navy = flashback
Zelgadis Greywords was traveling along the southern coasts of the continent. He had pretty much given up any chance of a cure a long time ago, but he continued to travel none-the-less. He knew of nothing else to do. Occasionally he would end up around Seyruun to visit Amelia, but he did that less and less nowadays. He couldn't stand to watch her grow older the way she was. As for Lina and Gourry, he hasn't seen them in a long time. The last he heard, they had gotten married. As much as he knew they loved eachother, he had always hoped that there would some chance for him and Lina. He didn't want to see how happy they were together.
Now Zelgadis traveled alone. He never stayed around in one place for very long and he definitely stayed away from people as much as possible. He didn't want to chance getting close to anyone ever again. After he realized that he would probably outlive anyone he knew, he didn't want to have friends anymore. He didn't want to chance losing anyone close to him. So, now he traveled alone. He kept telling himself that he prefered things this way, but deep down, he was lonely.
Queen Amelia sat in her throne room, very worried. Just recently one of her close friends, Gourry Gabriev had died. When she recieved the note telling her about it, she also recieved a girl. Lina had sent her daughter to stay with Amelia for a while, because she had wanted to be alone. Now Lina had disappeared. She had sent out people to look for her, but nobody has found her yet.
This isn't what was really bothering Amelia though. The real problem was that Mirai Gabriev, the fifteen year old daughter of Lina and Gourry Gabriev, ran away a couple of days ago to search for her mother. Mirai had her father's skill with a sword and her mother's sharp wit. As far as sorcery was concerned, her mother never allowed her to learn any. She had short blond hair and her mother's bright red eyes.
Amelia was pretty sure that Mirai could take care of herself, but she still had people out looking for her too. She wanted to find Lina, but she wanted to find Mirai first. Because, what worried the Queen so much this afternoon, was what Lina would do if she found out Amelia had lost her daughter.
Mirai Gabriev had just wandered into the small port town of Sainan. She had spent the last two days looking for her mother, and she still had no clue as to where to look. She just traveled around asking people in the towns if they had seen the redheaded sorceress. The only thing that made her search any easier was that her mom was still quite famous, if only by legends.
Tired and travel-worn, she looked up into the night sky at the slim crescent moon and decided that she would stay in the town for the night. She walked over to the Dragon's Lagoon Inn and procured a room for the night.
The next morning she awoke to the sound of waves crashing against the shore near her window. The sun was shining in and the scent of sea water filled the air. Mirai loved these fishing towns. Feeling re-invigorated, she jumped out of bed and got dressed ready to grab some breakfast downstairs.
After walking continuously the entire night, a weary traveler reaches a small fishing town. He immediately began looking for the closest place he could buy a cup of coffee. Upon reaching the Dragon's Lagoon Inn, Zelgadis went inside to get his morning caffine. He sits down at a small table in the back of the room and after ordering his drink he starts looking around at the decorations on the walls. There were many portraits of lake dragons and they brought back some less than pleasant memories of being used as an anchor.
He continued looking around and as his gaze passed over the stairs that lead up to the rooms upstairs he saw a familiar looking girl walking down them. He couldn't quite place the face, but he knew that this girl looked familiar. The odd thing was, he was also sure that he had never seen this girl before. As he was concentrating on why this girl caught his attention the way she had, he didn't even notice that she was standing right in front of him.
"You know, it's rude to stare at someone."
"I'm sorry. It is just that you look very familiar. How about I buy you breakfast to make up for it?"
Not missing the chance for a free meal, the girl quickly sits down at the table with Zelgadis. "Well, I can't say that you look familiar. My name is Mirai Gabriev. What's yours?"
"My name is Zelgadis." He then thinks as to where he had heard the name before. "You wouldn't happen to know of a Gourry Gabriev, would you?"
"Yeah, he was my father."
"What do you mean 'was'?"
Her eyes cast downward, she meekly replied. "My father died not too long ago."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know." To try and lighten the mood, he changes the topic to something that he is more interested in. "So, what about the infamous Lina Inverse."
"Gabriev. Lina Gabriev." She looks up at Zelgadis and notices his guilty glance at getting her mother's name wrong. "Don't worry about it. It happens all the time. I guess that's the price she pays for being so famous. Actually, mom has been missing for about a couple of days. I'm looking for her right now." The waitress comes by and Mirai orders a shortstack of pancakes and a glass of orange juice. After the waitress leaves, she notices Zelgadis' shocked gaze. He must know my parents pretty well. "Wait a minute, did you say that your name was Zelgadis? As in the Zelgadis Greywords?"
"Yes, I did."
"Wow, mom used to talk about you all the time. She thought of you as one of her best friends. She also told me about how you didn't show up at their wedding; she was really dissappointed about that one."
"I was busy then." Busy beating myself for letting her get away. "Well it was nice meeting you. I should really get going now."
"Wait. Maybe you could help me look for my mother. She has been missing for a while and it isn't like her to run off without telling anybody. I'm worried about her, and since you used to be good friends and all, .. you might come with me?"
He didn't want to go with the girl, but he thought that if she was anything like her mother, there wouldn't be any way for him to get out of it. So to speed things past the unnecessary trouble, he agreed to travel with Mirai until she found her mother.
Hotaru returned home after her talk with Zelas. She was pretty frightened about this new enemy, but above all else, she was tired. She sees Vaughn standing in the doorway waiting to be aknowledged before entering. She nodds over in his direction, giving him the okay to come in.
Vaughn walks behind Hotaru giving her a firm shoulder rub to loosen her tense muscles. When he tried asking about her day with Zelas, she just told him that she was tired and that she wanted to go to bed. Vaughn half carried her into her room and layed her down on the bed. Hotaru curled up into his arms and quickly fell asleep.
As he was looking down on the form of his sleeping mistress, he found it hard to believe that she was a mazoku lord. She looked no more than sixteen or seventeen and her face had such a peaceful expression on it. He was very loyal to his master and would do anything to please her. As he watched her breathing he realized how much of her human half still showed through. He remembered back to when he first came into her service.
Hotaru Menir lived with her uncle Doraion in a small town in the
kingdom of Zephilia. Both she and her uncle knew of her heritage, but he raised her as a human
and she intended to live her life as a human.
The town was getting ready for the Wine Festival that was rapidly approaching. Hotaru
loved this time of year, because everyone was so joyous and friendly towards eachother. Not to
mention, the tourist's money was good for the towns poor economy. Hotaru was out in the
vineyards with her uncle helping him get things ready for the festival. The two worked side by
side the entire day just like they had every year in the past.
That evening, Hotaru made dinner for herself and Doraion. After they finished eating, she
went upstairs for her well earned rest. She fell asleep thinking of the nice things that she
could buy with the money she was going to earn during the festival. Maybe she could even get
her uncle that nice vest he was wanting ...
Later that night, Vaughn snuck in through the window into Hotaru's room. He was sent to
retrieve her by his master, Lord Ruby Eye himself. He gently picked up the sleeping girl and
carried her to his master's domain. Once they arrived, he changed her into a nice gown and
layed her down on the large bed to let her rest some more.
The next morning, Hotaru awoke to find that she was no longer in her own room. The bed
she was sleeping on was very plush and soft. Around the bed were sheer red curtains and she
could see that the room was sparsely but lavishly decorated. There was a large, hand carved
armoire in the corner with a matching vanity next to it. Next to her bed a beautiful desk with
a peacock's feather quill pen and some paper sitting on it. She heard a slight knock on the
door and in walked the most gorgeous guy she had ever seen.
"Excuse me Hotaru-sama, I thought you might be a little hungry. I hope it is to your
pleasing. I must admit I haven't done much cooking in the past." She walked over to him and
took the tray of food and greedily ate it down, she was quite hungry. After Vaughn took her
plates away, he lead her to the main chamber of the building.
What Hotaru saw when she entered the room was an image of a man encased in ice. She
didn't know how, but she knew who this person was. When he spoke it didn't frighten her even
though the image's mouth did not move. Shabranigdo told her about the demise of the former
Hellmaster and how it was a position that couldn't be left unmanned for very long. He also
told her about how he been keeping an eye on her for a while. He knew that he could trust
Hotaru with the responsibility.
Once Hotaru accepted his offer, she became the new Hellmaster. Shabranigdo then gave
Vaughn to her as a gift and to help her since she knew little of her mazoku heritage. She
never returned to her uncle's vineyard in Zephilia; she felt it would be better if he never
knew what she had done.
Shiroken Leanel was walking along the lush forest trail. He didn't stop to look at the scenery around him however. He was a man on a mission. He was searching for Mirai Gabriev. He had heard of her disappearance the last time he was in Seyruun. He knew that she was somewhere within the southern regions of the continent, but he did not know quite where.
He would soon have to end his search for the night. It was already growing dark and there wouldn't be any light provided by the new moon in the sky. He found a clearing near the road and set up his small camp for the night.
As the sky began to grow dark, Zelgadis and Mirai set up camp. Zelgadis was getting the fire ready while Mirai was dividing up the food rations. She was very excited to be traveling with one of her parents old traveling companions. He didn't even look that old. In fact, he was kinda cute. Wait, where did that come from?! She started to focus all her concentration into the food rations to clear her mind of the stray thoughts.
"You know, if you keep staring at the food like that it'll spontaniously combust. What's wrong Mirai?"
"Oh, nothing. Nothing's wrong." She then started heating up the food over the fire. She couldn't let him know that she had been thinking about him like that. Once the food was ready, the two ate, keeping conversation to a bare minimum. After dinner Zelgadis sat down to take first watch and Mirai crawled into her bed.
Zelgadis sat and watched Mirai for a while, marvelling in the similarities she shared with her parents. She had her mother's face and the same figure, right down to her small chest. It really wasn't that small, it suited her. She was beautiful. Where did that come from?! This is the fifteen year old daughter of one of his best friends. He shouldn't be thinking about her like that.
As he tried to keep his forever teenage hormones in check, he started to look around into the forest. He could hear the crickets chirping and see the fireflies dancing to their music in the night. In the distance he heard some wolves howling. It was actually quite a peaceful night, and it had been a while since he sat down to appreciate the beauty around him.
The sun rose again as another beautiful day has begun. The birds are chirping the wake up call to all the other animals in the forest. That includes a certain Shiroken Leanel who had taken his nightly refuge in a clearing near the road. He quickly got up and ate a hasty breakfast. He had a feeling that he was getting closer to Mirai and he didn't want to lag behind. He gathered his things together and ventured out onto the road once again.
Within a few hours he arrived in the next town along his route of travel. He looked up at the sign above him and found out that this small port town was called Sainan. Not wanting to waste any time he found the first inn he came across to ask if Mirai had been through recently. He soon came upon the Dragon's Lagoon Inn and he went inside to ask the innkeeper if he had seen the girl he was looking for.
"That girl, yeah, she was in here just the other day. Nice kid, she left with some man just yesterday."
"Thank you." I wonder who this other man is. I hope she is okay.
Two shadowy figures meet in the dark cover of a dense forest.
"The preparations are nearly ready, Sama."
"Good. We are just about ready to move onto the next phase of the plan."
One of the figures disappeared while the other walked away.
In the grand tradition of Blue Seed's Omake Theater; Lodoss War's Playing Around and Fushigi Yuugi's Fushigi Akugi; I am proud to present ...
Parodies
As the sky began to grow dark, Zelgadis and Mirai set up camp. Zelgadis was getting the fire ready while Mirai was dividing up the food rations. She was very excited to be traveling with one of her parents old traveling companions. He didn't even look that old. In fact, he was kinda cute ....
Now all he needed was a cute bunny suit. "Oh, Mr. Zelga-bunny. Come here you cutie, fuzzy, honey bunny."
Zelgadis looks down to find he is in the dreaded bunny suit again. "NOOOooooo!!!!!!!"
Chapter 2 | Fanfiction