Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne or the characters! :C

Chapter 6: Enter Dilandau Albatou

"I'll be okay. I'll just stay on the ship. I'll stay out of the way. I won't be involved. No danger.right?" The thought swirled frantically around her head. Dalet watched her with no expression. She turned to him "Umm.could I talk to Folken?" Dalet gave a nod "Authorized request." He stated mechanically and then took out a communicator, punched in some coordinates and then handed it to her. It looked suspiciously like a cell phone, but it was heavier and had thicker buttons. "Strategos here." Cevena jumped at hearing her uncle's smooth voice. She cleared her throat nervously. "umm.uncle Folken?" There was a pause. "Cevena??" She cleared her throat again then blurted everything out in a frantic rush of words. "It's me! I'm on the ship! I don't know how I got there, I think I went to sleep.and I thought I was having a dream, but then I was flying over the ocean and I saw the ship! And I flew onto it, and it wasn't a dream! I think my necklace-" "Cevena!! Calm down dear, deep breaths. That's right. Now, it seems you have transported yourself onto the extraction ship. But it is alright, there should be no danger to you.this mission is not supposed to have any physical conflicts. It is a quick penetration, and it should all be over with little to no fighting in a matter of hours. Stay there in your cabin and try not to transport yourself anywhere else!"

This calmed her down considerably and she began to relax again. "I'm sorry to cause this trouble." she started timidly into the communicator. "No Cevena, do not blame yourself, the powers of the energize crystal are often erratic and unfathomable. You are not jeopardizing the mission in the least.I'm only worried for your own safety."

"Oh, I'll be okay uncle-" She was interrupted again by Dalet who had been standing there passively during the whole conversation. "Approaching target in less then 300 seconds. All energy-powered devices must be shut down." "Good work Dalet, bring him back. And keep Cevena safe." The communicator shut off. Cevena stared at it for a few seconds, wishing the strategos was here right now, she would feel a lot better if he was. "Please stay in your position miss, we shall return back to the Vione soon." Dalet stated politely then turned around and left.

Cevena could hear scampering on the decks and random orders being shouted, then the boat lurched and jolted as if hitting something. "We must've landed." she thought nervously. More random orders were shouted and then all was silent except for the sound of wind and rain. A furious storm had built up. Climbing out of her bed, she paced nervously around. The room had very little that made it interesting, it had a little bed, which she had been lying on and an ordinary wooden table and desk. The silence was smothering. Boring. Maybe she could go out on deck.surly that wouldn't be a problem.

She was met with angry splashes of rain and buffeted by the howling wind. Her raven black hair all but blinded her. She staggered towards the railing of the huge ship. The deck was rocking crazily and they were beached. She could see a huge fortress like building near the top of a large hill that extended into the little beach they were situated on. "It must be nice to have a beach in your backyard during the summertime." The random thought just popped into her head.

Suddenly through the rain, she could see two figures running through the rain. One of them carried an unconscious girl in his arms. Cevena leaned farther over the railing, trying to get a better glimpse. The figures were Miguel and the one that looked like Chesta. She couldn't remember his name.

The three reached the ship and the girl was hurried into a room. The door slammed shut and Cevena was left to stare at nothing but the rain again. No one noticed that she was out. She ran to the door, but there was no window. This mission really was turning out to be quite a bore.although she had found the thought of abducting that girl was a little unsettling. She was just about to return to her room when the screaming started.

It was a girl's scream, high, terrified and in agony. Every nerve in her body seemed to electrify and her heart jumped into her throat. She clapped her hands over her ears and bent over. "He said it wouldn't hurt her! He can't be doing something horrible can he? Folken wouldn't do that!" The thoughts jumbled in her brain. "But what if he is doing something horrible?? What if he's actually an evil man and he's ordered them to torture that poor girl? What if they're killing her? He wouldn't DO that!" She tried to convince herself. The screaming grew louder, now it sounded like there were two screaming people. Except the new voice was deeper. She couldn't stand the screaming. Cevena leapt up and ran.

She raced as fast as she could around the ship but screeched to halt when she remembered that the deck was just a huge circle. Panting she trembled and sank to her knees, she tried to calm herself but she was so frightened. Shivering, she decided to make her way back to her cabin; she shouldn't have left in the first place. Of course her cabin was near the place they had taken the girl into, but it was better then just standing out here in the storm. As she neared it, a voice suddenly screamed out. "NO! You BASTARTDS! Not again! Chesta! Miguel! Gatti!! HELP ME!! Guimel, Dalet! Somebody!! Don't touch me, BASTARDS!"

There was a huge crash, "SECURE THE COMMANDER!" was the scream but it was cut off by another crash. The door bulged. Cevena was so scared; she felt frozen to the spot, rain continuing to lash at her. It was like some kind of nightmare where a monster was trying to escape. "Just get into your room." The thought was lost, disintegrated by her panic.

All at once the door flew open, and a figure came bursting out. The light of the moon reflected off his pure silver hair, his skin seemed translucent, but the eyes. They were on fire; red as garnet stones and crazed. Cevena shrank back against the railing. Through her fog of terror she noted that he was stark naked. He stumbled and seemed to be trying to run away. He was careening crazily left and right, and the rocking of the boat didn't help his balanced. His unfocused maniacal gaze sharpened on her. Cevena shrank even further down. She was petrified, literally, her body like a rock. He ran, no, charged at her. She threw up her hands and shrieked but it was useless. He grabbed her by the throat and began choking her. He screamed at her: "BITCH from the Mystic Moon!! You came back to haunt me?? It's all your fault! I'll TEAR YOUR F*ing HEAD OFF!" Cevena couldn't breathe, couldn't even scream. Red spots danced in front of her eyes.

Then all of a sudden voice cut through the lashing wind. "Lord Dilandau." The voices were quiet, respectful and pleading. Dilandau's hands went slack and he reeled back as if struck. Cevena coughed huge heaving gasps. Her throat felt something like the time she had tried to swallow fire like that character in "Aladdin". When her vision cleared somewhat she could see all the dragon slayers standing before the two of them. When Dilandau turned to face them, she saw them all jerk and their eyes seemed to spark.

They all murmured something like, "We are your humble servants, Lord Dilandau." And then knelt to the floor of the soaked wooden deck. Everyone seamed oblivious to the wailing winds.

There was a sudden pain in her upper arm, Cevena looked down to see that Dilandau had a death grip on her and instead of strangling her was now using her as some kind of support. The nerve! And none of the dragon slayers seemed to notice that she was there! As she tried to tear her arm away from his iron grasp the former commander suddenly began to sob.

In complete shock, Cevena froze again. "You've all come back to haunt me too, I see.I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I led you all to your deaths.like lambs to the slaughter, and you all gladly followed because of your wretched loyalty. Stupid.Stupid!" Great sobs erupted from him, shaking him and Cevena whose poor arm was losing feeling. She tried to pry her arm out of his hand again. "Let go of me, you psycho!" She grunted vehemently. Bad move.

His crazy red eyes swivelled towards her again. This time the rage that spewed forth was enough to make her want to wet herself. "VAN FANEL. I'll make you PAY a thousand times over. You will-" Cevena was so terrified she just screamed what ever was on her mind. "I am not Van Fanel!!! You are crazy AND blind!! Let GO of me! HELP! Chesta! Miguel!!" He wrenched her towards him with an even greater force. Pure rage flooded into Cevena. "I said.let GO!" She shrieked!

All and once a blinding pink light came blazing down and everything was illuminated. Cevena was flung backwards and landed hard on her behind. Dilandau had also been flung backwards by the blast. The Dragon Slayers were all at once surrounding him. "Lord Dilandau, it is us, we're not dead, we're alive, right here, right now!" Dilandau blinked a few times, trembling with shock and terror. Guimel or Chesta gripped his shoulder as if to reassure him just as the silver-haired albino keeled over, out cold.