Hours later Lina went down to the inn kitchen as order a large amount of food to be sent up into Zelgadis' room. She and him and been playing games while she had been telling him some of the adventures they had been on. With the food ordered Lina went back up to Zel's room where he stood by the window looking outside.
"What see anything interesting out there Zel?" Lina asked coming up next to him.
Zelgadis didn't answer her, he just continued gazing out the window.
"Zel?" Lina tapped him on the shoulder and that brought him back to reality.
"Oh sorry."
"And where was your mind a minute ago?" Lina said in a teasing voice only Zelgadis remained serious.
"I was just thinking about whether or not I'll ever be able to remember anything." He returned his gaze back to the window. "And I was also wondering what really was in that temple. None us really know..." His voice trailed off.
"Well until we get some more information about temple, I don't think it would be a good idea."
"Doesn't that Xellos guy know some information?"
"Yeah, but Xellos isn't one to divulge information."
Zelgadis was silent again staring out the window. Lina frowned. She wasn't sure how to handle Zelgadis because she was so used to him being cold and closed off to everyone around him.
Lina mentally sighed a looked over to Zelgadis to notice that he had been staring at her. "What?"
"You were really thinking hard about something a moment there weren't you?"
"Why do you say that?"
"I asked you the name of the town we are in and you didn't answer me."
Lina sweatdropped in embarrassment. She rubbed the back of her neck while nervously laughing. "Um well yeah the town we're in is called Quesnel."
"And what sort of things are in Quesnel?"
"I don't know, we got here late last night and we haven't had much time to go look around because of what happened to you."
"Then why don't we go and find out what's in this town?"
"Huh?" Lina stared at him blankly. That wasn't a sort of an invitation she was used to hearing coming from Zelgadis' mouth. "Why?"
"I don't want to stay cooped up in this room all day, I want to go get some fresh air."
"Well..." Lina paused for a moment. "Sure we can go outside but you're going to need to take it easy a bit and how about we go after we eat?" Lina's stomach growled in agreement.
"Um well, sure after we eat."
A few minutes later the food had been sent up to Zelgadis' room and now the two of them were eating. Or rather Lina was eating and Zelgadis was staring at her dumbfounded.
"Um Lina?"
"Mrhf?" Lina said with food in her mouth that roughly translated to 'what'?
"Do you always eat like that?"
Lina swallowed the food in her mouth and then glared at him with evil eyes. "Why? What's wrong with the way I eat?!"
"Um nothing." Zelgadis nervously laughed and went back to eating.
Lina narrowed her eyes at him and continued herself with her food.
Not very long later they were both finished and ready to go. When Lina had taken all the their dishes to the kitchen Zelgadis was already downstairs waiting for her. Everyone in the inn stared at Zelgadis with morbid fascination. Some people were whispering while others were just deftly staring at him. Zelgadis glanced around the room with confusion. Why is everyone looking at me?
Lina saw Zel and walked over to him. What she noticed was the Zelgadis wasn't wearing his cape and hood. She grabbed him by the collar pulled him off to the side out of people's view. "Zel! Why aren't you wearing your cape and hood?" Lina whispered at him sternly.
"What you mean that gray thing that covers up my face?"
"Yes that."
Zelgadis looked at Lina in confusion. "Why would I want to wear that?"
"Normally you wear it so that people can't see your face."
"But why would I want to cover up my face?"
"Because you're a chimera and sometimes people aren't very nice to chimeras." Lina was having trouble believing that she was trying to convince Zelgadis to cover himself up. She was normally the one who was trying to convince him to take it off.
"Why what do they do?"
Lina huffed in exasperation. "I don't know! They talk, say mean things to and about you."
"So?"
"What do you mean 'so'?"
"Well they are only words." Zelgadis comment thoughtfully. "Why should I care about what people think of me? If they don't like the way I look then that's their problem."
Lina stared at him blankly. That was the last thing that Lina expected to hear from Zelgadis. "So you don't care if people openly make fun of you?"
"Nope."
"Well what if they treat you bad or get violent?"
"With stone golem's skin do you think I would care about a few measly townsfolk hurting me? And besides I don't think you would just stand by and watch something bad happen to one of your friends, right?" Zelgadis flashed her a dazzling smile. "Anyway let's get going we've wasted enough time here." Zelgadis started to walk off.
Lina just stood there completely taken aback. What the hell...?
"Lina come on let's go!" Zelgadis yelled over to her.
Lina snapped back into reality. "Coming!" And she went to catch up with him.
The town of Quesnel was moderately sized town. It was pretty large but not big enough to be called a city.
Lina and Zelgadis walked around Quesnel aimlessly without a destination in mind. First they had gone to a magic shop to look at some of the things the store had for sale and then they went to a bookstore. Now they were walking around the town square. They whole time Zelgadis either wasn't aware or he ignored all the people staring at him. But if any of those people were staring at Zelgadis funny Lina would glare at them evilly and they would look away.
"So where would you like to go now Zel?" Lina asked while yawning.
"Are you tired?" Zelgadis raised an eyebrow at her.
"Yeah a little I guess. I didn't get good enough sleep last night."
"Because of me." Zelgadis lowered his head a bit staring at the ground.
"Hey don't you start getting mopey on me! I don't care if I'm a little bit tired, I'll just go to bed early tonight and get some extra sleep. I'm fine really."
Zelgadis gave her a disbelieving look but didn't comment any further.
Lina mentally sighed. I know Zelgadis was moody before but this is just plain weird. But then again I didn't know what really went on in that guy's head before... She looked over at him. He seemed to be quite content and not even bothered of what he was or how people are treating him. But why does there seem to be such a difference in his personality?
"A bakery."
"Huh?" Lina blinked at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"I was answering your question."
"So you want to go to a bakery?"
Zelgadis nodded and pointed one just a quarter of a block away from them. "I've been smelling the food from all the way back here for some time now and it's been driving me nuts."
Lina herself started to smell the wafting aroma of the bakery's goods but it was very faint. But it was still enough to get Lina to drag Zelgadis over to the quaint little bakery.
Inside the little bakery they were greeted by a large display of baked treats and a warm smile from the bakery owner.
"Hello there! What can I do for you?" The gray haired woman asked them from behind the counter.
Lina bit her lip eyeing everything that she saw. Damn I want it all! Lina looked over to Zelgadis who also couldn't make up his mind. "Well let's see... I think I'll start by ordering four-dozen chocolate chip cookies, ten strawberry tarts, five boston creams..."
Ten minutes later Lina and Zelgadis came out with bags and bags of pastries and other baked goods. Most of those bags being Lina's.
"Lina do you think we should save some for the others?" Zelgadis asked after they sat down in the square.
"Why would we do that?" Lina said through the chocolate éclairs that she was scarfing down.
Zelgadis sweatdropped and went back to what he had in his one single bag. He pulled out a few sugar cookies and started to contently munch on them.
Lina stopped to stare at him. Another thing that she was used to seeing with Zelgadis was him taking so much pleasure from desserts. Normally he wasn't one to really care for them. I wonder what Zel would do if he could see himself acting like this? Lina mentally chuckled and decided to dive into the sugar cookies that she had got.
"Lina what were you going to do if you didn't spend the day with me?"
"Well I was going to check out the library to see if I could find out any information about the temple near here. Like why there's demons lurking around it and killing anyone that goes near the temple."
"So that you could figure someway of getting past of the demons to get into the temple?"
"Among other things."
"What do you think is in that temple?"
"I don't know. I was hoping that it had treasure or some great power that I could use. Or maybe some really old valuable books. Or maybe something that could answer any question that I could have."
Zelgadis was silent for a few moments staring at a cookie that he had not eaten yet.
"Why do you ask Zel?"
"Well do you think that it might have something in there that could help me get my memory back?"
"Probably, but we're not going to be able to get in there. Not until we can find a way to deal with those demons."
Zelgadis sighed and there was a period of silence between the two of them. Lina had finished all of her things and Zelgadis had lost his appetite.
"So what do you want to do now?" Lina asked breaking the silence.
"I don't know." Zelgadis said with a slightly depressive sigh.
Lina looked over a Zelgadis. Oh great he's getting depressed again. Gotta think of something to distract him. Lina tried very hard to think of something else they could do but she couldn't think of much. "Um how about we... go over to the lake that is near the edge of the town? It's not too far from here."
Zelgadis shrugged and agreed. They both got up and started walking.
The edge of Quesnel was practically part of the forest that surrounded the town. It was pretty quite and peaceful over there with most of the sounds of the town were too faraway to hear. The only sounds were the whispers of wind blowing in the tree branches.
They both sat down on the grass near the edge of the lake. Zelgadis peered over to look at the still blue waters and saw his chimera reflection. He frowned at the sight of it. Do I really look that bad that I would desperately want to change myself? Why can't I remember anything?! Zelgadis looked away from the water. Being a chimera didn't bother him that much, it was not knowing who he was that was getting to him. Everything that they had all told him didn't seem right. It seemed to Zelgadis that the person they were describing to him was someone else and not him. He couldn't understand any of the things that he supposed thought or done. It was like he was living through someone else's life that wasn't his own.
The more Zelgadis thought about it the more depressed he started to feel. He looked over to Lina and she was staring at him. Though she did a good job of hiding it Zelgadis could see the concern in her eyes. He looked away not wanting to meet her gaze. Why am I acting like this? It's not fair to her, she's wasting her day to make sure I'm alright and I all I can do is get lost in my own depressive thoughts. She's making an effort I should too. And Zelgadis smiled lightly. "Lina I want to thank you for today."
Lina blinked in surprise. "Thank me? I didn't do much today."
"Yeah but you stayed with me and I really appreciate that."
"Don't think much of it. What are friends for right?" Lina nervously laughed. My god this just keeps getting weirder and weirder...
Part 3 | Fanfiction