by,
Ash C.
e-mail- ash1107@hotmail.com
please no flames or spams
Chapter 2:
A cool breeze swept by Hitomi's face as she silently wheeled through the lonely gardens. There were huge bushes on either side of her and faint sounds of a water fountain. The garden smelled of roses and the crisp Autumn air. She wondered to herself if Gaea had similar seasons to Earth but, decided not to pursue the topic.
What was with me? she wondered, why did I talk that way to Van? The guilt weighed heavily on her mind and she frowned with disgust. She overheard some whispering from the bushes behind her and she leaned closer to hear what they were saying.
"Miri, did you hear?" a velvety female voice asked. Another voice, also female but kind of high pitched answered,
"what?". The other voice hushed slightly.
"I heard that by King Van was going to propose to someone" she answered.
"Who?' the other voice asked excitedly. Hitomi's breath shortened.
"Some stranger, I heard she was royalty of some sort...real pretty"
So, Hitomi thought, he's been nice to me because he doesn't want to hurt me, he doesn't want me to know. Hitomi felt like crying but, she gathered all her courage and what remained of her self-esteem and looked down at her hands, keeping everything inside of herself. Then suddenly everything became much clearer, so that's why he stopped being in my dreams. That's why, he didn't care he didn't love me...he wants to get me healed quickly so I go back to Earth and out of this life. I wonder what other secrets he's hiding... Hitomi then gazed up at the stars and then at the two planets which hung silently in the Autumn sky. "Mom" she silently whispered "what do I do now?" and a lone tear slid down her face.
Van looked around the remaining guests but, no sign of Hitomi. A heavy thought weighed on his mind. His council had been very insisting lately about him marrying soon. But, he always told them he was waiting for his Princess to return to him. A few people knew what he was talking about. After Hitomi left he would secretly confide in Merle that since the only way he could marry Hitomi without his status being called to question would be to call her the "Princess" of the Mystic Moon. Only Merle knew but, a few advisors guessed it because they knew Van loved Hitomi. Van had been very lucky with having a council that hold off for so long but, they were getting agitated and almost unbearably insistent about getting a heir soon. Van tried to push the thought out of his mind temporarily and concentrate on finding Hitomi.
Van peered outside the door into the gardens and silently chuckled to himself when he saw Hitomi asleep in the small chair. He walked through the doors and into the cold night he could see Hitomi shivering every time the cool wind blew. Gently he gathered her up into his arms and held her tightly against his chest, almost as if protecting her from the cruel night. Leaving the chair where it was he made his long journey through the castle to Hitomi's suite and gently laid her down in the soft bed. She stirred a bit when he put her down but, immediately got quite. He then, almost unconsciously, made his way to his room and immediately fell asleep once his head touched the pillow.
Van impatiently walked back and forth in the darkened hallway outside of Hitomi's room. Nonchalantly sitting down was Merle watching with obvious amusement. "Van-sama" she chided " Van-sama, what are you so nervous about...she's not going to die or anything..."
Merle waited a few moments... "mreow...Van-sama...stop it..." she pleaded in an exasperated tone. The door softly creaked open and a stout man with a few gray wisps of hair walked out. Van stopped and looked out him, "Your Majesty if you could come here for a moment?" the man asked in a deep baritone voice. Van walked over to the man while he closed the door to Hitomi's room.
"Majesty, she didn't exactly break her back...." the doctor started hesitantly...
"And?..." Van prompted. "Well, your Majesty she'd have to go through immediate surgery...this has been healed before but," he hesitated " I'm afraid that I have grown too old to be able to do such a precise operation. Maybe I can I find a younger doctor that will the job just as well..."
Van made a gesture, "It's okay...I know someone who could do it."
The Doctor peered at Van in puzzlement, "Who...If I might ask. your majesty?"
Van smiled and put his hand on the doorknob, " why Queen Milierna".
Hitomi was slowly drowning in her despair...all her life her hobbies had always involved running, Track team in high school...then she even made it into a very famous American Jock college on a athletic scholarship, UCLA. Now, everything was over. She couldn't run, or use her legs for that matter. She was now dependent someone for everything, instead of being the spirited independent person she once was. Then, to make matters worse the only man she had ever truly loved, didn't love her. He just wanted to get her out of the way as soon as possible. Hitomi moved her head to look outside through the windows next to her bed and watched the doves flying outside of her window...flying with white feathers...
Van peered inside the Hitomi's room for a moment and glanced at her sorrowful figure in the bed. A once proud woman had now resolved to a few shreds of pride. Van had to do something but, the very air around her was almost becoming stagnant. Whatever he had to do he would have to do it quickly.
The window of the carriage showed Hitomi the wonderful countryside of Fanelia but unfortunately gave her motion sickness. She sickly swayed back and forth while her face continued to get greener and greener. Van decided that they, Merle, Hitomi, and himself, should all go to Allen and Eries wedding in a carriage. Hitomi agreed to it only for Van's sake though... Hitomi tore her eyes away from the plain landscape of grass....grass....tree...grass...grass...tree... and focused on the inhabitants of the wagon. Van was sitting across from her his eyes were closed with a pensive expression on his face and Merle was engrossed in a small string, she loop it around her thumb and various other fingers and try to make designs. Hitomi was tempted to mention the fact that what Merle was doing was called "Cat's Cradle" but, it would probably get too complicated from there.
Hitomi's eyes fluttered open and Hitomi gazed once more out of the carriage window... hoping she'd see something other the usual landscape of grass and tree. Her eyes blinked away the sleep and she focused on the new scenery, Millerna and Dryden's castle were in the distance and past them was the ocean.. Hitomi's leaned forward a bit to smell the salty air.
'So many memories...' Hitomi thought to herself. She gazed down at the carriage floor and thought about the time she had been kidnapped by the geckos, and Van came to rescue her. Then Hitomi blushed to herself, she yelled "Allen" when in fact it was Van who saved her.
"Mreow... Hitomi-san... are you blushing?!" Merle asked in a taunting voice. Hitomi's head jerked back and she blinked a few times.
"nani... er, nothing Merle.. I was just thinking.." Hitomi nervously replied. Merle nudged Van and whispered loudly,
"Van-sama, Hitomi's blushing, I bet she's thinking about something dirty..."
Hitomi and Van's eyes opened wide for a moment and Hitomi let out a nervous laugh, and scratched her head.
"No, I wasn't thinking of anything like that... no...it was something else, It was just memories I guess" Hitomi tried to explain while her face continued to get redder by the minute. Van chuckled quietly as Hitomi almost managed to get as red as his favorite 'red' tunic. Merle whispered again,
"It most of been really dirty Van-sama! Look how red she's getting! mreow!" Merle started laughing hysterically. Along with Van who, by now had progressed to a full-fledged laugh and Hitomi nervously laughed among for no apparent reason. By the time they pulled into the kingdom Merle was on the floor wiping away the tears along with Van who wiped the tips of his eyes.
One of the guards walked up to the carriage door and with great ease open the door. Merle hopped out and ran around a bit to stretch her tired muscles. Van also got out and stretched a bit before going half-way back into the carriage to get Hitomi. She gingerly reached out to his warm embrace and he gently lifted her off the seat. Off in the distance they could hear the hoof beats of horses coming and Hitomi looked toward the sound.
A young woman in her mid twenties came to greet them. She looked like Millerna, the same hair, body, except, this was a woman who was heavily pregnant. A man about 5-10 years older her galloped to catch up with her, he too resembled the same Dryden that Hitomi remembered except he had a extremely pensive expression. Millerna halted her horse in front of Van, Hitomi, and Merle. Van chuckled a little bit,
"Millerna isn't it a bit unsafe to horse riding this late in your pregnancy?"
Millerna rolled her eyes and frowned.
"Not you too!" she said in a exasperated tone "First Dryden, next the entire council, and now you!" Millerna looked at Hitomi,
"Hitomi-san it's so nice to see you again!" Millerna said quickly then changed the topic, "do you think I'm too pregnant to go horse back riding?"
Hitomi glanced around for a moment before answering.
"um, well I guess it's up to you to actually know if you're able to or not"
Millerna glanced at her husband and Van triumphantly.
"See!" Millerna said, "I'm not the only one who thinks that way!" Millerna smiled and winked at Hitomi.
"You tell those men Hitomi-san, they don't know what they're talking about!"
Hitomi giggled and the two men rolled their eyes.
"Okay, girls, lets get to your castle before someone actually does hurt themselves" Dryden replied in a sarcastic voice.
The castle was bustling with the preparations for Allan and Eries' wedding. There was a absolute mess in the ballroom but, the servants were acting as quick they could. They passed through halls Hitomi remembered so well and into the guestroom Hitomi guessed she stayed in last time. Except there was an extra bed. Van set Hitomi down on a bed that was right beside Merle's. Hitomi looked and playfully pouted,
"Van?" she asked "why do I have to stay in the same room with her?!"
Merle looked up at Van from her unpacking,
" Yeah" she said in agreement " Why do I have to stay with the weirdo?"
Hitomi glared at Merle. Merle looked pleadingly at Van while asking in a dramatic voice. "Van-sama, what if she has some more of those weird visions?"
Van rolled his eyes and said,
"You two will figure it out" and with that he started to walk out of the room. Behind Hitomi and Merle said in unison,
"But Van(-sama)?!" Van stopped for a moment smirked and went on. In the room he could hear Hitomi and Merle arguing.
"Why did you do that?"
"I didn't do anything!!"
"Yeah you did, If it weren't for that stupid comment he'd still be here"
" blah, blah, blah"
"oh yeah? well I ought to just come over there and pull that little cat tail!"
"Just try it..."
"I'm 7 months pregnant and you want me to do what?!" asked Millerna in a dangerously high voice. Van looked around for a moment, in hopes he could get himself out of the awkward situation but, no escape.
"Millerna-san" he pleaded, "you don't know what she's going through, she needs this operation!"
Millerna sat down for a moment, then looked up at him with tired eyes.
"What is it you want me to do again?" she asked.
Van stood in front of her and said,
" Just operate on her, she needs to walk again!" Millerna thought for a minute or so.
"Okay" she said reluctantly, "I'll do it tomorrow morning, but, I need tonight to refresh myself on my studies."
Van nearly jumped for joy when she agreed. "Thank you Millerna" he said then walked quickly out the door.