***This is a snippet of what will come. However, if you aren't into spoilers, I suggest skipping to the first chapter.

This is an alternate universe which takes place on Gaea. If you want for info, you'll just have to read. Also, a warning on the language, and for now the rating is PG-13, and in the future I may decide to raise the rating.

I'm not going to rant on about how people should reply, etc, etc., because if you like it, you'll most likely reply, and if it sucks, well then you'll feed it to your dog, or send flames. So, judge accordingly.

BTW, I do not own Vision of Escaflowne..., so go ahead and sue me, but I'm warning you, you won't be getting much ^__~

***

It would be better this way- Teaser





~She had to do this

Slipping the pure-white feather out of it's sacred leaflet, Hitomi bit her lip. She would take the feather, which was once fearfully concealed in the gap between her mattress, with her. She would take his feather to her grave, fulfilling her promise that she would die with him - if only a piece of him.

~But... he won't understand

Clamping her eyes shut, the brunette desperately tried to keep the image from flooding into her mind; but this, of course, failed. His eyes a piercing crimson - so full of loneliness and pain, as they were on the day they were separated. It was that look which caused a stinging sensation beneath her eyelids, and forbidden tears welled up because she knew he... he wouldn't understand.

***

"There's no way I will!" she screamed, balling her fists and struggling with hot tears. He laughed at her, mocking her failing courage and gave a gleaming smile, nonchalantly flicking back a strand of silver hair. "But my dearest," he cooed, his voice like black silk, yet laced with sweet venom, "you were always a woman who wanted the best for this land- a woman who wanted to prevent more innocent deaths." He paused, delightfully drinking up the horror which was slowly registering in her pallid face. "I just can't believe you would throw away all those lives."

***

He was a liar. Even if she did marry him, he would never adhere to his promise. He was only after one thing - her powers. If he owned her, he would be unstoppable. She loathed him - Dilandu - and she would rather die than consent to his wishes. Even though he managed to snare the rest with his deceit, she could see through that fair veil he wore - she could see his uncontrollable lust for destruction. Dilandu would destroy everything, and he could... because he had her.

Wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her nightgown, Hitomi slipped the accursed ring off her finger and flung it out her bedchamber window, sending it to the crashing waves below. Van was everything he wasn't, and she wouldn't let anything more harm him. Van would be safe, because she would be out of Dilandu's reach - forever.

~It will be better this way

Creeping through the stone corridors, she finally reached the castle rooftop. The wind was especially violent tonight, whipping her long brown locks around her body and making her nightgown dance like a flag. A flag - yes, she would symbolize something - defiance to Dilandu, and an end to the ancient powers which should have been extinguished 3000 years ago. It was that ancient power which Dilandu drained from her, the power which gave him his inhuman abilities.

Curling her toes over the edge of the stone battlement and standing tall, Hitomi turned her head and gazed back at the land for the last time. A land shrouded in the darkness he brought, a land where light could no longer reach. Everything was dying - the animals, the plants, the people; it seemed as though the land itself was suffering from some horrible disease.

She would be it's cure.

No, they would be the cure.

Turning back around, her heart wavered for a split second. She wanted to see him again. She to see him smile, hear his laugh. She didn't want him to be sad anymore.

~Van... he won't understand

He was the light which would cleanse this land. He would now finally be able to defeat Dilandu. Dilandu wouldn't be able to drain her powers for himself anymore. It was her powers that caused all the pain and suffering.

~All of Van's pain and suffering

He was her saviour, but he won't be able to save her this time. With her powers finally eliminated, Dilandu's hold on this land will crumble, and Van will be able to wrest it from his grasp, delivering the peace which the faint glimmer of hope within the peoples' hearts yearned for.

~He won't understand

Peering through the haze of her own tears, her breath caught in her throat. A lone sliver of light crept over the endless span of waves, highlighting the liquid black into a warm orange. It was only one of the Sun's precious rays, yet it was the first beam of light to touch this land in a long time.

~I love him

It had to be a sign. Things would be ok now, the land will be ok now... Van will be ok now.

~And one day he will understand because ... he loves me back

Hitomi jumped.