"Just wait and see, by the time we find Filia we will be so good at living with just one arm that we won't know what we need the second for!" Lina said as she fumbled to tie a bandage around Gourry's hand. When he didn't reply she glanced up to his face, just in time to watch in horror as his eyes rolled up into his head.

She grabbed his shoulder with her good hand, but he was already going limp. "Stay with me!" she yelled as panic and confusion warred within her. Had he been that badly wounded and she'd not noticed? "Gourry, wake up! Stay with me!"

But his eyes stayed closed, his face ashen, and all Lina could think to do was shake him as she hurled threats and pleas at him to wake up. She'd not even noticed that her shouts had attracted someone until he put a hand on her shoulder and said, "I'm a doctor, stand back."

Lina looked at the middle-aged man in surprise. There were two other people with him, and both of them looked like sailors. Lina stood back, her thoughts slow and sluggish. She wanted to ask if the doctor could use magic. But the words caught on her tongue as he put a blanket over Gourry. "What happened?" he asked.

Lina felt a lump form in her throat. How could she explain that Gourry had jumped onto molten sand to retrieve a stupid sword so she wouldn't leave him? But the doctor seemed to zero in on Gourry's feet and he swore as he put his hand on them and tried to remove them. "His boots have melted onto his feet. He's in shock." The doctor pronounced as he grabbed a vial from his bag and forced Gourry to take some of it.

"You can help him?" Lina managed to say.

"I may be able to save him." The doctor replied.

"May?" Lina echoed.

"I won't be able to save his feet."

"What?" Lina yelled.

"Sid, get her to the frigate." The doctor said, "Neal, stay here and help me."

"No, I'm not leaving him!" Lina said as she rushed to Gourry's side.

"You're not going to want to see this." Sid said. "It's grisly business."

"I owe it to him to stay with him!" Lina said as she took Gourry's good hand.

"We don't have time to argue." The doctor said as he pulled a saw from his bag, and Lina felt her stomach twist. She'd heard that medicine without magic was downright barbaric. She braced herself for witnessing it firsthand. And while she knew it would have been a more encouraging sign for Gourry to be awake, she also had to admit that the only solace she had was that he was not able to feel a thing.


Lina was roused from sleep as a group of people came below deck. She looked at Gourry, sleeping on a large crate, and assured herself that he had not died, and then looked at the newcomers. The frigate was one of Granya's, and the trio who found them had been looking for people who had been shipwrecked. It had been the only bit of luck they'd had since winning the Blast Sword. Despite Doctor Anders efforts, Gourry had not woken up.

"You survived." Granya said as she drew closer and Lina recognized her.

"Yes." Lina said, her voice hollow, "And we may not have to worry about Zenobia for awhile. She's alive, but without her ace."

"In all the years I've down this I've never heard of fishpeople doing this." Granya said, "I was completely unprepared. Please accept my apologies."

"Carnage and destruction tend to follow where I go." Lina said lifelessly as she brushed Gourry's hair from his face.

"How is he doing?"

Lina bit her lip. The Doctor Anders had removed his feet and bandaged the stumps, and then bandaged his hand. He'd given Gourry a mix of potions and said that if he woke up he would survive. If he woke up. Lina finally settled for saying, "Doctor Anders didn't tell you?"

Granya put a hand on her shoulder. Lina flinched and pulled away. It was the sort of kind gesture that hurt to receive when she was lashing herself with recriminations and guilt. What was she thinking? Prioritizing regaining their power over their safety and wellbeing? How many times had she criticized Zelgadis for doing the exact same thing she'd done? And while she once would have hoped that they could find Filia quickly and end this nightmare, she was starting to doubt that they would be successful. They could barely scrap by without her powers. How the hell were they supposed to get anything of worth done now that Gourry was less than normal?

Disabled. Crippled. Invalid. His once beautiful, perfect body mutilated and useless. And she had driven him to it.

Granya replied, "Just remember, every worthy endeavor seems hopeless at some point. Keep fighting and you'll find the light again."

Lina looked at Granya as though she had sprouted a second head, but the older woman smiled encouragingly and turned to go back above deck.


Lina missed The Freedom with its small, but private berth. Now she and Gourry were crammed below deck with the other passengers and a ton of cargo. She could hear their business, their fights, their woes, their drama, their sounds of sick as they endure seasickness. And she could hear them talk about her and Gourry, about his injuries, how he wasn't expected to survive and she was wasting good soup on him.

Lina glared at them as she balanced the bowl precariously on her knee. One of her arms was in a sling while her shoulder healed and she only had use of her right hand. She had to admit, though, that with her powers gone and one arm bandaged, she was hardly the intimidating threat she once was. But rather than focus on that, she focused on nursing Gourry. If he survived, every minute of this hellish ride would be worth it.

Someone came in from above deck. Lina didn't bother to see who it was. She truly didn't care. But soon the newcomer approached her. "Any change?" Doctor Anders asked.

"No." Lina said mournfully.

He held his lantern over Gourry did a scan of him under the light, and then reached a hand down to take his pulse, "It looks like you're taking good care of him."

I should have done that earlier. Lina thought.

"I'm going to change his bandages." Doctor Anders said.

"How can I help?" Lina asked.

"Just watch." He replied as he hung the lantern over the rafter. The light wasn't great, but it was better than nothing.

Lina held her breath as he removed the bandages around Gourry's hand, and by the way he stiffened Lina could sense something was wrong. "What is it?" Lina asked.

The doctor lifted Gourry's hand, and Lina could see how black and bloated his fingers looked as the doctor said, "Gangrene."

"What!?" Lina barked.

"We're going to have to remove his hand as well."


They would reach port in a day. Lina had had no idea what they would do once they got there. Gourry was clinging to life, but he'd not woken up. And now he had no feet and no right hand. Traveling to find Filia was out of the question. Lina would have to write to her and hope she would come and find them. So to kill the time, Lina decided she'd better get a feel for what had survived the shipwreck that would be able to help tide them over.

While Lina didn't like sorting her items so publicly, she didn't have much of a choice. She'd waited until the other passengers were asleep, or at least were pretending to be asleep. Then she removed her mantle and untied her numerous bags from it and started to open them. Several ropes were empty, their contents lost during the swim to shore. It worried Lina that she had lost stuff and she tried to assure herself that hopefully it was the junk she'd been meaning to ditch for awhile anyway. She'd located her spare clothes easily enough, and some books and gemstones. Her priceless journal on magic was there, and due to the water protection spell that she had cast on it, in good condition. But she had had three bags of gold coins, and she couldn't find one of them! She took a deep breath and told herself to search again. They couldn't be gone! They'd had plenty to keep them comfortable for some time, but if it was gone…

Lina searched her bags again, and then a third time, and then she slumped on the floor in shock. All that had survived were a bag of gem stones, worth a good deal less in the Outerworld than the Inner one, and what little was in her coin purse. And between her busted arm and Gourry in the condition he was, their chances of finding a job were nil.

What will become of us? Lina wondered as she stared ahead of her as a fear she had never known started to wash over her.

"Lina?" Gourry asked hoarsely, and Lina felt her eyes moisten as she stood up and turned around to see Gourry's eyes open and looking at her.

"Hey!" she said as she reached his side and put her good hand on his arm, "You woke up!"

"How long was I asleep?" he asked.

"A few days." Lina said, taking a moment to relish that he was awake and would survive before focusing on how to tell him what he had lost and just what a tight spot they were in. "I was getting scared that you would never wake."

He reached a hand out to her, and then froze as he looked at the stump where his hand should have been. "Lina…"

"It got an infection." Lina said quickly, "As soon as we reach land I'm going to write to Filia. She'll be able to grow it back."

"But I can still feel it!" Gourry said as his eyes widened in disbelief, "How can it not be there?"

"Common occurrence when someone loses a limb." Zachariah said as he came up to them. "I still get phantom sensations in my arm."

Gourry looked at Lina with a panicked expression on his face, and Lina felt as though her heart was breaking. Was this how he'd felt when he struggled to tell her that her powers were gone? And she'd been so horrible to him! "Filia will fix it. She'll fix it all. And…there's more. Gourry, you're boots, they'd melted into your feet. They had to be removed as well."

"But I can feel them!" Gourry insisted. "I can!"

He pulled the blanket up and stopped cold when he saw the stumps, and then he lay back onto the hammock. He was silent for a few agonizing moments as Lina noticed that the other passengers were starting to rouse and watch. He didn't even have the dignity of some privacy during a moment like this. She wondered if this typically gentle man would lose it. But when he did talk, it was in a soft, defeated tone, "But how can I be of any use to you like this?"

Lina seemed to feel the eyeballs of everyone watching. She did all she could to ignore them. "You make me laugh. That's how."

"That won't keep you safe."

"It will keep me going during this rough stretch. That's all this is, a rough stretch." Lina said as she reached for his good hand and squeezed it, "And from now on, I'm not traveling with you for a sword, or to replace a sword or because I need a protector. I'm traveling with you because I like traveling with you and I want to be with you!"

"But how am I going to travel like this?" he asked as his eyes welled and he bit his lip.

"Then we'll stay put! And I'll stay put with you because I like being with you!" Lina practically yelled. Somehow she needed to get through his thick head that she wasn't leaving.

He looked at her, and that he was questioning her resolve was plain. But then he turned away. Lina bit her lip. He may doubt her now, but he would see. No matter how hard it got, she would stay. Even if Filia never came, she would find a way to make it work. Somehow.

"Here." Zachariah said as he handed Gourry something.

"What's this?" Gourry asked, and Lina watched as he held up a metal hook.

"Doc can install it before you leave." Zachariah said. "Won't quite replace your hand, but it will help?"

"This is supposed to make up for a hand?" Gourry asked harshly.

"It'll make it a little easier. And everything you can do to level the field helps." Zachariah explained. "You work with sailors for awhile and you'll find, people like us always find a way to stay afloat."


AN: Why do I write stuff like this? Anyway, one of the things I liked about the novels that really didn't make it to the anime was the evolving reasons that Lina and Gourry travel together (first for the SOL, then to find a sword to replace the SOL, and then traveling together because they like it). Wanted to rectify that a bit.