Sweet is a grief well ended. - Aeschylus
Gourry woke to silent darkness and a splitting headache. It felt as if someone was inside his head and trying to smash his way out with a hammer.
As he lifted his hand to put it to his head, he wondered where he was. He didn't recognize this darkened room...Were they in an inn? What...What had happened? He groaned softly as the pain in his head increased exponentially with how hard he tried to remember.
There was movement on the pallet beside him and a muttered word. A small ball of light appeared above his head and a smear of crimson tresses separated themselves from the rumpled covers next to him. "Gourry?" a soft, concerned voice said.
"I think that's me," he said, squinting against the light. "Yeah...I remember that. Ow..."
"What's the matter?" Lina sat up and leaned over him.
"My head hurts. Feels like - feels like I had too much to drink, only worse."
"Here. Let me help." She put her hands over his head and said a few words. He felt a warm tingling as the pain subsided. "Better?"
He nodded, heaving a great sigh of relief. "Much. Thanks."
She smiled down at him and pushed his long bangs out of his face. "How do you feel? Other than the headache, that is?"
Gourry thought about it. "Strange. Hollow inside. When's dinner?"
Lina laughed softly. "Nothing wrong with you that a little food won't cure, is there?" She was quiet a moment then leaned down and kissed him tenderly. "It's about time you woke up. We were getting worried."
"Why? Can't have been more than...ten, twelve hours since we went to bed."
"You've been asleep for three days, Gourry. And we had to carry you here."
"No wonder my head's hurting. Why'd you let me drink so much, Lina?" He tried to sit up and managed to get into an upright position and stay there.
The flame-haired sorceress moved back so she could look into his face. "Gourry...You weren't drunk. Don't you remember what happened?"
"Remember what?" He pushed his hair out of his face and stared blankly at her. Now that they were both sitting up, he could see that she was wearing her clothes; they looked extremely rumpled and wrinkled, as if she'd been sleeping in them. Lina was usually so fussy about her clothes...And her eyes were rimmed with dark shadows that stood out like bruises in the soft magelight.
"What's the last thing you remember?"
He thought about that as he looked at his hands. "Uh...We were at Amelia and Zel's party." His fingers played over the bright gold of the ring on his left hand. "I'd just given you the ring..." He trailed off as he ran up against a blank wall.
"You don't remember anything after that? Don't you remember Xellos? What he did?" Gourry's brow wrinkled as he looked at her and shook his head. "You, Amelia and Zel traveling to Beram? Meeting Jarix?" He shook his head again. "Graeswandyr?"
Lightning pain struck through his head. He rocked forward as the wall in his mind burst open and dammed up memory poured forth in a flood. Six weeks of grief, madness, anger, uncertainty, relived in six seconds.
When it was over, he sat there, staring at his hands, his face wet with tears and his breathing harsh and ragged. "Gods," he croaked finally. "Did all that happen?"
"You remember?" Lina's voice was strained and thin.
He nodded. "Although, I wish I didn't." He looked up at her then pulled her into his arms. "Oh, Lina!" It was so good to have her back, have himself back...
Lina put her arms around him and hugged him hard. "Don't you ever do that again, Gourry," she said, voice muffled, into the bend of his neck.
"Do what?"
"Everything." She pulled away and looked into his face. Her eyes were shining with tears. "I was so scared - Are you sure you're feeling all right?" She put her hand on his forehead.
"Yeah, yeah." Taking her wrist, he pulled it down and laid a kiss on her palm. "Why wouldn't I be?"
She glared at him. "Because you were asleep for three days! We couldn't wake you! And you had a fever; a bad one, Gourry!" She took his hands and put one on her cheek. "And there were burns on your hands. What happened up there?"
He sorted through those new memories and found the ones of the fight with Skädwe's Guardian; they seemed more like a dream than anything that really happened to him. "The sword, Skädwe, was forged of black mithril," he said softly, looking at his hands. The burns had been magically healed days ago, but the smooth skin was shiny, smooth and pink. Wincing, he realized they were going to hurt until he built up more calluses. Time for new gauntlets - with extra padding in the palms.
"Gourry?" Lina's voice startled him out of his thoughts.
"Huh?"
"What is black mithril? I've never heard of it."
"It's..." How did he explain? "You've heard of mithril?"
She nodded. "Yes. It's a magical metal, like Orihalcon."
"Yeah. Black mithril is..." He pushed his hair back as he tried to find a way to explain something even he didn't understand. He wasn't a metal worker; he just worked with the end results. Oh, his father had helped him forge his first sword, but that was an exercise to help him better understand and respect the hard work that went into shaping steel into a precision instrument. Blacksmithing was also a good way to build upper body strength, which a swordsman needed. Taking a deep breath, he looked at her and gave it a try. "It's like a Mazoku: All evil intent and bad feelings. It's deadly to elves - more so than iron because it attacks the mind, too. Dark elves are immune to black mithril; some say that it's because of the influence of the metal that they turned evil." He held up his hands. "If I'd been a full elf, just being close to Skädwe would have sent me into convulsions. Touching it would have killed me."
Lina shuddered and put her arms around him. "Gourry..." she whispered. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that. All of it."
"Hey," he said, putting his arms around her and patting her back. "I'd do it all again if I had to. I love you, Lina. There's no way I'm going to let anyone take you away from me." He put a hand on either side of her head and pushed her back so he could look into her eyes. "You're mine and you'd better remember that," he said gruffly as he leaned forward and kissed her.
She returned his kiss with interest, feeling so relieved that he was back. And she knew it: The shadows in his eyes had finally lifted and they were as clear and blue as the summer sky again. If there were any storms left on the horizon, they were the result of the past weeks' events and the toll they'd taken on him, and not because a part of him was missing. These storms would pass once his memories started to fade. And for once, she found herself hoping he would forget them completely; she didn't want him living with the memory of that shining apparition that had been Skädwe, an evil reflection of himself.
His arms went around her and he laid his palms flat on her back, pulling her close to him and holding her tightly. Lina went onto her knees and put a leg over his so that she was sitting across his lap facing him. His ardor increased as she moved against him, yearning for him. She pushed her fingers through his hair, tangling them in his heavy golden mane. Her lips played across his, pulling gently at them. A slight shift in her weight sent him sinking down onto the thin mattress of the pallet. Lina's crimson hair tumbled down and mingled with his as she moved her kisses downwards to the column of his neck. He gasped and whispered something incomprehensible as she reached the hollow of his throat. She moved back up and brushed her lips against his while she grinned. "Gour - "
A horrible growling sound interrupted her. Gourry winced and arched his back under her. He slipped a hand between them, lying it flat on his stomach.
"Gourry?" Lina asked, propping herself up on her hands. "What was that?"
"Uh..." he said shakily. "You said I'd been asleep for how many days?"
"Three."
"I'm hollow, Lina..." he said with a slight whine in his voice. "It hurts! I need something to eat!"
Lina stared at him, then started to laugh helplessly. "Gourry, Gourry, Gourry..."
"What?" He looked pitiful, staring up at her with those big blue eyes and trying to make his cheeks look sunken and emaciated.
She sat up and pulled him with her. "All right. Let's go get something to eat." She kissed the end of his nose and stood up.
"Yeah!" he shouted, jumping up and grabbing up his trousers and pulling them on. Once they were on, he shrugged his tunic over his head and grabbed her hand. "Well, come on!" he exclaimed. "I'm starving!" With that, he dashed out of the room, dragging Lina along behind him.
"What do you mean, we can't leave?" Lina demanded. The little party stood outside Beram's single inn and it was snowing and she was cold and irritable and wanted out of this benighted little mountain town. "I'm not spending the winter in this gods-forsaken place!"
Jarix backed up a step as flames seemed to gather around the little sorceress. "I'm sorry, Lina, but the pass to Melkur is snowed in. There's no way around it, and the winds through the pass won't let you Raywing over it." He shrugged and laughed a little nervously. "Guess you're stuck with me until Spring."
"Thanks, but no thanks," Lina said, stomping off down the little lane that lead towards the path. Gourry, Amelia, and Zelgadis all looked after her with concern on their faces.
"She's up to something," Zelgadis muttered under his breath.
"But what can she do? There's no getting out of here once the pass has closed - "
"No," Gourry blurted out, interrupting Jarix. He exchanged worried glances with Amelia and Zel. "She wouldn't..."
"She wouldn't..." Amelia said softly, her eyes going round.
"Oh yes, she would!" Zelgadis exclaimed.
As one, the three of them turned and ran down the lane after Lina. "LINA!" Gourry shouted after her. Confused, Jarix hurried after them, his cloak fluttering behind him in the cold, winter wind.
He caught up with them around the bend. Gourry caught up with Lina and grabbed her from behind, hooking his arms under hers and holding her. "Stop, Lina!"
"Let go of me, Gourry!" she screamed. "I'm not staying here!" Kicking hard, she flailed backwards with her head as if hoping to hit him and make him drop her. He pulled away as if expecting that, and kept his hold on her. "LEMME GO, YOU JELLYFISH! LEVITATION!!"
The two of them lifted straight up. Gourry looked downwards as his feet left the ground and tried to hold onto Lina. As his weight pulled him downwards, she kicked backwards, catching him in the side. He gasped and let go of her and dropped the few inches to the ground. Sitting there in the snow, holding his side, he glared up at her. "That wasn't fair, Lina!"
"Tough!" She floated up onto a nearby snow-covered rock that gave her a good view of the pass down below. It was narrow and completely blocked with snow. She shivered, then raised her hands. "Darkness beyond twilight..." she began. The sky darkened and a wind sprang up to lift her hair and cloak. Power crackled around her.
"Damn! Amelia, come on!" Zelgadis turned around and ran back down the path towards a confused Jarix. Amelia followed on his heels. As they neared the Priest, both of them reached out and grabbed an arm and dragged him along after them. "Know any good defensive spells, Jarix?" Zel asked.
"Yeah..." Jarix said, bouncing along with his heels dragging the ground. They rounded the bend and he lost sight of Lina. "Why?"
"Cuz we're going to need them if you want your town to survive!" Without further explanation, Zelgadis and Amelia ran back towards Beram.
"Lina, stop!" Gourry shouted as he tried to find a way to climb onto the rock on which she was standing.
"...crimson beyond blood that flows..." She continued on with her spell, oblivious to his shouts.
Unable to find a way to get onto the rock to stop her, Gourry looked up the pass at the wall of snow - then up the sides of the pass to the high snowbanks piled up, then back down the lane towards Beram. This was going to be...
"...buried in the flow of time..."
"Shit, Lina, I'm going to kill you when this is over..." he muttered and wedged himself into the rocks
"...I pledge myself to darkness!"
Gourry looked upwards at the little sorceress standing on the rock above him and prayed to whoever might be listening to help him survive this so he could kill her...
"Those who oppose us shall be destroyed by the power you and I possess!"
Putting his feet against the rock, he leaned back and braced the rest of him for what was coming. The hair on the back of his neck was standing straight up as the magic power gathered and swirled around her like a storm. "Oh, gods..." he said and gripped his sword underneath his cloak. "Just let me live..."
"DRAGON SLAVE!!"
Even though he wasn't looking, Gourry knew what was happening: The massive build-up of power gathered around her hands, focused and leapt outwards in a beam of pure light. He heard the first explosions as that massive amount of power connected with the snowbanks. There was a sudden rush of humidity and a hiss like a giant tea kettle as the frozen water went directly from solid to gaseous as the power of the Dragon Slave bored through the snow and out the other side.
Then...nothing. Cautiously, the swordsman opened one eye and looked down the path. Nothing. He looked up at Lina. She was standing there brushing off her hands, looking as smug as a cat who'd eaten the pet canary. He leaned out and around the rock up at the pass. Where there'd been a huge wall of white, now there was an open path. A few burnt trees lined the sides, but other than that...
A rumble like the sound of distant thunder rolled down the pass. A few small snowballs rolled down past him, gathering speed and size as they passed. Gourry watched one roll past him and then down towards Beram. His attention snapped back to the pass above as the thunder came closer. And didn't stop. Looking upwards, his heart skipped a beat as he saw the sides of the mountain moving. His eyes went wide and he backed out of his hiding place and tripping over a rock as he did. Stumbling, he picked himself up and started running. "LINA!!!" he shouted as the running rivers of snow met and crashed into the cleared path and flowed down towards the fleeing swordsman and the village below.
Lina stood staring at the cascade of frozen water that was headed right for her. "Oh, crap," she said. "Levitation!" she shouted and lifted herself up off the rock. The frozen inundation was going to go right over that rock and -
"LINA!!!!" She looked down at the sound of someone calling her name. Gourry was running as fast as he could down the path toward the town. Directly in the path of the solid river. And it was catching up with him.
"Gourry!" Angling downwards, she swooped down behind him and caught him up under the arms. Straining upwards, she lifted him into the air just as the first frozen fingers of moving snow were reaching for his boots. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she shouted at him as she flew above the rushing snow. "You could have been killed!"
"What the hell was I doing?" he screamed at her. "What the hell do you think you were doing?! Casting a Dragon Slave here, of all places?! Didn't you realize it would cause an avalanche?"
"You keep yelling at me like that and I'll drop you!" she shouted back, hurt that he'd do such a thing. "See if I don't!"
"Lina, forget that now! The town! It's directly in the path of the snow!"
Lina looked down: They were high enough now that they could see the tiny town below. Banking towards it, she flew down until they could see Zelgadis, Amelia and Jarix standing in the lane. She set Gourry on his feet and landed lightly.
"You're an idiot, do you know that?" Zelgadis said.
"Shut up!" Lina shouted.
"Stop this!" Gourry said, pushing Lina forward. "You've got to do something to stop it before it reaches the town!"
"What do you want me to do?" she said, rounding on him and pulling out of his grasp.
"Lina-san! Zelgadis-san! Here it comes!" Amelia pointed up the path as the first of the snows smashed into the bend. Most of it went over the side of the cliff and down, but some turned into the lane and headed towards the town.
"All right. All together, just as we discussed. You, too, Lina. We need your strength."
Lina glared at him, but Gourry poked her. She slapped at him but stepped forward. "All right, all right..."
"Okay, now!" Zelgadis shouted. As one, the four magic-users cast a wall of protection across the lane. Gourry stood behind Lina, looking worried as the snow met the shimmering wall. All four of them grunted and the wall gave a bit but they managed to sustain it.
The white river split and went around the five of them and the town. For what seemed forever, snow poured past, thundering as it went. Most of it was diverted by the spell wall and slid off the cliff like the majority of it had done at the bend. The rest washed up around the back of the town, and piled up against the side of the mountain.
And then...it was over. The last of the snow trickled by and the town was saved. The four dropped their spell and sagged, panting with the effort of having to divert tons of raging snow. Gourry put his hand on Lina's shoulder and squeezed it. He didn't have time to say anything before a shout made him look around.
"There they are!" Several villagers had ventured forth out of the buildings and were headed towards them. Most were carrying sharp farm implements; a few had torches.
"Here we go again," he muttered. "Uh, Lina, Zel, Amelia...I think we need to be going..."
The four of them looked around. Lina grabbed his hand and shouted, "Bye, Jarix! Thanks for all your help! We'll stop by and see you again if we're ever in the area! Come on, Gourry! Quit dragging your feet!" She took off up the pass, somehow managing to drag the six foot four man along behind her as if he were a rag doll.
Amelia and Zelgadis hurried after the fleeing sorceress and the swordsman. "Bye, Jarix-san! If you're ever in Seyruun, come visit me! You know where to find me!" Amelia waved cheerfully as she and Zel dashed up the lane and disappeared.
Jarix stood there in the middle of the lane, dumbfounded as the four of them sped off barely ahead of the rampaging mob. He could hear Lina screaming something obscene at the top of her lungs as the group rounded the bend, which only served to enrage the mob further. Then he was engulfed in the swirling eddies of the mob, and yet remained untouched. The wind caused by their passing stirred his graying black hair and whipped his cloak into huge black wings.
Then they were all out of sight around the bend in the path and he was standing alone outside Beram's single tavern. He stared after them, the snow trampled into slush and the occasional shout floating back to him on the breeze. As quickly as these unusual characters had come into his life, they had left again.
He grinned. The grin was followed by a chuckle. Then he threw back his head and laughed heartily as the hilarity of the entire situation struck home. Turning on his heel, he walked into the empty tavern to help himself to some scumble and sit by the fire. Somehow he knew, call it a hunch, that for the little group known as the Slayers this was an everyday occurrence. Had to be what with Lina In - Gabriev leading them.
Raising his mug in the general direction of the pass, he grinned hugely. "Here's looking at you, kids!" he toasted them and raised the mug to his mouth.
It never made it. Just as he was about to take a deep swig, his eyes went round and he slammed the mug down onto the table. "Hey!" he shouted to no one in particular and ran to the doorway. Pausing on the threshold, he looked up the churned up lane in the direction of the pass. "You never paid me for taking to you to the Temple!" he shouted. Gathering his cloak around him, he took off after them. "Come back here, you cheats!"