Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ New Blood ❯ Battlefield ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Lightning forked across the midnight sky, burning its path through the rolling clouds in a blaze almost too quick to watch. Thunder crackled as soon as the afterimage had faded, matching its initial quiet with a boom that seemed to shake the earth itself. Winds shrieked and rain tapped hundreds of invisible fingernails against the glass. Nature was on the war path, and all those considered wise in any regard were staying out of its way.

Amid it all, the quiet still kept its place aboard the Vionne, however. The outside noise was a mere whisper compared to the intensity of that silence, particularly in the thick walled private chambers of Dilandau Albatou. Tonight his windows were closed to the world, muffling it to the consistency of a dream.

But that didn't keep everything out.

Her foot falls clattered evenly across the cold floor, the sound bouncing madly from the far walls even after she'd paused at the end of each pace. For an eternity of minutes she'd prowled like that, marching slowly at the edge of the dim blue halo surrounding Dilandau's chair. Dust motes swam in the air between them like a million sapphire and crystal fireflies. She was so like a ghost there, he almost couldn't see her except for a tell tale glimmer of icy light on her raven hair and the stealthy waver of her shadow.

Any artisan would have reveled in the atmosphere. Dilandau merely despised it.

"I thought you had something to say." He muttered. His eyes followed her flickering movements so perfectly that he could feel his mind slipping to sleep. If only she'd change her pace a bit he could look away…

"I don't truly know how I should say what I wish to." Reika's voice was a growl, barely audible through another crash of thunder. She broke step for a moment, then stopped completely. He saw her shape shrink as she slumped, pressing two fingers to her forehead. A soft sigh echoed across the space.

Dilandau raised an eyebrow then looked away, distracting himself with watching a single speck of light dance gracefully on a stray air current.

"This would be a particularly difficult time for the Dragonslayers, would it not?" Reika's voice was softer than Dilandau was sure he'd ever heard it. "There are wolves among our kind, Dilandau. It's no small wonder that you choose to hide."

"I'm not hiding." He raised a hand, waving it lightly and sending the dust speck into a wild flutter. "I'm staying out of the way."

"You are hiding." Her words were clipped but the tone was forced. He could almost imagine the icy look she must be shooting his way but not quite. The clarity was missing from her voice. It made her seem like a bizarre parody of herself. "Don't you try to fool me. That is an impossibility. You and I have both lost hold on one of our own. It's only natural that we are shaken. The war hasn't even begun and we're losing our soldiers."

"It's not we. I'm not weak like you."

She chuckled, a low rumble that made the air shiver. Her footsteps resumed, this time slower and stuttering. Dilandau glanced to his left without turning his head, one shadowed crimson eye following the motion through the silver wisps of his hair. He watched her outline move slowly to the window and reach out with something akin to reverence. She swept the blinds aside with a single movement, breaking the shadows open to bleed with the pale silver blue light of the night. Instantly she was made from something of a ghost into something tangibly real and disappointing. He saw the ragged tangle of her normally immaculate hair, the subtle crease of her uniform where it was always so straight. He saw her hands shake.

He blinked at that, finally turning to face the back of her head, "You're actually scared, aren't you?"

A blast of light screeched across the distant clouds. She let out a soft sigh with the thunder. "Of course I'm frightened, Dilandau. We, the Dragonslayers, are falling apart. If you could see it like I see it, you would be just as afraid. I suppose that's why I am here. I want to see if you're as human as you look."

His gaze darkened. For a moment only silence broke the distance between them. The dust swirled, but neither of the living beings so much as batted an eyelash. Time regained its footing soon enough, however, and the lightning crashed once more. Dilandau straightened in his seat, a joint cracking loudly as he forced it out of its fixed position and pushed himself to standing. Across the room, Reika remained motionless except for a single periodic tremor that rippled through her between breaths.

"Why, Reika, would you think I'm human?" He chuckled quietly, taking a few slow steps towards her but keeping himself well within his own halo of light. A shadow had fallen between them like a barrier that he didn't intend to cross. "I'm more than human. I'm stronger than any of those fools want to believe and I intend to prove it. If you're looking for my weakness, you won't find it. It's not there."

She gave no response.

He sighed, turning and walking over to the lamp in the corner. The flame guttered as he approached, pulling the light closer around him as his shadow overtook it. He watched it regain itself once again, glowing seemingly stronger than ever in its confined space. "I don't believe in it." He spoke up, waving his fingers just barely out of the hungry reach of the flame, "I don't believe Folken and Gabriel and Shesta and Gatty. I don't believe a word of any of them. They're overreacting to something so small. I'm in no danger. Once this is all looked into, they'll find I'm right. No one is going to kill me. No one would dare. I'm not weak."

"Those could easily have been famous last words." Reika's voice was stronger this time.

"I won't trust Gabriel." He snapped, whirling fast enough to shake the flame nearly into oblivion. The shadow between them crawled forward and then slimmed back to its usual thin dark line.

Reika turned slowly, facing him for the first time since she'd entered. Dilandau's eyes met hers and he felt nothing but disgust at what he found there. She didn't even try to hide the loss of her fire. The imprisonment of one of her soldiers - one of her presents from Lord Folken - had stolen something from her that he'd known so well. After a time, it forced him to look away, to turn his back to her, "You're so pathetic, Reika." He hissed, "It's appalling. Stop it."

"I'm not the one who retreated." Her footsteps echoed again at a quick clip. "I'm being smart, Dilandau. I'm seeing the whole picture. I know you want to believe that all of the puppet's strings are in your hand, but some of its motions are its own." She was suddenly close enough that he could almost feel her breath on the back of his neck, "I trust Lord Folken's words to the letter, Dilandau. He brought Alexia in himself. He made Gabriel into what he is. Nothing that Lord Folken could have created could be flawed. It is your fault for holding him back just because you think he's a monster. I've come to see that in recent days. You are wrong."

His slowly growing amusement faded at once into an angry grimace. Those three little words had struck something. Fire was fire, but he would not be burned…

He turned on his heel, meeting Reika eye to eye, "I am not wrong." He growled, raising his voice just a bit.

"Of course you aren't." Reika spoke without a hint of a smile, "You're simply ignorant. Of course."

"I am not ignorant! Gabriel can't just be kept in his place, Reika. I can't hold him back. You're right! I can't control everything. I can't control Gabriel! I can't keep Shesta in line anymore! I can't even trust Gatty thanks to him!" He shoved her roughly out of his way, stomping across the floor to the window and throwing the blinds shut once again with a crash, drowning the room in shadows. "This whole operation is going to hell in a hand basket all because of that freak! He's ruined everything! I wish the sorcerers had killed him or destroyed his mind or.. or something! Anything to get him out of my way!" He paused, taking a few breaths and swiping a hand through his messy silver hair, "He's stolen one of my best soldiers from me. I won't trust him."

Reika lightly brushed her hands over her sleeves. "So that's what this is about. You've lost control. You are hiding."

"I'm not hiding." There was a waver in his voice.

"You're hiding." He heard her sneaking up on him again. "Gabriel is slowly stealing your power, and you're hiding to keep him from getting the rest. He stole Dallet from you. He's manipulated Gatty, your most trusted soldier, into disobeying a direct order. I have no doubt that you even would believe that he's the one who pushed Shesta to his limit. He's succeeding where you failed. You're feeling threatened. That's it, isn't it?"

He didn't respond.

"That must be it. You've stopped arguing."

"I'm merely thinking. Maybe you have a point," He turned to face her. A stray strand of light from the blinds traced a jagged line across his pale features, "Without your Alexia to keep him chained down, he's more of a danger than ever in my mind. Even if she had been out to kill me, I'd rather have her try again then have Gabriel succeed." He lifted a hand, glancing over his fingertips, "I could beat her again. I'm not so sure about Gabriel."

She smirked, "That must be hard to admit. The great Dilandau Albatou has found someone better than him."

"Ha. He's not my better. If anything he'd be my equal. I'm second to no one."

Dilandau's back was turned again and she heard him sigh. For a moment, that sound in itself was enough to make her feel the least bit sorry for him. But only for a moment. "So you don't believe Alexia was after you again?"

"I don't know. She's a master of deception. Folken trained her well, I'll admit. It's impossible to know for sure what she was planning," He tilted his head back just a bit, gazing to the invisible ceiling, "But I know Dallet. From the moment I heard Gabriel say he was after me I knew that it wasn't true. Gabriel has another reason for wanting my most loyal soldier out of the way. The same reason he has for wanting his little protector off where she can't protect. He wants freedom to do as he pleases when he pleases."

Reika was at his side before he'd even realized she'd moved. He swayed away from her at first, but settled again when he realized she intended nothing more.

"You'll never trust Gabriel, will you?"

"Of course not," he growled, annoyed at her persistence, "You didn't."

"But I changed," she insisted, "Gabriel has certainly caused enough trouble, but look at what he has done for Shesta. You're not the only one who thinks that that boy had outside help. He could never have beaten you today without some sort of guidance. Gabriel is more than we could have hoped for, Dilandau. He has saved your life and has saved your team in a single day. If you could only trust him, just the smallest bit, then maybe he could bring us to our victory as promised."

Dilandau shook his head slowly, backing away from her. "You're not listening to me. I'm second to no one, Reika. I've told you. I won't let Folken delude himself into thinking that the entire Zaibach military can so easily be replaced. I'll have to prove to him that I'm as good as Gabriel and better, or else we're all lost."

She circled around in front of him, staying in his view no matter how he tried to run, "And if you fail? Dilandau, what then? If Gabriel is unable to complete his task and you and your soldiers fall? What then? Who will lead the strike then? Would you really doom us all just for the sake of your pride?"

"It's not my pride, it's my place!" he cried, "Aren't you listening to me at all? I can't just let Gabriel take control!" he retreated several feet, then turned his back, stomping across the room in a huff, "You're as blind as the rest of them. Get out. I should have seen it when you first praised that idiot. Just get out."

She followed on his tail, pleading, "Dilandau… please, you just have to…"

She froze as his finger was suddenly a mere millimeter from her nose, his angry face hovering not too far beyond, "Reika. Silence." She obeyed without question, leaving her words to hang in the air. There was a dangerous glint in his eyes that she didn't want to provoke. Beating him in good humor was one thing, but when he was truly enraged, even she didn't dare push the issue.

Several moments passed with only the thunder as an accompaniment before Dilandau finally turned away, slinking back through the shadows to his chair. Reika watched him go in deflated silence. They were back to the beginning again, it seemed. Back to the first step of the dance. He fell to the chair in a heap, settling perfectly into his usual slouch, looking like some forlorn and forgotten piece of clothing in the dark.

Reika glanced down at herself, absently pressing her hands over the wrinkles in the pitch black fabric to smooth them while her feet resumed pacing of their own accord. "Here we are once again." She said softly.

"Déjà vu," Dilandau agreed, a glint of silver in his hand as he lazily dangled his newly found dagger from his fingertips, "I thought I told you to leave."

Her silhouette shrugged, a subtle whisper of fabric rather than a motion. "I still have yet to say what I wanted to say. You're still hiding, Dilandau."

He tossed the dagger into the air and caught it perfectly, "True enough, I suppose. Do you want me to tell you I'll be ready to lead my Dragonslayers tomorrow?"

Her footsteps rang out as she spun slowly on her toes and returned along the same path as before, "If that is the best you can offer, I would suppose it's the best I can ask for."

The sky crackled and growled.

"Then I'll compromise." The blade glistened as it spun in the air, returning to its master's hand with perfection, "Tomorrow the final tests will be held as I've been ordered. Gabriel can fight alongside me. I'll trust him that far."

Her footfalls stopped. "You mean that truly?"

He grinned, a pale flash in the shadow, "Why not? What do I have to lose? It'll be three against one if he's not trustworthy. If he is, then you win and I'll let him fulfill his mission."

Reika's mood lightened at those words and she couldn't keep back the smile. "So agreeable all of a sudden. What did I do to change your mind?"

The scrape of metal on metal rang out as the knife dragged against something unseen, "The same thing as always, Reika. You gave me a chance to humiliate you. I don't trust Gabriel further than I can throw him. This is a bet I can win."

She smiled invisibly and started for the door, "Then my task is complete. Watch your back out there, Dilandau, if you believe you are so right. I expect you alive tomorrow afternoon."

"So do I, Reika."

A nearly inaudible whistle and a breath of air raced up from behind Reika as her fingers brushed the door panel. In a heartbeat she ducked back, startled by the sudden thud and appearance of a trembling blade planted firmly in the wall a bare few inches from her hand. Dilandau's gale of laughter was there and gone before she could whirl to face him, leaving an idiotic smile on his face when their gazes met. His hand was still raised from the throw and he made no attempt to hide it.

Despite herself, Reika found that she was laughing as well, "You missed, Dilandau, how typical." Her own hand grasped the still faintly vibrating hilt and she tore it from the wall, throwing the knife right back at him with perfect precision. He snatched it from the air without so much as a glance and drove it with a thud into the nearby table.

By the time he'd raised his head again, Reika's footsteps were already tapping into the distance beyond the closing door. He smiled and slumped back in his chair, settling into thoughts of tomorrow's inevitable victory.

It would feel so good to have that thorn out of his side…

Shesta sighed softly, trudging through the deadened hallways with his hands in his pockets and his bangs covering his face in soft shadows. The corridors were cold that night, a chill that seeped in with the smell of the storm and the ripple of thunder. The disjointed echoes of raindrops pattering against the side of the fortress constantly tickled his mind, stirring his thoughts with each rise and fall. A crackle and boom of thunder rolling overhead reverberated gently through the stillness. He continued his blind walk along the halls, thinking only of one thing that he couldn't erase.

It bothered him so much. He couldn't even understand why he felt like he did. Alexia had barely spoken to him since he'd arrived and yet her capture - her treason - was like a knife to him. He felt hollowed. He felt dead. He hated himself for feeling that way, but somehow he couldn't help it. She'd never done a thing to him and yet she'd betrayed him with every word he'd heard her speak.

He kicked out at the bracket along the wall with his bare foot, purposefully stubbing his toe without feeling any pain. The sound echoed noisily through the sleeping Vionne. He didn't care.

Far behind him now was the detention center. When he'd woken after a mere half hour of sleep he'd headed there immediately, searching for answers. The closer he'd gotten, however, the more he'd realized that he didn't know the questions. By the time he'd reached the doorway, he'd already turned back. Nearly an hour of aimless wandering had passed since then. He felt lost, not knowing where he was going or why he should bother going anywhere.

It all seemed so worthless now, and it was more than just the shattering of idealism that had disrupted every Dragonslayer's bubble of certainty. He felt personally betrayed. After all she'd said and done she'd dared to be lying. The others would question for a day or more. He knew he'd be questioning it for much longer. If she'd been leading him astray when she'd saved him, should he have failed in his fight against Dilandau? Should he have died? Was his life a lie now too? What was real anymore?

He hadn't a single answer before him, only miles of questions. He knew no one could answer them. Not even her. It was maddening.

Of course, he told himself weakly, there was still the hope that maybe a mistake had been made. There were factors that didn't add up to the equation and people who strongly believed that Gabriel was at fault instead. Optimism didn't come easy, but it was a possibility. A slim one, but it was there.

Shesta chewed his lip, going over the situation for the hundredth time that night. He had to admit that there was actually very little proof against Alexia and Dallet. Indeed, when the Dragonslayers' guymelefs had been examined that evening it was discovered that modifications had been made, but not to any of the ones expected and not in the manner of true sabotage. Alexia's guymelef, which had never before been used, had had a substance introduced to the liquid metal that temporarily nulled its flammability, long enough for a delayed explosion after the Crima Claw was fired. Attempts had been made to alter the stealth cloak as well, but had ultimately failed, it seemed. Not at all what had been expected. Gabriel's claims at treachery against Dilandau didn't fit in with that picture. What good would the alterations have done? It didn't make sense.

Obviously, a piece of the puzzle was missing. It almost made more sense that Gabriel had been plotting against her. That, perhaps, frightened him more than anything else. What that boy could be capable of if he'd managed to pull the wool over everyone's eyes was unimaginably terrible. Even if he hadn't been enhanced as the rumors said, he was a naturally deadly fighter. If he was after something, he would get it.

If only Shesta was certain about what Gabriel was indeed after…

He paused for a moment, glancing back to the inky black shadows behind him. He wanted to ask her. He wanted her to explain to him why he should want to believe it was a mistake, but he knew he couldn't trust what she would say to him. There was very little evidence, but there wasn't a complete lack of it.

A pained expression crossed his face. At least, he shouldn't trust what she told him. But what if it was all a mistake? What if she really did know something? For all he knew they were heading into worse dangers that she could guide him into avoiding. He couldn't just let that happen. He couldn't just let his fellow Dragonslayers down like that. It wasn't right.

Before he'd even completed the thought, his feet were carrying him back the way he'd come. Resolution crept into his mind as he swept down the corridors, footsteps echoing and bouncing behind him in a manner that made him shiver. It sounded as if the very shadows had come awake and were following him. He only hoped that he didn't awaken anyone living.

The detention center had fallen further behind him than he'd thought. It was a good jog away from anything. The closest thing to it was the hangar bay, but even that was still a distance even at a run.

He jogged down corridors littered with shadows, feeling exhaustion clawing at the back of his mind like an insistent rodent at a cupboard door. He ran around corners, took stairs two at a time, and heard nothing but the single repetitive order for himself to run. When he finally came to the deserted hall ending in the single dented and worn door, he had slowed to a trudging walk and finally to stillness. His breath came in quiet controlled breaths that ached all the same. His right leg protested only the barest bit at the sudden stop.

There were no guards. The hall was empty. It would be so simple to slip in and slip out. The air whispered around him, the rain hushed to a constant but dim whisper. He shivered, feeling the hairs on his arm standing on end.

Slowly, he walked forward. From beyond, a sound barely louder than those brushing around him trickled out. He found himself at the door, one hand pressed to the icy metal, and his heart sank. Alexia was crying. Words he couldn't hear were mixed in, but the sobs were unmistakable. Soft and shuddering, mingled with hiccupped gasps of breath.

For a long time he didn't move. All his energy seemed to drain in an instant and he sighed, lowering his gaze to the floor. The silence seemed to close in as he pulled his hand away from the door. He saw the image of her face in his mind, the way she had looked at him that morning. The last time he'd seen her. Once again he felt that hollow emptiness, and once again he couldn't face it. She was crying.

The answers he sought were not the answers he would find. He couldn't face them and face that pain at the same time.

A sigh escaped him and Shesta turned his back on the door. This time he didn't walk away but rather he fell back against it and slid to the floor, tucking one knee to his chest and burying his face in his arms. Her whimpers echoed softly in his ears, muffled and broken by distance and the barriers between them. He felt damp trails on his own face as he sat there, but didn't dare wipe them away. He was broken and hurt. He was lost and couldn't win. He deserved the tears.

His tired mind finally gave in, and sleep claimed him. He remained there the night through until the dawn came without sun.

The rain pattered on.

Dallet could feel the hairs on his arms standing on end as the cold seeped through the solid steel floor beneath him. He'd spent the whole night awake, counting the hours and listening to Alexia's cries with a heavy heart. He knew how to escape, but he also knew that if they followed their original plan, the torment wouldn't end. They'd plotted for years, ever since Gabriel's treatment had begun. Only now had they had the perfect chance. With Palas nearby to hide in and a chaotic battle planned for that very morning, it would have been the perfect time to grab Gabriel and go. It would have been so very simple with the modifications to make his death seem so apparent and real and then just sneak him out to the city streets where he could vanish and live in relative peace.

Now that wasn't so much of an option. Without the stealth cloak on Alexia's guymelef finished, she couldn't even slip onto the battle field unnoticed let alone fire the crucial shot. Gabriel would never listen now, and their time had run out hours ago. Even if they could make it work through luck, Gabriel was hell bent on making his own way now. He wouldn't stay hidden and they'd all pay for it.

There was only one other choice, as much as it pained him to admit it. Poor Gabriel was too far gone with his own paranoid fear and unreasonable desires to have any other future. There was nothing more that could be done.

His heart still persisted to be uncertain at that moment, but his mind had coldly made itself up.

Dallet blinked open his eyes, meeting shadows tinged with pale sunlight from a thin crack in the wall. He swallowed hard, wincing at the pain of that simple move. He slowly lifted his head, breathing the cold sweet rain scented air and feeling it burn his throat. Alexia whimpered something unintelligible and shuffled sleepily in her cell.

"Alexia…" he croaked, unable to force his voice above a whisper, "Alexia, wake up…"

She let out a moan, "Dallet…?"

"Alexia, get up. It's time to go."

"Go?" Fabric scuffed against the tile as she slowly pulled herself up, "Go where?"

"Escape."

She was silent. After a few moments had passed, Dallet thought she'd fallen asleep again. He was just about to speak up when her voice broke through the air again, sounding defeated. "Dallet, we can't get out. I heard someone outside the door last night. We're guarded. Besides, I tried. The locks are solid." She let out a soft sigh, "We're as good as dead, Dallet. Just face it and go back to sleep."

"No." Dallet he pushed himself suddenly to his feet, clinging to the door and glaring fiercely out at her shadowed face, "Alexia, I swore I'd help you. I swore I'd protect you. I'm not letting you down." He threw one hand through the bars, flicking the thin metal tool into the light. "What does this look like?"

She straightened then, blinking hard in the darkness and leaning forward to press her hands against the bars, "Dallet… where did you…?"

"It's Shesta's. You stole it from him, Gabriel stole it from you and I stole it back from him. It's our key."

"A key…" she stared, open-mouthed, ".. If that works…"

He merely smiled and disappeared behind the door. Once out of sight he let the smile fade, already hating himself for bringing her hopes up so much. It was an evil thing to do in the long run. By the end she'd be hating him anyway. All he was doing was protecting his courage. If she were to be upset with him now he knew he could never pull through…

He flicked a switch on the tool and watched sparks fly as he proceeded to cut through the lock. "I know it will. Don't you worry."

Guimel was worried.

The Dragonslayers all rose as the sun flashed over the horizon, gleaming for barely an instant before the clouds swallowed it, casting only slightly lighter shadows than before. The air was a tiring blue haze both inside the Vionne and out, glowing through the occasional windows and setting a perfectly dismal mood. Gatty trotted down the hallway to the hangar bay, still blinking sleep from his eyes, while his friend scampered along behind him, alert and displaying his emotions for all to see.

"I'm not certain about this, Gatty. It bothers me."

"I know." Gatty yawned, "You don't need to tell me."

"Hey…" Guimel hopped a few steps, struggling to keep up, "Don't just brush me off like that. I'm serious. Dallet was a strange guy, but I can't believe he's a traitor. Alexia, yes, Dallet… not really. I don't want to just let this go. Can you just keep an eye on…"

"I will, I will." He waved a hand dismissively, keeping his pace just a step faster than Guimel's.

"That's not very reassuring." Guimel growled and leapt to a run for a moment, catching up and slowing to march alongside his friend. He frowned even harder, if it was possible.

Gatty rolled his eyes, humming impatiently but biting his tongue.

"Gabriel isn't stable." Guimel continued indignantly, "I remember you arguing with Dallet about that. You were so sure before. How can you just trust him all of a sudden?"

"People change, Guimel."

"Not Gabriel. Never Gabriel. You know that as well as I do."

Gatty let the words fade, mulling them for a moment that seemed to drag on forever. Guimel counted footsteps and tried his best to control his annoyance. Finally, Gatty stopped in his tracks, scowled, and turned. One hand rested on his hip as he silently regarded his best friend. Guimel was no less of a brave soldier than any of the others, but once in a while his caution grew a bit excessive. He believed being sorry was an inexcusable alternative to being safe and stood by it firmly. It was something that Gatty didn't need that morning, much as he hated to shoot down what was merely kind words of concern. He needed focus and confidence, not distraction and paranoid fear. "You're worrying too much, Guimel. Trust me. If ever, I need you to trust me now."

Guimel blinked a few times, puzzled.

"I know how you feel. I'll keep your feelings in mind, but understand me. This is an important step towards our goal and I can't mess it up. The one thing our group has been lacking is trust. If we can't rely on our own people, we can't function as a unit. That's what happened to Dallet and Alexia, whether you believe it or not. They lost sight of the needs of the many and settled for their own selfishness. Gabriel's right. I believe it."

I don't… Guimel looked anything but reassured, but nodded anyway. He couldn't think of anything more to say other than, "If that's how you feel…"

"It'll be fine." Gatty reached out, dropping a reassuring hand on Guimel's shoulder, "Trust me."

A moment later and Guimel was watching Gatty walk away, fading into the misty morning light and the scattered soft edged shadows.

He felt utterly sick.

In the midst of that morning's near-torrential downpour, the shapes of four trudging Alseides units looked like hulking shadowed monsters. The tremendous footfalls echoed in unison off the distant hills, each strike to the earth leaving a deep mark of torn grasses and tossed soil that filled with shimmering water before the vibrations could even fully fade away. Clouds roiled above from horizon to horizon, tossed and turned by relentless icy winds.

Gabriel huddled inside the relative warmth of his Alseides, a smile settled comfortably on his face. He cast periodic glances around at his comrades, plotting his moves and reveling in the fact that none around him suspected a thing. Dilandau led the way to their designated battlefield, a square mile of forest groves and rocky grasslands. Gabriel expected that not even half of the space would be needed for his victory. It was simplistic enough now that he'd gained Gatty's trust. Once Dilandau was taken care of, he could fell Gatty before the boy could even realize what had happened. Then there was only Shesta.

Warily, Gabriel glanced out at Shesta's Alseides as it thundered beside him. His smile wavered for a second into a half snarl before he could catch it. Earlier that morning in the hangar bay all four had met up for a short briefing before setting out. Gabriel hadn't been listening, but rather taking in the state of his would be victims. Dilandau and Gatty were both completely oblivious, focused on a mission that shouldn't have provoked any worries. Niether of them had cast a single glance in Gabriel's direction, not caring what was going on behind his eyes. They were all supposed allies after all.

Shesta had been different, though. Outwardly he refused to display emotion, just like any good soldier in the middle of an inward struggle, but in his eyes Gabriel had seen fear, weakness, and sorrow. It disgusted him. His mind and heart still screamed to know that his sister, his ally, his savior, could love someone who was so obviously an enemy to their cause. She had thrown away her loyalty for the sake of a mere child. It was despicable. He'd never even suspected it until Dallet had told him. He'd never suspected that his greatest comrade could be stolen by his most perfect pawn.

Shesta had cost Gabriel a great deal. He intended to pay him back in full and then some. Once again he smiled, but this time it sat not so comfortably.

He wondered briefly how Alexia would react if he were to bring back Shesta's head for her…

Shesta slumped forward as he blinked harder than he'd intended and nearly dropped off into the comfortable darkness behind his eyes. He gasped sharply and sat up, desperately fighting the thick heavy fog that had settled itself over the back of his mind. His Alseides thundered on without pause, ignoring its pilot's human weaknesses. Machines didn't need sleep, the lucky things. Shesta leaned his head to one side sleepily, feeling the tiniest bit envious.

The air was full of steady rhythms from the rattle of the rain to the solid crash of guymelef feet on the earth. The only things to keep the exhausted boy awake were the random gusts of shockingly cold damp air that whisked through his cockpit whenever they felt like it.

The others had gotten ahead of him already. With a silent curse he upped his pace, glad for the slight change of background noise. As he did, the fog of his mind lifted just the tiniest bit and his thoughts rushed in to fill the gap. At once he remembered why he'd been drifting to sleep in the first place. He sighed, dropping his forehead to the collar. Alexia… She'd been invading his thoughts ever since he'd woken up outside the detention center that morning with a crick in his neck. He hadn't heard her crying anymore, but the memory was as sharp as if it had just happened. The sound of her desperation, her fear…

Shesta brought his head up abruptly and slammed it hard against the collar, sending a reverberating clang through the small cockpit and a surprisingly sharp pain through his skull. The liquid metal rippled around him. A moment later, static crackled on the comm system and Gatty's concerned voice echoed in his ear. "Shesta, are you all right?"

Shesta felt a slight tickling sensation as he stared back at the small red spattering across the gold metal. A thin scarlet line traced itself down his nose, just within his vision.

"Shesta, I repeat, are you all…"

"I-I'm fine… I just… I'm fine."

Silence for a second. "Are you sure?"

Shesta shook his head, speckling the collar with brilliant red droplets, and tilted his head back. He summoned conviction into his voice, berating himself for being careless. "I'm fine, Gatty. The mission is more important. We're almost at the battlefield."

Even through the jittery buzz of the rain-disrupted communications signal, Gatty sounded unconvinced. "All right, then. Watch yourself, Shesta. I don't want you getting hurt."

A quiet sound, almost like laughter, rippled through the static behind Gatty's voice. Shesta glanced questioningly at the speaker, then frowned, dismissing it as nothing more than interference.

Dilandau's voice cut in a second later. "If you two are quite finished, we're here. Form up. Gabriel with me, Gatty with Shesta. Make it quick."

Gatty's guymelef turned, stomping back to stand by Shesta's, while Gabriel charged over to Dilandau. His laughter echoed loud and unmistakable this time. Shesta shuddered.

Dilandau's guymelef turned just the slightest bit towards Gabriel, "Something funny?"

Gabriel's mad giggling continued, broken by a quick breath. "Ah, it's nothing, sir. Just the thrill of a good battle. You'd understand that."

A skeptical silence punctuated Dilandau's response, "Indeed." He stepped a little further away from the shifting blue Alseides, turning his attention back to his opponents, "I'm expecting a good fight. Spare nothing." One gun arm raised into the air and his guymelef ducked for a charge, "Begin!"

With a sickening crack, the soldier's head struck the wall and he crumpled, still conscious but dazed, to the floor. Dallet leaped in, delivering two more swift blows before falling back to the shadows, shaking and coughing. In a thought that came and went he realized he'd broken the boy's nose on his last strike. His own throat ached, his hands stung, and his heart was thundering in his ears. How he hated direct confrontations. He couldn't help it. Being singled out terrified him.

"Dallet?" He barely heard her call from the shadows of her cell, "Dallet, did you get him? Are you all right?" Her hands clawed at the bars, one eye peering between them, desperate to find her friend.

Dallet let out a painful breath and glanced down at his bloodied hands before responding. "I'm all right."

She pressed tighter to the door, "I can't see you…"

"I'm all right." He slowly pulled himself up the wall, then crept to the beaten guard. "I'm all right." One shaky hand reached quickly for the keys at the guard's belt, stopped, and grabbed up the sword instead. He cast a quick glance back at Alexia and set off towards the door at a brisk trot, leaving a trail of ruby droplets behind.

"Dallet?" Alexia's door rattled, "Dallet! Dallet, where are you going? What about me?"

"Here." He turned halfway around with his hand already resting on the latch to the door, tossing the laser cutter with expert precision. She caught it with one outstretched hand, confused.

"But.. the keys…" Her gaze flashed between the cutter and Dallet just in time to see the back of his head vanish behind the closing door. He was gone without another word, leaving only silence and a vague air of despair. Alexia could hear her own breathing in the stillness, could smell her own panic. Her hand clenched tightly around the small device as tears suddenly streaked down her face. Frightened and lost, she shook herself back away from the door, cursing and sobbing as the truth sunk in, then fell to her knees.

She was alone.

It didn't take more than an instant for chaos to erupt on the battlefield. One moment Gatty was steeling himself for Dilandau's attack, and the next all he could see was dust and flames. He cried out in surprise and fear, leaping back just in time to avoid being thrown to the ground as Dilandau came crashing through with Gabriel right on top of him. The two shook the earth with their impact, uprooting trees and tearing a trench deep enough that it soon passed for a miniature river.

Desperate to get away and recover his sanity, Gatty staggered back to Shesta's side. Both boys could only gape in astonishment at the sight before them. It was incredible in the most horrible sense of the word. Both began to feel the cold panic of being wrong in a situation where anything less than perfection was death.

Dilandau screamed something incoherent and rolled his mech, crashing a claw into Gabriel's cockpit to knock the boy reeling. Shesta was the first to react. His cry sounded harshly in Gatty's ear before he thundered forward, weapons ready. Gatty was quick to follow, but neither could get close enough before the two could clash again. It was catastrophic. Sparks flew as thickly as the curses and screams. They fought like animals. Claws crashed together, broke apart, clashed again. In a frightening maneuver, Gabriel ducked a swing and fired his Claws straight along the length of Dilandau's guymelef, missing the cockpit by mere inches.

"I always wanted to fight the best!" he shrieked maniacally, ducking back and slashing in terrifyingly precise arcs with both blades, "I'm so glad you haven't disappointed me!"

Dilandau blocked. Gabriel's claws hooked hard enough to nearly pull the scarlet Alseides right over onto its side, forcing Dilandau to break free and back off by several monstrous steps. Shesta charged in an instant later, shattering both combatants' concentration. Gabriel spotted him at the last second, reluctantly breaking his attention away from the commander to deal with the new threat as effectively as possible. He raked his claws across Shesta'a Alseides' hide, throwing the younger pilot right off his feet. Gatty dove in, his shot tearing metal plates off Gabriel's back, but it didn't even slow the crazed monster down.

Once again Dilandau was knocked to the ground, but this time the full weight of Gabriel's guymelef held him pinned. Dilandau howled and thrashed, struggling ferociously to get away. He turned his gaze to the field, searching desperately for help, but all he could see was Shesta still struggling to stand. He cried out, but his words dissolved into a terrified scream, cut off by the crash of one of Gabriel's claws slamming into the earth directly in front of him. In a desperate move, he struck out blindly and his finger clicked over the trigger switch. Flames erupted in a burst beneath Gabriel's Alseides, scorching the paint and flashing through the cockpit. A pained shriek rent the air and Gabriel staggered back.

"You bastard!!" he howled, waving blindly. He didn't even see Gatty until the boy was practically right on top of him. With a deafening crash the two collided, mowing a path of destruction through a nearby grove of trees.

Shesta surged to his feet, pounding across the field before he even knew exactly which way to go. Dilandau's guymelef was severely damaged, but it sounded like he himself was all right. Within seconds Shesta was at his commander's side, trying to help. "Dilandau, we have to get you out of here!"

"Get away from me!" Dilandau growled back, lashing out with one arm, "I don't need your help!"

Shesta dodged the swing and continued forward, "Gatty can't hold him off forever. We have to go now!" A shot of liquid metal coiled itself around Dilandau's arm and hefted him from the ground, "Don't fight me. Please."

In the distance, Gatty broke away from Gabriel, trying to lead him further off. He barely got two thundering steps before Gabriel pounced again, screaming death threats and curses. Shesta winced.

Dilandau steadied himself on his feet, gazing out at the titanic opponents, seeming to see what was going on for the first time. "Gabriel's going to kill him, Shesta!" He pulled hard at the solid grip. "You can't just stand there and let him die! The operation is in a month! I need him!"

"We need you!" Shesta pulled back, hearing the metal squeal, "Without a leader, we're nothing! We can get you back to the Vionne, send out less important troops! There's no need for you to…!"

"Get the hell away from me!" Dilandau whirled halfway, a bolt of liquid metal from his free arm twisting itself into a blade as he did so. Shesta ducked back, but couldn't free himself fast enough. The blade tore a gash straight across the front of his guymelef then broke through the coil, knocking Shesta away. Dilandau staggered, suddenly freed, and turned his back. "I'm stronger than Gabriel! I always have been and always will be!" He launched forward, pounding across the field, ignoring the protests of the machine around him. "I won't let Reika prove me right, damnnit! Gabriel!! Let's settle this!"

Gatty looked up in surprise, forgetting both himself and the battle. Dilandau was throwing caution to the wind and charging headlong into the very danger Gatty had been trying to help him escape from. Is he insane?!

Gabriel still struggled beneath the weight of Gatty's Alseides, screaming curses, but soon even he froze. His gaze locked finally on the sight of the red guymelef storming forward and the sight froze the words in his throat. After an instant of perilous silence, he roared out in laughter, striking his opponent off of him with a single blow and leaping to the challenge. Gatty watched the world spin as he toppled, gritting his teeth and fighting blindly for the ground.

"Dilandau!! No!!" Shesta lumbered after him, pushing himself to the limit, desperate to intercept. Gabriel would kill him if he got too close, but there was no choice. The least and only thing he could possibly do was give Gatty the time to strike from behind and hope the shot was true. If that failed, they'd all be dead; he was sure of it.

Gatty screamed in panic, catching himself with one crippled arm and laboriously forcing his guymelef back to its feet. Ahead, Shesta skidded on loose ground, using his whole self to block Dilandau's path and set himself up for what would have been a certainly fatal shot. Feeling his heart leap to his throat, Gatty did the only thing he could think of and charged. One claw fired on the run succeeded in winging Gabriel, knocking him nearly to the ground. The second tore off his Alseides' left arm. As Shesta turned and restrained Dilandau, Gatty threw himself into an animal's pounce, crashing down directly onto Gabriel's guymelef. Shesta and Dilandau could only watch helplessly and make their way back across the field. One way or another this battle would be over soon, both knew it.

"Reika was wrong…" Dilandau was whispering, his voice shaky, "That boy is a monster. She was wrong…"

Shesta said nothing. He forced his commander to move, shoving him roughly across the field and trying hard not to look back. He couldn't tell whose screams were whose when he listened, but they chilled him all the same. His priorities couldn't let him turn back or even cast a glance. He only hoped that Gatty was the stronger.

They hadn't made it more than a hundred feet before hell broke its bars all over again. What happened was too fast for any involved to recall properly. Too fast and too stunning. All Shesta heard was a screech of metal, the crackling roar of an explosion and someone's scream. An instant later and Dilandau had broken loose again, shrieking a warning that came too late. Just as Shesta whirled his cumbersome machine back to the battlefield, a blaze of silver whistled past, tearing deeply into his Alseides' metal hide before slamming full speed straight into Dilandau's guymelef.

Shesta's heart skipped as he turned, too slow to follow. He watched in shock as the scarlet machine, impaled straight through with three Crima claw bolts, fell in silence to the earth, striking with enough force to kick clouds of dirt into the soggy air.

"DILANDAU!!"

An anticlimactic thud punctuated his wail, driving his attention just briefly back to Gatty and Gabriel. He was too panicked to figure out who had shot whom at first, but one of the two lay still on the ground, a point blank shot having torn straight through the cockpit. Not survivable by any means.

Shesta was already too busy disengaging from his machine to care.

Alexia ran full tilt through the halls, skidding around the corners, shoving any hapless people out of her way and generally not caring how much noise she made. Dallet's trail was easy enough to follow, but it had been left a quarter of an hour before at least. She knew where he had been going anyway. There was only one reason he'd ever betray her. As horrible a thought as it was, there was nothing she could happily delude herself with this time. He was going to try and kill Gabriel. Unless she stopped him, there'd be no saving the situation. Her mission would be lost and all hope of her future would be lost with it.

She choked back a sob, growled in anger instead, and ran all the harder. Two soldiers on patrol were forced up against the wall under threat of being trampled. One shouted at her as she rounded the next corner, but she offered no apology.

Ahead, the hangar bay loomed. Her feet hardly felt the floor beneath them as she streaked for the doors, counting her blessings and hoping for more. Her hand struck the operating panel hard enough to sting, throwing the doors open and letting her through. Only then did she slow her pace, stumbling to a jog and a walk.

She moved anxiously down the passage, gazing up at the lines of glinting blue Alseides units, searching for the one in particular. She knew them all by heart, every knick and scratch. Every modification. Still, when she came to the one that was most familiar, her heart not only fell, it plummeted. Dallet's was gone, the bay doors far below having been forced open. Her own - the only guymelef she had any access to - sat forlornly in its docking bay, Dallet's now-faded scarlet handprints marking where wires had been pulled or slashed and panels torn open, rendering it inoperable. Her only way out was completely destroyed.

A look of anguish crossed her face and she slowly ascended the steps, laying her hand on the cold surface metal. Held back tears sprung up again and she felt her knees buckle.

Once again she could only give in to defeat.

"Shesta? Shesta, are you all right?" Gatty's voice crackled through the comm system behind him as Shesta swung down from his usual perch. "Shesta, answer me…"

The cockpit slid open, pushing him out into the cold air. Within seconds he was soaked from the rain, his hair plastered to his head, but he hardly gave it a second thought. Mechanically he tore off one glove, waving briefly to Gatty before scraping the itchy sticky dried blood from his face with a fingernail and clambering to the ground. He struck the dirt running, fumbling in the mud and deep puddles. Out of the corner of his eye he watched Gatty's guymelef lumber across the field, trailing liquid metal and wiring from its destroyed right limb. Gabriel's stayed where it had fallen.

"Shesta, how bad is it?" Gatty's voice was muffled and barely understandable in the rain, but his fear and worry came through all the same. The blonde haired boy ignored him for the moment, wondering if he dared answer that question for himself. There was no sound from Dilandau's guymelef, not even the faintest whimper. The Crima claw bolts had already lost their solidity, dissolving down to shining silver streams. If not for the intensity of the rain, the area would have been a raging blue firestorm. As it was, the substance merely steamed.

Shesta approached with caution, stepping high over the wickedly glinting puddles and scampering to the side of the Alseides. He clambered up the behemoth's side and crouched by the cockpit, listening. Other than the patter of the raindrops there was not a sound to be heard.

"Dilandau?" he called, "Dilandau…" he skittered like a spider across the front of the guymelef, moving to the closest of the rough edged holes that still trickled thick silver blood. He hesitated for a long moment. An icy cold droplet slid down the back of his neck and he shivered, then slowly crawled forward. With his remaining glove he swept the area clean, leaning over to peer down into the darkness.

"Shesta, I heard something on the comm system." Gatty's voice echoed from inside, "About a minute ago. What do you see?"

Something down below moved, just slightly. Shesta caught his breath. "He's alive at any rate. What's his pass code? We have to get him out of there fast."

"I…I don't know… Can you see him?"

"Yeah. I can see him." He winced, shook his head, and backed off, "He's hurt badly."

"If I run, I can get a call back to the Vionne. They could send someone to retrieve him. It's standard procedure to…"

Shesta shook his head. "That's no good. We don't have time. I need his pass code or else I'm going to have to open this thing manually. By the time you got there and back, it would already be too late."

Gatty growled, "Shit. That's not a very good plan, Shesta." The whole guymelef moved, shaking the ground and eliciting a moan from the depths of the shadows. "How do we even get him back once he's out?" One arm waved. "Alseides units were never made for passengers, particularly the wounded."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Without another word, he turned, hopping nimbly across to the control panel. Numbers stared up at him, but not a single one offered itself. He frowned, then started pulling at the panel, trying to loosen it and pry off the faceplate. "Damn," he growled, Why did Alexia have to go and get herself imprisoned? I could really use a mechanic about now…

"What are you doing, Shesta? You're going to break it…"

"It doesn't matter. This is the only way." He tugged harder, bracing his heels. With a sudden crack, the faceplate tore halfway off. Shesta staggered, slipped, and tumbled to a rough landing, nearly falling straight off to the ground below. He scrabbled against the slick surface for several seconds before managing to pull himself back up, "Stupid thing…" Once again he gripped and pulled. This time it was easier and before long he was digging through the mess of wires.

"Once you get that hatch open, I hope you know that you won't be able to get it closed. There's a safety mechanism that…"

"I don't care," Shesta didn't even cast a glance back, "This guymelef is dead anyway. The mechanics can deal with it. All I want is to get him out."

With a concerned frown, Gatty silenced himself. He settled back, occupying himself with trying to quell the anxiety creeping up on him while Shesta busied himself with freeing the commander. A cold wind howled down from the mountains, but neither boy felt it.

Guimel was right. I shouldn't have trusted Gabriel… He leaned to the side for a better look as Shesta started prying open the cockpit. This is my fault. This whole mess is my fault. I saw it coming and I ignored it. Stupid. Again, as always, stupid.

Shesta worked diligently, his hands numb and shaking with cold after only a few minutes. Periodically he paused to glance down to where he could just make out the pale lines of Dilandau's face. The commander didn't move; he barely breathed. The shadows were too thick to see exactly how badly he was injured. Behind him, he heard Gatty's apprehensive coaxing, sensed that his friend wanted more than anything to hop down and help rather than just monitor the comm system.

It seemed like an eternity before the panel finally sparked. Shesta had to jerk his hands back, once again nearly slipping down the side of the rain slicked machine. The liquid sound of the hatch slipping open sounded behind him and he turned to watch the shadows retreat. Both he and Gatty winced.

"Gatty, maybe you should go make that call for a rescue. We're going to need help here."

The darkness around him slowly lightened, and for the first time in what had felt like eternity and no time at all, Gabriel dared to believe that he was really thinking and not just remembering what it had been like. Distantly, he sensed what he could swear was cold, damp, and pain. In curiosity he tried to find his arms, his legs, any sign that what was before him wasn't simple oblivion.

The instant he opened his eyes - rather one eye as his left one was a blinded and bleeding mess - a spike of pain so intense that he couldn't even scream tore through him. The air was abruptly a painfully tangible cold; the rain pattering through the shattered cockpit struck him like a million fierce needles. He writhed in pain and shut his eyes again, dropping immediately back into the numbness of near unconsciousness where he could breathe.

In the stupor he was forced to hide in, Gabriel sluggishly forced his thoughts, analyzing his injuries and surroundings. Gatty's last strike had done more damage than he should have been able to live through had he been just a normal soldier. A gaping wound in his side poured scarlet into the thick silvery blue of leaking liquid metal. His left arm was a barely useable bloody mess. Every other bolt had missed or merely grazed him, but the heat from the claws had torn hair and skin from wherever they passed by him.

"…Well, at least he's still breathing. There's a chance to save him. I'll be back as soon as I can. Stay with him."

Gabriel twitched towards the staticy voice, uncertain of exactly what he was hearing. Gatty…? Dreading the result, he slowly forced his remaining eye open again. The pain stayed bearable this time, numbed by cold and a shock induced adrenaline rush. Through shafts of tiringly gray daylight, he made out the blurry shapes of two guymelefs, one damaged, one nearly destroyed. Blinking hard, he strained to focus, recognizing Shesta's wind blown blond hair. The boy was carrying something - or someone…

A flash of memory shot through his mind, something he had only seen through the corner of his eye an instant before Gatty had struck him down. Dilandau… A grin that became something of a grimace twitched across his face. It all made sudden sense.

He made no sound as he pulled himself from the shelter of his ruined machine, wary of Gatty's breathing still audible around him as the fellow Dragonslayer retreated towards the Vionne, leaving Shesta and his commander vulnerable. Pulling his own sword from its thankfully undamaged storage space, Gabriel dragged himself into the open elements. He knew he was dying even as he staggered down to the muddied ground, but taking those two to hell with him would make it that much more worthwhile.

Shesta sat curled up beneath the sheltering overhang of the downed guymelef, shivering and cursing himself. Dilandau lay a few feet away, unconscious and letting out only the faintest of whimpers. Most of Shesta's sleeve was tied around his leg to stop the bleeding. He'd done what he could for the other injuries, but in the given situation, that wasn't much. He could only hope Gatty would be back soon.

"I'm such an idiot…" The words left his throat and were whisked away, unheard. He rubbed one hand along his bare arm, trying to warm it up and stop the shivering. Even beneath the hulk of the Alseides the cold was there to find him.

The rain abruptly worsened, pouring down in one long crash. He shuddered and tucked himself up against the freezing metal, frustration welling up in him.

Dilandau cried out softly, twitching one arm in a feeble attempt to force some unseen thing away. Shesta turned a concerned gaze to his commander. He's going to be very sick for a very long time after this… My fault of course. Barely thinking about it he pulled the remains of his heavy jacket off - leaving himself in nothing but a light undershirt - and pushed himself stiffly to his feet. Might as well limit the damage. He tucked the garment around Dilandau and settled back, feeling the downpour on his shoulders and back. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been so cold.

Gatty won't be gone long. Maybe fifteen minutes there and back. He huddled his head down between his knees and shivered, It's only a little chill. It won't kill me. Dilandau's more important. Infinitely. I'm just an extra… As those words flickered through his shaken mind, a realization followed. He lifted his head, glancing back in the direction of Gabriel's fallen guymelef. They'd lost a soldier. Whether he'd been traitorous or not, Gabriel had still been a Dragonslayer and so one of there own was gone. There were now fifteen, the true complement. He was no longer just an extra. He was no longer so expendable.

Did Dornkirk foresee this? How did he… A frown crossed his features, lost a moment later in a shudder. He's Emperor Dornkirk. Of course he knew…

Dilandau's eyes fluttered and he thrashed, startling Shesta out of his daydreaming. Before he'd turned to look the commander had already quieted back to sleep, however. Shesta worried briefly if he'd ever wake from it. He dearly hoped so. Without a commander, their unit wouldn't be able to function. Of all the other Dragonslayer teams, theirs was the most coveted. The best. They alone had been trained for their namesake mission - to capture the so-called dragon at any cost. The other teams were a mere cover. If Dilandau died, so would the mission. Zaibach could be set back years, maybe even decades. It would take so long to train another soldier in the skills required. Too long.

Shesta hugged his legs close to him, teeth chattering. He swore that he couldn't feel his nose anymore and cursed the weather. You'd think someone up there wants Zaibach to lose its chance. Not if I can help it. He spoke out just loud enough to be heard over the howl of the wind. "Don't you dare die on me, Dilandau. I'm not going back to the Vionne if you do."

Dilandau didn't respond, but a sudden sound at Shesta's back froze his blood more than the cold could.

"You're not going back anyway, Shesta. I'll make sure of that."

The blonde haired boy whirled, turning his face to meet the gaze of who had spoken. He froze where he was, knocked so incredulous at the sight that he was unable to utter a single sound. For what felt like an eternity, nothing moved.

Then Shesta snapped back to himself and did the only thing that seemed appropriate to the situation. He screamed.

Every shadow in the entire hangar bay seemed to turn what passed for a face towards the doorway as Guimel made his entrance, watching him intently. Even the little sound he made seemed loud enough to wake the dead. He could hear his own heartbeat. What made it worse was that nothing greeted him. No sound, no movement. The room seemed completely deserted.

Taking a deep breath, he slid a hand down to his sword. A single rusty red print had marred the door panel outside, proof enough that Dallet and Alexia had been through. Still, he couldn't help but feel like he was on the wrong track in one regard or another. Either that or he was already too late. It was very well possible. When Guimel had found the guard he was already waking, barely able to speak from grogginess as well as the hindrance of a broken nose. It had taken more valuable minutes to help the man down to the infirmary. By now, both traitors could have made it off the Vionne without trouble, to whatever end that would lead them.

Of course, there was always the hope that just maybe he was lucky enough to be in time. He leaned close to the wall, listening carefully, then started forward. Ahead of him, two catwalks branched off. Along the left side of each, Reika's Dragonslayers had docked their Alseides units. They glinted wickedly in the dim light, dull silver and blue, pristine and perfect from lack of use. Opposite them perched those of Dilandau's team. Those held their share of scratches, but were still a sight to behold. He moved quietly closer, keeping his eyes on that line.

His heart sank as he approached the railing. Third from the far end was a dark gap. Dallet's guymelef was long gone. Looking closer, he saw the thin shafts of hazy light that filtered in from the open bay doors below. A cool damp breeze whisked down the passage, almost reminiscent of mocking laughter as it whipped past his ear.

Gloomily, he turned a glance to Reika's line, expecting to see a similar darkness marking Alexia's missing guymelef. To his astonishment he discovered that all sixteen were still where they'd been left. One, however, was completely totaled. He hesitantly stepped forward. Were those sword slashes? He rushed forward, gazing up at the machine in pure bewilderment. Not only had the damage been entirely inflicted by a katana blade, but the thin and long since dried bloodstains that accompanied the damage were the same as the fading ones he'd been following all the way from the detention center. Confusion rattled through his mind. Dallet had sabotaged Alexia's guymelef? To what end could that lead? Who was on whose side? Things were abruptly a lot less clear than they had been a mere moment before.

A soft crash and a cry diverted his attention away from the guymelef. He whirled, spotting Alexia as she stumbled over the stair of one of the platforms and took off at a dead run, trying to slip past him. He moved without thinking, grabbing her arm and tripping her up at the same instant. Her momentum carried both of them over in a tangle, but she wasn't fighting. He pinned her easily, only to find that he hadn't had to. She brought both hands up defensively, squeaking out, "I'm unarmed!" and making no further moves.

Guimel glanced from her averted gaze back to the stairway where she'd been hiding, pure bewilderment leaving him feeling like a complete and utter moron. He turned back to his captive, more exasperated than angry. "What the hell is going on?" He reluctantly let her go when she wouldn't give him a response and she slipped away, crouching near the railing. For the first time he saw the half dried tears on her face.

"Dallet's gone," she shivered, "I tried to stop him but I wasn't fast enough. He slowed me down. He's going to kill Gabriel. He's going to kill my brother…" she was shaking as she spoke, struggling to keep her voice under control. There was a moment of near silence as she took a few deep breaths, clenching her fists in frustration.

Guimel furrowed his brow, trying hard to understand precisely what she was trying to tell him. "Gabriel? He's…?"

She nodded sharply, cutting him off. "Guimel, you have to believe me. This is all a mistake." She met his gaze with utter determination, "We just wanted our freedom back. I thought I could… Dallet was…Folken… he… oh, it's too long to tell…" She started back to her feet, lunged forward a step and then stalled, not seeming to know what to do next, "I have to get out there. Dallet's going to kill my brother!"

Guimel was at her side in an instant, sword sheathed and all suspicion gone. She seemed too genuine to be simply trying to deceive him again. "Alexia," he grabbed her arm gently, "Slow down. What's going on?"

For a terribly drawn out time, Alexia was silent. She stood silently, shivering, her eyes flickering without moving as though she were deliberating a million things at once. For that uncertain moment, Guimel began to question his actions and her sanity. He wanted more than anything to just slip away and forget what he was seeing on her face. He started to pull his hand away, started to turn his gaze to the door, but as he did, her eyes were suddenly in the way.

Almost faster than he could process it, her whole story came tumbling out, clear as glass and sharp as a knife. Guimel felt his blood freeze.

Within the next five minutes he was braving his way through the rain, flying as fast as his guymelef would take him. Alexia could only watch and hope.

Gatty charged ahead, refusing to look back. It was hard not to try to steal a glance. It drove him crazy to think that he was running away in any sense of the phrase. He had to keep telling himself that there was nothing he could do back at the battlefield. Dilandau's only chance was on the Vionne.

Through a break in the clouds up ahead, he spotted the ship. It looked demonic against the roiling sky, but to him it was a wondrous thing. Salvation at the moment. He gritted his teeth and pushed his guymelef to the maximum, hoping against hope that he wasn't in vain. If Dilandau died, he knew he'd never forgive himself. It had been his fault, no matter how one looked at it. He'd ignored the sensible words of his best friend. He'd let his personal feelings about the accused get in the way and he'd chosen the wrong path. If only he would have listened to Guimel, to his own gut feeling, to everything that was screaming around him, this whole disaster could have been avoided. Dilandau was never going to forgive him, either way. He could sense that already.

Up ahead, he saw a flicker of movement. Something had dropped from the hangar bay. He frowned. Had they seen him coming? That didn't make sense. He had yet to request backup and it was already on its way?

He kept his eyes on the sky as he ran, watching for the glint of blue metal among the low drifting clouds. It was some time before he saw it again, but it looked like the pilot hadn't spotted him after all. He was heading straight for the battlefield without a care as to what was below him.

Curiously, Gatty tapped the comm system, "Hey! Who are you and where are you going? I'm down here!"

Their was a break of static, then a familiar voice crackled back to him. "Gatty? Is that you?"

"Guimel? What are you doing out here?"

The other Alseides swooped low, coming to a landing nearby. "Gatty, I don't know what you're doing this far out, but we've got to get back to the battlefield now. Alexia told me that Gabriel…"

"Is a traitor. I know."

"What?"

"Dilandau's hurt. He needs help. We'll sort this out later, but we're going to need backup."

"I sent Alexia to get Folken to prepare a troop in case it's needed. I'll signal back and give them an update. Where's Shesta?"

"He stayed behind. His guymelef's totaled but he's all right. I think Gabriel's dead."

"You think? You didn't check?"

"I… didn't think it was important…"

There was a hesitation on the other end. Guimel's Alseides shifted, as if searching the sky. When he spoke, there was a quaver of uncertainty that transmitted even through the static. "Gatty, you'd better head back. I hope your Alseides can still fight."

Shesta scrambled across the ground as fast as his feet could carry him, struggling through the mud with his heart pounding in his ears and Gabriel quick on his tail, moving faster than someone as wounded as himself should have been able to. Dilandau was left behind, safe for the moment. If there was one thing to be thankful for - which didn't seem likely in the current situation - it was that Gabriel had a one-track mind for bloodshed.

Shesta's foot struck a half submerged rock in a puddle, throwing him into a desperate windmilling stagger that very nearly ended with him sprawled across the ground. Gabriel was on him like a wild animal, barely allowing him the time to dodge and scrabble away. The sword blade whistled past, striking the earth in the past vicinity of Shesta's head with a muffled thud and sticking there. Gabriel roared in frustration, struggling to free his weapon from the earth while Shesta wasted not a second in bolting. After a brief struggle against the mud, the red head took up the chase, but his injuries were slowing him just enough to keep him behind.

Uncaring about anything but his survival, Shesta floored it. His attention took in only the distance between himself and apparent salvation, completely ignoring the curses at his back. His feet pelted the ground, throwing water and mud in a wake behind him. He'd bet his life that Gabriel couldn't climb in the condition he was in, and the Alseides was a tough looking prospect even for an uninjured man. Perfect.

Gabriel's wordless voice was loud in his ear, gaining ground even as Shesta dashed the last few feet to safety. He didn't even pause to judge the distance, just threw himself into a flying leap as soon as his Alseides looked close enough. His numbed fingers barely caught and he found himself scrabbling frantically in a desperate struggle to get himself out of the way. Gabriel's sword nicked into his boot before he could pull himself up, but failed to penetrate.

Shesta was counting his lucky stars as he turned around, gasping for breath that was cold enough to burn all the way down. He was sweating and shivering at once, ready to scream but wanting nothing more than for it all to be over. How dare Gabriel just come back to haunt him like this? How dare he sabotage anything. Rage was winning out over desperation even as he turned his attention down to the seething monstrosity pacing a mere few feet below him.

"What in the hell is wrong with you, Gabriel?!" he shrieked, "You're dead! Why can't you just give up?!"

Gabriel's laugh was colder than the rain. He waved his sword menacingly, one green eye glinting with what could only be utter madness. "I think that should be obvious! I won't let myself die until I see you lifeless! I can keep this body alive as long as I have to! You're the one that's beaten!"

Shesta recoiled, his face a mask of revulsion, "You're insane!"

"And you're still running!" Gabriel lurched forward, staggering to lean his bloodied left arm against the hulk. If it hurt him, he gave no sign, "You're a coward, Shesta, and it's going to cost you. You can hide up there all you like." He grinned, a sickening thing that held no joy in any sense. "Dilandau can't run. Think you can still save him from up there?"

"Don't you dare!"

"And why not?!" The sword flashed viciously, "As if he ever gave me a chance! As if any of them gave me a chance! I owe all of you what you've given me! Pain, loss, and death!"

"You brought it on yourself, you bastard! Whatever happened to unity, to the greater good?! We're fighting for our people, not ourselves! Think of all the…"

"Shut up!" Gabriel roared. A bit of blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, "Just shut the hell up! All I wanted was freedom! All I wanted was to live a normal life with a normal family! They stole it from me, Shesta! Folken and those bastard sorcerers stole my life out from under me!" He took a deep breath, shuddering so hard he nearly fell to his knees. "You stole Alexia from me, Shesta. She would have helped me. I would have lived and we could have just vanished. You dragged her down and now she won't come." His blade crashed against the Alseides in a terrific clatter, "And now I'm dying. It's your fault. All of it. I just want my freedom. I just want my revenge and my freedom. It's all I need…"

"What are you talking about?"

Gabriel didn't seem to be listening. He gripped the sword as firmly as he could in his shaking hand, turning his gaze back to where Dilandau lay. "Value your country? Value your commander's life? Then free me if you can Shesta. If you run this time, I'll kill you both." With that, he turned his back and staggered off towards the wavering shape of the red guymelef.

"Gabriel! Gabriel, don't you dare! Get back here!" He turned sharply, skittering up to the cockpit as fast as he could. His fingers shook as he keyed the pass code into the panel, but the hatch slid open in what had to be record time. Without another thought, he'd snatched his sword from its compartment and freed it from its scabbard. Two more steps and a tremendous leap carried him into the open air, determined to take Gabriel down once and for all.

Gabriel continued forward, supposedly oblivious, but just noticeably slowed the instant Shesta's angry cry rent the air. He had his opponent right where he wanted and it would take less than a second to secure the fact. He waited until the last possible moment, until he could almost feel the blade, the boy, and the last moments of his life screaming down at him. They were all but mere millimetres away.

Shesta's cry turned from anger to pure surprise as Gabriel simply ducked his head and slipped aside as easily as a breath of wind. Shesta's blade wailed past the other Dragonslayer's head in vain, taking its handler with it. He hit the slick ground awkwardly and slid, struggling desperately to keep his balance. Terror washed over him. The tables had turned and he was quite suddenly a very vulnerable target.

True to form, Gabriel shrieked and lunged, his blade aimed straight for his opponent's back. Shesta barely managed to swerve, feeling the sword's edge pass through the air a mere hair's breadth away from him. He slipped clumsily through the mud, fought for balance, and finally achieved it just in time to turn himself around again. His eyes widened in sudden shock and he uttered a bitten off yelp, finding himself face to face with Gabriel's pure ferocity. Raising his sword quickly in defence, he braced himself in a millisecond for the attack. He wasn't quite ready.

Gabriel slammed into Shesta with amazing velocity, forcing Shesta's own sword dangerously close to his face. Both of them flew backwards, and Shesta landed on the ground roughly. He let out a yelp of pain as a rock jabbed painfully into his back.

Before Shesta could get up, Gabriel had him pinned to the ground. His foot ground into Shesta's wrist until he cried out in pain and let the sword fall from his fingers.

"Let's see you run now, Shesta!" Gabriel laughed out loud as he brought his sword up into an attack position.

Shesta's free hand groped the slimy mud and found exactly what he was looking for, just barely within his reach. He snatched it up and flung the rock for all he was worth at Gabriel's face. The projectile sliced through the air as efficiently as any blade and struck Gabriel just above his one good eye, spattering mud and leaving him temporarily blinded.

Heart pounding, Shesta ripped his wrist from under Gabriel's boot and snatched up his sword, wasting no time in wriggling away from the infuriated madman. Gabriel howled in anger, sensing his lost prey, and began slashing out madly at anything that resembled Shesta in his twisted mind's eye.

Shesta moved haltingly away from Gabriel, trying desperately to put as much distance between them as possible. Even blinded, Gabriel was a good shot. The katana had narrowly missed Shesta several times as he slid backwards through the muck and it grazed his arm on one lucky swing. He gritted his teeth, but wouldn't allow himself to make a sound. Blood ran down his bare arm and mixed with the cold rainwater, sending goosebumps across his skin. Shesta shivered. He also thought while he had the time. With Gabriel sightless, he had the upper hand. It would be best to take advantage of it while he could.

He was as quiet as he could possibly be while getting back to his feet. Gabriel growled and lashed out again, missing by a frightening fraction of an inch. Shesta took a breath to calm himself and slipped quickly and quietly around Gabriel so that he could plainly see his exposed and vulnerable back. He took a breath and lifted his sword slowly, quietly, purposefully. It was now or never.

He was just about to end everything when Gabriel suddenly spun towards him. Shesta's heart leaped straight into his throat, choking off the scream before it could form. Injured or not, Gabriel managed an amazingly fierce attack, jumping headlong towards Shesta with amazing agility. The two blades collided fiercely and a flash of sparks went up between them. Shesta gasped for breath, arms shaking. The blades were locked and Gabriel was winning in terms of force. If he didn't do something quickly…

Shesta daringly moved his weight to one foot and struck out with the other, resulting in a resounding crack and a cry from Gabriel. He would have grinned if he'd had the mind to. Gabriel staggered back awkwardly, moving in one big limp. Shesta had hit his knee hard. Frustrated beyond belief, Gabriel swiped at his eye with the back of his hand, gritting his teeth. He blinked a few times and snarled. The emerald eye was bloodshot straight through, reminding Shesta of something from a nightmare.

Still, he was slowed considerably. He approached Shesta again, but at nothing more than a walk. He wouldn't be able to fling himself at his opponent as he had before, but found that he wouldn't have a need to. Terrified and angry, Shesta soared towards him, screaming like death as he came. Rather than trying to escape, Gabriel lowered his sword and waited for the inevitable. There wasn't any more to be done.

The two collided and, as expected, the stronger of the two won out. Gabriel, already unstable, was knocked straight over, his sword struck from his grip. Shesta never noticed the ease with which Gabriel went down. He moved in for the kill, gazing triumphantly to Gabriel's face. It was to his ultimate surprise that he couldn't complete the job. Gabriel's foot snapped out, impacting Shesta's ankle and for a split second, the boy was off balance. Gabriel took the opportunity and jabbed out a gain with his good leg striking fas, hard, and true.

Shesta toppled into the mud with a gasp of pain and froze immediately, expecting at any second to hear Gabriel's footfalls and to feel the bite of a blade. Seconds ticked by. The rain continued to fall, Shesta's breathing came in frightened gasps, but no other sound could be heard. Finally, he dared to lift his head from the ground and turned to glance back over his shoulder. Gabriel lay sprawled where he'd fallen, unmoving. The only sign of life was the liquid rasp of his breath.

The younger Dragonslayer hesitated, uncertain, then slowly climbed to his feet, clawing at the muck in his hair and across his arms and face, then backed off one careful step at a time, shaking with a wearying mixture of relief, fear, and pure hatred. Gabriel lay miserably still with his hair in a puddle, struggling to breathe let alone move. He didn't have long left, no matter how much he might claim otherwise. The battle had worn his lifeline thin. Even a blind man could have at least heard death's presence.

The boy's arm twitched. He seemed to be fighting to defy the natural order, even in such battered condition. As Shesta watched, his opponent tried to get up yet again. A husky laugh escaped his lips along with a thin scarlet line of blood that snaked down to his chin.

Shesta snarled, despite himself. "You… lousy… stupid…" Between breaths, he couldn't even find a suitably despicable insult. The wind howled abruptly across the field and he staggered and silenced himself, settling for gritting his teeth in frustration.

"I know… what you're thinking…" Gabriel choked out, "Why won't I die…?" He spat blood into the dirt, "Good question." Slowly but surely, he shoved himself up onto his elbows, then managed to shakily sit upright.

Shesta shook his head in disbelief, frustration welling up and threatening to choke him. "You should… be dead…" He clenched his bare hand around the hilt of his sword until the knuckles turned white, "You shouldn't have even survived when Gatty… When you… You should be dead…"

Gabriel's head drooped, "Lucky, I guess." He made no move towards his sword lying half in the puddle just within reach. He just sat there bleeding and still breathing. A perfectly open target.

"That's not lucky. You're dying."

"True." He shivered, eyes closed, "Go ahead."

"What?"

"Kill me. It's over."

For a moment, Shesta was disbelieving. After sucha fight, Gabriel was just giving up? It seemed unreal. He tilted his head to one side, feeling his own injuries and imagining them ten, maybe a hundred times worse. Gabriel was truly suffering. It made sense that way.

"All right. I'll free you. You'll never hurt anyone again. I just… you're sure?" He settled back as comfortably as he could, readying himself. At the first chance, he was going to strike. All he wanted was for Gabriel to give him one more reason. Just one more…

Distantly, the rhythmic rumble of an approaching guymelef broke through the patter of the rain. Neither boy looked up to see who it was. Neither cared.

Gabriel's eye glinted with a spark of life. He lifted his head slowly, expression unreadable through the pain and filth. Still an anger seemed to burn there, an anger that hadn't been there until Shesta had spoken. "Go ahead, Shesta. You earned this."

Shesta smiled a cold smile without feeling. He lifted his sword, aiming for Gabriel's heart. Through sheer willpower, the dying Dragonslayer found the strength to lift his arms, offering himself. Nothing more needed to be said. Shesta charged.

The incoming Alseides screeched to a halt in the muddy field. Gatty's shout of warning came just too late.

Gabriel eyes flashed with triumph. He moved with lightning speed, snatching his sword from the dirt and lashing out in one swift strike. The katana was torn from Shesta's grip and sent spinning into the dirt meters away. Stunned, Shesta tried to slow himself, tried to swerve, something, but his own momentum carried him too far forward. Before he could react, Gabriel had swung his sword back in front of him, tearing through Shesta's shoulder and hooking on his collarbone. A burning pain exploded through his side, forcing a heart-stopping scream of agony from his throat and freezing his mind. His feet gave out from under him.

The last coherent thing he felt was the jarring thud as the hilt slammed firmly into his chest. He collapsed over Gabriel's shoulder, most of the katana's bloodied blade protruding from his back. The only sound he could find was a barely audible choked gasp followed by the taste of blood on his tongue. A deep scarlet stain started as a spattering on the front of his shirt, growing with each passing second.

It hurt worse than anything he could have imagined, taking over his world until everything else was just a blur. Gatty screamed something and Gabriel started laughing. Shesta felt breath on his ear and a thunder of whispered words before he was abruptly thrown to the ground. Stars exploded painfully in front of his eyes until he was forced to close them. Darkness swallowed him, depriving him of any feeling beyond the burn that was his right arm. He cried out.

"You didn't think.. I'd actually let you kill me?" Gabriel's raspy cackle broke through the air, the words reverberating inside Shesta's skull. He felt a boot come down solidly on his chest, followed immediately by a grating sound and a scarlet burst of pain as the sword was pulled free. Blood flowed. He shrieked out loud until it broke into a disconnected sob and struggled to twist away from the pain that only followed him.

"Hold still you little…" Gabriel's boot lifted from Shesta's chest long enough to hit him in the jaw. A jolt of light flared through his mind and he felt the world recede. He stopped moving, but it took some effort to keep himself hovering in consciousness.

"Gabriel, get away from him!" Gatty's voice sounded distant and muffled, the meaning lost for long moments while Shesta's taxed brain tried in vain to understand. He could feel the cold descending on him.

Gabriel yelled back a quick threat and a razor edge was suddenly wavering at Shesta's throat. Fear gripped him and he flinched away, whimpering.

The guymelef lurched forward a tremendous step that shook the ground, overpowering Gatty's cry of protest, but both were distant. It felt as if the world itself had moved and left Shesta behind. He thought he was going to throw up, but the feeling faded quickly. Gabriel was getting angrier and the sword was getting closer. It scraped over Shesta's throat, drawing blood. He didn't have the energy left to cry out. Everything felt cold and terrifying. He forced his eyes open just to know that he still could.

Gabriel stood over Shesta, holding the sword in both shaking hands. He had a look on his bloodied face vaguely reminiscent of a cornered animal as he glared down the distant barrel of the Crima Claw aimed straight for him. It was an impasse. Crima Claws were accurate, but only when the unit was at optimal performance. With his Alseides as badly damaged as it was, Gatty couldn't risk a shot he wasn't sure of. Shesta locked his gaze shakily on the blade dangling over him. He could only hope that Gatty wouldn't risk it.

"Gatty, you're costing me…" Gabriel growled, his voice wavering between a whisper and a shout, "Don't deprive me of this. You won't win. You can't win. You fire, he dies. You surrender…" Gabriel paused to gulp air, staggering just slightly, "...you surrender… maybe I'll cut you a deal…"

Gatty hesitated, "A deal?"

"You can cut your losses. Surrender. Walk away…" he coughed and a spatter of blood landed on Shesta's cheek. The blonde winced. "…walk away, Gatty, and I'll let Shesta live. I'll kill Dilandau, and I'll kill myself. How would that be?" He cast a pointed gaze at the faceless guymelef, waiting.

Gatty shook his head, not caring that his opposition couldn't see it. "I can't make a choice like that!" he cried, "Why can't you just leave them alone? What purpose does it serve to deprive the Dragonslayers of a perfectly good soldier? You don't get anything for it."

Gabriel blinked hard, wincing. He was faltering. "You wouldn't understand. Lower your weapons and walk away, Gatty. It's as simple as that. I'll leave Shesta alone. Dilandau's all I need. Simple revenge."

"It's a waste!"

"It's your choice!" He raised the sword, preparing to strike, "I've had about enough! Your time's up, Gatty! Make a choice!"

"I…"

"Hurry it up!!" The blade shimmered in the air.

He broke into a wordless scream of frustration and panic, knowing he'd regret the next few seconds until the day he died. "Okay!" The Alseides arm dropped, pointing harmlessly to the dirt, "Okay, you win! You can have what you want…" The words tasted terrible and he cringed.

Shesta felt his heart skip a beat as a feral grin spread over Gabriel's face. Every inch of him was creaming danger. This can't be right…

"Smart move."

Gatty stood still in the rain for just a second more. His Alseides' arm shifted just barely before he settled it and started to move away, abandoning his comrades, feeling horrid. With nothing else left, he upped his pace to a near run, needing to get away from what he'd just done. Damnnit Shesta… Dilandau… I'm sorry…

Shesta stared helplessly after his friend. Gatty was leaving Dilandau to die in the rain, just like that. Another betrayal. Another treachery. His cry of anger echoed long and loud in the chill air as he struggled to get up again, fighting to ignore the waves of nausea. His vision flared red.

One of Gabriel's boots hooked him under the jaw again, darkening the world and forcing the boy back to the dirt to face his opponent. Shesta saw fire in the emerald eye glaring back at him and abruptly realized that the katana was still hovering over him. Dilandau was forgotten in an instant as he realized whose death he was really starng at.

"I don't cut deals, Shesta. Too bad for all of you."

The sword blade dropped, slicing the air in a fatal arc. Shesta had enough time to scream and make one move. He threw his arm out to shield himself, hearing the crunch of steel meeting bone. The explosion of pain stole his breath, nearly stopped his heart, but he stayed awake out of pure shock. Gabriel screamed back and tumbled forward out of Shesta's sight.

For a single bloody moment, he thought he was delusional; then the truth set in. The unexpected force of the blow had jarred Gabriel completely off balance, sending him sprawling over his weakened leg. There was a scuffle as he struggled to stand and then he was up again, limping painfully a few feet away.

From there it was over in a second.

A distinctively eerie squeal rippled through the noise of the rain. It was the sound of the air itself being twisted. Shesta caught mere glimpses as darkness closed in on his vision. An Alseides appeared out of nowhere, a sudden look of terror crossed Gabriel's face, and the sword tumbled harmlessly to the ground. An instant later, three Crima Claw bolts slammed into him with an explosive crash, tearing him apart in a haze of earth and scarlet mist. There wasn't even a scream.

Shesta lay still. Time felt frozen. His vision was reduced to a pinprick as he stared disbelievingly at the dust cloud hanging where Gabriel had been only a second before. The rain fell just a little bit harder, beating the cloud to the ground and washing away the stains before they could even linger. There was nothing left to see but a broken puppet in the mud.

As the world settled around him, Shesta became gradually aware of the smallest things; his pounding heartbeat, the rasp in his breathing, the hot blood that had been trickling into the rain for entirely too long. He heard Gatty's voice distantly, sensed the rattle of the earth as not one but two guymelefs thundered towards him. Shesta would have looked if he'd had the energy. Instead, he tilted his head back, resigning himself to the fact that there was nothing he could do, and let the world spin off into darkness.

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Dallet rested silently in his cockpit, eyes shut. His finger was still on the trigger, but weapons was one thing he wasn't going to need anymore that day. After a long silent moment, he started to let himself breathe again, starting slow and gradually building back to normal. He concentrated on that simple action with all his mind, hoping that it would help to keep his mind from running back to the horror he'd seen on Gabriel's face. He wasn't proud of what he'd done, no matter how necessary it had been.

Alexia will never forgive me for this…

"Shesta!!" Gatty's frantic voice snapped Dallet out of his thoughts sharply enough to make him jump. He gasped, blinked hard, and turned his gaze to see the other Alseides storm past, completely ignoring him. Personally, Dallet couldn't blame him. Without a word, he lowered his weapons and followed. If he was lucky maybe some good would come of his actions. Maybe someone had survived.

The two closed in on the scene, each one with his own private dread. Neither was feeling particularly optimistic, especially once everything was put into perspective. Dilandau lay where he'd been left, bundled up and unconscious beneath the shadow of the scarlet Alseides. A few feet away the earth gradually turned to a rusty color, spread thin and dulled by the falling rain. Gabriel lay face down in the dirt, nearly torn in two. His sword glinted several feet away. Shesta was just past that, left in a puddle of his own blood. Whether he was dead or merely comatose, no one could tell.

Gatty uttered something in a whisper that sounded like a mix of a curse and a prayer. He slid to a halt in the mud, already pulling himself from the cockpit before the machine had even stilled. Dallet was immediately behind him, hitting the ground running and easily catching up. Gatty glared at him over his shoulder.

"Why didn't you tell us? You knew. You bastard, you knew. You could have stopped this."

Dallet fought an angry retort and shoved Gatty roughly to the side without a word. He skittered through the sopping wet earth, dropping to his knees at Shesta's side and proceeding to give him an impassive check over. The boy moaned just audibly, assuaging the worst of their fears.

Gatty slid up beside him, gazing from the crimson soaked shirt to the mangled mess of Shesta's left arm and found himself struggling not to vomit in the dirt. "Agh… he's still alive, isn't he?"

"Just barely." Dallet's voice was ragged and strained. He wouldn't meet Gatty's eyes, taking the time instead to hastily start removing his jacket, "I don't know what we can do."

"We can do what we can," He glanced to the hazy horizon, "At least until help arrives."

"Guimel and the others. Right. I heard." Dallet lifted his head suddenly, violet eyes gazing across the field to Gabriel and Dilandau, "I'll check the others," he said quickly, tossing the garment to his comrade, "You stay here. Keep him alive as long as you can."

"I'll do my best."

"You'd better." He whirled and jogged off through the rain before Gatty could respond, leaving him scowling and uncertain. After a moment's hesitation, he turned back to Shesta, shredding strips off the uniform and tying them around the injuries, shifting the younger Dragonslayer into a safer position and swearing under his breath the whole time. He glanced back across the distances as often as possible, each time hoping to see salvation glinting through the clouds and each time finding himself disappointed.

Where are they?

Shesta whimpered and his arm twitched. Gatty turned back to him, laying a hand on his forehead. "Stay with me, Shesta, just a little while longer." For an instant, Shesta's eyes fluttered partially open and closed again. Gatty felt fear rising. "This isn't fair. Gabriel shouldn't have done this. Dallet should have told someone…" He glanced to the boy's crudely bandaged arm, "He should have told me…"

A short ways away, Dallet approached Gabriel. Gatty lifted his head to watch half-heartedly through his bangs as he carefully rolled him over, bending to check for any unlikely sign of life. He stayed like that for a long moment, his drenched hair shrouding his face and masking his expression. When he straightened, it was a final sort of thing. Something dangled from his fingers, sparkling in the dim light, and then was pocketed. He walked away as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders, head hung and feet dragging. A glance back flashed an expression of pure regret in Gatty's direction and then was gone.

In the distance, a low hum sounded, gradually building to an audible whine. Gatty lifted his head and felt sudden relief. In the distance, five shapes glinted, incoming fast. He leaped immediately to his feet, waving both arms to signal them. He couldn't afford to waste a second.

Dallet turned slowly, lifting his gaze slowly to take in the sight. Salvation… He tilted his face to the rain, breathing a quiet thank you to whoever or whatever it was that so many people could find the heart to believe in, and let his tears fall.

~

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Alexia waited tight lipped and white knuckled on the catwalk as the seven shapes glided up towards the hangar bay. Three guymelefs and four smaller and sleeker melefs. The rain was ebbing, slowly but surely, leaving the landscape below beautifully green and pocked with reflected gray rivers and miniature lakes. Normally such a sight would have been refreshing, but today it was the smallest of thoughts in Alexia's head. Mostly she was struggling to keep her breathing even and fighting the sorrow that scrabbled desperately for a grip inside her. She recognized the three guymelefs without a doubt. Her anxiety at not seeing Shesta's, Gabriel's, or Dilandau's among them tore at her.

They vanished one by one beyond the jagged edge of the Floating Fortress Vionne. Alexia shook, her knees nearly buckling. Distantly she heard each one dock, imagined the clamor of voices and rushing footfalls. It was sheer force of will that moved her feet towards it all, but it was her own fear that made her stop just outside the doorway. Her stomach twisted.

Unable to bear it any longer, she pressed a hand to the door panel and slipped inside. It was just as her mind had made it out to be. Four soldiers and three Dragonslayers milled along the catwalks. She spotted Dilandau's limp form between two of them, watched distantly as they carried him past her and away. Dallet, Gatty, and Guimel were left behind with the second injured soldier. A mixture of relief and pure despair choked her at the sight of a shock of straw colored hair amid the filth and blood. She was running before she knew it.

"Shesta!" the tears threatened her again as she shoved past Gatty and saw him clearly for the first time since the day before. A hand flew to her mouth and she shrunk away, horrified and speechless. Dallet shivered and slunk back, turning his head so that his hair hid his face. Gatty and Guimel passed sympathetic looks and hurried off, carrying Shesta out of sight. Alexia watched them go, torn between wanting to follow and not daring to move. The door slid shut and she was left behind. A hesitant step forward turned to two backwards and she fell to the floor, gasping for breath.

Dallet had bitten his lip hard enough to taste blood. He dared to turn only after several endless seconds of deliberation, whispering words resonant with pain, "I'm sorry Alexia… It was the only way…"

Her shoulders shook with every sob, both hands clasped tightly over her face. She couldn't or wouldn't respond, only shook her head hard and let out a muffled wail between her fingers. It was worse than anything she could have said.

He stood helplessly for a second longer, watching the one person he'd sworn to protect in pain from a wound he'd inflicted. He'd done all he could, saved as many as was possible at the time, and still those small victories were hollow failures. Gatty's words echoed through his mind. Everything he'd done wasn't enough. Fate had still beaten him out as it had threatened to do from the beginning and promised it could do until time met its end. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, he did the only thing he could do. He turned and he walked away, leaving Alexia in the darkness with her grief.

Only when the door had slipped shut behind him did he find the strength to stop. The corridors rang with his curses until he finally ran out of breath and dropped to the floor, too worn out and miserable to care what happened.