A/N: Out of high school, aren't you all proud? This chapter is dedicated to glitteramy who emailed me about it. And so here you are, and we share a name. *gasp* now FFN people know my first name. Well, here's where you all scream madly at me. And don't worry, this will all come to a point. I hope.
I Am Not Iseult!
Fourteenth Chapter: Almost Doesn't Count
Celesi ran up to Hitomi. "Hit Dillan for me. I'll lose my nerve if I even look at him. I always do. I can't stay angry at him, but oooh..."
Hitomi blinked, confused. "What could Dillan do to make you mad?"
Celesi ran her tongue in front of her teeth once. "Let's just say that anyone besides him touching my bra gets rolled out."
Hitomi sighed, patting her friend on the head. "Girl..."
Celesi shook her head. "It wasn't a sports bra."
Hitomi thought for a minute, remembering that weird conversation in Celesi's apartment two weeks ago. "Come on, you don't OWN anything fancy enough for..." The look on Celesi's face froze her. "Oh god, your aunt sent you a victoria's secret, didn't she."
Celesi nodded solemnly.
Hitomi stalked off, Celesi following close behind.
Dilandau watched Dillan finger the lace. "You know she's going to kill you, don't you?"
Dillan grinned. "You wouldn't do the same if you realized Hitomi wore this?"
Dilandau laughed. "She's gone to clubs in that, remember?"
Dillan stopped, confused, then nodded. "Well, it's not like she's going to do anything besides screw her eyes up and cry and tell me how disappointed in me she is."
Dilandau laid back on the grass, glad for this excuse to not think of Aidana. "You forget how much Hitomi has changed everything, haven't you?"
Dillan stood up. "Shit." He looked over his shoulder, and took off.
Dilandau caught Celesi as she ran after the passing Hitomi. "Let's let 'Tomi take care of this. No need to make this any more painful than it already is."
Celesi's eyes were filled with those crystal tears. "H-he never told me he wanted to see it, but he ran off with it..." Celesi trailed off, tilting her head off, trying to stem the water damage.
Dilandau wiped the tears from her eyes. "Why can't you just give it to him for a memento? Something for him to think about after you go home from clubbing?" He wasn't surprised by the red mark on his cheek, but he was surprised by the fact he didn't have the urge to break her arm for doing that. Hitomi really was changing everything.
Hitomi tackled Dillan, and dragged her right hand against any bare skin she could reach, her long guitarist fingernails bringing blood if not screams. "Now, why would you be so bold as to take the one bra that embarrasses her and sit in the middle of the track, STROKING it?"
Dillan looked up bashfully. "Testosterone?"
Hitomi moaned, and kicked him in the thigh. Dillan grit his teeth. Beating Hitomi up would only earn Dilandau's wrath, and wouldn't solve Celesi's...shyness?...with him. "Boy, I spend every night partying with you and yet you manage to do something this stupid."
Dillan groaned. "Look, I'm sorry; but I don't need to apologize to you so if you'd mind getting OFF of me, I can go give this back to her and say sorry."
Hitomi laughed so hard at that she rolled off of him. Dillan looked at her completely bewildered. "You think sorry cuts it after you beat up four students and then run off with her bra, 'sorry's' not gonna cut it."
Dillan stood up. "Can you kill me after she does? After all, it's not your black lace."
Hitomi kicked him in the shin affectionately, rolling backwards and popping to her feet, and rising from her crouch. "Well, you're lucky Aidana isn't here, she'd..." The name hung over them, ruining the playful moment Dillan had intended.
Van walked up to Dilandau and Celesi. "Have you found anything?" Dilandau looked at Celesi, who held her hands in fists, still threateningly. She looked at Van with forced smiles. "How's your arm?"
"I don't feel anything except an urge to put a glock to Allen's head."
Dilandau pursed his lips. "Look, first we need to lock the girls up outside his reach. Amidst kicking and screaming, I'm sure, but none of us can afford anything happening to them."
Van nodded, watching Hitomi stand up, much to Dilandau's anger.
Celesi found this all amusing, and grinned at the two of them. "Van." she asked in a small voice. "Could you teach Dillan a lesson of a lady's respect if you find the time?"
Van looked down at her, slightly confused. "...All right?"
Dilandau curled his lip. "Dillan. Locker room. Testosterone."
Celesi slapped Dilandau again. "Don't you dare blame it on testosterone!"
Van smiled down at her. "Lust for the girl he's waiting patiently for?"
Celesi blushed, and as Dillan was approaching, she ran back into the locker room—locking herself in her locker.
Dillan cursed, chasing after her. Running in, he heard a locker door slam, in the middle row. He slowly stalked down, looking through the locker grits, hearing her soft breathing, harsh through the tension of the play to Aidana's capture to his bra snatching incident.
He found hers, and sat on the bench, directly in front of her. To ease her nerves a little, he turned around, and looked at the locker on the other side. "Cels, come up. All
I wanted to say is sorry." He laid it down next to him. "You know I'm not going to force you into anything you're not ready for." He took a deep breath, looking down at it again. "I can't help the way I feel about you."
Celesi thought suspiciously it was a little too convenient he was right in front of her. She knew he could most likely either pick or break her lock and drag her out. Paused by his composure and patience, she sought to calm herself. She was glad she couldn't see his face, just the tone of his voice had her wanting to unlock the door. But for the remote chance he didn't know where she was, she didn't move or speak.
Dillan pressed his tongue roughly against his teeth, scraping it for the pain. He stood up, leaving the bra there. "Have it your way."
Celesi realized he was leaving and thought vaguely that she should shout out to him—but she didn't want to face him. Not here, with that in such importance.
Dilandau watched Dillan walk out alone and empty handed.
Van caught on before Dilandau. "Hitomi."
The girl looked up. To see three men lifting her and carrying her to the locker room, struggling futilely. "We'll come get you when we're done."
As they walked away after breaking the lock off, she pounded on the walls, screaming.
Celesi's voice paused her. "'Tomi? Can you please stop? You're making my head pound."
Van glowered, stalking out across the highway. Dillan and Dilandau ran after him, the same thought going through their heads as horns blared. /Ohgodohgodohgodohgod/
Van grinned. "This time I'm gonna let it all come out. This time I'ma stand up and shout. I'ma do things my way. It's my way. My way or the highway."
Dilandau followed him into the richer area of town. "What the hell are we doing here?"
Dillan groaned. "Just because we only come here to loot doesn't mean you've forgotten who lives here?"
Dilandau shrugged. "Celena's with Gaddes. What does any of this matter?"
Dillan kicked Dilandau for good measure. "Without fourteen men surrounding you, does your mind disappear? Celena left an empty house. In his name."
Van didn't realize notice them talked as he began methodically picking out the house and deciding how he was going to dissemble the door. "What do you have in the means of weaponry, Albatou." He inquired quietly.
Dilandau checked his pockets. "The usual. Club, sand, and plastic ties." He grinned maniacally. "Of course the lighter and an above average amount of anger."
Van nodded. "Start a fire as soon as we take out whoever's on guard downstairs."
Dillan watched Van oddly, not saying anything.
Gaddes watched the boys struggling with the door, and silently came in and opened it, raising a finger to his lips. He didn't like playing Allen's game, but he couldn't do anything without jeopardizing Celena.
Dilandau put his palm out, laying three fingers across the top, his way of asking how mangy. Gaddes flicking himself below the collarbone and pointed up, mouthing "Schezar."
Dilandau fingered his lip for a minute, walking around the elaborate house, finding the fire alarms and disarming them. Now. Where to start his next beautiful fire?
Van silently stalked up the stairs, noting the broken banister, and sweeping up a broken spindle as quietly as he could, testing the wood before he stepped to make a quieter approach.
Allen had Aidana strapped down to the bed, and had her in a matching bra to the one Dillan had been stroking earlier. Her Christmas present to herself and her best friend the previous year. She was still in her leather pants, the top button undone.
Allen smirked down at her. "How does it feel with no power?"
Aidana spat at him. "You're full of shit, Schezar. Even your sister's terrified of you. We tried to warn Hitomi about you. Just because she listened doesn't mean she deserves death."
Allen's eyes glowed with liquid fire. "You damned little..." he stopped, glancing at his watch. Aidana's eyes danced with laughter. She watched him go over to the bathroom and withdraw a red bottle from the mirror cabinet, downing four pills.
She knew that bottle. Her last shrink had recommended she take those pills. "You think that's staving off your insanity? I've got news for you, pimp."
Allen threw the bottle at her in a fit of spastic frenzy.
When the door flew open, and Van was standing there, the room fell quiet. Aidana bit her lip, hoping for the best. Allen calculated how much time it would take to kill the asshole or whether to rape his girlfriend in front of him. When Van tackled him, he decided on the former.
Aidana watched as Van clenched his elbow around Allen's neck but muffled an actual scared moan as Allen used the younger boy's lighter weight against him, snapping the arm. Aidana hissed at the disgusting hanging limb, realizing it was the same limb Allen had slashed this afternoon. Van tried again with his other arm.
Allen hugged his competitor, and ran at the wall, smacking the boy violently against it. He then elbowed Van in the groin, and tossed him onto the floor. He lifted a beretta, pointing it at Van's ribcage. "Goodbye, lonesome loser."
But when the shot fired, it was Allen who gasped, and fell to his knees. Aidana tilted her head to the side, and saw in the doorway—Merle.
Merle ignored the girl's mutterings, pushing her Desert Eagle back into her sash. "Girl, you look like Hitomi's sister just put a bullet through that asshole's right oblique. Van trained me well, I didn't aim for his lung, so hopefully he'll land in jail for the next forty years, paying us all handsomely." she undid the bands around her wrists. "Though you'll have to be the one to drag him down the stairs. I've never been able to pick him up."
Watching them stumble downstairs, Dilandau nodded for Gaddes to call the cops. Dillan gave Aidana his shirt, and they stumbled back to the school. "YouhavetoletthegirlsoutofthelockersbecauseCelesiwillkillmeifItrybecauseIwasstupidenoughtokeepherbra."
After a minute, Aidana descrambled that and laughed. "I bet she almost came out for you."
"Almost doesn't count."
"I bet you almost didn't pick that bra up, either."
"Good point."
