Disclaimer: Nope, still no mine. And sueing me would be a waste of time and money, since I don't have any… and no, you can't take my dog, my chocolates or my computer.




Sideshow

--- A Slayers Fanfiction by Winged Dancer.





4. Sunday.




He was growing nervous now. Restless. If he had enough space, he'd be pacing around the cage. It was almost one o'clock and there was no sign of his supposed rescuers. Soon, people would start leaving the Fair and go to their own homes to have lunch; after all, how longer would the supposedly high-class stay at such place? He had already heard a few comments 'But darling, this place is disgusting!' and 'Well, I am certain the Ul Copts would never visit such a place!!', and he could only guess that the Ul Copts were surely the family most tried to imitate.

Whenever he heard those kind of things, that only meant that the Fair would soon pick up and they would move on to another town, on to a pace where they could get more money… and this time, that meant he would loose the best chance he had had at freedom and revenge for years.

"Damn. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up." Zelgadiss scowled inwardly, as yet another batch of boys stared at him from the other side of the bars, whispering between them.

Just as the girl that had visited for two straight days (Amelia, was it?) had predicted, the place was much fuller on Sunday. Almost everybody was wearing formal, semi-elegant clothes, too, meaning that they all had come from the Church… but still, no signal of the group he was waiting for.

He sighed frustrated, resting against the cage's back wall, that was luckily not electrified. The weather was specially hot that day, it seemed - everybody was fanning themselves with what they could, most women were carrying parasols to protect their fair skin from getting sunburned, and even him with his stone skin could perceive a hot humidness in the air that was not usual… What time it was? He couldn't tell very well. It was as if the climate was making him sleepy, and as the conviction that the group of 'saviors' wouldn't appear and that they were only playing with his mind only made things worse. He closed his eyes, ignoring the people passing in front of him.


"Yo."

"It would be nice if I could sleep a little now…" He said to himself.

"Hey!"

"Just ignore them. They'll get tired of mocking you." His monologue continued.

"Hey Zelgadiss, will you just wake up already? We haven't got all day you know."

The chimera's eyes shot open. "How do you know my name?" He snapped at the person that had called him.

Who was, by the by, none other than the red-haired girl that was yelling the day before, who smiled before answering.

"So your name is Zelgadiss, uh? I guess Amelia was right after all. I'm Lina. Nice to meet you."

Around the cage, people muttered excitedly among themselves - a girl was talking to the creature and it was answering!

"…nice to meet you??" Someone exclaimed, as if insulted.

"Zelgadiss?" A grown woman whispered nervously, taking a few steps back.

"It would seem so…" A man, apparently her husband, muttered back.

"Why would someone give something like that a name!" A young woman scoffed. "Well, at least it suits it, such a bad-sounding name…"

"Hey, leave him alone you… upper-class snob." Lina refrained from saying something stronger.

Zelgadiss half stared - was the girl defending him?

"I mean, really!!" The redheaded continued. "It's enough that he's ugly and all that and you come to rub it!!"

His head dropped. No, she wasn't. She didn't sound like she was trying to insult him, at the very least.

The other woman sniffed. "Trust the lowlifes to like the lowlifes."

Lina grinned. "See? From freak to lowlife. That's gotta be good, right?"

He didn't know whether to scowl as usual or thank that they had come after all (Although he was feeling more up to the first one). He didn't have time to do either, though, as the girl kept on talking.

"So you are a chimera, uh? I've heard that guys like you are pretty dangerous. You know - all powerful, and quite violent." She examined him. "What are you made of? Rock of some kind, right? Anything else? What gives you your blue coloration? Can you do any magic? I bet you do, or you wouldn't have orihalcon bars. Black? White? Shamanistic? Hey, were you ever taught by someone or do you just somehow absorb the spells, or maybe you channel the energy such as rogue mages do? Who's your master, too, and how did you manage to get captured if you are so strong? Hey, maybe you are defective or something."

"Why should I tell you, of all people." All the thankfulness had washed away under the girl's inquisitive red eyes, supplanted instead by anger.

"I don't know - perhaps because I'll be helping you all?"

"Oh, really? I have troubles believing such a short, squalid little girl could be of any use in such a situation…"

"What?¡ Wait a minute - are you telling me you haven't heard of me?¡ Of Lina Inverse, the famous beautiful magician whose powers and charm have smitten thousands??"

Zelgadiss blinked. "No."

"Dammit. I really need to make a name for myself." Lina muttered, starting to walk away. The people made way for her, staring at her in shock - how did such a little girl know so much about magic, a topic considered even arcane by most?

"Hey, girl, wait - what's the idea?" The chimera called, not caring if any of the audience heard of the 'idea'.

"Ah, yes." The girl returned, and whispered. "Well, Amelia comes here in a few minutes, we start unlocking all of the semi-reasonable animal's cages, you all follow the main road which we have marked with white and get to the Seyrunn's territory - the Goodwill Estate, and then you are free to go where you want."

"Semi-reasonable animals?"

"Yeah. If the animal is too violent or far too unreasonable, it stays captive. Therefore, the harpy stays captive, the spiders do too, that snake thing, Fenrir the hungry-looking wolf and the giant cockroach."

"…that one it's not very dangerous."

"Yes, but I don't want a giant cockroach running around free." Lina ewwed. "See you later at the - ah well, you know." With that, she went away, careful no one had heard of the plan or of the meeting point they had chosen.

The chimera leant back again against the wall. Quite a group the saviors seemed to be. Of the three he 'knew', the girls seemed to be at the very least different from most women he had ever seen staring at him through the bars. Amelia, to start with, seemed to be extremely interested in helping him and everybody else. And she was reading Descartes - last he could remember, that was considered unladylike and therefore every respectable woman avoided reading things like that. Then, the second girl - Lina, he recalled - was much less serious than the other, and seemed instead prone to joke around. Her poking had gotten on her nerves soon, though. And finally, the purple-haired man from the first day… well, Zelgadiss had felt a strong magical aura around him, and yet he looked too cheerful to be so strong. Not only that, but he looked like he enjoyed causing trouble…

At the end, he decided, there was nothing he could do but trust the queer group and hope everything would be alright. After all, they had finally arrived, meaning they kept their promises.

A familiar black head making her war through the crowd got his heart beating a little faster - if what the redheaded had said was true, it meant that the plan was about to start. That he would soon be free - free! Free to do as he wanted, free to carry on with his life, free to have his vengeance.

"Mr. Zelgadiss!!" Amelia greeted, smiling as if nothing important was about to happen. "Good day!! How did you sleep?"

Zelgadiss wondered how could she ask of such trivial things at a moment like that one. "Fine - yes, yes. When will it start?"

"Soon, soon, calm down. Did you like the book?"

"Yes, it was interesting. Do you have everything ready?"

"We'll start on Mr. Xelloss signal. You know, I have all kinds of books at home - you can drop by the library when you are there."

"That might be - wait, how will I get to your home?" He had pretty much forgotten about what the other girl had said.

"Don't worry, I'll guide you." Amelia walked to the side of the cage that had the lock. "I'll be taking care of you during this whole ordeal."

Zelgadiss glared at her. "Taking care of me…? Look girl, I don't need you to protect me. Just get me out of here and leave it at that."

"I didn't mean it like that!!" She defended herself. "It's not like I'll be baby-sitting you. What I mean is, well…" She scanned the crowd, standing on her toes.

"Yes?" Zelgadiss inquired, anxious. Was the moment near?

"Well, you wont like it." Amelia sighed.

"Just tell me already, dammit!!" He really was about to snap. The 'plan' was about to unfold and the girl was playing mysterious.

"Fine, fine. What I mean is that I'll be close to you to make sure you don't kill anyone."

"What?¡" The chimera would've launched himself against the bars only to release them as soon as he was painfully reminded that he wasn't allowed to do so. On his knees, he continued to glare at the girl while massaging his hands. "You - what do you mean, to make sure I - "

"Stay quiet!!" Amelia hissed. The electric shock the bars had given him has attracted quite some attention, and now his yelling at her was definitely causing some surprised comments.

"Why, Miss Seyrunn…" A grown woman muttered, looking at the girl in distaste.

"Hello, Miss Baker!" Amelia answered cheerfully but with a strained voice. "Nice day, isn't it?"

"Sure it is…" Miss Baker answered, walking away.

Zelgadiss breathed in, trying vainly to calm himself. Was she ignoring him?? "What do you mean, to make sure I don't kill anyone?" He repeated. "You know very well my reasons to kill that idiot."

Suddenly, from not far away, a small ball of fire raised to the sky and exploded, causing a colorful rain to come down. People cheered, most probably believing it was the beginning of a firework show.

And then, a scream was heard, followed by some barks. From the other side, someone else screamed and many masculine voices started to yell, as if trying to control the situation.

Zelgadiss tensed. It was staring - it had started! He anxiously turned to Amelia, and was extremely surprised and angry to find her backing away from his cage.

"What are you doing?" He barked. "Get me out of here!!"

"A snake!! Oh my God, run!!" Someone yelled not four cages away.

"Who is letting these things out?" The fair was a commotion by then, people running and screaming with no end. Someone was blocking their way out, it seemed, to keep the things the same and allow the ex-captives to escape.

But Zelgadiss was not thinking of that in that moment.

"Let me out of here!!" The chimera roared, more angry than he had been for years. And yet the girl kept her ground.

"You have to promise." She cried over the tumult.

"Promise your ass!! Just - get me out of here, now!!" He bellowed again. He suddenly felt as if history repeated itself. He had trusted, and again he was being left behind, he had been betrayed… he took his hands to his head, feeling despair taking over him already.

"Just promise!!" Amelia strode to the cage. "Promise you wont kill that man!!"

"He deserves it!!"

"If you kill him, it will only make you worse than him!!"

"I don't care. Just get me out of here!!"

The girl looked into his eyes. "Promise."

People kept screaming. With one quick look over the place, he could see Mark and Lizzie already free and walking towards the entrance, along with 'Cerberus', the Unicorn, and a blonde girl carrying a rabbit and a frog in her hands. To the right of this cage, a blonde with a strange sword was freeing Fenrir the wolf while the red-headed cast a sleep spell on the canine.

It was either promise or captivity. No vengeance, but freedom.

He met her eyes, and with an urgent whisper, he continued: "I promise. Just let me free." He had given up on one of his greatest desires.

A small hand appeared in front of him. "You promise?" The girl's voice asked.

He took the hand, squeezing it as lightly as he could. Amelia released his hand, and placed hers above the lock.

The door was open. He was free.

With caution, he stepped out, and looked around. Free… it had been such a long time. To be able to stand tall without walls around him to feel the air around him, to be able to move…! He stretched, feelings his back bones crackle with the unaccustomed position.

"Quick, Mr. Zelgadiss!!" Amelia took his wrist.

"Right." He reminded himself. "I'll wonder at this once I'm out of here…"

Amelia guided him around the crowd, earning more and more screams as they bumped into people.

"The chimera is free!!" The woman from before cried in fear.

Zelgadiss allowed himself a smile - for once, a half-happy smile. He was only lacking one thing… but yes, he was free.





From the entrance, where he was floating around to make sure no one left the place until all of the creatures were freed, Xelloss smiled. He loved confusion, he loved when people panicked and ran like this. That was, after all, the reason he had agreed to help the girls.

There was only one more thing he would've wanted to see, though… and Amelia had gone and made sure that that thing wouldn't happen.

Still, he could help the chimera a little… in his own way. The purple-haired boy smiled, looking over at one of the still-locked cages. A dark, solitary bird of maybe a height of five feet was sitting inside of it, almost scowling at the people outside.

"And this is why I love harpies so much." Xelloss sung, raising a finger and wagging it.

At the distance, the harpy's cage opened, and with one dark cry, the bird flew off, diving into the crowd.

Soon, a girl was screaming for her mommy - and the mommy was unable to do anything. What could a woman do against an enraged harpy?





Amelia froze. Someone was calling for help, and some of the screams she was hearing sounded more of pain than of fear.

Moving people aside, and with the heavy chimera trudging along in resignation, she made her way to the center of the problem-area, and was stunned to see the harpy eagle attacking a little girl, people trying to scare it away and being repelled by the humongous bird.

There was no time to lose.

"Flare arrow!!" She called, launching the attack just above the eagles head. The bird looked up, and leaving its pray, dived against the attacker.

Releasing Zelgadiss' hand, the black haired girl moved aside, at the same time calling a small Bomb di Wind and sending the bird off course.

Furious, the harpy launched again towards her with a sharp cry.

"Fire…ball!!" Amelia sent the attack, but only managed to scorch the bird's wing, and not enough to spoil it's trajectory - the bird zoomed by her, scratching her face.

"Damn…" She allowed herself to curse as she felt her blood quickly pouring from her left eyebrow, and barely ducking a second attack from the animal.

"Miss - are you alright?" Someone called from behind, but she didn't have time to answer -

"Fireball!!" She called again, and again the bird dodged her attack. However, she didn't want to risk using anything bigger, lest she could hurt someone else.

And then, an idea - throwing a few consecutive flare arrows at the harpy, she caused it to soar higher. Soon, the bird was diving towards her.

"Laphas seed!!" And the bird was tied, collapsing against the floor, apparently fainting. Quickly, before the animal reacted, she cast a sleeping spell on it

Amelia panted. People looked at her with wide eyes.

"You… you can use magic?" Someone asked, amazed.

"Well, yes…" She answered, suddenly remembering Zelgadiss.

"Please… heal my daughter!!" A woman cried, carrying the attacked girl in her arms. Amelia looked around - the chimera was nowhere to be seen. She had to find him - soon! But, she couldn't leave the kid like that, full of gashes and cuts, blood streaming down all of her body…

"Of course, m'am." She sighed, and yet smiled as best as she could.




He hadn't wanted to break the promise. He hated to do things like that - even after all that had happened, he still had some honor. The girl had helped him, she had trusted him, but above all, he owed her his freedom. She had opened his cage door, even knowing he could simply kill her and do as he wished. But she had trusted him, and yet, when he had seen the harpy eagle attacking the kid, and Amelia rushing to help, a little voice in his mind told him that it was now or never… that he had a chance to get his revenge and avenge everything that had happened… to him and to everyone.

Running to the Master trailer, he tried to think things over, to make sure that was the correct decision. Many images of the two past years passed through his mind. Lizzie crying every other night, Mark staring wistfully at the night, all of them, animals and humans, getting beat up for misbehaving, all the mockery he had to stand…

Before he reached the door, he had made up his mind.

"This needs to be done." That was his reason and his excuse, and as he kicked the Master Trailer door open, he found the ex-Master already trembling.

"You knew it would come down to this."

"Of - of course not!!"

"Were you so sure of yourself then?"

"Well - well, how would you escape?"

"…bastard."

A stone knee connected to the fat man's stomach, and he fell to the floor in pain.

"You always though yourself to be above us. But in this whole fair, the only monster was you." Zelgadiss placed his feet over Mr. Messon's neck. The slave now had the Master at his will.

"Kill me already then." The man gurgled out. "I can't do anything against you."

"Coward. Is that why you took Lizzie every time?¡" The chimera, enraged, bent down and took the man's neck, bringing him to his eye level. "All you did - everything! - it was to make you feel that you were better?" Mr. Messon's beady eyes widened as his hand tightened around his neck.

"But it's the same. It doesn't matter if you knew or not, what matters is that now I'm free."

The greasy man gritted his teeth. "Then kill me now and be done, you freak!!"

For his surprise, Zelgadiss laughed dryly and eased his hold, dropping him on his feet. "Ah… I see you think this will be nice and quick… well… think again."

A stone first connected with his face.




Amelia sighed. It was past two and a half now, and there was no sign of Zelgadiss. He had disappeared during the fight with the harpy, and after that she had had to help the injured people and cure everyone she could. How had so many gotten wounded? Hadn't Lina and the others been taking care of that? And how had the harpy be freed, if they had agreed it would stay in its cage?

Things hadn't resulted as she had wished, and she couldn't fully understand why. But at least it was over now.

Lina and the others had gone to her house already, leading the crew of refugees. The two humans besides Zelgadiss couldn't find words to express their happiness - the girl, Lizzie, couldn't even stop crying. She had decided to stay and search for the Chimera, but he was nowhere to be seen - and it wasn't 'till a quarter past two that she finished curing all the wounded, and it had taken another fifteen minutes for the grounds to empty and give her a chance to search for the stone man.

She guessed that the church bell would soon announce it was three o'clock when the sound of footsteps on the semi-dried grass her look behind her. Zelgadiss had re-appeared, looking much more serene that she had even seen him before. For a moment, she smiled - and yet, as her eyes fell on the chimera's blood-streaked hands, all traces of the smile were erased.

"I suppose I shouldn't even ask if you are alright or where were you." She sighed, getting up from the box she had used as a chair.

The blue man frowned, and looked down at his hands. While he said nothing, the small smile of satisfaction that appeared in his face was enough.

"Why did you do it?¡" Amelia cried, clenching her own hands. "You promised!"

He faced her again. "And you don't even know what I was through! You - you spoiled rich girl, what do you know of what I suffered?" The man cried at her, but she stood her ground. "After all this - I had but two wishes, to be free and to have my vengeance. Do you think I'd allow you to take half of my life away?"

The girl's arms were shaking. "If to kill someone is half of your life, then I pity you!! How empty can you be?"

"You wouldn't understand!"

"You are right - I don't! I really don't!! There are many Gods to believe in, but every good one tells you to forgive and forget… why couldn't you?"

" 'Forgive and forget'? After what I have gone through?"

"And besides - is that's it? You promised, and yet - was that just to get out? Were you just using us?"

He sighed, as in frustration. "You wouldn't understand."

"No, I told you I don't." She mirrored his sigh. "What can I say? I'm - I'm disappointed." She turned around, starting to walk towards the dusty road not far from where the Fair used to be.

Irritated that the satisfaction he had been feeling for killing the ex-Master was vanishing thanks to the girl's scolding, he sat at the same box Amelia had been, resting his head on one of his hands. His pride didn't allow him to explain that he actually didn't want to use them, and that he appreciated that they all trusted him. But he still felt bad because of it.

"Let's just go." He heard the girl calling. "Don't you want to at least eat something at my home?"

"Wait - at your home?" He echoed, unsure of what he was hearing.

"Don't you remember? I was going to take you to my home, so you'll rest and have some time for yourself."

A half-smile appeared on his face as he stood up. "I thought you were angry at me?"

"I am!!" The girl huffed as he got to her side. "But what kind of person would I be if I were to leave you like that after what you've gone through? It would be unkind and unjust of me!"

Again the feeling of freedom washed all over him, and he chuckled lightly. If she couldn't understand him, she was for him even a bigger mystery.





Notes: Just a clarification - in this AU line, there are two main Gods to believe in… the Catholic God known as God and the Flare Dragon, known as Cepheid. Of course, since magic is getting lost already, Cepheid believers are growing scarce…

Anyway, so they are free now. This shouldn't take much longer. It was a little bit hard to write this chapter - I didn't want Zel to sound as if he was just using the group, and yet I didn't want him to sound as if he was so attached, since he had just met them after all. So he's only very grateful, an most probably would like to return the favor… that's why he finds it so hard to break his promise.

Regarding Descartes - yep, he's what you all mentioned...the originator of the coordinate system and two-dimensonal alegebra, a mathematician/scientist/philosopher and a boozy fart - well, I don't know that one. But he did write about social Justice or something like that, so that's what Ame must've been reading...

Thanks to those who reviewed - Locke, Darkened Elf, The Narrator, Raven Summersong, Chibi Kaz, Alea Seikou, Phizzy-chan and Sis of the Darkness. And so, until the next chapter.

WDR