Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne. I do, however, own this twisted little plot, and any characters I have created. Basically, if you don't recognize them, they're probably mine. (No one that I own appears in this chapter, however.)
Re-Visions
Chapter 2
Hitomi came awake by inches. Dimly, she could hear her mother in the kitchen. She tried to close her ears, to return to that beautiful dream, even though she had dreamt something similar nearly every night. She had seen Van in the glade, and reached out to him, even though she hadn't thought to touch him. But he had seen her, had reached back, grasped her hand. He pulled her from her world, pulled her to him. She felt his strong arms around her, and embraced him fiercely in return.
"Oh, Van," she murmured against his shoulder. "You won't send me back this time, will you?" She pulled back to look into his eyes.
He smiled, and opened his mouth to answer.
And she woke up.
She found that she was clutching her pillow to her chest. She curled around it for a moment, hoping, wishing that it wasn't just a dream. Desperately, she thought, This is the dream, and when I wake, I will be with him . . .
But for many long moments, nothing happened. The world surrounding her did not waver and drift away, and when she finally opened her eyes, she saw only her own room- not the Earth and Moon in the sky. Her sigh as she pulled herself upright was half a sob.
She was still here. She had wished herself back with her own power once, but it seemed that only Van could take her to Gaea. She took a deep breath to steady herself.
She got up and looked out the window. She saw the sun rising high in the sky, felt the warm breeze on her cheeks. Closing her eyes, she heard the rustle of leaves in the tree outside her bedroom. She could smell summer in the air, and she breathed it deeply. The pain in her heart slowly subsided.
I'm alive, she reminded herself. More importantly, he's alive, and there were so many times when he might have died. We're still linked. I can touch him and know that he's all right . . . whenever I need to know. She let that knowledge fill her with joy. Suddenly, she felt that she might have enough strength to face the day, and took another deep breath. What can I use to fill my day? She wondered. Well, Mom will have more chores for me, because it is vacation.
Before she could turn from the window, for an instant all her limbs turned to water. Briefly, she sagged against the windowsill, and blinked, expecting to see another time and place. What she saw was oddly ordinary, and somehow, all the more strange because of its very normalcy. It was like looking at a black and white photograph. The shadows were jet black against a harsh white background. She could see the tree outside her room still in leaf, but untouched by a breath of wind. She turned. She felt weightless, as if she could simply drift away. It was her own room, but completely stripped of everything hers. All her pictures were missing. Her desk and bed were still in place, but the desk was bare, the bed bereft of sheets. Her closet stood open, and it too was empty. From far away, through the closed door, she could hear the sound of weeping.
She slammed back into herself, puzzled by her vision. She dragged herself upright, startled by her continued weakness. It had never been like this before . . . Not in stark black and white, not with weakness, and certainly not anything so ordinary as her room. Well, she'd fainted once or twice, but that wasn't the same thing at all. Everything was in color again, and all of her things were back, her strength returning.
She plunked down in her desk chair, and reflexively reached for her tarot deck. Its familiar feel in her hands as she shuffled and cut aided her concentration. What was that about? She asked herself, idly watching her fingers. Well, why would I clean out my room? I'd want to take along my things and clothes when I go to college . . . Or if, for some other reason, I was to leave home . . .
If Van were to come for me again . . .
Her hands squared the deck, preparing to deal out a reading. She managed to stop herself before revealing the first card. No, she told herself firmly, deliberately setting the cards down in the center of her desk. No. I may be back on Earth, but these cards caused too much anguish on Gaea for me to use them again. I still have a shred or two of my power. I'm not going to cause any more pain with my anxious feelings. No more readings.
Quickly, she moved to her dresser, pulling on her running clothes. I'll do twice around the block and a sprint. I've got to keep in practice. She was pattering downstairs, running shoes in hand, when her mother appeared from the kitchen.
"Hitomi? Breakfast is ready." Her hair was a darker shade than her daughter's, and beginning to grey. Although she was still fairly young, her face was lined with cares. Now, her brow was wrinkled in concern for her oldest child. She knew that Hitomi rarely ate before her workouts. To her mind, Hitomi was nearly too thin, and with all the running . . . Not that she wasn't proud of her daughter's successes on the track team.
Hitomi was already pulling on her shoes by the door. "Thanks, Mom, but I'm going running. I'll have some when I get back. Or you can eat it." Grinning, she directed the last to her younger brother, yawning his way down the stairs. "See you later!" With that, she was gone, already dashing down the walk.
"Mom, did she really mean I could have her breakfast?"
Mrs. Kanzaki sighed. "No, Ichiro, I'm sure she'll want it when she gets back. Now, you go eat your own." She shooed her son into the kitchen, glancing back over her shoulder as she did so. She shivered in the sunlight.
Was it just her, or had a cloud lifted from the house as her daughter left? Inwardly she sighed. No, it was only her imagination.
"Ichiro! Leave your sister's breakfast alone!"
Hitomi was just finishing her sprint, counting the seconds in her mind when she stumbled. The pavement hove up to greet her. She was going at such a rate that her hands hit the ground hard, and actually skidded out from under her. Her elbows and knees finally stopped her.
"Ow, ow, ow," she hissed as she picked herself up. She began an inspection of her injuries. Both of her palms were scraped and cut, and were actually oozing blood. She felt a sting up the underside of her arm, and looked. She found a deep scratch, filled with grit, as were her hands. There was a trickle of blood down one shin.
Angry with herself, she glanced back to see what had tripped her. There was nothing- no hole, no root or rise or even a crack in the sidewalk. Bending down to blot the annoying tickle from her knee, she noticed a deep scuff on the toe of her shoe. She had tripped herself.
I've never fallen like that before, she thought sourly as she started stiffly walking home. Well, I fell when I had my first vision, and then again when I collided with him. But that wasn't like this. She opened the door to her house and crept to the bathroom, hoping no one would catch her. Once there, she locked the door and began to wash her scrapes, wincing as the soap stung. Looking into the bloodied water, wringing out her cloth, she half expected to be drawn into another vision. After all, she thought, many of my visions were about death and dying, and were triggered by nothing at all, or by words or . . .
But nothing happened as she watched the water swirl down the drain. After a moment, she turned from the empty basin and found ointment and bandages.
Now cleaned and bandaged, Hitomi returned to her room. She stripped off her sweaty running clothes, and dressed in a pair of loose old pants and a tee shirt. She sat on her bed, still unmade, and pulled up her knees, staring across at her pictures. Seeing them triggered a memory of the earlier vision. Why would I see that? she thought, frowning. But it was replaced by a slow, sad smile. Yukari and Amano- I'm glad that they are happy. I'm glad they have their chance. Her eyes unfocused, looking within. I wish . . .
With a quick shake of her head, she brought herself back. How can I be back to this longing already? she wondered plaintively, burying her head against her knees. The sharp little stab of pain she felt from her knee was as nothing compared to the deep ache in her chest. She pressed one sore hand between her breasts. For a little while, she breathed deeply and evenly, to keep the tears from coming. She forced herself not to follow the link to him. She didn't want him to know how much being apart from him hurt, fearing it would hurt him, too. Finally, the pain subsided to a slightly more bearable level, and she was able to lift her hand. Van . . . In her mind, she saw him as she had at the shore, seated on the reef, wings extended above him, giving her that gentle, slightly sad smile. Even though she knew he couldn't see her now, she smiled tremulously in return. She felt her love for him fill her body.
Picturing him helped. Not much, she conceded, but a little. She stood up, and turned to make her bed. If I keep busy, she decided, I won't have time to be sad. Too bad that school is on break, but it's only for a little while and then . . . then . . .
Then the ground opened up beneath her, and she was falling into a bottomless pit of darkness. She opened her mouth to scream, but the speed of her fall sucked the breath away from her. She tried to keep herself calm as her sight went fuzzy and black around the edges. She'd had this vision before. The angel . . . Van . . . would come and grab her hand, holding on to her as if to say, I'm never going to let you go . . . But this time, there was no strong angel to pull her up.
The pit wasn't bottomless, after all.
