Let Me Be With You
Author's Note: This chapter's former one-shot character is...Leon, one of Gourry's fellow mercenaries from the manga! Eh, what can I say? The manga characters were too good to be left alone as a one-shot. Also, please take note that I change point of view sometimes mid-chapter (i.e.: Gourry's POV then suddenly! Lina's POV).
Oh yes, and thanks for the e-mails and the review(s).
Sorry this took so long to finish! Everyone did suggest the stories be longer, after all XD
[EDIT] Actually, It's not finished because I had to take a hiatus---to work on a class project. Read what's here and I promise to finish it really soon. I need to make something happen that'll move the storyline like a mo'fo'...! I expect to finish this episode after Mother's day. Or sooner.
-=-
I can no longer feel my butt. I mean, I don't think it's there. Well, of course it is there, it just doesn't feel like it. Damn ice. Damn dragon. Damn dragon that breathes ice.
If I wanted to stop skidding on this trail of ice, I would. The thing is, the ice is melting right behind me, and if I stop I'll fall into the water! So, here I am...bored and literally freezing my butt off with nowhere else to go.
I sigh and glance behind me to make sure the ice isn't melting too fast. Just as I turn my head, I catch a glimpse of it. Some huge ship - possibly a cargo ship - was close on my tail. Erm I mean, the dragon's tail. Uh, it's close behind us. From it, I could hear some faint screaming from a certain individual. Though the shouting was faint, the voice behind it was obviously her's.
-=-
Title: WAVES CRASHING! A Butt Worth Freezing
-=-
"Gourry! GOURRY!" Lina was screaming out her lungs. "Don't you dare lose track of that Dragon! Don't lose it, you hear me?!"
Of course I heard her.
"Don't lose it! Grab onto the tail if you have to!!!" Lina was being overly persistent.
"O...o...o...okkkkkkaaaaay!" I didn't mean to stutter, but I couldn't help it. And what did she mean, `don't lose it,' where the hell am I gonna go except keep sliding on this ice?
-=On the boat=-
"Gourry! Gourry!" Though my chest hurt from shouting at him for the past hour, I felt a responsibility to yell at him like this. I mean, I need to make sure he keeps track of our objective. Which is to find out where that Drake is going, of course. "GOURRY!"
I am about to scream out to Gourry again, but I feel someone's hand on my shoulder. "Excuse me, ma'am." I turn around to see who the creep was. Or, at least, who the hell he thought he was to even touch me!
"..." I am speechless. No, shocked! I never thought I'd see this guy again. I mean, they don't call guys like him `one-shot characters' for nothing. "L-leon?!" I took a step back, I just couldn't help but glare at him.
"Ah, Ms. Inverse. Long-time no-see." He just smiled happily, that smug spikey-haired mercenary. I couldn't believe I remembered his name, Gourry and I have not seen him for more than five years! What the hell was he doing here on this ship?
"What...What the hell are you doing here!" My thoughts escaped my lips. I should have at least greeted him first before asking him that in such a rude fashion.
"Erm, I was actually asked to ask YOU that very question." Leon looks embarrassed. Frightened, even. "You see, I've been hired to escort a royal family member across the ocean to a suspected location...and because of your persistence, we left really early."
"Oh, sorry, Leon. But this," I point to the icy drake. "This is very important. I sincerely hope that we didn't lift off without the person you're escorting." Whew, I think I made up for my rude greeting by saying `sincerely.'
"It's fine. I checked and the cabin, she's alright." It was a real relief to hear that. I would hate it if I had to be hunted down by mercenaries (again). "The thing is, this dragon we're following...It seems so be going the same way we were headed."
So, this is quite the strange coincidence.
-=Inside the ship's cabin=-
"::sigh::" I take a peek out the window to see if we had left shore yet - I was getting restless. "Huh?!"
We had already lifted off! Why didn't I know? Where is Leon?
This is just me being ignorant again. "I should have known. That was why there was all this commotion on deck. That was why the movement of the ship is so unsettling."
Why have I been acting like this recently? "Because you, Amelia, are afraid of growing up." There I go again, thinking out loud. It's true, I don't want to turn eighteen.
What could be keeping me from growing up? I really shouldn't be so worried about it.
-=Back on the ice=-
The things I do for Lina! The day is almost over and it's gotten so cold that it's hard to feel anything anymore. I nor the boat has lost track of the dragon so I don't know what the hell I'm still doing here.
I...I have to call out to her.
"L...L...Lin-n-n-n-naaaaa!"
-=back on the ship deck=-
Interesting. Most of this `boat trip' I've spent catching up with Leon. Every time he directed a question towards the relationship area, I kept excusing myself to check on Gourry. Eep! I hope he didn't read between the lines from that!
"So...Lina. I know I've teased you and Gourry before about the whole couples thing, but really, what is it." I just knew, by the way he is staring at me, that if I tried to turn away he would add even more to the persistence. I have to change the topic!
"Uh-uh-umm, Leon! I know it's non of my business but..." I truly don't expect him to answer this question. A mercenaries job is supposed to be private - between the employer and the employee. "Who is it that you have been hired to?"
"Ah, well, it's..." Yeah! I've done it! That's right, I just had to ask a question he couldn't answer to counter his question!
"And, Leon, If you are hired to play bodyguard this royalty, why aren't you in the cabin with them right now?"
"Um..she's...a little...talkative. Specifically about the the use of Peace, Love, and Justice." Those three words seem to annoy him.
"Sounds like somebody I know." I feel like giving him the name of the princess I was thinking of, but I can hear my name being yelled in the the back of my head. I knock on my head like there's water stuck in my left ear only to realize that that voice was actually...
"LIIIINAAAA!" Oh my God! I...I forgot about the dragon! ...and Gourry.
"Gourry?!"
"L-l-l-lina...Help me, I can't feel my a..."
Ugh, and I thought he lost the drake. "Alright Gourry, I'll get you!"
"Lina," Leon taps my shoulder. "Need a ...rope?"
"Huh?!" Is this guy as dumb as Gourry? "HELLO! I'm a sorceress!"
"Oh, right. Just checking." Okay, maybe dumber.
"Ray Wing!" Gracefully, I, the beautiful Lina Inverse, swoop down and rescue the shivering side-kick, Gourry, from the fierce dragon's ice! Well, I would like to say that was happening, that was just the visual in my head.
-=What really happened=-
Lina Ray Wing's her way to Gourry. She grabs him by the straps holding his armor. Gourry falls out of the armor and into the sea. The water freezes over him. Lina shoots a flare arrow weak enough to penetrate the ice but not burn Gourry (a very difficult task even for Lina). In the end, Lina saves the hyporthermic Gourry.
Maybe the rope wasn't such a bad idea...
-=-
Seriously, where is Leon?! And why do keep hearing someone screaming "Rima." Actually, the screaming has already stopped...and I'm not really sure that they're screaming "Rima." But that's not the point!!!
The point is...I'm...lonely.
-=Flashback=-
"It's so boring here!" Amelia slams open the doors to the castle's study. "There's nothing to do! I have read nearly every book in this study; studied at the library to improve my spells; memorized new speeches; AND I wrote new justice speeches!"
"No, sir. I'm sorry,"
"Huh? Where dud that come from?" Amelia searches the room with her eyes. She notices the window is wide open. "Hmmm, I wonder what's going on." She saunters up to the window.
"I'm sorry! But I cannot permit you to see the princess!" One of the royal guards is trying to get rid of a traveler. The traveler is dressed in a tan-white cloak, hood covering his---if it is a he---head.
"Why. I'm just visiting. You act like I'm here to kidnap or KILL her." The traveler tries to go around the guard. "I assure you, I'm not here to harm anyone. Please step aside."
"Ack! It must be Zelgadis-san! I should go and greet him." Amelia starts heading for the door.
"I apologize, sir! But the princess is very busy! Please, take your leave."
"...Fine."
"What!" Amelia had just barely made it to the doors of the study when she heard the guard. "Busy!? Yeah, busy hauling butt to stop you from dismissing my lov---erm, friend! ZELGADIS-SAN!!!"
She finally reaches where she saw Zel and the guard speaking...only to find that Zel is already out of the picture. However, the guard was still at his post.
"You! Why did you dismiss that visitor!" The very angry Amelia pokes at the guard's shoulder.
"I-i-i'm sorry, your highness! I merely thought you were busy and didn't need to be pestered with visitors." The guard leans in closer to whisper to her. "Besides, how could I trust a guy with a face like that."
-=End Flashback=-
"What that guard had said," I stand and start pacing back and forth in my cabin. "Could mean a lot of things about Zelgadiss-san. It's not like I've ever seen his real face. That guard could be saying that he didn't trust Zelgadiss-san's chimera face...or maybe he has found a cure but---" That couldn't be it. If that were so, then he would have tried much harder to have access inside...I'm sure.
I shouldn't think about it anymore, that was a whole year ago! I need to enjoy my "vacation." Still, I wonder what everyone is up to.
What I need is fresh air. I turn around, facing the window and aproach it. "Ah, yes. All I need is the fresh sea breeze to..." It won't open. The window won't open...? "Oh well, I guess the ship must be kind of old, or something. That's okay! I don't mind going out on deck for a little while."
I approach the door. As I place my left hand onto the door knob, I notice that I'm shaking nervously. Why am I nervous? I decide to open the dor using both my hands, keeping my left hand steady using my right. "What in the...?!" The door...won't open, either?!
"WHAT IN THE...?"
-=-
"The ship's doctor should be here soon." Lina paces around the room in the ship's cabin. She takes another peek out the door---looking to the left and right side of the hallway. "He better hurry or your butt might start peeling."
She snickered at her comment. I wonder if she's joking? I put my hand down the back of my pants...it's still there.
"Gourry, I was just kidding, you know."
"I know that...now."
"Hello!" A weird voice came from the door. I say weird because it was girlish...but masculine at the same time. A very perky lady with blonde hair and chinky eyes---or maybe her eyes were closed---skips into the room. "I'm the doctor on this ship!" Her smile is very...creepy.
"Ummm, isn't there...somebody more qualified to help my partner?" Lina seemed uncomfortable. I think the lady's perky breasts annoys her.
"Are you kidding? There ain't no one better!" Eh, she smiling at me..."Okay, now pull down yer pants."
"WHAT?!"
"Gourry, you heard her." Lina smirks. "Heheh, you don't want your ass to be peeling, would you?"
"..." And the pants came falling down.
"Your undies, too!" Yeesh, what a weird voice. I do as she says. "Now bend over so I can take a good look."
How embarrassing...God, I can hear Lina giggling. Though, she's trying to hold in her laughter so it comes out as snorting rather than giggles.
