Disclaimer: Vision of Escaflowne is not mine! I'm still suing for rights to it in court, though but that could take time…

WARNING: This is an extremely lame attempt at trying to concoct a fanfiction. Hey, the adviser of our schoolpaper did say I had to practice my writing this summer… And so ladies and gents, the result.

RETURN TO HARMONY

Chapter One: A Vision of Light and Dark

Hitomi looked out of the window in the large library of the castle of Fanelia and sighed. There really was no reason for her sorrow. The scene outside was a perfect picture of a peaceful and thriving kingdom. And that was exactly what Fanelia was right now. After she had married Van, they had both worked together to bring Fanelia back in greater glory and for the most part, they had succeeded. The kingdom had flourished under their reign and it was still flourishing today.

Trade with other kingdoms was at an all time high and the war that had so ravaged Gaia back then was only a lingering memory that the happy times now fought to banish. The kingdoms that had been affected by the war had stood up again and rebuilt themselves with all of Gaia helping one another. Peace, a long-hoped for peace, had finally been achieved and people could now go to sleep without having to worry about attacks or whether they would live to see another day.

The queen of Fanelia ran a hand through her long, honey colored locks reminiscing. It had seemed like only yesterday that she had come to Gaia from Earth – or what the people here called the Mystic Moon – following a dragon-slaying angel she had later come to know was Van de Fanel, prince of Fanelia. It had seemed like only yesterday that they had embarked on that journey that shaped Gaia's future until now. Only yesterday when the evil had been vanquished. Only yesterday…

Memories flashed in her mind and clouded her jade green eyes. Of when Van had proposed marriage to her and she had accepted. Of the first few happy years of their ruling Fanelia together. Of when Hitomi had given birth to their eldest son Reine and then to their daughter Larissa. She had a lot to be thankful for, she realized. Well then why was she in such an ungrateful mood today?

Restlessly, Hitomi stood up and determinedly began to walk outside of the library. She knew what the matter with her was. Van. He had gone to the annual conference that was held by the leaders of all the kingdoms in order to ensure that peace was maintained in Gaia. He had also taken a very excited Reine with him, although Hitomi had been apprehensive of her son going in the first place.

"Relax, 'tomi," Van had told her, laughing. "Nothing's going to happen to Reine. Besides, he'll be eighteen next year and then he'd have to officially accompany me to the conference. I just want to take him this year for him to have a feel of it."

Reine, of course, had been very willing to go, considering that his best friends Stefan Schezar and Prince Thadis of Asturia were going to be there, too.

Hitomi didn't begrudge them their time together as father and son but… damn. She missed Van, much as she hated to admit it. She knew they could talk to each other in their minds but it just wasn't the same as him being here with her.

Hitomi smiled as she saw that she had already reached her destination: the palace kitchen. It was usually a hectic place but it seemed somewhat quiet today. She offered smiles and a few pleasantries to the servants there; they were already used to the little eccentricities of their queen to mind. Birgitte, the head cook, set a bowl of sugared fruits in front of her and Hitomi thanked the cook. When in sadness, doubt, or fear, it's always helpful to have a little sugar, Hitomi thought as she happily popped a sugared cherry into her mouth.

Chewing it, she realized she was grateful for the time alone. Her daughter Larissa had gone to visit her friend Lady Rosanne. It was nice to have a little peace, Hitomi thought.

She was just placing a raspberry into her mouth when she felt it. A spot somewhere beneath her neck was tingling. Shocked, Hitomi dropped the raspberry. It was her pendant. It was glowing…

"What…?"

Before the stunned queen had a chance to process what was happening, she was plunged into darkness.

All around her was black and she seemed to be floating in a nothingness, a void, a vacuum. Nervous, Hitomi looked around.

It occurred to her that she was probably having a vision. But she had never had a vision like this before. She was starting to get scared when an image appeared before her.

Right in the center was a small glass circle, with a strange insignia that she did not recognize. On either side of the circle she saw two girls and both had one arm outstretched to the glass circle like they were reaching for it. Hitomi realized with another fresh wave of shock that the two girls looked alike, identical. Long, wavy hair, thick-lashed eyes, pale skin, slender figures, and delicate features. The only thing that was different though, was their coloring. One had blond hair and blue eyes, while the other had black hair and violet eyes.

Still startled and very much confused, Hitomi wondered what all of this meant. Out of nowhere, as if a seeming answer to her silent question, a voice replied.

Only in unity can there be balance. Only when they join together can there be peace. Let the dark meet light and the light meet dark and when they complete the broken circle, let harmony return.

Bewildered, Hitomi absorbed the message. "Who's there?" she called out. "Who's doing this?"

The only answer she got was a slap on the head. A hard one.

"Ouch!" she exclaimed, rather unqueenlike rubbing her head. When she looked around her, she was back in the kitchen. No dark void, no circular crystal, no strange girls and no disembodied voices.

"I thought I'd find you here!"

Hitomi spun around to see who had bumped her head. "Merle! What did you do that for?"

Merle giggled. "You looked so strange sitting there. You weren't moving and you seemed to be staring at something in front of you. I thought I'd bring you back to reality. Daydreaming?"

"No," Hitomi replied, grinning. "I just… Ah, it's nothing."

Merle narrowed her eyes in scrutiny. "Are you sure…? You looked spaced-out there for a moment…"

"I-I'm fine, Merle. You were searching for me? Why?"

"Hm? Oh, I just wanted to tell you that Millerna's arrived," Merle looked at Hitomi again. She looked a bit pale, the cat-lady thought. Kind of when she got bad visions… Merle shook the thought away.

"Millerna's here?" Hitomi stood up. "Well come on, let's go greet her."

"Well aren't you being bossy. Must be 'cause King Van's away. But are you really sure you're alright?"

"I'm really sure. Let's go. Mustn't keep Millerna waiting."

Merle sighed. Sometimes, Hitomi could be secretive as well as stubborn. Merle bounded off after the queen who was hurriedly walking out of the kitchen.

Hitomi bit her lower lip as she walked off to greet Millerna. It had been a vision. A very disturbing vision because she hadn't gotten anything concrete from it. Just a few strange words and an even stranger picture. When she had visions they were usually clear in meaning. Sometimes they would be murky or cloudy but they made sense. Not like this. What was it? What did it mean?

For the umpteenth time Hitomi wished Van were back. She needed his help in making sense out of this. Hitomi knew she could always tell Van via their telepathic link but… Did she really want him to worry over this? The vision hadn't implied anything bad… Yet. Hitomi sighed. She would tell Van but only once he had returned.

Turning a corner with Merle beside her Hitomi saw rippling gold hair and she grinned. The woman with the said hair turned and smiled at Hitomi.

"Millerna."

Van Slanzar de Fanel, King of Fanelia, looked at the sheaf of papers before him without actually reading them. Other matters were running around his head, not the least of which was how much he missed his wife. But that wasn't the only thing. He had seen the heads of various kingdoms arrive this morning in preparation for the conference the next day and one of those heads had given Van a strange feeling.

Ever since the downfall of the Zaibach empire, Van had learned the importance of trusting his instincts. And they were now clearly telling him something was wrong with one of the heads. Frustrated, he set his quill down.

He had just talked to Hitomi through their mind link and confided his apprehensions. Hitomi had, of course, helped him to make sense of his jumbled thoughts but his uneasiness remained. The king had also sensed something was troubling his wife and he intended to ask her about it later.

"Father?"

Van looked up, startled at the voice. His son, Reine Carrick de Fanel, stood at the doorway. Even now, how his son looked always managed to mildly surprise Van. He had Van's unruly dark hair and Hitomi's expressive green eyes. The grin on his face was purely his father's, though.

"Come in, Reine. And what are you grinning about?"

"You, dad. You have that confused look on your face. Paperwork?"

Van blanched at the reminder of all the paper before him. Reine laughed at the expression on his father's face.

"No seriously, dad," Reine perched on an armchair before Van. "I can see something's wrong. What is it?"

It was hard not to be proud of his son, Van thought. Reine was both clever and perceptive, albeit a bit arrogant and conceited at times.

Van sighed. "Did you see the two new kingdoms who joined the Allied Conference this morning?"

Reine frowned as he tried to remember. "Oh, you mean the kingdoms of Gealla and Amren?"

Van blinked. "Which one is which?"

"Stefan told me the tall, distinguished guys were the ones from Gealla and the ones in dark cloaks were from Amren. What about them?"

"They just give me a strange feeling…" Van muttered.

"Strange feeling, dad? Which one?"

"I'm not sure. Either. Both. It's just the kind of feeling that you get… something like a calm before the storm. Like you're in the shadow of something big that's approaching."

Van and Reine sat there for a while in a companionable silence. It was his son that broke it. "Father, Stefan and Thadis are going out horse riding by the meadows. May I go with them?"

Van quirked a brow. "Feel free, Reine. Just be back in time for the Welcoming Ball."

At the reminder of the ball, Reine blanched and it was Van's turn to laugh. He knew of his son's aversion to parties.

A resigned sigh. "I'll be back in time, dad."

Van watched as Reine walked out of the room and turned his attention back to the papers, the nagging feeling still prickling the back of his thoughts.

Reine flattened against the saddle whooping for joy and feeling the wind rush past his hair as his steed, Destry, galloped across the fields. Of course, the young lord of Fanelia would have preferred flying but his father had warned him against displaying his Atlantian wings in public.

Beside him, his best friends Stefan Schezar and Prince Thadis of Asturia were also riding. Thadis gave the signal and together the three friends pulled back the reigns of their horses. Simultaneously, the stallions skidded to a stop and the three of them burst out laughing.

When they had regained their breaths, they led their horses down to a trot. It was Stefan who broke the silence, "What took you so long, Reine?"

Reine grinned. "I stopped by and chatted with father for a while," he replied.

Stefan looked just like a younger version of his father Allen but his hair wasn't so long and the eyes that were always glinting with mischief were the same amber color as his mother's. Thadis on the other hand, had dark hair that was always neatly combed and the same ice blue eyes that Queen Eries had.

The three had grown up together and were nearly inseparable. Their friendship was known throughout most of the lands of Gaia.

'"Hmmm… Seems like we're not the only ones who want to have a romping around here," Thadis mused.

"What're you talking about, princey?" Stefan asked and managed to earn himself a glare from Thadis.

"Those men from Amren seem to like this place, too," Thadis discreetly nodded to five men standing by the edge of the fields.

Reine frowned. "How long have they been there?"

"Not too long. I just noticed them," Thadis shrugged. "Why?"

"Father was saying something about them a while earlier… About how he felt uneasy around them and how he thought there was something strange about them."

"Well, I agree with King Van. There is something strange about those fellows," Stefan said.

The three of them looked at each other, gathered their reigns and galloped away from the piercing looks that Reine was sure the men from Amren were giving them. Suddenly, it seemed like a chill had fallen over their afternoon.

Reine tried not to look back but as they rode away he could feel five pairs of eyes boring into him. Not able to resist the impulse, the young prince of Fanelia looked back.

The five cloaked men from Amren were gone.

"I don't see what you're worried about, Lightner. Everything is going according to plan."

"You know perfectly well what I'm worried about. All of our planning will amount to nothing if she arrives."

"What are you talking about? She's on the Mystic Moon. So far away. She doesn't even know the truth of her own existence let alone the existence of Gaia. How do you expect her to find her way here?"

"Do not underestimate her. She is powerful, though she does not know it."

"Your worries are minimal. I can vouch for the fact that she will not leave the Mystic Moon."

"You know that she is the only one with the capabilities to ruin everything we have planned for."

"True. But you also forget the fact the I have Erin under my control. Even if she does come here, she knows nothing about Erin or how to stop us."

"She has the other half. She is the other half."

"She will not find us. And she will not find Erin. I have her under close watch."

"Close watch? Make it closer. Every breath that she takes is a threat. If you must, kill her."

"I will."