug meant something more, did it have something hidden in it? He shook his head at her question and at his, this was just how his Lina was, wait not his Lina, but how he wished that was so.

P

He paced around his room, he had never needed a need to pace before so this was a new experience and he really didn't like those, he liked to always know the rules and how to play of the game, of course he usually never played by them.

He needed to do something, if this War scares scared his Master and the other Mazoku Lords to ban together then this was serious indeed; he needed to do something and something fast. There was only one person and human really that could help them and had no choice but to ask, it meant there survival depended on a human, yet again he sighed. He had his work cut out for him now, he just hoped, no he prayed that she would help him, she was the only one he could really ask, the only one powerful enough. The girl who could use the Lord of Nightmare's powers and the amazing thing was she still lived. Not only that but she kept on using those powers; it always amazed him how a human girl could use powers that neither Mazoku nor the Gods could use. Lina Inverse was the only other person besides his Master he respected, he had to ask her.

He stopped and thought for a second, h. His respect and fear for the Lord of Nightmare was on a different level then the other too, so he prepared to leave his room when he forgot one thing, he didn't know where she was, h. He sighed again h. He would just have to track her.

P

The next day after Lina had eaten her breakfast, Zel made sure before they left she was full of food and had made damn sure last night she had enough sleep that she wouldn't complain about that either. He made the right choice too. So that meant they didn't get to spend all night telling the other what hey had been doing for the past centuries since the defeat of Darkstar, and all that stuff.

They were in Kefie the city housing the supposed magic lamp was hidden. Along with the talking of their past they disused the legend, they took out a map and quickly using all of their experience and knowledge deduced the most likely location of the lamp and decided it was in an underground cavern.

Surprising to both Lina and Zel here weren't many traps. "It's probably because the one who did it died after setting those stupid one up. Either that or he was too lazy to dismantle them by the time he left. Or he was just stupid as fuck." Zel agreed the straps were stupid, they were kid traps, shooting arrows at them, or a disappearing floor the stupid ones. Or maybe it wasn't that the traps were stupid maybe it was because he and Lina were too strong and smart for them.

Finally after what Lina dreamed the hardest challenge, walking so much and maybe the drawings of the slugs, though she wouldn't say it she was still afraid of slugs, and he guessed her sister Luna. She was still afraid of her and wondered too if she was dead or not. Lina hadn't changed at all, he was beyond glad.

They got to the final room and Zel and Lina didn't really see anything other then an ordinary room, it had a bed and a kitchen. They searched the whole room and finally found a diary. One look at the name and Zel snatched it from Lina. After shaking his head and avoiding her eyes Lina knew something was found that she didn't want to read, f. For once she didn't argue with Zel, and that shocked him a little.

Zel read through cover to cover and laughed t. This was just like him to write stupid shit like this, it was just like Gourry. The last sentence though was puzzling, he sighed and knew he would have to show it to her this though he didn't want to he knew it would hurt her, he turned to Lina.

"Lina listen I didn't want to show you this or let you read it but I may not have a choice. The last sentence I have no idea what it means and only you will know."

Lina was confused what would confuse him that wouldn't her? And what would he keep from her? "Zel just shut the hell up or tell me." Zel sighed again and told her.

"It's Gourry's diary Lina." She froze for a second but then sighed and made a grab for the book, Zel let her have it, and he didn't fight it or her.

Lina, like Zel read it from cover to cover. She skimmed the story till she got to the end he wrote:

I know I'm about to die, I just wish Lina was here, all these years since we parted after killing that huge black evil thing with the Sword of Light and the other weapons like it. My life has been so very boring, so since I didn't have any children I guess I will leave the Sword to Lina. Hopefully she will fall for that stupid rumor about the lamp. I leave the Sword of Light to Lina Inverse…she'll know where she hid it.

Lina didn't know what to do, this was why Zel didn't want her reading it, and it was because he had regrets about leaving her. She only thought about the last sentence she blocked out everything else. She hide it, how was she suppose to know where he hid it, she didn't.

She sat down and closed her eyes to think, the only place she could think of was the kitchen that was when she remembered something.

FLASHBACK

"AHH I am going to kill you GOURRY! How DARE you eat my food? Now I am going to have to hide it you dumb shit, heehee I will hide it in the cabinet her and you won't find it. MUUUHHHHHHHAAA.

END OF FLASHBACK

She laughed, she knew where it was, Zel of course was confused, and "I thought he was so dumb, but he was watching me while I hid the food heehee."

She went over to the cabinet and found the Sword, she turned it on and Zel screamed, "What the hell Lina?! Are you trying to kill me?!"

They heard a laugh and both froze, the laugh seem to call to them from a dream. They knew it from long ago. They turned around and saw Xellos the Trickster Priest. Lina recovered first and she did it quickly too, yes she was more surprised to see Xellos then Zel, she had thought that once they were all dead (her friends) that he would think that too, hell they were all humans well maybe not Zel, he wasn't fully human but anyway.

She was beyond surprised, but she knew every time Xellos showed up he wanted them to do something for him and usually trick them into doing it to, and they only realized too late. That wasn't going to happen this time, she was going to make damn sure, so she did the only thing she could think of to counter Xellos, though it didn't do much good, she knew he could read her emotions, he was a Mazoku after all, but she still did it anyway, she cleared her face and put a mask on, she would copy the Trickster Priest himself, with that done and decided she had to get to the point and ask him, "What do you want Xellos?"

"Now, now Lina-san, don't be like that! We haven't seen each other in over five hundred years! Can't you be more happy to see me? We have such...wonderful memories together, well all but a few and it was only twice or so. But still, how much did we do together? Such wonderful times, like sneaking into an all girls Village, Zelgadis of course looked the best, one of the most beautiful girls I have ever seem and I have been around a long time, Gourry said it did he?"

Lina snorted, "Five hundred years hasn't been long enough. Most of those 'wonderful memories' was us getting out of something you set us up on damn it! Remember the bandit group, the macho...something dragon who did that peck wigging thing, wait I want to do it" Again she tried to do it, "Damnit Xellos you know I can't do it," Gourry wasn't here so she had to hit him, Zel his head was to hard to hit so she couldn't hit him, "Amway," she said as she watched Zel snigger and Xellos rubbing his head, "you set us up on that, the all girl Village, lets see what else...that racket ball thing, the song book treasure thing, shut up yes you did, you told us it was there! Anyway that was even half of this things on this continent, what about the other one? God don't get me started what about that fake love temple, because of you we had the Sword of Light stolen and that almost ended the world, the cities of Alto and Baritone, that was pointless do I need to go on Xellos? Have I made my point?" she watched him nod and she said, "Good."

"Oh come on Lina-san, don't be like that, they were...good memories, plus it was fun anyway since you want to know so bad I guess I will tell you why I am here, I have something to tell you, something that you might want to know. You will love it, well if you haven't changed in these five hundred years and let me be the first to say you looked good for being over five hundred!"

She tried to hide her blush, Zel was getting madder at Xellos, Xellos himself was just laughing inside but he kept up that mask, before she did something that would embarrass her or make her do something she didn't want to do she replied, "Then tell me Xellos and please do it quick. I have things to do and I know you do too. Plus I don't think I can take anymore of this 'reunion' of ours."

"Now, now don't be so pushy Lina-san, I did track you down, which I will admit it was hard to do that, I wonder why, anyway moving on because of the look on your face Lina-san, I just wanted to tell you out of the kindness of my heart," Lina and Zel both snorted Xellos pretended he didn't hear it, "your friend's last words, since I am a nice Mazoku." Lina and Zel burst out laughing but soon quiet after Xellos opened one eye.

"Now as I was saying your friends' last words were, Amelia's was '"Zelgadis-san', and Gourry's were 'That's my chicken leg Lina, give it back!' well that was it, see by the look on your faces I knew you would like it."

Zel's face was completely stricken and it looked like he was blushing a little, Xellos could have sworn the Chimera felt guilty, but it was just for a second and Xellos wasn't sure so he didn't worry about, Lina on the other hand was just delicious, her emotions that was. Lina just started at Xellos for a few moments then jumped his ass and hit him on the head with his staff, "You little fucking asshole! You think I wanted to know some stupid idiot's last words? You came to tell me what that stupid lame idiot said as he died and that little girl too? I DON"T CARE!"

She walked away and muttered breathe over and over, Xellos smirked and Zel just hung his head down in shame, this was just…there was a word for it. Lina looked up at Xellos and said, "We will continue this above ground if you don't mind." With that they all headed up and exited the cavern though a back entrance, it seemed the one who set the traps was stupid and lazy.

Finally she stopped and said, "What do you want Xellos, I know you have a reason. Now spill and don't give me your usual shit about 'It's a secret'! If you do well, lets just say what Gaav did to you well look like a scraped knee."

Xellos sighed and said, "Very well Lina-san, we are about to go to War with the Gods, the Mazoku race as you know Lina-san is weak since you helped destroy two out of the five Mazoku Lords. The Gods are coming and they are going to wipe us out. You are the only one besides my Master that I respect, so I am asking you for your help."

Zel was stunned and shocked and all at once too. Not only did Xellos not answer in riddles or not answer at all he answered first time asked no prodding necessary and he said it all, didn't seem to with hold something. The second thing what stunned him was Xellos a very powerful high ranking Mazoku just asked for help from a human.

Lina looked Xellos in the eyes for Xellos' amethyst eyes were opened, "Tell me Xellos what does your Master have to say about this, and is it because of her that you ask me?"

"My Master knows that I am here she always knows where I am, but she didn't send me, I sent myself here. We need your help Lina-san and I am the only one who could ask then others couldn't and wouldn't."

Lina sighed and said, "Fine but if I do this I want to name a price and you will pay it or I don't help. I am doing this because not only do I respect you but you respect me and that is an honor and a privilege right there. It is also a miracle too; because of it I will help but only if my price is met."

Xellos and Zel were both stunned at what Lina said, hell even she was shocked a little, Xellos smiled his eyes fully opened and looked really surprised but still said in his even tone, "Of course Lina-san I wouldn't have it any other way, name your price."

Lina looked him dead in his amethyst eyes and said with a clear even voice, "Before I put a stop to this war I want you to prove to me this isn't a trick of yours, Trickster Priest. Prove to me I'm not just a pawn for you to use to defeat your enemies and then toss away when I am no longer useful. Prove to me that this little request of yours isn't some way to use me to kill your enemies then take me out of the picture for being a potential threat to the Mazoku race. I may have said before that I was okay with dieing dying but that doesn't mean I want to. Prove to me this Xellos and I will put a stop to this bloody war for you, if you can't then I will continue with what I have been doing for centuries since we defeated Darkstar together."

Xellos was stunned even further, Lina noted was she acting a little out of character but she had changed, these last five hundred years alone had changed her, maybe for the better or maybe for the worse only time would tell. Zel took the silence as his chance to speak up, but Lina raised a hand, and stopped him, that was when they all knew she was serious, no one could ever change Lina Inverse's mind, not when it was made up. This was Xellos's turn, withered whether he said yes or no that answer would determine the future of their world.

Xellos didn't even need to ask his Master, this was he's doing and he had to follow though, it was his choice and he knew what his Master would say anyway, "You took this upon yourself now solve it, I trust you Xellos." This was his and his choice alone, no one could make it for him, he had to think about, it but he knew t he thought about it his survival instincts would kick in and he would leave he had to answer quickly before it was too late and his race was completely and utterly destroyed, only he could save them. He nodded and said, "I agree to your price Lina-san."

Lina nodded then, "Then I will take part in stopping this war…Xellos," Xellos didn't really hear anything other then she would help in this war, on his side. Something inside of him began to change, something began to fade and slowly disappear it was unnoticeable to anyone who couldn't see inside of a person, someone who could see someone else's soul. None of them noticed it, because they couldn't but the one who was watching over them all, only that person knew Xellos was changing and smiled, knowing this would be so fun to watch.