Amelia felt really awful about the way she’d pre-judged Sylph back at Zhara’s house, now that it was obvious the kitsune might not live. Even Amelia could feel the woman’s life force leeching out of her at an alarming rate. Poor Urlich had tears on his face and had all but given up on threatening Zelgadis’ life. The son of Xellos cradled Sylph in his arms as he ran and tried not to jostle her broken body. The rest of the group surrounded him, torches aloft and swords in hand, except for Amelia who never carried weapons and Zelgadis, who’d broken his sword fighting Xellos and who could barely walk; still, he managed to keep up, his face a stoic mask of pain. Amelia wanted to say something to reassure him that Sylph’s injuries weren’t his fault, only it would be a lie. Zelgadis told them all how Sylph had gotten hurt, that it was because he’d been too stubborn to give in when she’d wanted him to stop or at least slow down before he stumbled and fell. "His poor heart must be breaking," the Princess thought with a tug at her own heart, "to know he might have killed this person who was trying to rescue him from Xellos." She longed to cry for him, since Zelgadis certainly wouldn’t weep for himself, not with Urlich there, and not when it was all his fault. More than that, Amelia wanted to take him in her arms and hold him and soothe him, to make it all better. She silently prayed to every god she knew that Sylph would live, and that whatever had happened to Zelgadis that had made him fall was over now.
        Gods, what if Zel was what had stripped the wards from Zhara’s house and was preventing them all from using magic in the cavern? What if Lina’s theory was correct, and Zelgadis really was becoming a being with all of Rezo’s and Shabranigdo’s powers, a new Dark Lord? Shabranigdo was the most powerful Lord of them all, after the Lord of Nightmares, and the Red Priest had been one of the mightiest sorcerers of the age. Shabranigdo had been split into seven parts. Three of them were known to be destroyed, possibly more, but definitely not all seven. That would leave at least one part of Shabranigdo that could have been passed to Zelgadis when Rezo made his chimera body. That is, if what Lina, Zhara and Urlich reasoned was true. Amelia stole another glance at her beloved, and her heart wrenched again to see the terrible wounds on his body, even with Lina’s cloak covering all but his face and lower legs. Under any other circumstances, seeing him in nothing but a pair of tiny, black underwear and his boots would have been funny, but no one had felt like laughing when they’d seen him, and Lina had quickly given him her cloak. Blood drizzled down Zel’s face from his ruined eye and dripped from his jaw onto the borrowed cloak. He missed just about every other step, and Gourry would catch him, only to have his help violently shrugged off. Lost in a haze of self-pity again, Zelgadis seemed determined not to accept help or sympathy from anyone, even his closest friends. Amelia wanted to scream at him for it, to make him snap out of it and let them take care of him but she held her tongue. The last person he’d take advice from was her.
        "If only I had my magic!" Amelia dispaired. "I could have healed him by now! And Urlich could have healed Sylph enough that carrying her to Zhara’s wouldn’t be so dangerous." She sighed and rubbed her eyes too keep them from tearing up. "Is it you, Zelgadis? Is this really your fault?" What if he really did turn into a Dark Lord? Would he forget everything he’d ever fought for and join the ranks of those trying to destroy the world? Would he turn on them and kill them all? When a vision of Lina Gigaslaving Zelgadis into oblivion lept into her mind, Amelia could no longer hold back the tears. One by one they ran down her cheeks and were blown off her face as she ran, torch aloft, face stubbornly forward. She knew if Zelgadis really did become a Dark Lord, she’d have to help Lina kill him, for the sake of the whole world, for peace and justice. And she’d follow him to the Next World, since she was positive she couldn’t live knowing she’d killed the only man she’d ever loved and ever would. "Zelgadis..."
        "I hope you’re not crying over me, Amelia," Zelgadis thought bitterly, seeing the shining droplets on his friend’s face, "I’m not worth your tears. Don’t you see what kind of man I am? I’m a curse on everyone around me! Even you, you stupid girl. What are you going to do? Spend the rest of your life pining after a worthless bastard like me? Little fool! Stop crying!"
        His worries mirrored Amelia’s, however: What was happening to him? He hadn’t told the others about the terrifying darkness he felt throbbing inside of him, like a dragon about to burst from its egg and hungrily devour every living thing around it. It had drank all of Zelgadis’ magic, then Sylph’s and now it had claimed Lina’s, Urlich’s, Amelia’s and Zhara’s magic, as well. They seemed to think their magic would return once they were out of the cavern, but Zelgadis knew that would never happen if he was with them, and that meant Sylph couldn’t be healed, since she was too far gone for traditional medicine to be able to help her. There was only one thing for him to do, Zelgadis realized, all that remained was to find a way to do it before the others could stop him: He had to leave them. Zel knew if he waited till they got to the portal between Zhara’s house and the cavern it would be too late. They probably make him go in ahead of them, with Urlich and Sylph, since he was wounded; Zhara would bring up the rear in order to seal the entrance to the cavern. That would leave him no opportunity to get away before he did to Zhara’s house what he’d already done to the cavern. If he could get away before that happened, it was possible their magic would return, and Urlich would be able to heal Sylph. Zelgadis knew it was very possible that their magic was gone for good, a part of whatever evil thing it was that he was becoming. It was unlikely he’d be able to give their power back to them, if he would even want to in his new form. If he remembered them as friends...
        Zelgadis hugged himself more tightly under Lina’s cloak. It smelled of her clean scent and some other fragrance, some kind of incense he figured had been in Zhara’s house. The firey, often mercenary young sorceress was his best friend, though he’d never really been able to say it, and rather dreaded how she’d react if he ever did confess. She’d probably go all Amelia on him and take it the wrong way. He didn’t feel like that about her! That was Gourry’s job and the big swordsman was welcome to it. Lina was too temperamental for Zel’s tastes. Way too temperamental. Lara had been perfect (except for being Xellos): Intelligent, witty, sweet, flirty, sexy...damn. Not again. Zelgadis resolved right then and there that no matter what he became, he would remember what Xellos had done to him and to Lara and he’d kill the Trickster for it--in the most painful, prolonged way he could devise. Then he’d kill Beast Master, to keep her from resurrecting her servant. If the Lord of Nightmares disapproved of that, then she was welcome to kill him. She’d only be doing him a favor.
        Zelgadis stumbled again, and again Gourry reached out to catch him, and again his friend jerked out of his solicitous grasp. Gourry didn’t say anything, though, didn’t scold Zelgadis or yell at him for being such a grouch. No, Gourry understood what Zelgadis was feeling more than Zel or Lina or anybody would believe if he told them. A woman was dead because of Zel, and another might die because of him, as well--in Zel’s boots, Gourry would want to be dead, too. That’s what he imagined Zelgadis was feeling, that he wanted to die for all the horrible things that had happened to Dr. Sorez and Sylph because of him. And if he was the one turning into a Dark Lord, Gourry would be begging somebody to kill him before he became a monster out to destroy the world! Gourry didn’t like the idea of hurting one of his best friends, but if Zelgadis asked him to do the deed, Gourry knew he’d kill Zel if it was the only way to save him from becoming one of Xellos’ kind. "I’ll make it quick," he promised Zelgadis silently, "I promise you won’t feel a thing, Zel. I swear it on the Sword of Light!"
        Lina ran beside Urlich and Sylph, her torch lighting the path ahead of them. Beneath the dirt and blood, Sylph’s face looked strangely peaceful. Lina feared the kitsune might be dead but she could still feel a shimmer of life force coming from her. It wasn’t much but it meant she was still alive. A memory of Sylph excitedly pushing a newspaper clipping about Dr. Lara Sorez’s murder under her nose jumped into Lina’s mind and made her catch her breath. "She was so perky," Lina remembered sadly, then the sadness was replaced with cold determination. "No! She won’t die! We’ll make it back to the house, and we’ll heal her--Urlich, me and Amelia! She’s going to be fine!...and so will Zelgadis," Lina added to herself with slightly less enthusiasm. His aura already felt like a Mozouku’s, with just the slightest flicker of the old Zelgadis mixed into it. It was a wonder he was able to keep himself together, with all the forces that must be pushing and pulling at him, trying to force their way out. How could they save him?! There had to be a way to reverse what was happening!
        Lina gasped as the only possible (acceptable to her) solution became apparent. They would have to find a way to give Zelgadis what he’d wanted ever since Rezo had changed him: His old, fully Human body. But years of searching hadn’t produced the counterspell. Surely Rezo had known how to undo his curse when he cast it? "And if Rezo knew, and Zelgadis is becoming a back-up Rezo, then--" Lina almost dropped her torch at such a radical thought "--then when Zelgadis transforms, he’ll know how to turn into a Human! He’ll have the cure he’s been looking for!" But would he still want it, was the question. "Well," Lina thought with a wicked gleam in her eyes, "we’ll just have to make him want it!" And she was just the girl to make somebody do something they didn’t want to! Zelgadis the Dark Lord would be no match for the mighty will of Lina Inverse!
        Not that she wanted the challenge, or anything, since that would mean Zel would have to become a Dark Lord. And if she couldn’t make him change himself into a Human, and if he really was evil and destructive, then she’d have to destroy him, just as she’d done to every other Dark Lord or monster who got in her way. "Oh, Zel..." Lina didn’t think she could kill him. She loved Gourry with all her heart, but Zelgadis was her best friend, a true friend, someone she could actually have an intelligent conversation with (trying that with Gourry always gave her a headache). And where would he be without her to snap him out of those deep funks he was always wallowing in? He was sort of like having a big brother, one that was a lot nicer to her than her sister ever was. "Snap out of it, Inverse! If Zelgadis will listen to anybody, he’ll listen to you!" She smirked. "Whether he likes it or not."
        It was then that Zelgadis came to a decision and made it known to his companions: "I can’t go with you," he said, his voice ragged from the cry he’d had over his failure to kill Xellos and from more than an hour of disuse. "I’m the reason you can’t use magic and if I enter your house, Zhara, Urlich won’t have the magic he needs to heal Sylph. I have to stay behind."
        "Oh, don’t be such a martyr!" Lina began but one look at Zelgadis’ expression and she choked on her words.
        Zelgadis stopped running, turned and dashed off at demon speed back the way they’d come, before any of the rest of them could slow down, much less stop running altogether. "Zelgadis! Wait!" Zhara shouted after him. Lina, Amelia and Gourry yelled for him to come back, but it was no use. He was long gone.
        "Shit!" Zhara cursed and stomped her foot. "Somebody’s gotta go after him," she looked around the ring of frustrated faces and paused, eye to eye, with Amelia. The Princess’ tears quieted her own rage told her just who should be part of the rescue party. "You go, Princess. Lina and Gourry, too. He’s your friend, maybe he’ll listen to you. Url and I’ll take care of Sylph."
        "Zhara..." Gourry began, but she shook her head.
        "You better get going: He’s got a head start, but I don’t think he’ll be able to keep up that speed in his condition and without light." She waved to them, then she and Urlich turned and started running again. "Good luck!"
        Lina and her friends watched them go for a few moments, then Lina got her head together and whacked Amelia and Gourry on their shoulders. "Well, what are we waiting for?! Let’s get him!"