Dilandau banged on Folken's door with his fist. "Folken? I know you aren't asleep so just open your damn-" The door slid open and Folken stood inside of it, looking down at Dilandau, mild annoyance in eyes. "Door." Dilandau finished, and pushed past Folken into his room.

"Won't you come in, Dilandau?" Folken asked sighing.

"Folken, there is something wrong with me."

Folken barely suppressed a small smile. Thank you Captain Obvious… "Oh?"

"Yes. Something really, really wrong. I think I'm…sick." Dilandau said with difficulty.

Folken lowered his eyebrows as he turned and looked at Dilandau. Dilandau never admitted to weaknesses such as pain or sickness. Folken knew something must be truly wrong.

"Alright, Dilandau. What exactly is wrong?"

Dilandau scowled. "If I knew do you think I'd be here?"

"Tell me what your symptoms are."

"I'm not physically sick. Not with a virus or anything. I…I don't know how to explain it!" Dilandau said, frustrated.

"Well, I cannot read minds, so if I am to help you I must know what your situation is."

"I hear things!" Dilandau shouted, obviously pained at having to admit this. "I see things, and I know it's not just a trick of my mind. Someone is in here with me," He said, pointed at his head.

Folken took great care not to show any expression. He'd been afraid of this. The sorcerers hadn't done a thorough enough job on Dilandau in their haste to create him. They'd overlooked certain steps, and now he'd have to deal with the consequences.

"This person speaks to you?" Folken asked, his voice also void of any emotion.

Dilandau narrowed his eyes at Folken, ready to pounce the instant he thought his situation was being made light of. "Yes," he answered.

"What does he say?" Folken asked, intentionally saying 'he' in order to see if his assumptions were correct.

"She," Dilandau corrected, and Folken raised an eyebrow. "She doesn't make sense. She tells lies about me. She says things like she had my body first, and that I should be grateful to her for giving me life. But Folken, those things are small. If it was just a voice, I could deal with it. But, it's gotten worse. I, I did this to myself trying to kill her, well, the reflection." Dilandau pulled aside the blue undershirt and pointed at his throat.

"The reflection?" Folken asked, leaning closer and squinting his eyes to see better in the gloom of the blue gas light.

"Yes. When I look into the mirror, I can see her." He replaced the sleeve of the shirt and looked expectantly at Folken.

"You marred your own flesh," Folken observed, knowing this was unheard of in Dilandau's case.

"She can do other things," Dilandau began, knowing how absolutely ludicrous this must all sound.

Folken looked at him and waited for him to continue.

"She, she spoke to someone. She woke one of my slayers from her sleep and told her that there was an assassin in my room. I know this has to be true because neither the assassin nor I made any noise what so ever. Then, she was just there. She just knew. She said she'd heard a voice and it had told her that I was in danger."

"Refina?" Folken guessed.

"Iris."

Folken blinked. "Oh."

"Well?"

Folken sat down in the chair behind his desk. He placed a hand on his chin and considered just outright telling Dilandau the truth. Would he be able to handle it?

"What has this voice told you?"

"She told me that by using the power of both of our minds put together she could do more than just speak to others in their minds. I can't control her, Folken. And that is what worries me."

It worried Folken too. This was an unforeseen effect that he had not contemplated. Folken had been working on a different fate Alteration, one that would secure the individual the first time and not require all the "tune-ups" so to say. He decided now to try and reverse the process of his new plan for alteration. It would work, he knew he could get it to work. But he'd have to have Dilandau's full cooperation, and that meant he had to tell Dilandau the truth.

"Dilandau, sit down. I have something to explain to you."

About twenty minutes later, the entire Vionne was rudely awakened by an anguished shriek that came from Folken's quarters.

~*~*~*~

Iris sat quietly in her room, thinking about the past night's events.

A lot had happened in just a few hours. She had heard a phantom voice, she had rushed to save Dilandau's life, she had finally admitted to herself her true feelings for Dilandau, and then Miguel had kissed her. All because some damn voice woke her up.

'If only I wasn't such a light sleeper.' Iris mused, shaking her head in disdain. 'What am I going to do about Miguel? I don't want to hurt him…'

Iris sighed. 'Mother, if only I could speak with you. You always knew exactly what to say. You were so wise, and always had the right answers for me.' Iris took a deep breath and wiped the tear that had started down her cheek.

She was startled from her silent meditation by a very loud, very anguished, and very Dilandau-ish scream. Iris sat up and looked towards her door. She wrinkled her forehead as she stood to look out into the hall.

As soon as she stepped out of her room, a body plowed into her. Grunting, Iris fell to the floor. Rubbing her arm that she had fallen on, she winced and looked up. She saw Gatti standing over her. He scowled at her. "Watch where you're going, girl."

Iris scowled back. "Take your own advice, jerk."

Gatti growled. "I don't have time for this," he shoved past Iris when she stood up to look him in the eye.

"Wait, where are you going?" Iris grabbed his arm.

Gatti turned around and shoved her back from him. "None of your business, and if you touch me again, I'll cut your goddamn arm off."

"What the hell's gotten into you?" Iris asked. Gatti had never been her best friend, but he'd never been this cold to her before.

"You! That's what's gotten into all of us!" Gatti yelled, taking a step towards her.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Iris narrowed her eyes.

"You come into our fortress by means of stowing away in Dilandau-sama's Alseides unit, you attack him twice, then you go to his rescue like some saint? Just whose side are you on, Princess? " Gatti sneered.

"I don't have to prove anything to you, especially not where my loyalties lie." Iris hissed. "What has this got to do with pissing you all off? I went to protect you precious leader. I thought you'd all appreciate that."

"You thought wrong. We all see what you are doing to Dilandau-sama. It's not right and you'll pay for it as soon as he realizes what we've all realized." Gatti pointed his finger in her face.

Iris's eyes widened. "I don't believe it. You're jealous. You're all jealous!" Iris laughed incredulously. "And just was is this 'it' you've all realized?" Iris asked, crossing her arms.

"You don't belong here. You're a fucking fake, Iris. And you'll get yours." Gatti shoved past her and went down the hall towards Dilandau's screams.

Iris stared after him, searching her own mind and heart, trying to decided if Gatti was right.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~Two Days Later.~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Eric watched as Viole sharpened his blade, running the stone over it again and again. It was almost hypnotizing.

"Whatcha' doin' that for?" Eric asked.

"So it will be sharper. Cut things, and people," Viole said with a small grin. "Easier." Viole stood and sheathed his sword. "Dilandau-sama has ordered us into a battle. And I say it's about goddamned time."

"You swear too much."

"You complain too much."

Eric grinned at that and Viole ruffled his hair affectionately.

"Where is you battle at?" Eric asked, interested.

"Just outside of Freid. We attack at dawn, which means we'll leave in about an hour. And that means," Viole said, giving Eric his patented big brother look. "That you'll be own your own for a few days until I get back. So stay out of trouble, and stay out of the way."

"I will." Eric promised. His little face suddenly grew serious as he thought about where Viole was going. "Viole, will this battle be bad?"

"Probably. Duke Fried is a stubborn bastar-I mean, stubborn man."

"Will a lot of people get hurt?"

"Well, it is a battle,"

"Will you get hurt?"

Viole smiled. "Nah, I'm invincible."

"Really?" Eric asked, his eyes shinning with hope.

"You bet. Untouchable." Viole smiled as he mock-punched Eric on his chin.

"That's good." Eric frowned again, his little mind working. "Um, Viole?"

"Yeah?" Viole said, busily preparing.

"What about Iris? Will my sister get hurt?"

Viole's hands stilled, and closed his eyes, sighing. "Listen, squirt. I can't tell you the future," Viole quickly continued as Eric's chin began to tremble. "But I can promise you one thing. We'll do all we can to make sure she doesn't get hurt, alright?"

Eric smiled weakly and tossed his little arms around Viole's waist. "Even though I'm still mad at her, I still don't want her to get hurt, ya know?" Eric sniffed.

"Of course you don't. She's your sister." Viole patted Eric's back.

"Um, Viole?" Eric said quietly.

"What?"

"Maybe, when you're protecting Iris I mean, you could let her get punched like, twice maybe." Eric said.

Viole laughed at that. "You sure, squirt?"

"Well, maybe just once." Eric looked up and grinned at Viole.

~*~*~*~

Iris shivered as her Alseides roared to life under her fingers. She'd only had two weeks worth of training with it, and didn't feel at all comfortable with its operations. On top of that, she couldn't believe she was actually going into battle. It was a sort of rush, she supposed, but she still felt a pang of regret and guilt for fighting on the wrong side. Iris tried not to think about that. She needed to concentrate if she was to stay alive.

She had a plan. Her days as a Zaibach dragonslayer were over.

She flicked on her communications device and spoke into the receiver. "H-hello? Testing…" she spoke carefully.

She heard a few voices chuckle. "We're here, Iris. Relax." Miguel's voice crackled back at her through the speaker.

"Does anyone know where we're headed yet?" Iris asked, trying in vain to calm her jumping insides.

"Freid," a voice hissed. Iris knew it was Gatti by his impatient sigh.

"Yes, that part I knew, smartass." Iris said back into the mouthpiece, causing some scattered chuckles. "I meant where in Freid?"

"Dilandau-sama has the coordinates. He will lead us there." Another female voice spoke back to her, Refina.

"Where is he?" Iris wondered out loud, looking out of her Alseides and at the empty red one to her left.

Dilandau appeared suddenly and climbed wordlessly up and into his melef. He shut himself in and grabbed the controls, bringing his melef to the edge of the hanger. He'd been silent like this for two days, only speaking when it was an absolute necessity. His face was always blank and even the flame that seemed to always burn deep in his garnet eyes had seemed to simmer out and was now a small flicker, ready to go out at any moment.

The slayers were all worried about him of course, and had noticed the change immediately. They were helpless, however, because Dilandau would not let anyone near him.

Dilandau's voice suddenly rang out, though dull and lifeless as it was, and all the dragonslayers snapped into attention. "Stay close together, do not break formation until we've past through the city gates. Let's go."

The slayers waited for the happy giggle that always seemed to happen whenever Dilandau snapped his melef into fly mode and dove towards a battle.

It never came. Not so much as a small chuckle was heard as they all silently flew from the Vione.

Iris heard her intercom screech a bit as she tried very hard to concentrate on keeping her melef steady when the currents of wind hit it. She then heard Miguel's voice crackle through.

"Iris? How are you doing? You alright?"

"I'm fine, Miguel. Why shouldn't I be?" Iris struggled with her controls, sweat beading on her temples.

"The wind's pretty haywire today, just making sure you're holding out."

Miguel hadn't kissed Iris again since the one occurrence in the hanger two days before, in fact he'd barely spoken to her. Iris was happy for that, however, because being around him was now uncomfortable, and she resented him for doing that to their friendship.

"I'm still up here, aren't I?" Iris snapped, gritting her teeth as the controls fought with her.

"Oh, ok. Just call if you need help,"

"I won't."

"Alright. Iris?"

"What?" Iris shouted exasperated.

"Stay safe." Miguel said quietly.

Iris softened. "You too, Miguel."

A chorus of 'Awww' and 'ain't that sweet's were heard over the intercom, and Iris smiled a little. Miguel just blushed.

"Enough. Prepare to land. Stealth cloaks." Dilandau's voice ordered as they neared the attack sight.

A deathly quiet fell over the group as they each prepared themselves for battle.

Dilandau's Alseides dove for the ground, and the Dragonslayers all followed in suit, landing in perfect form all around him, and snapping their Stealth cloaks up as soon as they inactivated their flight modes.

"Fan out, destroy any and all military devices you see. Cripple them." Dilandau stated as he began to march forward.

The doors to the city were incinerated by Gatti's flame-thrower and they invaded.

Iris tried not to look. She tried not to see the immediate death and carnage that took place, but she couldn't help but see it; it was everywhere. It overcame her so that she almost forgot her plan.

She shook herself, mentally and physically as she took a deep breath and called on some deep recess of inner strength. She maneuvered her melef around, trying to find the palace. She spotted it, and her heart began to race. So close…

"Iris, where are you going?" Miguel's voice rang through her intercom. Dammit, that meant everyone heard him. He's going to ruin everything!

"I saw troops this way, I'm going to investigate." Iris lied.

"I'll cover you," Miguel offered.

"No, you've got plenty to do here. There weren't many, I'll be fine."

"Iris-"

"Miguel, look out!" Iris yelled as a Freidian melef raised its sword behind Miguel's Alseides.

As soon as Miguel was involved in that battle, Iris moved away from him and towards the castle.

"Please let there be someone here who will listen to me." Iris prayed as she maneuvered her way through the streets. Freid and Rolowen hadn't always been the best of friends, but Zaibach was a shared enemy by the two countries, and surely they would help her.

Suddenly, her Alseides shook violently and iris realized she'd been attacked. Grunting, she turned her melef around and activated her crima claw, wrapping the liquid metal around the other melef's sword. "Listen to me!" she cried. "I am the crowned princess of Rolowen! I need your help! Please stop!" Iris yelled as the melef only shook free of her crima claw's hold.

"I don't care of your one of Gaea's Gods! You're in a Zaibach melef and that means you have to die!" an angry voice yelled, taking another swing at her.

Iris managed to block it, and tried to plead with the man again. "Please, sir! I speak the truth! I am Iris Rolowen and I have been forced to fight for Zaibach! I need your help!"

"Shut up!" the man roared as he cut off her Alseides right arm.

"Dammit! Listen to me!" Iris was frightened now, her plan wasn't working as she'd hoped. Tears of frustration and panic began to gather in her eyes.

The melef in front of her was suddenly incinerated and Iris gasped, looking up.

The red guymelef stood behind where the enemy melef had fallen, and it's flame-thrower was still pointing at her.

Dilandau lowered the Alseide's arm, but did not move from in front of Iris. He'd heard every word of the conversation, and was seething now. Enraged that she'd dare cross him and Zaibach.

Iris was shaking, she feared that Dilandau knew exactly what had happened and what she was up to. But she couldn't give up now, not when she was so close. Once she was safe inside of Freid, she could demand her brother back from Zaibach, and then they'd start a new life. Somehow everything would work out. It had to. The palace was only a few hundred yards away…

Iris looked up quickly, and saw that Dilandau's melef had not moved. It didn't matter what she felt for him. She couldn't live a lie. She unhooked herself from everything on the inside quickly, never taking her eyes off of his melef, in case he was to exit his also.

Dilandau saw the movement inside of the cockpit of the Alseides, and guessed at Iris's plan. The palace was only a short distance away…

She was going to run.

"Iris, don't-" Dilandau barked as he saw her hatch pop open.

"May the Gods protect me," Iris whispered, then dropped out of her melef.

She ran.

"Iris!" Dilandau yelled, then quickly disengaged himself from his Alseides. "Idiot," he yelled to no one as he dropped from his own melef and took off after her.

"Help me!" Iris shrieked as she sprinted towards the palace walls. She could see men guarding the tops of the walls as she ran nearer. "Yes!" she thought, running harder. "They'll open the gates for me and then I'll be safe…"

"Iris! Stop!" Dilandau yelled as he slowly gained on her.

Iris turned her head and saw the warlord running after her. She gasped and forced her legs to move faster. Her armored jacket was heavy on her shoulders, and Iris unbuckled it as she ran, letting it fall to the ground. Now she could pump her arms faster and run freer. "Please! Guards! Help me!"

Of course the guards didn't hear her cries for help. Nor did they recognize her royal face. All they saw was a soldier of Zaibach running towards the palace with her captain right behind her.

All they saw were enemies. And they treated them as such.

The archer pulled his arrow back, and aimed for Iris's heart.

Iris thought the archer was pointing at her, so she began to wave her hands wildly, catching the attention of two other archers on the gates. They also aimed their stone arrow heads for her chest.

Dilandau saw all of this as if it were happening in slow motion. He sprinted for Iris just as the first archer loosed his arrow. Dilandau jumped. He pushed Iris to the side, but the archer had been too fast, and his aim had been true. The arrow pierced Iris's chest, just above her heart. Iris screamed and fell. Dilandau saw her face then, and he didn't think he'd ever forget her expression.

Her eyes were laced with pain, but also with despair and sadness. It was almost as if she didn't understand what was happening to her.

The other two archers loosed their arrows and one struck Iris in her leg, just above her knee, and the other pierced the skin of Dilandau's upper arm.

Dilandau cursed, but Iris's eyes just widened more as tears came to them. The pain was overwhelming her, just as her other emotions swirled through her brain and clouded her thinking.

'Why did they shoot me? Won't anyone help me? Won't anyone listen? Why…" Iris's thoughts trailed off as her consciousness began to flicker.

"Iris? Iris!" Dilandau shook her shoulders, then swore as he saw her eyes roll back in her head. Her blood was flowing freely from both of her wounds now. Dilandau tried to pick her up and carry her in his arms, but the arrow in his upper left bicep disputed that decision rather stubbornly. He grabbed Iris under her arms and drug her to a sheltered ally way. There, Dilandau gritted his teeth and yanked the arrow from his arm.

Choice words echoed off the ally's stone walls.

Dilandau removed his armored jacket and then ripped his undershirt over his head and into three pieces. The first, he tied around his arm.

Dilandau then looked down at Iris, and decided the best time to remove the arrows from her body would be now, seeing as though she was not conscious. He knelt down and grabbed the one protruding from her chest. While he gripped the arrow, he wondered if he should even bother. She'd betrayed him and his country. She was a traitor. She didn't deserve to live.

Dilandau ripped the arrow out, and then immediately tied the biggest piece of his undershirt around her chest and arm, creating a bandage to help stop the bleeding. He moved his hand to the other arrow, then smiled.

No. He'd leave that one until she was awake.

That would only be the beginning of the punishment she'd go through.

Dilandau used his sword to cut the end of the arrow off, leaving only enough protruding so that it was easy to grip. He carefully slung Iris over his shoulder and took the winding ally ways back to his guymelef. When he walked back out in to the open, he almost dropped to his knees at what he saw. His heart nearly stopped.

The dragonslayers were being annihilated left and right. They were out numbered five to one, and were barely holding up.

Freid had known they were coming. They had to have. They'd been prepared.

"Damn you, Duke Freid. One day your head will be mine." Dilandau muttered as he lay Iris on the ground and climbed into his melef. He settled inside, yelling in his intercom for the slayers to fall back. He picked up Iris in his liquid metal crima claw, and then abruptly handed her to another slayer. It turned out to be Gatti. "Gatti! Take her and return to the Vione! All of you!"

"Dilandau-sama! What about you?" Gatti called, taking the unconscious Iris into his own liquid metal claw.

"Go! That's an order!" Dilandau yelled and made his way in his Alseides to a fallen Dragonslayer's melef. Three other melefs surrounded it and were mercilessly beating it to the ground. Dilandau let fly with his flame-thrower at the melef nearest to the fallen Alseides and then dispatched of the others with his crima claw.

"Viole!" Dilandau called, recognizing the melef. "Viole, can you get out of your unit?"

"D-Dilandau-sama," a weak voice whispered into his intercom.

A broken and bloodied body fell from the cockpit of the Alseides and rolled to the ground. It didn't move from that position.

Dilandau leaned down and picked Viole up with his crima claw, wrapping him safely in he liquid metal.

Viole weakly raised his head. "Thank you, Dilandau-sama…" Viole managed as he coughed and passed out.

"Hang on, Viole." Dilandau switched his melef into flight mode and took off towards the Vione.