Disclaimer: You know the drill… I don't own anything from Esca but I do own the characters not mentioned in the series so ask before you use them! Thanks!

AN: Hey everyone! I got the second establishment of the Protectors series up! YAY! So read on, this is probably one of my favorites. Also, each story I'm dedicating to someone special who has really touched my life and my writing. So check, one story might be dedicated to you!

Death Moon Rising

I would like to take this time to dedicate this story to someone special. She's touched my writing and has encouraged me to go places where I never would've thought possible. Like Crimson Fire, she helped me get to where I am today. Kae Noel, this one is dedicated to you!

Chapter One: Wish Me Away

A lone 19 year-old girl sat curled up in a dark blue chair, looking out the window into the night sky, her room dark and bare. Boxes sat all around her holding all of her worldly possessions. She sighed as the dark night sky was reflected back in her midnight blue eyes, and her waist long dark brown hair hung around her, weighed down by the depression she felt deep inside of her.

"Kat, honey, you really need to get some sleep. Tomorrow is your big day," the girl's mother said as she past by her daughter's room. The girl, Katrina "Kat" Taylor, nodded and her mother left. She knew that her mother was proud of her and didn't suspect that anything was wrong. After years of torture and failure she finally had a moment of joy-her little girl was going off to college.

But what she didn't know was that her daughter didn't share the feelings. It had been three long years since she had last been to Gaea, a planet shadowed by the moon, unknown to the people on Earth, where she had learned her destiny. She had found true love in the most misunderstood circumstances and missed her love there, Dilandau Albatou, dearly. She had waited and wished for three years to return to the planet of Gaea and live her life out there with him and not worry about the unnecessary things here. On Gaea she actually had a purpose, unlike back on Earth where she couldn't find her purpose.

Kat stood up from her chair, revealing her slender, and yet tall, frame. Tomorrow I am going off to college and I won't see Nicole and Alex, she thought gloomily to herself. All their lives her and her best friends, Nicole Rosemere and Alex Sylm, had planned to go to the same college together. But that dream was shattered when Alex and Nicole weren't accepted into Brown University.

Now Kat was going to a totally new place, where she would encounter strange and new things, some things that she didn't want, and she didn't even have her two best friends to comfort her. Sure she was up for adventure but not so much lately now that she had returned from Gaea. I don't want what you'd call adventure here, going off to college and learning new things, she thought. I want the blood pumping, sword drawing raw power adventure back on Gaea. I want to face the head of a large army, sword drawn, blood pulsing, heart racing, and charge into the fray.

She walked over to her closet and grabbed a bag out from it. It was the only thing she had that was left in the closet. I've got to get out of here; it's too much to think about. For one night I want too able to see the moon and think of Gaea, she said to herself as she walked out of her room and out of the house.

"I'm going to sleep outside tonight!" She called to her mother before slamming the front door closed. She quickly hid her bag under her front porch bench and walked out into the night. It wasn't strange for her to yell that and then go. Ever since she had returned from Gaea she had slept many nights under the stars, hoping, pleading, that she would return.

Her mother watched as her baby girl left the house from her upstairs bedroom. She knew it was dangerous for a girl her age to be walking around at night, wearing nothing but her running shorts and a white tank top. But there was nothing she could do to convince Kat of that and she knew her daughter didn't care. She could take care of herself.

Why does she seem so alone? She wondered. Ever since that night she had Alex and Nicole sleep over she's been distant. She thinks I don't see it but I can-the way I hear her cry herself to sleep at night, how her eyes don't sparkle with energy and the way she addresses everything. It's as if she just doesn't care anymore. What concerns me the most is the way she cries out in her sleep to this "Dilandau" person. Who is he?

The rhythmic beating of her feet hitting the cement as Kat ran let her body relax and fall into a comfortable set of mind. She just needed to run from her expectations just then. Kat began to run down the sidewalk, tears now streaming down her face.

I don't want to go to college without Nicole and Alex! I don't want a adventure that start's out with moving into a new place and learning how to compensate. I want the sort of adventure where you're staring at the front of an army. The blood pounding, heart taking, pulse thumping, wild action as you draw your sword and charge into the oncoming wave of soldiers ready to rip your throat out. I want to go back to Gaea, she thought.

She didn't notice where she was running, for if she had she would've seen that she had just run straight into a beam of light. The beam of light, with Kat now in its grasp, pulled away from Earth and shot across the Galaxy. Its destination: Gaea.

Dilandau Albatou watched as a blue beam of light fell from the sky. His breath caught in his throat for he knew what that meant; it meant that Kat was back. "Sir, what was that?" One of his new Dragon Slayers asked him cautiously. He knew the price of annoying his commander.

"That, Dean, is Kat," Dilandau replied. He urged his black steed underneath him towards where the light had come from. So his scouting mission of Zaibach's newly taken lands had turned out to be a blessing-who would've thought? He still remembered the day she had left his life.

He remembered the battle, the war that would've wiped out Fanellia. Zaibach had been crushing the pathetic warriors and it looked like victory was theirs until a glimmer in the sky had appeared. That's when Fanellia had suddenly come back stronger then at the very start of the battle. It was as if someone had put a spell over them.

Of course he knew that it was the Protector's working their magic. They had too it was their job. They had to protect Gaea even though it seriously pissed him off that victory was so close. He had fought hard until he decided there was nothing he could do and retreated into the cover of the forest. Right before he disappeared he had glanced at the sky and saw the blue beam of light silently take three forms away. In his ear he had heard Kat whisper, "I love you, never forget that," and he had whirled around hopefully but she wasn't standing there, a smile on her face, ready to accept his battered and tired body into her arms.

Ever since then he had waited the day for her to return, the day when she would come back and he could hold her in his arms and tell her how he felt. He felt like scum ever since she had told him she loved him and he had only referred to her as his "love". This time I won't mess it up, he thought as he steadily gained on the spot where she had landed.

As Dilandau rode towards the light, he wondered why Kat had come back; sure there was a war going on now, but that couldn't be the reason why she came back, could it? The remainder of Zaibach had restarted a year after the war and had come back even stronger then ever and he had been given his job back with new Dragon Slayers, the old ones had been killed in the attack. Part of him got angry at his diseased troops, he had thought he had trained them better then to just be slaughtered by Fanellian troops-but the truth was he was angry at himself, he had allowed a Fanellian soldier to maim his face.

Silently he traced the long scar on the left side of his face. It was still there even after three years. He glowered-it was a remaindered of his weakness. Dilandau's mind worked overload as he galloped towards Kat trying to forget the past battle. All that mattered now was that she was back.

He barely had time to go through all of his ideas of why Kat had come back before he heard his name being yelled. "Dilandau!" Kat yelled happily as she spotted him riding towards her. She had landed safely, still running, a little shock at the trip. But once she had stopped running and glanced at the sky with two moons hanging in front of her, she knew she was back on Gaea.

She had been even more surprised when she had heard a horse galloping in the distance and had looked up to see Dilandau riding towards her. Within seconds Dilandau's mount was by Kat's side, Dilandau dismounted and in front of her. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him close to her, breathing in his scent.

He still smells like pumpkin spice, she thought to herself as she buried her head in his neck. Dilandau wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close. He could smell her scent-she still smelled like fresh melon fruit. He gave a small sigh as he felt her in his arms; he couldn't believe she was actually here.

Kat looked up into Dilandau's eyes her own eyes piercing into his. In an instant she knew things were wrong on Gaea. It was like when she just looked into his eyes she saw everything that had happened. She reached up and gently traced a finger down the scar on his face, her eyes showing her concern over it. "How did this happen?" She asked softly.

"In the battle right before you left."

"Damn, that's nasty."

"Speaking of nasty," Dilandau said as he suddenly moved forward a little, capturing Kat's mouth with his. Kat's eyes widened at first but then closed as she gently kissed him back. She could feel the sparks running through her veins as Dilandau gently bit her lip to gain access to her mouth. She gladly opened her mouth and allowed his tongue to enter as the kiss deepened.

After some more kissing Kat pulled away and smiled up at Dilandau her face gently flushed. "You have no idea how much I've been wanting to do that," she whispered to him.

"I think I have a clue," he replied. "You know what?"

"What?"

"I never told you how much I love you."

"No you didn't."

"I didn't?"

"No. Maybe you should show me how much you love me."

"Maybe I should." He leaned forward and captured her mouth with his again this time gaining access to the inside of her mouth without asking. Kat couldn't help but grin inwardly as she felt Dilandau's hands run up and down the length of her spine. His touch was setting her skin on fire-in a good way.

"Dilandau?" She asked as he moved from her mouth to her neck.

"Hm?" Came the reply.

"Um, there's some people coming," she said, looking over his shoulder to the four guys that were getting steadily clearer.

"So?"

"I suggest we stop before…" she paused as he hit a spot on her neck that she liked. "Before I have to slap you-remember that spot."

Dilandau moved from her neck back to her mouth to kiss her one last time before he finally pulled away. Part of her disliked the fact that the people disturbed them and part of her was glad-as much as she loved Dilandau she didn't want to open him up for an attack just because she was back.

Dilandau released her and took the reins of his mount pulling the black steed up for mounting. "Come on, ladies first," Dilandau said, motioning towards his mount with one head while holding the reins with the other.

Kat shook her head chuckling but mounted anyway. He knew she wasn't a lady, more like a delinquent. Once she was mounted she took control of the reins and her feet out of the stirrups so he could mount. Dilandau mounted behind her, a little but more slowly then she had and Kat knew this wasn't what he had in mind.

"Well, that's what you get for dating me," she told him as she recaptured the stirrups and urged the horse forward. "I mount first so I ride."

"I'll have to remember that for later use," he muttered in her ear, his hands intertwining with hers around the reins.

"You're sick."

As the rode off to meet the oncoming riders two more girls were watching from afar. "They're perfect for each other," one said.

"Yes, they are. But come on, we have a job to do," the other agreed. Then, in a very small flash, both girls were gone.


AN: YAY! The first chapter is done! Yes, I gave a little intro of Kat's mother, one of the most deprived characters in this series I think. She's so interesting… I think I mention her a lot but anyways, she'll get her fame in "Protectors That We Are", my little reconstruction of the girl's pasts… Including a special guest! YAY! I am very aware that I went a little hentai in this chap but hey, they haven't seen each other in three years and hello, they're 19! I'm just writing about what would happen. Anyway the hentai shouldn't be apparent in the other chapters. What's with these dark people hanging around? I'd want to know… so R+R and tell me what you think!

~ShadowKat