Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ The Way of War ❯ Magic Rain! How to use a shower! ( Chapter 3 )

Migel fumbled for the hand that was offered to him.

"Thank you so much.." he mumbled, and fell into Chesta's arms, unconscious. Chesta smiled sadly, and scooped the boy into his arms as if he weighed nothing. He walked up the stairs, cradling the stricken boy.

"Poor thing.. what have they done to you?" he whispered.

He took him to his room. There were first aid kits in all the quarters, and usually more than one bed, even though there were enough rooms to give each individual his own.

Chesta lay him on the extra bed, and went to fetch a cooling pack. He had luckily not been part of the rampage; Dilandau had ordered him to stay behind and prepare the bottom deck for the captives. He felt incredibly sorry about what Zaibach was doing to those poor farmers, but what say did he have? It was Zaibach who took him from the orphanage and fed him. It was Zaibach that made him into the man he was today, and the most thanks he could give was to oblige blindly.

He placed the small cooling pack on the side of Migel's head. It was still bleeding, which was good; that meant that it actually wasn't a concussion. But his breathing was somewhat labored, and he wheezed as he slept.

//He must have breathed in too much smoke..// he thought, and placed a hand on the boy's head. He wasn't running a fever, which was good as well. He wasn't sure why a fever would have connection to his injuries, but the doctors at the infirmary always checked to see if he had a fever when he had been injured.

He briefly examined the rest of his body, to make sure there was no further damage. In the first aid kit, there was a small pair of scissors. He used them to cut off his shirt, and check his torso for injury as well. He was always taught to move the injured as little as possible; it might make the injuries even worse. He didn't want to wake the boy, either..

He pulled some peroxide from the first aid kit, and dropped some on a cotton ball. His head looked like it hurt, so he dabbed at his temple gingerly. Migel winced, but didn't wake. He seemed fully aware that there was someone tending to his body, but he couldn't shake himself from sleep. He began shivering slightly, so when he was done, he covered the boy up as much as he could. From what he had heard around the ship, it was supposed to be a bitter night. The seasons were drawing on closer to winter, which made travel by water dangerous on the Gaian seas.

The boy sighed, and went to sit in a lounger in between the two beds. It also served as a nightstand for Chesta sometimes, so he had to move his clothing and miscellaneous-what-nots onto the floor. He looked at the boy with sad eyes.

"Damn them.. " he mumbled.

He sat for however long, watching Migel's chest rise and fall. He stayed awake for as long as he possibly could, just to make sure if the boy wanted anything, that he could fetch it for him. Chesta wondered briefly why they were placing so much priority on a captive, but his thoughts faded away with the daylight. As the night wore on, Chesta could no longer stay awake. He soon drowsed off; letting his worries for this captive and everything else fade into slumber. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- - --------------------------------

"CHESTA!"

Chesta fell from his chair face first. He muttered something, and groggily pulled himself to his feet.

Gatti was leaning against his doorframe, smiling.

"We all expected you to take advantage of sharing a room with another cute boy."

Chesta stuck his tongue out at Gatti, and looked to Migel, who was still slumbering.

"I.. I'm not that perverted, Gatti. I tend to prefer women to men, although men are quiet a treat at times.." He blushed, recalling past incidences with Dilandau. Although he couldn't rightly say no to his devil of a commander, so technically, it wasn't his fault..

"Oh, whatever. We all know you are really a little sex craving devil under that innocent and warm mask you wear." Gatti laughed. Although he was second in command, he was usually very casual and relaxed around the other elite, as long as Dilandau wasn't around.

Chesta rolled his eyes.

"So am I stuck with him for the rest of the trip?"

Gatti nodded. "Lord Dilandau would like to test his skills as a Dragonslayer. He figures that if he was able to kill Zion, then he must have some level of talent that we could use. Besides, we're one man short."

"We can't do that to him.. kill his family and then ask him to help us. It doesn't seem right to me."

"Well, it's not *your* decision, now is it Chesta? Wake him up, get him cleaned and into some decent clothes. He smells pretty nasty, but peasants usually do."

"It can't be helped! If you had no place to shower, what would you do? I bet these people don't even know what showers are."

Gatti shook his head. "Must you argue with everything? I do have the authority to beat you silly, you realize."

Chesta rolled his eyes once again.

"Yes, your majesty." He said, in a mock tone of voice.

"Dammit, Chesta." He chuckled, and turned around to leave. "Bring him down to the cafeteria for breakfast, okay? He's probably starved." He said, and walked off.

Chesta looked at this boy on his spare bed. He did look like he could eat an entire horse. He was rather skinny; exceptionally skinny, in fact. The only thing that kept you from thinking he could topple over at the slightest breeze were his sinewy muscles, which looked surprisingly powerful.

The blonde paced over to the small bed, and gently shook him by the shoulder. The cold pack had long since warmed up, and fallen to his side on the pillow.

Migel's eyelids flickered. He moaned, and turned on his side. He was still shirtless, and.. quite smelly indeed.

"Hey there.. we need to wake up now. They are serving breakfast down in the cafeteria, and they don't serve it more than once, not even for Dilandau."

"Mother..?" He moaned, staring up at Chesta with clouded groggy eyes.

Chesta sighed sadly.

"No.. I'm afraid your mother has died." He said in almost a whisper.

Migel blinked, and was suddenly yanked back to reality. He looked frightfully disappointed that Chesta had wakened him.

"Oh.. I'm.. sorry.." he said, and looked about somewhat confused. He paused for a brief moment, then spoke.

"How.. did I get here?"

"You passed out down below. I carried you up here."

"You.. you let me fall asleep?"

"Well, yes.." Chesta said, shocked at his query.

"You idiot!" He grumbled. "You aren't supposed to let people with head injuries fall asleep unless you know it's okay.."

"..I'm-I'm sorry.. I just thought it would be best to let you get some rest.."

He sighed. "I'm.. sorry.. I.. just have had a hard time digesting all of this.."

"I can understand." Chesta sighed. He had a hard time when they told him at the orphanage that his parents had been killed, just like Migel's. Although he was informed several years later, and was not actually witness to it, he could imagine the trauma was just as tremendous.

There was an awkward pause. Chesta looked up from his feet, and to Migel again.

"Well, in any case, we have to get you ready for breakfast."

Migel nodded. "Thank you for your hospitality." He said, rather coldly. It didn't seem like he appreciated this at all.

"You know.." Chesta said quietly. "You don't have to thank us. You have no reason to.."

"Well, you are feeding me, right? I'd say that's better than starving to death in a ruined village. Although you killed my parents, I'm sure they would want me to live, so I have to grab any opportunity I see.. for them.."

Chesta smiled.

"I like that. You seem like a nice person. What was your name again? Michael?"

"Migel Lavaliere." He said, staring down at the sheets on the bed.

"My name is Chesta.. just incase you forgot. I don't have a last name, or one that I can remember anyway, so just call me Chesta."

He said nothing in reply, but simply stared down at his bed sheets, examining the folds of cloth clutched tightly in his fist. Chesta grew edgy, and tried to think of something else to say.

"Hey.. um, I'm guessing you haven't bathed in awhile.. would you like to bathe?"

Migel frowned, and stayed silent. He nodded slowly, but surely.

"Okay then.. can you stand by yourself, or.. did you twist your ankle or something? I'm not a doctor, but they stuck me with you to take care of.. so.. um, does anything else hurt?"

He shook his head slowly. "I can walk by myself."

"Well, um, good! I'll get you a bathrobe.." he said, and hastily went to his closet to fetch a limp terry cloth thing that he used for a bathrobe. It was so worn that it might as well have been made out of bed sheets.

"Thank you."

"Oh, don't mention it." Chesta said, smiling wide.

Migel looked about the room momentarily, and slowly, cautiously climbed to his feet. He took one step, as if he expected himself to crumble under his own weight. He took another one, more sure of himself.

"So..?" he said, and stood in wait for Chesta to lead him to the bathrooms.

"Oh, yes.. um.. this way!" he said, and headed towards the door.

Migel took slow and easy steps behind him, wary and somewhat paranoid of his surroundings. He had seen the atrocities committed by Zaibach in the war, and was afraid that some guerilla combatant would jump out at him and cut him limb from limb.

The corridors of the ship were not all that bad, though. A little cold and much too sterile in appearance, but other than that, it was easier to withstand than the bowels of that ship that he had been tossed into.

As they made their way to the washrooms, Migel wondered why he was getting special treatment; better treatment than the rest of the captives, anyway.

"So what is to happen to me? Why am I being treated special?"

Chesta kept walking, with no reply. Migel narrowed his eyes. Maybe they were going to use him as a guinea pig for their freak experiments? After a few moments, he replied with a wavered tone.

"..I'm not sure.."

"Hmm.." Migel sighed, and followed the boy down the hallway. They passed through many identical corridors, until Chesta stopped at one of the black metal doors, and pressed it open. It was a tile room, separated down the middle with another tile wall. One side had a few wooden benches where some clothing and robes were strewn about, the other were the showers. They were two boys showering, making polite conversation between themselves.

It was Gatti and Dalet, both very uncomfortable at being in the same room naked with another man. Chesta hadn't much minded, he grew up in an orphanage where all the boys had to cram into one shower room, so he was used to it.

Chesta took off his armor, (which he had not taken off due to his falling asleep in his chair) and Migel took of his pants. It took Migel much longer to undress; there was the armor, then the dragon leathers, and then the scantily revealing under uniform, which consisted of a lavender tank top, and black pants. Migel had been sitting on the bench, holding the robe over himself. He looked at the strange metal tubes coming from the wall, spraying water.

"Um.. what are those?" He asked quietly, pointing.

"Those? Those are my fellow soldiers of cour-!"

"No, I mean the metal tubes." He said, sounding agitated. "I know what *those* are."

"Those are the showers."

"They.. make rain.." he said, in quiet awe.

Chesta laughed.

"No, they simply shoot water."

"You don't bathe here?" Migel asked.

"No, it's unsanitary!" he replied, sounding suddenly disgusted.

"I.." he quieted himself. He didn't want to argue; he didn't see how it was unsanitary. You were washing with soap, right?

"How do you use them?" he asked, somewhat confused.

"Well, that's why I am here with you. I didn't figure that you would know, seeing as how you lived in Reydeen and all. Not that that is a bad thing, it's just that you farmers didn't have as much technological advantage as we do.." he went on. Chesta didn't listen, and waited him to head over to the shower.

"Well, let's go shower, shall we?"

Migel nodded, and stood, very reluctantly putting away the limp robe that was his security blanket.

The other two paused in their conversation, and took a quick glance at the two newcomers. They turned their heads away almost instantly and in unison, both very shy at having to share a restroom with more than two people.

"You turn this nozzle. I usually turn the hot water on all the way, then turn on the cold water a little to make it so I'm not scalded.."

"Okay, I think I get it.." he said quietly, and stepped under the warm water. It was a little warm for his liking, but he didn't want to mess with those weird dials that controlled the temperature of the water. He was scared to death that he would break something, and get thrown back down with the rest of the captives.

He picked up a bar of soap from a small lump that stuck out from the wall to hold it. There were several other little "bumps" that held a bottle that had the word "shampoo" on the bottle.

"What's this shampoo stuff?"

"Oh, you put that in your hair."

"You don't use the bars?"

"Oh, yuck.. no.. it makes your hair so greasy."

Migel poked at his hair, and even though it was wet, his hair was quiet oily, he just never really noticed until he came here, and everyone looked like they had hair made of silk.

He picked up the bottle, and squeezed it softly. Some pearly colored goop came out into his palm. He put the stuff in his hair, and washed it the same way he had always learned with the bars of soap, except that he wasn't holding a bar this time.

Chesta finished bathing, and turned off his nozzle.

"I'll be on the other side if you need me." He said, and casually walked off.

Migel watched him leave, and felt suddenly insecure, and his nakedness wasn't helping much. Even though being around a Zaibachian in general put him on edge, that boy had been his supporting crutch ever since he rescued him. He slowly picked up the bar of soap, and rubbed it over his body. As he slowly massaged the soap into his skin, he tried to listen to what the other two were saying, out of simple curiosity.

"So what was his name again?"

"Migel. Dilandau said something about a new soldier joining the elite to take Zion's place. I wonder if that's him.." Dalet made a motion with his head towards Migel.

"Poor Guimel, though. I stayed with him last night to comfort him, and all he did was cry and cry, I don't even think the poor boy slept." Gatti said, with a sorrowful sigh.

"I heard that the new soldier is the one that killed Zion!" Dalet said quietly, thinking that Migel wouldn't hear him.

With that, Migel quickly rinsed, feeling a pang of regret and guilt. He didn't necessarily feel sorry for the man he had killed, but for the man's brother. He turned off the shower, and hastily made his way over to Chesta. Chesta was already dressed again. Migel picked up his robe, and threw it over his shoulders. He tied the belt around himself, and picked up his tattered pants.

"When we get back to my room, I'll let you borrow some of my clothing. I don't have much, because I usually have to wear my uniform, but I'm sure I can find something." Chesta said. He started towards the door, Migel once again slinking behind. He didn't want to get lost in this maze of ship; all of the hallways seemed exactly alike. There were probably some differences, but he hadn't been here long enough to find out.

He let his head hand, and watch his feet go, step by step. He felt so awkward here, especially since he already had an almost positive enemy.

Guimel. He didn't know what the child was like, but he could only assume that he would hate him for killing his brother. He swallowed hard, as they headed back to Chesta's room, praying that this boy wasn't the vengeful type.

--continued in Part 4-

--also, some notes.. sorry, this chapter might be a bit boring, but It will get better. ^^--