Summary: A new friend makes her entrance, and possibly the greatest secret of all is revealed...
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"Burn her! Rid ourselves of the cursed one!"
Hitomi struggled against the bonds that held her fast to the rough wooden pole behind her in a futile attempt to free herself. Desperately, she cried out her innocence to the nameless faces before her, trying to make them understand that there was nothing she could have done to stop it, but they remained cold and unfeeling. She looked out into the crowd helplessly, seeing Allen further in, fighting as hard as he could to get to her, to no avail.
A flickering torch was brought up onto the platform and thrust into the pile of wood surrounding her without much introduction. A cheer rose up from the crowd as the edge of the pile caught fire, and Hitomi seemed to lose all sense. She went completely slack against her bonds, though still being held up by them.
Allen still pulled desperately against the hands that held him back, and out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Millerna not too far away. "Millerna!" he called to her, his despair carried on his voice. She turned to look at him, though said nothing. "Millerna, stop this! You know she's innocent!"
Her violet eyes flashed in distaste from his protectiveness of the cursed girl from the Mystic Moon, and she only turned back to watch the spectacle, not answering his pleas.
A tremor of horror ran through him and settled in the pit of his stomach as he realized that Millerna was going to do nothing to help Hitomi. All he could do was struggle against his captors, trying somehow to reach her before it was too late.
Hitomi's eyes had glazed over by this point; she could only barely sense the heat of the flames drawing nearer at first, before suddenly one of the flames licked up across her arm, and the searing pain brought her crashing back to reality with a scream. The crowd broke into cheers at this, and her senses began to waver again.
Suddenly there was an unfamiliar sound, a sort of splitting thunk, and her bonds instantly unravelled from around her, and she managed to stumble a couple of steps forward before collapsing. The shock that coursed through the crowd was enough of a distraction for Allen to break free of his captors, and he bolted forward faster than he knew was possible, leaping through the caustic flames and scooping her form into his arms. Without taking even a moment to look behind him, Allen ran from the back of the platform down the empty street, quickly disappearing into twilight's shadows.
The crowd had begun to dissipate, and a couple of the men were busy dousing the fire with water. They couldn't understand how the bonds had been cut, until one of them happened to glance around the back of the pole Hitomi had been tied to. Embedded into the wood was a small axe which, by its angle, only could have been thrown from the rooftop of one of the surrounding buildings.
"Seems the girl has some friends around here after all," the man commented cynically, pulling the blade from the wood.
~~
Allen had saddled up his horse as quickly as he could, and wasted no time riding away from the city of Palas. He held Hitomi close in front of him, occasionally murmuring soothing words to her, though they did little to break through the sluggish veil that had been pulled over her senses. She was awake, though not conscious, and this worried Allen terribly.
As the sun began to rise in the east, they rode slowly into one of the smaller towns in Asturia, where he was sure they would be safe for at least some time. Some of the older men and women were already out and about, and all of them paused to give the rider and his passenger an odd glance, as they weren't used to visitors from other towns.
Slowly, as if to not draw any attention to themselves, Allen dismounted and carefully cradled Hitomi as he brought her down as well.
"Excuse me," came a friendly voice, and Allen glanced to his side to see a middle-aged woman smiling at him. She was dressed plainly in a simple red smock and white apron, her dark brown hair now graying, the lines of worry and laughter becoming slightly apparent on her face, though eyes of brown as lively and sparkling as a young woman's. "You seem very tired, as does the young lady you bring with you...have you ridden all night, sir?"
"I have," Allen confirmed, though choosing not to speak of from where and under what circumstances he had come from, "Please, ma'am, she's hurt..."
The woman took a step forward, tilting her head at Hitomi, first at the burn on her arm, then at her face, and she nodded. "Of course, we'll take care of her," she said with genuine feeling, as she seemed to sense just how much this young lady meant to the man, "Follow me, I can treat her."
She led them into a small cottage, into one of the bedrooms, and had Allen lay Hitomi on the bed. She went to a small cupboard and took out a few small vials, looking at the younger girl in sympathy. "What happened to her?"
Allen was timid to tell the entire story, but he felt that this kind woman deserved to know at least part of it, and he spoke softly, "She was attacked...they tried to burn her at the stake..."
This seemed to startle the woman terribly, almost to the point of her dropping the vials in her hands. "Who would do something so cruel, so evil? The poor thing..." She walked over to the side of the bed and sat in a chair beside it, opening one of the vials and pouring a small amount of some sort of salve into her hand. She murmured a few comforting words to Hitomi as she gently smoothed the salve into the ugly burn that ran up her arm.
Hitomi didn't even flinch, it seemed as though she felt nothing at all. Her eyes were open, but several shades darker than their normal emerald, and this frightened Allen to no end.
"Why are her eyes so darkened?" he asked the woman, his fear apparent in his voice, "It seems as though she's lost all her senses..."
"That's as accurate as anything I could tell you," the woman admitted, closing the vial of salve and opening a second one, pouring its contents into a small cup on the nightstand beside the bed, and repeating this same action with the remaining vials. "It's something like a severe shock to her system, more mental and emotional than physical. I've seen it before, when people have suffered something traumatic..."
"Will she be all right?"
"Of course, she just needs a little time...and this," the woman then lifted the small cup and swished the contents slightly, which made the dark green concoction turn a brighter shade, "should help speed the process a bit. It's an herbal mixture, mostly with herbs to boost her memory and soothe her nerves...it should help cut through the cloud she's lost in." With that, she gently parted Hitomi's lips with her fingers and tipped the mixture into her mouth, then massaging downward on her throat to coax her into swallowing. After a moment, her body responded and she gave a hard swallow, taking the mixture down in one gulp.
"I can't thank you enough for your kindness, ma'am," Allen said, suddenly looking a bit weary, as the recent events had finally taken their toll on him.
The woman smiled and stood up, walking over and offering her hand to Allen, saying, "Please, call me Elmine." He took her hand and laid a gentle kiss on the backside, which seemed to surprise her quite a bit, and she chuckled a bit. "What a gentleman...and what is your name?"
"Allen Schezar, ma...Elmine," he corrected himself.
"And the girl?"
"Hitomi Kanzaki."
"She's a lucky girl," Elmine said with a touch of amusement, her mahogany eyes sparkling to reflect it. Before Allen could respond, Hitomi sat bolt upright in the bed with a gasp. In less than a second, he and Elmine were at her side, both asking if she was all right.
"Atlantis," Hitomi said, color drained from her face as though she were having a vision, her eyes still veiled in darkness, "I have to...get there, as soon as possible!"
Allen was very confused by this, and he frowned slightly, putting a hand on Hitomi's shoulder, "What?"
With surprising speed, she scrambled from the bed and stumbled out of the bedroom into the main area of the small house before Allen caught up with her, gently taking her by the waist and turning her to face him again. Before he could speak, she let out a low hoarse cry and fell forward into his arms.
At this exact moment, a pair of beautiful white wings burst from her back, tearing through her shirt as though it were thin as paper.
Allen and Elmine were dumbstruck, completely speechless, just watching the white feathers gently falling in front of them. The only sound heard was now Hitomi's very gentle sobbing as she leaned completely slack against Allen's chest, only held up by his arms around her waist.
"Saints preserve us," Elmine finally got the strength to murmur, a hand pressed over her heart, "An angel..."
"No..." Allen managed to speak softly through his confusion, unable to raise his voice any higher than that from pure shock, "A Draconian..."
Hitomi sniffled slightly, turning her face up to Allen's, saltwater streaming from her emerald eyes, which had regained their original shade. "I don't know what's happening to me..." she cried, voice cracking with tears, before she slipped into unconsciousness once more, her head falling back against Allen's chest. With this, the magnificent white wings retracted back into her with no trace of their presence at all.
Despite the conflicting emotions running through his mind, Allen pulled her closer, holding her tighter against him. There was one thing and one thing only he was certain of now, and he leaned his head down to gently bury his face into her hair as Elmine rushed to go find the poor girl another shirt she could wear. He began to whisper, though knowing she couldn't hear him, he couldn't keep the words inside any longer.
"No matter what happens, Hitomi Kanzaki, I will always love you...I love you..."
---
---
"Burn her! Rid ourselves of the cursed one!"
Hitomi struggled against the bonds that held her fast to the rough wooden pole behind her in a futile attempt to free herself. Desperately, she cried out her innocence to the nameless faces before her, trying to make them understand that there was nothing she could have done to stop it, but they remained cold and unfeeling. She looked out into the crowd helplessly, seeing Allen further in, fighting as hard as he could to get to her, to no avail.
A flickering torch was brought up onto the platform and thrust into the pile of wood surrounding her without much introduction. A cheer rose up from the crowd as the edge of the pile caught fire, and Hitomi seemed to lose all sense. She went completely slack against her bonds, though still being held up by them.
Allen still pulled desperately against the hands that held him back, and out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Millerna not too far away. "Millerna!" he called to her, his despair carried on his voice. She turned to look at him, though said nothing. "Millerna, stop this! You know she's innocent!"
Her violet eyes flashed in distaste from his protectiveness of the cursed girl from the Mystic Moon, and she only turned back to watch the spectacle, not answering his pleas.
A tremor of horror ran through him and settled in the pit of his stomach as he realized that Millerna was going to do nothing to help Hitomi. All he could do was struggle against his captors, trying somehow to reach her before it was too late.
Hitomi's eyes had glazed over by this point; she could only barely sense the heat of the flames drawing nearer at first, before suddenly one of the flames licked up across her arm, and the searing pain brought her crashing back to reality with a scream. The crowd broke into cheers at this, and her senses began to waver again.
Suddenly there was an unfamiliar sound, a sort of splitting thunk, and her bonds instantly unravelled from around her, and she managed to stumble a couple of steps forward before collapsing. The shock that coursed through the crowd was enough of a distraction for Allen to break free of his captors, and he bolted forward faster than he knew was possible, leaping through the caustic flames and scooping her form into his arms. Without taking even a moment to look behind him, Allen ran from the back of the platform down the empty street, quickly disappearing into twilight's shadows.
The crowd had begun to dissipate, and a couple of the men were busy dousing the fire with water. They couldn't understand how the bonds had been cut, until one of them happened to glance around the back of the pole Hitomi had been tied to. Embedded into the wood was a small axe which, by its angle, only could have been thrown from the rooftop of one of the surrounding buildings.
"Seems the girl has some friends around here after all," the man commented cynically, pulling the blade from the wood.
~~
Allen had saddled up his horse as quickly as he could, and wasted no time riding away from the city of Palas. He held Hitomi close in front of him, occasionally murmuring soothing words to her, though they did little to break through the sluggish veil that had been pulled over her senses. She was awake, though not conscious, and this worried Allen terribly.
As the sun began to rise in the east, they rode slowly into one of the smaller towns in Asturia, where he was sure they would be safe for at least some time. Some of the older men and women were already out and about, and all of them paused to give the rider and his passenger an odd glance, as they weren't used to visitors from other towns.
Slowly, as if to not draw any attention to themselves, Allen dismounted and carefully cradled Hitomi as he brought her down as well.
"Excuse me," came a friendly voice, and Allen glanced to his side to see a middle-aged woman smiling at him. She was dressed plainly in a simple red smock and white apron, her dark brown hair now graying, the lines of worry and laughter becoming slightly apparent on her face, though eyes of brown as lively and sparkling as a young woman's. "You seem very tired, as does the young lady you bring with you...have you ridden all night, sir?"
"I have," Allen confirmed, though choosing not to speak of from where and under what circumstances he had come from, "Please, ma'am, she's hurt..."
The woman took a step forward, tilting her head at Hitomi, first at the burn on her arm, then at her face, and she nodded. "Of course, we'll take care of her," she said with genuine feeling, as she seemed to sense just how much this young lady meant to the man, "Follow me, I can treat her."
She led them into a small cottage, into one of the bedrooms, and had Allen lay Hitomi on the bed. She went to a small cupboard and took out a few small vials, looking at the younger girl in sympathy. "What happened to her?"
Allen was timid to tell the entire story, but he felt that this kind woman deserved to know at least part of it, and he spoke softly, "She was attacked...they tried to burn her at the stake..."
This seemed to startle the woman terribly, almost to the point of her dropping the vials in her hands. "Who would do something so cruel, so evil? The poor thing..." She walked over to the side of the bed and sat in a chair beside it, opening one of the vials and pouring a small amount of some sort of salve into her hand. She murmured a few comforting words to Hitomi as she gently smoothed the salve into the ugly burn that ran up her arm.
Hitomi didn't even flinch, it seemed as though she felt nothing at all. Her eyes were open, but several shades darker than their normal emerald, and this frightened Allen to no end.
"Why are her eyes so darkened?" he asked the woman, his fear apparent in his voice, "It seems as though she's lost all her senses..."
"That's as accurate as anything I could tell you," the woman admitted, closing the vial of salve and opening a second one, pouring its contents into a small cup on the nightstand beside the bed, and repeating this same action with the remaining vials. "It's something like a severe shock to her system, more mental and emotional than physical. I've seen it before, when people have suffered something traumatic..."
"Will she be all right?"
"Of course, she just needs a little time...and this," the woman then lifted the small cup and swished the contents slightly, which made the dark green concoction turn a brighter shade, "should help speed the process a bit. It's an herbal mixture, mostly with herbs to boost her memory and soothe her nerves...it should help cut through the cloud she's lost in." With that, she gently parted Hitomi's lips with her fingers and tipped the mixture into her mouth, then massaging downward on her throat to coax her into swallowing. After a moment, her body responded and she gave a hard swallow, taking the mixture down in one gulp.
"I can't thank you enough for your kindness, ma'am," Allen said, suddenly looking a bit weary, as the recent events had finally taken their toll on him.
The woman smiled and stood up, walking over and offering her hand to Allen, saying, "Please, call me Elmine." He took her hand and laid a gentle kiss on the backside, which seemed to surprise her quite a bit, and she chuckled a bit. "What a gentleman...and what is your name?"
"Allen Schezar, ma...Elmine," he corrected himself.
"And the girl?"
"Hitomi Kanzaki."
"She's a lucky girl," Elmine said with a touch of amusement, her mahogany eyes sparkling to reflect it. Before Allen could respond, Hitomi sat bolt upright in the bed with a gasp. In less than a second, he and Elmine were at her side, both asking if she was all right.
"Atlantis," Hitomi said, color drained from her face as though she were having a vision, her eyes still veiled in darkness, "I have to...get there, as soon as possible!"
Allen was very confused by this, and he frowned slightly, putting a hand on Hitomi's shoulder, "What?"
With surprising speed, she scrambled from the bed and stumbled out of the bedroom into the main area of the small house before Allen caught up with her, gently taking her by the waist and turning her to face him again. Before he could speak, she let out a low hoarse cry and fell forward into his arms.
At this exact moment, a pair of beautiful white wings burst from her back, tearing through her shirt as though it were thin as paper.
Allen and Elmine were dumbstruck, completely speechless, just watching the white feathers gently falling in front of them. The only sound heard was now Hitomi's very gentle sobbing as she leaned completely slack against Allen's chest, only held up by his arms around her waist.
"Saints preserve us," Elmine finally got the strength to murmur, a hand pressed over her heart, "An angel..."
"No..." Allen managed to speak softly through his confusion, unable to raise his voice any higher than that from pure shock, "A Draconian..."
Hitomi sniffled slightly, turning her face up to Allen's, saltwater streaming from her emerald eyes, which had regained their original shade. "I don't know what's happening to me..." she cried, voice cracking with tears, before she slipped into unconsciousness once more, her head falling back against Allen's chest. With this, the magnificent white wings retracted back into her with no trace of their presence at all.
Despite the conflicting emotions running through his mind, Allen pulled her closer, holding her tighter against him. There was one thing and one thing only he was certain of now, and he leaned his head down to gently bury his face into her hair as Elmine rushed to go find the poor girl another shirt she could wear. He began to whisper, though knowing she couldn't hear him, he couldn't keep the words inside any longer.
"No matter what happens, Hitomi Kanzaki, I will always love you...I love you..."
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