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Not Exactly Rapunzle
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Hey, hey... This chapter kinda goes into a lil bit of the first season, but it's changed a lil bit... k?^_^
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Two Years Later...
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Lina blew up the last of the bandits with a Fireball. She walked calmly into the middle of their camp, and started digging through their treasure chest. The bandits nowadays called her the Bandit Killer, known throughout the land as an unmerciful killer of thieves and bandits.
As she poked around their treasury, she remembered back to why she was out here alone. Her eyes watered when she remembered Gourry.
Zelas.
Her hands clenched into a tight fist around a bunch of rubies she was holding. She felt one jewel crack beneath her grip, but she didn't care.
Zelas had ruined her life. She had been locked in a tower for ten years, seperated from the rest of the world. Then Gourry happened to barge in one day, and everything changed. Zelas had killed Gourry, and sent her out into the middle of nowhere.
Lina had to kill bandits in order to survive, and then they started calling her Bandit Killer. She no longer had to kill them to survive, but she found that she often forgot about her past and lowered her stress when she blew things up.
For the past two years, Lina had taught herself magic, even going so far as knowing how to cast a Dragon Slave, the most powerful Black Magic attack spell out there. Everyone knew to stay clear of Lina the Bandit Killer.
She collected her treasure, and wandered back to the town she was staying at. She went up to her room, and dropped the several heavy bags onto the floor. Then she ran down the stairs again, her hair flying out behind her, and sat down eagerly at a table.
When Lina ordered triple portions of everything, the waitress stared. Oh, yeah. She ate a lot more, too. She had always eaten a lot, since she was little, but now she ate even more. Spellcasting took a lot out of her. But not matter how much she stuffed her face, she never got fat.
And if anyone told her otherwise, they were charred meat.
After her loud, long, and large meal, Lina decided to wander around. She hadn't gone just walking for quite a while, and figured that then was as good as ever.
She hadn't gone very far when she ran into somebody. Lina didn't even look up at them, because she didn't feel like talking at the time. When the person in front of her didn't move aside for her to walk on, she got testy.
"Hey!" she shouted, still not looking up. "Do you mind moving? I'm walking here!"
There was a short pause. Then...
"Lina?" the person asked.
Lina gasped. She knew that sweet, innocent voice. Her eyes filled with tears. She was imagining it: Zelas had killed Gourry years ago.
Again, the person asked, "Lina? Is that really you?"
Not daring to believe it, Lina looked up at the person's face. She stared at him. "Gourry!" she cried. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. She started crying into his shoulder, saying things like she thought he was dead, and that she thought she'd never see him again.
Gourry wrapped his arms around Lina, hugging her back. He felt his eyes fill with tears of joy. He had found her! At last!
Lina pulled back, and started kissing him. First a long kiss on his lips, then his cheeks. She smiled, and looked into his eyes, expecting to see the familiar twinkle of innocence in them. But what she saw made her gasp.
Gourry's usually bright eyes were dull and hollow. They stared straight ahead, like they couldn't see anything in front of them.
"Your eyes..?" Slowly, Gourry nodded. "That... That day... The spell Zelas cast... It blinded me..."
Lina let go of Gourry, her feet back on the ground again. She looked up at him admiringly. "You lasted two years without being able to see?" she asked. "And you still managed to find me?"
Gourry nodded, and said, "It wasn't easy. But now I can almost feel things around me instead of see them." To prove his point, he reached his hand out, and, without wavering, placed it against Lina's cheek, and wiped away some of her tears.
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To Be Continued...
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