Disclaimer: You know the drill… I don't own anything from Esca but I do own the characters not mentioned in the series so ask before you use them! Thanks!
Death Moon Rising
I would like to take this time to dedicate this story to someone special. She's touched my writing and has encouraged me to go places where I never would've thought possible. Like Crimson Fire, she helped me get to where I am today. Kae Noel, this one is dedicated to you!
Chapter 2: Teams and Dreams
Dilandau led Kat into a room that she recognized as the old Recreation Room. They were back on the new Vione though from what Kat could tell it was basically a replica of the last Vione, which had been destroyed in the war. Inside the large, white walled gray-floored room were 4 men, each wearing an original Slayer uniform. They all saluted as Dilandau entered.
"Dean," Dilandau said, motioning to a boy with short blonde hair and purple eyes. The boy smiled at Kat, and she smiled back. "James," a boy with shoulder length black hair and golden brown eyes waved at Kat. "Tyler and Trent," two boys, each with the exact same chin length golden hair but different eyes nodded. Kat saw that Tyler had blue eyes and Trent had brown.
"The other Slayers are coming later. For now get acquainted and I'll see you later," Dilandau said, gently nipping at her ear before leaving the room.
"So, Lord Dilandau has brought back one of his whores, has he?" Trent said with an evil smile. "What do you charge girly?"
"Come on Trent, be nice! You know Dilandau doesn't do that sort of thing!" Tyler pointed out, trying to get his perverted brother under control.
"Yeah Trent," Kat said, her voice full of sarcasm. "Besides, even if I was some sort of prostitute I wouldn't sell it to you if you were the last man alive."
"Ooh, good one!" James called from his seat on the couch.
"Of course. I'm Kat, the girl who invented comebacks," Kat said, breaking up any possible thoughts of who she was.
All the boys nodded except for Trent who was glaring at her. "Kat, sit down and tell us about yourself," Dean offered, motioning to the couch where James sat.
"Yeah, tell us why Lord Dilandau seems intent on you," James said.
"Okay but I can't promise anything," Kat agreed as she sat down on a couch. She skimmed over the last time she was here leaving out the major parts about her being a Protector and how she had been taken back in the middle of the war. She avoided the questions about her and Dilandau, giving her boyfriend a break.
He demanded respect from his troops and he would never get any if they thought he was soft. In return she demanded to know about the new line of Dragon Slayers. The Slayers told them about themselves and it turned out they all came from orphanages, mostly from the same one. "So, what about the schedule here? What's it like?" Kat asked interested in what Dilandau had been up too.
"Well, we get up at 4 AM, breakfast at 5 AM, then training after breakfast, which would be 6 AM until noon. Then we have lunch," Dean started.
"Which is an hour," provided Tyler.
"Then we continue training until 5 PM and that's when we get break for an hour. Then we have our duties until 7 PM or later, depending on what we're assigned that day, and then we eat. We have free time after that and then at 11 PM it's lights out."
"Ah, pretty boring. I'm going have to spice it up," Kat said all ready bored with the schedule. She got weird looks from all the Slayers for her term. "No! Not that kind of "spicing" things up. You have sick minds!" She cried, realizing what they meant (AN: so I slipped up… remember, they're 19).
James laughed at Kat's antics.
"Yeah, we know we're sick," Trent said. "That's what you get for putting a bunch of guys together on a station with no girls!" He gave her a meaningful look, which Kat shook her head and stood up (AN: I slipped up again… sorry… for Heaven's sake, they're 19).
"Well, know that I'm known, I'm going to see how my skills have held up. So excuse me, unless you care to try me in a duel," she said.
No on replied.
She smiled and left the room. Kat easily made her way to the Training room in less than 10 minutes. Shows how much the Vione hasn't changed, she thought as she entered the large room. Yes, still the same.
The same blue padded floors with white walls covered in assorted instruments for training and florescent lights lighting the huge room. She looked around, the only thing new were the assorted training equipment that lined the far back of the wall-everything from treadmills to punching bags to weight training equipment was there.
Kat walked over to where the extra swords hung on the wall and picked one out. She unsheathed it and tossed the sheath aside letting it tumble across the floor. It had been a long time since she had held this sort of sword in her hands, the sort of sword made for killing not dueling with. Running her hands along the smooth frictionless blade and the hard metal of the head of the sword, the rough leather grip and the scuffed butt, she grinned as she walked out into the middle of the padded floor and went into a ready position.
Very slowly she went through her moves, making each movement balanced and graceful as it could be. She concentrated on her breathing, in and out, timed with her movements. Her mind was free and her body was like liquid. It was like she was in her own state of bliss.
Kat let a smile play at her lips as she worked. She had heard of this kind of self-control when practicing swordsmanship but she had never experienced it herself. It was amazing, purely amazement. After going through all of her moves she sped them up.
Imagining an invisible opponent she thrust and swung and blocked the blows he threw back at her. She didn't notice the two men that entered the Training room and were watching her as she worked. She swung and parried as she moved gracefully across the matted area, her movements increasing in speed with each move.
"Beautiful," Dilandau muttered as he watched Kat work. It was amazing at how her body moved in such grace and speed while bringing about deadly actions. When she held a sword it was as if anything she did was right-she could've killed a man with the most pathetic sword technique he had ever seen and it still would've seemed amazing in his eyes. He watched with intense eyes as her muscles expanded and contracted to accompany her desired movements, sweat making them glisten in the light.
Attack, thrust, block, block, sweep, thrust, swing, block, block, block, sweep, attack, block, thrust, block, attack, thrust, block, swing, block, block, block, sweep, swing, block, she thought as she completed the moves. Suddenly her body stopped-just stopped moving. She was just standing in the middle of the room, frozen in a mid-swing.
Her mind began to grow faint and her vision blurred. There was nothing she could do to move or stop the oncoming pain. The sword dropped from her hand and clattered to the floor as she stood a moment longer before crashing to the floor along with the sword. A black bubble shot up around her, both protecting and hiding her, as the two men rushed up to help her, but found that the shield wouldn't let them. "Damn!" Dilandau yelled as he attacked the black shield doing no damage to it.
~VISION~
Kat was standing in the middle of a burning field the fire rising above her and the smoke choking her. Her eyes watered and she could feel her lungs burning as she hit the ground, hoping to find some amount of "clean" air there. She found none but the sounds of battle all around her was heard by her ears.
Straining to see what was going on, the fire wouldn't let her see the battle that was taking place. She could smell the blood of those who had fallen mixed in with the horrible smell burning flesh. Choking on the smoke again as she tried to rise to her feet, she crumbled back down to the ground. Then, for the first time in her entire life, she realized she was scared.
She looked around as if to find some powerful enemy that was making her feel this way, someone she must defeat to regain her normal sense of security. But it was only the fire that surrounded her, the fire and the smoke and the noises of a raging battle around her.
The battle is fierce. The fire is burning. Lives are lost. But one stands above it all. Through death and torture and pain and anger, the Protector of Gaea, the Destroyer, stands tall, a voice whispered. It was low key and husky as if it spoke in a great rush.
Kat looked around trying to find the source of the voice. Again she found nothing but the fire.
The Moon fights the Wind as the Wind destroys Gaea. The Moon is destroyed… Life is dead, the voice added. Suddenly a huge gust of wind picked up out of nowhere and blasted Kat. She was amazed at the pure power and coldness of it. I never knew wind could be like this, she thought as she let it go over her body.
It reminded her vaguely of the wind that she encountered when she had accepted the responsibility of becoming a Protector. The fire became hotter and began to grow rapidly, the circle in which she was enclosed in becoming smaller and smaller. Kat brought her arms up to shield her face from the heat but she knew it was no use.
From somewhere deep inside her she could feel the hopelessness of the situation. She closed her eyes as she felt her body being ripped from the heat and thrown into icy coldness. There was an evil aura all around her as she floated in the icy depths of the darkness that now surrounded her. She knew that the Wind had won and now everything was gone.
She tried to ignore it. It's just a dream, she told herself. It's just a dream. But then the most incredible thing happened. Kat stopped floating and was jerked forward.
~END~
Kat dropped her arms from her head and opened her eyes as she was jerked forward only to find that she was staring up into the face of Folken. "What the hell?!" She screamed, surprised.
She bolted from his powerful grip, which had locked around her arms as he shook her awake and rolled away from him, looking around wildly. "It's ok, it's ok. You're back in the Training room," Dilandau's voice told her. She took in the sight of Folken kneeling on the ground, his face older and his hair longer, his eyes holding a deeper sorrow in them and Dilandau standing next to him, his eyes showing worry for her.
Trying to calm down she took some deep breaths. "What the hell happened?" She asked, looking at Folken then to Dilandau. Dilandau opened his mouth to explain but stopped the exact moment Kat felt something wet slide down her face. She reached up to her face and touched the skin under her eyes trying to figure out what was happening.
When she pulled her hand away, she saw that it had blood on it. "What the...." she muttered just as blackness swooped in and took control of her. Her body fell back, hitting the floor with a dead thud. Folken quickly took Kat's pulse.
"She's alive. I think we should get her to the Medical Ward," he told Dilandau. Dilandau nodded-he didn't have to tell him twice. He swooped down and took Kat's limp body into his arms and stood up. He turned quickly and left the Training Room with Folken on his heels.
After the door had closed two figures stepped out from the shadows. "Well, let's hope that she can make sense of what she saw," one said.
"Yes. I'm sure she will. But let's hope that she can handle the rest of the visions," the other pointed out. They both melted silently back into the shadows.
AN: **is tackled by masses of angry people** So I slipped up! I'm sorry! I know that was hentai again but they're 19! Come on people, raging hormones and all! **crowd begins to yell and ShadowKat falls within the masses** Who are the people in the darkness? What do they want? What's with this vision? R+R please before these people kill me! **yips as she is pulled away**
~ShadowKat
