A/N: Surprise at the end of this chapter! XD You'll never guess and I'm not telling, so you'd better read fast or else the suspense will kill you!
Not long after, everybody had loaded themselves into the Crusade and they were on their way to Zaibach to kick some bad-guy butt and save Fanelia's king. Hitomi stood looking out one of the windows, watching as they drew closer to where Van was probably fighting for his life by now.
"Come on, come on..." she murmured impatiently as the Crusade continued on in its lazy pace. She turned to the man at the wheel, "Can't you make this thing go any faster?"
"Not if we want any chance of being able to stop in time," he answered.
"Have patience, Hitomi," Allen said soothingly, "We're going much faster than we would have by foot and it should really only take five or ten minutes for us to get to Zaibach. Van is strong, he won't let himself get hurt this early in the game."
She nodded, but her fears, along with her impatience, could not be quelled so easily. She continued to look at the approaching land that had formerly been the Zaibach Empire with rising fear. She could just see the battle now: an entire Empire (even in shambles) against one warrior... one prince... one man... one mortal man that could die if hurt too badly. She had to close her eyes against the horrid sight her imagination created for her.
"Alright, guys," Allen hollered, catching everybody's attention, "Let's get off here to establish an element of surprise. Dryden, Millerna and Merle can all stay here and take care of the Crusade while we're gone. Everybody else, let's go."
"Wait!" Merle cried, speaking out for the first time since Van had contacted Hitomi via telepathy, "I want to help Lord Van, too, let me come along!"
"You'd best stay here," Hitomi told her, wrapping an arm around the cat-girl's shoulders, "It'll be safer."
"But—"
"Hitomi's right," Allen piped up, "It'll be safer for everybody if you remained here with Dryden and Millerna. We can't stop what we're doing to rescue you if you get yourself in trouble. It's the easiest way and right now we need whatever luxury we can get."
With a martyred sigh of relent, Merle reluctantly nodded. "I'll stay here."
The fair-haired knight nodded, then approached Hitomi, a sword in hand. "Van will never forgive me for this, but we need your help, Hitomi... please help us fight?"
She nodded gravely and took the sword by the hilt, holding it with both hands. When Allen let go of it, she nearly tipped over from the sudden weight. It was heavier than it appeared to be. Allen opened a door and threw a rope that was tied to the door handle out the side. He grabbed Hiomi by the waist and jumped, taking hold of the rope to slow their descent by a fraction. He landed gracefully on his feet, put her down, then moved out of the way so that the others could followed.
Robo-Van followed, a look of pure elation on his face, as though he were on a ride at an amusement park instead of taking a leap that could possibly be the final leap of his life. When he landed, he did a twirl, giggling like a little kid and then fell flat on his back. "Again!"
"That idiot is going to give us away," Allen growled and shoved his foot into Robo-Van's mouth to mute the elated laughter that could only belong to a child but belonged to an insane robot dealing with a debilitating personality crisis.
Van could wait no longer. From his experiences in the cell over the past while, he had memorized the guards' schedules and he knew that they would be coming to check on him soon. It would be smart to wait until the guards showed up, then he could take them down, take their weapons and their keys. Te keys and the weapons would be most invaluable to him at the moment.
So, he sat on his rotten cot, playing an unnerving waiting game that tore at every inch of him. He was ready to go! Come on! Let's go! Why wouldn't the guards just get their asses in there so that Van could beat the puss out of them and find Hitomi!
Then, he heard the lazy, unsuspecting footsteps of somebody sauntering down the corridor toward his cell. He tried to make it look like he was relaxed, but he braced himself, preparing to pounce just when the time was right. Then, there was the sound of a key being jammed into the lock, a bolt clicking and then the door swinging open.
Okay, this was it... he was going to pounce as soon as the person stepped over the threshold. He was going to use his dagger to slit the guy's throat, then he was going to strip him of all his weapons—and peraps some armor just to be safe—and his keys, and then he was going to head straight to Hitomi, killing any misfortunate bastard that had the stupidity to get in his way.
But, when the man walked into the cell, Van started to lunge and then stopped. This wasn't a guard. The prince's eyes widened, his jaw going slack, his lungs suddenly working overtime and yet unable to dgest any of the oxygen they were rapidly consuming.
A hellish chuckle—that oh-so-familiar, mad, insane and ultimately evil chuckle—ripped from the man's throat and all Van could do was stare dumbly at the man who had so obviously risen from the dead. "Surprised to see me, Van Fanel?"
Just as the man was whispering those words, a vision hit Hitomi, but there was no sight to it, only heart-stopping noises: the sound of Van screaming in both pain and horror mixed with deranged laughter coming from another source. That was when Hitomi truly realized that it was too late, that the war had started... Dilandau Albatou had finally awakened and he was dead-set on finding Van.
A/N: Okay, you guys probably aren't surprised and I don't blame you... but I bet your wondering how Dilandau is in Zaibach when Allen left Celena in Austuria, eh? Eh? *nudge nudge* Well, stay tuned to find out! Some reviews might help, as well, because everybody knows that they stimulate the creative glands in one's body... wherever they are.