Traditions
Chapter 11: Pasts
Revealed
Hitomi ran down the garden path and into the dark forests of Fanelia. She ran hard and as fast as she could to get away from that horrid display. Branches and thorns tore and scratched at Hitomi's soft ivory flesh drawing blood and leaving red marks on her arms and face all the while tearing the silk of her dress to shreds. Salty tears continued to stream down her face and seeped into her wounds as she headed deeper and deeper into the heart of the woodland in agony. Her feet were numb and tired; shoes long lost in the struggle down the stone steps of the pathway into the trees what seemed like hours ago. None of this, not even the pain of the rocks and rough forest floor against the tender soles of her feet could get that image out of her head...that horrible image of Van and Kimera together.
*** Flashback ***
"OK, everyone. Can I get your attention please? I have an announcement to make before we all head off to our own activities," broadcasted Van out loud. Everyone in the room became quiet and directed their attention to where Van and Kimera were standing hand in hand. "As we all know, a kingdom must have a King, a Queen, and an heir. Well, as King of Fanelia, I am very pleased to announce that I have asked Kimera to be my Queen and the mother of my child, and she has said yes." There was a loud cheer coming from Van's audience as he kissed his fianceé.
*** End Flashback ***
'Why is this happening to me?!! Why is everything going so terribly wrong? I'm such a fool to ever think that Van still loved me!' The thoughts of the piscus affair just made the suffering in her heart intensify ten-fold resulting in more tears welling up in her eyes. Hitomi forced herself to keep on going faster in the hopes that she could run away from her thoughts. She stumbled through the thickets, her eyes failing her in the dark and blurred from the tears. Her body was drained of its energy but Hitomi didn't want to stop. Stopping would mean dealing with all the misery and heartache that she was running away from.
Finally, Hitomi broke through the dense woods and found herself in a tiny clearing where she collapsed from the exhaustion. Her body resembled a crumpled mass of silk reflecting what little light that managed to break through the thick canopy above. She lay motionless except for the heaving of her chest as she breathed and sobbed. Every muscle in her slender body ached, her scratches and wounds stung, her head was throbbing with pain, and her breaths were uneven gasps causing her tears to continue flowing from her blurry eyes. Hitomi felt like she was dying and she welcomed it. 'Oh, sweet Death. Please take me away from all of this. Take me away from the miserable existence that I have been living today and torture me some other way.' She chuckled mentally to herself at the idea of being tortured. Any pain she would gladly take over the suffering that she felt now. Slowly, her eyelids began to fall heavy as a calm spread over her. 'This is how it ends...' She was about to close her eyes for what felt like the last time when she saw something that made her open them wide again.
Out in front of her, there came a pink glow from what seemed like a crack in some kind of wall. It was too hard to tell due to the lack of light and the tears in Hitomi's eyes. The light that permeated out towards Hitomi felt familiar; warm and inviting. A tingling sensation went through her body making her want to get closer to the warmth coming from the shimmering sliver. Hitomi's eyes grew wider as the radiance also grew brighter. She could now feel the energy returning to her aching muscles and bones. The pain in her head had come to a stop allowing her to regain her senses and think clearly. Gradually, Hitomi managed to sit herself up to get a better look at the source of this amazing, revitalizing illumination.
By now, the faint glow from before had now turned into a bright beam connecting Hitomi and its source. Hitomi squinted and brought her hand up to block the sudden change from pitch black to blinding white. When her eyes finally adjusted, she was stunned to see the outline of a small wooden shack in front of her. Hitomi suddenly had a case of déja vu. 'Where have I seen this place before? It seems so familiar. Think, Hitomi. C'mon.' It suddenly dawned on her. This was the shack from her dream/vision. The same vision that showed Hitomi the death of her beloved Van and a left-for-dead battered Merle. Fear swept through Hitomi's entire being. 'If the part about the shack was coming true, then the part about Van... No!! I won't let that happen. I have never let a bad vision come true and I won't let this time be an exception.' Hitomi closed her eyes and shook her head to rid herself of the insecurities that plagued her. She was determined to protect her loved ones and nothing was going to stop her from doing so.
When she opened her eyes, the blinding white light was gone and all that was left was a shimmering pink trail that started from where Hitomi knelt out to where the outline of the wooden had been. Hitomi looked around her to see that everything else was still hidden in the darkness of the forest.
"I guess this is a sign," she whispered quietly as she pulled herself up onto her feet. Her legs were a bit wobbly so it took a bit of time for her to regain her balance. Meanwhile, she looked at the state of her beautiful silk dress. It was tattered and torn all along the bottom; in some places, there were tears all the way up to the waist. The once magenta silk was now crusty with tree sap and dried blood. Hitomi looked at her arms and saw the many scrapes and cuts that the forest had given her. She winced as she pulled a twig out of a deep gash in her upper right arm. Strands of honey brown hair fell to her eyes as she bent down to look at her feet, which were also badly cut. Reaching her hand up to her hair, she no longer found the bun that Allen had braided. Instead there was now one huge knot with twigs, leaves, and pins sticking out at various angles. 'I must be quite a sight right now,' chucked Hitomi to herself when her ears suddenly caught a faint whimpering.
"Merle..."
Slowly, with gentle steps, Hitomi followed the path laid before her towards the source of the whimpering. Each step she took, the harder she bit her lower lip to ease the pain coming from her raw feet. There were several insignificant shallow cuts along the soles of her feet; obviously the result of running through the rocky forest floor, but the reason for so much agony was the fact that they all lied on pressure points. Every time Hitomi shifted her weight, a different wound would send searing pain through her foot. She wanted to stop so much but the thought of a beaten Merle kept her going. 'I have to do this for Merle. She'd do the same for me wouldn't she? Then again, this is Merle we're talking about.' Again, Hitomi tried to ease her pain with a bit of humour. It must have worked because she now stood at the door of Merle's prison.
Cautiously, Hitomi reached for the doorknob and carefully turned it. 'Please don't let it be locked!!! That's all I need right now.' To her relief, it was open. Every so lightly, Hitomi pushed the heavy wooden door open and peered inside, hoping that Merle's captors weren't there. They weren't. Inside the wooden prison, there were two stools on the left and a small table to the right. That was all that Hitomi could see from the remaining pink light of the path, which as soon as Hitomi reached the shack, had disappeared. Taking a deep breath, Hitomi entered the wooden confinement but accidentally kicked the table.
"Shit!" cursed Hitomi when all of a sudden she heard a rustling of chains charge at her. She jumped aside just to hear a strangled feline cry followed by a loud thump as a mass fell to a heap at Hitomi's feet.
Kneeling down, Hitomi gently placed her hand on the huddled heap on the floor. It made a swipe at Hitomi's hand with its ferocious claw but unexpectedly stopped in mid-air.
"H...Hit...Hitomi?" asked a weak feline voice.
"Merle."
"Hitomi!!!" cried Merle as she leapt into Hitomi's arms sobbing, hiding her face in Hitomi's lap. Hitomi too had tears in her eyes but she didn't let them fall. She needed to be strong for the both of them. All she could do was wrap her arms around the crying cat-girl. Merle winced at Hitomi's touch causing her to loosen her grip. Hitomi had forgotten what had happened to Merle. There was no light to be sure, but from what she saw in the vision, Hitomi knew that Merle had been beaten and whipped maliciously.
"I'm so sorry, Merle," whispered Hitomi into Merle's ear. Merle pulled back from Hitomi so that she could look up at her.
"I just knew you would come, Hitomi. I knew that you wouldn't just abandon us," Merle uttered in between sobs, her sky blue eyes full of tears and hope. "I knew that if I just continued to wish with your pendant you would come save us."
"My pendant?" whispered Hitomi as a lone tear fell from her eye. Suddenly, her lap was filled with the familiar pink light of her pendant. Merle took the pendant off from around her neck and handed it to Hitomi.
Hitomi reached out her hand to touch the pink gem in Merle's hand. She had barely touched the smoothness of jewel when her eyes glazed over.
"Hitomi!!!!"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hitomi's vision...
Hitomi is surrounded by darkness. She turns around over and over again but there is nothing around her. It's like she's in a void.
"Where am I? Is this a vision?"
Suddenly, Hitomi finds herself in a room where two children are playing.
"Come on, Dilandau-sama. You know you want to play with me," teased a little girl with red hair and blue eyes as she tugged on the shoulder of a little boy sitting on the floor.
"Go away!!! I hate you!! Can't you leave me alone?" shouted a very angry chibi-Dilandau as he continued to play with a magnifying glass melting the head of a toy soldier to mush. "Die, die, die!!!!! Ha ha ha!"
The little red head then ran up to Dilandau and took his magnifying glass away. He stood up and grabbed her by the collar of her little pink flower dress.
"Don't you ever do that, you hear Kimera!!! Go find someone else to annoy!!"
"Kimera?" asked a startled Hitomi. "Dilandau and Kimera know each other. Allen was right. Zaibach is behind all of this, but how? Everything Zaibach was destroyed."
Just then, the room changes and Hitomi is now standing what seems like a council room. At the end of a long table sat a bald man wearing a black cape. Next to him sat an older version of the red head Hitomi had seen just a minute ago only now she was wearing a black body suit. A door slams shut behind and she turns around to see Dilandau in his usual black, blue, and red armour.
"What the hell do you mean that I'm supposed to marry this bitch?!!!" shouted the always angry Dilandau that Hitomi knew so well.
"Lord Dilandau," replied the bald man calmly, "you know perfectly well that the ruler of Zaibach and all of Gaea must have a wife and who better to be your wife than Kimera. You two have known each other since you were young. She is also a skilled sorceress and fighter, the perfect combination for an empress." The bald man held Kimera's hand and smiled sweetly to her, which she also returned.
"She's a powerful sorceress? No wonder everyone is Fanelia is acting weird. She must've put a spell on them," Hitomi realized.
"She's a psychopath!!! Did you not see what she did to Carter?" yelled an even angrier Dilandau.
"Yes. She kissed him."
"Yeah, and it killed him!!! You expect me to marry someone who can kill me with her kiss!! And people call me the psycho!!!"
"It wasn't the kiss," whined Kimera, "it was the Saoid spell that Kasumi taught me. Anyway, I would never kill my Dilandau-sama. I love him too much. I would never let anyone hurt him. I'd rather die than let anyone hurt him." She continued as she got up and walked toward the raging dragon slayer.
"Kasumi, I'm not going to marry this wacko!! I'd rather let Van Fanel kill me!!"
Again the room swirled and changed into a new environment, this time outside. Hitomi surveyed her new surroundings and recognized them right away as being the ruins of the Zaibach Empire. Looking up, Hitomi saw herself six years ago in the arms of Van as they flew towards Fanelia. Hitomi sighed as she thought back to those happy times with Van but her reverie was interrupted by the sound of Kimera's high-pitched voice screaming.
"Kasumi!!! Wake up. Don't leave me alone!!" Kimera cried as she held the limp, languid body of the bald man. His eyes were open and glazed over; a look of utter fear etched in his face. The black cape that Kasumi wore in the previous vision was slowly turning blood red as it absorbed the fluid flowing from the huge gash in his chest. Hitomi shuttered at the sight.
"Dilandau?!" shouted Kimera after dropping Kasumi's dead body to the rubble on the war torn ground. "Where are you Dilandau-sama?!! I know you're not dead because I haven't seen your body yet. Where are you hiding?" The crazed red head continued to wander around kicking the dead bodies around to see if it was her precious Dilandau.
"She survived the war..." whispered Hitomi as she watched the frustrated Kimera fall to the ground consumed with anger.
"DILANDAU-SAMA!!! I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE!!! VAN FANEL WILL DIE BEFORE I'D LET YOU LEAVE ME!!!!"
"...and now she wants revenge for Kasumi and Dilandau!"
Once again, the surroundings shifted and turned into Van's private balcony in Fanelia. Hitomi was shocked to see what happened and to hear Van's thoughts.
*** Flashback ***
'Oh Hitomi, why haven't you come back yet? Do you not care for me anymore?' Van thought to himself as he brushed away a strand of black hair from his eyes and looked up at the Mystic Moon, so beautiful just hanging in the night sky. 'I've tried to move on but there's nowhere to run. I've got nowhere to hide. I can't forget you when I try. Why can't we be happy like Millerna and Dryden? The days are so empty and the nights are so long. I wake up from dreams only to find that you really did leave. Where are you, Hitomi? It's easy to say that memories fade, but I'm still missing you; nothing's changed. Have you forgotten the promise you made when you returned to the Mystic Moon?'
"I'm such an idiot!! She never loved me! She only pitied me and my pathetic world!" shouted Van into the night. Just then, he heard his bedroom door creak open.
"L-l-l-lord Van?" whispered a gentle voice. "Are you OK?"
"Go away, Merle!! How many times do I have to tell you I want to be ALONE!!?"
Merle, wearing a yellow robe, quietly closed the door behind her and walked over to where Van was standing. "Maybe she's still packing and deciding what to bring back to Gaea. You know how Hitomi is. She's so picky. She probably doesn't know whether or not she should bring all her clothes. Do you think she'll bring more of those strange beeping gadgets?" comforted Merle.
"Haven't you realized that she isn't coming back?! She's happy back on the Mystic Moon!! She never wants to return here, to this dump!!" yelled Van shakily at the top of his lungs. He didn't care if the entire castle woke up right now, he was too angry to care. "She lied, Merle!!! She doesn't care about me! She doesn't care about any of us here on Gaea!!!!!"
"But, L-"
"I DON'T WANT TO TALK OR THINK ABOUT HER ANYMORE!!!!!!!" Tears welled up in Van's eyes as he pulled off the gold chain from which the pendant hung. "I DON'T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH HER AT ALL!!!!!" With that, he threw Hitomi's necklace out into the vast darkness of the woods and fell to his knees sobbing like a child.
*** End Flashback ***
"Oh, Van!" cried Hitomi as she fell to her knees. "I'm so sorry I didn't stay in touch with you. I do love you. Oh, Van." Hitomi began to sob at what she had just seen. It was all her fault that he was so hurt; the pain and heartache that she was feeling now he had felt just the same. If only she had just shown him, told him that she loved him. And now she's lost him forever.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
At the same time in Fanelia...
Van tossed and turned in his king sized bed as he tried to sleep. It was hopeless. His mind was constantly filled with visions of Haruka and the heartache that she felt. Why did he feel so connected to her? It's almost as if he knew her from a past life or something.
"This is pointless. I've never met this girl in my life. How could I possibly be connected to her?" sighed Van as he stared up at the blue canopy of his four-poster bed.
A warm breeze blew in from the balcony as Van sat up in his bed tossing away his covers to reveal his well-sculpted torso and silk pyjama pants. The soft wind caressed his back and chest as he got up and put his matching black silk robe over his bare shoulders. Quietly, he walked to the balcony and leaned on the railing. He inhaled a deep breath as another image of Haruka appeared before him.
She was absolutely exquisite. Her shiny honey brown hair and those magnificent jade eyes. The way her smile seemed to make the room light up. He was absolutely intoxicated by her.
Reaching out, he tried to touch her cheek. As soon as he touched her soft velvety skin, an excruciating pain was sent through his entire body concentrating on his head. Van fell to his knees as he clutched his head in both hands. The pain was unbearable. It felt as if a thousand hot daggers were being stabbed into his head. Suddenly, visions and images of Merle, Escaflowne, his mother, and the mystery girl flooded his head. Van shook his head harder as he tried to gain control of the agony surging through his head and into his back. He could no longer take it. The skin on Van's back began to spread as his wings forced their way out. Van arched his back in pain as the ivory extensions of his body came full spread out tossing hundreds of pearly white feathers into the air around the balcony.
"HITOMI!!!!!!!!!!" cried Van as he collapsed unconscious onto the balcony floor.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Ta da. There's Chapter 11 and I'm so proud to say that I wrote it all in one night. Quite the accomplishment if I do say so myself. However, because of that this chapter might suck a little since I didn't have the time to go over it in my head until it was perfect. NEhoo, I hope you all liked it. Don't worry, Kimera will die a painful death most likely in Chapter 12 or 13 but until then I must bid you ta ta. Until next time, Emily ~_^