Episode 9: Delicateness
In the midst of victory, there is defeat. For young Ayen Nadeje, the defeat was total. Even as the embers in the unfinished wing of Fanelia castle still glowed, she'd shut herself in Van's bedchamber, awaiting punishment. She sat at the foot of his bed. Yells from soldiers still looking for the intruders, men putting out the fires and recovery teams for the wounded melefs mingled with her sobs in the dark night air. Van's royal sword lay across her lap. If he'd had it – maybe he wouldn't have run. They got on so well… if he knew what he was doing to her by deserting, would he have gone? Trapan would find her here eventually and tell her what he had down. She was sure Seguir, her father, was already gone. Whether he left that morning or stuck around to be killed didn't matter. She'd never see him again.
How long would the Master's Mage let her sit here? Is the tortured anticipation part of the punishment? Or was it just a reason for that slick oily grin to smear across his face? She cried into her hand, one still on the sword. A life devoted to the master? Without her father? Perhaps if Trapan left her alive, she'd kill herself on that blade before dawn. No life is better than what prospects lay before her, now. A slave.
She heard the door open and close and held back her sobs. So the time had come at last. She could sense the presence of a man in the corner, his outline dark in the light of the moon. She waited for his snakelike tongue to hiss her title and laugh as it delivered news.
"Ayen?"
She froze. Instead of grease, it was music. A voice full of love and youth. One she expected only to hear in a dream or a memory. "Daddy?"
Seguir darted out of the darkness, the light hitting his green suit, strong build, and bronze hair like the windows of heaven had been thrown open. His matching eyes held all the love and sincerity she would ever need. Ayen sprang from the bed and into his arms. This wasn't another vision. She could tighten her arms around him and feel his heat on her face. She smelled his scent and matched this feeling with countless memories of times she spent in his arms. He took his daughter tightly into his embrace, his heart swelling with the long-elusive joy of being with her. Trapan couldn't touch them now. They were together and would stay together. He'd make sure of it.
Ayen stayed there as long as she could, soaking it in, but finally pulled back from him. "Daddy!?! How are you here!?"
"I couldn't let Trapan get you." He answered.
"He threatened to…" She couldn't make herself say it with him standing there. Even the thought prickled the nerves in her back. "He was going to – "
"He'll never get us again." Seguir resolved. "Let's get out of here."
"Escape!?" Ayen cried. "Daddy!? How!?"
"The Pravada's in the hanger." Seguir answered. "I'm supposed to be leaving, let's fly away from here."
"Both of us?" She asked. Dare she dream it possible?
"No." He nodded. "Lets be free, Ayen. We can go hide out for a while. Maybe we can start over somewhere else!"
"I want to! I want to so much!" She answered. "But I'm afraid. What will he do to us??"
"He can't do anything if he can't find us!" Seguir stated. "Please, Ayen, trust me."
"I trust you." Ayen said, new hope springing for the first time in half a year. "I missed you so much, Daddy!" She threw herself back against his chest, crying with the new surge of emotion.
He took a deep breath, his own eyes spilling tears with the joy of having his only treasure back. "Oh, did I miss you! I love you so much!"
She wanted to choke out a response but was overcome. Her father had said 'I love you', like when she was young and they played in the yard of their home, and her mother was there… Oh the heartache that came with that joy.
Seguir sniffed and rubbed his eyes on his sleeve. "Come on, let's go."
"Wait." She went back to the bed, stooping to the floor to retrieve Van's sword, which had fallen off her lap when she'd stood. "I want to bring this."
Seguir sighed. "Alright, you can have whatever you want, Ayen."
"Let's go Daddy! Let's get out of here forever!"
* Escaflowne *
Morning in Chesario was a new morning in life. Again the party was traveling by wagon along the rain-wetted roads of the rice country. The Thysia had passed Apiobathra and docked with the Crusade at Limari on the Asturian side of the Adynaton mountain range. Allen had moved the Crusade to the nearby hanger the day before, making it so that a relatively short trek up the mountainside would grant them access to the ship. Here in Kataphygio, young well-belted children in rain-shielding hats played in the puddles as their wagon passed. The heartfelt warmth of this place was magnified for Hitomi, because now she was in the arms of her true love. She'd woken up on board the Thysia that morning with everyone around her: safe. And Van's face was there. Truly Van. It had been the single happiest moment of her life. Yosu, his orange spikes covering his eyes, had restrained himself. No matter how he felt about Hitomi, he knew this was a moment of reserve for them. He was, even now, watching them out of the corner of his eye, his little sister on his arm. Hitomi snuggled against Van, his arm around her shoulders. This was what she'd wanted for so long. It was as if those seven months apart were nothing now. They'd always been just like this, and would always be. She closed her eyes and rested on his shoulder.
Inside Van, however, things were not as certain. His mind and heart had been with Hitomi for a month already. Things were fuzzy, but slowly he was recollecting all the events stemming from her arrival at his front door. He knew he loved the girl he was with right now…. He took one look at her and knew the month before had been a lie. But how could his heart be so confused? Was it that he was feeling guilty for his mistake? How could he have thought anyone could match Hitomi? And what else did he do under that strange influence? It was like his memories had been shoved aside. He liked to think that now that things were right, his conscience would go back to the way it was. He chewed on his nagging emotion as the cart rattled on.
Merle was sitting next to Yosu wearing much the same expression as him. Both of them were surrendering what their hearts felt for what they knew had to be. It was a difficult courtesy. A level below, Amano and Yukari were sitting together. The 17-year-old hadn't let Yukari go since the night before, afraid she might go under again. Yukari was annoyed with his constant concern, but pleased with his affection and enjoyed his arm around her. She pointed to a little beast child, a boy who was part rabbit, and laughed, trying to get Amano to agree to his cuteness. Daiji was laid out with his eyes on the sky. He sighed deeply. His heart was longing for something, but he didn't know what. All these couples aggravated it, and its sadness filled him like a mold. He closed his eyes and wished for it to go away. Jiai watched him. She looked to Hitomi and Van, happy with each other, then watched the ground. Her turquoise eyes looked up to Amano. Love was in the air, but she was alone. He tugged her heart, but she hadn't surrendered entirely to the ranks of Merle and Yosu. She was next to Daiji. There was a time only a couple days ago that she thought she'd never be as close as she was to this media idol, but here he was, and she couldn't tell if it was merely fandom, but she liked it there. She checked herself as she glanced backward in his direction. The look on his face startled her. Why was it that he looked depressed at a time like this? They had won. They were safe in Kataphygio, where they would meet up with the other members of their party. Still there it was, heartfelt sadness on the strong, tan face and in his greenish eyes. She reached out and put a hand on his knee. He looked up and felt a little better.
On the very top were Gadess and his cousin. Philos was driving the streets of his hometown. He breathed the familiar air with quiet contentment. The danger was past and he was coming home to his wife and his daughter, having reunited two young people with a love as sweet as his. He could nearly taste it. Gadess spotted the Hroas's little house on the corner and spoke the first words in several miles. "There it is!"
Philos handed his cousin the reigns and hopped off the tiered wagon. He trotted through the puddles and hopped the front gate, arriving at the door at the same time as the wagon stopped in the street. "Theia! Theia! We're back!"
The woman rushed out, her fox ears rose to the sound of his voice. "Philos!?" He smiled at her and she ran out to hiss him, her tail sweeping about; a fox trait showing through. "Oh thank goodness! I didn't know when you'd come back!"
"It was only a day." Philos said, smiling, his hands still on her waist.
She smirked at him, the fur on her face wrinkling on her forehead. "Don't kid me like that!" She gave him another hug. "It was forever for me! I didn't know where you were or what you were doing or if you were all right… I started cross-stitching and you know how long it's been since I cross-stitched!"
"I missed you, too, Theia." He said. "And it did seem like a long time. How's Eythy?"
"Oh, she's fine." Botheia answered. "For all she knew, you were on another of your business trips. Actually, this is the best time she's ever had. She's never had two live-in friends before."
As if prompted, the young fox-girl ran out of the house with Suru and Celena following her. Celena stopped, seeing everyone there. "Ah!" She brightened up with pleasure. "Big Brother! Big Brother!"
Allen appeared, his long blond hair looking slightly frayed over his royal blue and great puffing sleeves. "Hitomi!?"
"Allen!" She smiled and hopped down, grabbing Van's hand and dragging him with her. "Allen! Look! It worked!"
Allen smiled broadly and bowed. "Lord Van." But they both knew that it was meant as heartily as if he were saying 'How ya doin'? Long time no see'. Van looked the same when he nodded his response. "Sir Allen"
"King Van!" Botheia jumped back as she suddenly realized whose presence she'd been in. She curtsied. "Your majesty."
"Van!?" Millerna appeared in the doorway. She rushed out and threw her arms around the startled young man.
Van took a start and Botheia leapt back to her feet and her husband. Hitomi giggled at the blank look on her boyfriend's face. "M-Millerna?"
Millerna jumped back off of him with a slight blush of embarrassment and giggled herself as Hitomi broke out into full laughter. Van scratched the back of his head. Jiai came in to he yard with the rest of the crew. Millerna gave her a hug, too, and then Hitomi. "I was worried about all of you! I'm so glad you are all safe again!"
Daiji stepped up and put his hands on his hips. "Do I get a hug?"
Millerna turned very rosy.
"Well," Botheia spoke. "Everybody come in! Let's hear all about it!" There were no objections and they soon found themselves back in the whitewashed living room. Gadess took a seat next to Hitomi and Van, but left it often to explain important events. Everyone else sat around them. Not everyone had heard everything the other teams had done. Once the group was acquainted, Philos began retelling.
"We got to Fanelia about mid afternoon. Gadess ran to go meet up with Hoden…"
"And did Duvera cooperate?" Allen asked.
"He was more than willing." Gadess answered. "Anxious even. All I had to do was mention your name, Boss, and he was on it in an instant."
Allen swelled with pride.
"We all got costumed up and split company…" Gadess continued.
"Wait, who's side's going first?" Koneko asked, seated on the floor next to Merle.
"Let Gadess and Amano go." Yukari suggested, her arm through her boyfriend's. "Gadess is already talking."
"Right." Gadess agreed. "We were the Van team is you recall. We entered the back with Hitomi, Yosu, and Koneko."
"My guards let you in?" Van asked.
"We were in disguise." Amano repeated. "Gadess and me were Asturian guards and the girls were Fanelian guards. Yosu, of course, was you?"
"Hoden got us the uniforms." Gadess informed them.
"Mine was too big." Koneko reported.
They paid her little mind and let Gadess continue in the retelling. "We split with them soon after we got inside. Then Amano and I made it down the hall to outside the throne room where Hoden was waiting."
"It wasn't easy." Amano added, exasperated. "We must have been pulled over fifty times and interrogated! I was having a hard time holding it together!"
"We didn't have problems like that." Hitomi said.
"You had the king with you!" Amano cried.
"Plus, Hoden said the Fanelian solders didn't like the Asturian ones all that much." Gadess concluded. "But anyway, we met Hoden and waited for him to bring Van in so we could talk to him."
"At that time he was audience-ing with us." Daiji reported.
"So how'd you get him out?" Koneko asked.
"They told me someone was defacing Folken's grave!" Van cried.
Hitomi was outraged. "They didn't!"
"They sure did!" Jiai confirmed. "We were there!"
Hitomi grabbed Van. "That's awful! How could they do that to you!?!"
"How could you do that to him!?!" Merle roared, one cat fang bared.
Amano went on the defensive, gesturing with his free arm. "It wasn't us! I'm with you! I said the exact same thing! I think it was about the dirtiest lie Hoden could have told him!"
"It got the job done." Allen said.
Amano turned to him. "You did NOT just say that!"
"What!?" Allen cried. "I just said it got the job done I didn't say it was nice!!!"
Amano shook his head. "My gosh!"
"Alright, Alright," Gadess moved on. "Hoden did get Van out of the throne room and into our conference room."
"I should imagine!" Millerna said, exasperated.
"You should have seen him." Jiai affirmed. "He nearly flew over our heads!"
"He nearly ran over the palace guard." Daiji said, more correctly.
"Actually, Gambero's the captain." Van reported.
"I didn't like him." Jiai recalled.
"Well, it helps when he's chasing you all over the stupid castle!" Daiji agreed.
She shrugged. Millerna jumped in. "Wait. Why were you being chased?"
Gadess came back in before any further explanation was provided. "I'd like to know those details myself, but we'll get to that."
"Yes, your highness," Botheia said, turning, her daughter back on her lap, "how could you believe anything they said after a lie like that?"
"I don't know." Van answered. "It really was a stupid move. I mean, I believed that they were telling the truth but I should have never gone with them. I know better now of course, but I acted really irresponsibly. It was just a strong gut feeling that I should go."
"It was probably your connection to Yosu." Yukari suggested. "Do you think it could work that way?"
"Maybe." Yosu said, indifferently.
"Or it could have been Hitomi." Millerna said. "And the power of love." She sighed.
"First Atlantis, now love, you are just all-powerful, Hitomi." Daiji joked.
"I'm really not."
"But Van agreed to come and we left." Gadess finished.
"It was that simple?" Botheia asked.
"They were the first ones back." Philos recalled.
"Van could get us anywhere." Amano said. "The minute those stupid guards saw him, they jumped out of the way like a bunch of cowards!" He seemed satisfied with this. "The creeps, they deserved to be put in their place."
"Heel boy." Yukari bade, smugly.
"So what happened with your group, Jiai?" Millerna asked. "Why were you running away?"
"Our group was the coolest." Yukari smiled.
"It was also the hardest." Jiai added.
"And the one that failed the worst." Daiji finished.
"Well, what happened?" Allen asked.
"We were the diversion team." Daiji said, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. "So Yu, Jiai, and I dressed up as pseudo-Asturian-Chesarian-Egzardian consorts and claimed to be investigating the quality of Asturian aid in Fanelia."
"You did a good job memorizing those names." Hitomi complemented. "You were having trouble beforehand weren't you?"
"He did a good job all around!" Yukari said.
"That's right! Daiji should be in movies some day." Jiai added. "He fit into his part and didn't slip once!"
"Thanks 'Ai." Daiji said with a smile. Jiai blushed; he hadn't given her a nickname yet.
"Oh, but he's already famous, it just comes natural, it was nothing!" Yukari mocked.
Daiji couldn't help but be amused. "Bah!"
"So what failed so badly?" Yosu asked. "I apparently wasn't your acting."
"Nah, it was worse than that." Daiji said, becoming serious. "Much worse." A pause and everyone could feel the gravity.
Hitomi's stomach clenched. "What happened?"
Amano tightened his arm around his girlfriend, knowing what was coming. Daiji threaded his fingers and sighed. "Yukari just…passed out."
Hitomi jumped forward. "You mean - !?"
He nodded. "It was another of her 'connected arrests'. We were standing there, holding it together, then after Van left, she just collapsed."
Amano hugged her a little closer and she looked at the floor, ashamed of being the weak link. The audience held their questions, seeing the state she was in. Daiji combed through his wavy bangs and continued. "The act fell after that. I mean, how am I supposed to worry about holding \character and Yu at the same time? If I let her sit t here like that – she wasn't breathing, she'd die! Plus everyone was watching and people were coming up… if she'd had a fainting attack or was physically sick or something, I would have let them take care of her and not blown it wide open. Totally! If she'd come down with something they could fix, then fix her and let's leave…but they couldn't fix an arrest like that, it was nothing they could have seen before! And time wouldn't let us sit around for them to figure it out, so I picked Yu up and the three of us bolted." Yukari listened with more interest. She hadn't heard what had happened while she was out. Daiji continued. "The minute we left, we had the entire Fanelian army after us! It was chaos! There were guards coming from every direction, left, right, behind, in front. We had to weave through 'em, knock 'em over; it was… it was like playing football! I felt like a pro football player trying to get Yu to the end zone as fast as my heavily-belted butt could go! It was total pandemonium until somehow we made it out the front doors and into those woods!"
"But you made it out okay." Millerna begged assurance. "Everyone's okay?"
"Yeah, thankfully." Daiji replied. "The soldiers didn't keep up with us in the woods, and Amano was there when we got to the ship. Amano was the one who saved her life."
"His voice." Yukari muttered. "Everything is dark and cold and swirling down, and hearing voices is really faint and far away, but Amano, I can feel his. I can hold onto it and come back." She leaned into him. Allen scrunched his eyes to hide their moistening as he watched them.
"I can't believe the connection ruined it!" Hitomi cried, very concerned. "And we don't even know who it is!" She stared hard at her best friend. "What started it, Yukari?"
"I – " She started, but she shut her eyes tight and buried her face in her boyfriend's blazer. "I'm scared to think about it!"
Amano's other arm came up around her. "Don't make her relive it, Hitomi, I don't want to either."
"But we have to figure out what causes these arrests and who they are related to!" Hitomi argued. "We've been able to save her before, but who knows what will trigger it next!?! And not to mention that whoever has established a contact with her is having very real problems! We need to help them before something terrible happens to them, too!"
Amano looked to the girl shivering in his grip, his heart breaking. "I don't…maybe…."
"Maybe later, Hitomi." Allen answered instead. "Later, after she's calmed down and all the stories have been told." Amano looked to him, looking indecisive not knowing what Allen's concern or intentions were for. Hitomi allowed herself to accept Allen's suggestion for now. Yosu began to speak. "We had no idea any of that was going on."
"Neither did we." Gadess announced.
"I would have been there." Amano assured. "If I'd have known, I would have been there so fast – "
"Let's not talk on it anymore." Botheia suggested. "We haven't heard Hitomi's side of the story yet. We should let she, Yosu, and Koneko tell a while."
"Good idea." Millerna agreed.
"Well," Yosu did the telling. "We entered with Amano and Gadess, but broke with them. We found our way down to the dungeons and got the guard to let Merle out. Afterwards, we trekked out easily enough."
"It was fun!" Koneko cried, all smiles. "We got to walk through a real castle and be real spies! We were undercover and everything!"
"And Fakey Lord Van was really good!" Merle added. "I really thought Lord Van was there! But it was Fakey Van all the time."
"Well, he kid of is Van." Hitomi started. "You see…"
"I know I know." Merle said, disinterested, "they explained all about the "connections" thing to us on the boat! Neko and Fakey Van are connected to me and Lord Van and blahdy blah."
"I don't understand it, but I get it." Van announced. "If that's possible."
"No on understands it." Millerna said. "It just is."
"Hitomi brings mystery with her wherever she goes." Allen said.
"We need to figure that out, too." Hitomi sighed. "There has to be some reason why you all suddenly were connected to each other."
"What I don't understand is where you went." Yosu said to the girl. "What happened, Hitomi? Where'd you go when we were in the woods? Didn't you follow us?"
She looked at her knees, not comfortable with how his eyes were staring at her. "No…I didn't follow you."
"Why not!?!" Koneko demanded.
"I – I got side tracked." She said. "I went back to the castle to look for Van."
"But you knew that Van was coming out with us!" Gadess recalled.
"I just wanted to find him!" Hitomi shouted, becoming emotional as she remembered the fear and longing she'd felt. "I couldn't stand it! I felt like he needed me! I was just – compelled to find him!"
The king put one gloved hand on her shoulder. "Hitomi."
She looked at him and calmed down, putting a hand on his knee. "I went back and the Asturian Melefs were taking the place apart looking for us. There, I met – " She didn't know what to call the girl she'd run into. Ayen had her face, and her voice. She moved like her and stood like her, but she was different too. She was an enigma.
"Fakey Hitomi right?" Merle or Koneko asked. Hitomi looked up and saw it was the cat who'd spoken. She nodded.
Van became very interested. "You saw her?"
"She spoke to me…" Hitomi stared at her hands. She saw her own trembling eyes as if staring into a mirror and having the reflection moving differently than she was. She heard her strangled cry as emotion grabbed her by the throat. Hitomi knew she hadn't said the words, but her own voice rang in her head. 'It was your fault! It was you all along!" She remembered the pain and fury on the familiar stranger's face. 'How could you!? You're my double! Me! How could you be so cold hearted as to do something like this!?!' then, 'You know how I feel – what kind of person must I be?'
"What did she say?" It was the innocent voice of Eythymia that was hanging on Hitomi's every word. The 15-year-old looked up into the furry little face and pointed ears and smiled a little.
She answered. "She said something about 'doubles' and she knew who I was. It was as if she was afraid she would run into me."
"Doubles?" Daiji asked. "There's a term we haven't used yet."
"She knew about the connection stuff?" Koneko asked.
"But how can t hat be?" Millerna demanded. "How could someone completely strange to us know about the connection?"
"I guess it proves it goes both ways." Yosu said.
"Maybe because she is Hitomi's double." Philos suggested. "Hitomi's been to Gaea before. Maybe she saw her and figured it out."
"Maybe." Hitomi sighed.
"We've got a lot try and piece together." Allen summed up. "This is going to take a long time."
Then a voice came running through the house. One that made Allen flinch, Amano take on a realizing look and Suru turn her head. The 12-year-old boy with blond hair and red eyes dashed into the room. "Yo! Fox Lady!" Hakai braked in the door. "Geez!? When'd everyone get back so soon!?"
"They brought a king with them, Hakai!" Suru said.
Hakai smirked. "Like I care!" He turned to Botheia. "Hey, Fox-Lady. Weren't you going to the Fox-place sometime!? You said we were!"
Botheia sat up straight, her ears raised. "That's right, I told Narna that we were coming today!" Eythymia brightened immediately and turned a set of hopeful eyes on her mother. Botheia let her belted shoulders sag. "I guess we will just have to put it off. Run back and tell them we can't make it, Hakai."
"Aww! Mommy!" Eythymia whined in disappointment. "Please!?"
"Aw, Honey, all these people have to stay and think." Her mother said.
"I have to admit, I was looking forward to seeing the fox village as well." Millerna admitted.
"We can talk on the way can't we?" Jiai suggested. "I'm very interested."
"I want to go." Suru added.
"So do I!" Celena cried. "I want to se the other fox people and where they live."
"We don't have to dwell on this all day do we?" Daiji asked. "A breather'd do us some good."
"Ah, they're staying the night anyway." Philos shrugged. "They could talk later."
Eythymia turned her large brown eyes up again to her mother. "Please Mommy?"
She pulled her painted ears out level. "If you are all in agreement…"
"I want to!" Hitomi announced, as if her desires ended the debate. "I want to go! Van, you'll come with me right?"
"Uh… sure Hitomi – but…" he glanced to Allen who looked very stationary. "But you were just talking about all we had to figure out…"
"A change of scenery will do some good. Come on!" Hitomi begged. "This is the chance of a lifetime! I'll never be able to see a fox village on Earth!"
"Tourism can wait." Allen said, firmly. "Let's list off all the more pressing matters:" he counted on his gloved fingers, "the false Hitomi, Haman's seizure of Asturia, how they're connected and who they're working for, who Yukari's connected to and what triggers her arrests –"
"I'm going." Millerna decided. Allen stalled in his list and stared strangely at her.
"I'm going too." Merle said, standing. "It's been a long time since I've seen other beast-people! And I don't know if I've ever been to a fox-tribe before."
"It'll be cool!" Koneko agreed, standing as well.
"Allen's right, though." Amano argued. "It really doesn't seem like a good time." Allen turned his strange stare to his double; did Amano just say 'Allen's right'?
"Let's put it off okay?" Yukari begged him. "I need a vacation."
He looked to her and relaxed his resolve. "Okay, Yu, for you."
"Everyone else wants to go." Jiai observed. She looked to the brown-haired man watching quietly over the debate. "Did you say you were coming, Daiji?"
He looked to her over his sunglasses, then leaned back to slouch in the chair. "I'm ready for anything."
"Everyone's up for it." Philos smiled to his wife. "Let's go now."
Botheia blinked, comprehending the suggestion with her ears pulled back. Eythymia pleaded with big eyes. "Please!"
The fox woman let out a deep breath of air and relaxed her white tipped ears. "Alright. Someone go get Hakai."
"I'm still here." The boy said, leaning against the wall. "I knew we'd end up leaving anyway."
"Hooray!" Eythymia cheered and bolted for the second floor. "I'm gonna get Leppy!"
"Wait! Eythy!" Suru called, following.
Celena got up and followed too.
"Hey! We're coming!" Koneko called. She grabbed Merle's arm. "Come on! You've got to see her room! It's the neatest!"
Merle was pulled off. "Ooookay!"
Botheia stood. "I'll make us a picnic for dinner."
"That sounds great!" Jiai smiled. "I'll help."
"Me too!" Yukari volunteered. Millerna and Hitomi went with Botheia into the kitchen as if they were following the girls up the stairs. Gadess stood.
"Well, if you all are heading off, I'd like to get back to the Crusade."
"Gadess? So soon?" His cousin asked.
The Asturian sighed. "There's a lot to oversee. Fix up. I've still got to run over all the repair lists from two days ago."
Philos stood and presented his hand. He was a stick next to his sturdy cousin. "Well, come visit again soon. We've got a lot to catch up on. And this really wasn't much of a visit."
"That sounds good to me." Gadess smiled. "I'll do that sometime. Until then, good luck to you and your family. Your wife is beautiful and your daughter is beautiful, so I don't expect you to have any problems."
"Thank you for that benediction, Gadess." Philos replied. "I'll see you out."
"I need to get Escaflowne off the Thysia." Gadess said to Allen. "Its fine if I get the men to move it straight in the hangar, right?"
"Fine." Allen agreed. He scratched his head. "So Escaflowne came too? This HAS become a reflection of the past." Van turned.
Amano frowned. "Reflection…"
* Escaflowne *
"ATLANTIS!?!"
"S-Sir Trapan!" Gambero stuttered, staring up at the cloaked figure from one knee.
"ATLANTIS ESCAPED!?!?!" Trapan roared. Enraged, his face was a mass of deeply contrasting creases and a pair of pinpoint coal-black eyes.
"The Pravada is missing, Sir! And the Nadejes cannot be found anywhere!" Gambero reported, hoping this would redirect his superior's fury.
"The Hero has done it again…" Trapan hissed through his teeth, then turned again on the kneeling Fanelian. "Pawn! Are you not supposed to be overseeing this!?!"
"I – I was distracted sir!" Gambero insisted.
"I want none of your excuses!" Trapan snapped. He sat in thought, his black cloak draped over him. "Without the Youth, we have no control over the country of Fanelia. Residing in a leaderless enemy territory is not wise." He turned his sharpened eyes back up to Gambero, who broke a nervous sweat. "Who is the next in command to the king, Pawn?"
"Er…The first royal advisor." Gambero replied.
"Seize him." Trapan said. "Bring him before me. If he joins us, we leave to the Master's haven in the south. If not, we kill him and move on to the next." Gambero listened intently, and jumped clear out of his skin when Trapan raged his next order. "PAWN! Bring him BEFORE ME! BEGONE!"
"Yeee-ah!!" Gambero leapt up and darted out, passing two more men dragging a heavy-set mustached man between them. Trapan barely looked up when they threw their burden on the ground before them.
"What is this?"
"Our investigation ruled this man to be the one in charge of the infiltration from last night." The left-hand soldier reported. "He is the second in command from that Asturian extension they sent here."
Trapan stood as the man on the ground stirred and began to shove himself up. "What is this dog called?"
"Duvera Hoden, sir." The right-hand guard reported.
Hoden began to get to his feet, but his captors held him on his knees. He looked up at the dark figure as it stepped up to loom over him. "What is the meaning of this!?!" Hoden struggled to get up again but could do nothing but crane his neck. "Who are you!?!"
"Dog" Trapan hissed, his face in shadow. "You aided the Dragon's escape?"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Hoden shouted. "I am a solder in the service of Queen Millerna Aston! I demand to be set free!"
"You do, do you?" Trapan asked, slickly, "and you hold proud the order of your queen… indeed. Follow her orders to the letter." Hoden stared up, becoming strangely afraid as Trapan's voice moved in circles around him. "Your Child Queen has taken leave of her country and sent little minions to steal the Dragon king from his throne. Oh, your pledge to your Child gains you no privilege. It only further convicts you." Trapan took a couple more steps forward, his body breaking the light to cast his shadow across Hoden's face. "But if it is freedom, or at least mercy you want, there is some information you can provide me…"
Hoden drew back against the pressure of his captors' hands. "Wh-What do you want?"
Trapan sneered in the dark. "There's a good boy. If you could tell me, Dog, where your Child Queen is hiding, I will let you join my ranks and serve my Master with your life unthreatened."
"What!?! Never!" Hoden cried. "I will never betray Queen Millerna! Even if I knew where she was, I'd never tell you!"
One eyebrow twitched on Trapan's sneer. He backed out a little. "Very well, if that is your final decision…you may have made a fatal mistake."
"I don't know what you're doing here, but its not right!" Hoden cried. "I'll report this! I'll uproot you!" Trapan reached up to unclasp his cloak, which was buttoned down his chest with black stone fastens. His hands moved in the dark, leaving only the top secure around his neck. The two holding the captain down took the hint and backed away. Hoden turned behind him. "What's going on!?"
"You made the choice." Trapan said. "Accept the consequences."
Hoden jumped back when there was a sudden flash from Trapan's belt, and a rush of wind that threw his shadow wide across the floor. His dark cape was thrown out behind him over a rustling sound. The man arched his neck, feeling regal and imposing, he reached with a broad, slow arm movement to his hp and the handle of the hidden sword that was emitting a faint light. When his fingers touched the knob of the handle, it glowed.
Hoden's eyes were wide and quaking in fear. "What are you?"
"The time for questions and answers has passed." Trapan assured. "But let me put you at peace. No more fear or nerves. No more secrets to be kept at high cost. Let me give you the mercy you pleaded for…" The sword slid out of the concealed sheath, glittering with glowing stones and casting a bizarre yellow-green light on the now revealed lines of Trapan's face. The oily grin was there, over the colored pink and green glints on the curving blade. Hoden moved to run, but had no time. There was another rustle as Trapan moved to lunge and the sword sliced clean.
The last thing heard from the Asturian was a begging "no! Nooooooo!"
Before the voice finished echoing, Trapan's cape settled back around his shoulders and the glowing sword slid back into its sheath, the stones losing their luminescence as his hand left to re-clasp the cloak across his chest. The two soldiers reappeared to remove Duvera Hoden's body.
A stately looking man, obviously Zaibachian, approached from the shadows. There was a small band of Zaibachian soldiers with him. They hung back as he came into the light before Trapan. "Sir."
Trapan returned to his seat between the torch lamps to message his temples. "What now?"
The man seemed uniform and emotionless, reporting to his superior with his dusty brown head bowed slightly. "The repairs on the Asturian Maginot are near completion."
"Good." Trapan said, without enthusiasm. "At least something is according to plan. When will they be operational?"
"Within the hour." The bearded man replied, his eyes and head not moving. "Unfortunately, the pilots are incapable of commanding them."
"What was that?"
"Several were wounded in the battle with the Fanelian Dragon Armor, Escaflowne. I have sent them as you requested, party back to Asturia to report your orders to Lis Haman." He continued.
"What did you tell them to say?" His voice was accusing, but the stranger didn't flinch.
"I told them to relay your wishes. To tell your Minion to close Asturia's boarders, assume military control over Palas, and recover Queen Millerna Aston as soon as possible. I warned them to remain in tight secrecy, and to send you a messenger to relay the condition of Asturia's capture to you to communicate to the Master."
"At least one of my ranks has half a mind." Trapan said to himself. He arched one eyebrow in the Zaibachian's direction. "Do I know you? What are you?"
"I am Virial, my lord, Military consort of Zaibach to Fried. My men and I have been in your service for three days."
"Three days…" Trapan repeated for his memorization. "…Virial… Machine." Virial's pale lavender eyes rose to meet the coals of Trapan's, there was nothing but uniformity in them. Trapan narrowed his own. "Machine, you have proved to be in my like mind and can get jobs done. I have an assignment for you. The Dragon King and the Eyes have undoubtedly escaped Fanelia. They have what the Master desires; the knowledge of the power of Atlantis. Plus the Dragon Melef, Escaflowne. It, its pilot, and the Eyes may prove important to the Master's ultimate plan for the Fate Machine. Go to the town and find, however you have to, which direction they went and where they are now." Virial didn't stray his eyes but merely snapped his fingers and one of his captains bowed and exited with a handful of his men to search the streets. The back row of his small company broke rank and headed out the door. Trapan's interest was growing, his eyes locked with the lavender blankness. He decided to test him further.
"Machine. You can accept another assignment."
"Your will, sir Trapan."
A twitch hit one sharp black eyebrow. "I want you to be in charge of finding that party, too. I give you authority over the pilotless Maginot. You will find the Eyes."
"Consider it done, Sir Trapan." Virial reported, rigid, his voice not varying, as if he was truly mechanical. Another hand direction and the four other captains at the front of his ranks stepped up behind him.
The result was in. One last test and this new soldier could prove to be exactly what Trapan needed for his operation. "Virial. Your mechanics seem to be moving effectively. Would you find it impossible to take on more?"
"I will complete whatever you assign." Virial replied. "No matter the amount."
That sold it. Trapan crossed his arms under his long black cloak. "You truly are my Machine, Virial, you are my Powerhouse. Three days have proven that you are one in my mind and incredibly efficient. You are from my country, are you of my heritage?"
"My line descends back into history, Sir Trapan." Virial said. "I believe it stems from the same as yours."
"You are now first in my command." Trapan announced. "Commander in chief. You answer only to me and serve as my voice in the field. I place you in control over all Atlantican responsibilities. You are granted the use of my private Guymelef." He grinned to himself. "Tamarak."
"Honored, sir." Virial said, bowing, then returning to his previous posture, no pride or pleasure affecting his lavender irises.
Trapan sat back down and began to think aloud to them both. "Being in charge of Atlantican affairs would involve capturing the Eyes and such, gathering Atlantis information, and also the recapture of Atlantis itself." He closed his eyes in thought. "The Hero… It would not be hard to signal his defeat. Some of us find different grounds to stand on when it comes to race and destiny. It is not hard to deal with heroes. I know exactly what to do, I've done it before." He looked up to Virial. "Drive him out of hiding. That will be your job. It is my privilege to deal with him. He needs purging. His mind is corrupted."
"Yes, sir."
"That's pressing, but not so much as information. Drive him out and report to me as to where he's gone. Then focus on gathering knowledge." The Machine stood silent. "This will be a more difficult task, but I will give you a clue." Trapan leaned forward. "The only ones who know how to use the Power of Atlantis were Dragon Gods themselves. But after the Ancient Kingdom was destroyed, the knowledge vanished with it. Their children have nested too deeply into Gaea so that only a few have any inkling of what went before them. The Eyes and the parties involved six months ago are the only ones able to provide us with any clues to Atlantis's uses."
"When we capture the Eyes, we will find all they know." Virial promised.
"No, that won't do." Trapan dismissed. "While there is reason to believe that the Eyes, the Dragon, the Child and the Knight are together, none among them would have the capacity to recall such fine details as would be required. And the Scientist, Newton, who actually rebuilt the Atlantis Machine, is dead, as is all of his sorcerers." He looked to Virial, sharing a bitter moment with his fellow Zaibachian. "No, there is but one left who may provide us with the information of the Dragon Gods."
Virial's dusty eyebrows moved mechanically to further harden his face. "Sir?"
Trapan's greasy smile was back. "A Merchant."
* Escaflowne *
"Narna! Narna! Narna!" Eythymia ran down the sodden streets toward the thatched houses of the Silver-Chief tribe. She had Suru, Celena, Koneko and Merle in tow. The other thirteen hung back and admired the trees and the town of Kataphygio alongside them. The village wasn't too far off, located on a plateau in the mountainside. Water-loving trees that resembled wooly pines rose with darkened trunks against the gray sky. Hitomi looked around her at the drowsy landscape and felt at peace. What a perfect country Chesario seemed to be. Here on the doorstep of a village seemingly untouched by all the events of her previous adventure or any other hardship existing in Gaea. She hadn't warped it with her will and twisted fate, and that reassured her greatly. Perhaps her presence in this world was not entirely bad.
The village, when they reached it, was full of fox-men in various shades of reds, grays, and browns. They all looked up from what they were doing to watch the group of Human strangers wander in. When they saw Botheia and Philos, they understood what was happening and returned to their lives without concern. The 6-year-old kit steered her chain of friends straight to her grandmother and grandfather's wooden house, her folk-doll hanging in the crook of her arm. "Narna! Narna!" The old brown fox was kneeling by the campfire stirring a pot, her now scraggly tail swished as her ears perked up and turned toward her granddaughter's voice. Eythymia let go of Suru's hand and ran with arms outstretched. "Narna!"
The old woman turned her smiling face, the brown fur grayed around her eyes and on her cheeks. "Ah, Eythymia!" The girl threw her arms around her grandmother's shoulders. "It is good to see you!"
"Good to see you too!" She answered, her voice muffled in her grandmother's simple dress.
The golden eyes, apparently inherited by Botheia, moved to the girls around her. "And who are your friends?"
"Greetings, Mhtepa." Botheia smiled, interrupting unintentionally and coming forward.
The old vixen rose slowly and moved to give her daughter a hug and a kiss on each cheek. "Ah, greetings, my dear!"
"Greetings, Narna." Philos grinned.
She kissed his cheeks too. "Greetings, Philos."
"This is Suru, and Celena, and Koneko, and their friend Merle, Narna!" Eythymia introduced.
Her grandmother smiled at them. "Greetings friends. If you are friends of my granddaughter, I am at your service." She turned to everyone else; Hakai with his head in the fire already. "What brings all of the town out to our village?"
"These are some friends of ours were are staying with us." Botheia answered. "They wanted to see how the village lives."
"Well, you are all welcome." She said to them. "My name is Asphaleia, but if you are special to my daughter and my son in law, you may call me Narna."
"Hey Narna." Daiji grinned.
"It will be time for dinner soon." Narna observed. "I didn't make enough for so many."
"We packed some stuff." Jiai said, holding out the basket. "We didn't want to be too much of a bother."
"To me, you are certainly not." Narna answered. "Luckily, my todd is not around. He is Silver Chief, you know, he doesn't take to a lot of men in the village. He's very set on clansmen only except for the occasional Kataphygian woman who comes to buy our goods. He is very touchy about male youths, but I'm sure you young men will behave yourselves." The males among them exchanged glances. Narna continued. "Feel free to look around and get to know the clan. I'll get a big pot of Silverfox Bonfire Stew going and we'll have a feast when Kalos gets back."
"It sounds great." Hitomi smiled. "Thanks a lot."
The afternoon moved by full of pleasantries. The fourteen foreigners; Htiomi, Van, Yosu, Merle, Koneko, Allen, Amano, Millerna, Jiai, Celena, Suru, Hakai, Daiji, and Yukari spread out among the fox people, who sat on the doorsteps of their wooden houses making crafts for sale. Hitomi had Van by the arm the entire time. Merle sat with Neko, Eythymia and other fox girls, learning to play a cultural game with wooden marbles. Allen watched smiling as Celena and Suru had red fur painted on their cheeks and foreheads and looked about the village like honorary members. Hakai was having the time of his life helping fox boys build campfires and playing with torches. Millerna had turned back into a 16-year-old girl, and was learning to weave baskets with some of the local women while Jiai sat nearby painting folk-art-foxes on clay dishware. Yukari had Amano learning to dance from some very friendly vixens by a Hakai-started campfire. Daiji'd been coerced into splitting wood for a troop of teenage fox-girls who giggled as the watched. He adjusted his sunglasses and smiled to them, causing their tails to wave back and forth in a fit of bubbly, flirtatious laughter. Yosu was watching with a smirk. Daiji gave him a facetious look.
Fun continued, and soon the sun started setting. Hitomi found herself sitting with Allen, Amano and Yukari by Narna and Botheia who were chatting over the stewpot. Hitomi had Yukari's connection on her mind. Who could it be? Someone who has fainting spells? Maybe epilepsy… the way Yukari lapsed into a coma. The connection must be really very strong, since these attacks happened without any help form Htiomi. Everyone else required her intervention to conjure images or visions but Yukari's came from nowhere. Actually, Hitomi realized, Yukari had never been formally connected, just brought along and by chance developed one. But wait, she showed signs before coming to Gaea too. When she saw Allen in her living room. But Hitomi seemed to remember some sort of vision. Before dinner. When she touched Yukari during her first episode, Hitomi had received a flash image of a sunset, blonde hair, and Yukari falling to the ground. New mysterious doors were opening up in her mind. She knew she could piece this together if only she could see more. She chanced a request from Yukari. "Yu?"
Her best friend looked up, her boyfriend too. "Yeah?"
"I was just thinking, you know, about your connection…"
"Yeah?" Amano asked.
Hitomi messed with her hands. "I was going over everything I knew, and I was wondering…if…if you would let me connect you like I did the others." Yukari drew back. "Just so I could see a little more about your double…. It would only be short I promise! And we'll bring you back right away!"
"I –" Yukari stumbled. "I don't like doing that. It's so cold and hopeless feeling. I feel like I'm swirling down into a pit of nothing and can't stop."
"Don't do it Hitomi." Amano begged. "I don't want to risk it."
"That's right. Its too dangerous and Yu is too precious to risk." Allen added.
Amano cast him an indecent look. Yukari was puzzled too. "Allen?" Allen started and sank into reserve, staring into the fire.
"Please." Hitomi pleaded. "We're all right here. I promise you won't have to do it for long."
Amano swallowed hard and Yukari thought over the situation. She looked into Hitomi's green eyes, seeing concern and understanding.. She finally decided. "Okay."
"Yu!?!" The two Amano cried.
"As long as you promise me it'll be short!" She defended. She grabbed her boyfriend's hand. "And as long as you hold me, okay?"
Allen backed down again. Amano squeezed her hand. "Okay, Yu." The knight cast a suspicious side-glance to his double.
Hitomi took a deep breath and moved over to where they were sitting on the ground. She kneeled next to her friend, who leaned into Amano, with a nervous atmosphere. Hitomi took her hand. "Okay, try and think about what triggered the last ones…"
"The first time… it was seeing Amano's connection…" Yukari said. "The second time… when we were at Millerna's party… the third time it was seeing your double .. and…" Thought detached her, and the girl seemed to drop like a stone out of her own body. Hitomi was there. She put one hand over her heart and closed her eyes. She felt Yu's falling sensation, swirling and turning until the image of the sun setting appeared. An older Yukari stood with different hair, longer, and lighter with more waves. She was on a balcony. The falling sensation picked up as the sun sank and the image of the girl fell against the railing and then backward onto the stone floor as the scene edged into darkness. Hitomi watched blackness consume her, and then realized the time had come to come back, but there was more to know… more to see. Hitomi did not recognize the woman…."
She opened her green eyes to see Yukari still passed with glazed irises. Amano was watching anxiously. Allen was peering over her shoulder. He spoke in her ear and made her jump. "Bring her back, Hitomi! Bring her back! I can't take it."
"Call out to her." Hitomi said. "Yukari! Yukari! Wake up!"
"Come on, Yukari." Amano begged. "You can hold on to me… come back!"
"Yu!" Allen pleaded. "Yu!? Yukari wake up."
With Hitomi holding her hand and Amano's arms around her, Yukari's eyes began to clear and she clawed her way back to consciousness. Amano sighed when she blinked again and her 16-year-old brown eyes turned to him. "Amano… I found you again."
"I'm always here, Yu, Whenever this happens, I'll always be here."
Allen was relieved too, but sad. The way Yukari was looking at Amano make him a little envious and very lonely. Hitomi sighed and rolled off her knees onto the dirt. Allen turned his attention to her. "Did you find anything?"
"Yes, and … no." Hitomi answered. "I saw the same vision clearer, but I don't understand it any more than before."
"What was it?" Amano asked.
"Yukari older passing out on a balcony." Hitomi answered. "Whoever she's connected to, I think she is very sick. We need to help her soon. These death experiences make me think the lady who is her double may not survive for much longer."
"That's really creepy." Yukari stated.
"Its not you, don't worry." Amano assured.
"But we're still no closer to finding out who she is." Allen said, but his voice sounded like something was nagging at him. He looked at Yukari as she straightened up and swallowed a sob strung from his heartstrings. Hitomi watched the 21-year-old's face and change and realized something was bothering him. Like he was keeping something secret.
"Allen? Do you have an idea?"
"No." He answered quickly. "No, I –" He checked himself a second, then regained his big-brotherly attitude with her. "It's nothing, just – nothing."
Amano didn't say anything, but wondered what this 'nothing' was, and studied the man's face. Hitomi focused intently too. She'd seen that look on his face before; she knew it. She'd known Allen so well before, and could not deny the fact that she'd seen him this way. It called back the memory of standing in the room with He, Millerna, and Dryden the day the latter two had announced their marriage. And she'd seen it when he thought of his sister before she was restored to him. It was that look of… lost love. Hitomi gasped. Allen staring at Amano and Yukari she realized what was going on. 'He's in love with her!'
Suru, Hakai and Celena ran up suddenly with tribal paint on, interrupting her revelation. Celena turned to her brother, her blue eyes curious and full of more childish life than she'd seen in them for a long time. "Big Brother? Can I go down to the marsh behind the village with Suru and Hakai?"'
"Why?" Amano asked in Allen's voice.
Suru turned to her cousin wearing her double's face. "One of the other girls said that little moss flowers grown there t his time of year. We wanted to pick some!"
"Hakai wants to pick flowers?" Amano asked, amused.
Hakai flared up. "Heck no! Whaddaya think I am!?!? I'm goin' 'cause Suru's goin'! Plus it's a swamp! A kid's gotta investigate a swamp! Maybe they'll be snakes! That'll be awesome!"
"Please Allen?" Celena pleaded.
Allen combed through his long blond bangs and considered her request. Her enthusiasm finally won him over. "Okay, you may."
Celena clapped her hands and giggled. Amano shook his head. "If 'Big Brother' says its okay, then why am I stopping the two of you?"
"Thank you, Amano!" Suru said.
"I woulda gone anyway." Hakai announced, leading them off. Celena was pulled away with Suru.
"Thank you Allen!"
"You're welcome, Celena." He said after her. He smiled briefly. "It's been a long time since she's been that carefree and happy. I'm really," he looked specifically to Hitomi, "very glad all of you came. Even though it's been hard."
"Its not over yet." Yukari sighed. "Now that we've freed Van and Merle, we have a whole new set of problems, like who false Hitomi is, and who that Royal Adviser guy and Seguir, the captain of the guard are working for. They've taken control of two countries now, since we've been here. The original plan was to free Van and leave, but we can't leave now and let them take over more. We have to figure out why, how, and a way to stop it."
Amano shook his head. "Leaving hadn't even entered my mind."
Millerna and Jiai came over to site. The queen sat on her ankles and tightened the bow in her wavy blonde hair. "This is such a fascinating place! I could stay here forever! There's so much to see and do! I feel so happy!"
Jiai unconsciously got into the same position on her ankles. "But you four don't look like you're relaxed. What have you been talking about?"
"More of what we were talking about before." Yukari answered. "Everything that's going on around here."
"Have you figured out anything?" Millerna asked.
Hitomi shook her head. "No, nothing."
"I think this is beyond us." Allen stated. "Going on solely the information we have, I don't think we will ever accurately explain anything."
The others nodded. Hitomi put two hands up to pendant level on her chest. "I agree, but I feel, somehow, that this still has to do with Atlantis. The last time I had visions and everything was involved with Atlantis and everything I do reminds me of my pendant."
"That girl still has it, doesn't she?" Jiai asked.
Hitomi felt her stomach turn; she just realized that the power of Atlantis had been left behind. If only she had thought to get it when they were in Urthras! "You're right! I can't believe I forgot it!"
"Don't worry, Hitomi, we'll get another chance." Yukari reassured. "She doesn't know how to use it anyway, does she?"
"As far as I know, Atlantis is nothing but a legend to everyone but those from the last adventure." Millerna recalled. "Unless the false Hitomi has access to the ancient writings or the city in the Mystic Valley, I don't know how she would know."
"We don't even know really." Hitomi recalled. "Just that it is the power of wishes and was used by Dornkirk to try and change destiny…"
"He was Isaac Newton, right?" Jiai asked.
Amano shook his head. "I still have a hard time believing that."
Allen had one hand on his chin. "You know, what I'm thinking is that Millerna has brought up a good point."
Millerna's blonde eyebrows went up, interested. "I have?"
Allen nodded. "Well, I was thinking along those lines before… that we are the only ones who would know anything about this. And since we still can't figure it out, I was thinking that we should strike out and look for clues. Where, I didn't know. That is, until you reminded me of something." He looked to all five of them, with his idea up for consideration. "Who is the one person alive in all of Gaea who knows more about Atlantis than anyone else?"
Millerna stopped with her heart thumping in her throat. She swallowed it down and leaned a little further off her crag of impossible hope. "Do you mean…"
"I think I know who you're talking about." Hitomi said. She turned and found Daiji across the space talking smartly to the fox girls and Yosu. He was out of earshot, but as familiar in connection as ever. Everyone followed her gaze, but Allen straightened up and spoke.
"Dryden is the most informed man on the subject of Atlantis, and I have no doubt that he retained more of the details of our endeavor than the rest of us. He would be our best choice to turn to for help."
Millerna tried to hide her response inside, but was betrayed by her Asturian blue eyes.
Amano looked to Allen without noticing. "Is he really that smart?"
The knight nodded. "In truth, he is, and his library holds a lot of the legend that Atlantis has become."
"He's as sharp as they come." Hitomi assured. "He'll probably be able to explain some stuff. And it'll be good to see him again."
* Escaflowne *
"Look! Over here!" Suru cried. "There's a whole bunch of them." The girl's tennis shoes splashed the soggy pond moss as she hopped stones to get to a patch of small white tube-shaped flowers.
Celena teetered behind. "Ahh! It's slippery!"
"It's okay." Suru assured. "Come and look."
The 16-year-old picked her way along the rocks until she joined her counterpart by the patch. She smiled broadly at their small blooms. "Wow! Look how tiny they are! They seem fragile…"
"Maybe we shouldn't pick them." Suru suggested. "They are too small to make crowns."
"Here." Celena plucked one low in the moss so that a little more stem was attached. She threaded it in Suru's bright yellow hair just behind her ear. "Wear it like that."
Suru giggled and gave Celena a similar decoration.
Hakai sloshed through the standing water, his jeans soaked to their knees. "No snakes! Dangit!"
"I'm glad." Celena said.
"I don't like snakes." Suru seconded.
Hakai looked over. "Ah, I won't let it hurt you, Suru! Snakes can kill people, but they don't scare me!"
"My brother loves me." Suru said privately to her friend, a smile on her face. Celena giggled and they ambled off to find more moss flowers. Suddenly, Celena stopped. Suru stood ankle-deep in the water and looked back. "What's wrong?"
Celena had picked up a sound. She froze, tuning in her hearing to a familiar but foreign pounding. The vibrations were insignificant to the other two and noticed nothing but the blue eyes of their companion as they began to constrict, and her hands as they began to shake. She could hear it as loud as if it was right next to her, and could feel it reverberating. The other two stood silent, deaf, but noticing the water around their legs quivering and rippling off of them and the stones. The tremors got stronger and a previously invisible flock of birds vacated their trees in a loud woosh and squawking. Gradually, the twins picked it up, but none stronger than the hypersensitive ears of the central figure: stomp stomp stomp. Each crash sending a new pang of pain into her brain. Her lip quivered, afraid of what was coming and the approaching pain she knew would seize her. It only made her condition worse. The twins turned with a cry as a large, powerful, blue and white body appeared above them. With the affirmation by sight as well as sound, Celena plunged down into a fiery swirl of pain and strange memories. She could see flame, a burning torrent coming from her own hand and burning down houses, people, families… The curling edges of the paper doll. The destruction through the grill of a Guymelef helmet. She staggered in her green travel dress, and moved her shaking hands up to her ears, hearing screaming and laughing over the truly audible stomping of the mecha as it made its way quickly to them through the trees. The water around them broke into waves and licked at their legs as they stared. A scream finally escaped her trembling lips as the branches shook with the approaching suit. Suru rushed up and grabbed her hand, becoming strangely mature for her twelve years.
"Celena! Stop it!"
Her own voice snapping at her stopped her screaming and caused the images to fuzz out in her head. Hakai sloshed up from behind and watched the Guymelef become a looming monster. He spotted another appear behind it. "There's more! Look!"
Suru turned, then drug Celena back toward the village. "We've got to warn them! They've found us! Come on!"
"S-Suru!?!" Celena cried, as she found herself slugged back up the bank.
Hakai watched the Guymelefs come. The first one was nearly on top of them, a sword drawn in its hydraulic fist. He stared with wonder at the glinting blade and the joints and levers. He stared at the cockpit as the large metal feet stomped down, displacing the water at the far end of their marsh, and came to a stop.
The man in the cockpit held up his sword and sliced through the trees along Suru and Celena's left side. A heavy branch fell ahead of them. Suru screamed. The blonde boy's reddish eyes sparked. His wonderment changed to determination and he charged over to the girls. He grabbed Suru and Celena's arms. "Let's go! Come on! Follow me!"
They made their way quickly back to the fox clan, two of the Maginot behind them. When they were on the doorstep of the peaceful world, they found it in chaos. The third and fourth Maginot had just appeared on the scene. Hitomi and Allen leapt up. The girl drew back as fox tails and fur flew by, gathering possessions and children. "What's happening!?!"
"It's the Asturian Melefs!" Allen cried.
Millerna whirled around. "The same ones!?"
"They must have followed us!" Allen determined.
"Hitomi!?!" Van dashed up and grabbed her shoulders, convincing himself that she was all right. She looked at him and he turned with outrage to the soldiers approaching. "Are they attacking!?!"
The suits stood still on the four corners of the village as the rest of their party gathered around. Merle and Koneko ran up with Eythymia and her wooden doll. "Mommy!"
"Eythy! Come here, honey!" Botheia got down on her knees and grabbed up her daughter. The light brown fox girl had her ears pulled down and her tail wrapped around her legs. "I'm scared!"
Philos appeared and checked on his family with earnest. "Theia! Eythy!" He got down with tem. "Are you alright?"
"Daddy!"
Daiji and Yosu arrived, two of the fox girls from the earlier group hiding behind the 21-year-old shield.
"Yosu!" Hitomi called.
"Yosu!?!" Koneko dashed forward. "What's happening!? Everyone's running around!"
"Amano!" Hakai shouted as he dragged the two copies of his sister after him. "Hey! Amano!"
"Hakai!? What!?" Amano demanded.
Celena ran crying to Allen's chest. "It's happening! It's happening!"
Her brother pressed her closer and joined Amano's query, but had a tense suspicion. "what?"
The four suits stood in their patriotic blue and white, masked by a sense of dread. Behind Htiomi's eyes, the sky flushed red and the machines chased two figures, a woman and a green-eyed girl. She gasped and fell backward into Van's arms, the vision escaping her again. Narna stood. "Kalos is not here. I will have to address the village." She turned to Allen and Van. "Do you anticipate an attack!?! You two would know. Should I advise an evacuation?"
"They came for us." Allen said.
Narna was persistent. "But will they attack!?"
Allen's response was cut short by the appearance of a fifth melef swooping down from the sky. Its hoof like black feet hit with a crash felt by every member of the tribe. This was an ancient, mystical Guymelef built in the form of a man-stallion, all black and gleaming with the sun. This formidable foe held the Zaibachian general Virial, who had no compassion in his eyes. A swipe of he right arm, the only one ending in a human hand, produced a long, glistening Cleama claw stretching down like the blade of a sword.
Daiji's eyes bugged. "Like heck they're gonna attack!"
Narna's name was called in a deep strong voice and she turned to northern entrance from which the three youths had come. "Asphaleia!"
Everyone found a strong fox warrior with glimmering silver fur and an army of spear-wielding todds. It was the silver chief and the warriors of the village. His wife ignored all proper introductions and rushed forward. "Kalos!"
"We spotted the warrior machines on our way back through the forest. We got here as quick as we could."
"Prathros." Botheia addressed her father. His silver eyes were confident in the tide of leadership. He nodded assurance to her. "Theia, take your family and friends and get inside."
Philos stepped up. "Sliver Chief."
"You as well, son." Kalos said, sending his eyes to his trembling granddaughter in his beautiful daughter's arms. "There is much preciousness to protect here. WE all must take our rolls."
Philos nodded. "Yes sir."
Kalos turned and his voice boomed out over the panicking people, who stopped at its sound. "People of the Clan! Our village is under attack! Vixens and pups and todds without military calling hurry to your homes! Our Warriors will defend us! All hurry!" The crowd broke, rushing back to their wooden homes with their children. Botheia picked her daughter up. Philos turned to the group.
"Into the chief's house. Come on."
Narna was already at the door. She opened it up to let them inside. Daiji turned to the girls behind him before joining the others in their rush to the house. "You girls really need to be with your families now, okay?" They were very frightened, but nodded. He smiled briefly, but flagged them off. "Hurry and get to your houses! Go on!" He met up with the others. "Its like a zoo around here."
"Why are we hiding?" Koneko asked.
"This is procedure." Botheia answered. "Everyone takes cover while the warriors fight."
"But they don't stand a chance against them!" Yosu cried. "They're going to get killed!"
"Ahh!" Eythymia hugged close to her mother, Leptepiletos hanging over her arm.
Botheia ran her fingers through her daughter's hair. "We must remain hopeful."
"I'm so scared." Celena cried. "Allen! My ears hurt!"
"I know. Its going to be okay." Allen reassured, but he was having a hard time accepting his own words. "I can't believe we brought this on you and your tribe! Believe me, if I knew-"
"No need for apologies." Philos told him. "It was impossible to foresee."
The shining metal claw of Trapan's Stallion Melef rested just above the ground. Virial watched the people scramble below. The Maginot waited for his signal. He could see the fox-tailed soldiers assembled, the Silver Chief in front. Kalos called up to him, the beast men behind the swords, spears, and arrows were also waiting for their leader's signal. "Stranger! Why have you come to the village!?"
The grates under the stallion's chin opened to reveal Virial's bearded face. "This monster you see before you is the Tamarak! These with me are searching for the King of Fanelia, Queen of Asturia, and a girl traveling with them. Hand them over and we will leave peacefully."
"I have no knowledge of these of whom you speak! You must search somewhere else!" The Silver Chief called back.
Virial knew better. "If you won't give way to our requests, we will be forced to find them ourselves."
"I repeat!" The Silver Chief called. "There is no one here for you!"
"We shall see." He said. The diplomacy was dropped in an instant and his lavender eyes became as a robot's; set and hardened, unemotional. The Clema Claw came up and the four other pilots watched, holding their swards and awaiting the signal. Virial raised his arm and sliced downward into the assembled defense. A building was crushed with a swipe and screams came from its tenants. The blade flashed along the front line, which darted backward in reflex. Two were struck down.
Kalos turned to his men. "Fire at will!"
Virial shouted an order to his fellow melefs. "ATTACK!"
His four followers heard his voice. The Maginot at the far end stepped forward. One of the pilots, a hairless man with broad strong shoulders, walked straight through a house on his way to the village. The people inside were unable to escape. One of his fellows, a nineteen-year-old man with blood-red hair, brought up his sword with a grin. "Yeehaw People! Let's do some damage."
"Shut up and do your job, Resultant." The third, a female blonde, spat. "Find the targets."
"You find the targets!" Resultant replied. "I'm gonna take this baby for a spin!" His youthfulness was reflected in his piloting. He took off into the street slicing through houses like block castles. His female companion's movements were visible also in her melef. She moved between buildings deftly, only destroying with her sword.
The final pilot was a brooding man part beast and slant-eyed. He moved into the field with an un-drawn sword and long-legged strides. "The targets are human." He reached down and ripped the roof off of a home. The family inside therein huddled in the corner staring in fear. The mother had a baby tucked to her breast and her tail tightened around a toddler pup to cover his face. The Maginot pilot could see these were inhuman and drew his sword to wipe them out, no mercy, but only strict regularity on his long thin face.
Virial moved in and watched his four choice officers work. He warped the liquid metal back into the re-vamped black arm of his suit. He switched the setting to flame. 'The history of burning out kings and knights… they will have no choice…'
As soon as the buildings began to fall victim, the clansmen began to panic. Those who were brave, or too frightened, stayed where they were. Others fled. Van watched out the window as women and men, children and the elderly, took to the streets. He saw the giant's melef come down and take out some of the evacuees underfoot. He winced and looked away when he heard their cries. Merle whimpered behind him. "They're coming to kill us! They're killing everybody!"
"They are Asturian." Millerna cried, getting up and heading toward the door. "I'll tell them to stop!"
"Millerna no!" Daiji grabbed her arm. "You can't go out there!"
She had no other reaction but to stall at the sound of his voice.
"Mommy! They're coming!" Eythymia sobbed. "Make it stop!"
"Hush, sweety." Botheia tried to comfort, but she looked to Philos with terror and covered her daughter with her arms.
The grandmother fox kneeled down with them. She picked up Leptepileptos from where she'd been discarded to the floor. She combed some white-tipped brown hair behind her granddaughter's tucked ear and gave the doll to her. "Delicate, don't be frightened. You will be safe if you hold Leppy tight. She is you and you are safe as long as both of you are protected."
Eythymia took the doll and hugged it close, burying her head back into her mother's shoulder.
"I can't stand it! I can't!" Amano ranted. "Look what they're doing! I can't - !" He paced.
Yukari grabbed his hand. "Amano, calm down."
"Calm Down!?!"
"This is totally unspeakable wrong they're doing!" Yosu said, his Van-brown eyes sparking. "We've got to do something."
"What can we do!?" Jiai fretted. "We're defenseless! We're completely vulnerable!"
"Don't panic, 'Ai, its not the end yet." Daiji said, but he had nothing to back it up. Both Eythymia and Celena were whimpering.
Van looked up the hillside and could see the dock where they'd docked the Thysia that morning. The Crusade was there, and it was not too far away. If only he could get to Escaflowne…. The cry of innocent people would not go unanswered, not if there was some way for him to help. He sprang up and sprinted for the door. Everyone looked over in shock but Hitomi most of all. Her mind had been filled with thoughts of past words. "Your uneasy spirit causes negative outcomes…" She had death on her heart again. Van's hand on the door may have marked the end for him. "Van! Don't!"
He turned. "I'm going for Escaflowne!"
"Don't leave! You'll die!" She pleaded.
Another scream came from outside. He looked more serious than he'd ever been. "I can help, Hitomi, like the Silver Chief said, there is a lot of preciousness to protect and we all have to play a part. This is my part. If I can save people and this village, I will. But I'm going to protect you. You are precious to me. If I die doing it, I will never let the enemy get you!"
She said nothing and he took it as sustenance. Allen spoke before he left. "Have Gadess bring the Crusade after you! The Scherazade will help and we'll leave as fast as we can."
"Right!' Van agreed and left. Hitomi's eyes were glued wide and she sank down to the floor in a smothering soup of pure dread.
Van charged out into the street to face the back of the young man's Maginot. Resultant was completely enveloped in his occupation, and laughed through his branchlike red bangs as he smote life and slashed fur with his sword. Van clenched his teeth and ducked along the wall, his stomach knotting in rage. Escaflowne was up the hill; this evil figure's careless regard for life would end now if he could help it. The king darted back through the houses and into the woods. The feet of the Maginot had left all the animals running or flying for cover. The trees were now empty, but heavy with a tangible unease. The leaves shook with the tremors as he passed beneath them. The path up to the hangar was rutted from wagons and damp, puddleing in the foot and hoof-prints in the mud. Van stayed under the trees, splashing bud up his tan pants and soaking his boots as they chugged in and out of the standing water. He panted, his feet heavy and the smell of smoke filling the air. At the legs of the hill he could see Limari, the commercial dock, tucked into a crotch in the mountains. He stopped to catch his breath and turned back to the village. The roves were burning. He caught his breath, his screaming lungs ignored by the churning of his gut. "It's happening again…" Six months ago.. Urthras destroyed…Escape to Allen's fort…. More destruction by fire. It all had happened before. Escaflowne came out and the world fell down. Hitomi. "Folken! It's happening again! This world you hated its happening all over again." Of everything they'd been through, all the work to rebuild, all the death, destruction, and pain, they still had barely managed to come through it all. He'd lost Balgus and Folken, his family, in that place. He'd lost his innocence. What would he lose this time?
Tongues of flame were crawling through the village, spouting form the liquid-metal spigot at the end of the Tamarak's metal arm. Van snapped out of is. Preciousness… even if this was a mirror image of what had been, there still was a chance to save lives. He barreled up to the hanger.
"Hey! Torsion! Watch this one!" Resultant cried with a laugh. He scooped a chunk of house up and threw it in the fiery path of the Tamarak. The dry thatch went up and more screams came. The woman turned without amusement and smirked at him.
"Resultant! I swear! Just do your job and stop messing around!"
"Don't you find my enthusiasm attractive?" He asked, wishing he could get his hand up to his strong chin.
The beast man looked up, part of a roof in his hand. "I fail to see the humor in any of this."
Resultant moaned. "Geez Prestress, lighten up."
The final member, the juggernaut, lumbered up through a building, embers flying. "Do not hold up. We still have much work on this assignment. Find the targets."
"I'm on it, Vector." Torsion answered. "It's the kid who's the problem."
"PILOTS!" Virial cried. "Find the targets now! I will finish this village off! If you don't find them here, move on to the town. If they get away, do the same. Don't let them get away."
"Yes sir!!!"
Kalos and the remains of the warriors rushed around the corner, Botheia and Millerna could see him through the window of the chief's house, Eythymia hugging to her father and her grandmother. Kalos thrust his spear end to point the way. "Defend the houses!"
The warriors rushed forward. Resultant eyed them tastefully. "Right on! More for the picking!"
"Find the targets! I'll deal with them!" Virial thundered. The others obeyed without question. Virial turned his stallion to the army, blasting them in a shoot of flame, leaving none standing. Kalos snarled, his ears back and his sliver fur singed.
"What Demon sent you!? Why steal the lives of all these innocents!?!"
The Machine lashed a clema claw from the arm of his melef. He eyed the chief for a moment, but all his words had been shared. Carelessly, he smote the man asunder, the great silver tail falling limp in the road soaking up the muddy water and blood from the soldiers, also slain.
His daughter screamed. "Pateras!!!!"
Narna's head snapped up. "Kalos!?!"
"Manel?" Eythymia asked. Philos hugged her closer to him.
"Don't worry about your grandfather. He's not in danger anymore." The man said. The others turned. Hitomi looked in shock to him, but Philos had tears in his eyes. Yosu stared around at the room, realizing how vulnerable they really were. Death had visited this place inevitably.
"We've got to get out of here." He said. "We can't stay."
"There is no where to go." Jiai said, her voice trembling.
"Lord Van will be here!" Merle insisted, her tail wagging low and her ears back. "Lord Van will protect us!"
There was a crash and the far corner of the house fell in. Resultant's careless sword swipes had knocked out one of the support pillars. Everyone cried and dashed away from the collapsing end. Celena grabbed her brother. "AAAHHH! It hurts!"
"Celena!" Allen panicked; another crash came from right above him. The central plank was snapping.
Amano spotted it and shouted. "Run! It's coming down!" The party split as the house as torn apart, the people making their way to the street in parts. Hitomi was pulled along the wall by Yosu, and stared about at the ferocious beasts that were towering about. This was a nightmare! It had to be a nightmare.
Botheia dashed out with Millerna. The Queen spotted Yosu and Hitomi, who had Merle and Koneko with them. She ran and joined them under the cover of the wreckage.
"Is everyone okay? Where's Allen and Daiji and the others?"
"Get out of sight!" Yosu said, pulling her in with them.
Botheia kept running in maternal madness. "Eythymia!?!" She searched desperately. "EYTHYMIA!?!"
"Mommy!" The girl shoved her way out from under some roof thatch. She ran and grabbed Botheia's waist. "Mommy!?!"
The vixen fell down and held her daughter tightly. The glanced around for her husband. Hitomi saw the black stallion loom up behind her. "Botheia! Look out!"
The woman turned to see the melef bearing down, and couldn't react but to hug her daughter tighter. Philos came running up from another splintered pile of wreckage. "Theia!!!"
Virial noticed the two shivering foxes at his feet, then the man as he came. A human like the targets; he readied the arm of the Tamarak and its liquid metal lighter fluid. Hitomi's eyes widened: a vision. Wings, a stranger swooping. Fire everywhere. No escape: She couldn't scream, but watched Philos run up and stand in front of his family, staring into the cockpit of the machine in blind courage. Botheia gasped when she saw him and mouthed his name.
Virial had no compassion. This was not a king or a knight. These lives were insignificant. He fired the blowtorch and the Chesarian was consumed with flaming metal spray. He threw up his arms to cover his face, the skin blistering with the superheated veil, then turned his back and grabbed his wife and daughter, trying to shield them. Sound was lost in the force of the shooting flames, but from the outside, those in hiding saw them fall and vanish into nothing. Hitomi's eyes twitched. They were killed? That beautiful family?
Suru hugged Hakai. "Eythymia!?"
Allen's face quivered in rage as he hid his sister's face. Amano was speechless, his hands shaking, even with Yukari's clasped in them. The brown-eyed girl beside him had tears running down. Daiji stepped out of cover with them and Jiai. The curly haired girl grabbed his hand to keep him there, his teeth clenched. She bit one lip and tightened her grip on his wrist to contain her emotions. Yosu grabbed his sister and Millerna grabbed Hitomi. Peace and beauty; the queen couldn't believe that this catastrophe had actually happened. "No!" Hitomi's heart sank down. These people never had to be involved… it was her fault. They were so nice, and so generous and they were taken because of her. She broke down. "NOOOOOO!"
There was a flash and the Tamarak was thrust to the side. Everyone looked to see the flashing metal and glowing pink energist of the Ispano Melef Escaflowne. The mechanics of the powerful arms sparked around the black hair of its pilot.
Hitomi snapped into pure terror. "VAN!!!!!"
The Crusade was hovering just beyond the reaches of the town. Allen spotted his opportunity and passed Celena off to Amano. "I'm going for the Scherazade. You follow when the way is clear!"
"But-" Amano cried, but in a flash of blond and Asturian blue, the knight was off. The other Melef Pilots turned immediately to the newcomer.
":Is that - !?" Torison cried.
"Escaflowne!" Vector affirmed.
Resultant got a vengeful glint in his eye. "The Death Dragon! The Murder Melef."
"Find the targets." Prestess repeated.
"You know who's in that cockpit don't you!?!" Torsion accused. "Hi IS the target!"
Van thrashed away at the black armor, the white of his machine gleaming in the flames of the burning houses. He snarled. "I don't know who you are! But you're evil! And I can't let you live!"
"Ispano Melef, you are no more evil." Virial shouted back, a liquid blade rising to clash with Van's "You are just like us!"
"What are you trying to say!?" Van demanded. "I won't fall for lies like that!"
"Yee-haw!" Resultant sliced in with his Maginot, running his blade across Escaflowne's helmet. A gash opened in Van's cheek, blood running down his chin. He winced and turned to parry and throw the 19-year-old off. The Tamarak sliced in while he was distracted, another wound opened in Van's shoulder.
Allen strapped quickly into his suit and leapt out of the Crusade from several feet above the ground. The navy metal and dark cape of his melef were diminished to a blur as he drew his long sword and rushed into battle. "For Hope and Love and Innocence and all such which was stolen here! Marlene!" His lost love as a battle cry, the blade of the Scherazade ran through the workings of Resultant's melef. It's sword-wielding arm sparked and fell limp, useless. Resultant cursed.
"Where's that come from!?"
"Heeeya!" Torsion darted in to combat the knight, her feminine movements swift and poised, twisting around and sweeping in at angles Allen was having a hard time countering. He backed a few paces to gain some ground.
Amano saw a clear path through the rubble to the Crusade near the ground. He shouted over to Yosu and his party. "Yosu! Make a break for the ship! Hurry!"
The orange haired boy grabbed Koneko's hand and turned to the frozen girls watching the battle. "Hitomi! Millerna! Let's go." Millerna moved, but Hitomi stayed rooted. Yosu grabbed her arm. "Hitomi!"
"But Van – "
"Lord Van can do it!" Merle insisted. "We gotta get out of here! Come on, Hitomi!"
She gave a last look to Escaflowne and ran off with the others. Amano gave Celena Jiai's hand. "Get her to the ship!"
"Come on." Daiji led the two of them and Yukari out of danger.
Amano stepped up to where his cousins were. Suru was sifting through the wreckage and Hakai was staring at the battle. Amano knocked him in the head. "Wake up! We're leaving!"
"Ahh! Don't tell me what to -"
"GO! NOW!" Amano roared. Hakai took off running after the others. Amano bent down to Suru. "Come on, Su, we've got to leave right now."
"But Leppy - " Suru shoved aside a plank to uncover the late 6-year-old's wooden doll, blackened from smoke and fire, and a chilling testament to what was occurring. Amano grabbed her shoulders. "Never mind. Let's go." Suru snatched Leptepileptos out of the mud and carried her with her, one hand in Amano's. Her guardian shouted up to the knight in his armor. "ALLEN! WE'RE GO! LE'S GET OUT OF HERE!"
Allen heard him, but was thrown back by a mighty blow from Vector, the strength behind the bald man's attacks seemed unreal. Allen knew the Scherazade could not stand against this unfair match for much longer. He grabbed the limp arm of Resultant's Maginot and flung him into the attackers. "VAN!"
Van gave him a second's attention, swiping up to block a blow off Prestress and moving aside to miss one from the Tamarak. He listened as Allen called.
"We're retreating! Hurry!"
Van hated to go and run away again. But he had no choice. Life was a carousel and now he had to flee the place of refuge again. He backed away and ran after the Scherazade, leaping into the hanger of the Crusade as it took off. The Maginot were left on the ground to watch them fly away over the mountains.
Virial spat blood from his severed lip. "They've escaped! There is no use now." He turned to the sparking suit of Resultant's mecha. "We can't follow them at pace, now. Move to the town! Destroy everyone and everything! No one should know we were here!"
Everyone stood in the cockpit staring out at the retreating world. Kio steered silently and Van patched his wounds without looking, Hitomi attached to his unharmed side, but also staring. Kataphygio was smoldering, the Fox village was in ruin, and she couldn't help but feel responsible. This was the same as before. Van voiced his thought from earlier reading her mind. "It's happening again."
Suru held the blackened wooden doll, its cloth hair singed and its smiling face half destroyed from the struggle. She held it up in front of the landscape. "Leptepileptos…Delicate…Eythymia… I've got you, you're safe now."
To be continued….
