Title: Lina in Horrorland

Author: Yugure

Chapter 3: Unsteady

Lina gazed at the heavy oak door as it closed behind her handsome host. The thick wood and the darkness of the hallway swallowed the sound of Zelgadis's light footsteps. In other circumstances, she would have gotten to her feet and investigated the room. However, she would rather eat glass than move, as every movement invoked the wrath of pulled muscles and sore joints. She made herself content to stare at the odd wallpaper design, within which she swore she could see a creeping old woman.

The only window in the room was in the wall on Lina's right. Watery sunlight filtered into the room, and although Lina couldn't see the sky, she had the impression it was mostly cloudy.

"May I come in?"

Lina was momentarily startled by the voice. Must've been in a daze, she thought. She fluffed the blanket around her and wiggled down into the bed, careful to avoid further injuring her battered body.

"Sure. It's your room," she replied. The door swung slowly open and Zelgadis stood in the doorway, a tray laden with food in his arms.

"I thought you might like some soup, so I made chicken broth to go with your sandwich," he said as he crossed the threshold, "and there's a fruit-"

"What happened to your arm?" Lina demanded, staring at the red-spattered bandage wrapped around Zelgadis's arm. She forced herself to sit up, ignoring the pain in her head and side. Zelgadis looked down at his arm and turned a little pale.

"Uh... I, uh... well, I accidentally dropped the knife I was using, and I tried to catch it before it fell to the ground – reflexes, you know – and it cut my arm," he explained cautiously. He placed the tray on the bedside table. "It's no big deal. Really. It'll heal quickly."

"Zelgadis, it's soaking through more as we speak. It hasn't stopped bleeding, has it?" Lina demanded again. She grabbed Zelgadis's wrist and yanked him closer to her as she examined the bandage.

"Ouch!" Zelgadis yelped. "Dammit, Lina, that hurt. Don't you know better than to grab an injured arm?"

"Shut up. This is serious," she snapped. "When is Sylphiel getting here? She can take care of you first."

"You're the one with a concussion," Zelgadis replied. "I'll be okay without help; you won't be. I'll go re-bandage it now, okay?"

"Fine."

"Fine."

The two people glared at each other. Zelgadis was the first to look away. He mumbled something under his breath and left the room.

"Still the same stubborn jerk as always," Lina muttered. Then again... he insists he's not my Zelgadis... Lina blushed. I mean, the Zelgadis I know. So why are they so much alike? And yet... L-sama, this is so confusing.

Lina waited. Zelgadis did not return. As she finished up the last of her soup, mopping up the dredges with a piece of fluffy bread, Lina felt her gaze shift to the window. Something was happening right outside, fluttering and beating against the glass. Lina saw flashes of red and black, and the iridescent shimmer of raven feathers. Carefully, she crawled out of bed. Finding she could stand on her own, Lina shuffled over to the window and peered out.

A large, misshapen eye stared back at her, red-tinted and dripping ooze. Lina choked on a scream and tumbled backwards. She landed hard on the floor, jarring her spine and sending pain shooting through every synapse. The eye pulled back, revealing a hideous, rubbery face, and readjusted its focus on the large raven raking bloody trails across the creatures skin. The two engaged in combat, as the raven pecked and tore at unprotected flesh. A rotten hand swiped at the bird, tearing out feathers and sending them spiraling downward, trailing blood.

Lina watched in horrified fascination. A talon caught one eye of the rubbery creature. The organ swelled. A split second of time passed, and the claw punctured through the film. The eye burst, and indefinable goo exploded outward. A shrill, keening wail shattered the virtual silence of the room. Lina jerked at the sound.

The raven was suddenly slammed against the window. The glass cracked. Lina recoiled as if bitten, drawing her arms in close to her body. The small black body writhed under its constraint. The oversized gray hand pressed it closer, and spider web cracks spread across the glass.

Lina had had enough.

"ZELGADIS!"

"What, what?!" The door of the room burst open and Zelgadis rushed in, his face pale and troubled. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"I... I... the... the window," Lina stammered, pointing up to it from her position on the floor. Zelgadis followed her finger's point. "What the freaking hell is that thing?! And he's hurting the bird!!"

Zelgadis strode to the window and, drawing back his fist, slammed it into the glass. It shattered completely, having already withstood the stress from without. Fragments rained down onto the floor. Suddenly the sounds of the outside poured into the room, and Lina covered her ears at the cacophony. The bird fell into the room, shrieking, and Zelgadis caught it in his arms. The creature's arm snaked into the window. Zelgadis reached past the limb to grab its head by the hair. He slammed it facedown onto the broken window edge, embedding shards of glass in its skin. The piercing wail began again.

Lina clutched her stomach, feeling her meal starting to unsettle itself, as Zelgadis continued to bash the monster until it fell completely silent. The raven cawed weakly from his cradle of Zel's arm.

"What. The. Hell. Was. That." Lina glared at Zelgadis as if he were withholding the information on purpose.

"It was a bogey," he explained quietly. He stood stock still for a few moments, ignoring Lina's pointed gaze. "We get them a lot around here. They like to feast on fresh blood."

"How horrible. Ouch," Lina tenderly got to her knees, wincing all the while.

"You should still be in bed. You could have a relapse if you're not resting like you should be." Zelgadis extended his free arm to Lina, but she could only stare at the glass-and-blood encrusted hand. "Oh. Sorry." He withdrew it.

"Doesn't that... hurt?" Lina asked, bewildered.

"Yeah, but... I'm used to it. I've got a high pain tolerance."

"Well, what with your bandaged arm and your injured hand, I think I can help myself into bed." Lina got to her feet with difficulty and tottered over to the bed. "What's with the bird?"

"This is Odin. He's... my pet, I guess you could say. He was defending his territory and protecting this house. It happens all the time." At the harried and disturbed look on her face, Zelgadis said, "Lina, please, calm down. Sylphiel should be here soon."

"That was disgusting," Lina muttered as she pulled the blankets up to her chin. From under the covers she watched as Zelgadis pulled the shutters closed and pulled down the curtains over the offending window. Lina could faintly hear someone or something else outside the door. "Um... Zel..."

"I'm so sorry, Zelgadis-san, your door was unlocked so I let myself in," a sweet, feminine voice intoned as the bedroom door opened to reveal a slender figure clad in white robes. "I presumed you wouldn't mind, seeing this is an emergency- Oh! You must be Lina!"

Lina stared at the face underneath delicate folds of white cloth. She would swear on her yet unoccupied grave that the person was Sylphiel, but something was very, very wrong. Lifeless black eyes twitched nervously, set in a face so sickly gray-white that veins could be seen running beneath the flesh. Sylphiel's lips were nearly black, and twitched often. Lina dropped her gaze to stare at the hands nervously fluttering around a basket. Long, white fingers clasped and unclasped the handle; nails bitten to the quick pressed against fleshy palms.

That... is not Sylphiel... Lina thought, forcing herself to believe it. But it was.

"Lina, this is Sylphiel, the local white healer," Zelgadis needlessly said.

"I... Sylphiel... what happened to you?" Lina blurted. She just had to ask. The girl in question blinked furiously and turned to look at Zelgadis.

"I... I don't understand," Sylphiel stammered. Lina sat up. Sylphiel turned back to the girl in bed, and behind her back Zelgadis shook his head, indicating for Lina to stop before she'd say something she'd regret. Alas, Lina ignored the warning.

"You're deathly white. You look like a corpse! And your eyes are all freaky, and you've got a nervous twitch. Truth be told, you look like hell," Lina said, quite frankly. Sylphiel's eyes brimmed with tears and her lower lip trembled. Zelgadis sighed in exasperation and rubbed his temples.

"I don't know what you mean, I always look like this, it's... there's nothing wrong with how I look," Sylphiel replied. Her voice took on a hard edge, and the eyes suddenly didn't look so lifeless. Her lips twitched. "You jealous, bitch? Is that it? You wanna look like me, look like the kind of women Zelgadis-sama expects in his bed?"

Lina stared at Sylphiel in absolute shock. Dumbfounded, she opened her mouth to speak, closed it, and opened it again. No sound came out. She closed her mouth. What the hell?! The Sylphiel I know would NEVER say that! L-sama, what is going on?!

"Sylvie, you're going to upset her," Zelgadis said slowly, calmly. His hands were resting on Sylphiel's shoulders. "And you know as well as I do, I don't sleep around."

"Then what the hell is a bitch doing in your bed? Answer me that, Zelgadis-sama!" the petulant voice replied. Lina finally found her own voice.

"Quit calling me a bitch, Sylphiel! What has gotten into you?!" she demanded. Sylphiel glared at her.

"I'm not Sylphiel, bitch," Sylphiel stressed. "My name is Sylvie. Not that you'd care or anything."

"Sylvie, would you please excuse us for a moment? Could you go down to the kitchen and get the rest of your supplies?" Zelgadis interjected. "Sylvie" rounded on him and pushed her index finger into his chest.

"Screw you. I ain't helping that bitch," she growled.

"Please. I'm asking you nicely." When "Sylvie" didn't appear to be leaving, Zelgadis added, "And how would Gourry like to see you like this, Sylvie?"

The silence was awful. Lina had the burning desire to ask what happened to Gourry, but she chose to wait until "Sylvie" was out of the room. The white healer, eyes suddenly brimming with tears, stalked out of the room. She slammed the door behind her.

"What the hell was that all about?" Lina demanded.

"Sylphiel has a multiple personality disorder. When she first came in, she was Sylphiel. When you upset her, her mind made the shift to Sylvie, whom you just had the displeasure of meeting. But, in neither case, does she actually know she has a disorder. Understand?" Zelgadis explained. He sat down at the foot of the bed.

"Sort of. So when she's Sylvie, she truly believes she's only Sylvie. So no matter who she thinks she is, she doesn't know she has a multiple personality disorder?"

"Basically, yes."

"Okay... but why does she look like... well, like death?"

"Sylvie is bulimic, and Sylphiel is heliophobic." At Lina's blank look, Zelgadis explained, "She's afraid of the sun. She stays inside as often as possible."

"And Gourry?" Lina's inquiry was met with a blank stare. Zelgadis stood up, opened the door, and ushered Sylphiel in, who had stood meekly outside in the hallway. Just like that, Zelgadis had ended the discussion.

"Sylphiel, I think Lina is suffering from a concussion, among other things. See what you can do, I'll be back in an hour," Zelgadis said. He left immediately, closing the door firmly behind him. Lina didn't even have a chance to ask him where he was going.

L-sama... I'm all alone with this girl...What do I do?! Lina thought.

"Uh... Lina-san, please lie down. I need to take a look at your head and hip, so just relax and let me work," Sylphiel said. She pulled a chair up next to the bed, set her basket down beside her and began.

An hour later, Lina was deep in a healing sleep. Sylphiel had done her job well, and she excused herself from the bedroom. Out in the kitchen, she found Zelgadis leaning against the countertop, a large butcher knife in his hand. His eyes were staring intently at the blade. Briefly his eyes flickered to Sylphiel as she cleared her throat, but they refocused on the blade once more.

"You'll never escape it, Zelgadis-san. The need, the desire... Don't fight it," Sylphiel said quietly. "I know you hate what you are. I know you hate what we all are. But we can't change, Zelgadis-san."

"That's not true," Zelgadis growled.

"It is," Sylphiel insisted. "Lina needs to know the truth. She'll feel betrayed if you keep it a secret and she finds out later."

"NO! She doesn't have to know, ever! I'm getting her out of here as soon as possible. She doesn't belong here. We both know that. Sylphiel," Zelgadis held out his bandaged arm, knife clenched tightly in his opposite hand, "Could you please heal this before you go?"

"Because it'll leave a scar if you wait too long, you mean? Because you want to hide what you are from Lina?" Sylphiel shook her head but gently took the offered arm, unwrapped the bandage, and cast a small healing spell. "You've been lucky so far, Zel. Only one scar in a lifetime of slashes. That was before you found out that healing within a day leaves nothing behind, right?"

Zelgadis chose to remain silent.

"Goodbye, Zelgadis-san. If you need me, just call," Sylphiel said, and left. Zelgadis shoved the butcher knife back into the drawer it came from.

Why do I care? I don't even know this girl, this Lina. I just found her in the Dark Forest, nearly dead. She means nothing to me... doesn't she? Zelgadis padded quietly down the hall, ruminating on everything his mind wandered to. But I feel so compelled to help her. To care for her. To hide what I am from her. Would she care? Would she be repulsed by the fact that I... that I...Yes, surely she would be. But why do I care? Zelgadis opened the bedroom door and leaned against the doorframe. He watched as the blankets rose and fell with Lina's even breathing. His heart skipped a beat and fluttered around in his chest. Why do I feel this way every time I look at her? She's a stranger, dammit!

"Zel..." Lina murmured in her sleep. "Don't leave me... I'm sorry..."

But I'll be damned if I let anything happen to her.