Disclaimers: I do not own Escaflowne
Draconian Beast
Chapter 9. Protect her
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Everything had gone by smoothly for once within the castle during the day. No one had disturbed Van-sama and Hitomi was in her room locked tight with Allen and Merle taking shifts to guard her. Once day had turned into night, the whole castle was up and doing their own jobs, safe for Hitomi. She had stayed in her room and stared at her tarot cards that she had placed neatly on her bed. They were faced down and she feared the worse if she were to turn one of them up.
"I think I'll just bathe and change clothing right now." She murmured, and left her room with a new clean dress to change into after she got cleaned up.
Shortly afterwards, she had returned to her room to find it still looking the same as she had left it. Sitting down on her bed, she had glanced at the cards again. 'Maybe just one..?' She shook her head, 'No, I always give bad fortunes. I don't want to know what's going to happen.' She stood up, rather difficultly, and glared down at her dress.
"Why are these things made to be to uncomfortable?" She huffed, crossing her arms. 'Maybe if I made some adjustments to it..' She mentally grinned and turned slowly to her night table, opening a drawer, which revealed a shiny pair of scissors.
A few adjustments later, Hitomi now stood in a short dress that ended just above her knees. She had cut and ripped off, in her opinion, all the unnecessary fabric that had been bothering her and now just wore a forest green and emerald green dress that still had some threaded designs to it. 'Perfect.' She nodded to herself before walking out into the hall to search for food.
Upon her arrival at the dinning hall, she had received a great deal of odd looks. The cat girl, Merle, had started to form and insult to send to Hitomi when Van had placed his hand on her head and made her quiet down. During this he had kept his dark brown eyes trained on Hitomi the entire time, until she had taken a place at the table.
Allen had nudged the King, while snickering a bit, "Lord Van, your dinner will get cold."
Dryden snickered also, "Yes, Fanelia, it might get cold if you keep using your time to stare at the beautiful young lady over there."
Van turned his head briskly to the two boys and narrowed his eyes in annoyance while trying his best to hide his blush. "Be quiet and eat." He said harshly to them.
Hitomi was blushing like a tomato while attempting to ignore the boys. Millerna had been nice enough to start up a conversation with her to keep her mind off of them. Somehow, her mind had drifted off to other topics as well as her vision. She was currently staring at a flaming torch that helped light up the room. The flames were capturing her interest and soon enough, she started to hear yelling.
"Burn! Burn, burn, burn! Ahahaha! Let's see you try and stop this!" Dilandau laughed, flames encircling him.
Hitomi's eyes had glazed over and she started to whimper. "I-it's so hot.."
A red guymelef had flames spouting out of his arms.
She put her hands to her face, "St-stop!"
This had caught everyone's attention.
There was a war going on. A very fierce battle between Zaibach soldiers.. and them! She could see Gaddess and Reeden jumping on a soldier, Allen kicking another in the shins, even Millerna was fighting! All the cooks.. They were there too! A bright flash of light clouded her vision and she could briefly see a figure with transparent wings holding a pendant before all had gone black. "Mistress…" "Mistress…" "Mistress, we will protect you." The ground beneath started to give out and crumble away. "Someone help me!" She breathed and screamed, reaching out to grasp anything. "Help me please!" She cried urgently, falling into the dark depths. "Mistress… Hitomi…" A white winged figure flew towards her, avoiding all ruble and reaching out towards her, grasping her hand and grinning. "Y-you again." He continued to smirk at her, his face shadowed. "B-but, wh-who are you?"
"Stop! Please stop it! I don't want to see the future! I am no Goddess.. Leave me alone."
Her eyes had opened tiredly to see a pair of sky blue eyes looking down at her in worry.
"You gave us quite a scare, Hitomi." Allen smiled, stepping off his stool that was located next to Hitomi's bed, and back onto the floor. "I'll go tell Van you're awake—"
Hitomi gasped, shooting up, "Van! No! Don't get Van! I'm fine! In fact, I'll be down in a bit." She forced a bright smile until Allen had hesitantly left the room. 'Thank the gods..' She mentally sighed in relief. 'Now what?'
She cringed and placed her hands on the deck of tarot cards. 'I guess, this leaves me with no other choice..'
"I am the cause of all this. I may be responsible for so many deaths if I keep staying here." She sniffled, "It's only logical that I leave." 'To save them all.' She pulled the deck to her chest and closed her eyes. "These will always stay with me and guide me." With that said, she had stood up and walked to her door. She had opened it and peaked side to side to see that the halls were completely empty.
The girl had tip toed out and broken into a run down the hall, bare foot mind you, until she stopped at the staircase. There was no one in the foyer, as expected since they were probably all still dinning. She had peaked around to make sure no one was looking, and had gone down the steps until she had reached the doors. Opening one of them slowly, she winced at every squeaking noise it made and casually slipped out unnoticed by anyone.
Except for Van.
Who stood at the top of the stairs, where she once stood.
"Hitomi…" His voice cracked in sadness.
Ever since she had left, he had locked himself in his room, standing on his balcony and staring out at the forest that blocked his view of the kingdom. He sighed solemnly, glancing back at his door where his friends pounded to let them in. 'Why did she leave? Why couldn't she stay? Was it something I did?' He growled, "Damnit! Why the hell is this affecting me?!" He walked back into in room and knocked over his chair in anger, "I wanted her to leave, didn't I?!" He glared at the nearly black pendant on his little table menacingly.
"It's all her fault I'm like this! Damn that Wing Goddess!" He snarled.
He ignored them, 'No, I don't truly feel this way, do I?' He shook his head, 'I despise the one who placed me under this curse. But I've taken a liking to the one I thought would break it.' He sighed loudly, walking back out to his balcony.
"Is it my fault she's gone? Did I frighten her?"
His eyes darkened, 'I nearly killed her several times, and I've yelled at her as well.' "It probably is my fault. She despises me." He sulked.
.:.:.:. With Hitomi .:.:.:.
She was sitting behind the castle hidden behind a large tree close to tears. "Why can't I leave?" She found herself asking to no one in particular. The visions from earlier kept coming back to her and repeating over and over again.
"Burn! Burn, burn, burn! Ahahaha! Let's see you try and stop this!" Dilandau laughed, flames encircling him.
She clutched her head in agony.
"Stop!"
She trembled with fear until the image of the white haired man disappeared. Ever since she reached this spot, she hasn't been able to move. She couldn't bring her muscles to move, as if they were too heavy for her to lift. Yet, she could move backwards, back to the castle without a problem.
"I'm trying to save them and stop this petty battle from developing. So why can't I leave? Is it so wrong for me to try and save them?" She spoke to no one in particular. Her eyes had then spotted something landing next to her. Her emerald green eyes had widened at the object.
It was a glowing white feather.
She had gingerly picked it up, her eyes glazing over. "Am I being called back?" She ran her fingers over the white feather and then it had suddenly disappeared. She could hear thunder in the distance and felt the winds starting to increase.
"Van-sama!" Merle cried.
Dilandau grinned, "I guess she isn't here. Oh well, you'll just have to die then."
Hitomi clutched her head once more, 'Is-is this what's going to happen, if I'm not there? Is Van… Is Van going to die tonight?' She gasped, "No Van!" She sniffled, 'I tried to stop a battle from forming by running away. I tried to change a prediction again, and by doing so, I just made it worse! I have to be there! I have to stop this!' She stood up weakly and turned back towards the castle. 'Even if that means I have to go with Dilandau.'
"I'm coming Van." She clenched her fists, 'It's about time I stop running away, isn't it?'
.:.:.:. With Van .:.:.:.
Clouds now covered the grounds and thunder was booming loudly. Morning would be very soon. Despite the clouds blocking out the sun, he could still feel the magic surrounding him to continue the curse. While he was on his balcony, however, he could see the trees moving as if something large were coming out of it. He could also see five Zaibach men coming out as well.
"Their here." He said in alarm and pushed himself away from the balcony to run to his door. He had ripped it open, his friends staring at him oddly, "Allen hurry and round up as many soldiers as possible. The Zaibach men are here to take Hitomi."
"But she isn't even here!" Millerna exclaimed.
"No, but we can buy her some time." Van replied.
Allen's eyes sparkled, "We haven't fought in a long time." He noted, "I'll go round them up and lead them to the front of the castle." He said before running down the halls followed by Gaddess and Reeden.
"Millerna and Merle, both of you will either have to hide or work together to help."
Merle puffed up her chest, "I'll help, Van-sama!"
"Good, go tell the cooks to get out their hottest and smelliest food yet." Van told the two who had nodded in agreement and fled to the kitchens.
"What would you like me to do, Van?" Dryden asked.
"You aren't the best in armed combat, I would suggest you help the ladies carry out the foul substances." Van told him then they had both gone their separate ways.
"I won't let anyone touch Hitomi, even if it kills me." Van promised, gripping at the handle of his Fanelian sword tide to his lower back.
"I'll protect her."
Little did he know, that the girl of his thoughts was running towards his castle, and that the dark pendant in his room started to pulse.
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A/N Ooooh, well I think that there will be eleven chapters max for this story. I know it's short, but it's also sweet. Lol, my first Escaflowne story isn't half bad, eh? Anyways, if you want to see pics of what Van looks like during the day, just e-mail me. My address is on the bottom of my profile page. Well, R&R!
