Gourry held on tightly to her lifeless body in the bed. Tears streaming down his face as he buried it against her neck. He rocked back and forth sobbing relentlessly as he felt his entire world crumbling around him. He had failed her. He was meant to be her protector and do everything he could to keep her alive and he failed. But more importantly, he knew how much Lina meant to him and how much he cared about her.
He pulled away from her slowly and looked at her pale face as he felt that he could no longer produce anymore tears despite feeling like he could still cry.
"I…I know it's too late to say this. But I love you Lina. I will always love you, in this life, and the next, and so on. So you see. I can't live without you. My life before I met you was meaningless. You know, I was going to throw the Sword of Light away…"
He sat there in silence with Lina in his arms, staring out the window which was allowing in the morning sun. His tears dried against his cheeks and his face slowly hardened into resolve.
"I'm going to get revenge for you Lina…even if it costs me my life. At least then, I'll have a chance of being with you again."
He patted the earth down and then knelt beside the grave that he just buried the brown-haired sorceress in. He placed a cross at the head of the grave and hung one of her earrings on the cross, the other earring he placed in his pocket.
"I know who was behind this, Gourry-san. I will lead you to that person, but it's a one way trip."
Xellos had phased in behind the swordsman who was still knelt by the grave, and preparing himself to go.
"Take me; I don't care what happens to me now. I just know that I'm gonna fight with everything I have against those who did this to her. I know that at least fighting with all that I have, I'll give some sort of revenge back to her. It's the least I can do. I'm not gonna pretend everything is ok, and then live my life as though nothing happened!"
Xellos nodded slowly, his usual smirk was not there as he realised that now was not the time for such a thing. His eyes were still closed and his lips straight in seriousness.
"Who did this Xellos?"
"It doesn't matter, right? Whoever it is, you're still gonna go and kill them."
Gourry stood up slowly and turned to face Xellos. His eyes were no longer bright like they use to be. They were narrow and cold, almost as though they belonged to another person. He stared straight at Xellos and brought the sword up to his neck with one swift motion. It surprised Xellos who reacted with opening his eyes slightly.
"You know that I can kill you with this sword, or at least hurt you really badly. In that time you could kill me, but I don't care anymore. However for you…well…you would be at the mercy of anyone else if you were badly injured. Now tell me which one of you caused the death of Lina…"
Xellos gulped slightly and then nodded very carefully. Gourry brought his sword down at that point which allowed Xellos to fix himself slightly. He then looked up to Gourry with a serious look of his own.
"Dynast. He's been out for you since you injured him badly with your sword."
"So why didn't he come for me? Why did he kill Lina!"
"Honestly? She was caught in the crossfire. That dart was meant for you, but well, sometimes mazoku don't always do as they're asked."
Gourry looked down slowly, clenching his hands tightly around the hilt of the sword.
"Take me to him."
"Very well."
Xellos then took a hold of Gourry's arm and phased out, taking the swordsman with him. They then reappeared in a large dining hall of a temple belonging to Dynast. At least that was what Gourry assumed.
"So where is he Xellos? Don't mess about wit…"
In mid sentence a shot was fired through Gourry's chest. He looked down and watched the blood pouring out from his chest. He collapsed to his knees and brought a hand to his chest, not feeling any pain. His entire body just felt numb.
"You…backstabbing…"
"Now now Gourry-san. I'm doing exactly what you have asked of me. I am taking you to Dynast, but just not in the way you were thinking of. This way is going to have to take a little more time. I just pray for you that you'll meet with Lina again along the way."
Gourry didn't really understand what Xellos had meant, but even if he had made it clearer, he probably wouldn't have took it in, as his mind already began to cloud over. The rest of his body now collapsed to the floor. He reached down to his pocket and pulled out the earring and brought it up into view on the floor.
"I…I'm s…sorry, Li…Lin…Lina…"
His view then turned to darkness as he passed away.
"Gourry? Are you even listening?"
Gourry felt a smack on the back of his head, and blinked a little, looking at Lina who was looking back at him and was pretty pissed off.
"What did you say?"
"Dammit, I knew you weren't listening. You were probably thinking about stupid useless things. Your brain is like a jellyfish, floating aimlessly in the sea! I asked what you meant about not being able to live without me."
"I said that?"
"YES YOU IDIOT!"
"Oh, I guess I did then."
"Well what did you mean by it."
"I dunno. I guess I can't remember."
Gourry smiled and rubbed the back of his head. Lina just let out a shriek of frustration before storming off back to her room. Gourry's look then turned to a serious one as he thought again about the things he just remembered at that moment. This Xellos character was a strange one, and he wanted to know what he was up to. But in the mean time, he needed to try and get back to sleep and work out what they were going to do in the morning.