Disclaimer: I do not own anything of Escaflowne…If I did, that series would have continued.

To everyone who reviewed: Thank you SO much! Sorry for the long update! But, I had a lot of stuff to do!

Chapter Four

"Then it is agreed! King Van of Fanelia will marry Princess Shina of Yoshidara." A council member from Fanelia stood up to deliver the final verdict. "Lord Van will be a wonderful husband to you, your grace."

Princess Shina smiled. "Yes. I believe so." Her kind blue eyes shimmered. Yes. He will be of great use for me as a husband. I can not wait to meet the legendary King of Fanelia.

"We will start preparations for the ceremony once we return to Fanelia!" The rest of the council stood, ready to leave. The council from Yoshidara stood as well to shake their newfound allies hands as they exited.

"Your majesty, are you ready for this?" The chief councilman asked her as the last of the Fanelians left.

Princess Shina smiled sweetly again. "Yes. I believe I am…" He will be of great use…

The bell rang, signaling that the third period class was over. Finally…It is time for lunch! Hitomi thought with a sigh. "Alright guys, see you tomorrow! Remember your assignments!"

Most of the class groaned as they exited the class. Soon, it was only Van and Hitomi. Alone.

In the same room.

Hitomi made herself look busy at her desk. To her, the whole day so far was awkward. He was just there, sitting…Not making a single noise. Some of the students noticed him, but they said nothing. Thank God for that…But still, it was still kinda weird how he never said a word…

Van was about to speak aloud, but then he remembered something he picked up in class. He raised his hand and waited for Hitomi to notice.

Looking up, she saw him. With his arm raised and a smile on his face. "Yes Van?"

"Mrs. Hitomi! May I have permission to speak and move around now?"

Hitomi smiled then. "Yes. Yes you may." In an instance, he was up, stretching and yawning. He walked over to her desk and stood in front of it. "I like your planet."

"Uh. Thank you. Yours is very beautiful too." Hitomi picked up her lunch out of her bag. It was leftover chicken from two nights ago. Mmm…Mom sure makes good chicken. "Van, would you like to try some?"

He took one look inside the container and shook his head. "No thanks." Truth was, he wasn't sure what was in the container. Better safe than sorry…

"Alright. Suit yourself." Hitomi quickly ate her lunch and kept a watchful eye on Van. He kept walking around the room, pausing to look at basically everything. But there was something about his actions…They seemed slower, less enthusiastic than when he first got here.

Van let his hand trail over a model of the solar system. Right where Gaea would be, he let his hand stop for a longer moment, but then continued on.

Hitomi came to the conclusion quickly. He's homesick.

"Class, class, settle down." Hitomi raised her voice again to quiet the class down. This was her all girls gym class…and thank God it was last period… "We'll only be in the class room for half the period. The other, we'll be outside running. Okay?"

Finally, everyone quieted down. Except Van. He was quiet since the beginning. "Take out a sheet of paper. We're gonna copy down a note on Substance Abuse. Alright? Okay. Let's get started."

Hitomi picked up the piece of chalk and began to write on the board, happy to hear the successive noises of 20 pens touching paper. The only other sounds were breathing and the clock. She was soon in her own world, not paying attention to anything but the note she had to write on the chalkboard.

Hitomi realized that the few noises she heard were all rhythmic and in step with each other. And she smiled at that.

The clock ticked. Someone breathed out. Someone wrote something down…The clock ticked. Someone breathed out. Someone wrote something down. The clock ticked…

Silence

Her vision got blurry.
No one breathed out
Her heart pounded loudly in her ears. What's happening? Hitomi's eyes looked up at the clock to see that it was no longer moving. No one in the class was moving either…Each was frozen in time…What?

All the while, her hand continued to write on the board until the chalk snapped. The loud crack was accompanied by another crack and a sharp, stinging pain in her arm. What? What is going on? Hitomi looked down at her wrist and saw that it was purple and red. It was horribly out of place. No! No more visions! This isn't real!
But why is there pain?
No! Stop it! Stop! STOP! Her mind scolded her to wake up, but her eyes were focused on her disfigured hand. How? Why? No! STOP IT!

"Mrs. Kanzaki?"

Why am I hurt like this?

"Mrs. Kanzaki?"

Why am I…in so much pain? Blood was freely flowing from her wrist now. Who did this to me? Oh God…Where is all this blood coming from?

Hitomi's eyes lingered away from her broken wrist and noticed that her torso was covered with red stains, that her shoulder was bleeding and that her shirt was basically torn to shreds. Oh my God! STOP IT!

"Mrs. Kanzaki!"

The broken piece of chalk finally hit the floor and suddenly, all the sounds in the classroom were back. Hitomi was now aware that over 20 pairs of eyes were staring at her, wanting an explanation. Especially Van.

"Sorry. Uh…Yes Etsu?" Hitomi addressed the young girl who had been calling her name.

"Why did you stop like that? Did you forget something, or what?"

"No…No…I just…It was nothing…" Hitomi fumbled with her words as she got over her grief of her passing vision. "Let's just finish up here." She wrote the rest of the note quickly, not wanting to make the chalk break again.

Van watched her carefully. Hitomi…You are not telling me what you know.

"Okay girls! Get it alphabetical order! Its time to race the hundred-meter-dash. Pair up and get ready!" Hitomi shouted at the track where her class was. Her heart was still pounding and her stomach was still sick after seeing-
Blood
-that vision….Don't think about it!

As the first two girls lined up at the starting line, Hitomi, along with two girls keeping time with stopwatches, shouted, "Ready? Set? GO!"

The whole class cheered on the two runners as they raced. Van watched the two girls from the 'bleachers.' Or whatever Hitomi called them…I'm pretty sure they were bleachers…Or maybe beachers? Either way, Van kept quiet. Hitomi needs me to stay quiet. I hope that she does not.

Two more girls lined up at the starting line and the whole process started again. Hitomi was a good runner…I remember…that first time I appeared on the Mystic Moon. She was running and she bumped into me…And then the dragon came. Van smiled as he recalled their first meeting. She hasn't changed a bit.

The races continued until no more girls were left to race. "Okay guys, we have 15 minutes left of class…Any suggestions? Relay races? Discussions? Dodgeball?" Hitomi called out.

Etsu spoke up. "I'd like to discuss that guy who was sitting at the back of the class today, Mrs. Kanzaki. That guy over there, by the bleachers! Who is he?"

Many of the other girls giggled and talked amongst themselves. Hitomi was not surprised to hear, "Oh my God, he IS cute…" and, "I bet he's Mrs. Kanzaki's boyfriend." She sighed. I guess I can't have all the luck in the world…Someone was doomed to ask sooner or later.

"Yeah, Mrs.! Who is he? Your boyfriend?" Another girl, Dai, asked, giggling.

"Probably!"

"Settle down! Jeeze. He's just a friend of mine who dropped by unsuspectingly yesterday. He had no where else to go, so he came with me to work." Hitomi quickly said. It wasn't a lie…Just a partial truth.

"HEY! Mrs. Kanzaki's boyfriend! Wanna come down and race with us!" A group of girls, lead by Etsu, yelled out to Van. He looked up and blinked several times. Slowly, he made his way down from the bleachers and onto the track.

"Um….Hello." Van smiled meekly at the group of younger girls. He waved nervously and tried to hide his embarrassment. "Nice to…meet you…"

"So, are you as athletic as you look?" Etsu asked from the back of the group.

"Huh?"

"Mrs. Kanzaki! Race him!"

"Yeah!"

"Wait, girls…" Hitomi tried to calm the girls down.

"Come on, Mrs. You are always saying, 'Back when I was your age, I was one of the fastest in my school…' Prove it!" Another pupil of hers shouted.

"Yeah! Race! Race!" The entire class began to shout. Oh God…

Van placed his fingers in his mouth and let out a loud whistle in hopes to stop the commotion. When all 20 pairs of eyes were on him after the silence fell, he got nervous again. "Uh…You are Mrs. Hitom—Kanzaki's students and you should listen to her. What do you think we should do, Mrs. Kanzaki?" It felt weird using her last name to address her…. Namely because Van never knew her last name before.

Then, all eyes were on Hitomi again. Oh jeeze…these girls are never gonna let this down if I don't do something…"Fine. You want to see how a real race is done?"

"YEAH!"

"Okay, Etsu, since you have a big mouth, you can start the race. Gina and Kameko can be the timers…Come on, Van, I'll show you how to run." Hitomi decided to race. Besides, when am I ever gonna race like I did in high school? I love to race. It'll be fun.

"I know how to run." Van smirked. Walking over to the start line, Hitomi pulled off her wind-breaker. This jacket is too baggy…Its going to slow me down…

Van decided to do the same. "Can you hold this for me?" He asked one of the girls, giving her the shirt Hitomi gave him earlier that day.

Hitomi blushed again. Oh God…Stop it! Its not like you've never seen a half-naked man before! She let her gaze look at Van again. He hasn't changed a bit…He was still lean, but he had some muscle. A curious glance at his right forearm made her face become puzzled. He got a tattoo? Ack! Stop staring!

Van stretched a bit before taking his place at the starting line. He didn't know how to use that contraption where the girls put there feet in, so he took his normal running stance; one leg bent forward in a lunge with his body close to the ground.

Hitomi, on the other hand took her place as she normally ran; fingers touching the track with her feet in the holders. "Ready you two? GO!" Etsu yelled and they were off.

Hitomi focused on her breathing and her pace. She felt so rejuvenated. This is the first time in a long time that I've raced…She loved the feeling of the wind in her face and her feet on the track. She kept her lead on Van. He is fast…

Green eyes locked on to his maroon ones and they shared a glance when Hitomi looked behind her. Returning her gaze in front of her, she watched the track underneath her get shorter and shorter to the finish line.

This reminds me of the time when I first met him…Hitomi dreamily states. I saw him there. I ran right through him and then I…fainted…Her pace slowed down a little as her vision got blurry again. Why is the track so twisted?

Breathing slowed and head pounding, she saw a figure in front of her. It's Van! Just like before! Hitomi smiled lightly, not aware that she wasn't 16 anymore. As she approached him, she noticed that he was running towards her. He's here to take me back to Gaea…

They got closer, and that's when she noticed that his face was in a scowl and that his sword was out. He held it in his hands just like he did when he defeated the dragon…The first time we met…

But this time, his sword wasn't pointed towards a dragon.

It was pointed to her.

Van…What are you doing? Hitomi could not control her legs to stop; they kept going towards him…Even though her brain knew of the danger. Stop!

His mouth opened in a battle cry and before Hitomi could stop, his sword went right through her. It pierced through her abdomen and exited out her back. Pain went up her spine like fire and she realized that her shirt was full of blood-
Covered in red stains
-and torn to shreds.

Soon, it felt like her entire body was going to explode. She felt Van's sword leave her body the same way it came. That's when she fell backwards…she couldn't take it anymore. It hurt to move, to think, to scream…She saw Van hover over her with his sword raised high above her head.

And in a blink of an eye, he crashed it upon her head.

"HITOMI!"
No angel to save her…

Wow…SORRY for the long update…School and the works! I got allergies, twelve more assignments…sigh…Why me?

Anyway, hope you all liked! More disturbing visions to come! And I swear, a plot line and answers are coming…I hope….

PLEASE REVIEW!