A one-shot. Hitomi wakes up in a strange place...

Just a heads up. This story is set 5 years after the original Escaflowne series, however the last episodes have never taken place.

I've been meaning to write this story for several years now, mainly due to the fact that I was never really satisfied with the way that the series ended without living up to it's true potential. Surprisingly, I received a request that fit my idea for Escaflowne in the recent Yuletide (2017) story swap. So here it is, enjoy:

- Rampant Id

Wings and All

A forlorn, haunting tune drifted through the otherwise silent room. Drawn to the source of the whistled melody, Hitomi's eyes fell on the dark shape of a man sitting in a chair to her left. Although there was a window directly behind him which resulted in his face being cast in shadows, she could tell that his eyes were studying her.

Hitomi sat up with a start, quickly glancing around and taking stock of the situation. She was in a room she had never seen before, with sparse furniture that gave it a very Spartan look. The bed she had lain on was still fully made, as if she had simply been placed on it. Everything she had worn was still the same, nothing had been disturbed. She looked sharply at the man hidden in shadows.

"What am I doing here?" She demanded, and then quickly added "Who are you?"

The stranger slowly stood up and calmly strode towards her. He came to a stop at the foot of the bed, towering over her. She blinked in surprise at what she saw. In the light that fell upon him, Hitomi could suddenly make out the strange blue shade of his hair, and the teardrop tattooed onto his face.

That must have hurt... She found herself thinking absently, but more importantly something about him seemed familiar. I think I would have remembered meeting such an imposing person, she told her nagging brain.

"It's good to see you finally awake," the man replied, ignoring her question. "I've been wondering when we could finally meet face to face. My brother has guarded you like a faithful hound all these years. I have always wondered what kind of a woman could command such devotion."

"Brother? The same brother who betrayed Van and his people? The traitor who nearly managed to kill him on several occasions, and who had teamed up with Dornkirk - the man directly responsible for destroying Fanalia?" Hitomi demanded, the words slipping out before she could think better of it.

"I have never tried to kill my little brother. A skirmish here or there is of no real consequence. I protected him, kept him safe from forces you can't even imagine. I had no choice, if I had stayed he would have been dead right along with everybody else!"

Black wings suddenly burst from his back, shredding his cloak along with the back of his tunic in the process. Droplets of blood sprayed out from him and landed on the floor behind him as well as on either side.

Unable to stifle her gasp at the brutality of it all, Hitomi looked away. Those wings, while familiar, looked so very wrong in this ominous shade of black. The blood spattered floor did not help the feeling of wrongness that quickly spread in the pit of her stomach. Where Van's wings had made her feel safe and protected, these felt more like those belonging to an angel of death. Her death to be precise.

Hitomi furtively glanced around the room for a possible means of escape. There was one fairly large window off to the side, but they were currently on a ship suspended several thousand meters above the ground. The only viable exit was a door that she could see located behind him.

"I thought you were braver than this. A pair of wings is enough to intimidate the girl who faced down Dilandau's army of Guymelefs without flinching?" Folken asked scornfully.
His tone was enough to have Hitomi jerking her head back to him and meeting his green gaze unflinchingly.

"This has nothing to do with you having wings. Van has wings just like you, however his are beautiful and don't tear his back open when they manifest. The malevolent and violent life that you lead seems to have spread to your wings and infected them with violence and death. It's tragic to see something so pure and beautiful corrupted in such a repulsive way."

Folken raised a brow. Her comments did not seem to faze him in the slightest, rather they appeared to puzzle him for some reason.

"Beautiful? Pure? Are you trying to tell me that seeing cursed wings explode from your lover's back, like that of some nightmarish animal, does not bother you?"

Hearing Van's own brother putting Van's deepest fear into words set off a rage inside her.

"His wings are a part of him! Without them he would be incomplete. I don't pick and choose body parts and judge a person simply on appendages alone. He is the best man I have ever met, a thousand times more worthy of being king than you will ever be. He's kind and brave - sweet and honorable. Nobody comes even close to his worth as a person. And just for your information, having wings does not make him any less of a man. In fact, I don't see the problem with looking like an angel!" She finished her diatribe with a slashing motion of her hand. Unknown to her she had been gesticulating the entire time, accusing finger points and all. The urge to shove this arrogant man out of his own airship was almost overpowering.

Surprisingly Folken did not seem to take offence to anything she had said. Instead he smiled and cocked his head thoughtfully to the side. "Loyal and protective... it seems that my little brother is in good hands." Then as an afterthought he added, "What is an angel?"

Hitomi looked taken aback by the unexpected compliment as well as the sudden realization of what he was implying. She thought back to the words Folken had used and her face went immediately red.

"W-we're not lovers, we're just friends."

"I find that hard to believe after that moving speech, or should I say proclamation of love." Seeing Hitomi open her mouth to protest, Folken distracted her with his next words, "For what it's worth, I give the two of you my blessing." He said this with a slight twist of his lips and a gleam in his eye.

She couldn't tell if he was mocking her, but before she could reply the sound of crashing and yelling could be heard coming from the direction of the door. A split second later the door crashed open and Van rushed into the room, his wild eyes locking on Hitomi and the bed before flicking to Folken with his black wings spread out ominously, blood slowly dripping from them onto the bare floor. The Fanalian prince froze for a split second at the sight of his older brother. Then his gaze hardened and he leapt for the bed, grabbing Hitomi as he rolled across it, and finally landing on the other side of the bed in a protective crouch over her surprised form. It all happened so quickly; Hitomi's mind was still processing the fact that she was being embraced by Van on the floor next to the bed. She had no way of seeing the warning glare he shot up at his brother over her shoulder.
"Whatever game you're playing Folken, keep her out of it - this is between us." Van bit out angrily.

Folken rolled his eyes, and whipped his wings back and folded them until they retreated into his back. "You're adorable little brother. She's safe from me, we were simply coming to an understanding."

Just then the door slammed open once more. The dent in the wall that had been left over from Van's energetic entrance was now even deeper. A white-haired youth stood in the doorway brandishing what looked like the equivalent of an enormous bazooka. A wild gleam could be seen in his eyes as he eagerly scanned the room.

Not even taking the time to meet Folken's irritated gaze, he demanded, "Where is he?" to the room at large.

"Dilandau, you dare trespass into my room?" Folken scathingly bit out as he turned toward the noise of this most recent interruption. His eyes widened upon noticing what Dilandau gripped so tightly in his arms.

"Where did you get that?" he demanded.

A sudden movement caught Dilandau's attention. Hitomi had just pulled away from Van's possessive embrace and stood raising her hands up in what looked like a placating gesture.

"Don't shoot! We're on a ship that will -"

She cut off the end of her sentence being hit with another visual premonition of the future, this one showing her drawing Dilandau's attack to the location where she stood above Van. A split second was all it took for her to leap away from the bed and toward the other end of the room, drawing his fire as she had intended. Instead of hitting Van where he crouched, the window just behind her shattered from the powerful blast.

She heard a yell of rage from the foot of the bed at the same time as she saw a flash of black wings as Folken intercepted Dilandau, and then felt her feet slip on the glass from the newly broken window. The momentum of her fall propelled her right out of the window, taking a few shards of glass with her as her arms impacted with them. She barely felt the resulting lacerations as she plunged to the ground below, watching the Floating Fortress shrinking with the rapidly increasing distance. So this is it, this is how it ends, she thought disbelievingly to herself.

Suddenly she spotted something far above racing towards her. The next second a solid body smacked into her and she was enveloped in the most desperate embrace she had ever experienced, a whoosh of wings sounded as Van tried to desperately bank to avoid hitting a tree that suddenly appeared before them. He managed to pull up just in time and climbed up until they were several feet above the treetops.

"Are you all right?" he asked Hitomi hoarsely. She could feel his heart pounding rapidly against her chest, his arms gripping her tightly. She nodded making an affirmative sound, not quite capable of speaking just yet. Her throat felt closed off. Trying to distract herself from her near death Hitomi focused instead on the beauty surrounding her as Van's wings worked double-time trying to keep the two of them in the air.

A drop of liquid fell onto her upturned face. Looking up she came to the sudden realization that it was actually raining. Now that she was no longer in immediate danger she was noticing their current predicament. She heard a distant rumble of thunder at about the same time as uncontrollable shivers took over her body. Whether due to shock or the chill that resulted in her clothes slowly getting soaked Hitomi was unsure, but the words that came out from between her chattering teeth helped support her case.

"V-van, I think w-we should land before t-the storm gets any worse," she suggested tugging on his sleeve in an attempt to get his attention. He looked down at her, taking in her dishevelled appearance and soaked attire. He jerked his gaze away suddenly and gave a sharp nod. To Hitomi's confusion Van's neck suddenly seemed to take on a red tinge, as did his cheeks.

"Van, what's wrong?" she asked looking down at what she could see of herself while being held in his arms. It didn't take her long to realize that the white shirt she had been wearing was no longer white... She tucked her head down, unable to meet Van's gaze, which he also currently seemed disinclined to do. The rest of the flight took place in silence as Van tried to focus entirely on the tree tops that were approaching at a fairly rapid pace. The next few moments were filled with flashes of leaves, branches and tree trunks. It was incredible how quick Van's reflexes were as he avoided hitting the trees that seemed to pop up around them.

Several impressive manoeuvers later they found themselves landing on the forest floor in a patch where the trees seemed to thin out a bit. Hitomi quickly scrambled out of Van's arms and turned away for a moment, trying to get her flaming cheeks to cool off a bit. How embarrassing!

A sudden whooshing sound right above her head had her looking up. A ceiling of white feathers filled her vision. Following them back to their source Hitomi realized that Van had raised one of his wings above her head like some kind of breathtaking umbrella. Van's head was tilted up as he scanned the part of the dark gray sky that was still visible above them. She tried not to be too obvious as she watched the rain flowing down his rain-slicked black hair. One drop hung precariously off a bang and then dripped straight into his eye. Van blinked and ran a hand over his face to remove the excess water. Then he turned and looked at her, meeting her unexpected gaze. Flustered, Hitomi whipped her head around and tried to look extremely busy with wringing water from her own wet hair.

"Come on, let's get out of this clearing before we're spotted," she heard Van say with what sounded like a smile in his voice. She looked up to catch him motioning for her to start walking toward the thicker part of the forest that spread out from them. It was only then that she realized that he had managed his landing as well as he had because the trees in their vicinity were not growing as densely as those surrounding them from all sides in a rough radius of several meters.

Nodding in agreement Hitomi started forward with Van keeping pretty close to her side as he continued to shelter her with his wing as best he could. There was no way Hitomi was going to tell him that the wind was helping the rain soak her from the side, making the sweet gesture almost pointless. It was not until Van tripped for a third time that Hitomi noticed just how exhausted he was. How stupid of me, of course he's exhausted. Not only did he fly all the way down from the floating fortress in a rainstorm, but he did so while carrying me! she thought to herself, angry that she had not realized it earlier.

"Here Van, lean on me," she said, turning toward him and pulling his arm up around her shoulders. She felt him start in surprise at the unexpected touch. Then with a quiet thanks he leaned a bit more on her as they made their way through the now dense forest.

She fell into a rhythm as they walked, focusing on where she put her own legs so that she would not tumble down with Van if he were to trip again. She was startled out of her concentration on the path when she heard Van's voice sound from closer than she had expected. Without thinking she turned her head toward him and came face to face with intense black eyes, that stared right back at her from no more than four inches away. His breath felt warm on her cold cheek as he spoke. What he said she had no idea, so focused she was on the simple fact that he was close enough to—

"Hitomi?" His brows furrowed in confusion and then suddenly she felt a sudden chill as the warmth of his arm left her shoulders and he moved back to look at her in concern.
"I'm sorry Van, what did you say?" she asked, trying not to show how the lack of his warmth left her feeling bereft for some reason.

He pointed to a spot to their right that looked like it would block most of the wind due to the many dense bushes that grew closely together there. Following Van to a tree that grew in the center she was surprised that the wind seemed to be minimal here, however the rain still poured down around them. Despite the wing that Van had thoughtfully held above Hitomi in an effort to keep her dry, the slanting rain had managed to soak her to the bone.

Van lowered himself to the ground and leaned back against the tree trunk. Of course this meant that his wing went with him. Van looked up at Hitomi's shivering and dripping figure, patted the grass in front of him and gestured for her to come over.

"Sit here with me so I'll be better able to keep you dry," Van explained. Thinking that he meant to simply raise his wing over them once more, she stepped over, intending to sit next to him. She let out an undignified squeak of surprise when he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her right up to his chest. His wings followed a split second later, cocooning her in darkness along with a warm chest that she could feel beneath her cold hands as it moved up and down with the steady rhythm of his breathing. Shocked at finding herself in such close proximity to Van, who usually was not one to instigate casual shows of affection - unless it was toward his childhood friend Merle - Hitomi remained still, unsure of what to do. Truth be told, the bone numbing chill that had spread to all her limbs was receding pretty rapidly. In fact, although her face was burning up, the rest of her was being filled with a pleasant warmth that was making her feel a bit lethargic. As her eyes got used to the dimness created by her live cocoon, she came to the realization that she could not see Van's head. His wings folded around in such a way that she could only see his upper chest along with the vest that he always wore. His neck was hidden from view by white feathery wings.

"Van, can you hear me?" Hitomi called out, poking his arm to get his attention.

Light appeared as a wing shifted and a wet face looked down at her in concern.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, peering down at her face.

"Why are you letting your head get soaked? You'll get sick that way. Lift your wings up a bit so that you are also protected from the rain," Hitomi demanded, her no-nonsense tone making it clear that she would not accept any excuses.

"If I do that then you will have less room, my wings have a finite size to them, they don't expand to my will," he replied dryly.

"I don't need room. This is not an inn, and I'm not a paying customer. Get your head down here and stop worrying about pointless things," she demanded.

She could hear his sigh of resignation, followed by a short "fine". An instant later the wings surrounding her pressed in against her, and Van's dripping head appeared above her. The instant one of the wings pressed against her back Hitomi sucked in a pained breath and winced. Van immediately tried moving the wing a bit away from her back, which resulted in bringing his face and chest closer to her. By this point she could no longer see his face since his chin was practically leaning on her shoulder. So that's what he meant about less room... She thought to herself, trying not to let this pseudo hug get the better of her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't notice you were hurt," Van muttered, since he was so close she could hear it right by her ear.

"Oh, don't worry about it, I barely noticed it myself. It's probably from the glass window that I fell though." She tried to calm him as she patted his arm in assurance. Then a thought had her pulling further away from his wing and practically plastering herself to his chest.

"Did I get blood on your wing? I'm so sorry!" She babbled, just imagining how impossible it was to get red stains out of white things. Just the thought of staining his beautiful white wings a bloody colour filled her with shame and regret. Instead of a reply she felt Van shaking. It took her a moment to realize that he was laughing.

"You're worried about your blood getting on my wings? Have you forgotten how many times I have bled all over myself from battles or accidents? Please Hitomi, that's the least of my worries." Noticing that she was not budging he nudged her head playfully with his own.

"Don't you know that bird feathers get replaced the way that your eye brows and eyelashes do? Old ones fall out, replaced by new ones. You have nothing to worry about. I was just worried that I was causing you pain."

"Oh. That's good then." When she tried putting more space between them again she found Van's arm keeping her in place.

"Van?" she questioned, wishing she could see his expression.

"Why is it that every time you get mixed with my matters you nearly end up dying? When you fell out of the floating fortress... If I had been any slower at jumping after you, or in catching you-" his voice cut off and she felt his other hand on the back of her head so that her cheek was pressed to his chest. She could hear his heartbeat beating quickly.
"It's ok, I'm fine now," she whispered as she closed her eyes and tried to reach around him to give him a hug. She had forgotten that the wings were enfolding them both together, and accidently bumped her hands into the softness of the underside of the wings.

Van jumped and his grip loosened slightly.

"What's wrong? Van, are you all right?" she asked, not quite moving her hands from the softness of the wings. She marvelled at how kitten-soft these feathers felt. She then felt his own hands closing around hers and drawing them away from the wings and back to his chest. She didn't really mind, since he was still holding both of her hands in his.
"I'm all right, I just was not expecting you to touch my wings," Van replied, his voice sounding a bit hoarse.

"You mean I hurt them?" Hitomi asked in puzzlement. After all that she had seen them go through, it had seemed that these wings could handle so much. She felt Van shake his head.

"No, I just mean that the inner part of the wings is more sensitive. You surprised me, that's all. I have never had anyone touch my wings before; most people are frightened of them. Wings belong on animals or monsters, not on humans. I have often been viewed as cursed, and not many people wish to touch things that they believe bring ill fortune," Van whispered to her, his voice thick with shame.

"Cursed? Your wings are beautiful! People back in my land believe that people with wings were heavenly beings full of goodness and light. Your wings don't make you less - they make you more."

"Thank you." His voice sounded relieved. She simply squeezed his hands in response and lay her head back against his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

"If I had known that it would take a thunderstorm to get you to hold me like this, I would have found a way to make this happen sooner," Hitomi joked. Several minutes passed by before Van responded.

"I have never been very good at expressing my emotions. As far as I can remember I have always been trained to be the responsible ruler - my brother's betrayal ensured that my people would always come before my own preferences. With one loss piling up right after another, I just tried to make myself stop feeling." She felt Van smile against her temple.
"You made that very difficult. You frustrated, annoyed, and worried me. I went through more emotions since you arrived than I had ever thought possible. You also made me care about you. Which, to be honest, was extremely exhausting thanks to all those crazy situations you constantly manage to get yourself into." He huffed.

Hitomi turned her head up toward his face.

"When you say that you care about me, do you mean like Merle?"

Van looked away, not meeting her gaze. "Not like Merle."

A slow smile started to spread across her face. "Are you saying that you... love me?" The last two words were said quietly, the hopeful tone not lost on Van.

He flicked his eyes back to gauge her expression and gave a sharp nod.

Feeling something wet run down her cheek Hitomi brushed it aside, and wiped her eyes with the back of one hand. Then she smiled up at the man who had mattered so much to her for so very long.

"I love you, too. I love you for who you are, wings and all," she whispered.

They had stayed together like that for a while when Hitomi noticed that she could clearly see everything inside their makeshift cocoon. There was light shining through the white feathers illuminating Van's sleeping face with a soft light.

"Van, has the rain stopped?" She asked hesitantly, not really wanting this moment to end.

He tucked his head into her shoulder.

"No, it's still pouring," he muttered sleepily.

"Good," she replied with a smile and kissed his cheek.