Note: This is not a songfic, even if the Escaflowne movie song "Sora" is in it. It is all part of the plot.

Chapter 5

The Emperor*

Sacrificial Bloodline

~ Fanelia Castle ~

Alessa sat on the very soft bed, twisting the sheets between her fingers gingerly as she stared out her window at the Earth and Moon in the sky. It was all too strange for her to grasp as first, but now she didn't feel as scared as she did before. The dragon had been the worst part, as much of a rush as it had been. She bed with enough training in this world, she could do what that young man had done with similar results.

The healers he'd mentioned had fixed her right up, the scar she'd gotten on her side was completely gone, but she hadn't seen that young man after that. He'd simply dropped her off and taken her bag from her and left her with the old men and women he called healers. The eldest of them took her to a made up room the prince had assigned for her rest and food had been brought in, a lovely looking duck dinner with steamed vegetables and a odd bowl of delicious soup.

After that she'd gone to sleep, even if the sun had been coming up at the time. She got in a few hours and woke up to see a faded image of the moon and the Earth in the sky, and was less shocked. She'd always loved role playing games and reading fairy tales, wishing she was there instead of a stuffy orphanage where no one liked each other and the nuns never sprung for cable or anything fun but Monopoly.

"But a prince of all people, I get rescued by a real prince from a real killer dragon and now I'm in his castle. And if what those healers were saying was true, he's going to be a king come tomorrow morning….but he's so young. He can't be much older than I am. Where the heck are his parents?" she said aloud, sighing a bit.

"Dead….and you will be too if you don't watch your back, weirdo." Said a feminine, and high-pitched voice.

Alessa sneered a bit at how haughty the voice was to her. She turned to it quickly, but her jaw dropped again when she saw it was a young cat-girl, maybe a half a foot shorter than she was with cat ears and a thin sheen of tan fur all over the body parts she could see. The girl's legs, her arms, her face, neck, and even her cleavage had this fur, and it was unnerving to see that the cat-girl was sneering back at her with her cat teeth, the odd little pink pigtails she had as her hair style the only pleasant thing about her. The only other pleasant thing was the thigh high dress of yellowish orange with golden clasps for shoulder straps. She just looked like a very matured little girl, very, very matured.

'A pink-haired cat girl….since when do cats have pink hair? And since when do they friggin' talk and have human breasts? What's next, dog and fish people?' she thought, scooting back a bit as the cat-girl pranced in the room all high and mighty, the sneer deepening on her slight face.

"I just came here to tell you to stay away from him. He doesn't need someone like you around." The girl said, twitching her furry nose with disgust at her. Alessa did a double take. "Who are you talking about? Who the hell are you to threaten me, Miss Kitty?" Alessa sniffed, not willing to take this girl's attitude problem.

The cat-girl hissed and raised her left hand a bit, to show it had finely manicured and sharp looking claws on them. Alessa didn't flinch, staring the girl down. "Don't play dumb with me, Mystic Moon tart! You just stay away from Lord Hiero. I'm all he needs….I've been with him since I was born, so don't you try and ruin things." The cat-girl spat, hissing again.

Alessa blinked slightly, then started to laugh at the cat-girl. "You're just a petty jealous female? Hah, I thought this place would be different, a little grander, but it seems to have the same things mine did. And the first threat I get is from a jealous little pussycat. Who are you to tell me I can't be friends with him?" Alessa shot back.

The cat-girl stepped back slightly, as if she had no expected a retort, but it was brief. No sooner had her surprised ended, she raised her hand again and went to claw Alessa's face. 'Maybe this wasn't so smart….shit.' Alessa thought, thrusting her arms over her face to block as best she could.

"PINKU! NO!" a familiar voice shouted, and she felt a rush of air pass her, then a loud thud erupted before her. She pulled her arms down and saw the cat-girl was on the floor, with a knee-high boot pressing on her stomach. She followed the boot up to the leg it was attached to, all the way up to Prince Hiero's annoyed face. The cat-girl was groaned, but he only pressed down harder when she tried to move. He had her bag on his back, but the weight didn't seem to hinder him much.

He looked up a moment to Alessa's, worry permeating throughout his double-colored eyes. "You all right?" he asked quietly, and when she nodded, he finally took his foot off the cat-girl got her to her feet, her sandal-covered feet. "Pinku, how many times must you be warned about hurting people. It doesn't matter who says what, if I am insulted or I bring a guest here, you do not maul them. I can very bloody well take care of myself. Do you want me to tell your mother about this? Do you remember what she did the last time you got scratchy?" he asked the cat-girl, his tone almost condescending, not enraged.

"He called you a whore's demon child! OH!" she spat out, but Hiero raised his gloved hand up, just holding it in front of her face to shush her, not strike her," I remember."

"That guy lost his nose because of that, I don't like you hurting people for me when I can do it myself. Now, go to your mother. She asked me to find you on my way to the great hall anyway. She needs your help in the kitchen for the ball tomorrow night. Understood, Pinku?" he told her quietly, and she nodded. Before she left, she gave his scarred cheek a lick and ran off, but not before turning around by the door and sticking her tongue out Alessa and then she left.

Alessa's face soured at that and she returned the gestured loudly at the cat-girls' retreating tan tail. "Brat…." Alessa hissed out, relaxing a bit more before she stood up to face the prince. He was staring at her again, or rather her body. It wasn't a lewd stare, rather puzzled, but it was still staring.

"Ahem, would you kindly look at my face and not my boobs, please? Its bad enough your girlfriend attacked me, but staring at me won't make things any better." She told him. He blushed a bit, but smirked as he met her eyes. "It's not that and she's not my girlfriend. She's my sister…sort'a," he said lightly, then shrugged off her duffel back and tossed it to her," I was thinking how many people might stare at you seeing you barely covered up. At least put those strange blue pants on that are in your bag."

Alessa chuckled, and blushed herself, embarrassed for judging him wrong and for how he termed jeans. "They are called blue jeans, and thank you….but how can a cat-girl be your sister? Turn around please. I want to get out of this leotard now, it's starting to chafe me."

He nodded and obeyed, standing stiffly and looking out the window at the morning sky. "Pinku, I mean Myrna, was born four years after I was and her parents were made my godparents, so we were practically raised together. She developed a crush on me, but….I still think of her as my baby sister. Despite how she feels, I don't feel the same. Her mother was the same way towards my father, then my mother came along. Myrna and her mother Merle are almost alike, but Merle has grown up a lot, mentally," Hiero said quietly as Alessa stripped out of her ruined clothing, and yanked her spare clothes out her back, thrusting them on quickly," She a great cook too, she's the head chef Fanelia now. She's been, both of them, have been very supportive since my parents passed away. They're practically the only women I've ever been around, till you. Are you done yet?"

"Unless you want another slap, no, I'm not. Tell me what Pinku means and then you can turn around. And what happened to your folks, king and queen I gather." Alessa said as she put her bra on and picked up her shirt.

He shrugged a bit, and let out a slight sigh. "Pinku means pink, quaintly enough. It's in my mother's native language. Believe it or not, she was from the Mystic Moon too, saved my father's life and sanity, then they married and had me. Their deaths….are rather painful to think about, I'd rather not discuss it right now. Just know that they were murdered…by the same soldiers that tried to kill us yesterday." Hiero let out, then started to turn, but his eyes were shut.

Alessa walked right up to him, fully dressed, but walking around in her socks, and laid her hand on his shoulder. He cautiously peered at her, then opened his eyes. "You have my sympathy," she said, smiling a little," What country was your mother from?"

"Place called Japan….I never got to see it, I've been in this castle my entire life working up to this moment, the dragon slaying thing. I didn't mean to ruin your life by dragging you here forever." He said apologetically. For a moment she thought she'd heard him wrong, but there was no mistaking it, he'd just said forever.

She remained still, aiming her eyes at his chest as she spoke. "What do you mean forever? Not that I had much to go back to, but how do you know I can never go back to my planet?"

With that, he reached into his shirt and pilled out a deck of blue cards. "Did a reading to see how I could send you home, if you wanted that. I tried a few times, but it wound up being the same. That's never happened in any of my readings unless it was true. I can't get you home even if I wanted to…I mean, even if I tried." He said, but she shook her head at him.

"Tarot cards? You're basing my future on a pack of stupid cards?!" she sputtered.

"No….but right now, I don't know how I got to the Mystic Moon in the first place or how I returned to Gaia with you. The cards have never lied to me, so until I have a vision about it, you're stuck here. I'm very sorry.

"Visions? What are you, a magician or something?"

He smirked at the comment, and looked away slightly. "An inherited gift from my mother, she was a psychic. Her hunches were always right, her readings were always right, and she could see the future in her dreams and even away. I got it from her….I saw…my uncle die in my first reading and he was miles away and it happened. I saw my father die by being poisoned and his killer, but I was too late to stop it." He grumbled, moving off towards the window as she shoved the cards back in his shirt.

Alessa just stood there, unable to respond. It was all too fantastic to comprehend. He didn't wait for her to remember her voice and went on, more heatedly now. "I even saw my best friend's aunt suffer from rape, and she remembered it. I know I am right, as much as I wish that these visions would leave me alone, that I could touch a person's hand and not see their life's history. That's why I wear these gloves all the time, to block it out, but it doesn't always work so well. I can't fight my dreams, I'm sorry, Lady Alessa, but until something else comes to me, that is that. I'm not enjoying the fact I've ripped an innocent from her world either!" Hiero spat.

"I….I didn't know, how could I know all that? I….I didn't know you were gifted like that. Its just so much has happened lately, it's hard to absorb all this strange stuff at once. Cat-girls, dragons, another world, you being a prince, killer soldiers and such. It's a lot to take it, Hiero." Alessa finally said calmly, looking ashamedly at her feet.

Hiero sighed at that and stepped back over to her, placing his hand on her shoulder. "I know….I shouldn't have blown up on you. Its not easy having…voices in your head and being expected to run a kingdom when no one takes you seriously. Speaking of which, I have to go speak to my advisors about the coronation ball tomorrow night. I finally have more authority than them….so this won't take long. You can wander about he castle as much as you like, or the shrine, but don't go into the city. It'd take us forever to find you and you never know who might…you know, want to take advantage of a foreigner." He replied evenly, giving her shoulder a squeeze, then he looked her over again.

"Thank you, but what are you looking at now?" she asked. He shrugged, and poked her ribs, making her giggle slightly. "Nice clothes….gray looks good on you. You just feel free to go wherever you like and don't take orders from anyone. People about here are a bit stuffy, but it's all just hot air. Unless its my sword master Jenai, big guy with a slash on his arm. He's almost seven feet tall, so you can't miss him. He's the only person within the palace that has to duck to get in his room. All right?" he replied just as calmly, almost smiling.

She smiled back and nodded, her cheeks a little warm until he walked out of the room. "Time to wander. I'm not hungry or tired…why not take advantage of my first royal palace tour all solo. It'll be good exercise for my legs if this palace is as big on the inside as it looked on the outside….maybe bigger." She said to herself, reaching into her bag to yank out her black sneakers.

~

Alessa's trot through the castle of Fanelia had been a good workout after all, especially when she ran into Myrna again, who obviously hadn't learned her lesson at all. She tried to take another swipe when a much taller pink –haired cat woman lifted her up by her pigtails and scolded her. While dragging the girl off, she gave Alessa a few brown sticks, something she called Sweet Sticks, which tasted much like their name, chocolate and cinnamon mixed together.

She was munching on the last of the three she had been given as she passed by a paper door, much like what doors looked on old dojos in Japan. She had been good with her history classes and learned about other countries in geography class. In fact, most of the place was like giant Japanese palace of ancient times. The place had working baths and primitive toilets, there was wonderful garden in the back, and the soldiers were called samurai, it seemed to fit. What she couldn't understand were the guymelefs, the weird robot-armor suits that most of the samurai used in battle, and where they fit into this world of dragons and swordsman.

One samurai had explained that the guymelef technology had been adapted in by the Ispano people 12,000 years ago in the hidden city of Atlantis. After the destruction of Atlantis, the Ispano forced themselves in a dimensional gap between Gaia and the Mystic Moon, sending their very few guymelef creations to be hidden on Gaia. Roughly a thousand years later, the first guymelef relics were unearthed, at least four, but only Fanelia's Escaflowne model had been the one they knew the name of. There was another ancient guymelef in Freid, one that the young Duke Chid commanded one, after numerous repairs by their mechanics. As ancient and fancy as it looked, it was not Ispona. When it had been damaged, the Ispona race never came to repair it. The Ispona were an odd sort of people, according to the samurai, but reliable in repairing Escaflowne in the past.

He'd also told her only a king of Fanelia could run Escaflowne with a blood pact, and no one else, since the blood of its first user had been a Fanel duke, who later became king and founded Fanelia. When others tried stealing it, they found their blood was rejected and they soon died as a result of trying to bond their impure blood with it. Escaflowne only accepted the blood of the Fanel family, and never would ever again. This wasn't the case with as Duke Chid's golden guymelef Chafariz, which his ancestors named on their own, but it was the most massive of all ancient non-Ispona guymelefs unearthed in days of old.

The man shooed her off after that to go train, giving her directions to the shrine of Escaflowne. He hinted that the prince was probably going to be there to perform the blood pact after he was dubbed king, which was the way it worked. He also told her not to get too comfortable with having him around, for once he was king, Fanelia was his bride until he married the princess of his choice.

As she walked outside, she saw a slew of samurai passing her by, a very tall and burly man in heavy gray armor walking behind them and making gestures. "Jenai!" she called out, remembering how Hiero described his sword master, and felt Hiero hadn't exaggerated enough. The man was practically a giant, towering over her so much she would have mistaken him for a building. She was only an inch short than Hiero, and to feel so small was disconcerting. When the man looked down at her, he gave off a gruff smile and bowed his head to her.

"Lady Alessa….pleased to make your acquaintance, but right now I am very busy." He told in his thick and deep voice. "What's wrong? Invaders or something. Those Zaibach people Hiero was talking about?" she asked, but he shook his head.

"No, the prince has run off again. He's prone to running away from us and hiding when we…interrupt his enjoyment. I merely suggested that he train a bit after his session with his advisors concerning the ball, but….he locked me out of the room and was screaming at them when they tried to tell him what to do again. He's got a temper that one, so long under the thumbs of bureaucrats can do that to one so young and alone. I guess they annoyed him badly this time. I went to get the other men to help me break down the door, but it was quiet when we returned."

"He didn't hurt them did he?" she asked, wishing she could put some more sympathy into her voice, but it wasn't happening. The way Jenai spoke about how the bureaucrats treated Hiero reminded her of the nuns and brothers that ran her life.

Jenai didn't seem to notice and started to walk off. "No, but they were very insulted by his behavior, but he made them let him arrange the coronation ball. It was all in writing and locked in their frightened heads long before we arrived. They surmised he was planning it for a long time before their backs. Probably why Myrna was caught dancing in the throne room and talking to no one. Sweet girl, but she expects too much out of our future king, just like the advisors do. I must be off, we have to find him before tomorrow or he'll throw the coronation schedule off. Best you go back to the palace at sunset, dinner will commence then. Lord Hiero will probably be looking forward to that. The boy has an appetite like a dragon." Jenai laughed, running off down to the streets of Fanelia.

She headed for the shrine as soon as he left, shaking her head almost knowingly. "If he's as bad as you say….you probably won't find him until dinner. A bad boy prince, how….different." she chuckled.

~ Shrine of Escaflowne ~

Alessa's face scrunched up as she looked at the odd inner sanctum of the shrine, with all the metal and colorfully designed circles around the center platform that made it look like an inside-out top. It was very grand and shiny for a platform, but it seemed more suited for a fun house than a shrine to a god of protection. Her eyes raised bit to the large stony egg sac that was hanging from the ceiling before the platform. It looked like obsidian, maybe onyx, but she wondered why it wasn't falling to the floor being supported by such a small section of stone.

It was a nice place, but the best part about it was how quiet it was. She went over to stand on the platform and walked on her tiptoes on the edge and danced, shutting her eyes. She had taken some dance classes, or was rather forced to when she was a child by the nuns, as all the girls were. Unlike the majority, she'd grown to like it and it had started her love of gymnastics. She owed those lousy penguin women at least much for getting her interested, the only downside being that no one encouraged her.

She'd get a song in her head and dance to it, but at the moment, she was picking one and the serene quietness of the shrine was making it difficult to think. The silence was near deafening.

Then she heard it, a whistling song in her head, rather light and airy as if someone were whistling it in her ear. It was calm and pristine, flowing through each well guided note, but it sounded sad. It was almost like a lament, and it sounded so close she could swear someone was whistling it nearby.

The longer she thought about it and danced, the more stiff her steps got as she listened to the song. By the time it had ended, she realized someone was there, and they were clapping only a few feet away from her.

"It's called the Dragon Bride**. You are very nice dancer, lady Alessa" Hiero said brightly, still clapping and had the most smug smile on his angelic face. Alessa was sure she had turned several shades of red when she whipped around to face him, but he just smiled broadly and clapped on for a minute more before letting his scarred hands drop to his side, one touching the dagger on his left hip.

"How long were you there?" she asked furiously, but she wasn't angry enough to move or stop blushing. "I woke up a few minutes ago, there's a little nook under the shrine I like to crawl into to nap. No one, not even Myrna bothers me there. I heard someone humming, or trying to, so I came out to investigate. As I said before, you dance well. Just as good as me, even, my lady." He said slyly, bowing to her slightly.

She couldn't help but giggle a bit at his display, and he seemed to be proud of getting it out of her. "You dance? The hot-tempered prince dances?" she chuckled.

He strode over to her, feigning hurt on his gentle features, then started to walk around her. "Yes, its part of my royal upbringing, I have to know how to dance, treat other royalty, good manners, and even how to dress properly. As you can see, in my advisors' eyes, wearing common clothes such as mine ruffles feathers. As for my manners, faking it works out well. Dancing and swordplay are pretty much the only things I hold dear. Never know when a ball will come your way….like tomorrow night. Which brings to mind another question….if you'll allow me." He let out, stopping in front of her and the proceeded to rock back and forth on his heels.

"Go ahead." She said quietly, the blushing starting to fade.

"Would you be my dance partner for my tributary dance?" he asked quickly, a blush of his own staining his cheekbones. Alessa's blush returned in full force at the request. "Why me? I thought Jenai implied that Myrna was your partner for dancing." She stammered.

A look of dread crossed his features, along with a look of disgust. "I needed her for practice, to get the steps right, but she's a little too…."

"Annoying? Bratty? Crazy?" Alessa helped. Hiero grinned, stifling a laugh.

"Well, she can be those things sometimes, but she's very emotional….what I was going to say was she's very grabby. Every time we danced, I wind up tripping over her stiffened tail or because she'd grope me in places that aren't wise to grope a guy trying to concentrate, you know." He said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"I'll bet, she nearly clawed my face off again if it wasn't for her mother. Those claws of hers are lethal weapons." Alessa interjected and Hiero nodded vehemently.

"Don't I know it. The last few practice sessions were nightmares, my pants almost got torn off. Quite a sight really….but you don't look to be the hyper type. So, would you practice with me until dinner tonight? The dance isn't so hard, it's a basic and simple sword dance of ancient Fanelia, we just have to copy off of each other, and I get the blades." He explained, locking his eyes with hers.

"I guess….if I am stuck here forever like you said….what could it hurt. I haven't gone to dance without the nuns chaperoning us. Dancing was so stiff there, maybe a sword dance would be an interesting change. Ok then, let's practice then." She agreed.

He smiled at that and took her hand in his. "We'll practice in here. Knowing Jenai, this was the first place he and the samurai searched. Were they all walking away from this area when you saw them?" he asked.

"Yeah, he told me you had a fit with your advisors planning the ball, then ran off away from this place into the city." She told him.

"Perfect. He won't be back here until sunset. We've got plenty of time to practice. I'll lead, just watch me and we should be ready for tomorrow night. We can practice a little more after the coronation ceremony. Is that all right with you, Lady Alessa?" he asked.

"Sure," she said, taking his other hand on her free one," And its just Alessa, Hiero. I'm just a girl, not some princess or anything special. Alessa is just fine."

He pulled her close for the dance and cocked his head to the side. "Ok then, Alessa, and don't sell yourself short. I think you're special….with skills and a heart like yours, why wouldn't you be?" He said with the greatest sincerity, and the practice began.

~ Alessa's Chamber's ~

- Night -

Alessa collapsed no her bed, her T-shirt littered with sweat and a bit of her dinner, roast pheasant as she recalled, which had been well worth the wait. Her practice with Hiero had been very tiring. At first, his moves were way too fast and he nearly hit her during a few moves by mistake, but missed her by a barely a breath.

After an hour, she'd gotten the hang of it and by supper, she bet she could o it blindfolded. It had been very tiring, and supper was most welcome, she had really worked up a huge appetite, but obviously not as big as Prince Hiero had. He tore through his meal in a matter of seconds, not getting a scrap on his clothing. He had picked the meat clean off the bone of his bird, leaving nothing for even bacteria to form on.

When he sat down on the bed next to her head, she could smell the sweat that was on him. He had promised her a session to truly see if she'd have to get used to this world for good. She'd told him she needed to know, in case by chance she was yanked back to the orphanage suddenly. Alessa wanted to have fair warning if it would ever happen. Hiero had agreed with her, but reluctantly, as if the idea of not seeing her again hurt, or he feared it.

He was pulling off his right glove and tossing it on her pillow, his double colored eyes still looking a bit fearful. She sat up slowly and kept her eyes trained on him, but he kept looking at her lap. "We don't have to do this if you don't want to. You don't seem to be all for this, Hiero." She coaxed, but he shook his head.

"Its nothing major, really, its just whenever I touch people, the vision sometimes turns out bad. That and no matter how well my mother trained me in my abilities, it still shocks me….and it occasionally hurts if the future is grim." He explained quietly, holding out his timid and bare hand out to her.

She nodded and reached out for his hand, putting her other hand on his leg. "I'll be in there with you, like you explained. I won't try and hurt you in my mind….unless you try and peek into my memories of me bathing or showering. But for the record, can't we do this standing up or sitting in chairs?" she put in.

He chuckled a bit, finally lifting his eyes to hers. "Cute, but I'm not that kind of guy….present is better than past. If I see you bathing, it'll be in the future so you have full right to slap me, the past doesn't count if my mind wanders. AS for why we are on the bed, its softer and sometimes when I do a reading, it overwhelms me and I pass out or fall over, and I'd rather hit a pillow than the hard floors. Shall we begin?" he said lightly.

"Sure, shoot." She replied, and Hiero took her hand, then everything became dark.

~

Alessa found herself standing alone in the darkness, her icy blue eyes looking around frantically for Hiero, for anyone. Then she heard a soft crying, that of a small child. She followed it carefully, her surroundings starting to shift and brighten, becoming a familiar scene about her.

It was her room at the orphanage, the night the headmistress had told her what became of her parents, she knew this because as the scene played out with her weeping to the night sky her younger self made that wish she made so long ago. Then the boy's song began, the kiss, and his disappearance leaving her younger self scared and bewildered, moments before she became aware someone was behind her. His breath ran down her neck like warm tendrils.

"I was wondering about this." Hiero piped behind her, making her whip around to face him. His expression was curious, but suddenly became guarded. "I had a dream when I was seven about the silhouette of a little girl, that had a green sparkling on her chest. She was singing to me, and we kissed. I couldn't recall her face, but the shape I can. That's the shape….it was you, Alessa. I penetrated your world that day in my dreams. I wonder why." He said quietly, taking her hand in his to lead her away from the melting scene.

"I had made a wish that night, to not be alone, and….you came and sang to me that odd song and, well, you saw it all. Why did you come, because of my wish?" she asked.

"I just came. I had just had my first vision the day before, a vision of the death of my Uncle Daisuke, Aunt Merle's husband. I was only able to save my aunt, not him. I fell into a temporary coma for a day after it, my body was adapting to my gifts and I guess my body decided I needed to rest in order to do so. I dreamt during this coma about that. I don't know why I dreamt that or created an astral projection of myself for you, it just happened, perhaps….because it was fated to, not because of anything we did. I really can't say for sure." He replied, squeezing her hand a bit.

"Maybe….who knows, hey what's that over there?" she asked, jabbing her finger to their right, or what she supposed was it in this mixed up world within her mind. His head turned to where she'd pointed, as did his body to walk in that direction. They stopped when their surroundings became a bright city street. Hiero seemed a little amazed and in awe of it all.

"It's a common street on the Mystic Moon Hiero, it always looks like this." She told him," But I do recall this place. Its Central Park, we went on a field trip here for science class, testing the waters of the lake here."

"Never been to a park before this bright at night. It reminds me of my parents' description of the Zaibach Empire. Ah, look, a man is coming….with lavender hair?" he said, then looked at Alessa.

"My father! That is him….just like his picture, except a little younger. He's got a wedding band on his finger too….so he and Mom must have just gotten married. Wow, how'd this get in my head?" Alessa gasped.

"Families are connected in a special way, that is to say if someone did a reading on me, they could see what my parents were like just because I was in close contact with them and share their blood. It happened with my mother and father once, she saw his family's past, like his parents and brother, my Uncle Folken. Just be quiet now….someone else is coming….a woman." He said, then shushed her as a woman in a white trench coat and snowy shawl ran towards him. She was holding a wine bottle and a glass.

"That doesn't look like my mother, my mother's eyes were hazel….not blue. My father's were blue. And she did not have white hair." Alessa replied fearfully.

Hiero was looking rather angrily at the woman that ran up behind Alessa's father, hissing a few curses under his breath, when she grabbed his hand, then stared at him. She was singing something very softly under her breath, something so obviously entrancing, Alessa's father went stiff and his eyes lifeless.

"Sora, my uncle's whore." Hiero grated out, making a fist with his free hand. Alessa just watched as the woman poured the thick red wine out into the golden goblet and gave it to her father. "Drink for the future, father of love. Drink so the angel of love can be born from you and your ripe wife. Drink and put the soul of love into your child….drink for Lord Folken, pet." The woman said in a sing song voice. Alessa's father obeyed and didn't spill a single drop. No sooner had this Sora fed her father the drink, she took the goblet away and vanished, her father's eyes becoming blue again, and he continued on his way, the scene fading back into darkness.

"She went to the Mystic Moon to create another angel….in you. That's why you're here, not just because you made a wish and I did before my task, but because Sora ordained it before you were born. That's why you can't go home, because you are bound to Gaia by blood." Hiero breathed, sitting down in the blackness, looking as if he was sulking from defeat.

She sat next to him and patted his shoulder. "It's not like I have anyone or anything solid to go back to but being booted out on my ass once I managed to get a job and a place to stay….but what's this about angels? What did she mean by all that angel of love crap?" she asked.

He looked at her apologetically and sighed. "When I was finally woke up from my dream, I attended my seventh birthday party and touched my best friend's Aunt Celena's hand, and saw inside her mind. I heard that she had been fed a potion by this Sora woman, which was also given to other women and men to rebirth these angels, something about it being made of her blood, some other stuff and the feathers of the ancient race known as Draconians. I only know of three angels right now, at best, Celena's child was death, you are love, and there's myself, but I don't know what angel I am. All I know is my uncle has been trying to kidnap me for Sora's prophecy of these angels…." He explained.

"How many angels do they need? Uh-oh, the scenery is changing again." She yelped and grabbed onto his arm. If she'd bothered to look up, she would have seen his face go red, but he quickly turned away to cover it up as the darkness became a room, one that looked metallic and shadowy.

"How in the world is my uncle's palace in your mind?" Hiero rasped, then looked to Alessa. She couldn't say a word, she didn't even know who Hiero's uncle was.

"Sora….how much longer before the prophecy begins?" said a deep and cold voice. Alessa looked up to see a tall aqua-haired man in a vampire cloak walking through them, the chilling force of it giving her goose bumps.

She and Hiero stood and watched him go over to the woman called Sora, her sad eyes lifting as she stood up straight from beside the dragon skull throne. The two eye sockets had large black balls in them that glowed a deadly purple, making it look like the skull would come to life at any moment and tear everyone apart. It didn't, though, and Folken sat down on his throne as Sora walked around to stand before him.

"Yes, all of the angels are ready for the time of the testing, to prove their worthiness to achieve the prophecy of the seven angels, the prophecy that so long ago the Draconians suffered for on the Mystic Moon. This time, you will triumph where they failed. Your nephew has returned victorious with a drag-energist as of last night….with the angel of love. She shall never return, as if there was much to return to. The gate between our worlds has been sealed, it won't open again until long after her death, I assure you. The future Fanelian king will soon reunite with death, wisdom, truth, and light. Love will provide death with his ring at long last, as I hoped it would. I had prepared her descendents to hand down that energist ring for a long time coming now, it is finally time for it to be returned to the one destine for it." She replied.

"Excellent, what about courage? Will he be there?" Folken asked quietly, thrumming his fingers on the throne arms.

Sora nodded. "Courage is also there, he has been there since the day the prince had left for his task. Your nephew will be the guiding force among them all to lead them to their powers. 'Tis a shame we could not control him earlier. It might be more difficult to force them to summon the gods for the fate of Gaia because of that, Emperor Folken." She said, bowing gently to him

Folken's lips barely smiled, but his eyes glittered with anticipation. "What shall we do about that? He is very unruly and supposedly very vicious when it comes to his country and close acquaintances being harmed. He slaughtered my doppelganger after he murdered my foolish little brother. If he'd been any older when I sent that assassin to silence his mother, he might have dissected the man. You vision is your gift to me, Sora, but seeing my soldiers slaughtered so….insanely by a mere boy is not what I wanted to see each time you spied on him. Now what do we do to force this reunion to commence?" Folken let out coldly, anger radiating throughout his red eyes suddenly.

Sora was still bowing, as serene and unaffected as before. "Destruction of his people. My song can do this….but we must attack Fanelia upon the night of the ball….everyone will be too involved with the gathering to even fathom an attack by the Zaibach Empire, Emperor Folken. Do you agree?" she asked calmly.

Folken smiled then, and it made Alessa sick. If this was Hiero's uncle, why did he want to destroy his homeland and take pleasure out it? She just didn't understand how anyone could be so thoughtless, so frigid to pain of one that had lost so much all his life.

"Let it be so. Go tell the engineers to activate the stealth engine on the floating palace. We best use our swifter floating fortress for this even, I will not risk my palace's superior defenses and weaponry when I can risk the same on a smaller floating fortress that takes very little power to cloak. We leave immediately, Sora….to show that little king the true mean of a holy war." Folken laughed, but it only made Alessa shrink against Hiero's side. Hiero was shaking a bit, a growl vibrating in his gut. The look on his face was less than encouraging. He looked like he wanted to tear both people limb from limb.

"I won't let you,….you…..you bastards! I won't let you destroy my country just so you can make me do shit for you! I won't!" he yelled, then everything blackened, and all she could hear were screams, agonized screams of those begging for death.

~

Alessa opened her eyes as her breath rushed out of her like a tidal wave, her body crashing into hears as she was freed from the vision. Hiero was holding her closely, but rather nervously, as if it had been an ill timed reaction. She looked up at him, her mind still in a daze. His expression was haunted, his eyes watering up so badly she thought she'd drown the moment he shed tears.

He choked them back, jerking his head to the side for a moment, then brought it back to look at her. "I guess….that's that. The Mystic Moon is unattainable forever to you….but….I won't turn you out. You can stay here in Fanelia as long as you like. I won't abandon you….I won't." he said so quietly it was barely a whisper, close to shattering if he dared to say it any louder.

"Thank you….I mean that….but what was all that we saw with your uncle? A vision of the future….or the present?" she asked, choking out the words as her mind cleared, aware of how deathly close they were to each other's faces.

Hiero seemed to notice this, his breath quickening a bit, but he managed to speak. "Present near as I can tell, she spoke of my task being done. I doubt she'd speak of the ball in the future tense if we weren't seeing what they were doing right now….I have to….have to tell Jenai to assemble the samurai to protect Fanelia all day. I will not allow Folken to take us without a fight. I will protect yo….I….mean uh, I will protect everyone. I won't fail to protect anyone ever again."

Alessa blinked at his slip of the tongue, seeing a faint blush creeping up his cheeks. She had to secretly admit to herself that he looked pretty damn cute all embarrassed. 'Heck, he looks cute whether he's blushing or not. So….self-less….and kind deep down. He's been nothing but nice to me, even apologizing to me for getting angry.' She thought.

Hiero cleared his throat, but didn't let go of her or move. "I do want to say that I have to agree with Sora, as lousy as that is, that your ring was destined for another. You're like a messenger for him, the angel of death." He uttered.

"Who's he? You said you knew who the angel of death was earlier? How will I know him?" she asked, her heartbeat quickening with his against his chest.

"Dilandau Albatou, a guy my age with silver hair and red eyes. I don't know where he is currently, but his Alseides guymelef might be what your ring is linked to for him. The energist fragment in your ring matches the energist heart on his Alseides, if memory serves me," he told her, his breath trickling down her face languidly," It was based off an ancient guymelef made by the Ispona race, the true blood red Alseides unearthed in Zaibach territory. I've never seen the real model, only the guymelefs that got based off of it. That's all I know….give it time, Alessa, we'll find him….hopefully my way."

"That's nice….now…would you let go of me….please." she asked quietly, shivering a bit, but he seemed to be too transfixed on her face to comply.

"Afraid of me? I'm not going to harm you." he said, leaning in a bit, his lips gently brushing over her upper lip. She felt warm where he touched, and safe, safer than she'd ever felt before.

"I'm not afraid of you, not of anyone….I…."she started, but she grew lost in his eyes, letting hers droop shut us his did as their lips barely touched, warmly shooting across them.

"LORD HIERO! Are you in there?" Myrna's voice shouted through the door, her fists banging on the door. Hiero got startled so much by the interruption his kissed the bridge of Alessa's nose, then swore under his breath.

Alessa silently cursed the cat girl for the interruption, but she wondered if kissing a prince was wise, a prince about to become king. She was just an ordinary girl, not a princess. Even if she liked him, it didn't matter, he had to marry royalty, not an orphan without a drop of royal blood inside her body.

"I've gotta go now. She'll wake everyone up by banging on everyone's doors to find me until I come out…." Hiero let out, a touch of annoyance in his voice as he pulled away and got off the bed," besides….I should tell Jenai about my vision….and make him get the samurai and their guymelefs to patrol all around Fanelia. Can't very well let you stay in Fanelia if there is no Fanelia to speak of."

She nodded, not turning around because she was still breathing hard. "Good night, Hiero. Good luck with you coronation and all." She let out lightly, cringing when she heard the door open and Myrna squeal out Hiero's name, and licking could be heard. She dared not turn around.

"Good night Alessa, and thank you. I shall see you tomorrow…Ack, Myrna, you're drowning me, stop it and go to your room." He said, then shut the door. Alessa sighed inwardly as she plopped down fully onto her bed. "Angel of love in love? Ah, it doesn't matter, he's royalty….I'm a nothing. Even if he feels the same way, its country before pleasure. Do I want to stay here knowing that….heh, as if I had a choice, but maybe….maybe he's different. Maybe he won't become like what his advisors want," she told her herself, then scoffed before pounding her face into her goose-down pillow," Yeah right, how can you run a country when you own advisors and people don't respect you? I'm dreaming, as always." Alessa drifted off to sleep, but she couldn't forget the silken feel and the warmth in Hiero's lips the moment before they would have kissed, how calm and safe he had made her feel within the warm embrace of his arms. She smiled at the memory, wishing she could have felt it longer, the pain in her heart telling her it would never be.

~ Front of Fanelia Castle ~

"King of Fanelia, Hiero Scorchava de Fanel. I present this to you as a symbol of kingship." An elderly man in great flowing white robes said. Hiero was kneeling before him decked in silver chest, boot, waist, and shoulder armor as well as a samurai-like helmet. Alessa could just a see the ends of his hair sticking out the back slightly, the sapphire strands shimmering in the morning sun. He also wore a long royal blue cloak, which pooled around the back of him like a flowing waterfall. He looked rather good in it, but he was utterly emotionless all the way through the boring proceedings. He had a stern look in his eyes, his sharp sapphire bangs covering his right eye slightly.

He stood up as the elder man handed a sword in a blue sheath. Hiero accepted it slowly, then raised his eyes up to the man and bowed his head. Alessa tuned out the rest of the old man's words about the glory of Fanelia and how proud they were of Hiero's victory of the dragon. She let her eyes drift to those that stood before the palace with her in her new clothing, ones Hiero had provided her with. She'd been more grateful that he hadn't sent the servant boy in with a frilly dress as the woman called Millerna was wearing.

What she wore were black pants made of fine cloth and a young man's white shirt, one's that young up and coming knights wore as civilian clothing and ankle high boots of white. He'd provided her with black-tanned bracers to hold down the puffiness of the shirt, that and the buttons had kept popping out. She had complained to him about that and he had been more than happy to proved her with what he referred as more suitable buttons, and he had been right. They even had silver dragon head shapes on them, the symbol of the kingdom of Fanelia, the same emblem that was on the chest armor of Hiero, except his was golden.

As she went on looking about, she saw Merle and Myrna, both wearing the same things she'd seen them in, what Merle called a sundress as cat-people already had enough fur to keep them warm even in winter, so there was little reason to wear too much. Merle was also holding Myrna's mouth shut every time the cat-girl tried to cry out to Hiero. It had happened nearly a dozen times, and a few times she'd tried to run and hug him and congratulate him and got her tail yanked, then her mouth clamped, warned with a hiss on the last attempt that if she misbehaved one more time. She'd be taken inside the castle and not be permitted out until the ball.

It was bad enough that when Myrna wasn't trying to hump Hiero's legs she was hissing and blowing raspberries at Alessa, which she didn't care for. She had a string of insults ready for the little brat, but Jenai had told her before coming outside for the coronation that she was to remain quiet. Obviously Myrna was too hyper to listen to that bit of advice, and it was making her look like an imbecile, which was ok with her.

Her eyes traveled past them back to the pretty Lady Millerna and her husband, a tall blonde knight that wore blue and white Victorian-like clothing, along with knee-high brown boots. He had craw's feet under his eyes, possibly from his age or worry, he was looking around a terrible bit, mostly to the numerous green and brown guymelefs that were patrolling around and within the city limits. Jenai had been watching them as well, and the advisors were sneering every so often whenever one appeared by the city, then gave rough glares towards Hiero.

He had meant what he'd said, he told Jenai that he wanted Fanelia protected, not wanting another incident because they would underestimate Zaibach again. He didn't trust them after the assassination attempt on his life, and the successful ones on Celena, his uncle and parents, and the past attempted kidnappings. He said he was leaving nothing to chance, according to Jenai, and had yelled out his orders for a few hours until the advisors finally gave in and listened, but not all of the samurai were protecting the country. Most of them were at the ceremony in plain clothes, watching their unfortunate comrades out in the field miss everything.

She had to bet the Asturian knight, Sir Allen the samurai called him, didn't like seeing Hiero being so paranoid, but he had been there for the Great War before Hiero was born. Allen knew what Zaibach was capable of too, after all, Lady Celena had been his little sister.

Between the knight and the finely dressed Lady Millerna was an aqua-haired young man, about Hiero's height, but with faded double scars on his cheeks. His eyes were as gold as the sun, and he seemed to be watching Hiero intently, a small smile on his face. He was dressed in almost the same, outfit as Allen was, only it was dark blue, like navy blue and the insides were a magenta-purple, shadowy. His pants were white though and all that seemed to match with him and Allen were their knee-high brown boots.

The only other thing that stood out about him more than his strangely colored eyes was the ornament circlet on his head. It was silver and held up his bangs a bit, but dead center on it was a circular opening that went up his head a bit, a garish gray-green horn fastened in the center. It looked like it was coming right out of his head, but she doubted it. He looked too human, but then again, looks could be deceiving.

Her thoughts were jarred as Jenai puts his massive hand on her shoulder, nearly tilting her over. "Follow me, Lady Alessa. We are headed to the shrine for Hiero's blood pact with our protector, Escaflowne."

She nodded and followed, yelping when she felt someone kick her in the back of her leg. She heard a familiar giggling and scowled as Myrna pranced by, sticking her tongue out and making faces all the way to the shrine, up until she slammed backwards into the wall of the shrine. "Serves you right, dumb cat. Hiss!" she spat, stopping a moment before the shrine to rub it in.

Myrna hissed back at her, but when she tried to get up, she couldn't and yowled instead, rubbing her bruised tail. "Oh, Myrna. Let me help you." said a light male voice, smooth as silk, but desperately trying not to laugh.

She saw the young man with aqua hair walk past her and lift Myrna up in his arms. For the first time she noticed the cat girl was shorter than Hiero, by at least half a foot, and she looked terribly childish and vulnerable it the young man's arms. "You really need to watch where you're going, Lady Myrna. You'll break your tail at this rate, sunshine." He said, his accent slightly sounding British, an unintentional haughtiness to it. His eyes were glittering in the sunlight, the slit within them vibrating a moment as he smiled at the flustered cat-girl.

"It was the Mystic Moon girl's fault, Sir Val. She tripped me." Myrna lied, pointing right at Alessa. Not liking this as always, Alessa frowned at her. The young man finally looked at her, the amused grin still on his scarred face. They weren't like Hiero's scar, his was redder and this young man had faded ones, almost faded brown from being on his face for so long.

I did not, brat cat. You kicked me and weren't looking where you were going when you started to make faces. It's your fault you broke you ass." Alessa retorted heatedly, and the young man chuckled, lowering Myrna to her feet.

"Hiero's in there, remember, beautiful? He'd be crushed if his baby sister wasn't there to see him join with Escaflowne," he said in his British and carefree tone, smiling a bit. Alessa sword she saw a fang glimmer in his mouth, but quickly dismissed it," And his lovely guest from the esteemed Mystic Moon. Pleased to meet you, m'lady."

"Pleased to meet you, Val is it?" she said quietly, looking towards the shrine doors.

He followed her gaze and grinned a bit. "Oh yes, Hiero's blood pact. We best hurry, I can hear them starting!" Val piped, grabbing her by the wrist and rushing her inside.

~

Alessa was released by Val at the front of the rows of people that were watching Hiero, who had shed his helmet and cloak, and was being handed the glowing black crystal ball called the Drag-Energist, what he'd slain the dragon for.

He held it under one arm for a moment before lifting the sword he'd been given slightly out of the hilt on his left hip, the dagger now on his right. He cut his finger open and let it bleed, then put the bleeding hand onto the energist as he lifted it up with both hands.

"I am the new King of Fanelia Hiero Fanel! With my blood, I'm willing to make a life pact with you….Escaflowne," Hiero said aloud, swirling tendrils of purple light and smoke erupting from the energist," Sleeping dragon, awaken now."

The enormous decorated metal rings about the platform King Hiero stood upon span at lightening speed, making a cyclone of purple and black up around him, hiding his form for a few moments before it went at the stone egg sac on the ceiling. When it stopped, the sac broke and a giant white guymelef in a dark blue cloak with magenta insides. It was gargantuan, and it looked like a giant robot, much more humanoid than the clunky looking Fanelian guymelefs. It was almost a majestic samurai warrior, a white knight bigger than a house.

It landed right in front of Hiero and then knelt down, the large pink colored, octagon crystal on its chest glowing brightly. Hiero stepped forward with the energist in his hands, and then she gasped as he put his hands and the black ball through it as if the crystal was made of liquid. The crystal started to beat after that and looked and sounded like the beating of a human heart.

Then the heart became black, and Hiero backed up sharply. Escaflowne got up on its own, extending its arms to either side of its body, its whole exterior silvery-white armor starting to crumble. Hiero collapsed suddenly to his knees, clutching his head in pain. Alessa ran out to him, Myrna and Val at her heels, and she tugged him away. She tried asking him what was wrong, but he kept holding his head. He lifted his head up after a while, the pain gone, but Escaflowne's armor was shattering, as if it were made of glass. Alessa looked with him, and for the brief moments Escaflowne still stood before them, she swore she saw a different version of it, like bone armor and tight red sinew in the joints, a massive bony hilt protruding from its back. The eyes glowed red, then all of Escaflowne went red and became a static, red flurry of light.

In a flash, the light shot right at Hiero's chest and knocked him and Alessa sprawling backwards across the platform, Hiero landing on Alessa in an indecent way. Then there was utter silence, frightened whispers flitting about gently after a few minutes had passed. Hiero slowly got off of her and helped her to her feet. "You ok, Hiero?" she asked, rubbing her sore chest. He looked at his own chest, sticking his finger in the hole the light had made. He shrugged out of it and found no damage was done to himself, except the pendant he wore was glowing faintly, then not at all. It was the same as it had been before and there was no blood leaking from his chest either.

"Fine….but now, Fanelia won't be without Escaflowne. Best this doesn't get out, people will panic. I guess I'll be busy after tonight trying to figure out what the hell just happened….being king and all. Sorry." Hiero replied, kicking the armor a bit.

"Sorry? What for?" she asked.

With a smirk, he looked from where Escaflowne had been, which was now littered with samurai and his advisors, and back to her, yanking out his gloves from his pockets and shoving them on. "For knocking you over. Hope you're not hurt or anything." He replied.

"I'm fine, just a bit sore, but it'll pass. I can take a lot of abuse, I'm a gymnast after all. I get bruises all the time. I was worried you got hurt…you sure nothing's wrong?" she asked, but he shrugged it off casually, taking her hand in his gloved one.

"I'm fine, really. I have a generous tolerance for most pain, this is nothing. Now how about we got practice our dance once my advisors are done here, we can use the throne room now. My advisors will be too busy supervising the last minute decorations and cooking for the ball tonight," he told her, smiling," We won't practice too long, don't want go overkill or we'll both pass out on the dance floor. After that you can rest in your room, I'll send a servant to bring you to the ballroom. I have to be there early to….greet the visiting royalty and an old friend."

"Sounds good to me, your highness." She said, playfully curtseying with wide eyes and a silly smile, still holding his hand. He chuckled and gave off an exaggerated bow to her.

"Yes, my lady, and just call me Hiero. You never have to use titles with me." He grinned. "Nor you for me. Alessa is just fine." She giggled, shaking his hand.

"Fine by me…., now let's go listen to the old fogies for a while so we know we won't get into to much trouble today. I've had enough boredom for one day….not like it'll change anything. Ah, let's go, the head fogy is giving me the evil eye with his good eye and a droop with the bad one, better get this over with." He chuckled pulling her along gently.

~ Fanelia Castle Ballroom ~

The ballroom was absolutely breathtaking, better than any mere fairytale could ever hope to describe. Though Alessa could feel the eyes of royalty and commoner alike on her, most probably because she was the only female not wearing a dress, it seemed to be so distant compared to the sparkling and gigantic room the servant had led her to.

Without the decorations, it would look much like an ancient Japanese throne room, complete with fine gold embroidered and red marble pillars with the golden symbol of the flying dragon's head on each one. The floor was smooth and without blemish, also made are marble she guessed, but a glossy pearl color. In the center of the floor was the same flying dragon's head symbol of Fanelia, about as long as her orphanage bed had been about as wide. There was a sparkling crystal chandelier up high that was twice as big as the emblem, and nearly as blinding as the sun when you looked at it. 'Dancing diamonds in the sky….like a cluster of fairies. It's all so magical here….maybe…maybe I will be able to tolerate no more cheeseburgers and pizzas if this place is as tranquil and hospitable as appears. Well, I'll miss television the most, movies and fast food too, but I have a friend here, I finally have a friend that likes me….or he wants me to think that. He could just be playing and intends to humiliate me for his own amusement. Oh shut up, Alessa, quit being so paranoid. He's been nothing but civil to you, honest. Its not like he's been over the top nice and let's everything slide. He's….pretty decent.' She thought, stopping a moment to grab up some food from the wonderful array of fancy dishes and finger foods, grabbing up a small wooden plate from a stack of them at the beginning of the table. There were also small baskets of cloth napkins at either end of the table, so she headed toward the one to her left as she eyed the food.

She picked up a pink spread across an oddly shaped cracker and a roll of fish wrapped in green stuff. She ate the cracker, and it tasted much like the boiled liver that was served on Thursday's back home, a meal she readily loathed and tried to avoid. This however had more flavor to it, not the blandly salted slab of bloated flesh that was dropped on her plate that she was used to.

The fish roll looked raw, but pretty decent, all be it smelled a bit salty and slightly pungent, but she took a timid bite out of it, scanning the sea of pastels and glittering jewelry. She was about to take another bite when she saw a familiar angelic sapphire head and an aqua one, without the horn in his circlet standing by one of the gargantuan support pillars, a ways from the babble and bustle of the fancy crowd. Sir Val was still dressed in his Asturian knight garb, the same as his father she supposed, but Hiero was back in the very same clothing they'd practiced dancing in, the sleeveless black shirt, tan pants, black glove and knee high boots.

She had to bet his advisors were having a bloody fit over him not dressing up, but it was so him. Hiero in their eyes had been a emotionless and easy to control child, but all of it had changed suddenly, and he was showing a lot of backbone and brass to the old finicky men and women. Sadly, to her disgust, a pink head was bouncing towards the two young men, her voice just barely screeching over the conversations of the others, and was generally being ignored by them all, except Alessa. She popped the rest of the fish roll in her mouth and wiped her fingers and mouth clean as she swallow it down, walking over towards the sudden trio.

~

Hiero was having a miserable time, Val could tell. Whenever Hiero was quiet, it meant he was angry about something or keeping something to himself, either way it bothered Val to see his best friend like this. He'd had a terrible time days before convincing his stubborn father to agree to go to the coronation ceremony, for Hiero and Val's sakes. Allen had blamed Hiero for Celena's death and for trying to turn Val into a troublemaker as well. Val had been pissed off when he and Hiero were separated because his father was being so unreasonable, but he couldn't swear and beat his father with his ten-year-old body. As much as he wanted to call his father a chauvinistic jackass for the way he had treated Aunt Celena all the time, it wasn't easy to just let it go for that or for all the nasty comments his father had said about Hiero being a freakish sorcerer.

He knew his father had once been in love with Hiero's mother, but then again, he had been in love and had Chid with his late Aunt Marlene, his Aunt Eries obviously was still in love with him, and then there was his poor mother Millerna. She'd found out about all the 'loves' his father had, but stood by him and remained in love with him, despite how he single-handedly become a sudden expert on how women should dress and behave, letting the man do all the work and the women stay out of danger. Val thought of his stepmother Filia whenever his father Allen would say something in effect to how women were. He could almost imagine Filia whipping out her mace and jamming it up his ass a million times over. His mother was not one to take insult easily.

He missed her, but he had a new family to consider, and his own duties to take care of. He was now the youngest knight of Asturia at age eighteen, soon to be nineteen in weeks to come. His father had nearly got him to wear an exact duplicate uniform as he wore, but Val didn't like bright colors so much as his new father did, he's always been partial to navy blue tops and white pants, it was what he was used to.

The circlet had been his idea out of a ditch effort to hide his horn. When puberty had hit, he got excited in watching a young chamber maid bending over to pick up her linens, giving him a good view of the low neckline on her dress. He got excited enough that he knew he finally had his blessed hormones back, but then he felt a sharp pain in his forehead and went to see if something had hit his head, and nearly punched the mirror in when he saw his horn had returned.

He was able to force it back in, but immediately went to work on getting a blacksmith to make him a circlet for it, so everyone would thing it was merely an ornamental crown. It worked out and people believed it merely to be something worn out of pride, but truly he only did it because there were a lot of women he was raised around.

Most of his grandfather's servants were women, so whenever his family would visit the castle to see grandfather and aunt Eries, he'd have it on in case his hormones got worked up. He was glad his parents never really questioned it unless the horn was missing and they'd ask if it broke off. He'd always lie and say he had put it away because it got chipped or some nonsense. They bought it, but at times his horn would pop out while they were in the room and he'd have to run out of the room and dunk his head in cold water to make it stop. It was humiliating to walk around with a wet and shivering head, but it beat being discovered as to having an actual horn growing out of your head.

Despite that, Val tried in the woodlands near Asturia to change into his ancient dragon form, but it never worked. He'd told Hiero that much when he'd seen him after the coronation, and commented on the beautiful Mystic Moon female, Alessa was her name, that Hiero had become aquatinted with. Val nearly fell over laughing when Hiero blushed at the mention of the girl. He informed him that he liked her, but was unsure of how she felt, sicken he was the one to bring her to Gaia after he had slain his dragon. Hiero also apologized for killing it, and Val told him not to worry. Hiero had no choice in the matter of slaying that dragon, it was a family tradition for the right to rule over Fanelia, and Val couldn't blame him for an ancient law no one could change.

Hiero had also told Val, much to Val's sorrow, that Zaibach soldiers had tailed him on his way back home, and Alessa would have been slain if he hadn't taken the blow meant for them both. Hiero had died only two days ago, by being impaled by a sword once again. Val agreed with him that it must be Delphine's little way of taunting Hiero, since both times he had first died on the last two worlds had been by being impaled by swords.

Val had tried to ask about what he did to the murdering soldiers when he heard a very familiar and sweet little voice he'd grown to love, but Hiero cringed. "There's an Amelia in every damn world, I'm utterly convinced." Hiero muttered, looking at the pillar he was leaning on as the precious pigtailed cat-girl Myrna bound up to them and grabbed Hiero in a tight hug. Hiero said a lightly hello and gave her a slight hug back, then tried to pry her off of his waist.

Val snickered when Hiero was unsuccessful, then his eyes widened when he saw the Mystic Moon girl watching them with anger plastered on her pretty face. "I smell a cat fight here, Hiero. Literally….you dog you. One woman just isn't enough for a dirty old man like you." Val chuckled, but Hiero shot him a death glare, very similar to his previous life's Aunt Lina's famous glares.

Then Hiero got a sneaky look on his face, the look he got when he was either going to pull a joke or steal something. Val backed up a bit, since the look was aimed at him. He had no more time to take a step than Hiero did in pretending to trip backwards and stomp on Myrna's tail. The cat-girl yowled and leapt upwards a few feet, holding her newly injured tail.

Hiero swiftly stomped Val's foot and yanked him under Myrna by the wrist before ramming into Alessa front with his back, grinning all the way. Val had a few seconds to register the pain in his foot before the whimpering cat-girl landed on his head and they both toppled to the floor.

"Never tease me….you know I didn't tolerate it when we were kids. I don't like being teased, Val-chan." Hiero cooed, delighting in the little mischief he'd managed. Val knew how indecent he and Myrna looked, but he was glad he wasn't embarrassed enough to make his horn pop out. People were staring at him and Myrna, and if it hadn't been for her fur, he'd have to bet she'd be bright red by now. When he saw the stunned looked on his parents' faces, he sighed and picked himself up, Myrna perched no his shoulders since her landing had send him falling forward. "We're too old for this….but if you insist on dropping beautiful women on me, why don't you get your hand off that woman's rear end?" Val snickered, looked down suggestively around Hiero to Alessa. Hiero was indeed holding onto Alessa for support, but his hands were planted on her butt and the back of his head against her shapely chest. Hiero was so busy snickering about what he did to him and Myrna, he hadn't noticed who and what he was leaning on.

Hiero flushed a bit and tilted his head back to see a red faced and her eyes twitching. Hiero looked a moment longed before letting go of her rear and sliding gently to the floor to kneel, still looking up. Then he smiled and waved at her before getting up and returning his gaze to Val. "Touché….it's been too long, Val-chan. Much too long for us to be apart….that was fun. Unplanned as it was, it was still fun." Hiero quipped, making Alessa's jaw drop. Val shook his head with a sheepish grin, patting Hiero good naturally on the shoulder, then brought both hands onto Myrna's legs to hold her up better. He could almost feel her heart beating out of her chest and into his brain as she leaned her chest on the back of his head.

Val took a breath and kept his hormones in check, thinking about an image that always made them quiet down, his grandfather in negligée. That would make the most professional pervert get turned off, guaranteed. "Don't worry, Lady Alessa, we're old friends. It's been a long time since we've joked around." Val chuckled, noting the girl was still red in the face.

Her face paled slightly, but her eyes weren't on Val, they were on Hiero. "Nine years, right?" Val asked his friend who was currently shuffling his feet on the floor. Hiero looked up slightly and nodded. "Since Lady Celena's passing….yes. It was a sad day for all. I'm sorry, Alessa. I didn't know you were there until it was too late." He replied, flitting his eyes across her for a few seconds before looking back at the floor as if he suddenly found it intensely fascinating.

"I forgive you, just next time you want to joke around, warn me. You'll make those princesses who have been looking at you like starving hawks tear me apart for interfering with your good grooming." She sighed, nudging her head to the side towards a crowd of whispering females, all decked with fancy jewelry, circlets or crowns, and small scepters.

Most of them were from lesser kingdoms and a few from the higher up capitals. The lesser royalty, or rather duchesses, were the Fassa twins, Orla and Ravine, of the rich merchant Dryden Fassa. His mother had married him once by an arranged marriage, but it hadn't worked out. His mother loved Allen, his father, and Dryden didn't like the idea of being forced into royal responsibilities.

He'd remained single after that for less than a year before marrying a duchess himself, Lady Corso of Zaibach, but she left the empire to remain with Dryden's family, far from the terrible memories her country gave her. He'd played with them a few times up until puberty, when he was training more heavily and the girls were being taught etiquette and how to please their future husbands. They were nice and all, but deep down, he knew they wanted to marry for love, as his mother had.

Then there were three princesses of separate areas of the Zaibach Empire, all of which were invited by Hiero's advisors, not Hiero himself. They were Reyne Yakuora or the northern territory, Flora Mechana of the eastern territory, and finally Kimera Torsan of the central territory. All were terribly spoiled, bratty, snotty, and ego-maniacal, only wanting Fanelia for the extra territory and Escaflowne. 'Won't they be shocked if his asshole advisors pair them up and he tells them Escaflowne flew the coop. Would serves the snots right, but I doubt Hiero would let them live that long. His thing about idiots and such will get him in loads of trouble….but….as if they could kill him for it.' Val mused, watching the three darkly dressed and gold littered teenagers squabble over who got Hiero and what they intended to do with the land.

His Aunt Eries daughter was only ten at present, far too young for Hiero, and she wasn't even here, but his little cousin was always a pleasure to be around. He had wished she could have come, but Aunt Eries was with child again, a son according to the doctors primitive analysis. That would make his grandfather very happy to finally have a male heir that was royal.

Val was deeply glad his mother had given up her title as princess to be with his father, he wouldn't have bee able to stand all of the preparation to become a king. Asturia picked their heirs to the throne differently, but neither his aunt nor his own mother told him how. It was a royal secret or some crap, or possibly since his mother gave up her royal life, she didn't deserve to tell him or be told by anyone because of it.

Freid had only a duchess that looked to be a good ten years older than Hiero, dressed in pastels and fine silver, and not pretty or nice at all. She seemed to be irate about every single thing that came near her or was spoken. She even reprimanded his own mother for not walking like a lady and a servant for not carrying a drink tray properly. His half-brother Chid was not here either, involved in some important affairs with his country with supposed Alseides sightings.

The rest of the pretty and horrible looking royal females he saw weren't any he knew. He had his parents lived simply within the city of Palas, where his father's family had once lived, in a lovely mansion near the woods. He wasn't one to often see the new royalty of Gaia unless he was ordered to escort or protect them by order of his grandfather.

Val's eyes went back to Hiero, softening a bit as he saw his sapphire-haired friends was laughing with the lavender-haired Alessa. She was pretty, there was no denying, but she seemed to have a pacifying effect on Hiero. Normally if Hiero had groped a woman by accident, he'd make a lewd comment, but this time he didn't. It was utterly unlike him. He wasn't being a smart-ass to her like he was with most women. 'There's always that special one….they always seem to find him, not the other way around. They find his heart before he knows it. Ah, he's such a wonder….' Val mused, then felt Myrna twitch on him.

He looked at her with his most charming smile. "Care to dance, exquisite one?" he asked sweetly. He saw her fur stand on end at the request, but first she looked at Hiero, then back at him. "Ok….once dance can't hurt. The band is playing a folk song, the Mana Spirit. Hope you can keep up, Sir Val." She chirped with a Cheshire grin, allowing him to lower her down, then took her hand gently and took her on the dance floor as the upbeat flute piece went on strong about them.

~

Val felt good after the few hours he'd spent with plucky little Myrna. He'd made sure she'd stayed on the dance floor for at least an hour, counting up his dances with her two six. It had been fun, some were slow and romantic, others sad, and most were upbeat folk songs of Fanelia and Asturia, ones his mother had happily taught him so he could court pretty young ladies properly and with grace and dignity. Myrna seemed to be smitten by the attention he was giving her, attention he had wanted to give her for the longest time.

He'd been smitten by when they first met when he was six, her cute little face and sweet and happy demeanor. The fact that she was inhuman added to the attraction he felt. He just had a thing for people that weren't human. He wasn't human, he had to blame that for it, and Hiero wasn't fully human, more like a hybrid mix. He had admitted to liking dragons a great deal, but he mostly stuck to humans if he could help it. That, and Hiero detested anything overly sweet, like the fairies he and Val had blown straight to hell for making them their boy toys for a day. Hiero had been more violent in hating terribly cute things for as long as Val had known him, and it shocked him that Myrna wasn't dead already.

He knew Hiero thought of the cat-girl as a sister, and perhaps that was just enough reason for Hiero not to shove her out a window or dice her up. She and his aunt Merle were practically the only family he had left, the only real family. Still, Val really liked Myrna, enough to want to devote the entire ball to speaking with her about how her and Hiero had gotten along with life after Aunt Celena's death. The story was typically Hiero, depression setting in once both parents were dead, and violent actions against anything and anyone he didn't agree with, until he became an emotionless ball of indifference.

To hear that once Alessa, or the lilac floozy as Myrna called her, had arrived, Hiero seemed to regain his heart and started speaking up for himself, joking, smiling, and even acted like his old mischievous self. Val hadn't doubted after hearing all that one bit that Alessa was special to his friend, and as the his eyes trailed to the very vacant dance floor, he saw Hiero and Alessa walking out onto the Fanelian emblem on the marble floor.

The ball had been scheduled to go on from sunset to midnight from what he'd heard, and plenty of hours had gone by. There were no clocks in the ballroom, only in the bedrooms. Still, he didn't need one to know the ball was an hour away from being over. Hiero tributary ritual dance for his ancestors, a dance for the dead. Myrna had complained she had helped Hiero originally been helping him perfect the sword dance requiem, but then Alessa was suddenly made Hiero's partner. Hiero had not talked about this dance to him personally, and neither did any of the guests, but he could tell none of the royal females were enjoying the fact that a newcomer female dressed in boy clothes was doing this dance with the eligible King of Fanelia. It was only known to Hiero, the band, and Alessa. Myrna said she hadn't been paying attention to the song, only her Safaia-Kimi mattered. 'Heh, he's not a prince anymore, but lucky her that word doubles as lord. Myrna was probably too busy playing barnacle on his arms and rear.' He snickered mentally as Hiero bowed to the elders, Alessa following his lead. He had Aunt Celena's dagger on his right hip and another on his left. Jenai was beside the elder that had dubbed Hiero king, holding the sword of Fanelia in his large hands protectively.

"Elders of Fanelia, as my right as king, I choose to pay tribute to the kings and queens that ruled before me. I have selected the Silver requiem sword dance, replaced with daggers in honor of the late Celena Schezar, sister to Asturian Knight Allen Crusade Schezar and aunt to Asturian Knight Val Ondrea Schezar. To accompany me in this will be Lady Alessa Lee Demitrius. May Fanelia live forever." Hiero said with utmost politeness, the pulled out his daggers and Alessa and he took their place before each other. He gesture Celena's larger dagger at the band, and they began to play on violins and a harp at an even pace, a triangle being struck lightly along with it

The pair were very still for the opening song until a bassoon was playing along with the violins, a muffled trumpet coming in after each harsh waltz-like verse went through. Val watched in awe as Hiero and Alessa made forceful sharp movements about each other, their eyes locked hard on each other. They looked like cobras ready to strike at each other, or to be more accurate, getting ready to fight. Hiero was making stabbing gestures at her, playing with the blades by pulling them from before him face until the tip was across from his ear. He did them slowly, his head bent down, but eyes still on Alessa and his back slightly arched. Alessa moves smoothly as opposed to Hiero's aggressive movements, like a ballerina, moving to the right and barely being missed by Hiero's large dagger, then to the left and getting missed by the other.

That was the basic premise of the dance, Hiero would move in on her, as if he was a warrior moving in on a graceful dragon. His Fanelian history wasn't as good as his Asturian and Freidian was, but he'd seen people slay dragons, as much as it sickened him. Alessa swayed gently back and forth, right to left barely being missed by each stab throughout the entire dance, until the pace of the waltz picked up, and Hiero threw the smaller dagger at Alessa's feet and the other behind himself. Soon he and Alessa had joined hands and were moving about the dance floor in the harsh waltz, their legs staying parallel to each other in their fierce dance steps.

Val felt his own pulse rising with the animalistic movements the two made, the sweeping dip Hiero put her into as the music went into a powerful crescendo, then the violins' melodies started to challenge each other. Hiero and Alessa twirled about closely sharply, the echo of their heels hitting the floor nearly enough to make people jump back in fright. It was like watching a living hurricane move past, Hiero rolling her out at arms length a few time after they span for a minute, then they went back to back, their hands entwined and bodies moving in perfect symmetry.

Soon, Alessa was twirled off of him and swept herself to the floor, one hand in Hiero's and the other on the dagger Hiero had embedded in the floor. As he brought her up, she thrust the dagger at him, barely missing his as well, then again until he waltzed her to the larger dagger, kicking it up by the hilt, then putting his free hand behind his back as his head dodged another thrust of Alessa's dagger. He caught his prized dagger in the waiting hand and brought it around swiftly to block the next blow, the music slowly down as Alessa sunk downwards on one knee, her other leg going forward and straight upon the floor beside Hiero's right leg. Hiero remained standing, leaning languidly over her until she had her back laid across her kneeling leg and her beautiful braid laid across the floor on its tip.

The song ended at that, leaving both dancers heaving and the crowd speechless. Hiero waited a moment, chatting his breath still and finally lifted Alessa off the floor. Val started clapping, then Myrna joining him, and soon the entire ballroom was echoing with claps and bravos. Val saw the pair smile, then turn even as the clapping went on, and bowed to the speechless, but not clapping, elders. Jenai was grinning broadly and walked away from the elders as Hiero and Alessa came up from their bow. The large man handed Hiero back the sword of Fanelia, and in turn, Hiero gave Jenai back the small dagger sheath and Alessa handed back the dagger.

Hiero was about to take the sword when the castle shook, a scream coming with it, or at least it sounded like one. Val looked puzzled a moment, then castle shook again with the noise, more violently this time. Then came the explosion, and the chandelier started to plummet. Hiero and Alessa saw it as it was falling, but Jenai moved quicker then they did, grabbing both teenagers up and getting them away from the falling mass of crystals. It hit the floor with an earth shattering crash, massacring the once beautiful emblem into a mesh of broken stone and gold fragments.

"Zaibach…."Hiero was yelling," Zaibach is here, Jenai. Assemble the rest of the samurai! We have to protect Fanelia!"

Val sulked inwardly, his hand moving to his own sword as he ran to his friend with Myrna's on tow. 'So much for a good night's sleep in my old guestroom. Lousy Zaibach party crashers.' He thought sourly.

~ Outside ~

Hiero and Val ran outside side by side ahead of the guests, all of who were panicking despite the fact that trained samurai were trying to lead them out of the area. Alessa, Myrna, and his Aunt Merle were trailing them, but none of them had weapons. Hiero felt bad for Alessa, giving his sword master back his token dagger was ill timed. Jenai had run off and didn't give her weapon when the attack had begun, even though the large man used a huge sword as his main weapon. He knew he'd have to remain close to her in this time of crisis, he just hoped that he could protect her from Zaibach without Escaflowne.

Hiero had only managed to get a few of his old spells from Val's world to work, Fireball, Recovery, Resurrection, and his lesser illusion spells like invisibility. He'd tested the healing stuff on injured doves he more or less tossed rocks at to injure and the fireball he aimed at a drunk reliving himself on the castle wall. He had happily tested invisibility out in Merle's kitchen to steal his favorite dessert, berry vino cinnamon cream pie. It was well worse the abuse of power, and he had discarded the proof in one of the samurai's bunks. Nothing else he had tried since he death seemed to work, probably because most of the sources of those spells were destroyed utterly by L-sama.

Hiero stopped suddenly, the screams dying down as they took in what was before them, absolutely nothing. The streets were full of people, that was the only strange thing as such a late hour, but there were no Alseides guymelefs about, only Fanelian ones. "Ok, what the hell is going on? If this is an attack, why isn't anything else being blown up?" he heard a man say, it was Allen's voice. He looked back to see the blonde knight and his wife running up to them, everyone else from the ball looking around frantically.

Suddenly one of them screamed, a woman, then others joined in and they began pointing at the sky. Hiero looked up to see a somewhat familiar sight, a Zaibach floating fortress materializing slowly high above Fanelia, but it was much larger than the ones he'd seen in his parents' memories. It looked more like a giant palace to him, but not a single guymelef was about it.

Then a section of it opened, a hanger door he supposed, revealing Sora and his uncle standing within it and staring down at them emotionlessly. Folken was staring right at Hiero, he knew it, he could feel those cold red eyes raking over him with slow deliberateness. Hiero sneered at him, even as high up as his uncle and that elfin woman were, he could still make them out. Folken was holding a small metal disk in his hand, but it was too small to make out. He lifted it up to his mouth slowly, then his voice boomed across the entire city. "Fanelia, hand over your king, the Asturian Knight Val Schezar, and the girl from the Mystic Moon or suffer the consequences of the Zaibach Empire, by order of myself, Emperor Folken Lacour de Fanel."

Hiero didn't say anything, nor did anyone else around him, but one loud and booming voice, the voice of Jenai crassly did. "Never, you traitorous bastard child! We shall defend Fanelia from your so-called consequences. Come down and fight us, you and all your cowards!"

Hiero felt his heart lurch a bit, feeling as if his curse was catching up with him. 'At least I won't get blamed for this….the giant opened his fat mouth, not me.' He thought, feeling Alessa clutch his hand, and he turned a bit to meet her worried eyes.

"Fine then. I leave your fate to the mystic Sora. Do with them what you will and we shall collect the angels after we dispose of these peasants." Folken said coldly, handing the metal disk to the white-haired woman.

At first she only stared, a few slightly breaths coming out of her mouth making her look like a newborn bird begging for food. A tear fell from her right eye when she finally opened her mouth, and strangely started to sing a haunting melody.

Win dain a lotica

En vai tu ri

Si lo ta

Fin dein a loluca

En dragu a sei lain

Vi fa-ru les shutai am

En riga-lint

Hiero listened carefully, devoting the lyrics to memory, but he couldn't understand the language well. It was a beautiful melody, haunting and exotic, not the least bit frightening as Folken had played it out to be. "He's got to be kidding! What's he going to do, sing us to death? Its just a song….right Val? You feel any different?" Hiero sniffed, looking at his friend.

Val nodded, looking himself over just in case. "Nope, not growing any extra limbs or being eaten alive….not even sleepy." He said. Hiero turned to Alessa to ask the same, but she was looking back at the castle, her hands over her mouth and eyes wide with terror.

Hiero followed her gaze and nearly fell over in shock. The guests were all swaying back and forth, as if they were moving to the lovely beat, or trying. They looked like a bunch of pastel weeping willows. Yet that wasn't why Alessa had that expression on her face, it was the blood. It was leaking out of the ears, eyes and mouths of everyone. No one was fighting the sing as it went on, their bodies starting too pool on the ground into red lakes littered with bone and sinew.

"The song….its deadly….but why aren't we being affected?" Val stammered, then screeched," Mother! Father!! Myrna! NO!"

Hiero whipped back around to see the Asturians and cat-girl were swaying too, but they were trying their best to fight, the only indication of that being their mouths twitching and eyes squinting. Merle was doing it too, the flood starting to leaking from her eyes, crimson tears streaming down her glossy fur. "Knock them out. If I'm right, they can't be hurt by what they can't hear!" Hiero shouted, landed his fist square in Allen's face. It was more personal satisfaction for Hiero to finally get one crack at Allen's pretty-boy face, just once.

Alessa slammed Merle and Millerna in the face and Val was, most reluctantly, bashing the hilt of his sword against Myrna's head. "Now to the guests. We have to save as many of them as we can!" Hiero shouted, running for the puddling guests. He hit the Fassa twins swiftly, knocking them cold. It wasn't often he got to hit women to save them, he generally hated being that rough with nice girls. The Zaibach princesses he had to think over. Their own emperor was murdering them, so he saw everyone was subject to his uncle's plans as expendable. He'd never expected killer singing, it was silly, but also surprising, something no one would expect or be able to prepare for.

Win chent a lotica

En vai tu ri

Si lo ta

Fin dein a loluca

Si katigura neuver

Floreria for chesti

Si entina….

Hiero stopped thinking as Princess Flora liquefied in her dark silken dress, making sickly wet plop on the ground as her melted form slid down it. He punched the remaining ones, breaking one of their noses by overdoing the second hit. He wanted them out immediately, and time was running out. People about him were pooled about his feet as melted puddles of crimson and fleshy goo, making it hard to walk without slipping around.

"There's too many people, we can't get them all, Hiero. They puddle faster than we can run. Argh, shit! This is disgusting, I can barely move, its like wading around in meringue, drool infested meringue. Get back to where my parents are….they'll drown in this shit if we don't get back to them." Val swore loudly, the singing going on strong.

"OK, Alessa, back to Sir Allen and the others, we have to hold them up and get out of here before we're captured! We can't let this slaughter go….oh gross I stepped in someone's liver. Sick! I'll get even with you Folken! Stop it or I'll make you sorry! STOP IT!!" Hiero screamed, wading through the bloody sea of goo back to where his Aunt Merle, Val's parents and Myrna were starting to sink. Val got to them first and hoisted Myrna and his father up against his legs in a sitting position. Then he lifted Merle and his mother onto his shoulder, the blood and sinew slime dribbling all over his clothes. Hiero finally managed to reach him, then Alessa came, but tripped on a melting limb and landed all the way in the disgusting metallic smelling sea. Hiero rushed t her aid best he could manage and picked her up in his arms, getting blood all over himself, but it didn't matter. Fanelia was being murdered and all he could do was watch.

La la la la la la la la la.…

Fontina blu cent

De cravi esca letisimo

La la la la la la la la la….

De quantian

La finde reve….

Hiero just couldn't stand it, he couldn't fathom such a cowardly act of mass murder. He hated his uncle more than ever now, his parents weren't enough, Uncle Daisuke and Celena weren't enough, taking Dilandau wasn't enough. No, Folken had to take the innocent lives of thousands of men, women and children without even setting foot like a real man and fighting, he had a woman singing people to their necrotically putrid doom. His cheek started to throb, spreading throughout his body as he turned hateful eyes up towards the singing woman, the demon who started this damned prophecy.

He screamed at her as loud as he could, all the agony he felt in himself and from the dying populace erupting from his battered heart, rage and insanity clashing together at the woman.

Win dain a lotica

En vai tu ri

Si lo ta

Fin dein a loluca

En dragu a sei lain

Vi fa-ru les shutai am

En riga-lint….

Hiero screamed louder, his pain overwhelming the woman as he song was done. She looked at him, almost smiling, as if it amused her.

He didn't care, he wanted Zaibach to pay for this, and he wanted to stop them, not only for the dead, but for himself, for his world….for Gaia. No sooner did he think this did the same pillar of light that had carried him to and from the Mystic Moon only days before surrounded them all, leaving the woman only to stare with calm serene.

Hiero felt himself get lifted off the ground, Alessa crying out as she was lifted from his arms. He reached for her, but only met with dead air as the pillar of light carried them all into the sky, darkness overwhelming him when the dead country beneath him was nothing more than a small garnet stain.

To Be Continued….

*The Emperor card represents Hiero establishing his family line as the next king of Fanelia, and protecting and defending his country as best he can as well as realizing he must take control of his destiny and stop the chaos Folken is creating.

**Dragon Bride is also known as the song Fatal, the song that Folken whistled as Van was waking up in the floating fortress in the TV series.

Teaser: DILANDAU AND THE DRAGON SLAYERS ARE FINALLY HERE!! MOERO! MOEROOOO!!!!