Sorry it's been so long since the last chapter, I didn't start it...then...I went on holiday...then...stuff...etc. Anyway so here it is finally, I hope it won't disappoint, I've been catching up on all the other Escaflowne fics that I've missed updates of, you are all so talented! Go you!
Anyway, love this group called Placebo, they have a wonderful song called 'Special Needs', very good. Someone also told me there was a fic published a little while ago similar to mine…hopefully not too similar. But still, makes me a little sad but then I guess they are sad too that mine is here. But then, I guess this idea isn't that original either. But thanks for all you guys for sticking with me! Good luck to the other writer though ^_^
Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne
* * *
Mamoru stared at his sister as she ran past him through the castle courtyard where he was again at sword practice with Allen, who was practically forbidding him from getting a drink through his beginner's drills.
Hitomi didn't even say hello. Mamoru lowered his sword as Allen did and stared after her.
"Hitomi?" he called "Where are you going?"
She didn't reply, it didn't even seem like she'd noticed him, Mamoru's jaw dropped as he watched her turn a corner. Her stomach was about the size of a woman heavily pregnant. His next door neighbour had been that big a week before having her baby. But five months couldn't be that big...
"Allen...did you just see that?" he looked at his new training master
Allen nodded and brushed his hair out of his face "Perhaps you should go after her" he suggested, "Isn't that what brothers do?"
Mamoru bit his lip and then shrugged "Only when their sisters need protecting, and usually she doesn't want help..."
"Well, shall I go?" Allen asked
"No. Only if she's gone for the day, most likely she'll come back later" Mamoru said "She won't stay away and from the looks of it she wanted to be alone anyway"
"Mmm" Allen murmured non-committedly and turned back to Mamoru "Alright, let's carry on"
* * *
"Jerk. Fool. Idiot" Hitomi chanted as she ran, almost spectacularly considering her burden
Who was he to tell her what to do? He'd always been like that, but now she couldn't stand that aspect of him. Slowing down next to a tree she discovered how hot she was and leaned on the trunk to cool down, running when you're pregnant, it seemed, was not the best of ideas.
Looking back at where she'd come, she discovered she was half way between the castle and the city, quite far for a sprint.
And out of the castle.
"Jerk" she repeated to the castle and slid down on the opposite side of the tree trunk, so it hid her from castle view, and sat on the bushy grass
She put her hands on her huge belly and was suddenly surprised when to large splashes appeared on her skin. Wiping her eyes she discovered tears were coursing down her cheeks like the end of the world had come.
"Don't be so stupid Hitomi" she scolded herself "You cry too much"
But it didn't stop her.
She balled her fists and bit her lip as the tears poured their way to the ground. It was his entire fault. Why did he think she couldn't help herself? But then she had been the one to run away from the problem, come to here for his protection. For that was why she had come wasn't it? To feel protected and loved?
No. Hitomi assured herself, it was the right thing to do, she wasn't running away from anything. And it was just the hormones making her cry.
She put her hands on her chest, why did it hurt so much? Was this what love was really made up of? Hurt, pain, arguments? She hadn't thought so, it was supposed to be all fluffy and holding hands. How foolish she had been to think that coming here it would all be ok. Not even Van could protect her from these things and when he tried to it just seemed to pull them apart.
He was probably never going to speak to her again.
She wouldn't speak to her again.
But it was his entire fault. He was the one who'd shown up on the running track, she felt a kick in her stomach and decided the baby agreed with her. His fault, not hers.
She wondered briefly when it would be good to go back to the castle and pick up some fresh clothes that actually fit her but pushed it away, she wasn't going back just yet.
If only she'd thought to bring her tarot cards out of the castle with her, but then, she hadn't really thought about it. If she had then perhaps she could...no. Hitomi shook her head, no more predictions.
Her mind wandered to the last one she had made only a few days ago...
Stay in the light, they want the child.
Well it was obvious who 'they' was. Those things she kept running into, pulling up her sleeve and looking at the burn she ran her fingers over the sore skin, wincing at the pain.
"So they want the baby, I guess the daughter of a Draconian and someone from the Mystic Moon would be valuable. But not to...things like them" she said softly "And they marked Van too...so it must be the Draconian blood"
Unfortunately the only person who would know about properties of Draconian blood that she could think of was Dryden. And Van of course, the only living Draconian left, unless you counted the baby that was yet to be born. But Van didn't seem to know anything specific about his body's abilities other than the wings (obviously) and his red-ish eyes.
Dryden seemed to be the best bet, with his library and all.
But hadn't he gone travelling? At the moment Millerna was ruling on her own, or so Celena and Allen said, Dryden had gone travelling in order to learn more about his world and the Kingdom he would be ruling.
No way then. Hitomi sighed.
She had nothing to do, either go back and face Van, or not to go back and face the possibility of even more things going wrong. Slumping back on to the tree Hitomi rubbed her stomach idly as the baby kicked. A good, strong kick, backing up her suspicions that this baby was growing WAY too fast and, the way she judged it, she was going to have this baby pretty soon.
"Then what do I do?" she wondered "Go home? Stay here?"
What a mess.
"You look a mess"
Hitomi looked up and met the bright cerulean eyes of Celena, looking concerned, brushing her short blonde hair out of her face. Wearing a few left over plates and her sword of her full suit of armour which she had discarded when they'd arrived at the castle, Celena adjusted her wrist guards and looked down at Hitomi fondly.
"What's up?" she asked
"Nothing" Hitomi tried to smile
"You obviously had a fight with Van" Celena said, ignoring Hitomi's last comment
Hitomi blinked, she'd hit it right on the head "Sort of…" she sighed
"Hmmm, these things happen all the time in relationships" Celena nodded knowingly, "Or so my brother says, and he has enough love life problems to make me believe him"
Hitomi snorted "As if we're in a real relationship. He's such a child right now"
Celena grinned "And you're not?"
Hitomi frowned "I guess I am too…but, we're both still children"
"The freedom of childhood was taken with Van when Fanelia was attacked" Celena said seriously "And you, when you consummated your feelings with him. Or even before that, when you met him"
"I know" Hitomi mumbled and placed her hands over her stomach, "It's just…on the Mystic Moon we're still children"
"I know it must be hard for you, but you know Van's only doing what he is because he wants to protect you"
"I know that"
"Let me tell you something" Celena said, crouching down next to Hitomi "Usually an heir to the throne is married before they are given the crown, and this is at a very young age. In Asturia betrothals are often made at birth. Van skipped this process when Fanelia was destroyed once and now his advisors have been pestering him for months for a marriage to an ally country"
Hitomi listened, captivated by the affairs of Gaea.
"Even though they pressured him he wouldn't give in, made excuses and the like and just wouldn't back down. You see Hitomi without an heir Fanelia is vunerable. But he still wouldn't back down"
"Why are you telling me this?" Hitomi asked
"Because" said Celena, "It proves just how much he does care for you, that even though he knew you might not see each other again that he still abstained from marriage. And I think you feel the same, so don't you go getting upset over a little hiccup like this; it's fate"
Hitomi smiled "Well fate has its own way of doing things, doesn't it"
Celena smiled but didn't answer, she pulled herself up from the ground and stretched.
Blinking away a sudden stinging in her eyes Hitomi suddenly realised that it wasn't her eyes stinging it was her stomach.
"I feel slightly…" she said slowly, looking up at the blonde
Celena wasn't looking at her, but behind her.
"Hitomi, I want you to run to the castle when I say so" she said sternly
"What?"
"Do as I say Hitomi" Celena didn't look as if she was playing, throwing a hand down for Hitomi to grab as a help up, her blue eyes a sheet of ice
Hitomi looked around and felt sick, the stinging sudden elevating itself. Three black cloaks were wavering in the breeze not far away from where they were standing. She blanched and pulled herself up by Celena's hand.
The three figures were moving slowly, as if balloons toward them, coming up the hill from the town below. A few people on the road seemed to notice them, running away as fast as they could, afraid of what they were seeing.
Celena's grip, still on Hitomi's wrist, was painful. Hitomi pulled it away from the girl and started to move back towards the castle.
"Go Hitomi"
Hitomi didn't wait to argue, she began to stumble her way to the castle.
"Van's right" she mumbled "I really am useless"
Celena wasn't listening, her eyes were hard and she was calculating the positions of the three ahead. In a swift sharp movement and the sweeping sound of metal being scraped, she had pulled her long sword from its sheath and was walking calmly down to meet the three dark figures, now they were so close Hitomi could begin to see the markings of the hideous faces on the white masks.
For a moment Hitomi's vision flickered and she could have sworn it was Dilandau walking down the hill, sword drawn in his blood red armour, eyes raging. Then it changed and once more Celena was facing the enemy.
"STOP RIGHT THERE"
Was that battle roar really Celena's? Hitomi heard the gigantic noise and started, but still fixated on the castle and she was sure that the cry would have been heard in Palas from the volume of it.
Hitomi stumbled over her foot and fell hardly across a rock, yelping as both her belly and knees protested the motion and she slit her shin across a stone. His her head was hurting so much and her stomach was rolling.
"No! Not now" trying to scramble up Hitomi threw up the contents of her stomach fiercely and collapsed onto the grass again, holding her head as it split with pain "No…"
She couldn't see straight anymore…her vision blurred slightly before she blinked it clear again.
A black shadow suddenly fell over her and she struggled to see what made it, but found her question answered when a searing white hot hand plastered itself once more on her wrist.
Screaming in agony Hitomi tried to pull away, but the hand was too strong, the figure paid no attention to her struggles and just screeched the ear-bleeding scream again.
It began to drag her along the hill and away from the castle and Celena and Hitomi only just mustered the strength managed to bring her free hand up to try to protect her stomach which was being beaten and battered by the rocks and rough ground she was being dragged over.
Dimly she registered through the pain, the yells of Celena and the answering calls of her captor's brethren. Hitomi struggled as she could but could do nothing, she felt more cuts opening on her arms as more rocks appeared under her, the creature seemingly intent on ripping her open on them.
Feeling consciousness loosing its grip she screamed as loud as she could "VAN! ALLEN! MAMORU!"
She sobbed once and whispered "I am useless…Van…"
And then she knew no more.
* * *
"It's your fault"
* * *
"LORD VAN!"
Van leapt off the chair he had been waiting for Hitomi in, hoping that she wouldn't be too mad for the way he had acted earlier, to be cannon balled into by the younger cat figure.
Merle wrapped her arms around him tightly and said "Lord Van…it's…it's…"
"Merle?" Van looked at her closely, realising she was sobbing into his shirt as his skin beneath the material became damp also
"Lord Van…it's…they…" she couldn't get it out "They…"
"Took Hitomi" Allen finished, appearing in the door, a very pale and distraught looking Mamoru behind him, Allen looked calm and collected with the knowledge but seemed to be tapping his boot-clad foot on the floor irritably
"What?" Van felt his stomach drop out through his shoes, taking a deep breath he said calmly "WHAT?" it came out louder than he expected and he jumped at himself, taking a deep breath he said more quietly "What happened?"
Allen refrained from asking why Hitomi had in the first place run out of the castle and instead said "Celena was with her, but she's been injured. Come on, you can talk to her instead. She's in the soldier barracks being patched up"
* * *
When they arrived at the door in the long building, Allen knocked and opened the door slowly. Inside the room were two single beds, the room was very clean, and although only one was in a bed, there were two occupants.
Gaddess stood easily out of his chair and saluted his commander easily "Sir" and then he turned to Celena with a grin "I'll see you later, get some rest" before nodding to the others and walking out into the corrador, shutting the door behind him
Allen eyed his second in command and then his sister, and then said "How are you doing?"
Celena rolled her eyes "Having your arm half torn off isn't something you easily shake off" she turned more serious when she saw Van though and said "Your majesty, I want you to know I did everything in my power to protect her"
Van frowned "Just tell me what happened" it seemed that every moment he was in the dark his guilt and worry increased
"Well I saw Hitomi on the hill outside the castle looking" she paused "Upset about something, so I went to see what was wrong. We were talking when three of those…things came up out of nowhere. I tried to fight them off and told Hitomi to run to the castle. Unfortunately another was waiting for that it seemed an grabbed her while I was incapacitated"
Van bit his lip "Did she say what was wrong?"
"No"
But everyone in the room knew that it was a lie.
Allen shifted his sword and sat down on the free bed with a sigh "Where would they take her? Why would they take her? We know nothing about them"
Merle nodded and said "They don't even smell like normal people"
At this Allen looked up and asked "What do they smell like?"
Merle looked confused "Why?"
"What do they smell like?" Allen pressed
Merle thought for a moment then said "They smell like…ash. Like when…when Fanelia was burnt, they smell like that. Just not so much, just generally, I could smell it on Hitomi's clothes when she was hurt and stuff. Now that I think about it, when we were in the baths she still smelled of it, but I thought that it was just her"
"Thanks" Mamoru said sarcastically, the others jumped, having forgotten he had been there "What does the smell matter?"
Allen thought for a moment and said "It ould matter if Merle could follow Hitomi's scent or their scent. It would make it easier for us to find her"
Merle shook her head "Sorry but scents grown cold after a few hours, before we'd have catched up to them it'll have gone" she said sadly "I'm sorry but that's how it works, at least for me"
"It's ok" Celena said comfortingly
Van remained silent, his mind in turmoil over what to do. He wanted with all his heart to go after her and protect her and his child, but they had argued so. Would she even want to see him?
"Van"
He jumped as he realised it was his name being said and said quickly "What?"
"I said" Allen replied "Do you have any ideas, or would you like me to take control of a search party?"
Van flapped his hand and said "You do it, I've never in my life organised a search party, and you have more experience than me. Now, if you'll excuse me" he said, in a somewhat cold tone he didn't intend "I have things to do"
He walked to the, pausing slightly to give a nod to Mamoru, and left. Listening outside the shut door he heard whispered tones of concern and authority and conversations he didn't even want to hear.
They all thought it was his fault. And so did he. Growling, Van marched down the wooden hall and out of the soldier's barracks.
It was his fault, he should have been there. Whirling around he smashed his fist into one of the wooden walls that shared its border with outside, and Van seemed surprised when he found his fist had gone straight through. Catching a passing soldier staring at him in disbelief, Van barked "Don't just stand there, find a repair crew"
"Yes sir" the man saluted and ran off
Van looked at his gloved fist, at the burn emerging from under the material and didn't hesitate to punch another hole into the thin wooden barrier. He pulled the broken bits of wood free to release his limb and then strode out of the soldier's barriers into the training yard below, where they day was already beginning to look stretched and dim.
Van wiped his forehead and ran his hand through his black locks, he sighed and leaned against the small wooden fence that surrounded the training yard he and Allen had used to begin to teach Mamoru the basics of swordplay. It seemed like years ago.
As the sun began to turn the sky red, Van felt a tugging at his neck. He frowned and brought the pendant out from its home underneath his shirt. It was glowing, the small gold ring around the chain turned pink in the reflected light, Van frowned and dropped the pendant back down again.
It didn't hit his chest, it didn't even hit his shirt, it stayed in the air, an inch from the material and Van began to realise what it was trying to tell him.
'You know where Hitomi is, don't you?' he thought and half ripped, half pulled the pendant from his neck and held it up, where it dropped like nothing had happened.
Van grinned with a new, burning ambition, which suddenly appeared in his head so brightly that he couldn't imagine why he hadn't thought of it before. Slapping his forehead and almost laughing out loud with his new found knowledge.
Hadn't Hitomi been the one to teach him dowsing? Hadn't he been the one to use dowsing without a pendant to, well, kill Dilandau's Dragon slayers? Didn't he know hold the pendant Hitomi had used to dowse the last time she was in Gaea?
It all seemed to fit together so plausibly that he was amazed at it seemed like it would work. Looking back up at the Soldier's Barracks he hesitated on whether to tell them his plan.
He decided against it, they would only be sceptical.
Grinning manically, he gripped the pendant and ring in his palm and sprinted back to the castle for things he would need.
He'd make it up to Hitomi, and to his unborn child. But for now, he needed to find them.
"Hold on Hitomi" he gasped as he ran "I'm coming to get you"
* * *
So how was that chapter? I hope it made up for the wait, I went on Holiday and then I was busy with stuff so…yeah, I have finished MY OTHER FIC. So I'm free to work on this one anyway so that's good for you guys. Tell me what you think and stuff. Tell me how it's going, what you've been up to. Well…just r and r I guess!
Anyway, love this group called Placebo, they have a wonderful song called 'Special Needs', very good. Someone also told me there was a fic published a little while ago similar to mine…hopefully not too similar. But still, makes me a little sad but then I guess they are sad too that mine is here. But then, I guess this idea isn't that original either. But thanks for all you guys for sticking with me! Good luck to the other writer though ^_^
Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne
* * *
Mamoru stared at his sister as she ran past him through the castle courtyard where he was again at sword practice with Allen, who was practically forbidding him from getting a drink through his beginner's drills.
Hitomi didn't even say hello. Mamoru lowered his sword as Allen did and stared after her.
"Hitomi?" he called "Where are you going?"
She didn't reply, it didn't even seem like she'd noticed him, Mamoru's jaw dropped as he watched her turn a corner. Her stomach was about the size of a woman heavily pregnant. His next door neighbour had been that big a week before having her baby. But five months couldn't be that big...
"Allen...did you just see that?" he looked at his new training master
Allen nodded and brushed his hair out of his face "Perhaps you should go after her" he suggested, "Isn't that what brothers do?"
Mamoru bit his lip and then shrugged "Only when their sisters need protecting, and usually she doesn't want help..."
"Well, shall I go?" Allen asked
"No. Only if she's gone for the day, most likely she'll come back later" Mamoru said "She won't stay away and from the looks of it she wanted to be alone anyway"
"Mmm" Allen murmured non-committedly and turned back to Mamoru "Alright, let's carry on"
* * *
"Jerk. Fool. Idiot" Hitomi chanted as she ran, almost spectacularly considering her burden
Who was he to tell her what to do? He'd always been like that, but now she couldn't stand that aspect of him. Slowing down next to a tree she discovered how hot she was and leaned on the trunk to cool down, running when you're pregnant, it seemed, was not the best of ideas.
Looking back at where she'd come, she discovered she was half way between the castle and the city, quite far for a sprint.
And out of the castle.
"Jerk" she repeated to the castle and slid down on the opposite side of the tree trunk, so it hid her from castle view, and sat on the bushy grass
She put her hands on her huge belly and was suddenly surprised when to large splashes appeared on her skin. Wiping her eyes she discovered tears were coursing down her cheeks like the end of the world had come.
"Don't be so stupid Hitomi" she scolded herself "You cry too much"
But it didn't stop her.
She balled her fists and bit her lip as the tears poured their way to the ground. It was his entire fault. Why did he think she couldn't help herself? But then she had been the one to run away from the problem, come to here for his protection. For that was why she had come wasn't it? To feel protected and loved?
No. Hitomi assured herself, it was the right thing to do, she wasn't running away from anything. And it was just the hormones making her cry.
She put her hands on her chest, why did it hurt so much? Was this what love was really made up of? Hurt, pain, arguments? She hadn't thought so, it was supposed to be all fluffy and holding hands. How foolish she had been to think that coming here it would all be ok. Not even Van could protect her from these things and when he tried to it just seemed to pull them apart.
He was probably never going to speak to her again.
She wouldn't speak to her again.
But it was his entire fault. He was the one who'd shown up on the running track, she felt a kick in her stomach and decided the baby agreed with her. His fault, not hers.
She wondered briefly when it would be good to go back to the castle and pick up some fresh clothes that actually fit her but pushed it away, she wasn't going back just yet.
If only she'd thought to bring her tarot cards out of the castle with her, but then, she hadn't really thought about it. If she had then perhaps she could...no. Hitomi shook her head, no more predictions.
Her mind wandered to the last one she had made only a few days ago...
Stay in the light, they want the child.
Well it was obvious who 'they' was. Those things she kept running into, pulling up her sleeve and looking at the burn she ran her fingers over the sore skin, wincing at the pain.
"So they want the baby, I guess the daughter of a Draconian and someone from the Mystic Moon would be valuable. But not to...things like them" she said softly "And they marked Van too...so it must be the Draconian blood"
Unfortunately the only person who would know about properties of Draconian blood that she could think of was Dryden. And Van of course, the only living Draconian left, unless you counted the baby that was yet to be born. But Van didn't seem to know anything specific about his body's abilities other than the wings (obviously) and his red-ish eyes.
Dryden seemed to be the best bet, with his library and all.
But hadn't he gone travelling? At the moment Millerna was ruling on her own, or so Celena and Allen said, Dryden had gone travelling in order to learn more about his world and the Kingdom he would be ruling.
No way then. Hitomi sighed.
She had nothing to do, either go back and face Van, or not to go back and face the possibility of even more things going wrong. Slumping back on to the tree Hitomi rubbed her stomach idly as the baby kicked. A good, strong kick, backing up her suspicions that this baby was growing WAY too fast and, the way she judged it, she was going to have this baby pretty soon.
"Then what do I do?" she wondered "Go home? Stay here?"
What a mess.
"You look a mess"
Hitomi looked up and met the bright cerulean eyes of Celena, looking concerned, brushing her short blonde hair out of her face. Wearing a few left over plates and her sword of her full suit of armour which she had discarded when they'd arrived at the castle, Celena adjusted her wrist guards and looked down at Hitomi fondly.
"What's up?" she asked
"Nothing" Hitomi tried to smile
"You obviously had a fight with Van" Celena said, ignoring Hitomi's last comment
Hitomi blinked, she'd hit it right on the head "Sort of…" she sighed
"Hmmm, these things happen all the time in relationships" Celena nodded knowingly, "Or so my brother says, and he has enough love life problems to make me believe him"
Hitomi snorted "As if we're in a real relationship. He's such a child right now"
Celena grinned "And you're not?"
Hitomi frowned "I guess I am too…but, we're both still children"
"The freedom of childhood was taken with Van when Fanelia was attacked" Celena said seriously "And you, when you consummated your feelings with him. Or even before that, when you met him"
"I know" Hitomi mumbled and placed her hands over her stomach, "It's just…on the Mystic Moon we're still children"
"I know it must be hard for you, but you know Van's only doing what he is because he wants to protect you"
"I know that"
"Let me tell you something" Celena said, crouching down next to Hitomi "Usually an heir to the throne is married before they are given the crown, and this is at a very young age. In Asturia betrothals are often made at birth. Van skipped this process when Fanelia was destroyed once and now his advisors have been pestering him for months for a marriage to an ally country"
Hitomi listened, captivated by the affairs of Gaea.
"Even though they pressured him he wouldn't give in, made excuses and the like and just wouldn't back down. You see Hitomi without an heir Fanelia is vunerable. But he still wouldn't back down"
"Why are you telling me this?" Hitomi asked
"Because" said Celena, "It proves just how much he does care for you, that even though he knew you might not see each other again that he still abstained from marriage. And I think you feel the same, so don't you go getting upset over a little hiccup like this; it's fate"
Hitomi smiled "Well fate has its own way of doing things, doesn't it"
Celena smiled but didn't answer, she pulled herself up from the ground and stretched.
Blinking away a sudden stinging in her eyes Hitomi suddenly realised that it wasn't her eyes stinging it was her stomach.
"I feel slightly…" she said slowly, looking up at the blonde
Celena wasn't looking at her, but behind her.
"Hitomi, I want you to run to the castle when I say so" she said sternly
"What?"
"Do as I say Hitomi" Celena didn't look as if she was playing, throwing a hand down for Hitomi to grab as a help up, her blue eyes a sheet of ice
Hitomi looked around and felt sick, the stinging sudden elevating itself. Three black cloaks were wavering in the breeze not far away from where they were standing. She blanched and pulled herself up by Celena's hand.
The three figures were moving slowly, as if balloons toward them, coming up the hill from the town below. A few people on the road seemed to notice them, running away as fast as they could, afraid of what they were seeing.
Celena's grip, still on Hitomi's wrist, was painful. Hitomi pulled it away from the girl and started to move back towards the castle.
"Go Hitomi"
Hitomi didn't wait to argue, she began to stumble her way to the castle.
"Van's right" she mumbled "I really am useless"
Celena wasn't listening, her eyes were hard and she was calculating the positions of the three ahead. In a swift sharp movement and the sweeping sound of metal being scraped, she had pulled her long sword from its sheath and was walking calmly down to meet the three dark figures, now they were so close Hitomi could begin to see the markings of the hideous faces on the white masks.
For a moment Hitomi's vision flickered and she could have sworn it was Dilandau walking down the hill, sword drawn in his blood red armour, eyes raging. Then it changed and once more Celena was facing the enemy.
"STOP RIGHT THERE"
Was that battle roar really Celena's? Hitomi heard the gigantic noise and started, but still fixated on the castle and she was sure that the cry would have been heard in Palas from the volume of it.
Hitomi stumbled over her foot and fell hardly across a rock, yelping as both her belly and knees protested the motion and she slit her shin across a stone. His her head was hurting so much and her stomach was rolling.
"No! Not now" trying to scramble up Hitomi threw up the contents of her stomach fiercely and collapsed onto the grass again, holding her head as it split with pain "No…"
She couldn't see straight anymore…her vision blurred slightly before she blinked it clear again.
A black shadow suddenly fell over her and she struggled to see what made it, but found her question answered when a searing white hot hand plastered itself once more on her wrist.
Screaming in agony Hitomi tried to pull away, but the hand was too strong, the figure paid no attention to her struggles and just screeched the ear-bleeding scream again.
It began to drag her along the hill and away from the castle and Celena and Hitomi only just mustered the strength managed to bring her free hand up to try to protect her stomach which was being beaten and battered by the rocks and rough ground she was being dragged over.
Dimly she registered through the pain, the yells of Celena and the answering calls of her captor's brethren. Hitomi struggled as she could but could do nothing, she felt more cuts opening on her arms as more rocks appeared under her, the creature seemingly intent on ripping her open on them.
Feeling consciousness loosing its grip she screamed as loud as she could "VAN! ALLEN! MAMORU!"
She sobbed once and whispered "I am useless…Van…"
And then she knew no more.
* * *
"It's your fault"
* * *
"LORD VAN!"
Van leapt off the chair he had been waiting for Hitomi in, hoping that she wouldn't be too mad for the way he had acted earlier, to be cannon balled into by the younger cat figure.
Merle wrapped her arms around him tightly and said "Lord Van…it's…it's…"
"Merle?" Van looked at her closely, realising she was sobbing into his shirt as his skin beneath the material became damp also
"Lord Van…it's…they…" she couldn't get it out "They…"
"Took Hitomi" Allen finished, appearing in the door, a very pale and distraught looking Mamoru behind him, Allen looked calm and collected with the knowledge but seemed to be tapping his boot-clad foot on the floor irritably
"What?" Van felt his stomach drop out through his shoes, taking a deep breath he said calmly "WHAT?" it came out louder than he expected and he jumped at himself, taking a deep breath he said more quietly "What happened?"
Allen refrained from asking why Hitomi had in the first place run out of the castle and instead said "Celena was with her, but she's been injured. Come on, you can talk to her instead. She's in the soldier barracks being patched up"
* * *
When they arrived at the door in the long building, Allen knocked and opened the door slowly. Inside the room were two single beds, the room was very clean, and although only one was in a bed, there were two occupants.
Gaddess stood easily out of his chair and saluted his commander easily "Sir" and then he turned to Celena with a grin "I'll see you later, get some rest" before nodding to the others and walking out into the corrador, shutting the door behind him
Allen eyed his second in command and then his sister, and then said "How are you doing?"
Celena rolled her eyes "Having your arm half torn off isn't something you easily shake off" she turned more serious when she saw Van though and said "Your majesty, I want you to know I did everything in my power to protect her"
Van frowned "Just tell me what happened" it seemed that every moment he was in the dark his guilt and worry increased
"Well I saw Hitomi on the hill outside the castle looking" she paused "Upset about something, so I went to see what was wrong. We were talking when three of those…things came up out of nowhere. I tried to fight them off and told Hitomi to run to the castle. Unfortunately another was waiting for that it seemed an grabbed her while I was incapacitated"
Van bit his lip "Did she say what was wrong?"
"No"
But everyone in the room knew that it was a lie.
Allen shifted his sword and sat down on the free bed with a sigh "Where would they take her? Why would they take her? We know nothing about them"
Merle nodded and said "They don't even smell like normal people"
At this Allen looked up and asked "What do they smell like?"
Merle looked confused "Why?"
"What do they smell like?" Allen pressed
Merle thought for a moment then said "They smell like…ash. Like when…when Fanelia was burnt, they smell like that. Just not so much, just generally, I could smell it on Hitomi's clothes when she was hurt and stuff. Now that I think about it, when we were in the baths she still smelled of it, but I thought that it was just her"
"Thanks" Mamoru said sarcastically, the others jumped, having forgotten he had been there "What does the smell matter?"
Allen thought for a moment and said "It ould matter if Merle could follow Hitomi's scent or their scent. It would make it easier for us to find her"
Merle shook her head "Sorry but scents grown cold after a few hours, before we'd have catched up to them it'll have gone" she said sadly "I'm sorry but that's how it works, at least for me"
"It's ok" Celena said comfortingly
Van remained silent, his mind in turmoil over what to do. He wanted with all his heart to go after her and protect her and his child, but they had argued so. Would she even want to see him?
"Van"
He jumped as he realised it was his name being said and said quickly "What?"
"I said" Allen replied "Do you have any ideas, or would you like me to take control of a search party?"
Van flapped his hand and said "You do it, I've never in my life organised a search party, and you have more experience than me. Now, if you'll excuse me" he said, in a somewhat cold tone he didn't intend "I have things to do"
He walked to the, pausing slightly to give a nod to Mamoru, and left. Listening outside the shut door he heard whispered tones of concern and authority and conversations he didn't even want to hear.
They all thought it was his fault. And so did he. Growling, Van marched down the wooden hall and out of the soldier's barracks.
It was his fault, he should have been there. Whirling around he smashed his fist into one of the wooden walls that shared its border with outside, and Van seemed surprised when he found his fist had gone straight through. Catching a passing soldier staring at him in disbelief, Van barked "Don't just stand there, find a repair crew"
"Yes sir" the man saluted and ran off
Van looked at his gloved fist, at the burn emerging from under the material and didn't hesitate to punch another hole into the thin wooden barrier. He pulled the broken bits of wood free to release his limb and then strode out of the soldier's barriers into the training yard below, where they day was already beginning to look stretched and dim.
Van wiped his forehead and ran his hand through his black locks, he sighed and leaned against the small wooden fence that surrounded the training yard he and Allen had used to begin to teach Mamoru the basics of swordplay. It seemed like years ago.
As the sun began to turn the sky red, Van felt a tugging at his neck. He frowned and brought the pendant out from its home underneath his shirt. It was glowing, the small gold ring around the chain turned pink in the reflected light, Van frowned and dropped the pendant back down again.
It didn't hit his chest, it didn't even hit his shirt, it stayed in the air, an inch from the material and Van began to realise what it was trying to tell him.
'You know where Hitomi is, don't you?' he thought and half ripped, half pulled the pendant from his neck and held it up, where it dropped like nothing had happened.
Van grinned with a new, burning ambition, which suddenly appeared in his head so brightly that he couldn't imagine why he hadn't thought of it before. Slapping his forehead and almost laughing out loud with his new found knowledge.
Hadn't Hitomi been the one to teach him dowsing? Hadn't he been the one to use dowsing without a pendant to, well, kill Dilandau's Dragon slayers? Didn't he know hold the pendant Hitomi had used to dowse the last time she was in Gaea?
It all seemed to fit together so plausibly that he was amazed at it seemed like it would work. Looking back up at the Soldier's Barracks he hesitated on whether to tell them his plan.
He decided against it, they would only be sceptical.
Grinning manically, he gripped the pendant and ring in his palm and sprinted back to the castle for things he would need.
He'd make it up to Hitomi, and to his unborn child. But for now, he needed to find them.
"Hold on Hitomi" he gasped as he ran "I'm coming to get you"
* * *
So how was that chapter? I hope it made up for the wait, I went on Holiday and then I was busy with stuff so…yeah, I have finished MY OTHER FIC. So I'm free to work on this one anyway so that's good for you guys. Tell me what you think and stuff. Tell me how it's going, what you've been up to. Well…just r and r I guess!