This is the final installment of my "Path" trilogy, I hope you like. This takes place twenty-three years after Amelia's escape from Wolf Pack Island. I want to apologize for any inconsistencies with the first two parts, but to be honest this idea didn't occur to me until a few minutes ago, and I don't want to change anything in the other two parts of this story. Gomen ne. In case you don't already know, I'm a Zel/Amelia, Lina/Gourry fan. Just warning you. ^^ As always, comments, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, and the like will be more than appreciated. Flames will be trashed.
Lia stood and surveyed the land in front of her. The entire area was nearly flat for over a hundred miles around, with an occasional irregularity in the soil that gave a suggestion of the ruins that lay beneath the grass.
"This is the place?" she asked a man standing next to her.
"Yes, this is where the Saillune Kingdom once stood," the old man said. He had a head full of gray hair, and was slightly stooped with age. "Though I don't know what you're going to do with the ruins of this place."
"I'm going to rebuild it," Lia said, stepping forward and bending down to unearth a small piece of marble that was sticking slightly out of the ground.
"Why would you want to do that? It's rumored that this place is cursed," the man said.
"It was my mother's homeland," Lia said. "I owe it to her to try and return it to it's formal glory."
"And who was your mother?" the man asked, curious.
Lia turned her eyes to the man, and he once again found himself marveling at their clear blue color. She smiled softly and turned her attention once again to the land that was in front of her. "My mother's name was Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune," came the soft voice.
"I don't understand, why is it I have a different name from you?" Lia remembered asking Martina when she was a precocious ten year old. Martina had smiled and gently stroked Lia's long jet black hair, and promised that when Lia turned sixteen, she would tell her some of the truth. Lia had held her to that promise, and on the night of her sixteenth birthday, she demanded some answers.
"You're name is different," Martina began, "Because you're not my daughter, even though I've raised you as such with my other children."
"Then ... who's my mother and why did she leave me here?" Lia asked, trying to make sense of what Martina was telling her.
"Your mother's name was Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune," Martina said. "She was the former Crown Princess of the Saillune Kingdom."
"The former princess? Was she exiled or something?" Lia asked.
"No, Saillune was destroyed in an attack by a mazoku that was looking for your mother," Martina said, and proceeded to tell Lia what Amelia had told her when she had walked into the throne room so many years ago. As she told the story, Martina herself remembered that day when Amelia had walked in past the Xoana guards, her once innocent blue eyes cold and full of a barely suppressed rage and madness. When Amelia had left after telling her story, Martina sent someone to follow her, concern for someone she had once traveled with providing her all the motivation she needed, and Zangalus had been supportive as always. Amelia hasn't left the city, but had gotten an apartment in the city proper. Once she found this out, Martina had made a habit of visiting with Amelia once a week to see how she was doing. Most of the time, Amelia had simply sat and listened as Martina talked about the kingdom and their first son, but after a few weeks she noticed that something other than her memories was bothering the ex-princess. One night, Martina had managed to pry out the truth of what was bothering Amelia, because she sensed that it was something that had to do with the present rather than the past. She was right, as she listened with a heavy and sympathetic heart as Amelia told her that she was pregnant.
"What are you going to do?" Martina asked, not voicing her fears for the baby.
"Don't worry, I'm going to have it," Amelia had said in a clear voice. "Because it's Zelgadis-san's child that I'm carrying," she had added in an undertone, and Martina didn't want to question her about it. She managed to persuade Amelia to stay in Xoana until the birth of the baby, and had even been on hand as Amelia went through a child birthing that was ten times more difficult than her own son's birth had been. Amelia had gone through the ordeal quietly and calmly, and the only time she made a sound was when Martina had asked her who's baby it was. For a few seconds she felt that Amelia wouldn't answer her, but then the traumatized former princess' voice spoke, telling Martina a little bit about what had happened during her imprisonment, keeping the worst of the details out of the explanation.
"How come you're so sure that it's Zelgadis' baby you're having?" Martina asked. "It could be Xelloss'."
"No, that's impossible," Amelia answered. "A few days after Xelloss stopped his main attack, I had my, um."
Martina nodded, knowing what Amelia was talking about without having to hear it. "Anyway," Amelia continued, "I never did after he started using Zelgadis-san. That's why I'm going to have this baby. It's another way of getting revenge against that bastard. Zelgadis-san and I will continue to live through our child."
"So what you're saying is that you don't expect to survive going after Xelloss," Martina stated flatly.
Amelia smiled at her, and said, "You know, Martina, if Lina-san and the others had survived, they wouldn't recognize you."
"What do you mean?" Martina had asked.
"You're a lot calmer and less dramatic than you were. There's also a contentedness about you that's never been there before. You've matured," Amelia said. Martina stared at the young woman whom she was coming to consider a friend, and realized that she was right, she had matured. Ever since Zack had been born, she'd found that she thought more about her actions and tried to set a good example for her three year old son. Zack was going to be the heir to the throne of Xoana, and he had to learn to conduct himself in many ways. It came as a slight shock to Martina to realize that in a way, she was trying to imitate the dignity that Amelia would occasionally conduct herself with when she wasn't trying to hard to be a hero of justice.
"Amelia, I want you to promise me something," Martina suddenly said, and Amelia grimaced in pain as a contraction seized her, and then asked, "What is it?"
"I want you to promise me that if you survive whatever it is you're planning, that you'll come back to Xoana and stay with us."
"If I survive, I was going to come back," Amelia said, but wouldn't elaborate because the contractions were coming closer together, and she turned her attention to bringing her child into the world.
Thirty minutes later, the midwife, whom hadn't been present until the last twenty minutes at Amelia's insistence, handed the new mother the tiny wrapped bundle, saying, "It's a healthy little girl."
Amelia had gazed at the tiny red face, and said, "Her name will be Lia Gabriev Greywords Saillune."
Martina had stared at Amelia, realizing that Lia had been short for Lina, and that Amelia had given her daughter the names of everyone Xelloss had killed during her imprisonment. Amelia then turned her serious blue eyes to Martina, and said, "I have a request of you, Martina. Please take care of my daughter as if she were your own. If I survive, I promise to return to Xoana and Lia will be that guarantee, but if I don't return by the time she turns ten, promise me that you will tell her about me, and give her the complete truth whenever you feel like she's old enough to understand."
"But, why?" Martina had asked, and when Amelia turned her eyes once again to her baby, Martina had her answer. Amelia's eyes held a flicker of madness that was being held at bay by pure will power. Martina knew it was caused by her lust for Xelloss' blood, and that she didn't want to endanger her child by exposing her to the possibility of being used against Amelia. And knowing Xelloss, he wouldn't hesitate to do so.
"Amelia, I promise," Martina had promised from the bottom of her heart, a heart that nearly broke when Amelia handed the tiny bundle into her arms with barely a flicker of feeling, even though Martina knew her heart was breaking as well. A week later, Amelia had vanished from Xoana, never to return.
As Martina finished telling Lia this, the teenagers eyes were filled with tears and a deep, soul searing pain for the mother she had never known.
"Are you ... are you certain that I'm Zelgadis-san's daughter?" Lia asked, looking like she feared the worst, and Martina didn't blame her.
"Yes, I'm certain. You have your mother's coloring, but you look exactly like your father did years ago when I traveled with your mother and her friends in search of the Clair Bible," Martina answered.
"How can you be so certain?" Lia asked, her eyes troubled.
For the first time since she began telling Lia the truth, Martina smiled. "Because you look exactly like him when your mother dressed him as woman in order to enter the kingdom of Famile." At Lia's stunned look, Martina's smile grew into a grin as she remembered all the adventures she'd had chasing after Lina Inverse, and proceeded to tell Lia all about them and the two people who were her parents.
"Did mother resent the fact that I was, well, illegitimate?" Lia asked once Martina finished telling about her and Zangalus' wedding. Martina knew this was her way of asking if Amelia had loathed the sight of her because she was the product of a forced union.
"Oh, my dear, no, she didn't. To be honest, you would have been born sooner or later, because even though he never showed it in a blatant way, your father was deeply in love with your mother, and would have married her eventually. Your mother loved him with all her heart, and probably would have climbed a sheer cliff with her bare hands if he wanted her to, or if she thought it would help him in his search for a cure. She was that type of person, warm, friendly, full of life and ready to help anyone if they asked."
"Why did she name me Lia Gabriev Greywords Saillune? Why that particular order?"
Martina answered to the best of her ability. "Probably because Lina Inverse would have eventually become Lina Gabriev, and she was honoring her friend's and father's memories with your name."
Lia sat and gazed at Martina for a few minutes, then launched herself into Martina's arms, startling the Queen of Xoana for a few moments. "I want you to know," Lia said in a whisper, "I love you very much, and I appreciate what you've done for me and what you did for my mother."
Martina felt tears come to her eyes, and the two stayed like that, holding each other and taking comfort from the contact as if they had really been mother and daughter.
Lia had stayed in Xoana for a few more years, and every now and then Martina and she would go out by themselves and have dinner or coffee, and Lia would question her about Saillune and what it had been like during her grandfather and mother's time. Martina had answered truthfully, telling about Saillune's greatness, it's capacity for white magic, and it's dedication to pacifism. Lia had then shared her idea with Martina; to rebuild Saillune back to the kingdom it had once been. Martina had assured her that she would have Xoana's full support and help in the endeavor, and Zack, who had married the princess of a bordering country, assured his foster sister that she had their support, as well. Lia had begun preparations the next day, planning how she was going to begin the kingdom again; by starting small and working her way up.
Now, twenty-two years after her birth, Lia Gabriev Greywords Saillune stood over looking the area of her heritage. The wind picked up and ruffled through her long black hair, almost feeling like the comforting hand of someone who cared very deeply for her. Lia took a deep breath, and smiled. Her entire face lit up, and she spoke out loud to the parents she had never known, while the old man watched her uneasily from underneath shaggy eyebrows.
"Can you see me, mother, father? I'm here, where you would have begun your lives together if you had been given the chance. Mother, I'm going to rebuild the kingdom and rule the way you and grandfather would have wanted me to; and Father, we're going to become known as the city that has the best facility for researching curse cures in the world. And we'll name the facility after you," Lia promised. She knew it was going to be tough, and that all the things she wanted to accomplish might not get done in her lifetime, but she was going to at least get everything started so that future generations would be able to continue and perfect her plans.
As she stood on the area that was to be her future, she felt the faint presence of several people looking at her with warm eyes, and she knew she had her mother, father, and grandfather's approval. She turned around and faced the old man, and began the trek back to where she had come from. There was a lot of work to be done, and she couldn't wait to get started.