To Tame a Beast
Heh he sry for the wait... life is evil?
Chpt. 14 Shattered Glass
"What do you mean by that?" Dilandau growled leaning back in the chair, looking a crossed the table at Folken, who was flipping slowly through the pages of a small tattered gold book. Resting his head against his left hand, he waited quietly for the ex-madoushi to register his question. It had been exactly seventeen days since his short imprisonment on the Celtic ship, seventeen days since the discovery of who Rei really was. It had also been fifteen days, sixteen hours, and thirty-seven minutes since the female madoushi had in formed him that Rei had slipped into a coma like state. Something that she and Folken had reassured both Dilandau and Celena, was normal. Her mind would fall in to a coma state when her body had extreme blood loss, and external damage. He moved the fingers of his other hand impassion. Folken wrote something down on a page before flip back a few more to read something else. When he looked up at him, Dilandau could see the lines under his eyes indicating the loss of sleep. Something else that had become common these passed few days.
"Umm?"
"What do you mean by that, Folken." Dilandau growled again, becoming a little shorter tempered.
"Oh..." He shut the book and sat up a bit. "Emperor Dunkirk wishes for the four standing generals that are dealing with the Celtic problem to join forces and finally end the war. Two of them are meeting up with the Vione in a few days; the third will be delayed while the fortress is being resupplied." Dilandau growled curling his fingers in to fists, he was going to have to listen to the nonsense of White Fang's General, Jyle, and his side kick, the General of the Demon Clan, Deamor. "The plan is to hit full force against the remains of the Celtic army in the Tavnic Pass."
"Why the hell do I have to join forces with them?! I can wipe out the damn Celtic king on my own!" He jumped to his feet, slamming the chair down onto the metal floor. Folken didn't even wince from the sound, he was either too tired or to use to the sound of the boy's temper. "I've already taken care of more then half of the problems here, why the hell do I need them for!"
"Dilandau-"
"Bullshit!" Dilandau yelled turning on his heels and walked out of the study leaving Folken alone. Sighing, the ex-madoushi looked back down at the small book on the table. This was turning out to be a long and stress filled month.
He walked aimlessly down the halls not really picking out a point of destination. His mind wondered just as aimlessly from the cringing though of having to deal with two of the most annoying younger generals in the Zaibach fleet, and to the white hair she-demon that had been unconscious for so long. Dilandau wanted so much to yell at her, to strangle her for leaving them back then to the madoushis; for not trying to come back for them. Yet another part of him held him back from doing that. The part that was touched after all these years that she had kept his small token of gratitude for her help, the part that wanted to do something, but he couldn't quiet figure out what. As it seemed for the past few days, when he wondered mindlessly, he ended up outside the door to the room were his sister shared with the sleeping she-demon. He stood unsure whether or not to open it once again, or to continue walking aimlessly again until he ended up back here again later. The door slide opened as if to make up his mind for him, and he stepped silently into the room.
"In the years to come, the Auntruna Republic failed to keep its promises to the Auntrunian citizens, and a revolt happened in the early months of 68 B.N. The republic army was unable to suppress the revolt, and seven months later the Auntruna was over run by her neighboring country, Inviseia." The red haired madoushi, Aurora, read from a small book that was in her lap, as she sat next to the far bed. Rei was laid out on it in the same way she had been for the past sixteen days, not longer hooked up to a blood transfusing, or an I.V. Her voice read through the pages slowly, as he walked up to the bed, she didn't stop to take notice of him until she had finished the last of page. Closing the small book, Aurora placed it down next to the chair on top of several other books, each of different sizes. Sighing heavily, the woman rubbed the back of her neck before looking up at him. "There haven't been any changes yet, Dilandau. I will inform you once her condition changes."
"How long does she stay like this?" He looked away from the red head to Rei, her chest slowly rose and fell. There was slight movement under her eyelids for a moment before she became still again. Aurora moved to pick up another book that sat on the floor next to her.
"It depends... On the extension of shock her body is having to its injuries." She jolted something down in the small, dark blue book before continuing. "Not only do you have to account for that, but you must also count in any shock her body maybe having from withdraw of the drugs that are normally put into her system. I can give you an estimated guess... but that's about it." She watched him, he studied Rei for a few seconds more before turning around and walking out of the room. The door slide shut behind him, leaving her once again alone; with the sleeping she-demon. Rei's eyes vibrated under their eyelids, her breath slowly became deeper; like it had been just before Dilandau had walked into the room.
"Why is it......" Aurora turned the small pen in her hand. "That you do that every time he walks in here..." She leaned over and brushed Rei's bangs off her face. "Do you somehow sense him, in the dark corners of your mind that you run to? Or is it because of something else?" The door slid open again as the Dragonslayer, Shesta, walked in holding a small tray in his hands that held a small tea kettle and a cup. She stood up, readjusting the cloak that hung over her body. "Ah, are you here to release this poor woman from her shift of watch?"
Drifting in the darkness, she stepped back from the hurtful light; back among the shattered glass that covered the ground, as her bare feet made their way over each fragment. With each step she made, a piece cut the bottoms of her feet, making her gasp from the pain. She stumbled after a few steps, falling down on to the shattered glass that was below her. She cried out in pain, it shot up her arms, the glass cut her hands. Laying still in sobs, she slowly pushed herself up, looking at the reflection she could make out. The small, childish face stared back at her with deep sapphire pools, strains of short white hair fell around her battered skin. The light blue fabric of the all too familiar , a tethered lab dress hugged around her shoulders. Sniffing she pushed herself up again, still staring at the small, broken reflection, but something keep pulling her. Deeper into the darkness, were something lay, crying out from its own suffering.
"I'm coming......" She whispered forcing herself onward.
The wind whipped around them, they watched the world pass by below them. The brown haired one leaned against the railing, waiting for the black speck in the sky to become the floating fortress, Vione. The other, with shoulder length, black hair stood next to him, one hand on the railing. He smiled slightly staring out onto the horizon, the late evening sun gleaming down into the smaller fortress' landing bay. His white uniform glimmered in the sun light as he leaned a bit over the railing, looking below them at the soldiers running about.
"It's been a while since we've seen Dilandau." His friend laughed next to him, before standing back up again. "Think he's missed us, Jyle?" Jyle looked at him through his black bangs, before back down below.
"Are you kidding me? He's probably ransacking poor defenseless villages in shire anger." He waved his hand in the air. "You know just as well as I do that he hates our guts, Deamor...."
"Quiet," He looked at him with a shy grin, pushing his short hair back. "Man, I can't wait to get there so we can bug the hell out of him. It's been kind of boring these past few months without having someone to annoy..." The two of them laughed leaning against the railing, with their backs to the outside. The winds tossed Jyle's hair about as the two stood in a long silence.
"So... I guess you've heard too then, Deamor..." Jyle looked over his shoulder again at the speck growing large in the distance. "About the Berserker?"
"Yea..." He nodded slightly. "They assigned her there... under Dilandau's control. A little odd, don't you think, since he and his sister were projects too... You think that the madoushis are really coming down to their last straws?"
"Have to be..." Jyle frowned. "Didn't you hear what she did to General Mohan? Not just his men, but everyone on his fortress, dead in less then seven hours..." He straightened his glove slightly, and grinned. "This is going to be a quite interesting little run this time."
"What are you planning, Jyle.." Deamor arched his brow slightly. Jyle just slapped him on his back.
"O, remember when I told you that there was more then one way to kill a pyromaniac?"
"Yea..."
"Well... I think I may have us a better plan about finally getting Dilandau out of the picture."
The Dragonslayers stood together on the upper floor in the main hanger, watching the unloading of the docked ship. Melefs of different colors were being moved out of the ship in to the Vione, and soldiers were running about below them to see to the unloading. There in the middle of it all, they watched the three men standing still over seeing the whole thing. The two general's of White Fang, and the Demon Clan seemed to be engrossed in conversation that seemed to be annoying the hell out of Lord Dilandau. None of the Dragonslayers where going to leave the hanger to attended to the other things that had to be done; instead, they would all watch from a distance for the first signs of trouble. One would have to be completely stupid to leave Lord Dilandau alone on the Vione when the two most despised people any of them could think of where walking about on the Vione itself. They were one short; Celena was more then happy to volunteer to take the watch on Rei, will the rest of them stood watch over her brother. Guimel leaned against the railing watching will the others stood around behind him in a sort of silence.
"The next few weeks are going to be such a living hell..."Viole growled slightly and eyed the Demon Clan soldiers, who seemed to be having fun getting in the way of the Vione soldiers. "And we thought the past few weeks were a living hell... Man I can feel the tension growing in the air..."
"Yes, Viole a lot of things are growing in the air.." Miguel mocked brushing his hair back. Dallet smacked him upside the head, and murmured something to low for the others to make out, not that any of them were thinking to hard on what he said.
"Now, here's the puncher. What are we going to do?" Shesta walked over to the edge of the overhang and peered down at the three generals. "Having them two here is bad enough, but their men are going to be walking around freely on the Vione, causing as much trouble as they can. Remember last time?"
"Yea... They managed to sabotage four of our melef units, nearly killing me and Gatty in during a training session." Guimel answered, not looking back at the others, he ran his hand through his blondish-white hair. "They also boo-bee trapped one of the cargo bays so that a bunch of crates would fall on some of the night-shift officers." There was another, all of them alert to watch was happening below them.
"It's going to be hard... From watching Dilandau-sama, the White Fangs, and the Demon Clan, along with watching Rei; it's going to spread us kind of thin don't you all think?" Dallet said walking over to Guimel. "There are more of them then there are of us."
"Your right.." Gatty responded. They all looked at him, it was the first time he had said anything the whole time. Out of the six of them, Gatty was able to keep his head cool, and was always able to think of best course of action they should take. "We can drop the watch on Rei... The madoushi hasn't really done anything but watch her, on top of that Celena is normally in the room anyways. We'll rotate who watches what in pairs. They normally stay in groups, if any separates from the group; someone breaks from the pair and follows them. Guimel and Shesta will keep an eye on Dilandau, you two will make random checks on Rei, just incase. Keep the madoushi woman guessing. The rest of us will see two them..." He pointed down at the soldiers in the white and pure black armor.
"Sounds like a good plan..."
Celena folded the blanket slowly, watching the woman across the room. Her red hair fell down off her shoulders as she bent over to pick something up. It felt sort of odd, to be sitting, willingly, in the same room as one of THEM. Well, being alone with Folken was something different even though he was once a madoushi, but here was this ex-madoushi, sitting in her room watching over her sleeping roommate. Aurora tossed her hair off her shoulders and she sat back up, with a small notepad in her hands. Still watching her, Celena laid the folded blanket over the end of her bed, Mayonaka was half asleep on it; gray eyes barely open enough for her to see that he was partially awake. Smiling, Celena patted his head before plopping down on the bed next to him. The past few days, the poor wolf had been sitting in this room, either on her bed or Rei's when the madoushi wasn't here. He seemed to be waiting for something, once in awhile Mayonaka would pace about the room, whining. Half sighing, she looked back at the madoushi; everyone else was out on the hanger watching carefully as the two other generals came aboard. Nothing was going to be peaceful on this 'stupid-floating-piece-of-rock' fortress for a while. Everything has been going so... oddly then it normally does. Sure, this little thing with 009 still being alive is WAY to far from a normally day in this hell hole, but having all the generals in one place at a time. That was just asking for a complete disaster.
Dilandau may over look the way the other generals hold grudges against him, but she did have to look too hard to see it. Her brother was the one of the youngest generals ever in the history of the entire planet. There is somewhere, written in a book that states the regulations of the Zaibach military, that one has to be a reasonable age before becoming a general, even if they met the requirements at an age younger that. Jyle Humozi and Deamor J'Lona were qualified to become generals when they were fifteen years old, but because of the age requirements, they had to wait five years before anyone would actually give them that position. It was different for Dilandau. There was no military rule ever applied to him, not regulations that Dilandau was set against. The day he walked out of the Black Towers, he had been given the rank of General. Not only was Dilandau given that, but he was also given charge of a superior attack force, the Dragonslayers. This force had been something Jyle and Deamor had been competing for since their days in the training camps (another thing Dilandau and she luckily got out of having to do). Not only did this infuriate the two that had work so hard to get so far and only be shot down, but what had gotten them in the end didn't stop Dilandau from making the general rank. Dilandau had been ten years old when he walked out of the Black Towers away from the reach of the madoushis. And thus the rivalries started, or well if you can call them that. Jyle and Deamor always seemed to enjoy making their stays living hells. Their men even help in the whole thing, will their generals worked on infuriating Dilandau, their men used their free time to bet on the Dragonslayers. This, because of Dilandau tough training, was hard to do unless they all ganged up on one slayer.
Grinding her teeth together, Celena watched the madoushi write something down in the small notepad. Then, on top of that, there was always a bet to see who could humiliate her first. This was why Dilandau never really let her go anywhere on the Vione alone unless she was accompanied by someone else, which most of the time was either Gatty, or Celena just followed Folken around. At less hiding in her room would always be an opinion, and with Rei out of it, made it a very reasonable excuse for not attending anything around the Vione.
"You know, doing that to your teeth is a bad habit to get into.." She nearly fell out of the bed when Aurora's voice cut through her trail of thought. The red haired woman was looking at her from where she sat before looking back down at Rei and writing something else. "Well, at less your habit isn't as bad as Folken's, when he gets annoyed by something..."
"Folken....Annoyed?" Celena arched her brow as she looking at the woman. Sure, Folken could probably get annoyed, not that he ever showed it. Hell, sometimes it was like a game of interrogation to even figure out if he was having a good day. Aurora smiled slightly and laid her pen down.
"Ah, hard for you to believe then? Maybe he only does it around me." Frowning slightly at the woman, she looked down at the notepad. There was an acquired silence between the two of them for a few moments before Celena spoke.
"What... does he do?"
"His claw, he taps profusely on tables or the arm rest of a chair." She rolled her blue eyes. "And most of the time the table or chair was made out of metal! The sound is soooooooooooo annoying!" Aurora waved her hands in the air. "You also can tell when he's a little bit happy, because the he has this funny little smile that you can barely notice, unless you look closely. Then ends of his mouth sort of curl up! Though if you ever getting him to laugh, he becomes a lot more relaxed.. Though it's hard to do that, he has a very strange sense of humor. Though, th-"Celena smiled slightly listening to the ex-madoushi speak, the woman seemed to become more relaxed as she continued to speak. The past few days must have been hard on her, always being watched by one of the Dragonslayers. For a second you could say there could be pity on Celena's mind, but with a glance at the figure on the bed only brought the reminder of what this person had once done for a living. Still the woman knew more then Celena had put together on Folken in the past few years, so she listened intensely to what Aurora was saying. From what she seemed to know, the cracks one could find in that cold mask that Folken had created. It lead her to began to wonder just how long she had known Folken, if she had know anything about his past, the blanks in his life that he would never share. Also, as the small pain pulled at her heart, if there was anything between Aurora and him.
"How...... long have you known him?" Celena asked finally, ending a small easy silence that had over fallen the two as the ex-madoushi wrote something in the small notepad.
"Known Folken?" She looked up at her from a moment before looking back down at the pad in her lap. "Um.. I met him at my wedding with my first husband... He was about... o, sixteen I think. I was in charge of him until he got the hang of things in the Black Towers... He was a sweet kid before it all..." Aurora shook her head sadly at something before returning to writing. Celena forced herself to not smile; she was married, or was in a matter of speaking it explained the small ring on her hand. Mayonaka whined slightly jumping up off the bed and walked slowly to the door. When he stopped, he looked back at her, and whined again.
"Better take him were he wants to go.." Celena jumped off the bed still in her little world. Skipping out the door, Aurora watched the blondish- white haired girl leave.
"Ah, the bliss of a sweet romance.." Aurora shook her head, taking a recording of Rei's heart rate. "Sometimes I wish I had brought some romance books to read to you. Some fantasy might just bring you away from mask you've created too." Sighing she stood up, and laid the notepad on the chair behind her. She looked over the woman laying in the bed, even in her sleep; she didn't lose the sense of a beast waiting to pounce. Or maybe it was all those years working with her that left that impression. Sighing again, she turned for the door. "Sleep tight, Specimen 0, I have a call to make."
Openly yawning, Jyle stretched slightly, watching one of the Vione's crew shout orders. Dilandau's arms were crossed in front of him impatiently waiting for him to continue. The sun had long since set passed the mountain range in the distance, leaving them to stand in the light produced from the hanger. From the corner of his eye, he could see all of the Dragonslayers up on the upper floor, watching them. Jyle could also see that two people were missing from the small group of boys. Dilandau's sister, Celena, who in the past had always proved to be entertaining at times, but more importantly someone he had been looking forward to getting a glance of, the project 009. Though, ever since they had stepped about the Vione, there had been an eerie sense of presences. He could see that his men were a bit jumpy because of it; it felt like dragon watching and waiting for the right moment to attack. In the far back of the Vione's hanger loomed the only evidence that she was even here, the black Isponal Guymelef. Jyle looked back at Dilandau, who had become aware that he had been looking behind him at the Guymelef; there were fine lines of anger forming on his forehead. His red eyes glistened with small flames that burned with in, becoming more fumed as the silent moments passed.
"I would think we should retire for the evening, Lord Dilandau.." Deamor suddenly said, ending the silence. Dilandau's silent flaring eyes looked from Jyle, who now wore a smirk, to the brown haired boy that stood next to him. "It will take another 17 hours for the Yuom'a to be unloaded, after all."
"O.." Jyle said looking up again at the Dragonslayers. "and unlike you men, who seem to find passing their time interesting in the hanger bay, ours have training in the morning."
"Jy-" Dilandau started to snarl, but was cut off by Deamor, who was thoughtfully looking up at the ceiling.
"And without Skylar being here, we can't plan our means of attack. He won't be here for another few days..." Deamor walked slowly past Dilandau making his way to one of the corridors, waving a hand in the air that signaled his men to move out. "It's best that we don't waste our energy arguing about it now wouldn't you say?"
"Agreed..." Jyle followed leaving Dilandau to stand alone in the hanger, watching the two of them leave. Both of them could feel the hatred that burned into their backs from the red eyed demon that watched them. One out of ear shot, Jyle took one last glance at the Dragonslayers as they began to disband from where they had been watching. "It seems they are going to follow us around more closely then last time, Deamor."
"O well.." his companion said wistfully, as the come around a corner. "She wasn't up there was she?"
"No... She could have decided not to join the others on the upper hanger floor. I doubt, with her reputation, that she cares about what happens to him.." Jyle dismissed any train of thought with the wave of his hand. "But she's here, didn't you see the Guymelef in the back on the hanger?"
"Seen it..." Deamor said, as he shivered involuntarily, "And felt it...."
The door opened as someone walked into the room. Folken didn't bother to open his eyes to see who it was. The small headache was troubling enough, maybe it he sat there with his eyes close the person would leave. The patter of claws against the metal floor echoed as something walked it. Its low whine of displeasement made him open his eyes a crack to look at the door. Standing in the hall way was a silhouette figure; bend a ways over the silhouette shadow of Rei's wolf.
"Shush, Mayo! You'll wake Folkie up!" Celena's voice playfully whispered. Mayonaka whined again before looking ahead into the room, and then walked slowly in, mixing in with the rest of the shadows. He closed his eyes again, hearing Celena begin to move about in the study. The door shut behind her as she stepped in, her foots steps echoed as she moved about. He listened to her moving about slowly, the echoing steps of her steal toed boots stopped behind him. For a moment there was the silence that he had been enjoying for a while before she came in. The nighttime breeze moved the curtains that hided the opened balcony. Her arms lightly wrapped around his shoulders, as she stood behind him. He could feel her warm breath on his check as she bent down slightly, Folken allowed his mind to slightly wander as he waited for Celena to 'wake him up'. Annoyed, she blew air into his ear. "Folken, I may be a bit dense, but I'm not that dense. I know you're awake...."
"And yet you yell at the wolf?" He said softly opening his eyes, and looked at her from a side glance. She just stuck out her tongue at him, and stood up again withdrawing her arms. He watched her was she walked around the room slowly, studying the books on the shelves as she past them. Mayonaka moved from his hiding place and walked to the door, whining. "Aren't you supposed to stay in your room unless accompanied by one of the other Dragonslayers? I know your brother dislikes the idea of you being by yourself with the other two generals walking around."
"Hush, Mayo!" Celena said, slightly ignoring Folken's question. Plopping down in the chair across from him, she set her feet up on the table smiling. "I'm not alone, Mayo is with me!"
"I don't think the wolf counts, Celena...." She just stuck her tongue out at him.
"I think Rei was training him to be an attack dog. He growled at one of the Demon Clan soldiers when we walked by him.. Scared the hell out of the boy he did!" She laughed to herself, leaning back in the chair. The wolf seemed to sigh to itself before it turned away from the door and walked over to him. He rested his head on Folken's lap, grey eyes pledging to be let out to the room. Using his claw had, Folken scratched the wolf behind the ears, without realizing it. The wolf's tongue just rolled out of its mouth as it patted, moving its head to the side to be scratched. "Anyways, I got tired of being in my room, all day with that lady-"
"Aurora.."
"All Aurora does is read to Rei or write stuff down.. And all Rei does is lay still in the bed, breathing!" Celena snored, dropping her legs down off the table and slumped down in the chair. "So I came up here to see what you were doing... That and Mayo wanted a walk.." The old grandfather clock that sat bad somewhere in the room struck ten, the chimes echoed in the small room covering up Celena's groan. "Ah, man! It's ten already......"
"You may want to start back to your room now, Celena... It's a pretty good chance your brother is going to have you up really early tomorrow..." Mumbling something to herself, Celena stood up and slowly walked to the door with her shoulders slumped. He watched her, half controlling a smile that played on the back of her lips as she looked down her shoulder and glared at the wolf, who had refused to leave from his spot to follow her out the door. With a final scratch on his white fur, Folken withdrew his hand so that the white wolf would go trotting after Celena, who was now standing in front of an open door. The grey eyes glared at him for a few moments, daring him for something. Amused at something Mayonaka just stood and walked to Celena. Turning his head to look at him, the wolf's tongue rolled out of his mouth periodically licking his lips before disappearing down the hall. Celena just rolled her eyes at it, before looking back at him.
"Night, night Folkie!" She blew him a kiss before the door shut behind her, leaving him alone once again in the darkness of the study.
"Are you sure?" Her voice carried out into the room, becoming absorbed by the shadows. She stared down at the metal floor not looking up at the screen in front of her. The light from it slightly illuminated the room, enough to make her shadowy figure noticeable. Pulling on her cloak that shielded her body from the light, she waited for the answer from the person on the other side of the screen.
"Yes ma'am..." Her blue eyes looked at the maid, who was looking questionability at her employer. Blond hair slightly falling out of its bun from the hard day's work, hazel eye glancing past the woman she was speaking to. "We have been trying to contact you for the past seven days..."
"Alright... I'll be returning on the Yuom'a in the morning. It shouldn't take me more then a few days to arrive in the city." Sighing deeply she turned away from the screen; she raised a hand over one of the three half pillars that where in the room. "Hold everything up until then."
"Ma'am.." The woman said again, before she could turn if off. Turning her head slightly looking through the red locks of hair that had fallen over her eyes; she fought off the need to glare at the poor woman. "What about the arrangements?"
"There in my office.. Send my daughter to get them.."
"Yes ma'am." The screen clicked off, and she was submerged in the shadows.
"Come on Mayo, in the room!" Celena called behind her walking into the darkness of her room. She could hear the patter of his claws against the metal floor, and the light disappeared as the door closed behind him. Finding her way in the darkness, she flopped down on her bed. Mindlessly kicking off her shoes, Celena pulled the covers of her bed around her. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could make out the other bed in the room, and the still figure that lay upon it. She could see the shadowy form of the wolf walking over to the bed, the 'clicking' of his claws echoed in the room. Sleep began to may her eyes heavy as she watched him; he whimpered lying down on the floor next to the bed. Celena rolled over in her bed, and began to in the darkness of sleep she missed as the fist bits of movement took place in the other bed. There was a low grasp of pain, Rei began to toss in her sleep; the nightmare began to cause her body to toss about as the old forgotten memories began resurface.
(Dream)
Her sniffles were the only sound that moved around about echoing off the stone walls. She could hear the sound of water dripping off in the distance down the hall outside the steel bars that enclosed her. Alone and lost she buried her head into the light blue fabric of the dress she wore. It gave very little warmth for her in the cold room; if she stood the small thing would only go to her mid thighs. Not that she felt like standing, arms wrapped around her bare legs she shivered in the cold as she cried. There was a squeaking sound, someone opened up the door, but she didn't look up at the intruder. She could feel him moving towards her, looking down at her. Shivering involuntarily, she tried to control the sobs that left her lips.
"Hey there... What are you crying about?" Her head snapped up at the unfamiliar voice, a voice filled with something she couldn't understand. Sapphire pools looked through blurred vision at a dark haired boy. Studying his face she was in 'A' over the unfamiliarity that had entered her cell. Small lips set of an evenly toned face; high check bone brought out his the golden set of eyes beneath the long strains of black hair. He knelt down in front of her and held out his hand to her. A human curiosity ended when the realization of danger worked its way into her battered mind. Scrambling away from him, on weak legs barely able to hold herself up, she moved to the wall farthest from him. Subsisting herself into the shadows that the torn light from the hall couldn't brake. His golden eyes watched her in surprise and question, she moved away from him. He didn't pull his hand back, but held it out a little more to her. "I won't hurt you.. Please come back out.."
She didn't move from her stop, her eyes studied him. There was a slight movement as he inched closer to the shadows where she hid, but once the inhuman hiss left her lips he stopped moving. He just looked at her, though the shadows for a while before withdrawing his hand. He looked about the small cell, eyes periodical coming back to her. His golden eyes finally settled on the broken jug in the corner near the door, next to it an over turned plate of food. They seemed to focus on a few moments she could feel some strange emotion wash off of him before his eyes looked to her.
"I don't like to eat that stuff either. You never know what they put into it..................Was that why you were crying?" He asked after a long silence. He turned towards her again, this time pulling something out of his large gray shirt that hung over his body, and rubbed it against his gray pants. Holding his hand out to her again, she could see the small purple ball in his hand and smell something sweet. Her stomach growled lowly in acknowledgement, she inched slightly forward then froze. He frowned a little when she stopped. He took the small thing, and bit into it. She watched him chew it slowly before swallowing, and then he held it out to her again. "See, there's nothing wrong with it.. If there was why would I eat it?"
She snatched out of his hands faster then he realized when his hand came even to her. Weak legs gave out from holding her up for so long, but she didn't care as she bit down savagely at the small thing. The juices ran down on to her hands, making them sticky, curling her legs under herself she turned to look at the boy, who was smiling slightly at her as he watched. In the back of her mind, she began to calculate escape plans if he tried anything, and habit that had been in forced on her to survive. But all he did was study her, seeming to try and figure something out.
"You're a girl right? It's sort of hard to tell, they always have the younger ones with short hair... and dressed in long shirts like that.. Though you look to be the youngest I've ever seen here, you must be no more then three years old..." Her eyes blinked listening to him talk. He turned a bit and sat down next to her, with enough room so that she didn't feel threatened. His voice echoed about, he continued to talk, after it seemed to her that he was only talking to hear his own voice. Though oddly it seemed to convert her as slowed down her eating, the stick juices smeared all over her face. Then he looked over his shoulder at her, and smiled. "O, I haven't told you my name yet have it? It's Condse of project 002... You see I made it up myself sense I can't remember my really name. It's actually the word second with the letters scrambled around a bit.. I was getting tired of called specimen 2 you see..." He took His finger a word out the word 'second' on the dirt, then he his name out 'condse.' "I know it's silly but hey it's a name, being called by numbers makes us sound so 'inhuman'. What's your name?"
She looked at him questionably and she stopped chewing on the piece of fruit. This male seemed to be quiet talkative, his mouth seemed to be moving a lot, and some of what he said didn't make a whole lot of sense. A 'name', this wasn't something she could understand quite well. But something she was called by, that was the only thing from his lips that she could understand. She looked down at the purple disaster in her hands thinking. What was it she was referred to, called and she answered to it by moving? She moved her mouth to speak but could find her voice, throat to rasp from the crying.
"I figured you couldn't speak..." He said after a moment, he hadn't been looking at her when her lips moved. He looked her over again, and frowned. Being so close to him now, she could see the small numbers etched onto his shirt, 2 of 002. He seemed to be search for something, but sighed in annoyance when he couldn't find it. "No even a number on you. Are you new here then? They haven't decided what cruel fate should lie before you?" She frowned at him annoyed and angered by the tone in his voice was something she recognized and hated, envy. Tossing what was left of the' purple sticky' (as she had so fondly named the thing) she moved her hand over the dirt in front of her. It stuck to her finger as she moved it about. She could feel his golden eyes burn into the dirt that she wrote on. Sitting back, she waited for him to read out what was written. "'Specimen 0 of 009, Project head: Kane.' So...your one of the first?"
(Jump in dream)
The thunder crashed somewhere out side, its light flashed through the small barred window, giving light into the dark room. She stood, afraid to move, staring at the wall on the far side of the room. A large said moved about, as it swung over its surface. The shadow of a body, suspended over the ground held up by a smaller shadow. Froze stiff she could bring herself to look up words, the small pitter-patter of water drowned out all other sounds. The sounds of shouts and the cell door opening was oblivious to her, she fist clenched to her sides. Someone grabbed her from behind, pulling her out of the stiff shock as she fought to be freed.
"Stop it you little rat!" The rough male voice yelled at her as she bit his hand. "Get it down!" Her sapphire pools looked up by accident away from the floor leave she had been looking from to the back of the room. With another flash of lightning she could see him. Swollen hand fell to the sides of the large blue shirt; black, unwashed hair fell around his face. It was the sight of that, that made her stomach turn over, and the animal like scream filled the area. His golden eyes seemed to-
(end)
The crash of lighting filled the room, covering her scream as jolting up in the bed. Cold sweat covered her body. She shook uncontrollably, gasping for breath. Hands balled into fist on the white sheets, her eyes stared out across the room through the locks of hair that had fallen in front of her. Another crash of lightning caused her to nearly jump out of the bed, she cried out as the images in her made continued to replay themselves.
He heard the thunder crash outside his balcony as the door to his room shut behind him. Sighing heavily from exhaustion, Folken took off his cloak and laid it over the back of on to the wooden chairs in the room. He loosed the collar of his uniform, and look about his quarters. Someone had left a plate of cold meat cuts and a bowl of fruit on the table in front of him. The curtains were slightly pulled over the glass doors, somewhat blocking out the lights from the Yuom'a. The Vione had increased her altitude into the clouds, which where now creating quiet a thunder storm. Sighing, he looked at the plate of cold cut meat, and then to his bed. Stress and exhaustion won the small debate he held in his mind or a few seconds and he walked over to his bed. Sitting down, Folken worked off his boots half-mindedly when a small knock came on his door. The random thought of ignoring the person at the door ran across his mind until another crash of lightning echoed in the room. It could probably be Celena, frighten by the sound of thunder looking for a set of arms to shield her from the demons that ran in her mind, to afraid to bug her brother who was anger by the arrive of the two other Zaibach generals. Standing he walked to the door and punched in the code to unlock it. As it slide open he wasn't welcome by the sight of a frighten silverish-blond haired girl, but a red headed woman leaning against the door frame. The uniform jacket undone to revile the black shirt beneath it, her hair tossed about in a mess, and a red bottle of wine in one hand with two glasses in another.
"Aurora, what are you-" He started to say when her blue eyes looked up through the long bangs that covered them.
"You up for a drinking game? I don't think any of these kids could last me a good one... Well maybe Rei but she's out of commission for the awhile." She waved the glasses about a bit, she smiled at him slightly. "O doesn't give me that look...."
"It's late Aurora, what are you on Gaea-"
"I WANT to HAVE a DRINKING game... Is that a crime these days?" Her eyes sharpened a glare at him, a playful frown formed on her face. "Come on you old stiff, when's the last time you got drunk enough to knock the boots off the dead?" Shaking his head, he moved over and Aurora skipped in to the room, the door closed behind her. Neither of them noticing the figure hidden in the deep shadows of the Vione corridors as it submerged again in the shadows, disappearing.
Growling, Dilandau kicked the thing closest to him as he walked into his room. He threw his armored jacket onto the back of one of the chairs in the room, and tossed his red shirt to the floor. Falling on his bed, he worked angrily on his boots. Damn them, damn them all to hell; was the only though running though his mind as he envisioned burning Jyle and Deamor until there was nothing left. Sure, Dilandau hated working with other generals in an all off set, he could most of that time stand working with them. But, them two? The first thing that had always come onto this mind when ever one of their names were said, as to cut the person's head off that murmured their names. Rain began to fall against the balcony doors, making the sound echo inside his enclosed room. His mind was to busy planning Jyle and Deamor's deaths to notice it until the sound of lighting crashing rumbled his room. Surprise Dilandau nearly fell off the bed as he pulled off his last boot. Cursing himself for being too absorbed to notice the changes around him, he leaned back on the bed, leg still hanging over the edge. With the steady patter of the rain, Dilandau's mind began to drift slowly off to sleep, but before he could a low, small tapping at his door drew him back to the world. He slowly began to recognize the noise he heard, he slightly cursed. Celena was probably frightened again, over her fear of thunder that was likely. Rolling his eyes he walked slowly to the door and punched in the number into the padlock. Before he could hold out his hand to his 'sister' Dilandau froze for the girl standing at the door wasn't who he thought it would be, not in a million years. Standing out in the dark corridor with nothing more on then the white 'hospital' dress on, she stood with her arms wrapped around her body trying to control the shaking. The deep sapphire pools looked a little to the side of him, ashamed of standing there, yet to afraid to do otherwise.
"Rei......."
GA1: Falls dead on desk.
Dilandau: Pokes GA1 With a stick before looking at Rei I think she's dead....
Rei: shrugs Her own fault for drinking to much coffee...