Title: When I Talk To You
Author: Lady of the Ink
Pairing: V/H
Category: Action/Adventure/Romance, with some good angst thrown in for flavor.
Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, but you knew that. I hope. But I do own this story and all the plot twists it contains.

Chapter Five
Don't Understand

The ground was wet and hard. The air was cold, and he was going to one heck of a pain in his neck when he got up. Groaning to himself, Corey managed to raise up on his elbows. At his first look at his surroundings, bathed in the gentle wash of early evening, he swallowed hard. Blinking quickly a few times, he confirmed that he wasn't seeing things; he was actually sprawled at the side of a path.

Nothing special there, but the fact that the path led to the city from his dream was a little less ordinary. He tried to take a deep breath, only to inhale a cloud of dust a horse went thundering past, missing his head by mere inches. Tamping down the urge to jump up and give the guy a piece of his mind, he slid a little more deeply into the weeds surrounding him. And that turned out to be a good thing as the horse turned, came back towards him, then jerked to an abrupt stop.

Corey jumped a little as two boots slammed to earth inches from his head. Choking back his cry of surprise, he waited to see what would happen next. Judging from the deep voice muttering what might have been swearwords, the mystery person was a not-so-happy guy. While he watched, the other person scratched at the ground with a toe, then started wandering around, almost like he was looking for something.

A small breeze had begun to blow, and Corey hoped it wouldn't mess with the tall weeds that continued to hide him. As soon as that thought registered, a particularly hard gust came. Closing his eyes, Corey held his breath, wishing with all his strength that the rider would keep looking the other way.

When a small silence stretched into a longer one, he dared to open one eye . . . Only to find himself staring down the length of a lethally sharp sword.

The boy was sprawled beside the road, covered with dust. He just sat there, gaping up at him like a fish out of water. Van knew that this boy was no bandit or assassin, but maintained his pose. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with some idiot lurking in the roadside weeds. Merle had been hounding him for the past several weeks, trying to get him to "open up about his feelings". Telling her to leave him alone had brought no more than an angry glare and a longer lecture the next time she managed to corner him.

Then he found out he'd lost Hitomi's pendant somewhere at one of the places he'd been working. Given the quantity of locations and the amount of time he hadn't noticed it missing, it was becoming doubtful that he'd be able to find it.

A pang shot through him at the thought of losing his last link to Hitomi, but he tamped it down. "It's not like it was doing me any good, anyway." That thought struck home, and he glared harder at the youth in front of him. The boy gulped audibly, and Van fought the urge to laugh. But then, as he watched, the other boy's face seemed to cloud for a moment, and he frowned.

Suddenly, his eyes widened and he stammered out, "Van! You're Van!"

Van stayed where he was, confused. It wasn't unusual for strangers to know his name; after all, he was king. But there was something about the way he'd said it that made him take notice.

"I can't believe I didn't recognize you sooner. I mean, I have seen you for myself . . . Although it was usually dark then, and the smoke made it hard to see." Now he paused, as if suddenly realizing that his companion wasn't following a word of that one-sided conversation. "I know this sounds strange, and I know that you don't know me, or have any reason to believe a word I'm going to say, but, please, listen. My name is Corey Kanzaki. I'm Hitomi's brother."

Van felt the world around him begin to shift and squeeze in on him. The evening air became too thick to breathe. There was a small metallic clang as the tip of his sword smacked into the ground, but Van didn't notice. Two words just kept repeating themselves in his mind.

Hitomi's brother.

Reining in his surprise, Van took his first real look at the boy. His hair was sandy blonde, maybe a shade or two lighter than Hitomi's had been. But the eyes . . . The eyes were the same, a deep, liquid green that somehow managed to convey a depth beyond the norm. He remembered a night, nothing but the sky above them, when Hitomi had spoken of her home. Of her family, a mother, father, and younger brother.

"Hi- Hitomi," Van sighed, unaware that the other boy could hear him. Judging by the look on the young king's face, he was as worried about her as she was about him. Deciding that there was no longer a threat to his safety, Corey got to his feet and began brushing the dirt off himself. As soon as that was done, he looked around, sure that Hitomi would be somewhere nearby. As the seconds ticked off, he become more frantic. There was no sign of her, no depression in the weeds, no scrap of cloth. Nothing.

"Hitomi!" he yelled, straining to hear a reply. "Hitomi!" He gulped in deep breaths, refusing to believe that he'd been brought here without her. Everything had happened so quickly, but she couldn't have been left behind. Not when all of this was for her in the first place.

Van was snapped out of his silence at the sound of Corey's worried voice. He watched as the other boy searched frantically in the dimming light, obviously looking for something. At the sound of her name, Van stiffened. Looking for something . . .

Moving without thought, he grabbed the younger boy by the front of his shirt. "Are you saying Hitomi is here? On Gaea? Right now?" He could hear the urgency in his own voice, but was powerless to stop it.

"She could be. We were side by side. I was holding her hand, then the dizzy feeling came . . . Whatever brought me here . . . It wouldn't have left her behind. Not alone. I mean, she has to be here. She just has to be."

Seeing that Hitomi's brother was in enough of a state without Van going wild on him, he forced himself to take a deep breath. If Hitomi were nearby, she would have answered them when Corey yelled. If she wasn't close, then they'd have to spread out and look for her. But that couldn't be done until morning. Van felt his knees go weak at the thought of an entire night of not knowing . . . She might be a few feet away or a million miles.

"We have to find her." The vehemence in Corey's voice startled Van. His confusion must have shown on his face. "You don't understand. If she's here, she needs us. She's not exactly in the best state for taking care of herself. Anything could happen to her." His voice broke on the last words, and he swallowed hard.

A deep pounding had taken up residence inside her head, and the heavy throbbing was making it impossible to think. Trying to take a deep breath quickly became another no-no as a sharp pain shot through her ribs. A dim corner of her mind was shouting at her to remember something, but she couldn't focus long enough.

Her world was nothing but blackness and pain, backed with that sense of danger and urgency. She knew she needed to get her bearings, but it was all she could do to keep from slipping back into the well of oblivion she had just risen from.

Time passed; how much, she couldn't begin to guess. Slowly, her headache began to recede, allowing her a few moments of respite. Realizing she was laying face down on some surface, she gathered her strength to roll over. A pained cry was torn from her throat as she moved, and her stomach rolled crazily.

"Don't let me throw up, please don't let me throw up," she silently begged whatever gods would listen. The stars above swirled in a dizzying dance, blurring into loops and flowers, swirls and clouds. Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, she forced herself to count to ten, then take as deep a breath as she could. It seemed to help, so she repeated the process.

The first multi-colored tendrils of dawn were grasping at the sky by the time she felt confident enough to sit up. A handy tree helped prop her up, the feel of rough bark pressing into her skin a welcome anchor to reality. When she caught her first glimpse of her surroundings, all her hard won calm abandoned her. She could feel her eyes widen and the color drain from her face.

"This. Is. Impossible."

Next Chapter: All These Changes.