Van was pacing just outside the door of one of the rooms in the Silver Castle.
"When are you gonna let me in damn it!" he cried out enraged, hitting the wall savagely.
"I think everyone in this castle would appreciate if you didn't destroy it." Someone commented.
Van turned to look at Allen sending him a look that clearly said: 'stay-out-of-this'.
"And some people here would like to be able to sleep. After all it is almost midnight, and a battle just ended." Allen's sister, Selena added as she approached them.
"Yes a battle that was won by one woman." Van said. "A woman that's now laying in there, fighting for her life."
"Just as many others in this castle." Allen said as a matter of fact.
"Maybe." Van nodded. "But she's like that because of me. She was wounded to save me! You understand!"
"Lord Van…" Merle whispered.
She was standing in the farthest side of the hallway, just arrived, had been helping Yu, Susumo, Kurama and the healers to make sure all the people was safe and had someplace to sleep. While Mamoru and Riha tried to calm them down, assuring them everything would be fine.
"Well, seems most of the people has settled down." Yu murmured approaching.
"Yes." Susumo nodded. "Even with the king's yells that could be heard about five miles around."
Just then Mamoru and Riha added to the group.
"I'm too tired…" Mamoru sighed. "My sister never told me being in charge was this tiring."
"But you're doing wonderfully fine." Riha assured him, hugging him.
"Just because you're with me." Mamoru replied with a half-smile.
Allen and everyone had arrived not longer after General Verou died. It seemed to be a disappoint for those in the Crusade to discover they had lost the opportunity to fight.
Not long after them a few more ships arrived. The first of them in charge of Selena Schezar, and carrying the Asturians. Once down Millerna had taken to herself the duty of helping the young Queen Iris. While the armies were spread to make sure the menace was truly over.
"You know we might be needing someone to bring us supplies from some other kingdom soon." Dryden commented as he joined.
"There won't be any need for that." Mamoru spoke.
They all turned their attention to him.
"My sister was well prepared for almost any kind of situation." Mamoru explained. "There is a warehouse that's reached by a door in the back of the castle. There are kept sacks of grain and seeds, barrels of clean water, wine, and some other foods."
The foreigners were surprised by someone being so prepared.
"As Iris probably explained to you." Susumo added. "She expected this war since some time ago."
"Expected it?" Selena asked. "How?"
"Lets just say it's a 'talent' of hers." Yu cut in without much explanation.
"Since some time ago she knew something like this could happen." Susumo continued. "So she gave order for the warehouse to be filled with enough food to last at least three or four months. And as you can see she had also made sure that everything was ready in the refuges and this hospital wing."
"Those of us who have been through a war like the one we witnessed know when danger is coming." Riha added. "You can call it 'Surviving Instinct'."
"But there's something else with your queen." Merle stepped in.
It wasn't a question, but a statement.
"There's something about her you haven't yet said." Merle insisted.
"There are many things about her we haven't talked about." Mamoru said, a bit harsher than he intended.
Just then their little conversation was interrupted, as Millerna exited the room next to where Van was standing.
"How is she?" he asked, a tone of anxiety in his voice.
Millerna shook her head sadly.
"I don't think she'll make it." She finally said. "Even when I have already taken out that strange thing that hurt her, the bullet, out of her body, and closed the wound, she lost too much blood; and there's also the fact that even with all vital signs she doesn't react, she just doesn't open her eyes. I don't think she'll make it through the night."
"But she's got to make it!" Van cried out, almost in despair. "She can't die!"
"Van…" Millerna began. "Could it possibly be, that you have finally forgotten about... Hitomi?"
"Never." Van stated fiercely.
"But then…" Allen thought the same as Millerna, by the way Van worried for the young queen.
"I haven't forgotten about Hitomi. And I worry about the woman in there because she saved my life. Ok?" Van said stressed out. "And if you want to know something else: that woman in there is Hitomi."
As Van spoke he emphasized the last two words, making everyone gasp.
"But that can't be…" Allen began.
"It' impossible…" Dryden added.
"No it isn't." Yu suddenly spoke.
"Yu…" Susumo began.
"No Susumo, it's time they know the truth." Yu told her husband seriously.
Her husband finally nodded, he too believed that secret to be too much for anyone. Mamoru too nodded his approval.
Yu breathed deeply before beginning, what she was about to say, she knew it was going to have a big effect in some of those present.
"My full name is Yukari Uchida-Amano." Yu began. "And my husband is Susumo Amano. I believe King Van already knows most of what I have to say, but anyway I will say it. That woman inside that room is, in fact, Hitomi. I am, and have been her friend since we were little. Both me and Susumo were there the day when King Van appeared from thin air, along with a dragon and began fighting it. We also witnessed how Hitomi mysteriously disappeared without leaving a trace, to return a few months later, completely changed. It was a relief to us to have her back, until we noticed she seemed to be really miserable."
"Miserable?" Merle asked confused.
"Yes." Susumo nodded. "She didn't made that big of an effort in the track team anymore, and eventually quitted. She seemed to be always daydreaming. And sometimes would cry because of nothing. In history class she would get nauseous or mad, she said she hated it, she hated having to learn about wars, and reading about people that called themselves the 'good guys' and always won, she believed that in a war no one won, because there were always people suffering in the end. She stopped being her cheerful self, and even when she tried to smile, you could see in her eyes her eternal sadness, and longing. She turned silent, and reflexive. She was a confident, serious and mature young woman, when she was barely seventeen! Maybe here in Gaea that's normal, but not where we come from."
"One year after those strange successes things began to get ugly on Earth." Yukari continued.
"Earth?" Allen asked surprised.
"The Mystic Moon." Dryden stated.
"You're from the Mystic Moon!" Millerna and Selena cried out.
"I thought you would have figured it out by now." Susumo murmured. "Because of us being friends of Hitomi."
"We are from Earth, the place you call the Mystic Moon." Mamoru added. "Just as almost everyone here in Kizanka."
"But you were telling us how everything happened." Merle reminded them.
"That's right." Yukari nodded. "Six years ago war unleashed on Earth. A world war. Things weren't too bad at the beginning, we heard on the radio or on TV about people battling and firing each other in some far away places with strange names we couldn't even pronounce. But with each passing month it drew closer to us. Finally half year later after it began three of the countries on our world decided to forge an alliance, they built up a great ship, in which they would take a million chosen people that would flee off the Earth, and so be saved. You can guess by now that Hitomi and I weren't between the chosen ones."
"I was chosen." Susumo added. "Being a track runner, I had even competed in the Olympics, a few months after everything began. But I refused, I was engaged to Yukari, and I loved her, I would never leave her. It was then that Hitomi finally opened herself to us, and told us about Gaea. It seemed to be hard for her, especially the part about all those wonderful persons she had to leave, I believe you are them."
They all remained in silence, although feeling honored by being remembered by Hitomi in such a way.
"After Hitomi told us about Gaea, she also said that we could save ourselves if we came here." Susumo added. "She said it was a bit difficult, but that it could be managed."
"It was more than just a bit difficult." Mamoru interrupted with a little sarcasm. "You see, Hitomi inherited from my grandmother certain talents, or gifts, whatever you wish to call them."
"What she did to read the future, and locate people, and the visions." Allen enlisted.
"Yes." Mamoru nodded. "But that wasn't all. She had one more power, of teleporting."
"The blue pillar of light." Van deduced.
"Exactly." Mamoru nodded. "Except that that power, unlike the rest, she couldn't control it. She used the pendant for focus, but she didn't have it anymore. And besides, when she used her powers to go back to Earth, after her trip to Gaea it just left her powerless."
This made a few of them gasp.
"That's why she could never come back here." Mamoru continued. "I was witness of the many nights she spent crying, and yelling at the gods for denying her the opportunity of returning to this place. But no matter how much she yelled or cried, her power was gone. She had spent to the last drop of it in helping you, and then returning to what in that time used to be her home."
"Then how could she save you?" Selena asked.
"She made a pact." Mamoru explained. "She bonded herself to the Earth's soul. So she could use her powers using the Earth as energy supply. Although she knew that that meant that she would be dieing along with the planet."
The women gasped.
"But…she's here…" Merle murmured.
"That's because the spirit of our grandmother helped her." Mamoru explained. "She broke the bound in the last moment before the Earth was completely destroyed. Although Hitomi watched and felt everything; which just made her serious and sad state just worse."
"My name is Riha Chisana." She spoke when noticing Mamoru wouldn't be able to continue. "I was one of the first persons to believe when Hitomi went to us and talked about Gaea, and about the possibility of being saved. Many refused to believe, they said it was a waste of time. But those of us who believed, were saved by her. Once here we decided that instead of looking for shelter in another kingdom we should build up our own. It would have been just too weird for us to go knock on someone's castle doors saying we had just escaped our planet's total destruction and ask for shelter. And we didn't want to split up, we had too much in common. So we left Earth a few months before it collapsed, and once here in Gaea we found the land of Zaibach. Hitomi was in a coma in that time, it had been just too much for her to bring all of us here. So Mamoru and I went to the Fanelian King, to ask him for the lands."
Van nodded, since he had seen that girl for the first day he knew he had seen her a long time before.
"It took us two years to settle down completely." Riha continued. "And when Hitomi woke up the people voted on having her as Queen, and she accepted it. Susumo and Mamoru decided to take care of the armies, and Yukari, being the closest person to the queen became her lady-in-waiting. Then they approached me, saying that because I had believed everything without a single doubt since the beginning, they wanted me as advisor in the council. I was young back then, and doubted, but they convinced me. So I have been the queen's advisor since then."
"But why didn't she tell us?" Millerna asked.. "We would have gladly helped her."
"You've got to understand it was quite difficult for us." Yukari began.
"Some of us still have nightmares at night, about the war that almost killed us all." Susumo added.
"But in the case of Hitomi is even worse." Mamoru said. "Because our parents were killed there. A couple of months before she said everything about Gaea. There was a big explosion on Tokyo, many people died. Our parents between them."
"But you survived." Allen didn't seem to understand that.
"You could say we were lucky." Mamoru said sadly. "I was out on a friend's house, and Hitomi had to stay for an extra class at school. And as in that time she hadn't done the pact yet, she didn't get to foresee it on time. She blamed herself on it for some time. She believed it to be her destiny to save everyone, and die because of it, and that if it hadn't been for the fact that she was too afraid to die she would have been able to act sooner."
"But how can she believe she would be able to save a whole planet?" Merle asked.
"I believe that had to do with some kind of prophecy grandma made when she was little." Mamoru said. "I don't remember much of it, just that she and our uncle would be the only ones left with those powers once she died, and so they would be destined to do great things. Our uncle for the Earth, and my sister for a place far away. But it also said that if for any reason one of the two were to use their powers for evil purposes, the other would acquire the duty of stopping him/her before it was too late. My sister took it too literal the moment she found out."
"Your sister…" Selena began." That means your uncle…"
"Yes Sohjiro Verou, General of the Japanese Army, was our uncle." Mamoru nodded. "As much as he was one of those who cause the downfall of Earth, and the leader of today's attack."
They were all taken aback by this. They just couldn't believe, how a man would be able to wish death to his own family?
"I heard when he spoke to Iris, Hitomi." Van spoke, for the first time throughout the whole conversation. "Discussed more like it. He seemed to be rally mad at her, because his mother had foreseen that one day Hitomi would be stronger than him."
"Well, some say that they both had to be strong." Mamoru said. "But if one turned evil the other must be able to overpower him. It might have been just a coincidence but…" he sighed sadly. "I do believe grandma always knew uncle would be the one turning evil; although she hoped it wouldn't happen."
"If she knew it why didn't she tell you?" Millerna asked. "It would have saved you a lot of problems, dangers, and deaths."
"Maybe." Yukari stepped in. "But Hitomi's grandma one day said that gifts like those she and Hitomi possessed couldn't be taken lightly. That she couldn't go around telling everyone everything she saw, because it wasn't suppose to be that way. Every time you use that kind of gifts to change someone's future, you'll end up changing everyone's. If you prevent one person from dieing, it's likely another will die in his place, and at the end who were you to decided one of them was more worth living than the other?"
Everyone remained silence at this reflection. When Susumo had spoken about Hitomi maturing a lot in a very short time he had probably forgotten to add himself, Yukari and the rest. They all talked very serious and reflexively, like true leaders of a kingdom. If everyone in Gaea were like them, surely things would be a lot easier.
.---.
Van was sitting on a chair, next to Hitomi's bed, holding her hand. Talking softly to her, telling her everything that had happened in her absence, even when it was highly probable that she wasn't even listening to him, he still talked. He wanted to believe that his voice would wake her up any moment.
"Lord Van…you should really get some rest." Merle whispered to him from the door.
"Thank you for your concern, but no Merle." Van answered. "I said I wasn't going to move from her side until she woke up, and I will keep to that word."
Merle just shook her head and left in silence.
.---.
When she entered the council room they all turned their eyes at her. She just shook her head sadly.
"Come on." Dryden spoke. "We all know it's useless. There's no force in Gaea that will be able to pull Van away from Hitomi."
"It's just that he's killing himself slowly." Merle said almost crying. "He doesn't sleep, he barely eats, and hasn't stepped out of that room, in one week already. He may not see it but if he continues he'll end like Hitomi, or worse."
"I doubt he'll end like my sister." Mamoru interfered. "Because the state in which she is in is special, different from any illness you may know."
"What do you mean?" Selena asked.
They were all curious, specially Millerna; what could Hitomi have something that she, even being a healer, didn't know about?
"My sister isn't like that for the wound on her side." Mamoru said slowly. "She's in what we call a coma state."
"What does that mean?" Allen asked worriedly.
"It means that her body is here, but her mind isn't." Yukari explained. "Her body and mind have in some way split. That's why she still has all vital signs and brain activity, but just won't wake up. She won't until her mind is back, from wherever it is lost."
"What might have provoked it?" Gadeth, the second in command from the Crusade, asked.
"Maybe all the emotions during the battle." Susumo suggested. "It sure wasn't easy for her to fight someone she once called a family, even after all that man did. And the knowledge that so much people depended on her."
"And besides there's the fact that she really believed she would die in that battle." Yukari added. "She really thought that was her destiny."
"At this rate she probably will die." Mamoru murmured sadly.
"Well, it's not that I'm being insensible or anything but, what about the throne?" Dryden asked. "She isn't married or anything."
"Mamoru is the heir." Riha said suddenly.
This got the all surprised.
"Since about a year ago, the counselors told the queen that if she didn't marry soon she would have to abdicate to the throne." Riha explained. "And so she wrote a document, which is signed and sealed, where it is stated that if she goes missing, or if she isn't married by the time the counselors decree her brother Mamoru will take the crown."
"But he isn't married either." Chid commented thoughtfully.
"Well, you weren't married when you became King did you?" Selena asked him.
"That's different, I was seven when that happened." Chid replied.
"And anyway." Mamoru interrupted them. "I may not be married, but I am engaged. If the council decides that I must be married, I will."
"Engaged?" some of them asked. "To who?"
"Me." Riha said shyly.
She didn't know exactly how anyone expected her to ever become a queen, when she was so shy around other people. She had been like that all her life. Even when they offered her the position as Lady of the Court and Advisor to the Queen she doubted, but the queen convinced her. But still she wasn't sure if she would ever be able to become a queen. And even then, she would never leave Mamoru. She loved him, for being him, and not for his position, or money, she had truly fallen in love with Mamoru, since shortly after they arrived to Gaea, when they had helped each other she had become really attached to him. When Mamoru first asked her out she had been really excited about it, and when they began going out regularly she felt as if she was living a dream. She remembered perfectly well the day he had proposed, it had been a few months ago, she had almost fainted when he had kneeled down and asked her to be his wife. But she immediately said yes, there was nothing that she wished more that being the rest of her life next to him, and if that meant leaving her shyness behind and learning to manage herself between royalty, she would do it; she would do whatever was needed for him.
"I just hope she gets better." Merle murmured, more to herself than to anyone else. "For her, and for Lord Van."
.---.
Van reentered Hitomi's room. He had gone looking for something to eat, and listened to his friends' chat. Then, forgetting what he had gone to do, he decided to go back to Hitomi.
"Where are you Hitomi?" he asked. "They say your mind is somewhere else, lost. But I need you here. I can't lose you, not now, not when we finally found each other, after so long. I will never stop wondering why you never came to me in Fanelia, I could have helped you in anything you might need. But that doesn't matter anymore. What matters is that you have to wake up, to come back here, to me. I know I should have noticed it sooner, all the strange sensations, the familiar feelings I got when being near you; even the reactions the pendant had; I should have known it was you behind that fragile mask. Then maybe I could have had time to tell you how much I love you, to convince you of staying with me; time to make you understand, that without you I just can't live."
He kissed her forehead sweetly, then, reassuring his hold on her hands, he touched the back of one with his forehead.
"I just wish I could go to wherever you are, and find a way of bringing you back." He whispered.
Faintly he noticed the pendant glowing, before all his senses abandoned him and he fell unconscious, with the head over Hotomi's body; still holding her hand.
.---.
When Van opened his eyes he noticed he was standing before the doors of a house, or what once was a house, in ruins, some parts had been burned down and just the ashes remained. And just then he knew that had been Hitomi's house back on Earth, he had no idea how that information had gotten to his mind, but somehow it had. Suddenly he gasped when he noticed someone, a woman, dressed in a blue kimono and carrying a pink fan.
'She looks so much like Hitomi…' Van thought absent-minded.
Just then the girl got to him and bowed graciously.
"Why…?" Van began, not knowing exactly what to ask.
"I'm supposed to bow before a king, am I not?" she asked with a smile.
Van was shocked at this. How could she know what he was!
"My name is Hirome Verou." She said as if reading her mind.
At the sound of that last name Van immediately raised his guard.
"No need to get hostile with me King Van." Hirome said calmly. "I am, indeed, related to Sohjiro Verou, in fact, I am her mother." She sighed with a bit of sadness. "But I am too Hitomi's grandmother."
At the sound of Hitomi's name Van immediately lowered his guard and paid attention to the woman's words.
"You are…" Van was shocked.
"Yes my lord. I am the woman Leon Schezar met a long time ago, and Hitomi is indeed my granddaughter." Hirome nodded.
"You're the one who, according to Verou, said that Hitomi would one day be the most powerful." Van said, it was more a statement than a question.
"Yes I did." Hirome nodded sadly. "I must sadly admit that since that day I already suspected it would end like this. But I had hope in my son, maybe too much, I didn't want to accept the fact that one day he could turn into a murderer, kill his own sister, and many more, just because of his pride."
"Sadly too many innocent people had to pay with their lives." Van added with a sigh.
Hirome nodded, feeling guilty all over again. It wasn't that Van was blaming her, he would never do such a thing, but that didn't stop Hirome from feeling it was all her fault.
"The list of my sins is long indeed." Hirome nodded sadly. "And I must be paying for them for a very long time. But right now, there are more important matters. Like the welfare of my little Hitomi."
This immediately made Van remember why was he there in the first place.
"Follow me." She said, and took the lead.
Van followed the woman through empty streets in a dead silence that chilled him to the bone, there was a thick air around him he didn't like a bit.
Finally Hirome stopped, Van supposed they had reached their destination. When he turned around he noticed he was standing in a big place, with some trees around and solid ground with white lines painted, even with the ruins, ashes and dust that he may have seen on the way, this place seemed have been kept almost intact.
"I recognize this place…" Van whispered, not quite noticing he had talked aloud.
"Of course you do my lord." Hirome nodded. "After all this is the place where you meet my granddaughter, the only place she has made an effort to keep intact in her mind."
'So we are really in her mind.' Van thought.
He had suspected it to be that way, and now it was all confirmed.
"This is the place my granddaughter loves the most, because of the great memories it holds." Hirome continued. "I believe you might find her here. You better convince her of going back with you to Gaea soon, if not, she'll never be able to be back, and neither will you."
"You aren't coming?" Van asked, rather confused.
"No." Hirome shook her head. "I've already broken too many rules by being here, and bringing you too. I can't go on, but you can. It's up to you to save Hitomi's life."
"I swear I will." Van said seriously.
"I know you will, I trust you." Hirome nodded. "You must understand one thing Van Fanel. The wound that was inflicted to my granddaughter isn't enough to kill her, she's strong enough to survive that. But throughout the years she has come to believe that peace will only grace everyone once she's dead. Just when you're able to convince her otherwise you'll be free to return to your bodies, your life."
"What if she doesn't believe me?" Van asked.
"Your bodies will eventually weaken and die, and you'll be forever lost in this little world Hitomi has created in the deep of her mind." Hirome said seriously.
Van nodded, he knew she was being dead serious. He had to go to Hitomi and convince her she must live, convince her that her destiny wasn't to die but to live, back in Gaea, with her brother, her friends, and…him.
"I must depart now." Hirome said suddenly. "May God smile to you today. Good luck."
Van bowed at her, not knowing what else to do.
"Good bye." He muttered, and turned around, entering the place slowly.
.---.
Van walked slowly through the open field, as he did he could remember perfectly well, as if it had been just the previous day, the moment when he had arrived to that strange world, and met that who had become the woman of his life; until he reached some steps, where he noticed a figure sitting, weeping.
"Hitomi?" he called.
Slowly the figure raised its head, it was indeed Hitomi, and at the same time Queen Iris. Both women were the same, it was so obvious to him now, why couldn't he notice before? Just the he noticed the red and puffy eyes, the look of pain in her; and he felt as if his own soul broke in two.
"Va…" she began, her voice almost distant and ethereal, but she interrupted herself, shook her head sadly, and returned to her crying.
"Please Hitomi." He called to her, kneeling next to her figure.
He touched her slowly, as if she were made of a delicate glass that would shatter with any sudden movement; or maybe out of here of having her vanish right before him.
"Hitomi it's me, Van, please…" Van called to her.
He didn't know exactly what to say. Even when Mrs. Hirome had told him what must be done, he didn't know how to do it.
"You can't be Van. " Suddenly Hitomi spoke, slowly. "Because I'm dead, and Van is alive, I gave my life to save him."
"I am Van, and none of us is dead." Van said, and as a way of proving the point he added. "Millerna made sure of that, I'm sure enough you remember Queen Millerna Aston. And indeed, you saved me, and now I'm saving you."
"You can't save me." Hitomi said sadly. "No one can, this is my destiny."
"You once said we each create our own destiny."
"I was wrong when I said that."
"I don't think you were. I believed you then, and since then I've believed in those words, and trusted one day we would find a way of finding each other, and now that we did I won't lose you again."
"Don't you understand? If you are with me you'll die!"
"You are wrong with that Hitomi. It'll be if I'm not with you that I'll die irremediably. I need you to live." He sighed. "So if you insist to remain here and kill yourself, then so be it, I'll stay with you."
"You can't! You'll die then!"
"I don't care. If you want to remain here then I'll stay with you; if you change your mind we can still go back together."
"Go back where?"
"Home. To Gaea."
"What for?"
"For your brother, he needs you, as much as Yukari, and all your friends, and your people."
"Mamoru has Riha, Yukari has Susumo, and I know Mamoru and Riha will be a good king and queen for my people, along with Yukari and Susumo. They don't need me."
"Then do it for me. I need you. Return to me, for me."
"You don't…"
"I do. I don't know how I lived this seven years without you, but I do know I won't be able to do it any longer. So I beg to you. Come back with me, marry me. Be my wife and Fanelia's queen, and live with me for the rest of our lives, together, in peace."
"This is all so perfect. How can I be sure it's not an hallucination, or a dream?"
"Does this feel like an hallucination?"
And just as he finished the question he kissed her fully on the lips. A kiss that seemed to make her react, she slipped her arms around his neck and answered to the kiss with all the feeling she had. That kiss was the most wonderful thing she had felt in her whole life; what she had wished for such a long time.
"Let's go home." He whispered to her, embracing her slim figure tightly.
"Home." She repeated returning the firm embrace.
Just then a warm light enveloped them both, returning them to where they truly belonged.
I don't have much to say. Except: I hope you can forgive me for being this late but I was rather busy with school work. You see, I'm not too evil, I didn't kill Iris. For those who hadn't yet realized where Hitomi was now you know.
We're just missing just one final chapter, you shall see it soon (I hope). It is almost finished, just a few details missing.
Please don't forget to review.
See you on the end of this fic!