Disclaimer:  No, like everyone, I don't own the Escaflowne cast… nor the plot… so, don't sue 'cause no lawyer will take my case.  **CrimsonFire pokes her and points to the large que card**  Oh… **ShadowKat reads**  Yay!  I DO own some of the characters!  I own all the characters that are NOT in the Escaflowne plot or in the series! Three Girls

This story is dedicated to the only person I know who has a heart of gold and a talent for the art of story telling.  CrimsonFire my friend, you've been there for me when I've needed you and you're always willing to help me out no matter what situation I'm in.  So this one is done for you!

Chapter 6: Planning and it's Complications

Hitomi Kanzaki nodded in understanding.  Nicole sighed and leaned back in her chair.  She had just gotten through telling Hitomi about how they got into this land-apparently a planet called Gaea-and what happened up until now.  "So, you think you can help us?" Alex asked hopefully.  She needed some good news; listening to Nicole reencounter what had happened had made her depressed.

"I hope so, Alex.  I'll have to talk to Van when he gets back but until then we can't be sure of anything, so why don't you two stay here?"  Hitomi suggested.

"Fine with us," Nicole replied.

Hitomi nodded and got to her feet.  "Follow me," she said.

Alex and Nicole got to their feet and followed Hitomi out of the room.  She gave them a tour of the halls and where they led to, where the garden was, and in case of a sudden attack, where the stables were and how to escape.  Lastly, she came to a stop outside of a large Oak door and pushed it open, revealing a room with plush white carpet and cream-colored walls.  The room held two double beds facing each other, each with a nightstand, each bed on an opposite wall.

There was a trunk at the foot of one bed.  A desk was next to the door, and a dresser against the farthest wall.  With a bathroom attachment to the left, and a closet to the right, the room was beautiful and complete.

"This is where you'll be staying.  I'll come and get you when Van comes home for dinner.  Until then, you can rest up," Hitomi said, and then closed the door.

"I'm taking a shower," Nicole said as she headed to the bathroom.

Alex laughed and collapsed onto the bed with the trunk at the end.  "I'm takin' a nap!"  She said as Nicole shut the door to the bathroom.  After the sound of running water had started, Alex fell into a cozy sleep.

Kat stood in the center of a large room with a blue padded floor.  Large lights were trained on her and she felt like she was in some crazy kung-fu movie.  Why does everything here have to feel like a movie?  She wondered. 

She could feel the eyes of the 12 Dragon Slayers on her.  It made her a little uneasy, being watched by them.  She wasn't used to having this many eyes on her and they were all just waiting for the signal to pounce.  Come on girl; don't loose your concentration.  Just pretend you're back at the dojo, working out… or at least trying to work out, she mentally told herself.  She tightened her grip on her sword and went into a fighting stance. 

So maybe she was a little rusty on her fencing techniques, but at least it gave her some comfort to know she would have a chance.  She stared straight ahead at her opponent-the fight was to the death.  The guy in front of her was dressed in all black, with a mask hiding his facial features. 

It was like she was battling a mime; someone unimportant or maybe even the CEO of this Zaibach-if they even knew what a CEO was-and was just playing with her mind as he stood there, grinning a mouth less grin at her.  She shuttered, a mental picture of a mime popping up in her head.  She hated mimes.

Out of nowhere, the man charged at her.  He came in low and fast like some sort of human missile.  Surprised, she put up her sword and parried the blow.  Untangling her sword from the man's, she thrust at him and he barely was able to block it.  Whoever it is, they haven't been very experienced in the art of swords fighting-even I can get some shots in on him, she thought as she easily blocked a thrust from the man.  Now I'm getting back into the kick of things!

Ok, I need to give this dude a name.  I'll call him... Blocky, she thought as she preformed a pretty descent back flip, getting out of the way of a low swing.  Blocky followed her and took another swing at her.  Kat blocked it and swung at his neck.

There was an ear splitting sound of metal on metal just as she thought the swing would go through.  Again, her and Blocky's swords were locked together.  Again?  Doesn't this dog know any new tricks?  She wondered.  However, Blocky began to put pressure on her sword, slowly pushing her down.

So he learns, she thought as she pulled out of the lock and jumped to the side, causing Blocky to stumble forward.  Seeing her only chance, she took it and raised her sword.  She closed her eyes and said the fastest prayer, then brought it down and ignored the sound of her blade piercing the man's heart.  It made her sick, the sound did, and she pulled back to try and get out of the way of the blood. 

Blocky froze and when she pulled her blade out of him he fell to the ground, dead.         

Kat looked at his dead body lying in front of her and a small grin appeared on her face.  First time I did it that way.  I know I should feel bad about taking his life, but that was kind of fun.... she thought.  She quickly dismissed it and wiped the grin off her face.  This is morally wrong.  I should not be laughing about taking someone's life!  What would Nicole and Alex say?

She turned and looked at Dilandau, his face was blank and she couldn't read his expression.  "Miguel, the time," he ordered. 

Miguel stepped forward and looked at a stopwatch that had just magically appeared in his hand.  Dang, it's like Alex's ever present hamster, she thought, amused at the memory of the insane hamster that had gotten out of its cage and had run rampant all over her house.

"Exactly 52 seconds," he reported, and then stepped back into the Dragon Slayer's line. 

Dilandau smirked at this. " "You may go back to your quarters.  Gatti, escort her," he said. 

A boy with light brown hair and bluish green eyes stepped forward.  "Follow me, please," he said, and then started towards the door with Kat on his heels.  She wanted to get out of the room as fast as possible-the smell of the man's blood was making her sick to her stomach.

Alex, Nicole and Hitomi were all seated at a large dark wood table with plush blue chairs in a nice, large room with huge windows on all sides discussing the Vione-Zaibach's Floating Fortress-when a tall man with wild black hair and hazel eyes walked into the room.  He wore black army boots and khaki colored pants with a white blouse.  He eyed Nicole and Alex with a mix of curiosity and weariness.

"Alex, Nicole, this is Van Fanel, King of Fanellia and my husband.  Van, this is Nicole and Alex.  They came from Earth and have a very interesting story to tell you after dinner," Hitomi said.

Van nodded, not even offering a smile to the others, and sat down to the right of Hitomi.   "So Hitomi, can we go through with our plan?"  Alex asked, eyeing Van with curiosity.  Why did he seem as if he was carrying a huge weight on his shoulders?  It's like Kat the first time I saw her, she thought.  "Nicole and I have come up with a genius plan to rescue Kat."

Hitomi smiled at them and motioned to Van.  "I've got no problems with it.  But explain your brilliant plan to him.  He's the smart one," she said with a hint of joking in her tone.

"Well, we figured if we could get a small army of men to make a minor attack on the Vione," Alex started, but saw the confused look on Van's face and stopped.   "Yes, I mean minor," she explained. 

Van nodded and she continued.   "We were thinking that maybe a small army can make a small attack on the Vione making the battle last just long enough for either Nicole or I to slip into the Vione, hopefully unnoticed, to find Kat.  Then we could rescue her while you retreat and hopefully we won't have any real damage done to us."

Van looked thoughtful for a second.  "My advisors have told me that a beam of light deposited three girls on Zaibach territory and that they were taken by the Dragon Slayers," he mused as if to himself.  "Then I heard that Zaibach had plans for the girls and that they believed them to be the legendary Protectors of Gaea. 

"My advisors then reported just two days ago that two of the girls escaped and Zaibach had lost track of them.  Now that I have heard your plan, I assume that the other two girls are you, and that your friend-Kat, did you say?-is the other girl I heard about."

Nicole nodded and he went on. 

"Then I just heard that the other girl, Kat, had just formally accepted the duty of the Dragon Slayers and had taken the identity of the Destroyer-"

"What?  We all accepted the duty of Dragon Slayer!  Only, they sort of tricked us into it.  The whole holding the clothes you accept thing," Alex protested.

"To become a real Dragon Slayer you need to accept the clothes and then kill someone in a battle in good time.  Anything under 2 minutes I believe.  That's when you're formally accepted," Hitomi explained.

"Then that means…" Nicole whispered, her eyes growing wide.

"Kat has killed someone," Van finished.  "But, I also know from a very reliable source that Zaibach plans to make Kat's powers develop faster since all of your powers are still premature.  I have reason to believe that this can prove fatal, or it can make her the most powerful person on all of Gaea. 

"However, not without its consequences.  If they proceed and Kat's body does not accept the bringing of her new powers so quickly it could brainwash her… making her the most powerful servant of Zaibach."

Alex inhaled sharply at this.  "Then you agree that we have to save her," She inquired hopefully.

Van thought for a second, and then nodded.  "I agree that it is a concern of mine that Kat will fall into the power of Zaibach.  It is in Fanellia's best interest that we rescue her.  I'll brush you up on some techniques and we attack at the end of the week," he replied.

"Thank you," Nicole said, relief obvious in her tone and face.

The next couple of days went by without any problems.  Van was very prompt in getting a small army of 100 men together.  He also kept his promise to brush Alex and Nicole up on fighting techniques; of course they were eager to learn so it only took a day to teach them. 

He even let Alex teach the troops some moves that she used since she did have a black belt in martial arts, a form that was unknown to the troops.  Everything was fine, until they learned that Zaibach had already started experimenting on Kat.  "We attack tomorrow, right?" Nicole asked worriedly, having just received the information.

Van nodded.  "We attack at dawn," he replied.

"Good, 'cause I want to give those bastards a taste of my medicine," Alex spat.

Van looked at her with a slight smile.  "Take it from a war veteran, get some sleep; you'll need it."

Nicole and Alex nodded and started the walk to their room in silence. "Alex, you think Kat's alright?"  Nicole asked finally as she climbed into her bed.

"Of course.  She wouldn't give up on help and I bet she's putting up one hell of a fight.  Zaibach must have to use a lot of force to keep her down for their experiments," Alex replied confidently.

"No, I mean about the killing thing.  You think she did it on her own free will?  Or was it a trade off, her life or his?"

"I… I don't know, Nikki.  I wish to God I knew if the rumor was true or not, know the details you know?"

"So do I." Nicole said, and then drifted off to sleep.

"Yeah," Alex mumbled before slipping off into a deep sleep.

Kat walked down the halls of the Vione sore and in a bad mood.  She had just been released from Folken's lab.  Everyday, starting the day after she killed the man they would take her after her short lunch and force her into a cold metal chair and strap her down so she couldn't move an inch.  She hated the room-it was dark and cold and held the presence of something evil in it.

Of course, that only added to Kat's determination to get free.  In turn, it took at least two hours just to get her down.  She sort of pitied the guards that received injuries from her; they had no reason to have those broken arms and jaws.  But the darkness spoke to her and made her on edge, to add to the fact that she wanted to get free.  But once she was down and strapped in, the injections came.

Kat shuddered at the thought.  She hated them.  They hurt like hell and they didn't do anything.  At least, not that she could tell-and neither could they from the looks of her sessions lately.  Injection after injection of different colored fluids and some that she thought were pure acid were injected into her blood stream.  They burned her making her think that she had been lit on fire.  She hated them.

Then to add to that Dilandau had started to come with her to her "sessions".  At first it was for security since she had been close to escaping and he just stayed by the door.  But then he had started to get closer to her, slithering towards her each session, helping with the injections or holding her down or some other instructed action.  He would bitch about it throughout the sessions (he even got popped in the jaw once) but she knew better. 

He was only there for one thing; to see her suffer.  Kat hated it and she had once spat, "I'm no child.  I can handle it without you."  He hadn't replied, and Kat had held in her screams as she received more injections.

She wrapped her arms around her and walked a little faster.  She hated it. She hated Zaibach, she hated the "sessions", she hated the Vione and most of all she hated Folken.  She hated being treated like a Guinea Pig.  She hated not having Nicole or Alex around.  She hated feeling weak and vulnerable and she wanted to go home.  In fact, she hated this whole planet.  If she was the Destroyer why couldn't she just destroy the whole planet?

"Well, what do we have here?" A voice asked suddenly. 

Kat stopped and looked up, out of her thoughts and annoyed.  She hadn't been paying attention to where she was going and found that she was on a deck she had never been before.  Puzzled, she turned around and saw Dilandau behind her.

"A lost kitten?"  He smirked and walked over to her.  "You're on a unauthorized deck, little kitten," he snarled.

Kat's face immediately became one of hate and rage.  She would not take this from him.  "I'm not a "little kitten"," she spat with venom.

"Ooh, aren't we brave," he replied sarcastically.

Kat was just about to reply with a snide remark when she suddenly became aware that Dilandau was much closer then usual.  She opened her mouth to ask what he was doing when suddenly she felt his lips against hers.  What the... she thought, confused.  Her mind was working like lighting.  She pushed him away and took a step back, her eyes filled with confused anger.

Why did he do that?  He couldn't like me.  Am I some kind of game?  She turned on her heel and started to walk away him.  I've got to get away from him.

Dilandau's hand reached out and grabbed her upped arm, stopping her.  "What?"  Kat asked, annoyed.

"Wrong way," he replied, and turned her around, pointing her in the right direction.

Kat growled and started walking the right way, fast.  Soon she was far away from Dilandau and back in her own room.  She knew that it was some ungodly hour in the morning, and she barely found her bed.  She collapsed into it and forced her mind to stop with all the questions.  He's playing with your mind, girl.  Ignore him and everything will be fine, she told herself.

But you like him, another voice said before she drifted off to sleep.

AN: Aw…. Kat's having second thoughts about Dilandau and Nicole and Alex are planning to get her back?  Will Kat go with them?  The twisting and pulling of this!  Agh!  Well, let's see… when shall the next chapter come out?  Nah, I like this cliffhanger.  So… HAH!  I'm not posting until I get… uh, at least 10 reviews!  If or not… oh, who knows?  R+R Everyone!

~ShadowKat