Escaflowne of the Sky

Cynic X

"..."- dialogue

'...'- thoughts

..... - scene change

Chapter 10- Gone

"I'm freezing!" Hitomi cried moving her hands over her arms, hoping to generate heat. Her clothes clung to her like a second skin, and were cold from the rain she had been in. She changed into dry clothes and picked up a towel to try and dry her hair. She ran a brush through it as a knock sounded at her door.

"Hey Hitomi, open up!"

"One second Merle. Chill out." Hitomi recognized the voice and walked over to the door to open it.

"I came to see if I could take your wet clothes and get them cleaned." Merle smiled innocently.

"I don't know if I trust you. Last time you told me to go to a river and clean them. What are you planning to do with them?"

"Hitomi!!" Merle cried. "I was trying to do something nice after what I did to you before. I was just going to bring them to a maid and let her wash them."

"Oh...alright then." Hitomi returned to the door with a pile of wet clothes. "I'll come with you"

"Okay." Merle replied as the two walked down the hall. After they had given Hitomi's clothes to a maid, the two walked around the huge castle.

"Hey Merle, have you ever been to Astoria before?" Hitomi asked as they stopped in front of a window, and saw that it was still raining outside. The sky was turning even darker as the sun started to set.

"No...this is my first time. I just wish that it was under better circumstances." Hitomi shook her head in agreement.

"I know what you mean. Hey what time is it? I'm starving." Hitomi asked with a frown.

"Oh...I forgot you missed lunch. Come on, let's go see if dinner is ready." They walked to the dinning hall and found that dinner was getting ready to be served in ten minutes. The two went into the room to wait and talked to pass the time. Their conversation was interrupted as the door opened, and Allen, Millerna and Van walked in.

"Lord Van!!" Merle cried.

"Merle, Hitomi. What have you guys been up to?" Van asked taking his seat, followed by Allen and Millerna.

"Nothing much." Hitomi said, shrugging her shoulders. "Did you change you clothes?" Van still had on the same red shirt and beige pants he always wore.

"Of course, my clothes were soaked."

"Just how many of those outfits do you have then?" Hitomi asked sarcastically with a smile.

"Hey! I like this outfit." Van replied.

"Enough you two. I would like to eat dinner without gagging." Merle make choking sounds to add to her answer. Van and Hitomi smiled, remembering their kiss earlier that no one knew about.

"Did you boys discuss your plans against Zaiback?" Millerna asked, looking up from her food.

"Yes, we tired to plan, but until Zaiback makes a move, we don't know how to counter attack." Allen said leading his elbows on the table and folding his hands.

"Has anyone heard any news of where they are?" Hitomi asked, worried that the enemy was approaching Astoria.

"No...that's the problem." Van said putting down his fork. "No one knows where they are, what they are doing. It's like they've disappeared."

"And that could be a real problem. They could catch us off guard, and cause a lot of damage and loss of life." Allen replied solemnly. No one responded, each deep in thoughts, and worried about what would happen if Zaiback did attack. Silence remained for the rest of dinner until everyone got up to leave.

"Bye." Millerna waved, and her and Allen exited the dinner hall, saying that they wanted to go talk to the King.

"I'm beat." Hitomi stretched her arms and yawned. Van shook his head in agreement.

"Why don't you turn in early?" Van asked.

"I think I will. If I don't see you guys later, have a good night." Hitomi said as she left Merle and Van in the dining room. She yawned once again and made her way to her room. Not bothering to turn on the light, and too tired to change her clothes, she walked over to her bed, turned down the covered, slid in, and just as her head was about to hit the pillow, she felt someone's hand come over her mouth to muffle her scream. She tried to turn around to see her attacker, but she was held firmly in place. She reached over to where the lamp stood on her dresser, hoping she could pick it up with her free hand, while she struggled to break free. The fingers on her hand were finally able to reach the base of the lamp, she picked it up, and slammed it down on where she thought her attacker's head was. She heard a growl, and the arms around her momentarily loosened.

"Help! Someone Help!" She cried at the top of her lungs, but the arms were around her once again, holding her tight, painfully tight this time, but she continued to kick and tried to scream, even though there was a hand over her mouth making it impossible for her to make a sound. She was dragged to the window in her room, and felt the cool night air wash over her, as she tried to break free. 'They're going to kidnap me! Who would do this? Why are they going after me? If they wanted to kidnap someone, why wouldn't they take the princess so they could get ransom money? No one is going to pay them to get me back.' Hitomi thought, as tears started to make their way to the surface. She had tried to remain calm, tried to escape, but she could feel her self being taking through the window, and knew that there was no hope of her breaking free. With whatever strength she had left, she tried once again to hurt her attacker in anyway possible, maybe slowing him down so someone had time to come get her. She struggled as she tried to throw a punch, a kick; anything that would inflict pain, but this time, something cracked her in the head. She saw stars before her eyes, pain shooting everywhere; then she lost consciousness.

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Van and Merle had finished dinner, and were going to take a walk outside in the gardens when they heard something crash.

"What was that?" Merle asked, her ears turning to the direction of where the sound had come from.

'I don't know. You think we should go find out?" Van asked, turning to her.

"I guess." Merle said shrugging her shoulders in response. They took off down the hall where the sound had come.

"Hey, that's Hitomi's room." Merle pointed to a door on their left. They skidded to a halt once they stood in front of her door.

"Hitomi" Van called as he knocked. When no one answered he began to worry. "Do you think she could have hurt herself?"

"I don't know, you think we should go in?" Merle said, pointing to the knob. Van tried to turn it, but it was locked.

"Figures." Van muttered under his breath. "Hey Hitomi, you in there?" Van banged with both his fists on the door this time. When he still got no answer, he pulled his sword out of its sheath where it hung from his belt.

"What are you going to do Van?" Merle asked.

"I'm going to use my sword to try and pry open the door." Van said as he slid the sword between the door and the doorframe. After moving the sword back and forth a couple of times, the lock gave way, and the door opened. Van opened up the door up wider, so they could look into Hitomi's room, and saw that the place was in shambles.

"What the hell happened here?" Van asked, going into the room. Even though the room was dark, there was enough light to see the evidenced that a struggle had taken place.

"Hitomi!" Van cried, hoping to find her amiss the remains of her room.

"Van she must have been kidnapped!" Merle cried, standing behind Van.

"I know that Merle! I just don't know how they were able to get away with it." Van muttered, searching the room for any clues, even though Van had a pretty good idea of who was responsible. 'Zaiback is going to pay if they harm her in anyway.'

"Do you know who did it?" Merle asked softly.

"Had to be Zaiback. No one else would have any reason to take Hitomi. They are going to hold her ransom, hoping I turn over Escaflowne." Van said, clenching his fists in anger. 'Those low life bastards...don't they know I'll never give over Escaflowne because that means that I surrender my kingdom as well? I am going to make them pay for taking Hitomi.'

"Come on Merle, let's go get Allen and tell him that Zaiback just declared war."

"Wait Lord Van, what do you mean?" Merle asked, once she was besides him.

"I'm going to go get her back."

"By yourself?" Merle cried, angry that he was even thinking such crazy things.

"It will be better that way. Zaiback will be expecting a large-scale attack. They'll never notice me alone." Van said with a smile, his mind already calculating how he would break into the Zaiback fortress. "Let me tell Allen what has happened, and then I'll go rescue Hitomi."

Merle reluctantly shook her head in agreement. She didn't want anything to happen to Hitomi, but she didn't want Van to get hurt either.

"Allen!!" Van screamed as he rounded the corner and ran to the other man's room. "Hey Allen!! We've got problems!!"

Allen appeared at his door, confusion shown on his face. "What's wrong Van?"

"Hitomi, she's been kidnapped." Van cried with anger. "I've got to go get her back."

"Calm down. We don't want to make any rash decisions." Allen commented trying to get Van to think rationally.

"No, I won't! I'm going after her now." Van turned and ran towards the nearest door to get outside.

"Van! Don't!" Allen cried, realization hitting him. 'He's going to get Escaflowne and attack Zaiback.'

"Van, if you go after her alone, it's suicidal!"

"I don't care Allen. She saved my life before. I'm going to get her back before Zaiback can do anything to her." And with that Van disappeared into the darkness the night had casted on the landscape surrounding the castle.

"Foolish boy...he doesn't realize he will be defeated." Allen shook his head. 'I'll let him get a head start, and then we'll go after them both.

Van ran towards the windmill, breathing heavily, but the adrenaline pumping through his veins gave him energy he never thought he had. He threw open the doors and raced to Escaflowne. Once he was inside he wasted no time changing it to dragon mode, and took off in the night sky, praying that Hitomi would not be harmed.

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