Fortune 4- Angel

Star caught sight of her cousin, lying pale against the dark stone floor and the torchlight flickering on her skin. The shadow's on Hitomi's face scattered and gathered, moved forward and retreated, waltzing about the young woman's face as if dancing to a song that none but they could hear. "Hitomi, what happened? Are you alright?" the teenager bent down over her cousin to make sure she was still breathing.

Van was strangely moved by this rare display of caring from the younger girl from the Mystic Moon. "She had a vision," he started, "and then she just screamed and fell to the floor." He hated this, the feeling of not being able to do anything. Having to stand by and watch as one of the most important people in his life fell limp to the ground before his eyes. The young king pounded his fist into the thick wooden table and cursed under his breath.

The strange teenager's black-lined eyes took on a more thoughtful look. "It must have been the same…" she muttered more to herself than anyone else in the room. She was very startled to discover that the others had heard her say her thoughts aloud.

"The same?" asked Allen curiously. He reassuringly placed a hand on the young woman's shoulder and Star gave an involuntary shudder. Allen quickly withdrew his hand, curious as to why someone would be so disgusted by human touch.

Star stood up slowly and turned to face the group standing before her. Her face was almost as pale as her cousins and the shadows from the torchlight danced across her face. "I had a vision," somehow the way she said it caused an eerily chill to form in the air. Goosebumps flew up Van's arm. "Everything was red; it started to burn my eyes. Fanelia burned to ash around me while it sank beneath a sea of crimson blood against blood-red sky. Giants clashed within the remains of the city and I saw Hitomi…" the girl's voice failed her and she found that she could not go on, even if she had wanted to.

"So, that's why you were in such a hurry," Blai leaned against the wall next to the closed door. His arms were folded across his chest, "I just got here," he said, "I told the guys to leave."

The young visionary chose to ignore the boy completely, "Kanzaki must have seen the same thing," the girl was quickly gaining her composure.

Celena leaned against her brother, "The best thing for her right now would be to rest…"

The blonde woman's thought was cut off by Merle's yelling, "Wake up, Hitomi!" She slapped the woman from the Mystic Moon across the face and left a slight red mark. "Wake up!" Star noticed tears threatening to leak down the cat-woman's face.

Hitomi's eyes slowly fluttered open and she sat upright. She turned immediately to Van, paying no mind whatsoever to anyone else in the room, "Van, I saw it. Fanelia…attacked by Guymelefs. It's going to happen again." The woman held her face in her hands crying silently.

"I already told them," Star said coolly with her arms crossed over her chest. She had apparently managed to regain her composure for she was no longer pale and she spoke with her usual brisk, sarcastic tone.

"What should we do?" Chid asked nervously. After all, he had seen first hand the destruction this new enemy brought in its wake.

Star slipped into the shadows and merged with the darkness itself. "Leave," her voice seemed to say from all around the group gathered in the room. "We need to go somewhere close by, but far enough to keep us safe. Hitomi and I were meant to be the only ones here to see this destruction. There is a temple outside of Fanelia, am I right?" she asked Van, who nodded his answer, slightly stunned that the girl had known of it when she had never before been to his beloved city, "They said we should go there. It will be safe."

"And you expect us to trust you?" Blai gave a short laugh, "Yeah right. You've never been here before, how do you even know about the temple?"

Star unfolded her arms and stepped out of the shadows though they still clung desperately to the dark smudges on her face and the black clothing that clung to her, "Yes, I do expect you to trust me actually. And as to how I know? That's my own concern, not yours. Besides, if we hurry we may be able to find some information on your lost Guymelef, the EscaFlowne, right?"

Merle's eyes slit into a suspicious glare, "How do you know about the EscaFlowne?" she asked.

Rather than saying her true reasons, the teenager just smirked and crossed her arms once more before saying, "You people think almost as loudly as Kanzaki…" It was a total lie, but the morons bought it, at least that was a good thing.

Allen chose to ignore the comment, but unfortunately it was not in Van's nature to do so. Before the impulsive king could say anything, the blond knight spoke up, "I will protect Fanelia with my life."

Van immediately calmed down, "Thanks, Allen," he said somberly. He turned to the others and began shouting commands, "Merle I need you to grab Celena…"

The blonde woman shook her head and sidestepped to stand beside her older brother, "I will stay with Allen. Even if I can't do anything anymore…I'm not going to leave him alone, I don't want to be separated from him again."

Van nodded and turned once again towards Merle, "Alright then, you and Chid need to get there as quickly as possible. Carry him if you need to, Merle. He doesn't know how to get there," Chid looked insulted, of course he knew how to get to the temple. After all, he was best friends with the young impulsive prince of Fanelia and even good friends with its king. Apparently, in Van's attempt to hide his panic and nervousness, he had forgotten that fact. "I'll take Hitomi. Blai, that means you take Star."

The group split apart from the siblings and ran to the lake in the back of the castle. Star could still see the floating roses though they were quite a distance away from the lake. Van and his son spread their silvery wings. The dark-haired king held Hitomi around the waist and flew into the air; Blai grabbed the younger girl's gloved hand and took off as well.

"Great, this sucks," he murmured.

"I'm less happy about this than you are, trust me," she said, making sure her gloves were on correctly and not slipping. "This is really uncomfortable," she said conversationally after a moment of silence. At least, she spoke about as conversationally as she could get. By that time, everyone had already disappeared beyond her extraordinary range of sight.

She felt a shock run through her hands and one of the Guymelefs the maiden had seen in her vision tore through the trees. Its pilot had apparently spotted their attempts at getting away. The Melef swatted at the teenage prince and the two of them fell to the ground. Star skidded until she felt her back make painful contact with a tree trunk. The machine didn't seem to notice the girl as it stepped ever-closer to Blai, now fallen onto the ground, his wings no longer visible.

Impulsively, the young woman jumped between the machine and the fallen prince though the pain that ran up her arm from the scar on her wrist threatened to split apart her skull. The giant—Guymelef?—paused a moment, clearly not expecting such an action. But it only paused a moment before attacking the girl that stood between it and its target. Instead of using its arsenal of weapons, the Guymelef swiped at her. The girl felt the impact hit her side and she was flung out of the way.

Except…she wasn't really flung to the side. She felt as if she had flown out of her body and she was watching the events take place from her place outside of it all. Star's body screamed upon impact, but it wasn't her voice that came out. It was an unearthly sound that, had it been coming from anyone else the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck would have rose.

From her place outside of everything, she saw a faint golden glow surround her body. The girl felt herself being pulled back and suddenly she was trapped in a dark room surrounded by walls that showed the world outside. She was trapped within the confines of her own mind.

Blai was just coming to when he heard Star's unearthly shriek. His eyelids flew open and he jumped up to his feet. What am I going to do? He asked himself, Father expected me to get her there safely. And I let her die…what am I going to tell him?

He watched with a mix of amazement and horror as the girl was surrounded by a faint golden glow and her body floated a few inches off the ground. The offending Guymelef retreated back a few steps, but was apparently too stunned, or interested, to do much else.

A huge dragon coiled around her and protectively wrapped its great wings about her, shielding her from view. The dragon faded away with the pulsating light and where Star once floated above the ground was another girl. Her blonde hair and white skirt whipped around her as she landed gently on the ground.

She looked around her and, "Finally! I'm out!" she cried, throwing back her head and arms and blinking in the sunlight. "Sorry, Star," she said, "but you never would have been able to deal with this on your own." The woman seemed to notice the enemy Melef for the first time. She tensed up and got into a fighting stance.

"Who are you?" Blai asked curiously, still unable to move from his spot.

Her attention still focused on the Melef before her, "Sani," she answered shortly before wings of such a pure white that they glowed blue tore painfully from the back. The young woman leapt into the air, her powerful wings stirring the foliage and dust on the ground. She muttered something inaudible and as she spoke a basketball-sized ball of light formed between her palms.

Sani flung the orb at the Guymelef, which attempted in vain to block the light. Just as the light must have faded from the pilot's eyes, the strange girl jumped up and landed a kick to the machine's head. Blai watched the Melef fall to the ground; she must have some power to have been able to knock over something like that. He felt someone lifting him up and heard Sani say quietly in his ear, "We'll get there much faster if I fly," when Blai looked up he saw a kind, gentle smile on her face. It was a look that the young prince couldn't help but instantly trust. When she picked the boy up he noticed the strange mark on her wrist…

High in a tree

A figure hidden by the shadows watched the two teenagers as Sani held onto Blai and took off into the distance. Bright eyes eagerly followed their retreating backs, "The angel, the devil, and the vessel…surrounded by both the light and the shadow of the great dragon. And so it begins," the voice said before a gust of wind ruffled the leaves of the tree and all signs of the stranger vanished.

At the temple

The strange girl placed Blai gently on the ground before softly landing herself. The moment her foot touched the ground her hair turned black and her clothes changed back to the way they had been before. Even Star's streaked make-up appeared on her face as the pupils in her blue eyes dilated and she passed out. Not exactly knowing what he was supposed to do in such an unexpected situation, Blai nervously picked her up. She was surprisingly light, he noticed before shaking the thought out of his mind and walking into the protective walls of the temple, where the others waited impatiently for their arrival.

Van looked relieved to see his only son step into the temple. Hitomi looked relieved as well, until she noticed the unconscious form of her cousin. She ran forward and Blai noticed a new person, who had previously been blocked from his view by the girl from the Mystic Moon. It was Millerna, and when she caught sight of Star, she, too, ran forward.

"Is she alright?" Hitomi asked nervously as Blai laid the girl on the ground.

Millerna took a quick check and turned to Hitomi, "She's showing the same signs you did when you met with the doppelganger, remember?" Hitomi and Van shared a nervous glance before looking back at Millerna. How could they forget? "Her heart's still beating though, which is a good sign. So, at least she's not in as bad a condition as you were then. She'll be okay," Hitomi gave a relieved sigh, "unless the land of the dead is so completely fascinating that she'll prefer to stay."

Van scowled, it was the first time Blai had seen his father give a look of such intensity, "It isn't," the king said bitterly, "trust me."

"What happened?" Merle asked after a moment of tense silence, "Hitomi had a vision before you got here. You and Star were attacked by a Melef…"

"But that is what happened!" Blai said loudly. No one spoke for a moment that seemed to last for hours.

Chid broke the silence, "Then, what did happen?"