Disclaimer: Tenkuu no Escaflowne is property of Bandai and Sunrise, all rights reserved. I am in no way affiliated with these companies, and am not making a profit by writing this novel. Any similarities between my work and that of any other fan-author is purely coincidental. "Broken" song lyrics are property ofSeether andAmy Lee,all rights reserved.
x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-
"Broken" - Chapter 2: Steal My Pain
By The Last Princess of Hyrule
x-X-x-X-x-
"'Cause I'm broken,
When I'm lonesome,
And I don't feel right,
When you're gone away,
You've gone away,
You don't feel me here anymore . . ."
-Seether and Amy Lee, "Broken"
x-X-x-X-x-
At the banquet hall in the Asturian palace, Princess Millerna Sara Aston had her own doubts about the events transpiring around her, though they had little to do with Hitomi. They focused instead on another young woman so consumed by worry that she hadn't moved the entire dinner. Celena Schezar simply sat across from the princess with her hands folded in her lap, paying absolutely no attention to her surroundings.
"Celena, will you please eat something?" pleaded her older brother, Knight Caeli Allen Schezar, who sat to her right.
Celena remained motionless. The tall glass widows on in the western wall were open, letting in the cold autumn breeze to relieve the hot, stuffy air in the hall. It tousled her colorless blonde hair and ruffled the lacy collar of her dress, but Celena remained oblivious to it. In fact, it was not so much a look of inattentiveness that covered her face, as Millerna noticed, but more of steady concern, perpetuated by an occasional look of consternation.
The princess had a troubled look on her face that matched Celena's. "She's been like that all day," she said. "She came out to the gardens with me this morning and stayed after I left, but when I came back this evening, she was still sitting there exactly how I left her."
"She seemed fine when she got up this morning," said Allen. "I didn't notice anything strange about her." He hesitated a little on use of the word 'strange,' not enough for it to be obvious, but enough so that everyone at the table knew he meant 'stranger.'
"Maybe she's sick of people talking about her like she isn't even there." Van Fanel leaned back in his chair at the end of the table with his arms crossed. He eyed the knight with a glare.
Allen gave him a bitter look. "What was that?"
"If you treated her with more respect, maybe she'd feel comfortable enough around here to really talk to us," said Van.
Allen opened his mouth to continue the argument, but Princess Eries interrupted him.
"Stop it," she snapped from her seat at Millerna's left. The elder princess of Asturia halted the heated discussion immediately. "You're both acting childish."
The table was silent for a few minutes. A pair of serving maids entered the banquet hall from a door in the back and began to clear away the table, but no one moved. However, when one tried to take Celena's plate, Allen stopped her. "Just a minute, please. She isn't finished."
The maid backed up and bowed her head respectfully. "Yes, sir. I beg your pardon, sir."
When the maids finished and left, Allen rested his elbows against the table in a tired fashion and sighed. "Celena," he began. "Is something wrong?"
Celena said nothing, but her eyebrows knit together with a sudden intensification of whatever it was inside that so worried her.
"It takes more than that to regain a person's trust," commented Van.
"And what would you know about that?" asked Allen pointedly.
Van scowled at him, but didn't have an answer.
"Come on, Celena. We should be going." Allen placed a hand on her shoulder and got up. Celena stood automatically and turned to follow him as he walked toward the tall double doors, but as he pushed one open, she stopped. Allen noticed her absence and turned around. "Celena?"
Celena seemed to see something the others couldn'tor else she was just staring through him because she was thinking of something else.
"Celena . . .?" Allen repeated, taking a step toward her.
"They're coming back here," she said in a raspy, unused voice. "That's what it is."
"What? Who?"
But Celena went silent again.
"Allen?" Millerna got up and walked around the table toward Allen and Celena, looking worried. Allen hardly noticed her presence, his blue eyes fixed on Celena with an intensity just as surprising as his sister's cryptic words.
"Celena," he said again. "What are you talking about?"
No amount of prompting, however, would make Celena say anything more.
x-X-x-X-x-
/./I don't like it. I don't like it at all././
Dilandau was stressed.
Celena had been aware of it all day, what with how strongly he was feeling it. At times, his emotions could be so strong that they overshadowed her own thoughts, intruding on her mind and refusing to leave her in peace until they had been resolved. At those times, it became almost impossible to concentrate on anything else. All that day, she had focused on Dilandau and tried to ask him what was troubling him, but for as many times as she tried, she never received a straight answer.
/Why are you so worked up/ she asked for the umpteenth time. She sat in a chair in her bedroom at the Schezar estate, staring into the warm fire as she was prone to do. /There aren't any disasters about to strike, or anything./
/./This is really bad././
The same answer as last time. Celena's face fell, disheartened, but she was determined not to give up. They were both a part of each otherit was only right that she help him in any way she could. Besides which, if they didn't solve his problem by the end of the night and stop his worrying, Celena wasn't going to get any sleep.
/Dilandau, calm down./ she said with a sigh.
/./How can I be calm? This is really bad././
/What is so bad/ she demanded. /Maybe if you'd give me a straight answer, I'd be able to help you./
/./I don't need your help. You can barely take care of yourself././ Dilandau retorted. /./Look at what you did at dinner. They were suspicious, and you did a terrible job telling them what's going to happen/./
/I did the best I could./ Celena protested. /If you weren't being such a pain, maybe I could think straight and come up with a good answer./
/./Well, you didn't, and now they're certain that you're crazy././ he went on, ignoring her. /./Maybe if you talked more at other times, like a normal person, you'd actually be able to speak when the occasion called for it././
Celena scowled. /Who are you to preach? You hate people./
/./But you don't././
She groaned. /I don't want to discuss this. I just want you to stop being so worked up about whatever it is that's bothering you./
/./I don't get why it's not bothering you. You're always the one who gets worried about these things././
/What things/
/./Me/./ Dilandau shouted, as if it had been obvious the entire day. /./They're going to figure it out for sure now. They're going to find out about me. And do you know what's going to happen to us when they do/./ He didn't wait for Celena to answer. /./Death! Yes, death, with the whole noose and scaffold bit././
/Aren't you being a little over-dramatic/
/./This is completely reasonable/./ Dilandau protested. /./If they find out about me, they're going to think you're possessed, and there are only two thing they do with possessed people. Either they'll tie you to a stake and set you on fire to try to burn the demon out of you, or they'll just presume you beyond help and hang you././
Celena rolled her eyes. /That has to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard. These are my friends we're talking about here, and my brother. They wouldn't do something like that. It's barbaric./ She stuck out her tongue in a disgusted look. /Be rational./
/./I am being rational/./
/You're being a wreck./
Dilandau sighed. /./Why are you so confident/./
/What could possibly tip them off that you're in my mind? Or that you even exist for that matter/
/./Well, since you insist, let's think about this rationally. How could they not know? You sit around for hours at a time just talking to me. That probably looks very odd to someone passing by, which is another reason why you should talk to other people more././
Celena, who hadn't moved since returning home from dinner, shifted uncomfortably. /I'm sure it looks weird, but I really don't think anyone's worried about it. They're probably used to it by now./
/./So what about today? That knight would not stop giving you looks at dinner, and he normally doesn't do that././
/First of all, can't you call my brother by his name? Just to be respectful/
/./No././
No surprise. Celena went on undeterred. /And second, perhaps the reason he's worried about me is because you were distracting me all day. I know this can't be the only thing bothering you. This "threat" of everyone finding out about you isn't anything new, and you certainly weren't this worked up about it yesterday./ She pursed her lips and her thoughts turned stern. /What exactly is going on/
Dilandau hesitated. /./It's about what you said last night. You were acting really weird././
Celena thought back to the night before. /You mean my reading? That's what's been bothering you all day/
Dilandau projected a frustrated emotion at her accompanied by silence, which Celena had taken to mean that he was glaring at her.
/I suppose I could be wrong./ she went on, trying to reassure him, even though she still wasn't clear on what about her reading was so upsetting. /I mean, Hitomi didn't teach me much about how to read her Tarot cards before I left. I could easily have misread the signs./
/./And/./ he prompted.
/And what? I asked the cards to tell me how Hitomi was doing, and they said she and Folken were coming back to Palas tonight. That's all there was to it./
/./It just doesn't make sense. Why would they want to come back here/./
/Maybe they miss their friends./
Dilandau burst into laughter. /./Ha, that's a riot! I love it/./
Celena's thoughts turned to reprimand. /The cards didn't say why they were coming back./ she said matter-of-factly.
/./Hmm . . ././ Dilandau seemed contemplative, but Celena couldn't tell whether he was sincere or not.
/Is all this just because you don't like Folken/
/./That has nothing to do with it/./ Dilandau snapped.
That certainly got a rise out of him. Encouraged, Celena continued. /Then what/
/./Are you completely ignorant? Former Zaibach Stratagos? Vengeful Asturians? General economic discord? Any of this connecting for you/./
/Yes, I know what you're getting at, but he wasn't the cause of any of this. He was in residence here before the war, and nothing happened./
/./That was also before the Delate burned down six small villages on its way to attack Palas. There is still a lot of suspicion that Folken was here to gather information for the empire before it fell. It'd just be complete chaos with him back here././
/Is that why you're worried about him/
/./I'm not././ he corrected, placing heavy emphasis on these two words. /./I'm worried about you././
/Me? Why/
/./Because if he says something stupid that tips anybody off about you and me, then it's the noose././ said Dilandau with an exasperated sigh.
/What are you talking about/
/./Listen, no one here knows anything about what happened to you the last ten years, except that you were in Zaibach, and I'd like to keep it that way. Think about how much Folken knows about you and me that he could tell them././
/Is that what's got you all jumpy about Allen finding out about you/
/./I'm so glad you could figure it out././
/Well, I don't think Folken has any incentive to do something like that, but I'll humor you./ Celena sighed. /So, what do you want me to do about it? Do you want me to consult the cards/
/./Gods, no. That'd take you all night././
/Then what/
/./Well, can't you do something/./
/Like what/ Celena was starting to get frustrated. /Try giving me some suggestions. I'm not Hitomi. I can't change fate. If they're coming, they're coming, and there's really nothing I can do about it./
Dilandau went silent for a moment, thinking. The fire crackled. It was almost out of kindling. /./Then what should we do/./
/How about we go back to the palace, and wait to see if my reading was right./
x-X-x-X-x-
TO BE CONTINUED . . .
x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-X-x-