A Battle of Will: Chapter 1
Lina gulps down the remainder of her food and sighs in contentment. She and Gourry have been staying here in Seyruun for almost a week, but only because they're waiting for Amelia to be done with her boring princess stuff, as well as the fact that the young princess is expecting a visitor. Amelia has continued to leave this visitor unnamed, but with the swing in her step and extra cheeriness, Lina has a pretty good guess at who it may be. Then again, Amelia could have just gotten even more annoying in the year since they fought the ghost of Shabranigdo.
Lina's mind runs through any remaining possibilities that she hasn't vetoed already and comes to her final conclusion: the visitor that is supposed to come at exactly noon today must be none other than...
"Miss Lina, why are you so quiet all of a sudden?"
"Oh, it's nothing, Amelia," Lina replies, flashing an evil grin and a victory sign. The self-proclaimed sorceress supreme stands and exits the room, her pet swordsman following closely behind.
"Why am I not surprised...?" Lina hears Amelia ask herself as the princess also leaves the room, heading towards her office.
Last year, after the group fought Shabranigdo for the second time, Lina and Gourry had continued to search for a worthy sword, Amelia had started back to Seyruun, and Zelgadis had gone off on yet another search for a cure, still defiant. Since then Amelia had kept in contact with all of them. If Lina is correct, Amelia probably wants to get them all together again to go off on a mission for Seyruun. Shouldn't she know by now that whenever Lina Inverse is involved, something is bound to go wrong?
"Oh, before I forget, Miss Lina, Daddy wants to know if you're okay with helping out Ruvinagald."
Apparently not.
Amelia walks into her office to see a letter laying on her desk, right in the middle. Apparently, she had gotten a letter during breakfast. The young princess checks the return address.
There isn't one, which means it's from Zelgadis.
She opens the letter and reads it.
'Amelia,
I can't make it in time. The townspeople over in one of the cities south of Seyruun decided to throw me in jail...again. I escaped, but that was after about an hour of multiple tries. I should get there soon.
Sorry to disappoint,
Zelgadis.'
Amelia sighs, "Mister Zelgadis got thrown in jail again? How many times do I have to lecture him on how not to get thrown into jail?!"
She shakes her head and begins working on her paperwork. She's already halfway through it when she notices a short message taped to one of her pens. It's from her father; something about...getting married.
Amelia turns her full attention to the note and reads it aloud. "'My dear Amelia, I'm sorry to force you into this, but I, and the kingdom as a whole, need you to marry a prince, and we need you to marry soon. I'm sure you understand the reasons behind it, and I don't want to force you to make a decision, but it is for a just reason. You will meet a few suitors tomorrow for lunch. From, Your Loving Father.'" She widens her eyes. "Daddy...why didn't you tell me in person?"
Phil paces the throne room, where he knows that Amelia will eventually arrive. He didn't want to force her to marry, not on such short notice, but the Council has demanded it be so. It has his blood boiling with the urge to deal Justice upon them, but he knows that it would make the royal family look bad.
"Daddy!"
"Amelia," the king replies in a rather cheery attitude.
His daughter waves the note in his face before throwing it to the ground. Her eyes are red and swollen. She must have been crying. "Why didn't you tell me before now, and why not in person?!" she cries.
Phil is taken aback by how emotional Amelia is getting about this. When he was eighteen, three years younger than she is now, he was forced to marry, and he found someone he loved. Surely Amelia knew this day would come...?
"Amelia, I discussed this with the Council while you were at breakfast with Lina. I didn't expect this to happen so soon, but it's wise to marry you off before—"
"'Marry me off'?!" Amelia exclaims. "Daddy, I'm not a thing, I'm a human being, just like you! You can't just choose who I'm gonna marry! I'll never be as lucky as you were with Mother! I can't find someone like that!"
Phil replies, "You're right, Amelia, you'll be even luckier. No just person would take advantage of how kind and beautiful you are."
"Daddy, you don't understand. No one out there is just. No one ever was. It's a cruel world, and you're simply ignorant of it. Miss Lina, Mister Gourry, and Mister Zelgadis made me realize that. Didn't you ever hear about how Rezo the Red Priest resurrected the Dark Lord Shabranigdo? Twice? Miss Lina had to use her most powerful and deadly spell to defeat him, and even then it wouldn't have worked if Mister Pokota and Rezo hadn't helped her. For all we know, some random prince could just walk in and ask to marry me, and you would say yes. What if it turned out to be some jerk I'd be stuck with for the rest of my life?!" Amelia yells. Tears have started streaming down her cheeks again, and her eyes are burning with rage and despair.
The king blinks once or twice before his daughter's words sink in. Justice isn't really supported; it's just a joke that all their allied kingdoms are playing along with. Ruvinagald, Taforashia, Ragna...they're all just allies to take advantage of Seyruun's supplies.
"A-Amelia, how long have you kept this in?" Phil stutters.
"For far too long," she snaps back, turning to leave the room. "Tell the Council that Crown Princess Amelia says, 'I'm not getting married if it means I'll have to listen to you.'"
With that, Amelia leaves the room, and even after she's long gone, Phil continues to stare at the door in disbelief. Only hours later does he leave the room to relay her reaction to the Council.
Lina hears shouting coming from the throne room, and it sounds like Amelia who's doing all of it. The black magic sorceress wonders what got Amelia so worked up; she never gets this emotional. Just as Lina reaches the huge doors, the crown princess bursts out and almost rams directly into her.
"M-Miss Lina, what are you doing here?" Amelia asks, trying desperately to erase the tears from her face.
"Your yelling was kind of hard to miss. After all, you are the most joyful and cheery person I know," Lina replies. She frowns and puts her arm around Amelia's shoulder, softening into a side of her which is rarely shown. "Amelia, what happened? You never get so upset."
Amelia hesitates before gesturing for Lina to follow. The red-head doesn't miss the fact that Amelia stands far enough that she can't touch her. The two arrive in Amelia's bedroom, and the princess closes the door softly.
"I-I..." She blinks back more tears as she sits down on her bed. "I got in a fight with Daddy. He said that I had to marry someone, and he still thinks that everyone in the world is all...just. He thinks that anyone who looks nice and acts nice actually is nice, and I...I tried to tell him that no one is like that, that they never were, but I doubt the message came through."
Lina's eyes soften considerably. She sits down next to Amelia and gives her a hug. "Listen, Amelia. Phil and whoever else says you have to marry are wrong. I know plenty of women that rule a kingdom without a husband."
"Miss Lina, I never said I didn't want to marry anyone. I said I don't wanna marry some snobby, spoiled brat who thinks he can say and do whatever he wants to," Amelia whispers. "I want to marry someone who cares, someone who loves me for who I am, not someone who wants to marry me because I'm a princess."
"People like...?"
She almost smiles, her head on Lina's shoulder. "People like Mister Gourry, or Mister Pokota."
Lina is almost taken aback. Amelia hasn't mentioned Zelgadis at all, which is really surprising. So Lina comes right out and asks, "What about people like Zelgadis?"
A simple reply, full of honesty. "No one is like Mister Zelgadis."
She smiles and nods, "You're right, Amelia. No one could come close to Zelgadis' kindness. He may not know it, but no one here really cares what he looks like, or what he acts like. We all know that he has a great personality. Sure, his humor may have vanished into thin air a few years ago, but someone has to be the serious one, right?"
Amelia beams at Lina as she replies, "Right."
Zelgadis is walking towards Seyruun when his messenger bird appears on the horizon. He can only tell it's his because it was enchanted with his magic, which he can sense from almost five miles away, as well as Amelia's.
When it arrives, it lands on his outstretched arm and gives him a letter.
'Dear Mister Zelgadis,
First off, STOP GETTING THROWN INTO JAIL! Do you like getting arrested or something?! And second...I had a bit of a problem as well; I'll tell you about it when you arrive, but you should probably hurry. Miss Lina just barged into my room and yelled, "Where the heck is he? I'm impatient!" as well as a few...colorful words that I'm not allowed to repeat. I hope to see you soon.
Yours Truly,
Amelia.'
Zelgadis nods to himself and slips the letter into one of his concealed pockets. "Hmm...I wonder what Amelia's 'problem' was," he wonders. "Probably some pointless argument with Justice involved, but then again, Amelia isn't one to say she'll tell me later, which means it must be a pretty big problem."
After some consideration, he casts Ray Wing and hurries towards the castle.
Lina, Gourry, and Amelia are eating lunch when a guard knocks on the door and comes in.
"Princess Amelia, your visitor has arrived."
Lina and Gourry exchange glances, but Amelia nods and stares intently at the doorway, where a familiar beige-cloaked figure arrives just as the clock strikes one.
"Hey, guys. Miss me?"
Amelia rushes forward and tackles him over with a hug. "Mister Zelgadis!"
He sweatdrops. "Amelia, will you please get off of me?"
She blushes and gets off, offering a hand to help him up.
"Okay, now that all that familiar awkwardness has passed," Lina smirks, "how have you been, Zel? Still haven't found a cure?"
"Obviously. Who else covers up like this all the time?" he asks, gesturing to his attire.
Gourry frowns, "Hold on, I got this one...I know! Assassins sometimes dress up like that!"
Zelgadis facefaults and Lina sweatdrops, and she grabs it to hit Gourry in the face. "You idiot! It was a rhetorical question!"
"Er...what does 'rhetorical' mean?"
Amelia supplies helpfully, "A rhetorical question is a question that no one really needs to answer. Basically it's a question that the answer should be obvious to."
"At least someone knows what it means," Zelgadis grumbles.
"Tell me about it," Lina replies.
"Remind me again why we travel with such idiots?"
"One of them can heal wounds better than we can, and the other is a pretty tough swordsman."
"Right, but I'm not too shabby myself, and we both know healing spells," Zelgadis mutters.
Lina rolls her eyes. "Zel, get back to the point. Why'd you come here in the first place?"
He sighs, pulling his hood down and sitting at the table with them. "Amelia told me that Seyruun owes Ruvinagald a favor. I need to be there to discuss diplomatic stuff, she needs to be there as a representative of Seyruun as well as the crown princess, and we were hoping you were coming along to blow stuff up if it doesn't go our way. And of course Gourry follows you everywhere, so it's just the four of us on another adventure."
"Hey, Zel? You're forgetting two things: one, I tend to attract evil, super-powerful demon lords, and two, Inspector Wizer is probably still mad at me for not letting him arrest me. So I probably shouldn't go," she explains.
"Yes, but you're forgetting something. A demon lord will probably attack you while we're over in Ruvinagald, so if you're on the other side of the world off trying to kill yet another demon lord, we won't be able to provide you with enough time to cast yet another Giga Slave." Zelgadis glances over at Amelia, who is busy gazing at him with adoration.
"Er...yeah, Miss Lina," Amelia says, blushing in embarrassment and turning away from him. "You probably wouldn't have enough time to cast it, since we wouldn't be there to help provide a distraction."
"Amelia, that's exactly what I said," Zelgadis explains slowly, as if he thought Amelia was dense.
"Mister Zelgadis, it's not nice to assume someone is dull-witted just because they repeat things!" she cries, striking a Justice Pose and pointing at him.
"You're pointing."
Amelia facefaults.
Lina smirks. "Okay, fine. I'll come along. But the second Wizer shows up—"
"—is the second you blow up," Amelia and Zelgadis recite.
Amelia continues, "We know, Miss Lina, which is exactly why we inquired that Ruvinagald ban Mister Wizer from the meeting. Everyone knows you still have a grudge against him, and he, you, so Ruvinagald's High Council agreed to attempt to keep him away, but knowing Mister Wizer, and knowing you, Miss Lina, there's something bound to go wrong."
"What's that supposed'ta mean?!" Lina growls, holding the crown princess in a headlock.
"N-nothing, Miss Lina! It's just that Mister Wizer could appear at any second, and..."
"And what?!"
"...and you could attract a...um, a demon lord, at any time, so..."
"Amelia's right, Lina," Zelgadis points out. "Your mood changes whenever someone mentions your title, your temper, your bust..."
"What was that?!" Energy gathers in Lina's hands as she begins to mutter, "Darkness beyond twilight, Crimson beyond blood that flows..."
Zelgadis smirks and adds, "Hey, who would've known that you were Lina the Pink, a temperamental, flat-chested girl?" He then whispers to Amelia, "I kinda guessed your problem. I decided blowing up the castle would handle it," and picks she and Gourry up, flying quickly away as Lina screams the last words of her incantation.
"Okay, I guess that trip to Ruvinagald is off," Gourry observes as the city of Seyruun goes down in flames.
"Tonight, Lina's young, so she'll set the palace on fire, even brighter than the sun..." Zelgadis sings cheerily.
"Tonight, Lina's young, so she'll set Seyruun on fire, even brighter than her hair..." Amelia adds.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand where all o' this is coming from," Gourry sings, "I thought that we were fine,"
"YOU IDIOT! THAT'S THE WRONG SONG!"