Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Lina in Horrorland ❯ The Pain of Recollection ( Chapter 2 )

Title: Lina in Horrorland

Author: Yugure

WARNINGS for Chapter 2: If I get flames for what I write, I will laugh at them and MST them and have a grand old time. The characters in my story (besides Lina) suffer from severe mental illness. If you have a problem with any of the characters being crazy, DO NOT READ THIS STORY. And if you're queasy about blood… don't read this either. And self-inflicted torture… don't read. Yeesh, it's like I'm giving away the whole chapter…

Chapter 2: The Pain of Recollection

"Are you all right?"

Lina groaned and opened her gritty eyes in response to the concerned voice above her. Blazing bright light shone down over her face, and Lina squeezed her eyes shut again. She threw her hands across her face.

"Lemme alone…" she mumbled. "Shimata, it hurts…"

"I'm sorry, I forgot the light," the voice said, sounding slightly admonished. The glare against Lina's eyelids faded to a dull brilliance. "Miss, where does it hurt? What's your name?"

"I said lemme the frig alone, dammit!" Lina snapped back, but the action of raising her voice caused the pain to swell. With a sharp intake of breath she cringed. Lina opened her eyes again and glared at the stranger in the dim light. "Where the hell am…"

The words died on Lina's tongue as her eyes widened with the sight of the stranger. Shadows cast by a candle flickered over smooth, pale ivory skin and danced in the fathomless cerulean irises of his eyes. Soft violet hair cascaded around the beautiful face. The person was very human, but Lina would recognize those eyes, that aura anywhere… wouldn't she?

Lina opened her mouth to speak, and then closed it. Her brain screamed at her, insisting that she should know this person, but no name would come. Nothing came. Lina was left with a blank and the feeling that it shouldn't be empty.

"You look very familiar. Do I know you?" Lina asked, careful to talk slowly. The pain was worse the louder and faster she spoke. The man before her shook his head.

"I don't think so. I've never seen you before. But Miss, you're terribly hurt. We have to get the bleeding to stop or-"

"What's your name?" Lina insisted. Her brain began to lose some of it's focus.

"Zelgadis. Yours?"

"Zelgadis? I know that name! … Don't I?"

"… I don't know, I've never met you before."

"My name's Lina…" Lina trailed off. Her brain was now very fuzzy, and the bells of recognition in her mind could not be heard through the fog of confusion. Zelgadis, Zelgadis… the name was familiar. And yet that blank was still there. "What do you mean bleeding?"

"You suffered from severe head damage. You'll need stitches for sure. The blood is still spreading on the ground as we speak. If you don't get help soon, you'll die from blood loss," Zelgadis informed her. "I'll cast a Levitation and get you out of here."

"Where's… here?" The words came more slowly to Lina. The world lost focus, and Zelgadis was only a blur of colors. "I'm so tired… why?"

"Shimata… You probably have a concussion. Don't go to sleep, okay? Stay awake however you can. Do NOT go to sleep!"

"Mm-hmm…" Lina agreed.

"Lina, don't fall asleep!"

"O… kay…"

The world fell away to darkness.

***

The second awakening was much less painful than the first. Lina moaned and groaned as she shifted her weight in the soft, downy bed she was currently resting in. Her head throbbed, but the feeling was distant. With one shaky hand she patted the bandages wrapped around her head. A sharp hiss of pain escaped her lips.

"Good to see you're awake. You gave me quite a scare," Zelgadis said. Lina shifted her eyes to stare at the handsome human sitting in a chair next to the bed. Relief and concern vied for dominance in his face.

"Zelgadis, right?" Lina asked. The man nodded. "Where am I, and what the hell am I doing in someone else's bed?"

"You're in my home, sleeping in… *cough* my bed," Zelgadis blushed slightly, "because I found you nearly dead in the Dark Forest. You're lucky you aren't paralyzed or have a life-threatening concussion. From what I could tell, you had fallen from a great height and landed on your back, nearly on your neck. You have a bruised hip, too. You must be gifted by L-sama to make it through such a brutal beating. Do you remember where you came from?"

"No I don't. All I remember is falling through a black hole, then a whole helluva lot of pain, and you rescuing me. And even all that is fuzzy," Lina replied. A small voice nagged in her mind, and the image of a lamia surfaced. "L-sama…"

"What? Remember something?"

"Yes. I was being chased by a lamia. I don't know why, but…" Lina trailed off as the rest of the story rushed into her mind with startling clarity. It was like watching a video in fast forward. She fought to sit up, but a newly found pain in her hip and a sharp stab in her head kept her from doing so.

"Lie still. Movement will cause the pain to swell again."

"Zel! Zelgadis!" Lina threw out her hand and grasped the cool arm of the man beside her. "Of course you know who I am! When did you turn human? Why do you claim to not know me? Why are you here, too? Where IS here?!"

"Whoa, calm down, Lina!" Zelgadis replied. He placed his hand on Lina's forehead and clasped her outstretched hand with his. "You don't have a fever. Maybe the concussion is worse than I thought…"

"No, Zelgadis! I know you know me! Don't you remember?" Lina suddenly shuddered. The film in her head began again, but this time emphasizing the fight she had with her dear chimera friend. "Oh, L-sama, Zelgadis I am so sorry! I didn't mean to push you away! When did you come back? Zel, I want you to know I never meant to screw up your chance at getting your cure-"

"You're rambling like a raving lunatic," Zelgadis muttered. He sighed and stepped away from the bed. "I don't know whether or not you need more sleep, or maybe a powerful healer."

"Dammit, Zel, listen to me!"

"I am listening, Lina, but I'm not who you think I am. I've never seen you before in my life. Did it occur to you that I simply share the name of the person you're thinking of?" Zelgadis asked. He walked over towards the door. Lina quieted down to think about that.

"No, it didn't, but you even look like him…"

"Coincidence."

"Coincidence my ass."

"Are you always this tactful?"

"You should know. I've been traveling with you for a helluva lot of years…"

"I'm going to call Sylphiel. She's a local white healer. Maybe she knows what's wrong with you."

"Good. Call Sylphiel. I need someone sane to talk with." Lina pulled the sheets up around her neck and glared at Zelgadis.

Zelgadis stiffened at the mention of "someone sane". Of all the people he knew, Sylphiel was not the sanest person. Neither was he, really, but that was a different story. And Lina never had to find out, if he played his cards right.

"I'll bring you some food in a few minutes. Will you survive until then?"

"You betcha."

"Good."

Zelgadis left the room. He sent a message to Sylphiel via Odin, his pet raven. It was the most reliable and fastest way he knew. Once that was done, he set about making a meal for the invalid in his room.

That thought alone caused Zelgadis to blush. Who would've thought Zelgadis, of all the crazies in Horreur de Terre, would end up with a beautiful, reasonably sane woman in his bed? Oh, there were plenty of other women here willing to share a bed with Zelgadis. But none of them were sane.

Zelgadis absently ran the knife he was using to cut with up and down his arm. He often did so when he became lost in thought. Something having to do with the instability of his mind, no doubt. He didn't even realize he had refocused the blade from the pork to his arm until he saw the bright red splashes scattered on the meat. Zelgadis sighed, set the knife down, and threw away the meat. No good now. The pale skin of his arm stood in stark contrast with the blood. Tentatively, Zel touched the blood with his fingertips and then licked a drop from his slender fingers. Surely the beautiful woman in his bed wouldn't care to see such displays of mental illness. Zelgadis sighed again and washed the blood off his arm. He bandaged it tightly and set about finishing the meal.

Insanity. A word used by many but rarely used properly. Horreur de Terre was not such a place. Here, insanity meant exactly what it was intended to mean. Madness, lunacy, psychosis; they all meant the same in Horreur de Terre.

Insanity.

***

Author Notes: Yes, Horrorland Zelgadis is insane. No, I don't plan on changing him. Yes, the rest of the story is going to be as gruesome or moreso. No, I'm not positive Horreur de Terre translates directly to Horrorland (by all means, I should've used Terre de Horreur, which would get me Land of Horror). Yes, I am weird. Yes, I pity the foo' who don't review. ^__^