Tears of the Heart Chapter 10: Simple Truths, an escaflowne fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, flashbacks from the series, or the Escaflowne's characters that I'm manipulating for my own twisted pleasure… I also don't own the song "Unpredictable" by BBMak. (Whatever happened to those guys? I used to really like them.) All original characters, however, are mine.

A/N: Hey! Since I've been mean to you and made you wait so long for past chapters, I jotted this chapter down while on vacation with my grandparents in July. (Imagine an incoming freshman with a grandpa who kept muttering, "Turn blue!" and a grandma who must have the world record for most pillows in the truck cab… It was "interesting", as always…) All joking aside, I love those oddballs and their eccentric ways. There's always something write home about… Review when you're done! Thanks!

Tears of the Heart

How can I convince you that you're really not alone
And I know exactly what you're going through
Nothing is for certain, but there's one thing that I know
Never underestimate what love can do

I want to show you
Even though there are no guarantees
Just let me hold you
Love can do most anything
If you just believe

It can take you to the highest high
Make you sacrifice it all
Love is unpredictable
It can change your life forever
Or it may never hear your call
Love is unpredictable
Na na na na na
Love is unpredictable

We don't need to justify, we don't need to wait
All will be revealed to us in time
And if you intellectualize the meaning of this fate
You may never know what we could find

Don't keep me waiting
Don't you keep me hanging on the line
I'm only saying
You won't know what love can do, if you never try

Don't you wanna see which way this love will go
It can take you to the highest high
Love is unpredictable
It can change your life forever
Love is unpredictable

-"Unpredictable" By BBMak

Chapter 10: Simple Truths

"Hitomi… You've finally come home!" Tears sprang to Yukari's eyes as she threw her arms around her best friend.

"I never thought that I'd see you again! Oh, Hitomi…!" She sobbed softly, not noticing Hitomi's vacant expression as she stiffly accepted the crushing embrace.

"Yukari…?" she muttered in confusion, staring over Yukari's shoulder in a sort of trance. Quickly, Yukari released her, turning around.

"Amano!" she called into her house, waving her hand enthusiastically behind her, clearly displaying what Hitomi noticed as a diamond wedding ring on her finger.

Amano stumbled out, a backpack slung over his shoulder and a bag overflowing with snacks and pull-ups in his hand. The contents spilled all over the porch as he muttered curses, scrambling to pick up the bag's scattered contents.

"Tsk. Tsk. How clumsy…" Yukari chided, grinning in amusement as her husband glared in annoyance, squirting her with a juice box. Yukari shrieked in surprise.

"You did not just do that!"

This began a massive battle. Hitomi, still in shock, watching the couple shower each other with the contents of the bag. At the battle's conclusion, Yukari was pulling Cheerios out of her hair and Amano wore a pull-up as a sort of bonnet. Blushing furiously, he whipped off his new hat, shoving it in his back pocket.

"So, Hitomi… I see that you've returned from your studies abroad…" Amano greeted her.

"Huh?" Hitomi sweatdropped as Amano looked puzzled and Yukari chose to block him from view, pushing Hitomi out of hearing distance.

"Remember!" Yukari's face was pinched as she muttered urgently.

"Hey, what's the secret?" Amano came up behind them. "It must have been lonely for you, Hitomi…" He turned to face her.

"Um, yeah… The United States is so far away!" Hitomi piped up, sweatdropping.

"But I thought Yukari said that you were studying abroad in Australia…?" Amano looked more confused than ever.

"Uh… I mean… The United States of Australia!" Hitomi excused herself lamely.

"Yeah! That's right!" Yukari elbowed Hitomi hard in the ribs. "You caught us visiting my mom. We have our own apartment across town. We were just headed to the movies."

"MOMMY!" A little blur burst from the house, attaching itself to Yukari's leg in a tight hug.

"Uh…?" She looked down, blinked, and then turned to fix an angrily-twitching eye at her husband, who was sweating profusely and tugging at his collar.

"You FORGOT our SON?!" she shrieked loud enough that the entire neighborhood could have heard her.

"Yukari…! I had to grab a granola bar and carry this other junk!"

"A GRANOLA BAR is more IMPORTANT to you than the WELL-BEING of your ONLY child?!" she shrieked as the boy blinked at the two of them.

"Poor Baby… Daddy abandoned you…" Yukari hugged the small child who nodded in agreement, eager for attention.

"Yes, Mommy!" the little boy chirped as Amano groaned, knowing that his fate had been sealed.

Hitomi stared in disbelief at the small child. If she didn't know any better she'd say that Dilandau had been revived and turned into a toddler. The little boy, clad in Gap Kids attire, was a very handsome tot. Then again, Dilandau had been good-looking as well, even if he had put the "b" in bastard. The young boy's short silver locks curled about his ears, ruby-red eyes gleaming happily as his lips curled into a beaming smile. That was different. Dilandau didn't smile. It looked weird on his son…

Oh my god… Hitomi clapped her hands over her mouth, hoping to contain her stomach's contents. Her eyes widened… That little boy! He was Yukari and Dilandau's son…

I think I'm gonna be sick…

Yukari noticed her friend's ill-expression and quickly forgot her fury at her neglectful spouse.

"Uh, Sweetie… I need to talk to Auntie Hitomi. Why don't you and Daddy go ahead to the movie…?"

"But Mommy!" the child whined.

"Be good!" Yukari reminded him, lifting his chin up with hand and kissing him on the forehead.

"Alright! Daddy! Daddy!" the child chanted, skipping ahead as Amano desperately chased after him, leaving behind a trail of granola bars and toddler products.

"Whew! He's a full-time job!" Yukari wiped sweat from her brow.

"Yukari… Who is that boy? How are you alive? What the heck is Amano talking about? Just how long have I been on Gaea?!"

"Hold it! One question at a time!" Yukari yelled, clapping her hands over her ears.

"Let's go get some ice cream, okay?" They walked over to the park. In the center of the park stood a large fountain and a little ice cream stand set up beside it.

"Alright! It's open!" Yukari grinned, running over and buying two double-scoop cones of Caramel Crunch.

"Thought that I'd forget your favorite, huh?" Yukari smirked knowingly, handing her a cone as they sat down on a park bench. The only sound being them devouring the savory treats. After they had finished, there was an awkward silence.

"Yukari…" Hitomi whispered softly, turning to face her. "What happened…?"

Yukari tried to keep it together, but to no avail. Crystalline tears trailed down her cheeks as her mascara ran and she brought her face into her hands.

"Yukari…" Hitomi hadn't wanted to upset her, but she deserved to know the truth.

"My whole life is a lie…" Yukari choked, resting her forehead on her knees exposed by her short skirt.

"Hitomi… When I leapt off the Vione I was ready to die… I wanted to die… It was too painful there… And I'm sorry that I tried to leave you and I'm… I'm sorry that I didn't try to work things out, but I just couldn't! It was too hard for me! I'm not brave, like you! I'm a coward! A god-damned coward afraid of her own shadow. I've always tried to be like you, Hitomi, but I just can't… I'm different… and I…" She brushed a tendril of hair behind her ear. "I wanted to be me… and I knew that I couldn't be anymore… I was becoming this horrible person. So I jumped, but things didn't work out the way I'd planned… I closed my eyes, hoping that I'd die instantly upon impact. I kept expecting to hit the ground… but I never did. I opened my eyes and I was in my room, in my house… I was lying on my bed and my mother came in and told me that Amano had called…"

"Huh?" Hitomi asked in confusion.

"I don't really know, Hitomi… You've always said that the correlation between our world and Gaea is well, different… I don't know… She acted like I hadn't been gone for six months. But the thing is, I know that that's not true. I was with you… and I just don't really understand it… But it seems like Gaea's filled with magic… That must have had something to do with it, I guess. So here I am, 3 years later…"

"THREE YEARS?!" Hitomi shrieked in disbelief.

"Well yeah, Hitomi… It has been three years. Don't you have calendars on that planet of yours…?"

"That can't be right… On Gaea it has only been a couple of months…" she whispered, eyes widening.

"What? But that doesn't make any sense at all…" Yukari whispered, staring at Hitomi in confusion.

"But I guess nothing does anymore, right? Sometimes, I wish we were little kids again, and our biggest problems were figuring out whether Amano liked us or not and if our hair was worthy of school pictures… Silly teenage things…" She chuckled, shaking her head. Then suddenly she whispered, "I miss them."

Jeez, I'm still a teenager… Speak for yourself, Yukari.

"I do too." Hitomi agreed softly in an awkward tone.

"Why'd they have to go away?"

"Sometimes I really don't know."

"You know that that little boy's my son, right?" Yukari asked hesitantly.

"Yukari, I'm not an idiot…" Hitomi fumed slightly.

"Jeez… Don't take it the wrong way; you're just not always the observant type…" Yukari backed off a bit. "But seriously, everyone thought that you'd run away from home to smoke pot and lead a life of sin, so your mother told everyone that you'd been accepted to some liberal arts school in Australia and your admission letter had come late so you'd had to leave right away and couldn't even say goodbye."

"What was her excuse for me not trying to contact anyone for 3 years?" Hitomi raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"It was really lame… She said that you'd been so devoted to 'your studies' that you hadn't spent a moment away from the library…" She rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Wow… That's quite a corny and unbelievable story…" Hitomi commented, folding her legs pretzel-style.

"Well yes, you know if your mother wrote screenplays, the soaps' people would be out of business…"

"You know it…" Hitomi grinned.

"So, you know, since I hadn't really been 'showing' any signs of my pregnancy yet, despite what Dilandau said…" She growled his name angrily. "Amano and I arranged a quick marriage in a few weeks. Then we well… um… 'did it…'" Her face reddened visibly. "And I told him that I was pregnant and he was overjoyed."

"Not the brightest light bulb in the box…" Hitomi commented, rolling her eyes.

"No, not always." Yukari agreed quietly.

"So the child's obviously Dilandau's…" Hitomi stated the facts.

"Yeah, he's that bastard's alright… As much as I'd like to deny it…" she hissed. "But you can't tell Amano, Hitomi! You can't!" She clutched at her friend desperately. "That little boy is my husband's pride and joy. If he found out that he wasn't his… it would kill him…"

"I won't tell him, Yukari… I thought that you knew me better than that…" Hitomi said softly, her voice taking on a melancholy tone. "So what's his name?"

"Dilandau."

"I didn't ask who his father was, Yukari… I asked his name…"

"DILANDAU!" Yukari insisted impatiently.

"You named your son after him?" Hitomi asked in incredulity.

"I promised him that I would, Kagome… And I never break my promises… It doesn't matter that I thought that our son would never be born. I'd already named him when I, well you know…" Yukari replied curtly.

"Seriously, Yukari, I doubt it was just that… Even you don't care about keeping your word that much!" Hitomi drilled on restlessly.

"Well, it's the only thing that I'll ever do for that bastard… How is that asshole, anyway? Has he found a new whore yet?" Yukari asked coldly.

"Yukari…" Hitomi didn't know how to say this. It was hard. "Yukari… Dilandau is dead…"

"W-w-what?" Yukari stuttered in disbelief, her eyes the size of dinner plates. "H-h-he died?!"

"Yes. He was killed in battle… He… he wanted me to tell you that he was sorry… Sorry for all the terrible things that he did to you… And I think that he meant it, Yukari…"

"No… You're lying! You're lying! It's not true!" Yukari whispered, leaping up from her seat.

"Yukari, calm down. It happened just before I left. I was with him. He didn't die alone…" Hitomi tried to find vague ways to comfort her distraught companion. Her friend looked like she'd just been shot in the face.

"Oh, Yukari…" Hitomi embraced her friend in the middle of the park, trying to console her to no avail. "Oh Yukari… You cared about him, too, didn't you?" she whispered, patting her friend on the back as she stared into space. Human emotions never really made sense.

Van headed into the woods. In the woods lay several graves. They rose stoically from clumps of sighing grass. A stone for every man, woman, and child who had mattered to him in his lifetime. Their graves protected in this isolated location. The ruins of the Fanelian castle loomed hauntingly in the distance. The sight before him would unnerve most people. But Van Fanel wasn't most people. It was like taking a drive out to the country to visit the family on holiday. He had grown up with death, watching it constantly show its face throughout his bitter lifetime. He lived in death.

He made his way down the path, sword smacking against his side, his leather boots leaving soft imprints in the moist soil. Here lay the graves of Sir Allen, Commander Gaddes, Merle, Lord Dryden, Princess Millerna, Prince Chid, Balgus, and his parents.

He shook his head. What was the point? Folken had betrayed their trust. Betrayed Asturia. Betrayed his mother. Betrayed his kingdom. Only his father's death could not be blamed on his brother. And what was the point of their various titles? Weren't the lot of them equal in death? They'd all died. They'd all left him here to rot. End of story. But he wished that he could write their stories on their tombs. With his hand, in his own blood. After he was dead, no one would know that Millerna was a dedicated scholar and that Allen had been in love with Hitomi. That Gaddes had a secret ambition to someday become a Knight Caeli. No one would ever know. Their hopes, thoughts, and dreams had all gone with them to the crypt. Which made their deaths all the more tragic.

He stopped at the last grave in the row. He knelt down, placing a gloved hand on its rough surface and closing his eyes, before opening them slowly. He remembered cradling Merle's broken body on that hellish day.

Flashback

"You love Hitomi, right?" she had whispered. "Please don't be mad, Lord Van…" He had choked as she closed her eyes.

End of Flashback

No one should have to bury their best friend. As no mother should have to give up the hope of her son returning home. But he had buried Merle, next to his parents' graves. And Mother had never brought Folken home.

Resolutely, he pulled his sword from his scabbard. He quietly eyed the Fanelian emblem above the handle, outlining it with a gloved finger. He knelt down, placing it on that final grave. He then stood up, staring at his royal sword, gleaming in the white hot sun.

"I don't need it anymore…" he whispered softly. Then, he turned away, refusing to look back. It was all in the past. Nothing could be done now for any of them. Death was a permanent state of being.

"Hitomi, Dear… You've lost some weight this last week… Are you sure that you're feeling alright?" Her mother walked up and felt her forehead with her palm. She'd asked no questions when her daughter had reappeared after a three year absence. She was just thankful for her daughter's safe return. She was no dummy. She knew where Hitomi had been. "You don't feel feverish. What's wrong, Hitomi?" she asked in concern.

"Nothing, Mom. I'm fine. Don't worry about me." Hitomi sighed, hoping her mother would let her go without further interrogation.

"No, you're not fine. Something's wrong… I just wish that you would tell me…"

"But Mom, you're totally overreacting! Nothing's wrong at all! Everything's great! Peachy! It couldn't be better…" Hitomi began to back towards the door to her room.

"You know, you can go if you want to…" her mother whispered, bangs falling over her eyes.

"Huh?" Hitomi's eyes widened in confusion.

"To Gaea. I know that you're anxious to get away from here… Someone special waiting for you there, isn't there?" she asked softly. Hitomi's cheeks flushed.

"I know how you feel. I was a teenager once too, you know…" she chuckled softly. "I know that I'll miss you, but that doesn't really matter. Mothers must always put their children first. And that's why I'm putting you first, Hitomi. I want you to be happy… Please, go back, Hitomi… If you're happy, then I'm happy for you…"

"No, Mom… I won't… I…" She hugged her mother tightly, clenching her eyes shut. "Families should stick together…"

"That's why I want you to back to Gaea, Hitomi… Where your true family lies… All I want is to know that you're alive and happy, Hitomi. That's all I've ever wanted." Her mother smiled, holding her daughter close, both wishing that they knew what the future held. In silent agreement, Hitomi nodded.

"If I'm supposed to return to Gaea, then pendant or not, I should be able to get back there using my will…" She closed her eyes, concentrating. A bead of sweat dripped down her brow.

Please, God… Please… Just let me see them… One more time… Please…

The pillar of light descended, engulfing her as she grinned.

"YES!" she cheered, whooping loudly as she quickly was carried upward through the ceiling and through the roof and through the sky.

"I knew it all along…" Her mother smiled slightly, staring upward, as though hoping the walls would open and allow her to see her daughter just once more.

"Ugh! Nothing is going right today!" Folken muttered, knocking a goblet of wine on the ground and laying his head down on his desk. "Why me?"

"Why not?" Oban appeared simultaneously.

"Don't you ever sleep?" he asked in a muffled tone, glancing at the hour glass which told him that it was well past three in the morning at this point.

"Not when I have to keep your sorry ass in line!" she grumbled.

"I can keep it in line myself…"

"Like hell, you can!" she retorted in annoyance.

"You can't even keep your damn wife in your own floating palace for more than a year! How the hell can they call this a fortress when some stupid teenage girl can just walk out whenever she wants to?" she cursed in annoyance.

"It's meant to keep people out, not keep them in…" Folken corrected her.

"Well, it sure proved its worth when your brother just waltzed right in here! I knew that he wasn't going to ask for a charming anecdote and some spirits either. When I was running this place, there was discipline, honor, loyalty…"

"And we'd just found out that the planet rotated around the sun…" Folken finished sarcastically.

"I can still beat your hide, Boy, and don't you forget it!" She jabbed a pudgy finger in his face.

"Don't I know it…" he replied tiredly.

"Honestly, Folken… Why don't you just bring the girl back? It would ease a lot of the tension around here…" she suggested.

"Because I'm a man of my word… I won't bring her back against her will…"

"That's how you got her here in the first place!" She exclaimed, practically pulling out her own hair.

"Well, it wasn't my idea… Go talk to those damn sorcerers of mine…" She gave him a dark look.

"Not you, of course…" He sweated slightly.

"You're such an idiot sometimes. You don't even understand your own emotions. It's sad really… It's obvious to everyone except you… Why's a bonehead like you our king? I ponder that a lot these days…" she rambled on as his eyebrow twitched slightly in irritation.

"Are you done yet?"

"Just about… Respect your elders, Boy…"

"Elder? You're old enough to be my ancestor…" he muttered.

"Well, if you can take a minute from insulting me, I'll see myself out… But if I do say so myself, Folken, I wonder if you've really thought about why you haven't brought her back. It's not for your own selfish reasons for once… Think about it…" She left less dramatically then usual, simply walking out the door and letting it creak behind her.

"Oh God, no…" he whispered, realization dawning. She apparently had gotten her intended message through. The candle on his table flickered before snuffing out in the cold night air. "I'm in love with her…" And all that was left was darkness.

A/N: Thanks for the nice reviews, and even the not-so-nice ones (there weren't many.) I'm sorry that it's taken so long for this update… It's just been one thing after the other. But now marching band season is over (don't laugh, I need Band credits!) and now that I don't have to parade around in an ugly hat and a suit that makes me look like a green bean, I have a little more free time… Please review when you're done reading. I'm hoping to have 200 reviews before the end. There are still five chapters left, so I'm not worried yet… Anyway, I wouldn't be on this late, but class starts late tomorrow and I slept all afternoon… And I felt guilty, so although I'll be sleep-deprived, at least I've somewhat appeased my readers! Please review!

Next Time on "Tears of the Heart":

"I'm sorry." Hitomi stared at her hands in her lap as Folken arched his eyebrows.

"What could you possibly have to apologize about, Hitomi?" he asked in his usual monotonous voice.

"For everything. I… I need to talk to you… about something… About Van…"