"My Heart"

~I've given my heart to you, ~
~Without word or thought.~

Zelgadis looked at Lina as they walked through the town, he smiled knowing that with the veil over his face no one could see it. When did she become the light in the darkness that was his existence? He smiled a bit more as the firey sorceress started pummeling the blonde swardsman. Such spirit, such life, she lived in every sense of the word, while he only seemed to exist in a gloomy parody of life that only her light could penetrate.

~From the first line,~
~I was yours.~

He thought back to that fateful day he first met her. She wasn't about to be intimidated or had. Her spirit scremed defiance and strength so much one had to respect her, even if only grudgingly. That spirit, that was what he liked most about her, that un-tameable firey spirit. A so firey to get to close could mean getting burnt, but like a moth to the light of a candle one was still drawn to.

~Do you feel the same? ~

'What am I to you, Firey One?' he wondered silently. They decided to get something to eat, and Zel sat down watching Lina as he sipped his coffee. He laughed silently as she ate, how she could eat like that he'd never know.

~Did you give your heart to me? ~

'Could I be so much more than a friend to you? Could you see beyond the stone and the darkness that surrounds me?' he though staring into the inky blackness in his mug as if he was trying to scry the answer from it.

~You who brought back, ~
~The poet within me. ~

His own face was all that stared back. He sighed. Since when was he one to be so sentimental, to think so poeticaly. He looked back up as she yawned and announced she was going to get some sleep and wondered for a moment just what it would be like to wake up with her before banishing the idea.

~You who's thought,~
~Keeps me up at night?~

He went up to his room and pulled up the sheets with a yawn. He closed his eyes only to see firey hair and ruby eyes staring at him. He turned in his bed not really wanting to see the images but not wholy wanting them to part either. Finaly he lay there silently, his eyes slighly open as he stared out the window.



"My Shadow Love"


~I see him in my dreams,~
~He is an equal, he is a friend.~

The fire-haired sorceress tossed in her sleep, dreams of a certain someone haunting her. Blue eyes staring into her red ones. Strong hands against her skin. He who she called friend in the waking world haunted her dreams at night, but oh to be as close to him in the waking world as she was to him in her dreams.

~I love him.~

When had he turned into more than just another friend. When had he turned from someone to help her in her travels to someone she wished to help, into someone she loved?

~He is a dream,~
~He is night.~

He'd never return her feelings though, the cold stone wall surrounded him too well. She awoke and felt a tear fall from her eyes. She tried to go back to sleep, to make the dream return, but alas all must leave that haven of sleep where our wishes come true.

~A shade,~
~A spectere,~
~A shadow.~

To her he would forever remain hidden from her within cold shadows. She longed for him to be there with her now, but all that remained was a ghost of that dream, a glimps of that paradise she could only see when sleeping.

~I see him at night,~
~Never in the sun.~

She finaly got up and went to breakfast. She watched as he came to sit down at the same table as her and her other friends, some of the dawn's light comeing in through one window shone off his hair. Gods he looked wonderful, even if he wouldn't believe it.

~He is my life,~
~My sanity,~
~My hope.~

Gourry commented on her small breast size again and she bagan to pummel him, but Zel said a few words about how it didn't do any good and kept her from eating and she stopped. Gods, that voice. She could almost convince herself there was something in his voice that wasn't in it when she first met him.

~All I long for,~
~All I need,~
~Is him.~

He turned coldly away staring into his coffee, by the gods the way he sipped it was just so cute. But then this was him. She smiled slightly then decided it was time to head off, there was tresure to find, and a cure for him, even if she didn't think he needed it, he thought he did. That's what mattered, he needed his cure, she just needed him.

~His shadow,~
~Is all I have.~

But traveling with him would just have to be enough. He would never let himself love, he would never believe someone could love him as he is. At least she had her dreams of him, even if that did at times only make the aching need worse.

~He is my other half.~

That need... she'd give up every treasure she found just to be with him, the one who could satisfy that need. He'd become a part of her, someone she couldn't see herself not being with. If something ever did happen to part them she didn't know if she could stand it.

~My shadow love.~

She looked at him again, he was thinking about something, dare she wish it was her she thought of? No, that would be just hopeful thinking. In her mind she saw him as in her dreams, close to her, yet hidden partialy in shadows. Maybe someday she could tell him... if only she knew he could accept her love and love her back.




"The Cliff"

~I stand on the edge,~
~Forever looking downward.~

# She looked around her, all this trying to hide her feelings was wearing on her soul. It was slowly driving her crazy. How could she live like this much longer? So close to the one she had given her heart to without a single word, yet ever so far? Gods! She was Lina Inverse, she could do anything!

~Poised on the brink,~
~I feel the weight upon my soul.~

@ He looked at her, what was going on in her mind? She seemed restless lately, eager for the next adventure, but never content with it. He wanted to find some way to comfort her, but he didn't dare do more than try and start a casual conversation. If only he knew a way to calm her...

~I long for freedom,~
~To let myself fall into insanity.~

# She should be strong, try and tell him. But no, she couldn't stand it if he didn't return her feelings. If only she could tell him, if he returned her feelings, but it was impossible. He'd never let someone near him, not when he's so convinced he's a monster. Can't he see she loves him? That she cares for him?

@ Somethings really bothering her, he realized. Gods what he'd give to be able to hold her close and drive off her problems with just his presence. 'Lina,' he longed to say. He turned away, unable to stand seeing her troubled so. He wanted to leave, to get away.


~But one thing holds me,~
~Where I stand unable to stray.~

@ But he couldn't. He needed to know Lina was safe. That's all that mattered. His turmoil, his sorrow, his pain, that was nothing compared to knowing that she was safe. How could he live with himslef if he left and then something happened to her, something he could have prevented?

~But one thing staves off,~
~The terrifying insanity that threatens.~

# Zel. He'd become her reason to continue living, although he tried to surround himself with his wall of ice he'd become the brightest, warmes thing in her existance. He turned away. That settled it, she was going to tell him what he meant to her. She walked up to him. "Zel..."

~So I stare down that cliff,~
~Unable to fall even if I wished to.~

@ What did she want, to come to talk to him? Gods, what if it was... no... he couldn't stan even thinking that thought. He looked at her, her firey gaze showing the slightest hesitence. What was it that troubled her so?

~Bound by something,~
~Ever so stronger than I.~

# "Lina, what is it?" he asked her, his icy blue eyes melting her resolve. For a moment they just stared, but then he looked away from her. How could he do that to her? She loved him, didn't he at least care for her as a friend.

# "Zel," she said again. She wished he did love her. She shut her eyes and but a tear still escaped.

~By that undescribable thing,~
~That needs only one word.~

@ "Zel, I... I... I love you," she told him. How could she love him? But she did. Gods she did! He suddenly embraced her, kissing her deeply, unable to say anything but wanting her to know he loved her as well. And how he did love her!

# As he kissed her she knew he loved her as well. She sank into his embrace, returning his kiss as well. Finaly they broke for air and just smiled lovingly at eachother, their gaze telling the other far more effectivly than word what they felt.

~But for me,~
~Is two.~

/Love, it kept them together when they thought it could never be. Love, it drew them together. Love, a word that they'd now see in another. Those words being the other's name./