AN: The events of NEXT play out a bit differently in the novels. For one thing, Lina and Gourry aren't as close to Zel and Amelia in the novels as they are in the series, and Lina is truly scared that if Zel and Amelia had learned what was happening they would have tried to stop her and that it would have been her and Gourry versus Zel and Amelia, in addition to battling Gaav and then Phibrizo. In the novels after Lina and Sylphiel cast the double Dragon Slave, Gourry gets out of his crystal for a bit and regains consciousness before Phibrizo encases everyone in crystals again to threaten them. Lina then casts two versions of the Giga Slave. One is a weaker, incomplete version that she has every reason to believe won't go out of control, and when she does that Phibrizo starts to attack Gourry, and she then casts the full one. OK. I think that's all you need to know to not be lost.
"It's too risky to leave the portal open." Leia said over breakfast the next morning. "That ghost has it in for you, Lina! You're lucky you only escaped with a concussion."
"I've survived a lot worse!" Lina snapped as she reflected that it was a lot easier to do her job when her mother wasn't around to fret about her.
"That's no reason to take useless risks like this!" Leia persisted.
"Useless?" Lina retorted, "I have plans for the Sad Lady! And they are already paying off! Susan and Marcus got to practice some real world skills!"
"There are safer ways for them to do that! Lina, it's not worth the risk." Leia's eyes narrowed as Lina snorted. She looked around the table as everyone else acted very interested in their breakfast, "Why don't we take a vote?"
"Because this isn't a democracy!" Lina yelled, "It's my school, my house, and my decision!"
"Lina," Gourry said quietly, "We all have to live here. Surely there's a solution that everyone will like?"
"Gourry!" Lina yelled, and he looked back down at his breakfast. "You're supposed to be on my side!"
"Closing the portal can be a project for the White Magic users." Amelia suggested.
Lina sighed as she conceded, "I was planning that for an end of the year assignment. But not this early in the year!"
"Lina is right that we aren't preparing these kids for a safe life. Getting used to an acceptable level of risk is something we have to prepare them for." Zelgadis said. "And after what happened, I don't think any other student is going to release the wards again."
"I don't feel that it is acceptable for kids to wake up in the middle of the night, tossed out of their bed like rag dolls!" Leia replied, "Lina, look, you were injured, but I was the one performing healing spells on the bumps and bruises the students sustained. Nothing too bad, sure, but in our second week!"
"I certainly didn't hear you worrying when I decided to leave home when I was thirteen!" Lina retorted.
"I worried, every second of every minute that you were gone!" Leia replied, "But I knew there was no way I could stop you."
"Then why are you trying to stop me from doing what I know best now?" Lina retorted.
"Because right now you're wrong!" Leia yelled, "And you may be running this school, and I am still your mother and it would be nice if you treated me as such!"
"Oh brother." Lina said. "In case you didn't notice, I grew up! I've been doing fine without you for awhile now, I don't need you butting in when it's not needed."
Leia reddened and stood up, and as she rushed to the door she screamed, "One day I hope you have a daughter just like you!"
Gourry sighed as he said, "Cut her some slack."
"Whose side are you on?" Lina shot back as she rounded on him, "What's with this we all have to live here nonsense? You make it sound like some punishment!"
"I just think you're too hard on her." He said.
Lina's eyes flashed as she looked around the room, "Great, does anyone else want to stab me in the back?"
He scowled at her, "I just don't think you understand what you put the people who love you through with the risks that you take! If you're going to take those risks, fine, but at least respect what it does to us to watch! Especially as you actually have a mother who gives a damn if you die!"
Lina felt as though she'd been punched in the gut. "I-I'd never thought of it that way."
He shook his head as he stood up. "I've got to get class started."
He got up to go, and Lina rose to her feet, "Don't you dare walk out on me!"
Han grabbed Lina's arm, "Let him go. He does have to prepare for class and you don't want to give your students a show. You can talk after classes are done."
Lina was about to round on him when Jeeves came in and announced, "Princess Amelia, your carriage is here."
Lina folded her arms across her chest as Amelia and Zelgadis got up. Once they had left, Lina looked at her father and stated, "You've been quiet."
"For what it's worth, I don't see the harm in letting the Sad Lady continue to haunt that room. But your mother would never forgive me if I contradicted her in front of you." Lina relaxed a little as he continued, "Look, when you left you were a thirteen-year-old child living under our roof and reliant on our support. Not you're an accomplished young woman. But we missed several years of your life and you're not that thirteen-year-old anymore and it's hard to wrap our minds around sometimes. If that wasn't enough, you're our boss and we're reliant on you for support. And it's been hard for your mother."
Lina thought over what he said for a moment, and then asked, "And for you?"
"Sometimes." He admitted, "But I've been working with Gourry more than you. Look, she just needs to know that you still need her."
"But I've asked her ideas and…"
"Discarded them?" he finished.
"Not all the time!" Lina said.
He shrugged, "If you're too mad to do it for her, then at least find a way to make her feel needed for me. Now, I'd better go and help Gourry get that class started."
"So, to wrap up this section about source material," Lina said as she turned to the chalkboard, "You will write a three page paper on Hellmaster's device. You can choose from one of three topics. You can either research its specifications and how it is operated. You can write about its current location in the Elmekian Empire. Or you can write about how to destroy it. You will have two weeks to gather information. Go into Zefiel City over the weekend if you need to. Make sure you document your sources well."
A few people groaned, and Lina let it wash off her back as she heard her mother come up to the door. "Any questions?"
Leia waited patiently as Lina answered them, and Lina felt her gaze sharpen. "Right, class dismissed! Go take a break."
The students scampered out of the classroom as Leia walked up to Lina. "What are you planning?"
"What makes you think I'm planning anything?" Lina asked sweetly.
Leia pointed to the board. "Hellmaster's device?"
"It's a current event, and they need to be on top of it. Don't worry, I'm not going to send them to the Elmekian Empire to destroy it."
"And what are you going to do with the information they gather?" Leia replied.
"Grade it."
"Lina, please tell me you aren't doing anything to jeopardize this." Leia said.
"Trust me, I know what I'm doing!" Lina snapped, "I've been doing this for a long time, and successfully. I don't need you constantly questioning me!"
Leia huffed and got her books out, "Well then, if you don't mind leaving, I've got to prepare for my class."
"Actually," Lina said quickly as she thought back to what her father had said. And the truth was he had been in a funk since he'd heard about the hit on his life. While Lina was sure he would shake it off with time, there was a voice in her head that kept asking what if he wouldn't, "I do need your help with Gourry."
Leia turned towards her and put a hand on her arm, "What's wrong?"
Lina sighed as she sat on the desk, "He's been in a bad place since he learned about the hit on his life, and nothing I do helps him to feel better."
"I'm not surprised." Leia said, "Look, we don't know if Guloisa had anything to do with that hit on him or not, but he believes that she did. And your mother is supposed to be the one person on this earth who is supposed to love you no matter what. Everyone I know whose mother rejected them feels they are messed up in some fundamental way and then they start to question whether other people in their lives really like them or if they just want something from them."
"Well I can't stop Guloisa from being a heartless bitch!" Lina exclaimed.
"You need to show him that she is the one who is incapable of warmth, and that just because he doesn't have her affection doesn't mean that others don't love and care for him."
"But what more can I do? I married him!" Lina said.
"Well, between the way that Luna was breathing down you neck, and the way people's minds tend to talk ourselves into believing the worst about themselves…" Leia said.
"Wow." Lina replied. It would explain why he had started withdrawing from her ever since he'd talked to the Eternal Queen. "Well, I know exactly what I need to do now."
Leia smiled, "You sound like you have a plan."
"Oh, I can prove to that idiot what he means to me." Lina said, and then smiled, "Thanks."
"Come here," Leia said as she reached out for a hug, and Lina returned it. "Are we good?"
"We're good." Lina said. Because when she compared her mother to Guloisa, she really had very little to complain about.
Lina was surprised when she went to her room and found that Gourry wasn't there. Usually he was there waiting to talk to her after classes had ended. Her stomach knotted as she went to the door that connected their rooms and opened it and walked through the hallway and into his room. When she opened it he was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring straight ahead. "Hey." He said when she came in.
"Are you mad at me?" she asked.
"No." he said. "I just thought you may want some space."
She sat down beside him, "In case you haven't noticed, I like having you around. I like it when you're there when I finish classes. Since when have I tolerated people I dislike well?"
He did smile a little, and she grabbed his hand as she tried to think about where to begin. They'd never talked about the Hellmaster ordeal. She wasn't sure about Gourry's reasons, he usually pestered her with questions about everything, but she couldn't bear to think about how thoroughly she had been played. "Do you know why Hellmaster Phibrizo kidnapped you?"
He blinked in surprise that she had even brought it up, "No."
"Because he wanted me to perform a spell that would destroy the world if I miscast it." Lina explained. "And I knew that was what he wanted. In all honesty, I should have turned around and given you up for dead when he kidnapped you. But I couldn't bear that thought. When you were gone…It hurt more than anything I've experienced. Even that stomach wound in the Battle of Sairaag was nothing compared to it."
He bit his lip as she continued, "I knew a weaker version of the Giga Slave, and I was certain with my talisman I could cast it safely. So I went to confront Hellmaster. After I cast the weaker version he decided he was going to punish me by killing someone. And he chose you. And all I could think was that I needed to stop him from killing you, no matter what! So I cast the full spell, even though it could have destroyed the world."
"But, when I first woke up, you hit me for letting myself get kidnapped!" he countered.
Lina flushed, "That was because we thought Sylphiel had nabbed the bastard with a Dragon Slave! I…was pretty sure as soon as you'd learned she'd saved you that you would fall all over her. And I was mad at you for it."
"Huh?" he said.
"Look, I loved you so much I nearly destroyed the world to save you! I knew the consequences, but I didn't care! I just wanted you to live. And it wasn't just me who cared about your ass. Zel had asked me what Hellmaster's plan was, and I would have been in trouble if I'd had to tell him, because he and Amelia would have united against me. But Amelia insisted that they didn't need to know, because they wanted to save you, and learning the truth would have caused them to change their minds. Those bastions of rigid morality deliberately kept themselves in the dark because they believed that you were worth saving. People care about you, idiot brain and all! People with all their screws tightened at least."
He looked at her, his eyes brimming and his voice weak, "What makes you think I don't know that?"
She shrugged, "I just figured it was time to let you know."
He wiped his eyes, "Hey Lina, if you were that hurt when I was gone, does that mean that you cried over me?"
Lina felt the steam rise from her head as she straightened, "WHAT!?"
"I'm just wondering if you lay in bed, crying into your pillow, missing me." He said as he wrapped his arms around her.
"You idiot!" she screamed, "That's not how you're supposed to react when I confess something like that!"
"What am I supposed to do, then?" he asked as he touched his forehead with hers.
"You're supposed to be so awe struck and overwhelmed with my love and beauty that you kiss me passionately!"
"Right." He said as he pulled her close and pressed his lips to hers and then wasted little time in deepening the kiss. He continued to press forward until she found herself flat on her back on the bed as his hands started roaming her body. She was breathless as he pulled away to ask, "Is that passionate enough?"
She pulled him back to her as she moved her body against his, "Keep going!"
He continued to kiss her mouth for a few moments, before he moved to her ear, taking the time to whisper, "I still want to know if you cried."
She sighed as he started nuzzling at her neck, "Well, you have your work cut out ahead of you. Because I don't give my secrets out easily."
"Challenge accepted."
AN: I did not deliberately plan for there to be a theme of mothers and children on Mother's Day, just like I didn't plan for the ghost story on Halloween, but it worked out how it worked out. And once this chapter materialized I knew I had to get it out today…even if there's only 2 hours left in the day. So Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there, and those of you who struggle with your mothers or did not have loving ones and this day is painful, you're not alone.
I watched Slayers NEXT with my kids today. My daughter has had a mild interest for a while, and finally got my son into it. Yay!