Allen went for a walk and found Van practicing swordsmanship on the roof. He offered to be Van's sparring partner, and Van agreed. Allen won, but he could see how much better Van was becoming...He fought with too much anger, too much pride. He would have to learn that.
He heard Milerna's quiet applause, and Van left.
Holly was on her way up the stairs to spy because she was a nosy brat. "Van," she said. "Did you need to walk too?"
"Don't go up there," he warned.
"I'll be fine," she said, and winked. She wanted so badly to put her arms around him...unlike Hitomi, she knew who it was she really wanted...
She climbed the last of the stairs and watched Allen and Milerna.
You know...I think I actually feel sorry for Milerna. He doesn't really love her, and she cares about him so much....She should stick with Dryden. Maybe I can help her, when we meet him...I know that he loved her...so he will love her.
It was confusing. Holly went back to her bed. She had forgotten this part...
She was kidnapped, and there was no Merle to tell Van...
She focused that energy she had sensed once before...and she set something on fire. Van was the nearest and rushed to see...and he saw that she was being taken away. Against the wishes of the King, Van went for Escaflowne. He couldn't let this happen to Holly, he owed her for saving his life...and besides....
He rescued her and smiled at her, happy to see her once again...And she smiled at him with that smile that made him so confused...
And then he heard that laugh behind him.
Dilandau.
Dilandau was setting the city on fire...
******
Dilandau didn't care what some LITTLE GIRL had said to him. He was going to have his fun in the city...and kill Van in the process...
Only Van escaped.
"No!" he screamed. "It's your fault innocents are dying! Get back here!"
"Don't listen to him," Holly said. "Run, Van...you have to live to save the world...It is his lust for blood that killed them, not you..."
******
Folken stood across the room, staring at the trembling figure as her sword clattered to the ground.
"How did you...learn to do that..?" he asked puzzled.
"A vision..." she sighed. "A what??" he exclaimed.
"I saw myself, fighting Miguel, and then I was fighting Miguel and I won, and retained the ability to wield a sword." "Extraordinary." Folken gasped.
Kim shrugged as though it happened everyday. She looked down to see the city in flames. "Ba&^%rd...Well at least she can't say I didn't try.." Kim growled. "He's uncontrollable. Do not blame yourself. This is all for the greater good anyways." Kim dug her finger nails into her palms. "I'm not going there again." she said sharply.
"How can you no see the beauty in a new beginning?" Folken asked quietly.
"I'm quite happy with the way things are now thank you. I don't need some twisted old Isaac Newton telling me how my life should end and begin again." She snorted emphasizing the stupidity of this whole scheme. She stalked over to the window and settled down gazing into the night. She saw van and Holly make a run for it. then she realized with a jolt how much trouble they were in. "Ack! Sandwiches! Holly can't see the invisible morons!! Da&*it!!! How the h&*l am I going to help them?" Kim said in a string of curses. "They're going to die!!" She shouted.
*****
Van and Holly escaped and they flew...right over a dragu energist mine.
Wow I know this place...
Van landed Escaflowne and they watched the goings on with interest.
"So they're mining them for power sources for guymelefs, right?" Holly asked. Van looked at her in amazement. "Yes...how did you know that?"
"Um...lucky guess," Holly said. "And...I'm psychic!" She sighed. She wasn't, really...She hated to lie to Van...
"I'm going to try and stop them," Van said. And he tried...but Holly got kidnapped by some stupid guy in crappy armor and a bad voice.
"Sorry," she said, a tear rolling down her cheek, as Van had to surrender. Drat. I hate being the helpless female... Then that creepy guy with the pink hair decided it was a good time to set his pet snake Nina on her...
I don't have a pager! Please someone help me!
"Stop it!" Van yelled. "Leave Holly out of this!"
Van's concern gave Holly strength...Nina the snake burst into flames. Holly herself was getting burned, but it provided enough distraction for Van to get away. He sliced his way through the guards and pulled Holly away.
"Hide!" he yelled. She did so...Van went after the energists.
Be careful.. The ground started to shake and crack.
Aw crap! I forgot about this part... The big whole opened up below her, and she was falling, falling...she screamed. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Van heard. "Holly!"
He ripped off his shirt, but Holly was too terrified to enjoy the scene...then she saw his wings spread and he flew down to rescue her...he caught her hand and pulled her upward...
She rested against him and calmed herself down, the terror ebbing away.
Thank you... And at that moment she didn't care that Van wasn't very muscular. Not for the first time since coming here, she passed out
. *****
"Who's going to die?" Folken asked form his desk.
"Just your brother..." she said, still angry at him for wanting to destroy Gaea.
Silence.
"Oh honestly, you end up being such a good guy! Why am I so bloody impatient??" She scowled.
~~Next Day~~
A guard rushed in to deliver his commander news.
Kim and Folken were reading her text book, and she was teaching how to maximize the technology she had with her. He was so breathless, however, that he couldn't quite speak.
"Folken?" Kim said quietly. He turned his exasperated face to meet hers. "He's trying to tell you the energist stores were destroyed by Van, and the Escaflowne." She clarified the guard's gasps. the guard's mouth dropped open in shock. "Is this true?" Folken asked the guard, who only nodded in response.
"Dismissed." Folken said with a wave of his claw. Folken turned to thank Kim but she had collapsed onto the floor. "Man not another one..." she groaned.
She and Holly were sitting on the shoulders of Escaflowne. "Holly!! You don't know how to do this do you?" "No!!!!" Holly screamed back. And so Kim took the role of Hitomi and screamed where the invisible morons were. "How am I going to do this when it actually happens?" She asked aloud. "Well considering you're not actually on Escaflowne.." Holly replied.
Suddenly Kim was in her bed, concentrating and putting herself into Holly's position. "You can hear me?!?!?" Kim screeched.
"Yes!! Blast it, no so loud!!" Holly yelled insanely.
Kim sat with a crazy smile on her face, and then all was black.
Kim woke up, blinking, on the cold hard floor of Folken's lab. his worried face hung over her. She smiled.
'I did it!' she thought happily. 'I figured it out!'
"Sorry, I had...another vision.."
Kim stuttered. Folken lifted her up and carried her to her bed, where she proceeded to contact Holly.
*****
Holly was very happy that Kim could contact her, and glad that Kim had some of those psychic powers that she so mysteriously lacked.
"Over there!" Holly yelled.
Van had talked to her about his parents earlier, and she had exclaimed how beautiful his wings were...now they were on their way to Freid and trying to escape the attack from the invisible enemy.
"And there!" Kim said
"There!" Holly yelled.
This is sooo weird...
Van was in the water fighting with Dilandau.
"DILANDAU YOU JERK!" she screeched. She loved Dilandau very much but he was evil so she decided that she couldn't love him anymore.
She focused that energy...and Dilandau's hair caught on fire!
"AAAAAAAAH!" he screamed. "My hair!"
Holly started to giggle...
Allen arrived and she could see a claw zinging towards her...
Run Holly you stupid girl! But her legs wouldn't move!
Allen took the hit for her.
"HEY YOU JERK YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE DONE THAT!" she wailed. "No, Allen!"
They captured Miguel...and they went to Freid.
*****
Folken heard Kim screaming in her room and ran to investigate.
He saw her lying on the bed, curled up into a ball with her fingers at her temples.
She was no longer yelling, but laying still.
"Are you alright?" He asked quietly form the doorway.
She gasped at the sudden presence of him in her room.
"I'll be ok, if these visions ever stop..." She muttered.
Shortly after contacting Holly, she had shared Hitomi's visions of Zongi's death. It really was frightening, and she couldn't make the fear go away.
"Tell me, what do you see?" he asked, wanting to benefit from this girl. He still had yet to figure out why she was so important to the emperor.
"He's going to die. That thing is going to die." Kim repeated quietly. Then she realized she was a step ahead of him. "Miguel is captured by Van, Allen is gravely hurt and their traveling to the Duchy of Freid," she said louder than the last. She saw Folken put on his mask, the one he always created for himself, so that no one would know he was truly affected by what they told him. He walked away quickly anticipating the arrival of Dilandau.
Kim groggily tore herself from her bed, and followed after him. Maybe she could stop Zongi from going, killing Miguel and....
"Making Holly's heart stop..." she gasped.
****
Holly had never been in any serious trouble in all of her life, so she found it rather offensive to be locked up in the dungeon.
You'd think Prince Chid would trust Allen, being his son and all...oh wait a minute he doesn't know that, now does he! Silly Holly... She leaned back against the wall.
The cell smelled funny, and she was definitely not enjoying herself...although this gave her a good excuse to be snuggled up close to Van...
The guard came and said that Plactu wanted to talk to Holly first.
Aw crap...Miguel told him about me. Stupid Miguel...Wait Plactu is Zongi and...I'm in big trouble.
She wanted to scream and try and run away...but she could not, or they would really not trust her.
They think that Allen is a traitor...Allen's not smart enough to be a traitor!
No, Holly, that was cruel...
I don't want to face Plactu.
For the first time in her life, Holly was really scared. Oh, she thought she had been scared many times...but she knew what was going to happen here, and it terrified her as nothing ever had.
Plactu/Zongi put her under the trance...and she floated in that strange place...
"You jerk!" She exclaimed. "You killed Plactu and you are going to kill Miguel! How can you do this?"
Zongi stared at her. "Just who are you, little girl?"
"I am Holly and you are a *(^(^*&^%(*%" She exclaimed, using profanity she otherwise avoided.
"You are going to die...and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it!" she exclaimed.
"I'm not going to die!" Zongi cried, and he went away...and Holly was being strangled...
Help me!!!!!!!!!
Kim...Van...please help me!
And everything went black.
*****
"Her heart has stopped!" Milerna cried.
Allen and Van rushed in, Allen holding Prince Chid as a hostage.
Van proceeded to give Holly CPR but she wasn't responding...
"Don't leave me now, Holly!" You can't do this to me...I need you...
*****
"Holly get up!! You're not supposed to do this you fool!!!! I'm the on who's supposed to half die, because I can see what's going on!!! Their deaths look different Holly, I need your help!!! You can't leave me here!! Van's waiting!! He wants you to mmm mmm him!!!" Kim screamed contacting Holly.
*****
Holly could hear two distant voices. One was her dear friend Kim, demanding that she wake up; the other was dear sweet Van, telling her not to leave him...
Wake up you moron.
Holly came out of the dark place and looked up into Van's eyes.
"Hi!"
He looked so relieved...
She turned to Milerna. "You can give CPR without opening my shirt, you know. Oh no...Plactu got away...he's a fake though."
"Is this true?" Prince Chid demanded.
"Yes, Prince. Please believe me...Plactu was not Plactu."
"I will go!" Van exclaimed.
Prince Chid nodded. His big tall advisor guy tried to stop him but he would not be refused.
"I'm coming too," Holly said, before she realized it.
I must be mad. Crap all. I don't even know where to go...
Kim which way is Zongi headed???
*****
"He's going to kill Miguel in the Town Square. Then he's coming to talk to Dilandau...before he dies...." She told Holly.
Folken turned abruptly in the hallway when she said this.
"What!?!?!" he yelled.
"Folken, Miguel's going to die. Then Zongi's going to be killed by Dilandau in some weird squishy stuff." She said into his eyes. "Are you happy with this? All of this death? Nothing good will ever come of it." She snarked.
Dilandau paraded down the hallway, holding his head high.
"Oh look, it's you! That GIRL from the Mystic Moon." he growled.
"She has just informed me of an upcoming loss. Miguel's going to die Dilandau." Folken said quietly.
"You lie!!! He can not die!! He is a righteous dragon slayer!!!" Dilandau shrieked at Kim, as though it were her fault. "Oh just go kill Zongi will you? He's the one who strangled him..."
*****
Holly directed Van to where Miguel lay, dead.
"CRAP I AM TOO LATE!" she wailed. Sexy Miguel was dead.. "Dilly--ahem, Dilandau is going to kill Zongi...Plactu...If we don't hurry!" Holly exclaimed. "Even if he's a creep he shouldn't die..."
Van took the Escaflowne in the direction she pointed.
Hurry...Hurry...
*****
"That was a terrible thing you did to Miguel..." Dilandau enjoyed all of Zongi's terrible screams...
For killing one of my men you deserve this...
Holly and Van arrived just then. Van was attacked by invisible guymelefs...
"Van...just focus," Holly said, knowing it was helpless because she didn't have a pendant...
Wait, I have a ring, and I have a power. I know what I have to do.
"Like this!" She focused on the ring...and it glowed when an enemy was near. She would use that fire... She put the image of Zongi dying out of her mind. Don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it...
"He wants to kill you!" Van exclaimed.
"Yeah I think he's still ticked from our little incident!" she replied.
They escaped back to Freid, and Dilandau's guymelef could not chase after them...
*****
War. "Oh God oh God oh God..." Kim muttered pacing. "Everything is going exactly how it should......darn!!!" She bit back a swear for the sake of censorship. She was clawing for solid ground. "I've got to stop this war and the release of the power of Atlantis."
The ground was melting away from beneath her feet.
'Can't breath, can't help anyone. Hopeless, this is.' her mind chanted, all the while she became dangerously closer to the door to the outside air. Before she could react, the door was opened by her hands, and the air rushed by her face. It was cold, and numbing, but she hardly noticed. She regained control of her senses far too late. Taking the final fatal step, she clung to the nearest thing she could reach. the thin metal bar snapped, and she was falling. It was actually a very blissful feeling.
'I wonder how he feels when he flies' she wondered looking at Folken above with his wings spread.
Reality hit like a bolt of lightning, and the scream erupted from her mouth before she could hold it back.
Folken enveloped her in his arms, and they landed safely in the nearby forest.
She sat gasping for breath, her hair a complete mess.
Folken walked over to her from his gazing stance, and took his hand in hers.
"Do not throw your life away again so easily." He cautioned, keeping a stern look upon his face. He was trying to play the parent but his eyes told another story. Pure worry and adoration shone in them, and Kim was shocked.
Hey, come on, your the first person he's saved this way. Noticed no Nariya and Ariya.' Her mind had returned. 'Where the hell were you before I stepped off the floating fortress?' She snapped back.
Kim absently reached out and touched his wings, which were tainted by his tampering with fate. They were soft and silky and her light touch caused him to close his eyes.
Only then did she get a glance at her shirtless wonder. Never having blushed so much in her life, she hid her cheeks under her hands.
"I won't do it again, I promise." she said, regaining her composure. "The duke of Freid is going to die." Keeping him up to date with her visions, she warned him. His eyes flashed open. "After you attack them, that is, and kill innocent people, and release the power of Atlantis, and make an 8 year old orphan." She scowled and abruptly stood.
'Such a temper.' He smirked. Before she could entice him into another argument, he lunged at her and took for a ride. She screeched and clasped her hands into his shoulders. They did a few spins, and dives, and he eventually took her back to the fortress. He immediately put her down, and became serious again.
He nodded, and with a cough walked briskly away to retrieve another dress....er......cloak.
'Can't fall in love' became his mantra.
*****
Van was upset that he had failed, and could not prove that their intentions were pure, but Prince Chid knew that since they had returned, all was forgiven.
Well whoopdido. I could have told them that!
The Duke of Freid returned that day, and Holly coughed and choked horrendously when someone said he was Chid's father.
Ugh Allen...Father at thirteen, father at thirteen...impure thoughts, impure thoughts...
Allen convinced the duke that war was coming, war with Zaibach, and the duke showed them the history of Atlantis...
Holly could not see the visions as Hitomi could, but she knew what it looked like from watching the show.
The people of Atlantis all destroyed from the power of their wishes and their will...She shivered.
The war came.
Holly, in that moment, realized that her life had become one of danger and fear. Never before had she been so close to death...She had been sheltered for so long. Now, fear and war was a regular part of who she was...It was unnerving. When they came back and said the duke of Freid was dead, she felt so bad. She had known that was going to happen, and hadn't tried to stop it...
From now on, things will be different. I will not sit idly by...I will NOT.
Chid entrusted the secret treasure sword to Folken...
Folken. Kim, I hope you know what you're doing!
Oh no, this is the part where...the part where...
Holly ran to the hangar where Escaflowne was.
"OH NO VAN!" Blood was dripping from the Escaflowne's control chamber...
Allen ran in and exclaimed, "Blood is dripping from the Escaflowne's control chamber!"
Holly resisted the urge to strangle him.
Van came out of Escaflowne. "I can still fight..." he said, though he was covered with blood. His wings came out... "He's a Draconian!" Allen exclaimed.
Van passed out.
*****
"These wounds won't heal!" Milerna exclaimed, sometime later.
"Hurry and get Dryden, he will know what to do! Please Allen we can't let Van die..."
Though her words were crazy and hysterical, there must have been something in her eyes that said she was telling the truth. Allen went to contact Dryden.
Please hurry. Oh Van...
Dryden arrived and made his speech about the guymelefs that killed their operators. He called the clan...
"These babies know how to phone home!" he exclaimed.
"How the heck do you know about telephones?" Holly demanded. "Um...I mean...Never mind. Ignore the last."
Dryden offered to pay the $50 million for the Escaflowne repair job, and Holly threw her arms around him and kissed him quite happily.
Embarrassed, she backed off and sat by Van. Dryden only laughed. She had always liked him for his sense of humor. Please Van, you'll be okay...you made me come back and not leave you, and now I want you to do the same thing for me...Please Van, I...I'm not as dumb as Hitomi, I know how I feel...
Van sat up, completely healed.
Holly knew there was no Merle, so she was the one who threw her arms around Van and cried in happiness at his recovery.
"You really should thank this young lady for your recovery," Dryden said.
Holly didn't spout the crap about how Van shouldn't pilot Escaflowne. She knew he was going to...She would just do whatever she could to make sure he was okay.
"I'm glad you're back," she said.
Then it was time for him to go and fight again...
Oh no the Dragon Slayers!! She hurried, to try and change this terrible fate, before it was too late...
******