Gourry was sat down in a chair with his hands gripping tightly at the arms of the chair as it reclined back. He really didn't like the situation he was in but Lina was making fun of him for the way he was acting.
"What are you so worried about? It's not like you're going to die or anything!"
Gourry gave a slight glare towards Lina before the strange woman sat down next to him. They had spent the day travelling to the nearby city and found a hypnotist. Lina had told Gourry that people sometimes find out about their past lives by being hypnotised. Gourry had only seen the hypnotists who made people act like a chicken or make them look like idiots. So he wasn't too impressed with being the first one to have to go under.
The chair also reminded him of the dentist too which freaked him out a little but then the woman began talking to him, asking him to relax and pretty soon he found himself going under. He was aware of things but he just felt extremely calm. He was no longer worried about what might happen to him and the woman's voice seemed really soothing.
"I want you to go back to a really long time ago. Go as far back as you possibly can. Are you there?"
"Yes…"
"What do you see Gourry?"
"I see a woman."
"What does the woman look like?"
"She's gold. Her whole body is just gold. I feel like I don't recognise her, but at the same time I do."
"What do you mean?"
"The body, looks exactly like Lina. But I know it's not her, it's someone else. No! Don't go away!"
"What's happening now Gourry?"
"She's going away, up in the sky. She's leaving me behind and I don't want her to. I want her to come back. Lina! LINAA!"
In his mind he felt himself getting scared and worried, the images were so strong in his mind. It was as though he was actually there. He then found himself chasing her, jumping on the broken pieces of earth that were rising up in the sky. It felt like the world was ending but he didn't care about that because he wanted to get Lina back so badly.
"Where is she going, Gourry?"
"She's going up. There's a black…thing in the sky, I think she's going towards that. I'm not letting her go though. I'm chasing her and using everything that's breaking up around me to get to her. I care about her, I know I love her and I don't want to live without her so I'm risking it all to get her back."
He kept jumping and anything in his way he cut in half with his sword. Only the sword wasn't normal and instead was made of light. It grew and cut right through the rock that got in the way.
"Lina! LINNAAA!"
The woman snapped her fingers as she realised that things were getting a little out of hand. The snap of her fingers was almost like she was snapping him out of what happened. Gourry bolted upright in the chair and his eyes grew wide with terror.
"I have to get her back, she's leaving me and I know if she goes she's not coming back! Take me back!"
"Gourry! Gourry!"
Lina ran to Gourry's side and held him down doing her best to calm him down.
"It's ok Gourry, don't worry. It's over. That was in the past and whatever happened has already happened and there is nothing you can do about it."
She didn't know why but she wrapped her arms around him and tried to comfort him. The truth was that what he said had freaked her out a little, especially upon hearing herself being described.
She kept a hold of Gourry until she could feel that he had calmed down a little, and then she pulled away from him. The second she did that Gourry was out of the chair, as though the quicker he got away from it the better. He then sat down by Lina and kept his hands on his knees, looking down and gripping them slightly. The images were still haunting him and he still felt the urge to go back and get that woman back. That woman he somehow knew was Lina.
"I want to go under now." Lina said.
Gourry turned sharply in surprise.
"No you won't! I'm not letting you do that after what happened to me."
"I don't care; I need to find out if that really was me. I need to know because not only will it tell us if this past life is real, but I'll know what happened."
Gourry didn't look too certain but Lina didn't care and sat herself down in the chair like Gourry had, took a deep breath and then closed her eyes as the hypnotist started to put her under. The same routine occurred and then Lina was asked where she was.
"I'm in a void. I can't tell where anything is but I see Gourry. He looks relieved to see me and I know I'm relieved too. I hold onto him and I…I…"
"That's not the right place" Gourry interrupted and the hypnotist nodded, suggesting she went back and then asked what she saw then.
"I see him! I see Gourry down below and everything is falling apart. I can't do anything though. This isn't right! This feels wrong. Something is there in my mind and I know it shouldn't be there. Dammit, why can't I do anything? Gourry! Oh Gourry! I'm sorry! Gourry!"
The hypnotist snapped her fingers and Lina opened her eyes quickly but stayed down in the chair, just breathing deeply.
"I've never seen this before." The hypnotist said. "Never before have I seen two people recollect the same events from different perspectives."
Lina sat up slow and looked to Gourry who looked back towards her, and they both knew at that point that something had happened in the past and that these dreams had more to them then they first realised. However Lina put a hand to her head and rubbed it slightly. She felt as though she had a bit of a headache, but more to that, she felt like she brought something back with her. She felt a little bit of that thing inside her mind when she couldn't do anything. However she just shrugged it off, thinking it was nothing more than a headache and soon enough it would go away. First things first, she had to speak with Gourry alone.
Author's Notes: Ok I took a bit of an artistic licence considering I started this as though it was after the third rising of Shabranigdu in the novels. Now I wrote the scene at the end of Next and I know that it's not the same as in the novels. However because the translated novels haven't reached the same part of the story yet, I don't really know what happens. So before anyone says anything about using what happened in the anime in a story that was supposed to be based on the novels, I know I've done it, but I don't know enough about the novels to write about what happened at that point. Sorry! x.x;