Disclaimer: See previous chapters.
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Episode #8
Changes Of Destiny: Save the Past, Save the Future
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Van stared in awe at the scene before his eyes. Hitomi shifted from a young girl to a young adult with knee-long golden hair, leaf-green eyes, and a white dress with gold and silver trim down to her white shoed feet. She looked like an angel! Van held his breath at the sheer beauty of the women floating just above Escaflowne's hand.
Yukari whispered softly. "Y-you're the... Angyst!"
Hitomi turned to Yukari and spoke with a gentle voice, very different from the Hitomi they knew. It was soft, sincere, and tinged with sorrow. "Yes..."
"The Angyst?" Van repeated.
"Please forgive me, Van Fanel!" Hitomi said. She seemed to float off Escaflowne to the ground of the burning city. "This is wrong. This was not meant to happen."
"What?" Van said, getting out of Escaflowne's cockpit.
"This fate is my fault."
"How could have been your fault, Hitomi?" Van replied.
Hitomi looked up at him, her eyes were swimming with tears. "This happened because I was here. The — he wishes to separate Hitomi and I. He will use Hitomi: the young and innocent teenager, to destroy Gaea and the Mystic Moon. But first, he must separate the other side of Hitomi: me. Hitomi is still unconscious of my side of her mind. I arranged it that way so she would not grow to become like Dilandau."
"So, Hitomi has you as a split personality?" Yukari said.
"Yes," Hitomi replied.
They saw that the long gold hair turned back into the shoulder length, brownish-gold. Her dress turned into her school uniform, and her eyes became the emeralds instead of leaves.
"W-what happened?" Hitomi asked, holding her head.
Van and the other two watched as Hitomi was surrounded by that familiar white, hot light. Van screamed her name, and jumped off of Escaflowne — straight into the light, ignoring Damen's pleads! As Van ran into the light, he heard Hitomi cry out, he reached for her hand, clutching it fiercely! She held on tight, the life she knew depended on it!
"Van!" She yelled. "Please, don't let go of me!"
Van replied loudly. "I won't, Hitomi! Not ever!"
Hitomi screamed again as the light flew away, carrying them with it. "Van!"
* * * * *
Van sat up on a calm, green meadow. The sun was nearing the horizon line in the early evening. He saw the sun shining down on Hitomi, who was lying, asleep, beside him. He was about to shake her gently, when two little voices approached. Attached to those two little voices, were two little children: one boy, one girl.
The boy ran up in a pair of tan shorts and a red shirt, just like his. The girl, wearing a green dress to match her eyes, looked so much like Hitomi it was almost frightening! Both children looked at him and bowed lightly, cheeks glowing with innocence. In truth, Van thought they looked just like what he imagined Hitomi to have looked like, and what he had looked when they were children.
The girl looked at Hitomi, then at Van. Her light voice was soft and wise, just like Hitomi's. "Good evening, Daddy!" She gestured to Hitomi, who was waking up, "Mommy."
"What?" Van said in dismay. "W-we're not your parents."
The little boy put his hand to his mouth and pulled the girl aside to whisper something in her ear. She turned red as he turned back to Van and Hitomi. "Please, forgive my sister. You look a lot like our parents, but that couldn't be because..." The boy stopped.
Hitomi looked at the children. She saw tears behind the charade of calmness. "What happened to your parents?"
The girl looked at Hitomi, a tear rolling down her cheek as she spoke. "T-they died... In an airship crash... Three months ago."
"What are your names," Van asked sympathetically. "Maybe we can help you."
The children's eyes glittered with hope. "Really!"
"Sure!" Hitomi said, smiling down at them kindly.
The girl looked at her brother. "Brother, that's the smile mommy gave us when she was trying to cheer us up, remember?"
"Very faintly...," the boy replied uncertainly. "Anyway, my name is Pedoru."
"And I'm Ariel!" the girl replied. "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise," Hitomi smiled again. "How old are you two?"
"Seven," Ariel replied.
"Nine," Pedoru replied.
"You look just like me when I was little, Pedoru," Van said while inspecting the child from head to toe.
"And you look like me when I was small, Ariel," Hitomi said. "Strange."
"Yes...," Ariel said, moving her hand to her shirt and tightening it around a small object about her neck. "There must be a reason for it..."
"Well, Arie, we've got to show them sometime: why we brought them here," Pedoru said grimly.
"What!" Van said, astonished. "You brought us here?"
"Yes," Ariel murmured. "You were our last chance... for peace."
"Peace? Are you under siege?" Van asked, looking down at her.
"One answer at a time," Pedoru said, glee in the corners of his mouth, but he suppressed it. "We brought you here, yes. With something our mother left Ariel for our well-being. Show them, Arie."
Ariel pulled her hand away from her neck, revealing the object she had been holding. It was a small, pink pendant, identical to Hitomi's!
"But... that's...," Hitomi broke off.
"Yes. You are currently on Gaea, but ten years in the future. Since our parents were, well... We wanted to see them again — to help us! So, we wished for our parents of the past, before we were born, to visit this time: you. Our enemy knows of our births and he wants to get rid of us. You have to help us! Please?"
"This is too much all at once!" Hitomi said, holding her head. "So, you lost your parents, who are Van and I ten years in the future, for our time line. You wanted to see them — us, again, so you wished with my — your mother's, pendant, so they — us, could help you defeat your enemy. Right?"
Pedoru's reply was belated, as he was assessing her confusing logic. "... Yes."
"As for the siege," Ariel solemnly said. "We are. The day after Mommy and Daddy died, Fanelia was attacked by hideous monsters! They took over Gaea in three days! Now, Pedoru and I always have to run from the — well, I call them demons! It best describes them. I just don't want to run anymore...!
"Everything would be fine if Mommy and Daddy were still alive! Daddy was strong, and courageous! He'd bring those demons to their knees! And Mommy, she'd use her special powers to protect us and make the them all go away and never come back!"
"Oh, no!" Hitomi whispered. "Did no one in Fanelia survive!?"
"One, other than Arie and I... She takes care of us. She was Mother's and Father's most trusted friend: Lady Merle," Pedoru said, caressing Ariel's soft golden-brown hair as she hugged him tightly.
"Merle's alive!" Van cried.
"Yes," Pedoru answered.
"I'm tired!" Ariel complained.
"How about you follow Arie and I? We'll take you to our hiding place. Merle is there, and I'm sure she'd love to see you," Pedoru said, taking Ariel's hand and starting to walk away.
Van and Hitomi quickly followed.
* * * * *
The sun was nearly set when they reached the hiding place Pedoru had spoken of. The cave was dirty and covered in moss. It was even worse than the dungeons of an old castle! The rock inside was layered with mold and mildew. Pedoru helped his sister lay down on a small patch of semi-wet straw laid out on the floor. In an instant, Ariel was asleep.
Hitomi looked around regretfully. She gulped sympathetically as she spoke. "This is where you live?"
"Yes," Pedoru replied simply. "It's safe, at least."
A voice came from the corner of the cave. "Pedoru, you know what I said about visitors!"
Van's head shot in the direction of the voice, he knew it well. "Merle!", he said.
An old catwoman appeared from the shadows. She was withered to the bone. Her face sagged, her ears drooped, and her eyes were full of weariness. "L-lord Van...?" Merle bounded as best as her old limbs allowed, and slung her arms around Van's neck with joy. "How is this possible?"
Pedoru looked down at his shoes, his nearly worn-through soles. "We — Arie and I... We wished for them... to come from the past. I'm sorry, Merle! I know Mother wanted us to use the pendant only for desperate times, but what about Arie and I? We need to see them sometimes!"
"It's all right, Pedoru," Merle said as softly as she could.
"Merle," Van briskly said, "how did this happen to you?"
"Well," Merle said, "to make a long story short: I was captured by Dalvus, and... he used magic to alter my appearance, since I didn't tell him where Ariel and Pedoru were."
"Dalvus?" Hitomi said. She was about to ask a question when that same bright light enveloped her again. Van wanted to run to her, but he couldn't leave Merle like this.
Merle looked up at him. "Go to her, Lord Van! You love her... but, please, take the children with you, so... So I can finally let go of this life."
Van looked at her fiercely. "No! I won't let you die, Merle!"
"Please, Lord Van! Please!" Merle cried.
Van decided. He ran and grabbed Ariel in his arms. Then took hold of Pedoru's shirt. He pulled them into the light with Hitomi and him. They flew up and up. Then the light disappeared, and Merle was left alone.
The catwoman wiped a tear from her eye, and looked down at her ragged body. There was nothing left for her...! She let herself fall onto the straw. She closed her eyes, and felt the familiar feeling of her soul crying for freedom.
There, quietly, she died. Alone, cold, and unsuccessful with her life: everything she had wished never to die as...
* * * * *
Hitomi looked down as drops of water fell from her eyes onto the blades of grass in the garden of the Astorian castle. She could feel Van resting silently beside her, an arm draped over her back. She let out a whimper as she felt Merle's soul leave her body. How could the Merle of the future have wanted nothing more than to die, when the Merle of the present wanted nothing more than to live?! Not that it really mattered now... She was gone.
Hitomi moved herself into a sitting position. She watched Van's ribs rise and fall under his shirt in sleeping rhythm. Ariel and Pedoru were lying in the grass behind her, side by side. They looked so much like Van and her. A noise turned Hitomi's head to face Van, right in front of her.
"Oh, Van," Hitomi exclaimed. "I didn't mean to wake you."
"I was only half asleep, anyway." Van sat beside her in the grass.
The dawn was rising, and dew was forming on the delicate petals of a flower that hung just over Ariel's face. She let out a small whimper as a dew drop landed and rolled off her nose, tickling her face. She jumped up as the second one landed in her nose. She joined Van and Hitomi. She sat just beside Hitomi in the wet grass. All three were silent.
Pedoru, unconscious of the world around him, had a rather rude awakening as a hand wacked his head rather hard. He opened his eyes, and saw Ariel pull her hand from his head.
Hitomi and Van were standing behind his sister. He heard Ariel yell: "Wake up, lazy bones!"
He sat up in the grass and Van helped him to his feet.
Fanelia's king forced a smile and pointed to the large, unfamiliar castle with a river flowing down the front.
"Now!" he commanded, "to food!"
TO BE CONTINUED...
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Episode #8
Changes Of Destiny: Save the Past, Save the Future
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Van stared in awe at the scene before his eyes. Hitomi shifted from a young girl to a young adult with knee-long golden hair, leaf-green eyes, and a white dress with gold and silver trim down to her white shoed feet. She looked like an angel! Van held his breath at the sheer beauty of the women floating just above Escaflowne's hand.
Yukari whispered softly. "Y-you're the... Angyst!"
Hitomi turned to Yukari and spoke with a gentle voice, very different from the Hitomi they knew. It was soft, sincere, and tinged with sorrow. "Yes..."
"The Angyst?" Van repeated.
"Please forgive me, Van Fanel!" Hitomi said. She seemed to float off Escaflowne to the ground of the burning city. "This is wrong. This was not meant to happen."
"What?" Van said, getting out of Escaflowne's cockpit.
"This fate is my fault."
"How could have been your fault, Hitomi?" Van replied.
Hitomi looked up at him, her eyes were swimming with tears. "This happened because I was here. The — he wishes to separate Hitomi and I. He will use Hitomi: the young and innocent teenager, to destroy Gaea and the Mystic Moon. But first, he must separate the other side of Hitomi: me. Hitomi is still unconscious of my side of her mind. I arranged it that way so she would not grow to become like Dilandau."
"So, Hitomi has you as a split personality?" Yukari said.
"Yes," Hitomi replied.
They saw that the long gold hair turned back into the shoulder length, brownish-gold. Her dress turned into her school uniform, and her eyes became the emeralds instead of leaves.
"W-what happened?" Hitomi asked, holding her head.
Van and the other two watched as Hitomi was surrounded by that familiar white, hot light. Van screamed her name, and jumped off of Escaflowne — straight into the light, ignoring Damen's pleads! As Van ran into the light, he heard Hitomi cry out, he reached for her hand, clutching it fiercely! She held on tight, the life she knew depended on it!
"Van!" She yelled. "Please, don't let go of me!"
Van replied loudly. "I won't, Hitomi! Not ever!"
Hitomi screamed again as the light flew away, carrying them with it. "Van!"
* * * * *
Van sat up on a calm, green meadow. The sun was nearing the horizon line in the early evening. He saw the sun shining down on Hitomi, who was lying, asleep, beside him. He was about to shake her gently, when two little voices approached. Attached to those two little voices, were two little children: one boy, one girl.
The boy ran up in a pair of tan shorts and a red shirt, just like his. The girl, wearing a green dress to match her eyes, looked so much like Hitomi it was almost frightening! Both children looked at him and bowed lightly, cheeks glowing with innocence. In truth, Van thought they looked just like what he imagined Hitomi to have looked like, and what he had looked when they were children.
The girl looked at Hitomi, then at Van. Her light voice was soft and wise, just like Hitomi's. "Good evening, Daddy!" She gestured to Hitomi, who was waking up, "Mommy."
"What?" Van said in dismay. "W-we're not your parents."
The little boy put his hand to his mouth and pulled the girl aside to whisper something in her ear. She turned red as he turned back to Van and Hitomi. "Please, forgive my sister. You look a lot like our parents, but that couldn't be because..." The boy stopped.
Hitomi looked at the children. She saw tears behind the charade of calmness. "What happened to your parents?"
The girl looked at Hitomi, a tear rolling down her cheek as she spoke. "T-they died... In an airship crash... Three months ago."
"What are your names," Van asked sympathetically. "Maybe we can help you."
The children's eyes glittered with hope. "Really!"
"Sure!" Hitomi said, smiling down at them kindly.
The girl looked at her brother. "Brother, that's the smile mommy gave us when she was trying to cheer us up, remember?"
"Very faintly...," the boy replied uncertainly. "Anyway, my name is Pedoru."
"And I'm Ariel!" the girl replied. "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise," Hitomi smiled again. "How old are you two?"
"Seven," Ariel replied.
"Nine," Pedoru replied.
"You look just like me when I was little, Pedoru," Van said while inspecting the child from head to toe.
"And you look like me when I was small, Ariel," Hitomi said. "Strange."
"Yes...," Ariel said, moving her hand to her shirt and tightening it around a small object about her neck. "There must be a reason for it..."
"Well, Arie, we've got to show them sometime: why we brought them here," Pedoru said grimly.
"What!" Van said, astonished. "You brought us here?"
"Yes," Ariel murmured. "You were our last chance... for peace."
"Peace? Are you under siege?" Van asked, looking down at her.
"One answer at a time," Pedoru said, glee in the corners of his mouth, but he suppressed it. "We brought you here, yes. With something our mother left Ariel for our well-being. Show them, Arie."
Ariel pulled her hand away from her neck, revealing the object she had been holding. It was a small, pink pendant, identical to Hitomi's!
"But... that's...," Hitomi broke off.
"Yes. You are currently on Gaea, but ten years in the future. Since our parents were, well... We wanted to see them again — to help us! So, we wished for our parents of the past, before we were born, to visit this time: you. Our enemy knows of our births and he wants to get rid of us. You have to help us! Please?"
"This is too much all at once!" Hitomi said, holding her head. "So, you lost your parents, who are Van and I ten years in the future, for our time line. You wanted to see them — us, again, so you wished with my — your mother's, pendant, so they — us, could help you defeat your enemy. Right?"
Pedoru's reply was belated, as he was assessing her confusing logic. "... Yes."
"As for the siege," Ariel solemnly said. "We are. The day after Mommy and Daddy died, Fanelia was attacked by hideous monsters! They took over Gaea in three days! Now, Pedoru and I always have to run from the — well, I call them demons! It best describes them. I just don't want to run anymore...!
"Everything would be fine if Mommy and Daddy were still alive! Daddy was strong, and courageous! He'd bring those demons to their knees! And Mommy, she'd use her special powers to protect us and make the them all go away and never come back!"
"Oh, no!" Hitomi whispered. "Did no one in Fanelia survive!?"
"One, other than Arie and I... She takes care of us. She was Mother's and Father's most trusted friend: Lady Merle," Pedoru said, caressing Ariel's soft golden-brown hair as she hugged him tightly.
"Merle's alive!" Van cried.
"Yes," Pedoru answered.
"I'm tired!" Ariel complained.
"How about you follow Arie and I? We'll take you to our hiding place. Merle is there, and I'm sure she'd love to see you," Pedoru said, taking Ariel's hand and starting to walk away.
Van and Hitomi quickly followed.
* * * * *
The sun was nearly set when they reached the hiding place Pedoru had spoken of. The cave was dirty and covered in moss. It was even worse than the dungeons of an old castle! The rock inside was layered with mold and mildew. Pedoru helped his sister lay down on a small patch of semi-wet straw laid out on the floor. In an instant, Ariel was asleep.
Hitomi looked around regretfully. She gulped sympathetically as she spoke. "This is where you live?"
"Yes," Pedoru replied simply. "It's safe, at least."
A voice came from the corner of the cave. "Pedoru, you know what I said about visitors!"
Van's head shot in the direction of the voice, he knew it well. "Merle!", he said.
An old catwoman appeared from the shadows. She was withered to the bone. Her face sagged, her ears drooped, and her eyes were full of weariness. "L-lord Van...?" Merle bounded as best as her old limbs allowed, and slung her arms around Van's neck with joy. "How is this possible?"
Pedoru looked down at his shoes, his nearly worn-through soles. "We — Arie and I... We wished for them... to come from the past. I'm sorry, Merle! I know Mother wanted us to use the pendant only for desperate times, but what about Arie and I? We need to see them sometimes!"
"It's all right, Pedoru," Merle said as softly as she could.
"Merle," Van briskly said, "how did this happen to you?"
"Well," Merle said, "to make a long story short: I was captured by Dalvus, and... he used magic to alter my appearance, since I didn't tell him where Ariel and Pedoru were."
"Dalvus?" Hitomi said. She was about to ask a question when that same bright light enveloped her again. Van wanted to run to her, but he couldn't leave Merle like this.
Merle looked up at him. "Go to her, Lord Van! You love her... but, please, take the children with you, so... So I can finally let go of this life."
Van looked at her fiercely. "No! I won't let you die, Merle!"
"Please, Lord Van! Please!" Merle cried.
Van decided. He ran and grabbed Ariel in his arms. Then took hold of Pedoru's shirt. He pulled them into the light with Hitomi and him. They flew up and up. Then the light disappeared, and Merle was left alone.
The catwoman wiped a tear from her eye, and looked down at her ragged body. There was nothing left for her...! She let herself fall onto the straw. She closed her eyes, and felt the familiar feeling of her soul crying for freedom.
There, quietly, she died. Alone, cold, and unsuccessful with her life: everything she had wished never to die as...
* * * * *
Hitomi looked down as drops of water fell from her eyes onto the blades of grass in the garden of the Astorian castle. She could feel Van resting silently beside her, an arm draped over her back. She let out a whimper as she felt Merle's soul leave her body. How could the Merle of the future have wanted nothing more than to die, when the Merle of the present wanted nothing more than to live?! Not that it really mattered now... She was gone.
Hitomi moved herself into a sitting position. She watched Van's ribs rise and fall under his shirt in sleeping rhythm. Ariel and Pedoru were lying in the grass behind her, side by side. They looked so much like Van and her. A noise turned Hitomi's head to face Van, right in front of her.
"Oh, Van," Hitomi exclaimed. "I didn't mean to wake you."
"I was only half asleep, anyway." Van sat beside her in the grass.
The dawn was rising, and dew was forming on the delicate petals of a flower that hung just over Ariel's face. She let out a small whimper as a dew drop landed and rolled off her nose, tickling her face. She jumped up as the second one landed in her nose. She joined Van and Hitomi. She sat just beside Hitomi in the wet grass. All three were silent.
Pedoru, unconscious of the world around him, had a rather rude awakening as a hand wacked his head rather hard. He opened his eyes, and saw Ariel pull her hand from his head.
Hitomi and Van were standing behind his sister. He heard Ariel yell: "Wake up, lazy bones!"
He sat up in the grass and Van helped him to his feet.
Fanelia's king forced a smile and pointed to the large, unfamiliar castle with a river flowing down the front.
"Now!" he commanded, "to food!"
TO BE CONTINUED...