They stopped to eat in a nice little restaurant in the nearest town. Amelia and Gourry inhaled their food...Lina barely picked at it. Zel Decided something was wrong, something was very, very wrong, and he'd better figure out what it was.
So, without a word or a by-your-leave, he promptly picked Lina up, covered her mouth, and high-tailed it out of hearing distance of the town.
He set her down gently and got a ringing slap for his troubles. Not that he hadn't expected it.
"What the hell was that for???" Lina screamed at him angrily. Understandable.
He didn't even blink. "Cut the act." He said evenly.
She hit him in the arm, hurting herself more than him, and not really caring. "What are you talking about, you stone faced creep?" She snarled.
If the comment hurt him, he gave no sign. "Lina..."
"The others are going to get worried. We're going to go back and - "
"We're not doing anything, Lina, until you tell me what's wrong." He replied stubbornly. "Not until I know what's bothering you." He crossed his arms and dared her to contradict him.
Ooooh, he was so infuriating sometimes! And yet...he really was worried...
"Nothings bothering me." She said, calmly. Oops. Now he knew he'd hit it right.
He didn't budge. "Lina, You have been moody and vacant the entire trip. You're pushing everyone as far away as possible and you pretend to be having a wonderful time as you tear yourself to pieces inside. What. Is. Wrong?"
"I'm fine by myself, Zel. I'm a big girl now, and I do as I please." She turned towards the stream. "And I've survived alone before, I can do it again, anytime I feel like it."
To her complete and total surprise, he laughed out loud.
"What?" Lina demanded, embarrassed and a little hurt by his mirth.
Zel smiled sadly. "That's exactly what I told myself when I left the group." He sighed. "It still hurts, doesn't it, Lina? Gourry not minding that you didn't want to marry him - "
She punched him in the jaw so hard his head snapped around and he bit his cheek. "I don't need him!" She screamed at him, punching him in the chest over and over again. He would have hardly felt it, but she couldn't stop. "I don't need anyone!"
Zel just sat there quietly.
"I'm fine! Just leave me alone!" She said, delivering a ringing slap that would have hurt him if he hadn't caught her wrist.
"Lina." He said quietly. "Look at your hands." She stopped and stared.
Scraped and bloody from trying to beat up rock, her hands dripped deep red onto the grass. There were probably even a few broken bones. Zel held them and whispered a recovery spell.
"You forgot that I'm stone, Lina. Again." He put a hand on her shoulder. "Please tell me Lina. I'd help, but I can't if I don't even know what's wrong." He lifted her chin so she looked at him. "Gourry, right? It still hurts."
She nodded slowly. "Of course it does." She said sadly. "You have to truly love a person to even concede to marriage. But..."
"You're confused about your feelings, not sure that you did the right thing. And it hurts that he didn't want to marry you, either."
She sighed. "And it broke off so suddenly! I..." She paused. "I'm not used to this. I don't like not having someone who will hold me when I'm sad, to protect me from silly things when I'm afraid. To be so...alone. I just wanted to close off and smother the pain." She smiled slightly. "I guess you feel that way a lot, don't you?"
"When it comes to loneliness, I'm an expert." He smiled sadly. "Being a monster doesn't help."
"Oh Zel,' she said, reaching for his shoulder, "you're not - "
"On the outside, I am." He replied. "On the inside...I think I was." He turned away. "I was full of hate and anger, Lina. I would stop at nothng to find my cure. I was cruel and heartless. But...you didn't judge me by my looks. You judged me by my actions. You in particular, Lina, keep forgetting I'm even stone at all. No one else ever has."
"Z-zel..."
"He changed the subject abruptly. "Just remember I'm here for you, Lina, no matter what. You always have a shoulder to cry on or a heart to confide to. It's no fun being alone." He frowned. "Believe me, you wouldn't like it. You're not the type who deals well without friends, Lina.
"And even if you've dealt with it before, it's unbelievably worse when you've found companionship only to lose it again." He clapped a hand on he back and smiled. "Shall we head back?"
Lina smiled, a true, happy smile that Zel hated seeing her without. "Yeah."