Author's note:

Hey ya'll. I felt like this story needed a little brushing up.

Wow... I wrote this thing ages ago, not surprising really that there are spelling errors and such... I'm a bit amazed at how many revives the first draft got. XD Let's see if this one can get even more eh? lol

But it's better now. I promise... I think so anyway...

I hope you'll enjoy reading this, because I had a lot of fun writing it.

*Huggles all her readers*

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DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own any of the Escaflowne Characters. I just write this for fun like so many other people.

Anyway Just enjoy the fic and tell me what you think.

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~~~**~~~ 1. New beginnings and old visions ~~~**~~~

Hitomi was sitting on her bed staring through the open window at the star filled sky outside. It had been two years since she came back from Gaia and everything was somewhat back to normal. Yukari and Amano was a couple now and she was happy for them. But she couldn't help but feel out of place around them. She felt like the third wheel all the time. They really did try to do things with her but it always ended with Hitomi going home after giving some rather lame excuse. And it was things like that that made her missed Van and the others even more.

"Van..." The name spilled past her lips with a sigh and let her thoughts wander to the past. She was a bit startled when the phone rang, tearing her eyes from the dark sky to look at the phone, the sound having stirred her from her thoughts with a jolt.

"I'll get it!" She called to her mother and picked up the noisy device and pressed the answer button.

"Kanzaki residence."

'Hey Hitomi!'

"Hi Yukari. What's up?" She asked as she sat down at her desk and waited for Yukari to continue.

'I was just wondering if you would like to do something tonight. Girls only.' Yukari sounded cheerful like most of the time, causing a smile to spread over Hitomi's lips as she cradled the phone to her ear as she turned her eyes to look through her window once more.

"Sure why not. Where's Amano at then?" Yukari let out an 'hmph' before she said, with irritation clearly noticeable in her voice, 'He said that he had some important stuff to take care off. So I thought we could do something. It was a while since it was only us girls, ne?' Yukari's voice changed from irritation to exaltation as she spoke.

Hitomi couldn't help but let out a soft sigh and let her smile drop a little, she was, and would probably always be second choice as long as Amano and Yukari were together. But with a shrug of her shoulders she forced cheerfulness back into her voice before she spoke again.

"Yeah, that's true. So where are we going?"

'I was thinking of that new club down town. It's supposed to be really fun around there....'

**

Hitomi agreed to meet her Yukari an hour later outside the other girl's house to drop of her own stuff because they planned for Hitomi to spend the night after they were done with their 'clubbing'.

Hitomi got up from her seat at her desk and walked over to the closet digging out a sport bag and chucked it onto the bed.

*I guess it'll be nice to do something with Yukari... even tough I'm the substitute when Amano is away...* She sighed and dug out some extra clothes and threw them haphazardly onto the bed, not really caring where they laded at that moment. A dark blue short slewed shirt, a pair of well worn Jeans and a pair of sneakers, it should be enough. Then she got up and walked to the dresser and got the other necessary stuff from there.

"I hope it'll be fun tonight..." She said musingly as she brushed her now long bangs away from her green eyes. She had let her them grown quite a bit and her bangs now framed her face and reached to about her chin. But it was still sorter at the at the back of her neck. She had never liked it when she got all sweaty in the back of her neck while training, it was annoying and uncomfortable. That's why she had had short hair to begin with.

She tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear before she picked up the rest of the things she would need for the night before walking over to the bed once more and started to stuff the things into the bag laying artlessly on the bed. She packed the bag swiftly, and a bit uncaringly, before she walked back to the closet to find something to wear for the evening. She settled for a pair of black jeans and a dark green top with some random text on it. She examined herself in the mirror and smiled a little while she brushed bangs from her eyes once more.

"That'll have to do..." She took out a pair of high-heeled sandals and walked downstairs to say goodbye to her parents, even hugging them before she walked out the door. She just felt she had to.

When she was walking towards Yukari's house she felt something stir in the air, like a freezing gush of air. Hitomi shivered and pulled her jacket closer around her and continued on her way, hurrying up her pace, but a second later she was consumed by a pillar of light, and was pulled upwards. She felt herself being carried away, and her feet were no longer touching the ground. She felt an immense sense of panic well up inside of her at first, but then, after a few moments it felt like she was going somewhere she belonged. So she relaxed and closed her eyes and let the light carry her away.

It was just for a moment, and then she was on solid ground again. She kept her eyes closed longer then was necessary but she was almost afraid to open them, to acknowledge where she was.

*Com on Hitomi. There's nothing to be afraid of.* She told herself sternly and the opened one eye and looked around. It was dark, and she was defiantly outside... somewhere. She turned her green eyes up at the sky and saw a moon and the earth. And a smile full of joy, spread over her lips, she could barley believe it, she was back. She never thought she would come back to Gaia.

She looked to her left and found Escaflowne kneeling there, looking unused but still had a presence of almost being alive. She knew where she was, and where she was going. She walked at a steady pace towards the castle and could feel her pulse beat a little faster a happy smile still on her face and her eyes twinkling with happiness of being back.

There weren't many people out on the streets of New Fanelia. It looked much the same as it did before it was burned to the ground, it had come a long way in two years, and the smells of the city gave it a feeling of being alive and well.

When she reached the castle there were a myriad of sounds buzzing in the air accompanied by soft music, and all coming from within the castle. She walked, a bit cautiously, towards the commotion and was surprised that there were so few guards around. But she shrugged it of and continued on her way, it made it a whole lot easier to get where she wanted to go, without answering a million questions.

She got to the main hall and the sight that greeted her took her breath away. It was beautiful. Everyone was dancing and talking, the hall was lavishly decorated and everyone seemed to be very happy about something, it was obvious that something was being celebrated.

She ducked into the shadows to take the whole scenery in and try to calm her racing heart a little. It was about then she spotted Van, and her heart gave a bit of a leap. He looked so handsome, he had grown quite a bit, he was taller and had a more regal look about him, but he was still skinny. Hitomi smiled and bit her bottom lip as she looked at the prince and she drew a breath and let her voice spill past her lips.

"Van..." It was just a whisper but she could see Van stop and look around. Hitomi was gripping the strap of her bag with both hands with such force that her knuckles turned white. And after one sharp intake of breath she called out to him, with all the pent up longing and feelings she for him.

"Van!" Van froze in his tracks and turned towards the voice, thinking that is must be his imagination.

"Hitomi?" Van asked out loud. The people around him turned to look at the strange girl who had just shouted the prince's name in such a way.

Hitomi however didn't care that everyone was staring at her instead she called his name again and dropped her bag before she ran to him and threw her arms around his neck. The people in the room gasped and started to whisper to each other. Van kind of blanked for a few seconds, shocked, but then returned the embrace.

"Hitomi?" It was only a whisper, but his voice caused all kinds of feelings to well up in her and she could feel tears of joy gathering in her eyes and threatened to spill.

"What are you doing here Hitomi? How did you get here?" Hitomi just looked up at Van and smiled and then shook her head.

"I don't know Van... I was just walking in the streets on my way to a party... and when I opened my eyes again I found myself here." She said with a bit of a shaky laugh, and then smiled at the young king.

Van looked a little confused and then hugged Hitomi again before letting go. Once her arms were no longer around his neck Hitomi scrubbed a little at her tear filled eyes with a bit of a snort like laugh. There was no reason for her to cry.

"Hitomi?" Someone asked and the mentioned girl turned around and smiled brightly at the blond Knight whom walked towards her.

"Allen-san!" She exclaimed with a bright smile on her lips and threw her arms around the Knight in a friendly hug. Once she let him go though she became very aware of that fact that everyone was staring at her. She could feel a blush burn at her cheeks and she couldn't help but feel out of place.

"It's very nice to have you here Hitomi... but I think we'd better talk somewhere less crowded. Van just has to settle everything here and then he'll join us in a little while, right Van?" Allen said and turned from looking at Hitomi to Van to have the prince agree to what he had just said. Van simply nodded and with that Allen led Hitomi out of the main hall, grabbing her discarded bag on the way.

When they were out in the hallway Allen turned his eyes to look down at the girl form the Mystic Moon. She had grown in more ways then one and was looking even more beautiful then when he had seen her last. Allen knew beauty when he saw it, and Hitomi was one of a kind when it came to that.

Hitomi turned her head when she felt Allen's eyes on her and looked up at him.

"Allen-san, what was everyone celebrating? It was a really big party in there." The look on Allen's face changed from smiling warmly at her, to an almost pained expression and Hitomi started to wonder what could be the cause of such a drastic change.

"It's Van's place to tell you not mine..." The way Allen's voice sounded and the expression on his face told her that she wasn't going to like whatever it was that they were celebrating, and it left her with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She turned her eyes away from the blond knight and chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip for a few moments as silence settled between them.

A few minutes later they were in a library of some sort, she was sure that the palace had more then one, but that thought was very fleeting. Hitomi looked out at the night sky through one of the big windows with the moons gentle light shining softly on her face and hair. Her green eyes were gleaming in the soft light, partly from unshed tears and partly from happiness for being back. It felt so much better to be on Gaia then on Earth for some reason.

Allen gazed at her while he leaned against the opposite wall. He knew that Hitomi was going to get hurt by what Van was going to tell her and it caused a concerned frown to crease his brow. Suddenly Hitomi turned around and looked at Allen with a somewhat sad smile on her face.

"You look nice Allen-san... really dressed up and proper, not that you were un-proper before." She said honestly and the frown quickly disappeared from Allen's features and was instead replaced with a warm smile. He was just about to compliment her but never got the chance to because at that moment the door to the library swung open.

Van entered the room, looking somewhat weary and it caused Hitomi to look nervously towards the king of Fanelia.

"Van... I really hope that I didn't cause any trouble for you back there..." She said her voice apologetic. She still looked a bit nervous and so did Van for some reason. And it wasn't until that moment she noticed that Van was also very well dressed, more so then she had ever seen him before. Hitomi couldn't help the amazed smile that graced her lips as she started to walk towards Van. She took a breath and was about to comment on his well dressed appearance but before the words could pass her lips she felt suddenly dizzy. It was the same kind of feeling she used to get just before she got a vision. She raised a hand to her forehead and before she knew it her vision grew dark and there was nothing she could do to stop herself from falling forward as unconsciousness claimed her.

Allen just barely caught her before she hit the floor and with surprised and worried look marring his features he gently placed a hand on the unconscious girl's face and gently moved her so that he could look at her. And there was a bit of panic noticeable in his voice once he spoke her name.

"Hitomi...?"

~~~**~~~

Notes:

I hope this is better.

I defiantly like this version better then the last one, there might still be some errors, but I hope they aren't terribly annoying. XD

R&R if you haven't already, or do it again if you feel like commenting on the additions and editing I've done.

Darkie Hime