"Good, then take the back door." Not exactly willing to deal with young king's moodiness right now, Allen checked the room and positioned himself before the massive and heavily decorated double doors that led into inner halls. None of the guards were around since most able men were fighting on the fronts or delivering news of battles. The time to take out the royalty of Asturia to weaken the alliance couldn't have been chosen better. Van retreated to the back, scowling. Hitomi remembered the words he said that night she was brought to this world: "I'm not that bad off that I need help from a woman". How much he looked like a little boy both then and now.
Allen took one of the ceremonial katanas that served as a decoration on the wall. Testing it's edge, he decided it had to do and tossed it to Dryden. "Just in case." And he cautiously stepped out in the hall, with his blade drawn. The memory of crimson liquid and dead blue eyes tugged on Hitomi's heart and she shouted his name. Receiving no response and overrun with sweaty panic, she threw herself into the dimness of the hall.
*********
Celena was not aware of where she was going, or where she was. She had no sense of direction or time. She had no sense of self. Like in a foggy nightmare, where you can't control your actions, or speak, she saw herself walking through the wet grass, barefoot. She was acutely aware of some aching pain, but remembered nothing and thought of nothing. It's a state of mind when you are about to awake, when consciousness borders with sleep, and there's only you in some sort of ancient, subconscious darkness. The mist was gray, just like her mind. Or was the mist just in her mid?
**********
Sprinting down the dim-lit corridor, Hitomi fought the urge to scream for Allen not to attract the attention of whoever might be stealthily creeping about. She was afraid of getting lost in the maze of passages and rooms, but it was a risk she had to take. The lights and shadows danced on the walls, cast by the wavering flames of the torches. In the utter silence the only sounds were her uneven, scared breathing and her footsteps. She knew she should slow down and try to conceal her presence, but then it could be too late by the time she found him.
A hand shot out from behind a corner and pulled her in. Before she could scream the other gloved hand clasped her mouth. In total terror she bit hard into her attacker's finger, following natural instinct, and he drew it back with a low hiss. Her head free, she looked up.
"Allen?!" It was him indeed, shaking his hand in the air as a small red stain appeared on his white glove. He gave her a look, and despite her shock she could just see him saying, in a schoolmistress manner: "It is not appropriate for a lady to be so aggressive! They are to be meek and genteel. " She was about to laugh out loud in amusement and relief, but he put his gloved finger(now of a lovely maroon colour) to his lips, urging her to be silent. He motioned with his eyes towards the floor, where in a limp heap lay one of the palace guards. Pulling her deeper into the turn of the corridor, he whispered urgently:
"What are you doing here?!"
Hitomi was about to answer, but her eyes widened as she looked up. Over his shoulder, a blade appeared out of thin air, ready to strike him in the back. Following her eyes, Allen twirled around and blocked, then with a fluid circular motion sent the short sword flying out of the invisible opponent's hands. It clanked on the stone floor and everything was silent again. Protecting Hitomi with his back, Allen let out a low growl.
"Damn those Zaibach cowards!"
His eyes were moving from right to left, trying to predict all possible directions the next attack could come from. Quickly lifting her pendant from around her neck, Hitomi closed her eyes and concentrated. With a swing, the hazy vision of her mind revealed a figure draped in a black cloak.
"There!"
She pointed to the right, and Allen took a broad swing in that direction, followed by the sound of ripping material. The air wavered and revealed a soldier clad in Zaibach leather uniform, a long cut Allen just inflicted running across his side, who charged at the knight with a small dagger in his hand. Ducking with amazing speed, Allen drove his long sword through the man's stomach. Blood sprayed from the exit spot, and the soldier's body sagged. With force the knight withdrew, and the anonymous corpse collapsed on the floor, quickly forming a pool of blood around itself.
Hitomi was repulsed to the verge of vomiting, and turned away quickly. Two hands rested on her shoulders.
"I'm sorry you had to see this. I told you to stay with the others, it's very dangerous for you to be running around unprotected."
Hitomi made a face he could not see. Yes, Ma'am Schezar. He could be so frustrating. She turned around sharply, looking up at him with a scowl that surprised him a little.
"You would've died. I saw it."
The statement didn't seem to faze him one bit, and now it was her turn to peer into his face with surprise. He avoided her gaze, and it scared her even more.
"Allen..."
He cut her off rather unceremoniously.
"Can you tell of there any more of them?" She searched the surroundings with her chi.
"Five more!"
His jaw tensed.
"We will guard this passage, they'll have to use it if they want to get to the King's room from this side."
Hitomi nodded, not daring to suggest that they might not be after the king and that at least a couple of them might have slipped by them unheard and unseen already. Instead she stretched out her senses, mentally touching every door and peeking around every corner. Two were creeping down the very hallway in front of them, and she pulled on Allen's sleeve, motioning in the general direction of the enemy and gesturing for him to press himself against the corner.
Their own breathing and heartbeat sounded unbearably loud. The few moments of silence lasted hours, and tension pulled on her nerves. Finally very soft, cautious, barely audible footsteps of a feline entered their ears, coming from just around the corner. Waiting for the right moment, Allen struck square where the imaginary body should be. His sword was met by another, and pushed back with a clank. He was fast. The flurry of thrusts, blocks, retreats and counter-attacks ensued, but it was just a matter of time now that the enemy's blade gave his position away. They have been trained to kill swiftly and stealthily, not to have long fencing matches. Not willing to force the sword out of the opponents hands lest he vanish again, Allen was waiting for a perfect opening.
Hitomi was glancing around fearfully. Earlier she sensed the two of them approaching, close to each other. The other one must be somewhere around then, or maybe he has sneaked past them and headed on to the King's chambers. Her senses pointed in the general direction of where the two came from, but she was too scared to concentrate completely. It turned out she didn't need to, as the assassin revealed himself in a form of a small dart, seemingly hovering in the air all on it's own. A little tooth of death, crouching between the shades, waiting for it's moment.
And the moment came. All in one smooth motion, Allen crossed his sword with his opponent's, spun towards him, overpowering his blade, and delivered a smooth blow right into his imaginary chest. Splashes of blood became visible moments before the body was.
As soon as Allen turned around the dart swung back and launched. It seemed all in slow motion, and Hitomi saw it was going imbed itself right into his heart. With all the power she could summon, virtually numb with horror, she shouted:
"Duck!"
He reacted, but she was a little too late. The razor-sharp dart swished past his neck, tearing through the flesh above his collar-bone and cutting off a fragment of his left bang. Snarling, he launched in the direction of the sniper and it was soon over. It turned out to be a woman, sprawled out on the floor, her case of darts on her belt. Allen sneered at the female soldier in contempt, most likely caused by the fact he was forced to kill one. Fresh warm blood was drenching his shirt.
Hitomi had other things on her mind. Quickly pouncing on the woman, she examined the rest of the darts. Their ends were dipped in some sort of sticky, rich, green substance with a harsh smell. Poisoned!
She glanced back at him. Colour was leaving his face, and never being too rosy in the first place it was now ghostly, deadly white. She had to do something, really fast. Swallowing tears that threatened to overflow her eyesight, she made him sit down( he was too tall for her to examine the wound ) against the wall, and after some fumbling with his clothes, tore the shirt collar and slid his blue uniform piece off his shoulder. He couldn't move his left hand. Panic was enveloping her as she saw his misty eyes looking back at her.
Brainstorm. Do something. The words pulsated through her, in time with her own thudding heartbeat. Snakebite! This was like a snakebite. Let's see, so she had to suck the remaining poison out, before it could all be carried into his bloodstream.
She put her mouth to the wound, right in the white gentle groove between the base of his neck and his shoulder. She couldn't see his weakly raised eyebrow, or the latter expression of endless, quiet nostalgia in his eyes before they closed.
She gorged on his blood, hot, sweet, with a musky metal tinge to it. After spitting it out (in a rather unladylike manner, but not giving a damn) she leaned in for more, and her red, blazing cheek brushed against his cool one. Afraid he'd lose too much blood, she sucked just a little this time and used the torn part of his shirt to bandage the wound, securing it around his armpit.
Trying to steady her breathing and mad heartbeat, she worked on the plan of action. First of all, the Zaibach soldiers. Clutching her pendant to her heaving chest, she felt around. None! Van must have killed the remaining three. Thank God. Her legs almost melted away in relief, but she had to get Allen to Millerna. What if she had done something wrong?
That was a whole new problem. He was definitely over 180cm and looked only around 70kg, but that was still too much to carry for her, and she was quite sure he would not appreciate being dragged by the hair all the way back. Good, she could be humorous about this, that's it, breathe. She could bring Millerna here!
Torn between the unwillingness to leave him alone, unconscious, and the rush to get help, she scanned for enemy one more time, and sprinted down the hallway with all her might.
A curious scene presented itself as she threw the double doors open. Millerna was whimpering on her father's bed, Van was standing grimly in the background, Dryden was saying something in a quet soothing voice to Eries, who was standing in the middle of the room, trembling, with a bloody katana in her hand and a black body at her feet. Not having much time to muse at the princesses sudden outbirst of heroism, however, Hitomi shouted in uneven voice:
"Millerna, come quick! Allen got hurt with a..."
She didn't finish her sentence, however, as Millerna, suddenly pale and quet, ran to get her medicine bag and Eries dropped her unlikely weapon.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed. Huge thanks and bear hugs go out to miochan2k, Eden's Garden, Remalna Margot, and OKI.
Not too many reviews for the second chapter, due to either it's crapiness or how quickly it got pushed down by all those Hitomi+Van fics. :p All your ideas and suggestions totally welcome, as always. Please review people, it means SO much to me! ~ Dreamer, the drama queen