Zelgadis awoke to find he was no longer in the Lord of Nightmares’ bedroom but was now floating naked amidst golden clouds in a place of indescribable serenity and beauty. It never entered his mind to question the reality of the place—he simply knew he wasn’t dreaming. He was also sharply aware of himself, especially of the fact that he hadn’t a stitch on. He reached down to cover himself and made a marvelous discovery: He was Human again. She’d made him Human again! Zelgadis laughed, a light chuckle that quickly became an insane chortle that would have made Xellos flush with pride. He groped himself, caressed his own soft, pink flesh, eagerly ran his fingers through his silky hair, then messed it up for the fun of smoothing it out again.
       "You’ll get bored with that after the first few hundred years," said the Lord of Nightmares’ disembodied voice. She sounded bored already.
       Zelgadis looked around for his former bed mate but found only more clouds. What was with all the clouds?
       "I’m immortal?" He asked the air.
       "That’s the usual arrangement in the afterlife." L-Sama materialized in front of him, perched on a cloud and wearing a short, white, silk tunic. The first thing Zel noticed was that she had great legs. Then he noticed she wasn’t smoking, which he found vaguely disturbing. "Now," she leaned forward to rest her chin on her knuckles, giving him a wicked grin and a great view of her cleavage, "we decide what kind of immortality you’ll have, Zelgadis Greywers: Torture or Paradise. Depends on how you behaved during your mortal life."
       Zelgadis blinked at her stupidly, forgetting his nakedness and her attributes for the moment in favor of this more puzzling development. "I’m dead?"
       She winked. "You catch on quick!"
       He’d always wanted to die happy but Zel never imagined sex would kill him! True, it had been with a god, so maybe his mere mortal mind and body hadn’t been able to handle it, but…lethal sex?
       "Look, I know I’m a rank amateur in bed, but bad sex is no reason to kill a man!" Watching him make that outraged declaration naked and pointing angrily at her with more than just his finger made L-Sama giggle, which did nothing good for Zelgadis’ state of mind. "What’s so damn funny?!"
       She shook her head, still chuckling. "Nothing…never mind. Hee-hee!"
       He frowned darkly and crossed his arms. "I’m not a vain man but even I don’t think my body is laughable!"
       "No, it’s not," she agreed with a giggle, "I actually think you’re kind of cute."
       "’Kind of’?"
       L-Sama loved dead people. She loved how they left all their inhibitions behind with their mortal lives and just said whatever they felt, however they felt like saying it. No more bowing and scraping, no more "my lady", "master" or any of that groveling shit.
       "Well, I’ve seen better—" She admitted with a grin. "Hell! I’ve made better!" That sent her into a riotous fit of laughter, rolling around the cloud, gripping her sides, tears streaming down her face.
       Zelgadis decided she wasn’t pretty like that. "So! This is the afterlife, is it? I get mocked by you for all eternity? Wonderful…"
       He jumped from his cloud to a neighboring one, then to another and another, each leap taking him farther from L-Sama the hyena. Bitch. Why’d she kill him, anyway? He wasn’t that bad in the sack. Ok, so he hadn’t actually done much of anything—couldn’t do much of anything. Zelgadis paused thoughtfully for a moment, then continued cloud hopping. His encounter with the Lord of Nightmares was starting to come back to him: From the first kiss, he’d felt his life force leeching out of him and going into her. Every touch had made the drain more powerful until he’d been unable to move, then she’d said something to him…what was it… Zel’s brain groped about for a while till it finally found a memory of her looking down at him with big, sad eyes and saying: "What a waste." What had she meant by that? His life? Or had she thought she’d get something out of him that hadn’t been there and, tough luck for him, her methods wound up killing him. Had she even meant for him to die? Wait, this was the Lord of Nightmares he was thinking about: If she’d wanted him to live, he wouldn’t be where he was now (presumably the afterlife, or at least a pitstop on the way to the afterlife).
       "Where do you think you’re going?"
       "AH!" Zelgadis almost jumped out of his skin when she appeared on his cloud, scant inches from him. He lost his balance and flailed wildly about until she caught hands and pulled him gently to her. She lay his head on her shoulder and stroked his hair as she spoke in a voice that was almost too soft to hear. "Be still," she cooed, and Zelgadis obediently relaxed against her and started to cry. "It’s alright. All mortals die."
       "I don’t understand why you killed me!" Zel moaned into her hair. It still smelled like Jasmine.
       She kissed the top of his head and sank to her knees, still holding him like a hurt child. "I found I wouldn’t be able to control the creature you would become, nor could I separate that spirit from yours while you were alive. Death was the only option."
       His arms tightened around her neck and his eyes squeezed shut against the tears as images flashed through his mind: Lina Inverse grinning triumphantly after once again pulling him out of his usual cloud of gloom. He saw Gourry holding the sword of light, a wicked gleam in his blue eyes. Amelia looking hurt after he’d once again refused to return her affection, then making one of her justice speeches. Firia and Xellos arguing. Then he saw Lara. Not Xellos as Lara, but Lara, the real one as he imagined she’d be, as he remembered her the morning they’d…when he didn’t know it was Xellos. He then saw himself in his last instant of humanity, standing in shock before Rezo the Red Priest, surrounded by crackling light and realizing he’d just made the biggest mistake of his life. Too late now. He sobbed into the Lord of Nightmares’ jasmine-scented hair, catching some of the spider web strands between his lips.
       Zelgadis drew back so he could look into her face…and lost whatever he’d planned to say in her infinite, star-filled eyes. In the back of his mind he could hear Rezo laughing at him. L-Sama gently pushed his head back down against her shoulder and rocked him while his tears soaked her hair.
       "I don’t want to die…"

        "How could you let her take him?!" Princes Amelia screamed into Xellos’ face. She had a death grip on his shirt and was using it to shake him mercilessly. "You creep! I hate you! You’re such a jerk! How could you?!" She dragged him down until they were nose-to-nose. "And don’t give me any of that ‘it’s a secret’ bullshit, or I’ll take that staff, shove it down your throat and pull it out your butt!"
        Everybody else in the room, even Beast Master cringed and sweat, staring wide-eyed at the heretofore sweet, innocent, justice-and-mercy-loving Princess of Seyruun. Lina gulped. She approached Amelia cautiously, palms spread in a placating gesture, meaning to talk the Princess down, but the look of pure animal fury Amelia turned on her sent the mighty sorceress scurrying back to the safety of Gourry’s arms.
        "Ah…ahem!" Zellas Metallium began, inching toward her servant with the intent of snatching him out of Amelia’s grasp. "Let’s try to be reasonable about this, hm?"
        "TO HELL WITH REASONABLE!"
        Ok, so much for the polite approach. Beast Master puffed herself up and leveled her best Look of Doom™ right into Amelia’s blazing eyes. "Have you any idea who you’re talking to, mortal?!" She pointed an enraged finger in Amelia’s face and commanded importantly: "Unhand my servant before I blow you into the next life!"
        Amelia’s resolve wavered but only for a moment. "Make…my…day…"
        Xellos managed to get his hands around the human vice that had hold of his shirt but hard as he squeezed or pulled, even his supernatural strength couldn’t pry Amelia’s hands loose. "Princess, this isn’t helping Zelgadis," he cooed silkily. "And what would he think of that lang—"
        "SHUT UP!" Amelia tightened her grip until the Trickster Priest was gasping for air. "I want answers and I want ‘em NOW! Why’d you let her take him?! WHY?!"
        Gourry leaned down and muttered into Lina’s ear: "She’s been hanging around you too long!"
        Lina responded by jabbing him in the ribs with her elbow with enough force to double him over.
        Zellas got hold of Amelia’s wrists and squeezed hard until at last Amelia’s grip broke. "You won’t get answers like that," Beast Master snarled as Amelia struggled to free herself from the Dark Lord’s painful grip. Zellas threw the Princess away from her, sending her reeling into Garroll’s chest. He wrapped his arms around her and used all his strength to keep her from launching herself back at the Metalliums.
        "Let go of me, you freak!" Amelia screeched and punished Garroll’s shins with her heels. "I’m gonna kill them both!"
        Garroll rolled his eyes and tightened his arms around her until she stopped kicking him. "You can’t get answers out of them if they’re dead," he told her in his most calm, rational voice. "Obviously, you care for Zelgadis very much, but Beast Master is right: Screaming and making threats won’t help him." Amelia struggled for a few moments more before slumping against him in defeated tears. Garroll sighed and gave the others a relieved look but he didn’t loosen his hold on Amelia any.
        Tears streamed down Amelia’s face as she sobbed: "He’s dead! I know he’s dead! And it’s their fault!"
        Lina left Gourry’s side and, with uncharacteristic gentleness, took Amelia from Garroll and led her to the divan by the window. "He could be fine, Amelia," she sat down next to her friend and put her arm around Amelia’s shoulders.
        Amelia shook her head. "He’s dead. I can feel it."
        "Amelia, stop it. He isn’t dead! We just need to get to the Lord of Nightmares, and I think we’ve got at least four people in this room who know how we can contact her and find out what she’s done with Zelgadis." Lina pinned the Metalliums and Zellos’ twins with a hard stare. "Isn’t that right?"
        Zhara shrugged and went to refill her glass. Lina wondered at her sobriety, since just about all she’d seen Zhara do since their arrival was drink. Probably something to do with her heritage, Lina decided. Urlich leaned against the wall behind Sylph’s chair and studied his boots. Upon the Metalliums’ arrival, Url had adjourned to his room and returned wearing what had to be his entire arsenal: Four swords, eight knives (that Lina could see) and a collection of shuriken on a pair of plain black leather belts that hung low on his hips over the more ornate belts that held his swords. Sylph kept her eyes away from Xellos, no matter how hard he tried to get her attention. The kitsune was curled in a ball in the high-backed chair in the corner, clutching her sister’s hand and trembling, obviously fighting tears (or perhaps the desire to kill Xellos). Jaz sat on the chair’s arm, also refusing to meet Xellos’ eyes. Lina felt sorry for them, having to put up with him in the same room and not be able to do anything to him. Zhara had told her about Sylph’s and Urlich’s little boy, whom Xellos had killed for the negligible offense of getting in his way. Knowing that, even Lina wanted to slit the Trickster’s throat; Sylph’s self-control was positively miraculous.
        The underworlders had reclaimed their chairs but looked like they were having serious regrets about wanting to help get Zelgadis back. Going up against Beast Master and Xellos was one thing, taking on the Lord of Nightmares, herself, if it came to that—well, they had no illusions about their likelihood of survival. Only Garroll wasn’t sweating but the calm Lina had come to expect from him was showing a crack or two.
        "Ok…" Lina said, since no one was making any moves to volunteer their services. "Xellos, I pick you. How do we get in touch with the Lord of Nightmares? Can we pay her a visit? Will she come to us? Do we go to a temple and burn incense?"
       "Can we sacrifice you on the alter?" Amelia added with an evil stare to rival one of the Trickster’s own best wicked looks. "I’ll hold the knife."
       Even Zellas Metallium flinched, and Lina let her arm slide off of Amelia’s shoulders.
       "Amelia…" Gourry gasped, his blue eyes wide with shock.
       Without looking up, Urlich drawled: "I’ll tie him down for you, Princess, but it won’t do us any good." He met Amelia’s eyes with a cool gaze. "Zellas will just resurrect him."
       Amelia’s fists balled in her lap as she growled: "Yeah, but won’t it be fun to watch him bleed to death?"
       Lina gulped and scooted to the far end of the couch, and on Amelia’s other side Gourry backed away, as well. Zhara paused with her cup halfway to her lips and turned a shade paler, her eyes going to her brother. The looks in Sylph’s, Urlich’s and Jaz’s eyes were hard, cold and all sympathy for Amelia’s sentiment; they’d obviously had that very thought many times before. Now Garroll and his companions really looked like they wanted out of this deal but none of them spoke. They just stared at Amelia like she was evil incarnate.
       "…and beg for his worthless life!" Amelia went on, seemingly oblivious to the people around her. "Did Zelgadis beg you for his life? And you just gave him to the Lord of Nightmares!"
       Lina dove but was too slow to catch Amelia before she flew at Xellos. "AMELIA!" Lina screamed. Where the Princess had gotten a knife and where she’d been hiding it, Lina didn’t know, but Amelia had one now and before anyone else in the room could even move, its hilt was sticking out of Xellos’ chest. An instant later, Gourry got a fistful of Amelia’s tunic and yanked her backwards just in time to avoid Zellas’ backhand knife stroke. The blade whistled through the air where Amelia’s throat had been. Amelia spun backwards into Lina’s waiting arms, and Garroll’s tackle kept Beast Master from pursuing the Princess. Nik wrestled the dagger out of Zellas’ hand while Gourry took custody of Amelia’s. Now that she was disarmed, Garroll released Beast Master but stood ready to stop her if she attacked Amelia again, but the Dark Lord did nothing more than silently fume and quake with rage. Gourry held Amelia’s bloody knife in his palm and stared at it for a moment in shock while the gore soaked his glove, then recognition kicked in. His eyes hardened and he turned slowly to face Urlich, who’d hadn’t moved. When Gourry spoke, his voice sent icicles down Lina’s spine.
       "This is your boot knife, Urlich."
       Urlich didn’t even blink but he didn’t meet Gourry’s stare, either. "She asked me for a knife," he said in a voice as cold as Gourry’s had been. "I gave her one."
       "So an innocent girl could do your dirty work for you!" Lina shouted at him and would have charged him but she had Amelia in her arms. The Princess sagged against her, her entire body trembling, forcing Lina to stagger backwards until the back of her knees hit the edge of the divan and she collapsed down onto it, Amelia in her lap. The Princess’ didn’t seem to notice; her eyes, which were usually full of life and sparkle, stared dull and unseeing at the upholstery between her knees.
       Xellos leaned against the wall and let his master strip off his cloak and cut his shirt open. He didn’t watch her cast the healing spell. He only had eyes for Amelia, his stare ice-cold and sharp as glass and…thoughtful. Lina tried not to imagine what the Trickster Priest might be contemplating at that moment. She hugged Amelia against her, as if her arms alone could protect the Princess from whatever retaliation Xellos might be planning. Lina should have been more worried: What Xellos was contemplating was a far worse fate than injury or death. He was thinking about the potential for evil that had lain dormant in Amelia’s heart, waiting for this moment to open its bloody flower. Her sinister tone when she’d wished to hear him beg for his life while he bled to death before her eyes had been electric. And her attack—the bloodlust in her eyes and the hatred on her face! Fantastic! He let his eyes rove over the little Princess’ quivering body, noting with delight that her eyes were dry and steady. She trembled with anger, not shame, which awakened a new sensation inside him. It would be easy to work her hatred of him against her, use it to turn her heart to evil, make her one of his own kind. In fact, it would be fun. He’d nurture her rage and pain, tempt her, seduce her…She’d hate him. It would be perfect. The feel of his own blood trickling down his chest and abdomen made him smile, and that smile coupled with the gleam in his lavender eyes cast a deathlike silence on the entire room.
       "Forget about it," he said in a terrifyingly soothing voice. "She was just letting off a little steam. Understandable, I’m sure you’ll agree."
       His comment had the desired effect of setting Amelia’s eyes alight and bringing them up to meet his in an inferno that promised eternal torture if only she could get her hands on another weapon. In her eyes, he saw her imagine carving him up with Urlich’s little boot knife, hacking and stabbing at his flesh like a fresh-killed stag. Absolutely fabulous. She was a true diamond in the rough, a sparkling, evil gem that only required his expertise to bring out its true fire. Why hadn’t he thought of using her unrequited love for Stone Boy before? Ah! And speaking of Zelgadis and love: "You shouldn’t feel so bad about Zelgadis, Princess. If L-Sama did kill him, he died a happy man." The look in Amelia’s eyes made his heart race. His grin widened and his eyes gleamed. "He gives a fantastic blow job—"
       "You bastard!" Gourry roared and charged, but Zellas threw him back across the room with a spell, slamming him first against the ceiling, then the wall, then the floor. He moaned once, then passed out.
       Lina gasped. "Gourry!" She almost went to him, then realized Amelia hadn’t so much as flinched through it all and was still boring holes in Xellos’ head with her eyes. Furthermore, Xellos was blathering on as if there’d been no interruption at all, his eyes as steady as his victim’s.
       "He does this thing with his tongue…" Xellos demonstrated. Everyone watched him as if hypnotized, all but Sylph, who seemed to be in another world. Xellos giggled. "He didn’t even mind when I stopped being female and was myself with him. I think he liked the things I did to him…"
       Amelia said: "Fuck you."
       "Any time you’re ready, Princess."

        The Lord of Nightmares regarded Zelgadis from atop a cloud as he sulked on one nearby. No more joking, no more complaining. He’d even stopped crying, though from his empty expression he still hadn’t accepted the fact that he was dead. In all her millennia as an ultimate creator-deity, L-Sama had never encountered such stubborn denial in a dead person. Not only did Zelgadis not want to be dead, he seemed determined to find a way to get out of it. Most unusual. Every once in a while, he’d rub his hand on one of his appendages or his hair to remind himself that he was no longer made of stone. That would bring the briefest flicker of a smile to his lips before he’d sink back into his personal little realm of gloom.
        "Most people are relieved to find themselves here," she’d told him once he’d stopped crying. "Think of all the misery you’ve left behind: You’re not a chimera anymore, you’ll never again have to deal with Xellos or any version of Rezo. No more worrying about finding a cure for your curse, or having to listen to one of Princess Amelia’s speeches about your supposed undying love for her, or justice, or whatever. Lina Inverse will never jab you with her elbow again. Gourry Gabriev’s utter stupidity will never again be yours to endure. You’re free, Zelgadis!"
        "I miss them," he’d replied stubbornly, "and I’m going back."
        That was an hour ago. So far, he hadn’t come up with anything more brilliant than reincarnation, which wasn’t the way she’d set up this world. Despite the fact that many of its residents were sure they’d had past lives, L-Sama didn’t recycle souls. You died, your soul was either rewarded or punished with an afterlife, not sent back to the mortality grind. And speaking of which, it was about bloody time she decided which afterlife Zelgadis should have.
        "Alright, Zelgadis," she sighed. "It’s time I figured out what to do with you."
        His expression hardened and his fists balled in his naked lap. He’d asked for clothing, but that wasn’t the way her afterlife worked, either. Furthermore, he was the first one in her experience to notice the lack of cloth and care. So when he thought about it, he covered himself with his hands. He’d discovered early on that turning his back to her was useless, since she’d just appear in front of him again. Pervert.
        "Send me back."
        "No."
        Zelgadis seethed, but still refused to look at her. "Why not?"
        She sighed heavily. "We’ve been over this."
        "I’m going back."
        The Lord of Nightmares rolled her eyes and wondered if maybe he would have been less trouble as a world-eating Dark Lord. If she’d known he was going to be like this, she’d have let him keep his strength long enough to make screwing him for his life force worth her time.
        "Zelgadis, listen to me—"
        "No!" He raged, jumping to his feet and jabbing an angry finger at her. "You listen to me! I wasn’t supposed to die yet, and you know it! That’s why I refuse to accept being dead and why being naked still bothers me!" His hands flew to his crotch an instant after her eyes did.
        L-Sama jumped up, too, with a furious growl. "Fine! You’re right, ok?! You were meant to transform into a Dark Lord even I couldn’t control and destroy my precious world!" She flopped back down on her butt, sending up a puff of pink-tinged cloud material. "It was you or the world! I picked you! Oh, how could I be so unjust to chose the lives of millions over the infinitely important life of one Zelgadis Greywers?!"
        Zel gulped. Well, since she put it that way… "I’m sorry," he whispered, "I—never thought of it like that...it never seemed real to me, turning into a Dark Lord. It was just this nightmare at the edge of my mind." He sat down slowly and buried his face in his hands. "I didn’t think it would really happen."
        They sat in silence for awhile while she cooled off and he tried to come to terms with his predicament. Of course she had to choose the world over him! He thought she’d just gotten the cart in front of the horse when she’d taken his life, that it had just been a sort of preemptive strike, just in case he turned into that monster from his dream. It never occurred to him that becoming that monster was an absolute certainty, nor had he imagined anything in the world could be beyond L-Sama’s ability to control it. Zelgadis shook his head as he realized the Red Priest had been able to create just such a creature—no, Shabranigdo had made him through Rezo. Shabranigdo, the Lord of Nightmares’ balancing opposite, the chaos and destruction to balance her order and creation. That Dark Lord was being destroyed piece by piece as time went by. There would surely come a day when the last piece would be destroyed, then who would balance L-Sama? The universe demanded balance. The answer was obvious: Shabranigdo had made Zelgadis what he’d almost become to be his back-up, not Rezo’s! Or had the Dark Lord originally planned to use Rezo until Lina Inverse (using L-Sama’s power) had destroyed him? Shabranigdo had then intended Zelgadis to be the agent of chaos in his place, only L-Sama had realized Shabranigdo hadn’t made a creature to balance her, but to topple her! "So," thought Zel, "in the end, it’s all about her." That gave him an idea, or at least an angle.
        "Can I at least see my friends one more time?" He asked humbly. "Say goodbye? You know, tell them why I’m dead?"
        Persistent little bugger. L-Sama chewed a fingernail and fought the pull of his sad blue eyes. Dammit. Well, she sort of owed him for cutting off his life prematurely, apocalypse or no apocalypse. She realized she was ruining her nail and jerked it out of her mouth with an irritated noise. "If I do, will you go to the afterlife like a good little dead guy?"
        Zelgadis grinned. "Depends. Which afterlife?"
        Her eyes blazed. "You are in no position to—"
        "Sure I am," he replied calmly, "you took me before my time."
        "You would have destroyed the world, you ingrate!" She shouted back, jumping from her cloud to his to better get in his face. Nose to nose with the startled "little dead guy", she snarled: "I don’t owe you anything! I’m only considering letting you say goodbye to your friends because I think you’re cute and I feel sorry for you!" There, chew on that, you proud little mortal bastard.
        Zel was unfazed. "You were afraid I’d destroy you."
        "And the world!"
        "I don’t think you care about the world," he said blandly, meeting her furious eyes with a steady, almost lazy stare. "You’ll just make another one, so what do you care what happens to this one, or anyone living in it? Now who’s selfish?"
        "You got a problem with self-preservation, boy?" She growled.
        "Not at all," he told her in a meaningful voice, "especially when I’m the ‘self’ in question."
        She’d walked into that one with her eyes wide open and the Lord of Nightmares knew it. Great. Now he was trying to lay a guilt trip on her. Why was she even wasting time talking to this guy, anyway? She was his god, if she said he was dead, he was and off to the afterlife he went. To eternal torment if he kept this up! "You wanna see your friends, kid?"
        "We’ve gone over this already." Her ire at having her own words thrown back at her was immensely gratifying, but Zel knew he had to tone it down before she decided to chuck him into Hell and forget about him. He forced his face into a contrite expression, hoping she’d chalk his snippiness up to being unhappy about being dead. "Yes, I want to talk to them one last time."
        "Fine," she snorted, "you can see them. You have one hour; don’t waste it." Without further fanfare, she waved her hand and he disappeared.

        "Amelia!" Lina choked. She couldn’t believe the things she was hearing coming from the Princess’ mouth. Cute, perky, sometimes annoying little Amelia, Miss Justice who advocated being fair and nice to everybody (who deserved it), talking about watching Zellos bleed to death and actually saying—gulp. Even Lina didn’t talk like that, no matter how angry she got. And Amelia’s eyes were so…scary. Gods, they looked just like Xellos’ (when he opened them)! The Princess was still in Lina’s lap, her little body tense, taking Zellos’ verbal bait and flaming it, not seeming to care that that was exactly what he wanted. He just leaned against the far wall, arms folded across his bare chest with his staff cradled in the crook of an elbow, lavender eyes sparkling with undisguised desire, like a pair of burning amethysts, as he traded barbs with the Princess.
        "If you really want to join Zelgadis in the afterlife that badly," the Trickster mocked, "I can arrange it."
        "Don’t trouble yourself," came a voice out of the air between Xellos and Amelia. The air shimmered, then Zelgadis stood among them, grinning smugly at his old nemesis. "Why don’t I just come to you?"
        Xellos’ jaw dropped and his eyes bugged. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, but Zelgadis was still standing there, fully human and without so much as a wrinkle in his clothes. L-Sama had summoned a richer variation of his customary white ensemble, though she hadn’t seen fit to restore the sword he broken trying to kill Xellos. Zelgadis turned his grin on his friends, who couldn’t believe their eyes, either. "You’re human!" Lina cried. Amelia was far more expressive. Before Lina could even finish her sentence, the Princess was out of her lap and wrapped around Zelgadis, weeping hysterically into his chest.
        Zel blushed and hesitated, then put his arms around Amelia and started to cry. About that time, Gourry came to, saw Zelgadis and grinned. "Hi, Zel! Hey, you’re human!"
        Zelgadis chuckled at him and shook his head, then remembered why he was there and how little time he had to hammer out a plan with Lina to get him back to the realm of the living on a permanent basis. "I don’t have much time," he said solemnly, his eyes meeting Lina’s, "only an hour, so we have to work fast."
        Amelia looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. "What do you mean? Where are you going?"
        Just looking into her eyes made his own begin to sting: Gods, she really was in love with him. He blinked, sending a pair of tears down his cheek. They dropped off his chin onto Amelia’s upturned face. She reached up a trembling hand to wipe her cheeks and saw her worst fears in his eyes. "No…" Amelia moaned and shook her head in disbelief. "You’re not dead! You’re right here, I can feel you! You’re not a ghost! No!" She buried her face in his chest again and sobbed.
        Lina’s eyes filled with grief as she crossed the floor and lay a hand on Zelgadis’ shoulder. "Is that it? Are you…?"
        Zelgadis nodded and hugged Amelia as tight as he could to keep from crying harder. He really didn’t have time for tears; they had to make a plan and they had to make it now. "She gave me an hour to say good-bye, but I’m not going back. She killed me before I was supposed to die," he looked up to meet Lina’s eyes again, now just a few inches from his own and pouring frightened tears. "She said she couldn’t separate my spirit from the Dark Lord’s while I was alive, so I’m assuming our spirits are split now, so I won’t be a danger to her if I’m given my body back."
        "But you have your body!" Gourry protested. He laughed a little, but his eyes held as much fear as Lina’s and Amelia’s did.
        "No," Zelgadis told him quietly, "this is a spirit body, and I can feel it fading. My guess is it’ll dissolve in exactly one hour, so we have to think fast. How can I convince her to send me back here for good?"
        Not lifting her head, Amelia said into his chest: "Then you are dead, aren’t you?"
        "Yes, but I don’t plan on staying that way." He took a deep breath and almost cried with joy at the familiar scents that assaulted his nostrils (and silently thanked the Lord of Nightmares for this other little gift): Amelia’s musty hair, Gourry in need of a bath, coffee…familiar, mundane things that meant life to him. He softly kissed the top of Amelia’s head to reward her for just existing and loving him more than he’d realized when he was alive. It was then that he noticed the other people in the room. His eyes roved over all of them until they fell with a happy jolt on Sylph, and he couldn’t help but grin.
        "Slyph! You made it!"
        She tried to smile but couldn’t hold it and instead buried her face in her hands and sobbed. Jaz drew her sister into her arms and stroked her hair, whispering comforting words. Urlich reached down to massage her shoulders but his eyes were on Zelgadis.
        "Remember me?"
        Zel nodded. "I kicked your ass," he smirked, "I should have listened to you instead."
        From behind him, Xellos laughed. "But we were having so much fun! I had no idea you were so good with sword."
        Amelia surfaced and fixed the Trickster with a cruel glare. "It’s your fault he’s dead. Either help him, or shut up and get the hell out of here. And take that bitch with you," she added with nod at Zellas Metallium.
        Zelgadis blinked in shock. Amelia’s new vocabulary left him too stunned to say anything.
        The Dark Lord narrowed her eyes and raised her hand, letting an attack spell form in her palm but not throwing it. To her astonishment and irritation, Amelia didn’t back down. "He’s no longer of any use to me," Zellas growled, "but hell if I’ll give him any joy!" She lifted the hand with the attack spell, and everybody in the room jumped to assume defensive positions, even Zelgadis, who had nothing to lose.
        Zhara slammed her wine goblet down onto the table at her hip. "Zellas, Daddy: Get out of my house!"    
        Zellas’ eyes went wide and Xellos started a spell, but before either of them could make a counter move, Zhara’s command sent them out of her house, out of Marrigan and back to their own lair. Zhara clamped her wards down behind them. "Gods, I hate them!"
        Her display of power left even her own brother speechless. Zhara shrugged. "We’re in a city and house of my making; mine is the ultimate power here," she blushed and gave them an embarrassed look, then. "Well, ok, I took them by surprise. They’ll be back soon enough if they want to finish your little argument badly enough, so we better get to work on Zelgadis’ problem if we’re gonna solve it in an hour."   
        Lina’s heart soared, even Amelia looked happier. Zelgadis was positively grinning. Lina said: "Right! Zel, tell us everything you know about what she did to you and how she did it. Zhara and Urlich: What do you know about the Lord of Nightmares that we can use?"
        Zelgadis interrupted: "And who are these people?" He gestured at the underworlders, then pointed at Jaz, who was still comforting her sister.
        "Never mind that now!" Lina scolded as she dragged him, Amelia and all, over to the couch and sat him down between her and the Princess. She looked like she was about to say something else, then her expression softened and her eyes brimmed over again. "Oh, Zel…" she sniffled and buried her face in his shoulder. Amelia wept on his other shoulder. Gourry sat down on the arm of the divan and petted Lina’s hair.
        "C’mon, Lina," he soothed, "we have to think, and the gods know I can’t do it!"
        "Just gimme a minute, okay?" Lina whispered. This wasn’t like her, she chided herself. Snap out of it! They weren’t going to get anything done with her crying like a baby—and Zel was counting on her! Marshalling her spirits, Lina forced herself to smile as she sat back and wiped her face. Zelgadis met her eyes, and all of a sudden her confidence plummeted. "So much faith," she thought in despair and for the first time in her life, she honestly believed she’d let a friend down. "I’m not that good, Zel, just lucky," she thought at him but clamped her mouth shut against the words. Well, she wouldn’t let him down! Her luck would come through for him, too! It had to. Even if it was L-Sama they were trying to outwit. Even if they didn’t have a prayer in the world. Then Amelia looked up at her with big, brown eyes full of hope and the Princess’ usual hefty dose of hero worship. It was more than Lina could bear and she started crying again.
        Zelgadis put his arm around her and drew her closer. "Lina, if anybody can find the answer, you can! You beat Shabranigdo, Zanaffar and Phibrizio—you can beat L-Sama. I need your help! I believe in you!"
        "Glad someone does," Lina sniffled, trying to crack a joke, but no one took it that way.
        "I believe in you, Lina," Gourry told her.
        Amelia reached over and squeezed her hand. "Me, too."
        Urlich rolled his eyes and said with derisive snort: "You people are making me sick. We don’t have all day. Are we gonna solve this problem, or what?"
        Behind Zelgadis’ back, Lina’s hand balled into a determined fist. "Damn right we’re gonna solve this problem!" She sat up, got off the couch, stalked over to the door so she could address the whole room at once and declared with blazing eyes and upraised fists: "Now it’s personal!"