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The spiral-like shape of the Fate Alterating engine turned slowly in its light-pinkish colour. Kuaru's eyes stared into it. Looking at the machines seemed to take him back to a time, not too long ago, when he had seen his colleague – his friend – brutally murdered. His yells of pain still haunted him. Sometimes, at night, he wouldn't be able to sleep because of the memories…
"Kuaru, do you see it?" someone interrupted his thoughts.
"Yes, Paruchi. I see the shadow. She's back." Kuaru laughed for a bit, sounding almost maniacal.
"What will we do, Lord Kuaru?" one of the young sorcerers asked him. Kuaru mumbled the question a few times before he yelled out in madness.
"We can't do anything! If we try to kill her here we'll be found out and our plans will be ruined and then… then where will we be?" The room stayed still and quiet after Kuaru finished. He was furious.
"We could always re-summon the Goulour. We don't exactly know what happened while the machines malfunctioned. Maybe, they know something we don't." Paruchi took a sip of vino after he had finished speaking. He seemed so calm.
"Ah, my friend, Paruchi, always with a solution to everything. Yes, yes, you're right. Maybe we should do that… have we made sure all the machines are functioning correctly?"
"No," a young man answered.
"Then we should do that first. A murder… can take place at any other time."
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"Wake up," a voice said to her. She felt a breeze, and it was warm… too warm. Serena slowly opened her eyes and found that she had been sleeping on sand. She got up and dusted it off herself. "Where am I," she asked the guy standing with his back turned toward her, but she knew who it was.
"It's nice here, isn't it?" he asked as he turned to face her. Serena stared deep into his eyes then. So red, she thought.
"It's a desert," she replied. "There's nothing here."
"That's the point."
One of Serena's eyebrows lowered as she stared at him with a confused look on his. How could nothing be beautiful? "What do you mean?" she asked.
"Serena, Serena, my little Serena," he chanted as he walked toward her. He put his hand on her cheek, rubbing it with his thumb. Serena like it – being with him, his though, his voice, and the smile he gave her when he took her hand. She felt as if she had known him all her life… but she didn't, and she was letting him touch her. No lady did that. She quickly took her hand away from his and he looked at her in surprise. "I don't even know your name," she said.
"You should… my name's Dilandau. Dilandau Albatou."
"I think I've heard your name mentioned once or twice… but everyone just stops talking about anything when I go into the room…" she lowered her face down and he brought it up by lifting her chin. Serena wondered what he would do… why he was just looking down on her, not saying anything, just looking at her and smiling. She stared back at him - into his eyes. So red… she thought. Serena blinked, and he was gone. She put her face down again and noticed that she was in the same place where she had first seen him - a very dark place. A place so dark, she was lost in the eternity of its shadows.
"I don't like this," she whispered to herself.
"Then leave," she heard someone whisper and the black around her started to clear when she heard another voice. She recognized the voice.
"Hey, wakeup," she heard him say. Serena opened her eyes and saw Allen standing above her. "Good morning," he said to her, but she didn't reply. Allen didn't take notice of this though. "Do you recognize where we are?"
Serena sat up from where she had been lying down and saw that she was on Crusade again. I thought we had already gotten to Castello… she thought. She stood up and walked toward one of the windows to look outwards. Answering Allen's question he said, "I don't recognize this place, where are we?"
"Fanelia. You fell asleep after Mr. Moleman scared you, so I didn't bother to ask if you wanted to come or not. I hope you don't mind."
Serena shook her head. "I don't mind."
"That's good. We won't be staying there for long, I just…"
"Want to see that girl?" she interrupted. "It's fine." Allen looked at her for a while. She catches on quickly, he thought.
"We'll be at the castle soon. Millerna and Dryden will be there too, though they'll get there after we do. I just thought I'd let you know."
Serena, again, didn't respond, and Allen walked away, leaving her with whatever it was she was so concentrated on. "Maybe it's 'cause you just woke her up, boss. Don't worry about it," Kio said after noticing concern on Allen's face.
"Thanks, Kio. I hope you're right."
Meanwhile, Serena continues to stare out the window as she began to recognize the route they were taking. Maybe about a year ago, or a bit longer, her brother had brought her there with him while he settled some treaty between Asturia and Fanelia because Dryden was sick. Allen would come here many times, though most of them had nothing to do with work. He never told him why he came though… Maybe, she thought, it's to see that girl. She probably left for a while and is back now… and he couldn't wait to see he…
If she remember correctly, Fanelia's king was good looking, and about her age too…
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"Climb up!!"
"Why though? I can see it just fine from up here." They were at the second highest roof of the castle, but Merle insisted that they both go up to the highest one.
"No, you don't. You're lying," Merle complained.
"I promise you, I'm not, Merle."
"Hitomiiii… you're so stubborn! Just climb up the ladder to the roof so you can really see the city!"
Hitomi mumbled for a few seconds before she gave in to Merle's demands. As she climbed up, Hitomi wondered why Merle had insisted so much, but she didn't bother to ask.
"You almost there, Hitomi?"
"Can you see me being almost there?" Hitomi mumbled silently to herself. She continued climbing the ladder with her head looking down and she slowly began to notice how high up she was. "That's a big fall," she whispered to herself. Suddenly she heard the flapping of wings. Frightened, she held on to the ladder and waited for the wind to settle. Hitomi looked down at Merle who had her hands on her hips while one of her feet tapped the rooftop softly. She climbed a few more steps and she reached the top. Proud of her self, she yelled down to Merle, "Ok!" but Merle wasn't down there anymore. "Where'd that cat-girl go?" she asked herself, still looking down.
"Hitomi?" she heard a voice on the rooftop say. Startled, her head jerked up to see who it was. She saw Van sitting on the roof, shirtless. Hitomi smiled at him and blushed a bit while in her thoughts she cursed Merle.
"Van! I… didn't know you were up here… Sorry… if I bothered you…"
"No, it's ok.... not a lot of people know I come up here," he said as he walked over to Hitomi, who was still on the ladder. He helped her on the roof and they both sat down beside each other, over looking the city. Remembering Merle's "reason" for her to go up to the roof, Hitomi realised that the city did look great. She mentioned it to Van, who simply nodded, not saying a word. The moment was awkward for both of them, especially Hitomi, who felt embarrassed because of the scene she had made in the room when she woke up. Van looked over at her and he saw that the sun on her face made her look perfect. Hitomi smiled at him, squinting a little because of the sun, but never the less, her smile still made him feel better about everything; just like before. When all seemed lost he would turn to her for comfort and she would always smile the way she was smiling at him now. But he couldn't allow himself to think like that anymore. It was all different now. He was king and he might even be getting married soon – if he chose to – and she… he would always love her.
The expression on his face must have changed because Hitomi's did too after seeing it. "What's wrong?" she asked him.
Van turned away, like he did before, when something was wrong. "Nothing," he said.
"You sure?" she asked, but he didn't respond. Giggling a little to see that his attitude hadn't changed she nudged him with her elbow. "You haven't changed," she smiled, and rested her head on his shoulders. Usually, she wouldn't have done that, but at that moment they were friends, and it was Van.
A little surprised, but thinking it must be something girls from the Mystic Moon just did, he leaned his head on hers, and they both sat there, doing nothing for a while. After some time they began to talk about all the things that had gone on while Hitomi was away. He told her about how Millerna and Dryden had gotten back together; about Allen and Serena; about how Merle had a crush on Gadeth for a while; and about how Princess Eries had become queen of Asturia after King Aston passed away.
"Why didn't Dryden become king?" she asked him when he mentioned that.
"See, Eries is the older sister. Dryden is only married to the youngest, so he couldn't become king. Not unless Eries gave the throne to him, but he would be too busy with his own business anyway."
After that, Hitomi told him about everything that had happened to her on Earth during the past year… since they lost communication. There was nothing to tell him, really, and everything she did say she made sound more interesting than it really was. The bottom line was, it hadn't been all that great without her knowing anything about him; not knowing if he still cared and sometimes, being worried about his safety. But she avoided that subject, pretending as if she hadn't even noticed that they had lost communication. She just talked about Earth, and about how great it could be when there weren't catastrophe's happening.
Although it was clear daytime, Hitomi could see Earth from Gaea, and despite it all – despite the boundary it represented for both of them – she couldn't deny its beauty. "It's beautiful…" she sighed.
Van, noticing what she was talking about, couldn't help but feel a bit bad for bringing her back… without asking, not knowing if she really wanted to come… but she would have died, so there was really nothing he could do and it was unsafe to send her back now. "I'll send you back Hitomi, I promise. Just as soon as we figure out what that thing chasing after you was, and why…"
"No…" she mumbled to him in a tired voice. "It's better here… with you… Van…" Van reached over for Hitomi's forehead and he noticed that her fever hadn't completely gone away. He stood up, carrying her in his arms and spread out his wings to fly down with her when a flash in the sky caught his eye. He recognized that kind of flash, it was like a star. It was a flying a ship; Crusade. Finally, he thought. For a moment, Van was happy again – with Hitomi there and a good friend on the way. For the moment, he forgot about the pressures he had, and Egzardia didn't even cross his mind.
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An envelope sat on a desk in her room. Spotting it, she grabbed it and giggled while she took the note from inside, throwing the envelope to the ground and reading what the note had to say.
"…I cannot hide my feelings for you any longer. I long for you, for your body, and your red, sinful lips. Your eyes… so mysteriously blue. All this, and more, about you has left me enchanted… I am yours… I love you…"
*sigh*
This was her fourth letter that week, and maybe the most interesting one, considering it was from one of her father's chancellors - maybe three twice her age, at the least. Typical, she thought, wanting to sleep with me. She put the letter down and looked into one of the mirrors. She was, indeed, beautiful. Hair as black as night, her eyes a strong blue, and skin a tone of soft gold; who wouldn't want her?
She took the envelope from the floor and put the note back in. With the letter hidden in one of her sleeves, she left the room and walked down the hallways of her father's castle. Seeing that no one was anywhere to be seen (or to see her), she took the letter out from its hiding place and began reading it again. She was amazed, in a way. Who would have thought an old man like him could have such dirty thoughts… but could he actually carry them out? She wondered. The man could be three times my age, no less. He couldn't please me… Anger began to fill her. What does he think he is? Royalty? Yeah, right! He should know better… small people like him don't interest me at all. The thought of being with him is disgusting.
Reaching a large and highly decorated door with wooden sculptures engraved on it, she put the letter back into its envelope. Kneeling down, she began to realize that the calligraphy on it was quite nice. Professionally done, no doubt. Judging by the texture of the paper, that, too must have been expensive… Poor fool. She looked at the envelope with disgust for a while. "You're a no one and nothing," she said to it as if it was the man she was talking to.
She looked around her to make sure no one was near, and she slid the envelope bellow the door, into the room that it led to. She stood up and began to walk away as easy-going as she had come. Tomorrow, she thought, there will be an execution. Then, evilly, her lips slowly began to form into a smile.
Some time after that, King Naganori sentenced a man to execution after he read a letter a in an expensive envelope which he found on the floor to his office addressed to his daughter, Aliz Ani Egzar.
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Hitomi looked around her. She was in a field covered in grass – barely any trees though. She was about to take a step forward when she saw something glow at her feet. Bending down to grab it she realized what is was. "My pendant?" she asked herself. Having said that, it seemed as if she was outside her body, looking at everything spin around her until Van appeared… then it stopped and she was in her body again – looking at him. Everything was better now. "Van!" she yelled out has she ran towards him, but he seemed to ignore her. He looked sad. "Van? What's wrong?"
Van looked up at her and smiled a bit, then he put his head down, back in the way he had it before. "I'm sorry, Hitomi."
She stared at him, confused, but even more confused when he started to walk away. "Where are you going?" she asked him.
"I don't want to hurt you," he responded as he continued to walk away.
"You're not."
"Yes, I am." His tone of voice never hanged. It was always sounded so sad. Slowly, as he walked farther away from her, he began to vanish into thin air and he left her alone again in a field, where he seemed to always leave her. Looking down into her hands, she stared at her pendant and like before, she began to watch as her body was slowly pulled down into a pool of water. She saw as a tear began to form in her eye and watched as it slowly rolled down her cheek and began to fall into the water. As it fell, she followed it, waiting for it to hit the water, when she knew this dream would end… but it didn't. She saw a reflection in the tear instead and suddenly she wasn't sinking anymore, she was standing in that field again, except Van wasn't in front of her. Instead, there was a girl and a boy, both about her age, standing about 5 feet away from her. If she hadn't recognized one of them she would have sworn they were brother and sister… but they weren't, they were only alike… extremely alike.
Hitomi just looked at them. The girl looked familiar, but she couldn't quite completely recognize her. Her eyes looked tired, maybe even sad.
Hitomi couldn't take her eyes off the saddened figure of that girl. Even with someone there (if Dilandau could be considered a someone), she still looked so lonely. Soon, Hitomi began to see flames behind this girl. They surrounded her as Dilandau's laughter laughter grew greater. Hitomi did nothing. She just watched as they swallowed her, and soon, the flames were swallowing her too. Taking her too a silent, dark place, where she was left alone.
"Hitomi!!"
"Gaaaah!!" Hitomi's eyes opened abruptly to the sound of Millerna yelling out her name as she put her arms around her. "Millerna?" she asked.
"Oh Hitomi, I missed you so much!"
Hitomi heard someone come into the room and she looked towards the doorway where Dryden was leaning.
"Ah, Millerna," he sighed. "I thought Van told you she was sleeping."
"Oh, it's ok," he said as he walked in the room with Allen. "We're all use to her not listening to us. You especially, Dryden."
"Ah, don't reming me…" he responded. Millerna gave him a nasty look while Van laughed. He seemed so happy. Happy that they were all together again, like before. Happy that Hitomi was here to make him whole. To make him whole.
Hitomi was happy too, obviously. "When did you all get here?" she asked.
Dryden was about to answer the question when a more than familiar voice came from the hallways as he entered the room. Allen.
"My crew and I arrived a bit after dawn yesterday. Millerna and Dryden got here about ten minutes ago," he said so calmly in that oh-so-mellow tone of his that once would have made her melt. "Hello, Hitomi."
"Hi," she replied. The thought of the 'yesterday' he had used in his sentence made her wonder though. He noticed.
"When we arrived," he continued to try to explain to her, "Van told me you had a fever and were resting… I didn't want to disturb you, so you weren't awakened." Hitomi smiled at him after he spoke. Allways so curtious with the ladies, she thought.
"I, on the other hand," said Millerna, "thought Van was just trying to keep you all to himself."
Van's face immediately changed from a relaxed look to an embarrassed one. Hitomi didn't really notice though, she was too worried about what her face looked like. The other's just laughed – Millerna knew what she had done, she meant to do it too. Suddenly, they all began to hear a small voice in the hallways getting louder as it got closer.
"Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!" It was Merle. "Godds! Serena, Hitomi might have a reason to lay in bed all day but not you!" Merle entered the room and looked surprised when she noticed everyone looking at her.
"Well, well, who do we haver here? …Merle, shouldn't you be chasing Gadeth around?"
She stared at him with a dumbafied look on her face while the other ones laughed. They know I liked him? She thought. Them it hit her: And they're teasing me about it?… Just you wait Dryden Faza… always so funny… now, where was I?? OOP! Where's Serena?! Merle turned around just as Serena was coming in to the room with a sleepy look on her fae. A tired look.
"My, look who the cat brought in," Allen teased as Merle's tail grew to a puff ball. "Hitomi, I suposse you remember my sister. Serena, this is Hitomi Kan…" Allen's voice seemed to fade for both Serena and Hitomi when they saw each other. It's that girl, Hitomi thought to herself as she stared at her with surprise."
With Serena, it was a whole different story. "Aaaaaaaaaahhh!!" Dilandau was screaming. To her it seemed like he was being tortured again, like in her dreams. She tried to hide anything being wrong with her as these images came to her. "It's her!" he yelled out. "It's all because of her…" that last phrase came almost in a shiver. He was scared, or something.
"Serena?" Millerna asked. "Are you alright?"
Serena snapped out of it, or atleast tried to fake it. "Hm? Me? Yes, just tired," she responded. "Nice to meet you, Hitomi." Hitomi smiled at Serena and nodded her head. She found it hard to speak.
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The sky wasn't completely dark yet and for the four drunk men on the hill top it was unbelievable to see a bright blue light spectrum in the sky that changed to a pale green for a few seconds a time.
"It's the godds, I tell ya, *hip* comin' to punish Zaibach for the sins of the past!" said the one drunky who could still stand. "You deserve it, too" he said to his friends. Himself being born in the old zaibachian capital. "They're coming for us!" *hip*
No, they weren't. The 'godds' weren't coming for them. They weren't even close enough to being called gods. They were awful, tiny, men-like creatures with grayish skin, big bellies, and thing arms and legs. Eyes, that were yellow when they weren't too deadly; black, when they were deadly; and a bleeding red when it could almost taste its victim. The perfect little killer. No, nothing like godds.
They weren't coming to kill anyone (this time). They were here, falling from a blue silhoutte in a black sky into a forgotten place in Zaibach. The place that gave shame to Zaibach. Where all the experiments and fate alterations were carried out. A place that was meant to be destroyed – that shouldn't exist – but just did.
It worked wonders for people like Kuaru and Paruchi.
The creatures were actually coming because they were once again summoned by the two sorcerers. Their masters. The ones who had broken the codes and knew their names…
"We want the girl," Paruchi said.
"No," Kuaru sai, "we want her dead. Same as before: get rid of her."
"Only her?" one of the grotesque creatures asked. To Kuaru, that sounded defiant. Paruchi only heard it as the creatures' blood-thirst speaking.
"Yes," Kuaru replied looking somewhat annoyed. "ONLY her." With that, the creature's bowed and jumped toward the sky, where they would disappeer into the blue myst that was still there waiting for them.
"Your plan is, uh, perfect," Paruchi said as he sipped some vino.
The Goulour, on the other hand, had another plan. Where more than one person would die – one life, had already been taken some days ago.
Kuaru and Paruchi should have read the codes more carefully.
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As the group moved form Hitomi's chambers to a dinig room, Van approached Dryden.
"Dryden, I hope my letter clearly explained to you why it was so urgent for you to come." Dryden stared at Van a little confused for a while.
"Oh, you mean Allen's letter telling us about Hitomi's return." Now it was Van's look to look at him strangely.
"No… one was sent to Allen, but you should both have received one from from my royal messenger." Dryden was really confused now. Sure, the moleman was speedy and all, but Van actually made him Royal Messenger?
"Well, Van," he said finally, "unless you made the Moleman your royal meesenger, neither Allen, nore I, received any letter from a royal messenger."
"Hm, strange…" Van said to himself as they preceded into the dining room.
One life had already been taken.