(I'm back! Just bear with the beginning, cause I have to get this out of the way before I can continue. Read on! It gets better! Oh, I hope you all liked last chapter, because I know I enjoyed writing it. This next one isn't as entertaining in my opinion, in fact, I got major writer's block for this chapter, but I wasn't supposed to say that. but enjoy! Take in mind before reading that it might not be as obvious as you think, plot wise. Can you figure it all out? Read, speculate and review please!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own demented thoughts, so obviously I own nothing of value. Please don't sue...I suck with legal stuff.)

The plan was moving according to schedule. He had almost lost control when that girl showed up, but he was sure Kellia could take care of it.

As soon as she was out of the way, he would be in almost complete control of the entire country.

He walked down the corridor of the west wing, slowly making his way to his room certain that tomorrow would go the way he hoped. If Kellia didn't fail.

Gothel brushed his hair out of his face, stopping as he neared his door.

I know what I have to do. As soon as they're out of the way, I can take this country. That whore dies, and everything will be on track again. Kellia will take the throne, and Van… you will be with your "Love" soon.

Stepping into the darkness of his chambers, a smile stretched across his face, and he laughed softly as he imagined what Van would find tomorrow morning.

"Hitomi will always be with you… but only in your dreams and fading memories, my young king." Gothel said mockingly in a low tone.

Immeasurable happiness filled his being, his sick laughter filling the room.

" Tomorrow will be hell for you…"

Don't fail me Kellia. She will be easy to kill, once you infiltrate her room. No one will hear her scream…

XX

Van's eyes opened slowly.

He sat up and stretched his arms, brushing the sleep from his eyes, trying to get his legs to move. He had to get up.

He had gotten to sleep later then usual yesterday, so he had probably overslept.

He couldn't remember the last time he had actually gotten sleep. His groggy mind couldn't comprehend why he had slept so well the night before, or why he felt so warm and comfortable in his sleep. In fact, maybe that was why his legs wouldn't move now.

Something was by him on the bed, radiating the warmth.

What?

He turned his head back, and his still groggy eyes fell on Hitomi.

Was it a dream? Hitomi in his bed, sleeping contently so close to him... It certainly was a common dream for him when sleep did come to him, but now was different. She still has her clothes... first strange difference.

If it wasn't a dream, then why was she here? He had to think, to push his gradually perverted thoughts from his consciousness to think clearly. His unwilling mind wandered to the events that had happened the night before.

He remembered he was very tired, he had just gotten into bed when…

Hitomi…

As he looked down again at the sleeping maiden next to him, his mind tried to sort all that had happened, and despite his long sought rest, he still felt very tired as he thought about it...

"He wants to kill us Van. He wants to kill us both." "I'm scared Van! I don't want you to die…".

Van's rage welled up inside of him then, filling him with a sense of anger he'd known only once before, last night, as he watched Hitomi cry alone on his bed. Rage that he had to see that sadness. and a sickening delirium taking him inside the pain of seeing her cry and not doing anything to prevent it. He looked past Hitomi beside him and saw instead the pale set face of Gothel, smiling sickeningly as he must know doubt be now at his triumph over him!

He let that dog inside of his castle! Funded him and his daughter! He was his adviser!

" Treachery under my own nose…"

Despite himself, he felt a sudden pang of guilt beneath his anger.

I should have seen the signs… known something. Even Merle sensed something was off about him…Why didn't I?

"I'm a fool…" He put his head in his hands.

Everything was going so wrong. Nothing was going right. He wanted peace…peace for the world and peace of mind. Now it seemed that in this world, there was no peace…

Corruption, greed, and betrayal were the only things that Gothel stood for, and he'd been blind to it…He had dragged Hitomi into it.

How could I be so blind…? What do I do now?

"Van…" A soft voice beside him whispered.

He felt a hand cling to a clump of covers by his leg, and he looked down through the fingers in his cupped hands.

Hitomi was fast asleep, her chest rising and falling slowly, her hand twitching as she spoke again. "I love you…I…" she smiled in her dream, moving unconsciously closer to him. "I'm so glad. I…will never leave you…never…" she turned her head slightly around, her hair falling across her face in a small, shimmering cascade, and she snuggled her head by her hand next to his leg.

As he watched her through his cupped hands, he smiled, some of his exhaustion leaving him as he watched her sleep.

He undid his hands and reached down, brushed the hair from her face, and bent to kiss her softly on her forehead.

Her smile widened in her restful dreamland, for now unaware of the troubles of the other occupant of the bed.

"I'll always love you, Hitomi…No one can take that from me."

He turned back and leaned against the headboard and pillows for a moment and closed his eyes. I just want to stay here forever...

But he couldn't.

He slid quietly from the bed, careful not to disturb her sleep. He had much to do today, and she needed to be safe if he was to accomplish anything at all.

Gothel will pay for this treachery. I promise this, Hitomi.

He had to find Donte.

XX

Where is she! I'm in trouble now! Where is she?

Last night was supposed to have gone perfectly.

Her father told her everything she needed to know. He told her where to find her, how to get in undetected, and how to kill her. It all seemed so easy. How could everything have gone so wrong?

She had run along the corridor that led to Hitomi Kansaki's room, on the far end of the castle, out of the way. She had to make sure no one saw her walking in the direction of the corridor, which was out of bounds for all but a chose few the King had hand chosen. If caught, she'd go straight to the dungeon, regardless of who's child she was or not.

When the sun had faded, and the pale moon shown dimly through the open window beside her, she could see that the doors around here weren't open.

Asleep…Good. I don't have to worry about waking anyone.

She crept silently through the corridor, making sure she was well hidden from view by blending with the shadows on the walls.

She finally reached the door she was searching for after a long search of the far wing and tentatively touched the door knob.

The door was unlocked.

Big mistake, girl. One that will make my job easier...

She stepped into the darkness of the room, feeling a sense of accomplishment. She could make out in the darkened room the silhouette of a bed in the corner, and she was certain what was behind the shimmery curtain. It was almost over. Soon she would be rid of hers and her father's problem, and she would be free to marry Van. She would smother the girl in her sleep, not a problem. The girl wouldn't even feel a thing.

She crept up to the bed, certain her task was almost complete.

She wasn't there.

"What?" she whispered in disbelief and desperation, and panic overcame her quiet composure. She spun around wildly, trying to search the room for the missing victim. She ran up and down the length of the room, searched under the bed, and even the closet but the girl was no where to be found.

At last she turned to the other door left in the godforsaken quiet room, leading to a place she couldn't think of in her panic, ran to the door and gingerly turned the knob with pale shaking fingers.

It didn't turn.

Crap!

She only had a moment to curse, because something she heard made her blood freeze. Someone was coming to the room! She ran outside as she heard footsteps leading down the corridor outside of the room, didn't stop to look back at who it was. She had to get out. Find father.

No. Don't tell him. Leave him to think what he likes. It doesn't matter to me now. I have to get out of here. Far away. Maybe Austuria... Yes, I'll go back home and wait for him there.

The reason in her mind spoke clearly that night, ebbing the hysteria away to a numb pain. However, something told her to wait it out.

She has to show sometime. I can wait by her room to kill her, and in the morning I'll leave like no one's the wiser. It's okay. Don't panic.

So she waited in a nearby unfinished room a few doors away from Hitomi's room all night, but to no avail. She didn't turn up, and now Kellia had no time to escape. She would have to tell father.

I'm sorry. I failed you. I'm so sorry…

XX

What a horrible day. Nothing was going right.

Donte had TOO MUCH work today.

Gothel had been running him dry all month. Everyday he asked him to fill in for him on something, until it felt to Donte that he was doing Gothel's job for him. It was very aggravating to get up to the sound of Gothel's annoying voice. "I need you to see to the training of the new recruits, Donte." or "The workers on the west side of town need an adviser to oversee the construction of a church."

Recently Gothel had become so scarce, that Donte only saw him in a few meetings, (always only the one's regarding foreign affairs) and following an increasingly disgruntled Van around.

Now the jerk had asked him to be a babysitter for his spoiled daughter.

Naturally he couldn't pass up on this chance of allowing Gothel to use him as his laboring pet(horrible pun).

Without a doubt, Kellia Ferin was just like her darling father. She had to be the most offending person he had ever met. Rude, stuck up, overbearing and the disgust in her eyes whenever she spoke to him reminded him very easily of Gothel. The thought of both filled him with a dull rage. He was used to the look they gave him. He thought dully about how he had hoped he could avoid them, but alas, fate had other things in store for him. Plans of an annoying nature. She followed him everywhere, albeit reluctantly, making sure he suffered from her presence.

All day yesterday he was pestered by her, until around 7, when she mysteriously disappeared.

She had told him coldly that she was going to find a restroom, and hadn't bothered to tell him where. All that night he had searched for her. He even thought he saw her purple head later that night by the King's private wing, and followed her. He saw her go into a room not far from where he was and walked up to open the door, but she, or someone with a similar appearance ran out of the room like a bat out of hell. He tried to follow, but to no avail. The girl was gone, but one thing was sure; whatever that girl was doing, it had to be suspicious.

After searching futilely for an hour to find Kellia or the mysterious girl, he gave up for the night and went to his room to enjoy a restless sleep filled with dreams of Gothel confining him to a locked, used litter box and Kellia's empty face smiling down at his misery from above in a throne of black opal and withered leaves.

After waking late he hurried out of bed to a meeting of the advisers, where neither Gothel or Van attended. He consequently received his work for the day as well.

He was going to King Van directly for the explanation of his disappearing act yesterday and for Gothel's today, on order of the council.

He was having a bad week... No, the worst week of his life, and it seemed the Gods were laughing at him.

The only consolation had been the banquet. Seeing Merle that night, and dancing with her in his arms had to be one of the happiest moments of his life.

Sure. I have tons of those. Such a great life.

He suddenly laughed, a little bitter and silent laugh, that only he could hear.

Just great.

He walked toward Gothel's room, to begin another, long day.

XX

"Where is that girl?" Yukari spoke to the empty corridor around her, sure that only the empty walls could hear.

She had been looking for Hitomi all morning, and it seemed she would never find her. She searched almost everywhere she could think to find her.

At first she thought it was early so she was going to go to her room after breakfast to find her, but she decided against that when she stopped and spoke with Merle only minutes ago when she met her on the way out of the dining hall.

"She's probably off in the garden, or sightseeing in town by now," she had said. She obviously hasn't been here in a while, maybe she wanted to see the changes…Or…she's in Lor-" Yukari didn't listen, and walked quickly away.

Yukari at the time didn't want to seem rude, but she thought how odd Merle's thinking was. I've never been here. I would have liked to have seen town too…

She gave up the thought and decided to go to the one person who was sure to know where Hitomi was; Van. She headed toward the King's wing, positive that if he didn't know where Hitomi was, she would never know until she showed up again.

she met up with Spark just near the entrance to the hall, who was on patrol near the wing that morning.

After hearing what she was looking for, he offered to escort her to the wing himself, and she gladly excepted his company.

"I haven't seen Sir Van today either," Spark told her in passing as they walked the corridor toward Van's room. I heard he got back very late last night."

"I just hope I find Hitomi. She was looking for Van all day yesterday, I hope she found him..."

She paused, then said quietly again, "I hope I find her."

Yukari spoke truthfully, though running into Van would have made her just as happy, even if she didn't want to admit it to Spark.

Spark couldn't see the slight blush on Yukari's cheeks at that moment, just continued on blissfully forward a jump in his happy, quick step.

They reached the door about two minutes later.

There were about five soldiers stationed around the area of Van and Hitomi's room, and they stopped as they came up to them.

It was Spark who asked the question suddenly cropping up in Yukari's mind when they saw the entrance to the room.

"Why is there extra soldiers here?" He said, addressing the one nearest, a man wearing a red armor with a painted picture of a land dragon in green across his broad chest, his long dark hair covering a portion of his face.

"Under Lord Van's order." The man barked at Spark, not moving from his position a little ways away from Van's door. "We are under strict instructions not to allow anyone to enter or leave this or the adjoining room."

"Where is Lord Van?" Spark asked, with a serious expression, his soft smile gone, replaced by a a taught line of an emotion Yukari didn't see from behind him. She remained quiet, listening intently to what the man near her said next, but she was shaken by the abrupt change in Spark.

"That information is classified. I need identification to tell you anything." The man said, eying Spark suspiciously.

"I am Spark Thein, sergeant of the Second Fanel Laos division, under the former Third brigadier general of Fanalia." Spark responded, bowing slightly and hitting his chest with his fist. "This is Yukari Uchida, a companion of Lady Hitomi Kansaki.' He suddenly looked back, his chestnut eyes catching her dark ones. She got the hint and slightly curtsied.

For the first time, the man they were speaking with changed his emotionless expression. His face showed mild surprise, however briefly.

"Miss Hitomi is inside His majesty's room," he said, now speaking directly with Yukari, immediately ignoring the now inferior Spark, "I was told to tell you that you may see her, but you must be alone. Sir Thein must remain outside."

Rather than ask why Hitomi might be in Van's room at all, and honestly not wanting the answer, she stepped forward quickly and silently apologized to Spark.

She walked up to the door as it was opened by the guard and stepped into the room beyond, not knowing why her heart had suddenly decided to play a fast beat against her chest.

(I'm done! That's the end of the chapter, but obviously not the end of the suspense. What could happen next? On a more serious note, I have to apologize to all those that have been reading and hate the infrequent updates. I'm sorry! I know many must hate me now, but I have to find all the chapters I lost when I had to recently delete one of my hard drives, so it's sadly going to be slow updating. I'll write out new chapters if I have to to get up faster. I'll speed up, promise.

p.s. Anyone ever heard of the short lived t.v. Show created by Joss Wheldon in 2002 by the humble name of Firefly ? Well, the movie of this greatly under unappreciated show Serenity is out soon! I can't wait! I LOVE Malcolm Reynolds and his (Mostly) loyal crew. It really sucked when they took Firefly off the air, but my brother bought the box set when it came out, so I'm a little happier. I hope after this movie a network will commission Whedon to make more episodes for the t.v. Show, or make another movie. Browncoats forever! And about it's cancellation from network t.v., I'll quote caption Mal about the loss,"May of been the loosing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one." Read more of what Van has in store for Gothel, what Gothel has in store for him, and what I have in store for them both. Read soon to find out, hopefully!)