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 8: Damned Hearts

Crash.

Crash.

Crash.

Thump.

Thump.

Kat awoke to strange sounds coming from in front of her. She carefully opened her eyes and saw something she couldn't believe. There, only thirty meters away, were seven guymelefs. Six were blue and one was a familiar red. Damn! He's back with friends! She thought as she leapt from her high perch and fell towards the ground. Landing in a one bended knee pose, she quickly recovered and ran towards the cabin.

I guess it's lucky that I fell asleep in that tree, she thought as she threw open the kitchen door. "WAKE UP! GUYMELEFS!" She yelled as loudly as she could.

Within seconds all the Dragon Slayers were in the kitchen. "What?" Guimel asked sleepily.

Kat took no notice that they were all just in pants (AN: **sees CrimsonFire drooling over Dallet and realizes she's drooling too**). "Dilandau's back, this time with friends. They look like their searching for something," she reported as Nicole and Alex walked in. They were both wearing pants with a white tank top and wearing "I'm still asleep" looks. But at her report they both came back to reality and looked at each other.

"They're looking for you; it has to be the only reason they're here. But why?" Nicole asked.

There was a loud crack and part of the roof fell in. "GOD!" Alex swore as she pushed past Kat and threw open the kitchen door, running outside. "Hey, I just got that fixed!" She yelled at the guymelef.

Everyone ran out of the crumbling cabin and out into the open. "They must've cracked the spell!" Nicole said.

Kat created a large energy ball and threw it at the blue guymelef that had put its hand through the cabin roof. As soon as the energy ball touched the targeted guymelef it stopped moving completely. "We're in trouble!" Alex shouted.

The other guymelefs were moving towards them very fast. Kat whirled around once she was sure that the blue guymelef was no longer able to function and saw the other six guymelefs were now barely a couple yards away, the red in the led. "Kat-" Nicole didn't get to finish the sentence before Kat had gotten an idea.

Gathering together all of her energy together and centering it within herself she began to glow with a blue light around her. Kat closed her eyes and tried to picture the guymelefs in her mind's eye but the picture was blurry and out of focus. It moved around like she was shaking badly. "I can't get a lock!" She cried, frustrated.

She could feel her energy sparking within her and knew that if she didn't hurry up and get a lock then she would lose her chance forever and be out cold for the next week. Withholding energy was a dangerous act for her. She tried again when suddenly one of the guymelefs became crystal clear and she turned her energy on it.

Her eyes flying open she found that a large ball of black energy had been made and shot forth in a heavy blast. It hit the guymelef that she had targeted straight on. The guymelef caught on fire and began to fall apart as it slowed and then finally collapsed on the ground, a heap of flames. There was a distinct "no" from somewhere in behind her.

She looked and saw Dilandau's guymelef right behind her and that it was the source of the sound. Her eyes widened in shock and hurt. So he did love another. "KAT!" The voice brought Kat out of her world of wonder as she looked past the giant machine that blocked her view.

Her friends were being over powered as she watched, the other guymelefs converging on them with flamethrowers drawn and Crima Claws at the ready. With a low growl Kat gathered all of her energy again, closed her eyes and focused on the guymelefs. The first attack had taken most of her strength and it took everything Kat had to keep from blacking out in the process of locking onto her targets. I can't… she thought as the images blurred and came back to her.

Feeling blind she knew that she was about to faint. Hoping that she could shot blind, she opened her eyes as she let the energy go, hoping for the best. She watched as the energy went right through Dilandau's guymelef seeming to not harm him and straight at the other four. The energy flew at the guymelefs and then split into four thin beams, hitting its targets with precision and skill. The guymelefs stumbled backwards, sparks flying from them.

Kat didn't get to see what happened next. Her body gave out and she fell to the ground, her mind swirling in and out of darkness. Through half closed eyes she watched as a giant hand floated over her, about to grab her, then the blackness took over.

Dilandau watched as Kat slept in his bed, her face and body completely relaxed as she recovered from her energy drain. She looked so peaceful when she slept he thought. However he knew that there was something more to her then how she looked when she slept.

She had purposely attacked him and his Slayers with such power that he wasn't even sure if it was meant to destroy or just to distract. Whatever the intention she had taken out two of his Slayers giving them both serious injuries. Yet that wasn't what was on his mind-his Slayer's injuries were injuries, there was nothing he could do about that.

If she had been out to destroy the Slayers why did she save his unit, keeping him alive and well as her energy went through him and attacked his Slayers? Why spare him when she could've had everyone dead? Why did she not attack him? There was something wrong with Kat; he knew it. Just forget about her. You're stronger without her. She's made you so weak you're judging your own thoughts against her actions! Just kill her and everything will be fine, a little voice told him.

He ignored the voice and concentrated on figuring out what was wrong with Kat. Right now he couldn't be running around with a powerful girlfriend that seemed to think they were the enemy.

Nicole and Alex stared at the wall in front of them. It was the same wall that they remembered staring at three years ago when they first came to Zaibach. The same gray stone that made up the three walls and the same wrought iron bars that made up the fourth wall facing the hall. Algae still covered the gray stonewalls and the small barred window was behind them. They all sat on the uncomfortable wooden cots with just hay to cover them. Across the gray stoned hall there was another cell exactly like theirs only it help Gatti, Viole, and Chesta and next to that cell was another duplicate that held Dallet, Miguel and Guimel.

"We haven't been here since… what, last time? Wasn't that two years ago?" Alex asked, bored out of her mind. She was trying to distract herself with boredom so she wouldn't think about Kat. They had both seen Kat go down out of exhaustion after she had damaged all four guymelefs-unfortunately it wasn't enough to stop them and they had been taken alive.

"Three," answered Nicole. "I wonder how she is."

Alex shrugged. "Probably still out. She used a lot of her powers."

"It was for a good cause. She did save our butts by sending out that last shot," Gatti stated, joining in on the conversation. They could clearly hear the two girls talking.

Viole nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I'd hate to think what would've happened if she hadn't," Nicole said.

"We wouldn't be talking right now. We would be dead." Alex stated matter-of-factly.

"Hey, would y'all shut up over there? We're trying to sleep!" Dalet called.

"Really, you'd think you've done this before!" Added Guimel.

"Remind me to thank Dilandau when he comes to laugh at us," Alex said sarcastically as she shifted on her cot uncomfortably. "I want to tell him how much I appreciate him putting the jack-asses together."

"No problem," Nicole said from her cot next to Alex's.

"Shut up in there!" A guard's voice yelled.

Alex sighed. This was going to be a long trip.

Kat opened her eyes and shifted uncomfortably on the strange thing under her. What was it? It wasn't her bed back home and it wasn't the bed at the cabin. That's when she realized what had happened. She sat up a little, using her elbows to support her as she gazed around the room. Her muscles were so incredibly sore they protested against any action.

She found that she was in a three stonewalled cell with wrought iron bars serving as the final wall, behind the bars duplicated of her cell. Algae covered the gray stonewalls and the wooden cot she lay upon only had hay as a comfort to its coldness.

Brushing her damp bangs out of her eyes she forced herself into a sitting position. Apparently she had been sweating a lot during her sleep because the white shirt she wore was soaked. "Sore?" A voice asked from the shadows.

Mind reeling as she wearily turned her head towards the sound Kat saw, leaning against the wall, an unreadable look on his was, where Dilandau stood.

Anger suddenly sprouted up in her as she remembered the battle. Ah, if it isn't the traitor himself, she thought, rage glowing in her eyes. "Come to make fun of my fighting or perhaps make fun of my damned heart?" She said with such venom it made her mind recoil a bit, but she couldn't hide the tinge of hurt in her tone.

Dilandau noticed it and frowned. He was about to say something when a soft voice broke the silent air. "Dilandau?"

Kat turned and saw a girl that looked almost exactly like her, same height and build and face, only this girl had shoulder blade length jet-black hair in place of her long brown hair and amber eyes in the place of her midnight blue eyes. "Ah, so this is the bitch you exchanged for me? I can she why you'd go for someone like her. She looks easy enough to manipulate," Kat said angrily.

The girl's look told her that she was taken aback at Kat's words but then recovered and took it as an insult. She started towards her sword as a flash of a black ball of energy was thrown through the black bars and hit the girl's hand, which was in the process of drawing her sword. In pain and surprise, the girl dropped the sword and it clattered to the ground.

"I suggest you don't draw unless you want a painful death," Kat hissed. She was now on her feet, ignoring the pain that shot through her body. Did this bitch dare to challenge her? She was the Destroyer! She could take her out in one shot, no sweat and no mess.

Dilandau looked from his surprised Slayer to Kat. He saw that Kat's eyes were narrowed with a fire burning in them, almost erasing her dark blue irises but through the fire he saw that deep inside her eyes hurt shone in them. He then turned back to his Slayer, who was retrieving her sword.

"Slayer Serenity," he addressed her with ice in the name and ice in his tone, "go back to your duties."

She nodded, bowed quickly and then walked off.

Dilandau then turned back to Kat, ready to look into her fiery eyes and try to get her to calm down but he found that she had her eyes closed and was shaking. At first he thought that she was having a physical problem, as if she was spiking a high fever. Concerned, he took a step towards her, reaching out through the bars to gently touch her cheek. She was so close…

Kat could feel Dilandau's hand slip through the bars and reach out to her. She couldn't stand the sight of him right then. It made her sick to think that she had really waited for the day she would return into his arms. She was sickened by the thought that she had loved a man ready to throw her away the second she was gone. "Touch me and you die," she whispered, her voice shaking with anger. She opened her eyes and glared at him. "Go and play with your new bitch," she hissed.

Dilandau was thrown off at the aggressiveness and anger in her eyes to fully process what she had said. He had been extending a hand of kindness and had been bitten by her. His face regained its icy look as he stiffened. "I'll be back," he growled at her and let the cell, allowing the door to the end of hall to slam shut behind him. Part of him hoped that the sound caused her pain.

AN: Wow, that was long! **Grins sheepishly** Can you tell that I was a bit mad at someone when I wrote this? The whole hand through the now (or what used to be) fixed roof, Alex calling the DS "jack-asses"… hehe, anger comes out in odd ways. Well, I can sort of see her point. (crowd: Uh huh-you're the author! Of course you see their point because it's really your point!) Well you would too! You just fixed the roof and then people go and run it through and others don't really care. **shrugs**

Sorry CrimsonFire, I know Dallet was being REALLY mean but it sort of happened that way… sorry. -_- I didn't mean for it to come out like that honest! I can see his point in being a little mean too… mainly I'm writing this AN to explain why I made people like I did. Sorry about that. So now Dilandau and Kat are fighting… ouch. Mental abuse. It's sort of a cliffhanger because you never know what could happen in a cell… **hint hint** until next time!

~ShadowKat