A.N. Yeah, I changed the title. "To Be Wed" was originally going to be about Celena having to get married, but now it's not about that at all! So now the freaking title's different! Alright! Good! Although there might be weddings in the future! Brace yourself! This one will be a Folkeny explanation chapter. I'm no good at explaining things…like politics…and there's some politics in it, too… ;_;
Is it true that Jajuka died at the end of Escaflowne? I forgot all about that…Oh well, we'll just say he lived somehow, okay? And Miguel, too. Yeah, he's alive! Madoushi means 'sorcerers' (thanks Feye!) Nihongo said that my chapters are too short, so I wrote more than I usually write.
Disclaimer: Brought to you by…Dilandau-sama himself!!!
ACG: O_o *talks like Merle* "DILANDAU-SAMA!!"
Dilandau: T_T'' *eye twitches* "No! Not that cat girl again! I just can't keep her away from me!"
ACG: *googles her eyes at him* O_o o_O O_O OO O.O OuO
Dilandau: *sweat drops* "Aah! Get away!"
ACG: "Dilandau-SAMA???!?! Do I own Escaflowne?"
Dilandau: "Escaflowne? Van? Moero!!!" *goes off to destroy Van and Escaflowne*
ACG: ^_^ "Just as I thought!"
Second Destiny By Another Cat Girl
Chapter 14: Folkeny Explanations
The Dragonslayers followed Folken through the narrow hall in the Vione II that lead to the lab. Miguel was careful not to bump Dilandau's head or feet against the walls.
"Dilandau-sama put on some kilos while he was away," he muttered.
Dalet smirked. "And how do you know? You've carried him around before?"
Miguel sent him a look that said, "Bite me."
Guimel glanced worriedly at Dilandau. "Are you sure he's going to be alright, Folken-sama?"
"I'm sure. " Folken didn't look back as he answered.
He paused at an open doorway and stepped through. The Ryuugekitai squinted to adjust their eyes to the dim lighting that hummed on the ceiling far above. They could barely make out the end of the odd-shaped room; it disappeared acres away, curved upwards to look like the bottom of a boat. The floor and walls were completely covered with cords of all different sizes that didn't seem to lead anywhere in particular, but disappeared underneath each other to deliver the electricity that made the room seem alive with energy. Man-sized tubes lined some of the walls, glowing a dim shade of garish green. There were a few chairs and monitors that flickered gray static. The sorcerers were huddled around these tubes and pressed buttons on the consoles periodically. The strangely dressed figures muttered excitedly as soon as the newcomers came into the lair.
"What is this?" Shesta asked suspiciously as the Slayers entered cautiously.
Folken's voice came from the other end of the room. "This is a laboratory belonging to the sorcerers. They are going to help Dilandau."
Miguel shook his head and adjusted his hold on Dilandau. "Dilandau said that we should never trust the sorcerers. You were one long ago, weren't you, Folken-sama? Your actions are very suspicious. Why did you drug him and have us bring him here?"
One of the pale-faced sorcerers materialized at Folken's shoulder. They heard Folken speak in hushed tones the madoushi before answering. He had an annoyed expression on his face. "Once again, I have done nothing suspicious. If my intent was to do Dilandau harm, why did I bring you? I could have easily done this without your assistance."
Gatti frowned. "Is it true you were a madoushi?"
Folken's voice had a tinge of humor. "I was Strategos before the Destiny War. Of course I am familiar with science, but I did no experiments that involved Dilandau."
Shesta frowned in Folken's direction and mumbled to Gatti, "He's dodging the answer."
"I know. There's nothing we can do. He is the Emperor of Zaibach. He could have us all murdered in our beds if he wanted to and no one would argue with it."
Guimel whispered softly, "Don't worry about that. I heard that he doesn't have any real power in the Empire. That explains why he has to do all this in secret. He has to bow and scrape to please the superstitions of the Four Generals, So, he's back to doing what he used to do as Strategos. He's just a little-seen figurehead with a title that means nothing."
Miguel had been silent for some time, and then finally spoke up. "Folken-sama? Where should I put him?"
"Right here." Folken pointed to a metal chair with straps on the armrests, legs and top.
Miguel looked worried. "Are you sure it's necessary to have restraining harnesses…?"
One of the sorcerers looked at him. "The specimen doesn't take medications lightly. Look, already a powerful sleeping tonic is wearing off."
Dilandau was waking. He muttered under his breath and looked angry, as if the strange realities of the waking world haunted him even in sleep.
Two madoushi came forward and took hold of Dilandau, then put him in the evil-looking chair and strapped him in. The rest of the sorcerers gathered like
vultures around Dilandau to start their tests.
"You must go somewhere else so you won't be in their way." Folken looked pointedly at the Dragonslayers.
Folken walked out of the room and started to quickly walk down the hall. The Dragonslayers followed, a little annoyed at what was happening with Dilandau.
"Weren't you going to explain yourself, Folken-sama?" Gatti had to hurry to keep up with the long-legged emperor.
Folken sounded hurried. "I don't have much time for that right now, but I will explain all that I learned from the sorcerers."
"Dilandau was born eighteen years ago in Zaibach to a young rich lord. His parents loved him, even his strange appearance made him all the more precious. He was born with the silver hair of angels and red eyes of devils. It was said that it was the sign of the gods that he would do great things."
Folken shrugged and continued walking. "Who knows if that is the truth? The people of Zaibach were very superstitious. They would have killed any baby who looked like that, and would have killed Dilandau if he had been born into any other family. "
"During that time, Emperor Dornkirk had just begun to unite the people. Before, Zaibach had been just a desert territory inhabited by tribes that were constantly at war with each other. The land was uncultivated, poverty-stricken and had none of the new technologies that swept all the other lands of Gaia. All of the leaders in the land were obsessed with the idea of ruling the entire land. They did not care that the people were dying because of their negligence. "
"Dornkirk brought hope and relief to the people. He showed them sciences that were unheard of even in other lands. He made them see how easily other countries could invade them. Dornkirk taught them to defend themselves with new technology. Soon, he had established the Zaibach Empire with all of its great technological wonders and cities. The minor lords of the old Zaibach were made officers in the Zaibach Army. "
"Everyone became as obsessed with the idea of Fate and Destiny as the emperor. Dornkirk set out again on his quest to discover the properties of destiny. He ordered the sorcerers to help him. The emperor started to experiment on people and build his Destiny Prognostication Engine. All of his experiments with destiny were blasphemous in nature." Folken shook his head sadly. "Emperor Dornkirk didn't realize the evils of trying to tamper with fate with machines."
Folken smiled softly "The Wing Goddess taught me that only man should be able to change his destiny. Only the person should choose how his life should be. Having some one change it for him is wrong."
"The sorcerers had come to a standstill in their experiments. They had not been able to totally change the fate of anyone. They couldn't know if they changed anyone's destiny because they couldn't see it. The Destiny Prognostication Engine wouldn't be completed for ten years."
"The madoushi decided to do an experiment where they could see the results. They made two people share the same destiny. Two children were kidnapped to accomplish their goals. The first was a young girl from the Kingdom of Asturia named Celena. She had run away from her family and was found by a Zaibach soldier who then sold her to the sorcerers for good money. The madoushi, who were always interested in children they could use for their experiments, found Dilandau, who looked amazingly like Celena. The only difference was their gender and the color of their eyes; they were exactly the same age. Dilandau's father was killed off in an accident during military training with a guymeluf. His mother and family were taken for experiments with destiny and medicine. The people who knew the family didn't do anything. To oppose the sorcerers was to dance with death."
"The only successful experiment was the one Dilandau was involved in. The children were given a new destiny, which made their bodies fuse. There were still inefficiencies in the experiment, of course. The new destiny kept changing genders. It would have worked better if the sorcerers had chosen two children of the same gender and if Dilandau's personality wasn't completely opposite to Celena's gentle one. As it is, they didn't mix completely with each other, and the new destiny kept changing from one to the other depending on the mood of the child. Finally, the madoushi made a ring to control how the child felt. If too much anger or gentleness were fed into the ring, then the ring would counter the chemical changes that made them switch personalities. The madoushi decided that Dilandau was more useful to the Zaibach Army, and Dornkirk set him up as the General of the Dragonslayers to see if he would fulfill his new destiny."
"Celena and Dilandau had forgotten most of their memories, but some of the strongest remained. For Celena, it was her loving brother Allen Schezar and the beast man Jajuka, who took care of her that she remembered. Dilandau remembered Jajuka, who also took care of him after he was kidnapped, and his bloodthirsty father the most. They didn't remember anything from when the other took over the body. They lived as if they were a single person, and I don't think they ever really understood that the other existed."
"The new life had a new destiny. The sorcerers saw infuriating glimpses of the future in the young person. They saw that they were destined to do everything Dilandau ever did as a Dragonslayer, destined to hunt the dragon Escaflowne until it eventually killed them. Dilandau and Celena were given the fate to be
killed by my brother, Van, during the Destiny War. "
The Dragonslayers looked at each other with perplexed expressions. "Then why didn't he die?" Miguel asked.
Folken looked back at Miguel, thinking about something. "My only explanation is that the Wing Goddess changed their fates. During the Zone of Absolute Fortune, the strongest wills were given their deepest desires. Hitomi's will was the strongest; she was the one who stimulated the Zone in the first place. She wished that destiny would change to give some people second chances. Her wish was granted."
"Van never killed Dilandau and Celena. He was also supposed to kill Allen to get at you, but that never happened. Dornkirk was killed, but was given the realization that he was sinning by destroying the will of men. I was given the chance to repent of my sins." Folken's look darkened. "I have been trying, but I don't think my brother will ever forgive me for what I helped to do to Fanalia, so I cannot forgive myself."
He stopped walking long enough to look back at the troop of Dragonslayers that were following him. "You Dragonslayers were given a great gift, a second chance at life. You should be grateful to Hitomi for thinking of you. I think that she was thinking of the redemption of Van's soul, rather than your lives. He sinned in killing you because he enjoyed it, and she didn't want him to suffer for his sins." Folken shrugged. "That's my hypothesis. Why else would she care about you? You were her enemies on more than one occasion."
Folken stared at the only other people on the planet to be brought back from the dead. "So, now that we all have second chances, we have to use them to do what we feel is right. We shouldn't repeat the mistakes of our past lives. I feel that something will happen with those with changed destinies. We will all meet again in the same place, I feel."
Shesta looked overwhelmed at the overflow of information. "So what are the sorcerers doing to Dilandau now?"
Folken stopped at a doorway and pushed a button to reveal the opening to a very dark room. "I ordered them to change Dilandau and Celena's destiny back to what they were originally. The bonds that held the two together started to break apart when they didn't fulfill their destiny. When they come out, they will be two different people again. I just hope nothing goes wrong."
The Ryuugekitai looked at one another worriedly as Folken bid them good day and closed the door to the strange room behind him.
Dalet shrugged and put his hands behind his head. "Well, I never expected that explanation."
Shesta looked at Gatti. "After what Folken told us, I trust those sorcerers even less than I did before."
Miguel looked up at them. "I have a bad feeling about Dilandau. We should go and see what is happening to him."
The others agreed wholeheartedly, and they quickly started to return to the madoushi laboratory.
*~*~*~*~*
The sorcerers' philosophy and science was almost like a religion. If the madoushi of the Zaibach Empire were dedicated and inquisitive enough then all of the answers of the cosmos would open to their inspection. They believed in their secret, dark hearts that they could become like gods if they could only answer the questions that haunted the world. They could control the fates of men if they only knew enough to be able to. Anything and everything could be sacrificed to gain that knowledge.
"Mikusa-sama. The specimen has minor burns on his palms. The scar on his right cheek has healed almost completely. He is physically ready to begin the mental examinations."
"Excellent." The head sorcerer, Mikusa, stared at Dilandau for a second in thought. He reached out and tugged the ring off Dilandau's finger. "Make preparations for the examination."
The sorcerers began to insert cords and tubing in the young pyro. The tubes would monitor his brain functions and nervous systems and give the madoushi the answers to one of their burning eternal questions. Could the fate of men be altered by science? Could two people be made to share the same destiny?
The preparations were soon complete and Dilandau was put in one of the huge tubes of green liquid. He floated there with his eyes closed like a dead man.
Mikusa's face lit in a smile of pure pleasure. There was nothing like a new experiment to make one feel like a god. "Begin to scan the specimen's destiny."
The green tube started to glow brightly. Electricity flowed through the room,
making the hair of those few madoushi who had hair stand on end. They turned to a huge monitor on the wall. It flickered with static, but didn't show anything.
"What's wrong with it?" Mikusa demanded angrily. "Fix it immediately!"
"It is in perfect working condition," one of the engineers said.
"Then scan the specimen's past fates!"
"Scanning," a young woman called from her position by the main console.
The huge monitor flickers with life. Scenes from Dilandau's life flashed on the
screen. It showed the deaths of his countless victims on the battlefield. Their
screams echoed throughout the room. None of the madoushi flinched. Dilandau
was shown training the Dragonslayers, changing their destinies by teaching them
to hunt the dragon.
"I've seen this already! I need to know what the destiny is now after it didn't fulfill
its manufactured destiny!"
The screen flickered to when the Dragonslayers were destroyed by Van. The
static ceased showed the deaths of Dilandau's beloved friends in perfect clarity.
Although it would pain Dilandau, it seemed to be important to his destiny to show
it. Dilandau's face twitched as the memories were extracted once again by the
madoushi, but he didn't wake up.
After the painful scene ceased, time on the monitor seemed to speed past the
meaningless battles of the Destiny War to the very last one, where the Zone of
Absolute Fortune controlled the destinies of Hitomi's friends and enemies. The
screen flickered with views of Escaflowne fighting with Dilandau's guymeluf. The
Scherizad intervened in Dilandau's behalf, and the young king of Fanalia cut
down Allen mercilessly. Then, the Escaflowne turned to Dilandau and sliced him
to the ground.
Here the image paused as if it were confused by something and showed the
scene over again. This time, Van destroyed Dilandau's guymeluf first, but
Dilandau was left alive. Escaflowne and Scherizad began to fight over Dilandau's
life. The phrase "Dilandau is my sister!" was repeated over and over in
Dilandau's memory. The huge weapons of the guymeluf giants flashed in anger
and revenge. In a moment of indecision, the Scherizad paused and Escaflowne
pierced his helmet in a fatal-looking blow. Van paused and lifted the blade into
the air. Escaflowne changed into dragon form more quickly than the eye could
follow and flew away. Allen emerged unharmed from Scherizad and embraced
Dilandau, who had transformed back into Celena.
The image sputtered and stopped, like an old film. Dilandau's eyes widened in
shock and his heart stopped beating.
"He's dying, Mikusa-sama!" the sorcerer at the life support console yelled.
"Shock treatment initiated!"
The green liquid filled with electricity, stimulating Dilandau's heart into beating
again.
"What happened?" Mikusa screamed. "Why did its heart stop?"
"It has no destiny because it didn't fulfill its manufactured destiny."
"Or its original destinies aren't possible now that it has changed so much."
"Perhaps it saw no reason to live without its destiny."
"It couldn't go on living because it couldn't create a new destiny for itself."
Mikusa waved all of the explanations away. "It is never explained, really. To
answer a question is only to ask for more questions…"
"Sir?"
"Look through the destiny again. There must be answers there! I've waited so
long!"
The screen once again filled with images of the tortured mind of Dilandau.
*~*~*~*~*
The Dragonslayers opened the door to the laboratory and stood staring in horror
at what was happening. Their leader was suspended in greenish goop in a giant
tube with electricity shocking him to make his heart beat once again.
"What is going on here!?" Dalet yelled.
"Dilandau-sama!" Shesta drew his sword.
Mikusa turned to face the Dragonslayers. "What do you want?"
"Mikusa-sama, it can't take another electric shock without dying."
Mikusa turned. "I must know what his destiny is! Try it again, even if the
specimen dies!"
Miguel's eyes widened. "He's going to kill Lord Dilandau!"
Gatti drew his katana and raced toward Mikusa. The head sorcerer smiled evilly
and blasted him with a wall of light. Gatti fell backward into the other Slayers and
dropped his sword.
Mikusa made another gesture and the Dragonslayers were frozen in place. He
turned greedily back to watch the screen filled with Dilandau's destiny.
"Dilandau-sama!" Gatti whispered. "I can't move!"
The monitor moved relentlessly toward the end of Dilandau's destiny, where his
heart would stop.
Miguel started to chant like a sorcerer and he suddenly broke free of Mikusa's
spell. He quietly stepped around the others and silently walked toward the
occupied Mikusa who was watching Allen emerge from Scherizad and run
toward Celena. Miguel drew his sword and chopped his head off.
"DILANDAU-SAMA!" All of the Dragonslayers yelled at once.
The monitor turned dark, but this time Dilandau's heart didn't stop. The screen
sputtered with new images of the future, prompted by his Dragonslayers' voices.
It was filled with pain and death, but they were fighting together again, for the
right causes. And Dilandau was happy. Then the screen went dark, resolutely
this time, without any static.
"Is he alright?" Dalet demanded.
"The patient's vital signs are fine." The sorcerer seemed a little disconcerted that
Mikusa was dead, but didn't say anything. He never liked Mikusa.
"Then put them into their separate bodies already!" Dalet wanted the scene to be
over with.
"Initiating sequence," the female madoushi said without emotion, although she
looked up at Miguel fearfully. She pressed buttons on the console until a bright
light started to surround Dilandau's tube and two others to either side of him. The
light became to brilliant for them to bear looking at it, but before they turned their
eyes away they saw that Dilandau seemed to split in two. When the light faded
there were two people floating in the two tubes, and the body that used to be in
the middle was gone. Dilandau and Celena were now separated with their own
destinies.
"Was it successful?" Miguel asked.
The woman smiled a little. "Yes, it was."
Miguel smiled. "Good. Get them out of the tubes."
*~*~*~*~*
Folken really, really wanted to yell at his 'superiors.' They were so full of
superstition that he could easily take advantage of them, but sometimes their
fallacies worked to his tremendous disadvantage. He stared up at the screen that
had so recently shown Dornkirk and sighed. How times could change.
"Folken, Zaibach can't take much more of Asturian insults. Never has Zaibach
taken this kind of impertinent abuse without retaliation before you became
emperor. Now this idiot Allen Schezar from Asturia wants to take over our
country and all you can do is say 'wait'. It looks bad in the eyes of our citizens
when we show no pride. It's bad luck, I say." The general, done with his tirade
looked satisfied and leaned back in his seat.
Another general rubbed his mustache. "Folken, either get the Wing Goddess to
join our cause within the week or we will continue in our efforts without you."
Folken hid his feelings of frustration beneath a bland expression. He also felt a
moment of fear. If the generals went on without him, then he would probably end
up in a ditch somewhere. He was valuable as Strategos, but when he began to
overstep his powers as figurehead ruler he was a dead man. "Of course,
general. I will find the Wing Goddess as you say."
The general looked happy and the screen went blank. Folken didn't move for a
few seconds as he planned what he must do next to stay alive.
*~*~*~*~*
Beloved Reviewers: (I think that everyone who ever reviewed came back and
reviewed chapter 13. It's because once they read the first one they're hooked!)
Nihongo: *whistles happily* 4534 words, yeah! I wrote this all night when I was
sick with the sickness that you gave me. Guess what I listened to to keep me
awake? Video game music midis. From games I don't even know. Do I sound out
of it? Because it is 1:10 A.M. right now. And today at like 1 in the afternoon I had
a dream that you were Sailor Mars and you had a magic totem pole as your
weapon. And we were practicing military skydiving before we were caught and
David Bowie (sp?) made us solve the labyrinth. I'm so sick right now I don't even
know why I'm typing this… Elusive Allen (AKA David Bowie (sp?)): "You have
solved the labyrinth of my heart, baeby!"
BlackDragon 7: I love you! You are so extreme! Oh, read the note I gave
Nihongo. Weird dreams, neh? I think I had one about Spirited Away, too…
Bahamut Epyon: ^_^ Your devotion to Dilandau-sama…O_o
I…can't…match….it! You're awesome! And Dilly Bars are good. It's like eating
the wee albino! You should try it!
Macky: Oh, thanks so much for helping me with the pairings. I freaking forgot
about the cat girls! Dang it! I really want to have a Celena/Folken fic! Thank you
for encouraging it! Uh…it was either that or Van…And I also wanted Hitomi to
get together with Folken, but then Dilandau would have no one to get with! Argh!
Ryuko: O_o WOW. I LOVE YOU! You are so kind! Reviewing all of my chapters
for me! I don't know who Dark Shneider is because I never saw that show. And I
don't like Kuja. He seemed to me to be a mix between Sephiroth and Seymour,
and those two should NEVER be mixed. Man, I hated Seymour. And I hated
Kuja for not wearing cool clothes. He could have been so awesome…I've never
seen Akira. My brother says I shouldn't, and then he sits down and watches it
after he sends me out of the room. ;_; Ah, well. I think I've seen worse stuff than
Akira…like Spriggan. Oh, you should be happy! I don't really dislike Allen that
much! The thing is that I needed a bad guy in my fic, so I chose the character I
liked the least. And that was Allen. And also there's the fact that I've stereotyped
him by saying "Oh, that guy is so Allen Schezar…" and then I point at David
Bowie. Sorry, I just watched Labyrinth last night, if you hadn't noticed. I love
Cadbury Crème eggs!! They help me to write better. And my grandma has a
stash of them, just waiting to be pillaged. Hmmm…Celena and Van? I would
have to think for years to be able to think of a way to put them together…but I'll
try. Oh, your fic was much better than mine! If yours were as stupidly long as
mine, then you would have 20,000 reviews. Everyone go read "The Soul of the
Creation" by Ryuko! It almost made me cry!
Blue Demon: Really? You think I could write funny stuff?! Yes! Oh, and you
guessed right with the whole separation thing. And I think I have the pairings
worked out!
Feye Morgan: *smiles* YAY! I hope you like the Folkeny explanation. It took me
hours to write…and it still sucks…but that's okay, because it is behind me. Yes!
And now I can get on with the plotline! And also, the WHOLE madoushi part is
dedicated to you. If you hadn't have mentioned it, I wouldn't have thought of it!
Thank you! And I really doubt that Dilandau and Celena will ever change into
each other again!
Redundant Goddess: My sister's crazy. Folken is not a hussy. Hmmm….but that
gives me an idea!!!! I'll tell you about it when I use it! I love love triangles, don't
you?! Thanks for the review!
ViolesDragonGurl: Thanks! I'm afraid at times I made the Dragonslayers a wee
bit too loyal…but that's okay…cause they are! Buahaha!
Anime Obsessed Raye: Algebra homework sucks…I HATE ALGEBRA!!! ^_^ I'm
glad that SOMEONE likes my disclaimers. I only write them to get my creative
juices flowing so I can write. Them together different? What do you mean?
WaTaShIwA ShInImEgAmI:I know Dilandau wasn't in the last one…wasn't it
sad? Oh, well…he's in this one! Merlot is so stupid *shakes head* silly boy…He's going to die in the most painful fashion…of course no yaoi! Gross…Thank you for helping me spell Caeli…I changed it, see? You live in Canada? Far away….And COLD…O_o I like Arizona weather, myself…