Eheh...wow...I am SO incredibly sorry everyone! Ack! I did it: another three month long hiatus. You were probably all wondering if I'd died or something. Well, I do have excuses: I got very sick in the middle of the semester, and so was knocked out for a good week, and spent the next month catching up. By that time, it was time to start studying for Finals. Good news though! I've kept my 4.0 cumulative for the second semester as well! WOOT!
But...you don't care. You want the bloody story, don't you?
Well...ah...this happens to be only the first half of chapter 14. Ergo why it's short. But, I'm on summer vacation now! I should have the next chapter up MUCH sooner, and hey, at least I've posted something!
For the numerous people who have probably forgotten alot about this story: SUMMARY:
Dilandau deserts the Zaibach army, haunted by the deaths of his dragonslayers and the memory of a small girl named Tenshi. He wanders in the woods around Asturia before coming across a woodlander named Enmu, who offers him a place to stay. The man seems very, very nice, and doesn't ask many questions at first.
He almost gains Dilandau trust, however a series of strange incidents begin to occur, all seeming to involve Enmu or the house he lives in. The tea in Enmu's cup never draining, a small wire found dropped in the woods, Enmu's strange, random disappearances, and the brief appearance of another woodlander, who seemed terrified of Dilandau.
That woodlander runs back to Asturia and finds an audience with Millerna, who calls in Allen and Van. The latter two had found strange records concerning Dilandau, and were beginnin to believe that there was much, much more behind the young Zaibach soldier than they had previously believed. Something to do with the madoushi...and the new Zaibach emperor isn't talking.
Dryden offered the two more answers when he finds in his study some papers Meiden had filched from the madoushi a while back. The papers turn out to be a journal of a nine-year old Dilandau, spanning a time of about a year. In it a girl named Tenshi was told of, and the horrors of the madoushi experiments brought more and more to light. Horrified, Van and Allen decide to try to find the deserted former Zaibach soldier.
The woodlander gives Van and Allen exactly this: a way to find Dilandau. Immediately, the knight and king have Millerna's permission to bring a small contingent of soldiers to the said cabin in the woods.
Meanwhile, in that cabin, Dilandau is coming closer and closer to the crux of the mystery. A small black box (which disappears a moment later), sparks a vague memory in the albino. When he questions Enmu about this, the woodsman becomes nervous, and hedges. He becomes more and more persistent with his plea for Dilandau to go back to Zaibach. He lets slip that he was with the madoushi, immediately terrifying Dilandau. At that instant, Allen, Van, and the soldiers burst through the door. Dilandau pins himself in a corner, looking with terrified eyes between Enmu and the soldiers.
But when Allen and Van can't seem to see Enmu, the mystery becomes clear at last to Dilandau. Enmu was never real. He was all an illusion, put together by the madoushi via the black box. The frightened woodsman who'd ran away happened to be the real owner of the cabin, coming back from visiting Palas. Dilandau find the box, smashes it, and collapses as Enmu vanishes, the illusion banished.
Our favourite albino wakes up in a cell, with the knight and the king watching over him. After a short, chopped conversation, Van and Allen leave, and during their absence, Dilandau is attacked by guards, and nearly killed. Allen saves him in time, and Dilandau is sent to the hospital.
The next day, he explains Enmu and the madoushi to Van and Allen, clearing up a lot of confusion for our characters and for the readers. Dryden convinces Allen and Van to try to steal the more papers from the madoushi labs, enough to convict them before the war council of their crimes. Allen is spurred by his desire to find out what happened to his long-lost sister Serena, Van by his horror at the madoushi's actions and his curiosity over Dilandau. Together, they are able to convince Dilandau to come along, for the sake of doing justice for Tenshi.
Dryden arranges for them to travel to the Zaibach capital on one of his merchant ships. As of last chapter, they had arrived, having thoroughly disguised themselves (imagine Dilandau with nut-brown skin, blue hair, and silver glasses).
Disclaimer:
Feye: Please?
Sunrise: No.
Feye: Please?
Sunrise: NO.
Feye: Pretty pretty pretty please with Dilandau plushies on top?
Sunrise: -- Security? We have another one.
Feye: OO Eep. Inches away Eheh...
Sunrise: addressing the readers Feye-san does not own Escaflowne.
Feye: being dragged away by security ONWARD!
TO MEND THE ROSE: IN THE ARMS OF THE DEVIL by Feye Morgan
Not many people took notice of the mechant airship that landed in the Zaibach capital sometime in the midday. After all, it was just a merchant ship, and the capital of what was once the most powerful empire known in those parts of Gaea had seen many of those.
As a result, four figures were able to slip off: three unnoticed, and one unseen by anyone, even the aforementioned three. Traders often wandered to the market to set up their shops, and any who saw the three depart naturally assumed that this was the case.
"So now what?" Dilandau asked quietly, once they'd secured themselves in a quiet alleyway. He was fiddling nervously with his coat front, disguised features poorly hiding his discomfort. Van did not look any happier.
"Now we set up an operations point," Allen replied quietly. He, in contrast, looked calm and collected, for the circumstances. I'm the only sane one here, he thought. ::Someone has to put up a good front:: Only the slightest gleam in his blue eyes betrayed the tension that he, too, felt.
"Operations point?" Van raised an eyebrow. "I thought we already had this all planned out."
Allen gave him a look. "Yes, we have it planned out, Van. But would you commence an covert assault upon a high-technology enemy stronghold in broad daylight without even scouting the perimeter first in person?"
The king grumbled, but was subdued. "So where's this little 'point' going to be?"
"An inn," Dilandau answered for him. "Where else? Am I right, Schezar?"
"Yes, Dilandau. It's an obvious place for merchants to go when needing rest. I assume you know a place, Dilandau...?"
The former soldier nodded shortly and turned, leading the way without looking to see if they were following him.
Van glared at Dilandau's back. "Arrogant prick," he muttered beneath his breath before falling into step beside Allen.
Allen raised an eyebrow. ::Pot to the kettle...::
The knight kept his mouth shut.
The Inn was not the best quality in Zaibach, but it was far from seedy. They spotted a couple other merchants resting in the common room as they walked in, which was a good sign. They would not be out of the ordinary there.
Allen paid for their room. The innkeeper seemed a bit startled at the request for only one room, until he studied their clothing more closely. Merchants had a reputation for being penny-pinching; why pay for more than one room when all three are working together anyways?
"All right," Van said once the door to their room was closed, "what -now-? Do we scout the perimeter of the headquarters?"
"That would probably be smart, Fanelia," Dilandau drawled, earning himself another glare. He was sitting in one of the chairs, studying the woodwork intently.
"We should also get something to eat while we have the chance," Allen added.
"We should also come up with new names," Dilandau said. "Unless you insist on calling each other by our very recognizable givens."
Allen nodded. "Did you have anything in mind?"
Dilandau blinked and looked up at them. "Blondie and Pigeon?"
"DILANDAU!"
"What?"
The Zaibach marketplace looked more or less like Asturia's, save for the strangely-built buildings around. Zaibach was much more technologically advanced, which made it all the more strange to Dilandau that they'd lost the so-called "Destiny War". Not that he was upset. Not in the slightest. The only regret he had was that he hadn't deserted sooner. Perhaps then his Dragonslayers...
I've been over this before, he berated himself as they passed by stalls and shops, through the milling of colourful people. There wasn't anything I could do.
But he still couldn't let go. Them and...Tenshi.
This would be his redemption. He couldn't afford to mess this up. He really couldn't.
He remembered this particular marketplace. Sometimes he and his Dragonslayers would use their free time to wander the city. Foreign items were always eye-catchers, no matter how crude or strange they were. He'd been trained to look down on all nations other than his own. They were primitive, ignorant, and worthless, his superiors had told him.
Maybe it had been a streak of rebellion not even he himself had recognized that he'd liked going to the market so much.
But now, coming back, all he saw were painful memories.
Dilandau stopped short before a flower stall. It was a few moments before Allen and Van noticed that he wasn't following. They turned, strange expressions on their faces.
The stall was selling roses. That in itself wasn't strange, except for the fact that roses in Zaibach were out of season at the moment. Dilandau could only imagine how far this merchant must have come to have fresh roses to sell in the capital.
Yellow, crimson, pink, white, all the colours were there in full. Dilandau's ruby eyes misted with something akin to nostalgia, and he took a step forward.
The merchant caught sight of him, brightening at the prospect of a sale. "Hullo thar good sir!" he spoke up. The man had an odd foreign accent. "Would y' like t' buy a fresh rose? Beau'iful, isn't they?"
Wordlessly, Dilandau nodded, and took the remaining steps forward.
The young man rejoined his companions with a single white rose tucked into his outer breast pocket. He said nothing, and they asked nothing. Van and Allen merely exchanged glances, unseen by Dilandau. If any of the two wondered why the albino hadn't bought a red rose, like the petal he held so dearly, they did not ask or show their curiosity.
But perhaps it was because Dilandau didn't wish to associate Tenshi with crimson any longer.
He was beginning to hate the colour red.
Allen, Van, and Dilandau returned to the inn late in the evening. They had come up with names, and not the ones Dilandau had suggested. Dilandau was Lune, Allen was Sorata, and Van was Keiichi. They'd bought lunch at one of the stalls, and scouted around the capital quite thoroughly. Dilandau's sharp eyes hadn't missed a detail. Despite his long service in the Zaibach military, he'd only ever been in the capital twice in his remembrance. he was certain he'd been there more times than that, when the madoushi's floating fortress hadn't been enough for their planned procedure, but what he couldn't remember wouldn't help them.
"All right," Allen began, spreading out a sheet of paper on a desk. He drew out a quill and began to sketch the outline of the capital building. Dilandau and Van leaned forward from their seats. "I remember exits here..." he drew crosses at the indicated spots. "What about you two?"
Van pointed out his, and Dilandau likewise.
"Good. Now, Lune, do you remember how each of these are guarded?" Allen asked.
Dilandau blinked at the unfamiliar name before sliding into it. "These four are heavily guarded, these six are medium security, and the last two aren't guarded."
Van raised an eyebrow. "Aren't guarded? Well, let's pick one of those."
Dilandau looked at him. "Keiichi. 'Not guarded' in Zaibach security means that we won't get past the first five meters before we're dead. Literally. Our best bet would be to go for the medium security entrances. This one," Dilandau indicated on the map, "is closest to the madoushi main headquarters."
"Doesn't that mean it would be guarded heavily, though?" Allen queried.
Dilandau shook his head. "Anyone in their right minds who knew about this entrance and the madoushi labs wouldn't dream of trying to break in."
"However..."
"Correct. We're not in our right minds."
Van looked out the window. "It's getting dark."
Dilandau nodded, and a twinge of fear rose in his eyes, barely perceptible but there nonetheless.
"Shall we?"
"Might as well."
The inn room was empty again minutes later.
End of part one of Chapter 14: In the Arms of the Devil