Happy Valentine's Day week to everyone! Many of you have probably been like, "Hey, do you remember that author that writes all the Escaflowne stuff?" Well, I'm here to be like, "Yeah, man! I'm still doing stuff, too!" I've got a chapter started on Rutilus, I've got Be Ready sliiiiiiightly typed on, but I wanted to give you this as a chapter-a-day present to all my lovely people out there! It's a simple story and I'll be putting a disclaimer on it since it has scenes straight from the anime. Better get that out of the way actually:

A lot of story elements belong solely to Kazuki Akane, Funimation, and Sunrise. I claim nothing.

Alright, that's done.

Just a fair warning, each chapter is really long. This is probably my shortest one.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Closing her green eyes tightly for only a brief moment, she stood outside the door clutching the new copy of Selena Schezar's A Girl from the Mysic Moon to her breast. Opening the silent door, the tiny beeps of a steady heartbeat greeted her like a welcomed friend. She walked over in the darkening room to perch continently on one of the comfortable chairs provided for family members.

The seat was cold.

No one had come to visit this particular patient even when he had been first rushed through Emergency. Apparently, a stranger had called the ambulance for him. They had gotten his name and information from his driver's license in his wallet. He'd slipped into a coma during surgery and had been out for almost a week. She'd been assigned as his caretaker only a few days ago once he had been declared a long-term patient. She was informed his next of kin had been notified, but – unlike her other patients around the ward – Mr. Fanel remained the only one without guests.

Therefore, like the night before last, the poor man would have to suffer as her break room during the shift. She could just as easily read in the regular break room designed for staff, but Hitomi had a strange habit when she read: she liked to read out loud. She even did voices to entertain herself. She liked to think it was from her own strange quirk, but in reality it was probably because of loneliness. Reading out loud, making the characters voices, personalities, and lives come to blossom made her world seem not so empty. These stories, though she knew that's what they were: "just stories", became more than that when she did this. They became her companions. Her comforters.

And maybe… just maybe… the never visited Mr. Fanel could hear her. They could be his companions as well… And she couldn't bear feeling alone. She would never wish that on anyone. It was a crippling pain she knew only too well.

So, in her mind, this had turned into a two birds with one stone kind of deal.

Folding her legs on the seat like a child, she nuzzled in her thick sweater that covered her blue scrubs and opened her book from her bookmark. "Let's see, chapter two-chapter two… ah!" with a delighted smile appearing on her face, she glanced quickly at the comatose man beeping beside her and then back down.

"Chapter Two: A New King. Prince was very rude to her," she read out loud to herself, "but the bustling city of Fanelia welcomed him home with waving hands and open arms and smiling faces. As the large wooden doors opened, a burst of applause brushed forth like a stampede. Like the dogman that had found them in the Arzaz Valley, the young girl suddenly found herself surrounded by crowds of people sporting fur, feather, and long ears. Human-animal hybrids? What in the world was this place? Giant windmills spinning lazily in the breeze, Fanelia looked more like a cluster of tiny houses all piled close together in rows. That was her thought until she saw the large palace rising up through the cottages. It was quite an impressive sight. To her surprise, the girl watched the boy leap off the giant ride with the grace of an athlete and land perfectly on the ground."

Hitomi rose her tone and squealed, "'My Lord!' a voice cried out from the crowd. 'My Loooooord!'"

The Nurse lowered her voice slightly and said, "'Merle!' the prince shouted in delight as a pink haired blur rushed into his arms.

'I'm so glad you made it back safely!'" She squealed again. "'You know, I was so worried about you, My Lord!'

Hitomi switched to her regular voice. It's a talking cat!The mystic moon girl thought with a blink. It's really a talking cat!

The pink haired, orange skinned Merle licked the prince's cheek as he laughed and gently rebuffed, 'Hey! Come on! Stop that! Everyone's watching!'

'I'm just so happy to see you.' The cat girl Merle giggled and continued her onslaught.

'Cut that out, will ya?'

'Great. First a wolf man and now a little cat girl,' the forgotten girl whispered to herself rolling her eyes upward."

On and on through the two hours, Hitomi continued to read the story out loud, switching from one voice to another; making up new voices as new characters came into play. Upon reaching the coronation for the new king, she glanced at her watch and sighed. It was almost midnight. And almost time to go back on the clock.

Christmas Day would be here soon.

Having been at the hospital for two years as a caretaker, Hitomi Kanzaki had spent practically every holiday at the hospital so her co-workers could be with family. Not that she didn't want the time off. It was just easier this way. She'd be alone in her apartment anyways. Might as well help out her friends here at the hospital with husbands and wives and children to celebrate with. And she could celebrate Christmas Eve here with dear old Mole. Despite his misbehaving talents at snagging a cake or two from the kitchen, Mole was one of the nicest janitors she'd ever met. He even gave her a gold chain to put her lucky pink stone charm on for her birthday. She had his favorite chocolates waiting for him in her locker as a Christmas present.

Maybe the old thief had snatched an extra cake to celebrate the holiday.

"Well, it looks like you are missing a holiday with your family, Mr. Fanel. I'm sorry that you have to spend a little bit of it with me. There really is nowhere else you can read out loud without looking like an idiot." she confessed softly to the quiet man, shutting her book after replacing her bookmark. His long-ish black hair was spread over the pillow. His tan arms laid still by his side. Tilting her head slightly and brushing her short brown locks out of her eyes, she smiled to herself for a few more seconds just looking at the man.

"I better go." Hitomi stood and stretched. "Merry Christmas, Mr. Fanel. I hope you wake up soon."

Opening the door, she gave him one last look before closing it quietly.

"Can you believe it's almost January already? It feels like yesterday was Halloween," Yukari practically glowed as she drained the catheter bag underneath the bed. "And soon it will be February! I love February!"

"You have a good reason to love it." Hitomi said to her auburn-headed friend as she lifted the patient's leg and rubbed in more lotion. "I wonder if your man has anything planned for you already. He seems like the prepared type."

"I actually asked him about that the other day and he told me he has something reserved special for us, but he doesn't want me to know. I'm hoping it's a bit of bling, if you know what I mean."

"A bit of a bling?" Hitomi asked confused before her face lit up with realization. "Wait. An engagement ring? Seriously? Yukari, you guys have only been going out for five months."

"But he's totally the one, you know? We both can just… feel it…" Yukari straightened up clutching a full urine bag, closed her eyes dreamily, and pressed the bag against her heart to sigh, "He loves me for who I am. Birthmarks, messy hair, and all.

"You must love him a lot considering you are cuddling urine just thinking about him," Hitomi giggled.

Yukari dropped her arm quickly and continued, "He loves my parents, too. We even have family game night every other Wednesday with them. You should come. My mom asks after you all the time. She swears up and down that if she doesn't feed you you'll just waste away."

Hitomi smiled and lowered the massaged leg. "Your mom has always been like that with me."

"That's why you've got to come!"

"The schedule has me working every Wednesday night next month."

"It doesn't have to be anytime soon! Make it for February!"

"I'll think about it." The short haired girl agreed. "If I can get off work then-"

"You work every stinkin' holiday on purpose. You can get a day off anytime you want and you know it. Even the chart-running-Nazi, Millerna, has agreed you need a break."

"I need the money," Hitomi shrugged, avoiding Yukari's eye and moving up to fluff the patient's pillow.

"You shouldn't be alone on holidays. It's not healthy."

"I'm not alone. I'm here."

Yukari rolled her eyes and moved to drop the packaged urine in the toxic wastes trashcan. Snapping off her gloves, her long auburn ponytail swung back and forth as she shook her head and said, "I just don't understand you sometimes."

"What can I say? I'm a box of mysteries disguised in scrubs."

"More like a weirdo loner who hangs around coma people for fun."

Hitomi chuckled, "I'll keep you posted about Wednesday's okay?"

"If that's the best I can get out of you, then I guess that's that." Yukari turned to the door with a resigning shrug. "At least promise me we will go out this week. You need human interaction besides the comatose and high-strung Nurses."

"I'll try."

The beeping… always the sound of beeping. And though Nurses came and went throughout the day, he really had no one here except for a beeping machine.

He had first woken to the sound of beeping after his attack about three days ago. Trapped in this now unresponsive body, his knew for a fact his hearing and touch were still functional. Everything else seemed to be on stand-off mode.

His body felt tired and he briefly wondered if it was night yet.

That reading Nurse would come soon if it was.

It was about an hour later that his door opened and shut, familiar soft foot-steps of tennis shoes pressed on the tile floor, and there came a long sigh as someone sat in a chair to his right.

"Okay, I was in the middle of chapter two," the female voice whispered and a crackle of paper proceeded the announcement. "That's right, the prince's coronation ceremony…"

And then she read and read and read. It seemed like for hours, she read out loud to him, making up the most ridiculous voices. The little cat girl, Merle, was an annoying squeak. The manly Balgus was a humorous struggle for a baritone. Prince held a heavy low air of importance. As a prince should, Van agreed in his head. A prince – soon to be a future king – should have a voice like that.

Sometimes the Nurse would break out of character and add her own commentary. "What a jerk!" She'd cried out the night the two characters had first met. When the girl had slapped the prince hard in the face, she actually cheered. Van was irritated at that. The prince had just saved the girl and her friends' idiotic lives several times from a dragon. Just because she had one trip-out session and shouted out a warning, she suddenly thought she was entitled to slap him. This was even after he'd politely invited her back to his castle as a thank you.

One strange thing that irked him was it seemed like some of the main character's names weren't fully established. The author addressed them with their titles: 'prince' and 'girl'. Even the other characters were starting to call the prince 'King' now that the coronation was starting.

Van didn't like it. He felt like it was laziness on the author's part. Like a whole chunk of the story was missing somehow.

But whatever.

Now Van listened as the coronation was interrupted by something. The reading Nurse's tone took a turn for low and dark as she described a scene of gore and destruction. Houses and streets in flames, invisible monsters attacking in wave after wave. Each man crying out for the glory of Fanelia only to fall in blood and death.

What the hell kind of book was this!?

The little Nurse's voice actually broke as she read of the girl and prince's daring escape. The walls crumbling around them. The prince held up the dragon soul he'd collected from his journey and another robot giant fell from the ceiling. The boy bravely entered the giant called Escaflowne and charged as more invisible enemies called Guymelefs began to surround them. It looked like the prince would lose, but then the girl realized she could see the enemy's forms somehow and could warn the boy of their attacks.

If Van had the ability, he'd have rolled his eyes in distaste. That was quite the deus ex machina…

A sob escaped her at the sudden appearance of Balgus and Van turned his ear back to her. The old man who had mentored the young prince, who had served as a general to his father's army, had jumped out of nowhere to save the boy from an attack to his back. The man had urged the boy to get out and the prince had turned in the robot thingy to pick up the girl like a doll.

"The Escaflowne stomped out of the chapel and the king halted with a small slide on the debris. The girl felt the Escaflowne's hand tremble around her body as the world before their eyes burned with a fiery ash. Everywhere were the fallen corpses of those that had died to protect this once beautiful city. Pieces of mecha lay in piles. Blood gushed out of pilot chambers. Spears protruded out of crushed remains.

The king's voice was panicked from the helm, 'That's enough, Balgus. Retreat!'

Meanwhile, the girl felt her vision begin to waver, her new powers flaring another sharp warning: 'Oh, no… Hey! Look out!' She shrieked to the older man.

Balgus turned to glance behind him.

Too late.

The invisible mecha's arm shivered into view only a few seconds and fired only one simple shot.

He wasn't fast enough.

He fell.

'BALGUS!' The king screamed as the flaming world took a slow motion dive. The Escaflowne collapsed to his knees before the broken body. The man who had been his mentor, his general, his friend.

'Balgus, no…' the girl murmured in her horror. Her eyes watched the pool of blood escaping.

With the last of his strength, the shattered mentor rose up to see his king for the last time. 'Your Majesty… take the Escaflowne and flee… and someday return… and rebuild our native home, My Lord. Reunite the people… of Fanelia…'

The king was silent for a brief moment. His entire world splitting apart. His bright mahogany eyes fixed on the fallen form before him. 'Balgus! No!' He shouted as if his voice could bring him back. The girl's hands shook, her eyes locked tight on the dead man. Small whimpering sounds escaped her throat. All around them appeared the invisible mecha, their stealth cloaks tossed aside in the wave of their victory. A bright hot light hit her chest as a wave of panic, fear, and pain came crashing forth and she curled around the fingers of the Escaflowne.

A beam of light engulfed their world, brighter than any fire, sharper than any arrow.

And as it faded away, king, girl, and mecha had vanished with it."

"Oh, crap! I'm five minutes late!" she exclaimed and - if Van could - he would have jumped in surprise. Snapping the book shut, she hurriedly got to her feet. He expected her to leave, but he suddenly felt her eyes on his face.

"Thank you, Mr. Fanel. That was an exciting chapter. I hope you wake up soon."

Van wanted to roll his eyes, but all he could manage was the steady beats from the machine monitoring his heart. Every night she said the same thing. I hope you wake up soon.

He heard her leave and instead of falling asleep like he usually did, his restless mind turned to the story. The new king lost his entire country in one single chapter. Everything in his life: gone with the snap of a finger. His people slaughtered, his homeland destroyed, his mentor dead, and his annoying cat-girl friend probably in the same boat. There was no one left for the king except for some robot machine and some whiny brat who somehow had the power to see invisible things.

Slowly, as the beeps continued to do their rhythmic recording of his calm heart, he realized how much in common he had with the boy in the story. Like the king, he'd once been a ruler of an empire of sorts. He'd lost everything. It had also burned in a fire, scorching in front of his very eyes. His hard work ending in nothing…

And now, stuck in this limbo, all he had was a machine and a strange woman for company.

He just hoped a beam of light wouldn't come for him.

That meant something completely different in this reality.

He was in the dark.

He was sitting in the dark.

His eyes had rolled over the list, the constant ever-growing list of names that stood in their way. The names of people they had to eliminate.

For the greater good.

He'd join because he'd wanted to tap one of those sexy twins. He'd joined because power was a seducer he just couldn't refuse. Sex, money, power… the ladies walked by him as if he didn't exist.

He'd failed in his mission.

But…

In a way…

He was relieved.

'It was for the greater good!'

'The company to pull the world back on its feet!'

'To forgo the protection from 'The Man' or 'Big Government' and handle ourselves for ourselves!'

'And therefore, sacrifices must be made by all!'

Sacrifices… but for him a single hard sacrifice…

Sitting in the dark.

Alone in the dark.

Sex, money, power…

The day had been normal rounds, but – once again asked to do the night shift – Hitomi felt a strange excitement. Two of her patients had been discharged from the hospital and she was freed up for the first time in months. Usually the beds were filled the moment they were free, but no one had come from ICU or Emergency or Surgery…

Grabbing her book once the coats of the other day Nurses had disappeared with their owners, she did her rounds and made sure her other patients were comfortable.

She saved Mr. Fanel's room for last.

She opened the door happily and sat down in the chair.

"Here we go! I get to read for a long time now! Oh, this is going to be so good!" She placed her phone on her knee once her legs were curled in their proper position on the chair. "Let's see where this beam of light took them!"

The door shut behind her after her usual "I hope you wake up soon" and Van let out a mental sigh of relief. Why would this woman chose his room out of all the rooms in this hospital to read such a retarded book? Yeah, sure, he was in a coma, but coma patients had their preferences on reading material and this shit really was the worst!

This story had taken an interesting turn with the destruction of Fanelia only to plunge straight into the toilet with the mention of a new character: Knight, the Soldier of Caeli. Ugh, even his name sounded retarded. Knight appeared randomly after the beam of light got the king and girl away from Fanelia – deus ex machina style - and the stupid vision girl got attacked by some creepy weirdo and then fainted after she thought Knight was her crush from her old world because she's stupid and the king even tried to save her from Knight, but no. Knight knocked the king out because of course he does. The Nurse didn't even bat an eye when this happened! After all the king had been through and she goes back to reread the description of the Knight two more times.

So Knight takes them to his garrison on the outskirts of Austuria or whatever and realizes, "Hey, I'm a moron and I have the King of Fanelia at my place. I won't let him go because I'm a moron." And Knight refused to let the king go back to Fanelia and rebuild his country! How retarded is this guy!? To capture a foreign sovereign in your territory and then hold him hostage while you twiddle your thumbs and flirt away with the crazy chick. Knight isn't an antagonist or a protagonist at this point! He's a nuisance! He's just in the way of the king getting vengeance for his country!

And the unquestionably awful way the book described the interaction between the girl and Knight. It was not even worth using as toilet paper! The book had shifted a 180 from a fairly interesting fantasy into a slightly-disturbing romance between an underage pre-teen sporting delusional fantasies and a middle-aged pervert looking to score some young tail.

It got even worse once they figure out that this country called Zaibach is the reason behind the attack on Fanelia. And speaking of crazy, they have this Dilly-Doo guy right there in the meeting room and it is so obvious he was part of the attack on Fanelia and Knight just bents over backwards and let's himself get spanked by the weirdo. Meanwhile, the poor king gets locked away and only gets out of there because of this wack-job thief man. After a semi- pointless fight sequence between the two of them in those Guymelef things – which Van had to admit, was kind of cool – it gets interrupted by that annoying cat girl who is somehow still alive! And more talking and debating and the vision girl gets sick blah, blah, blah!

Seriously, where did all the destruction go?

Oh yeah, it's in the next chapter.

The garrison gets attacked because Knight the derp let Dilly-Doo the Psycho go and he ended up attacking it because duh. Yeah, real smart move there, jackass. You had the guy right in your hand and you just let him go to attack you. The Nurse kept going on and on about how awesome the Knight was and how he was such an amazing addition to the character list. The only thing the guy has done so far is make mistake after mistake and he's amazing? No wonder books these days were garbage!

So, his garrison is attacked, right? The idiot doesn't even fight back! His entire hold is demolished and he retreats like a little bitch even though he has the manpower to hold his ground! The king states the obvious – that they have the manpower to stand their ground - and he gets shut down, his magical Guymelef is packed up without his consent, and then, damn it, the king has to go out there and risk his life because they were being pursued! King -being so much better than Knight the derp - actually changes the Escaflowne into a damn dragon and flies off like a boss!

But all this crap happened because Knight was some silly-ass bitch and couldn't fend for himself or protect his men! Ugh.

This story was terrible!

The Nurse happily finished the chapter with the king getting taken by Zaibach because Knight the derp's a bitch and incompetent. After saying her usual farewell ("I hope you wake up soon"), Van finally settled back grumpily to fall asleep.

Van kind of wished she'd stop coming.

Hitomi was busy!

She was given four new patients from ICU and two had tracheotomies that needed to be cleaned every hour. Having taken care of setting up the IVs and making sure each one was comfortable, she was informed that someone needed assistance on the toilet. It had been steady like this, constant going and going and going. She hadn't sat down to rest in at least ten hours. Her phone had buzzed every time she started on a new patient. Yukari – just as busy – high-fived her every time they rushed past each other.

Hers was a friendship Hitomi would always cherish.

"We have got to get drinks after a day like this! And besides, it's the last holiday of the season." The auburn head announced as Hitomi typed quickly on the small iPad in her arms. Glancing up, HItomi smiled softly before flicking her fingers back over the screen.

"Oh-oh no, you don't!" Yukari accused. "Don't you give me that smile."

"What smile?" Hitomi asked confused stopping only briefly to tilt her head at her friend.

"That smile of 'I want Yukari to think I want to go out with her but I really don't want to go' smile. It's a super annoying smile."

"But I do want to. It's just that I have to wor-"

"No. No, no, no, you are not working another double. It's New Year's Eve!"

Hitomi shrugged. "I'm on the schedule."

"That means you have pulled three doubles in one week! That's insane, Hitomi! You need sleep! Or a therapist or something. This is not natural!" Yukari's hand was on her hip. The short-haired girl swallowed her groan. Once the hand hit the hip there was nothing to sway Yukari's resolve.

"Get that hand off that hip, Yukari! I am on the schedule for Jessica."

"Jessica? The Jessica who was supposed to work last night with you? The one who was hired specifically for night shift?"

"Yeah…" Hitomi kept her eyes glued on the screen. "She has a party to attend. I don't mind."

"You are such a push over. Stand up for yourself."

"The night shift isn't that bad. It's actually kind of peaceful."

"But you need sleep! Look at yourself in the mirror, Hitomi. You look dead on your feet."

"That's just because today has been so busy."

"Go home or come out with me. Those are your only option. You are not going to be here!"

Oh crap, Hitomi thought glumly. Both hands are on her hips now…

"But what about Millerna…?"

"You let me handle Millerna."

She was out of options. Looked like Mystic Moon and Knight would have to wait for next year.

"Okay…"

Okay…

So, she was usually here right about now.

It was getting close to her break time during the evening shift.

He hoped she wouldn't read so much this time.

"Are you having fun, Hitomi? Isn't this place great?" Yukari asked happily over the pounding speakers as she sipped her glass of wine. They leaned against the sticky bar; lights and wiggling bodies gyrating to the music. Glancing down at her barely touched strawberry margarita, Hitomi gave her friend a smile.

"Oh, come on, not the smile again."

"That wasn't the same smile!" Hitomi protested, taking a quick sip of her drink just to sooth her friend feelings. The sweet drink hardly masked the tequila inside and she made a face. Alcohol wasn't her favorite, but apparently that was what was socially acceptable this time of night, especially at places like this. Touching her pinned up short curls with a nervous hand, the green eyed woman felt like her eyelashes were too heavy and her mouth too slimy. It had been months since she'd last worn make-up. Instead of prettier or sexier, she just felt like a fool in clown make-up.

"Okay, I got it. We need to find you someone to dance with! Or maybe someone to kiss you for New Year." Yukari said swiftly, taking another drink of her wine. "Look around, Hitomi. See anyone you want?"

"Dancing? Kissing?" Her green eyes tossed over the large crowd that surrounded the bar with a twinge of fear. "Yukari, I don't dance. I am a horrible dancer. And I'm not sure about-"

"No, you're not! You're a great dancer. I've seen you dancing in the living room when we were roommates in college!"

"Yeah, but that was only with you and those moves were from Richard Simmons: Sweatin' to the Oldies…" her fingers had started nervously twisting together. Her breath was coming in short gasps.

"Look, there's a guy right there! He's cute!" The auburn pointed over Hitomi's shoulder and she looked automatically. Her heart skipped a beat as her green eyes connected with the clearest blue she'd ever seen. His yellow hair was long for a man's and it glistened in the low lights like an angel. He gave her a lopsided grin and she twisted back to her friend in surprise.

"He smiled at me! Yukari, he's really cute!"

"Then go say hi!"

"But-but I can't!"

"Yes, you can, you coward!"

"I think I might hyperventilate." Indeed her breathing was becoming irregular.

"Okay, don't have a heart attack on me, but he's coming up."

"He's what!?"

"Yeah, so please don't-"

Whatever Hitomi shouldn't have done was lost as she felt a finger tap her shoulder. Tensing, she turned slowly and her nose almost touched his chest. Backing away swiftly, she almost hit Yukari.

"Careful there," he said with a gentle voice. "Can't have you falling on the floor and messing up this pretty dress."

"N-no, I-I am not, I mean I will not fall. You were really close." Feeling her cheeks grow red, she gave him a smile. "You surprised me is all."

"Oh, am I that surprising?" His eyes flickered with charm. "Can I surprise you further by asking for a dance?"

"Nah-"

"She means yes!" Yukari interrupted and pushed the back of Hitomi's head so her face planted on his white shirt. A bit of pink lipstick print was there when she backed away in horror.

"Careful now!" the man cried out looking at her concerned. "Are you alright? Did you smash your nose?"

She had and it hurt really badly, but he didn't need to know that.

"Are okay to dance?"

With a sheepish smile, she nodded that she was fine.

But to her horror, he took that as 'let's go dance' and next thing she knew her arm was wrapped in his and it was off to the dance floor –

And her social doom.

Where was she?

This was getting ridiculous.

Van had almost fallen asleep three times waiting for this reading Nurse to show up. The only ones he kept hearing were the usual checkups to see if he was still breathing. Did she forget about the book? Was she too busy? Did she have something else to do on break?

Did… she not want to read in his room anymore?

Allen. His name was Allen.

And he swept her around the dance floor better than any Richard Simmons workout video. She twirled in his arms even when the music hardly called for such classy dancing. It was sensational. It was beautiful. She felt alive dancing with Allen. And he looked at her like she was something he'd never seen before. Something precious that had been locked away for centuries only to be discovered and brought forth for the world to speculate. She felt like Cinderella.

When he asked for her number, she wholeheartedly gave it to him. As the New Year rolled by, he leaned forward for her lips, but she turned her head shyly. Smiling, Allen kissed her cheek instead and hugged her.

He was so chivalrous. So handsome.

In her mind, she already called him 'Knight'.

He would be who she pictured when she read the book tomorrow evening.

But this time, he could be her real life Knight.

Van woke up from a short nap as soon as he heard her voice enter his room the next morning. She was excitedly talking to another Nurse. He knew it was irrational, but he was actually kind of mad at her. In a way, she'd stood him up.

Not that he wanted her there in the first place.

But then he caught what she was saying…

"…already texting me, Yukari!"

"I'm so happy for you! I'm sure he's trying to set up another time to meet you. This is going to be such a good year for you."

"He just said the word 'hello', not asking me on a date or anything." She sounded bashful yet proud.

So… she'd met a guy the other night… interesting…. Van mused

"You know what this means, right?" The Nurse Yukari asked as she checked Van's fluid line – he felt a tug on his IV.

"What?" The reading Nurse was at his right side. He felt the sheets lift and smelled something horrible.

Wait… he could smell? Since when!?

"Oh, no, Mr. Fanel had a bowel movement and Jessica didn't give him a proper bed pad. See? This is why I-"

"You know what this means, right?" her friend repeated sternly.

"What? What does it mean? Can you hand me those towels?"

"You're going to have to cut back on night shifts! If Allen wants to date you then you've got to be available for him."

It couldn't have been just him. The room actually seemed to freeze on spot. The silence filled the smelly air and spotlighted on this brief moment.

Finally, Van felt the cold on his privates as the sheet and gown were lifted and rolled back to clean his mess. Though he felt a slight embarrassment, he was more interested in trying to figure out the Nurse's reaction. Who was this texting dude? How did they meet? Did she really want to see him again that badly? Would she actually stop coming to read? He knew he'd feel a sense of relief if she moved on from his room. And who wouldn't?

"I guess I might have to. It's nothing serious. We just exchanged numbers. And besides, he's probably got about forty girl's numbers on his pinned on his fridge and he's texting each one as we speak."

"Never hurts to keep options open. If Allen doesn't turn out to be the one, then maybe he has friends. They always have friends."

"That's true, I guess." Her phone blipped another message and she sighed. "I'll talk with Millerna about changing out my shift. Maybe if I only take night shift three times a week or something…" Spreading out the sheet, both Nurses worked silently to change his bed and gown and left without speaking further.

They left Van with clean sheets, but unheard thoughts.

That night, he waited.

She was a no show.

The next night she came a bit earlier than expected. As she sat in the chair, he waited for the familiar crackle of the book, but it remained shut for a brief moment. He heard small tapping and realized she was texting on her phone. Probably that Allen guy she'd talked about before. He wondered if they had actually gone on a date last night since she wasn't at work.

He heard her sigh quietly. Was that a sigh of love? Hate? Sadness? Not… that he cared. Actually, no, he did care. This was interesting. After hours of nothing but himself for company, he finally had something to else to concentrate on.

The tell-tale crick of a book's spine was heard and her throat cleared briskly. "That's right, poor king," she whispered as she remembered what had happened. "He was taken by Zaibach."

Yeah, no kidding. Van had been waiting to hear what happened to him.

"'Any orders, Commander?' Knight's second whispered quietly. Knight turned to him and murmured, 'How many men do we have?'

'There's seven, including me.'

Knight touched his chin in thought. 'So a frontal assault against the floating fortress would be difficult. Anyway, we have to find them first.' Knight noticed the girl's face fall slightly and then rise in determination. "Knight, excuse me, Knight, I might be able to find out where the king is.'

'Well… you did guess right about the attack on the castle, but I-'

'That's right! And it wasn't a coincidence! I can feel it! You see… ever since I was a little girl my hunches have been right, but now… I can't explain it, but that power has been growing stronger.' She stopped and her breath caught as the Knight placed his arms strong on her small shoulders.'

'Well, that may be true, but this job is really for us Knights. You understand.' He stroked her hair gently and turned away. "That condescending jerk!" she siad angrily. "She did predict it just as she said! Seriously, men! Give her a chance!"

'Knight! Why not give me a try?' the girl said desperately. 'Will you? Please?'

Knight turned to her, his face full of surprise."

The book decided to cut that scene and move on to Zaibach and reveal some of the enemies they were against. Van tuned it out slightly – nothing but talking - until he heard her read the word: Escaflowne. Trying to catch back up, he caught that Dilly-Doo wanted to kill the samurai inside the robot not knowing that the King of Fanelia was in there. A new character named Stratego silenced Dilly-Doo, opened the pilot chamber on the Guymelef somehow, and out plops the king, who immediately passes out. Van felt a little bit of worry for his favorite character until - the book cut to yet another scene! That was annoying!

It switched back to the girl doing some tarot card reading thing for Knight. He heard the Nurse's voice get warm when she touched Knight's dialogue. For the hundredth time, Van wished he could roll his eyes. As the girl started describing Knight's past through the cards – deus ex machina count number who knows anymore – the Nurse actually gasped as she reads his father left the family and his sister was kidnapped and his mother died and blah, blah, blah, long story short: Van hated Knight. King was so much more interesting that that derp. And he was in Zaibach castle thingy! He was going to get killed! Knight finally believed the deus ex machina girl and she's got to use some kinda voodoo thing with her necklace to find the king.

Finally! King action! Van listened intently:

"The bedroom was dark as the boy slowly roused. A familiar whistling tune singing in the air around his head filled him with memories long since forgotten. He knew that music. It was Fanelia's music. Glancing to his left he saw the black shadow of a dark cloak. He sat up quickly as he realized a figure was in the room with him.

'Who's there?' He challenged. The figure turned to move closer. 'How do you know that Fanelia song?'

The figure remained quiet. With a quick intake of breath, the king noticed his sword lying on the desk and rushed off the bed to snatch it. The figure gave him no threatening moves as he whipped the blade out of the sheath. 'Okay, how about leading me to my Guymelef now!?' The king demanded.

'Do you think that the Zaibach soldiers would give in to such threats? You cannot escape from this floating fortress, my brother.' the figure whispered.

Whoa, wait. Brother?

"His brother!?" The Nurse hissed. He heard frantic pages turning back to the first chapter. "I thought he said his brother died or something… That was in her first vision while she was still on Earth. How in the world could he be alive?"

Keep reading and maybe we'll find out! Van wanted to yell at her. As if hearing him, she flipped back to her current page and continued.

The king growled, 'If the only way to live is as one of your pawns then I-' he placed the blade on his neck and the sword was knocked out of his hands by an invisible force. It was only after it happened; the king realized the man had drawn his sword with lightning speed.

'Never throw your life away so easily.' The black cloak fell from the figure's shoulders and puddled on the ground.

As a shadow of wings stretched forth from the figure's back, the king knew.

There was no questioning.

'B-Brother…'"

The sound of her startled voice hit too close to home.

Brother…

He had more in common with this king that he'd thought…

His mind still reeling from the book's plot twist about his favorite character, he hardly heard the next part. Somehow, the girl did what a deus ex machina does best and found the king's location with her magic or whatever and fainted because of it. The Nurse squealed slightly as Knight caught the girl in her chair.

"Oh, no, Allen actually called and I missed it…" she whispered obviously looking down at her phone from her book. Van could actually taste the dilemma in her as she torn between speaking to her new boy toy and reading her book.

He wished he could smile as she started up Dilly-Doo's higher pitched, yet slightly raspy voice.

Book: 1

Allen: 0

A heroic rescue from Knight. Dilly-Doo gets sliced in the face (Van knew it was pronounced Dilandau or something, but Dilly-Doo made him happier). The girl jumped a huge gap and really didn't do much else – which Van thought was stupid. Why didn't the cat girl try to jump? She's half-cat, right? She'd have made it just fine!

But whatever, the king was saved and they were headed to some place called Palas when the book's chapter ended.

Also, Van didn't really care for this Allen dude.

He called again during the book's most exciting part and the Nurse took the vibrating phone and turned it off. Just as the chapter finished, she immediately picked up the phone and called him back. She apologized – which Van thought was unnecessary considering she was kind of at work – and they set up a time when he could call her and she would be able to chat.

Then Allen said something to her to make her giggle.

God, would she just get out already? The chapter was over! King was safe. Yay for all! Van wanted sleep!

Before she left she whispered, "I hope you wake up soon, Mr. Fanel."

Van dreamed about riding a flying dragon that night.

That's it for this one. Tomorrow is another chapter - much longer! I hope you enjoyed it!

Questions, comments, thoughts, hated it, loved it, wish I would write Rutilus already and stop posting new stories?

I won't know unless you tell me!

Love to all!

blue...