Ollen70: So, here it is. That's really all I have to say, except that I hope to get the next chapter done a little faster, and I'm sorry that it's taken so long. But then, I always say that.

Disclaimer: Still not mine. *sigh*


To Atari - Actually, all of the dialogue - with a few exceptions - is straight off the anime. Of course, I'm realizing now as I write this that I only saw the dubbed version. The dubbed, *censored* version, to be very specific. (Hmm...) At the time, I thought it was a little strange myself, but I wanted to be as thorough there as I could. The Secret of Evermore is a fairly corny role playing game. I was kind of stunned when I was playing through it and stumbled on that bit of dialogue, so I decided I'd borrow it.

Again, I really have to say thank you one more time to you and Myst Lady for all of your wonderful (and long ) reviews. =) I think the two of you are actually the only people reading this, so I figure I oughta let you know just how much I appreciate you. =) You're quite possibly my favorite people, just so you know.




Chapter Fourteen - - So very far away


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But we carry on our backs from birth what time always reveals - In the lonely light of morning, in the wound that would not heal, there's the bitter taste of losing everything I've held so dear... - - Sarah McLachlan, Fallen

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Sleep surrendered him very reluctantly, giving away only very slightly around the edges of his consciousness. He knew that he wasn't asleep any longer, but at that moment he only vaguely knew his own name or where he was. Sooner or later the sense of urgency, of needing to be somewhere, of having some task to accomplish would come through with a vengeance, but right now he could roll over on his side and enjoy that wonderful feeling of not-quite-pain when all the bones in one's back settle again into the new position. With a sigh, he lay there for quite some time in the void between realities.

Descend and forget, the bed told him. Don't worry about this life or the next or any other concern that might come your way. Those things are far from here, and they can wait. But the more methodical part of him argued cajolingly, explaining that today is today and now is now, and those things never wait for anyone. Wake and deal with your life while you can, lest it move on without you.

Folken had almost been convinced, until the voice inside of him had spoken that last part. His life had moved on without him ten years ago. He'd long since given up trying to catch it again, knowing that the best he could ever do was imagine what his life should have been. He was trapped, watching events unfold from a distance like a player reciting his lines. He was a harlequin and little more than that, painted with his tears rather than being able to show them of his own accord.


When the day could no longer be ignored, he rose and dressed with the same practiced efficiency he used in everything he did. Today was today, after all. Whether or not he felt like an active participant in it, he was expected to be present nonetheless. He strode down the corridors without thought, entering the quiet of the command deck at his leisure.

There were some slight bright spots in the morning, after all. Dilandau, for one, was gone from the Vione and would not be coming back. Folken spared him a small moment of pity when he thought back over what had befallen the captain in the past week, which inevitably turned to concern at the thought of his brother.

Dilandau had finally gotten what he wanted, facing Van with all of his dragon slayers while the young king was barely able to stand from his fatigue following the battle at Fortuna. Hopelessly outnumbered, the new state of his guymelef shouldn't have been an issue - Dilandau should have slaughtered him outright, having the advantage in all respects. But something was wrong. Without ally or parley, Van was many times more than a match for the slayers. In a matter of minutes, only Dilandau had been left alive, listening in horror to the screams of his dying companions. Folken had watched the battle through Dilandau's headset and been mortified at the fire and the blood, and the look he saw in his brother's eyes through the grill of the Escaflowne's helmet.

No mercy, no pity, no fear, no disgust, no anger, even. Only... resignation? He'd stared in utter shock long after Van was gone, until Eriya came and led him, still in a state of disbelief, into his chambers. The next morning it was still difficult for him to grasp how haggard his younger brother had become in less than one month.

And it all started with me.' Folken thought, his throat tightening again. Everything unfortunate that's happened to him has happened at my hands, or because of me in one way or another.' And underneath the shock, the next truth waited patiently for him to find it. This wasn't over yet - by the end of it all, his conscience might be much heavier than it was, which was a concept that was almost beyond him.

Following what he'd taken to calling the slayer incident,' the Crusade had made it back through the Nortra quadrant in a rather surprising twist, headed into one of the more forbidding areas of Gaea - the bleak, darkened continent known as Asguld. Since the slayers had so horribly failed in stopping them, Folken found himself with fewer and fewer options each day. If Dornkirk's musings were correct, then the Asturian ship was making for a place known half-reverently as the mystic valley. The name must have come, Folken idly supposed, from the rumored connections the bleak valley apparently shared with the mystic moon. From the way Dornkirk spoke of it in their short conversation, it almost sounded as if he'd been there before, but as far as that was concerned, Folken didn't push his luck by asking. The Emperor's patience was thinner every day.

They are heading for the Mystic Valley. He'd informed Folken flatly.

You mean the one of legend? Folken had been surprised when he'd first heard, but said nothing else after Dornkirk gave him a rather forbidding glance.

Yes... the capital of Atlantis... it appears that they've found it... While his face remained relatively stoic, the elderly man's voice had adopted an almost dreamy quality for a fraction of a second. Find them, Folken. Was all he'd said after that, eyes set grimly. No more mistakes. No more delays. Find them, and bring them to me. And that was that. Whatever mitigating visions Dornkirk had seen, Folken safely assumed that they hadn't been wanted or appreciated. Things were very quickly getting out of hand, which was why he'd sent the last available resource, the two for whom he cared the most - next to Van - to accomplish this goal. Naria and Eriya would not fail, and they, unlike Dilandau, knew and were considerate of his relationship with Van. They would not harm or threaten him, nor were they interested in revenge. They would simply do what they deemed necessary and nothing more, and he found that he trusted their judgment.

With the two of them gone, however, he realized that all of the people left in the world that he cared for would soon be engaging one another. It was all too likely that, once again, something would befall one of them and he would be made into a lair - not for the first time. He'd promised all three of them that he'd never let anything happen to them, and Van obviously had the greatest claim on that promise. Still, the two leopard twins were easily closer to him than any other member of his family, even when his mother and father had been alive.

During the months when the girls had been away for their training, Folken had felt very much alone. Now without even Zongi for company, it felt very much like the last ounce of security he'd been able to grip since his coming to Zaibach was about to be ripped from his grasp.

The first encounter between Naria, Eriya, and Van left everyone frustrated, to say the very least. After he'd heard the details and learned that it had been Merle's interference that had dissuaded the two twins from capturing his brother, Folken would have been lying had he said that he didn't understand their motivation for standing down. Merle most certainly would have reminded them of themselves at that age, ten years ago, wondering where they might be without each other. It had definitely shaken them, but all was not lost. Folken calmly ordered the helmsman of the Vione to alter his course - Van was not the only one who would travel to Asguld.

Being of such great size, many believed that the floating fortresses of Zaibach could only travel very slowly - that was a myth that Zaibach was happy to propagate, because it meant that their enemies would grossly underestimate their mobility. In actuality, since the great slabs of stone that hung like stalactites under the metallic turrets and core buildings produced amounts of lighter-than-air noble gas depending on how much heat they were introduced to, the weight (and therefore speed) of a fortress depended solely on how many energists were available to it. Having been supplied with a great many just before the destruction of the mines west of Asturia, the Vione would likely reach Asguld before the Crusade.

Folken stood anxiously in the control room, awaiting their arrival. He would see Van again and one way or another, this entire debacle would come to an end. Both of them needed some kind of closure and it was going to come. Folken assured himself of that. No longer would they play these games back and forth. The destiny device was going to be completed and fate delivered into the hands of every individual. Nothing would stop it.

Even now, the view-screen showed the darkened, snow-laden landscape of Asguld, as bleak as a place could be. There were no trees or any sign that there ever had been - just rocks and snow. When the Vione had opened its lower ports and dispatched the many air anchors that kept it stable when it wasn't in flight, Folken lifted the receiver on the communications console.

Are you in place? He asked, his voice betraying nothing of his anxiety. Naria and Eriya had to have been by now. The question was a formality and nothing more. They were far too thorough not to have been, not to mention how heated they were over the fact that they'd turned away from a battle not long ago. Folken hadn't reprimanded or even mentioned those events mainly because he didn't have to. There was no way his twins would let him down again if it lay in their power to succeed. It was comforting for Folken to be aware of that, but he didn't put too much faith in it. After all, Zongi and Dilandau had both been every bit as driven, yet he preferred to think of their respective fates as little as possible. He knew once more that there was a very real chance either Van, Naria, or Eriya would die this day.

Everything is as it should be, Lord Folken. The title of Lord' was easily as uncomfortable coming from them as it had been from Zongi, if not somewhat more so. He was their friend and their protector, but Lord? That was a word that should be reserved for someone more deserving of the majesty and the dignity it brought with it. Folken had long ago left those things behind somewhere in the darkness after Delleva had first come to him.

He said, faintly distracted by these thoughts. And at that the Crusade appeared once more, as expected. There was no time for him to do anything but plea silently to the higher power that this encounter wouldn't take away anyone else from him. He was using them, clinging to them, but he needed each of them, loving them inwardly with all of his being.


All at once, every person on the command level started shouting at at the same time, each taking readings in a state of frenzy because of the massive... thing... that had opened in the sky for no real reason. The golden and blue portal that was the entrance to the forbidden ruins of Atlantis and the seat of it's legendary power opened, and as quickly as it had arrived, the crusade was gone. Just gone. Folken stared at the portal for a moment, not knowing what to do or say, yet fully aware of all the eyes that were on him. He had known the truth of the mystic valley for some time, but never expected anything like this to wait here for them all.

There was nothing else to do, he said ruefully to the twins over his link, but to return to the Vione and try again. Failure stood adamantly in the way of success once more, but the two leopards didn't do as Folken had ordered.

Wanna give it a try? Was all he could make out from over the transmitter. That was really all he'd needed to hear to know exactly what they were planning.

Stop, both of you! It's too dangerous! Suddenly he was desperate. If they went, they would die. Their blind faith in themselves would be the end of them when they faced Van.

Don't worry. Came the arrogant reply. We're always VERY lucky. There was an undercurrent in the statement that he didn't bother to analyze too closely. Rather, he focused on the statement in and of itself. Of course Naria and Eriya were lucky, It was one of the reasons Dornkirk was so proud of them - but they were making one grievous mistake in assuming that luck alone could carry them. Folken and destiny, or luck, or fate, were now very established enemies. It would strike at him in any way that it could, especially at the cost of his loved ones, as time had so clearly shown him. He had to be careful or he might lose everything that remained to him.

We'll bring back your little brother to you. With that, they disappeared from all the sensors and the other tracking machinery on the Vione. Folken was alone now, in a state of panic. Unless what they said was truer than either of them could have known, all that Folken feared most would soon come to pass. They were gone, and there was absolutely nothing he could do, save to wait and to hope.



Ollen70: Not as long as I'd like, and maybe not as depressing as I was expecting it to be after all. I've been insanely busy here lately, so if this seems incredibly fragmented, that's because it is. I wrote a paragraph here and there and just hoped that it might fit with everything else. If you spot any errors, repetitions or leaps in logic, please let me know.