AN: Thanks for reading and all the people who offered support! I was glad people found this idea interesting. I guess now is the time to fess up that I'm not sure where I prefer to place this story in the continuity of the show (though it's definitely the anime continuity). Part of me likes placing it shortly after NEXT, the other a bit after TRY. I don't think Revo/Evo happened, though I can see some merits to putting this after the Revo/Evo plotlines, but mostly I debate between after NEXT or TRY. Of course, this means I'm not sure which sword Gourry has in this, though thankfully it never became much of a plot point. Anyway, I'm writing this mostly just to let you know you can place it wherever you think makes the most sense in terms of character development.

And keep an eye out, there may be a postscript coming up!

Gourry was panicking! Lina had fallen limp against him after somehow unleashing some powerful explosion. And he couldn't get the damn fox off of her! If only he had a knife or a sword with him or…

You idiot! He shouted at himself as his memories burst forth, how could you have forgotten that you do have a sword!?

He grabbed his weapon and, despite the awkward angle, managed to decapitate the animal. He threw it off Lina and lowered her to the ground, blanching when he saw her neck wound and the blood gushing from it. He grabbed a handkerchief from his pocket and pressed it to her neck and picked her up. He could feel the life draining from her. He glanced towards where Kitsune had been. Had Lina destroyed her? That he had his memories back indicated she had, and he couldn't sense her presence. But then, he'd been so distracted he hadn't noticed what had happened when Lina's spell had made contact.

But he didn't have the luxury of checking. He had to get Lina to a healer, and fast! So he turned and ran back to the town.

Amelia hung back with Zelgadis, Sylphiel and Naga as she watched Luna try to reason with the mob. To Amelia's disbelief, about half of the mob still seemed to be under Luna's sway! The other half was convinced that she was a witch and was calling for her blood. And as the mob started to fracture and fight, and then started to get violent, Amelia wondered if she would be able to slip away unnoticed.

The sound of an explosion rang, and Amelia threw her hands over her ears and closed her eyes. When she opened them she was stunned to find that most of the town, including Luna, had vanished! And then it hit her. Like the breaching of a dam, her memories exploded into her consciousness. Amelia inhaled sharply as she looked at Zelgadis, who was not longer warty and discolored, but was back to his chimera form. Amelia looked down at her white traveling clothes and put her hands to them. "But how?" she asked.

Sylphiel collapsed to the ground, and Amelia put a hand on her shoulder. She was trembling as tears started to fall down her face. "Miss Sylphiel?" Amelia asked.

Sylphiel gave a few raspy sobs before saying. "It's like I've lost them again. For a third time."

Amelia squeezed her shoulder and then knelt down to hug her, feeling that awkward emotion one gets when they are celebrating their relief while another is mourning a terrible loss. But much as she wanted to voice it out loud, it seemed horrible to say anything about the fact that her father was likely alive and well at home in Seyruun while Sylphiel's family and town had been dead and gone for years now.

Zelgadis took a few steps to the remaining townspeople, who looked just as confused and dazed by the sudden return to reality. "What just happened?" he asked, "What has been happening?"

"Oh ho ho!" and Zel, Amelia and Sylphiel jumped as they turned to see Naga standing behind them, laughing. "That's quite an interesting story there. Where shall I began?"

The townspeople crept closer to the group to listen as Naga talked about meeting with Lina and Gourry and escaping to the real world and regaining their memories. She explained how Kitsune had created this false world to torment people and feed off their misery and how they had returned to destroy Kitsune and free everyone. It was just when Naga was finishing her story that they heard Gourry calling, "Amelia, Sylphiel!"

The women stood up and turned to see Gourry running from the woods carrying Lina, who was bleeding profusely. Amelia and Sylphiel ran to meet him. "Set her down." Amelia said, and Gourry complied.

Amelia checked Lina's wrist for a pulse, "It's weak." Then she started chanting a spell as Sylphiel asked, "What happened?"

But Gourry didn't seem to hear her as he grabbed Lina's hand and asked. "Will she be alright?"

Amelia continued chanting as Sylphiel looked at their entwined hands, and then decided to focus instead on Lina. Minutes stretched by in agonizing slowness until Sylphiel noted the subtle changes in Lina's pallor and breathing. "She'll be fine once Miss Amelia finishes and she gets some rest."

Usually Sylphiel would put a comforting hand on his shoulder. He looked like he needed one. But she was mad at him. Furiously mad. Yes, they never had been married, not really. But they had thought they were. And she had worked so hard to keep him happy, but at the first chance he got he went running off with Lina. He hadn't even tried to make it work with her, even though he thought he was her husband. And while she had been horrified at what her parents had become in that world, she still couldn't be relieved it was a hoax. Her parents had been alive. If he could have found it within himself to love her then she could have been happy living the lie.

By running away with Lina he had exposed the lie. He had even managed to set up a scenario where she would be accused of adultery. He was not the perfect knight she thought he'd been for one thing. A knight would never abandon a woman he made a pledge to.

That's not fair. She told herself, He never actually made a pledge to me.

Lina started to stir, and Gourry started crying in relief as he reached a hand to caress her cheek. There was an intimacy in the gesture that was new, and Sylphiel felt her rage flair as she became convinced that they had started sleeping with each other. She wondered If he had still thought he was married to her when he decided to become intimate with her.

But he thought he had.

Sylphiel took a deep breath as she tried to control herself. Especially as, even with all of the pain he had just caused her, part of her wanted him to desire her still, even if just so she could be the one to cruelly dump him. She wanted to be desired. She wanted to be the woman people ran off with because they were so in love. Not the lonely fool who doesn't even have a family to go home to. The fact that she was alone in the world washed through her like a cruel wave.

"What happened?" Zelgadis asked.

This time Gourry answered, after he took a deep breath and collected himself. "Kitsune sent a bunch of foxes to try to stop her from casting a Dragon Slave. It didn't stop her, but they mauled her rather badly."

Thereby waking me up to the fact that everyone I love but you is dead. Again. Sylphiel closed her eyes in disgust with herself and forced herself to look at Gourry. She had to stop thinking this way. But it was so hard. Then she noticed his arm, "You're hurt, too."

"Not as bad as her." Gourry said.

Sylphiel knelt down and started a Recovery spell, desperately hoping it would be the distraction she needed. Gourry looked at her, his expression unfathomable. "Thanks." he said.

"It appears we have the two of you to thank." Zelgadis said. "I was scheduled to hang in the morning."

"Mr. Zelgadis," Amelia said, "I swear I never wrote those things…"

Zelgadis put a hand on her shoulder, "If Kitsune could create whole memories of things that never happened, then she could easily forge your journal entries."

Amelia relaxed as she continued healing Lina, whose eyes were starting to flutter open. She sighed in relief when she realized that Amelia was healing her. "Looks like I nabbed her."

Gourry smiled at her and brushed her hair from her face, "I need to check to make sure, but I think you did."

"You mean you didn't check?" she asked.

"Hey, I was worried about keeping you alive."

"And he should have been." Amelia said, "You would have bled out if Mr. Gourry had been much longer!"

Lina smiled, "I guess you're forgiven then. But you'd better go and check."

"I'll go with you." Zelgadis said.

Gourry looked uncertain about leaving Lina. "Will she be okay?" he asked Amelia.

"She'll be fine." Amelia said cheerfully.

Gourry smiled and then leaned forward to give Lina a peck on the lips and whisper something in her ear. Amelia's grin widened while Sylphiel turned and looked away as, even from a distance, they could hear him declare his love.

"So there Lina was, asking me to join her, and I just couldn't let her go by herself. I mean, I knew Sylphiel would be okay without me. But Lina seemed so helpless." Gourry said as he walked with Zel to the battleground. "And being with Sylphiel never seemed right. But…"

"But what?" Zel asked as Gourry's voice trailed off.

"I think I'm a bit disgusted with myself, learning that there are situations where I would break marriage vows that I made."

"But surely you don't think it was the wrong decision…"

"That's the strange thing, isn't it? I was so much happier when I left. I even started regaining my real memories." He laughed a little as he ran a hand through his hair, "I even became crazy like Lina when I did. Xellos said it was because by choosing happiness we were fighting Kitsune's hold on us. It just feels like I did a horrible thing, and got rewarded for it. Lina and I are open about loving each other now."

Gourry frowned as he continued, "But it's not as if Sylphiel was one of the fake people in there. She's real and has her feelings. She could barely look at me."

Zegadis thought for a moment, "Still, may be this will be the kick in the pants she needs to move on. You've never given her any indication that her feelings would be reciprocated. She's not blind, she knew what was happening between you two. She was just tormenting herself."

Something about the way that Zelgadis had finished his sentence seemed personal to the chimera. Going on instinct, Gourry said nothing and waited for the other man to continue, "And if you hadn't left with Lina we'd still be in that hell world. And now you can say proudly that you always stood by the woman you love, which is more than I can do."

"Huh?" Gourry said.

Zelgadis smiled wryly, "Amelia asked me to come live with her several times. I always said no, I mean, I was so ugly. I didn't feel I could curse her with me. And look where it got us, stuck and miserable in Kitsune's world. But what would have happened if I had said 'yes?' It sounds like we would have at least have taken a stand against her."

Gourry was quite for a moment, "Well, you do know it's not too late to fix this."

Zelgadis was silent as Gourry scanned the area they were in, "This is it." Gourry said, and Zelgadis cast a light spell so they could see it better.

The forest had definitely been tread, and Lina's blood still stained the ground. "Unfortunately mazoku leave so little trace of their passing." Zelgadis muttered. "And in the dark, it's even easier to miss something."

"If you're worried about Kitsune surviving a Dragon Slave, you needn't." Xellos said as he appeared from behind a tree, "She wasn't powerful enough to survive an amplified Dragon Slave."

Zelgadis scowled at him, "What do you want?"

"The same as you." Xellos said, "To investigate the scene of the crime."

Zelgadis' eyes narrowed, "You're up to something."

Xellos smiled, "And you'll never guess what!"

Then he disappeared. "Damn him!" Zelgadis said, "Sitting on his ass, enjoying our torment."

Gourry continued to scan the area, "Do you think he was lying about Kitsune?"

Zelgadis sighed, "I guess we're never going to know for sure. But I don't see anything here."

"Not even a fox." Gourry said.

"Come on, let's get back to the others and get out of this area." Zelgadis said.

After they got Lina to a cabin and situated in a bed, Sylphiel had gone to the porch and sat down on it to process everything. It didn't take long for Amelia to join her. Sylphiel didn't mind Amelia being there, but her sister was another thing. Still, there was a lot weighing on Sylphiel's mind. So she talked.

"I started having dreams about Sairaag being destroyed." Sylphiel said as she rested her forehead on her hands as she talked with Amelia, "I didn't know what to make of them. I wondered if I was going crazy. But now, now that we're 'awake' for lack of a better term, it's just…it's still hard to see which life was the nightmare."

Amelia patted her arm as she looked pensive, "I'm so sorry Miss Sylphiel. Wow. I wonder why Kitsune decided to torture you with those memories."

Naga snorted, "Kitsune wasn't torturing her."

"Huh?" Amelia said as Sylphiel looked at the rather strange woman.

"You must have been doing something to fight for your happiness in there." Naga said. "It happened to Gourry after he left with Lina. He started getting his memories back. If you fight for happiness, then her hold on you weakens."

"I guess that's why I never got my memories back." Amelia said, and then she looked at Sylphiel, who looked stricken. "Oh, Miss Sylphiel…"

Sylphiel reached her hand out, "I can't…"

Amelia glared at her sister, who raised her eyebrows defensively, "What? All I did was explain how things work!" Naga folded her arms across herself, "What was it you did anyway?"

Sylphiel stood up, "I-I have to go for a walk."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Amelia asked.

"No."

Sylphiel was waiting on the outskirts of the village when Gourry and Zelgadis came back. Gourry looked at the grass awkwardly as she walked over to them and attempted to meet his gaze while Zel said, "I think I'll leave you two alone."

Gourry looked at Zelgadis as though betrayed. But then, he also knew that they needed to have this conversation. Gourry just didn't like hurting people.

"If you're wanting to know if Kitsune's gone, she is." Gourry said.

"I'm glad to hear it." Sylphiel said. "Miss Lina is resting. She'll recover fully."

Gourry was relieved, but he wasn't sure what to say. "I'll catch up to you later." Zelgadis said.

Sylphiel continued to stare at Gourry measuredly as Zelgadis walked away. Once Gourry was certain Zel was out of earshot he said, "For what it's worth, I am sorry, and I do feel bad."

Sylphiel folded her arms across herself in an uncharacteristically irritable manner, "Part of me thinks I have no right to be so mad at you. But the other part, I mean, you thought we were married! You thought you were my husband, and you just went off with Miss Lina, when you'd made a promise to me!" She looked down, "I feel so disillusioned."

Gourry shuffled uneasily, "If you need to let it out, let it out."

"You just seemed so noble! Helping Sairaag and not accepting the money. All my life I'd dreamed of finding someone so honor bound and true to his word. I've put you on a pedestal all these years and now…" her voice trailed off.

"You see I'm human?" he asked.

Sylphiel exhaled, and then took a deep breath. "That's the reason you didn't stay in Sairaag after we first met, isn't it?"

Gourry twitched uncomfortably and Sylphiel smiled sadly, "After you came back, I kept thinking it was between me and Miss Lina, and perhaps she might be fun for now, but one day you'd wake up and realize I was the one you wanted. But it was never between me and her was it? I was never in the race."

An awkward silence passed between them, and Sylphiel grew more and more irritated, both with him and with herself, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Gourry stiffened, "I didn't want to hurt your feelings."

Sylphiel's anger flashed, "It's a little late for that! I was devastated when you left! If you'd just told me it was never going to happen I would have stopped following you around, hoping you would one day return my feelings! I would never have stumbled into that world with you in the first place!"

Gourry reddened and something flashed in his eyes, "Is there anything more you want to say?" he asked tensely.

Sylphiel felt sick with herself. Especially as she realized that, deep down, she was hoping if she could make him feel guilty enough he would try to make it up to her. She had to stop. But she couldn't. "What was so wrong about me then?"

"Don't say it like that." Gourry said. "Sometimes the feelings are there, sometimes they aren't."

"You promised me some sort of explanation!" Sylphiel insisted.

Gourry sighed and collected his thoughts. "Look, some couples can't work together. If they worked together day in and day out they get on each other's nerves right? And others do work with each other day in and day out, and they're stronger because of it. It's not that one is better than the other, it's just that one way works better for some people, and the other way for different people.

"Well, I want someone who can be my partner, at work and at home. Lina and I are both fighters, we're both really good at what we do and we work well together." He smiled a little, "It's kinda why I'm glad she's not interested in settling down and being a wife. What would happen to our partnership then?"

Sylphiel wiped her eyes and felt a million protests rise within her. But Gourry continued, "You've tried hard to be a traveler and a fighter, but it's not who you really are, is it?"

Sylphiel let out a shuddering breath as she was confronted with the lengths she had gone to change for him, to become someone he could love, and how miserable it had made her, even before being trapped in Kitsune's world, "No."

Then Sylphiel broke down into tears as Gourry watched awkwardly. "I'm sorry, I should have said something earlier." He offered. "Do you want me to find someone for you to talk to?"

She shook her head, "Just leave me alone."

Gourry nodded, and left to do as she asked.

As unsettling as it was, they had to stay in the village until Lina recovered. Due to the combination of blood loss and something likely related to using the boost spell for a prolonged period of time, Lina simply could not be moved. While some of the townspeople left as soon as possible, others stuck around while they considered their possibilities. And even though she had been awake all night, Amelia found that she could not sleep. The possibility that she would wake up and find that she was once again the scribe's daughter was too petrifying.

So once she saw that Lina was settled in, she started walking around the village, thinking. As dawn approached she started to head back to the cabin Lina was in to check on her, which was when she ran into Zelgadis.

"Hey." He said as he fell into step beside her.

"Hey." Amelia said.

Zelgadis seemed to fidget for a moment, his anxiety unusual and a bit alarming. "Is everything okay?" she asked.

"Yes. Um, I was just wondering if we could talk."

"Of course." Amelia said.

"I figure you're going to go back to Seyruun."

Amelia nodded, "I just have to check and see for myself that my daddy is okay."

"That's perfectly understandable." Zelgadis said as he looked at the ground as a blush overtook him. "I was wondering, actually, if your offer to come to Seyruun with you still stands."

Amelia stopped walking as she stared at him incredulously. "Do you have to ask? Of course it still stands!"

Zelgadis stopped and turned so they were face to face, and then he quickly reached to grab her hands, as if scared he would lose his daring if he failed to seize the moment. "I was an idiot not to go earlier. Hell, I was an idiot not to leave with you that night when Lina and Gourry took off."

"Huh?" Amelia said as a blush ran through her.

"I learned that in that world the only way to fight Kitsune was to fight for your happiness. And I fought against what would make me happy at every turn in her world." Zelgadis explained, "I thought, with a body like mine, I didn't deserve it. And that mistake could have been so costly. We nearly didn't make it."

A tear fell down Amelia's cheek as Zelgadis continued, "And it made me realize, I'm doing the same thing here, in the real world. I'm fighting against what would make me happy. And it makes no logical sense. I mean, Seyruun is the White Magic capital. I could be with you and keep up my search for the cure. And I'm sure you'd even go traveling with me if I felt I had a good lead outside of the kingdom."

Amelia leaned forward so that their foreheads were touching, "Of course I would!"

He squeezed her hands gently, "It's just like in Kitsune's world. I just didn't feel I deserve to be happy. And I think being in that world, seeing where that leads, it woke me up to what I need to change. I need to do what makes me happy. And being with you, that's what would make me happy."

Amelia threw her arms around him and nuzzled her head against his shoulder. "Somehow, this makes the hell we've just been through worth it. Hearing you say this!"

He gingerly reached his arms up to put them around her, as if scared he would crush her. "I'm glad I was able to help you put some meaning to this experience."

"I love you. Just remember that." She said.

He moved his hand up to stroke her hair, "I love you too. And don't forget it."

She smiled at him, "Kiss me."

Gourry was sitting up in the bed, cradling Lina as she rested, while Amelia sat on the edge as she filled them in on the drama that had ensued after they left. Naga and Zelgadis sat nearby in chairs. At one point Lina let out a low whistle, "I feel a bit bad, that Kistune created something from my memories of my sister that was so horrible. And that it was Gourry and mine's leaving that unleashed it!"

"I'm sure if it didn't manifest in the character of Luna, it would have through someone else." Zelgadis said.

"And considering she wanted to break us, it was just a matter of time." Amelia said. "Besides, if you two hadn't run off we never would have escaped Kitsune."

Gourry looked up as he heard Sylphiel's footsteps down the hallway as Zelgadis asked, "I do have to ask, is your sister really that bad?"

"No." Lina said firmly, "Actually, hearing all this, it puts it in perspective really. All these years I've been making her out to be a bigger monster than she really is."

Sylphiel appeared in the doorway, and Lina stopped talking as she looked at the bed. Amelia was confused by the sudden silence and turned around to see her and blushed a bit. The intimate way that Gourry was holding Lina made it undeniable that they were now a couple. Sylphiel looked down as an awkward silence filled the air.

Finally Sylphiel broke it. "I just wanted to thank you, for breaking us free from that world."

"Don't mention it." Lina said awkwardly.

"Are you okay, Miss Sylphiel?" Amelia asked tepidly.

Sylphiel managed a small smile, "I will be. That's what I wanted to tell you, actually. That I will be fine."

Sylphiel bit her lip as she reigned in the pain, "You see, I've been waiting for something that will never happen. Something that I see now would be a bad thing even if it did happen. It seems, no matter how much you may like someone, sometimes you're just not meant to be together. And, when I realized that in Kitsune's world, for a brief time, I felt better, not carrying that weight around, I saw that I need to do that here as well."

The group shifted awkwardly as she continued, "It's okay. I should have realized this earlier. It's just, they've been rebuilding Sairaag, and I've been putting off going home, waiting for the thing to happen that never will. And I see now, I can't put Sairaag off anymore. Sairaag needs me, and I've been neglecting it. I can't continue that error."

Zelgadis folded his arms across his chest, "When are you leaving?"

"Immediately." Sylphiel said, "I actually found a few other people from Sairaag who were trapped here. I'll be traveling home with them. I just came to say goodbye."

Amelia got up and gave her a hug, "Write to me, okay? Let me know how things go."

"I will." Sylphiel said as she wiped away the tears that formed in her eyes. She then glanced at Lina and Gourry. "I wish you two all the luck and happiness."

"Sylphiel." Lina said quietly.

"We hope you're able to find happiness, too." Gourry said quietly, "And people to be happy with."

Sylphiel smiled at him as she moved away from Amelia and bowed forward slightly. "Thank you."

Then she glanced at Naga, "It was good to meet you. Thank you for getting us out of that world."

Naga looked a bit surprised at being mentioned, but before she could recover to say anything Sylphiel turned and walked down the hallway and out of the house. And awkward silence fell, and Gourry said, "Even though she was never my wife, I still feel guilty."

Lina squeezed his hand. "I know."

They had parted with Zel and Amelia earlier in the day, and once again, it was just the two of them. Gourry felt relieved to be back on the road again and to get as far away from that place as possible. Not even the fact that he had no idea where he was going bothered him. Lina knew, and as long as he was with her, that was all that mattered. But still, he decided it was time to find out. "Hey Lina, where are we going?"

"Oh," Lina said as she blushed slightly. "Well, I was thinking about what a monster Kitsune made of my sister. And I guess I realized that I've let my fear of her grow way out of hand. I mean, I'd better get a handle on that, you know?"

Gourry thought for a moment, "So we're going to your home!"

Lina was now in a full-fledged blush, "Well, I mean, it's been years since I've been there. I really should visit. And, if we're together now, you should meet my folks."

Gourry smiled as he reflected on how this had somehow turned into a growing experience. Kitsune had plundered their mind and created a world full of misery based on their own self-made roadblocks that were preventing them from embracing happiness, and by escaping and looking back it became obvious how they were sabotaging themselves and what they needed to do to be happier. While they were lucky to survive it, it seemed as if they would be making some good changes thanks to the experience, changes they would benefit from. Not to mention changes that would prevent Kitsune (if she was still alive) or another mazoku from doing the same thing in the future. "I can't think of a place in the world I'd rather see."

Lina smiled and grabbed his hand. "It's settled then. Off to Zeferia, to meet my folks! And then back on the road again as soon as possible."

Gourry laughed, "You're on!"