Chap 2.

Hitomi dodged an attack from Dilandau. 'Damn, he's good,' she thought. 'But then again, he should be good. After all, he is a Zaibach general.'

Hitomi had been dueling with Dilandau for the past hour now. He was winning, but not without struggle. Hitomi put up a good fight. They dueled for another thirty minutes. Finally, Hitomi collapsed sown.

"Too... tired..." she panted. Dilandau swept some sweat from his brow.

"You put up a good fight." He commented. "But, you're out of practice. Tomorrow, come here at about eight if you want and train with some soldiers. They'll be willing to duel with you when defeat the first one." Hitomi frowned. Once in a while, a man would refuse to fight with her in fear of 'hurting her'.

"Are all men like this?" she asked angrily. "Do you all think that it's inappropriate for woman to fight?" Dilandau looked unimpressed at her.

"No. I respect woman who could defend themselves. But others like General Adelphos-," he smirked at the name. "But others like him don't think it's appropriate for you to fight."

Hitomi slammed her fist into the wall behind her in anger.

"I don't want to marry him." she cried. As Dilandau's the light purple tunic disappeared beneath the red armor he had taken off, he chuckled.

"Hitomi, did you ever thought about changing your own fate?" he questioned. Hitomi shook her head. A priest in Freid had once told her that it was no use to try and change your own fate; it was already written. So if you were to marry someone, so be it. Don't try to run away. And her alternate choices all led to dead end anyway...

"Run away, Hitomi. Run away from Zaibach." Dilandau's voice drifted in her head.

"I can't." She replied. "Fanelia and the Allied Countries will face war if I do. Can't you see, Dilandau? No matter where I run, I face something bad, like Adelphos. Why couldn't your Emperor have chosen someone else besides Adelphos as my suitor? Maybe things would be much easier for me to choose."

"You don't want to marry the Copper, Silver, or Golden Generals. They carry almost the same traits as Adelphos." Dilandau's answer made Hitomi flinch.

"Of course," he continued, "if you want to escape marriage, you can always become a Dragon Slayer under my rule. But, you'll be treated the same way they're being treated. Meaning your royalty will have no meaning to me..."

"Will there be any other girls?" Hitomi interrupted.

"No," Dilandau smiled. "You'll be the very first."

"Let me think about this." she said and left the training room.

Eries Aston was not your common woman. Strict and straight as a wooden board, she was nicknamed the Ice Princess of Asturia. Her heart, rumored to have been made out of ice, never melted and she almost never laughed. But then again, most people would have acted the same way. Her family had almost never paid attention to her. In fact, the only person who did take a second glance at her was Folken Lacour de Fanel.

She loved him.

But love wasn't Eries' specialty. The affection she felt for him was between romantic and sibling-ish (A/N: What do you call it? I know there's a word for sibling-ish.) She had had this feeling for many years. The moment she laid her eyes on him, to be precise. So what was she to do when she was told that he would be at the same place she would be in a few hours? Taking a deep breath, she looked down at the world below. She had always loved riding on airships. The one going to Zaibach was one of the fastest in the Asturian fleet. The reason they were here was because Zaibach had been chosen to host the yearly sparring tournament.

"Eries." said a voice behind her. Eries wheeled around to see her sixteen year old sister, Millerna behind her.

"Yes?" she asked.

"We'll be arriving in Zaibach City in a few days. Lady Hitomi will there as well. It's been a year since we've seen her. Do you think she be the same? Chid will be there as well. He's about six now, I think. Oh, and General Albatou will be there as well. I heard he's grown handsomer over the years. Maybe, perhaps, he'll take notice of me and dance with me like last time..."

Eries rolled her eyes. Her ditzy, boy-loving sister could be so annoying sometimes.

"Millerna, for your information, Hitomi has changed over the year, judging by her letters. Chid is five years, although he'll be turning six in a few months. General Albatou is known to be interested in women who can fight, and are pretty. He'll take no notice of you if you continue your blabbering."

"I knew that." Millerna squeaked in a quiet voice. Eries rolled her eyes again.

Chesta rolled over in his sleep. Suddenly, the alarm clock near his bedside table rang. As he set it off and watched his fellow Slayers stir about, he thought about his dream.

Fire! Burning!

"Run! Chesta, take your sister and run!"

"But I don't know where she is."

"Go and find her, then! RUN!"

Blinking sleepily, he got off the bed, and set off to the bathroom, still thinking. He hadn't had the dream in years. Ever since his village was destroyed by the Basramanians, he had lost hope in finding her. In the first attack, she had been separated from the community, and it had been blamed on him. He loved his sister more than anything, but at the current time, he couldn't even remember her name. Wasn't it something like Helen? On the second attack, his village burned to the ground. He was a child-thief until he had been taken into the military at age ten. From that time, he had promised himself that his past was to forever be forgotten; his future was much more important. And at that very age, the dream that had once more haunted him, disappeared. But for some reason, it was back.

What could it mean?

A few steps behind Miguel, a fellow Slayer, he was shocked to find himself in Dilandau-sama's throne room. Kneeling down, he noticed the Princess Hitomi standing beside his master's throne. She looked nervous, but nonetheless beautiful... and strange. Her hair was tied up, she was wearing tights, and she had a sword at her belt. Chesta raised an eyebrow. Was she learning how to fight? He could almost laugh at the sight of her holding a sword. But he kept his laughter to himself as Lord Dilandau inspected them and gave out his speech.

"As you all know by now," Dilandau said. "Zaibach is hosting the sparring tournament this year. This year, there will be two representatives from each country. The first one to represent Zaibach will be me. The second one will be one of you. But first, in order to prove yourselves worthy, you must defeat the Lady Hitomi." Here, he stopped pacing around them and gestured his hand to her. She nodded, and he went back to his throne to watch.

A/N: Well, there's the second chappy for you.

Sakura Shinquji-Albatou: California cool is when u don't have a care in the world... wish i can be like that...

Socerer of Darkness, bandescafreak, and sush: Arigatou!