Slayers Fan Fiction ❯ Slayers Finally! ❯ Zelgadis and the Ghost ( Chapter 3 )

Zelgadis and the Ghost

Zelgadis looked down at the letter in his hands curiously. Lina and Gourry wanted everyone to come to the Hot Springs Resort at Mypros Island for a reunion. He lifted a stone eyebrow. He wondered how they were going to pay for that. Knowing those two, probably the usual way. If Amelia showed up, they'd make her pick up the tab. He sighed. They were pathetic. A slow smile spread across his lips. Still…it had been some time since he'd seen all of them and the loneliness was starting to bear down on him. But still…how had this letter reached him?

He sighed again. Not only would Lina and Gourry and probably Sylphiel and Filia be there, but…Amelia would probably be there as well. He closed his eyes. He hadn't seen her in five years… He had to admit, he had missed her terribly. Sometimes he would even catch himself expecting her Justice lecture and being surprised when it hadn't begun yet. He'd even missed back up when he got into a fight. She had always been there to cover him… He smiled slightly. He had missed the young girl much during his travels. And now after five years he was going to see her again? This would definitely be interesting.

He abruptly looked up and drew his sword. "What do you want?"

The woman emerged from the woods with a smile. "Don't worry, stranger. I'm not here to do you harm. Your fire seemed warm and I was just about to settle down to make my own. Why should another traveler make a completely new fire when we could share yours?"

Zelgadis blinked up at the woman. She seemed to be middle-aged and had kind silver eyes and pointed ears with green hair and reddish skin. She was probably a half-breed that had been cast out. She didn't seem very harmful so he placed the sword back in its sheath and returned to the fire. The woman sat down beside him with a smile.

"I didn't think to ever meet another so like myself at this time of my life."

Zelgadis didn't make a move but he asked the question. "What do you mean?"

The woman smiled. "I have spent most of my life searching. Searching for the one thing that would make me whole again. Being born a half-breed between a demon and a human was never easy. My mother hated me, because my father had raped her. I was beaten, shunned, hated. I began a journey when I was very young to find myself. To make myself whole. To get rid of the evil inside of me that everyone hated."

She turned to Zelgadis who had stiffened. "I never found it. I searched my entire life looking for the one spell, the one herb…anything…that could have purified me from my tainted blood...but I never found it." She smiled kindly. "Eventually I met someone in my journeys that didn't care about my tainted blood. He didn't care about the evil inside of me or the fact that I was half demon. He came with me on my journey even after I had pushed him away. He made me smile, he tried giving me happiness. But I could never be happy, knowing what I was. I had to find a cure for myself. Some way to purge the terrible blood I had inside myself. He became my companion, my friend, and my lover…but I could never return his love. I hated myself. How could I love anyone when I couldn't even love myself?

"One day, while traveling I found a clue to my obsession, to the one thing I had been searching for my whole life. He came with me. I told him not to, but he refused to listen. He told me that he would see anything to make me happy and if it meant going to this place that was considered to be the most dangerous place for anything living, then he would go with me." The woman became quiet and turned her gaze to the night sky. Zelgadis only looked at her silently waiting for her to continue. She smiled. "We went, without much trouble at first…but then what everyone had warned us about came in and attacked us. Monsters, zombies, and ghouls…every horror you could think of the Underworld appeared. We could not stave them off. They wanted our living souls. And they were desperate for it. We would not survive." She closed her eyes and tears streamed down her cheeks. "He gave up his life. He told me to run and get the vial we were searching for; that he would distract them so I could get it. I ran ahead and grabbed the vial, my heart pounding with joy. But when I rushed back, I saw the demons all feasting upon him."

She opened her eyes and turned her watery silver gaze to Zelgadis. "I felt like they were killing me. He had given up his soul and his life so they wouldn't notice me and so I could get what I most desired. He gave up his life to make me happy." She turned her gaze away and then looked at the fire. "When the ghouls were through with soul, satisfied, I approached his body, my insides screaming in denial. But what I saw on his face could never have prepared me. He had died smiling contentedly, happy that his death had allowed for my happiness."

She stayed quiet for a long moment and then reached for a pouch that she wore on her. She opened it and took out the sand within, tossing it into the fire. They were both silent as they watched it crackle. After several moments, she spoke again. "After that the vial was no longer important. No matter if my tainted blood was purged, it would mean nothing if I couldn't spend my life with the man I had loved. It was then that I realized the real reason for my search. It had changed. Since I had met him, I had been searching for the purge so I could be with him. Despite what he had told me, I had felt unworthy of him as a half-breed. I wanted that purge so I could finally be with him without fear, without feeling unworthy of him. But instead I had lost him, because of my silence and what I had believed was my ultimate desire.

"And there was no way I could ever get him back."

They were silent for several minutes. Finally, as they were both gazing into the fire, Zelgadis asked, "Why did you tell me this story?"

The woman turned to him and smiled. "You seemed like someone who my story would do some good. Your soul looks like it belongs to someone who has been searching for that one thing that would make you whole, that would cure you from your pain. But from the smile in your eyes before you realized my presence, I think you've already met that woman that makes you whole and that loves you for who you are with all of her being, no matter what you look like or what you think of yourself. I'm here to tell you don't let her go. You'll regret it for the rest of your life if you make that mistake." She smiled and turned to the fire. "I live my life now, unchanged. I will live my life happily like the man I loved wanted me to, but the pain I feel for loosing him because of my own stupidity will be with me until I die and he can at last forgive me." She turned to Zelgadis with a soft smile. "Don't make the same mistake, traveler."

She slowly stood up and bowed to him. "After I have gone, the sand I had tossed into the fire will reveal the only thing that could make you complete. See the vision and accept. If not you will carry the loneliness that you do now for eternity and you will loose the one you love."

Zelgadis' eyes widened. But before he could even utter a sound, the woman had already vanished into the forest. His eyes stared after her and he shook his head. He turned back to the fire and his heart stopped for an instant.

Amelia was smiling at him from within the flames. She started laughing, her eyes sparkling, her cheeks flushed with happiness, laughter, and embarrassment. Zelgadis' heart beat with recognition. The vision of Amelia in the flames grinned happily and reached for him. He lifted his hand, lost in the vision before him. But in the next instant she vanished into the air.

He stared into the fire, realizing what the woman said was true. He had never thought of Amelia really as anything other than a companion and friend, but she had always made him smile. She was also the only woman he knew that had ever blatantly exposed her love, even if she had never really said the words out loud. He had never really believed she loved him…after all, he was a chimera, and he wasn't even human anymore. Yet, she was always telling him that she didn't care about his chimera form. Had she truly meant it? She was older now. How different would she be? Would she have changed her mind? He shook his head putting aside the thoughts. He would think about this more later.

But he fell asleep that night, dreaming of the enchanting nymph that he had missed so much without even realizing it.

The next day as he passed through a village, they were talking about the 25-year anniversary of a woman's death. When he entered the inn and overheard a couple's conversation he realized whom the woman whose 25 anniversary of her death they were celebrating. Her name was Llyweln…a half-breed between a demon and a human that wandered her whole life living her life loving the man that had died for her because of his love for her.

Zelgadis made it a point before he left to stop by the grave of the woman to thank her.