IMPERFECT

No one is perfect. Amelia knew that better than anyone, what with her family history and all. People thought she was a crazy "justice girl", but she considered herself the most well-adjusted person in her family, besides uncle Christopher.

But because no one is perfect, Amelia also understands why it's so important to find and keep good people in your life. People to complete you; to improve you. And so she had always tried her best to surround herself with good people. When she was younger, it had seemed so easy. "Good guys wear white and bad guys wear black." But now, as an older and wiser young woman, she had come to realize that things are not always black and white.

She had learned that, sometimes, bad guys wear all kinds of colors. White, red, blue…even orange. So what was on the outside never mattered. It was a person's intentions, their true self, which was important.

Cliché, perhaps, but remarkably true.

Her friends, for example, had time and again proven themselves heroes of justice (when it really counted.)

At first glance, Lina Inverse was conceited, gluttonous, selfish and rude. But she had laid it all on the line more times than any one person should be expected to, and had saved the entire world by sacrificing herself.

Gourry was always nice. What you saw with him was definitely what you got.

Zelgadis…well…he was always a little rough around the edges. No pun intended, of course. He had his own hand in the salvation of the world, just like the rest of them, but he had also done some bad things. Amelia tried not to think too hard about people he may have killed in the quest for his cure. Thinking about all the temples and artifacts he'd destroyed over the years was bad enough.

Zelgadis could be extremely gruff and stoic, but underneath all that was a lonely, broken boy. Amelia knew that better than anyone.

She knew because, underneath her own smiles and positivity, she was also broken.

They say that the world breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But sometimes those broken places are weak and crumbling, and need to be reinforced.

Though she often sang the praises of love, Amelia had very little experience with the emotion. Sure, she loved her father and her uncle and her missing sister. She had loved her late mother, and still did, though it had changed over time to something akin to a dream.

Romantic love, though, was something completely different. As it turns out, that kind of love was a lot less idealistic than the princess had previously assumed.

She hadn't actually been seeking it when it found her, but after it happened it seemed completely natural for two people so broken inside to gravitate toward one another.

Amelia pictured herself and Zelgadis as two completely different pieces of fine china. Both cracked, with little pieces missing, but still intact enough to be saved. Though they were so very different in so many ways, somehow the jagged edges fit together perfectly to form a piece of china that could serve its purpose once again.

What may have been nothing but garbage had become something worth holding on to.

Without Amelia, Zelgadis may have fallen into a depression from which he never could have recovered. Without Zelgadis, Amelia could see herself remaining sheltered from a great many things in the world.

She holds him up, while he holds her steady.

They still aren't perfect. Far from it. But their imperfections complement each other perfectly.

That's love.