Disclaimer: Done by Sesshomaru from Inuyasha…
ACG: "Here's a good question, Sessy. Do poor, poor high school students EVER own the copyrights to animes?"
Sess: *looks at ACG for a LONG moment, then feels a little gracious and decides to let her live* "No."
ACG: "And do I own Escaflowne?"
Sess: "I've been good enough to let you live this long. Stop asking me questions or I'll kill you."
ACG: *looks him up and down* "Hmmm…I think Sephy can take you."
Sess: *frowns* "Who's 'Sephy'?"
ACG: *smiles adoringly with little sparkles in the background* "He's the hottest, strongest, meanest, white-haired insane evil bad guy I've ever seen!" *looks over at Sesshomaru* "Err…except you, of course…uh…never mind…don't hurt me, please?"
Sess: "My ego…"
ACG: "I love you?" ;_;
Sess: *sadly walks away*
ACG: ;_; "Crap, man! It's not every day you make Sessy sad and survive..." *sniff* O_o On with the story…
Second Destiny By Another Cat Girl
Chapter 12:
Dilandau looked dazedly at the slapped Guimel, and then looked up at the young emperor.
"What in Gaia has happened? They were dead!" Dilandau pointed at the Dragonslayers, who were kneeling at the foot of his bed.
Folken folded his arms. "Not anymore, Dilandau. They were brought back by someone's powerful wish during the Zone of Absolute Fortune. It might have been Hitomi. I don't know for sure."
Dilandau shook his head in disbelief. He slid off the bed and turned to the Dragonslayers, who still knelt around the bed in perfect discipline. Dilandau tilted his head a little and walked toward Gatti. The general paused in front of the gray-haired Slayer.
"Gatti…" Dilandau whispered.
Gatti looked up in surprise at the general's tone of voice.
"Miguel…Shesta…Guimel…Dalet…Viole…"
Each of the Slayers in turn glanced up at him.
"BAKAS!" Dilandau yelled. Each of them flinched. "You undisciplined idiots! How many times must I say it! Your guymeluf handling is despicable! You're worthless!" He slapped his second-in-command across the face.
Gatti took his punishment stoically. He was secretly so happy to see Dilandau leading his unit again that he was willing to go through a lot more than that to make up for dying.
Dilandau ignored his subordinates and turned to the emperor as he casually smoothed back his silver hair.
"Am I in Asturia, Folken?" Dilandau brushed his wrinkled clothes absently.
Folken masked his surprise at Dilandau's knowledge. "Yes."
Dilandau frowned. "I hate Asturia."
The emperor pulled the hood up on his cloak, hiding his face. "I suggest you take an invisibility cloak and follow me out of here." Folken began to walk to the door.
Dilandau walked past the Dragonslayers slowly, not looking at Miguel when he took the spare invisibility cloak from him. He pulled it on impatiently as he strode through the doors into the lit hallway.
Dalet stood for a minute with the other Dragonslayers.
"If that's Dilandau, then who in the Mystic Moon was that girl?" Viole asked, shaking his head.
Dalet shrugged. "We don't really have the time to talk about that right now, do we?"
The others shrugged, pulled their cloaks forward and began to run again.
Dilandau felt rather than heard the invisible Slayers following him and smiled. ~They are still as skilled as they ever were. Have they been training with me gone? ~ Dilandau thought and paused. ~Gone? Where was I? Here? ~
It was very inefficient to be invisible because it was impossible to know where your unseen allies were at any given moment. In the guymelufs, there were radar systems that mapped the location of each invisible machine. Unfortunately, they didn't have guymelufs with them and kept bumping into each other slightly. The intruders didn't carry lights with them, which added to the problem.
Finally, the quiet group made it to the gardens. The starlight was brighter outside and Dilandau looked around carefully. There was no movement anywhere. It was too silent.
"Folken," Dilandau whispered to apparently empty air, "Where?"
He sensed a shimmer to his left and turned in time to see Folken partially remove his hand from his cloak to point at the far end of the gardens.
Dilandau nodded impatiently and strode forward, boots clicking on the cobblestones of the pathway. Suddenly, a guard appeared out of nowhere and paused in front of him. Dilandau stopped in his tracks, but not before making one loud last click against the ground. The guard frowned and turned toward the sound. Dilandau held his breath, hoping Folken was a little quieter than he looked and that he saw the guard as well.
Obvious shuffling sounds behind him dashed his hopes. The other Ryuugekitai had stopped as soon as they saw the guard, but the new Emperor kept walking and smashed into Dilandau, knocking them both into the ground right in front of the startled guard. The impact brushed Dilandau's hood off. He looked up in time to see the guard drawing his sword. The pyromaniac hurriedly got out from under Folken, stood up and pulled his hood back over his face.
"Who's there?" the guard yelled loudly. "INTRUDERS!"
"Crap!" Dilandau said under his breath as he stepped forward to smash the guard's face with his fist. The man was knocked out cold, but it was already too late. An alert guard was sounding a gong on the castle walls and a few guards were already streaming into the gardens.
"Run for it?" Folken asked from behind him.
Dilandau growled and signaled for them to keep moving.
They raced to the leviship. Two guards appeared out of nowhere to block their path.
~They're being too loud! ~ Dilandau thought angrily. ~They'll just keep coming right to us! ~
Dilandau reached for his sword. He looked down, realizing he had no sword with him.
"Baka!" Dilandau yelled as he kicked one of the guards in the leg and pushed him over. The pyro leaped on him, punched him in the skull, and pulled the sword out of the man's sheath. He turned to see that the other Slayers had taken care of the other guard easily and stood waiting for him.
They began to run again, but only for about a hundred yards before Folken put his hand on Dilandau's shoulder. The former Strategos' hand pointed to a clearing between the cultivated trees where the leviship was.
Dilandau felt a presence at his right and heard Shasta's hushed voice say, "We're being surrounded, sir."
Dilandau cursed inwardly and started to run again, faster. Suddenly, ten enemy soldiers came rushing out of the trees in front of them. Dilandau's eyes glowed red as he charged. He impaled a man in the stomach, sliding his blade out in time to meet a sword coming down on top of him. Dilandau let the guard's sword slide down his and sliced upward into the guard's quick block. As the guard came forward and cut down, Dilandau moved quickly to the side and dismembered his head.
Fighting could still be heard around him, but every remaining guard was engaged with a hidden Dragonslayer. Shesta was the only Dragonslayer visible, his cloak torn where his veteran enemy had cut it. He was already quickly wiping his katana on the lifeless shape at his feet.
Finally, the enemy was silenced, their dark forms seeping blood onto the stone.
They ran toward the suddenly visible leviship, not thinking twice about the men they killed. The other Dragonslayers that were left behind were already strapped in their seats and looked relieved as soon as they saw Dilandau alive and well. Folken slashed at the anchor rope and the leviship took off. The small ship literally disappeared into the dark, still night.
*~*~*~*~*
Allen woke when one of the palace guards touched his shoulder.
"You mongrel! What is it that you want?" He was angry about his missed beauty sleep.
"Y-y-your majesty." The guard bowed, almost scraping the floor. "There w-were intruders in the g-garden."
"And why in Gaia would I care at all!" Allen roared.
The guard crouched back, afraid. "U-u-uhh..y-y-you s-said to t-tell y-you…"
"Shut up!" Allen screamed. "Get out of here!"
"S-s-sir! T-ten guards are dead!" The man fell into fetal position on the floor.
"Ten guards dead?" Allen suddenly calmed down. "Did the enemy escape?"
The poor man nodded.
Allen snarled. "Why aren't you going after them?"
"They d-disappeared, m-majesty."
"Disappeared?" Allen looked bewildered, then a light turned on inside the dark recesses of his mind. "Those Zaibach scum! I thought that moron Folken was talking of peace!" He paused for a minute thinking.
"A-anything else, s-sire?" the man on the floor asked.
"Yes. What did they take?" Allen asked.
"We d-don't k-know right now, m-majesty."
Allen's eyes opened wide. "Celena."
A.N.: Sorry I leave it at those awkward cliffhangers…it just seems so perfect for the end of a chapter. Then you're hooked so you have to come back and read my story and REVIEW. Don't worry! My last chapter won't have a cliffhanger! ^_^ Oh, did you like the Dilandau parts? I'm horrible at battle sequences…and I've never had to actually write the REAL Dilandau before. So forgive me.
Beloved Reviewers:
Nihongo: *smiles* Thanks for the fudgesicle, my cousin. I'm comin' to your house tomorrow. Be prepared with another one. "You must be tired, 'cause you've been running through my head all day long!" - The Elusive Allen Schezar (Matthew gave me that one!)
Anime Obsessed Raye: O_o I love you! Thank you so very much! I hurried and wrote this tonight just for you instead of playing my game…;_; Please review again! I do that too with my favorite stories, but I never thought my story would ever be like that. O_o
Digi-riven: O_o Your chibi eyes…They're so cute! O.O *trying them out, and finds them to her liking* Yay! You are my favorite!
Blue Demon: I understand! ^_^ Here's some Dilandau for you, maybe Hitomi next chapter. Keep looking for it! Oh, and I'm pretty sure there aren't many Celena fans.
Bahamut Epyon: *nods* Seph is even better than Dilandau in my opinion, but I would never be able to write his character correctly. *looks around at the hordes of Dilandau fans, and gets all sweat-droppy* Err… I mean… Don't hurt me? I just stuck my foot in my mouth again…and anyway, Dilandau is Nihongo's favorite - I can't take him from her! And I would be taller than Dilandau anyway! (I think… how tall is he? I'm like 5' 10")
Feye Morgan: I love your reviews! Such a good friend! I hope you approve of how I wrote Dilandau…Allen is mad… like a fox! *frowns* Don't hurt Allen's hair! It's the only thing remotely good about him!
Your mom likes Allen? O_o My mom doesn't even know who he is, you are a lucky duck. Tell her it's alright to like him, but not the one in my story. Muahahaha! *Gives Feye a big chicken hug*