Authors Note: I don't own Escaflowne... yada yada yada. K, so after this chapter I might change the title of the story (all thanks to one of my friends who's a perfectionist or something and thinks the title of the story isn't good). I don't know what I'll change it to though... so if you wanna suggest anything it'd be great. This chapter's REALLY loooong and there's a part where the scenes keep changing from Van to Hitomi, so you gotta read carefully. K? Now.. ONWARD!



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It had been about a week now since that guy had started appearing in her dreams. It wasn't always the same dream though. Sometimes they would both simply be in that dark place; in the nothingness of somewhere. Other times the dream was only a never ending battle, and sometimes, the dream would only be about him.

He would be laying down somewhere with things sticking into his arms, a strange liquid in them. He seemed terrified and he screamed and yelled out names she was not familiar with. There was nothing she could do though, she could only watch him. She could only hope for his pain to go away.

Dryden was having supper with them that night, and because he was drunk, it seemed he would also have to be their guest for the night. He was giving Allen another lecture on draconian myths and legends... boooring, she thought.

As much as she tried, she couldn't pay attention to him. Her focus was on the glass of vino in front of her and on the reflection of that boy in it. His eyes were staring deeply into hers, both menacing and compationate at the same time. The expression on his face hadn't changed the whole time they both stared at each other, except for when his mouth began to the form of what seemed like a smile.

She gasped, it was the first time he had done this. She wasn't surprised at that though. She began to see the purple vino start to change into a dark red colour, almost black, inside the glass. She couldn't stop staring at him... and his smile.

"Serena? You look quite pale," Dryden said, taking a sip out of his own glass. Serena looked up at him when he said this, a little embarrassed, but still frightened.

"I find that hard to believe, considering I'm already deadly pale," she added with humour.

Dryden laughed, a drunk mans laugh, no less, but Allen didn't.

"I think you should go rest," he said, giving her a serious look. Her eyes opened wide at those words. She, for one, knew it would be better if she didn't, but she couldn't say that to him. She'd have to give him and excuse, and that meant telling him about her dreams. He'd find it ridiculous.

She got up from her chair and attempted to make a yawn. I am such a bad actress, she thought. "Yes, you're right," she said, talking to Allen,"I do feel quite tired. Good night Allen. Dryden."

Serena walked out of the room, back straight and head high, her last attempt to hide the fact that she was terrified of being alone anywhere in the house now.

She was, indeed, a bad actress.

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The testings had all worked out perfectly. Going into people minds resulted to be quite easy. Serena Schezar's testing, their first, proved to be exceptionally simple.

Kuauru was sitting up high in the throne Dornkirk use to sit in. His entire attention was on the Fate-Predicting Device. Paruchi stood on a pulpit with 7 more sorcerers looking down on the Fate Alteration Engine. They were both trying to see into a someone's fate.

Kuaru banged his fist against the throne's arm-rests,"Black, it's all black. I can't see anything!"

"His fate is unclear here too," a voice said in the pulpit where Paruchi was standing.

"Agreed," the other sorcerers in the pulpit said in unison. However, Kuaru didn't hear Paruchi's voice amongst the others.

"Paruchi? What do you see?"

"Two paths. One is covered by mist, the other... I cannot see."

"Aaaah... I see it now," Kuaru said with some difficulty, "This is quite unusual. Two paths..." His eyes were still for a moment on the image of the dragon and these paths. What do they mean? He thought.

"Kuaru," Paruchi said, as if reading his thoughts, "we can't take our chances this time."

"I know that. It will begin today!" Kuaru's shout made everyone turn to look at him. He looked down on them too, his breathing was hard, almost uncontrollable. His hate was visible in his eyes. "The day of Zaibach's revenge begins today! We will not fall like we did two years ago! We will revive the power of Atlantis in Gaea, no matter what!"

Kuaru gave the order and everyone was in their positions to begin another fate alteration using the new machines.

"The shadow of the dragon will not fall on Zaibach again," Kuaru whispered to himself,"The mistakes of the past won't be repeated."

Machines ready! A voice yelled in the backround.

The machines began to turn again like they did when they first started the testings. However, no testings were being done this time. The Fate Alteration Engine turned along with the Self-Fate Alterator. Their colours changed from a blue to a pinkish-purple as they both turned faster and faster with each second. They were spinning for the fate of a young Fanelian king..

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Van was in his bed sleeping after another long day. His peaceful sleep was disrupted when everything went pitch black in his dreams except for the light illuminating him. He tried to move, but he couldn't. He could only stand there with the light. Where am I?, he thought.

As soon as he said that another light appeared, illuminating something about 6 meters away from him. The light illuminating him began to move towards the other light, allowing him to move freely now.

He walked with the light until it stopped about 2 meters away from the second light.

Now he could see what the second light was illuminating. It was a girl knelt down on the floor with her back towards him. She wore a strange, dark shirt and her "boots" were white. She was obviously wearing a short skirt, and her hair was a hazelish-dirty blonde. He knew her.

"Hitomi!" he yelled, but she didn't respond. He was somewhat taken aback by this, so he tried again. In a way, praying that it was her, "Hitomi?"

The girl began to stand up and turning around as she did so. Everything about her began to change as she turned around. Her hair became a dark brown and grew down to her back. Her clothes became a single dress that wasn't dark anymore but a pale purple and she seemed a bit taller too.

"I'm not Hitomi," she said softly. Her eyes stared into his and her she began to walk toward him until they were both together under the same light. Then, without notice, she put her arms around him.

He was surprised, but it felt right. Her embrace was warn, and so, he hugged her back, embracing her in his arms with the same warmth she hugged him with.

*swing*

His eyes opened wide when he saw Hitomi's pendant in his thoughts. It can't be, he thought, his arms still around this girl. He looked towards where the pendant had pointed and he saw another girl.

Her eyes were a shade of green, she had a short, dark skirt on, and she had white "boots." This time, it was definitely Hitomi.

She wasn't looking at Van and this girl though, she seemed to be somewhere else, not in the darkness where he was. She was walking away from him as she laughed... He missed that laugh.

He let go of the girl he was holding and tried to catch up to Hitomi, but the light wouldn't let him. He could only look at her as she began to fade away in a mist. As she disappeared, the only thing that remained was the soft sound of her laughter, and he found himself alone again in the darkness, with only a light to shine down on him.

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"No!"

The scream could be heard in the whole Fate Alteration chamber. It came from Kuaru when he saw the two uncertain elements in the Self-Fate Alterator.

"There is a disturbance in the engines, Paruchi-sama," a young sorcerer said in the pulpit.

Paruchi looked over at Kuaru who seemed as unpleased as he was. They both walked down from where they were, leaving everyone puzzled as to why they would leave now. The went into the room where they would decide on the fate they chose for their "chosen one."

"Something will have to be done, Paruchi. The Destiny Predicting Device was not expecting to see the shadow of the girl again."

Kuaru sat down in his chair, one hand up to his chin in a deep thought.

"I know, Paruchi. Something drastic."

Paruchi laughed at that, "Since when has is not been drastic?" Kuaru returned his grin but then looked away, deep in thought again.

After a while of just sitting there, Kuaru's worried face went away and he settled down in his chair with a pleased look in his face. A serving man poured some vino into his glass when he snapped his finger giving that order. Paruchi stared at him.

"I know what you're thinking," Kuaru said to Paruchi. "You've been thinking it since you saw the uncertain elements. And if you ask me, the Goulor don't sound like such a bad idea."

Paruchi wasn't surprised. It was only obvious that Kuaru would know him so well after they had spent most of their lives together. They both left the room and went back to the Fate Alteration chamber where they would call on the Goulor, who would later then get rid of one of the uncertain elements... Hitomi Kanzaki.

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The next morning, Van was sitting on the ledge of his window thinking about the dream he had the night before. When he saw Hitomi she seemed to be so happy. He was glad about this, but it also made him think hard about what he was about to do.

It's not a big deal, he was thinking while looking down on his country, I'll only meet her.

*knock, knock*

"Come in."

Kioyi opened the door slowly. "Lord Van, you called?"

"Yes." He thought again for a moment, trying to decided whether or not to say it, but alas, he gave in. "Arrange a meeting between Princess Aliz of Egzardia and myself."

Kioyi's expression was that of great surprise, it looked like as if he was about to faint.

"Yes sir."

Then he ran out the door, forgetting to close it. Van only sighed and got up from where he was sitting to close the door.

"What am I doing?" He asked himself, hoping that some voice would answer him, but no one did. He was left with his question unanswered.

He went back to the window and looked out, he needed something to take his mind off of what he had done. He decided that going out to help some of the merchants would do the trick and so he left his room and walked down the wooden hallways in his castle to go out into the city. Hoping that maybe, if he could forget for a while, it would all be alright.

Later that day, Van closed the door to his chambers and leaned on it for a while. Finally, he thought, some rest. He hadn't been able to go out of the castle and help out as he thought he would for he was stopped by Leo who needed him to look over some construction plans for the east side of the city.

He walked over to the desk in the middle of his room where he kept some papers and documents. He also kept a box on the table; it's borders were made out of gold and the rest of the box was simple dark wood with a couple varnish coatings on it.

He put his fingers on the box softly and looked at the papers surrounding it; there were so many of them. He then sighed and looked out at the night sky from his window, when all of a sudden there was a soft knock at his door.

"Come in," Van said.

He heard the door open quietly and close just the same. Van was waiting for a soldier or servant to speak after the door opened, but having not heard anything after a few seconds he turned around abruptly with is right hand on his sword.

"It's only me," Merle said softly.

"Since when do you knock?" he asked teasingly. She didn't smile, she simply stayed by the door.

"I heard about your... decision," she said, barely being able to say the last word. Van's expression changed after she said that. He looked down at the ground and she stepped closer to him. "Is it true, Master Van?"

"Yes."

"Bakero!" She yelled.

Merle's hand tingled on Van's cheek after she said that. He didn't even see it come.

"You know just as well as I do that that princess won't make you happy... even if it's just a meeting. She's not meant for you!"

Van's expression didn't change. He did know, just as well as she did, that it was true.

"Nothing's meant for anything, Merle," he said, denying his feelings.

"Well then they should be!" she turned around and ran out of the room, except she didn't close the door so gently that time.

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Merle ran down the hallways with tears in her face. She had never hit Master Van before, she didn't understand why she had done it either.

When she was out in the fields she sat down in the middle of the tall grass and looked up at the stars and the Mystic Moon.

"Humans make themselves so unhappy," she said out loud, still looking at the night sky. "I don't understand them. They want to be happy, but make themselves miserable in the process.... BAH!"

Her stomach didn't feel quite right all of a sudden. She thought it might be because she needed to go back and apologize to Master Van. She got up and a star twinkled for her. Maybe, she thought, I should let Master Van do what he pleases with his life. She began to run back to the castle, her stomach was still feeling weird. Na, she thought while she was still running, he so needs me.

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"It's getting late! We should start heading home, Hitomi!" Yukari yelled to her from one side of the track field realizing it was 7:00pm.

"It's alright! I want to practice some more. You can head home, you have that science test tomorrow!" Hitomi yelled back.

"Call me when you get home then. Ok?!"

"Ok, bye!"

"Bye."

As Yukari picked up her things Hitomi still kept on running. One day she's gonna kill herself, she thought.

It had begun to rain and he was still going through documents in his desk. He put one hand on his cheek to support his sleepy head, but the slap Merle had given him earlier left a bruise which still hurt.

He sighed when he realized how tired he was. He leaned back on his chair and looked up at his roof where he had ordered a painting of the Mystic Moon to be made.

He closed his eyes, going back to the night when Merle, Hitomi, and him hid in the forest after Dilandau had attacked Asturia. He had lain beside her and he had told her about his family¹. He trusted her.

His mind, then, wondered off to the last time he saw her.

I want to see that happen with you, she had said, talking about the rebuilding of Fanelia. She'd given him her pendant too, the one he had kept in the wooden and gold box at the edge of his desk for the past year.

He opened his eyes then, and looked back down at the pile of papers.

8:00pm

"Just one more," Hitomi said to herself, getting in her "ready" position.

Staying in that position for too long made her think about that moment, one warm night in May when she had first seen him, and when she was taken with him. . .

"Stay focused!" she said to herself, and then she began to count. "Ready... set...go!" She leapt up and her right leg moved forward, almost in a leap.

Left, right, left, right. She was running fast. Come on Hitomi, she thought to herself, you can do better than this.

**he he he he he**

She had been forced to stop running, almost tripping and pulling a muscle. What was that? Something had run across the track, making what seemed, like a tiny laugh. Her intuition began to tell her to leave, and being the person that she is, she listened to it. She began to walk back to the stands where she had left her bag and books. When she reached the stand where they were she bent down to get her bag and something fell on her nose.

"Great," she said out loud,"now it rains."

She bent back down to get her bag and she heard the same small laugh. She looked up, then she looked behind her, and at her sides but no one was there... until she turned around and saw a small, grey skinned midget with a smile on his face standing on her bag and looking straight at her. His belly and head were quite round but his legs and arms were thin. His nose was too long, his eyes were yellow, and it had the most crooked teeth Hitomi had ever seen. His ears were even pointier than Merle's.

She stood in front of him, shocked for a moment, but then she got used to him.

"Hello," he said. His voice was squeaky and he tilted his head to the sides when he talked.

"Hi," she replied. "What's your name?"

"What's your name?"

Hitomi laughed. He was cute and quite coy. "You're cute, but I asked you first."

"I asked you too."

It seemed like this "person/thing" was going into a game...

"But I asked you first."

The creature didn't reply that time, it just stared at her and suddenly his eyes turned black as night and he began to scream and shout and he banged his feet against the ground, which, Hitomi hadn't noticed before, looked like claws.

Hitomi made a dive for her bag, accidently throwing the creature over. She turned around and began to walk away but she bumped into something. It was another one of those "men," it was exactly like the one who was still throwing a fit behind her.

"What is your name?" it demanded. Suddenly, more and more little men began to appear all around her. She was scared and confused. She started to walk faster and faster away from them but they kept on following her, demanding that she tell them her name.

"Hitomi!" she yelled out. "Hitomi Kanzaki!" Then there was silence from all of them, until they all started to make that small little laugh and their eyes began to turn red.

As they continued their laugh they began to walk slowly towards her. A red liquid began to gush out of their eyes, a red the same colour their eyes were; the same colour as blood.

"Hitomi Kanzaki," they all said in unison, "only your phasma will survive."

Hitomi started to run towards the school buildings. Stupidly, she wouldn't let go of her bag.

His eyes drooped down for the thousandth time that night. He gave himself a couple of bangs on the head to wake himself up a bit.

"Stay focused," he told himself.

*swing* the pendant had swung in his mind again.

He opened his eyes, surprised at what had just happened. The pendant in his thoughts had swung towards a place in his desk; towards the box.

"It can't be," he said to himself, reluctant to believe what had just happened.

He reached towards the box with both his hands and pulled it towards him. As soon as his fingers touched the box an image of Hitomi running with blood from injuries on her legs came to his head. His eyes opened wide after seeing that. He pulled the box towards him and opened it slowly.

The pendant was just lying there, nothing exciting. He lowered his head to one side, smiling inwardly with relief. He grabbed the pendant and held it in front of him from it's gold string.

"You scared me there," he said to it.

*glow*

The pendant, still being held by Van, was now shining, hurting his eyes a bit. It made a vibrating sound, demanding attention.

No matter how fast she ran they always seemed to catch up to her. They hissed her name whenever they got close to her, that's when she knew she had to run faster. She would sometimes feel quick but sharp pains in her legs as if someone had sunk their nails into them and scratched down. One of them, she figured, had jumped and scratched her neck which was now bleeding. They're trying to slow me down, she thought.

Luckily, one of the doors of the school buildings wasn't locked and she ran in, closing and locking the door behind her. She ran up a few stairs that the door lead to, but she turned around to see where her opponents were. She saw them banging against the glass door, leaving blood all over it. She didn't plan on wasting any more time and continued to run up the stairs towards the second floor.

She could still hear the bangs of the small bodies smashing against the door, but they suddenly stopped, making her fear rise.

She ran into a classroom and opened one of the windows. Her plan was to jump out of it and ran as fast as she could afterwards. This is crazy, she thought to herself, but she didn't think twice about it when she saw one of their shadows on the floor.

When she touched the ground she put her bag in front of her, incase she tripped - which se did - to provide a less hurtful fall - which didn't work. Her body ached for a bit, but she had to get up and run.

When she was finally on her feet she noticed that there was no way out of it. She was completely surrounded by them. One, smelling the blood on her legs, began to walk towards her, deliciously sniffing out the scent. When it got close to her she kicked it with all the strength she had left.

"Hitomi," one of them hissed while the other still tumbled on the ground.

Suddenly, they all began to walk towards the one that hissed her name and the strangest thing began to happen: they all began to shed their skin and as they did so they began to join as one, horrible looking creature. She couldn't move, she was terrified by watching this creature-in-the-making become bigger and more horrible as more of the small creatures shed their skin. Run!! she thought to herself and she started to run away a bit too late as there were only four creatures left to join the much larger one.

Merle burst through the door hoping to find Van working on his papers. She'd brought a bottle of vino for him, knowing he'd be tired.

*crash*

Merle had dropped the bottle after seeing the pendant glowing, shattering it on the ground, but even that didn't seem to take Van's attention away from it. Merle walked carefully toward Van's side as to not step on the broken glass.

The pendant had never glowed this brightly before. It kept pulsating; growing a bit dim, then bright, then dim again, and then glowing brighter than the last time. Suddenly, the pendant's brightness burst, illuminating all of Van's room, making both him and Merle cover their faces to protect their eyes.

Van got up and ran out of the room, pendant still in hand. He ran down hallways, stairs, rooms, and streets knocking down whatever and whoever got in his way.

You have to run faster, Hitomi thought to herself. The ground began to shake violently and she realized that the new creature was now behind her. The steps it took were horrendously strong, which made Hitomi even more determined to not stop running despite how tired she was.

*Bang!*

The creature had leapt from behind her and landed about 2 meters in front of her. She stopped running, seeing as there was no way she would be able to get away.

This thing is horrible, she thought. It stood on four legs, although they were distinguishably a pair of legs and a pair of arms. It had absolutely no skin, it was all just bare flesh with veins popping out and bones for arms and what seemed like a human school for a head.

"He, he, he, he," it chuckled, not in a squeaky voice though. This time its voice was deep and frightening. Although it only had a skull for a head it still had red, bloody eyes from which blood still teared.

"Hitomi Kanzaki," it hissed in its deep voice, "only your phasma will survive."

It tilted its body back and laughed evilly. When it landed back down on his front legs/arms into its regular position it made the ground shake, making Hitomi nearly fall.

It crouched towards her, it's head/skull being less than a half meter away from her. It breathed on her, sending chills down her spine.

"No one to protect you," it said evilly, as if it was something good.

Hitomi didn't know what to do. She was so scared her body felt incredibly heavy and she felt like she would pass out at any second.

"W... what's your name?" she asked frightened. She had barely even managed to say that, being at the point of crying.

The blood in his eyes began to go down and the blood which teared had stopped flowing, revealing the darkest eyes Hitomi had ever seen. She could see her reflection in them.

"Only the dead," it said quietly,"know our name."

Hitomi looked straight into one of the creatures eyes (it was too large to be able to look into both of them), and she saw it:

Two men, reading from a book in a dark room made a blue force of energy appear in the sky which turned green every time one of the small men descended from it. Each one landed in front of where the two men were. The small men's eyes were gushing with blood and a green substance fell from their mouth.

"Goulour," one of the men said, "we ask for a favour." This appeared to have confused them all. The blood stopped tearing, revealing black eyes, which then they turned yellow.

All of them, in unison, bowed down to the two humans once all their eyes had turned yellow.

"Ask, and it will be done," the one closest to the humans had said.

"Hitomi Kanzaki," one of the humans said, "from the Mystic Moon."

The small men stood up, nodded in agreement and then jumped back up to the blue force in the sky.

Hitomi then found herself back in school grounds looking into the creatures black eyes.

"Goulour," she said.

"I'm coming Hitomi!" Van yelled down the last street. He opened the door to the rebuilt temple and ran towards one of two shrines inside it where an energist was kept inside a small glass box.

He broke the glass with his sword and took the energist out. He ran towards a circle in the middle of the second shrine, the energist glowing in his hand as he ran.

He lifted it up high, the energist still glowing. "Sleeping Dragon! I, Van Fanel, King of Fanelia, summon you again."

The spirals in the ground began to turn, opening and entrance in the ground. Van's breathing was hard in anticipation, anxious for Escaflowne to rise.

The metal giant looked better than ever, a spirit of war within it. Van ran towards it, put his hand on the energist's small compartment and made it glow. He then put the energist in and jumped inside Escaflowne.

The mechanisms spread out on his arms and legs, preparing for what was coming. Escaflowne began to walk , making the ground vibrate.

Merle ran into the temple. She was surprised when she saw Escaflowne.

"Master Van! Where are you going?!"

Van didn't respond, Escaflowne simply looked up at the night sky.

"The Mystic Moon?" she asked herself.

Van took a step outside the temple and suddenly Escaflowne turned into the flying dragon. It soared high, frightening some of the people who were still out in the streets and merely surprised others - like Kioyi and the rest of the high council when it flew past the high council's meeting room.

The rain had already drenched Van. He could feel his heart in his throat and it felt like it would leave his chest. As he flew his eyes were stuck on the Mystic Moon.

"I'm coming," he whispered.

The creatures eyes looked confused at Hitomi. It's head rose up swiftly, making a sound as if it was gasping for air. It roared fiercely, then its eyes turned red again and blood now poured from them. It stared at Hitomi, not knowing what to do. Hate was written all over it's eyes, but Hitomi wasn't scared anymore.

The creature's skull came down at her, determined to rip Hitomi's body apart.

*flash*

Abruptly, the creature stopped moving toward her and looked, stunned, at what had appeared between it and Hitomi - a bright pillar of light and a dragon, made out of metal. Hitomi saw the creatures eyes turn even more evilly, but yet, it smiled at the same time in satisfaction of seeing this new opponent.

The light disappeared and the metal dragon was left there. Hitomi, still stunned, couldn't take her eyes off the creatures eyes and the evilness inside them.

"A protector," it said, its voice echoing.

"HITOMI!" someone yelled. She quickly looked towards where the voice came from.

"Van?"

"Hitomi, run!" he yelled and she began to run away until the thought of staying by Van's side crept in her mind and she could run no longer. When she turned around she didn't see the dragon but Escaflowne with its sword drawn.

"You?" it asked, "I don't want a machine." Van moved forward, slashed his sword into the creatures shoulder, making it roar from pain. The creature used its opposite arm and swung it, lifting Escaflowne several feet above the ground. After hitting it, it looked around desperately trying to find Hitomi. When it saw her it began to run towards her, but it stopped abruptly when Van slashed its foot with his sword. The creature roared in pain again and swung its arm to throw a blow at Escaflowne again. Van lifted up his sword with its sharp end in an intersecting angle with the creatures wrist.

It roared in horrible pain when the sword slashed through its wrist making it's bony and half flesh-covered hand fall to the ground. Van yelled in victory. The creature hissed at him, more blood pouring from its eyes.

It looked over at Hitomi and roared at her. Van's sword went up, ready to come down to throw another blow at its tail, but the creature leapt, taking such a flight that it landed behind Hitomi - quite far from where Escaflowne was standing.

Hitomi screamed in terror as the creature grabbed her with its remaining, enormous bony hand. It threatened to crush the life out of her, but it didn't.

A blue mist of force began to appear in the sky and th creature looked up at it. It then looked towards where Van was; he was running towards them. Van jumped to gain time, but the creature had already taken another leap, heading toward the mist of force.

He immediately turned Escaflowne into it's dragon form and took flight toward the creature. Van used the dragon's sword to cut through the creature's thigh. It immediately kicked the dragon with it's other leg, sending him a few feet down.

The dragon flew back towards the creature, positioning itself directly in front of it.

"Hand her over!" Van yelled.

The creature replied with a roar, leaving Van with no choice but to slash it again with his sword. The creatures pain was evident as it roared furiously at another injured shoulder.

It looked at Hitomi for a moment, it's eyes looking for more blood. It's arm lifted her up and then, unmercifully, threw her down. It looked at the dragon and roared at it, then it took speed toward the blue mist, leaving Hitomi falling to he ground and Van with a stunned look on his face as he watched her fall.

"Vaaaaan!" Hitomi yelled as she fell.

"Hitomi!"

The dragon began to fly down, picking up speed with every second.

I won't reach her in time, he thought.

"Van!" he heard her yell again.

"Hitomi. NO!!"

The pendant on his chest glowed fiercely. Hitomi closed her eyes in terror, she didn't want to die now, but if she did, she was glad that the last thing she had seen was Van. In her mind she could picture Van with his wings spread out and his arms around her. They were both surrounded by a blue light. It was warm there. She wanted to stay there with him; in that warmth; in that light.

"I want to stay here," she said to him in her thoughts, her eyes still closed; never realizing that she was, indeed, being carried away by a blue light in Van's arms.

--------End of Chap. 2 -------

¹ Episode 8 "The Day The Angel Flew"