All that I knew came flowing out of me and I waited for Allen to burst in and freak out. I explained to her again the existence of the 'man' Dilandau and that she had been brain washed in more than one way. I left out the information about the other members of her squad while under Zaibach rule whom had all been killed trying to defend her. Somehow, from the look on her face I could tell she knew. It was like she wasn't hearing this all for the first time and I wondered if maybe Allen or someone had tried to explain it to her once before. Celina's eyes focused in and out on something not entirely in the room and her arms wrapped around her like she was cold.

"Was I wrong in telling you all of this? Was I wrong to what I have?" Guilt hit my like a sack of books to the face. I wasn't the only one in serious trouble. Celina had rights, Allen had a King to defend and both Van and Chid ruled over an entire country that needed them. I was only a small piece of the puzzle and I acted as if I was the only one that needed help.

"I don't know… I'm not sure…" Celina focused on me and I leaned forward and felt the hot trickle of blood down my chest. It was slightly sticky once it soaked into the bandage and cooled quickly.

"And you never heard this before? You never knew any of this?" A hard knot lodged in my throat. Celina was the only person next to Millerna that was kind and I was hurting her.

"I remember a red machine… and a group of boys… they loved me and I loved them so much that I hurt them…" Celina repeatedly tucked back a lock of hair behind her ear while she spoke. "They were always worried and it made me so mad sometimes… So angry… I…"

"You don't have to continue…" But she kept going and going. It was like once she started she had to finish… or maybe that she simply couldn't stop.

"Folken and… and… the Emperor. Emperor Dornkirk had been the man behind everything, but I didn't care. I didn't care about anything… there had been another person too, but I can't remember his name… he was the nicest of them all. He'd cared for me and his care made me feel weak… I hated him the most. I hated him."

"Celina." She seemed to be spiralling out of control now and I didn't know how to bring her back.

"I remember the Escaflowne… and…. Hitomi. I only met her a few times. The girl that could read the future… I wanted to kill her. She was always in my way. She protected him… protected Van of Fanelia."

"Celina. Enough." Allen walked in at the worst time. He had clearly been kept by Chid or perhaps Van because now he was short of breathe and equally so in temper. His face turned to me and conveyed in glare alone what words he would not utter speak.

"Alseides…" Celina suddenly surged up from her chair and stood rather unlike herself. Her shoulders were drawn back and she stood with a commanding aura and not like a demure woman. Her eyes focused in and scanned the room and looked down at me. Recognition passed her face, but I don't think it was me she was seeing at all.

"Dilandau." My voice managed to not break.

"Celina…" When she wouldn't heed her brothers own voice he rounded on me. "Stop this Keori."

"Celina." In the same tone I demanded Allen's sister's attention. She responded and her shoulders dropped, face became clouded with confusion and deeper emotions.

"I knew this would happen. Did Van put you up to this? Did you even think for one moment that maybe this was for her own safety? That she was better off not knowing? Maybe if you had listened to Hitomi would you wouldn't be here with a group of people you can't even get along with. Stay out of this affair Keori." I shut my mouth and stifled outrage, guilt while I cradled a shattered ego.

"Enough…" Celina sat down and held her hands tightly in each other. "You have no right… to keep things that involve me from me. " Allen glared at me further despite his sister's plea. "Allen!" Celina's raised voice caused both Allen and I to jump. "Stop ignoring me! S-stop looking to close me in and away from the world. Stop trying to force me into this… this!" She stood up again and removed the small jacket of sorts that covered her shoulders and backside. The white lace slide noiseless to the ground where she stormed out and left it.

"Allen."

"Not right now." And he left me alone to my own thoughts and worries. What had I actually done? Was it right for me to ruin these people's lives just so I could get home? And was that what I was really doing? My brain hurt too much.

"Kaen." The moment his name was said the man himself jumped in from the outside window.

"Hurin does a lot, says a lot and speaks very much like a man. You are too smart for your own good." He had a habit of explaining what exactly it was that I was doing wrong and in a way that made it sound rather impressive coming from a woman. I hated it. This entire planet was filled with sexists.

"What is the word for 'perfection' and 'man'?" Kaen looked at me oddly and rested a hand on his hip while he thought about it.

"You ask strange things Hurin… the word I think you look for does not exist." I laughed so hard that it hurt and Kaen grew concerned. It was good to laugh about such a small thing and for some reason it felt so great. That even in this word a 'perfect man' did not exist.

"Alright then… how about… Great man or man of greatness."

"Keiki. It is a word for a man of many great deeds. Why do you ask Hurin?" I pulled myself from the bed and was glad when Kaen helped me rather than push me back into it.

"I needed a good name for you… I'm leaving for a little bit Keiki. You're coming with me, but I need to rely on you because it really hurts to walk and stand. You're going to be my man of many great deeds…" Kaen lifted me carefully onto his back which wasn't carefully enough. He had to put me back down and watch the door while I removed my shirt, clean myself as best I could and then rewrap the bandage as tightly as I could. I also packed a small bag with a white powder I knew was a pain killer and the green leaves that Millerna packed into my wound twice daily and removed. The worst part of that was that Kaen would have to remove the leaves and replace them because I had to bite down and ring the life out of something while it was being done because it was far too painful. I also left a note of my having left for a short while which ended up taking me another hour as I wrote individual letters to Millerna, Van, Celina and Allen.

"You are so demanding and harsh yet you have the soft heart of a woman. A trait our people would benefit from." I withheld the comment that 'our' people, was actually just 'his' people.

"You haven't asked me where I plan to go. Why not?" I crawled up on Kaen's back and he dropped down carefully into the garden outside my window.

"You did not tell me yet I go with you. I will find out on my own." Gaians were weird all the way around.

"I need you to take me to Zaibach." Kaen didn't seem to like that in the slightest.

"Hurin… This place you ask to go. It is a dead land. The people are strange and it is a place of nothing living. Only the dead walk there." I didn't understand what he meant and I was glad he could not see that it bothered me to no end.

"I'm strange and you like me and I need to go there. My mother went there once and I need you see if something there can tell me how to get home. The war three years ago ended there. I want to see for myself if maybe the people that attacked me where from there. I need to see it for myself." Kaen stopped just before the wall that divided the palace grounds from the city outside.

"They are not the same people… The people that came and attacked you, the ones that were both here and not here were like the Fanelian, but different in two ways." He raised his hand for me to see and held up a single finger. "They are of the same blood the Fanelian and the men who hid between the shadows… the other is that while King Fanelia and the men walk and breath, only King Fanelia is of health. The other men are sickly… I could smell their death." His second finger rose and fell with his hand.

"So they were the men in my dreams. The dying Draconians…"

As if struck by the oddness in Kaen's abilities, a black bird squawked from a nearby tree and took flight leaving behind a few feathers that were jet black; then suddenly it was a thousand black feathers I saw. They twisted and turned in an acrid smelling wind that carried the smell of blood and the sound of flapping banners. Green and silver cloth snapped in the air and row after row of men and woman baring arms strode passed me. All of them had black wings outstretch as if ready to take flight.

And then I looked down from my perch in the sky and shouted.