Weeeelll, I'm not so certain about thsi chapter at all. My beta reader's in Japan, working -very- hard, so I don't want to bug her with this chapter. ;; So...yeah. This is unbeta'd. Hopefully it's not too horrible. There was also just so much I wanted to portray in this chapter. I don't think I pulled it off as well as I would have liked... Gah. sighs Oh well. I hope y'all like it! Remember, constructive criticism always helps!
Reviewer responses are at the end of the chapter, as are more notes and info from me. Now, onto the chapter! .
TO MEND THE ROSE: IN THE ARMS OF THE DEVIL, part two by Feye Morgan
"All right! We're in! Now can I take this horrid wig off?"
"..."
"...drat. Why -not-?!"
The blue-haired young man's companions rolled their eyes. Truly, 'Lune' was a brilliant tactician, however, he had little if any common sense.
"Lune, did it ever occur to you that you'd be even more recognizable without the wig?" the tall, white-haired companion asked dryly.
"Sorata, I'm wearing different clothes now!" Lune protested, indicating the stolen Zaibach uniform with an impatient wave of his hand.
'Keiichi' resisted the urge to bash his head against the wall...both his -and- 'Lune's'. "Lune. You're in a Zaibach uniform. They bloody couldn't not recognize you!" he growled.
Lune began to sulk. "Fine," he muttered crossly.
'Lune', 'Keiichi', and 'Sorata', (aka Dilandau, Van, and Allen), had successfully snuck into the Zaibach capital, using Dilandau's suggested entrance. They'd had to deal with four guards, but had managed to do so without any commotion whatsoever. They'd hidden the bodies and taken three of the uniforms. Merchants would be questioned at even a brief glance, but guards would not. Hopefully.
"You know the way, don't you?" Allen asked, a slight edge slipping in his voice.
Dilandau shot him a haughty, annoyed glance. "Of -course-. I told you I did, didn't I?"
Van's mood was growing more and more strained the closer they were coming to their destination. "Your word leaves something to be desired, Lune," he growled.
Ruby eyes flashed with anger from behind the delicate glasses. The frames looked like they could have shattered from the intense force of those eyes. The face contained was far from the mild merchant it originally had been painted up to be.
"Don't start you two," Allen warned, the edge gleaming more clearly in his voice. "If you start quarreling in here, we're good as dead."
That shut them up effectively.
For about two minutes.
"What did you mean by that, 'Keiichi'?" came the whispered attack.
"Just what I said. I've gone through your records! Just how many times have you undermined authority, 'Lune'? "
"Shut up Keiichi."
But Van couldn't seem to let it go. Something about being so near the heart of the enemy he hated so dearly, Zaibach, was eating him from within. Why was he here in the first place? Curiosity? To put the Zaibach sorcerers out of their vile schemes?
Zaibach had gotten off once, after the destiny war. Their new emperor would see to it that the war council didn't punish them too severely. And, in a couple of decades, the empire would be back yet again.
The mere thought made Van want to snap. And there, walking next to him, was the hated empire's primary weapon of destruction.
"You're pathetic, Dilandau," Van snapped.
Allen stiffened at the lack of the pseudo-name. "Keiichi..." he snarled quietly and warningly.
"Pathetic. They called you the perfect soldier, and yet all you ever did was go out on rampages, disobeying orders and burning down village after village--"
"Shut up!"
"--Hell, you even brought your own soldiers to their deaths, against orders!"
Immediately, Van knew he'd gone too far. That look was back in Dilandau's eyes; that furious, caged look that only served to barely hide the bleak terror, pain, and horrific guilt that lay within. Dilandau's throat made a small strangled noise.
"Now you've done it Van!" Allen snapped, forgetting in his anger to use the false name as well. "You idiot!" He looked at Dilandau, hoping the boy was still salvageable. "Dilandau..." he trailed off, unsure of what to say.
The brief pause was a fatal mistake. It provided time for plenty of thoughts to run through the albino's head. Thoughts going back to his Dragonslayers, back to Tenshi, and back to the madoushi.
"Every time a rose petal drops--"
"Dilandau-sama, are you all right?"
"D-Dilandau-sama!!"
"--a person--"
"My god, he moves like a demon!"
"You killed her! Tenshi!"
"--goes to heaven."
Faces painted with terror, blood dripping from their mouths and glassy eyes, down their cheeks and chins. Boys in blue uniforms, all dying, dying, dying...
Cruel faces gleaming in a cold, sterile white light. Eyes that had long been hardened from the chemicals surrounding the darkened room. He could see the broken, fluttering pieces of dreams fading in and out, in and out...or was that just the effect of the drugs they were injecting into his arm...?
A bright smile, shining blue eyes framed with innocent silvery hair. "My name is Tenshi! What's yours?"
Blue eyes cold and dead.
"No one's ever made it out of their final test before, Tenshi..."
"I'm not afraid."
Dilandau looked up at his two companions, his fragile psyche breaking down in front of them. One more moment passed as Allen tried to find the right words to speak.
One moment is all it took for Dilandau to bolt, snapping his eyes away and running abruptly down a corridor, lost almost instantly in the shadows.
"Tenshi?"
Footsteps pounding down on the metal floor, driving the pain in deeper with every step. But he just--
"Yes?
--couldn't--
"Is there a place after death?"
--stop--
"We have to go somewhere, Dilandau."
He kept running.
Allen swore and whirled on Van. "Now look! He's gone!" The knight was practically livid.
But Van actually looked startled and shaken. Gone slightly pale, he stared after the shadows into which the former soldier had vanished. "I-I didn't mean...I didn't know he'd take it so...badly..."
Allen looked at Van, wordless with anger and some confusion. After several more precious moments, and with great difficulty, he composed himself. "We'll just have to find him again. Come on." They took off running silently after Dilandau.
Neither of them noticed the two figures watching from the other patches of shadow. One, tall and slender, melted away without a sound, followed by the other smaller one.
Dilandau ran out of breath some minutes later. He still wasn't completely healed from his assault in the prison cell of Palas, and the fresh mental attack only made it worse.
He slumped against the wall, breath coming in hard, quick gasps. The floor felt cold beneath him. He placed a brown-dyed hand to trace the edges of the hard steel tiles. Nothing like the curves of a rose...
He sighed and let his head loll back to rest against the wall. He closed his eyes.
He could still hear her voice, clear as the day he met her. Gods, how did a sweet angelic child like that ever fall into the hands of the madoushi?
"She should have lived dammit!" Tears threatened to filly his eyes and spill down his cheeks. "She should have lived..."
The madoushi have many, many eyes and ears throughout Zaibach. Unseen, unhidden, they hear everything. It was their most terrifying quality. Say just the wrong word, know just too much, and the next day, you will have never existed.
Dilandau was certainly not being quiet.
Perhaps it was the shallowly buried instincts that saved him, prickling at his mind to warn of an unseen terror.
Without knowing entirely why, he jerked to his feet and spun to face his left, taking several steps back. Ruby eyes were wide with terror, hand trembling, breath coming quick.
Something was...wrong.
He stood there in frozen fear, wondering what was so wrong. There had been no sound, no flashes of light, no whisper of breath. Nothing...
Nothing save that the shadows on his left had suddenly seemed denser and darker than on his right.
Dilandau's pupils dilated, and he turned to bolt.
Madoushi!
Detaching wraithlike from the sides of the corridors, they came. Cloaked in inky black robes, their pale faces hidden by hoods, they reached out.
Dilandau's panic rose in his throat as he felt a stiff hand catch on some of the leather in his uniform. The momentary jerk pulled him back just enough to wrench salvation out of his grasp.
Held tightly now, he struggled violently and futilely against his captors.
Something glinted out of the corner of his eye, and he knew he had no more time left.
Van and Allen...they're still out there! No matter Van had driven him into relapse; there were free people out there. Free people meant a chance to be saved.
A single terrified scream ripped from his throat: an incoherent plea for help conveying only terror and pain that was suddenly silenced.
The corridor was empty moments later.
Van and Allen heard the scream immediately. Blood drained from their faces.
"That was Dilandau," Allen whispered.
Van looked up at the knight. "Soldiers...?"
Allen thought for a moment. "No...there was fear in that cry. Terror."
The two looked at each other for a long moment. Then, without a single word exchanged, they headed off in the direction of the scream.
They searched for a good five minutes with no luck.
"I know it came from somewhere around here!" Allen growled, about to run his fingers through his hair before he remembered he was wearing a wig. He settled for cracking his knuckles instead. "This is the only hall in the vicinity!"
"They must have already cleared out, and took Dilandau with them," Van said.
Allen narrowed his eyes and began to pace. Van scanned the ground.
"Splitting up would be a bad idea, though--" the Caeli Knight mused, before being cut off.
"Allen! Look!"
The knight blinked and turned.
Van bent and picked up a small object off of the floor. He held it up for closer inspection.
Allen's eyes widened. "The rose box..."
Indeed it was. In Van's hand lay the small wooden box Van had given Dilandau to hold the pieces of his broken rose petal.
"It must have fallen out during his struggle."
Neither of them doubted there had been a struggle; if Dilandau had had time to scream, he'd had time to fight.
"But which way?"
Van bit his lip. "Pick one, I suppose."
Allen frowned. "We can't waste time--"
"We're wasting time right now arguing! We can't split up, so let's choose!"
Allen blinked, and nodded. "Fine. Let's go," and proceeded to stride down the shadowy hallway, Van following closely.
Allen wondered why the young king was suddenly being so adamant about finding Dilandau. He was, after all, the one who'd provoked Dilandau in the first place. Perhaps...he was feeling guilty?
The thought was almost enough to elicit a smile on the knight's face.
Several meters later, they knew they had chosen correctly. Directly in the middle of their path, a small, white rose petal lay on the floor. They stopped and stared at it for a moment, before Allen knelt to pick it up.
Silence.
"The rose must have become damaged during the struggle..."
"And the petals started to fall off..."
They exchanged glances, and kept walking.
That was not the last petal they found. White rose after white rose fragment, it was almost as if Tenshi herself was leading the way, a bright beacon in the shadows.
Who knows? Maybe she was.
Dilandau woke, and wished he hadn't.
Cold steel traced along his spine and shoulder-bones. A glaring white light pierced through his blurry vision. His head -hurt-, his mouth was dry, and an arm was throbbing painfully. He tried to move, but found himself strapped down.
Again.
Oh gods...I'm back here again. They've found me, they've taken me back...oh god...
"It's awake."
"Finally. The drug shouldn't have kept it unconscious for that long."
"It appears to be weaker than normal, and seems to have suffered attacks recently."
They'd removed his uniform, and replaced it with the customary white cloth robe. His torso was bare, and someone was rubbing some moist gauze just above his left breastbone.
"It is in fit enough condition to redo the alteration, however."
"Good. It needs to be done immediately. We cannot risk another relapse like the last one."
He was beginning to wonder if he'd ever left in the first place. Had it been just a dream?
Dilandau tried to bring moisture into his paper-dry mouth.
"It's dyed its skin. How interesting. Trying to conceal itself, no doubt."
"But what could have brought it back here?"
A derisive snort. "It's broken. Who knows how broken toys operate. We need to fix it; that is all that matters. Prepare the first stage."
"Will we perform all stages in continuity?"
"It survived it once. It can again. Proceed."
No...
A little bit of moisture.
"No...please...don't..."
They ignored him, faceless, heartless shadows moving around the room. He felt a sting in his arm and panic swelled full-force into his heart again.
"No, NO! NO! Stop! PLEASE STOP!."
"If it becomes too loud for concentration, you may put it into sleep."
Oh god
"NO! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME!."
"Get the chloroform."
Apparently they were feeling cruel today, to use the chloroform cloth.
"SOMEONE--"
Footsteps behind the screaming? Several shadows began to turn, and the one holding the cloth of chloroform paused, but Dilandau kept crying out, oblivious.
"--PLEASE--"
The footsteps grew louder, till they were pounding oh so close to the door. The madoushi began to move.
"--HELP ME!"
And then there was chaos.
The door slammed open, and two paladins swept into the room, katanas gleaming, slicing and cutting. The sound of shattering glass, clashing steel, and screams filled the air.
"Dilandau!"
What...?
Hands fumbling with the straps around his wrists, a blurry dark shape above him.
"Dilandau!"
Dilandau closed his eyes once, and opened them, clearing his vision. Ruby eyes stared in surprise.
"Van..."
His bonds were almost all undone. Just the ones at his waist and ankles remained.
"You came..."
Van didn't meet his eyes, merely hurried as quickly as he could with the straps. In seconds, Dilandau was free. Van bounded off again, whipping his sword into the chaos.
Dilandau watched, eyes glowing as he came slowly out of the drug-induced haze.
The madoushi had been taken completely by surprise. They were not equipped to handle face-to-face head on combat attacks, especially not ones by the famed Asturian Caeli Knight Schezar and boy king of Fanelia. They fell, cut down by sword of justice, their blood mingling with spilt chemicals and glistening shards of glass.
Justice, at last.
When all the sorcerers had finally been cut down or had fled into the back room (a dead end eventually), Allen and Van paused and lowered their bloodied swords. They looked at Dilandau.
The young man was still sitting on the edge of the operating table, shivering. He looked like a ghost in that white robe. Some of the dye had been washed off, and the wig was gone. His white hair was in tangles, ruby eyes still holding residue of cloudiness, and lingering fear. But as he gazed about the ruined room, some of that fear dissipated into joy and wonder. The spilt chemicals and broken glass, the trickling blood and fallen shadows.
Had the last legacy of Dornkirk's reign finally been shattered?
"We have to find the papers," Allen said, not breaking his gaze with Dilandau.
Dilandau turned his head to meet the knight's eyes.
"Are they truly gone?" he asked, his voice small and childlike.
Sympathy twinged in Allen's eyes. He walked towards the youth. "Yes," he replied, his voice just as soft. "They'll be gone very soon."
"Okay..." Still a child, those eyes were.
"Can you walk?"
Hesitantly, the youth slipped off the edge of the table. He stumbled at first, clinging to the metal support and to Allen's upper arm. The knight caught and steadied him. With an arm around the boy's shoulder's, Allen guided him toward the back room. There had been no papers in the operating room; there was only one place left they could be.
The remaining madoushi were dispatched with ease. Dilandau watched, a smile on his lips. He looked like a small child who had been freed at last from long, long years of bondage. "Bye-bye..." he whispered, still smiling.
It didn't take them long to find what they had been looking for. Letters with the madoushi seal addressed to the late Emerpor Dornkirk, official documentation of their experimentation, proceedures, lab synopses, and finally, the personal test files.
In a small unmarked file cabinet drawer, there were fifty or so folders. Folders with numbers. The largest folder held the heading tab 'TEST 009'. A brief glance inside proved to Van and Allen that it was Dilandau's record. That folder went into a bag Allen had brought with him. They could use that as evidence for a case in favour of Dilandau before the War Council.
They took the folders with the most paperwork in them, and glanced through the rest. Any 'subjects' who had died particularly horrific deaths, they kept. Most of the early test subjects fell into the category.
Allen's eyes widened as he flipped through one folder. He looked at Dilandau, who was watching them from a couple meters away. He held out the folder to Dilandau, eyes unreadable.
"It's...Tenshi's," he said.
Crimson eyes widened. Dilandau bit his lip, and reached out, hands trembling. He'd almost touched the folder, when he paused. A glance at his face revealed the battle going on within.
"No..." he said at last. "No..." he withdrew his hand and clutched it to his chest. "I don't want to see it." He closed his eyes and looked away, down at the ground.
I want to keep her in my memory...just as she is. Pure and innocent.
She was always pure and innocent, even after they'd gotten hold of her. An angel sent to free him.
Allen nodded, understanding, and slipped the folder into the bag.
Soon, Allen came across what he'd come for, the treasure he'd been searching for for so many years. Blue eyes froze in pain and shock. There it was; after all those long years of searching.
The front page held little information about the subject, as all of them; just a picture and brief vital statistics. But even a single glance told Allen undeniably that the girl in the picture was Serena.
Serena.
After so many years of searching and never giving up hope...he'd finally found the truth of her disappearance. Stonel by the madoushi, her innocent life spirited away by demons. His hands clenched white about the folder, his jaw tightening with sorrow and anger.
He'd thought perhaps he would find his sister's file among the rest...but he'd hoped... oh he'd hoped she hadn't ended like this...!
Shaking fingers underlined the 'name' she'd been given: "TEST 008". The subject just before Dilandau. He moved to turn to the next page...
"Allen!" Van's voice jerked his attention back. The folder remained unopened as the knight looked back.
One last madoushi was heading for the entrance, hope gleaming in his hardened, cruel eyes. If he escaped...the legacy would continue. Allen's heart quaked with fury as he imagined the horrible tests the madoushi, perhaps that very one who was fleeing at the moment, has subjected his dear, sweet, innocent sister to. With cold fire blazing in his eyes, he drew his katana and charged.
"Get him!"
Van charged after Allen, hot on the madoushi's heels, with the weakened Dilandau hurrying as quickly as he could. The silver-haired youth stumbled in the pursuit, however, just as he reached the door to the operations room. Van had locked the exit door, preventing the madoushi's escape. The hunted man was meanwhile playing cat and mouse around the fallen bodies and broken equipment.
Slipping in a puddle of blood, Dilandau flailed wildly to keep from falling, and managed to latch onto one of the few standing chemical racks. Dilandau didn't fall. However, the rack was not as fortunate.
The albino yelped as the tubes and flasks smashed into the floor, mixing with the blood and already spilt chemicals. Dilandau stumbled towards Van and Allen.
Whatever chemicals had been in those flasks, they did not mix well with the others. Instantly, there was a small explosion. Glass and liquid sprayed everywhere. A couple shards embedded themselves in Dilandau's arms and shoulder. He yelped again and stumbled back even further.
There was heat...
Oh god...
The chemicals had ignited. A blaze was soon spreading around the room. With the numerous unknown chemicals spilt on the ground, the whole place could explode at any time.
In a few seconds, the operations room had become a death trap.
Allen and Van gawked, completely stunned. it was long enough for the madoushi (who was, by this time, ready for any surprise), to grab a surgical scalpel and leap for Allen.
The knight caught the man's wrist just in time. Van swept up from behind and cut the madoushi down.
However, it was not quick enough to prevent the sorcerer from knocking the bag away from Allen's hands. It landed precariously close to the rapidly-spreading fire. Dilandau and Allen leapt for the bag at the same time. Allen swept it up, and Dilandau began to gather the spilled folders. The ones farthest away had already begun to burn.
"Quickly!" Van yelled. "We have to get out of here! This place could go at any time!"
Dilandau stuffed what folders he'd managed to save into the bag. "Let's go, now!"
Allen looked at the five or so remaining, burning folders.
"NOW!"
Hesitation gone, the three ran from the room. Behind them, the fire continued to spread, cleansing away the evil that had tainted the very essence of the room for so long. Dead skin cracked and seeped, glass melted into pools of bubbling crystal, potions boiled and exploded.
While Dilandau might not like the colour red any longer, he still loved fire. While it destroyed, it always cleansed.
They'd made it out just in time. Not even a full minute down the corridors, a huge explosion shopk the entire complex, throwing the companions to the ground. Dilandau struck his head against the floor and went limp. Allen cursed.
The knight rose shakily to his feet, followed by Van. The former took a step towards Dilandau, intending to carry the unconscious young man the rest of the way. However, he was beaten to it by a small shadow.
Instantly, Van and Allen had drawn their swords and moved to block both sides of the corridor, ready for any attack from the unknown stranger.
"Put him down," Allen growled fiercely.
"Aaaa! Allen Schezar! Why do you always pick on me! I didn't hurt anything! I was sent to -help-!"
Wait...he knew that voice!
Allen's sword lowered. He stared. An eye twitched. "...MOLEMAN?"
The creature in question stepped out of the shadows, grinning like an idiot, still carrying Dilandau. "None other! Now, if you two will stop gawking, I believe we have an escape to make and a ship to catch!"
No motion.
"What the...how did YOU get here?!" Van sputtered.
Moleman sent a mournful look at the young king. "Oh poor me! So uncared for! The ungrateful king doesn't even thank me, after I've saved the both of you twice already!"
Van gritted his teeth. "How. Did. You. Get. Here."
"Dryden-sama sent me."
"...WHAT?" two voices cried out in unison.
Allen immediately resolved to have...words...with the merchant the instant they returned home. If they returned home at all.
"He sent me along if I was needed to create a...diversion...to help you escape. That's partially why the guards didn't come looking for you after you made all that commotion when Dilandau took off."
Van stared. "You were watching that?" he asked.
Moleman grinned. "Yup. And so was a tall Zaibachian recruit, as well. Thanks to me, he never did make it back to report the incident. And while I was heading that way...I kept them busy out there. Although, your explosion should keep them quite busy enough that another one won't be needed to get out of here."
Raised eyebrows.
"Busy...how? What did you do?"
Moleman merely grinned, and refused to say a word.
Allen sighed and rubbed his temples. "Just tell me that you weren't seen."
"Not a wink!"
"Good. Let's just get out of here."
The ship was waiting when they made it outside. Evening had taken a firm hold over the land, and the darkness made perfect cover for their not-so pristine states of dress. Dryden had ordered the ship to return back for "supplies" that night, and key passengers on board made certain that the airship would not leave until the three had returned.
Sharp eyes watched as Allen, Van, and Dilandau slipped on board. Dilandau had woken up, and Moleman had gone back to hiding in the shadows again. The ordinary crew was too busy to bother with paying too much attention to the 'stragglers' of the bunch. Those with orders, however, made certain the three were stowed away comfortably, with food, drink, and a place to sleep on the trip back. All of this was done quickly and quietly, with the grace of those who had lived their lives working from the shadows.
Watching all of this, Van personally made a vow to never, ever get on Dryden's bad side.
Dilandau curled up with his mug of tea, blanket, and baked bread. He was exhausted. His mind had gone into a blank state of shock for most of the time after he'd been recaptured by the madoushi. Everything, even the fire, had been a blur to him, explaining his relatively mild reactions to the events.
But now...now it was over. Done. At last. The madoushi were dead and gone, and Tenshi was finally avenged.
So why was it that he could still feel their hands on him? The cold metal digging into his back, the needles, the flaring agony...
His hands trembled, threatening to drop the mug.
Hands took the tea away from him and set it on the ground. Dilandau looked up to meet Van's eyes. They looked at each other, silently, for several moments. Cinnamon eyes broke away, and looked awkwardly at the floor. A naturally tanned hand rummaged through pockets before emerging with a small wooden box. "Here...you dropped this."
Dilandau's eyes brightened almost imperceptibly. He took the box, and held it. Carefully, he opened the top. Everything was in tact.
"Your white rose...broke, though," Van added.
Dilandau nodded, biting his lip and still looking down at the dried rose pieces.
"The white rose petals fell on the floor, and helped us find you."
Dilandau's head bent, and trembling fingers closed the lid of the box. The youth's forehead dipped to rest on his knees, and his hands covered the top of his head. He was shaking.
Van's eyes widened. "Dilandau..."
"They're gone, they're gone, but I can still feel them...it hurts..." Dilandau's muffled voice broke through the cloth to reach his two companions. The boy sounded broken and exhausted. "It still hurts...so bad..."
Dilandau started slightly as he felt someone pull him gently into a protective hug. He risked a look up. It was Allen, blue eyes concerned and warm.
"I'm sorry, Dilandau. It should stop hurting. They're gone now. Gone forever. We have all the evidence we need to put any of the rest away. They're gone. They won't ever hurt you again."
Dilandau buried his face in Allen's shirt. He couldn't take it anymore, couldn't hold it in any longer; his shoulders shook slightly as the youth cried in silence. Allen simply held him; there was nothing else he could do. But it seemed to be enough...as the boy fell asleep soon after.
"It's done."
Silence.
"Yes...it's done."
Another interval of silence. The motor was whirring steadily beneath them. The ship had lifted from the air some minutes ago; they were going home.
Eventually Allen spoke again, and this time his voice was cracked with tension, weariness, and pain. "Tenshi's records were lost in the flames. As were...Serena's."
Van's head snapped up to look at Allen.
The knight was still holding onto Dilandau, the youth fast asleep still. The knight's face was lined with strain. His lips were thin and white, his eyes closed. The loss had obviously come very, very hard to him. Van knew he'd searched for years for Serena, never giving up hope that she was still alive, out there, somewhere. The mere discovery of the folder had been a great blow to him. But the fact that Allen hadn't even gotten a chance to read any of the contents was crushing.
And now it was lost forever.
Van didn't know what to say besides the obvious. "I'm...sorry, Allen."
Allen didn't respond for several moments.
"I suppose...I just have to take care of him instead..." The knight was looking down at Dilandau.
Van frowned. "Are you certain that's a good idea?" he asked doubtfully.
"Who else does he have?" Allen countered softly. "He was all alone...just like Serena. He went through the same hell, maybe worse. I couldn't protect her. Maybe, maybe I can make it right by protecting him."
Van looked away. Maybe... he thought. Shaking his head, he curled up on his side and drifted off to sleep.
The ship flew on into the night, towards Palas. And Allen Schezar stayed up much of the night, just listening.
AN: Well folks, there you go! I believe that was quite long. I hope that made up for my horribly long hiatus. -.- Eheh...
So ends chapter 14. Chapter 15 is gasp the very last chapter of this story. I'll wrap everything up there, nicely and hopefully neatly. I hope everyone enjoyed this story (especially as it's taken up a year of my life! Ah, it was fun!)
And please, please, please REVIEW! Even if it's just a single sentence, let me know you're out there and reading! It gives me incentive to post this stuff.
To my wonderful reviewers of part one of chapter 14:
Sylvangirl: Glad you're still reading and anticipating! Don't worry, I have no intention of quitting a story I like this much.
Eboni: HI EBONI! wavewave Yes, I am evil, I know. But hey, at least I didn't make you wait three months again like I did last time ;. Eheh... Yes, I borrowed that nickname from BEL. I don't think she'll mind... Oh, 'Lune' is pronounced with a non-silent e...so he's not offended. Nice one, though, Enobi chuckles. I liked the touch of the white rose as well, and it seems other people did too. I'm glad of that. I hope you like this chapter as well! Much much longer and more action.
Ryuko-chan: YES! I AM BACK! And I'll be back on the RP too very shortly. Like...now. Eheh. Feye has been very, very bad. She's behind in all her RPs save one. O.o Eep. Eerk.
Rai Dorian
Woo! Hey there! Yes, I got your email for your new site, and checked it
out. I'll send the files (I just have to dig them up again. .html,
right?). Heh, glad you liked the nicknames, although they don't come
quite from the places you guessed. BOTH Keiichi and Sorata come from X,
actually. I've seen maybe one or two ep. of Ah! My Goddess, and didn't
like it all too much. I picked 'Keiichi' for Van mostly because of the
irony. If Keiichi from X had a super-power, it would be uber-genkiness.
My god, that kid is able to cheer -KAMUI- up! That is impressive. Not
exactly a Van-ish personality there. Sorata...mmm...he's not a ladies
man. I think you're thinking of Yuuto. snaps fingers I should have gone
with that, if I was to go with the irony. ;; And I probably should have
gone with 'Nataku' for Dilandau's fake name. Nataku kinda looks like
Dilandau, actually. sighs Oh well. 'Lune' came from the reference for
the moon. I was tired. Eheh...
Gosh! What's you wind up getting sick/hurt with? You're okay now, I hope!
You're writing HP fics? Ooo! Are they up yet?
Macky: Thanks for reviewing, and you bet I'll continue!
Lomiothiel: Yes, I know: it's been a while. Eheh...slaps herself. Feye is very sorry. wilts Well...I hope you liked this chapter! Everything finally happens! You knew I had to have -something- bad happen at the madoushi labs. I'm evil like this. But you can also count that it'll turn out good in the end. At least...in my multiparts you can. One-shots are another thing...
Mistress of Darkness: Ha! Not a year-long wait! WOOT! chuckles Heh, yeah, sorry about that hiatus. -.- I'm still behind in so many things...RPs mainly. And my X/1999 story, which also hasn't been updated in three months. O.o acks
Atari: Hey Atari! nice to see you! I'm glad you liked the rose scene as well. That rose sure came in useful, though, ne? I keep hoping I haven't changed Dilandau too much, although I think I've gotten him at just the right point where I was able to get away with it. ; Earlier on in the series...might not have happened. Please, keep reading and reviewing!