Hi I'm back, sorry it took so long. I got a writer's block and couldn't decide what to write. I'm doin it from my head.
Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne, wish i did though.
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"Sure, if you want," answered Hitomi, a bit shocked. The girls spent the rest of the time before dinner talking, all tension in the room gone.
*~~~~~*
''Come on, come on. I can do this'' Hitomi whispered to herself as she concentrated, a small green light beginning to form between her cupped hands. Suddenly the small light began to get bigger and bigger....
Van was walking around the palace thinking about many things, a certain princess to be exact. Princess Hitomi truly confused him. It seemed as though she was afraid of the whole world yet so defiant of it. When he first saw her the day that she opened the portal for them to enter he thought her to be a goddess, she had a beauty he had never seen before. Sure he had seen women just as beautiful but it was through makeup, yet she had a natural beauty, as though she was part of nature itself. When he looked into her emerald green eyes he felt like he could drown in them. He really wanted to get to know her.
What suprised him the most about her was the way she acted toward her father, not like father and daughter more like king and loyal warrior. Dinner had only proved that thought more.
~Flashback~
Everyone was already seated at the dinning table when Merle and Hitomi came in. Hitomi immediately went to her father and bowed slightly to him before sitting down to his right. (Van was sitting to his left and merle beside Van)
"Now that you're here Hitomi we can begin," replied King Aaron indirectly stating it was time to eat.
"I'm sorry we were late sire," Hitomi calmly apologized looking straight into his eyes, never leaving them until she finished speaking and began to eat.
"Apology accepted. Now we must talk about the journey to Dragon Mountain. There is a change of plans, I have asked King Van to accompany you and he has kindly said yes." which was true, King Aaron had asked Van to only a few minutes before dinner hoping the king would protect his beloved daughter even though it was without her consent. Hitomi's head immediately snapped up at the statement and he could hear shocked gasps coming from Merle and his advisors. Van was able to get a look at her eyes and what he saw was truly frightening. Hitomi's eyes were so full of untamable fire and rage hot enough to burn, if possible, the person they pierced through alive, the thought of her father thinking that she would need the protection of a good-for-nothing snobbish king made her blood boil.
"Father you did no such thing, not without my consent. I will not look out for a weakling on the journey. I'm going to be there to train not protect. I'm sure his country wouldn't want to loose him, he will not come," she hissed trying yet almost failing to hold in her deadly temper. Van could have sworn that her eyes were beginning to glow a dangerous red at that moment.
"It is the king's decision your highness, we can do nothing to change it, yet I'm sure Jason would be more than happy to accompany him," suggested Youhan. Hitomi could see Jason slightly pale yet agreed to go, which only made her madder since now she'd have to look out for 2 snobbish losers.
King Aaron having seen Hitomi's argument coming replied, "Yes I did, and you shall not argue with me, I don't want you to come back beaten like last time. I don't want to see that again," and in a whisper only Van, Hitomi, Merle, Jason, and Hope could hear, "Please I can't bare to have you come back dead, I do love you my daughter." This plea truly threw Hitomi back leaving her speechless, giving the only choice as to consent. Dinner went on uncomfortably, Hitomi never looking up from her plate and if she did it was only to glare at her father and Van.
~ End of Flashback~
Van knew that she wasn't too happy about that or let alone seeing him again, not after what happened all those years ago. He sighed and ran a hand through his unruly raven hair, agitated by those annoying thoughts. When he passed by the training room he saw a bright green light flash through the ajar door. Surprised he quietly opened the door a bit more and peered in, shocked at what he saw, he forced himself to remain calm. There in the middle of the pitch black room, except for the green light allowing Van to get a clear look, stood Hitomi, yet it was not her. She was changing before his very eyes yet she didn't notice her him since she had her eyes closed, her face bent toward the ground, concentrating, as it seemed, with all her effort.
Her mid back length sandy blonde hair suddenly became waist length with golden streaks going through it tied in a strange knot at the top of her head. Her clothes, which were a green long sleeve shirt and black pants, changed into a black silk shirt with golden and silver armor on top of it, only its long sleeves shown followed by black gloves that started at the wrist. On the armor a blood red phoenix flying out of flames extended from high on the chest to below the ribcage perfectly outlining every curve of her upper body. Silver and gold outlined armor also covered her shoulders and arms. She had black leather pants which outlined her hips and thighs, and boots starting a few inches above her knees. A green sash appeared at her hips holding the royal Anatopian sword. The armor outlined all her curves perfectly allowing her free movement. To Van she was truly an image even in the armor.
Van could not stop himself from letting out a soft gasp, causing Hitomi to immediately look up and open her eyes allowing Van to get a clear look at her face. Her pale face appeared to be the same, but when he saw her eyes he was truly stunned. Instead of bright emerald green eyes, they were completely golden, the only light in the room. (you know how evil monsters eyes usually glow white or red or something, well hers are golden) It was as if she was possessed. Which frightened Van, not that he was one that was easily frightened.
All of a sudden her eyes dimmed back to their normal green and Hitomi collapsed to the ground, her limp body still claded in the armor and clothes. Van ran to her side and gently cradled her delicate frame in his muscular arms, not sure why, yet out of instinct. Then without warning he was hit with visions, no more like memories.
*~Flashback~*
"Mother," wept a 5 year old Hitomi, "come back please. Mother please, why did you leave me. Don't you love me any more, don't you want me? I'm so sorry, it's all my fault. If I hadn't run off like that you wouldn't be dead." It was the day of the funeral, after Hitomi was sent to her room for fighting Van. It took everything she had to keep from crying the whole day and finally her 5 year old body couldn't hold it in anymore.
Hitomi's head shot up when she heard a whimpering coming from under her bed. She wiped her tears, got off the bed, and looked under it. There in the farthest corner lay the baby wolf, whimpering for its lost mother and loneliness. Hitomi's young heart softened at the sight of the scared baby. She crawled under the bed and gently took Hope into her arms, wiggling back out from under the bed.
"Shush little Hope, its ok. We can be friends; I'll take good care of you. I promise."
'Really,' asked a shy and hopeful voice in Hitomi's head.
"You can talk," awed Hitomi, not at all afraid.
'You can understand me, you're the first human that could. I want to be your friend, we can be sisters, since we have a lot in common.' she stated sadly
'I'd like that' squealed Hitomi in her head finally understanding how.
*~Flash~*
'So that's how they met' thought Van to himself.
'King Van'
"Who are you, come out coward," yelled Van startled by the voice, his fingers automatically going to his sword at his hip.
'There's no need to be calling names your majesty. I'm here to guide you.' the voice responded with an amused tone.
"What do you mean guide me, who are you?'' Van demanded.
'You are so rash. Just calm down and I'll explain everything. In a way I'm part of Hitomi's heart. Her true heart that she locked away on that sad day, never to let me free again. Yet she may soon free me without knowing it.'
"What do you mean? Tell me"
'I sorry young one, I can't let that out or it will change the course of fate. All that I came here to do is show you Hitomi's life through her eyes, her pains, sorrows, and rare happinesses. You shall see things that she would never let anyone else know about, things that torture her every thought and dream. Yes you are the one.'
"What are you talking about? This is just a dream, it isn't true!"
'I'm sorry young king, this you are required to see and know. Now follow me.'
Van unconsciously began to follow the voice, not having much control over his body.
*~Flash~*
3 months after the funeral of her mother, Hitomi's heart was slowly mending. One day Hitomi was out in the gardens with Hope, when all of a sudden she was hit with a vision and collapsed limply to the ground. Hope rushed over to her to see if she was alright only to find her unconscious, deep within the depths of her mind.
~Vision~
"Go and retrieve the young princess of Anatopia and do not fail," hissed a snake like voice.(guess who, I'll give ya a clue it starts with a D. It's Dornick ^_^') "Call one of our spies in Anatopia to find her and report back to me."
"Yes master," replied a silver haired boy.(who else but Dilandau)
~Flash~
"Master the princess was found,"
"Excellent,"
"But the queen was with her, Ivan desposed of the queen, but when he was about to get the girl Nanakia of the Wolf Spirits' tribe stopped him with her own life. She killed Ivan in the process taking an arrow in the heart."
"I should have know that bastard tribe would have something to do with it. Well did you get the girl at least?" Dornick shouted, outraged at the interference.
"No sire, she got away. The Anatopian soldiers got to her before one of our other spies could. Nanakia also left an infant child behind her which the girl has taken in. She will probably be used by the Wolf tribe to watch over the princess Hitomi and inform the elders of any odd happenings."
"How could you have messed up like that. Now all of our plans are ruined. We must have the girl to get the Fate Alteration Machine to work. Get her at all costs. I don't care how long it takes just bring her to ME!"
"Yes master," Dilandau replied as he bowed and left the room, a smile forming at his lips eager to spill more blood of his enemies on his hands.
~End of Vision~
Hitomi woke up in the infirmary 2 days later truly scared by what she had seen, not knowing what it had meant yet knowing it was important.
~Flash~
"I don't understand, why do they need Hitomi for the Fate Alteration machine? What's so special about her?"
"Young king have you not heard of the prophecies of the Anatoian monarchs let alone Anatopia itself? Because if you had you would know that the monarchs of Anatopia all had Anatopian blood. Hitomi is the last of the Atlantians and the most powerful of them all. She has all of their powers stored deep within her, she has yet to awaken them. They're planning to use Hitomi to awaken her powers for their own evil purposes"
"Surly that's not true, I've heard of those legends yet I always believed them to be fantical never true. My mother used to tell me them as bed time stories when I was younger," Van's voice faltered as memories of his deceased mother came hurling towards him.
"I miss her as well young one yet you must learn to move on, she would have wanted it that way."
"You knew my mother, how, who are you?" demanded Van, startled by her statement.
"Oh young one we knew each other well, almost like sisters. She wasn't meant to disappear. I still believe her to be alive no matter what anyone should say."
"So you know what she was don't you?" sighed Van, "What I am. Demons?"
"Never dear, you two have the purest souls I have ever seen. You are not alone in this world young one, there are more like you, you just need to find them. You may even find love through one of them," giggled the voice.
"Where would I find them, who are they," Van questioned wanting no more riddles but straight answers. (Van is so full of question isn't he)
"This I can not tell you yet I can show you,"
~Flash~
2 months before the queen is shot, in the royal gardens.
"Mother, what are Draconians? Why do people say they're so bad?" asked a 5 year old Hitomi as she ran over to her mother, who was sitting on a bench in front of the fountain, and sat in her lap.
"Why do you ask Hitomi?" asked Serenity, wanting to know where the question had come from all of a sudden.
"Well Lisa said that her mom said that she heard Mrs. Tibbits say some stranger said that they were cursed and the queen of Fanelia (Hitomi will from now on call her aunty) would someday bring destruction to all of Gaea. I think that that's just dumb. Aunty isn't cursed, she's nice and gives good presents."
"That she does dear, that she does. Hitomi, Draconians are ancient people who brought peace to all of Gaea thousands of years ago, but later almost destroyed it because they loved power too much. They are powerful people with beautiful white wings. But they soon got into war with the Atlantians, an ancient group even older than the Draconians, they used to be in peace but soon both groups began to get hungry for more power. They fought for hundreds of years and in the end all the Draconians went to the Mystic Moon to live and never return to Gaea. The few remaining Atlantians came and made Anatopia where all creatures could live in peace."
"Then how come they say Aunty is a Draconian," asked Hitomi, confused.
"Well your Aunty had heard a prophecy from one of the ancients saying that she'd meet her true love on Gaea at Angel Lake. (you know the lake that they met at, I'm not sure what its name is so I'm going with Angel Lake) So she went there and met Van's father and they feel in love and soon got married. Then they had Van and Folken."
"How come I never got to see Van and Folken?"
"Well they never had time to come, I'm sure you'll see them in a few months dear."
"Are the Atlantians powerful and have beautiful wings?"
At the question Queen Serenity hesitated to answer, pushing some of her long silvery hair behind her ear, "Yes, they were very powerful and had wings, their wings are the purest of white except for the gold and silver colors at the tips of the feathers,"
"Wow!! So do you and me have them too? We're Atlantians too aren't we?"
"Yes, but we're not as powerful as we used to be, your father isn't an Atlantian and neither was mine so you aren't a complete Atlantian. The power of the descendents of the Atlantians became weaker with each generation. And as for the wings.." Queen Serenity put Hitomi on the ground and stood up. She closed her eyes and concentrated giving a quick push and beautiful white wings came out of her back(she has an open back dress and when they do have their wings out their clothes don't tear) with the golden and silver tips. Hitomi gasped and ran to her gently putting her right hand on one of the wings and ran her hand along one of the majestic feathers, marveling at how soft they were.
"Can I do that too?"
"Yes you can, just close your eyes and concentrate really hard. Look deep in your heart and find the light inside. Grab it and use it to push really hard from your back." Hitomi did exactly what her mother said and all of a sudden Hitomi had her own pair of miniature pure white wings. She squealed in delight and touched her wings, eager to see if they were real.
"When do I get to start flying? When, when, when?!!"
"I'll show you soon enough dear, come on lets go inside to lunch,"
~Flash~
'See young one you're not alone, you just have to get her to open up to you. I wish you luck. Good bye'
"Wait, please tell who you are? I need to know,"
'I am the previous queen of Anatopia.' then all of a sudden a bright light began to shine where Van had last heard the voice and a figure emerged out of it. She had waist length silver hair, beautiful blue eyes, and an air of elegance all around her. The crown of Anatopia sat majestically on her head. Queen Serenity of Anatopia stood before Van.
"Your majesty I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you." apologized a shocked Van.
'You weren't supposed to young one, there is no need to apologize, now go Hope is really worried about you,' with that Queen Serenity disappeared and Van was thrown into a pit of darkness.
