Love...Love Holly? Yes, I love Holly! "I have to go and get her!" he cried, and he hopped up on Escaflowne's back. He would not let Holly leave him, not now....
Folken hopped on the back of Escaflowne next to Van, and off they flew towards the Mystic Moon, leaving Allen to fight the bad guys by himself. Folken kept his eyes closed the entire time, willing himself not the feel the jealousy of never piloting the Escaflowne.
*****
"To the closet!!!" Kim cried and dragged Holly after her. They swung the door open, but Kim stumbled back when the intense light blinded her. A shadow was cast and squinting she saw a dragon flying towards them.
"Could it be?" she asked Holly. "Did they come for us?"
"Van!" Holly shrieked. "Van, I'm right here..."
Van could hear the voice of Holly, quite shrill and sometimes annoying, but he loved her. He landed Escaflowne on the ground...
Holly ran to him and he pulled her up.
"Holly...I'll never let you..."
Holly wasn't stupid. She didn't turn away or rush up to hug him...she leaned forward and kissed him.
"I'll never leave again Van, as long as I have you."
Van pulled her close and embraced her; Holly, his love.
Folken dragged Kim onto his lap, and kissed her senseless, tongue and everything. She sighed and collapsed against his chest.
"Can we destroy that ring Holly? I don't want you to throw another tantrum and take us away from them again." Kim joked as they flew back to Gaea, each tightly clutched in their man's arms.
"I know you were only joking but...I think there's something more to this ring than either of us realizes," Holly said. "There is something coming...and it looks like it is going to be different than the ending of the original series! I'm not stupid enough to leave a second time..." She clutched Van's shirt. She would never leave him...She now knew that she was from Gaea, had lived there until five years old and then...sent to Earth with erased memory. She belonged here...she belonged with Van, wherever that was. They arrived back and all stepped down off of Escaflowne. Some soldiers were there...They were saying that war was brewing.
The final battle, Holly thought grimly.
"I want you three to go back to the palace," Van said. "You'll be safe there...it's time for me to fight."
"Please be careful, Van," Holly said. "If you die, I'll never forgive you!" And the three of them were taken back to the palace at Asturia....
*****
Dilandau woke slowly. Where am I? Two voices conflicted in his mind. Fight... said one, and Who am I? said the other. He climbed out of bed, and slipped out of the Palace.
He would find his guymelef and fight in the war he could feel coming...He was on the side of Zaibach and would destroy the one who had killed his Dragon Slayers...
*****
"Please don't say that because I'm going to start seeing things again. Curses why can't IIII be the PYROOOOOOO." Kim whined.
The next five minutes were the worst in her life. She sat down, anticipating the vision. She could feel it, just out of arms reach but it would not come. Folken watched her, worried.
"I wish I could stop this." He said aloud. "Someone tell me why, why don't my wishes ever come true!!!" He yelled and clenched his claw.
Kim felt like she was turning into a puddle from the hotness of that action, but the vision had merely slipped over her. This vision really sucked because everything was fuzzy. They were in Dornkirk's fate changing room, but Folken had white wings.
"White wings? Oh God he's going to die!!!" The realization stung. Or was that the stabbing pain in her back? The air rushed and whistled past her ears, but there was no painful thunk.
"A soft landing. What the heck is happening?!?!?!?!?" she screeched, chasing away the visions, and opening her eyes. Folken came into focus and he smiled broadly when he saw that she was ok.
"Kim was that another vision?" Holly demanded. "Tell me what you saw and tell me right now!" She knew that Folken was going to die soon...Was that what Kim had seen? "Kim is it almost that time...the time when we go and face him...(you know I'm not letting you two go without me)?" Holly could sense that it really was time. "That means...we should really sing...just for the sake of background music...And you know what we should sing?" "Esca...Flowne....ESCAFLOWNE ESCAFLOWNE ESCAFLOWNE ESCAFLOWNE!!!" Kim started to chant/sing. Holly soon joined in and they received inquiring looks from the parties present. "Can you believe that I actually created that song in my mind? Weird..." she laughed nervously, trying to hide the sorrow and anxiety she felt. "I won't let him die..." she thought, not realizing she had spoken the thought out loud.
"Now that we have sung Dance of Curse, the...amazingly weird stuff...can commence!" Holly exclaimed. "And just for the record, I'm not going to let him die either, you incredibly lucky fiend!" She rubbed her ring, for dramatic effect. "How interesting that I get the ring and you the psychic powers...I guess my fire power is just something I threw in because I like to be different." Holly grinned.
The beam of light came, and swept them away to Dornkirk's evil lair of disgusting evil plans...
*****
"FOLKEN..." Dornkirk bellowed, Kim shivered with disgust. "I'm going to end this, forever!"
Folken scowled at Dornkirk, releasing his wings.
Kim cupped a stray feather in her hands and it turned from the midnight black, to pure white.
"Je comprends," Kim whispered, and as Folken flew up to kill Dornkirk, Kim snuck up behind him, against the wishes of Holly.
The old man stood and Kim shrieked in disgust.
"Oh, God please no, don't stand up!!!" Holly whimpered from below, and then spat in frustration at Dornkirk.
Folken lifted the sword and struck Dornkirk down.
Kim watched until the last moment and then jumped in front of Folken, surprising him.
"Kim..." he said.
"I love..." the sword tip struck her back. "You..." she choked out and then collapsed into him. He wrapped his arms around her, not understanding what had happened until he felt the warm liquid oozing from her. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" he yelled very loudly, and they fell backwards, but their fall was put into slow motion by Folken's wings.
They landed at Holly's feet, Folken sobbing, and Kim unmoving.
*****
Van was tired of fighting...he wanted this war to end. He saw the red guymelef...
I thought Dilandau was sick?
"Fight me Van!" Dilandau screamed.
Van fought, but he did not understand how Dilandau could be here... Folken had said that Dilandau was normal, once, and that this thirst for blood had been built into him...
"Dilandau, snap out of it! You're not like this..."
"Not...like..." Dilandau stopped in his tracks. "Blood...I want blood...NO!" His eyes...were changing from red to blue, and back and forth...
What is going on?
Their attention was drawn to the sounds of screams...as the battle behind the mountain melted away.
"I can't believe they actually used it!" Allen exclaimed.
Dilandau finally chose an eye color. It was blue.
"We have to stop this fighting!" he yelled...
*****
"YOU STUPID WITCH WOMAN!" Holly shrieked, kicking Kim's fallen form. "How can you abandon me like this? If you don't wake up right now I'm gonna..."
She looked at the sobbing Folken and saw that his wings were white...
"Look you *(&(*&tard! You fixed Folken all better and now you're DEAD! How the heck could you do this to me you freaking JERK!"
"Ow!! Geez cat woman that ...hurts..." Kim mumbled into the ground. She had merely passed out from the pain, and now regained consciousness.
Folken leaned down to check if she were really alive, and then kissed her gently on the cheek.
"Don't do that again ok?" he said smiling weakly, his cheeks tear stained.
Kim smiled back, but winced. Even though she was alive there was still a sword tip in her back.
*****
"ALL RIGHT! Kim you're alive!" Holly cried, and she began to sob.
Dornkirk's spirit decided to appear.
"You can not stop destiny," he said, as the freaky machine began to glow...
"You craphead!" Holly yelled. "You're already dead and still you torture us! GO AWAY!"
Dornkirk's form caught fire... "There will always be the desire for men to fight...that is the destiny of all mankind," Dornkirk said, as he faded away.
"Oh no, Kim...Allen and Van are probably fighting as we speak! I have to stop them...Please Kim, help me!"
*****
Van had tears in his eyes. How could they have used a weapon that would wipe everything out...
Dilandau had fallen out of his guymelef and was sobbing on the ground. It was a strange sight, indeed.
Allen came over.
"It's all over..."
"It's never over!" Van yelled. He didn't know what came over him right then, he just attacked...he had never won against Allen before, so what made him think he could win now?
*****
"Of course! We can't have Allen's pride hurt too much by what Van's about to do." Kim said, she tried to sit up, but decided against it when she felt the offending piece of metal shift.
"But after can we go and fix this thing?" she whined, being true to herself. Holly nodded, and Folken storked her arm for moral support.
She clenched her eyes shut and called to Van. He was fighting against Allen, but stopped when he heard Kim breathing. "
Relax Van, just think of me as your psychic operator. Holly, it's all yours babe."
Kim sighed and let Holly talk to Van.
"Thanks...babe. You know if I fail in making him come...we're all gonna die cause we can't get out of here," Holly warned. "Here goes nothing..."
"Van...stop fighting Allen...You know this is wrong."
"Oh I get it! You're just worried about Allen!" Van said crossly.
"No, Van. Allen's nice and all but..." She shuddered. "No, there is only one man I love...and that is you, Van. I love you. Please believe me."
Van gazed at her for a moment. He could see it in her eyes... "Holly."
"Now please, come and save us from Dornkirk's freaky machine! We can't get out!" Holly broke the link and hoped Van would come...
*****
Van snapped back to the fight with Allen and backed off. Allen's guymelef fell back...Van had won!
"Somebody please help me!" Dilandau cried. Allen hopped down out of his guymelef, and went to Dilandau. He felt sorry for the poor boy...
"Van, I think I heard Holly's voice calling. You should go to her...You were meant for each other," he said, his acceptance of their relationship unspoken, but obvious. Van smiled sweetly and began to fly Escaflowne to where Holly was...but Escaflowne went crazy.
"That's it!" He ripped off his shirt and let Escaflowne fall. He flew...
*****
Holly looked up as she saw the blasted machine begin to crack.
"Van!" she cried. "Van it's you!" He came down and picked her up, and they flew upwards together...
"Holly...I love you too!"
"Oh Van...."
"Well there's something you don't see everyday...hentai in the sky. Hey we're still here too you know.!!!!" She yelled at the two of them flying away.
Folken smothered her mouth with his and her flew after Van and Holly with her.
Folken reluctantly released her sweet lips so that he could safely fly them to Fanelia. He bit onto the bottom of her earlobe and whispered into her ear, his hot breath dancing on her cheek.
"I love you too."
Kim closed her eyes and shivered. She then gripped his shoulders tighter and kissed his neck. They landed in the dastardly grove of trees where Hitomi had left Van. Kim layed propped up against a tree with Folken by her side. "I'm not leaving." she scowled at Holly like a five year old who wanted to stay up past her bed time.
"You got that right, babe," Holly said. "Van, I love Fanelia, and I don't want to leave..."
"I don't' want you to leave either," Van said, and the look in his eyes was enough for her.
"I belong here, I belong with you," she whispered, and she threw her arms around him. "I love you, Van."
Hitomi never said it but I will...Hitomi, didn't stay, but I will!
After all, it wasn't Hitomi anymore; it was Kim and Holly.
And this, Holly thought with a smirk, is Gaea...our way.
*****
~~END~~