It almost seemed like he was dying.
He was breathing heavily, perspiring greatly, and his skin
was chilly to the touch. And his face was pale, too. His hand was clasped
tightly to his heart—or rather, where his heart would be—and he appeared to be
suffering from an unimaginable magnitude of pain. It was quite excruciating to
just sit by and watch, but it was all she could do.
He had overexerted himself. It wasn’t apparent by the
attitude he had shown, but he must have known this would happen. Someone as calculating
and meticulous as himself would not be careless enough to overlook such a vital
factor and consequence. Lina felt somewhat guilty for not having prevented it
or even imagined the possibility—it was her fault, after all, that he had to go
through all that. If only she had been less selfish and called for his help
sooner…he wouldn’t be in this state now.
She pinched her leg once more to make sure there was feeling
in it—and to her relief, she felt it. It was fully healed, thanks to her
friend…
It was actually quite ironic that she would run into this
specific comrade of hers in a place like this. Only a few days ago she had
departed on a different path from that of her beloved. And here sat the root of
that cause—the person who caused her enough grief to shatter her heart when she
had almost finally mustered enough courage to attempt to attain true happiness…
“Sylphiel…why are you here?”
The purple-haired maiden, perched atop a nearby log where
she sat patiently, twirling a lock of hair around her index finger and losing
herself in the simple action alone, was snapped back to reality when her friend
spoke to her. She blushed a little in embarrassment and began slowly, “I…um…actually…”
Lina groaned. The shrine maiden’s intentions were far too
transparent to be overlooked. “Let me guess—you came here because you heard
that Gourry had passed through the town, right?”
Sylphiel averted her gaze in embarrassment and nodded
slightly, twiddling her fingers like a little girl hopelessly in love. Then
randomly she squealed softly and covered her face with her gloved hands,
giggling into her palms. All the while Lina was watching her with a sweatdrop
down the side of her face, finding that her guest hadn’t changed much at all
over the years. It was still uncanny how they ran into each other at a time
like this—Lina hadn’t seen Gourry since…
She felt something soft touch her hand in a soothing manner.
Sylphiel had calmed down during the silence and was now watching Lina with a worried
expression. She reached out and took Lina’s hand with both of hers, drew in a
deep breath, and began to speak. “Lina-san, it’s all too apparent that
something is gravely bothering you. I would ask what it is…but that would be
intruding upon your privacy.” She paused to make eye contact. “Although I may
not be able to offer much help…I hope you won’t hold anything back.”
Lina wondered when things changed to this. Before, hiding
her emotions was only a matter of thought, and it was masked almost
effortlessly. Besides, she usually didn’t have time to think about such things.
But now…she had been read like an open book, and by a person who had only spent
a week at most with her in total. Maybe it was because Sylphiel was a shrine
maiden and therefore had a warm heart that opened up to everyone’s feelings,
and now that Lina’s feelings were overflowing, she was able to look into the
girl’s heart. Or maybe it was because it had been so long since Lina had shown
a true smile of happiness that her facial features must have been distorted
somehow. In either case, there was no avoiding it anymore. In fact, there was
one thing in particular she wanted to ask of the priestess…
“Sylphiel…if you could, give Gourry my apologies and
thanks.”
It didn’t seem like too much of a shock to the maiden that
they had split paths. In fact, it seemed as though she had been expecting it to
happen. She nodded quietly and spoke in a whisper, “Of course I will,
Lina-san.”
Xelloss woke up a few hours later to find Lina in perfect
condition. Apparently she had taken time on her own to find food and scout the
area for werewolves—of which there were none within a dangerous range. The
horizon was just beginning to turn pink and orange once more, and a new day was
quickly approaching. Oddly enough, even though she had been up practically all
night, Lina was bursting with energy now that she could stand on her own two
feet. Xelloss was somewhat surprised at how quickly the girl recovered
mentally. He had been aware of Sylphiel’s presence during unconsciousness, so
her physical recovery was expected.
He sat up and watched Lina as she busied herself dusting the
dirt off of her cape with a long branch. She had been using it as a mat to sit
on as she stayed by Xelloss’s side. He chuckled a bit, thinking how much like a
housewife she looked now. It was so overwhelmingly uncharacteristic of her to
take on a chore like this of her own free will that he found entertainment in
just watching her.
He glanced down to his hands, palms up, and curled and
uncurled his hands. His powers were rapidly fading, and now in his fingertips,
where there was once a tingling magical sensation, remained only numbness. Soon
he would only have his physical strength left, and later, not even that.
Lina tied her cape back on and replaced her sword and
accessories back where they belonged. When she was ready, she walked over and
extended a hand to help Xelloss up. “We need to get going. You don’t have much
time left, right?”
He shook his head and took her hand without hesitation. “A
few days at most, I suppose.”
But they both knew that, even though a few days may seem
like more than enough time, Xelloss’s condition was continually worsening. The
trip would not be as easy as it had been before. Last night’s fever was just a
preview of what was to come.
“Gourry-sama!”
Gourry turned around just in time to see a female figure
launching herself at him and reacted accordingly. He caught her in his arms and
held her gently as she embraced him blissfully. “Sylphiel! What are you doing
here?”
“I heard that Gourry-sama had passed through just recently
and came to see how you were doing,” she replied without letting go. Her head
was buried in his chest, the place where she felt that it belonged.
He stroked her hair a bit, but his happiness was not as enduring
as hers was, for he had other responsibilities and obligations to tend to.
“Sylphiel…have you seen Lina around here?”
She seemed a little hurt that he would bring Lina up in
conversation so quickly, but it was to be expected since she had disappeared
without a word. He had sworn upon his honor as a swordsman to be her guardian,
after all. “Actually…yes I have.”
He grabbed her shoulders and naively shook her a little
violently. “You have!? Where was she!?”
Gourry’s grip on her shoulders was tight and menacing.
Sylphiel was caught by surprise, not that she could have been expecting him to
react so violently to her response, and yelped lightly in pain. His coarse
fingers were digging into her tender, soft skin, and she couldn’t help
resisting the tears that came to her eyes. “Gourry-sama…you’re hurting me,” she
gasped.
The enraged, desperate Gourry was immediately replaced by a
more docile Gourry. He was so full of despair that his own thoughts had been
clouded, and he had made irrational judgements and acted on impulse. He fell
back upon the dirt and sighed deeply, pressing his hands to his face in an
extreme wave of anguish. He couldn’t say anything—he felt that he was failing
the world. First he had hurt Lina, and now Sylphiel, too…
Sylphiel could feel his pain overflowing from the rims of
his heart and reached over to embrace him, taking a fraction of it off his
shoulders and placing it upon her own. This was not an easy separation for
either party, and now she could see solid proof of it. If only she could ease
his suffering somehow…
“Gourry-sama…” she began, “Lina-san is all right on her own.
Why don’t we leave her be and live our own lives? No one will scold you for
stopping here.” She rubbed his back gently with her fingertips, hoping to coax
him into doing her bidding.
But he shook his head. “You don’t understand. I swore that
I’d give her my protection.”
“But she doesn’t need it…” Sylphiel stated, not knowing how
to beat around the bushes and give a sweeter version of that statement.
He shook his head. “That wasn’t the sort of protection I
meant. She needs company—my company. It’s protection from loneliness that she
needs…more than anything.”
Lina fanned herself with her hand, thought it produced no
real results. It was intolerably warm, probably because they were traveling in
a valley. She had her pants and sleeves rolled up, and her gloves were pulled
off and slung lazily over her shoulder. She looked a little goofy like that,
like your average country girl ready to tend to the chores on the farm that
day. If Xelloss had been in a better mood, he might have laughed at her image,
but he only smiled in amusement and concentrated on scaling the heights.
If they kept at this pace they’d probably reach the Katart
Mountain Valley by early sunset. But that was if they kept at this pace. Xelloss was already beginning to fall
behind.
Lina hung back to wait for him to catch up. Without saying a
word, she took one of his arms and slung it around her shoulders to give him a
crutch to lean on. He seemed somewhat astonished that she would be considerate
enough to even think of taking an action, much less actually taking it without
complaining or saying that she expected a favor in return. When she saw him
staring at her fixedly, she blushed a little, made a face at him, and asked,
“What?”
He shook his head and smiled. “It’s nothing. I was just
taking a chance to look at how great you look now that you’re well and better
again.”
She really blushed this time and turned her head away. “He’s
just teasing me…” she reminded herself, but she couldn’t help stuttering anyway
because she suddenly felt conscious of him and uncomfortable being so close to
him. “Haha…don’t say things like…like that…”
she replied.
But he was too occupied with his own thoughts to acknowledge
what she was saying. He was feeling something strange—something he hadn’t felt
before. Usually, when he made a comment like that he’d be able to find some
amusement and entertainment in saying it but…this time it was different. He
felt as though he had honestly meant it,
and the fact that she had brushed it off so quickly irritated him. In addition, the fact that he meant it alone
irritated him because he couldn’t quite understand what caused him to feel that
way. Somehow, someday, Lina Inverse had suddenly meant something different to
him. But what?
They walked in silence for a while, both of them immersed in
their own set of thoughts, but the silence was broken when a roar of what
almost seemed like thunder clashed overhead, and the scream of a hawk pierced
through the skies. Lina had barely turned her head to see what was going on
when Xelloss pushed her over with a very brief warning: “Move!”
He landed on top of her in the middle of a patch of tall
grass that cushioned their fall. Only a second later, trees fell at random
around them, one landing only a mere few feet from them. Dirt flew up and
animals fled in terror, and all the while a harsh wind was passing through.
When things settled and dirt was no longer flying
everywhere, Lina reached up to brush the remains off her face and opened her
eyes. She was startled to find Xelloss staring down at her and she immediately
stiffened. His eyes were open and staring intently at her, and she barely
squeaked, “What is it?”
But that response was apparently all he was waiting for and
he got up after that, shifting his gaze purposely away from hers. Dust and
gravel fell off from his back but he made no move to show that it particularly
bothered him at the moment. Instead, he stared upwards, austere and quiet as a
large shadow passed over them.
This peculiar behavior brought Lina to attention, and she
got up after him and brushed the clutter off her arms as she walked over to his
side, wondering what it was that had him so mesmerized. She, too, glanced
upwards to see what the source of the impact had been, but her reaction was not
as calm and collected as his had been. Instead, she gasped and gaped at the
spectacle in awe.
An overwhelmingly large fleet of ryuuzoku was flying
overhead in attack formation. They were engaged in conflict with what seemed to
be lower level mazoku, meant to stall and impede oncoming attacks just long
enough for the main forces to take battle positions. The mass of mazoku were
even more overwhelming, nearly covering a third of the sky from Lina’s
perspective. However great they were in number, they were still falling rapidly
to the ryuuzoku squadron, and it was only a matter of time before they were
doomed to nonexistence. It was an incredible battle between two large forces,
and the mere force of the clashes sent shivers down Lina’s spine.
“It’s begun,” Xelloss stated briefly. He watched the scene
for a few seconds more before taking Lina’s hand and pulling her staggering
along. “We have to hurry.”
Lina nearly tripped over a fallen tree as he pulled her
along. Where this sudden burst of energy came from she had no clue, but it was
apparent that he was exceedingly worried. “Why? What’s up?”
He stopped to take a breath. Obviously the concern was a
little more like panic, and it had caused him to fret a little too much again. Lina
held him up as he caught his breath and wondered what was bothering him so
much. He looked at her with tender eyes but pushed her away gently, rejecting
her assistance. Now she was certain that something was very out of place, and
she couldn’t help but inquire more sternly, “What’s wrong?”
He gripped his staff tightly and used it for support, though
he was wobbling slightly. His shoulder had begun to swell in size and was now
disgustingly big, and it looked so incredibly painful to have to endure. But he
simply placed a hand over it, took a deep breath, and spoke.
“Those were Juu-ou-sama’s hawks,” he said. “The ryuuzokus’
destination is Wolf Pack Island.”
Lina only took a second to realize the severity of the
situation now. His master was in danger, and her joker card was missing from
the deck. The pressure on her shoulders suddenly intensified, and it was
increasingly vital that Xelloss was to be brought to Lei Magnus with haste. She
felt a surge of excitement and anxiety flow through her as she bit her lips and
thought to herself, “Ok Lina, it’s time to show the world once again what you
can do—all or nothing.”
Xelloss looked down from the sky to see Lina in her full
glory, radiating that same intensity she always did when she was about to
undergo a superhuman task. He stared at her in awe, for it was because of this
spirit that he felt so drawn to her in the first place. It astounded him every
time he witnessed it, and this time was no exception. Somehow it managed to
wash away a good portion of his fears, and he realized that this girl suddenly
became his hope. He took her extended hand and stepped up to her, not breaking
his gaze away from her the entire time. She smiled, an emphasis on her strength
and vigor, and reassured him that everything would be ok.
“Well we have no time to waste. Let’s go!”
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