-Alright! The chapter I've been waiting for! This is what the main story has been building to this whole time... although the story is still far from over. Let's see how Lina and friends react to what they learn when they finally get Zara home...-
14- Zara's family! And the whole story?
Lina and friends strolled though the lively village, seeing many people coming and going.
"So this is where Zara-chan comes from? It's so lovely. What a nice, quaint village." Amelia commented.
"Yeah." Zelgadis agreed. "But where exactly does Zara live anyway? Do we have directions or something?"
"I suppose we could ask someone." Gourry said, walking off.
"That's a great idea, Mister Gourry! Someone around here must know Zara-chan!" Amelia agreed and followed him.
Lina stayed where she was, holding the three-year-old's hand. "Lina? Are you okay?" He asked.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine." She answered quickly. But she wasn't. She had a strange feeling, and was trying to identify it. Could it be that she was dreading having to part with the little boy after all this time? Of course not! Ridiculous! It couldn't be! Right? The more she thought about it, the harder she clutched the boy's hand. Fortunately, Zara didn't seem to notice.
"Miss Lina! Zara-chan! This way!" Amelia called. "Zara-chan's house is just up this street!"
Lina gulped, and followed her friends, with her hand still firmly clasped around Zara's. "You're almost home." She whispered to him, wondering how he would respond to it.
"Yeah, isn't it great?" He replied with a big smile. Lina smiled back, but something about his answer dissatisfied her, which only made her more uncomfortable.
The house was a nice-looking one, one that Lina would have liked to live in if she hadn't been travelling. Amelia knocked on the door, and a young woman opened it. She seemed slightly surprised to see the large group of people outside her house. "Um, is there something I can do for you all?" She asked politely.
"Ah, we were wondering..." Amelia began, and she turned to glance at Zara. He was staring at the young woman with large, recognising eyes.
"M-mama?" He stammered, somewhat questioning.
The young woman's eyes fell on the little boy and she gasped. "Zara!" She exclaimed. "Oh Zara!"
"Mama! Mama!" Zara let go of Lina's hand and ran to the young woman's outstretched arms.
Lina bit her lip as she watched the reunion. She should be happy. They had finally found Zara's home. That was what they'd been travelling all this way to do. But why was she upset? She felt strange as she watched Zara and the young woman hugging, something almost akin to jealousy. Jealousy? But what was she jealous of?
The young woman placed Zara back down, still holding his hand. "Thank you so much for bringing Zara home." She said, gratitude flashing in her eyes.
"Hey, it was no problem! It's our job as defenders of Justice!" Amelia enthused. She turned around. "Right, Miss Lina?"
"U-uh, yeah. Sure." Lina stammered, unsure of what to say. She just stood there awkwardly for a moment.
Gourry nudged her. "Lina, you should probably say goodbye or something."
"Er, right. Of course." Lina turned to the little boy sitting down to get to his eye level. "Hey, Zara?" She asked.
Zara looked back, and when he saw her, his green eyes took on a cloudy expression.
"Who are you?" He asked bluntly.
Lina was taken aback. She couldn't believe it. "Z-Zara..." She stammered, wondering why it hurt so much to say it. "It's me. Lina. Don't you remember...?"
"Who is that?" He replied, his expression still cloudy and emotionless.
"Zara... no... it's me. Lina Inverse. Lina?" She felt herself panicking as the boy's expression didn't change. "Come on? Lina? Ringing any bells here? Lina?"
"Lina? Lina? Lina please wake up! Wake up, Lina!"
The sorceress sat bolt upright, her eyes suddenly open, studying her surroundings. It was dark. She was in a sleeping bag. It had been a dream. Just a stupid dream.
"Lina?" The voice that had woken her up called again. She turned to see a frightened looking three-year-old standing next to her.
"Z-Zara..." She stammered, somewhat relieved that he remembered her name. "What's wrong?"
"I had another bad dream..." He said sadly.
You and me both, kid. Was the thought that went through her mind. She shook her head to get rid of it. "Well, why'd you wake me up? You know that every time you come to me, I just tell you to get over it and go back to sleep. Why didn't you wake up Gourry or Amelia?"
Zara stared sheepishly at Lina. "Because you're the best at scaring away monsters." He replied.
Lina sighed. It was as good an answer as any. Zara saw the frustrated look on the sorceress' face, and he backed away slightly. "I'll just go back to bed now if you want..." He said dejectedly.
Lina looked back up at the retreating child, remembering her dream. "Erm, well, you can come stay over here with me if you really want to..." She said, opening her arms invitingly. Zara was quick to jump on her offer, literally. He hugged her tightly, making himself comfortable in her lap. It was the same way he had greeted the young woman in her dream, Lina remembered, and she felt a sudden rush of warmth. She didn't need to be jealous anymore.
Of course, that was assuming that she had been jealous in the first place. Which she assured herself that she hadn't.
"Was it... the same one you had before? The one with me in it?" She asked.
"Yeah." Zara responded weakly. He was tired, and felt so safe and happy in Lina's arms.
Lina watched the boy as he began to fall asleep. She noticed that his hair was messed up- probably from thrashing around in bed due to his nightmares. His hair was long- not long like Gourry's- but it went almost to the boy's shoulders and could get really messed up if he slept on it the wrong way. Lina began to run her fingers through his light-brown hair in an attempt to straighten it out. It was calming and she sat, stroking the child's hair for a long while. For some reason, it reminded her of a time when she was very young, and of a song that her mother used to sing to her. Quietly, more to herself than to Zara, she began to hum. Zara was asleep by this point, but Lina's song seemed to percolate into his subconscious mind, and he smiled. It was impossible for Lina to keep from smiling back.
The craziness of her dream forgotten, and with the company of the little boy cheering her up, Lina felt so much better. But the song she was humming didn't last forever, and as she finished, her reverie was interrupted by the sound of someone clapping. She jerked her head up suddenly, staring at the person she hadn't realised was listening.
"Wow Lina, I never knew you had such a pretty voice. You could give Lorelei a run for her money, you know that?"
Lina's face burned scarlet, both from the comments and the fact that she had been caught actually being nice to Zara. She pressed her finger to her lips and hissed back, "Shut up, jellyfish-brain! You'll wake him up!"
"Sorry!" Gourry whispered back, and went to sit down closely beside Lina and Zara. A little too close if you asked Lina, but his attention was focused on the little boy, so she couldn't complain. "I woke up and thought I heard singing, so I had to find out where it was coming from." He explained. "How come you've never sung like that before?"
"I've just... just never needed to..." Lina stammered. She had often been told by her sister when they were young that she had a terrible voice. Had her sister lied just because she didn't like Lina, or was it Gourry who was lying because he actually did like her? Lina went with the first- it was easier for her to accept at the moment, and it made her seem more talented anyway.
Gourry nodded, watching Lina and Zara for a moment. "So you really do like him, huh?" He observed.
"Wh-what? No! Of course not! I'm just... humouring him! After all, it is his last night with us." Lina defended, the uncomfortable feelings from her dream resurfacing.
"Oh yeah. I'd forgotten that we're going to get to Mahoutskai tomorrow." Gourry said. "That's good for Zara, but I'm really going to miss him. Won't you, Lina?"
Lina turned away. "Miss him? No way! Of course not! Never! I've been wanting to get rid of him since we first met him! I'll be glad to see him get back home!"
Gourry nodded again. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He reached out absentmindedly and began stroking Zara's hair along with Lina. Lina didn't say anything, and the two of them sat together for a moment in silence. Gourry's hand fell over top of Lina's and their eyes met. Lina couldn't help remembering the way Gourry had chosen to snap her out of her angry rant at Xellos and Lorelei. Suddenly self-conscious, Lina snatched her hand back.
"Are you sure you really don't like him? You seem to." Gourry asked again.
"I already told you-!" Lina began to yell, but stopped, remembering that Zara was still asleep. She lowered her voice again. "I already told you once before- I am not, have never been, or will never be this kid's mother! Got it?"
Gourry nodded, staring off into the distance. "Yeah," He murmured, still not looking at Lina. "but I almost think that somewhere, deep down, you actually want to."
He turned back to Lina expecting to see some expression of rage or fury directed at him, but instead her expression was stunned. She looked as if he'd just told her that he'd won the Nobel Prize for chemistry. Which definitely would be shocking, since Gourry didn't exactly know what chemistry was.
Instead of attacking him like he was sure she would, she just turned her gaze back to Zara and muttered a quick "shut up, jellyfish. Go back to bed."
"Alright, I guess I will. Good night, Lina." He replied, getting up.
"Good night, idiot." She replied, watching him go.
So much for getting any more sleep that night.
The town looked much different than Lina had pictured it in her dream. It was not as nice, or as quaint. According to the townspeople, almost the entire town had been destroyed about a year and a half ago, and they were still in the process of rebuilding. They also took the chance to ask around to see if anyone knew who Zara was, or where he lived. The responses were all incredibly similar.
"Zara? That's an odd name. Never heard it before." "That kid? No, I don't know who he is. Never seen him before in my life." "Sorry, but I don't know of anyone by that name or description, I'm afraid."
Lina was getting frustrated. "Why doesn't anybody know him?" She ranted. "It makes no sense! This is supposed to be his hometown! I'm starting to wonder whether that lake dragon thing was telling the truth!"
"But Lina, she had no reason to lie to us." Gourry pointed out.
"Yeah, Miss Lina. Aren't dragons always truthful?" Amelia agreed.
"I suppose..." Lina mumbled.
Zelgadis, who had been going around talking to people, rejoined the group. "No one knows him, although I found out from someone that there is a wise old lady who lives just outside the village who has lived here all her life and is very familiar with the town's history. Perhaps she'd be able to give us some insight as to where Zara comes from."
"Great work, Mister Zelgadis!" Amelia enthused.
"So, we're going to go after this lady?" Gourry asked.
"Sounds like it. Come on, kid." Lina said, pulling Zara with her. She hadn't let go of his hand all morning.
"There are two paths. Which one do we take?" Lina asked. The group was just outside the town, and were following the path that was supposed to lead to the old woman's house. Unfortunately, no one had told the travellers that the trail branched off.
"I don't know. They never gave me that information. I suppose..." Zelgadis began, but he turned his attention to one of the apple trees surrounding the path. Lina, Amelia, Gourry, and Zara had already turned to look. There was a boy sitting in the branches of the tree. He looked to be about fifteen or sixteen, with wild brown hair, and had a large basket that he was filling with ripe apples.
"Maybe we can ask him for help." Amelia suggested.
"Hey! Kid!" Lina yelled. The boy didn't even glance down.
"What do you want?" He asked rudely.
"Hey, now! Don't 'what do you want' me! We need your help!" Lina yelled. She didn't like this guy already.
"Can't you see I'm a bit busy? Honestly, you travellers are always so rude."
"Rude? Oh so now we're the rude ones? Looks who's talking? I ought to..." Lina yelled.
"Miss Lina, please calm down!" Amelia said. "I'm sorry to bother you, sir, but we're looking for the family of a child named Zara, and we were wondering if you could help us a bit."
The boy suddenly turned his attention to the travellers. "Did you say Zara-" Suddenly he lost his balance on the branch and fell to the ground with a crash. His eyes swirled. "Oww..." he mumbled, rubbing his head. The basket of apples, with no one to stabilise it, fell over, dropping each of the apples onto the boy's head one by one, followed by the bucket itself. It fell onto the boy's head with a crash. "Oww..." came the muffled groan from inside the bucket.
Lina and her friends stared incredulously. Karma certainly had a strange way of working.
Zara walked up to the boy to see if he was alright. The three-year-old helped the boy pull the bucket off his head. "Are you okay?" He asked.
The boy stared at him for a second, with an unbelieving expression. Suddenly, he threw his hands around the three-year-old with a yell. "Zara! Oh my gosh, Zara! It's really you! I can't believe it! You're okay! I've been searching all over for you!"
Lina and her friends continued staring at the scene, surprised. Apparently the boy did know Zara. But the opposite was not true. Zara looked up at Lina with a shocked expression. "Lina, who is this guy?"
The boy gasped, dropping Zara. "What? Who am I? Are you saying that you don't even remember Zander, your greatest big brother in the whole entire world? Say it isn't so! No!" Zander exclaimed dramatically.
"That guy is worse than Amelia." Lina mumbled, feeling an odd pang of sympathy for the boy that Zara had forgotten.
Zander continued. "Oh, it must been those thieves! They must have erased your memory! How terrible! How awful! Grandma Wren will not be pleased at all!" He turned his attention back to Lina and her friends. "Oh, you must be the people who rescued Zara from those evil thieves! Oh, thank you so very much! I apologise for my rudeness before- I'm in your debt!"
Lina walked up to Zander. "So, if you're in our debt, could you at least tell us a little bit about Zara? His memory got erased, so we don't know anything about him."
Zander nodded. "Of course! Here, you can come with me to Grandma Wren's house. She'll be happy to see Zara. We can talk this over at her house."
"Grandma Wren?" Amelia asked. "Do you mean the wise old lady who lives out here?"
Zander nodded. "I'll explain some along the way if you want.
"So, Mister Zander, did you say that you are Zara-chan's older brother?" Amelia asked.
"Well, sort of. Not really." Zander answered. "I've just always sort of taken care of him like a little brother. You see, we're both just alike..." He paused thoughtfully for a moment before finishing. "...we're both orphans."
It took a moment for his statement to sink in. "Y-you mean that... Zara-chan is an orphan? He doesn't have any parents?" Amelia asked sadly.
"That's right." Zander nodded gravely. "We live with Grandma Wren. She's the one who takes care of us. She's actually my great-grandmother and only living family member. That's why I live with her. And she took Zara in about a year and a half ago, when he had nowhere to go."
Lina nodded, not sure what to do. It was sad, but why did she have a strange feeling of relief as well?
"A year and a half ago? Wasn't that when the town was destroyed? Is that the reason that he doesn't have parents?" Amelia asked.
Zander shook his head. "No, actually it wasn't. It was the strangest thing; Zara came to live with us about a week or two before that big disaster happened. It was kind of scary. That's the worst way to welcome a two-year-old into his new home. Of course, we live pretty far out, so it didn't really affect us. We're not really affiliated with the village. We just happen to live nearby. Grandma Wren sends me into town for groceries on occasion, but other than that, we try to stay away from it."
"So it's just you, your great-grandmother, and Zara-chan?" Amelia asked.
"Yep, sure is. I've lived with Grandma Wren for as long as I can remember. Not only is she very wise, she's also a sorceress and she's been teaching me a little magic... not that I'm very good at it. But I try to help her out as much as I can. She's like my hero. I want to be like her when I get older, and that's why I'm training hard." He replied.
"You story sounds oddly familiar." Zelgadis remarked coldly.
"What? Really?" Zander asked the strange man.
"Oh yeah! That's right! Zel used to live with his great-grandfather and help him out the same way! That is.. until he..." Lina's voice trailed off.
Zelgadis shot Lina a venomous look. "Until he what?" The chimera demanded.
"Uh, I was going to say until he became possessed by Shabranigdo, and..." Lina stammered.
"And what? Turned me into a monster? You can say it Lina!" Zel snapped.
Zander watched in disbelief as Lina became angry and Amelia frantically insisted that Zelgadis was not a monster. He realised that these people must have a lot of their own problems.
"Uh, Grandma Wren's house is right up here." Zander said, pointing to a small log cabin that had come into view. Lina and her friends looked up from their little dispute. So this was where Zara was from.
"I guess we finally made it." Lina breathed.
Zander knocked on the door, not wanting to barge into the house with a large group of people. The door was answered by a woman with long blonde hair. At first, Lina and her friends wondered who the lady was. She didn't appear to be older than her mid-twenties. But when she spoke, her voice seemed to betray her true age.
"Ah, Zander. You have brought visitors, I see." She commented.
"Yeah, Grandma Wren! And look, they brought Zara back home!" Zander pulled the little boy forward so that the woman could see him. She bent down to eye level with Zara.
"Zara. You have returned unharmed. This is a relief." She said, her eyes sparkling with wisdom. She did not put on such a display of affection as Zander had- in fact she didn't even show any affection at all. She turned her attention to the group of travellers accompanying the little boy. "Please, come inside." Wren beckoned. "It is cold out, and I can sense that you have questions that you would like answered."
The group exchanged a glance and followed the woman into the house.
Lina, Gourry, Amelia, and Zelgadis gathered in the main room. Wren prepared some tea and sat down with them. Zander was playing with Zara in one of the adjacent bedrooms. Even though Zara had forgotten who he was, that didn't stop Zander from having fun with the little boy. Zara was playing and laughing with his old friend as if nothing had changed.
"So, what is it that you would like to know about?" Wren asked the travellers, sipping a cup of tea.
"Well, I think our first question would be about you." Lina said. "How old are you anyway?"
Wren smiled. "Older than I appear. Magic has helped keep my appearance youthful, though it cannot slow down the aging process, I'm afraid."
"I see." Lina nodded. "You're quite powerful, aren't you? I can sense it."
"You are very astute, Miss Inverse." Wren acknowledged. "But enough about me. You want information about other things, correct?"
"Yeah, actually..." Amelia began. "We've heard a story about a monster who fell in love with a girl from Mahoutskai. And we have also encountered a monster by the name of Zaragio, who apparently had some connection with a sorceress named Veridia. Is there any connection between those two?"
Wren nodded solemnly. "Yes. Zaragio and Veridia are the very same people from the story that you have described."
"Really? The same ones?" Gourry asked.
"Yes. I must ask, what version of this story did you hear?" The woman replied.
"Version? What do you mean?" Amelia asked.
"Well, you know how rumours are. They often get blown out of proportion, or get the facts twisted in some odd way that makes the story more interesting but less accurate. Tell me, what were the details of this story?"
Amelia thought for a moment. "Well, it went something along the lines of this- Veridia and Zaragio fell in love, and eventually had a child. But the people of the town were afraid of this child so they killed Veridia and the child. This made Zaragio very unhappy, and he destroyed the town in his rage, and now he is seeking revenge on the human race."
"I see. Then you heard the unaltered version. This is completely accurate as far as the townspeople of Mahoutskai know." Wren replied. "However, there are still a few inaccuracies."
"Inaccuracies?" Zelgadis asked. "What do you mean?"
"I'll tell you. You understand that it is very difficult to kill a monster. A human-monster hybrid would not be destroyed very easily. The people of Mahoutskai thought that they had killed the child, but they hadn't. He lived."
There was a collective gasp from the group of friends. "Really? He lived! Oh, that's wonderful!" Amelia exclaimed.
"Not necessarily." Wren replied, capturing the group's attention again. "Zaragio was enraged at the death of Veridia, and the disappearance of his son. He is searching for revenge, but not by himself. He wants to unlock his son's powers and use them against humans. Evidently, this child is very powerful. Zaragio is searching for his son, and any information regarding his powers, such as old books. There are many books written on that subject in the old Mazoku language that is unreadable by humans."
Lina snapped her fingers. "Of course! That's the reason that Zaragio is chasing us! It's because of those books that we have! Now it makes sense!"
"Really? He'd go to all the trouble of killing you to get his hands on a few books?" Gourry asked. "That doesn't really make sense."
Lina gave Gourry a whack on the head. "Come on, idiot! From all that we've heard, I figure that Zaragio is willing to do whatever it takes to get the information that he wants. Plus he seems to be a bit... insane. Just a little."
Wren interrupted Lina. "No, Mister Gabriev is correct."
"What? Really? That's a first." Gourry remarked.
The woman continued. "Zaragio would not go to all that trouble of hunting you down like this only for a few books. Surely you must have realised that there is much more behind it. Not only do you have the books,"
She paused, drawing stares from the people around the room.
"but you have the child as well."
(A/N:Dun dun dun... I suppose this already long enough to end the chapter here... but that would be quite unjust of me. Heheh~ If you figured out who Zara was before, give yourself a cookie! ^.^ If not, have a cookie anyway. But keep reading. It gets better.)
For a long moment, no one spoke. They stared in incredulity at the woman who had just given them a bit of information on which they had no suspicion. Amelia was the first to speak up.
"M-Ms. Wren... you can't possibly mean that Zara-chan is..."
"That is exactly what I mean. You mean to say that you haven't noticed?"
Lina looked around nervously. "Well... I mean, I knew that he had magical powers far beyond the capacity of normal humans, but I didn't think that it meant... I mean, I just didn't expect..."
"But Zara-chan is too nice to be a monster!" Amelia exclaimed.
"Of course. That's because he's not a full-blooded monster. Remember that Veridia was a human. The mix of human and monster blood gave him very... interesting characteristics." Wren replied, still calmly sipping tea.
"You mean like the ability to tolerate positive emotions?" Zelgadis asked.
"Not just tolerate them, Mister Greywords, but to actually feed off of them. Zara is the opposite of a normal monster. He gains energy from positive emotions, while negative emotions weaken him. You have probably noticed this before."
"Of course! That's why he was never hungry!" Gourry said. "And he never slept all that much, except for when everyone was upset about something. Like after the blizzard- I had to carry him back. But once everything settled down, he was fine."
"And when he got so hyper at that party." Zelgadis mentioned. "I guess it wasn't the cake after all."
Wren nodded. "Of course. I'm not exactly sure what the situations were, but those sound like good examples."
"And Zara-chan is very smart! Does that have anything to do with being half-monster?" Amelia asked.
Wren nodded again. "Yes, that does. You see, Zara does not age the way normal humans do. In actuality he is about three and a half years old, but he physically appears to be about three. In contrast, his mental state is far ahead of his physical state. Psychologically, he is about at the level of an ordinary ten-year-old."
"Dang." Lina breathed. "No wonder he could do math better than Gourry. I guess it's almost the same thing. Gourry is, what, twenty-something? But mentally, he's about... seven I guess."
"I'm older than seven!" Gourry defended.
"How old would you say you are, Mister Gourry?" Amelia asked.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe eight..." He responded. Lina punched him on the head.
"Shut up, idiot. There's still more things I want to discuss." Lina turned back to Wren. "So, how did you get involved with Zara anyway?"
"I was a personal friend and confidant of Veridia. I rescued her son when she was killed. I was planning on giving Zara back to Zaragio, but when Zaragio destroyed the town of Mahoutskai just over a week later, I knew that it was not safe to reveal myself to him yet. So I kept Zara with me, letting my great-grandson, Zander, help me take care of him." Wren replied.
"Does Mister Zander know about Zara-chan...?" Amelia asked hesitantly.
"No. Zander does not know. I almost told him the story when Zara was kidnapped by Zaragio's subordinates, but decided against it."
"So those bandits we fought were actually monsters working for Zaragio, huh? Interesting." Lina observed.
"But what did the townspeople do? How did Miss Veridia die?" Amelia asked.
Wren told the whole story. "Veridia and Zaragio were living in the ruins of an old abandoned castle nearby. Zaragio had been summoned by another monster and was absent at the time. The townspeople saw their chance, and went while Veridia and Zara were unprotected. They lit the place on fire, not knowing that it allowed Zaragio to observe all the events that were taking place from far away. Veridia, whose magic was quite powerful, stood up to defend her child. But she was horribly outnumbered, and though she was strong, it wasn't quite enough. They killed her in front of Zara. He was only two at the time, but smart enough to know what was going on. The poor boy was terrified, especially seeing his mother taken down so brutally by the angry townspeople. They used the remaining fire to detonate the ruins, thinking that Zara would be killed in the explosion. He was severely injured, but did not die. And, of course, Zaragio, who could only watch- unable to do anything- was enraged."
Lina stood up in shock. "Th-the dream!" She stammered. "That's the dream! That's what he was dreaming about!"
Wren looked up at the sorceress, a surprised look on her face. "You mean that Zara dreamed about these events?" She asked.
"Yeah! That's exactly the story that he told about his dream!" Lina exclaimed.
"But, wait. That doesn't make any sense. If it was a dream about Zara-chan's past, then why were Miss Lina and Mister Gourry in it?" Amelia asked.
Lina paused. "Oh yeah, that's right. It was me that he saw the townspeople fight... and poor Gourry who was watching, but couldn't do anything... That doesn't make any sense!"
"Actually, it makes perfect sense." Wren said. The group looked up at her in surprise.
"What do you mean?" Zelgadis asked.
"Well, due to his erased memory, Zara doesn't recall the details of Veridia and Zaragio. He only remembers the relationships of the people to him. Because of this, his subconscious mind fills in the blanks with the people who currently occupy that role in his life." She explained.
"Uh, in English please?" Gourry requested, confused.
"It means that, Zara saw you in his dream, because you are his parents now."
"We're WHAT?" Lina asked, slamming her fist onto the table, causing some of the tea to spill over.
"Zara thinks of the two of you as his parents." Wren said. "Does this bother you?"
"Bother me? That's exactly what I told that kid NOT to do!" Lina said angrily. "How do we fix that?"
"Young children's parental bonds are nearly impossible to change, Miss Inverse." The woman clarified. "Unless, of course, you erased his memory again."
"No!" The word came out of Lina's mouth before she even had time to think about it. It was the memory of her dream that night speaking for her, and for once, she agreed. "I... I never said that it did bother me..." She stammered.
"Does this mean that Zara is going to stay with us now?" Gourry asked.
"A child this age needs to be around his parents. Not some old lady and a teenage boy." Wren said, almost laughing. Her expression became serious again. "You also would be able to protect him better than we could."
"Protect him? Oh, you mean from Zaragio?" Amelia asked.
"Yes. I fear that the tactic Zaragio wishes to use in order to reveal Zara's true power could do more harm than good to the boy. Zaragio has been driven insane by the events that occurred, and no longer cares how many people are harmed as long as he gets revenge. Even if it means sacrificing Zara..."
"You mean he'd sacrifice his own son to get revenge on the people who tried to kill his son? That makes absolutely no sense!" Amelia cried.
"It doesn't have to make sense for Zaragio. He cannot think clearly anymore. He is dangerous." Wren said, looking at Amelia. "And I do not consider Zara to be his son anymore. Veridia instructed me that if anything were ever to happen to her and Zaragio, then guardianship of the boy would fall to me. Now Veridia is dead, and Zaragio is no longer sane enough to care for the child. I have the right to look after him now... however..." The woman eyed Lina and Gourry. "I feel that, due to the circumstances, that should be passed on to the two of you."
Gourry glanced around nervously. "Lina? Are you sure about this?" He asked.
Lina looked at Wren with a serious expression. "I don't know anything about being a parent..." She began, "...but I do know that I am not going to let anything happen to Zara. You can count on that."
Lina sat outside on the porch, observing the night sky, and pondering all the things that had happened that day. Wren had explained Zara's situation to a stunned Zander, and a much less surprised Zara. The three-year-old took the information much better than Lina had expected, especially the part about staying with her and Gourry. Lina didn't think she'd ever seen Zara smile so brightly.
Now the others were helping Wren cook dinner, which was good because Lina was pretty hungry.
"Hey, Lina? Are you out here?" A familiar voice broke her reverie.
"Yeah. What are you doing here? I thought you were in the kitchen helping out." She replied.
"Oh, well, they kind of chased me out. I'm not very good at cooking. I just mess everything up." Gourry replied awkwardly.
"Why does this not surprise me?" Lina laughed.
"But you're not very good at cooking either! Remember the squash biscuit?" Gourry reminded, teasingly.
"Oh, yeah. Well it was your idea to cut the thing with your sword! I still haven't washed some of those squash stains out of my clothes!" Lina replied.
"But you were the one who threw stuff into the pot without knowing what you were putting in!"
"Well it's that chef guy's fault for keeping all that useless stuff around! I mean, turmeric? Soapwort? Lemon Verbena? Who keeps that kind of stuff in their cabinets anyway?" Lina laughed again.
The pair laughed for a minute, their warm breath condensing into clouds of vapour in the frigid air. They had gotten so wrapped up in their little arguments and all the crazy things going on around them, that they had forgotten how much they enjoyed each other's company. They had so many fond memories- even if making the memories had not been very fun. They had so much that they could look back on and laugh.
"You know..." Gourry began, after their laughter had subsided.
"What is it?" Asked Lina.
"Well... I always imagined that we would get married and settle down before we became parents. You know?"
WHACK!
"Some thoughts are better left in your head, jellyfish-brain." Lina scolded. "And we're not his parents. We're his guardians. So don't even begin to think..."
"But Ms. Wren said that-"
"Forget what that old lady said! It doesn't matter! We're just protecting Zara from a monster that wants to kill him. Get that into perspective, okay?" Lina yelled. "Now, I think I smell dinner. Come on, let's go inside before we freeze and starve to death out here!" She smiled, and then ran inside.
"H-hey! Wait up for me!" Gourry called, following closely behind.
-*Sigh* Lina and Gourry were having such a nice moment there... and then Gourry has to open his mouth... Anyway, I guess this is kind of the turning point where Zara starts to bring them together. I'm hoping that, from here on out, Zara's going to create more sweet scenes than he ruined. Fingers crossed that it works out for them. By the next chapter, Zarahio will have found out that he no longer has Lorelei out to kill Lina, so he has to get someone else... someone Lina and friends never thought they'd see again...;3 R&R!-