Between
An Elf and A Monster
The
Storyteller’s Story
Part
4
By:
Relm Wanderer
After
spending sometime looking around at the parade Amelia, Xellos, Gourry, and
Sylphiel decided some dinner was in order. The two girls had finally finished
shopping at sunset and the four of them had been enjoying the festivities. Going
back to the inn they ordered tons of food (Gourry ordering most it) and in a
speedy amount of time there food was served to them. Then Amelia remembered
something Xellos had said before they got to Tadden.
“Mister
Xellos, didn’t you say you would tell us that story that you heard that tied
in with the festival?”
“Yeah
that’s right you did! Tell us the story Mister Xellos!”
“Are
you two sure you want to hear it? It’s a tad on the sad side.”
“No,
no we want to hear it!”
“Well
alright. First I’ll tell you how I was told of this story in the fist place.
Last time I was here visiting the festival I met a very interesting woman. If I
recall she referred to herself as ‘Naga The White Serpent’. She was alone
and I thought that was kinda peculiar because very few people come to these
events by themselves. I inquired about this and she told me that she got
separated from her traveling companion some while back. I had asked if she was
expecting to find her companion at the festival and she told me that there was
no way she would find her here. I was curious to what she meant by that and then
Naga told me what happened to her friend. So believe me this is actually a true
story that I’m going to tell you. Now Naga never told me the real name of her
friend, just the false name that her friend told someone else to whom the story
involves. Anyway, let me get on with the story…
It
was somewhere between 3 to 5 years ago in a distant town far from here. This
town had many swordsmen, sorcerers, sorceresses as well as other interesting
people. Many legends laid their roots there plus many myths and legendary items
are also supposed to be there. That was the reason why a man and his grandson
came to the town during the night. This had caused quite a buzz among the
townspeople. Very few people came into the town at that hour, plus what was
weirder was how the man and his grandson kept to themselves like they were
hiding something. Well this interested a young girl whom I’m going to have to
referrer to as ‘Lee.’ Lee was a thirteen-year-old girl with long red hair
and red eyes. She was short and skinny and she was a full-fledged black
sorceress, which was strange because she dressed as a white mage. She wanted to
see who these night travelers were, but her grandmother warned her not to tell
either of them her name. It was something about being in that town and telling
strangers her identity that was dangerous to her life. Lee herself wasn’t
quite sure on the reason, but she promised her grandmother she wouldn’t tell
either of them her name.
Lee
then went in search of the two of them. Unable to find them after searching
around for a long time she eventually gave up. Then Lee remembered about a
cavern near the town that was supposed to have a special treasure in it. Upon
this revelation Lee sneaked over to the cavern so that no one would see her.
Reaching the cavern Lee had thought she made it there with no one seeing her and
she was alone too, but she was wrong about that.
In
the cavern already was on of the travelers from the night before. It was the
grandson of the man. He was tall with light violet hair and blue eyes, the boy
was about a few years older than Lee. She wanted to know why he was there and
what he was doing. The boy retorted back about it being none of her business. He
also told her to leave because it was supposedly dangerous in the cavern and
that she could get hurt. Lee just argued back that he doesn’t live in the town
so how would he know. Ignoring her the boy just continued his way through the
cavern to realize that Lee was walking right beside him. He demanded to know
what she was doing, and she cutely replied about how they were both searching
for the same thing so they might as well go look for it together. Seeing the
futileness in arguing with her, he agreed to search for the treasure together.
Lee requested to know what the boys name was so that it would make chatting a
little easier. He told her that he couldn’t tell her his real name, and Lee
guessed that it was situation similar to do with her name. Sure enough she was
right, so they decided to call each other by made up names. Calling her ‘Miss
Fire Fly’ he asked her what she wanted to be called. Lee told him to call her
‘Lee’ while calling him ‘Mister Gray Man’. He told her to call him
‘Sid’.
So
Sid and Lee walked around the cavern talking and getting to know each other
better. Both Sid and Lee were enjoying the time they were spending together.
While talking Sid found out a little about Lee dealing with her practice in
black magic and how far she was on her training. Plus he found out that she
would be traveling on her own in a few months. Lee found out about Sid’s
search for this item for his grandfather who was seeing someone in the town
about what his future was, Sid’s training in shaman magic and how he has been
traveling for a while now.
Then
it came up to a decision with two passageways and which way to take. They
decided on one way and went that direction. It lead to a dead end and as they
were about to turn around and try another direction when a big demon beast came
crashing down. The creature demanded to know if they were out to try to steal
his treasure. With some smart talk they found out that the creature stole the
treasure from someone else, it was in a bag on his belt, and that it was the
only treasure in the cavern all together. Lee made a wise crack and the creature
was insulted and wanted to teach them a lesson. He tried to get at them when
both Lee and Sid ran back near the entrance of the cavern to give them a better
area to fight in. Lee and Sid surprised the creature with their magic skills and
so it dropped it’s stolen treasure and ran off like a coward.
With
their new won treasure in hand Lee and Sid went outside to see what it was. The
treasure revealed to be two small matching gemstones, a blue sapphire and a red
ruby. Not being the item Sid was looking for he told Lee that she could have
them both. Lee protested saying that there was two and that he should take one.
Sid wanted to know what he would want the gemstone for. She told him silently
that maybe would want it as a keepsake, something to remind him of that day and
perhaps to remember her by. Lee blushed thinking that he might think it was
stupid but he agreed to it and asked her which one she wanted. Lee went into the
thing about how it would make sense for her to take the red ruby and for him to
take the blue sapphire but she wanted to have it the other way around. Sid
finished off what she was saying that the red ruby would remind him more of her
and the blue sapphire would be a better reminder of him. Again she thought that
he might think it was stupid and she asked him if he thought so. Sid reassured
her saying that it was a good idea saying it would be nice to be reminded of the
only girl he’s ever had a good time with. Lee was puzzled by this, and
questioned him about it. Sid just said that he never does anything with girls.
Lee asked him why saying that it wasn’t like he wasn’t cute or anything. Sid
got distant, mumbling something about how if they knew what he was then they
wouldn’t want to be anywhere near him. Lee wanted to know what he meant by
that and he told her that he wasn’t fully human. Lee went on saying that she
wasn’t fully human either. He was confused by this but told her that he was
half monster. Lee was expecting something a lot worse and didn’t think much of
it. She told him that she was part elf and that she hated when people judged
others on appearances and on stereotypes and that she doesn’t do it either.
Sid was in awe and told her that if everyone in the world was just a bit more
like her than it would be a better place. Lee told him that he was insane, but
then he went on how she was charming, smart, non judgmental…etc. Then he added
softly that she was cute too and he tilted up her head and kissed her softly on
the lips. Lee was shocked but eagerly kissed him back.”
“Oh
wow that is so romantic!” Amelia said staring off dreamily.
“I
know,” Sylphiel said in an equally dreamy stare.
“Are
you two sure you want to hear the rest? It gets worse from here you know…”
“Yeah!
I want to know what happened after that!”
“Okay
then I’ll continue. Now where was I? Oh yeah the kiss…
The
kiss lasted a long time turning quite intense on the both of them till it got to
the point that they were both out of breath and needed to stop it. Lee muttered
softly under her breath the word ‘bastard’. He asked her what she meant by
that. She told him that he was a bastard for sweeping her off her feet and
having to leave her so soon. He was hurt and asked her if she regretted all of
it. Lee quickly assured him that she was joking, that there was no way she could
regret any of it, but that she was still upset that he had to go. Sid thought
for a moment and thought out loud about how it’s a shame that the only girl to
ever steal his heart away and he didn’t even know her real name. Then Lee
thought out loud too, about if they met somewhere outside the town that they
could tell each other their names. This gave Sid an idea. Since Lee was going to
be traveling on her own in a few months then why not meet after that somewhere.
That way they could be together. Then Lee remembered about the Star Light
Festival in Tadden. They made a decision to meet at the festival, on the streets
near the parade. With that planned out Sid kissed Lee goodbye and left.
When
traveling that is where Naga met Lee. Without knowing why, Naga was dragged
to Tadden for the festival. When there Lee changed out of her black mage
outfit back into her white mage’s outfit telling Naga that is was to make it
easier for a friend of hers to find her. Lee went to where she was supposed to
meet Sid and she waited clutching her blue sapphire, which she had set into a
necklace. She waited all night for him to come, but he didn’t. Lee was
heartbroken and she cried for days. Naga not knowing what to do tried her best
to help her friend but Lee’s feelings for Sid weren’t just a crush, he was
her first love.”
“Did
she ever see him again?”
“I’m
afraid not…”
“Oh
that is so sad!”
“I
told you it was.”
“You
were right, but still was it was a good story.”
“Yeah
it was a good story even if Xellos got the ending wrong.” They all turned
their heads to see both Lina and Zelgadis.
“Well
then Miss Lina if that’s not how the story ends then how does it?”
“Well
it goes like this. You see Sid did come to the festival; he was hiding in the
shadows. He wanted to go see her but he was afraid. His great grandfather, not
grandfather as you think, had placed a curse on him to keep him away from Lee.
He turned Sid into a chimera to give him the power he wanted. With his new form
he thought Lee would not still care for him so he left vowing that he would have
revenge on his great grandfather, cure himself and find Lee again so that they
can be together. Well soon both of their memories blurred the images each other
till it got to the point that neither of them would recognize each other. Just
the same though because they met again two years later not knowing that they had
known each other prior. Well they fought Sid’s great grandfather who revived
Shabringdo and with the help of a blond swordsman they defeated him. Parting
again their paths crossed a few times and through time they had quite a few
adventures with new friends, and fell in love with each other again but without
knowing that the they both felt the same way. They didn’t give their pasts a
second thought. That is until those friends of theirs dragged them over to
Tadden during the festival that had nothing but bad memories for the both of
them. At the festival though for whatever reason Lee found herself standing,
waiting in the same fashion as she did years back not knowing what she was
waiting for. Sid came and meet her and the two of them talked and realized each
other’s secret identity. Given a second chance they had met and now they would
be together at last.”
Sylphiel,
Xellos, and Amelia were shock. Throughout Xellos’ telling of the story none
had realized that Lee was Lina or that Sid was Zelgadis. Gourry on the other
hand had heard all of this but didn’t quite get it. So he continued munching
on his food. Lina and Zelgadis being in love with each other wasn’t a surprise
to him. He’d known those two had feelings for each for a long time. How he
knew, well it’s a secret!
“Actually
Lina that isn’t quite how the story ended…”
“What
do you mean?”
“Well
you left out a part.”
“What
part?”
“The
part where Sid gets down on one knee,” Zel says while getting down on one
knee, “pulls out a black velvet box,” said box is pulled out of Zel’s
cloak, “and he asks her, ‘Will you marry me?’ how you answer determines
how the story ends Lina,” Zelgadis said with a mischievous grin on his face.
Lina
was speechless. The box Zelgadis had in his hand contained a beautiful ring. It
was a heart shaped with one side of the heart being a blue sapphire, the other
side a red ruby and it had a diamond in the middle of it. Plus it had little
diamonds on the sides of the heart connected with the band. Lina couldn’t
believe that he had proposed to her, neither could anyone else. Lina’s silence
was killing Zelgadis. He knew he shocked her but he wanted an answer. The longer
she stayed quiet the more he feared she’d say no. Luckily Gourry saved him
from it.
“Hello!
Earth to Lina! Zelgadis just asked you to marry him, aren’t you going to
answer him? Didn’t you hear him? Gee I knew she had problems but I didn’t
know she was deaf too.”
First
Lina threw a plate at Gourry and then she leaped into Zelgadis’ arms.
“Yes
Zel, I’ll marry you!”
Zelgadis
didn’t even get a chance to respond because she suddenly kissed him.
While
Zelgadis and Lina were kissing and getting cozy and Sylphiel was tending to
Gourry, Xellos found himself watching Amelia as she walked towards to bar to
fill up her drink. (Not alcoholic if that’s what you’re thinking.)
Xellos
had known that Amelia had been in love Zelgadis for a long time now and he was
afraid that she wasn’t taking the news of Lina and Zel together very well.
Normally he would be able to sense what she was feeling, being a monster and
all, but he couldn’t sense anything from Amelia and that scared him.
“Miss
Amelia are you alright?”
“I
guess I should be upset about all this now shouldn’t I?”
“That
is what I would assume. Why, aren’t you?”
“To
be honest Mister Xellos, I’m not. In fact I really don’t feel anything. I am
happy for them because they make such a cute couple, but I’m not upset. I
guess this goes to show that all I felt for Mister Zelgadis was nothing more
than a silly crush.”
“Hmm…
that’s very interesting…”
“I
wonder if there is someone out there for me…”
“For
someone as pretty and kind hearted as you, I’m sure of it.”
Amelia
blushed but was thankful for what he said.