Traditions
Chapter 9: Discoveries
Allen carefully lifted Hitomi up into his arms and carried her into Fanelia's castle. At first glance, everything seemed to be exactly the same as when he left one month ago but as soon as he set foot inside, Allen could sense something was different. An eerie presence was hanging over the castle making the once comfortable home feel cold and empty, a feeling that Allen had once before but couldn't exactly place it at the moment. Nonetheless, this creepy sensation proved that something strange was brewing and he was going to put a stop to it.
When Allen reached Hitomi's designated room, he realized that it was Merle's. 'Why would Hitomi be getting Merle's room? Where is Merle anyway? It's not like her to not be around Van or the castle.' Allen was puzzled. Just then, a servant came out from the bedroom and curtsied.
"Commander Schezar. It's very nice to see you again. I have just finished cleaning Lady Haruka's room. I hope it is to her liking," spoke the young girl very politely. She was a slender girl with her blonde hair tied halfway up revealing her round face.
"I'm sure it will be. Um, Megumi. May I have a word with you?"
"Of course, Commander," replied the servant girl, her hazel eyes staring at the floor.
"Where's Lady Merle?" asked Allen quite bluntly.
A confused look covered the girl's face. "Who's Lady Merle?"
"Oh, how silly of me? Merle's in Asturia. It's been a long trip. I don't seem to know where I am anymore," chuckled Allen as he covered up his suspicions. "That is all, Megumi. You may go now." The girl smiled and continued her way down the hall. 'I hope she didn't clue in to that.'
Once Allen entered the room, he placed Hitomi gently on the four-poster bed so that she could sleep comfortably and so that he didn't have to carry her anymore. Hitomi had grown quite a bit since he first met her and he wasn't exactly young anymore. He must've been carrying her for about fifteen minutes now and his arms were sore. He looked at the sleeping Hitomi and brushed some of her hair away from her face. She looked so peaceful as she slept but he knew that once she was awake she would be the complete opposite. 'What's going on here? There's no way that Van would ever love anyone other than Hitomi. And where did Merle go? She would never have let Van be with anyone other than Hitomi. Her absence and the arrival of Kimera is linked somehow and I'm going to find out.'
"Don't worry about a thing, Hitomi. I'll make sure everything works out the way they should," Allen whispered into Hitomi's ear before he kissed her lightly on her forehead.
"Mmm…Van," mumbled Hitomi as she stirred in her sleep. Allen smiled as he left the room for his sparring session with Van.
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"What took you so long?" asked Van as Allen walked into the Fighting Room. "Didn't want to leave your lover?" And with that, Van lunged at Allen attempting to catch him off guard. It didn't work.
"Nice try, Fanel. But you're going to have to be much quicker than that to beat a Knight of Caeli," asserted Allen as he dodged Van's attack with his lightening quick reflexes and returned the gesture with an equally aggressive backhand.
"Oh, really!!" shouted Van as he charged head on at Allen at full speed. Allen was amazed at the action. True, over the years that Van had improved greatly as a swordsman, but even after all that he's been through he had never been able to charge aggressively enough. But now, his technique was different. It was hostile and sloppy. Nothing that he or Balgus would've taught him.
"You're charging too aggressively," stated Allen as he calmly stepped out of Van's way, expecting him to run into the column. But to his surprise, Van stopped abruptly, just centimetres (heh heh, I'm Canadian) from the wooden beam, and gave a quick backhand that made contact with something.
Allen looked down to see a small strand of blonde hair drift back and forth as it made its way to the floor.
"Sorry, Allen Schezar," said Van very sarcastically as he turned to face his opponent. This enraged Allen. Absolutely no one, except for Eries and Celena, ever touched his beautiful golden locks and now this "boy" has just maimed one of them. However, Allen remained calm. He was a well disciplined Knight of Caeli and he wasn't going to let something like this lead him off in a tangent to his mission, which was to find out what in all of Gaea had happened to Fanelia and put things right.
"No worries, Van," replied Allen as he began attacking the dark haired king. Van had been waiting anxiously and was prepared for the strike. Back and forth they went. Steel striking steel each time sending sparks throughout the room. After what seemed like an hour of sparring but in reality only 5 minutes, Allen decided that Van should be tired enough to let his guard down a bit for interrogation.
"So Van," began Allen in between strikes, "tell me what's happened while I've been away."
"Nothing much," grunted Van as he blocked a particularly hard attack from Allen with the tip of his sword making it vibrate and difficult to maintain control. "Just your usual kingly duties. Actually, I got into a bit of trouble with M…" Van suddenly cut himself off. For a brief second, Allen thought he could see the old Van in his eyes and stopped his sword in mid air. Van grabbed his head and collapsed to the floor as if he were in agony.
"Are you alright, Van?" asked a concerned Allen as he knelt down to see how his friend was doing.
"I'm fine!" answered Van sternly, his eyes returning to stone. "You just gave up the perfect opportunity, Allen Schezar!!!"
Unexpectedly, Van got up and attacked Allen from above. Seeing that the new Van had returned, Allen moved back just narrowly missing getting his head cut in half. 'OK, I guess his guard isn't completely down just yet but I know he was just about to say Merle when he stopped. Something seems to be blocking his mind causing him to be so blood thirsty and full of rage.' Allen's thoughts were interrupted when he suddenly realized that Van had him close to the wall, something that the old Van was never able to do. In fact, no one has ever been able to corner him except for… No, it couldn't be. Allen looked into Van's eyes and saw nothing but madness, so very familiar to him. Just as Van was about to do an overhead strike, Allen tackled Van to the ground. A mistake on Allen's behalf because it served nothing but fuel the fire that was in Van's eyes. Pushing Allen off of himself, Van got up and attacked his friend with all his might. This was no longer a friendly sparring session for Van. It was an all out fight.
Allen could sense the change and put his guard up. Van's blows were getting stronger but it was nothing that Allen couldn't handle. 'His technique. The aggressiveness. The raging fire in his eyes. The strange sensation when he entered the castle. All so familiar but it can't be. It can't be Zaibach and Dilandau. Dilandau has long since turned back to Celena and everything Zaibach has been destroyed. But the resemblance is unmistakeable. Could Kimera be from Zaibach?'
"AHHHH!!!!!" cried Van as he suddenly dropped his sword and fell to the floor clutching his head again.
Allen quickly sheathed his sword and knelt down beside Van. He held the king by the shoulders and asked, "Are you alright, Van? It's me Allen. You can tell me anything." Van didn't reply. All he did was start shaking his head furiously like he was trying to shake something out. Allen decided to take this moment of weakness to try and pry some answers out of Van. "Van, tell me what happened while I was away. Who is this Kimera? Where did she come from?" At the sound of Kimera's name, Van responded with more cries of agony. Finally, after a few minutes of silence, Van stopped shaking his head and just knelt there with his head in his hands. Allen tried again, "Are you OK, Van?"
"He'll be alright," said a strange voice at the doorway. Allen turned to see Kimera standing there with her left hand on the doorframe. "It's just the stress of so many events all happening at once, isn't it darling?" By this time, she had already walked to where Van and Allen were kneeling. The mere presence of this woman had calmed Van down making Allen even more suspicious of her origins and actions.
"That's right, my love. Everything will be OK now that you've returned." Van stood up and kissed Kimera. Allen was disgusted at this sight. "Great session, Allen," spoke Van in between
kisses (A/N: EWWW!!! I'll make up for this later in the V/H fluff
chapters, promise! J ),
"That will be all for today. You should
rest before dinner." And with that, Van
wrapped his arms around Kimera's waist and kissed her passionately. (A/N: EWWW!! Why did I do that? Well, like I
said before, I'll make up for it with the fluff later on. And, I have lots of really fun ideas for
V/H, right Marilyn? ;p)
"Of course," sighed Allen as he tried to cover up his
disgust. He left the couple doing as
they pleased and headed towards Hitomi's room to tell her about his
discoveries. There was no doubt about
it that Kimera was behind Fanelia's brainwashing now that he's seen the affect
of her presence on Van. All that was
left was for him and Hitomi was to stop whatever evil plans she had in store
before anyone gets hurt.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Meanwhile in Hitomi's room…
Hitomi stirred under the covers as she continued to dream in her sleep. She found herself in the dream that she had while on her way to Asturia again. The sun was slowly setting in the horizon and Van was playing hard to get in the field where she first arrived in Gaea. She took a deep breath, taking in the sweet country air, and she was off chasing Van.
"I won't let you get away that easily, Van Fanel," Hitomi yelled at the running king as she picked up speed to close the gap between them. He turned and gave her a devilishly sly grin. Hitomi smiled back while her cheeks turned rosy. Suddenly, Van stopped and took off his shirt shocking Hitomi that she skidded to a halt and fell on her butt. Van spread his arms wide open and his majestic wings came out of his shoulder blades. Hitomi was awestruck, not because Van had just revealed his wings, but because his wings were pitch black.
"Oh no. Van, your wings are black. That means…that means you're…dying. Van!!!!" Hitomi sprang to her feet and ran towards the Draconian. As she got closer, she noticed that they were no longer in the field but on a cliff. "What's going on? Where are we?" She turned around to see that Fanelia's forests now surrounded her. The trees were tall and scary looking, especially now that the sun had completely set. When she turned back to see what Van was doing, she saw nothing but black feathers drifting in the breeze. Slowly she moved towards the edge hoping to see Van flying or at least hanging on to the rocks.
"NO!!!!" It was a nightmare come true. There Van was, falling carelessly into the dark chasm below. "Van, use your wings!!! Please fly!!! Don't leave me here alone!!!" Hitomi cried as the tears flooded her eyes and she fell to her knees. "Van…" It was no use. Van didn't respond to anything and remained motionless as he fell deeper and deeper into the black nothingness until Hitomi couldn't see him anymore. Hitomi completely broke down now. Her tears streamed down her face as she continued looking into the canyon, all the while Van's black feathers floating around her. A lone feather glided in front of Hitomi's face and she hesitantly grabbed it. Suddenly, Hitomi's surroundings transformed from being at the ledge of the cliff to somewhere in the middle of the woods.
It was dark. Darker than before which frightened Hitomi. Where was she now? She felt so alone and there was an aching in her heart that felt like a thousand daggers tearing at it.
"Oh, Van…" whispered Hitomi in between her sobs. She clutched at the spot where her pendant once hung and was startled to feel it there. 'How did I get this back? I gave it to Van before I left,' thought Hitomi as she held the pink jewel in the palm of her hand. At the thought of Van, one of Hitomi's tears fell on the pendant making it glow brightly lighting up the forest in front of her. She held the necklace up in hopes of finding a way out but instead, she found herself kneeling in front of a small wooden shack. A faint whimpering could be heard coming from the inside so Hitomi crept forward a bit towards a tiny crack between the boards to see what it was coming from.
"Merle…"
"Hitomi!! Hitomi!! Wake up!! It's just a dream!!" exclaimed Allen as he shook Hitomi awake. He had returned from his sparring session with Van to find Hitomi having a horrible nightmare tossing and turning. Hitomi finally realized that everything she had just seen was dream.
"Allen."
"Are you alright, Hitomi?" asked Allen in a very concerned voice. If Hitomi had just had a vision, then it might help them stop Kimera.
"Just a bad dream," Hitomi replied as she blinked herself
awake and smiled at Allen to cover the worry in her heart. 'Merle was being held captive somewhere
in the forest and Van is dying. Is this
really happening or am I losing it? Was
that dream trying to tell me something?'
"Was it a vision?"
The thought had occurred to Hitomi, but she didn't want Allen to worry anymore than he already was. "No, just a dream about…" Hitomi trailed off from her sentence as a vision of Van and Kimera entered her mind. Allen must have sensed it as he sat down and put his arm around her for comfort.
"Don't worry about that, Hitomi? I know that Kimera is behind all of this and I will do anything to stop her."
"How do you know that Van hasn't really fallen in love with her and…"
Allen cut Hitomi off before she could finish rambling. "Hitomi, listen to me." He turned to face her directly and looked into her eyes. They were still a brilliant green but now they were also filled with sadness and hurt. "During my sparring session with Van, I found out a lot of things."
"Like what?"
"Well, if you let me finish, I'll tell you," teased Allen as he started pacing back and forth.
Hitomi gave Allen a tiny smile, which he returned. "Sorry."
"Van's technique was completely different. It was aggressive and sloppy, much like that of Dilandau and the Dragon Slayers." Hitomi shuddered at the sound of Dilandau's name but remained silent so that Allen could continue. "But that's not the only thing that resembles Zaibach here. When I entered the castle I felt a chill go up my spine just like I did when Dornkirk captured us in the Mystic Valley. It didn't click until just now when Van called me Allen Schezar that I realized Zaibach was behind all of this. Van never calls me Allen Schezar. He only calls me Allen or Schezar. Never my full name. Only Dilandau did that."
"But…" Allen gave Hitomi a look and she was silent again.
"I know what you're going to say. Everything Zaibach has been destroyed. I thought of that too, but there's no mistaking the similarities. Then there's Kimera." Hitomi could feel her tears building up again but she held them back as best she could. "During our fight, Van collapsed clutching his head as if he was in complete agony."
Hitomi couldn't maintain her silence any longer. "Is he alright?!" she blurted out as the tears came running down her face. Allen sat down again and hugged Hitomi as she continued crying on his shoulder.
"He's fine. He was fine as soon as Kimera came into the room, which is why I'm pretty sure she was the one causing the pain."
Allen carried on telling Hitomi what he had discovered during the so-called sparring session that turned into a real fight as she cried in his arms. Hitomi paused when Allen told her about how Van was about to say Merle's name but then began bawling again when she heard about how Van had cut Allen's hair. What happened to the kind and gentle Van that they all knew?
"I'm sure that Van's mind is being controlled somehow and that the Van we all love and care about is in there. We just need to find the source and destroy it before he gets hurt. I don't have a plan yet as to how to find out exactly what Kimera is doing but I will need your help. I know that it's difficult for you to be in the same room as Van but it's the only way. Hitomi, will you help me?"
Hitomi nodded as she wiped the remaining tears from her face. Thoughts were running wild through Hitomi's mind. 'Van's being mind controlled… Kimera is trying to hurt Van… Van's black wings… Van's having headaches…' Suddenly it occurred to Hitomi that her dream was a vision. The black wings, her dream, and the headaches. Kimera was slowly killing Van with the mind control! 'That means Merle has been kidnapped and being tortured. Oh no…'
"Hitomi? Did you hear what I just said?"
"I'm sorry, Allen. I was still trying to digest everything that you had just told me. What did you say?"
"I said that dinner will be in about an hour so you should start getting ready."
"Of course."
"Are you sure you're alright? You seem startled," inquired Allen as he opened the door to leave.
"Yeah, I'm fine," replied Hitomi as Allen closed the door
behind him. 'I just need to find a
way to save Van and Merle…'