Disclaimer: Oh, how I wish I did…
Author's Note: Okay! I decided to try and work on this story a little more and see if I can actually recapture my original inspiration. I warn you now; it's going to get confusing. See, I'm all for keeping things canon, but unfortunately the Hitomi/Amano pairing is here to stay…for a while, at least.
There is a very good, though convoluted, reason for this. Without getting into story details I'd rather not reveal yet, I must say that the only exposure to Escaflowne I had had when I started this story was the hacked-up English version that YTV ran in Canada. And in the final episode of that particular version, Hitomi ends up back on Earth, with no way of returning to Gaea and only that strange, glowing after-image of Van to remind her of her travels. Or so it seemed to me, anyway. (I blame the networks:P) My imagination ran free, and this was the result...
Chapter 1
It was still, though never dark, in the hospital. A faintly eerie glow suffused the wards, digital readings and blank TV screens radiating a blue-green light that picked up shadows and highlighted surfaces, skimming across the now-stirring figure below. Eyes that in normal light would appear shadowed now appeared hollow. Cheekbones stood out in stark relief against skin.
The lone occupant of the room stirred slightly in her bed, and then sat up gasping, her eyes wide. For a single, terrifying moment, Hitomi had thought she was back There again, back before she learned to save the world, back when she thought that she would lose everyone she had come to hold dear. The medically green light was the same, and so was the stillness. But no, she had destroyed that place, a long time ago, with Van…
She winced as her intestines protested the abuse they were receiving, and lay back carefully, her mind going over the events of the past five years. It began, as her musing always did, with the memories of her incredible adventures on Gaea. The pain she had felt as she was torn away from that world and all it contained...the relief, almost as overwhelmingly painful as the sorrow that came before, as her mind reached out and contacted Van across the void for the first time. The frustration, as attempt after attempt had failed to bring them back together.
She had remained in constant contact with Van throughout first year. Scarcely a day went by that their thoughts were not intertwined. Some days Van would 'listen in' on her classes, making outrageous comments about the professor and about the Mystic Moon in general, causing her to choke with smothered laughter. Other days it would be as if she were simply not there, her body forgotten as her mind reveled with Van in the bright medieval world of Gaea.
It had been an awkward situation, and one doomed from the start. Though Van had half-heartedly scolded her, Hitomi spent more and more time away from her body with him, perfecting the out-of-body technique. Her occasional lapses began to be noticed by teachers, and Yukari had watched her with concerned eyes.
Things came to a head the day she collapsed in class. She had been talking to Van at the time when a searing pain in her chest caused her to convulse and black out, deaf to Van's cries. Yukari later told her that she had been sitting frighteningly still, almost not breathing, before simply toppling off of her seat. Yukari hadinsisted that nothing else happened, but Hitomi knew a white lie when she heard one. Whispered words flew round the halls of the school. She hadn't drawn breath for nearly eight minutes, despite the continuous efforts of first Yukari and then the school nurse; the paramedics had had difficulty restarting her heart. Without her mind, her body had started to shut down, just as it had that time long ago, deep in the dungeons of Asturia.
Van had alternated between furious, guilty, and terrified. At first, he had tried to prevent her from taking such a risk again by withdrawing deep within his mind. It had taken all of her coaxing, as well as the strict promise to never again attempt such a complete separation of mind and body and the strategic application of guilt regarding his 'duty to the kingdom of Fanelia,' to convince him out of his self-induced coma.
After that, things had cooled off considerably between them. She and Van still talked to each other, but there was a wall of restraint between them that no words could breach. They were forced to conclude that this went far beyond 'Romeo and Juliet.' They were of different worlds, not different families, and their attempts to breach that barrier had proved either futile or near-fatal.
Out of this understanding a new relationship grew, one of confidant and friend. Hitomi was there to listen when the bouffant ministers of the Fanelian court became too much for the young king handle without blowing his cool. And Van was a figurative shoulder for Hitomi to cry on when the pressures of the University Entrance exams became too much.
More mundane thoughts flitted faster now; graduating high school, the entrance exams, her years dorming with Yukari at the Setsunan technical school, Amano...Hitomi smiled, remembering her initial guilt at Amano's persistent advances. She had been reluctant to turn her back on the love that she and Van shared; despite everything, they both knew it was still there, an unfulfilled yearning that pulsed just beneath the surface of their conscious minds.
When she hesitantly revealed the source of her worry (at Van's insistence), she had been surprised to receive his unabashed approval and blessing.
"It wasn't meant for us to be happy, Hitomi," he said, peering at the edge of the new blade he was testing as she mentally watched. "We have each other, but..." he gestured somewhat hopelessly at first the world around him and then her glowing, semi-transparent form. "...we both know that this is as much as we'll ever be allowed to have. I want you to live a full, long life, and I know you want to have a family." He gave the blade a polish and favoured it with a small, sad smile. "It's time we put our dreams behind us...and thought about our futures."
When he informed her, almost casually, about the impending engagement between himself and a princess from Cardos a week later, she had known that chapter of her life was closed. The dream gone forever…
She frowned and pushed those thoughts away. Whatever had happened in the past was immaterial now. She and Van were happy in their new lives, and that was what mattered…
((Hey.))
"Ahhh!" The intrusion was unexpected, and in spite of the fact her abdomen felt like thirty kinds of fire, the new mother managed to jump a good two feet into the air. Eyebrow atwitch and holding her stomach with both hands, she turned to meet the new arrival. "Owww…" ((Don't DO that, Van!)) she growled, glaring at the figure who had appeared mischievously behind her.
The glowing figure grimaced, semi-apologetic.((Sorry about that. I didn't think I'd frighten you.))
Hitomi pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. ((It's not your fault, Van. I was just…remembering.)) She straightened up and smiled. ((How are things on Gaea? Has Folken given in to Merle yet?)) The maturing cat girl had recently developed a perplexing fascination with Van's brother, much to the amusement of the rest of the kingdom.
((Sadly, no. Not that I'm unsympathetic to his plight, but I do wish that he would crack that solemn façade just once. Merle, you see, has given up on puns and has moved on to practical jokes…unfortunately for the rest of Fanelia. I hope that she'll give that up soon and just try to tickle him. Of course, if he still doesn't laugh after that, I don't know what she'll do...)) The young man smiled shyly.((...but that is not the reason I came.))
((I know,)) thought Hitomi, a small, proud smile gracing her lips as she glanced over at the incubator near the wall. ((Her name is Persephone. We would have named her after you, but…))
The glowing image of Van stopped halfway through the motion of bending over the incubator. ((Persephone?))
((Yes, Amano was quite taken with the name, although I don't think he realised quite how appropriate the choice was. It comes from an old earth legend. Persephone was the daughter of Gaea, you see…Van? Van, is something wrong?)) The young man appeared to have frozen, his eyes wide with disbelief. With a visible effort he came back to the present.
((Nothing is wrong, just…strange. Gaea has her own legend about Persephone. The name…it was just a memory, nothing more.)) Deftly he changed the subject, bending over the sleeping child in puzzlement. ((Why is she in a box?))
((A what? Oh, you mean the incubator? It's to keep her warm. She had a touch of jaundice when she was born, and the doctors didn't want to take any chances.)) Seeing the slightly dazed look on Van's face, she added, ((It protects her from cold and illness the way a guiymelef protects you against a sword.))
((So she can't come out of it?)) Van's tone was casual, but Hitomi wasn't fooled.
((Technically, no...)) Grinning at the instantaneous disappointment evident in the young King's features, Hitomi waved her hand in a carefree go-ahead motion. ((She'll be fine for a few moments, Van. Just give me a moment…)) She started to struggle upwards, and then paused as a thought occurred to her. ((…in fact, can't you just reach through the glass?))
Van flashed her the widest grin she had ever seen on that particular face as he responded. ((Why, so I can. If you don't object…)) Taking a breath as if preparing to submerse himself, the ghost-like figure approached the incubator and eased a hand through the glass. As his 'body' was merely a non-corporeal projection of his mind, the action did not require a physical effort; however, it still took a certain amount of mental cajoling to convince his usually acute sense of touch that, to the mind, the usually solid glass was as thin as water. He grinned at Hitomi as the little one stretched a questing, unsteady fist in his general direction before giving a little sigh and drifting deeper into sleep. ((She's your daughter, all right. I'd swear she just sensed my presence.))
Gently, he reached down to the sleeping child, caressing the tiny back with his mental touch. ((Es ano de maia, littling. Be welcomed, Sephie…)) The tiny life beneath his non-existent palm stirred slightly, welcoming the mindful embrace.
A small gasp from Hitomi tore his attention back to the present. ((Van, your hand—it's glowing!))
Van stared down in shock at the ethereal hand resting gently on the shoulders of the child. The 'glow' that Hitomi had sensed was subtle, different in some indefinable way from the normal, ether-like glimmer that usually accompanied an out of body experience. Quickly he lifted his hand away from the babe and drifted towards Hitomi. As he did so, the glow faded. ((What?…))
((How very odd. Just give me a moment to get over there…)) Groaning and feeling four times her age, Hitomi slowly levered herself off of the bed and shuffled over to the incubator. The image of Van hovered anxiously by her elbow. ((Really, I'm sure she's fine, Van.))
((At the moment, Sephie isn't the one I'm worried about. You look like one of the walking dead.))
((Very flattering.)) Hitomi said dryly. ((Wait until you marry that princess of yours—you'll see she acts no differently. The doctors say this is perfectly normal.))
((I'm just afraid you'll trip. You have been known to do so...))
((Van, I was sixteen years old! Are you ever going to believe I've grown up?)) His eyes flickered like a guttering candle, and she modified her mental tone from petulant to gentle. ((You couldn't catch me as you are.))
A enigmatic half-smile appeared on his face.((No, but I can warn you about that chair in the way.))
((Van! there's nothing there!))
((Are you sure?))
((Van, you are the absolute limit…))
((Hnnm…))
((Vannn!)) Obediently Hitomi closed her eyes and began to search. One, two, five…and there was the visiting chair, placed in the shadows between the incubator and bed, invisible to all but the inner eye. "Oh…" she said quietly. ((Thank you, Van.))
((Tut, tut, you're out of practice, Hitomi. Five years ago you never would have missed that.)) Hitomi's blush, while becoming under most circumstances, was a mere dark shadow in the verdant hospital lighting.
((Unfortunate, but true. It's one of the inevitable hazards of living in a relatively safe environment—I've lost many of my skills over the years. Even the Tarot does not come as easily as it used to…))
The two lapsed into the silence of old friends as Hitomi navigated the hazardous path to the baby's incubator, Van's mental projection hovering protectively nearby. Gently lifting away the lid, Hitomi was once again struck by the tiny perfection that she and Amano had produced. Even after nine months of carrying and three days of extremely intensive labour, she still couldn't—quite—believe that she wouldn't once again wake up in the nurses' office back in her old school, to find that everything she had experienced in the last five-and-a-half years was nothing more than an elaborate, childish dream. Her life now seemed too perfect to be real...fate making up in spades, she decided, for the heartache years ago.
Van watched Hitomi's delicate features transform with the heat of her maternal love and quickly suppressed a pang of longing. He might tease her about her powers failing but she was still plenty quick enough to catch any unguarded emotion. And emotions that she must not know of he had in plenty.
It had been the hardest thing he had ever done, pushing her towards Amano five years ago. Far more difficult than any of the battles he had fought in Escaflowne, before or after the Zaibach War. He knew from Hitomi's memories that Amano was a good and honourable man. He knew that Hitomi loved the man very much; maybe not as much as she loved him, but still more than any man had right to hope. Therefore he knew, somewhere in his mind, that he had made the right choice.
His heart just didn't believe it yet.
It's a good thing she never realised that the 'engagement' was a fake. He thought glumly as he watched the young mother tenderly pick up the sleeping child. Otherwise, we'd both still be stuck in a cerebral, static relationship, and little Sephie would never have been born.
He schooled his face into a more pleasant expression as Hitomi sat down in the well-cushioned visitor's chair, the little one bundled in her arms. Roused by the soft roundness of her mother's touch, young Persephone had begun rooting around for milk. Hitomi's slight blush was lost in the eerie green light as her daughter fed, but her loving, proud gaze was not, and Van felt an unconscious smile blossom from his unwilling mouth. He had this much, at least…and it would be enough.
Van stood a tactful distance away until the happy feelings of contentment that radiated from the corner ended and abruptly shifted back into sleep. Then he glided eagerly forward towards the pair and peered again at the miniature perfection the love of his life had produced.
((Go ahead, Van. She will not wake.))
Reaching out a hesitant hand, he touched the babe's matted dark hair, blinking a little in surprise as the bluish light surrounding the limb strengthened. I wonder why that keeps happening…(( She looks like you, you know.))
Hitomi looked down at the tiny mite in her arms and then regarded him with a smile and a raised eyebrow. ((I can't say I see the resemblance at the moment.))
((Oh, not here, physically,)) he said, pointing at the child's face. ((Physically, I think she'll take after her father.)) He moved his hand over the tiny chest. ((But I'll bet you the entire kingdom of Fanelia that her heart will be as strong and loving as your own.))
Hitomi smiled, and reached a free hand out to his own, her gaze penetrating through the vast sea that separated their physical bodies and looking into his eyes. ((That is one bet that I know I will never have to collect on…even without the Tarot cards.))
Their hands met across the gulf in a ghostly embrace. ((Now…)) she 'whispered' gently, holding his hand tightly, ((…you should go. You've been away from Gaea too long already.))
Van sighed regretfully and nodded. ((I suppose you are right.)) He gave her 'hand' one last squeeze and released it, bending over the sleeping child. ((Goodnight, Persephone,)) he whispered, giving the child's back a gentle rub.
Although he was prepared for it this time, the unearthly glow that sped up his arm from the contact was still a bit unnerving. What in Gaea's name could be causing it? he wondered as he straightened up and removed his hand. ((Sleep well, Hitomi. I'll be in touch.))
((As will I,)) she murmured, feeling his mind start to slip away. ((As will I.)) Ghostly hands twined briefly with her own once more, and then he was gone. Hitomi gave a soft sigh and leaned back into the pillowed chair, rocking her daughter gently.
Van was still pondering the odd glow as his eyes snapped open, revealing the familiar night sky of Fanelia. He shook his head in amused disbelief and leaned back against the soft grass, listening to the soft tinkling of the fountain nearby. It must have been some trick of the telepathic communication; he was tired, and probably shouldn't have tried to contact Hitomi so late in the evening.
How else could he possibly explain it? The child had no Draconian blood...
--word count 2855
Sooo, I hope that clears up the whole 'canon'/'un-canon' thing, although I suspect it generated more questions than it answered. But that's the point of a good story, isn't it? To raise questions, and then lead the readers on an quest to find the answers?…
I would have liked to make this chapter longer, but it is already two pages longer than the essay I have due on Monday, so I have to stop…for now, at least. I hope you enjoyed it! And any advice you'd care to throw my way would be appreciated...