note: All C&C is welcome. I wrote this story around Christmas time. I wanted to send something to the list, but I didn't want to send anything really large. Which is why I decided on this (even if it is April).
A Slayers Carol
Chapter4 by ashes2ashes
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The clock in the hallway struck 2.
Loud sounds of fighting came from the other room.
"Give my chicken leg back!!"
"Noooo its mine!"
Zel crept around the corner and peered into the next room. Stacks upon stacks of food were piled around the room. Hams, turkey's, cakes, pies, rolls, mashed potatoes, just about any food that man craves. The smell of the feast wafted up to Zelgadiss nose and even he felt a twinge of hunger.
In the middle of the room was a big oak table. It leaned in a bit in the middle from the weight of the food. Lina and Goury were seating at it stuffing their faces. Food was flung around like there was no tomorrow (the way they ate that was entirely possible). They were dressed in red Christmas outfits trimmed in white fur. They sort of resembled Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus. Wait, what was Lina and Goury doing here?
Realization struck Zelgadiss painfully.
"Let me guess your the ghost of Christmas present??"
"Mfff waff a minifff," he got in reply. They continued to inhale their feast.
"uh... ok.," Zel replied and and sweatdropped.
The redheaded ghost swallowed her drink with a loud swishing sound.
"Just wait a sec we have to finish our dinner," she replied with a grin. She tried to hold back a giggle. "Hey look over there!" the redheaded ghost pointed to a spot behind her blond companion.
"What?" her comrade asked as he turned around. The redhead "literally" inhaled the entire feast through giant suction vacuum. Her blond companion turned around.
"Hey where'd the food go?!" he asked. He narrowed his eyes at the redhead.
"This isn't the time to think about food! We have a job to do!" the redhead replied happily. She jumped off her chair with a small thud. The table and chairs abruptly vanished into thin air.
The blond brought himself to his full height.
"Hello, Zelgadiss Greywords. We're are here for your salvation, to show you the light, to stop you from going down the dark path...um... and lots of other stuff. We are the ghosts of Christmas present." The blond man bowed.
"Hey you stole my line.. no scratch that you actually REMEMBERED the line," the readhead replied shock evident on her face.
"Remembered what line??" The redhead glared.
Zel rubbed his temples. Nothing was ever easy. Well I guess salvation really wasn't suppose to be.
"I thought their was only one ghost of Christmas present?" Zel asked as he stared at the two ghosts.
"Yeah well, you got two," the redheaded ghost told him with a shrug. She then grabbed Zel's hand. "Come on Mr. Zelgadiss Greywords," she replied tugging him to the edge of the room, "Time waits for no man."
A red and green portal appeared on the side of the wall. It swirled in a red and green spiral resembling a frog that had come to an untimely end. The blond and redhead dragged Zel through it.
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Zel was deposited unceremoniously on a balcony at the Sailoon palace.
Zel pulled himself up from the icy balcony. He was standing in front of a huge bay window. Through it he could see Lina, Goury and several other people milling about in a party. A sparkingly christmas tree stood on the far wall. The party seemed to radiate good will and cheer. Close to the window Lina and Goury sat on the couch next to the window eating christmas candy. He saw the door swing open and Amelia walked through the door...
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The party had already started. Lina and Goury sat on the couch munching on a wide variety of christmas goodies while various members of the royal family and close friends milled about the room.
"Hi Amelia!!"
"Hi Lina," Amelia replied half heartedly. She hung her coat and hat on the door.
"Amelia what's wrong? Where's Zel?," Lina asked inbetween mouthfulls of sugar cookies.
"Oh... he didn't want to come," Amelia replied and shrugged her shoulders.
"Amelia what did he say to you?" Lina asked concerned for once.
"Nothing, Lina.... he was just busy," Amelia replied as she attempted to brush snow off her outfit.
"Too busy to come to a Christmas party????" Lina asked shocked. The notion of someone passing up free food was almost beyond her understanding and was certainly beyond Goury's. Which would explain why he was happily stealing Lina's portion through the entire conversation.
"No, Lina its ok," Amelia told her friend and sat down in a chair next to the window. She gazed off into the distance. The snowed glistened off the rooftops of Sailoon. The entire kingdom was garnished in Christmas cheer. Amelia didn't see any of these things, her were thoughts elsewhere.
Lina decided to drop the subject, if only for Amelia sake.
Zel gazed at Amelia from the balcony. He stood in front of the glass. Her eyes saw right through him like he wasn't there. Well I guess in a sense he wasn't. Zel held out a hand and experimentally touched the cold glass. His hand made no imprint on the surface.
"Why is Amelia defending me???" Zel asked the ghosts.
"Why wouldn't she?" the redheaded ghost of Christmas present asked. Zel made no reply and the trio turned back to the scene before them.
Prince Phil walked into the room.
"WELL WHO WANTS TO PLAY A GAME!!" AH HAH HA HAAAAA!!!!!!"
Everyone in the room involuntary cringed. Lina bit painfully through a peice of hard candy. After everyone's eardrums recovered, they picked teams. Lina was paired with Goury.
"Wait what game are we playing??," Lina asked and prayed for something that didn't require too much mental capacity.
"Its Pictionary!," Phil replied.
Lina hung her head. She was doomed. Well it was just a game anyway.
"And the winner gets that chocolate, triple layer fudge cake," Phil added.
Lina perked up and grabbed Goury's shoulders.
"Listen up Goury there are no losers on the Lina Inverse team!!," Lina told Goury while shaking his shoulders.
"Aye aye sir." Goury saluted. "Errr... I mean mam," he corrected himself. Luckily for him, Lina was didn't hear him.
"You know that blond man's pretty handsome." The blond ghost of Christmas present said from outside. He ran a hand through his hair.
Zel and the other ghost facefaulted.
Inside the room Prince Phil noticed Amelia's unusual quietness. He walked over to amelia. He leaned in close. His brow furrowed in concern.
"Amelia," he said softly trying to get her attention.
Amelia didn't look up and continued to stare blankly out the window.
"Amelia, do you want to play?" he asked again with a voice that was soft and filled with concern.
"....Hmm? " Amelia looked up and blinked. "Oh no thanks." Amelia stood up. "Excuse me for a moment," she said barley audible. She made her way quietly to the wash room.
Zel walked through the glass door. An eerie tingling sensation flashed through his frame as he passed through the door. He turned to follow Amelia.
Amelia looked in the wash room mirror. Tears ran down her face and splashed into the wash water. Zel reached the room and calmly walked behind her. The ghosts appeared silently behind him.
"Why is she crying??" Zel asked from behind her. The blond ghost glanced at Zel with shock.
"You don't know? I guess that's what happens when you go through life with your eyes half closed."
Amelia attempted to wipe the tears from her eyes.
"I shouldn't have bothered him. I knew he was busy and all.... Why does he have to be like that?? I know what happened to him was horrible but..." Amelia trailed off and tried to compose herself.
"Everyone she loves seems to leave her," the blond ghost informed Zel sadly. "She's afraid of pushing you away."
"She's talking about me?" Zel stared at Amelia. Her pretty face was streaked with tears which she tried to wipe away with her sleave.
"I shouldn't have asked him to come, I shouldn't have bothered him," Amelia chided herself.
"It meant a lot to her that you come. She had been looking forward to it," the other ghost added.
"Why would it matter to her if I was there or not?"
The redheaded ghost looked at him oddly. "Open up your eyes. She loves you Zelgadiss."
Zel could have sworn he felt his heart stop.
".... what?" Zel asked when his body was taking orders from his mind again. He was completely taken off guard. "How could she love a freak like me??" he asked completely baffled.
"You insult her by saying that. Are you saying that she's so shallow that she can't look past your physical appearance to your true self inside? Which she alone can see still in there, deep deep inside."
Amelia wiped the tears from her eyes. She couldn't let the others know anything about this. Everyone was having such a good time. She didn't want to ruin everyone's fun. Amelia wiped the last stray tears from her face and tried to compose herself. Amelila left the room and went to rejoin the party.
The redheaded ghost grabbed Zel's right hand and the blond grabbed the left.
"Come on, its time to leave," the redheaded told Zel quietly. "Is it just me," Zel thought, "Or am I getting dragged around a lot?"
"Can't I stay for just a little while longer?" Zel asked outloud. The ghost glanced at a grandfather clock on the wall.
"For a little while longer," they replied in unison. A white streak was starting to make it's way through their hair. They were getting older and older by the minute.
It was Lina and Goury's turn in Pictionary. It was Lina's turn to draw. She reached down deep into a hat and picked out a piece of paper. She grinned. If jellyfish brains knew anything he had to know this.
"Ready Goury!!" Lina asked with determination.
"Yep!" Goury replied with a smile. He leaned forward in his chair.
Lina stood in the front of the room next to a drawing easel. Lina started to draw a pointed rectangle on the clean white paper. She started to put a handle on the sword when Goury piped up.
"Lina!!" Goury said. He turned slightly red. "You know you shouldn't really be drawing that."
"... uh?" Lina looked back at her picture and blushed furiously. Suffice to say after Lina picked up the drawing easel and beat Goury over the head with it, the game was over.
Zel tried to hold back his laughter and failed. He burst out laughing. He laughed so hard his sides hurt. He couldn't remember the last time he had laughed.
The ghosts smiled... it was working.
"Come Zelgadiss, the night is waning." Zel followed behind the spirits clutching his swore side.
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Zel was transported to that "oh so familiar" cabin. All mirth he had felt before quickly dissipated.
The ghosts beckoned Zel silently into the house.
Once in he saw his mother. She was aged from the last time he saw her. Lines extended from the corner of her eyes from years of worrying. A gray streak ran through her long lavender hair. She still was beautiful, truth be told.
The cottage looked no different from the last time he saw it. The minuscule tree still sat in the corner. She sat alone next to the fire. Instead of knitting though she just gazed at the embers.
"She never remarried?" Zel asked quietly.
"No, all she has left is her memories. Her worthless son is too good just to stop by and tell his mother he's alive," the redhead said. Scorn was evident in her voice.
"Hey! It would brake her heart to see me like this." Zel indicated his chimera body with disgust.
"So when were you going to see her?" the blond ghost chimed in.
"When I get my cure of curse."
"When will that be? Months? Years?? After she has died all alone in this cold cottage, no one there to hold her hand and tell her its all right," the redhead mocked.
"No! It isn't like that!"
"Or right after he's been killed on his fool single minded quest for a cure. After he lies dead in a gutter, because he let his guard down for an instant," the blond mocked.
"Shutup!!!"
"No I think I'll be a heartless bastard, too good to give my own mother 10 damn minutes," the redhead chorused after her counter part.
"Shutup! Shutup! Shutup!"
The ground started to disappear. Zel looked over at the ghost to find them old and wrinkled.
"Make the best of the present Zelgadiss Greywords, its a gift," the ghost said in unison as they faded out in a patch of fog. A was silent then Zel heard the redheaded ghost's voice from the fog
"Even if it is a corny line...
Her voice rang in his ears. His surrounds completely disappeared. He found himself in the middle of the city square. Snow and ice covered the ground. Zelgadiss involuntarily shivered. He vowed to himself that he were to make it out of this, he would immediately go see his mother.
Dark clouds rolled in from the north and blocked out the moon. A fog rolled in from no where. Zel heard no sound but the beating of his own heart.
Something was coming.....