By ~
Umi-Chan
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Escaflowne characters or the show or anything used in the show such as weird places and weird names.
PART III
Allen staggered out onto the street. He had spent a few hours in the tavern, resting his feet and spending some quality time with the villagers. He hiccupped and chuckled as he walked in a serpentine line to the inn. Allen walked down the ally next to the inn and turned the corner where he bumped head first into Hitomi.
"Excuse me," Hitomi said as she turned on her heel to face Allen, "But what do you think…" She trailed off and stared in amazement at Allen's face. His eyes were glazed over and half closed. He swayed as he stood and looked around as if he were lost or something.
Allen gave Hitomi a lopsided smile and waved at her. "Hello, Hit *hiccup* omi, did you and *hiccup*, Van have a nice time where *hiccup* ever you tow went today?" Allen laughed and almost fell over. He caught himself on the wall of the inn though and stayed on his feet.
Van came up next to Hitomi and almost choked on the air he was breathing. "Is that Allen? Our Allen?" He mumbled to himself. Merle began to giggle from her perch on Van's back. Hitomi stood and shook her head as Allen attempted to walk into the inn on his own.
"I think our knight in shining armor has had a little too much to drink at the local pub." Hitomi said as she turned to face Van. "Merle, why don't you get down so that Van can help Allen?" Merle nodded and slid off of Van's back and walked into the inn with her nose in the air.
Van slipped one of Allen's arms over his neck and Hitomi got the other one. Together the three of them walked into the common room of the inn. Every head in the place turned to stare at them, Allen waved and began to make some sort of victory speech but he was beginning to fall asleep and his words were slurred so that no one could understand him at all. Once they were up the steps, they could hear the common room come to life and the laughter followed them up to their rooms.
Merle had left the girls room door ajar so Van kicked it a little so that they could get Allen into a bed as soon as they could. In side, Merle was sitting on Hitomi's bed, a yellowed and tattered piece of paper in her hands that were shaking. She looked up as Van and Hitomi carried in a now singing Allen, with tears in her eyes.
"What's wrong Merle?" Van asked once Allen was lying comfortably on a bed. Merle handed him the sheet of paper and then rested her face in the palms of her hands. Van rubbed the cat girl's shaking back and read the note out loud. "If you ever want to see your friend again, leaving 20 box tops from your favorite cereal with the man at the front desk. You will receive further instructions when I get the box tops. Signed, Lucky the leprechaun." Van wrinkled his nose and looked at Hitomi in confusion.
Merle looked up at Van, tears had formed paths down her cheeks. "What does it mean Van-sama?" She began to sob again, mainly from the fact that she had had a very stressful day and it was all beginning to hit her at the same time. Van reassuringly rubbed her shoulders and looked at Hitomi hopefully. She was from the mystic moon after all, maybe she could figure out what the note meant.
Hitomi stood and walked to the window and looked out. "Where are we supposed to get box tops? They don't have any breakfast cereals here at all. They don't even have boxes yet." She sighed and leaned up against the side of the window. Van came up next to her and patted her back.
"Do you know what it means?" He asked, the hope in his eyes almost made them glow in the dimly lit room.
Hitomi looked at him and smiled, "Yes I do but I don't know how we are supposed to get box tops." Van smiled hopefully and brushed some of Hitomi's hair out of her face.
"You'll find a way, you always have before." He said softly.
"What do you mean by, 'you'." She demanded. "Are you not going to help me at all?!" She almost yelled. Van shrank away from her and put his hands up to calm her down.
"Hitomi, how can I help if I don't even know what box tops are?" He said soothingly, trying his best to calm her. He was a dragon slayer for heavens sake, not a woman tamer.
Hitomi stopped and thought about this. "I guess your right." She sighed, it seemed that they had reached a dead end. Visions of Millerna being slowly tortured to death filled Hitomi's mind and made her want to cry but she held it in and looked Van straight in the eye. "The only other plan I can think up is to go and ask the man at the front desk if a strange man left any instructions for people with box tops."
Hitomi turned and marched out of the room. Van stood by the window in puzzlement and Merle sat sniffling, staring at the room's door. A moment passed before Hitomi came back into the room. "Ok, Van come with me and bring your sword and Merle, please stay here and watch over Allen." She sighed and got ready to mach back out into the hallway. "Alright, let's go."
Van followed her into the hall this time and the two of them walked back down into the common room and up to the desk of the owner. Van drew his sword and pointed it at the man's throat with the tip resting against the skin. The man froze and turned deathly white. "You can have anything you want, anything…really, I mean it." The man stammered.
Hitomi hit her forehead with her palm and sighed. This is not happening, it is all a bad dream, it is not happening to me. Not now, that is not Van, he has been possessed by some evil spirit and it is controlling him. Just please; do not let this be happening to me right now. When she opened her eyes, the innkeeper was shoving gold coins at Van and ordering the serving girls to go and get the safe out of the hiding place. Van looked panicked and was staring at Hitomi, hoping for a way out.
Hitomi leaped and grabbed the sword from Van. "How in the hell did you get this away from me you little mongrel?!" She screamed. She has the attention of everyone in the common room now, not exactly what she had been hoping for but she would have to find a way pout of this for the both of them. "I told you that you are not allowed to handle this yet." She leaned on the sword like a cane and turned to the white innkeeper. "I am so sorry about that. He is so much taller than the average 12 year old, you'd be amazed at what he can get away with." She shot Van a look that said, ' play along or I will kill you very slowly when we are done with this'. Van took the hint and began to act in the way he thought a normal 12 year old would act. "He loves to get his father's sword and pretend to be a robber." Hitomi laughed as Van went over to a huge looking man with kind eyes and tried to get his sword out of the man holster. Soon the whole common room was laughing.
"What I came down here for was to
ask you a question." The now smiling
innkeeper nodded and looked very ready to supply an answer. "We found a strange not in our room that asked
for 20 of a thing called 'box tops', whatever they are. It said to leave them with you and we would
get some instructions." Hitomi looked
hopefully at the innkeeper. Please
have something that will help me…oh please oh please oh please…
"Why yes, " The man said as he reached under the counter. "I remember the man. A strange looking fellow if I do say so myself. He walked out with a lady that was so beautiful…well, let's say that someone with those looks would not be with a man like he was unless there was money involved." The innkeeper nodded and shook his head.
Hitomi almost chocked on the air she was breathing. Was this man implying that Millerna was a prostitute?! The thought struck Hitomi as oddly funny in a way. She tried to nod her head in what looked like agreement. "It's a shame what the world has come to these days." She said softly trying hard not to laugh at the same time. The man said something under his breath that Hitomi didn't catch but she no longer cared. The innkeeper had in his hand a yellowed envelope. "So my good man, what do you have for me there?"
The man smiled at Hitomi in a way that made her shudder. "The man told me not to give it to you unless you had the '20 box tops' but I think I'll make an exception for you," he was interrupted by a loud crash as Van burst out of the kitchen with a red head who was smiling broadly. "And your lovely son." He added with a sigh of frustration.
"Mom!" Van yelled, still playing the part of the oversized 12 year old. "Mom, I'm getting married!!" He pulled the red head close to him and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She giggled and kissed him back.
"Oh no," Hitomi mumbled. She grabbed the envelope from the innkeeper and ran over to Van and his bride. "I hate to play the bad guy here but darling, you have a few more years left before you are ready to settle down dear." The red head nodded and waved as Hitomi dragged a struggling Van up the stairs. When they go into the hall, Van stopped and walked along next to Hitomi, his smile splitting his face.
"How did I do?" Van asked when they got to the room. He opened the door for Hitomi and then followed her in.
"A little too well," she said sarcastically. "Now I have a better understanding of why you act the way that you do." Van pretended top come after her but she waved the sword in his face and he stopped. The sat down at the table together and began to read the note that Hitomi had gotten away from the innkeeper.
Go to
the fish stand in the market place where the man yells, 'I have the best fish
in the world because I am the only man here who catches them himself'. He is lying, just so that you know. The man next to him has better fish but I
like this fish seller because he wears a funny looking turban on his head. Be there by 10:00 in the morning and bring
everyone with you. Millerna is
fine. I just needed to use her to get
to Hitomi. Say all of your goodbyes
before then, you may not have the chance to later. Signed, the Wizard of OZ.
P.S~
Toto misses you Dorothy. I think it's
about time that you clicked your heels together and went home, don't you?
Hitmomi looked up at Van with eyes as wide as golf balls. What did the man mean by the last part? Did this guy know how to get her back to the mystic moon? Van returned her look; he was obviously thinking the same things that she was.
"This could solve all of your problems." Hitomi said quietly, "I would be gone and you wouldn't have to worry about hiding me from them and you all could be free again." Hitomi stood and went to the window. Van followed her and they perched on it together and looked out at the sunset.
"It doesn't matter if you are with us or not Hitomi," Van said slowly, "they will never leave us alone again because they know about our involvement with you." He paused for a while and they sat, taking in the colors that surged across the sky and gave the sun a few more moments of glory for the day. "And no matter how far away you are, I will never be free of you." Van said the last part so softly that Hitomi had to strain to hear it.
Their eyes met for a moment and Hitomi's raging heart felt at peace. Then Van stood up. "But no matter what happens we need to be rested for tomorrow…whatever happens." He took Hitomi in his arms and held her close to him. "Hitomi…" He breathed, "If you do go with this man tomorrow, I want you to know that I love you." He quickly leaned in and kissed Hitomi. She pulled back at first, startled by his action but then she felt the love in her heart rise too and soon she was kissing him back.
When they broke apart, they were both smiling. "Van," Hitomi said next to his ear, "I love you too." They kissed again and then agreed that they should go to bed.
Hitomi snuggled under the covers of her bed. She couldn't get Van out of her head. She kept seeing his eyes and feeling the way his lips felt and how his hands felt as they roamed her back when he held her so close. It felt as though he had been searching for something on her, something he needed. She hoped with all her heart that he and been looking for love because he wasn't then he had better find some other girl from the mystic moon to try and lead on.
A warm feeling in her chest told her otherwise. Van was nice enough to know that you don't treat anyone's heart like that. In the bed next to her, Allen bean to snore. Hitomi smile in the dark, it reminded her of her mother. She could snore so loud that it would wake up Hitomi from time to time, and she slept in a room down the hall.
It then hit Hitomi for the first time that she could have the chance to go back to that life tomorrow. The more she thought about it though, the more she didn't really want to go back. Why would she want to leave after all she had been through with Allen and Merle and Van and Millerna? They were like her family now and she would never want to leave them. But what about her real family and all of her friends back on earth, could she just say goodbye forever like that? They didn't even know where she was and so they were bound to be worried sick. And after a year or two they would give up hope and think that she had run away or had died somehow and they just had never found out. How could she do that to her mother when Hitomi was all that she had left in world?
Hitomi fell asleep that night wondering what she should do. Not even her dreams could provide her with an answer this time. It was up to her heart, and it seemed just as confused as the rest of her.