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Draconian Beast

Chapter 4. The dragons

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.:.:.:. With Van .:.:.:.

He was breathing harshly, trying to regain his breath from yelling at the poor girl. 'She had no right to be in here.' He told himself as he turned around to inspect his precious pendant. What he saw had made his breath hitch. The pendant was nearly half pink once again. 'What happened?'

"VAN-SAMA!"

"VAN!"

"VAN!!"

He could hear them coming now, his loyal companions. Merle had bounced in, her eyes watering, "Van-sama! We heard yelling! Please Van-sama! She left! You have to get her back!"

"Van!" It was Allen who was speaking now, "What happened here?"

"Yeah Lord Van, what happened to the little missy?" Reeden asked.

"Be quiet, all of you. She had no right to be in here. She touched the pendant and I had caught her." He told them, still angry at the girl.

"That's strange." Dryden had said aloud, "If I'm not mistaken, I'd say that the pendant is much brighter than it was just a few days ago." He observed, approaching the jewel. "It looks like the Wing Goddess has prolonged our lives."

"Quiet!" Van snapped.

Merle was crying now, Millerna was next to her, holding her hand and spoke, "Van, please you have to go get her back. What if she can break this curse? You just sent her away! Into a forest of dragons with the scent of blood covering herself. We can't just leave her out there—"

"I know that!" He snarled, "Get out of here all of you!"

They had obliged to his command, and left him alone in his quarters. Only Allen was left, "Dragons are bound to catch her scent soon, I wouldn't give her more than one hour before she gets eaten alive." He said coldly, before exiting with the rest.

Van groaned, running his hands through his dark locks. "Fanel, you've done it again."

.:.:.:. With Hitomi .:.:.:.

Hitomi swallowed the lump in her throat, looking around herself. Trees, trees and even more trees. She had no idea where she was, she was outside in a forest, barefoot, with an aching wrist that was bleeding through the bandages and was lost.

"What way do I go? Where is my home? Why can't I find my way back like I always do?" She sniffled, more tears flowing down her cheeks, "Why did this have to happen to me? Why am I the one who has to deal with these visions? And marriage, and monsters! I am no Goddess. I just want to be normal. I WANT TO BE NORMAL!" She cried, crouching down into the dirt.

"Where am I.. Please, someone tell me which way to go." Hitomi said, "Speak to me, please whoever you are, just anyone.. Help me.." She cried softly.

There was a noise of snapping twigs, branches and the crunching of leaves. All those noises had come from her right side and she had turned her face to meet with the glowing yellow eyes of another creature. She gasped standing to her feet quickly. It was a large, green scaly creature with yellow eyes and fangs the size of her head. These creatures were known as dragons.

She shook with fright, 'H-Help.' She mentally called as she backed up slowly from the monster.

'Oh god, please someone help.' She thought urgently again with another step backwards.

The dragon mimicked her, and took steps forward for each one she took back.

'HELP!' She mentally yelled as she turned swiftly around and broke into a run. She ran as fast as she could, for her life depended on this. She had gone through thorn bushes, tripped a few times but regained herself no sooner, but it was still not enough. The dragon was right behind her, jumping from one spot to another, hobbling after her.

Karma finally had its way with her, and she had tripped over a tree root, sliding across some dirt and rolling around until her body had stopped with her lying on her stomach. She was bruised, cut, and bleeding. 'Someone help me.'

The sky was orange and red, a shadowed figure in the distance was fighting with a sword. Then her vision had shifted to the kneeling guymelef from before.

"Mistress…We will protect you."

Then a blinding white flash of light.

Pure white feathers.

Hitomi's eyes focused back onto her situation. The dragon had its tail above its head, readied and shot towards her, the pointed thing aimed for her back.

'Escaflowne.. Whoever you are.. Please help!' She mentally cried, squeezing her eyes shut. Oddly enough, the pain had never come. She had heard a strange battle cry though. When she had opened her eyes, what she saw had amazed her.

Van was standing protectively in front of her, a sword held in his hand and the tip of the dragons tail cut off and abandoned. She had weakly called out to him, as if unsure if it was really him there.

He had ignored her call and attack the dragon once more. He had directed its attention away from Hitomi and moved it around to fight with him and only him. Well, it was true, dragons did breathe fire, and because of this, Van was nearly fried. If it were not for the protective armor he had on his left arm, he probably would have been killed.

He moved swiftly and was able to leap away from it with style. He had at one point, taken out one of the dragon's eyes with a swipe of his sword, causing it to shriek loudly like it had done before hand. Green blood now oozed out of its tail and the hole in its eye.

"Do you want me to take out your other eye too, dragon? Or will you leave now?" He snarled.

The dragon had let out another painfully loud shriek before using one of its clawed paws to slash at the prince, effectively causing four long gashes of blood to appear on his chest. He had yelled in pain, but brushed it off, standing weakly to his feet. "Damn you, you stupid monster." He growled, charging at it. He had leapt around it towards its back, his sword poised at his side; he had used it to slice from the tip of its tail down towards its belly.

The most sensitive part of the creature.

He grunted, sheathing his sword once the dragon had ceased to move. It was dead now and he had walked around it to find Hitomi. She was still laying the spot where he had found her. She looked very pale and was shaking like a leaf. He had dropped to his knees to inspect her. She had rolled over and sat up, her eyes and body still visibly frightened.
"You don't have to worry." Van spoke unusually gently, "The dragon's dead. You're safe.."

Flashes of the dragon and his yelling had mixed in her head, she didn't know what she was saying until afterwards when she had repeated the words in her head, "It-it's not the dragon I'm worried about."

Those words had hurt him more then he had expected. She was afraid of him? 'That's right, she's afraid of me.. I'm the real monster..' He thought bitterly before he closed his eyes and passed out. His body had landed against her own, making her freeze up. Then she had relaxed, holding him to her.

"V-Van? Are you ok Van? Van?" She started to tear up again, "You're bleeding so much, please don't die." She said, "We need to get back to the castle. We need to get back. Please, someone! Help! Help Van! Please, bring us back!" She closed her eyes tightly, "Back to the castle."

She sniffled loudly, "Please.. Don't let him die. I didn't mean it.. What I said… Please wake up, please.. Tell me what to do! Where to go! Please, someone, bring us back.. I'll go back. To the castle."

Without her knowledge, a pair of transparent wings had spread widely from her back, and then they were engulfed in a pillar of light. Next thing she knew, they were in her room. Hitomi still held the boy in her arms, her transparent wings surrounding them. "Van?" She asked softly. Then the door to her quarters had burst open. Her eyes that had glowed much brighter than usual had turned back to their normal state and the transparent wings were gone.

Millerna, Allen and Merle had come into the room all asking many questions about the injuries and how they got into the room but she brushed it off. "Never mind that, go get some water and bandages! Now! We have to help Van!"

"But you are nearly equally as hurt as him." Allen countered, "You need medical attention too."

"Never mind me. I'm not that important." Hitomi shot back.

Merle and Millerna had returned with the needed medical supplies and Hitomi had placed Van down gently. She had everything placed on the night table and the others were ushered out by Merle so they could have some 'alone' time. As soon as she placed the wet cloth on his first gash he had sprung awake, yelping in pain.

"What do you think you're doing?!"

"I'm helping you! Now be quiet a-and let me finish this! Then I'll leave you be." Hitomi shouted back, continuing her work. She got occasional yelps and grunts of pain from him, but otherwise he kept quiet. When she had finished, she had placed the cloth back into the bowl and was sliding off of the bed.

"Where are you going?" He had asked her, almost urgently.

"Leaving, I doubt you want my company, your highness." She seethed. Sure, she was scared of him, petrified even but she was angry too. She didn't want to be left in a room alone with him. Not in a long shot. She was still shaking a bit from the attack and the way he had destructively ripped the dragon apart. It sent chills down her back.

'Sh-she doesn't trust me.' His eyes were down cast almost ashamedly, 'I had yelled at her, threatened her and then left her to be eaten by dragons. I'd hate me too.' He cursed, it wasn't supposed to be this way. But it was being played out that way, because she was heading for the door and ready to leave. "Please don't go Hitomi." He said, before he registered exactly what had come out of his mouth, he had blushed.

Hitomi hadn't moved, her body was trembling, then he could see her hand slacken from the doorknob, she was wobbling, her whole body, back and forth. Then he noticed her eyes drooping and really how flushed she looked. Then she passed out, falling onto the stone floor.

"Hitomi!" He exclaimed, ignoring his own pain in his chest, eager to get to her side. He had crawled off the bed and walked towards Hitomi's limp body, crouching next to it. It was the first time he had ever noticed her own injuries, her body reeked with sickness. She had a fever, a very high one at that. Then he noticed something else, a type of thorn that was stuck into a piece of her clothing. 'This is a poisonous plant. She must have run through a lot of it to be this sick.' He thought grimly.

He had moved her to her bed and ordered Millerna to get him the herb leaf to counter the poison. He had cleaned all the dirt off of her face and when the medicine had arrived, placed some onto all her open injuries.

.:.:.:. Hitomi's dream .:.:.:.

"Where am I? Why is it so dark?" She asked herself, twisting around into a circle once more, but was continuously surrounded by darkness. She kept turning around in circles, until she saw the familiar Guymelef again. "Escaflowne?" She questioned aloud.

"Mistress…" Its head had turned towards her, "We will protect you."

"Protect me? Who? You and who? Why protect me? Why are you calling me mistress?" She kept asking it. The ground she was standing on began to shake furiously and she risked a glance towards the white melef. It had disappeared, just like the ground below her.

She was screaming now as she was falling into a pit of darkness. "HELP!" She screamed, stretching her hand out towards the sky, trying to grasp something to stop her falling figure.

A miracle had happened, that same flash of light before and then, pure white feathers. There was a dark figure coming towards her, with long white wings sprouting from the person's back. His hand had gripped her own, and he grinned widely at her.

"Who are you?"

.:.:.:. Out of dream sequence.:.:.:.

She had awoken with a start, Merle was curled next to her, no one else in the room. "What happened.." She mumbled, it was day, the curtains were pulled so the light wouldn't come in. Glancing around the room, she found that she had no choice but to continue sleeping. She was exhausted and beginning to get used to this routine. Besides, Van wasn't there, so she couldn't question him now. Not until sundown anyways.

'I'll just sleep. Maybe I'll dream of that handsome boy with the white wings again.' She smiled wearily before drifting off once more.

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A/N it's short, but depending how many reviews I get, I might actually post up the next chapter sometime this week. (-coughIalreadyhaveitdonecough-) R&R! Tell me what ya think!