AN: Chapter two. Or one, depending on how you look at it. Yes it's a little out of character, but bear with me. ;) Remember, I'm primarily putting this up to try to get the fanficcers on this couple writing again, since it's all more or less gone into stagnation. ;) So if you're out there, having a half finished ZA fanfic, then yes, I've probably read it, and yes, I want you to bloody continue it, dammit!

I've got a couple of chapters written, but let's just see if it's anything you'd waste your time on anyways. ;)

Again, I don't own Slayers, or anything remotely connected to it.

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Some things change.

It had been a little more than two years since any of them last saw Zelgadis. He was, supposedly, off to find his cure. Lina and Gourry, to nobody's surprise, had hooked up, gotten themselves a nice house outside of Sailrune, and were for now rather settled. Lina was a bit on the pregnant side, to say the least. So, on orders from her husband, she was taking it easy.

"Easy" here meaning no blowing up inns, no adventure, no trashing bad guys and stealing their treasures and no adventuring. It bored her, but then again, she was to be a mother now. A whole new world. She chuckled.

She would miss the adventuring, of course, while she'd be unable to do so. But the thing she missed the most was the chaotic everyday life of the dysfunctional family the four of them had formed. One being her older brother, one now her husband and one being her little sister. She sighed.

Amelia. Poor girl. Whatever had gotten into Zel that night anyways? He might love the "heartless magic-using swordsman"-image, but she knew that he'd never do something like that. And certainly not to Amelia.

Even if he never really showed any signs of actually being truly in love with her, he'd always loved Amelia. At least as more than just a friend. Lina knew this, she was dead sure of it. Heck, she'd bet a full course dragon cuisine meal on it, too! And she'd used the past two years to make it all add up. But it just didn't.

The reason why she was thinking about it now, was because it pissed her off. Amelia was getting married, (well, what else could be expected) in a couple of weeks. And since Lina was pregnant, she wasn't allowed to go look for Zel. She had asked Xellos to do the honours, but she knew from experience that the trickster didn't always do what he was told.

Gourry came in the door, bringing groceries for the dinner. He smiled softly to her. She couldn't help smile back, despite her bad mood. Jellyfishbrains always could make her smile.

Zel had gone off, disappeared, without a trace, and hadn't come back. So whatever he did, he must have thought it had broken the friendship between them. Surely, when she ran in the door that night to save poor Amelia, she was ready to dragon slave the dirty bastard, no matter if he was Zel.

But seen in retrospective, it wasn't that harmful at all. He hadn't done anything really bad, but.. it just didn't add up. Did he snap? Had she pushed him? Had he been possessed? What the hell had happened, anyways!?

She got up from the chair and walked to the window, supporting her back with her hands. Two weeks. And then Amelia would be forever off limits! Not that she wanted to decide for Zel what to do. But she thought he at least should have the chance.

And then, of course, she wanted the bastard to explain himself to her. And preferably also to Amelia. That little stunt of his back then had put some nasty things in motion. Phil, for instance, had ordered people to arrest him on sight. He was, though, talked out of that about a year ago. But the resentment still lingered. And then he had urged Amelia to choose one of her suitors, and get married.

Phil was just worried, of course, but.. Forcing Amelia into marrying.. That didn't seem right. Even if the council would be on his neck, Lina would at least have expected Phil to wait until Amelia took he initiative. Forcing her seemed like such a drastic measure. Especially since Amelia for a long time refused to let go of Zel. She said she couldn't until she knew what his true feelings were. She had even refused healers to heal her shoulder, leaving behind a nasty scar as it healed up the natural and slow way.

Of course, that was a long time ago. Nowdays she claimed that she was well over him, and only looking forward to the wedding. She had to say that. Sailrune wouldn't be happy, if the princess wasn't. It was her royal obligation to be happy, no matter what.

The man, prince Orin of Zephilia, Amelia was going to marry didn't seem her type at all. He was a tall, narcissistically handsome man, with light blonde hair and a broad, shining smile. He was the epitome of the white prince. He even rode in on a white horse, for crying out loud! And although that seemed all nice and fairytalish, it just didn't seem right!

Something broke her line of thoughts, as she saw somebody head towards the house. And not just any somebody.

"By the dark lord, the son of a demon actually did it!" Lina exclaimed, mostly to herself. Xellos had actually found Zelgadis, and somehow pointed him in the right direction. She ran out to meet her old friend, Gourry following right behind her.

"ZEL!!" She shouted, and he turned in their direction.

"Zelgadis, nice to see ya!" Gourry greeted and slapped him friendly on the shoulder.

Zel let the hood fall and smiled at them.

"Nice to see you two t.." he obviously took a second glance at Lina. "You three?"

She blushed. Well, of course he'd notice. Who wouldn't these days? She should have used Xellos as a messenger when she and Gourry got married. Then Zel would have been there. Of course, that was still within the period where he was very much wanted, with a rather big reward on his head, in Sailrune and the nearby countries.

"It's so good to see you again." Lina smiled. Then she punched him, in the face. Mostly causing herself pain. "Ouch… Now that was for taking off like you did!" she said in an irritated tone, rubbing her hand.

It only took an hour to catch up on things. After hearing his side of the story, Lina took a moment to choose her words, and volume, then she decided to throw two years of pent up anger in his general direction.

"You did it for her sake, MY ASS!" Lina shouted. "No, Zel, you did it for your own selfish reasons! Because it was easier! It was easier to kill of your own emotions, and just decide to sink back into your self-pity, Zel, than to realise that this young woman actually loved you, and with good reason!"

Zel had leaned backwards from her, in fear. Gourry shook his head.

"One would've thought Zel knew you well enough to expect that one." he sighed.

"One would've thought Zel would've stayed here, if he knew what's best for him." Lina added. "And now Amelia is getting married!"

Zel coughed a little of his tea up again.

"M..married?" he then seemed to regain his cool. "That's wonderful… isn't it?"

He looked at Lina, and she couldn't really decipher if he actually meant it. Maybe she'd been wrong about him. All this time she'd been sure that he actually was in love with Amelia, and here he was, actually genuinely looking happy on her behalf, albeit a bit shocked. Something wasn't right.

"Yeah, to some deadbeat, prim and proper prince charming.." Lina sighed. "I mean, he seems nice and everything.. He's just not Amelia's type of guy, if you know what I mean."

"Could only be an improvement.." Zel added, with his usual monotone sarcasm. He seemed like he didn't catch the hint. "And here I thought Xellos was actually serious for a moment, when he said that you all desperately needed my help.." he sighed. "Should've known better than to trust that son of a bitch!"

Lina knew Zel well enough to know, that his next move would be to go off again, to find his cure. So she tried with a pre-emptive strike.

"You know, you really should go see her." She said. "You're so close to Sailrune anyways, so why not?"

Gourry nodded.

"Yeah, I'm petty sure she's been worried sick 'bout you, Zel." He concurred.

Zelgadis looked from Lina to Gourry with an indifferent glare.

"I hardly think she'd welcome me!" he said, his voice sounding hollow somehow. "After all, I am a monster, and the very same monster that hurt her and ran off two years ago!"

For that remark he got himself a slap on his head. While Lina was rubbing her hand again, she continued.

"'Course she will! After all, she was running around, waiting for you to return, the first 1½ year. Then this prince shows up out of nowhere, and haggles himself to Amelia's hand, with her father."

She knew it wasn't entirely the way the story went, but she thought she was allowed a little artistic freedom on the truth, when it was all in the best interest of her friends' well-being. She glared to her husband. Thankfully, this wasn't one of those unfortunate moments when he had his wits about to set things straight. Good. The last thing she needed was for him to tip Zel in on the fact, that Amelia had agreed long before her father was brought into it. But it was still a cold, political marriage. She decided to follow her point up.

"I know it wasn't like you guys were dating or anything, and I know I'm probably being silly here, but don't you think it'd be better for the two of you to straighten things out before she marries?"

That remark somehow seemed to spark something inside that thick skull of his. After a long while of silence, Zel said: "I might go.. there's something I need to return to her anyways."

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Zel walked towards the gates of Sailrune, not really sure what he was doing. At first, when he'd taken off two years ago, he had been fine; knowing that what he did was right and for the best. But then Amelia crept into his mind. Not just as a memory of the good old days, but as an actual, full-fledged mental representation of her. She was there. Inside of his head, and he couldn't get her out again.

It wasn't as if he was in love with her. He was pretty sure of that. More like… she had become a part of him. He felt something was lacking, when he didn't have to look after her, or hear her opinion on things, however bland it may be, or even her justice speeches. He found himself time after time thinking about, what Amelia would've said or done in this situation, and it was bugging the hell out of him.

He had to return the bracelet. He wasn't really sure, but somehow he had this intuitive idea, that it had something to do with it. So, he had to get it out of his life, in order to get her out of his life. Besides, he thought to himself, she must have had the same problem. As long as he held on to that bracelet, she'd not be freed from him. He had heard his own mental representation of Amelia say that she couldn't let go of him, as long as he hadn't let go of her.

So, it was pretty simple. Find Amelia, give her back her bracelet, and congratulate her on the engagement.

The engagement.. Hmm.. He had to check out the guy, too.. Prince Orion, or something like that. If Amelia hadn't learned her lesson, he might not be worthy of her, and she'd live an unhappy life. He had to make sure that wasn't so.

As he approached the gates, he decided to take a shortcut, so he levitated over the walls, and dropped down silently on the other side, pulled up his mask, and started to look around.

The city hadn't changed much. It seemed like the world hat just stopped turning since he left here. He hadn't found a cure either. Nothing had changed. He sighed, and turned at a crossroad. There were plenty of people in the streets, so nobody seemed to really notice him. That was at least something.

As he neared the castle, he felt something in his throat, and his little Amelia representation was crying out inside of his scull. He couldn't quite tell what she was saying, but it didn't matter. Soon he would be confronted with the real Amelia. Lina had said that she'd forgiven him long ago, but he wasn't sure.

Just like he wasn't sure that Lina was right, when she'd told him that Amelia had still claimed she loved him, up until half a year ago. It couldn't be so. Amelia's infatuation was just something temporally. Surely it must have died out, especially when she realised what a monster he was.

But what if she hadn't? Realised it, that was. What if the obvious fact that he was a monster had just slipped past her, as it'd done before? Zelgadis gritted his teeth. She was still too naïve. Nothing had changed at all.

Realising that no guard would, or should for that matter, let him in, he looked around for a way to sneak in. Maybe he had to wait for nightfall. He levitated up to a rooftop, and placed himself there, looking down upon the people and the street-life below him. He also had a good view to the castle.

Perhaps he should avoid the confrontation altogether and just put the bracelet with a note in her room. And perhaps a rose to go with that? He shook the thought out of his mind, as his mental representation of Amelia went all starry eyed upon receiving the rose. Not a good idea. That would give the wrong impression. Like he was interested in her.

All of the sudden some commotion stirred the streets, and snapped Zel out of his thoughts.

"Make way for princess Amelia!" somebody shouted.

He somehow knew it would be a bad idea to look at her. He knew it. Just don't look at her. If he didn't look at her, he wasn't actually engaging the plan of returning the bracelet, he was merely thinking it through, very carefully. If he didn't look at her, he wouldn't see something he'd rather not have seen.

He looked. Then, trying to regain his breath and heartbeat, he concluded that some things had changed.

She was gracefully riding through the city, on her white horse. Her eyes had become less naïve and sparkling, but more womanly and calm. She still had her determined look. She looked gorgeous, her raven black tresses beautifully framing that harmonious face. He knew she would. Amelia was a pretty kid; of course she'd grow up to be a beautiful woman.

He followed her over the rooftops, making sure not to be seen. She was heading for the town-square. She probably had some announcement to make. Damn she looked… stunningly beautiful.

"Good people of Sailrune!" she shouted. Her voice hadn't changed much. "As you may have heard, there have been some assassination attempts, assumingly connected to the wedding in 13 days. This act of evil and violence will be countered with more strict patrol throughout the city. I beg of you to tolerate this. It is merely a precaution and hopefully not in any way inconvenient to you. But we cannot just stand and watch while they try to undermine this political alliance between Sailrune and Zephilia. We will find these perpetrators and they shall pay for their crimes. The heavens may forgive them, but I, Amelia, will not!"

Zel sweatdropped. Okay, so some things didn't change. But for the first time it hadn't really annoyed him. Surely, it was a justice speech, but she'd cut down on the justice…

Then he thought the speech through. Assassination attempts? It wouldn't be easy sneaking into the castle then. Political marriage. So she didn't marry out of love then. He huffed. Why should she? As a princess, she was expected to marry according to politics, not love. Besides, if she married out of love, she'd probably end up with someone… like him.. A monster. Perhaps it was in everybody's best interest that she was not allowed to make that decision herself!

As if she somehow sensed him, she looked around and caught his eyes in a deadlock of regards. Zel would have moved out of the way, but didn't manage to. Then, all of the sudden, she fainted.

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Amelia woke up in her room. She'd seen Zelgadis again. But this time it seemed more real than the last 300.. She was almost sure it wasn't a hallucination. But then again, so was she the first time she thought she saw him. She sighed.

It hadn't been easy, since he left. Sure, he had given her a good scare, but she and Lina had talked about it so often, it just didn't make sense. It wasn't like Zelgadis to do such a thing. Although none of them could explain why he did it. Usually when he got possessed, due to his magical body, he wouldn't be able to speak, reduced merely to a puppet. Yet he spoke. And Amelia had a feeling that his reasons were to be found between the lines.

But all of that didn't matter now. She had to focus. The kingdom and daddy expected her to take this like a strong girl. Princesses can't marry out of love. Yet Phil allowed her to make the decision herself. He'd said he'd be willing to beat the council into submission, if she decided to marry for love.

But she knew that she'd most probably never stop loving Zelgadis, so a political marriage was okay, actually. Besides. The prince chosen for her was very… perfect.

She looked at her sleeping table. The 20 roses stood there, shiningly white, and with their thorns removed. Orin had said, that it would be unjust, if his act of love in any way should cause her pain, however little. Amelia smiled. Prince Orin was indeed a good man. There was just something… missing.

She didn't feel her heart beat fast when she spoke to him or approached him. Even the time he kissed her on the cheek, she was relatively unaffected. And then he had this nasty habit of mentioning justice in every second sentence. Amelia blushed. Surely she weren't like that.. Not anymore, at least.. But maybe she had been like that.

She felt a shiver and didn't want to think about it. She slowly got out of bed just as she heard running feet outside her chamber door. Orin's voice asked the guards to let him through. Amelia took a deep breath. Here came the fuss.

"Has anything happened to you, dear Amelia?" he asked, in a very anxious tone. He grabbed her hand and knelt down before her.

"No, I'm fine.." she sighed. Could she tell him about.. No… As far as she knew, it would only upset people, if they knew that she was seeing Zelgadis all the time, even if it was just a hallucination.

"Are you certain, Amelia dear?" he asked, trying to maintain eyecontact.

Amelia removed her hands from his, and attempted to get up from her bed.

"I'm fine, Orin!" she tried to make her voice sound firm. She looked out the window. Even if it was hallucinations she didn't really mind. Sure, it was distracting, especially when they were as vivid as today, but it was the only way she could keep a little of Zel in her life.

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Zel was sitting on a rooftop, pretty far from the castle. What a mess he'd managed to create, and using so little time, too. Impressive, even for his standards. He took out the bracelet and looked at it. All he had to do was to deliver the bracelet. Simple, wasn't it? Apparently not for him.

"My my…" a voice rang behind him, a voice he'd rather not hear ever again, but especially not now. "And here I was, thinking it was up to us Mazoku to bring chaos into peoples lives…"

"Life is beautiful, now go away Xellos!" Zelgadis snarled, not looking at the trickster.

"Now now, you have to really mean it, or at least say it like you mean it, for it to work, Zelgadis." Xellos replied, with his cocky smile even shining through his voice. "You've managed to create quite the uproar in boring ol' Sailrune. I must applaud you. We've never been able to create this much chaos in this little haven of order."

Zelgadis wished he somehow could counter him on that one. But the flat truth of it was that he was right.

"Why did you even bring me here? Why did you agree with Lina to fetch me?" he asked instead.

"Shouldn't that be obvious? Look at all the emotional mess you've created. It is very delicious, I'm quite enjoying it." Xellos said. Then he knelt down, whispering into Zelgadis' ear. "Of course, the emotional chaos inside you would serve as a full course meal, for several Mazoku!"

Zel rose up, turned about, and grabbed Xellos by the collar.

"If you think that I willingly would put up with being your entertainment and dinner, then you're dead wrong, trash!" he snarled. "I only have to return something to her, and then I'm off!"

Xellos smiled and gently removed Zel's hand from his outfit.

"My my, aren't we touchy today?"

"Just.. Piss off, and leave me with my misery!"

"Right.. Just let me give you some advice on how to get a moment alone with the ravenously pretty little princess.." he smiled, and knew that would get the chimeras attention. "I assume you don't want to hand over whatever it is, when her angry father, jealous fiancée and their hundreds of guards are watching!"

He was right about that one, Zel thought. And he probably couldn't sneak into her room, leaving it there. Not since she fainted, having seen him. Especially if she'd told people it was him. But somehow, he gathered, she hadn't. People were still thinking it was an attempt on her life. Hence guards were patrolling most parts of the castle, even more intensely now.

"I know that she's always on this exact location, almost every night." Xellos drew forward a map and pointed. "It's usually around eight, but sometimes she waits until nine. As you can see, it's a short run from the wall, you should be able to make it to the window, with your demon speed, that is. From there, it's just opening the window, and talk to her. Or you can just leave whatever it is there, and she'll find it, for sure!"

Zelgadis was struck dumb. This was his chance. And a rather good one, too. Conveniently good, actually. He looked at Xellos, his glare full of mistrust.

"What's the trap?" he asked, voice near a growl.

"No trap. It's just like I said, basically…" Xellos said, looking utterly hurt by the accusation. Just like he always did. Something WAS fishy about it.

"Why would you like to help me?" he asked.

"Now, that… is a secret!" and in a big fruitcake smile, the mazoku vanished with a sizzle.

Zel felt like cursing the bastard, but his plan might work. The map, for sure, was useful in itself. And the information that Amelia would be in that room each night was very useful too. Maybe it was a library. He knew she had a habit of reading up on her magic each night. That could also explain why there were practically no guards there, according to Xellos' map, that is. Each guard and his respective route were nicely marked out with red ink on the map.

Right. The plan might suck, but it was the best he had. Less complicated than before. He'd just leave the bracelet in the room minutes before she'd arrive. Then she, and nobody else, would find it, for sure. And he'd be freed from her, once and for all.

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AN: Hope you liked it. Again, I don't have much to say to my defence. ;)