Van felt like he was still falling but suddenly it all came to a stop as he
felt his feet meet solid ground. His eyes were shut hard. He really didn't
want to know what might happen should he open his eyes.
Very slowly, Van opened his eyes only to see that he was back at their camp. "What the! How did I get back here? That tent was a good distance from here. So how is it that I got back here?" Van asked himself. He was very confused as to what was going on at that moment.
He took around and saw that it looked empty. 'I wonder if she sent Fiona back here as well. That would explain why she left all by herself. Then, where is she?' Van asked himself as he looked around the area.
Van took a seat by the campfire that was still burning lively. All was quiet around him. The only sound that could really be heard was the chirping of the crickets. Van was in deep thought as he sat there watching the small fire. 'Where is Fiona? I wanted to talk to her about all that has happened,' thought Van with a sigh.
"Van?" came Fiona's voice from behind him. She stood there surprised to see him there so suddenly. Yet it made her happy to see that he was all right. She just stood there and watched as he turned to face her.
"Oh, there you are Fiona," said Van as a smile crossed his face. He then patted the area that was right next to him as indication for her to sit down next to him.. He waited patiently for her to walk over and then sit down before he spoke again. "Let me guess, she sent you here too as well," said Van with a smile on his face.
"Yeah. I was kind of confused at first because I remembered being in the tent and then all of a sudden I found myself back here. This place is kind of scary when you are all by yourself," said Fiona quietly.
"But you are not by yourself. I am always here for you when you need me. So you have no reason to feel lonely," said Van with a smile as he looked at Fiona. Van felt a little easier around Fiona because of the fact that he now knew how he felt for her.
"I know that. It was just a little lonely waiting for you to come back. I knew that you would come so I just waited, but sometimes it can get a bit boring just waiting," said Fiona with a slight frown. Fiona was shocked when a moment later she felt Van wrap an arm around her shoulder. She just relaxed though and leaned into it with a smile on her face.
"There is no need to wait any longer Fiona," said Van in a soft tone as he turned to look at her. She looked very beautiful at that moment with the moonlight shining off of her. He felt like something possessed him at that moment and it wouldn't allow him to look anywhere else but at her.
Fiona was slightly confused by what he meant by that. She turned to look at Van but she wasn't able to get a word out before she felt his lips come in contact with hers. She was shocked to say the least but she didn't pull away. Instead she brought herself into it.
Van was shocked to feel Fiona responding to it by deepening the kiss. He really didn't know what made him suddenly decide to do this but he had no regrets at that moment. Here he was, with the woman that he cared about the most in his arms and they were kissing.
They just stayed that way for another minute or two before they were forced to separate because of a desperate need for oxygen. If they didn't have to breath, than they would have just continued to stay in their own little world in each other's arms and still kissing.
Fiona had a lovely shade of red crossing her face as she just looked at Van with love in her eyes. She was shocked by what had just happened but at the same time she was very happy that it happened as well.
Van had no idea what to say at that moment. 'Oh god. What have I done? Did she want that? Would she have rather me not have done that? I wonder what she is thinking about with what just happened,' thought Van as he stared at her in the eye waiting for a response. While waiting, he thought about how beautiful she looked with the light blush that was currently on her face.
He got a response a few seconds later but it wasn't with words. Fiona grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him down into another kiss. There was no hesitation in this kiss. Van wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in closer. Fiona wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss on her part. Neither of them wanted to give up that moment for anything.
Off in the distance, amber eyes watched the scene that played before her. Yuki gave a smile as she saw how happy the two of them looked while they were in each other's arms.
Yuki let off a slight chuckle as she thought of something. "Like father, like son. That seems to be the best saying for this situation. So much like your father you are. Both dense to the feelings of the one that they loved, and also you both thought of me as a fraud at first. That is until after I read your fortunes. After that, you both finally got to know what it is that you both wanted would have a much better chance of becoming real. The real test is about to come. It will happen sooner than you think. It will test the types of bonds that they two of you have. I hope that the two of you have enough knowledge so that you will make the right choices. Soon, but not now, my next assignment is about to start," said Yuki with a smile before she suddenly vanished.
*****
"Looks like they are finally back," said Moonbay upon seeing the blade liger walking into the hanger of the guardian force HQ. To tell the truth no one thought that the two of them could be back so quickly. So Moonbay was curious as to why it took as short as it did for them to get it done.
The blade liger came to a stop and Van quickly jumped out of the zoid followed closely by Fiona. Taking her hand in his, Van started to walk off with Fiona but Moonbay stopped them.
"You two are back much earlier than any of us expected. Something happened to make the two of you return. Also what do we have here?" asked Moonbay with a smirk as she saw the two holding hands. She knew that something happened between the two because of the small blush that crossed their faces.
"Now, now Moonbay. Isn't it obvious what is going on?" asked Irvine walking up behind Moonbay. "The two of them finally got together," said Irvine making an emphasis on the word finally. He was smirking just as much as Moonbay was at that moment.
"The bandits were gone before we even got there. Something must have scared them off," said Van not wanting to talk about what else had happened in the forest with Yuki and all.
"Van. I need to speak to you," said Crougar suddenly appearing behind Irvine and Moonbay freaking them out a little bit making the two of them jump into each other's arms. They separated just as soon as they realized what they had just done.
"Yes sir?" asked Van straightening up. He made a salute with his free hand while still holding onto Fiona at the same time. He waited patiently for Crougar to speak after he stopped saluting.
"I need to speak to you. I have another assignment for you. So will you please follow me so I can fill you in on the details?' asked Crougar as he turned around and walked out of the room.
"I will talk to you later Fiona," said Van as he reluctantly let go of Fiona's hand and followed after Crougar. 'Man, I just got back and he is already giving me another assignment. I didn't even get any time to rest,' thought Van with a sigh.
Van followed Crougar until they both walked into his office. "Please, sit down Van," said Crougar pointing towards an empty chair across from him. Van obeyed and sat down. "Listen Van. I have an important assignment for you. However, you have a choice on whether you want to accept it or not," said Crougar with a serious look on his face.
"What is it that you want me to do?" asked Van giving Crougar every bit of his undivided attention. He was very curious as to what it was that Crougar wanted him to do this time.
"Far to the east there is a small nation. They aren't as big as either us or the empire. Although they are small, they are still powerful. We are trying to create peace with them but there are a lot of disputes that are going on. There are many that I can send there that would be capable of dealing with them, but I want you to go there. Accept or decline, it is your choice. If you were to accept, than you will get a promotion, but you would take a chance of not being able to come back to see your family or your friends. That is why I want you to think about this. I will give you a bit of time to think about it. That is all," said Crougar.
"Thank you. I will think about it sir," said Van with a smile before he got up and walked out of the room but not before giving him a salute. He was excited about the thought of being able to do this.
"What is it that Crougar wanted Van?" asked Fiona when Van walked up to her shortly after leaving Crougar's office. She was kind of curious as to why he was so happy at that moment.
"I have a chance that I might be able to get a promotion," said Van with a smile on his face. This was something that he was very proud of because it is a step closer to fulfilling one of his dreams.
"That is great Van, but why do I have a feeling that there is more to it than that? Is there something that you have to do in order to get it?" asked Fiona watching Van with curiosity on her face.
"There is. If I am to get it than I will have to leave here. There is a dispute far out to the east. Crougar wants me to go out there and supervise things, but there is a chance that I could never come back, because if a war starts than I will have to stay there," said Van.
Fiona's features seemed to darken upon hearing this. 'He has to leave? He might also not be able to come back if a war was to start?' Fiona didn't really like the thought of that.
"Is something wrong Fiona?" asked Van with a worried face as he saw the way she looked right now. He really didn't like to see a sad look on her face. It just didn't seem to suit her very well. He wanted to find out what was wrong so that he could maybe help it if he could.
"I don't like it Van," said Fiona truthfully. She didn't want him to do this and take a chance of losing him in some war that could start at any time. She didn't want him to go period.
"Why not Fiona?" asked Van. He was curious as to what she was going on about. He finally had a chance to become more like his father. This slightly annoyed him a little bit when he thought about it. For some strange reason he had a bad feeling about what was happening like he already knew what would happen, but he ignored it.
"I am happy for you. However, I just don't like it. What about us? What about your friends? Are you just going to leave us behind? Also what would you do if a war did start and you got killed?" Fiona said in a bit higher of a voice then she meant to use. She too also had a nagging feeling that something was wrong about this argument.
"I finally have a chance to fulfill one of my dreams and you want me to just give it up? I thought you would be really happy for me! Although you say that you are, I am pretty sure that you are not!" said Van losing his temper. The nagging feeling was still in his mind and for some reason he just couldn't get it to leave him alone no matter how hard he tried.
Fiona just couldn't seem to find the words in her head that she wanted to say so she just remained quiet as Van just stared at her waiting to see if she had anything to say at that moment.
"Fine then! Forget about what happened between us! You obviously don't seem to give a care about other peoples dreams. All you want is to have things go your way," said an angry Van. He then turned around and stormed off.
A thought then struck Fiona as hard as lightning. 'This is what Yuki was talking about! How could I have been so stupid as to ignore it? I don't want to lose him, but he will probably just ignore me. He was right though; I guess I was being selfish. I have to speak to him though,' thought Fiona in a panic.
She then broke off into a sprint in order to try and catch up with Van. Yet it appeared that he was already long gone. It was scaring Fiona, she didn't want that one future that she saw to come true.
After running for a number of minutes, Fiona had yet to find Van. She was tired. She took in deep breaths. She was starting to get frantic that Van might leave then, leave her. It was then that she saw Moonbay. "Moonbay!" yelled Fiona rushing up to her.
"What's up? Is something wrong because you look very tired?" said Moonbay noticing Fiona current state. She then saw how frantic Fiona looked and it worried her. "What's wrong Fiona?" repeated Moonbay but with more urgency.
"H-have you seen Van anywhere? I really need to talk to him," said Fiona in a kind of shaky voice. She was now desperate.
"Um, yeah. I saw him heading towards him room about a minute ago. Why is something wrong?" asked Moonbay with worry in her voice. "Did you two have a fight or something?" asked Moonbay.
Fiona just nodded her head before she dashed off in the direction of Van's room. She ran with all her might so that she could get there quickly and it only took her about a minute before she actually got there.
She just stood there in front of the door. For some reason, she was hesitant to knock on the door. She didn't know what she would say. It was just like a few minutes ago. Working up a bit of courage, she raised her hand and knocked on the door.
It was quiet for a few moments and Fiona was about to leave before she heard Van's voice say, "What?"
"Van, I am sorry for what I said. It isn't my place to be able to tell you what to do. I was just worried about you," said Fiona apologetically. When she didn't get a reply, she just hung her head. "Like I said, I am sorry," repeated Fiona before she turned around and walked away.
Van listened from inside his room as he heard her walking away. He just laid on his bed with his hands behind his head in deep thought. It was only then that something occurred to him.
*****
"Ah, Van. Come in. have you decided what you are going to do?" asked Crougar with a smile on his face. Although he had a feeling that he already knew what Van was going to say, he had to hear it from the source.
Van walked into the room and took a seat by Crougar's desk. He was quiet for a few seconds as Crougar waited for him to answer. "I have thought it over and I have come up with my answer," said Van in a quiet voice.
Very slowly, Van opened his eyes only to see that he was back at their camp. "What the! How did I get back here? That tent was a good distance from here. So how is it that I got back here?" Van asked himself. He was very confused as to what was going on at that moment.
He took around and saw that it looked empty. 'I wonder if she sent Fiona back here as well. That would explain why she left all by herself. Then, where is she?' Van asked himself as he looked around the area.
Van took a seat by the campfire that was still burning lively. All was quiet around him. The only sound that could really be heard was the chirping of the crickets. Van was in deep thought as he sat there watching the small fire. 'Where is Fiona? I wanted to talk to her about all that has happened,' thought Van with a sigh.
"Van?" came Fiona's voice from behind him. She stood there surprised to see him there so suddenly. Yet it made her happy to see that he was all right. She just stood there and watched as he turned to face her.
"Oh, there you are Fiona," said Van as a smile crossed his face. He then patted the area that was right next to him as indication for her to sit down next to him.. He waited patiently for her to walk over and then sit down before he spoke again. "Let me guess, she sent you here too as well," said Van with a smile on his face.
"Yeah. I was kind of confused at first because I remembered being in the tent and then all of a sudden I found myself back here. This place is kind of scary when you are all by yourself," said Fiona quietly.
"But you are not by yourself. I am always here for you when you need me. So you have no reason to feel lonely," said Van with a smile as he looked at Fiona. Van felt a little easier around Fiona because of the fact that he now knew how he felt for her.
"I know that. It was just a little lonely waiting for you to come back. I knew that you would come so I just waited, but sometimes it can get a bit boring just waiting," said Fiona with a slight frown. Fiona was shocked when a moment later she felt Van wrap an arm around her shoulder. She just relaxed though and leaned into it with a smile on her face.
"There is no need to wait any longer Fiona," said Van in a soft tone as he turned to look at her. She looked very beautiful at that moment with the moonlight shining off of her. He felt like something possessed him at that moment and it wouldn't allow him to look anywhere else but at her.
Fiona was slightly confused by what he meant by that. She turned to look at Van but she wasn't able to get a word out before she felt his lips come in contact with hers. She was shocked to say the least but she didn't pull away. Instead she brought herself into it.
Van was shocked to feel Fiona responding to it by deepening the kiss. He really didn't know what made him suddenly decide to do this but he had no regrets at that moment. Here he was, with the woman that he cared about the most in his arms and they were kissing.
They just stayed that way for another minute or two before they were forced to separate because of a desperate need for oxygen. If they didn't have to breath, than they would have just continued to stay in their own little world in each other's arms and still kissing.
Fiona had a lovely shade of red crossing her face as she just looked at Van with love in her eyes. She was shocked by what had just happened but at the same time she was very happy that it happened as well.
Van had no idea what to say at that moment. 'Oh god. What have I done? Did she want that? Would she have rather me not have done that? I wonder what she is thinking about with what just happened,' thought Van as he stared at her in the eye waiting for a response. While waiting, he thought about how beautiful she looked with the light blush that was currently on her face.
He got a response a few seconds later but it wasn't with words. Fiona grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him down into another kiss. There was no hesitation in this kiss. Van wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in closer. Fiona wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss on her part. Neither of them wanted to give up that moment for anything.
Off in the distance, amber eyes watched the scene that played before her. Yuki gave a smile as she saw how happy the two of them looked while they were in each other's arms.
Yuki let off a slight chuckle as she thought of something. "Like father, like son. That seems to be the best saying for this situation. So much like your father you are. Both dense to the feelings of the one that they loved, and also you both thought of me as a fraud at first. That is until after I read your fortunes. After that, you both finally got to know what it is that you both wanted would have a much better chance of becoming real. The real test is about to come. It will happen sooner than you think. It will test the types of bonds that they two of you have. I hope that the two of you have enough knowledge so that you will make the right choices. Soon, but not now, my next assignment is about to start," said Yuki with a smile before she suddenly vanished.
*****
"Looks like they are finally back," said Moonbay upon seeing the blade liger walking into the hanger of the guardian force HQ. To tell the truth no one thought that the two of them could be back so quickly. So Moonbay was curious as to why it took as short as it did for them to get it done.
The blade liger came to a stop and Van quickly jumped out of the zoid followed closely by Fiona. Taking her hand in his, Van started to walk off with Fiona but Moonbay stopped them.
"You two are back much earlier than any of us expected. Something happened to make the two of you return. Also what do we have here?" asked Moonbay with a smirk as she saw the two holding hands. She knew that something happened between the two because of the small blush that crossed their faces.
"Now, now Moonbay. Isn't it obvious what is going on?" asked Irvine walking up behind Moonbay. "The two of them finally got together," said Irvine making an emphasis on the word finally. He was smirking just as much as Moonbay was at that moment.
"The bandits were gone before we even got there. Something must have scared them off," said Van not wanting to talk about what else had happened in the forest with Yuki and all.
"Van. I need to speak to you," said Crougar suddenly appearing behind Irvine and Moonbay freaking them out a little bit making the two of them jump into each other's arms. They separated just as soon as they realized what they had just done.
"Yes sir?" asked Van straightening up. He made a salute with his free hand while still holding onto Fiona at the same time. He waited patiently for Crougar to speak after he stopped saluting.
"I need to speak to you. I have another assignment for you. So will you please follow me so I can fill you in on the details?' asked Crougar as he turned around and walked out of the room.
"I will talk to you later Fiona," said Van as he reluctantly let go of Fiona's hand and followed after Crougar. 'Man, I just got back and he is already giving me another assignment. I didn't even get any time to rest,' thought Van with a sigh.
Van followed Crougar until they both walked into his office. "Please, sit down Van," said Crougar pointing towards an empty chair across from him. Van obeyed and sat down. "Listen Van. I have an important assignment for you. However, you have a choice on whether you want to accept it or not," said Crougar with a serious look on his face.
"What is it that you want me to do?" asked Van giving Crougar every bit of his undivided attention. He was very curious as to what it was that Crougar wanted him to do this time.
"Far to the east there is a small nation. They aren't as big as either us or the empire. Although they are small, they are still powerful. We are trying to create peace with them but there are a lot of disputes that are going on. There are many that I can send there that would be capable of dealing with them, but I want you to go there. Accept or decline, it is your choice. If you were to accept, than you will get a promotion, but you would take a chance of not being able to come back to see your family or your friends. That is why I want you to think about this. I will give you a bit of time to think about it. That is all," said Crougar.
"Thank you. I will think about it sir," said Van with a smile before he got up and walked out of the room but not before giving him a salute. He was excited about the thought of being able to do this.
"What is it that Crougar wanted Van?" asked Fiona when Van walked up to her shortly after leaving Crougar's office. She was kind of curious as to why he was so happy at that moment.
"I have a chance that I might be able to get a promotion," said Van with a smile on his face. This was something that he was very proud of because it is a step closer to fulfilling one of his dreams.
"That is great Van, but why do I have a feeling that there is more to it than that? Is there something that you have to do in order to get it?" asked Fiona watching Van with curiosity on her face.
"There is. If I am to get it than I will have to leave here. There is a dispute far out to the east. Crougar wants me to go out there and supervise things, but there is a chance that I could never come back, because if a war starts than I will have to stay there," said Van.
Fiona's features seemed to darken upon hearing this. 'He has to leave? He might also not be able to come back if a war was to start?' Fiona didn't really like the thought of that.
"Is something wrong Fiona?" asked Van with a worried face as he saw the way she looked right now. He really didn't like to see a sad look on her face. It just didn't seem to suit her very well. He wanted to find out what was wrong so that he could maybe help it if he could.
"I don't like it Van," said Fiona truthfully. She didn't want him to do this and take a chance of losing him in some war that could start at any time. She didn't want him to go period.
"Why not Fiona?" asked Van. He was curious as to what she was going on about. He finally had a chance to become more like his father. This slightly annoyed him a little bit when he thought about it. For some strange reason he had a bad feeling about what was happening like he already knew what would happen, but he ignored it.
"I am happy for you. However, I just don't like it. What about us? What about your friends? Are you just going to leave us behind? Also what would you do if a war did start and you got killed?" Fiona said in a bit higher of a voice then she meant to use. She too also had a nagging feeling that something was wrong about this argument.
"I finally have a chance to fulfill one of my dreams and you want me to just give it up? I thought you would be really happy for me! Although you say that you are, I am pretty sure that you are not!" said Van losing his temper. The nagging feeling was still in his mind and for some reason he just couldn't get it to leave him alone no matter how hard he tried.
Fiona just couldn't seem to find the words in her head that she wanted to say so she just remained quiet as Van just stared at her waiting to see if she had anything to say at that moment.
"Fine then! Forget about what happened between us! You obviously don't seem to give a care about other peoples dreams. All you want is to have things go your way," said an angry Van. He then turned around and stormed off.
A thought then struck Fiona as hard as lightning. 'This is what Yuki was talking about! How could I have been so stupid as to ignore it? I don't want to lose him, but he will probably just ignore me. He was right though; I guess I was being selfish. I have to speak to him though,' thought Fiona in a panic.
She then broke off into a sprint in order to try and catch up with Van. Yet it appeared that he was already long gone. It was scaring Fiona, she didn't want that one future that she saw to come true.
After running for a number of minutes, Fiona had yet to find Van. She was tired. She took in deep breaths. She was starting to get frantic that Van might leave then, leave her. It was then that she saw Moonbay. "Moonbay!" yelled Fiona rushing up to her.
"What's up? Is something wrong because you look very tired?" said Moonbay noticing Fiona current state. She then saw how frantic Fiona looked and it worried her. "What's wrong Fiona?" repeated Moonbay but with more urgency.
"H-have you seen Van anywhere? I really need to talk to him," said Fiona in a kind of shaky voice. She was now desperate.
"Um, yeah. I saw him heading towards him room about a minute ago. Why is something wrong?" asked Moonbay with worry in her voice. "Did you two have a fight or something?" asked Moonbay.
Fiona just nodded her head before she dashed off in the direction of Van's room. She ran with all her might so that she could get there quickly and it only took her about a minute before she actually got there.
She just stood there in front of the door. For some reason, she was hesitant to knock on the door. She didn't know what she would say. It was just like a few minutes ago. Working up a bit of courage, she raised her hand and knocked on the door.
It was quiet for a few moments and Fiona was about to leave before she heard Van's voice say, "What?"
"Van, I am sorry for what I said. It isn't my place to be able to tell you what to do. I was just worried about you," said Fiona apologetically. When she didn't get a reply, she just hung her head. "Like I said, I am sorry," repeated Fiona before she turned around and walked away.
Van listened from inside his room as he heard her walking away. He just laid on his bed with his hands behind his head in deep thought. It was only then that something occurred to him.
*****
"Ah, Van. Come in. have you decided what you are going to do?" asked Crougar with a smile on his face. Although he had a feeling that he already knew what Van was going to say, he had to hear it from the source.
Van walked into the room and took a seat by Crougar's desk. He was quiet for a few seconds as Crougar waited for him to answer. "I have thought it over and I have come up with my answer," said Van in a quiet voice.
