AN: So if the only reason you've been checking into this long fic is for the M rating and have been skimming through disappointed so far, that starts to change now. There is a slightly (very slightly) more explicit version on AO3.
By now Gourry should have known to never make a plan. It's not as if life ever went according to plan. And as he sat with Lina on the bed and tossed away his plan to wait to kiss her until they got to Selentia City, Gourry thought thank goodness his ceiling caved in!
Granted, it hadn't started out as a great thing…
"You don't think we should try and find a new place to stay?" Gourry asked Lina as he looked up at the ceiling of her room uncertainly as the hail continued to rain down.
"Speak up, I can't hear you." Lina said as she held his arm and looked for splinters. "Your voice really doesn't carry that well even under the best of circumstances."
"You don't think we should find a new place?" he asked, raising his voice to be heard over the drum of the hail.
"We don't have a lot of good options this far out into the boonies, especially in this weather." Lina said. "It's a risk staying here, but it's also a risk leaving shelter. I'll take my chances on this section of roof holding up before I go out in that weather."
"Is the innkeeper going to give us our money back?" Gourry asked.
Lina groaned. He'd not paid much attention as she chewed out the innkeeper. He was too busy being disoriented from the avalanche of debris that had come flooding into his room and the hail that had hit his head, "He gave me a load of BS about it. I'm going to take it up with their guild but I honestly don't think they care about a place this remote."
"Gee, sometimes there's no justice." Gourry said as he winced as she removed a large splinter from the back of his arm and then started to chant a healing spell.
The warmth of the healing spell echoed the heat that he felt burning within him the more he recovered from his ordeal of being buried alive. They were both sitting on Lina's tiny bed and he had taken off his shirt so she could tend to his wounds. And despite the calamity of the evening it was arousing to be cared for so tenderly by her. Especially as she'd not buttoned her pajama top up that far. He'd noticed it when he'd come in to brush her hair before the ceiling had collapsed. It seemed as if ever since they'd made an agreement to travel with each other for fun she had been buttoning her shirt lower and lower every evening. It all made him rather self conscious about the fact that his pants were wet and shredded from the shrapnel.
"There," Lina said as she finished the spell and then ran her hand along his arm before she trailed her hand along his back and down his spine as she examined him thoroughly. Logically he knew she was looking for splinters and other injuries, but damn he thought as he swallowed a moan, it felt nice! "I think that's it for your upper body. Take off your pants."
He looked at her in panic, "I can take over from here."
"You don't have eyes on the back of your head, idiot." She said, her voice bearing a no-nonsense tone that was completely at odds with the desire that he was feeling, "Come on, wouldn't be the first time your clothes have been blown off around me."
Those were far less stimulating situations, he thought as he took a breath. Situations where the pain was such that modesty was completely forgotten and the only thing desired was a good healing spell. And where he was not aroused. She was right, though. If he moved wrong he could feel the pricks on the back of his legs, especially as he'd been sleeping on his stomach when the roof collapsed, and he'd never be able to reach them on his own.
He stood up and she averted her eyes and he turned away from her and took them off. After a moment she hissed, "Your legs are a bloody mess. I guess you didn't have a blanket?"
"I was too hot," Gourry explained as he winced a bit as she removed one of the larger splinters, "And the blankets here are small."
"I guess we should be glad that no nails gotcha. Who knows what infections you could have gotten." Lina said, "I'm no Sylphiel."
"Sylphiel?" Gourry asked.
"She's better at this stuff than me." Lina said softly as she pulled out a splinter.
"I honestly hadn't missed her," Gourry said as he suddenly realized that if he made the wrong move here he would regret it for a long time. "You're a woman of many talents."
He looked over his shoulder, but he couldn't see her expression as she continued to remove splinters from his legs. "Well, I wouldn't say my skills as a healer are anything to write home about. But I guess I've gotten plenty of practice. Aqua Create!"
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Just wetting this rag. I'm going to sponge the blood and junk off." She explained.
"Lina Inverse, lock picker, bandit killer, demon slayer, healer and…" Sweet seductress, he thought as she ran the rag down his calf.
"And…?" she asked.
"I forgot…" he mumbled.
She sighed as she stood up and, to his alarm, walked over to his front. He froze, wondering if she would notice how excited he was, but she kept her eyes down cast as she said, "Leave it to you to forget."
"I think you got all of the splinters." He said quickly as he knelt down so they were eye level before she could examine him too closely.
She put her hand on his bicep and started to give it a caress that was more than professional as she said, "You don't want me to give you another look to make sure."
"You were very thorough," he said as he reached forward to caress her face as he looked into her eyes, entranced, as though she had cast some sort of spell. She was so close, inches from his face, and her body so warm and inviting, and he was nearly naked and if he looked down he could see the small swells of her breasts beneath her shirt and…
She moved her face a bit closer and before he could think it through he closed the distance and kissed her. There was a moment overwhelming euphoria as she returned it and their tongues met with a spark. He felt driven to put his arms around her but panicked. He had no idea what he was doing or where to take it from here, and they'd never discussed taking this step and that this wasn't how he'd planned it. But the desire rose on a wave so strong that it threaten to drown the fears beneath his need to pull her shirt open and feel her bare skin pressed against his.
She pulled away and panic raced through him for a moment as he'd worried that he'd gone too far and blown it. "You should see the look on your face," she said as she laughed nervously.
Did that mean she'd liked it? Or not? Damn, but he couldn't read her right now! No, if she hadn't liked it he would be outside in the rain at the moment. He was sure of it. Well, mostly. "Well, I never wanted to be on the wrong end of one of your Fireballs again."
She raised an eyebrow at him, "Is that why it took you so long to do this?" she asked.
"Well, yeah," He said as he scratched his head, "Why, were you waiting?"
She stood up but quickly grabbed his hand as she walked to the bed. He got up and followed her and sat beside her as his heart started to race as she looked at her knees for a moment. The weight of a conversation that needed to be had hang over them, but as they turned to kiss each other once more it was quickly forgotten as they wrapped their arms around each other. When he pulled away to catch a breath she smiled at him as she moved her hands down his back as he wondered if she would like it if he put his hands down her shirt.
His stomach lurched in excitement, overwhelming him as they started to kiss once more as too many conflicting emotions waged a war within him. The drive to consume her clashed with the fear of hurting her by taking things to fast, colliding with the feel of how good and exhilarating it felt hitting against the terror of doing anything to damage their relationship beyond repair.
By the time she pulled away and nestle her head on his shoulder he was partially relieved but also wound up so tight he had no idea how he was going to fall asleep beside her on that tiny bed. There was no other place for him to go for a moment of privacy and he wasn't sure how he was going to spend the night beside her.
Suddenly he was aware that her hand was moving from his knee and up between his legs. Whatever you do don't stop, he pleaded with her silently as she heeded his unspoken need, or perhaps engaged in her own need to explore? But for whatever reason she did not stop until he'd had his release.
He leaned over to kiss the top of her head, still in partial disbelief that it had just happened. Still, she got up and walked over to the washstand and started to wash her hands and as he watched her he felt sure that she did love him. And he felt torn between feelings of euphoria and guilt. "Do you want me to…?"
She got back into bed with him and put her finger on his lips, "That's enough for tonight."
And that was all that was said about it as they drifted off to sleep.
"And we're not taking any jobs. This is a vacation, we're going to relax for once and enjoy ourselves!" Lina said as they finished a picnic lunch on the outskirts of Selentia City.
He was lying with his head on her lap, looking up at the sky with a smile, "Sounds good." He said as she ran a hand through his hair.
So far they hadn't talked about the physical turn their relationship had taken. But their hair brushing routine now included time for kissing and for her to explore him. She still seemed shy about letting him do much with her body. And while he was eager to forge a new path he was attuned enough with her to realize that she was working through some things. Whether it was fears of her body being inadequate or needing more time to trust him or perhaps fears of pregnancy or something else entirely he wasn't sure. Still, Gourry was satisfied with where things were in their relationship for now, especially with Selentia City on the horizon. They would have the time and space they needed to become closer to each other there.
Their dreams of a nice vacation lasted for only about a few hours once they reached Selentia City. When they'd first heard the sounds of a fight they'd even turned and walked the other way and tried to not investigate it. But the fight came looking for them! And even though Lina had quickly taken care of it, the next day when she checked in with the Sorcerer's Guild fully intending to relay the day's events and leave Gourry was alarmed when she came out of the guild with her shoulders slumped and a resigned expression on her face.
"So... we've got a job to do, Gourry." Lina said tiredly.
Gourry frowned as annoyance flared within him. Couldn't she, just once, turn a job down!? "Hey... Didn't you say you were gonna pass on work for a while and take it easy?"
"Nope," and Gourry was flummoxed. How can you argue with someone who can lie so easily? But then she looked at him apologetically, "Come on, I'll buy you lunch."
"Is it that bad?" he asked as he fell in step beside her as they headed to a restaurant they'd thought looked nice as they were approaching the guild.
"The main temple burned down a few months ago, killing the high priest and several others. And now there's a power struggle among the priests of the other temples for the position of the high priest."
"Well, that helps put the attack yesterday into context, but why do we need to get involved?" he asked as Lina's shoulders seemed to get heavier as they reached the restaurant.
"Look, man, the chairman begged me, practically grabbed ahold of me and cried and begged! I tried to say no but…"
If I grabbed ahold of you and cried and begged would you leave with me now? Gourry wondered as a waitress greeted them and showed them to a table in the back. Once they were settled and with their orders in place Lina said, "Look, all we have to do is make an appearance with the four head priests, let them know the sorcerer's council is watching them and get them to back down with the assassins and bodyguards thing."
"And since when is anything you get involved in so straight forward and easy?" Gourry asked.
"Look, I'm not happy about it either, but…" Lina said as she started some long, drawn out explanation about the history of the city and why she felt as though she had to accept the job as he half listened as he ate. Well, the food was good at least. Eventually she stopped talking and he realized she was waiting for a response as they left the restaurant.
"Huh. Guess this city's got a lot going on, huh?" he said. And she should be glad it was all he said. He was rather furious, but then since when could he stop her from butting her nose in local affairs?
Lina was less than gracious with his restraint though, "Way to make it sound like it's none of your business after we've been roped into things."
She'd been roped in, not him. Why had he let her go into the guild alone? "Okay, but now you're making it sound like it just happened rather than you volunteering for it..."
"Erk! That's an extremely rude thing to say to a girl, you know!"
"Um, I'm not sure your gender has anything to do with—" he began, frustrated with how she tried to dodge the issue rather than acknowledge her role in taking the job when he felt a sense of malevolence and found his eyes drawn to the charred remains of what was likely the cathedral that had burnt down and…damn. His bones seemed to grow cold as he stared at it. Staring at it, with such a bad feeling permeating his being, he realized that he could no longer sit this one out and feel good about it. "Wait, Lina."
It was when they went to check in with the head priests, starting with the priest of the Aqualord Ragradia, Ceres, that they ran into Luke and Mileena once more, this time acting as bodyguards to Ceres. And that cemented the fact that they were onto something big. Luke tended to peer down his nose upon such work but took it because Mileena did. And Mileena seemed to have her fingers on the pulse for finding big things involving demons.
As for Ceres himself, Gourry had the feeling that he was a genuinely kind man, but obsessive about his religion, a true believer who loved to talk about his beliefs and was drawn to the priesthood because it was the only place where he could talk so much about it and people would listen.
Needless to say, Gourry tuned him out completely. The next priest they met, Francis, was a self-centered jerk who was raring for a fight. And when they went to visit the western temple they'd stumbled upon a massacre, along with the remains of head priest Bran Conchnir.
Whatever was going on here there was no turning back now.
And the final head priest that they visited, Ryan, was so full of suspicion and accusations that it was a relief to leave. Only one thing was clear to Gourry. Their odds of having a romantic vacation together in Selentia City was effectively nil.
This is why I never make plans.
Initially the fight had not been too difficult. They'd happened upon a group of thugs while they were with Luke and Mileena. But at some point it became apparent that there were assassins, demonoids, mixed in with the thugs and that, for some reason, they had zeroed in on Mileena, and now were suddenly ready to retreat.
Luke was still raring for a fight, "Yeah, right. You really think we'll just let you go because you ask nice? Huh?"
"Say what you will. Let me guess—that you'll chase us down and kill us. Do it if you can. You might be raring to go... But what about the girl there?" Zord said.
But Gourry had already been focused on Mileena. Something about the way they had targeted her but withdrew when he tried to help, and how she'd seemed so unsteady had raised some red flags in his mind. And then she fell to her knees!
"Bwahaha! See you later! Chase me if you want!" the assassins said as they withdrew.
Gourry felt his stomach twist as he watched as Luke and Lina ran to her side as a feeling of dread rose within him. "Mileena?!" Luke said.
"I was... careless..." she said, her voice weak. Careless. Such a strange choice of word. She'd been overwhelmed. It could have happened to any of them. "I think it's... poison."
Poison. A dirty tactic, used by the worst of assassins. Zuma wouldn't have stooped to it. But to have used it also meant that someone really, really wanted Mileena dead. But why?
"Hold on!" Lina said as she started chanting, and Gourry hoped that she had a trick up her sleeve. Mileena raised her hand to stop her as she started chanting.
"Dei Cleari..."
"That'll just be a stopgap!" Lina said. So was her spell not enough? "We'll get you to a magical doctor!"
"Yeah! Hang in there, Mileena! Lei Wing!"
Gourry watched as Luke took off with Mileena as Lina grabbed his hand and chanted her own spell. "Will she be okay?" he asked.
"I hope so." Lina said as the sweat shone on her brow as they took off.
"That spell you used…"
"It works on most poisons, but not all. And they know that there are several sorcerer's in the group so…"
Gourry exhaled, "I don't get it. They were targeting her hard. But why her?"
"I don't know." Lina said as she shook her head.
Needing help and being turned away had to be one of the most terrible things one could experience. The desperation of knowing that you alone can't assure your safety, of already being in a vulnerable position and having to add to it by reaching out to another person, only for that person to turn you away, to say without words that you aren't worthy resulted in a pain so wrenching that Gourry learned early on to never ask. He'd much rather struggle alone than ask and be denied. And watching as Mileena started to fade while Luke went from the clinic, which had no doctors, to the southern temple where the doctors had been sent, desperate to find help only to be told no…
Gourry felt sick to his stomach. Mileena needed help! It was obvious she was going to die without it. And for people to turn their backs on a young woman in desperate need, to treat her as though she deserved it for being in the employ of Ceres...
The pitiful reasons people would spin to justify denying help to someone, to say that someone deserved their troubles, it never ceased to infuriate him.
When they finally returned to the northern temple it was too late. Ceres tried, but none of his priests could perform Resurrection, and the poison had already circulated through her system and depleted her. Mileena was barely clinging to life. And then Ceres said there was nothing more that could be done other than to keep her comfortable.
As Ceres made his apologies Mileena, her voice faint, asked, "Could you... give us a minute alone?"
It was obvious that she was referring to Luke. Ceres nodded and turned, and he and Lina followed him out mutely. Lina closed the door softly as she turned away and looked at the floor as Ceres bent his head in prayer. Gourry's head felt heavy with the weight of grief as a part of him struggled with the rage. If someone in the southern temple had helped them then they wouldn't be here, waiting for Mileena to die!
Through the wall Gourry heard Mileena say something about hate, followed by the sound of silence. Minutes, perhaps an hour passed before he heard the sounds of a window opening and he glanced at Lina and moved to open the door. Mileena lay still on the bed as the wind blew in from the open window. Luke was nowhere to be seen.
"Should we follow him?" Gourry asked.
"I don't think he's going to want to be found." Lina said as she walked to the bed beside Mileena looking grim as she touched her hand. "Damn."
"You deserved better than this." Gourry said softly to Mileena. He felt as though someone needed to say it. He knew there were times he needed to hear it.
"You did." Lina agreed as she wiped away the tears from her eyes as he wrapped an arm around her as warm tears fell down his face.
He brushed them away as Ceres came in, "Is there any next of kin I can find for you?" he asked.
Gourry looked at Lina, wondering if Mileena ever said anything to her. "None that we know of." Lina said as Gourry felt worse.
"You two can stay as long as you need. I will see that her body is prepared and ready for burial tomorrow." Ceres said, "As she died under my employ she will have a nice funeral."
"Thank you." Lina said.
"It is the least I can do."
Gourry was wanting to leave and was relieved when Lina indicated that she was ready to go back to the inn. They walked silently together, Gourry replaying the events of the day as he tried to find some way to have changed this outcome. He knew it was no use tormenting himself with the past like this but he just couldn't help it. If only they had gone directly to Ceres, if they'd not wasted time at the clinic and the southern temple...But would even that have made a difference?
When they reached the inn Gourry followed Lina to her room. He really wasn't wanting to be alone right now, and she did not object. She merely sat at her desk as he sat on the bed and cradled his head in his hands as he heard the sounds of Lina grabbing some paper and writing something down. After a moment he felt her hand on his shoulder and he looked up to see that she was holding a folded piece of paper in front of her. "What?" he asked, his voice unusually raspy.
"Well, I don't trust you to remember." She said, "So if anything ever happens to me…"
"Don't…"
She tightened her grip on his shoulder, "My parents' names and address are here. They own a general store in Zephyr City in Zephelia. Just let them know what happened."
He stared at the letter for a moment as he experienced a horrible sense of relief that he was not facing a loss at that scale. But if their luck had been different, if Lina had been targeted the way that Mileena had…
He felt the bile rise in his throat as he took it and put it in his bag. She sat beside him and asked, "Is there anyone who…?"
"No." he said quickly. "Don't waste your time there. Or risk your life."
"Oh," she said, but if she was curious it was hidden well beneath layers of shock and grief. She turned and laid down on the bed as she faced away from him. After a moment he cuddled up behind her and wrapped his arms around her as he closed his eyes and inhaled her scent.
He was gutted at Mileena's loss. But unlike Luke, at least he had someone to grieve with. And as much comfort as having Lina near gave him, the worries that Luke did not have that were unrelenting.
Ceres held a small funeral for Mileena the following day, but there was no sign of Luke. Gourry was worried about it, but Lina would simply say to focus on finding the assassins that had targeted her. Luke was bound to show up sooner or later.
He and Lina were never apart during those two days following Mileena's death. They still had two rooms but they only slept in one. They were both too numb with shock and grief to do much beyond hit the pavement during the day, eat and sleep though.
Two days later the signs of Luke's hate and rage were everywhere, starting with the tortured body of the broker. When they tracked down the assassins Luke had already murdered and butchered most of them, with the exceptions of Zychael and Zord. Blood and gore and body parts lined the alley and the smell was terrible. The leash that Mileena had kept Luke on had completely snapped.
A leg fell from the roof and both Lina and Gourry looked up and saw Luke dangle Zord from it as he demanded to know, "Who was it? Who hired you?"
"I... I already told you." Zord said, his voice strained and raspy, likely from screaming, "Francis... of the east..."
Gourry's stomach turned as he looked at Lina, waiting for some indication from her on how she planned to approach this as Luke replied in a disinterested tone, "I can't hear you so good." Gourry saw Luke move to cut Zord, who screamed in agony as Luke asked, "Who hired you?"
"Please... stop..." Zord begged, and Gourry winced. And as outraged as Gourry was by Mileena's murder, he couldn't justify this. Not even if it had been Lina could he have justified this.
Luke cut something else off as he said, "Hey, c'mon. Answer the question."
"It was Francis! Francis! Francis, Francis, Francis! Stop, stop, stop, stooop!" Gourry tensed at the pain in Zord's voice as he wondered if Luke would finally stop and he looked at Lina, who was frozen to the spot with shining eyes as her mouth twisted in disgust. He flailed as he waited for some sign from her on what she was going to do.
"Now I'm sick of hearin' your voice!" Luke yelled.
"Luke!" Lina finally called, the distress permeating her voice as she seemed to be barely hold back her tears.
Gourry tried to get his bearings to support her as Luke turned to face them, the look in his eyes so terrifying that he nearly lost it once more. "Oh... It's you guys. Don't worry. I'll be puttin' an end to this soon." He said as he slew Zord before they could stop him, "Not even you can survive all that, right? I'm gonna finish this now. You guys should get outta the city if you can. Don't really want you seein' me like this."
Luke turned and walked off and Lina…
Lina stayed frozen, her eyes wide and tear filled. For a moment Gourry couldn't comprehend why she wasn't chasing after him when he realized that she didn't know what to do. Lina hadn't had to stand up to a friend and ally before. Especially one who had a legitimate reason for their grudge. And Lina was so smart and resourceful that it was easy to forget how young she really was. But surely she had never encountered anything like this before. To be honest he hadn't either. He'd had to stand up to his family though. And part of him wanted to tell her to go back to the inn, to sit this one out, that he would take care of it but…he needed her to stand beside him.
It went without saying that he needed her firepower. But what he needed more was to not do this alone. He knew what it was like to stand alone against his family and even though it was the right thing to do it had come at a considerable cost. He never wanted to have to stand alone again. And for that selfish reason, he needed her to stand with him now.
"Lina..." Gourry said. His voice was soft. "Lina... Are you okay?"
Lina nodded, but still made no move.
"We're going to stop him. We're going to stop Luke." Gourry said as he took control. It felt awkward. He was so used to Lina being in control, he preferred it that way. Was he doing this right? Was he motivating her the way she did him?
"I know." She finally said, her voice choppy but with a hint of resolve in it. And then they ran to the eastern temple. To save a priest who wasn't worth his salt.
Gourry was in no mood to exchange niceties as they barreled their way into the eastern temple. He felt no pangs of conscience as they reached Head Priest Francis and Lina told him point blank that Zord and Zychael were dead. And as Francis stammered and shrank and made the pitiable excuse of, "It's not... my fault" Something within Gourry snapped.
"Cut the crap!" he yelled as he finally had a target for his outrage. "How many people are dead?! How many lives lost at the hands of your assassins?!"
Lina quickly took over, and he was glad to hand her the reigns, "Did you also kill High Priest Joshua and make it look like an accident?"
"No... no, please... please hear me out..." Francis said as he started spinning some tale about receiving a revelation telling him that the high priest had been murdered and to gather power to protect himself from the wicked, and that he had hired the assassins for that purpose and that he'd not intended for them to kill anyone, only to keep the other priests in check.
Lina seemed believed him. But for Luke, it didn't matter as he struck from nowhere and disappeared with Francis into a patch of darkness. Lina took off after him, and Gourry's heart lurched as he feared what would happen if she went in there. But her old self was back and there was no deterring her as he followed her in and they came out in the courtyard, strewn with bodies.
And then there was Luke, standing on the roof, holding the limp body of Francis as he said, "Yeah... figured you'd follow me. Knowing you... Yeah. I figured you would."
"Enough, Luke!" Lina yelled, and Gourry fell into the more comfortable role of supporting her and guarding against threats as she tried to talk Luke down, to reason with him.
But it was useless, "I'm almost done. Don't try to stop me. Next up... the south."
Luke took off running once more on the rooftop and Gourry looked at Lina, who stood frozen once more with a pained expression on her face as a sense of urgency rose. Luke was going to the southern temple, to the temple that had doctors but had refused to help Mileena. And while Gourry hated how she had been treated, he also couldn't condone this.
And further, he also didn't think Luke wanted this. Gourry didn't understand it, but Luke seemed ashamed of having him and Lina see him this way but unable to stop himself. But somewhere, deep beneath the rage fueled hurricane within him, there was a part of Luke that seemed to be screaming for help to be stopped.
"Lina! We've got to go after him! Lina!"
But Lina's voice was uncharacteristically soft and halting as she said, "He said not to…Luke... doesn't want us to stop him."
No, he needed her with him on this! "Lina?" He said as he moved in front of her and grabbed her shoulders, "This isn't like you. What do you think Luke meant just now? It sounded like 'please stop me' to me."
For a moment he feared that he was losing her as well, but gradually the resolved returned to her eyes as she nodded as she said, "You're right. Let's go, Gourry."
Gourry did his best to clamp down on his disgust as Lina tried to reason with Head Priest Ryan. Gourry really wanted nothing to do with him. Sometimes having a moral conscience was a burden. Because while he was disgusted with Ryan's actions, he also could not condone torture and murder. So there they were, trying to save the life of a detestable waste of a human being.
Gourry listened as Lina tried to explain the situation to him, "This isn't the guy who killed the high priest and Bran. It's someone with... a more personal grudge against you."
"A... A personal grudge?! Don't be absurd! I've never offended anyone!"
Something within Gourry snapped. Memories of all the times Gunther would insult him, call him a baby or a girl, even hit or beat him and then insist he'd done nothing wrong, that it was all in his head or that Gourry had deserved it for looking at him wrong. Ryan was just like Gunther. He'd hurt people without a care and then blame them for being hurt. That people could do that, and others would turn a blind eye and endorse it, that it would get to the point that someone would refuse to provide medical care to someone on their deathbed and still insist that they had never done anything wrong…!?
Gourry slapped him, "I could've done much worse than that. And you'd have deserved it."
The only way to reach people like Gunther was with a show of power. And Gourry wanted Ryan to know what he'd done, even if he wouldn't admit it.
"What? What are you talking about?!"
Lina glared at him as she explained, "A few days ago, a couple visited this place. The woman had been poisoned, and you refused to treat her out of spite just because she was in the employ of Ceres of the North. She's dead now. The man she was with cared deeply for her, so he wants to make you pay. The only way to make it right would be to bring her back to life. And since you seem kinda slow on the uptake, I'll say it outright—you basically killed her."
As Gourry suspected, Ryan admitted to nothing. People like Ryan never did. "Wait, you... You're accusing me of murder?! H-How dare you! Absurd! I... I don't know what you're talking about!"
Gourry felt the rage fuel him. It was impossible to get people like that to take any responsibility. "That's enough!"
Which made his attempts to fight Luke harder. Still, he and Lina had put themselves between the priest and Luke. They'd tried to talk Luke down, and Gourry had crossed blades with Luke. But in the end…
In the end, was it the reason he'd been unsuccessful?
By the time they caught up to Luke Ryan was dead at his feet. But any hope that the rage had been sated, that Luke would be satisfied were quickly extinguished as Luke lamented, "It ain't enough. It still ain't enough..."
Gourry had seen people out for revenge before. It never offered them the solace they thought it would, but this…
Gourry wasn't sure what to make of this as Luke continued, "I thought killin' this guy would be the end of it. That it'd be enough. That afterward, they could just arrest me or kill me or whatever. Mileena ain't comin' back either way, so what do I care? That's what I thought. But I guess not, 'cause that awful voice... just keeps risin' up in me... sayin' to keep goin'... That it still ain't enough. If only Ceres and his people had better magic... If they could've used Resurrection, they could've saved Mileena!"
"Luke!" Lina said desperately as Gourry was flummoxed at the way Luke's mind was working, as though he was working overtime to find reasons to blame someone for Mileena's death. Ceres had honestly tried to do what he could but it hadn't been enough.
And if Luke could hold Ceres responsible, how much longer until he burned the whole of Selentia City down in his quest for vengeance?
"I know! I'm just makin' excuses and takin' it out on other people! That's what my head tells me! But... But my heart... My heart's tellin' me it still ain't had enough!"
"Snap out of it, Luke!" Gourry said desperately, but his words couldn't reach him.
"Next up... the north."
"Don't do this, Luke!" Lina said. Ever since leaving Francis she had been her usual fighting self. "You're just feeding the hatred in your heart! If you kill Head Priest Ceres, next thing you know, you'll be turning your rage on us! And if you manage to kill us, then it'll be someone else next! In the end, you'll have no one left to turn on but yourself! If you surrender yourself to hatred, you could destroy the whole city and still never be satisfied!"
"Okay, fine. What would you guys do? It's easy to tell a guy to just stop... But what if the same thing happened to you? What if some asshole killed your partner an' someone told you to put your hatred aside? Could you do it? If someone said it wouldn't help, could you just say 'oh, right' and let it go?"
Gourry felt his stomach twist. What would he have done if Lina had been killed? He'd be desolate, but was he capable of this? He didn't think so but in the end he hoped to never find out.
And in that moment of hesitation, Luke ran to the north.
Gourry knew Luke's fighting style, but Luke knew his just as well. But what gave Luke the edge was that he was fighting with no restraint. And nothing hit that home harder than when Luke cast a spell to encase his leg in ice. In the process Luke had frozen his own hand to the wall, but while Gourry was resigned to accepting that he was out of the action, to his horror Luke pull his hand apart from the wall with a sickening squelch as blood poured from his hand and his skin was left on the wall.
Gourry stared at Luke in horror. Gourry wasn't even sure if he could have pulled his leg from the ice like that to save Lina from a killing blow! And on top of that, they had been fighting for hours now. Gourry was exhausted and his muscles were screaming with pain from overexertion. Luke had to have been the same. How was he still going? Gourry could understand the pain and anger that Luke was feeling, but this? This went beyond anything he could understand! It seemed inhuman almost.
As Gourry tried to make sense of what he was seeing Ceres walked up to Luke, a serene expression on his face that was completely at odds with the situation at hand.
Luke grabbed his dagger and held it ready while Ceres grabbed his wrist and pulled the blade to him as he said, "Kill me."
That stopped Luke. That stopped everyone.
"You want to kill me, don't you?"
Sweat ran down Luke's face, "You... Y-You... Guess you don't think much of me, huh?! You think this is enough to stop me?!"
"No. If you're willing to fight your former comrades to such a degree—to wound them like this—you must truly want to kill me."
"Yeah... You bet I do..."
"Then you may. I can't deny the responsibility I bear for the death of the person you loved. So... you may kill me if that will drive the hatred from your heart. Kill me if you truly believe that will end this."
Gourry sucked in a breath as Ceres gave Luke the thing he'd not heard since Mileena died. Someone taking some responsibility. Arguably it was the person who bore the least amount of responsibility…
"Hang on. You sayin'... you're okay with that?"
"Of course I'm not. I want to live as much as anyone does. It's just that... even if I escape you now, as long as your hatred still burns, you'll come after me again. And as long as you three continue to fight one another, others will continue to be dragged into the conflict. I've seen enough of that for one lifetime. That's all."
"This place! Do you remember it?" Lina said.
They were right outside the room where Mileena died. For a moment time seemed to stop, but finally Luke lowered his dagger and ran past Ceres as he fled the temple.
"Luke!" Lina yelled.
Ceres moved to stop her, "Don't. Let him... Let him go. He attacked me... But you hit him with a spell that annihilated him without a trace. That's what we'll say happened."
Gourry watched, literally frozen to the spot as Lina slouched forward as though her strings had been cut. He started to shiver. From the cold? From the adrenaline rush of fighting Luke? Both?
"Can you get me out?" he asked.
"Yeah," Lina said tiredly as she looked at him and grimaced as she saw the bloody mess on the wall. Then she looked at Ceres, "Is there a blanket somewhere?"
"I will go and get one." He said as he left as she started chanting a spell and the ice started to melt. Meanwhile a feeling of numbness grew within him as he watched the water mixed with Luke's blood flow through the temple.
Ceres offered them a place to stay for the night, but despite the fact that they were both so exhausted they could barely stand neither of them wanted to stay in that temple. They supported each other through as they walked through the streets to the inn, every muscle screaming in agony. And when they woke up they were sure to face a series of inquisitions. Life never seemed to follow any plan he'd ever made, but if there was one thing that he could count on it would be that there would be an inquisition.
But at least he would be facing it with Lina by his side.