After spending sometime looking around at the parade Amelia, Xellos, Gourry, and Sylphiel decided some dinner was in order. The two girls had finally finished shopping at sunset and the four of them had been enjoying the festivities. Going back to the inn they ordered tons of food (Gourry ordering most it) and in a speedy amount of time there food was served to them. Then Amelia remembered something Xellos had said before they got to Tadden.
"Mister Xellos, didn't you say you would tell us that story that you heard that tied in with the festival?"
"Yeah that's right you did! Tell us the story Mister Xellos!"
"Are you two sure you want to hear it? It's a tad on the sad side."
"No, no we want to hear it!"
"Well alright. First I'll tell you how I was told of this story in the fist place. Last time I was here visiting the festival I met a very interesting woman. If I recall she referred to herself as 'Naga The White Serpent'. She was alone and I thought that was kinda peculiar because very few people come to these events by themselves. I inquired about this and she told me that she got separated from her traveling companion some while back. I had asked if she was expecting to find her companion at the festival and she told me that there was no way she would find her here. I was curious to what she meant by that and then Naga told me what happened to her friend. So believe me this is actually a true story that I'm going to tell you. Now Naga never told me the real name of her friend, just the false name that her friend told someone else to whom the story involves. Anyway, let me get on with the story...
It was somewhere between 3 to 5 years ago in a distant town far from here. This town had many swordsmen, sorcerers, sorceresses as well as other interesting people. Many legends laid their roots there plus many myths and legendary items are also supposed to be there. That was the reason why a man and his grandson came to the town during the night. This had caused quite a buzz among the townspeople. Very few people came into the town at that hour, plus what was weirder was how the man and his grandson kept to themselves like they were hiding something. Well this interested a young girl whom I'm going to have to referrer to as 'Lee.' Lee was a thirteen-year-old girl with long red hair and red eyes. She was short and skinny and she was a full-fledged black sorceress, which was strange because she dressed as a white mage. She wanted to see who these night travelers were, but her grandmother warned her not to tell either of them her name. It was something about being in that town and telling strangers her identity that was dangerous to her life. Lee herself wasn't quite sure on the reason, but she promised her grandmother she wouldn't tell either of them her name.
Lee then went in search of the two of them. Unable to find them after searching around for a long time she eventually gave up. Then Lee remembered about a cavern near the town that was supposed to have a special treasure in it. Upon this revelation Lee sneaked over to the cavern so that no one would see her. Reaching the cavern Lee had thought she made it there with no one seeing her and she was alone too, but she was wrong about that.
In the cavern already was on of the travelers from the night before. It was the grandson of the man. He was tall with light violet hair and blue eyes, the boy was about a few years older than Lee. She wanted to know why he was there and what he was doing. The boy retorted back about it being none of her business. He also told her to leave because it was supposedly dangerous in the cavern and that she could get hurt. Lee just argued back that he doesn't live in the town so how would he know. Ignoring her the boy just continued his way through the cavern to realize that Lee was walking right beside him. He demanded to know what she was doing, and she cutely replied about how they were both searching for the same thing so they might as well go look for it together. Seeing the futileness in arguing with her, he agreed to search for the treasure together. Lee requested to know what the boys name was so that it would make chatting a little easier. He told her that he couldn't tell her his real name, and Lee guessed that it was situation similar to do with her name. Sure enough she was right, so they decided to call each other by made up names. Calling her 'Miss Fire Fly' he asked her what she wanted to be called. Lee told him to call her 'Lee' while calling him 'Mister Gray Man'. He told her to call him 'Sid'.
So Sid and Lee walked around the cavern talking and getting to know each other better. Both Sid and Lee were enjoying the time they were spending together. While talking Sid found out a little about Lee dealing with her practice in black magic and how far she was on her training. Plus he found out that she would be traveling on her own in a few months. Lee found out about Sid's search for this item for his grandfather who was seeing someone in the town about what his future was, Sid's training in shaman magic and how he has been traveling for a while now.
Then it came up to a decision with two passageways and which way to take. They decided on one way and went that direction. It lead to a dead end and as they were about to turn around and try another direction when a big demon beast came crashing down. The creature demanded to know if they were out to try to steal his treasure. With some smart talk they found out that the creature stole the treasure from someone else, it was in a bag on his belt, and that it was the only treasure in the cavern all together. Lee made a wise crack and the creature was insulted and wanted to teach them a lesson. He tried to get at them when both Lee and Sid ran back near the entrance of the cavern to give them a better area to fight in. Lee and Sid surprised the creature with their magic skills and so it dropped it's stolen treasure and ran off like a coward.
With their new won treasure in hand Lee and Sid went outside to see what it was. The treasure revealed to be two small matching gemstones, a blue sapphire and a red ruby. Not being the item Sid was looking for he told Lee that she could have them both. Lee protested saying that there was two and that he should take one. Sid wanted to know what he would want the gemstone for. She told him silently that maybe would want it as a keepsake, something to remind him of that day and perhaps to remember her by. Lee blushed thinking that he might think it was stupid but he agreed to it and asked her which one she wanted. Lee went into the thing about how it would make sense for her to take the red ruby and for him to take the blue sapphire but she wanted to have it the other way around. Sid finished off what she was saying that the red ruby would remind him more of her and the blue sapphire would be a better reminder of him. Again she thought that he might think it was stupid and she asked him if he thought so. Sid reassured her saying that it was a good idea saying it would be nice to be reminded of the only girl he's ever had a good time with. Lee was puzzled by this, and questioned him about it. Sid just said that he never does anything with girls. Lee asked him why saying that it wasn't like he wasn't cute or anything. Sid got distant, mumbling something about how if they knew what he was then they wouldn't want to be anywhere near him. Lee wanted to know what he meant by that and he told her that he wasn't fully human. Lee went on saying that she wasn't fully human either. He was confused by this but told her that he was half monster. Lee was expecting something a lot worse and didn't think much of it. She told him that she was part elf and that she hated when people judged others on appearances and on stereotypes and that she doesn't do it either. Sid was in awe and told her that if everyone in the world was just a bit more like her than it would be a better place. Lee told him that he was insane, but then he went on how she was charming, smart, non judgmental...etc. Then he added softly that she was cute too and he tilted up her head and kissed her softly on the lips. Lee was shocked but eagerly kissed him back."
"Oh wow that is so romantic!" Amelia said staring off dreamily.
"I know," Sylphiel said in an equally dreamy stare.
"Are you two sure you want to hear the rest? It gets worse from here you know..."
"Yeah! I want to know what happened after that!"
"Okay then I'll continue. Now where was I? Oh yeah the kiss...
The kiss lasted a long time turning quite intense on the both of them till it got to the point that they were both out of breath and needed to stop it. Lee muttered softly under her breath the word 'bastard'. He asked her what she meant by that. She told him that he was a bastard for sweeping her off her feet and having to leave her so soon. He was hurt and asked her if she regretted all of it. Lee quickly assured him that she was joking, that there was no way she could regret any of it, but that she was still upset that he had to go. Sid thought for a moment and thought out loud about how it's a shame that the only girl to ever steal his heart away and he didn't even know her real name. Then Lee thought out loud too, about if they met somewhere outside the town that they could tell each other their names. This gave Sid an idea. Since Lee was going to be traveling on her own in a few months then why not meet after that somewhere. That way they could be together. Then Lee remembered about the Star Light Festival in Tadden. They made a decision to meet at the festival, on the streets near the parade. With that planned out Sid kissed Lee goodbye and left.
When traveling that is where Naga met Lee. Without knowing why, Naga was dragged to Tadden for the festival. When there Lee changed out of her black mage outfit back into her white mage's outfit telling Naga that is was to make it easier for a friend of hers to find her. Lee went to where she was supposed to meet Sid and she waited clutching her blue sapphire, which she had set into a necklace. She waited all night for him to come, but he didn't. Lee was heartbroken and she cried for days. Naga not knowing what to do tried her best to help her friend but Lee's feelings for Sid weren't just a crush, he was her first love."
"Did she ever see him again?"
"I'm afraid not..."
"Oh that is so sad!"
"I told you it was."
"You were right, but still was it was a good story."
"Yeah it was a good story even if Xellos got the ending wrong." They all turned their heads to see both Lina and Zelgadis.
"Well then Miss Lina if that's not how the story ends then how does it?"
"Well it goes like this. You see Sid did come to the festival; he was hiding in the shadows. He wanted to go see her but he was afraid. His great grandfather, not grandfather as you think, had placed a curse on him to keep him away from Lee. He turned Sid into a chimera to give him the power he wanted. With his new form he thought Lee would not still care for him so he left vowing that he would have revenge on his great grandfather, cure himself and find Lee again so that they can be together. Well soon both of their memories blurred the images each other till it got to the point that neither of them would recognize each other. Just the same though because they met again two years later not knowing that they had known each other prior. Well they fought Sid's great grandfather who revived Shabringdo and with the help of a blond swordsman they defeated him. Parting again their paths crossed a few times and through time they had quite a few adventures with new friends, and fell in love with each other again but without knowing that the they both felt the same way. They didn't give their pasts a second thought. That is until those friends of theirs dragged them over to Tadden during the festival that had nothing but bad memories for the both of them. At the festival though for whatever reason Lee found herself standing, waiting in the same fashion as she did years back not knowing what she was waiting for. Sid came and meet her and the two of them talked and realized each other's secret identity. Given a second chance they had met and now they would be together at last."
Sylphiel, Xellos, and Amelia were shock. Throughout Xellos' telling of the story none had realized that Lee was Lina or that Sid was Zelgadis. Gourry on the other hand had heard all of this but didn't quite get it. So he continued munching on his food. Lina and Zelgadis being in love with each other wasn't a surprise to him. He'd known those two had feelings for each for a long time. How he knew, well it's a secret!
"Actually Lina that isn't quite how the story ended..."
"What do you mean?"
"Well you left out a part."
"What part?"
"The part where Sid gets down on one knee," Zel says while getting down on one knee, "pulls out a black velvet box," said box is pulled out of Zel's cloak, "and he asks her, 'Will you marry me?' how you answer determines how the story ends Lina," Zelgadis said with a mischievous grin on his face.
Lina was speechless. The box Zelgadis had in his hand contained a beautiful ring. It was a heart shaped with one side of the heart being a blue sapphire, the other side a red ruby and it had a diamond in the middle of it. Plus it had little diamonds on the sides of the heart connected with the band. Lina couldn't believe that he had proposed to her, neither could anyone else. Lina's silence was killing Zelgadis. He knew he shocked her but he wanted an answer. The longer she stayed quiet the more he feared she'd say no. Luckily Gourry saved him from it.
"Hello! Earth to Lina! Zelgadis just asked you to marry him, aren't you going to answer him? Didn't you hear him? Gee I knew she had problems but I didn't know she was deaf too."
First Lina threw a plate at Gourry and then she leaped into Zelgadis' arms.
"Yes Zel, I'll marry you!"
Zelgadis didn't even get a chance to respond because she suddenly kissed him.
While Zelgadis and Lina were kissing and getting cozy and Sylphiel was tending to Gourry, Xellos found himself watching Amelia as she walked towards to bar to fill up her drink. (Not alcoholic if that's what you're thinking.)
Xellos had known that Amelia had been in love Zelgadis for a long time now and he was afraid that she wasn't taking the news of Lina and Zel together very well. Normally he would be able to sense what she was feeling, being a monster and all, but he couldn't sense anything from Amelia and that scared him.
"Miss Amelia are you alright?"
"I guess I should be upset about all this now shouldn't I?"
"That is what I would assume. Why, aren't you?"
"To be honest Mister Xellos, I'm not. In fact I really don't feel anything. I am happy for them because they make such a cute couple, but I'm not upset. I guess this goes to show that all I felt for Mister Zelgadis was nothing more than a silly crush."
"Hmm... that's very interesting..."
"I wonder if there is someone out there for me..."
"For someone as pretty and kind hearted as you, I'm sure of it."
Amelia blushed but was thankful for what he said.
And they went back to Lina and Zelgadis who were planning for their wedding.