The words struck a chord in Hitomi's soul - it was a line so familiar
to her that it was startling. She leaned closer to the book, frowning
slightly at the English words which so eluded her grasp. It was, after
all, her choice to read it or not.
A faint smile touched her lips as the next few lines gradually
appeared under her pen:
'Stepping with light feet, swiftly and noiselessly stepping and stopping,
Bending with open eyes over the shut eyes of sleepers,
Wandering and confused, lost to myself, ill assorted, contradictory,
Pausing, gazing, bending and stopping.'
Still more familiar words - Hitomi's green eyes glowed with memories.
She'd been so confused about her visions, the unsolicited invasion
of
her mind with chaotic images of pain, death and destruction. There
had
been one anchor - and here, Hitomi's eyes darkened slightly - but he
was gone. Not precisely so, but out of her physical reach, and barely
within her mental grasp.
"Van," she whispered, and a picture of his face appeared, that
rare
smile, reserved just for her upon his face. She smiled in return, and
the vision disappeared in a blue sparkle. Hitomi, with a sigh, returned
to her translating. The next two lines held no real meaning to her,
but
those after that drew one crystal-clear tear from one eye, trickling
down her cheek.
'The wretched features of ennuyes, the white features of corpses,
the
livid faces of drunkards, the sick-gray faces of onanists,
The gash'd bodies on battle-fields, the insane in their strong-door'd
rooms, the scared idiots, the new-born emerging from gazes,
the dying
emerging from gates,
The night pervades them and enfolds them.'
The deaths of so many were etched in her memory, the blood spilled
to
gain her power rested heavily upon her concience - only the fact that
her love for Van had saved Gaea, and that he didn't blame her for her
power kept her sane. The night, indeed, had its power over her: the
power of memory. To distract her mind from that, she bent her head
to
the translation, wisps of golden-brown hair tickling her neck.
'The married couple sleep calmly in their bed, he with his palm on
the
hip of the wife, and she with her palm on the hip of the husband.'
That line brought a faint, tender smile to Hitomi's solemn face
- she
often dreamed of such seeming bliss; the love between she and Van had
save a world's future, but it had been so new, or rather,
newly-discovered, that they had been unsure of themselves... and had
separated. They could see eachother, but never touch, and they never
wished for eachother's company... for fear of rejection.
Hitomi shut the book with a snap, setting it back in her track
bag.
Glancing around, wind riffling through her short hair, she smiled
faintly. It figured... she'd come to the track to relax, to read, and
to think. She'd gone through so much here... Gaea, the world only she
could see, hung behind the half-risen moon, sparkling blue, brown,
and
green.
A cheerful voice penetrated Hitomi's thoughts - Yukari, her red-purple
hair flying, tackled her best friend. "Konnichiwa!" she chirped,
grinning.
"Hello, yourself, Yukari-chan," chuckled Hitomi, green eyes alight.
"Got those statistics all done already?" Yukari had, as always, been
straightening out the track team's practice times, compiling them into
the neat ledger she kept.
"Un. Just don't be late again." Yukari commented, waggling her
finger
admonishingly at Hitomi, who simply blushed.
"Gomen. Sensei made me stay after class to discuss more about
Newton.
He seems to think I know too much about him," she explained. It was
true, she mused, she /did/ know more about Isaac than was in the
course, but that wasn't any reason, in Hitomi's opinion, to continue
to
detain her, making her late for whatever else she had to do.
"Ne, Hitomi... did you hear? Amano's coming back for a visit!"
Again,
the bright commend drew Hitomi out of her thoughts, forcing her to
focus upon Yukari. "I get to see him again!"
Hitomi'd known, of course, but she wasn't all that interested anymore.
Her infatuation with Amano had been on a par with her liking of
Allen... it paled when...
"Hitomi... ne, Hitomi, you awake?" enquired Yukari, waving a hand
in
front of Hitomi's eyes, eliciting a startled blink. "You've been weird
ever since Amano left... are you sure you don't mind that we're..."
"Of course not." Which wasn't precisely the truth; she saw Yukari
and
Amano together, and was ever reminded of her soul's other half, the
half that was with Van, on Gaea. Yukari's chatter faded into the
background as Hitomi's mind wandered back to her life in Gaea. She
could almost see the rebuilt Fanelia she saw so often in Van's thoughts.
*****************
A flash of red amongst blue-green foliage alerted Merle to the
arrival
of her oldest friend. Though somewhat matured, Merle remained what
she
was: a cat - posessive, mischevious and unpredictable. At least she
didn't tackle Van anymore.
"Van-sama..." she ventured, then halted. This was Folken's tomb...
not
a place Merle normally entered without invitation.
"Merle." The tone was somewhat dark, but there was a faint humor
interlaced in Van's voice. "It's okay, you can come in."
The owner of the voice stepped out from a fall of ivy, a few misplaced
tendrils clinging to his arms and dark hair. Maturity had left its
marks upon the young king; tanned skin was stretched by lathe-like
muscles, and there were shadows in his red-brown eyes.
Merle padded in, peeking around warily. Escaflowne, dormant and
dark,
was half-hidden by tendrils of ivy, shrouding the white guymelef in
leafy camoflauge. Folken's tomb was also hidden by the plant that had
sprouted so quickly; a sign, perhaps, of the regrowth all of Gaea was
undergoing. Van stood, red shirt a bright spot against the dark vines,
against the guymelef, staring at Merle curiously.
"E-eto..." Merle began, scratching at her nead in embarrassment.
"I
was outside, and I saw you come in here, so I followed you."
A smile, rare these days, quirked Van's lips. "Merle, I don't
mind."
He remained as terse as ever, though there was an ever-present tint
of
loneliness in his voice, ever since Hitomi had gone. His shadowed
red-brown eyes liften to stare at the Mystic moon, and a soft sigh,
matching, though he wouldn't know, Hitomi's own.
"You're thinking about her again," came Merle's statement. She
seened
to have a sixth sense about her oldest friend's thoughts... especially
when they came to her former rival.
Van's eyes darkened - Merle was correct, as always when concerning
Hitomi. "I was. I know she hasn't forgotten me... she promised she
wouldn't," he said, leaning against Escaflowne's bent knee, "And I
can
still see her sometimes..." He knew in his soul that they couldn't
really be apart; their hearts beat as one, but something within him
still ached to be sure. He wanted to ask her, face to face.
Merle simply watched the expressions flicker across her oldest
friend's face: depression, remembered happiness, and love were
predominant, with a faint hope intruding upon them at times. Her tail
lashed angrily - she too thought of the odd girl from the Mystic Moon,
though with less longing (of course) than Van. She missed Hitomi's
calm
presence and the comfort she'd often provided the younger, motherless
catgirl... and then, she worried about Van. He, in spite of his
apparent strength, was the weaker of the two, as far as feelings
went... Hitomi was his other half, and he needed her to lean on.
"I don't understand..." she mused aloud, "Why did Hitomi leave?"
It
was only when she heard a faint intake of breath from the man next
to
her that she realized she'd spoken aloud, and winced. She'd asked
before, once, but had been rebuffed by Van's silence.
An unaccustomed roughness was in Van's voice as he finally replied,
"I
don't know. Neither of us know..."
"... then why don't you go find her, Van-sama? I told you this
before,
and Hitomi has, too. People return your feelings."
That same lightness from long ago fluttered against Van's chest.
Neither he nor Hitomi had dared wish for the other's presence... for
fear of destroying something elusive, something un-quantifiable. He
would dare, now. He had to see her.
***********************
A breath of wind stirred in a darkened room, tendrils of breeze
tugging gently at a particular drawer with an almost-human touch. The
solitary occupant of the room slept on as the drawer slipped open,
allowing the wind to snatch a particular card out of a deck hidden
away. It gusted, and the card fluttered gently over to Hitomi's bed,
settling softly on the coverlet.
An errant strand of golden-brown hair, teased into motion by an
breath
of wind, awakened Hitomi. Green eyes snapped open, fastening upon the
card in front of her, on her coverlet.
"How...?" she murmured, then stared at the card. Il Fusco/La Luce.
Hitomi bolted upright, ignoring the dizzy rush of blood from her head,
in favor of another, sweeter rush of feeling. For beside the card lay
one pure-white feather. Those old words, so beloved, rushed to her
lips:
"He's calling me."
************************
A pulse of pink light was visible from the energist as Van headed
back
to the tomb; it knew what was to come. A matching pulse was beating
from the pendant, so cherished, around Van's neck -- the beat of its
owner's heart was in time with the one wearing it.
Van paused, making sure he was alone, then removed his shirt.
A faint
smile twitched at the corner of his lips as the white wings unfolded
behind him, his ryuugin heritage in physical form. Words, oddly echoed,
rang out:
"Take me there."
Blue-white light flared up from the energist, surrounding the
winged
figure. From a window nearby, Merle smiled.
************************
A brown and tan blur rushed out of the house, not minding the
slam of
the door behind her -- her parents, or, at least, her mother, would
understand why she had to go.
Hitomi paused at the edge of the track, still clutching the precious
card to her chest. Her heart thudded against her hand, but she could
feel, through that card, the beat of another heart, in time with her
own.
Her voice, oddly echoed, as though two were speaking as one, rang out:
"Take me there."
*************