Title: Promise Me Anyway

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: Escaflowne is NOT my property. I wish I could come up with something this cool! Nay, it is not mine at all….

Summary: Future fic, multi-part WIP. Hitomi is a student of international politics, determined to bring peace to Earth too, and already making a difference. Van is king of a happy, prosperous, peaceful rebuilt Gaea. They're still in love and still in touch. So what's the problem?

Dedication: To Sarah, who is at times more into this story than I am. Also to Kyle, who years ago cried while watching the parts about the Fanel family.

A/N: Ladies and Gentlemen, Allen has arrived. But so has Millerna. Don't worry, she's not prominently featured- but I'm not going to hate on her either.

.

.

.

Chapter Four

Nothing is so strong as gentleness, and nothing is so gentle as true strength.

-Ralph Sockman

Morning light filled the royal bedchamber, but Van Fanel did not stir. A knock came at the door and failed to rouse him from his motionless slumber.

The knock grew insistently louder. "King Van!" a gruff voice called. There was a pause, and a murmur of voices that Van did not hear. Then, after a moment, the sound of a key turned in a lock and the door opened.

Togen rushed in, looking worried. "King Van, forgive the intrusion, but you must wake up," he said, standing between the doorway and the great bed.

When Van still offered no response, Togen's eyes went wide. "Guards, come in," he yelled, hurrying to kneel at the side of the bed. He touched Van's shoulder. "King Van," he tried again, still more insistent.

Togen put his ear up to the king's chest wall, listening for a heartbeat. He heard one, soft and slow, then felt a slight exhalation from Van. He pulled open the sleeping lord's eyelid to reveal a blank, staring disc beneath.

More advisors and guards began to accumulate in the room, murmuring in alarm before Togen pushed the majority of them out. Young Merle had come into the room during the commotion and tearfully clung to King Van's arm.

The King was alive, but nothing was able to rouse him. Fanelia was soon in a full-fledged panic.

Mages and practitioners of medicine came from all over the city and its outskirts, and messengers were sent to the neighboring kingdoms. Merle led the bedside vigil, whispering the mantra, "Van-sama" to herself over and over until the syllables became meaningless. The medicine-bringers were baffled; the mages spoke vaguely of a darkness surrounding the sleeping form, and were unable to discern anything more. Princess Millerna had been called, but the kingdom's hopes grew dimmer along with the fading light of day. If their mages and doctors could not help the king, what good would it be to consult a foreigner?

Finally, Hitomi shut the water off. Her fingers were wrinkled and steam filled the stall so that she couldn't clearly see. She reached for the towel that hung on the wall, but her fingers splayed out suddenly and she yelped in pain. It felt as if someone had kicked her in the chest with a steel-toed boot, and the wind was knocked out of her.

She collapsed against the shower wall, gasping for air and clutching her chest. Her eyes were wide in panic. Spots began to appear before her eyes, and then began to fade as her diaphragm regained its control and she could breathe again.

Van? She wondered to herself, disturbed, but then shook her head. The connection with Van must have been severed, because she could no longer sense his mind across the void. Something else must be wrong with her. The thought was somehow less unnerving than the idea of something having happened to Van. Hitomi grabbed her towel and hurriedly dried off, then went back into her room to call Amano. She'd ask for a ride to the doctor's office, and the problem would be solved…

One hand holding the phone and the other rapidly buttoning her blouse, Hitomi paced around the room. She heard a click, followed by: "Hey. You've reached Amano- aren't you lucky? Leave me a message and I'll call you back." Hitomi sighed, and hung up.

She bit her lip and dialed Yukari's cell.

...

Merle had ceased her mantra. She no longer moved, only stared forlornly at her adopted big brother. "I wish," she whispered, closing her eyes. "I wish that I could find someone to help you. I wish…"

Then the pink stone he wore around his neck caught Merle's eye, and her pupils widened. Carefully, she lifted it off his body. No one seemed to notice she was stealing jewelry from the King. The catgirl clasped it and continued wishing as hard as she could.

...

"We're sorry. The Akia customer you have dialed is out of service range. Please try again later."

Hitomi hung up the phone again and sat down on her bed. She really did not want to go through the whole list of her friends and ask them for rides. She wished that Aimi had a cell phone, but oh well. Maybe it would be better if she'd just lie down for a while…

She was lowering herself onto the bed when she heard a faint humming noise. Startled into sitting up, Hitomi threw her hands across her eyes to shield them from the sudden burst of light that filled the room. What she saw when she lowered her hands caused her to cry out in shock.

"Merle!" Although she was taller, and had obtained an adolescent leanness, Hitomi would be hard pressed to mistake her visitor.

A confused-looking young catwoman crouched in the middle of Hitomi's room, head swiveling back and forth rapidly in observation of her strange surroundings. Then she saw Hitomi.

"It's you!" Merle gasped, then leapt up to grab Hitomi in an embrace. She let go quickly, and looked the human in the eye. "You have to help him!"

"Help who?"

"Who do you think?" Merle hollered back. "Help Lord Van!"

"What's happened to Van?" Hitomi interrupted, frightened.

"I have to show you. You can help him. You have to help him!" she gesticulated anxiously. "Come back with me, now!"

"But I-"

"But nothing! We have to leave!"

Hitomi stared at Merle for a moment, unable to speak.

"Hitomi!" the catgirl was nearly hysterical.

The young woman nodded once. "Yes," she said in a monotone. "I'm coming."

Enveloped in light for several heartbeats, Hitomi's mind came up with dozens of haunting thoughts. He's dying. He's gone. I've hurt him somehow. I've lost him.

And quite abruptly she found herself kneeling on a cold stone floor in the middle of a group of huddling nobles. Merle had landed beside her and quickly sprung to her feet, grabbing Hitomi by the hand. Hitomi looked in the direction that she was being dragged and nearly stumbled when she saw the pale figure of Van lying motionless in the flickering firelight.

No…

Merle turned to face Hitomi, her bright eyes swimming with angry tears. "You have to help him," she said, as calmly as she could with her broken voice. "He won't wake up."

"I…" her stomach sank like a stone. "I don't know what to do," she said, sinking to her knees beside Van's bed.

"Excuse me, what is going on here?" one of the guards demanded brusquely, having recovered from the shock of having Merle and this young woman dropped into the room by a column of light. There was a commotion as the handful of men and women in the room began to speak over each other. Hitomi found herself facing the business end of a claymore, and stepped back.

"Leave her alone, Kayl," Merle warned loudly.

"But, Milady…this witch could be responsible..." the guard held his sword where it was, glaring suspiciously at Hitomi.

"Don't you recognize the Savior of Gaea?" Merle interrupted, voice raised in fierce indignance. The guard Kayl was immediately reticent and the rest of the room fell into respectful silence once more.

"I never met…" he began, then corrected himself in midsentence, "my apologies, Miss," he offered a slight bow.

Merle merely shook her head, turning back to Hitomi and Van.

Part of Hitomi catalogued the exchange, marveling at the respect commanded by the former urchin she'd met on the streets of Fanelia. The rest of her stared forlornly at Van, feeling more alone than she had in her life. She couldn't sense him… somehow, sitting right beside him, she couldn't feel anything from him. Her sole sensation was the ice that spread from the center of her soul outward, crawling like a cancer that would ruin her from the inside. Van, beside her. Van, alone. He was truly all alone now, lost in a void that even Hitomi's perception could not penetrate. She knew this somehow, and the knowledge clenched her heart like a vicious fist. Had she done this? Was it her fault?

Take me instead… he doesn't deserve this!

Merle had been watching her intently this whole time. "Hitomi," she murmured, "say something. Say you can help him!"

Shame gripped the girl from the Mystic Moon, and she lowered her head. "I can't," she breathed in a barely audible whisper.

Merle's eyes narrowed. How dare Hitomi give up like this when Van needed her! How dare anyone ever fail Lord Van! "Yes you can!" she hissed, "or I wouldn't have come to you!" She grabbed Hitomi's hand almost violently and placed it on Van's forehead.

Hitomi inhaled sharply at the contact. It had been years since she'd really touched Van, and now the contrast to what she had imagined was ghastly. The face that had once been smooth, warm, dry and alive, now felt clammy, cool and somehow foreign. Then Hitomi felt something like a jolt of electricity as she was thrown backwards to the floor.

Sprawled across the stone, Hitomi knew before she even got up that she was having a vision. Mentally she braced herself for the inevitable blood, and death, and flames.

They didn't' come. Instead her mind's eye filled with the image of Van, smiling at her sadly.

'It'll be alright, Hitomi. Just be happy, that's all I want'. His words reached her though he never moved. Then a shadow fell across him, and Hitomi saw him turn to face a tall man clad in red. The man loomed over Van, seeming somehow to engulf him in shadow. She could not see his face. She cried out to Van, but no sound issued from her throat. The dark man motioned with both arms, and thunder crashed loud enough to shake Hitomi to the bone.

The world around her contorted, flickering in and out of existence like a dying candle. She saw Van in the midst of a lake of darkness, as if a spotlight shone upon him.

'I serve the dragon' a sinister voice decreed.

The thunder sounded again, shattering the image like glass before her eyes, and everything went dark.

Hitomi's eyes flew open and she pushed herself up on both arms, breathing rapidly.

"Hitomi!" Merle was at her side, gesturing at the concerned others in the room to keep their distance. "What did you see? Tell me what you saw!"

Their eyes met for a moment, but Hitomi's gaze was vacant. Her mouth was open partway, and she stammered. "Van… he's been hidden…" she trailed off, her bloodless face a mask of horror. She stood on wobbly feet, but lost her balance. Merle caught her and eased her back to the ground.

Fighting back the nausea that threatened to overwhelm her, Hitomi took a deep breath and released it. "Someone did this to him," she said. "We need help." And it's my fault, she added silently. I was the one who made it happen.

There was a knock at the door; Togen opened it, backing away to allow the visitor into the room.

Princess Millerna stepped in with a man who appeared to be a bodyguard beside her. Her hair was shorter, her clothes simpler, and she bore an air of confident maturity. "I've come to offer my full assistance to the honorable King of Fanelia," she said with a formal bow.

"Millerna-sama!" Hitomi exclaimed, catching the princess by surprise.

"As have I," another voice joined from behind the door. The princess turned and stepped aside, and a familiar figure came into the room. He knelt with a humbleness Hitomi had never seen before.. "Allen Schezar, Knight of the Heavens, is at the service of Fanelia."