1. Chapter 1 (1/2)

great

good indeed ...

author's note: i

thought i should say this before i started – just to make things

absolutely clear. i have heard that mellyroon is definitely not

related to gourry (although if anybody does have a copy of the

interview or whatever where kanzaka actually said that, i would be

really interested to read it), but when i first had the idea for this

fanfic, i was under the impression that she was gourry's

great-grandmother (or thereabouts, give or take a few 'greats').

i have decided to leave this idea as is, because i'm stubborn.

so please, i would really appreciate it if people refrain

from informing me that i'm wrong – i already know that i am.

also, i have chosen to

pick and choose between the subbed and dubbed dialogue in the movie –

blasphemous i know, but i have developed a habit of watching both

versions and simply ignoring the dialogue i like least out of the

two. (although generally, i will admit, i do prefer the sub). i also

use dialogue from the manga. almost in the same manner as the

sub/dub situation, i do have an annoying habit of mixing together

situations from the anime, manga and novels (sometimes without

realising it – it's taken me by surprise every now and then, when

i watch the anime and find that certain things i was sure had

happened, hadn't (but had in either the novels or the manga).) ...

and now i'm rambling.enough from me – i never realised i

would have to make so many excuses for this story before i had even

begun...

-

the

moon was nearing fullness and hung large in the sky on this balmy

summer night, bathing the scenery in a shimmering, milky glow. its

ightness highlighted two figures and a small, makeshift campsite on

the side of a gently sloping hill. the larger of these figures was

sprawled out on the ground and the other, far smaller figure was

sitting, shifting restlessly, sighing every now and then and casting

surreptitious glances at its sleeping partner.lina inverse

was wide awake. sleep had been difficult to come by since the battle

with darkstar and valgaav, and she had found her overactive

imagination dredging up more and more incidents from the past. the

thought that confronted her most often was the glaring problem of the

sword of light, or rather, the lack of it. although she knew

deep down in her heart that she had stopped 'following the sword'

a long time ago, it was still a convenient facade – an easily

available excuse that she could use to block any probing questions

about the two travellers' relationship with each other. she

blushed deeply as she remembered some of the hasty denials she had

blurted out in the past:"that's not it! he has something

valuable of mine that ... i have to get back. i don't love

him!""of course i'm worried! after all, i want to make

sure i get the sword of light! you saw how powerful it is!""you

can have gourry! just give me his sword! ... please?"the

blush grew darker when she recalled that last comment – gourry had

told her later that he had heard everything shehad said whilst

he had been under the other sorceress's spell. her mortification

at the time had been immense, and it had been weeks before she had

forgiven herself for it – although she had the sneaking suspicion

that gourry had let the matter drop almost as soon as he had

confronted her about it. he was like that.now that the sword was

gone, lina no longer had that comfortable, safe excuse to fall back

on in public, and she felt a little as though one of her defensive

barriers had been stripped away.she had been surprised, to say

the least, when gourry had so willingly given up the sword of light

to sirius. at the time she had felt slighted in a way – hurt that

he would so easily give up his 'family heirloom' to an almost

complete stranger, when he had consistently refused to give it to

her, even after all the nagging and begging and pleading that she had

gone through over the years. after thinking it over for a day or

two, she had gradually come to realise why he had done it, and the

hurt had lessened slightly.she found her mind absently

drifting back to another, similar, occasion four or five years

previously – the image of a short boy with floppy blue hair, trying

to wrest the sword of light out of her hands whilst she steadily

tugged back:"oh come on rowdy! don't be greedy!"

that

in itself puzzled her. how in the name of the nine hells had gourry

got his hands on the sword of light when rowdy had been so reluctant

to part with it...? how...

...

rowdy ga

iev! of course! as the realisation dawned on her lina

could have slapped herself for being so uncharacteristically

unobservant – not only had gourry been in possession of the sword

of light, 'passed down through his family for generations', there

had also been the tiny hint of his distinctive surname! how had she

missed it?lina let her eyes wander over the contours of gourry's

sleeping face. now that she looked closely, and knew what she was

looking for, there was absolutely no question about gourry's

lineage – strong, yet delicate bone structure, slightly slanted

eyes and ears that, if you looked at them carefully enough, were just

a touch pointier than the average human's. along with his vaguely

elven features, there was almost no mistaking his likeness to

rowdy...... which meant that by travelling backwards in time,

preventing joyrock from destroying the elven village on mipross and

reuniting rowdy and mellyroon, she had effectively

ought about

gourry's existence. and to think that she had been so close to

refusing! the only reason she had even agreed to help rowdy was

because he had told her about that 'fountain of growth' ... which

had all been a nasty trick! lina found herself growling

under her

eath, and she forced herself to

eathe normally, calm

down and think more closely about the situation. what was it the old

man had said to her?"when you've grown as old as i am, you

can see just a bit into the near future. so even though this is a

request from me, it has a lot to do with you as well..."at

the time, she had

ushed this off as part of rowdy's feeble

attempt to engage her compassion, but now she found herself turning

the words over and over again in her head – was that what he had

seen? could he have been talking about her meeting gourry? the more

she thought about it, the more it made sense – if she had refused

to help rowdy, the repercussions could have been phenomenal... even

though she had never wanted to admit it to herself before, gourry had

saved her life any number of times - starting when, only a few days

after they had met, she had been attacked by the monster zorom whilst

on the run with zel...lina felt sick. a deep, painful ache

grew in her chest as the full horror of the situation hit her, and

her

eathing became quick and shallow. details sank in, bit-by-bit,

slotting jigsaw-like into place to form a huge, terrifying

picture...if she had refused to save mellyroon and the elves

from joyrock, rowdy would have spent his entire life pining for his

elven sweetheart, in solitude, on the island of mipross, she knew

that much – she had seen it happen, before she had changed the

past...so the ga

iev family line would have ended there, and

gourry would never have been born...so gourry would never have