The Dragon Priestess

AvalonReeseFanFics

A/N: Well… this is terrible. This chapter is so late! I'm so sorry my wonderful readers. But things are getting more interesting now, Brooke's going to run her mouth and we're going to see a little bit of Kaydence and Folken being kind of cute. As always don't forget to leave a review and I will do my best to get the chapter up in a timely fashion this coming Sunday.

Chapter 19: Unexpected Partings pt. 1

Brooke stood at the edge of that coliseum on bated breath. Watching, waiting to see how this would go. The last time Van had fought someone, which was Allen, he had lost. She had a feeling that, unlike the fight with Allen, this fight would carry dire consequences if he did lose.

But unlike that first fight Van didn't make the first move.

The first guy charged him. Van knocked the sword right up into the air, where it went twirling up and up and up. Then bashed the butt of his sword into the energist, stopping that one guymelef in it's track.

Brooke still wasn't breathing but she was starting to get more hopeful that her bad vision was more of an omen now and that it would have no bearing on the outcome of this fight.

The second guy, the one with the chain, whipped that chain at Van when he thought Van wasn't looking. Van deflected it like it was annoying mosquito and then turned to take the guy head on as he charged him. He blocked the giant sword with one hand and then punched the energist out, smashing it and sending that guymelef to the ground too.

That sword was still in the air but starting to come down.

The third guy had a spear and he charged Van shortly after the second guymelef went down, screaming as he went. All Van did was turn, raise his sword and let the man impale his own energist on it.

By the time that sword fell out of the sky all the bad guys were on the ground and he hadn't done a single lick of damage to anything but their energists.

Merle gripped Brooke's arm cheering: "He won!" while down the line Millerna was clapping and saying: "He's magnificent.

Merle's excitement was infectious and soon she was jumping up and down with excitement with her. Yes that bad feeling hadn't gone away but it was at least it was subsiding and it hadn't been about this fight either.

For a second she just let the euphoria of Van's flawless win take over.

"That is right! That is how we do it in Fanelia!" she crowed and then the anger returned. Before she could stop herself she had turned her attention to the king's box. "Yeah! That's what you GET, with your terrible, lousy excuse for a TEST…"

She had more to say but Allen got in between her and him. Again.

For a second Brooke just stared at his back in shock and then she settled on glaring at it. "Son of a… he did it again!"

Merle leant in and said: "Well I loved your display, maybe you'll get banished."

As Brooke shot her a dirty look Allen said: "I believe a 3-on-1 fight is slightly out of the bounds of chivalry, your majesty."

But the king just waved it away. "Nonsense. I was merely showing my respect for Ispano Guymelefs."

"Oh I'll show you respect… respect for the dead," Brooke snarled, maybe a little bit too loudly but it was Van who cleared his throat having stepped out of his cockpit to address the king.

"That's alright," he said though Brooke knew it wasn't. "Uneven fights happen on the real battlefield."

"Yeah but this isn't a battlefield, Van!" Brooke cried before Allen could stop her. "This was supposed to be a show of friendship. Who shows friendship by throwing three bounty hunters at someone? NOT A REAL FRIEND!"

She had the king's attention now and both Van and Allen could tell that. He turned a patient smile to the king.

"I'm so very sorry for my friend. She's been through a lot, I think loosing her homeland and then watching yet another guymelef match has upset her delicate sensibilities. She's usually better behaved."

That had to be the biggest lie Van had ever told. If he were Pinocchio his nose would have grown a mile.

"What powerful and diplomatic words, as one would expect from a nation such as Fanelia."

After that Brooke did her very best to stay quiet, though the frown stayed firmly on her lips all the way back into the palace where she was promptly informed that they were expected to personally dine with the king and his VIP guests.

Oh. Whoopee.

There were inside the palace for two seconds before Van tugged her aside into the shadows between a wall and a column. She knew right way that this wasn't going to be a nice chat where he checked up on her and made sure she was okay. She was 100% in trouble.

"What you did in the coliseum…"

"Okay yes, I know, it was embarrassing and I shouldn't have. I am sorry, but Van… you have to see how…"

"Yes, you're right, it was underhanded and very clearly meant to damage me in some way, and trust me, I am grateful that you are constantly ready to jump to my defence, but I need you to stop, okay?" he said. He then looked at her very carefully and whispered. "I can't keep bailing you out, Brooke. Sooner or later you're going to say something and I won't be able to save you from it. You have to learn to curb your tongue!"

And then he stormed away. Brooke leant against the wall he had pulled them close to, not wanting to leave, not wanting to go in there and pretend to be nice when what she wanted to do was go back to bed, sleep and forget that this day every happened.

But she was alone for two seconds before Millerna appeared in front of her and shoved the guitar into her hands.

What the hell just happened?

"Here," she said. "The merchant said you're the first one to be able to make it play anything passable."

Brooke looked at the guitar in her hands. It had been so long she had actually played a guitar. She had managed to make a few notes off of muscle memory alone, she wasn't even sure she could play it properly. "I… wow, I don't know what to say… uh… thank you…"

"Maybe one day you'll show me how well you can play."

"You'll be waiting a while… I'm not that good."

But she was already moving to tune it, almost absently trying to put it to rights so it would be ready to play. She glanced up and caught a sort of secretive smile on Millerna's face that she didn't like.

Like they had a shared secret now. And that was nonsense because she didn't. At all.

Then, much to Van's dismay, Brooke didn't take the guitar to her borrowed room, she brought into the dinner. Then she spent most of the dinner attempting to tune it. Luckily the table was too wide for Van to kick her, but he did have Merle sneak under the table and pinch her to get her to stop.

"Escaflowne is certainly a magnificent Guymelef," King Aston said lifting yet another glass to the guymelef which was sitting in a chair of importance at the head of the table.

Brooke was going to ask Van about that later.

Meiden, a merchant she was told, added: "It's beauty is enough to steal your heart away."

Brooke bet if Escaflowne was a girl… did guymelefs have genders? … she'd be super flattered. Escaflowne looked more like a boy to her though, but what did she know?

"Of course it can't compare to Millerna and Eries," he said with a pleasant smile. Brooke didn't like the way his eyes always seemed to slide over to her. He gave her a bad vibe but, just judging by where he was sitting, he was a close friend of the King's.

Eries was Millerna's older sister. She too looked very pretty, so clearly pretty ran in the family, but much more proper than Millerna, and a lot older too.

Brooke should have been paying attention because he was now talking to one of his generals about how to hide the Escaflowne from Zaibach but Brooke's mind was back on the guitar. Soon she had it up in her lap attempting to tune it again. She was almost there, she knew it.

"Brooke," Van hissed. "Put. It. Away!"

Brooke jumped and the guitar clattered to the ground a discordant echo as it bounced and when she looked up all eyes at that table were on her and Van was groaning in frustration. Yeah, she didn't like that at all.

"Sorry."

"Your name is Brooke, right?" the merchant asked now that all attention was on her.

"Uh… yes…"

"I've heard your one of Allen's companions."

"Travel companion… and uhm… no… I'm uh… his… Van's," she said nodding towards Van who was looking more and more uncomfortable by the moment. She really hoped this wasn't the moment where he'd pretend that she and him didn't know each other all that well.

He glanced to Van who turned a challenging look onto him that made him clear his throat. He turned his attention back to Brooke.

"Millerna tells me that you're the only one who knows how to make that thing work," he said and Brooke turned a dry glare onto Millerna before forcing a smile onto her face and pointing it at him.

"I uh… yeah… it's uhm… it's from where I'm from…"

"And where are you from?"

Oh great. She really needed to talk to Van about a cover story because she didn't know what to say. But for now this lie was going to have to do.

"Oh, just a little town called… Tor… uh… in the country of Onto…. It's really small you guys probably haven't heard of it."

Across from her Van was shaking his head. Right so he wasn't pleased with that lie then. Well he should have given her a better one!

"Well wherever you're from it's got strange customs," Millerna said, leaning forward on her elbows no doubt to tease her.

"I don't think this is appropriate conversation for the dinner table," Allen said, "She is just a handmaiden after all."

Across from her Van snorted into his drink, and an amused smile crossed his lips. Brooke almost wanted to shout that she had married Van, but everyone, except for the Asturian Royal family, knew that was a lie. And she didn't trust Merle not to jump out from under the table to tell everyone that she was lying again.

"Well, I hear she put on quite a show for you and without proper instruments too," Millerna said. "I think it would be wonderful to hear what she could do now that she has an instrument she knows well."

"She is sitting right here, so don't talk about her like she's not here," Brooke growled. She then turned a worried smile to the table. "I just got this guitar… I wouldn't want to punish you with all the wrong notes I'd play…"

"Nonsense, I heard you at the Bazaar today and you're really good!"

Brooke glared at her. Oh, that fucking bitch. That was why she bought the guitar, she wanted to make Brooke look like a fool. No doubt just in front of Allen, but now she was doing it in front of everyone.

"Uh… okay… uh…"

She went to stand, pick up the guitar with a simple song to play, short and sweet.

"Come up to the front so we can all hear."

An order from the king. Wow, she couldn't turn that down, now could she? Well she could, but Van did say he couldn't keep bailing her out.

Great so this was going to be a long song. Brooke nodded to herself, heading towards the head of the table and Escaflowne trying to think of a song she could play.

But as she walked doing the final tuning of the guitar, under Escaflowne's shadow a sudden thought came to her.

One of her dad's songs, it was the first full guitar song she had learned. She'd know that one… passably well… right?

She turned to face the table, her eyes falling on Van.

She could… she could change the lyrics to fit the now, and this world. They'd never know the difference.

"Uhm… so this song… this is a song I've been working on," she said bringing her guitar forward. "It's uh… it's not done yet."

The King opened his mouth, no doubt to tell her that it was okay, or maybe to ask for a song that was finished and Brooke cut him off purposely with a heavily handed strumming of her guitar.

Right outside of this one church town, there's a gold dirt road to a whole lot of nothing'. We got a deed to the land, but it aint my ground, this is God's country.

They were all staring at her. As if surprised a voice like that could come out of her, or maybe it was the guitar playing. She had tried to down play her skills.

We turned the dirt and worked until the week's done. We take a break and break bread on Sunday. Then we do it all again cause we're proud to be from God's country.

Millerna's mouth had dropped. Like in shock, like she barely recognized her, like Brooke was finally a threat. Like a real threat. Not that harmless handmaiden both she and Allen kept making her out to be. She had, no doubt, realized that this plan had backfired because Brooke was good.

I saw the light in the sunrise, sitting back in a 'melef on the muddy riverside. Getting' baptized in holy water and 'shine with the dragon runnin'. Saved by the sound of the been found, let me whistle to the wind that'll get you heaven bound. I came home to Fanelia and they let me stick around, in God's country.

As she was singing she focused on Van, the second Fanelia dropped from her lips she saw the surprise lit up his face and then pain that creased his eyebrow at the memories this dredged to the surface. She knew that brought up his brother, and then it brought thoughts of her sister to her. And for a second she wished that they could see this, so she could spread the guilt. So they knew how both of them felt.

That time when she felt herself leave her body, she knew more of what to expect. This time she was going to kill it.

Was it bad that Folken loved sitting in his lab when Kaydence was with him? Because he did.

They didn't even have to talk, and most of the time they didn't. He'd be tinkering with whatever experiment he was working on and she reading up on her role in the limited tomes they had for her. She kept pouring over them and the divine destiny recently as if to try to determine what role her sister played in it.

He had tried to tell her that it didn't matter, that they would come on top, but it hadn't soothed her. Which, in turn, hadn't soothed him. He hated seeing her upset, but he didn't know how to comfort her, other than to take her into his arms. And doing that never ended well.

Okay that was a lie, it always ended well. Always ended with the two of them falling in the bed. It was the morning after that never ended well because he couldn't have her remembering it happened. But he also couldn't continue to tamper with her memories in the frequency that he had been.

And he was certain that Dilandau was starting to get suspicious.

He had been enjoying the quiet when there was a sudden pop and then a loud music was heard. Literally right beside him.

Folken jumped out of his chair trying to frantically get away from the astral projected version of Kaydence's twin.

Those green eyes were on fire, but her voice, it was haunting him with her song.

I don't care what your headstone reads. Or what kind of pinewood box I put you in. When it's your time, I'll lay you six feet deep in God's country.

God's country? Where the hell was that?

Kaydence got out of her seat, putting herself in between her sister's projection and him. She tried to keep banish it, and while Brooke's projection flickered, the music cutting out with each wave of Kaydence's hand, it always came back.

I saw the light in the sunrise, sitting back in a melef on a muddy riverside.

Kaydence was getting frantic, but now, she could even get the projection to flicker.

Gettin' baptized in holy water and 'shine with the dragons runnin'.

Brooke's eyes were still on Folken as if she could see him, she probably could. She was taking menacing slow steps towards them.

Saved by the sound of the been found, let me whistle to the wind, that'll get you heaven bound.

She was getting closer and closer. Folken immediately put his hands to Kaydence's shoulders. He wasn't certain what Brooke's projection was going to do but he wanted to be ready to shield Kaydence if necessary.

You sent the devil to Fanelia and he burnt it to the ground. That was your country.

Those last words, they pierced him. They pierced him straight to his broken heart. Through the armour he had put up and straight to his guilty conscience.

But she was done singing. And that last chord she ended on not only took that projection away, it took it away with an explosion of power. A shockwave of pure power hit both him and Kaydence knocking them both off of their feet and taking them down to the ground.

Folken had taken the brunt of the fall, having tucked Kaydence into his chest to protect her. And for a while after that blast had knocked them down, they just lay there. She on top of him, he holding her tightly to him too afraid to let her go lest her crazy sister came back.

But when the silence had blanketed them so thickly, and their whispered are you okays were answered with I'm fines, Folken finally let her go.

Once they were up he could see the damage she had done to his lab, electronics were blown out, and everything had been knocked over or skewed to what he originally had it.

Folken couldn't deny it now, so he whispered it, softly as to not upset Kaydence further.

"She's getting stronger."