A bright leaf floats across on the wind. Tiny piece of sunset dances upon the late fall zephyr, its color a piece of fire in the crystalline blue sky. It twirls and twists in the cool breeze, a spark amongst the flames of the bright red and orange branches filling the woods before it sinks slowly to the ground, its blood red hue collapsing to the dirt. It lies there for a moment, and if you looked up, you would see a tall young man with green hair and cold blue eyes stumbling through the woods.
He moves awkwardly, his limbs flying out in all directions whenever he loses his balance. He has the halting steps of a gangly youth, unsure of where his arms and legs are going, making the graceful form look like a scarecrow come to life. The unruly hair was plastered to his face by an untamable wind, which whipped him like a hurricane...
But doesn't touch anything living around him.
The woods goes quiet as he walks, the bird's melodies falling short, the lilting songs trailing off like smoke as he lurches through, as if unsure of his own body. The fires in the trees become dead leaves around him, the dancing winds dying as they see him. He drags his foot onto a misused front step and pulls himself up, blue eyes flashing even colder. The frozen azure sky overhead clears itself of clouds, before the heavens fill with dark grey storms. He smiles, slightly, and pulls himself up to the door.
He knocks three times, then lets himself in.
And the house dies around him.
Lina looks up suddenly from her book. The soft happiness that had surrounded her had suddenly turned stale, its cheerful warmth shifting into something that was almost suffocating. She stands up too quickly, the carved wood chair clattering too loudly against the hardwood floor, and runs too slowly towards Zelgadis' studio. The uncomfortable heat shifts to a cold, paralyzing chill that steals over the hallways, and Lina races around a corner to see the giant doors slam open. Pieces of the beautifully carved marble edges come clattering to the floor, and the hinges buckle and gave underneath the force and one door comes crashing to the floor in a clatter of wood and stone. The falling wreckage nearly crushes the petite redhead continuing her headlong run towards the youth, who ignores her to walk ungracefully but surely towards the painting standing in the middle of the room.
"NO! Valgavv, DON'T!"
The scream escapes Lina's lips before she realizes they moved, the shrill cry piercing the air in its desperate glory, but the young man continues on his way towards the painting. His fingers curve, and his mouth turns down into a disgusted grimace. The sleeping redhead in the painting seems to cringe as the hands grab her and throw her to the ground, smashing the wood from the canvas before ripping the cloth to shreds, pulling the paint covered strips and throwing them across the room. The same wind that whips his hair tries to pick up the pieces and fling them further, but fails, and the bright bits of life flutter to the ground. He turns with a snarl to glare at the girl who stands with sunset hair, staring at him with horrified ruby eyes.
His lips curl up into a cruel smile as he shifts towards her, his stance almost feminine as he looks at her beneath half closed lids.
"So it's you." The voice comes out hollow, lost, underwater or far away. It's distant chill laced through Lina's spine and yanked sharply, freezing her in her tracks. She stares, horrified, at the young man, her mouth open in shock, her eyes wide and aghast. He smiles, and the chill becomes a frigid lump in the pit of her stomach, dread etching its way through her appalled mind.
"Who... Who are you" She manages, her thoughts racing in little alarmed circles. She feels herself drift slowly into the swift current of terror, losing herself to the animalistic fear that races through her mind. And just before she falls into absolute terror, something catches her.
What are you doing here?
Amelia turned suddenly towards the unspoken voice, Valgarv's lips curling into an angry, jealous grimace. "You left me! You loved me!" She shrieked, Val's voice rising to a wailing pitch of pure hatred. "How could you? How could you!" She stripped the pastel drawing of pure color from its tack on the wall with Valgaav's hands and held it aloft. "This is what you've turned to! THIS! You died for me! You died for me! And I died for you!" She grabbed it with Valgaav's fingers, twisting the paper as she screamed with Valgaav's hoarse throat.
"What is she? You're mine! You're MINE!"
People change. You changed. We changed.
"But I changed BACK!" She shrieked, ripping the brilliant parchment, tearing it to pieces to be scattered by the infuriated breeze at all odds with the hurricane surrounding her. "I changed back! For YOU!" She stands defiantly against the wind, furiously screaming her anger to the howling anger twisting around her. "You are mine! How DARE you!" The curling storm clouds outside shifted and churned, lightening crashing down like whipping fury itself. The thunder shook the entire studio as painting clattered to the floor, and tiny statuettes smashed onto the unforgiving floor. The giant picture windows shattered, glass whipping over the works of art, the winds sending it flying among the statues and paintings as rain streamed into the broken room. Water pelted the redhead until her ruby eyes squinted open, and she shielded them against the barrage as the figure before her stood against the drenching torrent full of hatred. He didn't heed the glass shards slicing across his body, the falling pottery cutting him apart; he stared unblinking into the storm.
Lina, RUN!
Lina pulled herself unsteadily to her feet, ignoring the young man whose head suddenly whipped towards her and twisted into a look of pure loathing. It lurched towards her as she picked herself up and ran from the screaming, shattering room. Lina ran on blundering feet as fast as she could, listening to the howling of angry winds chasing far too closely behind her. She shuddered as the wall of hatred crashed around her, closing her eyes against the tears it forced from them. She stumbled up the stairs of warm wood, which turned brittle and dark behind her. She raced past the beautiful hangings that turned grey and sad as Amelia passed, tore down the shadowed hallways and into her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind her. She leaned against it, breathing hard, her eyes darting around the room for anything to use as a weapon and falling on a two handled vase, its bright swirls of glaze already turning to dead blues and greys. She hefted it over her head and waited for the smashing weight against the door.
Amelia slammed against the wall, splintering it with Valgaav's weight, twisting the hinges and ripping the nails from their homes in the dark, mottled wood. She ignored the bit of Val that screamed inside as his arm gave and broke, ignored his pain as the vertebrae in his neck ground together from the impact and ground the tissue between them. She stumbled into the empty, joyless room before turning to see Lina smash the pottery into Val's skull, crushing the remaining nerves in his neck. He toppled to the ground as Lina heaved a sigh, slumping against the wall, staring at him. She turned to the picture window to see if the storm had died down --
A screaming wall of loathing slammed into her from behind, the force of the anger smashing against her mental walls, the screaming fury ripping through her mind.
You stole him! Waves of pure rage rolled in dark waves over her mind, washing her psyche n malice and hatred. You took him! You took him you took him you took him from me! The voice screamed through her mind without sound or sense, and Lina recoiled towards the balcony as the barrage of emotions pelted her senses. He died for me! For ME!! Not for you! Lina vaguely felt the balcony railing bump against her thigh as she fell into it, her mind overlooking everything but the pain, hate, fury, anger...
For ME!! Amelia screamed as The entire house shattered, every floorboard and tack in the ceiling flinging themselves in opposite directions. Her attacks lessened slightly as Lina plummeted from the third story, letting her scream just once --
"And you're killing him AGAIN!"
Before the ground rushed up to meet her, the unforgiving surface crushing the air from her lungs as her arm bent and gave.
Amelia paused as the cold, furious cloud of anger engulfed her.
I'm... I'm killing him... again...
-- A plastic telephone shattering on the hardwood floor --
A sad little girl turned to stare at the young man glaring down at her, cold blue eyes softening to a scared, tortured cerulean. She looked away, staring at Lina's prone form beneath them. She sighed, and a cold wind blew across the trees, sweeping the storm away, letting the sunset seep unhindered across the thawing sky. The trees returned to the flaming reds and oranges, the breeze pulling the bright leaves and scattering them over the firelit heavens. She smiled softly and looked at the young man's saddened blue eyes, her lower lip trembling slightly.
I'm sorry.
The lavender haired youth sighed, pulling the child with messy black hair into his lap as he knelt to hold her.
I know.
She sniffled, her eyes filling with tears that she never had anybody to dry in life, tears that had drowned her eternally when she died. Zelgadis held her as she cried away all the pain, fear, guilt and self-loathing until there was nothing left but peace and acceptance.
Amelia pulled away, smiling sadly into the blue eyes of the man who used to love her.
I missed you. But I missed me more.
He nods and watches her drift away with the setting sun.
I used to miss you.
He turns to the red head below, whose heaving gasps betray the internal damage inside the unconscious body.
But I guess I learned to live without you.
Lina's eyes fluttered open to fluorescent hospital lights, and she winced against the glare. The pristine white curtains fluttered slightly in the breeze, and sunlight streamed in to reflect off the pale beige walls. A badly done watercolor of flowers hung on the wall, its pale, runny colors adding to the utter remoteness of the room. It felt empty, dead, heartless, and Lina almost lost it right there. She didn't want to wake up in another blank room in a building where people only cared about her because they were supposed to. She wanted to wake up at home, with Zelgadis there to greet her...
Zelgadis?
Everything faded from her mind except the open, empty expanse where Zelgadis wasn't. She searched her thoughts for the most meager trace of him, for the slightest hint of his presence. Recently he had been with her almost all day, fading out for maybe a few hours in the middle f the day, and she could tell from the sun that it was late afternoon already. Where was he? Lina flung the covers from her, briefly tangling herself in the cheap cotton sheets before ripping them in her haste to escape. She jumped from the mattress, staggering slightly from weakness but catching herself and moving towards the door. She ignored the dull throbbing in her arm -- Why couldn't she move her arm? -- and wrenched the door open, softly calling Zelgadis' name. It rose slowly in volume as she ran along the hallways, rising to a scream of pure loneliness. She hadn't been alone since she had moved into the house, and now it tore at her like a raging animal. She stumbled and fell, pulling herself into a tight ball and Wailing his name over and over again, oblivious to the hands that reached down to lift her and drag her sobbing back to her room. She didn't hear the doctor tell her she needed rest, didn't listen to him say she had a broken arm and internal bruising. She cried herself to sleep, utterly and totally alone in a cramped, white, dead room.
"Miss Inverse?" Lina turned apathetically towards the sound of the doctor's voice, staring into nothing as he sighed. She'd been lifeless for long enough for her bruises to fade and disappear -- now, as the first snow began to fall, she was as impassive as the frozen white dusting over the field outside her window. A light blanket of snow covered the sleeping ground, washing it with a distant light blue reflected from the morning sky. The sun had not yet shown over the horizon of naked trees, and the pre-dawn light shone deep blue over the mantle of the sky.
"Yes?" Lina asked softly, her voice low and disused. The doctor winced at the death in her tone, the very force he strived so hard to banish so heavy in this patient with nothing but a broken arm. He adjusted his round spectacles on his nose and pursed his lips slightly before speaking.
"There was someone else in the wreckage when Sylphiel and Gourry led the police up to what was left of your house." He began, watching her face. She scowled.
What was left of Zelgadis.
"He appeared to be a young man of perhaps nineteen. He had green hair and yellow eyes... He had a dislocated shoulder and several surface wounds. It looks like his neck was severely...um... sprained." It looked like it had been broken and healed back together again...
Lina winced as the problems of her life came back to haunt her even now. Part of her was relived that he hadn't died. But with him in her life...
She was more than alone. With him, she didn't even have herself.
"That's Valgaav. I don't want to see him." She said tersely, her dull red hair spilling across the pillow to seep over the sheets. She turned away from the doctor. "I don't ever want to see him again."
"But we -- "
"No."
The doctor sighed, rubbing his callused palms on his worn khakis. "Miss Inverse, his family won't come up to identify him. Ha came out of his coma two days ago, and his bandages are coming off today. We need to know who he is before we can continue working on him."
Lina turned angrily to him, fury in her eyes. "So if he didn't have money, you would just let him die?"
"I -- "
His parents wouldn't even come see him. He was in a coma, and they wouldn't even come see him. He's alone too, and he doesn't even know it.
"I'll identify him." Lina pulled herself up from the bed, placing her bare feet on the cold tiles as a hint of orange seeped into the room from the slowly rising sun. The billowing white curtains were dyed a pale orange as Lina walked angrily out of the hospital room, glaring at anyone who got in her way.
The single bud in the glass vase on the table opened minutely as the sun's rays touched it's opening petals.
Valgaav lay in the hospital bed, his entire body swathed in bandages, covering hundreds of cuts that used to flaw the perfect tan skin. He didn't move as the doctor nodded to the waiting nurse to remove the bandages, and Lina stepped forward to see his face.
Layer by layer, the swaths of white cloth were pulled from the pale face. Lina stared as they disappeared.
A pale, angular face turned towards her, not a single scar marring the parchment-pale skin, and chin-length violet hair swept out from under the final bandage to fall into fluttering sapphire eyes. Lina's breath caught as Zelgadis stared up at her and a soft smile drew his features into an angelic expression of empathy and peace. Lina tried to bite back a sob as Zelgadis reached up weakly and pulled her towards him, but she fell crying against his chest, letting out all the fear, frustration, and pure loneliness she had been drowning in. The rising sun bathed the sky in a brilliant red, setting the snow covering the ground aflame in reflected firelight as the clouds warmed to a soft pink.
"Yes... yes, daddy, I decided you were right all along, I should marry Val. Yes. Yes, daddy, I know. I love mom too. You're right, daddy... no, we're staying here. It's very nice, and they have a lot of football, so we'll be fine. Yes daddy. Yes, we'll send you a picture of the wedding. Of course, daddy. I love you too. Byebye, daddy."
Lina sighed in content as Zelgadis' arms wrapped slowly around her waist, pure warmth and bliss engulfing her in their embrace. The sunset dyed the room of the half-finished house a deep red, the half carved honey-colored wood molding tinted a bright orange with the reflected light. She smiled up at him, Gazing at a face she'd known long before she'd ever seen it, into eyes she knew the inside of better than her own.
"I am sorry he died," She said softly, guilt tingeing her voice slightly with sorrow. "I didn't really want him to. He was alone too."
"Yes."
She leaned into him, breathing in the scent of lavender and old books from his hours in their new study and his shampoo, and sighed again.
He knew what she didn't say, how the guilt of taking Val's claim on life was eating at her slowly. "He was dead, Lina. His soul had escaped already from that last fall to the ground. All I did was fill the breathing husk." He held her tighter. "He would be gone even if I hadn't come back."
"I know."
Lina finally let go and let herself fall into the comforting embrace of peace and acceptance. Zelgadis held her close, breathing in her scent and burying his face in the sunset cascade of hair that was far more brilliant than any fire could be, as the setting sun drenched their new beginning in colors of flame and light.