Disclaimer: I don't own the Slayers. Please don't sue. You can't get blood from a stone or something like that.

This was bad. It had been several minutes since Gourry had entered the house. The flames were a lot worse on the second floor and he was having trouble figuring out which room the kids were in. He called out, but his voice was already hoarse from inhaling smoke and was drowned out by the roar of the fire.

Opening one door, he leapt back as the flames shot out at him. Gourry hoped the kids weren't in there. Then he heard crying down the hall. He moved in that direction trying to see where he was going while trying to shield his eyes from the smoke. He saw a door at the end of the hall. That had to be it.

Outside Lina stared at Zelgadis, unable to find any words to say to him.

Zelgadis snorted. "What's the matter Lina? No hello for an old friend?"

Lina looked around at the bodies of several villagers strewn about the ground. In the distance, she saw another of the crab-wolves bring down a girl. She couldn't have been more than twelve. She looked back at Zelgadis.

"You. You're responsible for all of this?"

Zel shook his head sounding regretful. "It wasn't supposed to be this way. I just came for the artifact."

Lina stared at Zel. "How could you? These were innocent people."

Zel gestured to the carnage all around him. "I didn't want this, but these people don't matter. I'm taking the Soul Render."

Lina glared at Zel. "You've become worse than Rezo ever was." Under her breath she muttered a spell.

That remark got to Zelgadis. He growled at her. "Don't you dare judge me! I've been searching for my cure for thirty years! While you and Gourry were leading your happy little lives I was suffering! You don't know what it's like to hear people whisper about you behind your back. How would you feel if children ran screaming from the sight of you?" He was shouting at Lina now.

Lina hoped he hadn't noticed her spell. "Fireball!"

Gourry dove into the room, barely avoiding a collapsing wall behind him. That had been too close. He looked around and saw a boy and girl in the corner of the room. He made his way over to them

"It's okay kids." Gourry scooped both children up in his arms. "Now to find a way out of here." He looked back at the door. That wouldn't work. The fallen wall had made it impossible to escape that way. He had to act fast. The supports in the room were burning through and the ceiling wouldn't hold up for much longer. He looked at the window. It would hurt, but maybe he could get the kids out unharmed.

"Why, hello Gourry!"

Gourry stopped, as he was about to jump out the window. He turned to see a purple haired priest holding a staff in the far corner of the room. Gourry thought that he recognized him. Then it struck him.

"Xylophone!"

Xellos sighed. At least Gourry recognized him. "No Gourry. Actually it's Xellos. It's been a while hasn't it?"

Gourry was confused. Sure it had been a while since he had seen Xellos, but was a burning house really the best place to catch up with old friends? Gourry decided that it wasn't and moved back over to the window.

"Oh, I'm afraid I can't let you do that Gourry. It simply wouldn't do to have you interfere."

Gourry turned back in time to see Xellos blast through the last support in the room. The last thing he saw was the ceiling collapsing.

"That's not going to work Lina." Zelgadis didn't even bother to put up a defensive barrier to deflect Lina's fireball and it dissipated harmlessly when it struck him.

"Damn!" Lina cursed as she readied another fireball. Behind her, she heard the house collapse. Wait wasn't that the house that Gourry had gone in? Distracted she turned to look, but before she could see if Gourry was okay, Zel was on top of her.

"You should worry about your own hide Lina", Zel said as his fist smashed into her face. "I'm far stronger than you remember and I don't appreciate you ignoring me."

Lina staggered back tasting blood in her mouth. She had to buy some time. "What do you want?"

Zel was advancing on Lina, but stopped when she asked her question. He looked around for a moment and then nodded at something in the distance. "That looks about right."

Turning to look, Lina saw the village church. Strangely enough, it was the only building in Cruso that seemed to have escaped harm. "The church?"

Zel shook his head. "No, the stained glass window. Supposedly, it contains shards of the Soul Render."

Lina couldn't believe it. The window was the pride of Cruso and was surly several hundred years old, at least. But a magical artifact? Where had Zelgadis gotten his information? It didn't matter. There was no way she was going to allow him to get what he wanted. Not after all the damage he had done here.

Zel noticed too late what Lina was doing. "No!" He ran at her, but it was too late. She had launched a fireball at the window.

It was so dark. And hot. Gourry struggled to get to his feet, but there was something holding him down. Something had fallen on him hadn't it? He strained and managed to push whatever it was off of himself. Where was he? He struggled to his feet. Why couldn't he see? He heard the fire and the two kids sobbing. He sighed in relief. He remembered shielding them with his body when the ceiling came down. He had to get them out of here. Reaching out, he found the children. "It's alright. We're getting out of here. Hold on to me." What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he see? "I need you to guide me to the window, okay?"

The children led him a few steps and Gourry felt cold air on his face. "That's good." He scooped the children up in his arms and jumped. This was probably really going to hurt.

Zel was about to wrap his hands around Lina's throat when the fireball struck the window. Instead of destroying the window, the fireball seemed to sink into the center of the glass where a priest of Cepheid was depicted holding a strange crystal. Lina and Zelgadis looked at each other for a moment with confused expressions on their faces.

Then the crystal detonated. The explosion was far more powerful than a fireball should have been. The church was completely obliterated and a large section of the village was disintegrated as well. Lina was thrown back a dozen feet before slamming into a wall.

Lina shook her head. She had taken a nasty bump. She looked up to see Zelgadis standing in front of her. Something wasn't right. He had a horrified look on his face, but he wasn't looking at her. She turned to look in the direction that he was staring. At first, she refused to believe what she was seeing. Finding her voice, she screamed.

Sitting on the ground there were two children crying. They appeared to be unharmed. A few feet away Gourry was lying motionless in a pool of blood.

Lina ran over to Gourry yelling his name over and over. When she reached him, she saw how badly he was injured. He had horrible burns over most of his body. His long blond hair had been mostly burned away leaving a few wispy strands blowing in the wind. His face was scorched pretty badly as well.

Lina kneeled next to Gourry. There was no way that she could heal this with a spell. She reached out with shaky hands and cradled his head in her lap. She was sobbing, trying to figure out what to do. All she could think to do was brush what little hair was left out of his face.

"Lina?"

Lina leaned down close to Gourry. "Yes Gourry?" Her tears fell on his face.

"I think I hurt myself. Are the kids okay?"

"They're fine Gourry. You saved them. You're gonna be okay too. Alright?"

Gourry tried to smile. "You're crying. It's pretty bad huh?"

"Uh huh."

"Lina?" Gourry was barely whispering now.

"Yeah Gourry?"

"I love you."

Lina shook her head violently. "Gourry, don't say that! You're not leaving me!"

"Lina? Are you there?"

"I'm here Gourry."

"Lina, where are you?" Gourry reached out with his right hand.

"Gourry? I'm here!" Lina took Gourry's hand and kissed it.

"Oh. I thought for a second that you had left." Gourry sighed.

"It's okay Gourry. It's okay." Lina repeated this for what seemed to her like an eternity as she felt her lover's life slip away. Then he was gone.

Zelgadis stared unable to move as Gourry died in Lina's arms. This wasn't supposed to happen. She held him for a long time rocking him back and forth while holding his hand.

All of a sudden, it seemed as if Lina had become aware of her surroundings again. She turned and looked at Zelgadis with an uncomprehending stare. Zel was unable to meet her gaze and took an involuntary step backwards almost tripping over some rubble.

She said something. Even his enhanced senses were unable to pick it up until she repeated it.

"You took Gourry away from me." She said this in a cold emotionless voice.

Elsewhere in the village, Xellos was walking through the rubble of the destroyed church. "Where could it be? Ah, here we are!" He bent down and picked up a stone. Unlike everything else in the area, this appeared to be undamaged. He examined it more closely.

It was a brilliant purple stone that was semi-transparent. As he looked at it, the color in the stone seemed to stir.

Xellos smiled and placed the stone in the satchel he carried at his side. He looked over at the scene unfolding between Lina and Zelgadis and chuckled. "Oh dear. This won't do at all."

Zelgadis felt as if he had been punched in the stomach. He stammered, "I didn't want this to happen. I didn't do this!" He said this as he continued to move backwards now holding up his hands in front of him as if he could ward off Lina's stare.

Lina looked at Zelgadis as he slowly backed away. How could he have done this? She spoke again. "You monster! Why'd you have to do this?" Lina could barely make out Zelgadis through the tears in her eyes. "I'll kill you!"

Zelgadis collapsed to his knees. Maybe she should kill him. His mind was full of questions. Why did his chimeras go mad? He only brought them for intimidation purposes. Why was the village burning? Somehow, this was his fault.

Zelgadis lowered his head and waited for Lina to follow through on her promise. He felt a tap on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Xellos standing over him with a grave expression on his face.

Zelgadis looked over at where Lina had been sitting. Smoke totally obscured her from view.

Xellos grabbed Zel's arm and pulled him to his feet. "It's time to go Zelgadis. I don't think she feels like talking right now."

Before Zelgadis could protest, Xellos had already pulled the two of them into astral space.

Lina stared at Zelgadis as the smoke rose between them. When it cleared again, he was gone. She screamed, venting her rage and sorrow to the heavens. The only ones to hear her were the two children sitting a few feet away.

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Next chapter: How could this happen? What is Lina going to do without Gourry? What about Zelgadis?

Once again, I'd like to thank anyone who took the time to read this. I enjoyed writing it and I'm glad you liked reading it. You did like it right? So tell me!

On another note, I promise that the story isn't going to be all gloom and doom. In the next couple of chapters, I hope to justify the action/adventure category. Eventually we'll get to the romance as well.

Fruitcake, I tried to write Xellos as best I could. He's one of my favorite characters too! You're probably going to see a lot more of him as the story progresses. What did you think of the other characters?