'Gasp!'…Could it really be? Is it humanly possible! Is it really truly here! I did it! I finally finished the second chapter to my story! Yaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy!

As before:

"talking"

(:thinking:)

And new:

'Organoid speech'

Brief AN: Since neither the movie nor the series covers the subject of Hitomi's father, in this story he exists but is not here right now. I may introduce him later in the story. Also none of this story has been BETA read so any and all criticisms and comments are welcome, especially the constructive kind. Please no flames; I'm still new at this.

Thanks to all who read my story even if you didn't review. And now, happy reading:

Hitomi Kanzaki couldn't sleep. Captain Amano and Yukari have been going out regularly for two months now and she was very happy for them. However, seeing them together made her realize just how much she missed Van. She had been able to manage being apart up until recently. It had only been three months since her return from Gaea, but now whenever she saw not just Yukari and Amano but any couple together it nearly brought her to tears.

(:I promised him I would be strong, but I just can't take it anymore.:) Hitomi sat up in her bed and looked at her alarm clock. (:Great it's 3 am. I'm going to be so tired tomorrow…er today. Ah whatever.:)

She turned to look out her bedroom window into the sky in the direction of the ocean. When she blinked an image of her beloved's smiling face flashed through her mind. Uncontrollable tears welled up in her eyes as the image faded into the distant sky. She dashed out of her room, through the hallways of her home and out the front door towards the ocean beyond.

Hitomi blinked her eyes in a futile effort to see clearly and broke into a full run. Buildings whizzed past unnoticed by the high school sprinter as she focused her blurred vision on the sidewalk in front of her. As she crossed the footbridge to the beach a white pillar of light appeared in front of her just off shore and she pushed herself even harder as she hit the sand in pursuit of the fading beacon. She ran from rock to rock like they were solid ground out to deeper water and dove in.

(:Van.:) Her mind was focused solely on getting to where she believed she would find Van. She saw something red floating in the water and swam as fast as she could towards it. (:Wait. That's not red, that's pink? Who is that:) When Hitomi reached the floating figure she moved to grab the person to drag them to shore when she noticed a woman in blue coming to just beside her. (:It's a good thing the woman in blue is right next to this person, I would never have seen her otherwise.:)

Hitomi grabbed the one in pink and realized it was girl about her own age. Hitomi shook the girl she was holding and at the same time reached out her other hand to grab the arm of the woman in blue.

"Hey, are you two okay?" Hitomi asked, concerned.

"I'm fine," the woman in blue answered, "just confused." Then she noticed the girl Hitomi was holding, "Fiona! Come on girl wake up!"

"Unnn…" the girl named Fiona moaned and her eyes opened revealing bright red orbs.

Then the woman in blue looked around frantically. "Raven? Raven! RAVEN!" Fear crept into her voice as it rose in volume with each utterance of the name.

(:There must be one more…:) Hitomi thought to herself. She looked around, but couldn't see anyone, of course that didn't mean anything on this moonless night, she could barely see her own hands in front of her face and could only just barely tell that it was blue that the other woman was wearing, and that's only because of the distant street lights.

"Reese, where are we?" Both Reese and Hitomi glanced down at the girl who was floating in Hitomi" arms, she was finally awake.

"I don't know, but right now I don't care, help me find Raven!" The three girls spread out a little and started to comb the water calling Raven's name every couple of seconds.

Suddenly a plume of water shot straight up into the air with a roar. "Specula!" Reese shouted in joy and surprise. "Help me find Raven!"

"Huh? Wha…" was all Hitomi could say. Hitomi couldn't even tell what it was. Whatever it was it dropped back into the water with a splash.

Then she heard growl behind her and spun her head around and saw Fiona talking to what looked like a shiny dinosaur or dragon head. A moment later and the head dipped under water and Fiona swam over to where Reese was and Hitomi joined them.

"Zeke says to remind you that Raven was in the Genobreaker when the light shined so he's looking for that instead of just Raven."

"Oh, I forgot. Ok why don't we all go to shore, the organoids can finish this search a lot faster than we can and we should all get dried off."

(:This Reese woman seems to be handling things really well:) Hitomi thought. The three of them swam to the rock outcropping that Hitomi had used to run out to the deeper water and climbed up on to the boulders. They all lay there breathing heavily for a minute until they caught their breaths.

"Is everybody okay?" Hitomi asked just to be sure.

"I will be," Reese replied. Fiona answered,

"I think so, and thanks for helping us…I don't think I got your name. Mine's Fiona, and this is Reese."

"I'm Hitomi and you're welcome," Hitomi offered. "By the way what were those things in the water with us?"

"Hm?" Fiona had a quizzical look on her face for a moment until she finally understood what Hitomi was talking about, "Those are our organoids, the blue one is Specula and the silver one is Zeke, although I don't know if you can really tell in the dark here."

A few minutes later Zeke and Specula trudged up next to the girls with no one else in tow. "So you couldn't even find the Genobreaker?" Reese asked. Specula shook its head in a sorrowful negative.

"Maybe Raven went somewhere else," Fiona said hopefully. "Probably," Reese said, "Specula should have been able to find the Genobreaker if it was here, even if it is the dead of night."

After a brief pause Hitomi spoke up, "come on, we should change out of our wet clothes. We can go to my house although I don't know if I have anything that will fit either of you comfortably."

As Hitomi went to stand up Reese grabbed her arm, "you might want to stay here a moment and let Specula and Zeke dry you off, I doubt you want to go around in public like that." "Huh…" Hitomi glanced down at herself and immediately dropped back down to the ground, curled up, and crossed her arms over her chest. She had completely forgotten that she was wearing her white nightclothes and when they got soaked from her dive they became see-through. Hitomi's cheeks burned in embarrassment.

"Specula why don't you turn around and turn your verniers on low to help dry her off." "Zeke you too," Fiona chimed in after Reese's command. Specula immediately complied, but Zeke took a moment and presented something to Fiona first, "Oh, thank you Zeke, I completely forgot about this."

Then both organoids took up positions with their backs to Hitomi and lit up their verniers on their lowest levels. Hitomi lay back a little and used her hands as braces behind her back to prop herself up and let the heat wash over herself. (:It's a little warm for my liking, but it beats walking around practically naked.:)

After a minute she rolled over and lay down completely on her stomach and let the hot air dry off her back.

Reese looked Hitomi over real quick, "you should be alright now. Thanks for letting us come to your house."

"It's alright, and thank you for noticing my uh… compromised state. It would have been really embarrassing to walk around like that."

Reese merely nodded. "So, you're from Gaea right?" Hitomi asked.

"Gaea? Where's that?" Fiona was completely befuddled.

"Huh, but you came by pillar of light," now Hitomi was confused (:If they aren't from Gaea, then where:)

"For that matter where are we," Reese asked. "You're on a planet we call Earth, in a country called Japan," Hitomi said.

Reese immediately perked up "Earth…Raven once told me about it. He said it was where his parents came from."

"Huh? Well, I've never heard of it," Fiona said.

"So where are you from then," Hitomi was curious, but wanted to get home too so she got up and dusted off as she spoke.

Fiona steadied Hitomi as she stumbled a moment and then they got going, "We're from a planet called Zi. I'm a citizen of the New Helic Republic there."

"I've never really belonged anywhere on Zi," Reese said quietly.

"Why is that?" Hitomi asked innocently.

"I'm a drifter I guess…" Reese let her voice trail off and looked up at the stars as she walked. "My home was destroyed a long time ago," Reese continued, "Fiona and I are the last of a race of people who lived ages ago on Zi. We are known today as Ancient Zoidians."

When Reese stopped Fiona picked up the story "Some of us were put into stasis in the hopes that we would survive the rampage of a disastrous beast we had let loose upon ourselves. A few years ago I was awakened by a boy named Van…" Fiona stopped talking for a moment as she recalled the moment in her mind, completely missing the startled expression that briefly passed over Hitomi's face.

Hitomi quickly shook her head (:No she can't be talking about my Van. The pronunciation is even different.:) As it was Reese was still looking at the stars so no one had seen her brief lapse of composure.

There was a sudden scream about a block down the road and all three of the girls looked to see a woman pulled, kicking, into an alleyway and a flashlight clatter to the ground at the alley's entrance.

Quickly the girls burst into a sprint, Hitomi quickly outpacing the two Zoidians. None of them were exactly sure what they would or could do when they got there but they couldn't just stand by. When Hitomi was halfway to the alley the organoids Zeke and Specula rocketed past over her head and down into the narrow crevasse between the two buildings.

Two gunshots went off and the woman screamed again followed shortly by the screams of a man. Hitomi halted at the corner and peeked into the alley. The attacker had both of his arms pinned under the feet of Specula and Zeke stood his ground between the man and the woman.

Seeing the situation was under control Hitomi dashed toward the fallen woman, followed closely by Fiona and Reese who had caught up when Hitomi had paused. The woman turned her head and Hitomi shrieked "MOM!"

"Hitomi?" the woman questioned.

"Yes, Mom it's me, what happened to you! Are you okay!" The man continued to jibber senselessly in the background.

"I'll live," The woman said through her gritted teeth and gingerly sat up. The woman turned her head and nearly jumped out of her skin at the sight of the organoids, "Hitomi? What are those things?"

"They're my new friends Mom, I found them along with Fiona and Reese here," Hitomi nodded to where Fiona stood. "Hey Fiona, where's Reese?" Hitomi asked.

"She's behind you disarming that man."

"Are you sure that's safe?" Hitomi's mom asked.

"Would you do anything to harm someone if that someone had two two-meter tall metal dragons beside them?" Reese said as she walked back having sent the thug packing without any of his weapons.

"I guess not," Hitomi's mom relented with a small smile and a sigh of relief.

"Where were you hit Mom?" Hitomi asked. The woman slowly lifted her right hand off of the calf of her right leg. Underneath that hand the pant leg had been torn and there was a nasty bullet burn that had taken off a millimeter of skin, but nothing more.

"You'll be fine," Reese said upon looking at it, "but you should probably see a doctor about it soon anyway."

"Here let me help you," Hitomi and Fiona said simultaneously as Hitomi's mom tried to stand up on her own.

"Zeke come over here please," Fiona called. The silver organoid obligingly trudged over and everyone stepped out of the alley onto the main sidewalk so there was room for everyone to stand together. "Zeke would you mind carrying Hitomi's mother for us, her leg is hurt and it pains her to walk on it?" Fiona asked calmly.

"Are you sure that's okay?" Hitomi's mother asked. In response Zeke lowered himself towards the ground to make it easier for Hitomi's mom to get situated.

"Thank you very much, Zeke," Fiona said and Hitomi's mom nodded her thanks as Hitomi and Fiona helped to get her seated on Zeke's back.

"Now let's get back home Hitomi, so I can get my leg bandaged and you can all get off your feet," Hitomi's mother said. As they walked along the sidewalk, Hitomi's mother turned to Fiona, "Thank you very much for all your help, and your friend too. Your name was…Fiona right?"

"Oh, you're very welcome," Fiona said, "My friend's name is Reese, in case you forgot."

Reese started (:She called me her friend? Why? I've done nothing but bring her pain. Have we really grown so close during these short hours since the destruction of the Death Saurer? Or am I reading too much into this:) Reese shook her head to clear her thoughts. (:Still... she didn't deny it outright.:)

"So," Hitomi's mother continued, "where are you girls from?"

"A planet called Zi," replied Fiona, "hey should you be talking this much? You're injured."

"My leg was bruised, not my mouth," Hitomi's mother chuckled a little. "Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself, you may call me Mrs. Kanzaki, I am Hitomi's mother."

"It's very nice to meet you Mrs. Kanzaki, I only wish it had been under better circumstances," Fiona replied.

"So do I," Mrs. Kanzaki said with a small wry smile. "Hitomi, are you alright?" Mrs. Kanzaki asked, very worried at why her daughter had run out of the house at this time of night.

"I miss him mom," was Hitomi's whispered reply as she choked back the tears welling up in her eyes. Mrs. Kanzaki longed to hug her daughter, but present circumstances prevented her from doings so. So she simply lie back down and let Hitomi sort out her thoughts in silence.

"Turn here," Mrs. Kanzaki said a few minutes later, "Our house is the little tan one over there," she said pointing out her home. She continued, "You are all welcome to stay in our home as long as you like. My husband is away on a business trip and my son, Mamoru, is at summer camp now so it's just the four of us." Specula growled. "Oh, pardon me, the six of us. Oh dear, it may get a little cramped in our humble home."

"Oh, no we couldn't possibly impose on you like this, Reese and I can find someplace else to stay," Fiona apologized.

"But you said yourself that you are from another planet. No one else would understand your customs, or your organoids for that matter, you would be outcasts, and besides you don't have any currency do you. I simply cannot allow that, there must be another solution," Mrs. Kanzaki was adamant about not causing the four newcomers any more undue stress.

At that point the group reached the Kanzaki domicile and Specula promptly sat down under the back porch. When Mrs. Kanzaki saw this she understood what was happening, "are you sure you'll be alright," she questioned the blue organoid. The only response she got was a simple nod of its metallic dragon head.

The other five walked around to the front of the house where Zeke crouched down to let Mrs. Kanzaki off. As Hitomi and Fiona helped Mrs. Kanzaki hobble to the front door, Mrs. Kanzaki looked over her shoulder at the silver organoid, who was just standing there not making a move to go inside, "you too?" Zeke growled and bobbed his head.

"Thank you Zeke," Fiona said, looking back as well. Zeke growled, turned around and trotted around to the back of the house to join Specula.

The four girls and Mrs. Kanzaki went inside, kicked off their shoes, and set Mrs. Kanzaki up on the couch. Then Hitomi went to go call the hospital for an ambulance to pick up her mother. Fiona smiled slightly as she saw that Mrs. Kanzaki was out like a light as soon as her head hit the pillows.

Hitomi walked out of the kitchen with a bunch of bananas in her hands, "anyone hungry?"

"Sure, thank you very much," Fiona said as she took one of the proffered fruit. Reese accepted one as well with a nod of thanks.

About twenty minutes later the paramedics came and took Mrs. Kanzaki to the hospital.

"Why don't we all try to get some sleep," Fiona suggested.

"I don't think I'll be able to," Hitomi said, "I'm too wired up from tonight's events."

"I guess you're right. I am too." Fiona admitted and paused, propping her chin up in her hands. (:There's got to be something we can do to help Hitomi get her mind off of recent things…:)

Reese spoke up, "Well, since none of us is ready to sleep, why don't we talk." Fiona momentarily looked shocked that Reese proposed such a thing. (:It's not that it's not a good idea, in fact it's a great idea, it's just that I didn't take Reese to be the conversational type.:)

Hitomi pounced on the chance to focus on something other than her mother's current situation, "Why don't we talk about ourselves? I'll go first." "My story actually starts several years ago with my grandmother."

Fiona and Reese never actually got the chance to tell their stories that night as Hitomi just continued to rattle on until dawn, essentially finishing a detailed synopsis of the Vision of Escaflowne series. She left out a few of the more embarrassing situations, but was willing to talk about her relationship with Van Fanel.

As predawn approached the girls finally tired and slept sprawled out on the floor on spare comforters that Hitomi had dug out of the closet, easily falling asleep in the warm patches of sunlight that filtered through the windows.

Around noon Fiona got up, grabbed another banana, and went out the back door to visit with the organoids. "Hey Zeke, how are you doing this morning?" Zeke growled an 'okay'. Specula rolled over and accidentally kicked Zeke off the porch, 'not okay,' was Zeke's amendment to his earlier statement as he landed on his chrome dome.

Fiona giggled and Specula sat up, finally awake as well. Zeke rolled over back on to his feet and then plopped himself down back on the porch next to Fiona. "It's a beautiful day isn't it," Fiona commented to Zeke. The silver organoid growled back an 'uh huh.'

Fiona then stood, went out into the back yard and flopped on her back to watch the clouds float by. (:Hey, that one looks like the giant floating papaya that Van had us chasing that one time we skipped breakfast.:) Fiona smiled at the memory and then grew sad again, (:Van, I miss you. Please don't let this parting be fate telling us we weren't meant to be together, because… I just can't imagine going on without you Van.:)

"Hey, Fiona," Hitomi called from the back doorway. Fiona sat up and wiped away the tears that had started forming in her eyes, "Yes, Hitomi? Can I help you?"

"Reese and I were going to go visit my mother at the hospital. Do you want to come?"

"Sure," Fiona brightened up.

Reese stepped out past Hitomi and strode over to Specula. Specula bobbed his head and growled a greeting. "Good morning to you too old friend," Reese said softly as she embraced her organoid. "I'm going out right now and you can't come along for this, the sight of you will cause too much of a stir, okay? So stay here with Zeke and don't cause any trouble." Specula growled an affronted affirmative as if to say 'You could suspect me of being troublesome? It's that silver one over there you should be worried about.' Reese's connection allowed her to pick up on the insinuation, "Of course. You're right," Reese admitted with one of her rare, small, genuine smiles.

"All right let's go," Fiona said when Reese was clearly done, "and you be good now Zeke, okay?" Zeke growled back an 'okay'.

"Actually, hold on a moment," Hitomi said, stepping back and looking at Reese and Fiona. "You need to get into some different clothes. No offense, but your attire is going to draw a few eyes."

"Uh… okay," Fiona said. Reese said nothing. Hitomi found a sky blue blouse and some jeans in her mother's clothes for Reese, since nothing Hitomi owned would fit the taller woman.

Hitomi was also having difficulty finding something for Fiona to wear, just because Hitomi is so much of a toothpick. Then she stumbled across one of Yukari's discarded pink tee shirts that must have been left over from her friend's last sleep over. Hitomi had washed it and would eventually get it back to her friend, but in the mean time she didn't think Yukari would mind too much. Fiona would be fine with her own skirt for now.

When Reese and Fiona had finished changing, the girls shuffled back through the house to the front door, put on their shoes and walked out. When they got outside Hitomi spoke up, "We'll have to walk to the hospital, but it's not far, only a few blocks, maybe a mile." Reese and Fiona nodded that they understood. During the entire twenty-minute walk nobody said anything, just enjoying the blissful silence.

When they reached the hospital, Hitomi approached the receptionist, "My mother came in here last night with a bullet graze, last name Kanzaki."

The receptionist looked at her clipboard, "Um… let's see now… Kanzaki, Kanzaki, Kanzaki… Ah. Here, recovery room, two floors up room 2325A. Just go up that elevator across the room over there to the second floor, when you get out turn left and go to the end of the hall it'll be the last door on your left."

"Thank you very much," Hitomi bowed slightly.

"Not a problem," the receptionist smiled and bowed lightly back.

When the group reached the recovery room as designated, they found Mrs. Kanzaki sitting up and reading a magazine that she promptly put down when she saw them all come in. "Hitomi"! Mrs. Kanzaki called out.

"Momma"! Hitomi called back and hurried across the room to give her mother a hug. "Are you ok mom?" Hitomi asked worriedly.

"Yes, I'm fine, dear," Mrs. Kanzaki assured her daughter, tears shining in her eyes.

"Thank you for letting us stay at your house last night Mrs. Kanzaki," Fiona said, graciously bowing.

"Oh, think nothing of it, I couldn't possibly have let you sleep outside on the cold, hard ground," Mrs. Kanzaki replied, with a small smile.

"Well, at least let us try to explain how we got here, we owe you that much at least," Fiona said.

"Alright," Mrs. Kanzaki agreed and she lay back in the cot. Reese and Fiona pulled up chairs so that they wouldn't have to stand through the whole telling, as Hitomi had taken the first seat that had been by the recovery cot.

"Do you mind if I start, Reese?" Fiona asked. Reese simply shook her head. "Our story actually starts several hundred years ago but the more relevant parts have only happened in the past few years."

As Fiona got to the parts where Reese first appeared to herself and Van she started to skim over the details very lightly so as not to generate any animosity between Reese and anyone else around the cot. Reese reached over and lightly grabbed Fiona's wrist, "It's alright, tell them. It's vital to understanding certain things. Besides, I like to think I've changed at least a little since then."

Fiona had begun to frown and had opened her mouth to protest when Reese had interrupted, but as Reese finished her sentence, Fiona acquiesced and gave a slight nod. Reese didn't offer any further information about herself as the story continued, still feeling a little guilty about her past despite her brave speech earlier.

Fiona continued and told the entire Zoids: Chaotic Century and Guardian Force cycle from her own point of view and filling in a few facts from what Van had told her during their free time between adventures and missions.

After she finished telling the defeat of the second Death Saurer she skipped over her proposal to Van, it was still too near and vulnerable for her to feel comfortable talking about it.

"You poor girls. I…I don't know what to say," Mrs. Kanzaki was speechless. Reese sat back and watched as the three others hugged, each barely holding back tears. Reese could feel her own tears welling behind her eyes. There was just so much emotion in the air that she couldn't help it.

"Wow." Reese heard a whisper of awe come from behind her and she turned to look, tears still brimming. When she found she couldn't focus she turned away quickly to wipe her eyes and then looked back.

"What?" Reese demanded with a scowl of the onlooker, "what do you want?"

"Huh?" the guy snapped out of his daze suddenly realizing he had been staring at the group of girls. "Oh, uh, sorry," he looked away sheepishly. "I didn't mean to eaves drop, it's just so boring in here, and your story was so interesting I couldn't help it," the young man muttered in apology, "sorry."

"Let him be Reese," Fiona said gently, breaking away from the embrace with Hitomi and Mrs. Kanzaki.

"Oh, hello Mike, I didn't realize you were up already," Mrs. Kanzaki spoke up. Mike nodded his head.

"You know him Mom?" Hitomi asked.

"We talked for a few minutes last night," Mrs. Kanzaki answered. "Mike, this is Reese, Fiona, and my daughter Hitomi. Girls this is Mike."

"Hi," they all said quietly.

"So why are you here Mike?" Fiona asked after a long silence.

"I was sparring with practice swords in wushu and I tripped. Unfortunately my opponent was in mid swing and this is what happened," Mike shrugged, and winced as his collarbone grated.

"Mike," Fiona said noticing the discarded neck brace and pointing to it, "isn't that supposed to stop you from being able to hurt yourself like that?"

"It's too constricting," he complained.

"Come on now mike, put it back on," Mrs. Kanzaki chided, "If you don't put it on the doctors will come and complain at you."

Outside the door a nurse paused and smiled as she heard the exchange and the clicking of the neck brace going back on, giving the patient time to settle himself before she went in.

"Good morning everyone," the nurse said politely as she walked into the room. "I have the release forms for both of you, so if you would sign out, you may leave when you are ready."

"Thank you very much," Mrs. Kanzaki said quietly. As the nurse was about to leave the room, she looked over her shoulder pointedly at Mike, "And Mike…you be sure to wear your neck brace for the next week, we'll have you come back an remove it then. No sooner. And don't go fibbing to these nice people here. You don't take wushu, you just fell down the steps you klutz!"

"Yume!" Mike's face burned, and the girls giggled. Yume smiled mischievously and slipped out the door.

"Come on mom, let's get you signed out," Hitomi tugged gently, but insistently on her mother's arm.

"Hey Mike you want to walk downstairs with us?" Fiona asked.

"No, that's okay," he replied, "I'll be another few minutes getting ready, you can go on ahead. I'll see you girls later."

"Okay," Fiona said.

"See you later, it was nice talking to you Mike," Mrs. Kanzaki said in parting.

"Bye," Hitomi and Reese said in unison as they all turned to leave.

When they had gone, Yume stepped back into the room.

"That wasn't very nice of you," Mike said in a mock pouting voice.

"That's what you get for lying, you dodo," Yume smiled and slapped him lightly on the arm. "Come on let's get you signed out of here so I can finish my shift in peace," Yume said as she stood waiting for him.

"All right, I'm coming," Mike finally got up and straightened his neck brace before walking out the door.

Yume followed him out and shut the door to the now empty room behind her.