Another chapter! Wow, I've never written something so long. I hope you are enjoying reading it as much as I am enjoying writing it. Oh, and sorry for the grammar and spelling mistakes. I will fix them, but first I want to finish the story. Well, go on, read this chapter. Tell me what you think about it.

The pain of loving you

Melting the ice

Dilandu was very happy. In all his life, nothing better had happened to him. He finally had Van on the palm of his hand, and he had

achieved it in the most unique way. It was like a dream come true.

"Sir, she is waking up"

Dilandu smiled. He would really enjoy hurting her. When he had found out why the Dragon hadn't returned, he had burst out laughing.

The Dragon, who was supposed to be merciless and emotionless, was taking care of Hitomi Kansaki, his target. It was ironic. Dilandu

really didn't care about Van's reasons for his sudden change. All he cared about was what he could get out of this situation. For a start,

he was going to torture the girl. That would bring a lot of pain to the Dragon. He couldn't touch him, but Dornkirk had said nothing about

hurting him emotionally. After finishing playing with Van, he would bring the girl to Dornkirk and get permission to kill the bastard. He

would Dornkirk's favorite and have everything he wished for. Life was smiling at him. Now, it was time to start building his future. He

approached the girl. Her eyes were unfocussed.

"Why is the Dragon with you?" the girl moved her head slowly. She was way to confuse to answer. Dilandu smacked her in the head and

grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him.

"I asked you a question"

"I don't know what you're talking about" Her voice sounded painful. Dilandu found this satisfactory. He had to admit this girl had guts.

He was dying to know how much pain she could resist.

"I saw you with him. He is looking out for you. He never lets you of his sight, well, till now. It is obvious he cares for you. He has never

cared about anyone. I wander what you did to change him" Hitomi was more confused. As far as she knew, Fanel couldn't even stand

her presence.

"I don't know what you are talking about" It was the truth, but he obviously thought differently. He punched her hard on the stomach.

Hitomi's body doubled and she fell to her knees. All the air in her lungs went out, and she was left breathless. Her eyes flashed angrily.

Dilandu's smile grew.

"I will repeat my question again. If you are intelligent, you'll answer it. Why is the Dragon with you?"

"His name is Van Fanel, not the Dragon" Pain flooded through her body as she hit a tree. She had never felt worse in all her life.

"Guess you are not intelligent, too bad for yourself. Do you understand your position?" Hitomi moved her head to the side. She was

refusing to answer any of his questions.

"Insolent idiot" Dilandu hit her on the face. Hitomi felt blood coming out of her nose. Her eyes started to fill with tears. She swallowed

them down. She wouldn't let him see her crying.

"Why is the Dragon with you?" Hitomi kept quite. She couldn't tell him what he wanted to know. Everyone trusted her to safe them and

Gaea. She couldn't let them down. She had to be strong. She suddenly wanted Fanel to be with her. She took a deep breath.

"You can torture me all you want. I won't tell you anything"

Dilandu lost his temper. He signaled for one of his boys to bring him his knife. The most horrible smile Hitomi had ever seen formed on his

lips.

"You can't even imagine what I'm capable of doing. I'm just getting started. What awaits you is beyond anyone's imagination. One last

chance, why is the Dragon with you?"

Hitomi lowered her head, preparing for what was to come. She prayed to all her gods to help her get through this, to give her strength.

She prayed for Fanel to come.

"Your choice" Dilandu said. He grabbed Hitomi's hand and sliced her palm. He started to go up her arm, his knife slicing her. He was

going to slice every single part of her body. He would have a lot of fun with her.

Van felt something he couldn't describe at first. He felt a desperation and pain that he was sure didn't belong to him. What was

happening? To whim did this feelings belong to? The answer came to him out of nowhere. Hitomi. She had to be in trouble. How long

had it been since she had ran away from him?

'I shouldn't have left her. She is my responsibility. I swore to protect her no matter what. I can't fail her' He was so worried about her

that he didn't even stop to think about what was going on in his head. He didn't even realize that he had called her by her first name or

that he didn't want to fail her, not anyone else but her. He ran as fast as he could; worry feeling every fiber in his body. He didn't know

where he was going, but he trusted his instincts to guide him to her. He had to find her and free her of the pain she was feeling. He didn't

care what he had said before; he couldn't let someone as innocent and pure as her know the darkest parts of life. He couldn't let her feel

what he did every day, hour, minute, second. He couldn't let her lose the smile that intrigued him most of her. He stopped as he heard

noises.

"You can't even imagine what I'm capable of doing. I'm just getting started. What awaits you is beyond anyone's imagination. One last

chance, why is the Dragon with you?"

Van knew that voice. He would have recognized it anywhere. No one else could own such as disgusting voice but Dilandu.

"Your choice" He heard him say. Van got closer to them so that he could see what was going on. What he saw almost made him lose

control. He was going to slaughter Dilandu. Hitomi was on her knees, blood was coming out of her nose. Dilandu was about to slice her

hand. Van felt a hatred he had never experienced before. He didn't want to hurt Dilandu because he couldn't stand him. He wanted to

kill him for touching her. He wanted to smack his head against a tree for touching her. He saw how Dilandu sliced her hand, and Hitomi

closed her eyes. She was biting her lip. Van could not control his anger anymore. Something inside of him broke. He charged against

Dilandu, pulling him away from Hitomi. Dilandu let out a surprise yell and called for his boys. Van drew his sword out. There was

something different in his eyes, something dangerous, almost insane. He needed to kill this people. He just had to do it; his body was

begging him to do it. He wanted their blood. It was like all reason had left his mind, and he had become an animal. He only followed his

instincts, and they were telling him to destroy. His sword went through one of the boys, and he turned to face the next one. He was a very

skillful swordsman, and these kids weren't a challenge to him. They didn't stand a chance against him. Dilandu got up. Hatred was all that

could be seen in his red eyes. How dare he kill his boys? He yelled in rage, and blocked Van's with his own. He wouldn't let him kill

another one. Dilandu's remaining boys turned to help.

"No, this is my fight, my battle, and only I will kill him"

Van's and Dilandu's swords met again and again and again, never reaching its target. They were both very good at fighting, and they both

wanted to kill the other one with all their souls. Hitomi let out a groan of pain, and Van lost his concentration for a fraction of second. It

was all Dilandu needed. His sword hit Van on his right side. I wasn't a mortal wound, but it hurt like hell. Van turned around and cut his

face. A thin line of blood appeared on his face. Dilandu slowly touched it. His grip on the sword grew stronger.

"Let's go" He turned around "I will get you for this, Dragon. You will wish you had never met me"

Before Van had any time to react, Dilandu disappeared. He wanted to go after him, but another groan from Hitomi stopped him. He

slowly took control of his body again. Three bodies lied around him. His lust for killing was satisfied for the moment. He tried to get up,

but pain brought him down. He put a hand on his side to try to stop the blood. He was getting very frustrated. A part of him knew he had

to be fine if he wanted to help her. He ripped his shirt and used it as a bandage. He then turned towards Hitomi. He inspected her

wounds. They weren't many, but they were all painful. He ignored his pain as he slowly carried her in his arms. He relaxed. She would be

fine, and that was all he cared about.

Hitomi woke up feeling like an avalanche had gone right on top of her. Every part of her body hurts. She opened her eyes and got used

to the darkness around her. She looks all around her. She was in a cave, wrapped around a blanket. A fire glowed in the middle of the

mini-cave. Something smelled nice. Great, that told her nothing. She sat herself with difficulties. How had she arrived here?

'Van… where is he?' Hitomi searched for him, but he wasn't in the cave. She was sure he had safe her. His image was the last thing she

remembered. She sighed. She was so tired. Red eyes, knife, hand. Hitomi raised her hand fast as memories of what had happened came

to her mind. She was surprised to find a red bandage around it. Hitomi remembered seen that kind of red somewhere else. Where had

she seen it before? She was too tired to think about it, so she let it drop. She wanted to sleep so badly.

'Why did Van safe me?' The thought made her tiredness go. He had told her he hated her and wanted nothing to do with her. Why had

he risked his life for her? Another much more uneasy thought crossed her mind.

'Why the hell am I calling Fanel by his first name? I must be much worse than what I thought' Last time she had checked, she still hated

him, right? The fact that he had saved her from that… thing didn't change anything. Well, something did. Now she knew that there was

someone worse than Fanel. The Universe had created a much terrible monster than him. She never wanted to see that beast in all her life.

She didn't know if that made her feel worse or better. She preferred to spend a thousand life times with Fanel. She was so confused!

Stupid Fanel, even when he wasn't close to her he caused her troubles. He was like a rock in a shoe. He never left her thoughts. He was

always there, making her life more difficult and hard. She wondered why nothing was ever easy.

"You should be resting. Pain is something I think you aren't used to" Hitomi jumped about ten meters.

"Why do you always have to scare me?" She crossed her arms over her chest. She hated how he always caught her off guard. Didn't he

know how to make noise? She looked at him from the corner of her eyes. He was cooking something. A small smile formed on her lips.

He had saved her from death, cured her injuries, brought her to a warm place, and was cooking something for both of them. She

shouldn't be so hard with him.

"What are you cooking?"

"Rabbit" Hitomi was going to faint again. He had responded. It had been a one-word answer, but he had never before followed a

conversation with her. The apocalypse was sure to be near.

"Is it ready?"

"Almost" He had answered again! For some weird reason, Hitomi felt happy.

"Hurry up, I'm hungry" He glared at her. She giggled. Her happiness disappeared when she remembered who he was talking to. He was

the Dragon.

"Did you enjoy killing it?" She said the question so softly, Van almost missed it. He went stiff. It seemed like hours until he answered.

"No" Hitomi was about to laugh, when he added "It wasn't a great kill"

Hitomi felt her hopes go down. For one second, she had actually believed he deserved a second chance. She had believed he was a

human capable of emotions. Fanel got up and walked towards her, bringing the food.

"Thank you" She started to eat, but stopped when she noticed he had less food.

"I have more food"

He ignored her.

"I said I had…"

"I know. You're healing, so you need more food. I don't want to delay any more, so you have to be strong."

'Idiot' Hitomi told herself 'I should have known it was all about his revenge. Everything is'

After she finished eating, she gave her plate to Van. He got up, but when he was about to walk, he went to his knees. Hitomi forgot all

her pains and went to his side immediately.

"What's wrong? Are you ok?" Van just groaned. "Let me see"

She grabbed his hand from his side and put it aside. She let out a little yell.

"You're bleeding. Why didn't you tell me you were hurt?"

"You were unconscious" Good point.

"Why didn't you take care of it?"

"You needed to be treated, and then you needed to be feed." Hitomi looked at him strangely.

"What? Stop looking at me that way" He turned his head to his side. Hitomi ignored his protests and put his shirt off. She blushed. He

was very well built. She quickly went for water and Van's bandages. She cleaned his wound as dedicatedly as she could.

"Sorry" she whispered to him when he made a face of pain. He turned to look at her, and their eyes locked for the first time in weeks.

Hitomi got trapped in his brown, cold eyes. She couldn't look away. They went deep into her soul. She wanted to look into them

forever. She felt the need to know everything there was to him. She had to break the spell in which he putted her through by just looking

at her.

"Why did you safe me?" she whispered. She was so close, Van could feel her breath. Something in his eyes change, but he looked away

quickly.

"I promised Schezar I would protect you from everything" Hitomi frowned. He never did anything for her. He didn't care about her. It

was always something or someone else. He never did anything for her. She finished bandaging his as fast as she could and went to her

piece of cave. She couldn't understand why she suddenly felt so sad. She was left wondering what she had seen in his eyes. Had they

suddenly gone warm?

I was going to continue this chapter, but I decided not to. It's already too long. Next chapter will have a lot of… jajajaj I won't tell you what kind of moments, but you can't miss it. And yes, they will get closer to Atlantis in the next chapter. There will also be some Dornkirk and Allen parts. I have kind of forgotten them. What else? Oh yes, we will know more about the heart of the dragon. I'll update before Sunday, but I don't know when, sorry. Oh, and please update. It makes me feel happy. : )