~Familiar~Stranger~
~Chapter 6~
A few days later, Rafe was healing well and was able to get out of bed, but still wasn't allowed out of his room. Rafe didn't know how much longer he could last being confined inside. When training in their guymeefs, the Dragon Slayers had to pass his window, and he watched in envy as they battled. He absently ran his hand over the bandages underneath his shirt, thinking back about when he recieved the injuries. Looking down at his waist, he sighed and walked away from the window, and into his bathroom. Rafe pulled off his shirt and examined his bandages. They started just underneath his arms and ended below the end of his rib cage.
"I can't wait to get these off. They're in the way of my wings, and I can't let them out." He rubbed his shoulder blade. "My wings are getting really cramped." He sighed, then walked back out into his bed chamber when he heard someone walk in. Rafe saw Dilandau standing in the doorway, staring at him. "Lord Dilandau, is something wrong?" Dilandau crossed his arms.
"Folken sent me to check on you. Said something about me getting annoying when I was pacing around in the room, waiting for information from the General." Rafe nodded his understanding and walked over to the window, opening it and watching the Slayers practicing again. It was unnerving him, having Dilandau stare at him like that. After what he had been put through, he was slightly afraid of Dilandau. "I take it you're feeling better, since you're out of bed for the first time since you were put in here." Rafe winced slightly at the edge in his voice. Not wanting to show that Dilandau had successfully insulted him, he turned, a smirk on his face.
"I'm not gonna justify that with an answer." Dilandau was surprised at his responce, and for the first time, wasn't able to come up with a response. When Rafe turned back around, Dilandau's eyes narrowed, and, with what little dignaty he had left, turned and left the room.
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Dilandau stood on the catwalk of the hanger, watching the Slayers practice,
and glanced over to where one guymelef stood, unoccupied for a few years. He sighed, remembering the one person who stirred a feeling deep in his heart that he felt he was forbidden to let anyone else cause him to feel. He heard footsteps approaching, and
turned to see who it was, expecting to see Folken, or one of the Slayers who had
finished their training. Who he saw, made his heart stop, then start up again, pounding
fast enough that if it went any faster, it would have killed him. "H-hitomi...but aren't
you..."
"Dead? She finished quietly, walking towards him. "Well, you're not the first
person I've corrected." She stepped up to him and wrapped her arms around him. His
arms instantly came around her back, drawing her to him, feeling like if he let go
now, she would disappear again. "Why, Lord Dilandau, are you crying?"
"Of course not." He denied, but it was obvious that this wasn't true, as there
was a tear sliding down his face. She lifted a hand, brushed away the tear, then raised
up and kissed him passionately. After a moment, he pulled away. "Where have you
been?" Dilandau asked, determined not to let his voice crack.
"Oh, Dilandau." She sighed. Leaning her forhead against his, she whispered,
"I've been right beside you all this time."
Dilandau woke up suddenly, breathing hard and sweating. "What the h*ll was that?!"
He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "Right beside me all this time? What
does that mean?" The dream was so real, he could almost feel her pressed against him, could
almost taste her kiss.
Dilandau stood up and walked over to the balcony. Opening the window, he let the
cold night air drift into his room. "I wonder if Folken would know what is happening."
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~2~days~later~
Dilandau sat on his throne, staring into space and thinking about his dream. Rafe,
Miguel, and the others were on their knees in front of him, bowed down. *Something's
wrong with Lord Dilandau.* Rafe thought. Miguel bit his lip, then looked up.
"Lord Dilandau? May I ask what's wrong?" Dilandau didn't look down at Miguel;
he barely flinched.
"Nothing that you need to be concerned with, Miguel." He muttered, his gaze never
wavering from the place on the wall that it had been locked on the entire time. "You're all
dismissed." Everyone got up and left, Miguel pausing to help up Rafe, who was still slightly
unstable. Rafe looked back at Dilandau to see he had finally changed position, but only to
hold his head in his hands.
"I wonder what's bothering Lord Dilandau." Miguel muttered, walking beside Rafe.
"I'm not sure. Whatever it is, it's got him quite upset."
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Dilandau sat on his throne, running his fingers through his hair. *It's driving me crazy.
What in the name of Gaea did she mean by, 'I've been right beside you all this time.' ?* After a moment, he got up and walked over to the hanger, then stood on the catwalk, where the
dream had taken place. He gripped the railing tightly, listening closely for any sounds.
After 15 minutes he sighed and turned back to walk down the side of the hanger.
Dilandau walked over to the edge of the hanger room and opened the hatch. Standing on the
edge, he jumped off, enjoying the feeling of the air whipping past him. After a few seconds,
he allowed his wings to burst out of his ack in a cloud of platinum feathers.
Once he landed in a clearing, he pulled in his wings and started to practice his sword techniques on a nearby tree.
30 minutes later, he had to stop. Breathing hard, he looked at the tree he had been
practicing on, and laughed silently when he saw that he had almost completely destroyed it. He
slid his sword back into it's scabbard and let his wings back out. He was about to take off when
he felt something embede itself into the back of his neck. He stumbled forward, quickly drawing
in his wings. He could feel the ground tilt before he blacked out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^*~^~*^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rafe stood on the edge of the hanger with Folken and the other Slayers, waiting for Dilandau. Rafe turned to Folken.
"He's been gone too long. I'm going to go look for him." He passed them and walked
over to his newest guymelef, since Dilandau had ordered them to leave Hitomi's alone. When he
was inside and at the edge of the hatch, Folken called out to him.
"Don't be more then 3 hours. If you can't find him by then, I want you to come back
and get some Dragon Slayers to help you."
"Yes sir." He said before taking off.
After about half an hour of searching, he realized that he would be able to make a more thurough search on foot, so he got out and looked around. Noticing a clearing, he saw several feathers scattered over the ground and ran into the clearing. Getting to his knees, he saw
horseshoe prints along the edge of the clearing. "So that's where they took him." He started
following the trail. "Now if only I could find out who they are."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^*~^~*^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a few hours of walking, Rafe came across a docked Leva-ship. "Well, so much
for making it back in 3 hours." He hissed as he crept onto the ship.He was almost to the hold
for the prisoners when someone grabbed him from behind. He whipped around and grabbed
the unknown intruder's arm, then realized who it was. "Miguel!!! Don't do that!!"
"Sorry, but I didn't think you would be coming back in the designated time, so I
followed you."
"We have got to find Lord Dilandau."
"You won't have to look very far." A voice hissed from behind them. "Put your hands
behind you." Rafe groaned, then turned to see a guard with a cross bow pointed at his chest.
"Perfect." He muttered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^*~^~*^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rafe was tied to the wall by his wrists, and the way they were stretched was almost
killing him from the pressure on his ribs. He looked over to Dilandau and Miguel, who were also
tied up the same way. The guard came in and walked over to Rafe.
"You seem to be in some pain. I think I'll put you out of your misery first." Dilandau
watched as the guard pulled out a whip and snapped it, causing it to strike Rafe's ribs. Rafe tried
not to cry out form the almost white-hot pain now running through him and bit his lip.
Dilandau twisted in his bonds, but all he managed to do was hurt his wrists. He watched the guard stop striking Rafe for a second and stare at him as if studying him. "Hey, there's something building up inside this one. You don't think that it could be another one of theose sorcerer's weird..." He trailed off, asking one of the other guards.
"Don't know. Keep beating him and find out." The guard continued as one of the others came and got Dilandau and Miguel, then led them over to a different room.
"What's going on, Lord Dilandau?" Miguel hissed.
"I don't know, now shut up, before you get us in trouble."
"You boys are going to wait until it's your turn, in here." The guard slammed the door shut and walked away back towards the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^*~^~*^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~30~minutes~later~
Dilandau looked up at the sound of someone being shoved into the cell and they fell to their knees, gripping their waist in pain. The guard came and got Miguel next, so Dilandau walked over to the form laying on the ground in pain.
"Hey Rafe, you okay?" The form looked up, and smirked weakly.
"Sorry, this isn't Rafe."
"Hitomi?!" Dilandau felt like he was going to faint, but Hitomi beat him to it and collapsed in his grip.
A/N:ooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh, another cliffhanger!!!!! my bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!
~Wild Angel~