Escaflowne:   Mirrors

Episode 6:  Intuitiveness

            Endless Sky.

            Hitomi was soaring above all else. She wasn't in a ship.  She wasn't in a plane.  Just flying over everything.  She could see the wind rustling the sleeves of her blazer, and birds flitting around her like she was one of them.  It was liberating.  Down below, the land looked peaceful and dry like a sun-starched plain or prairie.  Ahead she could see a city made of sharp black angles.  Suddenly, flame sprung up all around it.  The fire didn't burn the buildings, but the sky turned red.  Her flight failed her and she spun out, falling down to the newly scorched and cracking earth.   She hit it face down, dirt scattering from beneath her, and looked up to see one…no three Guymelefs trundling toward her.  They were close and getting closer, their huge metal feet stomping the ground and shaking up dust all around.  Something told her that they were coming to get her…

            Hitomi leapt up, her running shoes pounding up her own dust as she ran away.  The long heavy strides of the mechanical soldiers caught up to her quickly.  Before she knew it, she was being clamped around the middle by a mightily powerful fist and hoisted screaming into the air.  She was carried up and up, squeezed by the hydraulics in the captor hand.  Her angel absent and deaf to her cries for help.

            Bolt upright in bed, she stared out in a cold sweat, blinded by the dark of the night.  There was movement in the cot beside her and Jiai appeared, drowsy and stirred by her friend.  "What's wrong, Hitomi?"

            Like so many times before, she felt her neck for what wasn't there.  She'd had another dream vision, but she didn't know where this one had come from.  This was the first one she'd had in a long time in which Van hadn't rescued her….  She looked to Jiai, who's aquamarine eyes caught the light of the moons through the porthole.  "I – I had another vision."

            "Of Van?"  Jiai asked, shoving herself up.

            "No…of…"  She ran it through.  Things seemed familiar…like the melefs and the city, but they weren't of enough familiarity to pinpoint.  "I think it was of destruction."

            "Destruction?"  Jiai was confused.  "You mean something in the future?"

            Hitomi threw her hands up to her head.  "I've been having so many visions lately.  My head is spinning."  She looked over.  "What time is it?"

            Jiai checked her watch.  "3:00 AM."  

            "I always seem to wake up at three."  Hitomi sighed.  Her mind was so full of questions, the thought of sleep wasn't even present.  She climbed out of bed.  "I'm going to walk around a little and think.  Go back to sleep." 

            "Okay."  Jiai agreed, and turned over in her cot.

            Hitomi was already sleeping in her shirt and skirt, so she pulled on a pair of socks and stepped over a sleeping Yukari to get out the door.  The halls of the Crusade were quiet except for the far away sounds of the crew on the bridge and the cycling of the boilers and propellers.  Next to her room, was the room being shared by all the boys.  For all she could tell, Yosu, Amano, Daiji, and Hakai were asleep.  Allen was staying in there too, but he'd felt like he wanted to stay in the cockpit while they were traveling.  She wondered why he'd chosen to sleep in the room with the other guys when he had a private chamber reserved for him just upstairs.  Then she remembered that he'd left it to Celena, who was sleeping alone.  She found that strange as well.

            She didn't feel like joining the rough crewmen and Allen above.  She wanted to sit and think, so she headed up and out to the hangar where she knew it would be open to the night sky.  The hangar was like a tomb.  There was no sign of life, and the walls were cold and blue in the mystic moonlight.  The only Guymelef there, Allen's suit-of-armor named the Scherazade, stood dead and quiet, like a stone soldier frozen at attention.  She watched it as she past, her stocking feet making practically no sound over the ship's propellers outside the open door.  The flat extension of the hangar was a runway granting access to the open air.  She expected to be alone, but saw there a young woman with long wavy blonde hair.  She was Millerna Aston dressed in her traveling clothes and staring out at the darkened world with a sorrowful sense of unawareness.  Her hair was down and it blew about in the wind as she stared at nothing in particular.  Lost in thought, she had both hands in front of her, fiddling with the necklace she was wearing.  Hitomi hadn't noticed Millerna's absence from the bedroom with the other three there in the dark.  She also didn't remember seeing the long chain around her neck before.  Millerna seemed lost in thought as she pulled on the two pendants and turned them in her hands.  Hitomi stepped closer and could see that they were a pair of rings.  "Millerna?"

            The queen looked startled and jumped, covering the rings in her fists.  "Oh! Hitomi!   Why are you up this late?"

            "I had a … nightmare."  She answered, not wanting to go into detail.  "What about you?"

            "I couldn't sleep."  She answered, staring back out at the night.

            "Feeling sad again?"  The other pried.

            Millerna bowed her head and nodded, messing with the necklace.

            Hitomi took interest in it.  "What is that?"

            Millerna looked up. "What?"

            "That necklace," she clarified, "I don't remember it."

            "Oh…"  Millerna looked flustered.  "This… this is…" She sighed heavily as she looked at the two bands of metal in her hands.  "Memoriam."

            "What?"  Hitomi asked, not understanding.

            "These are my remembrance charms."  She answered.  "They help me not to forget…the past…"

            Hitomi nodded realizing for herself what it meant. "Your sister Marlene and your father, right?"

            Millerna gave her a glance edgewise, then after an awkward stare, let her hands drop down.  "…right."

            Hitomi sighed.  "Yeah, I'm really sorry about that, Millerna."  She watched the landscape cloaked in moonlit darkness drift sleepily by.  "I mean, you are only a little older than I am, but you've been through so much more than me.  You seem like you could be three or four years older instead of just a couple months."

            "In a way."  She said, reaching back to the chain.

            "I used to think I had problems in my life."  Hitomi continued.  "With Allen and Van and Gaea and Atlantis: I figured I had a complicated life, but you, you've had your sister married off, die, your father die, and now you have to rule the entire country by yourself…"  She realized what she was reminding Millerna of.  "Oh! I'm sorry!  I didn't mean to make you depressed again."

            "No, you're right."  She said.  "I have grown up fast.  First it was trying to get Allen to notice me.  I tried to be mature for him.  Now its being queen…  I really wish…"  She paused and cast her eyes down.  "I wish I had a chance to feel like a teenager again."

            "Its not all that hot."  She answered.  "School and boyfriends and everything.  And it doesn't help that I feel like I belong here more than there."

            "We've all got our problems."

            Hitomi thought over all her friends and what she saw when they were connected together.  "There's the truth."  She let out a sigh and listened to the night around her.  In this peace, she felt a strange nagging feeling.  It was comparable to having someone looking over her shoulder, or hearing footsteps alone on a dark night.  She looked up and out behind the ship, where she thought it was coming from.  She looked close; as the Mystic Moonlit mountains rose, she could see several dark spots against the glow.  Intuition seemed to tell her…

            Guymelefs.

            A flash image to her dream:  Mech suits coming after her.  No rescue.  She sprung up, her eyes wide.

            Millerna looked to her.  "What is it?"

            "We're being followed!"  Hitomi fretted.  "Of course!  If Haman and Seguir were so set on keeping us there, there would be no way they wouldn't follow us!"  She had a sense of dread overwhelm her.  "They're probably going to shoot us down!  We've got to tell Allen!"  She took off in her stocking feet at a run, charging through the empty hangar as fast as she could.

            "Hitomi!  Wait!"  Millerna cried, taking off after her.  "I'm coming too!"

            The 15-year-old ran up the steps and down the halls, relying on her gut to figure out which way was the bridge.  She followed the noise of the crew until she saw the light of the door and charged in.  The six crewmen and Allen whirled around.  It was the captain who spoke, his long hair moving as he turned.  "Hitomi?"  The Queen of Asturia slid in behind her.  "Millerna?  What are you doing here?"

            "We're being followed!"  Hitomi panted.  "Melefs from Asturia!"

            "What?  How do you know?"

            "We were out back."  Hitomi answered.  "I saw them."

            Allen had been with Hitomi long enough to know not to question her intuition.  He called up through a hole in the ceiling.  "Reeden!?!  Do you see anything behind us up there?"

            "No boss" Reeden called down.

            Allen turned to her.  She was prepared to defend herself, but he asked a different question.  "How far away were they?"

            "A long ways.  I could barely make them out."  She answered.  "But I'm sure I saw them!  I know it!"

            "Look really close Reeden!  For Mech suits!"

            After a couple seconds, Reeden's voice ventured down again.  "There are maybe five!  They're following us, but way back!  I can't tell if they're gaining!"

            "They're going to bring us down!"  Hitomi cried.  "They don't want us to get to Fanelia!"

            "Gadess!?"  Allen cried.  "Are we armed?"

            Gadess turned to the other crewmen.  "Ort!?"

            "Don't look at me."  The rough man with the baldhead said. "Katz was in charge of restocking!  I'm just in charge of firing." 

            "Katz!?!"  Gadess pressured.

            Katz looked up.  "I knew you wanted armaments, so I ordered full battery, but they weren't supposed to arrive until tomorrow when I could install them!"

            "The irony is killing me."  Allen sighed, putting a gloved hand to his face.

            Gadess turned to him.  "We are defenseless."

            "The Scherazade is set."  Paile, the maintenance man, announced.  "You've got that, Boss!"     

            "That's good, but it can't fly."  Allen replied.  He turned to the helmsman.  "Kio!  Is there any place we can retreat to where they'd pass us by?"

            "We're hanging over the Asturia boarder.  If we take the mountain pass near Chesario, we can nip into a crack and stow out."  He replied.  "It will dock us half a day, though."

            "Do it."  Allen commanded.  "We can't afford to be caught now.  Too much is at stake."

            "Right sir."  Kio steered the Crusade toward the mountain walls on their left.  Millerna and Hitomi stood by as the ship groaned slowly with the turn.

            Allen listened to the walls and became concerned.  "What was that?  I thought you said we were about finished with reconstruction!  Are we going to fall apart!?"

            "Its probably just the mechanics sir!"  Paile called.  "New parts need wearing.  The Levi-Stone tethers especially.  I promise you, Boss, the hull is secure!"

            Allen seemed tired.  He leaned out over the upper railing.  "I've really got a bad feeling that something isn't right."

            Just then Teo, the seventh crewman dashed up from behind.  "Boss!  Boss!"  Allen whirled around, his stomach knotting.  Teo confirmed the worst.  "It's your sister, Boss!"

            "No, not now…" Allen said, running to the door.  Hitomi meant to follow but he turned.  "Continue on this course!  I'll return when I can!"

            "Allen!?!"  Hitomi cried.  "What's going on!?!"

            "Nevermind!"  He snapped.  "I'll take care of it!"  He and Teo left, the captain running through the halls to his private chamber.  "When'd it start!?!"

            "Just now!  She started screaming!"  Teo replied.  "You told me to tell you if anything happened!"

            "We'd better not be too late!"  As they neared, the girl's screaming could be heard bouncing off the metal walls and growing louder.  Allen arrived at the door, slid out the lock and kicked it open.  His sister was sitting in bed, shaking, her hands over her ears and tears on her cheeks.  Teo tarried in the doorway, confused.  Allen fell down next to the bed and threw his arms around her.  "Celena!"  She kept screaming and he yelled her name over her voice.  "Celena!!!  Celena!!!  You're all right!!!  It was a dream!!!  It was a bad dream!  Celena!!!  I'm here!!!  Its your brother!!!  You're safe now!  You're okay, calm down!  Come back!!!"

            She was being pulled close to him, struggling within herself to calm herself down and suppress the pain and stabbing in her head.  She took her hands from her ears and grabbed tightly to his uniform.  "Brother!?!"

            He ran his hand through her hair as she cried.  "I'm here, I've got you."

            She sobbed and screamed and he rocked her, comforting her and saying her name over and over.  Soon, she'd calmed back down, secure in his arms.  "I don't want to go back to sleep."

            "Okay."  He said.

            "I have terrible dreams."

            "I know, I know."  He said.  "You don't have to try now.  Stay up and get it out of your head."

            "Don't leave me…"

            He looked to Teo, who had no support to give.  Allen had to get back to the bridge, but he was worried about her, and didn't want to leave her alone when she didn't want him to.  He couldn't stay, but he could take her with him… The question was, would the stressful battle atmosphere be too much for her?  Would the sight of Guymelefs trigger another arrest?  There wasn't time to think this out, so he scooped her up and stood.  "Okay, you come with me, back up to the bridge."

            "Sir!?!"  Teo cried.

            Allen moved past him with his sister.  "Go prepare the room near the bridge.  Light the lamps, get it warm.  Make it friendly."

            "Friendly?"  Teo asked

            "Improvise."  Allen replied.

            Teo saluted.  "R-Right Boss!"  He dashed off.  Allen had to walk back with Celena in his arms.  The hallways were dark and lit by a candle here and there, or moonlight.

            Celena played with the pink scarf around his neck.  "I had the same dream…"

            "Shhh."  Allen bade.

            "I saw Melefs…and fire…"

            Allen boosted her up. "Shhh…don't think about it.  Don't stress yourself.  Just relax, I've got you and you're safe now."

*                             Escaflowne                                  *

            The bridge was paranoid.  Gadess would shout up to Reeden every couple minutes to see if anything had changed.  I hadn't, the Melefs were still coming with no deviation in course.  The waiting was exhausting for Hitomi, who hadn't gotten nearly enough sleep.  After a short time, Teo appeared from the hall.  "Miss Millerna and Hitomi… the boss wants you out here."

            "Allen?"  Millerna asked.  "How is his sister?"

            "That's why he wants you."  Teo said.  Hitomi and Millerna looked to each other, then exited the bridge and found the room where Allen had Celena set in a chair and was on one knee, talking to her.  The whole room was lit brightly so that no darkness remained in any corner.  The two girls stopped in the doorway, puzzled by the scene.  This was a map room made for charting navigational paths. Now the racks of rolled paper were shoved aside and the room was turned into an empty space lit by lamps brought from other places.  Allen caught sight of them in the doorway.

            "Okay, Celena," he said, "I've got to go next door."

            "No!"  Celena cried.

            "It'll be okay, Millerna and Hitomi are going to sit in here and be your friends while I'm gone.  I'll come back as soon as I can."  He patted her hand and stood up.  Her big blue eyes were scared at the thought of being left alone.  He tore himself away form them, rubbing her head.  He caught Hitomi and Millerna before he left. "Please stay here with her… she's not well."

            "What's the matter?"  Hitomi asked.

            Allen glanced to his sister and then back, speaking in hushed tones.  "She's suffering side effects from the fate Alteration experiments Dornkirk performed on her for all those years.  Now that she's back to herself, she has… attacks… where she gets headaches, spontaneous ones… and starts screaming.  She had one at dinner.  You remember."

            "Yes."  Millerna answered.

            "But –" he continued, " This is the most important thing.  She doesn't know what happened to her…"

            "You mean – " Hitomi began.

            "She doesn't remember that they turned her into Dilandau…" he scowled a little, "…and she doesn't remember anything about the time she spent as him."

            "You never told her!?!"  Hitomi cried.

            Allen shushed her. "No, it'd be the worst thing to do for her!"  He set to explain more.  "These relapses are triggered from what I call Dilandauic thoughts.  Fire, death, fighting: stuff that she doesn't understand fully, but Dilandau loved.  Thinking about stuff like that triggers her headaches."  He sighed.  "Whatever you do, don't ask her about what happened.  Don't ask her about dreams; don't ask her about the past.  Don't mention anything that happened while she was Dilandau."

            "What do you mean…" Millerna asked, but narrowed her query.  "How general is your Dilandauic thoughts?"

            "Lets just say, I haven't even shown her the Scherazade yet.  She doesn't know I have a Guymelef past the day she came back and saw me climb out of it.  Be EXTRA CAREFUL."

            "Alright."  Hitomi agreed.  "Don't worry, we've got it."

            Allen looked back to Celena, hesitated, and finally dashed next door to recover her post.  Hitomi looked to Millerna, for mutual support, then they turned to Celena, who resembled nothing less than a little puppy dog left outside in a thunderstorm.  Hitomi sat down next to her.  "Hi, Celena, I'm Hitomi.  I know your brother form a long time ago.  Did he tell you about me?"  Millerna slapped her.  "Yeeouch!  What?"

            "You're doing exactly what he told us not to!"  She hissed.  "Talking about the past and what happened while she was – "

            "SHHH!!!"  Hitomi cried.  Millerna threw her hands over her mouth.

            "My brother told me about you."  Celena said, quietly.  "Just today.  Before we left home.  He told me that you came from far away.  And when I asked if you were nice, he said that you always would remind him of me."  She got fearful tears in her eyes again.  "I want to go home."

            "This is like home."  Hitomi told her.  "It's your brother's ship."

            "He never told me he had a ship."  Celena said.

            "Why not?"  Hitomi asked.

            Celena balled up a little.  "I don't know."

            Millerna entered the conversation with a more maternal tone. "You love your brother don't you?"

            She nodded.

            "And he loves you very much."  Millerna grinned. "I can tell."

            Hitomi looked for emotion in Millerna's eyes but found her genuinely pleasant.  She seemed to be glad that Allen cared so much for Celena.  Celena seemed reassured.  "My brother looks out for me.  He said that he spent ten years trying to find me and when he did, he taught me all sorts of things I didn't know yet."

            "What kind of things?"  Millerna asked.

            Celena began to count on her fingers.  "He taught me how to act with people.  And he's teaching me to count by 3s.  He taught me about good food and bad food.  And he's teaching me how to read cursive!"

            "You are 16 and you don't know these things?"  Hitomi asked.

            "I don't remember anything about being lost."  She answered.  "I don't even remember how I got lost.  I remember seeing my brother ten years ago, then it was like I woke up again now.  The rest of the time…I must have been sleeping."

            "That's very interesting."  Millerna said to her.  "But you're okay, right?"

            She bowed her head.  "I'm okay.  My brother tells me I'm okay.  If he says its okay, then I know its really okay.  I don't feel okay, though."

            Next door, Allen was overseeing the bridge.  "Get me an approximation as to how far away those Melefs are!"

            "Mountains closing in!"  Kio reported.  "At this speed, we'll sneak behind that small one in twenty minutes."

            "Keep on that course."  Allen said.

            "Sir!"  Katz called.  "If we keep a t the is pace, there won't be enough fuel to get us to Fanelia."

            "Hold back on speed just enough so we can still get there."  Allen commanded.  "Urthas is surrounded by forests. WE can get more fuel for the burners there."  He turned up to the crows nest. "Reeden!?  I want that distance!"

            "Boss!  Get up here!"  Allen moved up the ladder to join his lookout above.  Reeden, a weedy little man with a red bandana on his head, was staring through a set of binoculars.  He turned and handed them to his captain. "Take a look at those, Boss."  Allen took the magnifiers and traced the dark for the Guymelefs.  Reeden explained to him what he was looking for.  "There's five of them.  Four are definitely those new Maginot they got back home.  They're blue and white when the moon hits 'em, and they've got those flight boosters King Aston put on 'em when he had 'em built after the war, but that green one… I've never seen a Melef like that before." 

            Allen found the strange mecha.  It was colored a sort of olive green that looked whitish in the moonlight.  Its head seemed like that of a suit of traditional armor, resembling the head of the knight's own Guymelef, and resembling more of a suit of personal armor than the regulation Asturian melefs did.  This strange machine's flight boosters extended from the hips and shoulders as great decorative arches glowing white.  A dark green cape was thrust about behind.  Allen studied it with bewilderment.  "What is that?"

            "Looks a lot like the Scherazade, doesn't it?"  Reeden suggested.  "If the Scherazade were snot colored."

            "It must be a private suit.  An antique maybe.  It reminds me of the kind of museum pieces we saw on Dryden's merchant ships."  He handed the binoculars back to Reeden.  "How far?"

            "Thirty minutes and gaining."  Reeden replied.

            "That means they'll be nearly on top of us by the time we get to the Chesa-Asturian pass.  We're going to be cutting this close."

            Voices from below : "Boss!"

            Allen dashed own, his long blonde hair flying out behind him.  Before he could get a foot down, the airship gave a violent lurch that shook him from the ladder. He landed on his feet back in the bridge, barely, and braced himself against a wall. The ship listed deeply to the right.  Katz was looking up to him.  Allen was panicking a little.  So much was going on.  "What happened!?!"

            "Boiler Breech!"  Katz called.  "There's a steam leak on the right Levi-stone!  We're loosing lift and propeller thrust on the right side!"

            Allen cursed and shoved himself up the grade to the upper railing where he clung for balance.  "Can we stabilize it!?!"

            "We have to stop for serious repairs!" Paile called.

            "Can we recover the propeller!?!"  Allen demanded.

            "I'll do some patching!  It depends on the extent of the damage and where the breech is!"

            "Get up there!"  Allen commanded.  "Take Katz and Teo.  Send Teo back when we have power restored!"

            "Right!"  The three of them took off.

            "We don't have enough people for all these problems!"  Allen fretted.

            "The ship was just rebuilt."  Ort said to him.  "The new parts aren't as broken in as it was, and there are always problems when you add new parts to old."

*                             Escaflowne                                        *

            Down below, the shaking and the listing threw some people off their cots.  Yosu was surprised to find himself on the floor.  Amano's cot tipped over and unseated Daiji like a domino.  Yukari had Koneko land on her from above.  Needless to say, everyone was awake and met in the hall, clinging to their doorframes to fight against the slant.

            "What the heck was that!?!"  Hakai cried.

            Suru was freaking out.  Yukari took her shoulder.  "Its okay, Suru."

            "I had a nightmare and when I woke up, there was an EARTHQUAKE!"  Suru whispered.

            "Its not an earthquake, Suru."  Amano assured.  "We're on an airship."

            "What should we do?"  Jiai asked, nervously.

            "I'm not going back to sleep."  Yosu announced.  "Something's gone wrong."

            Koneko looked around.  "Where'd Hitomi and Millerna go?"

            "Hiotmi's gone!?"  Yosu cried.

            "Things aren't right."  Amano announced.  "My gut's telling me something's wrong."

            "We should find out." Daiji stated.  "Let's get to the bridge.  We'll get answers there for sure."  They were all in agreement and made their way as best as they could on the slanting halls and stairs.  No one knew which way to go to find the cockpit, but Amano was plagued with hunches.  He took the lead and lead them fairly accurately to where they wanted to be.  Once they'd staggered inside, Amano looked around in disapproval.

            "What's going on!?!"

            Allen turned.  "What are you all doing here!?!"

            "We were woken up when the world started shaking."  Daiji said, with a stab of sarcasm. "Why do you think we're up here!?!"

            "What's wrong with the ship!?" Yosu demanded.

            Allen had no choice but to involve them, now.  "We've got a boiler breech to the right Levi-stone."

            "And that's not bad, right?" Yukari asked.

            "Well, we're also being followed by Melefs from Asturia."  Allen added.

            "We're being tailed AND we're having engine trouble!?"  Yosu cried.

            "It's not all as bad as it seems."  Allen assured.  "We're making our way toward a mountain pass where we can hide out until the Melefs pass us."

            "And how far is that?"  Daiji asked.

            "Another 15 minutes of flight a the speed we used to be at."  Kio called back.  "At our current state, if we can't get the propeller to work, it'll be another half an hour or more."

            "They're still gaining!"  Reeden called down.

            "This sounds pretty bad to me."  Daiji said.

            "Come on, Allen, don't sugarcoat it for us."  Amano said.  "We're on this ship, tell us what to do and get us out of this mess."

            Allen seemed hesitant to get his passengers involved.  Especially since they didn't know Gaean technology.  Ort spoke up.  "You were complaining about not having people, Boss."

            The captain gave in.  "Alright!  Fine!  If all of you are so intent – you can help out."  He turned to Kio.  "Where do we need help most!?!  The engine room?"

            "Patching."  Kio responded.  "They'll need hands and probably muscle."

            Daiji volunteered.  "I'll do it."

            "Daiji?"  Jiai asked.

            "I'll admit that I don't usually do my own heavy labor, but I've got the body mass."  He cracked his knuckles.  "which way?"

            "Down the adjacent hall and toward the stern."  Allen instructed.  Daiji nodded and split.

            Amano stepped forward.  "What about me?"   

            Allen looked around the bridge.  "Katz and Paile are gone…"  He grabbed Yosu's shoulder.  "You take Katz's spot there.  And Amano, take Paile's."

            "What do I do?"  Yosu asked, taking up the post.

            "That 's monitoring stability.  And the boilers."  Allen said.  "Its obvious that we're tiled.  Check the gimbals and tell me if it gets any better or worse."           

            "That's it?"  Yosu asked.

            "Well, you've got to watch the pressure too."  Allen said.  He turned to Amano.  "You've got to keep those schematics handy and report on ship performance."

            "How on earth am I supposed to do that!?!"

            "Do the best you can!"  Allen commanded.  There were five left, but it didn't look like Allen had any intention of giving them a job.

            Yukari frowned from where she was leaning against the door.  "Hey!  What about us?"

            "You?"  Allen asked, astounded that she was being so mean.  "You can go next door with Hitomi and Millerna and take care of Celena."

            "Is that what you need us to do?"  Jiai asked.

            "I don't believe it."  Yukari challenged.  "I don't think in a time of crisis like this, you need five of us to sit around."

            "This is a crisis!"  Allen shot back.  "You don't need to be involved."

            "Stop with the chivalrous knight and damsel thing."  Yukari insisted.  "I can see you need help and I'm sticking around."

            Amano's voice ran in very un-Allen-like.  "Yu!?!  I'm lost!"  He was flipping through schematics and looking at gauges in complete bewilderment.

            "See!  I have a purpose!"  Yukari hurried as fast as she could to over to help her boyfriend.

            "BOSS!!!"  Reeden cried.  "They're REALLY close now!  Do you think you can do something about the tilt!?!"

            "We've got to get into action."  Allen said.  "When are they going to get the ship leveled out!?!"

            "I'll run up and ask!"  Koneko volunteered, dashing off.

            Jiai turned to Suru and Hakai.  "Let's go next door and get out of their hair… hurry!"

            "Whatever."  Hakai huffed, but the three of them vacated the bridge and moved to join Millerna and Hitomi, who were now on the floor with Celena, who'd been thrown from her chair in the jolt.  She was sobbing loudly.

            Hitomi looked up.  "Jiai!"

            "We're here to help out!"  The dark-haired girl replied.

Suru was as frightened as Celena, but became concerned at the sight of her.  "Is she okay?"

            "She's scared."  Millerna answered.

            "Why?"  Hakai asked.  "So we're being followed by someone, what's the big deal?"

            Hitomi looked with alarm at the spiky-haired boy.  "What's he doing here!?!"

            "Why shouldn't he be here?"  Jiai asked.

            "Don't you know who he's connected to!?!"  She demanded.  But she realized, then that Jiai knew next to nothing about Celena's case, and thankfully, the look on her face showed that she couldn't recall Dilandau's name to save her life.  Hitomi let it drop.  "Never mind…just keep an eye on him."  The 12-year-old dashed around, trying to fill his time.

            Suru knelt down next to Celena.  "You don't have to cry, Celena, it'll be okay."  She reached into her jean pocket and pulled out the pieces of her doll.  "Do you want to play with me?"

            Celena looked up with tears in her eyes.  "I'm so scared…the ship moved so suddenly…we're falling sideways."

            "No we're not."  Suru answered.  "Let's play.  You can be the face.  I'll be the body.  And…you can be the feet too…. Is that okay?"

            Celena sniffled and took the doll's head from Suru.  "Okay."

            Hitomi and Millerna looked to each other.

                        *                           Escaflowne                              *

            Reeden's head appeared on the bridge.  "I can see the cape on the front one!  This is getting really sweaty!"

            "I know, Reeden, I know!"  Allen shot back.

            "We've gained some altitude on the right!"  Yosu called.  "Three points!  It's small, but its an improvement.  Levi-stone pressure pretty constant."

            "The mountains are still a ways off!"  Kio announced.  "I've been trying to catch a wind on the right said, but we're dead wind tonight."

            "Do the approaching melefs have weapons?"  Gadess asked.

            "If they are standard Asturian Maginot, they should be equipped with swords, but if they are infantry style…" Allen answered.  "Reeden!  Go see!"

            "I'm on it!"  Reeden replied, disappearing.  He came back in a minute.  "It looks like a sword on the snot one.  The others, I can't tell with their flight boosters out."

            "I might have to run for the Scherazade before this is over."  Allen announced.  He turned to Yosu.  "Any more improvement?"

            "No."  Yosu replied.  "but it might be going so slow…"

            "What's going on back there!?!"  Allen was frustrated and kept checking the door for Teo or Koneko to return.

                        *                           Escaflowne                              *

            Koneko arrived in the boiler room to find it thick with humidity and lit red from the fires used to heat the water.  She could see in the glow, three men heaving, muscles straining, on a loose metal plank that seemed to be bowing straight out over a gaping hole in the side of a tank.  Hot steam was pouring out over them in billowy clouds as they bent it around.  She stood and stared at them.  Teo the smallest and weakest of them, was leaned against the boiler at the plank's base, securing the part already nailed into the metal.  Koneko knew that one of the others was Daiji, but it took his ponytail to identify him.  He'd taken off the red shirt and was just in his white tee.  He and Katz were sooty and sweaty.  Paile stood ready with his nails and a hammer.  Koneko had forgotten about Daiji's celebrity, but watching him work like this was strange.  It took her a second to speak up.  "H-Hey!  Dudes!?!  How's it going !?"

            "Jus'second, Neko!"  Daiji replied, his teeth gritted.

            Katz let out a grunt.  "Shove three!  "On, two, THREE!!!"  They fought against the steam pouring out of the hole and bent the patch over the rift. 

            Daiji braced his back against the plank.  "Paile!"  Paile jumped in and started tacking it down.  The other two shoved against the plank as hard as they could.  Their feet slipping on the moistness and humidified metal of the floor.

            The plank was threatening to give out, Katz turned a shoulder to it and steadied it as Paile hammered.  "No!  Not this time, you stupid boiler!" 

The last couple nails went in.  Paile backed off.  "Go!"

            The two big boys jumped off the boiler and grabbed another slab of metal.  Holding it up, Paile edged in to nail the patch over the patch.  The ship groaned and tilted upward a little more, making the pigtailed girl dizzy.  She grabbed onto a pipe until the ground stopped moving.  "Yeeeow!"

            They took a nervous second and stared at it to see if it would stay.  When it showed no signs of popping off, they all sighed.  Daiji rubbed his shoulder and walked over.  "What is it, Koneko?"

            "I came as a messenger."  She said.  "I need to check and see how its coming."

            "We've got fifty percent lift."  Paile reported.  "We've got to check the propeller."

            Daiji turned his green eyes to look down at her again.  "Run down and tell the captain that we're half power again."

            Katz's voice called.  "Daiji!"

            He turned.  "Coming!"  Then sent Koneko away.  "Go on, we'll send the squirrelly guy with the propeller news."

            "K!"  Koneko turned and darted off, running a lot easier without the hallway at such a dramatic slant.  She arrived on the bridge.  "Daiji says we're half better."

            "So the breech wasn't crippling!?"  Allen asked.

            "I guess not."  She replied.  "He said they'd send the squirrelly guy with info on the propeller."       

            "The gimbals tell me that we're a little over halfway level."  Yosu called.

            "If they patched it up so fast, it probably was one of the auxiliary boilers."  Yukari announced, pulling out the chart.  "That should blow a couple pipe rings too because of the temperature flux."

            "Levi-stone pressure is increasing."  Amano called.  "But there isn't enough steam running the propeller mechanics."

            "Pipe rings."  Yukari repeated.  "And it says here that those can be patched, but will need to be replaced when we get to a port."

            "Write that down."  Allen said.  "Keep a list of everything needing replacement or professional repair."  Another violent tremor took them all by surprise and sent them staggering against their stations.  Allen looked frayed.  "What was that!?!"  He ran to the crow's nest.  "Reeden!?  Are they firing?"

            "No!"

            "It was probably the pipe rings she was talking about."  Gadess offered.

            "Would they cause a lurch like that?"  Yosu asked.

            "Pipe rings are what keep pipes together."  Allen answered.  "I guess it depends on what they are connecting."

                        *                           Escaflowne                              *

            Across the hall, the jolt had sent a lamp off a table and fire had started on the floor.  Millerna and Hitomi looked up in alarm.  Hitomi covered Celena's eyes.  "Jiai!  Put it out!"

            "No!"  Hakai cried.  He dashed over to marvel. "It's great!"

            "It's not great!"  Millerna informed him.  "Put it out now!"

            "I'm scared!"  Celena cried.  "What's going on!?"

            "My brother is playing."  Suru answered.  "Don't mind him."

            "I can't see, Hitomi."  Celena said.  "Let me go, you're scaring me."    

            Millerna got up and she and Jiai began to stomp out the flame.  Hakai was shoved aside and watched the floor as his entertainment was smothered. "Ugg!  DANGIT!!!  I HATE YOU!"  Hitomi saw everything was clear and released the girl from blindness.  Celena rubbed her eyes.  "What's going on?"

            "They ruined my only chance at having fun."  Hakai replied.  "This place hates me.  I should run off and then I can have some real fun!"

            "No!  Hakai!"  Suru cried.  "You can't leave!  What would I do?"

            Hakai glanced back at her eyes, which were worried in her innocently childish way.  He snuffed a sigh.  "Ah, going home would only bring Mom into it anyway."

            Up in the boiler room, a pipe ring had burst on the piping to the propeller.  Steam was again billowing out over the floor, coming from the loose pipe.  Paile looked over the scene.  "Drat!  We've lost a ring!  We can't replace those fast!"

            "What do we do?"  Katz cried.

            "We'll patch the ring like we did the boiler."  Paile said, finding the two pieces amid the clouds of cooling air.  "It snapped cleanly in half.  You two boost the loose pipe up so we don't lose the one on the other end."

            They got their shoulders under the piping and shoved it upright.  Teo came around one side and held the two pieces of the ring together.  Searing hot smoke was flowing out everywhere.  Daiji made a general query.  "I hope this doesn't burn us."

            "Burns are the least of our problems."  Paile said as he prepared to hammer.  "If we get boarded, we'll be arrested, thrown in jail, and who knows what else.  That exit we made wasn't exactly legal, and as far as they know, we've kidnapped the queen."

            "Good point."  Daiji agreed.  A decent patch went on with hammering.  Paile backed off and wiped his brow, but as he did, the nails began to pop out under the pressure of the expanding air inside.  Everybody jumped forward to cover the remaining nail heads, but eh steam spouting out burned their hands and they drew back just as fast.  "Yeeeouch!"  Daiji blew on his palms.  "That stings."

            "What do we do?"  Katz asked again.

            "I don't suppose you all keep duct tape around?"  Daiji asked rhetorically.

            "Can we wrap it?"  Teo asked.

            "Just what I was thinking."  Daiji grinned to him.

            "We've got some heavy tarp in the back."  Katz offered.  "I'll go get it."

            "Meanwhile, watch for flying nails, they must be like bullets."  Daiji said, kissing his raw hand.  "That really smarts."

            Katz returned in a second with the tarp and rope.  Paile took it from him.  "Alright, now, I'm going to hammer in some new nails and as soon as I'm done, wrap it as tight as you can."  The others nodded and Paile moved to cap the hiss of the steam.  He pounded quickly, half expecting them to shoot out at him as soon as he let go.  In a second, he jumped back and the other three rushed in to wrap the binding tightly around the ring.  Teo tied it with the rope and they all stepped back and hoped that it would hold.  There was some hissing and popping, but the tarp caught the nails and for the most part contained the steam, keeping the tacks in the holes.  Down the way, the gears to the dead propeller started to churn with a clanking that elevated to a steady banging.  They let out a cheer.

                        *                           Escaflowne                              *

            "Propeller steam pressure rising!"  Amano called.  "I think they fixed it!"

            "Thank goodness."  Allen sighed.

            "There seems to be a dip in the hillside ahead that we can settle into."  Gadess informed them.  "We'll hope they don't see us do it."

            "How far are those melefs?"  Yosu asked.

            Allen turned up the ladder to his lookout.  "Reeden!?!"

            "They're getting closer!  If we don't pick up soon, in five minutes they'll be right on top of us!"

            Teo arrived, sweaty, sooty, and panting in the doorway.  "Propeller at 45%, sir!"

            "Forty-Five!?!"  Koneko cried from over with Yosu.  "THAT's it!?!"

            "It'll do."  Allen told her.  "Kio!  Get us to that first mountain and set us in that nook."

            "Aye Aye sir!"

            With Levi-stone and propeller once again functioning, the Crusade coasted through the sky on dead wind.  Behind them, five Asturian mecha suits were keeping pace.  There were no weapons drawn, and the olive colored ringleader stayed passive in front, its cape billowing.  Everyone in the cockpit of the Crusade held their breaths.  Time was of the essence.  It was almost as if they could feel the Melefs on their tail, breathing down their necks and ready to bring them to the ground.  The first mountain jutted out of the Chesa-Asturain mountain pass, the only one with trees while all the hills behind it were gray-purple stone.  The chink in the mountain cut around the back, out of sight, leaving a wind-swept hole sticking from the side.  They steered for it

            "We're going maximum speed!"  Kio called.

            "We'll make it!"  Gadess assured.  "Just keep going!  Hold on!"

            "Boiler warning!"  Yosu cried.  "We're running low on fuel!  This says the fires are dimming!"

            "Strain on it!"  Allen commanded.  "We only have one chance!"

            The ship reached the mountain and tucked around the back to peek out of the handle-like absence.  Kio brought the ship to a stop.  It sat there, tilted to one side, waiting to see if their hasty escape would work.  Everyone's hearts were pounding.  Minds turning over the many outcomes; would they get away?  Would they be captured?  Would they be killed?  Reeden didn't even dare to blink as he stared through his binoculars, waiting for a sign of their pursuers to appear around the wall of the mountain.

            Five minutes passed this way, but no Guymelefs appeared.

            Allen turned and called a little hoarsely up.  "Do you see them!?!"

            Reeden scanned anxiously, knowing that they should have appeared by then.  He checked quickly behind and around him, feeling like he could be surrounded.

            "REEDEN!?!"

            "I don't see them!"  Reeden called down.  "They're nowhere!"

            Allen looked to Gadess, who shook his head, unable to offer answers.  Allen turned back.  "Are you sure!?!"

            Reeden scanned again, looking out under the arm of the mountain.  "Wait!"  Everyone below stared and strained to hear news.  Reeden's scrawny voice called to them.  "There they are!  They went back to the old course!  They're headed for Fanelia!"

            Allen frowned.  "You're sure!?"

            "Positive!  They're taking the direct route.  The green one is leading."

            "We're safe!"  Yukari sighed.  "We're not going to get caught!  Oh what a relief."

            "Why?"  Allen puzzled, a hand on his chin.  "WHY?  Why'd they pass us up when they knew we were here?"

            "We'll figure it out later."  Amano suggested.  "Right now we've got a small amount of fuel and a lot of repairs to make."

            "Right."  Allen agreed.

            "We could really follow them now."  Gadess offered.  "They won't be chasing us."

            "But they're from Asturia."  Allen replied.  "We won't be able to get help in Fanelia if they get their first.  And there is no way we can beat them now."  HE called to his pilot.  "Kio!  Take us on through the pass!  Maybe we can hit a Chesarian docking station and get some aid and supplies."

            "Right sir."  Kio agreed.

            Koneko yawned.  "And the rest of us can go back to sleep."

To be Continued….