Hey peeps!! It's me KT! I'm crawling out of that dark hole I've been hiding in and have made another chapter for you!! Actually I've had this chapter ready for publishing for a couple months now, but since I figured people wouldn't get around to reading it (which they probably still won't) I was deciding to publish it during winter break when I got my most reviews last year…but since I already started writing chapter 11, I decided to post this. I hope you all enjoy it, because the next chapter won't come out till winter break when we all get out of school to celebrate Christmas and Kwanzaa and that Jewish holiday that I can't believe I forgot what it was (the one with the menorah and the dradle. Was it called Passover? I know that's something you celebrate…but is that the one I'm thinking about? They talk about it a lot on the Rugrats), and all the other countries holidays in December and January; OH New Years as well.
***That morning on Gourry and Co.'s side of things***
"Where's the next town?!" Amelia was tired. They'd been traveling now nonstop for about 5 days. Only stopping to sleep. Normally she wouldn't complain, but she wanted a bath. She smelled like mold, and her hair was starting to itch. She didn't want to develop lice…
"We'll be there in about 10 minutes, Amelia." Zel was actually glad to be coming to this town. With no Lina around, and Amelia's spirits in the dumps…things were very tense around everyone. Gourry was unreachable. If you talked to him…well he didn't really answer back, or he said something equivalent to 'Stay focused!' He didn't eat, and he didn't sleep. He was always on guard. Zel was beginning to worry about him.
"There's supposed to be an inn there that's similar to an old castle. Want to check it out?" Gourry didn't totally want to freak his friends out. Sure he was intent on finding Lina, but you can't stay like this forever. You have to take a chill pill somewhere along the way.
"Castle?? Inn?! Sounds GREAT!" Amelia was thrilled! Gourry said something normal! He wasn't in the weird mode.
"Fine with me," He must've found his chill pill. Well…better than he was before. He even got Amelia to perk up. But…maybe that was the mention of the inn.
"Alright it's settled…we'll stay there for about four days of relaxation, and move on to continue our search."
"FOUR DAYS?!" Amelia was positively ecstatic! She hadn't relaxed for about a week! Things were definitely looking up! Amelia found her perky place again, "SO! What should we check out once we're there?!"
"Don't know…" Yes…Amelia was definitely back to normal.
***15 minutes later***
"Amelia…you have room 15…Zel…14, and I have room 13. We'll get settled in and meet back here in about an hour, ok?" Obviously Gourry had something planned…
"Why? What are we going to do?" Amelia stared at Gourry. Since when did he plan everything?
"Oh…I've got something planned."
"Ok…" Zel took his key and headed up to his room.
"Alright, Gourry-san…if you say so…" Gourry handed her, her key.
"I'll see you in an hour!" Gourry headed up the stairs leaving Amelia staring after him as he ascended the stairs.
***Half an hour later***
Gourry walked down a hall. It was one of those that made everything look sort of dark. Light was streaming up ahead, and Gourry thought back a couple years ago.
************************************************************************
"GOURRY!!!!! GET OUT OF HERE! Follow that girl."
"But…"
"Dude…leave. And…" The other Gourry took something off his belt, "Take this with you. Don't tell anyone you have it, don't say goodbye…just leave."
"But…"
"GO!!! NOW!"
Gourry ran out the back door and attached the sword to his belt. The girl had gone towards the woods. He stared back at the house as he heard the door explode. He stopped for a couple minutes and listened for sounds. He started running when he heard the screams of his twin brother. He pictured the house bathed in blood as he fell to his knees a few miles away.
************************************************************************
"Rowdy…today's the day…"
"HEY!!! Hey YOU!" Gourry stood in a doorway of a room full of instruments.
"What?" Gourry wondered what those musicians could possibly want from him.
"Can you sing? I mean…our lead singer just quit, and we've got nothing now."
"When are you playing?"
'What am I thinking? I can't do this!' Gourry thought to himself.
"Tonight, but if you can sing, we can play anything you got."
"You sure about that?"
'I must be crazy!' Gourry sighed.
"Positive."
"What kind of music are you looking for?"
"There's a national rock convention going on…but I'm sure you've got-"
"Know anything by Rowdy Gabrieve?" Gourry interrupted. He was sure they didn't know anything. His brother only played in town, and their town was small.
"Dude…are you serious?!" Gourry stared at the guy. Apparently he was wrong, "That guy is awesome! And…you look a lot like him! You don't happen to BE Rowdy Gabrieve, do you?"
"No. Rowdy is dead." Gourry looked at his shoes. They needed polishing.
"You serious? You talk about him like you were related…"
"Yeah…"
"Well…let's see what you got. We were at one of his concerts once. We were on vacation, and happened to stop by. Which song you going to sing?"
"Oni-chan's song. The one he wrote for me."
"You mean…he wrote that 'bout you?"
"Yup."
"Well…then you must be Gourry, am I right?"
"Yup." Gourry couldn't believe what he was doing. He wasn't a singer. His brother wrote those songs. It wasn't right to do this, but…something was telling him he should do this.
"Well…come here. We'll play the music, or close to it, and you sing the lyrics."
Gourry walked towards the stage, not noticing Zel walking up to him.
"Ok…you sure you don't mind…I don't know if I can sing all that well…I haven't done this since well…since I was about 15."
"You'll be fine! My name's Joe, by the way." Joe handed Gourry a stick with a circle on it, "We had a sorceress amplify that. The circle is what amplifies your voice, got it?"
"Yeah."
'What is he doing?' Zel peeked around the corner of the doorway, as Gourry started to sing.
The guitar started with the sound of Gourry's voice.
"Could you let down you hair and be transparent for a while? Just a little while, to see if you're human after all. Honesty is a hard attribute to find, when we all want to seem like we've got it all figured out. Let me be the first to say that I don't have a clue…I don't have all the answers, ain't going to pretend like I do, just trying…to find my way…" Another guitar joined the first one.
'This…this is really good!' Zel stared hard at Gourry.
"Trying…to find my way, the best that I know how" Drums now accompanied the two guitars. You have two acoustic guitars, and the drums. And they blended with each other very well. Kept the beat all around.
"Zelgadiss-san…" Amelia came up from behind Zel.
"Ssssh. Listen! That's Gourry singing."
"Really?!" Amelia leaned over Zel to get a look at Gourry.
"Ssssh!"
"Sorry." Amelia leaned against the wall and listened.
"Well I haven't memorized all of the cute things to say, but I'm working on it. Maybe I'll master this, and film it someday. If I quote all the lines off the top of my head will you believe that I fully understand all these things that I've read. I'm just trying to find my way. Trying…to find my way. Trying to find my way, the best that I know how." More instruments were added as the words cut out for about thirty seconds. A tambourine started up when Gourry started to sing the next lines.
"Well I haven't got it all figured out quite yet, but…even if it takes my whole life to get to where I need to be. And if I should fall to the bottom of the end, I'll be one step back to you. Trying…to find my way. Trying, to find my way. I'm trying to find my way. Trying to find my way." A violin started to play till about thirty seconds till the end of the song, and then the piano took over and ended the song. The band put their instruments down as Joe walked over to Gourry.
"Dude! That was awesome! I mean your voice is a little bit different from his, but you're awesome!"
"Really?" Gourry couldn't believe his ears. Rowdy was the musician…how could he be about just as good? He never took lessons, and he hadn't sung in years! He sung once when Rowdy had gotten sick, and the crowd couldn't really see the difference, but Gourry lacked the sword then, and they figured it out soon enough. Needless to say Gourry hadn't sung since then. How could he be any good?
"You'll do just fine."
(Author's Note: The song Gourry sung is Trying, by Lifehouse. I'm modeling his brother's music off of theirs. And yes…I did make up Gourry's brother.)
"Well…I was going to do some things with my friends this evening…"
"That's fine…just tell us what other songs you can sing, and we'll rehearse our parts."
"Ok…how about the song Carousel (Sick Cycle Carousel)?"
"Yeah, we got it."
"Scars? (Simon)"
"Yeah."
"How about Stranger of a Girl (Somewhere in Between)?"
"No…was that a new one?" Gourry looked down at his sword.
"Here…" Gourry unsheathed the sword, took the scabbard, and shook something out of it. Joe stared at Gourry.
"Is that…"
"A Rowdy original. Given to me with this sword a couple hours before he died."
"Wow. Really? Music scores and everything?"
"Some of it, yeah." Gourry handed it to Joe.
"There's some stains on it…"
"Yeah…I was a mercenary before I started traveling with someone, and I found that a little after a battle I was in. I got some blood on it."
"Really? Ouch."
"It was nothing." Gourry looked at his feet again, the uncomfortable feeling coming back again.
"Let us play this, and you can tell us if it sounds right."
"I've…I'm sorry. I've never heard it."
"My brother must have just written it in the few days before he died, because the band never played, or practiced it, and I never heard it."
"Oh. Don't worry about it! We'll just play it, and hope it's right."
"Alright." The band started to play. After twenty seconds into the song, Gourry yelled, "Stop."
"Something wrong?" Joe asked Gourry.
"It should be slower."
"I thought you said you've never heard the song…"
"I haven't. I just know."
"OK."
"Oh, and on the downbeat the tambourine and the drum should play together."
"Got it." The band played again. It sounded right. Gourry didn't say anything else. This was a good band. Picked up on things easily. Which is good when playing music. You can make it far that way.
A half an hour later, Gourry walked to the lobby.
(Author's Notes: Thx for the postcard Kiri-chan!!!!!)
"You guys ready?"
"Yeah! Where are we going?!"
"I'm taking you down to Lake Bemidji."
"Where's that?" Zel was curious to how Gourry remembered the name of a lake.
"It's above Lake Irving. We're in the center of the city about. So if we go east, we'll come upon Lake Bemidji."
"And how do you know this, Gourry-san…I mean…you never remember anything!" Amelia was puzzled. Gourry was sounding smart.
"Well…there are certain days where things are remembered easier than others. This is the hometown of my brother's favorite folklore hero."
'I never was as dumb as anyone thought. I just act this way so people won't ask the questions I don't want to answer.'
"What hero was that?"
"Paul Bunyan, and his blue ox, Babe."
'Oh come on! This is basic knowledge…Zel should know this at least!'
"OH! Cool! So…we're going down by the river? To do what?"
"To eat dinner! They have this wonderful little restaurant next to the ocean. I remember Lina saying something about it once. She said she fried and tied up some bandits next to that restaurant."
"Really? Wow. I wonder how long ago that was…"
"Apparently a long time, because she was traveling with someone else at the time, and when I found her, she was traveling alone and had been for a while."
"Oh…ok" Amelia smiled and wrapped her shawl around her. They had all dressed up for some reason or the other. She had her hair up in a bun, was wearing a black dress with black teardrop earrings, and a magenta shawl and hairclip. Her shoes were flat shoes since they were going to be walking on sand. They were flat, and black. They exposed her toes and had a strap that went around her Achilles tendon.
"So…do we have to walk there?" Zel was also pondering why they dressed up, but nevertheless he went along and dressed up too. He had on a dark blue suit with a gold tie. His shirt was white, and his shoes were black.
"No, we can rent some horses, ok?" Gourry wanted to look nice today. This was the day his brother had died, and he wanted to look good. He had a white shirt, and a black suit, with shiny black shoes, and a black tie. His hair was back in a low ponytail, and an onyx clip held it in place. "So…are we ready to go?"
"YEAH!!!!!"
"All set…" Gourry and co. headed out of the inn in search of a stable.
***Mid-Afternoon (the next day) on Lina and Naga's side of things***
Lina was sleeping on the ground. Naga had obviously kidnapped her, and she'd cast a sleeping spell on her as well. She had tried to arouse Lina earlier this morning, but to no avail. She just wouldn't wake up! She wondered if Lina ever would. She was sweating up a storm, and rolling all over the place, so Naga assumed she was having a bad dream. But this wasn't REALLY her fault…Lina could've kept her mouth shut about her OTHER friends, and they never would've been in this situation. Naga got up from their spot and went to find some wood so she could make some lunch.
*In Lina's dream*
A younger Lina fell on her knees a field. This was the family vacation, and still…her mother still wouldn't stop abusing her. She was too little and inexperienced to do anything about it just yet, but someday. Someday she would run away and do something that would prove to her mother that…well it would prove something to her. She had run away from her grasp for now, but no telling how long it would take before her mother found her again.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah…fine." Great…villagers giving her their pity; that was the last thing she needed.
"Well…I mean you don't look alright…"
The younger Lina turned around to look at the kid. He was a little older than her. Definitely taller, and looked like a dumb blonde.
"I'm not a dumb blonde if that's what you're thinking."
"Yeah that's what I was thinking…"
"I just act this way."
"Why? Doesn't it make you feel stupid?"
"One thing I learned…people don't ask questions when they know you're dumb. Really. They don't."
"I'll remember that…"
"Hey…obviously you don't know what a kick in the back looks like a couple of hours later…what happened to you? Who roughed you up? This town's too small for something like this to happen without other people noticing…"
"I fell…that's it."
"You fell my ass! You're coming with me."
"NO!" The guy stared at her.
"Why the hell not? You obviously need some help, but won't take none from nobody! I think you're just trying to cover up what happened to you. You're trying to fool people into thinking you're OK. Why? Is this person so scary that you wouldn't be able to stand them finding out that you told someone that they did this to you?"
"Yes. I can't tell anyone. Not a soul. I can't get help from anyone either. It'd just get you into greater trouble than I'm worth."
"I don't care. I'm taking you with me whether you like it or not!" The guy picked Lina up and started to carry her. She started squirming and shouting.
"Put me down! PUT ME DOWN!"
"No. Not unless you promise to come with me."
"Fine! Go grab my bag over there. I'm hungry." The man ran over to where they were before, and came back carrying her bag.
"What do you have stuffed in this thing?"
"Food…" Lina opened it up and started stuffing her face. When she finished, they both stood up.
"How did you eat that much?" He poked her stomach to see if it all fit in there. Lina winced, but the guy didn't notice, "You got three stomachs or something?" He poked her again.
"OW!" Lina clutched her stomach.
"What I didn't poke you that hard!" Lina started falling. "Hey…HEY!" The guy caught her as she woke up.
***Back in reality***
"You finally woke up…want some lunch?" Naga gave Lina a once over before adding, "What happened to you? You look like shit with all those bruises and everything…"
Lina looked at herself. She didn't have these before, "What…" Lina lifted her shirt up. She stared down at her mid-drift and found herself staring at a huge gash in her stomach that looked a day old. Instantly she shoved her shirt down, put her hands on her face, and started backing into a tree…backing into insanity.
See you all in the next chapter around Christmas time!! Hope you enjoy this chapter of Lina's life. Let me know what you think!! All comments and flames and reasonings and such go to me in reviews, or email at smilesevily3000@aol.com. JA!
***That morning on Gourry and Co.'s side of things***
"Where's the next town?!" Amelia was tired. They'd been traveling now nonstop for about 5 days. Only stopping to sleep. Normally she wouldn't complain, but she wanted a bath. She smelled like mold, and her hair was starting to itch. She didn't want to develop lice…
"We'll be there in about 10 minutes, Amelia." Zel was actually glad to be coming to this town. With no Lina around, and Amelia's spirits in the dumps…things were very tense around everyone. Gourry was unreachable. If you talked to him…well he didn't really answer back, or he said something equivalent to 'Stay focused!' He didn't eat, and he didn't sleep. He was always on guard. Zel was beginning to worry about him.
"There's supposed to be an inn there that's similar to an old castle. Want to check it out?" Gourry didn't totally want to freak his friends out. Sure he was intent on finding Lina, but you can't stay like this forever. You have to take a chill pill somewhere along the way.
"Castle?? Inn?! Sounds GREAT!" Amelia was thrilled! Gourry said something normal! He wasn't in the weird mode.
"Fine with me," He must've found his chill pill. Well…better than he was before. He even got Amelia to perk up. But…maybe that was the mention of the inn.
"Alright it's settled…we'll stay there for about four days of relaxation, and move on to continue our search."
"FOUR DAYS?!" Amelia was positively ecstatic! She hadn't relaxed for about a week! Things were definitely looking up! Amelia found her perky place again, "SO! What should we check out once we're there?!"
"Don't know…" Yes…Amelia was definitely back to normal.
***15 minutes later***
"Amelia…you have room 15…Zel…14, and I have room 13. We'll get settled in and meet back here in about an hour, ok?" Obviously Gourry had something planned…
"Why? What are we going to do?" Amelia stared at Gourry. Since when did he plan everything?
"Oh…I've got something planned."
"Ok…" Zel took his key and headed up to his room.
"Alright, Gourry-san…if you say so…" Gourry handed her, her key.
"I'll see you in an hour!" Gourry headed up the stairs leaving Amelia staring after him as he ascended the stairs.
***Half an hour later***
Gourry walked down a hall. It was one of those that made everything look sort of dark. Light was streaming up ahead, and Gourry thought back a couple years ago.
************************************************************************
"GOURRY!!!!! GET OUT OF HERE! Follow that girl."
"But…"
"Dude…leave. And…" The other Gourry took something off his belt, "Take this with you. Don't tell anyone you have it, don't say goodbye…just leave."
"But…"
"GO!!! NOW!"
Gourry ran out the back door and attached the sword to his belt. The girl had gone towards the woods. He stared back at the house as he heard the door explode. He stopped for a couple minutes and listened for sounds. He started running when he heard the screams of his twin brother. He pictured the house bathed in blood as he fell to his knees a few miles away.
************************************************************************
"Rowdy…today's the day…"
"HEY!!! Hey YOU!" Gourry stood in a doorway of a room full of instruments.
"What?" Gourry wondered what those musicians could possibly want from him.
"Can you sing? I mean…our lead singer just quit, and we've got nothing now."
"When are you playing?"
'What am I thinking? I can't do this!' Gourry thought to himself.
"Tonight, but if you can sing, we can play anything you got."
"You sure about that?"
'I must be crazy!' Gourry sighed.
"Positive."
"What kind of music are you looking for?"
"There's a national rock convention going on…but I'm sure you've got-"
"Know anything by Rowdy Gabrieve?" Gourry interrupted. He was sure they didn't know anything. His brother only played in town, and their town was small.
"Dude…are you serious?!" Gourry stared at the guy. Apparently he was wrong, "That guy is awesome! And…you look a lot like him! You don't happen to BE Rowdy Gabrieve, do you?"
"No. Rowdy is dead." Gourry looked at his shoes. They needed polishing.
"You serious? You talk about him like you were related…"
"Yeah…"
"Well…let's see what you got. We were at one of his concerts once. We were on vacation, and happened to stop by. Which song you going to sing?"
"Oni-chan's song. The one he wrote for me."
"You mean…he wrote that 'bout you?"
"Yup."
"Well…then you must be Gourry, am I right?"
"Yup." Gourry couldn't believe what he was doing. He wasn't a singer. His brother wrote those songs. It wasn't right to do this, but…something was telling him he should do this.
"Well…come here. We'll play the music, or close to it, and you sing the lyrics."
Gourry walked towards the stage, not noticing Zel walking up to him.
"Ok…you sure you don't mind…I don't know if I can sing all that well…I haven't done this since well…since I was about 15."
"You'll be fine! My name's Joe, by the way." Joe handed Gourry a stick with a circle on it, "We had a sorceress amplify that. The circle is what amplifies your voice, got it?"
"Yeah."
'What is he doing?' Zel peeked around the corner of the doorway, as Gourry started to sing.
The guitar started with the sound of Gourry's voice.
"Could you let down you hair and be transparent for a while? Just a little while, to see if you're human after all. Honesty is a hard attribute to find, when we all want to seem like we've got it all figured out. Let me be the first to say that I don't have a clue…I don't have all the answers, ain't going to pretend like I do, just trying…to find my way…" Another guitar joined the first one.
'This…this is really good!' Zel stared hard at Gourry.
"Trying…to find my way, the best that I know how" Drums now accompanied the two guitars. You have two acoustic guitars, and the drums. And they blended with each other very well. Kept the beat all around.
"Zelgadiss-san…" Amelia came up from behind Zel.
"Ssssh. Listen! That's Gourry singing."
"Really?!" Amelia leaned over Zel to get a look at Gourry.
"Ssssh!"
"Sorry." Amelia leaned against the wall and listened.
"Well I haven't memorized all of the cute things to say, but I'm working on it. Maybe I'll master this, and film it someday. If I quote all the lines off the top of my head will you believe that I fully understand all these things that I've read. I'm just trying to find my way. Trying…to find my way. Trying to find my way, the best that I know how." More instruments were added as the words cut out for about thirty seconds. A tambourine started up when Gourry started to sing the next lines.
"Well I haven't got it all figured out quite yet, but…even if it takes my whole life to get to where I need to be. And if I should fall to the bottom of the end, I'll be one step back to you. Trying…to find my way. Trying, to find my way. I'm trying to find my way. Trying to find my way." A violin started to play till about thirty seconds till the end of the song, and then the piano took over and ended the song. The band put their instruments down as Joe walked over to Gourry.
"Dude! That was awesome! I mean your voice is a little bit different from his, but you're awesome!"
"Really?" Gourry couldn't believe his ears. Rowdy was the musician…how could he be about just as good? He never took lessons, and he hadn't sung in years! He sung once when Rowdy had gotten sick, and the crowd couldn't really see the difference, but Gourry lacked the sword then, and they figured it out soon enough. Needless to say Gourry hadn't sung since then. How could he be any good?
"You'll do just fine."
(Author's Note: The song Gourry sung is Trying, by Lifehouse. I'm modeling his brother's music off of theirs. And yes…I did make up Gourry's brother.)
"Well…I was going to do some things with my friends this evening…"
"That's fine…just tell us what other songs you can sing, and we'll rehearse our parts."
"Ok…how about the song Carousel (Sick Cycle Carousel)?"
"Yeah, we got it."
"Scars? (Simon)"
"Yeah."
"How about Stranger of a Girl (Somewhere in Between)?"
"No…was that a new one?" Gourry looked down at his sword.
"Here…" Gourry unsheathed the sword, took the scabbard, and shook something out of it. Joe stared at Gourry.
"Is that…"
"A Rowdy original. Given to me with this sword a couple hours before he died."
"Wow. Really? Music scores and everything?"
"Some of it, yeah." Gourry handed it to Joe.
"There's some stains on it…"
"Yeah…I was a mercenary before I started traveling with someone, and I found that a little after a battle I was in. I got some blood on it."
"Really? Ouch."
"It was nothing." Gourry looked at his feet again, the uncomfortable feeling coming back again.
"Let us play this, and you can tell us if it sounds right."
"I've…I'm sorry. I've never heard it."
"My brother must have just written it in the few days before he died, because the band never played, or practiced it, and I never heard it."
"Oh. Don't worry about it! We'll just play it, and hope it's right."
"Alright." The band started to play. After twenty seconds into the song, Gourry yelled, "Stop."
"Something wrong?" Joe asked Gourry.
"It should be slower."
"I thought you said you've never heard the song…"
"I haven't. I just know."
"OK."
"Oh, and on the downbeat the tambourine and the drum should play together."
"Got it." The band played again. It sounded right. Gourry didn't say anything else. This was a good band. Picked up on things easily. Which is good when playing music. You can make it far that way.
A half an hour later, Gourry walked to the lobby.
(Author's Notes: Thx for the postcard Kiri-chan!!!!!)
"You guys ready?"
"Yeah! Where are we going?!"
"I'm taking you down to Lake Bemidji."
"Where's that?" Zel was curious to how Gourry remembered the name of a lake.
"It's above Lake Irving. We're in the center of the city about. So if we go east, we'll come upon Lake Bemidji."
"And how do you know this, Gourry-san…I mean…you never remember anything!" Amelia was puzzled. Gourry was sounding smart.
"Well…there are certain days where things are remembered easier than others. This is the hometown of my brother's favorite folklore hero."
'I never was as dumb as anyone thought. I just act this way so people won't ask the questions I don't want to answer.'
"What hero was that?"
"Paul Bunyan, and his blue ox, Babe."
'Oh come on! This is basic knowledge…Zel should know this at least!'
"OH! Cool! So…we're going down by the river? To do what?"
"To eat dinner! They have this wonderful little restaurant next to the ocean. I remember Lina saying something about it once. She said she fried and tied up some bandits next to that restaurant."
"Really? Wow. I wonder how long ago that was…"
"Apparently a long time, because she was traveling with someone else at the time, and when I found her, she was traveling alone and had been for a while."
"Oh…ok" Amelia smiled and wrapped her shawl around her. They had all dressed up for some reason or the other. She had her hair up in a bun, was wearing a black dress with black teardrop earrings, and a magenta shawl and hairclip. Her shoes were flat shoes since they were going to be walking on sand. They were flat, and black. They exposed her toes and had a strap that went around her Achilles tendon.
"So…do we have to walk there?" Zel was also pondering why they dressed up, but nevertheless he went along and dressed up too. He had on a dark blue suit with a gold tie. His shirt was white, and his shoes were black.
"No, we can rent some horses, ok?" Gourry wanted to look nice today. This was the day his brother had died, and he wanted to look good. He had a white shirt, and a black suit, with shiny black shoes, and a black tie. His hair was back in a low ponytail, and an onyx clip held it in place. "So…are we ready to go?"
"YEAH!!!!!"
"All set…" Gourry and co. headed out of the inn in search of a stable.
***Mid-Afternoon (the next day) on Lina and Naga's side of things***
Lina was sleeping on the ground. Naga had obviously kidnapped her, and she'd cast a sleeping spell on her as well. She had tried to arouse Lina earlier this morning, but to no avail. She just wouldn't wake up! She wondered if Lina ever would. She was sweating up a storm, and rolling all over the place, so Naga assumed she was having a bad dream. But this wasn't REALLY her fault…Lina could've kept her mouth shut about her OTHER friends, and they never would've been in this situation. Naga got up from their spot and went to find some wood so she could make some lunch.
*In Lina's dream*
A younger Lina fell on her knees a field. This was the family vacation, and still…her mother still wouldn't stop abusing her. She was too little and inexperienced to do anything about it just yet, but someday. Someday she would run away and do something that would prove to her mother that…well it would prove something to her. She had run away from her grasp for now, but no telling how long it would take before her mother found her again.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah…fine." Great…villagers giving her their pity; that was the last thing she needed.
"Well…I mean you don't look alright…"
The younger Lina turned around to look at the kid. He was a little older than her. Definitely taller, and looked like a dumb blonde.
"I'm not a dumb blonde if that's what you're thinking."
"Yeah that's what I was thinking…"
"I just act this way."
"Why? Doesn't it make you feel stupid?"
"One thing I learned…people don't ask questions when they know you're dumb. Really. They don't."
"I'll remember that…"
"Hey…obviously you don't know what a kick in the back looks like a couple of hours later…what happened to you? Who roughed you up? This town's too small for something like this to happen without other people noticing…"
"I fell…that's it."
"You fell my ass! You're coming with me."
"NO!" The guy stared at her.
"Why the hell not? You obviously need some help, but won't take none from nobody! I think you're just trying to cover up what happened to you. You're trying to fool people into thinking you're OK. Why? Is this person so scary that you wouldn't be able to stand them finding out that you told someone that they did this to you?"
"Yes. I can't tell anyone. Not a soul. I can't get help from anyone either. It'd just get you into greater trouble than I'm worth."
"I don't care. I'm taking you with me whether you like it or not!" The guy picked Lina up and started to carry her. She started squirming and shouting.
"Put me down! PUT ME DOWN!"
"No. Not unless you promise to come with me."
"Fine! Go grab my bag over there. I'm hungry." The man ran over to where they were before, and came back carrying her bag.
"What do you have stuffed in this thing?"
"Food…" Lina opened it up and started stuffing her face. When she finished, they both stood up.
"How did you eat that much?" He poked her stomach to see if it all fit in there. Lina winced, but the guy didn't notice, "You got three stomachs or something?" He poked her again.
"OW!" Lina clutched her stomach.
"What I didn't poke you that hard!" Lina started falling. "Hey…HEY!" The guy caught her as she woke up.
***Back in reality***
"You finally woke up…want some lunch?" Naga gave Lina a once over before adding, "What happened to you? You look like shit with all those bruises and everything…"
Lina looked at herself. She didn't have these before, "What…" Lina lifted her shirt up. She stared down at her mid-drift and found herself staring at a huge gash in her stomach that looked a day old. Instantly she shoved her shirt down, put her hands on her face, and started backing into a tree…backing into insanity.
See you all in the next chapter around Christmas time!! Hope you enjoy this chapter of Lina's life. Let me know what you think!! All comments and flames and reasonings and such go to me in reviews, or email at smilesevily3000@aol.com. JA!