"Adrina, wake up."

Adrina was torn from her dreams by a gentle shake and a familiar voice. Folken, she thought dreamily and smiled. She opened her eyes expecting to see the Folken from her childhood. She was disappointed when she saw Folken of Zaibach leaning over her.

"We've returned to the floating fortress," Folken informed. He backed away from her as she sat up in the dark carriage. Adrina yawned slightly and blinked a few times. Folken turned away from her and climbed out of the carriage. Adrina did the same.

"It is late," Folken started, "You should get some sleep."

Adrina nodded but a sudden commotion around them brought her out her sleep haze. As they stood next to the carriage, four or five of Dilandau's men rushed to their guymelefs and boarded them quickly. Out of the shadowy cargo hold, Dilandau emerged in front of them.

"Folken," Dilandau greeted, "You're just in time."

"In time for what?" Folken inquired calmly.

"The dragon has been spotted in a forest near Freid," Dilandau informed, "apparently he knows of our plan. We're going to make sure he doesn't spill out plan to the Duke of Freid."

"Good," Folken praised, "I'll go to the bridge. Wait for my order before you attack. No sense in wasting the guymelefs energy. We'll take the Vione over the forest. Then you can deploy your men."

"Fine," Dilandau agreed without enthusiasm and went to his guymelef.

Folken headed out of the hangar with Adrina following quickly behind. When they reached the purple hallway, Folken stopped.

"You should get to bed," Folken began.

"No," Adrina shook her head, "If what's his name and his men are going after Van, I want to see."

"There will be nothing you can do to help him," Folken reminded.

"I know," Adrina said, "but I don't want to be the last to know if something does happen to him."

Folken could see the pleading in her eyes. "All right," Folken agreed and they continued down the hallways in silence. They finally reached the control room door and entered. The two of them made their way to the platform.

"How far from the forest are we?" Folken asked.

"Estimated time of arrival is two minutes," one soldier replied.

"Let me know when we're in position," Folken ordered.

"Yes sir."

Adrina watched the soldiers with tense anticipation. If Dilandau and his men attacked Van, there was a chance he was going to get hurt or worse. Adrina had the distinct feeling that Van would do anything to avoid being captured again. As if reading her mind, Folken looked down at her.

"Do not worry about Van," Folken comforted, "He is not to be injured and Dilandau knows that."

Adrina smiled in thanks and was surprised to see a ghost of a smile tracing his own lips. Adrina was once again reminded of the old Folken, but the image was shattered by the voice of a Zaibach soldier.

"We're over the forest," he informed.

"Put me through to Dilandau," Folken ordered. One soldier pushed a button on the console in front of him. "Dilandau, do you read me?"

"I hear you." Dilandau's voice floated out of an overhead speaker.

"We are over the forest," Folken relayed, "You may deploy when ready."

Over the speaker, Dilandau began giving orders. "Open the hangar," was the last of them. The same soldier pressed another button on the console and over the speaker, the sound of the hangar door clunking open floated out. This was followed by the sounds of the guymelefs leaving the hangar. A few seconds later, the guymelefs appeared outside the giant windows, descending towards the lush forest.

Near the middle of the forest, Adrina could see the trees swaying unnaturally. She decided that that was where Van and the Escaflowne were. "Watch out Van," she whispered and looked on with dread as the Zaibach guymelefs descended like eagles on an unsuspecting rabbit.

The Zaibach guymelefs landed and disappeared into the dark trees. The only sign that they were there at all was the pulsating trees that were growing progressively closer to the place where Escaflowne had stopped moving.

Adrina watched and listened, waiting for any sign that the battle had begun. Suddenly, the guymelefs stopped and over the speaker a crackling sounded. Then a sound like metal scraping metal and trees falling was heard over the speaker. An area of the forest was now alive as the battle began.

Over the speaker, Dilandau's voice rang out. "What are you doing? You're missing him." There was a short pause in which Adrina assumed the others were answering, then Dilandau again. "Stop spouting nonsense. Just hit him, will you? But try not to kill him, okay?"

Before Dilandau finished his statement, Adrina had left the platform and had run to the large windows, hoping to get a better view of the fight. Sound of the skirmish sounded through the speaker. As she looked on, she saw a guymelef heading away form the battle. She assumed it must be Escaflowne because she couldn't think of a reason why the Zaibach soldiers would be retreating. A second later, Dilandau confirmed her suspicions.

"Come back here!" Dilandau demanded.

Adrina watched the retreating guymelef and in a moment saw Escaflowne emerge from the forest next to a large river. Escaflowne bent down and Adrina could just make out two figures scrambling off the guymelef. Even from the distance, she could see Merle's pointed ears and pink hair in the moonlight. She couldn't be sure, but she thought the other was Hitomi. Once they had climbed off of Escaflowne, it stood up and hurried into the water.

"That's brilliant!" Adrina exclaimed as she realized Van's plan.

"What?" Folken questioned from the platform.

"If he draws them into the river, turning invisible isn't going to help what's his name and his men." Adrina's smile illuminated her face.

"Very good Van," Folken praised.

Adrina turned back just in time to see the Zaibach guymelefs erupt out of the forest and surround Van in the water.

"Hmmm," Dilandau smirked over the speaker, "very clever."

"Come on Van," Adrina urged, "You can do it!" She watched as Escaflowne whiled and parried as the Zaibach guymelefs attacked from all sides. Even though he was outnumbered, Van held his own for awhile. Then, on of Dilandau's men shot metal claws at Escaflowne, catching it's left leg and piercing the armor. They same thing followed on the right leg. Dilandau's guymelef shot out metal claws that embedded themselves around Escaflowne's head. Adrina gasped in horror at Van's apparent hopeless situation.

"The dragon slayers have captured the target," a soldier in the control room reported.

"Excellent," Folken expressed, "take us down. We'll retrieve the dragon ourselves."

"Sir," the soldier acknowledged.

"Van!" Adrina exclaimed in despair.

"Levi-ship closing in from nortra quadrant," a soldier informed.

"What?" Folken demanded.

Adrina's shriek of delight echoed through the control room as she pressed her face against the window to catch a glimpse of the newcomer. She saw it, an Asturian levi-Ship that she immediately recognized as the Crusade. The ship flew over the battle, dropping Scherezade out as it went. Allen's guymelef wasted no time in joining the fray and cut through the metal claws holding Escaflowne quickly. With Allen's help, he and Van defeated the Zaibach guymelefs with ease.

Escaflowne had just tossed a Zaibach guymelef onto the shore when Dilandau's red guymelef attacked again. He shot out several metal claws, which Van deflected easily with his sword. The shrill scream of metal grating on metal sounded on the speaker as the claws bounced off in all directions. Adrina watched in horror as one of the runaway claws headed straight towards the bank where Hitomi and Merle stood watching the fight.

"Look out!" Adrina cried in warning even though she knew they could neither hear nor see her. As the claw approached them, Hitomi shoved Merle out of the way, then brought her hands up as if to ward off the coming blow.

The claw was within seconds of piercing her skin when all of a sudden Scherezade stepped into the path of the oncoming danger. The claw struck the guymelef low on the control chamber. The sounds of the battle faded away and everything stood still as Scherezade shuddered then fell to it's knees heavily.

Obviously enraged by his fallen comrade, Van attacked the red guymelef with full force, sending it reeling. On the shore, Hitomi ran to the fallen guymelef and even though she couldn't hear her words, Adrina could tell she was calling to Allen.

"Freid convoy approaching," A soldier suddenly informed.

Adrina turned and saw a group of levi-ships approaching.

"That's not good," Folken commented, "That's enough. Dilandau, fall back now. Some ships from Freid are approaching. If we're spotted, they might catch wind of our plan."

"Darn!" Dilandau whined, "Just when it was getting interesting!" The Zaibach guymelefs lifted off of the ground and sped back to the floating fortress. On the ground, Escaflowne hurried over to the fallen Scherezade.

"Adrina," Folken called. She turned from the window, "Come. We are done here." Adrina nodded and followed Folken out of the control room. He talked to her as they walked.

"You've eaten nothing since breakfast," Folken started, "You must be starving. I will have the kitchen prepare you something."

"That's okay," Adrina declined, "I'd rather just go to bed. It's been a long day."

After hearing the fatigue in her voice, Folken stopped and turned around. Adrina's skin was pale and her eyes looked haunted. A concerned frown creased his face. She saw this and offered him a weak smile, but it held no trace of the joy or light it usually possessed. This smile held only fear and sorrow.

"Are you sure you don't want anything to eat?" he persisted, "You look pale."

"I'm fine," Adrina assured but her eyes said otherwise.

"All right then," Folken nodded, "I will walk you to your room."

"You don't have to do that," Adrina insisted, "I can find it fine now that I know the secret of the hallways." She smiled again, this time with more warmth than before, but it did nothing to hide the turmoil inside of her.

Folken said nothing and continued down the hallway. They reached the purple corridor and he didn't stop, but instead kept walking towards her room.

"Folken, really, I'm fine," Adrina repeated but Folken gave no indication that he even heard her words. Adrina sighed in defeat and followed him the rest of the way to her room. He finally came to a stop outside her door.

"Good night, Adrina," Folken said, his voice revealing emotions that his face did not.

"Good night," Adrina mimicked. Without another word, Folken turned and disappeared down the dimly lit hallway. Once he was gone, Adrina fumbled with the doorknob and entered her room. It was pitch black inside and she stumbled over to the bed. She decided that rather than try to light the oil lamps in her state of waking numbness and risk burning herself or setting fire to the room she would just sleep in the dress she had on. She managed to kick off her shoes and climb under the covers before she fell into a fitful sleep plagued by eerie images and dark dreams.

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I know, this chapter is kinda short, but I thought this was a good place to end. Thanks to everyone for reviewing! I don't know when the next update is going to be, but hopefully it's soon. Bye! ^_^