The Dragon Priestess

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Happy Sunday my wonderful readers! How are you guys liking the new chapters? Today we have a new episode and I tried to kick up the cute and the comedy. I can't wait to hear what you guys think about this new update so don't forget to review and I'll see you guys next Sunday!

Chapter 10: The Diabolical Adonis pt. 1

Van stared down at Brooke who was just lying in the dirt. Part of him wanted to go to her. To wrap her up and tell her that she was okay. The other part of him was just really embarrassed.

Why did she have to make that scene?

She had been getting increasingly stranger as the days went by. Now she was getting… visions? That wasn't… that just wasn't normal. Was this what every person on the Mystic Moons was like?

Already he could see that Allen's men were slowly backing away from her. Whispers of Curse and Mystic Moons reached his ears. Old Wives tales. That's all they were. But he knew all about the weight the word curse carried. He didn't want Brooke to shoulder that kind of weight but he wasn't sure how to protect her from it if she planned to continue to shout stuff like around big crowds of people.

Van watched as Allen's guymelef kneeled and then was forced to watch as he hopped down to go to Brooke who was still on her back on the ground, her hands pressed to her face. The heels of her hands were pressed deeply into her eyes for some reason. She was also muttering to herself. She was too far away for Van to actually hear her but he had a feeling she was muttering about her vision and about them.

Allen practically sprinted the distance to Brooke, though it wasn't far. He pulled her hands away from her face, or at least he had tried to she didn't really let him, as he asked: "What's the matter, Brooke?"

Great… great… why was this man so god damn obsessed with Brooke? Especially since he had told her that she was his wife. That would have made her the queen of Fanelia if that were true and yet this guy was all over her. In Fanelia it was grounds to have him killed.

Van kind of did want to kill him.

Not just because he bested him in the guymelef match. Not because Allen was Balgus' protégé, and clearly had learned the ways of sword fighting much better than Van had. Not even because Allen was way too attentive with Brooke.

No Van was mad because this guy had shouted the exact same thing that Balgus had always shouted.

You don't charge aggressively enough.

God he was so sick of hearing that.

He watched as Allen tried to pull her up but Brooke firstly shoved herself away from him and then slapped his hands away so they could return to her head.

"Stop it," he heard her clearly order. "My head hurts and your voice is making it worse."

Van half laughed, she even sounded like a queen.

But Allen wouldn't let her go. He got her sitting up, propping her up against his knee and asked her again what had happened or if anything had hurt.

Then she straightened again. Oh, here we go. It was going to happen again.

"You need to run. You need to gather everyone and get far, far away from here! The invisible army is coming and they're going to burn all that get in your way."

Well she wasn't yelling anymore. That was good. She was talking about fire again though so it wasn't all that good. Fire and future. Not exactly good things to be talking about. Especially since there was no way to back up her claim.

For a second Allen just stared at her with concern but then it turned into a patient patronizing smile. "I'm sorry. Perhaps seeing two Melefs fight was too much for you."

"What?"

"The stress of the fight and possibly the heat of the sun have gotten to you. We should take you inside and get you resting."

Oh, oh, here we go. See, even Van knew that was stupid. Brooke was made of sterner stuff then most ladies. Granted she had been disgusted by being covered in dragon blood, but she had endured the entirety of that fight and hadn't had a single episode once.

Though she did warn him of an impending attack… huh… maybe visions of the future were normal for her. Maybe that was common on the Mystic Moons, though he would have thought if it were common place she might have warned him about it, or at the very least mentioned it in passing.

Brooke stared up at him, leisurely blinking her eyes as if she couldn't quite believe what had just come out of Allen's mouth.

"Okay… so wait… I just told you that the invisible giants that attacked Fanelia are going to come here and burn you guys down too… and you think… you think I have heat stroke?"

Allen seemed to falter, probably because of her tone, or maybe because he didn't know what heat stroke was. Van would have to ask her what that meant later.

Brooke shoved herself out of Allen's grip and stumbled to her feet.

"Okay I know it sounds crazy!" Brooke cried, clearly starting to see their side of the situation. "But I'm really not. I saw it. It's going to happen I just can't… like… prove it!"

"Uh… Well… what you're saying seems uh… a little unbelievable."

Brooke stared at Allen for a second and then turned her searching eyes to Van as she called his name.

Great she wanted to get him involved. He wasn't sure what she thought he was going to do but she clearly expected him to back her up. He just wasn't certain he could… no matter how much he wanted to.

"It's fine. She does this," he said though it wasn't true and he had no way of possibly knowing that. "This is normal. It's just… something she does, just ignore her."

Now that was getting him perplexing looks from those around him and one dark glare from Brooke.

"I was right about Fanelia though, wasn't I?" she shot back and Van scowled.

"Wait… she prophesized Fanelia burning?" Allen asked him but already Van was looking away. It seemed silly to admit it now but… but she had. And he hadn't believed her then either. Though, to be fair, she hadn't believed it herself. Told him it was a nightmare.

"No. It was a dream and it was completely different from… from… whatever that just was!"

He wouldn't have thought it possible, but Brooke's glare darkened. "Thanks Van. Thanks for the support."

She was being sarcastic so he merely sighed and pointed his eyes anywhere else but at her.

"She's from the Mystic Moon," someone announced to the crowd. Van inwardly groaned. Goddamn it. Here we go. "And everyone knows that place is cursed."

And there was that cursed word again.

Van didn't even have to look to see the panic sweeping through the men around them, to see that these strong men were backing away from Brooke. A harmless woman. Simply because they were afraid of a curse. They all started to quickly whisper amongst themselves. Wondering if she was right. If something was going to happen.

"Enough!" Allen shouted jumping to his feet and silencing his men. "Soldiers of Asturia aren't afraid of old wives' tales."

He then turned back to Brooke and offered her a hand so he could usher her inside and away. "I apologize. Forgive them their rudeness. You are obviously very tired. I really must insist that you rest inside."

Brooke had tried to avoid his hand, but he had reached for her elbow and tried pushing her away, towards a different man who'd take her inside. Brooke successfully got herself out of his grip and away.

"No thank you," she said carefully. "I want to stay where my… husband… is."

You know, up until then, Van had gotten a little bit of a thrill, both when he called her his wife and when she called him husband. But uh… yeah, the way she said it that time… that didn't give him a thrill. He had a feeling he was in a lot of trouble.

Van, however, wasn't destined to find out if he was in trouble with his fake wife. Someone called out for Boss and then a man frantically rode his horse through the crowd to get to Allen.

"Is that a horse?" Brooke suddenly asked and Van almost wished he was beside her so he could shut her up before she made things worse. "Why does it have a beard? Isn't the mane supposed to be on the top of it's head?"

Luckily Allen ignored her and so did the man who had just rode up. "What is it Teo?" he asked.

"We caught someone suspicious out in the forest."

"Suspicious huh?"

And as if heralded by Allen's suspicions the men with the prisoner rode up. Van squinted his eyes. It was a cat.

A cat with Merle's colors. And Merle's hair… and her nail file.

Wait a second… that was Merle!"

Van shouted her name and then jumped from Escaflowne, shoving his way past Allen and Brooke to get to her.

Yeah, he'd probably catch hell for that later, but he didn't care. Not even a little bit. He just wanted to get to Merle.

He shouted her name a few more times, watching as the men who had caught her, took her carefully off of the horse as she seemed to be unconscious. Well at least they weren't being rough with her. When she heard him, when she realized it was him, she practically came alive.

Suddenly completely awake she literally jumped out of the man's arms despite her hands and feet being bound as if she were trying to jump to Van. She however ended right down in the dirt.

Van slid to a stop, dropping to his knees immediately starting to undo the ropes. Once he got her free, she could turn to face him and he pulled her onto his lap.

She gripped the front of his red shirt as he took stock of her. She looked to be alright though her dress and her fur seemed to be quite singed. Nothing looked broken or too badly burned, but that didn't mean she was completely alright.

"Oh Lord Van! I finally found you!"

Yeah, yeah, he missed her too but they had bigger fish to fry at this moment. "Merle, what about Fanelia?"

Because he wasn't certain he believed Allen. His country couldn't have been burned. It couldn't be.

"It was horrible."

Oh… oh no… already this didn't sound good.

"It burned. It all burned to the ground," she told him, tears falling from her purple eyes. And then she started sobbing into his chest. Van could only hold her to him, numbed by this discovering. Knowing now that it had to be true, because Merle would have never lied to him. Not about this.

"All the samurai at the castle were killed… the survivors were scattered. Everyone was gone. I was so alone! I tried so hard to find you, Lord Van, I was so… so scared."

And then she went limp in his arms. The stress of it all and her injured had probably gotten to her. Had she rested since this had happened? Had she thought to take care of herself? Probably not, she was probably only worried for him. She was stressed, scared, and running herself ragged.

He held her a little more tightly to his chest, hoping that, even unconscious, she might feel his embrace and be comforted.

"Merle," he whispered to her. "I'm so glad you made it."

Did this look weird? Oh hell yeah. But he didn't care. Merle needed him more than Brooke did right now. Or… at least… he thought she did.

Unbeknownst to Van, while Merle talked, Brooke was transported once again.

It was like she was right back in Fanelia. Right there, with Merle, watching her beloved city burn. Watching as that beam of light transported both her and Van out of the city, bearing down on them and vanishing almost instantly.

It was like one of those scenes in an Alien Abduction movie.

Except Brooke… Brooke was burning up. Like literally. She felt like the fire was trapped in her skin and she didn't know how to get it to go away.

"No… not again…" she whispered to herself. "Why is it burning? Why does it feel so very hot?"

As the world around her went dark, she wondered if maybe Allen was right.

Maybe she did have heat stroke.

Kaydence sat outside the control room. Folken was on with the Emperor again and since she had made little to no progress in her magic lessons and had just been bested by her sister, Folken thought it best that she not stand in attendance beside him like she usually did.

Don't want him asking questions that warrant complicated answers.

What he meant was that he didn't want to tell Dornkirk that she was failing. That she was letting them down. That someone who probably held more potential was on the planet.

He was protecting her, and if she didn't feel so crumby about her current predicament she might have been excited by this. Folken protecting her meant that he cared, right?

She stood, leaning against the wall, waiting for the door to open and for Folken to return to her, when Dilandau found her.

"What are you doing out here? Aren't you usually inside?"

"Yeah, except I'm a big fat failing failure and he doesn't want his majesty to know that."

Kaydence usually tried to hide it but she couldn't help it. Emperor Dornkirk gave her the creepy. Like major, major bad vibes. She might have left Zaibach entirely if it weren't for Folken. Or more accurately her unrequited love for him.

She wasn't sure what it was about Dilandau but she felt like she could trust him with all her secrets. And well… he hadn't let her down yet.

And just like before she laughed at her tone, playfully, not manically or evilly like he was prone to.

"Mm, well, maybe that's a good thing. Bout time he showed some interest in you."

Kaydence blushed and looked away which just made Dilandau laugh a little harder, maybe a little more manically. He had guessed her feelings for Folken straight away.

Figured it out from one look. He had kept her secret though which was very nice of him, but he took it upon himself to antagonize Folken. Mostly because he didn't really like Folken's aloof attitude, but partly because he wanted the man to smarten up and realize that he loved his apprentice.

But Folken was never going to do that. Kaydence's love was going to forever be unrequited

The door to the projection room opened and Folken came out. He looked at Kaydence first and then his gaze slide over to Dilandau almost accusingly. As if him being outside with her was a dirty, nasty thing.

Dilandau waved at him almost sarcastically. "Simply wanted an update," he said with a cheeky grin on his face while Kaydence kept her gaze on Folken's impressively sharp cheekbones. You could cut glass on his cheekbones.

"What did he say?" she asked softly.

"He says distortion has begun to appear in the image of our ideal future," Folken admitted. "I'd bet that this distortion started when Brooke arrived on Gaea, but I said nothing. He thinks it's tied to the dragon and is insistent that we get it back."

Dilandau nodded and immediately turned to walk away. "Where are you going?" Folken snapped. He was never impressed by anything that Dilandau did and was quick to criticize him. Kaydence often thought that maybe… he might not like Dilandau because he was jealous of his relationship with Kaydence. Especially since Folken had never had to share her loyalty and affection before. But, in reality, Dilandau was quick tempered, cocky and he had set Fanelia on fire when Folken had expressly told him not to, so really… it was probably that.

But a girl could dream right?

"Where do you think I'm going?" the younger male snapped back causing Folken's frown to deepen. "To launch an attack. We know where the dragon is located after all."

"Asturia is our ally," Folken reminded him.

Dilandau just shrugged. "Such a pity. But you see… if we wait for the politicians our prey will get away."

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

But Dilandau didn't answer that question, he merely shots Folken a smirk and said: "If we use your stealth cloaks, they won't be any evidence that Zaibach was behind the attack, right?"

What a ridiculous question, of course there wouldn't be. And Folken clearly didn't like that Dilandau was right and Dilandau knew it too.

That smirk widened. "I think you'll like the souvenir I'll bring back for you, Stratego."

Aw and he even used Folken's Zaibachian name. Folken only went by that when he absolutely had to. Not even the Emperor called him by the name he had given him.

Dilandau had officially won, he could have left it there, but as Kaydence watched his smile grew, she knew he wasn't. He had something else to say, he wanted to needle Folken even more.

"Maybe I should take Dance-attack…" "—Her name is Kaydence and you will address her as such." "…with me. Bout time she saw battle? What do you think?"

Folken stared at him with a look so severe and dark it could have killed Dilandau where he stood.

"The deal was that you could teach her the ways of battle but she was to stay off of the battlefield…"

"I wasn't asking you," Dilandau said turning to Kaydence. "What do you say doll? Don't you think it was time you were inducted into the ranks of a solider for real?"

"Her. name. is. Kaydence!" Folken suddenly roared, grabbing Dilandau and practically throwing him across the hallway and away from her. "She is my apprentice not yours and I am more than done with your unentitled familiarity with her. Now, you can stick to the deal we have or I can rescind your access to her!"

She put a steady had out to Folken. It was so rare to see his temper and to see it rear it's head simply because Dilandau asked to put her into harms way emboldens her more that it should.

"Stop Folken," she whispered to him. "Stop. It's alright. I won't go."

Without even looking at her the rage ebbs away. As if all he needed was those words. He let go of Dilandau and took a step away.

Dilandau doesn't even seem phased by what had just transpired. He simply turned his gaze onto Kaydence and said: "If you say so… Dyvina."

And now he had used her Zaibachian name, even though she never went by that either. He said nothing else but walked away leaving her and Folken together.

Oh there was so much she wanted to say to him.

Thank you for saving me. Thank you for protecting me.

I love you.

"I don't like how he treats you," Folken blurted out to her. Which is shocking because compared to what Dilandau was usually like he treated her wonderfully.

"Funny… he says the same thing about you."

Folken was stunned by those words, she can tell because he jerked like she had hit him. And then he just stared at her, his eyes wounded and she almost took it back. Except she pulled on Dilandau's teachings and instead held her ground.

Folken said nothing to her though. He merely turned and walked away.

Well… that hadn't gone as expected. What was she supposed to do now?