Title: Promise Me Anyway
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Escaflowne is NOT my property. However, Osha is mine. And Merle's. Free cookie to whoever can tell me how I named him (besides Sarah).
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 and with equal importance, to Kyle, who years ago cried while watching the parts about the tragic Fanel family.
A/N: Allen is here, so you fangirls can put down your weapons now. You'll need them later. Muahaha...
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Chapter Six
Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear.
--Mark Twain (1835-1910)
The Oblivion was not all encompassing. Now and then, a moment of consciousness kicked its way to the surface of Van's suspended mind. His thoughts bumped into each other and went in circles, repeating themselves, but he did not know this. More attuned to emotions now than rational thought, he reeled from vague whispers of memories he could not identify.
Can't even see my hand in front of my face.
Where is my sword? How'd I get out here without it?
Am I even here?
The past is hunting me, I can smell it. Soon I'll feel its breath against my neck and in this dark, caught without a weapon…
Merle. Merle, isn't it time for me to get up? She should be in here, telling me to get up.
I can't hear Hitomi anywhere. Where is she? What's happened to her? I'll find you, Hitomi, I swear I will. If anyone has hurt you they will die by my bare hands.
And anyway, big brother, I'm getting taller. Soon I'll be as tall as you.
I have my duty to think about. So how do I get back home?
...
They started the search of the map in the spot that corresponded with their current location. It did not take long for the pendant to freeze in its place, and Hitomi was surprised at how easy the task had been. The point identified by Hitomi's method of searching was the former location of the Zaibach capital.
"If the threat is from Zaibach, it most likely comes from a sense of vengeance or outrage," Allen remarked unnecessarily. "Those out for revenge are often reckless and savage. We'll have to take all of these things into consideration."
"No kidding," Merle glowered irreverently at the knight. "Listen, we don't even know who did this. We aren't even sure it's a person doing it. Don't act like you know what you're talking about when you don't," she snapped.
Allen's blue eyes narrowed under the attack, but he relaxed when Millerna spoke.
"Well, it's true that we don't know what the threat is, but at least we know where it's coming from now."
"I have eight of my best men with me," Allen informed them, "ready to put their lives on the line for the King of Fanelia. We will go to Zaibach and find the cause of this; and we will destroy it."
"I'm going with you," Hitomi asserted, standing up straight.
"Hitomi, you can't."
"I've gone before. And we-"
"This is different. We don't even know what's out there."
"All the more reason for Hitomi to go with you," Merle interjected.
"I'm going too. You and your men might require medical care."
"And somebody has to make sure Hitomi doesn't do anything stupid, so I guess I have to go too. So it looks like we're all going with you." Merle concluded.
Three pairs of unrelenting female eyes surrounded the knight, who sighed in defeat.
He never had been good at saying no to women.
...
"Is she ready?" Allen asked of the Crusade, shielding his eyes from the setting sun and looking upward.
"Ready, sir," Gaddes reported, saluting casually from above .
Men's shouts wafted on the breeze, and Hitomi found herself staring out over the shadowy regions of Fanelia where the slanting rays of light cast every building in stark relief. They would travel across the darkened lands at the swiftest speed possible throughout the night, while creatures below them slept or prowled or ran away to hide. Millerna's arms drew in closer to her body, clutching a leather bag containing bandages, herbs, and instruments whose function Hitomi could only guess. Merle paced around the dock impatiently, tail flicking in agitation like a whip or the second hand of a clock. The girl from the Mystic Moon watched them with a sense that she was witnessing an illusion.
Maybe she was dreaming again. It was possible- had always been possible- that this place, these people, didn't even exist. It would be easy to believe that if she could just wake up. But the present carried with it the slow and heavy weight of reality, with all its constant, vivid, mundane detail.
"Let's get aboard," Allen said finally, laying a hand on Hitomi's shoulder before boarding his vessel.
"Finally!" Merle let out an exasperated half-growl, jogging up the gangplank. Hitomi and Millerna followed.
"Merle!" a male voice called out, loud across the distance. Several heads turned towards the source of the unfamiliar sound, and saw there a tallish young man with a shock of red hair running in the direction of the Crusade.
"Osha! Go home!" Merle cried, arms spread in disbelief.
"No! I heard you're going to find out what's happened to the King!" he shouted, cupped hands around his mouth without breaking stride.
"Dammit Osha!" she crossed her arms, "you can't come! Stay home!"
"Watch your mouth!" he retorted, and continued his run. "And I'm not staying, sorry."
"All on!" one of the men called, indicating they were ready to take off.
The gangplank began to rise, and Osha's legs pushed harder against the ground. The athlete in Hitomi was impressed, and watched him jump up onto the deck just in time, landing in a low crouch but not losing balance. He was barely even winded, looking up sheepishly at the several pairs of hostile eyes surrounding him.
Slowly, hands raised, he stood. Merle had her arms folded across her chest, and was glaring at him silently with such angry reprisal flashing in her eyes as only a cat could muster.
Hitomi's stomach dropped and resettled as the anchors lifted and the levistones carried them abruptly upward. The scene unfolded in front of her, would have whether she was there or not. She continued to feel detached and incorporeal.
"Ah, allow me to introduce myself," Osha began in what he hoped was a charming tone. "My name is Osha Babirye, actor/bard extraordinaire, at your service." He extended a hand, grinning hopefully.
His only response was a drawn sword.
"Merle? Help me out here?"
"You're on your own!"
"Merle!" he gasped, facial muscles now demonstrating blatant panic. "Cat-women…" Then he turned back to the knights of Asturia, backing up one unconscious step and maintaining what he could of his deliberately stupid smile. "This is a magnificent ship you have here," he nodded with appreciation, "truly. Why, I'd almost bet-"
"You are an intruder. Tell us why we shouldn't throw you over the side," Gaddes asked him in a cold, flat tone.
He cast a sidelong glance at Merle, who merely hmphed and turned her head away. With a sigh, he dropped all pretense and went for the honesty tack.
"Look. Gaddes, is it? Sir. I have come to offer my services, however meager, to the honorable King of Fanelia. I do this out of a sense of duty not only to the king, but to this strikingly beautiful young cat woman you see shunning me over there. I request that you withhold your punishment until the king has been restored to health, and Merle is safely returned to Fanelia." He knelt, and breathed in sharply, holding his breath in wait.
Gaddes exchanged glances with Allen, who had been standing aloof in what would've been profound amusement had their mission not been so grave. He would save the memory of the situation for a mirthful smile at some later time. Gaddes looked back at the kneeling figure of the bard before him, and nodded to his men. "Toss him," he said, and turned away. "Bards are useless creatures."
That got Osha to his feet. "We are not!" he hissed with vehemence. "Bards bring reprieve to hard-working citizens and- hey! You can't do this!"
Millerna and Hitomi looked at each other and then back at the helpless bard who was now overshadowed by some hostile-looking Asturian warriors.
Two of the largest men on the crew had gathered him up, hooking their great elbows around his undeveloped biceps. They pulled him, heels scraping the ground, to the side of the ship.
"Nooo!! You can't! This isn't chivalry!"
Hitomi, who'd been silent all along, caught Allen's thoughtful eye in question. He shook his head in the manner of one with immense patience witnessing an old, tired inside joke. Inquiry answered, Hitomi turned back to watch the bard's response to his treatment.
"LET GO OF ME, YOU ASTURIAN PANSIES!"
"Woah," Merle murmured in surprise, beginning to look somewhat concerned for the first time. "Guys? Guys… he didn't mean that!"
"Have a nice trip, you skinny little twerp!" one of the men smirked, emitting gruff laughter.
"Help me, Merle!"
Then, without ceremony, he was pushed over the side. Merle dashed forward, gripping the side of the ship in alarm.
Large hands held up his ankles, and his scream pierced the air apparently causing several birds to veer off in the opposite direction. He continued for a moment, then stopped as he realized he wasn't falling.
Merle marched up to Gaddes and scowled, stabbing one clawed finger into the center of his chest. "That was not funny," she said, "especially with Van-sama in trouble! Take him up this instant!"
"Pretty bossy, ain't she?" someone remarked.
Gaddes only smiled. "Of course, young lady." He gestured briefly with one hand, and Osha was hauled up from over the side with a blood-gorged red face to match wildly chaotic hair. He looked around at all of them, but especially Merle, with wounded eyes.
She shrugged. "I knew they wouldn't really hurt you," she breezed. "Besides, you deserved that."
"Fine. Nobody loves me. I think I'll just go back over the side…"
Merle heaved a loud sigh. "Cut it out, you know I love you," she said, then added, "I just don't think you made a very good impression on the rest of the crew here."
Nine surly men stood in a semi-circle around him.
"Asturian pansies, huh?"
Gaddes tossed him a heavy rope, and in catching it Osha nearly buckled under its sudden weight.
"Get to work, bard."
...
The hours passed with excruciating slowness, and while the crew of the Crusade milled around her Hitomi stood staring out at the night that was passing far below, feeling completely useless. She was not tired, despite the day's turmoil. She had tried to sleep but found it, of course, impossible. It was during these times between the drama and the danger that she found and lost her deepest thoughts. They drifted in and out of her head like clouds drifting across the moon, and she did not care to hold on to them. Thoughts that formed during times like these were painful, and of no use to keep. Memories swam up beneath her, reminding her of how much time had passed. She'd been a naïve high school girl so few short hours ago, and so many long years past. She was ashamed of her weaknesses then, afraid they would prove to be flaws with her still. The memories hurt, and the passage of time had always been troubling to Hitomi.
So instead of thinking, she clasped her hands together in prayer to whatever deity might hear. If she prayed long and hard enough, someone out in the distance was bound to tune in sooner or later.