The young man walked carefully through the forest. A slight red vest hung loosely from his lithe frame, daubed with mud to act as camouflage in the dense woodland. A sword, concealed inside a dull blue sheath, hung at his side, and the young man's hand strayed towards it in seeming idleness at each step.
A snapping sound behind him caused the youth to stop. He lifted his head slightly, otherwise remaining poised and alert. After a few moments, the young man began to pace off again as he started humming a tune warily to himself.
After a few paces, he once again paused in his tracks. In one fluid movement, he drew his sword swiftly from its sheath, the sharpened blade flashing briefly in the moonlight, and spun quickly round, weapon readied as though to face an assailant, shouting "Come out! I know you're there!" his eyes focused intently in front of him, betraying little emotion.
After a short pause, a figure stepped out of the shadows of the forest. The young man looked quizzical for a moment, and then sighed resignedly.
"Celena, WHY are you following me?"
"Your Highness, I merely wished to enquire as to why you decided to depart from the safety of the city at night, when there are numerous beasts that..." Celena Schezar was dressed in shimmering court regalia, her flowing dress somehow kept gracefully clear of the ground she walked on. A hurried course in etiquette had impressed Celena with the art of decorum, and she held herself with dignity befitting someone of her rank. She opened her mouth to speak haughtily again.
"Drop the act, Celena. You're certainly not fooling me. I suspect no true dignitary would have understood the last sentence you said." The young man smiled wearily, and turned to continue through the bushes, re-sheathing his sword.
"Don't you DARE!" shouted Celena, as all semblance of nobility seemed to drain away and she relaxed into a less dignified pose as she stumbled after him in her high-heeled shoes. "I need to talk to you!"
Van Fanel turned his head over his shoulder nonchalantly. "Alright, alright. There's no way we're going any further while you're dressed like that. Think what your brother would say!"
"Ha ha, very funny. Let's go back to Fanelia then, Most Gracious One." retorted Celena, sticking her tongue out mischievously and walking back towards the distant lights of Fanelia, pausing only to shake her shoes off, flinging them into the undergrowth with a satisfying flick of her feet.
Van sighed openly, gazing wistfully at the isolation of the forest, and turned to follow Celena.
Celena Schezar sat with her legs crossed on her bed. As a guest of the Fanelian Royal Family - well, the King at any rate - she had been given lavish quarters close to the King's own. Being only a few months younger than Van, the two had grown quite close, despite a few weeks of frostiness resulting from the events surrounding Fanelia's war with the Zaibach Empire. Her grey-tinged hair was cut short, although not cropped close in a tomboyish fashion, and she had changed out of the gown she had been wearing to attend a ball to celebrate the election of the new hypnotist of Freid into less formal trousers and shirt. She toyed with her cuffs in boredom as she waited for Van to meet her.
Celena, although she retained a memory of virtually everything she had felt and done as her magically-engineered maniacal alter-ego Dilandau, was not exactly proud of her achievements on the battlefield. In order to atone for the damage she had dealt to Fanelia and its allies, she had offered to help with the restoration work on those buildings which had been burnt many months ago. Van had accepted the offer, with the proviso that Celena was to attend classes to teach her what she had missed out on whilst under Zaibach's control. In the course of the past few months, Celena had covered for so many of Van's mysterious absences (which invariably seemed to involve sitting alone in the country staring up at the sky, a practice Celena never really wished to join in with) that he became her friend out of gratitude, despite his qualms about her also being his arch-enemy of previous times.
A sharp knock on the door indicated Van's presence. Celena called "Come in! I'm decent!" unfolding her legs and shifting over to the edge of the bed.
The door opened slowly, and Van slipped round.
"You didn't bother to change for me? How sweet." Celena said dryly. "Anyway, sit down over there somewhere." She waved idly towards a chair leaning against the wall. "I just want a quick chat, that's all."
Van pulled the chair closer to Celena's bed and sat down wearily, dropping one hand resignedly into his lap, the other going to his pocket. "This had better be quick, Celena," he sighed, looking faintly exasperated. "You interrupted me while I..."
"Was busy pining over you-know-who?" Celena flopped back on the bed, staring up at the ornate decorations of Fanelia's history on the ceiling. "You are so predictable, you know that! Every few days you pull the whole I-must-be-alone-and-gaze-in-sorrow trick, and it's really beginning to annoy me! You both said you'd never forget each other, right?"
"EXACTLY!" shouted Van, rising passionately to his feet. "How can I forget her? How can you know how I feel? I might never see her again..."
Celena sat upright again, her eyes blazing in anger. "How do you think I felt when you murdered the Dragonslayers? They're gone FOREVER!"
Van fell abruptly silent, simmering with rage. Celena looked shocked for a moment, then bowed her head.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I shouldn't have said that."
Van breathed deeply, saying nothing for a while. Celena looked at him briefly, trying to gauge her friend's mood, and then turned slightly away. Both looked distant, distracted from each other as they tried to avoid their glances. The grandfather clock opposite Van, decorated with wooden patterns, ticked relentlessly. Lights passed outside the window as the palace staff performed their final errands for the evening, as maids snuggled close to porters for warmth in the chill night air.
Light footsteps padded down the corridor outside Celena's chambers. They stopped outside her door, and a quick, polite rap came at the door. Neither Van nor Celena answered, yet the door was pushed open from the other side.
A small, furry face peeped round the door, asking "Celena? Are you here?"
Catching sight of Van in the corner, the face filled with joy, and the door swung open fully as Merle ran in, dropping the bundle of towels she had been carrying, crying "VAAAAAAAAN!" as she leapt at her long-time friend.
Merle had decided she ought to do something useful with her life rather than hang on to Van's side at all times. Seeing as she knew absolutely nothing about politics, Van had recruited her as a part-time ambassador abroad when dealing with others of her species, and as an overseer of the many restoration projects of Fanelia. Of course, Merle relished the chance to boss as many people about as possible, and had proved adept at her role, managing a few acrobatic methods of building that would have foxed any ordinary foreman.
Merle buried her neck in Van's shirt, seemingly oblivious to the tension about her. Van stood stiffly, as though slightly embarrassed, although Merle had done this so often in front of Celena she would normally hardly notice.
Merle glanced up at Van's face to speak, but then stopped when she saw the stony look in his eyes. She withdrew slightly, her tail twitching in concern. Then she leapt onto the bed next to Celena, landing on all fours and thrusting her nose in Celena's face.
"Big fight, huh?" she asked frivolously, causing Celena to laugh in spite of herself. "Let me guess – the Hitomi Issue? If only he could look past that spoilt brat and see the wonderful, lovely me…" she sighed in mock wistfulness.
Van opened his mouth to berate Merle for making fun of him, but stopped short. A pink glow seemed to be emanating from his pocket. Drawing out his hand, he was shocked to see Hitomi's pendant shining with iridescent light.
"What's going on?" Celena gasped, having never seen the pendant as anything except a stone on a string, although she had learnt of its mysterious powers when Hitomi had used it against her cloaked Guymelef many times.
Van laid his palm out flat, and the pendant began to lift up into the air, heading towards the centre of the room. Floating higher and higher, it began to shine ever brighter, turning blue. Light suddenly exploded forth from the pendant, flooding the room in a bright flash. Celena and Merle screamed, grabbing each other in shock, while Van looked up towards the pendant with a strange, wistful expression on his face.
A whispered fragment of two voices entwined in songs echoed around the room. One was unknown to Van – a woman's voice, chanting ethereally. The other, like the sound of a thousand monks chanting in unison, was all too familiar – "Escaflowne…Escaflowne…"
The light cleared slowly. Merle withdrew from Celena, her fur standing on end, blinking to clear her eyes. Celena looked around, and gasped in shock.
Lying on the floor of the bedroom were three people she had never seen before. And the other had been her worst enemy in recent times – Hitomi Kanzaki, the Girl From the Mystic Moon.
Yukari blinked rapidly, trying to clear the after image of the blinding light from her eyes. She recalled running after Hitomi, then light surrounding her from all sides, and a strange feeling of weightlessness, then falling forward. There was obviously something wrong, she reasoned, as these kinds of things don't happen every day. The feel of carpet beneath her hands instead of tarmac also seemed to indicate that something strange was going on.
Yukari's new surroundings began to swim into focus around her. She could see that she was in some sort of room, and a splendid one at that. Ornaments topped a small table in the corner, in the shapes of various buildings of splendid architecture. Yukari was slightly taken aback to see the dark night vaguely through a window above her, as she had last been basking in broad sunshine before the strange events of earlier.
Yukari's attention was caught by some whispering coming from her left. Pushing herself up from the floor, she turned to accost whoever was there.
Sitting on the bed were two girls. One was dressed almost as a tomboy, although her hair was too well attended to be truly rebellious, and stopped talking when she saw Yukari. The other, however, challenged Yukari's considerable intellect to comprehend.
"You're….a….cat?" stuttered Yukari, her eyes wide open in surprise, for once in her life lost for a vaguely witty remark.
The cat…girl….thing looked round at Yukari, then spoke in some strange language, her eyes dancing from side to side. The tomboy also began speaking quickly, in a more angered tone, rising from the bed and gesticulating wildly.
Yukari, flustered, tried to apologise. "I'm sorry, I've never seen anyth…one like that before, sorry to be rude, and I don't understand you, and I don't know where I am…" she said, chewing at a fingernail.
The two strangers began to talk to each other again, loudly and quickly, each becoming slightly more agitated. Yukari noticed another person standing in the corner of the room – a young man of around her age, dressed almost shabbily yet still commanding an air of respect, although he appeared slight – not saying anything, just staring down at the floor near Yukari.
She turned round sharply, accidentally kicking something on the floor.
"Ouch! As if these spots in front of my eyes aren't enough, now I'll have a blinding headache to help me out!" A familiar voice groaned at Yukari's feet, as Amano sat up sharply, almost hitting his head on the bed behind him.
"Amano? Where are we? And what are they saying?" Yukari beseeched her boyfriend, her brow furrowed in confusion.
"What makes you think I'd know?" Amano retorted, wincing slightly as he stood up. "I've been listening to them screaming at you, and don't have a clue what they're on about! What about the other two? Or hadn't you noticed them?" Amano waved his arm down at the floor, where Asano and Hitomi were slowly stirring.
"Asano? Hitomi? WHAT'S GOING ON! And back off, fur face, I don't know where you've been!" Yukari hissed through clenched teeth, all her composure draining away as the strange cat girl moved across the bed towards her.
Hitomi sat bolt upright, her eyes wide in shock, and returned the gaze of the mysterious man in the corner. "Van?" she whispered, looking uneasy.
Amano glanced at Hitomi quickly, a faint trace of irritation crossing his face. "You know that guy?" he asked, vaguely puzzled.
"Once." She replied softly, but then broke contact with the mysterious stranger, turning her face away. The young man looked hurt, and started to talk in that strange tongue, as the girls continued hurriedly chatting to each other.
"WAIT! HOLD IT!" shouted Yukari, and the entire room turned towards her, including the bleary-eyed Asano. "Guys, WHAT is going on here?"
Hitomi got wearily to her feet, brushing dust off her running shorts. "I think I'd better explain, seeing as Celena, Merle and Van don't speak our language." Sighing briefly, she began to retell the story of the Girl from the Mystic Moon.
The small room at the top of the tower shimmered with pale green light, reflecting from every mirrored surface. Each wall seemed to reach on endlessly, as the light danced between infinite spaces to touch some invisible space beyond comprehension. At the centre, the elfin girl stood, singing triumphantly to the incandescent walls around her. Each and every note rang pure, chiming into the deepest recesses of the rock surrounding her chamber. Her ornate dress, decorated with strange symbols, seemed to flow around her, and her long, cascading white hair billowed out around her as the song continued.
The distant sound of echoing footsteps caused the girl to stop singing. The light faded away into nothing but a stream of streaked sunlight from the small window in the very top of the room, illuminating the small bed which indicated a home for the girl.
The footsteps came to a halt, though from where they came the girl was unaware. A deep, commanding voice boomed around the walls.
"Sora, tell me of the Goddess."
The girl bowed deeply, sincere respect glowing in her eyes. "She is here and yet not. The Goddess is everywhere you seek, master."
"Do not speak in riddles, Sora!" The voice snapped out, echoing harshly. A moment of silence followed before the voice returned.
"They shall bring her here. The Wing Goddess shall not divine fate readily, for she is known to me. And because of this, she is already mine."
The council chamber of the palace of Fanelia had been re-created by Van's mother Varie from a design she recalled in her Draconian ancestry. A large round polished stone table, with plush chairs set around it, stood in the middle of the room, decorated with a map of the known world. An enormous bay window looked out over the city of Fanelia, flanked on both sides by imposing mountains, and sky dragons could be seen wheeling around the valley in the distance. A small desk in the corner was piled with parchments, covered in melted wax from a solitary candle.
The group had assembled the following morning after Hitomi had explained her story to Asano, Amano and Yukari (who had difficulty getting her head around the idea that Hitomi had vanished in front of her twice yet she couldn't remember anything about it), in order to discuss Hitomi's prophetic vision.
Van was puzzled by Hitomi's reaction to him. He was overjoyed to see her – he'd hoped she'd feel the same way about him. The last time he had seen Hitomi he had been separated from her by worlds – his image appearing briefly over the sea. She had told him she was doing just fine, and he'd left it at that. But now… Hitomi was purposefully ignoring him, avoiding his eyes whenever she could, and now she'd chosen to sit as far from him as possible at the council table, facing away from him. He slipped quietly into his reserved seat, concentrating little on the events around him as he tried to fathom out what was going on. Asano flopped down next to him, exhausted by all the excitement and feeling slightly rejected as the only real outsider among the company.
Everyone sat in silence. Amano scratched at his chin, while Yukari rested her head on his shoulder in boredom. Merle fiddled with her nail file absently, while Celena gazed at the ceiling nervously as Hitomi stared out of the window. A flock of birds flew past the window, while distant sounds indicated activity in the palace.
Van finally broke the heavy silence by slamming his fist down on the table. "What's the problem? Why won't you talk to me? Why won't you say ANYTHING!" he shouted at Hitomi.
She stood up and turned towards Van, her eyes brimming with tears. "Because I'm doing just fine, that's why!" Hitomi cried, making to leave without explaining.
As she began to run off, the council room began to shudder and jerk. Hitomi was knocked off her feet and fell to the floor, crying out in shock. Van looked pained, but then turned away in anger as he heard shouts of disorder and panic from all around.
A shout echoed down the corridor in panic, as a soldier cried out "The palace is under attack! Everybody, to arms!"
Van rose quickly from his seat, breaking into a sprint as he left the room, with everyone in hot pursuit except the four from the Mystic Moon, as Hitomi lay sobbing incoherently on the floor.
The throne room of the palace was strewn with rubble from the large hole that had been blasted in the eastern wall. Aides lay trapped under heavy stone, as soldiers raced to get the injured courtiers to safety. Tapestries, shredded by the blast, still hung in tatters on the walls.
Van burst through the entrance, drawing his sword and readying himself to fight. "Who are you? Why are you doing this? Come out and fight!" he shouted, his head darting this way and that to search out an unseen foe.
A harsh female voice rang out at him from Van's right. "We are here for the Wing Goddess. It is our destiny to bring her to Venal. And our fate shall not be disturbed!"
Van turned to his right and looked out to the open skies around the castle. Floating above him were countless women, all dressed in pure white robes, beating blood red wings to keep themselves aloft. Each woman was wearing a necklace made of shining blue beads, which shimmered mysteriously in the morning light, yet otherwise wore no other apparent armaments, save for one at the front, who wore a simple leather bracelet around her right wrist and appeared to be the leader.
Astonished, Van took a step back, steadying his sword. "I know of no Wing Goddess, but you have invaded my kingdom, and as King of Fanelia I will not let this stand!"
The woman at the front gave a cold, dispassionate laugh. "You pathetic creature! You think to defend your kingdom against Atlanteans with a sword! Your Path is of destruction – travel it now! GO! I shall have the Wing Goddess – Nesta, the boy is yours!"
The winged woman flew rapidly back towards the council room with a large number of her cohorts, while those remaining began to swoop down towards the throne room.
Van concentrated for a moment, forming an image in his mind. Two small buds grew from his back, expanding out, until they burst forth into his own white feathered wings from his shirt.
Assorted cries of astonishment rang out from the Atlanteans. The one addressed as Nesta halted in her tracks. "What is this!" she cried in anguish. "Wings of your own? Another tactic is in order!"
Nesta swiftly raised one hand above her head, and a crackling ball of light formed in her clenched fist as her necklace began to pulsate with throbbing blue energy. "Take THIS!" she shouted, as she hurled the energy at Van.
Quickly beating his wings, Van dodged out of the way as the ball of light crashed into the floor, spiralling high into the air above the throne room in a whirlwind of moulting feathers to escape the explosion below him, evading further balls of light as Nesta cursed him.
Van swung round and dived at the nearest Atlantean, his sword in front of him ready to strike. Floating there calmly, the Atlantean merely smiled as Van drew closer, her eyes shimmering with the same blue colour as her necklace.
Van shouted in triumph as he raised the sword above his head, plummeting close to the Atlantean.
Celena, hidden behind a pillar, watched in horror as the battle unfolded. Nesta continued hurling spheres of light at Van even as he dived at the Atlantean, while others flocked around him, attempting to slash at Van with daggers which had been concealed in amongst their robes.
Merle crouched behind Celena, cowering in fear. "No, Van! Don't! There's something wrong!" she whimpered, digging in to Celena's leg.
Celena turned to her friend. "Go!" she hissed. "Warn the others! They've got to be safe!"
"How do you expect me to do that?" Merle spat back in panic. "Only Hitomi understands me, and she hardly wants to talk to anyone at the moment!"
"JUST DO SOMETHING!" Celena shouted in spite of herself.
One of the Atlanteans suddenly looked round directly at the pillar where the girls were hiding.
"Run, Merle! I'll handle this!" Celena shouted, running out from behind the pillar. Merle scampered off back through the doorway of the throne room, not even pausing to look behind her.
The Atlantean who had heard the shout beckoned a group over to her, and they began to glide down towards Celena, who stood unmoving in front of them.
The Atlanteans glanced at one another and landed, their wings dissolving away into nothing. One smiled slightly, drawing her concealed dagger, and walked slowly forward.
Celena was now in a blind panic. "Why am I doing this? I should be getting away, I can't do anything!" she though to herself.
"You can't, but I can."