Disclaimer: Vision of Escaflowne and its characters and likeliness is copyrighted to its respective company(ies). But the characters I created and this story is copyrighted to me.

Rating: PG-13

FATES' JUDGEMENT

By Cosmos

Chapter 18: Reflect

"One soul, one mind, resides two hearts which the Fates shall design...the final judgement will fall into the hands whose heart is torn between two worlds. The end will lead to infinity but Infinity will signal the end."

The prophecy foretold many turns ago had come to pass.

The land was amazingly silent. All sounds of battle ceased into the coming night. The last rays of the dying day slipped beneath the dark horizon in reflection to this tragic event. The hauntingly pale light of two sliver moons shone down on them mournfully.

Her tears continued to rain down upon the crimson land, uncontrollable and unending. Within her arms, she still held his lifeless body, rocking back and forth in misery. Her pain was excruciatingly great that she had become numb to any other sensation. Her mind was lost and her heart devastated.

Varie gazed at the pale face of the young man with an incomprehensible expression. However, grief was clearly evident in her despairing garnet eyes. Slowly, she approached the desolate young couple.

Hitomi looked up in surprise when Varie knelt in the crimson pool in front of her. The Queen's composure faltered to reveal a most distraught figure.

"I know him." Tears slipped down her shadowy eyes as she raised a trembling hand to the young man's cold face. She stroked his cheek affectionately as she whispered to no one in particular. "I…I cannot remember but…I know…" She then looked up into Hitomi's eyes, her expression pleading for an answer…for a solution to the turmoil within her distressed soul. "He is…he is my son." She was asking, she was seeking, but she stated the conclusion. She covered her face with her hands in misery as a strange aura began to emanate from her body.

Hitomi watched with widening eyes as the woman in front of her became translucent, then fainter, before evanescing into the night. Her tears of grief lingered behind in the darkness.

Hitomi gasped in surprise. A hand placed heavily on her shoulder caused her to look around. What she saw elicited an audible intake of breath.

Allen's faint form gazed down at her with sadness.

"Allen?" she breathed. "What…what is happening to you?"

"Succession is over," he said as he closed his eyes dejectedly. "Etheria has been succeeded."

"Then what will happen to you all?"

Opening his eyes again, he looked at her one last time with a poignant smile and said, "We simply fade away." And he was gone.

The mortals watched helplessly as the environment around them released its life energy into the night. The people, the buildings, the very world of Etheria herself became fainter and fainter.

"No," Hitomi cried. "Don't go!"

But there was nothing she could do. Fate was continuing, again.

Within her arms, Van's body began to glow with the same mysterious aura. She looked down in alarm and embraced him tighter crying, "NO! Don't leave me!!!!"

No matter how hard she tried to hold onto him, he continued to slip through her fingers. His translucent body escaped from her arms and lifted into the air above her. She looked up with tears in her eyes, crying out for him…attempting to reach for him…but in vain.

His motionless body became fainter and fainter until it completely faded away into oblivion. Hitomi watched with horror-stricken eyes. Her lips moved but no sound escaped them. A single rosy crystal remained behind in the space his body once occupied. It glowed brighter until it blinded the land with incredible power. In an earth-shattering sound, the gem exploded into millions of fragments that disappeared into the night.

Shielding their eyes, the mortals turned away from the scene. Soon they noticed that the blinding light began to fade beneath their closed lids. Opening them slowly, they immediately realized where they were. They were home.

The silent night of the city's main park murmured around them. The warm, late summer breeze blew gently about their trembling bodies. Amano, Rad and the others turned their gaze from the environment to the frail girl still sitting in the same position on the lush grass-covered ground. Her arms were now empty. She was shaking uncontrollably but uttered so sounds.

Amano looked at her helplessly, unable to find a way to comfort her. So he, and the others, remained silently watching by her side.

From within the darkness of the environment, two figures stepped into the sallow lamplight. Their appearance elicited gasps of surprise and fear. Rad, Amano, and Scythe stepped forward quickly to confront the familiar foes but their movements were halted by the stranger's words.

"We have not come to harm the girl," Folken said. His voice was laden with great sorrow and lost. His ashen face appeared haggard as he slowly approached Hitomi with Dilandau standing a little ways behind him. The white-haired young man was drenched in blood, most of which were not his own. His once fierce eyes were now dull and downcast.

Bending down on one knee in front of Hitomi, Folken reached forward and dropped a small object into her hand. With a contrite smile, he whispered, "It is done. My brother's last wish has finally been realized. Now, I can take my rest."

The others watched in shock as his form, and his friend's, began to be blown away like grains of sand in the calm night wind.

Hitomi looked down into her palm and quickly realized what Folken had given her. It was a fragment of a rosy gem. It was a piece of Alantia.

Unexpectedly, a mysterious wave of pale blue light rippled across the dark sky above them. The men looked up in wonder. Their mouths opened in surprise when they noticed that something began to rain down upon them.

Pieces of crimson fabric drifted silently down upon the burning, tear-swept winds like feathers to the harsh ground. Hitomi looked up when the falling material caught her eyes. Her face immediately contorted into anguish when she realized what they were. They were pieces of fabric she had used to mend Van's shirt. Since they were from her world, they returned. Holding up a trembling hand with palm opened and faced up, Hitomi observed a large piece of the material fall softly into her grasp. She closed her hand immediately and brought it close to her heart. A strange light began to emanate from between her fingers.

Grasping the two objects tightly in her hands, Hitomi doubled over in a grief that words could never convey. Her tears moistened the surrounding earth but could not bring life to it. Etheria was gone. He was gone.

They were Guardians of this world unto the very end. Their existence was only to protect the order and peace. That was his judgement.

What happened to her after that fateful day, I cannot tell you; I do not know. But oh! how I have tortured myself with speculations and guilt. I wish to believe that she had forgotten me; that she had found happiness with another and moved on with her life. It breaks my heart to let her go, but as long as she was happy I will be content. However, my unsettled heart cannot find peace within that presumed reassurance. I had believed I was saving her from a horrible fate but in the end I only brought her greater misery. As I told you at the beginning, it had never been that way. What I had earnestly believed to be my decision turned out to be a move played by fate. I am its pawn all along.
Six months after…

It was a sunrise very much like this one, she recalled, when he gave her this gift.

Hitomi unconsciously wound the silver necklace, whose chains were in the shapes of petite feathers, around her fingers as she watched the dawn. His words slowly returned to her in painful waves of unforgettable memories.

-flashback-

She was standing alone watching the men saddle their horses to depart for battle early that morning. Her expression was solemn and sad. She knew Van would be leaving with them, and she was uncertain when he would return.

So lost in her thoughts, Hitomi failed to sense a presence stand close behind her until a gentle hand touched her arm affectionately. Startled, she turned around to find him looking at her with eyes that stopped her heart.

"Hitomi," he said, his voice was soft and gentle.

She could feel tears rise to the surface of her eyes but she refused to let them free. She would not burden him with her sorrow—not now when he needed all the strength she could provide for him.

Reaching within his pocket, Van pulled something out, which she could not see. Holding his hand out with its palm face down, he said softly, "Give me your hand."

She did as was told. He covered her opened hand with his and held it there briefly. Hitomi could feel something cool fall into her palm. All the while, his eyes never left her face. He finally withdrew his hand and revealed to her his gift.

Hitomi's eyes widened in surprise when she saw the beautiful silver necklace. It was simple, unadorned, but elegantly breathtaking. Unbeknownst to her, he had kept it with him since the day he bought it at the bazaar, right before his meeting with Eos. He had meant to find the right moment to give it to her. Unfortunately, that moment happened to be now, when his gift would be his goodbye.

-end flashback-

She continued to twiddle the necklace around her fingers absentmindedly. Lost in the sorrows of her precious memories. The rising sun caught the face of a peculiar rosy gem that hung from the silver strand. Its mysterious face emanated with a weak power that had begun to fade away.

"You love him," a familiar voice rose to the forefront of her mind.

-flashback-

Hitomi looked to the side to see Gaia stand there with her mysterious eyes watching the men fade into the distance. Quietly, she repeated her statement.

"You love him," she said before turning to her and added, "don't you?"

Hitomi looked away and, for a moment, failed to answer. However, as tears rose to her eyes, she said, "With all my heart."

Gaia sighed and returned her attention to the horizon once again.

"I have asked him," Hitomi spoke wistfully, "but he refuses to answer me."

"He knows his fate," Gaia said. She could feel Hitomi's questioning gaze placed on her.

Gaia gave her a sympathetic glance before continuing; "He has chosen to shoulder all the sorrows in order to save you from them."

"He could never take away all my grief."

"He knows…but he tries nonetheless." Gaia smiled sadly, "My nephew has always been very stubborn."

"Nephew?"

"I see," Gaia paused before continuing, "he has not told you."

"But if he is your nephew then…"

"He is the prince of Etheria."

Hitomi's brows furrowed with confusion. "But…if Varie is his mother…why does she act so coldly towards him?"

"She does not remember him."

"I don't understand."

"Then I should explain," Gaia said.

A heavy, troubled silence overwhelmed the two figures after Gaia finished revealing to Hitomi the secrets of Alantia and Van's curse.

"Why…why did you choose to tell me this?" Hitomi suddenly asked.

"Because it is time someone else shares his sorrows as well. It breaks my heart to see him be burdened with so much for so long." Turning to Hitomi, she continued, "Your love for him will ease his pain." Then Gaia turned and motioned to leave.

"Wait," Hitomi called after her.

She halted and turned around.

"If all Etherian's are supposed to forget him…then how is it that you still remember Van so clearly?"

"Like him, I also live outside of fate."

"Who…who are you?"

Gaia's expression darkened. "I am an aspect of fate. Some call me chance; others may see me as chaos. I am the possibilities that fate ignores."

-end flashback-

"If the future can be changed…if our destiny evolves with our decisions, then let me be with him," she whispered. "For a day, for a moment, for a breath…just once more."

Her friends found her body the next day upon the balcony of her home. Within her hand held a beautiful necklace. They said she died of heartache but Amano and the men who shared her fate knew it was not so. The Fates took pity on her and had stolen her soul.

They were sad to lose their dearest friend but they were also happy for her. Perhaps now she could reunite with the man she eternally loved.

In a way, Van did change fate. Rad and his group were no longer living on the streets. With Amano's friendship and help, they set up a little store by the corner where they all first met near the park. They had called it Etheria, in memory of a magnificent place that once existed in the heavens. It was a modest shop selling beautiful flowers, of which the most sought after happened to be the iris bloom. With enough money, they lived happily. Arik and Theo were allowed to go to school. It was heard that Arik became a philosopher. His theories of Fate and Chaos were among the most famous. Additionally, he also wrote a secret book that some claimed foretold the advent of the next Succession. However, this book was lost to the world upon his death twenty years after it was written, when he died at a fine age of ninety-six.

However, he did reveal one phrase from this book before his departure from the mortal world:

"Fate is not absolute…because there is love."

Author's note:

If you are screaming— "What the?! You just killed them both off!"—then breathe deeply, and wait for the Epilogue. smile surreptitiously Also, I know this chapter was short (probably the shortest I've ever written that is not a prologue or epilogue) because basically this story is winding down to a closure. You know, somehow I kind of miss spending time writing this. It's been my "little" world for a year and now it is coming to an end. sniff Oh ,well…I have plenty of other ideas swimming around in my head, specifically a particular romance plotline between Van and Hitomi (my favourite couple!). -sigh- I guess I should start capturing "free-time" and put it in a pouch. When I have enough, I'll start writing again.

Well, on to the Finale!

Next: Epilogue

Cosmos 2004-2005