The skies were cloudless for the first time since Asano's arrival on Gaia.  The sun illuminated the forest as the group trudged on, led by Van's purposeful stride through well worn pathways.  Strange creatures stopped sniffing around the ground to stare at the passing party, their oblong snouts turning disdainfully up at Asano's mud-stained school trousers – he could only wonder how Amano must feel, considering that he was still wearing his athletics shorts!  Ducking to avoid a branch that Celena had let flick back into his face while giggling slightly and moving ahead, Asano was slightly uneasy.  While he was unnerved by Gaia – no matter how often Asano had dreamed of getting away from his mundane school life like so many other teenagers, he hadn't thought of going THIS far away – that didn't seem to be bothering him half as much as the feeling of being tugged away against his will that had started since that…thing inside of him had woken up.

Asano frowned to himself.  He was quite surprised at how normal he still felt, despite the fact that only yesterday he had been surrounded by a raging vortex of water at his command.  He didn't even feel particularly powerful or anything like that.  Apart from the strange sensation that he needed to get somewhere extremely desperately, that was.

"Asano!"  Hitomi detached herself from Van's arm and waited for her classmate to catch up to her.  She had been used to the endless walking after her last trip to Gaia – Asano's feet, on the other hand, were beginning to ache, and his shirt, damp with sweat, clung to his back.

"Yeah, Hitomi?" Asano panted, wiping his forehead on his sleeve.

"I just wanted a word about yesterday.  This is going to sound crazy, but…you don't have wings do you?"

"Not that I've noticed over the past sixteen years, sorry, no.  Not every guy is going to have great big fluffy wings sprouting out of their backs on command like His Majesty up there."  Asano stopped talking before he said anything else, flummoxed as to why he said anything like that – he'd only learnt to speak the same language as Van about an hour ago, and he was already being rude about him!

Hitomi, seeming not to notice, carried on talking, lowering her voice slightly as if conspiring with Asano.  "I had just wondered if you were a Draconian too, like Van is.  What that voice said, about awakening the Dragon inside you…it just confused me, that's all.  Any idea of what she meant?"

"I can't think of anything off-hand.  Though if some sort of lizard thing comes bursting out of my stomach any time soon I'll let you know."

Hitomi laughed loudly, causing Van to turn his head in puzzlement, shooting a wary glance at Asano.  "You're so WEIRD!"  Sighing slightly, she recovered her composure.  "I hope this life-threatening battle for Gaia is going to be a lot more fun than the last one – Van was always so serious last time round."  Van stiffened slightly, his posture shifting to become slightly hurt yet also almost menacing.

Hitomi, seeing Van's coolness, quickly hurried back to the head of the group.

"Tough crowd, Asano?" Yukari crept up behind him, whispering in his ear.  "Don't even think about making any moves on her, by the way - "

Asano spluttered indignantly as Yukari rejoined Amano, wrapping her arms around him and smiling adoringly up at his face.  He wasn't even THINKING about that.  Well, not really, anyway.  Especially as he was sure that there was something stuck in his shoe that was REALLY hurting now.

The small glade was illuminated by beams of sunlight drifting lazily through the dense woodland.  Somehow well kept, although human feet hardly ever trod the soft grass around, there was unusually little sign of animal life for such a remote area – birds perched in the surrounding trees in an awed silence, while occasionally small, deer-like creatures bounded through the shadowy woodland.

The one sign of disturbance was the enormous, faded monument that stood in this peaceful vale.  Towering above the gathered teenagers, the infamous Guymelef Escaflowne, dormant for only a short while, loomed over them, browning from lack of use.  A mixture of respect and sorrow lined Van's face as he stared up at the guardian machine that had been a pivotal part of his life so recently.

"I don't know if this has crossed anyone else's mind," said Merle archly, playing absently with her nail file once more, "but how are we supposed to get everyone, and Escaflowne, out of Fanelia?  We don't have anything like the Crusade to carry a Guymelef in, and Escaflowne can't support so many people in Dragon mode – just getting three people on there was enough of a squeeze – I remember Hitomi telling me how she and Allen…"

"THAT'S ENOUGH, MERLE!" Hitomi and Celena shouted in unison, glaring at each other with the same irate expression before turning away and folding their arms in similar defiant poses.

"I've already thought of that," Van said calmly, turning towards the group.  "I thought that Hitomi could use her powers…"

"Wait a minute, Van."  Hitomi looked concerned.  "I thought we went through this once before – I'm not some kind of tool to be used by anyone."

"Why are you being so difficult?" Van looked exasperated, raising his hands ineffectually.  "I didn't mean it like that – anyway, you need to do this as much as I do; it sounds like we all need to stick together to avoid whatever disaster could befall Fanelia now."

"I can't control it!" Hitomi pleaded, almost whining, completely changed from the happy girl of only moments before.  "I didn't bring myself here – I can't explain it, like the first time we were both transported to Gaia!  The time when we were attacked in Fanelia I panicked, and when I returned to Earth I didn't really know what I was doing either!  What makes you think I can get all of us out of here?  Where are we going anyway?"

"Calm down, Hitomi."  Amano walked over to the girl, her fists clenched tightly in defiance, and placed his hand on her shoulder.  "While I would like to know where we're supposed to be going," he said, looking inquiringly at Van, "I have faith that Hitomi can get us there – she seems to be able to do an awful lot of things I didn't think she could!"

"Let's go to Asturia!" Celena piped up, an excited look on her face.  "We can get my brother and Millerna to come along, and I'm sure that someone will have an idea where we can find Dryden – and we can also pick up the Crusade while we're there, although I don't know what the crew have been up to since I came to Fanelia."

"Sounds like a good idea," Yukari said laconically, leaning against a tree.  "Why don't we just go straight to another place I've never heard of before!"

"It's settled then."  Van used his authority once more, attempting to stand imposingly in front of the assembled teenagers, although Amano's towering height did little for Van's ego.  "We travel to Asturia – if Hitomi will help us…" Van looked imploringly at Hitomi, who remained defiant.

"Hitomi, I think I understand why you're so reluctant about all this." Amano turned Hitomi's head towards him, her eyes still defiant and angry.  "Last time you did all these mystical things, there was that war or something?"

Hitomi nodded, softening slightly.  Asano, unnoticed, frowned at the intimacy of Amano's touch as inappropriate – after all, she did seem to be Van's girlfriend.

"This time, if you don't help, you'll probably only put this planet in danger – and yourself.  Those winged people will come back here – where did they go, anyway?"

Van shifted uneasily.  "Rem said that they vanished – that red liquid Hitomi saw when Leah came to attack her didn't seem to appear anywhere, and there's no trace of their presence save the destruction to the palace.  We can't predict their next move – and there's no record of any Venal existing anywhere either."

"Okay.  Well, anyway, if you don't at least try to get us out of here, they'll come after you – and if we don't go anywhere, that prophecy of yours will never get fulfilled, and that destiny shattering thing might come into effect."

Hitomi looked up at Amano.  "Can I do it right?" she half-whispered.

"Of course you can."

Hitomi withdrew from Amano, radiating steely resolve.  "Right then!" she said exuberantly, a rejuvenated glimmer in her eyes.  "Let's give this a try! Well, first of all, I think you should re-awaken Escaflowne, Van.  It might help – it certainly seemed to when we last transported out of Fanelia."
Van sighed with a mixture of relief and anxiety.  "Looks like I'll have to bring it back again, then." He turned to face the enormous machine, its dormant form seeming almost benign in such tranquil surroundings.

Van reached into the pocket of his trousers and brought out a strange, spherical pink object which Hitomi recognised as an Energist, the heart of a dragon required to power the mysterious Guymelef.  Unsheathing his sword, he cut a small nick in his thumb, letting a thick drop of dark blood run down onto the Energist, seeming to flow away into nothing.  Raising the Energist above his head, Van shouted in a commandeering voice at the ancient weapon before him, the Energist shining with an eerie bright light:
"I, Van Fanel, king of Fanelia, re-affirm my blood pact to thee, Escaflowne!  Thou sleeping dragon, awake!"

The glade erupted into bright light from around Van's feet, swirling upwards with an unseen wind towards the sky, a look of almost peaceful concentration upon Van's face midst the blinding chaos around him.  Yukari shielded her eyes against Amano's shirt, as Hitomi stared at the familiar sight once more.

Asano watched in awe as cracks in the withered armour before him began to heal over, and the brown colour began to fade into a pure, clean white.  The tarnish covering what appeared to be green gems set in the shoulders seemed to melt away from the centre, allowing the illustrious sheen of expense to shine out.  Dirt dropped away from hinges and joints to vaporise upon contact with the ground, sending up small hisses of water as they did so.

The light around Van began to fade away, and he opened his eyes to see his re-awakened birthright before him.  Hoisting himself up onto the sitting giant, he plunged the Energist into what had appeared to be a solid red gem on the left of the armour's chest plate, withdrawing his hand as the gem flowed back into shape.

A pulsating sound came from within Escaflowne as a beat resounded once more from the heart of the machine as the Dragon Armour re-awakened, the glade falling silent once more.

Sora did not know where the voice came from.  She only heard the sound of footsteps echoing towards her whenever he – she assumed it was male, the voice was so different from hers – wished to speak.  She only knew that it had been the only thing that had shown her kindness as long as she remembered, although tempered with anger.  The voice had given her a home, food and clothing, which all seemed to appear in the tower after Sora had slept, and she was almost totally free to do as she wished, though she had to grant the voice one request – to know what Sora sang of.

Sora had known the song for as long as she could remember – before she could speak, she had weaved the intricate instrumentation with her voice to amuse herself with the stories it told.  When she was young, the song had been of majestic beasts – the voice had named them horses – racing through fields thick with luscious green grass unlike the murky moss that infested the walls of Sora's home, or of indistinct figures whirling in dances that Sora practiced herself, remembering each elegant step with precision.

The feel of the song had changed a while ago for Sora.  She began to see people who looked as she imagined she did, going about tasks that seemed incomprehensible to the girl.  Some showed men attacking each other with strange metal implements, sometimes taking their lives.  The graphic detail of the discordant harmonies of death made Sora shudder, yet such songs seemed to come more frequently to the girl.  There were others – of those like Sora welcoming men who lived home with a smile and laughter, or those who were bereft of their partners crying bitterly with sorrow.  The voice had told Sora this was because of something called love, where the men and women each felt bonded to each other forever.

Sora did not totally understand this concept – indeed, such permanency frightened her in her world of ever changing melodies.  However, she continued to sing, enthralled by the images of things happening beyond the borderless world of her tower.

A very short time ago, Sora noticed the song held the same basic pattern as she was drawn to two figures.  One male, the other female, they were distant, yet seemingly linked by chords and harmonies too complex for Sora to understand in her singing.  At this time, Sora listened as the sound re-echoed of their vacant separation, and resolved to change it to bring something unexpected into the song's repeated cycle.  Concentrating hard, she sang a new note.

Sora was shocked by the overall change in the song, waves of alteration rippling through its fabric even as she sang joyously.  The resonance of the connection between the two figures became more distinct, as Sora felt herself flowing through the soaring music that joined them together.  When she felt the rhythm and soul of the music falter somehow – she caught snatched memories of the sound of a slap echoing through the air, and the horrible crunch of bone as something fearsome pierced through flesh – she altered her tune to compensate, eager to keep such beauty alive.

The voice's visits became more often after it learned of such things.  One time, it promised Sora that she could meet these two figures, if she would only aid it in bringing them to her.  Eager to comply, she sang the song which was required of her – visualising shimmering blue light that rippled and cascaded upon her voice like the instrument the voice had told her was called a harp – and felt the melody change around her.

The complex system of notes that bonded the two figures together became ever brighter, yet Sora's images of them seemed to become ever more difficult to perceive.  Sometimes they shifted sharply into focus – to reveal one looking on as the other was locked tight into the embrace of another, elusive figure, or when one lay lifelessly on an echoing stone floor, eyes staring uncomprehendingly at the ceiling – yet soon faded away, until Sora could see none of what transpired of the two.

The voice became quite angered at learning of this, and often demanded more of Sora than she was able to supply, though she dealt with this calmly.  The voice often seemed to mutter to itself – Sora was sure she had heard the mention of someone called Isaac, though she had not sung of any such person, and her attempts to do so were met with dull, flat melodies that never picked up into the joyous chorus that provided Sora with her stories.

Then the voice came to Sora once more, asking her to create the sound of the shimmering blue light once more.  Sora had done so, although she had noticed the tune was changed somewhat – there seemed to be more harmonies interwoven with the main melody, one almost crying in despair, the others pure and unsullied.  After this, she had been shocked to see the images of the male and female figures once more in her songs – with some bonds weakened, yet others strengthened, between the two.  Sometimes they flashed into clarity – she had recently been startled to discover her singing of them inside a room far different from the one she lived in, and had informed the voice of its description swiftly.

Sora had even taken to asking questions idly in her songs, and was hardly surprised when the notes seemed to cry answers at her.  They told her that the female figure was what the voice sought – the Goddess of Wings, the Wing Goddess, whatever it was that the voice called her.  The desperation to find her coursed through the voice every time it spoke, and Sora was eager to quell such despair by helping as much as she could.  It was the least she could do for someone who had shown her such kindness.

Hitomi held the pendant before her, closing her eyes softly.  The familiar pulse of timing beat steadily in her mind as she swung the pendant carefully, feeling it trace through the air as it crossed in front of her.

"Take us to Asturia, please!" Hitomi whispered under her breath, all her concentration focused on her task.  The others looked on nervously, unsure of the outcome of Hitomi's efforts.

"I sure hope she knows what she's doing," Yukari whispered to Amano, her eyes full of concern, "as I certainly don't!"

A glow began to spread from the pendant, slowly illuminating the glade once more, but in a gentler suffusion rather than the blast of light that heralded the re-awakening of Escaflowne.  The heart of Escaflowne began to shimmer with the same white light, as Hitomi felt herself being lifted once more into the air.
As they were lifted high by the beam of light, Van was startled to see the image of his mother, Varie, seeming to drift before him.

"Van, my son," she said, smiling and reaching a hand out as if to caress him for a moment, "take care.  Our meetings are such for now – and I dread the day we meet again…"

Van tried to grasp his mother, but she seemed to slip away at his touch as the group was carried away into the skies, followed by the majestic figure of Escaflowne, until the light cleared to reveal the empty clearing, bedecked by creatures gazing towards the skies expectantly as small particles of light diffused away into nothingness.