(Okay, I said I was going to update, and here I am. Updating! Let's see how Allen and company are doing on Gaea…
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line and some original characters. Please don't sue.)
They were on their way.
After a day of planning, if that's what he wanted to call it, he was on his way back to Austuria, and later Basram.
He had left the day following Van and Hitomi's departure, rather than stay In Fanelia to oversee the stability of the government. It was already taken care of, thanks to Van's foresight.
The new leader of the government, until Van's return, was his adopted sister and member of the royal family, Merle.
The council did have some opposition to her gaining control of the government, but the new head of the council had silenced any fears about her and vouched for her leadership ability. Donte was adamant that she was up to the task. She had even won some allies on the council when she begun major changes to the security of the castle, including closing up the construction sites on some of the uncompleted wings until after Van returned. Kellia, the daughter of Gothel and presumed attempted assassin of Hitomi, had been left in the upper dungeon under guard.
Sadly, it was Allen's responsibility to insure that no other country besides Austuria knew the truth about it.
He had to go to Austuria and warn Millerna about this latest setback. And a setback it was. How was he going to keep this quiet outside of the Austurian royal family? And how many of the member s of Van's
own Council could be trusted to keep silent? Above all else, how would he handle the growing threat of Basram, and the ever looming threat of Zaibach?
Overall, Van and Hitomi picked a horrible time to leave.
The girl that had accompanied Hitomi from the Mystic Moon had decided to stay in Fanelia, and Allen was glad of it. He didn't need another young girl following him around, and he believed that her Fanalian escort could take care of her, learning from past experience.
As he and his sister crossed the border from Fanelia into Arzas, the woodland country that led onto the borderlands of Austuria, he couldn't help but think that he might be in a little trouble if he were younger.
From what little he had seen of Miss Yukari, she was a lovely young woman. She had long chestnut brown hair that hugged her angular face in soft waves, and her warm brown eyes caught the light in a way that made it hard not to look into them. Thankfully she didn't have the same sense of adventure as her friend and follow him.
"When do you think we'll be home, brother?" His sister Celina jolted Allen from his musing.
"Soon. Only a few more days of travel and we'll be back in Palas."
They were traveling among a caravan from Arzas the next day, and Celina was looking forward to spending the night in the tribe of Wolf men. Allen figured it was her attachment to the Dog man Jajuka that allowed her to be so comfortable among the people of Arzas.
He watched his sister, who walked a little ahead of him, her short white dress billowing in the breeze she created through her quick pace. Her light hair caught the light from the sun, shimmering behind her. Over the past two years, she had let her hair grow from its short length, and he hadn't objected. Anything that would make her forget her years in Zaibach as another person, he would bless.
He still wasn't completely sure if she remembered it. She seemed so happy, so full of light and youthful life. Everything about those horrible years had seemed to disappear like a bad dream.
His father's abandonment, his mother's death and his sister's disappearance all had taken a toll on him as a child. It was as if the Gods had conspired against him to destroy everything he ever needed; his need to love and be loved. As he grew older, he sought women as a source of fulfillment, and for years that was his only consolation. Marline… she had been a light for him after all his years of darkness…
But she wasn't mine.
Marline had left him. She gave in to her duty as the oldest daughter of Asturia and married the Duke of Freid. It hadn't mattered that he loved her. That together, they could have made a happy life if she had been more honest with her father. All those years she had let him believe that she didn't take a part of himself with her, nothing that truly tied them together. It wasn't until after seeing her son that he realized he was wrong. Chid wore the ring Allen had given Marline the last night they were together, the night when he allowed himself to give in to his desire to be with her. He had finally discovered the truth, and now he had to live with having to deny it. I was years before he felt such a strong attachment to another woman.
His attraction to her sister had been like a cry for his sister and his lover all at once. She wanted every part of him, and followed wherever he led, tying himself inexplicably to him like there wasn't any other man for her. How he had held her, kissed her, felt her warm acceptance…she fulfilled him, provided a love that seemed unending.
In the end, though, she too gave in to her responsibility to her country and abandoned him like every other woman in his life. He couldn't help but feel resentment that she had allowed Dryden into her life. It was like everything they had shared was a lie.
Hitomi seemed different than Marline and Millerna. She was young, vibrant and loyal. She looked past his impossibly perfect shell to the imperfection within. He should of felt shame at her insight, but to his surprise, he welcomed it. All of his sorrow had finally been laid bare, and instead of running from him, she had understood. Everything about her… the way she smiled, the way she moved, her need to protect everyone around her, including himself, had been almost like having a caregiver again, someone to depend on. He had depended on her enough to ask her to spend the rest of his days with him. Even without his mother and sister beside him, she could be there. Allen would have locked her love beside him was lock gilded cage for the rest of her days. That was the only thing he would be able to do if she had said yes. He would do it to make sure she would never leave him.
But someone else needed her more. She needed someone more. Crossing the stars didn't matter to her when it meant she could be with….Van.
Allen hoped she couldn't be what he needed. He convinced himself that she wasn't the one for him to see her be happy. Van couldn't function as a leader without her guiding hand.
But after all of the heart ache that had resulted from the war, there had been one silver lining. Celina had come back. Damaged, changed, corrupted by Zaibach as revenge against his father, but back.
Celina was here again. That was all that mattered.
XX
It was so easy to escape.
All Kellia had to do was befriend the man in charge of her imprisonment, and once she gained his trust, use it to her advantage.
The person in charge of her was an older man, and unfortunately for her, he was very professional in his work. Any time she tried to speak to him he ignored, and any attempt at her plan for escape foiled.
The day her father left, she was moved under guard to her cell in the completed dungeon. She was leg shackled to the floor beside her mat, and was allowed once to leave her cell for her personal problems, but otherwise left alone. Her only contact with the guard had been at the end of the day, when he brought her meal of bread and grain.
He came in through the door at the top of a flight of stairs, the hall lit by torches. He came in full Fanelian knight gear, the white of the armor dull in the dim light. He stepped in from of her cell with a plate and small cup, allowing her the privilege of taking the items through the bars. She watched him as he walked back to the top of the stairs, as far away from her as it was possible.
She had spent the day mapping the layout of her prison. In addition to her own cell, there were three other full cells on this wing of the dungeon, all lined up beside hers. The walls were bare and the cells seemed unused. From what she knew of Fanelia's recent criminal control, anyone caught
committing a crime was locked here, but all criminal activity was for the most part minor, and the cells went unused. She couldn't see any way of escaping through the walls or floor, because they were knew and in perfect condition, no weaknesses she could manipulate.
Only one way.
She ate her food in silence, watching the unmoving man. Should she ty to kill him, or just slip quietly away somehow? Surely the man didn't deserve death, but he was in her way. How to get around him?
She waited until he came back for the plate the next morning, pretending to sleep.
The moment he stepped through the doors, she was on him. It was only moments before he was unconscious on the floor, and she was out the door. She headed up the stone passageway and out into the completed hall above. She didn't quite know her way around the castle yet, but she knew that if she headed for a window, she would know which way to head by the position of the rising sun and mystic moon.
The hall was quiet. For some reason, the security was lax around the holding cells below. It was a clear mistake on the guards' part, but Kellia applauded their stupidity. It made it so much easier to escape.
After running quietly for a few minutes, she finally spotted a window. She dashed up to it and saw the light from the sun. It was low, and she knew where to go now.
She ran past the window in search of a busier hall, or at least one with someone to get some information from before she was on her way. Would there be a small crowd of people in the mess hall, or one or two on the grounds? It didn't matter, because thankfully she needn't search out a target; he was entering from the end of the hall, and hadn't seen her yet.
Her prey looked like the perfect target. He was obviously a member of the council, because of the distinct, rich clothing that all his advisors wore during meetings. Her own father never removed his. This man looked to be in his mid thirties and a bit grouchy about something, but stopped moving when she rushed him. He tried to scream but she covered his cowardly mouth.
"Don't talk until I tell you to," she whispered to her captive, and he obeyed. She forced him back down the way she came, into the entrance to the hall leading toward the prison. He shook beneath her touch.
"I want some information. Where is the King?" Kellia wanted to be sure he was occupied with something else if she could make at least try for a getaway. She hoped he was with his biggest distraction, the woman from the mystic moon. It would give her ample time to escape. She was a bit surprised at her informant's response. He sputtered feebly against her hand muzzle, and said, "You mean you don't know?" She tightened her grip, and grabbed his arm to pull back forcibly behind his back. "I don't have time for your confusion. Answer the question." The man cried out against the pain in his arm, the warm moisture hitting the inside of her hand. It disgusted her.
"He's gone. Gone some…somewhere with the girl…" he coughed. The moisture in her hand grew. "I think they've gone…to her home." She released her hold on his face but not his arm. He wheezed and sputtered, but didn't scream. She took pity on him. She graciously knocked him out from behind, leaving his body at the foot of the stairs. She rushed past him back into the hall and toward the window, leaping gracefully out into the yard below. She had all she needed now.
She dashed toward the forest, the wind whipping her hair back. She felt the sun's warmth on her shoulders.
All she had to do was find her father, or get to her contacts along the way to Austuria. The whole world needed to know that the international council no longer had their weapons. Basram was no longer a part of their group, and the power of Escaflowne was no longer in their hands. They had neither the Fanelian King nor the Girl from the Mystic Moon to watch over them. Now was the time when they would know their weakness.
For a moment, she felt free.
(Okay, that's the end of the chapter, and I hope you liked it! I hope no one had forgotten about Gothel's little daughter, did they? I know we haven't seen her in a while, but she is an important part of the story. What did you all think of Allen's thoughts on his women troubles? I hope you enjoyed it. What's been going on in the mean time? Find out soon! Please read and review, and thanks especially to mysisterisasquijum and serenityrain2233 for sticking with me! Love all of you readers!)