Walking towards the brook, Gourry wondered if he had pushed Lina to far. He just couldn't deal with her pretending anymore. He never thought it would happen, but he actually missed hearing the sound of her voice as she "explained" things to him. Even if he didn't actually pay attention to what she was saying half the time, he still enjoyed hearing her. She always got so involved in whatever she talked about, her expression going from serious to excited at the blink of an eye. But lately, she had been talking less and less, and while there was certainly no need for them to talk all the time, her silence was getting to him. Or maybe it was just the scenery. There was something about that clearing near the spot he had chosen for their campsite that made his hair stand on end. There was something really wrong here, but at the same time, his decision to stop, to force Lina's hand felt right. It did not mean that he liked it though, and he had turned his back on the campsite and Lina's haunted eyes with relief.
At the edge of the brook, Gourry dunked his head into the clear water, hoping the chill would ease the dull pressure behind his eyes. As he shook the water out of his eyes, he noticed a blackberry bush that had some ripe fruit, and some rabbit tracks nearby. He picked some of the berries, alternatively stuffing his mouth and filling a small sack to bring back to Lina. When he had stripped the bush of the currently edible fruits, he set out a snare. If his guess was right, a rabbit family was taking advantage of the briars, and if he was lucky, they could have roasted rabbit instead of fish (even after all this time, he had a hard time watching Lina devour fish, head, guts and all). Before leaving the brook, Gourry took out another leather sack and filled it with water, heading back to the campsite and Lina. As he walked back, he wondered what he would say to her.
Lina was currently wondering the same thing. She hated being so close to that clearing, being delayed from completing this wretched journey, not to mention the whole idea of traveling to Sairaag in the first place. She briefly toyed with the idea of bullying Gourry into giving up this whole trip, but Lina Inverse was not one to turn back once she embarked upon a course of action. She had faced down monsters, demon lords and even a piece of Shabranigdo without flinching or showing fear. She was not afraid of getting hurt, but she wasn't strong either, or she wouldn't dread facing Gourry so. No, that was not entirely accurate. It wasn't Gourry, but herself and the emotions that were raging inside her that she wished to avoid. She was afraid of being weak, but most of all, she feared what she would become if couldn't regain control. Because if she couldn't maintain control over her emotions, she worried that she might not be able to focus the power necessary for her magic, either.
While Lina stared into the fire, she heard sounds of rustling in the brush. She automatically tensed up and prepared a spell, only relaxing when she heard the whistle she and Gourry had developed as a code. She automatically trilled out the response sequence. With all the bounty-hunters, justice freaks, trolls, berserkers and monsters they'd had chasing after them over the years, they'd needed to develop some kind of system to differentiate an approaching friend from foe. It had been Gourry's idea, after she had accidentally cast Burst Rondo at him for the fourth time one day. Zel and Amelia had picked up the habit as well. Xellos, being Xellos, didn't bother. Lina prepared herself for a confrontation with Gourry and the turmoil inside of her, but when he entered the clearing, all she could do was burst out laughing. Gourry had two sacks slung over his shoulder, his hair, which usually billowed with the breeze was soaking wet and had several brambles caught in it, and his mouth and hands had purple stains all over them. One of his arms was covered with small scratches, and there was the pungent odor of fresh animal scat, which seemed to be emanating from one of his boots.
Gourry watched as Lina doubled over with laughter, unsure whether he should be worried that she had finally lost it completely or grateful that she wasn't looking at him with haunted eyes, or even worse, not looking at him at all. He tied the water sack to a tree branch, and brought the other one over to Lina, who was still laughing so hard, tears were starting to form in her eyes, and she was looking decidedly red in the face. Gourry wasn't sure what was so funny, but Lina's laughter was so infectious that he couldn't help but grin himself.
"Oh, man! I needed that!" Lina said as she finally calmed down. "What happened to you, Gourry?" She demanded with a grin.
"What do you mean?"
"If you were going to take an early bath, don't you think it would have been better to do it after you were done playing in the blackberry brambles?" She pulled a small twig with tiny thorns out of his hair and held it up before his eyes.
Gourry looked a little sheepish. "I brought you some, too. They're in that bag over there," he said, motioning to the sack he had dropped next to her.
Lina glanced over at it. "Go wipe off your boot, Gourry, and then come back here. I'll comb out your hair for you." Lina went over to her cloak, pausing by the sack to pop a few blackberries into her mouth, and retrieved her comb.
Gourry went over to the edge of their campsite, cleaned off his boot, and returned with the water sack. "I thought we could boil some water for tea," he said, so Lina pulled a small pot and tripod out of her cloak as well. It never ceased to amaze Gourry how much junk she could fit into that cloak. It was heavy, too, but even when it was completely weighed down, it would still flap in the breeze. Lina had tried to explain it to him, but he still thought that something that full should hang like a dead weight, not flap around.
Lina motioned Gourry to sit down while she filled the pot and set the tripod near the fire. Then she picked up her comb and began to work on the tangles in Gourry's hair. Gourry relaxed under her ministrations, feeling more comfortable with her than he had in a very long time. He always enjoyed it when she combed his hair, unless of course, she was putting it into those ridiculous pig-tails with the little buns on top. Gourry focused all his awareness on how close she was, and on the feel of her hands running through her hair. He noticed that Lina also seemed to be relaxing, and had even started humming softly as she worked
"Lina?" he said softly.
"Hmm?" she replied absently, continuing to hum.
"It was really nice to hear you laughing again, even if it was at me."
Lina got very quiet and still. Gourry was starting to worry that she was going to pull away from him, but then she started working on his hair again.
"You were right, Gourry. I'm not fine," she said in a quiet voice.
Gourry sat quietly, listening very carefully. After another lengthy pause she continued, "This is where I tried to kill you. This place is where Hellmaster sent you to kill me." Lina lifted a section of Gourry's hair, holding it up to the sunlight.
Gourry took a deep breath. "Why didn't any of you tell me?" he asked quietly. The words Hellmaster sent you to kill me echoed in his mind.
"I didn't want you to remember," she whispered. "It was bad enough that I remembered it. I wanted to save you from Hellmaster, and instead I tried to kill you."
Gourry turned to face her, and as he did, he suddenly remembered. He saw himself in black armor, wielding the Sword of Light with a degree of control he had never felt before. It was exhilarating, but the feeling left a sour taste in his mouth. He couldn't see the people he was fighting clearly, but something within him was screaming that this was wrong. Gourry grasped Lina's shoulders, but he was looking over her, into the clearing that was edged with stones jutting out of the ground. He heard a child's voice say, Go. Show them no mercy. And if someone gets killed, it's their own bad luck. And then he heard Lina whisper again, "I'm sorry. I didn't want you to remember."
Gourry let go of her shoulders, turned away from the clearing and sat down hard by the edge of the fire.