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I do not profit in a monetary sense from writing fan fiction

Thank you for your kindness and tolerance.

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Coincidence (part one)

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For some reason, when things begin to happen around Lina Inverse her friends begin to move away from their ho-hum routines and towards Lina. Even from as far away as Seyruun or Xoana or Sairaag, her old traveling companions shake off their normal lives and drift towards Lina Inverse.

How do they know when to prepare for Lina? Do they even notice when Lina's life draws them in?

Perhaps it was all coincidence.

Perhaps the princess of Seyruun snuck out of the palace for no other reason than her desire to spread Justice. It was possible that Amelia slipped out of the palace at about the same time as when Lina was in a dream conference with the Source of All Chaos purely by coincidence.

Perhaps Zelgadis was walking on the same road that Amelia was following away from Seyruun because he wanted to walk there. He was following someone's advice because he had lost his map. It was plausible that the chimera and the princess literally ran into one another by coincidence.

Perhaps a pottery-making dragon maiden decided to purchase a larger house on a practical whim. Her adopted son was growing up quickly, and her assistant had gotten married recently. Filia couldn't have known about the number of houseguests she would host in the near future. It was probable that the new house had just the right number of bedrooms due to luck and coincidence.

Perhaps the King and Queen of Xoana traveled to Seyruun to chat about building up both armies and nothing more. The two kingdoms were allies, the queen and the princess were on first name terms, and Xoana had always wanted a bigger army. It was possible that the renewed desire for a larger military came at that particular time, as a coincidence.

Perhaps Sylphiel returned to where Flagoon had once stood because she was feeling very nostalgic on the anniversary of Sairaag's fall. When she tripped over a rock and discovered Flagoon's seed, nothing could have shocked her… not even a disappearing rock. It was, slightly, probable that the reason she found the Holy Tree's seed then, at the same moment as when the Lord of Nightmares rode away; was a coincidence.

Perhaps it was all random chance and good timing.

But it's far more likely that someone, or something, worked hard to guide events. Perhaps a gloved hand pointed the way or pushed a person into position. Perhaps a sly smile concealed a secret until it was the proper time.

Maybe someone had a point to make.

Maybe it was a conspiracy.

Or maybe it was just a string of unrelated, yet lucky, coincidences.

Perhaps, for example, Amelia's mission of Justice was just an impeccably timed and fortunately pulled off coincidence.

…………………………

The dungeons of Seyruun are touted as the most secure place to store evil-doers or, if there's a vacancy, good wine that you don't want your relatives to get into. Escaping from the palace of Seyruun is almost impossible; especially for the royal princess.

Amelia could barely ditch her royal guard when she wanted to go into the royal bathrooms. She could barely convince her servants that she didn't need a handmaid handing her exactly five squares of extra-soft, royal toilet paper. At least a prisoner in solitary confinement had privacy! There was always someone trying to follow a princess.

But Amelia would get out.

She had spent exactly one year, five months, two weeks, and one day without leaving the city. She was sick of wading through paperwork and navigating court alliances while wearing a fake smile and a glittery tiara. Amelia absolutely hated acting polite for evil courtiers and never punishing them for their wicked deeds, she longed for the open road where she could deliver Justice in the open.

She wanted to return to the life of a Champion of Justice.

So Amelia decided to escape.

She even went as far as to write out an escape plan.

First she would spend the day working on a law that would provide education for children of all backgrounds. This first step would send her guards the message that nothing was out of the ordinary and they didn't need to worry about her.

Second, she would slip off to the fifth floor toilets. It had to be the fifth floor because that was the only bathroom with a window of any kind. The fifth floor skylight was essential.

Third, she would change out of her bulky, impractical dress and into her tunic and pants. She prepared for this step by sewing a large pocket in between two layers of fabric and hiding her travel clothes within. Amelia couldn't really walk properly with the extra weight pulling on her skirt, but the sake of Justice requires some sacrifices.

Forth and finally, she would climb out of the skylight and onto the roof of the palace. From there she would cast Ray Wing and fly out of the city limits. After that she would follow the open road wherever it wanted to go.

Amelia considered the plan 'perfect'; now if only the definition of 'perfect' included phrases like: crazy, somewhat generalized, prone to change, and capable of failing miserably.

At least it was a plan.

…………………………

Amelia frowned as some no-name noble dumped an armload of paperwork onto her desk. With an air of great personal importance, the man pranced away from the irritated princess. Amelia stuck her tongue out at his retreating back. A soft giggle caused her to quickly retract her tongue and look around for the amused person.

Two out of five of her guards had gone out for hot coffee and soft serve ice cream, one of her guards had stayed at his home with a fever that morning, two of the remaining soldiers were snoozing, and the last man was smiling out the window at the sunset. Finally the princess' eyes alighted on her Uncle Christopher's court mages.

The mages were newcomers to the court; apparently Christopher had met them on one of his diplomatic missions and, since they needed jobs, he hired them to replace the deceased Kanzeil and Mazenda. Amelia still didn't know their names for some reason, she thought they sounded something like 'Rosy-crayons' and 'Gilded-stream', but she didn't want to offend them by mispronouncing their names.

"Can I help you?" Amelia inquired as formally as she could. As she spoke she also tried to study the two carefully, so she could recognize them at another time.

"S-sorry" the first mage gasped between giggles, "I didn't mean to titter; I was just shocked when I saw a princess acting like a normal girl." She was about the same height as Amelia, she wore thick glasses, and she had cropped black hair that looked like it had been on the wrong end of a Digger Bolt. "Your Uncle sent us over to see if we could help you with anything." For some reason, she reminded Amelia of an old lady, but at the same time she seemed like a perky and spacey young woman.

Amelia brightened at the prospect of making someone else sort through the idiotic nobleman's papers. "How are you with filing paperwork and filling in formality type forms?" Amelia asked eagerly.

Hopefully her Uncle's mages could deal with her busy work while she busied herself in escaping.

"We can read in several different languages, we can decipher messy handwriting, we can forge signatures, and we are highly proficient at making checkmarks." The second mage replied with cool sarcasm. He was a handsome young man with black hair that possessed a perfect sheen stolen from a magazine cover, flawless skin copied from a make-up ad, and icy-gray eyes that glared from above a pair of reading glasses. The lighting shifted to show him in his best light, a faint chorus of angels accompanied his movements, and Amelia could have sworn his robe billowed dramatically in his personal wind. "I dare say that we are almost over-qualified to fill and file forms." He added arrogantly.

"No one is too good to work." Amelia replied perkily, "You shouldn't ask what Seyruun can do for you, but rather what you can do for Seyruun. Since my last name is Seyruun, sometimes I am called just Seyruun, therefore I can be considered Seyruun and you can fill out forms for me!" Amelia loved her logic; it helped in writing speeches and convincing people into helping her.

"Right oh!" The female mage exclaimed with equal enthusiasm "We were hired by her Uncle so we ought to do everything we can to help her. So let's get cracking on those silly forms!" Amelia liked the enthusiasm and dedication that the first mage demonstrated; Seyruun need more enthusiasm in the government.

"Thank you," Amelia smiled, "If I could request one more favor: I would like to know your names again, I'm afraid they've slipped my mind at the moment." She wanted to write both of them thank you notes for doing her work after her planned Justice crusade.

"I'm Guildenstern," the first mage said as she read a page of off the noble's paper pile, "and he," she gestured towards the man who was also reading, "is called Rosencrantz."

The man groaned aloud and set the paper down, "No, stupid." He snapped at the other mage, "I'M Guildenstern and YOU'RE Rosencrantz. Get it right for once."

"Oh, yeah… that's how it is. I forgot." Rosencrantz, unless she was really Guildenstern, nodded agreeably. Amelia decided that Rosencrantz acted a little bit like Gourry.

"Well I'm pleased to make your acquaintance." Amelia said, smoothly interrupting the mages as they began to discuss identity and truth. "I hope we can become good friends."

Amelia glanced out the window, past the only guard that was awake. Beyond the man's slightly-familiar and smiling face, she could see that the cover of night had descended upon Seyruun city.

"Pardon me," the princess announced to the assembled people, "If you'll kindly excuse me, I must go powder my nose." The snoozing guards roused and began to collect themselves, but Amelia waved a dismissive hand at them. "Please, don't bother following me, I might take awhile and I would be so embarrassed if someone was waiting." And with that she left the paperwork to the mages and ran up the stairs to the fifth floor.

It was time for step two, and then three, and then free.

…………………………

Two hours later, one of the members of Amelia's guard ran into Christopher Ul Brozz Seyruun's personal study in a fit of panic. According to the poor man, the princess had slipped out of a fifth story window and left her dress behind. The reason that they hadn't discovered her escape earlier was because one soldier kept persuading the rest of them to wait for her to return from the bathroom.

Christopher sighed; he should have seen this coming, especially since he knew Phil so well. Like father like daughter.

Oh well…

The second prince sought out his court mages, they could probably find Amelia. Although he wasn't sure if he wanted them near his niece, finding Amelia was the top priority. He found them doing her paperwork.

"Rosenstern, Guildencrantz." He addressed them, "I need you to find my niece... she's left the palace alone." They bowed and he left the room.

Christopher climbed the stairs to Amelia's room and peeked in; perhaps she had left a note or something. Phil usually liked to leave some sort of note. He didn't find one note; he found several drafts of a note, a written out escape plan, and a rough travel itinerary.

Christopher sweat-dropped, maybe he should go after his niece himself…

No, not should go after her, he was obligated to go after Amelia. It wasn't a question of should, it was his duty. He didn't want her to come to harm like Alfred had, but he had made a foolish mistake.

Christopher remembered what had happened the last time he hadn't stopped two Mazoku from getting close to one of his family members.

The second prince missed his son dreadfully.

…………………………

Zelgadis touched his mask again, to reassure himself that it was there. The road he the chimera was following led Seyruun city, according to an innkeeper that Zelgadis could have sworn he knew. It was odd that the innkeeper had insisted on Zelgadis taking this particular road, but the chimera had lost his map and he didn't have enough money to buy another. That was the only reason Zelgadis had taken the odd innkeeper's advice. No, really.

Zelgadis checked his mask a second time. Since Seyruun city was a large city; that meant that there were more people on the road. Therefore Zelgadis clung to his mask more than usual. Partly because he didn't want to frighten the other travelers, but mostly because he was still self-conscious about his blue and rocky complexion.

At least the road was mostly empty at night.

Zelgadis preferred the semi-dangerous solitude of nocturnal travel to the well-protected crowd of daytime travelers. At night, no one stared at him even if his mask was off.

Zelgadis sighed, brushing thoughts of travel preferences away for the moment. The chimera had to make a decision that he had been debating for the past few days.

Zelgadis had to decide whether or not to try to visit Amelia at the royal palace. On one hand, he hadn't seen Amelia for several years and it would be nice to chat about old times. On the other hand, he didn't want to deal with a bunch of overly-paranoid guards questioning him about his business at the palace. Which would win out, his desire to see a friend or his aversion to people?

While he was lost in thought, a person walked right into him.

"Sorry," a young lady's tired voice apologized as she wobbled away. Zelgadis nearly fell over in surprise. The girl was wearing a cloak with a hood that concealed her face, but it didn't hide her voice from his sensitive ears.

"Wait!" He ordered the cloaked figure.

She didn't wait, she began to run away.

Zelgadis spent a short time grumbling about his life in general before chasing after her. As she ran, her hood flew off her head to reveal her short, black, familiar hair. It was undoubtedly her. His strong hand caught her wrist and he spun the princess around to face him.

"For the love of…" he groused, "Please stop running, Amelia! It's me… Zelgadis." The chimera said. Their eyes met. "What in the world are you doing here?" He asked, "Is someone chasing you? Are you in trouble?"

In response, Amelia blushed and looked away sheepishly.

The truth dawned on Zelgadis and he ran a hand through his wiry hair.

"You were running away from the palace, weren't you?" Zelgadis sighed.

"I was not!" Amelia exclaimed self-righteously, all fatigue gone from her voice, "I'm going to spread Justice," she explained, "like butter upon the toast of society." Amelia added the nonsense about toast the way Lina stole food, casually and quickly.

Zelgadis valiantly fought the urge to roll his eyes, some people never really change.

"Well then," the chimera tried not to smile, "Let's go."

The princess blinked. "Go?" She echoed quizzically.

"You- I mean, we're" Zelgadis began, fighting a crimson blush. "We're going to… ah… spread Justice like butter, right?"

Amelia beamed. Zelgadis was such a great guy! Even though they hadn't seen each other for awhile, he willingly dropped his plans to travel with her. He was so sweet.

"Indeed, we shall spread Justice upon the bread of the peoples! Let's go, Mr. Zelgadis!"

'Oh well,' the chimera mused, 'I guess I didn't have much else to do…'

…………………………

Back at the palace, the guards were playing the classic game of pass the blame.

"I swear," the soldier who had alerted Christopher repeated for the umpteenth time that evening, "I swear it was another guy's idea. He kept saying we should wait for her to finish up!"

"That true?" A different soldier sneered, "Who was it? You said you and James were napping while Carl and Greg bought coffee and we all know that Horace has been barfing up his guts all day. So who was this 'mysterious soldier'?"

"I don't know!" The hassled soldier snapped back, "I keep telling you I thought he was a replacement that the captain sent! I didn't know him; I thought he was some newbie."

"Yeah, right!" A new mocker shouted, "The captain didn't know Horace was sick until this evening, and he never sends replacements! But tell us Thomas, what did your imaginary friend look like?" The assembled mob laughed and jeered.

"This guy kept smiling and smiling! He had purple hair and he kept his eyes shut and he never stopped smiling. I don't know who he is or where he's gone, but I'm not making him up!" Thomas insisted with a whine.

The other soldiers laughed some more. The more the poor man denied it, the more the hecklers became convinced that he was fibbing.

…………………………

Was it all coincidence? One wonders sometimes.

Somewhere someone smiled.

Somewhere someone frowned.

There were more coincidences to go around.

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Author's Note to the Patient Reader: I am glad that you have read this far, it makes me very happy. I'm sorry if the plot is moving along slowly, and I'm sorry Lina didn't get any lines this time. Please continue to read and have patience with me. I thank you.