A/N: And another four reviews for Chapter Uno. Bob the Brau Demon seems to be a hit. ^_^ I like replying to reviews, for some reason, so bear with me…
Morgeil, you reminded me of the strange resemblance between those two O_O I haven't watched ReBoot in yeears, and the sheer coincidence! They're both, er, blue, and have a weird attitude, and—whoops. Not giving away anything, now ^_~
Phizzy-chan: This fic doesn't deserve that title, really. *^_^* Zel and Amelia won't be meeting for a while more…gotta do some plot stuff first. Don't worry, they will. Although not in the most ideal of circumstances… (dramatic music plays)
deep sea dolphin: Mature writing style? O_o Well, thanks, I guess. It helps to know that my years of reading older people's work aren't in vain ^_^ Eat the candies anyway! Here's the update!
Aaaand… Winged Dancer!! One of the legendary authoresses hath bequeathed a review upon this humble newbie! I'm not worthy TT_TT I'm honored that you actually stopped by to read a no-name's fic… On Bob, he's based on a character of mine in another RK fanfic (I seem to reuse the same personas in original charries… _) As for what's gonna happen? Wait and see ^_^ This is an afterlife fic in a way, but they're going back, or else we wouldn't have TRY ^_^
A/N On The Story: This fic is actually complete. It consists of about 8 chapters or so, counting the Prologue and Epilogue ^_^ However, I'm not gonna let 'em all out at once, so that it'll just be like an actual fic ^_~ But at least, you may rest in ease in the knowledge that this is one fic that ain't gonna be abandoned… (grin )
"Rodimus?"
The grizzled swordsman nodded. "It's good to see you again, lad... although this was the last way I'd have planned for a meeting."
My head hung lower. "So... I am dead, after all."
"Don't be too hard on yourself, Zelgadis. There was nothing you could've done; you WERE opposing the Hellmaster, after all," another familiar voice spoke.
I was slightly less surprised to see Zolf standing beside Rodimus, twirling his moustache in a habit he'd picked up recently. Before he died, that is.
"I..." Words would not come. What can you say when you meet friends whom you witnessed being blasted into ashes by a fragment of the Ruby-Eyed Lord?
Somehow, I don't think 'Hi! So how's being dead been?' is very appropriate.
Zolf raised an eyebrow and turned to Rodimus. "I think he's in shock. Can I hit him?"
"I am NOT in shock," I snapped. The sorcerer grinned.
"So you're still awake, after all. I was beginning to wonder if your mind'd been cracked by that Phibrizzo guy at the same time he cracked your life-orb," he drawled.
I stared at him, and then shook my head slowly, chuckling.
"It's good to see you both again, despite the circumstances."
"Uh-huh. I'd never have expected you of all people to get killed so soon, though. Of all the enemies you had to pick, it had to be a Dark Lord, didn't it?" Zolf gave me a wry look. "I thought you were smarter than that."
"Zolf..." Rodimus warned.
"This from a man who tried to pull a Dragon Slave on its source of power…" I grumbled. Strangely enough, I couldn't think of a better defence against his insult.
Why did I do it, anyway?
If memory serves me right, you accompanied Lina because you said that if she went alone and defeated the Hellmaster, she'd never let you hear the end of it.
Well, she wouldn't. And having Lina plague me with her gloating is a fate worse than death.
You could leave them. You could do it anytime.
But I can't.
Why?
Because...
Why?
They're... my friends. And I can't leave any one of them who needs my help. Even if I have to do something foolish like face a Mazoku Lord.
"You've learned that at last, haven't you?" Rodimus's voice interrupted my thoughts.
"Learned what?" I replied, confused.
"That you can care for people. Friends. You know, the thing we've been trying to teach you to do since we first met at Rezo's," Zolf explained.
"Wait a minute." I frowned suspiciously at him. "You can read my mind?"
"Not your mind, lad. But in this place, where the body isn't..." The swordsman tapped lightly on his breastplate. "...we can hear your heart's voice."
"Heart? What heart?" I laughed harshly, a tinge of bitterness in my voice. "I haven't had one since the day I was turned into a freak."
Zolf groaned. "He's still going on about that, isn't he, Rodimus?" He glared at me. "Has nothing we've been trying to drill into that stone head of yours stayed there? You are not, and have never BEEN, a freak. Just because you've got lousy skin and hair, you've been whining on and on about how pathetic you are and how you hate the world and the world hates you, yadda yadda yadda--"
"Zolf..."
"--and the whole time we've been watching you, all you do is angst away about the fact that you're a chimera. It's like what that princess girl--Amelia, wasn't it? -- has been trying to tell you; what you look like does NOT matter. It's the inside that counts, got it? And the worst thing about you is the fact that the only time you're finally happy is when you're cured. Well, call the town criers out, sir, 'cause you're DEAD. Your cured-ness isn't worth half a copper. And you know what? You wasted too many perfectly good opportunities to be happy with your friends just because you wanted to be 'aloooone'. Geez, I can't count the number of times I've wanted to smack you over the head with a club when you did something stupid out of your damned leave-me-alone-because-I'm-a-monster complex--"
"Zolf..."
"--and on top of that, you have no bloody sense of humour, you know that? I would've thought that after the whole Rezo-Shabranigdu business you'd lighten up at least a little, but noooo, you have to go on and on with your dramatics and be gloomy every time something messes up your plans. For Cepheid's sake, learn to look on the bright side of life once in a while! At this rate, you're not gonna get yourself a girlfriend anytime soo--"
"ZOLF!!"
THWACK.
"Owowow!!! Hey!!"
Rodimus lowered his gauntleted fist to his side, giving Zolf a disapproving look. "While some of what you say has merit, I will not tolerate you being rude to Master Zelgadis. Is that clear?"
"Great, now YOU'RE another one who needs to lighten up."
THWACK.
I eyed them, partly amused and partly disturbed. "You two haven't changed at all."
"At least you're enjoying it, lad." Rodimus sighed.
I folded my arms and looked at them, curious.
"So… what brings you two here? Or rather, where am I? Pardon my ignorance, but somehow getting a lecture on my social life wasn't quite what I imagined the afterlife to present…"
Zolf nursed the bump on his head. (For spirits, they seemed solid enough… maybe it was some kind of Astral Plane thing that allowed ghosts to be hit by others of the same kind) He shot a glare at Rodimus before turning to me.
"Well, Zelgadis. It's like this…"
"You're in a pocket of the Astral Plane known to humans as 'Limbo'."
I blinked.
"Limbo? Isn't that some kind of foreign pole dance?"
Bob raised an eyebrow. "Was that intentional?"
"Huh?"
"Ah, forget about it. If you wanna know about the name, go ask some shamanist. Anyway, Limbo's a place where souls that still have strong ties to the world, like you (he pointed at me with his tail), can hang around and keep an eye on the living if you like."
"Strong ties?"
"Things like family. Friends. Spouses. Whatever. In your case, part of your soul."
"Part of my…soul? But that means…"
He nodded. "You're not truly dead."
So there's hope yet? If I'm not completely gone…I can still go back, somehow. I can't give up yet! There's gotta be a way to go back, as long as I'm not dead!
"Not yet, that is."
That remark brought my inner cheering to a screeching halt.
"Eh?"
"You can be saved only if that Lina Inverse manages to defeat the Hellmaster. And though I've seen what she can do, it's gonna take a MIRACLE for her to do that-"
"You're wrong!" I yelled indignantly. "Miss Lina will defeat him, with the help of our friends and the strength of Good! I have faith in them!"
Bob's expression darkened, and I wondered if perhaps I'd gone too far by raising my voice at him, but then he shook his head.
"Are you so sure that your friends have survived?"
There was a moment of pensive thought after Zolf had fallen silent. To be revived, Lina had to defeat Phibrizzo. To defeat him, there was only one option I could think of, and it was one that could lose everything in an all-or-nothing gamble.
The Giga Slave.
"You've got that right. And if she casts that whopper of a spell…" The sorcerer shook his head. "The whole world could go poof."
"'Poof' is a bit of an understatement, Zolf."
"Yeah, yeah. You get the idea. Same thing, anyway."
I sighed. "But knowing Lina…"
"… she'd do it anyway," we finished simultaneously.
Rodimus traced a circle in the darkness with his sword, which dissolved into a hazy mist of colour. As I squinted at it, the mist gradually sharpened into a visible scene…
Martina was hysterically slashing the air with Zangulus's Howling Sword, launching wave after wave of wind blades at a smirking Phibrizzo. She was yelling something at Lina, who had fallen on her knees with a stunned expression.
And on the floor, I could see bodies.
A bright splash of white and pink.
A patch of blue and purple.
A figure in beige.
One more in brown.
I could feel my fingers clench tightly against my palm.
That's… that's every one of us, isn't it? Only two left…
No.
A smirk twisted the child-like features of Phibrizzo's face.
One.
And as I watched, horrified, the Lord of Death crushed one more fragile orb between those deceptively delicate fingers.
I felt Bob twitch.
The two of us were sitting back-to-back in the darkness. After his semi-disturbing explanation, it wasn't long before I'd remembered my lack of clothing and turned away from Bob, somewhat embarrassed. That brought us to the current situation.
Hmm…can he actually see me, though?
I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask.
"Mr. Bob?"
"Mm-hmm?"
"I was wondering… How do I look like? To you, I mean…"
"Well… I sense you like all Brau Demons can do to souls, and I suppose, in a vague way, that I 'see' your soul as a blob of light in the Astral Plane, but that's about it. Other souls can probably see you, though." He nudged me gently with his tail. "Oh, and I can feel you, too."
"Oh. Okay." A blob? I looked at my hands, puzzled. There was a dim white glow that I hadn't noticed before when I had woken up in Limbo; why was that?
Pause.
"By the way, Mr. Bob… how do you know my name?"
He raised his head and gazed at a distant point in the darkness.
"Some friends, in a way… they told me a lot about you. My partner knows you quite well, too." He chuckled.
I blinked. "Really?"
"Mm-hmm. In fact…" Bob's voice took on a more serious tone. "There's a friend of mine who'd like to meet you again. It's about time she got here." Mumbling, "…Though I suppose I shouldn't have gone so far ahead of her."
Someone who'd like to meet me again? I was puzzled. Here? But that could only be another dead person…and I don't know anyone who could be friends with a Brau Demon…
In the darkness, I saw a glow. The source of it, as it approached, felt familiar… A warm, comforting aura seemed to radiate from whatever--- whoever--- was producing the glow.
… what if…
A tail nudged me forward.
"Go on, then," Bob said. "She's been waiting for a long time for this."
Slowly, I walked closer, trying to make out the figure in the glow, to confirm my suspicions. If I was right… if she was really…
A voice I knew called out, and I froze.
I've heard that voice before!… so long ago…
…what if..?
"My dear Mel…"
And I ran into her outstretched arms, flinging my own around her and embracing her, holding on tightly, breathing in her sweet scent of roses, tears streaking down my cheeks, and burying my face into her chest as I hadn't done for the past ten years.
"I missed you… Mommy…"
~TBC
A/N: Aaaaack, melodrama. Not used to this kinda stuff. _~;; I hope the Amelia/Mother scene turned out okay, and not too um…stereotypical. Ok, fine, it was. Sue me. I couldn't think of a better way to put it. This was the hardest part of the story to write . and it's lousy and so shoooort….