Ollen70: Blame Guster's for the title of this one. It isn't very long and I'm sure it isn't at all what you were expecting, but that'll be coming very soon. I promise. =)


Disclaimer: No, I don't own Escaflowne. Surprise, surprise.


Chapter Ten - - Almost Nothing Left



Yet Julia's very coldness was still kind,
And tremulously gentle her small hand
Withdrew itself from his, but left behind
A little pressure, thrilling, and so bland,
And slight, so very slight that to the mind
Twas but a doubt.

Don Juan, canto I, stanza 71



Folken's eyes opened slowly, and it was with that same slowness that he rolled over, letting the very faint light of the passage into his eyes.

You've come. He said at last, the sleep making his voice heavier than it normally would have been. Though I may find myself asking why.

You already know why. Delleva said from the shadows beside him. You already know how. It seems, Folken Strategos, that there is little in the empire you don't know about anymore. You must be proud, having accomplished so much is so little time. Her bitterness was all too evident in the scathing quality her words carried.

My accomplishments serve a greater purpose, just as all of us in the empire do. You know what our goals are.

Will you ever be the fool, Folken? Delleva almost spat it. I came to know if you'll really do as you were commanded. Are you going to lay waste to Fanelia?

Of course she would come for that. She was very right when she told him he already knew. Delleva had brought her own personal guymelef to the fortress in the night - Zongi alerted him to her presence before he had retired to his chambers, and he was content to wait and make her come to him. Things had changed now. She wasn't aware of how little power she had over him. She drew close again, breathing in his fear for her that would never totally diminish, no matter how much time might pass. Lissome limbs closed in about his bare chest and he was brought back down to the mattress, safe from her beneath the covers and sheets, but never really secure.

Will you tell me? She asked, appearing for once demure which he found reasonably strange, given the circumstances.

I will do what is necessary to fulfill my orders, no more.

The consummate soldier at last, after all this time. She jibed him without affection. From a strong, defiant lad you've become a whimpering cur. You're a true disappointment after all.

Because I'm not beckoning to the crook of your finger any longer? Did you think I'd come back to you again, to let you break me?

You've broken yourself and you recognize it now, which does you merit at least. If I may ask a question of you, your Lordship,' here she bowed contemptuously.

Can I stop you? He interjected quickly. She ignored his interruption.

Do you still feel pity? Do you ever regret anything you've done, any of the lives you've ruined through your genius? Does the night ever feel so heavy to you that you wonder if you'll ever stand upright again? When he didn't answer, she rose all in one movement and made for the doorway, mistaking his silence. I thought not. He would have called after her, but the undercurrent to the tone she'd used was so surprising to him that he only half-sat in the bed, too astonished or perhaps too proud to race after her and tell her the truth. After all, what good did the truth ever really do anyone?



Finding no will to sleep, he rose listlessly. The night was still thick, bringing with it memories of the first few months he'd spent in the bowels of the Imperial fortress after his horrific rebirth. Again he made his way to the balcony and overlooked what he had come to think of as the Old world. Far below, he saw the dark, disfigured lines that would eventually become the brown roads of Fanelia in the unwittingly innocent light of dawn.

These things didn't really concern him, given the tremendous weight of what he knew he had no choice but to set into motion. In less than three hours, Dilandau and his most elite knights, now almost facetiously referred to as the dragon slayers' would descend on his old home, and though he had given them orders that they should conduct their business with as little bloodshed as possible, he knew as well as anyone what kind of devastation Dilandau would leave behind.

Brother, I am truly sorry.' He thought to himself. It was a needless indulgence in self-pity, something Delleva would have doubtless tormented him for, had she stayed. If anyone had honestly believed in him in his entire life, it had been his dear Van, young enough to still be precious and innocent to his heart no matter how old he became.

There was something in the way Delleva had spoken to him - something he had found no success deciphering no matter how hard he tried - that turned his thoughts back again and again to Van. Of course, Delleva in herself had presented him with more questions than he had time or care to address.

Chiefly, why had she come to him? Why, after all her encouragements in the beginning, did she show such total disappointment in him when all of his achievements were what she had driven him cruelly to grasp for at their first meetings? And Van... was he somehow connected to all of this? Had Delleva somehow maneuvered... There was really no point in finishing that thought. As cunning as Delleva was, Dornkirk himself was the only person aside from Zongi who knew that Van was Folken's brother. The emperor agreed to keep Folken's secret, when he had demanded to know how Dornkirk knew him to be a draconian.
Again, he found himself pondering why Dornkirk would keep such a secret if it did not benefit him at some point, (Dornkirk was not an altruist, by any stretch of the imagination) or to what end the old man might eventually turn that knowledge.
The memory of that particular exchange came unbidden to the forefront of Folken's mind.

* * * * * * * * * * * *
You are an ingenious youth, that much is certain, but it was not for your mind alone that you were spared. I have seen your secret, Folken Strategos. Dornkirk used what at that time had been the newer name, causing Folken to cringe at the sound. It didn't belong to him, no matter how often Dornkirk attempted to promote it.

I have seen your wings. Long have I known that you are at least part draconian, with ties to the fabled city of Atlantis. Only a draconian can wholly fathom the ways of the destiny prognostication devices or call upon the powers long ago sealed in them, and only you can help me rebuild them. You are more dear to me than any son can be to a father, because of the glory and the hope that you indelibly represent. Your existence will prompt the perfection of Fate. This is your heritage and yours alone. Pledge yourself to me fully, Folken, and this secret will never again pass my lips.

I am loyal to the empire... Folken had said it automatically, losing his nerve when the old man raised an almost translucent hand.

Are you? I have seen that you are growing restless, my boy. It drove you to find the two twins, though I cannot say why you brought them here, when you know of the first promise you made to me, regarding the conduct of the demi-humans. His voice carried the world-weariness Folken had grown to expect. You will train them to be the operatives of the empire and pledge yourself to me anew. Dornkirk had not - and still did not - know that Folken had indeed hoped the Leopards would become part of the very establishment he hated. He could ensure their safety with his own conduct instead of willing their future into the hands of an ugly mankind. He had already convinced them to give themselves over, and so the promise was an easy one to make.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

So many lives. So many people he had changed in an unsettling direction that he himself was not sure of. Now as he watched the world below him, it was too late for doubt or fear. The dawn was coming and he would soon see how many more lives his new existence would claim. With another silent prayer lodged to the foreign God Dornkirk did not believe in, Folken turned and left both home and brother to what would be.




Ollen70: Again, it hasn't happened yet but you know it's coming. I felt that I'd left the whole Delleva thing to just float free. She might turn up again a little later on in the story. Hope you enjoyed it, and I want to say thanks' once again to Myst Lady, Atari, and Link0723.