Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ The Only Night ❯ The Only Night ( One-Shot )

The Only Night

By Mala Darkling

 

Disclaimer: Characters Lina and Goury belong to Rui Azraizumi, Hajime Kanazaka, Software Sculptors, and ADV. This is fan fiction, and I make no profit from my work other than the satisfaction of writing. ___________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________

 

“Lina Inverse, Sorceress Extraordinaire and not-flat beauty—don't interrupt, Goury—strolled through the streets followed by her strong and faithful, if not particularly bright, lackey.”

“Lina, what's lackey?” asked Goury Gabriev, the very blonde lackey in question. He trudged along a step behind her like an ever-faithful guard dog, one hand reaching habitually for his sword hilt. Some of the people in this crowd didn't look entirely trustworthy, and he thought wistfully of his old sword, Gorun Nova.

“Jellyfish for brains,” Lina muttered, stretching elegantly, arms above her head, feeling the tug of her snug clothing across her skin, and letting out a sigh. It felt like she'd pulled something at some point along the road. It had been too long since she'd had a roof over her head, although she would be the first to admit that she missed the wide-open spaces. Continuing this thought process out loud, she added, “It's kinda funny to not be able to see the stars after so long sleeping in the open. I mean, now we're in a big city again and there's smog and bright lights everywhere, and we can barely see `em.”

“Eh?”

“Forget it Goury.”

Goury shrugged, noticing that the stars were indeed almost invisible. This, however, was not a very pressing thought, as a few minutes later he sniffed the air and discovered an unmistakable aroma.

“FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!” Lina and Goury shouted hysterically, and they both raced off towards the irresistible scent of food, leaving a trail of trampled citizens in their wake.

They followed their noses to a loud, brightly painted marketplace filled with dozens of vendors and attractions. After stuffing their faces, literally, with more than ten elephants could eat for breakfast, they wandered hungrily in search of desert. Three cherry pies later and with an ice cream cone in each hand, Lina announced that she was going to find the stars. Goury alternated between his two cones, peach and mint, which Lina felt the need to comment on.

“Goury, that's disgusting. How can you actually eat those two together?

“Eat what? What two?” Goury asked, staring at her with his perpetually clueless expression and licking ice cream from both cones before swallowing.

“Peach and mint, dummy!” Lina shook out her waist-length red hair, which she still fervently believed was longer than Goury's despite the several feet of difference, and gave him a superior look. He shrugged, and continued to trudge contentedly behind Lina, one eye on her red-clad slim figure and the other on any possible dangers. He watched Lina mostly so that he wouldn't fall behind or lose track of her, but also because he thought she was a possible danger to herself. Besides, he liked the occasional glimpse of her body when her billowing black cape didn't obscure it. If he stood behind her, Lina wouldn't notice him looking and decide to get angry.

A little ways from the outskirts of the city flowed a thick, shallow river with high banks. Lina plopped down at the edge to gobble her delicious ice cream, making an indent in the soft grass. Popping the last bit of cone into her mouth, she licked her fingers and her lips, and then laid back in the grass, arms and legs spread like a starfish.

“Mm, food. I'm so full!” she declared, stretching a bit. She glanced over at Goury, who grinned childishly at her, half his smile hidden by yellow hair, and then lay back as well, pillowing his head on his arms.

“That was some good grub,” he agreed nonchalantly, gazing upwards. “It's so hot out here.”

“Goury, you idiot! It's summer. Of course it's hot.” She couldn't help smiling, which softened her tirade. “While you're at it, why don't you comment that the sky is blue and it just finished getting dark despite it being late already—because it's summer. Oh yeah, and there are crickets chirping. Mm hm, and they might just be in the wood across the river. Duh!”

“But Lina, in the mountains, it's cool even in the summer. And a cricket just jumped on me.” Goury gave her a puzzled expression that candidly asked why Lina did not know this, as she seemed to know everything else.

“Oi!” Lina rolled her eyes at the heavens and kept quiet, knowing that arguing with Goury would give her a headache very fast. The trouble, though, was that by some crazy fluke his arguments made sense. Besides, she was too happy and too full to get properly mad at him.

A companionable silence settled between them then, interrupted only by the crickets and Goury's burp and mumbled, “Excuse me.” The two rested on the grass and gazed up at the dazzling sky, idly noticing the considerable difference between the murky sky in the city and the diamond-encrusted one out here. A slight breeze ruffled their clothing and played with Lina's crimson hair, cooling the warm air. The sorceress put her arms in the air gratefully, feeling the breeze drying the film of perspiration on her forehead and arms. The combined scent of the grass, river, and night was intoxicating, and after a time Lina heard Goury's even breathing and realized he had fallen asleep.

Glancing over at her snoozing companion, Lina watched the face that was always so childish and peaceful, but seemed more so in repose. He wasn't nearly as young as he often acted, though his innocence would always make him look young. Goury was probably twenty-five or twenty-six by now. With a muffled sigh, Lina moved her eyes back from his dreaming face to the glittering sky, watching the stars as the Earth turned slowly on its axis. The Golden Goddess' universe was indeed beautiful.

After stargazing for a while, Lina noticed a white streak careening through the velvet sky. “Hey Goury, it's a shooting star. Make a wish!” she shouted happily, waking him and ignoring his tired grunt.

Now what did Lina want to wish for? Money was no issue, as they had recently run into a very rich group of bandits who had been more than happy to hand over their wealth in hopes that Lina Inverse, bandit-killer, dragon-spooker, and enemy of all who live, would spare their sorry lives. Good food churned in her happy tummy, so food would be a useless wish. Oh, gotta make this good before it's gone! Something simple, maybe...

“I wish for happiness,” she told the star silently, and then it was gone.

“Wait, come back you evil, monstrous falling comet! I take it baaaaaaaaaaaack! I wanted to wish for bigger breasts!” Lina wailed, sobbing at this lost opportunity as another would mourn the death of a loved one.

“What did you wish for, Lina?” inquired Goury curiously.

“That is for me to know and for you to ponder uselessly for all eternity,” the mysterious flame-hared beauty smirked. She didn't notice that Goury had easily distracted her from her grievance and put her back in her usual happy-go-lucky mood. “What did you wish?”

Goury gave her a puzzled look. “But Lina, if I tell you it won't come true.”

“I don't care! Tell me.”

“No.” Goury frowned slightly and met her glare. He could be stubborn on occasion, and he wanted this wish to come true.

“Why'd you ask me if you knew mine wouldn't come true if I told you?” Lina asked petulantly.

“You didn't like your wish.”

“Yeah, well maybe you don't like yours either. Tell me.”

“I do too like it.”

“Dang, and he's usually so gullible...” Lina complained to herself, earning another puzzled look from Goury.

As she was omniscient, aside from beautiful, talented, amazing, etcetera, Lina already knew what Goury was about to ask. “And if you value your life, Jellyfish brains, you'll look it up in a dictionary and not bug me!”

“Okay Lina. How do you spell gullible?”

“How can you not know the meaning of a word that describes you better than your name?” Lina asked incredulously, sitting up to stare at him. “Jellyfish for brains.”

“Okay,” Goury replied with a satisfied grin. Gullible was just another word for Goury—that made sense.

With that, all would have been well, except that another thought popped into Goury's attention deficit brain. “Hey Lina, do you keep food in your cheeks like a hamster?”

“No,” Lina rolled her eyes and then added, “That could actually be a good idea—wait a minute, are you implying my cheeks are fat?”

“No!” Goury raised his hands in pleading supplication. “Of course not Lina, your cheeks aren't fat. They're cute. I was just—aieeeeee!”

Lina punched him with all the considerable might in her small body, pounding him ferociously. No one will ever know whether she was mad because he called her a fat hamster or because he called her cute.

After this, Lina's bodyguard was too bruised to be of much use, as he had known better than to anger her by defending himself, so the two plodded sleepily to the nearest hotel. One might pity the hotel employee who assumed they were a couple and tried to put them in one room. Once they dealt with the misunderstanding and rectified the damage Lina's temper caused, both Lina and Goury fell asleep the moment they climbed into their respective beds.

***

Brilliantly warm sunlight woke Lina with its excited glare the next morning. Yawning, she stumbled out the door and downstairs to order breakfast. She knew Goury would join her shortly.

Skimming the menu, Lina noticed the date printed neatly at the corner. July 7—why did that sound so familiar? It wasn't her birthday and it wasn't Goury's birthday, if Goury even remembered his. Was it...a festival? She missed the festivals she'd grown up with in Zephillia now that she and Goury had been in the outer world so long.

It had been more than a year since she, Amelia, Zelgadis, and Goury had left the port of Seyruun and saved the world with no guidance other than a vague prophesy and a ditsy dragon priestess, and since parting company with the others, she and Goury had not returned to the inner world. Lina's name and fame spread like wildfire through the new lands, and she had found new bandits to terrorize, making a living off of stolen bandit loot, bounty hunting, and various other odd jobs. Now, though, she knew she missed her hometown.

Oh yeah, now she could remember. Back in Zephillia, July 7 was a star festival accompanied by a myth of two lovers who could meet only on this one night of the year. The next day, however, they would part and their lives returned to normal. She and her family and neighbors had decorated her village with a million and one brightly colored streamers, and the holiday affected the young people in a way similar to Beltane. Since in those days she had been something of a romantic, Lina had wished like all the other girls for someone special. Later she'd wished for money, fame, and a woman's figure, and then she'd wandered off to become a badass sorceress. Quite honestly, though, she missed Zephillia, and on this particular July 7, she couldn't help but wish that she did have someone special.

Breakfast would do, though. Lina called over the busty brunet waitress and made her order.

The fifteen breakfast specials she ordered arrived by the time Goury stumbled down the stairs to join her at the table, and the two proceeded to devour it all. Having finished her own omelets, Lina reached for one of Goury's. “Lina!” He whined, grabbing a pancake. They wolfed down their stolen items, glaring challengingly at each other. It continued thus until they finished off all the food on the table and several subsequent orders.

***

Sometime after lunch, five or six by Lina's estimation, she and Goury took to wandering the streets again. Surprisingly, Lina wasn't hungry and had a feeling she wouldn't be for a while so it made sense to go out and do something. In a city like this, there were plenty of possible activities, but that didn't make finding the fun stuff easy. About five minutes after leaving the hotel, Lina sighed dramatically and turned around.

“Lina, did we get lost already?” Goury asked curiously, following her back the way they'd come.

“I'm gonna ask someone what the heck there is to do in this town!”

“Okay.” Scarcely a second passed before he added, “What about the circus we saw back there?”

Lina perked up. “Good idea. I'm so glad I thought of it!” Lina grinned happily and allowed Goury to lead the way to the circus he'd spotted, ignoring his protest that she'd stolen his idea.

The circus turned out to be a good one, and as Lina sat munching cotton candy in the front row next to her swordsman, she didn't even comment on the obviously fake magic tricks. She sat up straight in her seat with a huge grin when various animals and acrobats jumped through rings of fire, and cheered loudly when a lithe red head juggled an assortment of torches and white roses. After his performance, the acrobat snuffed out his torches and tossed white roses to a few young women in the audience, and Lina smiled up at him delightedly when he gave her an elegant bow and a perfect white rose. “For you, milady.” Goury glared resentfully at him while Lina gushed happiness and shoved her nose deep into the flower.

Lina and Goury exited the circus tent just as the town clock tolled ten pm. The redheaded acrobat from earlier approached them with a smile, and bowed to Lina. “I'm Rei,” he introduced himself, “and you two might be...?”

“I'm Lina Inverse, and this is Goury Gabriev. Your show was great.”

“Ah, thank you, Ms. Inverse. You are more beautiful than the stories say.”

Lina flushed slightly, and returned, “Are all entertainers such players?”

“Players as in actors? Of course.”

Lina huffed indignantly. “You know what I mean.”

“Alright, perhaps I do. I was merely eager to meet someone from my home country. But yes, charming is in the job description.” Rei's smile widened, flashing white teeth, and his orangey-red hair appeared scarlet in the glow of the street lamps.

“You're from Zephillia?”

“Yes, Ms. Inverse.”

“Hmm.” Lina wrinkled her nose thoughtfully. “How did you know I'm form Zephillia?”

“Your accent isn't strong, but for someone who lived there so long . . .” Rei trailed off with a shrug. Lina nodded. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe your companion wishes me to leave.”

“What do you mean?” Lina queried, sending a glance at a bored-looking Goury.

Rei winked in a manner that made Lina expect him to reply, “Now that is a secret,” but he only smiled and bowed again. “I'll leave the two of you alone now, but perhaps I will see you again sometime. Adieu.”

Lina blinked as he turned to speak with someone who appeared to be his boss, then focused ruby eyes on Goury. “I'm going down to the river again. You coming?”

Goury peered at her sleepily with one eye, and replied, “Yeah. What'll happen to you if don't have a bodyguard?” Lina bristled at the protective undertone in his voice. It wasn't her fault if Goury decided to be jealous of men who actually knew how to be nice!

“You know perfectly well I can take care of myself, Goury!”

“I know, but you have your period,” Goury shrugged.

Lina's eyes widened. “How'd ya figure that?”

“You haven't fireballed me.”

“Oh.” Seriously, Lina thought, that's just freaky. She couldn't believe he had room in his tiny brain to notice that kind of stuff.

Goury smiled down at her, and then stepped back to his vigilant pose behind her. At some point over the years with Lina, Goury had discovered that the girl was generally meaner around that time of month, but couldn't do magic. Her punches still hurt, but did significantly less damage than her sorcery. In some ways, he liked her better when she had her period because their conversations tended to last longer when she couldn't fireball him. Goury would never tell her for fear of serious consequences, but he liked talking to Lina.

Once they reached the edge of town, Lina ran all-out to the river. She flopped down on the bank with a huge grin. “The stars are even brighter tonight. Just look at them, Goury!”

Goury lay beside her to study all the brightly colored jewels and remarked, “It's a dark moon.”

“Mm, hmm, just makes `em brighter.”

“What makes them brighter?” Lina sweat-dropped and ignored his remark.

After a while, Lina announced she needed to use the bathroom. “I'm going across the river, Goury. You follow me, you die.”

“Okay Lina.” Goury grinned up from where he lay and waved jokingly.

Lina, Sorceress Extraordinaire, took off her black cape and tossed it at Goury, who balled it up and used it as a pillow, and then she waded into the river. About halfway in, she discovered that the river was nowhere near as shallow as its clear waters indicated. By the middle, the water came up to her chin and flowed swiftly, tugging at her hair and clothing. When Lina climbed to shore on the opposite bank, disgruntled and soggy, she felt the barely-existing breeze more strongly than the warm humidity. Mumbling petty, scorching curses at the water, she ambled off into the wood. When she came back out, scratching idly at the back of her neck, Goury stood outside the tree line beaming at her. Lina jumped about three feet into the air, face turning beet-red and eyes flashing dangerously.

“Baka! Ecchi! Jellyfish! What did I tell you?” Lina screamed, grabbing her cape from his large hand and fisting it into a ball.

“Umm...you told me baka, ecchi, jellyfish?”

“Arggh, you idiotic pervert! How could you—spying on a poor defenseless girl while she's using the facilities!”

Goury's forehead crinkled. “I thought you said you could take care of yourself.” Lina's brows lowered, and she slapped him hard.

“Owww oww ow! Lina, stop it,” he whined, “I wasn't spying.” Goury rubbed mournfully at his cheek, one eye watching Lina reproachfully. “I found a bridge.”

Lina stopped her fuming for a moment, seeing for the first time that Goury and her cape were dry. “Where is it?”

Goury smiled and gestured to a place a bit further downstream, hidden only by a slight bend in the river. Lina led triumphantly, fastening her cape back on as she walked, and refused to be insulted by how close the bridge was to where they had been lying in the grass earlier. After all, she'd had other things on her mind—namely, a very full bladder.

Halfway across the arched wooden bridge Lina plopped her damp, tired bottom down, hanging her feet off the side. The bridge was wide but had no handrail, and Lina's legs hung about a foot from the rushing water's surface. Goury sat beside her, more quiet than usual. She turned to say something, mouth half-open, and stopped, transfixed by the look on Goury's face. His wide blue eyes held the bright happiness of a summer sky, but she saw a certain intensity there that she couldn't remember having seen before. He had tucked the blonde hair that normally fell into his face and obscured the right half behind his ear, and with his two eyes watching her carefully, Lina suddenly realized that despite their long friendship she still saw him as beautiful.

Goury leaned forward, eyes closing and eyelashes settling against his cheeks. Lina's last coherent though before his lips touched hers was that no one had a right to eyelashes that long. His lips were soft and she felt her heart fluttering in a way that it had no reason to do. She saw the innocent happiness on his face as he kissed her kindly, sincerely, asking for something neither of them could name. Goury kissed tentatively, as if it was his first time, unsure how to go beyond the basic contact of his lips on hers, and in that one second of their kiss dwelled an eternity. Then he pulled away and Lina realized what had happened. She realized how much her actions had betrayed.

Ruby eyes widened and she shoved him. They both fell into the river, sucked by the tide until Goury found his footing and pulled them both up. Standing straight, the water only reached the middle of his chest, and his soaking hair fell into his face. Once again, Lina could only see one eye.

Discontent with his closeness, Lina tried to push him back under. When that failed, she splashed him with all the strength in her thin arms. At first, she splashed because she was mad at him and still trying to rid herself of feelings that had surfaced during their kiss, but when he splashed her back, grinning, it was just a game. Lina laughed mischievously and dove under the water, attacking his legs until he fell. What was a kiss between friends? It wasn't the first time, after all. The splashing became simple playing, and Lina viciously blinded Goury with her weapon of supreme waterpower. He splashed her back, pleading, “Lina!” then realized she wouldn't go easy on him and he had no reason to go easy on her, either. He dunked her, and then swam upstream a bit so she couldn't reach him, yellow hair trailing behind him. Goury stood again when he was a few meters from her and stuck his tongue out tauntingly.

“Cheater,” Lina bellowed, shoving the water at him with the heels of her hands. Goury ducked under the water to avoid her H2O missiles, then came up a little closer, blinking droplets from his eyes and splashing her whole-heartedly. Life with Lina was never boring.

They dragged themselves from the river twenty minutes later, exhausted and self-satisfied. At Lina's order, Goury carried her piggyback-style to the hotel. When he set her down on the ground in front of her door, both were nearly dry, and their hair dripped on the rug. After a moment of staring quietly at each other, Goury went to his room and closed the door, and Lina entered hers with a weary sigh. “I was not expecting him to kiss me goodnight. I did not want him to—not really,” Lina whispered to herself.

Closing the door behind her, she fell against it, watching the bright stars in the window across from her for a moment. Lina thought she saw a shooting star, but she wasn't sure. She didn't bother to wish on it, because right now, she didn't need to.

After peeling off her wet clothes and donning pajamas, Lina cuddled into warm blankets, wanting the comfort despite the added warmth. A small grin split her face as she closed her eyes. Life was good.

And a tiny thought found its way into her head: maybe happiness had been following her around all this time.

But the next morning she would vehemently deny the thought, and their relationship would be back to normal.