Disclaimer: Escaflowne does not belong to me, Harumi, Nikki and Mia do.
Chapter 4
The little girls shrieked with joy. Nikki ran to hug her aunt. Then she went to hug Van, but a look from Mia told her to forget about it. She shrunk back behind Hitomi.
Merle clapped her hands in delight. "We have to tell everybody about this. Someone needs to get Millerna here."
"Not necessary," Allen said. He grinned sheepishly. "I sent a messenger to Asturia right after she got here."
"Very sneaky Allen," Van said. "But it saves us the trouble. I guess we'll have to make a public announcement about this."
Merle nodded. "The citizens will be thrilled."
"Don't forget about Father," Mia spoke up.
"Oh, that's right." Van frowned, thinking hard. "Well, he'll be back in about a week. There's no way we can get a letter to him before than. We're not going to do it right away anyway."
"Definitely not," Hitomi agreed. "Weddings take time to plan. Some take years."
Van's jaw dropped. "Years?" he repeated. "I meant, like weeks or something. Not years."
"As you wish, your majesty," Hitomi laughed.
"Wow, it's going to be so weird," Harumi commented. "You're going to be a queen."
"Yeah, I know." Hitomi tried to appear confident, but she was clearly shaken up by the idea, even though she had always known what would happen if they got married.
"Anyway," Merle said, aware of her discomfort, who else do we have to tell?"
"Well, Chid will be here in a day or two, so we'll tell him then," Van replied. He wouldn't look at Allen as he said this.
"Who's Chid?" Harumi asked.
"The Duke of Freid," Allen said. "You didn't tell me he was coming." He glared at Van.
"What's the matter?" asked Nikki.
"It's a long story," Hitomi said. "One of the parts I'm not about to tell you."
"Yeah, I know: "You're too young, I'll tell you when you're older." She frowned. "You never tell me anything!"
"Girls, go outside and play," Merle said.
"But, Mother," Mia began to argue.
"Go!" The girls obeyed.
"What's the problem?" Harumi whispered.
"Chid is Allen's son," Hitomi answered. "But I don't know what happened."
"Chid found out that Allen's his real father," Merle explained. "He didn't take it well."
"Oh, poor Allen," Hitomi said.
"You should have cleared it with me first," he said angrily.
"It's my castle, my country. I can invite whomever I please. It has nothing to do with you. Whatever problems you have, I'm not getting involved with. You have to deal with them yourself." In truth, Van had hoped that by getting them together they would solve their problems. Apparently, that wasn't going to happen.
"But he's impossible!" Allen shouted. He was near tears. "He hates me!"
*Flashback*
"Listen, son," Allen began. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner…"
"Don't call me that!" Chid shouted at him. "I'm not your son! You are not my father!"
Allen shook his head. "I am. It's the truth."
"No, it's not. How could it be?"
"It's a very long and complicated story. Your mother and I…"
Chid put his hand in the air to stop him. "No. Look, maybe you're my father by blood. But, if you were my real father, you'd have… well, you'd have done a lot of things. Did you even come to see me when I was born?"
"Well, I… no," he admitted. "But…"
"Why not?" he yelled fiercely. "Didn't you care about me?"
Allen looked crestfallen. This was not what he had hoped would happen. He expected he'd be a little angry for not telling him, but not like this. Allen wanted to have the relationship with his son that he didn't have with his father. But, judging from Chid's immediate reaction, that wasn't about to happen.
"I know you're a little angry," Allen started to say.
"A little? You don't know how angry I am. I could understand you not coming when my father was alive, especially not at first. But you did come eventually."
"Exactly, so…"
"I didn't finish. You came to fight a war. You helped us, true, but not because of that. It had nothing to do with me."
"But, I…" Allen knew in his heart that he did come because of that. He couldn't have let his son get killed. But Chid anger blinded him from the possibility.
"I don't know how I ever looked up to you. All those stories Mother told me." His eyes flashed with rage. "You say you loved her, but you didn't even come to see her when she died."
"But Chid," Allen protested forcefully. "I'm sorry," he said, a bit more gently. "I made some mistakes. I'm only human. And I'm asking you for a second chance. Let me make it up to you. Please?"
"No!" The word stung like a million slaps in the face. He was never hurt this much in any battle. "I can't. If you really wanted to be a father to me, you would have done it as soon as the duke died. Not ten years later."
"Yes, that was wrong of me. But you were so young and…"
"Don't make excuses."
"I'm begging you. Don't do what I did. I never got to know my father and I'll always regret it."
"Well, I'm not like you or your father. I'm leaving." He walked away.
"Chid," Celena began. She had been watching quietly the whole time. He slammed the door. Allen stared after him, stone-faced.
"Well," she prompted, "aren't you going to go after him?"
"No, why? So he can yell at me some more? No way." He put his hand to his eyes to conceal the fact that he was crying.
"But you just said…"
He shrugged. "It's his decision."
Celena threw her hands up in frustration. "Fine. If you're not going to do it, I will." She took off after him.
Allen watched her go, but he didn't move a muscle.
*End Flashback*
"I don't want to go through that again," Allen told Van. "I almost lost two people in my family."
"It's your own fault," Van replied. "You can't just let someone go like that. Believe me, I learned the hard way." He glanced at Hitomi.
She went next to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Van's right, Allen. But its not too late. You can still make things right."
"I don't know," he replied sadly.
The girls crept back inside from their hiding place behind the door. Mia cuddled up to her mother. Merle put her arm around her. Nikki moved loser to Harumi and reached for her hand. She gave it, frowning. Apparently, there was a lot more to the people of Gaea then she knew from the story. And, so far, she didn't know what she could do about it.
(F- Ah, you know the drill) to be continued.