Summery: Hitomi discovers she needs to return to Gaea. Van's been hurt seriously and she can feel it, but when she returns someone else is expecting her, there's a desire for blood, for Gaea's blood, Hitomi knows she cannot let this happen, war can't start again, with Van she needs to find a way to stop all this nonsense, and her new powers shall help them well.

Would Gaea be safe?

Reviews!

Thank you all, it's only been a day and I already have 3 reviews, I really appreciate them.

Macky – Thank you here is more

Storm-Maker – Yeah English is not my first language, I try hard to not let that kind of mistakes slip but they always manage to do it ¬¬ Thank you for your review, I'll try harder :D

Pure hope – Lol wouldn't dare to kill him, but don't you like a bit of drama : grins :

Inda – Thank you, here is more, and hehe I change it to Vision :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Escalfowne; its plot, or anything to do with it.

Escalfowne – An Epilogue

Chapter 3: Bleeding Wings

It seemed to take forever, Merle was sobbing and shaking but she tried to take all the rocks off Van, she did it slowly and gentle, she didn't want to do more harm than she had already done.

'It is all my fault' she thought 'We should've gone straight to the palace, everything is my fault, if something happens to him, I'll never forgive myself.'

She passed her dirty hand through her cheek, trying to clean her tears, when she heard something, she turned to look. Allen, Joshua and half a dozen guards came riding ontheir horses, the oldest kid, who Van had saved was guiding them.

"Allen!" she screamed, raising a hand "Over here, please hurry up!" a small feeling of hope light Merle.

"Van…" whispered Allen as he descended his horse and ran to Van's side. "Joshua, help me move these rocks"

Joshua hurry up, there were still some heavy rocks left on top of Van, his wings hadn't fold yet, which make it more difficult to move around him, they feared to step on them.

One last horse arrived at the scene, Celena descended at once and hurried to Merle's side.

"Merle, I heard a maid talking, is it truth?" Celena hugged Merle, who started crying again, she couldn't control her herself.

"I-it's my f-f-fault" she explained through sobs.

"Sh, don't say that" Celena tried to calm Merle, but it seemed impossible, she looked quickly around trying to find Van, and when her eyes caught the scene she gasped and placed a hand on her mouth.

'I-it's like a bloodbath!' Celena looked with shock and horror as Allen, Joshua and the guards, who have hurried to help, tried to get Van out of there, his blood was spilled everywhere, 'H-he has wings!' Celena's eyes were shocked.

Finally they took Van out of the rocks, carefully they place him in a stretcher, he seemed peacefully asleep, though his skin was white. Slowly, his lungs fought to keep breathing, and his wings display a terrible beauty, what once had been beautiful white wings, were now stained with blood.

Merle couldn't look at Van; she hugged Celena tightly.

"We'll take him back to the hospital wing," said Allen "Hurry up, you two" and he started riding as fast as he could, taking Van with him, he was holding one part of the stretcher and Joshua the other one, in another horse. This made things more difficult, they couldn't ride very fast.

Celena blinked her tears away, and she let go Merle.

"Common we need to catch with them, Lesley would like to know all the details of what happened"

Merle nodded numbly, she felt lost, guilty and alone. She mounted her horse and almost dropped the bag where the livoltis were, she realized that not only Van was the one in danger and wounded, back in Asturia Gaddes needed help too.

Celena was ready to go; she was only waiting for Merle to react. "Merle, common we should hurry" she said softly.

Merle looked at her, she grabbed the bag tightly and started riding back to the palace; she wished her horse could run faster. Celena quickly caught up with her.

'She must be worried to death' Celena thought as she caught up with Merle 'Van is strong, I'm sure he'll make it out of this'.

But was he? She had seen him, he looked terrible almost dead.

They arrived at the entrance of the palace, there was nobody guarding. Merle jumped off the horse and started running, she knew the palace very well.

"Merle, wait!" Celena screamed. She hurried up to leave the horses in the stable.

Merle didn't stop to wait, she had the bag on her hands, she needed to keep running, she turn right, then left and run all the way down the corridor, she found herself facing the doors of the hospital wing and stopped abruptly.

Panting, she pushed the door open.

Lesley, the nurse, was hurrying with bandages and some sort of healing potion on her hands. She looked up at Merle, and returned her attention to Van.

Allen and Joshua were standing on Van sides, looking devastated.

"Is" Merle swallowed hard "Is he going to be ok?"

Lesley sighted, her curly brown hair covering her face. "I-I can't tell. He's breathing, but barely. I'm going to be able to cure all his wounds, and broken bones, but his wings keep bleeding I can't make them stop!" she sounded frustrated. She injected a bloody-red liquid on Van's arm.

"This should help him regenerated most of his blood" Lesley explained, "But if his wings keep bleeding he'll lost more blood that he can regenerate"

Merle looked away, Allen had his head lowered and Joshua was staring at Van.

Celena came running "I couldn't find the hospital wing" she explained. "How is he?"

There was silence.

"We can't tell, yet" Allen said finally. "We should leave Van to rest, everyone out, we don't want here to get crowded."

They left Lesley to continue working with Van. Merle turned.

"Lesley, I have some livolti here, could it help? Besides you have to make some livolti syrup with them, Allen needs to take some to Asturia" She handed the bag to Lesley.

"It would help, thank you Merle. That's what you were looking for when this happened?"

Merle shook her head.Everyone had stopped, they were listening to Merle.

"No, we were done; I wanted to go downtown, so we descended by the mount side, there where two kids playing. Van was staring at them, as if there was something more, then an avalanche of rocks started falling straight into where the kids were. He jumped off his horse, spread his wings and saved them, but barely because when I caught the boys, the r-rocks c-c-collide with him."

Lesley nodded; she knew by Merle's look on her face that she felt guilty.

They stepped out of the wing. Joshua left, he needed to guard his post, and he said that he'll get two other guards to guard the wing's door. "Just in case" he had said.

"We have a problem now" Allen said to Celena "We need to take that medicine back to Gaddes as soon as possible, but I don't, I can't leave Van like this"

Merle looked at Celena.

"I'll take it" Celena said, "I know you don't like me to travel alone, but I don't think you will trust anyone else with the livolti syrup, besides Gaddes needs it badly."

Allen frowned; he tried thinking about another possibility. Maybe Merle could go with her, but he knew she wouldn't leave Van's side.

'She can't travel alone, she knows that' Allen thought 'There are many risks involved, especially if someone finds out about her having the syrup.'

Allen thought some more, before saying "Ok"

"Really!" said Celena shocked, she didn't think he'll give that easily.

"Yes, Gaddes needs the syrup, but you are not going alone, I'll have Joshua go with you. He is the person I trust the most"

Celena felt her cheeks hot, she looked away.

"Is that ok with you?" said Allen raising an eyebrow at her sister.

"Y-yes is just that I think you don't trust me enough" she said completely lying.

Merle fought to supreme a grin on her face.

"It's not that and you know it Celena, I'm just worried about you" said Allen.

'He's so naïve' Merle thought, 'Everything is obvious'

"Oh ok, I understand" said Celena quickly.

"I'll arrange everything, you should leave before midnight"

Celena nodded, and looked outside the window, the sun had finally gone down, and the moon illuminated the sky.

"You should go to take a bath and change" Allen said to Merle, who was a bit stained with Van's blood. "And Celena should go pack; everything will be ready in half an hour for you to leave"

Celena nodded, and she hurried to her chamber, she didn't have much to pack since she hadn't completely unpacked yet.

Merle decided she should take a quick bath and change, then return to say goodbye to her friends and spend the rest of the night with Van, she knew she wouldn't rest well, but she would rest less if she wasn't with him.

Allen, who knew everyone in the castle, arrange everything with in minutes, Joshua had agreed to go with Celena though he hesitated a bit.

He returned back to the hospital wing, passing two guards who where guarding the corridor, but he stayed outside, he decided to guard the hospital wing's door, for some strange reason Allen doubted that the avalanche was an accident.

'It went straight to where the kids were; exactly when Van and Merle were there' he frown 'it's strange.'

Celena came downtwenty minutes later. She had her baggage with her, her silver cloak on, her steps echo in the lonely corridor.

"I'm ready" she said to Allen.

He looked at her, and sighted, he didn't really wanted to let her go, but he couldn't risk Gaddes health.

"I'll go check if Lesley has finished some of the syrup"

He turned and entered the hospital wing. It was dark; some candles light the bed where Van was, apparently, sleeping.

"Lesley?" he tried, he turned as he heard something move behind him. A door was almost open, light came out of it; he walked slowly towards it, and pushed the door open.

"It's almost ready" a voice came from the deep inside of the room; lilac smoke was everywhere, the scent of citric fruits was strong, Allen felt relaxed as he inhale that air. Lesley appeared from the smoke, carrying a small bottle, which was purple, and it had a silver ribbon attached in the bottle's neck just after the cork. "It won't spill, or emit any smell, just don't take out the ribbon, until you get this to the healer. If you take the ribbon out, the smell will be very strong. You risk to get caught"

Allen nodded; he took the bottle and went to where Celena was waiting. When he stepped out of the wing, Joshua was standing beside Celena, and Merle was saying her goodbyes.

"Everything is ready, the carriage is waiting for us outside" said Joshua at the sight of Allen, who nodded again.

"You can come back anytime you want" Allen heard Merle say to Celena, they haven't seen each other for two years and the day they got together ended up not to well.

Celena smiled. "I guess we should get going, it's getting late, is past midnight already"

Allen gave the bottle to Celena, "Keep it safe" he said as he explained everything that Lesley had told him. They walked together to the entrance of the castle, and watch as the carriage vanished in the night.

Merle and Allen returned in silence to the wing, she decided to enter and spend the night in the wing, sitting next to Van. Allen on the other hand, told her he'll watch the door, even though there were two guards already at the beginning of the hallway that lead to the hospital wing.

Merle stepped inside the wing for the second time, it was hard for her to see him lying on the bed, the last time she had seen him like that was when he got injured during a battle with Escalfowne, she still remember seen him bleed, and how it wouldn't stop, until Hitomi had figure out how to heal him.

She grabbed a chair and placed it near the bed; she sat down, staring at Van. Merle placed a hand on Van's arm, he gave a silent sight. Suddenly she heard voices outside, someone was screaming, she knew who it was.

'I can't believe this' thought Merle as she made her way out of the hospital wing, she felt like hitting her.

"Let me in, let me IN" Merle heard as she approached the door. She growl, she hated her so much, she couldn't understand how Van stand her.

"No" she heard Allen said "No, you can't, nobody can't go in, until the nurse says so"

"I don't care about the nurse, I want to see King Van, you have to let me IN!"

Merle opened the door so suddenly, that Sophie stepped back.

Sophie shot a dark glare at Merle. "What is she doing in, then?"

Allen said nothing.

"Would you shut up?" said Merle "Van-sama is trying to rest and like always you won't let him, can't you go an annoy someone else?" She had never talked to her like this, but she was sick of her.

Sophie's dark blue eyes were sparkling with anger. "Who are you to talked to me like that? So filthy…"

"Hey, hey" said Allen "Calmed down woman, I don't know who you are, I cannot let you in, Merle is the only one allowed in, so I recommend you to return to your chambers"

"I won't!" Sophie said stubbornly as she hit the floor with her foot. "I can't believe nobody told me King Van was hurt! I have to hear it from a maid!"

"Van-sama is none of your business you leave him alone, leave us alone!" said Merle.

Allen decided to step between the two of them, they seemed like they could killed each other.

Sophie grinned evilly, "I also hear it was your fault, I've always knew you were no good to King Van"

Allen didn't see it coming as Merle stepped forward and swing her hand, her claws reaching for Sophie's face.

Sophie stepped backwards, obviously scared, and covered her face with her arm.

Allen managed to grab Merle before she hurt her, but Merle gave Sophie a small scratched on her arm.

Sophie let out a small scream "You savage! You hurt me! I'm bleeding!"

Merle was panting, anger was filling every inch of her "You stay away from here! Or I'll make you stay away!" with that she returned to the wing, and closed the door behind her, her eyes filling with tears again.

She sat on the chair, grabbing Van's hand; the hot tears were streaming down her cheeks, like the drops of blood were streaming down Van's wings. The bleeding hadn't stopped, and he hadn't regain conscious.

Outside the hospital wing, Sophie stared at the door. "She's crazy! How dare she hurt me?" She looked at Allen, "Let me in, I need to get this healed"

"Please erm lady, it's only a scratch besides I've already told you, I won't let anyone in" answered Allen.

Sophie glared at him, her beautiful face full with anger; Allen stepped back, and sat down on a chair, but still blocking the entrance.

Sophie had dark blue eyes, a beautiful face with crimson lips, and white skin, her hair was silky black and reached all the way to her shoulders. She would have looked beautiful, excepted for the look of hate in her eyes.

"You can't make a lady wait!" said Sophie again.

"Well, you will have too. You can go back to your chambers or you can sit in this chair if you want to"

Sophie glared once more "Fine, I'll take the chair!"

Allen stood up and passed her the chair, "Did you really heard the maids said Merle had something do to with the accident?" asked Allen carefully.

"No, of course not; No one knows what happened, except he is hurt. I just know she is no good for him, how can he stand having a cat woman around him?" she said as she sat down, "and by her reaction, I guess I was right"

"Well, you weren't, she had nothing to do with it" said Allen, with that final sentence everything fell into silence.

-------- Earth ---------------

Hitomi entered her room; she sighted and leaved the keys on her night table. She took out the ribbon on her hair and let if fall, it was long now, it past her shoulders, it had been three weeks since Yukari told her she was leaving, and today Hitomi had gone with her to the airport, to say goodbye to her to best friends.

Her hair was covering her face, she looked different. In the past three weeks she had grown up a lot, emotionally, having to deal with Yukari and Amano leaving, she looked older.

Hitomi grabbed her necklace, the one Yukari and Amano had gave her, she looked at it, and felt lost in it's beauty; everything turned dark, Hitomi let the necklace go and looked around, she couldn't see anything but in the darkness Van appeared.

'I've been here before' she thought 'It's like the dream I have three weeks ago'

"I have missed you, Hitomi" Van's voice echoed in the black space "Since you been gone…"

'No, not this dream again' said Hitomi, she remembered the garden of white and lilac lilies, with sakura trees. She knew that after this she'll fall through the darkness again.

'No, Van, don't say that' she thought as it hit her. She wasn't asleep, how could it all be a dream?

Van's wings spread, and they start bleeding.

'No, no please, stop!' she thought, she couldn't speak.

The hole would appear any minute, and she'll fall, she'll feel lost and alone again. But it didn't, she stood there seeing Van bleed, and suddenly a hole appeared, but not under Hitomi, this time under Van and he fell.

"No!" Hitomi screamed, and run to where Van had fallen, she extended an arm trying to reach for him, but he was gone.

Her room appeared around her, her eyes were wined and her arm still extended. She fell to her knees, it wasn't a dream, her heart ached, something had happened to Van, he was bleeding none stop and there was nothing anyone could do.

Her heart beat start racing, her necklace glow, but she couldn't notice, she was lost in her thoughts, there it was the feeling of Gaea calling her again, she needed to returned but she didn't know how. All this years trying, wishing to go back, but she couldn't.

Why should it be different this time? Why should Gaea let her return now? After all those days and nights she had wished nothing more but to go back.

She stood up, she was wearing a black sleeveless blouse, blue jeans, tennis and her hair was loosened. She was thinking; the only sound she could hear was the tic-tac of her watch.

Hitomi looked at the window; the moon was high in the sky. 'Tonight is the night' she thought.

She turned to leave, she knew where to go, everything was clearing up for her, her necklace glowing faintly guided her. She descended the stairs and walked to the door; her family was drinking tea in the living room.

Her mother looked at her, Hitomi had a determined look on her face, her mother looked at her father, who nodded. "You are leaving." she said, rather than asking.

"I need to go" she said.

"We always knew, since you got back, that you didn't belong here anymore" her mother continued. "Y-you are not taking anything with you?"

She shook her head "I don't need anything, mom. Where I'm going, I got everything I need"

Her mother smiled at her and hugged her tightly; she knew it was a good bye. Her father followed her mother's action and hugged Hitomi to.

Her brother looked at Hitomi, "Well, I guess more things for me, then?" he joked.

"Come here" Hitomi hugged him too. "I should hurry up" she said after saying goodbye to her family.

"Be careful, darling, and if you ever want to come for a visit, or back home, we'll be here for you" her mother said.

Hitomi smirked and nodded. She stepped outside; the wind was running calmly, as if enjoying the night.

She started running as soon as she got outside the fence of her house, she didn't know why but she knew where to go.

She had to go back to the track where she had met Van for the first time. She crossed a park that was near her old school, in her mind she thanked herself for continuing with the university track team.

She kept running, the trees singing a song along with the wind, she passed a lake, where the moon reflected itself and the image of Hitomi running.

The night was cool, and when she reached the track field, she was panting.

"It must be here" she told herself. She started walking around the track, by the third time she started running, and running, but nothing seemed to happen.

'Please, take me back, I want to go back, I need to go back, I want to be with you' she thought, and she kept running, until she felt the floor no more, she looked around, a whirl of air was surrounding her, lifting her from the floor. The whirl that was surrounding her had white feather as well, and they glow.

She looked confused, she had never gone to Gaea this way, it usually was a light that take her back. Why should it be different this time? Was she really going back to Gaea?

She looked back to the floor, she could see the whole city from up there, and she didn't need those question answered.

She looked back up, 'Gaea' she thought 'here I come.'

She felt her heart skipped, everything was falling into place or at least the first pieces of the puzzle.

'Hold on' she looked at the sky 'hold on Van, I'm coming.'

Ok, so end of chapter three, I hope you have liked it! D I hope to get some reviews before I submit the fourth chapter. Thanks so much if you read this fanfiction!

Atte. The Author

Chapter 4: Healing Wounds and Lilac Dreams.

Until next chapter!