History Fanfic / FlamGush

[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1477482/1/Flam-Gush Flam Gush]] by [[https://www.fanfiction.net/u/186008/Kaitrin Kaitrin]] is a Lina-Gourry Romance story that delves deeply into the dark pasts both characters had before they met.

* AnArmAndALeg: Gourry takes off Garik’s sword arm when he tries an unwise lunge.

* CoitusUninterruptus: Lina in the first chapter catches the man she’s guarding with a pretty blonde. [[spoiler: This sharp awareness of physicality plays a part in her and Gourry getting their acts together.]]

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Completely averted. What Lucilla does to Ryan makes him want to vomit [[spoiler: and she’s treated as a monster for what she did to Gourry while he was delirious.]]

* ForWantOfANail: Lina points out that [[spoiler:if Erik had never raped her, and their parents broken off her and Ryan’s engagement]], then she would be a housewife or running a shop instead of adventuring.

* HandicappedBadass: Even missing some fingers, Gourry is head and shoulders above everyone else in the story with a sword.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Ironically, the lord on whose territory this all happens couldn’t be bothered to intervene as long as he has his books and pretty girls in his bed. But when Lina is recovering and they meet in the library, they establish a rapport over a love of research, and he ends up helping her figure out the ritual that will get her back in good shape.

* PosthumousCharacter: [[spoiler:Rezo the Red Priest]] is responsible for more than half of the story's conflict, and he’s been dead for a while.

A story like few others, [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1477482/1/Flam-Gush Flam Gush]] by [[https://www.fanfiction.net/u/186008/Kaitrin Kaitrin]] is a Lina-Gourry Romance story that delves deeply into the dark pasts both characters had before they met.

** We don't actually meet Lucilla until later, but her two moments are first when Lina [[IncestIsRelative sees her with her uncle,]] and then when [[spoiler: she fakes her death]] to sic the townspeople on Lina and Gourry.

* FaceRevealingTurn: Erik.
* FakingTheDead: Lucilla

It begins with a usual mercenary job, a round of extremely boring guard duty for a local lord. But not only do the two of them finally get their acts together and realize their feelings, but there are sinister characters from both their pasts waiting for a chance at revenge…

!! This story contains examples of:

* [[spoiler: ConvenientMiscarriage: Not convenient at all. Lina doesn’t find out until after the fact that she was pregnant, and while she can deal with the knowledge, it unsettles her.]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: But a fantastic story all the same.
* DarkSecret: Gourry’s family was nobility, and then was murdered horrendously. [[spoiler: Lina has one so secret that even she doesn’t consciously remember it: she was raped by Erik.]]
* DefiledForever: Mostly Averted. [[spoiler: Lina’s rape is treated as a horrendous and traumatic experience, and Gourry shows her nothing but compassion. However, it’s implied that this may have been part of the reason her and Ryan’s parents broke the engagement and encouraged Lina to go adventuring.]]

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Completely Averted. What Lucilla does to Ryan makes him want to vomit [[spoiler: and she’s treated as a monster for what she did to Gourry while he was delirious.]]
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Erik’s is when he first shows up, having arranged a dramatic confrontation with Lina but keeping her from fighting by [[spoiler: holding Gourry’s mother hostage. When Lina agrees to a hostage exchange, he first binds her magic, and then has Gourry’s mother knock him out.]] It shows how ruthless, thorough, and terrifying he can be, while also pointing out through absence that he is only mediocre in a fight.

* EvilVersusEvil: Erik fights Gisella. [[spoiler: In fact, the entire story is because of Erik, Gisella, and Lucilla working together at cross purposes.]]
* EyeScream: What Gourry did to Garik when they were both working as mercenaries. [[spoiler: Also, Rezo did this to the clone of Gourry’s mother.]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Lina’s internal commentary on how she knows about quick flings in the first chapter reads a lot more darkly by the end of the story.

** When Lina hears about Erik’s death, she wonders if she didn’t already know for some reason.
* ForWantOfANail: Lina points out that [[spoiler: if Erik had never raped her, and their parent’s broken off her and Ryan’s engagement]] then she would be a housewife or running a shop instead of adventuring.

* GoodIsNotNice: Gourry is likely the nicest person we see, but he helps Lina hunt bandits for living and cuts his way through several enemies when they threaten her.

* IfICantHaveYou: Erik is obsessed with possessing Lina.
* ImAHumanitarian: Gourry’s family suffered this as part of their torture.
* IncestIsRelative: The blonde Lina catches her employer with in the first chapter is the man’s niece.

* KarmaHoudini: Lady Monara is the one whose activities opened up the chance for the villains to act, and in the end all she’s really lost is some of her servants and her step-daughter.
* MagnificentBastard: Erik is a monster, but his abilities to win the servants’ loyalty and what he can make Lucilla do for him, as well as how thoroughly he hunted down every scrap of information on Lina and planned how to [[TailorMadePrison successfully imprison]] her. Had it not been for a SpannerInTheWorks he literally could not have seen coming, he probably would have won.
** Lucilla managed two surprisingly good attempts at killing Lina, despite several miserable failures. Not only do we later find out that the cut-purse was sent by her, but when Erik punishes her for a failed attempt by making her clean Lina’s wounds, Lucilla manages to poison the water.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Justified, for once. Both [[spoiler: Lina’s rape]] and [[spoiler: the slaughter of Gourry’s family]] are horrible, traumatizing events that they have tried to move past and forget, so of course they really don’t want to talk about them.
* PosthumousCharacter: [[spoiler: Rezo the Red Priest]] is responsible for more than half of the story’s conflict, and he’s been dead for a while.
* [[spoiler: RapeAsDrama]] It’s treated exactly as traumatic as it is in life, and is what kicked off the entire plot.
* RealityIsUnrealistic: The biggest harm Gourry suffers is the result of poisoning from badly made rye-bread. This condition occurs in real life, and is believed to have played a part in the Salem witch trials.
* [[spoiler: RedHerring]]: Lina sees Zelgadis hanging around the town but he keeps avoiding them.

-->Lina: “Have I ever told you that is the most annoying habit I have ever seen in my entire life!”
-->Gourry: “Maybe. I forgot.”
* SlutShaming: [[spoiler: Gourry]] completely averts this with [[spoiler: Lina]]. But a lot of people do it with Lucilla, because she actually manages to deserve it.
* SpannerInTheWorks: Lina would never have escaped if it weren’t for [[spoiler: Elaina, the girl she saved from Garik’s rape attempt early in the story]].
* TitleDrop: Flam Gush is the wind spell Lina uses to kill [[spoiler: Lucilla]] after escaping her bonds.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Ryan only knew Lina from before she became the [[TheDreaded Enemy Of All Who Live]] and didn’t think she could save Gourry until she pulled a knife on him when he tried to stop her.
* Wham Line:
** [[spoiler: Gourry]]: “My mother’s name is Lisielle. I have no idea who this ‘Gisella’ is supposed to be.”

* PoorCommunicationKills: Justified, for once. Both [[spoiler: Lina’s rape]] and [[spoiler: the slaughter of Gourry’s family]] are horrible, traumatizing events that they have tried to move past and forget, so of course they realy don’t want to talk about them.

* AManIsNotAVirgin: Gourry isn’t. [[spoiler: Neither is Lina]]

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted hard. By the end of it Lina is frighteningly skeletal and running on rage, and Gourry isn’t much better.

* CompleteMonster: In the original series [[spoiler: Rezo the Red Priest]] came off as a bit of a misguided AntiVillain. Here we see that he was willing to do some horrendous things, such as torturing a woman to insanity, in the name of his goals.

* CoitusInterruptus: Lina in the first chapter catches the man she’s guarding with a pretty blonde. [[spoiler: This sharp awareness of physicality plays a part in her and Gourry getting their acts together.]]