Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne!

I actually had someone say they liked my story! Happiness! Thanks a bunch!

This chapter is short in comparison to last one, but still it's good!

Enjoy!

A few months passed, and Folken placed a black cloak over Aoi's silvery-blue dress. "Now I want you to stay by my side at all times, you understand?"

"Yes, Folken. I do quite well."

A few weeks previous to this, some of the soldiers had almost torn her wings off because she wouldn't allow them to have their way with her. Just because she'd only wandered off for a moment. Folken had dealt with them swiftly.

He took her gloved hand. "Good. Now we're going to meet the new duke of Freid. I don't want you to say anything unless you're directly spoken to, because I don't want any undue attention drawn to you from Zaibach. Or I'll have to send you away."

At the thought, Aoi bit her lip to keep in her tears. "I know. I won't."

They walked to the battlefield, where Aoi almost covered her mouth from horror and revulsion from the sight and reek of the bodies. Folken didn't seem to notice, as he knelt in front of Duke Chid. As the two spoke with one another, Aoi stared at the carnage, clutching her chest as she tried to keep her breathing under control. Why was there so much death in this place? She could feel the souls of the deceased crying out to her. Many good men had perished with so much to live for… Had she been in the middle of a war and not even noticed?

When Folken had led her back to their room, she sat on the bed as her legs failed her. Her husband noticed and asked, "Is something wrong, Aoi?"

Locking eyes with him, she inquired, scared of the answer, "Are we in the middle of a war?"

Folken sat down next to her, taking her hands. "You're trembling so hard, love. Is that the first time you've seen so much blood and death?"

Aoi nodded, eyes still wide from the shock. "I can feel more of it than you can. I can hear the anguished cries from every man that died. That is the reason why fairies don't dwell around places of death, like battlefields and prisons."

Folken stared at her, and then enveloped her in his arms. "I'm truly sorry for making you experience that. You're innocent to the horrors of war. Gaea is at war, and I never told you. I can't even express my remorse for not doing so."

Laying her head against his shoulder, she murmured, "I'll be all right."

We learn more about Aoi at this point, so it was more serious.

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