Back at the palace, Amelia stood on the balcony, looking over at the beach where her rescuer had brought her. She sighed, dreamily remembering back to him.
"Amelia?"
Amelia turned around, and saw her father enter onto the balcony. "Hello, daddy."
Phil smiled down at her, and asked, "Did you have a good time today?"
Nodding, Amelia said, "Yes." Then she sighed, and looked out over the beach again.
"Amelia," Phil started. "Stop dreaming about your imaginary young man. You've got a flesh and blood young man who obviously likes you.... and he's right in front of your eyes." Phil gestured to the window of the room Zelgadis was staying at, where the light was still on.
Slowly, Amelia looked up at the window. She was slightly aware of the fact that Phil backed away from the balcony, but she didn't quite seem to register it. She was thinking deeply, something she hadn't done quite often. But her father was right. What was the use of dreaming about shadows, when she could be spending time with a real man, who was charming, dashing, kind, caring, and whom she cared for?
Making up her mind, Amelia turned and started to leave the balcony to go over to Zelgadis' room and talk with him, but something stopped her. She thought she saw something gold flashing down on the beach. Curiously, Amelia leaned over, and looked down over the balcony.
Walking steadily down the shore of the beach was a young man with dark hair and a face that exactly resembled that of her hero. As she leaned closer for a better look, she noticed a gold haze surrounding him. At a steady speed, the gold haze crept up to her, swirling around her head, but she didn't notice. She had eyes only for the man on the beach. He existed! He really did!
As Amelia stared at the man walking down the beach, the gold haze penetrated her eyes, making them glow golden as well. The purple eyes of the man down on the beach twinkled in malicious laughter.
(~~~squigglies~~~)
Zelgadis woke up to the sound of someone talking outside his door. He listened intently to what was being said, and tried to figure out who it was that was speaking. Though he couldn't decipher who it was, he did hear them say, "Yes, that's right. The Princess is finally getting married! It's so exciting! Yes, today!"
Zelgadis sat bolt upright. Amelia was getting married?
"I heard something about a man who saved her from a shipwreck? Seems he was in a shipwreck of his own, too!"
Zelgadis' eyes opened wide in shock. They were talking about him! But if Amelia had been planning on marrying him, why hadn't she said anything about it?
Suddenly, Zelgadis realized that it didn't matter. That meant Amelia had fallen in love with him, and if the wedding was that day, then he'd get her to kiss him before sunset. Today was his last day, and this was the perfect chance.
Without any concern for his appearance, Zelgadis raced out of his room and thundered down the stairs in his bright blue pajamas. He stopped suddenly on the stairs when he heard the princess talking, and looked into the room from a place where he could see, but couldn't be seen.
Amelia was standing beside her father, clinging tightly onto the arm of a tall man who greatly resembled Zelgadis. The only major difference was the color of the man's eyes-- violet, and that he wore a red pendant on a chain around his neck.
"Well, Amelia," Phil said. "It seems your hero does, indeed, exist."
Amelia, her eyes unblinking and staring straight ahead, said, "Yes. We wish to be married at once."
"I can have the wedding ship ready tomorrow afternoon--" Phil began, but Amelia cut him off.
"Tonight," she said. "Before sunset."
Phil, who looked just a little unsure, said, "Very well."
The man just grinned smugly and put an arm around Amelia's waist.
Zelgadis couldn't believe it. He sunk dejectedly down, and leaned against the wall. All his hopes of staying human shattered into hundreds of little pieces. And yet, that wasn't the greatest part of his sorrow. He'd actually begun to feel something for Amelia. He'd cared for her. And now she was marrying someone else. And-- who was he? Who was that man who claimed to be Amelia's rescuer? He, Zelgadis, had rescued Amelia, not that stranger.
Before Zelgadis knew it, evening had come, and Amelia and her fiancee, and pretty much everyone else in town had left on the wedding boat. Zelgadis could only stand on the dock and watch despondently as the ship sailed off towards the sun, which was steadily lowering in the sky.
As Zelgadis leaned against a pillar, he thought back to the man Amelia was marrying. It was amazing how alike he was to Zelgadis, with the same hairstyle and facial shape, and even the almost same outfit. The only thing truly different was that the stranger had.....
Violet eyes!
Xellos had violet eyes!
Zelgadis stood up sharply in horror. That was Xellos in disguise! Amelia was marrying Xellos! And Xellos was doing it just so Zelgadis would fail in his challenge and return to his chimeric form and become Xellos' property!!
Without even thinking through what he was going to do, Zelgadis climbed into a small rowboat at the docks, and began rowing with all his might. He knew that he had very little time to stop the wedding, and it would be very difficult to catch up with the ship, but he had to do it. He had to keep Amelia from marrying Xellos!