(u)(n)(e)(x)(p)(e)(c)(t)(e)(d)
ACT 3: Disappointing Revelations
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A/N: Another chapter done. I hope it's as good as the last one, or better.
Please review! Comments are VERY welcome!
Disclaimer: Don't own Escaflowne, much to my chagrin.
Advertisment: Please read my other Esca fic, "Into the Abyss", if you have the time. It's a more angsty fic than this one. For Roswell fans: I suggest you read "It Was You" -- Liz/Zan fic :)
Thank you so much to those who reviewed!
Fushizen na: thank you so much for reviewing again!
Niffer: thanks! :)
SabineballZ: read this chapter and you'll see if he's actually fallen for millerna. wink allen bashing? i'll think about it. hehe. as for van and hitomi? be patient. it will get there. :) Thanks a lot for reviewing again!
Ruby: thanks so much for reviewing again!
fireangel: lol. no need to get hysterical. :) read this chapter and see if your suspicions are correct. wink, wink thanks so much for reviewing again! oh and thanks for the correction. :) i keep on mixing up the two of them. o_0
van lover: *blushes* awww... thanks! and thanks for reviewing again!
CinderellaxVan: oops. my mistake. *edits chapter 2* anyway, thanks for reviewing again! and just read this chappie to see if your suspicion is true. hehe. you mean you were just a beginner when you wrote "over my head"? woah! but it was so damn good! well, don't be humble. i think you're one of the Escaflowne experts already! i do hope i write as good as you guys some day! ^_^
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What followed after the blow-off was a long moment of awkward silence. Merle was still infuriated from her outburst, Van was extraordinarily dead calm, and Hitomi and Dilandau didn't know what to say to break the ice. Luckily, the lunch bell intervened.
Hitomi and Dilandau heaved a sigh.
"Phew! There's the bell! That means lunch is over!", Hitomi exclaimed with an all-too exaggerated excitement in her voice, "So, Van? We have the same class still, right? Let's go!" Dilandau sweatdropped, but decided to go with Hitomi's mood, "And we have Chem Lab together, Merle! Let's bring on those Bunsens!", Dilandau said, laughing wickedly.
Merle looked at Van suspiciously before she agreed with Dilandau and left. She had this gut feeling that Van's gaze was headed towards the direction where the popular girls were seated, and her intuition rarely faltered. It bothered her a lot, especially since she knew how the "glamour girls" drove their suitors into slaves. Dilandau tugged the collar of Merle's red rugby shirt, "Earth to Merle?" "Oh yeah. Classes. Let's go."
And the quartet left the cafeteria along with the rest of the student body.
After two classes, another school day had finally ended. Hitomi went to her locker, punched in her combination, gave the stubborn metal contraption a good whack before it finally opened, shoved her books inside untidily, and happily left school grounds, towards her " family heirloom" (so to speak) - the Jetta. She unlocked her door with her keys, but to no avail. Hitomi sighed, frustrated. 'Jeez. Are all the locks out to get me today?' She tried again, this time applying more force as she turned the key, causing her keychains to jingle furiously. The doors, however, still refused to cooperate.
Just then a familiar voice called her from behind, making Hitomi smile.
"Need help?"
"Van, thank goodness you're here! This stupid door doesn't want to open!"
Van calmly gestured for the keys, moved towards Hitomi's car, and unlocked the door with ease.
"Hey how'd you do that?"
Van shrugged, "I had a car just as ancient as that before and had the same problems."
Hitomi laughed a little at the word, 'ancient' and climbed inside her car. "Thanks, Van. Our family calls this an heirloom."
Van grinned momentarily, but his facial expressions changed to a more somber tone, as he leaned on Hitomi's window.
"Um... Hitomi?", Van asked, a tinge of uneasiness etched in his voice. Hitomi noticed immediately since Van was usually quite 'cool' about everything.
"Ya, what's up?
"Can I call you later?"
Hitomi felt her heart race. "Um, s-sure, okay. I'll talk to you later then," as she nervously fumbled for her keys and started the ignition.
Van, slightly amused, "Um, Hitomi?"
"Y-Yeah?"
"You haven't given me your number yet."
"Oh right!", Hitomi said nervously and murmured "532-91-67" quickly.
"Um can you go over it a little slowly?"
Hitomi smiled, "Sorry." and repeated her number.
"Okay then. I'll call you later."
"Kay. Bye!", Hitomi waved and Van turned the other direction.
Hitomi made sure Van was out of sight before she heaved a heavy sigh and backed up the car. 'Dammit I must have looked like a total geek there.'
The drive back home was smooth, and effortless. She turned down the volume of her radio and her eyes focused on the almost empty road while her mind traveled somewhere else. 'I wonder why he wants to call me... Could it be that he likes me?' Hitomi shook her head. 'That couldn't be it. I'm sure he doesn't like me...' 'Besides, who was he staring at before? I could have sworn she was staring at Millerna and that means he really doesn't like me.' Hitomi frowned a little, as she changed her gear and made a sharp turn to the right. 'That should be it. What man in his right frame of mind will not find Millerna attractive at first glance?'
She looked up at the traffic light and came to a complete stop.
'This is ridiculous. I don't know why I'm so caught up with the guy. I don't even know him that well. He's just like a stranger to me now.'
Her long train of thoughts were put to an abrupt stop when she heard angry horns honking at her. She looked up at the traffic light and noticed that it had turned green already for god knows how long. She immediately put her foot down the gas pedal and made the last turn to her abode, dismissing all her thoughts and leaving the whole issue to the phone call she'll receive later.
She opened the door to her house with her keys, thanking the gods that at least this door wasn't stubborn like the others she have experienced that day, and went inside her room immediately, knowing that her mother won't be home from work for another two to three hours.
She had just stepped inside her bedroom, when her black cordless phone rang. She ran towards it and picked it up immediately.
"HITOMI! I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE HOME!"
"Merle, no need to shout. My hearing's perfectly fine!", Hitomi said, teasingly, pulling the phone away from her ear.
"I am still sooo pissed at Van!"
"About that lunch incident?", Hitomi asked while plopping down on her bed.
"Yes, about the lunch incident. I have this huge feeling that Van likes one of those glam girls, and there's nothing I can do to talk some sense into him!"
"Why? You talked to him after school?"
"If you consider speaking with someone who's barely replying as 'talking'! I told him I knew who he was staring at lunch time and he just shrugged and said that he didn't know what I was talking about. As if!", Merle said, frustration imminent in her voice.
"Why don't you give him the benefit of the doubt? Look, he said he's gonna call me later so maybe I'll find out. Right now we..."
"What? He said he'll call you? Why doesn't he want to call me instead? I mean we're cousins right?", Merle interrupted.
"Well maybe because you overreact?"
"WHAT? SINCE WHEN DID I DO THAT?"
Hitomi rolled her eyes, "Um, like now?"
There was a pause in the conversation. Hitomi smiled, "Well...?"
"Okay. Whatever. Just call me after you talk to Van okay?"
"Kay! Bye!"
"Bye!"
Merle put down the phone and stared out her window. 'I sure hope Hitomi's right.' A lot of people would have wondered why Merle was so concerned with Van's situation, and so angry at the popular girls. Only Merle knew the answer to that.
It all started two years ago. She was going steady with Folken, when Millerna suddenly took interest in him. Millerna was like a serpent, using her charm to wrap Folken around her finger. And Merle got worried. She kept on telling Folken to stay away from the girl but Folken assured Merle that nothing will happen. Merle trusted him. But soon after, her trust bit her in the back.
On the night of the ball, Merle waited for Folken on her front porch. She was wearing a pink dress and looked beautiful. She imagined how the night would go, how Folken would pick her up and he would love her dress and they would enter the gym hand-in-hand and dance the night away. 30 minutes passed quickly and Folken's black car was nowhere in sight. An hour. Two hours. Three hours. Till Merle realized that waiting for him was useless. She called him on the cellular phone and all Folken could do was apologize profusely for forgetting.
He had forgotten that he asked his girlfriend to the prom. So he 'accidentally' invited someone else... by the name of Millerna. How could Merle have forgiven him for that? Merle cursed herself for being too trusting... too naive. She ran to her room, holding on to Folken's boutoneirre so tightly, that the petals were dulled in color. All her plans for the evening had been crushed. Instead, she cried the night away.
After that day, Merle and Folken rarely talked or exchanged congenial words to each other. Maybe it was because Merle still harbored this great deal of hurt and anger towards him or because Folken was guilty, which he really was. But the bulk of the truth was that Folken had never had the time to talk to her, or do anything for that matter. A week after the prom, Millerna shed off her sweet exterior and started manipulating him, coaxing him to do her homework, make her projects, cut classes to listen in on her classes instead and take notes for her, till his grades started to slip and his parents forced him to change schools.
It was sad to see Folken Lacour, honor student, responsible, the pride of his family, just waste away for a woman. Folken was such an intelligent person... Yet, he wasn't smart enough to see through the blonde princess. He started a new life in a school miles from Merle's and they never talked since. It was a bitter memory for her and she never forgived Millerna... or the blonde's friends, even if they had nothing to do with the incident.
And as she finished recalling her grief, she silently prayed that Van won't replay the terrible incident.
Somewhere else, the phone rang forebodingly. Speak of the devil.
"Hello?"
"May I please speak to Hitomi?", the male voice asked.
Hitomi knew who he was - "Van? It's me."
"Hey", Van said in his usual stoic self.
"Hey."
"So, did you just come home?", Van inquired.
"Yup kinda. You?"
"Yeah."
"Oh."
"So...", Hitomi said prolonging the word, not knowing what to say exactly.
"Um... Hitomi." The nervous side of Van was shown to her a second time.
"Yeah?"
"Could I ask you something?"
"Uh... sure? Like what?"
"Well, I didn't really want to talk to Merle about this since she'd probably make a big deal about it."
Hitomi giggled, "Yeah. She tends to do that a lot."
Van chortled a little, "So... I thought I'd tell you instead. I mean even if we haven't known each other for a long time, I just feel... I don't know... comfortable with you."
Hitomi blushed furiously and thanked the gods that nobody hasn't invented a video-enabled phone yet.
"I guess you probably noticed around lunch time that I was kinda... distracted."
At those words, Hitomi lost the blush that overcame her cheeks and knew what was to come.
"Well... This would sound pretty pathetic but... you see..."
"This has something to do with Millerna, right?", Hitomi interjected, a hint of disappointment and irritation in her voice.
"The blonde?" Van said, "Hell no. She acts like a spoiled princess or something. Besides, blondes aren't really my type."
"So you prefer..."
"Girls with red hair."
Hitomi knew exactly where this conversation was headed. Van would be asking her to help him hook up with Yukari Uchida. She was, after all, the only red-haired girl who sat with Millerna and her cronies.
"Actually, there was a particular red-haired girl I liked who was sitting in the same table as Millerna."
"I know her. Yukari. And you're in luck. She was my best friend in grade school," Hitomi said emotionless, except for a slight stress in the way she said 'was'. She didn't know how to feel. Should she be feeling flattered for how Van trusted her with his feelings? How he looked at her as a good friend? Somehow she didn't and it was just the word 'friend' that kept her downcast. She wanted to be his friend. Really she did. But did he have to pick her to help him with his love life when she wanted to be a part of it, instead? Hitomi shook his head. She sounded really pathetic. Pining over a guy who was asking her help for another girl.
"So... you'll help me?", Van asked filling the silence.
Hitomi wanted to hang up and tell him he was a jerk - "Help you in what way exactly?" - but she couldn't do it. She knew she'd regret it sooner or later...
But what the heck.
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a/n: hey hope you like the chapter and the little surprise you got when you realized that van actually liked Yukari instead of Millerna. this chapter's shorter cause i thought it would end better this way. not much action her either. I'll add more stuff in the next chapter. and don't worry i promise i'll add in cute v/h moments here and there. and i've got the ending planned already. it's gonna be sweet. just hope you'll find it sweet, too. hehe o_0. okay enough of my blabbing. till next chapter!
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ACT 3: Disappointing Revelations
===================================================================================
A/N: Another chapter done. I hope it's as good as the last one, or better.
Please review! Comments are VERY welcome!
Disclaimer: Don't own Escaflowne, much to my chagrin.
Advertisment: Please read my other Esca fic, "Into the Abyss", if you have the time. It's a more angsty fic than this one. For Roswell fans: I suggest you read "It Was You" -- Liz/Zan fic :)
Thank you so much to those who reviewed!
Fushizen na: thank you so much for reviewing again!
Niffer: thanks! :)
SabineballZ: read this chapter and you'll see if he's actually fallen for millerna. wink allen bashing? i'll think about it. hehe. as for van and hitomi? be patient. it will get there. :) Thanks a lot for reviewing again!
Ruby: thanks so much for reviewing again!
fireangel: lol. no need to get hysterical. :) read this chapter and see if your suspicions are correct. wink, wink thanks so much for reviewing again! oh and thanks for the correction. :) i keep on mixing up the two of them. o_0
van lover: *blushes* awww... thanks! and thanks for reviewing again!
CinderellaxVan: oops. my mistake. *edits chapter 2* anyway, thanks for reviewing again! and just read this chappie to see if your suspicion is true. hehe. you mean you were just a beginner when you wrote "over my head"? woah! but it was so damn good! well, don't be humble. i think you're one of the Escaflowne experts already! i do hope i write as good as you guys some day! ^_^
===================================================================================
What followed after the blow-off was a long moment of awkward silence. Merle was still infuriated from her outburst, Van was extraordinarily dead calm, and Hitomi and Dilandau didn't know what to say to break the ice. Luckily, the lunch bell intervened.
Hitomi and Dilandau heaved a sigh.
"Phew! There's the bell! That means lunch is over!", Hitomi exclaimed with an all-too exaggerated excitement in her voice, "So, Van? We have the same class still, right? Let's go!" Dilandau sweatdropped, but decided to go with Hitomi's mood, "And we have Chem Lab together, Merle! Let's bring on those Bunsens!", Dilandau said, laughing wickedly.
Merle looked at Van suspiciously before she agreed with Dilandau and left. She had this gut feeling that Van's gaze was headed towards the direction where the popular girls were seated, and her intuition rarely faltered. It bothered her a lot, especially since she knew how the "glamour girls" drove their suitors into slaves. Dilandau tugged the collar of Merle's red rugby shirt, "Earth to Merle?" "Oh yeah. Classes. Let's go."
And the quartet left the cafeteria along with the rest of the student body.
After two classes, another school day had finally ended. Hitomi went to her locker, punched in her combination, gave the stubborn metal contraption a good whack before it finally opened, shoved her books inside untidily, and happily left school grounds, towards her " family heirloom" (so to speak) - the Jetta. She unlocked her door with her keys, but to no avail. Hitomi sighed, frustrated. 'Jeez. Are all the locks out to get me today?' She tried again, this time applying more force as she turned the key, causing her keychains to jingle furiously. The doors, however, still refused to cooperate.
Just then a familiar voice called her from behind, making Hitomi smile.
"Need help?"
"Van, thank goodness you're here! This stupid door doesn't want to open!"
Van calmly gestured for the keys, moved towards Hitomi's car, and unlocked the door with ease.
"Hey how'd you do that?"
Van shrugged, "I had a car just as ancient as that before and had the same problems."
Hitomi laughed a little at the word, 'ancient' and climbed inside her car. "Thanks, Van. Our family calls this an heirloom."
Van grinned momentarily, but his facial expressions changed to a more somber tone, as he leaned on Hitomi's window.
"Um... Hitomi?", Van asked, a tinge of uneasiness etched in his voice. Hitomi noticed immediately since Van was usually quite 'cool' about everything.
"Ya, what's up?
"Can I call you later?"
Hitomi felt her heart race. "Um, s-sure, okay. I'll talk to you later then," as she nervously fumbled for her keys and started the ignition.
Van, slightly amused, "Um, Hitomi?"
"Y-Yeah?"
"You haven't given me your number yet."
"Oh right!", Hitomi said nervously and murmured "532-91-67" quickly.
"Um can you go over it a little slowly?"
Hitomi smiled, "Sorry." and repeated her number.
"Okay then. I'll call you later."
"Kay. Bye!", Hitomi waved and Van turned the other direction.
Hitomi made sure Van was out of sight before she heaved a heavy sigh and backed up the car. 'Dammit I must have looked like a total geek there.'
The drive back home was smooth, and effortless. She turned down the volume of her radio and her eyes focused on the almost empty road while her mind traveled somewhere else. 'I wonder why he wants to call me... Could it be that he likes me?' Hitomi shook her head. 'That couldn't be it. I'm sure he doesn't like me...' 'Besides, who was he staring at before? I could have sworn she was staring at Millerna and that means he really doesn't like me.' Hitomi frowned a little, as she changed her gear and made a sharp turn to the right. 'That should be it. What man in his right frame of mind will not find Millerna attractive at first glance?'
She looked up at the traffic light and came to a complete stop.
'This is ridiculous. I don't know why I'm so caught up with the guy. I don't even know him that well. He's just like a stranger to me now.'
Her long train of thoughts were put to an abrupt stop when she heard angry horns honking at her. She looked up at the traffic light and noticed that it had turned green already for god knows how long. She immediately put her foot down the gas pedal and made the last turn to her abode, dismissing all her thoughts and leaving the whole issue to the phone call she'll receive later.
She opened the door to her house with her keys, thanking the gods that at least this door wasn't stubborn like the others she have experienced that day, and went inside her room immediately, knowing that her mother won't be home from work for another two to three hours.
She had just stepped inside her bedroom, when her black cordless phone rang. She ran towards it and picked it up immediately.
"HITOMI! I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE HOME!"
"Merle, no need to shout. My hearing's perfectly fine!", Hitomi said, teasingly, pulling the phone away from her ear.
"I am still sooo pissed at Van!"
"About that lunch incident?", Hitomi asked while plopping down on her bed.
"Yes, about the lunch incident. I have this huge feeling that Van likes one of those glam girls, and there's nothing I can do to talk some sense into him!"
"Why? You talked to him after school?"
"If you consider speaking with someone who's barely replying as 'talking'! I told him I knew who he was staring at lunch time and he just shrugged and said that he didn't know what I was talking about. As if!", Merle said, frustration imminent in her voice.
"Why don't you give him the benefit of the doubt? Look, he said he's gonna call me later so maybe I'll find out. Right now we..."
"What? He said he'll call you? Why doesn't he want to call me instead? I mean we're cousins right?", Merle interrupted.
"Well maybe because you overreact?"
"WHAT? SINCE WHEN DID I DO THAT?"
Hitomi rolled her eyes, "Um, like now?"
There was a pause in the conversation. Hitomi smiled, "Well...?"
"Okay. Whatever. Just call me after you talk to Van okay?"
"Kay! Bye!"
"Bye!"
Merle put down the phone and stared out her window. 'I sure hope Hitomi's right.' A lot of people would have wondered why Merle was so concerned with Van's situation, and so angry at the popular girls. Only Merle knew the answer to that.
It all started two years ago. She was going steady with Folken, when Millerna suddenly took interest in him. Millerna was like a serpent, using her charm to wrap Folken around her finger. And Merle got worried. She kept on telling Folken to stay away from the girl but Folken assured Merle that nothing will happen. Merle trusted him. But soon after, her trust bit her in the back.
On the night of the ball, Merle waited for Folken on her front porch. She was wearing a pink dress and looked beautiful. She imagined how the night would go, how Folken would pick her up and he would love her dress and they would enter the gym hand-in-hand and dance the night away. 30 minutes passed quickly and Folken's black car was nowhere in sight. An hour. Two hours. Three hours. Till Merle realized that waiting for him was useless. She called him on the cellular phone and all Folken could do was apologize profusely for forgetting.
He had forgotten that he asked his girlfriend to the prom. So he 'accidentally' invited someone else... by the name of Millerna. How could Merle have forgiven him for that? Merle cursed herself for being too trusting... too naive. She ran to her room, holding on to Folken's boutoneirre so tightly, that the petals were dulled in color. All her plans for the evening had been crushed. Instead, she cried the night away.
After that day, Merle and Folken rarely talked or exchanged congenial words to each other. Maybe it was because Merle still harbored this great deal of hurt and anger towards him or because Folken was guilty, which he really was. But the bulk of the truth was that Folken had never had the time to talk to her, or do anything for that matter. A week after the prom, Millerna shed off her sweet exterior and started manipulating him, coaxing him to do her homework, make her projects, cut classes to listen in on her classes instead and take notes for her, till his grades started to slip and his parents forced him to change schools.
It was sad to see Folken Lacour, honor student, responsible, the pride of his family, just waste away for a woman. Folken was such an intelligent person... Yet, he wasn't smart enough to see through the blonde princess. He started a new life in a school miles from Merle's and they never talked since. It was a bitter memory for her and she never forgived Millerna... or the blonde's friends, even if they had nothing to do with the incident.
And as she finished recalling her grief, she silently prayed that Van won't replay the terrible incident.
Somewhere else, the phone rang forebodingly. Speak of the devil.
"Hello?"
"May I please speak to Hitomi?", the male voice asked.
Hitomi knew who he was - "Van? It's me."
"Hey", Van said in his usual stoic self.
"Hey."
"So, did you just come home?", Van inquired.
"Yup kinda. You?"
"Yeah."
"Oh."
"So...", Hitomi said prolonging the word, not knowing what to say exactly.
"Um... Hitomi." The nervous side of Van was shown to her a second time.
"Yeah?"
"Could I ask you something?"
"Uh... sure? Like what?"
"Well, I didn't really want to talk to Merle about this since she'd probably make a big deal about it."
Hitomi giggled, "Yeah. She tends to do that a lot."
Van chortled a little, "So... I thought I'd tell you instead. I mean even if we haven't known each other for a long time, I just feel... I don't know... comfortable with you."
Hitomi blushed furiously and thanked the gods that nobody hasn't invented a video-enabled phone yet.
"I guess you probably noticed around lunch time that I was kinda... distracted."
At those words, Hitomi lost the blush that overcame her cheeks and knew what was to come.
"Well... This would sound pretty pathetic but... you see..."
"This has something to do with Millerna, right?", Hitomi interjected, a hint of disappointment and irritation in her voice.
"The blonde?" Van said, "Hell no. She acts like a spoiled princess or something. Besides, blondes aren't really my type."
"So you prefer..."
"Girls with red hair."
Hitomi knew exactly where this conversation was headed. Van would be asking her to help him hook up with Yukari Uchida. She was, after all, the only red-haired girl who sat with Millerna and her cronies.
"Actually, there was a particular red-haired girl I liked who was sitting in the same table as Millerna."
"I know her. Yukari. And you're in luck. She was my best friend in grade school," Hitomi said emotionless, except for a slight stress in the way she said 'was'. She didn't know how to feel. Should she be feeling flattered for how Van trusted her with his feelings? How he looked at her as a good friend? Somehow she didn't and it was just the word 'friend' that kept her downcast. She wanted to be his friend. Really she did. But did he have to pick her to help him with his love life when she wanted to be a part of it, instead? Hitomi shook his head. She sounded really pathetic. Pining over a guy who was asking her help for another girl.
"So... you'll help me?", Van asked filling the silence.
Hitomi wanted to hang up and tell him he was a jerk - "Help you in what way exactly?" - but she couldn't do it. She knew she'd regret it sooner or later...
But what the heck.
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a/n: hey hope you like the chapter and the little surprise you got when you realized that van actually liked Yukari instead of Millerna. this chapter's shorter cause i thought it would end better this way. not much action her either. I'll add more stuff in the next chapter. and don't worry i promise i'll add in cute v/h moments here and there. and i've got the ending planned already. it's gonna be sweet. just hope you'll find it sweet, too. hehe o_0. okay enough of my blabbing. till next chapter!
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----------------------------- # ------ # -----------------------
------------------------------ # ----- # ------------------------
------------------------------- ### - # ------ ### --------------
------------------------------- # ---- ### --- # -----------------
- ----------------------------- # --- # -- # --# ----------------
-- --------------------------- # --- ### --- ### - * - * - * ---
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