Claudia, I'm glad you enjoyed that chapter. There's not much left until the end at this point.
The chibis are really happy about having been given the cinnamon buns, Lauren-sama, and I of course am happy to have the hunk of dark chocolate. You might want to go on yet another story-checking rampage, though, since I've updated Blue Lotus and Mr Somewhere once again. I'll be interested in seeing what your theory is after you've reread this...
Slayers is the creation of Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi. I don't own it; they and a lot of other people do. I'm not making any profit off of this story.
Idylls
+=== A Slayers Fanfic by Ryo Hoshi
9 +===+ Forgo
Zelgadiss wandered down one of the hallways of the palace, not really with any particular destination. He vaguely remembered having told her that her feelings were only a crush once, during one of the times he was trying to both convince himself to just leave her and continue looking for his cure alone and justify to himself following that plan.
The last thing he had expected was to have been right.
Zel paused, noticing distractedly that he seemed to be in the servants' quarters. He knew that he should leave, as soon as possible. It didn't matter if it might seem impolite, he couldn't really handle staying. Besides, he had never let manners keep him from leaving Amelia before...
He had been hearing some rhythmic sounds, but hadn't really been paying attention to them until he realized what he was hearing. Zelgadiss blushed as the noises finished, and the woman asked the man, "Are you sure your wife doesn't know...?"
The man laughed, and Zelgadiss realized he recognized the man's voice. "Amelia? She'll believe whatever I tell her. She's completely in love with me." The tone of Adrian's voice made it clear that he found that amusing.
The woman made a dismissive sound. "Used to, the rumors claimed she was in love with some monster."
"Not anymore. Remember that visitor of hers I left to see this morning? He came back, and I don't think he liked what he saw." Zelgadiss didn't need to see the man to know that he was smirking. "He won't cause me...us any trouble. I wouldn't be surprised if he was already long gone."
"Oh, the queen will be so sad..." she said with unexpected sympathy. "She did miss him a lot before you arrived."
"The cunt will get over it," he said dismissively.
Zelgadiss flung open the door, forgetting that he was no longer a chimera in his fury and he was only preserved from injury by the fact that it had been left slightly open. It was a small room, and the narrow bed was close to the door; he grabbed Adrian, intending to drag him out of the bed. Almost instantly his victim punched him hard in the solar plexus, forcing his breath out.
He wasn't quite sure what happened just after that. By the time he was quite aware of what was going on, he was on the floor and Adrian was cussing at him and kicking him in the stomach and head, depending on what he was trying to protect. He could hear cloth rustle as the woman dressed, and saw her feet as she quickly left.
Eventually, he passed out.
Zelgadiss limped towards Amelia's rooms, cursing himself every step of the way for having forgotten that he was no longer a chimera and had neither his stone skin to protect himself nor most of his magic to heal himself anymore.
He pushed the door open slowly, only to find Adrian, apparently alone. Zelgadiss froze, a strange sense of foreboding filling him as Adrian looked at him strangely. "She... She was telling the truth, after all," Adrian muttered, a mad glint in his eyes.
Zelgadiss looked at the man, confused and not quite understanding. Then he noticed a pale, familiar arm hanging off the edge of the couch behind the other man, and didn't want to understand.
He wasn't sure how long it had taken Adrian to walk to where he stood; the first he became aware that the other man had moved was when he felt himself get picked up by his collar and flung over to the couch. "It's all your fault. She'd be just find if you had never come here, or if you had just left after talking to her this morning.
"Now I have to explain why my little ticket to power and riches is dead," Adrian said, and kicked Zelgadiss hard just below the ribcage. "Don't you think you should take the blame for it?" the taller, stronger man said with a smirk as he pulled on the bell pull to summon the servants before walking over to where he'd tossed Zel.
"I think I'll tell them that you killed her because she wouldn't let you have your way with her. I don't want you stinking up my dungeons any longer than I have to, and with a story like that, well... I can get them to execute you in the morning.
"But, while we wait for the servants and the guards, I might as well amuse myself by beating you up some more..."
Zel lay on the dirty floor, curled into a ball and feeling miserable. The guards had actually gone and patched him up and even called a healer for him, but it had been obvious that was simply because they wanted him to live thought the night. If Adrian hadn't left him desperately trying to clear his own blood from his throat so he could breathe, the guards would never have even bothered checking his injuries.
He felt an amazing lack of surprise at how easily Adrian's version of events was accepted. He supposed he understood why nobody questioned it, even though he could tell that some people doubted it. It was clear that the people had loved Amelia, and were eager to have this over and done with, even if that required violating the dead queen's ideals.
Zelgadiss could tell that he wouldn't have been given a chance to tell his version of the story, even if he had been up to talking at the time. That would have only made things even messier, and forced the whole process to take longer. He wasn't sure he minded it, though.
Adrian had been right, at least partially. It had been his fault, for having been so impulsive and attacking Adrian instead of going straight to Amelia and telling her. It was his fault she had not known what Adrian had been asking her about then.
It was his fault for having stayed away from her for so long, and for having lied so much to her.
I will admit, I've cheated on Zel's injuries, not going for as could in describing them. I felt like being nice, and also I didn't feel like digging up the references I'd need if I were to spend much more time describing them.
The chibis are still being generally sweet, so please give them cinnamon buns. I will take reviews and dark chocolate as encouragement to work harder on getting the next chapter written.
