The statue was not too large or grand. In fact, Lina had seen plenty like it before. A depiction in copper of someone who contributed to the town, staring determinedly into the future. Every town had a statue like it. Lina sighed.

"What is it?" Gourry asked.

Lina shook her head and grabbed his hand. "How about we check out the beach?"

He stared at her for a moment. "Okay."

They walked the short distance from the center of the town to the beach and took off their boots and socks and tied them by their laces before slinging them over their shoulders and walking along the shore. The waves crashed methodically as the sun sank low over the horizon. It was when Lina started to relax that Gourry tried again, "Your thoughts seemed heavy back there."

Lina smiled to herself. Lina thought of all the girls she knew who complained about their boyfriends always being oblivious to their emotional distress. Lina thought about how lucky she was not to have that complaint. Gourry was always remarkably attuned to her emotional needs. She squeezed his hand. "All these towns have statues to famous people, but none of them are of me."

He stared at her. Lina laughed a bit nervously, "It's stupid, I know."

"I don't think it's stupid so much," he said, "I just didn't think you cared about it."

"I'm starting to." Lina said contemplatively. "I mean, we've saved the world how many times? Not that I did it for a statue, but all people seem to remember is that I got a bit too reckless as a teenager and destroyed their town. I mean, if I hadn't done anything, Shabranigdo would have destroyed the world a time or two. But no one ever mentions that. And I'd just like some sort of acknowledgement for the good things I've done."

"Well, they don't build statues about people who destroy mazoku. They build statues because someone did a lot of building for a town."

"They don't make statues for women who destroy mazoku." Lina corrected, "Plenty of towns have a statue for some masculine male hero."

"Oh!" Gourry exclaimed, "I'd never thought of that!"

"That's because you're a man." Lina grumbled as she folded her arms around herself.

Gourry thought a bit as the waves caressed their feet before retreating to the sea. "I guess you're at that age when you're starting to think about your legacy."

Lina's eyes widened. "Well, don't you ever think about it?"

"Well, I brought it up once." Gourry said, and Lina's face heated as she remembered the night he had asked her to marry him. It had been a few years ago. "You told me to give you time."

Lina's heart beat fast. As he asked as he put an arm around her shoulders, "What would you want to build?"

"Don't tell me you've forgotten about my idea for a school!" Lina said, "I mean, if we retire from the road, someone else will have to stand up to the plate. They might as well be trained by expert mazoku fighters."

Gourry smiled, "You sure seem confident that I plan to join your little endeavor."

Lina stopped walking and stepped back from him. Alarmed he turned to stare at her as she reached for a chain she kept hidden by her shirt and pulled. Gourry's eyes widened as he saw the ring he had given her when he had asked her to marry him. She had taken it but deferred on the answer. He had always assumed she kept it at the bottom of a bag somewhere. "Two years ago you gave me this!" she said, "I mean, look at the cut of these gems! You spent quite a lot of money on it. And you let me keep it for when I was ready. You said you didn't want to break my spirit with marriage, and you'd give me all the time I needed. And you've never made a move to leave me, or to ask for it back. So I assume your offer still stands."

Gourry stared at her, a mild expression of disbelief on his features. "It does."

She lifted the chain over her head and undid it and took the ring off. Then she gingerly slipped it onto her ring finger as a good kind of anxiety took control of her stomach, "Then I'm ready. We've done enough world saving. Now I want to build something in this world with you."

A tear leaked from his eyes as he clasped her hands. She wrenched one to wipe his cheek. He moved to kiss her tenderly, and pulled away to say, "I didn't think I'd ever hear you say it."

She smiled, "It was never a question of 'if', just 'when.'"

He leaned down to kiss her again as their locked arms around each other. Lina thrilled at the giant, world changing step they were taking. Everything about their lives was going to change. But somehow, Lina knew it would be alright. She would be with Gourry, who had definitely raised the bar for quality boyfriend material. And since he was estranged from his family, she didn't even have to worry about troublesome in-laws messing with their happiness. He had met her family and they had seemed more than ready to adopt him, so she didn't have to worry about that. Sure, he was a bit dim, but a girl couldn't have everything.

They had endured the trials and tribulations of life. It was time to move on to the happily ever after. After all, what could happen?


AN: I'm a counselor, and sometimes it's easier to shut off my client's problems than others when I finish seeing people for the night. Tonight it was difficult, and I prefer to do editing rather than creating when this happens because it's easier to get my mind off problems while editing, but because the week had been so frantic I had nothing new. So I went through my old drafts folder and found an alternate beginning of "Slayers, Neverending" that I wrote and decided to dust it off. Now I'm not sure why I didn't develop this one more. I hope you enjoyed!

And...that's why I write so much. Gets my mind off work and shifts it towards pleasure.

Anyway, going to see HAMILTON this weekend (HAMILTON! Just you wait!) and since it involves a bit of travel and weekends are my creating time, it will likely be awhile before I get the next chapter of Neverending up. Hope you enjoyed this instead!