Van pressed his nose impatiently to the glass window of the Crusade. "How much longer?" he asked.
Gaddes sighed. "Van, that's the six billionth time you've asked me. And the answer is the same as those other six billion times. I don't know. No noe knows exactly where Kaiyari has been taken."
Van slammed his fist into the window and cursed.
Gaddes rubbed his temples. I feel a headache coming on…
Kaiyari lay slumped in the corner of her cell. She had no idea how long she had lain there. Hours, days, all time slurred together into one unending void of pain and sorrow.
She ate when the food came, drank when her throat became parched from screaming, and tried not to focus on anything.
Reality began to shift, until nothing was certain anymore, and everything was something else.
There was a loud clang, and heavy footsteps, as she was hauled roughly to her feet.
"C'mon wench. You've got a visitor…"
Van paced around the corridors of the Crusade. Up and down, up then down again. His hair was tangled from being pulled on, his fingernails had been bitten to stubs, and his knuckles ached form cracking.
He slammed to a stop, as a tall figure stepped into his path. "Dammit, Allen! Move!"
Allen looked down at the young king. "I just thought you might want to know. We've sighted a Flying Fortress."
Kaiyari pulled herself up to a standing position, stalwartly ignoring the pain radiating from every bit of her body.
Two large men held her arms, as they positioned her on the deck of the Fortress.
Suddenly, the crowd around her drew apart and a lone figure strode through. A young boy, lean and tall, with feathery blond hair approached. Aqua eyes peered from beneath perfect brows, searching Kaiyari's face.
Kaiyari literally felt her heart stop. "Kendai…" she breathed.
He smiled. "Sister dearest. How long has it been? Years I'm sure."
Kendai could be Van, only with light hair and blue eyes. The resemblance was scary.
She jerked her right arm from her captors and reached for him. "Oni-sama!"
Kendai glared at her guards. "What are you doing?! Get off her!" He drew his sword, and swiftly decapitated them both.
Kaiyari sank down on the deck, unable to support her own weight.
Her brother's look became concerned as he helped her up. "Are you alright? I'll kill whoever did this to you! I'm sorry we had to kidnap you, but there was no other way I could think of to get to you. I've missed you so much!" he rambled on, just the way he had when they were little.
"Kendai…" tears crept to her eyes, and she reached for him.
He folded her into his embrace, and she closed her eyes, pressing her face into his chest.
Suddenly, she jerked back, and put a hand to her side, to find a knife embedded between her ribs.
"What-"
Kendai smiled, but it was not the warm caring smile of her brother. It was hard and cold, like a vulture waiting for it's prey to die, so it could feast on their remains.
"I'm terribly sorry, Kaiyari dearest. But you had to die. You can't be allowed to go on. It isn't fair is it? Pitting brother against sister. It was me or you Kaiyari, and unfortunately, your pathetic life is over. I shall enjoy watching you die." He gestured behind him, and several men stepped out.
Kaiyari gritted her teeth, and rose to her knees. "You are not Kendai no Saira." She recognized one of the men as Kaemon.
He smiled again. "No. I am not."
She shivered. "I do not know what you are, but I'm not going to make this an easier on you!" She pulled herself to her feet. "After all that mother went through, to keep you out of Kaemon's hands, you go and-"
"Sister, you are delusional. The torture must have robbed you of your mind."
"NO! Mother loved you, and killed herself for you!"
"No, no, no… You have it all wrong." Kaemon stepped forward. "The lady who called herself your mother was hurting many, many people, and I killed her so that all of Gaea would be safe." Kendai nodded, though his eyes began to dart.
"What? I saw her death! She killed herself because Kaemon stole you away, because she would not give him what he wanted!" She reached out again to her brother, pleading with her eyes. "Remember the song she used to sing?" she began to hum. "Dancing bears, painted wings, things I almost remember, and a song, someone sings, once upon a December."
"No!" Kendai looked frantic. "NO!" He clutched his head. "NOOO! I don't want to see! Go away! NOOOOOOOO!!!!" he dropped to his knees, panting.
Kaiyari staggered away from him, but couldn't help looking back one last time.
Her brother was bent over, and as if sensing her eyes on him, he looked up. What she saw in his face made her back up quickly, until her back pressed against the railing, the thin metal the only thing between her and a drop of certain death.
Kendai's eyes were no longer the mirror image of his sisters. The whites had turned black, the pupils had turned white, and the irises had turned blood red.
"Come here…Sister dear…" his voice was raspy, and he giggled, drawing his sword.
Kaiyari tried to run, but staggered and fell, utterly spent.
Her brother's sword shot towards her neck, the notched steel flashing cruelly.
But suddenly, something hurtled between her and death.
"Folken…" she whispered.
Van was once again pressed against the glass of the window. Hold on Kaiyari… I'm coming!
Someone tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned to see Allen offering him a spyglass.
Wordlessly, Van accepted it, and trained it ahead of them meticulously scanning the clouds for any sign of the Fortress.
A small black speck in the clouds was all that Van could make out, even with the added vision of the spyglass.
He looked up in askance at Gaddes. "How long 'till we're there?"
Gaddes sighed. "At least a few hours. Even then, we'll have to go through their Melefs and actually board the thing. I'm sorry Van."
Van growled, and whirled around. "I'm taking Escaflowne out." Before anyone could say a word, he turned on his heel and ran from the control room.
As the wind whipped through his hair, Van strained to see the Fortress. He yanked hard on Escaflowne's controls, and the Guymelef shot upward.
He concentrated every fiber of his being on going faster, and reaching Kaiyari. Suddenly, Escaflowne shuddered, and shot forward, as everything around him moved in slow motion.
His vision sharpened, until he could make out the Flying Fortress. His sight shifted to the main deck, where a cluster of people stood.
Two headless corpses were sprawled to one side, staining the deck with blood. At the other end, stood a tall man with dark hair, and a commanding presence, surrounded by several military looking officials. In the center of the deck, stood a young man, who looked very much like Kaiyari had, when she was using her disguise. Kendai. That must be her brother… There was a slender figure in a tattered and bloodstained nightdress, that was mostly rags now. Kaiyari had fallen, and was using the railing to pull herself up. Her brother kept trying to strike at her, but was stopped by a tall figure in a black cloak. That's Folken!
Folken held of the raging Kendai with his slender sword, which was missing the tip.
That tip had shattered off, and caused Folken's death a year before.
Van watched in horror, as Kaiyari shakily stood, and backed away from the fight. Her mouth moved, but Van could not hear her words.
Folken shouted soundlessly at her, driving Kendai backwards.
Faster! Faster! Van mentally screamed, as Kaiyari tested the firmness of the railing, and put on foot on it.
FASTER! As Escaflowne drew even nearer to the Fortress, Van could hear what they were saying now, but the words didn't register in his mind.
All he was aware of was the lone figure standing precariously on the thin railing.
Suddenly, Kaiyari's wings burst from her shoulders, blood soaked feathers falling around her. She launched herself off the railing in a suicidal swan dive, wings spread wide.
It looked as if she would fly away, but then her wings faltered, and then went limp, as she fell from the sky.
The wind raced past Kaiyari as she fell, and she closed her eyes, accepting her death.
She sighed, and relaxed her body. A thought drifted into her mind. Van…
A single feather drifted by, as a shadowy figure drew a shining sword. Ebony hair, and warm chocolate eyes, a lithe, though still gangly figure, a red lace-up shirt with billowy sleeves, cream-colored pants, and deerskin riding boots. Soft gloves caught her hands and soft lips kissed her fingers.
A single tear leaked out of her closed eyes, brushed off by the caress of the wind rushing past her. Van…Wherever you are…I'm sorry.
Suddenly, something closed tight around her wrists. Her eyes shot open, and she looked up to see someone holding her wrists. A raven-haired, pearly-winged someone. "…Van?"
A smile brightened his eyes, as his powerful wing beats slowly stopped their speeding descent.
"Kai…" His left hand slowly began to slip. "NO!"
Kaiyari grabbed his arms tightly, and pulled herself closer to him. "I won't let go! Never!"
He regained his grip, and struggled to pull them both upward.
Suddenly, Kaiyari became lighter, and he looked up to see her blood soaked wings join his, helping him reach the waiting ship.
Van angled them into the docking bay of the Crusade, when suddenly, Kaiyari went limp in his arms, and they dropped a few feet before he could regain their height.
He landed inside, and lowered her softly to the ground. Her nightdress was ripped in many places and had a long tear stretching from her right shoulder to her left hip, exposing pale skin and a deep cut, that bled sluggishly. A purpling bruise shadowed her right cheekbone, and another traced her jaw line. She showed evidence of several beatings, and numerous burns covered her arms.
Something seeped under Van's hand and he pulled back, horrified, when he noticed that he was kneeling in a pool of blood. His pants were soaked in it, and his arms and shirt were covered in splotches of the red fluid. A coppery tang filled the air.
"MILLERNA! Somebody! GET MILLERNA!"
Gaddess ran down the stairs, with Allen hot on his heels. Allen swore, and ran off, presumably to get Millerna.
Gaddess helped Van carry her up the stairs, both trying not to look at the bloody trail of broken feathers they were leaving behind.