Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from the "Slayers" series nor do I plan to make a profit from this story.
Author's Note: Ok, this is probably not my best story, but I was in the mood to write a Christmas story. I also apologize if anybody is out of character.
Present Dilemma
"Too boring." Zel stated as he put the ornament back on the store shelf. He picked up the next item and examined it. "Too flashy." He put it back. Zelgadis then noticed the next item was a statue of a little blue bunny wearing a big red bow around its neck.
"Possible." he thought. "Amelia does like cute animals." He found the price tag and his eyes jumped out of his skull. "WAY out of my price range."
Zel grunted in disgust and shoved it back on the shelf. He was starting to see why this store was practically deserted from customers. There wasn't a single item worth buying.
Zelgadis glanced out of the store window and watched people scurry along the sidewalk, their arms full of brightly wrapped presents. A clear sign that it was the season of the ever festive holiday, Christmas. The time of year of giving presents, festival celebrations, feasts and good will toward men. Although, none of these images were running through the chimera's head at the moment. He was more focussed on what a pain trying to find a gift was.
"Finding a card would be so much easier." he said to no one in particular. He pulled his hood over his head and proceeded to leave.
"20 GOLD COINS FOR THIS HUNK OF JUNK?! THIS HAS TO BE ILLEGAL!!"
Zelgadis stopped and turned around. A few shelf rows down ahead of him was Lina yelling at the top of her lungs at the store owner. "When did she come in?" Zel pondered. The chimera walked over to Lina as she continued to yell at the already petrified man. He tapped Lina on her shoulder and she whirled around.
"Zel? What are you doing here?"
The chimera peered behind the sorceress. The man chose to use this opportunity to sneak away. He turned back to Lina. "I am shopping." he said flatly.
"Gee. I wouldn't have guessed." Lina remarked, rolling her eyes. A smile curved at Lina's lips. "Dare I ask for whom? It wouldn't be for a certain perky princess we know would it?"
A blush crept on Zel's cheeks. "As a matter of fact, it is for Amelia."
Lina cocked her head sideways. "I thought you were going to just get her a card."
"I was, but there was a change of plans."
"Like what? Couldn't find a good card? That's what you get for putting it off." Lina said sounding like a teacher.
"NO! That's not the problem!" Zel answered. He reached into his pocket and brought forth an item carefully wrapped in a brown cloth. "Amelia gave her present to me this morning." He handed the item to the sorceress. She gently unwrapped the object and her jaw dropped wide open.
"A solid silver watch!" she exclaimed. Lina ran her finger over the carved dragon image on the front. It was beautifully handcrafted and obviously done by an expert. The watch glistened as the light bounced off the surface. Written on the back, a small message was engraved.
Merry Christmas Mr. Zelgadis
-Amelia.
"Man! This must have cost Amelia a small fortune." Lina remarked.
"Now you see my dilemma." the chimera replied as he took back the watch. "I couldn't possibly give Amelia some plain old card after she had this made for me."
"Looks like you and I are in the same boat Zel." Lina removed her glove. "I was planning on getting Gourry a sword polishing kit, but right before I was going to give him it he gave me this little gem."
She held her hand in front of Zelgadis's face. He stared at the hand a bit surprised. "Is that a ruby ring?"
"Yeah. And it's real; I checked. Gourry said he got it for me because he thought it matched my hair." Lina speedily put her glove back on. "Dammit! Of all the times he picks to be romantic with me! I have no clue what to get him."
"Well, it's obvious we won't find any ideas here." Zelgadis headed for the door and gestured Lina to do the same.
Their feet crunched in the freshly fallen snow on the sidewalk. Lina's teeth chattered.
"I hate being cold! Why can't this holiday be during summer?"
"But then it wouldn't really feel like Christmas now would it?" Zelgaids commented.
Lina glared. "At least it be warmer!"
The chimera sighed. "You have no respect for tradition."
"So? I.......OW!" Lina felt something big and wet hit her at the back of her neck.
"Who threw that?!"she yelled. Lina spun around to find and punish the culprit. What she found was a scared little girl.
"Um...sorry." she muttered shaking in her boots. "I thought you were my big sister. I didn't mean to throw that snowball......honest!"
Lina's anger melted away and she knelt down to the girl's level to look less frightening. "Ah, don't fret about it. Just make sure you have the CORRECT target next time."
The girl's face brightened. "OK! I promise."
"Lucy! It's time to go." a woman cried near the end of the street.
"Coming Momma!" The little girl dashed off, waving goodbye to Lina.
The sorceress smiled and waved back to her.
"Kids have it so much easier." said Zelgadis.
"I know." Lina replied. "All they have to worry about is playing and eating."
"Not to mention present shopping or should I say present making."
Lina gave Zel a baffled look. "Huh?"
"You know. To make gifts instead of buying one."
"Oh yeah! I remember doing that!" Lina grinned at the memory. "I once wanted to knit my dad a sweater but it ended up being a scarf."
"I usually just drew a picture for my mother." Zel replied. "She always loved it. Even though it wasn't much to look at."
Lina shook her head in dismay. "Why do parents always love things their kids make"
"Maybe it just comes along with being a parent."
Zelgadis turned his head to some local kids playing tag. "Too bad we're not kids anymore. It would make our problem a whole lot easier."
"Yeah....." Lina trailed off as an idea lit up like a lightbulb. She was grinning like a maniac. "Zel, you're a genius!"
The chimera turned to her with a puzzled look. "Huh?"
Lina patted Zelgadis on his shoulder. "You just gave me a brilliant idea of what to get Gourry." She turned and left running. "See ya later! she called out.
Zelgadis stared at where Lina once stood, feeling a bit disoriented. He then collected himself and headed in the opposite direction. "At least her problem is solved." he thought.
Zelgadis rummaged through his pocket to find his map of the city. There had to be another decent store around here somewhere. His hand felt the tip of a piece of paper. Thinking it was the map, Zel clasped the paper and brought it out. It wasn't the map. It was a crumpled photo of him and Amelia.
Zelgadis squinted at the photo, until his memory clicked in. It was taken back at that summer festival if he recalled correctly. There had been a man there taking photographs and Amelia had insisted that they should take one together.
Zelgadis could remember blushing when he agreed to it. The situation would not have made him so uncomfortable if Lina and Gourry had been taking the picture with them. But they were preoccupied with some sort of eating contest. Never the less, he did take the picture with the princess.
Amelia was quite pleased with it and said that he should keep it to remember the festival. It was rather ironic, seeing that Zelgadis had completely forgotten it till now.
He rubbed his fingers against the photo in an attempt to smooth out the wrinkles. Zelgadis took a more careful look at it. Despite the wrinkles, it was a nice photo. He was actually smiling in it. The chimera stroked his chin thoughtfully. An idea slipped into his brain. Amelia really did like this photo.
He took out his coin purse and recounted his money to double-check that he had enough. He did. Zelgadis turned right at the next corner and entered a little store.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Later that evening, Zelgadis met up with Amelia at the local inn. They sat at one of the tables. The room had been decorated appropriately for the holidays.
Garlands of holly hung along the ceiling. They spread from corner to corner and bright red berries were seen among the green leaves. A large beautiful wreath with a big red bow was pinned on the door.
The inn owner also took the liberty of getting a fresh pine tree to put at the centre. It was so tall it reached to the ceiling and was as wide as two full grown men. The tree had been decorated with brightly coloured ornaments and strings of sliver and gold tinsel hung on the branches. A gold star had been placed on top and a local sorcerer had even cast a special lighting spell to give it even more effect. It caused the tree to have several tiny balls of light blinking on and off making it sparkle.
Amelia looked at the chimera with a friendly smile plastered on her cute little face.
"So, is the pocket watch working alright Mr. Zelgadis?"
"Um.....yes. It's fine." Underneath the table, Zelgadis was fumbling and nervously toying with the small wrapped gift he had. He was starting to worry that the paper might be damp from his sweaty palms.
Amelia continued to smile at him. "Oh good. It took me awhile to find that watch."
"Yeah.....I can imagine." Zel had one last glimpse at the present and then brought it on top of the table. His cheeks were blushing as he anxiously slid the present to her.
"Here.....um...it's not much, but since you got me something I figured you should get something too."
The princess accepted the gift with great enthusiasm. "Thank you very much Mr. Zelgadis." She untied the blue ribbon and carefully tore away the paper revealing a small box. Amelia removed the top lid. Inside was a heart shaped locket. It was made of plain sliver and it had a gold casing. A tiny rose was carved onto the front.
She looked back at the chimera with an excited grin. Amelia eagerly opened the locket. There was a picture of Zelgadis and herself inside it. "Mr. Zelgadis, isn't this the photo we took together?"
Zelgadis was leaning on the palm of his hand. The blush was still stuck on his cheeks as he kept trying not to make eye contact. "Yes. You said you liked it so much I thought you might want to have it more than me." He rested his gaze on the princess. "I know the photo is wrinkled and the locket is a bit cheap looking, so if you don't like it I can take it back and......."
"Don't you dare!" Amelia cried clutching the necklace to her chest like it was a valuable jewel and a thief had threatened to steal it. "I love this Mr. Zelgadis because it came from you. Don't you know it's the thought that counts?"
Zelgadis gave Amelia a skeptic glance. "No offence Amelia, but that sounded like it came from a poorly written children's story."
"Well it's the truth!" Amelia confirmed. "I still love it and I want you to help me put it on."
Zelgadis chuckled slightly. He left his chair and got behind Amelia. He took each end of the locket's chain, hung it around Amelia's neck and fastened the clasp. He returned to his seat and looked at the girl with a pleased face. "It looks good on you."
Amelia blushed, but smiled proudly.
"Hey guys!"
The couple turned their heads. "Hi Mr. Gourry." greeted Amelia.
The blonde swordsman grinned back at them with a childish smile. "You guys aren't going to believe what Lina got for me!"
"Then tell us." replied Zel, not revealing his actual curiosity about what the sorceress's present was.
"It's this!" Gourry brought out his hand and showed them a piece of paper.
Zel and Amelia sweat-dropped. "She got you paper?" asked Amelia.
"Not really. Read it." said the swordsman.
Zelgadis took hold of the paper and read it aloud. It said the following:
I Lina Inverse promise not to hit, punch, kick, slap, fireball, grab into a headlock, or any
other kinds of actions that will cause physical pain to Gourry Gabriev for one week!
The swordsman grinned again. "Isn't it great! I won't get hurt for one whole week!"
"Don't get too use to it!" Lina sang out, marching up to Gourry. "Once that week is over everything is back to normal."
" I know, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts."
The princess and chimera glanced at each other and exchanged amused looks.
"Well, if you two are done here." said Lina looking at Zel and Amleia. "let's go down town. I hear there's an ice cream parlour."
"Alright!" cheered Gourry.
"But Ms. Lina it's freezing out there!" stated Amelia.
Lina gave her a blank look. "So?"
Amelia and Zel groaned together as Lina and Gourry headed out of the inn. The couple started to follow. Zelgadis had just got to the door frame when Amelia grabbed his arm and stopped him. He asked "What?" and she pointed up.
The chimera looked and saw that someone had pinned some mistletoe on top of the door frame. He gulped. "Er....Amelia we can just ignore it and......"
Before the chimera could object, Amelia planted a kiss on his cheek. Zelgadis looked to Amelia stunned.
"What can I say?" she said grinning. "I like to keep old traditions alive."
With that said, she strolled off leaving Zel by the door. He rubbed his cheek. Zelgadis then smiled slightly and started to catch up to the princess. He would have to remember to find some mistletoe next year.
ES: Hope you guys liked it. It took me forever to write it because I've been so busy. Anyway I will start writing the next chapter of "When Spells Go Wrong." I have no idea when it will be up, but it will probably be some time AFTER Christmas vacation. Don't worry I will finish it. One more thing.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYBODY!! ^_^