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 3: Strangers in the Night
~VISION~
Kat stood in a ring of fiery death, smoke bellowing from what the fire burned. She choked on the smoke again and collapsed, struggling for clean breath. This time she knew what would happen from somewhere deep inside her heart she knew what was going on.
Sounds of sword crashing against each other rang in her ears along with people being killed and the crunching of bones breaking. She heard screams and tears and people begging for forgiveness as they were run through. Her stomach churned dangerously and her world spun. She tried to cover her ears but it wouldn't go away.
"What's happening?" She cried, wishing that this pain she was feeling would go away. Why was there such merciless killing going on? Why did she feel like it was her fault?
She glanced at the fire and almost fainted at what she saw. The glimmering image of two girls stood in the fire, their outlines dimmed and their faces hidden in the flames. All she could make out was there they were wearing cloaks…
"Gaea is breathing," one voice whispered gently. It was so soft she couldn't identify it.
"Don't kill her by standing," the other spoke just as softly.
"Please stay hidden,"
"Or the scar will deepen,"
"Don't cry for her,"
"Don't go back and serve,"
"Be Strong,"
"Or else the battle will never be won."
The last few words brought tears to her eyes as images flashed through her head. Mothers, children, fathers, grandmothers, infants, babies, grandfathers all lay slaughtered around her, their blood pooling together. She just stared at them, nothing on her face and no expression in her eyes. She was void and the void was growing-she could feel it expanding through her veins and seeping into her very skin. It was like a disease she couldn't get rid of.
"No…" she whimpered, looking around, her eyes completely blank.
Lying the closest to her was Nicole, her face battered and her neck broken. The look on her face was of pure pain and she could see that her skin was still sweating… she reached down and gently touched the face. It was ice cold.
"NO!"
Across the body of Nicole was Alex. Her body was tortured and her skin cut in many places. Her eyes were blank and a word frozen forever on her lips. Her back was cut open and the blood ran like a stream down her back and across Nicole.
"NO! NO!"
She whirled around, trying to escape the images. But everywhere she looked there was someone else dead. She couldn't escape it! They were everywhere!
The void within her grew and she couldn't help but scream inwardly as she felt her very being slipped away. She whirled around again only to find the body of Dilandau lying at her feet.
"No…"
She fell to the ground and reached out for him, touching his wet ice-cold skin and tears over flowing. She turned his head towards her and saw that it held pain and sorrow in his frozen eyes, his lips blue and his face covered in blood. His arms were broken and the bones erupting from the skin and his armor shredded.
"NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She cried.
She began to scream, scream because of the pain and the anger and the darkness she felt inside. She was no longer herself-she was a blank killer, a pawn of the darkness that lived inside of her. She screamed because she couldn't stop. She screamed because she couldn't feel. She screamed because she had killed.
Suddenly the fire crackled and began to close in on her like a wave falling upon the beach. She watched as tears fell from her eyes as her doom came forth and a howling wind picked up out of nowhere. It wrapped itself around her, the pure iciness of it and the dark feeling it held biting at her bare skin and making her dark soul shiver with excitement.
She couldn't stop the feeling of hopelessness grow inside of her like a flower in the spring time and her pain come over her as she was thrown into darkness. Swirling, turning, twisting, she fell through the darkness with no feeling of anything but the pure pleasure of hopelessness and pain inside of her dead heart.
~END~
~VISION~
"Is there a way to stop it?" She heard her voice ask. She tried to open her eyes but she couldn't. She simply floated in the darkness all around her. She could feel its icy grip on her cold flesh tightening as she lay there.
"No." Came a whispering voice.
"Can we avoid it?"
"No."
"Is it a part of Gaea's history?"
"Yes."
"Is this the repentance of it?"
"Yes."
"What happens?"
"Death."
"Is it my fault?"
"Yes."
"Do I stop it?"
"No."
"Do I join it?"
"Yes."
"Everyone dies."
"Yes."
"Can I stop it now if I go?"
"No."
"I've all ready started it."
"Yes."
She could feel herself nod and the darkness consume her as she drifted off…
~END~
Kat walked tiredly into the dark room that was her own; everything still the same as last time. It was fairly big and standing from the doorway of the hall you found a double bed to the right of the room, a window seat and window in the middle of the wall that faced the doorway with a dresser in the corner left corner. Continuing down the right wall you found a walk in closet and to the right there was a bathroom.
There was a wooden trunk at the end of her bed, and that was it. The floor was some kind of ugly gray metal and the walls were a plain white color. Even the darkness of the room seemed to come from every aspect of the room. She knew that Dilandau had left strict orders for her to rest while he and the Slayers were on a mission but that was an order Kat just couldn't follow; besides she had been having visions for the last couple of days, no one could blame her.
Just because they get to patrol the borders doesn't mean that I get to stay here and play sick, she thought. I was being nice in the Medical Ward but now I want to get out and move! They can't stop me if they're not here-besides I know my body's limits. Doesn't mean I'll respect them but I do know them.
Therefore she had just finished a training session in the Training Room toning her skills and testing her endurance. She smiled to the darkness as she sat heavily down on her bed not caring to turn on a light. The darkness was just as soothing as the sleep that she was about to fall into. I should probably take a shower before I turn in, she thought as she felt the remains of her heavy sweat all ready drying.
"What the heck, Dilandau won't be back until the day after tomorrow, so I've got time to take a shower… later," she muttered to herself as she slipped under the cold sheets. She didn't bother undressing nor did she really care; all she wanted was a comfy sleeping position. One good thing about having a boyfriend that was a General of the greatest elite force in the world, she thought, I always have comfy sheets to sleep under along with a comfortable bed. What more can a girl ask for?
Just as sleep was claiming her, Kat heard something odd. Normally she would've ignored it, saying it was just a night sound but something in her guy told her to open her eyes. As she forced her eyes open and sat up she found that the room was completely empty except for her-and two other uninvited guests. Through the darkness Kat saw that it was the two figures from her visions their outlines exactly the same. "HEY! What-" she didn't get to finish the sentence as she was suddenly gagged and blind folded.
"Mmuph! (hey)" Kat said as she felt her hands and feet being tied also.
"Muh thuh hmphmuh! (who are you people)" She said as she felt herself being picked up and thrown over one of the figure's shoulders. Great, just great, she thought. The girls ambush me from my visions! How embarrassing! If Dilandau walked in just now I'd never hear the end of it! Actually, that would be a good thing, probably, she thought just before the pain of being hit over the head consumed her, forcing her to black out.
Dilandau entered Kat's room after a long search of the Vione. He had just come back from patrol duty (a particular boring duty) of the borders of Zaibach and he had expected that Kat would be waiting for him. But she hadn't been there when he returned to the hanger to put up their guymelefs, the Medical Ward, her room, Training Room, Recreation Room or his room. It turned out that she wasn't anywhere on the Vione at all.
Where'd that girl go? He wondered as he searched her room again. There were signs that Kat had definitely slept there about two days ago from the way the sheets were crumbled about. He gazed at the bed-he could tell from just the way the sheets were placed that she had been pulled out of bed very quickly and not by her own will. There were obvious signs of intruders.
Damn, where did she go? Who was in here with her? He thought as he sat down on the unmade bed. It was stressing him out, worrying about her. He knew perfectly well that she could take care of herself and easily return to him but the lack of her presence had set him on edge.
He hadn't realized how much she had affected him. Just her presence alone had relax him in ways he didn't know possible-the way she gently ran her fingertips over his scar and the way her eyes showed an understanding and love for it made him think that nothing had changed between them. Worry that she would reject him for the scar had disappeared the second she had acted like it was no big deal. She seemed to think of it as a mark of his skill not a sign of weakness.
He let his hands travel along the pillows searching for something he might have missed. Surely she didn't just give up… but what if she had wanted to go? No, then there wouldn't have been signs of a struggle, he thought. There must be something I'm missing!
Suddenly he started yanking all the pillows from their places and threw it across the room. He tore off the sheets and bed sheet until all that was left was a bare mattress. Only one pillow remained, having stayed securely in place as he had ripped the bed apart.
Reaching forward, Dilandau yanked the pillow from its place. Underneath that pillow was a note folded in a clear rush. Dilandau carefully picked it up and read it. "DAMN!" His voice echoed through the halls of the Vione, making the resting Dragon Slayers flinch.
"Looks like something's wrong," Tyler whispered to the rest of the Slayers. They all nodded.
Kat wearily opened her eyes, hoping that her pounding head was from a vision and that she was still in her room. Maybe Dilandau's back, she thought as she slowly took in where she was. That's when she realized the sight that she was seeing wasn't her room. "Damn it, so it wasn't a dream," she muttered as she sat up.
The room was small, completely constructed of wood, and very plain. The bright wood walls were bare and only two windows disturbed their ongoing wood plane on one side. The windows were small, barely even three feet wide and two feet tall, with black iron cast bars on the outside keeping anyone from entering or exiting. There were two other cots in the room, one was hers and the other two were unclaimed. Her cot had been pushed underneath the window and the second window, towards the corner of the room, had a cot under it also, and the last cot was in the other corner of the room-all were along the windowed wall.
At the foot of each cot there was a trunk made from dark wood and a dresser across the room. A door that led to a bathroom attachment on the wall with the window side cot and a door that, presumably, led out there were a couple coat hangers on the wall by the door, which was next to the dresser. On the coat hangers there were two cloaks; a dark hunter green one and a dark violet one.
Those look awful familiar… she thought. Just then the door that led outside opened and in walked the two people Kat wanted to see most before she arrived on Gaea. "Oh, God! I thought you guys weren't here! I thought I was the only one!" Kat cried as she saw her two best friends standing in front of her.
She ran up and gave them hugs, relieved that they were together again and she could finally talk to some people who would understand her life. Just as she was about to continue she noticed the grim expressions they both wore and how they weren't hugging her back. "What's wrong?" Kat asked, her voice concerned.
"Kat, we've got some things to tell you," Nicole said, her voice laced with maturity. It was hard not for Kat to stare at her. She had never heard Nicole sound so grown-up before.
"Well you know I'm always listening," Kat replied.
Nicole sighed and sat down on the cot that Kat had woken up on and motioned for her to join her. Alex closed the door and leaned against it as if guarding it. "What's going on guys?" Kat asked, looking at both her friends. The time of truth was upon them.
Dilandau paced in front of his Slayers anxiously. It was obvious that something was very wrong but none of the Slayers dared ask him why he had called them. They were too respectful of their Commander and didn't avert their eyes from the wall they were all staring at. Suddenly Dilandau stopped pacing and faced his Slayers head on, his eyes glinting dangerously. "Kat has been taken hostage. The capture's have left this as a warning," he said in a curt tone, holding up the hastily folded letter.
He tossed it at the nearest Slayer, which happened to be Dean. Dean caught it and carefully read it over. We had to take Kat in order to prevent something terrible from happening to Gaea. But it seems we were too late. Please understand we're doing this in the best interest of Gaea and please don't come and look for her. All you need to know is that she's in good hands.
That's what it read. Dean finished then passed it to Trent, who read it and passed it down the line. It sounded like nothing was wrong, as if these kidnappers had done this before.
"Now, I suppose you all know that Kat is a Protector of Gaea," Dilandau said it as a statement, not a question. He knew the others had at one point seen Kat using her powers in training. "You all know what could happen is she falls into the wrong hands. So, we need to find her and get her back at any cost."
All the Slayers nodded in agreement even if they didn't see their Commander's point. The letter sounded perfectly rational to them. "Dean, Trent, get the guymelefs prepped in case we need them. Tyler, James, work on a way to get through any thing magical or powerful we might encounter. Get going, now!"
With the orders given out, the Slayers rushed to fulfill them. Dilandau watched as his Slayers rushed off in different directions. There was a war brewing and he didn't care what the kidnappers thought-Kat was a part of him and he needed her at his side to prepare for this thing. Kat, just hang on, he silently pleaded.
Kat stared at her friends in shock. Had what they just told her be real? They had taken her away from Zaibach, from Dilandau, to protect Gaea? How could that be? It didn't make any sense! "Kat, please try to understand. Those visions you've been having, we've been having them too. We knew that it meant Gaea was to go into a war, people would die, and we knew that it meant you had to be away from any possible sides and fights in the battle," Nicole pleaded, her eyes searching Kat's.
"That was until we realized the true meaning of the visions. They meant to tell us to get you out of Zaibach before you even went there. We were too late to get you out of Zaibach so we had to get you out. See, the longer you stay there the bigger the scar in Gaea's crust becomes and more evil can get out. I know it doesn't make any sense," Alex added.
Kat's mind was reeling. What should she do? Run? Scream at them? Go back to Dilandau? None of the options that popped into her mind made her feel like they were good ideas. "I know what you're saying is true, I've had the visions and realized what they meant also… but why do I have to stay away from Zaibach? It's not like I've taken a stand against anyone," she said.
"Kat you took a stand by going with Dilandau into Zaibach. That meant that anyone who sides against Zaibach is your enemy. You took a stand in this war when we were supposed to remain neutral and for some reason that made a change in Gaea's crust and this evil was able to escape," Nicole pointed out.
Kat let out a defeated sigh and nodded. "I understand and I believe you. You do know more then I do about this. Just next time give me a heads up if a war is going to be fought and I have to sit out," she said.
Nicole smiled and Alex sighed in relief. She had been afraid that Kat would have thought they were just trying to keep her from Dilandau. Sure they didn't approve of him but they knew how Kat felt about him and would support her. Until Dilandau did something that they disapproved of that hurt Kat, they wouldn't say a word against him.
"Agreed," Alex said.
"Okay, so what do we have to do?" Kat asked, standing up.
Nicole followed suit. "Well, we'll have to give you the run down of what's going on, and then we'll have to show you around," Nicole said with a smile.
"Show me around first, run down after," Kat said in a serious tone.
Both Nicole and Alex laughed at that. "Okay, will do," Alex said as she opened the door and walked out with Nicole and Kat on her heels.
AN: Well, what do you think? No hentai in this one… at least not that I saw. So… have we answered the question on the figures? Nicole and Alex are back! Yay! Reunited to… what? Save the planet without Dilandau? What the heck is going on here? This evil… is Gaea all ready lost? Who knows… R+R please, I really want to know how this is going down!
~ShadowKat
