Pain burned in Zelgadis' lungs as he dropped to the ground, the petite sorceress in his arms tumbling over the mossy clearing carpet. They laid still for what seemed like eternity, the only sounds being those of their heavy breathing.
"Zel?" She finally spoke. "You okay?"
"... no." He managed to gasp, annoyed by the question. Of course I'm not okay! I just ran four days' travel in little over three hours, with a passenger! Hell, it'll be a miracle if I'm 'okay' anytime within the next twenty-four hours!
"You're not ...not going to go into cardiac arrest and die, are you?" She crawled over to him and checked his pulse. Strong, even and fast, his heart showed no sign of going into arrest.
"Hope not." He greedily took in the fresh air, eyes closed against light.
"Good, then let's take the rest of the day easy so you can recover." She collapsed next to him, falling asleep almost immediately. Unable to follow suit, Zelgadis could only watch the blessed peace settle over her.
For at least an hour, he could do nothing but breathe and watch. During this time, he noticed Lina gravitated towards the warmest object around, which, unfortunately, was him. Exhaling loudly as she wound her self into the crook of his arm, he briefly pondered his imminent execution by the red-head. Then, at last, he slept.
Zelgadis' dreams were, as usual, nightmare. The shattered bodies of his comrades lay strewn over the battle field, a testimony to the power of his enemy. He reached for the tiny spark of hope hidden deep within his emotional reserves, only to find his opponent had stolen it as well.
"You should have given up while you had the chance, Runecaster." The man in the blue cloak laughed, shaking his hostage like a rag doll. "All these deaths are your fault, now. Think of it, they wouldn't have died if you hadn't fought us."
"Shut up..." he growled. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!"
"Your fault." The man sneered, throwing the limp body to the chimera's feet. "Especially that one."
Horror was all he knew, staring into the glassy scarlet pools of her dead eyes.
"Damn you to the thirteenth pit of HELL!" Zelgadis screamed his rage over the death of his closest friend. His aura spiked dangerously, hints of gold on the carmine and ebony energy. The cloaked man was not startled in the least when the shaman charged him, blade unsheathed.
"A foolish choice," he laughed, sidestepping the attack. Zelgadis' "lucky streak" held strong, and he quickly found out the hard way that there was now a large pit into a lake of liquid rock. Heat from the volcano seared his face as he balanced precociously on the edge, barely having stopped in time. The caped man sighed in disappointment, then grabbed the dead sorceress' body and threw it at the shaman. The corpse hit him in the back, sending him reeling into the drop. By sheer grace of L-sama he was able to grab the ledge.
"Persistent little bastard, aren't you?" The voce that mocked him was one he had feared he wouldn't hear again. "Just couldn't die like you were supposed to, could you?" The heel of her boot came down hard on his hand, and his eyes were filled with shock and pain.
"L-L-Lina..." He stuttered, almost losing his grip. Hadn't she been dead just a moment ago?
"It's your fault I died, damn you!" she swore, kneeling over him. "They wouldn't have slaughtered all those innocent people if you had died when you were supposed to; they wouldn't have killed me."
"I-I-I..." he gulped as she lifted him up by the collar of his shirt until they were face to face.
"You could have prevented all this bloodshed, Runecaster." She snarled. "It's all your fault."
Zelgadis' lips twisted involuntarily into a corrupted smile, his lowered head causing shadows to become a visor to his face. His shoulders trembled with the mad laughter building inside him, and he began to shake violently in his attempt to contain the sound.
"What are you laughing at?" she demanded, roughly jolting him.
"Lina never calls me Runecaster." His voice was hoarse as he grinned psychotically. "You can't be Lina. And if you're not Lina..."
She took a step back as his eyes glowed like molten gold.
"Then we won't regret killing you!" He laughed like a madman, aureate waves of destruction bombarding the false Lina. A scream, and the red haired imposter was ripped apart on a molecular level.
"Hate you..." Her last words echoed hauntingly through the chasm of his dream.
"Hate me, he breathed. "Hate me, hate me, hate me!" He screamed, tearing his throat raw with the force of the cries. "HATE ME!"
"Zel!" A sharp pain in his left cheek broke him from his slumber, and his sapphire eyes flew open.
"Lina!" he drew in a sharp breath, relaxing as she crossly whapped him upside the head with a mysteriously appearing bunny slipper.
"Dammit, Zel, how am I supposed to get any sleep?!" She snapped. "You're screaming 'hate me' at the top of your lungs, it's a wonder you didn't blow out your vocal cords."
"I... I'm sorry." He cracked a weak smile, trying to put her at ease.
"More nightmares?" She arced a slender copper eyebrow, sarcasm thick in her voice.
"Yeah..." he blushed, averting his attention. "It's still dark; we can probably get a few more hours' sleep..."
The flustered sorceress flopped over on her side and wrapped herself tighter in her cloak. A small sweatdrop rolled down the side of his face as he sighed and laid down. But the young shaman did not sleep again that night; he merely waited for the sunrise with apathetic eyes.