A Slayers Christmas Carol
By Amori Malee ^_^
Once upon a time there lived a man named Zelgadiss. Although he had plenty of friends, he felt like he was all alone, and kept himself distant, and cold towards others. Being turned into a chimera by his grandfather/great-grandfather had made him an outcast from his family (and killing his Grandpa Rezo didn't help those matters at all), so Zelgadiss was spending Christmas with his friends, Lina, Gourry and Amelia, at Amelia's palace. Not being one to have much fun, he was not enjoying the holiday festivities which were taking place there, and that's where our story begins…It was the night before Christmas. Outside the snow was falling heavily in Saillune, but inside the palace there was a grand party taking place. The ballroom was lit up and there stood a magnificent Christmas tree with magic Christmas lights and there was a fire roaring in the fireplace while music filled the air.. A feast fit for a king (or Prince, in Phil's case) was set out and all of the guests were having a good time, except for one person. Zelgadiss sat watching the others having a good time and envied the fact that they could. They could take time out of their lifes to have fun and enjoy themselves. He, on the other hand, had a cure to be searching for. He really shouldn't have came to the party, but after being threatened by Lina he decided it would be alright. And, with the snow falling so harshly outside, he was glad not to be in that weather. But he didn't want to be here with these people, more than half that he didn't know, on Christmas…
"Mr. Zelgadiss?" a voice chirped from behind him that he knew to be Amelia's. "Aren't you having fun?"
Trying to keep the sarcasm from his voice, he said unconvincingly, "Yes."
Walking around to face him, Amelia put on her biggest and brightest smile. "Oh, come on Mr. Zelgadiss! It's Christmas!"
"It's not Christmas until tomorrow Amelia. And I don't plan on celebrating anything."
"But why not Mr. Zelgadiss? Christmas is the beginning of the end of the year! It means a new beginning about to begin with-"
"And why is that so special Amelia? All it means is that I'll spend another year like this!" he made a motion to his body.
Taken a bit back at how bad his mood was, Amelia tried some more to cheer him up, "Well, you could find your cure this new year."
"Don't patronize me Amelia, I don't need your pity." Zelgadiss got up. "I'll leave you to your party, Princess." And with that he left, without casting another look in her direction, to his room.
He was there for about ten minutes before an angry knock came.
"Come in." Zelgadiss said with a groan. He had a feeling about who it was.
Sure enough, Lina walked in. "Where the hell do you get off Zelgadiss? Or is it now "I'm better than the rest of you?""
"What are you talking about?" Zelgadiss looked out the window, refusing to look at her.
"Well, for one your up here sulking instead of having fun. Two you made Amelia cry."
Zelgadiss inwardly winced. He hadn't meant to hurt Amelia, he was just so upset about everything…
"Why don't you get over your self-pity state and come down and have fun, for once in your life!"
Zelgadiss turned to face her, angrily, "Where do you get off by coming up here and lecturing me, Lina? You have no idea what my life is like! How dare you just come in here and tell me what to do?"
"Well, someone obviously has to! Your acting like a jackass!"
"Well, then let me act like that. I don't need any of you, what have you gotten me? Just a couple more years of traveling around, not finding my cure."
"You can feel sorry for yourself anytime Zelgadiss! We are your friends, and this is Christmas!"
"To hell with Christmas and to hell with you Lina Inverse!"
Lina's eyes narrowed. "Fine Zelgadiss," she said in an all-to-calm voice, "Good-bye." And with that turned and left, slamming the door behind her.
Zelgadiss took a deep breath and laid down in his bed. "To hell with all of you…" he whispered, and closed his eyes, determined to sleep through this holiday.
***
The noise of rattling woke him. Looking at the clock on the endtable, he saw that it was still before midnight. The rattling came again, from just outside his door. Sitting up in his bed, he prepared a spell, just in case it was needed. The rattling abruptly stopped, and getting up from his bed, Zelgadiss opened it only to see that there was nothing there. Closing the door, he turned and jumped. There was Rezo standing by the window. He tapped his staff, and the rattling came again.
"Rezo!! How the hell are you here?" Zelgadiss shouted.
"My dear Zelgadiss….I am here to warn you…"
"Warn me about what?!?"
"If you continue down this path…you will destroy yourself…"
Zelgadiss laughed, "What path is that?"
"Denying yourself of your friends…your feelings….."
Zelgadiss narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off.
"Your one true care is your cure…..and it will destroy you….."
"Whatever Rezo. Why would you help me now?!? And your DEAD. This is just a really odd dream."
"Dear Zelgadiss, you will be visited by three spirits tonight. If you do not change your ways by the end of this….you will be doomed to be as me…"
"As you? I don't think so!"
Rezo began to fade away, "You will destroy yourself…."
After he was completely gone, Zelgadiss sighed, "Destroy myself? Yeah, right….God, what a stupid dream…" he climbed back into bed and was asleep for 15 minutes before he heard an awful laugh…..truly awful…..
"OhOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!" Zelgadiss's eyes flew open to find a very large breasted, very tall woman in a white dress holding a candle (picture the sluttiest white angel like dress you can….that's what she's wearing ^_^).
"Who the HELL are you!?!?!?" Zelgadiss yelled, sitting up in bed.
"OHOHOHOHOHO! I am Naga, the White Serpent! And the Ghost of Christmas Past! OHOHOHOHO! You will come with me now!" she stretched out her hand.
"I'm not going any where with you, you wacko!"
Naga narrowed her eyes, "If you will not come willingly, you will come forcefully." She waved her hand, and they were in a cottage.
"Where are we??"
Naga pointed at the kitchen, where they could see a woman with light lavender hair making dinner. "Do you not know now?"
"That's not…..that couldn't be!" Zelgadiss walked through the door, "It is! Mom!"
"She can't hear you…this is the past."
A little purple haired boy ran into the kitchen and ran to the woman, "Mommy! Grandpa Rezo is here!"
Zelgadiss's mouth dropped, "That's…..me!"
Naga nodded, "That's how you were before…..how happy you were."
Zelgadiss frowned, "That was BEFORE I was a chimera."
Naga shrugged, "Does it make a difference? You were happy….sad how much life changes from when you are a child…"
"Why are we here!"
"To show you Zelgadiss, what you used to be! You could be like that again, you know."
"Not like this I can't!"
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
Zelgadiss frowned "I don't want to be here anymore," He looked again at his mother.
"That is alright, my time is up."
"What do you mean your time is up?" Zelgadiss turned to look at her, but only found himself looking at the wall in his room. "Another dream?" The fireplace lit up suddenly and, upon turning, he saw Fillia sitting by it. "What are you doing here Fillia!"
Fillia looked up at him and smiled. She stood up, took a moment to straighten out her large red velvet dress, and looked at him again. "I am the ghost of Christmas present, Zelgadiss."
"Christmas present? Well, I can tell you right now that it's going pretty crappy!"
"Not yours Zelgadiss, but how you have affected the ones you call friends." And with a wave of her hand they were back down in the ballroom.
They watched Amelia watch Zelgadiss leave with tears in her eyes. Unable to keep the tears from sliding down her face, she ran from the room, unnoticed except by Lina. Worried, she followed Amelia into Phil's library. The room was dark and unlight, but by the moonlight coming in from the window she could see Amelia standing by the window, face in her hands.
"Amelia…" she said softly, trying not to scare her.
"Oh Ms. Lina…" Amelia sobbed.
"What is it? What happened?" Lina took a few steps closer, not quite sure how to handle this.
"Mr…Mr. Zelgadiss hates me!" she sobbed, stuttering on the words.
"I don't hate her! Why does she think that?" Zelgadiss asked Fillia.
"What? Why do you think that?"
"I was trying to cheer him up and-and he told me that he not to pity him and-and that I was patronizing him!" Amelia cried some more, upsetting herself all over again.
"Well, if you said something like that to me Zelgadiss, I'd think that too."
Lina softly patted her back, "Zel just is probably having Christmas blues or something. You know how he is Amelia. I'm sure he didn't mean any of it."
"I didn't know that what I had said hurt her that much…."
"Well, it did Zelgadiss. You still don't realize that these people are your friends and that they really care."
"Do you think so Lina?" Amelia looked up at Lina, tears still fresh in her eyes.
"Yes, I'm sure Amelia. Now go dry your eyes and go back out to the party, I'm sure they've noticed you gone by now."
Amelia nodded and they both left, leaving Zelgadiss and Fillia alone in the library.
"Why have you showed me this Fillia?"
"To make you realize that your actions now affect your future…..or lack thereof."
"What do you mean lack?"
Fillia closed her eyes, "That is not for me, that is for the next one…. My time draws near…" with that she began to fade away.
"No! Wait Fillia!"
"Too late." A voice came from behind him. Zelgadiss turned to see a dark cloaked figure, hood drawn over his face.
"Who are you?"
"I am the Ghost of Christmas to Come…" the cloaked man removed the hood, "Otherwise known as the mysterious priest ||^_^||"
"XELLOS!!!!!!!!!"
"The one and only!!!"
"What do you want!!!"
"Isn't that obvious?" Xellos opened his catlike eyes and smiled his evil mazoku smile. Zelgadiss felt a shiver go down his spine. This couldn't be good.
"I'm here to show you the Christmas yet to come….if you continue the way you are." He raised his staff and tapped it on the ground, and suddenly they were………
"Were in the same place!!!" Zelgadiss yelled, "Don't you know how to use that thing?!?"
Xellos closed one eye, "Do you know that for sure?" Zelgadiss blinked and walked out of the library. Sure enough, it was the Saillune ballroom, decorated for Christmas. But not a single person was there. At least, not a single living person. The floor was scattered with dead bodies.
"What….happened!" Zelgadiss looked around and recognized Lina and Gourry's bodies among the scattered ones. "Where's Amelia!" Zelgadiss yelled and Xellos and grabbed the front of his cloak. Xellos pointed toward the throne room, and Zelgadiss took of running. Upon reaching it, he took a deep breath to hold in a sob. There was Amelia's body, lying in front of the throne, a pool of blood around her. Sitting on the throne, however, was the last person Zelgadiss expected to see.
"That's……"
"You." Xellos said, without a hint of humor in his voice. Sitting in the throne was a non-chimera Zelgadiss, laughing over his kill.
"But…but how! Why?"
"You became so determined to find your cure that you eventually sought help from the one source you shouldn't. The mazoku race."
"No! I wouldn't!"
Xellos nodded grimly, "Dynast made you into his general after Sherra was killed, and in the process he healed you. After that, though, you became vengeful and the purest form of a monster."
Zelgadiss shook his head in disbelief. "No, I wouldn't! Not to Amelia! Or Lina, or Gourry. I wouldn't…"
"Oh, you did Zelgadiss. You felt that they were fake friends. After the fight you and Lina had, you never spoke again, until this particular Christmas."
Zelgadiss looked at his future mazoku self and then at Amelia, "No Xellos! No, I don't want this to happen! Anything but this! Tell me how I can change this!"
Xellos smiled, "You know how Zelgadiss, you just have to accept yourself. Others don't judge you, only you do."
Zelgadiss looked down and closed his eyes. He would change….he would……
***
Zelgadiss opened his eyes and was shocked at how bright the light was outside. Had it all really been a dream?
Getting out of bed and running downstairs (he slept in his clothes) he ran into the ballroom. No dead bodies, good! Hearing voices coming downstairs, he ran to meet them.
Lina and Amelia were walking, talking excitedly about what presents they were going to get, Gourry following a little more tiredly.
"Guys! Hey guys!! Your alive!!!" an ecstatic Zelgadiss greeted them.
"Um….yeah…..your alive too, how wonderful," Lina said a bit sarcastically, a bit confused.
"I'm sorry about last night guys….I was…in a bad mood," Zelgadiss sighed and closed his eyes, waiting for a rejection of his apology. Instead, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and opening his eyes, saw a smiling Lina.
"I'm sorry too Zel, we all have bad days."
Zelgadiss smiled.
"Now come on! Let's open our presents!!" Lina and Gourry ran off to the Christmas tree.
Amelia was about to follow them when Zelgadiss stopped her, "Amelia…I want to apologize to you….about what I said last night…"
"It's alright Mr. Zelgadiss, I understand," Amelia said softly, smiling.
Zelgadiss smiled at her for a moment. "I just want you to know that I really care for you, no matter how I might act sometimes Amelia…"
Amelia blushed lightly and smiled at him some more, "I care about you to, Mr. Zelgadiss."
"Well, look at these two!"
The two turned to look, and there was Phil smiling at them, with Lina and Gourry, holding presents. "I hope you notice the mistletoe your standing under!" Lina said in a sing-song voice, smirking.
Both blushed some more. "Well, now, you can't break tradition! Go ahead now!!" Phil laughed.
Blushing some more, Zelgadiss leaned towards Amelia. `I can't believe I'm doing this!' he thought to himself as his lips brushed hers. Suddenly he felt a tingling sensation, not really a pain, through his whole body. He heard a gasp from the others, and pulled away from Amelia, looking at them.
"Zelgadiss! Your glowing!" Gourry yelled, pointing.
"Oh my god!" Lina whispered.
Amelia looked at him and gasped as well. "Mr. Zelgadiss, your skin! It's…..It's normal!"
Zelgadiss's mouth dropped and he ran to a wall mirror. Sure enough, his skin was pale and smooth and his hair was soft and purple. Overcome with happiness, he started laughing, "I can't believe it! I just can't believe it!" looking at Amelia again, he grabbed her and spun her around, causing her to giggle. "All this time my cure was right here?" he stopped spinning her and held her in a close embrace. "Thank you."
Lina and Gourry smiled, and Lina leaned into Gourry a little, who put his arm around her. Phil clasped his hands and beamed with happiness. "God bless us, everyone!!"
Ok, I know that ending was corny! ^_^ But I hope you all like it!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!
And if you don't celebrate Christmas, have a HAPPY NON-DENOMINATIONAL HOLIDAY!!!