SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1
Chapter Two tc "Chapter Two " \l 4A dark colored carriage halted in front of the tall gates that surrounded the capital of Fanelia.
"State you business." A guardsman demanded from the top of the gate.
"A representative of Zaibach wishes to meet with the King." The driver of the carriage called back.
The guardsman whispered a few harsh commands to the men standing behind him before giving the signal for the carriage to go through.
~.:`*`:.~
Someone knocked loudly on the door of the King's study. Van looked up from some papers he had been signing.
"Come in."
An out of breath guard burst in the room. "A Zaibach representative is coming to the palace, Lord."
"Zaibach?" Van hadn't heard anything from that country in quite some time. He hadn't even known they had any sort of government at all. It would be interesting indeed to find out what was going on there after all this time. "How far away is he?"
"Minutes. They already passed through the front gates." The guard answered.
Van nodded. "I will meet this representative myself."
He quickly walked out of the room and down the hallway, the guard following a few feet behind him. Just as he exited the entrance of his palace, the Zaibach carriage pulled up and stopped, parallel to the young king. The driver fluidly jumped from his seat. After a short bow to Van, he opened the door to the carriage. A tall man wearing a long, dark robe stepped out and gave a low bow to the king. He stood up straight and looked Van in the eye.
"Folken!" Van was dumbstruck. His brother was alive! But why was he gone for two years? Where had he been? Why was he with Zaibach now?
"Van," Folken interrupted his thoughts. "I understand you have many questions, but let's go inside to discuss them."
"Right. Of course, follow me."
~.:`*`:.~
The two brothers sat across from each other at a table in a large, regal room. Van watched Folken incredulously, fearing that what he was seeing wasn't real, but at the same time he was worried that it was. Questions floated through his head; questions of Folken's motives, his past and his beliefs. Van knew he couldn't trust him, at least not until he received a satisfactory answer for why his brother had shown up all of the sudden.
"Where have you been?" Van finally asked.
Folken sighed. "I understand how much of a shock it must be for me to have appeared here after being gone for so long, but it was not until just recently that I was ready to make the trip to see you. So much has happened in the past two years that it would be difficult to tell you everything. However, you, of all people, deserve to know what has been going on.
"I assume Hitomi told you of my final attempt to kill Dornkirk, correct?" Van nodded. "After that happened, the world became a zone of absolute fortune. During that short period of time, the wills of every man, woman and child were heeded and it was their wills that decided the fate and course of Gaea. The power of the Wing Goddess was also heightened during this period. It was her will that brought me back to life. She wished for it so badly that the fates gave in and actually brought me back to the living world. However, her will did not include healing me.
"When I awoke I was alone and helpless. More than half the bones in my body were broken and I had a severe wound in my chest. The people of Zaibach eventually found me, though, and they healed me. It took over a year, but they fully restored my body. After that, I was indebted to help them. Together we are building the city back up and trying to restore normality among the people.
"I wanted to tell you I was alive earlier, but I did not have the courage. I have done so many terrible things in the past that my guilt held me back. Also, the Zaibach people needed a ruler. I knew that you would not be happy with my decision to fill that role."
"Then you have sided with Zaibach." Van spat angrily.
"Yes." Folken answered calmly. "Without Dornkirk at the helm, Zaibach will be a peaceful nation. It will not be the terror it once was." Van still appeared angry and refused to look at his brother. "I owe Zaibach my life, so I will give it to them."
"So you are going to turn your back on Fanelia?!" Van stood up, his body shaking with anger. "This is your homeland! It is your birthright! You were supposed to be king! This was never supposed to be my responsibility!"
Folken also stood, but in a much more composed manner. "In this life we must all do things we never wanted to do, Van. This burden I have left on your shoulders is one I cannot take back. My destiny is already decided, there is nothing either of us can do to change that." He turned and walked to the door.
"Folken, I will allow you to stay here in the palace for two days to give you time to prepare to leave. I'm only allowing you to stay because you are a country representative and it is my duty to allow you to do so. After that, I never want to see you again. From now on you will be nothing but a traitor in my eyes."
The ever-stoic Folken only nodded his head once before exiting the room.
~.:`*`:.~
"Van, what is Folken doing here?" Allen demanded angrily as he strode into the king's study. "I know he is your brother, but he is a part of Zaibach."
"He is no brother of mine." Van retorted. "The peace treaties demand that all dignitaries and representatives of all countries be treated with respect and courtesy. In order to comply with that I have to let him stay for at least two days."
"But Van, he's dangerous! And I am positive that he is up to something."
"What do you mean?" Van's curiosity was struck.
Allen sat down across the desk from Van. "Folken appears out of no where after two years all because he felt he needed to apologize? This does not sound like the Folken from the Destiny War. It was because of him Fanelia burned. It is because of him that the war even began in the first place. It was because of him that you are forced to be the king. He left you alone and turned his back on his own family and country. And now he comes to apologize? He does not sound like the kind of man who would do such a thing. If you ask me, he has secondary plans."
"But what?" Van stood and began pacing the floor in thought. "Freid and Asturia have been keeping watch over Zaibach, and neither of those countries have reported anything suspicious. Folken doesn't have any real power, he doesn't even have an army. What kind of threat could he pose?"
"I don't know, Van, but I will find out."
~.:`*`:.~
Celena woke up to the sound of birds chirping outside her window. She smiled pleasantly at the sound and got out of bed. After dressing and eating a small breakfast, she headed out to the palace gardens to take a morning stroll.
It was springtime and beautiful flowers were in full bloom. Flowering trees released their pink and white blossoms into the wind, scattering delicate bouquets into the sky. The elegant woman sat on a stone bench under a large tree and silently observed her surroundings. Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when she noticed a man wearing a long, dark cloak walking in her direction.
Allen had warned her last night of this man.
"He is dangerous, Celena!" He had said. "Don't go near him, don't talk to him. He might be planning something horrible, but until we know for certain I want you to keep your eyes out for him."
Heeding his word, she stood from her seat and started walking away from the man. After a moment she could still hear his footsteps behind her so she quickened her paces.
Folken watched as the young woman nervously trotted away. He knew what needed to happen, but he was not quite sure how to do it. He paused and looked down to the ground so he could concentrate better. A small beetle caught his eye. The small insect amiably made it's way down the path, completely unaware of the idea it had given to the Zaibach emperor and he repercussions that idea would eventually have.
Th emperor turned and walked to a more secluded part of the garden. He stood, alone, for a moment under a large tree before a figure deftly jumped down from the branches above and landed silently at his feet. The man who had driven the carriage into Fanelia kneeled before his lord and waited for instructions.
"Are your men ready, Chesta?"
"Of course, Lord Folken."
"I have a plan, but you will need to carry it out. The girl, Celena, does not trust me."
"Yes, my lord."
~.:`*`:.~
Celena stole a glance behind her and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the man was no longer there. She dabbed the bit of nervous perspiration that had collected off her forehead and continued walking down the garden walkway.
The minutes passed by slowly as she observed her surroundings. The trees gently swayed with a cool spring breeze. It was quite pleasant until the wind started to blow even harder.
"Excuse me, miss."
Celena whirled around, surprised that she had not heard the person behind her earlier. A young man stood about twenty feet away. He looked so sorrowful.
"What do you want?" She asked cautiously. A sudden jolt hit her stomach. A part of her was screaming with joy. Something about that young man made her indescribably happy.
'No!' She shouted in her head. 'He's sad, I shouldn't be happy about anything right now. What's wrong with me?'
The man's eyes watered slightly. "Look at what you did! That poor little creature."
Celena felt her heart tighten as she quickly rushed over. There, lying dead on the ground, was a dead butterfly. "What happened?" She asked, her eyes watering up as well.
"I was walking behind you and I thought of coming up and talking to you, but you looked like you were thinking of something so I thought it best not to disturb you. I guess you were so out of it that you didn't even notice when this poor innocent butterfly crossed your way. You stepped right on it like you didn't even care." A single tear made it's way down his cheek.
"I did that?"
Celena's vision spun. Her head felt heavy and she couldn't stand anymore. The young man watched as her eyes flickered colors. He smirked as the woman's pupils turned red, but just as suddenly her eyes turned back to a crystalline blue.
"It was horrible and careless of you." He continued quickly. "I can't believe you did something so repulsive."
That did it. Her eyes changed to a red as pure as fire and her body morphed to something completely different.
Dilandau stood straight up and looked around. "Chesta? But you're dead."
"It's so good to see you again, Sir." Chesta bowed once. "Everything will be explained later, we need to move quickly now. But first," He reached behind him and pulled a bag he had been carrying off his shoulder. He reached inside and pulled out a stack of red and black clothing. "You should probably put these on."
Grabbing the familiar armor, Dilandau ducked behind a massive tree and quickly changed out of the frilly mess Celena had previously been wearing. Comfortable for the first time in two years, he came out from behind the tree and handed Celena's clothed to Chesta.
"Bring these with us, we wouldn't want to give her dear older brother any hints to what happened, now would we?"
Chesta smirked. It felt so good to finally have his commander back. Only he could ever think so clearly all the time like that. There was no one else who could ever measure up to him in any way.
"We will be picked up just outside of the city," Chesta informed. "But we have a small mission first. We are supposed to infiltrate the palace and steal a pink pendant."
Dilandau raised an eyebrow skeptically.
"It's Lord Folken's orders." Chesta shrugged.
"Folken?" Dilandau questioned.
"Yeah. He's the emperor of Zaibach now.
Dilandau just nodded. He hated not knowing exactly what was going on, but there was nothing he could do about it at the moment so he decided to just run with it until he had more time to get reasonable answers.
*:.~;`;~.:*
Thanks for all the great reviews and suggestions!
SapphireStar- Maybe it will be a F/H... I dunno, I guess we'll just have to wait to see how it turns out!