Pillar of Light
It had been five years since Hitomi Kanzaki had returned to the Mystic Blue Moon. Van closed his eyes as he though of this, five years to this very day. His fingers, as if on their own will, came up and encircled around the tiny red pendant that hung around his neck. Her only way back to him, and she had given it to him. Maybe she didn't want to come back. He opened his eyes and looked up at the blue moon. Maybe that was why he could no longer hear her thoughts or feel her feelings. No, he thought, she promised to never forget any of them. But he couldn't get rid of the thoughts nagging at the back of his mind. Maybe she had found someone else to love, married even, maybe she had a family. Or maybe she had really forgotten him. Standing up he let out a low sigh. He looked up seeing a shooting star, and then remembered Hitomi once telling him to make a wish on the star and it will come true. Once again, he clutched the pendant and wished to see her, his love, Hitomi Kanzaki.
***
Hitomi looked out over the bay, she was so lonely. She felt like she didn't belong here anymore. She knew where she belonged, in the arms of her King, here, she felt void, almost non-existent. She had shut herself off from Van, hearing him made her hurt because there was no way for her to go back. No one really seemed to understand, friends started to drift away from her, not wanting to be around someone who was so depressed most of the time. With Yukari and Amano having been married and on their honeymoon, she was more alone then ever. Looking up she spotted a lone shooting star amongst the bright dots in the sky, the light reflecting off her crystalline tears.
"Oh Van, why did I leave? I though I'd be happier…but I'm not, I want to go back," she whispered. From the light of the shooting star, a pillar of light surrounded her. Hitomi blinked and looked around at the sudden familiar warm feeling as it embraced her. She looked up at the moon and past it, to the small planet of Gaea, that only she could see.
"I'm coming Van," she whispered. She had never thought about how to come back to earth, or if she would come back. Or if he had married or if he still loved her like he had five years ago. But she would only have to see, she would put everything on the line to be with the man that she loved. She closed her eyes as she was lifted through space and time. She kept her eyes closed as she felt ground once again below her feet.
"Hitomi?" she heard a man's voice call to her. She opened her eyes slowly and saw a man with dark black hair, the bangs falling over his eyes, he was very tall and muscular.
"Van!" she yelled happily. As he ran to her, she wrapped his arms around his neck, his arms wrapping around her waist.
"Oh gods, Hitomi…I've missed you," he said as he rested his head on top of her head.
"I've missed you too Van," she whispered. Van tightened his grip, he didn't want her to ever leave him.
"Hitomi, stay with me? I mean, you don't have to, only for a day if you want…I'm sure you have a life you enjoy on the Mystic Moon," Van told her as he pulled away enough for him to look into her emerald eyes, his voice cracking with emotion.
"Van…I wanted to come back, I wanted to be with you, I don't belong on the Mystic Moon anymore. I belong here on Gaea," Hitomi said quietly, but she knew he had heard her, she had meant for him to hear her. Hitomi pressed her face to his chest to hide the hope in her eyes.
"Hitomi, don't worry…I love you," he whispered in her ear. Hitomi blinked slightly when she realized just how close their lips now where, now that she had looked up at him.
"Hitomi, forgive me," Van said quietly. She was confused and was going to say something, but was cut off by his lips pressed to hers. She blushed when he pulled away. It was not her first kiss, he knew, he felt a twinge of some emotion in his gut as he remembered seeing her on the bridge with Allen during the rain. But Van's kiss held more emotion, more love, more passion, and it left her lips tingling with sensations that were new to her.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…I'm sure you want to be faithful to your husband," Van said to her as he let her go, his voice filled with much emotion still. Hitomi blushed, he thought she was married. He walked with her back to the palace from the gardens, which was where she had landed.
"Hitomi, what's wrong?" Van asked her. Hitomi was blushing when she looked up at him.
"Van, I'm not married. I haven't even been involved with a guy, even remotely, since I left Gaea," she said, blushing even deeper as she was telling him this. Van walked towards her again, his eye filled with hope and love. He brushed a strand of her light brown hair out of her face.
"I know this may sound selfish of me Hitomi…but I am glad," he told her. Hitomi's blush deepened still as he walked with her up the palace stairs, the sun was now slowly coming up over the horizon.
"Van, I could never love anyone other than you, I want to stay on Gaea, in Fanelia…I want to stay with you," she told him, her voice dropping to a mere whisper. Van turned to her and smiled. The rising sun caught in her hair, now longer than it used to be. He put a hand on the side of her face and kissed her again, this time surprised and caught off guard when she kissed him back.
"Hitomi, will you be my Queen? Mother of my children, my beloved forever?" he asked her. Hitomi blinked with surprise then wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Yes Van, I will," she said happily. Van smiled and released his wings from his back and flew up with Hitomi in his arms. Off in the distance they could here Merle.
"Lord Van! Where are you going?" she yelled. Hitomi smiled, she loved flying with Van, especially now.
"Hitomi, don't ever doubt my love, I have wished for you to come back to me, from the very instant that you left. The council has been pushing me to marry, but I would not, because you have always owned my heart. Always from the first time that I saw you. But I will have no one telling you that I choose to marry you now, because I am being pushed to, I don't, I want to marry you, with all my heart," he told her as they landed at the base of the once mighty guymelef, Escaflowne. Now a monument guarding the graves of King Fanel, Varie Fanel, and Folken, Van's brother.
"Hitomi, by this sacred place, I vow to protect you, I Van Slanzer de Fanel, vow to love you forever," he told her.
"And I, Hitomi Kanzaki, of the Mystic Blue Moon, vow to love you for longer than forever," Hitomi said. Then the two of the sealed there personal vows with a long, lingering kiss. The energist in Escaflowne glowing once again for the two happy lovers.