Escaflowne: Dreams of Destiny
Previously on Escaflowne: Dreams of Destiny
Another look into the past, and soon we see the evolution of the enemy... the loss of everyone that might have kept his feelings has pushed Korin Adelphus to this final stage... one of annihilation. The last hope of Gaea - and what worlds may be - lie in the skills of the Four, the Dragon, the Raven, the Eagle... and the Keeper. With the help of Allen Schezar, it may now be the beginning of the end...
// ~ * ~ \\
Hitomi, though she wasn't quite sure why, had been seeing fleeting images and memories of what appeared to be Adelphus...
How strange what one's past may lead to...
Some part of her knew that it was he that was thinking this, but she no idea why she alone (she knew this too, somehow) was seeing it.
What was happening?
Slowly, Hitomi could feel her connections to the other world, to Varie, closing, and at the same time her awareness expanding so that she was aware of everything that was happening on the battlefield below.
She knew that this time, this suspended animation was fleeting, that soon she would have to create diversions so that her beloved and his comrades would stay alive, that she would have to fight to ensure that the Gate would be opened, and sealed accordingly.
A part of her whispered, one that stood separate from all other recesses of her mind...
This, this Kanzaki Hitomi, will be the beginning of the end...
Or the end of the beginning.
Hitomi's eyes flashed open.
***
Van, for his part, though he hadn't seen what was happening, knew that Hitomi's mind was somehow changing in all of this. He desperately wanted to talk to her; to see what he could do to help, but his attention had to be kept on the battle and war he was waging now. There were only four of them, and the ten, maybe twenty melefs that Asturia had sent on the Crusade.
Twenty-four if none of them had been destroyed, against thousands.
Van, inexplicably, had become the leader by default, and, tactically, sent groups of four, for the normal Asturian guymelefs, at a stand of Goshem's in small bursts. Enough that more than a few of the enemy's would be destroyed, but fast enough that they, in all hopes, would not lost a soldier.
But despite whatever else he was accomplishing, all but that tiny part, his mind, was on Hitomi.
By the gods... if she dies, regardless of how, in this battle, I will take revenge on everything that has tried to take her from me.
***
In the trenches of the enemy lines, between the borders of Fanelia and Basram, lay the Goshemin army, those that had not advanced yet.
These were just the foot soldiers, those that had not been skilled enough to be deemed part of Black Warrior Clan...
They were bitter.
Gods, were they bitter
Personally rejected by the leader of the cause they had chosen to follow...
Or the Clan leaders.
There had been five at the beginning of the training, that time long ago, at the end of the first war, when all of this had started to come together, piece by piece, at the end of the last war.
All of Goshem's soldiers had desired revenge against someone in the war...
And with this final battle, everything would be over...
Or just beginning.
But, here and now, the legion of foot soldiers waited, some with apprehension, some with sheer fury.
It had only been a few hours since their descent unto the land of dragons...
The soldiers could not help but wonder how much longer it would be until Fate would finally reveal itself.
***
Varie watched in despair as the last of the links closed.
This was it then; she could no longer help Hitomi...
Why her ancestors had chosen her, to do this, she was uncertain.
For now, Varie Fanel, mother of Folken Lacour de Fanel, and Van Slanzar de Fanel, watched in stunned silence as the decision of Gaea's fate began...
***
"Sir, we are now at critical point..."
This seemed to jar Adelphus, yet again, from his brooding.
"Is it ready?"
"Yes, sir, General, but the keys will be still be able to unlock the Gateway if we destroy them now."
"What? Only the Keeper should be able to unlock the Gateway, fool."
"Yes, sir, but we still do not have all the knowledge of this even at this point. It may be possible for one of the other Four to utilize the three."
"Damn this, damn them. As soon as we are ready and able to fire, notify me."
"Yes sir."
***
It's gone. I'm on my own now.
Somehow, this thought no longer scared Hitomi...
The pendant was still innately suspended between her two hands, glowing so fiercely that she should've been blinded, and yet she could still see.
Glimpses of the battlefield below...
Fleeting images of the three that had sworn to protect her, and more than that, the one among the three that she had pledged her heart to.
She could feel him fight, could sense his yearning to fly up to help her, or at least try to contact her to see if she was safe, that she was alright.
Mentally, she smiled at the thought. But she too, knew that his attention had to be kept on the battle, or there would be sorrow after all this hardship.
She couldn't let that happen, she would lose no one in this war, not now that she had finally found her fate.
I don't believe in destiny...
Her words from so long ago. She wasn't quite sure what she believed now, she had taken up the Tarot again, she had foreseen what would happen, had accepted her visions.
But whatever she believed now, she had a role to play, a task to accomplish.
And though Hitomi would never be a soldier, she had one thought in her mind.
Gods help the fools who will try to stop me from bringing Gaea into eternal peace.
***
Allen Schezar, for his part, though he himself was skilled, and he and Scherezade moved as a single entity, was still having trouble with the sheer numbers of the suits flying in their general direction. He barely had the time to breathe as he determinedly swung again and again, taking a melef out each time.
He now began to wonder how the Fanel cousins and Khristos managed to have a steady argument during all of this.
And in the back of his mind, he somewhat wondered where on Gaea Hitomi was.
***
Rallin Ulrain Khristos confronted his enemies with a calmness and passivity that would have anyone spooked, the emotionless expression on his face never wavering, a mask of stone as the guymelefs continued to hurtle towards he and Minuit.
But such tumultuous thoughts were running through his mind.
He had once been a part of these soldiers, a leader, even.
Did he regret switching sides?
No. He had lost all soldiers he might have trusted what seemed like ages ago...
And though he mourned them, he had also gained what he thought he would never have again...
His best friend, and in a sense, a family.
They would never replace his dear twin, or his baby brother.
But they began to fill the hole that had begun the day he renounced his ties to Fanelia.
What was it that the Keeper - Hitomi, he amended silently, still getting used to the feel - told him?
/Flashback/
"You know, in a lot of ways, this war is much like the last one. The same country, if only under a different name, and the same fight waged between family..."
"What do you mean Hitomi?"
"Rallin... in the last war, for a very long time Van and his brother were on opposite sides. It got to the point where Van would not have hesitated killing him if not for revenge of their homeland, but because he was once a threat to me."
"His brother..."
"Folken," nodded Hitomi, "he had gone missing a while ago. But it isn't really my story to tell. At any rate, after the death of Nariya and her sister, I suppose he realized his mistake, because before we could even blink he was on our side again."
"I never really heard about the war... after I left Fanelia the first time I was a travelling mercenary, forever alone. And then I had joined the ranks of Goshem..." Ralllin paused, remembering, "but I've never seen his brother."
"He died killing Dornkirk."
"Oh..." he paused again, wondering why Hitomi was telling me this, "if that is so, Hitomi, than what is the similarity here?"
"Though you and Kirei are not related by blood, you have much of the same bond as Van and Folken did. I only pray that the same end does not come to either of you."
With that, she left Rallin to his thoughts, heading back towards Van."
/End Flashback/
Would it happen again? Would the sacrifice of one of their small group of four have to be done to end the war?
Rallin, heart-hardened as he had become, hoped not.
He had gained so much in last few months...
He did not want to lose it again.
***
The pendant is the link...
There is not much longer until I must activate it...
Adelphus is waiting...
For the sake of Gaea...
For peace in an eternity...
I will.
Hitomi's eyes opened once again, to gaze at the glowing pendant, and as if with her mind, watched it silently rise until it was suspended over her, the chain flowing limply down from it like a gold waterfall.
"Tendou..."
Divine Justice...
// ~ * ~ \\
*Peeks out from behind a book*
Hi!!
This chapter wrote itself a LOT faster than the last one, and I'm fairly happy with it... and I can't believe I'm already at 30 chapters. o.O This is THIRTY chapters. *nearly faints* Oh well. You guys don't seem to mind the fact that this is so darn LONG... right?
Plus I ended it a bit later than I thought I would (so many good... cliff-... I mean *endings*)
I don't know when the next one will be out since I'm finally in the full swing of school, and well, there's homework. A LOT of it.
Hope you enjoyed, and PLEASE, PLEASE, Read and Review!
Angelic1090
08.09.2001
P.S. Can you ALL review? I'm dying to get 350 by the end of this, and there's only a few more chapters left...
P.P.S For RiverDolphin, since she was kind of enough to mail me chapters of a story I couldn't access! ^_^ Thanks and I'll see you soon!
