As Sure As the Dawn

As Sure As the Dawn

Chapter 9

An Escaflowne fan fiction by:

Emilykn@attglobal.net

The characters of Escaflowne used in this are property of Bandai entertainment. The writing and original characters are my own. This is my first Fan fiction so please e-mail and tell me what you think. Only constructive criticism please.

Merle looked out over the railing at the clouds that were distorting her view. 'Where are those danged mountains?' she wondered trying to peer through the clouds to glimpse them.

"Miss?" It was the captain.

"Yes" Merle was brought out of her revelry.

"We're halfway there it'll be another eighteen hours before we can land and then it'll take us another hour to walk the rest of the way."

"Very well, I just want to find Van Sama!"

"Yes miss."

He left and Merle found herself alone on the balcony again. She felt restless; nineteen more hours seemed way too long. She wanted to know what was going on there had been way to many times when Van had left her behind or out of something important, she'd make sure this was the last.

* * *

"Dilandau Sama, we have word that your brother is on his way here. He found out that you'd, uh, yeah, I see you get my point." The messenger quivered as Dilandau glared at her. Her red hair fell into her face, again, and Spendil, who had been talking with Dilandau, raised an eyebrow in interest. She noticed and quickly exited after Dilandau waved his hand in dismissal.

"Urgh! That stupid brother of mine is trying to find me, curse him!"

"You know Dilandau, he is quite the interesting guy, I mean he could have any girl he wants, he's an awesome swordsman and…"

"Shut up already!" Dilandau slammed his glass down on a near by table.

"I'm sorry, does it disturb you that your brother is better that you, he'd even make a better girl." Spendil mocked.

"Enough! My Allen is a male slut with a female hair cut! It's disgusting! I hate that sleaze bag!" Dilandau was ready to strangle Spendil, but the worst thing was the teen was right; Allen would make a better girl. He didn't want to think about the other subject, he'd never admit his brother was better.

"So, what are you going to do about it?" Spendil crossed his arms, his tone was still mocking but he was quite serious.

"We lay low, No one knows that the uprising is still functioning. He'll never find us, he is a blonde after all."

"I suppose you have a point there. By the way who was that girl?"

"Oh, her? Just, Dasuko a pretty little thing I picked up when we got here, intriguing isn't she?" Dilandau saw the glimmer of jealousy rising Spendil's eyes and decided to use it to his advantage.

* * *

Van landed Escaflowne just outside the entrance to Folken's lab. Tara was still sleeping in Folken's arms and Hitomi was falling asleep on her feet, although he wasn't in much better shape. He needed a shower and a good night's sleep in a real bed. He managed to open the hidden passageway that was large enough to take Escaflowne inside and found a place to leave the mecha.

"You two go get some rest, there are a couple beds in the room to your right. I'll see to Tara, I'm going to take a closer look an see what I can find to make something for her." Folken gently commanded and convinced them.

"Thanks Folken," Hitomi smiled, I would be nice to have him for a brother-in-law.

Van scooped her into his arms and walked into thee room closing the door behind them. He realized how warm the room was and took off his shirt, he was looking in a mirror on the wall when Hitomi came up behind him and began rubbing his shoulders. He moaned in delight, he was so sore and tired he just wanted to fall asleep right there, with her rubbing his shoulders.

She stopped and he stood looking at her in the mirror, she didn't realize. She unbuttoned her shirt, and the tied it over her bra so she had an effective shirt that covered enough but let her stay cool.

He turned around and pulled her into his arms again, she melted against him, and he picked her up, and carried her to one of the beds he gently laid her down and went to the one next to it. They were both asleep within seconds.

* * *

Folken was working on an antibiotic when Tara woke up, he'd laid her on a cot next to his work bench and she looked up at him for a while before he realized she was awake.

"You're awake, good, tell me what do you feel, what hurts?" He knelt next to her and stroked her forehead.

"My head hurts uncle Folken, and I feel so tired." She managed.

"Anything else?"

"It's hard to hear, it sounds like everything is far away."

"I think I know just the thing." He smiled at her and finished the antibiotic. His suspicions had been confirmed, Tara gotten a disease most children got by the time they were two, they often recovered without much treatment other than a cold washcloth and plenty of fluids, but in an older person it could be deadly. He wasn't taking any chances, the antibiotic would work much more quickly than letting her system fight it out and there would be no risk.

"Folken?"

"Yes little one?"

"You said mommy had visions that told her what was going to happen right?" She ventured.

"Yes, but they were because of her fears, only one thing that could happen, and her fears came true." Folken didn't like the way this conversation was going.

"I think I had a vision." He winced at her words.

"What was it?"

"There was this guy with silver hair and he'd captured me and Hitomi, and he threatened to burn Fanelia and kill us if Van didn't give him Escaflowne."

"Oh, no" Folken sighed.

"And then I saw Van's mom, she told me to trust my feelings, and my friends. She said that if I believed the best would happen it would."

"She's right Tara, you have to trust that Van's love for you and Hitomi would never let that happen, and I would never let Dilandau do that."

"But it seemed so real Folken."

"I know." He put his metal finer into the antibiotic mixture and filled a syringe. "Now rest, this'll make you feel better." He gently lifted her left wrist and gave her the injection; she fell asleep soon after.

Folken walked toward the large corridor that lead to the palace, he walked for some time until her reached a large pile of rocks, it had crashed down and he could see sunlight streaming in. Judging by how far down the tunnel he'd walked, he guessed he was just outside Fanelia.

"Well that answers that, there's just this wall of rocks between us and the palace." He said to no one in particular.

* * *

"Hey, Dasuko!" Spendil followed her down a hallway.

"Yes, Spendil Sama?" She cringed inwardly, how the heck had she managed to get here? Dilandau had grabbed her from a market on the way back to Ziabach, she'd fought him, even bit his fingers enough to make them bleed, but he'd still captured her, and no one cared.

"Yeah, Uh, how'd you get here, serving a maniac like Dilandau? It doesn't seem quite right."

"Oh, it doesn't seem right to you does it! Well, try being in my place He managed to drag me here some how. By the way there's no way out if he wants you to stay forever." She turned and started walking down the corridor. Spendil grabbed her wrist and she had to suffer his company.

"Wait, I mean, I'm sorry. But it can't be that bad, what exactly do you do?" His eye shone with compassion and she gave in.

"Yeah it can be that bad, and I'm more than just messenger, you don't want to know anymore than that."

"I do, it's not like you could tell me anything I haven't heard or seen before." He still held onto her wrist.

"You'd be surprised, Spendil now if you excuse me I have room of concubines to prepare." He let go of her wrist in surprise and she walked away.

"Concubines?" Spendil wondered out loud, "That's just sick."

* * *

Van woke up to find Hitomi had crawled into his arms while he was asleep. He smiled and breathed in the scent of her hair. She stirred slightly and he wrapped his arms even more tightly around her waist.

"Mmmm," She yawned and stretched in his arms.

"Good morning sleeping beauty," he ran his hand over her waist and braced him self up with the other. She laid her head back against his chest and looked up at him.

"Good morning."

He let go of her waist as she sat up and she walked towards the door.

"You might want to fix your shirt," he smiled, it had come undone and she obviously hadn't noticed. She looked down and blushed, seeing her exposed bra.

"I guess you right, I don't think Folken would sit there drooling like you are." She teased and buttoned her shirt quickly.

"Ouch, you've got me there." He sat up and watched as she left.

"We're definitely getting married sooner, before I do something stupid." Van thought, realizing he was trembling from the adrenaline rush.

* * *

Merle was sick of walking, they'd walked for an hour and they still hadn't found the entrance to Folken's lab.

"Come on you fools, we have to find Van NOW!" she shouted at the men.

They kept quiet doing the best they could to keep from bursting out laughing, when she ran back and forth across the trail around the base of the mountain.

She looked frantically until she tripped and rolled down a steep bank. When she looked up and her vision cleared she noticed she had landed right on top of a door.

"Miss, Merle, are you all right?" The captain skidded down the bank and helped her up.

"I found it! I found it!" She shouted, pointing to the door.

"Looks like it," he bent down and pulled the doors open. A dark staircase led down into an even darker corridor that they couldn't see the end of.

Merle bounded down the stairs and into the dark, out of sight. She was glad to be a cat, she could hardly see but enough and definitely more than those fools who were stumbling down the stairs after her did.

"Lord VAN!" she shouted into the darkness. Soon she came into a larger corridor, it was lighted and she saw Escaflowne a little ways away.

The captain came up behind her

"Let's go this way," she said and headed down the smaller corridor to their right. "They probably brought Escaflowne in that way," she motioned back towards the larger corridor.

"You're probably right." He said and followed her down the hall with the other four men they'd brought to help look. The rest of the crew had stayed on the ship.

Merle walked into the large room where Folken had the majority of his things. She saw Van out of the corner of her eye and ran in his direction.

"LORD VAN! I found you!" she jumped into his arms and he nearly fell over.

"Merle, I'm glad you're safe but I told Allen to take care of you, how'd you managed to get out of there and back to Fanelia?" He was trying not to shout, he'd trusted Allen to take care of her and she was here. He wanted answers, maybe even another reason to hate Allen.

"He had to leave so I got Naria's guymelef and left. Then I got the leviship to take me here," she said proudly.

"Merle, I told you to never leave some place safe to come look for me like that again, I just want you to be safe." He chided as gently as he could.

"But Van Sama…."

"Merle, he's right you should have stayed." Hitomi was holding Tara.

"Fine, I'm here now so deal with it." Merle looked at Folken who had a look of horror on his face; she tried to ignore his gaze.

"Meruru," Tara said softly.

"Tara, oh my gosh Tara!" Merle ran to the little girl in Hitomi's lap. Tara was pale and limp and Merle felt tears running down her cheeks.

"It's okay Meruru, uncle Folken gave me some medicine he said it'll make me better," to tell the truth she was getting better, she'd just woken up from the last injection he gave her and she had managed to eat some bread.

"That's good," Merle patted her cheek.