Yo yo, sorry for the delay, finals and coming home and last minute shopping like I've never done before. Enjoy the next few days and all that, I live you with a holiday cliff-hanger. ;) Just for the record, this chapter title is one of my very favorites for secret reasons, and thanks again to all my amazing reviewres.

Lyra Pelgina - Sorry this one took longer! I was distracted. And thanks for reading my other stories. The writing is different, beacause...well, there's a four year space in between them. ;) Anyway, I'm glad you liked that too! Here is your update, sorry for the wait!

Klutz82 - I like that part too. :) hugs

Hoshi-chan1 - Here it is! Woooo!

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Part XVII- Talitha Cumi (Arise Maiden)

"Nothing is as wonderful as it seems beforehand."
-George Eliot

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"...No honey, we don't know her name yet, but I'm hoping we can find out soon enough."

The voice was smooth and almost sultry, not young, but by far, not old.

So it couldn't have been Lina at all. Hmmm..

Sleep was still heavy on his eyes, but he forced them open, squeezing them shut almost immediately as bright light cut into his vision and sent off explosions in his head.

"Ma, he's waking up."

That was a child's voice, so that meant that Gourry wasn't around either. Determined to figure out who these strangers surrounding him were, he forced his eyes open again and nearly fell out of bed when he saw not one or two but four faces looking down at him. Three were boys, ranging in ages from what seemed to be about...ten to nineteen. And there was one woman, smiling down at him as long vermillion hair that was grayed around the edges fell over her shoulders.

"Whooooaaaaa...." the youngest boy, with dirty-blonde hair stared down at him. "I thought he was dead!"

Dear gods, where the hell had he ended up?

"Boys, back up and give this gent some air."the woman spoke and pushed the larger boys away by the shoulders. "I thought I taught you it wasn't polite to stare." Winking at Zel, she sat down on the edge of the bed next to him. "No manners at all, ne? Of course, you wouldn't know about that. It's not every day a man like yourself comes crashing into my house with less that ten words before he up and passes out. You made for a lot of excitement here, sugar."

Zel really didn't know what to say to that. He felt uncomfortable enough being in this strange place, but now he knew he was blushing too. Deciding that the first step was to sit up and get his bearings, he attempted to do just that, and was rewarded with a scathing pain in his left arm when he used it to raise himself.

"Careful there!" she chirped. "You've been in quite a tussle, and you're not all healed yet."

"Who are you?"

"Figures you wouldn't remember. You came charging in here like a bat out of hell and I can't imagine you got a single word I said. I'm Arika Coupland, my handsome young man. Who might you be?"

He'd never stammered over his own name, but then again, he'd never had a much older woman coming onto him before.

"Z-zeldigas..."he shook his head. "Zelgadis Graywords."

Across the room, the boy who looked to be the middle one leaned over to the slightly taller male next to him and muttered "I wish she wouldn't do that. It always spooks them."

"Zelgadis, it's a pleasure."she smiled brightly, then grabbed his chin and tilted his head to the side. "Now let's see how you're shaping up."

"Buh?"

"You, sir, are a very lucky man. You..."She seemed to notice something and turned to her sons. "What are you guys still doing here? There's an inn to be run! Dkkar, get your brothers moving!"

The tallest boy, with long hair and glasses, ushered the other two out, and then Zel was left alone with Arika. He didn't know whether that should have scared him or not.

"Those boys..."she shook her head, then reached toward his cheek and pulled something off- a bandage. "As I was saying Zelgadis, you're very lucky. Both that you survived whatever you got into, and that you came to me, best healer north of Seyruun." she prodded his stone skin, and didn't even pause when he winced. "This was infected like I have never seen. You've been playing with dark magic, haven't you?"

"To say the least of it, yes."

"Didn't your mommy tell you not to play with sorcery?"

"I-"

"I'm kidding. You are obviously a magic user. No one else could have gone through this and survived if they didn't have some kind of talent like that. Besides,"she placed her finger against his cut and murmured a few soft words before raising her voice again. "I could tell you'd tried healing it before. You didn't, of course, know what you were dealing with." Arika moved her attentions to his arm. "And neither did I. Hmm...But I did do a wonderful job, and it shouldn't be much longer before it stops hurting."

She finally pulled back and with a quick nod, placed her hands on her knees.

"Firm body, pretty face...Yeah, you'll heal just fine."she patted his leg through the sheets. "And now that you're up, maybe you can tell us who this mystery girl is, since you were in such a hurry to see her."

Zel turned so fast he nearly tumbled out of the bed for the second time. Amelia! He'd completely forgotten she was here! He leapt out from under the covers and to the bed mere feet away. Gods, he'd almost though it had all been a dream...but no, here she was. She was still unconscious and bright with sickness, but she was gloriously alive.

Zel couldn't resist stroking her cheek and felt tears welling up in his eyes. It had taken so much to get here, so much to let him know that this one motion was probably the only reason he'd been born.

"Amelia..."

"Amelia, eh?" Arika echoed behind him. "Amelia who?"

"Amelia Wil Tesla de Seyruun."he said gently, letting his hand travel higher to comb through her black bangs.

"Say what? Seyruun? I have the princess of Seyruun lying here?" she sounded flabbergasted. "You have got to be kidding me. Seyruun probably doesn't even know about us up here! What's going on?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Then tell me."

"It's a very, very long story." Zel tried to make his voice sound as uninterested as possible.

"You know what? I really don't care. I want to hear it, and if I don't get to hear it, I'll start charging you for the three days you were asleep."

The chimera whirled around.

"Three days?!"

"Ay-yup. You were sick as a dog." she grinned. "Now come on into the dining room, we'll have some dinner, and I get to hear your story, alright?"

"But Amelia..."

"The Princess has slept for five days and she's not going to wake up yet. Oh, and one other thing..." She turned behind her to a shelf and picked up a pile of fabric. "I fixed up your clothes. You might want them before you go out."

Zel's mouth opened and closed several times as his face was set on fire.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Sugar, I'm a healer and I've got three sons. It's nothing new to me." she dropped the clothes into his arms."See you outside."

As he pulled on his clothes like his life depended on it, Zel was very glad Amelia had decided not to wake up just yet.

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It was snowing outside, and more than a little bit dark, but in the main hall of Arika's inn, the fire was warm, and Nijil, the middle and sassiest of Arika's sons, proved to be a very good cook.

Zel off-handedly wondered where the time had gone. It was light out when he'd started his story -from the very beginning with Rezo- and he wasn't even done with the fight yet. And although he'd started only with Arika, gradually each of her children -Dkkar, Nijil, and Mikale, respectively- had joined them. The chimera felt a little bit silly; who made him into a story teller and when did he become so open? But they were all watching him so intently, he couldn't stop now.

"And I..uh...well I had to ...er..."

"You had to realize that you loved her in order to kill her so that you could save her!"Mikale, in all his ten-year-old wisdom, slapped his sleeve-covered hand on the table and nearly gave Nijil a heart attack.

"Ah...yeah, that was it..."

"So let me get this straight."Nijil casually shoved his younger brother aside. "You killed her because you love her?"

"Um..."

"Because that sounds really stupid."

"I..."

Dkkar sighed, pushed his glasses up his nose, picked up a discarded chicken bone, and bounced it off Nijil's forehead.

"Haven't you been listening? Of course he had to kill her. There wasn't any other choice. If he loved her, he couldn't let her live like that. So he had to sacrifice her to save her, do you get it?"

"It's still stupid."

"Yeah, it kind of is." Zel had to agree. Doing it had felt horrible, and saying it felt just plain weird. "Well...to make a long story short, I had tried to kill her with a sword and a spell through the heart, but the fruitcake got her from behind."

"Yes." Arika nodded sagely. "That would explain why she had three holes in her chest. I was hoping you'd mention that."

"I...were they hard to fix? Her wounds, I mean. Did you have trouble bandaging them?"

"Bandaging, no. And surprisingly, they weren't bleeding anymore either. I had some trouble knowing quite what to do with someone who should have been dead, especially when the person who gave them to me disappeared right away."She sipped on her coffee and rum mix. "It did interest me that one of the wounds was almost completely closed, though. The one right in her sternum."

"I was getting to that. Cutting down the story, Lina and Gourry killed the priests, and then we all took on Dynast. Lina conveniently got the last hit, and then we had to deal with Amelia."

"Wait!"Mikale gripped the table intensely. "You mean Lina-san took away your victory?"

"Yeah, you could put it like that."

"That's terrible! How could she do that to you?!"

"She...didn't know?"

"Hmph." the child slouched back in his chair. "Doesn't make it right."

"Shut up and let him talk."Nijil elbowed him again and chewed on a toothpick. "So you killed him and...?"

"Amelia was dead too, so Xellos used a Mazoku spell to call back her soul and...sealed her soul inside her body with her ring."

As if to remind him of what everything had cost him, Zel felt his own chest twist, as if something heavy were lodged to the right of his heart. The prices he'd had to pay for his stupidity...

"So what?" asked not Nijil, but his mother.

"So what?!"Zel was floored. "So the thing that brought her back wasn't from me! I couldn't do a thing to save her! And now she has something from that other guy in her body forever!"

"But what does that mean? Was he the one that traveled up here to get her? Was he the one who fought for her? Was he the one who nearly killed himself to be at her side? No. And in the end, it's not going to matter whose ring went where, but who loves her the most. And that's you."

Zel flushed and looked down at his hands.

"I wish she knew that."

"She'll know soon enough." Arika said smugly.

"Um..it's not going to be easy to tell her..."

"But you will, won't you?" Goodness, Mikail was expressive. He looked absolutely appalled at the thought that Zel might stay silent.

"Yeah, Graywords."Nijil grinned, the toothpick looking rather silly as it pointed directly upwards from the corner of his mouth. "It would be pretty sad if you did all that and then didn't tell her."

"...I'll tell her."

"Boys, stop pressuring him. It's not like any of you know how to act around girls yet."

Dkkar cleared his throat.

"With the possible exception of Dkkar."

"Hey!"

"Hush. Now it's late, and you should get to bed. Perhaps we'll get some paying customers tomorrow. Shoo, off to bed."

"But mooooooom!"Mikale pleaded. "He's not even done yet!"

"There really isn't much more to tell. He healed her, brought her here, and I followed them." Zel shrugged.

"The end!"Arika declared. "To bed, to bed, to bed!"

Nijil got up with a scowl and stalked to their part of the inn, followed closely by Dkkar. Mikale lingered a moment to kiss his mother good night, and then turned to Zel with a stern look.

"Zel-san, you'd better tell her when she gets up."

"I will."he smiled warmly at the child.

Mikale bounced off to bed, and the chimera was left alone with Arika once more. They sat silently for a while, Arika studying him as she finished off the last bits of her drink. At last she slammed the mug on the table and leveled her gaze on Zel.

"You've got quite a story there, Zel-kun. I admit I didn't know what to expect when your Xellos character dropped that bloody girl off and you came bursting in here. I thought I might be stuck with her forever, but it's good to know that she's got a lot of people looking out for her."

Zel nodded a little.

"Yes. And thank you for taking care of her. I don't know what I would have done..."

"Probably gone completely mad."

"No question." he shifted a little. "Do you think I should see if she's awake?"

The woman laughed gently.

"I saw you getting more and more antsy throughout the story. I know you want her to wake up, but you have to give it time. She's been to hell and back. She might sleep another week."

Zel sighed raggedly.

"I don't want it to take that long..."

"Now don't lose your head over just waiting for her to wake up." Arika's voice had turned a little grave. "You are not out of this yet."

"What do you mean?"

She shook her head a little, and folded her arms across her chest.

"Call it intuition, but I don't think you're going to have a very easy time with her when she wakes up. And I know you know it'll be difficult, but from hearing your story, hearing everything she's gone through...It isn't over yet." she glanced up at his incredulous expression. "Don't make that face at me. Zel, listen to your own story. This girl died being angry with you twice. And just because she's been healed doesn't mean she can forget that. Yes, you love her now, but she's not going to know that. And I just want you to have a little bit of warning that this might not be as wonderful as you expect it to be."

"I don't care. I still want her to wake up."

"I do too." she sighed. "Believe me I do."

Silence again, and then Arika stood up, walked behind the counter, opened a little drawer and pulled something out.

"Amelia's clothes were unsalvageable. This is the only thing she was wearing that wasn't completely destroyed."

Zel rose and walked over, and as he drew closer, realized what it was -it was the blue stone that had been tied around Amelia's...Amedyn's neck.

"I don't want that. I don't think she will either."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that." the healer reached over, pulled up Zel's arm and placed the necklace in his hand. "See what she thinks when she wakes up."

Rolling his eyes a little, Zel stuffed it into his pocket.

"Now, now, now, don't get sassy on me." Arika scolded. "I already have Nijil, I don't need another one of you."

She winked, and then gave him a little shove on the shoulder.

"You need to get back to bed."

"But the dishes..."

"Pshah! It's my inn, and I'm perfectly capable of doing my own dishes." she leaned across the bar and pressed her lips to his cheek. "G'night, sugar. And good luck, 'cuz you may need it."

Blushing again, Zel raised his hand, then walked back to the room that served as the infirmary. Opening the door, he found the room very dim- the single lantern that had been lit earlier was struggling valiantly to provide light, but it wasn't succeeding overly well. Oh well, that didn't matter. What mattered was that there was still a living body in bed next to it.

Although part of his mind told him to just lie down and wait for her to awaken, the other half told him to go over to her. That side won out, and the shamanist carefully made his way over to her, and gently sat down on the edge of her bed.

Her breathing was soft and measured coming from her slightly parted lips. Her face looked entirely calm and though he knew it was improper, Zel found himself unable to keep from cupping her cheek and slowly bending down to kiss her. It was going to be his first kiss, and...no. No, not while she was sleeping. It wasn't right.

Shifting his aim, he bent down and placed the softest of all kisses on her forehead. For a second, he imagined that she sighed as his lips touched her skin. And then he realized she was sighing.The sigh of someone walking up from a long, long sleep.

He pulled back instantly, and watched as her eyes fluttered, then began to raise gently.

"Z...Zelgadis-san?" her voice was a whisper as her eyes opened fully.

At first he thought it must have been a trick of the candle's shadows that her eyes seemed lighter than before. Then, with agitation slowly overcoming him, he reached over and turned up the lantern's flame.

"Zelgadis-san?" Amelia blinked.

Oh gods.

Her eyes were still gray.