Zelgadis shook his head as he looked at the nobles around him. They were crowded into small groups, whispering worriedly to each other, and although a few people danced, he noticed everyone did it while looking over their shoulder for hidden monsters. If they'd had their choice, they would have gone home by now and huddled in their beds.
But the party had gone on, for two very simple reasons: Phil and Amelia. The nobles all knew that if they tried to escape before the party was over, they'd get a long, long lecture later on from both Phil and Amelia, and that was worse than everything that had happened put together. So, they stayed and pretended they were having a good time.
Lina and him had stayed quietly in the shadows after rousing Amelia, trying not to catch anyone's attention. They simply wanted to get to the end of the ball in one piece.
"It's strange but...I don't remember that memory with Aristos. It isn't even like my memory was jogged; I don't remember any of what happened back then; not meeting you for the first time, nor the time afterwards where you should have been helping to fix up my house, and I still don't remember it. You'd think seeing a past memory reenacted would cause something to come back, but...there's nothing," Lina frowned, biting her lip in thought.
Zelgadis sighed, and ran a hand agitatedly through his hair. "Neither do I. Hell, I can't remember why Aristos and I were fighting in the first place. The memory...it's...simply not there."
"We both have pretty good memories, and what we both saw should have jogged something out of one of us," Lina mused.
"What does it mean, though?" Zelgadis asked.
"I wish I knew," Lina sighed, and crossed her arms, eyes troubled.
Lina gave a huge yawn and stretched. It was an hour after dawn, and she was extremely tired. Zelgadis even seemed to be a little tired, though he was holding up a lot better than her.
Amelia bounced over to them soon after the last guest had finally left, and Lina noted that although she was still extremely perky, some of her usual bounciness was more subdued. I guess even Amelia gets tired after one of these things, Lina thought.
"Mr. Zelgadis, Miss Lina!" Amelia called cheerfully.
"Hi, Amelia," Lina greeted tiredly, yawning again behind her hand.
"You promised you'd show me a possible cure," Zelgadis reminded her coldly, "if I remain here till the end of the ball."
Lina muttered sarcastically, "You sure know how to be tactful, Zel."
Amelia brushed off his cold tone and motioned for them to follow her. She lead them through the hallways of the palace till they came to the library. Lina and Zelgadis settled onto chairs around a plain, wooden table, and watched Amelia questioningly.
"I'll be just a moment," she said apologetically, and disappeared into one of the massive bookcases. Lina waited impatiently, drumming her fingertips on the table and shifting in her seat every few seconds. Most of this was simply to keep herself from falling asleep in her seat. Zelgadis, though, sat quietly at the table. The only sign of his impatience was the tenseness of his muscles.
After about five minutes, Amelia returned. Lina was closing her eyes more often, and sleep stole into her as she sat there. A few seconds later she'd angrily wake herself back up, but it was happening more and more frequently.
"I got it!" Amelia shouted joyously, waking Lina up, who jumped out of her chair in surprise. Zelgadis sat up straighter and eyed the large, leather-bound volume in Amelia's has with a predator's eyes. She set it down heavily on the table, and opened it up to a random page. "Now...let's see...what page was it?" Amelia mumbled to herself. Then her eyes lit up and she flipped the pages forward. "Here it is!"
Lina stared at the chapter's subheading. "Yume Kingdom..." she read out loud. Then she shoved Amelia out of the way and demanded, "Where was this?! I thought all information about Yume had disappeared! I've been searching for information about Yume for years!"
Zelgadis went white as a sheet, and his eyes bulged. "No..." he whispered.
Amelia smiled triumphantly, totally missing his horrified reaction, and made a v for victory with her hands. "I came across it awhile ago, and thought Mr. Zelgadis would find the information useful. It has a map of how to get there."
Meanwhile, Lina began to read out loud for Zelgadis's benefit. "Yume Kingdom, a strange place where people are born with incredibly strong magical powers. But, it's also nearly impossible to find it, unless you know where it is. I, by a great stroke of luck, managed to find my way there, and recorded how I did so in these pages. I found out some very interesting facts about the place, most of which are unknown to the rest of the world."
Lina's eyes sparkled at the mention of secrets, and almost drooled onto the page. She turned to Zelgadis. "Zelgadis, can you believe it?! I thought everything on Yume was gone!"
He shook his head numbly. "No, I can't believe it." With a turn of his head, he looked straight at Amelia, and asked, "What does Yume have to do with a cure for me?"
Amelia answered confidently, "Yume is a kingdom of all kinds of magic, and it's a rare person there who doesn't have some kind of magical talent. It's the most likely place you'll find a cure, and this book provides a map to it."
"No. I'm not going to Yume," Zelgadis stated in a final tone. Lina's and Amelia's mouths opened in shock, and they stared hard at him in disbelief. He'd done just about anything to get a hint of a cure, and now he was turning this down?!
"What?! Why?" Lina frowned.
"..." was his only answer. He crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and scowled deeply at the room in general.
"Zel..." Lina growled walking up behind him, fists ready.
"..."
"Zel..." Her tone promised death if he didn't answer soon.
"..."
"That's it..." she grumbled angrily, and tried to punch him in the head...
...only to have her fist caught in Zelgadis's hand, who didn't even open his eyes to catch it. She tried her other fist, and found it caught too. He turned in his chair and looked her in the eye. She swallowed nervously.
"No," he stated again, his whole being behind the simple word.
"Why?" she demanded again.
"...Lina," he murmured, and let some of the emotions he was feelings etch across his face. Pain, anger, hurt...
Amelia quietly excused herself, feeling tired and out of place. It had been a long night, she reasoned, and he had the information. So, she sneaked off while they're staring each other down, trying to make the other one back down. Besides, she wasn't sure she could deal with this, and going on an adventure was out of the question; she had a kingdom to help run now.
Lina and Zelgadis barely noticed her retreat. They simply stared at each other. Finally, Lina felt a headache developing, and broke eye contact with an annoyed curse.
"This is ridiculous!" she argued. "How can I understand what's going on in that brain of yours if you won't tell me why you don't want to go to Yume?! The most logical choice would be to go there!"
Zelgadis laughed bitterly, "Yes, it is. It's also the last place in the world I ever want to go."
"Give me a reason why you don't want to go there, Zel!" she challenged.
Zelgadis studied her for a few seconds before nodding, and taking her hand. "Fine. I'll tell you. But not here, where there could be other people." He dragged her out the door, and back to her bedroom. She was surprised he knew the way back, but didn't say anything.
Lina sat down on the bed, and crossed her legs. "So, spill it," she ordered gently.
"This...is hard..." he sighed, and sat down next to her on the bed.
"Come on, Zel! I'm your friend! You can trust me," she prodded.
Zelgadis squeezed his eyes shut, and shook his head. "It's not that simple. I..." he said nervously. He took a deep breath and began again...