Escaflowne: The Legacy
By: coolpriss
…A girl in search of her identity…a puissance quietly bidding its time…as it awoke, it claimed her…she who lacks in spirit…yet holds their hearts…
A Sense of Foreboding
Who am I really? What's the purpose of my living? I'm practically good for nothing anyway. No one would really miss me if I would suddenly disappear, or something…I bet no one would even notice…or care…
Her emerald eyes shifted to her back without turning her head. The two girls behind her were whispering and giggling. The teacher droned on and on without noticing. She sighed. Oh, Ayame can whisper and giggle all she wants, and the teacher wouldn't even care. She's the math whiz afterall. Ayame's got everything…looks, brains, sense of humor, friends, and most of all, loads of money. Behind her, the other girl almost laughed out loud, she started to choke. Typical Karu…always laughing. She rolled her eyes, half smiling. Oh, everybody loves Karu. She could play almost any kind of sport. You name it, she can play it. Not only play, heck, she's good! True, she laughs at anything, especially those really embarrassing moments, but she makes fun of everybody and everyone accepts that and just laughs along. Besides, her giggles are contagious! Now, her coughs became louder and more urgent. Her face was bright red, but she was still giggling. Even the quiet girl beside her who was attentively taking down notes on her laptop looked behind and smiled. Yoake…She glanced at the girl on her left, who was smiling shyly and incredulously at the two. She's everybody's friend. Quiet and sensitive. The type you could tell all your secrets to without worrying about the whole school knowing the next day. She's also one of the smartest on our class. Almost always getting the highest grades. If you don't know her, you'd think she's extremely shy and even obnoxious or indifferent, but she's actually sweet and full of energy. She shook her head as Ayame finally reached out and slapped Karu's back hard, which ended the coughing. At the same time, the bell sounded. Jealous?…yeah…probably…why couldn't I be more like them…happy…She sighed. It's time to return to her old, boring self.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Whew! I'm glad THAT's over!" Kanzaki Myaku stretched her arms and stood from her chair. Her eyes hurt from the bright light coming from her laptop. She never really liked Math. She saved her notes in the disk and closed the program and her laptop, stuffing her "notes" into her backpack then slung it over her right shoulder and turned to her friends.
"Let's go," she told the three whispering girls in front of her. Then they burst into laughter. Actually, the two were giggling but one was laughing hysterically.
"What's going on? You've been laughing almost the whole period, Karu, Ayame. Why are you guys laughing?" she asked, smiling good-naturedly.
"Did you see his face?" the girl with short, curly dark brown hair asked her between her hysterical laughter.
"Who?!" Myaku demanded, looking from one girl's face to the others. "Who?!"
"Sshh! Stop it, Karu! Stop laughing!" the beautiful red haired girl tugged on Karu's arm, pulling her out their classroom door.
Myaku, getting frustrated, turned to the other girl.
"What is it?! C'mon, Yoake! Tell me something!"
The girl just smiled and shook her head, her long chestnut hair bobbing slightly. "It's nothing, Myaku, really," she told her with a twinkle in her light brown eyes, following the other two.
Myaku's frown grew deeper. "Yoake…" she called out to the girl, running to keep up with her.
"C'mon, you guys, tell me what happened!" Myaku grabbed the still-laughing Karu's hand. "What is it?!" she demanded.
"Oh, poor, naïve Myaku…" Karu managed to say between fits of laughter.
"WHAT?!" This time, Myaku glared at the redhead beside Karu. "Ayame…" she muttered in an icy tone.
"Okay, okay," Ayame gave in with a mischievous smile. "I'll tell you outside."
The four girls walked to the entrance of their school without a word, with Karu giggling constantly, and Myaku giving them dagger looks, which all the more causes Karu to chortle uncontrollably, until Ayame pinches her, or Yoake jerks her backpack.
Once they reached the front steps, Myaku faced her three so-called friends.
"WHAT?!"
"Promise me you won't get mad?" Ayame asked her friend.
Myaku responded by giving her an icy glare.
"Okay, okay!" Ayame leaned over to Myaku. "Makoto has a huge crush on you," she whispered.
"What?!" Myaku's frown returned. "And where did you get that idea? That's not true, and you know it!"
Karu started laughing again, but stopped when she saw her friend's scowl. "It is true, Myaku! And it's so obvious, too. Didn't you notice, he's always trying to impress you. Besides, nobody could possibly miss the way he looks at you when you're not looking."
"He's known for his big mouth and oh-so-gallant ways. He wants to impress everybody, not just me! Sheesh, you guys! You know nobody takes him seriously! That's just the way he is!" Myaku threw her hands in exasperation.
"Oh, really, huh? You really think that?" Karu's voice dropped to a whisper. "Then look behind you. He's staring, I tell you!"
Myaku shook her head, but looked anyway. She caught the official class pain looking at her with his dark, know-it-all eyes. But his eyes didn't lock with hers; it scanned the whole area, in its usual proud yet casual way.
"See?" Myaku shook her head again, annoyed. They're doing it again. They're always doing this to her: teasing her, matching her up with the weirdest kid they could find, that sort of thing. And it can get really tiring. But they never seem to get tired of it. That is, Karu and Ayame. Yoake rarely ever joins them in their everyday quest to make her uncomfortable. But she's joining them now. And yep, they're her friends.
Karu was once again laughing ardently behind her, with Ayame now joining her. Yoake was losing the battle of self-control, and was also in a fit of giggles. Myaku started to walk away, taking huge steps, to the opposite direction, leaving her friends behind. Her face was burning, and her blood was boiling.
Karu, Ayame and Yoake ran to catch up with her.
"Myaku, we're sorry," Yoake told her when they caught up with her.
"Yeah, Myaku, c'mon, don't get mad," Ayame pleaded.
"Yeah, besides, didn't they say that a person usually gets mad if it's true…Ow!" Karu rubbed her stomach, where Ayame elbowed her.
Myaku ignored them and walked faster.
"Myaku…" Yoake pleaded.
"I'm not mad," the fuming girl muttered, tucking a stray strand of light brown hair behind her ears.
The timid, hazel eyed girl took hold of her arm, forcing her to stop.
"Myaku…" Yoake tried to say something but it came in wheezes.
"It's okay, Yoake," she softened. "I'm not mad." Then she added with a light scowl, "at you, that is."
" Hey, come on, Myaku! Look, we're sorry. We really are. It's just that--" Ayame started but Karu cut in.
"--It is true, and it IS funny, and we simply can't help laughing. Forgive us?" Karu batted her eyelashes, trying to form tears in her light brown eyes.
Myaku just shook her head in exasperation. She knew she couldn't stay mad with her friends for long. Besides, she's pretty much used to them by now.
"Why are you always doing this to me?" she groaned.
"But we're not doing anything! It's true, Myaku, I swear!" Ayame declared, her lips twitching. "Tell her, Yoake!"
Myaku looked at Yoake, and the quiet girl nodded, smiling.
Myaku just rolled her eyes and groaned again.
"Told you so! Why won't you…" Karu stopped when she saw someone approach them.
"You're standing practically in the middle of the track field," a familiar voice told them.
"Kanzaki-sensei!" the four girls chorused.
"What is it, Kanzaki Myaku?" the woman with short, light brown hair regarded her niece. "You look, well, kind of flustered."
Karu started to giggle; this time, two elbows struck her stomach.
Myaku's face turned crimson again. "It's nothing, Coach. Oh, yeah, by the way, dad told me to ask you if you could stay with us tonight. He and mom took off this morning on a family emergency. Grandma slipped and almost broke her pelvis. She's just so stubborn! Anyway, dad said he would probably be back tomorrow, but mom might stay longer. They took sweet little Hikaru with them, and left me alone with Dai, the brat," she frowned as she recalled the scene earlier that morning.
Hitomi smiled. "That's alright with me. I'll be there right after track practice. Speaking of which, get off the track course now, or else we'll never even get to start."
"Hai, Sensei," the four girls waved goodbye to the middle-aged coach of the track team.
~~~***~~~
Hitomi tried to push the feeling aside, but it simply won't go away. It was as if something…important was going to happen today. She pressed the button on the stopwatch hanging on her neck as one of her fastest runners whizzed passed her.
"Fourteen point zero two seconds," she told the panting boy. "Not bad, but not too good either. I told you, try not kicking too much on the beginning. Relax." She gently patted the boy on his back. Then in a louder voice, she told her team, "We're going to have our practice the same tomorrow. The annual track competition starts a few of weeks from now. I'm going to expect perfect attendance in all of our upcoming practices, okay? You guys want to win that gold don't you? Practice, people! Okay, that's it for today." She dismissed her team and took her stopwatch and whistle from her neck.
Then she saw it again. The flash of light that appeared fifteen years ago. She grasped the stopwatch and her whistle in her hand tightly.
I'm sure it's a vision. It just happened…too…fast…I couldn't understand it…I didn't see it clearly…
~~~***~~~
Myaku stepped onto the platform. A green light inspected her eye. After a few seconds, she heard the word "granted" and her profile ran on the tiny computer screen on their front door. The door opened, turning on their power supply that automatically turns off after they leave their house.
She stepped inside the living room and went directly to the kitchen. She got a glass, filled it with water, and gulped it down. With a relieved sigh, she placed the empty glass down and headed for her room upstairs.
"Well, at least Dai's not yet home. I can finally have some quiet time by myself," she muttered.
She was still pissed off about the incident that afternoon, but decided to push the thought aside. She opened her bedroom door and practically threw herself on the bed. She stayed like that, face down, eyes closed on the bed, for a few minutes, then she slowly sat up. She put her backpack on the floor. She was about to get out of her school uniform when an open sketchbook near her window got her attention. She stood up and walked towards it. She was slightly frowning when she heard a boyish voice call her name downstairs.
Dai, she groaned inwardly. "What is it?" she called back.
"I'm going over Yosai 's house for a while," a light brown head popped in her room. He smiled mischievously. "I don't wanna interrupt the ARTIST while she works," he said sarcastically, making a face.
Myaku rolled her emerald green eyes. She folded her arms in front of her. "Be back before dark. Aunt Hitomi's gonna be here…"she called to her running brother.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever," the light brown-eyed boy shouted over his shoulder as he slammed the front door shut.
Myaku rolled her eyes again, and went back to her canvas.
"Not enough light," she muttered, as she tucked the sketchpad under her left arm, while she hurriedly dumped her art materials on her backpack, shrugging it over her other shoulder. She ran down their stairs and onto their backyard. She just loved to work out there, with the cool breeze around her filling her with the wonderful smell of freshness coming from her mother's flowers and plants. She let the bag fell onto the small patch of grassy land while she set her pad down on the metal table. She grabbed a chair and flopped down on it, balancing her tilted work on her lap and behind the edge of the table. She folded her arms and crossed her legs, looking skeptically at her rough drawing.
"Something's missing…" she muttered. She got a pencil and made a few changes. She was working intently at this and didn't notice her aunt standing behind her, until she heard a short gasp. She looked behind, and saw her aunt, staring open-mouthed at her drawing.
"Oh, hi, Coach," Myaku greeted her aunt with a smile. "I know this isn't my style…but, well, I just keep on having dreams like this so I decided to draw it, and get it out of my system…"Myaku babbled while she erased a small line from the huge beast's heart. "Something's still not right though," she sighed, looking back at Hitomi, noticing for the first time that she was still staring at her sketch, her mouth hanging and her face deathly pale.
"Aunt Hitomi! Are you alright?" she asked getting up from her chair so quickly, it fell back. "Aunt Hitomi!"
Hitomi just continued to stare at the rough lines on the sheet of paper, forming a huge robot-like machinery with a dark forest behind it, and the moon and earth suspended on the sky above it.
"Aunt Hitomi!" Myaku was shaking her aunt, her own face becoming pale.
Hitomi finally focused on the frightened girl in front of her. "I…I'm fine, Myaku…" she whispered. "I'm fine…"
"What is it, Aunt Hitomi?" Myaku looked into those pair of green eyes, so identical to hers.
"It's nothing…Myaku…nothing…" Hitomi stammered. She looked at her niece's concerned face, then to the paper. "How…"
"I saw it in a dream," Myaku answered, not taking her eyes off her aunt. "There's even a name floating in my head…"
"Escaflowne…" Hitomi murmured.
"Yes…Escaflowne…but how…" Myaku watched, frowning as her aunt drew in a deep, shaky breath.
"Myaku, I have something to tell you…" Hitomi started, her sad eyes fixing on the girl who looked so much like she did, when she was her age. "Remember when you were young, you used to ask me why I never married?"
Myaku nodded her head, listening curiously to her aunt. "Yeah, you told me it was because the man you love lives far away, and that it was impossible for the two of you to be together."
Hitomi smiled sadly. "That was true. He lived far away…in a place called Gaea…he was the one piloting that robot…guymelef, as they call it…"
"What? What do you mean, Aunt Hitomi?" Myaku's confused eyes looked at her sketch for a second then turned back to Hitomi.
"Just hear me out first, Myaku…please…"
Myaku nodded. Hitomi continued.
"His name is Van Fanel, the king of Fanelia. And that," Hitomi said, looking at the majestic mecha drawn by her niece's hands. "Is Escaflowne, his guymelef."
"Huh?" Myaku stared at her sketch, her brows furrowed in thought. What is she talking about? It sounds impossible…even insane…but I know Aunt Hitomi never lied to me…and it…feels true…somehow…but I don't understand…
At that moment, a bright light enveloped her. Hitomi stared in disbelief as her niece slowly floated on air.
"Wha…What's going on? Aunt Hitomi! Help me! Aunt Hitomi…" Myaku cried out, frantically spreading her arms towards Hitomi.
Hitomi froze. Then a look of sadness filled her face. She reached out her hand to touch Myaku, but she didn't hold her back. She just squeezed her niece's hand then let go. "It's gonna be alright, Myaku…everything's gonna be fine…" she said with such a sad smile, her emerald eyes watering.
Myaku desperately tried to cling to her aunt's hand. "Aunt Hitomi…help…aunt Hitomi…"
Then the light was gone as quickly as it appeared. And so was Myaku.
Hitomi sat down in a heap. She ran her fingers on the exact place her niece's sketchpad had been, the drawing firmly etched in her mind, tears spilling from her emerald eyes down her pale cheeks.
*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*