Shifting Paths Shifting Paths

Well please enjoy and Please Read and Review once more.

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!)
For the record: when this story started, Alice and company were 16, now the last chapter was 6 months after the begininng of the story. They were in the 11th grade and the begininng of this chapter starts 6 months AFTER the last, meaning they've come along one full year of school, meaning they are now in the 12th grade and are the seniors at their school.

(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.

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Flashback

"I love you and I want you to be my girlfriend." Aki announced.

End of Flashback

Alice sighed and dropped her head to her desk. What a day it had been. Aki had confessed his love to her. She thought back to that conversation...

"I love you and I want you to be my girlfriend."

Alice was shocked and tried to muster a feeble answer, "But-but..."

"You don't have to answer me right away, but I want you to think about it. I want you to ask yourself if you can love me, and be sure that I'm the only one you could love. I don't want you lying to yourself about your true feelings so that you don't have to hurt me."

"What do I do Enju?" she asked over the phone, "I don't know what to tell him."

Enju's sharp voice came back from the other side, "That's easy, if you don't like him 'no', if you do like him 'yes'. You do like him don't you?"

"Yeah, but I don't know if I like him in that way," she answered nervously.

"What about Rin? He was right about him wasn't he? You should apologize."

"Why should I apologize!? I was right and he was wrong! Besides, I seriously didn't think that Aki-kun had feelings for me at the time," she retorted.

"Well then what are you going to tell him?"

"I don't know... he was right but what do I say?" she questioned.

"No, no, no! Not Rin, I'm talking about Aki!" Enju cried.

"Oh.. I'm not sure, and I know he's waiting for my answer so I shouldn't make him wait. Oh what am I going to do!?" she wailed.

"Take it easy. Just think about what you want and your options, and give it a nights rest and think about it in the morning with a clear head, so go to sleep now, ok?"

Alice nodded even though she couldn't see her and hung up and laid her head atop her pillow. "What I want..."

"What do I want? Do I really want to become Aki-kun's girlfriend? He's really kind and we have a lot in common... Maybe he's the right one for me. He's dependable, cute, and he doesn't jump to conclusions like a certain "someone" I know...! But it's not like that certain "someone" isn't dependable, he's always been there for me, and he's really very gentle and can be really sweet at times." Alice closed her eyes and pictured Rin in her mind, "I never really realized it before... but Rin's actually really quite good-looking. Why didn't I ever notice? I've been his companion for over a year and I never really noticed how good he really looks. Come to think about it, Rin's never even had girlfriend since he's moved here... I'm sure there must be dozens of girls jumping for the chance to go out with him, so why doesn't he take one of them?"

By now Alice's mind was racing with thoughts , if she kept thinking these things, she'd never be able to relax her mind and fall asleep. With great struggle, she managed to slow down her thoughts and retreat to the world of dreams.

The sun peaked through the thin fabric of Alice's curtains and roused her from her deep sleep. She sat up and put her hand to her forehead. What a strange dream she had had, it was so strange. It was another dream of Gaea, it was the time where she and Van were together in the windmill, but this time she could see his face as he sharpened his sword. She had watched as Van struggled to voice his feelings, and watched as it came out horribly wrong. Then she saw the last time Van and Hitomi had been together, after Hitomi had left, Van turned to her and they took a walk. By some strange magic, the forests of Fanelia turned into the modern streets of Tokyo. She had walked a little ways ahead of him and turned around. Instead of seeing the dark haired king, she saw Aki. What was the meaning of the dream? Was her mind telling her that Aki could be her Van? She gave her decision another thought and decided to stick with it. She got ready and left for school. As she stepped out the door she glanced next door. The spot where Rin usually stood waiting for her was quietly empty, and she walked on pass to the elevator.

In the apartment next door, Rin had made up his mind. He decided he'd apologize to Alice the night before. He didn't want her mad at him, and he wanted to be near her again, and he most certainly couldn't be around her if she wasn't speaking to him. That night he had also made another decision; he was going to tell Alice how he felt. It was the only way she could understand why he reacted the way he had. He held his breath and walked out the door. Just as he stepped out of the apartment, he caught a glimpse of Alice's figure as the elevator door closed and descended. Damn, he had missed his chance. He could run down the flight of stairs and catch up with her, but the wild beating of his tense heart was making him very nervous. Maybe he'd wait till he got to school and told her.

Alice got to class a few minutes before it would start. She noticed both Aki and Rin had not arrived yet. It didn't matter, it would give her time to calm her beating heart. As if by pure chance, both of the boys entered the classroom at the same time. Alice looked transfixed at the two, it was as if fate had put the two next to each other for her to compare. In the narrow doorway she could see how much they looked alike. Same dark hair, the same intense eyes, and skin complexion. Yet they seemed so different, illuminated in the doorway, Aki radiated a more confident aura whereas Rin seemed a bit unsure and very jittery.

A deep voice boomed from behind the boys, "Get in class or you'll be late!"

It was the teacher. The two boys quickly skittered to their seats, and neither look very composed anymore in Alice's eyes. The teacher had moved Aki to the back of the room while Alice still sat up front. She would have to wait before she could give Aki her answer.

Rin watched Alice tentively all through the first hours of class, the more he thought about confessing to her, the more nervous he became. Painful thoughts kept seeping there way into his brain. What if she didn't want to be friends anymore? What if she started to really hate him? What if she-

"OK class, pass up your math homework," the teacher said.

"Math homework...?" Rin muttered. Shit. He forgot to finish it yesterday. After Alice had stormed off, he couldn't concentrate on his work (and he still couldn't do that one problem he had asked her for help on). Everyone passed up their finished homework and the teacher thumbed through their homework, he stopped, "Kobayashi! Where's your homework?!"

"Um... uh... in that pile of homework?" what the hell was he saying?!

"Nice try, Kobayashi. Lunch detention for you today."

What? If he had lunch detention then he couldn't tell Alice at lunch. Things were just really going his way that day weren't they? Maybe if he caught Alice before she left for lunch he could talk to her, it was his only chance during school.

As soon as the lunch bell rang, Rin headed towards Alice who sat in the front by the door. "Alice-" he started, but a strong hand clamped down on his shoulder and pulled him back.

"And where do you think you're going?" the teacher asked.

He stole one last glance at Alice and turned to the teacher defeated. He'd have to hope the teacher was in a good enough mood to let him out early on his detention.

Alice walked briskly through the brightly lit halls, she caught site of Aki and moved towards him. He had caught site of her as well, and seeming to know exactly what she was going to say, he lead her outdoors to a secluded area where no one could hear them.

"I've been thinking about what you asked yesterday. No one has ever said they loved me, and it was quite a shock because I didn't expect or see it," she stopped, but continued; "but, I was really flattered and it made me happy and nervous at the same time. You're really nice to me and-"

Aki cut her off, "OK, I see." she lifted her head a little to look at him better. "Well you can't say I didn't try, I hope-"

This time it was Alice who cut him off, "No, it's not what your thinking."

He stopped and peered at her questioningly.

"In answer to your feelings... I'll be your girlfriend," at hearing this he smiled and she smiled back.

She took his hand in hers and pulled him forward, "C'mon, I have to tell Enju and the others now."

Rin sat in the desk impatiently, he was jumpy and he couldn't seem to stop moving even while sitting in a desk. He started bouncing around in his seat, the wait was nerve wracking! Suddenly he flung up his arms in an attempt to get rid of his excess energy and ended up flinging his desk and nearly hitting the teacher.

"You seem very restless Kobayashi, maybe you shoud go outside and jog it out. I'll let you out from detention a little early," he said in a scared voice.

Without hesitation he dashed through the door in search of Alice.

"Ah! Congratulations you two!" Enju cried. "Finally this lonesome girl's found someone."

"Jeez, Enu!" Alice exclaimed in embarrassment.

"I'm really happy for you two, you really make a good looking couple," Jinpachi put in.

Suddenly the bell rang to show that it was time to head back to class. As the two couples started heading back, Aki shyly took Alice's hand in his and held it. They were about to enter into the school building when Rin came whirling in around the corner and ran right into the group. The impact caused Alice to fall backwards onto the ground and Rin to fall on top of her.

"Alice!" he cried, out of breath, "Where have you been? I've been looking all over for you. I have something I want to tell..." his voice trailed off as his eyes caught site of Alice holding Aki's hand, who was also sprawled on the floor.

"I have something I want to tell you too," she said, standing up. "Aki is my new boyfriend."

"What?! How? When? No...!"

"We better hurry and get to class," Alice said, she turned to Rin, "What was it that you wanted to tell me?"

"Uh... um... I just wanted to say I'm sorry about yesterday," he somehow manage to muster up, "I was acting stupid I guess... C'mon now, we better get to class or we'll be late and I'll get another detention!" Rin then went into class without another word or glance back.

"What's up with him?" Enju asked.

"I'm so stupid," Rin thought, "Here I thought there might have been a small chance that she could have feelings for me, but I guess I was wrong... Why didn't I ever tell her before, baka! baka! baka!"

"Is it me, or is Rin all tense about something?" Alice asked herself, pondering what could be troubling her good friend.

As Rin was walking back home alone, all his mind could think about was Alice. How much he loved her. How much he wished he could just tell her. How much he had hoped that she somehow felt the same way. Despair wrapped around him like the way a person clingly wraps a blanket around them on a cold chilly night. It just wouldn't let go. It stayed in his mind and tormented him all the way home. It just hurt so much. As he neared the path to his apartment building he, spotted Alice and Aki in the front of the building. To his despair, they were holding hands and they looked happy. He saw them stop at the doorway, and they shyly let go of each others hand. A light pink rose into Alice's cheeks as she looked into Aki's eyes. As if to deliver a final blow to his breaking heart, Aki bent down slowly and kissed Alice on the lips goodbye. Before then, Rin's heart had been cracking beneath all the pain, but now it was completely shattered into a thousand tiny sharp pieces that were stabning at his insides. It was like a physical pain, he just couldn't look at them anymore and closed his eyes and averted his gaze. He waited till Aki left and Alice had entered the building before taking another step towards home. By now he was fighting the tears from spilling over. His gaze blurred and he wiped his eyes with the side of his arm.

"I won't cry," he kept repeating to himself as he unlocked the door to his dark and silent apartment, "it's my own fault. I shouldn't cry."

He kept chanting these words to himself as he walked like a zombie to his bed and plopped down. He lay there for god knows how long until he noticed his sheets were wet.

"Huh, what's this?" he said sadly to himself, "Why is my bed all wet?" he touched the side of his face, "When did my face become wet? Was it raining? Oh. They're tears. When did I finally start crying?"

He stared at the tears that had fallen upon his fingers and let out a cry of turmoil and finally stopped trying to hold back the flow of tears...

When Rin awoke the next morning, his whole face was puffy from crying and his whole body ached. It was if the sorrow that had eaten away at his heart and finished with it and had now started on the rest of his body. He had never felt as tired as he had at that moment. Each breath was like a deep struggle and his entire body felt hot, yet freezingly cold at the same time. His mind was totally off school, it felt like a complete blank. There was only the sound of his difficult breathing and the soreness of his facial features.

"Rin...?" Alice called as she stepped into his apartment. It was deadly silent and all the lights were turned off and the curtains were left undrawn. It looked as if no one was home, but then she caught site of Rin's backpack.

She tentively opened the door to his room and peered inside. What she saw mortified her. Rin was lying stark still ontop of his covers with his eyes glazed over. For a moment she thought he was dead, but he gave a low groan and she rushed over to him, tossing her bag to the ground.

"Rin! Rin! What's wrong with you?" Rin softly released her name from his lips as a reply.

She rolled him over and took a look at his swollen face. Could he have been crying? she thought. She put a hand softly to his face and gently went over his painful face. To him, her touch felt like heaven and he sighed in contentment and passed out with a happy thought in mind. It was obvious to Alice that he wouldn't be able to attend school that day, so she quickly pulled his covers over him and tucked him in and left. She would come back after school.

As Rin lay asleep, he dreamt a dream...

He lay in a state of non-moving consciousness in a blank, white world. His body was limp as it floated around in nothingness. He closed his eyes and when he reopened them slightly, he found Hitomi kissing him. Her kiss breathed the life back into his mind and body, as well as the blank world filled with nothingness. Suddenly the world rolled over withi lush green grass and the brightest, most beautiful flowers. The sun shone magnificently up above as he opened his eyes fully and he found her hands on both sides of his face and her head touching his own. He closed his eyes again, but this time when he reopened them, he found Alice was the one with her hands cupped around his face.

"Alice..." he whispered as he brought his own hands to her face and gave her a tender kiss. He was in perfect bliss...

All day during class, Rin's condition troubled Alice gravely. She couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong, she was anxious to head back and check up on him. Her hands shook as she reached to flip the page to her textbook and she found Aki's hand planted on top of her trembling one. He gave her a worried look and asked her what was wrong.

"It's Rin. I'm worried about him. This morning I found him looking like a dead man atop his bead. He wasn't even fully aware of my presence! Oh what could be wrong?" she cried.

Sensing her deep concern he spoke up, "If you want, I could drive you back in my car back to your house and you can check up on him. Maybe that will help put your nerves at peace."

She gave him a grateful look and squeezed his hand firmly. All she had to do was wait...

Rin slept peacefully beneath his covers as he continued his joyous dream. He didn't want to wake up, he was so happy.

When lunch time came around, Alice got into Aki's car and they drove back to her apartment. All the way there, Alice began to become wracked with worry once more. Once the car pulled up to the building, she wasted no time getting out of the car and dashed up the stairs two at a time. She didn't take time for formalities like knocking, she just burst into his apartment and went straight to his room. All the way she had been praying that she would find him up and about his apartment, but to her utter dismay it was as dark and dreary as she had left it. In his room, Rin was lying dormant. She went over and shook him violently, desperately trying to wake him to soothe her fears and anxiety, but he still lay there, breathing in long quiet breaths. Her eyes darted at his alarm clock and noticed that it was nearly time to get back to school. She left his apartment and dashed back downstairs to where Aki was waiting.

"How is he?" he asked.

"He won't wake when I shake him! I can't possibly go back now. Please go back without me, I'll stay here," she said breathlessly.

He nodded his head, "I'll come back after school, OK?"

She nodded and just turned around and quickly ran back up the flight of stairs. She came back up to Rin's bedside and felt his head, he didn't feel sick, but the puffiness had still not left his face. She gripped his hand tightly in hers and hoped that he was alright, she didn't know what she would do if there was something wrong with him. She clasped his hand in both of hers and drew it in towards her head and prayed for him to awaken as she began to cry and struggle to keep up hope.

Rin was quietly sitting with Alice in a garden of vivid red, yellows, and oranges. She turned to him shyly, her cheeks were a light pink color because she was blushing and he held her hand. He gave her another tender kiss which she returned.

"Alice... Have I ever told you that I'm in love with you?" he whispered gently on her cheek. She smiled happily to herself and turned a bright red. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out of her mouth. Her lips were moving but nothing was coming out of her lips. He felt someone clasping he hand and he suddenly began to wake from his dream world.

He turned and saw his hand engulfed in the real Alice's hands and the leftover stain of her tears on her cheek. He gently lifted his other hand and wiped the tear that was at the brink of falling. Her eyes burst open as she looked at him and gasped. She still clung to his hand as she hovered above him.

"Rin! Rin you're awake! Thank goodness," she was so overcome with relief that her body began to shake again.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying?" he asked tenderly.

"You- You-..." she struggled, but she just couldn't speak. He put his hand to her cheek and caressed the side of her face. Her eyes opened in surprise at how gentle his touch was and she leaned into his hand.

She leaned in closer to his face, "Did I ever tell you..." he whispered, her eyes opened to look into his, "that I love you...?" his words trailed off as he raised his face to hers in the same light yet tender kiss he had given her in his dream. "I love you so much..." he whispered, and then he was out again. Alice froze there, shocked. She could still feel the warm touch of his lips on hers and she brought her fingers to her lips and felt them.

"Rin!" she cried. She shook him trying to awaken him once more, but it was no use. "No... What's wrong? Why won't you open your eyes and look at me? ... Look at me lovingly again.... touch my face gently again... kiss me tenderly again... " she pleaded, but his eyes remained shut.

Why? Why didn't he ever tell her? Was that what he was trying to tell her? That he loved her? But what had she done? She went and got together with some other guy. When did she grow to love him so much? She stroked his face pleadingly. Why didn't she notice how much she really loved him? Why did she agree to be Aki's girlfriend? That must have been the reason why he was always so jealous. Suddenly she heard a honk of a car horn outside and she peered out the window. It was Aki. She walked down slowly to the front door, she had to break up with him. She wasn't being fair to him this way.

Aki took one look at her face, and it was as if he knew what she was going to say. She started to speak but he cut her off.

"Don't worry, I understand. I guess I always kind of knew..." he said sadly as he embraced her one last time.

"I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry... You deserve someone who loves you with their whole heart," she said, hugging him back.

"Yeah... I'm just disappointed that person wasn't you..." he trailed off.

There they just stood for what seemed like forever, but it was really only about a minute, because Alice's worry for Rin made her want to go back.

Alice manuevered her way up the stairs faster than humanly possible and went back to Rin's bed side. Just looking at his deathly still faced pained her so much. She took his face in her hands and ran her fingers along the intricate lines of his face, hoping that they would burst into life. Nothing happened, nothing was happening. Why wouldn't he wake up? He finally told her he loved her, so why wasn't he there to recieve her love? The tears burned once again in Alice's as they fell atop his face. Hitomi's pendant glowed with a faint pink light, and it seemed like the light was rapidly fading away...

"Come on! Wake up! When am I going to get the chance to tell you I love you?!" she cried angrily while grasping his hand. She gasped at how cold his hands were, and they seemed to be losing heat quickly...

Van creeped into his dream world once more. Only this time, things weren't as beautiful as they were. Everything was back to it's baren surroundings and there wasn't a single sign of life.

"Alice!" he cried, desperately searching for her admist the world of nothingness. Suddenly she appeared before him.

"What do you want?" she asked in an agitated voice.

"There you are, I was looking for you all over..."

"Why? I don't want to see you," she said. His face fell into a look of horror. "What, did you think I loved you? Just because of one measly kiss, don't be so sentimental!"

"Alice..."

"Why don't you just disappear? I don't ever want to see your face again! You're so pathetic, your groveling makes me sick! Just disappear!"

A pain came from all over Rin's body. It crept from the bottom of his aching heart to the rest of his body. Suddenly Aki appeared by Hitomi's side.

"I don't need you, I have Aki-kun now," she said cooly. She wrapped her arms around him and he did the same. Then there heads went together in a passionate kiss. Rin watched painfully as they kissed each other madly. He couldn't go on like this. It was too much of a burden to his fragile heart. No matter how much he always tried to hide is frail heart, no matter how many times he tried to turn his heart into stone, she was always able to melt all the ice away, and burn his entire soul.

"What's the point of going on? She doesn't even like me. Why did we have to be reborn again? Wasn't the pain enough the first time, now it's twice as much as it was before. What was the reason for my rebirth if it wasn't to be with her? That's all I ever really wanted..." then he quietly closed his eyes and let the life that she once breathed into him, get drained away by the same source.

"Rin! Rin!" Alice pleaded. His hands had started to turn a frightening purplish color, and the life was swiftly leaving his face. "Don't leave me again, damnit! Why won't you see how much love I have for you? Was it all in vain? Tell me!" she cried as she placed her head against his.

"Did I ever tell you... that I love you...?" his words came back to haunt her.

"No you didn't!" she cried. The pendants light was getting dimmer and dimmer.

"I thought we could finally be together, I love you... I've always loved you, come back to me," she whispered. She closed her eyes and leaned into his ghostly face. She then gave her love to him in the form of a kiss. Suddenly the pendant shone with ten times the more light and magnificence then ever before.

"Rin...! Rin...!" someone called out from the dark world of his dreams.

"Who's calling me?" he thought, "I don't want to leave this peaceful dream. The real world hurts too much, Alice will never love me."

"Rin! I found you!" she cried happily.

He suddenly opened his eyes, "Let's go home, OK?" she called.

"Our whole life is waiting ahead of us... You don't have to be sad anymore..."

His eyes shone with a slight bit of hope, "I love you..." she told him truthfully.

She reached her hand towards him, beckoning him to come with her. He raised his hand slowly and took hold of hers, taking them back into the world of reality.


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A Few Authors Notes

The stories getting near the end, now for the wrap up!



E-mail me with questions at: foolishchild5@aol.com