Zelgadis was sitting in Luna's office and showing her parts of a book he had just gotten. It was one of the few calm moments they shared. Zelgadis enjoyed spending time with Luna. She was the only mother he had ever known and had liked her form the moment they had met. But Luna hardly had any time to spend with him and Lina. Zelgadis loved Luna dearly even though throughout his childhood he had spent little time with her, yet some of his most precious memories were of Lina and himself learning magic from Luna and trying it out on the magicproof walls.
Then Xellos appeared, holding a girl by the arm. Zel knew Xellos; he was always around Luna and usually called him Zelly, as if he were still a kid, which he supposed he still was in the trickster's eyes. Zelgadis didn't have an opinion on Xellos. The priest was just around sometimes and could be really annoying. But he had never seen the girl before. She resembled Gracia a lot, so she must be Gracia's sister. Zelgadis remembered the conversation with Gracia about her sister when she had visited the library with Gourry last week.
"Let go of me!" she tried to untangle her arm out of Xellos' grip, "Let go of me!" she was very mad.
Xellos let go of her and smiled at Luna, "Hi Luna-chan, hi Zelly."
Zelgadis didn't hear anything special in his voice, but Luna stiffened.
"Zelgadis, would you show Amelia around a bit, please? Xellos and I have to talk." said Luna to her 'foster son' smiling apologetically while concern shone through her eyes.
"Yes, no problem." answered the chimera a little annoyed at Xellos interrupting his time with Luna. Then guessed from Luna’s reaction that it must be something important, and having grown up around Luna he knew what kind of important decisions she often had to make and how many lives depended on them. So he let his anger subside and gave the girl a warm smile, "Hi I'm Zelgadis."
"Amelia."
"Come this way." Zel indicated her to follow him out the door.
Zelgadis walked out of the room with Amelia who insulted the trickster before leaving. They walked in silently for a while through the corridors
"So what would you like to see? The gardens? Maybe you'd like something to eat?" asked Zelgadis taking his job as a guide seriously.
"I'd like to see my sister Gracia." said the girl, she was happy to be away from Xellos for a while. He was just too annoying and on top he belonged to those despicable Mazoku.
"Well,..." Zelgadis scratched his head, "last time I saw her she was in the gardens with Gourry." he said blushing a little.
Translation: Gracia had been having 'fun' and most likely would not want to be disturbed by her little sister just now.
"Oh... well... show me your favorite place then, I can still see my sister later, ne?" she said at last.
Zelgadis' face brightened, "Follow me then."
They walked silently through many dim lit corridors, then they reached a metal door which Zelgadis opened effortlessly. She looked inside. Amelia had never seen such a large number of books in the same room in her whole life. Shelves upon shelves filled with all sorts of books.
"Wow!" was all she could manage as she entered and turned in circles looking around the room.
Zelgadis closed the door behind him, unaware that Lina had watched him enter the library with this girl. The library, the place they usually met to discuss magic or just to spend time together in, seldom disturbed by anyone but Luna, Filia or Xeres.
Inside Zelgadis suddenly stiffened as he heard an all-too-familiar noise. As expected a white-haired woman with pale blue eyes dressed in a gray dress apeared brooming the floor -
"Fesis!" said Zelgadis, his tone telling her he was annoyed.
"Oh, hi Zel, I thought I'd just clean up a bit while you were gone." she said pretending not to notice.
"Fesis, I’ve told you hundreds of times not to clean the library." he grabbed Fesis by the shoulders and gently pushed her towards the door.
"But there's so much dust, you could get an allergy." she protested.
"I don't get allergies." he opened the door, "Bye Fesis." he closed the door behind her.
Amelia looked at Zelgadis weirdly, "Did you have to be so rude? She was just trying to help."
"The last time she cleaned up, she threw invaluable books away and washed many others with water and soap." Zelgadis looked positively distressed and Amelia had to chuckle.
Lina watched Zel throw Fesis out of the library. So they want privacy... Lina waited till Fesis walked away to approach the door, but it was to thick and she could not hear anything from what was happening inside.
Amelia looked up from a book she was reading, a very old history book about the Kingdom of Sailoon and how it had looked like before the Second Mazoku War.
"Zelgadis? May I ask you a personal question?"
Zelgadis turned from where he had been ordering some new books that had arrived that morning.
"Yes?" he said, his tone not betraying that such questions always made him nervous.
"Why is your skin blue?" she asked.
"Well, I was not a very strong child so my grandfather turned me into a chimera. I'm part demon, part golem, and part human. I've got all of those forms advantages: super strength and speed, plus the ability not to be harmed by weapons but the Sword of Light, not to mention magic abilities."
Zelgadis looked away and Amelia had the feeling his thoughts were far away.
"Sometimes I wonder," he said at last, "what it would have been like to grow up as a normal human."
Amelia thought about it, "If you were human, you would be weak."
"True."
"If you were human, you would be slow."
"True."
"If you were human, you wouldn't be so skilled in magic."
"True."
"If you were human, you would be dead."
Zelgadis looked at her, he had never thought of it that way. Then he recalled the time he, Gourry and Lina had been playing in a forbidden area of the tunnels, he had been around 14, Lina had been around 10 and Gourry around 16. The tunnel had been oflimits, and none of them had thought of finding out why. Then Lina, daring as always had ventured even farther in and leaned against a wall, only to have the wall to crumble and the ceiling collapse on them, Zel had pushed Gourry out of harm's way back to the tunnel entrance before using his high speed to throw himself over Lina to shield her from the falling rock. Gourry had called for help and after an hour they had been dug out, Lina having only a broken arm. Zel snapped back to reality. My form has saved the lives of my friends many times as well.
Lina couldn't control herself anymore. What are they doing in there? She approached one of the side doors of the library, not the one Zel and that strange girl had gone trough. Just one peek, just to see what they're doing... it's not as if I'm jealous or something, but he's my best friend and I have to know what he's up to with that ... anger rose inside her, that.... Lina didn't even dare to think those words, that girl...
Lina slowly opened the door and looked inside, she could not see them, but she heard the stranger’s clear voice, " - ead." there was a pause, "And beside, your cuter this way Zel." the girl giggled.
SLAM
Zelgadis whirled around and walked towards where the noise had come from, Amelia close behind.
"It was the noise of the door slamming shut." said Amelia.
Zelgadis opened the door and looked outside, but the corridor was empty.
Lina ran, tears pouring down her cheeks. She passed by the infirmary, ignoring Eris' question about her well being. She ran into the magic practice room, locking the door behind herself. The room was where all the children learned to control their magic, the walls ceiling and the floor were covered with protective spell that absorbed all the excessive magic.
"FIREBALL!! FIREBALL!! FIREBALL!! FIREBALL!!"
Filia and Xeres looked in through the door that was connected to the classroom where they had been correcting exams to see what all the commotion was about, and rapidly closed it again as a fireball came flying towards them.
Filia looked at her husband, "Any ideas why she's so upset?"
"Maybe she's hungry..."
"Very funny."
Through the door they could still hear her screaming, but by now Lina was changing spells, from fireballs to flare arrows and back.
"I wonder what made her so mad..." Filia said aloud.
"Wanna go in and ask her?" asked Xeres smiling.
Going into a room where an upset sorceress was throwing magic at everything in sight was not necessarily one of Filia's hobbies.
"We better wait for her to calm down," she said
"I wonder who it was..." said Zelgadis.
"Probably the wind or so... your grandfather... I don't think I met him yet."
"He doesn't live here... I haven't seen him in 20 years myself, though every now and then Luna tells me she got a letter from him and that he says hi."
They were silent for a while, "We should be getting back. Xellos will be worried about you." said Zel.
"That bastard Mazoku has no claim over me. If he wants me to go somewhere I couldn't care less." said Amelia turning away, "I hate Mazoku, they killed my parents and that bitch general Sherra tortured me till I was almost unconscious." She shuddered at the memory.
"And who saved you from her?" asked Zelgadis.
"... I hate all Mazoku, they are all the same!" she said like something she had memorized a long time ago.
"I'm part Mazoku myself." said Zelgadis, "And you don't hate me,... I hope."
Amelia turned back towards Zel, "I don't hate you, you're different... he's... Xellos... Let's talk about something else!"
"Look, I know he's annoying like hell sometimes and sometimes I can't stand him myself, but you should not let the fact that he's a Mazoku cloud your view of him. He's taking a great risk by saving your life and helping the rebellion." Even though Xellos wasn’t necessarily one of Zel’s favorite people he did respect the Mazoku for all the risks he took.
"We should be getting back" Amelia started to walk towards the door and Zel followed her.
"Good that you're back, I was just about to send someone to go look for you. " said Luna as Amelia entered the room with Zelgadis. Xellos was standing behind his so-called sis.
"Zelgadis, go look for Tires and Eris, tell them to assemble an attack group. Palan, you know, the city next to Atlantis"
"You mean they are going to attack there? Haven’t they enough by almost annihilating everybody in Atlantis itself? If they attack another of the merchandise cities at the sea it is going to get really bad for our trading system." said Zelgadis concerned.
"We know." said the trickster.
"It’s not some loose common Mazoku, but a coordinated attack ordered by Shabranigdu to crush our morale. It is said a dragon was seen there and was not reported."
"Who was seen?" asked Zelgadis.
"Probably no one." answered Xellos, "It is just a kind of warning, and as well because as Atlantis was becoming a prosperous city."
Zelgadis hurried outside, Amelia looked after him.
"Amelia, we're leaving, someone might get suspicious if we're nowhere to be found." he offered her a hand.
Amelia's eyes flashed, but she knew he couldn't teleport them both without touching her. Amelia reluctantly took the offered hand. They disappeared.
Those two are making progress... at least she didn't hit him right away.... I wonder what Zelgadis told her... thought Luna as she ordered some papers, she had a rebellion to coordinate, and she had no time to worry about Xellos' personal problems ...well, at least not at this moment.
Sometime later in the school...
"You think we should get Zel or Luna to calm her down? I mean she has been inside there for over an hour throwing fireballs non-stop." said Xeres looking at the door to the magic room more than a little worried, Lina could easily exhaust herself into a coma if she overexerted herself in her use of magic.
"Hmm... Yes. Why don't you go for Zel, I'm sure Luna is busy." suggested Filia.
"I'll be right back honey." Xeres leaned over to his wife and kissed her before leaving the room.
Filia could still hear Lina fireball or whatever she was casting now hit against the walls, What could have made Lina so mad?
"FIREBALL!"
Lina collapsed kneeling to the ground, exhausted and wiping the sweat and the tears from her face with her sleeve. She felt a little better, but she could still hear the girl's giggles in her mind. The door opened slowly and Lina looked with up at the blond dragon maiden at the door.
Filia noticed Lina's red face from all the crying.
"Lina! Are you all right?" she ran over to the red haired sorceress and kneeled next to her.
Lina nodded, but tears were starting to appear in her eyes again..
Filia embraced her, "Hey, it's all right." she said soft comforting her friend, "Why don't you tell me what happened? Someone hurt you? If so, I'm gonna get him with my mace."
Lina looked at her and smiled shyly, she remembered just to well how Filia had reacted to Xellos when she first came here.
"Here!" Filia handed Lina her mace, "If you want, you can do it yourself?" she smiled at Lina, "What do you say?"
Lina had to laugh as she took the heavy mace in her hands.
"Ne, Lina, why don't we get ourselves something to eat and you tell me what happened."
Lina face brightened at the thought of food.
"But first you have to clean yourself up. You look like a mess."
"Hai."
"Ah, I see you can talk again." Filia stood up and helped the sorceress to get to her feet.
"Thanks," Lina wiped the remaining tears away and followed Filia out of the room, dragging the mace behind her.
Lina and Filia were eating in the cafeteria. Lina, no longer depressed, had already ten empty plates in front of her as Xeres arrived.
"Filia, I have been looking for you." then he noticed Lina, "He, I see our little sorceress has calmed down again."
Lina blushed, unaware that Xeres had seen her get a little out of control.
"Hey, don't worry, everybody has a bad moment." the dragon fussed Lina's hair, "Anyway, I met with Zelgadis and he told me that we're supposed to go with the group that’s going to defend Palan. I also told him to go look for you in the school."
Lina looked away from Xeres. Filia gave her husband a look that told him he had said the wrong words.
"Lina, keep the mace until I'm back." Filia stood up and gave her husband a glance to go. He stood up slowly, a questioning look on his face, and left.
"Men! They're all so tactless." Filia said aloud, Lina had to smile at the comment, "Anyway I'll be going now, and Lina?"
Lina looked at her.
"Forget him, you'll find another man." Filia waved before going after her husband who was waiting at the door.
Another? Lina saw the two dragons leave the cafeteria as Zelgadis entered through the side door, She stood up fast and went to the other door.
"Hey Lina, wait." Zel called her.
Great!! He’s the last person I want to see right now.
She ignored his call and walked out the door, but he ran after her and grabbed her wrist, "Lina I was searching for you, didn’t you hear me call you? Xeres told me you were angry about something. Is something wrong?"
Of course there's something wrong!! Lina turned slowly around and looked at his hand around her wrist. He noticed it and let go of her, blushing slightly.
Gods! Why does he have to be so cute when he blushes?
"Na, what could possible be wrong?" Lina felt that she was loosing control and wanted to hit someone with Filia's mace, the best target would be that &@#*%& girl.
"I 'm sorry Zel, but I don't have time right now, I really have to go." she said and left, not looking at Zel.
Zelgadis just looked after her, not understanding why Lina had almost ignored him.