Lina blinked blearily and sat up. She was lying on a bed, with what felt like silk sheets. The room was very dimly lit, but she could see countless red fireflies floating around the room.

Red fireflies? What?

Lina sat up and shook her hear slowly.

Where am I? She got up and walked slowly to the door. It opened the moment she touched it.

What…? She stepped back and tried to get a good look around.

It was filled with a ghostly light that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once, shadows appeared it the oddest places, while ordinary things seemed to take on a ghastly, evil appearance.

Drapes from the ceiling obscured vision very far, and mirrors seemed to fill the walls. Everywhere Lina looked was her reflection, rendered to a smoky haze by the veils draped over, around, and hanging from everything. She shivered and ran from the room.

Lina stepped into the hall and looked around. Here, too, were hundreds of red fireflies.

Why are there fireflies?

She heard something behind her and spun to see--

A pair of red fireflies, blinking in unison.

Lina leapt back, and ran down the opposite hallway.

* * *

Lina pressed her back against the dead end, glaring at the fireflies. That's why. Her eyes hurt from trying to look everywhere at once. Her legs hurt from running for a straight three hours. Her lungs hurt from the racking gasps that shook her oxygen-starved body, and her ears hurt from the echoing thuds of her own footsteps.

She glared at the two glowing red embers that stayed in the same place as the rest swirled about her.

"What do you want." It wasn't a question. She heard a low chuckle, but no answer.

"What do you want!" she said with more confidence. She was terrified, but damned if she'd let him know that. "Why did you bring me here? What did you do to Gourry?"

No answer.

"Tell me, dammit!"

The eyes didn't move.

"I said--" Lina grabbed at the dimly lit figure and her hand hit something sticky and thick. She looked down.

Blood… Lina looked at the eyes.

~~Gourry, or at least most of him, with light spells in his eyes…~~

Lina shrieked and slammed against the wall, tears threatening at the corners of her eyes. She looked at her hands, dripping with blood, and choked, slamming her head against the hallway and staring at the ceiling.

The door she was leaning against opened slowly. She toppled backwards and landed on something soft. And sticky.

I will not look down, I will not look down, I will not…

Lina covered her mouth to stifle the scream making it's way to her throat. She stumbled back out the door, turning and running.

She slammed into something cold, unmoving, and thankfully, not wet with anything. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"You seem happy to see me." Lina shrieked and pulled back, bringing her blood stained hands to her equally blood smeared face. She took deep breaths, trying to calm down, staring at Zelgadis' chuckling form with a look a mix of horror and resentment clear across her face.

Zelgadis laughed out loud. "So, you liked my illusions?"

"Illusions…?" Lina stared at her pristine hands, untouched by anything other than the bare wood-paneled walls. She stared into the empty room that had held the prone figure of Syphiel, and breathed in and out slowly. She glared at him.

"You monster."

Zelgadis burst into amused laughter. "Yes, I suppose I am." He grinned at her, baring a mouthful of teeth and fangs. She bit her tongue. "I suppose you want to know where you are."

"That would be nice." She snapped, trying to push the fear into the back of her mind. Be afraid AFTERWARDS, Inverse. You need to be calm NOW.

He chuckled. "This is my personal heaven, Lina. And your--" He grinned and spread his arms wide, gesturing to the rooms beyond him. "--personal hell. What say I give you the tour, Lina?"

Lina spit in his face. He jerked back and wiped it with the corner of his sleeve. "Well, Lina. That was certainly unexpected. I thought you might be frozen with terror right about now."

"Well, you guessed wrong." Lina took a step away, then another. If he's here, then he's not behind me--

"I'd watch where I was going, if I were you, Lina." Before she could think, she turned and gazed at the spear she had just nearly impaled herself on. Zelgadis chuckled.

"Or, you could keep going. Don't let me stop you." She glared at him.

"Asshole."

"At your service. You said you wanted to rid your kingdom of me? I'll give you a chance."

"What's your game, thing." She spat out, refusing to call him by the name she once whispered in her sleep. He raised an eyebrow, but didn't deign to comment.

"As long as you remain alive, I'll stay here. As soon as you die, I'll kill myself. Fair deal?"

"You're trying to get me to commit double suicide?" Lina asked slowly, brain catching up to her ears.

He smirked. "I might. I might not. You're much more amusing alive, Lina."

"How lucky for you I intend to remain that way."

He smirked. "That's what I love about you, dearest. Your fire."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Lina screamed, covering her ears. She sank to the floor.

"What? Dearest?" Lina whimpered. He grinned and knelt beside her, whispering in her ear. "Don't tell me you've forgotten all the nights I held you in my arms--"

"SHUT UP!"

"No, you've remembered. You had those moments imprinted on your soul, haven’t you? Just like I did."

"I don't want to hear!"

"Well, you're going to!" Zelgadis lifted her to her feet by her hair. She bit her lip and glared at him. "You're going to burn, Lina, just like I did! Just--" He screamed, falling, as Lina pulled back her hold dagger, used mainly for church ceremonies. She pulled back, and a hand grabbed her ankle.

A weak chuckle escaped Zelgadis' lips, as he stood, hand covering his wound and glaring amusedly at her. "See why it's so much more fun with you alive, Lina? You're so full of surprises!" He chuckled darkly. "I wonder how you'd react to having your dagger fly at your stomach." Lina suddenly felt as if she was frozen in ice, and the dagger slowly drifted through the air as if through water, and came to rest pressed gently against her abdomen. She swallowed. "Shall we find out?"

"I'd really rather not. I could pretend and save us the mess, though, if you like."

Zelgadis chuckled. He was apparently having the time of his life. She glared balefully at him as the ice disappeared and the dagger clattered to the floor. Zelgadis leaned against the wall.

"Well? Aren't you going to run?"

"Where to?"

He smiled. "If you're not going to run," He said softly, "I suppose I'm going to have to chase you."

Lina's eyes widened as he unsheathed claws from his fingertips.

"I would suggest you start running."

* * *

Lina spun around a corner, opened a door, ran inside, and shut it behind here, leaning against. The sleeves of her shirt were ripped to shreds where she had tried to shield herself with her arms when those razor sharp claws came slashing down. Her arms were in only slightly better shape. She looked up slowly.

Zelgadis stood in the middle of the room, smiling ferally. "I'm surprised you came. Hello, dearest. How are you?"

Lina tried to run back out, but the door was tightly sealed. She looked around the room panicked.

It's a…a…Lina choked.

A…bedroom…MY bedroom…

It was exactly alike to the one she had in the palace. Except…

The sheets of the bed were stained with blood. She looked down at her hands, shards of glass stuck to her palm.

It's looks like I just…broke…a mirror…

Lina gasped. She spun to the bed with bloodstained sheets. She looked at the smashed mirror and window, and gazed at her bloody and sliced hands. She stared at Zelgadis.

"This is an illusion."

"Is it?" Zelgadis grinned. "Parts of it are. Parts of it aren't. Which isn't? Could I be real?" He advanced, and she pushed back against the door. "Or am I an illusion? Am I waiting outside the door, waiting for you to break through it and rush into my arms? Am I sitting in some other part of this maze, waiting for you to come running from and illusion of myself?" He laughed. "What's real, Lina? What's real and what's an illusion?"

Lina shook her head. The entire labyrinth was made of magic, she couldn't tell what was an illusion, what was real, and what was only half-formed thoughts. She whimpered and pressed her eyes tightly closed.

"Are you sure you want to close your eyes?" A voice whispered into her ear, breath trailing across her neck. She shivered and her eyes snapped open.

No one was there.

"Oh, I'm here." The wall grew arms and wrapped them around her. She shrieked and turned her head suddenly, to find she hadn't been leaning against the door, it was against Zelgadis. She leapt back, slamming into a hard chest. She spun to see Zelgadis. She backed up and was pinned to a wall by arms. She spun to see him smiling down at her.

"Oh, this is just so confusing! Where am I?" He exclaimed mockingly.

"Dammit, Zel, grant me at least the respect to have only one of you running around this place!" She yelled, eyes scrunched closed against tears.

"As you say, my lady," He whispered into her ear, holding her tight, breath trailing over her cheek, voice low and chuckling. Lina shook her head and tried to pull away.

"How do I get you to leave me alone?" She said softly. She shuddered as she felt gently lips on her neck.

"Well, you could try the--" He stopped, stricken, and his head snapped towards the north.

"Someone's coming, aren't they?" Lina said softly. Zelgadis glared at her.

"Not anyone who won't be dead in the next few moments." He disappeared.

You might not see it as more that a distraction, but that distraction is my ticket home. Lina followed the scent of magic Zelgadis left behind.

* * *

Zelgadis appeared at the doorway of his labyrinth, glaring at the wounded blonde who had somehow followed him here.

Gourry glared at Zelgadis and hefted his sword. Zelgadis laughed. "You think a blade can hurt me? Hah!"

Gourry brought it down and sliced Zelgadis' arm. It would have cut him in half, but on reflex he'd moved back, even though he hadn't meant to. He screamed in agony.

Gourry raised the sword again, ready to cut off his head.

Zelgadis smirked and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying towards a tree and smashing into it with a sickening crunch. He grinned.

"I hadn't expected you to have a blessed blade with you. I'm impressed." Zelgadis chuckled darkly at the prone figure. "But that's not gonna help you."

"No, but I am."

"What?" Zelgadis spun to glare at Lina, who was holding a fireball at ready.

"Hello Zelgadis. So this is the way out."

He chuckled and leaned against a tree. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." He looked down. "You have quite a protector here," he said, kicking Gourry.

"Not that I need one."

"Oh? Shall I kill him, then?"

"I'd rather you didn't."

Zelgadis broke into amused laughter.

"Lets go back inside, shall we?"

* * *

Lina and Zelgadis reappeared in one of the halls.

Lina smiled slightly and chuckled.

He stopped short and stared at her. "What are you laughing about?"

"You."

"And why is that?"

Lina smiled. "'And do you know what I hate about you, Lina Inverse?'" She quoted, smiling. "'That you have to hate me for what you see of yourself. For a reflection.'" She chuckled. "I see now, Zelgadis. I see now."

"See what?" He snapped, quickly losing control of the situation. He did not like this, and he didn't like having no idea what she was so amused over.

"This is hurting you as much as it hurts me, doesn't it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You're thinking of me as a reflection, just as I saw myself in you, you see yourself in me." She grinned. "Meaning you torture me in all the ways you know you would be hurt by. But you're so sad, twisted, and hurt you don't care how much it hurts you, as long as it hurts me."

Zelgadis froze for a moment, then grinned. "Well, well, well. I guess you've figured that out. And it won't hurt you as much with me hurting too, will it? Hm." He laughed. "What shall I do now? Physical torture is so messy, I didn't want to, but now it seems to be the only choice--"

"Come back to me, Zel."

Zelgadis' face shifted slightly before returning to the usual look of amusement and cruelty. But Lina thought she saw a touch of…sadness? Longing?

"What was that? I don't understand." He said mockingly.

Lina shook her head and stepped towards him. "Come back to me, Zel. I know you're there. Somewhere, buried beneath the pain, self loathing, and hate, beneath the cold walls you've built around yourself so you don't have to see what you're doing, you're in there. And I know you can hear me." She touched his face softly. "I need you to come back."

Zelgadis struck her. She crumpled to the ground.

"Don't try it, honey. I AM Zelgadis. I'm not hiding in some dark corner of my mind, shivering and trying not to feel the pain, I'm right here. In front of your face."

"Zelgadis." Lina stood unsteadily, then with more surety. She tilted her chin up and walked to him, putting her hands on his shoulders. He stared at her, true terror breaking through tiny cracks in his façade.

"I need you here, Zelgadis. I need you with me."

Zelgadis' eyes turned from ruby, to violet, to sapphire blue. He stared at her, bringing a shaky hand to her face.

"Lina…"

Lina held him as he fell against her and cried.