Lina had wanted to eat first before finding an inn. And to tell the truth, so had Gourry. He was starving! But he felt it was imperative that they book an inn first because he just couldn't shake the nagging feeling that he was hallucinating the stolen money. If they ate first they would find themselves in a world of hurt when the bill came if they couldn't cover it. But since they would have to put cash upfront to book an inn, he could ensure they avoided any embarrassing encounters.

It would also help him figure out whether or not the incident with the bandits was a delusion.

"But Gourry, my poor stomach doesn't want to wait! I'm so hungry! I may just drop dead from malnutrition in the street!" Lina whined all the way to the inn while Gourry ignored her. It was a relief when they found the inn, and though it looked far from respectable, it would be vastly preferable to sleeping out in the open if bandits were on the prowl.

Gourry entered with Lina. The innkeeper, a short and bony man who would have looked at home in a morgue, smiled at them, "How may I help you?"

"We'd like to book a room for two for one night."

"Wonderful. It will be ten gold pieces for the night. Check out will be at noon."

Gourry took a deep breath to drive the butterflies in his stomach away and took the money out of the earnings from which they'd looted from the bandits. He met the innkeeper's gaze as he handed it over, hoping he didn't betray how nervous he was feeling. Gourry felt slightly sick as the other man counted out the coins, but then he pocketed them and wrote something down in his ledger before handing them a room key, "Room 207. It will be up the stairs and to your left."

"Thanks." Gourry whispered as a strange feeling encompassed him.

"Now can we finally eat?" Lina asked snarkily.

"Yeah." Gourry nodded. "Anywhere. You pick."

"Perfect!"

He walked out with her, stunned. The innkeeper had accepted their payment. Meaning that they really had killed and looted a bandit gang earlier! The possibility that the innkeeper and town were part of some shared delusion just didn't seem possible. Because the more he thought about it, the more that he and Lina had shared a delusion strained credulity enough. It would have to mean that their minds were joined somehow.

And it wasn't possible for people's mind to be joined in such a manner! Or was it? And if that was possible, then why wasn't it possible that Lina really was a sorceress who couldn't access her powers for some reason? Really, if impossible things started to become possible, then anything would go!

All the same, it was still strange that he and Lina were able to take down a bandit gang on their own. That in and of itself defied belief. And then there was that brief flash of a memory…

Gourry shook his head and decided to focus on his surroundings. He scanned the area around them and found nothing out of the ordinary. But the feeling that something was very wrong with the world would not abate. But what truly scared him was, even if there was something wrong with the world, how would he know? Whatever was going on seemed so large and what his senses could detect so limited that it was impossible to figure out! Forget forming a plan of action. And talking to Lina was even less help. One minute she was certain Gaav was the culprit, the next Kitsune, the next Dynast.

"Here!" Lina said as she started tugging at his arm, "Whatever is cooking in there, it smells good!"

Gourry patted her hand and smiled. She was right about it smelling good, "I'm right beside you."

They enjoyed a big meal together, but at the end of it Gourry still didn't feel full! Still, Gourry did not want to blow all of their earnings on food and risk having to confront another bandit gang to raise more funds, so rather than eating till sated they walked to the inn. The street lamps were being lit as they approached the inn, bringing out a rather disreputable crowd. His eyes fell on a woman dressed in an obscenely low cut dress that called attention to her impressive assets. Her long black hair fell to her waist and everything about her screamed night worker. He hurried Lina along into the inn. It was not the sort of company he wanted to mix with.

It was still too early to get out of bed, so Gourry lay awake, staring at the ceiling and doing his best to ignore how good Lina felt cuddled up to him, her head resting on his chest. He'd been so tired he'd been able to fall asleep easily enough. It was the dreams that woke him up. Dreams of an endless wasteland that'd he'd never been to. Dreams of his family dressed in strange attire as they fought over a sword passed down through the generations. A magic sword. The Sword of Light.

Hadn't Lina mentioned he fought with such a weapon? But she'd never said anything about his family fighting. Or had she?

No. She hadn't. Her fantasies had always focused exclusively on her legendary adventures with a minimum of background information for everyone else. Amelia only fleshed out the royal family drama so well because of her own flare for creative storytelling. No, Lina had never bothered to provide a background story for him. All she had ever come up with was that the Sword of Light was a family possession.

And besides all that, the dream didn't seem like just a dream. It seemed like a horrible memory that replayed over and over in one's dreams. But it still made no sense! In the dream his brother, Gunther, had died! But Gunther was alive! Or was he? The dream felt like a nightmare inspired by a real trauma. And what truly scared Gourry was that the dream seemed like the truth while the world he was living in seemed like a lie! Something about Gunther being dead made more sense than Gunther being alive.

Gourry took a deep breath as he started stroking Lina's hair as he tried to put things in order. He thought about the dream. About being in the Elmekian Empire. A vivid vision rose in his mind of a barren desert populated by ugly mud brick houses. Of running through the streets. Of running home because he'd heard that his family was fighting again. And then suddenly a barrage of memories hit him in a multitude of pieces. At one point Gourry felt like he was witnessing the middle of the story, and then the beginning before jumping to the end and then back to somewhere else. It felt impossible to shift through and make sense of!

Gourry felt sick and gave up on trying to sort out the memory and focused instead on Lina lying on his chest again as the visions receded. He was breathing heavily now. Daylight was just starting to creep through the window. And Gourry's alarm was rising.

Something was very, very wrong with the world.

"Oh ho ho ho!"

Gourry stiffened in bed as Lina sat up as shrill laugh wafted from the courtyard. "What the hell?" Gourry asked as Lina said, "That voice!"

Whoever was in the courtyard kept laughing that annoying, obnoxious laugh as Lina leapt out of bed and grabbed her robe. "Naga!"

"Lina!" Gourry called as Lina opened the door. He ran after her as she flew across the hallway and down the stairs. When they got to the courtyard Gourry saw the same street walker he'd spotted the previous night laughing loudly while holding a money sack. He wondered if she was drunk. She did reek of alcohol. He put a hand on Lina's shoulder to hold her back.

"I won't stop laughing until this bag is full of gold!" the woman said as she noticed them approach as other patrons opened their windows to tell her to shut up. And then her face changed as she saw Lina. "Lina?"

"Naga!" Lina said, "What are you doing here?"

"Making money." She said, "For some reason it's a lot harder to come by now."

"Making money? By what? Annoying people until they pay you to leave them alone?"

"A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do." Naga said. "It buys my liqour."

Gourry was confused. "Lina, who is this?"

"Naga. I used to travel with her before I met you. Like that time we fought Joyrock."

Naga laughed again. Gourry shuddered and realized that she was about to tear Lina's delusions apart. "And that tip about the hot springs that was supposed to grow your breasts? A complete bust! I see you still haven't had any luck there! Looks like you still somehow managed to find someone to shack up with though."

Lina folded her arms across her chest as she blushed while Gourry blinked. Had she just went along with Lina's delusion? Or did she actually remember it?

"Yeah, and if I ever see Rowdy again, or did I see him again? And he had the Sword of Light, no, Gourry, you have the Sword of Light…"

"Rowdy's a family name." Gourry said, mystified. His father had lamented that he'd never passed down the name to his own sons. There were simply too many family members to honor and his father had always assumed he'd have more boys than he did and he and his brothers were told often that when they had their first son, they would have to name him Rowdy. "How did you know that?"

"I didn't. I fought with a man from the past named Rowdy. Though now that I think about it, it makes sense you're related. Why did I never think about it before?" Lina shook her head as Gourry took a step back and looked at Naga.

"D-do you know what she's talking about?"

"Yeah." Naga ran a hand through her hair, "It comes in bits and pieces in random order."

"It's so confusing." Lina said. "Everyone thinks I'm crazy."

"It gets better with practice." Naga said, "I don't know what it is about this place."

"This place?" Lina repeated.

"No magic. No Mazoku. It was worse when I first got here. I kept seeing this world and the real world at the same time. It was so disorienting. I can figure out which is which better now."

"But those things exist! I'm a sorceress!"

Naga laughed, "Not here, Lina. We're just boring, ordinary girls. There's a reason I'm annoying sleepy travelers for cash and not using my sorcery to dredge some up! Our powers don't work here!" Naga moved close to Lina, "But if you're thinking of annoying people for cash, pick another town to haunt. This one is mine!"

Gourry leaned against the wall as the weight of all he was hearing hit him. Either Lina had somehow managed to find the one other person in the world who had the same delusions she did, or there really was something very wrong with the world.

"But you remember?" Lina said.

Naga nodded, "As much as I can."

Lina turned and looked at Gourry accusingly, "Then why don't you remember?"

Gourry took a deep breath, "I'm starting too. I think. Growing up in the Elmekian Empire. Mazenda. I have two different memories of growing up, one in the village, one in Elmekia. But Lina, how do we know for certain which is which?"

"This isn't real." Lina said. "And I'm not going to let Kitsune keep us here."

Kitsune?

That name again. Gourry took a deep breath, "Lina, what can you tell me about Kitsune?"

"Kitsune! Kitsune!" Lina yelled, "Idiot! Why don't you remember! That spell."

"There is no spell. She suckered me in, too." Naga agreed.

Lina shook her head, "I always wondered which of you was the bigger idiot. Now I have my answer. Yeah, she suckered us."

Then Lina and Naga both spun around and did the same strange dance, "FLARE ARROW!" Lina cried as Naga yelled, "FREEZE ARROW!"

"Did we get them?" Lina asked.

"Damn, I hate it when that happens." Naga said, "Lina, don't you understand, this is why everyone thinks we're crazy!"

Gourry stared at them, mouth agape. Lina said, "So what are we going to do today?"

"Wait, wait!" Gourry said, "You both just shot a flare arrow or something at nothing!"

"Did we?" Naga said.

"There was a beastman!" Lina insisted.

Gourry shook his head. "But what about Kitsune? She said she trapped you with promises of some sort of powerful spell."

"Oh that." Lina said as she scratched her chin. "Well, it's like you said. She trapped us."

Gourry shook his head, "If we are trapped, how are we going to get out?"

"It's not that difficult." Lina said, "We just keep walking! But after we've had breakfast!"

Gourry put his hand to his brow and finally felt him bend to the inevitable. Besides. As always these days, he was ravenous.

Lina muttered under her breath as Naga examined her nails as they walked. Truthfully, Gourry was a bit embarrassed to have someone like Naga tagging along with them. The last thing he needed was someone thinking he was a pimp escorting his ladies through the country. But she had shared memories with Lina. And they both remembered something about this fishy Kitsune person. And if he was going to get to the bottom of this, then he needed to keep Naga with the group.

As for getting to the bottom of this, it just didn't seem possible. The simplest explanation was that Lina was crazy, Naga was the same brand of crazy, and he was coming down with it. But there were too many strange things happening for that to make sense anymore. No, it seemed as though their minds were being messed with.

The problem being, when your mind is compromised, how on earth are you supposed to tell what is real and what is not?

Especially since I'm not the thinker in the group, Gourry bemoaned.

But what really troubled Gourry was why only Lina and Naga seemed to remember anything about this supposed other world until recently. While Lina claimed to be a sorceress, and Naga seemed to have a stake on the same claim, Lina also had pronounced that Amelia, Zel and even Sylphiel had used sorcery. So even if Lina was a sorceress, and if the others genuinely were sorcerers, then their magical power wasn't causing the same confusion for Zel, Amelia and Sylphiel as it was for Lina and Naga.

Perhaps length of time? From some of the things Naga said, it would seem she had been here longer and had more time to adjust. Had Lina somehow stumbled onto this place without him, and then he'd followed her and that was why he was just now starting to remember things?

But how could he know for certain?

Lina suddenly veered off the path. "Lina, where are you going?" he asked.

"We need to go this way." She said.

"Yeah." Naga said, "This distortion isn't as bad here."

Lina exhaled, "I'm glad you notice it too."

Gourry had no idea what they were talking about, but followed them quietly. "The distortion may be less but there's also a creepy cave close by. I don't like being here." Naga said as she shuddered.

"A creepy cave?" Lina asked, "Hm."

"What are you thinking, Lina?" Gourry asked.

"That someone doesn't want us to go in that cave." Lina said, "So take me to it."

Naga shrugged, "Suit yourself. But don't say I didn't warn you."

Nervous as Gourry was, he also couldn't help but notice that Lina was quieter. She wasn't mumbling to herself or shooting off random "spells." She also just seemed more coherent. More like Lina as her genuine self. But still. Gourry was worried about this ominous sounding cave. What if they met whoever was pulling the strings?

Gourry shook his head and marveled at himself. A few days ago he would have written himself off as crazy! And now here he was, following this fools' errand. Either something ground shaking was going to happen, or a big fat nothing.

Naga stopped as she reached the cave and shuddered, "Covered in blood as always."

Gourry and Lina considered the cave. It was a dank, creepy looking hell mouth structure covered in blood stains and, he noted as Lina grabbed his hand, slugs. "Slugs!" Lina screeched.

Naga shook her head and nonchalantly said, "Those were not there before."

"Lina," Gourry said. He'd known about her slug phobia since they found some in the cave that Zel hid in. Or was it in the basement of Halciform's mansion? Gourry shook his head to stop the surge of memories relating to Halciform's mansion, not to mention his questions about whether any of it had been real. He needed to focus! It didn't matter where he'd learned it. What mattered was that Lina had a phobia of slugs. "We don't have to go in there."

"Yes, yes we do." Lina said, her voice fast and panicky, "Look, Naga freaks out when she sees blood. And this cave was always bloodstained, but slug free. But now that I'm here, and there's also slugs. Why?"

"To keep us away." Naga whispered.

Lina nodded and took a deep breath, "This means we have to investigate."

A million protests ran through Gourry's mind. There was undoubtedly something dangerous about that cave, and the prospect of running into a mad serial killer and becoming the next victims was not something he could dismiss. But before he could say anything, Lina balled her hands into fists and walked to the cave.

"Lina…" I promised to follow her anywhere. "Wait."

He caught up to her easily and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm here."

She seemed to relax a little, and then she walked right into the gaping mouth. He followed behind, and he sensed Naga bringing up the rear. From ahead of him Lina groaned, but the cave quickly became narrow and dark and it was hard for him to make much detail out. "Lina?"

"We're going to have to crawl through it." She said, sounding sick, "And there's slugs all over the cave floor."

Gourry groaned internally. Considering how tall he was, a tight fit for Lina would be even more claustrophobic for him! Plus he disliked the idea of being trapped in a tiny place with no easy exits. It was suicide! But he felt Lina move forward as she got down on hands and knees to crawl, letting out another moan as her hand touched the slimy cave floor.

"I-I can't! It's covered in blood!" Naga said, the panic in her voice evident.

"Just think about something else." Lina said, her voice strained as Gourry was forced to a snake crawl behind her. He worried that the cave was going to get so narrow that he would become trapped in the passage!

Panic rose through him as ahead of him Lina's breathing became ragged and fast as she made a crying sound. But then he couldn't blame her. Every time he put his hand down it fell on some fat slug. "Lina?"

"Just keep…moving forward." She hissed. She continued to cry, but he could just discern her figure trudging ahead.

Gourry broke into a cold sweat as the narrow passage became even tighter. He started to scrap the skin off his knuckles as he pulled himself through the passage. Finally Lina called, "I can see some light."

"You'd better not be jerking us around after forcing us into this cave!" Naga shouted.

"I didn't force anyone!" Lina said, "You were just too chicken to be left alone!"

"Whaddaya mean by that, pipsqueak?"

"Oh, when I get out I'm going to…"

"You wouldn't dare."

"I see the exit!" Lina said.

Ahead of him he saw Lina's silhouette as she stood up, and he got hit in the face with a long piece of fabric that confused him until he got up himself and saw she was wearing a billowing cape. His clothes felt heavier as he walked out of the cave and into the light and he realized he was wearing armor. But of course he was wearing armor! He was a swordsman!

Lina was standing in a forest dressed in her typical sorceress garb, looking herself up and down. "No trace of slug slime." She muttered, "Was it all part of the illusion?"

Naga came out and Gourry's jaw dropped. And he'd thought the low cut dress that she was wearing in that place was indecent! Naga's outfit made Martina's seem modest!

Wait, Martina?

Lina closed her eyes in relief, "There's only one world here."

Naga nodded, "Yeah, it's gone. And all my memories…"

"…Are back."

"Mine too." Gourry said, and then he became very confused. He had two different sets of life experience memories! "Lina! Lina, what just happened? What does this mean?"

Lina opened her eyes and a strange look set in them as she said, "It means I was never crazy!"

"Indeed!" Xellos said as he appeared standing on a tree branch, "It also appears that you three are the first ones to escape Kitsune. Granted, she likely let you go because she knew you would have to go back for your friends. And what a treat that will be for her!"