Disclaimer: See previous chapters.
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Episode #11
Life to Death, Life to Purgatory
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"Sir, Hitomi Kanzaki has been taken care of, just as we planned," Versis said triumphantly.
Dalvus stood and looked at his soldier apprehensively. "We are not to celebrate yet. There is one thing that could bring her back. We must destroy that element."
Versis stared at his lord, a disgusted look on his young and hansom face. "You mean..."
"Yes," Dalvus replied angrily.
* * * * *
It had been a week in Astoria since Hitomi was brought back to the capitol.
Celena walked into Hitomi's room and saw Van, kneeling at the bed side, holding her hand. His head rested on he soft sheets. It seemed as though he had given up all hope of her recovery. He had wished her to wake up with his pendant, but there had been no response.
Celena would have done the same thing normally. But to her, Hitomi looked so peaceful in her utter repose, that she hadn't the heart to weep or lament.
Celena walked to Van's side and put her hand on his shoulder. Van looked up at her with teary eyes.
"Van," Celena said calmly.
"C-Celena?" Van replied.
"Van, don't weep for her. You know she wouldn't want that."
Van's eyes went from teary to bursting to the rim. "Yes, but it was my fault! I should have looked after her!"
"Van!" Celena grabbed him and spun him round, trying to knock some sense into him. "You know it wasn't your fault! Don't blame yourself!" Celena calmed herself. "Look, I know Hitomi. You will reach her. She could never leave you.
"You know something, a long time ago, you were in a meeting with King Aston and the court to decide the trade system. She came up to me and told me that even though you were but a room or two away, she felt unsafe without you right beside her. You will get her back. I have great faith in Hitomi and her powers. She's strong. She'll find a way back to you. Believe me."
Van put his head against her shoulder and began to cry even more. Now he knew that Hitomi felt, if not more, the same way he did. Celena gently stoked his flowing raven hair with her tender peach-tanned hands... Oh, so much like Hitomi's hands, Van couldn't help thinking...
* * * * *
Allen stood in the sparring hall, staring out the window. He saw the heavy rain that poured outside the castle and in the streets. Little children were playing in the rain and puddles. They seemed so calm and innocent.
How he wished he could be like them, just playing in the rain as one of them. His heart was in no mood for happy thoughts, so he changed to a deeper thought. Of how Hitomi was doing and how many days were left until she would be buried. Only seven days left. Only seven until...
Allen stopped at that thought, he didn't want to think of what would happen oh so soon! He thought instead, of Van. Poor Van! In a week, he would lose his love. It wasn't fair! Why Hitomi?! Anyone but Hitomi! He would, himself, have volunteered to take her place, if the guarantee of her awakening was promised.
A knock at the door interrupted his silent disapproval. Millerna entered without a word. Her face was grim and her jaw set. It was as if a ghost had struck the life out of her. She looked at him sadly, her eyes marking the evident cause of her coming. She turned away.
"I looked at Hitomi's condition," she said nervously.
"Shouldn't you tell Van, too?" Allen asked. "He'd want to know more than me."
"I'm afraid of telling him," Millerna replied.
Allen shot up, cold with fear. Something inside him told him he would not like the news she had brought him. "What is it?"
"She — Hitomi has less than two percent chance of recovering...," Millerna stammered.
Allen looked at his boots. "How much of a reduction has been uncovered?"
"Half of the sum — one percent." Millerna stepped toward Allen, fear in her eyes. "Allen, I'm afraid. I don't want to loose my little friend!"
"None of us do," Allen replied, turning to the window again. 'Hitomi, please. Come back. Don't leave us all alone!'
* * * * *
It was a week later, the day for Hitomi's burial. No change in Hitomi's progress had occurred. Van let all the tears he had ever held back stream as Hitomi, in a glass covered coffin encrusted with gold, was walked slowly through the streets of Palas.
The streets were lined with parents and children, elderlies and new born babies, wishing to pay their respects.
When they reached the cemetery, Merle cried as much as Van. Queen Millerna and King Dryden came in a coach and commanded silence. Millerna stood in front of all her kingdom with a white piece of parchment. She cleared her throat, and spoke hoarsely, but loudly:
"In the name of my father, the late King Philip Aston, and by all the authorities binding myself and my Lord-King, do I introduce a new tradition unto you, my people. In honour of she lay before you, Hitomi Kanzaki, I proclaim this day Seeress Day!
"Let this day be known as a time to give respect for the saviour of Gaea during the Great War, who's generosity and bittersweet reality remains with us in the peace she has helped wrought!"
The kingdom cheered in agreement, but Van, Merle, and Celena only knelt, crying, on their knees beside the coffin, staring in at the beautiful, young girl within. Allen wished to cry, too, but he was a Knight Kaeli. Tears were not permitted to him at a public burial or wedding.
The coffin was slowly lowered into the Grave of Honour, the most sacred place to be buried.
Van watched silently, thinking a final farewell to his young love. 'Goodbye, my love. May you rest peacefully.'
Merle looked at her rival through the glass. 'Farewell, Hitomi. Please, rest at ease. I will protect Lord Van for you.'
'Goodbye, my dear friend... Be happy... And, say hello to Marlene for me,' Millerna silently whispered, also looking at the coffin.
'Oh, Hitomi!' Celena thought. 'I wanted to know you better, and be better friends! Even though you didn't honour the promise I made Van, I wish you the best...'
Yukari, all this time silent, let out a sob, and leaned her head against the glass. She had no words to describe the pain she felt! She had no cure to make that pain go away! 'No,' she thought miserably. 'It will never go away...!'
The grave diggers started covering the grave when they heard a noise. All looked down and saw a small peach-coloured hand smacking the glass. Attached to the hand was a peach-like face. Hitomi was awake! Her eyes were wide with horror!
Van screamed her name and ordered the diggers to stop. He then jumped down into the grave and jammed open the coffin and helped her out.
Hitomi lay sprawled on the ground, gasping for much needed air. She looked flushed and tired despite her state of dormancy for the past two weeks. Van knelt just beside her, looking at her with concern. She looked at him, his peaceful face calmed all her senses the instant she looked into his deep eyes.
She gasped again. "I— gasp — I'm fine, Van."
Yukari watched with joy, smiling at the lovers. Her smile faded from her lips. She came to a horrifying conclusion. What if Hitomi didn't want her around because of Van's kingship? Where would she go if that ever happened? She shivered uncontrollably at the prospect, and scolded herself for being selfish at a time like this!
Hitomi, now in Van's arms and being carried away from the graveyard in a procession of exuberant friends, looked back at Yukari with a worried look on her face. She seemed to be pleading Yukari not to think that at all. Yukari nodded her head in response and joined the procession with renewed hope.
* * * * *
When they were back at the palace. Van approached Hitomi after a meal. He gave her a proposal for the next battle that was to be in a day's time. Hitomi looked at him sadly and uncertainty.
"Van," she said, her eyes turned downward from his gaze, "I don't want you going out there."
Van's eyes widened with surprise. "But, Hitomi. I have to, to protect you and every—!"
"Just... promise me you won't go out there. Please," Hitomi interrupted.
"Hitomi...," Van looked away for a moment, then back at her pleading eyes. "What are you afraid of?"
Hitomi's voice trembled as she spoke. "I'm afraid that if you go out there, I'll never see you again! If that ever happened — I don't know what I'd do! Just... promise me."
Something in Hitomi's urgency made Van's heart throb. "I promise."
Hitomi threw her arms around his neck and began to cry. "You're an angel! How can I ever thank you!"
"Grab me like that again. I rather like it!" Van teased.
Hitomi looked at him fondly. "I'm going to take a nap."
"All right," Van replied.
Hitomi left the hallway where they had been standing. Down the hall and up the stairs she trotted, to her room.
* * * * *
Footsteps. The distant sound of horses and soldiers. Allen turned from two gymelulf pilots he had been talking to. "Where is Van?" he asked inquisitively.
"He's right over there, commander," Gaddes said, pointing.
Allen ran to Van. "Van, the enemy is attacking the west border of Astoria. They can't hold them off on their own. We need as many forces as we can get, immediately!"
"But, I can't," Van replied, remembering his promise.
"Please, Van!" Allen yelled. "Innocent people are dying at this very minute! Just like in Fanelia!"
Van saw visions of the burning Fanelia flash back to him with the reality he had tried to drown from his consciousness. His eyes turned from calm to angry. He looked at Allen, eyes blazing. "Is Escaflowne ready?"
"Waiting for you as we speak," Allen replied.
Van ran from Allen to Escaflowne, a fifty feet away. He jumped up on the knee and into the cockpit. He saw a faint picture of the face Hitomi had on her when she begged him to promise her that he wouldn't go. He launched the gears in motion, and Escaflowne took to the air. 'I'm sorry, Hitomi!'
* * * * *
Hitomi awoke to the sound of gears moving outside. She opened her eyes and made for the terrace. When she reached it, she caught a glimpse of Escaflowne launching and disappearing into the horizon. Tears flooded her face. A sudden fever rushed over her and burned her eyes.
'Van,' she thought, touching her cheek. 'You promised!'
She watched many other ships disappear. All of them were almost certainly headed for death, but she could only think of Van's safety.
She turned from the window and ran to her bed. She flung herself like a rag doll upon it. As she buried her face in the sheets and soft, flowing tears fell reluctantly from her jewel-green eyes.
* * * * *
Escaflowne slowed in the fire-red sky near the western border of Astoria. He saw the Crusade just behind him. He heard the screams: frightened, wailing screams that echoed in all the soldiers' minds. He let Escaflowne fall to the ground and released his sword with fury, smiting down his enemy with a single blow to the head of the gymelulf.
He saw Allen's gymelulf, Scherizade, jump right behind his own gymelulf and begin to slice at another enemy.
Out of the smoke, came hideous, deformed figures, crawling on the ground like snakes! Van did a double take and gasped with horror as he saw them! Bent, crooked forms that seemed to laugh at the carnage surrounding them!
Allen looked at them too. He also gasped. Never had such a horrible thing crossed a battlefield on Gaea! The creatures surrounded them. Van swung his sword. One monster grabbed the sword and it melted into a pool of hot oil. Allen, himself, and all the other soldiers were surrounded! There was no escape! No way out!
Allen shouted at Van through his face grating. "Van! We're going to have to surrender! We can't beat this many!"
Van's eyes blazed. "No! Hitomi would never give up! And I'm not about to either!" He swung a punch, the monster blocked it. Van took his previous place.
"Van!" Allen yelled. "There's too many! Stop it! We can't even touch them! What do you think Hitomi would want? You returning to her alive, or returning to her in little chopped pieces?"
Van stopped everything. He couldn't move. He remembered Hitomi's plea. 'If I had only listened, we might not have...' He let his arms droop to his lap. There he waited.
Allen looked at the Escaflowne. How many times had Van tried to defeat too big an enemy and failed? To many times, he was sure. But now, now Van was learning on his own when to fight and when to surrender — for the present, that is.
* * * * *
Perched on a tree outside Hitomi's terrace, was a shadowy, hunched figure. Its height was of a child, and its eyes glowed with a evil-green desire. It watched Hitomi stand and go to the terrace. It saw her stare out. Then, silently, it leaped to the roof and watched her from above.
Hitomi looked at the sky. She thought deeply of Van and his forsaken promise. How could she forgive him? He had never broken a promise to her before. Not her! She heard the rustling of wind through the trees. It calmed her.
Then, a cold, grey hand clasped over her mouth, and held her from behind! She tried to scream, but faint sounds were all that came out from under the hand. She felt herself being lifted into the air!
She saw the Astorian buildings far below her! She was being taken away! But to where? And who? And why?
* * * * *
Burning rope rubbed cruelly on Van's wrists as he was dragged through the forest. He felt the skin beneath the rope scraping off painfully. He let out a cry as one of the shorter monsters yanked the rope mercilessly.
Van turned his gaze to his left. He saw Allen's body slung over a monster's shoulder, unconscious. Allen had been so ever since the side of his head was struck hard with a bare fist when he had tried to free himself three hours ago. Even now, there was a small trickle of crimson dripping down Allen's cheek from his temple slowly.
'She must hate me,' Van thought, thinking of Hitomi. 'I dare say that it doesn't matter now. At this rate, I'll never see her again.' Van shivered as he thought of that. Never seeing her again.
He was jolted from his thoughts again by the same little demon smacking his cheek. The little hoard of demons had stopped. In front of them was an ebony-black stone the size of two men high and three men wide.
The ringleader of the hoard walked to the stone and placed his hand on it. The stone glowed for a split second. Then, in its place, was a gateway of swirling red and black. The demons pulled Van, the other soldiers, and the unconscious Allen through the gate. The stone molded itself back to normal as it closed behind them.
* * * * *
Allen opened his eyes. He was in a large room with grey, stone walls, like a cave. He sat up on the cold floor and turned his head, taking in the scenery. Van was to the front of the room, pounding hard on something and cursing profusely.
Despite the fact that they were captured, they were not in a cell, or even a dungeon for that matter. The room, looked like a throne room.
Allen walked over to Van and saw, with wide eyes, what Van was pounding at. He saw every detail of that flawless body encased in solid glass. The red skirt swirling over silky legs. The grey coat and red bow shadowing her gentle throat and bobbing chest.
"Hitomi!" Allen screamed.
Van banged on the glass again. "I can't get her out of there! It's too strong!"
Allen looked at Van, the determination in his eyes. "Van, we'll get her out of there. I swear it on my life."
Van looked at Hitomi again, the expression on her face. It was as if she were calling. Calling for him. Then, in his mind, he heard Hitomi's voice ringing with need:
'Van, help me, please! Please, Van, get me out!'
TO BE CONTINUED...
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Episode #11
Life to Death, Life to Purgatory
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"Sir, Hitomi Kanzaki has been taken care of, just as we planned," Versis said triumphantly.
Dalvus stood and looked at his soldier apprehensively. "We are not to celebrate yet. There is one thing that could bring her back. We must destroy that element."
Versis stared at his lord, a disgusted look on his young and hansom face. "You mean..."
"Yes," Dalvus replied angrily.
* * * * *
It had been a week in Astoria since Hitomi was brought back to the capitol.
Celena walked into Hitomi's room and saw Van, kneeling at the bed side, holding her hand. His head rested on he soft sheets. It seemed as though he had given up all hope of her recovery. He had wished her to wake up with his pendant, but there had been no response.
Celena would have done the same thing normally. But to her, Hitomi looked so peaceful in her utter repose, that she hadn't the heart to weep or lament.
Celena walked to Van's side and put her hand on his shoulder. Van looked up at her with teary eyes.
"Van," Celena said calmly.
"C-Celena?" Van replied.
"Van, don't weep for her. You know she wouldn't want that."
Van's eyes went from teary to bursting to the rim. "Yes, but it was my fault! I should have looked after her!"
"Van!" Celena grabbed him and spun him round, trying to knock some sense into him. "You know it wasn't your fault! Don't blame yourself!" Celena calmed herself. "Look, I know Hitomi. You will reach her. She could never leave you.
"You know something, a long time ago, you were in a meeting with King Aston and the court to decide the trade system. She came up to me and told me that even though you were but a room or two away, she felt unsafe without you right beside her. You will get her back. I have great faith in Hitomi and her powers. She's strong. She'll find a way back to you. Believe me."
Van put his head against her shoulder and began to cry even more. Now he knew that Hitomi felt, if not more, the same way he did. Celena gently stoked his flowing raven hair with her tender peach-tanned hands... Oh, so much like Hitomi's hands, Van couldn't help thinking...
* * * * *
Allen stood in the sparring hall, staring out the window. He saw the heavy rain that poured outside the castle and in the streets. Little children were playing in the rain and puddles. They seemed so calm and innocent.
How he wished he could be like them, just playing in the rain as one of them. His heart was in no mood for happy thoughts, so he changed to a deeper thought. Of how Hitomi was doing and how many days were left until she would be buried. Only seven days left. Only seven until...
Allen stopped at that thought, he didn't want to think of what would happen oh so soon! He thought instead, of Van. Poor Van! In a week, he would lose his love. It wasn't fair! Why Hitomi?! Anyone but Hitomi! He would, himself, have volunteered to take her place, if the guarantee of her awakening was promised.
A knock at the door interrupted his silent disapproval. Millerna entered without a word. Her face was grim and her jaw set. It was as if a ghost had struck the life out of her. She looked at him sadly, her eyes marking the evident cause of her coming. She turned away.
"I looked at Hitomi's condition," she said nervously.
"Shouldn't you tell Van, too?" Allen asked. "He'd want to know more than me."
"I'm afraid of telling him," Millerna replied.
Allen shot up, cold with fear. Something inside him told him he would not like the news she had brought him. "What is it?"
"She — Hitomi has less than two percent chance of recovering...," Millerna stammered.
Allen looked at his boots. "How much of a reduction has been uncovered?"
"Half of the sum — one percent." Millerna stepped toward Allen, fear in her eyes. "Allen, I'm afraid. I don't want to loose my little friend!"
"None of us do," Allen replied, turning to the window again. 'Hitomi, please. Come back. Don't leave us all alone!'
* * * * *
It was a week later, the day for Hitomi's burial. No change in Hitomi's progress had occurred. Van let all the tears he had ever held back stream as Hitomi, in a glass covered coffin encrusted with gold, was walked slowly through the streets of Palas.
The streets were lined with parents and children, elderlies and new born babies, wishing to pay their respects.
When they reached the cemetery, Merle cried as much as Van. Queen Millerna and King Dryden came in a coach and commanded silence. Millerna stood in front of all her kingdom with a white piece of parchment. She cleared her throat, and spoke hoarsely, but loudly:
"In the name of my father, the late King Philip Aston, and by all the authorities binding myself and my Lord-King, do I introduce a new tradition unto you, my people. In honour of she lay before you, Hitomi Kanzaki, I proclaim this day Seeress Day!
"Let this day be known as a time to give respect for the saviour of Gaea during the Great War, who's generosity and bittersweet reality remains with us in the peace she has helped wrought!"
The kingdom cheered in agreement, but Van, Merle, and Celena only knelt, crying, on their knees beside the coffin, staring in at the beautiful, young girl within. Allen wished to cry, too, but he was a Knight Kaeli. Tears were not permitted to him at a public burial or wedding.
The coffin was slowly lowered into the Grave of Honour, the most sacred place to be buried.
Van watched silently, thinking a final farewell to his young love. 'Goodbye, my love. May you rest peacefully.'
Merle looked at her rival through the glass. 'Farewell, Hitomi. Please, rest at ease. I will protect Lord Van for you.'
'Goodbye, my dear friend... Be happy... And, say hello to Marlene for me,' Millerna silently whispered, also looking at the coffin.
'Oh, Hitomi!' Celena thought. 'I wanted to know you better, and be better friends! Even though you didn't honour the promise I made Van, I wish you the best...'
Yukari, all this time silent, let out a sob, and leaned her head against the glass. She had no words to describe the pain she felt! She had no cure to make that pain go away! 'No,' she thought miserably. 'It will never go away...!'
The grave diggers started covering the grave when they heard a noise. All looked down and saw a small peach-coloured hand smacking the glass. Attached to the hand was a peach-like face. Hitomi was awake! Her eyes were wide with horror!
Van screamed her name and ordered the diggers to stop. He then jumped down into the grave and jammed open the coffin and helped her out.
Hitomi lay sprawled on the ground, gasping for much needed air. She looked flushed and tired despite her state of dormancy for the past two weeks. Van knelt just beside her, looking at her with concern. She looked at him, his peaceful face calmed all her senses the instant she looked into his deep eyes.
She gasped again. "I— gasp — I'm fine, Van."
Yukari watched with joy, smiling at the lovers. Her smile faded from her lips. She came to a horrifying conclusion. What if Hitomi didn't want her around because of Van's kingship? Where would she go if that ever happened? She shivered uncontrollably at the prospect, and scolded herself for being selfish at a time like this!
Hitomi, now in Van's arms and being carried away from the graveyard in a procession of exuberant friends, looked back at Yukari with a worried look on her face. She seemed to be pleading Yukari not to think that at all. Yukari nodded her head in response and joined the procession with renewed hope.
* * * * *
When they were back at the palace. Van approached Hitomi after a meal. He gave her a proposal for the next battle that was to be in a day's time. Hitomi looked at him sadly and uncertainty.
"Van," she said, her eyes turned downward from his gaze, "I don't want you going out there."
Van's eyes widened with surprise. "But, Hitomi. I have to, to protect you and every—!"
"Just... promise me you won't go out there. Please," Hitomi interrupted.
"Hitomi...," Van looked away for a moment, then back at her pleading eyes. "What are you afraid of?"
Hitomi's voice trembled as she spoke. "I'm afraid that if you go out there, I'll never see you again! If that ever happened — I don't know what I'd do! Just... promise me."
Something in Hitomi's urgency made Van's heart throb. "I promise."
Hitomi threw her arms around his neck and began to cry. "You're an angel! How can I ever thank you!"
"Grab me like that again. I rather like it!" Van teased.
Hitomi looked at him fondly. "I'm going to take a nap."
"All right," Van replied.
Hitomi left the hallway where they had been standing. Down the hall and up the stairs she trotted, to her room.
* * * * *
Footsteps. The distant sound of horses and soldiers. Allen turned from two gymelulf pilots he had been talking to. "Where is Van?" he asked inquisitively.
"He's right over there, commander," Gaddes said, pointing.
Allen ran to Van. "Van, the enemy is attacking the west border of Astoria. They can't hold them off on their own. We need as many forces as we can get, immediately!"
"But, I can't," Van replied, remembering his promise.
"Please, Van!" Allen yelled. "Innocent people are dying at this very minute! Just like in Fanelia!"
Van saw visions of the burning Fanelia flash back to him with the reality he had tried to drown from his consciousness. His eyes turned from calm to angry. He looked at Allen, eyes blazing. "Is Escaflowne ready?"
"Waiting for you as we speak," Allen replied.
Van ran from Allen to Escaflowne, a fifty feet away. He jumped up on the knee and into the cockpit. He saw a faint picture of the face Hitomi had on her when she begged him to promise her that he wouldn't go. He launched the gears in motion, and Escaflowne took to the air. 'I'm sorry, Hitomi!'
* * * * *
Hitomi awoke to the sound of gears moving outside. She opened her eyes and made for the terrace. When she reached it, she caught a glimpse of Escaflowne launching and disappearing into the horizon. Tears flooded her face. A sudden fever rushed over her and burned her eyes.
'Van,' she thought, touching her cheek. 'You promised!'
She watched many other ships disappear. All of them were almost certainly headed for death, but she could only think of Van's safety.
She turned from the window and ran to her bed. She flung herself like a rag doll upon it. As she buried her face in the sheets and soft, flowing tears fell reluctantly from her jewel-green eyes.
* * * * *
Escaflowne slowed in the fire-red sky near the western border of Astoria. He saw the Crusade just behind him. He heard the screams: frightened, wailing screams that echoed in all the soldiers' minds. He let Escaflowne fall to the ground and released his sword with fury, smiting down his enemy with a single blow to the head of the gymelulf.
He saw Allen's gymelulf, Scherizade, jump right behind his own gymelulf and begin to slice at another enemy.
Out of the smoke, came hideous, deformed figures, crawling on the ground like snakes! Van did a double take and gasped with horror as he saw them! Bent, crooked forms that seemed to laugh at the carnage surrounding them!
Allen looked at them too. He also gasped. Never had such a horrible thing crossed a battlefield on Gaea! The creatures surrounded them. Van swung his sword. One monster grabbed the sword and it melted into a pool of hot oil. Allen, himself, and all the other soldiers were surrounded! There was no escape! No way out!
Allen shouted at Van through his face grating. "Van! We're going to have to surrender! We can't beat this many!"
Van's eyes blazed. "No! Hitomi would never give up! And I'm not about to either!" He swung a punch, the monster blocked it. Van took his previous place.
"Van!" Allen yelled. "There's too many! Stop it! We can't even touch them! What do you think Hitomi would want? You returning to her alive, or returning to her in little chopped pieces?"
Van stopped everything. He couldn't move. He remembered Hitomi's plea. 'If I had only listened, we might not have...' He let his arms droop to his lap. There he waited.
Allen looked at the Escaflowne. How many times had Van tried to defeat too big an enemy and failed? To many times, he was sure. But now, now Van was learning on his own when to fight and when to surrender — for the present, that is.
* * * * *
Perched on a tree outside Hitomi's terrace, was a shadowy, hunched figure. Its height was of a child, and its eyes glowed with a evil-green desire. It watched Hitomi stand and go to the terrace. It saw her stare out. Then, silently, it leaped to the roof and watched her from above.
Hitomi looked at the sky. She thought deeply of Van and his forsaken promise. How could she forgive him? He had never broken a promise to her before. Not her! She heard the rustling of wind through the trees. It calmed her.
Then, a cold, grey hand clasped over her mouth, and held her from behind! She tried to scream, but faint sounds were all that came out from under the hand. She felt herself being lifted into the air!
She saw the Astorian buildings far below her! She was being taken away! But to where? And who? And why?
* * * * *
Burning rope rubbed cruelly on Van's wrists as he was dragged through the forest. He felt the skin beneath the rope scraping off painfully. He let out a cry as one of the shorter monsters yanked the rope mercilessly.
Van turned his gaze to his left. He saw Allen's body slung over a monster's shoulder, unconscious. Allen had been so ever since the side of his head was struck hard with a bare fist when he had tried to free himself three hours ago. Even now, there was a small trickle of crimson dripping down Allen's cheek from his temple slowly.
'She must hate me,' Van thought, thinking of Hitomi. 'I dare say that it doesn't matter now. At this rate, I'll never see her again.' Van shivered as he thought of that. Never seeing her again.
He was jolted from his thoughts again by the same little demon smacking his cheek. The little hoard of demons had stopped. In front of them was an ebony-black stone the size of two men high and three men wide.
The ringleader of the hoard walked to the stone and placed his hand on it. The stone glowed for a split second. Then, in its place, was a gateway of swirling red and black. The demons pulled Van, the other soldiers, and the unconscious Allen through the gate. The stone molded itself back to normal as it closed behind them.
* * * * *
Allen opened his eyes. He was in a large room with grey, stone walls, like a cave. He sat up on the cold floor and turned his head, taking in the scenery. Van was to the front of the room, pounding hard on something and cursing profusely.
Despite the fact that they were captured, they were not in a cell, or even a dungeon for that matter. The room, looked like a throne room.
Allen walked over to Van and saw, with wide eyes, what Van was pounding at. He saw every detail of that flawless body encased in solid glass. The red skirt swirling over silky legs. The grey coat and red bow shadowing her gentle throat and bobbing chest.
"Hitomi!" Allen screamed.
Van banged on the glass again. "I can't get her out of there! It's too strong!"
Allen looked at Van, the determination in his eyes. "Van, we'll get her out of there. I swear it on my life."
Van looked at Hitomi again, the expression on her face. It was as if she were calling. Calling for him. Then, in his mind, he heard Hitomi's voice ringing with need:
'Van, help me, please! Please, Van, get me out!'
TO BE CONTINUED...