Lina Inverse looked at her reflection again in the ripples of water. She sighed as she sat cross-legged down and hugged her legs. She stared into the sight of the forest right across the lake. Then she diverts her attention to her reflection. Again. She took a deep breath and felt a tear trailing down her soft cheeks. She hugged her legs tighter. How she felt so insecure. Insecure? Hah! Lina Inverse? Insecure?! People would laugh at her. Her friends would laugh at her if they'd ever saw her cry. Well.. not likely but who knows. Lina doesn't know how'd it happened but suddenly she was sobbing softly. She buried her face in her knees. She could feel her knees became damp. But who cares? There's no one to see her right now.
I miss Zephilia so much....
Why did she ever run away? Oh, yes. To seek more adventures and treasures. No.. she hadn't regretted that. A little though, but not much. She was homesick every single day. How many years is it already? Two ? Three? One? But she can never go back. Why? Her little ego said so. I can't come back like this. Not now, not ever. She sobbed again.
How much she misses her family. Aside from what she did to Luna and what Luna did to her,... she still misses her oneechan. She remembered the times when they used to crushed the grapes during the grape picking festival to make wine. Oh, what fun she had. And when they played together... but Luna ended up bullying Lina. And her childhood was something to always be in her heart and can never be erased.
Lina lifted her face up and stared into her reflection.. particularly her glossy eyes again. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. She missed her family. To be frank, she felt a little jealous when she saw the bond between Amelia and her father. How close they are. Lina wished she could see her parents again. Be one family again. She couldn't keep it inside her anymore. She just had to let it out. She cried and cried.
Suddenly a pair of hands patted her shoulders comfortingly. Lina need not to look to see who it was. She turned and buried her face in Gourry's chest. Gourry, who was quite surprised by Lina's unusual self said nothing except cradling Lina. Lina finally pushed herself away from Gourry as she wiped her tears. Gourry gave Lina a you-wanna-talk-about-it look. Lina smiled through her tears and gave Gourry an if-you-ever-tell-anyone-about-this-then-I'll .... look. Gourry leaned towards her and carefully caress her cheeks and wiping off her tears at the same time.
"I'll tell Amelia and Zelgadiss you'll be late for dinner," He smiled as he held her shoulders. "Ano... Lina know you are my best friend and you can talk about anything to me!" he grinned as he gave her a thumbs up. Lina sniffed through her tears.
"Baka... who said I was going to be late for dinner," Lina punched playfully at his shoulders. Gourry stood up with Lina in his arms. She leaned against him.
"Oh.." was all he answered. He cleared his throat, "Lina, you know you'll always have me, Zelgadiss and Amelia as your friends, your family," Gourry just blurted it out without thinking. Lina nodded.
"Let's go and get dinner then!!" Lina said as she wiped her last tears. Suddenly much to Gourry's surprise, Lina hugged him.
"Lina..?"
"Thanks....." She said, smiling. He smiled back.