Once upon a time there were a bunch of people who traipsed over the continents like ants would over a really moldy lollie. These people liked to beat up other people, steal their goods (because they deserved it) and buy more things that were needed along the way.
These people included a fiery smartass sorceress, a melancholy shaman chimera, a crazy magic-using princess, and a slow but strong swordsman.
One day they were walking along and they were once again thrown into a bunch of situations that inevitably, if not remedied, would result in the end of the world. You know, all in a day's work.
Well, in order to save the world, the swordsman had to give up his kickass sword, one that he was famous for, because, well, technically it wasn't his. Who the hell knows how his family got a hold of it. If he knew, he sure didn't remember. Anyway, so he gave it away, and therefore, he didn't have it anymore.
This sword was the legendary Sword of Light.
Now, ever since, this said swordsman had been using a pretty decent, but most certainly not as cool, sword that was given to him by a bunch of old and scary actors. It was a minor detail, one that he was sure really didn't mean the end of his fun. However, he sometimes sorely missed the sword he had given up.
Now, in case you're an idiot, I'm of course talking about Gourry, here. He, of all of the people in the world, would know the Sword of Light from afar, just like I would know the smell of pumpkin pie from afar. Which is why a chance look had stopped him in his track, and a closer look sent him into spell bounded-ness.
Lina, of course, was also quite sore about the loss of her chance at having the Sword of Light (I mean, surely Gourry had to kick the bucket someday…). Now that it was in the hands of the Gods, there was no way she would ever get it now. So she, too, was mystified at the sword in the window, one that looked so close to the original in every detail that she was momentarily brain-dead.
"Huphujuh…" she said in disbelief, her eyes wide.
Gourry nodded in agreement, his eyes starting to water from staring too long at it.
"That's…that's…" Lina stammered, jabbing at the window with her finger.
"Yup," Gourry nodded.
"That's the freaking Sword of Light!" she cried.
"It sure looks like it," Gourry agreed.
"We have to buy it!" Lina exclaimed, pushing herself away from the window. She dug into her cape's many pockets and pulled out her coin purse. "We have to freaking buy it, Gourry!"
Gourry frowned, still staring at it. "I don't think it's mine," he answered.
"Don't be stupid!" Lina snapped. "Of course it's not yours; I haven't bought it yet!" She turned on her heel and started towards the store.
Gourry grabbed onto her cape and stopped her from going in. She growled, but he answered, "What I mean is, that can't be mine. Siri-what's-his-name took mine, remember?"
Lina rolled her eyes, tugging her cape free from his hands. "I know he did," she answered. "But look at it, Gourry! Look at it and tell me that THAT is not the Sword of Light."
Gourry sighed, realizing she had a point. "I can't," he replied. "It looks so much like my old sword."
"Then come in with me, and we'll buy it. That way, we can be absolutely positive that it's not yours. And hey, if we are wrong, well, we have a new sword for you!" Lina clapped her hands together once, then grabbed Gourry's hand and dragged him behind her into the store. There was no point in his protesting, for he knew she would just ignore him, anyways.
When they got in, Lina was immediately drawn to the display case, which housed the eerie look-alike. Gourry, too, was split seconds behind her, and they did a lot of staring before they caught then attention of the store owner.
"Uh," the two heard the voice call, "do you mind not smudging the glass?"
Lina turned around quicker than even Gourry could follow and glared at the owner, who balked and backed up hurriedly in fright. "Er…!" she cried, her face going bright red.
Lina cut her off. "Where did you get that?" she demanded, her eyes boring into the owner's.
The poor girl blinked hard, trying to regain composure from Lina's assault. Lina had that affect on people. "The, er…?
Lina glared at the owner. It wasn't fair. The owner was taller than Lina. Why did that always happen?
Gourry decided to chime in, lest Lina decided to blow up the place. "The sword in the window," he said.
The owner blinked again. "Oh! That thing. It's not a sword."
Both Gourry and Lina blinked in surprise. "It's not?" Lina demanded. "Then what the hell is it? It has a hilt and a scabbard and everything!"
"Truth be told," the girl said, calm now that her life seemed to safe for the moment, "I'm not completely sure what that thing is. I can't even open it."
"You what?" Lina repeated, her eyes wide in disbelief.
"I can't open it," the owner replied, shrugging.
Lina turned to stare at Gourry, who was already staring at her in shock. She couldn't open it? So why would she even have it on sale to begin with? Did she not know what she was dealing with?
In all of her years with the trial and error of magic, Lina had learned that sometimes, when something doesn't work, it's not meant to. Or worse, when something shouldn't work and it does anyway, maybe it was better to not even try to begin with.
It was even the same with Gourry, who had trained with his sword for years and years before he got as good as he was, and that took a lot of time and effort to do so. He had learned that some moves aren't worth vying for, and if they can't be done, then it's best to leave them alone.
Bottom line: When something doesn't open normally, chances are, there's a reason for it.
Lina turned back to the owner, and very calmly, said, "Why are you selling it?"
The owner shrugged. "It's useless," she admitted. "I might as well make a buck off of it from some collector."
Lina turned away from the owner without another word and dragged Gourry to the far side of the store, much to the poor girl's confusion. She grabbed onto Gourry's ear and dragged him down to her height, leaning in close to whisper in his ear.
"What do you make of it?" she hissed. "Do you think it could be yours?"
Gourry winced. "I don't want to get my hopes up," he admitted, "but it's pretty damn unlikely."
"But it won't open," Lina pointed out.
"So?" Gourry replied, already looking confused.
"So, think about it," she said slowly, so that she wouldn't have to explain it again. "Sirius took the weapons so that there wouldn't be a risk of summoning Dark Star ever again."
"Plus, they were the Gods's," Gourry replied.
"Okay, true, but what better way to ensure that the Dark Lord of your world stays put than to plant the sealed keys around another world?"
Gourry's eyes focused suddenly. "Oh," he said plainly. "So you think it's mine, but it's just sealed, so that no one will use it."
Lina was impressed. "Good job, Gourry, you got it in one try," she smiled, letting go of his ear. He rubbed the side of his head gingerly, but he secretly took the praise to heart. Sometimes, praise from Lina was rare, even if she didn't mean for it to be.
"In any case," Lina continued, crossing her arms, "we have to find out where she found it."
"Do you think she'll tell us?" Gourry asked softly, glancing at the owner, who was staring at the two of them with a frown.
"She's already blabbed her biggest secret about the thing; I don't think she'll keep the rest from us," Lina replied.
Gourry shrugged, and followed Lina's lead back to the storeowner. Already she was looking nervous, but Lina decided to ignore it and get straight to the point. "So where did you find it?" she asked.
The girl started fidgeting. "Are you going to get me in trouble or something?"
Lina blinked, then shook her head. "No, idiot," she snapped, getting impatient. "We want to buy it, and we want to know what we're getting into."
The girl bristled at the 'idiot' remark, but kept her cool. "You want to buy it, even though you know it can't be opened?"
"I'm a collector," Lina bluffed quickly. "Where did you find it?"
She shrugged. "Just up north. I was actually looking for some ore, and ended up tripping over the hilt of the thing instead."
Gourry and Lina exchanged glances. It definitely sounded as if the sword had been buried, so that it wouldn't be found. But why would it be buried so close to the ground? That seemed to be too careless and stupid for Sirius.
"How much?" Lina finally asked.
"50 gold," the girl replied.
Lina started for the ground, and Gourry had to catch her before she made a nice face-imprint on the floor. "FIFTY GOLD!" she repeated in disbelief. "For a sword that doesn't even OPEN!"
"Yeah, that's the cost of a regular sword," Gourry piped in quietly.
"Even then, it's still a rip-off!" Lina declared.
"You're deluded," the girl snapped. "It's obviously not a normal sword, stuck or not. I would be an idiot to sell it any less than that."
Lina opened her mouth to protest, or perhaps verbally eviscerate her, but Gourry leaned in close and said softly, "Lina I really think we should just pay it. I really want to have that sword."
She frowned, but looked closely into his face, and saw that what he said was true. It was important to the both of them that they get down to the bottom of this mystery; that much was true. But, she thought, it was more important to Gourry, simply because it had been an heirloom, something from his history, something he was proud of. If she had the means to get something like that back, who was she to stop it?
"Okay," she said softly to him. It was a tone that she would only use with him, and he knew it, even if she didn't. He was grateful for it.
The moment was gone in a second, when Lina turned back to the girl, but he knew it had been there, and that was all that counted. Grudgingly, she grabbed her purse, counted out the coins, and almost threw them at the girl. Without a word, the girl pocketed them, walked to the display window, and carefully, she extracted the sword from its case.
"There you go," she said. "Have fun trying to figure it out."
Lina grabbed it, then stopped, blinking in shock. When she touched it, a surge of…something….ran up her arms, like tingling. It burned a little, but it wasn't painful. She froze, unsure of what to do or say.
What WAS this thing?
"Lina?"
Gourry's voice snapped her out of her shocked reverie. "Let's go," she said curtly, turning on her heel and marching out the door. Gourry shrugged and followed, not quite sure what was going on inside of that head of hers.
Once they were outside, Lina hesitated, looking at the sword with a frown. Then, without a word, she held it out to Gourry. He blinked at her, confused.
"It's yours, you know," she said. "As much as I would like to keep it for myself, it is yours."
Gourry stared at her in complete shock. This wasn't like her. The real Lina he knew would be hiding the sword in her cloak already, cackling.
"What's the catch?" he asked bluntly.
Lina growled, her eye twitching. "There is no catch, you jerk! I just want you to have the sword!"
Gourry crossed his arms over his chest. "Who are you, and where is the real Lina?"
She kicked him, hard, in both shins.
"Ah, there she is," he answered, hopping around her with pain.
"Take the sword!" she shrieked.
He took it, and she watched him closely. His expression changed, and he blinked, looking down at his hand and arm.
"Aha," she said softly. "You felt it too, huh?"
Gourry stared at her in disbelief. "I knew there was a catch!" he declared, switching the sword to his other hand. He flexed the other, trying to get feeling back into his fingers.
"Not really," she replied breezily. "I realty do think the sword is yours by right. I just also wanted to see what happened to you, too."
"And what have you concluded?" Gourry asked sulkily, glaring at the sword, as if the whole situation was personal.
"Nothing, yet," she admitted. "How does it feel? Does it feel like your sword?"
He glanced at it, swinging it by the hilt slowly, even with the scabbard still on. "Yes," he said, his voice soft with shock.
"Gourry, what if you used the needle and tried to make the hilt come out? Like you used to do before calling the blade?" Lina said, the thought suddenly coming to her.
"You think I didn't try already in the store?" he replied, frowning.
Lina blinked. "Gourry, you surprise me with your sneakiness! When did you try it?"
Gourry shrugged. "When you were busy grilling the poor girl about it. It didn't work."
Lina grumbled. "Damn. We'll have to find some way to get it open. Then we can figure out for sure whether or not it's the real one."
"Lina?" Gourry said her name quietly, and when she looked over, she saw that his expression was very serious. She nodded, coming closer to him. "I really think it's the real thing," he said, sounding haunted by the very idea of it."
Lina patted his arm lightly, not to patronize him, but to comfort him. It was hard to tell the difference between the two, but Gourry felt that the changes were made only when it came to him. "I know you do, Gourry," she admitted, her eyes dark with thought. "But it doesn't do us much good if we can't even open it."
"What do you think we should do?" he asked.
"I think we should get to somewhere private. Once we do that, I want to try a few things."
Gourry agreed, and the two of them set off together, both unable to shake the feeling that things were about to become hectic again.
