Sometimes what looked like a lot of blood turned out to be nothing to worry about. While the horror of seeing it pour from a wound spurred the necessary survival instincts the fear was typically put to rest under the care of a Recovery spell. But this was one of those times when what looked like a lot of blood turned out to be something to truly panic about. Because if Lina tried a Recovery spell she was pretty damn sure that she would exhaust Gourry's life energy.

"Hold on Gourry!" Lina desperately pleaded as she tore into the rags and used them to try to staunch the bleeding. They had passed a temple that morning and if she could get him stabilized she could Lei Wing them to it. While it was not guaranteed it was their best chance to find someone who knew Resurrection.

Why the hell had she never bothered to learn it!? Mileena's death should have woken her up to the fact that she needed to learn the spell. It shouldn't have taken this, Gourry suffering a stomach wound and going deathly pale, for her to realize how vulnerable they were without it.

His eyes started to roll up into his head and she couldn't afford to castigate herself any further. She grabbed him and yelled, "Stay awake!" By sheer force of will his eyes met hers. "Talk to me." She demanded.

"Are you okay?" he asked weakly.

"Not a scratch." She said as she tightened the bandage. "And right now you need to focus on you and holding on!"

"As long as you're okay…"

"Don't!" Lina snapped as she finished bandaging the wound. "Don't ever talk like that! I'm going to get help and you will be fine! If you leave me to walk this earth alone I will never forgive you!"

"Lina…" he whispered as his voice grew ragged.

"I have to focus on my spell. You focus on staying alive!" she ordered, and then she cast a Lei Wing. The bubble of air surrounded them and she navigated them up and back down the path they had taken. "Stay with me you big lug. We're going to find you help, you just hang on."


As soon as her feet hit the temple ground with Gourry still barely clinging to life Lina started yelling for help. A group of priests came out to see what all of the commotion was about and one ran over to her. "Can you perform Resurrection?"

"Yes," he said as he immediately started chanting, and Lina felt a wave of relief wash through her as she back away a bit to give them some space and hoped that it wasn't too late. Suddenly all of the fears that she had pushed away by the concentration demanded for Lei Wing came crashing down upon her and not even the fact that he would getting a Resurrection spell could hold back the terror of the thought of what living life without him would be like.

What if he didn't make it? It hurt too much to fathom how empty her life would be without him. It would be like that time when Hellmaster had taken him without the promise of the reward of getting him back or punishment of dying with him if she failed. Her mind latched on to more pragmatic matters. Such as how would she contact his family? He'd said he was from the Elmekian Empire but that was a big place!

Gourry groaned as he moved from his side to lie on his back, and Lina felt weak in the knees with relief, "Gourry, the priest is healing you. Save your energy and don't talk. Just get better!"


Lina quietly knocked at the door to the room that they had put Gourry in while he recovered and opened it, "I brought food."

"Looks good!" he said as his blue eyes lit up as she put the tray on the bedside table and then pulled up a chair to sit beside him.

"How are you feeling?"

"Good as new." He said as he grabbed a plate, and then he glanced at her, "What is it?"

"You wouldn't mind sticking around the temple for awhile?"

"When do I ever object to your plans?" he asked with a smile, which she returned as she sipped her tea. "Let me guess, you found something interesting here."

"No, actually." She said as she looked at her knees bashfully for a moment and then back at him, "I decided to learn the Resurrection spell."

Gourry nearly spat out his soup, "Huh?"

"I really should have done this after Mileena died." Lina said softly, "That should have been all the warning I needed. It shouldn't have taken a close call like this…"

He put a hand on her knee, "That's not like you to talk like that."

"You're right." She said with a smile, "I can't change what's done. And you made it, so I'm not going to squander this! I already talked to Head Priest Tunde and he's agreed to let us stay here while I train in exchange for some chores."

"Chores?" he said as he nearly choked on his food.

"Yeah," Lina said as she scratched her nose, "I offered them money, but they are some pious sect committed to a life of poverty and told me that they'd give me lessons in exchange for cleaning the temple."

He patted his chest and swallowed his food as he looked at her and saw that she was slightly rosy, "Wow, you must be serious about this if you're going to clean the whole temple."

"Sure am!" she said with a smile, "And there's more!"

"Oh?" he asked, "What, did you tell them I'd help you clean the temple?"

"Don't be silly," she said as she waved her hand dismissively, "I told them that you would weed their large, untamed garden!"

He stiffened in panic for a moment, "But I don't know the first thing about how to take care of a garden!"

She patted his arm, "Well then it's time you build your skill set and learn!"

He squared his shoulders but could not quite suppress his smile, "Well, if you insist I guess."


Gourry wiped the sweat from his brow as he stepped into the cool temple on his way to wash up for lunch. Lina's voice echoed through the foyer from the library and he found himself drawn to it. He quietly made his way over and poked his head in the door and he smiled a little as he watched her recite back the Resurrection spell to Priest Tunde. When he had left to work in the garden she was on her hands and knees scrubbing the temple floors and now she was hard at work learning a field she had described as boring and not flashy enough to attract her interest. And in that moment he had to admit that all of that time he'd spent staying up at night wondering if she could ever return his feelings had been wasted. As he watched how hard she worked to keep them, him, safe it was undeniable that she cared. Sure, she could be brash and mean at times. But she still cared, deeply.

He kept his footsteps quiet as he walked to the kitchen. He didn't want to ruin her concentration. He smiled and waved to a priest as they passed each other and then walked into the small kitchen and filled the basin with fresh water and splashed his face and enjoyed the cooling sensation on his skin. Given that he had grown up in a desert wasteland he'd never had the opportunity to do any gardening before but once he got the hang of it he found that it wasn't that bad. There was something soothing about it. Or was being in a place where they weren't on the run for their lives or under attack what was soothing?

He grabbed a towel and patted his face and hands dry. When he and Lina had set off to Sellentia they had planned to take a bit of a vacation. But then things had gone horribly wrong and ended in the tragic loss of two of their friends. And naturally their vacation plans had been abandoned. Yet while gardening hardly qualified as a vacation it did serve as a different way of life and gave him and outlet that was both physical and mindless enough to work through what they had been through.

He sat the towel done and went to the water bucket and used the pitcher to get a drink of water. He thought they had needed a vacation. Who knew that a stay in a temple would have fit the bill? He only hoped that Lina was finding this as helpful as he was.

But it was not until the Day of Holiness that they really had any time alone together to talk. For the past few days they each worked hard and collapsed into bed in their separate rooms at night. After Luke's death they always managed to find some pretense to share a room, but that ended the moment they started staying at the temple. So when Head Priest Tunde explained that morning that he wouldn't have time to help Lina with her lessons because he would be busy with the other priests tending to their religious duties and that they were free to do as they liked they shared a smile.

Still, there were the breakfast dishes to clean. As Gourry helped her to wash up they agreed to take the canoe and explore a small island that was in the middle of the lake that the temple was by. By the time they finished the dishes and packed a picnic lunch for themselves it was getting late in the morning, yet they were exuberant as they stepped into the sun and walked up to the canoe. Lina got in and Gourry pushed them off and joined her. They each took an oar and started to row. "You've been hard at work." Gourry observed casually.

"Yeah," Lina said, "White Magic is a bit different than Black Magic. I guess it must be rather boring here for you though."

"Not really," he said as he enjoyed the soothing sound of his oar plunging into the water. "The more I do it the more I enjoy gardening actually."

She looked behind her skeptically, "Really?"

He thought for a moment as he wondered if he should voice the truth out loud. He looked around at the cypress trees that surrounded the lake, draped in a veil of Spanish moss and felt his worries melt away under the comfort that such greenery could inspire, "You know, sometimes I feel bad that while I can protect the world with my skills with a sword it also usually means that I have to take the life of someone or something to do it. And if I'm honest when you said I would be gardening I was a little worried that I'd kill every plant in the garden. But yesterday some of the flowers I'd been watering started to bloom and it made me realize that perhaps I can grow things as well. It was a good feeling."

She looked back ahead of her as she smiled, "It is, isn't it? I was never interested in White Magic. No cool explosions. But after everything it's nice to see that I can heal people."

"This will take some getting used to, Lina!" he teased, "It's not like you at all to play the healer."

"Well the older I get the more I realize I have more to lose if I don't. So I don't like it as much but if it saves your butt down the line I'll do it." She said. She didn't see how he smiled at her as they rowed, "As powerful as I am one lucky hit from a bad guy can tank us. So if playing the healer keeps us alive to fight another day then I'll gladly do it."

"I love how you put so much thought into this." He said, his voice just a whisper over the wind. Yet as his words rushed through her their effect was powerful as a flight of butterflies took off in her belly and caused gooseflesh to erupt all over. Yes, since Luke had died their relationship had become physical and marked with heartfelt caresses beneath the sheets, tender kisses and the promise of more intimate regions to chart. Yet somehow the words were harder to say. At least when the other was awake.

Even now she found herself at a rare loss for words as the island drew closer. It wasn't too long before they landed and she quickly hopped out. Gourry pushed the canoe far enough onto shore that it wouldn't get swept away and then Lina grabbed the picnic basket and looked around, "It's beautiful here!"

He wrapped an arm around her and smiled. While the island wasn't large the view was indeed breathtaking. And even more important was the fact that he could not sense another presence on the island, "And there's only the two of us here to enjoy it with each other."

Something about what he left unsaid caused Lina to shiver in anticipation. She sat the basket down and got out the blanket and spread it on the grass. "It's a little early for lunch." She commented as she laid down on it and then patted the space beside her.

He laid down beside her, so close that the air between them seemed to sizzle with expectation. They were silent for a moment. But the silence was hard. It gave space for the anxieties that Lina had. So she did what she'd done ever since Luke had died. She reached for him and pulled him close to her. His hand moved to her hip to coax her leg up and around his, allowing them to grind against each other as their lips touched.

She gasped, her breath dazzling his face as their tongues met. She put her hands to his chest. He'd not bothered to button his shirt closed, and part of the reason was because it made it easier for her to explore him like this. Just as her new outfit had its own advantages. He moved his hands to the laces of her bodice and pulled.

Her breathing hitched as her shirt opened and her anxiety rose again. They'd been doing this in dark bedrooms and not in the harsh light of day. But as he placed his hands beneath the fabric and felt beneath it the anxiety peaked into excitement.

She moved her hands lower to his stomach where she started to undo his sarashi when her fingers detected the jagged edge of a scar on his abdomen. A cold feeling exploded in her stomach as she remembered watching in horror as an attack spell broke through both of their defenses and gave him that scar and she pulled away and flopped on her back, her shirt open and her eyes wide with an emotion that Gourry could not read. He sat up on his arm and took a breath to ground himself as he asked, "Are you okay?"

She was suddenly very aware of her open shirt and exposed breasts. Yet she didn't feel the shame that she would have expected. No, Gourry was looking at her with such concern that it didn't feel possible to feel it. And somehow it became clear that even if she was honest with him he wouldn't dismiss her. "No," she said as he waited patiently for her to gather her thoughts. "Damn, I don't want to think of this. I don't want to even consider that this could happen. That's why I've been studying for this spell and…"

"Don't want to consider what?" he asked.

"What if, even with all my knowledge, I still lose you one day?" she asked as the tears welled in her eyes. She bit her lip as she struggled to contain them for a moment and, once done, she plowed forward, "I still hate that we don't know Luke and Mileena's last names. And while they were important to me they don't come close to what you are to me. And Gourry…I can't stop thinking of it, how if you died, what responsibilities would I have to your family? I hate to think about it but I hate thinking about it happening and not knowing your wishes more!"

His eyes widened as he inhaled deeply as he reached for and grabbed her hand and squeezed it for a moment as he collected his thoughts. And then he turned to her and moved his hand to her hip and gradually oriented her to him. Then he said quietly, "Don't track my family down. No one who is left would care either way if I lived or died."

Once the words were spoken a sheepish expression fell upon his face as he looked away from her. She brought her hand beneath his chin and lifted it up, "The way you talk about your family, I mean, they sound horrible. But you are one of the most gentle people I've ever met. How did that happen?"

He blinked rapidly, as if trying to keep the tears away. He wasn't successful, "There were gentle people in my family. But they've all passed through the years, leaving only the hard ones. Don't bother with them, Lina. Don't ever bother with them."

She reached a hand out to wipe his tears away. "I won't then. But Gourry, how would you want me to honor your memory?"

"I dunno." He said as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close for a moment. She curled her head beneath his chin and buried it in his chest and for an intense moment neither of them could say anything. Once it passed he said quietly, "Just bury me someplace where you'll drop by to visit me often. Let me know how you're doing. And honor my memory by living your life to the fullest. I don't need a big funeral or expensive marker."

He felt moisture pool at his chest and he wasn't sure if it was her breath or her tears. Still, he quietly stroked her hair as he tried to savor this moment, a moment where he felt so loved and cherished. Feelings he despaired of ever feeling when he left home so many years ago. Did he make her feel the same way?

When she spoke again it was soft, "Don't you want to know what I'd want?"

A wall formed in his mind, "I'd die before I let you die."

"Gourry…" she said as she pulled away a bit to look at him. But then the memory rose of seeing him in the crystal that Hellmaster had encased him in, of watching in terror as he threatened to shatter it, of not giving a damn about the consequences if she cast the Giga Slave. Before she could suppress it she broke into a sob and quickly covered her mouth and took a moment to collect herself. "Back when Hellmaster was going to kill you, and I felt that fear of living without you, I would have done anything, destroyed the world even, to save you. Loving like this, it's intense, isn't it?"

"Love?" he asked with a smile as he brushed the hair from her eyes.

"I-I…" she said as she blushed and he leaned forward to kiss her deeply once more.

He pulled away only to kiss her on the forehead, "I love you, Lina." He said as he ran a hand through her hair before he moved further south, plunging his hand beneath the waistband of her shorts to explore more intimate areas.

"Wait! Wait! Don't distract me like that! Well, not yet at least," she said as she grabbed his arm and pulled up, "You can't protect me from everything. What if I choke on a chicken bone?"

He withdrew his hand as he gave her an indecipherable look, "This is rather morbid."

"It's not like I enjoy thinking of this. But between Luke and Mileena and how I nearly lost you, I can't not think of it! I don't know if we're honoring them properly as they would like. And I don't want to have to worry about that with you. Or you with me."

He closed his eyes for a moment to fortify himself to face his greatest fear. "What would you like then?"

"Let my folks know." She said. "It's easy enough to find the Inverse family in Zefiel City. Let my body return to the earth. Make sure Sis and my parents know what I accomplished. And even if something like this happens, learn to be happy again."

He bit his lip as he looked at her and then he gently reached his hand forward to stroke her cheek, "It would probably take a lifetime for me to forgive myself enough to be happy again if that happens."

"Well, after an appropriate period of mourning I'll make sure to come back to haunt you until you do!" she snapped.

He could not hold back any longer as he reached for her again and pulled her to him, their foreheads pressing together tenderly so that they could feel the other's breath on their face and hear the sounds of their heartbeats. Proof of life. A quiet moment passed as they savored the moment before he asked quietly as he put his hand on her hip once more and coaxed her to her back, "Now that that's settled, can we return to this?"

"You mean delighting in being alive?" she asked.

"You will promise not to kill me if I make you scream so loud if disrupts whatever it is they're doing at the temple." He said with a smile as he grabbed her shorts once more.

Her eyes sparkled as she lifted her hips up to make it easier for him to take them off, "Do your worst."


When they left the temple a week later their bag of tricks was heavier but their shoulders were lighter. As the temple disappeared behind the trees Gourry wrapped an arm around her and she leaned into him, feeling at peace in a way that had been disrupted after Mileena's death as she stared out onto the road ahead and felt a curiosity that she'd not experienced for awhile. By the time Luke had died she'd wondered if her wanderlust had gone with him.

But now as the thrill of the unknown dazzled her once more she smiled to herself. It hadn't died, she realized. It had simply needed some time to rest.


AN: So back when I'd written Ghost of the Protector I referenced a time when they talked to each other about their final wishes though I never wrote a scene with them actually talking about it. I did a few drafts of it but I wasn't sure if I was ever going to develop it into a story or not. Then, thanks to the Slayers chat I was inspired to write a story where Lina decides to learn the Resurrection spell after Gourry is seriously wounded. And as I was doing that I found the drafts I'd done for the Ghost of the Protector scene and those ideas merged and had this baby. Anyway, given how sad and tragic Ghost of the Protector is, this fic does NOT take place in that storyline. They had a different conversation in a different storyline and lived happily ever after this time.

And it was unfortunately easy to get in a somber frame of mind for this. My mother-in-law died on Easter and I'm going to her wake this evening. Fourth loss in roughly four months. I knew 2022 was going to be hard and know a lot of people have been struggling this year. I hope everyone finds what helps them build resilience.

Also, if you're hoping there's something more explicit on AO3, sorry to disappoint this time ;-). The AO3 version is identical to this one.