Yeah! I got a title! I'm So happy! Thank you Thank you Thank You Penybright!
Anyhoo, I finally got chapter seven out. Yea me! Oh, in this chapter Dilandau does a bit of swearing for those of you who care. Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 7

'That was certainly interesting.' Hitomi thought as she laid on the bad in her room, staring up at the ceiling. After finding Dilandau waiting at the entrance of the Inn Van had demanded an explanation as to why he was here. Which when given was most definitely the one reason Hitomi never would have guessed Dilandau to give, especially considering the last she saw him Van had almost squished him with the foot of Escaflowne. Hitomi ran the scene through her head over and over again and remembered the weird feeling she'd had as he was telling his story.

**Flashback**
"I'm here to save the world."
"How"
"By telling you what to do."
**End Flashback**

Dilandau certainly was a mystery. One minute he was trying to kill you and the next minute he was helping you save the world. A mystery indeed. Everything was getting more and more complicated. Hitomi didn't know how to act around anyone, ever since the attack everybody had treated her differently. Everyone except Van, and Merle for some reason. Hitomi was incredibly grateful to those two.

**Flashback**
"Hitomi, how did you do that?" Allen asked gently but with a certain urgency in his eyes that told her he was demanding an answer.
"I...I don't know. I just...I just sort of...I don't know." Hitomi knew that they wouldn't be happy with that explanation but what was she supposed to say? Hitomi didn't know the answer to that question anymore then they did.
"Look, Hitomi I know this must be hard for you but we need some answers"
"Allen, just leave her alone." Van and Merle were standing beside Hitomi now, Van looking as if he would kill anyone if they asked another question and Merle growling quietly and menacingly. Allen looked right back at Van with the same look in his eyes. Hitomi cold tell this was going to spell trouble and probably swords and blood.
"I'm tired." While not exactly a lie Hitomi wouldn't have said it if she hadn't known that it would stop the fight that was brewing between Van and Allen.
Van's face immediately softened and he looked down at Hitomi, "Do you want me to take you up to your room?" Hitomi nodded to Van's quiet question and stood up from the chair she was in.
"But I still-"
"Not now Allen."
"You all are crazy. She saved your all your asses and you want to know how. Who the hell cares, just be thankful you aren't fucking dead." Dilandau had been listening to there stupid chatter and was seriously rethinking his decision to help these losers.
"You still haven't told us why you're here, so until you do, just shut up." Van did not like having Dilandau around, he reminded Van of he used to be, and that was something Van never wanted to be again.
"Can I please just go up to my room. I want to think, quietly. Allen I'm sorry I can't tell you more but I know just as much about this a you do and I really don't know what to say to your questions." Hitomi was getting a headache from listening to all these men argue over how she should be treated. She just wanted to sleep for awhile, was that so wrong? A nice long sleep with no dreams, no questions, nothing to confuse her more.
"Yes, of course you can Hitomi. Do you want me to take you to your room?" With everyone yelling at him Van had forgotten Hitomi's fatigue and now felt a bit guilty about that.
"Um, yes ok." Hitomi wanted to talk to Van alone before she drifted off to sleep. She didn't know why but she felt that something was going to happen, something big. She didn't understand this feeling but she knew to trust it and before anything else happened there were some things she had to say to Van.
"Alright." Van took Hitomi's arm and led her up the stairs at the back of Dryden's bar and into the Inn part of the building. "This is your room here," Van said as they reached a door in the middle of a hall that was lined with beat up wooden doors, "My room is two doors down and if I'm not in there I'll be down in the bar just in case you need anything."
"Van, before you leave I have a few things to tell you."
"Okay."
"When I was...I gave you the pendant right?" As Hitomi said this her eyes filled with something, some kind of emotion that Van couldn't make out but it was intense that her eyes clouded over and didn't even seem green anymore.

**FEAR**

Van looked right into Hitomi's eyes and nodded in answer to her question. "I just wanted you to know that whatever happens I will not call Escaflowne."
Van didn't quite know what to say to that. "Hitomi, what if-"
"No, I won't not for any reason." The fear had left Hitomi's eyes and now they were filled with determination.
"Why?"
"Isn't that obvious? I don't want anything like that to happen to you again. If you were to pilot it and go back to the way you used to be, I don't know what I would do. I never want you or anyone to feel that loneliness again. I hate that loneliness." Now Van understood the fear that was in Hitomi's eyes before and was now in her voice. She didn't want anything to happen to him, she didn't want Escaflowne to take over his mind again and drive him insane.
"That won't happen again. I have you here and that's enough to keep me sane."
"I still won't call it. But there was something else I wanted to tell you now so let's talk about this later." Hitomi didn't know why she had to tell Van these things, she just did. If she didn't she might not get a chance to later.
"Alright. What do you have to tell me?"
"I...I missed you Van, while I was on Ea- the Mystic Moon. I thought about you everyday and I...I um care for you a lot, Van." Hitomi was looking at the ground as she said this so she couldn't see Van's reaction but she did feel his hand come up to her chin and lift her head up so that she was looking into his eyes. His beautiful eyes that shone as he looked at her.
"I care a lot for you to, Hitomi." As he whispered this Van brought his face closer and closer to Hitomi's face and when he was done speaking he put his lips on hers and kissed Hitomi in such a way that said so much more than any word could ever express. And Hitomi kissed him back saying just as much with her own lips. They didn't care for each other they loved each other and nothing would ever take that away from them. Van circled his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him. Hitomi stood on her toes and opened her mouth to deepen the kiss and Van kissed her back with such intensity that Hitomi thought she might black out from all the emotions running through her and around her. Hitomi had never felt like this before but at the back of her mind there was still that feeling, that premonition that all this would end soon.
"Hitomi." Van whispered it into her ear after they broke their kiss. He pulled back and looked deeply into her eyes, "You should get some rest now. We can talk more later." Van reached behind Hitomi and opened her door. "I'll be here if you need me." And with that he kissed her on the cheek and went back downstairs.
**End Flashback**

Hitomi sighed as she lay on her bad and thought about the kiss she had shared with Van. As she finally started to drift off to sleep the last thought that entered her mind was that she never wanted to leave Gaea, it was more like home then Earth could ever be.

Van was getting tired of trying to question Dilandau. He would just avoid the question and called them all idiots in many different profane ways. Van definitely did not need this. "Look Dilandau, either tell us why you're here or leave before I decide to kill you."
"Hell, if you're going to be a bastard about it I'll tell why I'm here."
"Boss!" Gaddeth yelled from outside, "Enemy soldiers approaching."
"Is it..." Allen yelled back but was interrupted before he could finish his thoughts
"Don't worry Boss, they're human you can kill 'em easily." Gaddeth yelled back
"Okay, lets go."
Van didn't like this. If the person who was sending these soldiers could send invincible soldiers why would he bother with normal humans. It just didn't make sense. "Oh well, better go help them." Van ran out of the bar behind Allen and continued running toward the edge of town where he could see about thirty enemy soldiers gathering. 'Only thirty. That doesn't make sense either.'

Hitomi was dreaming again. Why couldn't she have one decent sleep without the dreams? When Hitomi looked around something seemed different. She couldn't tell what but it was there and she didn't like it.

Something definitely did not make sense. Now the thirty something soldiers were running away. Nobody had even drawn a weapon yet and they were running away. Van didn't know what was going on but he definitely didn't like it. He looked at Allen, who looked just as confused as he did, "What do think..." Then a something occurred to him and Van started running for the Inn. Hitomi was there, asleep and all alone.

Hitomi looked up at Sora, who didn't say anything she just stood there. It was weird, Sora had always had something to say to her.
"Hitomi...must...up." Hitomi heard Sora's voice but it wasn't coming from her mouth and it sounded as if it were on a cell phone with bad reception.
"What?" Hitomi was very confused as to what was going on.
"That's not...wake...coming." Sora tried again to speak to Hitomi but Hitomi just couldn't make out what she was saying.
"I can't understand you."
Then as clear and loud as if she were yelling in Hitomi's ear Sora's voice echoed around her, "You must wake up!"

Van ran as fast as he could back to the Inn but his legs just couldn't go fast enough. 'Be alright Hitomi.' He prayed to himself as he willed himself to move faster.

Hitomi opened hers eyes and screamed.

As Van ran in the entrance of the bar he heard Hitomi's scream that was suddenly cut off. Van had never been this frightened in his life, frightened of what he would find in Hitomi's room. Still he continued on and ran up the stairs to the Inn. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion and he just wouldn't go fast enough. Van ran down the hall to Hitomi's room and kicked open the door. There was a man, a normal human man, standing over Hitomi with a bloody knife. Something came over Van that was exactly like the old him. The simple feeling of revenge. And he took his revenge. Van walked slowly up to the man, drawing his sword on the way.
"There is nothing you can do to me. I have fulfilled my purpose and am ready to die," and he did die. In one clean swipe Van sent his head flying across the room and regretted it a second later. The man, whoever he was, got off too easy. Van should have drawn out his death. Van looked at the bad and forgot all thoughts off revenge. Hitomi was lying there with her eyes closed surrounded by a pool of blood and it was still pouring out of the wound in her chest.
"Hitomi?" Van whispered quietly to her as he kneeled beside her and tried to stop the bleeding with the bad sheets. As he kneeled there Van realized it was pointless. She wasn't sleeping, she wasn't passed out. Hitomi was dead.


The End.

Just kidding. Ok that was lame. Was this a surprise to anyone? Did anyone like it? Please tell me if you did. Also I once again apologize for my crappy portrayal of Dilandau, I just never really understood him to well so its very hard for me to write him. Well that's all, please tell me what you thought of it. Thanks.