Zelgadis watched Ameria walk onto the podium, ready to give her speech to the two warring kingdoms on why they should make peace.

As he watched her, he realized something. She was beautiful. He had always enjoyed her company, but never really noticed just how pretty she was, until now. Now that he was human.

He started to think about the times they had traveled with each other. He thought about their first meeting. It wasn’t pretty, he admitted to himself. Ameria was automatically suspicious of him, and when she said those harmless yet painful words “But he’s so evil and suspicious looking!”… It hurt, and he made it obvious to her, by ignoring her, making it seem as if he despised her. Yet, for some reason, she had captured his eye, and despite how rude—no, cruel—he was, she never was unkind to him after that. Now he could thank her for that…now that he no longer had to put up with that accursed chimeric body.

He returned his gaze to the Seiruun Princess. He smiled as she said, “It is such an injustice to fight another kingdom, especially when you won’t even feed your own people!”

He heard the king’s argument and frowned; it was a pathetic excuse. A similar defense was given from the other king. He grinned, waiting for Ameria’s outburst.

“That is the worst excuse I have ever heard! Repent yourself in the eyes of Ceified, and create the peace your countries need!” Ameria said fervently.

Zelgadis smiled, just as he was expecting her to react. Suddenly, he found himself think about the other time the Seiruun family had held a meeting like this. The princess of Seiruun had been assassinated right in front of her two daughters, Ameria and Gracia. Because of the death of her mother, and the fact she was killed right in front of her, Gracia ran away on the verge of insanity.

All of a sudden, Zelgadis appreciated the guards ever present at the door ways of the castle.

He looked at the two kings and saw something odd. The two of them kept looking at each other in a strange manner. He raised an eyebrow at that. Not hatred—he had seen plenty of that in his travels…something else? Conspiracy? No…It can’t be that. They wouldn’t dare do it in the Stronghold of White Magic, would they?

Worries barraged the man, but he tried to keep some optimism. Maybe he was just being paranoid.

Suddenly, out the corner of his eye, he spotted what he feared to see—a man with a crossbow on the window, ready to shoot at the appointed time. He tried to call up a shamanistic spell, but found that he couldn’t! He didn’t have the magical powers that the Brau Demon had given him as a chimera!

Zelgadis cried out, bringing stares from all around, including Ameria’s.

“M-Mr…Zelgadis!” She cried out, happy to see him, yet confused at why it took her a while to figure out who he was. Then it hit her—he was human! He had accomplished his goal! She looked at him, and saw his alarmed expression.

“Ameria! Watch…!” It was too late, the arrow was released. He saw the arrow strike Ameria, straight through the chest.

The crowd went into turmoil, terrified that perhaps they might be next. Zelgadis tried to push past them, but had a hard time. He kept thinking, “If I were still Chimera, I could have stopped the assassin! If I was, I could push through this DAMN crowd! I could have just Ray Winged myself over to her!” He gritted his teeth; there was no time for such regrets! He had to get to Ameria!

King Phil (yes, he was king now) was roaring at the guards to get some clerics, his booming voice, full of a mixture of emotions. Full of anger, sadness, and unspeakable terror! Memories of his wife’s assassination flashed before his eyes. He tried to get to his daughter as hard as he could, but, alas, the giant crowd had gotten onto the platform and was blocking him.

Zelgadis made it there first, and he held Ameria, little Miss Sunshine, in his arms. He said, in the calmest voice he could procure (which wasn’t at all calm), “Don’t worry, Ameria! Clerics are coming! Please hold on!” Panic edged in his voice, terrified with worry.

Ameria tried to reply, her eyes almost on the verge of tears, but all that came out was a gurgle, as blood came out her mouth. She trembled in his arms, and he saw the truth in her eyes. She would die.

A sob escaped out of his mouth and the tears came unchecked. No! He came back human for her! For her! He tried to call upon all the power within him to create a healing spell, but he couldn’t! Dammit! He couldn’t! For the first time in his life, he wished he wasn’t only human…

Ameria gave him a small smile, filled with sadness, and shuddered. Zelgadis watched her close her eyes, in eternal sleep.

Zelgadis cried and whispered, “I’m sorry I never got to thank you…” He hugged her close and muttered to her still form, “I love you…”

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Author’s note:

This was going to be a longer story…but it turned up like this. I have three different versions and depending on how someone rates this one will determine whether or not I’ll put them up. Sorry for the sadness, though it didn’t turn out as sad as I would have liked. I was in an angst mood when I wrote this.

BSSTE

Vaneral Chisuko