AN: In the novels, Hellmaster returned the Sword of Light to Dark Star when he held Gourry captive. And that's all the background for this chapter.
Lina was woken from a dead sleep when Gourry rolled off the bed. "What are you doing here?" he asked as she sensed a third presence in the room as she chanted a light spell.
"That's not the Sword of Light!" Guloisa said accusingly as the room glowed under Lina's spell as it took Lina's sleep riddled brain a few minutes to process what was happening.
Gourry lowered his sword, "What are you doing in our room?" he asked as Lina walked around the bed to stand beside him, stunned at Guloisa's brazenness.
"Checking on your father's prized possession! Where is it?" she asked.
"I told you. It's at its home."
"Then why isn't it here?" she persisted.
"Because its home is in the universe it originated with, with Dark Star." Lina snapped, "The Sword of Light was not of this universe. Now leave."
Guloisa looked at her as though she had started speaking in tongues. Then she finally stated, "You mean you let it go!"
"Gourry had been held captive by Hellmaster Phibrizzo. He didn't have much of a choice in the matter." Lina stated.
"It's better this way anyway." Gourry added.
"You let someone overpower you and take the sword from you!" Guloisa accused, her voice increasing in volume.
"It was Hellmaster Phibrizzo!" Lina said.
Guloisa turned flaming red as she started swinging her fists at Gourry, landing punches on his stomach, chest, face, wherever she could reach as she started screaming, "You idiot! Do you know how hard your father fought for that sword!? You know nothing could be more important than seeing that it stayed in the family…"
Gourry took it stoically as though he was used to this as Lina got between them, "I'm the only one who's allowed to beat him up, so back off!" Lina yelled.
"Get out of my way!" Guloisa yelled as she lurched towards them again while Zel and Amelia appeared at the door, obviously curious as to what was going on.
"Burst Rondo!" Lina growled as she released the spell just beside Guloisa, who jumped at the many mini explosions as her eyes widened as she remembered who she was dealing with. "Now, if you don't calm down now and go back to your room till morning I will have no qualms about letting you walk to the next town in the dark!"
"You wouldn't!" Guloisa stuttered, "I'm an old woman!"
"She would." Gourry, Zel and Amelia said in unison.
Guloisa glared at Lina banefully and then, with as much dignity as she could muster, she walked out of the room, saying as she left, "This isn't over."
"Are you okay?" Amelia asked as she tentatively walked in with Zelgadis. "We didn't mean to intrude, we just heard shouting."
"It's fine." Gourry said, "You just saw the real Guloisa Gabriev. Well, I guess she was going to find out sooner or later. So long as she doesn't find what this is." He said as he grabbed the Blast Sword, "It will be fine."
"But how many people know about the Blast Sword?" Zelgadis asked, "I mean, have you been keeping the knowledge of its discovery a secret?"
Gourry got quiet as his eyes narrowed while Lina thought of the people who knew who very well could have spread the word about the Blast Sword. Milgasea and Memphis. Lina's family and the Eternal Queen, and quite a few people in Zefiel City. What if Guloisa stopped by there after she left Maninstit and found out about the Blast Sword from them?
"Well, I guess we'll cross that bridge when it happens." Lina said as she put a hand on Gourry's arm and was surprised to find he was shaking.
Amelia looked at them for a moment as an awkward silence descended, and then looked at Zelgadis as she said, "We'll just go back to bed then."
"Lock your doors." Gourry said.
"Right." Zel said.
Gourry locked the door after Zel and Amelia left as Lina shook her head, "I guess I just got complacent. I figured I wouldn't need to lock my room in my own home."
"She would have found a way in." He said as he sat back on the bed, looking unusually drained.
"Hey," she said as she got into bed with him and wrapped an arm around him, "I've been thinking. After careful consideration I have decided that, first thing after breakfast, we will ask Jeeves to find someone with a wagon to take her into town and make it clear that she is not to ever come back. How does that sound?"
"That's for the best." He said as he continued to stare at the tapestry opposite their bed.
Lina floundered for a moment, especially as being the shoulder to cry on was not her specialty. Even as she asked her next question, she cringed, "So, I guess you take after your dad?"
Gourry laughed a little, "Well, he was a good father, but he was rather ruthless to people who weren't his children, especially if they challenged his claim to the Sword of Light. It took me a long time and all of my training with the Gunginiel Knights to accept that."
He stopped for a moment and scratched his face, and then with an abruptness that surprise her he turned towards her and kissed her. "Gourry?" she asked as she pulled away.
"Hey, you lobbing that Burst Rondo at Mother was hot!" he said.
She chuckled a little, "I thought you wouldn't approve."
They kissed again, but gently she put her arms between them, "What is it?" he asked.
"Just, I mean, after that, you don't want to talk some more?"
"No," he said. "I just don't like thinking about the past. It puts me in a bad place I don't want to be. I'd much rather think of you and all we're going to do together. Getting this house ready for our students, the wedding." He smiled a little, "Building a happier family together."
She reached forward and stroked his hair, "That's important to you, isn't it? Having a happy family?"
"It's large part of what I want." He smiled a little as he stroked her cheek, "I know you're still young and unsure. It's okay if it's just you and me for a while. A husband and wife can still be a happy family. So I'm not wanting to rush you. I just get excited thinking about it. Especially after a visit from Mother."
He leaned forward to kiss her again and stopped as his eyes widened. "What?" she asked.
"Your sister isn't going to rip us apart for being found in bed together before we get married, is she?"
Lina laughed a little and kissed him, "We peasants are held to looser standards than nobility where bloodlines matter. No, Sis and, really, everyone would be more upset if we eloped. So long as we go through with whatever ceremony they have in mind, we're free to lust over each other at our leisure."
"Good." He said as he grinned.
Guloisa was eating a hearty breakfast when Lina and Gourry came down into the dining room the next morning. Lina felt he ire rise a bit at her presumption, and then she noticed Gourry staring at her. She recognized that look. It basically meant it was on her to be the bad guy, but right now, Lina had very little qualms about that.
"Hey, we've got to talk." Lina said.
"Oh?" Guloisa said as scooped some eggs onto her fork and brought them into her mouth. "Well, I agree about that. These eggs are overcooked, you may have to do something about that cook."
"Take it up with people who give you your next meal. We've made arrangements to have you taken into the nearest city." Lina stated.
Guloisa smiled, "I'm afraid you can't do that."
"I can, and will!" Lina shot back.
"I'm afraid that's quite impossible." Guloisa said. "I just cast bind."
Lina looked at her in shock. "Bind?" Gourry said as Zel and Amelia entered the dining hall.
"It's a spell, a curse, to keep people under house arrest." Amelia explained. "When cast a person can't leave the location they are at unless the person who casts the spell lifts it. But I've never heard of someone casting it on themselves!"
"Oh, it works rather well in that regards." Guloisa said as she ate her eggs smugly, "How else do you think I forced myself on my cousins for so long? So you see, unless I decide to remove the spell, you can't force me out no matter what you'd try."
"But when did you learn sorcery?" Gourry asked, incredulously.
"Oh, I just learned the bind spell." Guloisa said. "It struck me as something that would come in handy. And the only way I'm leaving is when I hear about a place I like better."
"But you have no right…" Lina said.
"In the Elmekian Empire men provide for their mothers after they are widowed! I have every right!" Guloisa said.
"We're not in the Elmekian Empire!" Lina shrieked.
"And you are being a disrespectful little brat!" Guloisa shot back.
"Oh, you are asking for it!" Lina said as she started muttering under her breath and felt a twinge of satisfaction as Guloisa went pale.
"Do you really want slaying old ladies added to your reputation?" she asked.
"What makes you think it's not already there?" Lina said in a low voice.
Guloisa stared her in the eye, "You're bluffing."
Lina cackled, "Do you really want to bet?"
"Why don't we all take a step back and take a break?" Amelia suggested. "Talk about this when cooler heads prevail?"
"That's a splendid idea." Guloisa said as she stood up and walked towards the staircase. She put her foot on the first step but then stopped suddenly, as though she had hit an invisible wall. "Forgot, I can't go on the second floor with this spell. You're just going to have to prepare a room for me on the ground floor."
Lina opened her mouth to protest, but then stopped as a gleam formed in her eye, "Oh, I have just the room in mind!"
"She's just so old." Amelia said as she watched as Gourry and Zelgadis brought down a bed from one of the guest rooms upstairs into the Sad Lady's room. "You don't think she'll have a stroke or a heart attack, do you?"
"She has a heart of ice." Gourry said as he set the mattress down. "This won't kill her."
Lina started to put the bedclothes on (Alona still refused to enter the Sad Lady's room). "To be honest, that Gourry is acting so cold towards her makes me think we haven't even seen the worse yet."
"Well, after tonight you never will." Gourry said. "I do wonder how long she will last until she cancels the spell and runs out in terror!"
Lina laughed, "I'll tell Jeeves to have a wagon ready for her when she does decide to flee. Oh, this will be so much fun to watch!"
"We should make popcorn." Gourry said.
They laughed and started to make plans until Gourry told everyone to hush momentarily before Guloisa strolled on. Her face lit as she saw the room, "My, this is nicer than that room you had me in last night! This will be quite wonderful! I'm prepared to forgive you for your earlier impertinence."
"My what?" Lina said as her hand bunched into a fist.
"We'll leave you to get settled in." Gourry said as he grabbed Lina's hand and lead her from the room.
"Unwelcome visitors aside, this is a nice house." Amelia said as she and Lina put some popcorn in the kettle.
Lina sighed, "I do wish everyone would leave us alone. It's like Gourry and I finally get some down time and people still keep bothering us. And since this villain is Gourry's mother, I can't exactly lob a Dragon Slave at her and move on."
Amelia smiled, "I'm so glad I don't have to deal with in-laws."
"I didn't think I'd have to!" Lina exclaimed. "At first I thought maybe Gourry would open up a bit about what happened, but he's still tight lipped. Usually it doesn't bother me, I mean I get having things I don't want to talk about." She sighed, "It makes sense. Even if it was like looking at a mirror."
"Huh?"
"Last night, when Guloisa started beating him up." Lina explained, "I guess that's why he puts up with me, he's used to being treated like crap."
"Doesn't seeing that just make you want to show him more love?" Amelia asked.
"Well, I guess." Lina said as the corn started popping, "In some ways it's easy now, I mean you must be there, new romantic relationship high. But what about when the newness of being like this wears off?"
Amelia grabbed a mitt and poured the popcorn from the kennel and into a large bowl, "Stuff to think about when you're planning your vows."
"Wow." Lina said as she grabbed the drinks and they proceeded to walk to the staircase. "Am I expected to write my own vows?"
Amelia shrugged as they walked up the stairs. They had found a good place to watch from the upstairs landing where they would have a perfect view of Guloisa when she would run into the foyer, hopefully in terror.
"Hey!" Gourry said as he saw them.
"Smells good," Zelgadis added.
Lina and Amelia sat down with them and they ate and talked amicably and waited. And waited. And waited. "What time did the Sad Lady wake us up the other night?" Lina asked as she looked at the grandfather clock with a yawn as she leaned back against Gourry. It was 3:30.
"Didn't check." Amelia said sleepily, her head nestled in Zel's lap.
"It was around 2." Zel said.
"She's late." Lina said irritably.
"Give it a bit more time." Gourry said.
"But her room really should be a beacon of activity, considering that we narrowed the area that the ghosts traveling to the beacon traverse through." Zelgadis pointed out.
"Is your mom a heavy sleeper?" Lina asked.
"Don't remember." Gourry said.
"Hm." Amelia said as her eyes closed and everyone else stared off into the foyer drowsily.
Lina jumped awake several hours later as the door opened. At first she'd thought she'd missed Guloisa's panic stricken flight, but it turned out to be Alona and Nelly coming in for work. The others had also woken, looking confused. Lina moaned as she stood up, "I'm going to sleep in bed for an hour until breakfast."
Lina was very disgruntled when she entered the dining hall a few hours later to see Guloisa sitting there, finishing her breakfast. "You two look wrecked." Guloisa said as she glared at Lina and Gourry distastefully.
"Morning." Lina said caustically. "Sleep well?"
"Aside from that mopey ghost kicking up a racket, I slept rather well." Guloisa said.
"Mopey ghost?" Lina repeated.
"Yes, I hate to tell you that your home is haunted. I told that ghost to shut it and she got even more distraught, something I didn't think possible."
"I'm surprised you didn't flee in terror." Lina replied.
Guloisa laughed dismissively, "Oh Lina, it's going to take a lot more than a ghost to send me packing! Gabriev women are fearless!"