Destiny and Fate – A Dietrich and Esther Story
By: Krunsik

(A/N - Eis Hexe is Helga's code name, Marionettenspieler is Dietrich's code name, Contra Mundi is Cain's code name)

Chapter 2 – Kagyaku (Causing Pain)

"Somewhere in the distance, the bold hunter walked in peace as the skull of the dead vampire lay dusty in the crimson dawn."

Esther hummed to herself as she swept the Cathedral's floor with a broom. She loved the church. The glass stained windows on the walls amazed her greatly. It must have taken people with great skill to make such delicate things.

Once the floor was clean she took some polishing equipment off the shelf. Her shoes made clicking noises as she walked. Soft echoes were heard throughout the room. Nobody was inside currently but the church was open anytime to anyone. Quietly she sprayed the liquid onto the plaques and wiped it thoroughly. She read each one as she cleaned them.

In dedication to the Pope, to whom who has traveled the world and made a difference.

She smiled. Mother Laura had told her many stories about the Pope. The man, who helped the poor, healed the sick and rescued the needy. She wished that she could be like him but in priesthood only males were allowed to travel. The sisters' had to stay behind and take care of the churches.

It was still fun, but she wanted for adventure. One day, she would travel to Rome and work with the Pope. She had only seen him in newspapers and she hoped that they would meet one day.

Ever since she was little, she had never known her parents. Mother Laura was like a mother to her. Her parents had died due to a sickness which out broke on the streets. She had been a poor, skinny little girl. Mother Laura had found her lying on the ground next to the church and took her in.

"Esther-san," Mother Laura called, "It's getting late. Run off to bed young one, I'm meeting some important people soon and I don't want you listening to our conversation ok?"

"Hai Mother Laura," quickly she placed the cleaning materials back inside the cabinet. She stopped quickly at the front of the church and prayed for a minute or so, "Goodnight Mother Laura!"

"Goodnight!"

Esther rushed off and ran up the stairs to her room. Mother Laura stayed with her in the same place and they both shared a room. Her bed was to one side and hers to the other. They enjoyed each other's company. Sometimes Mother Laura would tell her stories late at night, or they would sleep together when Esther got scared, snacking away in the middle of a storm and playing cards with a torch light. Whatever they did together, they enjoyed forever.

xXx

"Rosenkreuz at your service," Dietrich bowed at the Sister while Helga stood their inspecting her nails or fixed her hair, "Why did you need our body guarding service?"

Mother Laura brought a finger to her lips, "Nobody knows you're here, follow me," She led them inside the Cathedral. Walking quickly, their footsteps echoed in the room. Helga was practically banging her heels on the ground. It was so loud you'd think the heels of her shoes would break.

Dietrich nudged her, making her walk like the rest of them. Once they reached the front of the pews, Mother Laura bent down and started feeling around for a title on the ground.

"Hurry!" she whispered harshly, "Look for a warm tile,"

Dietrich bent down as well and helped her. He glared up at Helga as she just stood there. He reached up and grabbed the ends of her blue hair and pulled her down tightly. She screamed---, loudly. Dietrich quickly covered her mouth with his hand.

Just after they finished 'attacking' each other, Mother Laura pressed down a title. Suddenly a few titles on the ground started sinking slowly. All of them sunk to different heights and formed stairs down into a passage way.

Mother Laura took a lighter from inside her cloak. She clutched the thick wooden stick which was hidden underneath the first step. Lighting it, she walked down the stairs and motioned for them to follow her.

"Mother Laura!" Esther sat up abruptly in her bed. She was sweating, another nightmare. It was the fifth time this week. She had imagined that someone was killing her 'mother'. Glancing at the bed beside her, Mother Laura was not there. Looking at her wrist watch, she should have been in bed already. She knew Mother Laura loved sleeping in, the comfy soft mattress and the warm blankets. The best part of the day was sleeping for her.

Pushing the blankets off her body, she grasped a thick night robe hanging on the door. Wrapping it tightly she took a lantern off the side of the wall and walked down the staircase. All the lights were already out, except for a few here and there.

Her footsteps were muffled since she was wearing slippers. She had woken up due to this weird screaming noise she had in her dream. But it seemed really real, as if it was right below her. Hurriedly she needed to find Mother Laura. She needed her there beside her to comfort her and to listen to her bad dreams.

Whenever she would wake up, she would be there right beside her, to help her.

As she walked into the main hall of the Cathedral where the altar and all the pews where, she noticed that some of the tiles on the floor were missing. Her heart beat quickened and her walking pace grew faster. Looking down the stairs, some of the lights on the side were already lighted. As curiosity got the better of her, she slowly crept down the stairs.

"Mother Laura?" she called. Esther heard small whispers in the shadows which frightened her. Every time an ill chill wind would blow. This pathway must have led to an outside area. Thank goodness she was wearing something warm instead of just her nightgown.

"Mother Laura?" she tried again. She wasn't getting any response. Esther took small steps at a time. In her mind she didn't want to go further but her heart told her too. As if something was drawing her in or controlling her, she had no will power of her own. Each step she took forward the wind grew bigger. Like a raging blizzard, it grew colder.

She spotted a dim light in the distance. Somebody else was here. Her pace quickened and her heart beat doubled. Suddenly out of nowhere came a high pitched shriek!

"Mother Laura!" Esther started running, the light grew bigger. As she reached the lightened area she felt warm liquid around her feet. Looking down, she spotted—, blood. She gasped. Not further away from the pool of red fluid was a body lying on the ground.

"Mother Laura!" She rushed to her side and bent down quickly. Looking at her wound, she realised that it couldn't be healed, she had to die. Gazing upon the motherly figure crystal tears dripped down her cheeks. Mother Laura's eyes fluttered open,

"Esther……I was foolish……for my revenge……quick my child! Leave now……run as fast as you can! Do not let them get you! I understand their……doings now……Rosen---," her breath stopped unexpectedly. More tears flowed out of Esther's eyes. Gently she closed Mother Laura's eyes and prayed.

While she was praying a hand seized her from behind! Esther screamed! But before she knew it, her whole world was going black.

xXx

"Is she awake yet?" Dietrich asked her, "Remember when she wakes up, we're her friends, ok Eis Hexe?"

Dietrich looked her in the eye. They were currently in the Rosenkreuz Orden staff room. All the other members were locked outside as Cain wouldn't permit them to enter. He wondered why Cain would want her.

"Roger that Marionettenspieler,"

Both of them looked intently at the solidified girl. Helga had frozen her body so that she wouldn't run away, wouldn't be able to listen to their conversations and try to find out any information. Anyway it was an accident; she thought that she was an enemy. It was her natural instinct to fire her ice due to reflexes. She had received a scolding from Dietrich after that and now probably another one from Cain.

"If we need to talk about something important use code names,"

"Got that Marionettenspieler,"

"Quick! Contra Mundi is coming!" Dietrich hissed.

Both of them stood up straight immediately and bowed as he entered the room. They stood silently as Cain inspected the ice figure. He frowned as he looked at it.

"Excellent work on capturing her, but Helga, why the hell is she iced!" Helga looked away from the angry boss, "Dietrich, explain!"

"Yes sir. We found her following us in the underground tunnel. We had killed the 'Mother' of the church and she had found us. Helga got scared shitless by the red haired woman and she fired her ice beams at her,"

"Oi! I didn't get scared of her! It was my reflexes!" Helga fired up, she hated that fact that Dietrich would give Cain wrong information or jump to conclusions. She stood up to the man and faced him. She slapped him continuously on the arm.

"If it was you're reflexes you would take in the situation first before firing!" He stood there unmoving. He kept his cool in front of the boss.

"Enough quarrelling!" Both of them stopped in their tracks, looked at each other and then at him, "I bet both of you are wondering why I asked you to capture her?"

They nodded.

"This little girl holds the fate of this universe. Secretive powers which are hidden within her tiny frame will help us, the Rosenkreuz Orden. I'm going to wipe out her memories and make her a Rosenkreuz member or perhaps---, my wife,"

Helga blinked. She fumed! She had tried so long to get the bosses attention and now, he was going to get married to this low life bitch! Hurriedly she stormed out of the room and slammed the door after her.

"You're wife sir?" Dietrich asked her.

"Yes Marionettenspieler, now take her body to the chemical room and defreeze her perhaps? Hmm?" he walked off to the door and left the brown haired man only with the red haired beauty. Dietrich sighed; Cain would always leave duties for him, as if he was the rubbish cleaner which picked up his mess.

He quickly threw the cover over the top of the ice statue. The other members were not supposed to see this yet. Dietrich exited the room through the back door which led exactly to the chemical room. He pushed the trolley out and locked the door after him.

This room was filled with so many contraptions. He never understood how to operate them; mostly Isaak knew cause this is where he made Cain's new body all the time. He pulled the trolley cart over to a big cylinder tube. With all his might he shoved the ice figure inside the 30cm thick glass container. Closing the door tightly, he entered the secret code pin into the security device. Walking over to the control panel he pressed a few buttons. Water from the pipes started filling the container up, it was a special type of water. Helga's ice was not normal, because if it was, when there was heat it would start to melt, this didn't. It took a long gradual process for it to melt but with this machine it would take an hour.

He set the timer so that when the person was unfrozen, the water to empty so that they could breathe and move their body. He was done for the day; slowly he traveled back to his office while being bombarded by questions from the other members. Slamming the door in their faces, he sat down in his arm rest chair, placed his feet up on the desk and feel asleep.

Everyone kept banging on his door and windows; they peered through the glass to check what he was doing. Dietrich sighed; he would have no privacy for the next few days. Immediately he pressed a button underneath his desk and a metal covering flew swiftly over the top of the glass doors and windows so nobody could look through.

"Eis Hexe, why did you storm off?" Cain asked as he approached her.

She crossed her arms and looked away. When he tried to touch her on the shoulder or the arm, she would move her body. Her mascara and eyeliner on her face we running down, ruining her stunning face.

Cain harshly turned her face towards him, loosing all act of kindness towards her. Helga's eyes looked at him briefly and then traveled down to the floor. He grabbed a tissue and wiped her face roughly. It was impossible for him to deal with crying women; it didn't know how to handle it.

"Why are you crying!" Gradually as his voice rose, her sobs became harder and more tears soaked her eyes. She cowered with fear, how could a man be so angry with a crying woman? Helga felt his angry aura around her, every second it would grew bigger and bigger. Getting the picture, she tried to cease her cries. If she stopped crying, the boss would be a little nicer to her.

Pulling another tissue out, she wiped her tears and looked at the man she now despised,

"Because you're marrying that shank," she told him straightforwardly. She wasn't scared of him; she would stand up for herself. After all she was the only girl working there; now another one was joining the crew. Cain sat down in her chair and spun around in circles.

Cain stopped and smirked at her, "You're jealous aren't you? Jealous that I love her or that she will be loved by everyone more than you?" He laughed and walked out of the room.

She stood there blinking a numerous amount of times. Sighing, she realised her boss saw through her too well. They had known each other for way too long.

"Dietrich," A voice on his intercom started speaking to him. He knew this sound all too well, "Tend to the redhead when she awakens. In two hours, she and I shall meet,"

"Yes," he pressed the button to reply to the command. Checking his watch, it was time to check the specimen. Standing up abruptly, Dietrich quickly left the room as he didn't want to be horded by his work mates.

Swiftly he reached the secretly enclosed room which only a few people knew about. Opening the door, he found the girl alive and well. She was banging on the glass but luckily it was soundproof. She looked like she was shouting and her face was completely red. Her blue clothes were completely soaked from the melting ice and her red hair stuck to her face.

He knew the girl's eyes were on him. He paced towards the headphone set and put them on. Sitting down, he started punching in some buttons and typing in the keyboard. Grabbing a microphone, he started speaking to her,

"You are Sister Esther Blanchett are you not?"

"Get me out of here!"

"I'll take that as a yes. You're going to meet my leader, Contra Mundi in 2 hours. You have that amount of time to get ready and perhaps we can get to know each other a little better,"

"I'll never tell you! I know who you are, Rosenkreuz Orden!"

"So you already knew us, I'm very surprised. Who did you hear it from?"

"Father Nightroad from AX told me never to trust you people!" She no longer banged on the glass encasement but proceeded to be hot tempered with this new encounter.

"Very well, I might as well let you out of there. You have to get dressed,"

"Dressed for whom?" her anger died down as she slowly realised that it was unless while she was under their control.

Dietrich sighed, "You never listen. My leader Contra Mundi,"

He stood up and walked towards the glass container. Punching in the pin code and glass door opened slowly. Hurriedly she power walked in the direction of the opening, but she didn't watch her step. She actually had to step out of the container, immediately she tripped. Closing her eyes tightly, she braced for the fall. But instead she felt warm hands grasping her body tightly.

Opening her eyes, a warm smile greeted her. Bending down closer to her, he whispered into her ear, "My name is Dietrich von Lohengrin. Codename – Marionettenspieler,"

Esther's blush intensified.

xXx

"Welcome my little princess to Rosenkreuz Orden," Cain introduced, "My name is Cain or Contra Mundi," he bowed respectfully to the beautiful maiden.

Esther had worn a middle-length black dress with no sleeves. It had a blood red sash around her waist which fitted nicely with her hair. Dietrich secretly took a pair of Helga's magnificent boots, but she wouldn't realise. She had millions of them.

He motioned for her to come closer. Three other members were present at that time. He introduced them to her one by one,

"This is…,"

"Kämpfer, Isaak Fernand von Kämpfer. Codename - Panzer Magier," He bowed politely at her and smiled. She knew that his smile was fake. The corners of his mouth didn't even move.

"Helga von Vogelweide. Codename - Eis Hexe," She snickered at her and stuck her head up high. No way was she going to be defeated by this newcomer. 'Be nice' Cain mouthed to her silently. Esther knew that something was going on between them.

"I believe you know my name already," he lifted up her hand and kissed it gently, "Esther-san," She blushed at his actions. Cain eyed them suspiciously, did something happen before?

"Esther, this people shall tend to you if you need any help. They are my most trusted personal; I hope you will learn to believe in them soon,"

She bowed her head lightly to show her reply, "Um…excuse sir--,"

"Cain," he interrupted her.

"Um…Cain…why are you of all people being nice to me? I thought Rosenkreuz Orden would be harsher,"

"Because you will be my wife,"