AN: Ya'll! Two chapters of the 9th novel are now officially translated into English! I never thought I would see this day! I also didn't think they would move on to the Cursed Sword of Bezeld so quickly, so I put The Power of Justice on hold so I can glean insights into Sherra in this new translation, especially since she's not been a character I've paid a whole lot of attention to. Would have preferred one of the later novels with her, but I don't want to wait that long, lol. Anyway, for now, Zelame shippers…buckle in!

"You're up early." Amelia commented from their bed in the pre-dawn dark.

"Well, first day of lessons." Zelgadis said without looking up from his desk, lit only by a dim light spell, as he went over his lesson plans, "And with all the new students it's twice the work."

Amelia stared at the back of his head in annoyance for a moment and then grinned impishly as she threw a pillow at him and Zelgadis turned when it hit him, "What was that for?"

"You've been over and over those lesson plans." Amelia said as she patted the space on the bed beside her with a smile, "Come and join me for a bit of fun before work starts."

Zelgadis shook his head and threw the pillow back at her but got up nonetheless with a smile as he undid his robe before he joined her. Sunlight was gently streaming through their windows once they left their bed, and Zelgadis reflected that he was starting the day, and therefore the semester, well as they started to dress.

"I'll likely be home rather late tonight." Amelia said, "After our successes in Dils we have to push ahead and figure out the best way to liberate Lyzeille. Justice will triumph of course, but in the meantime there's an unfortunate amount of arguing over who has the best idea."

Zelgadis opened his mouth to say that he would be fine and that he had plenty to keep him busy, but then he remembered what she said about him not being much fun. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, "I will miss you terribly until you return."

She giggled as she twisted to kiss his cheek, and he smiled as he realized he made the right move, "We'll have a lot to make up for, my dearest! Now let's go and see our beautiful daughter."

Zelgadis smiled as they walked arm and arm to the nursery. Not surprisingly, they ran into Lina and Gourry in their way. "Morning!" the other couple said chipperly.

"Morning." Zel replied.

"You ready for another year?" Lina asked.

"It keeps me busy." Zel replied with a smile as he reflected that at that moment he was more content with his life than he ever would have expected he could be back when he was a chimera. He had a good, respectable job and a loving family and everything he could possibly ever want. He smiled as he opened the door to the nursery and looked towards the direction of Justina's crib.

"Dada!" she cried as she started crawling up to him, and Zelgadis felt his heart melt as he knelt down to pick her up.

"She is always so happy to see you." Amelia commented as she grabbed his arm.

Zelgadis took a moment to kiss her on the head in a good morning greeting before he handed her to Amelia, and then he reached into his pocket and pulled something out, "Do you want to look at the book I brought you?"

Justina laughed, and Zel grimaced as he was reminded of just how much she resembled Naga, and he quickly prayed that she would grow out of it. Still, he did not mention it as he sat down in a chair beside Amelia and Justina and started to read to her. Amelia held her as she pointed out the pictures and Justina smiled charmingly as she looked between the two of them. When he had finished reading he decided to let Amelia have some time with her as he turned to see that Gourry and Lina were building blocks with the twins. A sense of inadequacy rose as he admired the way that being goofy came so easily to the swordsman for a moment, but then he reminded himself that Justina seemed rather fond of him so he must have been doing something right!

He was startled when he heard a sob, and he turned in its direction to see Sylphiel sitting in a corner with Erik and Rick, wiping away tears as she was comforted by one of the wet nurses. "I'm sorry, it's so silly of me." She said.

"Exactly," Kembreigh said, "You'll only be gone a few hours! You can even pop in between classes to check in or nurse him. And it'll be good for Erik to play with the other babies. And if anything happens we're not even five minutes away."

Zelgadis reflected that Sylphiel and Rick had barely let Erik out of their sight since he was born and had barely taken advantage of the nursery and thought about how overprotective they were. But then given all that they had lost it was hard to be too judgmental. Still, he thought back to how emotional Amelia used to get about leaving Justina and thought proudly about how far they had already come!

Soon it was time to say good-bye to Justina to head down to breakfast, and as Zelgadis kissed Justina goodbye he felt unusually good about the road ahead as he walked arm and arm with Amelia down to the dining room.

Given that they now had advanced students and beginning students and many different people who could teach swordskills, Zelgadis had been tasked with magic classes with the new students in the morning. More confident in his teaching abilities than he had been a few years ago, he found it was more enjoyable to get to know a new class this time, and when he dismissed them and finally slipped into his office to spend a few minutes before lunch he was feeling on top of the world. He glanced out the window at the darkening storm clouds and hoped that Amelia had made it safely to Zefiel City as he sat at his desk and picked up a quill. Someone knocked, and he was a bit surprised that someone was taking advantage of his office hours so early in the term, but said, "Come in."

Nerys strode in boldly, her face a careful mask of composure and her body rigid as Bruce followed her, staring at the floor the whole time as they approached him. Zelgadis looked up at them just as the room was lit by a flash of lightning and felt a strange sense of unease as the thunder rumbled ominously behind it. "Can I help you?"

"Do you remember visiting a place called Gotham?" Nerys asked with a rather sharp tone that made Zelgadis feel as though he was being interrogated.

"I've been a lot of places." Zelgadis replied as he set his quill down. "Why?"

"I'm from Gotham." Bruce said as Zelgadis looked between the two of them as his stomach started to churn. Bruce was usually shy, but since he'd returned to Maninstit Zelgadis realized Bruce seemed terrified of him. And while Nerys could get smart and Zelgadis usually never had any trouble reprimanding her, Bruce was always painfully respectful.

"Do you ever remember being in an altercation outside of the Gotham City Theatre?" Nerys asked.

Zelgadis felt the room careen as his fears of the past crimes he'd committed at Rezo's behest coming back to haunt him came to the forefront of his mind. "What is this about?"

Nerys nudged Bruce, whose eyes widened as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a letter which he handed to Zelgadis. Zelgadis took it and felt the bottom drop from his stomach as he read:

Dear Master Wayne,

I have information regarding the murder of your parents, including witnesses who recall that Duke Zelgadis was involved…

Zelgadis set the letter down as the walls of the office seemed to cave in on him as Bruce asked, "Is it true?"

Zelgadis's chest felt unbearably tight and he found it difficult to breath, "When did this happen?"

"Seven years ago." Bruce said.

Zelgadis frantically searched his memories. Where was he seven years ago? Rezo had always been on the move, never staying anywhere for long. His memories were a blur of towns and countries with a few stable shelters. None of them were near Gotham, but Zelgadis couldn't remember for sure whether or not he'd ever been there. "I don't know." Zelgadis said as he shook his head. "I don't remember ever being there…"

"There was a bank robbery." Bruce said, "They were caught in the cross fire, hit by some flare arrows as they were walking home from the theatre."

"I don't remember…" Zelgadis said as he grabbed his heart, which he felt would explode from the anxiety pressing against it.

"Does this jog any memories?" Nerys asked as she set another letter on his desk, and Zelgadis felt his stomach evaporate as he read:

Dear Miss Kira,

I have information regarding the death of your father, including witnesses who recall that Duke Zelgadis was involved…

"This happened five years ago." Nerys said.

"What season?" Zel asked as he ran a hand through his hair.

"The fall."

"I was no longer with Rezo by this point, and I never traveled to Zeferia until I came here after I married Princess Amelia between that time. It couldn't have been me." He said desperately, but Nerys did not look convinced.

"Well I guess I'm just going to have to take your word for it." Nerys said as she folded her arms under her breasts and glared at him.

"Where did this take place?" Zelgadis asked.

"Brielle." Nerys replied, and then she sighed, "I always figured he ran afoul of the ruffians who ran that hellhole. But then I got this letter and now I don't know what to believe."

Neither do I! Zelgadis thought as he hid his hands under the desk so they couldn't see how badly he was shaking as he tried to think of what he could do, some way to prove that he wasn't involved. He did keep travel journals and he was sure he could consult with them. But what if they incriminated him?

"I mean, you seem pretty rattled." Nerys said pointedly, "I mean I always figured all of you teachers had blood of some sort on your hands, but I always figured it was other fighters and assassins and the like. Not innocent men like my father. And the fact that you can't easily deny this worries me, Duke Zelgadis. Tell me, does this mean you've murdered innocent people?"

Zelgadis felt sweat form on his brow as his chest felt unbearably tight. "I did some things I truly regret as a youth. I…"

He stopped as he found he couldn't talk anymore as he wondered what Nerys and Bruce would do if they knew the truth about the horrible things he had done at Rezo's behest. And how he had never been held accountable. While he hoped that his efforts to change and protect the world, even save it, would make up for the things he had done as a foolish kid, he also doubted that it would be much comfort to those who had lost loved ones because of his actions. Even before he had the luxuries he had now he had been loath to face the consequences. But now that he had so much…

Zelgadis felt his heart tighten as it became difficult to breath. He stood up as he managed to croak, "Excuse me."

And then he started to walk unsteadily from his office and towards one of the backdoors. "Where are you going?" Nerys asked as she stood up.

But Zelgadis no longer felt as though he had the air in his lungs to tell her that he was going out to try to get some fresh air. He simply got to the door, stepped out into the pouring rain and started walking.

Lina looked up in surprise as Nerys and Bruce burst into the teacher's dining room. But given how long they had been at Maninstit she figured that if they were there then they had to have a good reason, "What is it?"

"It's Duke Zelgadis." Nerys said. "Bruce and I had received letters over the summer from someone claiming that the Duke had been involved in the murder of our parents. So we went to ask him if it was true."

"Damn." Lina swore as she felt Gourry become alert beside her as everyone gathered around the table stopped eating and became rather alert, "Then what happened?"

"He said he couldn't remember," Nerys said as she shook her head, and while Lina wanted to deny that Zelgadis could have ever been involved in anything like that, she also could not forget how when they had first met she'd been kidnapped, hung from a ceiling, and threatened with rape and murder by his henchmen. And Zelgadis had alluded to having done some dark deeds in the past, and given Rezo's true nature, Lina shuddered to think of what those things could have been. "And then he started getting panicky. So I asked him if he'd ever murdered someone and he just got up and walked out of the manor."

"Thank you for alerting me." Lina said, "Can I see the letters you were sent? Also, if the two of you could write down all the details you know regarding the death of your parents I will have this thoroughly investigated."

Nerys and Bruce both handed their letters over, and Lina scowled as she looked at them. "Do you have any idea who sent them?" Bruce asked, his voice barely a whisper.

"Princess Amelia managed to step on some toes during the incident in Dils." Lina said, but if there were any hints as to the senders identity she could not glean them. Whoever wrote them didn't even bother to sign them.

"I'll return to the nursery for now. Just in case." Moe said as he grabbed some food as he stood up.

"Looks like we need to form a search party." Han said as he looked at Gourry, "Looks like afternoon classes will be delayed."

"Can't be helped." Lina said as she swore internally, "Naga, Rick, you two stay here with me. I'll take the beginners classes, Naga you take the advanced ones and Rick, you can do swordplay. Everyone else needs to go out and find Zel."

"What about us?" Nerys asked as she put her hands on her hips.

"Go enjoy your lunch. This is our problem to handle." Lina said as everyone started dispersing and grabbing lunch on the go. Gourry took a moment to give her a parting kiss on the forehead and then he left with the others, leaving Lina alone with Naga and Rick.

"Who would have thought that my sister, the Champion of Justice, would have married such a…" Naga said.

Lina smacked her on the back of the head, "Don't even finish that."

"Really, Lina, you had second thoughts of hiring me of all people when you go and…"

"This isn't the time to test me!" Lina snapped as she slammed her fist on the table, "Not unless you want to be out of a job."

Naga sniffed, "Well it's up to you if you want to lose two teachers in one afternoon."

Damn you, Lina fumed as the thunder rolled through the castle.

"I hope Syl and the others will be okay in this." Rick said.

"He couldn't have gotten too far." Lina replied. "I mean, we're probably overreacting. He's probably just cooling off somewhere. We'll explain about house arrest for the appearance of it while we clear his name or whatever. They'll probably be back before we finish lunch.

But lunch ended with no word from the group. Rick seemed tense as he said, "I'm going to go and get classes started. You don't think we'll be attacked, do you?"

"I don't have that sense that we will." Lina said honestly, "But keep your guard up nonetheless."

"Right." Rick said as he left.

Lina turned her attention to Naga and quickly cut to the chase, "I need to make sure your head is in the game."

"What do you mean by that?" Naga asked.

"Well the good news is your magical capacity should be rather high right now. It might be worth it to see if you can pull off a Zelas Brid, but you also have some limitations." Lina said as she looked at her stomach, "Because if I didn't know better I would say you're getting fat now that you're married."

Naga blushed and wrapped her arms around her stomach, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You can't keep denying this!" Lina hissed, and then she cringed as Naga laughed as she stormed out of the room. Lina's hands balled into fists at her side as she forced herself to take a deep breath and then she walked into the classroom, thoroughly prepared to verbally scald whichever student had the misfortunate of putting a toe out of line.

Lina had expected either Zelgadis or someone from the search party to be back by the time they finished classes and became worried when she dismissed class only to find that they weren't. Rick left to track them down and get information on what was happening as dinner was served, and as it wrapped up with no sign of anyone Lina was doing all that she could not to panic. So it was a relief when she heard the front doors open and the shouts of the children welcoming the group back.

Lina ran into the foyer with Naga and saw Gourry, looking drenched and downcast, walk in with her parents, Rick and Sylphiel. But no Zelgadis.

"I have to go and feed Erik." Sylphiel said resolutely as she headed for the stairs.

"Go to our room, get in something dry and I will bring him to you." Rick said as they continued to the stairs.

Lina stared at them and somehow swallowed the urge to lay in on them on why they were back without Zelgadis as Han said, "Let's go to the dining room."

"Right," Lina said she walked back in where Naga had not even left.

Han closed the door to shut out the curious students as the group tiredly sat down around the table and started to eat without their usual gusto. "Where's Zel?" Lina asked.

"We don't know," Han said darkly, "We tracked him to the lake. There were deep footprints. His gait was rather unsteady. After that, well, this is all we found. Floating in the lake."

Lina felt her stomach twist as Han held out a blue handkerchief that was embroidered with Zel's initials. She'd been with Amelia when she had bought it for Zel as a birthday gift. "You don't think he…" Lina said, and then she covered her mouth as she shook her head, "No…"

"Sylphiel and I searched the lake using an Aqua Create spell." Leia explained as she started shivering as Alona walked in with blankets to wrap around them. "If he was in there we couldn't find him. But…it's a lot of lake for two people to search."

"Dad and I walked around the lake to see if he was injured somewhere. Rick helped when he came out. Until it got too dark." Gourry said quietly, "We managed to get all the way around. Nothing."

Lina collapsed onto a seat as she shook her head, "He couldn't have…"

Suddenly Amelia projected into the room using a Vision spell, causing everyone to jump. "Sorry for startling you! I was just wondering if Zel was here."

Thunder cracked as if in warning, Lina decided that the last thing she wanted was Amelia coming out in the storm in a panic and getting lost or worse, "A few of the kids got some hairbrained scheme to run some experiment in this storm and Zel is making sure they don't kill themselves."

Everyone looked at her strangely, and Lina thought that they should try to come up with something on the fly like that as Amelia furrowed her brow in surprise, "Oh. That's interesting. Well, I'm stuck in Zefiel City for now. The roads are impassable with all of the rain."

"Get some rest, stay safe, and once the storm lifts get back safely." Lina said. While she felt bad about withholding something so vital for her, there was nothing that Amelia could do about it in Zefiel City and her fear that Amelia would somehow hurt herself trying to find him in this storm convinced her that deception was the best course of action.

"Okay. Could you tell Zel to check in with me before he goes to bed?"

"It's a rather complicated situation." Lina said as she had to swallow a burst of sadness as Amelia looked at her piercingly. Somehow she managed to keep from breaking down as she said, "I wouldn't wait up."

"I don't need to be there, do I?" Amelia asked.

"Amelia, the best thing you can do for your daughter is stay at the palace safely until this storm passes!" Lina said firmly as she hoped Amelia would wrap things up because she was not sure how much longer she could hold it together.

"Oh." Amelia said as she looked down. "I guess that makes sense. Well…I'll see you tomorrow."

She faded from the room, and Lina felt a barrage of regrets hit her. That she hadn't asked Amelia to come home the moment they'd found out he had run off. But then she could never had envisioned that it would be this bad! "I hope I haven't lost two friends tonight." Lina said as Gourry put a hand on her back, "You don't think he's…"

"It was raining pretty heavily." Gourry said, "So it's possible his trail washed out. And at some point I did pick up on some after affects of what might be magic. But it was raining pretty heavily and I couldn't say for sure."

"But he didn't take anything with him." Leia said, "He's not eaten since breakfast. He has no shelter, and in a storm like this! Nights are going to get cold soon."

"I hate to say it, but I don't see any conclusion but the obvious one." Han said morosely as Leia started to wipe her eyes.

Lina felt something within her shut down as she wondered if Zelgadis had deliberately thrown himself into the lake. But he had everything! Even with this shadowy past coming out, he had everything! Including a wife with the diplomatic power to make this stuff go away. How could he have thrown it away like that? She looked over at Gourry, who was shivering slightly under the blanket, "Tomorrow classes are canceled while we organize search parties. We'll have students who can cast magic search the lake thoroughly and have more people search the area around it. But there's no point trying in this weather. I don't want to lose anyone else. In the meantime, Gourry, I'd better run you a bath."

"We'd better get in a warm bath ourselves." Han said as he stood up and looked at Lina. And then Lina found herself launching forward to give him a hug, followed by one for Leia. "Take care of yourself tonight."

"Hopefully this will somehow be better in the morning." Leia said as she kissed the crown of Lina's head before she hugged Gourry.

As soon as they left the dining room they were confronted with a foyer full of students who were whispering amongst themselves. Ace stood up as they entered and asked, "Where's the Duke?"

"Indisposed." Lina said. She wasn't breaking the news to the kids until she'd broken it to his wife. And not until they searched the lake again. "Go to bed, we're going to have a long day tomorrow."

Ace moved so she was in between them and the staircase, "Please, just let me know if he's okay."

Damn, Zel, but I wish you could see how they care. Lina thought as she lowered her head, "We don't know. But there's nothing more we can do right now. Go to bed."

Lina moved around Ace and headed towards the stairs once more and hoped that she wouldn't persist. As it was she felt as though she was having a hard time keeping it together and she did not want to break down in front of the kids. So it was a small relief when they got to the sanctuary of their room and found that Alona must have already started the bath because the tub was mostly full when they got there. Lina turned the faucet off as Gourry started to strip from his wet clothes as her vision became obscured by tears. She had thought that since they were settling down they would no longer have to say goodbye to fallen comrades like this. But to have one of them die in this way!? And a potential suicide of all things!

"How could he!?" Lina asked as Gourry climbed into the tub as she sat on the edge of it.

He put a hand on her arm, "We don't know if he did. But…"

His lips started to quiver as it became more difficult for him to speak as he leaned forward and buried his face in his knees. Lina wiped her eyes as she shook her head, "Gourry, if you ever do this, if you ever do this to me and the twins I swear I…"

"I'd never do something like this to you!" he said as he looked at her with tears in his eyes, "But things happen in the woods. People slip or they are at the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe he didn't mean to do it. And we may never know."

The thunder cackled menacingly outside and Lina shuddered at the thought of Zelgadis outside alone and unprepared in this. But if he was outside and alone at least he would be alive and there would still be hope! Lina started to fervently hope that he was out in this storm. Because while she didn't want to be prematurely defeatist, it was hard to see any other scenario that would result in a happy ending. "That's the hard thing, isn't it?" Lina mused as she gazed out the window at the rain, "Not knowing. And not knowing if we're doing enough."

AN: Um, yeah, in the J-Novel translation it became more apparent that Zel's shadowy past and fears of running into someone he hurt is more of the reason he doesn't want to be seen in cities than his freakish appearance, and that formed the seeds for this, and once I actually started working on it...it got darker than I expected. So, um, don't hate me too much. And hey, my kid's distance learning is wrapping up so hopefully I can get things a bit more resolved, and soon!