Disclaimer: I ain't mine. So you can't sue me.

Hi! Thanks for the review's everyone. (Though at the moment there are only two for the last chapter.) Sry for the last chappie! would put in the big breaks and lines used to separate sections. Oh well maybe it was just me. I'm not sure if this idea has been used before. I haven't read many Escaflowne fics. But if there is another story like this anywhere I swear I didn't copy. Thank you all so much PLEASE R&R (not to be cunfuzzed with rest and relation or read and run)

Van soared over the rolling fields on the back of Escaflowne. He was pushing the machine to the limit to stay in sight of the guymelef but it felt so wonderful to be flying with Escaflowne again.

It was a different feeling then flying with your own wings. That required work and lots of it.

Now he was riding to save the people Hitomi had shown up with. 'And so far so good.' He had his sights locked onto the guymelef. Nothing could happen! Then chance (Or was it?) played its cruel hand.

A heavy gust blew the Escaflowne slightly off track. Van fought the control of the wind for a small while until he got the Escaflowne under control. But by the time he started heading off in he direction he had been going the Guymelef had disappeared.

Van cursed loudly the Guymelef must have had a stealth cloak hidden somewhere (a/n der). Then a thought occurred to him.

He could use the pendant. He really wanted to reach up and grab it from of his neck as much for concentration as for comfort. When he held the pendant he felt closer to Hitomi. He couldn't act on this impulse though.

He was trying to pilot the Escaflowne through "treacherous" skies, so he envisioned the pendant in his mind and thought 'Where is the enemy Guymelef' the pendant continued to swing back and forth. I didn't stop to point the way. It wasn't working. Maybe he was out of practice or not concentrating hard enough. He tried again. No response.

Then he had another idea. 'Where is Hitomi' he thought the pendant pointed. 'Where is Allen?' Once again the pendant pointed the direction in which Allen lay.

It was definitely working. The only logical conclusion now was that somehow the enemy Guymelef avoided his ability to sense direction of his enemies. This was something to be thought about.

When he got back he would ask Hitomi about this change of events. Right now it was too late for the members of the track team. They would find them later once Hitomi was awake and she could help him.

It was so good to be home. Hitomi sighed. She was very weak and didn't feel like she would ever be well again but she was alive and the strength would come later.

'Alive to see Van' came the thought.

"Hitomi!" wailed a voice the she would never forget. Not even if she tried. She half turned her head expecting to see a slightly older cat girl but her eyes widened when she saw the figure standing before her.

The little girl was no longer little. In any aspect of the body! Her hair had grown and she wasn't wearing that brown rag anymore. She was dressed like a lady. Also her features he grown more defined. Her tail more sleek and her ears more proportional to her head.

"Merle?" Hitomi breathed softly "Is that you?" Merle smiled and nodded. "But you're all grown up." Merle nodded again.

Then she spoke "Hitomi I'm so glad you're alive. It's been such a chore these last few years to keep Van from falling into too much of a depression! Also when is the wedding? I need to start getting ready now"

'Yes' thought Hitomi 'Same old blunt Merle' then her words sunk in.

"M-m-marriage Merle I don't even know if Van wants to get married don't you think your going a little fast here?"

Merle's face took a more serious look "Hitomi if you think I'm going to sit around until you two grow some guts and tell each other how you feel and ask each other to marry you are sadly mistaken!"

she said that all in one breath then continued "I got married before you two, and I was a child before you left."

"What?" said Hitomi as loud as her weakness allowed her "You're married?"

Merle smiled "Yes to a wonderful cat man."

"But Merle you're just a child." Merle sighed. She got this all the time.

"Hitomi I am a cat woman. I'm not human! Which means we age differently. We grow from our infant stage very fast. Then grow slowly in our childhood stage. At age 16 we start looking for potential mates like your teenage years. By age 18 we are fully grown and capable of marriage and kittens." Hitomi looked at her open mouthed in shock.

Merle smiled again this time though it looked contented and happy "Hitomi wanna hear a secret" Hitomi nodded her head "I think I'm pregnant with my first litter of kittens. I wanted you to be the first to know. But don't tell anyone, I want it to be a surprise." Hitomi nodded again.

"Merle I'm so happy for you. But I have a question that is slightly off the subject." Merle nodded she knew what was coming. "Where is Van?"

'Bingo Hitomi it took you long enough to ask' she thought to herself.

"Well Hitomi, first those people you brought with you came in here and started being loud. Van didn't want you to be disturbed. So to shut them up Van took them to Folken's grave and he is going to return them home. He left a while ago so he should be back soon"

Hitomi looked crestfallen "What?" asked Merle "You didn't want to go with them did you?"

"No!" Hitomi almost yelled "I just wanted to say goodbye to Amano and Yukari".

"To who?" came a voice from the doorway. Yukari Amano and Allen stood next to each other at the entrance to the room. "What are you guys doing here?"

The staring Match continued for some time neither Amano nor Allen backing down. Finally Amano said "Can someone explain what is going on here?"

Allen though looked just as bewildered. Yukari spoke up.

"OH I know I know!! OK here it is! Well there might be parallel us's on this planet and our planet." She smiled as if she were the genius of the year "Nah just kidding."

To Amano and Allen it made perfect sense. But they too brushed it off as nothing it couldn't be possible it was just a coincidence.

"Ok then" said Allen "Let's head back to the palace. I don't expect Van to be back for a while." Allen had been watching the events from the castle. It wasn't too far so he got a pretty good idea of what was going on.

Then as if noticing Yukari for the first time he made his way over to her. She was beautiful. "My lady would you like me to escort you to the castle."

Amano was livid Yukari was a little freaked out. She got over it fast "Nah I got my man right here." She moved back and gripped Amano's arm. He smiled at her and she smiled back. Then he gave her a quick kiss and they turned to face Allen.

He sighed "You women from the mystic moon are good at resisting my advances." Yukari grinned and they headed towards the castle. When they got there Hitomi was awake and talking to a pink haired woman with ears and a tail. This place was definitely weird.

Yukari heard their names and the word goodbye. "To who?" Yukari asked.

Hitomi looked a little shocked "What are you guys doing here?" Amano spoke first "You didn't think we were gonna leave without saying goodbye to our best friend did you?"

Hitomi looked so relieved she almost cried. "What happened to the rest of the group?" Yukari's face dropped like she was just remembering. "Oh Hitomi it was terrible!" she wailed "They were going up the beam of light and then this thing took them."

Hitomi's vision came rushing back to her." I had a vision." Allen looked with interest. These vision things always proved helpful.

"You guys were all on a new ship"

Allen nodded then answered "Hitomi it is probably our new ship. We named her Lady of The Mystic Moon. We call it the Vision as a nick name." Hitomi blushed.

"Van!! He was riding the Escaflowne." Yukari spoke "That was already done too."

"So that must mean" Hitomi sighed. "That the rest of the track team is being held in a tower somewhere."

Van flew back towards the palace. He had to tell Hitomi what happened. He hoped she was awake.

He landed the Escaflowne near the palace by Folken's grave. When he walked into the grand entrance one of the guards dragged a struggling woman over to him.

"My lord" said the guard "This is the bitch that poisoned your food." Van recognized her. Se looked almost exactly like that girl from earlier. Some where along the way he had heard someone say her name. What was it? It was Yukari! That was it. But this couldn't be her. Yukari had come with Hitomi after his food had been poisoned.

A realization came. Or at least a suspicion. The man...Amano looked exactly like Allen. But these people were from the Mystic Moon. May be there was someone who looked exactly like him out there Hitomi too.

"Bring her to the room where Lady Hitomi is staying" He said to the guard. When Van had arrived back at Folken's grave and Amano and Yukari had not been present he had assumed that they came back to the castle. The most obvious place for them to be was with Hitomi.

He walked into the room with a guard behind him. Hitomi was up. He momentarily forgot about the prisoner. And practically ran to where Hitomi was. He carefully put his arms around her so as not to hurt her further. She hugged him back oblivious to all the smiling faces in the room.

"This is all really touching y'all! But if your not gonna kill or imprison me then let me go." With that she pulled free of the lax grip of the guard. The attention of everyone in the room turned to her.

Yukari looked and gasped. At the gasp the prisoner looked at Yukari and did the same thing. They were almost exactly the same. Except the girl has lighter hair and blue eyes.

While she was shocked Allen grabbed her and forcibly sat her in a chair. She glared at him.

"Who are you?" he asked. The girl grinned in a complacent relaxed way. "Name's Mickiko! What's yours?" Allen looked rather annoyed "I am Allen Schezar and I am a Knight of Caeli."

He looked very proud of himself. "Your point?" came the answer. Allen was getting flustered. To him the girl was even more beautiful then Yukari. (Even though they were almost exactly the same). He liked Michiko's hair and eyes better then Yukari's plus Yukari was already taken. And the scary thing is. He thought Yukari was one of the most beautiful people he had ever seen.

What was he thinking? This girl was rude and annoying and not to mention the fact that she had tried to murder his best friend.

Van stepped forward "Why did you try to poison me?" A flash of guilt went through the girls eyes.

"They offered to pay me. I really need the money" Michiko didn't know why she said it. She felt like she could trust these people though. King Van was always compassionate to the lower class and that was a well known fact.

"Why?" he asked. Michiko looked up and completely out of character said. "I'll show you" Van and Allen looked reluctant to follow but Yukari started out after her.

Hitomi struggled to stand. Van rushed to hr side. "Hitomi you're staying here" He said very firmly. "No I'm not" she said back. "You can't make me stay here because if you leave I'll follow" Van sighed. Then in one fluid motion e picked Hitomi up.

Allen followed closely behind Michiko ready to stop her if she tried to run. She walked. And led them through the city, right into the slum district. She turned a corner and lifted a small wooden box.

Underneath lay a small child. He looked very sick. "He needs help" she said "And I can't refuse money when it is offered, I'm trying not to have to resort to prostitution to keep us alive."

Van looked at Allen and nodded. Allen bent down and picked up the boy. Michiko went back to her fiery self at once. "What the fuck do you think your doing." She yelled at him. "Put him down you jackass."

She chased after the now moving Allen all fought him all the way to the castle. When they got inside Allen lay the child down on a bed in one of the guest rooms. Then he called to a servant. "Get one of the doctors to come in. Tell him that we have a sick little boy here"

The servant nodded and bowed. Van came in still carrying Hitomi "I have one more question Lady Michiko" He said to her.

She smirked and turned, "I guess I owe you one answer. But don't think this is gonna change nothing. Cause the second he gets better we are back out on the street."

Van smiled "Your welcome to stay here as long as you like!! We have Many guest rooms and you can use one of them" Michiko looked at him doubtfully "Why you doin this?" she asked him still looking skeptical. "You see I have a theory that there is a double of each person on this world. Their twin is on the mystic moon. Obviously you and Lady Yukari are twins such as these so are Allen and Sir Amano. In that case I think it is best to keep you close."

Michiko looked at him funny. "You off your rocker. But hell I ain't complaining."

"Now for my question" said Van "Who hired you?"

"Well" said Michiko "He musta been usin magic cause he looked almost exactly like you. Cept his hair was different."

"I see" was all Van said.

"Allen can you escort Lady Michiko to her room." Allen Grinned "Of course my liege."

R&R