Authors Note/Disclaimer: I don't own WA: ACF, it belongs to Media Vision/Sony. And agetec, but screw them.

Zed seems to be the only one of my favorite characters that has inspired me to write lots of kawaii fluff instead of painful death. Guess he's special. Or just lucky. Tee hee. Also, yeah I'm aware of the fact that events in this fic clash somewhat with the way I presented the situation in DTCCD. I blame it on loose continuity! Tee hee. (Anyone who understands the connections between the name Dan Drazen and the word 'review' should know what I'm talking about.) And yeah, this sat for quite a while before I figured out how to fix my snag, but at least I did, eh? And I know, it's wrong and corny, but hey, at least it's done!

"Second Chance"
By Skylark Starflower
Started April 3, 2006
Finished December 30, 2007

Zed came to lying on the ground, the hard earth poking painfully into his back. The first sounds he became aware of were those of the wind rustling the canopy overhead and the chirping of birds. He opened his eyes and snapped them shut again as a bright ray of light chose that moment to break through the trees, dazzling him.

He tried to lift himself from the ground but his body felt too worn to move. He managed to pull himself up beside a tree and leaned against it, head bowed, deciding to remain where he was for a while until his strength returned.

He couldn't remember exactly what had happened after he'd been pulled into the black hole at the Gate Generator, but it was clear that he'd somehow survived. The question now was where had he ended up? It was obviously a forest somewhere, but it could be any one of the several forests of Filgaia. He'd have to look around once he felt up to moving again.

The sounds of nature surrounding him were soothing, and he didn't fight it when he felt himself starting to doze. When he woke again the sun had sunk low on the horizon, painting what sky he could see through the trees in reds and golds. The air was cooling, and he decided it would be best to seek shelter for the night. Feeling stronger now that he had rested, he stood and started to walk.

He didn't know where he was going, choosing a random direction and heading straight down it, trying not to get turned around or any more lost that he already was. His mind wandered, tried to work out his situation as he walked.

Would the other demons come looking for him? He had a feeling that that was unlikely. They probably thought he had been killed.

Thinking of the other demons made Zed wonder what had happened to Zeikfried, realizing if he could survive the black hole, then the older demon should have had no trouble also making it out alive. He shook his head when he caught himself hoping that he was wrong, that Zeikfried had perished. He really didn't wish death on anyone, no matter how they had mistreated him.

He wondered if he should seek out the others, but he wouldn't know where to look now that both the Photosphere and the Gate Generator were gone. The little voice in the back of his head piped up again, telling him he was better off without them. He tried to brush it aside but it refused to be silenced, conjuring images in his mind's eye of the things the others would have in store for him should he return, especially if Zeikfried were no longer there to limit them. He shuddered, knowing for certain that he wasn't just being paranoid.

But if he didn't return to the demons, where could he possibly go? Certainly not to the humans, they'd kill him on sight. He tried to stop the crushing weight of depression from settling on his mind as he realized he was stuck in the middle, not willing to return to the demons, yet also unable to join the humans. He was alone in the world with nowhere to go.

Zed stumbled to a halt, nearly paralyzed by the sudden, overwhelming despair and sunk to the ground, huddling in on himself. He didn't have the heart to continue after realizing he had lost everything in the span of a few short hours. The sky had faded to black since he had started walking, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway. There was no one there to watch him cry.

He didn't know nor care how long he stayed there sobbing. Nothing really mattered very much to him anymore. He was beaten, ready to give up, to surrender.

A sudden cold breeze whipped past him, catching at his hair and scarf tails, setting them fluttering. He shivered, sniffling, and looked up to watch the orange cloth dancing in the wind. He perked, eyes widening slightly as he noticed beyond the scarf how the trees thinned and fell away, opening up onto a field of grass. He was almost out of the woods.

He stood, wiping at his eyes and decided to move on again. With nothing left to lose, it wouldn't hurt to find out where he was, and figured were he to find a town he would turn himself over to the humans. They could decide what to do with him, and if it were to be his death, then so be it. He didn't care anymore, and at least it would put an end to his misery.

Once clear of the trees, he looked around to see if he could get his bearings. The area was alien to him. He wasn't familiar with a great deal of Filgaia, only recently having been able to get out into the world. He had been too young to fight in the Great Demon War, and then when the Guardians sealed the demons in the Photosphere, he had been stuck there along with the rest of them.

He continued to walk through the night, dawdling in his despondency. It wasn't until the sun began to peek over the horizon again that he saw the town. This was it, his last chance to change his mind, to seek out the other demons and rejoin them. He could go back to being a hopeless, ill-treated failure or take his chances with the humans. The best he could expect from the latter was the life of a prisoner, the worst persecution and death.

It was a tough decision, but in the end he went with his earlier, spur of the moment idea. Whatever the humans might do to him couldn't be half as bad as the things Zeikfried or Alhazad would.

Zed first sensed something was amiss when he was able to approach the town without raising any alarm. Even though it was still very early in the morning, he would have thought the humans would be standing guard twenty-four hours a day in case of an attack. Someone should have spotted him by now.

The town seemed unnaturally quiet as he walked through the gates and he raised his sword into a ready position, a terrible feeling of unease washing over him. He glanced around at the still buildings as something nagged at him, a memory trying to be recalled. He looked upwards and suddenly everything became clear to him. He knew where he was.

The Guardian statue that had once stood proud and tall in the center of the settlement, the source of the town's name, lay broken and forlorn upon its post. He knew of it only by reputation, but was certain he was right. He had to be, otherwise, where were all the people?

He had never been to Saint Centaur before, but he had once overheard Alhazad and Zeikfried discussing their plans for the town. He knew their plan had succeeded, and now the once thriving town was a desolate ruin, inhabited only by monsters.

He made up his mind on the spot that this was where he was going to stay. It was perfect for him, if rather lonely. Humans would never return as long as the monsters remained, and the demons, having gotten what they wanted from the place, were unlikely to come again. The only conceivable problem was the local fiends, but they were weaklings compared to him. He could take them out easily.

It was as he was thinking this, however, that a Hell Hound took him by surprise, leaping against his back. Knocked off balance, Zed fell to his knees and the creature took this chance to sink its fangs into his arm. He yelped in pain, as the Hell Hound was lucky enough to grab at the break between the metal segments of his armor, tearing the cloth and breaking through his skin.

Annoyed at himself for allowing the monster to ambush him so easily, Zed kicked the Hell Hound away and dispatched it quickly with his sword. Grumbling, he gripped the wound. Though it wasn't serious, he still lacked material to properly bind the injury so he headed into the first door he saw to look for some.

Once inside, closing the door behind him with what seemed an overly loud metallic click, Zed found the room directly beneath the statue to be rather odd. He could tell that it hadn't been used for residence, since the only furnishings were a large box, a desk, a bookshelf and a barrel containing some weapons. Something about the box bothered him, but he ignored it as he searched for even one scrap of cloth he could use for binding.

Failing to find anything useful, he was about to move on when he heard a sudden sound, a sound almost like …a voice? It was muffled, as though coming from behind something. He paused, listening to see if he would hear it again.

"Hello? Is someone there?"

The voice, meek and feminine, seemed to issue from the wall. Zed moved over closer, trying to decide if he should reply or not, figuring in the end it couldn't hurt.

"Where are you?" he called back.

"Oh, there is someone here!" The speaker seemed overjoyed to hear another voice. "I'm in back, in a hidden room. There's a switch to open the door under a box outside."

Taking another look at the box, Zed finally figured out what it was that bothered him about it. Just the fact that it was there was strange. But now he knew why and, shoving the box out of the way, found the switch the mysterious voice had mentioned. But when he tried to activate it, nothing happened.

"How does this thing work?" he asked.

"You have to jump on it."

Once he did as instructed, a door in the previously solid wall slid to the side, revealing a passage to another, hidden room. A young woman stepped forward from the passage into the same room with Zed. She was smiling, but it seemed to Zed she was avoiding looking at him for some reason and it made him angry.

"Scream and I'll throw you to the monsters," he snapped irritably.

"Why would I scream?" she asked, sounding startled. She was now facing towards him, and he could see there was something strange about her eyes. He blinked in surprise.

"Are…are you blind?"

The girl nodded. "My name is Aura. What's yours?"

Zed was taken aback. Was it possible that, since this girl couldn't see what he was, she was willing to accept him? It was impossible for her to judge by appearances, and he had yet to do anything to hurt her, so she had no reason to fear him. He didn't know quite what to make of the situation.

"…Zed. My name is Zed."

"That's an unusual name," Aura said, sounding amused. "What brings you to Saint Centaur? I haven't heard another living soul around for weeks…"

"I…got lost," he replied. It wasn't a complete lie, but it wasn't the whole truth, either. He didn't want to reveal what he was to her just yet, and if he brought up the Gate Generator he would just be asking for questions he didn't want to answer.

"Oh, I see," she said, and it seemed to Zed that she could tell he wasn't being completely honest with her. He surprised himself when he found he felt bad about it.

"I don't mean to offend you," Aura continued, "but you seem troubled. Is there anything I could do to help?"

"I doubt it." He wasn't trying to be brusque with her, but he couldn't stop himself. He was angry with himself; it wasn't fair of him to take it out on her. He scratched at the back of his neck. "Sorry… I guess I'm tired and it's making me irritable."

"Would you like to rest? There are beds back here where it's safe." She reached out a hand, found his arm and tried to lead him to the back, but her fingers closed around the wound the Hell Hound had inflicted on him earlier. He pulled back with a cry of pain.

"You're hurt!" she exclaimed in surprise. "Why didn't you say something before? Wait here one moment."

"It's not…serious…er…"

Zed trailed off as she disappeared back into the room she'd come from, returning in a short moment with a first aid kit. She handed it to him, smiling sheepishly. "I'd offer to help more, but…" She trailed off with an inclination of her head, and Zed understood. With her disability, she wouldn't be able to tell the difference between certain items, which could result in more harm than good.

"I…uh…thanks…"

He flipped back the lid on the box and searched through it until he found what he needed. While he set about cleaning and dressing his injury, he wondered why this girl was being so kind to him. She didn't know him, how could she be sure he wouldn't hurt her? It would have been just as easy for him to kill her as it had been for him to kill the Hell Hound earlier. He wouldn't, but that was beside the point.

He stopped as comprehension dawned on him. He truly didn't want to hurt Aura. But, he was a demon; he hated all humans…didn't he? No, he never really had, had he? How could he hate people he had never really met before? It wasn't fair of him to base his feelings on what the other demons had told him. If the other humans were anything like this blind girl, how could they be so bad?

Zed passed the box back to Aura and she walked off to return it to its place. "What are you going to do now?" she asked as she returned.

"I… I don't really know. I don't have anywhere to go," he replied.

"Oh." Aura dropped her head. When she spoke again, her voice was small and somewhat sad, as though she already knew the answer to her invitation. "You're welcome to stay here, if you'd like. Though I don't know why you'd want to…"

Zed blinked and said nothing. He didn't know what he had been expecting, but that surly wasn't it. After a couple seconds of stunned silence, he giggled. Aura gave him a strange look, as his giggling became happy, though somewhat crazed laughter. She yelped in surprise as he wrapped his arms around her waist, picking her up in a hug and spinning her around as he continued to laugh.

Though she'd been taken by surprise, Aura couldn't help it as she started to laugh along with him. His exuberance seemed almost contagious. She continued to laugh after he set her back down. "I take that to mean you want to stay?" she asked, sounding much happier now.

"Heh, yeah…" he replied, calming down a bit and scratching at the back of his neck. He felt a bit silly about the way he had reacted but he didn't care. He couldn't remember a time in the last thousand years when he had felt truly joyful. Only days ago he would never have admitted it, but there was something about this human girl he found strangely attractive. He wanted to stay with her, to get to know her better, to help her out. It went against everything he had ever been taught as a demon, but again he didn't care.

"Do you think you could do me a favor?" asked Aura, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Sure, anything," he replied, happy for the chance to help.

"I've been stuck in this shelter for a while now, and I would like to get some things from my house. Would you be able to help me get there?"

"You got it!" Without any real thought about what he was doing, Zed took the blind girl by the hand, giving her a slight surprise, led her from the shelter and into the daylight. They paused outside, Zed because he didn't know where to go from there, and Aura because it was the first time in several weeks she had been outside. The girl raised her head, angling towards the sun by the feeling of warmth only, a small smile crossing her face.

Zed couldn't really understand why seeing the girl smile made him feel happy. He had only known her for a few moments, and already he had grown quite fond of her. It didn't really seem right to him, but he brushed those feelings aside. Right or wrong, all he knew was that he had found something to care about again.

"So…" he said, almost sorry to break the silence, "which house is yours anyway?"

"Oh, yes. From here, it should be…up the stairs to the left. Look for the house with a small porch, okay?"

The journey was a short one, and though Zed had his sword drawn and held at the ready should the local fiends decide to attack, no such assault came. Once she was inside her home, Aura began to move around, gathering things from different shelves and cupboards. The green haired demon just stood and watched her, slightly agape at the way she transformed from a helpless girl into a truly self-assured woman in the confines of her own home. It made sense, though. She had lived in this place by herself for many years, and though she could no longer see, she knew the place by heart. Outside in the monster filled streets, she couldn't be as confident.

As Aura gathered her things, Zed took a moment to examine his surroundings. The girl's house was really quite pretty, and he figured the other townsfolk had probably helped her to decorate. He was distracted from those thoughts as he noticed the blind girl taking cans of food down from the shelves in her kitchen. It hadn't occurred to him before to think about such things as the available food supply until now, and he couldn't help but begin to worry. With the town empty of people, no one would come to replenish the stores anymore. Even just by herself, there wouldn't be enough non perishable food left in town to last Aura the rest of her life. And with him there, it would just run out faster.

He tried not to let the depression settle into his mind again. He needed to be able to think, to figure out something to do. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't just stay there with her, using up her food, but he wasn't sure what else he could do. It wasn't like he had any gella, and even if he did, he couldn't just stroll into any old store and buy what he needed. The moment the humans saw him, he would be chased out of town, if not killed outright.

Zed wasn't sure how he was going to bring up the subject when Aura walked over to him and handed him something.

"Could you hold this, please?" she asked, as she pressed the soft white thing into his hands. He didn't reply, looking down at the toy he now held. It resembled a white tiger only with strange black wings, overly large fangs and horns coming off the sides of its head. A red gem was fixed to its forehead, between its eyes. He blinked for a moment.

"Uh…" was all he said, but Aura caught the confused inflection in his tone.

"Is there a problem?"

"No, but…what is this, anyway?"

"It's just a stuffed toy of Fengalon I've had since I was a child. Why?"

Zed didn't really think about what he was saying as he replied. "No reason… It just…reminds me of someone I used to know…"

Though she said nothing, Aura did catch what he had said. He didn't seem to know the Guardian, so chances were, he was talking about either a sprite or a demon. She already had a feeling that he wasn't human, but she wasn't going to actually ask. He was the only friendly living being she had had contact with in weeks, and she didn't want to do anything to frighten him away. If he didn't want her to know that he wasn't human, she wasn't going to mention it.

The way he had said it also did not go unnoticed by the blind girl. She could tell just by tone, the person he mentioned was someone he had once cared about a great deal. "Would you like to keep it? You can have it if you'd like."

"R-really? Th-thank you…" Zed couldn't help himself, and wrapped his arms around the toy, hugging it to his chest, but even the stuffed animal couldn't distract him from the other problem for long. "Aura?"

"Yes?"

"Where do you get your food?"

Aura seemed confused by his question. It wasn't that he wanted to know where it came from that bothered her so much as why it mattered. She had yet to think about the fact that it would eventually run out. "There's a store in the shelter that should last for a few…more…" She trailed off, realizing now why he was asking. "You're…not going to leave because of that, are you?"

Zed shrugged miserably, though she couldn't see him. "I have to. I don't want to use up all your supplies. That, and someone's gonna hafta do something to make sure it doesn't run out." He looked at the toy he still held before handing it back to her. "I will come back to check up on you from time to time, so you keep yourself safe, okay? You can hang onto this for now, so I won't loose it." He tried to keep his voice light, so she wouldn't worry about, or catch on to just how badly he didn't really want to leave. If she knew, she might insist he stay, and he didn't think he could refuse her if she did.

"Could you help me back to the shelter then? All the things I need are still there, and it's probably safer for me to remain there than here."

Zed had to chase off a group of Hell Hounds on the way back to the shelter, but otherwise, the trip back was just as uneventful as it had been leaving. Aura hadn't taken much from her home, just some extra food, clothes and a couple items of sentimental value. Once they were both safely within, Zed helped Aura organize her things, more so trying to delay his departure as long as possible than for any other reason.

The green haired demon soon ran out of excuses not to leave, however. The blind girl could tell he was preparing to leave, grabbed something and offered it to him. "I don't have a lot of gella, but you can have it if you want…"

"Thanks, but…I won't exactly be able to use it…"

It was this that made Aura almost positive than her newfound friend was a demon. She had sensed a difference to him when he had first arrived, but she hadn't been sure. Demons had been in the town before, and while the sense was similar, it wasn't quite the same. He didn't feel evil to her, unlike the other demons. She still wouldn't say anything about it until he felt comfortable enough to tell her himself, however.

"Okay. Keep yourself safe out there, and don't forget you'll always be welcome here."

So it was that Zed left town with head held high, an almost goofy smile plastered across his face for the first time in long while. He had found a place where he belonged, and though he couldn't remain there for now, he couldn't help the feeling that he would find some way to change that. It was enough for now just to know he had somewhere to go.

The End