Cure So Surprising

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So Arch Rival had won. After all this time, the cure turned out to be worth nothing, he'd had lost before he even started. Zelgadis sighed, leaning back against the tree as he watched the sprawling estate. Several children were playing in the yard, wide violet eyes and shock red hair marking them undeniably as their offspring. If only ... they could have been mine ...

If he was to visit his love after all this time -- and with the children -- he was glad he'd brought some presents. At least this way it was a real visit. I always wanted children ... His mouth turned down. He had never wanted children then, before his change. In having them he would have condemned them to his own fate, slave fodder for his noble father to sell. Just as he'd sold his "darling Zelly" to the band of bandits to keep them off his land.

Straightening the golden bracelets around his arms and tugging nervously at the ivory bands of his clothes, Zelgadis pushed away from the tree, still fiddling with the his revamped clothes. After he'd found his cure he'd had to fix them, too tight in some places and too loose in others. Zel was no longer ashamed of his body, but after so long he was still getting used to it again.

To think he'd sold his heart to someone who he could never hope would love him back ... the estate and the children were proof of that. What a fool I was. I knew it, too. It was as plain as the nose on my face and I never saw how they loved each other. The butterfly who had shed it's cocoon far too late to join it's peers.

Zelgadis steeled his courage, stepped out of the forest, and strolled at the courtyard. The scythe shifted in the holster on his back, the weapon taller than he was. He'd given up his sword when his balance had changed, taking up his first weapon. Three pairs of violet eyes looked up at him, widening at the sight of him. He spoke calmly, still not believing the light, sweet voice was his own, "Could you tell your parents a friend is here to visit?"

One of them bobbed her head before dashing off into the house. He waited patiently for her to return as the two others watched him curiously. "Okay, okay, Selee, who's this "pretty person" who wants to see me?" a feminine voice demanded as she was led to the door and looked out. Lina stepped outside, red hair pulled back into a ponytail, dressed in vibrant magenta clothes reminiscent of her sorceress outfit, and stared.

Zel smiled gently, "Hello Lina."

"Z-z-zel?" she finally managed to stutter out, still staring. He nodded. She swallowed and seemed to compose herself, "What happened?!"

"I found my cure."

Realization hit her like a runaway cart, "You mean ... that's your real form!?!?!?!"

He nodded.

Lina beaned him with a bunny slipper, "WHY DIDN'T YOU EVER TELL US!?!?!?!"

"Lina-chan? What are you yelling about? Did Serin put sand in the linen closet again?" a rich voice said amicably as it stepped outside, another child in his arms. Xellos. Zel's heart did flip-flops, beating uncomfortably hard in his chest.

Lina grinned widely, obviously realizing the surprise factor, "No, no, dear, just a friend who's come to visit."

"Oh? Wh -- " Xellos suddenly came within eyesight and stared. And dropped his jaw. And almost dropped the child. "You -- I mean -- wha -- Zel -- ?"

Zel smiled sweetly and stepped close, closing Xellos's mouth for him, "Zelgadis. And close you're mouth before you catch a fly."

The Trickster just stared at him. At the long, ankle length, lavender hair that was attractively pinned up, the ivory clothes designed as an exotic dancer's - seeming made of nothing more than streamers and flutters of cloth, the delicate gold, sapphire, and crystal jewelry and earrings, the full figure and long legs, the huge, six foot scythe that was strapped to his back, the graceful hands, the sleek, elegant features, and the wide, exotically canted, sapphire eyes. Or more accurately ... Xellos stared at her.

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