Man, I needed pep talk to write this chapter, unfortunately I had a confidence crash after the last chapter was posted and needed a jab of compliments from Maboroshitsuki to life me up again! Thank you dear, I really needed it!!
So anyway, thanks for all your reviews, I'm so glad you liked the last chapter! Well...most of you...sorry if it didn't suit you but you can safely be assume that I worried enough about it and decided to move on to the next part of the story.
As for 'stealth ass' typo 0_o thanks to MaboroshiTsuki for pointing that one out! Although I did manage to have a major giggle over it! I went back and corrected it luckily, I hope it lightened the mood for you all even when it was there!
What other notices, sorry I didn't email anyone about the updates of chapters, I forget -__-
Man, I'm REALLY sorry it's taken so long for this chapter, I truly am, but I've had inspiration problems, school problems etc. So...yeah. Here you go.
I can't imagine the amount of bloopers I must have had in this whole fic...
And I'm not spelling realise wrong, I'm British and this is how we spell it ^_~
SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO GET THIS CHAPTER OUT, I'VE HAD A LOT OF STUFF TO DEAL WITH! A D in History for example. OK here we go, let's dive in straight away!
Anyway the line 'this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine' is part of a song, can't remember the title though...but I don't own it!
Oh crap...I have two History essays to do -_- GIVE ME STRENGTH PEOPLE
Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne
* * *
Allen directed his troop of searchers out across the wood in a fan shape, shouting orders and generally making it know that if they didn't work faster he was going to make them do toilet duties for a week because 'every second they were wasting was another second that the King and his closest companions could be killed in'.
Mamoru didn't find this reassuring, but the steel blade attacked to his belt was reassuring, despite it scraping along the ground as he walked. He didn't like being shouted at though.
"Don't worry about it kid" Gaddess grinned, whispering quietly under the commanders yells in the moonlight "He does this to make us move faster, he won't actually do it" he paused "At least he never does it to me"
Mamoru smiled, Gaddess was one of his favourite people so far that he'd met in this strange place, the man was remarkably grounded amongst all the strange antics of his home.
Almost tripping over a root that was hidden amongst leaves, Mamoru turned back to his task, moving as swiftly as the grown men in the team through the undergrowth.
They were covering ground fast as one of the Fanelian trackers pursued their quarry a short distance ahead and shouting back to Allen the direction and other information he could determine from the tracks on the ground.
Mamoru was impressed, although it was somewhat dimmed by the task they were carrying out.
He just hoped this tracker knew enough to find where Hitomi was.
* * *
"She's in labour you idiot"
* * *
"Lord Van!" Merle yelled, they were nearing a particularly wide outcrop of rock on the face of the hill, large enough to build a house on really
Van pulled himself up onto it and yelled back down to Merle "What is it?"
"I heard something!" Merle replied and flicked her ears around in all directions, sniffing the air, before turning back to him and saying "I definitely heard someone yell...and now that I think about it, I can smell Hitomi faintly. She's definitely been here" she wrinkled her nose "And that smell is here too, ugh, those freaky guys have defiantly been around"
"What?" Van turned around, looking for anywhere close by that Merle could have heard something from, he had a faint glimmer of hope burning in his chest now and he wasn't going to be disappointed easily
Merle danced on her small ledge of rock, still twitching her ears for sounds, before giving up for the moment and jumping up to the outcrop where Van stood. She strained her hearing again, but in vain.
"Keep listening" Van ordered, "You never know, she might be yelling right now"
"Right"
* * *
She was. At least, not just yelling, screaming her lungs out was more an accurate description of her current activities. The thing had lunged at her, pulling herself together out of the shock that had begun to weave into her muscles she dove.
Hitting her stomach she twisted as the rotten arm lunged for her, the activity in the dark behind her was increasing, she could hear it, and the rustles and screeches were everywhere.
Suddenly another arm shot out of the darkness and grabbed her wrist. This was bad. Two things were now holding her, and the one which had spoken was now pulling itself along to grab her other leg and pull itself to her stomach.
What it would do...she had an idea.
The hand holding her wrist was joined by another, her arms now pinned to the floor, useless, just like she was. Hitomi bit her lip, there was nothing else to do...
"HELP ME! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!"
* * *
"Give me the pendant!"
* * *
Allen shot his head up.
That was a yell.
A very close yell.
His whole team had heard it too.
"Hitomi!" Mamoru yelled, breaking line, he ran off through the trees ahead to where he had heard the noise
"Mamoru!" Allen sprinted after the young boy, hair flying in a tight wave, he called back to Gaddes "Follow us!"
* * *
Hitomi screamed again, and again, the burning had returned. Her legs felt like they were on fire, and the baby was in distress. She could feel it writhing inside her as the rotten limb scraped along her skin, the other hands clamping her squeezing so hard she thought it would cut off blood.
The baby was yelling, she could hear it in her head, it was hurting. She wanted to cradle it, to soothe it, but in a few moments it might be dead and she a long with it: the pain was too much.
The creature, or whatever it was, was trying to rip her shirt open over her stomach, somehow Folken's metal arm was moving slowly towards the thing. How was it doing that?
Hitomi tried to kick out again, regretting the effort as the pain doubled. She was going to die.
This was it. Hitomi felt like crying but she wasn't going to, to tell the truth she was to scared to cry and in too much pain.
The thing had the metal arm in it's grasp now, but she couldn't move, do anything to stop it, the metal claws shined maliciously.
"HITOMI"
Hitomi choked in surprise.
No...it couldn't be.
"Van?" she croaked, "VAN!"
A new flame of resistance seemed to burst through her agony as the familiar voice filed her with hope. Maybe today was her lucky day after all.
"Hitomi!"
A rush of hair passed by her face as the thin whine of a sword loosened the bonds on her body. She didn't want to see what he'd done to free her. Momentarily recovering from her adventure with death, Hitomi felt herself being pulled up to Van's side.
He was breathing heavily as he gasped "What the hell are those things?"
Hitomi didn't care about crying now, she'd almost just died and so had her child, sobbing out "It's all my fault!" and trying to ignore the pain that her burns were causing her
"What is?"
Hitomi looked up at him, biting her lip "I created them"
"What?" Van asked, then shoved her behind him "Not now, we have to get out of here" he looked up the shaft of light and yelled "MERLE?"
"I'm here Lord Van!"
"We need rope or something!"
Hitomi looked around the cave, the noises and yells were so loud in the shadows as if the things were gathering strength for an attack, the flesh one was just slowly drawing itself together almost indignantly, as it clutched at sliced flesh that Van had obviously cut off to free her.
Hitomi grabbed her mouth as bile threatened to rise. She was 15 why did she have to deal with this sort of stuff? She hoped Mamoru was ok...
"Lord Van, I have no rope!" Merle was saying
"Well find someone who does Merle!" Van hollered
He stared at the disgusting creatures in horror, they were definitely going to try something but how could he stop them? And why did Hitomi say she created them?
Hitomi herself wrapped her hand around Van's free hand as his other gripped the sword, and felt her knees were weak. She wouldn't be able to stand much longer.
What could she do? They had one sword and Van was the only one fit to fight, where had he come from anyway?
Something moving almost too quick for the eye flashed out of the darkness, hard to see what it was, but easy to guess. Van yelled and whacked whatever it was away.
"What are we going to do?" Hitomi muttered fearfully "I really am useless..."
Van didn't hear her otherwise he would have said something to comfort her, but he ignored it. Hitomi bit her lip, believing that the ignorance was his agreement with that fact.
What to do, what to do, what to do? Hitomi racked her brains for a plan...
'Every future is governed by strength of will'
Hitomi stood quite still, as still as she could, a sense of malevolence was slowly filling the cave, and they didn't have much time before something happened. But she stood still to try and develop that thought. Folken had given her that thought, how could she use it? Visions weren't for nothing...
Something flashed and caught her eye, blinking for a moment, Hitomi focused on the flash. Her pendant was swinging to and fro, to and fro, hanging out from Van's shirt, moving in its perfectly straight pattern to count each and every second.
"Van give me the pendant" Hitomi yelled, pulling Van around and scrabbling to pull the stone off from around his neck
"Hitomi" Van cried "What are you doing?"
No time. Something big and black flew at them, hitting Van in the back so he fell forward and hit Hitomi too. Trying not to hurt her he threw himself sideways with the force and landed roughly on the floor.
Wincing in pain Van pulled himself up and gripped his sword as another black shape screamed and flew at him, he swiped at it with his blade and it swung away.
"Where are you Merle?" he shouted up to the hole as he dodged another shadow, standing over Hitomi protectively "Hitomi get up"
Hitomi wasn't listening, the pendant had been jerked off in the force of Van being hit and Hitomi was cradling it in her palm softly and thinking as fast as she could.
"I made these things" she whispered "Using this pendant and myself...I changed the future. I can undo this...'every future is governed by strength of will'. My strength of will" Hitomi nodded "If I wish hard enough maybe I can make them go"
"Hitomi!" Van yelled "You need to get up"
Hitomi ignored him, taking the pendant stone between her palms, she closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Thinking of her own will, how she'd changed the future and how she could free these things of their existence here and save her, her child and Van from destruction.
"Please..." she whispered, "You are not needed. Leave"
Something was tugging her mind, something was beginning to work. Yet it wasn't fast enough, it wasn't pulling itself out of her fast enough but she could fel something beginning to work.
Opening her eyes a crack she glimpsed a red light, the pendant was glowing. The small distraction of seeing the light blew her concentration though, whatever had been stirring was now pulling away again, she couldn't catch it.
It was gone.
"No" Hitomi thumped the floor in frustration "I lost it"
"What?"
Hitomi looked up, Van was fiercely trying to whack black things away with his blade. He looked half dead, his face was grey and covered with sweat, and he had long burns up his arms where he'd been nicked by the shadows.
Out of nowhere one of the dead creatures flew at his face, he couldn't dodge at all, Hitomi yelled and yanked Van down to the ground just as he his head seemed to be about taken off.
He fell roughly next to her and gasped. He was almost completely tired out, Hitomi realised she had been trying longer than she had thought to get the things to disappear. How long had she been out?
"Van?"
Hitomi could hear the things rustling in the darkness once more, they were preparing to attack again...
"Van"
He looked at her, his ruby-brown eyes dull from tiredness, he grinned weakly "Yeah?"
"Give me your hand"
He did so, Hitomi wrapped the pendant in it and then out her own hands over the top.
"This'll be just like dowsing" Hitomi said with a small smile "But instead of a pendant to find things in your mind, imagine the pendant is representative of the strength you protect people with and try and...I can't describeit...push it down your arm and to my hand, please? Try?"
He nodded, looking a little apprehensive under his grey sheen, flicking his eyes around the dark he muttered "Merle better come back soon, we don't have much time..."
* * *
Allen froze, holding up his hand to the troops.
They stopped, dead as night.
Allen seemingly sniffed the air for some unknown assailant and signalled some more with his hand.
Mamoru was oblivious to the hand signalling, whatever it meant he had no idea. Hence, he was still standing when the men had ducked and Gaddess had to pull him down after his own descent to the forest floor.
The men around him drew steel and Mamoru followed, licking his lips which were stone dry. This was it, whatever was coming, he'd be ready. For Hitomi's sake.
The shuffling and breaking of branches came closer and closer and closer. When would the enemy appear?
Suddenly, from a long way down the line where Allen was, they heard him yell, a thrash through the undergrowth and a shrill scream let them know he'd caught something.
Mamoru leapt up and dashed forward out of the line of men to see who the commander had caught, unfortunately all the other men had done the same. Growling in frustration, Mamoru pushed through the huge bodies to the front of the crowd where it seemed a row was going on.
"What was that for? I'm on a mission here!" an annoyingly familiar voice rang
"Look, we're being careful here, where's Van?" Allen replied tightly
Merle suddenly panicked again and rushed out her story.
Allen frowned and the yelled "Follow the girl" and bowed slightly to Merle "After you My Lady"
Merle grinned, but still looked worried as she dashed off into the night. The men yelled a roar all together as they took off behind Allen. Mamoru took a deep breath and followed. They were getting somewhere.
"Hold on Hitomi" he said
* * *
Hitomi could feel it working this time, Van's warmth, love, joy, sorrow all flooding down to her hand and she could imagine it glowing withal her strength. Ignoring the noises around them she concentrated on the little glowing light pulling itself away from her.
Her will. She could change the future, she'd done it before.
The baby kicked and Hitomi grinned inwardly, someone else was giving her strength as well.
She thought of her will...she remembered a song that she'd heard on the radio once and mildly thought how it related to this situation... 'this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine'...
It was happening, the light was glowing, and Hitomi was so glad she had her baby and Van right next to her. She wasn't sure what was going to happen. She hped it would work.
"Let's do this" she muttered
Imagining the pendulum swing to and fro, she thought of wishing hard so many times the last time in Gaea, how it had felt, how she had felt, how it had happened. Imagining the necklace moving she began to mentally chant 'You are not needed, leave us be. You are not needed, leave us be. You are not needed, leave us be...'
The light in her mind seemed to start rocking.
'This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine'
'You are not needed, leave us be'
'This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine'
'You are not needed, leave us be'
Van opened his eyes and saw Hitomi glowing faintly, the red light from what he assumed from the pendant pouring through their hands and back into Hitomi. She seemed to be chanting something under her breath but he couldn't hear it. He hoped he was doing enough...
What strength did he have?
An image of the Escaflowne popped into his mind and he frowned, that was his strength, a mental image of his strength was the picture he had of Escaflowne. Concentrating on that and trying to ignore the noises he thought about the battles he'd fought to protect people.
Suddenly the pendant seemed to have all it needed and Hitomi stood up, dragging Van up with her. Not understanding how someone pregnant could stand up so quickly, he followed her dazedly. Feeling a warm tingling feeling running down his arms and into his chest Van saw the light from the pendant was seeping into him too.
"What's going to happen?" he muttered
His chest felt warm and it as he breathed he felt he could smell a warm summer breeze. It felt wonderful. Was this was love literally felt like?
Hitomi slowly opened his eyes, van was taken back for a moment as they shone out bright pink...the colour faded and her green orbs were left.
She smiled softly and whispered, "We've done it"
The red light suddenly flew down their legs to their feet and outwards, the darkness was flooded across and upwards with pink light and warmness. The world was coloured in and Van couldn't see anything at all thorough the colour so he shut his eyes, wishing with all his might that it would work.
Screams and yells and shrieks seemed to do nothing to his peaceful state of mind, the pink light seemed so beautiful he didn't care for anything while he was bathed in it.
The things on the other hand sounded as if they were in agony. Part of him said 'good' but the other half didn't care.
Suddenly he felt as if he'd gone deaf. Sound fell away from him all of sudden, opening his eyes he found himself no longer in the cave in the red light...but in a field of wild flowers.
"Don't worry"
He looked at Hitomi who was still in front of him.
Hitomi looked...radiant. Her smile shone brightly and she took a deep breath "I think something is going to happen" she looked away over to the distance
Van followed her gaze and found he was looking at a tiny pair of black wings on a hill in the distance of the meadow. He'd never forget those wings...
"Folken," he breathed
Hitomi squeezed his hand and brought his attention back to her "Thank you"
Everything faded away again and he was brought back to his full state of consciousness in the cave.
Just in time.
Hitomi fell forward and against him, the pendant rolling across the floor as her palm loosened its hold. The light was gone and they were left in the pool of light again. Van hauled Hitomi up and supported her against him, feeling the bulge of her stomach buffet against him lightly as she drew deep breaths. He looked around, had they done it? He couldn't see a thing.
But he could hear nothing that seemed to portray anything vicious.
There was nothing else in the cave at all. He was sure.
And that was a blessing.
"LORD VAN"
"Merle?" Van murmured, wondering if it was really her "MERLE!"
"LORD VAN! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Merle yelled, he could see a silhouette cover the hole and then was followed by another, taller one
"Is Hitomi there?"
Van grinned "Allen! Yeah she's here, we're safe"
He could almost feel the relief pouring down on them from above and the two figures calling to them.
His feet felt cold.
Looking down he frowned at a pool of water that seemed to have wet his boots all of a sudden. What was that? It looked sort of strange...there hadn't been water there before...
"Hey" he heard Merle say to Allen, "You smell something? It smells almost like...oh no"
"What?" Allen replied before calling out to the area above them "Are you getting that rope here or not? There might be more of the things around while you laze around up here"
Van grinned and pondered his boots once more, shuffling his feet around a bit to test what the substance was.
Hitomi grunted and then muttered "Ow..." in a rather surprised tone
"Hitomi?" Van said, "Are you hurt? What's wrong?"
She didn't reply, but squeezed his shirt and frowned.
"Hitomi? What's the matter?" Van asked again
"SHE'S IN LABOUR YOU IDIOT!" yelled Merle
* * *
Sorry that chapter was so short -_-' and after you waited so long! The next chapter will probably be a mini-one since I have a lack of time at the moment and it'll set up the two alternate endings! Review and be happy! This is not the end!
So anyway, thanks for all your reviews, I'm so glad you liked the last chapter! Well...most of you...sorry if it didn't suit you but you can safely be assume that I worried enough about it and decided to move on to the next part of the story.
As for 'stealth ass' typo 0_o thanks to MaboroshiTsuki for pointing that one out! Although I did manage to have a major giggle over it! I went back and corrected it luckily, I hope it lightened the mood for you all even when it was there!
What other notices, sorry I didn't email anyone about the updates of chapters, I forget -__-
Man, I'm REALLY sorry it's taken so long for this chapter, I truly am, but I've had inspiration problems, school problems etc. So...yeah. Here you go.
I can't imagine the amount of bloopers I must have had in this whole fic...
And I'm not spelling realise wrong, I'm British and this is how we spell it ^_~
SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO GET THIS CHAPTER OUT, I'VE HAD A LOT OF STUFF TO DEAL WITH! A D in History for example. OK here we go, let's dive in straight away!
Anyway the line 'this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine' is part of a song, can't remember the title though...but I don't own it!
Oh crap...I have two History essays to do -_- GIVE ME STRENGTH PEOPLE
Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne
* * *
Allen directed his troop of searchers out across the wood in a fan shape, shouting orders and generally making it know that if they didn't work faster he was going to make them do toilet duties for a week because 'every second they were wasting was another second that the King and his closest companions could be killed in'.
Mamoru didn't find this reassuring, but the steel blade attacked to his belt was reassuring, despite it scraping along the ground as he walked. He didn't like being shouted at though.
"Don't worry about it kid" Gaddess grinned, whispering quietly under the commanders yells in the moonlight "He does this to make us move faster, he won't actually do it" he paused "At least he never does it to me"
Mamoru smiled, Gaddess was one of his favourite people so far that he'd met in this strange place, the man was remarkably grounded amongst all the strange antics of his home.
Almost tripping over a root that was hidden amongst leaves, Mamoru turned back to his task, moving as swiftly as the grown men in the team through the undergrowth.
They were covering ground fast as one of the Fanelian trackers pursued their quarry a short distance ahead and shouting back to Allen the direction and other information he could determine from the tracks on the ground.
Mamoru was impressed, although it was somewhat dimmed by the task they were carrying out.
He just hoped this tracker knew enough to find where Hitomi was.
* * *
"She's in labour you idiot"
* * *
"Lord Van!" Merle yelled, they were nearing a particularly wide outcrop of rock on the face of the hill, large enough to build a house on really
Van pulled himself up onto it and yelled back down to Merle "What is it?"
"I heard something!" Merle replied and flicked her ears around in all directions, sniffing the air, before turning back to him and saying "I definitely heard someone yell...and now that I think about it, I can smell Hitomi faintly. She's definitely been here" she wrinkled her nose "And that smell is here too, ugh, those freaky guys have defiantly been around"
"What?" Van turned around, looking for anywhere close by that Merle could have heard something from, he had a faint glimmer of hope burning in his chest now and he wasn't going to be disappointed easily
Merle danced on her small ledge of rock, still twitching her ears for sounds, before giving up for the moment and jumping up to the outcrop where Van stood. She strained her hearing again, but in vain.
"Keep listening" Van ordered, "You never know, she might be yelling right now"
"Right"
* * *
She was. At least, not just yelling, screaming her lungs out was more an accurate description of her current activities. The thing had lunged at her, pulling herself together out of the shock that had begun to weave into her muscles she dove.
Hitting her stomach she twisted as the rotten arm lunged for her, the activity in the dark behind her was increasing, she could hear it, and the rustles and screeches were everywhere.
Suddenly another arm shot out of the darkness and grabbed her wrist. This was bad. Two things were now holding her, and the one which had spoken was now pulling itself along to grab her other leg and pull itself to her stomach.
What it would do...she had an idea.
The hand holding her wrist was joined by another, her arms now pinned to the floor, useless, just like she was. Hitomi bit her lip, there was nothing else to do...
"HELP ME! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!"
* * *
"Give me the pendant!"
* * *
Allen shot his head up.
That was a yell.
A very close yell.
His whole team had heard it too.
"Hitomi!" Mamoru yelled, breaking line, he ran off through the trees ahead to where he had heard the noise
"Mamoru!" Allen sprinted after the young boy, hair flying in a tight wave, he called back to Gaddes "Follow us!"
* * *
Hitomi screamed again, and again, the burning had returned. Her legs felt like they were on fire, and the baby was in distress. She could feel it writhing inside her as the rotten limb scraped along her skin, the other hands clamping her squeezing so hard she thought it would cut off blood.
The baby was yelling, she could hear it in her head, it was hurting. She wanted to cradle it, to soothe it, but in a few moments it might be dead and she a long with it: the pain was too much.
The creature, or whatever it was, was trying to rip her shirt open over her stomach, somehow Folken's metal arm was moving slowly towards the thing. How was it doing that?
Hitomi tried to kick out again, regretting the effort as the pain doubled. She was going to die.
This was it. Hitomi felt like crying but she wasn't going to, to tell the truth she was to scared to cry and in too much pain.
The thing had the metal arm in it's grasp now, but she couldn't move, do anything to stop it, the metal claws shined maliciously.
"HITOMI"
Hitomi choked in surprise.
No...it couldn't be.
"Van?" she croaked, "VAN!"
A new flame of resistance seemed to burst through her agony as the familiar voice filed her with hope. Maybe today was her lucky day after all.
"Hitomi!"
A rush of hair passed by her face as the thin whine of a sword loosened the bonds on her body. She didn't want to see what he'd done to free her. Momentarily recovering from her adventure with death, Hitomi felt herself being pulled up to Van's side.
He was breathing heavily as he gasped "What the hell are those things?"
Hitomi didn't care about crying now, she'd almost just died and so had her child, sobbing out "It's all my fault!" and trying to ignore the pain that her burns were causing her
"What is?"
Hitomi looked up at him, biting her lip "I created them"
"What?" Van asked, then shoved her behind him "Not now, we have to get out of here" he looked up the shaft of light and yelled "MERLE?"
"I'm here Lord Van!"
"We need rope or something!"
Hitomi looked around the cave, the noises and yells were so loud in the shadows as if the things were gathering strength for an attack, the flesh one was just slowly drawing itself together almost indignantly, as it clutched at sliced flesh that Van had obviously cut off to free her.
Hitomi grabbed her mouth as bile threatened to rise. She was 15 why did she have to deal with this sort of stuff? She hoped Mamoru was ok...
"Lord Van, I have no rope!" Merle was saying
"Well find someone who does Merle!" Van hollered
He stared at the disgusting creatures in horror, they were definitely going to try something but how could he stop them? And why did Hitomi say she created them?
Hitomi herself wrapped her hand around Van's free hand as his other gripped the sword, and felt her knees were weak. She wouldn't be able to stand much longer.
What could she do? They had one sword and Van was the only one fit to fight, where had he come from anyway?
Something moving almost too quick for the eye flashed out of the darkness, hard to see what it was, but easy to guess. Van yelled and whacked whatever it was away.
"What are we going to do?" Hitomi muttered fearfully "I really am useless..."
Van didn't hear her otherwise he would have said something to comfort her, but he ignored it. Hitomi bit her lip, believing that the ignorance was his agreement with that fact.
What to do, what to do, what to do? Hitomi racked her brains for a plan...
'Every future is governed by strength of will'
Hitomi stood quite still, as still as she could, a sense of malevolence was slowly filling the cave, and they didn't have much time before something happened. But she stood still to try and develop that thought. Folken had given her that thought, how could she use it? Visions weren't for nothing...
Something flashed and caught her eye, blinking for a moment, Hitomi focused on the flash. Her pendant was swinging to and fro, to and fro, hanging out from Van's shirt, moving in its perfectly straight pattern to count each and every second.
"Van give me the pendant" Hitomi yelled, pulling Van around and scrabbling to pull the stone off from around his neck
"Hitomi" Van cried "What are you doing?"
No time. Something big and black flew at them, hitting Van in the back so he fell forward and hit Hitomi too. Trying not to hurt her he threw himself sideways with the force and landed roughly on the floor.
Wincing in pain Van pulled himself up and gripped his sword as another black shape screamed and flew at him, he swiped at it with his blade and it swung away.
"Where are you Merle?" he shouted up to the hole as he dodged another shadow, standing over Hitomi protectively "Hitomi get up"
Hitomi wasn't listening, the pendant had been jerked off in the force of Van being hit and Hitomi was cradling it in her palm softly and thinking as fast as she could.
"I made these things" she whispered "Using this pendant and myself...I changed the future. I can undo this...'every future is governed by strength of will'. My strength of will" Hitomi nodded "If I wish hard enough maybe I can make them go"
"Hitomi!" Van yelled "You need to get up"
Hitomi ignored him, taking the pendant stone between her palms, she closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Thinking of her own will, how she'd changed the future and how she could free these things of their existence here and save her, her child and Van from destruction.
"Please..." she whispered, "You are not needed. Leave"
Something was tugging her mind, something was beginning to work. Yet it wasn't fast enough, it wasn't pulling itself out of her fast enough but she could fel something beginning to work.
Opening her eyes a crack she glimpsed a red light, the pendant was glowing. The small distraction of seeing the light blew her concentration though, whatever had been stirring was now pulling away again, she couldn't catch it.
It was gone.
"No" Hitomi thumped the floor in frustration "I lost it"
"What?"
Hitomi looked up, Van was fiercely trying to whack black things away with his blade. He looked half dead, his face was grey and covered with sweat, and he had long burns up his arms where he'd been nicked by the shadows.
Out of nowhere one of the dead creatures flew at his face, he couldn't dodge at all, Hitomi yelled and yanked Van down to the ground just as he his head seemed to be about taken off.
He fell roughly next to her and gasped. He was almost completely tired out, Hitomi realised she had been trying longer than she had thought to get the things to disappear. How long had she been out?
"Van?"
Hitomi could hear the things rustling in the darkness once more, they were preparing to attack again...
"Van"
He looked at her, his ruby-brown eyes dull from tiredness, he grinned weakly "Yeah?"
"Give me your hand"
He did so, Hitomi wrapped the pendant in it and then out her own hands over the top.
"This'll be just like dowsing" Hitomi said with a small smile "But instead of a pendant to find things in your mind, imagine the pendant is representative of the strength you protect people with and try and...I can't describeit...push it down your arm and to my hand, please? Try?"
He nodded, looking a little apprehensive under his grey sheen, flicking his eyes around the dark he muttered "Merle better come back soon, we don't have much time..."
* * *
Allen froze, holding up his hand to the troops.
They stopped, dead as night.
Allen seemingly sniffed the air for some unknown assailant and signalled some more with his hand.
Mamoru was oblivious to the hand signalling, whatever it meant he had no idea. Hence, he was still standing when the men had ducked and Gaddess had to pull him down after his own descent to the forest floor.
The men around him drew steel and Mamoru followed, licking his lips which were stone dry. This was it, whatever was coming, he'd be ready. For Hitomi's sake.
The shuffling and breaking of branches came closer and closer and closer. When would the enemy appear?
Suddenly, from a long way down the line where Allen was, they heard him yell, a thrash through the undergrowth and a shrill scream let them know he'd caught something.
Mamoru leapt up and dashed forward out of the line of men to see who the commander had caught, unfortunately all the other men had done the same. Growling in frustration, Mamoru pushed through the huge bodies to the front of the crowd where it seemed a row was going on.
"What was that for? I'm on a mission here!" an annoyingly familiar voice rang
"Look, we're being careful here, where's Van?" Allen replied tightly
Merle suddenly panicked again and rushed out her story.
Allen frowned and the yelled "Follow the girl" and bowed slightly to Merle "After you My Lady"
Merle grinned, but still looked worried as she dashed off into the night. The men yelled a roar all together as they took off behind Allen. Mamoru took a deep breath and followed. They were getting somewhere.
"Hold on Hitomi" he said
* * *
Hitomi could feel it working this time, Van's warmth, love, joy, sorrow all flooding down to her hand and she could imagine it glowing withal her strength. Ignoring the noises around them she concentrated on the little glowing light pulling itself away from her.
Her will. She could change the future, she'd done it before.
The baby kicked and Hitomi grinned inwardly, someone else was giving her strength as well.
She thought of her will...she remembered a song that she'd heard on the radio once and mildly thought how it related to this situation... 'this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine'...
It was happening, the light was glowing, and Hitomi was so glad she had her baby and Van right next to her. She wasn't sure what was going to happen. She hped it would work.
"Let's do this" she muttered
Imagining the pendulum swing to and fro, she thought of wishing hard so many times the last time in Gaea, how it had felt, how she had felt, how it had happened. Imagining the necklace moving she began to mentally chant 'You are not needed, leave us be. You are not needed, leave us be. You are not needed, leave us be...'
The light in her mind seemed to start rocking.
'This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine'
'You are not needed, leave us be'
'This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine'
'You are not needed, leave us be'
Van opened his eyes and saw Hitomi glowing faintly, the red light from what he assumed from the pendant pouring through their hands and back into Hitomi. She seemed to be chanting something under her breath but he couldn't hear it. He hoped he was doing enough...
What strength did he have?
An image of the Escaflowne popped into his mind and he frowned, that was his strength, a mental image of his strength was the picture he had of Escaflowne. Concentrating on that and trying to ignore the noises he thought about the battles he'd fought to protect people.
Suddenly the pendant seemed to have all it needed and Hitomi stood up, dragging Van up with her. Not understanding how someone pregnant could stand up so quickly, he followed her dazedly. Feeling a warm tingling feeling running down his arms and into his chest Van saw the light from the pendant was seeping into him too.
"What's going to happen?" he muttered
His chest felt warm and it as he breathed he felt he could smell a warm summer breeze. It felt wonderful. Was this was love literally felt like?
Hitomi slowly opened his eyes, van was taken back for a moment as they shone out bright pink...the colour faded and her green orbs were left.
She smiled softly and whispered, "We've done it"
The red light suddenly flew down their legs to their feet and outwards, the darkness was flooded across and upwards with pink light and warmness. The world was coloured in and Van couldn't see anything at all thorough the colour so he shut his eyes, wishing with all his might that it would work.
Screams and yells and shrieks seemed to do nothing to his peaceful state of mind, the pink light seemed so beautiful he didn't care for anything while he was bathed in it.
The things on the other hand sounded as if they were in agony. Part of him said 'good' but the other half didn't care.
Suddenly he felt as if he'd gone deaf. Sound fell away from him all of sudden, opening his eyes he found himself no longer in the cave in the red light...but in a field of wild flowers.
"Don't worry"
He looked at Hitomi who was still in front of him.
Hitomi looked...radiant. Her smile shone brightly and she took a deep breath "I think something is going to happen" she looked away over to the distance
Van followed her gaze and found he was looking at a tiny pair of black wings on a hill in the distance of the meadow. He'd never forget those wings...
"Folken," he breathed
Hitomi squeezed his hand and brought his attention back to her "Thank you"
Everything faded away again and he was brought back to his full state of consciousness in the cave.
Just in time.
Hitomi fell forward and against him, the pendant rolling across the floor as her palm loosened its hold. The light was gone and they were left in the pool of light again. Van hauled Hitomi up and supported her against him, feeling the bulge of her stomach buffet against him lightly as she drew deep breaths. He looked around, had they done it? He couldn't see a thing.
But he could hear nothing that seemed to portray anything vicious.
There was nothing else in the cave at all. He was sure.
And that was a blessing.
"LORD VAN"
"Merle?" Van murmured, wondering if it was really her "MERLE!"
"LORD VAN! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Merle yelled, he could see a silhouette cover the hole and then was followed by another, taller one
"Is Hitomi there?"
Van grinned "Allen! Yeah she's here, we're safe"
He could almost feel the relief pouring down on them from above and the two figures calling to them.
His feet felt cold.
Looking down he frowned at a pool of water that seemed to have wet his boots all of a sudden. What was that? It looked sort of strange...there hadn't been water there before...
"Hey" he heard Merle say to Allen, "You smell something? It smells almost like...oh no"
"What?" Allen replied before calling out to the area above them "Are you getting that rope here or not? There might be more of the things around while you laze around up here"
Van grinned and pondered his boots once more, shuffling his feet around a bit to test what the substance was.
Hitomi grunted and then muttered "Ow..." in a rather surprised tone
"Hitomi?" Van said, "Are you hurt? What's wrong?"
She didn't reply, but squeezed his shirt and frowned.
"Hitomi? What's the matter?" Van asked again
"SHE'S IN LABOUR YOU IDIOT!" yelled Merle
* * *
Sorry that chapter was so short -_-' and after you waited so long! The next chapter will probably be a mini-one since I have a lack of time at the moment and it'll set up the two alternate endings! Review and be happy! This is not the end!