Zelgadiss curled in bed, the dark blanket wrapped around him. He sighed, stretching his sleek, nude body, noticing the scurrying of mazuku suddenly stopping to watch. He sighed, again, pulling the blanket even closer around him. He chuckled, blushing slightly, as he could almost hear the sounds of disappointment from them. One problem with living with the King of Mazuku was that a lot of mazuku were scattered through the building, many of them servants. And many of those servant, for some reason, always made excuses to come into the bed chamber to ogle at him. He seemed to always attract that attention, lately. Although, he had nothing to worry about. The first week, he'd stayed here, a mazuku had tried to go too far with him, and had immediately become a pile of ash to be swept up by other frightened mazuku. Shabrinigdo had been furious, and had threatened similar fate to any others who attempted such an act. Now, he couldn't walk the hallways without hearing the scurrying of feet, moving out of sight and hopefully out of the range of jealous mazukun kings.
Shabrinigdo. It had been a year since Zelgadiss had become his lover and he had to admit, it hadn't been a bad year. Shabrinigdo made sure he had all he wanted and he was a surprisingly gentle lover. However, Zelgadiss didn't love him. He felt a tear run down his cheek. "I wonder how Xelloss is doing," he thought to himself, " the last time I saw him was when Xellas carried him back." Zelgadiss curled into a ball, "I miss him." and quietly cried.
"Do not cry, my love," came a soothing voice, accompanied by a set of strong arms and the brush of long hair along his back. "Everything will be all right."
Zelgadiss looked up into the red eyes that looked at him with adoration. "How do you know?"
"Because, I have something to keep your mind occupied."
"Occupied from what?" Zel asked suspiciously.
"From what has been bothering you. You have to much time to think. You're probably bored"
Zel looked at him. It always happened this way. He would be thinking of Xelloss and Shabrinigdo would just suddenly appear as if to distract him from his thoughts, almost like he was jealous of such thoughts.
"So, what do you want me to do?"
"An incubus, he wants you to be an incubus?" Lina asked incredulously, "That's the last thing I'd expect from Sir Blush-a-lot." She then stopped to give Zel a slow, scrutinizing look. "Well, you at least have the looks."
Zel blushed turning his head. He still visited his friends on a regular basis. He felt if Xelloss had done it all those times, than he could, too. He sighed as he thought of Xelloss. He still could not find out what happened to him. Every time he even considered trying to find out, Shabrinigdo would suddenly appear to distract him from his thoughts.
"What's an incubus?" came the should-be-expected question from the dense swordsman.
Zel shook his head and rolled his eyes as Lina bashed him the head. "An incubus is a demon, which lures mortals away....," she paused blushing, "by seducing them."
"Oh, does that mean Zel has sex with them?"
Both Lina and Zel brought their elbows to the swordmans head. "No, I'm just string them along." Zelgadiss stated calmly, "I could usually use sex as a method, but Shabrinigdo-sama would get very jealous and destroy the mortal, which would work completely against the plan."
"The plan being...?," Lina asked, leering at him wickedly.
Zel smiled, wiggling a finger at her, "Ah, that's for me to know, and I'm sorry, you not to find out."
Lina put on her cutest pouting face, "You hung around Xelloss too long."
Zel blinked, reminded of his former lover, turning his head to the ground trying not to cry.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Lina looking at him, compassion filling her ruby eyes. "Have you found out anything about him?"
"No," shaking his head, wiping away the tears, "I haven't been allowed to find anything out. Shabrinigdo keeps me from finding out."
"Well," came an angry voice, "you would know automatically, if you were in love with him like you think you are!!"
Zel turned around to see Filia walk in, Val cradled in her arms. She looked at him, anger in her eyes. She snorted, "When mazuku fall in love, which is rare, they form a link with the loved one. They know everything that happens to that person." She glared at him, "You say you love him, but you don't even have the link. Ha! You betrayed us for a mazuku you only thought you loved."
"Shut up!!" Zel yelled at her, suddenly wandering if she was right. "I do love him!"
"Ha," she laughed, her eyes brimming with tears, but still turning her nose up "why don't you know what's happening to him? Why do you even have to wonder? If, you loved him you'd know."
"I...I...don't know why I don't know."
She looked at him, pulling Val closer to her and stated, "You don't love him. You never did. You left m...us for a mazuku you didn't even love."
Zel growled, not caring for the uncertainty she was causing, "What's you're problem! Jealous!" He smiled, as he watched her startled, pained expression. "Don't worry, I do love him!"
"Then, why haven't you gone back to him?"
Zel hung his head, "Shabrinigdo won't let me. He...he..."
"He has me trapped." Zel said, looking up in Prince Erin's eyes. Zel let a few tears fall from in his eyes, trying to get the sympathy he was looking for. He smiled as Erin wrapped his arms around him, pulling him close.
"King Stratus is an old fool. He knows if he gave you to much free reign, someone would come and snatch you away from the old codger."
Zel snuggled closer to the man. Causing a war could be serious work, at least it seemed to be with other mazuku. He wasn't too sure he should be proud of it, but he seemed to be good at getting kingdoms angry at each other. Shabrinigdo called it the "Helen of Troy" routine, whatever that meant.
He sighed. It had been a few hundred years. Lina and Gourry had died long ago in a war, a war Zel's conscience was thankful to know he hadn't started. Amelia had died, and Sailune was lead by her great, great, great (oh, I'm not going to say how many great) grandson. Under Sailune there was several smaller kingdoms. Prince Erin was the upcoming ruler of one, and King Stratus was the ruler of a neighboring one.
Shabrinigdo felt these kingdoms were prime candidates for a war, which he loved. One, there was the anger, pain, and misery to feed off. And two, it tended to weed out the powerful mortals, who were either inducted into the ranks of mazuku (usually by Zelgadiss), or killed. Zelgadiss had increased the mazukun ranks to such a degree, that Shabrinigdo had raised Zel to Dark Lord status. Now, all the mazuku he got to join became his minions.
He smiled at the young, naive prince, giving in as he gave him a deep, passionate kiss.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" roared the voice of King Stratus, who came barging into the room to grab Zel by the wrist and yank him away. He glared at Prince Erin, holding Zel to him. "HE IS MINE! CAN'T YOU GET THAT THROUGH YOUR HEAD, YOU UPSTART PUNK!"
"DON'T YOU GET IT! HE DOESN'T WANT TO STAY WITH YOU! YOU KEEP HIM LIKE A CAGED BIRD, NOT ALLOWING HIM TO LEAVE THE GATES OF YOUR CITY! HE BELONGS WITH ME AND I'M TAKING HIM BACK WITH ME! AND YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO STOP ME!"
The King growled, "I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT, I'M THE KING, AND YOUR A CHILD PRINCE, SO GO HOME BEFORE I LOSE MY PATIENCE!"
Zel watched the two fight. The fight was a familiar one, reminding him of one he'd witnessed several centuries ago. He felt his hands curl into fists as he tried to hold back the pain from the wound that had been opened a few hundred years ago and never allowed to heal. He closed his eyes, his body trembling to hold back the tears that were collecting behind his eyelids. At last, "SHUT UP!!! SHUT UP!!! SHUT UP!!! SHUT UP!!!"
He raced out of the building, hearing both men yell out to him, but ignoring them. He ran down the street, till he felt he was a good distance away. He slowed down, running his hands through his hair, shaking his head.
"I screwed that up, didn't I." He muttered to himself, then snorted, "Actually, they'll probably blame each other for my outburst, and they'll hate each other even more."
"Talking to yourself again, Gad." came a familiar voice. He smiled as he spied the blind beggar. Blue eyes stared blindly into space, and his long, violet hair was pulled back in a tail, different than it had been the last time Zel had seen him centuries ago.
"Ezro, I thought I gave you money to heal those eyes," he smiled walking over to the beggar. He sat down staring into Ezro's eyes. He knew there was no piece of Shabrinigdo sealed in Ezro's eyes this time. There was six of the seven pieces left and they had already found five of the six. The only one left was the one sealed away with Lei Magnus.
Ezro sighed, "The healers told me I couldn't be healed. That I've been cursed for something I did in a past life."
Zel stared, awe strucked. "Did they tell you what you had done?"
"All they could tell me was, that I had betrayed the world, and a loved one." Ezro closed his eyes, looking to the ground, "They say I'm being punished more for the loved one than for the world."
Zel balked, "Why would L-sama be more upset with you for the loved one than for the world."
"I guess she is judging me based off the seriousness of the betrayal." He turned his head to Zel, "It's easy to betray the world, full of nameless strangers, than it is to betray a loved one. You have to be pretty cold to hurt a loved one. I wish I knew what I did. They told me all I need was a few memories described to me, and I should remember."
Zel looked to the ground, feeling an old pain. He had loved his grandfather, he had been his only family. The betrayal had hurt more than even the rape itself. He felt tears run down his face as he looked back to the man.
"Do you remember the Red Priest, Rezo.?
"Yes, everyone knows of him."
"You remind me of him." Zel stated, looking back to the ground, "I have every reason to believe, you are him reborn."
"How could you know that? That was so long ago. Besides, he was a great man. I can't believe that he could have betrayed the world, like I was supposed to."
Zel shook his head, "Rezo wasn't all that everyone thought he was. He raised the Dark King Shabrinigdo to get his eyesight back." He could hear the beggar's quick intake of breathe. The part about Rezo being blind hit home. "But, not only that, he betrayed his own grandson. He..."
"traded his grandson's innocence for knowledge for the cure. He hurt his only family. The grandson hated him." Zel stared at the beggar, whose eyes had grown distant, "But he hated me for the wrong reasons." Zel stiffened, and felt the tears run down his cheeks, as he watched them also run down Ezro's cheeks, "He...he sniff thought I sniff had changed him. That I..." Ezro's tears continued to stream down his cheek. Zel couldn't take it anymore.
"It's o.k." Zel said putting a hand on his shoulders. "I....he came out all right in the end."
"How do you..." Rezo stopped, his eyes widened, and took in a quick gasp. "Zel?" He reached out a hand, feeling Zel's face. "Zel, is that you?"
Zel closed his eyes, allowing the hands to roam across his face. He felt the hands pause at the wet path his tears had left.
"Zel, it is you!" Suddenly, Rezo was on his knees, blind eyes beseeching, "I'm sorry," tears running down his cheeks, "I was a blind fool, in more than just my eyes. I loved you so much. I made you hate me. I'm so sorry, so sorry. Please," Rezo leaned forward, head in his hands, sobbing, in almost a whisper, "forgive me."
Zel sat for a moment, looking at Rezo for a little while. He felt as though his heart was breaking. He had never imagined he would ever see his grandfather again. Here was his chance. He reached out clasping his grandfather's chin to look into Rezo's face.
"Grandfather, don't worry, I forgave you long ago."
Rezo was suddenly in his grandson's arms, head on his shoulders, sobbing, "Thank you, I missed you. I love you!"