They had all met up in the palace courtyard before dawn, each with a small bag, tightly packed with provisions for their trip. Filia stayed the night at the palace after the crow prince had heartily agreed to take care of Val. The sleepy ancient rested in the prince's arms as Filia placed her bag with the others. Lina stood with Amelia and Zelgadis who looked about for Gourry.
The swordsman in question entered the courtyard, sword on his hip bag in his hand.
"So Gourry, what are these arrangements you were talking about?" Amelia asked.
"Right here," a new voice said.
They all looked behind Gourry and watched as two familiar faces appeared.
"Bubbles? Daisy?" Amelia and Lina cried.
"In the flesh," Bubbles smiled.
"Its so good to see everyone again," Daisy smiled.
"Its good to see you to," Zelgadis smiled.
"They agreed to fly us over to the falls," Gourry explained.
"With their speed we should make it in no time," the chimera murmured.
Bubbles went to Lina, grabbed her hand and kissed it.
"Lovely as always Lina."
"Hello Bubbles," the redhead smiled, seeing his flirtatious nature hadn't changed.
As Bubbles returned her smile he spotted Filia looking on curiously.
"Lina you must introduce me to your friend," he whispered.
"This is Filia and over there is Phil and Val. Phil's Amelia's father and Val is Filia's."
"Amelia you didn't tell me your stepmother was such a ravishing beauty," Bubbles said.
"Stepmother!" They all sweat-dropped.
"Brother I think you're mistaken," Daisy murmured from her place beside them as Val smiled up at her curiously.
"I am not married to his majesty," Filia explained blushing, "He simply agreed to watch Val for me while I'm gone."
"So you'll be coming with us then?" Bubbles asked. "And you're not married. I think I've died and gone to heaven."
"Bubbles stop flirting, we have to get ready to leave shortly," Daisy said. Bubbles pouted then winked at Filia and head over to the bags.
"I'm sorry about him," Daisy sighed. "He doesn't mean any harm."
"Is he always like that?" Filia asked.
"Always," the girls said.
"You can expect to be flirted with the whole trip," Lina explained. "Its not bad really, he knows how to boost a girl's ego," she laughed.
This drew Gourry's attention as he watched the girls discuss Bubbles.
"She really seems to likes the things he says to her," he thought.
"Gourry I think we're ready to set off," Bubbles said.
"How are we getting there exactly?" Filia asked. "You mentioned flying."
"I was wondering that too, how exactly is this going to get done?" Zelgadis asked.
"We figured out the distance and how long we can fly for. Bubbles and I will be flying in shifts. If we stay in the air most of the time and fly at top speed we think we can get there in about 5 days."
"You're going to fly?" Filia asked.
"We're dragons," Bubbles smiled. "Maybe we can get together and curl up tails after all this."
"Bubbles don't," Daisy whispered, watching as the Gold blushed.
"What about eating and sleeping?" Zelgadis said, trying to change the subject.
"We'll have to do that at night, but only for a few hours on the ground," Bubbles added.
"Are you sure you're strong enough to exert that much energy?" Filia asked.
"It's so sweet of you to be concerned, like a golden haired goddess of mercy," Bubbles sighed.
"Can we get back to the business at hand?" Zelgadis grumbled in frustration.
"We'll store the bags in one of Bubbles hyper-dimensional pockets to cut down on weight. And don't worry we can manage the flight," Daisy said to Filia.
Bubbles then murmured an incantation and opened a dimensional pocket and with Gourry's help, stored away the bags then sealed the pocket.
"I have the first shift of flying,"Bubbles said then moved away from the others and transformed into a large dragon with glistening blue-grey scales.
Filia looked on amazed as did the crown prince and Val, who clapped his hands excitedly.
The others began to climb on and Filia followed after giving Val a quick kiss.
"We'll be back soon," Amelia whispered, giving her father a quick hug.
"We'll be waiting sweetheart," the prince smiled as Val waved his hands. Soon everyone was on Bubbles back and he took t the air as the crown prince and Val waved good-bye to their rapidly retreating form.
They flew at a mid-level altitude and watched as the countryside whizzed by below them. Amelia sighed and leaned back against Zelgadis and enjoyed the peaceful flight.
Meanwhile Daisy and Filia talked and got better acquainted, leaving Gourry and Lina sitting silently close to each other.
Since he'd come to not apologize Lina's thought had been in a haze. Her thoughts about Gourry were more confusing after his declaration and it made her wonder at the state of their friendship.
"He said we're friends that accidentally kissed but why des it feel like there's more to it?" She thought. A shift in direction made her take a breath of surprise discovering Gourry's arm on her waist, holding her securely in place. She could feel the warmth of his palm through her clothes and felt her confusion swell as well as her embarrassment.
He held her waist to keep her steady though he knew he didn't have to be so close. He just liked being near her, which was a simple enough reason as any. She hadn't said anything to him since last night or been near him either. It made him wonder how she felt about what he said. He could see she was angry that he'd assumed what she would do in regards to fireballing him for the kiss.
"But she didn't fireball me," he thought. She was his closest friend and he didn't want what happened to cause a rift between them. "Maybe this trip for Zel will help us out too," he mused as the countryside gave way to the ocean as they flew on.
For several days they spent long hours in the air and in the early hours of the night would land, set up camp to sleep and in the morning just around dawn would wake up and start all over again.
To see the world below them move by so quickly was a treat for everyone as the flew along. On the third night they landed in a small valley and setup camp. Since it was Daisy's day to fly after she landed she instantly went to sleep. They had pressed a bit farther then originally planned, shaving some time off their fifth day flight plan.
Filia bundled Daisy in a blanket then levitated her to a soft bed roll in the tent they shared. When she came out Gourry was serving up dinner and they all sat around the fire and ate.
"Shouldn't we wake up Daisy for dinner?" Amelia asked.
"She's had a long day so I think she should rest. A rejuvenation spell and a big breakfast in the morning and she'll be fine," Filia said.
"A big breakfast, now your talking!" Lina and Gourry said together. The others laughed. Lina looked and saw Gourry looking at her then quickly turned her attention to her meal and ate vigorously.
After dinner they all wondered around the campsite stretching their legs then said their goodnights. Zelgadis walked over to the tent Amelia shared with Lina as the princess was about to enter.
"Goodnight," he whispered and gave her a quick kiss.
"Goodnight,"she smiled and ducked into her tent.
Inside Lina was on her bedroll brushing her mane of hair intensely. Amelia quickly changed int her pajama's and began to brush her own hair, studying the sorceress. She'd noticed that her friend had been tense since the night before they started out and hadn't said much to anyone, even Gourry.
"Lina is something wrong?" She asked.
"What makes you ask?"
"You've seemed kind of tense and quiet since the night before we left; like something's on your mind."
"Nothing's on my mind aside from this Kaifuku business. We don't know what we're going to find when we get there," she shrugged and resumed brushing her hair.
"Speaking of the falls, how are things with you and Gourry?" Lina dropped her hairbrush in her lap and looked at Amelia. "You've dropped your brush twice; you can't tell me nothing's wrong Lina, what happened?"
"Fine, all right I'll tell you! He kissed me! You happy now!"
"Gourry kissed you!"
"Didn't I just say that," Lina grumbled.
"When? How? I know how, but when?"
"The night he told Zel about where Kaifuku was. I went to get him for a late dinner and he was asleep with that book on his face. So I took it off an put on the table and some of the pages blew, when he woke up, he looked at the book and started scribbling, then got all excited because I inadvertently helped him find the falls."
"And?"
"And he's so happy he picks me up, swings me around and kisses me on the lips then rushes off to tell Zelgadis the news. It was an accident."
"Did he apologize?"
"That's the part I don't get. The night before we left he comes to my room and tells me yes, it was an accident and no he wasn't sorry because he liked it."
"And you didn't fireball him obviously."
"What do you mean obviously?"
"No property damage."
"That's another thing about this mess to. He fully expected me to fireball him and was even looking forward to it."
"How do you feel about what happened, the kiss I mean?"
"What do you mean what do I feel? There's nothing to ..." Lina stopped when Amelia gave her a stern look and she sighed in defeat.
"Things have been kind of weird between us for a while, not all the time but just moments and this just tops it all off. I know it was an accident and I was never going to fireball him for it. I have learned the think before I shoot ... well most of the time anyway. But that bit about him not being sorry confuses everything."
"How have things been weird?"
"Well, he hugs me a little more often, and he told me I was cute so the casting people would pick me over the other pretty girls. Apparently cute is much better then pretty according to Gourry. And then there was ..."
"What?"
"I don't know. We were talking on the overlook to the palace gardens the night of Zel's dinner and we looked at each other."
"You looked at each other and let me guest you couldn't stop looking at each other, right?"
"Yeah, it was weird?"
"Then that settles it," Amelia smiled.
"Settles what? Come on out with it!"
"You're attracted to each other. I always thought you were."
"We're just friends, even better ones then before over the last 2 years. I think I'd know if I was attracted to a guy."
"Not in Gourry's case. You two are friends so you might not see the signs right away an pawn it off as something else. And you still haven't answered my question."
"What question?"
"About how you felt when he kissed you?"
"It was a quick little kiss, like a little kiss on the cheek and it's not a-"
"Lina!"
"Geez, you're worse then somebody's mother," Lina frowned.
"Look, I know you're not use to talking about things like this but its obviously bothering you to have you so tense. I'm your friend Lina, you can tell me and I won't laugh, judge you or anything like that. Besides I talked to you about my feelings for Zelgadis after our first kiss and it really helped me. Can't I return the favor?"
"It's like I said before I'm confused. I don't know what to think and then he tells me he liked it an it makes me wonder if he liked it so much would he do it again."
"Do you want him to?"
"Maybe," she whispered, before she could think. "I-I don't know. It was so quick but I can't stop thinking about it. Boy do I sound pathetic right now."
"Trying to sort out your feelings isn't pathetic Lina. Ignoring them would be and it doesn't solve anything and the way I see it ignoring things would only make things worse for you and your friendship with Gourry. You two have barely spoken since the trip started."
"It's that obvious, huh?"
"Yes. Gourry already came to you and told you what he thinks and how he feels about what happened. Now it's your turn."
"And what am I supposed to do?"
"How about pre-dating?"
"I'm afraid to ask, but what is pre-dating and why should I do it?"
"There's clearly something happening between you and Gourry. He's been honest about how he feels about the kiss but I don't think he see's the larger picture like you do, that's why your confused. You can pre-date Gourry to help sort out your feelings. You're not just hanging out as friends but its not a formal date either. And it wouldn't jeopardize your friendship."
"So let me get this straight, we'd still do stuff together but it would a little closer then friends but not with all the dating hang-ups, right?"
"That's exactly it. You'd still hang out just the two of you and you'd figure things out as you went along." Lina thought for a moment then nodded.
"I'll think about it," the redhead whispered. Then they settled into their bedrolls and blew out the lantern.
The last leg of the journey whizzed by quicker then anyone had thought. Zelgadis could feel the nervous butterflies in his stomach fluttering as they flew on but he convinced himself that it would all be fine in the end. Amelia held his arms around her and smiled up at him. He held her a little closer and smiled in turn and decided to enjoy the ride.
Lina looked around her at the landscape and listened as Bubbles managed to fly and flirt with Filia at the same, anything to keep her mind occupied from thinking about the swordsman seated behind her. She'd been doing some more thinking about Amelia's suggestion and weighed the pro's and con's of the idea to pre-date Gourry. The more she thought about it and Gourry the more the idea warmed up to her.
"We are friends," she thought. "Would it be so odd if we were more?" She continued thinking and leaned back until he head was cushioned by the ever present wall of muscle that was Gourry's chest. Instantly he held her a little to steady her.
"Are you all right Lina?" He whispered close to her ear.
His breath was warm, as warm as the palm that gripped her side and she blushed hotly.
"I'm fine," she whispered, tilting her head up to look at him. "Just looking around."
He looked down at her and smiled. "It's great, huh?"
"Yeah, too bad we're in such a hurry or we could take a longer look around."
"Maybe we could after we leave Kaifuku. If things go well Zel might be in the mood to celebrate."
The air became a little rough and Lina was slammed back into Gourry ho held her tightly with both arms surrounding her.
"I'm beginning to think this is some sort of conspiracy," she thought, recalling her last bout with rough air.
"Sorry about that," Bubbles called, "A little choppy air. Are you all right my golden beauty?" He asked, making Filia blush.
"I'm fine," she whispered sheepishly.
"Bubbles you're embarrassing her, can't you tone it down please?" Daisy asked
"She's beautiful she should be proud, but I'll behave I promise," he said then hugged the gold with the end of his tail
"No he won't," Lina laughed, "You might as well give up Filia."
Amelia looked back and laughed at the unusual sight of Bubbles tail around Filia, whose embarrassment at the situation was quickly turning to anger. The last thing Zelgadis wanted was for them to be knocked out of the air by Filia's mace. He looked at Bubbles and scowled noting where the tip of his tail rested. The chimera glared down at the mazuko dragon's head.
"Bubbles," he growled.
Bubbles laughed nervously and released his tail from Filia. The gold relaxed and took a deep breath.
"My brother is a very nice person honest," Daisy said, "It's just he likes to complement pretty woman ... a lot. Please don't be mad at him."
"I'm not I just ... I'll admit it's nice to be complemented, but I'm starting to feel a little uncomfortable."
"I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable Filia, I'm sorry," Bubbles whispered and resumed flying in silence.
Lina watched the whole exchange and Zelgadis turn his attention back to their flight. Amelia gave a worried look at Bubbles briefly. The redhead understood her concern about Bubbles but figured it was something that he and Filia would have to solve and shrugged. The movement only served to reinforce just how close she'd come to Gourry during the rough air.
Gourry looked at Bubbles then Lina. "Lina?"
"Do you think Bubbles really likes Filia?"
"I don't know ... maybe. They just met so who knows," she said, starting to get comfortable against him.
"This pre-dating thing definitely has its possibilities," the sorceress thought.
"How far are we away from it?"
"A few miles ahead," Gourry said.
"Just keep flying until you find a good spot to land," Lina added.
"Okay."
As everyone rode on the mazuko's back they all looked around anxiously trying to see any traces of Kaifuku.
"There's a clearing in the distance ahead big enough for me to land in."
"We can use levitation spells the rest of the way in, it'll widen the area we can search " Zelgadis said.
Bubbles adjusted his flight pattern and steadily descended. Zelgadis looked to see if he could spot even the faintest sign of Kaifuku as they headed in. They were so close and he was so excited that he almost couldn't contain himself.
"I need to stay calm and clear headed," he told himself. He knew he should stay unbiased but the hopeful, optimistic part of him was jumping up and down at how far he had come. "Your with friends and they won't let you do anything stupid, especially Amelia," he thought, looking at a lock of the princess's dark hair.
Amelia felt him move slightly and knew the chimera was anxious, so was she. She wanted this to work out just as much as he did. A small part of her worried how it would effect him if it didn't. It was a valid concern that he himself had expressed and Amelia figured that assuring he wasn't alone and that who he was inside was what mattered would help.
"I just hope that's enough if . . ." The princess stopped her train of thought with a shake of her head. She'd told him not to think negatively, "So I should follow my own advice."
"We're getting closer," Filia said, looking down. The clearing was surrounded with patches of trees and the land grass-covered that stretched on almost endlessly. "I still can't see any sign of the waterfalls."
"Don't worry we'll find them once we land," Bubbles said. He landed then changed into his human form and sat down on the grass to caught his breath. The clearing was a good size and also on a slight hill, giving them a good view of the land beyond them.
Gourry pulled out his map and he and Zelgadis looked at it closely.
"How close are we?" Zelgadis asked.
"A couple of miles from the spot, I think. If we keep going
"Everybody quiet," Bubbles said suddenly.
"Brother?"
"What is it," Lina asked.
"I hear something," he whispered, waving his hand to quiet her.
Zelgadis trained his ears in the direction Bubbles was turned to and searched for any sound. When he finally heard it his face light up.
"Water, rushing water not that far in that direction," he pointed, through the trees ahead.
"Then we'd better get moving," Amelia said.
"If the falls are already there then how much time do we have left before they disappear again?" Filia asked.
"From what Gourry told us we'd he get here about the end of the first day somewhere int the second," Daisy answered.
"Zel how far away are the falls? We maybe close but with your hearing ..."
"Close to me is far to everyone else," he finished. "I think about 5 miles or so. Flight spells should get us there quick enough."
"Let's go then," Gourry said.
The others cast levitation spells and Gourry was held between Bubbles and Daisy as they flew in the sounds direction.
The trees weren't very dense, which made it easier for them to maneuver through until the smattering of trees ended and beyond them was Kaifuku. The group landed in the grass just beyond the waterfall an stared in awe.
"It's beautiful," Filia whispered. The others nodded silently as they continued staring at the falls. It was surrounded in a thick silver mist that sparkled. Kaifuku hovered above the land, the waterfall flowed from a cloud of the silver fog that floated several feet in the air. The water rushed down landed on the ground and swirled into a small pond in the center of the mist. The mist shimmered and the water glistened like crystal that stunned them all.
Amelia watched as Zelgadis took a small step toward the falls, then another all the while staring into the magical waters depths.
"Should we just let him go ahead?" Daisy asked.
"I don't think there's anything else we can do. He has to walk through in order for this to work," Amelia whispered.
Zelgadis tried to find something, anything that could ruin what seemed to be a perfect dream. There he was, his cure right in front of him. Shimmering in all its beauty, beaconing him forward. From what he could see he had to wade a little in the pond to get to the actual falls.
"Would just swimming in the water work?" He asked himself, but quickly decided not since Gourry never mentioned it and everything that had been said about Kaifuku referred to the falls themselves washing magic away.
He sat down on the grass and quickly took off his boots. It seemed a silly to think of such small details at what could be the second biggest change in his life, but it was too late to think about it now. The boots where off and he was up again. From the corner of his eye he saw Lina and Amelia inch closer with Filia, all eyes on him.
"You'd almost think they had to walk through this," he laughed to himself, which was another thing he didn't think he'd be doing when this moment came.
He turned his attention back to the falls and stepped into the water. It was surprisingly warm and he felt a tingle like a static shock through his skin and reasoned it was Kaifuku's magic.
Zelgadis waded further, the water rising around his ankles and calves until he was face to face with the falls themselves. Through them he could see a bit more water then grass and marveled once again at Kaifuku's unique shape. He stretched out a hand and placed it though and could immediately feel the same tingle, but it grew stronger as he stepped fully under the waterfall.
Amelia watched Zelgadis step completely under the water and held her breath at what the next few moments would bring.
The water poured over him in warm waves as the tingling rushed through his body. His mind went into another distant place as he reached out his senses to the limit to feel signs of the change. That was when the stab of pain hit. He didn't worry because there was pain when he was changed and he never thought changing back would be painless and something told him it would be all right. There was a comfort in the tingling and strangely enough in the pain. The shimmering silver mist surrounded him thickly as another stab of pain came, making his knees buckle.
The others let out a collective gasp as the chimera stumbled. Daisy let out a small whimper and Bubbles tried to calm her. Gourry saw the pain etched on Zelgadis's face as the thick mist grew around him and ran forward. He heard Lina and Amelia yell for him as he splashed in the pond to get to the falls. Something wasn't right, his insides screamed it liked they screamed for him to go in the water. He got to the falls, grabbed a hold of Zelgadis when the tingling hit him with a shock and suddenly he and Zelgadis were in the air and everything suddenly went black.
Lina watched as Gourry took to the water and something blast them back into the trees.
"Zelgadis!" Amelia cried and ran after them.
"What happened, why did it do that?" Filia asked following the princess.
"I don't know, but we better see," Lina said as they ran after the princess.
Amelia found them at the base of a tree a few feet away from the falls and looked on in confusion.
"Are they all right?" Bubbles asked as they neared the princess.
"I'm not sure, look."
Gourry lay unconscious with a faint silver glow surrounding him. Filia went t his side and began to look him over. What really bothered them was Zelgadis, or what they thought was Zelgadis. He was densely covered in the shimmering fog of Kaifuku and no one could make out his face or any part of him.
Amelia stepped forward and knelt down beside him and reached out to his fog covered form.
"Amelia don't! You don't know-" But it was to late she'd already touched it. It felt soft against her fingers like cotton or clouds even.
"It's okay," she said, "It just feels soft and airy. How's Gourry doing?"
"As far as I can tell he's only unconscious but with this faint glow around him we can't be sure," Filia answered.
"Bubbles, Daisy I need you to unpack everything and set up camp," Lina said and went to the princess's side. "Bring me Gourry's pack as soon as you can."
"I'll stay with Gourry while camp is set," Filia said. "I think we can move him without a problem, nothing seems broken or fractured.
"Lina, what are you thinking of doing?" Amelia asked.
"Cracking open that book of Gourry's, getting a closer look at the falls an figuring out what happened out there before Kaifuku disappears for another 50 years."