Chapter Eight
The afternoon was an entire nightmare. By the time the sun had gone down and it was (finally) time to call it a night, both Lina and Gourry were exhausted, hungry, and sporting numerous burns all over their hands and arms. Their reward? A crooked, brittle sword, one that merely spat out sparks of brown light. And not a warm brown. Imagine the worst brown possible, and that's what the colour was.
Once inside the house, Lina dropped into the closest chair, groaning loudly. Gourry shortly followed suit. Both were sooty, sweaty, and feeling severely overheated.
"All I want to eat is ice cream," Lina moaned, her eyes closed.
Gourry nodded slowly, his arm over his eyes.
"What a nightmare," Lina whined.
And indeed, it had been. It turned out that Gourry's previous blacksmithing skills weren't as up to snuff as he had thought, and had ended up wasting several blocks of metal in the process. Lina also tended to overdo it when it came to using magic, and as a result, the contents involved either broke apart or exploded. The dilapidated sword had been their only success, and obviously not much of one.
"I just don't get why your parents won't make it for us," Gourry muttered, feeling bitter. Both he and Lina sported bruises on the tops of their heads from Luka's fan, earned for every mistake they made.
"Because, Gourry-kun," a stern voice snapped out. "How will you learn if you won't do it yourself?"
Lina opened her eyes and scowled. Luna stood in the middle of the floor, grinning widely at the both of them. "Get lost!" she snapped. "We're tired and hungry. Make us dinner."
Luna's cheek twitched, but she didn't lose the smile. "Lina-chan, don't you get it? By trusting you at the forge, they're giving you the best lesson of all: a real sword, for Gourry-kun, made by the one who loves him most."
Lina blinked, looking up at her sister in surprise. "I never thought of that," she admitted.
"That's because you're an idiot," Luna replied. "Where are Papa and Mama?"
"Cleaning up," Gourry said weakly. "We made a huge mess, and when we offered, we both got hit alot."
Lina nodded slowly, her eyes watery. "Such a horrible thing to do." Gourry nodded in agreement.
Luna reached down, grabbed Lina by the front of her dirty apron, and dragged her up to her feet. Lina gulped, instinctively going as passive as she could, and Luna had to laugh.
"I'm not going to kick your ass," she replied. "I was helping you get up so that you could eat."
Lina instantly sagged in relief. "You made us food?" she said pathetically.
Luna nodded, dropping Lina to the floor. Gourry reached down, grabbed her up, and darted to the kitchen. In a second, they were both seated at the table, utensils ready.
Luna placed a bun before each of them.
Both Lina and Gourry stared at the buns in front of them.
"What the hell is this?" Lina wondered quietly.
Luna placed her hands on her hips. "An apprentice smith's fare," she said happily. "You're to eat light until you've fully trained. Enjoy!"
She cackled as she left the room.
Gourry's eyes met Lina's. Lina's hands tensed on her utensils, and Gourry licked his lips. At the same second, both lunged for eachother's fare.
Possibly the shortest and yet the most intense fight of their lives occurred at that moment. There was scrapping, swearing, many fingers up nostrils, and much hair pulled. In the end, no one won, for both were still hungry.
Lina collapsed onto the table and groaned. Gourry followed suit. This was how Luka and Delmas found them.
Luka sighed. "Luna-chan tricked you again, didn't she?" she wondered flatly.
Lina's head shot up, her eyes blazing. "WHAT?"
Delmas held up the paper back in his hands. The smell hit both Lina and Gourry a second later. Fried food. "Obviously you need to keep your strength up," he said plainly, as it if were obvious.
The younger couple were so relieved that both were grinning stupidly, tears running down their cheeks. It was probably the most ridiculous thing that either Luka or Delmas had ever seen, and yet, also the most pathetic. So as a result, it was the younger couple that got most of the feast.
When the dishes were cleared and Gourry once again regained consciousness, Lina got up and started trudging down the hallway to her bedroom. Luka stopped her with a curt shout of her name, which resulted in whining.
"Get back here, we're not done." Delmas grumbled.
Lina obeyed, but glared at both of her parents. Gourry didn't really blame her. He hadn't felt this tired in a long, long time.
"You did terribly today," Luka said shortly. "You need to work on your control, Lina-chan. You put way too much energy and magic into everything. Stop trying to show off."
Lina opened her mouth, but Delmas cut her off. "While Gourry's skills need some work, at least he doesn't act arrogant when he screws up," he said, his eyes hard. "You both obviously know how to work together; follow eachother!"
Lina went red, looking down. She was angry, tired, and now successfully berated. It was not a good night.
Gourry reached up and placed a hand on the back of her neck, softly stroking the skin at her hairline. She relaxed, closing her eyes.
"Tomorrow, bright and early, we try again," Luka said, standing up. Delmas followed. "Try not to disappoint us." On that note, they walked off.
Lina's head met the table with a loud thunk. Gourry winced.
"You know, I've always been able to be the best at something if I tried," she said quietly, her voice flat. "Even as a swordswoman I'm better than average, and it's not my forte. I had really, really thought that this would be one of my strengths...but..." she sighed, deeply.
Gourry rubbed her back slowly, leaning down and resting his head next to hers. "You just started, Lina," he said gently. "You can't expect it to be perfect already."
"I guess not," she replied, although she really had expected it. "Bed?"
Gourry nodded. "Bed."
"Help?"
With a smile, Gourry stood up and held out his arms. Lina followed suit, leaning forward and just falling into him. He scooped her up, held her close, and together they walked down the hallway to her room.
Although earlier in the day Lina had entertained the idea of spending the night intimately with Gourry, the thoughts fled her mind the moment she realised how tired she was in Gourry's arms.
Still,she thought, already half-asleep, barely feeling Gourry lie her down and pull some blankets over her. It's a good kind of tired. It feels good...it feels...right...
Gourry curled up next to her, and soon both were lost in sleep.
X X X
The next lesson wasn't even halfway through when something quite unexpected happened, setting it on hold for a few hours.
The first was the sound of metal on metal, so loud that it penetrated even the small, private forge. Lina heard it first, and she froze, blinking in surprise. Luka was about to smack her for stopping when she heard it too. The next sound that of male voices shouting at eachother. Both sounded familiar, and while Lina couldn't place one, the other one was as familiar as the blue sky. She grinned, uttered a squeak, and ran out of the forge before anyone could stop her.
Gourry blinked in surprise, then stood up and followed, to the chagrin of Luka and Delmas.
Lina ran towards the sound of the scuffle, edging around the house to the storefront. When she turned the corner, her eyes fell on one figure, and she yelped, before uttering the word, "DILGEAR!!"
The shout was enough to stop the impending fight. Indeed, Spot, also known as Dilgear, stood in front of the store's counter, his sword out and pointed forward. He had lost the ridiculous leather armour and replaced it with somewhat revealing merchant clothes, but he still looked the same other than that change.
In front of him, covered head to foot in white robes and holding out a glittering sword, was the one Lina had recognised: Zelgadis.
Lina darted forward, growled loudly, and slammed an elbow down on each male's head as hard as she could. Both squawked and cowered. Situating herself firmly between the two of them, Lina decidedly ignored Dilgear and focused on Zelgadis.
"Idiot!" she snapped. "You show up here, with no warning, and then pick a fight at my own home? I should kick your ass!"
Zelgadis grumbled, rubbing his head. "I thought you would be glad to see me," he admitted sullenly.
Lina whirled around and pointed at Dilgear. "And YOU! I don't know what the hell you're doing here, but you had better get the hell out while I'm in a good mood!"
Dilgear glowered at her. "Listen, you little idiotic girl..." he began, but Gourry's shout interrupted him. Soon, all three had him surrounded.
Dilgear, reasonably, wasn't impressed. "Look, if you would all just give me some time to explain--" he pleaded, looking both alarmed and annoyed.
He didn't need it. A split second later, just as they were about to close in on the poor beastman, a blast of white-hot magic caught them all off-guard and forced them back. Like a ghost, Luna suddenly materialised behind Dilgear, her hand held out.
"Luna-san, what are you doing?" Lina demanded, her hands still out and ready to cast. "That's Dilgear!"
Luna sniffed. She reached out with her other hand and, to the shock of everyone, gently petted Dilgear's head. And to add further shock, Dilgear actually relaxed, closing his eyes and leaning into it. His tail was even wagging.
"This is Spot, Lina-chan," Luna said calmly, though her voice was furious. "Our part-timer? Could you kindly not kill him for no reason?"
"There IS a reason," Zelgadis snapped out. "The last time we saw him, he was our enemy."
Luna gave him an appraising look. "Excuse me, but who the hell are you?" she demanded.
Lina grabbed at her head and groaned out her frustration. "Who the hell is Spot?!" she shot back. "Why is Dilgear here?! I'm going to FREAK OUT!"
The sound of a fan making contact with flesh interrupted the screams of rage. Luka had caught up with them, and had not only smacked Lina and Gourry, she even smacked Zelgadis, Luna, and Dilgear as well. It was quite an impressive display.
"YOU," Luka snarled, pointing her fan at Gourry and Lina, "GET BACK TO THE FORGE. YOU," this time she pointed at Dilgear and Luna, "GET BACK TO WORK. AND YOU," the fan was pointed at Zelgadis, whose eyes went wide behind the hood and cowl.
"Welcome to Zephilia!" Luka said sweetly, before glaring at him and snapping, "Stop making a scene and get the hell into the house to freshen up and have some water. We'll meet up when we're done here."
There was silence, and many upset people rubbing their heads.
"NOW!" Luka shouted.
With some grumbling and sniffles, everyone obeyed, even Zelgadis. When he walked by Lina, he muttered, "I really would like to talk to you. This isn't a pleasure trip."
This somewhat alarmed Lina, but the look in her mother's eyes was far more frightening. "Give me a few hours. We'll catch up then." She reached over, squeezed his hand, and followed her mother back the forge.
The day was probably the longest she had EVER had, and looked like it was about to get even worse.