Chapter Ten

In the middle of the night, Lina woke up. Her eyes fluttered open, and she yawned, rubbing at her sore eyelids gingerly. She knew it was still night (or early morning?), but she also knew that, like before, she wouldn't be able to get to sleep. She slid out of Gourry's grasp and left the room, seeking comfort in cold water.

When she had her glass and went to sit down and maybe play some solitaire, she found the couch already occupied. Zelgadis, clad in pajamas far too big for his slight frame, looked up. Lina sighed, walked over, and sat down beside him. There was a short silence between them, before Zelgadis surprised her and leaned over, resting his head carefully on her shoulder.

Lina looked down at him in shock, but bit back what she was going to say when she saw the look on his face: his eyes were shut, and his mouth was a grim line, his teeth gritted. Lina shifted closer, put her arms around him, and hugged him. He trembled, but didn't make a sound.

It's a night of tears, she thought sadly, resting her cheek carefully on Zelgadis's wiry hair. I've been stupid. He knows he's messed up. Punishing him is just cruel.

They sat together for a while, taking comfort, until finally Zelgadis cleared his throat and pulled away, rubbing his eyes a little roughly. Lina looked at him, and he looked back. She offered a small smile.

"I don't want to travel anymore," she admitted suddenly. Zelgadis's hands dropped from his face in his surprise. "I want to stop. I want to set down roots, with Gourry."

"But... you're always travelling," Zelgadis said, his voice hoarse. "You're a nomad."

Lina nodded, her smile sad. "I know. But I think I'm bored with that, now. It just feels like there's more to life than that, you know? Gourry... he's taking over... and that's why I was so mad at you, Zel." She looked up at him. "Because... I'm scared."

"You? Scared?" he wondered. He wasn't teasing.

She nodded, her eyes wide. Zelgadis leaned back. "I guess your anger makes sense," he admitted. "But why are you scared?"

"Because!" she suddenly snapped, her hands clenched into fists. "Because love is fleeting! Because it fades! Because... because... we could mess up, lose everything! Because... because he could die before me!"

Zelgadis blinked. "Die before you?" he repeated.

"Yes!" she cried. "I don't think I could watch him die! I'm scared... of that."

"It's a long way off, Lina," Zelgadis said plainly.

"I know," Lina smiled weakly. "I'm worrying after shadows, but I can't help it. So when you told me what happened with you and Amelia... it terrified me."

"I'm sorry," Zelgadis said honestly.

"Me, too," she agreed.

Zelgadis sighed, literally sagging. "What should I do?" he wondered, sounding helpless.

Lina gave him a stern look. "Go back to her," she answered simply.

Zelgadis nodded slowly. He leaned over, gave her a kiss on the cheek, then got to his feet. "I think I'm going to try to sleep," he said softly. Lina nodded, touching his hand lightly as he walked by.

"Hey, Zel?" she called after him.

"Mm?" he stopped, looking over his shoulder at her.

"Was it everything you hoped for, everything that you thought it would be?" she wondered seriously, her face sombre, her voice soft.

Zelgadis smiled a little, his eyes wavering. He looked down. "And more," he murmured. "G'night."

"Night."

When he was gone, and she heard the sound of the spare room door click shut, she sighed. She gulped down the rest of the water in a rush, got to her feet, and went back to her bedroom.

Gourry was sitting up, his eyes wide in the dim light. "I was worried," he admitted as a greeting, "but I figured you would be okay."

Lina walked over, knelt in front of him, and said, very calmly, "Gourry, I'm tired."

Gourry smiled, placing a hand on her cheek. "I know. Let's get back to sleep."

"No," she snapped, pushing his hand away. "I'm tired of moving around. I'm tired of travelling."

Gourry stared at her, his mouth open a little. He blinked, his eyes huge. "You are?"

"I am," she nodded.

Gourry blinked, then smiled. It was a bright, relieved smile. "Good," he said, relaxing.

Lina was the one to stare this time. "Good?"

He nodded. "Yup. I mean, before we came here, we talked about it, and that made me happy, but now that we're on the same page, yeah, it's good!"

"Same page?" Lina echoed, feeling stupid. She had been expecting a fight, or, at the least, that he would try to talk her out of it.

Gourry nodded, leaning back with a wide smile. "Ah, think of it," he said softly, his eyes fixed on some point above them. "If we master this apprenticeship, we could open up our own little shop somewhere out in nowhere..." His eyes glittered a little at the very idea of it.

Lina stared at him. Then, with a blank expression on her face, she reached forward and grabbed onto the side of his cheek, pulling as hard as she could. Gourry yelped, but managed to keep his voice low.

"I hate you," she declared, her eyes flashing. "You NEED to start speaking up, you know that?!"

Gourry tried to talk around her hand, but failed miserably at it. With a grunt, she let go, and he tried again. "But, Lina, it's always better when you take the lead," he admitted. "Because that way, we're still together."

Lina frowned, her hands in her lap. "But--" Gourry placed a finger to her lips. "We need to sleep. Talk more tomorrow?" he offered. He pulled his finger away, lying down on the floor again. Lina blinked, then shortly followed, cuddling up next to him.

When she listened to his breathing turn to snores, she smiled, a wide, unrestrained grin. A flutter of joy erupted in her tummy, and she curled up closer, chasing him into sleep.

X X X

The next morning, very early in the day, Zelgadis left for Seyruun. When Lina questioned him about what he would do, he hadn't replied, but he looked ashamed and sad, still. She wondered if there really was anything that he could do or say that would make a difference.

Still, while Zelgadis had been a welcome distraction, he had still been a distraction, and now that he had left, it was time to get back into the nitty-gritty of things.

Both Lina and Gourry had been working for almost a week now, and both were getting tired and frustrated. The dagger from the previous day had been the only ray of sunshine amidst alot of dark annoyance. If anything, instead of making Lina take advantage of their success, it made her want to work harder and harder, until Gourry finally had a sword.

For the next couple of days that passed, Lina was like a demon bent on chaos. She was bossy, furious, and occasionally would take the hammer from Gourry and do the adjustments herself.

Luka and Delmas, while not exactly happy with this, did nothing to interfere with it. Gourry eventually had to ask why. Luka shrugged. "You're both finding your way, you know," she replied over the sound of Lina's hammering and cursing. "You should feel grateful; she wants to help you. She wants you to be happy."

Gourry shot a look at the woman in question, and realised that it looked more like she wanted to kill things. He blanched, but Luka smiled.

"Listen to her," Delmas grunted. "Lina-chan is practically her clone."

That wasn't a comforting thought.

Lina's reasoning on her sudden flurry was simple: the visit with Zelgadis had spooked her to the core, and she wanted to succeed, and to know that she COULD succeed, so that she and Gourry could build their lives together. The sadness in Zelgadis's eyes, and most damning, the envy that was also there, disturbed her, and kept her working.

They worked, sunrise to sunset, for a full three days, with little rest and alot of shouting and frustration. Luka and Delmas only stepped in when it looked like a real fight would break out between them, brought on by exhaustion and irritation.

By the end of the second week, they had a sword. It was a huge achievement, the last of a string of broken ones, and it was completed weeks earlier than Luka and Delmas had anticipated (both had to pay Luna a consideration sum as a result).

The sword was, Lina realised, beautiful. It was the end of the last day, and Gourry was slowly pulling the blade from the bucket and drying it gently with a soft towel. The hilt was a finely designed work, enchanted with a few spells for amplification. The design was a simple one: a rectangle with two spirals on either end, the sword placed between, and it was in silver instead of gold (which Lina had argued about with Luka, who insisted that silver was better for Air magic and had eventually won).

The blade itself was broad, but not too wide, narrowed only at the tip for sharp thrusts. While unpolished, it gleamed in the flickering light of the forge, and occasionally a glitter of faint butter-yellow light would dance up and down the blade.

Gourry's mouth was dry. When he held the sword, he felt like he was holding the last piece of a puzzle. Lina's eyes shone with admiration and happiness, her hands clasped before her.

The forge was silent, spellbound in their shared awe and relief.

"You gonna name it?" Delmas wondered suddenly, forcing everyone to jump a few feet in the air.

Lina made a face. "Daddy, not everyone is weird and names everything."

Luka nodded. "That's true. I still won't forgive you for naming the teapot Joseph."

Gourry seemed to take the question seriously, however. "I don't know," he admitted. "I'm not too good with names."

"Name it Butter Blade," Lina quipped, sticking out her tongue at Delmas.

"Lina-chan, take this seriously!" Delmas snapped. "Once you name a blade, it comes to life! It because your own, a blade of power! Only you can be the one to wield it, only you can be the one to truly understand it and respect--"

Luka calmly smacked him upside the head, halting his speech in mid-flight. He jolted, rubbed his head, and shot a poisonous glare at her, but she just avoided his gaze and started whistling.

Gourry chewed on his lip. His eyes met Lina's. "Wanna test it out?" he wondered.

Her eyes lit up. "Yes," she breathed out.

"HOLD IT," Delmas snapped, just as they were about to dash out into the back. "Hello? Have you learned nothing? Sparring with an unfinished sword is homicide to the sword!"

"It's magical," Luka said. "Lina-chan wants to sharpen it with magic."

"PARK YER ASS," Delmas snapped, pointing at Gourry. Shocked, his legs just gave out, and he barely managed to park said rear on the bench. "POLISH THAT SWORD, NOW!"

Needless to say, Gourry and Lina both obeyed, which resulted in a sword far more brilliant than either had anticipated. Daddy had been right, Lina realised. Something like this really does need a name.

Gourry, however, had lost his desire to spar with Lina, let alone name anything, so they put it on hold for the night. Once they were fed, cleaned up, and in bed, Lina had figured that Gourry would be out like a light in no time. But to her surprise, once she was settled, he leaned over and gave her a kiss on her ear, sending tingles up and down her spine.

"Gourry," she murmured, tired herself. "Get lost. Sleepy."

Gourry chuckled, brushing her hair away from her neck and kissing her there. She sighed, closing her eyes. "Gourry..." she murmured again, this time not out of annoyance.

He smiled, looking up at her. His eyes shone. "I love hearing my name sound like that," he admitted.

Lina smiled and played with his bangs. "Keep doing stuff like that and it's all you'll hear," she replied.

"Lina," he said, the smile fading. "We never really had a chance to talk about this, but, when the sword is finished, what do we do?"

Lina blinked. It was a good question. "Well, we start looking for a place to set up shop," she said.

"Here?" Gourry wondered, twirling her hair around his fingers idly.

Lina shook her head, looking ill at the very thought. "I don't think I could stomach seeing Luna-san and Dilgear on a regular basis," she admitted. "I was thinking of a place that's somewhat obscure, some place that's not in one town, but near a few, some place easy to find?"

Gourry nodded, his eyes shining. "That sounds perfect. Should we go to the New World?"

Lina chewed on her lip. "Maybe a little bit outside of the border. Now that magic is going to spread, it'll probably be good to get a head-start on it, you know? Establish a name?"

He nodded, feeling a bubble of excitement deep in his gut. He edged closer to her. "Yes, exactly," he agreed, his voice soft, his arms lazily going around her waist and pulling her closer to him.

Lina laughed. "You're acting like I'm talking dirty to you," she teased.

Gourry shook his head. "The idea of this is exciting," he admitted. "I can't help but feel energized by it."

Lina turned to him, looping her arms around his neck. "Kiss me," she demanded, smiling widely.

He did kiss her, and more. It seemed to seal the deal.