Ferio whistled a low note through his teeth. "So, Miss Messiah, we're finally here." Lina surveyed the open glade.
"I'm not impressed." She remarked flatly at the landscape. A small circle of green turft similair to that of the rest of the Forest with a cup-like stone pedestal in the center and a rock to the side was all there was to see. "Soo..." She turned to Ferio and Mokona. "Where's the water?"
Ferio looked at her. "How do you propose to be the Saviour if you don't even know these things?!"
"Hey, don't yell at ME! It's not as if I got dumped in with a guide book or something!!!"
Legues away, near the village that Lina first encountered, Kelly the Healer's daughter shook out the bedclothes of their spare bed. Something small, brown and rumpled dropped out.
She picked it up. It was inscribed with strange symbols and burnt around the edges. It must've met with a drenching too, judging by the traces of running ink. Hand-written, but of no value down in their little village and therefore nigh useless. She threw it into the smoking fireplace without a second thought.
"I am sorrrry, millorrd," Alcyone groveled, "I will destrroy her next time..."
" Rest peacefully, Alcyone. " Her face lit up. It had been a long while since he last called her name. And a rest? Oh yes, he must surely love her back... She limped closer and leaned her head on his broad shoulders.
"But I will get herr next time, I swearr..." Her face paled. A brief moment, hardly time enough for her expression to change, and it was over.
" There will be no next time. " He turned his back on the disintergrating woman, footsteps echoed into a distance as a fine grey dust danced in the passing of his heavy cloak.
Lina looked down at the rippling Pool. A mere line over the pedestral, it was perfectly round and dark and glossy from the top, and a far cry from its side view. Almost like a mirror... ... A mirror of the soul.
According to Ferio's Legend, the Pool can reflect people's inner-most fears and desires. She must best these things in order to obtain the Mineral and surface.
"So, how do I beat it?" She had asked. "How would I know?" He retorted. "It's your worst fear!"
Fear and Desire... One was a word she hardly knew, the other her bossom friend. My greatest fear... Lina shuddered at the memory. Her older sister. She wasn't sure if she could beat her. Desire... Such a sweet word. Power, status, riches untold... they would all be illusions. Heck , She was facing them down so she could get back to them! She dived. Problems? Nosiree!
There was the chilly wet sensation of water, but Lina's senses knew different. A dimensional rip?! She fell, not the slow sinking in liquid, but a dead drop. Darkness engulfed her, then spit her out. She landed with a "thump" and an "ouch" on a glassy ebony surface stretching endlessly into, surprise, more darkness. She picked herself up and straightened her clothes. "Alright, Pool," She challenged grandly. "Do your worst!"
A piece of shadow detached itself from the far edge. The air crackled with tension across the distance. Goosebumps shot up her arms as she drew her sword. The world darkened to a dark maroon. The deepest shade of heart's blood. She could just make out it's shape. Tall, broad shouldered, well built and carrying a... the Sword of Light??!!
Her heart sank, taking her grin down with it. Her stomach churned. So familiar... so painfully familiar... the rest of him came into light. Him, for it wasn't her sister after all. Long hair the colour of her favourite gold, the friendly lips curved in a dangerous smile that she had only seen once or twice and never for her, a fierce, glad light glinted in his eyes, wild and blood thirsty. Her voice caught in her throat, closed tight.
" Gourry? " She managed. His hands closed over the hilt and drew the Sword. The blade of Light grew, broader, longer, stronger than it ever was in his hands. "Hello, Lina."
"Oh Gods," She breathed in horror. "No..."
Ferio dozed on the grassy cliff over the Legendary Pool, chewing a long blade of grass, hands linked behind his head.
"Hey," He opened an eye and looked at Mokona admiring a wild flower. "You think she's gonna be alright?" Mokona bounced around a bit and looked at another flower. Ferio rolled his eyes. "Oh never mind."
She ducked and blocked his blows, unable to attack. He was faster, stronger, more skilled in sword and dead serious. There was no time for her to launch any magical attacks, even if she could steel herself to do it. Blood soaked through her breeches, shirt and gloves and trickled sluggishly elsewhere. Dark maroon, bright red and dirty rust where the wounds had clotted. She was running tired. He seemed as fresh as when they'd started.
"Gourry! Gourry, please, remember!" Their blades caught in a dead lock. "All the times we had together, Gourry," She begged. "You and me, Amelia and Zel? All the great times, Gourry, please!" Her face stung where tears fell. She could not atack. She CANNOT!
"You promised! You promised..." Her throat closed again. She could not go on. He MUST remember! Oh, he must... ...
"Remember what, Lina?" He asked coolly. It could have been a nice sunny stroll in the park, by his tone. He smiled. The kind of smile a crocodile gives its prey before dragging it underwater to drown. And sliced through her sword like knife through butter.
She backed and stumbled, his sword point at her throat in a fraction of a nanosecond. I must've gotten soft , She thought with a sad smile. Her throat was dry and raw. Her eyes blurred by blood mingled with tears. She could see herself in the ebony floor, a wreck.
Oh Gourry... She tried to comfort herself with the thought that she was dying under his sword and not without a fight. It was enough. Yeah, right. There were things to be said, things she has never told him out right, things that were important. The man she faced was not the Gourry she knew. The one whom she loves and loves her back. Not the Gourry... ...
"Please, think!" A voice intruded in on her thoughts. The image of a vaguely familiar girl wavered behind Gourry, but it was too dark to see. "Would your loved one turn on you as such?" She sounded desperate, pleading. "Would they want you to suffer?" The voice was familiar too. Lina knew she heard it somewhere before... ... Her fall? Yes, but there was more... ... "Would he?"
Not the Gourry I know... ... "Of course!" She rasped. It's all an illusion! A fake! Her eyes burned a new flame. Well, in that case... ...
"Flare Arrow!!!" The flaming bolt pushed him back a distance, enough for her to stand and grab her broken sword. The fire left a burnt mark on his breastplate, which he rubbed and looked up with an agitated frown. Raising the Sword of Light, he charged her. This time she was ready.
"Fi-re ball!!!!"
It was almost sunset when she surfaced. Dripping wet she waved up to Ferio and Mokona on the cliff with a clear crystal cluster the approximate shape and size of a sword. He grabbed his huge sword and jumped down with what could have been a perfect landing had Mokona not landed on his head a split second later and ruined his balance.
She was a bloody mess up close, cuts and bruises everywhere with a few deep wounds. Bloody, but victorious.
She fell asleep clutching the precious Mineral as he dressed her wounds. Then, traped by her weight on his shoulder and Mokona in his lap, he slept too; the three truly comfortable with each other for the first time in a week.
It wasn't to last too long, however, and they didn't see Presia coming across them. The next morning, Lina buckled on a brand new sword, Ferio got beaten and fried while Mokona set them off on a new course. The only high-spirited one seemed to be Mokona as they got onto the strange vehicle it conjured up, though. Lina especially, because she could not find any of the things she had "borrowed" from Presia, including the staff she won from Clef.
What was comforting was that she still had the chimera Mage's black holographic slate in her back pocket and her quest was already half way done. Well, at least two out of three ain't bad!