Vision of Escaflowne: Soulmates
Written by: Meghanna Starsong
"Chapter Eleven"
Standard Disclaimer: Escaflowne is copyright to its creator, Shoji Kawamori, owners, and distributors. I am not making any money off of this fanfiction. None of the Escaflowne characters are mine, although I have inserted my own creations into this universe as well. Please do not steal my original characters or use them without my permission. This is a continuation of Escaflowne the series after Episode 26.
Author's Notes: Oh, my goodness! There was a surge in reviews this last chapter. ^.^ I'm really amazed and touched by that. Thank you all for your continued support! I want to "shout out" to the newest reviewers: M M Forever, Cathline, and Baldeo. (I've been trying to respond to everyone again, although I'm, admittedly, slow about it.)
For the regulars, you have been my support and continued motivation for this story in its current, and future, complexity. I know I have said this a lot, but my gratitude is boundless to you all.
Edited: 10/28/2017
"""""""
"At last, you are both here." Shadow threaded its talon-like fingers together, the nails clinking.
Having just arrived at this point in the nether realm, it took a moment for the Demon's words to register with Hitomi. Her mind processed the present events slowly, weary as she was from the passage through death and the sapping of her energy.
She had scoured the underworld for Van, dowsing through innumerable versions of the afterlife and encountering their eerie inhabitants. Like her first time chasing the king through death, none of these grim travelers had noticed or reacted to her. She had trod through gloom that ever altered its density, sometimes a fog, an ocean, an abyss. When Hitomi feared being lost and doubted her own power, the prismatic cord had guided her here to Van. When she happened upon Shadow attacking Van in the pillar of light, she had inserted herself between the two.
"Both of us?" Van echoed. He ruffled his wings in agitation, the feathers swooshing against each other. "Don't fuck with me! You damn well won't touch her!"
For Hitomi, it was like wakening from a drug-induced stupor, a dense, cottony haze. She recalled the two visions from Earth, the one of Van and the other of Shadow. She pieced them together with the five-card tarot reading: Death reversed, The Fool upright, Ace of Serpents reversed, The Devil upright, and The Lovers upright. Everything fit together now. It was so simple, so straightforward. She had read the cards incorrectly. What they said had been so obvious, right on the surface.
Only someone truly in love would recklessly run into the realm of the dead to rescue a dragon from a diabolical entity.
"You planned this," she accused Shadow, a tremor passing through her. "From the beginning, this was all you."
From behind her, Van sputtered in disbelief, "This…what?"
The Demon said nothing, merely cast the chasm of its eyes back to her. Though only sockets, they focused intently upon her chest. Hitomi glanced down at a spiked ruby on a filament of yellow, the pendant. It had followed her into death without her knowing, ever loyal. Involuntarily, her hand fisted around it.
"You want the pendant." Her voice wobbled, revealing how afraid she was. They had all played into Shadow's hands so seamlessly, so unwittingly.
"Yes," confirmed the Demon, its tone abrasive as sandpaper.
"Just take it then!" she shouted. Frustrated tears welled in her eyes, causing them to glisten like shamrock-colored pools.
"I cannot," it intoned.
It was true; the pendant chose its owner. During the war, people had attempted to spirit the necklace away from Hitomi: Merle, the Moleman, and a Doppleganger. The Atlantis pendant had always found its way back to her and sometimes caused misfortune to the would-be thief when doing so.
If the Demon was being honest now, then it was sure of its victory. It was likely that both Van and she wouldn't make it back to life, but maybe she could give him a chance to escape. Leave. Just leave, she thought anxiously at the king, hoping the pendant would impress her desire upon him.
Aiming to distract the Demon, she questioned, "Why all this misery? Why torment Van?"
"You would not have come to Gaea otherwise," Shadow stated. A maggot slithered from out of one of its nostrils and buried itself in the other.
An urgent hand fastened around Hitomi's upper arm, hurting her. Off guard, she looked next to her. Van, having abandoned the funnel of illumination and ignoring his own wellbeing, lingered in agitated confusion by her. His eyes, sharp as garnet chips, penetrated into her, his expression stark. "Hitomi, why…how are you even here?"
"You have to go back," she whispered, eyes downcast.
"What aren't you telling me?" he demanded, his voice strained.
"We have no time."
He opened his mouth to speak, but Shadow responded before he could. "Enough talk. Neither of you will return!"
The air, if it could be called that, simmered on either side of Shadow. It warped and rumbled much as a sheet of aluminum would. Once the distortion ceased, two ill-proportioned monsters flanked the phantom. Their ashen hides shone like the surface of the moon, guts distended, and purple, serpentine tongues lolling. The Demons, so similar to their brethren on the Main Road, trained their starving cave-eyes on the pair. Malevolence rolled off of them in smoldering waves, noxious as lava.
"Hitomi!" Van yelled in warning.
"Your souls are mine!" Shadow bayed, shrill as a braking train.
The Demon reached for them, its mantle blowing in a hellish wind. The entity brewed and stormed, rising up and up in a swollen mass of evil. It dwarfed Van and Hitomi, bearing down on them as a giant tsunami. The hounds, its companions, howled in unison and charged forward on all fours. They bared their keen fangs, tongues drooling. It was a race to see which would tear the two apart first.
Everything decelerated from Hitomi's perspective. The slick, oily shroud of Shadow bloated as menacingly as a thunderhead above Van and her. Its gruesome lackeys bounded towards them, a set of wrongly segmented dogs. Sighting them, Van released her arm and splayed his wings, preparing to rush in front of Hitomi. He sank into a crouch, his nude body lithe and wings shimmering.
Van was going to shield her from the Demons. She knew it. He wanted to protect her, even if it meant sacrificing his soul.
She would never let him though.
With his wings in mid-beat, Hitomi whirled and pushed Van as hard as she could towards the pillar. The momentum thrusted him back into the outer cone of fizzy energy. He flew away from her, arms and legs wide. His wings hung limp around him, useless from being off balance. He gawked at her, his countenance stunned and betrayed. Once more she grasped the pendant. Its jewel flamed claret, emitting a bloody aureole around her throat and breasts. The pillar of light intensified, condensing and brightening. Its current pulled on Van's wings and limbs, a river that wouldn't be denied.
"Go!" she ordered him. "Go now!"
As the pillar yanked him relentlessly upward, Van extended his arms out to her, his hands fishing about for her own. He spoke to her, words she couldn't hear. Crying, she memorized him in that watery instant, his eyes desperate, his lips parted, his crow-black hair flitting about his forehead and cheeks. Like a straw, the pressure of the pillar sucked the him backward. Everything compressed into a star beam, a bolt of energy, and evaporated away.
Hitomi didn't bother to face her attackers; the smell of rot told her they were nearby. Ducking her head, she made a final wish. The pendant gonged at her in distress. She couldn't blame it. She had no idea what would happen to either of them with this wish. Still, there was no going back.
Unable to deny her will, the pendant's stone juddered and steamed. Something inside of it dissolved, liquefying and vanishing. Just as in the king's bedchamber, a blast of brilliance spewed out along with a bang so loud it was deafening. Soon, all was silent and white, consumed by that one immense burst. A cascade of Power churned over and through Hitomi, roasting her skin and electrocuting her innards. It smelt of lightning, of sky. She screamed. Her consciousness waned in and out, washed in an unforgiving, monochromatic radiance. It dominated everything around her, surpassing death and life, the chaotic birth of a universe.
And then stillness, nothing.
"""""""
Dane's hands blistered from the prolonged intensity of Power, the underside of his fingers and palms raw as hamburger. The skin there fumed a bright red. His fingers ached with a sensation akin to frostbite. He was so very tired, the kind of exhaustion that dazes the mind. His pendant palpitated less frequently than before, its glow drastically reduced. Nevertheless, he dared not stop channeling energy into the husk of the king.
The physician gave up reviving King Van after the body purpled and started to stink. Now he discussed matters on the far side of the bedchamber with the man, Trigornia. Meanwhile, a catgirl with pink hair knelt in the physician's old place, maintaining a vigil over the monarch. She clutched the man's lax hand, each jolt of Power a false hope for her. Meanwhile, Aldric scooped Hitomi up and laid her vulnerable body across the bed beside the king. Two others, a bearded goliath and a dark beauty, loitered against a wall, clearly uncertain of what to do.
"Merle," Aldric murmured carefully, "perhaps we should let Trigornia take the-"
"No! I'm not giving up! Hitomi wouldn't!" she hissed. Salty liquid overflowed from the catgirl's eyes and skimmed off her narrow chin and translucent whiskers. Her feather-duster tail lashed savagely, as any unsettled feline's back on Earth would.
Aldric gazed mournfully down at the duo pillowed in the mammoth bed. "King Van is dead. We tried to save him and couldn't. Nothing can change what is. If this thing Hitomi's doing continues on any longer, I fear the same will happen to her."
Dane understood the general's logic and couldn't disagree. At this point, Hitomi looked bad. Her flesh, once lush and rosy, had blanched to an ashy pallor. She breathed sluggishly. Her chest rattled with each rise and fall. Her eyelids trembled, as if fighting to rouse. A subtle, peculiar odor wafted off of her, a sourness, a decay that didn't belong to the living.
"I'm running out of strength," he rasped. Aldric started, having forgotten the healer's presence. "I can stay with the king until I'm burned out, or I can try to help Hitomi. She'll hate me for saying this, but I prefer the latter."
That is, if she'll let me, Dane thought miserably. When someone resisted his healing, he couldn't do much for them.
The catgirl whimpered, putting the king's cold palm against her cheek. "Wake up, Lord Van. Please!"
Jaw set, Aldric nodded his assent to the healer.
Dane began the process of shutting down the monarch's chakras and decreasing the Power issuing through the body to wisps. Not doing so carefully could ignite the corpse into flames. However, when the king's chakras refused to close and Power continued leaking into him, the healer frowned. Some foreign presence was interfering with his abilities.
The ruby necklace around the king's neck surged into astonishing luster. Dane flinched and covered his bespectacled eyes from the Key's glare with his arm. His own pendant twanged in answer, kindling from the renewed vigor of the other. Then something possessed the healer, repositioning him over the cadaver. His hand lifted, bunched into a fist, and hammered down on the king's chest, once, twice. When nothing happened, Dane watched in trepidation as his fingers constricted more and smashed down a third time onto the man's ribcage. His ears rang, and his arm smarted as if from punching an iron anvil.
"Get away from him!" screeched the catgirl, horrified. Her claws slid out. She shoved Dane away from the king, her nails ripping through his shirt.
Aldric caught the fatigued healer as he stumbled back a pace. Whatever force controlled Dane deserted him as unexpectedly as it had come. He flopped totally against Aldric, a marionette discarded by its puppeteer. The taller general struggled to keep both of them on their feet. Uncaring of his disgraceful state, Dane gaped at the colossal bed and what he saw.
A gasp came and a choke. After that, a second gasp and a grating wheeze. The king's torso jackknifed up, suspended for a second, and crumpled back upon the mattress.
The commotion emanating from the bed got the room's attention. The din of conversation quieted, and all eyes returned to the prone figures there. Aldric dragged the limp, flabbergasted Dane back to his patient. Shaky from the earlier trance, Dane sat on the mattress where the king was. The catgirl, Merle, peered fretfully over the healer's shoulder at her liege. Her paws fisted into the creased skirt of her dress. With the general and catgirl hovering nearby, Dane checked the king's pulse with two fingers to the neck. The strong, rhythmic tattoo there and the warmth of flesh dispelled any doubts he had.
"Oh, dear. He's alive. Really alive," the healer squeaked.
The morbid solemnness of the chamber dissipated, pierced by a sunbeam of optimism. People exclaimed, laughed, and bunched around the monarch's ornate bed all at once. They needed to verify for themselves that the Dragon King was whole. Akin to devout, religious believers, they witnessed his serene breathing, his tan complexion, and his groan of discomfort. Although still thin and battered in appearance, the man was decidedly alive.
"Damn the gods," swore Aldric.
"Not possible." Trigornia's gray mustache puffed as he hyperventilated. "Devilry!"
"Quick! Fetch Lord Van a change of clothes!" Merle ordered to no one in particular. "He soiled himself. We have to-"
The uproar after that Dane paid no heed to. The physician and Merle fussed over the reanimated king, and the generals argued enthusiastically amongst themselves. Disregarding them, the healer observed the motionless woman across from King Van. Hitomi was yet unconscious. Standing, Dane navigated around the tumult surrounding the monarch on rubbery legs. Perched again on the opposite side of the bed, he called to the scant amount of strength residing in him. He poured what Power he could into Hitomi, his hands alternating between itching and pain.
At last, Dane spent all of his energy, his Key no more than a burned out battery. He panted and swiped at the perspiration on his brow with his wrist. Hitomi's eyes darted wildly beneath the lids. The healer tentatively touched her much cooler hand with his sore fingertips. I did what you said, Hitomi, and the king is back. We did it. You did it, he mentally assured her. You just have to wake up to see for yourself.
"""""""
The woman remained alone in a purgatory devoid of direction and time. She bobbed in the frigid, syrupy plasma of the dimension like an incandescent buoy. Her spirit shown a fireside topaz. She quizzically studied her hand and forearm producing this bizarre glow. They seemed normal enough, somehow intact after an explosion that had lasted for an eternity. What terrors and wonders she beheld, mighty supernovas and gargantuan balls of gas and flame, revolving cosmos and worlds of ice and dust.
An eon or more passed before she recollected her sense of self and what her name was. Hitomi. Who was she? Oh, yes. A Japanese woman from Earth. Why was she here? Of course. She had traveled to this other reality, to this other world, Gaea, to save something. Something precious. No, someone. Who was it? Who was he?
"Van," she answered herself aloud, a soprano, silvery note.
Rather than being absorbed by the abyss, the word resounded through the nihility and back on itself. These echoes, likewise, pealed through Hitomi, restoring sentience and feeling. She held the jewel of the pendant, with a much-changed visage, between her index finger and thumb and brought it up to eyelevel. It was as matte as midnight, a splinter of obsidian stone, a black hole in glass.
Then she remembered what she had done, the risky maneuver undertaken against the Demon. Somehow, miraculously, she had survived it. Had the Demon as well?
[Shadow is not beaten, Hitomi Kanzaki, merely thwarted.] The soundless presence, which had so frequently advised her, read her mind. Its telepathic voice tinkled as melodious as wind chimes. [What you have done is a small hindrance to it, but the Demon is wounded.]
As it spoke, the darkness quivered and spread wide as a curtain would. Hitomi waited as two beings joined her. Offering a scarlet-lipped smile, a woman sailed toward her. A silk, royal blue kimono with gold edging enveloped her willowy figure. A pink and maroon striped bow secured her garments in place below her bosom, the ends of the sash undulating around her supernaturally. She was lovely, with an earnest, oval face and twin dots on her forehead. A ghostly breeze blew the fabric of her clothes, the divided fringe of her bangs, and the impossible cascade of her moss-green tresses.
"You were very brave, girl from the Mystic Moon," Varie Fanel, queen of Fanelia, greeted Hitomi. Her mahogany eyes shown with kindness.
Aware she was unclothed, Hitomi modestly crossed her arms and legs, hiding herself from the regal lady. "Q-Queen Varie. I-I…"
The queen bowed her head, her voice honeyed and serene. "Thank you for helping Van. You risked great peril to yourself. Damage to one's soul is slow to heal and often times unrepairable."
"Did he make it? Is Van alive?" Hitomi asked apprehensively.
Varie sighed. "Yes, and with some time and help from the healer, he will be fine."
"I'm so glad." Hitomi visibly relaxed, so much so she forgot to keep covering herself. "I remembered what you told me about the pendant. I did my best to believe in a positive future."
"As did your friend, Dane. He did for Van in life what you did in death." Varie tilted her head, as if listening. "Even now, he's calling to you."
Before Hitomi could reply, the bodiless voice chimed, [Dare not tarry here, Hitomi Kanzaki. Thrice you have gone into death and cheated it. There are consequences for such feats, though you may not yet recognize that.]
Hitomi's attention turned to the creature beside to the queen. Shocked, she realized it was the owner of the psychic voice. Its beauty mystified and overwhelmed her. Why hadn't she noticed it before?
The entity presented itself as a humanoid being of interstellar grace. Its flesh glinted, seemingly spun from crystals, rainbows, and the purest of moonlight. It arced over Varie and her, a diamond, featureless head; a foaming shaft of light for a torso and legs; two sizeable, wing-like arms; and pin thin fingers. Though it had only the impression of a face, the creature radiated compassion and wisdom, its atoms twisted up with infinity and stars. Hitomi heard the musical resonance of its existence and felt its heat upon her, dispelling the chill of the void.
It swam nearer to her and swept her up into its effervescent, mother-of-pearl arms. Hitomi never considered fighting it, simply floated to it and allowed it to cradle her so tenderly. It shielded her from the nothingness around them. She could weep from its splendor. It was sunlight with phoenix wings, an opalescent angel, love embodied.
Supported in the crook of its right arm-wing, Hitomi babbled, "I know you. Sort of. You've been helping me and opposing Shadow."
[The Demon is my responsibility, but I cannot stop it. I am much weaker than it.] A sense of sadness and rain came from the entity. [I did what little I could for you within the confines of the rules of our game.]
"A game?"
[A game played between Shadow and I.]
"This was a game to you? All of this? What're we humans to you? Chess pieces?" Hitomi's brow furrowed in exasperation and resentment. "Our lives matter. We matter."
Varie caressed Hitomi's cheek gently, her fingers downy as dove feathers. "Peace, child. Lucem is on the side of life and goodness. It knows this."
"Lucem?" Hitomi squinted at the haloed luminescence of the being. "Is that your name?"
[I have no name. Once, long ago, a mortal called me this. Perhaps it will be easier to think of me thus.]
Hitomi contemplated a minute, her lips pursed. "And why did you help me?"
"Because Lucem needs you," Varie replied somberly. "Just as you need it."
[We must be allies, Hitomi Kanzaki, if the Demon is to be defeated and all of creation saved. Otherwise, Shadow will devour this universe, this very dimension, and move on to the next. Its hunger for destruction is insatiable. It will never stop.]
"I know. It's too powerful." Hitomi rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. "And the pendant? Could we…?"
Varie shook her head, strands of her mane slipping over her slim shoulders. "It is destroyed. Useless."
Hitomi swallowed with difficulty, a lump of guilt and regret lodged there. She had wished for the Atlantis pendant to sunder its link to Gaea's bloodline, the Power of Atlantis. In doing so, she had robbed the Key of its life force, its purpose. It had died like a crushed firefly, leaving behind the remnant of its exoskeleton, its shell. The pendant would be worthless to Shadow now, but it would be to them as well.
"I'm sorry. I was trying to keep it away from Shadow. That wish…it was all I could think of. I was so scared. The idea just popped into my head. I never thought that the pendant could be destroyed," she admitted despondently.
The shining creature respired rose-scented air upon her cheeks. [All things created by mortals can be broken. The Key is gone. In the battle to come, the pendant was necessary to control the Atlantis Power. That is why Shadow coveted it and plotted so cunningly for it.]
The backs of Hitomi's eyes stung as if bees were nesting in them. "There's a lot of stuff I don't understand. Why'd Shadow target Van? Why show me a vision of itself?"
"Five years ago, the love between my son and you overpowered mankind's hatred and destructiveness. In that moment, your mutual wish for peace and understanding channeled through the pendant created a Seal. It was this Seal on the Power Spot of Freid that shut down the Fate Alteration Engine. Without a power source, it could no longer function," Varie explained patiently.
[To break the Seal, both of the creators must perish. Shadow orchestrated events to trap and kill Van Fanel,] Lucem elaborated. [Then it lured you to Gaea by showing you your beloved in danger. However, it grew arrogant in its scheming and underestimated the lengths to which you would go to safeguard Van Fanel and the aid at your disposal.]
"I thought everything came together too easily." Hitomi's mouth opened in a tiny "o" of revelation. "Landing near to the Capital. Meeting Aldric, Ruhm, and Dane. That was you."
[I admit to, perhaps, helping you be in the right place at a convenient time. In truth, neither Shadow nor I can directly influence current events. Instead, we must rely upon you mortals and gamble on your free will.]
Lucem stroked its free, blazing wing-arm across Hitomi's face. It feathered over her skin, fluffy as a dandelion's down and delicate as a moth's antenna. She inhaled some kind of floral perfume. By the time the being removed its wing, her worldly concerns sizzled away like smudged out matchsticks. She leaned completely into Lucem's velvety fine chest, trusting it to bear her through the void. With the stress erased from her, she finally fathomed how drained she was.
[Shadow will continue its pursuit for Power. Having the Key would have made the conquest faster. Now, the Demon must fully merge with the Atlantis Power in order to control it.]
Hitomi stirred slightly at the entity's words. "But the Seal-"
"The Seal is barely intact. As long as one of the creator's lives, it will persist," Varie clarified. "My son died, but you remained alive. Now he lives, but your heart has stopped. You've both tasted death, and the Seal has weakened as a result."
"Shadow will find a way to break it," Hitomi whispered.
[It can do this in a number of ways. Be on your guard. I am not certain what Shadow's next move will be.]
All Hitomi desired was to succumb to her fatigue. It would be so pleasant to be rocked into slumber in the security of Lucem's arm-wings, far from murder plots and paranormal pandemonium. She would have no worries. No one would interrupt her peace. But that wouldn't help Van or Gaea. It wouldn't stop Shadow.
"What can we do?" Hitomi asked muzzily. Her tongue was clumsy, heavy.
[Someone else must obtain Power before the Demon. Only then can Shadow be contained.] Lucem's sunlit embrace drew Hitomi further in, lulling her. All things of fire and serenity were there. For a time, she contented herself in its arm-hammock. She was safe.
Yet a question surfaced.
"How can someone join with Power?" she inquired, her voice muffled from lethargy.
[Power is attracted to whoever has the strongest will or desire, the most powerful wish. Someone on Gaea must be found to counteract Shadow, a person qualified to be the Chosen.]
Varie added, "The Chosen must be someone who is psychically and emotionally developed enough to wield Power and not be overwhelmed by it."
Hitomi's eyelids lowered. Images of cloudbanks and a spring meadow in bloom drove sleepiness closer to her. She could not see details in what was the being's face, but she recognized its paternal smile. Innocent as a child, she snuggled into Lucem's breast and yawned.
"Hitomi, Lucem has picked you for its avatar." Varie's voice was hushed, reverent.
"No. Can't be me," she drowsily objected.
[I set this task before you, Hitomi Kanzaki, because I cannot do it. I am helpless, so helpless. Trapped so that Power remains beyond my reach. I need an avatar, a Chosen, someone to act in my stead. When you merge with Power, then I become one with you. Only together can we end Shadow's darkness.]
"I'm scared. I can't."
[You must choose to take up this task of your own free will. I do not lie. What I ask of you is dangerous. So much could go wrong. You could lose your life, your soul. Power is a volatile substance. If your heart waivers even a little, you could be burned from existence. And if we merge, I cannot say that each of our personas will survive or which will be dominant.]
"This is too much…I-I…"
[We must not let the Demon join with Power. You have slowed Shadow. This time is a gift to yourself. Use it to think.]
"No…not me..."
"Please, give my love to Van, to my son," murmured Varie from far, far away.
Fleecy lips kissed Hitomi's forehead, sparking as they did. [Go, my little one. Go back.]
"""""""
To Be Continued
"""""""
Because I felt bad for the 4 month gap last time, here's a second update within the same month! Yay! ^_^ *proud feeling* Okay, I have a lot to say this time around.
First off, because a few people have asked, I want to clarify that "Soulmates" is not complete. It's going to be a long, long ride with this fic. *embarrassed by own fan obsession* Chapter 11 simply concludes Part I: Earth, and Chapter 12 will open Part II: Gaea. In total, there will be 3 or 4 sections all contained within this same story. I'm trying to match my plot to the intricacies of the original. To do so, this story will grow to be a monster fic, hence "The Beast" nickname. ^_^;;; (If no one wants to stick around, I totally understand! I hope that you will, though!)
Second, I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but I plan to have most of the Escaflowne cast make some kind of an appearance. ^_^ The original characters are just too fantastic; I can't allow myself to leave any of them out! So, expect to see familiar faces popping up as more events unfold.
Third, we finally meet Hitomi's mysterious telepath and Shadow's nemesis, Lucem! We also get some answers to longstanding questions and a hint of what's to come. Poor Hitomi! She's not too keen on what Lucem and Varie have asked of her, and I think we broke Dane.