Title: Promise Me Anyway

Rating: PG for mild voilence

Disclaimer: Escaflowne is NOT my property. Arashi, Osha, and the concepts introduced in this fiction are. I would love to let everyone distribute this all over the net, however, please email me at for permission first.

Summary: Osha's been caught, Merle's the only one left free on the pirates' ship, and Hitomi is about to try something stupid.

A/N: This was only beta-read once, although it was checked several times for grammar, spelling, and punctuation. No process is perfect, however, so please forgive and point out any mistakes. I only ask for feedback. Flames amuse me. Praise makes me happy. Criticism helps me to write better. Do what you will.
(If you'd be willing to beta for me, email me at I would greatly appreciate it.)

Osha felt his hair beginning to separate, scalp pulled painfully taught, when the guard finally released him.
"On your feet!" the mercenary ordered, his growl punctuated with a clicking noise. When Osha slowly obliged, the gun was aimed directly at his head.
"March."
Helplessly, the bard walked up the stairs to the top deck again. He fought to keep from glancing everywhere for Merle, and tried to act as stoic as possible. Acting was the right word for it; Osha cast himself as courageous soldier, walking tall although he felt like crumpling to the deck and begging for mercy. Something told him that wouldn't do him any good anyway- these were no friends of Asturian knights he was dealing with.
"Oi!" the mercenary shouted, grabbing Osha by the wirst and holding up his hand as if to declare him champion of a wrestling match. "Who wants to help me hang up this new good luck charm?"
Mirthless laughter assaulted his ears, and Osha flushed bright red with humiliation. Then, for the second time in recent days, he was dragged towards the side of the ship by strong arms. They shoved his face over first so he could take a good look, and he winced involuntarily at what was tied to the bow. With one chop of a rusty cutlass, the pirate freed the remains of a putrefying skeleton. They clattered against the wood of the airship as it sped past, falling quickly out of sight.
Don't show fear. Be brave. Think.
But Osha couldn't help it. He felt a gutteral scream tear from his throat as, hands tied together over his head, he was flung once more overboard.

Merle started as the sound of Osha's scream cut through the air. He sounded far away, but her sensitive ears pricked in the direction of the sound and she guessed he must be at the far forward end, above deck. Her heart had lodged itself in her throat- what were they doing to him?
To make matters worse, the sudden noise had startled Hitomi's guard out of his stupor. Merle flattened herself to the deck, supressing her panic. Now what would she do? Three lives depended on her immediate actions, and a fourth, if they were going to save Lord Van. She felt a suffocating sense of responsibility coupled with a terrified helplessness that left her dizzy. How could she help them now, all alone? What was happening to Osha? She didn't hear him anymore... had they killed him?
Her stomach lurched at the thought, and she tried to put it out of her mind. At any rate, she couldn't rescue Osha without help if he'd been discovered. As for Hitomi, if Merle broke her out now, they'd be found too. And how could the three of them fight these men? The only thing to do was escape, but she had no way of doing even that alone. Together, maybe they could find a way to get off the ship and safely on the ground. It seemed impossible, but it wasn't as if Merle had a choice. She had to rescue Hitomi.

It took Osha a couple of seconds to realize he wasn't falling. Fooled again, he thought dryly. He was dangling from the prow by his bound wrists, rough rope digging into his hands. At least, he told himself with not a little bitterness, the knots would hold. That skeleton must have been there for years. The mercenaries' voices above were barely audible over the wind, which was whistling past his ears and through his thin clothes. On the ship, there were bulkheads to provide shelter from the wind. Out here it was like a sideways rain of tiny icicles, ripping the moisture from his eyes.
The cold was a slowly mounting force that grew to encompass all his thoughts, painful beyond belief. Never in his life had Osha been treated so badly. There had been bullies in his childhood, of course, he was an artist. Adults had sometimes been a little heartless to the orphan, before he found his uncle. None of them had even come close to this kind of coarse sadism.
Osha had thought himself a capable young adult, able to take care of himself and- hopefully- Merle, too. How miserably he'd failed her now, getting caught and leaving her all alone on an enemy ship. And it had all been his idea. He'd led Merle onto the ship to stow away, delusions of grandeur running amok in his head. This whole situation was his fault, and guilt riddled him along with the freezing air until Osha was reduced to little more than a writhing figure of vague and ongoing misery. Before his consciousness faded completely, though, determination began to rise. He remembered just who it was he had come here to help: King Fanel, of course, but more importantly, his Merle. Osha vowed to get out and take her with him. He would find a way to help Hitomi, too. He'd do whatever it took. Osha didn't quite finish the thought, as pain overwhelmed his system at last. He hung from the mast, unconscious, like a ragdoll left in the rain.

"They have to have taken this current," Gaddes said, jabbing a finger at the map. "They were headed northwest, and we're on that current now." "It won't take us to Zaibach," Allen mused out loud, "but something tells me Hitomi wasn't wrong.""Still, whoever's got Hitomi undoubtedly has a lot to do with whatever's happened to Fanel."
"It doesn't make much sense for them to take her elsewhere... unless they were counting on us going to Zaibach. We'll continue to follow them," Allen decided. "It's probably our best shot at rescuing both Van and Hitomi. In the meantime, we should send out a message to Asturia. They can send more knights to Zaibach to find out what's happening there.
"Is there any chance of catching up to them before they get where they're going?" Millerna asked.
"Possibly." Allen tapped the table with the heel of his palm. He seemed doubtful.
"What about Arashi's ship?" Gaddes asked then. "It caught up with us."
Allen immediately realized what his first in command was thinking. The small craft's propulsion system might be quick enough to get one or two of them get to the mercenary ship. But the odds weren't very good- one or two against the entire crew?"I'd have to go myself" "Alone, sir?"
"No. One to steer and the other to operate a weapon." He looked at his men. The crew was already short by two. If he and another crewmember left, he'd need Gaddes to stay behind and help make up for lost manpower.
"It'd have to be Arashi," his second in command said quietly. "She's the only crew member we can afford to lose."
Allen was silent. He knew Gaddes was right, but something seemed... inappropriate about the two of them flying off together on the small craft. He considered Millerna, but immediately dismissed the thought. She might be halfway decent with a crossbow, but no match for any one of his crew, including Arashi. She'd be better off staying here to help the men.
"You're right," he said. "Arashi and I will go."
"Allen, your arm isn't healed yet." Millerna frowned in disapproval. The knight was about to reply when there was a knock at the door. The knocker didn't wait to enter, however, and Arashi burst in.
"Sir Allen- Merle and Osha, the bard, are missing. Nobody's seen them since the attack."
"What?"
"Could they have been captured too?" Millerna wondered aloud. "But, what would anyone want with them?"
"Arashi, get your weapons and gear ready. You'll be flying your skycraft. We're going to pursue the attackers and board their ship.
The student's mouth fell open for a moment. She was clearly taken by surprise, and a little overwhelmed. Instead of asking questions, however, Arashi straightened up and nodded. "Right away," she replied, and turned on her heel to leave.
"Are you sure she's up to this?" Gaddes asked, concerned. "I know she's a good student, but ... she is still a student."
"I can't spare any of you. I need Gaddes to run the crew when I'm gone. I want to go myself in pursuit. Millerna's a good shot with the crossbow, but she'd be in too much danger in hand-to-hand combat. And Arashi's the only one of us who's not only flown that skycraft, but used it to board a ship. If there were any other way..." Allen trailed off, looking at his two friends. Neither one of them could disagree. "Our job will be to get aboard the enemy ship, free Hitomi, and hopefully locate Merle and the bard. Failing that, we'll seek to delay the ship long enough for the Crusade to catch up," Allen said. "When you arrive, we want to force them to land."
"This is gonna be a tough one, boss," Gaddes replied with a lopsided smile. "Our specialty."

To be continued...