Declaimer: I don't own Escaflowne or any of the characters.

Boo: Ok this chapter is a little longer. I'm upping the rating for future chapters. It'll get a lot darker (hopefully).

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"No, no it can't be!" she wailed. Staring back at her were not her green eyes but terrible golden ones, slitted pupils shrinking into thin lines at the shock. "No!" Hitomi screamed. Through the red mists clouding her mind, Hitomi could distantly hear Van and the others shouting through the door to her bedroom. Staring at the sight, a sudden rage took over her, as she could see the eyes of Vincent staring out at her. In fury she raised her fists smashing the mirror, trying to obliterate the image. Shards flew around the room with the force. Loud thuds now came from the door outside but Hitomi didn't hear them. Staring at the blood dripping from her hands onto the floor, the horror made her seemingly go deaf and dumb as the terrible realisation of it all sunk in. She felt as if a shell-like bubble surrounded her, keeping all noise from the outside world away from where she stood. Falling onto her knees she started to sob. As Van and the others smashed down the door and rushed in, she could vaguely hear their muffled voices going on around her.

"Hitomi? Hitomi! Allen get give me that towel over," ordered Van as he took Hitomi's hands and gently wrapped them in the towel. "Don't let Merle come in here – there's glass every where and we don't want anyone else to start bleeding all over the place." He continued as Merle peered around the door. Hitomi could faintly hear Millerna ordering Van to put some water in a bowl and Allen to bring her out of there. Feeling herself being lifted, Allen's soft voice whispered in her ears.

"Hitomi it's ok. Everything is going to be ok." He cradled her in his arms and brought her in to the bedroom setting her down gently on the bed. She could hear Allen stand back as Van rushed over to her. Brushing the fallen bangs out of her eyes, she could hear his intake of breath. The white noise in her brain cleared and as she recovered the use of her limbs she turned and looked at him, dread in her heart as she looked into his eyes, wondering what she would see in them. A tiny glimmer of hope warmed her as she saw his love for her still there, burning brightly.

Suddenly Van was hidden from her sight as Millerna and other people she didn't know crowded around her.

"Hitomi it's me Millerna I'm going to take the glass out of your hands ok? It's going to hurt so I'm just going to give you an anaesthetic to help."

"No." Hitomi croaked the syllable.

"What? But there is going to be a lot of pain. I think I'm going to have to stitch some of these cuts."

"No." Millerna looked at her friend's face with a worried expression. "I want… no… I need to feel the pain," continued Hitomi, while Millerna looked on surprised. "Please… this way I know that this is real and not some nightmare I can't wake from," she said weakly. Millerna nodded grimly and ordered the other healers and the two women's friends out. As they all made their way out the room, Hitomi felt someone gently touch her leg. Looking down, her eyes hidden under her fallen hair she saw Van. His face pale with worry he smiled at her.

"I'll always be by your side," he whispered, echoing her words of the night before. He gave her leg a squeeze. "Always." The heart-felt words sustained her through the agony of her wounds getting cleaned and bandaged. As Millerna stitched the worst ones Hitomi cried out in pain, swearing from time to time in Japanese, cursing Vincent. When it was finished, Hitomi looked up at Millerna to see that she had been crying while she had been working on her.

"That's it all done. I got all the shards out of your hands and knees and have cleaned them thoroughly," the Princess stated, exhausted, as she wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. Reaching out gingerly Hitomi squeezed Millerna's hand resting on her lap.

"Thank you" she said weakly. "Now what do you think you can do about this?" With that Hitomi pushed the bangs out of her face and looked up at her friend, awaiting her reaction. Millerna's eyes went wide with shock and Hitomi waited to see if her friend would pull away. Instead Millerna shook her head and sighed.

"My poor friend, what have you got yourself into this time?" Reaching down she wiped the tears that were falling from her Hitomi's eyes. "You just can't stay out of trouble can you?" she chuckled. Hitomi gave a little snort, thankful of the brief moment of humour. But looking up into the Princess' eyes, she could feel her eyes watering.

"I don't know if I'll be able to get out of it this time. Oh Millerna I'm so scared! What's happening to me?" Hitomi started to cry again; huge heavy sobs that had seemed to weigh in her chest escaped.

"I don't know, but we will figure it out. Together. That's what friends are for, right?" As Millerna spoke she almost couldn't finish what she was saying as she also broke down into sobs, hugging Hitomi tenderly. As the two of them sobbed into the other's shoulders, Millerna promised that she would do everything she could to help.

After a little while they pulled apart and wiping away her tears Millerna told her to get a little rest while she gave the others an update on her condition. Hitomi smiled weakly as her friend slipped out the room, telling her that everything was going to be ok.

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As Hitomi watched the door close quietly behind her friend she glanced down at her bandaged hands. Telling herself that mutilating her hands was not the best way to get out of this mess, she then lay back against the pillows staring at the ceiling. She closed her eyes, trying to sleep. However, the thought of seeing that bastard in her dreams again prevented her from doing so. Sitting up she got off the bed, pulled the blanket off her bed and wrapped it around her. Going over to the mirror on the dresser she checked her eyes again, hoping against hope that she had been hallucinating before. But she was sorely disappointed to see that they were the same gold colour as before. Pulling the skin under her eyes down carefully, she examined the gold orbs closer, and after a couple of minutes she pulled a face at herself and sighing pulled away from the mirror. She wandered over to the window, staring out at the world, letting her thoughts drift. Gazing out at the sky as it went from the mottled pinks and oranges from the setting sun to a dark red.

"Red sky at night shepherds delight." She whispered to herself.

She opened the window and sat on the window ledge, pulling the blanket around her to stop out the slight chill in the air. Though it was getting cool, Hitomi quite liked it. It was quite pleasant again her skin and the gentle breeze let her take in the delicate perfumed fragrance of the grounds. She stayed there as the sky darkened and the first stars came out. She looked up at the 'Mystic Moon' as it hung there, a comforting presence to Hitomi as she marvelled at its beauty. Its glow helping the moon illuminate the twilight world below it. Closing her eyes she felt herself dozing slightly under the friendly eye of her home planet. She didn't know she had fallen into a light sleep until she heard a soft rapping at the door. Calling out sleepily, she was answered by Allen. As she beckoned him in she slowly slipped off the window ledge and stood waiting for the Knight to come in.

"Hitomi?" he whispered looking around the door. He screwed his eyes up as he tried to find her in the darkness. As his eyes started to go into night vision mode he saw her at the window and smiled. "Hitomi. I hope you don't mind me visiting you at this time of night." Encouraged by her beckoning him in a second time, he closed the door behind him and made his way over stand beside her at the window. As the two of them looked out the window neither said anything. Hitomi looked at him and smiled as she remembered why she had had a crush on him the first time she had met the Knight. His blond hair shone in the moonlight and he was beautiful, but she would always see him as a close friend. The feelings she had had before were far behind her. Though he would always be special to her; after all he had given her her first kiss. Now, though, his brow was furrowed with worry and knowing that he wouldn't come to her room this late with out it being important she turned and looked out the window as the moon began to climb in the night sky, shining brightly.

"The moon is beautiful tonight don't you think?" she said, breaking the silence.

"What? Yes, yes it is," he replied distractedly. Glancing out the corner of her eye, she could see the blond man squirm awkwardly, trying to find the right words to say. This was a little surprising to her, as he had no problem with that in the past. Charming practically every female he met, he had always seemed to know what to say when things were going wrong. So to see him struggling now was something she had never really seen before. She looked at the moon again.

"I take it Millerna has told you about my 'condition' as it were?" she said, guessing this was what he was thinking about. He gave a little sigh of relief at the lifeline she had thrown him.

"Yes. Yes, she did. She broke the news to all of us." Allen said, quietly grateful. "We - as in all of us - have been discussing it, trying to decide what the best course of action should be."

"And what have you decided?" Hitomi asked.

"Well, I was told to bring you down so that we could talk to you and see how you felt." Allen recounted, his voice remaining quiet.

"What would have happened if I was asleep?"

"I was to wake you."

"Oh." She knew things must be serious.

Allen turned and looked at her, calling her name softly. As she turned he looked at her eyes, and gave a sad smile.

"I didn't want the first conversation we had together to be such a serious one." He said regretfully. He brushed a bang out of her face so as to see her eyes better. "We'll stop this Hitomi, I swear." Hitomi echoed his sad smile. "I don't think you realise how important you are to everyone in that room down there." He paused. "Or in this one." A look of confusion came into her eyes, making him chuckle. "No, like it's not like that. You will always be special to me Hitomi. I mean I did propose to you, and I don't take things like that lightly." He turned and looked out the window and she followed his example. "It may not have been true love like you and Van, but it was special to me. But I'm more than content with being a close friend. I treasure the friendship we share and I'd do anything to protect that and you." When he had finished, Hitomi smiled again: he had said precisely the right thing at the right time. It was Allen's special gift and she did appreciate the genuine feelings behind his words.

"Thank you," she whispered, not just for what he had said then, but for everything he had done in the past. She felt his hand squeeze hers, returning the gesture, then let their hands drop and for a few moments fell into a comfortable silence looking out at the midnight world. "Shall we go?" Hitomi asked, tugging at the blanket and using it as a giant shawl.

"Are you ok to walk?" Allen asked concerned.

" Uh, yeah. I fell on to the floor and you picked me up. My feet didn't touch any glass at all." Hitomi explained, rather embarrassed at event earlier. "Thanks for doing that," she said rather sheepishly.

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As they made their way out the door Allen told not to worry about it, he was glad he could help. For the rest to the trip down the stairs their conversation turned to lighter topics, as he told her that his sister sent her regards and apologies for not coming, as she was away on diplomatic matters.

"How's she enjoying the diplomatic job?" asked Hitomi.

"She gets a real kick out of helping keeping the peace between countries," Allen replied, obviously very proud of Celena.

However, their mood changed when they entered a living room. Everyone else was sitting around the room in silence. When the two of them came in, they all stood up, all with worried smiles. Hitomi sat on the couch beside Van, waiting for them to start talking. Millerna broke the silence as she came over and checked all her bandages.

"Hitomi, if I have to put any more bandages on you're going to look like a mummy." Hitomi and Millerna's laughter broke the tension in the room, and people seem to relax a little.

"So, what have you decided?" Hitomi addressed the room, while she watched Millerna work. Dryden gave a little cough.

"Well, we were going to talk to you about that. We think that we – err - we err….." he faltered.

"We need to find out more about this Vincent and about what is happening to you," Van continued. Hitomi looked up at him as he put an arm on the top of the couch behind her. She was taken aback a little at the way he had spat Vincent's name.

"And that means?"

"We think that the best thing to do is to go to this forest and look for clues there. Lord Van and Dryden know the wolf people who live there, they might be able to help us," replied Merle, who was sitting in a chair a little opposite. Hitomi couldn't help but smile at the use of the word 'us'.

"I see," she said quietly. "When do we go?" she asked looking around them all. The silence that filled the room was deafening.

"As soon as we pack a few things and I sort out a couple of details with my advisors,"

stated Van.

"I see."

"Well I'd better go and pack then, and help Hitomi with hers." Millerna chirped, standing up and making her way over to the door. Another silence followed her to the door. Noticing this she turned and look at them.

"What's going on?"

"Err," said Van.

"What?"

"It's just that this may be a long and difficult trip."

"And?"

"Well you're a Prince..." Van didn't finish the sentence as the drop in the room temperature gave him a slight warning that it would not be a good idea to finish what he was going to say.

"Van De Fanel, you had better not had been trying to tell me that I wasn't going along with you."

"Well…"

"After all we have all been through, you still don't think I can handle myself? I'm a Princess, yes, but I'm Hitomi's friends as well and there is NO way that I'm going to stay behind," she stated, her hands planted firmly on her hips as she looked at Van through narrowed eyes.

"Give up, Van, you can't win against her. Believe me, I've tried in the past, but when she's like this you've no chance," warned Dryden. Van being the type of person who took good advice shrugged his shoulders in defeat. Millerna, satisfied with her victory, turned on her heel and marched out the door. Merle then got up and offered Hitomi help up the stairs.

"You can tell me what to pack." As they walked out the door Dryden gave a little cough.

"Err… Merle I don't think it would be a good idea for you to come. We don't want a procession going into a dangerous forest." Merle turned and glared at him.

"You must be joking of you think I'm not coming too. If I don't go I'll give you a whole new meaning to the term 'hissy fit'." It was Van's turn to give his friend the warning and again the other took the advice on board and left the two women to go up the stairs and pack while Allen sat in the corner chuckling.

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Well I hope you all liked it. Let me know what you think.

Later.