Disclaimers: I do not own Escaflowne
I'VE GOT PICS OF VAN IN BEAST FORM!
AND PICS OF HITOMI FROM THIS CHAPPY!!
E-MAIL ME IF YOU WANT THEM!
A/N Wow… left the caps on… Oh well! Enjoy the chapter!!!
Draconian Beast
Chapter 10. The Wing Goddess
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Dilandau grinned maniacally behind the helmet of his guymelef, "We're almost through!" He screamed, licking his lips in anticipation. 'She's mine. Little missy thought she could get away, we'll just have to see about that!' He laughed.
Once the cloaked guymelef got through the foliage, his men had stopped and waited for further orders. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go in there!" Dilandau ordered with a shriek.
The dragon slayers had nodded their heads and run to the doors. The small group of soldiers had then tried to open the doors but failed miserably. "They won't open." Gatty piped up. Then they had all tried again at the same time, bursting through the doors and falling down in the process.
It was quiet inside the castle.
A bit too quiet for their liking.
When they had all stood up, one by one they walked further into the foyer of
the castle.
"NOW!" Allen shouted.
Chefs standing up on the second floor balcony had poured boiling hot and spicy soup down onto two of the soldiers, Dallet and Viole. They had cried in surprise and started to shout in pain as the vile concoction melted holes in their armor.
"It's hot!" Dallet yelled.
"Aie!!" Viole squirmed.
Miniature guards led by Allen, Gaddess, and Reeden attacked the remaining soldiers
Dilandau cursed from outside the building, "If those damn idiots can't bring her out then I'll smoke her out!" A guymelef arm poked out of the cloak, flames burning at the tip.
"Coward!" The dragon slayer captain had heard and narrowed his eyes. "Who dares call me a coward!" He scouted around until he found a dark haired man standing on a balcony. "You!"
"You're a coward, Dilandau! Why don't you fight like a true warrior." Van spat.
"How dare you speak that way to a member of the black dragon clan!"
"You are the one disrespecting them by fighting in that suit of armor... Hiding like a coward." Van mentally grinned when he heard his shriek, "I am the last white dragon of my kind, why don't you test your black magic on me, Dilandau." 'I know I won't last, since now I'm only human. But I can give Hitomi some time to run.'
"I accept your worthless challenge, Dragon!" Dilandau grinned, walking his guymelef to the balcony. The cloaked armor had then kneeled and revealed itself, Dilandau soon emerging from within it. He stood, his blood red eyes gleaming with hatred and malice and leapt from the kneeling thing onto the balcony, next to Van. "Prepare to die, Dragon."
Van smirked, "That's doubtful. Unfortunately for you, you have to catch me first." He kept his smirk the entire time he escaped the slayers clutches. Somehow, they had ended up on the roof of his castle, battling it out. Van had finally unsheathed his sword and fought Dilandau with his blade.
"Some swordsman you are!" Dilandau mocked, shoving him.
Van glanced at the Horizon and winced, 'With these clouds in the way I can't see when the sun will come up. I can only rely on the magic building up in me that will tell me when I'll transform.' He thought as thunder boomed and lightning struck the ground.
Dilandau snorted in disgust striking Van's blade with his own, successfully making the King drop it. He held it to his neck, "Any last words, Dragon?"
"Run."
He laughed, "What a waste! Why would I want to run?"
Van had lowered his head, and snarled in a beastly manner.
Dilandau narrowed hi eyes, "What the hell is wron—"
Van's skin paled and his hair turned a deathly white. Claws grew and fangs poked their ways out of his mouth as blue marking formed on his arms. His eyes, now shadowed by his lowered head, were a deep red with slits and raven black wings pierces through his back, acting as a dark cloak, feather pooling around him.
Dilandau kept his sword trained on the darkened figure, his blade lightly quivering from shock. "Wh-what are you? You beast!"
Van growled, "Van Fanel.. Your worst nightmare!" He barked, lifting his head, sending waves of magic around him to Dilandau, and effectively pushing him away. With Dilandau now further from him, he had spread his black wings and lifted himself into the air, flying at the captain.
Dilandau curse under his breath and concentrated his magic on Van, using the same wave technique while also controlling the wind. "I'll kill you!" He shrieked.
Van struggled against the wind, flapping his dark wings heavily to fly away. He had flown up and swooped down gaining speed in his descent and had used his claws to slash at Dilandau.
"My face!" He screamed, "You touched my face!" He howled.
"Heh."
.:.:.:. Inside the castle .:.:.:.
Meanwhile, inside the foyer, a war was going on between grown soldiers and small beings. There wasn't too much damage so far to worry about, since weapons weren't used, but it was getting very intense.
Merle stuck out her tongue at Chesta, "Can't get me!" She mewed.
Chesta growled and launched himself at the cat girl, but was intercepted by a very angry Millerna who had slapped him and kicked him in the shines.
"You horrible person! What kind of man are you?! Picking on children!" Millerna scolded.
"Ow!" He was kicked again then scratched by the cat girl.
"I'm gunna use you as a scratching post!" Merle hissed.
Gatty struggled against the miniature soldiers, having difficulties killing children. He had instead decided to just injure them and beat them instead of using his blade. His method eventually brought him down and until he was being sat on by the soldiers.
"Heh, you ain't so tough." Reeden laughed to himself. "Hey Boss! We got one down!"
Gaddess yipped and jumped on Guimel's back, "Hey there!"
Guimel struggled with the boy on his back, "Get off!" He shouted desperately, yelping when the boy had gripped onto his blond curls. "My hair!"
"Bah! What kind of boy are you? You're gunna look like the commander if you keep this up!" Gaddess said, hearing Reeden laughs in the background and Allen's scowls of protest.
Dryden smirked coyly and casually walked by Guimel, sticking his leg out and tripping the poor boy who had fallen flat on his face. "Have a nice trip."
Gaddess cheered, "Yeah! Direct hit!"
Dryden shrugged and sat himself down on the dragon slayers back since the poor thing had passed out. "That was some fall." He snickered, pushing up his glasses.
Allen rolled his eyes and had continued his battle with Viole. With the holes in his armor, it was easy to place hits on him. He also had the advantage of using a wooden spoon as his weapon, courtesy of the head chef.
WHACK!
"Ow! Give me that you pipsqueak!" Viole sneered, grabbing the wooden spoon and lifting it up.
"Not a good idea." Allen smirked, being lifted with the spoon and giving Viole a swift kick to the jaw, knocking him out cold. He had let go of the spoon as Viole had fallen back, landing nicely on his feet with his blond locks flowing behind himself.
Reeden whistled, "Nice work commander."
There was only one left, and that was Dallet who was now surrounded by the mob of children. With his entire comrades unconscious, he stood no chance against them all. "Pl-please don't hurt me!"
Mrs. Miyano crossed her arms in front of her little chest, "Girls, bring out the rope!" She announced.
The group had tied together the slayers in the center of the foyer. All of them were unconscious safe for Dallet who merely whimpered. Thankfully, they had kept them all in the foyer and avoided a big mess. The only real disaster they had to deal with at the moment was the tiled floor. Parts of it had melted away from the soup..
"What kind of soup was that Mrs. Miyano?" Millerna asked.
"My ultra deluxe spicy lemon surprise." She replied, nodding proudly, "A family recipe!"
"Yeah, that's poisonous.." One of them murmured.
"What was that?!"
"Nothing!"
Dryden had earlier gone outside to check for any more warriors and had noticed the large Guymelef a few yards away. "What the.." He could hear the clanging of metal and snarls from above, "Van!" He noticed two white haired figures, "The other one has to be Dilandau." He cursed and sprinted back into the foyer.
"Everyone! Get to Van's room now!"
Merle twitched her ears and blinked up at him, "Why? What's wrong with Van-sama?"
"He's on the roof with Dilandau!"
"The one Hitomi was talking about?" Allen asked. At Dryden's nod they had gone up into the King's bedroom. "No matter what, we have to protect the pendant." Allen had announced. Various heads had nodded and a good chunk of the group had gone onto the balcony just in time to see Van use his magic on the black dragon, pieces of stone crumbling away from the intensity.
"Van is going to kill him!" Millerna gasped.
"Van-sama!" Merle cried.
"All of you, go to the roof! I'll stay behind and protect this." Allen told them.
"B-but commander—" Gaddess argued.
"Go! Now!"
Dryden nodded, "He's right! We need to go and try to help!"
.:.:.:. With Hitomi .:.:.:.
"Mistress…" "Mistress..." "Wing Goddess..."
Hitomi clenched her fists tightly, running at full speed to the castle. She didn't know how long she had been running for, but her legs were sore and her lungs burned. All she could see were trees, trees and more trees! She could have sworn she hadn't gone that far from the castle…
Hitomi came to a stop and closed her eyes tightly, breathing in and out, thunder booming loudly in her ears, "Please… Lead me there. Tell me where to go. I can hear you Escaflowne, but your voice is coming from all directions! Show me one way! The right way!" She pleaded.
Then she heard it.
The shriek of a dragon.
She twisted her body in the direction of the noise, "Esca.. Flowne?" She murmured. There was another shriek that came from the same direction she was turned to. She had wiped the sweat off her forehead and nodded, 'You're there…' She broke into a run once more towards the dragon, knowing full and well it was the God of the Sky guiding her way.
Soon enough, she could see the exit of the forest and the castle in the far distance. The dragon had shrieked one last time before leaving her to continue her way on her own. She was at the back of the castle and had no way of entering the back way so she had run at full speed around the large building until she had found the large pair of doors and stopped. She had eyed them wearily noting they were opened and panted hard.
To her right, she could the see the red 'melef from her vision, 'Dilandau.. He's here..' Lightning had bolted and thunder boomed, leading her eyes to the top of the castle. Her eyes had gone wide when she had spotted Van flying and swooping down to attack something. "Van's fighting—" She could see the King's opponent brandish his blade, "—Dilandau!" She gaped and turned back to the doors, running up to stairs and into the building.
The girl had hardly noticed the tied up soldiers in the center of the foyer. The chefs and Fanelian guards were guarding them as she ran up the steps of the next staircase. She had passed by several rooms and had just registered which way she was going in. It was towards Van's room.
Upon arriving at the lord's room, she had noticed Allen standing inside next to the pendant. "Allen!" Hitomi panted heavily, slumping to the floor to gasp in some air.
"Hitomi!" Allen sputtered, running to the exhausted woman worriedly, "Are you alright? What are you doing here?"
"I'm f-fine. Tell me how I can… How I can get to the roof…" She gasped, weakly standing back to her feet.
"Y-you can't! If you do, Dilandau will see you!"
"I don't care! I'm going to protect Van!" Hitomi blurted, "Please tell me where to go!" She pleaded, having finally caught her breath.
Allen had a smile tug at his lips but shook his head furiously, "Okay! You have to go straight down this hall until you get to end. There should be a staircase you can take to get up to the roof! The others are already there!"
Hitomi groaned, "More stairs?" She said before leaving once more.
It hadn't taken her long to get there but the adventure up the stairs made her grind her teeth in frustration. She had finally spotted the gang of children standing at the top of the stairs. She had mentally grinned, but once she had gotten to the top and shoved everyone away, her heart had stopped.
Van had used his magic to break Dilandau blade into small fragments, about to strike him with his claws.
Apparently, the Zaibach captain had been waiting for this, and knew exactly what to do. He had used his black dragon magic and moved the larger fragment to Van, piercing his stomach. Immediately, the cursed man had plummeted to the ground roughly, black feathers circling him.
"No! Van!"
"Van-sama!" Merle cried.
Dilandau grinned, "I guess she isn't here. Oh well, you'll just have to die then."
Van clutched his wound on his stomach, coughing up blood and glaring at him.
Dryden cringed and turned, "Hitomi!" He whispered, "You're here!"
She just nodded weakly, tears forming in her eyes. The others had seen her also and she had sprinted away from them and towards Van.
"Van!!" She cried.
Dilandau grinned down at the dying boy and turned to the voice of his woman, "Oh, so you are here you little witch."
She ran by him and ignored him completely to get to Van. By the time she was at his side, he was lying in a pool of his own blood. She had sat down, tears flowing from her eyes, "Van..?" She sniffled, "Please look at me.. Please stay with me…"
The King only laid there, but had cracked open his eyes weakly to look at her. They were changing from red to brown constantly before closing again, "Hito…"
"Van! No Van! Please!" She placed a hand on his chest, shaking him, "Wake up! Van!"
Dilandau chuckled darkly, "Too bad, girly. I killed him. He's gone now."
"Van!" She sniffled again, her tears flowing down. "Wake up.. Don't die."
Her tears glowed.
There was a bright flash of light, causing everyone to shield their eyes.
The pendant that was previously in the King's chambers was now floating above Van, half pink.
"Look!" Dryden gasped, "It's the pendant!"
"Maybe.. Maybe the Wing Goddess will appear.." Millerna whispered.
The group had gasped when they could see Hitomi's figure moving up to stand, her body engulfed in a glow.
Then without warning, a pair of transparent snow-white wings had bursted from her back, surrounding her being.
"It's Hitomi!" Merle gasped, "She is the Goddess!"
The shine in Hitomi's eyes had left and turned to a dull green, her torn dress flowing in length and turning into a pure white. White straps hung gently down her arms revealing her bare shoulders and a bit of skin on her arms before white long sleeves started their way down her arms to her hands.
Pink ribbons held the sleeves in place on her arms; ribbons also crisscrossing up her torso leading to a pink gem on her dress. Gold sparkling earrings hung on her ears, a small white feather earring also on her left ear next to the gold earring and finally a white clasp on the shell of her left ear.
The Wing Goddess now stood there in her glory, glowing gold. She had grasped the semi dark pendant that had been floating, and held it to herself.
'The Wing Goddess.. I am the Wing Goddess… I really am..' Hitomi thought to herself, her dress blowing from the winds around her.
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A/N Ooooh, nice eh? Suggested song for her transformation, "My only Love," from Sailor Moon. Yep, I like this! If you want pics of her Wing Goddess form e-mail me! I've got the pics! As well as Van's beast form! R&R!!!!!!!!!