Chapter 10 – Crescendo

When Zelgadis got back to his own apartment, hours after the upset with Amelia, he was still in a ripe mood and ready to destroy the next person to get in his way. He slammed his door closed and stalked into the kitchen, his mood and thoughts black as night. Grabbing a can of soda from the fridge, Zelgadis was about to flop on his couch and zone away for the rest of the night when his eyes caught sight of the red blinking light of his answering machine. He clicked the button.

"Zelgadis, this is your mother." She sounded frantic and on the verge of tears. Slowly the anger began to dissipate as worry crept into him. Elena Graywords was as strong as granite, and if she was upset by something, something was truly wrong. "There was an incident tonight with Amelia, she was... she was... Zelgadis, you need to come home as soon as you get this message." Beep.

Zelgadis felt frozen. He stared at the machine, and as one thought only looped in his mind, picked up his jacket and left.

Is this my fault?

Lina cracked open the door of her room and poked her head out into the hall. She was pretty sure Luna was at work, and she knew her mother was down at her favorite bar. Yet once again, strange noises provoked Lina to investigate.

"Xelloss, is that you?" she called, hazarding a guess.

"Yes, my pet, it is I," was the amused reply. Although not fond of Xelloss in the slightest, Lina was at least relieved it was not a complete stranger robbing her house. All she needed to do was lock her door and she would be set for the night.

As she tried to close the door, and hand snaked out of the darkness and grasped the wood. Surprised, Lina stepped back. Xelloss filled the doorway like a bad porn model, his sleazy silk shirt hung, unbuttoned, from his shoulders.

"You called?"

"No, I was just checking who was making noises out there so I didn't have to call the cops. Now get out of my room, please, I'm going to bed."

"Can I join you?"

"No, get out, please."

The silence was punctuated only by Xelloss' heavy breathing. He did not move. Lina felt her skin crawl and a shiver tripped up her spine.

"Get out!" She no longer cared about being polite. This was a breach of her privacy and she was not going to stand for it. She marched up to the door and attempted to slam it shut on him, but Xelloss held to it fast. In a move Lina barely had time to prepare for, Xelloss shoved Lina's shoulder, sending her to the floor. He got down on his knees, straddled her, and held both her wrists together over her head.. Lina's heart threatened to break out of her chest as she thrashed under her restraints. A terrible sense of doom slithered into her mind.

"Get the hell off of me, you sick bastard!" Lina screeched.

"I like them feisty," Xelloss replied, his face looming in her view. Lina spit as hard as she could, and her saliva hung from his nose and dripped onto hers.

"Zelgadis Graywords, you are the sorriest excuse for a son I have ever seen! You walked out of the restaurant and left Amelia all by herself! And she was nearly raped! What the hell did you think you were doing?! How can you be so irresponsible!"

"How is she? Is she okay now?" Zelgadis kept his head lowered as his raging father towered over him. He felt cowed and completely beaten, since what happened was, in a way, his fault.

"Oh, she's fine. Some nice fellow saw what was going on and had his friend call the cops while he chased off the attacker. But you have no idea what sort of trauma you put poor Amelia through!"

"Zelgadis, dear, what every possessed you to run out on her?" The strained voice of his mother broke Zelgadis' heart.

"We had an argument. I was wrong to leave, and believe me, I really am sorry. I'm just so glad Amelia's okay..."

"You should be glad Amelia's father isn't thinking about severe repercussions for you-"

"Does he blame me, too?"

"Of course he does! His only daughter is almost raped when she was supposed to be under your care! What self-respecting father wouldn't?!"

"Look, it's horrible what happened, and I'm really, really and truly sorry about it!" Zelgadis finally raised his head and met his father's eyes. "What more do you want from me?"

"You should take more responsibility for your actions, Zelgadis. I think it's time you should grow up."

"Zelgadis, what happened at the dinner?" his mother interjected again. Zelgadis hesitated, but at the penetrating gazes of his parents, he explained.

"I don't like it that you guys are pushing us into marriage, and I really didn't like hearing from Amelia that she wanted to, too. I just don't love Amelia like that. She's a wonderful, beautiful girl, but she's not the one I want to spend my life with."

"Mika is dead, Zelgadis, how much longer are you going to mourn her?!" The harsh words numbed Zelgadis.

"Sweetheart, calm down, that was uncalled for..."

"Zelgadis needs to get over that dead woman! She's gone and she's not coming back!" His father redirected his words to his son, who sat immobile on the couch. "You cannot expect to stay like this the rest of your life. You want to raise a family, yes? Look what happened the last time you fell in love. You don't want to go through that again, Zel. With Amelia you have an insured future. You'll have everything you could ever want. Mika, as dear as she was, was really not suited for you."

"Stop it."

"What?"
"Stop speaking about Mika that way!" Zelgadis jumped to his feet. "What do you know about my own feelings? What do you know about what I want?! I won't stand to sit here and listen to you slander Mika's name!" Without waiting for a reply, Zelgadis left the house.

And in spite of the burning hatred he was feeling for his father, a single warm thought filtered through his mind.

He's right, I don't want to live this way forever...

Lina was ashamed and incredibly angry to feel tears running down her face and sobs building up in her chest. The last thing she needed to do was go into hysterics. She needed all her wits about her to get through this, to get away from this.

The sound of a zipper unzipping nearly did her in, and terror began to freeze her muscles until she realized there were no longer two hands holding her wrists, only one.

"Struggle all you want, my dear, it doesn't make a difference to me," Xelloss said. His fingers wandered to the waistband of her pajama pants.

Lina pulled her arms down as hard as she could and they yanked out from underneath Xelloss's large hands. The second they were free, she brought one hand up to grasp a handful of Xelloss's hair and yank, and the other to jab at his unprotected eyes. She pushed as hard as she could and rejoiced at the scream of pain from the man above her. Xelloss rolled away, covering his eyes with his hands, convulsing.

Lina ran out of the room, out of the apartment, out of the building. She didn't stop running until she collapsed in the grove she liked to call her own, the one where she first met Zelgadis.

Then, and only then, did she allow herself to fall to sobbing.

Zelgadis heard the sounds of crying before he saw the owner of the tears. Brushing aside a low-hanging branch, Zelgadis caught sight of a small figure huddled in the grass, trembling. Instinct and familiarity told him who it was.

"Lina?"