Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne.
Promises: Chapter One
Silence weighed heavily in the room. Her parents sat on the couch a grave look on both their faces; she sat opposite of them in a chair. She liked this chair, memories of jumping in it when she was a child reaching high up into the air trying to touch the ceiling of her home.
"Hitomi, are you sure about this." Her mother began tentatively her hand clenching tightly around her husband's. "Quitting school so suddenly and coming back home. Your father and I are more than pleased with your decision to come home but, we have to think about your future."
Hitomi smiled at her mother. "I know mother, I love you and father but I want to take a break for a while. I think I jumped into it all a bit quickly and I didn't want the two of you to worry about me when the school sent word of my withdrawal."
The long silence in the room was agonizing for her as she watched her fathers scowl deepen and her mothers forehead wrinkle a little more. "We're just worried about you dear."
"I know mom." She whispered smiling a little and standing. "I'm sort of tired. The flight was really long." Her gaze flicked up to the clock on the wall. "It's nearly one a.m. Dad I'm sure you have work tomorrow."
He nodded motioning for Hiromi to stand up guiding her out of the room. He paused before disappearing around the corner. "I hope you know what you're doing Hitomi."
She couldn't meet his gaze it was impossible to do, all the while she told them about what happened to her in college and how she just felt over whelmed with it all. He kept a look of hardened disappointment on his face; it did nothing to soothe the knot that had formed during the flight as she stayed awake the whole time thinking of a way to tell her parents that she was going back to Gaea. A place her father adamantly detested her speaking of.
Sighing heavily and running a hand through her hair she made her way quietly up the stairs of her old house and into her room. Glancing around the cream colored room she noted how the paint had faded over time around posters that were no longer there. The few belongings she'd taken with her to school sat in the boxes in the middle of the floor. Her mother had made her bed after she'd called from the air port.
With a groan Hitomi did a face plant into the soft covers. Her mind drifting slowly, how was she going to tell them? Should she tell them at all or would they believe her at all? Turning over her green eyes scanned the ceiling. "I don't know what to do Van." She said aloud, blinking rapidly she tried to keep tears from forming. "What if I can't come back to you? What if you…" She couldn't finish the thought. Images of Van standing aside another woman laughing smiling, it all made her nauseous. "No." She said firmly. "I will go back. I have to go." One word entered her consciousness, that word of safety, confidence, understanding and love. "Home. I have to go home."
Snuggling under the covers of her bed the knot of fear was somehow gone the second she realized it. Fanalia, no Van was home and she had to be there no matter what. Hitomi began to drift off slowly tomorrow she'd try, tomorrow she'd go home. From somewhere inside she felt warmth and then a small whisper as a sigh of contentment escaped her. Tomorrow would be the beginning.
"You're telling me you're insane." The thin red head said waving her hand around in the air. Yukari Uchida sat across from Hitomi, in the café. "You think you're going to go back to a place that you dreamed of in the first place."
"You were there Yukari!" Hitomi said firmly her hand banging into the counter, drawing the attention of nearly everyone in the establishment. Hitomi hushed her voice leaning in closer to her friend. "You were there. You saw what happened, the dragon, the light, Van. How can you say that it was a dream?"
Yukari sighed and leaned back in the chair sighing. "Because Hitomi."
They fell silent Hitomi stared out the window, she had a knit cap on and long sleeves pulled over her hands and wrists. Yukari sipped at her coffee slowly, wearing a long sleeved shirt as well an American brand name scrawled across it. "It doesn't matter." Hitomi straightened up playing with the remnants of the paper that had covered the straw of her soda. "I know what happened to me. I know what I have to do."
"And that's go back to a world where Prince Charming lives and live happily ever after?"
Hitomi's scowl deepened. "I should have never told you."
Yukari reached over and grasped her hand. "Hitomi."
"I have to go." She said, standing and putting on her jacket. Yukari stood too reaching for her friend. "I'll talk to you again soon." She hugged her friend and they both exited the small diner Hitomi waving to her long time friend as she walked away.
There was a slight breeze that swept through the trees pulling a few of the soft yellow leafs down and swirling across a orange hued sky. Hitomi's feet stood on the maroon pavement of her old high school track field. "This place you dreamed about?" Yukari's words echoed in her head as she stared at the one hundred meter mark. A gentle breeze moved her hair and she closed her eyes emptying her mind. "Hitomi." Someone whispered in her mind.
Crouching down, Hitomi Kanzaki cleared her mind. "Now give it everything."
"GO!" Reverberated in her ears and Hitomi's feet lifted off the ground; running with extreme vigor. She passed fifty meters, the defined white line growing closer and closer. "Van!" Her mind called out as she neared the mark, passing over it with ease, slowing to a stop bent over breathing heavily.
She stood up straight looking at the sky she closed her eyes. "Van." She whispered. Hitomi could feel a small twinge in her stomach as she stood eyes closed. She felt lighter for some reason, opening her eyes she saw nothing but a pale blue around her; her feet lifted from the ground filling her with a sensation of fear and happiness. Today was the day.
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Hello kittens.
It's a new year and I'm as swamped as ever. I've actually been working on this extremely short chapter for the past two months, but I have the whole story mapped so it shall go well. This story is the sequel to "Wish". Read that if you have not because these two will tie together.
If you read this, review. Even if you didn't like this. Improvements and feedback are welcomed.
Thank you all so very much!