A/N) I don't own anything from Escaflowne. Oh, and for some odd reason the end part of my story is spaced kind of funny due to the upload.

Last Cry of the Draconians

Chapter 1: Sightings

Hitomi looked out of her classroom window. The weather outside told her that the spring was nearing summer, which meant that her senior year of high school was coming to an end. As the teacher droned on about making sure final papers were in by the last day of school, which was the next day, and about the graduation ceremony which Hitomi had heard one too many times. Instead her mind wandered to Gaea as it had been for the past few years, but with the approach of the end of high school and the thought of college, Hitomi found herself dwelling on the beautiful planet and the people that lived there more and more. She had changed quite a bit from that time; her body had filled out up top and around her hips giving her long curves. Her straight golden hair had grown out to a little bit past her shoulders with the front of her hair and bangs framing her face. As the bell rang, Hitomi gathered her books and headed to the station to catch her ride home. Before she even got part way there a black beat up car pull up along the sidewalk near her and Yukari stuck her head out.

"Hey, Hitomi. Want a ride?"

"If Amano is driving I'm not too sure about that Yukari." Teased Hitomi to the driver sitting next to her. Amano got out of the driver side throwing a friendly smile at Hitomi, "I'm not that bad of a driver am I?"

"No Amano." Hitomi opened the back door and strapped herself in.

"So are you excited! Tomorrow is our last day of school and after that Hitomi, we'll be going to college!" squealed Yukari.

Hitomi stared out the window not hearing her friend's question as Amano drove closer to her home.

"You're thinking about the place again Hitomi," came Amano's wise voice.

"I can't help it. Every time I think I have gotten over that experience something happens to bring it all up again."

"I'm sure that king of yours is on your mind. You should date more." Said Yukari turning to look at Hitomi sitting in the back.

"Well, I sure have the perfect role model. You and Amano have been dating this entire time and when is this wedding going to be?"

"We haven't done anything that extreme yet." Yukari's face flushed.

"Does it mean that you wouldn't want to?" Amano faked the hurtful tone in his voice.

Yukari quickly turned around a Hitomi hid the giggles that wanted to explode.

"No! No! I didn't mean that!"

Amano smiled and kissed her quickly on the lips as they came to a stop in Hitomi's driveway. Hitomi had taken a few steps away went Amano shouted for her and turned around.

"Hitomi, you never know, you may still get the chance to tell him how you feel."

Amano and Yukari waved to Hitomi as she walked up to her front door. Hitomi had gotten close to Amano, like the big brother that she had never had. Maybe it was because he was dating her best friend. She remembered when Amano had made the choice to stay in Tokyo to be near Yukari. She gave a little sigh at the tender thought as she walked into her house.

"Mom, I'm home!"

"Alright dear. There are letters here from different universities, you should really sit down and decide."

"I'll look at them later mom." Hitomi said as she walked into her room.

"Don't take too much time."

Hitomi closed the door to her bedroom. She changed out of her school uniform and put on a pair of running short and a tank top. Since the whether had been so nice lately, Hitomi would go take a run through the park to clear her mind. Walking out of her room she put on her tennis shoes that were on the shoe rack in the hall.

"Mom, I'm going to the park."

With the park only a few blocks away it was only a short jog before she reached the lush green park. Running along the trail, Hitomi's mind began to wander. 'Why haven't I been able to move on? I've been dating – yeah, but those relationships never felt right. The guys weren't bad looking or were horrible people.' Yet, she felt no connection to any of the men she remembered, all except Van. Hitomi shook her head. 'No, I won't think of him. He is on another planet and being king of Fanelia most likely married to someone by now.

"But, I miss him."

Hitomi stopped her run immediately after she had admitted it out loud. Deciding to take a break she moved off of the sidewalk and laid on her back in the grass. She watched as the white clouds moved overhead making her remember the time when Van had taken her on Escaflowne and they were flying through the clouds, just able to touch them. She covered her face with her hands. 'Ugg, stop that!'

Looking back up at the sky there was something floating lazily up near the clouds. Hitomi rubbed her eyes to see it better thinking that it was most likely a low flying plane. 'Then why don't I hear anything?' Looking up again at the sky Hitomi rubbed her eyes again to look at the frightening object.

Bolting upwards Hitomi followed the unmistakable creature as it descended into the forest. Being careful not to attract its attention, Hitomi hid behind the trees. The large lumbering creature stood in a small clearing seeming to wait for something. Suddenly it cocked its head to one side as if it had heard something. Hitomi's breath hitched in her throat fearing that the monster had heard her. 'What is a dragon doing here? I thought they only stayed in Gaea, except when Van was transported here.' The dragon turned its head to the other side and seemed to back up a few steps looking straight at the other side of the clearing. Hitomi gasped as a portal opened. A roar was heard from what seemed like a great distance. The dragon in the clearing responded as another dragon stepped out of the portal. Hitomi clung to the tree as the two dragons walked up to each other and called. Flapping their wings the two dragons took off into the air.

Running out of the forest to follow them Hitomi watched as the two black dots headed off west into the light of the setting sun. Quickly Hitomi left the park sprinting back to her home. She knew that two dragons flying off in the biggest city in Japan would have to be on TV. Dashing in the door she flipped the TV on and turned to the news.

"Our top headline this evening is a five car crash over in the south side of the city . . ."

"Nothing!" said an exasperated Hitomi. Hitomi was about to walk out of the room before she caught the last bit of news.

"The driver of the car that started the accident had been wheeled off into an ambulance mumbling the word dragon. Paramedics believe that the man must have gone into a form of shock since no one else seemed to see anything in the sky."

"Some one saw it." Mumbled Hitomi.

"What was that dear?" questioned her mom as she entered the living room.

"Nothing."

"Well, dinner is ready. Go wash up."

Hitomi ate her dinner numbly and went upstairs to take a shower. She took off the cotton robe and slipped into a silk nightie that came down mid-thigh. Combing out her wet hair she thought about the two dragons. Seeing two of them in Tokyo scared her and more over, someone else had spotted them, but only one person had, shouldn't others have as well? Laying her brush down on her vanity she looked at herself in mirror. There was something missing, opening the top drawer of her vanity Hitomi took out a small box. Opening the lid she lifted out a necklace. It wasn't the pendant of her grandmother that she had given Van; instead it was one of his feathers. She had found it tucked away in her gym bag when she returned to Earth. Taking only a little part of it, Hitomi had made it into a pendant on a piece of leather string. The feather hung in the hallow of her breasts. She lifted the feather and stroked the sides lovingly wishing that it was really still a part of Van and that he was with her now. Hitomi had rarely worn the necklace in attempt to forget about Van, but she found herself missing him more when she didn't wear the charm.

There was also one other item in the box, her deck of tarot cards. She had stopped using them felling that she had meddled in fate enough, but now something told her to take them out. Reaching inside she grabbed her cards and sat remembering how real her predictions had been on Gaea. Suddenly her bedroom door swung open startling Hitomi and making her drop her cards onto the floor.

"Oh, I'm sorry Hitomi."

"That's ok mom. What did you want?"

"I want you to go bed. Tomorrow is going to be your last day of school before college and I want you to rest. Did you ever look at those college letters yet?"

"I forgot."

"Well, I want you to do that first thing tomorrow when you get back. Good night dear."

"Night."

Hitomi's mother shut the door as Hitomi bent down to retrieve her cards. But Hitomi stopped herself before she picked any of them up. Out of her twenty-five cards only eight were laying face up and were separate from the other cards lying on the ground as if someone had placed them there. L'imperatore and la imperstarce were laying next to each other with l'amore touching both of the bottom of the cards while la carrozza was placed above them. Above these four cards was il monde, la torre, il giudizio, and la luota. Il monde was placed in the center while la torre was placed above and la luota and il giudizio were placed side beside below. 'The world is going to be judged by a strange fate that could end up either way. Two lovers will be reunited with each other. Does that mean Van.' Hitomi went to reach out for the card of l'imperatore and just as she touched the card a vision came over her.

There was a giant green tree. A black cloud descended on the tree withering it slowly away then the image before her shattered and Hitomi felt herself falling into nothingness. Reaching above herself she saw a figure coming towards her. It was a man with wings.

"Van?" As the man flew closer she could see his features better.

"Hitomi!"

"Van!" Hitomi cried as she reached up with both hands still falling. Van reached for her as well. Just as their hands met Hitomi felt herself thrown away from him. Hitomi opened her eyes finding herself laying on her back on her floor. Quickly picking up her cards Hitomi put them back in her box. Just as she was about to pull the necklace off she stopped, instead she left it on shutting her box and putting it away. 'That vision was too real. I thought that I had really touched him.'

Hitomi turned out her room lights and crawled under her covers. 'If anything, a good night's sleep will get rid of that vision, maybe I'll see Van again.' It didn't take long for the darkness of sleep to overcome her.

Van woke with a start sitting straight up in bed. He had been dreaming about fighting dragons and then the image shattered and he found himself flying downwards. He saw against the black pit a figure and decided to get close to it. As he grew closer he thought that it was she, the girl that had left to return to the Mystic Moon. His voice called out to her. "Hitomi!"

"Van!" came her voice loud and clear. He speed closer to her fearing that what ever she was falling from she would hit it soon. Hitomi had reached out her arms as van held out his own hands. Just as their fingertips had touched, something pulled her violently away. That's what had woken him, now sitting up in a cold sweat. Seeing her that close hurt his heart because he felt that in a way he must have failed her.

"Hitomi, I sure hope that you are alright."

A/N: If you are wonder what some of those tarot cards mean here they are: l'amore-the lovers, il monde-the world, la imperstrce-the empress, la luota-wheel of fortune,

l'imperatore-the emperor, la carrozza-the chariot, il giudizio-judgment, la torre-the tower. If you want the website that I got this from: http/ thank you for who ever reads this story, and remember please read and review, it will keep me writing this fan fiction if I know that people are reading my story!