Fortune 21-I'm Sorry But My Words Aren't Enough

Blai, Hitomi, and Van tilted their heads up at an uncomfortable angle so that they could see the whole of a large, dark, looming castle that reminded the woman from the Mystic Moon of a prison, but with more elegance. "How do we get in?" Blai asked, hoping against all hope that the older two would have some idea as to what they were doing. Hitomi and Van exchanged worried glances, a clear indication that Blai's hopes had failed.

"We can't exactly walk over there and knock on the door…" Hitomi joked with a grin.

To her surprise, the two Fanelians smiled as well. "That's exactly what we'll do," Van said. And Hitomi thought she knew all of the king's stupid stunts by now.

"You're still alive?" Star asked, holding her 'attacker' at arms length and studying her. "I thought you died with all the others! I can't believe it's really you, Arekusa!" She hugged her old friend tightly, finally having some sort of anchor to the peaceful life she used to have.

Arekusa pushed away and smiled, "Yup, still alive. I'm really sorry, though, Sayako."

Star shrugged, causing her dark hair to bounce, and her blue eyes glistened with tears she was trying to hold back. "What are you sorry about, Are?" 'Are' had been her nickname… "It isn't as if all the crap that happened is your fault."

"Yes, it is." Star struggled to keep her jaw attached to the rest of her head and stared, wide-eyed at her friend. "It was all my fault, and I'm so sorry…"

Just as she had thought, knocking was obviously the worst possible choice. It let everyone inside know that you were outside so they could get ready and Hitomi could tell that the two boys weren't expecting an answer. Why in the world would they do something like that? The woman doubted whether even they knew.

Van kicked the door open and Hitomi's green eyes widened in surprise, she hadn't noticed before but they both had their beautiful, white wings out, folded behind their backs. So they did have a plan? As soon as the door was down, Van grabbed Hitomi by the waist and the three of them shot forward into the unknown maze of the castle.

"How could it all have been your fault, Are?" Star asked sarcastically. Her friend had changed a lot over the years. No, her appearances and her voice had remained mostly unchanged, but her personality…her sense of humor had certainly dived.

Arekusa looked at her seriously as she tucked a strand of her earlobe-length auburn hair behind her ears. "When we were younger, these people came for me…" Star noticed the men in the cloaks and masks appear behind her friend, she hadn't noticed them before in her elation. "They said they were descendants of a great empire called Zaiboch and that they needed a pure heart to survive. I was descended from their old leader, the one who made their name infamous, so I was an obvious choice. But when they came for me, I told them that I could help them and they believed me.

"I told them that I could get them someone with a purer heart than mine," Arekusa sat down on a dark throne somewhere in the shadows in the back of the room, her brown eyes glinting in the limited moonlight that managed to sneak through the window. "That was you, Sayako. In return, they promised I could lead them, they told me that I could rule this world and our own. So I gave you to them, but that dratted family of yours foiled my plans and I had to come along as well."

An image flashed before Star's eyes while the other girl watched her reaction closely; an image from all those years ago. Arekusa as Star remembered her stood with her eyes toward the ground while not a word escaped her lips as relatives sought to fill in the silence with comforting words of love toward Sayako. But Arekusa…Arekusa had been the only one to remain silent, why did that not strike Star as odd until that very moment?

"This is just some cruel joke, right, Are?" From the look on the brunette's face, it wasn't. But was it just a trick of the light, or was there really sympathy in those brown eyes, now suddenly unfamiliar with this new revelation. "It is, isn't it?" Star noted with only the slightest bit of disgust at the desperation in her voice.

Arekusa shook her head, her brown hair bobbing around her long, thin face. "I'm sorry, Sayako. I really am…" Sayako, Sayako, Sayako…Star covered her eyes and closed her eyes tightly trying to keep the name from penetrating any further into her thoughts. Sayako, Sayako, Sayako…the name echoed in her head, rang throughout the emptiness that seemed to have fallen there at her friends strange and startling words. And inside of her, the girl felt something snap before she fell backwards into a soothing, comforting darkness.

Van sliced the last man with his blade and together, he and his son brought the door down. Hitomi had found the way to the EscaFlowne, now that they had that, they just needed to find Star. The king jumped inside of the great machine and the three, or four depending on the point of view, made their way through the castle maze to find the girl from the Mystic Moon.

The demon girl Sayako admired her hands and figure and a satanic smirk spread across her face making her grimly beautiful features almost grotesque. "You are the one who set me free?" she asked, her voice sent a shiver down Arekusa's spine; it was nothing like how she had imagined it would sound. The change from her old friend was disturbing.

"Yes, I am…"

Sayako's smirk widened, "Both she and that dratted angel are asleep. For that I thank you, but I think I know your intentions and I intend to take orders from no one."

Arekusa would have looked surprised had her features not been hidden so completely by the shadows. "But it is only thanks to me that you even exist."

"And thanks to you that the angel exists as well…"

The brunette looked as though she would have liked to say something but her words were lost on their way out of her mouth as Sayako sliced her throat with a knife she had acquired from a wall hanging within an instant. Just as Arekusa gurgled her last breath and fell to the floor with her eyes wide to reflect the fear she held in her last moments before her death, the door flew open and there stood the EscaFlowne, towering in the strange light with Blai and Hitomi at its sides.