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Note: This is set between the events of NEXT and TRY. And it's Zel POV. Just FYI.
I walked the streets of the seaside town, my hood and mask up. It seemed like everyone and his dog was migrating to the ports, ever since the Barrier fell -- treasure hunters, curiosity seekers, entrepreneurs, sailors, soldiers, mercenaries, diplomats... everyone was curious about the Outer World.
As for me, well, I had already seen a good part of the world within the Barrier looking for my cure. Looking outside couldn't hurt... there was just the matter of picking up provisions. No contact has been made with the Outer World in over a thousand years ... who knows what it'll be like there... so buy your supplies now, folks.
I checked the list I had made this morning in my inn room. Food could always be foraged for, and my clothing still had months of good wear in it. I would need a better map and some navigation instruments, though. After all, in the wilderness, there were no roads or towns to serve as landmarks. Even if there were, they wouldn't be on my map until I marked them there... and I'd have to know where to mark them.
Thankfully, a port town would have such things... and probably at decent prices, as well. After all, it didn't pay to insult sailors, who were a major source of income in these kind of towns. It was only a matter of finding the right shop.
Something caught my eye and I stopped to look at the shop. It was a music shop. A guitar sat in the front window. I smiled -- not that anyone would have seen that with my mask on. I always liked the guitar... I used to have one, when I was human. I played it nearly constantly, probably driving everyone up the wall. It wasn't that I was bad at it... everyone said I was quite good. but how many times could you listen to "Stairway to the Sea of Chaos" anyway before wanting to smash the guitar over the guitarist's head?
I remember going back to my room for the first time after Rezo turned me into the freak I am today, and picking up the guitar... I knew it would never feel the same. Even the calluses I got from holding down the strings were softer than my skin was now, naturally. Besides, music was a thing much better suited for a teenaged boy and not a traveling sorcerer swordsman, or a monster. I guess that's when I gave it up. Shame. I was good at it. I remember Rezo had commented a few months after the change, "Whatever happened to that guitar of yours?"
"Oh, I guess I just lost interest," I had commented off-hand, hoping he would drop the subject and I wouldn't have to talk to him any more.
" Good... if you would have spent more time practicing your swordsmanship and magic, and less time parading around like some wannabe pretty-boy angsty music star, maybe I wouldn't have had to turn you into a chimera to make you useful."
Stupid Rezo... damn him. And people wonder why I'm not Mister Sunshine and Happiness.
I tried to pull myself back to the present.
I noticed a book next to the guitar in the window -- "Guitar in 10 Easy Lessons". Another memory -- an earlier edition of that book taught me how to play.
I got my first guitar for Solstice at age 7... actually, it was from Rezo, back when he and I still got along. I remember opening the brightly-colored paper and grinning. "Thanks, grandpa!"
Rezo smiled. I knew he couldn't use his magic well enough to see the details of my face, but I'm sure he could have heard the joy in my voice. "You're welcome, Zel. I bought myself one as well... we can learn to play together." Back then, Rezo was always trying to be the nice substitute parent for me.
Later that day, Rezo and I had found somewhere where we wouldn't be heard as we learned the ins and outs to making music. I opened the book and started reading aloud. "Lesson One: The A-Na-To-My of a Guitar. Grandpa, there's a diagram here with all the names of all the parts."
"You can skip ahead, Zel."
"Okay... Lesson Two. Chords. There's another diagram, Grandpa."
"Describe it to me."
I did so. Then I put my fingers on the strings like in the picture and strummed. To my young mind, it was the most beautiful sound ever. "Cool!" I said.
Rezo nodded and picked up his own guitar. "Let me try." He positioned his hands on the strings as I did and strummed.
His chord was not melodic as mine was. In fact, it made my ears bleed. "I don't think that is right, Grandpa... let me show you."
"No... I can get it on my own." Rezo said quickly.
Our weekly lessons continued on like that. I loved the fact I was finally better than my grandfather at something... I started reading ahead in the book and practicing at all hours. The only bad thing about the lessons was listening to Rezo play and refuse to let me help him.
Eventually, sometime around the Vernal Equinox, Rezo didn't show up for our weekly lesson. I started to look for him, and found him in his workshop. "Whatcha doin', Grandpa? It's time for our lesson."
"You go on ahead, Zelgadis. I don't think music is for me -- it takes too much time away from my search for my cure."
"Are you sure, Grandpa?"
"Quite. who needs foolish things like music? If I were you, I'd give it up as well."
"Nah.. I like it."
Come to think of it, that's when Rezo started behaving so cold and distant to me.
Author's Note:
The inspiration of this fic was in two parts. First, hearing Zel's guitar playing from TRY. second, realizing Rezo's seiyuu (A Japanese term for a voice actor) also voices Il Palazzo from Excel Saga -- who proves to be the world's worst guitar player and jealous of anyone better than him. Hence, this little fic.