(A/N: Hey guys. Here it is, the much awaited sequel of Amicitia! Eee! I'm so excited for it! I don't own Escaflowne any more than I did last story, but I do in fact own all the characters no one recognizes, and the story line from both Amicitia and Amicitia Memoria. And before the Reviews start comin' in askin' what the title of this story means, it means Friendship Memory. So without further delay, here it is, the sequel!)
"Wow," Millerna said as she closed, taped, and labelled another box. "I can't believe you guys are leaving tomorrow night. You're gonna be so far away!" Tears rushed to her eyes and she bit her lip. Allen piled another box near the others and reached over to hug her.
"Don't worry, 'Lerna! We'll visit and call often," reassured Van squeezing her hand lightly. Millerna wiped her eyes and brushed some hair off her face.
"Dammit guys, enough of this moping around. We're gonna have fun your last night here!" Dilandau walked to the door of Hitomi and Van's apartment suite where he had left his jacket. He returned holding a bottle of wine in one hand and a large, half full bottle of Jack Daniels. "Let's get drunk!"
Hitomi laughed at him and said, "Sorry Dilly, I think we packed away all our cups."
"Ah, but no worries my dear, for we will do this!" Dilandau popped the cork, handed the wine to Dryden, and tipped the other bottle up to his lips once the cap was removed.
Hitomi had just taken a sip of wine when the phone, one of the only things left unpacked, rang. Handing the bottle off to her fiancé, she ran to get it.
"Hello?"
"Hitomi!" a high, distant voice cried.
"Merle, is that you?!" asked Hitomi.
"MERLE!" Dilandau yelled in the background.
With a laugh, Merle said, "How's the packing going?"
"Good! How's Rome?"
"It's awesome! Lots of foxy guys!" Hitomi laughed at her friend. "I'll come visit you as soon as I'm back home, alright?"
"Of course! We'll be waiting for you." There was a smack on Hitomi's arm and she turned to see Van gesturing at her. "Van wants to talk to you, I'm gonna go get drunk with the rest of them."
Merle laughed. "Have fun 'Tomi. Take care, hun, I love you!"
"I love you too, Merle!"
Van took the phone from her hands and started speaking with Merle. Millerna ran into the box-filled kitchen, Allen chasing her and trying to steal the bottle she clutched in her hands. Once Allen had gotten a hold of it, Hitomi scooped it easily out of his grasp and drank some.
* * *
The clock read 3:36 as Hitomi and Van finally collapsed onto the mattress and sleeping bags that they were using as a bed until they left. Hitomi rolled onto her side and propped her head up on her arm. Van's eyes were closed until he felt her fingers travel lightly up and down his bare chest, tracing a scar he had from his job as a part time construction worker. The work was hard, the pay was shitty, but it was helping support the two of them.
Van's arm slowly moved to encircle Hitomi and pull her up so she was laying on him and looking down. "You excited for tomorrow?" he asked as he his fingers traced patterns on her lower back.
"Mmm hmm. It'll be scary though. All by ourselves in a huge city; think we can do it?" She laid her flaxen head on his chest and listened to his heart for a while.
After a pause he lifted his head. She felt him move and looked up at him. "Yeah, we can," he said. "We'll be fine." With a smile, Hitomi leaned in and kissed Van chastely. Within moments, he had moved so their positions were flipped.
Running her hands through his hair, Hitomi pressed up against him, loving the feeling of his hands on her back. It only took Van a couple seconds to relieve her of her unneeded shirt and as soon as that happened, both were lost to the world.
* * *
As Hitomi opened her eyes, she saw the blankets covering her body, the sun streaming in the half covered window, and a note lying on the side of the bed.
Gone for another fantastic day at work. I'm off at 5:00. Pick me up? Only ten hours till we're gone! Love you.
Smiling and stretching, she wandered out of their room to have a shower. Fifteen minutes later she was back, towelling her hair and dressed. She left the house leisurely to pick up Van. It took her a long while to drive there but even so she was almost a full half hour early.
He acknowledged her presence with a nod as he helped another man carry some supplies into an old, precarious looking building. Hitomi stood and watched as slowly the workers around the site started to clear things away and park their machinery. She saw a young mother cross the street holding the hand of a small child and smiling. It wasn't until she heard a sound like a gunshot that she turned again. One side of the building Van had gone into was sagging suddenly.
Hitomi's breathing became ragged and she took several steps forward until her fingers were holding onto the chain link fence separating the construction site from the sidewalk. There were more groaning noises and the sound of collapsing concrete and bending steel.
"Van!" Hitomi screamed as she gripped the fence until her fingers were white.
Men and women ran to get a safe distance away from the building as with one final noise, it collapsed in on itself. Hitomi sprinted around to the opening in the fence where cars drove and hurried through it, towards the building.
She was yelling Van's name over and over as she made her way towards the shattered concrete. Someone grabbed her and held her back tightly as she thrashed. "Ma'am, you can't go in there! It's very unstable!"
"Fuck off!" she shrieked in reply. "My boyfriend's in there!"
"Ma'am! You're going to have to wait for the professionals."
Hitomi whirled on the poor young man. "I am not going to wait for people to come help! My boyfriend is in there now. I'm pretty sure he doesn't want me standing here waiting for someone to come rescue him!"
"No, ma'am, I must insist that you don't go in there," he replied.
As she turned to move towards the building again, the young man again grabbed her arm and held her back once again. There was a loud noise from the building again as a corner of it collapsed further and some rubble rolled towards the people. Hitomi let out a piercing shriek and fell onto her knees. She cried as she leaned her hands forward onto the ground and threw up.
* * *
"Hitomi? Hunny? Are you there? Well, I'm just calling to check up on you. Call me if you need anything or if there's any more news about Van."
Hitomi's mother's voice filled the kitchen as Hitomi sat slumped in a chair, checking messages on her machine.
"Hello Hitomi. Mrs. Fanel here. Listen dear, I just want you to know, if you need to call us, you can, for any reason, at any time. Alright? Okay... Well, we hope to hear from you soon." Her voice cracked and shook as she tried to hold her tears back for the sake of her future daughter-in-law.
Without unplugging the phone or answering machine from the wall, Hitomi grabbed her backpack that was on the floor of her and Van's apartment. She strode to the door and looked back for a moment. After flicking the lights off, she closed the door and moved quickly down the stairs and out of the lobby to the old car she had shared with Van.
As she drove out of the parking lot and onto the freeway out of the city, a voice cried out over the rubble in the former construction site.
"We've found a survivor!"
(A/N: Well, I'm back. Poor you guys, eh? Of course. I think I'll quite enjoy this story. It's angsty, just like the last one, only in a different way. And I know, I know, I don't waste any time getting into the plat, do I? Review it, guys!)
