A/N: Hello Personages!!! I know I said that this next chapter would come soon, but my teachers must have heard that I had extra time on my hands and they all piled a mountain of homework on me. I swear it's a conspiracy -__- I was hoping to get a lot of stuff in this chapter but I didn't have a lot of time, so I'm giving you what I have so far.
And here are the responses to the reviews from the previous chapter (everyone who reviews gets a response):
Daddyz-girl- Hi "baka" you reviewed just in time for this chapter. I haven't talked to you in a while. By the way, I read the "Bronco High" and I was really confused on that last chapter. As I said in my review, you are going to have to explain that one to me. Well, I'm tired and I want to go to bed, so, just read this chapter already. Ja ne.
Japanimejo- Thanks for the review. There is a little more happiness in this chapter. I won't call it comedy cause I don't think there is any. Oh well. I hope you like the chapter anyway.
Dreamer516: Hurray!!! I hooked another reader. No need to apologize. The words you gave me were a great help. Domo Arigatou!!! Thanks for reading my fic. Enjoy the next chapter.
Kat-Tastrophe: Ha! I'm STILL spelling your name the Right way. Thanks for the new Japanese words. With any luck, my crossword puzzle will be done soon! Thanks for reading/reviewing. Ja ne.
Revia: ESCAFLOWNE SOUNDTRACK ROCKS!!! I listen to it all the time. Also, I know exactly which song you're talking about. *attempts to make trumpet sounds* Doo…do…doo…do…do…do…doo…do…doo…Oh great, now I'm gonna have this song stuck in my head all day long. *starts humming* Oh well…I'm glad I wrote Van's character the right way. I was afraid I was going to make him seem a little…weak. It makes me feel a lot better knowing that I portrayed him the right way. And as for the fork… (Hee…hee) …A fork won't be able to get rid of her, sorry to say. She's staying. *cowers* don't worry! There is a good reason why I'm keeping her, although, once you figure it out, you may want to hunt ME down with a fork. *digs a hole in the ground and jumps in. Waves white flag in the air* About the ketchup part, I didn't write that, unfortunately. A friend was proof reading it and when she reached that one part, she told me to put in the thing with the fries! Uh…oh. I think my Math teacher has figured out that I'm not actually doing my work. Got to go. Enjoy this next chapter!!!
Disclaimer: Ok. Today I have Pikachu, the famous electric Pokemon to do the disclaimer. So, Pikachu. Do I own Escaflowne?
Pikachu: Chu.
What was that? I didn't understand you.
Pikachu: Cha…pika.
……*sweat drop*……..
Pikachu: pika…pikachu!
Ok. Try to say this: 'You don't own Escaflonwe'
Pikachu: cha pika pika chu.
Listen, I just need you to answer this one question. DO I OWN ESCAFLOWNE?!
Pikachu: Chu.
*sigh*Never mind. Let's just get on with chapter six.
Pikachu: About time! I've been waiting forever for this chapter to be updated!
-_- *sweat drop*
Chapter Six: Best Friends Forever
Walking down a stone hallway, decorated with blue tapestries, was a woman dressed in a fine silver gown. This was Princess Calypso Siren, the most beautiful woman in the country, and the heir to the thrown of Cyrce. Although she didn't show it, Princess Calypso was on alert. Every once in a while, she would take a quick, unnoticeable glance behind her to check to make sure she wasn't being followed. She was worried. Our plans to forge an alliance with Fanelia took way too long. There were too many setbacks to be just a coincidence. There must be a traitor among us. But who could it be…
She had stopped walking when she came to a giant wooden door. Taking a couple more glances up and down the hallway, she knocked on the door several times.
"Enter."
She slowly pushed the door open, stepped inside and carefully closed the door behind her. Inside this room was only one occupant. Queen Elizabeth Siren, ruler of all Cyrce.
"Mother, we have received a message from the negotiators you sent to Fanelia."
"And? What do they say?"
"They say that King Van has accepted the alliance proposal. Wedding arrangements are being made as we speak."
"Excellent. Are you ready for this."
"Absolutley. The power of Atlantis will be ours."
"Has King Van been able to bring the girl from the Mystic Moon back to Gaea yet?"
"No mother."
"Good. Everything is going according to plan…"
Outside the door, a cloaked woman was listening to the secret conversation…
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"Good afternoon, Sleeping Beauty."
Hitomi's eyes fluttered open at the sound of her best friend's voice.
"Hey, Yukari…" she whispered. Hitomi took a quick look around the room. "Where am I?"
"You're in the hospital." Came Amano's voice.
"Hospital? Why…how…" and then she remembered. A flood of memories of the past events swarmed inside her mind. Her house in a mess, the buglers, being trapped in a basement for almost three days, the sound of children's voice's playing outside, the baseball bat, the gun, her visions, and…Van. She saw Van. She remembered how he had killed those two men. How she made him swear that this wasn't a dream. After that, all she could remember was light. A brilliant white light…
"I realize that this has been a terrible ordeal for you, but I need to ask you a few questions." Hitomi looked past Yukari and saw an older man dressed in a police uniform.
"That's alright officer…"
"Ripley. Officer Ripley. Let's just get this over and done with so you can get back to resting. Ok…" he took a deep breath and cleared his throat, "Thursday, after school, you go home early because track practice was cancelled. Will you please continue from there?"
And she did. She told him everything that she could remember. Officer Ripley had to trade places with Yukari at Hitomi's side because she couldn't speak any louder than a whisper. Everything was going fine until she reached the part where Van made his big entrance.
'I can't tell him about Van. He'll think I'm crazy, or that Van was responsible for the kidnapping. Oh well. I'm just going to have to leave him out of the story.'
"…ok. So far I've got that after the woman at the door left, the man came down to the basement to kill you."
"Yes…um…then, the other guy came home and stood in the basement doorway holding out his gun. Before the first guy could finish me off, he shot me with the gun, and…I…then I blacked out. I don't remember anymore."
"That's it? You don't remember anything on how the kidnappers were killed?"
Hitomi tried to look surprised at the news, "Killed? I don't remember them being killed. Who did it?"
The officer breathed a sigh, "I was hoping you would be able to answer that question."
"Sorry I can't help more…"
"What about the feather?" the officer interrupted.
"Feather? What feather?"
"The one in your hand. You were found at the scene with a feather in your hand."
Hitomi then realized that her left fist was clenched, and there was something inside it. She lifted her hand and opened it, and out fell… a feather! A single, white, beautiful feather. Hitomi picked it back up and starred at it in awe.
"So, where did you get the feather from?" the officer persisted, hoping that the feather gave some clue to who had killed the two kidnappers. Little did he know that this feather was a clue…
"Oh… this?" Hitomi was doing some fast thinking, "I…uh…it… it's my good luck charm!"
"Good luck charm? So, you've had that feather all along?" the officer asked.
"Um…Yes."
"Oh. Ok. Well, that's all the questions I have for now. In the meantime, you had better get some rest." Officer Ripley stood up to leave. "It was nice meeting you."
"Bye." The three chorused as the officer left the room.
Yukari sat down in Hitomi's right side and took her hand once more. She seemed to be deep in thought.
"Yukari, what's wrong?"
"The feather, it was Van's, wasn't it?"
Hitomi felt a jolt go down her stomach. "How did you know?"
Amano spoke up. "We heard you call his name while you were asleep." Hitomi blushed slightly. "We still remember what you told us, about that time when Van took you to Gaea. I know you don't talk about it much…"
"I didn't think you two believed me." Hitomi interrupted.
"Of course we believed you." Yukari cried, "You are our best friend. How could we net believe you? Especially after seeing that dragon…"
"Thank you. Both of you. You're the bestest friends anyone could ask for."
Amano carefully brushed some hair away form Hitomi's face. "You should get some sleep. You look tired."
"Wait." Yukari said suddenly. "Hitomi, could I borrow that feather for a while? I promise I'll give it back."
"What are you going to do?"
"It's a surprise…" she said with a mischievous look on her face.
"Ok… just be careful with it."
"I will. I promise. Now, get some sleep."
"…ok…" Hitomi didn't know what Yukari was up to, but she trusted her best friend with all her heart. She smiled to herself as she fell back into a blissful sleep.
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
"Amano, will you stay with Hitomi?"
"Why? Where are you going?"
"It's a surprise…" and with that, Yukari was out the door.
Yukari could be seen walking down the busy street, staring intently at the feather in her hands. She knew haw much this feather meant to Hitomi, and that was exactly why she wanted to borrow it.
"Ah… here we are." Yukari had reached her destination. It was a jewelry store that made custom made jewelry. Yukari pushed open the door and heard the tinkling of a bell above her.
"I'll be there in just a minute!" shouted a woman upstairs. Yukari took the opportunity to take a look around. All around her were jars and buckets of different colored beads, rocks, jewels, shells, and pearls. Upstairs, Yukari could hear the woman bustling about, obviously searching for something.
"I may take a while, dear." The woman called. "What is it you needed?"
"I wanted to know if you could make a necklace for my friend with this feather on it."
"A feather, you say? Yea, I can do that, no problem. Go ahead and pick out some stones and beads to decorate the necklace. I'll come down in just a sec."
"Arigatou!" Yukari called. She walked over to the counter and picked up a plastic cup to keep the beads in. She then made her way to the corner of the store that had hundreds of different colored stones. She spent the next several minutes picking out stones that would go on the necklace. By the time she was done, she had several stones inside her cup: crimson red, light brown, hot pink, cerulean blue, honey colored yellow, one stone with white and black swirls, a glittering gold stone, a shiny silver stone, and one larger green stone that matched the color of Hitomi's eyes. 'Perfect! I think I got everyone in there…'
"Did you find your beads, miss?" The woman had finally come downstairs.
"Um…yes, I think I did." Yukari walked over to the woman and handed her the cup with the stones inside it. The woman pulled out a tray and dumped the stones into it. "I was wondering if it is possible to take this feather and place it inside that large green stone."
"Yes, I can do that."
"Really? That would be so great."
"Would you like the other stones to be evenly spaced on either side of the feather?"
"Yes. That would be perfect. When do you think it would be finished?"
"Well, I don't have anything to do at the moment, so, I'll get started on it right away. It should be done in about two hours."
"Domo Arigatou!" Hitomi is going to love this…
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
"You agreed to what!?" shrieked Merle after Van had told her that he was engaged to Princess Calypso.
"I told you. I didn't have a choice." Defended Van. "If I didn't agree to this marriage, Fanelia and Cyrce would go to war. As much as I care about Hitomi, I can't ignore the fact that I would be risking hundreds of innocent lives if I said no. It was the only way… the only way…" Van's voice trailed off.
"Where are they?" Merle snapped.
"Where are who?"
"Those lazy cheap advisors of yours. Where are they? I swear I'm going to rip out their throats the next time I see them." Merle had hoped that this last statement would win over a smile, but it didn't. 'Poor Lord Van…' Merle thought. After a long while, in which neither of them said anything, Merle broke the silence. "It's not fair." Merle took a seat next to Van on his bed and wrapped her arm around his.
"I know…" Again there was a very long silence in which neither of them even moved. Several minutes passed by when Merle whispered a single word, filled with disgust.
"Politics…"
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
After about two hours of walking around the streets, idly looking at windows but not really seeing what was in front of her, she returned to the jewelry shop. The young woman who had helped her before was now playing on her Gameboy, a look of deep concentration on her face. Lying beside her was a square box. After a few minutes during which Yukari stood patiently at the counter, the woman shouted, "DAMN! I LOSE AGAIN!" At this point, the woman realized that she was not alone in the store. She looked a little embarrassed.
"Heh…Sorry about that…I…um… found my Gameboy and…well… once I start playing, I really get into it."
"That's no problem." Yukari laughed. "I just came to see if the necklace was ready."
"Huh? Oh, yes, that. Yup. Finished it about ten minutes ago." The woman finally put down her Gameboy and brought the square box in front of her. Slowly and carefully, she raised the lid and Yukari gasped at what she saw.
"Perfect…"
"You know, its funny, but while I was making that necklace, I thought I was going insane."
"Really? Why?"
"Well, I could have sworn that the feather started glowing while I was working on it."
"Uh… well that's strange. Oh well. Thanks anyway." Yukari paid the woman and walked out of the store with the box inside a plastic bag. 'I sure hope Hitomi likes her birthday present…'
Two days past and Hitomi was finally able to go home. She had talked to her parents on the phone and they were relieved to hear that Hitomi was safe and sound. However, they were still stuck in Canada. Ice had frozen over the runway and no matter what they did to it, it kept on freezing over again. Still, she was glad that she would be able to return to something that was more familiar. The cab drive was lonely and uneventful. Yukari said she had to go to work and Amano had to go pick up his little brother. When the cab stopped in front of her house, she paid the man and got out of the car, slowly. Hitomi watched the cab drive away and then turned back towards her house. As she reached for the front gate, she thought to herself, 'No visions this time…' Hitomi walked up to her front door and looked down. 'Somebody cleaned up the glass.' She put her key in the door and prepared herself for a messy house that would need cleaning. When the door opened, a loud explosion of voices nearly knocked her backwards.
"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!"
Instead of a mess of furniture and papers, Hitomi found a mess of people and a big "Happy Birthday" banner. Amano and Yukari stepped out of the crowd and came over to Hitomi and each gave her a gently hug. Both of them had wide grins on their faces.
"I should have known that you two were up to something." Laughed Hitomi.
Amano averted his gaze to the ceiling and Yukari looked at the floor, both of them twiddling their thumbs innocently.
"I didn't do anything. Did you?" asked Yukari.
"Nope. Not me." Amano smiled. "Come on Hitomi. Most of your guests can only stay for a little while. They just came to wish you a happy birthday."
Over the next hour was spent saying hello to all of her other friends and neighbors and nearby relatives. Hitomi had a huge smile on the whole time. Once everyone had left, Hitomi sat on her couch, exhausted from the days events. Yukari and Amano came to sit next to her.
"Don't you go falling asleep on us." Yukari said, "You still have to open presents."
"I'll open them later. I just want to relax."
Both Yukari and Amano looked at each other and then back at Hitomi. "Well, at least open our present."
"Oh… alright." Yukari looked overjoyed. "Why are you so happy?"
"You'll see…" Yukari dug into the mountain of presents on the coffee table looking for the one from Amano and Yukari. "Here we are." She picked out a square box with gold ribbon on it. She handed it to Hitomi. "Happy Birthday."
Hitomi placed the package on her lap and pulled at the ribbon until it came undone. Carefully, she lifted the cover of the box and looked inside. It was a necklace. But it wasn't just any necklace. The necklace had several different colored stones attached, including one large green stone that was in the middle. And attached to this stone was...
"The feather… I was wondering when you were going to give that back." Hitomi smiled.
The stem of the feather was implanted into the green stone, right through its core. On either side of the stone were several different colored rocks, wrapped in a little wire cage so they stayed in place.
"It's beautiful. Thank you so much." Hitomi was on the verge of tears. Yukari came closer and picked up the necklace.
"It's a friendship necklace. Each stone represents one of your friends. See, there are little engravings on each stone. The brown one represents Amano, the red one represents me, and the green one is you. The feather goes through the green stone as a symbol of love. I remember all of the friends you made while you were on Gaea, so, I included them also. The pink stone is Merle, the light blue stone is Allen, and the yellow stone is Millerna. And of course, I didn't forget the friends that you made that are not around anymore. The black and white one is Folken, and the gold and silver stones represent Naria and Ariya." Yukari unclasped the necklace and put it on Hitomi. When she looked into those emerald green eyes, she saw tears of joy.
"Thank you so much Yukari. And you too Amano."
"Hitomi. I know how much Van means to you. So, we just want you to know that, no matter where you go, we will always be with you. We will always be your friend."
Hitomi was a little startled. So they knew. They knew all along…Hitomi leaned over and gave Yukari a hug.
"Thank you." Hitomi whispered. "Friends forever?"
"Best Friends Forever."
A/N: Wow. That was a lot more than I thought it would be. I had planned for this chapter to include a lot more cool stuff, but, I got a little carried away with the necklace thing. Sorry but I had too. The necklace is going to be very important in the upcoming chapters…… *gasp*…. Did I just give something away? (shhhhhhh…….)
WHY AREN'T YOU PEOPLE REVIEWING????!!!!!! *starts crying hysterically* I need more reviews! It's a simple process you know. Here, let me walk you through it. First, take your mouse and click on the "Go" button on the lower left hand corner. Second, type your name (it doesn't have to be a real name; it could be "boogers" for all I care). Third, the easiest step in the whole world is to type three little letters: "I hate it." Or "I love it!" See, now isn't that easy? *sigh* Who knows, maybe I am getting a lot of reviews and I just think I'm only getting a little. A review from "baka" and D.I.M.B. wouldn't hurt. *hint hint* Sorry people, but I haven't heard from these two people in a long time and they were the ones who told me to post this story on Fan fiction in the first place. And when I don't even get a review from THEM, I get really discouraged. *pout* Oh don't mind me. My mom always says that I'm my own worst critic. My sister should know that better than most! ~_- Any who, I have a request to people who are reading this and have the privilege of watching more cartoons than I can. *whimper* I have been assigned another crossword puzzle and I NEED HELP!!! I am pretty sure that the questions are based on the cartoon "Inuyasha." Unfortunately, I don't have cable so I can't watch this show and I have no idea what it's about. If any of you watch this show, please let me know so I can pick your brain! (with a baby spoooooooon……..heh heh…) sorry people, another inside joke… Well, that's all for now folks! Just one little friendly reminder……..REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!..........................ok…..I think you get the picture!
P.S.
Luv ya sis!!!