Another dead end. Two months now, and there wasn't a lot to Gourry left. His hair was limp and pale, his skin was white, and his sweet happy eyes were dulled; murdered and not yet able to just lay down and die. He was at the front of the scraggly trio; stepping in Lina's place, and the pace was silent as always. This.. this was.. intolerable. Zelgadis had thought nightly of just leaving, disappearing in the night, but the site of the haunted swordsman kept him there, seeking vengeance for a fallen comrade. None of this was real anymore.
Amelia was falling behind. Zelgadis' hand was suddenly in hers, tugging her forward, and he put an arm about her shoulders, offering her what comfort his frame had to offer. They had discussed what they should do about Gourry the night before, in muted whispers so as not to disturb their heavily sleeping friend. The damnable thing was that there was nothing TO do. And they couldn't just leave him... if not for Lina, for the fact that he never once asked them to go with him. He just assumed that they had loved Lina as much, and would do whatever it took to give her peace. And that last bit of him.. of what made Gourry Gourry.. It was a very small flame and needed to be protected at all costs. Time had come to protect the protector. And in the end.. Lina WAS worth it.
But.. there had been no cessation; everyday was the same day Lina died, over and over in a hellish replay that Gourry seemed helpless to stop. Amelia's face darkened for a moment, blood rushing to it as anger and every other bite of bile stuffed down her gullet came rushing out in one burst.
"HE CAN'T JUST DISAPPEAR!!!" She screamed it at the top of her lungs, startling silent birds into noisy flight. Zelgadis just stared at her, stunned. Even Gourry halted in his path, though not turning around, pack slung over one shoulder, and the cape at his waist an eternal shadow.
"Amelia...?" Zel's voice seemed confused. Amelia was exuberant sure, but rarely rude.
"That villain MUST be around her somewhere, Zelgadis-san!! He MUST!!! NO ONE can just..just...POOF away like that!!! It's not RIGHT!!! It's not RIGHT!" Panic and angry streaked down her face and ran down her all ready damp cloak, lost in the folds.
"Amelia -- "
"NO Zelgadis-san!!! WHERE IS HE?!" Zelgadis saw the confusion and pain from this event and so many others explode in her eyes. She began to cry in loud gulps, venting where she had not before. Alone and tiny in the snowy path, her face buried in her hands, and her shoulders heaving.
Gourry's head had dropped, Zelgadis noted from his position of trying to comfort Amelia. And he was slowly shaking his head back and forth. Amelia suddenly sprinted from under Zelgadis' comforting grip and in a few long strides had flung herself at Gourry's back. The flat of her palm was brought down sharply on his shielding torso. "And YOU!!" she screamed, smacking him again. "How could you, Gourry-san?! HOW COULD YOU JUST LEAVE US LIKE THIS?!" She wound back for another blow, and then.. just wilted in on herself, the stress and strain of her loss, and her inability to express the love and distance she now felt for the fallen sorceress who's name was never spoken anymore.
Time and again she had seen death, but had always been given room to tip her hat at the spector, and then go on with her life. And now she had lost her *best* friend, and had to pretend like.. like... She didn't even know the name of this game or what was expected of her. And bleeding inside eventually led to drowning. Tears ran spitefully down her face, and she discovered she really didn't WANT to check them. SHE at least was going to acknowledge Lina beyond vengence!!!
Straight ahead she continued to glare, refusing to look up, and breathing hard around angry sobs. Even when Gourry turned around, his belt buckle glinting a little in the non-light just at her point of sight. She was so angry! And hurt!
Painfully the tears fell, each droplet a tiny dagger falling with fire from her wounds. Zelgadis held his breath and his emotion, moved unwillingly by Amelia's outburst and lanced all over again by her ragged eloquence. And in Gourry's eyes he saw tears. Oh God... this was good, wasn't it? A large thin hand came to rest on Amelia's thick hair; the whitening fingers contrasting the differences between death and life in the untamable strands. Hesitantly she looked up at her large and impossibly gentle friend. She saw so many thing in his gaze... pain and loss the primary and ruler, but one small, sweet touch of the summertime he had always been to her glimmered sadly for just a moment. The one piece that strangled her. I'm sorry, Amelia, I'm hurting, Amelia,
I love her, Amelia, all at once, in unspoken vocals.
I need her, Amelia.
One corner of his mouth twitched; not a smile, but not a frown either, and he awkwardly ruffled the dark locks. Looking up at him, her hands fisted gently beneath her small chin, Amelia knew that Death had one more visit to make. And, God-willing, she was going to help this quest to it's end.
"Gourry-san.." he turned back, and continued his bloodless stride along the path. Zelgadis' hand on her shoulder startled her and she looked at the chimera. "Well spoke Amelia. Well spoke." His whisper was deep and knowing; he had seen the same bony face in Gourry's pale visage.
"C'mon. Let's catch up." Zelgadis entwined his fingers with hers, and tugged her along behind their silent friend.
The wind tried to tell him things on the unknown plain, but all he could hear was it's sobbing. Eye to eye with Lina. She sat so close now that she was with in his reach, yet he did not touch her.
I love you.
I love you.
I love you.
I love you. You were the only thing ever right or important in my life.
I failed you.
I failed you.
I failed you.
I failed you. I'll be with you soon; help me, Lina.
And she extended one small hand, the leather of her glove shining, and he took it, the invitation finally extended. Her hand was impossibly small in his own, and impossibly cold. There was no flesh under his fingers, just the bare bones in their leather sheath, and he found tiny Death sat across from him, red hair blowing back from her consuming cape and hood, her bleached skull staring at him. Her other hand reached out blindly, and he took that as well, lacing their fingers together, and he pulled Death to him to embrace. The fleshless arms entwined at his neck and the purple-clad digits tangled in his hair, and he kissed the white where her lips had lay, and felt cold peace invade his body from her cling. Gourry lay his head on her shoulder, feeling the skeletal fingers comb through his hair. He closed his eyes. He was ready now.
"Never will I leave you:
Never will I forsake you."
-- Deuteronomy, 31:6