The flat line alarm rings in Seraya's ears as she leans
down closer to Lina. "Lina," she whispers, "I'm not afraid anymore.
The Oracle told me... she told me that I would fall in love." The
smaller woman's voice cracks but she swallows, needing to finally tell
the redhead. "She told me that that woman, the woman I loved, would be
the One." Tears leak from her light blue eyes, starting to roll down
her pale face. "So... so you see, you can't be dead. You can't be...
because I love you." Seraya shivers as she stares through blurry eyes
at Lina's still face. "You hear me? I love you."
She leans down and closes her eyes, several more tears
rolling down her face as she presses her lips to Lina's mouth, kissing
her lightly. Hot tears hit the redhead's face, turning the kiss
slightly salty. A moment later, Seraya pulls back, staring at Lina's
face. Several long seconds pass then the taller woman breathes in
shakily, the monitor impossibly starting to beep with Lina's restarted
heartbeat. Seraya looks up at the monitor, a smile slowly appearing on
her face. "Now get up, Lina!"
Lina's eyes blink as life reenters them. Valgarv pauses in
his searching for Xelloss and slowly turns back. His eyes narrow, not
believing what he's seeing.
Lina stands and crosses her arms over her bloody chest. Red
lightning seems to envelop her body and suddenly she's too bright to
look at. Valgarv turns his head away from the flash of light then
looks back when it dims. Lina's body is normal and instead of torn
black clothing, she has on her own magic outfit. She slowly looks up
at Valgarv, red eyes blazing with newfound power.
The Dragon growls and slashes at the human with his
still-bloody claws. Faster than he can see, however, she draws her
sword and holds it in the way. Waves of pain sweep over Valgarv as the
enhanced blade cuts through his claws, the bloody ends falling
harmlessly to the floor. The Dragon stumbles back and clutches at his
injured hand, then looks back up at Lina.
Her eyes are closed. Her hands are clasped together. Her
cape and hair are flying in an unnatural wind. She opens her eyes and
extends her hands out towards Valgarv with a shout, "Dragu Slave!" A
huge bolt of red energy explodes from her hands and zooms towards
Valgarv. He cries out but the explosion drowns his voice, the force of
the blast splintering the black walls of Valgarv's creation and
shattering them, leaving Lina standing in the hotel hallway and
Xelloss lying on his back in room 303. Valgarv is nowhere to be seen.
An explosion overhead wipes the smile from Seraya's face.
She and Hawk look up as the first of the robot dragons breaks its way
inside the main deck. "Lina!" She lifts both hands, one at the plug
into Lina's neck and the other at Xel's neck.
Lina looks up at the ruined phone then quickly kneels
beside Xelloss, holding a hand over his burned chest. Incredibly, the
burns and blood all disappear in a matter of seconds, Xel's body
restored. He grins up at her, "I knew it." Lina winks back at him then
stands again, helping the man back to his feet. They both look at the
ruined phone.
Hawk cries out in pain as the robot fires, laser beam
adding to the burns he's already received. Through sheer will he keeps
one hand on the EMP and the other on the load button. He doesn't know
how they'll both be able to get out fast enough.
As Lina looks at the phone, its shape seems to shimmer; the
wires meld back together. The image distorts and splits into two
images, then solidifies into two separate phones, both ringing.
The sentinel finishes tearing a hole wide enough for it to
go through and swoops down, looking at Lina and Seraya. "Now," she
shouts. Hawk closes his eyes and hits the load for the incoming
signal, waits a heartbeat then turns the EMP switch. An explosion of
electricity rocks the Dragon Slayer as the charged pulse sweeps
outward from the core. Seraya pulls both plugs out then throws herself
over Lina.
The hovering dragon raises its arm then shudders to a stop
when the wave of electricity shocks it. Sparks shoot from it and it
falls limply to the ground, more clangs sounding throughout the ship
as the other robots fail.
Outside the Dragon Slayer the EMP sweeps out in a sphere,
deep rumble heard for miles. There's a bright blue flash, and then
silence.
Seraya slowly lifts her head, looking over at Xelloss. He
smiles lightly at her, purple eyes open. He then nods his head,
indicating she look down. She does and finds herself looking into
crimson orbs.
Lina lifts a hand and lightly strokes Seraya's cheek, then
slides her touch back to the blonde's neck, gently pulling her down
into a kiss.
---
Somewhere in the darkness, a phone rings. The phone is
answered, and the darkness comes to life as computer language appears
and columns of numbers and symbols zoom by. An error glows at the top,
"WARNING: carrier anomaly".
"I know you're out there. I can feel you now." Teresa F.
Anderson. The columns shift and change, becoming just ten columns.
They're looking for something. "I know that you're afraid." The first
column suddenly stops, showing '3'. It's the start of an area code for
a phone number. "You're afraid of us. You're afraid of change." A blue
wave of energy sweeps across the screen and the columns lock up.
"System Failure" glows in the middle of the screen.
"I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you
how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to
begin. I'm going to hang up this phone, and then I'm going to show
these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a
world without you, a world without rules and controls, without borders
or boundaries, a world where anything is possible.
"Where we go from there, is a choice I leave to you." Lina
looks at the phone, and then hangs it up.
She steps out of the phone booth, mage outfit getting
several strange looks but she doesn't notice. She slowly looks around
at the crowd, at all the people who don't know. All the people she's
going to show the truth, in due time. She smiles and puts on her
sunglasses, then slowly looks up at the sky.
"Mommy! Look! That lady is flying!"
"Don't be silly dear, ladies don't fly."
Lina soars through the air high above the city, cape and
hair flapping in the wind.
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