Chapter 4:Nightmares
Hitomi awoke the next morning feeling refreshed. She had completely forgotten she was on Gaea until she ran into Merle in the hallway, almost literally. "Merle!" she shouted in surprise. Merle smiled and embraced Hitomi, almost knocking the seeress off her feet. Merle had grown up quite a bit in the pass six years but she still retained some of her child like behaviours.
Hitomi was actually happy to see Merle, despite there past. When the hug ended, Hitomi immediately asked Merle where was Van. Merle bit her lip and hesitated to answer. "Merle?" Hitomi asked. She looked at Hitomi then adverted her eyes.
"Um, Van-sama is-" she saw Van standing outside with someone. "Outside?" she answered bewildered. Merle ran down the spacious hallway to the outside of the castle with Hitomi trailing not too far behind. When they both reached the courtyard, to Hitomi's horror, Van had probably the most beautiful girl on Gaea hanging off his arm. She had a very slender waist, perfect creamy skin, long copper hair and icy blue eyes. Both girls were confused. "Van-sama, who's she?" Merle asked in disgust.
"This is my fiancé, Princess Siren." he answered with an devilish grin on his face. Hitomi's heart sank.
"Fiancé? But Van-sama, what about Hitomi?" he laughed like a mad man.
"Merle, I've moved on, my chances of ever seeing her again are one in a million." Merle narrowed her eyes and clenched one fist. She stormed up to Van and slapped him hard across the face. Merle then turned her back to him and noticed Hitomi gone. She sighed and ran off.
Hitomi had ran off into the castle and headed back to her room. As she ran, she ran right into Allen. She made her way around him and continued down the long hallway. He noticed her tears and decided to follow her.
Hitomi slammed the door behind her and collapsed onto the bed, sobbing. Allen knocked on the door but there was no reply so he let himself in. The drapes were still closed but streams of light were able to peak through where the sets of drapes met. Allen walked slowly over to the bed and sat down beside Hitomi's sobbing figure. He softly stroked her hair in hopes to calm her but Hitomi pushed his hand away. She wanted to be alone. I came here for no reason…
"Hitomi, what's the matter?" Allen asked.
She sat up and wiped away her tears. She explained to him what she had seen and heard from Van in the courtyard. Allen's eyebrows knitted together, something suspicious was going on. He left the room in search for Van. After Allen had left Merle went into Hitomi's room and sat down beside her.
"I knew coming here was a mistake . . ." Hitomi mumbled into the pillow.
"No Hitomi it wasn't. . ." Merle answered holding Hitomi's hand. "I wish I could apologize for Van-sama, but I can't. I don't know what happened to him. . ." Hitomi jerked her head up.
"What do you mean Merle?" she asked wiping away more tears.
"Well, last night he wanted to see you so badly, for the past six years he longed to be with you. He told me that there was no one else in the entire universe that could make him truly happy except you Hitomi. And last night he left to go find you on the Mystic Moon. I have no clue who this princess Siren is, I do know that I have a bad feeling about her. And I got a very unusual feeling from Van-sama today, it was as if it wasn't really him." Hitomi felt suddenly felt like there was a sisterly bond forming between her and Merle. She didn't see her as an annoyance like she did when she first came to Gaea.
Merle stood up and headed for the door and told Hitomi she was going to talk to Allen about the situation. Merle walked down a long hallway and passed what was an empty room before. She could hear a young woman talking. Her curiosity got the better of her so she peeked through a crack in the door. There she saw that princess Siren. Merle listened carefully to the conversation. Siren was talking to her mirror. Why is she talking to a mirror? Merle asked herself.
"So, how is the dragon doing?" Siren asked her mirror.
"Our plan is working well your highness." it replied to her.
"Wonderful, now all I need to do is get rid of the girl here on Gaea. Then I shall have the real Van to myself." she said with an evil grin. What? So that wasn't really Van-sama? I knew it! I have to tell Allen this! Merle jumped to her feet and dashed down the hallway.
"So how do you want to get rid of the girl?" the mirror asked.
"Have my dream weavers take care of her. They'll know what to do." she laughed evilly to herself.
Hitomi had fallen asleep while she waited for Merle or Allen to return. Tears stained both her cheeks and pillow. "Remember our princess's orders. We are to bring her into our world, the world of nightmares." a small girl clad in a soft blue robe said to a group of other young girls surrounding Hitomi's bed. She walked over to Hitomi's head and opened a pouch that hung from her silver rope belt. Her hair was a black as night and so were her eyes. She put her hand into the pouch and grabbed a handful of a yellow dust. She sprinkled it over Hitomi's head. "Our work here it done, let's go." she commanded and all of them disappeared.
Yukari finally caught up to Van who was sitting on a bench. She stopped running to catch her breath then sat down beside him. "I knew I shouldn't have come to this cursed place." Van muttered under his breath.
"Van, I'm sure not what was up with Hitomi today." Yukari said glaring at the ground beneath her. Van looked at her in puzzlement.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Well, last night she was begging to see you again. She told me she was crazy about you. She said she could never love anyone but you." Van's face light up. "And last night she left to go to Gaea, to be with you. So whoever that was, it wasn't Hitomi. I've known her all my life, and she would never do something like this. It's just not her nature." Yukari could feel her stomach grumble. She was so hungry since they never really had breakfast. "Um, do you wanna go and get something to eat?" she asked. Van just nodded, stood up and followed Yukari.
This time she took him to a café on the university campus. When Van looked at the menu, he was a little confused; he didn't see anything he really recognized. Yukari explained everything to him.
"Hey Yukari, who's this? Is he your new boyfriend?" a tall girl with short scarlet hair and deep maroon eyes asked Yukari.
"Oh, hey Yohko, um, this is Van, he's Hitomi's boyfriend. Not mine." Yukari answered blushing a bit.
"Oh, I'm sorry." The girl giggled. "So then, where's Hitomi?"
"Uh, she's, um, visiting her, uh, very ill aunt." Yukari lied. That was close, she thought with a sigh.
"So then, why are you with him?" she asked and she tilted her head.
"Well, he just showed up today, he's on vacation." hopefully she won't ask any more questions.
"Oh, ok, well see you around then Yukari!" the girl shouted as she ran off. Yukari slumped back into her chair and sighed in relief. After breakfast, she showed Van around Tokyo. Later that afternoon, she took him to the movies to see the latest comedy. Van didn't get some of the jokes in the movie, but then again he wasn't from earth.
"Allen!!!" Merle yelled down the hall to Allen. He stopped and turned to the young cat woman running in a hurry to him. Once she caught up to him she bent over and gasped for air.
"Merle, what's the matter?" he asked.
"The princess. . ." Merle began still gasping for air. "She's evil! That wasn't the really Van-sama earlier today." Merle blurted.
"What do you mean?" Allen asked as he gestured for Merle sit down on the bench.
"I saw her talking to her mirror and she said that she'll soon have the real Van-sama all to herself after she gets rid of the girl and I'm guessing that's Hitomi, seeing that she's probably her only obstacle to get Van-sama." Merle explained. "I think we should and check up on Hitomi." Merle suggested.
The two hurried down the long and winding hallways. When they reached Hitomi's room, she was fast asleep. They quietly walked in. Merle noticed the frightened looked on Hitomi's face as she slept.
"Get away from me!" Hitomi cried. Allen was not sure if she was referring to them, or if it was her dream. Merle softly shook Hitomi, but she did not wake. So she shook her harder and harder but she would not wake up. Allen was getting concerned, something wasn't right. He sat down beside Hitomi and told Merle to go and get Millerna, perhaps she would know what's wrong, he thought.
It was the dead of the night. Crickets chirped in the background, signing their song to catch a mate. Along with the chirping was the sound of someone dashing through the thick brush of the forest. That someone happened to be Hitomi. She was running for dear life; strange beings were chasing after her.
Hitomi glance over her shoulder to see how far behind they were. That, however, would be her downfall, literally. An up grown tree root grabbed hold of her foot causing her to fall. The dark beings surrounded her in a circle and grabbed her forcefully by her arms and wrists. She thrashed about as they began to drag her along the rough forest floor.
"Stop thrashing about Miss Hitomi." one hissed.
"Yes, you can't beat us in our world." Another laughed.
"Y-your world?" Hitomi stuttered.
"Yes, the world of nightmares. Here you stand no chance!" another laughed more evilly then the one before.
They strange beings dressed in black robes and cloaks dragged Hitomi to a large, dark and towering castle. They threw her into a dangling cage, much like the one she was in when she, Allen and Van were in when they were captured by Zaibach six years ago. She sat huddled against the bars of the cage and sobbed.
A/N: Thanx for the reviews you guys. See! I kept my promise! I got this posted by the weekend! *dances* okay, I'm fine, really I am! I just had a little too much caffeine *suppresses giggles* Well hoped you guys enjoyed this chap!
