Chapter 9: Talk

Hitomi desperately tried to bring Van back to consciousness. Everyone stood around looking and feeling helpless. What could they possibly do? Hitomi was determined to bring Van back. As a black mist rose from the cockpit of the Escaflowne and Hitomi's body went limp.

Millerna touched Hitomi's wrist to feel for a pulse. Her eyes widened in horror. "Millerna, what's wrong?" Iris asked fearing the answer.

"It stopped."

"What do you mean it stoped? What stoped?!" Merle asked looking confused.

"Her heart . . .it stopped . . ."



"It's been three minutes." Allen stated.

"We should at least try to bring Hitomi around." Merle stood up from her spot on the ground and ran over to the Escaflowne, pushing Millerna out of the way. She leapt up onto it and looked at Hitomi with tear filled eyes.

"You stupid girl! Don't give up!" she bent down and began to slap Hitomi over and over on her cheek. "Bring Van-sama back you hear! Van-sama!!! Come back!!!" she yelled as loud as she could.

The energist on the Escaflowne began to glow and the guymelef changed from black to white. Hitomi's body, along with Merle's, fell to the ground. The cockpit of the Escaflowne opened and Van weakly climbed out.



Later that night, Iris sat on the blue and white marble floor in a hallway with Melody. It felt like old times for her. She longed to just 'chill' out with Melody. Iris enjoyed every conversation she had with Melody. With her, she found it was easy to open up to her about her feelings.

"So Iris, is this like a normal thing that happens here?" Iris cocked her head to her side confused.

"What do you mean?"

"Like that thing that happened earlier today." Iris shook her head instantly.

"God no. if it was than I don't think I'd be going out much."

"So . . .are you sure you're alright about this whole marriage thing?"

"For the last time yes! God! What do you want me to say!? Do you want me to say no! I hate it!?! That I just want to fucking strangle my parents for doing this to me!?!" Iris shouted and made a strangling gesture with her hands. Melody grinned at her frustrated friend. "What the fuck are you smiling about?!"

"I knew it. You pissed about it. You're not 'alright' about it." Iris sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Yea . . .I'm not 100% alright but I'll survive. Dryden seems like a nice enough guy-"

"Are you sure about that? Just because he traded his entire fleet to save Van doesn't mean he's a 'nice' guy."

"I know what you mean but . . ." Iris paused to think of how to say what it was she wanted to say. "I dunno, there's just this feeling I get . . .it's like intuition. I 'know' he's a nice guy."

"Ah . . .I see. Never doubt your intuition. And now that I think about it, Dryden just doesn't seem like a 'bad' guy." there was a long silence filling the air. Neither of them had anything to say. Finally Melody couldn't take the silence. "Talk to him."

"Huh?" Iris asked as broke away from her thoughts.

"Go and get to know Dryden."

"Why?"

"Why? Because you two will be getting married in the future so you should get to know him." Iris thought about it and decided she would. As much as she dreaded talking to people she hardly knew, this was something she had to overcome.

"Alright, I'll do it." she stood up and took in a deep breath. *I can do this.*

"Good luck!" Melody shouted from her spot on the floor. *Damn, what am I supposed to do for entertainment now?*



Iris walked towards Dryden's study nervously. Her breathing quickened and her heart began to beat faster. Anxiety was controlling her. she stopped at the wooden oak doors. *I can do this.* She thought as she reached for the doorknob. At the last second she pulled her hand away. *No, I can't do it.* As she turned to leave she could hear Melody scolding her in the back of her head.

Iris once again went to open the door but pulled away again. *Fuck Iris! Get some fucking guts and just do this!* She was determined to do it this time. She reached for the knob again and held it. She wasn't going to let go this time. She turned it slowly and pushed the door open.

"The mysterious power of Hitomi, who came from the Mystic Moon . . .Van, a descendant of the Draconians . . .Escaflowne . . .And Zaibach, which is after the power spot . . .Mysterious incidents that take place one after another . . . It's so frustrating. Something's coming to my mind." Dryden rubbed his temples as he tried to figure out the recent events.

Iris entered the study and walked towards Dryden. "Dryden . . .Thank you."she sighed inwardly. She was grateful that she had the nerve to say something.

"For what? I don't need your smooth words. It doesn't cost you a bit to bow." Iris felt outraged by his comment.

"Excuse me!? Who said I wanted to bow?! I will never bow down to a man." Dryden slammed his book and laughed. Iris cocked an eyebrow in confusion.

"That's it! That's more like what Ian had told me about you! I'll do anything to get a woman's attention." All Iris could do was glare at him. *I can't believe him! What's with guys and trying to get a rise out of us?!* Dryden noticed the glare Iris was giving him. He just grinned and put his book down. "Aw, come on, I was just kidding."

"I know but it was cruel. All I wanted was to get to know you better and that's how you reply to my thanks."

"Get to know me?" Iris blushed and nodded.

"Yes. I just figured that, well, ya know the whole engagement thing, I just figured that we should get to know each other a bit better." Dryden walked up to Iris and put his arm around her shoulders and led her over to the red velvet couch.

His sudden forwardness startled her once again. As thy sat down on the velvet couch, Dryden's arm slid fro her shoulders to her waist. "So, what do you want to know?" he asked with a grin.

"Well, what do you want me to know about you?" Iris wasn't to good when it came to asking questions.

"Well, I'm willing to tell you whatever you want to know." inwardly Iris grinned. She had a few questions in mind but thought they were 'too' inappropriate to ask.