Slayers: Alive

Slayers: Alive 43

Slayers: Alive

Episode 111: Survive! Hope Is Hard To Kill

It was night time in the kingdom of Seyruun and all was quiet. Zelgadis looked at Amelia's still sleeping form. "Amelia..." He gently caressed her face. "Naga said that you were sad because of your mother. You can tell me about what happened if that will help, but of course you need to be awake for that. I'm sure your mother was a very kind person. I know you must have heard this a lot, but I'm sure she would have wanted you to be happy. I wonder if I should really be encouraging you to tell me, if I deserve that trust. I haven't told you much about my family and past. I do trust you; I guess it's about time I told you..."

xoxox xox xoxox

"Rise and shine! It's a new day and life is wonderful!" Philionel's loud voice echoed all over Seyruun castle as he made his way to Amelia's room.

Zelgadis jumped awake and fell out of the chair he occupied next to Amelia's bed. He picked himself off the floor and yawned as Philionel led a parade of people into Amelia's room. The prince was carrying a large box full of things that had been stored for years, following him was Naga, who was carrying another box while laughing loudly. After Naga came in Gravos, Lina, Gourry, Filia and Xellos, all of them looking quite sleepy. Phil stopped, as did Naga, with Lina continuing with her automatic zombie march along with the rest of the parade behind her. Xellos bumped into Filia, who bumped into Gourry, who bumped into Lina, who bumped into Gravos, who bumped into Naga. The eldest Seyruun princess lost her grip on the box she was holding, spilling its contents all over Phil, who in turn dropped his box and spilled its contents all over Zelgadis.

Thankfully, the contents of the boxes were not particularly heavy, save for a few of the books, other than that the collection of scarves and hats were light. "What is this about?" Zelgadis inquired as he tried to untangle himself from a peculiarly long shiny pink scarf, seeking to free up his hands enough from the entrapment of fabric so that he would be able to remove the large aquamarine hat with purple feathers from his head.

"Amelia and I would play dress up with mom's clothes when we were little and pretend we were all grown up as princesses who would soon be visited by our princes," Naga explained. "It was all such good fun, ah, ha ha ho ha ha! Mom wouldn't want Amelia to be sad, so we'll remind her of that. Then when she wakes up, we can work on some more of mom's special sweets recipes."

The mention of sweets made Lina and Gourry wake up instantly. "Hurry up and wake up Amelia, we have sweets to make and eat!" The gluttonous redhead loudly declared.

"Five more minutes, stupid dragon," Xellos muttered. He was between awake and asleep, slightly waking up whenever someone was particularly loud and starting to fall asleep on his feet again soon after.

Naga dug around the mountain of things they brought over and pulled out a feathery pink scarf and a big red hat with a golden bow. "I remember that you really liked these." Naga placed the items on Amelia who was... staring right back at her.

"She's awake!" Naga, Phil, Lina, Gourry, Gravos and Filia chorused. Xellos woke up momentarily again at the loudness of the combined exclamations. He soon fell asleep again seconds later, leaning on Filia.

"My little Amelia, I'm so happy you're awake!" Phil exclaimed with fatherly pride. "I've cleared my schedule for the whole day to spend time with my lovely daughters and wonderful friends. Join us in making all sorts of delicious treats, just like your mother used to make. She would not want you to be sad. We'll honor the memory of her cheerful light that always brought a smile to us all!"

"Amelia, when did you wake up?" Zelgadis stared at her in relief and surprise.

"It was sometime last night," Amelia confessed. "I was... I guess the best way to describe it was to say I was trapped in a nightmare. Zelgadis opened up to me and gave me encouragement. I remembered that mom used to say that one day I would meet my prince and he would make me very happy, so I should try to give him that happiness too. Mom was brave and kind; she wouldn't want me to live in regret and sorrow. After I realized that, I woke up. It was very late and Zelgadis fell asleep before I could say anything, so I let him rest." Amelia's eyes held the silent promise of a long personal conversation with Zelgadis later. "Sorry I didn't say something sooner, with all this I could only stare." Amelia jumped off her bed with the endless energy she was known for. "Let's spend the whole day playing dress up and making delicious treats to enjoy!"