Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Three Sides to the Coin ❯ I Regret the Firelight ( Chapter 3 )

Title : Three Sides to the Coin

Part : three / seven

Part Title : I Regret the Firelight

Authour : ~sushisama~ (sbolce@esper.com)

Warnings : Citrus between Dilandau and Van. A little bit of Van and Hitomi, and FolkenxDilandau at the end. Wa.

Disclaimer : Check the first part.

Notes : Finally with the third part... plugh... This part has more DilandauxVan in it, so be happy. A little bit of Van+Hitomi, and, of course, FolkenxDilandau. Fluffy, a bit, at the end. But I love fluff, so~... Teehee. Read and review! *gives all the readers cookies* ^-^

/ / = thoughts [ ] = dreams ( ) = flashbacks

::*~~*::

Van walked through the forest casually. He needed the fresh air, not to mention the time alone to himself. Between cat-girls, Seers, princes, pyromaniacs, and a long-lost brother, he could easily say he needed a break. Though this midnight stroll was far from a good break, at least it was something.

Folken had asked him again to join them. As much as he wanted to be with his brother again, he did not want to be on the other side. No, he'd fight them forever, even if Folken was on their side. Maybe he could convert the Strategos? It was worth a shot.

He remembered the scene that had happened on the Vione, the one between Dilandau and Folken. What had happened there? Was it Dilandau that had been thrown against the door with such force? Van sighed.

/ That pyro... what does he want from my brother? / The question weighed heavily on him and he felt much curiosity over it all.

A twig snapped somewhere. Van turned around in the direction of it, suddenly becoming aware that he didn't have his sword on him. Fool! He went into the woods without a weapon!? Taking a break must have meant a lot to him then.

He stared in the direction of the noise, waiting for whatever or whoever it was come out and try to get him. He could find a way to get them. He always came out of these things mostly unscathed, right?

Silence. Nothing was happening any longer. Maybe he just imagined it?

"Funny to see you here, isn't it, Dragon?" a voice purred behind him. Van whipped around to see the Dragonslayer Dilandau. His eyes went wide with shock.

"Wh-what are you doing here!?" he yelled.

Dilandau only grinned to the boy's unnerved behaviour. "Thought I'd take a walk. Too stuffy in the ship, you know?" His grin grew. Of course he hadn't just come down here for a walk. He was actually going to seek out Van, but this only made it easier.

Van growled at the arrogant teen. "You've had your walk, now go back to your ship!"

Dilandau took on a defensive look. "Hey now, I have a freedom to walk, just as much as you do. And besides -" he held out his hands in a gesture of peace, "-I have no weapons. I didn't come here to fight. But, finding you here is rather convenient..."

"Convenient? Why? What do you want?"

His grin grew to a face-splitting length. "I was looking for you, honestly. Folken stopped me from seeing you before."

/ Is he talking about what happened on the ship? / "What do you want?"

The Dragonslayer moved in closer to Van, to which the he backed up instinctively, and reached out a hand to touch the king's face. "I'll give you three guesses..."

"To kill me?" Van felt his back being pushed up to a tree. The bark was itchy through his cotton shirt.

"No..." Dilandau moved closer to him, trapping him against the tree. He stared into the teen's eyes, as if to dominate him.

"To torture me?" Van gulped. This was becoming very awkward.

Dilandau seemed to take a moment to think. He shook his head, then, running his fingers along the other's jaw line. "Close, but no cigar..."

Van shuddered when the light-haired boy moved a cold hand beneath his shirt. / Oh, god, he's not going to... to... / "You... you want..."

"I think you got it," Dilandau purred into his ear before gently biting down on it, making Van gasp in surprise.

Van put his hands on his shoulders and tried to shove him away. To this Dilandau only put more force into it, pushing him against the tree with almost crushing force. "Come on, now, Van, there's nothing wrong with it. Soldiers do it during war all the time. Takes the stress off, you know?" He kissed the king's Adam's apple, a feral grin on his face. "God only knows how much stress we've been in lately..."

"Normally, it's done with someone on your own side," Van hissed, trying to push him away again.

"That's true," Dilandau agree. He grabbed Van's chin and tilted his head, crushing his lips against his with bruising force. His mouth opened and he let his tongue into the other's mouth, only to be greeted with teeth. He smiled as he pulled away. "But there's no one there I would want to be with," he lied. "What about you? You want that Blue Moon-girl or something?"

Van frowned. A part of him, yes, did want Hitomi. "If I wanted her I could have her," he retorted bitterly.

Dilandau let out a hardy laugh. "Oh, God, you're exactly like your brother."

Van gave him a look of confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

The Dragonslayer went back to kissing his neck. "Don't worry about it, Dragon." He moved his hand over Van's pebble-like nipple, the teen shivering in reaction. "Let's just concentrate on the moment, hmm?"

Van, again, tried to push him away. "We won't concentrate on any moment because there shouldn't be one!"

Dilandau became enraged suddenly and grabbed Van's wrists, slamming them against the side of the tree. The teen yelped in a mixture of surprise and pain. "You two act far too much alike. I despise it." He again kissed the king, this time biting down on his lip hard enough to make it bleed. "Things wouldn't be so hard if you would just let yourself go, even for one fucking time." His voice had a bitter edge to it.

Van stared wide-eyed at his captor, unsure of what move to make now, what thing he might need to say. An eerie silence fell as Dilandau, briefly, did nothing further to him.

After a moment, Dilandau licked the blood flowing from the puncture in the Dragon's lip, enjoying the coppery taste as much as he did when he bit Folken all those many weeks ago. To Van, the gesture seemed almost... affectionate. That fact startled him.

"There's a lot of stress that I have right now, I won't deny it..." Van spoke softly, forcing Dilandau to look up at him. "Maybe... maybe I do need a good distraction."

"Oh, really?" Dilandau grinned. He was submitting finally. This was wonderful...

Van nodded. "I mean, it's just to relieve stress, right? No harm there..." He tentatively pushed his head forward, his lips grazing Dilandau's.

"Of course there's nothing wrong with it," the Dragonslayer purred. "In times of war, one must do what one needs to do to get rid of the stress; to find a distraction." The word 'distraction' was quickly becoming Dilandau's favourite word to use instead of 'sex'.

"Then I..." Van gulped. "I want to be distracted."

Dilandau smiled and nodded. "I can do that..." He kissed the king once more, this time the black-haired teen responding and both their tongues meeting in a sparring match. Dilandau's hands let loose the king's wrists as he began to work on getting any and all clothes separated from between them.

In the back of his mind, he felt like he was betraying Folken. He shouldn't be doing this with Van, this was something he needed to be doing with the Strategos... But he had the lust in him that he need to get rid of, and if Folken wouldn't do it, then who else was left? He forced any and all thoughts of the commander from his mind and turned his concentration on Van.

::*~~*::

Van was feeling disgusted with himself. Did he just...? No. He was not just with Dilandau Albatou. No fucking way in hell would he ever... ever...

He shuddered violently at the memory as he walked into the castle, making his way back to his room. He needed that distraction. It was nice, though made him a little sore. But... but... with that pyromaniac? What possessed him to do such a thing!?

He sighed, wanting to vomit suddenly. The whole situation wasn't sitting too well with him. Not only did he fuck with Dilandau but he also enjoyed it.

/ I wouldn't mind doing it again, even... / he admitted to himself before violently shaking his head. / No! NO! I won't ever do that again. That was wrong, perverted, it shouldn't have happened. We're enemies. Enemies don't screw each other, even if it does feel nice. Even if I did need the distraction... /

"Damn it, why does this always happen to me?" he spat out harshly, smashing his fist into the wall of the staircase, his flesh connecting with stone.

"Van, is that you?" a timid voice called him. Hitomi came into view wearing a nightgown. "Is something wrong?"

Van stared blankly at her. His earlier words flittered through his head; 'If I wanted her I could have her.' / Yes, if I want her... which I do. I do want her, not Dilandau. Right... / He nodded to himself.

"Van? What are you staring at?" Her concern was leaking into her voice.

Van came out of his reverie. "Hitomi, I..."

She smiled a little. "Yes?"

He grabbed her shoulders and roughly pulled her close, his lips locking against hers in a bruising kiss. He opened his mouth and instantly trusted his tongue into her gasping wet chamber.

Hitomi was at first surprised by the action, but sank into it. This made it easier for Van and he knew he could take her easily enough...

Van suddenly felt sick with himself again. He shoved Hitomi away and stared at her in shock, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open some.

Hitomi looked surprised as well. "Van...? What's wrong? I don't mind, I really don't..."

"Why doesn't this feel right...? I don't understand..." He started to run up the stairs again, making his way to his room in a mad dash, leaving Hitomi behind, her expression confused.

As he ran up the stairs he thought of why he couldn't kiss Hitomi. It didn't feel.. right. It was too easy. Too easy to have her. No thrill in it. Dilandau, though... there was a lot of danger in that. The teen was a mystery to him, an adventure to have him again. He hated that pyro so much. Just like he hated wanting him.

But if he couldn't be with Hitomi... then who? Marlene? No. That would probably lead to the same problem. No...

He would be with Dilandau again. At least once more. He had to. There was a hunger that was developing, solely for the danger.

Solely for Dilandau.

::*~~*::

Dilandau had gone through the next day relatively content. The night before had worked out the way he had wanted with Van submitting to him. He was sated, finally, after dealing with his hormones by himself for so long. At least, sated for now.

It made him feel a little sick thinking about it, though. Not because he did it with Van. No, the Dragon was attractive enough to him, and wasn't that bad of a fuck. But because.. he betrayed Folken somehow. He wasn't even really with Folken yet, but he betrayed him somehow.

Dilandau was in his room late the next night, in front of the fire in the fireplace, a pencil in his hand and paper in front of him. He had been inspired to write for some reason and had already produced five pages of poetry.

After re-reading it, though, he laughed bitterly. "What's wrong with me? How sappy can I get?" He threw the first page into the flames.

He had been writing poetry on Folken. What was wrong with him these days? He shouldn't be writing this. He shouldn't be upset at sleeping with Van instead of Folken. This pang in his stomach shouldn't be there. There should be no fear of being rejected.

But there it was, digging away at him. Why?

Dilandau felt a presence beside him suddenly, but he didn't look up. He knew who it was. He threw two more pages into the flame.

"What are you burning?" Folken inquired, though it sounded like he didn't really care. Just a conversation starter.

"Poetry," Dilandau replied quietly, throwing the last few pages in.

"I didn't know you wrote," Folken said, sitting down on the boy's right side.

"Nor did I," he admitted.

There was a pause. "I was looking for you last night," Folken finally said.

"Were you now?" Dilandau smirked. "Why were you doing that?"

Folken was silent again. "I guess I... was a little lonely."

/ Lonely? / Dilandau thought, pulling his knees up to his chest and hugging them. / So, if I had stayed here, I could've possibly had him finally!? / The irony pulled at his heart.

"Finally coming around, Folken?" the Dragonslayer said in a bittersweet voice.

"There's still a few things I haven't sorted out," he answered. "But, that doesn't mean I want to be lonely."

"That's not really what I wanted to hear," Dilandau snorted.

The teen jumped a little when he felt Folken's flesh arm wrap around his waist and pull him to the man's side. His surprise wore off soon enough though, as he relaxed against the man's shoulder. He smiled, snuggling into the man's neck.

Folken let out a contented sigh. "Where were you last night, Dilandau?"

Dilandau suddenly frowned. This moment was wonderful. It didn't match all the times he wanted to screw him, but it was amazing in its own aspect. And it would be ruined if he told Folken about what happened with his brother last night.

Folken's arm tightened around him in a defensive squeeze. "Let me guess, I don't want to know?"

"It's your own fault, Folken," Dilandau whispered, wanting to redeem himself somehow. "You shouldn't have waited so long."

"You're right, I guess," Folken replied in a defeated manner. "I'm not even going ask who it is, then."

/ You probably would hate me if you knew.... / Dilandau thought miserably. Something in the back of his mind told him that the commander probably already knew, anyways.

"I like this, though," Folken said, grabbing Dilandau back from his bout of self-pity.

"What?"

"This." He looked straight into the fire, a crooked smile on his lips. "Being in front of the fire, holding you. I like this much better than all those other times..."

/ Yes, all those times where nothing got accomplished once it started. / "Why, Folken, are you some sort of hopeless romantic?" The way he said the last word was in an almost mocking tone.

Folken looked down at him, still smiling. The Strategos leaned down a bit to meet with Dilandau's lips in a loving kiss. It wasn't soft like most of the ones he gave the boy, and wasn't rough like the one he had given him back when the Dragon was on board. No, it was just caring, soft, and filling.

Folken pulled away eventually and removed the child from his side, standing up. "Maybe you should try finding out." He grinned and left the room just as silently as he had entered.

Again, Dilandau was left by himself to find out what all Folken meant with his words. He was so fickle.. But the Dragonslayer couldn't help but feel that more had been accomplished tonight than any of their other encounters.

And a part of him enjoyed the moment as much as Folken.

Dilandau flopped down onto his back, starring up to the ceiling. "Folken... You're changing me somehow, aren't you? I don't know if I mind or not..." He sighed heavily. "I almost wish I hadn't betrayed you..."

Ohh, we getting to some angst now, ne? Love triangle coming up, folks. Yaya! ^_~