Project: Dilandau

By Kawaii Kitty

Smiles, happiness, and bright times were all that the girl knew. Everything from… that time had been long forgotten, and the feelings replacing the memories were of pure elation and bliss. Spinning, spinning in the once scorched garden just outside of the castle in the kingdom of Fanelia, the teenager laughed happily, knowing no pain, only the joy that the company of her elder brother Allen and the king of Fanelia, Van, shared with her. At long last, her energy spent, the girl collapsed onto the ground, landing on her rear, laughing as the world continued to spin around her.

The young dark-haired king gave a chuckle and looked to the tall, blonde knight standing not too far from him. "She really does seem happier now, doesn't she?" His smooth voice came, floating elegantly to his comrade. The blonde nodded.

"She really does. The only thing that she has to worry about now is what color dress she wants to wear in the morning." He finished his comment with a laugh, and then watched his younger sister as she rolled over in the grass and plucked up a small pink and white flower. She examined it for a long moment before placing it into her short pale blonde hair.

Standing up, the girl turned towards the two men and then skipped towards the youngest of the pair. "Van!" she cried. "Am I pretty?" Her voice came out in a childish manner, appearing to be so irresistible, that it was impossible not to smile at.

The young man clad in a loose red shirt nodded and laughed at her. He reached a brown-gloved hand up and pat her on the head. "You sure are, Celena." He commented. The girl's face lit up at the compliment and her cheeks flushed a light shade of red before she turned to her brother.

"Allen! Van says that I'm pretty!" She exclaimed, hopping merrily towards the knight. Upon reaching the man, her long, thin arms wrapped around him and pulled him in for a tight hug. "Van says that I'm pretty! Is he right?" She then tilted her thin, pale face up and locked her bright blue eyes onto her brother's.

Allen nodded, hugging the young lady back and simply smiling at her. "Of course he is. He's the king of Fanelia. He can't lie. It's against the rules."

She blinked at this explanation, and then looked over her shoulder at the man being spoken about. He was just a few months older than she, but he already had wisdom beyond his years. He gave thanks for this, saying that he gained it when an angel from the Mystic Moon swooped down and taught him. "Is it, really?" She asked. "That's strange. I didn't know that kings had rules that they had to follow."

Van nodded and took a step towards the pair. "Of course we do. If we aren't kind to our people, we will be overthrown and probably murdered." He gave a bitter laugh and then stopped as the girl's face turned to one of pure mortification and horror. "Don't worry about me, though, Celena… I know just what my people want."

The look of terror molded into one of relief and happiness. "Good… I wouldn't want you to die…" she said, smiling kindly. Van nodded, understanding her concern. Celena then tore her eyes from the king and then focused them on her brother again. "Allen, I'm going to go look at the fish, okay?" She released her grip on him and then stepped away from him and ran over to a small pond settled just outside of a gazebo in the garden.

Sighing softly, the long-haired blonde ran a gloved hand through his thick locks of hair and watched his sister run off. "Always running around, that one…" He commented quietly as the teenage girl leaned over to examine the water.

Van nodded and folded his arms, watching her as well. "Well… you said that she got taken away as a child, didn't you?" He asked, glancing to Allen for just a moment. "It's not like she had much of a childhood, so she's living it now…" He smiled kindly. "A person's childhood is one of the most important parts of their life… we teach ourselves how to be adults…" He shook his head and then focused his gaze on the Austurian Knight. "Don't you agree, Allen?"

The blonde nodded and gave a bit of a sigh. "I guess so…It's just that… I haven't had to deal with something like this for so long… it's kind of foreign to me, Van…" He sighed and then looked up to the crystal blue sky above their heads, to the faded image of the moons hanging in the sky. "I know that Hitomi would know what to do…"

Van's face fell at the mention of the girl. His gaze landed on the ground and concentrated on a small rock as Van sunk into a reverie of his thoughts. He nodded. "She always seemed to know just what was right…But I guess that power of hers kind of helped." He said, remembering those cards that she used. He reached a gloved hand up and clasped it around the pink pendant hanging from his neck. A gift from the girl who he missed so dearly.

"You know… sometimes I wake up and expect to see her there, smiling like she always did… ready to give advice or a hug…" Said Allen as he sank to the ground. "but then I look up at the Mystic Moon and remember that she's back to having a… what you could call normal life for the moon's inhabitants." He gave a sort of laugh and shook his head. "I don't know… But I hope that she's enjoying herself."

"Me too…" Van's voice echoed in a dull, distracted voice.

Celena's gaze was transfixed on the golden bullets zipping around in the water. With the sun glistening off of their smooth scales, they were never really hard to catch with her eye. She gave a giggle and then continued to look around the water for more critters that caught her eye. "Wow… they're so pretty…" she muttered in amazement to herself.

"Are you having fun, Celena?" asked an oddly familiar voice. "Does this… amuse you?"

The girl nodded and continued to smile happily, unaware that the voice was coming from inside her own head. "I sure am!" She giggled and then lifted her head to address the person who she thought was in back of her, but instead only saw her brother and Van speaking amongst themselves. She blinked curiously and then turned her attention back to the water. She could no longer see the fish, or even the bottom of the pond for that matter. Only a glassy, mirror-like surface which reflected a face back up at her that made every muscle in her body freeze as it only grinned at her.

As she stared into the ruby-colored eyes of the reflection, it seemed to speak to her. "Hello, there. Remember me?" The voice came with an almost echo-like sound resonating off of it, and it turned the girl's blood cold. She couldn't necessarily recall who the boy in the water was… only the awful feeling and the memories that came flooding to her mind.

A blinding pain began to rip through her body, tearing her apart from the inside out. The sensations began in her lower regions and then rose to her chest, as if making to rip her supple breasts from her body. Celena stood up on her knees, crossed her arms over her chest and gave out a horrifying, blood-curdling scream that surprisingly only lasted for about seven seconds before the pain became unbearable and the girl's sapphire eyes rolled back into her head and she fell face-first into the cool water of the pond.

At the first noise, the attention of the two men was had in an instant. Van and Allen jumped to their feet and raced over to the girl as she tumbled into the pool.

"Celena!" Allen's voice cried in a desperate, panicked voice. He growled and shifted himself into the pond, allowing his pants to soak up the water up to his waist while he tended to his unconscious sister. "Celena! Are you alright?! Speak to me!" He wrapped his strong arms about the girl and lifted her from the water, beginning to shake her a bit. "Celena!" The girl's body refused to respond to any of Allen's intentions, remaining stiff in his grasp.

Cold… alone… She didn't want that… No. Not again. One by one, memories flooding back to her like an army of ants back to the home nest. She remembered the cell, the dogman that brought her food and water, the pain of the needles, the screams that were not quite her own, the comfort she felt of the confused young men around her as she cried, the fire… Oh how did she remember the fire…The warming flames, the smell of the carbon being emitted… The only thing to bring her pleasure was the fire's warmth.

Yes, even in that time.

A/N: Okay! There you have it! The first chapter of Project: Dilandau. I promise that I'll be updating fairly soon on this. No worries. But now that you've read the ACTUAL fic, let me know what you think! Review, won't you? Good! I love you all~!

-Kawaii Kitty =^-~=