There and Back again

GA1: Hello, lovely young people who have come to read this fanfic. This is a joint writing of both I, and Spirit Dancer. Uploads of this fanfic may come slow, given that we are both getting ready for the evilness known as school, but fear not.

SD: Fear not? Is that all you have to say?

GA1: Do you wish to do this?

SD: O no, your doing a great job... But I think this summary needs a little work

GA1:…………

SD: Is that a 'You get to do the disclaimer now' look..?

GA1: -.-

SD: Right! Well anyways, enjoy my first, her second, attempt at an Escaflowne Fanfiction. This is, like she put it, no ordinary retelling of Escaflowne! Please enjoy and review! Reviews make her happy.. Please make her happy, I would like to keep my head'

Disclaimer: We, in no way what-so-ever, own Escaflowne. It is owned by the respected people who wrote it, and thus, paid for its production. Please do not sue us; together we have six pennies, two gum wrappers, and a piece of pocky…… That the dog just ate. We do however own our respected characters and the changes in plot line.

Spirit Dancer: Aiko, Shiva

Glass Angel1: Ayane, Fira, Merlin, the Providence Children, and any other character that I must create for the production of this story.

All rights reserved

Summary:

Not just an ordinary retelling of Escaflowne. Two girl's wish away their lives of family abuse, only to find their wish answered. Destiny plays its hands hard as these two friends find themselves caught up in a war of a world they barely know, only to be torn apart along the way. Will they be able to overcome their trouble pasts, and save this new world for its own destruction? Or will their pasts become its means of destruction?

Category: Action/Adventure/Romance

xVxVxVxVx; same place different point of view

xXxXxXxXx ;scene change

italic; vision

XoX ; Flashback

Prologue

Whispers of the forgotten

"You shouldn't cry..." Her friend said suddenly in a low voice as they sat alone in the darkness on the bench in the park. Aiko had buried her face in her hands as she tried to stop. The young woman next to her had not moved to comfort her, nor said anything when she first started to cry. Aiko's cool jade eyes looked to her left at the person next to her, vision slightly blurred by tears. Even in the moonlight, the only thing to describe her friend against was a porcelain doll. Shoulder length hair lightly curled, with dark purple ribbons in it fell around her pale face. There was a light touch of makeup to it, not that one could really tell with the lack of light. The dress she wore bared the upper part of her arms, and came down in to a tight corset around her body. The sleeves belled out, in a dark material that Aiko couldn't be sure of the color. Though, there was white fabric on the ends. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap, on top of a skirt mixed with several different layers. Something Aiko could be sure that was heavy to wear as it looked. Around her friends neck, nearly hidden by her hair was a black chocker that dawned a small tear shaped dark navy blue pendent. Ayane, someone that Aiko had never dreamed of being friends with in a million years. Well, not that Aiko ever thought of having friends at all. They had met in her seventh grade year at the Adams Middle High School in the strangest place, the girl's bathroom. She had been crying, skipping the first period of the day in the small bathroom, hoping to escape from everyone. The only time she ever looked up was when someone gently nudged her on the head. She was going to yell at the person, but froze when she shall who it was.

She had seen Ayane around the school, the preppy girls always used her as someone to pick on, but it never seemed to faze her. Boys though, would drool in her wake at times, thus explaining most of the girls' words of jealously. Aiko had always labeled her as a 'weirdo', but at the time Ayane had been holding out to her a small white handkerchief that had small white frills on the end. She took it without thinking, Ayane just turned and walked to the mirror in the bathroom. Aiko didn't see what the other girl was doing while she studied the small handkerchief that was in her hand. It felt like it was made from a fine silk or something. When she looked up to say something to her, Ayane had left the bathroom. At lunch, while Aiko sat alone away from everyone else like she always did, Ayane suddenly appeared and sat across from her. They both ate in silence nether said anything about that morning. Ayane didn't ask, Aiko didn't have to answer, that was how their friendship started. If one didn't ask the other didn't answer, but each was still there in a way to comfort the other. There was a 'ting' sound from the two bottles of beer by her feet, something that Ayane had brought out. Underneath the bench where they sat were duffle bags. Aiko had told her parents that she was spending the night at Ayane's and had run out the door, escaping another argument. Ayane had left a message for her father, someone Aiko had never met in the past three years they had know each other, on a small black board in the hallway of her apartment. Through the strains of black hair that covered her eyes, Aiko just sniffed waiting for Ayane to continue.

"Crying just shows that they are getting to you... That they are winning." Aiko wiped the tears that were half way down her cheeks, and took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves.

"I just don't understand...why do they have to continue fighting? I'm sure that if I died, that they wouldn't miss me..." She said as she wiped her hand on the black cargo pants and looked down at the navy shirt she wore. Her arms lay out on her legs; from the little light they had she could see the slits that went from her wrist to half way down her arm.

"Life is like a black void... nothing we do today could change the past, but our futures are uncertain..." Ayane turned her head and looked at up at her. The girl had always been several inches shorter then Aiko. Her steel gray eyes looked at her slightly, before looking up at the say. "Who is to say that there is one path before us? One could not be sure whether or not one would miss another... You never know, they may have a change of heart in the last moment..."Aiko raised her right eye brow.

"Aya, I don't think they're gonna change. They never have and they never intend to…..." She said, taking another deep breath. "I just hope they get too drunk to remember that I am gone." Ayane frowned slightly as she looked back at her, and then shook her head. Aiko's hand lifted her lap to fiddle with the jade pendent around her neck, which was shaped the same as Ayane's. The two sat in silence again, neither seeming to wish to talk. The girl next to her could know her world inside and out. But Ayane's, Aiko had learned was a mystery hard to crack. Ayane looked forward again at the small water fountain that was before them. Every time they did this, it was always to the same spot in a park near to where Ayane lived. The fountain had statues of several angels on it.

"I use to come here when I was little, and toss a coin into that fountain to make a wish... For someone to come and take me way, to fade way from this world into a better one..." She said lowly, almost in a whisper voice. Aiko looked at her again, funnily. Ayane was always on to twisting her words so that you had no clue what she was saying. She also liked to dance around the point. Turning her head again to look at Aiko, she held her right hand out. "Would you care to make that wish with me again? Maybe it will be answered if two try?" Aiko shrugged with a little smile, something that had become a rarity through the years.

"Sure...it's worth a try...what is there to lose?" Aiko laid her hand into Ayane's, who lightly closed it around hers. She looked away again to the fountain, but didn't bother to stand up. Again the silence return, Aiko waited for Ayane to make the wish, but it seemed so long for her to do it.

"Please..." Whispers, a pledge to be forgotten, "Take us away from here... Away from our pain... Let us fall into the Void of the darkness with the stars..." Nothing happened for the first few moments, but as Aiko began to let go of Ayane's hand they were engulfed by a strange light. Her mouth open, but the silent cry never came. As the light disappeared the park returned to its nightly silence. The sweet sound of the fountain blended in with the sound of the night. The bench across form it laid empty. The only evident of the two passer-byers were the two beer bottles that sat beneath it.

GA1: Right… Don't worry! Once I sort it out, we'll get the first chapter up before two long.

SD: ………that is if you stop editing your other story…and get back to work, slave.

GA1: HEY! That's not nice……

SD: A, revenge is so sweet!

Another Note (GA1): For those of you who are flame happy, read this before sending us a flame review. Make it something useful, like telling me errors that have come up that really need to be fixed (like the misspelling of a country or name). Don't just tell go on how we are horrible spellers, and are terrible with grammar. That does not help me. Flames are supposed to help the writer not make them feel horrible. I do not appreciate it when someone does that. I have always had a bad time in spelling, it was never my strongest thing in English, nor was grammar. That was why I got people to read my work. Unfortunately, SD is not any better then I am. SO do us a favor, and if it is that bad... why don't you point out the errors so that I know that they are there, hum? I learn by being corrected. In the past two years of me writing and letting someone read what I write, I have gotten better. That is only because someone has shown me the right way to do it. Trust me, if I hadn't things would be much harder to read.

Second, this is not a Mary Sue story. This story is the beginning of a Trilogy. Unfortunately for the good part of the beginning I MUST follow the outline beginning of the original series, but this is only until a certain point. Changes in the plot become noticeable after the arrival in Asturia, but the real big changes will not come until after Freid. This story is told in the points of view of two people, two different sides. The second and third stories to this one will more likely be more interesting. But to get to those one has to START AT THE BEGINNING OF IT ALL. So if you're going to flame me on that, only because you have read one or maybe two chapters. Do me some need respect. READ all the chapters that are postedBEFORE you call this a "Mary Sue" story. I take it offensive when you read the PROLOGUE and flame us just on that. It also shows that you are a very poor soul, who hasn't many brains at all. Most of the good stories that I have read have started out as "Mary Sues" but at least I have read them to beginning to end before passing that judgment, and find that they are not "Mary Sues" after all.

Third, yes I know that the second name for The Hobbit is There and Back Again. But that has nothing to do with the reason why this story is called There and Back again (notice a difference? And not that was not by accident). It deals with something that happens, a main part of this story. Like the words in this prologue will be seen quiet a few times in this story. It all holds a purpose. If you want to be critical, Spirit Dance's first original story's name could have been taken from Final Fantasy: Spirits Within. But again, the story was named for something that is with in the story. Take it from all of her readers (who will by the way tell you she is no better speller then me, but hey they loved her story. It has what now… over 160 reviews?) The name of a story is unique to the story itself. I did not STEAL this name. And if "J.R.R. Tolken is rolling over in his grave" it is not because of me. Don't flame this story on that. It gets very annoying.

Thank you for those who will send HELPFUL flames, and for not being hypocrites.

Glass Angel1

Edited: 09/12/09