Chapter 4: the battle begins

A/N: I might not update another chapter if I don't get enough reviews for this chapter. The minimum would be 1 review for this one. Thank you.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Escaflowne OR Rayearth in that matter. So don't think I did.

Hikaru was watching the men at the table ague about certain matter that involved about a past war that they were in about the same time that Earth was fighting from being taken by Cephiro. Some of them said that something called 'Escaflowne' should be called again for this crisis. Some others said that it couldn't be brought back unless the Prophesy about three angels to come from the same place the Winged Goddess came from. They called it the Mystic Moon. Dilandau said it was another name for Earth. Hikaru wonder who were the three angels.

"But a lunatic is on the lose and we NEED Escaflowne!" one man who was tall and thin as a pole and his voice was raspy and curt.

"But, you see the only way to get Escaflowne back it to have the three angels and the three legendary deities into this world!" The short over weighted one with a deeper but still raspy voice.

"And you see, we have the one who controlled the Red Dragon Armor, who would also might betray us."

This got both Dilandau's, Hikaru's, AND Van's attention. Especially Dilandau's. He didn't like to be referred as the "Lunatic of the Red Dragon Armor." That just ticked him off to hear that they haven't heard a WORD he said in the previous meetings. At this he spoke up.

"Gentlemen, How about leaving me out of this and let just say that I'm different from then and now," Dilandau said standing up, "Then, I was a rampaging buffoon . . . now, I'm more controlled. I hope you can comprehend what I just said soon," And sat back down.

"Translation?" Allen whispered.

"FYI . . . they're dense."

Allen's jaw dropped.

"Yyyyeah, lets just say, hopefully that they don't understand THAT part until 20 or so years from now."

"Lord Van, what do you say about this?" The sort one said turning to the raven-haired young king.

"About which subject, my war commander or the situation? About my war commander, he has a good point and you're too dense to comprehend that, about the situation on the other hand . . . I have no say in the matter. This is because of the fact that I'm waiting to see what happens. Right now . . . these are just pettily little things like the attack of the carriages. When it gets to more of a danger like other cities are destroyed, then I'll go to that drastic of measures."

This speech that the young raven haired king made had all of the others in awe. He had a good point and they all knew that. They all knew he matured after the war; he was becoming king so he had to. Not only that, but he had married his beloved, the Winged Goddess in that matter. Not only he made a good choice in that matter but also she was a great one to have as queen.

At this Van stood up, "The meeting is dismissed." And walked towards Hitomi's chambers.

He singled Dilandau to bring the red head with him. Little Hikaru looked at Dilandau and he nodded to reassure her that everything was going to be ok. Dilandau didn't know why he was so comfortable around the little one; he even didn't know why she seemed so sweet to him. But at the moment, that didn't matter. Their going to see the Winged Goddess and maybe get some answers of how this little one got here.

..oo00oo..

Umi felt cold, hard ground when she opened her eyes. She didn't remember closing them or even what happened. All she remembered was that she was standing in the Washington Monument and she wished on a cherry blossom petal to see her friends again. After that she heard a voice . . . She couldn't remember what it said but . . . some strange light picked her up and here she is right where she had landed. She sat up. The scenery was beautiful green and seemed she was in a storybook. Was this Cephiro or was this some other place that she didn't know about? She stood up, not only there was much life here but the grass was actually greener then any other place she been to. Well . . .ok maybe Ireland was this green but . . . this on the other hand couldn't be there or even on Earth.

The sound of a familiar voice came from behind and the sound of galloping was faintly heard. Umi turned. Fuu was riding on the back of some strange looking creature. It looked somewhat of a horse but their where differences to it. For one thing, the fur was longer and seemed to look like a llama in a way. But the way to see the horse side was that the neck wasn't as long as a llama's and it had hooves. Llamas had padded feet that are SHAPED as hooves. The man riding with Fuu was tall and seemed to be in some kind of military force. His armor did NOT looked like he was from Cephiro, so she wasn't there. Behind them was a smaller person he was the size of a child but seemed to look like an adult. From the crescent that he was wearing, Umi knew who he was. Clef was in the back and he seemed to have trouble there.

"Fuu! Clef! What are you doing here?"

The horse stopped and Fuu climbed off, "Clef asked me the same thing. I told him I don't know how I got here just by a pillar of light."

"Did you get here at the same fashion?" Clef asked trying to get off the horse himself.

"Actually, I did and I wonder if . . . Wait . . . Where's Hikaru?" this question was going through every ones head now.

"I don't know but I think there's a reason that you three are here. I'll ask Jorno here if he can take us to Fanelia."

"Who?" Umi didn't know who that was obviously.

"The man who took us here." Fuu said pointing to the man on the horse thing.

Umi was now able to see him better. Yes, he was tall but this hair was a deep green and his eyes were a disturbing gray with a red ting to it. He got off his horse.

"I would be glad to take you three there, I need to go tell Lord Van something anyways."

"But, is there only enough for two more how am I going to fit?" this was a problem for Umi.

"Creature, I summon thy!" Clef said and a horse appeared.

It looked like a regular horse but the difference was that it was light lavender and had spikes on the back legs. Both Umi and Fuu look at each other.

"I'll ride with Jorno and you two will ride with each other."

"Sounds good to me." Fuu said.

"Then lets go." And they rode off.

..oo00oo..

Dallet was board out of his mine. He wished that he could at least go out to the market. But he was stuck baby-sitting Merle and he couldn't do anything until Gatty got back from the shop to get the parts that Shesta needed.

'Man, and I thought raining season was bad.' He thought 'now I'm suck with Merle, and I can't do anything until Gatty gets back. Bloody cat!'

After an hour, Dallet was dosing. But Merle decided to jump him and this was not his idea for good humor. Actually he hated to be woken up like that.

"What do you want, you dumb cat?" Dallet grumbled.

"Someone is here to see you. I think she said you two are related or something."

"Okay, I'm going."

"If you're going, then why aren't you moving?"

"I'm not moving because you're in my way. Now MOVE!"

"Boy, aren't we grumpy today?" Merle muttered under her breath and moved.

Dallet glared at the powered-pink haired feline and got up. Who on Gaia would want to see him? There was only one person who it could be and he hoped it wasn't that person. He walked in to living room and saw that it was the person that he so dreaded it wasn't her. The girl that was sitting on the coach looked up from her book when he walked into the room. She had the same color hair and the same hair cut as him. Her eyes were a lilac with a tinge of baby blue. When she saw Dallet, a small twinkle appeared in those eyes.

"DALLET!" she squeaked and stood up. She was almost the same height as him but only a head shorter.

"Deelet! What are you doing here?" the older man said with a shocked expression.

Deelet nearly had him trampled with her pounce. This actually made him lose his balance and fell onto the floor of the mansion. After a minute of brotherly and sisterly love, Deelet got up. She seemed to be really mad about something that he had a feeling that he wasn't suppose to forget or something.

"You forgot my BIRTHDAY last week! Why didn't you sent me a letter or something to wish me a Happy Birthday!" she said now crossing her arms.

Dallet winced when he realized that he forgot all about his little sister's birthday. Especially since it was the day when that evil self of his kidnapped her. He wondered what happened to him though. But his thoughts were interrupted by the long, annoying shriek made from his sister. Dallet turned and saw that she have seen the present that he bought her for last week.

"YAY! You didn't TOTALLY forget my birthday! You just forgot it on the day." She said now bouncing up and down.

"I'm sorry, but was that the only reason that you came, Deelet?

Deelet stopped jumping and became very shy, "Well . . .no, that wasn't the only reason. You see . . . I-I-I . . .ummmm . . . you see . . . the house some how got burned down and ummm . . . the good news is that I still got Dad's sword safe and sound!"

"Did you leave the oven on again?" Dallet said with a raised eyebrow.

Deelet shook her head.

"Did you leave any candles or the fire place on?"

She shook her head again.

"Then what happened?"

The little sister looked to the other direction, "Well, I went to the market to get something for dinner and when I came back, there were two men running the other direction with smirks on there faces and they looked back at the house and seemed satisfied. So I went back worried and the house was burned down. Nothing was left, even the cloths was burnt, so I was wondering if I can borrow YOUR cloths until I can buy my own."

"Anything else?" Merle said now sited next to Dallet's feet.

"Oh yeah, can I stay here too? PLEASE!" the other woman pouted.

"You had to ask didn't you?" Dallet growled at the feline.

Merle just smirked and left. Dallet rolled his eyes and turned back to his little sister.

"I guess you can stay, but I'm warning you . . .your going to be the only girl in her."

"What about the cat?"

"She lives in the castle of Fanalia, so she doesn't live here."

"K . . ." then she pounced him in thanks.