Title: Lina in Horrorland

Author: Yugure

Chapter 2: Recollection

"Are you all right?"

Lina groaned and opened her gritty eyes in response to the concerned, disembodied voice hovering above her. Blazing bright light blasted into her vision, and Lina squeezed her eyes shut tight. She threw her hands across her face.

"Lemme alone..." she mumbled. "Damn, it hurts..."

"I'm sorry, I forgot the light," the voice said, sounding slightly admonished. The glare against Lina's eyelids faded to a dull brilliance. "Miss, where does it hurt? What's your name?"

"I said lemme the frig alone, dammit!" Lina snapped back, and the raising of her voice triggered a massive headache. With a sharp intake of breath she cringed. Lina opened her eyes again, cautiously, and glared at the stranger in the dim light. "Where the hell am..."

The words died on Lina's tongue as her eyes widened at the sight of the stranger. Shadows cast by a candle flickered over smooth, pale ivory skin and danced in the fathomless blue irises of his eyes. Soft violet hair cascaded around the beautiful face. The person was very human, but Lina recognized those eyes, that aura, that voice from someone unmistakably not... Didn't she?

Lina opened her mouth to speak, and then closed it. Her brain screamed at her, insisting that she should know this person, but no name would come. Lina drew a blank and felt that her memory shouldn't be as empty at it was.

"You look very familiar. Do I know you?" Lina asked, careful to talk slowly. The pain was worse the louder and faster she spoke. The man before her shook his head.

"I don't think so. I've never seen you before. But Miss, you're terribly hurt. We have to get the bleeding to stop or-"

"What's your name?" Lina insisted. Her brain began to lose some of its focus.

"Zelgadis. Yours?"

"Zelgadis? I know that name! ... Don't I?"

"... I don't know, I've never met you before."

"My name's Lina..." Lina trailed off. Her brain was now very fuzzy, and the bells of recognition in her mind could not be heard through the fog of confusion. Zelgadis, Zelgadis... the name was familiar. And yet that damnable blank spot was still there. "What do you mean bleeding?"

"You suffered from severe head damage. You'll need stitches for sure. The blood is still spreading on the ground as we speak. If you don't get help soon, you'll die from blood loss," Zelgadis informed her. "I'll cast a Levitation and get you out of here."

"Where's... here?" The words came more slowly to Lina. The world lost focus, and Zelgadis was reduced to a blur of colors. "I'm so tired... why?"

"Dammit... You probably have a concussion. Don't go to sleep, okay? Stay awake however you can. Do NOT go to sleep!"

"Mm-hmm..." Lina agreed.

"Lina, don't fall asleep!"

"O... kay..."

The world fell away to darkness.

The second awakening was much less painful than the first. Lina moaned and groaned as she shifted her weight in the soft, downy bed. Bed? she thought fuzzily, patting the blankets around her. When did I get in a bed? Her head throbbed, but the feeling was distant. With one shaky hand she patted the bandages wrapped around her head. A sharp hiss of pain escaped her lips.

"Good to see you're awake. You gave me quite a scare," Zelgadis said. Lina shifted her eyes to stare at the handsome human sitting in a chair next to the bed. Relief and concern vied for dominance in his face.

"Zelgadis, right?" Lina asked. The man nodded. "Where am I, and what the hell am I doing in someone else's bed?"

"You're in my home, sleeping in... cough my bed," Zelgadis blushed slightly, "because I found you nearly dead in the Dark Forest. You're lucky you aren't paralyzed or have a life-threatening concussion. From what I could tell, you had fallen from a great height and landed on your back, nearly on your neck. You have a bruised hip, too. You must be gifted by L-sama to make it through such a brutal beating. Do you remember where you came from?"

"No I don't. All I remember is falling through a black hole, then a whole helluva lot of pain, and you rescuing me. And even all that is fuzzy," Lina replied. A small voice nagged in her mind, and the image of a lamia surfaced. "L-sama..."

"What? Remember something?"

"Yes. I was being chased by a lamia. I don't know why, but..." Lina trailed off as the rest of the story rushed into her mind with startling clarity. It was like watching a video in fast forward. She fought to sit up, but a newly found pain in her hip and a sharp stab in her head kept her from doing so.

"Lie still. Movement will cause the pain to swell again."

"Zel! Zelgadis!" Lina's hand shot out from the mound of blankets and latched onto the cool arm of the man beside her. "Of course you know who I am! When did you turn human? Why are you here, too? Where IS here?!"

"Whoa, calm down, Lina!" Zelgadis replied. He placed his hand on Lina's forehead and clasped her outstretched hand with his. "You don't have a fever. Maybe the concussion is worse than I thought..."

"No, Zelgadis! I know you know me! Don't you remember?" Lina shuddered. The film in her head began again, but this time emphasizing the fight she had with her dear chimera friend. "Oh, L-sama, Zelgadis I am so sorry! I didn't mean to push you away! When did you come back? Zel, I want you to know I never meant to screw up your chance at getting your cure-"

"You're rambling like a raving lunatic," Zelgadis muttered. He sighed and stepped away from the bed. "I don't know whether or not you need more sleep, or maybe a powerful healer."

"Dammit, Zel, listen to me!"

"I am listening, Lina, but I'm not who you think I am. I've never seen you before in my life. Did it occur to you that I simply share the name of the person you're thinking of?" Zelgadis asked. He walked over towards the door. Lina paused in her rant to think about that.

"No, it didn't, but you even look like him..."

"Coincidence."

"Coincidence my ass."

"Are you always this tactful?"

"You should know. I've been traveling with you for a helluva lot of years..."

"I'm going to call Sylphiel. She's a local white healer. Maybe she knows what's wrong with you."

"Good. Call Sylphiel. I need someone sane to talk with." Lina pulled the sheets up around her neck and glared at Zelgadis.

Zelgadis stiffened at the mention of "someone sane". Of all the people he knew, Sylphiel was not the sanest person. Neither was he, really, but that was a different story. And Lina never had to find out, if he played his cards right.

"I'll bring you some food in a few minutes. Will you survive until then?"

"You betcha."

"Good."

Zelgadis left the room. He sent a message to Sylphiel via Odin, his pet raven. It was the most reliable and fastest way he knew. Once that was done, he set about cooking for the invalid in his room.

That thought alone caused Zelgadis to blush. Who would've thought Zelgadis, of all the crazies in Horreur de Terre, would end up with a beautiful, reasonably sane woman in his bed? Oh, plenty of other women here were willing to share a bed with Zelgadis. But none of them were sane.

Absentmindedly, the knife began running across his arm instead of across the ham. Zelgadis looked down, momentarily surprised to see blood dripping onto Lina's sandwich. He often did things like this when he became lost in thought. Zelgadis sighed, set the knife down, and threw away the gooey meat and bread. No good now, he thought.

Tentatively, Zel touched the blood on his arm with his fingertips, then licked a drop from his slender fingers. The metallic taste blossomed on his tongue, and he sighed, although this time for a different reason. Zelgadis did his best to ignore the pleasure senses tingling as he washed his arm in the sink. He bandaged it tightly and set about finishing the meal.