Author's note: Sadly I do not own Escaflowne, no matter how many tantrums I go on. Okay, this is semi romantic. I think. But I really wanted to try out some symbolism in here. Especially the vision. Hope you like it. I promise it'll get more romantic!!! ::sees the glares of all the reviewers:: I promise! As always, please review. I love it when you do, and makes me want to write faster. =) Oh, and this fic is dedicated to a couple of people. ::takes out list:: Mehnaz, Neodestiny, Aaron, and Eric. You guys are the best!
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An
emotion they call love
…Of two worlds…one destiny…one hatred…one love…
Chapter
Two: Emotions of the Untamed
It
was sundown, as Hitomi Kanzakie walked down the lonely pathway. She had to get
out. Away from the cards, from the vision that haunted her. She could still
recall it vividly. The woman in her vision had told her to return. Hitomi
shuddered, remembering her blood red eyes. But why must she return to Gaea? And
how could she? Troubled, she kept walking…
"Just when I thought I finally got back…" she thought, looking up at the starry sky, a bird flying away. A pure white feather fell in front of her, as she stretched her hand and caught it. "Would things be the same as they had been before?" she thought, looking at the feather.
~~~
"Where
are you Hitomi? Why can't I find you?" thought Van to himself, as he walked
down the streets of Tokyo. His clothes and sword had created quite a spectacle,
as people stood on the streets, merely watching him walk by. "Come on! Just
let me find her!" he thought to himself, urgently. But luck was not on his
side, it seemed. No honey brown haired girl with green eyes answered his silent
prayers.
Being
from a place where technology didn't exactly leave a glowing mark, Tokyo was a
place of wonder for Van. He marveled at the streets, and at the buildings
alongside them, that stood like giants under the velvet black sky. The lights
sparkled and shone like multicolored stars. Strange machines drove past him. Van
stared. "Were they guymelefs?" he wondered. It couldn't be. He remembered
Hitomi once telling him that there were no guymelefs on the mystic moon.
Whatever it was, it seemed pretty neat though. Van supposed it was some kind of
a weird ship that ran instead of floating (he thought it could be a carriage,
but whoever heard of a horseless carriage?).
"Hitomi
where are you?" he thought out aloud to the deserted street, as he walked on.
Suddenly he broke into a run. Not stopping to breathe, or to think about where
he was going or anything. Simply to run. Finally he stopped, and staggered
forward, breathing hard. He had run for a long time, and was sure he had no idea
where he was. Slowly he looked up, to see some sort of a structure in the
distance. He couldn't make it out, as it was dark. As he walked forward, he
suddenly realized he was on the track where Hitomi had run into him so many
years ago. So many years. He was standing in the exact same spot as he had
before (when he first came to the mystic moon to slay the dragon). He could see,
in his mind's eye, the girl running to him, wild eyed and surprised to see him
come out of nowhere and stand in her way. The lurching feeling in his stomach
told then just how much he missed that wide-eyed girl. "Hitomi…" he
whispered, his voice drowned out by the rustle of the wind in the leaves and the
grass.
"Van?"
Startled,
Van turned around to see Hitomi staring at him. The breeze had shifted her hair
a little, making it fall delicately in strands above her green eyes. She wore
the same cream and brown school uniform that he had last seen her in. As always,
she took the breath out of him.
Van
stood there, unable to say anything for a few moments. Hitomi took a step
forward, and repeated his name once more. He smiled, and held his hand out to
her. Hitomi ran up to him, and the two embraced. They stood there, holding each
other for what seemed an endless eternity. Neither wanted to ever let go, afraid
that if they did, the other would merely become part of their imagination, lost
within their memories.
"Van…I
missed you so much…" whispered Hitomi, as she held on to him. Her voice
quavered, and Van looked into her eyes, questioningly. She smiled, blinking back
tears of happiness. "Its been a while, Hitomi" said Van as he released
himself from her, finally.
"Yes"
agreed Hitomi. "Van, what are you doing here? Why aren't you on Gaea?" she
asked. "I came to see you, Hitomi. I had to see you again" Van replied,
quietly. Hitomi could not help but smile, as she gently touched his face. His
skin was smooth and beautiful, filled with youth, yet his eyes. The brown eyes
filled with love, showed that he was more than a mere boy. He had seen and faced
what many men would run away from, quiver in fear from, all to protect Hitomi
when she was in Gaea. Hitomi couldn't help but lose herself in them, and
suddenly she felt herself go limp.
"Hitomi?" Van cried, bewildered. He caught her before she fainted. "Hitomi!" he yelled urgently, shaking her. But she seemed to not hear him. As if she had gone off to another place, leaving her body behind…
~~~
Hitomi
felt heat, and suddenly found herself standing in an inferno, and on the ground
were the bodies of the dead. "What?" she cried out in confusion, looking
around. "This vision…" she exclaimed, as recognition dawned on her. "I
have seen it before. Could it possibly happen?" The flames grew brighter, and
Hitomi had to shield her eyes. Suddenly a voice spoke.
"Of
course. It is fated. The day of ragnarok is approaching, and when it happens,
doom will befall Gaea" Hitomi looked to see a shadowy woman in the heart of
the inferno. The brightness of the flames made her unable to see the woman
fully, yet she could still see the piercing blood red eyes. "But why must it
happen?" asked Hitomi, her voice quavering. "Because it is fated," replied
the woman. "And fate does not reveal it's reason's to any" she told
Hitomi. "But I don't believe in fate! We choose our future's by our
actions!" Hitomi cried out.
"Do
you think just because you have turned your back on your gifts fate will not go
on? It exists dear, no matter what you think" the woman replied. "Do you
think the young Draconian King came to find you with no help at all?" the
woman added. Hitomi stared. "What do you mean?" she stammered. "He is the
path you should take to go back to Gaea, Hitomi Kanzakie. He will give you the
opportunity to go back. Take it. To stop Gaea's destruction, at all costs. It
is your duty as it is fated," the woman said. The scenery started to blur and
change in swirls of colors, and Hitomi found herself in a forest, with trees as
tall as the sky, and the silver moonlight from the mystic moon illuminating her
path softly. She was alone.
"Then
I must go back with Van," said Hitomi "I am the one who must stop the
massacre about to come, but I don't know if I have the strength to do so! How
can I stop it by myself?" she cried out. The rustle of the leaves in the wind
was her only reply.
"………Hitomi………"
It
was like a whisper of the wind, calling to her softly. It spoke her name.
Hitomi
looked around. She was sure she had heard someone call her name. She heard it
once more, and ran in the direction it was coming from. The trees obstructed her
way, but finally cleared, opening into a clearing; the grass growing up to her
knees. She looked around, but no one was there.
"………Hitomi………"
Hitomi
turned and gasped. A familiar Espanol guymelef stood behind her, shadowing her
with its presence. "Escaflowne…" she whispered. The guymelef seemed to
speak to her, in silent tones, telling her that it would help her and give her
the strength.
"Thank
you, Escaflowne" whispered Hitomi, gratefully. The jewel in Escaflowne's
breastplate began to glow. Curious as to why it was glowing, Hitomi touched the
jewel. Her hand went inside of it, as she had seen Van's hand do a countless
time. Curious, she pulled her hand out. She was holding a strange jewel, round
and about the size of an apple. She remembered seeing a jewel like this before.
When
Van had slain the dragon, he had cut into the dragon's chest, and claimed a
drag-energiest. It worked as the source of power of the Escaflowne. Hitomi
examined the energiest in her hand. Unlike the ones she had seen before, this
was different. It seemed to be more crystal like, and shone with all the colors
of the rainbow.
Suddenly
a beam of light came down from the heavens and shone upon Hitomi, lifting her up
into the air with the energiest in her hand.
~~~
"Hitomi!
Can you hear me? Hitomi!" Someone was calling out to her. Waking up, she found
herself looking into the worried eyes of Van. "Hitomi, are you all right?"
he demanded. "Yes" she said weakly. "Good. Hold on" he said, as he
helped her up, and picking her up, went to the nearby benches. "There" he
said, as he put her gently on the benches. "I'm afraid I lost you again"
he said, softly. Hitomi looked down, and went red. "I'm glad I didn't"
Van continued. "So am I" Hitomi whispered, looking up to Van. Slowly, the
two inched forward, closer to the other. Their breath mingled as one, when
Hitomi suddenly pulled away, blushing a little. Van, also was a little flushed,
but he pulled himself together and asked, "So… what happened?"
"I
saw a vision" Hitomi replied. "A vision?" Van asked, startled. "About
what?" "Gaea, Van. I have to return there. Van, if I don't go back,
something terrible will happen," said Hitomi. "Like what?" Van asked. She
told him about the visions she had about Gaea, about what the shadowy woman told
her. She told him about Escaflowne, and how she found a strange energiest with
it. Van grew disturbed. "A new energiest?" he said. "Yes. I put my hand
inside the breastplate jewel, and got the energiest. Last thing I remember, it
was in my hands" said Hitomi. Suddenly she went white. "Oh my God, Van!"
she cried out. "Look!" she held out her hand, and there in her palm, was an
energiest.
Van's eyes grew wide, and he looked at her. "But how…?" he said. Hitomi did not say anything, but shook her head. "I don't know" she said, and looked at the rainbow energiest. She offered it to Van. He was about to take, when his hand brushed with Hitomi's. The energiest began to glow. A brilliant pillar of light came down from the sky, and Hitomi and Van felt themselves being taken up into the air.