Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Inseparable ❯ Chapter 2

Inseparable

Zelgadis finally made it to Sailoon... no east feat when one cannot retrace one's steps if one finds a bad path. I'll just detour around it -- towns are too hard to navigate like this. Zel turned at the next side road. He walked for a while, watching people pass him, heading towards Sailoon City, when...

*THUNK*

After picking himself up off of the ground, Zel checked his map. "I didn't get turned around... the barrier must have changed directions... unless..." Zel drew in another perpendicular. "They intersect in Sailoon... near the center of the city."

Well, it couldn't hurt to go see Amelia... maybe she knew how to break this curse. "Ray Wing!" Zel decided to avoid the maze of streets of the White Magic Capital and just take it as the sorcerer flies. A few blocks from the front gate he was flagged out of the air by a guard.

"Sir, are you aware you are flying in a no-fly zone?"

Zel readjusted his cloak. "Excuse me?"

"City ordinance prohibits flying within 50 feet of public buildings."

"No one ever told me."

"Well, I'll let you off with a warning... this time... Please state your name and business here."

"Zelgadis Graywords. I'm here to see Princess Amelia."

The guard barked out a laugh. "And I'm the bandit killer Lina Inverse. You know, sonny, how many would-be crazy stalkers try that line on me every day?"

"I can imagine, but..."

"And some of the are even weirder than you! Honestly, I'll be happy when the Princess is happily married off." The guard had started in on a rant. Like most rants, it was like a stampede... loud and nearly impossible to stop.

"But, really, I was just here a few..."

"It's like they're all convinced that, somehow, if the Princess catches sight of them, she'll instantly fall madly in love and demand to His Highness that her and John Peasant be married immediately."

"I'm telling you, I know her!"Zelgadis was quickly losing patience with the guard. Obviously, he must have been hired since Zel had last been to Sailoon -- otherwise this conversation would have been over almost before it started. Zel sighed and pulled out his canteen, removing a pink bracelet that was looped around the mouth. "See this? Know what it means?"

"That you are a closet crossdresser?"

"NO! It's one of Amelia's bracelets! She gave it to me when we parted ways!"

"Let me see..." The guard took the bracelet from Zel and examined it before giving it back to the chimera.

"Now what do you have to say for yourself?" Zel said smugly.

"You're either a very skilled forger or a very stupid thief."

"She gave it to me!" Zel tried to push the guard out of the way and enter the castle. He probably would have made it, too, but someone inside saw him first.

"Zelgadis! what brings you here?" Prince Philionel greeted the chimera in his usual fashion -- a hearty slap on the back that, despite Zel's weight, nearly knocked him over.

"Actually, sir, I was here to see Amelia."

" I see..." Prince Phil looked at the bracelet in Zelgadis's hand, then at Zel, then at the bracelet again. "Exactly what are your intentions towards my daughter?"

Zelgadis's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets in shock. He also blushed, despite himself. He paused, then said, in carefully measured tones, "I just needed some help with a magic spell."

Prince Phil gave Zelgadis a look common to to fathers of teenaged girls throughout history and the Four Worlds. It said, 'I know exactly what is going through your mind, and if you touch, say anything to, or look at my baby girl in a way that is anything more than lily-white innocent, I will personally bust your head in like a walnut, because I was once a teenaged boy, and I know how you think, you pervert.'

Zel returned the look with one of his own... one that, were motor vehicles invented yet, could be described as 'deer in headlights'. he tried to regain at least some control of the conversation. "Anyway, may I see her? If it's okay with the guard, of course."

The guard, meanwhile, realizing that Zelgadis had been telling the truth, was desperately trying to hide beneath his uniform helmet. He snapped to attention when Zel mentioned him. "Since His Highness can confirm your story, you may enter."

"Great," Zel said. Phil was still giving him The Look as he led him to the castles main chamber, and, invisible barrier or no invisible barrier, Zel was fighting the urge to run far away and join an order of celibate monks.

Phil motioned him to a chair. "I'll just go tell Amelia you're here." Once Phil left, Zel relaxed. You know, there's no logical reason he should scare me... I've faced down mazoku before... but anyone who uses an attack called Pacifist Crush has to be a few nuts short of a fruit basket.

A short time later, Amelia entered the hall. "Zelgadis-san!" she ran up, as if to hug him, but, at the last minute, she stopped suddenly and took his hand. "It's good to see you again."

Zel nodded. "You too..."

"So, what brings you to Sailoon?"

"Well, actually, I have a bit of a problem..."

"Oh..." Amelia sounded vaguely disappointed. "What is it?"

Zelgadis, meanwhile, had realized he hadn't run into the invisible wall for a while. He tried to take a step backwards and felt his foot his something... it was still there... He tried to move to the side and felt the same wall... so either he was standing on the center of the spell or...

Zel tried to remove his hand from Amelia's grasp. It stuck like glue. "Kuso..."

"Excuse me, Zelgadis-san?"

"It's a funny story..."

"That's nice... Can you let go of my hand now?"

"I think we better bring in your father as well." Phil was NOT gonna like this...