Konbanwa minna-san!!! For the oddest reasons, I write whenever the urge
hits and I find myself writing at 11:30pm.I should be in bed, but I'll be
nice and regale you faithful readers with this fourth segment of "A Silent
Moment". Oh yeah, I just figured that neither color nor bold and italics
work on fanfic.net, I AM MAD. Oh well, that's okay, I'll just assume that
my readers possess the intelligence needed to figure out who is thinking
what and so on.
Thanks to LOVEWITCH, wingedgoddess, MysticalDreamer, FayeValentine00, and Ruby for reviewing. YOU DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH IT MEANS TO ME!!!!
NOTE: by the way, for MysticalDreamer: the lyrics in chapter 3 were from Neon Evangelion Genesis. It's a great anime that everyone should watch!!!
Disclaimer: The sun comes down and the moon comes up, and I do not own Escaflowne.
A Silent Moment:: Chapter 4
The sun rose high in the sky, bathing the green land with its warming light. Van Fanel sighed as he glanced down at his outfit.
He was getting married [AN: ::shock:: Van's getting married?!] and his counselors were overjoyed.
Rubbing the itch at the base of his neck, Van mentally cursed himself. He was dressed in the dark, royal blue of the Fanelian court. The wedding robes were made of the softest of silks; a royal blue tunic with the Fanelian dragon embroidered in gold thread on its front, covered a white puffy-sleeved cotton shirt.
The tunic flowed to the ground, hiding the earthy-colored pants that he adamantly insisted on wearing. His counselors were shocked to say the least when he insisted on wearing the pants he had worn during the war for his wedding; therefore they had forced him to wear the ground-sweeping tunic.
While he had managed to keep his pants, much to Van's dismay, he found a new, polished pair of boots to compliment his outfit.
Gods.what I am getting myself into.?
Van turned his head towards the Mystic Moon floating almost invisible in the sunlit sky.
Hitomi.forgive me.
The bell tolled waking Van from his reverie. He slowly stood up from where he had been sittting, brushing the dirt and debris from his spotless outfit as he climbed down off the roof of the palace.
Almost immediately a swarm of stiff-necked counselors spotted him and rushed over in a panic, tripping over one another.
"Van-sama!!!! Today is a very important day, it marks the day of the union of Fanelia and Freid!!! Your wedding to Princess Kishe, the younger sister of Prince Chid, is vitally important to the power of our country!!! How could you forget that??!!! Van-sama!!!!!!!!!"
"Hai, hai, I'm ready now.for the ceremony."
As Van walked away surrounded by his chattering counselors, Merle watched him sadly from her hidden spot on the other side of the palace roofs.
"Van-sama.You haven't stopped lying to yourself. You said that you could forget Hitomi and move on with your life. I told you that you couldn't do it; I know you better than anyone else.Van-sama."
Looking towards the Mystic Moon, Merle pleaded with the sky.
"Onegai.Hitomi.come back and save Van-sama."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(***)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Van glanced sideways at his bride-to-be. Princess Kishe was the younger sister of Chid of Freid. She had been away from Chid at the time when Van had been imprisoned. [ AN: episode 10 or 11 in the television series, if you're curious.]*
However, unlike Chid, her father was not Allen. The Duke of Freid had one child, and that was the princess Kishe. She had long, ebony hair that flowed in gentle tresses to her waist, but was at the moment tied up in an elegant bun at the back of her head.
She had a small slight frame and finely carved features.
Kishe wore a delicate dress, which seemed to have been woven from the very petals of a lily. A veil of the finest and clearest material floated around her face, which she kept bowed. She was rather frail and had careless, indifferent personality.
The kind of person I never wanted to marry. Hitomi.no.you are dead to me. But it wasn't my fault.
As Van wrestled with himself, his feet brought him rapidly towards the altar; the point of no return. He kneeled as Kishe beside him did the same. The priests began their monotonous incantations of the ancient Fanelian marriage rites.
Van, closing his eyes, dipped his head unconsciously in a silent farewell to the one who he could never have.
"Princess Kishe, the only daughter of the Duke of Freid and brother to Prince Chid of Freid, do you accept the union of Van Slanzar de Fanel of Fanelia with yourself to be appropriate and desirable?"
"Hai." Was Kishe's indifferent response. Van shivered involuntarily.
"Van Slanzar de Fanel, king of Fanelia, do you in turn, accept the union of yourself and the Princess Kishe?"
Van's mind kept screaming at him, NO, NO, NO, Hitomi is not dead, why are you betraying her, and more importantly yourself????!!!!!
Roughly shoving aside the thoughts he feared to be true, Van glanced up, his reply caught slightly in his throat.
"H..ha.."
[AN: WOW! I never knew I was so good at these dramatic cliffhanger endings. But fear not, dear readers, the chapter is not over yet!]
A blue pillar of light suddenly engulfed the altar. Kishe stood up in surprise, her wedding veil starting to come undone.
Van, his heart clenching painfully in his chest, looked skyward in.was it apprehension, or was it relief?
Hitomi screamed as the blue light released her and she fell the last couple feet to earth. Shutting her eyes tightly, Hitomi screamed as loud as her already raw throat would allow, but abruptly stopped as she came tumbling down upon something soft.
Cautiously opening her eyes, Hitomi glanced downward. Much to her chastisement, she had landed upon a young gentleman, in the middle of his wedding!
"Go..GOMEN NASAI!!!"
Hitomi quickly scrambled off his chest and ran for the crowd surrounding the altar.
Van slowly stood up; he had been caught unaware even though he had been staring at the sky. Much to his disappointment, or relief?
Once again, Van was caught in the turmoil of his own feelings. A young girl had fallen upon him, but there was no way that it could have been Hitomi.
This girl had shoulder-length hair, a little longer than Hitomi's, but the astonishing thing was that she had two swords strapped to her thigh, and she had Fanelian clothing on.
A girl.who is not Hitomi.WAIT, those clothes, they're mine!
"Guards!! Stop her!!"
Hitomi tried not to panic as she heard the young lord order his guards on her.
I'm not surprised; after all, I did interrupt his wedding. But I can't afford to be caught right now, I've got to find Van!
Hitomi pushed her way roughly through the crowds. Luckily the people were still in shock from her sudden appearance and made no move to stop her.
As the guards stomped after her, Hitomi noticed that her pursuers were all equipped with heavy armor, whereas she had only the lightweight cloth of her Fanelian clothes.
Hitomi stopped pushing through the crowd and instead, starting worming her way through the cracks between the people. The guards she knew, would not shove the citizens aside for they wanted to refrain from injuring innocent people, or at least she prayed that this was so.
Van watched as the young stranger wormed her way through the crowd, as she lightly scaled a wall and lost his guards. He felt nothing, the strange girl had escaped, but something small was tugging inside of him.
Shushing the tremor in his heart, which the girl had awakened unexpectedly, he turned towards the altar. The bride-to-be was nowhere to be seen, and Van was highly suspicious that she had run off to Freid's ambassador to complain, for Kishe did not like Van, and their feeling was mutual.
Van turned away from the confused crowd and began to make his way back to the palace. Opting to avoid his counselors, he slipped into a side-alley and continued unseen.
Merle, however, noticed Van's escape. Leaping lightly down from her post behind the pillars that surrounded the altar, she scampered after Van.
"Vaaaannn-saamaaa!!!"
Van turned, slightly surprised, as a small furry body knocked into him.
"Merle! What are you doing here?"
"Van-sama.I came to watch your mistake."
"::sigh::, Merle, you knew I had no choice."
"You were thinking about her.weren't you.?"
"NO! I was not!"
"Uso desu!! (That's a lie!) I.I know how you feel.How could you? How could you just throw her away?!!"
With this last exclamation, Merle ran from Van, her hurt showed plainly upon her feline features.
Van sighed, he knew that Merle, Allen, Millerna, and the rest of his old friends thought him the biggest fool.
Am I a fool? For caring about my country? Hahaue wo yakusoku ni shimasu.( I promised my mother) I promised that I would be a strong king. I cannot throw away my country for.for.one girl!!
With this, Van walked off resolutely, or at least to the untrained eye. Merle had run off and returned hidden to watch Van's reaction. She knew.resolute was the last thing Van was.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(***)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Did I lose them?
Hitomi breathed heavily as she leaned against the shadowed wall of a building. She was exhausted, after scaling the wall that surrounded the palace, she had gotten herself lost in the maze of buildings.
Hitomi slid down the wall until she was sitting on the dirt ground, trying to stop the tears which threatened to fall.
Dame.(no.) I can't cry right now, I've got to get out of here.
Pulling herself off the ground, Hitomi saw a fringe of dark-green bordering the wall top, which surrounded the city. The gate, Hitomi was willing to bet, was still quite a ways away. However, she could not afford to get caught in this city.
After some time, Hitomi finally reached the entrance. The gate was a strong oaken piece of wood held together by metal contraptions. The gate could be lowered and raised by a bunch of confusing metal wheels and switches that were connected to a gatehouse next to the gate arch.
Resolved, Hitomi started creeping towards the gate, hoping to remain unseen.
As she neared the gate, she noticed that the guards were obviously exhausted after a day of welcoming guests and visitors for the wedding.
Yoshi! (Alright!) I can do this, the guards are much too tired to chase me.
Hitomi jogged lightly towards the gate, trying to act inconspicuous. The two guards noticed her approach and waited until she was a few feet ahead of them before coming to block her path.
"Who are you? And to what destination are you traveling?"
"Uh..uh.. I'm just a regular village girl, um.I'm going out to..uh.practice!!"
"Practice what?" Asked one of the guards suspiciously.
"um..to."
"Chotto (wait)! Those swords of yours, they bear the King's crest!"
Hitomi looked down at her swords alarmed. What was Balgus thinking?! Giving her stolen swords!!
I swear, next time I see that old man, I'm gonna kill him again!!
"YOU THIEF!!"
The guard's harsh words brought Hitomi back to reality. Instinctively, she began to run for the exit past the guards.
"STOP HER! She must not be allowed to escape!"
Hitomi had drastically underestimated the energy she had left to run. Her legs started throbbing almost immediately after she began running, and her lungs pounded painfully against her chest.
The guard closest to the gate came running up behind her, and tackling her to ground, commenced to twist her arms behind her back.
The other guard rushed up to where his companion had Hitomi pinned to the ground, and proceeded to haul her up roughly.
"Just what are you thinking?! You little rat!! Just wait until His Highness comes to deal with you!!"
With this said, the guard pulled a long piece of twine from his pouch and tied Hitomi's wrists together behind her back. Finishing, he stooped down and proceeded to tie her ankles together as well.
Lying on the ground in the dust, Hitomi could do nothing except berate herself. The guard who had tackled her then picked her up, slung her over his shoulder, and walked towards the gatehouse.
Upon entering, the guard threw Hitomi into the wall with all the force that he could muster. The blow knocked the wind out of her lungs and she slid to the straw-covered floor with a groan.
"That'll teach you a lesson!! Not to steal from those better than you!!"
Hitomi with much effort, turned her exhausted head towards the guard as he stomped towards her prone figure.
She flinched as the guard grabbed the front of her shirt, hauled her up and punched her full in the face.
With a barely suppressed shriek, Hitomi fell the ground once again. Needing to vent his anger, the guard kicked her hard with his heavy leather boots.
A thorough beating Hitomi had never before experienced. Her body was bruised black and blue, and she knew that a few of her ribs had to be cracked.
Her head swam as she felt the edge of unconsciousness sweep over her.
A final blow to the back of head knocked her tumbling head over heels into the black abyss of her mind.
Author's Note:: Ah.::stretches:: that was a good place to end the chapter, don't you agree? I don't know about your views, but in Fanelia, it is a high crime, punishable by death, to steal from the king.
*For those of you who did not watch the tenth and eleventh episodes of the Escaflowne TV series, I'll give a brief summary of what happened. Van, Hitomi, Merle, Allen, Millerna, and Allen's soldiers fly to Freid to warn the Duke of Freid about Zaibach's planned attack on them. When they arrive, they discover that the Duke of Freid is off surveying his lands and his son, Chid, welcomes them. Chid is very open and friendly towards them, asking them to think of his country as their own. In particular, he is excited to meet Allen, the "invincible" swordsman that his mother told him about. However, when he discovers Allen had been injured in a previous fight, he is grieved because he discovers that Allen is not the invincible warrior he thought Allen to be. Okay, this is becoming too detailed. Here's a much shorter version, a captured Zaibach soldier tells Chid and his advisor that Hitomi, Van , and Allen are traitors. Chid reluctantly has them imprisoned and now you know why Van was in prison. Yay!
However, if this was too short or if you're still confused, email me, or review with your questions. I repeat myself, IF YOU'RE CONFUSED. REVIEW!!!!!!! Once again, I need 5 ~ 7 reviews to boost me confidence in writing! ARIGATOU!!
Thanks to LOVEWITCH, wingedgoddess, MysticalDreamer, FayeValentine00, and Ruby for reviewing. YOU DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH IT MEANS TO ME!!!!
NOTE: by the way, for MysticalDreamer: the lyrics in chapter 3 were from Neon Evangelion Genesis. It's a great anime that everyone should watch!!!
Disclaimer: The sun comes down and the moon comes up, and I do not own Escaflowne.
A Silent Moment:: Chapter 4
The sun rose high in the sky, bathing the green land with its warming light. Van Fanel sighed as he glanced down at his outfit.
He was getting married [AN: ::shock:: Van's getting married?!] and his counselors were overjoyed.
Rubbing the itch at the base of his neck, Van mentally cursed himself. He was dressed in the dark, royal blue of the Fanelian court. The wedding robes were made of the softest of silks; a royal blue tunic with the Fanelian dragon embroidered in gold thread on its front, covered a white puffy-sleeved cotton shirt.
The tunic flowed to the ground, hiding the earthy-colored pants that he adamantly insisted on wearing. His counselors were shocked to say the least when he insisted on wearing the pants he had worn during the war for his wedding; therefore they had forced him to wear the ground-sweeping tunic.
While he had managed to keep his pants, much to Van's dismay, he found a new, polished pair of boots to compliment his outfit.
Gods.what I am getting myself into.?
Van turned his head towards the Mystic Moon floating almost invisible in the sunlit sky.
Hitomi.forgive me.
The bell tolled waking Van from his reverie. He slowly stood up from where he had been sittting, brushing the dirt and debris from his spotless outfit as he climbed down off the roof of the palace.
Almost immediately a swarm of stiff-necked counselors spotted him and rushed over in a panic, tripping over one another.
"Van-sama!!!! Today is a very important day, it marks the day of the union of Fanelia and Freid!!! Your wedding to Princess Kishe, the younger sister of Prince Chid, is vitally important to the power of our country!!! How could you forget that??!!! Van-sama!!!!!!!!!"
"Hai, hai, I'm ready now.for the ceremony."
As Van walked away surrounded by his chattering counselors, Merle watched him sadly from her hidden spot on the other side of the palace roofs.
"Van-sama.You haven't stopped lying to yourself. You said that you could forget Hitomi and move on with your life. I told you that you couldn't do it; I know you better than anyone else.Van-sama."
Looking towards the Mystic Moon, Merle pleaded with the sky.
"Onegai.Hitomi.come back and save Van-sama."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(***)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Van glanced sideways at his bride-to-be. Princess Kishe was the younger sister of Chid of Freid. She had been away from Chid at the time when Van had been imprisoned. [ AN: episode 10 or 11 in the television series, if you're curious.]*
However, unlike Chid, her father was not Allen. The Duke of Freid had one child, and that was the princess Kishe. She had long, ebony hair that flowed in gentle tresses to her waist, but was at the moment tied up in an elegant bun at the back of her head.
She had a small slight frame and finely carved features.
Kishe wore a delicate dress, which seemed to have been woven from the very petals of a lily. A veil of the finest and clearest material floated around her face, which she kept bowed. She was rather frail and had careless, indifferent personality.
The kind of person I never wanted to marry. Hitomi.no.you are dead to me. But it wasn't my fault.
As Van wrestled with himself, his feet brought him rapidly towards the altar; the point of no return. He kneeled as Kishe beside him did the same. The priests began their monotonous incantations of the ancient Fanelian marriage rites.
Van, closing his eyes, dipped his head unconsciously in a silent farewell to the one who he could never have.
"Princess Kishe, the only daughter of the Duke of Freid and brother to Prince Chid of Freid, do you accept the union of Van Slanzar de Fanel of Fanelia with yourself to be appropriate and desirable?"
"Hai." Was Kishe's indifferent response. Van shivered involuntarily.
"Van Slanzar de Fanel, king of Fanelia, do you in turn, accept the union of yourself and the Princess Kishe?"
Van's mind kept screaming at him, NO, NO, NO, Hitomi is not dead, why are you betraying her, and more importantly yourself????!!!!!
Roughly shoving aside the thoughts he feared to be true, Van glanced up, his reply caught slightly in his throat.
"H..ha.."
[AN: WOW! I never knew I was so good at these dramatic cliffhanger endings. But fear not, dear readers, the chapter is not over yet!]
A blue pillar of light suddenly engulfed the altar. Kishe stood up in surprise, her wedding veil starting to come undone.
Van, his heart clenching painfully in his chest, looked skyward in.was it apprehension, or was it relief?
Hitomi screamed as the blue light released her and she fell the last couple feet to earth. Shutting her eyes tightly, Hitomi screamed as loud as her already raw throat would allow, but abruptly stopped as she came tumbling down upon something soft.
Cautiously opening her eyes, Hitomi glanced downward. Much to her chastisement, she had landed upon a young gentleman, in the middle of his wedding!
"Go..GOMEN NASAI!!!"
Hitomi quickly scrambled off his chest and ran for the crowd surrounding the altar.
Van slowly stood up; he had been caught unaware even though he had been staring at the sky. Much to his disappointment, or relief?
Once again, Van was caught in the turmoil of his own feelings. A young girl had fallen upon him, but there was no way that it could have been Hitomi.
This girl had shoulder-length hair, a little longer than Hitomi's, but the astonishing thing was that she had two swords strapped to her thigh, and she had Fanelian clothing on.
A girl.who is not Hitomi.WAIT, those clothes, they're mine!
"Guards!! Stop her!!"
Hitomi tried not to panic as she heard the young lord order his guards on her.
I'm not surprised; after all, I did interrupt his wedding. But I can't afford to be caught right now, I've got to find Van!
Hitomi pushed her way roughly through the crowds. Luckily the people were still in shock from her sudden appearance and made no move to stop her.
As the guards stomped after her, Hitomi noticed that her pursuers were all equipped with heavy armor, whereas she had only the lightweight cloth of her Fanelian clothes.
Hitomi stopped pushing through the crowd and instead, starting worming her way through the cracks between the people. The guards she knew, would not shove the citizens aside for they wanted to refrain from injuring innocent people, or at least she prayed that this was so.
Van watched as the young stranger wormed her way through the crowd, as she lightly scaled a wall and lost his guards. He felt nothing, the strange girl had escaped, but something small was tugging inside of him.
Shushing the tremor in his heart, which the girl had awakened unexpectedly, he turned towards the altar. The bride-to-be was nowhere to be seen, and Van was highly suspicious that she had run off to Freid's ambassador to complain, for Kishe did not like Van, and their feeling was mutual.
Van turned away from the confused crowd and began to make his way back to the palace. Opting to avoid his counselors, he slipped into a side-alley and continued unseen.
Merle, however, noticed Van's escape. Leaping lightly down from her post behind the pillars that surrounded the altar, she scampered after Van.
"Vaaaannn-saamaaa!!!"
Van turned, slightly surprised, as a small furry body knocked into him.
"Merle! What are you doing here?"
"Van-sama.I came to watch your mistake."
"::sigh::, Merle, you knew I had no choice."
"You were thinking about her.weren't you.?"
"NO! I was not!"
"Uso desu!! (That's a lie!) I.I know how you feel.How could you? How could you just throw her away?!!"
With this last exclamation, Merle ran from Van, her hurt showed plainly upon her feline features.
Van sighed, he knew that Merle, Allen, Millerna, and the rest of his old friends thought him the biggest fool.
Am I a fool? For caring about my country? Hahaue wo yakusoku ni shimasu.( I promised my mother) I promised that I would be a strong king. I cannot throw away my country for.for.one girl!!
With this, Van walked off resolutely, or at least to the untrained eye. Merle had run off and returned hidden to watch Van's reaction. She knew.resolute was the last thing Van was.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(***)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Did I lose them?
Hitomi breathed heavily as she leaned against the shadowed wall of a building. She was exhausted, after scaling the wall that surrounded the palace, she had gotten herself lost in the maze of buildings.
Hitomi slid down the wall until she was sitting on the dirt ground, trying to stop the tears which threatened to fall.
Dame.(no.) I can't cry right now, I've got to get out of here.
Pulling herself off the ground, Hitomi saw a fringe of dark-green bordering the wall top, which surrounded the city. The gate, Hitomi was willing to bet, was still quite a ways away. However, she could not afford to get caught in this city.
After some time, Hitomi finally reached the entrance. The gate was a strong oaken piece of wood held together by metal contraptions. The gate could be lowered and raised by a bunch of confusing metal wheels and switches that were connected to a gatehouse next to the gate arch.
Resolved, Hitomi started creeping towards the gate, hoping to remain unseen.
As she neared the gate, she noticed that the guards were obviously exhausted after a day of welcoming guests and visitors for the wedding.
Yoshi! (Alright!) I can do this, the guards are much too tired to chase me.
Hitomi jogged lightly towards the gate, trying to act inconspicuous. The two guards noticed her approach and waited until she was a few feet ahead of them before coming to block her path.
"Who are you? And to what destination are you traveling?"
"Uh..uh.. I'm just a regular village girl, um.I'm going out to..uh.practice!!"
"Practice what?" Asked one of the guards suspiciously.
"um..to."
"Chotto (wait)! Those swords of yours, they bear the King's crest!"
Hitomi looked down at her swords alarmed. What was Balgus thinking?! Giving her stolen swords!!
I swear, next time I see that old man, I'm gonna kill him again!!
"YOU THIEF!!"
The guard's harsh words brought Hitomi back to reality. Instinctively, she began to run for the exit past the guards.
"STOP HER! She must not be allowed to escape!"
Hitomi had drastically underestimated the energy she had left to run. Her legs started throbbing almost immediately after she began running, and her lungs pounded painfully against her chest.
The guard closest to the gate came running up behind her, and tackling her to ground, commenced to twist her arms behind her back.
The other guard rushed up to where his companion had Hitomi pinned to the ground, and proceeded to haul her up roughly.
"Just what are you thinking?! You little rat!! Just wait until His Highness comes to deal with you!!"
With this said, the guard pulled a long piece of twine from his pouch and tied Hitomi's wrists together behind her back. Finishing, he stooped down and proceeded to tie her ankles together as well.
Lying on the ground in the dust, Hitomi could do nothing except berate herself. The guard who had tackled her then picked her up, slung her over his shoulder, and walked towards the gatehouse.
Upon entering, the guard threw Hitomi into the wall with all the force that he could muster. The blow knocked the wind out of her lungs and she slid to the straw-covered floor with a groan.
"That'll teach you a lesson!! Not to steal from those better than you!!"
Hitomi with much effort, turned her exhausted head towards the guard as he stomped towards her prone figure.
She flinched as the guard grabbed the front of her shirt, hauled her up and punched her full in the face.
With a barely suppressed shriek, Hitomi fell the ground once again. Needing to vent his anger, the guard kicked her hard with his heavy leather boots.
A thorough beating Hitomi had never before experienced. Her body was bruised black and blue, and she knew that a few of her ribs had to be cracked.
Her head swam as she felt the edge of unconsciousness sweep over her.
A final blow to the back of head knocked her tumbling head over heels into the black abyss of her mind.
Author's Note:: Ah.::stretches:: that was a good place to end the chapter, don't you agree? I don't know about your views, but in Fanelia, it is a high crime, punishable by death, to steal from the king.
*For those of you who did not watch the tenth and eleventh episodes of the Escaflowne TV series, I'll give a brief summary of what happened. Van, Hitomi, Merle, Allen, Millerna, and Allen's soldiers fly to Freid to warn the Duke of Freid about Zaibach's planned attack on them. When they arrive, they discover that the Duke of Freid is off surveying his lands and his son, Chid, welcomes them. Chid is very open and friendly towards them, asking them to think of his country as their own. In particular, he is excited to meet Allen, the "invincible" swordsman that his mother told him about. However, when he discovers Allen had been injured in a previous fight, he is grieved because he discovers that Allen is not the invincible warrior he thought Allen to be. Okay, this is becoming too detailed. Here's a much shorter version, a captured Zaibach soldier tells Chid and his advisor that Hitomi, Van , and Allen are traitors. Chid reluctantly has them imprisoned and now you know why Van was in prison. Yay!
However, if this was too short or if you're still confused, email me, or review with your questions. I repeat myself, IF YOU'RE CONFUSED. REVIEW!!!!!!! Once again, I need 5 ~ 7 reviews to boost me confidence in writing! ARIGATOU!!