Chapter 54


Van pulled Hitomi from him, his eyes soaking in her beautiful, living sight.

He never thought of himself capable of feeling so much for one person's life to be returned.

He had mourned his brother, tried to take Folken's place, and failed miserably.

Van finally had a small grasp about his mother and how she had so tragically withered at the foot of his father's grave.

"Van…" Hitomi whispered, her heart circling and swirling so many emotions she felt like she was plummeting and soaring at the same time.

Van was here, with her, alive and well and looking more wildly handsome than she could have ever dreamed. True, he didn't smell the best, but that could be changed. He was here.

"Oh, Van," she repeated his name in her heart like a mantra.

Time did an amazing effect of speeding up and slowing down all at once. It felt like it was forever but anxiety started to creep in when he slowly began to realize Stratego was waiting like an evil demon outside the door.

How did Hitomi get here? How long had she been confined like—like a commoner?

When Van emerged from the cell, he had Hitomi with him. Their hands were linked as he led her from the darkness of the cell into the illuminated room where the others waited.

The indecision looming over his head was almost like a phantom over with a mocking grin and a cruel chuckle. Van's only protection was his carefully placed mask of indifference.

Allen's face, on the other hand, showed all his emotions clearly. Shock, surprise, disbelief, and relief all rushed in together and melted into a semi-warmth at seeing the Fanelian Queen alive and, well, round.

"Queen Hitomi?" he questioned, not even having enough control to rise from his chair as Van walked her closer to where the others waited.

Hitomi's eyes flickered to Allen and then to the hooded man. Her heart clenched tightly. Folken was still hiding which meant Van didn't know who he really was. In her euphoric state of being with her husband, she had forgotten to try and tell him anything. The blonde hadn't mentioned anything about what she had been through, what they were currently up against, or anything truly useful. For this reason she had to battle back the urge to slap herself for not doing being more helpful.

In those few moments alone with Van, she had forgotten to be a Queen and instead was just a woman and wife happy to be with her husband.

"What were your terms again?" Van questioned in a voice deep and roughed with emotion. His hand squeezed hers reassuringly.

Hitomi's green eyes flickered to their interlocked hands and the already clenched heart constricted violently.

"Your loyalty to me and Dilandau turned over to me," the hooded man spoke fluidly and instantly.

Hitomi's eyes opened wider than normal. Van wasn't possibly considering…?

She felt a nervous smile tug on her lips as she tugged on Van's hand. He turned half an inch toward her, his eyes never leaving the mysterious cloaked man. Even the slight gesture was enough to let her know he was listening.

In the lowest voice she could muster, Hitomi whispered, "Armand is also here. They beat him up pretty badly."

Van's shoulders barely moved to those who weren't a swordsmen or his wife but to those who were, it was much more than a slight twitch. He was preparing for a fight and slipping into a defensive position as subtly as possible.

"Where is Sir DeCri?"

Folken chuckled under his breath.

"Would you like to see him as well?" the man asked and was only answered with a tilt of Van's head which in some strange male way must have been a nod. "Very well, bring the knight."

While they waited for a guard to fetch the knight, the men began to talk about the options presented. Van was not saying he was or was not going to take the offer and Folken wasn't letting the issue remain silent. Allen stayed quiet, observing the conversation, collecting, and analyzing both ally and enemy.

Dilandau was also silent, not moving as if he wished his presence to be forgotten.

Hitomi felt her hands start to shake, her heartbeat dissolved with the whispered words from the group as her mind started to swim. Folken had been clear about a few things in the brief time she had been with him.

The thing that stood out the clearest was the she held the future of Fanelia and Van in her hands. Even though Hitomi had, in vain, admitted Van was rather impartial to her, the blue haired demon only smiled.

"I know my brother," the man had acknowledged simply. "He lost his will when he thought he lost you. Dilandau has vouched to me that he was bloodlust personified when Fanelia was destroyed."

"I don't see what that has to do with me," Hitomi argued, Armand's words haunting her like a hangover after the start of the New Year. The knight had reminded her Van probably only did a duty and not an act of love whenever he had to be near her in any type of way. "Any king would want revenge for his kingdom's destruction."

Folken gave a half-smile.

"No, not when he saw the kingdom, when he saw the palace destroyed. His men will even state he broke then." Folken, clearly seeing Hitomi was objecting what he was stating pushed further. "When he thought you died, he gave up his morals...his honor…everything."

The words melted into her heartbeat and now echoed loudly in her ears.

If that conversation wasn't enough, the horrible vision painted across her heart -the possible dark reality that was waiting for them all—reared its unwanted head in her mind's eye. She wasn't able to stop it before, everything from Chid's death to the destruction of Fanelia—she could do nothing. Back then, she didn't believe in her visions, in her dreams, but they were serving as a heralding raven of the Crack of Doom.

She could ignore it and pretend it was all just coincidence, or she could embrace it and try to save what was left of Fanelia.

To be a woman or a Queen was what her questions were stripped down to being.

Hitomi felt her heart start to shred apart from the inside out.

In the vision, two women who were vaguely familiar were going to destroy Van.

A man with black wings was going to strike Van down.

Then the baby, possibly their baby, would be taken by the murderer.

Three simple facts gleaned off her vision.

A vision she did not want to see become a reality in any way or form.

It wasn't until Van's hand slipped from her own that the Queen was brought back to the current state.

"See to him," Van instructed her gently. Hitomi blinked, confused, until she heard the light groan.

Armand had been dragged into the room during her thinking time. With one curt nod, she went to Armand's side. He was badly bruised, his skin broken and weeping blood in several places, but nothing was jutting out which was a good sign. They would just have to hide all mirrors from the knight until he was healed. If the vain man saw his face in this state, there was no doubt he'd break down crying like a little girl.

"I better get a raise in the very near future," Armand hissed as Hitomi inspected his face for any unseen breaks.

"Why should you get a raise? It's about time you did your job," Hitomi reminded him, trying to keep her voice in a lighter key.

Blue eyes narrowed into icy fires.

"I have given you what you want," Stratego paused, glancing toward the now fussing blonde and brunette as if to indicate what he meant. "Do we have a deal?" he questioned; now ignoring the two.

Van's cinnamon colored eyes remained on the blackness were the Folken's face was hidden.

As a swordsman, he had sized up the guards he had seen and as a king, he had to evaluate every twist and possible turn out of this devil's deal. Was there a way to get Hitomi and Armand along with the rest of the original crew out of harm's way and take down Zaibach?

If they lost Dilandau, they were robbed of the one person to whom everyone wanted to blame.

When silent moment slipped by, Folken's impatience grew. He raised his metallic arm and gave a small hand gesture. Guards bled from the wall and surrounded the Queen and Knight quickly.

Van's teeth clamped together and his anger flared like the phoenix in his eyes. His right hand was on the hilt of his sword and ready to pull it out if they drew any closer to his people.

"As you see, my lord," there was a song of sarcasm being sung within his honorific. "Fate is on my side. You may either have your revenge on Dilandau, or you may have your wife and most loyal knight back."

"King Van…" Allen prodded, knowing Stratego seemed to have planned an almost perfect pact.

It was becoming really very hard for Van to think clearly through the red haze that was edging into his vision. He'd love to blame the call for the want of putting a sword through this guy's heart a part of his Atlantian curse, but there was no doubt no one would believe it.

Hitomi felt her heartbeat in her throat as the guards edged closer, leering grins upon their faces. Men who looked at women in that way needed to be slapped soundly and repeatedly across the face. Men who looked at pregnant women in the same lustful way needed to be dragged out to a field, striped of their clothes, and then beat to death with bars of hog soap by little old ladies.

Her nasty plots for the even nastier looks quickly dried up as the vision laughed at her and taunted her in the shadows of her mind.

Van with a child and the black winged man standing behind him it was horror covered in blood and death snuggled together.

Hitomi couldn't break free from the meaning, knowing that in the past her visions burned brightly as the face of truth.

If this came to pass, Van would die.

Fanelia would be left in ruins.

The bad guy would win.

She couldn't do much, but she could do what she had to in order to prevent that from happening.

It was a devil's slither of a tongue that she hoped with which to save him.

"I lied," came a harsh whisper from the floor. It took her a few blinks before she realized she was the one who said it. A chunk of her heart was cut off and shoved in her throat as she found it hard to talk with the newly formed lump.

Almost all the eyes went over to the small blonde who had spoken the random words.

"What?" Van questioned.

"I lied," she repeated, a new fiery fury of sadness cutting through her green eyes.


Eries eyes told of all the bitterness she felt.

Both her older and younger sister wished to study medicine in order to help people live. It was a truly noble endeavor and one she was proud of but never felt a desire to seek. Instead, here she waited on the back of an impatient war horse as her men prepared for battle.

She was here to destroy what lay before her as a dark princess of death. Her sisters' disapproval about the needless waste of life filled her heart and pricked her conscience.

War wasn't pretty.

War wasn't fun.

War was ugly and splattered with death.

The princess swallowed a swell of emotion that had bloomed in her throat.

The anticipation of the attack was coiled tight in everyone's stomach. They had decided to attack both unsuspecting camps at the same time to prevent them from joining up and defeating the depleted Asturian forces. This was going to be their all or nothing. Asturia would either emerge from this victorious or submerge into history as another pile of corpses under the hell bent rule of Zaibach and Fanelia.

This was to be the end of everything and the start of a new era. It wasn't Asturia's idea to start an unholy war, but it was their gift from the gods to end it. If those they encountered weren't with them, they were dead.

Simple matters required simple answers.

Eries told herself this so she could rest at night.

"Your majesty?" General Loce questioned, his voice shaking her out of her reverie.

"Prepare to move," she ordered in a firm voice.

Somewhere in the back of her heart, she whispered a prayer that her dead sisters would eventually forgive her.


"I lied to you."

Hitomi had to do this! She just had to! She never thought she would come to love Van, but she did and to do that meant to do what was best for them—for him. Even though the words never passed his lips, the way he was thinking and acting was enough to make her pretend that, for one brief moment in time, he loved her.

Because of that love, Van was no longer thinking like a King, the protector of the realm, but like a husband and a soon-to-be father. If those two facts were the only things holding him back from acting out in what was best for the kingdom, she'd rip that away from him.

Tears licked the bottom of her eyes with fire. Van had opened up to her, trusted her, and nothing he could ever say would make her believe otherwise. She loved him, and always would, but for now—for now, she was going to have to break his heart.

"I lied," she screamed, tears poured down her cheeks. "I lied! Do you really think that one night would be enough?" Hitomi continued. "Armand knew I was pregnant first and pushed you to think you were the father because he is the father! We are lovers!" Her throat burned with the lies.

She was breaking his heart. Even though his outward appearance didn't change, she could see the bricks being laid on a new wall in his eyes.

He would hate her.

She couldn't bring herself to look at him anymore. Closing her eyes, she let them singe with wetness as she told herself over and over it was for the best. If Van hated her, he wouldn't try to defend her or their child. If he thought she was unfaithful, he wouldn't trust her. He would think like a king and not a man.

"She's lying now!" Armand protested, having finally gotten over his shock induced spell of silence brought about by her untruths. Did that little idiot know what she was saying? If Van believed even a word of her tale, the knight would be stripped of his title and then fitted for the hangman's noose. It was treason to be a participant in adultery of royalty.

"Y-you don't have to consider me!" Hitomi pleaded, her voice shrinking in strength. "Armand is trying to protect himself even now."

Van's entire world, the one that had only lately been restored to a fraction of its former self, quickly imploded, and was sucked down into the darkest cave in the dreariest pit of existence.

The entire room was encased in silence for several heartbeats. The cinnamon colored eyes of the King never left the bowed blonde head of the Queen.

He was waiting for—for something to happen.

If someone ran a sword through his heart, he doubted very seriously he would even notice. The pain would be nothing to the void. Total and utter apathetic moments slipped by. His mind was a complete blank to the words but his heart, his heart was doing funny things.

In stunned or amused silence the room would have stayed if not for the devil's spawn who broke it.

There was a ripple of enjoyment followed by a louder, harsher sound of amusement.

All eyes, except Van's, swung around to stare at the bemused black and red clad knight as he threw back his head and laughed harder, gasping for breath.

Allen clenched his teeth as he reached for the jocular male and wrapped his hand around his throat, hoisting him off his feet.

"This is not to be laughed at."

The laughter died to spurts of dark chuckles.

"Of course it is," the knight replied, the grip on his throat tightening uncomfortably.

"Put him down, Prince Allen," Folken instructed, raising his hand to call forth the guards who had retrieved Armand. "Or I shall not remain pleasant."

Allen cursed under his breath and released his victim. With a clang and a grunt, the Zaibach knight landed in an ungraceful heap on the floor.

By this time, Hitomi had dared to look up, ignoring the way Armand was being rather vocal to her about lying.

He still had his doubts. Van was waiting for her to say she either lied or to pony up the proof. Biting the inside of her cheek, Hitomi felt her conscience and guilt rise to new and frightening levels. Another idea struck her and before she could confirm with the rest of her functioning brain, she acted.

Placing a hand on either side of Armand's face, Hitomi sent one more plead of forgiveness before she pressed her lips against her knight's.

Van's exterior shattered.

There was the evidence his heart had been vainly seeking. Armand's blue eyes were snapped open wide, Hitomi's green eyes, how many times had he dreamed of those eyes?, were sealed shut and their lips were comfortably together.

Familiar.

Comfortable.

Like lovers.

It was in that instant that Van truly felt himself die.

"Oh, gods," Allen breathed out under his breath.

When the kiss was broken, the blonde released the brunette's face. The shock still evident as he instantly hit the floor with the back of his short-haired head.

"I told you, I don't love you," Hitomi stated flatly, her bangs casting a shadow over her eyes in an effort to hide her tears. "Armand is-," she couldn't even finish the thought or feeling.

"Splendid," Dilandau started; only to receive a rather nasty look from Allen.

"Stay quiet," Van warned, his hand screamed in pain at the death grip he held on the hilt of his sword.

"Why should I?" the knight questioned cockily the slightly high pitched male-sounding voice smoothing into a distinctive female tone.

Something in Van's mind strained to correlate the two sounds.

"I told you before," the General Knight purred like a fattened cat.

The way his already broken heart found shards of glass to grind into itself was testimony that he knew the person behind the mask.

"How can anyone love an abomination?"

Serena.

"Wouldn't matter?" That pretty face that he had kissed, been kissed by, and mesmerized for five months and some odd weeks had never held so much disgust and hate as it did right then. "You're-a MONSTER… how can anyone love an abomination?"

Serena.

The knight didn't need to remove the helmet to let Van know who was behind it.

With a jerky motion of his neck, he cast his eyes to where Dilandau was still chuckling at his—perhaps, her, own joke. The weight of the world crashed down on his shoulders, shattered, and punctured what was left of his fighting spirit. His shoulders lost their tension for a fraction of a second, but it was like flashing a paper cut to a hungry vulture.

Folken understood what Van's body language was saying and smiled.

"I told you stay quiet!" Allen barked.

Van remained silent; his eyes were stone cold walls of indifference. He wasn't letting anything in or out.

She had done it to him and Hitomi started to die inside. Through her banshee's scream of pain in her heart, her logical mind quietly whispered five words.

It was for the best.


The Generals looked to the sky, the twilight blackening one direction as a dusty blue started to settle over where the stars had sparkled.

Dawn had come.

Men, heavily and lightly armored, some in full suits while others wore their wife's kitchen pots on their heads, waited like panthers in the dark to strike at their enemy.

War was always simple to understand.

There were two people who were going to fight and there was only going to be one person who went home.

"Your majesty?" The winds seemed to pick up the unasked question and swirl around Eries blonde head. Her hair whipped like a pit of angered snakes, almost its own living thing as she reached to her left hip and wrapped her gloved hand around the pearl and gold hilt of her sword. With one hoist, she slid the smooth, sharp metal from its scabbard. As easily as the waters carried a wave in the full moon light, she raised her arm, sword straight above her and with equally lethal beauty and efficiency, she brought the blade down in a lightening flash.

The battles cries from the fire pits of death erupted as all hell met with the rising of the sun.