FINDING THE KEY TO LOVE AGAIN

Zelgadis always heard that damn jingle at the most inopportune times.

He no longer had nightmares about his great-grandfather, a man he had once loved and trusted, turning him into a chimera when he was a teenager. In fact, he had learned to let go of that terrible moment for good. But when faced with certain other...obstacles...he would hear that incessant sound.

Rezo the Red Priest was rarely seen without his staff. It was a symbol of his priesthood, and a medium with which to channel some of his power. But, more than that, it was an object that Zelgadis always associated him with. So even though he had actually forgiven his relative for what he had done all those years ago, Zelgadis couldn't help but hear the sound ringing in his ears during other moments of fear, confusion or pain.

One of those moments had occurred the first time he'd kissed Amelia.

It wasn't the kiss itself, it was more the situation that had led up to it. He had been incapacitated by the Mazoku, Dguld, and watched in horror as that other damned Mazoku, Gduza, proceeded to squeeze the life out of the princess.

Zelgadis remembered that his vision had gone black around the edges as the sound of cracking bones and Amelia's screams rang in his ears.

Then...

JINGLE.

It was then that he realized he had not felt so terrified and helpless since he had been transformed into a chimera.

He had screamed for her, reached for her, but he knew in his heart that if the Mazoku hadn't suddenly vanished when they did, he wouldn't have been able to save her.

After the Mazoku had made their sudden exit, Zelgadis had crawled to the prone princess and scooped her up in his arms. She was breathing heavily, but otherwise seemed to have come out of the ordeal with no more than a few bruised and cracked ribs.

She was lucky. He was lucky.

He still wasn't sure how long he had looked down at her, but it was her confused, "Zelgadis-san?" that finally prompted him to act.

He leaned down and captured her lips in a chaste kiss, which she happily returned.

JINGLE.

Once more, just as it had when he had been transformed, everything was changing. He, Zelgadis, was changing.

At the end of the battle for Taforashia, he had forgiven Rezo. It was a grand feeling, almost like flying. Because no matter what his great-grandfather had really been, or what he had done, he had taught his only living relative a very important lesson.

Obsession was a curse in itself. A single-minded and blind obsession (no pun intended) was what had probably allowed the influence of Shabranigdu to take over so wholly and completely.

Well, Zelgadis did not house a fragment of the Dark Lord (at least, he hoped not) but he certainly had his own monsters to contend with.

And contend with them he had. He'd finally let it all go. He had been betrayed by someone he had loved and trusted, but that had not stopped him from loving and trusting again. It had taken a while, but he couldn't help but think back to the first time he had fought Shabranigdu with Lina and Gourry. Working together with them had given him the first faint flicker of hope. Especially after the loss of Zolf and Rodimus, at least he knew the world would keep on spinning as long as Lina Inverse and Gourry Gabriev lived on.

Then Amelia had jumped in front of him when they'd all fought Copy Rezo. She was the newest member of the team, and the one he knew the least about. Yet she had protected him. And she'd done it with a smile.

Being a mysterious sorcerer-swordsman was a lonely job, but it didn't have to be.

The chimera reached up and grasped the edge of the mirror he found himself staring into, though he was not seeing his own reflection. He had been thinking so hard about his great-grandfather that he had lost all track of the time.

A knock at his chamber door reminded him.

"Hey, Zel," Gourry said, letting himself in. "Are you ready? Everyone is waiting."

"Yeah, I'll be right there," Zelgadis answered, throwing a small lop-sided smile in his friend's direction.

Gourry seemed appeased that everything was all right, so he nodded and left Zelgadis to his thoughts for another few moments.

Turning back to the mirror, Zelgadis addressed the emptiness there and said, "Rezo, I don't know if you wanted me to follow in your footsteps, or if you wanted to break me. I don't know if you even cared one way or another. But I'm my own man, and I make my own way. I'm happy."

There, he said it. And it was true.

"ZEL, GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE NOW OR I'M SKIPPING STRAIGHT TO THE BUFFET!"

Lina's voice cut through Seyruun palace as if the walls were made of tissue paper. Zelgadis twitched a bit, but also couldn't help the grin that lit his face.

"COMING!" he yelled back, biting back the sarcastic comment that had first sprung to mind. There was no need to bait the sorceress any more.

He adjusted his pristine white robes one more time and, with one last look at the mirror, left the room with his head held high.

There was someone special waiting for him in the garden, and she had certainly waited long enough.

JINGLE.