"Long ago..." I sit and watch her tell the tale of the Crystal Lake, her eyes gleam with the satisfaction of having all the attention focussed on her. That is until Zelgadis interrupts, "I was just getting to that part!" She yells at him, Zel merely rolls his eyes. I wonder if her wants to tempt Chaos like that, Lina I mean, she is as independent, reckless, and fiery tempered as of the one who had once controlled her.
"Whoever has defeated Shabrignido raise your hand."
My mind may not be the fastest and my memory is even slower, so needing clarification I raise my own hand, much like a school boy who needing a question answered.
"Put your hand down stupid!" She snaps at me, my memory working hard to remember.
"Ne, Lina I might have defeated Shabbydingle. I don't really remember what he looked like or anything, was he tall?"
Having faced many opponents on the road of travel it gets hard to remember all of them, I hear Xelloss laughing and he tells Shabbydingle was a short man with lots of moles. Almost seeing his image in my mind, I spot that Lina is done choking Xelloss and is now yelling, I mean 'talking loudly' to me.
"...Dark Lord of the Mazoku Race!!"
Still not coming.
"Big red thing, looks kinda like a crab." Zel prompts, ah there he is!
His ugly image flashes through my mind, "Right I remember!" I turn to Xelloss, "Isn't he your boss or something?"
Xelloss smiles, "Or something."
"Wont he be mad that you told us about his mole problem?" I ask innocently, Lina looks like she might cry and Zel has a pained look on his face. The rest of the group then talk about the lake and confirm the fact that we are going.
"We'd better get some sleep then." I say trying to make up for my stupidity before with a word of caution. As everyone begins to bed down I find my mind wandering again, it does it a lot actually. My mind dwells on what I'll do after my youth is behind me, the image of a country cottage fills my mind. One of which I constantly visit in my dreams, the kitchen warm and stocked with food and the scent of nutmeg or sweet spices drifting all throughout the home. But living alone is so boring, and what of Lina? An easy answer of course, she'll live with me! And an image of her appears as well, she is dressed in a yellow sundress with a bouquet of wildflowers in her hand, her eyes warm and familiar. Her fire red hair cascading down her back, lips the color of a blushing bride. Yet these images break when I sense the feeling of someone unwelcome, something abnormal. I slit open one of my eyes, and barley make out Xelloss. He sits, watching us much like his mistress, he waits for his prey to come into his trap. We are but toys to him, fun to play with, breakable and in the end disposable.
Anger begins to pulse within, for he takes an extra long look at Lina, his masked purple eyes slip over her. His happy smile turns smug and leering, the thought of him being attracted and wanting her makes me sick with anger. If he ever tried anything, tried any of his tricks on lust, passion, feeding, and torture on her....
Silently I swear to prevent these things, to keep Lina as innocent and pure as she was now, until forever.
During the day Zelgadis seemed extremely anxious, and especially mean to Amelia who's middle name to be delay, I feel sorry for the girl she has her father's love of justice but can't seem to stand on her own two feet. I hear Amelia beginning to bawl her eyes out, the feeling of pity gets stronger. Lina solves this problem immediately, after screeching at Zel to apologize Amelia seems to be okay, and as we begin to travel along again I walk next to her and pat her on the head.
"You okay?" I ask sweetly, her tears have dried but a sadness is still in her large expressive eyes, perhaps feeling bad about delaying us, or for the fact that her crush just yelled at her and only apologized after Lina had screeched at him. I hope inwardly she'll get over it, happy, justice loving Amelia is so much better than the sad one.
Heading northward towards the mountains of Dakmorgan, I spot Lina constantly glancing Xelloss' way and again this burns for he usually tips her a wink which makes the anger boil inside. While getting set up for the night under the stars I find myself drawing near Amelia, since nobody else in the group was very talkative, Zel was quiet and determined to get to his goal, Lina was tense, and Xelloss was blindly staring at the darkness. I ask Amelia if she would like to come with me to look for fire wood, she nods and we set off into the forest but she seems distracted.
"Amelia?" I ask, sauntering closer with a bundle of wood in my arms. Her face is troubled by something, "Princess?" I say louder and she finally looks up into my face.
"Oh? Sorry Mr.Gourry, I guess I was just daydreaming.." I nod, knowing a lot on the subject. She smiles and takes the wood from me and heads back to camp, shouting over her shoulder that she'll start dinner. I take my time in getting back, letting the shadowed trees sway in the wind, which lightly smells like distant wildflowers, drizzled in a crisp frost. A clean, crisp smell but with a warm feeling. Once back at camp I pat Amelia's shoulder, "Thanks for the help princess." She smiles warmly at me and I have to resist the urge to hug her!
"Princess?" Zelgadis asks tearing his gaze away from the stars, he has one stone eyebrow raised. I smile and shrug, the nickname I have given her is one of endearment, Amelia reminds me of all the innocence in the world! She reminds me of my little sister, how she used to play in the field's around the house, how her blue eyes sparkled like night stars, Amelia's are just the same.
It's nice for the quiet for a moment but Amelia speaks up from her position by the fire, "Nice night for star gazing." Zel nods, and my mind wanders back to my little sister's eyes then it progresses to my entire family, all their smiles welcoming and soft. I take out the Hikari no ken and begin to polish the blade, liking the way the blade gleams a warm red in the fire's light the sword have being passed down the family line it fills me with a feeling of comfort.
"Mukashi mukashi..." I hear Xelloss begin his story about his wolf woman and for the most part it reminds me of his mistress. At the end of his tale everyone begins to bed down, the fire's light dwindling into darkness. I see Lina shifting around, uneasy and I almost move to comfort her to go ask her what's wrong but I restrain myself, best to leave it along she's tired and needs her sleep. I roll over and let the cottage dream drift into my mind like mist.
Travelling is hard on the soul as well as the feet, we reach an inn and everyone is grateful. And during dinner I pause and look over to Zel who of course is only having coffee, "You know Zel," I comment "I know why you run so fast it's because of all the coffee you drink! It's a caffeine rush!" He chuckles and I resume my eating, and after our full meal is done Lina announces she's going to bathe and then it's off to bed. Everyone else toddles off to bed and I am left at the table now cluttered with used dishes, after a while a young waitress begins to try and clear the massive amount of dishes. She is very pretty, with soft, wavy strawberry blonde hair that is pulled loosely from her face with a red bandanna, I smile and grab a large amount of the dishes and she looks shocked at first but then grateful. Once they have been cleared we stand in the kitchen, she smiles up at me and asks why I helped her out. Her voice is noticeably soft but has a slight accent, one that purrs on the r's in her sentences. I smile back and reply, "Because it’s my duty to help ladies that are in trouble."
She looks down and blushes, "Thank you very much." She says and I nod and turn to leave, but she places a hand on my wrist and when I turn I find her lips on my cheek, kissing me softly like a summer breeze. She turns bright red, it almost hiding the small mole she has under her left eye. I start to go a little red myself, when a voice interrupts us.
"Felipa!!! C'mon you got two more tables!" She looks up once more into my eyes and then bustles off quickly.
Once in my room I draw up the image of her, recalling her eyes. Which were positively the most beautiful I have ever seen, they had been large and had cat pupils, long thick lashes and were an amazing emerald green.
Which held no reflection.
The next day, on the road again Lina looks extremely tired and sore, it showed when and how she walked, but when I asked her about it she just said that she had a late night. Suspicion set in like it always does when Lina doesn't tell me something, but I dismiss it hoping that she would tell me someday. The day was filled with silence, Naga even stopped laughing for it was only met with hostility. At sunset we prepare to camp out once again under the gleaming stars, Amelia was preparing the fire, Naga was drinking (she needs to admit she has a problem), and Zel was a little ways off from camp. Me? I sat on the ground humming, bored, concerned and restless. Lina had now gone over to Zel and said his name softly. I could hear the two of them talking, most people don't realize that my hearing is excellent, being half elf does that. So I continue to hum quietly, listening to their conversation, not eavesdropping but more out of concern. If Lina wouldn't tell me her problem, she would tell Zelgadis.
"I don't want to hear it." He said coldly.
"Well too bad 'cause your gonna!" She replied angry, and getting upset. "Look Zel, I know your uncomfortable about the..thing....that happened last night but try to understand. It just got out of hand."
"You mean that 'thing' where you were fucking the Mazoku?!"
It cuts deep into my heart and soul, like a dagger that has a deadly poison on the blade. I hold back tears and my breath is shaky, please no...let it be anything but that...
But it had been said, and I had heard it.
When we finally reached the mountains of Dakmorgan we decide to head north but it wasn't easy, there were a great deal of jutting rocks and crumbling soil and at one point Amelia almost fell but being behind her I caught her easily. As the mountain ground started to slope downwards Lina tried to get a look at the surrounding area, and as she crawled out onto a large rock something in my stomach began to strain.
"Be careful Lina," I warn, the feeling getting worse.
"Don't worry about me," she says, and then it happened, something that was incredibly dark and powerful lashed out and Lina fell. My mind stopped instantly, my body froze and I couldn't move to help her. Zel was then sliding down the hill to catch her, and once they had come saftly to a stop my mind kicked in and I took off as well, I landed about 7 feet from them but the sight still broke my heart. Zel and Lina were kissing, and my heart was breaking but shoving those thoughts aside I called to them and trotted over. Hiding the pain, Amelia came down next and attacked Lina and insisted on healing her, "Where's Xelloss?" Lina asked, I looked at Amelia and we both shrugged. Naga spoke up, "He disappeared after you fell, you fell and he got this weird look on his face and phased out."
Lina nodded and spoke softly, "Maybe we should find a place to rest a while."
Lina and Zelgadis both leave camp and I sit in front of the fire, letting the flames lick and dance in my eyes, Amelia comes over to me with a bowl of soup and a cup of cider. She offers me them and even though they both smell delicious I decline, "No thanks princess, I'm not really hungry." Her eyes go wide and her mouth hangs open, so wide with innocence I find that I can't keep back my words or lie to her.
"Amelia, I'm just...felling bad about not protecting Lina."
She blinks cutely, "Oh Mr.Gourry! Why?"
I sigh, deeper than I meant to, "I didn't save her when she fell or when..."
Amelia wraps her small arms around me with surprising strength, "Mr.Gourry don't be so hard on yourself!! Besides, Mr.Zelgadis managed to get to her in time."
Somehow that makes me feel worse, knowing that between Xelloss and Zel they had gotten every part of Lina I loved and I knew I could never regain them. Because the honest truth of it was that to Lina and everyone else all I was, was the not too swift swordswinger sidekick. So I let Amelia comfort me and tell he how it wasn't my fault, my dreams and hopes diminishing.
As the breaks over the horizon it sheds new light and hopes upon the awakening world, inspiring and motivating.
Yeah right. I can barley bring myself to get up, and after our meal Xelloss pops out of no where and cheerfully announces that he has known for a while where the lake has been, to say the least Lina is not happy with him. And as Xelloss leads us towards the lake the same straining feeling returns to the pit of my stomach, and it begins to turn and germinate. The lake itself is eerily silent, nothing was around or in the lake, only the smooth waters undisturbed by a single ripple or wave.
"It's creepy," Amelia comments from beside me and I nod and absently put a hand on my sword, I hear Xelloss and Lina arguing but only faintly. For my mind and hearing is focused mainly on the lake, there almost seemed to be a crackling, silent, powerful energy swimming around it.
"Now we wait."
Three days pass, and the lake never stirred.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!! You call yourselves LAKE SPIRITS?!" Lina screeched at the lake's smooth surface, angry. Nothing happened.
Zelgadis sighed, "Give it up Lina, I don't think...." The painful, straining feeling was instantly worse and I clutched my gut and looked up and was in time to see 4, female like crystal beings emerge from the lake.
WE HAVE BEEN SUMMONED, the strange creatures spoke in the mind
YOU WISH TO POSSES THE POWER OF THE CRONE'S LOOKING GLASS
Lina stepped forward, "Yes." She spoke up, the spirit's blank eyes gazed past Lina and onto Zelgadis.
YOU, CHIMERA WILL PAY THE PRICE.
I see Xelloss, his cheerful smile was replaced by his cruel grin, "They are ancient." He whispered smugly, "And they are hungry."
My mind focused immediately, if Zel wanted the looking glass he would have to....!
"They desire sexual intercourse." Xelloss completed, grinning in his shadows.
"No." Zelgadis said after a moment of deep thought, looking at Lina.
"What?!" Xelloss choked out, and I smile because of the look on his face. Take that you little snot! My mind thinks bitterly, "That is a price I am not willing to pay." Zel says to the spirits, and they hissed the sound of smooth water in the fire and rejoined with the unmoving lake.
"Zel you moron! That was your chance!" Lina cried out exasperated, and Zel came over to her and placed his hands on her shoulders and whispered to her.
"I couldn't hurt you like that," my ears picking up their conversation and it makes my heart collapse.
"I love you Lina." He embraces her and she whispers back, "I love you too."
I turn away and bite back tears, but turn when I hear Xelloss voice speak up, filled with disbelief and almost panic.
"The hell with this!" I look at him, and....L Sama was he crying? That must mean that he....!
He laughs bitterly, "Mazoku can't love. Humans are our toys, nothing more than a cheap form of entertainment." He spat the words at her, "I've never been very careful with my playthings. They break too easily..." He points his staff at her, "Lets hope you are more durable..."
Xelloss pointed his staff at Lina, it pulsing like a dying heart. He means to kill her, I have to think fast! Drawing my sword I run forward, one quick turn of the wrist and I have parted flesh and I hear him laugh, he bats me away. I land hard, my mind screams at me to get up and save Lina, but my sword can't so anything...the Hikari no Ken however.....
I hear Amelia and Zelgadis chanting the Rah-Tilt and I silently leap to my feet, running at the bastard, silent vaults, I draw forth my own power.
"Hikari-O!!"
The blade of energy shoots up from the hilt, and I reel it down. Xelloss swears under his breath and slinks out of the way. Striking upwards, he still manages to slip away....to beside Lina.
And the two shimmer for a minute, then disappear.
Zelgadis fell to his knees, tears brimming in his eyes, whispering his denial over and over again. "No. No, no, no." I stand in shock, my features drawn. My heart beating loudly, he had taken her away and I had no idea if she would be back... My eyes catch a slight glisten in the air that has been filled with so much sadness, what I see makes my heart catch in my throat an overwhelming sense of relief.
"Lina!" I cry out joyfully.
Zelgadis' head jerks up, his eyes widening and he scrambles to his feet and runs to her, sweeping her into his arms. Lina laughs, her laughter shinning in her eyes, he spins her around a few times before stopping and placing her on the ground. He kisses her once, not shyly either, and then runs a hand over her face.
"I thought..." he begins,
"Hah! You have so little faith! Did you think one puny Mazoku could get rid of the famed sorceress Lina Inverse?"
My heart aches but I walk over to the two of them anyway, "Glad you're okay, Lina."
I say keeping my eyes turned away from her, I don't want her to see the pain in them. Or the fact that I had been crying, typical male behavior huh?
"Where 's Xelloss?" Zelgadis asks, protectively.
"I don't know. But I have a feeling we won't be seeing him for a while." Lina replies, and I have a feeling that she's wrong somehow...he will pop back up...for a reason he will keep secret.
Night filters into our camp and we say our usual goodnights, Lina lies near Zelgadis, Naga is close to Amelia and I stand, fully awake. Kneeling down next to Lina I look at her, feeling my pain and remorse overwhelming and well up inside. I pick up a small and delicate flower and place it in her fire red hair, brushing my face to hers, lips to her ear I whisper weakly, "Goodbye Lina, I'm sorry I couldn't protect you..."
And after a moments hesitation I softly kiss her lips, like a warm spring breeze.
"I love you..." I whisper to her, tears slipping down my face, my voice shaking.
I pick up my belongings and leave my light, my love, my lady behind me, with pain in my heart and crystal tears in my eyes.