"This man, he knows nothing besides anguish, resentment, and fear. No love... No happiness... This... man....." Amelia fought hard to regain her composure. She didn’t even know what had suddenly brought on the onslaught of emotion. It only felt right, to mourn the artist’s misfortune.

"Amelia?" For once he let his voice be touched with concern. But there was also something else in his voice. It was along the lines of surprise, but not quite. It could’ve been revelation. It was the only good word to describe it. He came beside her, and awkwardly held her shoulder, while keeping a safe distance between them.

"Let me show you another painting."

He gently led her by the shoulder to the last painting on the wall. Amelia stared up at it, and immediately felt a sense of relief. There was a young angel girl on the canvas, surrounded by light and warmth. But it wasn’t finished. The girl’s head was missing.

"Maybe the girl was his companion." She wondered outloud. Zelogadis dropped his hand from her shoulder.

"Amelia." he spoke in such a weird tone, Amelia was compelled to look at him. Zelogadis was looking at the other paintings, the dark side, but his eyes were not focused. He was looking past the pictures.

"How did you know the artist was a male?"

Amelia was surprised. She didn’t even notice that she had said anything out of the ordinary... The words she had just spoken just seemed so, natural.

"I don’t know." she muttered.

He replied with thoughtful silence.

Amelia walked up to him. She came infront of him and lifted her head to stare into his beautiful sapphire eyes. He watched her- instead of turning away or saying something mean- he just stared at her. And the gaze they were sharing seemed like the most comfortable thing they had ever shared.

"I want to paint you." Zelogadis whispered, not breaking the trance. "You’re so beautiful."

His words. Instead of coming from the usual mind, came from the depts of his heart. She could tell, his eyes told more than words ever could. Words weren’t needed.

Amelia closed her eyes, and his lips found hers. Her dress came off. She didn’t know who took it off, and she didn’t care. All she knew was the heaven she felt when she felt his hands all over her bare back. His tongue was in her mouth. She buckled, holding on to his arm and bringing them both to the floor. Zelogadis broke away and stared in bewilderment at her naked body, she leaned up to whisper in his ear.

"I want to paint you too."

His eyes watched her with longing, but uncertainty. Before he could react, she traced her hand up his shirt. She smiled deviously and helped him take off his shirt. Amelia’s hands traced across his chest and then his arms, feeling the tense muscle definition and lingering, gently circling, the rocks that were embedded in his body. Zelogadis looked at her with a look that could’ve been fear... She just smiled and kissed his hard blue chest. Zelogadis brought his own hands down to her.

His hands explored her body with trembling fingers. Amelia took his hand and held it to her breast. He watched her in silence, his eyes searching hers. She blushed.

"Your eyes. They’re so light and clear. They’re beautiful."

It was the first time she had the guts to say that. Though she always thought it.

He smiled shyly. Amelia felt her heart beat a little faster. He lowered his head to her chest and she felt like she was going to die. She threw her hands over her head and shut her eyes tight.

It only took minutes- seemed like seconds- for their clothes to fall in a heap beside their bodies. They rolled around on the floor, naked, enveloped in beautiful orange dusk. She felt hurt for a brief moment only to feel something more.... The world had perished, and there was no more pain. Only heaven in his wonderful physical embodiment. Her saviour, her love.

"Zelogadis-san..." She moaned, feeling an orgasm approach. He kissed her deeply. His arms wrapped around her body tight as her hips lifted off the ground one last time.

And then everything turned to light.

A fiery embrace came over her body and she cried out into his ear. It was absolute pleasure.

When she returned to reality, his chin was on her shoulder and he was breathing heavily into her ear. She smiled weakly, feeling a wonderful drowsy sensation take her. She closed her eyes, whispering his name before sleep took her.

______________________________________________________________________________________

When Zelogadis came to, he found himself still on top of her. She was sleeping soundly with a contented expression on her face. He took one look at her face and started to cry.

"I’m so sorry."

He stood up, his tears falling to the wooden floor. Already he could see the poison that he had given her. What was once pure, was now dirtied. Now she would never be pure again. Anger and resentment touched his mind and pulled him into it’s dark shadow.

He needed to get out of there.

Zelogadis slipped on his pants and walked to the door. Once he was a good ways from the house, he turned and ran.

"Did you possibly believe that you could just take her that moment and expect that things will turn out alright? Zelogadis, you really disappoint me."

Rezzo’s voice echoed in the reserves of Zelogadis’s head. He could feel the red priest. Everywhere. And it made him insane.

"You have given her a child, Zelogadis. One that will be just like you, have demonic blood and nature. People despise such beings. You should know that first hand. And this child will bring pain and suffering to the Princess. Meanwhile you will have abandoned her. Because your love ends tonight, and you have better things to do than to take care of an impregnated princess."

"Get out of my head!" Zelogadis screamed. His howl echoed soundly in the moonlit forest. Rezzo laughed.

"I warned you. Love is a curse. You know what will happen to your princess? She will lose her throne, be hated by the people she fought so hard to bring justice to. And she will lose everything. Her wits, her compassion, her love for the world. She will be born into darkness, like you were. You just shoved your fate on someone else’s destiny. Poisoned her once pure mind. Her life can only get worse. Even this island..."

Zelogadis tripped and fell to the ground. He angrily brought his fist down, the impact causing the Earth to tremble slightly.

"I know! I got us here, I have to get us out!"

______________________________________________________________________________________

Amelia opened her eyes to find herself alone, in the dark, the only source of light coming from the full moon out the window. She groggily rubbed her head.

"Zelogadis-san?" She mumbled. She pulled her dress over herself and crept out the open door. Outside, the wind was cool and the sky dotted with bright sparkling stars. The ocean reflected the moon in rippling shards of silver. She hugged herself and smiled. It was hard to comprehend that Zelogadis had made love to her only hours before. But something chilly crept under her skin, and she couldn’t brush off an uneasy feeling that something was wrong.

"You’re right."

Rezzo’s voice came to her and she immediately jump back and crouched, readying herself for a fight. Rezzo, the red priest stood before her. His body was transparent and glowed a silverish white, much like moonbeams. The expression he wore told Amelia that he wasn’t here to fight. In fact, it worried her. For once, the confident look he sported was gone. Replaced by unexplainable hurt and anguish.

Amelia stood up. "Why are you here, Rezzo?"

"I’ve done a lot of horrible things." He began. "I have killed, tortured, and hurt lots of people." He closed his eyes. "But there is one case, in which I could never forgive myself."

"Are you talking about Zelogadis-san?" Amelia asked. Rezzo looked past her.

"Yes. Though I was under the impression of Shabalanigudo at the time I raised Zelogadis, I still crossed the limit." He paused. "All children need love and compassion growing up. Zelogadis lost his parents only shortly after he was born. He was given to me to care for. And all I knew was the drive for power, to exceed the weak and become the ultimate." He winced slightly. "It seems that I had passed on my own desires, to him at a very young age."

"Judging by the tone of voice used when Zelogadis-san talks about you, he isn’t too fond of you." Amelia said angrily. "You were his grandfather, and look at what you did to him!"

He smiled sadly. "I know my impression on him was big. His childhood was swallowed up in a fit of anger, anguish and loneliness. And even now, my impression on him is strong. So strong, the subconscious form his guilty conscious has taken is actually, me."

Amelia blinked. "I... I don’t think I understand..."

Rezzo sighed. "I have to explain something before we dwell on the ‘conscious’ matter. This island is not a real place. It is only to him. You see, when he was young, his emotional dispute was so traumatic, he created the ‘perfect place.’ A place where he could be at peace, where there was no black magic or anybody else, just him and an island in the middle of nowhere. Everything here was created by him. The paintings you see are actually his assessment of his emotional trauma. At first they were just child’s scribbles, ones that were created just to express a certain moment on a piece of paper. But as the years went on and he become more and more filled with anger and resentment, the pictures too began to change. They became more defiant and powerful in dark essence. All his paintings held symbols."

"Symbols..." Amelia gasped. "You mean...?!"

Rezzo nodded his head. "The children with blood pooled around them was his ‘Innocence awashed in blood’, the portraits of the demon rising over helpless people was ‘The fear of the Chimera.’, his scenic portrait of storms was his ‘Inner Conflict.’ And the desolate chambers was ‘The empty void.’ Or his loneliness and longing."

"Tell me..." Amelia whispered. "Who is the angel in the portrait?"

Silence.

Rezzo looked at her. "The angel in the picture is you."

______________________________________________________________________________________

"Stop it, please!!!" Zelogadis screamed, tearing at the tree branches in his way. His fingers were covered in blood. Demon blood.

Dirty cursed evil blood. He screamed in terror, in fear of himself. In hate for the world which he was born into. His knees buckled, and he fell to the ground. Cold sweat pouring down his cheeks.

"Where are you going Zelogadis?"

He staggered back to his feet. "Away from here!"

"That won’t get you anywhere. It won’t rid your problems."

"I don’t know what to do!" His scream mixed with sobbing. He slumped to the ground again, his exhaustion kicking in. He was so sick and tired of everything.

He wished he was never born.

"There is a way out."

"What?" he growled. The tears were starting. His body shook his anger as the tears dripped off his nose. He was in so much pain, his whole body was convulsing. Every pore in his body was burning up.

"You can stay on the island. Why bother returning? This is the ‘perfect place’ isn’t it?"

"What about Amelia?" He asked, his eyes bloodshot and weary.

"Return her to reality."

"How?!"

Silence.

"Simple. You kill her."

______________________________________________________________________________________

It made sense. The picture of the angel girl was less skilful than the others. In the house, the paintings worked in opposition to real paintings. The newer the painting, the less skilful it was. She had only been introduced to his life recently. But there was one thing though....

"Why is the portrait not finished? Or is it that way with all his pictures?"

Rezzo shook his head. "He didn’t complete it because... He felt that he couldn’t. He looked to you for comfort. You were to be his saviour, his personal guardian angel. But his hope of that depleted when he realised that he may never find a cure. And he realised that all this was, was some fantasy he had stupidly set himself up for. And he gave up the desire to be with you. Thus, the portrait was never finished, or evolved."

Amelia shook her head. "Why? Why does he think that? I was the one that pleaded for his attention. I needed him. I feel in love with him first... He’s my justice!" Amelia nodded triumphantly. Rezzo laughed.

"Prove it to him." Rezzo said. "Only you can save him from the brink of insanity."

"Amelia...." She heard his deep, crystalline voice behind her. But his voice was no longer the calm ocean it once was. It was ridden with black clouds, and dark waves.

Time to face the storm, Amelia thought to herself. She turned around to face Zelogadis Graywords. She didn’t even get enough time to say hello; he jumped her, taking them rolling across the grass. Amelia choked, the wind was knocked out of her.

"Zelogadis-san!" Amelia looked up at Zelogadis and stopped.

His eyes were dull, lifeless. It was worse than anything she could’ve possibly imagined. She saw Rezzo floating above them, his eyes set in determination

"Zelogadis, this will end now!"

Zelogadis let out a low growl. Rezzo watched him for a while longer before shaking his head.

"No, that will accomplish nothing. No good can come out of it for us." Rezzo closed his eyes. "I will rejoin you now."

Amelia watched in surprise as the floating Rezzo fell into Zelogadis’s body. She was confused for a moment, before realisation dawned on her.

Everything on this island was a creation by himself. Except for her and him. Nothing else could be. Everything came from him. Rezzo was the embodiment of his guilty conscious.

But he was also the embodiment of his will power, his good conscious. Rezzo was not entirely evil, in fact he had also done good things. He had travelled the world with Ellis visiting children and greeting people, Amelia recalled. It was ironic how Zelogadis’s ‘inner conflict’ was using Rezzo’s ‘real life conflict’ as the embodiment, the conscious entity.

Amelia gritted her teeth. There was no more back-up. It was just her, the full moon and Zelogadis.

"Zelogadis-san!" She spoke into his face. His eyes were still lifeless. Amelia realised that even with his ‘good conscious’ in there, the dark one was way too powerful. It was the deepest manifestation of his darkest moments. And Zelogadis seemed to have a lot of them.

Amelia felt strong fingers enclose over her wrist. Pain surged up her hand as he slowly began crushing it. But before he could really do any real damage, he loosened his grip.

Amelia looked up to find him shaking. So the good conscious did have his moments. Amelia looked up and saw that the shaking was subsiding. She looked up to see Zelogadis’s eyes, once again alive. But the relief was short-lived.

His eyes were enraged. And his face wore a hellish expression.

His hand came to her wrists again, giving it a tight squeeze.

"You have to get out of here.... This is my ‘perfect place’, and no one can take it away from me."

Amelia inhaled sharply her mind reeling in pain. She had to act fast.

An idea came to her, and she prayed to God that it would work.

She had to destroy his ‘perfect place’. She had to destroy the home.

Amelia closed her eyes and concentrated on mustering up as much power as she could. She began to chant in whispers, and hoped it wouldn’t get out of control. She flung her eyes open.

"Dragon Slave~!"

Her wrists were pinned back, in a fashion that her open palms were actually directed at the house. She felt the impact of her own power as the scenery burst into flames. She not only got the house, but the whole forest behind it too.

Soon everything would be in cinders.

"Noooooooo!!!!" Zelogadis screamed. He rolled over to his side, screaming in pain and agony. Amelia hugged him from behind, her head buried against his neck.

"Zelogadis-san, thank you for letting me do Dragonslave." Her hold around him tightened. "Please be strong."

The house continued to burn and Zelogadis continued to scream. Amelia kissed him lightly on the neck.

"Be strong..."

______________________________________________________________________________________

Zelogadis stood up and watched the last dawn the island would ever have. The object of his affections was still sound asleep. Behind him, everything was burned down to ashes. Which meant he had no where else to resort to now....

Except reality.

His memories of his darker side were not gone. And he wouldn’t want them to leave him. After all, it was still part of him and without them, he would not be him. But they no longer controlled him. His darker manifestation basically screwed up his life, but now, there was no more regrets.

"Zelogadis-san?" He could feel her small hands tugging his. "Do you still hurt?"

The morning dawn made her skin glow, her deep blue eyes sparkled with the dancing shards of the glistening ocean. Her white dress was blowing freely in the ocean wind, and it played with her silky, black strands.

He couldn’t imagine a picture more beautiful.

"Yes." he smiled. He brushed his lips to hers and whispered: "I’m fine thanks to you."

They both blushed.

"Amelia." Zelogadis cleared his throat. "How did you know to destroy the house?"

Amelia thought for a moment.

"Because this wasn’t ‘the perfect place’, it was the ‘perfect prison’. This island was isolated from any other human existence, it was also depleting our memories, erasing the important people in our lives.... And the room of paintings was born from bitter memories. Reminders of the past. Maybe even your only link, but a bad one at that!" She wagged her finger at him. "Even though this island was beautiful, you can never judge a book by its cover."

He smiled, he expected her to say something lame. But he adored her anyways.

"By the way." she continued, looking at him with cute adorable eyes. She took his hand and placed it on her stomach. "You’re going to be a father, I can feel it."

Zelogadis looked at her shocked. His eyes then went to her petite stomach.

"Are you sure, you want to have my child?" he asked quietly. "We’re both pretty young... I still have some power over this, I can erase that night from this island... From us."

Amelia grabbed his collar and pulled him down so he was face to face with her. She looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"Over my dead body!"

She kissed him and he responded, deepening the kiss. Once he broke the kiss, he looked at her and smiled.

"Let’s go home."

______________________________________________________________________________________

"Wait." Amelia still had some business on the island. Well, really she just needed to check one thing...

She turned and ran to the black pile of ashes that used to be the house. Sure enough, she found a corner of a canvas sticking out of the blackness. She pulled it out and smiled.

The picture was finished.

She lay it back in the ashes. It would evolve as time went on... She gave the sight one last look before she bounded back to where Zelogadis had stood, watching.

"Let’s go." she chirped.