Thanks for all the reviews once more, I'm still amazed that you like this story 0_o I'm still unsure with it. I'll probably never be happy with it. Last chapter was the longest I think so far, please don't expect it again because that took ages to write! I'm so pleased with your reviews though, thanks again! And again! And Again! Loooove long reviews, even if they do criticise me! Criticism welcome!
Well, I'm still leaning towards a sad ending, well, not quite sad. It will have a sort of happiness in it. But there's still no reason why I should use it, I might end up with something more. This chapter might be rushed, I'm supposed to be studying for the biggest exams of my life so far and I'm...not. Oops. Just this chapter!
I'm kind a leaning towards sad ending though...Well...bitter sweet!
Hey I got a live journal account at so if you want to you guys can look and leave a comment or two ^_~ and if I feel evil enough I might post previews of new chapters if I get around to it. Fae Rain why did you read it if you thought it was going to be horrible? I do that all the time too but then I read them and they're really good! Thank you for giving this fic a try! You want a happy ending? Well, maybe there will be one and maybe there won't be! I might have both tossed in there!
Why doe no one like Allen? He's cool! I don't like him as much as Van but he's not bad!
Hey, since people want to be informed by email when new chapters are coming up, shall I set up a Yahoo! Group or something where I can just email out to a mailing list when a new chapter comes out? Or do you just want me to take down all your emails?
Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne!
* * *
Hitomi found herself back in bed, Mamoru dozing lightly on a chair near her. She squinted in the bright light and found it to be late afternoon outside, whether it was the same day that she remembered it being or not, Hitomi couldn't tell.
Her head was pounding, remembering the pain she had felt Hitomi bolted up in bed in a fit of worry over the baby. She instantly regretted it, feeling dizzy she fell back down to the covers and lay there as a wave of nausea swept her. It subsided fairly rapidly and Hitomi then got up more cautiously.
She inspected herself critically, amazed at the amount of new burns she had, remembering her vision and shuddering. She counted up the ones she could see and had a total of 19 handprints on her body, burnt into the skin. She touched one and winced at the tenderness of the skin.
Hitomi placed her hands on her stomach, the pulled them away with shock. She pulled off the covers and found her stomach had grown. It was definitely bigger than before her vision, the baby had...grown? In such a short amount of time! Looking at it closely she tried to measure it with her fingers and remember how it had looked before.
"Woah!"
Hitomi leapt a mile high as Mamoru yawned widely and looked at her closely.
"When did put on weight?" he asked incredulously, "That's like...noticeable now. Do babies grow that fast?"
"No they don't" Hitomi bit her lip, something was going on, was it something to do with the vision?
A movement hit into her skin and she gasped as she said loudly "I don't remember it kicking before either"
Mamoru jumped up "It's kicking? Ok, I'm sort of scared now"
Hitomi raised her eyebrows in disbelief "You're scared? I'm the one it's in! Did you see it happen?"
"What happen?"
"The growth spurt!"
"No" Mamoru admitted, "I've been asleep"
"I realised that"
What more could go wrong with this baby? Hitomi wondered desperately, first there were the shadowed people, and now this. Had the jump to Gaea shifted the baby's age or development? There was no way of telling the travelling affect on a foetus. Or maybe the vision had changed it. It was getting out of hand, as if having the actual baby wasn't enough!
The baby was apparently relishing it's new found freedom as she felt it doing somersaults, she wouldn't have been surprised if wings had burst out of her skin at any moment because that was what it felt like was going on.
Hitomi wondered if there were any medical conditions that could make it skip months of growth, she looked around a month bigger after a day! What was going on, she was starting to get frightened.
Mamoru was babbling at her as well, and she only noticed when he said loudly "We'd better get you some help Hitomi, something could be wrong"
Hitomi agreed that something could be wrong and indeed, it did look very wrong. But if the baby was healthy, wasn't that a good thing? She really needed to see a healer.
"Mamoru, I want to get up, could you find me some clothes?" Hitomi pushed her legs over the side
Mamoru went in search of clothes and was about to open the heavy wooden door when a sharp rap on the other side startled him, and the door pushed open easily to reveal Van and Allen on the other side. Hitomi dived beneath the blankets again to hide, even though she assumed that they'd seen the burns, and the seizure she remembered couldn't really have been hidden with them all there.
Allen nodded at Mamoru, hiding a smile at the black eye he shared with Van, and glided easily over to Hitomi.
"How are you feeling? You gave us quite a scare," he asked, smiling
"Fine thank you" Hitomi replied, returning the smile before dropping it to look at Van seriously "Were they..."
He nodded silently, watching Mamoru leave on the search of her clothes. He shut the door behind the boy and turned back to the room, checking the windows for some reason and adjusting his sword for the millionth time.
"Hitomi, I think we need to let Allen in on this" he said calmly "Don't you think?"
Hitomi hid under the covers and Van managed to catch a muffled "Fine".
"Let me in on what?" Allen asked, brushing blonde away from his face and pulling up a chair before settling into it comfortably, "I assume it has something to do with yesterday's display?"
Van nodded and perched on the end of the bed "I don't really know how to start, but..."
* * *
"That's quite a shock" Allen remarked, sitting back in the chair dumbfounded, staring at Van in disbelief and then at the lump in the bed that was Hitomi "So that man...or rather, thing...in the courtyard was who Hitomi was predicting? That's why they were running from the Mystic Moon?"
Van nodded and said quietly "They want the baby"
"I'm not surprised" Allen replied "The child of a Draconian and a Seer from the Mystic Moon, you don't get one of those very often"
"No" Van agreed
The sat in silence for a moment and realised that Hitomi was sniffling under the covers. Allen's face softened and he reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder on top of the blankets, kneeling on the floor.
"Hitomi? Won't you come out and tell me what you think of all this?" he asked softly
Hitomi's red and puffy face appeared through a crack in the covers to peer up at the room's occupants.
"I'm pregnant and it's all going wrong" came the reply and the tear-streaked face disappeared under the quilt once more
Allen grinned at Van and then said to the Hitomi-lump "I did realise that Hitomi, now come out and tell us what's wrong"
The lump moved and Hitomi said quietly "Tell Van to leave or I won't come out"
"Hitomi?" Van protested "Why?"
"Please let me talk with Allen" the lump responded
Van glowered at Allen, and then shrugged it off and strolled out the door with a sigh of "I'll wait outside then"
The door shut and Hitomi peeked out of the covers, checking he was gone and then pulled them off her face and took a breath.
"Better?" Allen asked
"Much" Hitomi smiled, it faded slightly as she said, "I don't want him to know"
"What don't you want him to know?" Allen asked kindly
Hitomi paused and said, "Allen, what do you know about pregnancy"
"Well, not as much as a healer but a fair amount, in the field we need basic medical knowledge. Unfortunately I can't handle anything like seizures so I was a little helpless when you went out" Allen replied "But pregnancy I know from...well"
Hitomi nodded and then began to pull herself up to a sitting position again, blushing from being in her underwear but not bothering to be anymore embarrassed about it. She heard Allen suck air through his teeth at the burns and she grimaced at them once more as they stung, he smiled sympathetically at her.
"Why don't you want Van to be in here?" Allen asked, to the point
Hitomi hesitated then threw the covers off so that down to her hips was exposed, Allen stared and Hitomi blushed before pulling the covers back up and lying down painfully.
"I see" Allen said slowly "I don't recall seeing that there"
"It wasn't"
Allen frowned "I didn't even realise you were carrying when we were on the road so how did it suddenly spring up over night?"
"No idea" Hitomi admitted, she looked at the ceiling "I don't want Van to know because I don't even know what's happening to me. And if he thinks that there's something wrong and it's the fault of those...things, then he'll just go charging off to the border or wherever to kill them all and most likely get killed him. I don't want a fatherless child"
"Makes sense" Allen said "But sometimes it's best to tell the truth, with your stomach like that know we can't hide it much longer, even with baggy clothes"
"I know" Hitomi sighed "I have no idea what to do"
"Has anyone else seen it?"
"Only my brother"
"And who else apart from me and Van knows your pregnant?"
"Only my brother"
"And after him?"
"No one"
Allen sighed and looked at her, full of compassion, he sat back in the chair and rubbed his eyes with a gloved hand "Oh Hitomi, what will become of you?"
Hitomi shrugged and smiled "I don't know how it all happened, one minute I'm running track, the next Van runs into my life. I should blame my grandmother really, she's the one who started it all"
Allen chuckled and said, reaching over to grip her fingers "I hope you know that I'll be here to help you out, for as long as we can stay anyway. You know I think of you as one of my own family"
"I know" Hitomi said, patting Allen's hand "What shall we do about this bump then?"
"Nothing we can do other than find some really baggy clothes and say the others are in the wash" Allen replied standing up "If you really don't want Van to know then I won't say anything but you ought to tell him. You know how he gets"
Hitomi grinned then nodded and lay down to cover up again as Allen bowed and opened the door, Van leaning on the wooden rail opposite, wearing his trademark frown. He nodded and walked past Allen into the room, shutting it behind him. He waited till he was sure that Allen had gone and then strode across the room to sit in the chair that both Mamoru and Allen had sat in that day.
"How do you feel?" he asked
"Fine"
"There's salve on the table over there for the burns, the healers dropped it off while you were asleep" Van said, nodding in the direction of the bottle
Hitomi noticed his wrist and said, "Looks like you need some too"
Van moved his arm out of sight and replied, "It's nothing"
Hitomi frowned and then said sharply "Don't say that" she moved to sit up but he pushed her back down again "Van, you should have told me last night!"
"Told you what?"
Hitomi frowned and said "You know what Van Fanel, you should have told me those...those...things were here!" she burst into tears "And now they've gotten you too!"
Van stared at her, sobbing into the bed sheets, he admitted her should have told her but he hadn't been thinking straight. Was it everyday you got told that you were the father of a baby? He hadn't even been sure these were same people, he was now of course, but then it had just been rumour.
He was torn as what to do, even now, he was a bit uncomfortable to do what he thought men should do in this situation. Offer comfort. And he'd not hesitated the night she had come to offer comfort, but now...it felt wrong that he should offer comfort when he was the thing she was mad at. Were women always so confusing?
He found a piece of cloth on the table next to the chair he was on, reaching over he grabbed it and then offered it to Hitomi.
Hitomi looked at him as if he'd gone mad and then began to smile, then to laugh and she took the cloth from him. Van stared even more, no, he would never figure out girls. Happy one moment then sad the next.
They sat there for a moment as Hitomi laughed and then Van began to laugh with her, not really getting the joke but happy that she was happy again.
As they got over their laughing, Hitomi sniffed and said "Well?"
Van sighed and said "I should have, but...it's not everyday you get told you're about to be a father"
Hitomi nodded, he had a point.
"Hitomi, when we rounded up all the people in the castle when you had your vision" Van said, "There was one here, and, well, he didn't have a face. He didn't even say anything, he just grabbed my arm and burned me then disappeared. Into thin air. Everyone saw it and they expect me to tell them what happened and I just don't know what to say to them"
Hitomi looked at her burns and said quietly "I was thinking, maybe these burns are marks for them to identify us with"
"Identify us?" Van questioned looking at his own wound "Why, they just want the baby don't they?"
"Van, my vision" Hitomi looked at him seriously "I saw Folken"
"Folken?" Van asked loudly and Hitomi could see him visibly tense up, "Is he alive? The body...was never found. Is he alive, did you see him?"
Hitomi bit her lip and shook her head sadly, "His body was taken...in my vision, and those things stole it"
Van clenched his fist and Hitomi continued, "I heard a voice saying 'we must have another' and...I think I know what that means"
"What?"
Hitomi reached over and grabbed his wrist and said, "They want you Van, and the baby, they want a Draconian!"
Van stared at her and then pulled his wrist away, standing up "Why would they want that?"
"I don't know" Hitomi said exasperated, throwing herself back onto the pillows "I only know what I saw and what I think I know"
Van paced the room and said "A Draconian, but why? What would they need a Draconian for? Strange. So that's where the body was after the battle, and we searched so hard" he stared at his wrist and then back at Hitomi and he said carefully "And they've found me out too"
Hitomi nodded and said quietly "Where's our happy ending, Van?"
* * * * * *
"You're...an angel?"
* * * * * *
Mamoru was shifting through Hitomi's sports bag, which had been in his room near to Allen and his troops, by the window over looking the courtyard when Merle bounded in front of him and snatched away the pager from his grasp.
"Hey" Mamoru said and tried to get it back off her again
Merle eyed him and them pocketed the pager with a smug grin quickly, dodging out of his hands reach. Mamoru stared at the cat girl, she had ears just like a cat but then she seemed human too, it was quite perplexing being here. But then, Hitomi seemed so at home here. With that...guy.
"Give it back," he growled at the cat girl
Merle buffed her nails on her shirt and replied, "Not gonna"
Mamoru made a grab for the pocket and yelped when Merle slapped his hand away from her.
"What ARE you?" he said exasperated "Just give me back my sister's pager!"
Merle sniffed and said "Tell me what YOU are first, a demon from the Mystic Moon maybe?" she jumped onto a chair and asked, "Do you have visions too?"
"Visions?" Mamoru gaped "What are you talking about?"
Merle raised an eyebrow "Well...you're about as smart as a brick. I see you have the same genes as Hitomi in that area then"
"Hey~ wait!" Mamoru yelled as Merle leapt out into the hall with the pager and bounded away through the half-finished castle
* * * * * *
Hitomi was sleeping again when Mamoru returned to the room, without the pager returned unfortunately, and he found that the boy, Van, was sitting near her easily propped up with his sword resting against his shoulder. Mamoru stared for a moment, a little envious of this King who practically (to Mamoru at least) reeked of coolness.
He was just a little older than Mamoru himself and was already this respected war hero and King who he'd heard nothing but good of on his tour of the castle. At least Mamoru could take pride in the fact that they sported matching black eyes and that he had given this great King a black eye.
What did Hitomi see in him anyway? They way everyone in this place acted together...well, not everyone, only a few select people seemed to be in on it i.e that Allen guy and his sister, the cat girl, this King and his sister. Anyway, these people acted like they'd been through this huge ordeal that he could only guess at.
Four months ago his sister had changed, he hadn't known it then even though in the last week or so it had become obvious but she had changed from visiting this place. No longer was she the naïve teenager she once was, she had grown into a woman over night. A woman stuck in a child's body it seemed.
He didn't look good enough for her, Mamoru was protective over this sort of thing, was this guy just going to drop her? Sleep with her, get her pregnant then drop her? It seemed like there were so many jerks like that on Earth...but, looking at him, eyes shut, on the floor even though there was a chair next to him. To be the closest to her that you could be without being invasive. He didn't seem the kind of guy to drop her and Hitomi seemed sure enough he wouldn't.
He hoped she was right.
Clearing his throat he walked into the room saying loudly "I brought some clean clothes" Hitomi didn't stir
The guy's, Van's he correct himself, eyes shot open and the sword was halfway to being out before he automatically dropped it back to it's propped up position after seeing who it was.
That envious feeling came back to Mamoru, he was so good with a sword. Looking at the sword, Mamoru saw it was edged with gold on the hilt and he marvelled at the craftsmanship, simple yet elegant.
The King saw where he was looking and said quietly "It's the sword handed down to each King of Fanelia, it symbolises the duty to his country and people, that he must protect them and rule them justly" he looked at it almost lovingly "It's helped out more than it's fair share"
Mamoru made no answer and he laid the clothes out over where Hitomi's feet made bumps in the blankets. He made to exit the room but the King said, "Wait", getting to his feet and came towards him saying "Let's go for a walk"
Mamoru hesitated, looking at his sister, wondering whether they could leave her. Then he nodded and headed out the door with the young King.
"Your name is Mamoru?"
"Yes"
"My name is Van"
"I know"
After this they walked in silence out of the palace and out behind the city, where the rocks began to tower above the buildings and people came by less frequently. They both began to climb, higher and higher driven by slight boyish competitiveness to see who could climb higher than the other up the steep piles of rocks.
Reaching a plateau above the city, they stopped for a rest, not realising they had spent a good part of the day climbing in silence, having set out before lunch and now it was coming up to late afternoon. Hitomi would be up by now, Mamoru guessed, hoping she wasn't worried for him.
They sat on rocks, looking out over the busy city. Building here, a market place there, people going about their daily lives. Mamoru had taken in that a lot of the city was made up of women, the men being his age or younger or old with a few in between these ages scattered about.
"You wouldn't believe less than a year ago this place was razed to the ground"
Mamoru looked up at his companion, seeing his eyes iced over with an old pain. So that's where the men had gone, there had been a sort of fight.
"Your sister was here that day" Van said clenching his fist "Did she tell you?"
Mamoru shook his head, secretly shocked Hitomi had left out such a detail.
"Did she tell you about the war?"
What war? Mamoru wondered. He'd heard a brief account from Hitomi that she had been here and met a few people then come back. No information on how aged she had become or where that lucky pendant had gone, now that he thought about it. He'd seen it hang out of this Van's collar on the way up here.
"No" he replied
Van smiled bitterly "Not that I'd want her to remember it" he thumped the rock, agitated "She was in the thick of it most of the time too. And no one wants to see people die"
"She was fighting?"
"No, but she caused it sometimes, just like I did" he looked at his hands "I killed for her, and for me and Fanelia. For the whole of Gaea even. But even so, we saved Gaea. Did she tell you that?"
"I never even knew this place existed until two days ago" Mamoru admitted
Van nodded, "I thought all people on the Mystic Moon were demons until I met your sister" he paused "Maybe I'll tell you about it sometime"
Mamoru grinned, "I'd like that"
Van smiled and then said "Would you like to learn to sword fight while you're here? If your sister needs protecting then I think you'll need to be able to handle a weapon. Of course I'm not half the swords master Allen is or our master Balgus was but I can try. And we can see if Allen wants to help as well"
"Great"
In what seemed like the beginning of a mutual understanding the two young men began to make their way back down to the castle, not even bothered that they'd done nothing really on that half a day but both knowing that through Hitomi they'd formed an understanding. It also seemed that their matching black eyes were another symbol of this mutual understanding.
* * *
How was that chapter? I hope it was alright! Please review, and make sure you comment on the Yahoo! Group thing, say hi if you have a live journal!
Well, I'm still leaning towards a sad ending, well, not quite sad. It will have a sort of happiness in it. But there's still no reason why I should use it, I might end up with something more. This chapter might be rushed, I'm supposed to be studying for the biggest exams of my life so far and I'm...not. Oops. Just this chapter!
I'm kind a leaning towards sad ending though...Well...bitter sweet!
Hey I got a live journal account at so if you want to you guys can look and leave a comment or two ^_~ and if I feel evil enough I might post previews of new chapters if I get around to it. Fae Rain why did you read it if you thought it was going to be horrible? I do that all the time too but then I read them and they're really good! Thank you for giving this fic a try! You want a happy ending? Well, maybe there will be one and maybe there won't be! I might have both tossed in there!
Why doe no one like Allen? He's cool! I don't like him as much as Van but he's not bad!
Hey, since people want to be informed by email when new chapters are coming up, shall I set up a Yahoo! Group or something where I can just email out to a mailing list when a new chapter comes out? Or do you just want me to take down all your emails?
Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne!
* * *
Hitomi found herself back in bed, Mamoru dozing lightly on a chair near her. She squinted in the bright light and found it to be late afternoon outside, whether it was the same day that she remembered it being or not, Hitomi couldn't tell.
Her head was pounding, remembering the pain she had felt Hitomi bolted up in bed in a fit of worry over the baby. She instantly regretted it, feeling dizzy she fell back down to the covers and lay there as a wave of nausea swept her. It subsided fairly rapidly and Hitomi then got up more cautiously.
She inspected herself critically, amazed at the amount of new burns she had, remembering her vision and shuddering. She counted up the ones she could see and had a total of 19 handprints on her body, burnt into the skin. She touched one and winced at the tenderness of the skin.
Hitomi placed her hands on her stomach, the pulled them away with shock. She pulled off the covers and found her stomach had grown. It was definitely bigger than before her vision, the baby had...grown? In such a short amount of time! Looking at it closely she tried to measure it with her fingers and remember how it had looked before.
"Woah!"
Hitomi leapt a mile high as Mamoru yawned widely and looked at her closely.
"When did put on weight?" he asked incredulously, "That's like...noticeable now. Do babies grow that fast?"
"No they don't" Hitomi bit her lip, something was going on, was it something to do with the vision?
A movement hit into her skin and she gasped as she said loudly "I don't remember it kicking before either"
Mamoru jumped up "It's kicking? Ok, I'm sort of scared now"
Hitomi raised her eyebrows in disbelief "You're scared? I'm the one it's in! Did you see it happen?"
"What happen?"
"The growth spurt!"
"No" Mamoru admitted, "I've been asleep"
"I realised that"
What more could go wrong with this baby? Hitomi wondered desperately, first there were the shadowed people, and now this. Had the jump to Gaea shifted the baby's age or development? There was no way of telling the travelling affect on a foetus. Or maybe the vision had changed it. It was getting out of hand, as if having the actual baby wasn't enough!
The baby was apparently relishing it's new found freedom as she felt it doing somersaults, she wouldn't have been surprised if wings had burst out of her skin at any moment because that was what it felt like was going on.
Hitomi wondered if there were any medical conditions that could make it skip months of growth, she looked around a month bigger after a day! What was going on, she was starting to get frightened.
Mamoru was babbling at her as well, and she only noticed when he said loudly "We'd better get you some help Hitomi, something could be wrong"
Hitomi agreed that something could be wrong and indeed, it did look very wrong. But if the baby was healthy, wasn't that a good thing? She really needed to see a healer.
"Mamoru, I want to get up, could you find me some clothes?" Hitomi pushed her legs over the side
Mamoru went in search of clothes and was about to open the heavy wooden door when a sharp rap on the other side startled him, and the door pushed open easily to reveal Van and Allen on the other side. Hitomi dived beneath the blankets again to hide, even though she assumed that they'd seen the burns, and the seizure she remembered couldn't really have been hidden with them all there.
Allen nodded at Mamoru, hiding a smile at the black eye he shared with Van, and glided easily over to Hitomi.
"How are you feeling? You gave us quite a scare," he asked, smiling
"Fine thank you" Hitomi replied, returning the smile before dropping it to look at Van seriously "Were they..."
He nodded silently, watching Mamoru leave on the search of her clothes. He shut the door behind the boy and turned back to the room, checking the windows for some reason and adjusting his sword for the millionth time.
"Hitomi, I think we need to let Allen in on this" he said calmly "Don't you think?"
Hitomi hid under the covers and Van managed to catch a muffled "Fine".
"Let me in on what?" Allen asked, brushing blonde away from his face and pulling up a chair before settling into it comfortably, "I assume it has something to do with yesterday's display?"
Van nodded and perched on the end of the bed "I don't really know how to start, but..."
* * *
"That's quite a shock" Allen remarked, sitting back in the chair dumbfounded, staring at Van in disbelief and then at the lump in the bed that was Hitomi "So that man...or rather, thing...in the courtyard was who Hitomi was predicting? That's why they were running from the Mystic Moon?"
Van nodded and said quietly "They want the baby"
"I'm not surprised" Allen replied "The child of a Draconian and a Seer from the Mystic Moon, you don't get one of those very often"
"No" Van agreed
The sat in silence for a moment and realised that Hitomi was sniffling under the covers. Allen's face softened and he reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder on top of the blankets, kneeling on the floor.
"Hitomi? Won't you come out and tell me what you think of all this?" he asked softly
Hitomi's red and puffy face appeared through a crack in the covers to peer up at the room's occupants.
"I'm pregnant and it's all going wrong" came the reply and the tear-streaked face disappeared under the quilt once more
Allen grinned at Van and then said to the Hitomi-lump "I did realise that Hitomi, now come out and tell us what's wrong"
The lump moved and Hitomi said quietly "Tell Van to leave or I won't come out"
"Hitomi?" Van protested "Why?"
"Please let me talk with Allen" the lump responded
Van glowered at Allen, and then shrugged it off and strolled out the door with a sigh of "I'll wait outside then"
The door shut and Hitomi peeked out of the covers, checking he was gone and then pulled them off her face and took a breath.
"Better?" Allen asked
"Much" Hitomi smiled, it faded slightly as she said, "I don't want him to know"
"What don't you want him to know?" Allen asked kindly
Hitomi paused and said, "Allen, what do you know about pregnancy"
"Well, not as much as a healer but a fair amount, in the field we need basic medical knowledge. Unfortunately I can't handle anything like seizures so I was a little helpless when you went out" Allen replied "But pregnancy I know from...well"
Hitomi nodded and then began to pull herself up to a sitting position again, blushing from being in her underwear but not bothering to be anymore embarrassed about it. She heard Allen suck air through his teeth at the burns and she grimaced at them once more as they stung, he smiled sympathetically at her.
"Why don't you want Van to be in here?" Allen asked, to the point
Hitomi hesitated then threw the covers off so that down to her hips was exposed, Allen stared and Hitomi blushed before pulling the covers back up and lying down painfully.
"I see" Allen said slowly "I don't recall seeing that there"
"It wasn't"
Allen frowned "I didn't even realise you were carrying when we were on the road so how did it suddenly spring up over night?"
"No idea" Hitomi admitted, she looked at the ceiling "I don't want Van to know because I don't even know what's happening to me. And if he thinks that there's something wrong and it's the fault of those...things, then he'll just go charging off to the border or wherever to kill them all and most likely get killed him. I don't want a fatherless child"
"Makes sense" Allen said "But sometimes it's best to tell the truth, with your stomach like that know we can't hide it much longer, even with baggy clothes"
"I know" Hitomi sighed "I have no idea what to do"
"Has anyone else seen it?"
"Only my brother"
"And who else apart from me and Van knows your pregnant?"
"Only my brother"
"And after him?"
"No one"
Allen sighed and looked at her, full of compassion, he sat back in the chair and rubbed his eyes with a gloved hand "Oh Hitomi, what will become of you?"
Hitomi shrugged and smiled "I don't know how it all happened, one minute I'm running track, the next Van runs into my life. I should blame my grandmother really, she's the one who started it all"
Allen chuckled and said, reaching over to grip her fingers "I hope you know that I'll be here to help you out, for as long as we can stay anyway. You know I think of you as one of my own family"
"I know" Hitomi said, patting Allen's hand "What shall we do about this bump then?"
"Nothing we can do other than find some really baggy clothes and say the others are in the wash" Allen replied standing up "If you really don't want Van to know then I won't say anything but you ought to tell him. You know how he gets"
Hitomi grinned then nodded and lay down to cover up again as Allen bowed and opened the door, Van leaning on the wooden rail opposite, wearing his trademark frown. He nodded and walked past Allen into the room, shutting it behind him. He waited till he was sure that Allen had gone and then strode across the room to sit in the chair that both Mamoru and Allen had sat in that day.
"How do you feel?" he asked
"Fine"
"There's salve on the table over there for the burns, the healers dropped it off while you were asleep" Van said, nodding in the direction of the bottle
Hitomi noticed his wrist and said, "Looks like you need some too"
Van moved his arm out of sight and replied, "It's nothing"
Hitomi frowned and then said sharply "Don't say that" she moved to sit up but he pushed her back down again "Van, you should have told me last night!"
"Told you what?"
Hitomi frowned and said "You know what Van Fanel, you should have told me those...those...things were here!" she burst into tears "And now they've gotten you too!"
Van stared at her, sobbing into the bed sheets, he admitted her should have told her but he hadn't been thinking straight. Was it everyday you got told that you were the father of a baby? He hadn't even been sure these were same people, he was now of course, but then it had just been rumour.
He was torn as what to do, even now, he was a bit uncomfortable to do what he thought men should do in this situation. Offer comfort. And he'd not hesitated the night she had come to offer comfort, but now...it felt wrong that he should offer comfort when he was the thing she was mad at. Were women always so confusing?
He found a piece of cloth on the table next to the chair he was on, reaching over he grabbed it and then offered it to Hitomi.
Hitomi looked at him as if he'd gone mad and then began to smile, then to laugh and she took the cloth from him. Van stared even more, no, he would never figure out girls. Happy one moment then sad the next.
They sat there for a moment as Hitomi laughed and then Van began to laugh with her, not really getting the joke but happy that she was happy again.
As they got over their laughing, Hitomi sniffed and said "Well?"
Van sighed and said "I should have, but...it's not everyday you get told you're about to be a father"
Hitomi nodded, he had a point.
"Hitomi, when we rounded up all the people in the castle when you had your vision" Van said, "There was one here, and, well, he didn't have a face. He didn't even say anything, he just grabbed my arm and burned me then disappeared. Into thin air. Everyone saw it and they expect me to tell them what happened and I just don't know what to say to them"
Hitomi looked at her burns and said quietly "I was thinking, maybe these burns are marks for them to identify us with"
"Identify us?" Van questioned looking at his own wound "Why, they just want the baby don't they?"
"Van, my vision" Hitomi looked at him seriously "I saw Folken"
"Folken?" Van asked loudly and Hitomi could see him visibly tense up, "Is he alive? The body...was never found. Is he alive, did you see him?"
Hitomi bit her lip and shook her head sadly, "His body was taken...in my vision, and those things stole it"
Van clenched his fist and Hitomi continued, "I heard a voice saying 'we must have another' and...I think I know what that means"
"What?"
Hitomi reached over and grabbed his wrist and said, "They want you Van, and the baby, they want a Draconian!"
Van stared at her and then pulled his wrist away, standing up "Why would they want that?"
"I don't know" Hitomi said exasperated, throwing herself back onto the pillows "I only know what I saw and what I think I know"
Van paced the room and said "A Draconian, but why? What would they need a Draconian for? Strange. So that's where the body was after the battle, and we searched so hard" he stared at his wrist and then back at Hitomi and he said carefully "And they've found me out too"
Hitomi nodded and said quietly "Where's our happy ending, Van?"
* * * * * *
"You're...an angel?"
* * * * * *
Mamoru was shifting through Hitomi's sports bag, which had been in his room near to Allen and his troops, by the window over looking the courtyard when Merle bounded in front of him and snatched away the pager from his grasp.
"Hey" Mamoru said and tried to get it back off her again
Merle eyed him and them pocketed the pager with a smug grin quickly, dodging out of his hands reach. Mamoru stared at the cat girl, she had ears just like a cat but then she seemed human too, it was quite perplexing being here. But then, Hitomi seemed so at home here. With that...guy.
"Give it back," he growled at the cat girl
Merle buffed her nails on her shirt and replied, "Not gonna"
Mamoru made a grab for the pocket and yelped when Merle slapped his hand away from her.
"What ARE you?" he said exasperated "Just give me back my sister's pager!"
Merle sniffed and said "Tell me what YOU are first, a demon from the Mystic Moon maybe?" she jumped onto a chair and asked, "Do you have visions too?"
"Visions?" Mamoru gaped "What are you talking about?"
Merle raised an eyebrow "Well...you're about as smart as a brick. I see you have the same genes as Hitomi in that area then"
"Hey~ wait!" Mamoru yelled as Merle leapt out into the hall with the pager and bounded away through the half-finished castle
* * * * * *
Hitomi was sleeping again when Mamoru returned to the room, without the pager returned unfortunately, and he found that the boy, Van, was sitting near her easily propped up with his sword resting against his shoulder. Mamoru stared for a moment, a little envious of this King who practically (to Mamoru at least) reeked of coolness.
He was just a little older than Mamoru himself and was already this respected war hero and King who he'd heard nothing but good of on his tour of the castle. At least Mamoru could take pride in the fact that they sported matching black eyes and that he had given this great King a black eye.
What did Hitomi see in him anyway? They way everyone in this place acted together...well, not everyone, only a few select people seemed to be in on it i.e that Allen guy and his sister, the cat girl, this King and his sister. Anyway, these people acted like they'd been through this huge ordeal that he could only guess at.
Four months ago his sister had changed, he hadn't known it then even though in the last week or so it had become obvious but she had changed from visiting this place. No longer was she the naïve teenager she once was, she had grown into a woman over night. A woman stuck in a child's body it seemed.
He didn't look good enough for her, Mamoru was protective over this sort of thing, was this guy just going to drop her? Sleep with her, get her pregnant then drop her? It seemed like there were so many jerks like that on Earth...but, looking at him, eyes shut, on the floor even though there was a chair next to him. To be the closest to her that you could be without being invasive. He didn't seem the kind of guy to drop her and Hitomi seemed sure enough he wouldn't.
He hoped she was right.
Clearing his throat he walked into the room saying loudly "I brought some clean clothes" Hitomi didn't stir
The guy's, Van's he correct himself, eyes shot open and the sword was halfway to being out before he automatically dropped it back to it's propped up position after seeing who it was.
That envious feeling came back to Mamoru, he was so good with a sword. Looking at the sword, Mamoru saw it was edged with gold on the hilt and he marvelled at the craftsmanship, simple yet elegant.
The King saw where he was looking and said quietly "It's the sword handed down to each King of Fanelia, it symbolises the duty to his country and people, that he must protect them and rule them justly" he looked at it almost lovingly "It's helped out more than it's fair share"
Mamoru made no answer and he laid the clothes out over where Hitomi's feet made bumps in the blankets. He made to exit the room but the King said, "Wait", getting to his feet and came towards him saying "Let's go for a walk"
Mamoru hesitated, looking at his sister, wondering whether they could leave her. Then he nodded and headed out the door with the young King.
"Your name is Mamoru?"
"Yes"
"My name is Van"
"I know"
After this they walked in silence out of the palace and out behind the city, where the rocks began to tower above the buildings and people came by less frequently. They both began to climb, higher and higher driven by slight boyish competitiveness to see who could climb higher than the other up the steep piles of rocks.
Reaching a plateau above the city, they stopped for a rest, not realising they had spent a good part of the day climbing in silence, having set out before lunch and now it was coming up to late afternoon. Hitomi would be up by now, Mamoru guessed, hoping she wasn't worried for him.
They sat on rocks, looking out over the busy city. Building here, a market place there, people going about their daily lives. Mamoru had taken in that a lot of the city was made up of women, the men being his age or younger or old with a few in between these ages scattered about.
"You wouldn't believe less than a year ago this place was razed to the ground"
Mamoru looked up at his companion, seeing his eyes iced over with an old pain. So that's where the men had gone, there had been a sort of fight.
"Your sister was here that day" Van said clenching his fist "Did she tell you?"
Mamoru shook his head, secretly shocked Hitomi had left out such a detail.
"Did she tell you about the war?"
What war? Mamoru wondered. He'd heard a brief account from Hitomi that she had been here and met a few people then come back. No information on how aged she had become or where that lucky pendant had gone, now that he thought about it. He'd seen it hang out of this Van's collar on the way up here.
"No" he replied
Van smiled bitterly "Not that I'd want her to remember it" he thumped the rock, agitated "She was in the thick of it most of the time too. And no one wants to see people die"
"She was fighting?"
"No, but she caused it sometimes, just like I did" he looked at his hands "I killed for her, and for me and Fanelia. For the whole of Gaea even. But even so, we saved Gaea. Did she tell you that?"
"I never even knew this place existed until two days ago" Mamoru admitted
Van nodded, "I thought all people on the Mystic Moon were demons until I met your sister" he paused "Maybe I'll tell you about it sometime"
Mamoru grinned, "I'd like that"
Van smiled and then said "Would you like to learn to sword fight while you're here? If your sister needs protecting then I think you'll need to be able to handle a weapon. Of course I'm not half the swords master Allen is or our master Balgus was but I can try. And we can see if Allen wants to help as well"
"Great"
In what seemed like the beginning of a mutual understanding the two young men began to make their way back down to the castle, not even bothered that they'd done nothing really on that half a day but both knowing that through Hitomi they'd formed an understanding. It also seemed that their matching black eyes were another symbol of this mutual understanding.
* * *
How was that chapter? I hope it was alright! Please review, and make sure you comment on the Yahoo! Group thing, say hi if you have a live journal!