Disclaimer: I don't own Escaflowne or W.I.T.C.H or any of the characters etc.

Chapter 2.

Van cut through the first wave of Metamoorian guards with a series of precision swipes from his Katana, he turned his head to his right to see another three guards charging him, he ran at them and sliced across the chest of the first guard, he then sidestepped the blade of the second guard and simultaneously brought his blade above his head, he steadied himself and slashed downwards with a powerful blow. Van then rotated 180 degrees and slashed at the third guard, dropping him to the ground.

"Why are these things after us?" Van asked himself, his breathing getting heavier from the battle.

"Van look out!" shouted Hitomi.

Van turned around to see another four guards rushing him from behind, he once more cut through them with relative ease. He looked over at Hitomi to see that she had been cornered by one of the guards, he lunged at the guard and stabbed him through the chest.

"We can't stay here." said Van.

He grabbed Hitomi's hand and ran down an alleyway, another guard appeared at the far entrance to the alleyway - right in Van and Hitomi's path. Van released Hitomi's hand and placed both of his hands on the hilt of his Katana, he increased his speed and ran at the guard. Van ran to the left of the guard and cut across his side as he ran past him, He stopped at the body and waited for Hitomi to catch up. Van looked around the streets.

"This is ridiculous, we don't even know where we are." he scoffed.

Van looked over to find Hitomi with her eyes closed and her hands clasped together underneath her chin, he knew she was using her strange power to try and find a way of escape.

'Show me a way out' Hitomi spoke in her head.

She pictured herself surrounded by darkness, she also pictured her pink pendent lighting up the darkness and dangling in mid-air with its string pulled tight. She felt a tingling in her body then the image of the pendent made a sharp movement in one direction. Hitomi's eyes shot open and she grabbed Van's wrist.

"This way." Said Hitomi pulling Van with her.

She ran off down another street in the direction her pendent pointed.

"After them!" shouted Cedric to his men "They must not be allowed to escape."

The Guards all spread out to try and capture the two strangers, one of which had just defeated over a dozen guards single handedly.

"My Lord" said one of the guards to Cedric "Do you think we will be able to capture the boy, he fights like a monster."

"We don't need to capture him" replied Cedric with a sly smile "We only need to capture the girl then he will give himself up."

Van and Hitomi ran down another alleyway and stopped when the saw a large blue circle of energy crackling in mid-air. Van looked around and noticed they had lost their pursuers - for now. He looked back at the blue rift.

"Is that the way out of here?" asked Van.

"That's what the pendent led us to." Hitomi replied. "But it doesn't look very safe."

Van looked behind them and saw a couple of guards and the large snake-man looking around the streets.

"We don't have much of a choice."

Van sheathed his Katana and grabbed Hitomi's hand, he ran to the rift and jumped into it but before he did he got one last glance over his shoulder and saw the snake-man looking at them - they had been spotted.

Chapter 2 done.
Chapter 3 will hopefully be up soon.