Thank you all so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so much for all your reviews, I have actually decided on a plot line which will now take into all of your opinions of no switching. But you'll need to read on to see what route I've taken and I'll be glad to have your opinions on it in your reviews.
I'm just relaxing, listening to Maaya Sakamoto music (appropriate, huh?) and deciding to write this chapter. I'm so surprised at how many reviews you have given me 0_0 and I don't really feel like I deserve all these nice comments. Thank you so much for your comments though! I really like reading them and they help me to write as well!
Just watched 'the Day The Angel Flew' AGAIN! Honestly, I get goosebumps every time I watch it, the music when the energists start reacting is so cool. I can't believe how good Yoko Kanno is at composing!
Oh yeah, AnimeD (is it?) about the mistake in chapter two!! You're right!!! I had to go back and rewrite it 0_o why would they run to Mexico? It's because I keep imagining dub voices, and since their American I keep thinking America!! So I've gone back and changed it to Hokkaido! Thank you for pointing that out! Such an obvious mistake!
Ack. Poor Hitomi! I've made her pregnant and everyone seems to have fun either making her pregnant or killing off her family, or both!! Why must we all make her suffer so? Ah well, it makes good reading!
It's so hard, would Gaeans speak Japanese? I'll put them speaking English and Japanese as a common way of communicating between races and countries I guess...And we're finally going to have more characters looking at the scene!
Disclaimer: no own Escaflowne
* * *
Hitomi opened her eyes, sunspots littered her gaze and they felt strained for a moment. As it cleared she could see tree branches above her, dappled with light and colour. She couldn't be bothered to move, her arms and legs hurt a lot and her stomach felt weak.
She managed to move her hand to feel her abdomen and found it all in one piece, and the vague sense of life still resided beneath her palm. Once she found that feeling it made her more eager to discover her surroundings.
Trees...she though distantly, am I still at the shrine? Bird song littered the air, where there had been none before and the sound of traffic was vacant.
"Hitomi!"
Hitomi pulled herself up slowly to see Mamoru pulling his own body up into a sitting position, he looked groggy and still frightened.
Looking around quickly to find the things, Hitomi relaxed when she saw that there was no sign of them. Beginning to remember what had happened she pulled herself up completely and dusted off. If only the branches and leaves weren't covering the sky, she'd be able to tell where they were.
"Are you alright Hitomi?" Mamoru struggled over to her and handed her the sports bag, he'd held on to for the whole time "Where are those things? What was that light?"
Hitomi replied, "I'm not sure" but she was slightly clued in on the light
Mamoru took in the surroundings and said uncertainly "This isn't the shrine..."
"No"
Hitomi placed her bag on the floor and looked around, a tree close by held suitable braches for climbing and they were low. Hitomi rolled up her sleeves, not discouraged to find her pyjamas, and headed toward the tree trunk. Testing the lowest branch against her weight.
They were either on Earth or they weren't, the light had told her that enough.
"What are you doing?" Mamoru asked cautiously "You shouldn't do that in your condition"
Hitomi shot him a look of 'please' and began to climb, slowly but surely, to the largest branch in the highest place in the tree she could reach to get a good look at the sky. Despite Mamoru's protests she ended up pretty high and swept away the green foliage to reveal the bright blue sky that comes at the ending of a day.
A moon and planet hung in the bright sky, a bright white daytime moon. Hitomi could tell from the size of it that it wasn't Gaea. That meant one thing. They weren't on Earth. Her stomach felt strange for a moment with a feeling she had no name for. They were on Gaea.
Without the pendant.
Had they been transported there by strength of will? Hitomi gulped and began to make her way (a bit more slowly) down the tree.
Reaching the bottom of the tree she picked up her bag again and said slowly, "We're not on Earth anymore..."
Mamoru stared, then said "Oh Ha, ha Hitomi, 'we're not on Earth' what do you take me for?" but he did look uncertain
Hitomi eyed Mamoru; she'd always thought 13-year-old boys had a knack for looking confident, obviously her brother didn't hold this ability. She shrugged; it was up to him whether he would believe her, when he saw the sky above them he'd know. At least she'd tried to forewarn him about the shock.
What to do though? She had no idea where on Gaea they were. Unlike the other occupants she had travelled with, she had no knowledge of how to travel according to stars. So they'd have to walk in one direction until they found a road or person or village. Something to tell them where they were.
Gaea. Hitomi never thought she'd end up here again. But then, hadn't she wished for it at the shrine? Hadn't her feelings been strong enough to carry them both from danger?
Mamoru was staring at a tree "What type of tree is this?"
"I don't know" Hitomi replied, truthfully
He looked at her strangely and then stood still "Where's the noise of the traffic gone?"
"It's not here," Hitomi said
Mamoru was beginning to look as frightened as when the things had turned up at the house before "Hitomi, tell me what's going on!"
Hitomi sighed and then replied quite frankly, wishing to be on the move "I told you, we're not on Earth anymore, we're on another world now"
"Another?" he looked baffled
"Yes" Hitomi replied, "Climb up the tree and look"
She waited patiently as he did as she suggested and climbed up to the tree, he tumbled down again quickly enough though, with a look that said plainly what he was thinking.
"T-t-t-t-there's a w-r- Earth! UP THERE" he pointed with emphasis to the sky and Hitomi smiled
She'd felt exactly the same when she'd arrived after seeing the dragon.
"We're on a world called Gaea, come on, I'll tell you all about it"
They began to walk in a direction that Hitomi had randomly chosen and she began to tell the story of Gaea. Of her arrival there, well, the shortened version. She left out about the people she had met and the Destiny War, as well as her visions and card readings. Just that she had been here and come back to Earth. Four months ago.
She could see the light behind Mamoru's eyes light up when she had mentioned the time span. His head was putting together the pieces, her actions over the last four months...the pregnancy, the wings.
Mamoru stayed quiet as they walked through the greenery, listening to the strange birdcalls and getting to grips with all that she told him.
Hitomi hoped they were somewhere near Fanelia, or at least Asturia.
* * * * * *
"Sorry, I don't do that anymore"
* * * * * *
It must have been evening by the time they reached a road, Hitomi in the lead, Mamoru flabbergasted behind her. The sun was beginning to set and their shadows grew longer. The trees had thinned and they rounded a corner to discover a muddy track, conveniently littered with signposts pointing off in certain directions.
Unfortunately, Hitomi could not read the signs.
Mamoru had not spoken since their arrival, trying to process the information and the landscape around him. It was impossible, but here he was, walking on a planet behind the moon.
Hitomi had explained to him where there were and how they were but didn't really know how to talk about everything else, Van, Allen, all the others.
They'd also taken several rests to make sure Hitomi didn't get tired. But she was feeling weak, after they had begun to walk her head had begun to feel light and even now as they walked it was pounding. She decided it must have been the effort to bring them here but it was a pain. At one point her vision had blurred.
"We need to head either to Asturia or Fanelia," she said, looking at the signs absently
"Where?" Mamoru peered at the wiggles and shrugged "Guess they don't speak Japanese here"
Hitomi shook her head "They do, but I don't know how, it seems to be the common language here along with English while all the countries have different dialects. Most of the places I went when I was here spoke Japanese and English for some reason. Dryden even spoke Latin"
"Oh" he stared off into space for a moment, wondering who Dryden was, then asked Hitomi "Why would they speak Japanese and English?"
"Not sure" was all that came back
They set off in one direction of the road as the sun began to set, it seemed to have the most signs pointing towards it indicating civilisation it seemed.
Hitomi knew they'd have to camp out on the road, and it seemed like they'd have to do it soon but Hitomi began to hear hooves from far off. A whole lot of horses' hooves.
"Mamoru!"
She knew the war was over but there was no way to know what was going on in Gaea now, four months later, or who was friendly to strangers on the road. The safest bet was to hide while they passed. At least she'd learnt one good thing from being on the run from Zaibach.
Pulling Mamoru practically by the ear she moved off the road and back into the undergrowth, choosing a particularly large bush to sit behind, as the noise grew louder.
Since her stomach didn't hurt she knew that they weren't in immediate danger, but her head felt strange, the long walk had made her feel ill, she hadn't eaten either, and so she'd used up a lot of her energy on the running.
She laid her head on her knees and breathed deeply.
Mamoru looked ta her, concerned and said "Are you ok?"
Hitomi smiled "Yeah"
"They're nearly here" he motioned to the road, the noises of horses beginning to mix in with sounds of armour "Are you sure we need to hide? I thought you'd been here before"
"Not everyone's friendly" she replied seriously "It's just like our world"
"Here they come"
Hitomi watched his fist grip a stone and sighed, he was becoming like Van, always ready to protect. Maybe it was an effect of Gaea, still Mamoru would get a shock when he saw the people here. As she had before, it seemed like years ago even though it was just a few months.
They listened as the horses came closer and in a sudden rush of sound swept past the road as something like 30 or 40 horses in a troop rode past, Knights on all, swords and banners brightly flashing in the grim light.
Hitomi almost cried out as a shock of blonde hair drew out in front of the rest of the troops and was closely followed by another. Tall, blue uniform.
Stumbling out into the dust of the road Hitomi ran to the middle of the road screaming "ALLEN!" at the top of her lungs
"Hitomi!" Mamoru yelled, following her out into the cloud of dust.
Hitomi coughed from the dust, her hunger and fatigue finally taking her over and passed out.
* * * * * *
"ALLEN!"
"Hitomi!"
Mamoru grasped the sports bag and scrambled out into the road with his rock to where Hitomi was, reaching her as she collapsed. What was wrong with her?
The thunder of hooves had stopped and the dust was thick.
Were they coming back? Why had Hitomi yelled.
Mamoru knelt next to his sister and began to try and pull her up, but she was too heavy for him. He cursed and checked her breathing like he'd learnt at school.
"Who's there?"
Mamoru jumped three foot in the air, out of the dark and dusty road a tall figure made their way. Mamoru gripped his rock and threw it out at the person, not going to let anyone near Hitomi, determined to wound.
"STAY BACK!" he yelled as a cry of pain echoed out into the night
The figure continued and stepped out into the clearing dust. A tall man, taller than anyone Mamoru had ever seen stood over him. A long shock of blonde hair covering blue uniform and a very long sword.
Mamoru gulped and dragged Hitomi behind him.
The man frowned and said, "Who are you? How do you know my name?"
Mamoru scowled and gripped Hitomi's hand and her bag tighter. Determined not to let anything happen. But hadn't Hitomi called this man's name? How did he know her? A surge of anger flowed through Mamoru, was this the father of Hitomi's child? He was so...old. Mamoru shuddered inwardly at the thought.
The man held out his sword and said "Answer me boy, it's rude to keep a Knight of Asturia waiting"
"A what?" tumbled out of Mamoru's mouth before he could stop it
Fortunately this seemed to throw the man completely and he burst out laughing. It was a deep and kind laugh, he wasn't laughing at Mamoru but at the comment, Mamoru instinctively liked this laugh and warmed to the man. Surely he would help Hitomi.
He decided to ask for help with Hitomi, it couldn't help the baby to be like this, they had walked a long way.
"Excuse me, sir" Mamoru said politely once the man had calmed himself "My...my sister, she's...she needs help"
"Sister?" the man could only see Hitomi's lower half from behind Mamoru "Was she the one who called me? I have to admit, it was a rather feminine call and I have never been one to ignore the cry of a woman. What's the matter with her?"
"She's collapsed" Mamoru stated blandly which a 'duh' expression
The man smiled "Well, let me see your sister, boy"
Mamoru nodded and stood up, revealing his sister to the man fully. He was shocked to see the man practically reel with surprise and then go pale.
"HITOMI?" the man dropped to his knees and patted her cheek gently "Hitomi? Are you all right? Wake up Hitomi!"
Mamoru stared, he knew her as well? Then she hadn't just called a random name, he stared as this man tried to rouse his sister. His sword awkwardly scraping the floor.
A sword, what kind of world was this? Every moment it got stranger. Mamoru looked at the mans companions, a woman with cropped blonde a top a horse, also wearing a sword looked over patiently. And a troupe of men talked impatiently. One or two only looking vaguely interesting in their companion's actions.
Was he their commander?
They looked like they were stuck in Middle Ages Europe. They were on horses, had armour and swords, banners, their clothes too. Only they looked cleaner than they were back then.
How did this guy know Hitomi?
He watched as the man pulled Hitomi up in to his arms, Mamoru felt envious at his strength and the ease at which he lifted his sister with.
He waited as the man adjusted his grip on Hitomi and said, "Where are you taking her?"
The man ignored him and said instead, "She's your sister, you said?"
"Yes. What are you going to do with her?" Mamoru demanded, gripping Hitomi's bag handle tighter
He was ignored again, the man began to carry Hitomi over to the group of people towards the empty horse.
"Hey!" Mamoru yelled
The man looked at him "What's your name boy?"
Mamoru hesitated then yelled "Mamoru Kanzaki! And yours?"
The man grinned and replied "Allen Schezar, Knight of Asturia, it's a pleasure to meet you Mamoru Kanzaki! I would be honoured if you and your sister would accompany me to the country of Fanelia, it would seem to me that it would be your destination"
Hitomi's brother shrugged.
Mamoru watched as Hitomi was lifted onto a horse with a man in a green uniform, jet hair, and then jogged over to the group and Allen.
He stopped Allen and asked, "How do you know my sister?"
Allen smiled "All in good time my fried. Now, if you would be so kind as to share Celena's horse?"
He motioned to the shorthaired woman who smiled, if somewhat vacantly. Mamoru shrugged and thought, as long as I'm with Hitomi. He climbed up behind the woman and held on fast as they broke into a gallop, determined to figure out all that was gong on.
All this was too confusing, Hitomi had barely told him anything about this world, he'd known she was hiding things about it but didn't want to stress her out. Especially with the baby. And now Fanelia? Where and what was Fanelia? He set his mind on figuring it out.
* * * * * *
Hitomi opened her eyes to the jogging of the horses' gallop and the warmth of someone's arms.
"Van?" she murmured before she could stop herself, and blushed as she heard someone laugh out loud
Looking up at what held her on the moving animal, Hitomi gasped as she met the eyes of Gaddes, who had almost looked like an older Van for a moment. He looked exactly the same and grinned in a friendly manner.
"No, I'm not the King of Fanelia, much as I'd like to be" he laughed good naturedly, "You've returned to us then, little Lady?"
She bolted up as something hit her "Gaddes? Ho~ what? Where's Mamoru~ my brother?"
"Back there, on My Lady's horse" Gaddes replied, adjusting his grip on Hitomi to let her see
Hitomi peered out back into the dust to see Mamoru staring darkly at Allen. Allen himself seemed pretty much as he had before, the same old body language and the looks that made her heart flutter even now. Celena...his sister? Hitomi stared at her, unnoticed, she was beautiful, a trace of her mother's Hitomi guessed.
So they had stopped, she felt her head and her stomach, they felt sort of heavy, as if they were carrying to much weight. She wondered how the baby felt. Four months and going through all this strain. She wondered whether it would affect it.
Why was Allen in a big convoy like this? She wanted to talk to him but knew it would have to wait. It was good to see him again, and someone friendly. She knew they were in Asturia now, or at least near it.
She looked again at Mamoru's expression, maybe he thought Allen was the father. Hitomi suppressed a giggle, as much as she had loved Allen it was hard to imagine him fathering anything but blue eyed boys like Chid.
Hitomi sighed and called up to Gaddes "Where are we going? Where are we?"
"We're on the outskirts of Asturia, not far from where we met you girl" he winked "We're actually on our way to Fanelia"
Hitomi resisted the urge to sit up straight, her stomach doing a summersault "Fanelia?"
Gaddes laughed, "Yeah, we've just been there for diplomatic reasons, and now we're going back because of you!"
"Me?" Hitomi went pink "If it's too much trouble we can walk, we don't need you to take us"
"Nah, the Commander made it his priority, seeing as you're more important than a report"
"Oh"
"Nice to have you back girl" Gaddes said over the noise of the horse "You can tell us all about how you came back when we arrive"
Hitomi smiled and watched the scenery roll past gently.
* * * * * *
"You're an...angel"
* * * * * *
It was complete dark and around midnight when they reached the city hidden within Fanelia's sloping valleys, as they approached the flickering torches Hitomi could make out the shape of a half built castle and hundreds of small houses.
Fanelia really hadn't taken that long to rebuild.
Distant watchmen's echoes floated out eerily to tell them their presence was known, and Hitomi heard Allen send men ahead to alert the garrison of their arrival formerly.
Ready at last to get off the saddle Hitomi tiredly felt her stomach and smiled once more at the way it seemed to curve of the muscle gently.
As they drew in through the half formed gates of the site (a wooden fence with a gate) crowds of people tiredly made their way out to see who was coming in at such a late hour and several sentries stifled yawns as they began to lead the troupe to the castle's shell.
Hitomi looked around as best she could, seeing faces in the dark and the streets filled with people gossiping.
"Why have the Asturians returned so soon?"
"Trouble, I'll bet"
"Look, they have children with them!"
"Maybe they found them out in the woods, lost maybe"
"Wait, one of them is that girl..."
"Girl? Wait, I see the resemblance but it can't be!"
Hitomi tried to ignore the comments but so many people had seen her on her first arrival with Van that it was impossible to keep them all from noticing her. So she shrunk into Gaddes's hold and tried to keep her face hidden from the firelight.
The castle of Fanelia had been rebuilt considerably, it was a shell still but all the foundations were in place and the first floor was apparently finished so the King had a place to sleep and places to hold meals and meetings and his servants also had places to live and work.
Gaddes told her jokingly about how Van had tried to convince the people he had no need of a castle but had woken up to find the foundations being built.
Hitomi smiled and looked up, there was Earth, pinned behind the silvery moon and once again she marvelled at her situation, that she had travelled across space to come to a world of which no record was found and yet was quite obviously real.
She stifled her own yawn and wiped her eyes as they came to a stop outside the castle's doors.
She saw Allen step down off his horse, a white mare, and he came over, bowing first then, pulling Hitomi off the horse, swept her up in a great bear hug.
"Allen, you're choking me" Hitomi smiled, wiping a few stray tears with one arm
"Hitomi" Allen replied "I hope you will forgive me but I had gotten into the thought that I was never going to see your beautiful face again" he let her go and got down on one knee "I deserve to die for my rudeness, please, what can I do for you to forgive me?"
For a moment Hitomi had thought Allen serious but his smile gave it away and she pulled him up as Mamoru rushed over, after falling off his horse. Shouts inside the castle let her know that soon he'd be out, the one she needed to see, and she needed to keep that moment away as long as possible. What would she say?
"Hitomi!" Mamoru cried, wrapping his arms around her "I thought you were dead, you can't do this kind of thing in your condition! You need to be resting or something" even he seemed close to tears in the dark, she could see them glittering "Don't do that again!"
Hitomi pushed him away and said "Don't worry, I don't plan to"
Mamoru nodded and then handed her her sports bag.
For a moment Hitomi felt like laughing, even in the situation she was in, the old sports bag seemed to have the good fortune of following her where ever she went, she marvelled at it's loyalty when a familiar voice yelled "Allen?"
Hitomi practically hid behind Allen's tall frame as a small catlike figure bounded out of the castle with authority.
"Allen!" Merle said tiredly "We're happy to have you but, I mean, well really, you just left!"
Allen swept her dazzling bow and said smoothly "Dear Lady Merle of the half built Fanelia Castle, forgive our rudeness but we happened to pick up some rather suspicious characters along our route and thought it best to hand them over to the Fanelian authorities"
"Whatever, Allen" Merle shrugged "Where are they?"
"Why, right here" Allen moved out of the way to reveal Hitomi and Mamoru
Merle stared, choked on a gulp of air, hacked, and then gasped "YOU!"
Hitomi mumbled "Nice to see you too, Merle"
"Who's the cat?" Mamoru said, baffled once more
Merle ignored both these comments and rushed over, grabbing Hitomi's sports bag and began rummaging through it. A bizarre display of affection ensued as Merle insulted practically everything in it as Hitomi thumped her on the head, nether the less it ended up with them both having the mutual agreement that they were glad to see each other.
"What are you doing here, Hitomi?" Merle asked
"Well, it's a long story" Hitomi replied
"Lord Van will be here in a moment!" Merle squealed "He's going to be...well...I don't know what his reaction will be but~ WOW!"
Merle didn't know what to say, and in truth neither did Hitomi. They both were waiting for Van because they both knew that was going to be the one that would have most effect on Hitomi.
Merle, instead of showing her discomfort eyed Mamoru, before pouncing on him with a yell of "And who's this weirdo Hitomi? He must be related to you, he practically reeks of garbage"
Mamoru stared and then began pulling at Merle's ears with "Are these things real?"
Promptly a fight had begun. Hitomi smiled, her relationship with Merle had begun the same way.
Her attention was caught by a flurry of movement inside the castle door, and there was probably a set of stairs inside because Hitomi could hear someone fall down several then scramble up again to carry on running with a curse. Her heart did a few leaps and Hitomi felt her stomach get butterflies as the running drew closer. Would he be glad to see her? What if he'd found someone else? Four months was time enough for anything.
Hitomi's doubts were flung aside as a half dressed figure practically fell through the doorway before pulling himself up quickly with a bow.
"Allen, what's wrong, why ar~" Van stopped and stared.
She smiled uncertainly, and the crowd grew silent around them.
"Hitomi"
* * *
How was that chapter all? I think I may rewrite this one too, I'm so not good at judging these things! Please review! I hope you liked it!
I'm just relaxing, listening to Maaya Sakamoto music (appropriate, huh?) and deciding to write this chapter. I'm so surprised at how many reviews you have given me 0_0 and I don't really feel like I deserve all these nice comments. Thank you so much for your comments though! I really like reading them and they help me to write as well!
Just watched 'the Day The Angel Flew' AGAIN! Honestly, I get goosebumps every time I watch it, the music when the energists start reacting is so cool. I can't believe how good Yoko Kanno is at composing!
Oh yeah, AnimeD (is it?) about the mistake in chapter two!! You're right!!! I had to go back and rewrite it 0_o why would they run to Mexico? It's because I keep imagining dub voices, and since their American I keep thinking America!! So I've gone back and changed it to Hokkaido! Thank you for pointing that out! Such an obvious mistake!
Ack. Poor Hitomi! I've made her pregnant and everyone seems to have fun either making her pregnant or killing off her family, or both!! Why must we all make her suffer so? Ah well, it makes good reading!
It's so hard, would Gaeans speak Japanese? I'll put them speaking English and Japanese as a common way of communicating between races and countries I guess...And we're finally going to have more characters looking at the scene!
Disclaimer: no own Escaflowne
* * *
Hitomi opened her eyes, sunspots littered her gaze and they felt strained for a moment. As it cleared she could see tree branches above her, dappled with light and colour. She couldn't be bothered to move, her arms and legs hurt a lot and her stomach felt weak.
She managed to move her hand to feel her abdomen and found it all in one piece, and the vague sense of life still resided beneath her palm. Once she found that feeling it made her more eager to discover her surroundings.
Trees...she though distantly, am I still at the shrine? Bird song littered the air, where there had been none before and the sound of traffic was vacant.
"Hitomi!"
Hitomi pulled herself up slowly to see Mamoru pulling his own body up into a sitting position, he looked groggy and still frightened.
Looking around quickly to find the things, Hitomi relaxed when she saw that there was no sign of them. Beginning to remember what had happened she pulled herself up completely and dusted off. If only the branches and leaves weren't covering the sky, she'd be able to tell where they were.
"Are you alright Hitomi?" Mamoru struggled over to her and handed her the sports bag, he'd held on to for the whole time "Where are those things? What was that light?"
Hitomi replied, "I'm not sure" but she was slightly clued in on the light
Mamoru took in the surroundings and said uncertainly "This isn't the shrine..."
"No"
Hitomi placed her bag on the floor and looked around, a tree close by held suitable braches for climbing and they were low. Hitomi rolled up her sleeves, not discouraged to find her pyjamas, and headed toward the tree trunk. Testing the lowest branch against her weight.
They were either on Earth or they weren't, the light had told her that enough.
"What are you doing?" Mamoru asked cautiously "You shouldn't do that in your condition"
Hitomi shot him a look of 'please' and began to climb, slowly but surely, to the largest branch in the highest place in the tree she could reach to get a good look at the sky. Despite Mamoru's protests she ended up pretty high and swept away the green foliage to reveal the bright blue sky that comes at the ending of a day.
A moon and planet hung in the bright sky, a bright white daytime moon. Hitomi could tell from the size of it that it wasn't Gaea. That meant one thing. They weren't on Earth. Her stomach felt strange for a moment with a feeling she had no name for. They were on Gaea.
Without the pendant.
Had they been transported there by strength of will? Hitomi gulped and began to make her way (a bit more slowly) down the tree.
Reaching the bottom of the tree she picked up her bag again and said slowly, "We're not on Earth anymore..."
Mamoru stared, then said "Oh Ha, ha Hitomi, 'we're not on Earth' what do you take me for?" but he did look uncertain
Hitomi eyed Mamoru; she'd always thought 13-year-old boys had a knack for looking confident, obviously her brother didn't hold this ability. She shrugged; it was up to him whether he would believe her, when he saw the sky above them he'd know. At least she'd tried to forewarn him about the shock.
What to do though? She had no idea where on Gaea they were. Unlike the other occupants she had travelled with, she had no knowledge of how to travel according to stars. So they'd have to walk in one direction until they found a road or person or village. Something to tell them where they were.
Gaea. Hitomi never thought she'd end up here again. But then, hadn't she wished for it at the shrine? Hadn't her feelings been strong enough to carry them both from danger?
Mamoru was staring at a tree "What type of tree is this?"
"I don't know" Hitomi replied, truthfully
He looked at her strangely and then stood still "Where's the noise of the traffic gone?"
"It's not here," Hitomi said
Mamoru was beginning to look as frightened as when the things had turned up at the house before "Hitomi, tell me what's going on!"
Hitomi sighed and then replied quite frankly, wishing to be on the move "I told you, we're not on Earth anymore, we're on another world now"
"Another?" he looked baffled
"Yes" Hitomi replied, "Climb up the tree and look"
She waited patiently as he did as she suggested and climbed up to the tree, he tumbled down again quickly enough though, with a look that said plainly what he was thinking.
"T-t-t-t-there's a w-r- Earth! UP THERE" he pointed with emphasis to the sky and Hitomi smiled
She'd felt exactly the same when she'd arrived after seeing the dragon.
"We're on a world called Gaea, come on, I'll tell you all about it"
They began to walk in a direction that Hitomi had randomly chosen and she began to tell the story of Gaea. Of her arrival there, well, the shortened version. She left out about the people she had met and the Destiny War, as well as her visions and card readings. Just that she had been here and come back to Earth. Four months ago.
She could see the light behind Mamoru's eyes light up when she had mentioned the time span. His head was putting together the pieces, her actions over the last four months...the pregnancy, the wings.
Mamoru stayed quiet as they walked through the greenery, listening to the strange birdcalls and getting to grips with all that she told him.
Hitomi hoped they were somewhere near Fanelia, or at least Asturia.
* * * * * *
"Sorry, I don't do that anymore"
* * * * * *
It must have been evening by the time they reached a road, Hitomi in the lead, Mamoru flabbergasted behind her. The sun was beginning to set and their shadows grew longer. The trees had thinned and they rounded a corner to discover a muddy track, conveniently littered with signposts pointing off in certain directions.
Unfortunately, Hitomi could not read the signs.
Mamoru had not spoken since their arrival, trying to process the information and the landscape around him. It was impossible, but here he was, walking on a planet behind the moon.
Hitomi had explained to him where there were and how they were but didn't really know how to talk about everything else, Van, Allen, all the others.
They'd also taken several rests to make sure Hitomi didn't get tired. But she was feeling weak, after they had begun to walk her head had begun to feel light and even now as they walked it was pounding. She decided it must have been the effort to bring them here but it was a pain. At one point her vision had blurred.
"We need to head either to Asturia or Fanelia," she said, looking at the signs absently
"Where?" Mamoru peered at the wiggles and shrugged "Guess they don't speak Japanese here"
Hitomi shook her head "They do, but I don't know how, it seems to be the common language here along with English while all the countries have different dialects. Most of the places I went when I was here spoke Japanese and English for some reason. Dryden even spoke Latin"
"Oh" he stared off into space for a moment, wondering who Dryden was, then asked Hitomi "Why would they speak Japanese and English?"
"Not sure" was all that came back
They set off in one direction of the road as the sun began to set, it seemed to have the most signs pointing towards it indicating civilisation it seemed.
Hitomi knew they'd have to camp out on the road, and it seemed like they'd have to do it soon but Hitomi began to hear hooves from far off. A whole lot of horses' hooves.
"Mamoru!"
She knew the war was over but there was no way to know what was going on in Gaea now, four months later, or who was friendly to strangers on the road. The safest bet was to hide while they passed. At least she'd learnt one good thing from being on the run from Zaibach.
Pulling Mamoru practically by the ear she moved off the road and back into the undergrowth, choosing a particularly large bush to sit behind, as the noise grew louder.
Since her stomach didn't hurt she knew that they weren't in immediate danger, but her head felt strange, the long walk had made her feel ill, she hadn't eaten either, and so she'd used up a lot of her energy on the running.
She laid her head on her knees and breathed deeply.
Mamoru looked ta her, concerned and said "Are you ok?"
Hitomi smiled "Yeah"
"They're nearly here" he motioned to the road, the noises of horses beginning to mix in with sounds of armour "Are you sure we need to hide? I thought you'd been here before"
"Not everyone's friendly" she replied seriously "It's just like our world"
"Here they come"
Hitomi watched his fist grip a stone and sighed, he was becoming like Van, always ready to protect. Maybe it was an effect of Gaea, still Mamoru would get a shock when he saw the people here. As she had before, it seemed like years ago even though it was just a few months.
They listened as the horses came closer and in a sudden rush of sound swept past the road as something like 30 or 40 horses in a troop rode past, Knights on all, swords and banners brightly flashing in the grim light.
Hitomi almost cried out as a shock of blonde hair drew out in front of the rest of the troops and was closely followed by another. Tall, blue uniform.
Stumbling out into the dust of the road Hitomi ran to the middle of the road screaming "ALLEN!" at the top of her lungs
"Hitomi!" Mamoru yelled, following her out into the cloud of dust.
Hitomi coughed from the dust, her hunger and fatigue finally taking her over and passed out.
* * * * * *
"ALLEN!"
"Hitomi!"
Mamoru grasped the sports bag and scrambled out into the road with his rock to where Hitomi was, reaching her as she collapsed. What was wrong with her?
The thunder of hooves had stopped and the dust was thick.
Were they coming back? Why had Hitomi yelled.
Mamoru knelt next to his sister and began to try and pull her up, but she was too heavy for him. He cursed and checked her breathing like he'd learnt at school.
"Who's there?"
Mamoru jumped three foot in the air, out of the dark and dusty road a tall figure made their way. Mamoru gripped his rock and threw it out at the person, not going to let anyone near Hitomi, determined to wound.
"STAY BACK!" he yelled as a cry of pain echoed out into the night
The figure continued and stepped out into the clearing dust. A tall man, taller than anyone Mamoru had ever seen stood over him. A long shock of blonde hair covering blue uniform and a very long sword.
Mamoru gulped and dragged Hitomi behind him.
The man frowned and said, "Who are you? How do you know my name?"
Mamoru scowled and gripped Hitomi's hand and her bag tighter. Determined not to let anything happen. But hadn't Hitomi called this man's name? How did he know her? A surge of anger flowed through Mamoru, was this the father of Hitomi's child? He was so...old. Mamoru shuddered inwardly at the thought.
The man held out his sword and said "Answer me boy, it's rude to keep a Knight of Asturia waiting"
"A what?" tumbled out of Mamoru's mouth before he could stop it
Fortunately this seemed to throw the man completely and he burst out laughing. It was a deep and kind laugh, he wasn't laughing at Mamoru but at the comment, Mamoru instinctively liked this laugh and warmed to the man. Surely he would help Hitomi.
He decided to ask for help with Hitomi, it couldn't help the baby to be like this, they had walked a long way.
"Excuse me, sir" Mamoru said politely once the man had calmed himself "My...my sister, she's...she needs help"
"Sister?" the man could only see Hitomi's lower half from behind Mamoru "Was she the one who called me? I have to admit, it was a rather feminine call and I have never been one to ignore the cry of a woman. What's the matter with her?"
"She's collapsed" Mamoru stated blandly which a 'duh' expression
The man smiled "Well, let me see your sister, boy"
Mamoru nodded and stood up, revealing his sister to the man fully. He was shocked to see the man practically reel with surprise and then go pale.
"HITOMI?" the man dropped to his knees and patted her cheek gently "Hitomi? Are you all right? Wake up Hitomi!"
Mamoru stared, he knew her as well? Then she hadn't just called a random name, he stared as this man tried to rouse his sister. His sword awkwardly scraping the floor.
A sword, what kind of world was this? Every moment it got stranger. Mamoru looked at the mans companions, a woman with cropped blonde a top a horse, also wearing a sword looked over patiently. And a troupe of men talked impatiently. One or two only looking vaguely interesting in their companion's actions.
Was he their commander?
They looked like they were stuck in Middle Ages Europe. They were on horses, had armour and swords, banners, their clothes too. Only they looked cleaner than they were back then.
How did this guy know Hitomi?
He watched as the man pulled Hitomi up in to his arms, Mamoru felt envious at his strength and the ease at which he lifted his sister with.
He waited as the man adjusted his grip on Hitomi and said, "Where are you taking her?"
The man ignored him and said instead, "She's your sister, you said?"
"Yes. What are you going to do with her?" Mamoru demanded, gripping Hitomi's bag handle tighter
He was ignored again, the man began to carry Hitomi over to the group of people towards the empty horse.
"Hey!" Mamoru yelled
The man looked at him "What's your name boy?"
Mamoru hesitated then yelled "Mamoru Kanzaki! And yours?"
The man grinned and replied "Allen Schezar, Knight of Asturia, it's a pleasure to meet you Mamoru Kanzaki! I would be honoured if you and your sister would accompany me to the country of Fanelia, it would seem to me that it would be your destination"
Hitomi's brother shrugged.
Mamoru watched as Hitomi was lifted onto a horse with a man in a green uniform, jet hair, and then jogged over to the group and Allen.
He stopped Allen and asked, "How do you know my sister?"
Allen smiled "All in good time my fried. Now, if you would be so kind as to share Celena's horse?"
He motioned to the shorthaired woman who smiled, if somewhat vacantly. Mamoru shrugged and thought, as long as I'm with Hitomi. He climbed up behind the woman and held on fast as they broke into a gallop, determined to figure out all that was gong on.
All this was too confusing, Hitomi had barely told him anything about this world, he'd known she was hiding things about it but didn't want to stress her out. Especially with the baby. And now Fanelia? Where and what was Fanelia? He set his mind on figuring it out.
* * * * * *
Hitomi opened her eyes to the jogging of the horses' gallop and the warmth of someone's arms.
"Van?" she murmured before she could stop herself, and blushed as she heard someone laugh out loud
Looking up at what held her on the moving animal, Hitomi gasped as she met the eyes of Gaddes, who had almost looked like an older Van for a moment. He looked exactly the same and grinned in a friendly manner.
"No, I'm not the King of Fanelia, much as I'd like to be" he laughed good naturedly, "You've returned to us then, little Lady?"
She bolted up as something hit her "Gaddes? Ho~ what? Where's Mamoru~ my brother?"
"Back there, on My Lady's horse" Gaddes replied, adjusting his grip on Hitomi to let her see
Hitomi peered out back into the dust to see Mamoru staring darkly at Allen. Allen himself seemed pretty much as he had before, the same old body language and the looks that made her heart flutter even now. Celena...his sister? Hitomi stared at her, unnoticed, she was beautiful, a trace of her mother's Hitomi guessed.
So they had stopped, she felt her head and her stomach, they felt sort of heavy, as if they were carrying to much weight. She wondered how the baby felt. Four months and going through all this strain. She wondered whether it would affect it.
Why was Allen in a big convoy like this? She wanted to talk to him but knew it would have to wait. It was good to see him again, and someone friendly. She knew they were in Asturia now, or at least near it.
She looked again at Mamoru's expression, maybe he thought Allen was the father. Hitomi suppressed a giggle, as much as she had loved Allen it was hard to imagine him fathering anything but blue eyed boys like Chid.
Hitomi sighed and called up to Gaddes "Where are we going? Where are we?"
"We're on the outskirts of Asturia, not far from where we met you girl" he winked "We're actually on our way to Fanelia"
Hitomi resisted the urge to sit up straight, her stomach doing a summersault "Fanelia?"
Gaddes laughed, "Yeah, we've just been there for diplomatic reasons, and now we're going back because of you!"
"Me?" Hitomi went pink "If it's too much trouble we can walk, we don't need you to take us"
"Nah, the Commander made it his priority, seeing as you're more important than a report"
"Oh"
"Nice to have you back girl" Gaddes said over the noise of the horse "You can tell us all about how you came back when we arrive"
Hitomi smiled and watched the scenery roll past gently.
* * * * * *
"You're an...angel"
* * * * * *
It was complete dark and around midnight when they reached the city hidden within Fanelia's sloping valleys, as they approached the flickering torches Hitomi could make out the shape of a half built castle and hundreds of small houses.
Fanelia really hadn't taken that long to rebuild.
Distant watchmen's echoes floated out eerily to tell them their presence was known, and Hitomi heard Allen send men ahead to alert the garrison of their arrival formerly.
Ready at last to get off the saddle Hitomi tiredly felt her stomach and smiled once more at the way it seemed to curve of the muscle gently.
As they drew in through the half formed gates of the site (a wooden fence with a gate) crowds of people tiredly made their way out to see who was coming in at such a late hour and several sentries stifled yawns as they began to lead the troupe to the castle's shell.
Hitomi looked around as best she could, seeing faces in the dark and the streets filled with people gossiping.
"Why have the Asturians returned so soon?"
"Trouble, I'll bet"
"Look, they have children with them!"
"Maybe they found them out in the woods, lost maybe"
"Wait, one of them is that girl..."
"Girl? Wait, I see the resemblance but it can't be!"
Hitomi tried to ignore the comments but so many people had seen her on her first arrival with Van that it was impossible to keep them all from noticing her. So she shrunk into Gaddes's hold and tried to keep her face hidden from the firelight.
The castle of Fanelia had been rebuilt considerably, it was a shell still but all the foundations were in place and the first floor was apparently finished so the King had a place to sleep and places to hold meals and meetings and his servants also had places to live and work.
Gaddes told her jokingly about how Van had tried to convince the people he had no need of a castle but had woken up to find the foundations being built.
Hitomi smiled and looked up, there was Earth, pinned behind the silvery moon and once again she marvelled at her situation, that she had travelled across space to come to a world of which no record was found and yet was quite obviously real.
She stifled her own yawn and wiped her eyes as they came to a stop outside the castle's doors.
She saw Allen step down off his horse, a white mare, and he came over, bowing first then, pulling Hitomi off the horse, swept her up in a great bear hug.
"Allen, you're choking me" Hitomi smiled, wiping a few stray tears with one arm
"Hitomi" Allen replied "I hope you will forgive me but I had gotten into the thought that I was never going to see your beautiful face again" he let her go and got down on one knee "I deserve to die for my rudeness, please, what can I do for you to forgive me?"
For a moment Hitomi had thought Allen serious but his smile gave it away and she pulled him up as Mamoru rushed over, after falling off his horse. Shouts inside the castle let her know that soon he'd be out, the one she needed to see, and she needed to keep that moment away as long as possible. What would she say?
"Hitomi!" Mamoru cried, wrapping his arms around her "I thought you were dead, you can't do this kind of thing in your condition! You need to be resting or something" even he seemed close to tears in the dark, she could see them glittering "Don't do that again!"
Hitomi pushed him away and said "Don't worry, I don't plan to"
Mamoru nodded and then handed her her sports bag.
For a moment Hitomi felt like laughing, even in the situation she was in, the old sports bag seemed to have the good fortune of following her where ever she went, she marvelled at it's loyalty when a familiar voice yelled "Allen?"
Hitomi practically hid behind Allen's tall frame as a small catlike figure bounded out of the castle with authority.
"Allen!" Merle said tiredly "We're happy to have you but, I mean, well really, you just left!"
Allen swept her dazzling bow and said smoothly "Dear Lady Merle of the half built Fanelia Castle, forgive our rudeness but we happened to pick up some rather suspicious characters along our route and thought it best to hand them over to the Fanelian authorities"
"Whatever, Allen" Merle shrugged "Where are they?"
"Why, right here" Allen moved out of the way to reveal Hitomi and Mamoru
Merle stared, choked on a gulp of air, hacked, and then gasped "YOU!"
Hitomi mumbled "Nice to see you too, Merle"
"Who's the cat?" Mamoru said, baffled once more
Merle ignored both these comments and rushed over, grabbing Hitomi's sports bag and began rummaging through it. A bizarre display of affection ensued as Merle insulted practically everything in it as Hitomi thumped her on the head, nether the less it ended up with them both having the mutual agreement that they were glad to see each other.
"What are you doing here, Hitomi?" Merle asked
"Well, it's a long story" Hitomi replied
"Lord Van will be here in a moment!" Merle squealed "He's going to be...well...I don't know what his reaction will be but~ WOW!"
Merle didn't know what to say, and in truth neither did Hitomi. They both were waiting for Van because they both knew that was going to be the one that would have most effect on Hitomi.
Merle, instead of showing her discomfort eyed Mamoru, before pouncing on him with a yell of "And who's this weirdo Hitomi? He must be related to you, he practically reeks of garbage"
Mamoru stared and then began pulling at Merle's ears with "Are these things real?"
Promptly a fight had begun. Hitomi smiled, her relationship with Merle had begun the same way.
Her attention was caught by a flurry of movement inside the castle door, and there was probably a set of stairs inside because Hitomi could hear someone fall down several then scramble up again to carry on running with a curse. Her heart did a few leaps and Hitomi felt her stomach get butterflies as the running drew closer. Would he be glad to see her? What if he'd found someone else? Four months was time enough for anything.
Hitomi's doubts were flung aside as a half dressed figure practically fell through the doorway before pulling himself up quickly with a bow.
"Allen, what's wrong, why ar~" Van stopped and stared.
She smiled uncertainly, and the crowd grew silent around them.
"Hitomi"
* * *
How was that chapter all? I think I may rewrite this one too, I'm so not good at judging these things! Please review! I hope you liked it!