Chapter Seven:
Her jaw still hurt, but it was much better than a few days ago. Things hadn't changed much since Jezabel arrived at the Vionne. She constantly ached, her muscles were stiff and sore, but at the same time she was pushing barriers she never thought she could reach. Progress was slow, but at least her sword wasn't lost every time she fought someone.
"Ha! I beat you again." Jezabel was dueling with Dallet, she hated this. "Care to try again? Or do you need a break, wuss."
"Don't push her Dallet." Miguel warned sensing a potential argument, while striding up to the pair with a sword slung over his shoulder, "As long as you hide behind that sword you're safe. Try sparring, you're doomed."
"Oh, really? I don't think that I could be beat by such an inferior woman."
Jezabel glared, sending rays dark enough to kill, "Care to find out? Wuss."
"Why not, although beating you does get old after a while. Why would I want to do it again?"
"Only because you enjoy gloating. Even if it's over a pathetic girl who barely knows the basics of swordsmanship. Not that great of an achievement. But, if you so desire, bring it on"
Rational as always Miguel broke it up, "Knock it off you two."
"Since when have you become her knight in shining armor? I wasn't aware of the transition."
"I'm not, but have you become Kana's, or just her boy toy?" That struck a nerve. Usually the Dragonslayers got along perfectly fine with the exception of a few incidents. This was shaping up to be one of those.
"Watch it Miguel."
"Or what?" he taunted.
"Or this." Dallet lunged at Miguel, his body language crying for blood.
Graciously Miguel reacted and blocked the strong blow, but barely. Pushing Dallet aside and swinging his sword wildly he came up for a counter attack. With a stupendous clash of metal vs. metal the battle rose to a new level. They exchanged blows ducking and jabbing in a complex waltz of steel and flesh. From a distance one would see it as a graceful dance, up close it was a test of wits and stamina.
Each taking out frustrations, and angers of their past. It all flowed in the heat of combat. All hidden memories were washed away, only to come cascading back when the charade ends.
Seeing the beads of sweat trailing down Dallet's face grow in number and intensity, knowing that he looked the same, and both could feel the burst of energy ebbing away. Miguel spoke, "Let's just call this a draw."
"Scared you'll lose." It would have been much more effective if he wasn't panting like a sweaty dog.
"No, this is getting boring."
Dallet relaxed and let his blade hang loosely in his hand, "Fine."
Miguel turned away to wipe off his sword. No sooner had he curved away Dallet hit Miguel squarely between the shoulder blades.
"Miguel!" Jez hollered, falling next to him on the floor. He was fine, dazed but otherwise okay. Unsheathing her own sword, she cursed, "You filthy rat!" and she charged.
Dallet blocked her easily, despite his former duel. "That wasn't fair." she continued, grunting as she struggled to stay in the fight, "You both agreed to call it off, and then you back stabbed him! You bloody bastard!"
Kana joined in the festivities, "You take that back! Stupid Brit.!" She was about to strike Jezabel in a blind spot, but Gatti joined in lending Jez a hand. "No one talks to Dallet like that!" she finished, filled with rage.
"I'll talk to him how I like!" She yelled back. Losing her concentration Jezabel slipped on a loose sheath and crashed into Viole.
"Watch it!" he growled.
"You, you're in the way." Needless to say Viole joined the growing mosh pit of swords. Soon all men had joined in the fight, including Miguel who pulled himself up and re-entered.
"And you call yourselves elite soldiers." Dilandau's tone held an eerie death-griping tone to it. Enough to make the fight cease and everyone plummet to the floor cowering while chanting, "Forgive us!"
'Aw, man. I messed it up this time.' Jezabel thought, 'Please don't' get too mad, please.'
"I come in here expecting to see an organized training session, and what have we here? A group of ragged recruits! This is not what is expected of you!" Jezabel flinched at his last words, lucky for her he didn't notice. But if he did, Dilandau didn't do anything about it. He continued for a while about how the Dragonslayers were supposed cultured, refined, and elegant. They were above the common street rat. They were supposed to control their anger, channel it for a battle, to enhance their prowess.
'He should take his own advice' remembering all to well the fist that had dislocated her jaw.
"Jezabel!" He barked, shattering her thoughts.
Her head still bowed she spoke clearly, but not defiant, "Yes Lord Dilandau?"
"Lord Folken wants to see you." He pointed to a servant polishing the equipment, "You there! Show her to Lord Folken's quarters."
The servant, none other than Eva gently put her rag down, and beckoned for Jezabel to follow her. After exiting the room she turned to face Jezabel. "What do you think you're doing? If you keep getting into fights at this rate you'll get killed. Not that I'd mind, but were kind of depending on you, and that you leave us in a very nasty position."
"Chill, okay?" Jez interrupted, "Look, Lord Folken called me in right? I'll see if I can find out anything from him."
"Fine." The scowl had been wiped off her face as they stopped outside a large door with delicate carvings. "I'll wait for you here."
Jezabel raised her hand to knock as the door opened. A stern looking Folken stepped aside to let her enter, "I was just about to come and get you myself."
Jezabel replied, not looking him in the eye, "I'm sorry, I was detained by Lord Dilandau."
"That does seem fitting, anything to bother me. He does seem to like it." He smiled to himself, although there was nothing amusing, "I suppose you're wondering why I asked for you to come here."
"Yes, actually." Confessing she took in the surroundings.
A dim light emitted from various machinery, and the back wall, made entirely of glass. In front of it sat a large wooden desk.
"Please sit down."
Cautiously Jezabel complied, sinking into one of the cushioned chairs, relaxing a little. The glow from the windows caught her hair giving it a golden look, and it sparkled off the beads of sweat on her face and
"You're bleeding." Folken said noticing her arm, "You were in another fight weren't you?"
"Yes." The blood was beginning to crust over at the slit in her jacket.
"Let me see your arm." He walked over and examined the underside of her left forearm. "You make more enemies than friends here. Take off the jacket."
Folken seemed to be talking to himself as he addressed one of the cheetah warriors. All she caught was a husky "Yes Lord Folken."
"I'm sending Eriya to fetch some bandages for your wound."
Jezabel was slightly chilled now that all she had on was a lavender tank top.
"Your lucky the wound isn't deeper. Or longer." His hands massaged the tender area as he cleaned it up with a cloth, "I suppose we all lead a charmed life here at the Vionne. Everyone seems to cheat death."
Somehow Jezabel knew he wasn't talking to her, her curiosity sparked she asked, "What do you mean?"
"Nothing, just my musings. Hold that on there until Eriya returns. Funny you didn't realize it, a cut that deep, you should have felt something." Abruptly he changed the subject, "Now the reason I called you in here is I want to know how everything is working for you, and run a physical, which should have been done earlier."
Jez peeled off the cloth ass Eriya returned, "It's green!" she exclaimed
"Really. How interesting, there must have been a reaction with the antiseptic I put in the cloth." He didn't say anything more, as the wound was mended, and a blood sample taken.
What followed was similar to a doctor's checkup. A basic physical for the Vionne records. Her reflexes were good, she was in good cardiovascular health, and her already toned body was becoming stronger in a shorter time than she realized. Over all she was in better condition than most people on earth could ever hope, but here she still had a ways to go.
"One more thing before you leave Jezabel."
"Yes Lord Folken?" she shrugged on her leather jacket.
"Seeing your physical abilities I want you to start your guymelef training earlier than intended. Kana begun hers about two weeks ago, and I want to put you two on the same level as quickly as possible."
"Oh." she managed to stammer out, "A guymelef, those big robots?"
"Yes."
Scratching her head she muttered, "Oh, boy." then after a moments thought, "Fine by me." Altogether forgetting she was speaking to a ranking officer.
Only slightly miffed Folken continued, "That is well. If you prove to pick this up as quickly as your other skills you should be ready for our attack on Creole. A small sized city below the southwestern border of Fanelia. We sense their loyalty to the Zaibach Empire is wavering. I'll send a servant with an operation manual, and Jezabel?"
"Yes?"
"Do try to get along with other Dragon Slayers, it will make the Zaibach founding ball, much more enjoyable for yourself."
"A ball?"
"Yes, a celebration of the founding of Zaibach. A formal one, but you don't need to worry about that yet, it's still a few months away."
"I see." She didn't know whether to be excited, or disgusted. A ball was similar to a dance, but if was formal…that didn't exactly coincide with her personality very well.
"Could you please send Kana to me when you return?"
"Yes sir." Bowing slightly she exited.
When the door opened Jezabel saw Eva hurriedly stuff a small metal box into her pocket. "What did you find out?" Eva hissed.
"I'll tell you later."
Silently they continued their walk back to training headquarters. Outside the door they heard Dilandau yelling…again.
"I wonder what happened this time." Eva said speaking to no one in particular. Jezabel opened the door to see, not surprisingly that Kana was the one at fault.
"How many times must I tell you? You are to call me Lord Dilandau! Not Dilly, or Dilly-pickle!"
From the line of men she just barely heard one of them whisper, "What's a Dilly-pickle?"
Jez stood solemnly, trying very hard not to laugh, even so she couldn't stop a slight shaking.
"What's so funny Jezabel? Please enlighten us." Her commander ordered.
She couldn't take it anymore, and started laughing hysterically, even though the situation wasn't all that comical. "What's a Dilly-pickle?" she gasped out. The other slayers stared at her in bewilderment; they obviously didn't get the joke.
Dilandau was about to slap her, but at the same time Jez dropped to her knees, clutching her sides.
Regaining her breath Jezabel said, "A pickle is a type of food, a more specific type is a dill pickle."
"What's so funny about it soldier?" Jezabel became aware of cool metal lifting her chin up. Dilandau's sword. Not offering any restraint she let it guide her head up until her eyes locked with his red ones. Burning, like the fire he so adored.
'Oh, gods. He's going to kill me.' Her ice gray eyes became crystal clear as the light reflected off the iris.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"That's funny." Hitomi said aloud, speaking to no one, "I thought I left my tarot cards at home."
"Hitomi?" Van's soothing voice came to her from the door way, "Is something wrong?"
"No, just odd."
"What?"
Her emerald eyes were full of puzzlement, and her shoulders sagged into a thoughtful position, "I could have sworn I left them at home. I gave up fortune telling." A breeze fluttered in through the open balcony doors, refreshing Hitomi's mind. "It's nothing."
"Lunch is ready."
The wind picked up, knocking the cards to scatter them on the floor. One landed at the lovers' feet. "No, no…not again, I said I gave up fortune telling." What was once calm was now panic.
Van steadied Hitomi holding her close as she wept into his shoulder, behind her lay one upturned card.
Death.
A/N: dun dun duuuuuuuuuuun…..hey I updated!!!! (although I don't know why I should be working on my homework…see what I do for you? One more thing Beware the ides of March!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ciao!
Ice Eyes
Her jaw still hurt, but it was much better than a few days ago. Things hadn't changed much since Jezabel arrived at the Vionne. She constantly ached, her muscles were stiff and sore, but at the same time she was pushing barriers she never thought she could reach. Progress was slow, but at least her sword wasn't lost every time she fought someone.
"Ha! I beat you again." Jezabel was dueling with Dallet, she hated this. "Care to try again? Or do you need a break, wuss."
"Don't push her Dallet." Miguel warned sensing a potential argument, while striding up to the pair with a sword slung over his shoulder, "As long as you hide behind that sword you're safe. Try sparring, you're doomed."
"Oh, really? I don't think that I could be beat by such an inferior woman."
Jezabel glared, sending rays dark enough to kill, "Care to find out? Wuss."
"Why not, although beating you does get old after a while. Why would I want to do it again?"
"Only because you enjoy gloating. Even if it's over a pathetic girl who barely knows the basics of swordsmanship. Not that great of an achievement. But, if you so desire, bring it on"
Rational as always Miguel broke it up, "Knock it off you two."
"Since when have you become her knight in shining armor? I wasn't aware of the transition."
"I'm not, but have you become Kana's, or just her boy toy?" That struck a nerve. Usually the Dragonslayers got along perfectly fine with the exception of a few incidents. This was shaping up to be one of those.
"Watch it Miguel."
"Or what?" he taunted.
"Or this." Dallet lunged at Miguel, his body language crying for blood.
Graciously Miguel reacted and blocked the strong blow, but barely. Pushing Dallet aside and swinging his sword wildly he came up for a counter attack. With a stupendous clash of metal vs. metal the battle rose to a new level. They exchanged blows ducking and jabbing in a complex waltz of steel and flesh. From a distance one would see it as a graceful dance, up close it was a test of wits and stamina.
Each taking out frustrations, and angers of their past. It all flowed in the heat of combat. All hidden memories were washed away, only to come cascading back when the charade ends.
Seeing the beads of sweat trailing down Dallet's face grow in number and intensity, knowing that he looked the same, and both could feel the burst of energy ebbing away. Miguel spoke, "Let's just call this a draw."
"Scared you'll lose." It would have been much more effective if he wasn't panting like a sweaty dog.
"No, this is getting boring."
Dallet relaxed and let his blade hang loosely in his hand, "Fine."
Miguel turned away to wipe off his sword. No sooner had he curved away Dallet hit Miguel squarely between the shoulder blades.
"Miguel!" Jez hollered, falling next to him on the floor. He was fine, dazed but otherwise okay. Unsheathing her own sword, she cursed, "You filthy rat!" and she charged.
Dallet blocked her easily, despite his former duel. "That wasn't fair." she continued, grunting as she struggled to stay in the fight, "You both agreed to call it off, and then you back stabbed him! You bloody bastard!"
Kana joined in the festivities, "You take that back! Stupid Brit.!" She was about to strike Jezabel in a blind spot, but Gatti joined in lending Jez a hand. "No one talks to Dallet like that!" she finished, filled with rage.
"I'll talk to him how I like!" She yelled back. Losing her concentration Jezabel slipped on a loose sheath and crashed into Viole.
"Watch it!" he growled.
"You, you're in the way." Needless to say Viole joined the growing mosh pit of swords. Soon all men had joined in the fight, including Miguel who pulled himself up and re-entered.
"And you call yourselves elite soldiers." Dilandau's tone held an eerie death-griping tone to it. Enough to make the fight cease and everyone plummet to the floor cowering while chanting, "Forgive us!"
'Aw, man. I messed it up this time.' Jezabel thought, 'Please don't' get too mad, please.'
"I come in here expecting to see an organized training session, and what have we here? A group of ragged recruits! This is not what is expected of you!" Jezabel flinched at his last words, lucky for her he didn't notice. But if he did, Dilandau didn't do anything about it. He continued for a while about how the Dragonslayers were supposed cultured, refined, and elegant. They were above the common street rat. They were supposed to control their anger, channel it for a battle, to enhance their prowess.
'He should take his own advice' remembering all to well the fist that had dislocated her jaw.
"Jezabel!" He barked, shattering her thoughts.
Her head still bowed she spoke clearly, but not defiant, "Yes Lord Dilandau?"
"Lord Folken wants to see you." He pointed to a servant polishing the equipment, "You there! Show her to Lord Folken's quarters."
The servant, none other than Eva gently put her rag down, and beckoned for Jezabel to follow her. After exiting the room she turned to face Jezabel. "What do you think you're doing? If you keep getting into fights at this rate you'll get killed. Not that I'd mind, but were kind of depending on you, and that you leave us in a very nasty position."
"Chill, okay?" Jez interrupted, "Look, Lord Folken called me in right? I'll see if I can find out anything from him."
"Fine." The scowl had been wiped off her face as they stopped outside a large door with delicate carvings. "I'll wait for you here."
Jezabel raised her hand to knock as the door opened. A stern looking Folken stepped aside to let her enter, "I was just about to come and get you myself."
Jezabel replied, not looking him in the eye, "I'm sorry, I was detained by Lord Dilandau."
"That does seem fitting, anything to bother me. He does seem to like it." He smiled to himself, although there was nothing amusing, "I suppose you're wondering why I asked for you to come here."
"Yes, actually." Confessing she took in the surroundings.
A dim light emitted from various machinery, and the back wall, made entirely of glass. In front of it sat a large wooden desk.
"Please sit down."
Cautiously Jezabel complied, sinking into one of the cushioned chairs, relaxing a little. The glow from the windows caught her hair giving it a golden look, and it sparkled off the beads of sweat on her face and
"You're bleeding." Folken said noticing her arm, "You were in another fight weren't you?"
"Yes." The blood was beginning to crust over at the slit in her jacket.
"Let me see your arm." He walked over and examined the underside of her left forearm. "You make more enemies than friends here. Take off the jacket."
Folken seemed to be talking to himself as he addressed one of the cheetah warriors. All she caught was a husky "Yes Lord Folken."
"I'm sending Eriya to fetch some bandages for your wound."
Jezabel was slightly chilled now that all she had on was a lavender tank top.
"Your lucky the wound isn't deeper. Or longer." His hands massaged the tender area as he cleaned it up with a cloth, "I suppose we all lead a charmed life here at the Vionne. Everyone seems to cheat death."
Somehow Jezabel knew he wasn't talking to her, her curiosity sparked she asked, "What do you mean?"
"Nothing, just my musings. Hold that on there until Eriya returns. Funny you didn't realize it, a cut that deep, you should have felt something." Abruptly he changed the subject, "Now the reason I called you in here is I want to know how everything is working for you, and run a physical, which should have been done earlier."
Jez peeled off the cloth ass Eriya returned, "It's green!" she exclaimed
"Really. How interesting, there must have been a reaction with the antiseptic I put in the cloth." He didn't say anything more, as the wound was mended, and a blood sample taken.
What followed was similar to a doctor's checkup. A basic physical for the Vionne records. Her reflexes were good, she was in good cardiovascular health, and her already toned body was becoming stronger in a shorter time than she realized. Over all she was in better condition than most people on earth could ever hope, but here she still had a ways to go.
"One more thing before you leave Jezabel."
"Yes Lord Folken?" she shrugged on her leather jacket.
"Seeing your physical abilities I want you to start your guymelef training earlier than intended. Kana begun hers about two weeks ago, and I want to put you two on the same level as quickly as possible."
"Oh." she managed to stammer out, "A guymelef, those big robots?"
"Yes."
Scratching her head she muttered, "Oh, boy." then after a moments thought, "Fine by me." Altogether forgetting she was speaking to a ranking officer.
Only slightly miffed Folken continued, "That is well. If you prove to pick this up as quickly as your other skills you should be ready for our attack on Creole. A small sized city below the southwestern border of Fanelia. We sense their loyalty to the Zaibach Empire is wavering. I'll send a servant with an operation manual, and Jezabel?"
"Yes?"
"Do try to get along with other Dragon Slayers, it will make the Zaibach founding ball, much more enjoyable for yourself."
"A ball?"
"Yes, a celebration of the founding of Zaibach. A formal one, but you don't need to worry about that yet, it's still a few months away."
"I see." She didn't know whether to be excited, or disgusted. A ball was similar to a dance, but if was formal…that didn't exactly coincide with her personality very well.
"Could you please send Kana to me when you return?"
"Yes sir." Bowing slightly she exited.
When the door opened Jezabel saw Eva hurriedly stuff a small metal box into her pocket. "What did you find out?" Eva hissed.
"I'll tell you later."
Silently they continued their walk back to training headquarters. Outside the door they heard Dilandau yelling…again.
"I wonder what happened this time." Eva said speaking to no one in particular. Jezabel opened the door to see, not surprisingly that Kana was the one at fault.
"How many times must I tell you? You are to call me Lord Dilandau! Not Dilly, or Dilly-pickle!"
From the line of men she just barely heard one of them whisper, "What's a Dilly-pickle?"
Jez stood solemnly, trying very hard not to laugh, even so she couldn't stop a slight shaking.
"What's so funny Jezabel? Please enlighten us." Her commander ordered.
She couldn't take it anymore, and started laughing hysterically, even though the situation wasn't all that comical. "What's a Dilly-pickle?" she gasped out. The other slayers stared at her in bewilderment; they obviously didn't get the joke.
Dilandau was about to slap her, but at the same time Jez dropped to her knees, clutching her sides.
Regaining her breath Jezabel said, "A pickle is a type of food, a more specific type is a dill pickle."
"What's so funny about it soldier?" Jezabel became aware of cool metal lifting her chin up. Dilandau's sword. Not offering any restraint she let it guide her head up until her eyes locked with his red ones. Burning, like the fire he so adored.
'Oh, gods. He's going to kill me.' Her ice gray eyes became crystal clear as the light reflected off the iris.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"That's funny." Hitomi said aloud, speaking to no one, "I thought I left my tarot cards at home."
"Hitomi?" Van's soothing voice came to her from the door way, "Is something wrong?"
"No, just odd."
"What?"
Her emerald eyes were full of puzzlement, and her shoulders sagged into a thoughtful position, "I could have sworn I left them at home. I gave up fortune telling." A breeze fluttered in through the open balcony doors, refreshing Hitomi's mind. "It's nothing."
"Lunch is ready."
The wind picked up, knocking the cards to scatter them on the floor. One landed at the lovers' feet. "No, no…not again, I said I gave up fortune telling." What was once calm was now panic.
Van steadied Hitomi holding her close as she wept into his shoulder, behind her lay one upturned card.
Death.
A/N: dun dun duuuuuuuuuuun…..hey I updated!!!! (although I don't know why I should be working on my homework…see what I do for you? One more thing Beware the ides of March!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ciao!
Ice Eyes