[ Even though they were in different worlds, Van and Hitomi were not alone. Everywhere Hitomi goes, she sees Van watching over her. The pendent that Hitomi had given Van still glowed brightly from around his neck, and a single bright white feather hangs from a delicate chain around Hitomi's neck. Some strong connection links them together, enabling them to "communicate," making Hitomi's self imposed exile seem less…devastating. ]

As the vision of Van disappeared, Hitomi sighed heavily. It was near impossible to be in love with someone from another world. She knew that she loved him with every fiber of her being, but they had been separated for more than 3 years and weren't sure if they would ever see each other again. Some people said love could be put out by time, but she knew, knew from the deepest region of her being that they had to be wrong. But, still…. It was like living a lie. Hitomi had left Gaea because she thought the Earth needed her. But it didn't. She had left Gaea; left the people (or person) who really did needed her.

Hitomi was seized by a sudden flood of memories. When she came back to Earth, a vision---a vision of her Grandmother.

What she had said…was terrifying.

"Hitomi, I lived my life regretting I left…don't make the same mistake…"

Hitomi crying, "It's too late, Grandma…It's too late! I've already left! I had to, it was the safest way…" In the vision her Grandmother seemed so real.

"I loved your grandfather, Hitomi, but I loved him as well…" Hitomi made out the foggy image of Allen's father. "Memories fade over time…but---love doesn't…don't make that mistake…I didn't even know why I hurt so much…I can finally rest. I've missed you so much Leon… I believe in you, Hitomi. Now you must believe in him."

Hitomi saw Van. Van being hailed as the Great King of Gaea, triumphant and proud. But on the other side of the vision---on the other side of the coin---she saw Van, in Atlantis. And as if in slow motion, he was suddenly caught in an eruption of flame! She couldn't reach him in time. She watched, frozen in horror, till his screams finally pierced her shock. Then everything had gone dark.

Then Yuri was back, "I love you, Hitomi, and I am so proud of you." And then Yuri was gone and the vision that had held Hitomi in its thrall was gone. The vision had been 2 days after Hitomi had returned to Earth. Hitomi hadn't needed her mother to tell her tearfully that her grandmother was dead.

"Come on, Hitomi!" exclaimed Yukari, Hitomi's best friend. She and Amano, Hitomi's old school girl crush who Yukari had secretly in love with, were finally going out.

"Coming, Yukari" Hitomi called up ahead of her a little sadly. Yukari was leaving with Amano (who, so far, was only in community college to be near Yukari) to America to attend an extremely difficult college. She and Amano had one month left in Japan, and were determined to spend it all with Hitomi. But Hitomi was just never in the mood to see Yukari and Amano. She was so lonely, but at the same time, she just wanted to be left alone. She just couldn't stand to see them so---happy. Every second with them reminded her of all she had lost.

In the last three years, Hitomi had grown apart from everybody. She was depressed and hardly ate anything. Her mother had been concerned, but claimed she went through the same thing when she reached her teenage years. Yukari still thought Hitomi was depressed because of her and Amano's relationship, no matter how Hitomi tried to reassure her that she was happy for them.

They were all wrong, Hitomi thought, how could they even have a clue? She must have seen every therapist in Japan, but they all came up with the same answer; heartache, lovesickness, depression…the list was endless. Every single one had complained that Hitomi just wouldn't "open up." They whined that she knew what was wrong, and all she had to do was tell her family instead of wasting their time. Hitomi's family had no idea about Van, of course, so how could they even have a clue? Who would they rather believe? Hitomi, telling them it was nothing, or some stranger telling them Hitomi had a mental disorder?

Yukari always told Hitomi that she watched other couples with such a sad longing look in her eyes. Soooo… obviously she should get a boyfriend. Hitomi loved Yukari, but sometimes she hated her acerbic logic. After Van…She could never love anyone else!

She wasn't jealous of the couples she watched! No! Hitomi pitied them. They were so ignorant. They didn't have a clue what real love was. Their little courtship compared to Van's love was like candles to the sun. Even though candles always went out, the sun was forever, powerful, fierce, and always turbulent.

Hitomi felt old. Old and tired. She found love at 15. Even though she was 18 now, when you looked into her eyes, they were hundreds of years too old. The last three years had seemed like eternity. She felt too old to be experiencing such a stubbornly strong love and the deep pain of separation.

Hitomi loved Van so much it hurt! Even thought this pain wasn't physical, it was killing her one small drop of blood at a time…slowly bleeding into the darkness till there was nothing left and the gaping hole in her heart was filled with tears of blood.

All Van could do was watch and try to fiercely protect her. But how could he protect her from herself? All he could do was "send" Hitomi a feeling that roughly translated as "If only he could have her by his side for one more day than everything would be okay! If he could just touch her once more…"

Hitomi sighed. Yukari had been trying to hook Hitomi up with a boyfriend for years. Hitomi only put up with it for Yukari's sake, besides it wasn't whoever boy's fault. If it reassured Yukari, Hitomi could bear a few awkward hours.

Now Yukari had coerced Hitomi into going out for something to drink with Amano and one of his track friends, not that she paid that much attention to track anymore. Hitomi still won her races, but what was the point? She just ran to get away from the reality of life. It was almost an obsession. Once she had bee running so long with such oblivious focus, willing herself so hard just so forget, that she had collapsed in the middle of the track. Yukari and Amano had been frantic. Not that it was the first time. Not that she cared.

Yukari had gotten tired of waiting for Hitomi, so she had fallen back to her.

"Hey, Hitomi, I heard that Amano's friend is a real knock out!" Yukari said a bit too causally. She glanced at Hitomi slyly.

"Really," Hitomi replied without any interest at all.

"Hitomi, Can't you even try to be nice to this one? Ever since…well, since I started going out with Amano, I think you've changed. We're just trying to help."

"Just when you started to date Amano? That was almost 3 years ago, Yukari! Besides you know he couldn't live without you. You don't think I acted like this before then?" Hitomi tried a little pathetically to joke out of the conversation. Yukari didn't take the hint. Instead her face lit up in surprise.

"Wait! Your right! It was ever since that night at the track when you were trying to break 13 seconds for Amano!" Yukari exclaimed. Hitomi stiffened.

"Do-- do you remember that day, Yukari?" Hitomi refused to meet Yukari's eyes. What if Yukari knew? How come she didn't? Would this conversation lead to be a good thing or a bad thing? But---why shouldn't Yukari know? Even though reason told Hitomi it was all right, her instincts sent warning bells off in her head.

"Well, for some reason it was blurry at first, but…. I just don't understand! I just can't---" Yukari screwed up her face and put a hand to her forehead. You could see her straining in frustration to recall what had happened that fateful day. For some reason that section of her memory seemed to be wiped clear, completely blank.

Hitomi started as the pendent swung into her mind ringing like a bell and she urged it into a small glow with her heart pounding. She hadn't seen the pendent for three years now. For months Hitomi had missed the comforting weight around her neck. She kept reaching for it and realizing it wasn't there.

Van's consciousness asked Hitomi what she was doing. The pendent was probably reacting. She ignored the question for now. Van could wait for now.

She couldn't remember the last time the pendent was in her mind when she hadn't called it. Wait, yes she could remember! In Gaea, on the battlefield. So why was it summoned for Yukari?

The fragile web of memory was breached with a rip and memories of that day flooded back to Yukari in a clash. Yukari yelped, "Wait! There was this light! You ran towards it and were suddenly gone! And there was something in the light! A boy riding a…riding a…" Yukari faltered.

"Riding what?" Hitomi prompted urgently.

"Never mind, I probably didn't see what I thought I saw." Yukari hesitated.

"What was it, Yukari?" Hitomi practically yelled in her ear. Yukari's eyes were wide in astonishment. She hadn't see Hitomi worked up about anything since…well, since the day after the light. What had that light been?

What had Hitomi's mother said? For some reason she couldn't remember. Something about Hitomi's grandmother?

Yukari remembered waiting at Hitomi's house after she had been abducted or whatever and fretting when Hitomi suddenly was home and looking like she was 100 years old and going to collapse. Yukari remembered the tears pouring down her cheeks and the strange mixture of peace and sorrow on her face.

After that Hitomi had become somewhat of a puppet, a shadow of her old self, but Yukari had just attributed that to her giving up on Amano for her. Was there something she was missing? Yukari had a terrible feeling about this.

"Jeez, Hitomi! All right! It was a flying metal dragon! The boy held his hand out to you and you took it! Then disappeared!" Yukari said, her face agitated and full of distress. Hitomi was white as chalk. She gazed out across the road to the coastline that it circled around.

One hand was over the chest of the shirt of her school uniform. It was a habit that Hitomi was doing that more and more often these days when she was upset.

Yukari had asked her once what she wore under her shirt when she had seen the chain of a necklace. She remembered Hitomi's answer.

"It's nothing, Yukari. Just forget about it!" Hitomi had said it so intensely that Yukari had backed off despite her unabated curiosity. At school some people had noticed the strange habit and were even teasing Hitomi about it. Not that she responded.

"What happened, Hitomi?" Yukari demanded, "You've been acting strange for years! I could understand a week or even a month of this, but 3 years? What happened?" Yukari stopped and hugged Hitomi. "Remember, you're my very best friend. You can tell me anything! I'm, sorry for not understanding and not noticing, but…"

Hitomi opened her mouth, than closed it shut with a snap when they passed under the shadow of a huge oak tree that marked the entrance of the bustling small Shop Street. The back road by the pier they had taken suddenly opened up to the busy and cheerfully crowded street the shop they were heading for was on. The coffee shop was right in front of them. It was a cheerful place called, The Colored Parrot, with a patio with trees and a little garden. They spotted Amano and his friend, and hurried over to greet them. Amano waved them over to a small table with a bright sunshade and four chairs around it. They already had ordered some tea, and were just waiting for them.

Amano grinned, "What took you girls so long? You're a shame to the track team!"

"We could beat you any day, Amano!" Yukari grinned back.

Hitomi's gaze was drawn to the boy that was sitting next to Amano. He was a little shorter than Amano and had bright white silver/ blond hair. His eyes were such a light pinkish that they seemed colorless. There was something about him that Hitomi just couldn't place.

But something…something was wrong.

Some of her unease slipped to Van, and he sent her a concerned, questioning feeling. The cloud that had been covering the sun drifted away and sunlight fell across the tiny patio and lit up the boy's face and the slash of a scar across his cheek.

Hitomi was reeling as she sent back a mental image of the boy to Van. She never ever had thought to see that face again!

(A/N: For all of you who haven't guessed yet, doesn't this guy remind you of Dillandua? Maybe you should make a connection ^_^)

Van suddenly erupted in shock and rage! Dillandua had found Hitomi, and he was no where near to protect her! A picture flashed in front of Hitomi's vision, but it wasn't something she could see; it was something she could feel. It was kind of like an ultra-sound picture, almost like echolocation. Hitomi felt a great dragon rear back and let out a cry of rage that went ringing painfully through her mind. She 'felt' its lungs expand and it heart beat in a pulse at its neck and it muscles clench, ready to spring. All the sudden, she was back to the garden.

"Hitomi? HITOMI!"

"Wha-what?" Hitomi replied blankly.

Yukari groaned, "Man, Hitomi, you just kind of spaced out. Amano just said that this was Darien."

"Oh," Hitomi said warily. "Nice to meet you."

Yukari threw Amano an exasperated look and he shrugged. He decided to lead the conversation and pulled out Hitomi's chair and motioned her to sit down.

"Darien is going to the track meet with you this Saturday, Hitomi. Maybe you'll get to watch each other!" Then he turned to Darien, "Hitomi's quite the runner, Darien, you might actually have some competition!" Amano said lightly. Darien gave Amano a little wicked smirk that left him disconcerted, and he fell silent.

Hitomi had been staring like a spooked filly at Darien and had noticed the all too familiar look of insane blood lust and fire in those eyes, but it was gone before she could be sure of what she saw. She shivered.

Meanwhile Van was getting more and more furious and Hitomi was getting more and more agitated. Her distress was more and more apparent.

Think your head's going to explode when you get mad or worried? Well, try coping with two heads.

Finally, Van got enough control to send an image back to her, with it the dragon writhed and coiled in fury. The image was one she was positive she would never see again. It was a red guymelef that was surrounded by fire, know as Aledisies. The very image screamed of blood and death and mindless dark rejoicing in killing.

Hitomi started to tremble in animalistic terror. That's what sent Van over the edge.

"Hitomi, are you okay? You look like you're going to faint!" Yukari broke the flow of conversation worriedly. Hitomi was whiter than chalk and her eyes were huge, with the pupils dilated. She stood up so quickly that her chair crashed over onto its side.

"Sorry," she gasped out and ran back through the restaurant. Hitomi was tripping over herself and everybody else in her frantic attempts to get away! She had to get away! She crashed into a waitress, spilling all sorts of dishes to the floor. She didn't even stop to apologize, while indignant cries followed her.

Yukari gave an apologetic look to Amano and Darien. "She's not feeling that well today. I'll go see if she's okay."

"All right," Amano agreed sympathetically. "Should I come with you?"

"No, that's okay, I got it." Yukari was distracted by a sick smile on Darien's face that was gone in a blink of an eye. She shook off the unnerving feeling she got. She had to go find Hitomi. Yukari started to run after Hitomi.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Hitomi leaned against the warm red brick of the building hugging her arms to herself like she was going to be ripped apart.

The sun had just started to set, casting reflections on the water of the Pacific Ocean in the pier. The light made shadows on her face as she tried to calm her breathing.

She couldn't stop her pulse from racing. She was going to explode! Her head was blasting apart in fireworks! The dragon and his rage were still unleashed! Hitomi was going to fly apart in a million pieces. It was unimaginable pain! Hitomi was in complete agony, and like a trapped animal she looked for an escape. She collapsed to her knees, shaking violently and curled into the tightest ball she could against the white-hot inferno.

VAN! Van, help me! Ahhhh! It's going to – It's going to kill me! Van's immediate reaction was frantic panic. This was something that he, a warrior, had no idea how to fight. What could he do? All he could do was watch her struggle against the pain his fury had caused.

USE THE PENDENT! Hitomi screamed with the last of her strength and desperation.

Then Hitomi felt the colossal war that the dragon had begun in her head suddenly obliterated by a burning white light that was almost as painful. It was like the Gaean doomsday device had just been resurrected and detonated again in her head! She could feel the pendent burning fiercely and the feather hanging around her neck flickered, then flared into an answering flame. Hitomi arched and twisted as Yukari burst through the back door.

"Wha----" Yukari gasped.

The light was outside Hitomi's head now, and through it she saw Van.

She was Van! He filled her head and senses. There was no individual she and he. She had the power of flight! Hitomi had wings! It was an unbelievable exhilarating strength. Everything was gone except for Van. Just Van.

"Van!" she cried. Van, pendent intensely glowing, huge 20-foot wingspan with sword out and ready, stood before her.

"Hitomi!" he yelled as he reached for, his huge wings pounding the air. The one voice that she would have died to hear one last time! He was here. She threw herself into his arms. He moved as if to catch her…

And she fell right through him.

A/N: Quick, guys! Run to the next chapter!