Amelia decided that she really didn't care for cults. If she never saw another cultist again, she'd not complain. Ever! Her thoughts continued to drift to what had gone on the night before as her captor continued at a steady pace through the forest. All she knew for certain was that Zelgadis, who was currently holding her in a death grip as he traveled, was no longer himself. Sure, he looked the same, but one couldn't have decent conversation with just that.
Amelia gave out a sigh. She had lost track of time while lost in thought, noticing for the first time that the sun was high enough in the sky for its rays to shine through the trees and smack her right in the face. She squinted against the bright light as she tried to look up into Zelgadis' face for any signs of exhaustion, but as usual his face was blank.
She thought for a moment. She had never asked Zelgadis just what his endurance was like, but any normal person would have been far spent by now. She didn't know too much on golems, but it never hurt to err on the side of caution.
"Mister Zelgadis, stop," she said simply, bracing herself for the abrupt stop she knew would come. Zelgadis did as told, also releasing her when commanded. Amelia again looked at his face for any sign of...well, anything, but Zelgadis just stood where he had been told to stop, that eerie white glow all she could see from his eyes.
"I doubt you'll tell me if I ask, so I suppose I'll have to try something else." Amelia knelt down, lifting up one of Zelgadis' pant legs. The cloth was still a bit damp from their earlier mishap, but Amelia didn't care about that. Instead she massaged his leg, all the while trying to feel for any pulled muscles. She scowled despite herself. His stone hide didn't help in finding that out, either!
"I know you will laugh at me later....that is, I really hope you can laugh me later for this, Mister Zelgadis." Amelia gave a sigh. Even talking out loud for the sake of talking out loud seemed worthless without Zelgadis giving any indication he had heard her. She would have given anything to see even a hint of his usual smirk. Knowing nothing could be done for now, Amelia instead concentrated on casting Recover wherever she thought he might be sore.
When she thought she had done all she could do, since Zelgadis was not going to tell her otherwise, Amelia settled on the ground to think. At the moment she had no idea what to do. She tried a Flow Break on the off chance it would actually dispel whatever spell Zelgadis might be under, but it did nothing. Back to knowing absolutely nothing. Amelia tugged at her hair in a moment of frustration.
A sudden rustle from the nearby bushes startled Amelia. She turned her head in time to see a small bear cub enter the clearing. Before she could move, blink, or even get out a single, "Aw," Amelia heard the horrible sound of a sword being pulled from its sheath. She cautiously turned toward the sound, somewhat relieved to see Zelgadis had been the one to pull out a sword, but also fearful for what he would do with it.
Zelgadis' eyes had again taken on a red glow, the silent man taking a sudden step toward the small cub. He swung his sword back, but the sudden movement was enough to send the bear cub running, bawling as it looked for an escape.
"Mister Zelgadis, no! Stop!" Amelia was on her feet in an instant and ran to Zelgadis, but before she reached him her heart stopped as a loud roar was heard just to her left. Feeling herself trapped in a nightmare, Amelia's head turned to the sound as a very large and very angry bear tore through the bushes!
Amelia quickly jumped out of its way as she turned back to deal with the threat, but Zelgadis was already on the move, placing himself directly in the bear's path. Amelia could only watch in horror as the bear closed the gap, bringing its massive jaws down on Zelgadis' shoulder. With a loud, "Crunch!" it seized him it its grip, intent on dragging him down to the ground.
Zelgadis might have fallen if he were merely human, but when the bear bit into his shoulder all it did was injure its jaws on his stone hide, getting a sword slash in the guts for its efforts. The bear instantly released its hold on Zelgadis and swiped angrily at him, but this too was stopped short by another swing of his sword. The bear, now seriously injured, suddenly thought better of the situation and was quickly backing away from the silent man, but Zelgadis continued to swing into the bear, until the bear fell to the ground in a heap.
Zelgadis' assault didn't stop, despite the threat being gone. He held his sword up as he prepared for one last slash at the bear, but before he could deliver it he was suddenly bound by magical ropes. The sword fell from his grip, Zelgadis himself no longer moving. He just stood there...eyes still glowing red.
Amelia was shaking where she stood, having watched the entire thing. If not for her Lafis Seed confining Zelgadis, she didn't doubt he would have outright killed the bear! She wanted to pass out after seeing such a merciless attack, but she knew she had to tend to the bear. The bear, she reasoned, had only been protecting its cub.
Amelia cautiously approached the bear, being sure to give Zelgadis a wide berth as well. Confined or not, after seeing his attack, she feared he could very easily try doing the same to her. As she got closer the bear turned its gaze on her, offering up a weak growl. Amelia halted in her tracks. The bear was still alive. That was good. Getting the bear to understand she wasn't going to hurt it...that was pretty much shot thanks to her companion.
"It's okay, just stay calm..." Amelia tried to sound soothing as she prepared a spell. She crept closer to the bear, just in case it was able to stand, but the bear never moved. When she could finally reach it, Amelia stretched her arm out to touch the bear's head. An uttered, "Sleep," later, the bear was fast asleep.
Amelia frowned, hearing the bear's labored breathing. She didn't doubt Zelgadis had injured it badly, which meant a simple Recovery wouldn't work. Amelia calmed her nerves more as she cast Resurrection, all the while keeping an eye on Zelgadis. To think he had been about to attack a harmless cub! The bear she might have understood, but what he had done was just too much to think! Amelia shuddered.
She tried to think of happier things, like how cute the cub was, and how glad it would be to find its mother alive and well. Then the two could continue on with their lives, content and alive....
Content and alive...
Amelia felt a tear fall as she looked back at Zelgadis. If she had just watched a glimpse of what he had been before, it chilled her to the bone. That he was so silent and methodical while doing so! She was beginning to understand why Zelgadis had hated his grandfather so.
"No one should ever be allowed to control someone's life like that. Even in death." She would have wiped the tear away, but her hands were busily channeling healing energies into the bear. She finally let her thoughts peter out, busily trying to maintain the spell until the bear was whole again.
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Author's Notes: Wow, I failed miserably! I actually typed this up…gosh, a couple months ago at least, but with Revolution/Evolution-R being a major distraction not to mention a SECRET fic in the works, I completely forgot about writing this. Lets just be glad that while I was cleaning off my laptop's desktop today I decided to read through some of the newer one-shots I wrote and decided to see where I'd left off with this story.
I can't think of much else to say for this chapter since it might be incriminating should I still go with what I'd had planned before, before I decided to go with the bear incident. How'd you like to see your best (male) friend reduced to little more than a killing machine? Especially with Amelia's stance on many things, I have to imagine it's really hard for her to see Zelgadis like this.
(And I'll try not to have spoilers, but lets just say that an episode in Evolution-R made it even more apparent just how badly Zelgadis did take Rezo's betrayal. Man, that episode was kind of scary!)