Reclamation

Grau walked down through a corridor of Dynast Grausherra's castle. He held Sherra's body in his arms. The front of his coat was covered with her blood, which was still seeping from the gaping hole in her chest. Grau looked down at his colleague's lifeless face. As much as he loathed to admit it, he was going to miss her. Her presence had made his life nearly bearable. He had tried not to become attached to her. He had enough experience to know that as a rule, generals usually didn't live very long. Grau came to the doors that led to the throne room and kicked them open. Dynast was there, sitting in his high-backed throne just as Grau expected. He seemed surprised to see his priest carrying his dead general.

"Yes. He tricked Sherra into confronting Lina Inverse. He was probably hoping that Lina would kill her. But he underestimated her. Sherra fought better than he expected, and he had to intercede."

"Can you do anything for her?" Grau asked. He had cast a spell to keep Sherra's astral body from discorporating, but that was all he could do.

Dynast took Sherra to her room. Grau followed. He laid her down on the cream-colored velvet covers of her bed and sat beside her. Dynast removed a white glove and placed his hand over the hole in her chest. It began to mend under his touch.

"My hands are tied. The Hellmaster controls the souls of the dead. The present lack of a Hellmaster eliminates that option.

"I'll have to bring the matter to Lord Shabranigdo's attention. Have her servants been informed of this?"

Dynast remembered the last time he had held Sherra in his arms. She had been dead then, too. Such an unlikely choice. But she had never given him any reason to regret making her his general. He began to reminisce.

A few centuries ago, Dynast came to the decision that he needed a new general. Towards the end of her career, Sherra's predecessor, Sheela, had become nothing but an embarrassment. After a long and weighty process of elimination, he settled on a man named Simon Corliss, a renowned general who had an excellent military reputation. Dynast had always had high standards when it came to choosing his minions.

He went after General Corliss and propositioned him. Dynast held the man at bladepoint. There was fear in his eyes. The man had retired from the military a decade or two ago and had since lead a peaceful life with his family. He begged Dynast to leave him be, not to separate him from his daughter. What was her human name? Ah yes... Althia. Dynast was about to smite the groveling man when he noticed a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down to see the end of a sword sticking through him. This distracted him. He turned around to see none other than the young Althia Corliss holding the sword. Such determination in her eyes. But there was a price to be paid for interfering in his business. Dynast wordlessly cast a spell that drew off his own power. A pentagram appeared on the ground and everyone caught inside it was struck by magical lightning. It had no effect on Dynast, of course. The man and his daughter both fell to the floor. He was unconscious, but Althia shakily rose to her feet. She had been resistant to magic even as a human.

'I am for you,' she had said as she raised her sword. How prophetic. He remembered the look on her face as she challenged him. Such bravery, such devotion, such love, such selflessness. He saw in her all the things he hadn't known he was looking for. It was that moment that it first crossed Dynast's mind to take the girl.

He engaged her in a swordfight. She had obviously studied fencing. Her reflexes were quick and her style was graceful, weak though she was. She had potential. But a problem remained. Was she challenging him out of courage or stupidity? It was dangerous to assume that she had the same potential as her father. She hadn't proven herself. Dynast decided to give her the chance. He toyed with her for awhile, testing her, and then expertly disarmed her. He held her at swordpoint. Instead of killing her, he offered her another chance. A second duel - the game of her choice. If Dynast won, her father's soul was his prize. If she won, he would leave her father alone and choose another to be his general. Her fate was decided in a game of chess.

Althia won. Dynast was shocked that a mere human girl had beaten him in a game of strategy. But her elation was short-lived. The look on her face when he told her his alternate choice was priceless. He didn't give her the chance to protest. He simply ran his sword through her heart. The human named Althia Corliss died in his arms. Dynast then returned to the North Pole. He resurrected her as a Mazoku, as Sherra. Her appearance was mostly unchanged, save for the color of her hair. Dynast had always been fond of the color blue. He sealed her memories of her human life. Althia Corliss was no more. Now there was only Sherra.

He trained her carefully, and she proved to be an apt student. She was intelligent, dignified, but most of all, loyal. Sherra showed a profound sense of honor and duty. Servants like this were hard to find. This was not the first time she had died for him.

Grau appeared in Claudio's quarters. He found Sherra's lieutenant sitting in a chair, polishing the blade of his longsword.

Claudio looked up with a start. He saw Grau looking even more dour than usual. He stood up and saluted him.

"Sit back down. I have some bad news." Grau said. There was a look of raw terror on Claudio's face. Ever since Sherra left to confront Lina, he had been worried about her.

Claudio looked as if he'd just been stabbed in the heart. "How could....a human.... she was...." he choked on his own words.

"When she was fighting Lina Inverse, Xellos intervened. He was the one who killed her."

"Don't be ridiculous. If I had stepped in I'd be pushing up daisies right alongside her. And besides, it happened too suddenly. There was nothing I could have done."

Claudio tightly gripped the armrests of his chair to hide how badly his hands were shaking. "I'm going to kill that murderous bastard," he vowed through clenched teeth. He had always hated Xellos, even before Sherra turned him into a Mazoku.

"Why you! How dare you insult her like that?" Claudio was quickly becoming infuriated by Grau's callousness. His gold eyes burned with animosity.

Grau smacked him. "Get ahold of yourself." he snapped. This took Claudio aback. He was suddenly shamed for raising his voice to his superior.

"Do you think you were the only one who cared about her?" Grau said sorrowfully. He turned his back to Claudio.

"I'm surprised to hear you say that, Grau," Claudio said after a few moments of silence. He had always been under the impression that Grau hated everyone. He had often wondered why Sherra tolerated him. Could he have had feelings for her? Claudio was skeptical.

"Now, may I continue?" Grau turned to face Claudio again and glared at him from behind his wire-rimmed spectacles.

"Due to the present lack of a Hellmaster, it is unlikely that Sherra will be resurrected."

A tear trailed down the side of Claudio's face. It wasn't fair. How could she be gone forever? "Surely she's in a better place," he said softly.

"Anyway, as Sherra's second in command, it's likely that Dynast will consider you as his next general."

Grau was astounded. A gold dragon joining the ranks of the Mazoku? It was simply unheard of. He knew that Claudio had formerly been a fairly high-ranking servant of a dragon king, but he had always assumed that he had been a human. Just a malcontent that Sherra had managed to convert. But a gold dragon? One of the self-proclaimed guardians of the world? Very interesting.

"Yes, it's true," Claudio said. "I can tell you find it hard to believe that a gold dragon would become a Mazoku. I wasn't just a commoner, either. I was once a partisan of Valwin the Wind Dragon King. When the barrier sealing his power was weakened by the death of Hellmaster Phibrizzo, Sherra was sent to destroy him before he reclaimed enough power to become a threat. For eight days we fought, her and I. We were deadly enemies, but I couldn't help but be impressed by her. She fought more honorably and with more ardor than anyone I'd ever encountered, and she earned my respect. Of course, she eventually proved to be the superior. She could have killed me, but she didn't. She gave me the choice to fight by her side rather than against it, and I accepted. We then defeated Valwin together. After that, she introduced me to Dynast and made me her lieutenant. You know the rest. She never cared about the fact that I was a gold dragon. Sherra trusted me."

"No, you're wrong. Sherra knew that Xellos was up to something, but she went to fight Lina anyway because she thought that it was the right thing to do. She died trying to save our lives. Can't you give her a little credit?"

"No, the Inverse girl took it. And even if she hadn't, there's no way you'd be able to handle a Mazoku sword that powerful. It obeyed Sherra well enough, but you'd be pushing your luck."

"We can't allow it to remain in Lina Inverse's hands. I'm going to kill that sorceress and take back what's ours."

Grau reappeared in Sherra's room, where he had last seen Dynast. But Dynast was no longer there. He paused for a moment and stood by Sherra's bed. She looked like she was sleeping. He brushed back the tufts of stray hair that stuck out by her ears. That had always bothered him. Her scruffy hair made her look rather boyish. For the first time he noticed that she had a fairly pretty face. He remembered her eyes. They were the color of peridot gems, and always expressive. Grau had always been able to tell what kind of mood Sherra was in by looking into her eyes. When he was first introduced to her, he was appalled at the thought of having another incompetent girl as his partner. Never before had he come so close to telling Dynast off. But working with her turned out to be more tolerable than he had anticipated. She was a smart girl, and polite. She never got discouraged despite the fact that he and Dynast sometimes treated her harshly. He remembered all the nights when he and Sherra stayed up late playing chess. She was quite good. He remembered the first time she beat him at swordplay. She had always been a good sport. But now...now she was a lifeless shell who would never play chess or spar or cry or borrow his books or worry about displeasing Dynast or come to him for advice or try to look proper and dignified despite her unmanageable hair again. Grau thought about what Claudio had said. She had given her life fighting Lina Inverse to save them. Any Mazoku could be expected to sacrifice themselves in defense of their master. But one who would do it for the sake of her underlings was special indeed. He wondered who Dynast would find to replace her. He hoped it would be someone he could suffer. At least it wouldn't be Claudio.

Grau located Dynast again in his throne room. Dynast sat back in his throne, his hands laced together and a brooding look in his icy blue eyes. "Do you have anything to report, Grau?" he said. His voice was very flat and cold, even more than usual.

"I wouldn't count on making Claudio your new general. That boy's as good as dead," Grau said sardonically.

"Are there any other Mazoku in my ranks that are suitable for promotion?" Dynast thought aloud. Lacking a general certainly put a damper on his military campaign.

"Good one, Grau. I must go have a talk with Lord Shabranigdo. Keep an eye on Claudio. I expect a full report when I return."

Dynast located Shabranigdo's astral signature and transported himself next to it. He was sitting at a bar, face down in a puddle of his own drool. Dynast shook his head in dismay and tried to prod the dark lord back into consciousness.

Shabranigdo regarded his general through bleary eyes. "Grausherra? What'r you doin' here?"

Dynast bristled. No one except for Lord Shabranigdo ever called him Grausherra. "I have a matter of some importance to discuss with you," he said coolly.

"My general has just been killed by Xellos, and without a Hellmaster, I have no way to resurrect her."

"Xellos? Why would he do something like that?" Shabranigdo said as he tried to remain balanced in his seat.

"If you want an answer to that question, you'd best ask the Greater Beast. Sherra was engaged in combat with a sorceress when Xellos attacked and killed her. A shameless act of treachery, sire."

"Now about your general," said Shabranigdo. " Why don't you just make a new one?"

"Well, it took the better part of two centuries to train Sherra properly. There's no guarantee that I'll be able to find a suitable human for her replacement."

"I can see that her death has put you in a bind. I'll give you your girl back, but I want you to take another priest and another general. "

"Quit your griping. You should be thanking me for my generosity. Now go home. I'll send a messenger when the time comes to reclaim your general."

Inside Shabranigdo's head, the voice of Lei Magnus offered his two cents. 'You know, he did have a point.'

'How could I trust a human? Gaav turned human on me and it fucked him up royally.'

'You needn't worry. Believe me, this one will be loyal all right. Yes, she'll be loyal.'

'Because I'm a genius and you need my help. Need I remind you whose idea it was to keep Dynast busy by letting him take over the world? And force him to invest more of his power in his minions?'

'He's heartless and arrogant and he has the power to destroy you in your current state. This does not bode well for your survival, my friend. Need I remind you that we have to live long enough to find your other five parts.'

'Hey! What's all this WE stuff? Hmmm....I'd like to give him the guy that kicked my ass at poker a while ago. The guy with long hair and nice clothes.'

'Did you see the woman he was with? The one who was sneaking him cards. I guess the humans would call her a babe.'

'Yes, we would call her that. I remember the one. Probably either his lover or an expensive prostitute.'

'For once, I'm willing to agree with you. But wouldn't it have been more logical to have him create two new servants? It would use up more of his power.'

'Initially, yes. But human servants require more in the long run. Just trust me on this.'

She tightened her grip on the black and white hilt of the sword. She swung it again. The green tassel hanging from the pommel swished and the damascus blade glinted in the sun, but other than that, nothing.

"Just give up, Lina," said Zelgadis. He and the rest of her companions were relaxing in the sun at a safe distance behind her.

"Miss Lina, you shouldn't have taken that! You have no respect for the dead!" Amelia scolded.

"You expected me to just leave it there for anyone to find? It's my responsibility to make sure that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Besides, this sword is legendary!" Lina yelled back at her.

"I don't like the idea of you having a sword that turns people into monsters. It's evil, Miss Lina!" Amelia protested.

"Come on, Amelia. You should know I'd never use it for that. I just want to get it to do some of those cool attacks we saw," Lina rationalized.

"I'm working on it!" Lina turned her attention back to the sword. She was getting pissed off. "Come on, I know you're a weapon of mass destruction. Do something!"

"A wise guy, eh?" Lina growled. She shook her head. This was stupid. She was starting to talk to the thing like it was a person. How could she be so ridiculous? On second thought, maybe this is a waste of time.

Lina was suddenly struck with a bright idea. "Hey, you're 1/3 demon. You try it, Zel!"

"Keep that thing away from me. There's something about that sword I just don't like." Zelgadis said.

"Maybe, to get it to do what you want, you just have to ask it nicely," said Gourry in an attempt to be helpful.

"I'm not going to beg a sword, Gourry. I have my pride. But I guess I should ask Xellos about it when he comes back." Lina said.

"My guess is that he had some serious explaining to do about our fight with Sherra," said Lina. "But he did save us from her. You should be more grateful, Zel. Xellos isn't bad all the time."

From a distance, Claudio watched his targets through a spyglass. The fact that the Inverse girl had kept Doulgofa with her made her almost pathetically easy to locate. Now the foolish girl was trying to make the sword submit to her will. It was almost laughable. Doulgofa had always been very particular about who its master was, something that Claudio sympathized with completely. He scanned the area around the girl and her companions. No sign of Xellos. That was definitely an advantage. Claudio breathed a sigh of relief. He collapsed his spyglass. Sherra had had one almost identical to his. Claudio's heart ached as he placed the spyglass in his coat pocket. He immediately attempted to push the feeling aside. This was neither the time nor the place to grieve over her. He raised his sword, and signaled to the lesser Mazoku soldiers he had brought with him to attack.

'Damn,' Grau thought as he felt himself being summoned. 'This was just about to get entertaining.' The landscape around him disappeared and was replaced by Dynast's throneroom. Grau bowed to Dynast. "You rang?"

"Claudio has engaged Lina Inverse. Xellos wasn't with her, so he may actually have a chance."

"Wouldn't it be unreasonable to expect one of his background to follow orders like any other Mazoku? With Sherra gone, he can't be relied on."

"Of course, if he should happen to kill Miss Inverse, that would also be to our advantage. She is still a threat to your plans, after all. If Shabranigdo isn't going to punish Beastmaster Zellas for Sherra's death, he'll have no grounds to hold you responsible for Lina's."

"No." Dynast said. "I have a far more important assignment for you. Shabranigdo has granted me permission to resurrect Sherra. A messenger arrived minutes ago and informed me that the way to hell has been reopened. You will go with this messenger. Get Sherra and return her to me." Dynast snapped his fingers, and a sullen-looking man in a brown cloak appeared in the room.

Grau travelled through hell, the former playground of Hellmaster Phibrizzo, with the one who called himself 'Vrumugen'. He wasn't much of a talker, which suited Grau just fine. They soon arrived at Phibrizzo's fortress. Vrumugen bade him wait in the throneroom, and Grau obliged. He was a bit startled when a woman with short black hair appeared. She was wearing a black cape and spiked shoulderguards, long black gloves, and an obscenely short black dress. "You're Dynast Grausherra's minion, I presume?" she said.

The woman laughed. "I'm the new Hellmaster, of course. It's my first day on the job. The man who brought you here is my servant."

"You seem surprised," she said. "How else could it be possible for you to reclaim someone's soul? A new hellmaster had to be appointed. At least, that's what Lord Shabranigdo explained to me. He's informed me of Dynast's situation. I think it's a pity. Masters and their servants shouldn't be separated like that."

The Hellmaster snapped her fingers. A large clear crystal appeared, hovering in the air. Sherra was inside. The crystal around her disappeared and Sherra dropped to the floor. Grau quickly moved to catch her. Her eyelids fluttered open. She looked disoriented for a moment, but swiftly came to her senses. "Grau....you came for me...."

Grau suddenly realized that he still had his arms around her. He quickly released her. "It would seem that Dynast still requires your services," he said.

"Well, I'll be going now," said the Hellmaster. "I have lots of work to do yet. You can show yourselves out." She vanished in a swirl of black cape and leather.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought so," said Grau. He stepped towards her and put his hand on her arm. "Let's go home, Sherra."

"It's just that....I failed him...I'm not good enough for him. I can't protect him."

Sherra had never been able to lie. He could tell by the way she was staring at the floor. There was another reason, but she would never tell him what. "Dynast bears you no ill will. He has given you a second chance. You can't throw that away."

"Just go. Neither of you will have to worry about me anymore," Sherra was crying very hard now.

In a very human gesture, Grau put his arms around her. She seemed to calm down a bit. He leaned close to her ear and whispered, "My orders were to return you to Dynast. Your consent has nothing to do with it."

Sherra looked very shocked and angry as they disappeared from the Hellmaster's throneroom.

Sherra awoke to find herself back in her room in Dynast's castle. She felt woozy. The first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was her lord standing by her bed watching over her. Something moving caught her eye. Grau was just leaving the room. The sound of the door shutting behind him made her ears ring. She shifted her weight onto her elbow and tried to sit up. Dynast placed a hand on her shoulder and firmly pushed her back down. He shook his head. "You're still weak, and you will be for some time. You need to rest," he said.

Her memories came flooding back to her. It seemed like she was waking from an unpleasant dream.

"Why have you brought me back? Am I really worth all the trouble I've caused you?"

He lifted her chin with his hand and looked into her eyes. "I need you, Sherra. Nothing could ever replace you."

Kind words from Dynast? This was new. It felt good. Sherra smiled as she returned her lord's gaze. Somehow his eyes seemed softer and less cold than usual.

"Thank you, Dynast-sama," she said. It was a wonderful feeling to know that he needed her. Perhaps she could forgive Grau for abducting her.

A sudden worry snapped her out of her euphoria. Claudio. He must be terribly worried about her. She wondered how he reacted to news of her death.

Dynast watched Sherra's expression change from one of beatitude to one of anxiety. She shakily tried to stand up. "I have to see Claudio," she said, "Where is he?" She fell forward, and Dynast caught her. A bit reluctantly, he told her.

"Claudio's one of my men," Sherra protested. "He's my responsibility. I'm not going to sit here and let him die! Let me go, Dynast. "

He could have forbade her. It was foolish to let her risk her life to save her lieutenant. But he could see in her eyes that she cared deeply about her servant. "Go then. I understand," Dynast said.

The fight was not going well for Claudio. The lesser Mazoku had served to keep Lina's companions busy, but they were mostly gone now. He had managed to separate Lina from her allies and drive her into the forest, but it was only a matter of time before they caught up. He would either have to defeat her quickly or be forced to retreat.

Lina frantically tried to avoid the longsword held by the golden-haired boy that seemed to be hell-bent on seeing her blood. It wasn't easy, either. The guy was good. Judging from the uniform he wore, he was one of Sherra's lackeys. Why do people she killed ALWAYS have to have fanatic flunkies out to avenge them?

"You know, you've really got the wrong person. I didn't kill Sherra, you know!" Lina shouted as she ran. Maybe she could rationalize with him.

That seemed to piss him off even more. "It doesn't matter!" he yelled back at her. "You're responsible! It's you're fault she died!"

Maybe she could try an appeal to pity. "Oh, please don't hurt me! I'm just an innocent girl!"

No good. Oh well, she would just have to do things the hard way. "Dragon Slave!" A black and red stream of energy issued from her hands as she called on the power of Shabranigdo. When the fallout from the explosion cleared, there was a sizable crater where her attacker used to be.

Claudio laughed to himself. Sherra had shown him how to survive a fatal attack by retreating into the astral plane.

Her fear was confirmed when she heard the sound of a sword whooshing through the air. She turned around just in time to block with Doulgofa. They locked swords.

"Well if you want this sword so bad, YOU CAN HAVE IT!" she yelled as she lunged toward him.

For the second time in his life, Claudio felt Doulgofa being run through his chest. He fell backwards. He was quite surprised to feel someone catch his fall. He looked up to see an angel with scruffy blue braided hair smiling down at him. She placed her hand on Doulgofa's hilt, pulled it from his body, and raised it into the air with one elegant motion. Then, with a graceful swing of her arm she sent a black shockwave attack towards Lina Inverse.

Lina was so shocked to see Sherra suddenly appear that the attack from her sword took her completely off-guard. She frantically dove out of the way at the last second. When she looked up, both Mazoku had disappeared.


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