Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Mark of a Goddess ❯ A Captured Dragon ( Chapter 13 )

Chapter Thirteen

A Captured Dragon

 

As it turned out, Merle had one more piece of information that she saved just for Van in case she got a chance to speak to him privately. Through her police contacts and because of the boys that were arrested the night the Dragon Slayers attacked the mansion, Merle had learned that there was going to be a Dragon Slayer rally, similar to the one that Hitomi had been pinned against a dartboard at so many months before. There was a really good chance that Dilandau would be hosting it, like he had hosted the one that Hitomi had gone to. It would be taking place the upcoming Friday. It was a special event, because the police knew it was happening but had purposefully decided not to go. This was the reason it was good information for Van and Allen. Merle said it was a thank-you for Van, because he had turned out to be the sort of man she believed he was.

Hitomi sort of expected to see Merle when she went to the police station on Monday morning to meet with Lieutenant Freid, but she was no where to be seen. After Hitomi's interview, she asked the Lieutenant if Merle had come to work that day. He responded that he didn't think she had. She had phoned and said she wasn't feeling well, so she would be missing work. Hitomi didn't believe it. She thought it had to be an excuse. It sounded like Merle was intentionally avoiding her. Well, Hitomi didn't see the point in that. From what Lieutenant Freid said to her during their discussion, it sounded like she'd have to be pretty noisy if she was going to testify against Dilandau. Doubtless, she and Merle would meet many times in the future if Dilandau ended up being tried in court.

Before Hitomi went to the station, it had already been decided by Van and Allen that all three of them were going to go to the Dragon Slayer stadium on the night of the rally. It had been repaired and completed since Hitomi and Van had ruined it. Their plan was to drag Dilandau out by his tongue, or whatever appendage they planned on ripping off. Hitomi listened to Van and Allen make their plans.

They were going to dress up like Dragon Slayers and walk into the stadium like they were just part of the crowd when everyone was lining up to get in. Then they were going to take pictures of whatever happened in the stadium from the bleachers, whether it was knife fights or motorcycle races or whatever illegal activity they had going on that night. They were going to wait until the end of the night when it was quiet, then Van was going to cause a huge ruckus like the clashing of the titans, burning down the stadium for sure this time, and then they were going to snag Dilandau and turn him in to the police.

Hitomi listened to all this with a scowl on her face.

Van said over and over that he wasn't going after Folken, at least not that night, because he wasn't ready. He said that since Folken had his blood he could do everything Van was supposed to be able to do - use all eight elements - and if he didn't go to fight Folken when he was one hundred percent prepared, then there was no way he would win. He said he planned on running knees to nose if he `accidentally' met Folken while they were at the stadium.

Hitomi didn't believe him.

Van and Allen sat around encouraging each other to get more and more angry, and not just about Dilandau. Van was really mad that the police weren't going to be involved. He said how ineffectual they were about a million times and Hitomi was tiring of it. She didn't understand herself why they weren't going to do anything to stop the rally when a few people would probably die at it. She hadn't been the one to talk to Merle, but she knew there had to be a good reason for it. She wasn't interested in criticizing them.

On the Wednesday before the rally, Hitomi was lying in her bed, waiting for Van to come upstairs to join her. She was thinking about Allen and Van. She didn't feel good about their plan. It seemed too simple - like it wouldn't work. They would be caught for sure and Allen would be hurt or killed because she and Van might not be able to bring all three of them out safely. Van might even be killed too, if the Dragon Slayers were expecting them to show up.

She thought their plan was bad, and she had an uneasy feeling in her heart that Van was lying through his teeth about not wanting to meet Folken. He would meet Folken for sure and they would definitely battle (Hitomi was tearing up by this point in her thought process) and one or both of them would be killed.

If Van killed Folken, Hitomi knew that she would never be able to have a good relationship with him. Their marriage would be broken because Van would have slaughtered the one person Akira loved. Not only that, but Van's heart would turn into the cold unfeeling heart of a murderer and Hitomi wouldn't be able to reach him with her love if she wanted to.

If Van died … then Van would be gone … and Hitomi couldn't force herself to envision her future without Van.

Neither of these things could be allowed to happen. She couldn't let any of these things happen. There was only one thing to be done - Allen and Van couldn't be allowed to attend that rally! She had to stop them, but how?

It was Wednesday night, and she didn't have long to plan, but she knew she had to come up with something. If Van and Allen were working hard on their scheme to get into the stadium without being detected, then she would work hard too, and she would figure out how to keep them at the mansion.

 

***

 

Late Friday afternoon.

Hitomi had been thinking and she had finally worked out almost every phase of her plan, and even if she was inexperienced at the sort of underground work Van and Allen were so accustomed to, she thought her plan had a much better chance at succeeding than Van and Allen's … unless they weren't telling her something. Well, it didn't really matter to Hitomi if they were keeping something from her. Neither of them was going to leave the mansion that night. She would make sure of that.

It was five o'clock. The stadium doors opened at eight.

Hitomi wished that she'd been able to come up with a better plan on how to trap Allen. Her best idea had been so … pathetic.

Hitomi took the screwdriver she had borrowed back to the tool box in the garage and then went upstairs to her closet in her dressing room. She opened the doors and looked at her shopping bags one more time. This was going to be a really hard thing to pull off and she was having second thoughts about the morality of it. She remembered how much she suffered intruding on Allen and Marlene and their special moment, but this was far more serious than that had been. If she didn't intervene Van and Allen might both die that night and Hitomi wouldn't let that happen.

She pulled out the first of her four bags - a complete outfit from the most popular teen girl clothing store in the mall. Marlene would wear nothing less. Hitomi went to the mirror and held the coral coloured sweater against her chest. This was exactly the sort of thing Marlene would wear - especially on a Friday afternoon when she was about to meet Allen.

Hitomi winked at herself in the mirror for a confidence booster and hastily put the clothes on.

Hopefully, Van wouldn't come in while she was changing. Hopefully he was in the training gym like he had been all week.

Hitomi put on the standard layer of mascara and headed for the door - not yet changed into Marlene. When she got downstairs, she hid under the stairs in the great hall and blinked twice and whoops - she'd changed into Marlene. Now she had to go and find Allen.

Hitomi wasn't sure where she'd find him, but she was prepared to look hard for him. As it turned out he was pacing the hall where Celena's room had been. Hitomi peeked down the hall and waited until he saw her.

“Marlene?” he called when he spied her at the end of the hall.

She smiled playfully at him and left the hallway - heading towards their destination - the pantry.

Allen chased after her calling, “Marlene, is that you?”

Hitomi turned and blew a kiss at him and then darted into another hallway.

Mercy! Dryden's mansion was massive. If they were in her parents' condo she wouldn't have to have led him further than ten steps. This was hard work. But if they were in her parent's condo there was no way that she'd be able to persuade Allen to enter the pantry of his own free will without asking him to get her a pickle jar off the highest shelf. Dang it! Why hadn't she thought of that instead of going through this whole charade? Stupid!

Allen was running now to catch up with her.

Almost there …

Hitomi ran hard.

Almost there …

Hitomi whipped into a darkened hallway and behind the open panty door before Allen made it around the corner.

“Marlene?” Allen asked, slowing down as he entered the dark hallway. “It's not really you, is it?”

Hitomi was watching him through the crack near the hinges. He saw the open pantry door. Please let him follow Marlene inside. Please! Her heart was pounding like ten thousand stampeding elephants. She couldn't think of the meaning behind his words because of the frantic beating of her heart. It didn't occur to her to question why he was chasing Marlene if he knew that she wasn't real. Hitomi was thinking only of her goal. If Allen didn't go inside …

“Marlene?” he said, edging towards the door and feeling for the light switch.

Hitomi exhaled slowly. He was going to have to go inside. She knew that there wasn't a light switch - only a string hanging from the bulb in the middle of the room. He'd have to go inside if he wanted to turn on the light.

“This is another trick, isn't it? But, I …” he said, stepping inside.

Hitomi slammed the door shut and locked it. The door hadn't had a lock on it before, but Hitomi had been here earlier with a screwdriver and changed the door handle for one that did. It was an old trick Van had taught her when she lived in his old house, before it burned down. Now, she was holding the key in her hand. She threw it up in the air and caught it. Then she changed back into herself.

“Allen,” she called into the pantry with her own voice. “I've decided that it's not a good idea for you and Van to go to the Dragon Slayer rally tonight and I'm forbidding you to go. There's plenty of food in there, so you won't starve and I'll have Belinda let you out when the rally is over.”

“Hitomi?” he shouted, sounding earnestly pissed. “Let me out! How could you do this to me? Why do you and Van think it is okay to make a fool out of me?”

“A fool out of you? I'm trying to save your life!” Hitomi shouted back.

“I never asked you to!” he bellowed through the door.

“Shut up, Allen, or I'll flood the room!” Hitomi threatened, interrupting whatever he was going to say.

“You wouldn't!” Allen yelled back, banging on the door with his fist.

“I would!” she retorted, knowing perfectly well that she didn't have the time to do such a thing.

The only thing she could do now was to move some furniture against the door and hope that Allen wouldn't break the door down. So, she propped a massive chair under the knob, and it wasn't easy to do. As a matter of fact, she was sweating when she was done.

She looked at her watch - five thirty. Trapping Van wouldn't be a tenth this easy. She'd had to work out quite the scheme. It wasn't going to be easy to pull off. He had told her that she was a woman and should know how to work her charms in such a way that she should be able to get what she wanted out of any man. Well, that wasn't exactly what he had said, but he did seem to think that she should be a pro at getting any guy to do what she wanted. Well, she'd have to try it out now, but no playful batting of her eyelashes would work on Van. He was too bent on revenge and too used to getting so much more than that. This feminine wile would have to be hardcore as nothing else would catch his attention when he was so focused on getting Dilandau and Folken. Luckily, Hitomi had never actively seduced him before. She knew she could get his attention that way.

Allen was still hitting the door when Hitomi left him there. There was no need for conversation. Either the door could hold him or it couldn't. There weren't any half-ways.

Hitomi went back up to her dressing room and got the second bag out of her closet. It was a bouquet of red roses that she'd picked up from the florist. She'd bought them the day before and kept them in the closet - they looked wilted, but Hitomi knew that it didn't matter for what she had in mind. She took them into the bedroom and ripped the blossoms to shreds, scattering the petals across the bedspread.

Then she went back into the dressing room and got out the last two bags. One was from a premiere sex shop and the other was merely from a lingerie boutique. If this didn't catch Van's attention, it was going to be very bad for her. She knew she wasn't sexy, but if what she bought at the lingerie boutique didn't make her irresistible then she'd never be remotely sexy in her entire life, and that was a depressing, if not a scary thought.

One phase of Hitomi's plan that wasn't worked out to the last detail was that she had no idea how to get Van up to the bedroom from the training gym so early before he and Allen were planning on leaving for the stadium. If Hitomi and Van were in their own home, she would have just gone down in her lingerie, but she couldn't risk meeting one of the servants. What was she going to do?

She got on the intercom and got Belinda. “Hey Belinda, if you see Van, could you send him upstairs?” Hitomi asked, trying to sound lighthearted.

“Yes Ma'am,” she said obediently.

“Oh, and if you hear someone screaming and kicking in the pantry, it's just Allen. Don't worry about it and definitely don't let him out. Make sure to tell the other staff members. If they have any questions about it, be sure to send them to me. Okay?” Hitomi said, hoping that she sounded confident.

“Uh …” Belinda stuttered. “Why is he locked in the pantry?”

“He followed a little white rabbit down a rabbit hole,” Hitomi explained in a dark ominous voice. She smiled. Yeah, an explanation like that could mean anything.

“I see,” the girl squeaked.

“Thanks,” Hitomi said, letting go of the intercom button.

The humour of the moment was helping to relieve Hitomi's stress and she was very tense. Trapping Allen and Van was only one stage of her plan. The rest was far more complicated and more dangerous. She was worried about Van and Allen getting hurt or being killed, but if she went through with everything she had planned - her chances probably weren't much better. No! They were better! She had to keep telling herself that. Van and Allen's plan was half-baked and dangerous. Her plan was sensible and it would likely save everyone from serious transgression and further misunderstanding … even though Van would probably be so angry with her that he'd burst a blood vessel. Well, she'd work it out with him. Eventually, he'd understand why she did everything she was planning to do and they would come to terms.

She nodded her head confidently and started pulling her pink Marlene-sweater over her head.

She should have thought this out more carefully. It was going to be six o'clock soon and if Van didn't come up before six twenty, she would be late and that would ruin her plans. Didn't he have to have a shower and get dressed or something?

Hitomi was unzipping her pants when Van poked his head into the bedroom. “Wow!” he exclaimed when he found her. “Do you normally wear pants like that when I'm not around?”

She looked at the black skintight affair she had worn to fool Allen and then she looked at Van. “I bought them,” she explained. “But they're too tight, so I thought I'd take them back. Besides,” she said indicating the bed and the rose petals. “You weren't supposed to see this until we got back from the stadium tonight,” she lied.

Van smiled lustfully when he saw the bed. “You planned a party like this? And I ruined the surprise? Aw, that's a shame,” he said mockingly as he advanced towards her.

“Why did you come up here, anyway?” she asked, continuing with the lie, and hoping that Belinda hadn't told him that she had asked him to come.

“I was going to ask you if you've seen Allen. I wanted to make sure he was getting ready to go, but I have a few minutes. Maybe you could explain the rest of this party you were planning on having when we got back tonight?”

Hitomi inwardly sighed with relief. That meant that Van hadn't heard Allen yelling in the pantry. Such a big house was certainly convenient at a time like this. The sound didn't travel well at all.

“Well,” Hitomi said, skipping into the dressing room to get her two bags. “I got this,” she said pulling the lingerie from the first bag. She had already removed the receipt from the bag. She couldn't let Van see that she had spent over a hundred and fifty dollars on one piece of lingerie. There was no way he'd be happy about that, even if it was pretty. She had nearly died of embarrassment purchasing it and her cheeks were on fire now. If it didn't work …

It was a white corset and panty set with decorative ribbons hanging everywhere and enough padding in the front to make her look like she actually had breasts.

Hitomi took the set from the bag and held it against her with her face flushed. “Do you think it'll look good on me?” she peered over the fabric at him with a gigantic lump in her throat.

Both his eyebrows were in the air and he was nodding slowly - totally speechless.

“Well, say something!” she demanded. She'd gone to a lot of work to get the outfit and a simple nodding wasn't going to cut it for her, whether she planned on locking him up or not.

“Why wait for tonight?” Van said. “The surprise is already ruined, and I'm sure Allen's not ready to leave yet. There's plenty of time for me to make love to you and I don't think I can wait to see what you look like in that.” He put his arms around her bare shoulders and drew her close to him. He was reaching for her bra clasp and sending little electric shocks through her skin. Then he exhaled and blew warm air down her cold back.

Hitomi was hoping he'd say that. She would have died at her unattractiveness if he had not said that he couldn't wait now that he had seen the bed and the outfit. It was unfortunate though that Hitomi didn't believe that she would have got her way with him if he'd come in right before it was time to leave. She thought that there was no way he would have thrown away his chance to get Dilandau and Folken for one night of passion with a woman he could have whenever he wanted.

“Maybe I can't wait long enough for you to put it on,” he said, heating her throat with his kiss. His voice was pitched so perfectly. It was making her forget her mission and making her want to respond to him and give him exactly what he wanted.

“There is one more thing,” Hitomi said, grasping frantically for self control and reaching into the other bag - the one from the sex shop.

“What's that?” Van said, looking at her curiously.

Hitomi curled her fingers around the metal. They were the most expensive, durable ones that had been for sale and the cost of them hurt Hitomi's feelings more than the cost of the lingerie.

She pulled out a pair of handcuffs and showed them to Van.

He had been looking intense and serious, but he laughed when he saw them. “Are you sure this is really your style, Hitomi? I mean, you never requested something like this before. Are you sure you want to jump from not even dressing up to this?”

“Yes,” Hitomi said emphatically.

“Did you talk to Naria more than I saw?” he asked cluelessly.

“No,” Hitomi said, tilting her chin up defiantly. “I didn't get the idea from anyone. I just thought it would be fun to chain you do the bed and … you know.”

“You want me to be the one handcuffed?” Van asked - completely shocked. “I thought for sure you'd want it the other way around.”

“Give me a chance! Now get on the bed. I'll go get changed after you're all locked up,” she said. She was trying to act casually, but now that she was actually reaching the point of no return, her stomach felt so heavy that she thought it would squish her intestines.

Van pulled his shirt off over his head and lay on his back while Hitomi straddled him in her skin-tight pants and secured the handcuffs. He was really obedient. He didn't suspect a thing.

Then Hitomi kissed him. She buried her fingers in his dark hair and kissed him so deeply that she thought she would cry. He was going to be so viciously angry with her for leaving him like his on such an important night, when he had such an important thing to do. He was going to be livid.

Hitomi smiled weakly as she moved away from him. At least he still had his pants on. Then he wouldn't be embarrassed when Belinda came in the room to unlock him at nine. It would be too late then for him to do anything. Hitomi will have already changed everything and it would take him an hour to get to the stadium from Dryden's mansion.

Hitomi got off him and grabbed the white corset set. She blew him a kiss from the door.

“Hitomi?” Van asked, stopping her. “What's wrong? You're way too emotional about going to the rally tonight. Maybe we should talk now and do the rest when we come back safely. You look way too distraught.”

“I am upset,” Hitomi conceded, from the door. “But, if I asked you to stay - to blow off your plan - would you?”

Van looked sad and shook his head. “I can't do that to Allen.”

“Then we'd better continue,” she said, shutting the door behind her. She dropped the corset on the floor and headed towards Van's closet. This was her plan. She locked Allen in the pantry and chained Van to the bed, so now she could do what she wanted.

Her plan was to go to the stadium herself, turn into Folken and talk to him - face to face about everything that had happened. She would convince him to give up being in the Zaibach group. She would convince him to make up with Van. Maybe she could even convince him to trade information about the Dragon Slayers and the syndicate in order to get immunity from the police. She honestly believed that Folken was a good man and once a little mercy was shown to him from the person he trusts best - himself - then he would become the person he was meant to be. He would again become the person Akira loved, the person Van loved, and everything would be cleared up. Hitomi believed this with all her heart. She believed it was worth taking a chance for.

She reached into Van's closet and pulled out a pair of his jeans and one of his shirts. She took off her own underwear and replaced it with a pair of his boxer-briefs. She left the bra off. It would be a nuisance when she transformed into Folken. After she was dressed, she got out a pair of Van's socks and put on a pair of his runners. They were way too big for her. Then she put on one of his ball caps and his yellow tinted sunglasses.

Then she took a deep breath and opened the door to the bedroom. Van was going to freaking spaz.

Van was staring at the ceiling, but moved when Hitomi opened the door. His mouth hung open and his eyes filled with hellfire.

“Hitomi, what are you doing?”

At first, Hitomi wouldn't answer him.

“You're not planning on going to the stadium without me, are you?” he exclaimed furiously.

“Yeah, I am. I already locked Allen up downstairs. I'm going to the stadium alone. I think you'd get hurt and I don't want that. I'm going to go talk to Folken and I'm going to straighten all this out.”

“Straighten what out?” Van shouted angrily. “You've got to be kidding me! What can you work out with Folken? He's a monster and a murderer …”

He screeched a lot more things, but Hitomi wasn't listening to him and she had no plans to answer him. She was reaching for the clasp of her protection pendant. The last thing in the world she needed tonight was for it to warn her when she was in trouble by icing her flesh to death. She was going to be in danger all night, so there was no need for a special warning.

It came undone and she dropped it on the bed.

Van eyes were like tombstones as he saw the jewel fall into a pile of scattered scarlet rose petals.

“Listen to me, Van. I'm a goddess. I can simply do things that you can't. Dryden says I'll live forever,” she said, carefully leaving out the part where Dryden also told her that she wasn't immortal until she stopped bleeding. That was one of the many things she had not yet explained to Van. “You can die,” she continued, “and I can't bear the idea of living forever without you.” She paused. “I'll leave instructions for Belinda to unlock you at nine, but by then it'll be too late to stop me. I love you Van - whatever you've said. You can say whatever you want to me when I come back and I'll listen to all of it without defending myself, but I have to try my best to work this out. I have to stop you and Folken from killing each other. That's all there is to it. I'll see you later.”

“No! Hitomi! Don't do this! HITOMI!”

And with that Hitomi left the room, even though Van was screaming for her.