DUNDundun... The dreaded After NEXT fic! ... Lots of these floating around, it seems. And here I add to the stockpile. Like I said, it'safter NEXT, though the exact time undetermined. Pick a day after NEXT, any day, every day's a winner! Just a random bit of silliness.Filler, fluff, random silly that'll make you WTF! and whatnot. Or whatever the hell you wanna call it. Craziness that I needed to bleed out of my system. Enjoy!

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When he woke up, Zelgadis found himself in a faintly familiar almost round chamber. Ceiling was high and the green brick walls sported smooth, decorative arches at whose peaks the ceiling started to dome. The chimera blinked. Why this so familiarhe couldn't quite place at the moment. Looking around, he saw a number of disturbing things that didn't quite register immediately. The first thing that he saw sincerely made him wonder where the hell he was. A table was set up not fifteen paces away. Afancily-set at that, complete with lit candles, a rose in a delicate vaseand fine tableware. Xellos and Martina sat across from each other, each sipping distractedly at what was undoubtedly Xellos's noxious Mandragora Soup, seeming to absorbed with the other to notice what they were consuming—hey, wasn't that stuff lethal? Hrm. Zelgadis became cheerily aware that if it was, he'd at least be rid of two very great annoyances once he found a way out of here. Three cheers to the Xellos-Martina-Gaggingly-Romantic-Dinner-of-Dhoom!

A familiar raucous laugh, however, made him turn on his heel warily. The Xoanan Princess and Mazoku seemed toocaptivated byeach other to notice. He focused on the source of laughter and blinked. He seemed to do that a lot. Blinking. But who he was faced with now:Lina. She was sitting among a pile of doll-replicas of their entire group. That, in itself, was creepy. However, what was creepier was the fact that Lina seemed inanely amused by her own hands, which she was clapping experimentally together. And she was periodically tossing her head and making horse sounds. That just wasn't bizarre, it was disturbing. Shifting his gaze from Lina, he found no sign of Gourry. He didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Mr. Zelgadis?" Finally! A bit of sanity! Maybe Amelia would know what was going on… Eagerly, Zelgadis turned toward the pleasantly familiar voice's source.

Upon seeing Amelia, Zelgadis's momentary relief shattered and he recoiled in horror. His sweet, if quirky and justice-crazed, little Amelia seemed almost nothing like her normal self. (His sweet Amelia? Something was definitely wrong here.) The grin on her face was a half-insane one, and Zelgadis couldn't help but fleetingly compare her to Phibrizzo and how the Hellmaster looked just seconds before he died. He backed away, and his footstep squeaked quietly. Startled, he looked down and was met with great expanses of plush white costuming. Long bunny ears flopped into his eyes when he looked down. Why the hell was he dressed in this ridiculous bunny outfit again?

Then it all clicked. He was back in the third Challenge-Room in Artemay Tower. That freaky tower that was stuffed to the rafters with dolls that were all possessed by mazoku. Looking at himself again hesaw that this time he wasn't the one wearing the'Ogre Pants'. A shrill giggle brought his attention back to the advancing Amelia. With a fresh dollop of dismay he realized that it was Amelia who was wearing the tacky, animal-print briefs. She was flexing her outstretched fingers… towards him?

Face contorting in a mixture of anxiousness to get away and horror at the transformed Amelia, Zel took a handful of stumbling steps backwards. Though it didn't matter, he knew his face was somewhere near seven shades of crimson. What the hell was going on here!

In a giddy, screechy voice Amelia called out to him, "Come on, Mr. Zelgadis! We're playing End Catcher!"

Out of what seemed like reflex he swiftly clamped his hands protectively to his backside as Amelia had done 'way back when. Subconsciously, he wondered vaguely if Amelia trying to catch his end was really a bad thing, but—NO! Not now. Add anotherthree shades of red to the previous seven. Maybe a touch of purple and acouple of sweatdrops,too.

Trying to increase his squeaking backwards stride, he tripped and fell. And kept falling… and falling… and—THUMP.

His eyes flew open.

Breath was being forced in and out of his lungs in great gasps. Eyes wide, he reached up with a shaking hand to push his wire hair from his face. Absently he noted that it was his normal hand and free of any and all plushy white cloth. He sat up and looked around. The room he was in was was the one at the inn he, Lina, Gourry, and Amelia were currently staying at. Moonlight barely filtered through the drapes covering the expensive glass windows.

He had fallen off of his bed and his blankets were a tangle around him. It was still dark, and if he was any judge, it would be another four hours until sunrise. Scrubbing his face with a shaking fuzz-free hand, he froze and pulled away from it to stare at it in wonder. He was shaking. Over a dream. The receeding, dull ache of his side confirmed it a dream. You don't feel physical pain in dreams. Thank any of the higher powers for that.

Suddenly, something bubbled from his throat. His hand slapped quickly over his mouth and he stared blindly ahead. Had he just giggled? Heartless sorcerer-swordsmen did NOT giggle. Even after such a dream!

His hand traveled from his mouth to his forehead and he sat there for a while on the floor, unwillingly going over the dream again. Finally, he let it go. His heart rate had finally returned to normal. He untangled himself from his blankets, got up from the floor, re-made his bed and slid back in. Once again he sat there for a while staring blankly at the shadowy folds of cloth swirled over his legs. What, in the name of all things good in the world, had triggered that dream? And why?

He shook his head. He was feeling tired again, finally. Well it made sense. It was now around forty minutes after he'd initially woken up. Lots of staring-into-space. Sinking down onto his mattress, he re adjusted his pillow and hunched over on his side. Within minutes he had drifted off into a blessedly dreamless sleep.

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The next morning, he was woken up to Gourry calling to him through the door.

"Hey Zel? You awake yet?"

Zelgadis rolled over in the warm cocoon of blankets and mumbled loudly back, "Yeah."

"Oh, good. Lina and I are gonna order breakfast. Don't be too late, 'else it'll be gone by the time you get down!" Typically cheerful Gourry. Cheerful about the prospect of food, anyways.Grumbling, Zelgadis slowly began to full wake up as he dressed and neatened his room, a customary morning ritual despite the inn's employment of maids. He closed the door to his room with a soft click and struck out cheerfully for the stairs when….

"Come on, Mr. Zelgadis!" Amelia's shout echoed up the stairs and Zel's body stiffed involuntarily. Not again!

"Mr. Zelgadis, are you coming? It's breakfast time!" Amelia's face appeared down at the foot of the stairs. She blinked innocently up at him. "Mr. Zelgadis? Are you alright?"

The chimera noted that she wasn't wearing the dreaded 'Ogre Pants', and looked quite normal. In any case, reached his hand to the back of his neck as if her were massaging it but, rather, he sneakily yanked out a pinchful of wire hairs. Fighting a wince, he nodded to Amelia. She disappeared. He brought his hand in front of his face and stared blankly at his violet wire hair before giving a small shaky sigh and allowing himself a short chuckle. Such a pitifully cliché way to check, but hey, it worked. He was definitely away now, and last night's… unease… had been caused by a dream. Just… a dream. He gave himself another few seconds to calm down before joining Amelia, Gourry, and Lina downstairs for breakfast.

However, that calm would only last until later that morning, when a street-vendor would try and sell him an animal-striped coin purse that looked like a pair of briefs.

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Time for some happy, 'cause it seems like I've been reading heck of angst and sadness lately. And for the curious, yes, it's a mirror of my own dream. Hey, dreams induced by Nyquil, promethezine and doxycyclyne (three y's!) are FREAKY x.o

Written on the day I was forced to stay home from school due to my nasty-ass cold/semi-pneumonia. I needed amusement, so what better than putting a dream to the writte—er.. typed word? Hope you find this somewhat amusing… Gods know it scared the crap outta me when I woke up. Minutes later, of course, it had me dissolving into a fits of nervous giggles and much coughing. I'd forgotten I'd written it actually, and came upon it yesterday. Touched it up a bit and here it is.

Because I'm a lazy bum, I'll only reply to the reviews for Handprint right now:
Maddy02: Amelia's always stricken me as the type to, well… not put up with crap like that. I mean… She's Amelia. Miss Sunshine. And the sun doesn't put up with rainclouds, for long… Power to Amelia! ... And the sun!
Hitteh Pitteh: There's a... Fluff Song? oo Wow. That, I knew not. L'anyhoodle, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Ichiban Victory: facepalm D'oh! I totally forgot about that little fact… So I added it. xD And yes, I quite liked the idea of a silent, unseen watcher… and who better than a loyal subject who gets the satisfaction of seeing Justice doled out by the princess herself?
RowenatheWitch: Yeah, I noticed that… And I don't understand why then think Amelia the sob-a-second type when she's so… so… so BAM. Y'know? To me, she is an indestructible force of energy and happy. And she's got the Princess-breeding goin' on too, so of course she's got some forcefulness to her! Or… at least she should.
Lina Gabriev: Ooo… Xellos, huh? I don't think that quite registered when I thought of it… You may have something there!
General: It just tickles to hear the people think I can keep Amelia fairly in-character… Just hope I can keep it that way! ...and in response to a question over AIM, I haven't yet drummed up the courage to try for Xellos yet. One of my favorite characters, yes, but I don't want to maul him... I think I've mauled Zelgadis enough. x.X