Iris winced as she slowly rolled to her side to go back to sleep. She blinked open her eyes to see if it was morning yet, for she had had no sense of time for days.
She opened her eyes and looked straight into Dilandau's face.
Iris gasped and immediately sat up. Her mending ribs shrieked in pain and Iris swore, grabbing her side. She realized then, that Dilandau was unconscious, or at least asleep. He was lying on the cot next to hers, and he was still as stone. If Iris hadn't watched his chest to see if it was still moving, she would have thought him dead.
A nurse walked past and Iris stopped her. "Please, miss, what happened to the captain?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, dear. His boys brought him in and wouldn't say a word. 'Just heal him' is all they would say. Quite rude if you ask me, ordering around the medics. I say, we are not to be treated like servants…" The nurse continued her angry muttering as she walked away.
Iris's brows lowered as she carefully leaned closer to Dilandau to try and see what was wrong. His chest was bare, as he'd been stripped of everything from there on up, (as far as she could tell) even his gold diadem.
Iris tipped her head to the side as she studied him. He looked very different without his diadem on, she decided. Not quite so cocky, although, miraculously, his cockiness still seemed a bit evident even in his state. She looked past his face and studied his chest, looking for any sign of an injury. His chest seemed entirely intact, however, and Iris's brows came down over her eyes once again, puzzled.
Feeling quite brave, she reached out her hand and lowered the sheet, thinking he may have suffered a severe cut on his leg or hip. Immediately she dropped the sheet and snatched her hand back, turning an incredibly bright red as she realized the nurses had stripped him of everything.
"Whoops…" Iris snickered a bit as she reached her hand back to grab the sheet and cover him back up without looking.
Iris cleared her throat, and swung her legs off the edge of the cot, her curiosity was definitely sparked now. There had to be a wound or something. Dilandau didn't end up in medic ward three for nothing.
She rounded his cot, and looked at the sheets he was lying on, thinking perhaps the wound was in his back, but she saw no sign of blood on the sheets or any bandaging done.
Iris 'hmphed' and stood back with her hands resting on her hips. "What happened to you?" she whispered to herself. She reached out her hand, not really knowing why, and brushed a lock of his star-colored hair off of his forehead. It was, she supposed, because this was the only time she had any power over him at all. There was nothing he could do about anything she decided to do. The feeling gave her a little bit of a thrill. She was still frightened of him, lest we forget, but now he looked as harmless as a child and Iris wanted to take advantage of this while she could.
She ran two fingers down the length of his scar, and as her hand reached his jawbone, she gasped and pulled it back.
His neck was entirely black and blue.
Iris leaned down closer to see, pushing her hair behind her ears. She could make out finger shapes on his throat in the bruises.
"Gods…" Iris whispered, and reached out her hand to touch on of the finger marks.
Iris screamed as her wrist was suddenly seized in a cold hand.
A kindly nurse smiled at Iris while she kept a firm grip on her wrist. "Mustn't touch, dear. You could do more damage to him."
Iris smiled and placed her free hand on her chest to try and stop it from beating out of her body. "Oh, I'm sorry. I was just surprised. His neck, it's so horribly bruised. No one knows how it happened?" Iris asked, looking again at the purple marks on Dilandau's throat.
"Oh, someone knows, because someone found him. They just aren't saying." The nurse kept the smile on her face and finally released Iris's wrist from her cold hand.
"Who found him?" Iris questioned, rubbing her wrist that the nurse had had quite a firm grip on.
"His boys, I believe." The nurse checked Dilandau's pulse and breathing rate, then tucked the bed clothes around him firmly, making an assuming noise and slanting her eyes at Iris while she covered him more securely.
Iris rolled her eyes.
She walked back to her cot and slipped on her slippers.
"Where do you think you're going?" the nurse questioned, not looking up from her duties.
"Oh, I'm feeling much better. I thought I'd go for a walk. Fresh air is good for the body." Iris smiled at the nurse, but the nurse grabbed her arm in that iron fist again.
Iris briefly wondered how such an old woman could have kept her muscles in such good shape.
"Not wearing that, you're not."
Iris looked down at her paper-thin robe and blushed. "Oh, I suppose you are right about that."
The nurse pointed to the closet where they had put her clothes. "I shouldn't even let you out," the nurse muttered to herself before she finished with Dilandau and left the room.
Iris smiled at the old lady, deciding that she liked her after all. She slipped on her leather pants and soft undershirt before slipping out the door of the medic ward.
She headed straight for the melef hanger, making good on her word to get fresh air, but also hoping she could catch Miguel there. She knew he was forever working on his melef.
There he was, just as she had expected, only he wasn't working on his melef, just sitting on the shoulder of it and staring out into the sky. He seemed sad, or worried. From this distance, Iris couldn't tell for sure.
She walked to the base of the Alseid unit and looked up. "Hey, up there," she called.
Miguel started, then looked down and smiled. "Iris," he hopped down from the melef's shoulder to its leg, then to the floor. He stood a few feet away from her and wouldn't quite look her in the eye. "I…I'm glad you're ok."
"Me too." Iris joked, then stopped and looked at Miguel. "Miguel, what's wrong?"
"Well, aren't you angry with me?"
Iris's eyebrows dipped over her eyes in confusion. "Why would I be angry with you?"
"Because…I left you. I just left you there," Miguel said, almost as if her couldn't believe it himself.
Iris sighed and stepped forward, putting her hand on his arm. "You had no choice, Miguel. I understand that your loyalty is with Dilandau-sama. There's no way I could change that," Iris took a deep breath. "I, don't want to change that."
Miguel gave her a half smile. "Thank you, Iris, for understanding. Not many people would, or do for that matter."
"Miguel, I saw Dilandau. What happened to him?" Iris asked, her hand still on his arm.
The half smile immediately disappeared from Miguel's face. He grew pale even, and walked to the railing on the Vionne deck, looking down. "I…I don't know. It was the scariest thing I have ever seen. We're all still shook up as hell."
Iris followed him to the railing and leaned her back against it, looking into his face. "Will you tell me?"
"He, he strangled himself."
Iris's eyes grew wide and she jolted at Miguel's words. "What?"
Miguel shook his head. "We heard these sounds, he was yelling at someone, and then there were sounds of struggle, so we broke down the door. And there he was, his hands around his neck. He was passing out when we got to him, because he wouldn't let himself breathe. We yelled at him, we begged him to stop, but it was like he was somewhere else. He wouldn't stop." Miguel swallowed hard, the memory rocking him all over again.
"Gods…" Iris whispered. "Why?"
Miguel beat his hands on the railing. "That's just it, none of us can figure it out. Dilandau is to vain for suicide, and there was no one else in the room…"
"Even if it were suicide, he wouldn't do it like that." Iris narrowed her eyes and shook her head.
"Exactly, that's what I thought too. He'd do it with his sword…" Miguel growled and turned around, beginning to pace. "But he wouldn't do it at all. All of us know that. Something had to have happened. Something had to have made him do that. But what in Gaea could do that?" Miguel asked, frustrated.
"Something horrible," Iris whispered. "Something really horrible."
Iris said her good-byes to Miguel and made her way back to the medical ward. She was truly feeling much better and was going to ask if she could be discharged.
She walked into the room and noticed immediately that no lights were on, and no nurses were hurrying about like normal. She stepped carefully, not really able to see well, and her foot touched something. She looked down, and just as her eyes adjusted, she made out the shape of a body lying on the floor. Images immediately filled her mind from the horrible night that she had found her mother on the floor, and Iris gagged. She covered her mouth, making a small moan as she backed against the wall and squeezed her eyes shut.
A dim blue light filled the room, and Iris opened her eyes slowly. She saw Dilandau sitting on the windowsill of the room, his hand turning up the flame on the small gas torch that usually lit the room.
"Relax," he whispered, his voice raspy. "She's not dead."
Iris swallowed and found her voice, her hand at her throat, trying to slow her pounding pulse. "What, what happened…?" Iris whispered back, not taking her eyes from the woman on the floor.
Dilandau shrugged. "She wanted me to take a nap," he said quietly, smirking a bit. "But I wasn't sleepy. So I decided she should take one instead." He nodded his head towards the woman, and just then Iris noticed the small syringe sticking out of her hip.
"Oh…" Iris shut her eyes and stepped over the woman. Dilandau had turned away from her and was now once again staring out of the window. There was an air of calm around the normally fiery captain, and Iris felt as though he was approachable. So, she approached him. She felt she had something to prove after her scene in the arena. She was determined to prove that she was NOT afraid of him, but she had to prove it to herself first.
She was happy to see he had his leather pants back on at least as she walked closer to him. In the dim light, she could make out the hand-shaped dark smudges around his throat. She winced and ducked her head a bit closer, not able to believe that he actually did that to himself. She gasped and jumped back when he spoke.
"Aren't you going to ask who did it?" he spoke quietly again, and Iris realized it probably hurt his throat to speak at all. He didn't turn, but kept staring out of the window as Iris got her heart back down in her chest where it belonged. He heard her small gasp and chuckled. "Still scared to death of me, are you?"
Iris steeled her insides and crossed her arms. "No, I'm not," she said in the steadiest voice she could muster.
Dilandau turned to her then, and the look on his face and the emotions in his eyes nearly broke her heart. He looked lost, confused, scared, but the biggest emotion swimming in his deep garnet eyes was loneliness. He looked so utterly alone. "No? Then why do you startle when I speak?" Dilandau asked getting up from his seat and standing in front of Iris, who fought to keep her eyes on his and her arms crossed. "Why do you pale when I look at you?" he continued, beginning to walk towards her. "Why do you move away when I move towards you? Why do you shake when I raise my voice?"
Iris was pressed against the wall now, and she placed a hand over her racing heart as he still came closer. Dilandau looked at her. "Why do you place a hand over your heart when I'm near you?" He whispered, keeping his hard garnets locked with her deep green eyes.
Finally, Iris could it no more. Her eyes turned to steel and she stood up straight, no longer willing to cower. She placed her hands on Dilandau's chest and shoved him away from her. Caught off guard, he stumbled back a few steps. Iris reached for the bottom of her undershirt and pulled it up, revealing the horrible black and purple bruise that covered her side. "Here! This is why!" she threw back. "What's wrong, Dilandau-sama?" she asked when he narrowed his eyes. "You wanted answers, I'm assuming that's why you asked me all your questions anyway, so look! Here they are." She turned up the flame on the blue torch and spread her arms out, inviting Dilandau to look at her battered body.
Dilandau walked forward slowly, his eyes wandering over her bruises. He stopped in front of her, his hands skimming over the bruises on her arms, and touching the cuts on her face. Iris's pulse picked up again about the time he lifted her undershirt and ran a hand over her blackened side. She drew her breath in quickly when he touched her ribs. They were still very tender, and Dilandau softened his touch immediately.
Iris's mind was going crazy. How can his hands be hard and horribly painful one moment and yet soft and so gentle the next? It doesn't make sense…he doesn't make sense…
Iris's mind shut down totally as Dilandau's hands came back up to her face. He brushed her hair aside so that he could have a better look at the bruises that were on her neck and cheeks. She closed her eyes for a moment and just imagined it was someone who cared about her that was touching her. She'd been without affection for too long, everyone that had cared about her was dead or missing.
Eric…
Iris's brows came together as she remembered her brother…but then she lost all reason and control when she felt Dilandau's breath close to her mouth. His hands were slowly skimming up and down her arms, and Iris had the sinking feeling she was being seduced…
"You're not shaking now," Dilandau whispered, close to her ear.
"You're…you're not hurting me now…" Iris whispered, having trouble speaking in sentences.
"I could, you know, at any moment. I could kill you right here." To prove his point, Dilandau tightened his hands painfully on her arms.
Iris winced and instinctively brought her hands up to grip his arms, to try and stop him from hurting her further.
Dilandau went deathly still and then dropped his hands and jumped back as if he'd been burned.
He glanced down at where she had touched his arm and then back at her. Iris's eyes widened as she realized why he had moved away from her.
He's never been touched…
Steel was in his eyes again as he glared at her. "You should fear me," he said his voice quaking the slightest bit.
"Why?" Iris asked quietly. "Because you can hurt me? Lots of people in this world are capable of hurting me, but I'm not scared of them because just because they can," Iris stopped and looked at Dilandau with a sort of hope lit in her eyes. "Doesn't mean they will."
"No, not because I can hurt you," Dilandau said, his eyes widening for a moment, before he got himself back under some sort of control. "I will hurt you," he whispered, then looked into a mirror that was on the wall beside him, and he touched the bruises along his throat. His mind went back to what had happened. He remembered everything as clearly as day. And it scared him to think that he had done this to himself. He spoke to Iris, but didn't look away from the mirror, his voice cracking, "Because I'm crazy…" Dilandau shattered the mirror with his fist before running from the room.
*****
Iris watched him go, her mind swirling at about a million miles per second.
Because I'm crazy…
Of course Iris had believed that from the moment she had first heard his insane laughter, but it was even more unsettling to hear him say it, to know he knew it…
Yet still something about the situation was more than unsettling. He seemed as if he had just discovered the fact that he was a bit…different. And judging from the unlucky mirror, he was not at all happy about the fact.
This is what puzzled Iris. Other times she had seen him acting psychotic, he was so damn happy about it. Gleefully laughing while his eyes burned with insanity.
Too tired and flushed to deal with the enigma that is Dilandau, Iris gathered the rest of her belongings from the medical ward and walked through the halls of the Vione to her room.
"Sleep," she chanted, halfway there already. "All I need is sleep…"
"Iris!" Chesta called, seeing her on her way into the dorm. "How are y-"
"Sleep." Iris said, holding up a hand and shaking her head at Chesta and walking into the dorm. She tossed her things onto the floor next to her cot, and collapsed onto it, falling almost immediately into a wonderful, dreamless sleep.
*****
Eric sat on his bed and looked out of the window. He turned around at the sound of someone
entering the dorm. He saw a figure toss what they were holding onto the ground, then collapsing into bed. His eyebrows tugged together and rose from his bed, walking over to the other occupied cot.
"Viole?" Eric asked quietly.
No answer.
Grinning with mischief, Eric tip-toed closer to the bed and leaned over. The person had tossed their covers over their face, so Eric could no see who it was. Still smiling, Eric grabbed the sheet and ripped it off.
"Morning sunshine!" Eric giggled, holding the sheet. He heard no groan of complaint or soft swearing, however, so he looked down curiously…and dropped the sheet.
"Iris…"
Eric choked back his gasp and clamped his hand over his mouth. His little heart was flipping every which way and couldn't decide just how to feel. On one hand, he missed his sister terribly, and was happy to see she was all right, yet on the other hand he still felt betrayed and forgotten because of what she had done.
Eric pinched his eyebrows together as he looked down at his sister. She hadn't even moved since he pulled the covers off of her, she lay there peacefully and taking deep, even breaths. She had fallen deep asleep as soon as her body had touched the cot.
Eric smiled softly and gently covered her back up with the blanket he had ripped off. His questions could wait, because now, when she was like this, she looked like an angel.
She looked like his big sister.
Eric walked quietly out of the room and shut the door behind him.
*****
Dilandau sat on his bed. He wore his black leather pants and nothing else. In his hand was a glass of vino, and his eyes were glazed over as he sat motionless and just stared into the full length mirror across the room.
He was scared. Scared as hell. Nothing like that had ever happened before. It was all becoming too real too fast. First, he had lost control of his senses and had almost strangled himself. Now the voice was much more than a nuisance, it was a threat. It had actually taken over. She, Dilandau supposed, had actually taken hold of his hands and he had been powerless.
This thing, this deity in his head could now do more than just speak to him, it could control his body at its will. Not having control was the scariest thing Dilandau could think of.
He'd wanted to hurt her. He had. He swore that to himself inside and out. When his hands had touched her injured ribs, he'd wanted to push, to see her pale and scream in pain, yet she hadn't let him do it. She'd gentled his hands. He had ended up fucking caressing Iris. It should have sickened him.
That was the other problem. It should have sickened him, yet somehow it hadn't.
The only reason he hadn't totally lost it the moment he realized her wasn't controlling his hands had been because what his hands were feeling had totally fogged over his mind. He'd never touched anything so soft before, he'd never felt anything…
Dilandau snarled and tossed back the rest of his vino, then hurled the glass against the mirror, succeeding in shattering the glass, but he only cracked the mirror.
This was ridiculous, he told himself. He was a soldier of Zaibach, not some hormone stricken teenager.
He stood in front of the mirror and the crack down the center distorted his view so that he could only see half of his face.
Well that won't do, he thought, smirking. I like to see all of my beauty.
He looked back in the mirror, and stilled. The other half of his face was there now, but his eyes was blue, and his mouth was softer and tilted up at its corner.
Dilandau scowled, ready to give whoever-the-hell-she -was a damn big piece of his mind.
Now hush, Dilandau. I don't want to hear that sort of language. I am a lady ,after all.
"You're not a lady. You're a fucking pain in the ass. Who the hell are you and what the hell are you trying to do to me?!" Dilandau screamed.
Help you.
Dilandau stared, open-mouthed. "Help me?!" he sputtered. "What the fuck is your definition of help?"
You push the princess away when she is so willing to give you her companionship.
"Why would I care about the princesses 'companionship'?" Dilandau growled. "I'd rather she were dead."
Lies do not become you, Dilandau.
"You know for a fact that I am not lying. If you can really see what's going on in my head, then you know I've tried to kill her on many occasions…"
What is going on in your head is irrelevant, Dilandau. I can see what is going on in your heart.
Dilandau rolled his eyes. "Oh, please…" he scoffed.
I know your thoughts, Dilandau…
"We've established that."
I know your needs, and you need her because-
"This is such bullshit. You have no idea what you're talking abo-"
Because you are scared to be left alone.
Dilandau stiffened. The other half of his face in the mirror smiled.
"What the hell are you talking about, I'm not alone. I have my dragonslayers, I have Folken, I have Emperor Dornkirk, he'd never leave me alone because he chose me, I have all the other soldiers, I…I have Zaibach!" Dilandau was breathing rather heavily and his voice had risen about two octaves, making him sound like a child. "I'll never be alone!"
There are many different meanings of alone, Dilandau.
Dilandau calmed and smirked at that, his voice and breathing back to normal. "Obviously I believe in a different meaning than you since you refuse to leave me alone."
You have no one to care for you, no one to touch you, no one to-
"The last thing I need is someone to touch me," Dilandau spat out the word and turned away from the mirror.
Poor Dilandau. You deny yourself the basic needs of human nature. Why?
"Needs are weaknesses. I'm not weak." Dilandau snarled and stormed from the room, the voice in his head sighed quietly and fading away.
****
Dilandra: You are the weakest link, goodbye! *Giggle*
Folken: *Turns and looks at her, raising his eyebrow and shaking his head*
Iris: *rolls her eyes* I think I'm going to be sick.
Dilandau: Arrrg! I want to BURN that lady!! BURN HER!!!!
Dilandra: Sorry guys, it was just a joke…
Heh. Well that was the next part, obviously…anywho. Sorry that chapter was a bit boring, the scene before had to be explained so that you all wouldn't think Dilly was getting out of character-
Dilandau: Don't I have a sensitive side?
Dilandra: No. No you do not.
Dilandau: *pout* Oh, alright then…
Dilandra: *sigh* Anywho, please review and the next part will be out soon! Later days!~*~~*
