Back again, with yet another chapter. I think it's the longest one I've done so far, and probably the most humorus. Yes, belive it or not people I do humor! For proof check out my story "WiteIris's Harem Fic." If anything, it'll at least be entertaining. If you like Slayers, and Gundam and Outlaw Star and Fushigi Yugi... Dilly's gonna be in the second chapter once I post it.((if nothing that'll get you folks to read it))^-^ All right, enough shameless self advertising, on with the fic!
~Sarah~


Chapter 6- Friends and Enemies

"But I threw you the obvious
Just to see if there was more behind the
Eyes of a fallen angel
Eyes of a tragedy." ~A Perfect Circle


Serryn flinched slightly as the doors behind her slid shut. She glanced at the small table the man had gestured at, and hesitantly took a seat in it. The man sat in a chair across from her. Dilandau didn't bother sitting, instead preferring to lean against the wall by the door.

"Allow me to introduce myself, "the man said, "I am the Zaibach Stratagos, Folken Fanel. It's a pleasure to meet you, your highness."

Serryn stared at him. Pleasure her ass.
"I can't say I feel the same Stratagos Folken, "she replied, crossing her arms.

Folken raised an eyebrow, "And why is that?"

A laugh sounded from across the room. Both Serryn and Folken turned their heads. Dilandau was still leaning against the wall, his eyes now heavenward. Folken frowned at him before turning back to face her.

"You had my city burned to the ground," Serryn said angrily, "It's not the kind of thing you do to get people to like you."

"I'm terribly sorry about that inconvenience Princess Serryn, but you must understand this is a war. In war there are two options. You become alias, or you fight. I'm afraid your mother chose the latter."

"It was wrong!" Serryn exclaimed, "It was unfair! You have no right to even think you can justify what you did. It was Zaibach who started all of this goddamned fighting in the first place."

Despite her outburst Folken remained unwaivered. "I'm certain you are familiar with the phrase 'All's fair in love and War' your highness?"

Serryn gaped at him in a total loss for words. Had she only recalled those very words this morning after her first fight with Dilandau? Folken leaned back in his chair, obviously aware that he had made his point, whether she agreed with it or not.

"The only question now is what do we do with you?" he stated, looking at her thoughtfully.

Serryn's eyes widened, fear suddenly making itself know to her once again. "Please sir," she addressed him more politely then before," if you would just release me. I'm obviously not a threat to you anymore. My sister may still be alive and I have to find her..."

"On the contrary," the Stratagos said, folding his arms on the table, "Your mother died during our attack on you city, leaving you her eldest heir," he glared momentarily at Dilandau, who once again averted his eyes, "This makes you Conilia's rightful ruler."

Serryn's eyes fell to the ground as she felt tears forming at their corners. The words 'mother died' and 'rightful ruler' swirled around in her head, making her dizzy.

"As you might know, we cannot let the ruler of even a fallen enemy country go free. You would be at liberty to go to other country's, giving them valuable information about us. We can't allow that," Folken continued quietly.

"But I promise that I won't-"

"I have no guarantee of anything you might promise me your highness, "The Stratagos said cutting her off. "I'm sorry but I have only two options to offer you. The first is that you can join the Zaibach Empire, and become one of our warriors. I'm aware that you are somewhat skilled in the art of combat," he explained catching her confused expression. "If you join us you will receive training and I guarantee your skills will excel."

"You...you would let me fight?" Serryn asked, not quite believing what she had heard. Folken nodded.

Something inside of her was strangely intrigued. They would train her. She could become a great warrior, just like she dreamed. No more set backs or barriers, no more sneaking behind someone's back. 'But they are the ZAIBACH!' her mind argued, 'The MURDERERS of your country!'

"What's the second option? "she asked a bit hesitantly. She knew it couldn't be good.

"Death." The Stratagos clearly stated.

Serryn let out a shaky sigh. She had been right. But her mind was torn. Side with the enemy, or die. Ironically the same choice had been given to her mother. She had chosen and she had died. 'It must have seemed like the honorable thing to do,' she thought absently, 'With that shield protecting us, mother thought she couldn't lose. Yet she did.'

Then a horrifying thought occurred to her. 'What if it was all my fault?? What if I was the reason she lowered the shield so quickly? I never did leave her anything saying where I had gone. She must have assumed I'd been kidnapped too!' Serryn was trembling now. 'Gods what have I done?'

Her thoughts were interrupted then by the Zaibach Stratagos's voice. "I'm aware that this is not an easy decision for you Princess, so you have until tomorrow evening to give me your answer."

Serryn nodded, remaining silent.

"You may go then. I'm allowing you free access to the level that your room is located on. Please do not be foolish and exceed these boundaries." Folken stood then, pushing in his chair. He returned his desk, back to whatever he had been doing before her arrival. Obviously the conversation had reached it's endpoint.

Serryn jumped suddenly, feeling a pressure on her arm. Dilandau had stepped up behind her. "Let's go," he told her, pulling her to her feet. Serryn glared at him, jerking her arm out of his grasp. She turned and walked toward the door, nose up. "I can lead myself, Thankyou," she assured him.

Rage flashed in the young general's garnet eyes, but was quickly replaced by dark amusement. He obliged her by once again taking her arm, much more firmly, and guiding her out the sliding doors.

****

Serryn was furious by the time she and Dilandau had walked back to her assigned room. The silver haired general had made it a point on their way back to explain to her in detail all the possible ways she would be put to death, should she chose the option.

"And there's my personal favorite," he continued, actually following Serryn into her room, "where we take the prisoner and hang them outside the Vione by his, oh excuse me, HER wrists. Then we have target practice-"

She whirled around on him without warning, anger burning in her eyes. "Dilandau, she shouted," Shut UP!"

Serryn gasped as she found her back connecting almost instantly with the wall, her wrists locked in an iron grip on each side of her head.

"Lets get one thing straight here, Princess," Dilandau's voice was dangerous, as was the smile twisted on his lips, "I've spared your life twice now. If your a smart little girl, you'll watch what you say to me, because I don't care WHAT Folken says, you are MY prisoner and I WILL kill you, should it please me."

She stared up at him, her eyes wide, and her face flushed with rage. But she didn't dare speak back because she new what he said was true, and if her life was to end it would be on her own terms. Her breath quickened as he leaned in closer, his mouth right next to her ear.

"Don't think too hard about Folken's offer," he whispered, his warm breath on her neck causing goose bumps to rise on Serryn's fleash, "Cuz either way it's gonna be hell."

He leaned back then, releasing his grip on her wrists. Serryn took this opportunity to step quickly away from him, putting the bed between her and the sliver haired boy.
His mouth was now set in a straight line, but she knew he was silently laughing at her.

"There's a wash room across the hall and two doors down from here," he stated calmly, as if nothing had happened, "You can find some clean clothing on the shelves. If you look hard enough, you might actually find something that fits," he told her, and with that he left the room, the door sliding shut behind him.

Serryn let out an involuntary sigh. "Bastard!" she exclaimed, her fist slamming into the pillow sitting on her bed. "Should it please him...Go to hell." She flopped onto the bed, this time pounding both fists into the unfortunate stuffed piece of cloth. 'How dare he threaten me like that!' she thought rolling over onto her back, starring at the ceiling. How she wished she could....what? Kill him? Serryn shook her head. Even if she was physically able to manage it, she didn't think she was capable of killing anyone.

'But if that's the case, how can I join the Zaibach. They act like killing is what they were born to do...but am I prepared to die, rather then join them?'

She shuddered thinking of what Dilandau had said they would do to her. But no, he must have just been trying to scare her. The Zaibach may be murderers, but they weren't sadists...were they? Serryn frowned, rolling back off the bed.

Dilandau certainly appeared to thrive on other people's pain. But what about the rest of them. Folken seemed decent, once she got passed the fact that he was so biased to his own opinion on how the world worked, and the Dragonslayer Gatti had even been kind and polite to her.

Serryn sighed and turned, making a discovery. She was standing in front of a wall, where instead of steel, there was a large mirror. Her mouth dropped at the sight of her own reflection. "Gods, I look awful!" she exclaimed. Her pants were ripped at the knees, and her shirt also had countless tears in it. Dirt and soot markings covered her face, and her hair had come loose at one point, the pale golden curls tangled and wild.

"No wonder that asshole made a point of telling me where the wash room was," she muttered. But now that she thought of it, a nice hot bath sounded like a piece of heaven, and she immediately went to the door. She was relieved in finding that Dilandau had not stooped low enough to ignore Folken's words and lock her in.

****

Serryn found the wash room where Dilandau had said it would be. Thankfully it was vacant at the moment, and she hoped it would stay that way. The room itself was similar to the one Serryn had had in her own bathroom. A large pool was placed in the center of the room, its depths reaching to about four feet in the middle. Bars of soap were placed randomly around the pool's edge. She could tell from the size of it that it was intended to be used by groups.

She then noticed a control panel on a wall of to the side. After studying it for a moment she learned that it controlled the temperature of the water and Serryn set it for a soothing eighty-five degrees. She then shed her clothing, and wrapped herself in one of the blue towels she found on a shelf. The point of this being so she would have SOME cover should she be walked in on.

Serryn let out a long sigh as she stepped into the warm, slightly scented water. She felt the tension in her shoulders slowly evaporating, and her sore muscles rejoiced. She let her self soak for a while, before reaching for a bar of soap and vigorously scrubbing the dirt and soot off her skin and out of her hair, using the now soaked towel as a washcloth.

She jump, startled suddenly at the sound of the door sliding open. She cursed softly, wrapping the wet towel back around her. Luckily it was big enough to go around her body twice for extra cover. She sunk low in the water, having it bearly reach her chin as a trio of boys, wearing identical black pants and sleeveless blue shirts, walked noisily into the wash room.

It was Gatti, and two other slayers, both of whom she recognized. Chesta, Dilandau had called the one with the blonde bowl cut, and the other was the one who had made fun of her use of a staff. Dallet, if she remembered correctly. The three of them were talking, still oblivious to her presence.

Chesta then turned around spotting her. His face immediately flushed red and he made a startled choking noise. The other two also turned around, their chatter coming to a halt. There was an awkward moment of silence, before Gatti finally found his voice.

"Woah, sorry princess! Um...didn't mean to walk in on you!" he said laughing nervously.

"Yeh, we had no idea you were in here, "Dallet explained although he sounded a lot less nervous.

Chesta said nothing, preferring to just stand gaping at her.

Serryn laughed nervously as well, "It's ok, you just scared me a little," she assured them smiling. It was rather amusing to watch the three Zaibach Dragonslayers panic at the site of a girl in a tub.

"Ok, well we'll leave you alone now, sorry again!" Gatti said, grabbing both Dallet's and Chesta's arms directing them back out the door.

"Oh, wait!" Serryn called. She didn't know whether or not she actually planned to join the Zaibach yet, but it might be best to have a few friends before venturing into unknown territory. And these guys didn't seem that bad at all, once their fearless leader was absent.

The three boys stopped, looking at her, somewhat confused. "If you guys were wanting to get in, don't mind me, I really don't want to be a nuisance." She told them.

"Oh no! Your not-"

"It's ok, "Serryn smiled, "It was getting kinda boring in here, it would be nice to have someone to talk to."

Gatti stilled looked hesitant, but Dallet broke out in a wide grin, and immediately began to strip his clothing off. Serryn's hand reached half to her eyes, before she realized, relieved that the brown haired boy was wearing a pair of shorts underneath, which he kept on. He then jumped in, causing a large wave that soaked the other two slayer's shoes.
"Come on you pansies! She's just a girl, she's NOT gonna bite!" he jeered laughing.

Serryn laughed as Dallet turned to her, shrugging his shoulders, making a face.

Gatti sighed, rolling his eyes, and began to take off his clothing as well. Chesta followed suit after Gatti lightly hit him in the back of the head, which seemed to snap him out of his daze.

"Hey!" he exclaimed rubbing the back of his head, and then proceeded to shove Gatti into the pool.

"You little..." Gatti gasped, wiping water from his eyes, swiftly catching Chesta around the ankles, and the blond boy immediately toppled over into the pool, splashing water everywhere.

The next few minutes were spent in an all out water war. Serryn even joined in, helping Dallet hold Gatti's arms while Chesta gave him a soap nuggie. Shrieks and laughter echoed of the tiled walls until all four of them leaned against the edges of the pool panting, smiles plastered across their faces.

It was a new experience for Serryn, she had never spent time having fun with others her own age before. Especially boys. If she had, it would have been seen as courting and before she'd know it, her mother's advisor would be ranting about weddings and such. It was nice to just lay back and enjoy herself for once. 'It's also great view," she thought blushing as Gatti yawned stretching, absentmindedly showing off his well toned chest.

Her smile faltered slightly. It had only been this morning that she had lost everything that made up her entire life. Her home, her family, and her freedom. It seemed wrong suddenly, to be enjoying herself like this. People were dead. Her mother... Serryn then became aware that Gatti was speaking to her.

"What?" she asked blinking.

"I was asking if maybe you wanted to come with us to raid the kitchen...?" he asked, blushing noticeably.

They were being so nice to her when they really had no reason in the world to be. She WAS a prisoner after all.
Serryn grinned, if a bit weakly. "Sure. I haven't had anything to eat since yesterday!"

Gatti smiled, and Chesta and Dallet cheered, jumping out of the pool, grabbing towels, and splashing water over everything that was still dry.