Oct. 2002
DISCALIMER: Escaflowne characters are not owned by me (aww….). I do, however, have the rights to the plot and new charcters. Read on.
ALL I NEED
By Youjibaracuda
~*~Two~*~
Van Fanel was tired.
He didn't think he could move another muscle from his spot on the floor.
But his children thought otherwise.
"Father! You have to keep on playing!" his daughter shook his shoulder.
"Don't give up now!" his son begged.
"What's going on here?" the Queen's gentle voice asked as she entered the room accompanied by her other son.
"Trying to take me to an early death," Van mumbled from his spot. "I never knew children could have so much energy."
"On the contrary, your Highness, you have very little energy," his wife responded while standing over him, a smile playing on her lips, laughter in her pale green eyes.
"Are you two still playing silly games?" eleven year old Kiross asked his siblings, crossing his arms.
Gavin stuck his tongue out at his older brother, "They are not silly, and you used to play with me all the time!"
"Yeah!" little Varie piped up.
"You don't remember," Kiross told the girl.
"I do to!" she responded as stubbornly as her father would.
"No you don't!" Kiross argued.
"I do!"
"Kiross, Varie, that's enough," their mother ordered sternly.
Both children quited at their mother's look. "Why don't all three of you go out to play in the gardens?" the queen continued.
The three royals nodded and ran towards the castle gardens, leaving their parents in the room alone.
The queen knelt down next to her husband as he began to laugh. Van couldn't help but find his children amusing. They were his pride and his joy and loved them more than life itself.
Kiross, his oldest, was born when Van was barely twenty-one. The boy had grown to have a remarkable resemblance to his uncle, Folken, and at the age of eleven had already demonstrated that he would be a great ruler someday.
Gavin had been born seven years ago, carrying his mother's dark blonde hair and pale green eyes. He was very energetic and had an insatiable curiosity about everything. He had endless questions that stumped even Dryden occasionally.
Varie was a four year old angel. Shy and quiet, she didn't take to people as easily as her brothers. She had few people she felt comfortable with, and therefore spent most of her time with Van. She was almost a carbon copy of her father, soft unruly black hair and intense ruby eyes, along with her father's stubbornness.
Van was willing to do whatever it took to keep his children happy.
"What do you find so amusing, Van?" his wife asked.
He looked into her green eyes and continued to smile. "The children," he told her.
"Oh, I see," she answered pulling a lock of her honey colored hair behind her ear. "It takes a lot to handle all three doesn't it?"
"No wonder Merle takes so many vacations," Van told her.
She smiled in response and took Van's hand in hers. "I wouldn't change them for the world."
"Neither would I," he let her know.
Van looked at his wife and sadness momentarily passed through his heart. He had married over twelve years ago, as was the Fanelian law. And even though a forced marriage was something he had fought with everything he could, he had to admit that he had grown to care for his wife very much. He knew the most likely reason for that was her incredible resemblance to Hitomi. Sezarina Fanel was sweet and kind, as well as a very good diplomat, making her an invaluable queen. When she had been brought from Cesario the day before the wedding, the painfully shy nineteen year old girl had been uncomfortable in Van's presence. Van had been attracted by her physical resemblance to the woman he loved, but found that she lacked a fire and spirit that only Hitomi possessed. However, as time passed, her other attributed won him over, especially after the birth of their first son. She was so caring and was a wonderful mother, that she won her way into his heart.
"Excuse me, your Majesties," a messenger entered the royal family's private quarters. "My queen, there is a messenger here from Cesario wanting to speak to you."
"Thank you," Queen Sezarina answered. It was not uncommon for her father to send messengers to her periodically. She squeezed Van's hand, "I'll be back."
He nodded as she got up and left in the direction of the main part of the caslte.
The messenger was still standing there when he addressed the king. "This was also left for you, my Lord."
Van looked to see the young man carried a sealed envelope. "Thank you, that's very well. Leave it there on that table and you are dismissed."
The messenger did as he was told and bowed before going out. For some reason, the boy had caught Van's memory. It wasn't unusual that there would be new messenger boys all the time, but for some reason this one had something about him that Van found unsettling.
Gathering himself up off the floor, he crossed the room and picked up the envelope left on the table for him.
It was completely blank on the outside and surprisingly thin. Van broke the unusual black seal and opened the letter inside.
'Your Highness, the Lord of Fanelia~
As you are reading this now, we hold your wife prisoner.
Please, do not be alarmed. No harm will come to her.
That is, if you fully cooperate with us.
Be careful not to be to hasty in sending out your army in search of us.
None of us would wish to see the Queen harmed if you did.
Be assured that we will be in touch.
And remember: It's a new age; you're either with it or against it.'
Van was incredulous. He quickly read over the preposterous note again, not letting fear lace his heart. He made his way down to the main hall, expecting to find his wife there with a messenger from her father and have all this be an awfully bad joke.
He entered the main hall only to find it empty. Interrogating the guards stationed there, Van learned that no one from Cesario had arrived that day and that the Queen had not been seen in that area.
Making other similar interrogations, he discovered that no one had come in or out of the castle in the last hours except for a new messenger boy that had called the Queen and gave the King the kidnapping letter. After digging around some more, Van discovered that this young man was not at all part of the castle staff, and therefore there wasn't a soul who knew him.
Van paced his council chambers later that day, waiting for his advisors to show up, the letter still tightly clutched in his hand. He'd already read it over so many times, he knew it by heart.
He didn't know what had happened, how or why. All that he knew was that his country was now without a queen and his children were missing their mother.
~*~
TBC…
Baracuda here. Okay, so I realize that this is not the conventional V/H….i'm sorry, but I would like it if you continued to read this anyway…I wanted to explore another possible type of plot.
::begs on her knees:: PLEASE DON'T ABANDON ME!!!
okay, so that's it for me….
--Youjibaracuda
"Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while."
---Westley, The Princess Bride
CECE!!!! HA! TWO NEW CHAPPIES BEFORE NOV.28!!! ::points at calendar::
After all, you didn't say anything about it having to be for the same fic…..heh….once again, a minor detail saves my butt!!! ;D