(I'm back, and rather than explain my several month absence, let me get right to the point.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, just my meager story line with someone else's characters. Please don't sue me.)
Kio shuddered. The cool air of the outside did not penetrate the oppressive darkness of this hallway. He hated coming here. He had always been happier in the country, where his family was from. They didn't have much, but he had thought they got by okay. Until the day his mother told him to pack up. Next thing he knew, he was being hustled out of the only home he had ever known, and leaving behind the small family he had left and shipped to this godforsaken castle in this horrible city.
Why did it have to end up this way?
He was forced everyday to clean the main hall leading to the old throne room, and any other place he was ordered to next. It was a tedious existence. If he ever thought it could be better, different…
He paused from his work on the floor and sat up. He had scrubbed for longer than he could remember and his back was killing him. He had to stretch for a moment to get some weakness out of it.
The pause in his work allowed his mind to wander. He thought of his life where he lived before coming to the imperial castle. Living on the edge of Zaibach on the little farm his father built before the war.
His older brothers left when his father did, drafted into the Army of Iron right at the beginning of the Emperor's bid for global control over the people's desire. That was what his father told his tearful mother the day he left, "The Emperor knows what is right for his people. He wants every man to enter his own world, where he can be free to have his heart's desire."
What a lie.
Kio had watched helplessly as his mother contracted a fever that left her covered in sores, loosing what little excess weight she had, trying desperately to save their farm that Kio couldn't, try as he might, keep productive.
All of their neighbors slowly lost their family to the war. News would come from the capital daily of the glory of the battles they had fought, of the gains in secret weapons and tools for making something for the Emperor. Every day he prayed his two brothers Yuu and Kenta would come home and end this misery. He hoped his mother would live. He wished his father could come back to them and make it livable, all bearable again.
None of it happened. His brothers never lived to see him again. His father never came home. He had heard from a messenger that his father had gone to the siege against the capital of Freid. He hadn't returned.
He didn't get his heart's desire. He didn't keep his family. He lost it all.
Now I'm at the center of the misery. The Place where the entire world's madness began. All I can do is…Clean Floors.
He cursed silently, the small sound echoing in the darkness.
Suddenly, he heard the door leading to the hall open to admit someone. He hurriedly tried to stoop back to his work, but not before he heard the voice that made the back on his head stand up. The cool air that brushed past him from the outside no longer felt comforting. The darkness claimed it as soon as the door closed. He ducked down to the floor as the two men passed, aware that he had never seen one of them before, but fearful of the one that passed him directly, dwarfing the other man with his oppressive height and stature.
"Is Basram ready?" He said now in his deep voice, the lilt of eastern origins slipping out.
The sound was terrifying in that it was a voice of total and complete…emptiness. As if it was the very darkness that spoke.
Kio shook his head to clear his unpleasant thoughts and tried to work again. He dumped the water across the floor behind him and started scrubbing the floor as hard and quick as he could. He didn't want the men to think he was listening.
"I have a spy headed there now. They should be within the area by the end of the week, and then we can begin." The other man replied, his weak voice shook as he spoke, betraying his fear.
"I believe they can be convinced."
They stopped moving and stood together at the end of the hall, a small torch by the door illuminated the darkness there, furthest from Kio and his workspace. The dim light flickered eerily across the face of the smaller man, and Kio couldn't help but steal a glimpse of the man's expression. It was of terror, thinly veiled by a face of servitude; averted eyes, slight bend of the neck toward the ground, and slouch of the back. It was a gesture that Kio knew by heart and used every day.
I do not operate on a belief." The other man replied coolly.
The smaller man stepped a little back, almost as if he was recoiling.
"I want the weapon. Basram controls the most assets I need to begin my operation, and without their support, I cannot overthrow the council and regain the power over this…." The taller man stopped talking. Kio felt his heart sink.
He had unconsciously stopped scrubbing as the men started talking and felt more than regret as he watched the taller man walk toward him. He must have noticed the eavesdrop.
Kio knew his fate.
One of the palace servants told him on his first day here of the place called the "Hall of Destiny." A place where you learned and saw your fate play out before you in the "Emperor's eye". He had scoffed at the time, not believing the tale.
As the taller man grabbed him roughly by the hair and pulled him upward, he knew. He knew where he was going.
The man pulled him along the passage, all the way to the end where the other man waited.
"Open the door!" He ordered to the man cowering beside it. The little man obeyed without question.
Kio was ushered inside another room, completely dark and silent. The little man closed the door. The larger man released him.
Knowing better than to move, Kio waited silently as the terrible man moved away, and a moment later a flash filled the room, bathing it in an unnatural red light. Kio gasped as he took it in.
Across from the entrance stood a massive platform, suspended over a pit too large for Kio to comprehend. Above him stood an…
Eye. The eye of the Emperor.
Kio was struck by the terrible beauty of it, the orb that held the answer to his life and past happiness. The orb the color of blood that had been spilt for its birth.
Kio felt the blood drain from his face. He felt the breath leave him as the depths of the orb swirled within its confines. He felt rather than heard the cold dark voice beside him.
"Those who do not serve diligently and unceasingly meet their destiny savagely."
Kio knew. Looking above, he saw it.
His mother dying within a pool of blood at her own hand, beside his father and brothers' grave. His father's farm burned down for firewood by his starving neighbors.
He knew.
He would never get the desire of his heart. The warmth of his father's arms around him when he picked him up. The chuckle of his brother's when they played with him. His mother's touch of comfort when he was in need.
He saw it. He would die in darkness, and never feel the cool breeze ruffle his hair or see the stars and Moons' brilliant light shine down on him again.
The last words he ever heard were filled with malice and mockery, not comfort or hope.
"No one can escape their destiny."
He died in despair.
XX
Hitomi awoke to the most annoying thing in the world; her brother's annoying voice in her ear.
"Geez Hitomi! Get up!"
Hitomi swatted at the pest, her eyes still firmly shut.
"Hey!" Hitsarugi screeched on impact.
Hitomi smiled groggily and rolled to her side, prepared to return to her dreams of a puffy winged angel wearing red and tan.
"Hitomi! You have to go to school!"
"WHAT?!"
Hitomi jumped up, startled into action.
She was usually late these days, and her body had developed a mechanism for waking up and dressing in under 2 minutes. She busily shut down into this mode, completely forgetting the pesky other presence in the room.
"You're not leaving HIM here, are you?" He shouted after her already retreating back. She was already at the stairs before it hit her.
Van!
All of the events of the past week hit her like a ton of bricks. Van had come back. He took her to Gaea, and now they were both here, on Earth together.
She did a quick scan to see if he was in her room but only saw her brother.
Where is he?
She turned back and sprinted down the stairs without a backward glance. "Van!" She called, but only silence met her ears.
Once she saw that no one was in the living room, she dashed to the kitchen, her heart quickening at the sudden fear he was gone. That it had all been a dream.
Her heart sank when she got there. Her mother was there. Alone.
"Where is he, mom?" Her voice sounded panicky and breathless.
"He's out, Hitomi," her mother calmly replied, pouring some rice from the steamer into a small bowl. Sensing the tension in her daughter's voice, she turned to her with an encouraging smile, "With your father."
"Are you kidding me?" She couldn't believe it. He and her father… together. They were alone together in her world with no buffer between her father's piercing eyes and booming laugh, and Van's brooding confusion. It was like she'd woken from a beautiful dream and been plunged into a nightmare.
"Where did they go?" She whispered, collapsing into a chair as her brother sauntered in.
"They just went to the corner store to get some stuff for tonight." She turned back to her breakfast.
Her brother eyed her suspiciously, and poked her with one of his chopsticks. "You okay, sis? You look a little green."
She batted his hand away.
"When are they coming back?" She hadn't stopped staring at her mother, calmly sitting at the table now, eating. How could she be so calm?
"Not until after you're gone, dear." Her mother didn't look up.
"I'm not going to school." Hitomi replied, surprised.
"Yes you are," Hitomi almost got a chance for a rebuttal but was cut off by her mother, who said clearly without looking up to gauge her daughter's reaction, "if you want Fanel to stay here."
Hitomi's mouth hung open, stunned into silence. She heard Hitsarugi snicker.
That's fine. I'll just skip and look for them. No big deal, right?
"I've called your teachers with requests that you're looked after, Hitomi. I don't want you missing any more important tests like you have been. You don't want to fail."
Hitomi started to shake. Her mother had thought of everything. She had no choice but to hang her head and walk to the door.
Should she write a note saying where she'd gone? No. He wouldn't be able to read it.
She left reluctantly, hoping the day wouldn't get worse. She had a horrible feeling that with her father and Van together, it was against logic to hope.
XX
Van had no idea what to do. As much as he hated admitting it, he was intimidated by Hitomi's father.
He had woken early and was ushered out of the house before he knew what was really going on, and to his realizing horror, weaponless. He left his sword behind by the closet where his futon was stored.
His overbearing companion had spoke to him of needing assistance and Van had hurriedly obeyed. Now he was heading to a strange place in the strange world, following a man who had no idea who he was really traveling with.
"We'll need some food for tonight, if we have you as a guest," Sir Kanzaki was saying now, walking slightly ahead of Van through a steady stream of people, "I like big portions, and I don't know if you do too."
Van nodded, trying to keep up.
After a few minutes of his companion not speaking, Sir Kanzaki decided it was best to just be the one to talk, and so Van got a nonstop river of small talk as they made their way to wherever they were headed; Van supposed Sir Kanzaki liked it that way. He talked about the weather they'd been having, said hello to passing people Van suspected to be neighbors and talked about his job as a translator for a business Van had no way of understanding. Then, as they turned the corner, the personal questions began.
"Hitomi hasn't really talked about her track trip she had a few years ago," he started as soon as they stepped into a large indoor market with magically opening doors, "In fact, I don't ever remember her talking about it. Is this when she met you?"
Van immediately heard the tone of the conversation shift at this statement. Is he trying to trap me? It was best to be vague. He nodded again.
Sir Kanzaki stopped in front of a small pile of white, round vegetables that smelled like the same vegetables from the night before. He picked one up as he pulled a clear thin object from a display nearby. It puffed up when he shook it and turned into a bag. Van tried to hide his amazement.
"I take it you two became friends…makes sense that you would visit her."
Despite the smile on Sir Kanzaki's face as he turned to look at Van, the glint in his blue eyes was telling. Van didn't trust it.
Moving away, he headed for another pile of vegetables a little ways off, green ones that resembled gourds in Austuria. Van wondered what they were as Sir Kanzaki performed the magic trick with the bags again.
Van took the opportunity to speak for the first time, while Sir Kanzaki's expression and face were turned away. He knew it was a bit cowardly, but the conversation was throwing him on the defensive.
"She and I are friends. I'm just sorry I didn't get a chance to see her before now."
Hitomi's father didn't answer. He bustled off into another section of the indoor market, where strips of stange meat packaged in clear film where housed. Van felt a sudden chill and realized it was coming from the area where the meat was stored and displayed.
After picking out a small stack of meat to his satisfaction, Sir Kanzaki, still with his back turned to him, walked further along the row to lines of cartons, filled with little eggs of an unknown animal that looked more fragile than eggs back on Gaea. Sir Kanzaki inspected a carton before handing it gingerly to Van to hold.
"It's a pity you couldn't find the time until now."
The brief glance Sir Kanzaki gave Van before turning to another isle filled with little boxes and bags of grain was slightly hostile and mocking. Van wondered if he was supposed to see it.
Trying to hide his guilt, Van replied, "I live very far away. It has been hard to keep in contact with Hi- Miss Kanzaki." Van didn't want to offend her father by seeming to familiar with her.
Sir Kanzaki grabbed a few weirdly marked boxes and handed them to Van to hold. Again he moved away, this time headed for a row of moving tables toward the front of the front of the entrance. Waiting there were people in matching clothes of green and yellow, designed with the markings of the language he couldn't read.
Van put his things on the nearest table, and watched as the contents moved along toward the uniformed lady with fake looking red hair. She seemed busy with a man ahead of them in line.
"Why has it been so long since you've seen her though?" His intimidating companion asked, mimicking Van and putting his things on the the moving table, "and why visit now?"
The man ahead of them moved away and Sir Kanzaki moved up, not looking at Van but at the woman with red hair who smiled at him. He immediately started making small talk with her, not bothering to wait for an answer from Van.
Once everything was bagged by the red headed woman, Sir Kanzaki paid, leaving Van the task of holding the groceries as they headed back for the street.
Sir Kanzaki hummed an unfamiliar tune as they walked back to the residential street where Hitomi lived.
After the uncomfortable silence following Sir Kanzaki's question, Van couldn't help but ask, "What do you mean, Sir?"
Sir Kanzaki stopped walking. He turned around and looked at Van with undisguised anger that made Van take a step back.
"I mean, why come here now? She's just started to get over you, and you come here! What do you think this is doing to her?"
All signs of the humor from the night before were gone in Sir Kanzaki's face. He looked like a man that had seen suffering Van could only imagine, but knew it was because of him. Van knew this man had watched as his daughter suffered for years, and it was all because of him.
"I didn't come here to hurt her."
Van stood where he was, looking straight into Sir Kanzaki's dark blue eyes. He didn't blink.
"That's what you're doing. Don't you see that? Coming here was a mistake."
Hitomi's father turned again and walked up to his door, but Van didn't move.
"I'm letting you stay only because of her, but do anything to hurt her, and I won't think twice. You'll be gone from her life for good this time." He opened the door and stepped inside.
Van followed, setting his bags in the kitchen before walking upstairs to look for Hitomi.
Was he really hurting her by being here? He wanted to convince himself it wasn't true, but couldn't manage it. It made too much sense.
I let her leave. I made her leave. All I wanted was for her to be happy, and I knew she couldn't be with me… So why am I here?
He had come back for her. He had followed her here to Earth for selfish reasons. For his country. For his world. He was using her as a pawn for a new war of Zaihbach's making.
Worse, he did it because it was personal.
He wanted her. He wanted to have all of her, not just a claim of friendship and camaraderie, but…more. He wanted to have something he couldn't say even to himself.
A selfish desire he had for her…to be with him, and to share all of himself with.
He got to her room, not sure what to say to her when he saw her, hoping she was sleeping so he wouldn't have to face her.
Sadly, different emotions replaced his dread and shame when he opened her door; those of surprise and fear.
She wasn't there!
(Okay, so that's the new chapter! I hope you all liked it, and thanks in advance to anyone who cares to review for this chapter. I know all of my fans have probably abandoned me, but I hope someone still has faith that I will finish this fic. I hope you all liked the introduction of Diaz, my main baddy. It has been too long sense anyone has really thought about the real threat over our characters, and I thought it would help to let him see the light, so to speak.
On a side note, don't worry about why they're on earth, because it is going somewhere. ALL WILL BE REVEALED! To all you Allen fans, don't worry, he'll show up next chapter, I promise!
On another, completely off topic note, go see The Dark Knight because it's AMAZING!!
Anyway, please read and review, and no flames please. The more reviews, the quicker the update. Love you all!)