Disclaimer: I do not own anything of The Slayers or Escaflowne. I do own Hiero, Akiko, Raven, Zelda, Lacey, the new Slayers, and the new countries. Review and read my other stories, please….REVIEW!!!!

                               Chapter 3
                          Fired....Hired….It's Still Hell 

                                                                            ~ Kingdom of Lateni ~

                                                                             - Marketplace -

               Hiero walked through the town. He walked the whole way, just to make Dilandau wait. His mood swings were really interfering with things, Hiero's as well. He didn't want to keep going from mood to mood, but he couldn't help it. He wanted his lovely wife back now, but she wasn't coming back, he couldn't feel her presence anymore, so he brooded and mourned. Last night was one of the few times he felt jovial, since Dilandau was so easy to tease, for him anyway.

               It also wasn't like he didn't know the troops told rumors to the younger ones behind their backs. It was a fact Hiero always slept in Dilandau's room at night, and was always right beside him in battle, the throne room, at meals, and even during strategic meetings. It started after Alessa vanished, they assumed Hiero was 'lonely' and had taken to their beautiful lord and patron as a replacement and pacifier. Hiero always blushed a bit when he'd those rumors, which seemed to spread in Lateni of the years. He would admit Dilandau was a beautiful young man, strong, able, and a great friend in the right mood, but a lover was not what Hiero saw in him, nor did Dilandau. All he saw was a friend.

               He loved to flirt with Dilandau, more to tease him for avoiding love himself. Dilandau was so stubborn, so Hiero did it often and to others who were taking a soldier's life over their hearts. It worked on Gatti and Chesta over the years, but he avoided helping Migel catch the attentions of young women by flirting with him since Migel was already in love with the woman inside him, one of many. Avaris, even only as a slave to Hiero's body, was still talkative to him mentally, but she had no real interest in Migel. Hiero frowned, he was still trying to pound the memory of that brunette leech kissing him when he used Avaris' form all those centuries ago.

               Migel was still trying to get him in bed with him, even while he was dating a young tavern owner in town. Migel was obsessed with winning Avaris, even if the female could no longer answer for herself as much. It'd be Hiero under Migel, and he really didn't go for that idea. Flirting was all and good, but sex was not what got his teasing mind going. "I'd sooner put my manhood in the gears twenty times than ever play poker with him again, he nearly got my ass last time." He said to himself, ignoring the elfin folk staring at him with fear and disgust.

               He was used to those looks, the look of hate and prejudice, the inability to understand or accept another. His home planet was chock full of it all throughout his first life. He despised that look and felt like exploding on them, something horrible, but he couldn't. After all, they were protecting their sorry asses from the big bad women warriors. Tough women, yeah, trained to kill, indeed, but not very bright about how the Dragon Slayers played the game of war.

It wasn't the Dragon Slayers lose and run home crying like the Lateni soldiers. No, Dragon Slayers fought hard and long and retreated when necessary to come back for revenge. Dilandau had him plan such a tactic before Grego even returned, without telling the king. Dilandau was angry at how poorly the soldiers fought for the kingdom, saying he'd sooner slash through them to fight the bitches right. Hiero agreed, something was up with how badly they were performing on the field, but he couldn't find why. His powers just weren't in the mood to help him because he was still deeply depressed. What few visions he got lately concerned things he'd never seen, airships shaped like pirate ships, a ball of light, and blood on all their hands.

Hiero didn't like being sad, but he had a very good reason. He'd loved Alessa to death, and now that she was gone without a single trace, his heart was dying. It was almost ironic, he never felt so much like killing himself till that moment, but was unable to succeed due to his immortality. It was a burden, anyone that wished for it foolishly would see it's not all peaches and cream.

Immortality was only for the strong of mind and heart, not solitary greed or vanity. To be able to die, so he wouldn't be in pain anymore, would be a great blessing, but he'd never get that. He'd murdered Delphine, the son of his world's patron goddess. He not only killed him, he had absorbed him due to what his mother did to him in the womb, did to him in her vanity.

He knew to hate his mother, even walking along these streets of the planet Gaia in the sparkling co-ed kingdom of Lateni, the hatred of Narcissa Vendetta was fresh inside his heart. She'd made him a freak in the first place. He'd have been fine of only she'd let Fate take its course, instead of try and bend it.

Knowing a little about Fate itself, he gathered he was punished for her and his father's sin. Fate was cruel, but he only made it worse by thinking the death of a godling would solve it. His life got worse with each century that passed and when it got better, tragedy always robbed him of even simple pleasures as friends and love. He could still see all those innocent faces, victims of his touch and presence, those that Moriun damned for even getting slightly close to him, the damned one, the Saphia Oni.

Now she was long dead and he was still suffering. He thought it was all over when he finally found the one he was born for, Alessa Demitrius, his lavender beauty and angel of love. She made nearly every ill memory, every wife and child lost to death and fate vanish before his eyes like magic. She made him smile and calmed his ever-shattering heart.

'Now she's gone, my angel has been taken from me even when all my pains are dead. Am I doomed to suffer eternally….? Will you take my friends from me next, oh cruel Fate?' he wondered, sneering a bit. He bet Fate would, the conniving bitch she was. For one death, he suffered thousands and thousands more. Delphine was not that damned special to the universe that he had to be punished endlessly for his greatest mistake over and over again.

It was tiresome, he was tired of being alone and hurt, always doing the will of prophecies and gods. He was a tool, all-powerful and he was a tool to each and every god he came across. Dynast Grausherra was one of the few that actually shared his sympathies, who didn't make him hurt inside. The Dynast was inside him, the ice to Dilandau's fire, eternal chaos. He had wished he could have simply taken his master with him, alive, but the other children of the Lord of Nightmares had other plans. She was too in love with him and his power to care who lived and died.

Hiero groaned, shaking off the ill memories of families lost and legacies that ran rampant in the past. He stopped in the middle of the street and looked around, moving his eyes to the afternoon sky a few times.

Dilandau was probably leading the others into their surprise battle, to rip apart the Artemis warriors that got a snitch to ruin their plans. He'd hear it eventually, the screams of those bitches ringing through his ears. It was all Hiero could agree on really, someone had to have told the Artemis forces that they were there. There was no way that all those soldiers could file in so quickly if they weren't lying in wait in that hall. They never gave any warning they were after the younger princess.

It was a very good tactic, as he'd told the king and his advisors. The queen of Artemis would expect them to take the next in line for the crown, Princess Lacey, not her younger sister who had yet to be of any simple importance other than someone to get pregnant and create another female heir. Lacey was more well known than her sister, more public, while her younger sister was more of a black sheep, ignored. Getting one was the plan to confused the enemy, then they'd move in and grab the other, leaving the queen with no choice but a swift surrender, and give Dilandau plenty of honorable target practice.

They had her now, delivered by a bruised and battered Grego. It bothered Hiero though. Why wouldn't they simply kill Grego. He would never squeal on the Dragon Slayers, they'd all die for Dilandau. Grego was never very good at much other than beating the hell out his opponents. It irked Hiero a bit as to how Grego not only escaped in his condition, but also got the young princess doped up enough to not give him one problem.

He didn't like the feeling he had, but it was only a feeling. They came and went. He'd just interrogate the princess and see how it went, if she knew anything important, just to keep her alive. Dilandau would kill or torture and kill her if he left her alone with him, so Hiero would handle the interrogations. He was the Strategos after all. He was supposed to be good with words, and he was, among other things.

Hiero shrugged it off slightly, turning his sights down the street, eyes settling upon a sign with dragon claw holding a chalice of gold. The Golden Dragon was the only bar in town, and by the crowds that always formed inside it, everyone knew it. He smiled a bit, the barkeep was an interesting woman. Just cause she was dating Migel didn't mean she was a bad person. He was actually happy she was with Migel. It kept the little pervert away from him and would possible cure him of his obsessions about sleeping with Avaris, he hoped and prayed.

Hiero started towards it, intent on looking for a cook later. He was depressed and angry with the turn of events these days. He needed a good meal and some nectar, anything to calm down his bad mood.

                                                                            ~ The Golden Dragon Tavern ~

Hiero sauntered in, his cloak wrapped about him neatly. The tavern was full as always, several drunks in the corner, one with a girl in rags with her hands chained. He tried not to look at her, but his eyes never were very obedient. He saw a flash of red and stormy blue eyes. He thought of beautiful Celena for a moment, then Dilandau's love of flame in that brief glance at the girl. It wasn't long enough to look her over, but the hair and eyes were enough. He shouldn't get involved. Getting involved got you hurt, more than you knew even at the time.

Hiero moved on, shutting out the sounds of the bar. The drunks could care less who he was. They'd go on jabbering, vomiting and sucking down drinks like there was no tomorrow. One or two might pick a fight, that was normal, or say something about good old gossip, but either way, he'd ignore it for now. His stomach was empty as Sin herself.

He didn't need problems when his stomach chimed oh so loudly throughout his body. To have such an appetite was a bother sometimes, but he truly appreciated the food he ate more than on his Terra. Then he barely got enough, and when he got enough, he'd die and get hungry all over again. It was taxing on a mind and body. With mother #2'as appetite, good ole Lina, he loved food more now than when it was scarce. It disgusted some of the younger Slayers most of the time to see him shovel in his food like it was his last meal, but he couldn't help it and rather didn't care what they thought.

As he wove through and past soldiers, knights, and common folk alike, his stomach near growled like a dragon. He sneered a bit, feeling like starting a fight to get near the bar, but he held it in. The more time he spent being angry and fighting was less time to eat.

Hiero got through, only to stop and frown at the bar, where Migel was sitting, talking to the lovely owner. She was Migel's second girlfriend, one that kept him at least somewhat in line, unlike the blacksmith. The others Slayers had to rescue Migel from her wrath when she walked in on Migel and Hiero during an argument. She thought Migel was cheating on here with Hiero, thanks to Migel's grabby hands to make Hiero become Avaris. Hiero had been quite drunk at the time, which was getting more frequent with his mood. Anything to forget his pain for a while, but Migel made it hard to enjoy those few drunken hours. That time, Migel nearly got him again.

The day he woke up as a naked Avaris in bed with that pervert would be the day he'd quit drinking and throw himself in a volcano for a year. It'd also be the day the Angel of Light would get castrated slowly, awake, there was a wonderful thought to calm Migel's obsessing.

He groaned a bit when Migel grinned at him, one that was utterly sleazy, all for poor Avaris. Hiero was glad he had absorbed her right now, he could keep the weirdo away from her, but barely away from himself. It was annoying. With Migel's persistence in the matter, it was a bother to be near him in general, but thankfully, this new girlfriend was a toughie, and Hiero had explained to her that Migel had 'delusions.' He worded it as repressed childhood, though he would have loved to say 'utter stupidity and misguided hyper libido idiot.'

His girlfriend was pretty, Hiero had to admit that to Migel, the bartending female was lovely and good on her own, a businesswoman and a good one at that. She never let freebies go by and she knew someone's limit before they did. That and she had a pretty mean left hook, it quelled many a bar fight and warded off the perverts.

He sighed and plopped down sadly in the only available seat, right next to Migel. He wanted to break Migel's teeth for grinning still, but then who'd want him other than the owner.

He ignored Migel best he could and looked up at the dirty-blonde haired young elf. Her hair was a wonderful thing to see at night and in the light, seeming darker during the night, like it did now, but seemed light brown in the light of day. Her eyes were unusual as well, but he didn't mind. He found it endearing, to look at those emerald forest green eyes, the gold rings about the irises. It was like looking at two emerald rings, very pretty and stunning to the sights. Those eyes captured a man's soul if one were really looking, as Migel had been the day the two met.

               That day had been a funny way to meet a girl, during a bar fight, one Migel and Hiero started over the usual thing. It was the," get Hiero drunk and make him turn into Avaris ploy." Only that time Hiero was sober, he was not eager to get drunk. They had just started fighting Artemis and Dilandau wanted them all sober, save for himself. Dilandau held his liquor a lot better than most men.

Migel started flirting and it made Hiero angry that Migel was doing it in front of everyone. The fight started, Dilandau doing nothing to end it but gulp his vino and the others cheered Hiero or Migel on. Eventually, the fight hit the bar area, and Hiero threw Migel over it, right next the poor woman. She popped Hiero in the face, broke his nose a good one and knocked him on his ass.

               She hit Migel too, but….they came back the next day, and she was watching Migel. Hiero, knowing a girl back in Migel's life would take some pressure off him, got Migel near her more often, eventually the two started hitting it off and soon were dating. He felt safer with her keeping Migel away from him, but it wasn't endless. Migel still had a thing for Avaris, but his new girl made sure those thoughts were dealt with, in her own way.

               Hiero smiled at her softly. "Hi Zelda*….my usual, please. Four helpings….and plenty of Ebwarts** nectar." He said softly. The pale elf nodded, and wrote up the order, handing it back to her cooks.

               She gave him a good-natured punch in the shoulder, smiling in her usual triumphant way. "You eat too much raw meat. Gonna give yourself a bad gut ache, Strategos Vendetta."

               He smiled lazily at her. "Didn't know you cared, Zelda….I'm touched."

               She smiled back a bit. "I never said I cared…. you're paying customer. Not often they are inviting stomach diseases. 'Sides, you may be a bit off, Strategos Vendetta, but you and the boys have been making the life of working woman easier. I can take care of myself most often, but you keep the perverts away so I can relax more."

               "Its just Hiero, I don't need the title bit. I rather don't care for my status being announced as much as Dilandau does." Hiero chuckled, smiling as four deep plates of raw, red, and bloody meat were set before him a pitcher of nectar and big stone mug filled to the brim. He grinned at it and sucked it down, forking up a few slaps of raw flesh in his mouth. It made her go a little green, but he rather didn't care.

               She shrugged with a knowing grin. "Sure, Hiero….enjoy your….chum. I have a table to wait on….bunch of pigs." She huffed, jerking her chin at a table. Hiero knew without looking that it was the same table the poor red-head was stuck at. He just nodded and savagely tore at his food.

               Once Zelda walked away, grabbing up a tray of vino and ale, Migel slide closer. Hiero let out a low dragon growl, but Migel was damned stubborn. He stayed put, grinning at him, supporting himself near Hiero by his elbows. "Not in the mood, Migel, piss off." Hiero growled, shoving his mouth full of meat.

               "Oh come on….what's one damn night as Avaris with me? Once…" Migel cooed, smiling still.

               "Cause you're a damn liar, you said you weren't getting me drunk and you were. You said no big bets in poker, and there were….all you think with is your damn dick. No….means damn fucking no!" Hiero hisses, one his second plate already.

               He cringed and rumbled with growling when Migel put his arm round his shoulder. 'Who'd care….not Dilandau, nah, Migel died first last life….what difference would it make? He wouldn't die until after he was dead….I can get away with it….damn pervert's blowing in my ear. Like it's turning Avaris or me on. Yick.' He thought, shoving Migel off with a snarl.

               He tore through his second plate in his anger, but then Migel leaned into his side. The third plate knew no mercy. "You're nuts enough, come on….just one in…ack!" Migel started, and was jerk off after his chin rammed into Hiero's arm. Hiero grinned as he turned, seeing Zelda had returned. She was bopping Migel on the head with her knuckles while holding the cuff of his jacket with her free hand. Migel was busy trying to block it. It was very satisfying. "Stop bothering my customers, and especially stop flirting with him. He and the delusion inside him don't seem to like you, Migel. I thought we were dating….." she drawled out, her sparkling eyes annoyed.

               "Yes, we are, but I…." Migel said weakly.

               "Can't keep it in your pants….I love you Migel, but I'm not going kick your ass and leave you if you so much as look at your Strategos like he's some hooker for hire. Behave or else…" she scolded, rapping him one last time before shoving him off his seat.

               Migel went behind the bar to apologize, Hiero just grumbling at him, trying to enjoy the third helping. He heard the kitchen doors open and close a few times, so he gathered they'd make up. It did good Migel to have her, she kept him in line and the flirting would end for weeks. He'd simply, just have to find a memory spell, something so Migel and Zelda would not have to deal with the silly obsession.

               He simply went on eating, the noises of the bars filling his ears. He could hear drunken laughing over his chewing and swallows, casual conversation of the less drunk, and soldiers bragging. It beat hearing Migel hit on him and Avaris. 'Finally….normal meal.' He thought, smiling.

               "Don't play hard to get, girly. Give Daddy some sugar." A drunken voice was slurring. Hiero only listened and ate. He didn't turn, not wanting to involve himself with a lover's spat.

               "No, let me go! I said no, You can't make me! Please, just let me go, please!" the young woman's voice begged, sounding so afraid. His heart hurt at its sound, but he went on eating, even when he heard a slap and a thud. 'Not my business, it'll just be hurt. Just eat and leave. She's not your concern….just some girl.' He thought, wincing a bit. Alessa would be yelling at him for behaving such a way. But Alessa was gone.

               "I'll teach you some respect, you little tease!" the drunk slurred out. Hiero was so busy blocking, he didn't notice how close the voice was. Not until something rammed into his back and made his face slap into his plate and his hand swing out in surprise. His fourth plate went flying into the bar, smashing numerous bottles, his food spoiled with alcohol and shattered glass.

               He growled, not caring if the bar went quiet. Someone MESSED with his meal, no one messed with Hiero and his food. He got off his barstool slowly, hissing a bit. His eyes slid past the floor a moment, and that was when he saw what had hit him.

His eyes stayed there a moment on that poor young woman, the flowing red hair like wildfire a bit ratty from lack of care, and bruise on her cheek from the slap the drunk gave her. Her clothes were torn up badly, so much he could see her bra and the curses of her breasts and thighs. Her clothes, above all, were what made him stop reddening. They were jeans, and she had a bra, not a corset. She had battered sneakers on and a T-shirt with one of those iron-on prints. His mother had had a shirt or two like that in her memories. This one looked like a pair of demon wings hugging a bomb. Most of it was torn, so he couldn't tell. 'An Earthling….again? Something must be up….Alessa would kill me….if I ignored this. Gods, forgive me Alessa. I just miss you so much.' He thought, feeling poor he'd ignored this problem.

His eyes raised violently sharp at the drunk. It was large man, a merchant at best. The man's clothes were a bit dirty, but fancy, unlike those of the dirt stained girl he'd been molesting and beating in front of everyone. Hiero detested him for hurting the man nearly as much as he detested himself for trying to block out the problem.

The man sneered at Hiero. "Kindly hand over the whore, pretty boy and you won't get hurt. She's my property."

Hiero smiled grimly, and picked the girl up in his arms. "You just lost ownership….slime ball. You disturbed my meal and are a stain on the male race…several stains." Hiero drawled, slinging the girl over his back and began to walk out.

The man growled and pulled out his sword. "Sorry boy, she's mine. I found her, and she's my little toy. Don't force me to have to 'negotiate with you, pansy Slayer."

Hiero stopped a moment, his back to the man. The large man was walking towards him slowly, snickering. "You heard me. I know who you are, Strategos Vendetta. You're that nutcase Dilandau's little slut. Now give her back, or else…." he laughed.

Then Hiero turned, the man still laughing, then suddenly stopped. The entire tavern stared at the man a moment, then to Hiero, down the bloody blade he was holding just beside the left part of the man's neck. Hiero sighed and gave the neck a tap. The tavern gasped in horror as the man's head slid off clean, blood, vomiting out of the neck hole. Then the body fell, Zelda and Migel rushing out quickly to see what was the cause for the alarm.

"What are you doing, Hiero!?" she yelped, staring at the dead body.

He looked up with a simply grin. "Negotiating….," he announced simply, smirking, then looked at the rest of the patrons," Anyone else want to negotiate?"

A few patrons coughed and made noises in their throats, sitting down slowly and never taking their eyes off of him. "Very good," he smiled, tossing a sack of gold on the bar for Zelda," Night, kids…." With that, Hiero left without another word, sheathing his bloodied sword as he carried the unconscious female into the night air.

                                                                                             ~ The Abyss ~

The young woman was lucky, probably, although in sleep she knew nothing of that. She was unconscious through her bath, which was difficult for her bather having to keep his eyes shut. She went on being unconscious through treatment for her bruises and cuts, unconscious through being dressed and even unconscious now, in a warm bed. In her mind, sleep was a way to avoid feeling being raped at last by her horrific 'owner,' her escape.

Life had been hard for the past two years, with that man dragging her around like she was some love slave. She never gave in, but when drunk, he got violent. This night was probably the last straw of her not wanting to sleep with the disgusting merchant.

She expected wake up naked, the blood of her broken virginity to be on the floor with her. Knowing him and his liquor, he'd probably dropped his pants in public and screwed her to humiliate her. The man never was kind. He sold all her things but the clothes on her back, the rags they were now. He'd probably make her walk around like that, or get some even more revealing cheap clothes people could rip at.

It's not what she got as her stormy blue eyes fluttered open. She felt warmth, smelled a soft, boiled cherry smell in this dark room, lit by a soft blue light. She felt covers over her, and clothes on her body, security was greeting her, not roaches and a tavern floor. She sat up slowly, rubbing her head. There was no pain, only grogginess of the forced sleep.

Her flame red hair spilled over her shoulder, silken again. Someone had cleaned her and brushed her hair at last. She looked at her body, noting she was in a Gaian hunting outfit. A white shirt, not very puffy, and black leather pants and belt. She had no boots, but her socks were on her feet. They had at least survived two years. They were clean as well. She saw a small pair of boots to the side, her sneakers and clothing nowhere to be found in this dimly lit room. She'd have preferred a skirt really…but why be picky? It covered her butt at least.

"Where….am I? How did I get here?" she wondered aloud. As if by magic, the door opened, and a man stood there, a tall one in a dark cloak, and shimmering dark sapphire blue hair. It was cut short, but the way he was dressed scared her. He looked like beautiful vampire, and that was a freaky concept. He came in, the door shutting on its own. That made her move farther away from him on the bed, till her back hit the headboard.

He smiled a bit, almost whimsical, despite his attire. His eyes were very strange, jade pupils and sapphire irises. Most strange, but she said nothing, clutching the covers to her chest as he approached. "I don't bite, miss….," he uttered softly, his voice quite soothing," I thought you might be hungry."

She blinked a bit and looked his over this time, not simply his clothing and face. He held a tray of food, some fat, hot rolls, a bowl of soup, a hefty plate of meat, and a tall stone mug of liquid. She licked her lips involuntarily. She was very hungry. Her 'owner' had barely fed her, and when he did, it was stale or scraps.

He set it down on the bed for her as he sat down, looking a bit more apologetic. "Sorry, I'm a Strategos, I have to wear this. Sorry if I alarmed you, I tend to do that sometimes." He said as she tore into the food, deathly hungry. He chuckled at her ferocity a bit, but nothing more, a tolerant smile on his pale lips.

She spoke over her eating, something clicking in her mind about what he'd said. "Then….you're one of the Dragon Slayer guys?" she muffled out, though it didn't come out that clear. He smiled anyway and nodded. "Eat first, talk later." He instructed softly, getting a nod from her.

It took her less than ten minutes to wolf down the lovely and delicious meal, but she didn't make a mess. She knew better than that, it laid the risk of losing food, even if in small amounts. He handed her a small dark cloth, probably for her mouth. Even if she hadn't gotten anything on the sheets, her lips were probably a bit speckled with food. She blushed soft and wiped her mouth clean, setting the cloth on the emptied tray.

"Now, may I have your name? And where you are from?" he asked, smiling a bit, like he was amused by what she'd say. She didn't want to say where, he'd sell her off too, or worse, dissect her for being from Earth, or what his people called the Mystic Moon. She sighed, rubbing her arm gently. "My name is Akiko Hitodama.** I'm….foreign, and as you can see, a human."

He smiled a bit with a small chuckle. "You're from Earth's Japan." He stated flat out. She blinked at him, as if he'd spoken in a foreign language suddenly. "How…did you…." She began, but he raised his hand up, head tilted to the side, smiling on.

"I know a lot about Earth, as the others would say, the Mystic Moon. My mother was from your Japan. Her name was Hitomi Kanzaki. Born a long time ago….believe me, it's a very long, long time ago. She went through her pregnancy with me on Earth…..but I was born and raised here on Gaia." He told her.

"And….who are you, Strategos. I only know that the Dragon Slayers are here fighting for this Lateni Kingdom against Artemis." She said lightly, wringing her hands a bit.

"I used to be Hiero Scorchava de Fanel. I was once the king of a human kingdom called Fanelia. Now, well, I just went back to the name I am comfortable with, Hiero Valan Vendetta." He told her, shrugging as if it were casual as a rice ball for lunch.

"A king….to a Strategos? Why?" she asked. He shrugged again. "I don't like royalty crap, but my story is a tad different…..and terribly long. I'd rather not go into it, ok? How about you? How long have you been on Gaia?" he asked.

Akiko frowned at that, sighing deeply. "Two years….and five weeks. I think, the calendars are harder to pinpoint here. It's a bit of a sad story."

He looked a bit concerned at that, his face serious now. "Go on….I've got plenty of time."

She nodded softly. "Well, back home on earth, you are right, me and my Mom and Dad all lived in Japan. Dad was the owner of a big medical firm he ran with Mom, but then he got in a car accident….Mom had to take over. I was only 5 then, and she had to send me away to a private school cause she had so much to take care of," she said sadly, looking upwards a bit as her eyes watered," The next time I saw her I was 16, when I graduated. Mom sacrificed everything, even me so I could have a good life. She sent me anything I wanted, except herself. I just wanted to see her."

She took a breath, looking at her wringing hands again. "A few weeks after I got home, she had a party for me, she was sending me to an American college so I could take over the firm when I was old enough. I didn't want her life….so I ran out, to run away from home. She made me so mad, all I had wanted was to be with my mother. I didn't want the stupid company I just wanted to be with my Mom. She found me waiting for a boat on the coast. I was scare her, so she'd reconsider, and let me go to college at home. But I was wrong, she told me she was only thinking of me, of my benefit. Then, I said it."

"Said….what?" Hiero asked plainly. Akiko bit her lip, a few tears streaming down her cheeks. "I said I wished I was someplace better than her perfect planned out world. Then…whoosh, this light came and carried me into the clouds. My mother was screaming up at me, begging me to come back, screaming my name. Then I couldn't hear her anymore. I woke up in a forest, then….that merchant found me, chained me, sold all my things, and….the rest as we say, is history." She said painfully.

The tears came easier now. She'd never see her mother again, never get to say she was sorry for yelling, never anything. She never expected the cloaked man to hug her, close to his cool body. She just let the tears burst out, crying on his chest as he patted her head. It felt good, like her father once treated her, before she and Mother lost him to a drunken moron. She felt a little happier, knowing he sympathized.

"I know what its like to lose people. Believe me, I know better than anyone….Akiko-chan." He said softly, letting her go to dab her eyes with his cloak," It'll be all right, you'll be just fine here. No more raping jack asses. But….there is a price in this."

"What?" she said, eyeing him carefully, sniffling. "We need….a cook and I officially hire you, unless you'd rather go drag your dead owner around."

"Cook….I….you killed him?! He's…really dead?" she stammered. He nodded, and she smiled bright and hugged him. "Hell, I'll cook for the devil about now. Anything but that beast."

He smirked at her, patting her head. She pulled back, sitting by her lonesome once more. "A few….rules first," he began, and smiled when she nodded," Never go into the room near the war room, that is….my room. Never speak out of turn when my patron, Lord Dilandau is around. He doesn't like that. Well, he's not fond of a lot of things, but he values silence, if that's what he desires."

"How will I know who he is. You only told me his name." She asked simply, flinching a little as her smirked softly. "You'll know him….he's hard to miss, like me," he replied, but upon seeing he had further puzzled her, he sighed," He has red eyes and silver hair. Our eyes mostly stand out among the others….One last rule, don't walk alone in the halls. You'll wait in the kitchen for my nephew Reese or me to escort you to your quarters. Is that clear?"

"I guess so." Akiko replied.

He smiled. "I'll introduce you to Reese tomorrow. The troops are probably coming back from the battle soon, so you should get some sleep. I trust most of the boys, but some of them don't agree with women being in the Abyss. All of our former cooks were men."

She smiled a bit. "Am I going to be badgered for being female now?" she said, meaning it as a joke. Hiero shrugged. "Just stick by Reese or myself. Only a few boys have my concerns in their….treatment of women on the ship, Dilandau included. He's a bit untrusting of females," he told her, cracking his knuckles a bit," Just obey the rules and don't try to poison us and you won't have to die horribly."

To say it with a grin to her disturbed Akiko, but the Dragon Slayers were elite human and half-breed fights, according to tale she heard in the bars her ex-boss would drag her into. It was better than being groped, stroked, and threatened with beatings and rape. 'Right?' she thought. Dilandau's name was famously associated with 'No mercy' and 'insane freak.' Was it truly any better than the corpse petrifying back in the tavern?

"If you say so, what choice do I have." She said dully. He patted her cheek with his gloved hand. "I'll do my best to protect you. Good cooks are hard to find, and my mother would roll in her grave if I turned away from a fellow Japanese friend."

"Friend? You don't even know me….you honestly want to be friends?" she asked. He nodded. "I have brooded a lot over things, it might be nice to hear more about Japan, and see if I can get you home. That, and I've been kind'a lonely for female advice. Lost my wife years back. It's been hard on me to deal with it, is really making me into….well, an ignorant bastard."

"Heh, you think. No offense, I saw you when you came in the bar, you looked like you wanted to shut the room off." She chuckled. He nodded, a sheepish grin on his face. "Yeah, so….friends, Akiko Hitodama?" he asked softly.

She smiled a bit. It was better than her ex-boss. She was strong, she had lasted this long, she could go on even if in the den of the famed mortal devil. "Sure." She let out, patting his cheek with her hand. He froze a moment, his eyes shrinking. He looked like he'd zone out, and as the minutes ticked on, she got scared. He hadn't moved.

She took her hand away and went on waiting. After several more minutes, she slapped him. His eyes didn't react at first, but then slowly they closed and shut. "Did you say something?" Hiero asked, like nothing happened.

She just blinked at him. "You zoned out for a while. You scared me, dammit." She said crossly. His cheeks seemed to pink a while, then faded. "Sorry, it's just a little mental problem. Happens sometimes….sorry, didn't mean to scare you."

"Yeah, just don't do that again. Bad enough you tell me my life's in danger by just being your cook. These must be some picky eaters." She quipped

He smirked. "You could say that," he told her, standing up and going for the door," Now why don't you get that rest we talked about. I'll come for you in the morning, I'll show you around the kitchen the pantry and ice closets, all right?"

She nodded, then he left, shutting and locking the door. Akiko just snuggled down, happy she was in a nice safe bed, but worried about Hiero's warnings. How bad could one man be, honestly? Its not like this Dilandau would kill her for breathing, would he?

'Oh man, I have to be careful what I wish for. Sleep, girl, sleep….too late to worry now.' She thought her eyes drifting closed in the warm surroundings.

                                                                                            ~ Dilandau Quarters ~

Hiero had stripped down to his undershirt and boxers, lying on the couch under his quilt. He wasn't tired, only incredibly hot and bothered by his vision. It had been the vision he'd gotten from her touch, all be it a hazy one. He saw his mother's cards at the end of it, The Lovers and Death. It was still in his mind. He saw Dilandau, the Akiko, then he saw her screaming out, reaching for someone and being restrained by many arms, then saw Dilandau surround by flames unconscious.

Then came the cards, Dilandau's red eye and Akiko's stormy blues on the lover's eyes of the card. Death tore through it, with a horrible chorus of women's laughs. He saw the Dragon Slayers' faces flash across the card, covered in blood. It had been alarming enough to let himself be taken by the vision. He didn't know fully when it would happen, but if he didn't find out soon, they'd all die.

'Maybe I'll do a reading in the morning, see why that happened. I've never met her….but she's going to be involved with this somehow, but with which card, Death….or The Lovers. Gods, Alessa, where are you when I need you. What's going on?" he thought wildly, the night going on in its heated silence a long while before fatigue took hold.

'What's going to happen?' was his final thought, as Death roamed the halls, Death as one of them.

*Zelda means Woman Warrior.

**Ebwarts is a play on words, in means nothing other than part of " strawberry" backwards with letters cut off. Gaian juices are not known to me, guys.

***Akiko Hitodama means Flower (Akiko) of Raging Hellfire (Hitodama). Appropriate, ne?

Teaser: The much needed battle chapter is finally coming! More homicide after Morse's body is discovered. Akiko deals with being the Dragon Slayer cook and Dilandau squares off against Raven again in battle. The meeting of Akiko and Dilandau, start running, Akiko!

Yes, at last I'm getting back on track….bear with me and review when you can.