When the Demon Stirs ~ An Escaflowne Fan Fic ~
By: H. Zane
Setting aside the forlorn and forsaken.
Giving up my life,
and facing abdication.
I calmly set forth in the abate of unflawed love.
Breaking through my agony,
and finding the sanctuary above.
~ H. Zane
~ Chapter 05-Valediction ~
It was a beautiful Friday night; one with stars too stunning to ignore and a sweet fragrance in the calm air. Nights had been like this on Gaea, strikingly beautiful stars that stretched endlessly covering the pitch sky. Hitomi smiled as she recalled those nights…they were always running from someone or something, but no matter what she was never alone. Never like how she was alone tonight. She sat in the darkness in her room looking towards the heavens, the stillness as her only consolation.
Amano had arrived three days before and, not to Hitomi's surprise, had been glued at the hip to Yukari. They had invited her to join them for dinner that night, but she declined. She would feel like a trespasser, a third wheel, there was no way she could stomach that. Although it was good to see Amano again after two years, it only reminded her of Allen and how much she longed to see everyone. Would it have been so horrible if she had stayed? No one on Earth had remembered her disappearance, would they have ever known? Could she have left this world behind just like that? Could she do that now? Yukari had told her to go, but would she have the courage to forget? No, she could never forget but …she couldn't forget about Van either.
She sat up on her bed; all this assessment was giving her a headache. She slowly got to her feet and started to stretch her tired limbs, but as she did the headache got worse, dizziness consumed her and her brain pounded in her skull. Suddenly she was surrounded in an endless darkness. She hovered in mid air frantically searching for something to hold on to, but found nothing. Her eyes darted back and forth and she saw a dim light off in the distance. It grew brighter as she was engulfed the sickening light. There, she saw a young woman with raven hair and bloodstained cloths; Hitomi watched with bewilderment as the young woman silently mouthed words from a large aged book. As she read, animated corpses surrounded Hitomi. Hitomi's blood froze and she screamed in horror, then was once again alone in darkness. She heard a fiendish voice call to her, "Return and meet your fate" it croaked…
Hitomi slowly opened her eyes as she regained consciousness. She rubbed the back of her head with her hand. She withdrew it and found that it was covered in blood. "My God," she said aloud, "I had a vision, what could this mean?" She shakily got to her feet, "damn nightstand," she cursed. As she steadied herself a thousand thoughts ran through her mind at once. She hadn't had a vision in two years, not since she left Gaea. "Is Gaea in trouble?" she thought. "Do they need me? Well, it was defiantly warning me of something…"
She remembered that strange voice she heard, "Return and meet your fate."
"I am to return to Gaea?" she questioned.
She staggered out of her room leaving her question unanswered. She held her head as the blood dripped down her neck and arm. "Ah, man did I hit my head hard." She got to the top of the stairs, and attempted to climb down but still felt too woozy. "Okaasan," she called as loudly as her head would allow, "Okkkaaasssaaannn."
Hitomi heard her mother's footsteps leave the kitchen and enter the carpeted living room. "Yes, Hitomi what is…oh my God Hitomi, what happened to you?" In a split second Hitomi's mother ran up the stairs in a panic, (blood oozing from her only daughters head had that effect on her). She put her arms around Hitomi's waist and led her down the stairs supporting most of her daughter's frail weight. She led her to the bathroom and sat Hitomi on the toilet. She let her daughter lean back against her as she examined the wound. "Well, regardless of all the blood you lost, it doesn't look so bad," Hitomi's mother gave a sigh of relief as she pressed a towel against Hitomi's head. The bleeding was stopping but her mother was still concerned, "I should take you to the hospital though, in case you need stitches…"
She turned Hitomi around so she could see her face. "What happened did you trip and fall or something?"
"Um, no, not exactly…" Hitomi's voice trailed off.
Her mother removed the towel, "well, then what exactly?" she asked with concern and a hint of frustration. Hitomi's mind raced, she wanted to tell her mother the truth, but would she believe her like Yukari did? She figured it was now or never, even if her mother didn't believe her that was ok; it would finally be out in the open, she would finally be free.
"Hitomi, what happened?" her mother asked again.
Hitomi took in a deep breath. "I will tell you but it's a long story and I don't know if you'll believe me." Hitomi looked at her mother's face, one eyebrow was cocked in that inquisitive way but her expression soon softened and she gave Hitomi a nod. Hitomi nodded back to her mother.
"Um, you see Okaasan I fell because I had a vision," she paused expecting her mother to laugh and ask what really happened. But she didn't.
Her mother gave no reply; she just stared at Hitomi contently.
Hitomi frowned inwardly thinking how strange her mother was acting, but she continued any way. "I used to get visions all the time when I did the Tarot but since I stopped…I…I…" she glanced up at her mother who was still expressionless. "Okaasan…" Hitomi started, as she looked her mother straight in the eyes. Her mother stared back.
"I know," said her mother.
"What?" Hitomi squealed, but immediately regretted it as the pain seared through her head once more. "What do you mean, you know? How could you know?"
Hitomi's mother smiled, "Let's go in the other room Hitomi, where it is more comfortable." With that she grabbed a clean towel and wrapped it around Hitomi's shoulders and led her to the couch. They both sat and her mother started her explanation.
"I know you've been having a hard time lately, you're crazy if you think I haven't noticed." Said Hitomi's mother. "First of all I want to tell you that I know you left Earth when you were fifteen." Hitomi jumped with total astonishment, she opened her mouth to speak but her mother quickly silenced her. "Let me explain," she said. Hitomi closed her mouth and relaxed her shoulders; she glared at her mother intently.
"When you disappeared everyone was a total wreck. Your father especially was so sick with worry that I feared for his health. No one knew what had happened to you, but shortly after your disappearance I started having bizarre dreams. You were in them with a man named Allen and I felt that you were very far away." I knew in my heart you were safe, though, and I wasn't worried anymore. I probably would have dismissed the dreams immediately if it hadn't been for your friends and your grandmother."
Hitomi gasped, her mother knew about her grandmother, she knew all this time and never said a word.
Hitomi's mother saw her daughter's shocked expression, "I take it that you too know about Obaasan's visit to the other planet," she said.
"Yes," said Hitomi, "I found out while I was on Gaea."
"Gaea," her mother mused to herself, "I had forgotten its name."
Her mother started to zone out, obviously thinking of the situation and her mother, whom she never talked about without a smile on her face.
"Um, Okaasan, please tell me what happened."
"Oh yes, of course," her mother was snapped back to reality. "Well, your friends told me you were taken in a column of light and I had remembered what your grandmother told me when I was young. I connected all the pieces and came to the conclusion that that was where you were. You were gone for a few months, and then you can back, just as mysteriously as you left. No one had memory of your disappearance, not even your friends who had seen you taken away. I must admit I didn't remember at first either, but as the days went by you became increasingly aloof, and the memories of the dreams came back to me."
Hitomi stared with wide amazed eyes. "Okaasan why did you keep this from me?" Hitomi asked.
"I was waiting for you to come to me," she replied.
"But what about Obaasan, why have you never told me about her?"
Her mother laughed at that question. "Probably the same reason you kept your experiences a secret. Really Hitomi if it had never happened to you, would you believe your grandmother's story?"
Hitomi cast her eyes down; she really didn't know the answer. She had been very naive and trusting in her innocence, maybe she would have believed…
"You know I had been dreading this day for a long time." Said Hitomi's mother. She twisted her apron with white knuckled fists. "Once you returned I knew that you would be leaving me once more… Maybe forever." Her mother started to weep lightly and seeing this Hitomi leaned into her mother letting her head rest on her mother's shoulder. She held her daughter tightly, "Hitomi," she said in between sniffles, "If I may ask, what was your vision about?"
"Oh," Hitomi sat up, "It was really disturbing Okaasan, there was a girl and she made the dead walk like the living and there was this strange voice that called out to me…"
"What did it say?"
"It said: 'return and meet your fate'…what do you suppose it means?"
"Hitomi," her mother grabbed Hitomi's shoulders and looked directly into her eyes, "I think you already know what it means." Tears started to collect in her eyes again, as she knew that this would be their last moments together. "You know you must return, you must say goodbye to me.
"But Okaa…"
"Shh…" Hitomi's mother hushed her. "No buts, now Hitomi this will be difficult for all of us but it is inevitable, and we will live through it. Don't worry about your father and your brother, they'll understand. We'll always have your memory and we will always feel your love…but you will be…dead to us…"
"No, I can't!" Hitomi cried as she buried her face in her mother's shoulder and began to shed tears. "Okaasan…" she wined.
Hitomi's mother brought Hitomi's face up and talked into her eyes. "Hitomi you must stop crying now. Gaea needs you; you know that, you must be brave. Be brave for me Hitomi." Hitomi sniffed up the last of her tears and gave her mother a little nod. "Good." Said her mother. "Hitomi you will be going soon, I can feel it, go prepare if you need to.
Hitomi looked at her mother deeply and knew she had to go, that she was being called back. She left her mother's arms and headed to her room for some mementos. The first thing she grabbed was her photo album. "I can't go without this," she thought to herself. Next she got her duffle bag out and started to stuff some cloths into it. Her track shoes were already in there from earlier in the day. She knew that cloths of Gaea's fashion would be available to her, but she wanted to take something from Earth with her. She ran to the bathroom and threw in some toiletries, barely looking at what she was taking. She went back in her room and her Polaroid camera caught her eye. She walked over to it and smirked, "Merle would get a kick out of this," she mused to herself. She threw the camera in with some rolls of film. Hitomi stood and looked around her room, she knew that she probably would never see it again. She said her silent goodbyes to everything she had ever held dear.
Her mother had climbed up the stairs and was now watching her silently from the doorway, standing tall and firm. Hitomi was about to change out of her bloody nightgown when she spotted her mother. Hitomi threw the bag over her shoulder and ran to her mother. They hugged again, a farewell embrace, "tell them that I love them and I'll miss them." Hitomi whispered.
"Of course I will."
The column of light came silently and lifted Hitomi into the air. Her mother placed her hand lightly on Hitomi's cheek "I love you," she said fighting the tears, "I'm so proud of you."
"I love you too, you'll be in my heart always." Hitomi looked at her mother one last time and was taken away, leaving only her memory behind. "Van…" she said, looking towards the heavens, "I'm coming."
End of Chapter 05
By: H. Zane
Setting aside the forlorn and forsaken.
Giving up my life,
and facing abdication.
I calmly set forth in the abate of unflawed love.
Breaking through my agony,
and finding the sanctuary above.
~ H. Zane
~ Chapter 05-Valediction ~
It was a beautiful Friday night; one with stars too stunning to ignore and a sweet fragrance in the calm air. Nights had been like this on Gaea, strikingly beautiful stars that stretched endlessly covering the pitch sky. Hitomi smiled as she recalled those nights…they were always running from someone or something, but no matter what she was never alone. Never like how she was alone tonight. She sat in the darkness in her room looking towards the heavens, the stillness as her only consolation.
Amano had arrived three days before and, not to Hitomi's surprise, had been glued at the hip to Yukari. They had invited her to join them for dinner that night, but she declined. She would feel like a trespasser, a third wheel, there was no way she could stomach that. Although it was good to see Amano again after two years, it only reminded her of Allen and how much she longed to see everyone. Would it have been so horrible if she had stayed? No one on Earth had remembered her disappearance, would they have ever known? Could she have left this world behind just like that? Could she do that now? Yukari had told her to go, but would she have the courage to forget? No, she could never forget but …she couldn't forget about Van either.
She sat up on her bed; all this assessment was giving her a headache. She slowly got to her feet and started to stretch her tired limbs, but as she did the headache got worse, dizziness consumed her and her brain pounded in her skull. Suddenly she was surrounded in an endless darkness. She hovered in mid air frantically searching for something to hold on to, but found nothing. Her eyes darted back and forth and she saw a dim light off in the distance. It grew brighter as she was engulfed the sickening light. There, she saw a young woman with raven hair and bloodstained cloths; Hitomi watched with bewilderment as the young woman silently mouthed words from a large aged book. As she read, animated corpses surrounded Hitomi. Hitomi's blood froze and she screamed in horror, then was once again alone in darkness. She heard a fiendish voice call to her, "Return and meet your fate" it croaked…
Hitomi slowly opened her eyes as she regained consciousness. She rubbed the back of her head with her hand. She withdrew it and found that it was covered in blood. "My God," she said aloud, "I had a vision, what could this mean?" She shakily got to her feet, "damn nightstand," she cursed. As she steadied herself a thousand thoughts ran through her mind at once. She hadn't had a vision in two years, not since she left Gaea. "Is Gaea in trouble?" she thought. "Do they need me? Well, it was defiantly warning me of something…"
She remembered that strange voice she heard, "Return and meet your fate."
"I am to return to Gaea?" she questioned.
She staggered out of her room leaving her question unanswered. She held her head as the blood dripped down her neck and arm. "Ah, man did I hit my head hard." She got to the top of the stairs, and attempted to climb down but still felt too woozy. "Okaasan," she called as loudly as her head would allow, "Okkkaaasssaaannn."
Hitomi heard her mother's footsteps leave the kitchen and enter the carpeted living room. "Yes, Hitomi what is…oh my God Hitomi, what happened to you?" In a split second Hitomi's mother ran up the stairs in a panic, (blood oozing from her only daughters head had that effect on her). She put her arms around Hitomi's waist and led her down the stairs supporting most of her daughter's frail weight. She led her to the bathroom and sat Hitomi on the toilet. She let her daughter lean back against her as she examined the wound. "Well, regardless of all the blood you lost, it doesn't look so bad," Hitomi's mother gave a sigh of relief as she pressed a towel against Hitomi's head. The bleeding was stopping but her mother was still concerned, "I should take you to the hospital though, in case you need stitches…"
She turned Hitomi around so she could see her face. "What happened did you trip and fall or something?"
"Um, no, not exactly…" Hitomi's voice trailed off.
Her mother removed the towel, "well, then what exactly?" she asked with concern and a hint of frustration. Hitomi's mind raced, she wanted to tell her mother the truth, but would she believe her like Yukari did? She figured it was now or never, even if her mother didn't believe her that was ok; it would finally be out in the open, she would finally be free.
"Hitomi, what happened?" her mother asked again.
Hitomi took in a deep breath. "I will tell you but it's a long story and I don't know if you'll believe me." Hitomi looked at her mother's face, one eyebrow was cocked in that inquisitive way but her expression soon softened and she gave Hitomi a nod. Hitomi nodded back to her mother.
"Um, you see Okaasan I fell because I had a vision," she paused expecting her mother to laugh and ask what really happened. But she didn't.
Her mother gave no reply; she just stared at Hitomi contently.
Hitomi frowned inwardly thinking how strange her mother was acting, but she continued any way. "I used to get visions all the time when I did the Tarot but since I stopped…I…I…" she glanced up at her mother who was still expressionless. "Okaasan…" Hitomi started, as she looked her mother straight in the eyes. Her mother stared back.
"I know," said her mother.
"What?" Hitomi squealed, but immediately regretted it as the pain seared through her head once more. "What do you mean, you know? How could you know?"
Hitomi's mother smiled, "Let's go in the other room Hitomi, where it is more comfortable." With that she grabbed a clean towel and wrapped it around Hitomi's shoulders and led her to the couch. They both sat and her mother started her explanation.
"I know you've been having a hard time lately, you're crazy if you think I haven't noticed." Said Hitomi's mother. "First of all I want to tell you that I know you left Earth when you were fifteen." Hitomi jumped with total astonishment, she opened her mouth to speak but her mother quickly silenced her. "Let me explain," she said. Hitomi closed her mouth and relaxed her shoulders; she glared at her mother intently.
"When you disappeared everyone was a total wreck. Your father especially was so sick with worry that I feared for his health. No one knew what had happened to you, but shortly after your disappearance I started having bizarre dreams. You were in them with a man named Allen and I felt that you were very far away." I knew in my heart you were safe, though, and I wasn't worried anymore. I probably would have dismissed the dreams immediately if it hadn't been for your friends and your grandmother."
Hitomi gasped, her mother knew about her grandmother, she knew all this time and never said a word.
Hitomi's mother saw her daughter's shocked expression, "I take it that you too know about Obaasan's visit to the other planet," she said.
"Yes," said Hitomi, "I found out while I was on Gaea."
"Gaea," her mother mused to herself, "I had forgotten its name."
Her mother started to zone out, obviously thinking of the situation and her mother, whom she never talked about without a smile on her face.
"Um, Okaasan, please tell me what happened."
"Oh yes, of course," her mother was snapped back to reality. "Well, your friends told me you were taken in a column of light and I had remembered what your grandmother told me when I was young. I connected all the pieces and came to the conclusion that that was where you were. You were gone for a few months, and then you can back, just as mysteriously as you left. No one had memory of your disappearance, not even your friends who had seen you taken away. I must admit I didn't remember at first either, but as the days went by you became increasingly aloof, and the memories of the dreams came back to me."
Hitomi stared with wide amazed eyes. "Okaasan why did you keep this from me?" Hitomi asked.
"I was waiting for you to come to me," she replied.
"But what about Obaasan, why have you never told me about her?"
Her mother laughed at that question. "Probably the same reason you kept your experiences a secret. Really Hitomi if it had never happened to you, would you believe your grandmother's story?"
Hitomi cast her eyes down; she really didn't know the answer. She had been very naive and trusting in her innocence, maybe she would have believed…
"You know I had been dreading this day for a long time." Said Hitomi's mother. She twisted her apron with white knuckled fists. "Once you returned I knew that you would be leaving me once more… Maybe forever." Her mother started to weep lightly and seeing this Hitomi leaned into her mother letting her head rest on her mother's shoulder. She held her daughter tightly, "Hitomi," she said in between sniffles, "If I may ask, what was your vision about?"
"Oh," Hitomi sat up, "It was really disturbing Okaasan, there was a girl and she made the dead walk like the living and there was this strange voice that called out to me…"
"What did it say?"
"It said: 'return and meet your fate'…what do you suppose it means?"
"Hitomi," her mother grabbed Hitomi's shoulders and looked directly into her eyes, "I think you already know what it means." Tears started to collect in her eyes again, as she knew that this would be their last moments together. "You know you must return, you must say goodbye to me.
"But Okaa…"
"Shh…" Hitomi's mother hushed her. "No buts, now Hitomi this will be difficult for all of us but it is inevitable, and we will live through it. Don't worry about your father and your brother, they'll understand. We'll always have your memory and we will always feel your love…but you will be…dead to us…"
"No, I can't!" Hitomi cried as she buried her face in her mother's shoulder and began to shed tears. "Okaasan…" she wined.
Hitomi's mother brought Hitomi's face up and talked into her eyes. "Hitomi you must stop crying now. Gaea needs you; you know that, you must be brave. Be brave for me Hitomi." Hitomi sniffed up the last of her tears and gave her mother a little nod. "Good." Said her mother. "Hitomi you will be going soon, I can feel it, go prepare if you need to.
Hitomi looked at her mother deeply and knew she had to go, that she was being called back. She left her mother's arms and headed to her room for some mementos. The first thing she grabbed was her photo album. "I can't go without this," she thought to herself. Next she got her duffle bag out and started to stuff some cloths into it. Her track shoes were already in there from earlier in the day. She knew that cloths of Gaea's fashion would be available to her, but she wanted to take something from Earth with her. She ran to the bathroom and threw in some toiletries, barely looking at what she was taking. She went back in her room and her Polaroid camera caught her eye. She walked over to it and smirked, "Merle would get a kick out of this," she mused to herself. She threw the camera in with some rolls of film. Hitomi stood and looked around her room, she knew that she probably would never see it again. She said her silent goodbyes to everything she had ever held dear.
Her mother had climbed up the stairs and was now watching her silently from the doorway, standing tall and firm. Hitomi was about to change out of her bloody nightgown when she spotted her mother. Hitomi threw the bag over her shoulder and ran to her mother. They hugged again, a farewell embrace, "tell them that I love them and I'll miss them." Hitomi whispered.
"Of course I will."
The column of light came silently and lifted Hitomi into the air. Her mother placed her hand lightly on Hitomi's cheek "I love you," she said fighting the tears, "I'm so proud of you."
"I love you too, you'll be in my heart always." Hitomi looked at her mother one last time and was taken away, leaving only her memory behind. "Van…" she said, looking towards the heavens, "I'm coming."
End of Chapter 05