Lina rubbed her head painfully as she came to. It took her a moment, but she noticed that she wasn't in the cell any longer. Somehow, she'd found her way back to Amelia's room. She overheard someone in the room, and eating at that. "What's going on?" Lina squinted her eyes and looked up.

Amelia was sitting in her bed, quietly eating her meal. "I hope Miss Lina and Mister Gourry return soon." she sighed. She studied a letter in her hand as she ate an apple. "Mister Zelgadis has really nice handwriting. I'll have to be sure to tell him when he returns."

Lina watched as she choked on her apple. "Amelia? But how?" Lina tried to sort out her thoughts. Last she'd been in here, Amelia had turned out to be some evil minion of Xellos. No, not Amelia herself, but her body was host to something evil, while Amelia had been a silent ghost. "Then what is this"

Lina gasped when Xellos came into the room. Within minutes he was fighting with Amelia, a familiar dagger in his hand. Lina could only watch in horror as he slit Amelia's throat, and her life left her body. "No! Xellos, why?"

Xellos paid her no heed, instead turning to an unknown companion. "You know what to do. Do not let anyone know what you truly are, yet be sure to cause tension."

Lina felt something in the room, and then the body on the bed suddenly came back to life. "Yes, Master Xellos." It spoke in Amelia's voice, but Lina knew all too well that it wasn't Amelia at all.

Then suddenly people were everywhere. Lina recognized Sylphiel, and watched as she tended to 'Amelia's' wounds, seemingly bringing the near dead girl back from the brink of death.

"That Xellos..." Lina clenched her fist in anger. While she thought of all the things she'd do the next time she encountered the priest, the sound of crying invaded her thoughts. Lina turned to her right, surprised to see Amelia sitting with her knees pulled up to her chin and her arms wrapped about her legs as she continued to sob quietly."Amelia?"

Amelia turned to look at Lina, fresh sobs wracking her body. "Miss Lina, I'm so sorry!"

Lina blinked back. "You can hear me?"

Amelia nodded as tears continued to stream down her face. "This is all my fault. If only I had remembered in time. I'm so sorry..."

"Amelia, you can't blame yourself." Lina scooted over to her crying friend. "How could you have known?"

Amelia lowered her face and rested it on her knees, avoiding Lina's gaze. "This, all of this...it's my memory. I couldn't remember before, because I couldn't admit it."

"Admit what?" Lina rubbed Amelia's back, trying to soothe her somewhat.

Amelia raised her head and looked into Lina's eyes. "That I'm dead. And now I've hurt all you as well. And Mister Zelgadis..." Amelia sobbed again. "I can't find him! What happened to Mister Zelgadis?"

Lina couldn't think of a good way to answer that. How do you tell someone they had nearly killed everyone they loved? Instead she wrapped her arms around her shaking friend. "It'll be okay, Amelia. It's not going to end like this."

Amelia continued to cry. "But, I hurt him. I know I hurt him. I said such hurtful things..."

"Shh." Lina again tried to soothe her. "You didn't mean anything. That was Xellos' doing."

Amelia shook her head. "No, I meant everything I said. Things I would never have said, but when I felt all that negative energy...my darkest thoughts and feelings just came out. Oh, what if I can never find him to apologize? What if I..."

"Amelia, stop." Lina gripped the younger girl by her shoulders. "Bad things have happened, yes, but we're going to fix that. You've got to believe that we'll make things right. You can't let the enemy win!"

Amelia nodded her head and tried to stop crying. "But what about Mister Zelgadis?"

"That?" Lina sighed. "That you'll have to fix yourself."

They sat in silence, but Lina sat up straight when she heard someone calling her name. "Who's there? What is it?"

Amelia hugged her knees again. "It's Mister Gourry. He's trying to wake you up. He's worried..."

Lina looked at Amelia. "I'm asleep?"

Amelia nodded. "Yes. I didn't mean to disturb you, it just...happened."

"So you're really...dead?" Lina watched as Amelia nodded quietly. "Amelia, I'm sorry."

Amelia looked up at Lina in shock. "Sorry? For what?"

Lina could only look back at her as tears stung her own eyes. She could feel everything fading as she started to wake up. She tried to give Amelia one last hug.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be there to protect you."

Amelia looked at the spot Lina had been sitting, then turned to look back at her room as the memory started over again. "It wasn't your fault, Miss Lina."

Author's notes: Oh man, this is making me cry! Sorry this has taken so long. I've been busy with real life, plus...I've been bad and have been working on another story. I refuse to post it before I finish this one though, and I'm finally feeling the inspiration I need to finish this story. I just never realized this was going to make me cry! Onto reviews...

Sunoko - I never intended for this to be so confusing. Maybe I just make my hints too vague? Thanks for your thoughts on Xellos. I don't like writing him, but I'm glad that I can do him...justice. ;)

Lina Gabriev - Argh, I know it! I tried for two days to fix the messed up quotations! It's showing up now, and hopefully whatever issues this site had are gone now. And I never said that the Monster inhabiting Amelia's body was going to be smart. I mean, it doesn't even have enough power to have a body of its own, so how smart can it be?

Gerao-A - I never really bought in to Naga being quite as she is in the OAVs. True, she probably has a lot of pride and confidence, but she also has a major weak side that she tries to hide. I've kind of broken her spirit by killing off the rest of her family. I hope I can fix that some...

Blue Lady - Yeah, Gourry got off easy. It just kind of turned out that way...reading back chapters, I noticed that Gourry was actively ignored anyway. (Yes, I have to read my earlier chapters. Even I forget all the details!) He's just not a great source for negative feelings, unless you know his weaknesses. Most of those involve harming Lina. :O

Thanks all for the reviews! I'll try and get more posted up soon, but I'm still not exactly sure where this is going...