"Ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?"
"Again."
Gourry effortlessly finished the follow-through of the set of exercises and stepped into the familiar pattern without missing a beat. He remained aware of both himself, the sword and his surroundings. It felt strange - a kind of dualism that he'd grown accustomed to but still unnerved him. He'd learned to control his uneasiness, however, and to accept it.
"Good," Jarix said as the swordsman finished the set of exercises. "Now again only this time spar with me." The Priest stepped forward and lifted his crescent-tipped staff.
The blonde man swung the white metal blade of Graeswandyr around, up, and brought it down onto Jarix's staff. The shorter man thrust upwards as they went through the choreographed paces of the exercise. Gourry grimaced as Graeswandyr pleaded with him to set it free, to deal with this threat in the proper way.
"Fight it," Jarix commanded as he saw Gourry's control waver. "Keep the sword reined in at all times. You are the Master; it is but a tool." This litany had become a familiar counterpart to their sparring sessions.
Gourry strengthened his will, bending the sword's will to his own, making it obey him. He managed, but it didn't feel right. Something was wrong...
Not with the sword, he thought. Graeswandyr was a magnificent blade and he knew it enabled him to be faster and stronger than ever - which was no mean feat. But - controlling it in the manner than Jarix had drilled into him seemed wrong. Forcing it into patterns which it was never meant to fit seemed to...hurt it. And him in some strange, disconnected way. The problem was he couldn't put it into words so he couldn't even explain it to Jarix or the others. He just knew it wasn't right. He may be the expert swordsman here, but he was the odd man out when it came to magic, so he said nothing. Jarix had to be right...wasn't he?
Still it didn't feel right ...
The swordsman and the priest finished the exercise and stepped apart. Gourry turned to face Jarix and saluted before lowering the sword. Jarix inclined his head; his hair was definitely much darker than the shining silver that it had been on the night he'd gone to claim Graeswandyr. In fact, it was nearly black at the roots. He wondered if the others noticed this.
"You've come a long way in the last week, Gourry," Jarix said. "I don't think there's anything more I can teach you about the sword." He set the tip of his staff on the tiled floor and pushed his hair out of his face. He looked intently at Gourry and grinned his trademark lopsided grin. "You've got the best control over the sword that has ever been recorded."
Looking down at the sword that glinted in the dim twilight, Gourry felt a kind of detached elation. "We're ready any time you are, Gourry," a voice said from beside him. He looked up and into Zel's crystalline eyes then into Amelia's wide-open, hopeful ones.
"Tomorrow is the half-moon," Jarix said.
"Then the waiting is over," he said softly. He sheathed Graeswandyr and turned to look at the circle chalked on the floor around the doors behind him. He walked over to it and stood just outside the carefully chalked lines and stared unseeing out the doors. In his mind, all he saw was Lina waiting there for him. "Tomorrow I take back what's mine," he said in a quiet, hard voice.
"Keep your mind open and focus on Lina," Zelgadis said as Gourry stepped up to the circle. "Don't let anything distract you. Once you've opened the link with Lina tell her it's important to try and keep the link open as long as possible. We may need the time to break through the dimensional walls."
"I've done this before, Zel," Gourry said with a grim smile as he put his hand on his friend's shoulder. Odd, he thought to himself, how it was that the others appeared more nervous than he now that the time had come. He was nervous, but he also felt...removed from what they were doing, too. As if he were outside of himself looking in. Each sense was heightened: Everything was all sharp, glittering edges; his hearing was more acute than usual; he could feel the air currents in the Temple against his face and where they lifted his hair; the air had a metallic taste to it that tickled both his tastebuds and his nose. He took a deep breath and reached into his pocket to feel for the lock of bright red hair that was safely tucked away inside.
The Chimera nodded irritably. "I know, I know. Let's get on with this." He turned to Amelia and they took up their positions outside the circle, Zelgadis squarely facing the doors and Amelia on his right. Jarix, wearing his black and white Priest's robes and his hair now a blending of equal parts black and silver, touched his staff to the glass doors. They opened outward to reveal the center of the circle chalked directly underneath it. He stepped back and took up a position opposite Amelia on Zelgadis' left. They'd taught him the spell in the intervening week and he would lend his power to the spell to help boost it.
All that was left was for the fourth member of their group to take his place. The three others looked at him, waiting for him to step into the center of the circle.
He nodded to them, as if acknowledging them and stepped over the lines and took his place in the circuit of power that Zelgadis and Amelia had constructed. He faced outwards, away from the Temple and into the bright mountain sky, so blue and cold and the sunlight so bright it cut like a knife through his eyes. The cold breeze that blew around the Temple lifted his hair and twisted it behind him. He clutched the white-wrapped hilt of the sword that hung at his hip, feeling for the maroon silk scarf tied there.
"Remember, Gourry, under no circumstances don't draw the sword until the portal has finished forming and we're all through. If you do, Graeswandyr will close it down and we'll be back where we started."
He nodded. "I remember," he said over his shoulder. "Let's do it."
Without seeing them, he knew the three of them nodded in agreement. He closed his eyes, shutting out the brilliant sunshine, the endless blue sky, the desolate mountain-top, everything, and thought only of the tiny, red-haired woman with whom he was soulmated. He drew deep within himself for all the memories he held dear going back to when he and Lina had first met. He thought about the wonderful night two and a half months ago when she'd agreed to be his wife. Every scrap of memory he could lay his mental hands on were brought into the bright plait of her copper-red hair, hair of which he was so fond. Forging that image into a blade as sharp and deadly as either the Sword of Light when it had been in his possession or Graeswandyr that hung at his side now, he opened himself up to her. Inside his mind, there was a flash of white light and the bond flared opened inside his heart.
Diving into the bond, he drove himself along it, seeking out the person on the other end. The connection wasn't weak and faint as it had on previous occasions; this time it was strong as steel.
Lina! he shouted, wrapping himself around her and holding her tightly. I'm here!
Gourry?
Yes, it's me, Lina. I'll be there in a few minutes. Just hold on...
Hurry, Gourry! came her joyful reply.
"Gourry!" another voice shouted from behind him. He opened his eyes. "Gourry, look!"
The circle on the floor was glowing incandescent even in the bright sunlight. The light shot upwards around him, sealing him inside a pillar of light. The walls formed by the light shifted and crawled in a way that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Strange images super-imposed themselves over the reality beyond: Dark tunnels, a chaotic sky, black marble floors and walls that stretched to infinity on either side. And there in front of him -
His heart skipped a beat. Standing there in front of him, wearing the dress she'd been wearing the night of Amelia and Zel's reception and her flame-red hair tumbling chaotically around her shoulders was Lina herself. The image was so real, he felt as if he could reach forward and touch her -
Leaning forward, he stretched out his hand to her. "Lina!" he called softly. "Come on!"
She was looking into his eyes, confusion plain on them. After an eternal moment, she looked down at his hand, encased in its usual half-fingered gauntlet with the steel guard around his wrist. Hesitantly, she raised her hand and extended it towards his. Just as her long fingers were about to touch his, though, a stiff wind whipped around the inside of the portal. The walls thickened and were shot through with flashes of lightning as a high-pitched squeal pierced his eardrums. Lina gasped and fell backwards to disappear through the portal wall.
"LINA!!" Gourry shouted desperately. He heard the sound of boots on the marble floor and whirled around and found Xellos standing behind him, his staff raised.
"Well, well, well," the purple-haired Mazoku drawled, looking at him from underneath his long bangs. His amethyst eyes glinted dangerously. "If it isn't Gourry Gabriev. You should have sent word you were coming; I'd've baked a cake." He lowered the head of his staff and pointed the huge ruby at the swordsman. "Unfortunately, Lina-san and I don't want to be disturbed right now, so I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
"No way, Xellos," Gourry growled, his eyes narrowed and glinting as dangerously as Xellos. "I'm taking Lina back. And you're not going to stop me."
Xellos smirked. "And just how are you going to do that, Gourry-san? I seem to remember that the last time you told me something like that, I left you for dead."
"You made the mistake of not making sure I really was dead," Gourry said, gripping the hilt of his sword but not daring to draw it. He risked a quick glance over to where Zelgadis, Amelia and Jarix were desperately trying to do something on the other side of the portal wall. He couldn't hear them; he couldn't hear anything over the electric buzzing of the walls. The walls were growing thicker and darker, making it harder to see his friends.
"I won't be making that mistake again, you can count on it." Xellos took a step to the right, putting himself between Gourry and the others. "I wouldn't count on them for help; they're not going to be able to get through the portal walls. I've made this our own little battleground, you see. Just you and me, Gourry-san, and no one to interrupt us. One on one, as you would say. Isn't that what you want?" Xellos' smirk turned feral. Almost, it seemed as if his teeth grew longer, becoming sharp, white fangs.
Seeing he was on his own, Gourry turned his full attention to the Mazoku priest and against all possibility, his eyes grew even harder and colder. They sparkled clear and hard as diamonds, but the blue in them was the cold, deep blue of space.
"I want my wife back," he rasped. The electric buzz was drowned out by the sound of steel scraping on steel as he drew the white blade of Graeswandyr and faced Xellos squarely. "But if that's the way you want it, let's do it."
Xellos' lips curled upwards in satisfaction only to turn downwards in a confused frown as the walls of the portal started to collapse. He gestured with his staff towards them and they flared once before dying completely -
Just before the world exploded.
"Gourry!"
"Gourry-san!"
Amelia and Zelgadis both beat on the portal walls. They had thickened into glass-like solidity and no matter what they tried, nothing seemed to scratch them. Helplessly they watched Xellos and Gourry face off. The swordsman gripped the hilt of his sword tightly as he glanced at them.
"No," Jarix whispered. "He can't. He mustn't!"
The other two looked at him. "What?" Amelia asked.
"He's going to draw Graeswandyr!"
"What choice does he have? He can't stand by and let Xellos kill him!"
"You don't understand! If he draws the sword, it will shut the portal! It will trap him inside, possibly kill him!" Jarix thrust the tip of his staff against the wall in desperation. "We've got to get through!"
"How?" the Chimera demanded. "I'll gladly help you, if you just tell us how!" His voice rose as he shouted at the Priest.
"I don't know! Just...do something! Cast the spell again!"
Zel froze. "Will that work?"
"How do I know?! I've never done this sort of thing before! But if we don't do it, we may lose our only chance of finding out!"
"All right, all right!" Zelgadis turned back to the circle. "Come on, Amelia," he said. "Let's get started." They took their places and Zelgadis began reciting the spell.
Jarix and Amelia accompanied him, adding their power and strength to the matrix formed by the spell. Jarix grimaced as he saw Xellos gesture with his staff at the walls and they thickened more in response. However, Zel finished the spell and said the final words to seal it and the chalk outline on the floor flared brighter than ever. The walls thinned and they could see beyond Xellos to where Gourry stood glaring at the Mazoku.
And drew Graeswandyr. For several horrible seconds it seemed time stood still -
Just before the world exploded.
Scuffscuffscuff...
Lina sat with her chin in her hands and stared at the floor in front of her. She tapped her slipper restlessly, wondering idly if Gourry was ever going to show up. She was getting quite tired of waiting and almost wished Xellos would show up so she could at least have someone to yell at. Sighing, she scuffed her shoe some more.
Scuffscuffscuff...
"My dear Lina-san," a familiar voice said from behind her. "Why so glum?"
"Go to hell, Xellos," she muttered without looking around. She heard him walk up behind her and pause. The hair on her neck bristled and she itched to turn around and slap him, but she steeled herself to remain impassive. Reacting to his presence would only give him pleasure. So she continued to stare at the floor. She couldn't control her reaction when he laid a hand on her shoulder, however.
Whipping around, she smacked his hand away. "Don't touch me. Ever," she snarled viciously at him.
The Mazoku pulled his hand back as if he'd been bitten. "My my, touchy aren't we?"
"I don't like you touching me," she said, rising off the settee and backing away from him. "No one touches me."
"I think that will change, my Lina-san," he said as he stepped towards her.
"Stop calling me that!"
Xellos' eyebrows went up. "What?"
"I'm not your Lina! I'm not anyone's Lina except my own!" She stamped her foot and glared daggers at him.
"What about your gallant swordsman?" Xellos mocked. "Aren't you his?" He looked at her from under his purple bangs, lavender eyes glinting in the half-light.
She took a deep breath. "I - I don't know," she whispered.
His smile turned cruel. "You don't know. You don't even know what your relationship to him is, do you?"
Lina fumed at him. "Shut up, Xellos," she said. "I know I love him."
"Do you, now?" He stepped forward and the cruel smile faded away. "I could love you, Lina-san, if you would just let me." He held his hand out and pleaded with her. "Please, Lina. Just give me a chance."
She recoiled from him. "You kidnap me, hold me here against my will, torment me with images of my friends being killed, leave me to wander through darkness for days, not to mention the fact that you made me starve for hours, and you think that's supposed to make me love you?" Her voice rose to nearly a scream as she seemed to grow several inches. A fiery aura appeared around her.
Xellos merely stared unfazed at her. "I'm getting tired of this, Lina-san. I'm beginning to regret giving you the chance to make a choice at all." He reached out and snagged her wrist and jerked her forward.
Lina yelped as he caught her around the waist and lowered his face to her. She turned her head and managed to avoid his kiss, while bringing her heel down hard on his foot, then bringing her knee up sharply between his legs.
With a harsh gasp, he released her and staggered backwards. Lina put a good bit of distance between them, running out into the outer room and catching up one of the ever-burning candlesticks. She ripped the candle out and reversed it in her hand so the heavy base was up. Whipping around, she waited for Xellos to come after her.
Except he didn't come. The air around her began to curdle. She lowered the candlestick and looked on in amazement as a circle of light appeared on the floor. The light shot upwards, surrounding her. She whirled around and stared. The rippling increased, and images of a bright blue sky and a strange glass-in building super-imposed upon the ubiquitous blackness. Her face lit up with hope and wonderment.
And then...She felt him in her mind. Gourry. His familiar presence in her mind was neither tenuous or fragile, barely there as it had been on the previous occasions; this time his mind burned as bright as the sun in hers and strong as steel.
Lina! I'm here!
Gourry? she sent back, incredulously.
Yes, it's me, Lina. I'll be there in a few minutes. Just hold on...
"Hurry, Gourry!" she shouted joyfully.
The light walls brightened and in front of her eyes, an outline appeared, limned in light: A tall man wearing armor and with long blonde hair. Gourry. As she watched he solidified in front of her and then he was there.
His eyes were closed and his face looked serene. She heard a voice call his name, a ghostly voice from beyond the walls of light. His eyes opened and he looked down at her. His face lit up with joy as his blue eyes sought hers.
Leaning forward, he stretched out his hand to her. "Lina!" he called softly. "Come on!"
She realized she was standing there staring at him; was this really Gourry? The man she'd been shown in Xellos' two visions and her dreams? It looked like him, but something...wasn't right. She looked down at his hand. Hesitantly, she raised her hand and extended it towards his. Just as her long fingers were about to touch his, though, a stiff wind whipped around the inside of the portal. The walls thickened and were shot through with flashes of lightning as a high-pitched squeal pierced her eardrums. Lina gasped and fell backwards through the walls.
She recovered herself and whirled back to the portal. Inside, she found Xellos had entered the circle and he and Gourry were facing down. "Gourry!" she shouted and beat upon the walls.
Helpless, she watched as Xellos raised his staff and gestured towards the walls. They thickened and darkened and she lost sight of them for a moment. But only a moment as the walls lightened again.
She ran around the portal so she could see Gourry's face. When she could see it, she was taken aback by how cold and hard it was; as if it were carved in stone. But his eyes...she gasped at the sight of his eyes as he stared at Xellos. So cold...Gourry's eyes could never be that cold. She couldn't remember much more than that, but something told her that even at his most frightening, Gourry could never be that cold and hard.
His hand moved to his side and he drew his sword; the light flashed on the white metal blade. Under her hand the walls flared -
Just before the world exploded.