Lina sat in the too soft, much too comfortable chair located in front of the roaring fire of the Ghenkin Inn. A mug of coffee was cooling on the floor, too bitter to drink, and too expensive to let go to waste. She picked it up and delicately blew the steam away from the mouth of the mug. As she took a small sip, she gently breathed a sad sigh.
She lifted her head and gave the greetings room of the inn an expansive glance, settling her eyes upon a tarnished sword that hung over the mantle of the fireplace. Its ancient blade glistened in the bright warm light of the orange and red flames. The sword looked like Gourry's new sword, only much, much older and in much worse condition.
When she realized whom she was thinking about, she quickly dropped her gaze and closed her eyes. It wasn't fair, not fair at all. It was almost her birthday; she would be 19. She had hoped to spend her birthday with all of her friends. But Amelia was called to the kingdom of Zenzecky on ambassador work, and Zelgadiss was off somewhere on another continent looking for a cure. Her sister was too scary to even approach, and even Gourry was called home to Testabourne because his grandmother was ill.
It was strange -- here she was, Lina Inverse, the bandit killer, the reluctant saviour of the world, the enemy of all who live, was sitting in a two-bit inn moping about being lonely on her birthday. She was Lina, she was strong. She didn't need anyone. Nope, not anyone. But if she didn't need anyone, then why did it hurt so much to be alone?
Her eyes began to water slightly as she sat there soaking in her own pool of despair and self-pity, when someone behind her cleared his throat noisily. Lina glanced behind her from the corner of her eyes and spotted purple hair. Xelloss! It had to be him, Lina knew of no one else who had purple hair, at least no one close.
She wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand and composed herself. She turned around and gasped at what she saw. Xelloss was slumped against the wall, head drooping, arm hanging limply from his side. His robes were torn and stained with black blood, and his normally shiny purple hair was matted and covered with soot and blood. His other arm was clutching his staff like a thirsty man covets water.
He visibly struggled to lift his head and said one word, "Tasukete...," then collapsed in a heap. Lina was overwhelmed with powerful emotions. She felt concern for this mazoku before her, he had aided her before. She felt fear that there was a person out there that had the power to do this to someone as powerful as Xelloss. She felt rage that someone had hurt one of her friends. She felt confused...
Lina Inverse did not get to be the woman of myth, legend, and the occasional wanted poster she is today by standing idly by while things happen. She got there by doing what needed to be done, the mark of a true hero. Which is why while her brain was still absorbing all the new information, her body had sprung into action and levitated Xelloss' battered body up the stairs and into her room. She cut off his tunic and tried to assess the damage.
It was blood, actual human blood. Lina had assumed all the blood on Xelloss was someone else's, but it was plain to see that the blood was none other then Xelloss' very own. "Masaka," she breathed. Xelloss was a mazoku, he shouldn't have any blood. Mazoku blood looked different. Only human blood looked like this. She shook her head to clear it. If she didn't do something soon, Xelloss would bleed to death. Bandages wouldn't be enough, and the white magic of a healing spell was anathema to a mazoku. For once in her life, Lina didn't know what to do.
"Lina...," gasped the ailing trickster priest. "Need help... have to stop her...can't let.. AGGHH.. can't let her form the penta...,"and then he coughed up blood and gritted his teeth as the pain intensified.
Lina grabbed his shoulders and nearly screamed at him to get his attention.
"AGHHHH!!!!! My Shoulder!" he shouted.
"Xel... you're hurt very badly, I need to try and heal you with white magic, is it safe to try?"
"H-Hai.." he said through gritted teeth.
"Hang on Xel, white magic was never my strong suit." And with that, Lina Inverse, the feared and powerful black sorceress, charged a ball of white power and slammed it into Xellos Metallium's dying body. The damage was so extensive that the amount of white magic Lina had available was not enough. She needed more power, more life energy to strengthen the dying life force of Xelloss.
Then, she realized where she would have to get that energy. She gritted her teeth and began to draw energy from her own life force. Not enough to kill her, but more then enough to render her unconscious, and barely enough save Xel's life. She had to hurry -- Xel was fading fast and the energy in her hand was becoming hard to control as her eyes got heavier and heavier. As the last bit of energy she could spare flowed into her hands, she felt herself slipping from consciousness...
No! she would not give up, she had to save Xel. He was her friend and friends don't give up on friends. Using every iota of her famous Inverse stubbornness, she placed her glowing hands on Xelloss' body and growled with the last of her strength. "ULTRA RECovery..."
While sleep overcame Lina, Xelloss' injuries started to mend themselves, jagged torn bits of tissue began knitting together, gaping holes in his body started pulling closed and finally his breathing started to even out. He had weathered the storm with Lina's help. As he began the slow process of healing and started to drift off to sleep, two thoughts occurred to him. One: I owe my life to Lina. Two: I need a new suit...
Translations:
Tasukete = Help!
Masaka = Impossible! To express disbelief.
Mazoku = The Evil Race, basically the demons of the world; can assume human form at will.
I apologize to all die-hard Slayers fans that know that Recovery does not drain a caster's own life-force. To remedy this small problem, I've used artistic license and combined standard Recovery with Resurrection, to create Ultra Recovery.