Escaflowne: Dreams of Destiny
Previously on Escaflowne: Dreams of Destiny
Recovery is happening on both Earth and Gaea, with Yukari and Amano becoming at peace with Hitomi's depature, and the rebuilding of Freid. Hitomi's burns are healed, and although no one is sure what is going to happen, for now, there is a temporary sense of peace as Goshem relaxes after the attack. But in Goshem, the feelings of peace are not mutual. The former leader of the Ebony Clan Warriors and his loyal soldiers has been both dismissed, and become traitorous. What will he do? What will Gaea and Earth do?
[AN: I INTENDED this chapter to fully be devoted to telling the stories of Kirei Avan de Fanelia, and Rallin Ulrain Khristos, but I'm running out of ideas, so I think the rest of this chapter will be devoted to the fixing and recovery of Fanelia and our heroes. I'm SORRY!]
Th-That guymelef. It was Rallin. It has to be Rallin. No other person on Gaea has a melef like that. Kirei got into his guymelef, not really thinking, just knowing he had to go. This was... well it wasn't a golden opprotunity, considering the fact that might not even be Rallin, just a Goshemin melef that was scouting. But an opprotunity was an opprotunity, disregarding everything else. Kirei took off.
Ikari, you must lead me to Rallin. This may be the last time I have to save my once... no my dearest friend. Ikari, in bird form, began to fly.
Rallin just kept flying in Minuit, Midnight, not paying attention to where he was headed. He just had to get away from the Goshemin floating foretress. Their deaths... Rallin couldn't deal with it. Joalm, Venti, and Woarin. Despite his harsh orders, they had been his most loyal soldiers... and they had been his friends. When he first... left, they had been comrades during training and then when he had surpassed them... He had become cold. But they had stayed by his side, becoming Warriors.
They were so loyal... he could remember their first battle, just a skirmish really, on the outskirts of Goshem, when none of them had known what the true cause of the General... All they knew was that Goshem had offered them a place to escape to. Rallin remembered the training...
:: Flashback ::
It had only been a week since Rallin had... arrived in Goshem, but already, he felt an odd sense of... what could be called peace. He had felt so betrayed when he left the small duchy at the edges of Fanelia. How could his best friend have...?
That particular thought was slapped out of his head - quite literally - by Hikeshi, his rival. Though the two were very similar, their personalities were too stubborn and strong to do anything but clash. That, and Hikeshi always seemed to go out of his way to make Rallin fail. "Daydreaming Rallin? A loyal soldier would NEVER daydream, even while training."
"Shut up, Hikeshi, how would you know if I was daydreaming or not." Rallin glared at the smirking soldier. He would be better then him, not matter how much it would cost him.
"You're denying it, and BESIDES, you missed the target." Hikeshi laughed, at pointed at the dummy in front of Rallin - the only left standing in the line. "Is the protegé of the General failing? Perhaps I should..."
"Leave him be, Hikeshi. Unlike yourself, Rallin Khristos has NEVER failed a field mission." Venti's voice defended his equal.
"Yes, Hikeshi. Despite being a Lord's son, you NEVER seem to beat Rallin... a commoner." This came from Joalm, and although in truth Rallin was not a commoner, it was what he had told everyone.
"In fact, Lord Hikeshi, it seems that Rallin is the favoured of the General. Unlike yourself..." Woarin looked at Hikeshi mockingly. "Is the young noble to weak to do his own fighting instead?"
Hikeshi glared at the arrived trio. WHY on Gaea should they be defending this piece of scrap? Before another word was spoken, Hikeshi whirled around and left the field.
"My name's Venti, this is Joalm, and that is Woarin. It is an honour to meet you Rallin Ulrain Khristos."
Rallin was stunned. How in the world would these three - Rallin knew they were the best - have heard of him? "As it is to you... but how do you know who I am?"
"Your battle tales. We like you, much better than Hikeshi. Why have you come to Goshem?" Joalm asked this in a monotone, but in his eyes there was a spark of interest. "We have our reasons, and if you tell us, we'll tell you."
"Betrayal." said Rallin, firmly. "Where I hailed from... I was betrayed."
Accepting this, the trio smiled, and then each held a hand out to Rallin. "I get the feeling we're going to be very loyal to each other, Rallin. You have the promises of Venti Krana, Joalm Ilran, and Woarin Narchis."
:: End Flashback ::
Was it all worth it now? The killing? He had gone through so much to purge the memories that came with his past, had sacrificed what felt like a part of his soul to become a Clan Warrior, and then a commander. And with one failure, he had lost it all. The least Fate could have given him was the chance to never see anyone from his past again. But then the General had ordered them to attack Fanelia. And then... Kirei had appeared. That blasted Fanelian who, at one point in Rallin's life, had been almost a brother. But one thing had changed that. Just one thing.
It had been hours since Van had seen Kirei taking off in Ikari. He wondered, somewhat, where his cousin was going. The most that he knew was that it was to resolve something. The look in Kirei's eyes had reminded him of when he had been reunited with Folken. Brother, look at me now. I'm finally a king. And I'm finally with her... Van closed his eyes, and lay back against the pillows, wrapping his arm more firmly around Hitomi, who had gone back to sleep at his insistence.
Smiling, he bent his head to kiss her, first on the forehead, then the cheek, and finally a soft kiss on her lips. He grinned when she began to stir slightly. "Van..." came a soft whisper from Hitomi, as she shifted to become closer to him. Van smiled genuinely, and, kissing her full on the lips, whispered very softly, "Good day, Hitomi. It is morning again."
Sleepy blue-green eyes gazed fondly into ruby eyes as Hitomi blinked. "Good morning Van." She smiled, hugging him closer. "How long have you been watching?"
"Only a few minutes. I was trying to figure out a way to wake you up." Van smiled, kissing her again. "This seemed the best way."
"I do think you are right. But you didn't have to worry about waking me up." Hitomi smiled, sleepiness still a small part of her features.
"You still need to rest, Hitomi. I won't have you tiring yourself out. You need your strength." Van looked at her, ruby eyes filled with affection for the lithe girl, no, woman, that he held in his arms, and loved with all his heart. "I nearly lost you Hitomi. Again. I won't let anything seperate us." A thought suddenly occured to Van. Despite all their love for each other... he couldn't believe it had never occured to him! But there were things to plan out...
"I won't have strength if all I do is rest Van. For today, at least, could we go for a run," she paused seeing the concern in his eyes, the worry that she would tire and faint. "Or a long walk? That way I can at least get some exercise." She looked up into his eyes, pleadingly. "Please, Van? We don't have to go for..."
She was interuppted when his mouth closed over hers. They parted a few kisses later. "Anything to make you happy, Hitomi," he said smiling, and remembering his task at hand, "anything."
Kirei had been flying for hours. It was just lucky that on Gaea, there was no need for this "gasoline" substance as there was on the Mystic Moon, as Lady Hitomi had explained. Something about driving cars (Kirei had absolutely no idea what those could be, Hitomi's explanation sounded too confusing - how could something only made of a thin piece of metal go so fast?) for hours, and running out of fuel. But thankfully energistes had a steady source of power until the guymelef ITSELF was exhausted - which took months, even years. And, Kirei remembered, he had recently put a new energiste in, just before the attack on Fanelia. It had been almost three months since Hitomi had come - and the war had started. Since he had seen Rallin again, for the first time in ten years. Since just before the Great War. And Kirei still had no idea what he had done to make his best friend leave. But he could remember what had happened before.
:: Flashback ::
"In a few days, Master Kirei, you will truly become one of the Fanels." Korri, one of his father's old advisors, smiled. "Master Rallin, you too, will become an adult, a Khristos." He smiled with tears in his eyes. "I am both very sorry though, that your parents are not here to witness this joyous occasion."
"That's okay, Korri," said Rallin, "we know that there was nothing you could have done." Rallin dimly remembered his parents' deaths, and those of Kirei's.
"What about my cousins? Will Folken and Van be coming for the coming of age ceremonies?" Kirei and Rallin were both turning fifteen, at long last.
Korri looked saddened. He turned to the happy young men, and with all his heart he wished he had better news about the King of Fanelia. The former king. "Lord Kirei, Lord Rallin.. did I never tell you? Folken Lacour de Fanel... he is gone... disappeared"
"Gods..." whispered Kirei. "What about Van? What of him?" If Kirei remembered correctly, his cousin was only... ten years of age. "Will he come?"
Korri shook his head. "He is training for the rites to become King. I'm very sorry Kirei."
Rallin clapped a hand on Kirei's shoulder comfortingly. "Don't worry brother, we will still go through the coming-of-age ceremonies."
Together, they celebrated their new ages.
:: End flashback ::
[AN: This isn't a new section of the story, just a quick note (sheesh there are a lot of them in this chapter). First of all, the whole "time" thing. I figure each episode spans about 2 weeks in length (even though to me, it reads like it could all happen in a single day) so I hope that clears up a few things. Also the "coming of age" cermony that Kirei and Rallin are going through sort of symbolizes the Escaflowne-awakening when Van shared his/put his blood into the energiste jewel. Similar thing, in Kirei's case, the Ikari had always been passed down to the second of the Royal family (so Goau's brother had it, but if Folken had defeated the dragon and become king, it would've been passed back to Van), and in Rallin's case, the Minuit has always been passed down from father to son in the Khristos family).
Also, my timeline is sorta messed-up, the reason Kirei asked about Folken coming was that (remember, in the flashback he is only fifteen, and in the regular story he is 25) he had only head about it once, and he is FIFTEEN, and (theoretically speaking) should be, ahem, maturing, and everyone knows teenagers can be forgetful (and no one is about to remind Kirei on his "joyous" occasion that yet another member of his family is dead or missing.) I hope that clears up a bit, and as for finding Kirei a girl, the only one I can even SURMISE pairing him up with right now is Celena Schezar... and I can't even picture that. So, I don't know, maybe I'll just make someone up again. *_~. It doesn't matter.
Oh yes. THE PART THAT COMES AFTER THE LINE IS STILL PART OF KIREI'S PART. Hope this cleared a lot up! (Yes there will be a letter at the end of this SHORT chapter.)]
It would not be long before dark fell, and then Kirei would have to head back to Freid. But sorrowfully, he would give up. He had wanted to find Rallin. Maybe another time...
Just then a black guymelef landed near him. Quickly Kirei and the Ikari made its way over to the mystery melef. Something stunned Kirei. The guymelef. It was Minuit. And that meant...
"Kirei Avan de Fanel. We have a score to settle."
Hello everyone!
I know I promised to write more about Kirei and Rallin's respective pasts, but I'm running out of ideas for THIS particular issue, so it'll have to wait until a later chapter. Anyway, I hope you like the flashbacks I inserted into this, and the amazingly long Author's note just above. Here is a list of things I plan to do for this fic.
1. Put a
LOT of more Van/Hitomi scenes in this (that was the original
intent, anyhow)
2. Have Hitomi and Chid 'talk'
3. Find some way to get Kirei a girlfriend, because of all the
requests (it probably won't be Celena)
As for Van's "task" I'll wager you can guess what it is, but you'll find out for sure in the coming chapters. As a LARGE side note: I WILL definetly be writing another Escaflowne fanfiction series, but it won't have ANYTHING to do with Dreams of Destiny/Eternal Peace. Although you can expect Kirei to make an appearance. That series will BEGIN after I finish Dreams, but it will NOT NOT NOT be a continuation of this fic. It will be an alternate continuation to the series, just like this one. Hopefully though, that one will turn out to be more romance-focused, but it WON'T be out for a WHILE considering I'm at Episode 11, and it'll take at LEAST 10 more episodes to fulfill my wish for this. But read and review just the same!!
Oh. And about Kirei. I just realized his name meant "beautiful". I never realized that, not being Japanese (and NOT paying attention when I first heard it). Oh well. Kirei, his character to me IS pretty, in a masculine kind of way.
Chapter Twelve is awaiting its typing,
Angelic1090
03.22.2001
*Read and Review*
