Chapter Three
It was late in the morning when a few of the Dragon Slayers decided to practice some of their skills, or better to say, try to teach Chesta to use a sword properly. Gatti helped with that while the others stood around chatting with each other.
Guimel smiled as he thought of something. "Hey, have any of you seen that new girl that's been walking around the fortress?"
Viole cocked his head at Guimel, his dark brown ponytail whipping behind him. "Girl? What girl? I haven't seen any girls aboard."
Miguel looked thoughtful for a moment. "Oh, do you mean that one girl that was walking around with Lord Dilandau yesterday?"
"Yeah, her." Guimel paused a moment, a dreamy expression on his face.
Dalet chuckled. "She is pretty hot, isn't she?"
Guimel nodded. "Uh huh. I wouldn't mind knowing her, although Lord Dilandau probably has her on a tight leash."
"Don't say that about Lord Dilandau," Chesta started, turning away from his match with Gatti. "At least give him the benefit of the doubt." He wanted to say more but was cut off when Gatti took the opportunity to rush him, knocking him flat to the ground.
"Don't lose concentration," Gatti reprimanded him as he held out his hand to help Chesta up. "Although I would like to know who she is, and what she is doing here."
"Me, too," Guimel agreed. "Though, Chesta is right, I guess. And we might get to meet her later on."
Miguel nodded and rubbed one wrist with his other hand. He paused and felt farther up his arm into his jacket sleeve when Dalet held up what he was looking for and quickly pulled his hand away. "Give me that back!" yelled a furious Miguel as he glared contemptuously down his nose at the shorter boy in front of him. "Damn you, Dalet! Give it back!"
Just as Miguel's hand swept by him, Dalet pranced out of reach and waved the black and silver bracelet in the air. "Miguel has a bracelet!" he taunted repeatedly. He stopped after a moment and brought the chain closer to his face to examine it. There was an engraving in one of the long silver leaves. He squinted his violet eyes in order to read it, jumping back a bit as Miguel took another swing for it. "To the dearest son ever," he read and chuckled. "Oh, how precious. Miguel's mommy thinks he's dearest."
This time, Miguel was successful in snatching away the prized possession. "That's none of your business, Dalet. I bet your mother wouldn't look twice if she passed you on the street."
Behind them, the spectators hooted at the comment. Dalet shot them an angry glare that clearly stated to shut up.
"Oh, and," Miguel continued as he slid the bracelet into his jacket pocket, "I also bet-"
"YOU IDIOTS!" came a bellow from outside the doors of the room, cutting off whatever Miguel had to say. Footsteps were coming toward them, increasing in pace at every second. Every Dragon Slayer cringed, knowing what was going to be ahead of them.
~.~
"OUT! Leave me, you imbeciles!" one Dilandau Albatou cried as he finished kicking things around the room, and he stomped his foot upon the hard metal floor and pointed to the door, facing his groveling Dragon Slayers. All of them hurriedly stood from their bowing positions and scrambled out the door, rushing to get away from their outraged commander.
Once the last of them had left, Dilandau plopped himself down upon his throne-like chair, breathing the hard, crisp air into his lungs in an attempt to calm his nerves. He looked around the room, frowned, and stood up again. He yelled out in rage and kicked the hard metal base of his chair, sending a painful quiver through his foot as his left boot met the brick-like material. Sitting down again, he massaged his now aching foot. His Dragon Slayers had disappointed him gravely that afternoon, failing their latest mission severely which was his main reason for anger. He let out an exasperated sigh and rubbed his forehead temples to soothe the oncoming headache.
"What did I do to deserve this?" he asked himself, clenching his gloved hand into a tight fist. He was going to be laughed at for sure on this one; he just knew it! "Uh," he grumbled and slumped down, grabbing the bottle of Vino at his side.
He felt around the end table while staring at the fluid motions of the wine in the bottle, finally glancing at the table when he only felt two wineglasses. "Great! Where's my bottle-opener?" Rampantly looking for it, he crouched down on his knees and searched around the floor. After a few minutes of frantically searching and calling out "Bottle-opener" as if it would come to him like a horse would, he threw his hands up in the air in defeat, almost letting go of the wine bottle. He turned quickly to his right and widened his eyes as his bottle opener magically appeared in front of his face, with a long, slender hand around it. He looked up and frowned as he came to see the hand was that of Celena, who standing in front of him. Unwillingly taking the bottle-opener, he grumbled a thank you and sat back down in his chair.
"What are you doing down here? I thought you were going to the capital with the, uh, cat-girl," he remarked, pouring the wine in a glass for himself.
"Well, there were some changes. Naria is busy. I can't find Folken. So, I thought, maybe, that you would take me shopping."
Dilandau's garnet eyes shot open as the grape-flavored wine poured down his throat. He quickly pulled the glass away, sputtering and coughing. "Wha- What? What did you say?"
Celena tilted her head and placed her hands upon her hips. "I asked you if you would come shopping with me."
His expression turned to a grimace. "Uh, NO! No, I will not-"
"Oh please, Dilandau? Please take me shopping? Folken gave me a lot of money and taught me how to use it." She gave him a begging-puppy look.
He rolled his eyes skyward and sighed in annoyance. "Celena, I... just no! Okay? I'm sure there is someone else. Don't give me that look; I mean it!" He turned away from her and waited in silence a moment before grinding his teeth together in frustration. "Arrgh... You are sure there is no one else?"
Celena shook her head and smiled sweetly. "Absolutely no one."
He still kept himself turned to the side, avoiding Celena's pleading eyes while keeping his own garnet eyes glued to the floor. "Well, argh... Fine then!" She gave a shout of glee and raced towards Dilandau, throwing her arms around him when she reached him. Dilandau sat still as a statue, paralyzed with sudden shock at her reaction. She let go after a moment, not noticing as he mentally recoiled, and ran to the door.
Once Dilandau had come out of his short shock, he winced and sneaked a sly glance over in Celena's direction. "Er, by the way, Celena." She turned back towards him as her fingers were almost on the door. Dilandau bit his lip and shook his head. "Don't tell anybody about this."
~.~
Twenty minutes later they were aimlessly wandering through the dusty streets of the city, window shopping as some might say. Every so often Celena would snatch Dilandau's wrist and pull him into another shop while he ducked and risked a short peep at the crowds, constantly worrying if anyone who knew him had spotted him. He promised himself that he would let Celena have half an hour. After that, he would make a headlong dash back towards the fortress, not caring if she followed or not.
In truth, and he would hate to admit it, Dilandau was truly afraid of large crowds and people. The military was basically what he knew and his habitat: out of that habitat lay dangers for him that he either didn't want to face or just didn't want to know about. His life as a captain was fine for him. It did not make a true difference about what state of wealth you had, what past you had, or what future you had: just what you were in the moment.
He mentally frowned as Celena dragged him into another shop, this one a boutique with a large selection of knick-knacks, books, and other miscellaneous items that Dilandau had no clue as to what they were. He turned to Celena and gave her a quizzical look. "I had presumed that we were looking for clothing."
Celena nonchalantly shrugged and began fingering through some of the objects. "We have time. Besides, this might be the only chance I get to be out here."
Dilandau had to agree. She did have a small point, but this trip still bothered him. Severely uncomfortable with his surroundings, he glanced around at the customers and crossed his arms as he impatiently waited for Celena to look around. He tapped his foot in agitation after a minute and ambled up to Celena's bent form. He looked over her shoulder and cleared his throat. "Are you considering buying anything?" Dilandau nearly laughed at himself. He sounded like a pushy saleswoman.
Celena apparently did not notice and shrugged.
"Oh. Well, hurry it up a bit then." He frowned and turned away, folding his arms across his chest once again as he leaned against the counter.
"I will."
Dilandau glanced over to her out of the corner of his eye, surprised at her reaction as he kept his expression neutral.
~.~
After a few minutes, Celena bought a small timepiece and, much to Dilandau's agitation, a thick, pale pink journal. "What do you need that for?" he asked.
"Well, I've never had a journal before," she remarked, walking out of the store.
"But why did you get the pink one? Why not the red one I showed you?"
She smiled knowingly. "Oh, you mean the one with the black dragons all over it? That thing was ugly."
Dilandau's jaw set into a determined line. "It was not ugly, besides I-"
"Dilandau, watch out!"
In the brief second that he had looked away, he had failed to notice that he was walking straight for a large water fountain. Before he could regain his balance, he tripped and fell into it, soaking himself in the process. "Ah! Well that, phhhfftt, was, phhhffftt, argh!" he exclaimed, spitting pond water out of his mouth.
Celena frowned, set down her packages, and went to help him out as a few onlookers laughed. She glared at them before taking hold of Dilandau and pulling him to his feet on the cobblestone street again while he broke out in protest. "I can help myself, thanks," he quipped before shaking the water off his armor and out of his hair.
"Sorry. I was just trying to help," Celena mumbled as she turned her stare to the ground. She turned around and let out a gasp. "Dilandau, my parcels are gone!"
"What?" he yelled, searching the crowd. He spotted a young man dashing away from the scene, holding the parcels under his arms. His hands clenched into fists. "No one gets away from me!"
He scrambled after the thief, quickly leaving Celena behind in the dust. "Stop, you!" he shouted and ran faster, gaining on the cutpurse as he went top speed. He tried to control his breathing, and his anger, as he dove on his prey, knocking them both to the ground and scattering the parcels about the street. Turning the thief over with rough hands, Dilandau clamped down on his neck and held him in a tight chokehold. "What do you think you are doing?" Dilandau seethed, bitter steel in his tightly reigned voice as he pushed down harder upon the thief's neck.
The man below him desperately tried to pry away his hands, pale face turning a light blue tinge after several seconds. "W-W..D-d.."
"What? I can't hear you!"
"Dilandau, stop it!" Celena had arrived and was now also trying to pry his hands away before the thief suffocated. "Release him! He doesn't deserve this!" she pleaded with him as she placed her hands over Dilandau's.
"Why? Why doesn't he deserve it? He stole from you!" he looked bewildered to her actions.
"Please. Just let him go," she begged, trying desperately to release the choking man.
With a scowling look, Dilandau pulled back his hands. The thief gasped as he stood and stumbled away, rushing to get away from the insane teenager. Dilandau sighed. "Great waste. He's getting away."
Celena just glanced at him, disbelief written on her features, as she went to gather the packages that were scattered on the ground. Sighing, Dilandau went to help her.
~.~
Folken felt like scowling as the man in front of him scrunched his face into about five different expressions before giving his direct answer. "No."
"I know it needs authorization, but-"
"No." The man seemed veritable enough, though Folken was not going to tolerate a negative answer.
He sighed. "Would you please retrieve one of the filers so I can sort this out with them? I would dearly dread to interrupt their work, but if necessary-"
"All right, all right," the pointed little man interrupted, glancing around nervously, shifty and suspicious. "There is no need to interrupt them. If you absolutely need to have a glance at the files, follow me. But be quiet about this! If someone questions you, leave my name out of it!" He quietly slid off his stool behind the desk and grabbed a large ring of silver and iron keys that hung from a wooden hook on the wall. He walked around the desk and motioned Folken to follow him. Folken only nodded triumphantly and started walking after the hyperactive man, growing anxious to look through the files that would assuredly hold the answers. He was researching this on him own time, and he did not have much time to spare or dedicate.
After advancing a few corridors and crossing some bends and curves along the way, they arrived at the door marked with a square symbol on the frame and entered the filing room. The small room was dim and dusty inside, showing the months of disuse and abandonment. Cabinets of hard metal and iron lined the walls, most of which had locks, all neatly organized and bare of clutter.
The short man turned to Folken, quizzically looking over the taller, more formidable man. "Now what specifically are you looking for? Boy? Girl? Age? Filing number?"
Folken took a step farther and looked around the room with a discerning glance. "Girl, around age fourteen or fifteen now. I can't say when the last record of her is. If my memory serves me correctly, the filing number should be somewhere around twenty-seven fifty."
The man nodded and opened three of the drawers in the middle after unlocking them with one of the keys. "There you go. I'll let you have half an hour to search, then I'm kicking you out." With that said, he left to return to his desk.
Folken sauntered up to the drawers, fingering through the first few folders while looking for anything that would lead him to Celena's file. His hands came to rest on several of the folders, and he pulled them out.
"Snooping through files can be a very effective option, but I don't believe it is best suited for you, Strategos."
Folken turned at the flat alto voice and nodded his head once at the man towering in the doorway. "Lavon."
The man came forward into the light, revealing a head of short graying hair and a large black cape similar to Folken's. "What are you doing in this part of the fortress, old friend?"
"Looking for a file, of course, but I think I might find better information from you. Do you remember anything about those experiments on children that you used to do?"
Lavon nodded. "Particularly. Unfortunately, we discontinued our work with them a few years ago, shortly after the developments for guymelefs came into demand. Though, believe me, we are not going to stop doing medical experiments. Just more toned down ones. As you can imagine, that isn't by our doing. If the emperor demands it, we will do it, however he so chooses." He sighed before continuing. "Though it was rather sad that we had to discontinue our work with them. They proved rather well for what they were."
Folken allowed no surprise to seep into his voice. "Why did you stop?"
"We had better things to work on, I suppose. Besides, something went a little, ha, wrong with the projects. A simple factor was not looked at, so our work is canceled until that factor can be crossed."
Folken leaned against the filing cabinets and set down the files. "And what factor would that be?"
Lavon stepped forward to explain. "Well, you see, many areas of the brain, such as the cerebral cortex and areas of the cerebellum, began to swell in some of the children, and in others, the lower cerebral tissues began to dissolve, including some of the areas where action, emotions, and memory are controlled."
"So the brain could not retain two personalities at once, if I am correct to say?"
"Yes, exactly. Hormones, thinking skills, and chemicals were all wrong and too much for a singular human to contain. But there was another factor that was slightly missed. A more... numinous factor."
Folken's eyebrows raised. "So you mean that-"
"I am not saying that it has anything to do with souls or other unknown beings, but both the body and brain could not contain such extremities... and, well..." Lavon paused for moment, keeping his eyes transfixed to the floor. After some time he looked up again and slightly chuckled. "Well, it might seem a bit odd -I'm not saying that I personally believe it is true- but it seems that the two beings or souls or whatever split from each other, usually the created one remaining in the body while the original drifted outside of the body, and then... Oh my, well this is the hardest to explain, I guess... The original body of the first child began to materialize out of thin air, right around the original 'essence'."
Folken stood there, not believing it to be true. Trying not to believe. 'But that would explain it,' he argued with himself. 'That would explain Celena's sudden appearance at the fortress, and that probably would explain Dilandau's personality.' He frowned and looked towards Lavon. "Well, I might take that into consideration. Thank you, Lavon. You have been more than helpful."
Lavon slightly bowed and turned to leave, pausing when Folken's voice rang out again. "Lavon, do you happen to remember a small blonde girl that you worked on? She's probably fourteen or fifteen now. Goes by the name Celena."
The older man looked towards Folken, thinking. "No, I don't believe I remember. Though if you want to find out about her, I wouldn't look in the cabinets. Most of the documents have been destroyed."
Folken glanced down at the cabinet. "Oh. Well, thank you anyway."
Lavon turned and left, leaving Folken in the filing room.
"Well, that helped a lot," he muttered as he returned the files to their original place. Sweeping his cloak around him again, he glided out of the room and down the hall towards the entrance when one of the guards approached him.
"Lord Folken, Emperor Dornkirk requests your audience. It is most urgent."
~.~
Celena was unusually quiet as they walked back to the fortress. Dilandau hated the silence, but he put up with it as best as he could. That is, until something from deep down in him was starting to nag at him.
|Talk to her,| it taunted. |Tell her you're sorry.| Sorry? he asked himself. What did he have to be sorry for? The burglar had deserved what he had gotten.
|Celena doesn't seem to think so. |
"Shut up," Dilandau muttered as he grew agitated, his voice barely audible to Celena. She looked up to stare at him quizzically, still remaining quiet.
Why had he tried to eliminate the burglar? It was just a few parcels after all. Wasn't such a big deal, so why had he gone after him the way he had? Perhaps he had done it because.
Dilandau shrugged the thought off. It was no longer important why he did it.
"Why did you do it, Dilandau?"
Or maybe it was. Dilandau fleetingly glanced at Celena before turning his attention back to the street. He did not really feel like giving an answer to that question when he couldn't think of a reasonable answer to give. "I don't know."
Celena frowned and also turned back to the street, leaving Dilandau again to his thoughts. He came back to the certain thought his conscience demanded of him. |Apologize.|
'No.'
|Say you're sorry. Say you shouldn't have tried to kill that man.|
'Oh, come on. I was going to let him go after a minute.'
Apparently, he spoke the last thought out loud, because Celena turned to him before exclaiming, "It didn't seem that way to me!"
"Well, I'm sorry that I don't like to see you stolen from!" Dilandau shouted back, oblivious to what he said. Celena gawked at him in surprise before turning back to the street, dumbfounded.
'Does he actually care about me?'
~.~
Once they arrived at the fortress, Dilandau led Celena back to her quarters before going up to the conference room, hoping to catch one of the high officials in order to complain about the crime rate in Zaibach.
As he was climbing a set of stairs, he felt the fortress give a mighty quiver and a shake, knocking him from his feet to land on the stairs with a thud.
He realized with sudden shock that the fortress was taking off from the dock. He hurriedly stood and rushed up the stairs, anxious to receive an explanation.
A flight of stairs and few halls later, Dilandau stepped into the room he hoped Folken was in and was for once relieved to see Folken. A blank mask hovered upon the older man's face. "Strategos, why are we-"
"Gear up. We're heading to Fanelia."
It was late in the morning when a few of the Dragon Slayers decided to practice some of their skills, or better to say, try to teach Chesta to use a sword properly. Gatti helped with that while the others stood around chatting with each other.
Guimel smiled as he thought of something. "Hey, have any of you seen that new girl that's been walking around the fortress?"
Viole cocked his head at Guimel, his dark brown ponytail whipping behind him. "Girl? What girl? I haven't seen any girls aboard."
Miguel looked thoughtful for a moment. "Oh, do you mean that one girl that was walking around with Lord Dilandau yesterday?"
"Yeah, her." Guimel paused a moment, a dreamy expression on his face.
Dalet chuckled. "She is pretty hot, isn't she?"
Guimel nodded. "Uh huh. I wouldn't mind knowing her, although Lord Dilandau probably has her on a tight leash."
"Don't say that about Lord Dilandau," Chesta started, turning away from his match with Gatti. "At least give him the benefit of the doubt." He wanted to say more but was cut off when Gatti took the opportunity to rush him, knocking him flat to the ground.
"Don't lose concentration," Gatti reprimanded him as he held out his hand to help Chesta up. "Although I would like to know who she is, and what she is doing here."
"Me, too," Guimel agreed. "Though, Chesta is right, I guess. And we might get to meet her later on."
Miguel nodded and rubbed one wrist with his other hand. He paused and felt farther up his arm into his jacket sleeve when Dalet held up what he was looking for and quickly pulled his hand away. "Give me that back!" yelled a furious Miguel as he glared contemptuously down his nose at the shorter boy in front of him. "Damn you, Dalet! Give it back!"
Just as Miguel's hand swept by him, Dalet pranced out of reach and waved the black and silver bracelet in the air. "Miguel has a bracelet!" he taunted repeatedly. He stopped after a moment and brought the chain closer to his face to examine it. There was an engraving in one of the long silver leaves. He squinted his violet eyes in order to read it, jumping back a bit as Miguel took another swing for it. "To the dearest son ever," he read and chuckled. "Oh, how precious. Miguel's mommy thinks he's dearest."
This time, Miguel was successful in snatching away the prized possession. "That's none of your business, Dalet. I bet your mother wouldn't look twice if she passed you on the street."
Behind them, the spectators hooted at the comment. Dalet shot them an angry glare that clearly stated to shut up.
"Oh, and," Miguel continued as he slid the bracelet into his jacket pocket, "I also bet-"
"YOU IDIOTS!" came a bellow from outside the doors of the room, cutting off whatever Miguel had to say. Footsteps were coming toward them, increasing in pace at every second. Every Dragon Slayer cringed, knowing what was going to be ahead of them.
~.~
"OUT! Leave me, you imbeciles!" one Dilandau Albatou cried as he finished kicking things around the room, and he stomped his foot upon the hard metal floor and pointed to the door, facing his groveling Dragon Slayers. All of them hurriedly stood from their bowing positions and scrambled out the door, rushing to get away from their outraged commander.
Once the last of them had left, Dilandau plopped himself down upon his throne-like chair, breathing the hard, crisp air into his lungs in an attempt to calm his nerves. He looked around the room, frowned, and stood up again. He yelled out in rage and kicked the hard metal base of his chair, sending a painful quiver through his foot as his left boot met the brick-like material. Sitting down again, he massaged his now aching foot. His Dragon Slayers had disappointed him gravely that afternoon, failing their latest mission severely which was his main reason for anger. He let out an exasperated sigh and rubbed his forehead temples to soothe the oncoming headache.
"What did I do to deserve this?" he asked himself, clenching his gloved hand into a tight fist. He was going to be laughed at for sure on this one; he just knew it! "Uh," he grumbled and slumped down, grabbing the bottle of Vino at his side.
He felt around the end table while staring at the fluid motions of the wine in the bottle, finally glancing at the table when he only felt two wineglasses. "Great! Where's my bottle-opener?" Rampantly looking for it, he crouched down on his knees and searched around the floor. After a few minutes of frantically searching and calling out "Bottle-opener" as if it would come to him like a horse would, he threw his hands up in the air in defeat, almost letting go of the wine bottle. He turned quickly to his right and widened his eyes as his bottle opener magically appeared in front of his face, with a long, slender hand around it. He looked up and frowned as he came to see the hand was that of Celena, who standing in front of him. Unwillingly taking the bottle-opener, he grumbled a thank you and sat back down in his chair.
"What are you doing down here? I thought you were going to the capital with the, uh, cat-girl," he remarked, pouring the wine in a glass for himself.
"Well, there were some changes. Naria is busy. I can't find Folken. So, I thought, maybe, that you would take me shopping."
Dilandau's garnet eyes shot open as the grape-flavored wine poured down his throat. He quickly pulled the glass away, sputtering and coughing. "Wha- What? What did you say?"
Celena tilted her head and placed her hands upon her hips. "I asked you if you would come shopping with me."
His expression turned to a grimace. "Uh, NO! No, I will not-"
"Oh please, Dilandau? Please take me shopping? Folken gave me a lot of money and taught me how to use it." She gave him a begging-puppy look.
He rolled his eyes skyward and sighed in annoyance. "Celena, I... just no! Okay? I'm sure there is someone else. Don't give me that look; I mean it!" He turned away from her and waited in silence a moment before grinding his teeth together in frustration. "Arrgh... You are sure there is no one else?"
Celena shook her head and smiled sweetly. "Absolutely no one."
He still kept himself turned to the side, avoiding Celena's pleading eyes while keeping his own garnet eyes glued to the floor. "Well, argh... Fine then!" She gave a shout of glee and raced towards Dilandau, throwing her arms around him when she reached him. Dilandau sat still as a statue, paralyzed with sudden shock at her reaction. She let go after a moment, not noticing as he mentally recoiled, and ran to the door.
Once Dilandau had come out of his short shock, he winced and sneaked a sly glance over in Celena's direction. "Er, by the way, Celena." She turned back towards him as her fingers were almost on the door. Dilandau bit his lip and shook his head. "Don't tell anybody about this."
~.~
Twenty minutes later they were aimlessly wandering through the dusty streets of the city, window shopping as some might say. Every so often Celena would snatch Dilandau's wrist and pull him into another shop while he ducked and risked a short peep at the crowds, constantly worrying if anyone who knew him had spotted him. He promised himself that he would let Celena have half an hour. After that, he would make a headlong dash back towards the fortress, not caring if she followed or not.
In truth, and he would hate to admit it, Dilandau was truly afraid of large crowds and people. The military was basically what he knew and his habitat: out of that habitat lay dangers for him that he either didn't want to face or just didn't want to know about. His life as a captain was fine for him. It did not make a true difference about what state of wealth you had, what past you had, or what future you had: just what you were in the moment.
He mentally frowned as Celena dragged him into another shop, this one a boutique with a large selection of knick-knacks, books, and other miscellaneous items that Dilandau had no clue as to what they were. He turned to Celena and gave her a quizzical look. "I had presumed that we were looking for clothing."
Celena nonchalantly shrugged and began fingering through some of the objects. "We have time. Besides, this might be the only chance I get to be out here."
Dilandau had to agree. She did have a small point, but this trip still bothered him. Severely uncomfortable with his surroundings, he glanced around at the customers and crossed his arms as he impatiently waited for Celena to look around. He tapped his foot in agitation after a minute and ambled up to Celena's bent form. He looked over her shoulder and cleared his throat. "Are you considering buying anything?" Dilandau nearly laughed at himself. He sounded like a pushy saleswoman.
Celena apparently did not notice and shrugged.
"Oh. Well, hurry it up a bit then." He frowned and turned away, folding his arms across his chest once again as he leaned against the counter.
"I will."
Dilandau glanced over to her out of the corner of his eye, surprised at her reaction as he kept his expression neutral.
~.~
After a few minutes, Celena bought a small timepiece and, much to Dilandau's agitation, a thick, pale pink journal. "What do you need that for?" he asked.
"Well, I've never had a journal before," she remarked, walking out of the store.
"But why did you get the pink one? Why not the red one I showed you?"
She smiled knowingly. "Oh, you mean the one with the black dragons all over it? That thing was ugly."
Dilandau's jaw set into a determined line. "It was not ugly, besides I-"
"Dilandau, watch out!"
In the brief second that he had looked away, he had failed to notice that he was walking straight for a large water fountain. Before he could regain his balance, he tripped and fell into it, soaking himself in the process. "Ah! Well that, phhhfftt, was, phhhffftt, argh!" he exclaimed, spitting pond water out of his mouth.
Celena frowned, set down her packages, and went to help him out as a few onlookers laughed. She glared at them before taking hold of Dilandau and pulling him to his feet on the cobblestone street again while he broke out in protest. "I can help myself, thanks," he quipped before shaking the water off his armor and out of his hair.
"Sorry. I was just trying to help," Celena mumbled as she turned her stare to the ground. She turned around and let out a gasp. "Dilandau, my parcels are gone!"
"What?" he yelled, searching the crowd. He spotted a young man dashing away from the scene, holding the parcels under his arms. His hands clenched into fists. "No one gets away from me!"
He scrambled after the thief, quickly leaving Celena behind in the dust. "Stop, you!" he shouted and ran faster, gaining on the cutpurse as he went top speed. He tried to control his breathing, and his anger, as he dove on his prey, knocking them both to the ground and scattering the parcels about the street. Turning the thief over with rough hands, Dilandau clamped down on his neck and held him in a tight chokehold. "What do you think you are doing?" Dilandau seethed, bitter steel in his tightly reigned voice as he pushed down harder upon the thief's neck.
The man below him desperately tried to pry away his hands, pale face turning a light blue tinge after several seconds. "W-W..D-d.."
"What? I can't hear you!"
"Dilandau, stop it!" Celena had arrived and was now also trying to pry his hands away before the thief suffocated. "Release him! He doesn't deserve this!" she pleaded with him as she placed her hands over Dilandau's.
"Why? Why doesn't he deserve it? He stole from you!" he looked bewildered to her actions.
"Please. Just let him go," she begged, trying desperately to release the choking man.
With a scowling look, Dilandau pulled back his hands. The thief gasped as he stood and stumbled away, rushing to get away from the insane teenager. Dilandau sighed. "Great waste. He's getting away."
Celena just glanced at him, disbelief written on her features, as she went to gather the packages that were scattered on the ground. Sighing, Dilandau went to help her.
~.~
Folken felt like scowling as the man in front of him scrunched his face into about five different expressions before giving his direct answer. "No."
"I know it needs authorization, but-"
"No." The man seemed veritable enough, though Folken was not going to tolerate a negative answer.
He sighed. "Would you please retrieve one of the filers so I can sort this out with them? I would dearly dread to interrupt their work, but if necessary-"
"All right, all right," the pointed little man interrupted, glancing around nervously, shifty and suspicious. "There is no need to interrupt them. If you absolutely need to have a glance at the files, follow me. But be quiet about this! If someone questions you, leave my name out of it!" He quietly slid off his stool behind the desk and grabbed a large ring of silver and iron keys that hung from a wooden hook on the wall. He walked around the desk and motioned Folken to follow him. Folken only nodded triumphantly and started walking after the hyperactive man, growing anxious to look through the files that would assuredly hold the answers. He was researching this on him own time, and he did not have much time to spare or dedicate.
After advancing a few corridors and crossing some bends and curves along the way, they arrived at the door marked with a square symbol on the frame and entered the filing room. The small room was dim and dusty inside, showing the months of disuse and abandonment. Cabinets of hard metal and iron lined the walls, most of which had locks, all neatly organized and bare of clutter.
The short man turned to Folken, quizzically looking over the taller, more formidable man. "Now what specifically are you looking for? Boy? Girl? Age? Filing number?"
Folken took a step farther and looked around the room with a discerning glance. "Girl, around age fourteen or fifteen now. I can't say when the last record of her is. If my memory serves me correctly, the filing number should be somewhere around twenty-seven fifty."
The man nodded and opened three of the drawers in the middle after unlocking them with one of the keys. "There you go. I'll let you have half an hour to search, then I'm kicking you out." With that said, he left to return to his desk.
Folken sauntered up to the drawers, fingering through the first few folders while looking for anything that would lead him to Celena's file. His hands came to rest on several of the folders, and he pulled them out.
"Snooping through files can be a very effective option, but I don't believe it is best suited for you, Strategos."
Folken turned at the flat alto voice and nodded his head once at the man towering in the doorway. "Lavon."
The man came forward into the light, revealing a head of short graying hair and a large black cape similar to Folken's. "What are you doing in this part of the fortress, old friend?"
"Looking for a file, of course, but I think I might find better information from you. Do you remember anything about those experiments on children that you used to do?"
Lavon nodded. "Particularly. Unfortunately, we discontinued our work with them a few years ago, shortly after the developments for guymelefs came into demand. Though, believe me, we are not going to stop doing medical experiments. Just more toned down ones. As you can imagine, that isn't by our doing. If the emperor demands it, we will do it, however he so chooses." He sighed before continuing. "Though it was rather sad that we had to discontinue our work with them. They proved rather well for what they were."
Folken allowed no surprise to seep into his voice. "Why did you stop?"
"We had better things to work on, I suppose. Besides, something went a little, ha, wrong with the projects. A simple factor was not looked at, so our work is canceled until that factor can be crossed."
Folken leaned against the filing cabinets and set down the files. "And what factor would that be?"
Lavon stepped forward to explain. "Well, you see, many areas of the brain, such as the cerebral cortex and areas of the cerebellum, began to swell in some of the children, and in others, the lower cerebral tissues began to dissolve, including some of the areas where action, emotions, and memory are controlled."
"So the brain could not retain two personalities at once, if I am correct to say?"
"Yes, exactly. Hormones, thinking skills, and chemicals were all wrong and too much for a singular human to contain. But there was another factor that was slightly missed. A more... numinous factor."
Folken's eyebrows raised. "So you mean that-"
"I am not saying that it has anything to do with souls or other unknown beings, but both the body and brain could not contain such extremities... and, well..." Lavon paused for moment, keeping his eyes transfixed to the floor. After some time he looked up again and slightly chuckled. "Well, it might seem a bit odd -I'm not saying that I personally believe it is true- but it seems that the two beings or souls or whatever split from each other, usually the created one remaining in the body while the original drifted outside of the body, and then... Oh my, well this is the hardest to explain, I guess... The original body of the first child began to materialize out of thin air, right around the original 'essence'."
Folken stood there, not believing it to be true. Trying not to believe. 'But that would explain it,' he argued with himself. 'That would explain Celena's sudden appearance at the fortress, and that probably would explain Dilandau's personality.' He frowned and looked towards Lavon. "Well, I might take that into consideration. Thank you, Lavon. You have been more than helpful."
Lavon slightly bowed and turned to leave, pausing when Folken's voice rang out again. "Lavon, do you happen to remember a small blonde girl that you worked on? She's probably fourteen or fifteen now. Goes by the name Celena."
The older man looked towards Folken, thinking. "No, I don't believe I remember. Though if you want to find out about her, I wouldn't look in the cabinets. Most of the documents have been destroyed."
Folken glanced down at the cabinet. "Oh. Well, thank you anyway."
Lavon turned and left, leaving Folken in the filing room.
"Well, that helped a lot," he muttered as he returned the files to their original place. Sweeping his cloak around him again, he glided out of the room and down the hall towards the entrance when one of the guards approached him.
"Lord Folken, Emperor Dornkirk requests your audience. It is most urgent."
~.~
Celena was unusually quiet as they walked back to the fortress. Dilandau hated the silence, but he put up with it as best as he could. That is, until something from deep down in him was starting to nag at him.
|Talk to her,| it taunted. |Tell her you're sorry.| Sorry? he asked himself. What did he have to be sorry for? The burglar had deserved what he had gotten.
|Celena doesn't seem to think so. |
"Shut up," Dilandau muttered as he grew agitated, his voice barely audible to Celena. She looked up to stare at him quizzically, still remaining quiet.
Why had he tried to eliminate the burglar? It was just a few parcels after all. Wasn't such a big deal, so why had he gone after him the way he had? Perhaps he had done it because.
Dilandau shrugged the thought off. It was no longer important why he did it.
"Why did you do it, Dilandau?"
Or maybe it was. Dilandau fleetingly glanced at Celena before turning his attention back to the street. He did not really feel like giving an answer to that question when he couldn't think of a reasonable answer to give. "I don't know."
Celena frowned and also turned back to the street, leaving Dilandau again to his thoughts. He came back to the certain thought his conscience demanded of him. |Apologize.|
'No.'
|Say you're sorry. Say you shouldn't have tried to kill that man.|
'Oh, come on. I was going to let him go after a minute.'
Apparently, he spoke the last thought out loud, because Celena turned to him before exclaiming, "It didn't seem that way to me!"
"Well, I'm sorry that I don't like to see you stolen from!" Dilandau shouted back, oblivious to what he said. Celena gawked at him in surprise before turning back to the street, dumbfounded.
'Does he actually care about me?'
~.~
Once they arrived at the fortress, Dilandau led Celena back to her quarters before going up to the conference room, hoping to catch one of the high officials in order to complain about the crime rate in Zaibach.
As he was climbing a set of stairs, he felt the fortress give a mighty quiver and a shake, knocking him from his feet to land on the stairs with a thud.
He realized with sudden shock that the fortress was taking off from the dock. He hurriedly stood and rushed up the stairs, anxious to receive an explanation.
A flight of stairs and few halls later, Dilandau stepped into the room he hoped Folken was in and was for once relieved to see Folken. A blank mask hovered upon the older man's face. "Strategos, why are we-"
"Gear up. We're heading to Fanelia."