Hey people! Good to see you again! Hope to snare some more reviewers with this story, and whatnot. Thanks to Slayers Otaku Girl for making me write this new chapter after my (don't tell anyone!) 9 month break! Good to get back to this, kinda…enjoy!
"bla" - actual dialog
:: bla :: - thoughts
A couple meters or so down the road a nice traveler was walking along a path. It was a nice day. The birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and there was a smell of roasting sausages in the air. The traveler started to think about lunch. He couldn't wait to get into town. And with this cart of his, it was taking him forever. Why couldn't traveling be easier these days? You shouldn't have to carry so much stuff, but I guess when you're a traveling merchant…that's the risk you take. OK so he was traveling down the road, enjoying the scenery and loving the view from where he was. The sausages smelled good, and the scream that echoed through the area within a 20-mile radius just improved the sight. Wait…was that a scream?
"LINA! Lina get a hold of yourself!! What's wrong?" Naga started shaking Lina. She had just flipped out a couple of seconds ago. Obviously the lack of traveling with Naga had done something to her sanity. She really did hope she recovered from if. But she was being a little unreasonable at the moment. When she woke up, Naga said she looked bad, and when she lifted up her shirt, well…obviously she had seen something unpleasant, but Naga had no idea what it was, and then she just sort of shoved her shirt down and sort of sat there for a couple of seconds, and she gradually lifted her hands to her face and back into a tree, and this all eventually led to this huge and fear filled scream. It was disturbing to hear a sound like that coming from Lina. That was when she realized something was wrong. She left the sausages and went over to Lina and was trying to figure out what happened to her. "Lina…please tell your dear old friend what's wrong!"
The middle-aged man traveling on the road saw a man just up ahead of him. He was just standing there in the middle of the road smiling to himself and looking like he was waiting for someone.
"Good day sir." The purple-haired man said to him, turning slightly as he went by. The traveling merchant tipped his hat to him and continued along the path for he didn't associate with evil. But as he took another step forward, one of those ear-piercing screams filled the air once more, and the purple-haired man disappeared from his sight.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Lina couldn't believe what was happening! She couldn't believe it. To believe it would be to remember all those horrible years. But pain always stopped the memories from coming back. Always. Lina raked her fingernails down her face in an effort to make them bleed. She shoved Naga out of the way as she proceeded to cut herself with the blade she had in her cloak. After adding about 5 slices to her left arm she dropped the knife from fear of her own self-destruction. Her arm had this numbing pain to it, but it wasn't enough to keep the memories away. And the blood flowed from her left arm, but it didn't stop the memories. She grabbed at her hair and screamed, "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!! I DON'T WANT TO REMEMBER YOU ANYMORE!!!" She turned her back from Naga who looked white as a ghost now, and ran into the woods feeling too humiliated to remember any horrible abusive memories of her past. She'd run until she passed out. She'd run, cause she'd rather be anywhere but here.
About a half an hour later the middle-aged traveling merchant came upon the purple-haired man again. This time he was holding a girl looking concerned, yet content at the same time.
"AH! We meet again good sir! I am wondering if I might ask a favor of you."
"Depends on what you might be asking me for now, don't it?
"Yes, I suppose so. I am just but a wandering mysterious priest, and I was wondering if you might be so kind as to take this young woman into the next town, and deliver her to the inn there? I have other business to attend to and cannot travel there myself. But I can't just lay her down anywhere, can I? So I thought I might ask you."
"What happened to her?"
"Oh…I have no idea. She just came running out of the woods, saw me, and passed out. I'm guessing from loss of blood by the looks of her." Conveniently, a slip of paper fell out of the girl's pocket. "I'm sorry, I must go now. Thank you for taking her for me!" And with that the man set her down on the road and started walking in the direction the merchant had just come.
"Well…let's get you settled, shall we?" The middle-aged man picked the red head up and set her in his cart. He went back outside, and picked the piece of paper up. Bringing it in the cart with him.
Double Tree Inn
Room 13. Gourry Gabrieve.
Arrived yesterday at 4:00pm
"I guess I'd better get you to the Double Tree Inn then…" The man climbed to the front of the cart and started the horses on the trail ahead. They'd be there in about 15 minutes. Let's hope he got there fast enough. The girl looked pretty banged up. The man turned around and addressed the sleeping girl; "You'd better not die on me, cause I'm not going to jail cause I couldn't keep a girl alive that I didn't even hurt. You probably did this to…" The more the man stared at her, the more familiar she looked. And that was going someplace he didn't want to go. About 6 years ago a local newspaper reported something about the worst child abuse case ever found. It showed explicit pictures of the girl who was about 12 years old. It reported that she had high magical tolerance and that she learned powerful magical spells at the age of 11. It also mentioned that she had been diagnosed with cancer only a month prior to the article. What a poor girl. He just hoped he wasn't staring into the face of the same girl about 6 years later trying to commit suicide.
*************************At the Inn (later that day)*************************
The merchant walked up the stairs in haste. He was searching for a room 13, and had no time to spare. "Alas!" the merchant sighed as he found the door. He banged upon it, and when a tall blonde answered, he explained that he had a friend of his who was in need of medical attention down in his cart and needed his assistance to carry her. It took the man a couple minutes to catch on. "Please sir! It's very urgent. Follow me."
"Alright. Just let me alert my friends that I'll be gone for a minute," and with that, he knocked on doors 14, and 15 and they were on their way.
*****Outside*****
The merchant dragged the girl out from his wagon and dropped her into the man's arms. She looked so small lying there, and he was glad to get rid of her, yet he felt bad that he had to be the bearer of bad news. Her friend looked so hurt, yet happy to see her. He thanked him and ran back inside. The merchant looked into the inn one last time to see him pounding or the door of room 15 yelling the name Amelia and asking for her help in healing the girl. He left shortly afterward.
**********30 minutes later**********
"Is Lina going to be alright?" Gourry was curious. Suddenly Lina had shown up, but she was terribly hurt.
"From this wound yes…but," Amelia stared at her feet, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
"But what?" That caught Zel's attention. He figured something was wrong with Lina, but he still didn't know what it was. He had no leads either.
"I'm sorry…it's just…" Amelia covered her face with her hands and started to sob. She looked down at the floor and ran out of her room. It was really terrible to know that one of your friends had contracted the disease that totally disintegrated the human body. No one should have to deal with that. Even now, Amelia could see the signs of the disease, even if no one else could. It was no wonder that Lina kept herself covered so much.
"Amelia?" Zel walked out of the room, and after her. There was nothing left there for him to say.
"I guess I'd better let Lina sleep then, eh?" They had checked out another room for Lina, so they could each have their own privacy if needed. Gourry wanted to stay and make sure Lina woke up, but he wasn't going to give anything away. He couldn't let down his charade just yet. So he got up and left with Amelia.
**********The Next Afternoon**********
Zel crept into Lina's room to see if she had woken up yet. To his surprise, she was up. She was sitting at the window seat wrapped in a blanket and drinking a steaming cup of tea. She looked out the window with haunted eyes. At that moment Lina turned around, noticed Zel, and changed her facial features to those of cheerfulness.
"Hey Zel! How've you been?" Lina smiled at him.
"Lina…" Zel crossed his arms over his chest.
"Amelia was already in here so I got some tea and food from her."
"I see," Zel stared at her, and raised his eyebrows.
"So! What is it that you needed?" Lina put a little too much enthusiasm into that sentence.
"Drop the act Lina…if you don't feel well, don't act like you do," Lina turned away from him as he walked towards her. "What's wrong with you?"
"I…well, it's complicated," Lina closed her eyes and took another sip of her tea.
"I see. Then at least tell me what else is wrong with you! We're all worried!" Zel started pacing around the room, trying to put together the broken pieces of the jigsaw puzzle.
"You mean…Amelia didn't tell you all this time, and you didn't guess it either?" Lina turned around, eyes wide. Zel stopped pacing and stared at her.
"Was it really all that obvious?" Zel's brows furrowed and Lina stared into her mug.
"I guess not if you weren't looking for the symptoms, no," She was surprised that Amelia hadn't told Gourry and Zel about the disease she had.
"Then you can tell that I don't know what's wrong with you!" Zel threw his arms up in the air and started walking towards the door. He was normally a calm guy but…this was challenging his limits! He was too concerned to care about whether he was 'in-character' or not.
"I-" Lina didn't mean to make him so upset. She stood up, and the blanket fell to the ground. She started to walk towards Zel, but her legs failed her. She stumbled and grasped onto the side of the window seat with her right arm. Zel turned around at that moment, to see Lina leaning against the window seat, trying to walk towards him, in her pajamas. It was then that he noticed that her bones were too frail to hold her up. "It's like brittle bone disease. I…well I guess you can say I caught cancer. Yet…Leukemia doesn't run in my family," She shook her head as Zel stared at her limbs. Paper-thin, like a pencil. And to think…she could've broken some more limbs just trying to walk over to him.
"What about your…" Zel stared at her bandaged left arm.
"Arm? I broke it. That's my fault. But…it'll be healed in about an hour or so."
"What did you…" Zel took in the scratches on her face and left his sentence unfinished. He walked over to Lina, to help her back onto the window seat.
"I…I um…kind of sliced it with my dagger when I left-" Lina just remembered leaving Naga in the clearing. :: Oh well she'll probably catch up soon enough… :: "Thanks," Lina picked up the blanket and wrapped it around herself again.
"So…how did you catch cancer?" Zel grabbed a chair and sat next to Lina. Lina looked away.
"It's not something…I normally like to talk about," She took another sip of her tea.
"OK," Zel smiled at her, got up and started walking towards the door.
"Thanks, Zel," Lina smiles into her mug, grateful he didn't press her for details.
"I'll um…let myself out and talk to you later, OK?" He opened the door a crack and looked back at Lina.
"Yeah…" Lina looked back out the window. As Zel was about to close the door, he noticed that haunting look and state of being come back to Lina. She really was in a terrible disposition. It was horrible to see another human being rotting right before your eyes, and a friend no less. Zel shook his head at the irony as he closed the door behind him.
**********The Next Day**********
Lina awoke to the sounds of someone else snoring. She glanced to the side of the bed to see Gourry sitting in a chair to the side of the bed, sleeping there; a basin of water was at the foot of the chair. He reminded her of that other time that something similar had happened, but…it wasn't the same person. It couldn't be…it…just wasn't possible.
*********************In Lina's Memory*********************
"HEY!!! Rowdy!!!!! Open the goddamn door!!!!!" A blonde haired boy kicked at the door since his arms were full at the moment. Lina's eyes were only halfway open, and she wasn't fairing too well. Her shirt was stained with blood, and it was growing redder. "Rowdy if you don't open this goddamn door right now, I'll kick it down!" The boy growled at the door.
"Gourry? That you?" The voice came from a bit of a ways away, but was distinguishable.
"YES! Now open the door!" Another boy came to the door, except he looked the same as the boy holding Lina in his arms. It was like holding up a mirror.
"What the-" The boy, clearly named Rowdy, didn't finish his sentence as Gourry plowed through him and up the stairs to the guest room.
"Someone roughed her up, and she's got this terrible gash in her stomach. We need a healer or something, fast!" Gourry laid Lina on the bed and turned around to face Rowdy.
"I'll go find mom." Both boys nodded.
"Yeah, forgot about her…good idea," Rowdy left the room to run downstairs in search of his mother. "Just hang on, my mom's a good healer, she'll heal you good. Real good," Gourry said to Lina. He ran out of the room to look for some towels, and to fill up a bucket with water. A few minutes later, they were all crowded in the guest room, the two boys watching their mother heal the girl, praying that nothing vital had been hurt. The Next day Lina had awoke to one of the boys sleeping in a chair with a water basin resting next the chair, and the other boy lying his head and arms on the end of the bed. Identical twins…how funny to find some here. She looked at the scene a bit, smiling, and drifted back to sleep.
********************Back in Reality*********************
"Lina?" Lina whipped out of the memory she'd been having, and put on her cheerfulness mask she loved to wear so much.
"Good morning, Gourry! How've you been?"
"Worrying about you," Gourry straightened in the chair and stared at her seriously. "Hope you don't mind, but you were bleeding during the night, and Amelia was indisposed at the moment," he gestured to the water basin and towel on the floor.
"That's just like…" Lina's mask slipped for a minute, then she shook her head and said to Gourry, "Just don't do it again, Jellyfish-for-brains!" She clapped his hard on the back, as he lurched forward. Lina laughed. It was good to be with Gourry again. It truly was.
Hey people it's been a long, long time since I last wrote. In fact, most of this was already written, but now that I've grown some more, my writing has changed again. I had some fixing up to do! XD! Yeah…a lot. Well anyways! How are all of my reviewers doing? Did you miss me? I miss you! It's been a while since I wrote this, so I don't know how I want it to end now…especially since I've changed my writing style. I had the ending all planned out, but now I wrote new stuff that made that ending impossible to happen. Or perhaps now I just don't like the ending, now that I've gotten older… . ANYWHO! It's good to touch base with all of you, and everyone must thank Slayers Otaku Girl. She was the one who requested that I continue writing this, so I got my rear into gear and wrote this out for all of you. This could quite possibly be the end! For most authors, it would be, BUT…since I can never seem to end my stories, this one is going to continue! Aren't you all happy? I just don't know how frequently I can update! I'm already writing another story, so it might take me a while to write some more of this.
"bla" - actual dialog
:: bla :: - thoughts
A couple meters or so down the road a nice traveler was walking along a path. It was a nice day. The birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and there was a smell of roasting sausages in the air. The traveler started to think about lunch. He couldn't wait to get into town. And with this cart of his, it was taking him forever. Why couldn't traveling be easier these days? You shouldn't have to carry so much stuff, but I guess when you're a traveling merchant…that's the risk you take. OK so he was traveling down the road, enjoying the scenery and loving the view from where he was. The sausages smelled good, and the scream that echoed through the area within a 20-mile radius just improved the sight. Wait…was that a scream?
"LINA! Lina get a hold of yourself!! What's wrong?" Naga started shaking Lina. She had just flipped out a couple of seconds ago. Obviously the lack of traveling with Naga had done something to her sanity. She really did hope she recovered from if. But she was being a little unreasonable at the moment. When she woke up, Naga said she looked bad, and when she lifted up her shirt, well…obviously she had seen something unpleasant, but Naga had no idea what it was, and then she just sort of shoved her shirt down and sort of sat there for a couple of seconds, and she gradually lifted her hands to her face and back into a tree, and this all eventually led to this huge and fear filled scream. It was disturbing to hear a sound like that coming from Lina. That was when she realized something was wrong. She left the sausages and went over to Lina and was trying to figure out what happened to her. "Lina…please tell your dear old friend what's wrong!"
The middle-aged man traveling on the road saw a man just up ahead of him. He was just standing there in the middle of the road smiling to himself and looking like he was waiting for someone.
"Good day sir." The purple-haired man said to him, turning slightly as he went by. The traveling merchant tipped his hat to him and continued along the path for he didn't associate with evil. But as he took another step forward, one of those ear-piercing screams filled the air once more, and the purple-haired man disappeared from his sight.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Lina couldn't believe what was happening! She couldn't believe it. To believe it would be to remember all those horrible years. But pain always stopped the memories from coming back. Always. Lina raked her fingernails down her face in an effort to make them bleed. She shoved Naga out of the way as she proceeded to cut herself with the blade she had in her cloak. After adding about 5 slices to her left arm she dropped the knife from fear of her own self-destruction. Her arm had this numbing pain to it, but it wasn't enough to keep the memories away. And the blood flowed from her left arm, but it didn't stop the memories. She grabbed at her hair and screamed, "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!! I DON'T WANT TO REMEMBER YOU ANYMORE!!!" She turned her back from Naga who looked white as a ghost now, and ran into the woods feeling too humiliated to remember any horrible abusive memories of her past. She'd run until she passed out. She'd run, cause she'd rather be anywhere but here.
About a half an hour later the middle-aged traveling merchant came upon the purple-haired man again. This time he was holding a girl looking concerned, yet content at the same time.
"AH! We meet again good sir! I am wondering if I might ask a favor of you."
"Depends on what you might be asking me for now, don't it?
"Yes, I suppose so. I am just but a wandering mysterious priest, and I was wondering if you might be so kind as to take this young woman into the next town, and deliver her to the inn there? I have other business to attend to and cannot travel there myself. But I can't just lay her down anywhere, can I? So I thought I might ask you."
"What happened to her?"
"Oh…I have no idea. She just came running out of the woods, saw me, and passed out. I'm guessing from loss of blood by the looks of her." Conveniently, a slip of paper fell out of the girl's pocket. "I'm sorry, I must go now. Thank you for taking her for me!" And with that the man set her down on the road and started walking in the direction the merchant had just come.
"Well…let's get you settled, shall we?" The middle-aged man picked the red head up and set her in his cart. He went back outside, and picked the piece of paper up. Bringing it in the cart with him.
Double Tree Inn
Room 13. Gourry Gabrieve.
Arrived yesterday at 4:00pm
"I guess I'd better get you to the Double Tree Inn then…" The man climbed to the front of the cart and started the horses on the trail ahead. They'd be there in about 15 minutes. Let's hope he got there fast enough. The girl looked pretty banged up. The man turned around and addressed the sleeping girl; "You'd better not die on me, cause I'm not going to jail cause I couldn't keep a girl alive that I didn't even hurt. You probably did this to…" The more the man stared at her, the more familiar she looked. And that was going someplace he didn't want to go. About 6 years ago a local newspaper reported something about the worst child abuse case ever found. It showed explicit pictures of the girl who was about 12 years old. It reported that she had high magical tolerance and that she learned powerful magical spells at the age of 11. It also mentioned that she had been diagnosed with cancer only a month prior to the article. What a poor girl. He just hoped he wasn't staring into the face of the same girl about 6 years later trying to commit suicide.
*************************At the Inn (later that day)*************************
The merchant walked up the stairs in haste. He was searching for a room 13, and had no time to spare. "Alas!" the merchant sighed as he found the door. He banged upon it, and when a tall blonde answered, he explained that he had a friend of his who was in need of medical attention down in his cart and needed his assistance to carry her. It took the man a couple minutes to catch on. "Please sir! It's very urgent. Follow me."
"Alright. Just let me alert my friends that I'll be gone for a minute," and with that, he knocked on doors 14, and 15 and they were on their way.
*****Outside*****
The merchant dragged the girl out from his wagon and dropped her into the man's arms. She looked so small lying there, and he was glad to get rid of her, yet he felt bad that he had to be the bearer of bad news. Her friend looked so hurt, yet happy to see her. He thanked him and ran back inside. The merchant looked into the inn one last time to see him pounding or the door of room 15 yelling the name Amelia and asking for her help in healing the girl. He left shortly afterward.
**********30 minutes later**********
"Is Lina going to be alright?" Gourry was curious. Suddenly Lina had shown up, but she was terribly hurt.
"From this wound yes…but," Amelia stared at her feet, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
"But what?" That caught Zel's attention. He figured something was wrong with Lina, but he still didn't know what it was. He had no leads either.
"I'm sorry…it's just…" Amelia covered her face with her hands and started to sob. She looked down at the floor and ran out of her room. It was really terrible to know that one of your friends had contracted the disease that totally disintegrated the human body. No one should have to deal with that. Even now, Amelia could see the signs of the disease, even if no one else could. It was no wonder that Lina kept herself covered so much.
"Amelia?" Zel walked out of the room, and after her. There was nothing left there for him to say.
"I guess I'd better let Lina sleep then, eh?" They had checked out another room for Lina, so they could each have their own privacy if needed. Gourry wanted to stay and make sure Lina woke up, but he wasn't going to give anything away. He couldn't let down his charade just yet. So he got up and left with Amelia.
**********The Next Afternoon**********
Zel crept into Lina's room to see if she had woken up yet. To his surprise, she was up. She was sitting at the window seat wrapped in a blanket and drinking a steaming cup of tea. She looked out the window with haunted eyes. At that moment Lina turned around, noticed Zel, and changed her facial features to those of cheerfulness.
"Hey Zel! How've you been?" Lina smiled at him.
"Lina…" Zel crossed his arms over his chest.
"Amelia was already in here so I got some tea and food from her."
"I see," Zel stared at her, and raised his eyebrows.
"So! What is it that you needed?" Lina put a little too much enthusiasm into that sentence.
"Drop the act Lina…if you don't feel well, don't act like you do," Lina turned away from him as he walked towards her. "What's wrong with you?"
"I…well, it's complicated," Lina closed her eyes and took another sip of her tea.
"I see. Then at least tell me what else is wrong with you! We're all worried!" Zel started pacing around the room, trying to put together the broken pieces of the jigsaw puzzle.
"You mean…Amelia didn't tell you all this time, and you didn't guess it either?" Lina turned around, eyes wide. Zel stopped pacing and stared at her.
"Was it really all that obvious?" Zel's brows furrowed and Lina stared into her mug.
"I guess not if you weren't looking for the symptoms, no," She was surprised that Amelia hadn't told Gourry and Zel about the disease she had.
"Then you can tell that I don't know what's wrong with you!" Zel threw his arms up in the air and started walking towards the door. He was normally a calm guy but…this was challenging his limits! He was too concerned to care about whether he was 'in-character' or not.
"I-" Lina didn't mean to make him so upset. She stood up, and the blanket fell to the ground. She started to walk towards Zel, but her legs failed her. She stumbled and grasped onto the side of the window seat with her right arm. Zel turned around at that moment, to see Lina leaning against the window seat, trying to walk towards him, in her pajamas. It was then that he noticed that her bones were too frail to hold her up. "It's like brittle bone disease. I…well I guess you can say I caught cancer. Yet…Leukemia doesn't run in my family," She shook her head as Zel stared at her limbs. Paper-thin, like a pencil. And to think…she could've broken some more limbs just trying to walk over to him.
"What about your…" Zel stared at her bandaged left arm.
"Arm? I broke it. That's my fault. But…it'll be healed in about an hour or so."
"What did you…" Zel took in the scratches on her face and left his sentence unfinished. He walked over to Lina, to help her back onto the window seat.
"I…I um…kind of sliced it with my dagger when I left-" Lina just remembered leaving Naga in the clearing. :: Oh well she'll probably catch up soon enough… :: "Thanks," Lina picked up the blanket and wrapped it around herself again.
"So…how did you catch cancer?" Zel grabbed a chair and sat next to Lina. Lina looked away.
"It's not something…I normally like to talk about," She took another sip of her tea.
"OK," Zel smiled at her, got up and started walking towards the door.
"Thanks, Zel," Lina smiles into her mug, grateful he didn't press her for details.
"I'll um…let myself out and talk to you later, OK?" He opened the door a crack and looked back at Lina.
"Yeah…" Lina looked back out the window. As Zel was about to close the door, he noticed that haunting look and state of being come back to Lina. She really was in a terrible disposition. It was horrible to see another human being rotting right before your eyes, and a friend no less. Zel shook his head at the irony as he closed the door behind him.
**********The Next Day**********
Lina awoke to the sounds of someone else snoring. She glanced to the side of the bed to see Gourry sitting in a chair to the side of the bed, sleeping there; a basin of water was at the foot of the chair. He reminded her of that other time that something similar had happened, but…it wasn't the same person. It couldn't be…it…just wasn't possible.
*********************In Lina's Memory*********************
"HEY!!! Rowdy!!!!! Open the goddamn door!!!!!" A blonde haired boy kicked at the door since his arms were full at the moment. Lina's eyes were only halfway open, and she wasn't fairing too well. Her shirt was stained with blood, and it was growing redder. "Rowdy if you don't open this goddamn door right now, I'll kick it down!" The boy growled at the door.
"Gourry? That you?" The voice came from a bit of a ways away, but was distinguishable.
"YES! Now open the door!" Another boy came to the door, except he looked the same as the boy holding Lina in his arms. It was like holding up a mirror.
"What the-" The boy, clearly named Rowdy, didn't finish his sentence as Gourry plowed through him and up the stairs to the guest room.
"Someone roughed her up, and she's got this terrible gash in her stomach. We need a healer or something, fast!" Gourry laid Lina on the bed and turned around to face Rowdy.
"I'll go find mom." Both boys nodded.
"Yeah, forgot about her…good idea," Rowdy left the room to run downstairs in search of his mother. "Just hang on, my mom's a good healer, she'll heal you good. Real good," Gourry said to Lina. He ran out of the room to look for some towels, and to fill up a bucket with water. A few minutes later, they were all crowded in the guest room, the two boys watching their mother heal the girl, praying that nothing vital had been hurt. The Next day Lina had awoke to one of the boys sleeping in a chair with a water basin resting next the chair, and the other boy lying his head and arms on the end of the bed. Identical twins…how funny to find some here. She looked at the scene a bit, smiling, and drifted back to sleep.
********************Back in Reality*********************
"Lina?" Lina whipped out of the memory she'd been having, and put on her cheerfulness mask she loved to wear so much.
"Good morning, Gourry! How've you been?"
"Worrying about you," Gourry straightened in the chair and stared at her seriously. "Hope you don't mind, but you were bleeding during the night, and Amelia was indisposed at the moment," he gestured to the water basin and towel on the floor.
"That's just like…" Lina's mask slipped for a minute, then she shook her head and said to Gourry, "Just don't do it again, Jellyfish-for-brains!" She clapped his hard on the back, as he lurched forward. Lina laughed. It was good to be with Gourry again. It truly was.
Hey people it's been a long, long time since I last wrote. In fact, most of this was already written, but now that I've grown some more, my writing has changed again. I had some fixing up to do! XD! Yeah…a lot. Well anyways! How are all of my reviewers doing? Did you miss me? I miss you! It's been a while since I wrote this, so I don't know how I want it to end now…especially since I've changed my writing style. I had the ending all planned out, but now I wrote new stuff that made that ending impossible to happen. Or perhaps now I just don't like the ending, now that I've gotten older… . ANYWHO! It's good to touch base with all of you, and everyone must thank Slayers Otaku Girl. She was the one who requested that I continue writing this, so I got my rear into gear and wrote this out for all of you. This could quite possibly be the end! For most authors, it would be, BUT…since I can never seem to end my stories, this one is going to continue! Aren't you all happy? I just don't know how frequently I can update! I'm already writing another story, so it might take me a while to write some more of this.