Escaflowne doesn't belong to me. Neither does Robert Frost's poetry. But I love them both, so it's OK. By the by, if you haven't read The Soul of the Creation yet… What are you doing here??
As throw a part away.
And some will say all sorts of things,
But some mean what they say.
Robert Frost-"Ends"
Celena finished her household chores with an uncomfortable worry hovering about her hips. She knew there was something wrong with Dilandau, and if he wasn't telling her… She didn't know what it could be. But she knew in her heart that it was about their past life together. He had said that she would find out… She looked out the window, though the music had stopped. What was happening to him?
She was sweeping the floor when he walked in. She stopped, looking up at him, begging him with her eyes to tell him what was wrong. He looked back at her, understanding. They had always been able to tell what each other was saying, even without words. Then, sadly, he shook his head. His haunted look told her that, for now, he would deal with this alone.
The sun was sinking over the hill, and Dilandau retired to his room. The curtains were drawn. They always were. He sat down on his bed, not tired but not wanting to have to wait any longer… This suspense was killing him.
As for the plea, he had made his decision. The music had teased it out of him, and there was no other way he could plead, really. He wanted, no, he needed to understand the words of the Doppleganger, and to do that he had to move on with this, and plead not guilty.
He lay down, and as if the dream was drawing him in, he fell into sleep.
He 'woke' in the blue-flame room once more, "I'm back!" he shouted defiantly into the darkness. The flames rose and he was once more in the courtroom, standing next to his foul lawyer.
The judge gave him a harsh stare as he walked in.
"You may be seated…" The bailiff said in an uninflected voice.
"Show the jury in." the judge sniffed at the bailiff, who did so.
The accusing eyes stared at Dilandau once more, burning through him with their victim's stares. He thought that their living, pulsing hatred was more frightening than their dead eyes.
Zongi looked at Dilandau with nervous eyes, "Did you decide on a plea?" he asked.
Dilandau nodded, not looking at the worm-pale creature.
Zongi smiled, "Good. Good. Don't worry, it'll all be all right."
At that, Dilandau turned an intense stare at Zongi, as if it was so utterly ridiculous to even say such a thing that it amazed him.
The judge turned his gaze on Dilandau, the eyes piercing through him, "So… Have you reached a decision about your plea, defendant?"
"I have, your honor." he said, returning the piercing gaze. He was about to announce his plea of not guilty when his eyes were drawn to the jury box, and he swept his gaze over all of those people that hated him. He hesitated.
"Well….?" the judge said impatiently.
Nervously, Dilandau glanced to his left, seeing Folken standing in the Prosecutor's box. Folken was looking at him, a feral expression on his face. It was not one that Dilandau had seen him adopt in life, and it shook the young man down to the depths of his soul.
Dilandau's eyes pulled his neck to the side, and his gaze passed unbidden over the audience. He saw familiar faces there, too. Soldiers from the Zaibach army and- There! His heart stopped when he saw the Dragonslayers clustered at the back of the audience area. Their eyes were haunted and angry, and they stared at him almost as intensely as the jury.
Even Shesta's face was creased by a frown, and Jajuka, though his expression was, as always, unreadable, seemed angry.
Dilandau shook with the weight of these furious faces on him. He collapsed into his chair.
The judge's face was contemptuous, "Not ready to enter a plea?" he said.
Dilandau felt the clammy hand press against his arm, and there was an immediate assault of odor in his nostrils.
But the odor was overpowered by the kindness in the voice that whispered in Dilandau's ear, "You don't have to do this." it said, "You can sleep the rest of this night, and we can start again tomorrow."
Dilandau looked up at the judge, the jury and the bailiff. Their eyes were laughing at him. He stood, shaking off the Doppleganger's arm, "No, I can do this."
The judge smirked, "So, willing to go on, Mr. Albatou?"
Dilandau's eyes flashed, "I am." he paused, "And my name is Schezar."
The judge's eyes seemed to warm, though his expression remained harsh, "So what do you plead, Mr. Schezar?"
Dilandau stood tall and stared the judge in the eyes, "I plead not guilty."
The courtroom remained imperturbably silent.
AUTHOR'S NOTE!: Wow. That took way too long, and ended up being really short… I hope it is up to your expectations. Super update on me!! I graduated! The senior party was really the best part, though. The hypnotism show was worth staying up til 5 AM for. Then I got a new job! For those of you who read my update sheet, I was fired from my old job (Good riddance, what a horrible job it was…) Now I get more money for less work. I get to blow up balloons! Anyhow…. I'm tired and it's late. I'm going to brush my teeth and get some water, and read Akira Kurosawa's autobiography. Thanks all!
But wait, there's more! Reviews, that is…
Feye Morgan: #^-^# You is too nice! As for the bad bad guys… You'll see why they're doing what they're doing sometime. Don't ask too many questions or you'll make me ruin it!! Sorry my update is late. Lots O stuff happened… You just read my pagey and find out…
Etowato: Thanks!! I'm OK, so don't worry! Thanks for waiting, you're a doll!! I love writing banter. It's really fun, so it's not hard at all… In fact, I had to trim the banter cuz it lasted too long.. ^^;;
Macky: I'm glad you liked it. I hope you like this one even more. You might know some of Robert Frost's poems… He wrote "The Road Not Taken"… You know… "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood/and sorry I could not travel both..." And the end is, "I took the road less traveled by/and that has made all the difference." I'm sure you've heard it. Anyway, I'm updatey the other chapters, too, so check out my other poem snippets.. And thanks! My mouth was feeling a lot better, but then I got spacers… Garg…