Deadicated to: Chimei-nakidasu, becuase she inspires me to keep writting ^_^
a/n: woooo-who! I recently looked at the past posted chapters on the site and noticed so many mistakes in the chapter titles! (that won't happen anymore thank goodness now that I have a computer that works.) But for everyone out there who wants to know this is how they are supposed to go:
Prolouge: Angel Fallen, Angel Flying
Vision 1: Explanations for Van
Vision 2: It's Kareoke Time
Vision 3: Sorrowful Day
And then this one, Vision 4: Marius
Oh, and there's a slight time slip that occurs since last chapter. Time passes more quickly on Earth than it does on Gaea. I'm not a mathematical genius, so I didn't fix up the numbers for ya'....but for story purposes, three months have passed since Van left and Shiryoku is still in her state of horrible depression, as when we last left her. Yukari has been acting as a mother, but Shiryoku has been pulling away.
~Vision 4: Marius and the Battle of the Angels~
I sat on the bed in my room crying myself into a state of hyperventilation from realizing my deepness of depression. I had lost everything. "What to do now? Are there no visions to show me a way? No sign of hope?" I raised my head from where I had burried it in the triangle that I had made with my arms on the bed. I wiped away my tears and glanced at my reflection in the mirror across from my bed.
I was always told that I was a pretty girl but I didn't think so. I always had thought of myself as normal. There was nothing outstanding about me. I had one length, straight, mahgonay hair that stopped right below my shoulders. A small mouth, a cute, button nose, and big green eyes finished off the rest of me. I was nothing special.
The only thing I could do was sing. "I can't even do that now...I don't want to anymore..." I felt my voice quivering with my body. I felt so insecure and uneasy. "I can't even sing anymore...*gasp*...the one thing I could do! I'm getting scared! I don't want to be alone! Can't someone out there protect me?!" I cried flinging crystal clear drops of liquid across the room, not expecting a reply.
Suddenly, the mirror infront of me rippled like when a pebbles skip across a pond. I took a few steps back in fear. My eyes grew wide in surprise at what I saw. "If you don't like the Phantom Moon, just come to me and I'll protect you," said the mysterious shadow.
I cupped my hands over my mouth in fear and whispered, "Van?". No, it couldn't be Van. He couldn't leave Fanelia for me...besides, this guy's voice was too deep to be Van's. "You don't have to suffer like this...you shouldn't suffer like this...if you come with me," he said sticking out a hand to finish his proposal, "I can show you a perfect world; a world rid of pain, sorrow, and suffering." He shoves his hand out even farther almost touching mine. I jerked my hands back and stared at the shadow in disbelief
. "I want to believe you so badly..." I said folding my arms in unsurity. "But that would be a very sad world...I'd rather know pain than to not know emtion..." He pulls his hand back into the watery glass and shakes his head in disapprovement.. "When you tire of this world, I will await your return to take you to another," he whispered as he dissapaited into the mirror.
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"IMPOSSIBLE!!! You are NOT MY BROTHER'S SON!" I cried out pushing Merlu behind me to protect her. "Why not?" Marius replied with a smug look on his face. "Aren't you interested if it's possible, uncle?"
I reached for the handle of my sword; I didn't trust this character at all. He took one step closer to me and held out a glass tube. "Dornkirk's science brought me to life..." he said forcing the tube in my hand. I lost my breath over this. Everyone on Gaea knew what Dorkirk's science was capable of doing and this was nothing short of one of his preposterous ideas. "I was born from a test tube, the necessary genetic information from a man and a woman were mixed into that tube and then I was placed into the womb of a woman willing to bear me..."
I stood there in shock and disbelief. I couldn't believe this; he was telling the truth. "Your brother gave the necessary parts to Dornkirk at the age of 20. But how can you be older than me you say? I was also given in the tube, the fortune blood, which as you learned with my father will make you age quicker and shorten your life but Dornkirk nulled that effect about a a day before he died..." He took the test tube back from me and quietly stuck it in his pocket.
"Eeeerrgggh..." I grunted as I drew my sword and Merlu hid behind me. "I still don't believe you," I said defiantly knowing he couldn't have fabricated such a lie. "Very well then...I didn't want to resort to this..." Marius said pulling off his jacket and shirt. He let out a groan and then I was shocked even more than I was before...
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I stood at the french doors that led out to the balcony of my room. It was a peaceful rain outside. I liked just hearing the simple pit-pat pit-pat of rain. Somehow, I felt something calming about it. I glanced up at the moon in tonight's navy blanketed sky. It sure was brighter than usual tonight. It was almost illuminating the sky.
I folded my arms and turned to my desk. Sitting there on top of it was my mother's tarot cards. I looked at them longingly; I felt they were pulling me to pick them up. "Please...no more..." I whispered. I feared what would come of the reading. It was usually an unpleaseant vision.
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"...Wings...silver wings...silver feathered wings like mine..." I said lowering my sword looking at the navy headed boy standing before me. "Now do you believe me uncle," he said with a raised eyebrow.
I left my sword usheathed and I was still on my guard. "What do you want with me..." I said cautiously and annoyedly. "What I want..." he said pacing around me, "...is only what's rightfully mine."
I watched him walk the circles around me. "What is that?" "I'm the eldest of the first crown prince of Fanelia...I have the heart of a dead dragon from the Phantom Moon...Fanelia is rightfully mine; I am the king..."
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I sat on my bed in a cold sweat. "Was...was...was that the man that appeared in the mirror to me? I am sure it was...I continued pulling the cards from the deck hoping to see what else was going to happen. "He can't take away the throne from Van; he musn't!!!" I thought. "Fanelia is all he has..." I whispered to myself. I pulled my next card...
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"Fanelia will never be yours!" I shouted. "What have you ever done for the people? What did you so called "Father" ever do for them?!? Where were you during the great war? I, myself was still a child and I led armies! You-you...you know nothing about the people, their pains, their sorrows, their worries....things are starting to go well now...I will fight you to the death over this!!!" Van says charging full force. Merlu becomes very frightened and runs back into the palace.
Marius jumps up and hoovers over me with his wings. He unsheaths his sword with a diabolical look on his face. "You know what uncle? You don't charge agressively enough!" he says dive bombing the sword tip at me. I just barely move out of the way; my left shoulder is nicked. It starts to bleed tremendously, but I block the pain out as usual.
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"Arrrrrrrggghhh!!!!" I grabbed my left shoulder which was throbbing now with a horrible pain. I bent down and stayed that way wishing the immense pain would just wash away. "Van...he's hurting..." I muttered trying to scoop myself off the floor to pull the next card.
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"You make for quite a formidable foe, no, little uncle?" Marius said taking once again to the skies. "However, if you truly want a fair fight, you'll have to fly, I'm afraid...muahahahahahaha..."
I grunt and let my sword down for a moment. My mother's words came flooding back into my head. "Van, promise me you won't let anyone see your wings..."
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"Van..." I say closing my eyes still grimacing from the pain. "Do it...no one will care about seeing your wings...it would probably give them hope..." I can still see him debating over everything in his mind. It bothered me. Why be upset over using his wings? HE HAD to to keep Fanelia....
"Your feelings will reach him..." I could hear my mother's voice. "Right, my feelings reach Van...no matter space, nor time...they do reach..." I said closing my eyes and trying the dousing my mother had taught me when I was young. I pictured the pendant, for I knew Van would be wearing it. I could sense it on him; I could sense Van was just going to give up and tell Marius he would have to take it up with the Royal Court...
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I stopped dead in fear. It was like the last time I used Escaflowne. In my mind's eye, she was there with me. "NOOOOOOOO!!! Don't give up!" she screamed at me. She clutched my torso almost in tears. "Why let your wings stop you from defending your country? Why let something so beautiful, so unique be so shameful?" I returned her grasp around me. "Shiryoku...you don't understand..." I said gazing down at the top of her head. She lifted her small face up at mine. Tears were almost in her eyes, she looked like she could just burst into tears at any second.
Marius intterupted the session in my head, "are you coming or not?" he said, sword drawn and ready. "Fly, my angel..." she said with a hopeful, tearful look with her hands clasped sitting in a praying stance. "Fly and protect your kingdom..."
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"Fly and protect your kingdom..." I said and then I heard a *slam.* It was just the wind, but it broke my concentration. I had lost Van. I looked out my window. The moon was still growing brighter; the night was still young. I decided I would see what mother loved about sitting on the roof and staring at the moon for myself. I headed up to the attic, got on the roof, and layed down with my arms behind my head wondering what would happen to Van...
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"Ars n Dutchas....and my kingdom," I mumbled unfurling my hidden wings for the first time in a long time. "Hehe...that's more like it!" Marius said drawing his sword above his head as I quickly flew to meet the first blow. *CLASH* The Battle of the Angels had begun.
It was much harder than I expected, fighting someone in the air. I had enough problems with swordfighting on ground. Everytime Marius would send his blade my way, I would get knocked off balance forcing me to regroup myself and get my wings straight for flying again. But why?
I decided I would charge at him full speed. I flew above the clouds, then turn my sword point down and dive bombed my way right to him. He retalited with simply putting all his weight into his sword. *SREEEECH* My attack was stopped. "!@#$!!!!" thought. "What now?"
Why was he able to have the upper hand in this? He had never fought in a war; he had never taken hours of swordfighting technique. I studided his every move carefully. "Could it be the fortune blood?" I wondered, "but still, I could beat Naria and Eryia..." Antoher blow to block and I continued to think just letting him come after me and recieving every advance with a defense.
Then it hit me. His sword was one of defenese; it was made of a particurarly heavy metal alloy allowing him shove me off my balance with his amount of already given strength at any time. And to make matters more is his favor, he's heavier in weight than I am so he brought me up to the stratosphere to fight...so where do I take him to make him my equal? Somewhere windy? No, that'll just make things worse for me..." I cut my eyes around my surroundings hoping to find some answer. To my surprise, Marius dropped his sword and glided back to down to the earth. He called to me, "tell ya' what uncle, if you can find a suitable queen to marry within the next week, I'll let you keep Fanelia!" he said with a devilish smile.
Just then, Merlu came back with Allen. "What's the meaning of all this?!" he asked pulling his sword from his sash. "It's alright, Schezar, I'm leaving...but you should be able to help Vannie-boy up there....hehe...Lord knows he's going to need it....he'll needs the 'playboy' skills, no?" Marius begins to leave.
I finally float back down and retract my wings only after Marius does his. "A week and I'll be claiming what's mine...if I don't see a wedding by the blue moon month, Fanelia is mine..." and he's out of sight by then.
I let out a sigh. What to do now? I haven't fully gotten over Hitomi, much less had time to think about what I was going to tell everyone...how to tell them that someone they all loved, that was so dear to them, is dead? By committing suicide? That wasn't like her...she was always so happy...."
(outside the Fanelian outskirts) Marius can be seen putting his cloak back. "Hehe...bring her to this planet Van...make my work easier for me...."
"What just happend here?" asked Allen. "Oh! Lord Van!" Merlu cried. "Are you alright?!...I think Millerna is in town; I'll go get her!" Merlu cried wanting to take care of my shoulder. She bandaged it some.
"Nonsense, Merlu...don't bother her..." I say sheathing my sword. "I will do as I please!" she cries and hurries off in a huff. "She's very good to you, you know that.." Allen says raising an eyebrow. "Yes, I know..." I mutter. I'm too busy thinking for his idle chatter. "So, please, explain what that man was doing here so that I can understand what is going on here..." Allen says motioning for me to go inside the castle with him. I lead and he follows.
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"I'm sooo pathetic...I don't have anything special about me....I'm not pretty, I don't play a sport, I can't sing, I can't act, I don't have a boyfriend, I don't have any friends...." I say with tears welling up in my eyes. "I do have a friend, but he's a million miles away....I'm an orphan..." I give a slight smile to my thoughts. "I have such a wonderful life....Oh! Cursed are the heavens that look down upon me! For, they do not hear my deaf cries! No! It's an endeavor in vain for the stars sit and smile upon my fate!"
"What are you screaming and carrying on about up there?!? And WHY are you up there?!?" says a familar voice. It's Yukari. "I'm really beginning to worry about you..." she says being genuinely concerned.
"Oh, man you're blind woman!" Can you not see it? Did you not see it? The day he left, he flew my heart away with him! He's the brother I never had, the friend I've never known! You are to blame for all of my troubles! WHY did I let myself spiral into this bottomless hole they call depression? Because you sent him home! You made him feel unwelcome and now I feel unwelcome in my home-that isn't right! So if what's peverse is right, and what's right is peverse then I shall forever be an angsty teen rather than the happy go lucky girl you once took pride in knowing!" I say finishing my solioquioy by dangling myself off the edge of the roof.
"And I just thought you were rebelling with all the black eyeliner, clothes, nailpolish..." Yukari said becoming geniunely frighthend. "Oh, Shiryoku..."
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"So, now....I guess I need to throw a ball, so I can find someone to marry...." I say with a lump in my throat. I didn't want to marry....it's too early in life...I AM just 16....
"Well, you broght back Hitomi didn't you?" Allen said with a comforting smile.
There was a dead silence between us.
"Oh, I'm so sorry Van, she turned you down then, huh? I guess she wasn't worth it after all..." he says scratching the back of his head laughing to himself. Then he stops when I don't join him. "That is it, isn't it Van?" he asks very unsuredly.
I just look at him. I close my eyes and let out a sigh. "She's gone..."
"What do you mean?" he says his eyes widening with fear.
"I mean she's gone...for good...forever...."
"You mean like...."
"....Dead...."
"HOW?"
"I don't want to discuss it...."
"WHY?"
"I'm not over it yet....I'll tell ya' later...."
"BUT..."
"LATER!....Just don't let any of the others know yet...."
"Alright," he says going from the edge of his seat to leaning back.
I leave the room and go out to the feilds that I love to just sit and think in. The grass is always green,tall and wispy. The wind is always blowing and the smell of the fields is just great. It's unforgettable.
I sat out in the middle next to a patch of flowers. "Feh...even the flowers look sad..." I say pulling my knees up so close that my head could rest on them. "What am I going to do?" I think feeling like I could cry. "I won't though...I can't....I have to be strong...."
The wind blows even harder and I take a deep breath in. "I wish I still had Shiryoku around...I wish Shiroyoku could come to Gaea..."
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"No, Yukari! You haven't let me breath since oka-san died! You've been smothering me! I might as well have died myself! I WISH I WAS ANYWHERE BUT HERE!" I say finally letting all my hate towards her go. It hurt me to tell her this, but if I ever wanted my freedom back, I'd have to tell her. "In fact, I WISH I WAS ON GAEA RIGHT NOW!!!"
And then there was a column of light....
And then I was laying in a feild....with tall, green grass, flowers, and a wonderful smell...I looked directly in front of me...the Earth hung in the sky with the moon!
Then, there was a familar face....
raven noir messy hair.....
crimson eyes.....
and that great smile......
"VAN!" I said jumping up throwing my arms around his neck almost knocking him down. I think I startled him, becuase he had been standing over me like he was trying to figure out if I was ok or not. I got a giggle out of him as he was trying to regain his balance. I couldn't let go. I couldn't believe my wish had come true!
He wrapped his arms around me too, then followed by a very serious, solemn tone of voice saying, "there's a lot I need to tell you...a lot to catch up on..." His eyes narrowed and looked at me with a pleading look to understand. "Ok..." I said taking a step back from smothering him. I plopped down in the grass and patted the ground next to me. "Sit...talk...get it off your mind...." I said trying to comfort him. A small, gentle smile srpead across his worried face. "C'mon, say it....you've missed me!" I said with a rather cheezy grin while bumping shoulders with him after he had sat down. "Anyway, like I was saying...." he continued with a mischievous look. "Oh! Whatever....It's all about ME, VAN, CUZ I"M THE KING!" I said waiving my hands around trying to do my best impression of him. "I don't act like that!" Van said with an indignant look. "Do too...now tell me what's going on...it's about to kill me...." He then proceeded to tell me how the fight I saw in my vision ended.
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Yukari looked at the roof of the house and then turned to cry on Amano's shoulder. "It's all my fault...." she sobbed. "Hitomi came back to us...Shiryo will too...you have to believe in her..." he said walking her back to their home nextdoor.
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Marius walked along in the forrest muttering things and laughing evilly to himself. "Now...to find the boss...." he said.
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Dryden was startled by a noise he heard from in his living room. He stopped fixing his lunch to find that Issac's journal had flung itslef open.
"IT HAS BEGUN!"
{End! YAY! another cliffhanger...maybe not as long as my others, but I think this had more action...so please review! I love everyone!}
[Ars n Dutchas is my family's Gaelic motto which means, "for my heritage."]
a/n: woooo-who! I recently looked at the past posted chapters on the site and noticed so many mistakes in the chapter titles! (that won't happen anymore thank goodness now that I have a computer that works.) But for everyone out there who wants to know this is how they are supposed to go:
Prolouge: Angel Fallen, Angel Flying
Vision 1: Explanations for Van
Vision 2: It's Kareoke Time
Vision 3: Sorrowful Day
And then this one, Vision 4: Marius
Oh, and there's a slight time slip that occurs since last chapter. Time passes more quickly on Earth than it does on Gaea. I'm not a mathematical genius, so I didn't fix up the numbers for ya'....but for story purposes, three months have passed since Van left and Shiryoku is still in her state of horrible depression, as when we last left her. Yukari has been acting as a mother, but Shiryoku has been pulling away.
~Vision 4: Marius and the Battle of the Angels~
I sat on the bed in my room crying myself into a state of hyperventilation from realizing my deepness of depression. I had lost everything. "What to do now? Are there no visions to show me a way? No sign of hope?" I raised my head from where I had burried it in the triangle that I had made with my arms on the bed. I wiped away my tears and glanced at my reflection in the mirror across from my bed.
I was always told that I was a pretty girl but I didn't think so. I always had thought of myself as normal. There was nothing outstanding about me. I had one length, straight, mahgonay hair that stopped right below my shoulders. A small mouth, a cute, button nose, and big green eyes finished off the rest of me. I was nothing special.
The only thing I could do was sing. "I can't even do that now...I don't want to anymore..." I felt my voice quivering with my body. I felt so insecure and uneasy. "I can't even sing anymore...*gasp*...the one thing I could do! I'm getting scared! I don't want to be alone! Can't someone out there protect me?!" I cried flinging crystal clear drops of liquid across the room, not expecting a reply.
Suddenly, the mirror infront of me rippled like when a pebbles skip across a pond. I took a few steps back in fear. My eyes grew wide in surprise at what I saw. "If you don't like the Phantom Moon, just come to me and I'll protect you," said the mysterious shadow.
I cupped my hands over my mouth in fear and whispered, "Van?". No, it couldn't be Van. He couldn't leave Fanelia for me...besides, this guy's voice was too deep to be Van's. "You don't have to suffer like this...you shouldn't suffer like this...if you come with me," he said sticking out a hand to finish his proposal, "I can show you a perfect world; a world rid of pain, sorrow, and suffering." He shoves his hand out even farther almost touching mine. I jerked my hands back and stared at the shadow in disbelief
. "I want to believe you so badly..." I said folding my arms in unsurity. "But that would be a very sad world...I'd rather know pain than to not know emtion..." He pulls his hand back into the watery glass and shakes his head in disapprovement.. "When you tire of this world, I will await your return to take you to another," he whispered as he dissapaited into the mirror.
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"IMPOSSIBLE!!! You are NOT MY BROTHER'S SON!" I cried out pushing Merlu behind me to protect her. "Why not?" Marius replied with a smug look on his face. "Aren't you interested if it's possible, uncle?"
I reached for the handle of my sword; I didn't trust this character at all. He took one step closer to me and held out a glass tube. "Dornkirk's science brought me to life..." he said forcing the tube in my hand. I lost my breath over this. Everyone on Gaea knew what Dorkirk's science was capable of doing and this was nothing short of one of his preposterous ideas. "I was born from a test tube, the necessary genetic information from a man and a woman were mixed into that tube and then I was placed into the womb of a woman willing to bear me..."
I stood there in shock and disbelief. I couldn't believe this; he was telling the truth. "Your brother gave the necessary parts to Dornkirk at the age of 20. But how can you be older than me you say? I was also given in the tube, the fortune blood, which as you learned with my father will make you age quicker and shorten your life but Dornkirk nulled that effect about a a day before he died..." He took the test tube back from me and quietly stuck it in his pocket.
"Eeeerrgggh..." I grunted as I drew my sword and Merlu hid behind me. "I still don't believe you," I said defiantly knowing he couldn't have fabricated such a lie. "Very well then...I didn't want to resort to this..." Marius said pulling off his jacket and shirt. He let out a groan and then I was shocked even more than I was before...
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I stood at the french doors that led out to the balcony of my room. It was a peaceful rain outside. I liked just hearing the simple pit-pat pit-pat of rain. Somehow, I felt something calming about it. I glanced up at the moon in tonight's navy blanketed sky. It sure was brighter than usual tonight. It was almost illuminating the sky.
I folded my arms and turned to my desk. Sitting there on top of it was my mother's tarot cards. I looked at them longingly; I felt they were pulling me to pick them up. "Please...no more..." I whispered. I feared what would come of the reading. It was usually an unpleaseant vision.
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"...Wings...silver wings...silver feathered wings like mine..." I said lowering my sword looking at the navy headed boy standing before me. "Now do you believe me uncle," he said with a raised eyebrow.
I left my sword usheathed and I was still on my guard. "What do you want with me..." I said cautiously and annoyedly. "What I want..." he said pacing around me, "...is only what's rightfully mine."
I watched him walk the circles around me. "What is that?" "I'm the eldest of the first crown prince of Fanelia...I have the heart of a dead dragon from the Phantom Moon...Fanelia is rightfully mine; I am the king..."
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I sat on my bed in a cold sweat. "Was...was...was that the man that appeared in the mirror to me? I am sure it was...I continued pulling the cards from the deck hoping to see what else was going to happen. "He can't take away the throne from Van; he musn't!!!" I thought. "Fanelia is all he has..." I whispered to myself. I pulled my next card...
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"Fanelia will never be yours!" I shouted. "What have you ever done for the people? What did you so called "Father" ever do for them?!? Where were you during the great war? I, myself was still a child and I led armies! You-you...you know nothing about the people, their pains, their sorrows, their worries....things are starting to go well now...I will fight you to the death over this!!!" Van says charging full force. Merlu becomes very frightened and runs back into the palace.
Marius jumps up and hoovers over me with his wings. He unsheaths his sword with a diabolical look on his face. "You know what uncle? You don't charge agressively enough!" he says dive bombing the sword tip at me. I just barely move out of the way; my left shoulder is nicked. It starts to bleed tremendously, but I block the pain out as usual.
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"Arrrrrrrggghhh!!!!" I grabbed my left shoulder which was throbbing now with a horrible pain. I bent down and stayed that way wishing the immense pain would just wash away. "Van...he's hurting..." I muttered trying to scoop myself off the floor to pull the next card.
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"You make for quite a formidable foe, no, little uncle?" Marius said taking once again to the skies. "However, if you truly want a fair fight, you'll have to fly, I'm afraid...muahahahahahaha..."
I grunt and let my sword down for a moment. My mother's words came flooding back into my head. "Van, promise me you won't let anyone see your wings..."
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"Van..." I say closing my eyes still grimacing from the pain. "Do it...no one will care about seeing your wings...it would probably give them hope..." I can still see him debating over everything in his mind. It bothered me. Why be upset over using his wings? HE HAD to to keep Fanelia....
"Your feelings will reach him..." I could hear my mother's voice. "Right, my feelings reach Van...no matter space, nor time...they do reach..." I said closing my eyes and trying the dousing my mother had taught me when I was young. I pictured the pendant, for I knew Van would be wearing it. I could sense it on him; I could sense Van was just going to give up and tell Marius he would have to take it up with the Royal Court...
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I stopped dead in fear. It was like the last time I used Escaflowne. In my mind's eye, she was there with me. "NOOOOOOOO!!! Don't give up!" she screamed at me. She clutched my torso almost in tears. "Why let your wings stop you from defending your country? Why let something so beautiful, so unique be so shameful?" I returned her grasp around me. "Shiryoku...you don't understand..." I said gazing down at the top of her head. She lifted her small face up at mine. Tears were almost in her eyes, she looked like she could just burst into tears at any second.
Marius intterupted the session in my head, "are you coming or not?" he said, sword drawn and ready. "Fly, my angel..." she said with a hopeful, tearful look with her hands clasped sitting in a praying stance. "Fly and protect your kingdom..."
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"Fly and protect your kingdom..." I said and then I heard a *slam.* It was just the wind, but it broke my concentration. I had lost Van. I looked out my window. The moon was still growing brighter; the night was still young. I decided I would see what mother loved about sitting on the roof and staring at the moon for myself. I headed up to the attic, got on the roof, and layed down with my arms behind my head wondering what would happen to Van...
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"Ars n Dutchas....and my kingdom," I mumbled unfurling my hidden wings for the first time in a long time. "Hehe...that's more like it!" Marius said drawing his sword above his head as I quickly flew to meet the first blow. *CLASH* The Battle of the Angels had begun.
It was much harder than I expected, fighting someone in the air. I had enough problems with swordfighting on ground. Everytime Marius would send his blade my way, I would get knocked off balance forcing me to regroup myself and get my wings straight for flying again. But why?
I decided I would charge at him full speed. I flew above the clouds, then turn my sword point down and dive bombed my way right to him. He retalited with simply putting all his weight into his sword. *SREEEECH* My attack was stopped. "!@#$!!!!" thought. "What now?"
Why was he able to have the upper hand in this? He had never fought in a war; he had never taken hours of swordfighting technique. I studided his every move carefully. "Could it be the fortune blood?" I wondered, "but still, I could beat Naria and Eryia..." Antoher blow to block and I continued to think just letting him come after me and recieving every advance with a defense.
Then it hit me. His sword was one of defenese; it was made of a particurarly heavy metal alloy allowing him shove me off my balance with his amount of already given strength at any time. And to make matters more is his favor, he's heavier in weight than I am so he brought me up to the stratosphere to fight...so where do I take him to make him my equal? Somewhere windy? No, that'll just make things worse for me..." I cut my eyes around my surroundings hoping to find some answer. To my surprise, Marius dropped his sword and glided back to down to the earth. He called to me, "tell ya' what uncle, if you can find a suitable queen to marry within the next week, I'll let you keep Fanelia!" he said with a devilish smile.
Just then, Merlu came back with Allen. "What's the meaning of all this?!" he asked pulling his sword from his sash. "It's alright, Schezar, I'm leaving...but you should be able to help Vannie-boy up there....hehe...Lord knows he's going to need it....he'll needs the 'playboy' skills, no?" Marius begins to leave.
I finally float back down and retract my wings only after Marius does his. "A week and I'll be claiming what's mine...if I don't see a wedding by the blue moon month, Fanelia is mine..." and he's out of sight by then.
I let out a sigh. What to do now? I haven't fully gotten over Hitomi, much less had time to think about what I was going to tell everyone...how to tell them that someone they all loved, that was so dear to them, is dead? By committing suicide? That wasn't like her...she was always so happy...."
(outside the Fanelian outskirts) Marius can be seen putting his cloak back. "Hehe...bring her to this planet Van...make my work easier for me...."
"What just happend here?" asked Allen. "Oh! Lord Van!" Merlu cried. "Are you alright?!...I think Millerna is in town; I'll go get her!" Merlu cried wanting to take care of my shoulder. She bandaged it some.
"Nonsense, Merlu...don't bother her..." I say sheathing my sword. "I will do as I please!" she cries and hurries off in a huff. "She's very good to you, you know that.." Allen says raising an eyebrow. "Yes, I know..." I mutter. I'm too busy thinking for his idle chatter. "So, please, explain what that man was doing here so that I can understand what is going on here..." Allen says motioning for me to go inside the castle with him. I lead and he follows.
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"I'm sooo pathetic...I don't have anything special about me....I'm not pretty, I don't play a sport, I can't sing, I can't act, I don't have a boyfriend, I don't have any friends...." I say with tears welling up in my eyes. "I do have a friend, but he's a million miles away....I'm an orphan..." I give a slight smile to my thoughts. "I have such a wonderful life....Oh! Cursed are the heavens that look down upon me! For, they do not hear my deaf cries! No! It's an endeavor in vain for the stars sit and smile upon my fate!"
"What are you screaming and carrying on about up there?!? And WHY are you up there?!?" says a familar voice. It's Yukari. "I'm really beginning to worry about you..." she says being genuinely concerned.
"Oh, man you're blind woman!" Can you not see it? Did you not see it? The day he left, he flew my heart away with him! He's the brother I never had, the friend I've never known! You are to blame for all of my troubles! WHY did I let myself spiral into this bottomless hole they call depression? Because you sent him home! You made him feel unwelcome and now I feel unwelcome in my home-that isn't right! So if what's peverse is right, and what's right is peverse then I shall forever be an angsty teen rather than the happy go lucky girl you once took pride in knowing!" I say finishing my solioquioy by dangling myself off the edge of the roof.
"And I just thought you were rebelling with all the black eyeliner, clothes, nailpolish..." Yukari said becoming geniunely frighthend. "Oh, Shiryoku..."
***********************************
"So, now....I guess I need to throw a ball, so I can find someone to marry...." I say with a lump in my throat. I didn't want to marry....it's too early in life...I AM just 16....
"Well, you broght back Hitomi didn't you?" Allen said with a comforting smile.
There was a dead silence between us.
"Oh, I'm so sorry Van, she turned you down then, huh? I guess she wasn't worth it after all..." he says scratching the back of his head laughing to himself. Then he stops when I don't join him. "That is it, isn't it Van?" he asks very unsuredly.
I just look at him. I close my eyes and let out a sigh. "She's gone..."
"What do you mean?" he says his eyes widening with fear.
"I mean she's gone...for good...forever...."
"You mean like...."
"....Dead...."
"HOW?"
"I don't want to discuss it...."
"WHY?"
"I'm not over it yet....I'll tell ya' later...."
"BUT..."
"LATER!....Just don't let any of the others know yet...."
"Alright," he says going from the edge of his seat to leaning back.
I leave the room and go out to the feilds that I love to just sit and think in. The grass is always green,tall and wispy. The wind is always blowing and the smell of the fields is just great. It's unforgettable.
I sat out in the middle next to a patch of flowers. "Feh...even the flowers look sad..." I say pulling my knees up so close that my head could rest on them. "What am I going to do?" I think feeling like I could cry. "I won't though...I can't....I have to be strong...."
The wind blows even harder and I take a deep breath in. "I wish I still had Shiryoku around...I wish Shiroyoku could come to Gaea..."
**********************************
"No, Yukari! You haven't let me breath since oka-san died! You've been smothering me! I might as well have died myself! I WISH I WAS ANYWHERE BUT HERE!" I say finally letting all my hate towards her go. It hurt me to tell her this, but if I ever wanted my freedom back, I'd have to tell her. "In fact, I WISH I WAS ON GAEA RIGHT NOW!!!"
And then there was a column of light....
And then I was laying in a feild....with tall, green grass, flowers, and a wonderful smell...I looked directly in front of me...the Earth hung in the sky with the moon!
Then, there was a familar face....
raven noir messy hair.....
crimson eyes.....
and that great smile......
"VAN!" I said jumping up throwing my arms around his neck almost knocking him down. I think I startled him, becuase he had been standing over me like he was trying to figure out if I was ok or not. I got a giggle out of him as he was trying to regain his balance. I couldn't let go. I couldn't believe my wish had come true!
He wrapped his arms around me too, then followed by a very serious, solemn tone of voice saying, "there's a lot I need to tell you...a lot to catch up on..." His eyes narrowed and looked at me with a pleading look to understand. "Ok..." I said taking a step back from smothering him. I plopped down in the grass and patted the ground next to me. "Sit...talk...get it off your mind...." I said trying to comfort him. A small, gentle smile srpead across his worried face. "C'mon, say it....you've missed me!" I said with a rather cheezy grin while bumping shoulders with him after he had sat down. "Anyway, like I was saying...." he continued with a mischievous look. "Oh! Whatever....It's all about ME, VAN, CUZ I"M THE KING!" I said waiving my hands around trying to do my best impression of him. "I don't act like that!" Van said with an indignant look. "Do too...now tell me what's going on...it's about to kill me...." He then proceeded to tell me how the fight I saw in my vision ended.
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Yukari looked at the roof of the house and then turned to cry on Amano's shoulder. "It's all my fault...." she sobbed. "Hitomi came back to us...Shiryo will too...you have to believe in her..." he said walking her back to their home nextdoor.
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Marius walked along in the forrest muttering things and laughing evilly to himself. "Now...to find the boss...." he said.
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Dryden was startled by a noise he heard from in his living room. He stopped fixing his lunch to find that Issac's journal had flung itslef open.
"IT HAS BEGUN!"
{End! YAY! another cliffhanger...maybe not as long as my others, but I think this had more action...so please review! I love everyone!}
[Ars n Dutchas is my family's Gaelic motto which means, "for my heritage."]