Disclaimer: Escaflowne does not belong to me

Disclaimer: Escaflowne does not belong to me.

While the Cat's Away

Chapter One

Van slowly swung Escaflowne's sword in a half-circle. He charged at the other guymelef, attempting to destroy its energist. He wanted this battle to be over as fast as possible. But his opponent blocked him easily.

"Not too swift, are you Dragon?" the pilot taunted.

Van frowned. Though he hadn't been fighting her long, he knew her voice and loathed it. For, not only was this cat-woman trying to capture him, maybe even kill him, but also she worked for him. His brother, no, Van would no longer call him that. He'd betrayed him, in more ways then he would let anyone know. It wasn't just about what he did to Fanelia. It was how he hurt him. For most of his life, he'd done everything he could to get others to believe that Folken did not indeed betray his country. But they were right all along. Van felt foolish for believing in him. Folken abandoned him. He left his five-year old brother to rule a country all by himself, because he was a coward. He only cared about himself, not Van. Van didn't know why he never could see the truth.

But this was not a good time for him to be dwelling on past mistakes, for they were causing present ones. On top of that, he was exhausted. All day long, he had fought battle after battle, with only brief intervals between. He could see the sun set, red and huge on the horizon. He charged again, it was all he could do to keep his eyes open. This time, he managed to cause minimal damage on the guymelef's lower arm. The cat-woman, Eriya, made an effort to strike back; but unfortunately for her, he'd damaged her sword arm. Van attacked again, bring it to its knees. He raised his sword triumphantly; mercilessly about to finish her off, when he heard a thud on Escaflowne's back and fell slightly off balance. Van attempted to recover, but he wasn't quick enough. The guymelef behind struck him down.

"Are you all right, sister?" came a voice from the guymelef. It was Naria, the other of Folken's cat-girl friends.

"I'm all right," Eriya replied. "Finish him off."
Van grimaced. He braced himself for what he knew was coming.

* * * * * *

Merle watched, feeling helpless, through one of the windows of the Crusade. Hitomi was behind her, clutching her pendant in one hand and Merle's shoulder with the other.

Merle screamed when she saw what the guymelef had down to Escaflowne. Instinctively, she broke free of Hitomi's grip and ran out of the Crusade. She jumped farther than Hitomi ever could, slid down the tree she landed in and ran right onto the battlefield. Then she climbed up on Escaflowne and spread her arms out, trying to protect it from the attackers.

"Merle, what are you doing?" Van shouted at her.

"Get down from there!" She heard Hitomi cry from the ground.

Merle ignored them both and remained in place, not giving the slightest thought to what might happen to her.

* * * * * *

Eriya looked at the young cat-girl admiringly. She reminded her of them when they were young, risking herself for someone she loved. Naria also felt warmth towards the girl. She raised her sword, prepared to attack, but she couldn't do it, couldn't kill her. Instead, she extended her guymelef's hand and picked up the girl, who fought her.

"Let's bring back this one," she called to her sister. "I'm sure Lord Folken will have use for her. We can take care of the Dragon later."
"Agreed." Eriya raised her guymelef and they turned away.

"No, wait!" Van called out. "Come back here!"

"Lord Van, help!" Merle whimpered. But the hand was squeezing her tightly and she could barely breathed. Everything went black and she could barely hear the screams as they carried her away.