(AN: I am deeply sorry for such a long wait! But I'm back! …Again. Much thanks goes out to Shira. ^^)

Royal Blunders

Chapter Twelve: The Dream And The Ice Cube

"It has gotten to my head

Permeates the path I tread

But I tread, I'm moving on

In a new happy song

I can sing about the night

How my tunnel without light

Led me to the other side

Where the sky is blue."

~ Moving On, Sixpence None The Richer

It was getting louder by the second. She was hearing someone yell, and it the volume was getting louder, echoing off of the walls. All she could see was black, and all she could hear was the voice…the voice of…

"Let me go…

I don't feel anything…!!"

She felt rough hands shoving her away.

"NOTHING!"

Hadn't she heard this before…?

Then she caught a trace…. a flash of blue. For one fleeting moment, Amelia saw his face. Zelgadis' angry face…his cold, blue eyes…the mouth clenched in frustration…a large red tomato headed straight for her—

…. Tomato?

"Heads up, Amelia!"

The dark world vanished before Amelia's eyes, and a second later, her vision was blurred by something wet, gooey, and red. She sat up, wiping the mush off of her face as Gourry grinned sheepishly and crawled over to her.

"Sorry 'bout that, Amelia…" He pressed a handkerchief into her hand and sat back on his knees as Amelia dabbed at her face. Lina was sitting cross-legged, with her arms folded across her chest and her head shaking in disbelief on the opposite side of them.

"There's some tomato in your hair, Amelia," she pointed out, helped Amelia to pick the seeds out. "Gourry doesn't have much of an arm when it comes to throwing anything smaller than a sword. Nor does he have a clue when it's time to stop pigging out on the food supply," she added, shooting him a disapproving look.

Gourry shrugged. "Not to mention I was really aiming for you, Lina…"

Amelia giggled helplessly into her palms as Lina dug another tomato from the diminished sack of food and launched it towards Gourry's head, giving his blonde mane an orange-y look. Amelia clambered over to Gourry to help him clean off and looked over to Lina. "What have you two been doing, Lina-san?"

Lina stuffed her cloak into a ball at the foot of the log as a makeshift pillow and leaned back to relax on it. "After you fell asleep, we got a little hungry…" She gestured to the sack of food behind her, which seemed to have considerably decreased in size while Amelia was asleep.

"So we made some sandwiches. Correction," she said, sighing, "We tried to make some sandwiches. It started with me taste-testing one of the sandwiches and it ended in a tomato fight."

Amelia blinked. "A tomato fight?" As long as she had known Lina, and as long as Lina had been known for crisping bands of thieves and saving the world from complete and utter destruction, Amelia had never known Lina to be the kind whom was into fighting with fruits, even if half of her life was devoted to food. "Really, Lina-san?"

Lina nodded solemnly. "Which is how we woke you up."

"There," said Gourry suddenly, flicking a remaining tomato seed from his fingers and looking at Lina. "If we wanna find Zel, we should probably get some rest first. Then we could head out as soon as we wake up."

Lina clapped her hands together. "Great, now I can get some sleep. Even if it's not on a feather bed, I'll appreciate it all the same."

Gourry smiled. "I thought you might, Lina. Good night." He nodded at Amelia as a similar gesture and crawled into his tent.

Amelia stared back at Lina in puzzlement. "You're treating him awfully nice, Lina-san…I mean, considering how…not cheerful you've been lately." She cleared her throat nervously.

"Yeah, well…" Lina looked away for a moment. "It's not every day you get a pep talk from Gourry Gabriev."

"Gourry-san gave you a pep talk?"

Lina smiled, perhaps a little too enthusiastically. "Not really! Anyhow, I'm tired, so I'm going to bed. 'Night." She collapsed on her knees and began to head into her tent. Amelia bit her lip and watched until Lina was almost completely hidden by the flap.

"Lina-san, wait!"

"What is it Ame—" Lina turned behind her to look up at Amelia and bonked her head on the tree directly to the right of her tent. "Itai!…(sigh)…What is it, Amelia?" she asked irritably, massaging her temple.

Amelia drew in her breath and decided to be blunt. "Do you think Zelgadis-san will come back with us?"

Lina sat on her heels. "Why not? I've got plenty of reasons for him to come back. One is my magic. One is myself. Both of those combined are enough for me."

Amelia fiddled with her sleeve. Lina's confidence in her violent takeover methods was not exactly the most comforting thing to encounter. "I mean, he's angry at me. You didn't hear what we said to each other…"

Lina softened a bit when Amelia looked up at her with almost watery eyes. "Look, Amelia…" She scooted closer to the younger girl. "I know you think he's really unforgiving. But if you really think about it, he's not that bad. And the guy would do anything for you if he'd admit to it." Lina grinned triumphantly. "You've made sure of that in the past."

"I guess so…what was Zelgadis-san like when you first met him, Lina-san?" Amelia watched Lina's face turn from happy to vaguely reminiscent.

"Let me put it this way…he was an ice cube." Amelia had to laugh at that one.

"But really, Amelia, even back then you could tell he was a good guy. I mean, once you got past the whole rock on rock, kidnap-for-ransom thing…" She looked at Amelia with a furious sort of pride. "You'll bring him back. I know you will."

Amelia smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Lina-san…I really, really hope you're right."

"Me too. Because if I'm not, I'll have to burn his ass." With that, Lina said a quick goodnight and crawled exhaustedly into her tent.