Disclaimer: I own not the characters or rights to Escaflowne. Only thing I own is the plot and any original characters created in the ever changing labyrinth that is my mind.

Author's Note: I do hope that this story isn't too cliché, but based on my incomplete knowledge of the stories posted here I don't think that it will be a problem. I will honestly try my hardest to actually finish this story, but it will most likely be a while between each update as I am a slow writer and without constant prodding from loyal fans I tend to get bored with any current project rather easily I'm afraid. And yes, the character named Audrey is based off of me and my life experiences, so I may tend to be a little…unpredictable with her, as I myself am but human and have varying moods.

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Bloody Wings

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The sounds of the house were soft and lazy whereas earlier in the day they had varied between frustrated grumblings and the laughter of family. Voices drifted in through an open door, songs being sung on some public television station special. Humming quietly the computer slept in Stand-By mode, its power button a glowing orange eye in the shadows of the curtains. Its monitor was a blank screen, void of any vibrant pixels of color, though a few smeared fingerprints gleamed in the dull reflected light of the bedside lamp. There were no rapid tapping of fingers flying across a somewhat dirty white keyboard, had been none for several days now.

Perhaps the machine wondered briefly in its low power running why it hadn't been awakened very often over the course of the past week, but any realistic mind would scoff at the idea. After all, it was just a piece of electronic equipment, nothing more then a case filled with disc drives and memory boards. There was nothing sentient about it. The Gateway didn't feel, didn't think, and didn't have the capability to display emotions. Thus it had been put into a state of slumber; there was nothing to it that would bring contentment to the heavy soul of its owner, who had sought the companionship of books and lounged in an almost lethargic state on the bed which took up most of the room.

Glasses pushed back firmly on her face and book resting on her chest the teenager buried her loneliness in the pages and words of another person's imagination. The book wasn't particularly interesting; it had been read several times before. It was simply the only book in the surrounding ten feet that had caught her eye after she had slammed the door behind her and flopped down on the well-worn mattress. Sighing, she paused long enough to switch the song on her Discman then went back to studying the image on the current page: that of a Perness Dragon fighting Thread.

Dragons had always fascinated the girl, as well as dinosaurs and science fiction movies like Star Wars and Star Trek. Dolls had simply been pretty things to look at; many of those that relatives had given her remained in their original books collecting dust on a shelf somewhere. When introduced to the Dragonriders of Pern series in her seventh grade English class she had fallen in love with the series, and in the summer between her ninth and tenth grade years of high school she had bought the Dragonlover's Guide to Pern after reading every Pern book in her local library. Something about the idea of having a friend for life, someone that would love you no matter what intrigued the teen. Oh how she longed for such a friend at the moment, which was 8:49 PM Christmas night for those wondering. Her Christmas hadn't been an entirely happy one.

To be exact on the matter, her entire –year- hadn't been a very happy one. Her father, who was normally grumpy and yelled and cursed enough as it was, had recently condemned himself to a life of being on kidney dialysis after neglecting his diabetic body for most of his life. The sessions made him extremely moody and prone to more frequent outbursts. The house was constantly filled with screams of anger anymore. Everyone walked on pins and needles, never knowing what might be said or done that would set off one member or another into a violent or disruptive mood. The main subject that would draw the entire family –minus her older brother, who attended a college in the state capital, safely 80 miles away- into an argument was her grades; to be precise, her Geometry grade. As a result of the constant fighting, the girl's confidence in herself was torn and ragged. She felt as if nothing she did anymore was right. Depression had begun to uncoil itself in the pit of her stomach and further damaged her self-image. Even the simplest of things could send her into a spell of crying. If she were working on homework, for example, and couldn't figure out how to do it she'd burst into tears and hide herself in the computer room. Life had become too much for the sixteen year old to take anymore. She needed to get out, to get away.

What was supposed to be a happy day had lowered her spirits. It wasn't the fact that, since most of the family was near bankruptcy there were few gifts this year, which had damaged the mood of the day. It was being yelled at by her mother –normally her only ally at home these days- that had made her curl up on the couch and hide her face. Being yelled at by her brother had proven to be the final straw. As soon as the first guest of the day had entered the house she had burst into miserable tears. No one paused to comfort her; they went on as if entertaining the guests were more important. Her brother, who had been sitting at her at the time, had gone into the kitchen to mention the fact that she was crying to her mother, but it had only made her cry harder when she heard her mother's response.

"She's just crying because I yelled at her! The lazy ass girl hasn't done a shitting thing all day! Why the hell do I have to do everything around here?"

Okay, so maybe it was the truth; she hadn't really done anything except clean around the computer table and clean up the bathroom halfway. But to a teenager suffering from low self-esteem those words bit and tore as sharply as any claws. The rest of the day had gotten better as the extended family trickled in and the pressure had lifted… until her snobby aunt had made a comment about how dirty the house was to another relative and kept making remarks to her husband about the state of things. Miffed and irritated already, the girl had marched back into the living room and plopped down in the middle of the floor, as there were no seats available anywhere else. Now, in the seclusion of the computer room that could be interrupted at anytime, she tried to distract herself with a book she had read four times before.

"Audrey all the cats are in. Dad said to lock the door before you leave and to lock the door and turn the light off when you go over to the trailer."

Blinking, she tilted her head backwards and pulled the headphones off her head. Mutedly she nodded her acknowledgement of his comment then turned back to read again. Rolling his eyes her brother left, closing the door behind him. She had figured that she'd have to sleep by herself in the trailer tonight, as her mom had had to work tonight and her dad didn't feel like going across the yard to stay with her when he could stay in Allen's room and watch DVDs with him. That suited her just fine… though it would make for a lonely sleep with only three cats to keep her company. Boredom having set in again, Audrey set the book aside and got up, stretching before crossing the room to tap the mouse and wake her slumbering beast of a computer; time to do her daily tasks… which consisted of posting in her LiveJournal, checking comments, playing games on Neopets and Subeta, then seeing who was on AIM.

Choking down a gasp as the first IM box appeared with Merry Christmas written in giant letters Audrey replied with a '' face then minimized the box; she'd talk to her friend from Subeta in a moment after she had finished looking at her buddy list. Spying a buddy she only got to talk to once a week (if lucky) she pulled up the IM and typed a hello.

lxlJediKnightlxl: Hey

mishanoke: Hi!

lxlJediKnightlxl: Someone's in a chipper mood

mishanoke: actually, not really. Just chipper because I'm writing to my missionary. Otherwise Christmas was kinda disappointing.

lxlJediKnightlxl: Same here. This is the first Christmas I can remember where I cried .

mishanoke: yeah, I read your lj.

lxlJediKnightlxl: I'm just passing the time with writing. Gah. Being too depressing in my writing of the first chapter of my new story x.x falls over

lxlJediKnightlxl: Did you read what was under the cut? '

mishanoke: shakes head I've been too busy writing to Alex. . heh... sorry...

lxlJediKnightlxl: It's making me laugh while re-reading it. I'll admit that. When you get a chance to... read it. I can't believe all of my friends have more interesting dreams that I star in then me O.o;

mishanoke: lol

lxlJediKnightlxl: randomly shoves Misha into her story as she is doing this all of the top of her head in real time oo;

mishanoke: ack! What?! panics

lxlJediKnightlxl: ;

Audrey couldn't help but smile as she pulled up a Word Document, intent on working on a story over the Christmas holiday starting now. It made her feel somewhat better to know that her fellow author was feeling better today then most; Audrey had made it a point to cheer Amanda up as much as possible whenever her friend was down. Much in the same fashion as Beth tried to cheer Audrey up whenever –she- was down. However Beth was away on college break and wouldn't be back until the 25th of January… something else that had reduced her into tears when she learned of it. Beth was more then just another fellow author on the site; she was Audrey's Role Playing buddy and the big sister Audrey had never had. Her absence was the main reason the younger girl had lost interest in the computer. Without the amusing distraction of role playing she soon said good bye to her friends on AIM and shut the computer down this time so she wouldn't get into trouble for 'running up the energy bills' again and rummaged around the junk in the room to find her shoes.

Quiet, as to not wake her grandmother who slept on the sofa in the living room, she pulled her coat out from under a pile of others and crept towards the door, wincing as the lock clicked loudly in the stillness of the kitchen. Pushing open the storm door with one hand she slipped out into the cold night, shutting the wooded door behind her and pulling until she heard the faint click of the lock sliding into place. An unfriendly, overcast sky greeted her as she cast a glance upwards. Frowning while wondering what else was new, she pulled her thin fleece jacket tighter around her and crossed her arms over her chest, trudging home while her exhales turned into tiny clouds of lingering mist that drifted behind in her wake.

While the walk across the frozen yard was a short one, it was nevertheless one that made her face numb and her hands stiff. Keeping her head down Audrey was able to keep her eyes from burning and avoid seeing the lights in her brother's room. While an air conditioning unit and a shade blocked any view into the room, the mere fact that the lights were on bothered her, as Allen and her father were no doubt laughing at the first season of the Dukes of Hazard on DVD or MASH. Perhaps she was… jealous of that fact. Allen always seemed to get more attention these days then she did, at least in her opinion. The comparison her parents made between him and her had left a bitter taste in her mouth and a ringing in her ears. For once she wanted to get out of his shadow and live life by her own measure of character. Well, at least in the trailer that she and her mother shared she didn't have to hear him all night.

Wrenching the door open she walked up the cinder block steps and into the old trailer, greeted by a small orange and white tabby that mewed and arched her back against the girl's fingers. Smiling faintly Audrey closed the door and locked it, turning off the outside light. Pulling off her jacket and ditching her shoes she flopped down onto the bed in the living room, staring up at the ceiling. A giggle escaped her as the cat tickled her with inquisitive whiskers, a rumbling purr filling her ears. Giving in to the plaintive cry of a larger tabby Persian sitting in the kitchen she forced herself up again and opened a can of food, dumping it into the bowl before heading for the back of the trailer to brush her teeth and get ready for bed, despite it only being 10:30 on a Saturday night.

With the furnace for background noise Audrey braced her palms against the bathroom counter, leaning forward to study herself in the mirror. A solemn teenager stared back at her, a thousand emotions lurking behind mahogany eyes, each awaiting the appropriate time to claim the window into her soul. Wire frame glasses helped to ease the strain on those eyes who suffered from being nearsighted, though they seemed to enhance her appearance slightly; in her own words, they made her look 'smart'. Faint ache scars dotted her cheeks, darker spots against a pale complexion that seemed to never meet the light of day anymore. Chocolate brown hair spilled over her shoulders as she freed it from the ponytail, her nimble fingered hand running over the wavy mass while she sighed. Like any girl suffering from low self-esteem she didn't find herself pretty most of the time. Grumbling, she pulled back and turned the water on, brushing her teeth and washing off the brush before walking back up the hall to turn the lights off and turn the furnace back. Glancing around the room before turning the final light off she was struck with that loneliness that makes one feel as if the sun would never shine again; she was truly alone for the night.

That feeling lingered in her soul as she crawled beneath the blankets on her bed and snuggling into the worn mattress. It gnawed at her core, made her frightened by even the slightest sound. Suddenly she didn't feel like a teenager anymore. More like a frightened child who wakes during a thunderstorm and discovers her nightlight has gone out along with the power. As she lay that, huddled under the quilts and hugging a stuffed dolphin toy close, echoes of the harsh words spoken to her in the past week drifted to the surface to be replayed over and over again.

"Go away. Please… why won't the bad memories go away?" She whimpered in a pathetically thin voice which was swallowed up by the darkness of the room. Hot tears pricked behind her closed eyes, tears of pain and frustration for the second time in a twenty four hour period.

A branch on a tree outside, blown by the wind, scratched against the metal husk of the trailer. Somewhere in the night an owl screeched a hunting cry. Trees in the forest creaked, bowing against brutal winds. Dead limbs fell and struck the roof. Audrey flinched at each sound. She squeezed her eyes shut and focused on happier things. The only thing that came to mind was the thought that the riders of Pern's aerial defenses would never have to face paranoia. Their draconic partners would see to that. What she wouldn't give to have a comforting mind wrap around her conscious one right now to quell this irrational fear, this illogical suffering.

"Is that what you seek? A family? A friend?"

The voice sent chills down Audrey's spin as it wove though the negative cloud surrounding her mind. Feminine in design, gentle and soothing with just a small muted hint of misery, it broke through the barrier of dark thoughts to lay a golden finger on her soul.

"You've been wronged so many times in the past. You deserve better my poor battered soul. Come with me; learn what the true strength of being is. Come where you will be cared for, a place where you will actually be noticed and be a part of something great."

"W-who are you?" Audrey breathed; it was hard not to listen to this calm reassurance.

"I am a friend to those who need one, a mother to those that desire one, a companion to those who are lonely like you…" The voice seemed to waver and pull back, tinted with a mingled sense of despair and dread. After a moment the firm contact was reformed, as if nothing had gone wrong.

"A place where I could be a part of something…"

"Yes, something great. Something glorious."

"I… want something like that…"

"You need something like that…."

"….Yes…"

The mental touch shifted into a mental grasp, like a hand had closed over her conscious self and yanked upwards. Gasping in pain Audrey forced her eyes open, letting out a strangled scream as she found herself floating in the center of a pillar of blue light the color of ice shadows. It was almost as it a magnet was drawing her into the sky, the metal of the roof having apparently peeled away to allow her escape. The trailer and house rapidly began to disappear as she was dragged upwards, unable to escape that mysterious force which pulled her body towards the sky as if it were but a feather.

The atmosphere subtly changed as she passed through each layer, noting that the light followed her like the tail of a comet. She tried to scream again, terrified of this new development and suddenly wishing she were listening to her father scream and curse and slobber as he spoke about her grades. There was a brief glimpse of sparkling star light and the blue-green marble that was Earth before she suddenly felt herself falling, plummeting towards some new destination.

"NO!"

The mental connection was abruptly disconnected; her mind recoiled at the force of the scream. Audrey felt a new force pushing against her, one that seemed to slowly re-direct the other end of the light pillar. Falling helplessly, a puppet whose strings were being pulled in two different directions with one slowly winning the tug of war. Then, just as swiftly as this ordeal had begun it ended. Screaming for the umpteenth time as the light ceased to support her body she disappeared into the dark mass that smelled of earth and chlorophyll; a forest. Her body struck the ground with enough force to wind her. Darkness was swift to fall against her mind, forcing it into submission. Drawing only small amounts of air, eyes glazing over in shock, Audrey surrendered her soul to it and spiraled downward into a bottomless abyss.