***Yay my first review ever...ta. Anyhoo (glowing with pride) I've reposted this chap with minor adjustments. Enjoy and review, review, review. Byzzers.
`````````````Chapter 2: Trust````````````
Hitomi cried out and sat up stiffly in a hospital-white room. She brought her hand to her face in terror. She hadn't had a vision in five and a half years and even then nowhere near that intense and she had never interacted with it before. She gazed at her surroundings trying to figure out where she was, when a nurse came in and gasped in surprise to find Hitomi awake.
Hitomi was swarmed with question as the doctors circled her. How are you? Does your head hurt? What are you eating habits? Has this ever happened before? Hitomi felt fine and answered all the questions but all she wanted to do was go home, now that she knew where home was. It had been decided for her. She needed to think about how to get back to Gaea. She knew something was wrong, and didn't want to just sit there knowing something was going to happen to Van. However, the mysterious voice and the things Merle had said confused her, 'they are in you' Hitomi flopped back on the pillows and growled to the empty room, "What is in me?!"
It had been hours since her vision but it was perfectly sketched in her mind. The pain, the blood. The sight of his body, lifeless; it was tormenting her. Hitomi finally got fed up. She lifted herself up off the bed. Still dizzy from giving all that blood for the doctors to find out what happened, though she already knew, Hitomi paused for a moment on the edge of her bed. After gathering her thoughts, she carefully took out the IV needles from the back of her hand and changed into her clothes since she wouldn't get out of here in a hospital gown. She picked up some extra bandage to change the dressing on her head later. She was told when she fell, she whacked her head off the pavement and gashed her forehead.
'I hope no one notices the bright white bandage on my head, I don't want to be asked anymore questions...' Surprisingly, Hitomi was able to walk right out of the hospital with no more than a suspicious look from the night nurse. The only thing she wanted to do was go home. The streets of her hometown were unusually quiet for this time of night, though Hitomi didn't have her watch on so she didn't know what time of night it was. Until, that is, she pasted by a small clock shop on Ijoji Ave. on her way home. Ten thirty p.m. That would explain the lack of people. (Most of her town's inhabitants had small children with an eight o'clock curfew).
" Hitomi!" someone yelled from behind her, 'Hitomi, wait up," the voice called, getting closer. Hitomi spun around to find Yukari and Amano running to catch up with her.
"Hitomi why did you leave the hospital? You were unconscious from four days. You could get seriously hurt," Amano stated as he tried to catch his breath.
" Amano? First of all, there was nothing the hospital could have done to prevent it and secondly, what do you mean "four days"? Lastly, what are you doing back in Japan? I though you were still studying in England?" Hitomi asked him.
" I finished school and came back early. I was going to surprise you when I heard you were in the hospital. What happened that who put you out for four whole days?"
"It was one of my visions . . . I'd rather not talk about it," Hitomi stuttered.
" Alright, fine then, " Yukari said knowing if she didn't want to talk, there was no point in forcing her to. Yukari smiled as both she and Amano wrapped an arm over Hitomi's shoulder," Come on, we'll walk you home."
As the three friends walked through the silent streets, Hitomi noticed some thing was troubling Yukari. Every so often Yukari would turn and look at Amano, look at her, then give a nervous smile and look back down at the ground. The regret over something was pouring from her. It made Hitomi very uneasy, " Yukari, is there something wrong? The look on your face is bugging me."
Yukari heaved a sigh, stopped, and looked directly at Hitomi, " Hitomi, I'm so sorry. But . . . I um . . . kind of told Amano about Gaea . . . and Van," she blurted out and then jumped behind Amano for protection.
"YUKARI!! I thought I could TRUST YOU! You, my best friend, promised never to tell anyone! Ever! Look how wrong I was to trust you! I can't believe you told him," Hitomi screamed shifting her gaze from Yukari to Amano and back again, as the angered tears began to well up in her eyes. " It seems I CAN'T ever trust anyone HERE anymore!!"
She turned from her so-called 'friends' and sprinted home as fast as she could. She walked in and saw her family was not home and right now, that was a relief.
She had finally made the decision and set her mind to it. Grabbing her duffel bag from the hallway and quickly moved toward her room. She began to stuff some clothes, a few mementos, and some things she felt that she couldn't leave, before kneeling down at her window.
She open the compartment and lifted the box out, Opening it, Hitomi again cautiously picked up the feather. Hitomi twirled it slowly in her fingers. ' I never really wanted to leave you Van. I just hope you know that' she thought to herself. She again experienced the weird shiver across her shoulders, but brushed the feeling off. She put the feather down on top of the pile and closed the lid, before stuffing the box into her duffle.
She then moved to her desk, picked up a piece of paper to write a short note to her parents. Hitomi began going through her desk drawers looking for a pencil when she froze. Lying at the bottom of one of the drawers was the copy of the travel journals. When she had returned from Gaea, Hitomi had chronicled nearly every event she went through, thinking this was the way to tell people about what happened with out saying it. In truth, she placed the original in the lock box and complete forgot about the copy. Hitomi found a pencil and began to write the note:
Dear Mom and Dad,
Don't bother trying to find me. You
won't. There's no one on Earth that
I can trust anymore. I don't belong
here anymore. I will always love you.
Don't worry about me. I'll be fine.
Attached to this is something
that will explain why I left and
where I'm going. Mom, you always
said 'follow your heart', so I'm
taking your advice. I will never forget
you... Goodbye.
All my love for you
Hitomi
Hitomi picked up the note, the chronicle, and her bag and rushed down the stairs to the kitchen, she stuffed as much food as she could into her bag before leaving the note and walking out the door for the last time. Standing stiffly on the sidewalk Hitomi turned around once more to look at her home and remember her life. Pushing those memories behind her Hitomi began to walk away.
" There's only one place I belong, only one person I can trust," she thought to herself, " I just hope this works."
Hitomi strode swiftly across her high school racetrack with her bag slung over her shoulder. Stopping on the spot where she had first seen him, Hitomi knelt down. Looking at her watch, she spoke out loud, "Six years in five minutes. Almost seems, huh, destined."
Trying to concentrate on the image in her mind, Hitomi was interrupted by footsteps coming up behind her. She turned around to find Yukari and Amano closing in on her fast and each of them had a bag in their hand. " Hitomi, please believe me. I didn't mean to tell but I knew Amano would understand and he won't tell anyone!" Yukari stated, trying to placate her best friend.
"Funny. That's what you said Yukari. I should never have told you," Hitomi said shaking her head," How did you know I would be here anyway? And why do you both have bags with you?" Hitomi asked curiously.
"Well, we went to your house, your mom showed us the note, and we knew what it meant. I knew you would be here 'cause you always come here to run when you want to be alone. Neither of us wanted to let you go off on your own again. So we're going with you no matter what!" Amano informed her kneeling beside her.
Shaking her head no, Hitomi told them," If this works . . . even then you can't come with me."
"Why not? Yukari asked blatantly
" I AM GOING back to Gaea, not 'we' as in plural, 'I' as in singular, understand?!"
" Hitomi we don't care whether you're going to Gaea or the moon, we are going with you. Some how," Yukari said.
" If you come with me, I don't know if you can come home, I know I'm not going to," Hitomi told them, hoping to change their minds.
It didn't work. " Fine, I don't care what you do right now but I have or had a link with Gaea, after what's happened in the last few days I feel I am something more than I seem. You two don't have anything to do with Gaea."
" Yes we do." Amano told her looked into her eyes," We have you. You are our connection."
" Ok then. Now that that's done," Yukari said sitting down in front of Hitomi and Amano," What do we have to do?"
" My grandma always used to tell me of wishing power. If you think, I wish I was... or I want to be.... Things happen. If I'm right, I . . . we have to picture Gaea in our minds and wish ourselves to it. But since you both have never seen it just concentrate on me and whatever you do... do not break the concentration," Hitomi instructed them praying that this would work.
All three sat in a small circle with their bags on their shoulders. Yukari and Amano pictured Hitomi in their heads, while Hitomi focussed on one thing, actually one person. She pictured him, his face, his regal position, and his jet-black hair.
Smiling, Hitomi could see him expose his angelic white wings and it felt like he was looking directly at her. Staring at him, Hitomi became engulfed in the pains from her vision. These were worse than the one's in her vision, these were real. Collapsing over her bag, she began to cry out in pain yet not once did she lose Van's face in her mind. She could see his concerned look and his failed attempt to come toward her.
New images were filling her mind, armies covered in blood charging each other, animals, a bird wrapped in flame, a white wolf with wings, and a black dragon flying through the sky, and then her grandmother....'Why are you here Grandma?' thought Hitomi. As she watched her, wings sprouted elegantly from her back. 'Wings? But how?' Her Grandmother spoke softly to her, " Hitomi, you are right... You are more than you think. Trust yourself and if you hold on to the love you have, then even on the brink of failure you will survive. I will try to guide you through this. We will meet soon." With one last smile, disappeared and Hitomi could only feel pain.
Both Yukari and Amano knew what was happening but Hitomi told them not to break the concentration. Instead, they both simultaneously stretched out their hands, one to Hitomi, and one to each other.
They locked their hands together, and the pillar of light shot down from the sky and surrounded them. As panic set in Amano and Yukari opened their eyes and stared at Hitomi in horror. She was squeezing their hand and looking up at the source of the light. They could see her mouth moving like she was talking but they couldn't hear her at all. Slowly Hitomi straightened her head and looked at them. Yukari cried out as she saw her eyes. They had turned completely blue. She looked like she was possessed. Yukari wanted to yell out to her but she was too afraid. As they stared at her, she closed her eyes slowly and all three began to lift off the ground. Yukari screamed and all Amano could do was watch in disbelief as they moved away from the Earth. About three hundred feet up, as if drugged, they all simply passed out. With her last burst of energy, Hitomi found the strength to say one thing, " Van."
`````````````````````````````````````
The Fanelian king sat straight up in his bedchamber after another dream. He had not been sleeping well for the past two months, so many terrible thoughts troubling his dreams but this dream was almost real. So real it scared him. The connection between himself and the woman who held his heart had been severed and he couldn't help thinking of the reasons.
She forgot about him. She had found a new love on the Mystic Moon. She was hurt or the worst; she was dead. Going over his dream he realized something wasn't right, things were too real... Running his hand through his thick head of ebony black hair, Van went over his latest nightmare.
He was standing on the same track he was transported to those long years ago, with Hitomi in front of him. She was sitting with two others in a rough triangle. She wasn't looking right at him, but she was smiling, as if happily concentrating on something. He just stood there for about seemed like forever when uncontrollably, he exposed his wings behind him.
Watching her, he saw the smile suddenly disappear from her face and she collapsed over her bag. As she cried out in agony, Van wanted to run to her aid but couldn't move at all. The trio were bathed in a pillar light as they were slowly lifted off the ground. All of them cried out and the last thing Van heard was Hitomi whispering his name as if she were talking into his ear...
His thoughts were broken as a strange pink glow filled his room. Searching for the source, he found that it was coming from him, or rather the pendant around his neck. Once it had registered in his mind, Van knew that the pendant glowing could only mean one thing.
Van leapt out of bed and threw on some clothes. Grabbing his sword, he ran as fast as his feet could carry him down to the stable rooms. He drew many weird looks from the night guards but he did not particularly care at the moment.
Saddling his horse, Van tried to think of some thing to say to Hitomi when he saw her but his mind was completely blank. All he could think about was that she had come back to him, and he had to get to her. He had to get to her right now.
Dawn was creeping over the treetops as Van rode. It wasn't until he kicked his horse faster for the fifth time that Van asked himself," Why am I riding a horse? I could have just carried her... Oh well."
His horse was being pushed to the limit as Van thundered down the dirt path to where his dousing had led him. His sword bobbing at his side as Van slowed to a trot at the clearing's edge.
Van caught his breath in slight surprise as he saw . . . them? There were three not one just like the dream, realizing then that it must have been real. "I'm glad I brought the horse now," he muttered to himself.
As long as Hitomi was really there, it didn't matter how many there were. 'I have to tell her, she can't leave me, not this time,' he thought leaping down to the grass and sprinting over to the Earthling travellers. Two of them sat up as Van strode toward them. "Who are you?" asked the girl at his feet while she clung to the young man.
'I remember these two from when went to the Mystic Moon...I wonder why I can understand them this time...' Van thought as he came to a halt, " I am Van Fanel. King of Fanelia, but you can call me Van. Who may you be?"
" Van? Did... did you say Van?" The young woman stuttered with a grin spread across her face, " Oh my god!! It worked. Oh... I'm Yukari and this is Amano," Yukari answered motioning to Amano, not cluing in on the fact she was communicating in a different language.
Van looked at them for a moment, nodded in acknowledgement, and glanced over at the other person than lay on the lush grass. He nearly fell over as he surveyed the face of his love. Rushing to her side, Van knelt down and brushed her cheek lightly with his bare hand. Hitomi let out a contented sigh at his touch. Van lifted her into his arms and kissed her head, letting a single tear roll down his face and falling to hers. As it touched her relaxed features, Hitomi woke up slowly. She opened her emerald green eyes to her embracer. " Van..." Hitomi whispered in shock. She threw her arms around his neck and poured her aching soul into her joyful sobs while she clung to him, never wanting to leave his embrace.
Time slowly passed by before they reluctantly pulled back to look each other over. "Van... I thought I would never see you again. When I couldn't feel you anymore, so many terrible things went through my mind," 'Wow, he has grown up!' thought to herself after giving him the once over.
His hand found its way to stroke her cheek. " I know what you mean. I went through the same thing. Somehow, deep down I knew none of them were true. I cannot believe you came back to m... uh... Gaea. But um... why are they here?" said Van glancing over at Yukari and Amano.
" If it wasn't for them I would have never been able to come back. And Yukari and Amano were both there the first time we met and you killed the dragon, remember? Yukari kept me going after I left yo...uh Gaea."
"Then I owe you a great deal, both of you. You brought her back. Ask me for anything and I'll try to give it to you. But for right now let's get back to the city...uh," Van stuttered think about so many things at once. A small grin graced his face as he decided how to get back to the Fanelian capital.
Getting up, he led Yukari and Amano to his ride; " You two can take my horse back to Fanelia," he stated leading them to the animal and attaching the three bags to the saddle. "If you follow that path," he said, pointing eastward, as they mounted, " you'll come to a small hut outside a stone wall. It is one of the boarder control huts. The man that lives there will take you to the castle if you ask. Should anyone give you trouble, tell them you're peace ambassadors wishing to see me."
Moving back to the woman who held his soul together, Van pulled Hitomi close and wrapped her in his arms when the two were out of sight, pulling back for a moment to look her over again. 'Still the perfect runner, hey she grew her hair.' Van thought. It was then that he noticed the bandage around her head, and how frail and ill she looked. " Hitomi, how have you been? You seem like you've been through a lot?" he asked with a concerned look, indicating the bandage.
" That is from a vision... Everything else is from being really ill, feeling like I was fading away, since our link disappeared. Do you know why it happened?" Hitomi inquired, never letting the smile fade from her face.
" No, but now that you're here it doesn't matter," he stated simple as a pushy thought entered his mind 'Come on, Van. You can tell her... just say it! It is not that hard.'
Hitomi smiled at the thought of staying here and was about to finally tell him... but the smile soon vanished as the pain from her visions engulfed her. The throbbing in her head, and the thing trying to burst from her back.
In her mind, Hitomi could see herself being pushed off the cliff that was in her first vision, by men in uniforms. They then stood around Van, with their swords ready to kill him, but they turned around, saw something, yelled in surprise, and charged at it....
Then the pain stopped and Hitomi was back with a very concerned Van in the field. She stared at him wondering if he was going to die.
Van never had the chance to ask her what happened, because as she stared at him, a group of three uniformed men jumped up from the tall grass and ran screaming at them.
Van was preparing to draw his sword and fight but realized to late the deception. As the screaming drew their attention, someone had crept behind them both and struck the back of their heads with the hilt of his sword. All they could do was succumb to the darkness.
`````````````Chapter 2: Trust````````````
Hitomi cried out and sat up stiffly in a hospital-white room. She brought her hand to her face in terror. She hadn't had a vision in five and a half years and even then nowhere near that intense and she had never interacted with it before. She gazed at her surroundings trying to figure out where she was, when a nurse came in and gasped in surprise to find Hitomi awake.
Hitomi was swarmed with question as the doctors circled her. How are you? Does your head hurt? What are you eating habits? Has this ever happened before? Hitomi felt fine and answered all the questions but all she wanted to do was go home, now that she knew where home was. It had been decided for her. She needed to think about how to get back to Gaea. She knew something was wrong, and didn't want to just sit there knowing something was going to happen to Van. However, the mysterious voice and the things Merle had said confused her, 'they are in you' Hitomi flopped back on the pillows and growled to the empty room, "What is in me?!"
It had been hours since her vision but it was perfectly sketched in her mind. The pain, the blood. The sight of his body, lifeless; it was tormenting her. Hitomi finally got fed up. She lifted herself up off the bed. Still dizzy from giving all that blood for the doctors to find out what happened, though she already knew, Hitomi paused for a moment on the edge of her bed. After gathering her thoughts, she carefully took out the IV needles from the back of her hand and changed into her clothes since she wouldn't get out of here in a hospital gown. She picked up some extra bandage to change the dressing on her head later. She was told when she fell, she whacked her head off the pavement and gashed her forehead.
'I hope no one notices the bright white bandage on my head, I don't want to be asked anymore questions...' Surprisingly, Hitomi was able to walk right out of the hospital with no more than a suspicious look from the night nurse. The only thing she wanted to do was go home. The streets of her hometown were unusually quiet for this time of night, though Hitomi didn't have her watch on so she didn't know what time of night it was. Until, that is, she pasted by a small clock shop on Ijoji Ave. on her way home. Ten thirty p.m. That would explain the lack of people. (Most of her town's inhabitants had small children with an eight o'clock curfew).
" Hitomi!" someone yelled from behind her, 'Hitomi, wait up," the voice called, getting closer. Hitomi spun around to find Yukari and Amano running to catch up with her.
"Hitomi why did you leave the hospital? You were unconscious from four days. You could get seriously hurt," Amano stated as he tried to catch his breath.
" Amano? First of all, there was nothing the hospital could have done to prevent it and secondly, what do you mean "four days"? Lastly, what are you doing back in Japan? I though you were still studying in England?" Hitomi asked him.
" I finished school and came back early. I was going to surprise you when I heard you were in the hospital. What happened that who put you out for four whole days?"
"It was one of my visions . . . I'd rather not talk about it," Hitomi stuttered.
" Alright, fine then, " Yukari said knowing if she didn't want to talk, there was no point in forcing her to. Yukari smiled as both she and Amano wrapped an arm over Hitomi's shoulder," Come on, we'll walk you home."
As the three friends walked through the silent streets, Hitomi noticed some thing was troubling Yukari. Every so often Yukari would turn and look at Amano, look at her, then give a nervous smile and look back down at the ground. The regret over something was pouring from her. It made Hitomi very uneasy, " Yukari, is there something wrong? The look on your face is bugging me."
Yukari heaved a sigh, stopped, and looked directly at Hitomi, " Hitomi, I'm so sorry. But . . . I um . . . kind of told Amano about Gaea . . . and Van," she blurted out and then jumped behind Amano for protection.
"YUKARI!! I thought I could TRUST YOU! You, my best friend, promised never to tell anyone! Ever! Look how wrong I was to trust you! I can't believe you told him," Hitomi screamed shifting her gaze from Yukari to Amano and back again, as the angered tears began to well up in her eyes. " It seems I CAN'T ever trust anyone HERE anymore!!"
She turned from her so-called 'friends' and sprinted home as fast as she could. She walked in and saw her family was not home and right now, that was a relief.
She had finally made the decision and set her mind to it. Grabbing her duffel bag from the hallway and quickly moved toward her room. She began to stuff some clothes, a few mementos, and some things she felt that she couldn't leave, before kneeling down at her window.
She open the compartment and lifted the box out, Opening it, Hitomi again cautiously picked up the feather. Hitomi twirled it slowly in her fingers. ' I never really wanted to leave you Van. I just hope you know that' she thought to herself. She again experienced the weird shiver across her shoulders, but brushed the feeling off. She put the feather down on top of the pile and closed the lid, before stuffing the box into her duffle.
She then moved to her desk, picked up a piece of paper to write a short note to her parents. Hitomi began going through her desk drawers looking for a pencil when she froze. Lying at the bottom of one of the drawers was the copy of the travel journals. When she had returned from Gaea, Hitomi had chronicled nearly every event she went through, thinking this was the way to tell people about what happened with out saying it. In truth, she placed the original in the lock box and complete forgot about the copy. Hitomi found a pencil and began to write the note:
Dear Mom and Dad,
Don't bother trying to find me. You
won't. There's no one on Earth that
I can trust anymore. I don't belong
here anymore. I will always love you.
Don't worry about me. I'll be fine.
Attached to this is something
that will explain why I left and
where I'm going. Mom, you always
said 'follow your heart', so I'm
taking your advice. I will never forget
you... Goodbye.
All my love for you
Hitomi
Hitomi picked up the note, the chronicle, and her bag and rushed down the stairs to the kitchen, she stuffed as much food as she could into her bag before leaving the note and walking out the door for the last time. Standing stiffly on the sidewalk Hitomi turned around once more to look at her home and remember her life. Pushing those memories behind her Hitomi began to walk away.
" There's only one place I belong, only one person I can trust," she thought to herself, " I just hope this works."
Hitomi strode swiftly across her high school racetrack with her bag slung over her shoulder. Stopping on the spot where she had first seen him, Hitomi knelt down. Looking at her watch, she spoke out loud, "Six years in five minutes. Almost seems, huh, destined."
Trying to concentrate on the image in her mind, Hitomi was interrupted by footsteps coming up behind her. She turned around to find Yukari and Amano closing in on her fast and each of them had a bag in their hand. " Hitomi, please believe me. I didn't mean to tell but I knew Amano would understand and he won't tell anyone!" Yukari stated, trying to placate her best friend.
"Funny. That's what you said Yukari. I should never have told you," Hitomi said shaking her head," How did you know I would be here anyway? And why do you both have bags with you?" Hitomi asked curiously.
"Well, we went to your house, your mom showed us the note, and we knew what it meant. I knew you would be here 'cause you always come here to run when you want to be alone. Neither of us wanted to let you go off on your own again. So we're going with you no matter what!" Amano informed her kneeling beside her.
Shaking her head no, Hitomi told them," If this works . . . even then you can't come with me."
"Why not? Yukari asked blatantly
" I AM GOING back to Gaea, not 'we' as in plural, 'I' as in singular, understand?!"
" Hitomi we don't care whether you're going to Gaea or the moon, we are going with you. Some how," Yukari said.
" If you come with me, I don't know if you can come home, I know I'm not going to," Hitomi told them, hoping to change their minds.
It didn't work. " Fine, I don't care what you do right now but I have or had a link with Gaea, after what's happened in the last few days I feel I am something more than I seem. You two don't have anything to do with Gaea."
" Yes we do." Amano told her looked into her eyes," We have you. You are our connection."
" Ok then. Now that that's done," Yukari said sitting down in front of Hitomi and Amano," What do we have to do?"
" My grandma always used to tell me of wishing power. If you think, I wish I was... or I want to be.... Things happen. If I'm right, I . . . we have to picture Gaea in our minds and wish ourselves to it. But since you both have never seen it just concentrate on me and whatever you do... do not break the concentration," Hitomi instructed them praying that this would work.
All three sat in a small circle with their bags on their shoulders. Yukari and Amano pictured Hitomi in their heads, while Hitomi focussed on one thing, actually one person. She pictured him, his face, his regal position, and his jet-black hair.
Smiling, Hitomi could see him expose his angelic white wings and it felt like he was looking directly at her. Staring at him, Hitomi became engulfed in the pains from her vision. These were worse than the one's in her vision, these were real. Collapsing over her bag, she began to cry out in pain yet not once did she lose Van's face in her mind. She could see his concerned look and his failed attempt to come toward her.
New images were filling her mind, armies covered in blood charging each other, animals, a bird wrapped in flame, a white wolf with wings, and a black dragon flying through the sky, and then her grandmother....'Why are you here Grandma?' thought Hitomi. As she watched her, wings sprouted elegantly from her back. 'Wings? But how?' Her Grandmother spoke softly to her, " Hitomi, you are right... You are more than you think. Trust yourself and if you hold on to the love you have, then even on the brink of failure you will survive. I will try to guide you through this. We will meet soon." With one last smile, disappeared and Hitomi could only feel pain.
Both Yukari and Amano knew what was happening but Hitomi told them not to break the concentration. Instead, they both simultaneously stretched out their hands, one to Hitomi, and one to each other.
They locked their hands together, and the pillar of light shot down from the sky and surrounded them. As panic set in Amano and Yukari opened their eyes and stared at Hitomi in horror. She was squeezing their hand and looking up at the source of the light. They could see her mouth moving like she was talking but they couldn't hear her at all. Slowly Hitomi straightened her head and looked at them. Yukari cried out as she saw her eyes. They had turned completely blue. She looked like she was possessed. Yukari wanted to yell out to her but she was too afraid. As they stared at her, she closed her eyes slowly and all three began to lift off the ground. Yukari screamed and all Amano could do was watch in disbelief as they moved away from the Earth. About three hundred feet up, as if drugged, they all simply passed out. With her last burst of energy, Hitomi found the strength to say one thing, " Van."
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The Fanelian king sat straight up in his bedchamber after another dream. He had not been sleeping well for the past two months, so many terrible thoughts troubling his dreams but this dream was almost real. So real it scared him. The connection between himself and the woman who held his heart had been severed and he couldn't help thinking of the reasons.
She forgot about him. She had found a new love on the Mystic Moon. She was hurt or the worst; she was dead. Going over his dream he realized something wasn't right, things were too real... Running his hand through his thick head of ebony black hair, Van went over his latest nightmare.
He was standing on the same track he was transported to those long years ago, with Hitomi in front of him. She was sitting with two others in a rough triangle. She wasn't looking right at him, but she was smiling, as if happily concentrating on something. He just stood there for about seemed like forever when uncontrollably, he exposed his wings behind him.
Watching her, he saw the smile suddenly disappear from her face and she collapsed over her bag. As she cried out in agony, Van wanted to run to her aid but couldn't move at all. The trio were bathed in a pillar light as they were slowly lifted off the ground. All of them cried out and the last thing Van heard was Hitomi whispering his name as if she were talking into his ear...
His thoughts were broken as a strange pink glow filled his room. Searching for the source, he found that it was coming from him, or rather the pendant around his neck. Once it had registered in his mind, Van knew that the pendant glowing could only mean one thing.
Van leapt out of bed and threw on some clothes. Grabbing his sword, he ran as fast as his feet could carry him down to the stable rooms. He drew many weird looks from the night guards but he did not particularly care at the moment.
Saddling his horse, Van tried to think of some thing to say to Hitomi when he saw her but his mind was completely blank. All he could think about was that she had come back to him, and he had to get to her. He had to get to her right now.
Dawn was creeping over the treetops as Van rode. It wasn't until he kicked his horse faster for the fifth time that Van asked himself," Why am I riding a horse? I could have just carried her... Oh well."
His horse was being pushed to the limit as Van thundered down the dirt path to where his dousing had led him. His sword bobbing at his side as Van slowed to a trot at the clearing's edge.
Van caught his breath in slight surprise as he saw . . . them? There were three not one just like the dream, realizing then that it must have been real. "I'm glad I brought the horse now," he muttered to himself.
As long as Hitomi was really there, it didn't matter how many there were. 'I have to tell her, she can't leave me, not this time,' he thought leaping down to the grass and sprinting over to the Earthling travellers. Two of them sat up as Van strode toward them. "Who are you?" asked the girl at his feet while she clung to the young man.
'I remember these two from when went to the Mystic Moon...I wonder why I can understand them this time...' Van thought as he came to a halt, " I am Van Fanel. King of Fanelia, but you can call me Van. Who may you be?"
" Van? Did... did you say Van?" The young woman stuttered with a grin spread across her face, " Oh my god!! It worked. Oh... I'm Yukari and this is Amano," Yukari answered motioning to Amano, not cluing in on the fact she was communicating in a different language.
Van looked at them for a moment, nodded in acknowledgement, and glanced over at the other person than lay on the lush grass. He nearly fell over as he surveyed the face of his love. Rushing to her side, Van knelt down and brushed her cheek lightly with his bare hand. Hitomi let out a contented sigh at his touch. Van lifted her into his arms and kissed her head, letting a single tear roll down his face and falling to hers. As it touched her relaxed features, Hitomi woke up slowly. She opened her emerald green eyes to her embracer. " Van..." Hitomi whispered in shock. She threw her arms around his neck and poured her aching soul into her joyful sobs while she clung to him, never wanting to leave his embrace.
Time slowly passed by before they reluctantly pulled back to look each other over. "Van... I thought I would never see you again. When I couldn't feel you anymore, so many terrible things went through my mind," 'Wow, he has grown up!' thought to herself after giving him the once over.
His hand found its way to stroke her cheek. " I know what you mean. I went through the same thing. Somehow, deep down I knew none of them were true. I cannot believe you came back to m... uh... Gaea. But um... why are they here?" said Van glancing over at Yukari and Amano.
" If it wasn't for them I would have never been able to come back. And Yukari and Amano were both there the first time we met and you killed the dragon, remember? Yukari kept me going after I left yo...uh Gaea."
"Then I owe you a great deal, both of you. You brought her back. Ask me for anything and I'll try to give it to you. But for right now let's get back to the city...uh," Van stuttered think about so many things at once. A small grin graced his face as he decided how to get back to the Fanelian capital.
Getting up, he led Yukari and Amano to his ride; " You two can take my horse back to Fanelia," he stated leading them to the animal and attaching the three bags to the saddle. "If you follow that path," he said, pointing eastward, as they mounted, " you'll come to a small hut outside a stone wall. It is one of the boarder control huts. The man that lives there will take you to the castle if you ask. Should anyone give you trouble, tell them you're peace ambassadors wishing to see me."
Moving back to the woman who held his soul together, Van pulled Hitomi close and wrapped her in his arms when the two were out of sight, pulling back for a moment to look her over again. 'Still the perfect runner, hey she grew her hair.' Van thought. It was then that he noticed the bandage around her head, and how frail and ill she looked. " Hitomi, how have you been? You seem like you've been through a lot?" he asked with a concerned look, indicating the bandage.
" That is from a vision... Everything else is from being really ill, feeling like I was fading away, since our link disappeared. Do you know why it happened?" Hitomi inquired, never letting the smile fade from her face.
" No, but now that you're here it doesn't matter," he stated simple as a pushy thought entered his mind 'Come on, Van. You can tell her... just say it! It is not that hard.'
Hitomi smiled at the thought of staying here and was about to finally tell him... but the smile soon vanished as the pain from her visions engulfed her. The throbbing in her head, and the thing trying to burst from her back.
In her mind, Hitomi could see herself being pushed off the cliff that was in her first vision, by men in uniforms. They then stood around Van, with their swords ready to kill him, but they turned around, saw something, yelled in surprise, and charged at it....
Then the pain stopped and Hitomi was back with a very concerned Van in the field. She stared at him wondering if he was going to die.
Van never had the chance to ask her what happened, because as she stared at him, a group of three uniformed men jumped up from the tall grass and ran screaming at them.
Van was preparing to draw his sword and fight but realized to late the deception. As the screaming drew their attention, someone had crept behind them both and struck the back of their heads with the hilt of his sword. All they could do was succumb to the darkness.