Summary: Van finds himself five years later waiting for Hitomi to come back to Gaia. Filled with guilt for the wife he had to take for the sake of duty, and wanting to see the girl he fell in love with. He gets a last chance to see her again, but it's not a reunion he had hoped for. Van's POV.
A/N: Hello, just a (very) short story I've been tossing around in my noggin for a hot minute. The last episode of TVOE I felt it had ended terribly, (just my opinion, I need more closure than that.) but Van never talked about his feelings. Understandably 15-year boys can't articulate their feels well. Plus, he had a whole kingdom to rebuild in the end. So, please enjoy.
This summer was one of the hottest that Fanelia had experienced. Her usual cool summer nights had evaded the kingdom. Leaving everyone noticeably irritated. The breeze came through the balcony, sending cool air over my clammy skin. A quick relief but nothing permit like I'd hope.
Getting up from the bed, I made sure not to disturb my wife. Looking at her naked backside I felt myself wanting her to wake her up, and lose myself in her again, but a part of me feeling guilty. "Hitomi," I thought silently. I looked at the mystic moon. The pendant she gave me years ago on my hand. I didn't understand why she never tried to contact me. Did she not think of me as often as I think of her?
"Did you really love me?" I said to the moon. Realizing I had spoken aloud, I snuck a peek at the sleeping body. She didn't move. Turning my gaze back to the moon. "Was Merle right to stop waiting for you?" My chest started to hurt thinking about the yelling match Merle and I had. Her words had hurt so much. "She lied Lord Van! If she loved you, wouldn't you have felt something by now?"
She was right. Five years have gone by, I haven't felt, heard, or seen a vision of Hitomi. I had even tried that trick she taught me to find the invisible guymelefs. It didn't work. It would just hang there never moving. My chest started to tighten, I could feel my throat starting to burn. My face was hot, and I could feel the tears starting to build.
"Why does this hurt so bad? Why do I still think of you? Please Hitomi, give me something. Give me something, give me a sign. A vision, a pillar of light, your voice." I looked to the mystic moon, "Please." My voice broke. The tears were sliding down my face.
I felt two slender arms wrap around my torso. One across my stomach, the other across my chest with a hand resting on my shoulder. Her breast flush against my back, and her forehead in the middle of my shoulder blades. The comfort I felt in her arms was short lived by my thoughts of Hitomi.
"I'm sorry," I pulled away from her. "I didn't mean to wake you. Go back to bed. I'll be there in a moment. I just got too hot." I didn't look at her, just her hands that I was holding. Her knuckles were scarred from years of training. Our hands were the same, a warrior's hands. She didn't answer me, she instead caressed my cheek. Wiping away a tear, I sobbed into her caress. Why does her touch feel so good?
"You're thinking of her." She said. I could hear a tone of sorrow in her voice. The guilt I felt intensified, "Yes, I'm..I'm sorry."
"Why are you sorry?" I looked at my wife. Her gloomy gray eyes looked into my own crimson, "Why do you feel so guilty?" Her other hand wiped the tears away from my other cheek.
She always seemed to know what I felt, and always seemed to understand my most complex emotion. Emma always made me feel better. No matter the gesture, she supported me. I knew she loved me. Even though she never said those three words. Her actions show just how much she did. Even now, as I mourn over the love for another, she is right here, consoling me.
"Here you are, soothing me as I cry about another woman. I feel guilty because it's like I've been leading you on. I know you love me, Emma. I see it in your eyes. I am just sorry that I can't return that love I know you deserve." I let out a sob. Sinking to my knees, I clasped her stomach. Crying into the soft flesh of her belly.
Her fingers habitually start running through my raven hair. I let out another sniffle because she knew at that moment, the small comfort she was giving me was what I needed. She hummed a soft melody as my sniffs started to cease.
"Van," she said softly. I looked up at her. Her hair hung to the side in a long braid, covering a nipple. She was so beautiful, "would you like to see her?"
I just looked at her, "How?"
"My gift of sight along with the pendant in your hand will help me to help you and Hitomi see each other."
I couldn't believe it. I could see her again! I could talk to her. I could, "Van," Emma interrupted my thoughts, "understand that you won't be able to touch each other. You'll just be able to speak and see. I'm not strong enough to physical bring you there, just project you." I stood up, "Yes, I want to see Hitomi." My knees a little stiff from the balcony stone floor.
Emma's head came to the bottom of my chin. She didn't look at me. The guilt came flooding back. "Emma, I'm," "Don't," she grasped the pendant from my hand, "I don't want to hear it."
She stepped away from me, tears in her eyes. Then a pillar of light engulfed me. My feet separated from the ground.
I looked to Emma. She was holding the glowing pendant, tears in her eyes. "Don't be disappointed with what you find."
Then I was gone.
Hitomi was in front of me. She was sitting in a chair reading a book. Her back to me, a cup of hot tea was in front of her. "Hitomi?" I called out. She jumped and turned around. Once her eyes landed on me I was starting to understand what Emma was trying to tell me. Hitomi had aged by 30 years. She looked happy to see me, but her eyes were cheerless. The same melancholy look Emma had.
"Oh Van, how are you? How did you get here? Come give me hug!" She called out. I ran over to give her a hug, but I went through her. I turned around and looked at Hitomi. "I'm sorry, but I can't. Getting here was difficult."
"That's alright Van." Hitomi just smiled.
"Tell me Van have you discovered the Fountain of Youth and that's why you look like you never aged?" She gave a small chuckle. "Five years have passed on Gaia Hitomi." She looked shocked, "And, it seems like time has sped up for you." Nodding Hitomi said, "It has been 35 years since I've seen you, Van." Shaking my head, I couldn't believe it. Had she waited for me this whole time?
Hitomi spoke again, "Van, I'm dying," she looked to the moon. "I found out that I had stage four cancer a year ago. My kids are flying in from America to visit me, and my husband should be home from work soon." She looked at peace.
I didn't speak. I couldn't speak. She had moved on. Fell in love with someone else. Had children, and here she was dying. I was shaking. I was too late. Emma why didn't you just tell me?
"Van, I waited for you. During and after high school, I tried to contact you, reach you, but without my grandmother's pendant I couldn't." Hitomi frowned, "I had figured you would have done the same thing I did. Find someone who loves you. Makes you happy." She reached for my hand, but Emma's power could only project me here. So, it passed through me. "I hope you understand Van, if not, hopefully, one day you will."
"I do Hitomi." She gave me a tiny smile. "Hitomi! Honey, I'm home. I brought some sweets!" A man, presuming her husband called from inside the house. Her eyes came alive at the sound of his voice. "Goodbye Van. Find your happiness." I watched her get up slowly from the chair, and walk away.
In a blink of an eye, I was back in Fanelia, on the balcony where I had left Emma. "Was I gone long?" See Emma was in one of my shirts. She just shook her head no. We looked into one another's eyes. "Did you make peace with her?" She asked. I closed the distance between us. I wrapped my arms around her muscular frame. "Yes, thank you, Emma." She nodded into my chest. Her arms slid around my sides and up my back. Holding me tight. I kissed the top of her head. "Come, let's go back to bed."
I pulled her flush against my body. Emma's head resting on my pillow and my head nuzzled in her neck.
"Emma?" I asked. "Hmm?" I tighten my arm around her, "l love you."