Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Angel ❯ Chapter 13 ( Chapter 13 )

Chapter 13

 

Angel woke to the sound of a gentle knocking on the side of her bed. She rolled over and opened a weary eye. Her curtain had been pulled back and Miguel was standing over her.

“Hey sleepy. You thinking about getting up any time soon?”

“Yeah, yeah. I'm up.” Angel stumbled past an already dressed Miguel and Gatti into the bathroom. She was relieved to see that Chesta had kept his promise and the guys weren't in the room.

As she took her shower Angel thanked whatever god existed that this place had running water. She didn't know what she would've done if she hadn't been able to wash her hair.

Stepping out of the shower she was greeted with a knock on the door.

“Angel?” Chesta's voice came from the other side. “We have to go to the training room. If you hurry up you can come with us.”

“Okay.” She called back. She quickly brushed her teeth and hair and threw on a pair of black pants and a blue shirt before opening the door. She saw Chesta and the others dressed in their uniforms minus the armour.

“Are you ready?” Chesta asked. “We're going to be late if we don't leave.”

“Sure, just a sec.” Angel ran back into the bedroom and grabbed her mp3 player, speakers, brush and hair elastics. She smiled at the boys and walked with them to the training room.

“Why do you need all that stuff?” Guimel asked as they walked.

Angel looked at him like he was crazy. “You can't expect me to train without music. And how am I supposed to train with my hair loose? Honestly, don't you guys know anything? My hair would be a mess.”

Guimel shrugged sheepishly. “Sorry, didn't know.”

“It's okay.”

The group reached the training room and walked in. Angel noticed that, other than Dilandau, they were the last to arrive. The other boys were all at the weight machines or stretching on the mats.

As Angel's roommates started to separate Angel grabbed Gatti's arm. “What am I supposed to do?” She hissed.

“Just warm up until Lord Dilandau gets here.”

“Oh, okay.” Angel sat down on the mat and put her feet together, soles touching, pulled them close to her body and bent over them. As she was bent over she parted her hair and braided each half. As she sat up she pulled the ends of each braid up and tied them so that she now had two braided loops.

Angel finished stretching and stood up. Ignoring the stares of the others she found a corner and attached her speakers to her mp3 player. She found a song she liked and turned it on. She walked to the centre of her corner of mat and started her warm-up, which consisted of handsprings, back flips, splits, handstands and other gymnastic moves.

By the end of the song all the guys were staring at Angel. She stood up and looked around nervously. “What?”

Before anyone could answer Dilandau stormed into the room. He glared at the boys and Angel and barked out, “What are you all standing around for?” He shook his head and muttered to himself. “Today's sparing. Find a partner and start. Angel, come here.”

Angel walked over to the commander. “Yeah?” She asked.

“I'm going to train you with a sword. Have you ever used one before?”

“Uh…no.”

“Then we'll start with the basics.” Dilandau took two practice swords from the rack and tossed her one. She caught it clumsily and Dilandau glared at her. “You're holding it the wrong way.”

Angel looked down at her hands. “I am?”

Dilandau sighed and put his own sword down. “Hopeless.” He muttered to himself. “Here.” He took her sword and showed her the proper handling. “Like this.” 

“Oh, okay.” Angel took the sword back and held it correctly. “Now what?”

“Do you know anything about swords?” Dilandau asked angrily. “Anything at all.”

“Not really.” Angel replied. “I usually use throwing stars.” Dilandau raised an eyebrow and Angel smiled. “Wanna see?”

“Why not?” Dilandau asked, rolling his eyes. He pointed to the weapons rack and waited for her to pick out a set she liked. When she finally returned he pointed to a spot on the wall. “Hit there.”

“No problem.” Angel pulled her arm back and threw the star. It whizzed through the air and embedded itself in the wall, exactly where Dilandau had pointed. “There.” She smirked as she saw Dilandau's shocked look.

Dilandau shook his head. “Good enough. If you can do that then you can use a sword. You just need the same determination. Think of hitting your opponent as though you were hitting the wall with a star. It's the same principles. Now,” he retrieved his discarded sword. “There are five basic moves. You should stick to them for the first while.”

For the next four hours Dilandau taught Angel the basics of sword fighting. To her surprise she found that she was actually improving quickly. However she was having some trouble with lunges since she was so short. After a while she also noticed that Dilandau seemed to be nicer with her than with the other Dragonslayers. She didn't have time to ponder this though as her sword was knocked out of her hands once again.

“You're too slow.” Dilandau cried. “How do you expect to win if you aren't fast enough?”

“Well, excuse me.” Angel said snidely. “I've only been using a sword for,” she looked at her watch. “Five hours now. I think I'm doing pretty good considering that this is my first time.”

“Well you're not doing good enough.” Dilandau was cut off as Folken walked in.

“Dilandau,” he said as he walked up. “We are low on supplies. I want you to go to Castelo Fort to get some from Allen Schezar.”

“Why do I have to go?” Dilandau asked annoyed.

“Because you're well known and are he is more likely to listen to you.”

“And my Slayers? Who's going to train them while I'm gone?”

“Take them with you.” Folken said calmly.

Dilandau growled. “Fine.” He sheathed his sword and stalked out of the room.

The Dragonslayers all looked to Folken. “Go after him.” The fifteen boys filed out of the room as Folken turned to Angel. “Do you know how to fly?”

“Fly?” Angel asked confused. “No.”

“Do you want to learn?”

“What?”

“Come with me.” Folken gently took Angel's arm and took her to an empty guymelef hanger.

Folken opened the large door and pulled Angel near the edge.

“Okay.” He said. “Let your wings out.”

Angel furrowed her brow and closed her eyes. She tensed the muscles in her back and gave small squeal of pain as her wings left her back.

Folken put a hand on her shoulder. “It gets easier with time.” He let his own wings out and stepped back. “Do you know how birds fly?”

“Birds? Yeah, we learned about flight in school.” Angel looked out the door and asked nervously, “Aren't we awfully high?”

“Not really.” Folken replied nonchalantly. “Now, you know how birds fly,” he pushed her closer to the edge. “Same theory.” And with a final shove he pushed Angel off the edge.