Title: Promise Me Anyway

Rating: PG

Disclaimer: Escaflowne is NOT my property, nor can I take any payment for this story -sorry, everyone, but your reviews are payment enough ;)

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?

Developing subplot: Allen's student, a young woman with fierce blue eyes, is determined to become her teacher's equal. Devoted and serious, Arashi is certain to make her presence known in the fight to save King Van- whatever the cost.

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 tragic Fanel family.

A/N: Action chapter! This chapter is pretty much all excitement and fun. However, I'm new at action writing and actively seeking feedback. Please offer me any and all criticism you can in the reviews section; I'm looking for a more impartial beta reader than the one I have now anyway, so if you're interested and have the ability to be ruthlessly honest, let me know.

Chapter Nine

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Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.

-- Barry LePatner

The sun had finally reached its destination, but Arashi still had far to go to reach hers. Her frustration was competing for attention with her fatigue and common sense; it was dark and she was not likely to make as much progress in the dark. Besides, she needed rest sometime, having had none since leaving on foot nearly two days before. At least she'd finally eaten something other than travel cakes, thanks to Beilu, but she was exhausted enough to fall asleep standing up. With a sigh, the young swordswoman began to decelerate the Limerick. As it slowed, it began to gradually descend. Arashi had been flying low, keeping the ground within easy viewing distance in case the Crusade had landed. Within moments she was sinking below the treetops, and with a gentle bump she was again on solid ground.

The forest around her was young, so the trees were not so tall as to obscure the moonlight, for which Arashi was grateful. She gathered tinder and dry wood for a small fire, piled it high, and sprinkled a handful of gray powder on it. She didn't know what the powder was, only that it started a fire almost instantly, and soon she was staring into comforting flames. After a few moments she crawled onto the bedroll and wrapped it around herself, keeping one side open so she could quickly stand in case anyone came near. For the same reason she also kept her unsheathed sword clutched tightly in hand. As a child she'd been afraid of the woods, especially at night. Now, if she hadn't been so tired, she would have dared it to try and harm her.

Very quickly, Arashi was asleep.

…

"What can you see?" Merle whispered.

"Not much- just legs. And they brought out some crates but I can't see what's in them. It's pretty dark."

"Let me see. I can see good in the dark."

Osha moved his head and allowed the catgirl to look through the crack in their hiding place. They were cramped inside a large barrel, and extremely uncomfortable. It was hot, suffocating, and devoid of light, and the only thing to do was talk in the tiniest of whispers and look out the crack at the ship's crew when they came and went. Hitomi's captors hadn't talked much at all and so the two stowaways hadn't learned anything about their attackers.

"I can't see anything either," Merle sighed at length. "Osha… what good was it coming here? What are we going to do?"

"I don't know yet. But we'll find a chance to do something. I just have a feeling."

"Why did I follow you up here?" she moaned, barely audible.

"Because you're completely crazy about me," he replied.

"Crazy is one way to describe it," Merle retorted, managing to sound sardonic even in a whisper.

Osha twisted his head around and pecked her on the cheek. "Don't worry, kittycat. I've been in tighter spots than this."

"You must be double-jointed," she replied dryly.

They fell into silence then, waiting for their opportunity to do something helpful, not having any idea what that would be. Merle thought about Van-sama, but she also wondered about Hitomi- whose voice she hadn't heard except for once when she'd been brought on board- as well as Allen, Millerna and the crew of the Crusade. She and Osha had heard the sound of explosions and the screams of men as they'd scrambled to hide on the enemy ship, but so far had not received a single clue as to what had happened. As the night wore on in silence, Merle and Osha drifted in and out of sleep.

…

"Millerna… no, treat my men first…" Allen murmured when she entered his quarters, carrying her black bag.

The princess hovered in the doorway for a moment, then bowed her head remorsefully. "They died, Allen."

His response was a sharp intake of air, a tight closing of his eyes, and nothing more. He was too overcome with shame and worry at losing Hitomi as it was, and now he had lost two of his best men… his loyal friends. He cursed their attackers and vowed revenge in his own mind as he had countless times since the attack.

Millerna then crossed the room to his side, followed by an obeisant Gaddes who carried a lantern. He held the light up, but his eyes only flickered upward occasionally to make sure he was providing light for Millerna to work by.

"Your men…. Arik and Mykah… they were hit in vital places, and it was too late to save them. You will be okay, Allen."

Allen turned his head and looked at his second in command. "Have your injuries been treated, Gaddes?"

"No, sir. I don't need any treatment," he answered very quietly.

Millerna had removed the sleeve of Allen's ruined silk shirt and was cleaning his entire arm with an herbal antiseptic. She was trying to ignore the exchange, sensing the undercurrents of strong emotion the men did not express, and feeling as if she were intruding. She wondered where Merle and Osha had gone and if they were okay, but she shook her head and tried to focus on what she was doing.

"It's a good thing you let Hitomi go," Allen said. "They would have killed you and taken her anyway, and I need your help to get her back."

Some unseen weight seemed to lift from Gaddes then, and he straightened his posture somewhat. "You know that I will do whatever it takes, Allen."

"I know."

"Alright, Allen," Millerna interjected, business-like. "I'm going to give you something that will make you go numb and completely relax your body. I can't get this thing out of your arm if your muscles are even a little bit tense without causing more damage."

"As you say, princess," Allen nodded, and closed his eyes. He needed full use of his right arm to fight, and he trusted the princess to do whatever she felt necessary.

Allen had been lucky in comparison to Arik and Mykah. Arik had been hit in the lung and died within minutes. The bullet that killed Mykah had pierced a major blood vessel deep in his abdomen, causing him a slower death as he bled internally. Allen had been shot in the upper arm, the bullet lodging in his biceps muscle. Through years of hard use his arms had become large and strong, so that the tissue gave the bullet increased resistance and kept it from traveling too far inside his body. Millerna was well aware of Allen's musculature, although it had been a long time since she'd ever stopped to think about it. Those youthful feelings belonged in the past, and her feelings toward the knight at this moment were those of a professional healer caring for a patient. Beyond that Allen was a good friend, and therefore she only concentrated harder on the operation.

While the medication he'd swallowed took effect and Allen drowsed barely aware, Millerna's forehead beaded with sweat. Gaddes paled watching the procedure but kept the light steady and silently handed Millerna each object she asked for. Finally Millerna reached into the opening in the belly of the muscle with a small metal tong and pulled out the flattened knob of the bullet. With an exhalation of relief, she placed it in the jar that Gaddes held out for her. In moments she had sutured the wound, which on the surface was actually quite small, and wrapped clean bandages around it. She placed his hands on his stomach then and pulled the sheets up over his chest, checking for a moment as he very slowly breathed in and out.

"Thank you for your assistance, Gaddes," she said, standing. "He should be awake in an hour or two. We're finished here."

Gaddes nodded. He would have liked to stay with his captain, but he was needed elsewhere. He stood and gave the princess a nod- knowing that she did not like to be bowed to when working as a doctor- and left to help prep the Crusade to fly again.

It was well past dusk when the funeral pyres for Arik and Mykah were finally lit. Millerna bestowed upon them the rightful honors of warriors of Asturia, her tearful eyes glowing brightly in the firelight. Allen's eulogy for the two knights was brief but eloquent; each man was allowed to stand and say what he would. Truthfully none of them had much to say; they still could barely comprehend what had happened, and were too angry yet to properly mourn their friends.

Allen, understanding and sharing this sentiment, concluded the double funeral with orders to board the Crusade and take off immediately, ignoring Millerna's protest that he needed more time to rest. With the grief-charged energy of the men the airship's engines were soon at full capacity, and the knights Caeli were ready to fly.

…

Nearby, Arashi stirred in her sleep. She sat up in total darkness- her fire had gone out- and wondered what had woken her. Then she became aware of the whine of a ship's engines somewhere in the distance. She had been dreaming that Allen's ship had landed at her campsite and realized that she'd probably heard it all in her sleep. It did sound just like the familiar hum of the Crusade.

"Shit," she muttered, standing up. It had to be them. Where was her torch? Why had the fire gone out so quickly? She couldn't see anything around her. Arashi fumbled to light the fire again, but while she was still trying to make the first spark she was suddenly provided with more than sufficient light to view her entire campsite. The airship she'd heard had risen above the treeline and its levistone glowed brightly. With a groan Arashi saw that it was in fact Allen's ship. She ran to the Limerick and started it up, glad that it would only take a few minutes, and began gathering her supplies. By the time the Crusade had passed overhead and gone out of her line of sight Arashi was in her skycraft and rising off the ground. The Limerick was fast but so was the Crusade and the larger vessel had already had a substantial head start. Arashi leaned forward in the cold wind that whipped her short hair back, in hot pursuit of her sensei.

"Hey boss, someone's behind us," one of the men exclaimed moments after takeoff.

"What?" Allen turned around sharply and squinted in the dark. It took a moment for him to see the glinting reflection of the levistone on metal. It looked like whatever was following them was a very small craft, but it was gaining on them.

"Gaddes- see if you can get us moving forward any faster," he commanded. He doubted they'd be able to hit a target that small with their aft cannons, and did not want to take the chance that their unknown pursuant also had one of the guns that had killed Arik and Mykah. The high knight was not afraid, although it would have been perfectly reasonable given his painful injury. He was simply trying to protect his crew and last remaining passenger.

"Dammit!" she growled, wishing that by some force of her own energy she could urge the Limerick to go faster. She pressed her heels to the sides unconsciously as though the skycraft were a horse that would respond to her commands.

It seemed to her that the small craft picked up speed then, although she made no connection between this and her thoughts a moment ago. She hoped that the gust of wind that must've kicked up behind her did not also give the Crusade a boost forward.

"ALLEN!" she called into the noisy air, sure she wouldn't be heard over the sound of engines and wind. "It's ME!"

"You're in charge here, Gaddes," Allen notified him, and with purposeful strides went into his main cabin. He came out a moment later carrying a large shield, bow and quiver full of arrows. He had taken his arm out of its sling. "I'm going back there to deal with our friend."

Arashi let out a short cry of surprise as an arrow whizzed a few feet overhead. Obviously it had not been meant to hit her, only to warn. She squinted. In the pre-dawn she could just make out Allen standing there with the bowstring pulled back for another shot. Have to make this harder on me than it already is, don'tcha sensei? she thought. Improvising, Arashi tried a rapid deceleration followed by a burst in speed; she ended up no further away, but at a level beneath the Crusade. She hoped that her position would make it more difficult for Allen to shoot at her with accuracy. He'd have to lean forward and shoot down to hit her, and compensate more for both the wind and the movement of the two vehicles. She looked up; Allen was now out of her line of sight. She exhaled in relief, then began trying to come up with a solution to her problem. She rifled through the contents of her small pack with one hand, using her other hand to keep the craft steady. No flares. Nothing she could throw to send a message. Maybe the sun would just hurry up and rise and Allen would be able to see her- but the sun was rising at her back and would only cast her in silhouette. Arashi racked her brain trying to figure out what to do.

"Allen! You shouldn't be doing that. You're going to pull the stitches out!" Millerna scolded. He turned around. The princess stood behind him, holding a crossbow. She winked once and then looked back over the side.

"He's below us," Allen told her.

Millerna loaded the crossbow.

"There!" Arashi cried triumphantly, pulling out an object with curved spikes on one side and a metal bar that served as a handle on the other. She tied her rope to the handle quickly, then she tied the other end of it around the Limerick's stabilizer. "Please let this work," she murmured aloud. Using another length of thinner rope, she tied the steering wheel and altitude control together and lashed them to the sides of the skycraft. She tied the knots tightly, then tested both to be sure they wouldn't move. She had her knife ready to cut the ropes if she needed to regain control of the craft, and fought back the sudden feeling of panic that came with giving up that control in the first place.

"Please please please let this work," she murmured again. She stood up, knees bent for stability, and looked up at the Crusade. She fervently hoped she was close enough…

"I see him!" Millerna cried. She leaned over the side as much as her short stature would allow and took aim with the crossbow.

"Wait," Allen said. "We don't know who it is yet. Fire another warning. If he doesn't respond, we'll know he's an enemy."

Millerna nodded and let the arrow fly.

Arashi winced as it passed by her head just a few feet to the left. But she gritted her teeth and started throwing the rope in circles with the climbing spike still tied tightly onto the end. She let it fly towards the hull of the Crusade, and it looked for a moment as if it would hit, but fell short. Arashi yelped as its weight pulled her slightly to the left and nearly knocked her off balance.

"He's trying to board us!" one of the men, Liam, exclaimed from beside Allen. Some of the crew had joined them at Gaddes' orders. The second in command could fly the ship alone.

"Come on… come on…" Arashi muttered to herself as she pulled the rope back in. Once more she wound up to throw, and let the makeshift grappling hook fly. Then it found its mark, lodged in the aft hull of the Crusade.

Arashi knew she could not afford to hesitate and, terrified but determined, took hold of the rope. She began slowly to climb, but when an arrow flew past her head missing by inches, she started to pull herself up more quickly.

Another arrow flew by and lodged itself in the side of the Limerick. Suddenly the length of the rope seemed impossible to traverse, and Arashi wondered what in the world had given her such a crazy idea, but she started to pull herself up as fast as she could to escape the arrows.

"He's out of sight again!" Millerna cried.

Allen narrowed his eyes. "We'll have to go for the rope."

They spread out along the area where the rope seemed to lead- none of them could see to the underside of the ship- and began peering over the edges.

"There! He's halfway up the rope already!" Another 3 arrows flew but the rope was oscillating wildly and none made contact.

Arashi was climbing faster than she knew she could move by this time. Her arms and legs burned, and she could feel the pull of both vehicles threatening to take the rope away from her and leave her falling through the air. She refused to look down, but in her peripheral vision she could see a tiny river glinting far below in the rising sun. The wind threw her hair across her eyes and she gripped the rope in her small calloused hands so tightly her knuckles felt like they would crack apart.

Allen took aim with Millerna's crossbow- she wasn't tall enough to lean over the side and see the intruder- and was about to release another arrow when the person climbing the rope looked up briefly. Short, straight black hair obscured the face, but for a moment the knight could have sworn he knew that face.

"Cease fire!" he shouted loud enough for all of his crew to hear.

He peered back over the side but by then the climber was underneath the ship again.

"Pull the rope up!" he called then, "and be ready for whoever's on the other end!"

"We can't reach it, sir!"

Allen frowned intensely, wondering how secure the connection that lashed his ship to the small unpiloted vehicle below them could possibly be.

"Throw another rope over then," he ordered.

"But, sir…"

"Do it now."

Liam ran to get the rope and quickly tossed it over.

Arashi blinked. It looked like they were lowering a rope to her but it was too far away to reach. Her muscles were shaking with the effort and would soon be exhausted. Still she kept climbing, beginning to doubt that she'd ever make it. Then suddenly the end of the rope was in front of her. She let go with one hand very cautiously and grabbed for it, but it swung out of the way. She nearly reached out towards it but then the rope she was hanging on swayed and she was flipped upside down. The Crusade was flying higher now, so that the path between it and the Limerick was not as horizontal and there was more slack in the rope. The extra slack caused extra motion and Arashi was now being thrown back and forth. She could no longer move forward and merely clung on for her life.

"Allen-sensei! Help me!"