Disclaimer: I own neither Slayers nor Ranma 1/2. If I did everything here would be canon.
Wow, I can hardly believe its already been one year since all this started. I really don't know what to say but thanks to everyone who took the time to read this. I don't think I ever really expected to get as many hits as I have(9,350 to be exact). Thanks to my brothers for encouraging me to do this, Sean Malloy-1 for helping me out and being here since almost the beginning, and Naga Shark for becoming my beta.
Now then, please enjoy this special chapter of "Anything Goes Dragon Slave"!
"..." normal speech
'...' thoughts
Spells/Attack names
Zelgadis was having a weird day. Scratch that-his entire week had been odd. It all started a few days after that initial meeting with Wizer Flayion.
To begin with, he had to adjust to the disguises of both Ranma and Gourry. Living around not one, but two males both in female forms was very...awkward, to say the least. Especially when one has no sense of female modesty. Zelgadis could only hope he would learn some soon. However, that was not the least of the weirdness.
Everyone seemed to be avoiding him. They would whisper behind his back and fall silent as soon as they realized he could hear them. Every time he tried talking to any of them, they would avoid eye contact and, with Amelia at least, get nervous. They were obviously plotting something. The question is, what?
The day had begun simply enough. Zelgadis woke up, grabbed his clothes and, as they were currently camping out in the middle of a forest, walked to the nearest stream to wash his face.
Blinking the water out of his eyes, he took the chance to study his human face.
'It's like I never changed,' he thought, poking and prodding his face. 'I look like I haven't aged more than a year or two.'
"If we were to pass through any of those towns, how many people would recognize me?" Zelgadis murmured, turning away from the water. Looking around to make sure there wasn't anyone around, he tugged off his night clothes and began donning his "disguise".
'How long has it been since I was first changed?' he wondered, counting the days back to that fateful day. Oddly enough, Zelgadis didn't feel the familiar animosity towards the memory. Instead...he didn't know what he felt.
He shook it off for the moment, pulling his sweatshirt over his head. He gathered up his sleep clothes and headed back to camp, with the unusual feeling something was about to happen.
Nearing camp, he spotted Lina, Akane, and Gourry-chan, who was once again tugging uncomfortably at her disguise.
"Lina, do I really have to wear this again?" Gourry-chan complained. "We aren't even in a town or anything, and besides, isn't today-" Lina hurriedly clamped a hand over her protector's mouth, shifting her eyes towards Zelgadis.
"Shut it, yogurt brain!" she hissed into his ear. She quickly recovered and faced Zelgadis, acting as if nothing happened. "Zelgadis, today you and Akane get to go to the nearest town for supplies. If anyone asks, she's your younger brother, got it?" Suppressing a sigh of annoyance, Zelgadis merely nodded and the two started their trek.
It wasn't too long before Zelgadis noticed two things: one, that Akane seemed to be glancing at him periodically, and two, that the area they were in seemed vaguely familiar.
'Why does it feel like I've been down this path before?' he pondered, trying to shake the feeling of deja vu. Akane interrupted his thoughts, thankfully diverting his attention from the odd atmosphere.
"Zelgadis-san, Ranma and I have been wondering how you met Lina-san and Gourry-san. Lina-san won't say anything, Gourry-san doesn't remember, and Amelia-san doesn't know." That almost made him stop. He hadn't realized they had never told Amelia. Granted, it was a touchy subject-not only only him but probably Lina as well, considering the terms of their first meeting-but still. After all the time they had traveled and fought together, Amelia didn't know.
THAT thought made Zelgadis stop. It had been, what, three years since they met? Yet he couldn't recall ever speaking of his past to her.
'Come to think of it, we never really explained the situation with her during the fiasco with Copy Rezo, but she still helped.' His chest tightened, a feeling of guilt gripping him.
"Um, Zelgadis-san?" Akane's voice once again pulled him back to reality. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," he said, brushing off the matter. He continued on walking ahead, leaving Akane to jog up behind him to catch up.
"Does that mean you'll tell us?" Zelgadis glanced back at her, a smirk playing on his face.
"Only if you tell me what you guys have been up to for the past week." Akane flustered, nearly tripping in surprise. As Zelgadis predicted, she remained silent for the rest of their journey.
As they walked up to the edge of town, Zelgadis suddenly tensed.
'Something's weird here. Why does this place feel so familiar?' he thought, drawing his hood over his head.
"You don't have to do that, Zelgadis-san. You said it yourself: nobody's going to recognize you like this," she said, still wary from his earlier suspicion.
"Call it a habit." He kept his gaze on the town, missing the somewhat concerned look from Akane.
They found the markets easily enough-it was purchasing the items that was the issue. Akane didn't know how to barter effectively enough yet, so Zelgadis had to handle most of the work.
By midday, the duo had their hands full, ready to head back, when Akane suddenly veered off into a swarming crowd.
"What are you doing?" Zelgadis questioned.
"Don't worry; I'll be right back," she said, backing away slowly. Before he could protest she was swallowed by the crowd. Zel's eye twitched in annoyance as he let go of the sigh he had been holding since morning. He waded through the crowd, careful to avoid contact and to keep his head lowered. He moved to the side, coming to an empty space near a store they had not been to.
'Might as well look around while I'm waiting,' he reasoned, entering the shop. It looked fairly rustic, an aged quality about it. The walls were lined with various instruments, including several well-crafted guitars.
He walked over to the guitars, setting his bags down by his feet. Zelgadis brushed a finger along the wooden surface. He looked around cautiously, seeing no one else in the room with him. He grasped the neck and sat down crosslegged, placing it in his lap.
Zelgadis closed his eyes and strummed the strings. The song that formed was one he had heard when he was much younger, though he could quite remember its origins. In fact, his sole reason for learning to play was so he could recreate it. Almost as if playing it would reveal to him where it came from.
The music flowed on, clearing his mind and letting him relax for once.
"I don't believe it." The song halted abruptly when a man called out to him. He was of average height and dark hair that was peppered with gray.
"Excuse me?" Zelgadis asked, standing up and setting the guitar back on its stand.
"There's only one person I know who plays that song. He used to play it for the children while he was in town between trips with his great-grandfather," the man explained, staring at Zelgadis almost nostalgically. "One day he just up and left, not a word about it. We never saw him around here since." Zelgadis stiffened, suddenly understanding why the place felt so familiar.
"Is it really you, Zelgadis?" he continued. "You look like you haven't aged a day. What-"
"I'm sorry. You must be mistaken," he interrupted, grabbing his bags and heading for the door. "Please excuse my intrusion." With that, he hurriedly left the shop before the man could say another word. Thankfully, he spotted Akane just outside, searching through the crowd.
"Oh there you are Zelgadis-san," she said when he came into her gaze. "Where were y-hey! Wait!"
He quickly grabbed her hand, leading her back to the edge of town while ignoring the looks from the locals. Once they had finally reached the outskirts of town Akane managed to wrench her hand out of his grip.
"What was that for?" she demanded.
"We need to get back to the others. Now," he urged, eyes trained on the place they just left.
"Why?" Akane asked again. He shifted uncomfortably under her scrutiny.
"...Let's just go. It doesn't matter. Not anymore," he murmured. 'Just my past trying to catch up with me.' Akane frowned, but relented.
The two trekked back in silence. Zelgadis's mind buzzed with thought, troubled by his exchange. He was so distracted that he hadn't even noticed Akane had disappeared several minutes ago.
'Where did she go this time?' he wondered, now fully irked. He swept his gaze across the forest. When he looked back to the path, Ranma was innocently standing in front of him.
"Hey Zelgadis, fancy meeting you here," he started. Right off the bat Zel knew something else would happen, and something told him he wouldn't like it.
"What's going on?" Ranma smiled, trying not to falter.
"What, not even a 'hello'? Akane's already back at camp and I thought you might want some company."
"No thanks," he stated, attempting to push past the martial artist, only for the bags to be snatched from his hands.
"I'll take those. I'll take there back to camp; I've got something else for you to do."
"And that would be?"
"You'll see. Just go to the river." Ranma turned on his heel and ran back the rest of the way to the campsite, leaving a ticked off Zelgadis.
'I just know I'm going to regret this.' Despite his better judgment, he headed for the river, if only to satisfy his curiosity.
At the small clearing by rushing water was a grinning Ranma, standing next to a bucket filled with a sort of nut and a small fire.
"Dare I ask what this is all about?" Zelgadis asked skeptically, crossing his arms over his chest.
"This is a training exercise." Ranma tossed the nuts into the blazing fire. "All you have to do is grab the walnuts without getting burned."
"That's all?" Ranma nodded. "Sounds simple enough. Aqua Create." Ranma blinked in surprise as a sphere of water formed in midair then splashed down on the fire, leaving behind hot steam. Zelgadis picked the nuts out one by one, smirking.
"Done," he said, rolling them around in his hand.
"That's not what I meant."
"You never said I couldn't use magic."
"That doesn't count as training." Ranma scowled and moved closer to the river. "Let's try this from a different approach. This time, try to grab all the fish without getting your hands wet. And this time, no magic. Or swords," he added as an afterthought. He grabbed the bucket that had held the nuts and dipped it into the running water, drawing it out full. Ranma peered into it, checking to make sure none of the fish had swam in.
"And exactly how am I supposed to do that?" Zelgadis inquired, rapidly becoming peeved.
"I'll demonstrate," Ranma said simply. He crouched down low, hovering over the river with his hands ready to strike. He simply observed the movements of the fish for a second then made his move.
"Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" His arms almost disappeared, blurred by his speed. The only indication of where his hands were was the sound of water being disturbed.
He was finished in less than a minute. The bucket was sloshing water over, at least two or three dozen fish now in it. Not to mention Ranma was completely dry. Zelgadis was stunned.
"You really expect me to be able to pull that off?" Ranma shrugged and got to releasing the fish and refilling the pail.
"Not at first, but this is all about building speed. Be glad I'm not making you catch piranhas like I did." Zelgadis aimed an "are you kidding me?" look at him then took a brief moment to look around while Ranma was distracted.
"Mind if I ask you one more question?" Ranma quirked an eyebrow, standing back up and stretching his arms out.
"Sure, what?"
"Where's Gourry and Akane?" Ranma tensed. He tried to keep it from showing, rubbing the back of his head casually.
"What do you mean by that?"
"You're supposed to be training the three of us, not just me," he accused, setting his hands on his hips.
"Well, you see, um," Ranma stuttered, trying to find a convincing excuse. "They're busy right now."
"Doing what?" Zelgadis asked flatly.
"Nothing, nothing," Ranma said, waving his hands back and forth. He cleared his throat, "Anyway, I'll be back in an hour or two to see your progress." Ranma quickly retreated, letting a knowing smirk onto his face once he was sure Zelgadis wouldn't be able to see it.
"...Dammit," Zelgadis cursed, completely frustrated. If there had been any doubt before-which there was none-it was official now: they were definitely avoiding him. And he still didn't know why.
He sat down on the riverbank and observed the rushing waters, trying to sort out his storm of thoughts.
First off, he didn't even want to think about the town he had been to earlier. It reminded him painfully of his past with Rezo and how he had tried to stay away from familiar towns after his transformation.
His conversation with Akane-if you could call it one-was a real eye-opener. He hadn't realized just how little Amelia knew of him. Hell, all of them. Lina at least knew some of his past, but what she did know he wasn't exactly proud of. For crying out loud, their second meeting he was trying to kidnap her! And he had succeeded too.
'Speaking of which, I haven't seen Amelia yet today,' Zelgadis thought absently, peering up through the trees at the sky. Judging by the position of the sun, it was about maybe five or so in the afternoon. Looking back to the river, he thought sourly 'As long they're avoiding me I might as well try this.'
He rolled his sleeves up, crouched over the running water and held an arm back, just as he had seen Ranma do it. He locked on to one fish, watching its movements and predicting where it would likely move when he did. He lashed out out it, splashing up water, when suddenly someone pushed against his back. He missed his target, all the other fish scattered, and, to top it off, he lost his footing.
He would have yelled in surprise, but his mouth filled up with water before he could have. He quickly sat up, coughing the water out of his system and blinking it out of his eyes. As soon as he could see again he glared at the cause for his fall.
"Why the hell did you do that?" he growled at the snickering Ranma.
"That was a test," he answered, backing up while Zelgadis stalked out of the water.
"A test for what?"
"To see if you would notice me, and if you didn't if you would get angry." Zelgadis growled again, pulling off his wet sweatshirt and the shirt underneath.
"Nice to see you're so happy with your results," he muttered angrily, shaking it out.
"You've got to lighten up. I was just having a little fun with you," Ranma attempted to placate the mad part-time chimera. "You have heard of fun, right?" Zelgadis glared at him again.
"I'm going back to camp." Ranma jumped and rushed to intercept his path.
"What for? You still haven't managed to catch a fish without getting wet."
"I don't care-I'm going to freeze if I don't dry off and change." He pushed past, not seeing Ranma pulled a thermos from behind his back, unscrewing its cap.
"Will this help?" he asked, throwing the contents onto Zel. Liquid fire met his back, pain jolting through his skin and then it was almost gone. Zelgadis looked down to his hands and saw blue, rock-plated limbs. He clenched his fists and turned around, glaring daggers at the martial artist. Ranma began shifting in a circle around him, holding up his hands as if it would placate Zelgadis.
"Hey, at least you aren't going to freeze now," Ranma joked, backing up slowly as Zel advanced upon him.
"That does it; Flare Arrow." He pulled a hand back like he was drawing a bow, shaped the magic into arrows of fire, and let them fly at Ranma, who broke out in a dead sprint towards camp. He spared a moment to extinguish them before they could actually burn any vegetation, then ran on after him.
When he arrived at the campsite, all his anger evaporated. There stood his grinning companions: Gourry who was back in his original body and more comfortable clothes, Ranma and Lina who looked like they were holding back laughs, and Akane and Amelia, holding a cake. Zelgadis gaped.
"What? What's going on here?" he asked, dazed.
"Its been three years since the four of us became a group, if you could call it that," Lina explained, grinning widely.
"And since we didn't know when your birthday is, we thought we could celebrate it today too," Amelia added, a blush gracing her cheeks as she tried to look anywhere but his bare chest. Lina saw this and snickered at the princess.
Zelgadis stood stock still, trying to absorb it all. Lina walked up to his side, laughing.
"You know, you might want to find a shirt before poor Amelia passes out," she sniggered, slapping his shoulder goodheartedly. She immediately regretted the action, cradling her now sore hand. Zelgadis, now out of his initial surprise, also blushed and hurried into his tent, everyone's laughs following him.
"So this is what you all have been talking about behind my back for the better part of the past week and have basically been avoiding me?" he questioned once he was in his travel clothes.
"Yes," Amelia confirmed guiltily. "I'm sorry Zelgadis-san. I wanted to say something but Lina-san wanted it to be a surprise."
"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" Lina defended. "Bet you didn't expect this, did you Zelgadis?"
"Can't say I did," he said. "So everything you guys had me do today was just a distraction?"
"Pretty much," Ranma confirmed.
"So why did you splash me with hot water after I already told you I was coming back here?"
"Because it doesn't matter what you look like, human or otherwise. You are Zel, our friend, and don't forget it," Lina said firmly, stabbing a finger at his chest. "Now come on, as much as I hate spending money, we've got something for you." She motioned to Gourry, who went over to the girls's tent and pulled out a large package, passing it over to Amelia.
"Here, Zelgadis-san," she offered. He took it, a bit embarrassed by the attention. He peeled away the wrappings, revealing it to be the guitar from the shop.
"How?"
"That's why I went off on my own. I was trying to find a good present for you and I heard you playing it," Akane explained. "Its also why we had Ranma distract you; so Lina and I could double back and buy it for you."
"Yeah, and it was expensive too! So you better appreciate it!" Lina interjected. Zelgadis didn't say anything, only sat down calmly and set it on his lap as he had earlier. He let his fingers take over, dancing over the strings instinctively to create the song that was so familiar.
'Its been so long since I've had a birthday like this. They were off by about two and a half weeks,' he thought wryly, 'but after Zolf and Rodimus died I never thought something like this was even possible...and its thanks to Rezo that we all met in the first place...'
He continued playing as the sky turned orange, closing his eyes and allowing himself to relax for once. Lina, a devilish grin on her face, pulled Amelia off to the side. She whispered something into her ear that caused her to go bright red. She glanced hesitantly at Zel as Lina attempted to reason with her.
"...just a little one! You'll be fine!" she urged quietly.
"But Lina-san!" Amelia protested.
"Come on, I bet it'll make him happy." Amelia bit her lip nervously and moved closer to her chimera friend.
"Ano, Zelgadis-san?" His eyes opened and the song ended in a hum. He set the guitar aside, giving her his full attention.
"What is it Amelia?" He raised an eyebrow, noting her obvious nervousness. She crouched down to face him directly, blushing madly. Amelia leaned closer, prompting Zelgadis to blush also and lean away.
"C-could you look away, Z-Zelgadis-san?" He looked away gladly. He saw Gourry out of the corner of his eye, quite confused. Lina, however, still had her devil-grin on and was coming at them.
"Amelia, look out!" he warned, turning back to her. She jolted back, puzzled. Before either could do anything, Lina had firmly planted her hand on Amelia's back, pushing her forward just enough to make her lose her balance. She swung her arms wildly, trying to regain balance, but fell forward onto Zelgadis.
Zel was only just able to put his hands on the ground behind him before she fell, keeping himself from slamming into the ground. Because of the shove, Amelia's arms ended up around his neck in an attempt to get stable, she was pressed up against him, and their lips met.
It took a few seconds for them to react and they eventually sprang apart, hardly a patch of skin on either that wasn't red. Akane and Ranma were blushing as well, thinking back to the infamous Romeo and Juliet scene. Lina was standing back to observe her work, satisfied. She stole a small glance at Gourry, who was looking clueless as always.
"Lina-san! Why did you push me?" Amelia exclaimed.
"Because if I didn't, you would have chickened out," Lina teased. "And besides, its not like you didn't enjoy it, right?"
"I-I, um, b-but," Amelia stuttered, staring firmly at the ground. A small part of her agreed with Lina, but she couldn't say that in front of Zelgadis. Thankfully, for her at least, the person in question wasn't paying any heed to them. He was still on the ground, his mind all but blown. He touched his lips lightly, the feeling still fresh, while a small portion of him thought:
'Maybe Rezo really was doing me a favor...'
Part one of three of the trilogy of filler is complete! I...have no idea when part two will be done. In the meantime, keep an eye open, cause I'll be posting something relatively soon.
Anyway, thanks for sticking around and I look forward to writing more for your reading pleasure. Ja ne!