Disclaimer: *flies in* I don't own Escaflowne *takes out broom and sweeps
up shed feathers*
Thanks so much to Trista100, x, Geminidragon, SabineballZ, jossi-31, aradow, and the Cleric 007 for reviewing. You guys rock.
Through the Rainy Haze
Chapter 6: The Calm Before the Storm
"Oh Dryden, stop squirming so much" Millerna sighed in exasperation. "It does sting you know", Dryden pointed out. He sat on the edge of a couch in Millerna's quarters. She had brought him here so she could properly bandage his wounds.
"I do realize that", Millerna replied smiling a bit. "But you don't have to be such a baby about it"
"Baby?!" Millerna giggled. If she had known he would put up such a fuss she would have let the healer take care of him. She had had to convince the old medic that she was fine caring for her husband on her own and that there were others who needed it more than Dryden.
"Well you are good at it anyway", Dryden mumbled. Millerna looked up at questionably. "Good at healing", he clarified. Millerna blushed slightly. "I haven't had any real training you know. I've only ever read out of books. I don't think father will ever let me be schooled in medicine", Millerna sighed while cleaning out Dryden's head wound with a cloth.
"I don't see why you can't do both"
"Both?"
"Be queen and be a healer. You know, heal people on the side, sort of thing"
"That wouldn't be..proper, would it?"
Dryden grinned. "Does everything have to be proper?"
"You mean you'd allow me to become a healer?"
"Allow you? Since when have you taken to considering my opinion on such matters"
Millerna looked at him hard. "You are my husband now. I suppose I can't do anything you dislike"
Dryden laughed heartily and Millerna stopped cleaning his cut in surprise.
"You say that as if I could stop you. I thought you had a mind of your own Millerna. Not that I would stop you anyway"
Millerna observed him carefully. "So you'll let me get proper training so I can practice?"
Dryden chuckled again. "Let you, allow you. I don't have any control over you, Millerna. I've already seen that. Sure, get training if you like. It's admirable that you would follow your dreams. I wouldn't stop that. Though I don't see why you even need training. I was told you performed surgery on Allen after he saved Hitomi"
Millerna felt her face getting hot. "Y-yes. I did. But it was almost a complete fluke.."
"I suppose you care for him quite a bit", Dryden said softly. He eyed her curiously and once again she stopped cleaning the wound.
"I don't know how I feel about Allen any more. I'm very confused Dryden. I put so much pressure on Hitomi to answer all my questions but I suppose that just confused me and her even more than before. Well at least now I'm confused. And Hitomi believes all the damage was her fault. I'm afraid that I haven't been that great of a friend to her. I wonder if I ever even loved Allen or if I was just going out of my way to disobey my father. I never liked following his and my sister's every order, every decision they made for me. Maybe they were good decisions, but I should have been the one making them, you know?" Millerna sighed.
Dryden nodded, signaling for her to continue. "And I know that if I actually just see things clearly without having to think of smiting my family then I could make a good decision for myself on this subject" Millerna looked up at him warily. "I could learn to love you, if I tried out the idea"
Dryden gave her a genuine smile. "That's all I could ever ask of you"
"Oh Dryden", Millerna sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Ow!"
"Sorry!"
~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Van found himself outside Escaflowne's storehouse once again, Hitomi carrying on an amiable conversation with him. He forgot how they'd gotten on the topic, but Hitomi begun to tell him an amusing story about her younger brother Mamoru, then he indulged in recounting a funny thing Merle used to do and would kill him if he ever told anyone else, and so on. Van had flown Escaflowne back with Hitomi, to his pleasure, hanging on by his waist. The conversation had flowed from there. He couldn't remember laughing like this for quite sometime.
"-and after he tied his tooth to the doorknob he shut the door. Well of course the tooth was pulled out! And he cried about it for hours, and complained to me about it. You see everyone else had lost their first tooth by then and could all do things like spit water out through the hole. He pulled out one of his front teeth too, he looked ridiculous!" Hitomi laughed to herself and Van chuckled along with her. Her hand had come to clasp around his again and he felt himself become a bit giddy.
A voice in his head reminded him that this could be as good a chance as any to tell her he loved her or at least thought of her that way. He just wasn't sure how to go about saying it. And he didn't want to ruin the moment or anything. They were having a fine time just talking and laughing about funny memories. "Hey Van, let's go sit under that tree", Hitomi said, a childish look in her eyes.
"Why?"
"Because! You need a rest, let's just sit down"
Before he could protest Hitomi was dragging him over by his hand. Any awkwardness they had once felt with each other had disappeared seemingly. Hitomi plopped down on the ground and sighed contentedly. Van took a seat beside her. The tree's leaves scattered shadows across her face and Van took to admiring her beauty in the silence that followed their happy chatter.
"I got really nervous about everything when I wasn't with you" Hitomi said softly.
Van watched the wind play with her hair. "Did you come looking for me?"
"Well.I thought it would be better if I waited, you know, to see if anything happened. I suppose I should have realized that if anything did happen I should be near you"
Van gazed at her thoughtfully. "Why would you have had to be near me?"
Hitomi visibly blushed. "I-I, well, in my vision, I always wanted you near me, or at least I had to be close to you. I guess you just make me feel.."
Van could feel his heart thumping hard in his chest waiting for her to continue.
"-safe", she finished. "You make me feel safe"
"I'm glad", he said quietly, and smiled. Van couldn't have been happier when she returned his smile.
"You don't blame any of this on your self, do you?"
Hitomi slowly shook her head. "I could have.changed things, or told Millerna the truth, but Zaibach would have attacked anyway, right?"
"Right", Van nodded, glad she no longer had anything stressful on her mind.
"I could feel you when you were fighting", Hitomi, pulling her knees up to her.
"You could?" Van asked, startled.
"Yes. I could sense you. Like the other day...." Hitomi blushed again. "It was like I could suddenly sense you, though a few seconds before I couldn't"
"I was thinking of you. While I was fighting. Maybe that's why"
Hitomi looked up at him shyly. "Were you thinking of m-me yesterday when I was looking for you?"
Van almost laughed. Had he been thinking of her? His whole body had ached with the thought of her, the pain of her rejection. As if he could think of anyone else.
"Yes", he answered her breathily. "I was thinking of you"
"Oh", Hitomi whispered, suddenly very shy and hesitant. "You know, I think my opinion of you has changed"
Van cocked his eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yes really", she said, her lips turning back into a smile. "I used to think you were an arrogant, egotistical, snot-nosed pig of a boy"
Van's eyes grew wide. So that's what she had thought him. Looking back to their first meeting, which ended in him being slapped and Hitomi in tears, he wasn't that surprised. Maybe he had changed. In his opinion for the better.
"And I've changed have I?" he asked, a sly grin spreading across his face. "Have you come to see how wonderful I am?"
Hitomi giggled. "I change my mind, you're still as arrogant as ever"
"Why you-", Van playfully laughed and lunged at her sides to tickle her to an inch of her life. He happily remembered Folken doing this on more than one occasion to him.
"Hahaha, stop! Van- hahaha, no Van, this isn't funny, Van!", she cried, helplessly trying to stop his hands.
"Resistance is futile!", he cried, laughing. He couldn't remember having this much fun in a long time!
"No, Van! You gotta- hahaha - stop!"
"What's that you were saying about me being arrogant?"
"You - hahaha - monster, I won't - haha- give in!"
"How wonderful do you think I am?"
"Hahahaha- never!"
"Fine then!" Van pinned her to the tree and furiously continued his onslaught.
"Van! Fine, fine! You're wonderful! One of the greatest guys I've ever met!"
"And?"
"Hahahaha- and talented and - hahaha - perfect - ow, haha- are a gorgeous man-"
Van stopped tickling his victim and grinned. He was about to continue joking with her when he saw she was staring into his face differently. His dark hair was lightly touching her face and suddenly he realized how close his face was to hers.
"I meant some of that", she whispered.
Van almost whooped with joy. "Really, which parts?"
She softly laughed, blowing puffs of air against his skin.
"W-what do you think of me?" she asked him in a whisper.
Van grinned despite himself. Oh, what he thought of her. He had to contain himself before he spoke a mile a minute telling her everything he thought of her.
"You're amazing, Hitomi. I-I, I..." Van found himself at a loss for words when she gazed up into his eyes like that, so green....
He felt himself leaning forward towards her lips. They looked so good to taste. It was painful how slow he was moving, but he couldn't rush it, he didn't want to scare her. Closer. closer..
Hitomi had pushed herself up into him forcefully, pressing her lips against his anxiously. It seemed she had got the message. Van couldn't believe the feel of her lips beneath his, kissing him back, how her hands wrapped around his neck and played with the dark hairs at the back of his neck. He cupped her cheek with one of his hands, almost not believing the bliss. Allen hadn't gotten a kiss like this. He began to move his tongue to her mouth-
"HEY GUYS!"
Van jumped off of Hitomi like a frightened rabbit, realizing he had basically been lying on top of her.
Merle innocently observed them from her position at the storehouse. It seemed she had just gotten back.
"Oooooh, I'm sorry. Am I interrupting anything?", Merle questioned sarcastically as she sauntered towards them her tail swaying back and forth. Van's face couldn't have been redder. So was Hitomi's.
"Uh-uh, nothing, you weren't interrupting anything Merle", Van stammered, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment.
Merle stared blatantly at their hands that were still clasped together. "Oh , reeeeeally?", Merle cocked her eyebrow suspiciously at us.
Van whipped his hand away from hers, and looked in the opposite direction of Hitomi. Hitomi giggled nervously behind her hand. Merle sighed.
"Sure, whatever". Merle then walked away from the couple.
Hitomi began to full out laugh as she stood up and began to leave. "Oh and Van"
He looked up at her.
"About your question earlier" She leaned towards and whispered, "I specifically meant the gorgeous part"
With that she began walking back to the castle. Van couldn't have been wearing a goofier grin.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Naria waited till dark, then she would set out to complete her mission. Her breath was ragged but as long as she didn't feel that direct onslaught of the sun she would be fine. She was not going back to Folken-sama empty handed. She would grab the girl, then find a way back to Zaibach. She would not fail. No matter what.
She jumped from building to building, slaughtering guards in her wake. She felt so weak, but she had to carry on. She had to find that girl.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Hitomi precariously balanced several plates, cups, and cloths in her arms. Why did she always volunteer to help out the maids? She did enjoy helping them out but she always got loaded down. She was about to go up the steps, when she tripped. With a resounding clatter all that she was carrying smashed onto the ground. "Oh man."
One of her shoes had slipped off, and the shoelace was now broken. Hitomi sighed. That's when she noticed a shadow leaning above her.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A/N: Wooo-hooo! I updated again! Aren't you excited? I am! Sorry, bit too excited *grin* I can't believe only two days have passed in this story.. Anyway, nothing very important happened here plot-wise, but for all of you who were down on your knees begging for fluff, you got it! I also quite enjoyed the Dryden/ Millerna scene myself :D * hits self over the head with poinsettia* I need to do something from Allen's POV, or at least add in what's going on with him. I just can't find places to add him in. Stupid Allen, always being difficult.
Anyway, I'm going to tell you that I've started writing another fic called Moonchild, and I like it quite a bit myself, or at least I really like the idea. It's something I think I might really get into. I'll tell you a bit about it, because I must say I really do love it :
History behind Moonchild: I was extremely bored one day and began looking up name meanings for certain characters in Escaflowne, when I found that Celena/Selena/Serena/any other crazy rendition of her name meant Goddess of the Moon. Of course this lead me to think of the Esca movie, and I cultivated a fan fiction based on her name meaning.
Summary (that I actually never put in the story): Celena is raised in the village of Dashina after her and her brother Allen are found in the forests outside the village by Sora. Sora has earlier created a stone that is to save her people, and possibly Gaea. She names this the moonstone, for the moon was what guided her hands in its making. She cannot be its bearer, so she must find some one worthy to carry the stone and save her people, a true moonchild. This is Celena.
Like it? I certainly do. Oh! and there's also Celena/Dilandau romance just to make sure it's wierd and twisted enough for you. :D
Happy Holidays! And thanks to my beta, cat.
Thanks so much to Trista100, x, Geminidragon, SabineballZ, jossi-31, aradow, and the Cleric 007 for reviewing. You guys rock.
Through the Rainy Haze
Chapter 6: The Calm Before the Storm
"Oh Dryden, stop squirming so much" Millerna sighed in exasperation. "It does sting you know", Dryden pointed out. He sat on the edge of a couch in Millerna's quarters. She had brought him here so she could properly bandage his wounds.
"I do realize that", Millerna replied smiling a bit. "But you don't have to be such a baby about it"
"Baby?!" Millerna giggled. If she had known he would put up such a fuss she would have let the healer take care of him. She had had to convince the old medic that she was fine caring for her husband on her own and that there were others who needed it more than Dryden.
"Well you are good at it anyway", Dryden mumbled. Millerna looked up at questionably. "Good at healing", he clarified. Millerna blushed slightly. "I haven't had any real training you know. I've only ever read out of books. I don't think father will ever let me be schooled in medicine", Millerna sighed while cleaning out Dryden's head wound with a cloth.
"I don't see why you can't do both"
"Both?"
"Be queen and be a healer. You know, heal people on the side, sort of thing"
"That wouldn't be..proper, would it?"
Dryden grinned. "Does everything have to be proper?"
"You mean you'd allow me to become a healer?"
"Allow you? Since when have you taken to considering my opinion on such matters"
Millerna looked at him hard. "You are my husband now. I suppose I can't do anything you dislike"
Dryden laughed heartily and Millerna stopped cleaning his cut in surprise.
"You say that as if I could stop you. I thought you had a mind of your own Millerna. Not that I would stop you anyway"
Millerna observed him carefully. "So you'll let me get proper training so I can practice?"
Dryden chuckled again. "Let you, allow you. I don't have any control over you, Millerna. I've already seen that. Sure, get training if you like. It's admirable that you would follow your dreams. I wouldn't stop that. Though I don't see why you even need training. I was told you performed surgery on Allen after he saved Hitomi"
Millerna felt her face getting hot. "Y-yes. I did. But it was almost a complete fluke.."
"I suppose you care for him quite a bit", Dryden said softly. He eyed her curiously and once again she stopped cleaning the wound.
"I don't know how I feel about Allen any more. I'm very confused Dryden. I put so much pressure on Hitomi to answer all my questions but I suppose that just confused me and her even more than before. Well at least now I'm confused. And Hitomi believes all the damage was her fault. I'm afraid that I haven't been that great of a friend to her. I wonder if I ever even loved Allen or if I was just going out of my way to disobey my father. I never liked following his and my sister's every order, every decision they made for me. Maybe they were good decisions, but I should have been the one making them, you know?" Millerna sighed.
Dryden nodded, signaling for her to continue. "And I know that if I actually just see things clearly without having to think of smiting my family then I could make a good decision for myself on this subject" Millerna looked up at him warily. "I could learn to love you, if I tried out the idea"
Dryden gave her a genuine smile. "That's all I could ever ask of you"
"Oh Dryden", Millerna sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Ow!"
"Sorry!"
~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Van found himself outside Escaflowne's storehouse once again, Hitomi carrying on an amiable conversation with him. He forgot how they'd gotten on the topic, but Hitomi begun to tell him an amusing story about her younger brother Mamoru, then he indulged in recounting a funny thing Merle used to do and would kill him if he ever told anyone else, and so on. Van had flown Escaflowne back with Hitomi, to his pleasure, hanging on by his waist. The conversation had flowed from there. He couldn't remember laughing like this for quite sometime.
"-and after he tied his tooth to the doorknob he shut the door. Well of course the tooth was pulled out! And he cried about it for hours, and complained to me about it. You see everyone else had lost their first tooth by then and could all do things like spit water out through the hole. He pulled out one of his front teeth too, he looked ridiculous!" Hitomi laughed to herself and Van chuckled along with her. Her hand had come to clasp around his again and he felt himself become a bit giddy.
A voice in his head reminded him that this could be as good a chance as any to tell her he loved her or at least thought of her that way. He just wasn't sure how to go about saying it. And he didn't want to ruin the moment or anything. They were having a fine time just talking and laughing about funny memories. "Hey Van, let's go sit under that tree", Hitomi said, a childish look in her eyes.
"Why?"
"Because! You need a rest, let's just sit down"
Before he could protest Hitomi was dragging him over by his hand. Any awkwardness they had once felt with each other had disappeared seemingly. Hitomi plopped down on the ground and sighed contentedly. Van took a seat beside her. The tree's leaves scattered shadows across her face and Van took to admiring her beauty in the silence that followed their happy chatter.
"I got really nervous about everything when I wasn't with you" Hitomi said softly.
Van watched the wind play with her hair. "Did you come looking for me?"
"Well.I thought it would be better if I waited, you know, to see if anything happened. I suppose I should have realized that if anything did happen I should be near you"
Van gazed at her thoughtfully. "Why would you have had to be near me?"
Hitomi visibly blushed. "I-I, well, in my vision, I always wanted you near me, or at least I had to be close to you. I guess you just make me feel.."
Van could feel his heart thumping hard in his chest waiting for her to continue.
"-safe", she finished. "You make me feel safe"
"I'm glad", he said quietly, and smiled. Van couldn't have been happier when she returned his smile.
"You don't blame any of this on your self, do you?"
Hitomi slowly shook her head. "I could have.changed things, or told Millerna the truth, but Zaibach would have attacked anyway, right?"
"Right", Van nodded, glad she no longer had anything stressful on her mind.
"I could feel you when you were fighting", Hitomi, pulling her knees up to her.
"You could?" Van asked, startled.
"Yes. I could sense you. Like the other day...." Hitomi blushed again. "It was like I could suddenly sense you, though a few seconds before I couldn't"
"I was thinking of you. While I was fighting. Maybe that's why"
Hitomi looked up at him shyly. "Were you thinking of m-me yesterday when I was looking for you?"
Van almost laughed. Had he been thinking of her? His whole body had ached with the thought of her, the pain of her rejection. As if he could think of anyone else.
"Yes", he answered her breathily. "I was thinking of you"
"Oh", Hitomi whispered, suddenly very shy and hesitant. "You know, I think my opinion of you has changed"
Van cocked his eyebrow. "Really?"
"Yes really", she said, her lips turning back into a smile. "I used to think you were an arrogant, egotistical, snot-nosed pig of a boy"
Van's eyes grew wide. So that's what she had thought him. Looking back to their first meeting, which ended in him being slapped and Hitomi in tears, he wasn't that surprised. Maybe he had changed. In his opinion for the better.
"And I've changed have I?" he asked, a sly grin spreading across his face. "Have you come to see how wonderful I am?"
Hitomi giggled. "I change my mind, you're still as arrogant as ever"
"Why you-", Van playfully laughed and lunged at her sides to tickle her to an inch of her life. He happily remembered Folken doing this on more than one occasion to him.
"Hahaha, stop! Van- hahaha, no Van, this isn't funny, Van!", she cried, helplessly trying to stop his hands.
"Resistance is futile!", he cried, laughing. He couldn't remember having this much fun in a long time!
"No, Van! You gotta- hahaha - stop!"
"What's that you were saying about me being arrogant?"
"You - hahaha - monster, I won't - haha- give in!"
"How wonderful do you think I am?"
"Hahahaha- never!"
"Fine then!" Van pinned her to the tree and furiously continued his onslaught.
"Van! Fine, fine! You're wonderful! One of the greatest guys I've ever met!"
"And?"
"Hahahaha- and talented and - hahaha - perfect - ow, haha- are a gorgeous man-"
Van stopped tickling his victim and grinned. He was about to continue joking with her when he saw she was staring into his face differently. His dark hair was lightly touching her face and suddenly he realized how close his face was to hers.
"I meant some of that", she whispered.
Van almost whooped with joy. "Really, which parts?"
She softly laughed, blowing puffs of air against his skin.
"W-what do you think of me?" she asked him in a whisper.
Van grinned despite himself. Oh, what he thought of her. He had to contain himself before he spoke a mile a minute telling her everything he thought of her.
"You're amazing, Hitomi. I-I, I..." Van found himself at a loss for words when she gazed up into his eyes like that, so green....
He felt himself leaning forward towards her lips. They looked so good to taste. It was painful how slow he was moving, but he couldn't rush it, he didn't want to scare her. Closer. closer..
Hitomi had pushed herself up into him forcefully, pressing her lips against his anxiously. It seemed she had got the message. Van couldn't believe the feel of her lips beneath his, kissing him back, how her hands wrapped around his neck and played with the dark hairs at the back of his neck. He cupped her cheek with one of his hands, almost not believing the bliss. Allen hadn't gotten a kiss like this. He began to move his tongue to her mouth-
"HEY GUYS!"
Van jumped off of Hitomi like a frightened rabbit, realizing he had basically been lying on top of her.
Merle innocently observed them from her position at the storehouse. It seemed she had just gotten back.
"Oooooh, I'm sorry. Am I interrupting anything?", Merle questioned sarcastically as she sauntered towards them her tail swaying back and forth. Van's face couldn't have been redder. So was Hitomi's.
"Uh-uh, nothing, you weren't interrupting anything Merle", Van stammered, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment.
Merle stared blatantly at their hands that were still clasped together. "Oh , reeeeeally?", Merle cocked her eyebrow suspiciously at us.
Van whipped his hand away from hers, and looked in the opposite direction of Hitomi. Hitomi giggled nervously behind her hand. Merle sighed.
"Sure, whatever". Merle then walked away from the couple.
Hitomi began to full out laugh as she stood up and began to leave. "Oh and Van"
He looked up at her.
"About your question earlier" She leaned towards and whispered, "I specifically meant the gorgeous part"
With that she began walking back to the castle. Van couldn't have been wearing a goofier grin.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Naria waited till dark, then she would set out to complete her mission. Her breath was ragged but as long as she didn't feel that direct onslaught of the sun she would be fine. She was not going back to Folken-sama empty handed. She would grab the girl, then find a way back to Zaibach. She would not fail. No matter what.
She jumped from building to building, slaughtering guards in her wake. She felt so weak, but she had to carry on. She had to find that girl.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Hitomi precariously balanced several plates, cups, and cloths in her arms. Why did she always volunteer to help out the maids? She did enjoy helping them out but she always got loaded down. She was about to go up the steps, when she tripped. With a resounding clatter all that she was carrying smashed onto the ground. "Oh man."
One of her shoes had slipped off, and the shoelace was now broken. Hitomi sighed. That's when she noticed a shadow leaning above her.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
A/N: Wooo-hooo! I updated again! Aren't you excited? I am! Sorry, bit too excited *grin* I can't believe only two days have passed in this story.. Anyway, nothing very important happened here plot-wise, but for all of you who were down on your knees begging for fluff, you got it! I also quite enjoyed the Dryden/ Millerna scene myself :D * hits self over the head with poinsettia* I need to do something from Allen's POV, or at least add in what's going on with him. I just can't find places to add him in. Stupid Allen, always being difficult.
Anyway, I'm going to tell you that I've started writing another fic called Moonchild, and I like it quite a bit myself, or at least I really like the idea. It's something I think I might really get into. I'll tell you a bit about it, because I must say I really do love it :
History behind Moonchild: I was extremely bored one day and began looking up name meanings for certain characters in Escaflowne, when I found that Celena/Selena/Serena/any other crazy rendition of her name meant Goddess of the Moon. Of course this lead me to think of the Esca movie, and I cultivated a fan fiction based on her name meaning.
Summary (that I actually never put in the story): Celena is raised in the village of Dashina after her and her brother Allen are found in the forests outside the village by Sora. Sora has earlier created a stone that is to save her people, and possibly Gaea. She names this the moonstone, for the moon was what guided her hands in its making. She cannot be its bearer, so she must find some one worthy to carry the stone and save her people, a true moonchild. This is Celena.
Like it? I certainly do. Oh! and there's also Celena/Dilandau romance just to make sure it's wierd and twisted enough for you. :D
Happy Holidays! And thanks to my beta, cat.