Chapter 5

                                  Mystrivious' Story

                          Friendship Graciously Grows Deeper 



     "AH! You're Mystrivious?!" Lina squeaked as she fell back 
from her seat. "He's a SHE?!!!" Amelia yelled. Mystrivious 
raised an eyebrow. "Nan? You didn't know?" she asked, her golden 
eyes shimmering. Everyone shook their heads except Xellos who 
was behind everyone, with his eyes open, staring at Mystrivious. 
"Please, everyone be seated and I shall explain my situation and 
why it concerns you." Zel and Amelia took their seats next to each 
other between Gourry and Lina and Xellos sat on the other side of 
Lina. Mystrivious took her seat between Lina and Amelia. She 
closed her eyes a moment and looked in the minds of everyone. 
Quickly, she observed everyone's aura to make sure she was making 
the right decision.

     'Gourry Gabriev: A nitwit. Rather dense, but a real pussy 
cat when you get to know him. Has a keen relationship with Lina. 
Seems he can get pissed and do some real damage. Xellos: Not 
much known. He's keeping himself rather closed up. I can't hear 
what he's thinking. I think he's a mazuko. Zelgadis Greywords: 
Deep pain in his heart. What is it? Hm... I feel a strange aura 
from him. What's with this fellow? Well, he obvisiously 
has an identity problem... his chimera skin. Hm... well, we'll 
see if he's worth it. Amelia Seyruun: A princess obvisiously. 
She has a deep love for everyone around her... except me. She seems 
to be curious about me. Ho ho, don't you worry, you'll know enough in 
a bit. Chooto maate... my chisai tamadachi(little friend), are 
you in love? Hm... whom are you in love with? Oh, that's all 
right, I'll find out later. And Lina Inverse: The reason I'm 
even here. Yes, her aura seems clear. I think she will help. Well, 
better get started.' 

     That whole session had only taken an amount of two or 
three seconds. However, Xellos peered at her with a sneer. 
'There's something about her... I don't like it. The Beastmaster 
told me to tell her when she showed up. Well, here she is, however, 
I want to hear what she has to say.' "Okay, let me explain. I 
am a chimera. A chimera that's practically the War of the Mazuko's 
Fall condensed into one being. I am one-third human, one-third dragon, 
and one-third... mazuko." "N-Nan?! How is that possible? 
Did you make a pledge with a mazuko?!" "Iie. I was born that 
way. My mother was a human. My father a mazuko. My father 
forced my mother to make a pledge with him. she had no choice but 
to. I hate for what he has done. He raped her after years of 
being with her. That's how I came about. Omare... After I was 
born, my mother didn't want me to turn out like my father, so 
she tried to flee. That put him into his deepest wrath and he smashed 
the pledge stone, killing her."

     "But, how? How many years are we talking here, your mother 
was with him? The only way you can die by a pledge stone being 
broken is that the human has outlived the lifetime of a human," 
Lina said. "How can that happen? Why a lifetime?" Gourry asked. 
"Well, humans become immortal when they make a pledge. So if you 
live to be over eighty or older, or just the age you can die at, 
and the pledge stone is broken, then your body will age to your 
true age. So if you're four-hundred years old... you can count on 
being dead even if there's a chip in the stone. That means you're 
pretty darn old!" Lina replied. "Well... I believe about one 
hundred and something years. My father never told me the exact 
date. So he let me live and he raised me until I was about five 
thousand years old."

     "FIVE THOUSAND?! What is the average life span of you people?!" 
Amelia screeched. "Hm? Oh you mean of mazuko... Well... I'm 
around 22,998, I think. So my birth millinium is coming up in 
two years. One year to the mazuko is equivilant to one thousand human 
years. So I have the apperance of a twenty-three year old woman. 
Xellos... your in your 24,000's, right? So, you have the appearance 
of a twenty-four year old man." "Anyway, back to what you were saying
..." Zel cut in. "Oh, gomen. At the age of five-thousand years, 
he abandoned me. I'm glad he did. He pretty much just abandoned the 
strongest force the world has ever seen." "How so?" Lina asked. 
"Well, you see my being all those three races, I pretty much 
have the all the power spent in the War of the Mazuko's Fall 
in me. That form you saw me in when I shot that power and that power
... that wasn't even fully provoked." 

     "My fully provoked power is unimaginable... If it gets out 
of hand it could destroy the gallaxy all around us... Nonetheless, 
if I use my full powers I will surely die... A golden dragon by 
the name of Milgasia knew of my strength... but he couldn't 
kill me... So he made me part dragon so I'll never turn on the 
dragon race. However, now that my power has been seen by pretty 
much the whole world... the dragons will be after me... the 
mazuko... probally even the humans within time... I would love 
nothing more but to kill myself, because with every use of my 
power it becomes more powerful and harder for me to control it. 
If I loose control I'll turn into my mazuko form and pretty much 
loose my human side of my heart and I'll be a ruthless bitch... then
... bye bye world... However, if I die then my powers will surge 
from my body into someone else... However, if I die because I'm 
old, then my powers will be weak and it won't be that big a deal. 
So all three races are out for me and my power..."

     "Talk about a rock and a hard place..." Lina said. "I'd 
call it a diamond and a hard place..." Zel added. "So, there's 
really nothing you can do but wait then?" Amelia asked. "Hai. 
Except that'll be hard... I still have a good 50,000 years to go 
until that'll happen...So I've decided if I hang around you, 
things might go a little more smoothly." "With us?! Three races 
after you?! I think not!" Mystrivious looked down discouraged. 
"Do zo? I have nowhere else to go. Nowhere I can hide..." 
"Lina-san..... What you are asking for is death herself to 
stay by you... A true wolf in sheep's clothing..." Xellos said, 
with his face shadowed by his bangs. "Yacamushi! (Shut up!)" Mystrivious 
snapped as she turned Xellos into a baby. "So... It was YOU who 
changed him like that?" Amelia said looking at Mystrivious. 
She nodded. "Okay... I'll let you stay... however, if any whacked 
weirdos come our way, you're history. Got it?!" Lina decided. 
Mystrivious nodded as she changed Xellos back.

*    *    * 



     Later that night, while everyone had gone to bed, Amelia snapped 
strait up in her bed. Quickly, she ran down the hall to outside. 
The night was cool and the grass was dewy. Amelia ran through the 
tall grass, nearly slipping along the way to the outhouse. She 
sighed as she left the outhouse, feeling quite relieved. She 
walked over to a puddle of water and stuck her hands in to wash them. 
Suddenly, she heard the door open, and she saw Zel sprinting 
towards the outhouse. She giggled when he dissappeared under the 
long ground when he had slipped. 

     She waited there for him until he was done. He came out 
with a sigh of relief. He was about to bend down to wash his 
hands in a puddle next to him, but he saw Amelia instead. 
"Amelia? What're you doing out here at this time of night?" he 
asked curiously. "Same reason you are," she answered. 
"Oh. Well, come 
in. It is a bit drafty out here." "Okay." They walked in together, 
just about to separate ways when Amelia turned and said, "You 
know... Lina snores a lot... and she kicks! I have a bruise on my 
leg because she kicks so hard. It wouldn't be so much to ask but... 
may I sleep in your room?" "Gourry's just as bad." "Oh." 
They stood quiet a moment at their doors, then Zel broke the 
silence by saying, "Oi, I have an idea. Let's move Mystrivious 
and Lina into my room. That way you won't get kicked."

     Amelia looked a little happy at first, but it faded away 
when she said, "I can't sleep by myself." "N-Nan? Iiedo do 
shite?(Why not?)" "Well... Um..... I'm afraid of the... dark... 
I can't be in the dark by myself..." Zel's eye began twitching for 
a moment. "Well, okay... I guess I could sleep in there with you
... IF THAT'S ALL RIGHT WITH YOU, THAT IS!" he said waving his hands 
about. "Yeah. That's why I suggested it." "Um... okay. Ikizu."

     When they walked in, Lina was snoring happilly, but Mystrivious 
was gone. "Uh, where's Mystrivious?" Zel asked. "Oh. She left right 
before we went to bed. She said she was used to sleeping 
outside and she would like to tonight." "Oh, okay. Come on. I am 
going to put Lina in a Ray Wing and I'll carry her into my room 
and put her next to Gourry, okay? You open the doors for me, okay?" 
Amelia nodded as he made his way to the side of the bed.

     He wispered and a ray wing appeared around Lina. Carefully 
and slowly they got Lina next to Gourry successfully, without waking 
anyone. They went back into their room and Amelia asked, "Do you 
want the bed?" "No, but thank you. You go ahead," he responded. "All 
righty," she replied jumping onto the bed, removing all the blankets 
and pillows and threw them upon the ground. "Why did you do that?" 
Zel asked. "Why should I sleep in comfort if you can't?" she 
answered smoothly. Zel stood speechless until Amelia said, "Well, 
you know... there is actually enough room for both of us on the bed. 
Would you like to sleep up here too?" Suddenly, he got an idea and he 
grinned then said, "Sure," throwing the blankets on top of Amelia. 
"HEY!" she screamed taking a pillow and beaning Zel good across the 
face, hard but playfully.

     He grinned evilly and took his own pillow and hit her back with 
about the same amount of force. They kept hitting each other until 
feathers filled the room. Amelia took her pillow and hit Zel a final 
time and he went down with a grunt. She looked over him worried, 
then Zel opened his eyes and he grinned again. Quickly, he 
shot upward and grabbed her and pulled her down onto the ground 
with him. She giggled as she jumped onto his stomach, one leg on 
each side. She leaned down to his face until there were only a 
few inches between their noses. "I got you! Tag, you're it!" 
she said playfully. He smiled and instictively raised his lips up 
and kissed her cheek, then he looked upon her surprised 
statement. "No, I got you," he wispered as her statement of 
surprise morphed into happiness. She smiled and she returned with 
another kiss, except this time to his lips. She began to pull away 
but Zel gently took her by the neck and stole another kiss. They 
stopped a moment gazing into each others' sapphire pools, wondering 
if this bliss was real and what was to become of it.

     Zel looked into her eyes and noticed there was wanting in 
them. He closed his eyes and took her invitation and was taken 
into heaven. Their breaths were taken away by a deep enrapturing 
kiss. After what seemed like only seconds which was actually minutes, 
their lips separated and they gazed upon each other. After a time, 
simoutaniously they both reached foreward and recieved another kiss. 
And again and again, they stopped then continued for hours. Finally, 
nearly at the brink of dawn, they ceased. They were both silenced 
in confusion of what to do, but both wore a smile. Amelia snuggled 
a little closer to Zel, and much to her surprise he took her into 
his arms and held her as close as their bodies would allow. They 
fell asleep like that, tightly embraced in each others' arms, 
the morning dawning on their dormant bodies together. 



                              To My Brother and Best Friend:

                                         o

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                                     Aqua Tenshi

                                         by 



                                          @

                                         \O/

                                          |

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                                     Weir Tenshi