Hi there, hope I didn't scare you away. Hope my writing did please some of you, and I'm sure it irritated some of you when there was no kiss. Guess you'll have to keep reading. Here is our second installment!
Hitomi woke up to a hard smack.
"Wake up Hitomi!" Merle exclaimed beating Hitomi with a pillow.
"Christ almighty! Merle just what are you trying to do!" Hitomi yelled as she sat up holding her nose.
"Who said anything about trying, I succeeded didn't I? You're awake aren't you?" Merle said.
"Haven't you heard the expression, you'll get more flies with honey than vinegar?" Hitomi yelled.
"No, anyway, get up!" Merle ordered pulling off her blanket.
"Hey! What are you doing!" Hitomi cried grabbing at the sheets.
"Do we really have to do this again?" Merle asked uninterested.
Hitomi just grumbled and got out of bed.
"I don't know how you sleep in so late, you waste the day," Merle said sitting on Hitomi's bed.
"Well excuse me, Miss Kitty Cat," Hitomi responded.
"You really have to work on those comebacks you know," Merle stated.
Hitomi said nothing, not wanting to further the conversation.
"A bath is ready in there," Merle indicated to a door across from the bed.
"Oh...thank you," Hitomi said.
"Don't thank me, I didn't do it," Merle said, "now hurry up! You've wasted half the day!"
Hitomi did as she was told and got ready as quickly as she could.
"Do you think it was a good thing she came back now then?" Allen asked Van.
"A part of me says yes, and a part that says no. It's difficult to call right now Allen," Van said.
"You remember what happened last time," Allen said.
"Yes, Allen, I remember, do you?" Van asked, his patience waning, Allen still had an edge of superiority when it came to Van.
"Calm down Van, I'm just trying to remind you of how Hitomi reacted to-"Allen started.
"How I reacted to what?" Hitomi said walking in on their conversation.
Allen was silent.
"To the last war, " Van answered.
"There's a war happening right now? So much for that talk of keeping up skill Allen, " Hitomi attacked.
Van threw a confused glance back at Allen, then looked at Hitomi, "no, not exactly."
"What does that mean?" Hitomi asked.
"I knew she wouldn't react well to this, come Hitomi, this is no conversation for a lady," Allen said putting his arm around her, guiding her to the exit.
"No Allen, I want to hear this, you can't just censor yourself when I'm around. I'm here, let me know what's happening."
Van simply waited for Allen to either stay and listen or leave, he expected the former.
"As you wish," Allen said and resumed a spot next to Hitomi.
"Van, what's going on?"
"I'm a Draconian, you know that. There is maybe a handful of us left on Gaea," Van said.
"Okay... I'm not really following," Hitomi said looking to Allen for some kind of clarification.
"There have been winged people popping up all over Gaea, who aren't Draconian," Van continued.
"What do you mean, like angels?" Hitomi asked.
"No, as in genetically modified humans," Van clarified.
"So wait, how do you know they aren't Draconian?" Hitomi asked.
"No Draconian would openly expose that," Van said.
"What's the problem, I'm sorry but I don't see it," Hitomi said.
"People are constructing new people, a superior race you could call it. Unlike the people of Atlantis, these people didn't naturally develop, someone is modifying them. However, it isn't working the way they want it to, these people end up dying as a terrible reaction to the gene manipulation but they are trying to make an army of these...'Angels'," Allen explained.
"At some point they will find out about me, and when they do, they will do all that is in their power to replicate my genetic data," Van said, "once they have that information it won't be long before they will be able to recreate Draconians; repeating the history of Atlantis."
Hitomi was silent as she tried to process what he just told her, "so...what would happen to you, Van?"
"I'll die," he answered quietly.
Hitomi closed her eyes wishing she could unhear those words, "what are you going to do? How can I help?"
"We're flying out to Pallas tonight, until then I wouldn't worry just yet," Van said.
"Don't worry? Van, I can't do that!" Hitomi yelled.
"Hitomi calm down," Van said.
There it was, his first slap since her arrival and she hadn't even been back a full day.
"Don't tell me to calm down, Van Fanel," she ordered through tears.
Van and Allen simply stood there as Hitomi exited the room.
Alllen allowed a few minutes of silence to pass before he spoke, "well...that went well."
"Oh Hitomi, we've been through worse, he'll be able to survive this one," Millerna tried.
"I just don't get how I didn't see this coming, how I didn't have a vision or some intuition that something was wrong!" Hitomi sobbed.
"Hitomi stop, you can't let your worst fears happen. Isn't that what you learned the last time? All this fear and anxiety won't help him, you need to believe in him, that he'll be alright," Millerna said.
Hitomi stopped and sniffed, "Millerna...it's like you're a different person!"
"Just what do you mean by that?" Millerna asked.
"I just...didn't expect you to be so..."
"Yes?"
"Wise," Hitomi stated.
"...Thank you Hitomi," Millerna said flatly.
"I didn't mean it like that," Hitomi protested.
"You know, you should really think about what you say before you say it sometimes," Millerna told her.
Hitomi was quiet, "I guess... you know, I slapped him."
"Who?" Millerna was interested again.
"Van."
"No! I could never slap Dryden...well, that's a lie I probably could..." Millerna mused, " you know what would make you feel better right now?"
"No..."Hitomi answered.
"Chocolate," Millerna exclaimed.
"You have that here?" Hitomi asked.
"If we didn't how do you think pregnant women would survive? Let alone their husbands," Millerna said trying to get up .
"Here Millerna, let me help you," Hitomi laughed at her friend's failed attempt.
"Oh you laugh now, wait until you're carrying Van's child," Millerna griped.
Hitomi couldn't help but feel slightly awkward at the comment, she dreamed about being close enough to him that it would result in a child bt hearing someone else say it made her feel all the more introverted.
"Hitomi? Are you coming?" Millerna called.
"Oh yes, sorry, coming!" Hitomi called racing after Millerna.
"Is that all you're taking?" Millerna asked as Hitomi took her same duffel bag from her room.
"It's all I need," Hitomi said.
"Not in my court... we'll do something about that when we get to Pallas though," Millerna said.
"Are you trying to pick a fight?" Hitomi asked.
Millerna smiled, "it'll be like when I first met you."
There was a small sadness in the memory, which Hitomi couldn't quite understand.
As they reached the boarding station of the Crusade, a smile came to Hitomi's face, which didn't go unnoticed by Millerna.
"What are you smiling at Hitomi?" Millerna asked before she started smiling.
"What are you smiling at?" Hitomi asked.
"I haven't said your name in such a long time," Millerna said.
Hitomi softened her smile, "I just remember the last time I was on this ship, and we went to Pallas..."
"I really did miss you Hitomi," Millerna said.
"I did too," Hitomi said.
"There you are," Dryden said walking over to Millerna, "are you ready?"
Millerna nodded.
"Are you coming with us Hitomi? Or are you going with the King?" Dryden asked.
"Van's not going with you?" Hitomi asked, confused.
"He's the only one who can pilot Escaflowne," Dryden said.
"He's taking Escaflowne? We're already there?" Hitomi asked.
"It's just a precaution, it's easier to have it now then be without it," Dryden explained.
"No, no, no! Things aren't supposed to move this quickly!" Hitomi panicked.
"Hitomi, remember what I said. If this is bothering you, go with him!" Millerna ordered.
Hitomi looked at her and Dryden, "right."
"He's out back getting the armor," Dryden offered.
"Thank you Dryden," Hitomi said and wandered to the back of the castle.
The last time she had been to the monument she'd said her final goodbye to Van. She'd cried for three days straight after, she wasn't able to do anything except stare at the sky. Any conversation she had she prayed she would be able to connect it back to Van or Gaea.
There he was, the same boy she'd fallen in love with, three years later. Time had done nothing to him, he remained the same beautiful soul with rough edges. The more she thought about him the more she found it hard to separate herself from him. While he still retained his boyish endearment, he had taken subtle maturity to his features. He'd always been beautiful but now what he possessed was deeper than any beauty she'd ever seen. Hitomi had become so overwhelmed with her love for him that she was able to forget about everything else he caused her. She'd finally reached the end of missing him and yet at the present moment she couldn't help but miss him.
Something propelled her to move towards him, to run to him like her life depended on his contact. He still hadn't taken notice of her as he stared up at the grave site of his family. Then like a tonne of bricks she had her arms around him; her body conformed to the shape of his back as her arms gripped around his torso, underneath his arms. She could feel his body tense in surprise and gently relax as he realized it was her.
"I'm sorry..." she breathed into his back.
There wasn't anything Van was supposed to say, she didn't need him to say anything she just needed to know he heard her. Hitomi just breathed him in and everything that was his essence; the fields, forests and air of Fanelia. The feeling of him moving his arms to match hers only made her hold onto him tighter.
"I'm coming with you," she said.
She felt him nod as he opened her arms and walked toward Escaflowne. Hitomi just watched as he walked away from her and decided that out of everything that she had been through with him and without him, the worst was seeing him walk away from her. It gave her a sense of helplessness that she had never felt with anyone else.
She watched as he took his energist and drew his own blood, it really was a rather grotesque way of operating the thing but there wasn't a whole lot she could do about it. The reaction was the same as it had been the first time he had activated the machine, the glowing jewel, the loud crack as the pilot chamber opened. Everything brought her back to her very first day in Gaea.
The transformation happened quickly; one minute it was a suit of armor the next it was the white dragon.
"Come on Hitomi, " Van called to her, removing her from her thoughts.
hey, there's the next chap. Show me some love and review?