Okay I don't own Escaflowne or any of the characters, yadda yadda. The story and my orginal characters are the only ones that belong to me. Okay?

*****
Van was exactly where Allen expected to find him. He crept up behind the young king, but Van was too engrossed with his inward dilemmas to notice his friend's arrival. The gloved hand containing the energist was shaking visibly as Van stared upwards towards the sleeping giant, Escaflowne. Not speaking to anyone in particular, Van sighed, "I don't want to accept what Dryden said, but I know he wouldn't be wrong about anything so serious."

Allen thought back to the meeting that only lasted a few minutes but had a great impact on them all.

"I'm sorry to say that the Zaibach Empire has risen once more. After the war, I was a merchant in that area, and discovered the actual Zaibach citizens weren't bad at all. They were being controlled by Dornkirk's influence, and are actually respectable people. I hoped to reestablish an alliance with them, but then the unthinkable happened. Dornkirk was somehow revived, and gained back his control over Zaibach."

"But that can't be!! Folken sacrificed his life to kill Dornkirk!! How can that monster be still alive?!" Van shouted, slamming his fist on the table.

Dryden rubbed his eyes as he continued. "I don't know; the operatives I have stationed as Zaibach soldiers have yet to discover this mystery. However, I have more troubling news. Allen, your sister, Celena, has been captured by Zaibach troops a couple days past."

Allen jumped out of his chair at that point. "What?! Those brutes took Celena?! Why..."

Dryden nodded solemnly. "They most likely want Dilandau in their forces again. But there's something else. Zaibach has a new target this time, or so I'm told. Because of this objective, a strange group of women has been captured. When one of our men questioned the leader, she pronounced herself to be a 'Queen Karie'. She wouldn't say where they were all from, so we can't test her claim."

Allen and Van stared blankly at Dryden, and then to each other. "I'm sure Tati is not going to like this..."


"What should we do?" Van whispered.

"What else can you do? As disturbing as the choice might seem, we must fight. To save everyone and Gaea" answered what seemed to be an old birch tree.

Van and Allen drew their swords, and yelled, "Who's there?! Come out peacefully!!"

"Jeez, are you two always this tense?" chuckled Kaze, coming from behind the tree trunk.

Van lowered his sword in relief. "Oh, it's you Kaze. What are you doing out here?"

"I'm looking for Hitomi and the others. I haven't seen them in a while."

"Nor have I, friend, but you have to think about who you are talking about for a minute. When they want to do something, they do it, regardless of the consequences." joked Allen.

Kaze laughed, "That's true. Hey, is that Escaflowne?"

Van nodded. "Yes, it is. I didn't want to awake it again, but I suppose it's the inevitable that it fights again."

Kaze's face turned serious as he inspected the white guymelef closely. "One day there will be peace; I'm sure of it. But first we must battle a greater evil."

" 'a greater evil'? Do you mean Dornkirk?" Allen questioned.

Kaze shook his head. "No, something else. I don't know what, I just have a bad feeling about it..."

Kaze suddenly swayed, but declined Allen's assistance. 'I'm fine, I just got a sudden pain in my head..."

"You should stay here with Hitomi and the others when we go to war if you feel ill..." Van started.

"No, I'm going with you!! I'm going to fight this evil!!" Kaze interrupted.

Slightly amused, Van said softly, "Fine, Fanelia will have a tournament to determine who will go with us tonight. You can enter to prove your worth."

Kaze silently agreed, and after bowing deeply, ran back in the forest.

"Allen, during that time you can prep the Crusade for war." uttered Van, his voice wavering slightly.

Allen nodded solemnly.

*****
For being such a small country, Fanelia had a lot of shops. Despite the size of the Fanelian market, Hitomi had yet to find a gift for Kaze. Hitomi and Millerna soon met up with Merle and Joshu. "Merle, did you guys find anything?"

Merle shook her head. "I'm sorry Hitomi, but we didn't. It's hard to shop for someone from the Mystic Moon."

Hitomi sighed. "Okay, I guess we can look tomorrow because it's getting late. Where's Tati?"

Joshu turned around, shocked. "Wha...? He was just behind us!!"

"Great. He could be anywhere..." Millerna muttered

"Shh Millerna. We just need to call from him." whispered Hitomi

Joshu let go of Merle long enough to cup his hands and call out, "Tati! Where are you?!"

"Ouch, you don't need to yell in our ears, Joshu." Merle berated.

"Oops. Sorry."

Hitomi shielded her eyes as she jumped up to see over the bustle of the market. After a few leaps, Hitomi spotted Tati at a booth not far from them . "He's over there, by the jewelry stand we passed by a couple of times."

"And he didn't hear us? That's strange; he usually has great hearing, even with all this noise." Joshu asked thoughtfully. Hitomi shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno, but let's join him."

*****
"Yes, Lord Van. Preparations have been made for tonight. We have town criers out and about already."

"Good job, Kenji. Can you do something else for me?"

"Anything Lord Van."

"Can you look for the Hitomi, Merle, Millerna, Tati, and Joshu? They're probably in the market somewhere."

"As you wish, milord."

Van watched Kenji hurry away to do as asked. Kenji was serious when in the castle, but there was rumors that he could act worse then Allen's crew once he was out of official supervision. But he was a worthy fighter; his temper often gave him fuel in the battlefield. And yet...

Van glanced up to heavens, and begged someone to answer his unspoken question.

Van, fighting begets fighting. But we must fight to truly achieve peace.

"But Folken, in the midst of fighting, lives are lost, both physically and mentally. Just look at Kenji. His parents died when he was young; he had to grow up so fast. How many more children will be made adults at this end of the war?"

You're thinking about your childhood, aren't you? When I left and didn't come back, you couldn't be the gentle soul you used to be; you had to become Fanelia's king.

Van's silence was an enough answer for Folken.

Brother, I regret I put you through so much pain. Farewell, Van.

"Folken, wait!!" Van cried, but his brother's presence was gone.