Folken paced his study. He was growing tired of this game of cat-and-mouse with Van. First the abortive trip to Asgard, then the sorcerors had sent news that Van had actually come to the capital and been captured. Folken had headed straight back to Zaibach, only to discover that the sorcerors had let Van slip through their fingers. Incompetent fools! Emperor Dornkirk's plans were so close for completion, needing only the elimination of the dragon to clear the way for final victory...
No, not the elimination of the dragon. It was the girl who was the source of his power, the girl who could see through Folken's stealth cloaks, who had taught Van to do the same. Keep those two apart, make them suspicious of one another, and there would be no need for any more deaths. Van was the less trusting of the two; break his faith in her, and he would be powerless. It was cruel, he conceded - without her, Van had no-one he could truly rely on - but it was that or kill his little brother. And that, Folken would never do.
'Listen, Eriya, we'll play Allen Schezar and Hitomi Kanzaki.'
They were standing on a narrow bridge, under a beam of light that reflected back up into the Fate Accelerator.
'Yes, Lord Folken...I mean, Allen.'
'Good. The stage is set, and the actors are here. Now is the time to move the vector of their hearts. Redirect fate.'
'Redirecting fate.' The cry echoed from one technician to another as energy flowed through the vast machinery.
Folken raised his hand towards Eriya, and she mirrored his action.
'Hitomi.'
'Allen.'
Emperor Dornkirk's voice boomed out from the observation screen.
'The wheel of fate is turning!'
The cat-girl's eyes flickered away briefly.
'Concentrate,' Folken urged.
She looked into his eyes, her pupils wide, trusting.
'Allen,' she murmured.
'Target value cleared,' shouted a technician.
'Hitomi.' Carenza...
'Elementary particle density decreasing!'
Dammit! 'Get rid of all worldly thoughts, Eriya. Think of me...with all your strength.' And I will try think of you, not her...
'Lord Folken, I-'
'It may be difficult, but think of me.'
'Yes, Lord Folken.'
He pulled her closer. She was trembling in his arms. Fear - or something else?
'Fate particles reaching critical density. The materials have combined.'
'Hitomi.'
'Allen.'
Folken bent down and kissed Eriya lightly on the lips. She strained upwards to meet him, and he forced himself to maintain the kiss until the reaction was complete.
'Wonderful!' sighed Lord Dornkirk. 'A new fate has begun...'
Folken breathed a sigh of relief and drew back. He had almost lost it there. And Eriya? He knew his cat-girls were fond of him, but this was something more. Something he had been trying to avoid ever since they had started to blossom into womanhood.
'Are you sure you want to go through with this?' Carenza asked.
Dryden adjusted the velvet bonnet for the umpteenth time, but the feather still stuck out at an awkward angle.
'Well, I'd feel better about it if I didn't have to wear this stupid hat, that's for sure.' He pulled it off and slumped down on a chair.
'But seriously...'
'I have to. King Aston is sick, and in the present political climate that makes Asturia a sitting duck.'
'You're going to marry Millerna just to see the country through a political crisis?'
'No. I love her. I...I wish we had time, so she could learn to love me too, but we don't.'
'I'm sure she'll come around eventually,' said Carenza. 'I hear that Allen's already sniffing elsewhere, now that Millerna's all but married.'
He smiled ruefully.
'Yeah. I don't think young Fanelia's too pleased about that.'
They gossiped for a while about their friends' tangled love-lives, then Dryden got to his feet.
'The groom's men will be here any moment to escort me to the barge. You'd better get over to the plaza or you'll miss the big event.'
Folken watched as the Fortune blood suffused the veins of the two cat-girls. They were so trusting, he thought, they would do anything for him. Die for him? No, it mustn't come to that. That was what this whole plan was all about; minimising casualties. With enhanced fortune flowing through their bodies, nothing could stop the Leopard Twins from capturing Hitomi Kanzaki.
It was a beautiful wedding. The sun shone, the happy couple were, if not happy, then at least young and rich and handsome, and the crowds cheered.
'I wish he'd let me paint them before the wedding.' Alessandro muttered. 'They're going to have more important things to do afterwards than sit for me.'
'I think Dryden thought it would be bad luck.' Carenza stretched up on tiptoe to see past the Knights of Heaven flanking the altar. 'Ssh, this is the most romantic bit...'
'...joined in holy matrimony,' said the priest, as Dryden slipped the ring onto Millerna's finger.
Alessandro wiped his eyes.
'Such a waste,' he sniffed.
Then Dryden kissed Millerna, and everything started to fall apart.
'No!' Hitomi ran up the aisle tripping on the red carpet. 'Don't kiss!'
The sky darkened, and the crowd rumbled in consternation.
'What's going on?'
'An eclipse?'
'That's a bad omen for sure.'
Then someone screamed the one word everyone had been hoping not to hear, today of all days.
'Zaibach!'
The crowd ran screaming.
Flash.
The graceful campanile, crumpling like wet paper.
Flash.
A pair of guymelefs with streaming hair, coming gracefully in to land.
Flash.
Dryden running to safety with Millerna in his arms.
Flash.
A rain of masonry, blocks as big as a man's body, falling with a roar that blocked out all thought except escape...Carenza screamed as a burning crossbeam caught her a glancing blow and pinned her to the ground. Just as she was passing out, she thought she heard a familiar voice.
'Folken...?' she murmured.
Darkness.
'Sir, there's a problem with the Fortune Enhancer.'
'What?' Damn this stupid fate technology! It could change fate, but was not itself invulnerable to the changing tides of fortune.
'Nariya, Eriya! That's enough - withdraw!'
The two Teiring guymelefs soared upwards, but after a couple of hundred feet one of them faltered and began to sink earthwards. The cat-girls' voices crackled over the comlink.
'Sister!' That sounded like Eriya.
'You must return to Lord Folken,' replied Nariya.
'Sister...!'
Folken hurried down to the hangar. Eriya's Teiring came in to land, and the cat-girl staggered from the cockpit. Folken choked back a cry of horror. She looked...older, and so pale...
'Get her to the lab - immediately!'
'Why did you have them withdraw, Folken? Why did you disobey me?'
Folken grimaced. Wasn't there anywhere on this gods-forsaken ship he could get away from the emperor's voice?
'I was afraid that, at that rate, it would have put them in further danger.' No more deaths...
'It can't be helped. This is for our ideal future.'
Fuck your ideal future, Folken thought. Can't you see she's in pain?
Eriya's eyes fluttered open.
'Lord Folken...'
'I'm sorry, Eriya, I...'
'Lord Folken, we'll be all right.'
So trusting. He didn't deserve such trust.
'I'm worried about Nariya,' he said.
'Don't worry, she'll be all right. I can tell.' Eriya smiled weakly, and closed her eyes.
Folken went to his room to try and get some rest, but sleep evaded him. After a few hours tossing and turning on the hard bed he got up and sat at his desk, going through his notes once more.
There was a knock at the door. Folken turned, expecting to see Migel or Gatti or one of the other Dragonslayers. No, of course, they were all dead...
'Sir, you're wanted in the communications chamber at once,' said the soldier.
'I'll be right there.'
So many young lives lost, and for what?
In the communications chamber the familiar face of Lord Dornkirk filled the sepia screen.
'The image of the girl is about to appear.' said the emperor. 'Dispatch the enhanced fortune soldier at once.'
'But she hasn't fully recovered yet...' Folken protested.
'Do not worry. The device is functioning normally.'
'But...'
The door to the communications chamber hissed open, and Eriya stood silhouetted against the light.
'Lord Folken, you don't have to worry about me. Please, let me go.'
'Eriya...' She can barely stand, and yet she wishes to go on fighting for our cause. Perhaps I should not judge others by my own standards, I who ran from the most important battle of my life...perhaps I should not try to take this from her. 'Very well. I'll have the Teiring prepped for launch immediately.'
Folken made his way up from the hangar, heading for the bridge. A shudder ran through the Vione, and the ship's alarms began to blare. He grabbed the nearest comlink.
'What's happening, commander?'
'I-it's the Dragon, sir. He's here and..he's demanding to see you, sir.'
Van? Here? He picked up his pace.
The bridge was a smoking ruin. Van had smashed the observation port, and a rent in the deck gushed steam. Folken didn't have to look at the instruments to know that the cloaking mechanism had been disabled.
'Van..'
'Brother.' Van's voice was taut and angry, amplified by the guymelef's acoustics.
'Why can't you understand, Van? The beginning of our new world is approaching. This is the end of war...'
The two Teirings crashed onto the bridge in front of Escaflowne.
'Leave him to us, Lord Folken.'
'Nariya...' This isn't how it's supposed to happen...
'What's wrong with you?' Eriya shouted at Van. 'Lord Folken cares about you, don't you see that? Why can't you understand?'
'Eriya!'
'I won't let anyone make Lord Folken unhappy!'
Van seemed to hesitate, then Escaflowne's energist began to power up. Before he could move to attack, however, the bridge was rocked by another explosion. Folken just had time to see Escaflowne thrown clear before Eriya's guymelef moved to shield him from the blast. With a whine of crippled engines, the Vione began to lose altitude.
As the floating fortress slowly sank towards the beckoning waves, the two cat-girls came scrambling out of their guymelefs to sit at Folken's feet and place their heads in his lap. He stroked them tenderly with his good hand. Their fur felt dry and lifeless under his fingers, and their ears seemed to be shrivelling as he watched. The shining tracks of capillaries filled with enhanced fortune blood winked out.
'Lord Folken, please escape, quickly,' Nariya gasped.
'Don't worry about us,' said Eriya. 'We're just glad to have met you.'
'And we're dying with you by our side. Goodbye, Lord Folken.' She went limp against his knee.
He sat there for several more minutes, until he was sure they were both gone. They he climbed into Nariya's undamaged Teiring and flew out through the observation port, just as the Vione sank into the ocean.
Goodbye, little sisters. Forgive me...