Wow. Once again, I have failed to update on a regular basis. No wonder I don't get any reviews anymore xD

I think for about, four months, the complete urge to write something left me. I just didn't want to do anything. But now, I return! I actually want to write these days. Go me.

It's pouring outside. But at least spring finally started. Yeesh. Yippee for being home, sick. Stupid flu.

Thank you, everyone, for all your reviews!

Ba-la-laika!

Echelon

Chapter 9 - "Rescue of the Thief"

"... unbelievable." To be perfectly honest, Hitomi Kanzaki was completely stumped. Usually, when one was captured, they were thrown into a cell to be later tortured or killed. Although, this really was the first time that the Thief had been caught. So far, Hitomi had been left alone in the cold living quarters with absolutely nothing to do and immersed in the silence that was complete seclusion. And Hitomi hated being left with nothing occupy herself with. Even Van's company was preferable to this.

Her green eyes softened considerably at the thought of the rowdy King. "Wonder how he is now...? And Allen..."

Allen. The knight with long blonde hair and soul-shaking blue eyes. A knot formed in her stomach, just thinking about him. The man was almost... angelic.

Maybe he's my angel. My savior from the dream. Wings would be very appropriate for him.

Definitely not Van, though, that was certain. The self-centered jerk was too full of himself to go out and save anyone. Hmph.

Growing bored, the girl set to work in finding a way out. If a rescue was coming, which was unlikely, it wouldn't be arriving soon anyway. The obvious became clear within fifteen minutes. There was absolutely no exit from the room, aside from the tightly locked steel door. The air-cycling grate in the ceiling was welded shut, there were no windows, and every single thing here seemed to be been created from metal. Like a big, steel box. How irksome.

Hitomi slumped against the edge of the stiff bed, glaring briefly at the stubborn, unmoving door before pulling out the possessions that were still hidden in her clothes.

Her pendant, tarot cards, maps, and... her lock-pick kit.

A triumphant grin slid onto her lips. "Excellent."

.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.

"... unbelievable." Van grunted, shaking his head in disbelief.

Allen was inclined to agree, nodding. "Indeed."

At the very brink of an oncoming battle, Dilandau and his other five guymelefs had retreated, flying away into the approaching dawn before even attacking.

"What do you think that was about?" asked the Fanelian King after they had stored their melefs in the hangar of the Crusade.

"I'm not sure, but I think we'll find out once we catch up to the fortress." Allen grimly replied, leading the way to the deck.

As the Crusade raced onwards to save Hitomi, Van had found, to his horror, the mole man from before settled comfortably on the deck. Once introductions were over, and Van was restrained from killing the old burglar, Allen joined them and they set down to discuss how exactly to track the floating fortress. It had disappeared from sight not too long ago, thanks to its cloaking system.

To Van's displeasure, it was the mole man who proposed the first sensible idea.

"Well..." he lisped, pushing back the small glasses nestled on his nose, "da floatin' fortresh is on a levitation rock, ishn't it? So the reashonable explanation ish that it would go to join its fellows? To the place... where da wanderin' earth collects."

"That's it!" Allen exclaimed, startling Van. "Levistones!"

Fanel still didn't get it. If anything, he was even more confused that the knight was agreeing with the old man. "... what?"

"The Zaibach floating fortress is powered by levistones, so a levistone site would be the ideal place for it to hide."

Fueled with a newly created plan, the Crusade, its crew, Allen, Van, and the mole man had gone off once again in pursuit of Zaibach. And they had found them. It took a power decrease in the Crusade's own levitation stones to drop the ship and slam directly into the floating fortress. All the while, Allen stormed the deck, barking out orders. The anchor was released and the sails unfurled. The crew of the Crusade cheered in triumph. They were now directly across from the enemy's hangar.

As the ship shot forth the extension bride to the entrance, Van struggled to keep his jaw from dropping at the fact that Allen's idea had actually worked. He rolled his eyes instead, keeping up his hard expression and stony silence.

His inner struggle did not go unnoticed. Allen, who stood next to him, smirked and raked a gloved hand through his golden locks.

"Don't look so surprised, Van."

"Hn." Beginner's luck, that was all.

Roaring, the men raced into the heavily enforced fortress. Zaibach soldiers were flooding out from every corner to meet the oncoming attack. Van and Allen raced side-by-side into the heart of the floating castle, causing immeasurable damage, before their road split.

"You go down and find the holding cells!" Allen yelled, running down the leftward path without a backwards glance.

Indignant, anger flared up in Van's royal stomach as he watched the blonde prick run off. How dare he command me like I'm one of his pathetic men! Even worse, Allen's words had held logic. The Thief would most likely be found in the holding cells. Snarling out in annoyance, the young king dashed forward, slashing anyone through who got into his way.

The farther and lower Van ran, the fewer soldiers he met. It seemed that the greater part of the Zaibach force was concentrated on the upper levels and no one was bothering to protect the holding cells. Meaning that there was nothing worth protecting in the holding cells.

Cursing softly under his breath, Van kept up the pace. If Hitomi wasn't in the cells, that could only mean she was being held under heavier security elsewhere in the fortress. But why? They didn't pick up Hitomi by chance, it was a purposeful kidnap. Does she have something they want? Or maybe the damn thief did something to get on their bad side...

Either way, Van was apparently now heading in the wrong direction and Allen would reach the girl first. An unexpected wave of anger tore through the king. Allen would, the blond idiot... hogging Hitomi to himself... wait a minute.

Van nearby stopped in the hall, only barely managing to keep up his running speed. What was he doing, thinking about Allen and Hitomi like that? Allen was a good friend and an ally of Fanelia. Hitomi was the farthest thing from. She was a nuisance, a low-life thief... with her stupid mocking laugh and boyish brown hair... well, it's not really brown, more of a honey color... SHUT UP, VAN!

Mentally screaming at himself, Van Fanel shook his head violently to rid himself of his traitorous thoughts. Bad Van. Bad Van. Thinking about Hitomi in even the slightest positive way was ... well, against just about everything he believed in. Bad Van.

The endless corridors suddenly dipped down into a short set of stairs. Jumping the entire set, Van stopped. The air was cold here and along all the walls were steel doors. Obviously, he had reached the prison cells. And obviously, there was no one here. Forcing himself to stay calm, the raven-haired king walked carefully down the corridor, his boot making harsh clanking sounds with each step. It was as barren as a desert. Completely empty, as were all the cells. He even checked a few. All were dusty.

"Seems like a lot of these haven't been used..." He muttered, slowly making his way to the end of the holding chamber.

"V-Van-sama? VAN-SAMA! OVER HERE!"

The king stiffened immediately at the sound of the frantic squeal. Turning, he looked over at the very last prison cell. A small furry hand had squeezed itself through the bars in the small window near the top of the door. At first, Van could hardly believe his ears, but soon he was running forward to grasp the small paw-like hand.

"Merle! Merle, is that you?" He gasped, peering into the all too familiar cerulean eyes.

"Van-sama, it is me! I've missed you so much, Van-sama! After Fanelia burned..."

A young cat girl with bright pink hair was locked in the cell, frantically trying to paw at the king outside her door. Fanel let out a laugh, unable to keep a relieved grin from his lips. Finally, someone who he could talk to. Merle was his long-time friend from the castle. They had grown up together.

"Merle, what are you doing here? What happened to Fanelia?"

Shimmering tears filled up in the cat-girl's eyes. "Oh, Van-sama! Everything burned to the ground! Nothing has been left! It was so horrible! And all of the people, we are all scattered, and I couldn't find you! So I tried to follow you, but these big guymelefs caught me! I'm so glad you're here, Van-sama!"

Merle's words caused Van's eyes to harden. With what Allen had said before confirmed... it made something deep inside Van rear up and claw at the surface, shrieking in rage at Zaibach and the wrong that it had done to Fanelia. Not daring himself to speak, lest he did something more or less violent, the young king released Merle's hand to take a look at the door. It was entirely constructed from steel, but the lock hanging from the door appeared different.

Cheap metal, probably mixed with tin. Gritting his teeth, he kept his eyes on the target. "Step back, Merle."

A sudden scampering sound from within the cell was all Van needed to hear. With a loud yell, he lifted his leg and put all of the force he had into kicking the lock. There was a sharp clang of steel against steel, then, a very satisfying clatter of two halves of the broken lock falling to the ground. Inside, Merle hurriedly pushed open the door and flung herself at the raven-haired boy.

She wrapped her limbs around him, eagerly nuzzling his head and licking away at his face. "VAN-SAMAAA!" Her eager screaming echoed throughout the entire vacant hall.

"M-Merle! Cut it out!" Van chuckled, allowing some of his rage to dissipate for the girl's sake. "C'mon, we need to get going, the fortress is being attacked and I have to find someone."

The pink-haired furry was more than happy to oblige, nimbly sidling off of Van and grabbing his hand. "Let's go!"

.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.

"C'mon, c'mon, you stupid... stupid lock." Hitomi muttered, gritting her teeth as the door's lock refused to accept yet another lock-picking tool of hers. That had been her last one. The steel padlock refused to budge. Her effortless were, sadly, fruitless. It was locked from the outside and her tools had absolutely no effect. The situation was beginning to look bleak.

"Not to mention that I'm absolutely starving." moaned Hitomi, rubbing her growling stomach with a sigh.

Scowling, and slightly disappointed, the Thief sat back on her heels, giving the door her best death glare. The lock easily ignored that, too. Then, unexpectedly, the pink pendant hidden beneath her shirt pulsed gently, sending out warmth through her body. A warning? Seconds later, the entire room began to shake violently. Hitomi tumbled over onto her rear as a result, eyes wide with startlement. Crashing and yelling sounded outside her door as soon as the floor stopped moving.

"What's going on?" the girl gasped, scrambling to her knees to press an ear to the door in hopes of hearing something.

"Invaders at the holding deck! All men to the holding deck!"

"Hurry, hold off the invaders!"

"They're bounty hunters! Hurry!"

"All men to the holding deck!"

Hitomi suddenly grinned. Bounty hunters! It had to be Allen! They had actually come to rescue her. She would have to wait until trying to call out for help. For all she knew, the guard outside her cell could still be standing there.

So she settled back to wait, patiently listening to the changes in noises outside of her room, using her keen senses to pick out the male voices that would sound familiar. Above all else, she frantically listened for Allen's voice, knowing that above all else, he would be the one to come to her door and save her. A small blow to her pride, perhaps, as Hitomi did not exactly appreciate the position of Damsel in Distress, but it was a price to pay. She had no choice.

An abrupt gurgle from outside her door signaled the demise of her guard, and footsteps were already hurrying away. Hitomi went into action, slamming her fists against the steel frame of the door with all her might before her savior ran off. "HELP! HELP! OVER HERE!"

Nothing. No voices, no sounds of a lock opening from the outside. Whoever had killed the guard was gone. Growing angrier, Hitomi threw logic to the wind and began taking out her fury on the door. "Let me out! Let! Me! Out! Open this damn door, you bastards, or I'll open it for you! Let me out of-"

She kept this up for a while, screaming obscenities and whacking away at the metallic entryway. Once again, her pendant sent out pulsating warmth as a gentle glow started up in its depths. Out of nowhere, the door opened. Hitomi blinked, her fists hovering in the air where they had just been about to slam back into the metal exit. "-here?"

In an instant, excitement choked up her throat. Was it Allen? It had to be Allen. It couldn't be anyone else! "Allen! I'm so gla-Van?"

Indeed, it was Van Fanel that stood in the doorframe. The king had an unreadable expression on his face, but he didn't seem to have heard what the thief had said. He pulled Hitomi to her feet and instantly latched his hands onto her shoulders, staring into her eyes intently while studying her face.

"Hitomi! You're alright? What happened, did they hurt you anywhere?"

Hitomi could only stare into his auburn irises, mouth agape. Since when did Van worry about her safety? Or properly remember to call her by her first name? "I-I'm fine, Fanel."

The proper use of his last name seemed to bring Van back to his senses. He hurriedly released Hitomi and, finding that he had nowhere to put his hands, folded them across his chest. As he was pulling away, looking uncharacteristically flushed, a little cat girl decided to place herself in front of Hitomi and sniff at her. "Ne, Van-sama, who is this girl? She smells strange."

"Gah!" Hitomi pulled away, horrified. "Wait... Merle?"

Hitomi recognized the cat girl from Fanelia. Merle had come in often to her father's bookstore. Merle's last visit, she and Hitomi had argued over Van's pomposity, with Merle insisting that the king was as angelic and perfect as he could possibly be, while Hitomi bluntly noted that Fanel was angelic as a pig.

"Hey, I know you! Hitomi Kanzaki! The bookstore keeper's daughter! You're the one who said that Van-sama was an arrogant prick!"

"Good to know that you remember me." Hitomi said blandly, frowning.

Van was flabbergasted. Even in the midst of a crisis, the two girls still managed to start arguing. "Hold on, you two know each other? Merle, you-wait? Arrogant prick?" He turned on Hitomi. "I'm not an arrogant prick, thief!"

Merle's tail went rigid. "Thief? Are you saying that Hitomi is The Thief? The Thief? The one that snuck into the castle?"

Before Hitomi could reply, a noisy commotion broke out at the other end of the hall. More soldiers were coming. The thief cleared her throat as she glanced over at the dead body of her guard. "I'd really love to discuss this, but I don't think now's the time!"

For once, the king and the thief agreed. Van nodded, turning. "Let's go."

Wordlessly, the three began running down the hall, Van leading. He knew that this was the general direction towards the hangar; so hopefully, they'd wind up there soon. The raven-haired king allowed himself a small grin. Who was going to be showing back up at the Crusade with Hitomi? He was. Not Allen. Score for Van.

"Company!" Hitomi said hurriedly, nodding at the far end of the hall they had turned into. Indeed, a group of Zaibach men were blocking the way out into what appeared to be the hangar. Relieved that at least it wasn't Folken or Dilandau, the thief pressed her hand briefly to her necklace for luck before looking over at the king running beside her. He had already drawn his sword.

"Stay behind me! I'll take care of them." He barked. Merle obediently shifted her position so that she was running a few feet behind the king. Hitomi didn't move.

"Are you serious? You can't take on all of these by yourself." She hissed, her green eyes wide with disbelief.

Van flashed an angry look at her. "What's this? Shouldn't you be busy worrying about your own hide, Hitomi?"

The time for conversation was over. Their group collided into the soldiers. The raven-haired man immediately set to work with his royal sword, running the blade through anyone who got into his way while Merle practically clung to his back, hissing at anyone who got too close. During the fight, however, Van had lost sight of the Thief. Now he could see her clearly, and he almost stopped in the midst of the battle at what he witnessed.

Hitomi was easily dispatching soldiers, using her limbs alone. It was almost graceful, in Van's eyes. A spinning kick sent one man to the ground, then, using the momentum from the kick, Hitomi went into a back hand-spring, pushing from the floor to send her feet into the groin of another soldier. The most disturbing thing was that even while her eyes were narrowed in concentration, the girl seemed to be almost smiling.

There eventually seemed to be only one man left. A simple downwards slash with Van's sword ended his life. "Done, now..."

Merle suddenly screamed. "Van, behind us!"

Van had barely turned to see the red, sweaty of the older man before a black blur swept up behind him and the soldier flew off to the side. Hitomi nimbly landed back on her feet, shaking away the pain of the spinning kick from her foot.

Seeing the absolutely flabbergasted look on the king's face, Kanzaki began laughing. "Don't look so surprised, Van. There's a reason why you weren't able to catch The Thief all eight or so times back at Fanelia. I can take care of myself."

She gave him a brief punch on the shoulder as she walked past, careful skipping around the bodies. "You coming or what?"

Snarling in anger and wishing away the flush from his cheeks, Van stalked after her with a perplexed Merle in two. That Hitomi...

.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.-.:.

Hitomi snickered to herself, feeling a ton better since that fight. She committed Van's face to memory. In case I ever need a laugh. Whoo, priceless.

The Thief had made her appearance again, taking over shy Hitomi Kanzaki to, well, take out the soldiers. It felt amazing. Maybe, though... maybe it was time to blend the Thief and Hitomi into one. Kanzaki could have used the spine booster.

Her spirit rose as the hangar came into view. We're almost out!

Once again, she spoke too soon. She had almost forgotten about Folken.

The teal-haired man was standing on the second floor, just past the railings, looking down at the trio. "Van!"

The Fanelian king stopped in his tracks, his eyes flying to the man above. There was no mistaking that voice. "B-brother?"

"Van, stop this slaughter." Folken intoned emotionlessly. "Join me. Join Zaibach."

Hitomi glanced over at the young king. He looked partially horrified as the realization dawned on him. Van walked out of the hangar doorway, directly into the open.

"Brother! What... why are you with Zaibach? How could you destroy Fanelia! You-" He choked slightly, his knuckles that were gripping the sword become white. "-you traitor!"

"... I see." The older brother stared down for a second longer before turning and walking into the shadows.

"Brother! Brother, come back!" Van cried, now furious.

Merle's ears dropped. "Oh, Van-sama..."

Hitomi could only watch as Fanel's shoulders began shaking. She didn't know what to say. But as she prepared to walk forward, her vision clouded over with a disturbing image. Her pendant glowed back into life as, in her mind's eye, Hitomi witnessed the red-eyed albino rush forward from the shadows, his naked sword bearing down on Van, whose back was turned. She saw blood.

Without thinking, Hitomi screamed, trying to shake off the premonition. "Van, behind you!"

Merle shrieked with fear and Van gasped, spinning on his heel, throwing up his blade at the last second as Dilandau Albatou dashed out of nowhere, bringing his sword in a downwards slash at Van. The two weapons collided and sparks flew between the two teens.

"Van Fanel..." Dilandau spit out, "I should have killed you when I had the chance at the waterfall! And I would have, if Folken hadn't decided to spare his little brother's life."

"Shut up!" Van snarled, pushed the albino away as he lashed out with his sword.

Time seemed to slow as a soft ripping noise filled the empty hangar. Blood splattered across the floor, and a few strands of pale white hair floated down gently to land in the red liquid.

"MY FACE! My beautiful face! You've ruined my face!"

Hitomi flinched at the agony-filled wail, watching almost in avid fascination as Dilandau, whimpering, collapsed to the floor, pressing both of his hands to the deep slash on his cheek. Blood was gently trickling through his fingers as he began screaming again. "My face!"

"Let's go! Hitomi! Merle!" Grabbing Hitomi's hand, the closet person to him, Van wasted no time in running out from the side-hangar. They still had a bit to go, as the main landing area was split into dozens of sections.

Hitomi was startled into getting dragged along. Van's fingers had latched tightly onto hers. She flushed slightly, grumbling to herself about his bossy attitude, but nevertheless, she kept up the pace with him. Merle had resorted to all four paws to keep up.

The smaller guymelef storage areas were filled with dead or unconscious men. As the three ran, the distant clashes of swords and battle cries increased in volume. It seemed like forever, but they finally dashed out into the main hangar. Allen and his men were already there, holding off the remaining Zaibach soldiers.

The blonde noticed their arrival almost immediately. "Van! Hurry up; we're getting out of here!"

Van, Merle, and Hitomi joined the rest of Allen's men. Hitomi noticed that the bridge leading back to the Crusade wasn't extended out to the floating fortress. "What about the bridge?"

The nearest man, named Kyo, if Hitomi could remember correctly, glanced over at her. "We always pull it back when we're invading an area, in case the enemy wants to sneak on, but the only man we left to watch the ship was shot off with arrows. We have no way of getting back on yet!"

Van snorted, surveying the situation. The amount of enemy soldiers had died out and the remainders were currently being finished off by the bounty hunters. There were only a couple left. "Perfect. So we're stuck here?"

"I've got an idea!" Hitomi said excitedly. "Just give me some room."

"Wh-what are you planning on doing?" asked Merle, watching the other girl back up. "You're not going to jump or something, are you? That's way too far, you'll get squashed!"

The Thief was busy measuring out the perfect distance for a running start. "I'll try my best not to get squashed." she muttered, taking a deep breath before bursting forward. As Hitomi flew by Van, he gasped, unaware of her plan.

"Hitomi, wait, what are you doing?"

Giving out a brief yell, Hitomi pushed off from the edge of the hangar exit with all of her remaining strength, throwing herself across the great expanse of nothingness. She didn't dare to look down, keeping her eyes directly on the Crusade that seemed to be practically miles away as she flew. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon..." She whispered, pushing forward.

Against all odds, the girl made it. Skidding along the floor of the Crusade, she just managed to smack the button to extend the bridge before stumbling, falling, and continuing her journey by sliding along the metallic surface, finally thudding into the foot of the Escaflowne. Panting heavily, she ignored the pain in her shoulder from the impact and stared up at the ceiling instead, trying to catch her breath as cheering started up from outside. "... ow."

Allen's men raced back to the Crusade and within seconds, the hangar doors were shut and they were flying off. Mission accomplished.

"That was some jump, Hitomi." A low voice from above laughed softly. Allen. He extended a hand, helping her up. The thief eagerly grasped his hand, stumbling back onto her feet.

"Where are we going now?"

"Our destination now is Asturia." Allen replied. "Are you alright?"

Hitomi didn't miss the concerned look in his sea-blue eyes as he studied her face. Her stomach, at that moment, decided to fill with acrobatic butterflies. "Uh, fine..."

The romantic moment was doomed to be ruined, however. Merle pounced on Hitomi from behind. "You stupid girl, what were you thinking? You could have died!"

"Yeah, you're welcome, you stupid cat!"

Still... Asturia. As Hitomi tried to rip Merle off of her head, she couldn't help but wonder what the city by the sea would have to offer for her next.