AN: I do not own The Slayers, I just play in the sandbox.

Gourry set a pillow on the grass, and then laid down on his back, resting his head on his hands as he watched as Lina took off her mantle and set it down beside him. "It's so good to finally relax!"

Lina sat down and then moved so her head was resting on his stomach and they made a T. "It's strange," she reflected as she stared up at the clouds, "much as I like being with Zel and Amelia, it does feel as though the mission is never fully completed until they are gone."

"Well, somehow it always works out that when the four of us are together the world becomes endangered."

"That's a rather good observation, coming from you." Lina said with a smirk, "If us getting together with them is what brings out the wannabe world destroying crazies then the best thing to do is to not ever get with them."

"Either that, or the vibes those crazies put out is what brings us together." He countered as he stroked her hair. Finally the all of the white was gone and the red had fully returned after the last Giga Slave she'd performed. "So, where are we off to now?"

"Oh, do I have to plan everything?" Lina groaned.

"Well, if you don't want to, I'm fine just picking a random direction and walking."

Lina smiled a little. "Just make sure there's a beach in the direction we hit."

"Sounds like fun." He said.

"Provided no one wrecks it." Lina said. "Though I guess it's good, if they have to wreck something, that they do it in places where I'm at. Though just once I wish they'd give it a rest. Let someone else handle it."

"Can someone else even handle it? I mean perhaps the reason you're a Mazoku magnet is because you're so good at what you do."

Lina smiled, and then moved so she was resting comfortably on top of him, her chin perched on the hand that was resting on his chest. He smiled as he moved one hand to cup her waist. This was the nice thing about the others being gone. Lina would relax her guard and become affectionate again. He marveled that even after a few years of cuddling like this on and off she would still flush a little when they did this. It was cute, even if it led to the root of his frustration that she was too shy to let the others know that they were a couple. She moved and gave him a peck on the lips, "So I'm one of a kind, huh?"

"Well, I don't think there's anyone else in the world who can do the things that you have. It does make you special."

She kissed him again, deeper this time, and longer. She pulled away and grinned at him, and he moved his hand from her waist to stroke her cheek. He thought about telling her he loved her, but he didn't want to ruin the moment. "We'd better get going if we're going to find an inn tonight." She said.

He looked at the sun, which was starting to sink low into the sky. "Right."

She grabbed his hand when he got up, and they set off in a random direction. "Perhaps, when we get to the beach," she said coyly, "We can try sharing a room?"

His heart raced as his face flushed. "Do you love me?"

"Huh?" she asked as her eyes widened.

"If you're wanting to go that far, I mean, I think we should say it first." He said. "And, maybe, let other people know about us?"

She squeezed his hand, "Perhaps, a long walk by the beach might get me in the mood to make some confessions."

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye, "You have this all planned out, don't you?"

"Hey, someone as special as me deserves something ultra romantic!" Lina insisted. "I have high expectations!"

He sighed as he shook his head, "See, this is why I never give you compliments. You'll take a mile if offered an inch!"

"But how often are you going to find someone who can do what I do?" she asked.

He chuckled as he ran his fingers through her hair, "I guess there's a reason I put up with it!"

Lina set her chicken down and looked at it distastefully and said a sentence that Gourry thought he'd never hear her say, "I don't think I can eat this."

"Whoa, who are you and what have you done with Lina?" he asked.

He was expecting a bit of snark or a smack for his comment, but instead she pushed her food away. "I think I'm going to go and turn in early."

He looked at her and noted that she was still flushed. He put a hand on her forehead and frowned, "You do feel warm. Go get some rest. I'll check in on you in a bit."

"Thanks." She said as she got up and walked to the stairs.

Gourry continued eating, noting that whatever she had it didn't appear to affect him yet, so hopefully he wouldn't get it and he could take care of her. He wasn't too worried. Most likely it was a cold and Lina would be back to her usual self soon. After he finished eating he went upstairs and used the spare key to her room. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"Crappy." She said.

"Is there anything I can get you?"

"No, I just want to sleep. See you in the morning."

"Right. Feel better!"

"Lina," Gourry called as he knocked on her door the next day, "I got you some breakfast."

He didn't expect her to answer and already he was unlocking the door. When he came inside he was stunned to see how much worse she looked as her eyes fluttered groggily open. "I'm not hungry. Throw it out the window." She said.

He set it on her bed stand and touched her forehead. She was burning up! "I'm going to send for a healer." He said.

"Fine." She replied as she turned around and closed her eyes.

Gourry watched as the errand boy left to fetch a healer while the innkeeper looked at him, "Is there anything else I can get for you, son?"

Gourry thought about how warm Lina was. Surely they would need to bring her fever down. "Do you have any ice?" he asked.

"Unfortunately the sorcerer who lives in this town who produced ice for everyone got sick." The innkeeper explained.

Gourry straightened in alarm, "You mean this killed him?"

"Goodness, no!" the innkeeper replied, "But every magic user who's gotten this fever has lost their powers."

A sense of surrealness clung to Gourry as he walked back up the stairs to Lina's room. Surely this was a mistake. Lina couldn't lose her powers. Not permanently. It was unthinkable! When he returned to her room he didn't say anything to Lina about what he had heard from the innkeeper. There was no need to worry her about something she couldn't control when she needed to rest so badly. And rest she did! He put a cold compress on her forehead but he doubted that she even noticed. He sat in a chair by her bed as he waited for the healer. It seemed to take forever for her to get there. Finally there was a knock on the door, and when Gourry opened it a tall woman wearing white robes was there. "Is this where the sick woman is?" she asked.

"Yes." Gourry said as he moved to let her in.

"I'm Releah." She stated cheerfully as she went over and started examining Lina, who didn't so much as stir.

"I've heard there's something going around." Gourry said.

"Yes, this is the fourth case I've seen this week." Releah commented, and her sunny demeanor seemed rather out of place with the situation, "Looks like she's at the sleeping stage."

"Sleeping stage?" Gourry asked.

"Yes, nothing will wake her up now until it passes." Releah said as she added with a wistful sigh, "So, she's a magic user?"

"She is." Gourry confirmed as his stomach started to churn. He didn't want to hear confirmation of the fact that Lina would likely lose her powers.

"That's the strange thing about this, it only seems to affect active magic users. It has to be only those who actively practice magic. Considering more people have some magic capacity then actively practice it if it was magic capacity alone then more people would get this." Releah explained rapidly. "Is she a powerful sorceress?"

"Very," Gourry said, "The most powerful one I've ever met."

"Such a shame. Well, there's good news and bad news. The good news is that as bad as this looks, she'll live. On its own its not killed anyone."

At least there was that, "But will she still have her powers?

"Unfortunately, no. This fever goes out with a bang! It will increase and increase and cause a series of catastrophic seizures. It's terrible to watch, and it must also cause some sort of brain damage that leaves magic users unable to use their magic. Other than that they're fine."

Gourry felt like he understood very little of what Releah had said, just that bottom line she would be magicless, "Oh. But she can get the ability back?"

Releah shook her head, "So far no one who has come down with this has. But then this only came onto the scene a few months ago. Perhaps with time some people will, but so far it hasn't happened."

Gourry sat down on the chair and grabbed Lina's hand as Releah considered him. "Are you a gambling man?"

"Huh?" Gourry said.

"Do you gamble? Make bets? Take risks?"

"What sort of risks?" Gourry asked.

"Well, I've been experimenting with antiepileptics."

"Anti-what?" Gourry asked.

"Medicines that stop seizures. I'm wondering if I stop the seizures if I can prevent the brain damage that causes the magic users to lose their abilities."

"They could help Lina?" Gourry asked as hope lit within him.

"Perhaps. I'm still struggling to get the dosage right."

"Why, what happens if you don't?"

"Well, I lost two patients this week." Releah admitted.

Just like that, the flame of hope extinguished. "Lost…as in they died?"

"Well, yes. But I think I know where I went wrong and that it won't happen again! You see, I made the dosage way too high! I'm thinking I need to hit the target zone between letting them have a small seizure to get it out of their system but not severe enough to have brain damage. I think I have the dosage perfected now, but…I still could be wrong, I guess. I'd say it's fifty-fifty!" Releah said excitedly.

"Fifty-fifty!? Gourry repeated, "You mean…"

"There's a fifty percent chance she could keep her powers, fifty percent that she could die." Releah said manically, "But I'm really thinking her chances are on the right fifty!"

Gourry exhaled. He didn't trust how eager see seemed, nor how blasé she was over losing two patients in the last week. On the one hand he was fairly sure that their odds of defeating Shabranigdo, and the ghost of Shabranigo for that matter, and living to tell the tale were less than fifty-fifty. On the other hand, they had no choice but to fight Shabranigdo. In this case there was a safer option, it just came with a terrible cost.

He looked at Lina and tried to figure out what she would want to do. On the one hand she valued her life and wanted to continue living more than anything. Yet she also loved her powers and being a sorceress. And she was someone who would take risks with her life if it meant acquiring more power, even if he didn't always agree with her that the risk was worth it. Would she see this as an acceptable risk?

Bottom line, how could he make this choice for her. "You said…" he started, and then he took a breath, "You said she won't wake up again until this passes?"

"No," Releah confirmed, "Her fever will get higher and higher and even if she woke up she'd be too groggy to make a decision. Really it's all on you, so what do you say?"

Gourry felt paralyzed as he looked at Lina. What should he say? He knew what choice he would make, he just wasn't sure if Lina would ever forgive him for making it. After a moment, Releah patted him on the arm, "Hey! It's a lot to think about. I'll give you some time. But not too much time. I need to give her the medicine before the seizures start. She probably has about four hours. I'll check back in in three."

"Four hours." Gourry repeated tonelessly.

He heard the door open, and Releah walk out. As it closed behind her he suddenly wished there was someone he could talk to about this, someone to let him know whether or not he was doing the right thing. He wished Lina would wake up and give him her blessing so he could feel better about this. Because regardless of whether or not she would ever forgive him, he would rather have her alive and powerless than dead.

AN: The scene at the beginning is based on a piece of artwork by Rui Araizumi, and if you've seen it you know which one I'm talking about. Brendala once suggested I do a scene based on it when it came out as a back up for a story request thing, but since I did the big request this one just hung around for awhile until the right time came. Amazing how some ideas germinate quickly while others take years.

This one sorta came in a dream when I was trying to think of an idea I've never done before, and I briefly thought about doing the plague thing as a Neverending story arc, but then I decided it would get too dark for Neverending. And so it begins...