Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Dilandau's Revenge ❯ Dark Memories ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: The characters Dilandau, Celena Schezar, Allen Schezar, Van Fanel, Hitomi Kanzaki (Fanel) and other characters from Escaflowne are borrowed from the TV series The Vision of Escaflowne, created by Sunrise and directed by Kazuki Akane. The original characters of Vulcan and Amano Fanel, who are sons of Van and Hitomi, were invented by me.

Introduction: At the end of the Escaflowne series, Allen Schezar has reclaimed his sister, Celena, from the clutches of the Zaibach scientists who turned her into Dilandau. Not surprisingly, Celena is not particularly sane, but she seems harmless. Unfortunately, she has also not been cured. One interesting side-effect of the Zaibach experiments, however, is longevity. Although Celena is about 46 or 47 years old at this point, she still only looks about 25 years old. Allen has been working hard all this time to help Celena recover, but as she recovers her memories, she starts to have nightmares, and unbeknownst to Allen, the nightmares are bringing Dilandau back to the surface.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter 1: Dark Memories

Celena woke up screaming again. Her imagination filled the room with faceless men and terrible machines. The memory of pain ached through her joints. She curled up on her side and shuddered. She hated the memories. It was better when she didn't remember. But it was important to Allen and she wanted to please him. He was so kind to her. But the memories were horrifying. Memories of things that were done to her left her shaking and nauseous. Memories of things that she had done left her sickened, except those memories didn't really feel like hers. They felt like someone else's memories shoved into her head, jagged and sharp.

The door to her room opened, letting in a rectangle of light.

“Are you all right, Celena?”

It was Allen. Celena sat up and looked at him, wiping the tears from her eyes.

“I had a bad dream again.”

Allen came in and sat on the bed beside her. He put one muscular arm around her shoulders comfortingly. “I wish I knew how to make them stop,” he said.

Celena said nothing. She was pretty sure the dreams would stop if she stopped trying to remember, but she couldn't tell Allen that. He was hoping she would remember her childhood, when they had played together in the fields around their house. He thought it would make her better. But it just made her sad to think she had been a happy little girl once, and that it had all been ripped away. She leaned against his shoulder and closed her eyes.

Allen stayed with her until she went back to sleep and Celena didn't have any more dreams that night.

During the day, Celena liked to work in the vast hanger where Scheherazade and the Crusade were kept. It seemed odd, when she remembered so little, that working with machinery came to her so naturally. Allen let her do the maintenance work on Scheherazade because she found it relaxing, even if she couldn't explain to herself or anyone else why she wanted to do particular things.

But after the nightmares started, Celena began doing things to Scheherazade that didn't seem to make sense at all. It made so little sense, in fact, that she couldn't even ask the servants or Allen's men to buy things for her, because she couldn't even explain what she wanted. So instead, she would ask Allen for money and go into the city herself to buy parts and equipment. Fortunately, one of the mechanics who worked on the Crusade had a natural gift that meshed comfortably with her own, and he would sometimes work with her. He never asked what she was doing, he just seemed to understand how certain things needed to be done and he helped her without question.

He also didn't seem to notice or care when Celena talked to the voice in her head. It was the voice that directed a lot of what she was doing. She hadn't been able to hear it that well in the beginning, but as she began to get a sense that her work was nearing completion, the voice spoke to her more and more clearly.

Celena like the voice because it promised an end to the nightmares and the pain.

“When they're all dead, it will stop,” it whispered.

“Who?” Celena answered.

“The Zaibach scientists. We'll kill them all.”

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Gaddes watched Celena working on Scheherazade at the other end of the hanger.

“Do you think it's a good idea to let her do that, Allen?” he asked. “She's making a lot of modifications. What if Scheherazade stops working?”

“It's all right, Gaddes,” Allen answered. He smiled sadly. “It seems to be the only thing that makes her feel better. And the repairs she made after I got back from Freid last year were perfect.”

“You know where she learned that.” Gaddes frowned. “Dilandau was really well trained.”

“I know. But what can I do? Nothing I do really seems to be helping her.”

“Maybe she's beyond help. The things they did to her were pretty terrible.”

“I can't leave it at that, Gaddes,” Allen replied. There was deep pain in his voice. “She's the only family I have.”

Gaddes clasped Allen's shoulder. “I understand.”

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Dilandau woke abruptly. It was dark and the room at first seemed unfamiliar.

“It's my room,” Celena whispered.

Dilandau remembered Celena. For years now, she was the frightened little voice he would hear in the back of his mind whenever he woke up. It was good that she was there. It meant he was never alone. Dilandau hated being alone. When you were alone, bad people were free to do terrible things to you.

Like the Zaibach scientists had done to him. They had hurt him and hurt him until he couldn't remember anything before the pain. He had only existed since the pain. But there had been a time before the pain, because Celena said so. But Celena didn't remember it either.

“But if they're all dead,” Dilandau said to himself, “the pain can never come back. Then we can both remember.”

“Yes!” Celena murmured.

Dilandau slipped out of bed. He was wearing a night dress, which was odd, but unimportant. He found appropriate clothes in the bottom drawer of the dresser and put them on. There were sturdy boots that fit him perfectly in the closet. He walked silently through the dark house and found his way outside. It was the stillest part of the night, when people sleep the most deeply. He knew there was a hanger nearby with a guymelef in it. He went there and entered the hanger in silence.

The guymelef reminded him of the one that Allen Schezar used, but it was different somehow. He could tell it had been recently modified, but he understood the modifications and smiled. This was perfect. Dilandau climbed into the guymelef and activated it. He lumbered slowly to the front of the hanger and pushed the doors open with a protesting screech. Everyone would have heard that, but Dilandau didn't care. With a harsh laugh, he activated the new controls and the Scheherazade, if she was indeed the Scheherazade, transformed.

Her body slanted forward, bending at the knee in the opposite direction from normal, and sleek wings fanned out from her sides. Her mask molded forward and formed into a sharp beak. And the Golden Hawk Scheherazade leaped into the sky.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Allen watched Scheherazade disappear into the darkness. He was angry. Angry at Zaibach, angry at himself, and angry at a world that allowed a little girl to be turned into a monster.

“Prep the Crusade,” he growled. “We're going after her.”

“Did you see how fast she was going?” Gaddes replied. “That was as fast as the Escaflowne. We'll never catch her.”

Allen turned to Gaddes, fighting to keep his voice level. “If Dilandau has re-surfaced, I don't think we'll have any trouble tracking him.”

Gaddes paled. “What if he turns on us?”

“Then we capture him.” Allen gripped Gaddes' shoulder. “I don't care what it takes, Gaddes. We're getting my sister back.”

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

“Look, do you see it?” Dilandau whispered. “It's a Zaibach floating fortress.”

“I see it,” Celena whispered.

“We should destroy it!” Dilandau murmured, a wide ruthless grin spreading across his handsome face.

“But there are people inside!” Celena protested faintly.

“Zaibach soldiers!” Dilandau corrected. His convictions assured him that this was not the same thing as people.

He drove Scheherazade high up into the sky, higher than he had ever driven a Zaibach flying guymelef, until he was nothing but a tiny spec high above the fortress. He drew Scheherazade's great shimmering sword.

“Aim for the very heart,” he told himself and he plunged downward.

He fell so fast that the proximity sensors on the fortress had only seconds to sound the warning klaxons. And then his mighty sword slashed through the shell of the fortress and split it open. Smoke and flame spewed from the rent.

Dilandau laughed with glee. “Burn!” he cried. “Burn, all of you!”

He pulled up out of his fall and banked sharply, flying back up beneath the fortress to drive his sword directly into the fortress' power unit. It exploded, showering him with sparks and flame.

“Yes!” Dilandau shouted. “Die!”

He swooped away as the giant levi-stones began to break free and chunks of the fortress began to fall.

“Let them all die!” he whispered.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

“You were right, Allen. Dilandau is easy to track.” Gaddes, Allen and several other men stood on the deck of the Crusade, looking down at the smoking remains of a Zaibach floating fortress. “I doubt anyone else could have brought this down.”

Allen nodded. His expression was grim. “Let's check for survivors.”

“Why bother?” someone muttered. “Dilandau never leaves survivors.”

Allen whirled on the man angrily. “We'll check anyway!” he snarled. “We have to know for certain if Celena… if Dilandau did this.” He stormed away, his hand clenched on the hilt of his sword.

There were no survivors. Clearly, the attack had happened without warning, giving the Zaibach soldiers no time to defend themselves. Whether or not Allen wanted to admit it, this was obviously Dilandau's handiwork.

“There's one thing I don't understand,” Gaddes said. He and Allen were standing in Allen's stateroom, studying a map of Gaia. “Why would he attack Zaibach? He was a Zaibach soldier himself.”

“I don't know,” Allen replied softly. “Maybe it's because of Celena. She's been remembering things. Maybe Dilandau wants to get revenge for what happened to her.” Allen closed his eyes for a moment to keep tears from forming. Had he done the wrong thing, trying to make her remember the past? How was it possible that he could love his sister and still hate everything about Dilandau?

“With the modifications Celena made to Scheherazade, Dilandau can kill a lot of people,” Gaddes said matter-of-factly. “We can track him in the Crusade, but we'll never catch him.”

“I know,” Allen answered. “And Zaibach still has a lot of military power. We have to stop him before they kill him.”

“We need help,” Gaddes stated. “We need Van Fanel and the Escaflowne.”

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

“Queen Hitomi!” The young guard was clearly very excited as he burst into her sitting room without knocking. “The Crusade has been sighted landing outside the city!”

Hitomi wondered if he had never seen the Crusade before. “Please inform King Van,” she said calmly.

“Yes, milady!” The guard dashed away.

Hitomi covered her own excitement by neatly folding her embroidery before setting it aside and going to meet Van on the castle steps. “Why do you suppose Allen is here?” she asked as they hurried toward the front gate.

“He did say he was going to visit again.”

“I know, but you know how proper Allen can be. He would have sent us a message first.”

“True.” Van frowned. “That means it's probably trouble.”

Hitomi laughed. “There's no middle ground with you, is there?”

“Well, what else could it be?” Van replied, but he smiled as he said it.

The Crusade's crew members were lashing her in place by the time Van and Hitomi reached the wide meadow outside the city gates. The Crusade had not been in Fanelia since returning Yukari, Darvi and the Fanelian samurai home after the war in Freid. Allen appeared on the ramp as Van and Hitomi approached and he hurried toward them.

“Van!” Allen cried as he neared them. “I need your help!”

“What did I tell you?” Van muttered to Hitomi. To Allen, he said, “What do you need, Allen?”

“It's my sister, Celena. She's in trouble.”

Van frowned. “Is it Celena or Dilandau?”

Allen's face darkened. “That's not fair, Van. Celena's been through a lot.”

“I know that, but I'm still not going to forget who she is, or what she did to Fanelia.”

“Celena's not Dilandau,” Allen said quickly, but Hitomi sensed something in his manner that made her feel he was holding back.

“I think we should return to the castle before we discuss this any further,” Hitomi said. She hooked her left hand around Allen's arm and captured Van's arm with her right. “It would be better to talk about it while sitting down with a cool drink.”

Van acquiesced without a word. Allen hesitated for a moment before allowing Hitomi to steer him toward the city gates. No one spoke until they were all comfortably seated in Hitomi's favorite parlor.

“Now,” Hitomi said calmly, “tell us what happened.”

“Celena has… stolen Scheherazade.”

“She shouldn't be hard to find, then,” Van said flatly.

“Um…” Allen shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

“Out with it, Allen!” Van demanded.

“She modified Scheherazade to be a flying guymelef. She's as fast as the Escaflowne now. We can't catch her in the Crusade.”

Van stared. “How the hell did she do that?” Then he waved his own question away. “Never mind. Dilandau.”

“I need you and the Escaflowne to come with us, Van. We have to catch her before…” Allen stopped abruptly.

“Before what?” Van leaned forward expectantly.

Allen hesitated for a long moment and then his shoulders slumped in resignation. “I think Dilandau has partly resurfaced,” he said finally. “I think he's going back to Zaibach to take his revenge. ”

Van sat back. “So what's the problem? I don't care if he destroys Zaibach.”

“But there's no way a single guymelef can take on the Zaibach Empire!” Allen exclaimed. “Celena will be killed!”

“Dilandau was a member of the Zaibach military,” Hitomi interrupted. “What makes you think he's planning revenge?”

“Because he has already destroyed a Zaibach floating fortress,” Allen replied.

“So that was Dilandau?” Van laughed softly. “I heard about that, but I thought it was just an accident. It serves them right, anyway. They were outside their own territory.”

“Van, please!” There was desperation in Allen's voice.

Hitomi glanced at Van's face. She recognized the resolute expression she saw there. Van had no interest in helping Dilandau or Zaibach. But that was no reason not to help Allen. She leaned forward and put her hand on Van's knee. “Van, Dilandau may have been your enemy, and Zaibach, too, but Allen is our friend. He is asking us for help. We owe him our assistance out of friendship, if for no other reason.”

Van met her eyes thoughtfully. “Very well.” He turned to Allen. “For friendship's sake, I will lend you the Escaflowne. I cannot in good conscience help you myself, but I will send my son Vulcan with you to pilot the Escaflowne. He has been training for the past year or so and can handle the guymelef fairly well. It will be a good opportunity for him to hone his skills.”

A look of sharp relief washed over Allen's features. “Thank you, Van. I appreciate this.”

“One thing, though,” Van said sternly. “I know you want to capture your sister and Scheherazade intact, but please do not risk my son's life unnecessarily to do so. Vulcan is a good fighter, but he's young and inexperienced, like I was when you met me. Please remember that.”

Allen nodded. “I will,” he replied gravely.

“It will take us a day or two to prepare, Allen,” Hitomi said. “Please accept our hospitality for you and your men until then.”

“Thank you.” Allen bowed his head.