Disclaimer: I don't own jack, so cut me some slack and keep those lawyers back!
(A/N: Second chapter is up and I am still trying to finish this off so that I can upload pretty much all of the other chapters all at once. Still, it's gonna take time as it's a huge story. I didn't mean it to be this long it just is. Any way, for all of those who liked the first chapter I hope you enjoy this too.)
Just By The Redundant Goddess…-{X Part II X}-
Hitomi awoke; her head swam with worry and a dull, thumping pain that spread from the back of her head. Her green eyes opened slowly and tried their best to adapt to what little light there was that filled her surroundings. It was night. The young girl, her injured head aching, tried to sooth it with her hands, but found they would not move. As she tried to sit up on what she had discovered was straw, the girl from the Mystic Moon soon realised why her hands would not move. Hitomi felt the warmed up threads of rope tied tight about her thin and supple wrists. Her hands had been bound behind her.
Panic whipped through her like a jolt of electricity. Her bare legs shivered and convulsed as she tried to push her self off the prickly surface beneath her. But this was to no avail as she only pushed her backwards into a large stack of musty golden straw. Her head tried to move round quickly, like a frightened mouse looking for it's precious escape hole to see where she was, but couldn't because it ached too much.
The scared girl felt a whimper leap out of her throat. She was in an old looking barn. But where? She didn't remember going to a barn. She searched her thoughts. No, no she wasn't going to a barn. She was going back to the palace. Yes, she had been running. Her teary green eyes jolted down her body and noted her attire. Yes, a T-shirt and shorts. That's what I wear when I run, her mind cried. Hitomi felt hot tears grace her chilled cheeks as she realised what had happened. She had only been back on Gaia five minutes and already she had managed to get kidnapped, but whom by?
Then all of a Sudden, from the murky darkness of the old barn, there was a noise. A loud, deliberate shuffling, noise. Like feet sliding in the thick straw and it was coming from somewhere. Somewhere in front of the tied and scared Hitomi. Fear lurched inside her stomach as she tired to find the courage to speak. It took a full minute before she could muster enough to cry out.
"Who's there?" She croaked, her voice faltering slightly. "Who are you? Show yourself!"
There was a dark chuckle, which Hitomi knew but could not place, and some better placed steps. They stopped and a loud thud could be heard. Hitomi's eyes went as wide as possible as she tried to catch a glimpse of who or what was slipping down the wall within darkness in front of her. Another small and much lighter thud told Hitomi her captor had collapsed onto the straw covered floor.
Another chuckle. She knew that tone. That voice, but her head swam so much it was hard to concentrate. Soon another sound filled the room. It was that of a liquid being swigged from a glass bottle. The girl from the mystic moon was now beyond scared. She was terrified. If only she could figure out who it was she thought helplessly. If she knew who it was, something told her she would have an advantage that she sorely needed.
"Who ever you are, you better let me go!" She cried out again. In a desperate attempt to scare who ever it was. "All the guards and Knights in Palas are probably looking for me by now and if they catch you… you are going to regret it!"
Then it happened again. That chuckle. So dark, so tragic and yet… almost child like. It almost mad Hitomi feel sad, but she didn't have long enough to dwell on it. .
"Guards and Knights? Ha!" The voice mocked in the darkness. "Palas is a large city to search for a missing person. That's even if they knew you were missing…"
Hitomi could feel her emerald eyes grow wide yet again, but this time it was in shock. She felt her legs push backwards in an attempt to get away from the voice. The voice that she knew and thousands feared.
"You…" She breathed.
Although Hitomi couldn't see it, she could sense he was smirking.
"… I hear the Girl from the Mystic Moon disappears quite a lot, but always returns. They probably won't bother trying to find you. They'll think you'll come back like the stray dog you are."
"You!" Was all Hitomi could utter.
Another laugh, but a more sorrowful than before. Sounds of struggled movement soon filled the emptiness of the shadows that lay before the green-eyed girl. She sensed the person move closer to her, edging slowly out of the darkness to hurt her. Then the loud sound of the barn's old creaky door summoned a shard of moonlight to appear. Like a magical barrier between Hitomi and the person in the darkness, like sun light to a vampire, she sensed that the person stagger back. Back to where he had been and where he had sat.
With a small sigh of relief she noticed the shard of light move. It cut through shadow like a powerful laser would do in thick fog, leaving odd swirls of reflective dust in its wake. It kept moving and soon it stopped dead. Right in front of her captor and some movement was heard again. Her green eyes saw what she had known and feared. Slowly but surely, a scarred pale face with locks of silvery hair and eyes of glowing garnet materialized into the light. An insane smirk crept its way over his face.
"You?" he chuckled again. " You mean me?"
"YOU!" She cried out again.
As he slumped back against the barns old wooden wall he gave her a confused look. Then he looked away and shut his blood red eyes, letting his silvery head droop like a wilting flower and muttered to himself. Letting the light further illuminate his tragic form. Making him look like an incoherent ghost.
"You? Me? Who's me?"
Hitomi's heart was racing, fear pumped through her system like never before. She knew this boy and his tendencies to behave in a way that made people fear him, but this was too much. She frowned and cried out again.
"Dilandau let me go!"
This caught his attention. His head jolted up causing his hair to cover half of his gaunt face. An odd twisted smile curled on his lips as his garnet eyes flashed back to the bound and scared Hitomi. A small silent laugh racked his body before he turned his head to her and spoke again.
"Dilandau? Is that who I am?"
The girl from the Mystic moon just starred at him. She didn't know what to think any more.
"Is that who I am?" he repeated. " Dilandau. Dilandau Alberto, commander of the elite guymeleth squadron. The Dragon Slayers. Yes. Yes, I have heard that before. I know I was the commander…
"Dilandau what are you talking about? If you don't let me go Van and Allen will kill you!" Hitomi snapped.
Her voice filled with anger, hoping to shake the albino out of his madness. But it didn't work. He merely looked away again and began to talk. His eyes drooped and looked sad and tragic as he spoke.
"But… they are all dead, all dead. Gone. No more Dragon Slayers. That makes me… not the commander any more. Since I don't have any one to command. But am I still Dilandau Alberto?"
"What are you…?" She uttered again. Trying desperately to free her wrists from their bonds.
"Perhaps, perhaps I'm still him. I was brought up as a soldier. Just because I don't have a squad to command now doesn't mean I am not a soldier. 'You were born to kill' they tell me! To be a soldier… is that who I am now? Dilandau Alberto, the solider?"
Hitomi shook her head. This was not the Dilandau she knew. He seemed not half as blood thirsty as before, but more insane perhaps? Like when she met him at Allen' fort before he burned it to the ground. Something had changed in him and it made her wearier of him than ever before.
"Dilandau please…" She pleaded, thinking that in his obvious weakened state that maybe he would have enough sanity and mercy to let her go.
But there was no reply this time. Instead there was a long, dark silence. It made Hitomi feel the cold more than ever. She felt her soft youthful flesh shiver and tighten into goose bumps as the chill of the night fell over her bare skin. Whilst cursing at her current attire, she couldn't help but look back at the distant albino boy, who at that moment was gazing back at her. Not with the usual gleam of insanity in his red eyes. No, they were soft and almost mournful.
"You know… " He spoke not in his usual harsh commanding tone, but in a very flat and off hand manner. "… Ever since I saw you at Schezars crappy little out post, you have had me wondering. What are you and what are you doing here? You, with your short hair and odd clothes. Why would you being hanging around with the likes of some Poffy Knight in women's clothing and that royal pain in the arse who looks like something a dragon spat out?"
Hitomi could feel her warm blood rise to her cold cheeks as she gave an indignant huff at Dilandau's statement. Although she had to admit his harsh statement did have a ring of truth to it. But he continued.
"Heh, I see you don't like your backward chums bad mouthed. I was like that with my Dragon Slayers when they were around. But now they are not… and I am alone. That was the other thing I wondered about you. How could you defeat me? How could a little girl like you defeat me? And from that cursed moon of all places!"
"I…" She managed to mumble before the Ex-commander cut in with anger.
"How could I? How could I lose? So I am not me any more, and I have you to thank."
Her emerald eyes widened and a gasp flew out of her mouth.
"So… so… you're going to kill me?"
Yet another dark chuckle filled the room.
"No. No I am not going to kill you." He breathed. His garnet eyes glistened with intent. " No, I need you. You have something I need."
(A/N: So, how's the story shaping up? If you like, dislike or just want to comment on something leave us a review by clicking on the button bellow. All comments are welcomed and if you liked this chapter so much then I hope you'll bear with me until I can put the next chapter up. So until next time. PIES!)