Authour's note: This came about when I noticed that at the beginning of the series, Zel is really strong and really fast. As the series progresses, he stops using his chimeric and swordsman abilities quite as much, relying on magic and brains to get through the battles. 

This was written in three parts, at three different times. The first part is actually the first Slayers fic I ever wrote. Not exactly sure/comfortable with the story, but it's done and out of my head, and thats all that matters. *grin* 

Fading

By Icka! M. Chif

Zelgadis woke up with the taste of blood in his mouth. Holding his breath, he rolled to a sitting position and grabbed the handkerchief that he had left on the night stand and held it to his mouth just before the urge to cough became too great. The bitter sound of hacking filled the room for several minutes before it subsided, leaving the chimera feeling drained. Exhausted, he fell back on to the pillows, catching his breath. 

Of all the things he'd fought, why did this one scare him the most?

With a sigh, he glanced over at his roommate for the night. Gourry was still fast asleep, un-disturbed the by the coughing fit. Good. He didn't want anyone to find out quite yet what was happening.

He wondered if any of them had caught on that he wasn't using his swordsman abilities as much. Gourry was dense, but had a disturbing habit of being highly acute at the strangest times. Lina probably wouldn't notice at all since it had nothing to do with food and very little to do with magic. And Amelia...

There was the tricky one. Amelia was a Shamanist, like him, and there fore could sense changes in energies and magic. And if she had cause to do so, she would check. He had to leave before they caught on. 

And he didn't want to hurt her, he admitted silently. Or any of them for that matter. But he had grown rather fond of the Princess of Salioone. Behind that too hyper appearance and drive for justice was a rather knowledgeable mind. They had spent many hours on the road enjoyable talking about magic, politics and any subject they could think of. Lina had taken to teasing them about it, but he knew that Lina did it out of concern than anything else.

A sudden bitter taste in the back of his throat was all the warning he had of the oncoming coughing fit, effectively ending that train of thought. He leaned over the side of the bed, coughing into the handkerchief once more.

With a wheeze, it finally stopped and he looked up to check on Gourry. If anything, the swordsman's snoring had gotten louder. Thank the Gods...

He rolled back on to the bed, only to be poked in the back by something hard and sharp. With a muffled curse, he dug it out of the mattress and held it up to the dim moon light.

It was a small blue-black stone, about a third the size of his fist, that glinted a bit in the light. With a small pang, Zelgadis recognised it. How could he not? He saw it every day, it was one of the many stones that covered his cursed body.

Tomorrow.

He would leave tomorrow. There wasn't another option. He couldn't run the risk of being there and not being able to protect the others. Or worse, they would have to protect him. They would be better off without him if it came to that.

The magic Rezo had put in his body was running out, which meant this freak body was dying. That was why he'd been relying on sorcery more than his chimeric abilities as they traveled. His body acted as a conduit for the magical energies, much like electricity through copper wire. 

But even that was failing him now.

He had first noticed it when fighting Gaav, when he had actually bled for the first time since he had been cursed. It had been verified several months later when he stopped the cannon ball with his head. 

He'd never been knocked out by a cannon ball before. 

He'd had heavier objects hit his head before, like boulders, buildings and even Lina, but he had never been knocked out by a hit like that before. His skin was still thick and strong enough to stop things that would cause injuries in normal flesh, such as bullets, but it was gradually weakening. His strength and speed were also fading along with it, he was no where as fast as he had been when he'd first met Lina and Gourry. 

But Lina, Gourry and Amelia didn't need to know that. The last thing he wanted was them to pity him any more than they already did. So they couldn't find out. They wouldn't find out.

He wouldn't let anyone know he was dying.

The dark blue stone in his hand caught his fancy for a moment. It reminded him of Amelia's eyes, so dark they could suck you into their depths, yet sparkled like stars. 

Maybe he should give it to Amelia before he left, she'd probably like it. She enjoyed the simplest things in life sometimes. It was one of the reasons why he liked her. He paused, wondering where that thought came from. It normally wasn't like him to give things away. Especially not pieces of himself.

Well, why not? He shrugged mentally, setting the stone on the small night table next to the bed. He could afford to be generous at the moment. 

That decision made, he closed his eyes and reclined on the bed again, falling asleep.


"You, you're leaving?" Amelia's words shattered the silence of the dawn. He had waited for their group to step out of the inn before breaking the news to them. This way the Inn wouldn't run the risk of getting damaged by someone making emphatic, heated gestures.

He nodded, crossing his arms in a stubborn gesture. "I heard rumours of a cure in the other direction."

"We'll go with you!" Lina cheered, the sparkle of greed in her eyes. She was well aware that if it wasn't a cure for him, there was a good chance that it was some other sort of magic. And she loved a good adventure, which rumours of a cure also often lead to as well. 

He shook his head. "I'd prefer to go alone on this one. And you have to get Amelia back to Salioon in three days, remember?"

"Ohh, yeah." Gourry nodded. "Prince Phil's surprise party!"

"So we'll take a small detour." Lina shrugged.

"Ano, Lina-san, the last small detour we took ended up taking us three months to get home." Amelia pointed out. 

The corner of Lina's eye began to twitch. "Thank you, Amelia." 

"You're welcome!"

Zelgadis gave a small smile as Amelia chirped and bounced up and down a little. He really was going to miss them. 

Lina studied him intently for a minute, a suspicious look on her face. Like she knew that something was going on, but she didn't know what. "Why don't you come with us, then we can look for your cure after the party?" She offered.

He shook his head. "I'd prefer to head out while the leads fresh. And I'm not really much of a city person."

"And there's gonna be a LOT of people there..." Gourry supplied helpfully, unknowingly backing him up. Lina twitched in annoyance, but let the matter drop.

"Well, we'll catch up to you later then!" She said firmly. Zelgadis smiled at his oldest friend, well, oldest living friend now that Zolf and Rodimus were dead, and nodded. She nodded back, a serious look in her eye that was usually reserved for big trouble she watched him pull up his hood, partially masking his features. It really was best that he was going now, or she'd have more proof for that serious look.

As he put his hands down, he brushed the bag he'd stuck in his belt. The one with the stone he'd been thinking of giving to Amelia. 

Should he?

Well, it was either now or never. "Here." He tossed a small package to Amelia and started to walk away.

He heard a small gasp behind him as Amelia opened it up, followed by a soft coo of "It's so pretty..." 

A small smile flickered across his face. He had been right, she liked it. Good.

"Zelgadis-san! Thank you!" Amelia called behind him. He paused long enough to flash them the victory sign. Amelia had the stone in her hand, a lovely smile on her face. Lina was looking a bit jealous and Gourry was towering over Amelia, looking intently at the stone.

He felt a pang of regret for leaving them, but quickly covered that up. He was supposed to be a cold heartless swordsman after all. A freak. They'd be better off with out him. And if he kept saying that, maybe someday he'd believe too. 

Zelgadis turned back around and continued to walk. 

"Zelgadis-san! Catch!" Amelia shouted.

*Thunk!* Something hit him in the back of the head, ruining his dramatic exit. He idly rubbed where he had been hit, looking down. 

It was one of Amelia's bracelets, with a lighter blue stone than the one he'd given her twinkling up at him. 

He knelt down and picked it up, confused. Glancing up, Amelia waved at him. "See you later, Zelgadis-san!" She cheered. He waved back, carefully cradling the bracelet in the palm of his hand. The trio waved back one last time, then he turned and continued down the path.

Glancing at the bracelet one last time, he put it in his pocket, then pulled up his mask. He paused and gave a final glance at the trio that had become his friends and smiled. Lina and Gourry were already arguing good natured about something as Amelia attempted to break it up.

He turned and resolutely walked the other way.

"Sayonara."


Princess Amelia Wil Salioon was feeling uneasy. She was sure it wasn't the shrimp scampi that one of the ambassadors had prepared, for one thing nobody appeared to be getting sick. It was something else... something that she just couldn't quite put her finger on.

Excusing herself from the after dinner chit-chat, Amelia rose and walked out of the main dining hall to the comfort and quiet of the library. She shut the doors behind her, careful to make as little noise as possible so as not to disturb any other library patrons. She didn't see anyone, but that didn't mean anything. 

She headed to a private back corner that people rarely visited. Or would at least respect her privacy there. With a sigh, she sat down in one of the deep chairs and attempted to relax. The uneasy feeling remained.

Letting out a deep breath, she meditatively pulled the stone Zelgadis-san had tossed her out of a hidden pocket. She'd started carrying it with her everywhere as a good luck charm, even after she had shed her traveling garb for more regal garments. 

It reminded her of Zelgadis-san in several ways. It was like no stone that she had ever seen before, nor the few people she had shown it to. It was not sapphire, nor any sort of precious stone or metal. Nor was it common, either. It was dark, and mysterious, like Zelgadis-san. And yet at the same time, it held an almost cheerful sparkle to it if held up to the light. 

It also helped that the stone had Zelgadis-san's energy signature all over it. It had either been in his possession for a long time, or had been a part of him. She giggled over the last part, fancying that it was actually one of the rocks that covered the chimera.

But still, no matter what the reasons, it gave her a focal point in which she could check on him. He'd been quieter than normal during the last part of their trip together and she had worried about him a bit. Not that she'd voiced it to anybody, her like of the chimera was well known, but she could have sworn that Lina had been concerned for him too when they had last parted ways.

She cleared her mind and reached out with her abilities, finding the similar aura of the stone. Her first reaction when she did was puzzlement. Zelgadis-san's aura was much, much weaker than it had been the last time she had checked on him, just two days ago. And that had been weaker than when she had last seen him, a little over two weeks ago.

Frowning, she strengthened the connection. This couldn't be right. But... the aura was un-mistakably Zelgadis-san's.

PAIN.

With a gasp, Amelia jerked backwards in the chair, the link gone. It had felt.. it felt like... dying. Like he was in so much pain that he was almost dead.

Steadying herself, she did it again, finding the faint connection. This time, she steadied herself against the pain, trying to reach the energies that were familiar to her. The aura that she knew every time they double teamed their magics together without having to think about it.

There was so little left, it scared her. And it was fading fast. Summoning her strength, she poured it into him, strengthening the bond that held him to this world. He flickered for a moment, then became more solid, more real to her senses. 

She remained there, in the world between light and dark for an insurmountable amount of time out of concern for her friend. The sudden drop in his energies had scared her, and she wanted to make sure that he wasn't about to fade from her again. He was weak, she could feel that. What had happened in the short time that they had been separated that could do this to her chimera? 

Or had this been happening for a long time and she had failed to notice? The thought chilled her.

Zelgadis' energies shifted under her watchful senses. He wasn't in any danger of disappearing again from the feel of it, but he was changing. The magic that she could identify with him was vanishing, leaving something else in it's place. 

Alarmed, Amelia reached out with her energies again to stop it, to save him. With a sad mew, she realised that she didn't have the energy to do so. She had barely enough to return back to her own body. 

She reached for him anyway, attempting to put a halt to what was happening to Zelgadis. There was a brief contact, as she finally did reach him and a feeling of weariness and gratitude washed over her. Hope flared in her chest, things were going to be all right.

Then she was abruptly pushed out of the connection and back into her own body in the dark corner of the library. 

Amelia lay in the darkness, unmoving as she gathered herself back together again. The first thing she was aware of was just how exaughsted she was. Her body felt sluggish, slow. She was drained, having given him more energy than she had thought. Her teachers would scold her for that if they found out what she had done. Yet it had seemed like so little at the time...

The second thing she was aware of was that there were more candles burning around her than when she had sat down. While she had been away, the sun had set. Which meant that several hours had passed. No wonder she was stiff. With a muted groan, Amelia pulled herself out of the chair, the now silent stone clenched stubbornly in her fist. 

Zelgadis-san needed help. And she was damned if she was just going to stand by idly when someone needed her. 

Especially when it was one of her friends.



"Anou, Amelia. Are you sure that this is where he'd be?" Lina questioned, scratching her head.

Amelia nodded, a quick bounce of the head. "Hn. This is about where I last had contact with him."

Unseen by Lina, she nervously rubbed the stone Zelgadis had given her with her thumb. She hadn't been able to pick anything off of it since she'd left the palace two days ago. She'd run into Lina and Gourry late last night. Evidently, she wasn't the only one who had been worried about the blue chimera. 

Lina and Gourry had decided to track down Zelgadis after they left from her father's party. The flame haired sorceress had claimed that it was because she was sure Zelgadis was hiding some sort of secret treasure horde from her.

Gourry had scratched his head and asked wasn't it because she had stated that he hadn't been looking like himself the past couple of days that they had been traveling together. 

One pummeling and a quick healing spell later, they were all searching for Zelgadis far off the beaten trail and deep into the forest.

"Oi." Gourry stopped in mid stride a thoughtful look on his face, causing Lina to crash in him. 

"Baka! What do you think you're doing?!" Lina snapped, taking a step backwards and rubbing her head. 

"Do you hear that?" He asked, looking down at her unconcerned about the bodily harm the smaller person was quietly threatening.

Both Amelia and Lina paused, straining their hearing. Bird sounds, wind through the trees, some animals nearby, Amelia recognised. All perfectly normal sounds for this far into the forest. "Hear what?" Amelia finally asked. 

"Over this way. I think I hear someone." Gourry pointed off to their right. 

"Zel? Is it Zel?" Lina asked eagerly, bouncing up and down a bit. Amelia clutched the stone tighter, biting her lip nervously. She hoped so. 

Gourry shrugged. "I don't know."

"Let's find out!" Lina took off running, dragging the larger swordsman along with her. How she did that, Amelia could never figure out. But she seemed to be able to do it often and consistently, usually when food, treasure, or running for their lives was involved. One of those mysteries of Lina that was never to be solved. Amelia blinked, then cast a quick levitation, speeding up to catch up to them. 

The trio stopped in front of what appeared to be a very run down and slightly rotting old cabin. It was inhabited, Amelia realised. There were clothes on a line off to one side, and she could hear someone chopping wood in the back.

"I don't like this." Lina frowned, walking over to the clothes line. Gourry and Amelia hesitantly shadowed her. As they got closer, Amelia let out a gasp. They were Zelgadis' clothes and cloak, with some half faded stains that hadn't been there before. They appeared to be blood. 

"Looks like Zel was in a fight." Lina commented. The comment was said dryly, but there was a hard, flat tone in her voice. Like she was preparing for a fight herself. "Let's go ask the woodcutter if he knows anything about this."

"Hai." Amelia and Gourry nodded in unison. A few quick hand motions later, they divided up. Gourry headed to the far side of the cabin, the Hikari no Ken loose in it's scabbard as Lina and Amelia went the other way.

The two girls peeked their heads around the corner of the cabin, glancing at the wood cutter. He was fairly tall, with a lean build and a short mane of unruly spiky black hair. And human. "Dang it." Lina muttered, straightening up and walking out.

"Hey, buddy!" Lina called, resting a hand on her hip as Amelia crawled out after her. Something was bothering her, this didn't feel quite right. It almost felt... almost felt like she'd met him before somehow. The person's aura was semi-familiar as well, but it wasn't the chimera's.

The wood cutter paused, peering at them out of the corner of an eye. "Yes?" he asked, tone mildly amused as he set a piece of wood on the block to cut in half.

"We're looking for a friend of ours." Lina continued. "Maybe you've seen him. Those are his clothes on the line out front."

"Depends." The wood cutter grunted, bringing the axe he was holding down on the piece of wood. It split in two even halves with a resounding 'thwak!'. Amelia flinched. Didn't the guy have enough wood cut up? There was a freshly cut stack beside him as tall as she was, and twice her height long. 

He picked up the pieces and tossed them on to the pile. "What does he look like?" He asked, before setting another piece on the block. 

Lina glared daggers at his back. "He's a sorcerer. Tall, carries a large sword with him. Blue skin, purple hair. He's a chimera. You seen him?"

'Thwak!' The axe came down again, cutting the wood into halves again. "Sorry." The man commented, his tone barely hiding his amusement as he picked it up. "There are no chimeras around here anymore."

"Whaddya mean 'anymore'?!" Lina snapped as the man continued his work, heedless of the fury behind him.

"Oi, Lina!" Gourry came crashing through the brush behind him. "The other way was blocked, so I had to come back around. Sorry I'm late."

Lina merely growled, her eyes beginning to sparkle dangerously. Amelia whimpered, torn between figuring out why the guy was so familiar and running way from the imminent fireball. Gourry took the opportunity to notice the woodcutter. "Oh, there you are, Zelgadis!" He called cheerfully. 

"Hello, Gourry." The woodcutter said, clearly amused as he put another piece of wood on the chopping block. The axe flashed, then came down on the un-suspecting piece of lumber.

'Thwak!'

"Zel/Zelgadis-san?!" Amelia and Lina shouted, scaring several of the local wildlife away.

Zelgadis picked up the fallen pieces and tossed them into the pile. "Took you long enough." He commented, flashing them a sly smile.

Lina let out a high-pitched hyper shriek and ran over, multiple images of her appearing as she examined the former chimera. Zelgadis with stood the scrutiny with bemused grace, setting the axe down next to the block. 

Amelia stood rooted to the spot, her heart pounding in her ears as her brain attempted to process what her eyes were seeing. Zelgadis was alive. Zelgadis was human.

"Not bad." Lina finally announced, slapping Zelgadis on the back. He stumbled forward half a step, grimacing. "Oops! Sorry, Zel!"

"I'm not made of stone." He grumbled, rubbing his back. "At least, not anymore." Lina looked apologetic at that. Or as apologetic as she got.

"Congratulations!" Gourry grinned, looking pleased. 

Zelgadis smiled back. "Thanks." His grin faded slightly as he glanced at Amelia with a slightly worried look. She continued to stare at him, speechless. 

"So how'd you do it?!" Lina grinned mischievously, leaning forward. "Some fabulous rare artifact? One of Rezo's spell books? Bribed a Kami with a long lost treasure trove?"

"Actually..." The former chimera finally caught the princess gaze and held it with a fond look. "It's all Amelia's fault."

"Nani?!" Gourry and Lina turned to her. She blinked, broken out of the trance she had been in.

"My fault?" She squeaked. Zelgadis smirked at her, a familiar expression on a not quite so familiar face. "How?"

"Rezo's magic had been slowly leaving my body." He explained. "It was dying."

"So that's why you left!" Lina glared at him. "You could have said something!!! Baka!"

Zelgadis shrugged it off as Gourry adopted a thoughtful look. "So that's why you kept coughing at night." 

"You could have said something about that too." Lina hissed at him. 

"Anou, back to Zelgadis-san becoming human?" Amelia prompted before Lina could get Gourry in a head lock. They both immediately straighten, at attention once more. 

Zelgadis sighed, rubbing the top of his head with one hand in a long suffering gesture. "Long story short, as Rezo's magic was leaving, Amelia somehow found my spirit and kept it from leaving my body as well. Once the magic left, I was left... in a human body." He looked up, his eyes staring into hers. "If you hadn't, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. Thank you."

She ignored the blush that crept up into her cheeks, a giddy feeling rising up in her chest. He was alive. He was okay. He had *thanked* her. 

Somehow, Amelia restrained herself from doing backflips, singing the national anthem and cheering at the top of her lungs from a very tall place. "You're welcome." She murmured back instead.

"So..." Lina caught their attention again, motioning to the wood pile with a thumb. "Why the wood cutting?"

"Builds up callus and muscles." Zelgadis explained, opening and closing a hand into a fist like he was holding an imaginary sword in his hand. "If I'm going to be traveling with you again, I'd better be up on my swordsman skills since I can't do magic anymore."

"Don't worry." Gourry clapped Zelgadis on a shoulder in a friendly gesture. "We'll bring you up to speed!"

Zelgadis made a face like he wasn't quite sure if that was a good thing or not. Amelia hid a smile. 

"So you want to travel with us some more?" She asked innocently, with a playful wink in Lina's direction. The red-haired sorceress grinned devilishly. 

Zelgadis shrugged. "It's not like I have anything better to do now, is there?"

Lina assumed a pondering air. "What makes you think that we would want you to come along with us, Zel?" She asked with a calculating look at his now human body.

He crossed his arms. "Who else is going to put up with you?" Zelgadis deadpanned. 

"Good point." Gourry nodded wisely. Amelia broke up into giggles. Lina held the serious look for a second or two before grinning as well. 

"Alright. Grab your gear Zel and let's go!!!" She cheered. 

"My packs in the cabin, ready to go." Zelgadis announced, motioning toward the cabin. "Do we have destination in mind?"

"Destination?" Amelia grinned, stepping close enough to loop an arm through his. He smiled fondly at her as they all headed for the afore mentioned cabin. "Since when have we ever needed a destination?"

Fin.