Wow, I don't think I've ever had so many reviews for so little chapters, I'm very surprised. Thanks for everyone's opinions, you know, you can give constructive criticism here ^^;; I'm not perfect. *Lol* Anyway, thanks so much for your lovely reviews, once more I hope you will enjoy this chapter as much as the last too and like the direction the story is going.
You know, I think I may have cursed everyone with this fic, before I started writing it I was fine, and now a girl in my year is pregnant (6 months apparently) and another had an abortion! What's going on that it's all coming out now?
Alright, this chapter will have a lot of flicking and fluttering through the past and present so see if you can work it all out *wink*!
Ack, I know where I want to go but not how to get there! Van and all the Gaea people will be in soon, please be patient!
Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne
* * *
"Wings"
* * * * * *
The child had wings. Hitomi had spent the night crying into her pillow, frustrated and saddened that this trait would be born to her child. It wasn't that she didn't want the baby to have wings, she was fine with that, it was the fact that the people in this world didn't usually have wings.
Not that it was normal for Gaea people to have wings either.
The doctor and her mother had stared at the screen for almost an hour before the uproar had started, several doctors were called in for a closer look and hypothesis and none of them knew what was happening or what they were seeing either.
'An angel?'
'The screen must be broken'
'Is it a back deformity?'
'What a joke'
Their endless questions to her and their conclusions on what to do had made her head spin and her heart hurt. It was obvious what would happen when the baby was born, if it had the wings then...it wouldn't survive infancy. There were too many scientists, government agents, religious fanatics and just plain ordinary people who could turn into a mob for its safety.
In this world anything out of the ordinary was not accepted, it had happened all the way through history. She didn't want her child to go through that.
And he wouldn't either.
Hitomi had been sent home from the hospital around six hours after her original appointment, and instructions to look after herself and come back in a week for further ultra-sounds and tests and apparently someone had phoned the government about her situation and she was under the label 'top-secret' already.
A long list of times and instructions were set out for her to do before the next appointment, eat lots of vegetables, drink water...
She was also commanded to bring the father with her.
How could she get out of that? She and the baby would turn into walking test subjects.
Hitomi sniffed again and wiped her eyes, she always seemed to be crying these days, ever since her pregnancy test, heightened hormones didn't help when the world seemed so determined to bring her down as well as some crazy people being after her, she gazed lazily at the burn she'd managed to keep hidden under her sleeve.
And things had been going so well only a few days ago.
What was she going to do? Every day it seemed she was becoming more and more isolated.
Even now, her brother was at a friend's house and her parents had gone to the supermarket.
She was alone now too.
Pulling herself out of bed and pulling on yesterday's clothes, she stumbled out of the front door for air.
* * * * * *
They'd been on the road for two days after saying good-bye to Millerna and Allen. Hitomi, Van and Merle had begun their journey to Fanelia to reunite with their people and begin to rebuild their home.
Hitomi herself was heading for Fanelia to return home.
Van hadn't talked to her or apologised for the coldness in Millerna's drawing room. Hitomi had tried to talk to him but no matter how hard she tried, he always found an excuse to ignore her or brush her off by talking to Merle.
Merle was annoyed at Van and had certainly made it clear every time they stopped for the night in a clearing through giving Van the burnt food.
He never complained. Maybe he was used to her revenge ideas.
Hitomi and Merle made up this lack of emotions by talking about him between themselves. They'd struck a truce up when they'd met up again after the War and there seemed to be a peace between them, which revolved around Van himself.
This didn't stop them gossiping about him.
He ignored them and always slept on the other side of the clearing to them and rode ahead.
Hitomi was beginning to let his behaviour get her down even though it wasn't really her fault. And secretly shed her tears in the middle of the night when no one was awake.
Would he even say good-bye? After all, she had told Merle very loudly that once they got to Gaea she would leave after a good nights rest.
* * * * * *
Hitomi slowly stalked down the street. Not even sure where she was going, everyone was doing something but with nothing to do she just wandered the local streets that she knew and breathed in the sunlight.
In a way it was even lonelier on the streets, people didn't look at her or even see her it seemed as they hurried on their everyday business.
I have experienced more than they will ever know, Hitomi thought, looking at all the shoppers and people bustling past her.
To the annoyance of the people around her, Hitomi stopped walking in the middle of the crowded street. Curses were hurled but no one bothered her, just went around.
Looking up at the sky Hitomi was astonished as a large white feather floated down to be caught by her waiting hand.
Staring at it, she held it in her palm and then looked up to the sky, searching for the familiar sound of pulsing wings and the rain of feathers. None.
She held the feather to her heart and called out loudly "Van?"
No answer, people were staring at her, but she didn't care, she just kept searching the sky.
"Van!"
Feeling the need to, Hitomi broke out of her stillness and began to run, feeling the familiar freedom of the wind in her hair. The hair whipping around in her grasp and then making a dash for the same feeling of freedom that she was experiencing.
Hitomi, reaching an emptier road, spread her arms out, wishing for the same feeling of flight that Van must have felt when he spread his wings, she run like this for a whole block before finally slowing down to breathe.
The baby moved.
Surprised, Hitomi fell to her knees and sat for a moment with her hand on her stomach. She smiled, it was alive and well then. She wished the same for the father, for a moment she had the wild notion that the baby had spread it's wings and that the feathers had somehow come from her.
"Van" she said quietly "I want you to be here"
And quietly, slowly, very softly behind her, a small white feather floated down and touched her gently on the cheek.
* * * * * *
"We're here!"
It seemed like a century ago Merle had spoken those words as they had been welcomed back into Fanelia by the survivors of the Zaibach attack, and it seemed like they had begun rebuilding almost straight away because houses were erected practically all over the burnt city.
All that was left to start apparently was the castle and until then they would all be put up in a spare house until the castle was sufficiently large to house the King and his household, Van insisted that he didn't need this to be done at all and that the people were more important than him, how were they anyway?
The Fanelian people were proud to be 'survivors of all' because after such a short time away, their King returned to find each family had a home, maybe not the size of the one they had once had originally but absolutely no one was left to face the weather and night outside, and even now the materials were being gathered to make these houses even bigger for the families and the people had divided themselves up to either build or work the land or cook.
With a lot of the men killed in the Zaibach attack it was mainly women who took up the responsibility.
It was a community and they all worked together to rebuild their country and world after the devastation of the war.
Celebrations were ordered and Van was lead off to begin his Kingly duties straight away while Merle and Hitomi were lead in the opposite direction to rest after their journey, he hadn't even looked back to her.
So much for love, Hitomi thought absently, he didn't even say goodbye, maybe I'll just leave now and save him the trouble. Wasn't even that nice anyway...
It was lonely that night, as the celebrations were waged, Hitomi couldn't smile as she thought about what she had said a day ago 'I'm leaving the day after we reach Fanelia'. He hadn't even reacted.
So she left early, why stay when she knew no one and the only people she did know were either busy or were giving her the silent treatment.
* * * * * *
"Where have you been, Hitomi?" her mother asked, exasperated
"I went for a walk"
"Well, tell someone next time"
"I will, I'm sorry"
"Alright then, how's the baby?"
"It moved, I think"
"Wonderful, you are heading into the five month period anyway. It's probably nearly half formed now, little angel"
Her mother smiled and went into the kitchen to finish unpacking the shopping and she heard her talking with her father about the Government having given them regulations on Hitomi's diet etc.
Hitomi sighed, why did the world want to butt in? It wasn't their business what sort of baby she had. She wondered whether they thought it was an angel because at least they knew something of them from the bible or whatever. But how could she explain Dragon blood, they'd probably do blood tests when it was born and find it?
She patted her stomach as she headed upstairs "Not even born and you're already making trouble, my love"
* * * * * *
"Can I come in?"
* * * * * *
Hitomi had dropped off to sleep in the small room of the hut they'd been given to live in when a soft knock resounded through her dreams of flight, pulled out of a cloud she sat up on the bed drowsily and wiped her eyes free of sleepy dust and yawned.
"Hitomi"
Hitomi bit her lip and held her breath. It was Van. Should she pretend sleep? Or open the door? She sat there for a moment undecided and then opted to open the door and feign sleepiness to avoid talking.
"Can I come in?"
Crossing the room she opened the door a crack, just to peer out, and said, "What do you want, Van? I'm tired"
He didn't say anything, he just pushed on the door, Hitomi hadn't been holding it very hard anyway and walked into the small room looking at her with seriousness she'd come to recognise as being important.
"What?" she asked quietly, still holding the door
"I wanted to say..." Van began, then he stopped and came out with "Shut the door, I don't exactly want the whole world looking in"
Hitomi shrugged and shut the door.
Van began again, "Well, if you can't stay...then let me tell you..."
Hitomi waited, he'd spit it out when he was ready, and she sat down on the floor and watched him.
He didn't spit it out for a long time though, he just stood there and stared at the floor, his hair covering his expression so she couldn't see what he was thinking. She wished she could though, it would be easier to know what to say to him. After all the silent treatment, why were suddenly they were talking?
"Why aren't you at the party?" Hitomi asked, she could still hear the sounds of the celebration going on outside
Van seemed to lose some of his tenseness and came and sat down opposite Hitomi, tossing his sword on the other side of the room easily before placing his head on his hand.
"I couldn't enjoy it," he said simply
"Oh" Hitomi replied, finding an interesting point on the floor to stare at
Van sighed, "I don't know what's the matter with me Hitomi, these are your last hours together and I've ruined them, haven't I?"
Hitomi didn't argue, he obviously didn't want a reply, just to get it off his chest.
"I just realised when I was down there, at that celebration, that I don't want this"
Hitomi asked quietly "You don't want to be King?"
"No, not that"
Hitomi looked up at him and saw him say with all seriousness "I don't want you to leave"
He opened his other palm slowly under the moonlight that shone in from a small window. He held a small ring of gold out to her.
"Van...I..." Hitomi whispered and looked up at him "I can't"
He grinned lopsidedly and moved forward to brush away a lone tear that slid down her cheek "I know you can't Hitomi, but I meant...not forever"
"What?" she asked, confused by his words
"Until the sun comes up," he said softly "Until the dawn of your departure, I promise myself to you"
He softly kissed her forehead and pressed the ring into her palm, Hitomi let her fingers be pulled around the small circle gently. Van got up to leave, picking up his sword and moving toward the door, he nodded and opened the door.
"Wait"
He turned around to find Hitomi on her feet, the ring in her hands, clutched to her chest.
"What?" Van asked
"Please...stay?" she smiled uncertainly
He smiled in such a way that his eyes crinkled at the edges in such a rare and true way that Hitomi would never forget the smile he gave, not even years later. In that single smile his heart was opened in a way that he could not have hidden his feelings even if he had tried.
"Until the dawn of your departure" he replied simply as he put down his sword and shut the door.
* * * * * *
"I'll never forget you, Van. Not even when I'm an old woman"
* * * * * *
It was late at night when Hitomi finally laid her head down to sleep. She'd been watching a show on TV and had been so deeply cut off from the real world that it was half past midnight on the new Saturday morning when she had finally turned it off.
She knew she'd pay for it in the morning but then she'd told herself that it was Saturday, she could sleep in. At least until her brother decided to make such a noise with his radio that she couldn't ignore it any longer.
In her room, the dark was comforting, not like in Gaea when the dark could have held any number of dangers that were unknown to her. It was a chance to sleep in the open, wild animals, soldiers, anything could be out there. But she had always felt safe sleeping out in the open with Van.
She giggled out loud as she remembered the time when she had talked about Allen in her sleep while Merle and Van were awake. Embarrassing at the time but true.
She sent herself off to sleep with that thought, the memories that she enjoyed from Gaea.
...
...
...
When Hitomi woke up, it was, as she predicted, late morning and her brother had rock music playing next door but there was something else. Without opening her eyes Hitomi registered that there was someone in her room.
She slowed her breathing back down to the level she guessed was what she breathed at when she was asleep and kept still.
Silence.
She could feel their presence in the room and decided to make a run for it, gathering her wits she decided to leap out of bed and startle them before running to her brother.
She pretended to stir and then ripped off the covers of the bed and dashed for the door.
The person wore black, her stomach dropped and she reached for the door handle.
A hand reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her to the floor.
"No!" Hitomi yelled and began to pull her hand away, kicking and throwing wild punches out "I won't let you hurt it!"
"Hitomi!" they yelled, "Stop it!"
Stopping her thrashing for a moment, Hitomi stopped to stare up into the brown eyes of her brother. He let go of her wrist and let her calm herself. Hitomi noticed he wasn't in the room with his rock music and that several boxes had been piled up to the door and she'd failed to notice, and he was wearing a black Metallica t-shirt.
She stared at him "What are you doing?"
He put his finger to his lips and whispered, "There're people in our house. I don't know them. But I heard a door crash in and didn't stop to find out what was going on. I came in here and blocked the door"
He looked genuinely afraid. Hitomi believed him.
"When was that?"
"About half an hour ago, I haven't heard them come up the stairs but theres been an awful lot of crashing down there"
"Mom and dad?"
"Out, with friends"
"Right"
Hitomi knew that the people downstairs were the Shadow people, her stomach ached wearily and as long as they came no closer, then it would continue until they went away. What to do? They could get out of the window but it was a bit of a drop. They might get hurt.
"Hitomi?"
"Yeah?"
"Why did you say 'don't hurt it'?" Mamoru asked, "Were you dreaming?"
"No. There are too many people who'd love to get their hands on this baby" Hitomi said truthfully, the situation they were in didn't call for lies
"Because it has..."
"Wings? Yes" Hitomi sat on the bed and said "And the people down there are no exception, but they aren't normal either"
"What?" he looked even more afraid now
"I don't know what they are but" she held out her burnt wrist, the imprint still clear on her skin "They're definitely the most dangerous"
They sat in silence for a moment, the rock music of her brother still covering the noises of the people downstairs, in a way it was worse because they couldn't hear anyone coming up to the second floor with it on and were completely isolated from other sounds.
"What are we going to do?"
Hitomi didn't answer, the baby was beginning to hurt, to wriggle in her womb, crying out for protection once more. She held her womb, trying to mentally calm it down, not sure why such a foetus at this stage could make so much movement when in distress. It hurt so badly, was it that these things made the baby feel like it would miscarry to make her hand it over? The pain reached a height as she heard a yell:
"HITOMI!"
Hitomi snapped up to see that the door handle was being moved and that Mamoru was holding the baseball bat, ready to defend his sister.
In a split second, Hitomi made the decision to jump, gathering the bedclothes in her arms she opened the window and threw them to the ground beneath, then throwing down some floor cushions down after them. The more protection, the better.
The door was shoved open and the boxes fell over and in the doorway was one of the mask-like faced creatures, the shadow people.
"Mamoru, come on!" Hitomi grabbed her trusty sports bag (with happened to be the one which she had taken to Gaea and which happened to have the good luck to be packed) and began to lower herself as far as she could out of the window "We need to get out of here"
"Right" Mamoru followed down quickly as soon as Hitomi landed, after throwing a few blows with the baseball bat
They began to run down the street, hearing the strange screeches and yells of the intruders as they began to follow the escapees.
"Don't look back!" Hitomi commanded, as once more her track adrenaline flowed and they raced away from the house, not even knowing where they were going
They could hear that they were being chased, Hitomi knew that they wouldn't easily lose these people and lead Mamoru down a maze of streets, helping him run at her speed by holding onto his hand and pulling him up when he stumbled.
The houses and stores and people blurred past them as they ran, unsure what would happen if they were caught and unsure of their direction.
Even Hitomi knew nothing of what they were going to do, but had the vague idea of a police station being helpful. But even the police would not be able to help them from these enemies.
For a moment it felt like she was back in Gaea, running from soldiers or Guymelef's or even something that wasn't human. They'd always been running from something.
Suddenly she realised where they were.
School.
This was Hitomi's school.
She looked up with amazement at the building, barely hearing the please of her brother to move and the screams of people as they sighted their strange pursuers.
Turning around slowly she found that she faced the shrine. The very same one that Van had killed the dragon at and the one where she had been transported to Gaea.
Suddenly she had a feeling that the shrine was where they should run to, she didn't know why but it hit her that there was something there that was pulling them, and high in the sky she could see the world of Gaea casting it's gravity on Earth.
A vision of light and Gaea filling her mind she yelled:
"Come on"
Pulling Mamoru she began to run up the steps and through the arches into the shrine, despite his yells and protests. They had to have found themselves here for a reason, the baby, the pursuers, the wings, the feather, it had to mean something, the tarot reading! They couldn't all be coincidence!
They emerged out into the clearing in front of the shrine. The bright morning seemed still, no birds.
Throwing down her bag, letting it be picked up by Mamoru, Hitomi got to her knees.
"What are you doing?" Mamoru yelled, "Those things are coming!"
Even now she could hear them.
"What are you doing? Get up!"
I'm waiting, Hitomi thought, something will happen, I can feel it. The baby began to squirm and she felt it's pain as the first of the things stumbled up onto the hilltop and made it's way over to them.
It's face was like a mask, a sickly smile stuck on to it's pale skin underneath the wide brimmed hat and dark clothes.
It was followed by three more. Then another two, all were identical to the first.
The shadow people began to create a wide circle around Hitomi and her brother, her brother was almost crying in his efforts to make her move in his fear, Hitomi herself felt sick with the pain and fear she felt towards these things and yet she could not move. She had to concentrate on Gaea.
Please, please, please, please, please, she thought, let help come.
A high-pitched scream wailed for what seemed like forever through the clearing and then the things began to move inwards.
"HITOMI!" her brother yelled
And the world was consumed by light.
* * *
I'll be completely happy to rewrite this chapter if you are unhappy with it, it's just this was the only way I could think of to write in the Gaean characters, because I'm thinking of having them going back and forth to each place, it depends. What do you all think? Please tell me because I've written this chapter about 3 times, each time different because I can't decide how to work it now! I am so sorry for the cliff-hangers and the lack of detail...I really will try to work on them for you all!
You know, I think I may have cursed everyone with this fic, before I started writing it I was fine, and now a girl in my year is pregnant (6 months apparently) and another had an abortion! What's going on that it's all coming out now?
Alright, this chapter will have a lot of flicking and fluttering through the past and present so see if you can work it all out *wink*!
Ack, I know where I want to go but not how to get there! Van and all the Gaea people will be in soon, please be patient!
Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne
* * *
"Wings"
* * * * * *
The child had wings. Hitomi had spent the night crying into her pillow, frustrated and saddened that this trait would be born to her child. It wasn't that she didn't want the baby to have wings, she was fine with that, it was the fact that the people in this world didn't usually have wings.
Not that it was normal for Gaea people to have wings either.
The doctor and her mother had stared at the screen for almost an hour before the uproar had started, several doctors were called in for a closer look and hypothesis and none of them knew what was happening or what they were seeing either.
'An angel?'
'The screen must be broken'
'Is it a back deformity?'
'What a joke'
Their endless questions to her and their conclusions on what to do had made her head spin and her heart hurt. It was obvious what would happen when the baby was born, if it had the wings then...it wouldn't survive infancy. There were too many scientists, government agents, religious fanatics and just plain ordinary people who could turn into a mob for its safety.
In this world anything out of the ordinary was not accepted, it had happened all the way through history. She didn't want her child to go through that.
And he wouldn't either.
Hitomi had been sent home from the hospital around six hours after her original appointment, and instructions to look after herself and come back in a week for further ultra-sounds and tests and apparently someone had phoned the government about her situation and she was under the label 'top-secret' already.
A long list of times and instructions were set out for her to do before the next appointment, eat lots of vegetables, drink water...
She was also commanded to bring the father with her.
How could she get out of that? She and the baby would turn into walking test subjects.
Hitomi sniffed again and wiped her eyes, she always seemed to be crying these days, ever since her pregnancy test, heightened hormones didn't help when the world seemed so determined to bring her down as well as some crazy people being after her, she gazed lazily at the burn she'd managed to keep hidden under her sleeve.
And things had been going so well only a few days ago.
What was she going to do? Every day it seemed she was becoming more and more isolated.
Even now, her brother was at a friend's house and her parents had gone to the supermarket.
She was alone now too.
Pulling herself out of bed and pulling on yesterday's clothes, she stumbled out of the front door for air.
* * * * * *
They'd been on the road for two days after saying good-bye to Millerna and Allen. Hitomi, Van and Merle had begun their journey to Fanelia to reunite with their people and begin to rebuild their home.
Hitomi herself was heading for Fanelia to return home.
Van hadn't talked to her or apologised for the coldness in Millerna's drawing room. Hitomi had tried to talk to him but no matter how hard she tried, he always found an excuse to ignore her or brush her off by talking to Merle.
Merle was annoyed at Van and had certainly made it clear every time they stopped for the night in a clearing through giving Van the burnt food.
He never complained. Maybe he was used to her revenge ideas.
Hitomi and Merle made up this lack of emotions by talking about him between themselves. They'd struck a truce up when they'd met up again after the War and there seemed to be a peace between them, which revolved around Van himself.
This didn't stop them gossiping about him.
He ignored them and always slept on the other side of the clearing to them and rode ahead.
Hitomi was beginning to let his behaviour get her down even though it wasn't really her fault. And secretly shed her tears in the middle of the night when no one was awake.
Would he even say good-bye? After all, she had told Merle very loudly that once they got to Gaea she would leave after a good nights rest.
* * * * * *
Hitomi slowly stalked down the street. Not even sure where she was going, everyone was doing something but with nothing to do she just wandered the local streets that she knew and breathed in the sunlight.
In a way it was even lonelier on the streets, people didn't look at her or even see her it seemed as they hurried on their everyday business.
I have experienced more than they will ever know, Hitomi thought, looking at all the shoppers and people bustling past her.
To the annoyance of the people around her, Hitomi stopped walking in the middle of the crowded street. Curses were hurled but no one bothered her, just went around.
Looking up at the sky Hitomi was astonished as a large white feather floated down to be caught by her waiting hand.
Staring at it, she held it in her palm and then looked up to the sky, searching for the familiar sound of pulsing wings and the rain of feathers. None.
She held the feather to her heart and called out loudly "Van?"
No answer, people were staring at her, but she didn't care, she just kept searching the sky.
"Van!"
Feeling the need to, Hitomi broke out of her stillness and began to run, feeling the familiar freedom of the wind in her hair. The hair whipping around in her grasp and then making a dash for the same feeling of freedom that she was experiencing.
Hitomi, reaching an emptier road, spread her arms out, wishing for the same feeling of flight that Van must have felt when he spread his wings, she run like this for a whole block before finally slowing down to breathe.
The baby moved.
Surprised, Hitomi fell to her knees and sat for a moment with her hand on her stomach. She smiled, it was alive and well then. She wished the same for the father, for a moment she had the wild notion that the baby had spread it's wings and that the feathers had somehow come from her.
"Van" she said quietly "I want you to be here"
And quietly, slowly, very softly behind her, a small white feather floated down and touched her gently on the cheek.
* * * * * *
"We're here!"
It seemed like a century ago Merle had spoken those words as they had been welcomed back into Fanelia by the survivors of the Zaibach attack, and it seemed like they had begun rebuilding almost straight away because houses were erected practically all over the burnt city.
All that was left to start apparently was the castle and until then they would all be put up in a spare house until the castle was sufficiently large to house the King and his household, Van insisted that he didn't need this to be done at all and that the people were more important than him, how were they anyway?
The Fanelian people were proud to be 'survivors of all' because after such a short time away, their King returned to find each family had a home, maybe not the size of the one they had once had originally but absolutely no one was left to face the weather and night outside, and even now the materials were being gathered to make these houses even bigger for the families and the people had divided themselves up to either build or work the land or cook.
With a lot of the men killed in the Zaibach attack it was mainly women who took up the responsibility.
It was a community and they all worked together to rebuild their country and world after the devastation of the war.
Celebrations were ordered and Van was lead off to begin his Kingly duties straight away while Merle and Hitomi were lead in the opposite direction to rest after their journey, he hadn't even looked back to her.
So much for love, Hitomi thought absently, he didn't even say goodbye, maybe I'll just leave now and save him the trouble. Wasn't even that nice anyway...
It was lonely that night, as the celebrations were waged, Hitomi couldn't smile as she thought about what she had said a day ago 'I'm leaving the day after we reach Fanelia'. He hadn't even reacted.
So she left early, why stay when she knew no one and the only people she did know were either busy or were giving her the silent treatment.
* * * * * *
"Where have you been, Hitomi?" her mother asked, exasperated
"I went for a walk"
"Well, tell someone next time"
"I will, I'm sorry"
"Alright then, how's the baby?"
"It moved, I think"
"Wonderful, you are heading into the five month period anyway. It's probably nearly half formed now, little angel"
Her mother smiled and went into the kitchen to finish unpacking the shopping and she heard her talking with her father about the Government having given them regulations on Hitomi's diet etc.
Hitomi sighed, why did the world want to butt in? It wasn't their business what sort of baby she had. She wondered whether they thought it was an angel because at least they knew something of them from the bible or whatever. But how could she explain Dragon blood, they'd probably do blood tests when it was born and find it?
She patted her stomach as she headed upstairs "Not even born and you're already making trouble, my love"
* * * * * *
"Can I come in?"
* * * * * *
Hitomi had dropped off to sleep in the small room of the hut they'd been given to live in when a soft knock resounded through her dreams of flight, pulled out of a cloud she sat up on the bed drowsily and wiped her eyes free of sleepy dust and yawned.
"Hitomi"
Hitomi bit her lip and held her breath. It was Van. Should she pretend sleep? Or open the door? She sat there for a moment undecided and then opted to open the door and feign sleepiness to avoid talking.
"Can I come in?"
Crossing the room she opened the door a crack, just to peer out, and said, "What do you want, Van? I'm tired"
He didn't say anything, he just pushed on the door, Hitomi hadn't been holding it very hard anyway and walked into the small room looking at her with seriousness she'd come to recognise as being important.
"What?" she asked quietly, still holding the door
"I wanted to say..." Van began, then he stopped and came out with "Shut the door, I don't exactly want the whole world looking in"
Hitomi shrugged and shut the door.
Van began again, "Well, if you can't stay...then let me tell you..."
Hitomi waited, he'd spit it out when he was ready, and she sat down on the floor and watched him.
He didn't spit it out for a long time though, he just stood there and stared at the floor, his hair covering his expression so she couldn't see what he was thinking. She wished she could though, it would be easier to know what to say to him. After all the silent treatment, why were suddenly they were talking?
"Why aren't you at the party?" Hitomi asked, she could still hear the sounds of the celebration going on outside
Van seemed to lose some of his tenseness and came and sat down opposite Hitomi, tossing his sword on the other side of the room easily before placing his head on his hand.
"I couldn't enjoy it," he said simply
"Oh" Hitomi replied, finding an interesting point on the floor to stare at
Van sighed, "I don't know what's the matter with me Hitomi, these are your last hours together and I've ruined them, haven't I?"
Hitomi didn't argue, he obviously didn't want a reply, just to get it off his chest.
"I just realised when I was down there, at that celebration, that I don't want this"
Hitomi asked quietly "You don't want to be King?"
"No, not that"
Hitomi looked up at him and saw him say with all seriousness "I don't want you to leave"
He opened his other palm slowly under the moonlight that shone in from a small window. He held a small ring of gold out to her.
"Van...I..." Hitomi whispered and looked up at him "I can't"
He grinned lopsidedly and moved forward to brush away a lone tear that slid down her cheek "I know you can't Hitomi, but I meant...not forever"
"What?" she asked, confused by his words
"Until the sun comes up," he said softly "Until the dawn of your departure, I promise myself to you"
He softly kissed her forehead and pressed the ring into her palm, Hitomi let her fingers be pulled around the small circle gently. Van got up to leave, picking up his sword and moving toward the door, he nodded and opened the door.
"Wait"
He turned around to find Hitomi on her feet, the ring in her hands, clutched to her chest.
"What?" Van asked
"Please...stay?" she smiled uncertainly
He smiled in such a way that his eyes crinkled at the edges in such a rare and true way that Hitomi would never forget the smile he gave, not even years later. In that single smile his heart was opened in a way that he could not have hidden his feelings even if he had tried.
"Until the dawn of your departure" he replied simply as he put down his sword and shut the door.
* * * * * *
"I'll never forget you, Van. Not even when I'm an old woman"
* * * * * *
It was late at night when Hitomi finally laid her head down to sleep. She'd been watching a show on TV and had been so deeply cut off from the real world that it was half past midnight on the new Saturday morning when she had finally turned it off.
She knew she'd pay for it in the morning but then she'd told herself that it was Saturday, she could sleep in. At least until her brother decided to make such a noise with his radio that she couldn't ignore it any longer.
In her room, the dark was comforting, not like in Gaea when the dark could have held any number of dangers that were unknown to her. It was a chance to sleep in the open, wild animals, soldiers, anything could be out there. But she had always felt safe sleeping out in the open with Van.
She giggled out loud as she remembered the time when she had talked about Allen in her sleep while Merle and Van were awake. Embarrassing at the time but true.
She sent herself off to sleep with that thought, the memories that she enjoyed from Gaea.
...
...
...
When Hitomi woke up, it was, as she predicted, late morning and her brother had rock music playing next door but there was something else. Without opening her eyes Hitomi registered that there was someone in her room.
She slowed her breathing back down to the level she guessed was what she breathed at when she was asleep and kept still.
Silence.
She could feel their presence in the room and decided to make a run for it, gathering her wits she decided to leap out of bed and startle them before running to her brother.
She pretended to stir and then ripped off the covers of the bed and dashed for the door.
The person wore black, her stomach dropped and she reached for the door handle.
A hand reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her to the floor.
"No!" Hitomi yelled and began to pull her hand away, kicking and throwing wild punches out "I won't let you hurt it!"
"Hitomi!" they yelled, "Stop it!"
Stopping her thrashing for a moment, Hitomi stopped to stare up into the brown eyes of her brother. He let go of her wrist and let her calm herself. Hitomi noticed he wasn't in the room with his rock music and that several boxes had been piled up to the door and she'd failed to notice, and he was wearing a black Metallica t-shirt.
She stared at him "What are you doing?"
He put his finger to his lips and whispered, "There're people in our house. I don't know them. But I heard a door crash in and didn't stop to find out what was going on. I came in here and blocked the door"
He looked genuinely afraid. Hitomi believed him.
"When was that?"
"About half an hour ago, I haven't heard them come up the stairs but theres been an awful lot of crashing down there"
"Mom and dad?"
"Out, with friends"
"Right"
Hitomi knew that the people downstairs were the Shadow people, her stomach ached wearily and as long as they came no closer, then it would continue until they went away. What to do? They could get out of the window but it was a bit of a drop. They might get hurt.
"Hitomi?"
"Yeah?"
"Why did you say 'don't hurt it'?" Mamoru asked, "Were you dreaming?"
"No. There are too many people who'd love to get their hands on this baby" Hitomi said truthfully, the situation they were in didn't call for lies
"Because it has..."
"Wings? Yes" Hitomi sat on the bed and said "And the people down there are no exception, but they aren't normal either"
"What?" he looked even more afraid now
"I don't know what they are but" she held out her burnt wrist, the imprint still clear on her skin "They're definitely the most dangerous"
They sat in silence for a moment, the rock music of her brother still covering the noises of the people downstairs, in a way it was worse because they couldn't hear anyone coming up to the second floor with it on and were completely isolated from other sounds.
"What are we going to do?"
Hitomi didn't answer, the baby was beginning to hurt, to wriggle in her womb, crying out for protection once more. She held her womb, trying to mentally calm it down, not sure why such a foetus at this stage could make so much movement when in distress. It hurt so badly, was it that these things made the baby feel like it would miscarry to make her hand it over? The pain reached a height as she heard a yell:
"HITOMI!"
Hitomi snapped up to see that the door handle was being moved and that Mamoru was holding the baseball bat, ready to defend his sister.
In a split second, Hitomi made the decision to jump, gathering the bedclothes in her arms she opened the window and threw them to the ground beneath, then throwing down some floor cushions down after them. The more protection, the better.
The door was shoved open and the boxes fell over and in the doorway was one of the mask-like faced creatures, the shadow people.
"Mamoru, come on!" Hitomi grabbed her trusty sports bag (with happened to be the one which she had taken to Gaea and which happened to have the good luck to be packed) and began to lower herself as far as she could out of the window "We need to get out of here"
"Right" Mamoru followed down quickly as soon as Hitomi landed, after throwing a few blows with the baseball bat
They began to run down the street, hearing the strange screeches and yells of the intruders as they began to follow the escapees.
"Don't look back!" Hitomi commanded, as once more her track adrenaline flowed and they raced away from the house, not even knowing where they were going
They could hear that they were being chased, Hitomi knew that they wouldn't easily lose these people and lead Mamoru down a maze of streets, helping him run at her speed by holding onto his hand and pulling him up when he stumbled.
The houses and stores and people blurred past them as they ran, unsure what would happen if they were caught and unsure of their direction.
Even Hitomi knew nothing of what they were going to do, but had the vague idea of a police station being helpful. But even the police would not be able to help them from these enemies.
For a moment it felt like she was back in Gaea, running from soldiers or Guymelef's or even something that wasn't human. They'd always been running from something.
Suddenly she realised where they were.
School.
This was Hitomi's school.
She looked up with amazement at the building, barely hearing the please of her brother to move and the screams of people as they sighted their strange pursuers.
Turning around slowly she found that she faced the shrine. The very same one that Van had killed the dragon at and the one where she had been transported to Gaea.
Suddenly she had a feeling that the shrine was where they should run to, she didn't know why but it hit her that there was something there that was pulling them, and high in the sky she could see the world of Gaea casting it's gravity on Earth.
A vision of light and Gaea filling her mind she yelled:
"Come on"
Pulling Mamoru she began to run up the steps and through the arches into the shrine, despite his yells and protests. They had to have found themselves here for a reason, the baby, the pursuers, the wings, the feather, it had to mean something, the tarot reading! They couldn't all be coincidence!
They emerged out into the clearing in front of the shrine. The bright morning seemed still, no birds.
Throwing down her bag, letting it be picked up by Mamoru, Hitomi got to her knees.
"What are you doing?" Mamoru yelled, "Those things are coming!"
Even now she could hear them.
"What are you doing? Get up!"
I'm waiting, Hitomi thought, something will happen, I can feel it. The baby began to squirm and she felt it's pain as the first of the things stumbled up onto the hilltop and made it's way over to them.
It's face was like a mask, a sickly smile stuck on to it's pale skin underneath the wide brimmed hat and dark clothes.
It was followed by three more. Then another two, all were identical to the first.
The shadow people began to create a wide circle around Hitomi and her brother, her brother was almost crying in his efforts to make her move in his fear, Hitomi herself felt sick with the pain and fear she felt towards these things and yet she could not move. She had to concentrate on Gaea.
Please, please, please, please, please, she thought, let help come.
A high-pitched scream wailed for what seemed like forever through the clearing and then the things began to move inwards.
"HITOMI!" her brother yelled
And the world was consumed by light.
* * *
I'll be completely happy to rewrite this chapter if you are unhappy with it, it's just this was the only way I could think of to write in the Gaean characters, because I'm thinking of having them going back and forth to each place, it depends. What do you all think? Please tell me because I've written this chapter about 3 times, each time different because I can't decide how to work it now! I am so sorry for the cliff-hangers and the lack of detail...I really will try to work on them for you all!