Zelgadis groaned, and rolled his head. 'Ugh... where am I?' he thought, blurry. His eyes opened, and caught sight of someone he didn't think he'd see again.
"Xellos!"
The purple haired Mazoku smiled. "Zel-kun," he said huskily, his voice filled with some sort of emotion. "Konnichi wa."
Zel sat up, and rubbed his eyes. "Where are we?" he asked, looking around. The surrounding area seemed to be what he thought the Sea of Chaos would be, but it wasn't it...
"Limbo. L-sama hasn't quite gotten around to processing us yet," Xellos said with a lop-sided smile.
The former chimera started when he suddenly remembered something. "Lina!"
"Hm? What was that?" Xellos looked at him with concerned amethyst eyes.
"I didn't have time to talk to Lina!" he said, panicked. "S-she must... oh, L-sama..."
Yes?
A being filled the area in front of the two. It reformed into a very shapely young, blonde woman. She was smiling mischievously. I heard everything, She continued telepathically. Very intelligent, stone boy. I'm sure My chosen is feeling wonderful about your death.
Zelgadis glared at the Lord of Nightmares. "I didn't mean to go without talking to her," he growled. "You're the Lord of Nightmares; send me back."
Tsk, tsk. Such an attitude. How do you deal with him, Xellos Metallium?
"It's a talent," he said, keeping his face averted from the Dark Lord of Dark Lords.
Oh, drop the formality. So, Zelgadis Greywords... I'm sorry! She said cheerfully. Once someone dies, I can't send them back, even to say baibai!
Zel growled at Her cheeriness. "I need to talk to her. There has to be some way, just some way..." He ignored the motions Xellos was making. "Or are you saying You, the Dark Lord of Dark Lords, the King of Chaos, the Lord of Nightmares, aren't even that powerful?" he taunted.
L-sama giggled. Oh, you have spunk, She said, flipping Her hand. Well, I guess I should reward that somehow. Hmm... how? Aha! She clapped Her hands. My chosen has something of yours. You can go into her dreams to talk to her.
Zel rolled his eyes. "You are a bit ditzy, did you know that?" he told her while ignoring Xellos' frantic motions.
She laughed outright. You're quite mouthy, did you know that? She said, mocking him. Ah, well. At least I know why Lina fell for you. She waved Her hand. Go! And don't come back 'til you talk to her!
Something bumped into him, and suddenly he was looking down at a room. Lina was holding something ivory in her hands, a tear sliding down her face. She curled up in the bed, holding the thing, Zelgadis' cape, in her hands. More tears ran down her face as she laid there in the dark.
Zel reached out to comfort her...
And his hands fell right through her.
He looked down at his hands, surprised. What the... oh. I forgot. Zel glanced back at Lina, and realized that she had finally cried herself to sleep. He touched her hand where she held the cape...
Crying filled the air. He looked around, and saw a chibi-Lina sitting down on a hill, crying. Zelgadis walked over to her, and sat next to her. "What's wrong?" he asked the fiery haired girl.
"H-h-he left me!!" she wailed. "I never got to tell him... He j-j-just left!"
"Lina, is that all that's wrong?" he asked as he gathered the small child close to him.
She shook her head. "He died..." Lina said in a small voice. "I didn't want him to die. And... he had gotten what he always wanted. I think it killed him."
"Maybe he didn't get what he always wanted. Maybe... all he wanted was love," Zel suggested.
Lina's body slowly grew, until it was the shape of a fifteen year old girl. "I would have given it to him," she whispered. "I never wanted him to die..."
"Lina..." Zel stroked her back. "I never wanted to die, either."
Slowly, her ruby eyes met his. "Z-zel...?" Lina blinked, then she hugged him passionately. "Oh, Zel, I never got to tell you... Zel, I... I love you..." she bawled.
"I love you too," he whispered. "I didn't want to leave you. I'm sorry."
Lina grabbed his shirt. "Forget that," she growled. "I want you to make it up to me."
He blushed at that. "I would, but L-sama only gave me a limited amount of time."
Oh, please do! an amused voice said telepathically. Zel growled as he recognized it as the Lord of Nightmares. You see, She continued, I rarely get shows like this! Lina and Zel both blushed (OK, Zel went a little deeper red than what he had before) at that. However, L-sama said, mock seriously, Zelgadis only gets one dream. And, My chosen, you're waking up. You won't remember this wholly, but you'll remember most of it. Now, Zelgadis, kiss her bye!!
Zel grumbled under his breath. Then, he formally kissed her cheek. "Goodbye, Lina," he whispered gently.
Ah, ah! A real kiss, Zelgadis!
Before he could even start to complain about Her under his breath, Lina grabbed him and kissed his with all the pent up emotion she had. When they pulled apart, tears laced her ruby eyes. "I'd fight for you," she whispered, "but it would be sorta useless to fight the Lord of Nightmares, huh?"
Yeah, but it'd be impressive! L-sama said cheerfully. Let's go, Zelgadis!
Zel rolled his eyes, starting to understand why most people said death wasn't glorious. "Goodbye, Lina," he whispered as he started to fade from her dream...
Lina sat up in her bed suddenly, the sun in her eyes. She sat there for a moment, her hands absently stroking Zel's cloak. Her nose felt stopped up, and she still felt sad, but with an oddly comforted soul. To the empty room, she whispered the words she just knew were appropriate then:
"Goodbye, Zel."