lupinewraith
 
 
 

Zel: Isn't this story over with yet?

Author: Well, I thought I might have it finished in six parts, but I guess I was wrong!

Xel: Oh, keep it going for as long as you like!

Amelia: I'm back! I'm in this part! Yay!

Lina: Nice to have you back, but I don't think you're going to enjoy this part much.

Valgarv: How can any of you even start to complain? Look at all I've been through, and I don't even get mentioned in this story!

Filia: Well, you are an evil monster. People like you don't get put in stories.

Xel: You aren't in it either Filia.

Filia: You disgusting monster! Don't even talk to me! I would never lower myself to be in the same story as you!

Xell: Well boo hoo.

Lina: Shut up you two!

Zel: No, let them argue, maybe he'll leave me alone for a while.

Much later ...

Filia: Well what about the time you stole my tea!

Xel: You called me garbage!

Zel: (sniff) I kind of miss him ... (sniff)

Amelia: Well you still have my eternal love and friendship!

Zel: Xelloss!

Author: Aw, young love.

Valgarv: That's it. I'm leaving. I never get to say anything.

Author: I guess that's my cue to start the story. Um, this one's pretty silly. I just felt like writing something lighter than the other parts. I know it's taken me a while to write this part, and I'm sorry! I promise I will finish the series eventually!
 
 

"Dragon Slave!"

Zanokou was dead, but Amelia was still missing. Lina looked around as the smoke cleared.

"Where are Zelgadis and Xelloss?" she asked. On the other side of the room Gourry picked up a piece of paper.

"Why don't we read this note they left?" he suggested. Lina walked over to join him.

"W ... what?!?!!?" She exclaimed as she read the message, then blushed bright red.

"What does it say?"

"Oh, er ... nothing ... They'll be back soon ..." Lina quickly tore the note into pieces. "Lets go find Amelia."
 
 

Meanwhile Xelloss and Zelgadis were discussing the very same note.

"It said what?!?!?!"

"Gone to have some wild, passionate sex with Zelgadis. Back soon." Xelloss replied cheerfully. Zelgadis slumped into a heap on the floor.

"Oh Gods ... what will Lina say ..."

"Congratulations?"

"I very much doubt it. How could you have written something like that?!?"

"Well, I thought it was true at the time," Xelloss said, grinning.

"I hate you."
 
 
 
 
 
 

"Amelia! Amelia, can you hear us?" Lina called. There was no answer. "Where can she be?"

"Lina, I'm hungry!" Gourry complained.

"We have to find Amelia!"

"Shouldn't we wait for Zelgadis?" Lina blushed again.

"Er, he's busy right now." They turned a corner and found a chirpy priest and a depressed chimera in the path ahead. Zelgadis was deliberately avoiding Lina's eyes.

"Well, hello you two!" Xelloss chirped. Nobody said anything. Zelgadis kicked at a stone.

"Is something wrong?" Gourry asked after a while.

"Not at all! So you two killed Zanokou, right?" Xelloss asked.

"Yep, Lina dragon-slaved her," Gourry answered happily. "Where have you two been?"

"Oh, talking, getting to know each other. Did you know that Mr. Zelgadis ..." Zelgadis clapped his hand over the Mazuko's mouth.

"Don't listen to anything he says, Lina. Whatever you're thinking, it's not true."

"Zel, what's going on between you two?" Lina asked.

"Um, well, we ... er ..."

"Mr. Zelgadis and I are a couple!" Xelloss announced proudly. Zelgadis blushed beet-root.

"But I thought the note was just a joke!" Lina exclaimed, then blushed fuchsia at the thought of it. She was trying to picture the priest and the chimera in a relationship together, but it just wasn't working. "But, Amelia ..."

"I know." Zelgadis said immediately.

"But you and Xelloss, you really ..."

"No!" Zelgadis shouted.

"What does that mean?" Lina thought. "Does that mean he and Xelloss aren't together or that he and Xelloss didn't do what the note said? Not that I want to know!!! Was the note all just a joke of Xelloss'? I wouldn't put it past him. But was there any truth in it?" An awkward pause reigned over the group.

"What must Lina think of me?" Zelgadis thought. "Going off with Xelloss when we should have been fighting to save Amelia! She must think I am totally heartless. Oh, I wish I was alone with Xelloss again!"
 
 
 
 
 
 

Amelia opened her eyes. Where was she? Fighting for justice against Zanokou! That's right. But where was everyone else?

"Hello?" She called. There was no answer. She got up and left the room she was in. Outside the door there was only a darkened corridor stretching in both directions. "Which way should I go?" She thought. After staring alternately in both directions she decided to go left. "Justice will guide me in the right direction!" She said, trying to cheer herself up.
 
 
 
 

"Leave me alone, Xelloss."

"Oh come on, Mr. Zelgadis! After all we shared, you won't even talk to me?"

"Shut up!"

"So it was just a one night stand?"

"We didn't do anything!"

"You don't have to lie!"

"Flare arrow!"

"That's more like it!"

"Gah!"

"Those two really hate each other today," Gourry said, obliviously.

"I don't like it," Lina replied. "What is going on between them?"

"Sounds like they're fighting to me," Gourry offered the simplest explanation.

"I know that! But I mean ... Oh! Why does Xelloss always have to be so damned mysterious!" Xelloss grinned widely behind her, then grabbed the chimera and kissed him.

"Mr. Zelgadis?!?!" a shocked Amelia said as she came into view behind them.

"Amelia!" Zelgadis shouted, wrenching himself away from Xelloss.

"Mr. Zelgadis! How could you? Mr. Xelloss ... Why did this have to happen?" Tears welled up in her eyes, which she quickly wiped away.

"Well, I've got to get going!" Xelloss said, and disappeared.

"Xelloss? How could you! Amelia, this isn't what you think ..." Zelgadis started.

"And you knew about this, Miss Lina, Mr. Gourry? And you just let them! It's unjust! It's ..."

"Amelia, calm down," Lina tried to soothe the young shaman as she walked towards her. "I don't know what's going on here anymore than you do, but at least you're ok! We've been looking everywhere for you!"

"It doesn't look like that's all you've been doing! What is going on?"

"I think it's time Zelgadis explained that to us all," Lina said, glaring at the chimera.

"What's to explain?" Gourry asked. They all stared at him. "It's been obvious that those two liked each other for ages!" Everyone else face faulted.

"But I haven't liked him for ages!" Zelgadis protested as he got up.

"Oh, so you like him now?" Lina asked.

"I ... it's complicated. He saved my life ... and then ... he just ... I ... I'm sorry." He finished up lamely. Amelia stared at the floor.

"I can't believe those two are ..." she thought. "I mean anyone else I could maybe have handled, but Xelloss? He hates Xelloss! Mr. Xelloss is a monster, he couldn't love a monster. I never let myself believe that he loved me ... but I thought he might at least like me and care for me ... But all this time he's just let me feel this way while he's been with Mr. Xelloss? How could he?!?! This is so unjust! This is so evil! It wasn't supposed to happen this way!"

"I didn't mean to hurt you, Amelia," Zelgadis said. "But look what I've done to her!" he thought. "I hope she's going to be ok. I didn't want her to find out like this, it's just so cruel! Damn Xelloss! Why'd he have to leave? He is so thoughtless and unfeeling!"

"Mr. Zelgadis, how long has this been going on?" Amelia asked. Zelgadis thought about this.

"Um ... well, it came on really gradually, but I think I've known about it for a day."

"Do you love him, Zel?" Lina asked quietly.

"Love?!? Wait a second, no-one said anything about that! I just ... we just ..." He trailed off.

"You mean you don't love him? Are you just playing with Mr. Xelloss' heart?" Amelia shouted, and added in her head "Like you played with mine."

"Amelia, I think it's more likely to be the other way around," Lina told her. "Zel, do you really think he cares for you? I mean, he is a monster, and he's never exactly been helpful or truthful with any of us."

"I don't know," Zelgadis admitted, but decided that this wasn't the time to think about that. He needed to explain to Amelia. "Amelia, can I talk to you alone?" he asked. Lina glanced at Amelia, then back at Zelgadis.

"Gourry and I will be through here," she said, pushing the swordsman off into a room.

"Wait, where are we going?" Gourry's fading voice asked. Zelgadis looked at Amelia. He didn't know where to start.

"Amelia, I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize to me, Mr. Zelgadis, what you do is your own business after all." Amelia tried to be strong. She didn't want to betray any of the things she was feeling or thinking.

"But I do, Amelia." Zelgadis decided to just take the plunge. "I know that you have ... um, feelings for me." Amelia blushed bright red. "I tried not to encourage those, but maybe I did. Amelia, even if there was nothing between me and Xelloss, it would never work between us." Amelia sat down heavily on the floor and buried her head in her hands.

"I can't believe he said that," she thought. "At least I could have hoped that if he didn't love Mr. Xelloss he would have loved me ... but maybe it's better to know how he really feels ..." Zelgadis continued.

"We're really different people. To start with you're a princess ... and I could never be a prince. I wouldn't fit in, I would hate palace life. Your people would never accept me anyway ... not with the way I look."

"But you're going to change back!" Amelia blurted out before she could stop herself. "You'll turn back into being fully human, then none of that would matter!"

"I might never find my cure, Amelia. Even if I did, part of me would always be inhuman. I would still have the scars left from the two thirds of my body that aren't human now. Anyway, if I did become totally human I still wouldn't want a life at court." Amelia started crying. Zelgadis looked down at her. He felt horrible. "It's too confining for me. I would go mad with having to do all the official duties. I couldn't take being around all those people and inside those walls. And there's more than that Amelia. You don't really love me ..."

"Yes, I do! How can you even try to tell me what I do and don't feel!" Amelia was past caring what she told the chimera. It all just hurt too badly.

"You love someone you've made me out to be. If I was really the person you wanted me to be, I wouldn't be hurting you like this now, and I wouldn't be ... well, I wouldn't care for a monster. I'm too old for you as well, and if I don't get changed back into a human then you would die long before I even started aging. I'll always care for you as a friend ... but it would never work out between us. If I didn't get changed back to a human it would be ..." he stopped and blushed. "Physically impossible. I might roll over in the night and squash you. You've seen me in battle as well. I don't fight for justice like you do, I fight because I love killing." Amelia winced. "You see I'm not the kind of person you need."

"But ... but Mr. Zelgadis ..." Amelia didn't want to believe what he was saying. She'd never really thought about the reality of what would happen ... maybe she had been deluding herself. It was all just too cruel! "I need to be alone," she whispered. Zelgadis nodded and went through the door Lina and Gourry had taken.
 
 
 
 

"Is she ok?" Lina asked when he entered.

"I don't know. I hope she's going to get over this, but ... I didn't want it to happen like this. I didn't want any of it to happen!" Zelgadis said. He sat down on a fallen rock and put his head in his hands.

"I'm still mad at you for what you did to Amelia," Lina said as she sat down next to him. "But at the moment I'm inclined to blame Xelloss for most of this. That's why I'm worried about you. Do you know what you're doing?" Zelgadis didn't want to talk. He just wanted to lie in Xelloss' arms, away from everyone else, but Xelloss had just left him, that thoughtless ...

"Lina, I'm not a kid."

"Damn it Zelgadis!" Lina fumed. "You sure act like one sometimes! How can you be with that monster? It just doesn't make any sense! He can't love you! Where is he now? He just left you when things got nasty ... And Amelia! Look what you and Xelloss have done to her."

"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry but there's nothing I can do! I know Xelloss is a Mazuko. You said it yourself that he's a monster, so what do you expect of him? You expect him to stay around and defend me? I know what he's like!" Zelgadis said, then thought "Why am I defending him though? Lina's right! What if he doesn't care for me? What if ..."

"Zelgadis don't be an idiot! If you know what he's like then why are you doing this? Please don't let him do this to you!"

"He's not doing anything to me! It's my choice, Lina!"

"But he's a Mazuko!"

"So am I!"

"Zel ... you've never said that before."

"Perhaps it's time I just accepted it ..."

"But your cure!"

"I can't spend my whole life living in denial. I might never find a cure. Anyway, what goes on between Xelloss and me is our business. I don't have to answer to anyone else."

"Fine! But what happens if you find your cure? If you become human again do you think you'll still care for Xelloss? When you find the Claire Bible, you're going to regret this." After saying this Lina got up and stormed off to join Gourry on the other side of the room. Zelgadis looked after her. He valued his friendship with Lina more than any other friendship he had, and what she said made sense, but he just couldn't believe that Xelloss ... Was he being blind? Was Lina right? What would happen if he found his cure? Everything was just too complicated!
 
 
 
 

Amelia sobbed quietly into her hands. She wanted to be strong, but everything Zelgadis had said had hurt all the feelings she'd cherished for the last few months, and it was hard to let go of them.

"I know he's right," she thought. "Everything he said was true, I just don't want to believe it. I should be happy that he's found someone ... but I just wish it wasn't Mr. Xelloss! I don't think they are right for each other at all! Why couldn't I have seen how he really felt before this? It's all so unfair!"

"So how are you feeling, Miss Amelia?" A voice said beside her. She sat up and stared into the face of the grinning priest.

"Mr. Xelloss? What are you doing here?!?"

"Oh, I just came to see if you were ok. You know Zel and I are very worried about you!"

"But you just left him back there!" Xelloss was the last person Amelia wanted to see right now, and he knew it.

"That's all in the past. So, you know that Zelgadis and I are together?"

"Y ... yes," Amelia said, then thought. "Why does have to talk to me about this right now? I just want to be alone! Did Mr. Zelgadis send him out here? Or is he just trying to torment me?"

"He wasn't right for you anyway, you know. He was far too evil!"

"Don't talk about Mr. Zelgadis like that! He's a good person!"

"Oh, I'm the last person in the world who would want to slander his reputation! He might get mad at me, then he wouldn't sleep with me tonight!" Xelloss said, he was having a lot of fun teasing the young shaman. Amelia blushed profusely.

"Why is he being so cruel?" She thought. "I don't think Mr. Zelgadis could really love someone like him! He must be using poor Mr. Zelgadis." Plucking up her courage, Amelia asked:

"Mr. Xelloss, do you really care for Mr. Zelgadis?"

"That is a secret!"

"Mr. Xelloss! That is just unjust! Someone who plays with a person's feelings is someone I call evil! I think you've taken advantage of Mr. Zelgadis, and now you're teasing me! The hammer of justice will strike you down!" Amelia jumped up, and took her usual justice pose. "Elmekia lance!"

Inside the room Lina, Gourry and Zelgadis heard the explosion.

"Amelia?" Lina called.

"If that's Xelloss, I swear I'll kill him," Zelgadis thought, as they rushed out into the hallway. Amelia was stood sniffing at the door, wiping back tears. Xelloss stood across the hall from her.

"Xelloss?!? What did you do to her?" Lina shouted.

"Nothing. We were just talking and she got upset." Xelloss said, trying not to laugh.

"Xelloss!" Zelgadis shouted.

"Amelia, what happened?" Lina asked.

"Mr. Xelloss," she sniffed. "Was being really mean and he was teasing me about Mr. Zelgadis!"

"Xelloss," Zelgadis growled. Xelloss walked over to him and took his arm.

"Don't get mad at me, snookums!"

"Fireball!"

"Rune Flare!"

"Flare Arrow!" Xelloss disappeared just in time.

"You see what I mean, Zel?" Lina said. Just then Xelloss materialized next to Zelgadis and grabbed his arm.

"Say goodnight, Zel!" the priest called, as he and the struggling chimera disappeared.
 
 
 
 

They reappeared back in the darkness of the Mazuko's room. Xelloss was on top of Zelgadis on the bed, his mouth pressed tightly against the stone lips of the chimera, his hands working at ripping the shirt from Zelgadis' struggling body. Zelgadis bit down hard on the priest's tongue.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Xelloss?!?!?" Zelgadis shouted the moment Xelloss moved his mouth to lick away the blood.

"Taking advantage of you, it's what everyone seems to think I've already done," Xelloss said, chuckling.

"You don't need to take advantage of me!"

"But it's so much fun!"

"Why did you do that to Amelia? Couldn't you see she was upset?"

"Which made it all the more fun!"

"That was really heartless of you!"

"I am a monster."

"And why did you lie to Lina and Gourry earlier? It's going to be hard enough for them to accept us without you saying stuff like that!"

"Oh, it was all just for fun, does it really matter?"

"Yes! They're my friends! I don't care if you hurt me, but leave them alone!" Zelgadis shouted. Xelloss opened his eyes and regarded the captive beneath his body. Zelgadis looked really angry. What fun! He'd better ease up though, or they'd never get anywhere tonight. He rolled off the chimera's body. Zelgadis immediately leaped off the bed. Xelloss sighed.

"Lie down, Zel."

"No!"

"I didn't really do all that much to Amelia. I think you did most of the work."

"I didn't mean to hurt her," Zelgadis said, feeling extremely guilty. "She just got caught up in the middle of all this. But you didn't help! You don't have to make it more difficult than it already is!"

"Alright, I'll leave her alone from now on," Xelloss said. "Are you going to stop me teasing everyone though? Life will get quite boring!"

"Just shut up and take us back."

"No."

"Burst Rondo!"

"Now he's getting into it," Xelloss thought.
 
 
 
 
 
 

"Do you want to talk about it, Amelia?" Lina asked. Amelia was still staring at the place where the Mazuko and the chimera had disappeared.

"I just can't believe this is happening ... Mr. Zelgadis has been acting strangely lately, but I never thought ..."

"Poor Amelia!" Lina thought. "I'm going to kill those two when I see them again. Maybe it would help her to take her mind off it."

"Where did you go when you fell into the earth?" She asked.

"I don't know, Miss Lina. I remember falling down for a second, then it all went black. When I woke up I was lying on the floor of a room somewhere back there," she pointed back along the corridor she had come from. "I just started walking in this direction, then I saw ..." she trailed off and tears welled up in her eyes again.

"In that direction, huh? Maybe that's where the treasure is ... Amelia, did you see any treasure in the room you were in?"

"No, but I wasn't really looking."

"Well, I suggest going back that way. Come on Gourry!" Lina's eyes lit up with the thought of treasure. Amelia wasn't forgotten, just ... reprioritized.

"You're not being very comforting!" Amelia shouted after her.

"Come on, Amelia!" Gourry called as he started running too.

"Don't any of you care about what's going on between Mr. Xelloss and Mr. Zelgadis!" Amelia said, extremely frustrated. She started following slowly, but her mind was elsewhere.
 
 
 
 

"Astral Vine!"

"Feisty tonight, aren't we?" Xelloss laughed as Zelgadis slashed uselessly at him. "Maybe I should let him hit me," he thought. "It might make him feel better." Xelloss let a flare arrow catch his shoulder.

"That felt good Zel. Could you aim a little lower though? I have an itch!"

"This is one twisted relationship," Zelgadis muttered, but he was kind of enjoying the fight. He hadn't got to let off steam in a long time. Employing his super speed, he used the bed as a springboard and leapt up behind the floating priest. He caught Xelloss' cloak and used his weight to pull both of them back down onto the bed. Xelloss smiled and let himself fall. The bed creaked ominously, then split down the middle. "Damn!" Zelgadis shouted. "That's the fifth time I've done that to a bed!"

"What, landed on it in the middle of a battle with your Mazuko lover?" Xelloss asked from his position in the midst of splintered boards, torn sheets and underneath a stone body. Then he muttered something and the bed reformed itself.

"Oh, I like the frilly cushions," Zelgadis said sarcastically, looking at the modifications Xelloss had made in the design. Xelloss smiled and flipped Zelgadis over so that he was on top.

"You let your guard down. I win." Zelgadis growled, but Xelloss had his arms pinned.

"You know I'll never submit."

"I was hoping you wouldn't."
 
 
 
 

Lina leaned against the wall, out of breath.

"I can't run on an empty stomach!" She complained.

"Neither can I!" Gourry agreed from where he had collapsed on the floor. Amelia came round the corner and slumped dejectedly against the wall.
 
 
 
 

"Do I get a last request?" Zelgadis asked.

"Certainly, but make it good!" Xelloss said happily.

"Send the others some food. Having Lina mad at me is bad enough, but having Lina mad at me when she's hungry is unbearable!" Xelloss sighed.

"And here I was thinking you were going to be inventive." Zelgadis smiled secretively.

"There's still time for that." Xelloss grinned, then muttered a spell under his breath.

"A summoning spell?" Zelgadis asked, curiously.

"Well, I have to make them work for their dinner."

"What did you summon?"
 
 
 
 

"A moose?!?!?!"

"Food!!!!" Gourry shouted.

"After it!"

After picking the bones clean Lina and Amelia lay with full stomachs on the floor of a large room.

"That was great!" Lina said.

"I still want to know how a moose got in here," Amelia said, puzzled.

"Hey guys!" Gourry called from the other side of the room. "Come look at this!"

"Dessert?" Lina asked hopefully as she and Amelia crossed the room. They stopped short, staring at Gourry. In his hand he held a tattered book with runes drawn on the cover.

"That's a ..." Amelia started.

"Claire Bible manuscript!" Lina finished.
 

End of Part Six