My first full length Esca fanfic! Yay! Let's home all goes according to plan (or better). I was originally planning not to post this until I got the second, third and fourth chapters written, just to make sure I was dedicated enough to actually finish it and not leave you all hanging, but I've decided to post this chapter now. Fair warning: It might take me until summer to get the next chapter up, but I'll try to be quicker than that.

Disclaimer: I do not own Escaflowne, etc. etc.

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"Hitomi, there you are! I need you to read my fortune." A girl with short honey colored hair paused in the doorway, turning to the strawberry blond head who had called out to her.

"Sorry Mizuri, I have to get to practice. Maybe later." She quickly bowed in apology before turning to sprint out of the building.

"I'm going to be late," she muttered under her breath, picking up the pace. It was only the second week of practice. Yukari was going to kill her. Hitomi flew down the stairs to the track field four at a time, finally coming to a stop next to her best friend.

"Hitomi," she shouted, "It's already four o'clock. You're late!"

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. I had an essay I had to finish up."

"Yeah, well if you want to keep your place on the track team, you better show up to practice on time." Hitomi ignored her friend as she went on yet another rant about her responsibilities to the team. Instead, she concentrated on her breathing, readying herself for the task ahead of her. Today, she was going to break her record and run the 100 meter dash in less than 13 seconds. She had been working harder than ever this year. It had started with her obsession with Amano, the captain of the track team. He was an amazing athlete and very cute. He was the reason she joined the track team and he was the reason she had pushed herself so hard.

But that was all in the past. Last year, Amano moved to England. Hitomi considered quitting the track team, but she couldn't leave it behind. She spent two years chasing after Amano, but she caught up to him. Instead, she grew to love running. The challenge of pushing her body as hard as she could and finding she could go even farther than she thought possible. To most people, this would be a thrill, something exciting and invigorating, but not for Hitomi.

It was the serenity of running that had captured Hitomi's heart. When she ran, her mind was calm and clear. She had one simple goal to work towards and she could meet it. Maybe she wouldn't finish in the time she hoped for on this run, but every step was an improvement, every step brought her towards her goal.

"Hitomi. Hitomi! Are you even listening to me?"

"What?"

"Forget it," Yukari sighed, waving her hand in dismissal. "Come on. It's time for the girls' run."

"Kay."

Hitomi quickly pulled off her jacket and sweats, taking her position on the track. As Hitomi crouched in front of her starting blocks waiting for the rest of the girls to line up, her hand traveled up to the pink pendant around her neck. Her grandmother had given it to her several years ago, telling her it would bring her great luck. She squeezed the stone in her hand twice and then tucked it into her shirt. She could use all the luck she could get.

"On your marks," the coach began. Hitomi stepped back onto the blocks.

"Get set." She straightened her legs slightly and balanced her weight between her hands and feet.

"Go!" Hitomi shot off her blocks, easily pulling ahead of the other girls. Her vision narrowed and she saw only her path to the finish line. Feet and heart pounded as she pushed herself even harder. She flew past the finish line, finally allowing herself to slow down. Breathing hard, she looked up at Yukari hopefully.

"13 second on the dot! That's amazing Hitomi!"

Hitomi's heart dropped. She hadn't made it. She was still stuck at 13 seconds. Not wanting to worry Yukari, Hitomi forced a smile onto her face and looked up at her elated friend. She would just have to train harder.

"Bye mom. I'll be back in a few hours," Hitomi called.

"Ok, have fun at Yukari's and tell her I said hello."

"Ok mom." Hitomi closed the door behind her and set off at a brisk jog towards Yukari's house. As soon as she was out of sight from her house, however, she quickly changed directions and headed for the school instead. She hated lying to her mom about going to Yukari's, but there was no way she would have been allowed to go all the way to the school by herself this late. The sun had almost set, but Hitomi was determined to get in a couple hours of practice this evening. She couldn't afford to slack off if she ever wanted to beat her record.

Hitomi reached the school in just under thirty-five minutes. It would have taken her less time if she had taken the train, but she figured the jogging would be a good addition to her workout.

All the lights on the field were shut off, leaving only the dim light from the setting sun to illuminate the track. Hitomi wasn't worried. After two and a half years of running up and down this track, she knew every step by heart. She dropped her bag on a bench and took her place at the starting like. She carefully set the timer on her watch for 16 seconds, hit the start button, counted to three, and shot off down the track.

Hitomi stood in the middle of the track, bent at the waist, hands on her knees, and breathing hard. She was tired, out of breath, and sweating heavily. Despite all that, she was grinning from ear to ear. She had finally done it. She had finally beaten thirteen seconds! Twelve point six was what her watch said. It was probably a couple tenths off, but that still put her below thirteen seconds. Hitomi straightened up and began slowly jogging around the track to cool down.

When she had made two complete laps, she was still smiling. Months and months of working towards this one goal and she had finally made it!

Hitomi picked up her bag and left the track field, heading towards the train. She would have preferred to jog, but it was getting late and her mother would be worried if she didn't get home soon.

During her practice, the sun had set completely, leaving only stars to light her path off school grounds. Nervously, she squeezed her grandmother's pendant, only to drop it immediately. A sharp pain ran through her hand, almost as if the pendant had shocked her.

Confused, she carefully pulled the pendant closer to her eyes to examine. It looked the same as it always had: a pink gem set between intricate gold cones. Wait. No, it didn't look like it always did. Something was different. Deep within the gem, there was a faint glow. At first glance, Hitomi had attributed it to a reflection of light. Then she realized that there was no light for it to reflect. Gazing at the gem, she noticed that the light was pulsing, like a heartbeat – "Like my heartbeat," Hitomi whispered. Her heart skipped a beat. So did the light. She was afraid, but also fascinated.

Hitomi brought the gem even closer to her face, gazing into the depths of the gem, depths that she had never noticed before. Now she could see a figure. It was blurry, but definitely a human figure. The figure reached out his arm towards her. Hitomi expected to see the hand stop at the gem, but instead, she felt the most unsettling feeling she had ever felt – it was as if the man's hand was reaching inside her chest! She felt it close around her hard a pull.

Hitomi fell to her knees, gasping for breath. Never before had she felt such intense pain. She felt another tug at her heart and cried out in agony. Then came the strangest feeling of all: nothing. She couldn't feel anything where her heart used to be. No beat, no pulsing of muscles forcing blood through her veins, just an disconcerting stillness.

And now she couldn't breathe! She tried to place a hand on her chest, but her arms wouldn't move. It was as if her entire body was shutting down.

"I'm dying!" she thought, trying desperately to move, to breathe, to do something. "This can't be it, it can't be the end," she pleaded with herself. The edges of her vision blurred together, leading her through an unsteady tunnel and then blacking out all together.

Her thoughts were coming slower now, slow and disjointed. She couldn't tell what she was thinking. No, she knew exactly what she was thinking, but none of it was making any sense. It was if her mind was suddenly speaking another language, one that she could speak, but couldn't translate. Soon, even that began to leave her. All that was left now were her emotions: confusion, anger, disbelief, and an overwhelming sadness.

Then there was nothing.

"I'm not dead," Hitomi thought. Or at least, she didn't think she was. Her eyes were still closed, but she could feel hard packed earth and rocks underneath her. There was still a dull throbbing in her chest and her head felt like it was being crushed in a vice. If this was death, it definitely wasn't what Hitomi had expected.

Hitomi forced her eyes open, squinting. It was a bright day and – wait, day? Hitomi groaned and squeezed her eyes shut again. If it was day, that meant she had spent the entire night lying in front of the school. Her mother would be worried sick!

Hitomi slowly pushed herself into a sitting position, trying to ignore the pain in her chest and head. She had to get home. Still unwilling to open her eyes and subject her already pulsing head to the painfully bright sun, she felt around blindly for her bag. Instead, her hand met a large, long, smooth rock. She maneuvered her hand around it and hit yet another of those strange rocks.

Curiously, Hitomi cracked open one eye. Instead of the rock she had expected to find, a long white bone stretched across the ground next to her. It was almost as long as she was tall and it was sitting in the midst of many other bones, probably a complete skeleton. But a skeleton of what? And what was it doing outside the school? And why hadn't anyone noticed it yet? It was clearly afternoon, but obviously no one had discovered her or the bones yet.

Hitomi raised her head, expecting to see the familiar sight of two imposing stone pillars that marked the gates to her school. Instead, there was one very solid, rough stone wall. Hitomi's breath caught in her throat.

For the first time since waking up, Hitomi took in all of her surroundings. The rough brown sandstone wall that she had first seen was several meters in front of her and about 5 times as tall as she was. It curved around on both sides, forming an irregular circle with two openings at opposite ends. The circle itself was rather large with a diameter of perhaps 50 meters. Most of that space was taken up by the skeleton Hitomi had woken up next to.

The skull of . . . whatever the skeleton used to be reminded her of a dinosaur skull that she had seen in a museum when she was five. Like most five year olds, Hitomi had been fascinated with the thought of giant lizards roaming the earth and had begged and pleaded until her parents finally succumbed and took her to see the display. The T-Rex skull that she had stared at with wonder, awe, and a little bit of fear ten years ago looked strikingly similar to the version she was now staring at in wonder, awe, and much more than a little bit of fear.

Tearing her eyes away from the skeleton, Hitomi tried to think. "Where am I?" she muttered. Obviously, she was not in Tokyo anymore, but how had she gotten there? Shaking her head, Hitomi turned in the direction of one of the openings in the rock wall. She didn't know where she was now, but she was going to find out.

"I'm sure if I start walking I'll run into a town or something sooner or later." Ok, so it wasn't the best of plans, but it was all she had. Taking a deep breath, Hitomi set off in search of . . . something. Anything.

When she reached the opening, she paused, looking over her shoulder. Her eyes fell on the skeleton once more and she almost decided to go back to the bones. She felt . . . drawn to the remains. It was a strange way to describe her feelings, but accurate. Forcing herself to turn away, Hitomi began walking down her chosen path. She didn't have time to go back and play archeologist. Judging by the sun, it was already noon and she had no idea how far away the closest town would be. She did not want to get stuck out here at night, so she walked on, putting the bones and those odd feelings behind her.

Several hours had passed and Hitomi still hadn't found a town. During her trek, the scenery had changed slightly. Instead of walls like in the canyon where she had woken up, there were tall mesas made of the same material that surrounded, and occasionally blocked her path. At times, she had to change direction completely just to avoid one of these towering stone pillars, but she wasn't going to give up. Hitomi's friends always said she was as stubborn as a pig, and they were right. There was no way that Hitomi would give up. She would keep walking all afternoon, all evening, and even all night if necessary, until she reached a town.

But damn she was thirsty. It was incredibly hot and she had long since finished the bottle of water in her duffle bag. She had already taken off the outer layer of her track uniform and was exceedingly glad that she wasn't wearing her heavy school uniform. Hitomi stopped, leaning against one of the stone mesas. As good of an athlete as she was, the intense heat was sapping her of all energy and she needed to rest. She closed her eyes and gracelessly slid to the ground.

As she sat there, trying to conserve her energy, a strange sound reached her ears. There was a soft hissing that sounded like a cross between a cat and a snake steadily increasing in volume. Hitomi's eyes snapped open and flew from side to side, looking for the source of the sound.

There, standing in the middle of the path she had come from were four . . . . what? The creatures standing before Hitomi were like nothing she had ever seen before. The creatures had a mostly human build, but were crouched down on hands and knees. Their faces were smashed snouts with razor sharp teeth bared in feral grins and they were covered from snout to toe in brown and gray scales

For what had to be the tenth time that day, Hitomi felt as if her heart was about to stop. Her fear paralyzed her, cementing her feet in place. Her brain was screaming at her body to run, but all messages from brain to body had been blocked.

Suddenly, one of the creatures lunged at her! The block between body and brain was finally wrenched aside and Hitomi screamed, throwing her arms over her head for protection. The snarling face of the beast smashed into her arm, teeth sinking into soft flesh and summoning another terrified scream from Hitomi's lips.

Hitomi struggled, thrashing her arms and legs in every direction, trying to loosen the monster's hold on her. Finally, she felt the creature's teeth rip from her arm and, summoning all her strength, she kicked out both legs in the creature's direction. Miraculously, Hitomi's kick landed in the middle of its scaled chest, sending the beast flying and freeing Hitomi. Pushing herself to her feet, Hitomi sprinted away from the creatures, fully aware of the snarling and hissing that followed right on her heels.

Her feet pounded against the ground and she ran as fast as she could, thankful for her experience on the track team. The creatures were fast, but she was faster. She ran through the maze of rocks, dodging left and right with no idea where she was going. She had lost sight of her pursuers several turns ago, but she could still hear them as if they were right behind her!

Hitomi skidded to a stop. The path she had been running down had come to a dead end. She turned, expecting one of the creatures to be right behind her, but there was nothing.

"Ok," she whispered to herself, "Don't panic. At least I'm not being followed anymore." Hitomi took a deep breath, trying to slow the frantic pace of her heart.

She glanced down at her throbbing arm and turned her head away almost immediately. It was a gruesome sight. The creature's teeth had torn chunks of flesh clean off her arm, leaving gaping wounds in the midst of long, deep scratches.

As her fear began to leave her, the pain in her arm became more and more noticeable. Hitomi bit her lip, trying to block out the pain. She couldn't stay here. Those monsters were bound to find her eventually if she stayed in this stupid rock maze and she doubted she could survive a second encounter.

Hitomi eyed the direction she had come from wearily. Her vision was starting to blur, probably from the blood loss. Hitomi squeezed her eyes shut, attempting to clear her head. "I have to get out of here," she thought. Then I can deal with my arm. She took several steps forward and froze. A soft hissing had started up.

Slowly, she looked around, but there was nothing there. There was a crumbling sound to her left and Hitomi spun around just in time to see a soft shower of dirt and pebbles fall to the ground.

Heart in her throat, Hitomi raised her eyes to the stone wall above her. Four scaly monsters clung to the rocks not four meters from her. That was why she had lost sight of them. They had been on the walls!

One of the creatures to her right hissed even louder. It bared its teeth, revealing sharp incisors covered in blood. "My blood," Hitomi realized. It leaped to the ground, landing in front of her.

"Someone help me!" she screamed, backing quickly towards the dead end. The monster screamed and jumped back. Hitomi stared, unsure of what she had done to scare him. The creature, however, was not looking at her. Instead, its fear filled eyes were fixed on the sky.

Two more creatures dropped down beside the first, screeching their fear to the air above. Hitomi looked up to see what they were so terrified of. Her eyes were greeted with a strange, but welcome sight. Silhouetted against the sun, a winged warrior was battling the only monster that had remained on the wall. One swing from the warrior's sword sliced through the monster's stomach, sending him plummeting to the ground.

The warrior followed the creature to the ground, landing in front of Hitomi and spreading his pure white wings.

"An angel," Hitomi thought, "An angel has come to save me. No, this is a dream, just a dream, or maybe a vision. This can't be real." A battle cry exploded from the angel's mouth as he charged the remaining three monsters. Two of them lunged toward the warrior's challenge, only to be greeted by the bloody edge of his sword. The third monster ran.

The angel leapt into the air, intending to follow the beast.

"No wait!" Hitomi screamed. Her vision was beginning to fade, but she could still make out the blurry figure of her savior as it turned towards her.

"Don't leave me," she sobbed. "Please don't leave me." Hitomi drew in a shaky breath, keeping her eyes on the figure before her. He began walking towards her. Hitomi sobbed with relief, closing her eyes and letting her head fall forward. She felt strong arms lift her from the ground, but she kept her eyes shut. She wasn't sure if she even had the strength to open them. Laying her head against her angel's chest, Hitomi finally surrendered herself to her fatigue. Just before she lost consciousness, she whispered four words.

"Thank you, my angel."

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A/N: Ok ok, kind of cheesy, I know, but at least it's good and tastey cheese. Anyway, thanks for reading this and let me know what you think. If I get lots o' reviews, I'll try extra hard to post the next chapter within a month!