Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. They are the property of Hajime Kanzaka and Shoko Yoshinaka.

Chapter Nine

Possession

A Song by Sarah McLachlan

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Italics – Lyrics

Black – Any Narrative

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Listen as the wind blows

From across the great divide

Voices trapped in yearning

Memories trapped in time

Zelgadis' fist smashed into the ground. He could not find Amelia's heart beat and he dared not take a closer look at the cut in her head. Seeing her body thus mutilated would help nothing. It had been instantaneous. The blood was spreading.

Shabranigdo was saying something, but Zel was not listening.

He was crying.

Oh Amelia!

Looking at her now was like looking at a dead star. With the colour drained from her face, she did not look especially beautiful, for it had been the beat of her heart that had given her a brand of loveliness. Amelia had a beautiful heart.

Suddenly, there was a surge of pain in Zel's back. The demon lord was not finished with him. Zel snapped around. Surely that shot was not meant to be fatal – only painful . . . and it was that.

"Shabranigdo," Zel shouted.

"You should have taken my offer," the dark lord said, beginning to cast a spell.

Was it worth it? Was trying now even worth it? Everything that had meant anything to him was gone now. His clothes were burnt and Amelia's blood stained his hands. Why had Dagzelis not taken proper care of her?

He crunched his fist together tighter.

His enemy was smiling.

There was one spell left to try; a spell that called power from the only mazoku lord above Shabranigdo; the Lord of Nightmares, but Zel did not want to cast it – until this moment. It was a spell that could call all creation back to oblivion, but maybe he even wanted that now.

Was defeating him worth it? Was it really worth giving all of himself to this one fight? Giving all the world to this one fight?

Like hell it was!

The night is my companion

And solitude my guide

Would I spend forever here

And not be satisfied

"Queen of Darkness, who shines like gold upon the sea of chaos," the spell resounded in his head and tingled in his fingers, "I call upon thee! Swear myself to thee," the power mounted in his chest and gave energy to his voice, "let the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I possess . . ." with his whole self at stake he roared – "GIGA SLAVE!"

"What?"

Zel smiled. The worm had not expected this.

He used his rage to focus all his energy into the black ball that he was holding over his head. It was only a matter of throwing the chaos energy at his opponent . . . wasn't it? He heaved it with all his strength, but instead the black energy stayed above him and then around him.

Everything was darkness, but his heart kept beating and his breath kept coming.

I will succeed.

Zel seemed to be floating now and could not see Shabranigdo. He was not there. Zel was no longer standing in the ruins of the tower. He was somewhere else entirely. Where was he? And who was walking towards him?

There was no mistaking who she was at all. There was no one else would walk like that. She was the darkness blacker than pitch, the Lord of Nightmares herself.

"Zelgadis-san," she said sweetly, "You recite my spell very well."

"Good day," he said, not sure how he ought to address her. There was only one thing that mattered at his point. "Does this mean that you've possessed my body?"

"Oh yes," she said.

And I would be the one

To hold you down

Kiss you so hard

I'll take your breath away

And after I'd wipe away the tears

Just close your eyes dear

"Thank goodness," he said looking down at his hands. They were human! "What have you done to me?" melancholy overpowering his voice.

"You wanted to be a mazoku/human cross?" she asked with a throaty laugh. "Ridiculous, for you are not that now. The stone golem is just your body and I've got that part so naturally all that's left is mazoku and human. You've been through a lot for so young a man, haven't you Zelgadis?" she caressed his cheek.

He jerked his chin away.

"You don't trust anyone do you? Not even when I've come all this way to destroy your enemies, even when I knew perfectly well who I was coming to ruin for you."

"You're going to do it then?" he asked.

"You recited my spell so nicely, that I don't think I could refuse you. Besides, I'm quite fascinated with you, being in your body and seeing your memory, looking through your eyes and seeing that poor girl. Sorry, I can't tell you what she was thinking. It's too bad really. You had such high hopes for her. Secretly, you even wished she was your wife, but you never confide such thoughts – not to anyone."

Through this world I've stumbled

So many times betrayed

Trying to find an honest word

To find the truth enslaved

"It doesn't matter now," he said.

"Oh, but it does matter. It matters a great deal to you. I'm actually remarkably helpful to those who have the power to summon me properly, and you're so weighed down with problems. So sad, when you won't live very long. What can you possibly have to worry about with death waiting for you?"

"The chance that you wouldn't let me live was one I counted on," he muttered.

"Your problem is that you don't trust anybody. You controlled the spell. Can't you see? You've won. You've won everything you wanted. You fused yourself with darkness and oblivion and you won. Interesting . . ." she mused. "What exactly are you fighting for? Just because you're angry and you want to take it out on someone? That's petty."

He looked at her, "Why are you bothering with this conversation? Aren't I just an insect that managed to do something kind of amazing? Aren't you finished with me already?"

"You are so delightful," she almost seemed breathless and it seemed she was blushing, though she was not.

"What's so funny?" he said, getting very angry again.

"So delightful, but you don't realize the main thing here. You ought to be panicking much more than you are."

"Why should I be panicking, there is nothing you can take from me that I didn't offer."

"You aren't worried about sharing your most intimate memories with someone? You're so reserved. One would think that this moment would be driving you crazy. You really do have a most delicious body though Zelgadis. Why don't you like it?"

Oh, you speak to me in riddles and

You speak to me in rhymes

My body aches to breathe your breath

Your words keep me alive

"It's not my skin," he said bluntly, trying if it were at all possible to ignore her and what she was saying. It was true that he wouldn't want someone knowing all about him. Knowing why he did what he did and what memories he had in his head. Some of them were too hard for even him to bear.

"Like the time that little Amelia girl was standing by the fence and you didn't see her. You continued to practice while she stood three feet from you holding a bouquet of flowers, and you thought she had brought them for you. Then she never offered them to you, even when you dropped her off at her door. She was so oblivious. Even though you were hurt by her thoughtlessness you forgave her easily. You couldn't forgive Rezo."

"Why are you doing this?" he demanded.

And I would be the one

To hold you down

Kiss you so hard

I'll take your breath away

And after I'd wipe away your tears

Just close your eyes dear

She didn't answer him, but kept silent. He could see her more clearly. She wasn't a dream. She really stood in front of him. Her hair was yellow as was the rest of her, but it was very soft, and she seemed very beautiful.

Into this night I wander

It's morning that I dread

Another day of knowing of

The path I fear to tread

"There isn't much time left. You have to tell me exactly what you want out of this spell, otherwise, you'll wake up and your enemy will still be standing before you ready to consume you. I know you think you've already given everything you've got to me, but there is a part of your mind you haven't given up, that's why we're talking like this. It's your deepest desires and your pain. You have to show me both, and then you'll get what you really want. It's up to you."

"How much time?"

"Not much."

"What do I have to do?"

She seemed to disappear, but he grabbed onto her wrists. He thought he didn't have anything left. He caught her. He thought he had given everything. He saw her as she mouthed the words, "it's a secret."

He pulled her into him and accepted the darkness.

Oh into the sea of waking dreams

I follow without pride

Nothing stands between us here

And I won't be denied

Zel stood in front of Shabranigdo. He was a chimera again, yet something about him was not right. He was not alone in his body. The Lord of Nightmares was there with him and she was casting the spells now to destroy Shabranigdo. He couldn't hear what she was saying, but the mother of all chaos and all darkness seemed to know shamanism as the feelings she invoked in him were very familiar, even though they were sharper than what he had experienced before.

Amazing.

"You shall be destroyed," she was saying now, with his lips, with his throat.

The blast ripped Shabranigdo out by the roots – there was nothing there. The chaos captured him. It was the most beautiful thing Zel had ever seen.

But what was left?

Nothing.

He would have to take Amelia back to her father – in a casket. He shuttered at the thought.

"Zel," the voice in his head said. "Remember, you cast the spell properly. You won."

And I would be the one

To hold you down

Kiss you so hard

I'll take your breath away

And after I'd wipe away the tears

Just close your eyes dear

The white wisps traveled up and down the edges of the broken tower. The shaman lifted the princess off the ground. Something had died that day, but luckily it had not been her. The petals of life caressed her cheeks again, and her breath came in easy heaves. Her black eye lashes fanned against her soft skin, and the Lord of Nightmares had gone back to oblivion after giving him everything he wanted.

He had won.

The End

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Author's Notes: "Shadow Magic - Zelgadis and Amelia" is the first of four novellas in the "Shadow Magic" series. Each novella is an independant story from the others and requires no back-up reading. Here are the titles for the series:

Shadow Magic - Zelgadis and Amelia

Shadow Magic - Xellos and Filia

Shadow Magic - Zelgadis and Lina

Shadow Magic - Xellos and Lina

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