Zelgadis and Lina gasped in shock as the light engulfed their bodies, passing through their protective bubble as if it didn't exist. Their eyes filled with white light, and they felt their bodies float into the air through no power of their own. Lina clung to Zelgadis in an attempt to keep something she knew near her, with Zelgadis doing the same to her.
Suddenly, their bodies gained weight again and they felt themselves land on hard ground. Lina cautiously opened one eye, then the other, as the light faded along with the spots dancing before her eyes from the intensity of the light. She relaxed her grip slightly, and tapped Zelgadis on the shoulder. He too cautiously opened one eye and sighed in relief as vision returned. They let go of each other slowly and looked around.
They were now standing at the side of a bustling marketplace near the gate of a small city. The smells of honey-coated bread and pies stuffed with vegetables and meat filled the air, along with the less pleasant odors of horse dung and dirty straw. On either side were small stalls, and people calling their wares to the people browsing in the street, going from stall to stall. A few people stood alone, baskets in their hands or a blanket spread out on the dirt road with their wares on top. Lina drooled at the sight of food, but Zelgadis firmly kept her from going anywhere.
"Where are we?" Zelgadis asked bluntly as Lina struggled against the grip on her arm.
The man spread his arms and smiled. "Welcome to the past!" He paused for a moment as he thought about what he'd just said, then scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Well...actually, it's more like a memory of the past...so we can't effect anything that happens here...but..."
Lina sweatdropped and muttered, "You like being dramatic, don't you?"
He ignored her comment. "Now, in a few seconds...ah yes, there you are..." the man chuckled, and pointed to a ten year old boy with violet-blue hair and sapphire eyes running down the street at high speed. They could see he wore plain, cheap clothing hanging off of his body in rags. Blood ran down one side of his face, and he had cuts and bruises everywhere there was exposed flesh.
Zelgadis gasped, "That's...that's me!" His face turned ghostly white, and he glanced nervously at Lina.
She was too absorbed at looking at Zelgadis's kid form to notice his strange behavior. "Zel...you were pretty cute!" she giggled. He blushed beet red.
Another boy just a few years older came into view. He had long, wavy brown hair and cold, dark green eyes. Over his body he wore black, satin pants, ankle-length, dark brown, leather boots, along with a light blue, turtleneck shirt, and a black cape with a navy blue interior. Finishing off the expensive clothing were a dark brown, leather belt encrusted with gold and jewels, and a heavy-looking, gold and sapphire clasp on his cape.
The boy snickered and said, "Mono Bolt!" It hit the running Chibi-Zelgadis straight in the back, who fell onto his knees and hands with a hoarse cry of pain, skinning his palms in the process and shredding his knees even worse. "You weakling! Stand back up and fight back, like you were before! I was having such fun fending off your sorry excuses for attacks!" the boy laughed heartlessly.
At this, the man who'd kidnapped Zelgadis and Lina spoke up, "And that fine young man is me, Aristos!" he said dramatically as he struck a pose.
Zelgadis would have sweatdropped if he wasn't so furious. Lina's anger level was rising steadily as she saw Chibi-Aristos walk up to the panting Chibi-Zelgadis and kick him in the ribs. Chibi-Zelgadis's body flew through the air like a rag doll, and landed a few feet away in a pile of trash.
Lina growled under her breath, "Why the hell are the marketplace people acting as if nothing's happening?! They should be helping!"
Aristos sneered, and explained as he gestured to the marketplace. "They wouldn't help even if I killed him. My father owns the land of this city, so they don't want to anger their land holder's son for any reason, because they know my father would kick them out if I so much as hinted at displeasure with any of them."
Chibi-Zelgadis looked desperately from down-turned face to down-turned face in the hopes that he would see someone who was willing to help, but he found no one, not even the guards who were strolling through.
Chibi-Aristos laughed maniacally, the sound grating on everyone's ears, and stepped up to the huddled form of Chibi-Zelgadis. Chibi-Zelgadis just looked up at him, waiting silently, calmly, for the pain to come. He was too weak from the long run and the beating at Chibi-Aristos's hand before that to try and escape him now. He just prayed that he'd be able to get to a healer's in time after Chibi-Aristos had left.
"Nothing to say? No taunts? No famous last words?" sneered Chibi-Aristos as he raised his hand and began to form a large ball of fire. Chibi-Zelgadis's eyes widened a fraction as he realized how much pain that would bring him, and mentally calculated if he could possibly survived. Probably, but he wouldn't be a pretty sight.
A surprised, irate cry of alarm from the far end of the marketplace grabbed the two boy's attention, and Chibi-Aristos allowed his spell to dissipate as he looked back.
"Get back here and pay for that damn meat-pie!" a pudgy, red-faced man with meaty fists shouted. Chibi-Zelgadis followed where the man's eyes were looking, and saw a small girl with flaming red hair dashing nimbly through the streets, easily dodging all the people who tried to get in her way.
"Nya-nya! You shouldn't try and cheat little girls, you old coot!" the girl taunted wickedly, holding the precious meat pie safely in her hands.
Lina gasped, and put a hand to her mouth. "It's me!"
Aristos glanced from her to her former self, and nodded. "What great luck! This will make my revenge even sweeter."
Unfortunately, she had to look back to taunt, so she didn't see the boy right in front of her, and toppled into him. Chibi-Aristos and the girl went sprawling to the ground, though Chibi-Lina managed to land partly on Chibi-Zelgadis.
Chibi-Zelgadis summoned up a last bit of energy and told her in a hushed whisper, "Close your eyes!" Automatically, she responded to the command, and as soon as she'd done so, he shouted as loudly as he could, "Lighting!" Bright light filled the entire marketplace, and Chibi-Aristos, along with everyone else, was occupied for several minutes with the temporary loss of their sight.
Chibi-Zelgadis and Chibi-Lina took the opportunity to get up and run away as fast as their legs would carry them. At the gates, Chibi-Zelgadis stopped, panting, and dropped to one knee. She frowned and skidded to a halt.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
He raised a dirty, blood-smeared eyebrow and gestured weakly to himself. "What do you think?" he asked dryly.
"And why didn't you use anything more powerful on him while you had the chance? You certainly have the capabilities for it; not even I can make a light spell that big yet," Chibi-Lina continued after she'd taken in his appearance and shrugged it off as unimportant.
Chibi-Zelgadis sighed and shook his head. "That's the only spell I know."
A calculating gleam came to her eyes. "That bully's going to come back, you know."
"Yeah, I know," Chibi-Zelgadis grimaced, and got back to his feet with a groan. "And his name's Aristos."
"I'll take care of Aristos for you...if you can do something for me in return," the girl said, grinning in a cute, evil way.
The boy shook his head no. "I don't have any money, in case you didn't notice."
"That doesn't bother me. I want you to travel with me back to my house in Zephilia and help me fix up my family's home," she offered, holding out her hand.
Chibi-Zelgadis bit his lip, and thought intently. Finally, he smiled slightly and nodded. "Okay." He reached out and shook her hand, ignoring the pain it caused him in the process.
"Good! My name's Lina," she smiled welcomingly.
"Zelgadis," he offered, still smiling slightly.
From behind them came the sound of clapping. Chibi-Aristos stood there, smirking. "What a show! But I fail to see what a little girl can do to me."
The little girl in question raised her hands and said triumphantly, "This! Mega Brando!" The bully was too shocked to do anything but stand there in shock as the ground beneath him suddenly went shooting off into the air, carrying him with it. A few seconds later, he landed, looking much the worse for wear, with a dazed look to his eye. Chibi-Lina wasted no time. "Freeze Arrow!" A bolt of ice formed in her upraised hands, and she quickly threw it at his feet.
The cold caused Chibi-Aristos's eyes to focus again. "H-hey! You can't do this to me! I'll have you kicked out!" he taunted as he shook his fists at them.
"I don't live here!" Chibi-Lina laughed.
This caused him to blink for a moment while his brain computed the new data. "Well...then...um...Someday...I'll find you, Zelgadis, and have my revenge on you!"
Chibi-Zelgadis raised an eyebrow. "Revenge on me? Why not Lina?"
"Because you're the one who hired her!" he spat.
"Oh. Whatever," Chibi-Zelgadis shrugged.
Lina dusted off her pants and walked away from the city. "Come on. We'd better get started if we're to reach my house by tomorrow." Her new companion nodded, and followed her.
Chibi-Aristos shouted impotently at them, stupidly not attempting to use any of the spells he knew to break free of the ice. "Come back here! Get me out of this!" Finally, when it appeared they weren't coming back, Chibi-Aristos sniffled and cried out, "I want my mommy!" Great, huge droplets fell from his eyes.
Aristos watched his former self and sniffled tearfully. "It took me weeks to recover from my extensive wounds!"
Lina commented, "Actually, it should only have taken a few hours to recover."
"And that's why you want revenge on me?" Zelgadis asked quietly, eyes shadowed.
Aristos waved a hand and snapped his fingers. The illusion fell apart, twinkling around them as it faded, and they found themselves back in the ballroom. "Yes!" he snapped.
Zelgadis's fist shook slightly at his side, as if trying to mask his emotions, and his shoulders twitched periodically. "That...is...the...stupidest...reason...I've...ever...heard...of...for...rev enge..." he bit out, voice deadly. Lina backed away from him slowly, allowing him room to fume.
Aristos didn't notice the emotions radiating from Zelgadis and pulled his eyelid down while he stuck out his tongue. "It's a great reason for revenge!"
"You...are...dead." Zelgadis brought his hands together in front of him, face still in the shadows, and chanted, "Dynast Breath!" Icy tendrils shot from his hands and snaked their way to the surprised Aristos, who desperately tried to twist out of the tendril's way as they wrapped cold fingers on his clothes.
"Get them off!" Aristos shrieked as the fingers spread over his body, wrapping everything in ice and solidifying. It moved upwards, and encased his whole body in ice. Then it expanded, so he was encased in a large chunk of thick ice.
Lina breathed a sigh of relief. "That guy was getting annoying!" she scoffed. "Did you kill him?"
"...No...Although he'll wish he was dead when Amelia is able to question him," Zelgadis stated grimly.
She whistled and shook her head. "I almost feel sorry for him." Zelgadis's head shot up to look at her, eyes shocked and a little hurt. Lina winked. "I said I almost feel sorry for him."
"Ah..." Zelgadis said wisely.
Lina looked at the room, filled with sleeping nobles, and groaned. "Do we have to wake them all up?"
"No. Just Amelia. Then she can wake up people who she knows can help, and they'll get everyone woken up," Zelgadis reasoned.
She brightened substantially. "Much better! C'mon, Zel! No time to waste!"
Zelgadis hid a smile as he trailed after the sorceress, not once looking back at the man encased in ice.