Disclaimer: I'm not going to say it... I have 6-8 other Escaflowne Fanfictions out, so I'm not going to say it...

Dedication: To all who love me and my stories, and also to those I love!!

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~Chapter 1~

~~The First 'Accident'~~

" You can't expect me to do this, do you? " twenty-three year old, Hitomi Kanzaki groaned as she plowed a hand through her long sandy brown hair that cascaded down her back, ending just at her butt.

Yukari Uchida and Sumono Amano lookd at her and nodded. Yukari walked over to her best friend and gently took Hitomi's hand in her own, " Hitomi... please. Just do this for me... I don't want to go out with him. Could you please? For your very best friend as least? "

Hitomi frowned at Amano, " And what about him? Me and him were suppose to do something tonight! You can't just expect me t-- "

" Whoa! Hitomi it'll be alright. I can take Yukari out. And besides.... there's always another night... " Amano assured her calmly, raising a hand in the air to silence her.

Yukari nodded, " And besides... you and him will get along wonderfully. He's into track too... "

Hitomi wrenched her hand away from Yukari's and backed away, looking at Amano the whole time, " So, that's it, then? You're letting me off? "

Amano sighed and shrugged uncomfortably as he looked down at the ground, " Hitomi... please! Don't be like that, I -- "

" How long, Amano? " Hitomi demanded as she crossed her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at him.

The light breeze blew past them, causing Hitomi's long summerdress to flap against her legs. Amano cocked an eyebrow, " What? Exc --- "

" Cut the crap! How long have you and Yukari been seeing each other? "

Yukari glanced at Amano and then at Hitomi, " About five months... " she replied calmly.

Hitomi's mouth fell open, but she quickly snapped it shut, " I knew it! " she cried. " I just damn well knew it! Why didn't you say anything? "

Amano sighed and raked a hand through his short dark brown hair, " We didn't want to hurt you, Hitomi... "

" H-hurt me?! " Hitomi sputtered.

Yukari nodded, " Yes... you're our best friend, Hitomi... we didn't want to hurt you... "

Hitomi whirled around to face Yukari's strangely calm face, " Was your best friend! How could you?! You've already hurt me by telling me just now! Wh-why do you always have to be such a bitch at times, Yukari?! " she spat venomously before whirling around and walking away.

Amano reached out and grabbed her elbow, " Hitomi! We meant to tell you... "

Hitomi wrenched her arm from his grasp and spun around, " When? When you two were married?! When the baby came along? Don't even try to say that you're sorry, cause you're not... "

Amano sighed, slightly exasperated, " Hitomi, I'm sorry. I really am.... "

Hitomi shook her head, " No, you're not, Amano. Neither are you Yukari! Thanks a lot, Amano.... "

Amano blinked, " F-for what? "

Hitomi quickly raised her arm and then allowed it to fly. Her hand connected with Amano's cheek, making a hollow sound that echoed to her ears. Yukari gasped loudly and ran over to Amano as he stumbled back a few feet. Hitomi blinked and began to back away from the both of them. She blinked again and when she opened her eyes, Amano and Yukari were gone, as was the entire park and the playground.

Hitomi outstretched a hand, " A-amano? Yukari? Where'd you guys go? "

No answer. Only silence, and the sudden whining of gusting wind everynow and then. Hitomi shook her head. She took a step forward, rocks and the shells of dead bugs crunched under her strappy sandals as she walked. Around her, the park was no more. It was replaced by what appeared to be some sort of battlefield, little with bloody limbs and limbs of what looked like machines.

Hitomi grimaced as she heard the shells of the dead bugs crunching under her feet. She continued to walk when whispering voices in her ears caused her to stop in her tracks. She swallowed, blinked and then whirled around, " W-who's there? Amano? Y-yukari? "

" No.... "

Hitomi swallowed again, " T-then who? "

" Listen to me... the time will come when you are called from this world and this planet. Do not oblige! If you go, you will be endangering other lives. Do you want that, Hitomi? "

Hitomi shook her head as she crossed her arms over her chest to ward off the cold gusts of wind, " N-no. But.... what are you talking about? "

" Do not listen to the calls of the pendant, Hitomi... you'll only bring death upon yourself and upon another world... " the soft voice faded out.

Hitomi blinked, completely confused, " I... I don't understand! How will I bring death upon others and myself?! " she shouted.

Getting no answer, she whirled back around to walk away but her face connected with something fleshy, yet very muscular. Hitomi stumbled back and unable to regain her balance, she fell to the ground. She blinked and looked up at what she bumped into. A man about her age hung from a large tree with twisted branches that twined over and with each other.

His head hung at an odd angle. His raven black hair hung in front of his blood stained and deathly pale face. His red loose shirt hung off his body in pieces, gaping holes decorated the red fabric that had been stained with blood for as long as it would hang there on the dead body.

Hitomi stood up and took a step back, but then stopped as she noticed the wings. They were broken, snapped in half and the once white, silky, long feathers now stained with dry, crusted blood as the crude, rough looking rope tied around the top bones of the wings caused them to hang forward in an abnormal position.

Stained feathers decorated the ground around Hitomi's feet and underneath the body as she continued to gaze at it, not knowing what else to do. There was nowhere to run to and hide, nowhere to crawl into and sleep except for the ground. Hitomi felt the air being sucked from her lungs as a cold gust of wind blew into her, catching her offguard and she stumbled forward, landing on the ground on her hands and knees.

Hitomi blinked and then shook her head to clear it. She lifted her head up and looked at the man's gentle and peaceful looking face. Something around his neck gave off a glimmer and it caught her eye. She stood up and placed a hand to her mouth to stifle a loud gasp as she reached up with her other hand and grasped the pink pendant hanging around his neck.

The man's head snapped up and his eyes flew open. He looked down at Hitomi and in his reddish-brown eyes, anger and fear flashed and then stayed. Hitomi gasped and jumped back but the mand hanging in the tree shot his hand out and he grasped her forearm tightly. He grunted once and lifted Hitomi straight off the ground effortlessly.

Hitomi struggled against him, kicked at him, punched him, but he wouldn't let her go. He hung onto her tightly until he had her face an inch from his own. He looked deep into her eyes and then narrowed his eyes.

" You have no right to be here, witch! " he spat venomously, his voice as dry as sandpaper as if it were being scraped against dry bark. " Why have you come back? To poison my country? My home? "

Hitomi swallowed and shook her head, " I... I don't understand what you're trying to say. I'm not here to poi -- "

" Silence! " he bellowed in her face, causing her to cringe. " You will not speak without being granted permission to do so... look at what you did to my home, witch! You're going to pay for your many crimes... with your life! "

Hitomi blinked and then sighed lightly. She looked down at the ground, " Just let me go so I can go home. I don't want to be here anymore... "

" You think you want to be here? I'm dead! And it's all your fault. If only you hadn't shown up, then none of this would've happened! Dilandau wouldn't have returned, Fanelia wouldn't have been ambushed in the middle of the night, and I would still be alive to rule my country. But, no! You had to come along and ruin everything and bring this plague upon us... witch! " he spat at her again.

Hitomi snorted. She had had enough already with this. She wanted to go home, not be here with some dead guy who was accusing her of doing something she didn't even know she had done. Hitomi's free hand swung out and she slammed it into the man's right cheek. The man didn't cringe, didn't flinch, and didn't even make a sound of anger or protest.

All that happened was his eyes suddenly rolled back into his head, the skin on his face quickly wrinkled and then melted off, leaving the smell of rotting flesh to burn in the air and in Hitomi's nostrils. His ears fell off his head in chunks as did his hair. The light current of the wind caught the hair and it flew away with the wind, leaving Hitomi to hang in the air, being held up by the now fleshless hand of the dead man, who hung in the tree.

Hitomi shook her head and began to frail about wildly, ' I can't die here... this isn't happening, it's all just a dream, and I'm going to awaken in a few moments... ' she told herself in assurance that no one else could give.

But nothing good happened to her. Hitomi slowly gave up with struggling and frailing about wildly and just remained still. She slowly closed her eyes as she felt her body grow heavy. There was quiet snapping of bone and Hitomi's eyes closed completely as the arm that held her up suddenly gave up with holding her weight and she and the bone exposed arm fell to the ground.

It seemed like an eternity before she hit the ground. When she finally felt the hard ground connect with her numb body and head, she heard the familiar sounds of birds chirping, children laughing, and another thing, a frantic voice that called her name over, and over until she decided to open her eyes.

Hitomi's eyes slowly fluttered open and she found herself looking up into the face of Amano, " She's coming around! " he shouted over his shoulder to Yukari who was pacing the ground behind him, nervously.

Hitomi blinked and then slowly sat up, ' The pendant! '

Hitomi's hand shot up and she reached for the little pink pendant that usually hung around her neck. She found it comforting as she wrapped her hand around it, and relaxed somewhat from what had happened before. Yukari looked over at Hitomi troubled expression and went to stand behind Amano.

" Hitomi? Are you alright? What happened? " Yukari asked, her voice full of concern.

Hitomi turned her head to the sound of the voice and when her eyes focused of Yukari's face, she suddenly snorted and then scowled as she stood up, " Just leave me alone. Don't you think you caused me enough trouble? " she asked as she brushed herself off, causing dead leaves and grass to sprinkle and spiral to the ground helplessly.

Hitomi took a step back and tore the pendant from her neck. She held it in two hands as she began to walk backwards, away from her two very best friends who had caused her enough pain for the day. Yukari began to walk towards her, not willing to give up just yet, but Amano reached out and he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him.

Yukari struggled against him, but after realizing that he wasn't going to let her go, she gave up and went still. She and Amano watched as Hitomi took a few more steps back, clutching her pendant tightly in her hands as she closed her eyes and lifted her face up to the sky.

A single word was uttered from her mouth as a bright column of light dropped from the cloudless sky and pounced on Hitomi, " Away.... "

Yukari gasped and then began to struggle in Amano's arms, " No! We can't let her go... let me go, Amano. We have to go and get her... " she cried out as she whirled around in his arms and began to beat his chest.

Amano closed his eyes, but didn't flinch or wince as she continued to beat his chest. He only held onto her tighter, " Hush, Yukari... let her go. I think she needs to go and get away from here and from us.... " he whispered in a pained voice against her hair.

Yukari went silent and still in his arms as she buried her face into his chest and wept silently. Amano gently smoothed back her hair and watched as Hitomi rose up into the air and then disappeared from sight as the thin column of light slid up into the sky, leaving a little shower of sparkles that quickly disappeared from sight.

Amano sighed lightly and then bent over slightly to slip an arm under Yukari's knees and then scoop her into his arms as he began to head back towards his apartment, thinking about Hitomi the entire way there....

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" You're not bad... at least you're getting better at this... " Allen Crusade Schezar pointed out as he blocked an attack from his opponent.

Van Slanzar de Fanel flashed him a smile and then quickly reached up to wipe his brow on the back of his hand as he held onto his sword tightly in the other one. He looked at Allen and backed away quickly. He stopped in front of a thick stone pillar and leaned back against it, trying to catch his breath.

" I guess you could say that I'm getting better... now that you have me practicing.... " Van added in a low mutter under his breath.

Allen cocked a light brow as he backed up against the far wall and caught his breath, " I heard that, Van.... "

Van threw his head back and laughed, " I believe it was meant for your ears, Allen. I do believe that's the one reason why I said it in the first place.... " he said lightly as he stepped forward towards Allen, his sword dragging against the ground as he walked.

Allen cringed lightly as he began to make his way towards Van, " Uh, could you not do that. Making that wretched noise isn't going to do you any good, Van...... " he muttered outloud as he lifted his sword and held it out in front of him.

Van frowned in thought as he counted the feet from where he stood to where Allen was standing. Not even three feet. This was going to be easy. Allen cocked his head to the side and watched the King, " Well? We don't have all day you know... let's get this show on the road.... " he called out.

Van nodded his head absentmindedly as a smirk decorated his handsome features, " Whatever you want, Allen... "

Allen shot him a sardonic smirk, " Yeah, thanks, Van.... "

Van let out a laugh and then changed it to a battlecry as he quickly switched his sword to face the side and charged head on. Allen snorted and charged at Van as well, letting his own battlecry escape his mouth. Their swords were pointed straight at each other as they ran towards each other, not really paying any attention to the sudden burst of light that flashed in front of them and then quickly disappeared. Their vision blurred slightly but they continued to charge, knowing that no one was standing in front of them

' One foot left, and then I'll show him about not charging agressively enough.... ' Van thought in slight amusement as he blinked the flash of light from his eyes and let another battlecry tear from his lips as he thrust his sword forward with all the strength he pocessed.

Allen blinked the flash of light from his eyes and lifted his sword to block Van's attack, but it ended up connecting with something hard. A strangled sob came out from in front of him and he stopped quickly, immediately assuming the worst for his friend. Van's sword plunged into something unknown to him and he heard another strangled sob sound from in front of him, quickly following the one he heard before.

Allen and Van both stopped dead in their tracks. Their swords were no longer in their hands, but embedded deep into the body of a strange looking girl with long sandy brown hair and bangs. Her soft sea-green eyes were wide as was her mouth. A little trail of crimson slipped from the corner of her mouth and slid down her chin to drip from her jaw to be soaked up by the summerdress.

Hitomi blinked and tried to swallow, but she ended up gagging slightly and then swallowing. She watched as some strange looking man in front of her slowly advanced towards her, his gloved hand outstretched to her. To her right, a tall blonde haired man came into view as he took a spot beside the raven black haired man.

" V-van... I didn't see her, did you? " Allen hissed in his ear. " Where'd she come from? "

Van nimbly shook his head and rushed over to the girls side as she slowly fell to the side, the handles of the swords only showing, besides for the tips of the blades that protruded from both sides of her body that was soaked in her own blood. Van reached out and yanked his sword from the girl's chest, extracting a loud, and pained scream from the girl as she fell forward against Van.

Van handled the girl carefully, praying that he didn't tear her wounds anymore then they should've been teared as he rested her forehead against his shoulder. Allen quickly walked over behind her and swiftly pulled his sword from her back, this time extracting a muffled cry as she buried her face into the curve of Van's neck.

Hitomi's breathing was labored and it came out in short, raspy gasps. Van stripped himself of his shirt and placed it over the front wounds and Allen stripped himself of his own shirt and then placed it on her back wounds. Van scooped the girl into his arms and as soon as he began to half jog, half run towards the door leading to the staircase that led to the front hall from the roof, both shirts were completely drenched through with blood.

Van let out a stream of curses as he now ran towards his room. He kicked open the door and rushed over to the bed where he gently laid the injured girl down. When he stood up to look down into her face, he watched as her soft features were contorted in a mask of pain. Hitomi's face went as white as the bedsheet that she was laying on and she felt her entire body go numb as she continued to lose blood rapidly.

Allen rushed into the room, followed closely by Puck; Fanelia's best doctor, and Millerna Sara Aston; Asturia's third princess who was also a doctor. Van looked at Millerna and then down at Hitomi, he stripped his glove off and then reached down to gently caress her pale cheek. Millerna rushed over to the bedside and Van flashed Hitomi an encouraging smile before he was shoved aside by the two doctors.

Millerna's eyes went over the body twice before she reached into her blue bag at her side and pulled out a scapal. She glanced over at Allen and then at Van, " What happened? "

Van frowned, " Me and Allen were practicing with our swords, and this girl just suddenly appeared right in the path of them... we didn't even see her. She wasn't there before we decided to charge at each other... "

Allen nodded, " Yes. Then, we ended up plunging both of our swords into her by accident. How bad does it look...? "

Millerna sighed heavily and glanced over at Puck. Puck licked her lips, " It's bad, boys.... one of the swords entered through her right lung, and the other one just pierced the other one, slicing through the lining and tissue.... " she replied in a shaky voice as she reached out and pulled out a needle from Millerna's blue bag.

Van nodded and walked away from the room, Allen followed closely, making sure to close the door behind him. He looked over at Van as he sat down on a bench across the hall, " Hey... why so glum? We saved her, didn't we? " Allen assured him as he went and sat down beside him.

Van shrugged and leaned back against the bench, closing his eyes against the memory of the girl who use to visit him when he was younger and how his mother had explained to him that she wasn't who she was suppose to be. But what was she really suppose to be? Who was she suppose to be?

Allen glanced over at Van and then sighed heavily as he ran a hand over his face and then through his hair, " Van... don't worry. We have Millerna and Puck in there, taking care of the girl. I'm sure she'll be alright.... "

Van shook his head and then opened his eyes to look at Allen. His reddish-brown eyes were filled with doubt and had a trace of fear within their mysterious depths, " Allen, it's not that that I'm worried about. I can trust Millerna and Puck. It's something else that has me worried... "

Allen quirked an eyebrow and propped his chin on his knuckles as he rested his elbow on his knee and leaned over, " What would that be? That she's going to charge you for assasination, Van? " he joked.

Van shot him a nasty glare and shook his head hard, " No! I feel as if I've already met her.... "

Allen snorted, " You have some imagination, Fanel.... "

Van sighed, slightly exasperated, " Allen... there's nothing funny or amusing about this. We almost killed a woman, and all you can do is sit here laughing about it, joking around about it? " he shook his head. " Well, I'm not laughing, and I'm definitely not joking around about this. My mother told me about her.... "

Allen cleared his throat uncomfortably and then brushed some of his long honey-gold hair away from his face. Staring into suddenly pale face of Van, he blinked and then frowned in confusion, " W-what did your mother tell you about her...? "

Van suddenly looked down at the ground, " M-mother always used to tell me that she was going to be the end of Gaea... if I remember clearly, her name is Hitomi Kanzaki..... "

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