Zel sat on the rocky cliff overlooking the ocean. It'd been over a year since he finally left the others. Sure, he said it was to go look for his sought after cure, but then, lying had become second nature as well as other things he wasn't proud of.
So easy. And they believed you. And it just makes it worse because you wish they could see through your lies, yet they never do... or worse, they do and just let you go on anyway.
The shaman bowed his head. No, he wasn't looking for a cure anymore. Like many other things in his life, he'd given it up.
Freedom, strength, normalcy, hope, cure... love. One by one they all fall away from my reach. Sometimes I don't even feel I've a right to desire them. Was this becasue of Rezo's curse, or something else? Am I really that much a monster inside to not have these things like anyone else? Did Rezo just change the outside to match what was already inside?
Thoughts like these kept pushing Zel closer to the edge of the cliff. He couldn't swim. His weight simply didn't allow for it. Still, it would be a slow death and he was never one for dragging things out.
Least I'd know once I went in, I wouldn't have to worry whether someone would come along and...
"Oi! Zel! There you are!"
Zelgadis stiffened, though whether from just someone calling him or the who, he wasn't sure. Before he could organize his thoughts, the true reason for his leaving the group came up and plopped down on the ground next to him.
"Whew! I didn't think I'd ever catch up with you."
"G-Gourry..."
Gourry looked over at his missing friend and smiled. "You left so quick that I didn't get a chance to tell you I wanted to come along. Next thing I knew, Lina was telling me you were gone. I've been trying to hit places you might look for a cure, but nobody had seen you..."
"Why?"
"Huh?" The blonde looked confused. Mentally he braced himself for a cold shoulder or worse, but this caught him offguard. "Why what?"
"Why did you want to come with me? I thought you and Lina..."
"Oh..." Yeah, I can see how you'd think that. "Lina's not as money hungry or as greedy now, so less traveling. Besides, she and Amelia can do okay on their own. Lina's got her black magic, and Amelia's a shrine maiden of sorts. And I've been following Lina since I met her. Time for a change, you know?"
"Hn..." Zel kept his eyes firmly on the waves hitting agast the rocks below. He gave up hope a long time ago and didn't want to try and gain it now. "Looking for a cure doesn't pay very well. Not that I'm looking anyway..."
"No? So then you don't want these books I have?"
What? Zel whipped his head around, blue eyes widen at the site of books piled on Gourry's lap. Looked to be well over a dozen, and each hefty in it's own right. And he's been carrying these all around...?
"G-Gourry..."
"I'm not sure if any of this stuff will help. I mean, you didn't get it, so maybe it's useless, but I didn't want to leave it either. I figured maybe you might've missed them or something."
A spark of something so faint, forgotten for so long it had no true name. Yet it was there in Zel's eyes, wanting to be free again.
"I... I didn't... I..."
"Though when I heard you were looking for a cure, I got confused. Well, yeah, I know Rezo cursed you and all, but I don't see where, in truth. Guess I'm just missing something, huh?"
"Gourry..."
"Yeah, Zel?"
"Look... I mean... your eyes... need to see... them..." The chimera swallowed. Words which came easily to him were now stuck in his throat. His heart beat too fast. A part of him wanted to simply run and never know. It would be safer, wouldn't it? Better to just go on thinking...
...go on hurting.
Sure, Zel was use to pain, but the pain if he were wrong...
Fortunately, the decision was made for him.
Gourry reached out, tilting Zel's chin up as blue met blue. "You wanted to see my eyes, Zel?"
Oh... L-sama...
It was there. All the hope Zel thought he'd given up or lost, it was all there, floating gently in his friend's eyes. Along with it was the possibilities of perhaps finally touching the very things he thought unattainable for one like him.
Gourry saw past his mask.
"You... knew?"
"Yeah. Just didn't get a chance to tell you."
Hope... love?
Maybe... anything is possible.
Gourry smiled, a faint, half smile. Zel knew it well, he'd worn it often around the swordsman. Feeling a gentle tug on his sleeve, Zel sat next to his friend, enjoying a dearly missed, comfottable silence.
Can I?
A slight glint of fear lit Zel's eyes, but it didn't stop him as he rested his head on Gourry's shoulder. It left quickly when he felt an arm come round his shoulder, holding him in a near protective embrace. as to friends watched the sun set over the ocean.