Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Beyond the Moon ❯ Lonely Sickness ( Chapter 7 )

Extended chapter. More fluff, lots of talking, crying, and good stuff like that. Hopefully more action will follow.

Beyond the Moon

Seven

Allen glanced up as the door to his study opened slowly. Van stepped into the room, looking very groggy albeit contented. His mouth was curved into a lopsided grin, and his eyes were puffy and looked as if he had just gotten out of bed. Noting his disheveled hair and the shirt he was wearing backwards, Allen gauged that the king had. Smiling a little himself, Allen motioned to the chair in front of him. Van flopped into it, leaning back and propping one arm on his knee in a very casual way. The knight raised an eyebrow.

"Before we begin, may I ask how you slept?" Allen asked, chuckling. Van missed it completely.

"Mmm.. very well, thank you.." he replied, lids fluttering.

"And what sort of activities did you and the Lady Hitomi engage in?" the knight continued. Van jumped up, suddenly alert.

"Nothing of that sort, I assure you!" he announced defensively. Allen could no longer hold in his laughter, causing Van to narrow his eyes. "Really! She had a nightmare or something," he continued, smirking at the knight. Allen recovered from his fit of hysterics and recomposed himself, leaning back in his chair.

"Well then. You probably know by now, if you've spoken to the Lady Hitomi, why you're here?" Allen questioned, rubbing the tip of his black boot with his thumb. Van nodded.

"Allen, you said Dilandau was gone forever," the king said, his voice lowering to a more serious degree. The blonde man nodded and closed his eyes.

"He was, until a month or so ago. Celena told me she was having strange dreams, about cities burning and a strange, red-eyed man laughing maniacally. This instantly alerted me; I warned Jajuka, but there was nothing he could do except comfort her." Allen opened his eyes, looking out the window and sighing before he continued. "She became curious. She began asking me about her dreams, because she knows me too well.. knew I was hiding something from her." The knight sank back in his chair, absently running his quill pen along his finger, leaving a trail of black ink. Van nodded in understanding and sighed.

"Did you tell her?" he asked. Allen looked up, then shook his head.

"No. But I think somehow she has been communicating with Dilandau, and she already knows. Strangely enough, she seems to be able to keep him in check, almost as if he listens to her," Allen continued, furrowing his brow. "But they -- Celena, anyway -- have been sick. She's bedridden almost every other day; just a week ago, she was having convulsions and screaming random names like "Miguel" and "Dallet". Then Dilandau takes over and threatens to kill us, telling us to get them apart." The knight paused again, running his inky finger along his chin. Van remained silent. "At first Jajuka and I thought that Dilandau wanted to get away from Celena so he could get his own body and just get his revenge on us."

"Of course he would!" Van cut in, much to Allen's surprise. "He wants revenge on Hitomi and I too! You can't let Dilandau get his way.. he would kill everyone this time!" The knight glared at him, and Van shrunk back into his chair. The few times Allen ever got hostile about something was when it involved Hitomi or his sister. Van determined this would be a particularly sensitive issue, involving both of the women they loved.

"Dilandau has been cooperating. He -- don't get me wrong, he's a villain -- talked to me when he said Celena wasn't listening. He wants to have a separate body because..." Allen took a deep breath. "Because he doesn't want to burden Celena with his thoughts and memories anymore. He knows she suffers from them; she can't stand blood and death. It makes her crazy with fear. The only solution we have come up with so far is the sorcerers."

There was a long silence. Allen turned, staring off out the window, his hands playing with the spur still attached to his boot. Van leaned his head in his hands, sighing. He stood up and turned, leaving the study without a word.

***

Celena paced around her room, maliciously stepping on the bright-colored drawings scattered around her floor. She dug her heel into one particularly nice picture, ripping the paper to shreds and grading it into fine pieces with the toe of her boot.

Celena, being violent won't help. Celena growled.

"You would know all about that, right?" she replied harshly, picking up a sheet of paper and ripping it loudly. She heard Dilandau grunt. "You would know all about violence, all about blood, all about fire and killing?! You were going to kill her, you were!" Celena shouted accusingly, throwing the ripped shreds across the room.

I was not! This only caused Celena to rip faster, growling and stomping.

"Liar!" she cried, knees buckling. Collapsing in a heap on the floor, tears rapidly found their way to her eyes and down her cheeks.

Celena... Stop it.

"Stop telling me what to do!" Celena yelled again, sobbing harder. "If you got your own body, you would just leave me and go kill things and get your revenge!"

You know I wouldn't do that. Celena growled.

"You would! I know you better than you know yourself," she moaned, her voice quieting down amidst her crying. There was no response. Wailing louder, Celena pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, crying into her arms.

The door suddenly burst open, and Jajuka rushed in, spotting her on the floor. He slowly walked up to the crying woman, sinking down to his knees beside her and putting one furry paw on her shoulder. Celena ignored him, crying even harder.

Stop crying. Celena yelled, burying her head further into her knees.

"Go away!" she cried. Jajuka jumped, then sat back down, putting a big, furry arm around her. Her crying lessened a bit, and he pulled her in closer.

"It's alright, Celena," he said quietly.

"No it's not!" she cried. Jajuka stroked her shoulder, releasing her a bit. "It won't be alright! What is wrong with me? What happened?!"

You happened.

"Oh, shut up for once, will you?" Celena growled. Jajuka sighed and stood up, offering her his hand. She sighed and took it, getting up and wiping the stray tears from her face.

"Maybe you should ask your brother to explain one more time," Jajuka said calmly. Celena lowered her head.

"He won't tell me. All he'll try do is send for a sorcerer, and then we'll be separated, and Dilandau will leave me forever!" She began to cry all over again, burying her face in the sleeve of Jajuka's blue jacket. He sighed.

"That may well be, but I'm sure your brother would make sure he goes nowhere," the dog man assured.

I've been telling you, I won't go anywhere.

Celena screamed, holding her head. "Both of you!" she cried. "Just.. just leave me alone!" She turned on her heel, running into her bathroom and slamming the door behind her. Jajuka sighed, turning and slowly leaving the room.

Celena curled up in a ball. She didn't know what she wanted; she had just told her best friend in the whole wide world to go away, and now Dilandau wouldn't talk to her. Now she was really alone, just like she asked. She knew that if her "Dilly" got his own body, he would gallop away on a big red horse and get his revenge on everyone and everything, and just shed more blood and hurt more people. Celena didn't want to be alone.

"Dilandau," she said quietly. "Don't leave me alone. Please, Dilandau."

I won't leave you alone, Celena.

***

Hitomi yawned, waking up for the second time that day. It was getting later in the morning, and she decided it was finally time to get up. Just as she was getting out of bed, she heard the door open.

"Good morning, sunshine," Van said, sitting down beside her. Hitomi yawned again, batting her mouth with one hand. Opening her eyes a bit more, she saw Van looked worn and tired despite the fact it was only around ten in the morning. His clothes were disheveled, and she giggled slightly when she noticed he was wearing his shirt backwards. Hitomi stretched, pulling on the collar of his shirt. A blush spread to his face as she got up, kissing his cheek.

"I'm going to go get dressed. What's the plan for today?" she asked, putting a hand through her hair and tugging on the knots that had formed there. Van contemplated for a moment, then looked up.

"We're leaving for Palas today. The carriage should be here around midday," he replied. Hitomi stopped her finger brushing and glared at him.

"Leaving already?" she asked incredulously, then sighed. "It's for the better, I guess." Van nodded and got up, taking off his formal coat and, pulling his arms out of the sleeves of his shirt, turned it right-facing before putting everything back on. Hitomi blinked, then shook her head and turned, opening the door and leaving to her room down the hall.

After getting dressed, just as Hitomi was leaving her room, she turned towards the door at the far end of the hall. The knob turned slightly, and Hitomi cautiously stepped toward it. Do I have a death wish or something? she asked herself. The knob stopped turning, and Hitomi could hear light footsteps as she walked closer.

Pushing open the door, she glanced inside. Celena sat on her bed, staring blankly at the wall. Hitomi closed the door behind her and walked in, sitting on the bed beside the disheveled-looking woman.

Her hair was gone. It was sliced roughly around her ears, and Hitomi could see locks of it scattered all over the floor. Celena's arm twitched at her side, when suddenly she broke down crying. Silently, Hitomi put an arm over her shoulder and patted her arm, not quite sure what to do.

"Celena.. Celena, what is it?" she asked quietly. The crying woman looked up, rubbing her eyes.

"I don't want to live with Dilandau anymore.. I don't want to see the death.. but I know he will leave me if I let him go," she replied, sniffing. Hitomi furrowed her eyebrows.

"You're keeping him here? Is that why you are sick?" Hitomi asked, a bit of confusion edging into her voice. Celena nodded.

"If I let him go.. He'll get his own body, and he will leave me and kill people!" she cried, burying her face in Hitomi's shoulder. The brown-haired woman blinked.

"Did he say that?" she asked again, patting Celena's head. Sniffing, Celena glanced up.

"No..."

"Then how can you be sure?" She seemed to contemplate this for a while.

"It's just... He finally rescued me, took me out of my fake world. Everything was too good.. Jajuka was here with me, Brother was here with me, and we were happy. We should have been happy.. But I wasn't. Dilandau saved me. I don't want him to leave me alone anymore! I was so alone," Celena moaned into Hitomi's sleeve.

"You can't be sure he'll leave you. If he came to you, why would you be alone?" Hitomi reasoned.

"Because.. because.. he wants to kill! He wants to get revenge.. I can't let him!" Celena replied, her voice going higher and more frantic with each passing second.

"Celena, do you love him?" The question caught the white-haired woman totally off guard. She sniffed for a moment.

"He's the only friend I've ever had beside Jajuka.. He listens to me even more than Brother," she replied. Hitomi nodded in understanding.

"Let him go. If you love him, let him go." With that, she stood up and turned, leaving the room. Celena sniffed, lying down on her bed and curling up with one of her pillows. She remained silent, staring ahead blankly. The knife she had used to cut her hair lay on the ground. Dilandau had willed her to do it; he was sick of having long hair when he took control. She cut her precious hair, and she cut it for him. Celena sniffed again and got up, striding slowly and tiredly across the room towards her mirror.

***

Van helped the coachman with the trunks, heaving them onto the back of the carriage. Allen stood on the top of the stone stairway, watching Hitomi climb into the cabin. He waved as Van followed suit, and the coachman jumped onto the bench, taking the two horses' reins up into his hands. The carriage turned, the large horses trotting off down the dirt road.

Hitomi leaned back against the seat. "What did Allen have to say?" she asked at length. Van sighed.

"Celena's sick," he replied sullenly. Hitomi nodded. "She and Dilandau are having some kind of war over control of her body."

"That's not true." Van looked up in surprise. "She just doesn't want to let him go. I think.. I think they would separate, but she doesn't want to let him go. They've been in each other's minds for the past twelve years, and now that Dilandau's mind has woken up again, she doesn't want him to leave her," Hitomi concluded, closing her eyes and leaning back. Van stared ahead, eyes still wide. It was still too early to ingest that much information, so Van just sighed and leaned back as well, pulling Hitomi into his arms and rocking her back and forth until she dozed off.

A dragon flew overhead. The coachman looked up, staring in shock. Dragons never showed up in Asturia; most Asturians didn't even know they existed. Dragons were the rumored protectors of Fanelia, and the thought of one flying in broad daylight was unheard of.

Its shadow passed over the sun, allowing the coachman a good view of the silver substance that came fluttering down from the sky, covering his nose and eyes. It floated in through the open window of the carriage, causing a light cry from Van before he collapsed.

The coachman felt his eyes closing, and his hands released the reins as he fell sideways onto the bench. The horses began to trip over themselves, and soon their knees buckled as well, their eyes fluttering closed. The wagon was swiftly halted, the sudden shift of weight sending it careening over a small eddy in the road. The horses' yolks pulled away from their wooden bindings, letting the carriage to wobble freely. The sleeping coachman toppled out of the drivers' seat, landing safely between the soft backs of the two bay horses.

The carriage, on the other hand, tilted precariously on the side of the road. There was a shallow ditch on the other side, and a sudden shift by its sleeping passengers sent it off the edge of the road, slamming loudly into the ground on its side. The door rolled open, and a brown-haired woman fell out, bumping over the sideways door. She moaned a bit in her sleep, but was soundly out cold. Her body was caught by two pairs of pale, long fingered hands and hoisted up by two tall figures. They turned, retreating across the top of the carriage and into the woods on the other side of the ditch.