Chapter 8

(AN: I changed my penname to aurora-sakura, rather then aurorasakura16)

Allen carefully pulled back the flap of the large tent set up near the edge of the clearing, glaring in irritation at the group around the fire. A certain pair more specifically.

"Boss, are you going to help me with this or not?" He turned to the side as Gadess dangled the dead bird in his face. Instinctively he stepped back a few paces, letting the flap of the tent fall back into place. He moved his friends hand out of the way.

"I'm not hungry."

Gadess raised his eyebrows in question, then went to the tent flap, drawing it back just as Hitomi was leaning forward to whisper into Van's ear several feet away from them. He turned back to Allen with his eyebrows still up. "Hitomi couldn't be the cause of your sudden loss of appetite, could she?"

Allen glared at him and turned away, stepping over the makeshift table they had set up in the centre of the tent. "I'm annoyed with this whole situation."

"The situation with Hitomi, or the situation with the usurper?" Gadess asked, amusement in his voice.

"I'm with Princess Eries." He told him in a flat voice.

"I know you are." Gadess shrugged, then smiled as he looked back towards the fire pit again. "They're gone now..."

Allen turned from his papers with a sigh, placing a hand to a temple as he walked towards the flap of the tent. He moved to step out, but, looking up, he glared again in irritation at the site before him.

Selena came trotting happily out of the forest, followed by a heavily burdened Dilandau who was carrying both pails of water. The girl promptly plopped herself into a very surprised Josceline's lap, wrapping her slender arms around the Celestials neck, crossing her legs in a very seductive manner.

"Forget it." Allen stepped back into the tent leaving a near laughing Gadess standing at the entrance.

"Josceline." Selena whispered into the guard's ear, her voice as smooth as silk as she lowered her eyelids, her blue eyes sparkling like sapphires behind dark lashes. "When did you want to go to bed?"

He swallowed, trying to push her off of his lap stiffly, unfortunately, she wouldn't budge and he was getting a fierce glare from Dilandau as the albino set down the pails off to the side and take a spot where Hitomi was sitting.

"I don't know." He told her, his mouth barely moving as he spoke.

But, being able to detect his nervousness... his agitation, Selena merely smiled and ran a hand through the hair at the back of his neck. He felt himself shiver.

He had been avoiding this all day, but was finding it rather hard.

"I think I'll stay up and stand guard." He told her, holding his voice as steady as possible.

She pouted, but turned to Corilith when she spoke up.

"There's no need for that Josceline, I'll take the first watch." She was smiling, and he wanted to damn the old women to the beyond.

He glared across the fire at her, but was forced to put on a blank look as Selena turned in his direction again. She opened her mouth to speak, but he beat her to it.

"Can you not ever take no for an answer?"

She was silent a moment, watching him with her eyes slightly narrowed before answering. "No, I can't. Not from you anyway." She leaned forward so that she could whisper in his ear again. "Josceline, I want you, and I've wanted you for a long time. Can't you just let me have you?" She leaned back and traces a hand down his cheek which was growing scruffier and scruffier by the day.

"Why are you so stubborn?"

"Why are you?" She retorted, squirming in his lap just so that she felt him tense momentarily.

"It would be going against everything I've strives for to be a Celestial."

"Mmm... and a load of good that got you."

He now glared at her, the memories of his brotherhood's betrayal to both the throne and himself still fresh on his mind. He was still aching from the beating he retained. "I'm not like them." He stood up suddenly, but Selena was able to move herself out of falling circumstances as she slid from his lap and moved to sit on the log beside his last occupied spot.

"I'm sorry, Josceline." She was looking up at him, but he refused to meet her gaze.

"I'll take the first watch." He told Corilith, ignoring the nasty glare he was getting from Dilandau. The older women simply shrugged as Josceline trudged out of camp and into the woods, hoping for a moment to be alone.

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"Have you found her yet?"

A tall, long haired brunet stepped into the presence of the king in his throne room. The room was changed since the queen's rule, all the tapestries and such had been ripped from the walls by orders of King Damis. The only thing remaining with the cushioned throne, and the long deep blue carpet that led from the door to the dais at the end of the room.

Kaiomi Orinelth now walked down this carpet towards the throne, bowing when he reached the front of the platform the throne was on, his arms cross at waist height, his hands resting on either dagger. His braided hair fell over his shoulder at the deepness of his bow, and when he stood, rested heavily against his shoulder. He didn't much like not being able to wear his normal grey attire and long sleeved shirts. He was always slightly self conscious of the markings that worked their way all over his upper body. It had been drilled into him all his life that these markings were not to be seen in public, out of proper shame for brethren past. His father had told him this... but his father was dead.

"We haven't located her yet, no." His grey eyes never left the cold green of the king's as he spoke. Fear would show weakness to the powerful man. He would not be weak in front of the king that hand-picked him from the rest. "We believe she is with the king of Fanalia."

"Ah yes..." Damis smiled, a cold smile that normally would have sent chills up Kaiomi's back... but he was used to it. "The king of Fanalia... What did you say his name was?"

"Van Fanel."

"And my queen is in love with this man?"

"They were to be married, so I suppose so." He wanted to shrug, but held back. "My lordship was gone for a long time."

"My queen kept me away..." He brought a hand up to stroke his chin. "But we won't have that again."

Kaiomi swallowed back sudden nervousness. The king was confused, as they all found out later. He knew he had been gone for a long time... but he didn't know exactly how long. He was in a very fragile state, and to say the new queen was not exactly his wife would be too risky in fear of his reaction. "You won't kill the lady queen?"

"Kill her?" He laughed, a cold piercing laugh that reverberated off the walls. "She belongs to me... I don't have a need to kill her as long as I have her under control."

Kaiomi briefly thought that having his "wife" running all over Gaea trying to get away from him was not exactly "control", but held his tongue.

"We were in love once..."

The Celestial looked up in shock, raising his eyebrows unintentionally at the sudden change in tone. "My lord?"

"We were in love... until she got this faint idea in her head that she would be best ruling..." He laughed. "Imagine, a women ruling all of La Vallex?" He continued to laugh.

Once again, Kaiomi held his tongue.

"But you were all faithful to me all along, weren't you?" He stood now, and walked halfway down the stairs, hesitating on the bottom step as if not wanting to be even close to being level with the Celestial.

"Yes, my lord."

In one swift movement, the king moved forward and Kaiomi suddenly found himself against the carpet with Damis standing over him, sneering down at him. He moved to sit up, but the king kicked him down again. He felt a rib crack and he hissed pain through his teeth.

"But your brother on the other hand..." Damis grinned. "I'm surprised you turned out the way you did... but you helped me get rid of your brother... and you are loyal for that..." Without another word, he walked past Kaiomi and out of the throne room.

The Celestial stood, shaky on his feet, clutching at his ribs as he stared at the now empty throne thinking about his little brother and just how insane the new king was.

The people in the city were starving. Farmers were not selling any of their crops outside the city because of bad the merchants sudden withdrawal. There was absolutely not money coming in.

It seemed to Kaiomi that La Vallex was doomed since the king took the thrown.

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They were on the move the next day in very early morning. The dew was thick on the trees and grass as they trudged through the deep forest, and several times they heard the call of a land dragon moving through the forest, followed by the outburst of birds and crashing from the snapping trees and bushes. At these times, Van always pulled back the fabric over the cart to inform Hitomi that the dragon wasn't actually in site. Something that Hitomi actually found quite amusing seeing as she wasn't actually afraid of dragons anymore. And when she finally told Van this, he blushed profusely, glared at a near laughing Josceline, and pulled away. He never "warned them" again.

Hitomi was bored out of her mind as it seemed, and feeling particularly anxious the closer they got to her country. But all she had for comfort was Josceline, who, for some reason, had chosen to ride with her in the cart that day. Selena hadn't talked to her all day, only rode next to Allen all day with a gloomy sort of expression on his face. Dilandau kept shooting Josceline dirty glares whenever he rode next to the cart much to Hitomi's confusion. One time she even returned Dilandau's glare and when he turned to her in surprise she gave him a rude hand gesture that was very close to something Yukari would do.

"Why is Dilandau always glaring at you?" She whispered to Josceline finally, leaning over a small bag of camp supplies so she could speak to him.

He turned to her in surprise, having been knocked out of his own thoughts to suddenly. He blinked at her, then seemed to register what she said because he suddenly shot a rather nasty glare towards the albino. "Because it seems him and Selena are attached at the brain."

"Well, technically they sort of are." She told him, raising an eyebrow.

He sighed, a rather long and pitiful sigh and slumped back against a tent bag. "That's just the problem, isn't it?"

Suddenly Hitomi understood. "You turned down Selena didn't you?" She couldn't help but a smile of amusement grace her features.

He nodded. "She's extremely tactless." He said under his breath but Hitomi caught it and laughed.

"She's just really forward, it's her personality."

"It couldn't help if she tuned it down a bit." He now glared in irritation in the platinum blonde's direction, but he suddenly turned very rigid, and his eyes darted upwards.

Before Hitomi even was able to move away from him, or make any sound of alarm, Josceline had jumped up, and loosed one dagger from his belt, throwing it swiftly and quickly into the treetops ahead of them. Something made a straggling sound before a large body crashed through the branches and landed with a loud thump almost right next to Selena who drew her sword, trying to contain her now frantic horses.

Everyone backed away from the obviously dead man, a dagger protruding from his throat, blood gurgling up from his mouth, his brown eyes staring blankly up at the ceiling of leaves and branches.

"It's not a Celestial." Van said after moving swiftly towards Hitomi's sitting spot.

Josceline vaulted over the side of the cart and walked with a quick stride towards the man on the ground. He didn't hesitate as he pulled his blade from the man's throat and wiped the blood off on the grass. Hitomi looked away, turning so her face was in Van's arms as he leaned over the side of the cart.

"No... it's not. It's one of the king's spies though." Josceline bent down again after sheathing his sword and began rummaging through the man's belongings. "If it were a Celestial he could have already picked some of us off." He stood again and shook his head, ignoring the collective shiver that seemed to have gone through the group at the comment. "There isn't anything off him... I'm guessing he's a thief that the king employed." He walked back over to the cart, resting his hand on the horse that was pulling it, gently rubbing his hand along the horses nose to calm it down. "They probably think I'm dead and not still with the queen."

"I'm glad you still with us." Van muttered in such an undertone that only Hitomi heard him, huddled against his chest.

"We have to keep moving." Corilith pulled up next to the cart, looking down at the queen with a calm look on her face. "Your Majesty, they know we're coming."

Hitomi nodded and very reluctantly pulled away from Van's arms. "All right."

"It would help, Lady Hitomi... if you were to use your powers to warn us of any danger."

"I-" She hesitated, looking dawn at her lap, not meeting the older women's gaze. "I haven't had a vision for a long time, only dreams."

"And what did they show you?"

Hitomi blinked in surprise, then swallowed back a sudden sick feeling. "La Vallex burning..."

"You can change dreams, just like you can change visions..." She moved her horse forward, moving to the head of the group. "You can still have visions... it is no use to us blocking them out like you are doing."

"You've been holding them back?" It was Dilandau who spoke, and he was watching her with a look mixed with amusement and annoyance. "We could have avoided this whole mess if you weren't being such a stupid women."

Hitomi glared at him, and to her horror, felt tears spring to her eyes. "I'd gladly give them to you!"

"Fine, atleast I could do some good with them."

"Good my ass." Gadess cut in, glaring angrily at the albino. "You tried to kill us all once."

"He's not like that anymore!" Selena told him, shooting him a glare of her own.

"He's still a psychopath!"

"Stop!" Hitomi stood up suddenly, staggering a little when the cart swayed slightly and a head rush hit her. She held a hand to her head a moment before continuing. "We can't start fighting." She closed her eyes and felt a very familiar sense fall over her... except this time it was different. She felt like she had no barriers to her power, nothing to control her, she was had all the power, all the control.

When she opened her eyes they were a brighter green the usual, and her face was determined and set. "Damis is still looking for us, he doesn't know exactly where we are. He's desperate, and people in La Vallex are dying. We need to get going right now or Dryden and his ship will beat us there and the plan will be ruined."

Van blinked at Hitomi in surprise as she sat back, a look of annoyance now on her face as she glared at a shocked looking Dilandau.

"You can just do it like that?" Dilandau asked, then, with a smile, "No wonder Zaibach wanted you so bad." Still shaking his head he turned his horse into the right direction again and nudged it into motion, everyone, without another word, followed suite.

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AN:

ok... this chapter is crap I know. I just finished house-sitting and reading Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince for a day and a half. (read it, it's good)

Next chapter will be up as soon as I can. I'm quitting my job this week so I'll have plenty more time for stuff like this.