Caught in a Childhood Promise and Past Lives
Caught in a Childhood Promise and Past Lives
Haha! Chapter 2 is now finished, as always, please read and review and I hope you enjoy it!
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"Alice, just now, we both said the same thing. 'Escaflowne'," Rin says suddenly.
Alice stops in her tracks. How did he know about Escaflowne? It had been a dream, but how? How did he know? They stare at each other, and their past life forms place themselves over their bodies in each others eyes. "Hitomi..." "Van..."
"Hitomi!" he cries. "Van!" she says happily. Then as Hitomi and Van, they hug each other tight.
"Hitomi, I never thought I'd see you again," Van cried while holding her.
"Van... How I've waited for the time when we could be see each other again..." Hitomi trails off and looks into his eyes. Her green eyes peer at him as they back away slightly from each other. She tiptoes up, as his head leans downward. Their lips meet and they kiss with tears streaming down their face. Suddenly both Alice and Rin snap out of it at the same time. They suddenly realized what the dreams all meant and who they once were. They are both crying now because they feel overwhelmed. They are still holding each other, but they don't notice as there arms are wrapped around each other because they are deep in thought. Then their senses come to them fully and they realize that their arms around each other. They pull back, not facing each other. Alice can still feel the warmth from his strong arms and touches her fingers to her lips. Rin is too scared to look at her, but he can still smell her sweet scent of honeysuckles on his clothes and taste her soft lips from the kiss their bodies just shared. Alice then walks toward the door and goes home, Rin is still standing there, shocked, he then goes to bed. In her room, Alice also goes to bed. Again they both dream of their adventures in Gaea as Van and Hitomi. They are starting to remember all about their past lives and each other in these dreams. In Alice's room we see her gripping Rin's jacket tightly around her, she's crying in her sleep.
The next day in the early morning, Alice wakes up and finds Rin's jacket in her arms and realizes she'll have to return it, and thank him for taking her back after she passed out. She sits up in bed and holds the jacket tightly to her, not sure of what she was feeling. Rin is already out of bed, sitting on the sofa where he had laid Alice, and closes his eyes, equally as confused about what was going on and about his feelings. He knew who they were in the past, but he wasn't sure if the feelings he kept having were because of that. He sighs and his mind flashes back to the time he kissed Alice in her sleep. She had looked so beautifully peaceful and innocent at that time, he just couldn't help himself. Suddenly a vision of Gaea and Escaflowne, startling him. Before it becomes anything, he's jolted back into the present when he hears a knock on the door. He goes up to answer and finds Alice at the door, he's surprised at her appearance in front of him, not sure what to say, but he does have enough sense to remember to invite her in.
"A-arigatou... For carrying me back yesterday..." she hands him the jacket and their fingers temporarily touched.
"Don't worry about it," he tells her, not quite looking her in the eye. They were both uncomfortable, because they knew they had to talk about what had just occurred last night.
"So, what do you make of all this?" she asks, breaking his train of thought.
"I don't know, I just know that lately I've been having these visions and dreams ever since I moved here and met you," he looks up at her now. "Apparently they weren't just dreams, but memories of a past life, I never would have considered that was what it was, until last night..."
"Me either, but we are still who we are, past life or not. This is our new life, we shouldn't dwell on the past. So let's just forget about this, alright?" she asked.
"Whatever you want," he said in a bland tone.
"I mean, I'm already engaged and all... I couldn't possibly live out a life that isn't mine anymore, can I?" she asked uncertainly.
"I guess not," he relaxed a bit, but also seemed a bit troubled by what she has just said, "I hope this won't change anything between us. I want you to know that you can come to me about anything."
She smiles, "I know."
She then reminds him that school is soon and that he should get ready. She waits, sitting on the sofa, for him to get ready for school. Her gaze goes to the spot they were standing that night. She knows they were probably possessed by their former incarnations, but she still feels a bit of electricity between them. She can't quite deny it, even if she is engaged to Jinpachi, but she can't believe that what she felt was real, because it could just be Hitomi's feelings, and not her hearts... Rin is now ready and they walk out the door together, both looking a bit tired and like they had cried. Just while they are walking out, Jinpachi comes out of his apartment. He's startled to see them together so early in the morning and coming out of Rin's apartment together. As soon as he sees the both of them, together and a bit tense, he can tell something isn't quite right. To add onto his new troubles, he had those dreams again. Of fighting in guymelefs, in the dreams he was called Allen Schezar, and he traveled with Van, the king of Fanelia; Millerna-hime, the princess of Asturia; and Hitomi, a girl from Earth which was called the Mystic Moon (or the maboroshi no tsuki, actually maboroshi translates into something more like phantom or illusion, but because of the song Mystic Eyes, I think Mystic Moon goes a bit better for the story line). They had been in a place called Gaea. He didn't understand it at all. He turns and sees Alice and Rin looking at each other a bit uncomfortably. He can't help but notice that they look a lot like Van and Hitomi from his dreams, which troubles him and makes him jealous that there was something strange going on between them.
They all walked to Enju's place in silence. Enju herself was smiling, as she just dreamt of Gaea last night herself. She dreamt of Allen of course, that was the reason for the smile on her face. Unlike the others, she knew what the dreams meant, because of the way Allen and Jinpachi looked alike. She then felt like her feelings for him weren't that off course and unbelievable after all. She had liked him for a long time. She has always tried to get close to him, but he was already engaged to Alice even before they met. When Enju meets up with them, they can't help but notice the grin on her face. Curious at what it's all about, Jinpachi asks her. She reddens slightly and says she had a marvelous dream last night, trying to drop a hint and hoping to arise the memories in Jinpachi of them together in their past lives.
"I dreamed I was a princess of Asturia named Millerna," the other three stop dead in their tracks, and she continues. "In that life, I was in love with Allen Schezar, and we traveled together with Hitomi and Van in a place where the moon and the earth hang in the sky called Gaea."
"Wait, Enju, you had the dreams of Gaea too?" Enju then stops, hearing Alice suddenly speak. She knew who Allen was in her dreams, but it hadn't occured to her that Alice looked a lot like Hitomi as well.
"... Hitomi...?" she asks unsure.
"Millerna?" Alice responds shocked.
"Hitomi? Millerna? What are you both talking about, it was only a dream, and how do you both know about my dream?" Jinpachi asked bewildered.
"Don't you get it, Allen? Don't you understand who we all are yet?" she turns to him with hope in her blue eyes, "We are the reincarnations of those in our dreams. Those dreams are the memories of those people."
The realization finally sinks into his head, and he remembers falling in love with Hitomi. "Then... It's you... Hitomi..." he looks at Alice as Enju's face falls.
Alice is now looking at Rin and the others. How was it that they had all been able to come together again, the chances were one-in-a-million, yet it happened.
"Alice, you don't seem that shocked, how did you know?" Enju asked suddenly.
Jinpachi looks at her and she looks at Rin, "I've been having the visions and dreams of Gaea for awhile..."
She stops, but then continues, "Yesterday when me and Rin were walking to the library, I had a vision of Gaea and the terrible war we were once in. Then I fainted, so Rin brought me back to his apartment, and it turns out he also had the same kind of dreams. We then both realized who we were and what was going on."
Alice had purposely left out the part about the kiss. "I was Hitomi... and Rin was Van in our last lives."
Jinpachi visibly tensed at this new piece of information, "So, what does this all mean?"
"I'm not sure, I don't know why we have to remember are past lives, when we're living new lives as new people..." Alice said quietly.
"Anyway, we can all talk about this later, we'll all be late for school," Enju said somewhat let down.
At school they are all very confused and distracted. Enju keeps sneaking looks at Jinpachi next to her, while he's looking at Alice and Rin in front of him. He's troubled, because he remembers what happened between them on Gaea, and how it ended with Allen and Hitomi. He's determined not to let his past life take hold of their new ones.
The tension up front with Alice and Rin was enormous. They sat next to each other, and even though they said nothing would change, things were very uncomfortable. It was like both were trying so hard not to come in physical contact of the other, but then again they were sitting next to each other which made it extremely difficult. At lunch, they all gathered to talk.
"I don't see how this affects us, we are no longer these people," Jinpachi said angrily.
"But there must be a reason as to why we are having these dreams. Our memories must have been stirred when all four of us came together and met," Enju said.
"Maybe there's something happening to Gaea? Or there's some kind of unfinished business that needs to be resolved with these four people..." Rin said thoughtfully.
"Whatever it is, I think we should forget about it. The visions I had of Gaea at war were terrifying. I would not like to have a relapse of that..." Alice said softly, they all turned and looked at her, worried.
"Since it seems so hard on Alice, let's try and forget all this and live our lives out as we should have," Rin said.
Jinpachi was grateful for an excuse to not remember the past, but was suspicious of the way that Rin was being so protective and close of Alice. To change the subject, Jinpachi mentions that he'll be going to the doctors tomorrow to get an X-ray done of his skull. Rin has no idea why he said that at all, but it seems to affect the other two quite seriously, so he decides to ask later about it. Alice seemed shaken by this small piece of news and looks very nervous.
"Alice, do you want to come with me tomorrow? I'm a bit scared of going there all on my own," Jinpachi said.
"Sorry, I can't, I have to watch my little brother today since okaasan will be late tonight," she turns to look at Enju though, "why don't you go with Jinpachi? You don't have anything to do, and besides, you want to be a doctor so this may give you some experience."
"Sure, if he doesn't mind me coming," she smiles shyly at him.
He agrees, but he wishes that Alice could have gone with him. After that, everyone seemed to relax because they had gotten the situation out of their way, but Alice was still tense, probably even more tense than when they had lunch, but nobody seemed to notice except Rin. Later on, as Enju and Rin were walking to class by themselves, he asks what has Alice so tense, it seemed like no one has noticed at all. That's not necessarily true though.
"You see..." Enju hesitated, but then continued. "She's tense because of Jinpachi's X-ray, and she's scared there maybe something wrong with him."
"She sounds like she really loves him..." Rin sighed, depressed.
"That's not it at all!" she cries a little too defensively, "It's just that... If there was something wrong with him, she'd feel responsible..."
Rin is puzzled by this and asks her to explain.
"You see, back when Alice and Jinpachi both new each other as small children, they had a little accident," she said quietly. "Jinpachi was teasing her and threw her pendant out the window, apparently she got really mad at him and slapped him, at the time he was sitting on the railing of the balcony. That was pretty unsafe, and you can guess that he fell. Fortunately, he didn't seem too badly injured, but they aren't too sure to this day. Tomorrow is they day they'll be able to confirm everything if anything."
He watches her worried expression. "That's why she has promised Jinpachi that she'll marry him, because it was her fault that this happened. If something was wrong with him... I don't know what we would do..." she trails off and looks like she's on the verge of tears.
Rin is quite shocked at this discovery. He waits till she has recovered herself, and thanks her for telling him.
The next day, everyone's tense over Jinpachi, especially Enju and Alice. After school, Enju goes with Jinpachi to the hospital while Alice walks home with Rin. He can sense her uneasiness and tells her not to worry. She smiles at him and says that she's not, and that it's just a regular check up, nothing to worry about, but you can see the tears that are already forming in her eyes.
"I know already, you don't have to try and hide it from me. If you need a shoulder to cry on, you can cry on mine. Don't hold it all in, it'll just make you feel worst," he tells her kindly.
The tears start to come down slowly as if she's trying to restrain them, but then they fall freely and she sobs. He hugs her and tries to comfort her.
"It's not your fault if something bad happens, OK?" he can feel her slightly shake her head against his chest, but he continues anyway. "Just remember, you can always count on me if you need someone, alright?"
She utters a feeble thank you, and detaches herself from his arms, "I'm OK now, thank you."
They walk home in silence as Alice thinks about Jinpachi.
"He's my oldest friend, if there were something wrong with him, what would I do? You know what you would do... You'd marry him like you promised when you were young and he regained consciousness after he fell of the verandah. I owe him that at least, but what if there's nothing wrong? Would I still feel the same way? What am I going to do...? It would break his heart if I told him I didn't want to be engaged to him and that I didn't feel the way he did..."
When they got to their apartment, Rin asked her if she was OK before she left and if she wanted him to wait with her. She took this into consideration, she felt so lonely and helpless that she took him up on his offer and invited him into her apartment. From there they watched out the window for Jinpachi and Enju to return.
At the doctors, Enju and Jinpachi wait anxiously for the results. They hold their breaths as the doctor comes in. He tells them the results and they are happy. They jump up and hug each other, so caught up in the moment, Jinpachi even kisses her on the cheek, which makes her blush and smile. They walk back, both very happy. Enju now thinks that since Jinpachi is alright, Alice doesn't have to stay engaged to him and she can have her chance to win him. As they near Alice's building, Jinpachi asks if she can fetch Alice and leave them, for he had to talk with her. She agrees and makes the assumption that he is going to tell her she doesn't have to marry him anymore. She runs up to the building before Jinpachi and races up the stairs. She knocks on Alice's' door and tells her that Jinpachi wants to see her downstairs. She notices Rin in her apartment and gives her a questioning look. She then asks if the news is bad, dreading the worst.
"No, it's good news. Everything is fine," she said joyfully. Alice then races down the stairs herself as Enju goes into her apartment. Rin then said that maybe they both should go down and see Jinpachi after he's done talking to Alice. She agrees and they quietly sneak downstairs, hiding from the two out on the sidewalk.
"Jinpachi, I'm so glad your OK," Alice cries.
"Oh, so you already heard the news from Enju, huh? Isn't that great?" he looks her in the eyes, "You know, I feel like I escaped death and I'm finally going to live life to its fullest now."
He eyes her a bit shyly and she wonders what he's thinking. "So, are you in a good mood right now?"
"Hmm?" she tilts her head questioningly, smiling lightly at him.
"OK then, close your eyes and don't peak." he tells her.
She does this and wonders what he's doing. Suddenly she feels his lips on hers. He's just kissed her, it's their first kiss. Enju watches in horror as her hopes go down the drain and Rin watches, distraught.
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Ok, this chapter has more stuff to write about than the other. In my fic, Hitomi still looks a lot like Hitomi even after she's reincarnated. In PSME, they don't look the same as they did before, but I changed that because it just wouldn't be a Escaflowne fic with out Hitomi's eyes being green. As for Jinpachi having an accident when he was young and falling off the verandah, well this is how it really went in the original story: Alice has just taken Rin to the zoo, and she bumps into Jinpachi and Issei. After that they explain to her about their dreams of the moon and their memories. Jinpachi makes a comment on how he feels like he knew Alice before, which makes her blush. Rin, after finishing his ice cream is mad and angry. He's jealous of course. So when they get back (Alice was babysitting him the whole day) he tells her he feels like he knew her before too. She then says that even though he's a child he sounds a lot like an adult sometimes. He then gets really mad and asks her if she's in love with Jinpachi and if she was going to marry him. She then asks "What if I were?" He then picks up the crocus bulb souvenir from the zoo and runs to the balcony and sits on the railing, then says: "Alice, watch" and he drops it the bulb down and they both watch it fall. She gets mad at him and asks what the hell he was doing and slaps him. The slap sends him falling down the balcony railing and she clutches at his feet, but eventually he slips out of her grasps. Then she prays he'll be alright, and after he regains conciousness at the hospital, he calls her to come see him. She's overjoyed he's alright, but she doesn't know that he experienced his first moon dream while unconcious. She doesn't even know about them then. So, now they are in all good spirits. Alice is walking back from school again and Rin comes up to her from behind. She asks if he's going back to school soon and he said that she seemed to be in a good mood. Then he asks if it's Ok? She's puzzled and tilts her head sideways in a questioning look, she's kneeling and he promises to spit out his gum this time. He then kisses her. This is where the kiss scene idea in this fic was inspired by. Now the engagment, after he kisses Alice, she goes home and her mother asks if she's really going to marry Rin. She then blacks out and has her first moon dream. The next morning her mother said she talked with Rin's mother and she said that it was alright to humor him, since he was just a little child, and she could say they were engaged. She agrees to this, and is still dazed from her dream, and if you didn't catch on, the "moon dreams" are dreams of the scientist lives on the moon, their memories. Well that's it for this chapter. In the 3rd chapter I'll explain the Enju and Jinpachi complex!
This one was even longer than the first. I hoped you liked it and please read and review! Any comments please e-mail me at: foolishchild5@aol.com
A Reminder on the Characters...
Kanzaki Hitomi is Sakaguchi Alice (Arisu)
Van de Fanel is Kobayashi Rin (Ring)
Allen Schezar is Ogura Jinpachi
Millerna ? is Nishikiori Enju (OK, so the original name was Nishikiori Issei, but that was a guy, so I'm changing it. His past life name was, Enju, and YES he was a women reborn as a MAN!)
Another Reminder, my chapters are quite long, so I'm warning you before you read if you don't like long stories!
(writing) - things in parentheses are my notes and thoughts
writing - words in italics are what the characters thinking or flashbacks
Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne or anything of Please Save My Earth for that matter.
A Few Notes on How This Fic is Related to Please Save My Earth
