Between
An Elf and A Monster
Keeping
Unkept Promises
Part
3
By:
Relm Wanderer
With
Amelia and Sylphiel rushing them they made it to Tadden in no time to discover
that the festival had already started. Amelia was a little disappointed that
they didn’t make it to the town when it had begun but then Xellos pointed out
that the really fun stuff didn’t really start till the night time. So they
went to enjoy the daytime festivities. Somewhere along the line, Zelgadis broke
off from the group. No one knew where he could have gone but they decided that
he’d probably just show up sometime later. Lina was distant and quiet the
whole time Sylphiel and Amelia were shopping and soon broke off from the group
as well.
“Miss
Lina what do you think of this one? Miss Lina? Hey where did Miss Lina go?”
“Well
she didn’t quite seem to be enjoying herself shopping…”
“It’s
not like she was doing anything, you two were doing it all. Which reminds me,
why do we have to carry all this?” Xellos motioned to the 10 boxes of items
that Amelia had bought and the 7 boxes that Gourry was carrying that was
Sylphiel’s.
“Well
you can’t expect us to carry it all do you? Why two beautiful and delicate
girls like us?” Amelia said with cutie eyes bashing her lashes repeatedly.
“Sometimes
you scare me Amelia… you act more and more like Lina everyday!”
“Mr.
Gourry that was really mean! You don’t say bad things like that to a
person!”
“Now,
now Amelia, Miss Lina isn’t that bad…”
“Honestly
Miss Sylphiel I’m surprised you can say that with such a straight face.”
“Well
no matter Mr. Gourry you shouldn’t-hey look at that Miss Sylphiel isn’t it
so cute?!”
With
this Gourry and Xellos are dragged to another store to ending up with having to
carry more stuff. It was going to be a long day.
Lina
walked around the crowded streets of Tadden wanting to be anywhere but there.
She just wanted all the happy people around her to shut up. It was like a
reminder of how bad and unhappy her life was. Tears were starting to form in her
eyes and she wanted to leave. Lina started to run in a direction to leave the
town when she almost smashed right into Xellos. Scampering backwards and out of
sight, Xellos didn’t even notice Lina with all the boxes he was carrying. Lina
still hiding listened carefully to what they were saying.
“…but
I still think it’s a little odd of Miss Lina to run off like that. I mean
I’d expect that sort of thing from Mister Zelgadis.”
“Hmm…
I wonder where she is…”
“Chances
are, we passed her.”
“No
we couldn’t have, we would have seen her.”
“How
could we? With you two obsessed with your shopping and with Gourry and I unable
to see under all this stuff how could we see her?” An evident annoyance was
clear in Xellos’ voice.
“Mister
Xellos do you have to complain so much?”
“Well
look what I have to carry! Gourry isn’t complaining because he’s too dumb to
and plus he’s got less stuff than I do!”
“So?
You are a monster why should it bother you?”
“Just
because I’m a monster doesn’t mean I mind being used like a lackey!”
“But
aren’t you Zellas’ lackey?”
“That’s
different! If I don’t do what she says I could be punished severely.”
“So
then why are you doing this for me then?”
Xellos
thought for a moment and realized she was right. ‘Why am I doing this?’ Then
he looked over at Amelia’s cute ruffled up face. She was all huffed up about
Xellos’ protests and Xellos couldn’t help but smile wider.
“Perhaps
because you are so cute…”
Xellos
received a blush in reply from Amelia.
Lina
couldn’t hear what else they said because they walked off with Sylphiel and
Gourry following close behind. She wasn’t sure why but watching that whole
scene made the knots in her stomach tighten. A fast blur of purple, black,
yellow, and red was seen by the townspeople as Lina speeded out of the town. She
found herself at a small lake just outside the town. She collapsed and started
crying out all of her frustrations.
“WHY!?!?!?
Why do I have to suffer! What was so wrong about me Sid that you couldn’t meet
me? And why did I find out that I was in love with you only after you broke my
heart? WWWWHHHHYYYY!?!?!?!?!?!?!” Lina screamed out loud to a voice that would
not answer.
Zelgadis
himself was wandering around town without a location in mind. He walked around
aimlessly not sure of where or what he should be doing. ‘Why did I run off
from them in the first place? It’s not like I have anything special to be
doing at the moment where I need to be alone.’ It’s true he wasn’t sure
why he separated from them but all he knew was that he needed to leave. It was
the gut feeling that forced him to go. Zel continued pondering until he saw
Xellos, Amelia, Sylphiel and Gourry walking towards his direction. With out even
thinking Zelgadis hid before they could see him. ‘Why am I hiding from
them?’ Then that gut feeling returned and he knew that for whatever reason he
didn’t want to be with them right now. Zelgadis looked at the group of four.
‘The four of them look like they are enjoying themselves… Wait a minute!
Only four? Where’s Lina?’ Hoping to find that out Zelgadis crept in closer
without revealing his location.
“…why
are you doing this for me then?” Amelia asked Xellos.
“Perhaps
because you are so cute…” Amelia
blushed at that comment. Zelgadis was a little surprised to hear Xellos say that
to her but then he was distracted by a fast blur of color. ‘Now what was that?
It almost looked like Lina…’
Zelgadis
followed where the color trail stopped, a small lake just outside the town. Upon
reaching the lake from a far distance he was able to see Lina’s collapsed form
crying. He couldn’t make out what she was saying, but he definitely heard her
scream out the word ‘why’ really loud. She was suffering from such mental
and emotional anguish that it was ripping Zel’s heart up. He wanted to go to
her but he couldn’t get himself to move. ‘No point, I’d probably hurt you
like I hurt Lee in the long run… I seem to do that to everyone that I fall in
love with…’ And Zelgadis turned around and headed back towards Tadden.
Lina
cried violently till she wasted all the energy that she had left and she fell
asleep on a pile of leaves by the water. Luckily for her, Lina’s sleep was
dreamless with no nightmares to disturb her. Still though, she slept restlessly
not at all peaceful. Somewhere during her sleep, Lina removed the sapphire from
her pocket and put the necklace around her neck.
Zelgadis
approached the tavern with the mindset to get extremely drunk, but when he got
there he couldn’t bare himself to do. He got as far as putting the glass to
his lips when he put it down. ‘Drinking wont get me to forget my
problems…’ He put down some money and headed towards his room. ‘If I put
myself to sleep then maybe I’ll sleep through the whole damn festival.’
Setting his stuff down he collapsed on the bed chanting the words of a sleep
spell.
“SLEEP,”
and Zelgadis fell asleep clutching the red ruby on his cloak.
Having
dumped all of the items that Sylphiel and Amelia had bought, Xellos and Gourry
had thought that it was all over, but no that was dead wrong. Amelia and
Sylphiel weren’t done and still had tons more stuff to buy.
“No
more!”
“Yeah!
We are tired and hungry, how can you expect us to carry around more of your
stuff?!”
“Okay
then.”
Xellos
and Gourry looked at each other and then looked at Amelia and Sylphiel
hopefully.
“You
can eat and then we can shop some more!” Xellos and Gourry face faulted.
“You
can’t be serious…”
“What
do you mean you guys don’t like shopping with us?” Amelia and Sylphiel look
at Gourry and Xellos with very big cute puppy eyes. Both men sighed. They were
beaten and admitted defeat.
“Well
at least they are letting us eat…”
“Makes
no difference to me, I don’t really need to eat. Just do me a favor and take a
really, really, really long time eating? That way I can rest longer…”
“I’ll
just make sure to order a lot!”
Amelia
and Sylphiel give Gourry and Xellos a sour face as they headed towards where the
free food was.
Sometime
latter Lina woke up not knowing where she was. It took her a while to figure out
that she was at the lake still and that she had fallen asleep. Lina couldn’t
figure out what is was that woke her up either, but she did realize that she
woke up just in time for the Star Light Festival’s night parade. She had no
intensions of going there, but like a moth drawn to a flame Lina found herself
on the side street of the parade standing in the same spot she had been standing
waiting for Sid years ago. She was even holding onto her sapphire like she did
back then. Lina was confused on way she had done this, but she was compelled to
stay and wait. ‘What am I waiting for?’ An answer never came but somehow she
knew she had to stay.
Zelgadis
woke up with a start. Expecting it too be morning outside his curtain he was
surprised to see that it was nighttime and the parade was going on. He was going
to go back to sleep until in the corner of his eye he spotted a red head
standing waiting for someone. Without knowing what he was doing Zelgadis rushed
outside. He ended up in the same shadowy spot where he had been watching Lee
from. The red head he saw almost looked like Lee too, but then he realized it
was Lina. Again Zelgadis loses control of himself and he ends up right behind
Lina. He could hear her faint soft crying and he was compelled to touch her.
From behind he places his hands on her shoulder pads. Lina was startled and
tilted her head slightly to see a very blurry Zel with her teary eyes.
“Hello
Zelgadis…” She said that as she moved her eyes back to watch the parade.
“Lina
what are you doing?”
“Waiting…”
“For
what?”
“For…someone…who
won’t come…”
“Then
why do you wait?” Zelgadis wasn’t sure what he was doing but somehow he
ended up with his hands trailing down her sides and wrapped around her waist.
Lina closed her eyes feeling the warmth he radiated. ‘Why can’t I just
concentrate on you Zel? Why do I have to be haunted with his image when I care
about you just as much? Why do I wait for him?’
“He…he
didn’t come before…”
“Lina?”
“I…I
waited all night and he didn’t come…”
“…”
“I
don’t know why he didn’t come, he promised me he would…”
Lina’s
grip on the sapphire tightened. When Zelgadis saw it he finally understood.
“But
he did come Lina..”
“No
he didn’t come…”
“He
did, but he couldn’t come and face you, he was afraid my little fire fly.”
He
whispered into her ear and kissed it softly.
A
rush of confusion and emotions filled her. Then it hit her.
“Sid…
it’s just the last three letters of your name backwards…”
“And
Lee is the first syllable of your name.”
“Why
Zel? Why did you never say anything before?”
“I
didn’t know till I saw your sapphire, the one that perfectly matches my
ruby.”
“Why
didn’t you meet me Zel?”
“I
couldn’t, after I left looking for the philosophers stone for Rezo he put this
curse on me to keep me away from you. I couldn’t go see you when I looked like
this.”
Zelgadis
received a blunt blow to the head from Lina’s elbow.
“Are
you completely stupid or something!?”
“What?”
“Have
you forgotten what I said to back then before you left? I don’t care about
appearances. I never cared that you were part monster, I didn’t care that you
were a chimera when I met you again and I sure as hell don’t care now! What
did you think I would hate you if I saw you like this?!”
“You
wouldn’t have?”
“NO!
OF COURSE NOT! Oh Zel there is nothing wrong with the way you look. You look
just fine. You are absolutely drop dead gorgeous and no curse could change that.
Or otherwise how could I have fallen in love with the same man twice?” Lina
said blushing and she embraced him in a big hug.
“I
fell in love with you too twice, but you should hate me…”
“I
don’t hate you Zel…”
“But
I didn’t keep our promise…”
“Yes
you did, it just took you a little more time to do it. Just be with me and
don’t break my heart again…”
He
stroked her hair tenderly knowing that he was the luckiest man in the world.
“I
wont…”
“I
love you Gray Man…”
“I
love you too Fire Fly…”
And
the two of them kissed proving that promises can still be kept if given a second
chance.
