The Dragon Priestess

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Happy Monday my wonderful readers. Why am I posting on a Monday, you ask. Well, cause after I finished with my renos yesterday I passed out. Completely forgot to post this chapter. So we're getting it a day late. But you know what, we've got a wild ride for this chapter, so it's longer than the others. Don't forget to tell me what you think, and I'll see you guys on Sunday. For reals this time.

Chapter 13: Seal of the Brothers pt. 1

The guymelef in red kept shooting fire at him. Which was searing compared to the cool night air that was whipping through him as he tried to lead these nutjobs away from Brooke and Merle and the others. He hadn't actually been hit by the fire yet, but having it fly past one's face, it sort of felt like one was getting burned.

A noble sacrifice. That's what this was. His life to protect others. Like Allen had said a Samurai's life was for. Like Balgus had done for him. Except… with any luck he wouldn't be dead by the end of it.

A flash of fire his one of Escaflowne's wings and Van had a terrible time trying to straighten his guymelef out what with the wind going haywire and the hit throwing him off balance. But you know, for the first time flying his guymelef he was going pretty freaking good.

They reached a small cliff face and Van changed back into regular guymelef mode. He had only been on the ground for a couple of seconds and another jet stream of fire hurled past him. My god these guys just wouldn't quit.

Van turned to meet them head on, he figured himself far enough away from the group for them to be safe now. He watched the red guymelef drop first, followed by the little fleet of blue ones behind him and then he watched as one by one they went invisible.

Those no good dirty cheating bastards.

He could hear them moving towards him but he couldn't seem them, didn't know where they were coming from. All he could see was fire and smoke.

And then he was pinned. Like literally. Something had grabbed his arms, he couldn't move, couldn't defend himself.

"Darn!"

That didn't quite emphasis the fear and the anger he felt but it was all that came out of him at that moment before the red guymelef became visible again before him. For a second he wondered how Brooke would fare now that it was clear she was on her own.

Dilandau's took great pleasure in revealing himself in front the Escaflowne so that silly little pilot to see him. He was elated of course. He had caught him. He had finally caught the Dragon! And he wanted the Dragon to witness his own downfall. No stealth cloaks for this one.

"You set yourself up as a decoy to let the others escape, huh," he said mostly to himself, though if he was loud enough the pilot would be able to hear him. He hoped he could anyway. He wanted this pilot to know exactly why Dilandau was going to do this. "Well you know I just can't stand heroics."

And then he punched that cockpit over and over until the guymelef dropped down to his knees.

Dilandau was surprised. He had only hit him a handful of times.

"He's down already?"

Wow, what a weakling.

"Dilandau!" came Folken's annoyed voice over the intercom in his guymelef. Dilandau sighed he really wished he could break that thing and then he wouldn't have to listen to Folken at all. "I thought I told you he was to be captured alive."

Yes, Folken had told him that, didn't mean Dilandau had to listen to him.

Still Folken had managed to remind him now so he was going to have to stop. "I was just having a little fun, Strategos."

The flying fortress became visible and Dilandau sighed, now he was going to have to get the lump of metal up to the fortress. Maybe he shouldn't have knocked the pilot out.

It took a while and some maneuvering, Allen had managed to dock his guymelef and make it to the bridge, before they managed to turn the Crusade around and head in the direction that Van had flown off in.

Brooke and Merle had generally gotten in everyone's way and on everyone's nerves in that short time as well.

Brooke tried to help, she offered to hold tools, and when they told her to just stay out of the way she went to cheering them on because she had no idea what else to do with the nervous energy that had built up inside her.

And everywhere she went Merle followed after her, like if she didn't have Van to shadow it was going to be Brooke. And Brooke was fine with that cause it made her feel a little better to have someone who knew her, you know for more than three days. She didn't feel completely alone with a bunch of male strangers. Though, for every question Brooke asked, Merle added a: "Yeah!" after it. That part had been slightly annoying.

They had been flying, way too slowly for Brooke's liking, into the mountains. Maybe a half hour in they found fire and that was her and Merle pressed against that glass looking for any sign of Van.

Fire didn't mean he was dead, right?

No, somehow, and she didn't know how, she knew that if he was dead she would have felt it.

"Is there any melef wreckage?" Allen asked, though he too was looking at the same damage she saw.

"I don't see any," Brooke said though would she know what a melef wreckage looked like?

"You don't suppose that Van was…" Merle started but Allen shook his head.

At the same time both Brooke and Allen said: "No."

For a moment they stared at each other before she went back to looking out the window, desperate to get some view on him or maybe catch sight of where they might have gone.

Allen continued, however. "No, I'm certain that they won't kill Van. They say that only a King of Fanelia can operate an Escaflowne."

Okay, so Van was the only one who could operate his guymelef, but why did they need him then? It was just a guymelef? Couldn't they just get their own? Was Escaflowne like a limited edition or something?

"Okay but what does that mean? What do we do?" Brooke asked.

Allen hesitated. "Well… as much as I'd like to go after him, if we don't know where they're going there's not much we can do."

"So, we're just going to leave him?" Brooke asked way too shrilly for her own good. She saw the men around her wince at the sheer volume of what came out of her. "He just sacrificed himself to save us and we're going to leave him? What kind of knight are you?"

"Brooke, I need you to get a hold of yourself. There is no need for hysterics," Allen said putting his hands to her shoulder and Brooke paused. She stared up into that handsome face and knew that she had two choices.

And she went straight for dramatics. Sure she could have calmed down and maybe helped the situation a bit, but considering they all knew she was new to the fucking planet and had just lost her only friend, he didn't have to talk to her like she was a child throwing a temper tantrum, or that she was freaking out over nothing. Yeah, if he thought she was being hysterical before, he was gonna be shocked by what was coming next.

She slapped his hands away from her and then pointed a stern finger up into his face.

"Okay listen! I know two people here, okay? And that is Van and her," she cried pointing to Merle. "And she is mean!"

Merle stuck her tongue out at her but otherwise said nothing while Allen stared at her, clearly confused as to how to deal with her.

"Now I think, after everything we just went through, I am allowed to be a little hysterical, don't you think?"

"Well I suppose…"

"No, no. I'm allowed to be hysterical. I'm on a foreign planet, I don't know how to get home, the two places I've been to have burnt to the fucking ground around me, and you've just told me that the bad guys have Van and we have no idea where they've taken him!"

Allen nodded. "Yes, but…"

"And you have no way of tracking them, no way of figuring it out and the only plan you have is aimlessly flying around until we find them or just give up."

"Okay wait a second…"

"NO!" Brooke thundered. "We need to find Van and we need to find him now!"

She had stomped her foot with that last word and, all of a sudden, she was no longer on the bridge of the Crusade. It was like her panicked need to see Van again had answered some sort of call in her. For one second, she was on the bridge and the next, she was in a greyish landscape of her own design, where a familiar raven-haired boy was becoming clearer in front of her by the second.

Dilandau and Kaydence followed after Folken. Folken had demanded silence, so Kaydence had given it to him, but Dilandau had not.

"I've sent out search and destroy teams. They can't return to their homeland. There is no reason for us to hide anymore. We can't fail."

Kaydence shook her head. She had had a bad feeling all day, which was why Folken wasn't keen on moving them until further notice. But even she knew he wasn't going to say that. Even if Dilandau whole-heartedly agreed with her feelings.

"We'll wait for your men to return again. Carelessness will not be tolerated."

Dilandau sighed heavily like this was all boring him. "If you're that concerned you should have let Kay-girl go with the last team," he said trying out another new nickname. Kaydence scrunched up her nose and shook her head at him which just got Dilandau to scowl and roll his eyes. "With her intuition I bet she'd find them in a heartbeat."

Well, maybe. Her intuition wasn't always spot on, but it usually was. She had a feeling though, now that her sister was here and messing with her powers she wouldn't be able to get a clear read on where she and the other survivors were.

Folken stopped walking and turned on him, a dark scowl painting is otherwise handsome features. "I've already told you…"

"Yes Kaydence is not suited for combat but this isn't combat…"

"But it could be, so we're not chancing it. Let. It. Go."

Dilandau sighed again and Kaydence smiled at Folken. For a moment he rewarded her with a soft smile before he cleared his throat, turned around and started walking again.

They made it to the dragon guymelef, the same one from all her hours of scrying and Dilandau decided he wasn't going to let Folken have any of the silence he wanted.

"Well, anyway, with this in our hands our future will be secure. Let's just drag the samurai out of there and destroy the thing."

When Folken said: "No!" Dilandau was confused, but Kaydence wasn't. She knew who and what this person was to Folken and she knew that, even though they were on opposite sides, he didn't want to see him get hurt.

But she also knew that if this person resisted, Folken would have no problem illuminating the threat. Which was exactly what she would have to do if her sister continued on the path she was going.

"I cannot allow that," Folken continued.

"Wha… why not?" Dilandau whined. He was always in need of a little bloodshed, but it was getting worse as of late. Like meeting the dragon had kicked his bloodlust into overdrive or something.

"Not until we fully understand why this is threat to our future," Folken said. "Do you understand?"

Dilandau didn't understand but he groaned in response and Folken took it as an agreement.

He put his hand to the guymelef's energist and it began to glow. But not in the right way, it was an off glow like it knew this wasn't the right person, but still it did as Folken asked. Opening up the cockpit and forcing the boy inside out. The boy flew out, dropped to the ground, groaned a bit then just went limp against the cold metal of the platform they were on.

Dilandau went to stand over him and then just stared at him, drinking in his features before recognizing him. He then pointed at the body at his feet.

"This was the boy… the… the… manager!" Dilandau cried.

Right, so her theory was right. She stopped being able to see him the second Brooke entered his life. She really was messing with her powers, and right from the very second she came onto the planet most likely. Or maybe just the second she had met him.

"Yes, Fanelia's new king."

"Really?" he then turned to Kaydence. "Your sister married a king."

Kaydence blinked her eyes and then glanced to Folken who seemed confused. Well… wasn't that just a kick in the teeth. That couldn't bode well for their perfect future… now did it?

Van woke up to a strange shadowed room and to a person whistling a Fanelian tune. A tune his mother used to sing to him all the time, like all the time. In fact he hadn't quite heard that song since she had died.

For a moment he just lay there on the bed and then the panic came back and he remembered. Remembered that he had been taken captive, remembered that he was in danger and just like that he was bolting out of bed.

Whistling meant someone was with him, so as he bolted up he cried: "Who's there?"

There was a man standing across from him in this black robe. He had short blue hair and angular features but that was all Van could see of him. Even when he turned the man's face was made of nothing but deep shadows.

"How do you know that Fanelia song?" asked as the man approached the bed Van was still sitting on.

But the man continued to say nothing and Van was getting increasingly unsettled. And then he noticed his sword.

The idiot had just left it there on the table. He eyed the man hovering at the foot of his bed for a second and then made a mad dash for it, getting it in hand and unsheathed within seconds.

He smiled to himself as he pointed the gun in this man's direction. "Okay, how about leading me to my guymelef? NOW!"

The man laughed and once again turned around to face Van who had gotten behind him to get the sword. Van didn't like that.

"Do you think the Zaibach soldiers will give in to such threats? You cannot escape from this floating fortress, my brother."

Kay this man was not his brother so he needed to cut it out with that nonsense.

But the man had a point. They weren't going to let him go, he wasn't going to escape and it wasn't like he could hold out and hope that Allen and the others managed to find him wherever the hell he was and rescue him. And he didn't want to be their pawn to be used against people. So…

"If the only way to live is as one of your pawns, then…" Van put the blade to his neck ready to end his life.

He kind of felt guilty doing it, poor Brooke would be all alone. Well, not alone, she was with Allen, he had a feeling she'd like being left alone with Allen. In fact he was almost bitter about it.

But he paused, before he could slit his own throat with his own sword the man had pulled his own and disarmed him.

Well. Shit.

"Never throw your life away so easily."

Well damn why did he care so much? What did Zaibach want him for? He almost asked him that but the man was stripping himself of his robe to bare his muscular chest and the metal arm he had attached to himself. He said nothing except to turn his back on him.

Van could only watch as wings were revealed to him and he realized exactly who it was who was standing in front of him.

"What… bro… brother?"

It couldn't be, Folken was supposed to be dead. But he recognized him now, recognized the blue hair and the harsh angles and the wings, but something had changed his once happy brother. That smiling teen he had once been was all but gone. This was a stranger and Van was still shocked that he was alive when he had thought him dead for at least a decade.

In the silence after the reveal Folken put his robe back on, but didn't fully turn to face his younger brother yet.

"It's be a while," Folken said as if this was a normal social call. "Ten years, isn't it?"

Well at least he could still count. But Van was absolutely flabbergasted by the appearance of his brother after so long and he wasn't about to let that go.

"I'd always believed that you… you… you hadn't run away from the Rite of Succession. That you died fighting the dragon. That you didn't turn your back on it and had fought it to the very end."

When Folken wouldn't look at him Van continued.

"But I was wrong! Why are you with Zaibach? Why did you burn Fanelia to the ground?" Still he got nothing from his brother, this was starting to get ridiculous. "Answer me! Answer me, Brother!"

At that Folken started to laugh. Van's fists balled up, this was infuriating, didn't he have anything to say to him? Did he realize that their mother had wasted away after he died? That people spoke ill of him and Van would stand up for him. That Van had been left alone because his brother had been selfish?

"Why are you laughing?" he cried, but Folken didn't say anything and Van was done with this. He grabbed his by the shoulder and forced him to turn around and face him. "Don't laugh!"

Folken lurched forward, the metal hand he had gripping Van's shoulder a little too tightly. He got in really close to whisper in his ear.

"Van, my brother… come with me and serve Dornkirk, the Emperor of all Zaibach. There we will set the future back on course."

Van wanted to tell him no, that he was insane. That he shouldn't have left him, but Folken had paused and straightened suddenly very confused. He was staring at something just beyond Van, which was… odd. Van took a step back

"What the… where am I? Am I still on the bridge?"

It was Brooke. Except she didn't look like a regular version of her. She was slightly see-through, giving off a white sort of mist and she looked like she had been steeped in a grey fog. She wasn't a… a… ghost was she?

She had her hands out in front of her like she was trying to feet at what was around. She had paused too which meant someone had answered her question. And that became more evident when she said: "Oh, really? Cool. I mean I can hear you guys I just can't see you… no I don't know what's happening…"

Van turned to Folken but he looked just as confused as he was. Great so he hadn't seen that before either. It wasn't just Van.

Suddenly she was turning. "I see a room, with a bed and… Oh hey look its Van! Hi Van!"

For a second she blinked, like her whole body winked in and out of view, though her unwavering green eyes stayed focused on him. Then she turned her head towards something else.

"Don't grab me like that," she chided. "I don't know where I am, or what's happening but if you keep tugging me like that I'm gonna lose whatever this is! … No I don't see any windows let me look around."

Both Folken and Van were stock still just watching as Brooke walked around the little room, her arms out stretched like she was blind and trying to avoid any walls or objects to run into. Or at least paced the back wall before she finally turned around.

"Nope still no windows, I'm heading to Van now, make sure I don't walk into anything."

Then Brooke was walking towards him, her arms still outstretched. "Hey! Are you okay?"

"Uh… yeah, I'm fine so far…"

"Wow, I heard none of that. Saw your mouth moving but nothing came out, can you hear me?"

Van nodded to that and she gave him a thumbs up. "Right so we got audio and visual on one side and just visual coming in here. I'd say I'd have to look at my settings but I don't know how this is happening let alone how long it's going to last so I kind of don't want to mess this up."

Okay made sense. He was a little panicked now that he knew she had no idea what she was doing though. That would mean she had never done this before.

"Do you know where we are?"

Van shook his head.

She then turned her eyes to Folken. "What about you? Do you know where we are?"

But he just glared at her and she glared back before turning to Van again. "Is he a friend of yours?"

How was Van supposed to explain what was happening? That his brother was alive, that his brother had burned down Fanelia, that his brother had abandoned his duty as king and fled to Zaibach as a traitor and a coward?

"I don't like his face," she said and then turned back to Folken. "I'm sorry but I don't. I just really don't like… there's something about it, I just want to clock you one. Don't know what it is."

Van almost laughed, Folken's eyebrows had furrowed and Brooke was already moving away and she was talking to someone else.

"It's just a small little room. Doesn't look like a cell, there are no bars or anything but there's no windows either. Ow! Stop it Merle! I can't hear him, I can only see him. OOOWWW! Don't bite me, I swear to god I'll tell on you!"

She then yelped really loudly, looked down to her arm, then to where he assumed Merle was standing beside her, before she whirled around to Van. "Your little cat girl bit me!"

Van shook his head to show that he didn't condone that and then Brooke turned around. "He's disappointed in you. I can see it in his eyes. I did too see it in his eyes. Oh hey look it's a bed, I wonder if I can walk through it…"

They then watched as she glided through the bed, stopping to stand in the middle of it and then she laughed. "Look at that, I'm like a ghost here!" She continued to walk through the bed and then suddenly doubled over with a grunt. She flickered again, like they were losing the image of her. "That was the wheel… you were supposed to be making sure I don't walk into anything!"

She paused and turned in a different direction. "What? … oh yeah, I did walk through the bed. A wall? No I haven't tried to walk through a wall yet, I guess I could try."

She then turned and walked very swiftly towards the wall, for the first time since Brooke had appeared Folken reacted. He almost yelped reaching out to stop her, but Brooke got to the wall, seemingly hit something… probably a real wall back where she was, and then fell back.

And just like that the ghostly vision of her vanished and this time didn't come back

As soon as she vanished Folken turned onto Van. "How long has she been doing that?"

Van blinked his eyes, he wasn't sure why that mattered. "Uh… first time I think?"

"She managed to astral project over a large distance for that long on her first try?"

Okay so Folken knew what that was, and apparently she was good at that. "I unno… I guess, why do you care?"

"And why marry her? Hm? What did you expect to gain? Because I doubt you did it for love. So what is it? What do you know? Do you plan to challenge us for it?" he asked. Van just stared at him, much like Folken had done when Van was asking his questions.

It was partly to be spiteful, but also because he had no idea what Folken was talking about. Though it seemed his lie of being married to Brooke had reached all the way to Folken.

Still Van said nothing and Folken started forward again, his metal hand once again gripping Van again. Before he could swat it away he felt a prick in his neck and things went fuzzy around the edges. Within seconds the world went black and Folken let his little brother drop to the ground.

He should have picked him up, should have asked if he was okay but they had bigger issues at that moment and he really, really needed to talk to Kaydence.

Brooke groaned from where she lay on the floor. "Ugh… okay I can't do walls…"

Allen stooped over her. "You might have if you hadn't walked into this one."

Brooke turned to where Merle was trying to hide her laughter. "You were supposed to stop me from walking into things! It's good thing you're not a seeing eye-dog cause you'd probably walk me off a damn cliff."

Allen helped her up and Broke continued to rub her nose which really hurt. She could even see the residue from where she had walked into the window. Someone really should have stopped her.

She turned her eyes up to Allen. At the very least she had confirmed Van was alive, but she still didn't know where he was. "What are we going to do?" she asked him softly, trying really hard not to let her frustrated tears falls.

"We have eight men, including me, so a full front assault would be a bad idea," he said almost musingly. "And even with your help we haven't been able to actually locate them."

Brooke nodded and then put a hand to her chest where her pendant sat warm against her skin. "What if I had another way?"

"Another way? Is it… uh… magical?"

"Yep. Look this sounds crazy, and I know it's crazy, but I just fucking did some shit that was weird so I might as well go for the full board of weirdness. I might be wrong, but I think… I think I can find out where Van is. Can we let me try?"

"Well you did guess right about the attack on the castle."

"Yeah! I've always been scarily accurate with my readings. I thought it was a fluke or something, or like luck, but… I think… I think there may be more to it."

Allen nodded. "Alright, we'll set up a test first and if you pass that we'll try your way."

"Wait a test?" Brooke cried. "But I haven't studied!"

The men around her laughed but she didn't think it was funny. Great, he wanted her to prove herself. Well for Van's sake she would have to hope that she got it right.

She had a feeling that Van was running out of time.