Yes I have finally finished the third chapter! Sorry it took so long but I'm a very lazy person. O.o Anyway this chapter is one of the more confusing ones but never fear everything you don't understand will be explained in the coming chapter... or so.

Disclaimer:

Gatti: Ahem. LS dose not I repeat dose NOT own the rights to Escaflowne.

LS: Thank you Gatti for pointing out the obvious... as usual. -.-;

The Blood Stained Mind of a Blackened Heart Ch 3: Fatal wound

Episode 9

It was late evening. The sun had long since set, the sky was clear and full of stars. Miguel and Gatti were sitting in the dining room unable to sleep when Kaomi came into the room.

"Hello Kaomi! I was just talking about how I'm going on my first dragon hunt soon!"

Gatti looked up from the book he was reading. "You're such a show off Miguel!"

Miguel looked at Gatti who had continued reading. "You're just jealous that I'm going and you're not!"

"I'm glad that I'm not going! I can finally get some time to myself." Said Gatti as he left the room.

"Kaomi, do you ever wonder what life would be like if you never became a dragon slayer?"

Kaomi was shocked. "What do you mean?"

"You know do you ever wonder what it's like back home?"

Kaomi smiled softly then looked down at her feet. "Well right now the Vione is my home! I don't know who my family is or where I come from."

"I'm sorry for bringing it up."

Kaomi looked back up at Miguel. "If you don't mind me asking, where are you from?"

"Well I was born just outside of Asturia and enrolled in the Zaibach army shortly after my mother passed away."

Just then Dallet rushed into the room. "The dragon has been spotted!"

The three quickly left the room, launched their alseides and flew over the forest.

Meanwhile Van, Hitomi and Merle were walking through the forest towards Freid.

"Wait Van."

"What is it?"

"I have a bad feeling about this. I don't know what it is, but..."

While flying over the forest Dilandau spotted something. "Is that them?" Dilandau and the dragon slayers landed around Escaflowne and deployed their stealth cloaks.

Hitomi could hear trees being broken as the invisible giants came closer. "They're here... I know they're here. Where... where are they?" Hitomi closed her eyes and concentrated. She could see where the giants were.

"Van, dead ahead!"

Shesta fired but Van dogged the flames.

"Van, to your right!"

Van turned and quickly blocked Miguel's crima claw.

"Van, behind you!"

Van spun around and blocked Dallet's fire.

Dilandau was starting to get irritated. "What're you doing? You're missing!"

"I'm aiming at him, but..."

Miguel interrupted Shesta. "It's almost as if he can see us, somehow.

"Stop spouting nonsense! Just hit him! But try not to kill him, okay?"

"Van, dead ahead!"

Van dogged Dilandau's flames and began to run.

"Don't let him get away!" Dilandau and the dragon slayers followed.

Van ran until he came across a small river. "A river? Perfect! Hitomi, Merle jump off."

Hitomi and Merle jumped off of escaflowne before Van went into the middle of the river. Dilandau and the dragon slayers surrounded Van.

"They fell for it... turning invisible won't do them any good here. And if I can see them..."

"Clever..." Dilandau charged Van.

Van blocked his attack and managed to push him to the ground. Van raised his sword ready to charge. Kaomi saw Shesta sneak up behind Van and ready his crima claw unfortunately so did Hitomi. "Van, behind you!"

Van moved out of the way just before Shesta's crima claw hit him and the claw was now heading strait for Dilandau! Suddenly Kaomi jumped directly into the path of the claw, it plunged into her stomach and out the other side. The claw stopped a foot or two away from Dilandau's head. Shesta quickly pulled the claw back and Kaomi stumbled forward.

"M-master Dilandau, a-are you okay?"

Dilandau was still in shock but still managed to say something. "Yes."

Kaomi let out a sigh of relief before falling back onto the shore.

"Kaomi? ... Kaomi? ...Kaomi!" Dilandau called to Kaomi but there was no answer.

Hitomi and Merle had been watching from the sidelines. "Yah! Lord Van killed one of them!" Merle seemed happy about what had happened unfortunately Hitomi didn't share her enthusiasm. Her bad feeling had gotten worse and she didn't know why.

Dilandau stood up and violently attacked Van. "Bastard!"

Dilandau and Vans swords locked and Dilandau's liquid metal sword rapped around Vans. Suddenly all the dragon slayers surrounded Van and pinned their crima claws on him enabling him from moving.

Hitomi put her hands together and prayed. "Someone help Van ...please!"

Then out of nowhere Allen came down and pushed the dragon slayers away from Van.

"Allen!" Dilandau diverted his attention to Allen now.

While Dilandau was fighting Allen, Miguel ran up to attack Van who easily cut off the arm of his alseides and pushed him down onto the shore.

"Miguel!" Dilandau fired at Van who blocked them but now one of the claws was heading for Hitomi. Acting on impulse Allen jumped in the way of the claw and blocked it with his body.

"I got careless..."

Folken interrupted the heated battle. "That's enough. Fall back, Dilandau! Some ships from Freid are approaching. If we're spotted, they might catch wind of our plan."

"I'm not leaving until I get my revenge!"

"That's an order!"

Dilandau pushed Van away and flew back to the vione with the dragon slayers.

Episode 10

Later that night Gatti walked into the dining room to find all of the dragon slayers sitting at one of the tables with grim looks on their faces but Miguel and Kaomi weren't there. Gatti could feel the sorrow in the air as he came closer to the dragon slayers. "What happened?"

Dallet looked to the other slayers then stood up and told Gatti what had happened on the last dragon hunt.

"What!" Gatti quickly looked to Shesta and then down at his feet. "They're gone... both Miguel and Kaomi are gone."

"Well Miguel is probably just been captured."

"How's lord Dilandau taking it?"

"Not well."

Dilandau was sitting in his throne room holding an empty glass of wine. The bottle of wine beside his throne hadn't been opened. He was in no mood for drinking. He felt as if Gaia itself had stopped turning.

Just then Shesta came into the room. "You wanted to see me sir?"

Dilandau suddenly felt full of rage at the sound of Shesta's quiet and timid voice. Dilandau stood up, picked Shesta up by the collar and slapped him repeatedly. Finally Dilandau threw Shesta to the ground and motioned for him to leave. Dilandau sat back down on his throne as Shesta scurried out of the room. He stared at the empty glass in his hand.

Suddenly a sweet and innocent voice filled his ears. "I'll never forget you..."

Finally a tear that Dilandau had been holding back rolled down his scared cheek. For the first time Dilandau felt remorse.

"I'll never forget you..."

It was the next day and the sun was beginning to set. Folken and Dilandau were talking in Folken's room.

"The dragon has fled to Freid."

"Do tell."

"Along with their prisoner."

"And what about Kaomi?"

"We retrieved her alseides but we found it to be empty."

"What?!"

"A blood trail was found leading into the forest but stopped only twenty feet away from her guymelef."

"So she might still be alive!?"

"Yes. That is a possibility but she might have been captured as well."

Dilandau felt a sense of relief. "There's nothing to worry about. Miguel and Kaomi are two of my men. They'd sooner die than talk."

"Perhaps. But Freid has Plaktu."

"Who's that?"

Later that night Kaomi stumbled through the forest, clinging onto trees in an attempt to keep herself from falling down. She managed to free herself from her destroyed alseides and now wandered through the forest in hope of finding medical help. Kaomi's strength was leaving her. Finally Kaomi collapsed in the middle of a small clearing. Kaomi lay in the clearing staring up at the beautiful night sky. Her wound didn't hurt much so her mind was on other things. A soft breeze rustled the leaves on the trees and swayed the lush green grass on the forest floor. Just then Kaomi noticed something beside her head. It looked like a single dark purple rose but it didn't grow from a bush like normal roses.

"A violet rose! It was mother's favorite flower." Kaomi picked the flower and held it close to her heart. "It's the only thing I remember about my past."

Episode 11

Another day had passed and it was night as Zongi made his way through the forest. Zongi had retrieved information about Hitomi and was going to meet Dilandau and tell him what he had learned. Suddenly Zongi noticed out of the corner of his eye a person lying in a small clearing. Zongi stopped and went closer to investigate. Zongi recognized that she was a Zaibach solider by her clothing. She was badly injured but still alive.

"This is the girl lord Folken speaks of! He will be very pleased if I bring her back to him!"

Zongi picked her up but before he left he looked up to see the trees closing in on him. He quickly shook his head and it stopped. "Now I'm seeing things..."

Zongi reported back to Dilandau at a tower not to far from Freid.

"A woman from the mystic moon?"

"Yes. She is a horrible woman who sees the unseen and knows the past and future."

"Sees the unseen and knows the future...? I get it now..." Dilandau remembered all of the encounters with that girl. "That explains what happened then... and then...and that time, too... that girl... she's responsible for this!" Dilandau pawed at his scared cheek. "And for..." Dilandau looked at Kaomi who was lying on his guymelefs arm. "Well done, Zongi."

"I humbly accept your kind praise."

Dilandau climbed into his alseides. "Now accept your reward."

Liquid metal began to slowly wrap around Zongi. "What are you doing, lord Dilandau?"

"You killed Miguel."

"I was doing my duty!"

"That was horrible, what you did to him. That's why I hate you doppelgangers."

"Dilandau! Lord Folken!"

The liquid metal rapped around him then quickly crushed him. Just then Escaflowne flew overhead.

"Escaflowne! This is my lucky day! Shesta! Gatti!"

Shesta and Gatti fired at Van from the forest but he dogged them and pulled out his sword. Van flew down and sliced off Dilandau's arm and pushed him down the tower stairs. Gatti managed to catch Kaomi before she hit the ground.

As Dilandau slid down the tower stairs he spotted Hitomi. "It's her! It's that bitch from the mystic moon!"

Van flew by and sliced off Shesta's right arm and knocked Gatti into the wall.

Dilandau stood up and attacked Van. Van blocked Dilandau's sword only inches from Hitomi's head.

"You! You're the one who keeps getting in my way!"

Van bashed Escaflowne's head down on Dilandau's and flew away.

"You're not getting away from me!" Dilandau tried to go after Van but his guymelef was too badly damaged to fly. "Coward!

.................................................................................................................................................

I know it doesn't make sense right now so please don't tell me things like "How can she survive after being hurt like that!?" The next chapter will explain everything. The reason I say this is because I really don't want to have reviews that point out the painfully obvious! I want reviews that tell me what you the reader thought of my story because I really need some inspiration to keep me writing so that I can get better and someday be a famous writer! Now do you see why I need you to R&R?