"Lord Van!!!!!!" Merle cried out. "Lord Van, are you o-" She was stopped short as Htiomi covered her mouth with her hand. Merle struggled to break free, then bit Hitomi's hand hard. Hitomi winced, but didn't say anything; she just dragged Merle into the shadows, as she had heard footsteps coming.

"We're not supposed to be down here!" Hitomi hissed. Hitomi could feel her hand starting to bleed, so she moved it away from Merle's mouth, knowing she wouldn't say anything as there were now 4 men standing just in front of them, their backs facing them.

"Why did you bring him here?" A soft voice demanded which she instantly recognized as Deje's.

"Because he attacked us, also, this is the man you were looking for."

"Van Fanel is the king of Fanelia? This is the operater of Escaflowne, this, this young boy?"

"He's now twenty, sir. He became king at 15. That's the custom for Fanelia, remember?"

"Of COURSE I remember!!! But, I thought...wasn't Folken Fanel supposed to become king?"

"He was, but after the dragon he was battling bit off his arm, he joined Zaibach, then died a few years later. His brother took his place." The man beside him said quietly.

"So, this boy, sorry, young man, is Fanelia's king. This is Hitomi's brother." He stared at him for the longest time.

"Sir? What do you want us to do with him?"

"What I have planned to do with the king of Fanelia." The people at his side followed him as he left. After a moment, Hitomi slowly walked out of the shadows, checking for any more guards. When the coast was clear, she walked over to Van's cell.

"Whatever they have planned for Van, I have a feeling it's not good." Merle looked up at her, then down the hall.

"Hitomi, they're coming back!!" Hitomi got an idea and pushed Merle into the shadows, but she stayed by the bars, and pretended to be studying Van closely. Deje came down the hall, then, spotting Hitomi, told the others to go back up to the castle. When he was alone, he walked over to her. She ignored him until he was right beside her, then turned and looked at him.

"Who is that?" She asked softly.

"You don't know who that is?" She shook her head, trying hard not to smirk at the confused look on his face.

"Why is he here?" Deje instantly grew cautious.

"He's just here because he attacked some of my men. After we interrogate him, we're letting him go if he doesn't have anything to hide." He turned back to Van. "I don't know what he wants, so I don't want you down here without an escort if he's awake, alright?" She nodded, and turned to the other cages, pretending that she was looking at all the other prisoners. Deje watched her for a moment, then left.

What she didn't know, was that Deje had a moniter in every room, and he was watching her closely.

"Merle, we've got to get him out of here."

"I'm AWARE of that Hitomi. What I want to know is HOW!!!" Hitomi looked around, feeling useless and not liking it. She spotted some keys up on the wall, but it was hard to see them because they blended with the wall so well.

"Merle, how high can you jump?"

"6 feet, why?"

"I need you to get those keys." Merle scoffed.

"No problem." Merle easily caught ahold of them and handed them over to Hitomi. Hitomi flipped through key after key, trying to find the right one. She finally found it and jammed it into the lock. Wrencing the door open, she ran in and kneeled beside him. They had his hands locked above his head, and when she unlocked his wrists, he collapsed against her.

"Oh, Van." Hitomi sighed, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face into his hair. Merle crawled over to her and put her hand on her shoulder.

"Hitomi, we'd better get him out of here" She looked up, then nodded slightly. After a moment, she stood, placing Van's arm over her shoulder, then foze when she saw Deje standing at the door, an emotionless look on his face.

"Well, this does put an interesting turn on things. I guess you're quite a good actor,
Htiomi."

"How do you think I put up with you?!" She snapped. she saw that she had pushed Deje too far and turned to Merle. "You're gonna have to get past him and go find help."

"But, how do I get past him?!"

"You're a cat! You've got claws and teeth, so use them if you have to!!" She nodded and ran at Deje, dodging him as he reached out for her; she ran down the hall and out of sight. He turned to Hitomi, who had lowered Van and pulled out her sword. He just smirked and pulled out his own sword.

"Two Draconians for the price of one, how nice!!" He said as he charged. She quickly backed away from Van and ran at him. Their swords met and she was face to face with him. "I only needed one Draconian, but two will power it up even more!!"

"What?!" She grit her teeth from the force behind his next blow, then stared at him. "Power what up even more?!"

"Oh but you don't want me to ruin your surprise now, do you?" He went to trip her, but she jumped over his foot, and landed 3 feet away from him. To her shock, he pulled out some kind of crossbow that held something that looked like a small arrow. He pulled the trigger, and she dodged it, watching it hit the wall and fall to the ground. A sudden peircing pain ran through her back, and she realized in shock as she fell to her knees, then collapsed against Van that he had hit her with the other strange arrow. Then she blacked out.



Merle had to stop, for she had been running for a long time. Her ears picked up the sound of branches breaking, and she turned, her fur bristled, to see Dilandau and Miguel, and they both had swords pointing at her.

"Well now, Miguel, how do you like the sound of a little meat for dinner?" Dilandau asked softly. Merle panicked, then thought of something.

"If you kill me, you'll never be able to find Hitomi again!!" She was praying that this would work, for he hadn't moved, then sighed with relief as he lowered his blade, and Miguel followed suit.

"If you're lying, I won't hesitate to kill you on the spot." He hissed, putting his sword away.

"Whatever, just get moving, we don't have time to fight!" She snapped as she dropped to all fours and took off in the direction she had come from with Miguel and Dilandau close behind.



Hitomi woke up with alot of pressure on her arms and shoulders, and saw why when she opened her eyes. She was strung up by her wrists 30 feet off the ground, and she saw that Van was in the same position 6 feet away.

"Deje, you b*st*rd, you tricked me."

"Oh, come on, don't tell me this is the first time that you've used your powers for something besides saving a life." Deje teased as he walked across a catwalk to stand directly in front of her.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

"Isn't it obvious? With the combined powers of you and Van's draconian royal blood pact powers added to my guymelefs, I'll be able to overpower Zaibach easily." Hitomi stared at him, stunned.

"You're insane. Adding Draconian blood will just make your guymelefs unpredictable, not invincible." Deje smirked and ran a hand down her cheek.

"Whatever you say, sweetheart." He teased. He ran his fingers over her mouth, causing her to snap her teeth at him. He jerked his head back, still grinning. "Now is that any way for a lady to act?" He questioned as he walked over to a panel. She watched as he pulled a lever down.

"I'm not a lady." She hissed as he busied himself with levers and buttons. "I'm a warrior."

"And a d*mn good one, too." He then turned to her. "Now this is going to hurt alot, so be sure to scream." And he pulled a lever down. She waited, then gasped in shock as a river of electrical pain ran through her entire body.

Van decided to wake up then, and looked over to see Hitomi struggling to hold in her cries of pain, he eyes shut tightly. She opened one eye slowly, her teeth grit together, then threw her head back and cried out as Deje turned the power up. Van watched, confused and horrified. *Hitomi's alive?! I can't believe it!! So the rumors are true?!? What am I going to do?! He's taking her power, and I'm helpless to stop it!!*

Deje turned the power up even more, and her lungs were ready to to burst from holding in her cries. Finally, as he turned the power up full, she let out her cries and screams. Van struggled to get loose, but failed. He watched in shock as her wings forced themselves out, then were folded in on themselves from the pain. He glanced around the room he was in, looking for any sharp objects. He noticed movement from the shadown, and saw a form come out from them; Dilandau was stalking Deje. Unfortunetely, Deje must have noticed him, because he turned, pulled out his sword, and attacked Dilandau in one swift movement. Deje left the controls unattended and at full blast. Van looked down, and to his relief, saw Merle jumping from ledge to ledge until she lifted herself onto the catwalk, and studied the controls for a moment, then turned the power off, causing Hitomi to stop screaming, her head hanging.

Deje turned at the sudden lack of screaming and, cursing, ran over to the controls. He went to turn it back on, but Merle hissed and clawed his hand, causing him to jerk his hand back, giving Dilandau another cance to attack him. Merle climbed up onto the beam that Van was tied to, slid down the rope, and cut Van loose. Van landed and rolled, coming to rest on his knees. Glancing over to the fight and seeing that Dilandau was keeping Deje occupied, climbed up onto the catwalk with the controls and untied Hitomi. She was unconcious, and lighter then she was supposed to be. *He's drained all of her energy.* Van realized in anger.


Dilandau was doing his best to keep Deje busy, as he was trying to get to the controls. Knowing that this was the person who had kidnapped Hitomi and had just attepted to use her powers against Zaibach, he used this to get him more angered and give Deje a real workout.

Van signaled to Dilandau to get his*ss out of there, so he ran from the fight, startling Deje. Van reluctantly handed Hitomi over to Dilandau, as Van had to carry Merle out, and the two of them let out their wings, escaping from the Leva-ship and giving Miguel the signal to set off the bomb he had set up. The two of them waited until they were a safe distance away, then turned and watched as Miguel escaped in his guymelef and the Leva-ship exploded. Dilandau looked over at Van.

"Don't think this changes anything, Fanel. We're still enemies." Van smirked.

"Good. I wouldn't want it any other way." Dilandau stared at him for a minute, then looked down at Hitomi.

"We'd better get her somewhere safe where she can restore her strength. For some reason, the guard won't let us into Zaibach, so do you think that I would be allowed into the country walls of Fanelia?"

"I don't see why not, as you have just saved it's princess's royol butt." Dilandau smirked, and they flew down to the ground. "We should stay here for the night. It'll be dark at any moment."

"Good idea." Dilandau stared at Hitomi for a moment, then looked up at Van. "She'll be alright, won't she?" Van bit his lip.

"I'm not sure. She's awfully worn out. If she'd been in that contraption any longer, and..." He trailed off, but Dilandau knew what he was going to say. "I'm not sure if she'll be able to use her powers again for a long time, let alone call her wings out." Van knelt in a dry clearing, and started a fire in a pre-made pit. "Lay her down here, so she'll stay warm." Dilandau walked over and layed her down by the pit. He watched as Van held a long, thick branch in his hand, and he gripped the opposite end tightly for a moent, then pulled his hand away, and the end was on fire.

"How did you..." Van looked up at him.

"All Draconians have special powers, you just haven't developed your powers enough yet." Dilandau watched as he continued to build up the fire. Soon, it was large and warm, but for the first time, Dilandau completely ignored it. He sat by the fire with Hitomi leaning back against him, her head just below his chin. Van watched, surprised to see Dilandau displaying so much emotion so freely. *Can Dilandau really care for her so much? It seems so strange, that Dilandau actually cares for someone so much." Van then stood up and headed into the woods.

"Where are you going?" Dilandau demanded.

"I'm going to look for some food.' She'll need it for when she wakes up." *IF she wakes up.* Dilanda thought, looking down at her, then looking up at the sky.