Disclaimer: I own no one, I only own the idea *pauses and looks thought ful* and TL-Dra.
Author's Notes: Gomen that it took so long to get out, I had a severe writer's block. And this isn't the last part, I had to break it up again. Reviews are welcome, please no flames, and hope you like the ending.
~ ~ ~ (Yeah, I like the squigglies ^o^)
'The Yugure Forest' mused Xellos from his perch in a tree. 'Most creatures that run around loose in there are a match for a mid-level mazuko. Also it's always dark in there as well.' Xellos sighed and shook his head, 'I thought they knew better then to take unnecessary risks. Especially when it could be avoided, they probably think it's a short cut and that they can handle it. I should try to talk them out of it, but they'll think I'm trying to trick them.' Xellos leapt to the next tree to keep up with the group. 'All I can do is follow and watch them' he sighed.
~ ~ ~ (- Lookie look! squigglies ^_^)
"Amelia you look tired" said Zelgadis.
"I just fell asleep late I'm fine" she replied, yawning a second later.
"There's the forest" said Filia pointing ahead.
"What forest?" asked Gourry causing Lina to pounce on him yelling insults and whacking him.
The forest from the outside looked innocent enough. It had huge towering trees (think red wood size). With so many large branches both high and low it formed a web that caught the sun's light never allowing it to touch the ground in the forest. Large plants still grew on the forest floor, making it hard to see what was to far ahead. Though it was rather small for a forest, it blocked a mountain pass. Standing there the group suddenly heard some unidentifiable howls and shrieks.
"M-mabye w-we shouldn't g-g-go in there" Filia stuttered.
"It's a short cut that will save us a week on traveling to Hyrodria. We won't have to go around the mountains." Even Lina appeared nervous about going in there. "I'm sure we'll be fine if we stick together, so don't anyone wander off." She walked towards the forest, the others soon followed.
~ ~ ~ (hail squigglies!! ~_^)
They had been in the forest for over three hours, but they were half way out. They had been attacked numerous times by strange creatures. But group had managed to defeat any creatures that challenged them.
"Elmekia Lance!" shouted Amelia and Zelgadis. The giant bat-like lizard creature (lizard that had nasty claws on its wings and front/back feet , long sharp teeth, covered in fur, and a apparently poisonous spike/blade on the end of his tail) flew over them unaffected by the spell.
"It's another magic resistant creature!" Zelgadis said as he whipped out his sword "Astral Vine!" he jumped in front of Amelia cutting the lizard-bat down. Sheathing his sword he looked over at Gourry who had killed three of them.
Lina was exasperated "We walk 5 minutes then get attacked. After that we start walking again then get attacked again!"
"Let's take a small break" said Filia sitting down everyone agreed.
Xellos leapt to a lower branch so he could see everyone. 'Finally caught up to them.' he thought with relief. The branch he landed on moved nearly causing Xellos to fall. 'Oh no' A huge snake with long front legs, hissed and turned to face him. 'This is the third one I've run into' he mentally groaned. He leapt off the tail just as it attacked. Xellos landed on a branch above as the snake-thing cut through the branch it was on. Screeching it fell down. With a sweat drop he thought 'We'll hope they don't mind someone dropping in...'
'Sleep' thought Amelia as she sat near the others 'sleep, sleep...' CRASH!!! The snake-thing landed just behind her. Turning around as soon as she heard the crash she thought 'Sleep, giant mean scary creature, sleep.' Doing a double take she screamed. Before it could attack however Zelgadis jumped and slashed at the snake-thing, cutting its head off.
"Are you ok?" Zelgadis asked.
"Yes, thank you Mr. Zelgadis" she replied. She missed the eye twitch from Zelgadis.
'Why does she call me Mr. still, but not Xellos?!' Zelgadis silently fumed. 'I still think that mazuko did something to her.'
The party then resumed traveling through more of the forest, battling weird creatures very often. They were almost out until...
A screech like no other filled the air. It's sound echoed throughout the forest causing all other sounds to cease. A deadly silence followed it's wake. The Slayers knew they were in trouble as they heard loud earth shaking footsteps slowly headed their way.
The creature burst from the over grown foliage a second later knocking down two trees. It was a huge dark green lizard (think T-Rex look but with a narrow pointed jaw, and bigger eyes), with giant dragon-like wings (it had claw like hands on it's wings, instead of it's little puny front arms a T-Rex has), covered in scales, a pair of dangerous large blood red horns, and had rows of dark blue spikes down it's back ending with a nasty silver blades (several of them together made a fan-like appearance) on it's tail.
"Light come forth!" shouted Gourry as he ran in and slashed at it. The light sword bounced off the scales with a hollow clang sound.
Zelgadis yelled "Ra Tilt!" The creature was hidden from view in white-blue flames until it gave another screech. It charged out of the spell unaffected right at Zelgadis, who barely dodged it's attack.
"Distract it as best you can!" shouted Lina. She began chanting:
Lord of the dreams that terrify,
sword of the cold dark lord,
free yourself from the heavens bonds.
Become one with my power,
one with my body,
and let us walk the path of destruction together.
Power that can smash even the souls of the gods.
Ragna Blade!
A large black sword appeared in her hands, crackling with blue electric power as she swung it at the beast (I'll name it a TL-Dra). The TL-Dra howled as it connected with it's shoulder, when the Ragna Blade disappeared everyone saw a small gash had been cut into the scales, but it wasn't even bleeding from it.
The TL-Dra roared with fury as it started to run towards them.
"Scatter!" shouted Zelgadis.
Lina then added "Try not to head deeper into the forest!"
Everyone ran in different directions. The TL-Dra followed Lina.
'Why me' she thought as she zig-zagged through any thing small enough(the TL-Dra couldn't get up to full speed with her doing this). "Ray Wing!" She burst through the forest's edge to see a very large canyon. She saw Zelgadis and Filia on the other side waving a hurry up signal. She flew over the cliff and landed. Looking back she saw the TL-Dra standing at the edge of the cliff looking over at them. It glared at them with a primal rage in it's eyes as it turned around slowly and walked back into the forest.
"I'm glad it couldn't cross the gap" said Filia looking down into the canyon.
"When we see Amelia or Gourry we'll give them a ride over" said Zelgadis as he leaned against a rock.
Thump, whoosh, thump, thump whoosh.
"Do you hear that?" asked Lina worriedly.
A familiar screech filled the air as the saw the TL-Dra burst out of the forest wings fully extended and flapping. When it reached the edge of the cliff it leapt into the air, but didn't land on the other side.
"It can fly?!" yelled Filia as she looked at the now sky bound TL-Dra as it flew over head. It banked in the air and started to dive at them.
"Magic and weapons won't work what do we do!" shouted Zelgadis as the three started to run for cover.
"We can use the cliff!" yelled Filia.
"How?!" screeched Lina as they all ducked as it flew overhead. TL-Dra's tail just missed them as it tore up the ground in front of them.
"Make the rocks collapse on it!" Filia replied as she and the others scrambled to get up.
"Alright I'll distract it, I trust you two to make a avalanche on it, not me." said Lina as she veered away from the others.
"Ray Wing!" Lina yelled as she leapt off the cliff.
"Fly closer to the side!" yelled Filia.
Zelgadis was busy doing calculations on paper. "I got it! Aim where I'm pointing and when I say now fire."
"Hurry it's gaining on me!!" franticly shouted Lina.
"Now. Damu Graus!" Zelgadis shouted while Filia did a Lazer Breath.
The cliff crumbled and a loud shriek was heard as the avalanche begun.
"Lina!" Filia and Zelgadis shouted as they ran towards the canyon. They saw Lina sitting on a stone coughing.
"I'm fine, that was close" She and the looked down into the canyon and saw the TL-Dra's tail sticking out of the mass of rocks. When the rocks suddenly shifted everyone held their breath. TL-Dra broke out of all the rocks, shrieked and looked up at them.
"What does it take to kill this thing!" they all said.
TL-Dra shook itself and started to flap it's wings yet again.
"Let's hide!" yelled Lina.
TL-Dra flew up out of the canyon and landed on the forest side.
"Huh?" said Filia after seeing this. She stopped the others and pointed at TL-Dra. TL-Dra appeared satisfied as it started to walk back into the forest.
They saw Gourry run out out of the forest just before TL-Dra.
"Gourry look out!" they yelled.
Before Gourry could do anything though, TL-Dra walked right by him into the forest.
Lina, Filia, and Zelgadis flew over to Gourry.
"Why did that lizard smile at me?" he asked as the others landed.
"Everyone's here" said Lina looking at everyone, she paused a moment as her eyes widened. "Wait! Where's Amelia!!!" And as if it was an ominous omen the sun set, taking the last light of day with it.
~ ~ ~ (yes I really like the squigglies!!!)
'I wish I had heard what Ms. Lina said' though Amelia as she ran throught the dense undergrowth. Amelia stopped and leaned against a tree to catch her breath. 'I think I ran the wrong way.' She spun around, eyes wide with fright when she heard a branch snap over to her left nearby...
~ ~ ~ (^_^ quote a friend 'happy, fun' squigglies)
'That actually hurt, I think I passed out' though Xellos as pushed the tree branches off of him (the TL-Dra knocked down the tree he was currently in). 'That was certainly a strong beast, where did the others go?' Standing up he brushed himself off and looked around. Seeing a trial that even Gourry couldn't miss, Xellos followed it til he came to the canyon.
Looking over the gorge he frowned 'Great, I can't levitate or teleport, I see a fire over there too.' Walking along the gorge until he wasn't as close to the fire he stopped. 'There's no other way' he thought as he ran towards the canyon. He then leaped high into the air, unfurled his wings a little, and glided to the other side.
He quickly ran back to where the group was camping. Hiding in the shadows he listened to their conversation.
"We can't go into the forest at night, our light would attract more creatures. We'd never get far enough to find her. We have to believe Amelia can take care of herself until morning. Then we'll search for her." Lina sadly said.
Zelgadis was pacing the campsite, and Filia was drinking tea nervously.
"I know you're right but..." Zelgadis began.
'Amelia's in the forest? After all she's done for me the least I can do is help her. It was sort of my fault, she did stay up late last night because of me... Wait! Why should this matter to me, if Amelia is alone in that forest.' Xellos let out a small sigh 'I don't understand why, but I know I can't leave her in there.' Xellos turned and left the group and headed back towards the canyon.
~^~^~ (change of squigglies)
Amelia was totally exhausted as she sat down on a log. She had been tired before but she could barely stay awake now. She had luckily been able to run away from all the creatures she had encountered in the forest.
It was getting cold, Amelia started to shiver. 'I can't go to sleep now...' She heard a rustle behind her. 'No! Not another scary creature' she thought as she scrambled to stand up. A wolf-like creature(three tails, large shoulder blades, very pointy ears, stood on two long back legs) emerged from the foliage at a dead run for her. Screaming Amelia ran, doing the best she could to avoid it.
She almost lost the wolf-thing until she came to a steep drop. Turning around she realized she couldn't run to either side. As the wolf-thing leapt at her, she shielded her face with her arms and franticly thought 'No one's here to help or save me this time.' The wolf-thing impacted Amelia, she felt a searing pain lance through her side as she and the wolf-thing started to fall. She hit a rock on the way down and lost consciousness, just as she lost hope.
~ ~ ~ (yes, I know my scenes are really hopping around)
Xellos was using his Mazuko speed to quickly travel through the trees. He was looking for any sign of Amelia(he can see in the dark). He then heard a faint scream and tasted a strong fear. Xellos was surprised for a moment, the fear didn't taste right to him. He screeched to a halt and headed towards where he heard the scream.
He felt the fear to diminish some, only to intensify a moment later. Xellos ran faster, he sensed the fear grow stronger, mixed with despair and then it was gone in a moment. He stopped and jumped to the ground. He continued to run until he came to the steep drop. Looking down he saw Amelia.
Xellos quickly leapt down. He approached Amelia and opened his eyes at what he saw. She had a deep gash in her side, it was bleeding heavily. She had another wound on her head that wasn't to deep, and a lot of bruises. She was breathing shallowly, she had landed on the wolf-thing which broke her fall, a little.
'I can't do healing magic, I need to get her back to Lina and the others.' Xellos thought as he gently picked up Amelia. He started to headed back towards the canyon at a quick walk. Xellos then noticed he could see his breath. 'She should be shivering now.' He stopped and took off his cloak/cape and wrapped it around Amelia. After a second thought he then folded his wings around Amelia as best he could while carrying her.
Amelia didn't know where she was. All she knew was that she was tired, and she couldn't move even if she wanted to, it hurt to just be still. She vaguely knew she was being carried. And she felt a familiar feeling of warmth and protection she almost reconized, but not quite.
Xellos came to the canyon 'I hope the others don't see me like this' he thought as he speed up. Like last time, Xellos started to leap over the canyon, however, this time though he fully extended his wings and flew or attempted to. 'I really should learn how to fly with these things' Xellos thought as he managed to land on the other side (it wasn't a very graceful landing).
Walking over to the campsite he halted before they could see him and took a deep breath. "I just happened to be in the area and look who I found" Xellos cheerily commented as he walked partially into the light.
"Amelia!" everyone shouted (except Gourry he was sleeping) as they rushed over to him. Zelgadis took Amelia from Xellos and walked back towards the fire.
Amelia in her near unconscious state felt herself being transferred. She didn't feel comfortable any longer and not as warm either.
Zelgadis laid Amelia down, took off Xellos's cloak/cape, and gasped as he saw Amelia's injuries. "We need to cast recovery now!" Filia, Lina, and Zelgadis gathered around Amelia and began several recovery spells. They didn't notice Xellos back away slowly (without turning his back towards them) into the shadows.
"Filia we should go gather some more wood" Lina said. "I can't do any better with my recovery magic. Gourry get up!" Lina said as she attempted to awaken Gourry.
"Zelgadis can you look after Amelia while we gather wood?" Filia asked as she walked after Lina and Gourry.
Lina then quietly said "Well, Amelia will finally get a chance with Zel I think he just realized how important she is to him now." Filia agreed.
~*~*~(a second change of squigglies)
Amelia groaned as she sat up with a confused and dazed look on her face.
"Amelia are you ok? How do you feel?" Zelgadis asked from behind her.
"O-ok I guess" Amelia shakily replied looking around.
"We were all very worried about you" Zelgadis said as he sat next to her.
"Last thing I remember was..." Amelia began shaking her head.
"Don't worry you're safe now" Zelgadis said. 'Especially from those creatures or a certain mazuko' he mentally added.
What both of them didn't realize was that they had an audience. Lina and Filia watched from bushes, being as quiet as they could. Xellos was hidden in the shadows a small distance away from them.
Amelia wondered 'Who saved me? (she didn't notice the cloak/cape she was sitting on) Did Mr. Zelgadis save me?' She looked questioningly at Zelgadis.
"Amelia I-I was very worried about you." Zelgadis looked nervous. "I learned how much you meant to me" he then pulled her into a fierce hug. "I think I love you" he whispered.
Amelia froze as she was pulled into the embrace. She felt the roughness of Zelgadis's skin as thoughts ran through her mind 'Mr. Zelgadis loves me?! I should be crying with joy...but I'm not. Don't I love Mr. Zelgadis?' The strong admiration for him was still there, but she no longer had the warm fuzzy love feeling she realized.
'I should of known this was going to happen, she has loved him for as long as I've known her. This shouldn't bother me, but it does.' Xellos turned and walked away from the camp.
'I don't love him' she realized. Snapping out of her daze and resolving her will she knew what she had to do. "Mr. Zelgadis," Amelia began timidly "I'm sorry, but I don't love you anymore. A month ago I would've been the happiest girl if you told me this, but not anymore." Amelia looked at Zelgadis, she saw the hurt and pain written on his face clearly as he stood up. "Mr. Zelgadis..." Amelia began.
"I'll be back" he said as he walked out of the camp.
Amelia just stared after him and sighed. Putting her hand down she felt the cloak/cape. Picking it up she thought 'How did this get here?' She remembered being carried, and that feeling she had only felt once before. 'Wait, Mr. Zelgadis never did tell me how I got here. Xellos must of saved me!' she realized as she picked a feather off of the cloak/cape and faintly smiled. 'He didn't have to but he did.'
~ ~ ~(what can I say, except hail squigglies!)
Zelgadis walked over to a nearby small clearing and waited a while(around 15 minutes). Lina, Filia, and Gourry came in.
"Amelia's not acting like herself" Zelgadis said. "I don't know if it is her injuries or something else..."
"It started when Xellos was sick..." mused Lina.
"Mabye it was an act to put her under a spell" Filia said. "We never do know what Xellos up to. As a princess of Sailune, Amelia could be useful to his master."
"Let's find Xellos and get some information" Lina said.
"Let's" Zelgadis agreed, with a hidden edge in his voice none of the others noticed.
~ ~ ~(squigglies rock!)
Xellos sat near the canyon's edge looking up at the sky. 'What's wrong with me?' he thought as he shook his head. 'Why am I bothered so much by Zelgadis being with Amelia, it's never bothered me before...why now?'
'I've never been like this before" as single tear rolled down his face. Reaching up and touching it he thought 'A tear? I... Wait what's that?' Xellos stared in the direction where he sensed hostile emotions, very strong hostile emotions. Standing up he quickly wiped away the tear.
"Diamond Ra!" a voice shouted from the distance.
Xellos only had time to open his eyes in shock as six white lines appeared around him forming a white magic star(the holy one). When they connected a bright white light shone causing Xellos to close his eyes. When he could see again he quickly walked over to the edge, looking at the lines. 'This shouldn't be able to hold me' he thought as he held his hand forward. White electric power flashed from where he had tried to put his hand through, Xellos hissed as he pulled back his hand. 'That hurt' he thought as he shook his hand. 'If I was at full strength I'd be able to break out of this easily.'
Glancing back out in the direction from where the negative emotions were coming from and seeing who was causing them Xellos knew he was in trouble. Swallowing hard, opening his eyes, and taking a step back he thought 'This can't be good...' as the figures walked closer.
~ ~ ~(^.^; oh dear...)
Amelia sat holding Xellos's cloak/cape in one arm as she wistfully stared at the feather in her hand.
"Excuse me, but I'm looking for some one..."
Amelia looked at the person who had managed to sneak into camp without her hearing. "W-who are you looking for Miss?" asked a startled Amelia.
"I believe you're holding his cloak/cape {yes I know I can't decide chose one}.
"You're looking for Xellos? I don't know where he is, I'm sorry. Why are you looking for him mabye I can help." Amelia looked at the tall blonde woman.
"He didn't contact me like he was suppose to, I've come to make sure he's doing his job."
"Wait that means you're Zellas Metallium!" Amelia gasped staring at Zellas.
"Yeah, so?" Zellas answered.
"Well... ummm... ahhh... nothing" Amelia poked her fingers together and sweat-dropped.
Zellas growled as she stood up looking down near the canyon "Excuse me."
"Wait Ms. Metallium!" Amelia said.
"I've never been called that before" Zellas commented as she turned around and looked at Amelia.
"Are you going to punish him?" Amelia asked meekly.
"Depends, why?"
"He was very sick recently, it wasn't his fault" Amelia said.
Zellas looked thoughtful then shrugged "Why should that make a difference?" She then walked over to Amelia and looked at her as she sat down next to her.
"I think he can't use magic, I noticed he didn't teleport, or use any magic, like he normally does. And the best way to keep contact over long distance is with magic. "
"You're very observant little girl" Zellas laughed. "Alright I won't punish him then."
"Excuse me again Ms. Metallium, but I have a question or two."
Zellas seemed even more amused "What is it little girl?"
"One that's been bothering me is how can Xellos's wings be related to his true form? I can't figure it out."
Zellas blinked in surprise, then burst out laughing "Xellos must have a high opinion of you to tell you that. If he trusts you so will I." Still chuckling Zellas reached into a pouch and pulled out a mirror. It was black and gold yin-yang design on the back. She seemed to concentrate for a moment then whispered "Xellos." Then as she handed the mirror to Amelia, she said "See for yourself, I think you can figure it out now."
"Thank you." Amelia took the mirror and looked at it. In the mirror it showed a black whirlwind. She blinked and then said "Now I get it! His wings create wind while his true form is like the wind." Then it sunk in what she was actually looking at and she said in an awed voice "That's his true form?"
"Most of the time, yes." Receiving a questioning glance from Amelia she continued. "When he fights he looks more like a cone." She waved her hand over the mirror. It then showed a black cone.
{At the end of Next he was a whirlwind, any other time he was a cone, but that was only during fights. I think it is a defense mechanism to be a cone, like a shield, but this is my opinion.}
~ ~ ~(ne, squiggles?)
Xellos dodged a Elmekia Lance. 'I wish I had more space to dodge these, or at least my magic for a defense...' He glanced outside at Lina, Filia, and Zelgadis waiting for the next attack.
"Hold still" Zelgadis growled. "Elmekia Flame!"
~ ~ ~(...I sorry I can't say anything now)
Amelia handed the mirror back. "I'll understand if you don't want to answer my next question, but why do you mazukos want to destroy the world and return it to chaos?"
Zellas raised an eyebrow at that. "If I tell you, you won't tell anyone and you will owe me a favor."
"I can't agree to any favor, I'd have to hear it first" Amelia sighed.
"Don't worry it's nothing unreasonable. But, if you feel you can't grant me the favor under any circumstances, I'll think of another till we find one we both agree on." Zellas paused and saw Amelia nod. "The world needs balance. Darkness without light cannot be seen, order needs chaos to define itself both are essential to live. The best way to keep this balance is to have two opposing sides. Dragons bring light and order, humans are divided between the sides choosing what they will, and we mazukos bring darkness and chaos. We don't necessarily want to destroy the world, we just need to keep things unpredictable."
Amelia was quiet this whole time as Zellas talked. "That's why you train yourselves to feed off of negative emotions. To make it easier in creating chaos, if you have to feed off it." She looked up "Dragons choose light and mazukos choose darkness to keep the balance. I have one last question, I know mazukos have emotions, but" Amelia paused, turned red and continued "can they love?"
"Yes, we can. After all if dragons can hate, the other side of the coin is love, is it not? Generally we don't like to tell people, we have to keep a reputation you know. It makes things much easier this way if people already fear us." Zellas looked down near the canyon and frowned again.
A second later a bright light drew Amelia's attention away from the conversation. They both looked at the column of white and blue flames, and they both heard a scream.
"What is..." Amelia recognized the scream. "No they wouldn't!" Amelia got up and started to sprint down to the distant area.
Zellas looked after Amelia for a moment, then looked at the cloak/cape. 'I really should find a better way to track my servants.'
Author's Notes: Well the last part may be the shortest, but I'll work on it. ^_^ (I'm proud how short this AN is.)