Thank you to everyone who read the first chapter, set up an alert and/or favourited the story so far.

Also a big thank you to serenityrain2233 for the review.

Here's the 2nd chapter. Hope you enjoy and please do let me know what you think xx

Chapter 2

She stared blankly at the graves in front of her, with water dripping from her hair as rain poured, soaking her clothes. The fresh mud covered them now compared to two days earlier when they lowered the coffins in. It still didn't feel real until they'd been buried. It wasn't fair. If she has some inkling she would lose them after 3 years, she'd have stayed in Gaea. Especially after what she'd been through and how hard it had been to re-adjust to her life.

At first it hadn't been too bad, her conversations with Van helping to fill the void that friends left behind when they stopped talking to her as they got use to the fact she had quit tarot readings. Her senses had been so heightened from Gaea though, leaving her to react quite fearfully when they were triggered even by minor things. Her classmates alienated her until only Yukari and her family were all she could talk to.

When the connection to Van began to fade, loneliness set in. Whilst he continued to speak of their friends and Celena, she could only tell him about running and her family. When the connection disappeared 8 months after her return, she was in full on depression. Yukari had been the one to break her out of it with a little help from Hitomi's father. She had told them everything and whilst the family thought she was having 'daddy daughter' outings or sleepovers with Yukari, she could talk freely. With their help, she managed to feel normal again. She could move on and fought against her senses & instincts. With hindsight, she wishes she hadn't or she wouldn't have been blind-sided like she had been that day.

Her eyes had been focused on the TV until she heard Yukari's breathing even out. Looking over she smiled seeing she'd fallen asleep. They'd met up early in the morning to spend the day together. Now they were finished with school and heading to University, they were going different directions with their lives. Yukari would be leaving in a few days to join Amano in England to spend 2 weeks with him before she was due to start University. Yukari had planned the day together as they're last proper hang out and she knew it was her friend's way of showing they'd remain friends despite the difference.

They'd gone shopping and then headed to their favourite café. Lunchtime she'd felt off but had put it down to being tired. They'd come back to start the movie part of their sleepover early and found no one was home so they'd set up camp in the lounge. Now Yukari was asleep she began to worry. No one had come yet and it was getting late. In fact, it was already late, it was dark out. She moved carefully as not to wake Yukari as she got up and walked over to look out the window, just in time to see a pair of headlights pull in. Dread filled her and she hurried out towards the door, throwing it open to watch her father and Yukari's get out of the car.

"No…" she whimpered.

"Hitomi, let's go in…" her dad started as he walked over to her.

"What happened?" she asked with a raised voice, loud enough to wake Yukari.

"There was an incident in the city…"

Her father was interrupted as Yukari came out rubbing her eyes and groggily asking what was going on until she spotted her own father, "Dad? What are you doing…"

"Yukari we should go home," he stated gravely.

"I'm not going anywhere," she stated defiantly as she held Hitomi's hand, "What's…"

"Something happened in the city," Hitomi whispered connecting the dots, feeling crushed and angry at the same time.

Yukari looked at her feeling shocked before it registered and her eyes began to water. Hitomi caught her as her knees buckled and held onto her tightly.

"Who?" Hitomi asked seriously without looking at them.

"Let's go inside," her father urged.

"Who died?" she yelled as her rage consumed her.

"Your mother and brother were caught up in it. They died on the way to the hospital," he answered defeatedly.

"Amano and Yukari's mother died at the scene," Yukari's father added.

3 weeks later all 4 were buried. It turned out Amano had come back a little early to take Yukari's mother out to shop for an engagement ring. They'd bought it and just left when the multi car crash happened, started by an out of control car and car's trying to dodge it. They'd been crushed by one of the cars, a 4 by 4, into a wall. Hitomi's mother and brother had been hit by another car but that hadn't been moving fast enough to cause too much damage, just knocking them to the floor. It was the car the drove them that had done that, they'd survived long enough for her father to get to the hospital and see them.

The 'incident' had caused havoc but she had gone numb to everything around her. Yukari's father had taken Yukari away that night and hadn't let the girls meet or talk again until the funeral. Then he'd whished her away as soon as it was over to a new house in a different town with the excuse of needing space. Her own father was distraught but he was keeping it together whilst keeping her together. But from her dreams, she knew one thing at least. She'd paid the price for someone else's wish and it was someone on Gaea.

She didn't want to spoil her visit to her mother and brother's graves by letting her anger get the best of her, so she looked at her surroundings only to see it all go grey, like she was in a black and white movie. She balled her fists as she turned slowly.

"Hitomi…"

She whirled round when she heard the familiar voice to the person standing beside the graves. She hadn't seen them in 3 years and now they showed up out of the blue.

"Varie you better have a good reason for being here," she growled out.

"There's no need for hostility Hitomi," Varie said gently.

"This isn't even close to hostile for me anymore," she stated trying to keep calm.

"I wasn't expecting to find you here. Are you visiting your grandmother's grave?"

Hitomi looked at the woman in shock. Varie worked with fate, alongside it, for it. She should have known everything due to it. Unless… there was an ulterior motive to this meeting.

"Are you serious? I buried my mother and brother 2 days ago and you don't know about it?"

She knew she sounded patronising. She didn't care that she sounded patronising. She'd dealt with so much 'shit' and this was breaking her limit. Varie looked at the graves in shock before turning back with a look that she could only describe as pity on her face.

"I'm sorry this…"

"Wasn't supposed to happen? Yeah I figured that out just now. Why are you here?" she demanded.

"I came to ask you to pass a message onto Van as I can't contact him directly."

"Oh you really don't know anything do you," Hitomi asked a little gleefully, "You've had the wool pulled over your eyes enough that you don't even know I can't speak with Van. I haven't been able to speak to him for 2 years and 4 months now. And for the record, I am not your goddamn messenger."

"Hitomi…"

"You aren't getting it. I'm not interested in anything you say or want from me. Go away," she growled out turning to walk away only for Varie to appear in front of her instead.

"I'm sorry for your loss but another war is coming to Gaea. They need…"

"To fix it themselves. I already got pulled into one war and I've suffered the after effects of it, not them," she shouted, "I have lost family and friends because someone on that planet made a wish that even fooled fate. I don't have to do a single thing for any of them."

"Please just lis…"

"I said GO AWAY!" she screamed, her anger reaching a height she didn't think it had. But as she screamed the last part a circle of fire appeared to surround her and pushed out like an explosion but sticking to the floor, ridding her of the connection to Varie.

She couldn't even take a moment to be shocked or checked if that had just happened as her consciousness began to leave her. She blacked out quick enough that the only thing she registered before she completely gave in was that someone had caught her as she fell.

The person held her carefully as they studied the burnt grass around her. He'd witnessed the whole thing. Her breathing was laboured but at least it was already beginning to calm. Whatever had set her off had brought something new in the girl to the surface. They looked over at the gate to see her father heading their way.

"We'll make it right Hitomi. Just hold on a little longer," they stated, "Then we can tell you everything."

They lifted her up as her father began to come up the hill. They walked to meet him and gently gave him to her.

"Thank you," he stated.

"It's not a problem," they answered, "She's family after all."

Van sat in the chair looking across the table at Millerna and Allen. He had Celena sat next to him for the meeting as he had other times when she sat in on his meetings. Currently they were all waiting for Dryden to arrive. He was late by an hour already so they could only assume he got stuck doing some last-minute research as he'd been known to do in the past and with the new issue that was starting to arise, the research would be helpful. The reports they'd all been getting from a few remote locations stated mercenaries calling themselves the 'Soldiers of Fortune' were attacking small villages and taking children, never to be seen again.

Allen was concerned it had the potential to start another war hence they'd all agreed to meet in Fanelia but Van's concern was Celena. After his mini-meltdown when the last of the connection broke to Hitomi, he'd come out the other side feeling less guilty about the choice he had to make. Celena had been with him every step of the way helping him through it selflessly as always but the dynamics between them had changed. However, he hadn't been blind to the anxious behaviour she'd been showing since then but there was something else to it that he wanted to question her about. He just had to wait until he could get her alone.

His attention was conveniently pulled to the doors of the meeting room before he's thoughts side-tracked like they were prone to for the last week. Dryden had finally arrived with a book in hand.

"It's about time," Millerna huffed.

"I'm sorry I was doing some last-minute research. You'll thank me for it too," he answered as he walked over to take his seat next to Celena much to Millerna's annoyance, "So where are we starting this?"

"Allen can start since he's mainly received the reports," Millerna offered.

"We've got reports coming from all over about the 'Soldiers of Fortune'. No one knows where they come from or where they take the children after they quell any resistance. They're hitting remote locations that can't be easily reached when they're in trouble. What we also know is they have only 2 out-dated guymelefs between 15 men that they rarely use in the attack. They are just for show."

"Out-dated guymelefs? Is there such a thing?" Millerna asked.

"Not usually but that's because they're broken apart to build new ones. I believe Hitomi called it recycling but if their out-dated, they've been out of circulation a long time," Dryden offered.

"Well they don't give us much on the uniform other than it's too old for them to guess what it is but for the most part they're covering them with animal hide clothing," Allen explained, "Although the report from the furthest location was the only one to mention this has happened before. They've had several similar occurences over the years but they were sporadic. It seems they're getting closer but the name is a new thing. Gaddess went out alone to gather more information for me."

"So the most concrete information we have is that they're keeping to small villages and that they have out-dated guymelefs," Van asked.

"And that it sounds like it's been happening for longer than we realised," Millerna added.

"Did the reports say anything about the men themselves?" Celena asked, "If it's been happening for years then something must stand out about them, specifically their age."

Van and Millerna smirked at how shocked Allen was. His mouth had dropped to go with it. Van was very glad he had let Celena sit in on his meetings. She had a talent for thinking outside the box when they spoke about them before and it intrigued him enough to take her to the first meeting. She's shocked his advisors too and became an unofficial member whenever she was in Fanelia. Her views had him wondering sometimes if her talent was something she'd picked up whilst she'd been Dilandau.

"The reports did say something odd about the men," Millerna said.

"And what was that?"

"They work in rotation but they were always the same men when they spotted the rotation. Like they didn't age," Allen explained quickly, "They keep speaking about putting Gaea back on its original course. That they are guided by a higher power."

"Sounds like Dornkirk all over again," Van groaned.

"This may tie-in nicely to what I found," Dryden stated, "I was wondering how to connect my information to this until Celena's stroke of genius."

"You're welcome," she said.

"Don't say that just yet. I need to try pick what memories you have as Dilandau," he stated.

"Dryden," Allen warned.

"It's ok brother," Celena said gently.

"Great. I need to see how much Dilandau was taught about Zaibach's history. Very early history."

"A lot but I don't quite remember it all," she answered, "I was given the same lessons but I was too young to remember them."

"What about Dornkirk's first guard?"

"No," she answered feeling uneasy as the seconds went by.

Since no one knew she had Dilandau and their memories didn't merge, she needed him to tell her his memories when they asked about them. The fact that since the connection broke to Hitomi, Dilandau was disappearing every other day and of a night when she slept was scaring her enough. She was beginning to think she was going to lose control of her body again. Today was a day she needed him to fill in the blanks.

Dryden opened the book to a page and showed it to her. Her eyes were glued to the symbol instantly and although it was familiar and she recognised it, she really needed Dilandau.

"It's familiar so he must have known about it but I can't… What is it?" she asked

"It's the symbol of Dornkirk's secret unit, his first unit. You could call it his first army for all intents and purposes. It disappeared one day and was never seen or heard from again," Dryden stated.

"Dryden don't be cryptic. Tell the story," Millerna urged clearly aggravated he was drawing it out.

"We all know Dornkirk was looking for Atlantis and a way to change fate. Even succeeded at it almost. We lived it, we know the full story of that. If it wasn't for Hitomi we wouldn't have known, he was a scientist from the Mystic Moon. A scientist who learned how to use the magic of our world and start alchemy. But what we know wasn't the start and it links to another myth on Gaea about the Draconians."

"What myth? Van is the only one," Millerna said.

"And Van would like to hear this," Van stated with a smile, "My mother didn't tell me much."

"So while I've been on my travels, I did some research which is how I found the myth. When Atlantis was destroyed or in the process of it, Gaea was created and Draconians became the descendants of Atlantis," Dryden started.

"We know this part," Allen stated already fed up with the theatrics.

"And that Atlantis is hidden on the Mystic Moon," Celena added, "Wouldn't it stand to reason Hitomi would be a draconian?"

"Not quite. Draconians are known as angels on the Mystic Moon. They don't exist there," Van stated.

"She could be," Dryden corrected, "Am I going to keep getting interrupted I'm repeating information for a reason."

"Carry on," Van said.

"So when Gaea was created, Atlanteans became known as Draconians. The stigma had to come from somewhere. Gaea was created with the intention that they didn't repeat their mistakes. So, surviving Atlanteans and Humans would have had to have come from there to create the stigma on Draconians in the first place. The humans who came over would have had to have known about Atlantis to ensure nothing remained of Atlantis on the Mystic Moon."

"Dryden get to the point," Millerna stated getting a bit of a glare from Van. She may be older but she was still a Princess. He was ranking royal in the room.

"Fine. I'll keep it to point rather than give you the full detail," Dryden huffed, "No questions until I finish the bulk of it."

"Fine," Millerna stated.

"Atlantis here, mythical city destroyed by its people and the Draconians, who become known as Harbinger's of doom, go into hiding. On the Mystic Moon, Atlantis is a mythical island that was sunk under the ocean when it fell out of favour with the gods. Draconians are known as Angels. Saviours sent from heaven. Collectively it's all correct to a degree," Dryden explained, "The first Draconians and people here came from the Mystic Moon. Those who had seen or knew that Atlantis was real would start the stigma here after being brought here to hide Atlantis on Mystic Moon without fear of its technology being used again. The people on the Mystic Moon would view them differently but the Draconians wanting to ensure their mistakes were never repeated, go into hiding after being persecuted and keep an eye on both worlds. When either get close they stop it. The Draconians because there was so many who had escaped, create a hidden kingdom and inaccessible to outsiders unless they were open-minded. A rare few would travel to the Mystic Moon and others would travel across Gaea."

"The lost Kingdom," Van murmured.

"Heard of it?" Dryden asked.

"My mother would tell me stories to cheer me up when I couldn't understand why I had to hide being a Draconian. Stories of a city or kingdom, hidden from the rest of the Gaea. More advanced than the rest of the world but like it as well. Draconians thrived in peace but it was buried. She said it was a story she was told."

"So if the Kingdom exists why didn't they stop Dornkirk?" Celena asked, "Is it that they stopped themselves from getting involved in our affairs or they didn't see it coming before they were prevented from getting involved if they wanted to?"

"You should be my assistant. You ask all the right questions," Dryden joked, "It's a combination of the two involving Dornkirk's first unit known as 'the Crusaders'. Probably named after something on the Mystic Moon. From the few documents, we found from Zaibach, Dornkirk didn't look for Atlantis to begin with because he wasn't planning to change fate then. He'd built Zaibach up from nothing and was still in good health when he heard about the stories of Atlantis and the lost kingdom here as well as Draconians being real here. He initially thought the lost Kingdom was Atlantis. So, having heard the story on the Mystic Moon, he decided to look into it. He sent his 'Crusaders' to conquer the kingdom but out of 5000 men, only 1 came back stating it buried itself. That was when Dornkirk devoted himself to finding Atlantis and changing fate as his health suffered. It's believed the lost kingdom made a pact with all the old kingdoms that they would get involved only if they believed they had to. But when our kingdoms wanted more control, they made a deal. Freid would hold the power and become the power spot from the remaining power sent over from Atlantis for the lost kingdom to stop getting involved at all. That's how the kingdom became a myth and the 'Crusaders' were buried with it. Dornkirk had anyone killed who knew the location so only he knew it. That information died with him."

"So, it's possible these Soldiers of Fortune are from that army or descendants of it?" Allen asked.

"They could be but I'll need to do more research into the Kingdom itself since we don't even have a name for it," Dryden stated.

"You said Hitomi could be a Draconian though," Millerna stated.

"What did you mean by that?" Celena asked.

"I almost forgot about that," Dryden said, "The lost Kingdom was ruled by a Queen. She became her own myth but I'll get to that in a bit. I came across a text whilst trying to find it about the Wing Goddess."

"Who overseas Gaea and can change the fate of the world as she sees fit?" Allen asked bored.

"Our father told us stories about it. The one bedtime story I remember," Celena added.

"Said to hold the power of divination and visions. Like the Queen of the lost kingdom and like Hitomi," Dryden said.

They all sat there quite sombre from the information. It was Celena who recovered first but only because she could feel Dilandau beginning to return. It had raised her anger level through the roof.

"So what do we do now? Wait for Gaddess and do more research before we can make an informed decision?" she asked.

"Seems like it but it does look like we're heading towards another war," Dryden stated.

"I'll…"

"You can't Van. You don't have an heir or a Queen to leave the Kingdom to," Millerna stated, "It's not like last time when you were forced into it and we don't have Hitomi this time. We wouldn't be able to track you or them."

Celena glanced over and couldn't help feeling sympathetic when she saw the frustrated look on Van's face. But she was still also reeling about how Millerna had made it sound like Hitomi was a weapon to them rather than a friend.

'What did I miss today then?' Dilandau asked.

That's it for this chapter. I'll be posting the next chapter in about 3 weeks time and again, please do let me know what you think so far xx